Happy Ear Day!

It's once again time for the Hina Matsuri (click to see some Dinosaurs all dolled up) or Doll Festival and here is my contribution to the esteemed holiday*.

*Not really a holiday. Girls get gypped, Guys have their special day on May 5th and it is called Children's Day and they get a day off. Girls just get to display ningyou. Sexism yet again.

That's Captain Kirk and Yeoman Rand Ken and Barbie as the Emperor and Empress, the main couple in this fest.  Someday, I'll make my own display using various characters I have around my room. Maybe next year. In the meantime, here is an actual display that was front and centre in one of my schools over the last two weeks.

Oops, that is a display of Spidey-dolls.

 Oops again. That's a pair of dolls that my friend's daughter made. Here we go:

Hey, I also landed a package of candy at lunch today. I ended up giving them to a coworker, trying to curtail my sweet-tooth.

You may be wondering why I called it Ear Day today. My students pointed out to me that  
三月三日 = ミミ;  mimi = ear, therefore Ear Day!


I'm afraid that my Oscar tally will wait for another day. I'm busy watching the Awards now (well, the Red Carpet is on...how ANNOYING! Ryan Seacrest, some bimbo, some queen commenting on the actors' garb. Yawn.

UPDATE: Hey, the Google Doodle is rather appropriate today...

Stoker's Stalker.

Years and years ago, I went to a lecture by a biographer of Bram Stoker, whose 165th birthday is today. (He gets his own Google Doodle at that link.)

It was a fairly interesting chat and I asked him about blood transfusions. In 1897, blood typing and transfusions were in their infancy and I wondered how Abraham knew so much about them. I was told that Bram's brother was a doctor and was researching transfusions. A lot of Stoker's Dracula novel was given credence by such authenticity.

Here are some highlights from Coppola's adaptation of Bram Stoker's most famous book.

Van Helsing gets a little head!

Happy Birthday Bram!

A Trek Interlude.

Since I was too busy jiving to Jazz all weekend, I never had a chance to mention Star Trek's 46th Anniversary. The Google Doodle had an interactive display (poor Red Shirt) that allowed you to see both Tribbles and a Gorn! I missed the rock that Kirk throws, check out all the action here:



In addition to Google, Oreo got in on the action with an Enterprising cookie!

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Anyway, I stumbled upon an old episode of Wayne and Shuster and their spoof, Star Shtick. The first clip is surprisingly unfunny but it is good to see several of Canada's finest bit actors in bit roles in the sketch and fortunately the gags do improve.



At the 7:50 mark, there is a reference to Wayne Cashman, a goon for the Bruins. Here he is in action against doughnut tycoon, Tim Horton!




Back to the Mr. Spoof spoof. Notice they mention Supermen. Here's a bit of trivia for ya. Frank Shuster is the cousin of Superman co-creator, Joe Shuster! The Earth Theme song is a doozy!







Did anyone make it through the entire hour?

Well, I can see by the clock on the wall, it's time to bid you one and all...

A Really Fun Guy!

You know what I like about Google Doodle? You often learn something new. For example, here is the story of 南方 熊楠/Minakata Kumagusu, a naturalist, biologist and an early environmental activist who studied in Michigan & London. He discovered new slime molds and even followed a circus in order to collect fungi. He wrote many books and even has his own museum. Check him out!