Just Dance!

or "Why video games are GOOD for you!"

I will say it loud and proud - I'm a gamer grrl. I lubs me some video games. Racing, FPS, RPG, puzzle, action/adventure, you name it. And I've tried to instill in my children a love for gaming. Especially in my daughters. Because it's a sad day when a guy gets married and his wife can't STAND how much time he spends gaming.
Sample conversation:

Her: I can't BELIEVE how much time you spend on that stupid thing!

Him: [grunt]

Her: I might as well not even be married for all the good it does me!

Him: [grunt]

Her: FINE! I'm going shopping!

Now that might not be exactly how it might go down, but I think it's pretty close. And that's why I'm letting my girls game. Because gaming is here to stay and it's FUN and why not have something in common? Right? Around here, it goes down a little some-something like this:

Him: Are you going to use the computer all night?

Me: Well the kids have the Xbox going and I was trying to unlock the next level of Farmville...

Him: Can you take the lapop and do that? Because I have Steam installed on the PC and I really want to get back to [Fallout New Vegas/Total War/Dragon Age/game du jour].

Me: KIDS! It's MY TURN now! You use your computer and watch Netflix or something!

Kids: What are you going to play, mom? Braid? The ball game [Luxor2]? Splinter Cell? I want to play Kingdom Hearts! How come sister gets to play DDR so much?

This is what happens in a one TV/multiple gamer household. We've got two consoles, three computers and 5 users. And the kids will use my laptop over my cold, dead body. Well, dead at least, because I'm freezing my naughty bits off over here.

Recently, Microsoft released Kinect. It was known pre-release as "Project Natal" and boy-oh-boy is this a good one. It basically eats the Wii for dinner and the PS Move for dessert. Imaging gaming without having to hold some crappy controller! Dance without a dance mat! Be fit without needing any specialised gizmos! Yes, indeedy, Kinect is an amazing awesome terrific fandabidozie dealio. Which is "me speak" for "the shiznit" which is Snoop Dogg for "Nifty!"

You'd think in a household that has as many game consoles as we do, that we'd have run right out and purchased Kinect the day it debuted! Not so, dear readers, not so. For while we lubs us some technology, we like to save our little pennies, too! Our first Xbox was a refurb, as was the first PlayStation. We tend to wait until after the first price-drop to acquire entertainment stuff just because you can save some serious change over time.

But that doesn't mean we haven't had a chance to play with Kinect, oh no it doesn't. We've got friends who have it and they invite us over for playdates pretty regularly. Which is COOL. Who woulda thunk that someone pushing 40 would get to go for a playdate at a friend's house and get to play with their toys?

The best part of playing with Kinect as that we don't even need to buy one. Because the kids? Well, they *pretend* we have Kinect! It's a total laugh riot! They stand in front of the *turned off* TV and wave their arms and jump around pretending to play Dance Central. No kidding.

Which leads me to my final point... The best thing about Kinect is - in my oldest's words - "You don't need a dance mat and you use your WHOLE body! not just your feet!" It's true. There's nothing like being able to bust a move without fearing that you'll accidentally lose your grip on your upchuck and smash your big screen tv. It's actually a total body workout and you don't need anything special. No special mats or slippers or platforms or anything. Once you have the Kinect sensor and whatever game you want, you're golden.

Now get out there and DANCE! And if you have the extra dough to spend, why not clicky the linky and help me make some money so my kids don't have to pretend we have Kinect?

It's Getting Hot In Here...

So let's wear an Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini while it's Hot Hot Hot!



Aren't they adorable? It's getting to be recital time again. Yesterday we picked these up. The little one is Tapping and the older one is doing Jazz. Tomorrow we'll pick up the older one's ballet (Waltz of the Flowers) and tap (In the Summertime) costumes. I'm going to be one busy mommy this week.

Summertime... Summer Summer Summertime

Or something... I've not added an entry in a month which almost forever on the interwebz. I've been a little busy with birthdays and recitals and being sick and then a handy dandy trip to the ER. Which was fun. Really. Nothing says F-U-N like being on the table in the ER and then your BP crashing REALLLLLLLLLY LOW and having your arms seize up and then suddenly there's like 10 docs running EKGs and whatnot and shoving O2 canulas up your nose in an effort to keep you from de-satting and crashing. Oh yeah. Fun times. I was laying there with my body frozen and thinking "Gee, this is like an episode of "House" except I'm not acting and there's no Hugh Laurie. Sucks to be me..." The good news is that I don't have Toxis Sinovi-something-or-other and it's just Bursitis. The even better news is that I have a NICE NSAID to help the swelling.

The Elder Princess Ella is at "dance camp" all week. YAY! She's enjoying herself royally (ha ha). Next week is "zoo camp". Hoorah!

Today was the follow-up for Lorenzo's ortho appt. I drove 45 minutes each way to hear "He looks great" and spend less than 15 minutes in the doc's office. Oh well. That's life...

Next Tuesday the Younger Princess Ella gets a kidney U/S and a VCUG - all because of one measly UTI. Fun times will be sure the be had by all (not).

Once we make it past next week then we have zoo camp for the littles, VBS for the girls and dance camp for the middle child. Then there's a 2 week breather and the middle child starts VPK (Voluntary Pre-K). First grade starts the first week of September for the oldest of my progeny. Wheeeeee.

And the really good part? We *all* start dance class on August 18th. That includes me, too. Srsly. I can has tap shoes. And ballet shoes. And jazz shoes. And recital costume apparently. So that's the update for now. See you on the flip side.

Oh and RIP George Carlin & Tim Russert.

Lord of the Dance?

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When Bollywood goes HORRIBLY wrong

First watch the video. THEN read the blog.

Where do I begin?

Who knew that Superman and SpiderGirl had a thing? Or was the wardrobe department not able to find Lynda Carter's Wonder Woman outfit?

I don't speak Hindi or Punjabi, but I loves me some Bollywood as long as it's subtitled in Engrish. Because when it's not, sometimes I think I'm hearing things. Like in this clip I swear I hear SpiderGirl singing "Do me now Supermaaaan" and Superman responding "Do me now laaaaadeeeeee". Now I could be WAY off on this because in my experience with Bollywood films, s-e-x is just not that obvious and spelled out.

And while we're on the subject of songs, let's not forget the Disco-fabuloso soundtrack and the grooooovy dancing inspired by Napoleon Dynamite. While I've never seen the entire film, I've seen clips of the Buonaparte Dynamo and I have to say that somebody stole them some moves from someone. Speaking of moves, check out the Mile High Club action (Bollywood style) and the Disco Ninja action. Supa-supa-supa-supa-supa Man has WAY awesome power that he can just spin that dude over his head and dude KEEPS spinning long after SM has lost interest.

And when the beleaugered boyfriend and swooning sari-clad sweetheart are saved, SupaMan and SpiderLaaadeee take a quick break to work on their jazzercise to rebuild their strength before easin' on down the road err.... sky to their next destination...

The Miss Delhi Scholarship Pageant and Breakdancing Contest. With a Cammeo (har har) by Rick James. And a Lindy Hop Jack-n-Jill. And a Soul Train dance line. Heck, they pulled out ALL the stops for this one. It's Indian Bandstand! We'll be back after this brief message about nail varnish quick dry from our sponsor, Sally Hansen...

And while this video is particularly humourous, I have to give mad props to this one. Especially the guy who subtitled it.

Lindy Hop @ UCF

These are some friends of ours: Rob & Dawn of Flyin' Footwork Productions. My only complaint is that they are major iPod afficionadi/oes/? Anyhoo... Here's a clip:

My apologies for the quality. It was taken with a Fuji FinePix F20 and I had to rotate the video in Windows Movie Maker to get it right side up.

So You Think You Can Dance

Sadly, I haven't been blogging this even though I DO watch it religiously. And thanks to Urge, I'm growing my digital music collection based on some of the music that is played on the hit Fox show.

If you don't know what I'm talking about, toddle on over to http://fox.com/dance and get caught up on the phenomenon that is this show.

I really DO think that Hok can with the whole thing. I'm in love with his moves. And it proves my point that b-boys are probably the most versatile dancers out there when they can wrap their bodies around other dance styles.

I promise I'll update more later!