A Budding Reporter Makes Her Voice Heard in Changes for Kit

Kit, the star of a series of American Girl books set during the Great Depression, is a budding journalist. Throughout the six short chapter books featuring her, she delights in writing “newspapers” for her family, but in Changes for Kit, the final volume of the series, the spunky 11-year-old decides to branch out by submitting a letter to the editor of the Cincinnati paper.

A couple years ago, the Kit books were adapted into a movie mostly taking into account the first, second, fifth and sixth books, but with substantial changes. In this case, the movie has Kit frequently visiting the newspaper office in hopes of convincing the ornery editor, Mr. Gibb, to make her a cub reporter. In the book, while she dreams of one day joining the journalists at the newspaper, the reason for her frequent visits is her uncle Hendrick, a character not included in the movie.

Uncle Hendrick is introduced in Kit’s Surprise, the third book in the series, which is focused on Christmas. While his disposition is unpleasant, Kit begins to look forward to her afternoons helping him around his house as he recovers from an illness, since they afford her an opportunity to earn a bit of pocket money. In this sixth book, he comes to stay with Kit’s family for a while, and one of his favorite tasks is dictating letters to the editor, which inspires Kit to compose her own, expressing a very different point of view.

Changes for Kit is a fitting conclusion to the story because Kit draws from her experiences in each of the previous books as she decides exactly what she wants to convey to her fellow Cincinnati citizens. The activist tone that is latent in earlier volumes finally comes to the forefront as Kit’s experiences with hoboes and other homeless people inform her desire to make a difference.

Like the rest of the books in the series, this one is written by Valerie Tripp, and she writes in an engaging manner, particularly when giving voice to Uncle Hendrick and Mr. Gibb. Kit’s letter to the editor is polished but also seems as though it could have been written by an 11-year-old. As always, Walter Rane provides illustrations, sometimes full-page paintings, sometimes tiny pictures for the margins, often focusing on objects that might not be familiar to a modern audience.

Changes for Kit works as a stand-alone story, but it’s best read as the culmination of the series. While the events within it are not as dramatic as in the movie, they are a tad more realistic, and the book offers encouragement to pre-teen readers that there are ways to make a positive impact upon the local community even at a young age.

Hold Out for the Full Season If You're Going to Invest in Flashforward

Toward the end of LOST’s fifth season, ABC began scattering cryptic flashes throughout the commercials. A kangaroo here, a wedding there, never for more than a couple of seconds, followed by the words “What did you see?” I assumed that these were meant to be mysterious clues for what was coming up in the season finale. Then I found out that they were hinting at another series altogether, one whose very name - Flashforward - seemed designed to snatch up the LOST-loving crowd.

Flashforward did not take its name from LOST; it was based on a book of the same title that predates the desert island drama by several years. Nonetheless, everything from the manner of advertisement and timing of the series introduction to the cast and elements used throughout the show suggests that ABC intended for it to replace LOST as a puzzling serial involving a strange event and a diverse cast of characters. Or at least they wanted it to be a contender, with V also vying for the title. In that contest, V was the victor, though I think most who were hoping for “the next LOST” would say that the drama about deceptive aliens and human revolutionaries doesn’t quite fill in the gap.

Flashforward begins with a global blackout. Nearly everyone on the planet falls unconscious and flashes to a point several months in the future, each seeing a different vision. It doesn’t take long for people to compare notes and discover that all of the flashforwards take place at the same time on the same day. FBI agent Mark Benford (Joseph Fiennes) creates a database where people can discuss the contents of their visions, hoping to gradually create a full picture of the events of that day. Meanwhile, individuals grapple with what they saw or didn’t see and, like time-addled Desmond in LOST’s third season, wonder whether the future can be changed - and even if it can, whether the universe will course-correct.

Aside from the premise, which seemed like the television show I’d been waiting for all my life, what drew me to LOST initially was the knowledge that the cast included Dominic Monaghan of Lord of the Rings. He became a major draw again, this time playing Simon Campos, a brilliant scientist with a dark secret. While he definitely has a sinister side, Simon has an undeniable charm, and he becomes much more sympathetic once the series delves into his backstory, which it unfortunately doesn’t do until the “spring season,” which is not included in this set.

Another draw in the cast was Sonya Walger, who played Penny, half of what is arguably the most beloved couple on LOST. Despite the popularity of the Desmond-Penny relationship and the incredible chemistry between Walger and Henry Ian Cusick, she didn’t actually appear in very many episodes, or in very many scenes in those episodes. But as Dr. Olivia Benford, Mark’s wife, she has a large role to play in every episode, interacting to some degree with almost every major character on the show. Her central conflict involves the fact that in her flashforward, she saw herself with another man. When that man, Lloyd Simcoe (Jack Davenport), shows up in her hospital as the father of one of her patients, her valiant efforts to stay away from him begin, though it seems her very attempts to keep him at arm’s length are driving him toward her. It’s strange to see Fiennes and Walger playing Americans, and they really don’t have much chemistry with each other, but that begins to feel intentional as the season goes on.

As in LOST, there are a lot of characters to keep track of, but in this case they are spread out all over L. A. While each character is connected to at least a couple of others, this is no cohesive collective, which makes connecting with individuals a bit harder, since we’re getting so many different stories at once. The largest group can be found in the FBI office, where major players include Mark’s boss Stanford Wedeck (Courtney B. Vance), who is generally cool and collected. An ethical and professional man, he remains a calm voice of reason as tempers flare around him. Janis Hawk (Christine Woods) is a no-nonsense agent who is shocked to see herself pregnant in her flashforward, while hangdog agent Shelly Vreede (Barry Shabaka Henley) is a stalwart fellow who provides subtle comic relief. The most intriguing story among the agents belongs to Mark’s partner, Demetri Noh (John Cho), who does not have a flashforward, seemingly an indication that he will die before the flashforwards take place.

Among the rest, my favorite characters are gruff Aaron Stark (Brian F. O’Byrne), a recovering alcoholic whose flashforward gives him hope of reuniting with his daughter, a solider he believed to be dead, and Olivia’s colleague, gentle, artistic Dr. Bryce Varley (Zachary Knighton), who is driven from the brink of suicide by his vision of a romantic meeting with an unknown Japanese woman.

The setting certainly doesn’t appeal to me as much as LOST; instead of a (mostly) pristine Island wilderness with sidetrips to various locales around the world, we’re rooted in a bustling metropolis that now has a slightly post-apocalyptic feel to it. The overall aura is oppressive, and though there are moments of levity - not to mention two adorable children - I couldn’t quite shake a grim, stifled feeling during most of the episodes I watched, and my attention often wandered. In this first batch of ten episodes, the only ones that completely captivated me were Scary Monsters and Super Creeps, the Halloween episode, which I found refreshingly light-hearted in places and emotionally charged in others, and Believe, the most optimistic of the bunch, which deals primarily with Bryce.

The show’s creators bragged of having a five-year plan for the show, but they failed to keep viewers sufficiently engaged to keep it on the air for more than a year. I’m not sure what they should have done differently; though it certainly didn’t capture my imagination the way LOST did, it did keep me coming back week after week, and I probably would have continued to watch had it been granted a second season. Still, there just seemed to be a certain something lacking when it came to truly caring about these characters, and despite the high caliber of the cast, I rarely felt very emotionally involved.

The season finale was filmed before the series was cancelled, so it ends on a cliffhanger. At the same time, there is a certain degree of resolution as we find out where each of the main characters is and whether his or her flashforward has come to fruition - and if so, whether it was interpreted correctly. I can’t think of any reason to have broken this season up into two DVD sets aside from a money grab. As unsatisfying as it may be to finish watching the series knowing that so much more was planned, Flashforward’s only season is still, in some sense, a complete package. The season really heats up in the second half, so you’ll want to hold off for the complete season set that comes out in the end of August rather than settling for half a season now. So while I wouldn’t recommend this particular set, I do recommend the series as a whole, despite the fact that it never quite lived up to the hype.

The Season Five LOST Soundtrack Is Appropriately Action-Packed

There are so many reasons I love LOST, the epic ABC television series that just wrapped up its sixth and final season. While I would first tell you about the complex characters or the intriguing mysteries or the deep questions the show poses, one element of the series that consistently wows me is the score, which is composed by Michael Giacchino and performed by the Hollywood Studio Symphony. As powerful as the performances are, it’s often the music in a particular scene that turns it into a true tearjerker, particularly when some version of the theme Life and Death is in force.

Season five introduced some fascinating new musical elements and further developed motifs that have been around since the beginning. As is often the case, several episodes go unrepresented, while nearly a third of them come from the finale. While I was disappointed that my favorite piece of music from the season, the theme that accompanies Rose and Bernard’s reappearance after a much-too-long absence, is not included, the tracks selected are excellent, and the photographs inside the booklet give a good sense of some of the most significant parts of the fifth season.

Making Up For Lost Time, from the season premiere, is primarily suspenseful, carrying hints of earlier themes with it, though there are also brief moments of quiet emotion in this strings-driven piece. The Swinging Bendulum is another suspenseful track, this one accompanying Ben’s failed attempt to recruit Hurley and his meeting with Eloise Hawking in which he is told how urgent the situation is. There’s a mysterious air about this song, especially with the chimes at the end, but mostly it just feels very urgent, as does Locke’s Excellent Adventure, which accompanies our first glimpses into what befell John Locke when he left the Island.

The Science of Faith slows things down a bit for a gentle, harp-tinged track that carries tiny hints of the Life and Death theme and larger hints of Locke’s main theme. One of the prettiest tracks on the album, though it too has suspenseful moments as Eloise tries to convince Jack to go along with her crazy-sounding plan. More Locke Than Locke, Together or Not Together and Through the Window, also from 316, are more reflective than action-packed. The second includes an unusual, heavily percussive variation on Life and Death, while the third captures the exhilaration and fear of knowing an Island return is imminent.

Dharma Delinquent is another track with a lot of urgency to it, while the other LaFleur track, La Fleur, is a very quiet, soothing track with piano and violin emphasizing Sawyer’s softer side. Crash and Yearn, from Namaste, has a very ominous tone to it, with oppressive-sounding strings and mysterious percussion accompanying Flight 316’s landing on the Island, as does Your Kharma Hit My Dharma from Whatever Happened, Happened.

Alex in Chains, from Dead Is Dead, is a startling track with a sad undercurrent, rooted in the moment when Ben makes a decision that will forever change his life. I Hear Dead People makes major use of chimes as Miles first becomes aware of mysterious voices in connection with a deceased person. Another mostly suspenseful track.

For the Love of the Dame begins as a very soft, slow strings-heavy track accompanying the touching moment when Daniel warns a young Charlotte to leave the Island, but the pace quickens and the tone shifts from tender to dangerous. Follow the Leader is one of the most diverse tracks, clocking it at nearly eight minutes and including moments of suspense, action and emotion as it runs underneath several key scenes in Follow the Leader.

Sawyer Jones and the Temple of Boom starts out as one of the prettiest tracks on the album, but it soon grows creepy as mysterious instrumentation is added. Eventually that makes way for the iconic “walking music,” one of LOST’s most recognizable themes, as Locke leads Richard and the Others to Jacob. The last non-finale track, it has what is probably my favorite title on the album.

The Tangled Web is one of the shortest tracks on the album, but it’s easily my favorite, as it is the one that introduces us to Jacob, and the music does such an excellent job of evoking his antiquity and enigmatic nature. The harp and the slightly squealing strings have a beautifully melancholy edge to them that helped me to be instantly sold on this character whose existence was hinted at for so long.

Dharma Disaster is mostly spooky-sounding, with plenty of ominous percussion accentuating the sense of danger in two of the finale’s most unsettling scenes. Blessings and Bombs carries hints of Jacob’s theme before launching into tense, chase-oriented music as Hurley tries to make a getaway in the Dharma van. Jack’s Swan Song has a heroic, regal sound to it as Jack steps up to the challenge that he believes he has been given.

Dharma vs Lostaways is action-oriented and tense, with the exception of a short segment toward the end that echoes Life and Death, while The Incident is all pulse-pounding urgency, with loud blasts and swirling strings evoking the feeling of a red alert, though it becomes more emotive at the end.

Jacob’s Stabber begins with a mystical edge to it as Ilana reveals what is inside the box she has brought, and the tone grows more mysterious toward the middle as Ben finally meets the man he’s tried to serve all these years. Jacob’s theme returns, this time with suspenseful undertones, before slowing way down for one of the loveliest and saddest moments on the album The final seconds of the track have a dark, harsh edge to them, leaving the CD, like the season, on a cliffhanger.

Season five is probably the most action-oriented season of LOST. Only a few episodes feature traditional flashbacks; most focus on characters in multiple timelines working to advance the immediate plot. So it’s not too surprising that most of the tracks on this album have a dangerous edge to them. I wish a couple more purely emotion-driven tracks had been included, and I especially would have liked to hear that variation on the Rose and Bernard theme that so impressed me. Nonetheless, if you love the music of LOST, you’ll want to get your hands on the season five soundtrack.

Woody, Buzz and the Gang Come to Terms With Big Changes in Toy Story 3

Pixar has not let me down before. Nonetheless, I felt some sense of trepidation when I first began seeing previews for Toy Story 3. The first two were so iconic, how could this one possibly measure up? I needn’t have worried.

The movie reunites us with several old friends from Andy’s playroom: cantankerous Mr. Potato Head (Don Rickles), shrill Mrs. Potato Head (Estelle Harris), loyal Slinky Dog (Blake Clark) and Bullseye, feisty cowgirl Jessie (Joan Cusack), the awestruck aliens (Jeff Pidgeon), insecure dinosaur Rex (Wallace Shawn), gruff pig Hamm (John Ratzenberger) and, of course, heroic space ranger Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) and stalwart cowboy Woody (Tom Hanks), the leader of the ragtag group of toys, which has grown considerably smaller.

After an exhilarating opening sequence that shows just how imaginative young Andy was, we find ourselves skipping ahead about a decade. The dreaded time of being outgrown seems to have finally arrived; the toys spend their days crammed in the toy box, cooking up fruitless schemes to attract Andy’s attention. He is off to college now, and as Andy’s mom tells him to figure out what to do with his stuff before he leaves, anxiety is running high.

In Toy Story 2, Buzz led a heroic effort to recover Woody from the clutches of an immoral toy collector while Woody struggled with the question of whether it would be worth going back to Andy if he was almost certain to cast him off one day. Woody’s devotion to Andy pays off here, as he is the one toy deemed indispensable enough to accompany him to college. But when a bag mix-up leaves his friends stranded on the side of the road, about to be picked up by the garbage, it’s the first of many times when Woody is compelled to come to their rescue. For his life may revolve around Andy, but Woody will not leave his friends in the lurch.

Toy Story 3 is a movie that can be appreciated on its own, but it’s both funnier and more poignant if you’ve followed these characters from the beginning of the trilogy. The screenplay, written by Michael Arndt, John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich, is packed with clever references to the previous films, along with allusions to such classics as Cool-Hand Luke and Lord of the Rings and beloved toys like troll dolls and Fisher-Price's Chatter Telephone.  It’s an ensemble effort, with each toy having something to contribute as they face a series of harrowing challenges.

The bulk of the action involves Sunnyside Day Care, a deceptively pleasant-looking center where Andy’s toys, along with his sister Molly’s Barbie (Jodi Benson), wind up. Feeling betrayed by Andy and looking forward to some real playtime again, they reject Woody’s pleas to return home with him. So the cowboy sets off on his own, while Buzz and his buddies remain to discover that all is not sunny at Sunnyside, despite what the seemingly benevolent Lotso Huggin’ Bear (Ned Beatty), day care kingpin, tells them upon their arrival.

There are moments in the original Toy Story that are quite frightening, but Sunnyside offers the most terrifying scenes of the trilogy as the toys are viciously assaulted by toddlers who haven’t learned how to treat their playthings with respect. When the new arrivals dare to protest their placement, Lotso and his henchmen lay down the law, using every dirty trick in the book to keep them imprisoned. Their only hope is Woody, who, after falling into the hands of a sweet, somewhat hyperactive youngster named Bonnie (Emily Hahn), must decide whether to make a break for home immediately or attempt to bust his friends out of their dangerous detention.

The sight and sound gags in the movie are plentiful, with Buzz and Mr. Potato Head particularly rich sources for hearty laughter. The introduction of Ken (Michael Keaton) as a conflicted romantic interest for Barbie creates both tension and comedy, and the complex plan the prisoners hatch together, with each toy playing a vital part, is ingeniously plotted out and executed. The toys’ “Live together, die alone” philosophy, long nurtured by the pull-string cowboy who is to them what Jack is to the castaways on LOST, remains in force throughout the movie, even in its darkest moments, which reminded me of The Brave Little Toaster, an eerie animated movie exploring similar territory.

Meanwhile, the animated short Day & Night nicely reinforces the idea of embracing the Other that was so central to the original Toy Story.  This sweet, creative short features a pair of two-dimensional characters drawn in a retro style, but each sheds light on a landscape rendered in vivid 3-D.  Aside from a radio broadcast expounding upon the theme of getting to know those who are different, the story unfolds without words.  While visual spectacle is most apparent, each of the characters goes through a range of emotions while trying to decide what to make of this curious stranger.  A strange but beautiful short, it grew on me gradually, and by the end I was thoroughly touched.

I can’t say for certain whether this will be the last of the Toy Story movies, but if that’s the case, they’ve ended the saga well, with an action-packed, zinger-filled, emotionally satisfying hour and 40 minutes. I applaud the fact that John Morris, one of the few voice actors without a famous name, voiced Andy once again. It makes the movie feel just a little more real to know that this is the same kid from the first two movies, and now he’s all grown up. The toys’ relationship with Andy has always been central to these movies, though Andy himself gets very little screen time. Here, he feels more central than before as we wonder along with most of the characters just how he feels about his old toys now. The movie answers that question in a scene likely to prompt a tear or two from even the most stoic viewers.

Toy Story 3 is a film that both entertains and challenges. While there’s plenty there to delight young viewers, it will probably be adults who walk away most affected, especially if they were around Andy’s age or parents to children around Andy’s age when they first saw Toy Story. The animation is smoother than ever, though less ground-breaking this time around, and I don’t know that the 3-D ultimately adds much to the movie. But as impressive as Pixar has always been in the visual department, not to mention music (with Randy Newman again enhancing this outing), it’s the intricate, character-rich stories that make the movies so irresistible. This third installment with the duo who started it all demonstrates that this commitment to excellent storytelling is as strong as ever.

Greaseballs and Gum-chewers Learn to Get Along in West Slide Story

I’ve been enjoying VeggieTown Values, the series of VeggieTales books geared toward 4- to 8-year-olds featuring characters from the video series and stories that spoof famous movies or TV shows. All of the books feature Junior Asparagus, a typical kid who finds himself immersed in a topical adventure every time he walks into Treasure Trove Bookstore with a problem. In West Slide Story, written by Doug Peterson and illustrated by Michael Moore, he doesn’t enter the shop alone. This time, he is accompanied by his best friend Laura Carrot, and they become a part of the story together.

Laura is basically the female equivalent of Junior. She wears dresses and ribbons, and her blond hair is in pigtails, though she has a rough-and-tumble streak despite her dainty appearance. In this story, Junior and Laura face a dilemma because their friends are fighting over the new playground, with the boys and girls taking opposite sides. Eventually they get so fed up with the bickering that they decide a bookstore break is in order, but what they really want is to convince their buddies to get along.

In most of these books, Junior (and Laura, if she tags along) winds up in a very different setting, but here they are transported to another playground full of irate children. Granted, these kids are a little different from their friends, mostly because all of the guys have greasy hair and all of the girls chew bubble gum. And the playground isn’t quite as fancy either. But the basic situation is the same, so it’s a perfect practice run.

In terms of spoofing, West Slide Story is a take-off on both West Side Story and Grease. Larry’s character, Hairbrush, seems to have been modeled after Grease’s Danny Zuko, while one of the gourds is named Rebel Without a Comb, evoking Rebel Without a Cause.

Meanwhile, the extreme animosity between the groups recalls West Side Story, though of course these are much younger children and the stakes are much lower. Instead of rumbling with dangerous weapons, these kids turn to a hula hoop contest to determine who will take possession of the playground. There’s also a nod to one of the songs in the movie.

One nice thing about this story is that almost all of the characters are kids, and the situation of youngsters forming groups and fighting with each other is one that is all too common. Laura and Junior find a clever solution to their dilemma in the world of the book they are given. While it might have been nice to see how they managed it back in the real world, the book does drive home the point that cooperation is important and that each of us can try to be a peacemaker.

I like the retro-looking cover with the large, black letters of the title and the playground in silhouette, with Junior and Laura standing out in dramatic contrast. They remain vibrant characters throughout the book, this time surrounded by other Veggies, most of whom are not established characters. Instead, it’s a colorful array of newbies who we can probably look forward to seeing in other books, hopefully this time with more placid dispositions.

Aunt Millie Demonstrates the Fun of Thriftiness in Happy Birthday, Kit!

The American Girl series uses books and dolls to teach pre-teen girls about various periods in America’s history. Kit Kittredge is a spunky tomboy whose story begins in 1934, when the Great Depression begins to have a major effect on her cozy lifestyle. Happy Birthday, Kit! is the fourth in a series of six books charting the changes in her life over the year and half following the closing of her dad’s car dealership.

Before I read the books, I watched the movie Kit Kittredge: An American Girl. Of the six, only one book is less represented in the movie than this one. The main thing that carries over to the film is her adoption of a droopy hound dog and her efforts to sell eggs to her neighbors. The most significant side character in this book doesn’t make it to the big screen, and that’s a shame because she’s a lot of fun.

Happy Birthday, Kit! begins with the arrival of “Aunt Millie,” the woman who raised Kit’s father for much of his childhood. An effusive woman with a host of funny country expressions and oodles of tips for making ends meet during tough times, she becomes Kit’s roommate, an arrangement which the budding reporter mostly loves. She finds her ideas so interesting that she begins putting them into a book, with some help from her best friend Ruthie and Stirling, an artistic boy who is one of several boarders in the Kittredge home.

Although the story is set in the 1930s, some of Aunt Millie’s tricks seem like they could be useful today, and certainly her general air of cheerful thriftiness is something worth emulating. Valerie Tripp writes the character with great affection and personality, making me wonder whether she might have grown up with a mentor like this in her own life. Meanwhile, Walter Rane fills the margins with interesting thumbnails, like a portrait of William Shakespeare (who Millie loves to quote) and an old-fashioned sewing machine. Full-page illustrations focus on key moments among characters, like when Kit and Millie, assisted by others in the family, plant a vegetable garden.

The main point of this particular volume seems to be showing how fun it can be to think shrewdly about money. For the most part, Kit embraces her aunt’s suggestions, generally finding them ingenious and not minding so much if they’re strange. But she also keeps her home life strictly separated from her classroom, and she doesn’t want her classmates to know how hard her family has to work just to get by. Hence, there’s also a lesson in dealing with potential peer ridicule.

I enjoyed all of the installments in the Kit series, but I think this one is my favorite because there’s such a sense of joy that pervades it. Kit’s family is not on stable financial ground by any means, but they’re managing, and thanks to Aunt Millie, they have a lot of excellent ways to stretch their resources just a little further, whether it’s by patching shoes or adding dandelion greens to the dinner salad. It’s a very optimistic book offering hope that with some creativity and teamwork, families and friends can endure difficult times and even have fun in the process.

Adventures Abound in Matilda Turnip's Endless Belly Button

It's been said that Hugo Reyes, LOST's compassionate, "dude"-spouting, Star Wars-loving millionaire, is the heart of the series. It wouldn't be much of a stretch to say that Jorge Garcia, the actor who portrays him, is the heart of its fandom. Certainly, of those directly involved with the show, he boasts a visibility and accessibility to which only head writers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse can compare. Because of his blog, many fans became well acquainted with Bethany Shady, his delightfully zany girlfriend, who has her own blog and who, for LOST's final season, co-hosted a weekly podcast with him.

After listening to her funny, insightful observations week after week, I knew I would have to purchase her picture book, Matilda Turnip's Endless Belly Button. It didn't hurt that the title alone made me giggle, especially when paired up with illustrator Joshua Peters' vibrant cover.

When I hear the name Matilda, my thoughts first turn to Roald Dahl's lonely, precocious youngster, whose brainpower is such that she is able to accomplish telekinesis. Like the unfortunate Matilda Wormwood, Matilda Turnip lives in an oppressive home environment and discovers that she possesses an unusual gift: a peculiar belly button capable of leading her on a series of strange adventures.

She leaves behind her neglectful mother, who naps constantly under the gaze of the portrait of Matilda's dearly departed father, and embarks upon a journey with Rourke, the spotted mouse who is her constant companion. Rather like the castaways on LOST, she is propelled forward on a quest whose purpose she doesn't understand and whose destination is unclear. But whenever her itchy belly button produces the next step in the process - the string on a giant yoyo, the sail of a mighty ship - she embraces the new challenges that ensue.

Peters' illustrations are quite endearing, especially his depictions of dimpled, freckly, wild-haired Matilda. Each of the characters springs to life under his pen. I especially like the grizzled old man who accompanies her on a high seas trek and Earp, the tall, majestic fellow she meets during the final portion of her adventure. Throughout most of the book, the illustrations take up the entire page, though some are smaller and set apart from the page with a thick outline.

Shady tells her tale in rhyme, and while the scansion isn't always perfect, the book reads like a lilting bedtime story, full of the sorts of elements a young child might ask a parent to include. I find myself reminded of the Irish Rovers song Stop, Look, Listen, which refers to "tales to warm your mind" involving such characters as gypsy kings, flying horses and singing orangutans. Here, we get carousing sea creatures, bushes made of cake and a mysterious totem pole.

One might argue that Matilda has a rather passive role in the proceedings, but she always has the option of ignoring that odd itching, and instead she chooses to follow its whims and make the best of whatever happens next. And what does she find when her belly button itches for the final time? A fitting close to her exhausting but exhilarating experience.

This is the first book Shady has published; I trust it will not be the last. If she continues to work with Peters, so much the better, since his imaginative pictures complement her verse so well. For now, Matilda Turnip's Endless Belly Button comes recommended for any child who's fond of dreaming big - as big as a certain actor who, in a blurb on the back, notes, "This book is awesome!" I am inclined to agree.

Junior Fights Fear in Outer Space in Lost in Place

I’ve long been a fan of both Star Trek and Swiss Family Robinson, so it’s surprising to me that up until this week, I had never watched Lost in Space, the 1960s show about a futuristic Robinson family who have intergalactic adventures far from Earth. I finally decided to rectify that after reading Lost in Place, a picture book in the VeggieTown Values series. Written by Cindy Kenney and illustrated by Michael Moore, this story incorporates several popular characters from the VeggieTales series and uses them to illustrate a lesson about not being crippled by fear, which was also the subject of the very first Veggie video.

In this book, Junior Asparagus is playing hide and seek with his friend Laura Carrot. He hides a little too well, and she gives up on finding him, leaving him to finally emerge when it’s dark. Alone and afraid, he sees monsters in the shadows and is on the verge of full-blown panic when his parents manage to track him down. He is safe, but the experienced has so traumatized him that he no longer wants to leave the house. However, he consents to a trip to the bookstore with his parents so he can pick out something to occupy his interest for the afternoon.

Treasure Trove Bookstore is run by an Irish potato named Mr. O’Malley who has a knack for knowing exactly which book is needed for each situation. For Junior, he selects the saga of a family traveling through space unsure of how to reach their destination. As with the other books in this series, Junior is transported to the story, interacting with the characters and helping them to solve their problem.

The pictures have a flatter quality to them than the animation in a typical Veggie video, but the colors are vibrant and the nods to the series are creative. Larry the Cucumber is Don Quest, the enthusiastic pilot, while the Grape family, led by Pa Grape, is the Rattleson family, whose children share names with their Lost in Space counterparts, Judy, Will and Penny.

Accompanying them is a robot with a fish tank for a head and Dr. Smirk, a gourd with a very shifty look about him. I was unaware of the character of Dr. Smith on the show, so watching it helped me understand the inspiration for this character. Initially I wondered if he might be an homage to Spock, but sticking a Star Trek character in the middle of a Lost in Space spoof seemed a little out of place, and his personality isn’t very Spock-like.

As with the rest of the books in this series, Lost in Place is best appreciated by those familiar with the source material. Additionally, its plot isn’t quite as strong as the others in the series. Once Junior finds his own courage and convinces his new friends not to be afraid, they stop panicking, and everyone starts to think more clearly, which allows them to figure out what went wrong in the first place and formulate a plan for setting things right. It works, especially since it turns out their wayward journey started with a fearful action, but the connection might not be all that apparent at first.

Nonetheless, for Veggie lovers who are happy to let their geek flags fly, Lost in Place is a fun story with an encouraging message.

Kit Learns to Endure Through Hard Times in Meet Kit

Last year, my friend Libbie and I watched Kit Kittredge: An American Girl, the first big-screen adaptation of the American Girl series of books and dolls that features young heroines from a variety of historical periods. Plucky Kit is a Depression-era aspiring journalist, and her story, set in 1934, seems to resonate especially deeply during this time of financial uncertainty. We both enjoyed the movie, so when Libbie got ahold of the book collection and suggested I read it too, I happily complied.

I became familiar with American Girl when I was about 10, and I read several of the books involving pioneer Kirsten, Victorian Samantha and World War II-era Molly. Kit came along later, but her stories follow the same basic pattern. Each series features the same six titles, but with different character names. In this case, the introductory volume is Meet Kit, and it tells us everything we need to know about the young protagonist and her immediate family.

Valerie Tripp and illustrator Walter Rane fill their tale with details pertaining to the time period; as the narration or one of the characters brings up an object or concept that may be unfamiliar to modern readers, a tiny picture of it is provided in the margin. The first of these is the clunky old typewriter that Kit uses to type up the “newspapers” she writes for her father and other members of her household.

Marginal illustrations like this appear on nearly every page, while each chapter also has one or two full- or half-page paintings featuring Kit and the other characters. My favorite of these in the first book shows a sulky Kit sitting on the steps, moping after an unfair incident, while her understanding older brother Charlie tries to put her troubles into perspective.

Having seen the movie first, I found it interesting to compare some of the choices made in the adaptation. For instance, Charlie is cut out of the film altogether, and I can understand why, given the time constraints and the desire to focus as much as possible on Kit’s independence. But in the books, he is a warm, supportive presence, and he ended up being one of my favorite characters. Similarly, Mr. Kittredge has a much smaller role in the movie, but in the books, we get a fairly intimate look at his struggles to provide for his family in the wake of his job loss.

Meet Kit explains some of the reasons for the Depression and shows us how a family’s situation could go from prosperous to precarious rather quickly. Kit’s family lives in a large house, and she and her best friend Ruthie, an imaginative girl who loves fairy tales as much as Kit loves news briefs, have never wanted for anything. But the situation hits close to home when Mrs. Kittredge’s friend is evicted from her house, prompting Kit’s mother to offer a room to the woman and her delicate, artistically inclined son Stirling. This act of generosity inspires a way to stay afloat financially, a plan that means big changes for Kit, especially in terms of her living arrangements and her chore load.

Later installments deal more heavily with some of the tricks and tools Kit and her family learn for saving money and stretching meager materials. Though the stories are set 75 years ago, many of the tips have modern-day applicability, making these not only engaging tales that teach about the past but also treasure troves of thrifty advice. The friendship Kit and Ruthie share and begin to develop with Stirling is another positive aspect, as each is very different but learns to respect each other’s strengths and perspectives. Later books introduce a variety of other characters who further demonstrate the importance of treating those who are different with compassion and dignity. Meet Kit lays the groundwork for more powerful encounters and deepening relationships, and once you have met Kit and those closest to her, there’s a good chance you’ll want to visit them again.

Junior Asparagus Learns the Value of Giving in Cool Hand Cuke

I love VeggieTales, the main creation of Christian media company Big Idea, and own nearly all of the videos in the ever-expanding series. But it occurred to me recently that there is a significant gap when it comes to my familiarity with their books, of which I’ve only read a few. With some help from my local library, I’ve decided to amend that as best I can this summer.

Being a bit of a movie connaisseur, I was delighted to realize that VeggieTales has a whole line of books largely inspired by classic movies. As is generally the case with this series, the kids get a lesson presented in a fun manner, while adults can enjoy all the little winks at a beloved piece of pop culture. Cindy Kenney’s Cool Hand Cuke, illustrated by Michael Moore, has a plot that is only tangentially related to the Paul Newman film Cool Hand Luke, but it’s fun to look through the book for places where Kenney alludes to the movie.

From what I have seen of the books in this VeggieTown Values series, it appears that each book employs the framing device of Junior Asparagus, the everykid of the Veggie world, having some sort of problem to deal with, and working his way through it by entering into a book offered to him by Mr. O’Malley, the wise proprietor of the Treasure Trove Bookstore. After a stint as observer and participant in a story that effectively illustrates how to deal with the issue currently facing him, he returns to the “real world,” ready to tackle whatever comes next.

Cool Hand Cuke is a lesson in giving. At the beginning, Junior is waiting tables alongside Laura Carrot, and he’s frustrated because he’s wasting a beautiful day working instead of having fun and, worst of all, he doesn’t get to keep the money, since all the cash raised on this day goes to the local hospital. Doesn’t seem very worth it to him. So when he finds himself out in the country with a couple of cheerful farmhands, he’s surprised at how willing they are to do chores when it is others - again, residents at a local hospital - who benefit from their labor.

Larry the Cucumber is Cool Hand Cuke, while Bob the Tomato is his faithful pal Hot Hand Tomato and Pa Grape, clad in sunglasses and a cowboy hat, is their boss. Throughout the story are little nods to Cool Hand Luke, most notably a twist on the famous line “What we got here is... failure to communicate.” There’s also an amusing Veggified version of Luke’s amazing egg-gobbling feat.

While the illustration style in these books is not the lush computer-animated technique viewers of the videos are used to, all of the characters are still very recognizable in their slightly flatter forms, and throughout the book are plenty of vibrant colors and amusing props. It’s also fun to go through the pages and inspect the minor characters to see which of them is a familiar Veggie face in disguise.

For those who are happy to be acquainted with the Veggie gang, Cool Hand Cuke makes for good summery reading, demonstrating that money for oneself isn’t the only worthwhile payoff for a job well done.

Brighten Up Your Day With the Irish Rovers' The Boys Come Rollin' Home

In the past couple of years, I’ve fiercely latched onto the music group Celtic Thunder, which, as of the latest album, consists of two singers from Ireland, three from Northern Ireland and one from Scotland. I can’t get enough of their melodious tones. But long before that band existed, I was listening to the Irish Rovers, those wildly entertaining Irish-Canadian balladeers who have been bringing their blend of traditional and pop music to appreciative audiences for nearly half a century.

The first time I saw them in concert, I purchased The Boys Come Rollin’ Home, a collection of tunes from 1992 that is probably my favorite of their albums from the last two decades. A few years after this album was cut, Will Millar, the most prominent of the voices on many of the songs, dropped out, and Jimmy Ferguson died. Though I love the later addition of husky-voiced John Reynolds, it’s hard to think of the albums from the past decade or so as being quite the same incarnation of the Irish Rovers. This is the old guard here: cheeky, fluty-voiced Will; deep-voiced Jimmy; robust George Millar; resonant Joe Millar, so suited to romantic ballads; and accordionist Wilcil McDowell. It’s the same guys, but they’re no longer the lanky lads whose dulcet voices sang me to sleep from the record player when I was a tot. They’ve matured, and they’ve hit an apex of harmonic unity.

When the Boys Come Rollin’ Home - Irish music is full of songs honoring one’s hometown and dealing with the pain of leaving, along with the anticipation of a return that may or may not occur. Three of the songs on this album fit within this general category. While the other two have a more wistful tone to them, this one, written by Tommy Sands, is upbeat, even though the speaker spends the bulk of the song away from home and still is unsure, by the end, if he will ever make it back. It’s a rollicking tune about the necessities that drive a man to leave his hometown and the memories that keep him rooted there even when he’s lived far away for most of his life. A great way to kick off the album.

The Spanish Lady - This traditional tune is another lively one, a spirited back-and-forth between a series of suitors and a Spanish lady who knows just what she wants in a husband and will not settle for less. One of many Rovers songs in which Will voices a female character, this time to comic effect, and Joe does a bang-up job on the spoons.

Lorena - A sleepy tune about true loves separated by time and distance, and a chance to slow things down a bit.

Killiburn Brae - We needed a break before this one, because this raucous ballad will wear you out if you try singing along with it. A very fast-paced song, it reads like an extended version of a barroom joke. The gist of it is that a man has a wife who’s such a holy terror that even the Devil, who offers to take her off his hands, gets so sick of her that he winds up returning her to the beleaguered farmer. A bit naughty, and an absolute hoot to hear in concert.

Music in the Glen - A short, purely instrumental track designed to get people dancing a jig in their own living rooms. The percussion and accordion are particularly prominent here.

The Sand and the Foam - It’s always a kick for me when the Rovers cover the work of an artist I love completely independent of any association with them. That happens here as they sing this melancholy reflection by the magnificent Dan Fogelberg about the inevitable passage of time and the erosion that comes with it. This is one of his lovelier songs, made especially poignant with his death a couple of years ago.

The Bonnie Lady - Seafaring songs are always a pretty sure bet on a Rovers album, and this one brings us two. Both are upbeat and rowdy, but in this one, the lyrics are as optimistic-sounding as the tune. This is a guy who loves being a sea captain and wouldn’t trade his job for anything in the world, and his joy is just palpable.

Las Vegas in the Hills of Donegal - On the third Celtic Thunder album, Keith Harkin covers The Homes of Donegal, a stirring ode to a fondly remembered hometown. It’s quite affecting, but I had to kinda chuckle when I first heard it because my first exposure to Donegal came through this song, and the impression is very different. Far from a cozy little hamlet, I get the impression of a den of debauchery, or at least that’s what the speaker wants to make it. One of the most piano-driven and rockin’ songs on the album, this Pat Gallagher song has the speaker dreaming of Donegal as a haven, but of a very different kind, and the comical lyrics have a hard edge to them as he rhapsodizes about all the different types of gambling he’d like to see in his very own gated Donegal community.

The Shadow of O’Casey - A hauntingly beautiful ode to Sean O’Casey, one of Ireland’s most famous playwrights, and the centerpiece of a biographical musical penned by Tommy Sands. Nobody conveys depths of affection through music quite like Will Millar, and that really comes across here, while the lower voices in the group provide really nice contrast throughout the chorus. While this is about a historical figure, it has a fanciful folk hero quality to it that reminds me of several of my favorite old-timey Rovers songs, particularly The Minstrel of Cranberry Lane and Penny Whistle Peddler from Tales to Warm Your Mind, my favorite of their albums.

The Irish Rover - This is where the band got its name, and although it’s really a tragic tale along the lines of the Decemberists’ The Mariner’s Revenge or Gordon Lightfoot’s The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, the song is so darned peppy that you kinda forget that everybody on this doomed sea voyage is dropping like flies. I’ve heard several versions of this song, and the Rovers themselves have recorded significantly different variations, but this one is probably my favorite. Never has a shipwreck sounded more exuberant...

Travellin’ Man - There’s a hit by Ricky Nelson with the same name, and while it’s a completely different song, the gist of it is the same. No surprise that a band with the name Irish Rovers would have a lot of songs about guys on the move, never staying in any one place for very long. My favorite song of this type is The Tinker, which appears on the Rovers’ Come Fill Up Your Glasses and was written and performed by Reynolds; it captures all the more romantic associations of such a lifestyle - the freedom of the road, the opportunity to forge brief but meaningful relationships every day - and ignores the philandering element present in so many songs in this vein, including this one.

Isle of Innisfree - Up until Ryan Kelly’s The Village That They Call the Moy gave it the bump when I first heard it last year, this eloquent Richard Farrelly tune, heard without words in the John Wayne movie The Quiet Man, was my favorite Irish hometown ode. There are a great many of these, but few can boast such an achingly gorgeous melody or such dreamy lyrics that instantly make one want to claim Innisfree as one’s own home. One of Joe’s signature vocal performances, I’ve loved it from the moment he began to sing it at my first Irish Rovers concert.

Bold O’Donahue - Another rowdy song along the lines of Travelin’ Man. The speaker is a rake and proud of it, I think, though the lyrics come so quickly that I have a pretty tough time understanding what the heck he’s saying, especially toward the end of the chorus, which pretty much dissolves into nonsense. I don’t make much of an effort to sing along to this one. Still, it’s fun to listen to.

Bonnie Kellswater - Another tender hometown ode showcasing Joe’s pipes. For some reason I’ve never connected to this song as much as I have to most of the others in this vein, and I really couldn’t say why. It’s a perfectly nice song, and it’s less of a downer than many of these because it seems that the speaker managed to gain this deep appreciation for his home without ever leaving it or the hometown girl he loves so ardently.

Let the Good Guys Win - The album closes rather as it began, with an upbeat expression of hope for what might happen in the future. This is a fairly hard-rocking, electrified song that reminds me a lot of Forever Young. It’s basically a series of benedictions, which is certainly a very Irish phenomenon, though Jimmy sounds as though he’s trying to emulate a country singer here. It’s a rather unusual sound for the Rovers, but I really like it, and it’s a very cheerful way to end the album.

If you like Irish music or folk-rock in general, the Irish Rovers merge skilled instrumentals, complementary voices, memorable melodies and intricate lyrics to create a sound that satisfies me every time. If you’re looking for something upbeat, The Boys Come Rollin’ Home has a much lower tragedy quotient than usual, and most of the really depressing stuff is masked with maddeningly peppy melodies so you don’t really notice it. Meanwhile, the happy stuff is enough to leave you smiling for a long time to come.

Star Wars Meets Exodus in VeggieTales' Frog Wars

It’s a beautiful thing when two of my favorite fictional worlds collide. This happens quite a bit with VeggieTales, a Christian video series that has expanded to include books, CDs and toys. In print or on screen, the creative minds behind the Veggies (and fruits) often transport the colorful cast to familiar literary locales. Some of my favorite outings have spoofed Lord of the Rings, Indiana Jones, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Wizard of Oz.

While the most complete Veggie experience comes through the videos, there are some very cute books out there incorporating the Veggie gang. One series of picture books uses popular movies to impart important lessons. So far there are eight, including spoofs on West Side Story, Field of Dreams, Lost in Space, The Sword in the Stone, Ben Hur, Cool Hand Luke, The Blues Brothers and Star Wars.

It’s the Star Wars one that I have; I was feeling in need of an extra shot of perseverance, and this uber-geek couldn’t resist the cover. It wasn’t until I got home that I realized I’d received this very book as a free gift back when I was involved in the VeggieMoms home party program, but I don’t mind; the books are inexpensive, and I’m sure I can find somebody who would appreciate the story as much as I do.

Entitled Frog Wars, this book by Cindy Kenney and Doug Peterson is one of two Veggie adaptations of the Biblical account of Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt. The other is the video Moe and the Big Exit, which sets the story in the American West, giving it the feel of an old John Wayne movie. It’s quite lush and elaborate-looking, while the illustration style in Frog Wars is flatter and more stylized.

Junior Asparagus is the main character, and he is simply himself, a rambunctious boy who wants to play a musical instrument but quickly grows discouraged because he isn’t progressing quickly enough. The main story is framed by his struggles to play the tuba and to determine whether he should stick with it or try yet another new instrument. His mother, advising him to get a more basic instruction book, sends him off to the Treasure Trove bookstore, where, in a scene reminiscent of The Never-Ending Story, he falls into the tome kindly Mr. O’Malley selects for him, and that’s where he spends most of the book.

Kenney and Peterson clearly had a lot of fun matching up Veggie characters to those in the Star Wars universe. Affable Larry the Cucumber becomes Cuke Sandwalker, who quickly welcomes Junior and apprises him of the situation. Cuke is a slave, as is Madame Blueberry’s Princess Hair-Spraya and their adorable Pea buddies, Achoo Bless-U and Sweet-Pea-3-Oh. Ultimately, they are mostly there for decoration, and for the sake of a couple of groan-worthy puns that infiltrate the story. The major player here is Mo.

Mo is Bob the Tomato, and he’s meant to resemble both Obi-Wan Kenobi and Moses. He has a brown hooded robe and a bushy white beard and a light saber / walking stick. He’s the one who must confront Mr. Nezzer’s Dark Visor, the nefarious zucchini who is counting on the frog god Ribbit to help him continue to oppress the many citizens under his rule. As Mo faces Dark Visor again and again, Junior begins to understand what his mother meant when she told him about perseverance.

The contours of the plot are very basic, and generally they have more in common with the book of Exodus than with George Lucas’s epic. None of the other characters are alluded to, except that the elderly Mr. O’Malley serves as a wise advisor and, at the end of the book, winkingly delivers a Yoda-ish line. Those who are already familiar with Star Wars will probably smile, while those who aren’t will probably wonder why the previously perfectly articulate potato is suddenly spouting such garbled syntax. But that’s always the danger of inside jokes like that.

Frog Wars is written with the 4- to 8-year-old set in mind. While the story is more fun for those will understand why all of these characters are wearing such funny costumes and will cotton on to the wordplay involving some of the trilogy’s catchphrases, it’s presented in a manner that is entertaining for those who, like Junior, find this landscape entirely foreign. So step into a galaxy far, far away as the Veggies demonstrate the importance of perseverance.

Lose Yourself in Harmonic Richness With Straight No Chaser's With a Twist

In December of 2008, I was at work, with the radio tuned into the station playing all Christmas music, all the time. A version of The 12 Days of Christmas came on, and at first I didn’t pay much attention, as it’s one of those songs that tends to annoy me more often than not. But then I realized that there was something significantly different about this rendition - that its purpose was, in fact, to skewer the song as thoroughly as possible while joyously tearing through the Christmas carol catalog, taking as many merry melodies down with it as possible. I love Christmas music; if it were considered a genre in and of itself, it would be my favorite genre. But this song celebrated and mocked simultaneously, and by the time Toto’s Africa showed up in the last verse of the song like a bolt out of the blue, I just about collapsed laughing, grateful that I had no customers in the store at that moment to observe my descent into lunacy.

The name of the group was Straight No Chaser, and I was hardly the only person to latch onto their extraordinary performance of that song. It became a YouTube sensation, then hit the radio waves, leading this one-time college a cappella group to cut a full Christmas album, and then another, and, most recently, a third album for any ol’ time of year. I’ve listened to the Christmas albums with relish but have yet to add them to my collection, so With a Twist became my first Straight No Chaser purchase. I suspect it will soon be followed by concert tickets, as they’re coming to Erie in November and something tells me that I won’t want to miss that. But for now, I’m content to listen to the brilliant harmonies of this fantastic choral group - Ryan Ahlwardt, Walter Chase, Jerome Collins, Seggie Isho, Michael Luginbill, Charlie Mechling, Dan Ponce, David Roberts, Randy Stine and Tyler Trepp - who breathe new life into classic songs with their inspired, instrument-free arrangements.

I’m Yours / Over the Rainbow - These two songs go together so well that it seems like they were always written to be a medley. The Wizard of Oz anthem has experienced a resurgence in popularity lately thanks to the wonderfully mellow Hawaiian-styled version by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole, which he matches up with Wonderful World. I’ve always felt I’m Yours had a very Hawaiian sound to it, and it complements Over the Rainbow as perfectly as Wonderful World. Instead of a medley celebrating the joy of life in general, we get an ode to the beauty of romantic love, and every time I listen to their carefully articulated rendition, I am impressed again at the intricacy of Jason Mraz’s rhyme pattern. A wonderful group effort and one of my favorite tracks on the album.

Tainted Love - A fun, slightly dangerous-sounding track. I’ve never been a huge fan of the song, and it’s one of the tracks I’ll sometimes skip, but they still do a great job with it, with Luginbill standing out as the soloist as he does in the first track.

Don’t Dream It’s Over - Ahlwardt takes the lead in this inspirational song that is one of many on the album that seem to have a lot of resonance with LOST, though it may just be that I can’t help seeing everything through that lens nowadays. Smooth and encouraging, it acknowledges the inevitability of difficult times but offers assurance that the good will prevail.

Fix You - Luginbill and Collins share soloist duties on this Coldplay anthem, another inspirational song that has even deeper LOST resonances. For me, it sounds like a song from Christian Shephard to his son Jack. Both are “fixers,” which is both a good and noble thing and a liability. But this is about a renewed, repentant Christian trying to reach out to his broken son: “But if you never try, you’ll never know / just what you’re worth. / Lights will guide you home...” In any event, it’s a lovely song, and of all the individual voices in the group, Collins’ smooth, soulful tone is the one I find the most soothing.

You’re My Best Friend - A very peppy, upbeat number that gives each of the guys a chance to shine individually. Just a summery, feel-good song. I haven’t latched onto this one quite as much as some of the others, but it’s a great song, and Queen’s rich harmonic sound is wonderfully suited to their style.

The Living Years - Probably my favorite track on the album. I always really liked this wistful song that, like Cat’s in the Cradle, reads like a cautionary tale against fractured father-son relationships. This one somehow feels more hopeful, and almost has a gospel flavor to it. While Harry Chapin’s classic focuses purely on the failure of one broken relationship, the speaker in this one spends the whole song reflecting and actively encouraging the listeners to learn from his mistakes. Again, there’s a whole lotta LOST here, and it’s easy to imagine Jack being the speaker, regretting his lost opportunities to communicate clearly with his father. “I wasn’t there that morning when my father passed away. / I didn’t get to tell him all the things I had to say...” Ahlwardt does an absolutely beautiful job with the lead vocals, and I love both the staccato percussion, which sounds like the persistent patter of raindrops, and the tight harmonies on the chorus driving home the message.

You & Me & the Bottle Makes Three / Single Ladies - Guess we needed a bit of a break after the solemnity of the last track. This one is a jazzy ode to drinking mashed up with Beyonce’s maddeningly catchy ditty that just won’t go away. Ponce and Collins are the lead vocalists on this one. It’s fun but frivolous and another one that I sometimes skip, though I love some of the deep-voiced interjections during the first portion of the song, as they remind me of Rockapella, the first group to make me fall in love with this style of music.

Wonderwall - This Oasis song was popular when I was in high school, but it wasn’t until the third season of LOST, when it became Charlie’s personal anthem, that I really came to love it. Now I can’t listen to it without being reminded of the intense relationship between this washed-up rock star and the frazzled Scottish sailor who believes it’s his duty to save him from an unfair fate. “Maybe you’re gonna be the one that saves me...” The soulful qualities in Collins’ voice are especially evident in this song, which is about as close as any track comes to being a pure solo effort, though of course as always his vocals are enhanced by the harmonic backing of the rest.

Joy to the World - Ahlwardt, Trepp and Chase share soloist duties on this unusual take on the Three Dog Night hit. Straight No Chaser‘s version is even more repetitive than the original, and it has an interesting minor tone to it, along with some strange rhythmic choices. It almost doesn’t sound recognizable, but it’s fun to hear such a familiar song performed in such a new way.

Under the Bridge - This song, oddly enough, was one that was introduced to me by Weird Al Yankovic. Despondent but ultimately hopeful, it’s another one that benefits from Collins’ stirring vocals, and another one that reminds me of LOST’s Jack, this time recalling his darkest moments when he was contemplating suicide in Los Angeles. “I don't ever wanna feel like I did that day. / Take me to the place I love, take me all the way.”

Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You - Like Joy to the World, an enthusiastic new take on an oldies staple. Collins again takes the lead here, but this is a very harmonically dense track, so it’s more of a group effort than many of his solo turns. Another very feel-good kind of song that gets more complex as it goes along.

One Voice - This makes a neat capper to the album because Barry Manilow joins the guys, taking the lead vocals himself, later to be joined by Collins and Luginbill. It’s an extremely fitting way to end this album, as it’s all about voices joining together. The lyrics are a wonderful tribute to what makes Straight No Chaser so impressive, while also encouraging listeners to add their own voice to the chorus, whether literally or metaphorically. Some of the most intricate harmonies on the album are appropriately found here. “All it takes is one voice / Singing so they hear what's on your mind / And when you look around you'll find / There's more than one voice / Singing in the darkness...”

If you dig a cappella music, you’re sure to find Straight No Chaser a delightful addition to your list of favorite artists. And if you’ve never listened to much music in this style, give them a shot; you might just fall in love with them as so many folks did when that little video of their decade-old Christmas performance made its way onto YouTube.

Shrek Forever After Brings the Happily Ever After

Back in 2007, May brought with it a trio of third installments at the cineplex. I was determined to see them all, and I did, but the third time isn’t always the charm. It certainly wasn’t in the case of Shrek. So I worried that the fourth, and allegedly final, volume in the twisted but tended saga of the grumpy green ogre with a heart of gold would fizzle. And yet as the previews sneaked their way into nearly every commercial break as I watched the LOST finale, I realized that this was perhaps my most anticipated movie of the summer. And I began to think that number four might just make up for the disappointment of number three.

Shrek Forever After is not a wholly original story, but then the Shrek franchise has always been about taking familiar stories and putting new twists on them. In addition to the multitude of traditional fairy tale characters, including sinister newbie Rumpelstiltskin, you’ll find similarities to It’s a Wonderful Life, The Princess Bride and Disney’s version of Beauty and the Beast. Which, of course, is a traditional fairy tale in and of itself, but the echoes of the specific Disney version are particularly strong, just as they were in the first movie.

In many ways, it’s a return to the beginning, with the main difference being that Shrek knows where he has been, and he is aware that he’s more than just a surly ogre. I’ve noticed that many stories being written lately have employed a reboot device of some kind; I guess it’s a creative way of treading old territory in new ways. In this case, we see that Shrek (Mike Myers) has grown rather weary of his domestic bliss. He loves his wife and children, but the monotony is getting him down, as is the sense that his domestication has somehow emasculated him. And when enough little irritations pile up, it turns the docile family man into a raging beast who is so desperate for a change that he’s willing to enter into a bargain with the seedy Rumpel (Walt Dohm) in hopes of letting off a little steam.

It’s at this point that the movie begins to bear a great resemblance to the last season of LOST, as it’s once again the lovelorn Scotsman who is aware of two separate realities and who must try to get his old friends to remember each other, and him. In this case, the problem is that Rumpel tricked Shrek into negating his own birth. Unless he can convince Fiona (Cameron Diaz), in this reality a fierce warrior princess, to kiss him - and to truly mean it - before the end of the day, he will cease to exist, and Far Far Away will forever be ruled by a diminutive tyrant with a wide array of wigs to suit each of his moods.

Rumpel is the most significant new character in the film, and he really is creepy. I find him quite a convincing villain, and more threatening than any of the others the franchise has offered up, in part because he is so adept at figuring out what people want and tempting them with it in such a way that it seems they can’t lose. At the same time, however, as soon as Shrek gets his initial burst of old-timey rampaging out of his system and returns to his senses, Rumpel loses a lot of his power. It seems like an affirmation that evil may loom large, but ultimately it can’t come close to equaling the power of good. As Shrek gains strength with each new ally he makes and each friend he recovers, Rumpel grows more and more desolate as even his sycophants begin to drop off, either defecting or fighting among themselves.

Also new to this tale is a whole colony of ogres ruled by a ferocious Fiona who, never having been rescued from the tower, had to fight her way out and has since become a master military schemer. Among these ogres, Shrek is rather puny-looking, and it’s funny to see him in contrast to those who have embraced their slimier natures. Yet the ogres still come across as noble because they are fighting a corrupt government, and I definitely got a whiff or two of Braveheart as they plotted to bring down the oppressive rule keeping them underground. My favorite of the new ogres is Cookie (Craig Robinson), a jumbo fellow with the build and disposition of Hagrid, but considerably better culinary skills. While his comrades talk weapons and maneuvers, his chief concern is feeding the troops.

I find Shrek at his most lovable yet throughout the course of this movie as he valiantly strives to undo the mess he has made, but the one character in this series who has always had pride of place in my heart is hyper, sweet-as-candy Donkey (Eddie Murphy), and that remains the case. As expected, his awakening comes first, since he is such a pure, open-hearted character, though there’s still a process to it, and I found myself very touched by the way his initial violent resistance to Shrek’s overtures of friendship gives way to trust, to the point when Shrek begins to tell him the most fantastical of tales about his alternate life and Donkey responds not with skepticism but with exuberant acceptance. Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas) follows a similar path, but unlike Donkey, he is physically much different in this reality, having spent his life pampered and pudgy, so while he is a valuable ally, he’s not quite the stalwart swordsman we’re used to seeing.

I saw the movie in 3-D, and I was rather surprised at how organic the whole thing felt. I expected that they might use the technology to give us a lot of sight gags, like pies being thrown at the audience and that sort of thing. In reality, I can’t remember a single moment like that. So by one token, one might argue that the 3-D is unnecessary, and certainly not worth the extra couple of bucks. But for me, I felt that all the surroundings felt just a bit richer and deeper than they did before. I was able to be drawn more fully into the experience, and I don’t regret springing for 3-D.

Supposedly this is the end of the Shrek tales, and I rather hope it is because it would be nice to see a series that got off to such a promising start go out on such a high note. As much as I enjoyed the first movie, there were a few things about it that left a bad taste in my mouth. Same goes for the second, and the third just dropped the ball. But for me, Shrek Forever After represented all that is best about the series and brought Shrek, Fiona, Donkey, Puss in Boots and all those other characters we love to a true happily ever after.

Take a Trip to Italy With the Veggies in Pistachio

When my brother Nathan was little, he went through a phase during which the only movie he wanted to watch was Pinocchio. He’d be content to watch it three times a day. I don’t know how many dozens of times he saw the movie before he moved on to a different obsession, but the story of the little wooden boy with an ever-expanding nose has always been one of his favorites. So I thought of him as I watched Pistachio, the latest DVD from VeggieTales, the line of computer-animated videos that uses a wacky array of anthropomorphic veggies to impart Biblical lessons.

Right now, Nathan is in Italy, and last I heard he was enjoying a gelato festival. Pistachio takes place in Italy, and Gelato is the name given to the character who corresponds to Geppetto in the original tale. In this version, Geppetto is a kindly old man who lost three of his brothers at sea and who delights in carving wooden toys, including a duck so realistic that it attracts a trio of real ducklings, who become his family. One day, he receives a very special piece of wood and carves it into a boy, who then springs to life, and Veggie fans will recognize the youngster as an incarnation of the adorable, albeit mildly irritating, Junior Asparagus.

In terms of starring Veggies, Pistachio sticks mostly to the side characters and even introduces a few newbies. Among the more familiar faces as Madame Blueberry as the Blue Fairy role and Khalil the caterpillar as Pistachio’s conscience, or more to the point the one who is there to remind the lad of his father’s teachings. Scooter the carrot makes a brief cameo as an art museum employee, and the shifty leeks who are so good at causing trouble turn up as the fox and cat determined to lead Pistachio astray. And though Gelato’s face is obscured by a large white mustache, puffy white hair and tiny spectacles, his voice is clearly that of Larry the Cucumber, while Bob the Tomato serves as the unseen narrator. Meanwhile, his brothers are new characters who are modeled after three iconic Italian-American actors, most prominently Robert DeNiro.

The Italian references fly fast and furious, from the names of every character to the landscapes, and it’s great fun to point out all of the allusions. It’s also interesting to compare this story to various versions of Pinocchio, particularly Disney’s, since that has become the most iconic. In this version, Pistachio is not so much tempted by the allure of fame as by a desire for money. Hence, he never really falls into puppet master Mr. Nezzer’s snare, but he is all too easily drawn into the dangerous quagmire of games of chance; the more he spends, the more desperate he becomes to recover what he lost and thus regain his father’s approval. I found this an interesting side lesson on the danger of being too preoccupied with acquiring money, with the lesson being that it’s more important to make wise spending decisions than to try to accumulate great wealth.

The songs are enjoyable as always, though I found the Silly Song, Where Have All the Staplers Gone?, more depressing than amusing. I have a hunch that it’s one of those songs that children will find silly, while many adults will have a hard time getting a laugh out of it. And I found the vampire stapler at the end of the segment just plain creepy. But I like Gelato’s peppy instructional song to his ducklings. Mr. Nezzer’s tune is appropriately ominous, and the brothers’ lament sounds like something out of the iconic spaghetti scene in Lady and the Tramp.

Along with the main story, which is both creative and beautifully animated, there is the typical counter-top framing device, only this time, things look a little different. That’s because VeggieTales, like so many movies and television shows of late ranging from Star Trek and LOST to Shrek Forever After, has latched onto the reboot as a compelling storytelling device. So it is that between the last video and the current one, Extreme Re-Do: Crying Edition, a nod at feel-good home repair show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, has come in to recreate these familiar surroundings. Larry’s in on it, while Bob is confused and unsettled. Everything from the theme song to Qwerty the computer has gotten a face lift, and it will be interesting to see how these differences carry over into future installments.

Pistachio is a charming tale that encourages obedience to one’s parents and thriftiness in one’s financial decisions. For those who identify more with Gelato than Pistachio, it’s a reminder of the importance of not giving up on one’s children although they have gone astray. It also urges young and old alike to accept change and to look for the good in a new situation even if it is thrust upon one quite suddenly. And it’s also just plain fun, with pop culture references from Pinocchio and Lady and the Tramp to The Godfather and Midnight Cowboy. VeggieTales seems to be at its best when it spoofs great literature but infuses it with Biblical meaning, and Pistachio definitely falls into that category.