Remembering With Rose Colored Glasses: The Land Before Time

As someone who was a kid during the 90's and early 2000's, Disney was the king of animated movies. Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, and the Lion King were some of the Disney movies that people who were kids at this time all saw. Dreamworks didn't get started until the late 90's and weren't the House of Mouse's main competitor just yet. There was, however, one movie that was very Disney-esque but came from Universal Studios. It was directed and co-produced by Don Bluth, a former employee of Disney, and that movie was The Land Before Time, a 1988 movie about five dinosaur friends. If you're in your twenties you definitely saw this movie and most likely had it on VHS. I recently watched it again on Netflix and was surprised how simple and complex the movie was.

The plot is pretty simple, due to climate change causing a lack of food, dinosaurs are migrating to a place called the" Great Valley". The Great Valley is a paradise like a place filled with plenty of food for herbivores. The main character Littlefoot, a "Longneck," is migrating with his mother and grandparents to the Great Valley. After an attack from a "Sharptooth" and an earthquake separates Littlefoot from his family; Littlefoot must make it to the Great Valley without guidance from adults. On the way, he joined by a "Three-horn" named Cera, a "Swimmer" named Ducky, a "Flyer" named Petrie, and a "Spiketail" named Spike. The five young dinosaurs must face starvation, the hostile landscapes, and predators, as they make it to paradise that is the Great Valley. So basically the movie is an epic journey or a road trip movie, simple right? Well yes, but the movie is about overcoming grief, self-confidence versus hubris, overcoming prejudice, faith, and even revenge.

The main character is Littlefoot, he's the one who knows the way to the Great Valley and is the leader of the group of young dinos. Littlefoot's story line is gaining self-confidence to make to the Great Valley, at first alone than as a leader. In the first act, Littlefoot's mother dies from mortal wounds that she received from saving Littlefoot and Cera from a T-Rex. Littlefoot (and the audience) watch her die on screen, and her last words are are telling Littlefoot that he has to make it to the Great Valley without her. Her death is up there with Bambi's mom, Ole' Yeller, and Mufasa's, and yes, this is a children's movie.

Littlefoot is so filled with grief, that at first he just lays down to die. It's not until an older dinosaur tells more or less, "Sorry about your mom, kid. But life moves on and so should you." This promotes Littlefoot to the Great Valley and meets up with his grandparents. As Littlefoot makes his way to the Valley, he overcomes his grief by making new friends on the way. Littlefoot also maintains faith in his mother's directions and the dream of the Great Valley, even the others do not. As the movie progresses, Littlefoot gains enough confidence that he decides he and his friends are going to kill the T-Rex that killed his mother and menaced the group throughout the film. Littlefoot suggests that they lead the T-Rex to the deep end of a pool of water, then push a big rock on top of it to drown the Sharptooth. The group manages to succeed, and make it to the Great Valley.

Littlefoot is also a very tolerant to other species of dinosaurs. When Littlefoot first meets Cera, Littlefoot tries to play with her. However, he is stopped by Cera's father who states that Three-horns and Longnecks don't mix. Littlefoot's mother later tells him that all breeds of dinosaurs don't mix because that's how it is always been. Littlefoot immediately questions this and shows his tolerance later on by accepting other young dinos to join him on his journey. Cera, on the other hand, is the opposite; she has to learn acceptance towards others.

Cera is the foil to Littlefoot due to her original hubris and arguably has the most character development. Throughout the movie, Cera's pride gets her in trouble. She agrees with her father about not associating with other dinosaurs. So much so that when Cera and Littlefoot are first separated from their herds, she refuses at first to accompany him to the Great Valley because he's a Longneck and she can make her way to the Great Valley on her own. While on her own, she runs into an unconscious T-Rex, the same one that killed Littlefoot's mother. Instead of leaving it alone, she starts harassing it and ends up waking it up. However when she meets up with Littlefoot and the gang, she exaggerates her bravery. Later when searching for food, Cera refuses to help the others and pridefully states a Three-horn can find food on her own. Cera also loses her faith in the Great Valley and goes off on her own. Cera eventually gets trouble and has to be saved by Littlefoot and the others, but is too proud to say thanks and admit she was wrong. So she wanders off alone but redeems herself by helping kill the T-Rex.

As for the other three, well Petrie learns to overcome his fears and learn to fly. He also provides comedic moments like Ducky. Ducky also helps Littlefoot overcome his grief, is the bait to trap the T-Rex, and is there to be precious. Finally, Spike, he's a plot device. Seriously, he has no personality and if written out, it wouldn't affect the movie.

Overall The Land Before Time was a fun movie, but a lot darker than I remember. It was interesting to see how much more in-depth it was, picking up on things I missed when I was younger. I enjoyed this movie again, though I believe for different reasons since I was a kid.

I was shocked to find out that there are 13 sequels, the last movie came out earlier this year. Of the sequels, I remember watching the second, third, and fourth movies in the franchise The second movie, The Land Before Time II: The Great Valley Adventure, is the one I remember most of all. There's even a television series based off the movies. The first movie and the 14th are on Netflix, and most are out on DVD, while it appears only the first and last movie are on Blu-Ray.

I'm Colin, and these are ramblings of a guy in his twenties.

Harriet Tubman and the $20 bill

So for those of you who don't know, the U.S. Treasury announced that Harriet Tubman, the woman who help many slaves escape the south through the Underground Railroad, will replace Andrew Jackson as the face of the twenty dollar bill by 2020. Now, this has caused some people to complain about this chose for reasons ranging from pure racism to people saying this is just political correctness, such as Donald Trump who told CNN. In fact, Tubman was supposed to be the new face on the ten dollar bill, but the popularity of the musical Hamilton changed that.

Personally, I think it is a good idea, we should honor those who shaped American history that wasn't members of the Founding Fathers or former Presidents. Though to be completely honest, Harriet Tubman wouldn't have been my first choose. I would have had Dr. Martin Luthor King Jr. as the face of the twenty dollar bill, but Tubman is still a great choice.

I'm Colin and these are the ramblings of a guy in his twenties.

Remembering With Rose Colored Glasses: Wishbone

As a kid two of my favorite things were books and dogs, and in truth those two are still some of my favorite things.  Lucky for me there was a show on PBS called Wishbone that combined the two together. Wishbone was live action television series about a Jack Russell Terrier named Wishbone, played by Soccer the dog and voiced by Larry Brantley, whose adventures in "real life" reminded him of a plot of a classic novel.

The series came out in 1995 and the show focused around Wishbone, his owner Joe Talbot, Joe's mother Ellen, Joe's friends David and Samatha, and the Talbot's eccentric neighbor Wanda. A problem would come about such as a mysterious dog is destroying people's yard and causing mischief around the fictional town of Oakdale, and Wishbone is being blamed. Wishbone says to the audience that this reminds him of the plot of a classic novel; in the case of the previously mentioned example, The Hound of the Baskerville. We then cut to Wishbone imaging himself as a character in the book, generally the main character like Sherlock Holmes. The rest of the episode is cut between the humans figuring out the problem in real life while the other half is a summary of the CliffsNotes version of the novel. The last couple of minutes in an episode explains something about the episode's production.

Wishbone's owner Joe Talbot is every man or in this case the every kid. He likes basketball, his dog, and being with his friends. His mother Ellen is a librarian and widow; Joe's dad died of disease. Fun fact, the actors who play Ellen and Joe are mother and son in real life. David is the brains of the bunch and has a sister Emily who loves Wishbone. Samantha or Sam is the tomboy girl whose parents are divorced and her dad was friends with Joe's dad. Wanda is the Talbot's neighbor, very artsy, on nearly every club in town, and at first didn't like Wishbone. This made me dislike her as a kid because how can you not like dogs. However, Wanda and Wishbone do become friends by the second season. Also, I should mention Damont, the local bully, though he's more like the local jerk. Seriously, after rewatching the series again, this kid is about as threatening as Bulk and Skull from Mighty Morphing Power Rangers.

Finally, Wishbone the star of the show. While Wishbone "talks" it is more like the audience hears his thoughts. Personally, I think only the Pixar film Up did a better job getting down what a dog would be like if it could talk. I also wonder how Wishbone can read, but what else can he do when his owners are away at work and at school. Larry Brantley does a great job of using his voice to match Soccer's actions. Wishbone generally plays the main character of whatever novel is being focused on the day's episode but he did play Sancho Paza from Don Quixote. Sadly Soccer the dog who played Wishbone died a couple years ago, and I must admit I cried when I heard the news.

Now the series ran from 1995 to 2001, but only has officially two seasons. This explains the actors that play Joe, David, and Sam looks very different by the end of the series. In season one, Joe and his friends are middle schoolers and the actors who play them look like they belong in middle school. The second season, the actors are clearly in high school though the characters they portray are only a year older. The show also didn't shy away from the darker elements of the novels it showed. If a character died in the book, they died in the show though their death wasn't always shown. This show was 30 minutes long and only half of the time was focused on the literature.

Overall, I still love the show for introducing to classic literature to me and I truly believe part of my love for books comes from this show. Wishbone can be seen on YouTube but the quality isn't really good. Some of the episodes are out on DVD but on Blu-Ray. There are also several Wishbone book series out, one series is like television show but in book format, and another is Wishbone, Joe, and friends solve mysteries that are similar to the plots of famous mystery novels.

I seriously suggest looking up Wishbone the next time you are on YouTube. I'm Colin, and these are the ramblings of a guy in his twenties.

Without Internet

For the last couple of days, I've been experiencing Internet problems. Basically, I haven't been able to get onto the Internet through my phone, laptop, or Kindle. It's fixed now, but I realized that I would have a hard time going off the grid. It drove me nuts not able to check social media. Plus with everything going paperless and being on the web, it's hard to get anything done.

There have several articles stating how people (meaning my generation) are addicted to social media, and I never truly realized how often I checked social media until I didn't have access to social media. I have to wonder, if we as a society ever lost the ability to connect with the Internet, how would the world react? I had a hard time going 24 hours, and I went to places where I could connect to the Internet.

I'm Colin and these are the ramblings of a guy in his twenties.

Arguing, Compromise, and Civility in America

What hell has happened to our society? Why is it that we can't compromise anymore? Anne Applebaum wrote an article called This is How the West Ends, where she states that Western civilization is two or three bad elections from destroying itself. Why because we are electing leaders that are too extreme. Just look at our presidential candidates, there are leaders that are too conservative or too liberal in ideals, such leaders would make it impossible for any government to run effectively. At one point in history, political leaders of both Republican and Democratic parties would get together and compromise on a decision for the nation. Both sides would leave unhappy but with something they wanted. Our leaders no longer do that, they refuse to meet halfway for anything. So now instead of political debates, we just have name calling and mud slinging.

The same can be said of religion, "my god is real and your isn't. Join my religion or burn in hell" seems to be the attitude of the masses. The First Amendment gives us freedom of religion, which means you can follow whatever religion you want. Sadly, due to the fact that there are those who believe their religion is true, they should force people to worship theirs. And no, I'm not talking about ISIS. I'm talking about those who want to make Christianity the United States national religion, turning our democracy into a theocracy. Ladies and gentlemen if there is a national religion, then you cannot truly have religious freedom. Second of all, if Christianity was made the national religion, which denomination would it be? After all, there are literally thousands of denominations of Christianity alone, which is the right way to worship God? Would you really want the Westboro Baptist Church to be the America's national religion?

Now who is to blame for this trend of extreme beliefs? All of us because we cannot meet half way with people differ from our own beliefs. People no longer can accept that someone else has a different opinion, it's now "I'm right, and they're wrong," and this is the attitude for politics to religion to everything in between. No longer can two people discuss something politely, they have to resort to name calling and slurs racial, homophobic, or xenophobic. Just look at the comments section of a social media site to see what I mean.

To those reading this, I can give you no solution. All I will say this, we need to respect each other's opinion. I may not agree with you but I will respect your opinion. We also need to learn how to argue like grown ups without using slurs, foul language, and bullying. So please keep an open mind when discussing issues.

I'm Colin and these are the ramblings of a guy in his twenties.

Anniversary of My Grandmother's Death

Today is the anniversary of my grandmother's death. My Grandma Susie died last year due to stroke, and it was a devastating blow to my family. My grandmother was the family matriarch who had such love and wisdom. She was a saint, and I was blessed to have had her in my life. Grandma Susie was an inspiration and proof of the American dream. Despite no formal college education, she went from being a secretary to a bank president, all while taking care of my grandfather, my aunt, and my dad. She was beloved by all who knew her.

The one I will always remember about my grandmother is food. My grandma loved ice cream, she always had to stop at Dairy Queen and she always had ice cream in her house. When we would have dinner over at Grandma's and Papa's house, Grandma would make as much food as normal people make for Thanksgiving. When she made Thanksgiving,there was so much food you could feed a family of four for a month. Grandma was happiest when her family was eating, so after we finish a meal she would immediately ask if we would like dessert. Or fruit. Or popcorn. Or a glazed ham. If she had her way, everyone in my family would weigh 500 pounds.

A lot of my fondest memories with my grandmother revolves around food.  Cooking hot dogs and s'mores around a campfire. Coming up with themed dinners. Decorating Christmas cookies with her, my brother, and my cousins.

I miss my grandmother terribly and if you wish, you can check out this video my cousin, Lauren Patterson made.

I'm Colin and these are the ramblings of a guy in his twenties. I miss you, Grandma.

Remembering With Rose Colored Glasses: Magic School Bus

For those of you who don't know, there is another movie coming out in the Harry Potter universe called Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. After hearing about it, it reminded me how many kids were disappointed that they didn't get a letter from Hogwarts. I, however, suffered such disappointment when I was eight years old and didn't get Ms. Frizzle for my third-grade teacher.

That's right, Ms. Frizzle from the Magic School Bus cartoon series that ran from 1994 to 1997. God, I loved that series. For the those who don't know or don't remember the show, a third-grade teacher took her class of eight kids on field trips with a magical school bus and taught kids about science. The show covered everything from basic biology to ecology to astronomy. During grade school, teachers would show Magic School Bus videos during class and it was the highlight of the day for every student.

Every episode would more or less start out with Ms. Frizzle's class learning about a new subject; let's say the solar system for an example. Ms. Frizzle would then say "Field trip everyone!" and the class would go to the bus. The bus would change, for this example into a rocket, and the class would go off to explore the subject in the field. When they got there, Ms. Frizzle would then tell her students to, "take chances, make mistakes, and get messy!" The students and the audience would learn about the topic, then something unexpected would happen, and a student named Arnold would moan how he should have stayed home today. I would slap my forehead every time Arnold would say that, but more on that a little bit later. Anyway, the class would figure some way out of the problem, and they would return to school and go over what they learned.

Ms. Frizzle was amazing, voiced by Lily Tomlin and according to Internet Movie Data Base, won a Daytime Emmy for "Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program" in 1995. I wanted to be in her class so badly, it wasn't even funny. She took her class to outer space, the rainforest and into the human body. I thought her students were so lucky, class clown Carlos, level-headed Keesha, book worm Dorothy Ann, kind-hearted Phoebe, tough Wanda, baseball-cap-wearing Ralphie, artist Tim, and Arnold. Arnold, Arnold, Arnold, good God this kid drove me nuts. Every episode he complained about going on field trips, EVERY... SINGLE.... EPISODE! My God kid, you saw things that most kids can only see through a television screen or a microscope. You went into OUTER SPACE! And visited every SINGLE PLANET!!! You wish you stayed home today? If I was in Ms. Frizzle's class, I would never miss a single day, even if I was sick. Come to think of it if I was sick, Ms. Frizzle would just shrink the class down to microscopic size and take a tour of my body so we could learn about the immune system. Like she did in the episode called "Inside Ralphie."

While the show is no longer on-air, as far as I know, it is on Netflix. There are also books about Magic School Bus, mostly the episodes in book form but also a series called Ms. Frizzle's Adventures by Joanna Cole. This series has Ms. Frizzle taking the class to visit ancient civilizations and teach history. There was also talk about bringing the series back, but I haven't heard anything else about that revival.

I'm Colin and these are the ramblings of a guy in his twenties.