Raoul’s 2 Cents

Super Hero

Yup! There they were — young adults trotting around in gregarious costumes that would make a peacock blush. And there were lots of them.

Last Saturday I went to one of those Comic Cons (short for Comic Book Convention). I acted as Tour Guide to one of my faithful clients  (LA Leather Cleaners — they are THE experts when it comes to anything leather). Super Heroes and Anime (Japanese Animation) characters came to life. My clients had never heard about this strange activity. But knowing how good they were with “leather” I suggested that they diversify into costume cleaning and designing. Whether or not something comes out of this field trip … who knows? But this is how big ideas start. The entrepreneurs among you understand what I mean.

The creativity was fascinating. It reminded me of my youth. I used to fly around my room with my own cape and newspaper Batman mask. One of my happiest memories was when my Dad released me to play in a mining factory warehouse where they had bags of crushed limestone, I jumped from mound to mound like Spiderman wearing my costume … dust floating all around me. I had so much energy and imagination. The world was mine to conquer. I only stopped when a worker caught me in mid-flight and embarrassed me to the reality of my silliness. This “silly” gene seems to have passed down the generations.

When my daughter was in High School, she lived for “Color Day” — where the whole school dressed up in hand-made costumes using the orange  school colors. Every year throughout H.S. she and her friends became more and more elaborate with their designs.

My grandson’s birthday is coming up soon so I asked my daughter for gift suggestions. I found out that my grandson was so into his Voltron/Transformer Christmas present. He’s a mini-me with super powers complete with gutteral sound effects. I think I will create a life-sized Voltron costume for his birthday. Well, that’s the plan. Even my son had a full bodied Spiderman suit which I sewed  when he was my grandson’s age.

I can relate to my children and the kids of Comic Con because my childhood was rich with costumes, imagination and fantasy. When I play with children I am the adult playmate my young self wished I had. Every time I visit my grand kids they run and hide knowing that grandpa means game time. When I discuss film production with my daughter (who is now a Film editor waiting to be discovered), I can see her creative mind searching for ideas and I feed her with more ideas.

When was the last time you were a kid? Do you even remember? What was your favorite toy? If you were like me, you created a stage and wanted to play a role but didn’t know how to incorporate it in a play or a narrative. Like me, did you wish you had an older, smarter storyteller?

I recently watched Mary Poppins (the original version) with my grand kids. It was only then that I understood the deep meaning of the last scene where Mr. Banks (the no-nonsense father) takes his children out to the park and fly a kite.

Come on. Be an inspiration to the young ones. Be a real super hero. Go out, pick up a kid … borrow one if you have to … and go fly a kite.

TGIF people!

“Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.”
— Albert Einstein

Joke of the Week

Thanks to Naomi of North Hollywood for sending this joke.

Videos of the Week

Johnny Carson and Betty White
Sent by Don of Kelowna, B.C.

Did someone order the fresh calamari?

Incredible Singing Family
Sent by Charlie of New Jersey

What do you do when a family of operatic singers gather together? Why, you sing Le Miserab of course!

Don’s Puns

From Don’s collection of puns

Heavy Thought of the Week

Sent by Morgan of Inglewood, CA

Parting Shots

Thanks to Don of Kelowna, B.C. who shared this