Dave Mancuso dot Com

So I say to Alyssa and Drew at the dinner table, “OK, you guys need to settle down now. You’re at the dinner table–sit straight and eat right.”

They giggle.

I try again. “I’m serious. If you don’t settle down, I will punish you. I don’t like it, but I won’t hesitate if I have to. I actually feel very sad when I punish you, even though I act angry.”

And, as I look at Drew, I hear Alyssa behind me: “Good acting.”

You know, as a parent you completely lose control of situations like these when you bust out laughing.

It isn’t just because of the “Daddy, I’m still hungry. I just really wasn’t into the pizza.”

Or (showing Drew how to draw something) “OK, Drew–watch and learn.”

Drew (in conversation): Yeah, Daddy. We need to see that movie, the really cool looking one.

Me: What movie?

Drew: You know, the cool one (pauses for dramatic emphasis)–Scarfield.

Me: Wow–what action film is that?

Drew: Daddy! The one we saw on the computer with the cat. You know, Scarfield!

Me: Ah–Drew, I think you just came up with a much more interesting movie than the one that’ll be in the theaters…

You know, it’s out for Windows now too–I have it on my Mac and my Windows XP machine. It rocks, and the iTunes music store is great. Check it out–hey, it’s free. My dad installed it one night and burned his first CD of songs from the iTunes music store the next morning.

http://www.itunes.com (click on the downloads link)

Cool.

I’m watching that poker show on the Bravo network (for lack of anything better to do–it’s basically on while I’m on the ‘Net). Man, that Mimi Rogers is a real poker player. Denise didn’t believe me that Mimi was Tom Cruise’s first wife way back when (for, like, ten minutes).

Look at how small it is.

Just take a look at this guy’s life.

I picked up a movie for the kids Friday–it was an obscure title from almost forty years ago called The Incredible Mr. Limpet. Wow–was it that long ago? It was a nice flick about a man who falls into the ocean and becomes an animated fish–you know, the kind of thing that happens every day in real life, right? I first saw it when I was four, so I thought the kids would like it. Drew asked a lot of questions, so I knew he liked it. Alyssa said it was weird and it would never happen in real life, but she liked it.

One odd thing–I don’t think the two female roles in the movie would ever pass in today’s society–they’re both “stay at home and wait for the man to get things done” roles (at least the Ladyfishg role is). It’s funny to see how things were taken for granted then.

Bob’s Predictions for 2004 (and his wrapup for 2003). Bob’s always a good read.