“You might wanna buckle up, baby.” — Lando Calrissian, “Solo: A Star Wars Story”
From the opening guitar strains on the music accompanying the new trailer for “Solo: A Star Wars Story,” you know this isn’t the same old cinematic territory for the franchise.
I don’t care what any of the prognosticators think. I don’t care that they had to bring in Opie Cunningham to reshoot most of the movie.
“Solo: A Star Wars Story” looks legit.
I was there in 1977 when the first movie came out. I’m not some second-gen SW fan. I know how this has all gone down.
If you were a kid who grew up in the 1970s and 1980s, you knew that Han Solo was the best thing about the “Star Wars” saga. You didn’t worry about “frozen flying jedis” and “canon purity.”
You were lured into that universe by the roguish smuggler who could charm the pants off a gundark...
I have no idea if “Solo: A Star Wars Story” will be any good.
Donald Glover (who portrays Lando Calrissian in the film) looks like he just stepped out of an episode of “Troy and Abed in the Morning” — from the genius sitcom “Community.”
That's exactly why I’m stoked to see Glover in the movie.
While big blockbusters these days are super-obsessed with big, overly sincere, and grave plots about saving all life in the universe, this movie looks like it will be a mindless sci-fi ride.
That’s what I loved about science fiction movies in the 1980s. The movies back then didn't take themselves so seriously.
It is curious that Ron Howard plans to premiere “Solo: A Star Wars Story” at the Cannes Film Festival next month. That doesn’t mean it is high art (both “Star Wars: Attack of the Clones” and “Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith” screened at Cannes), but it is a sign that the movie is better than all the “mouth breathers” are suggesting.
Plus, for the first time since 1978’s “Star Wars Holiday Special” (which I watched on our family's 17-inch Quasar TV set), we’ll get to see Chewbacca with a lady Wookiee. One can only hope that means we’ll also get to see Boba Fett in the film.
I’ve had this blog roughly 18 months now, and one thing I haven’t really discussed in any sort of depth is music.
Most people have certain musical genres they enjoy. Those genres can give the world a sneak peek into who you are. No matter what type you favor, music can give insight into the soul — and transport you back to a time and place that other art forms simply can’t match.
I’ll admit I have eclectic musical tastes. I grew up as part of the “Star Wars Generation” in the late 70s and early 80s. As a result, I love the classical stylings of John Williams and his contemporaries. I wore out many cassettes listening to movie soundtracks as a kid.
I also enjoy pop, rock, R&B, country, and a whole host of other genres. I’m the person in the buffet line that chooses a little of this, and a little of that.
The one genre that has been the most prevalent in my life is “contemporary Christian music.” I don’t know if they even use that label for it anymore. But that’s what it was called in my youth. I even had a subscription to CCM Magazine (which stood for Contemporary Christian Music Magazine) back in the 1980s — it is like Rolling Stone for Christian music fans.
My brother got me into the music. He worked for a large Christian bookstore chain for many years — from part-time employee to handling advertising at the corporate headquarters. The first album he gave me was “Meltdown” by an artist named Steve Taylor. The second was Amy Grant’s “Unguarded” album.
The first concert I saw was Amy Grant. It was 1985 at the Nebraska State Fair.
Over the years I have seen many Christian artists in concert. Dozens of shows. I have experienced the creativity these artists have to offer in massive arena productions, and I have listened to these artists perform intimate acoustic sets in church sanctuaries.
To understand how my wife Bridget and I ended up together in 1990, you have to understand our love of Christian music. It was one of the shared interests we had at that young age. Something out of the norm for teenagers at the time. It was how I knew the girl was someone I wanted to spend my time with...
As a result, it is a special occasion when we have the opportunity to see one of our favorite artists live.
We had one of those opportunities last night when we got to see MercyMe (with guests Tenth Avenue North and Tim Timmons) at Baxter Arena as part of the "Lifer" tour.
It is the third concert we have seen at our favorite hockey arena (since Baxter Arena opened in 2015). The previous shows were Newsboys (another favorite Christian artist) and Boston (a terrific guitar-laden-70s-era rock show).
We’ve seen MercyMe in concert four times. The last time was several years ago in Council Bluffs at the Mid America Center.
The band’s mix of uptempo pop songs and power ballads have proven a popular combination in Christian music. Their breakthrough hit was the introspective ballad “I Can Only Imagine” — which is said to be the bestselling Christian song of all time.
Hard to believe that song was released almost two decades ago. Many of my friends have seen the new movie about MercyMe founder Bart Millard called “I Can Only Imagine” (I have yet to see the film, but expect a full review on this blog when I do).
MercyMe’s show at Baxter Arena was enjoyable. The set featured a mix of new and old songs. I will admit that I haven’t followed MercyMe as closely as I did in the early 2000s. My favorite songs come from the band’s first four studio albums. Those songs — which are still favorites today — were largely addressed in a retrospective medley during the show.
The group’s encore number was “I Can Only Imagine” — a staple at all the MercyMe shows I’ve attended. Here is a video I took of that song's performance:
Opening acts Tim Timmons and Tenth Avenue North were also fun. I wasn’t familiar with Tim Timmons, but I’ve heard a number of Tenth Avenue North songs on K-LOVE and KGBI.
Timmons — along with his acoustic guitar — played a set of songs to open things up.
Tenth Avenue North lead singer Mike Donehey was born in Omaha. He was the most energetic performer of the night — walking out into the crowd, posing for selfies, and walking precariously along the covered hockey dasher boards in the arena.
(That's him standing on a seat in the middle of the crowd in the above photo.) Donehey talked about how the band had to scale back a few years ago as family took priority in their lives. Tenth Avenue North reduced the amount of time they toured — which meant less revenue coming into the operation. As a result, he wasn’t sure if the band would survive.
Donehey expressed his gratitude that the band has continued to make ends meet. His gratitude was evident in the band’s fun, interactive pop set that had the audience moving.
Depending on the artist, the “shelf life” for contemporary Christian songs isn’t always as long as their secular counterparts. Which means concerts aren’t necessarily “greatest hit retrospectives” — such as the Garth Brooks and Bon Jovi concerts I’ve attended. Instead, Christian acts often focus on more recent hits.
If you haven’t been to a Christian concert, it is a unique experience. In addition to the music, you will typically hear testimony from the artists, and there will often be speakers from groups like Compassion International and World Vision (child sponsorship ministries working to hook pledges for charitable work in Third World nations).
Many of these artists started off in churches — some as youth or worship pastors. As a result, the feel of a show is sometimes more akin to a church service at the more modern churches. Videoboards will typically feature lyrics, so attendees unfamiliar with the tunes can sing along.
It is definitely a unique vibe.
Over the past three decades I have put together a collection of around 300 albums by various Christian artists. Some of the artists continue on today. Others have become mere footnotes in history.
One thing remains constant. The music is filled with messages of hope, pain, loss, understanding, and redemption. Many of these songs have been important to me during my life.
While Christian music might be a genre that sits off the beaten path, it is part of my path... an important accompaniment to have had along the way...
I’m getting close. I’ve almost read every published work by Lee Child.
“The Midnight Line” is the final novel in Child’s Jack Reacher series that I had yet to complete. It is also his newest (he's published 22 Reacher novels in total).
The only work I have yet to read is “No Middle Name,” which is a short story collection by the author. I'll be checking it out shortly.
Not that being all caught up is a requirement. I’ve attended a number of author events without being up-to-date on their entire catalog. But I always feel like I haven’t done my homework in those instances.
This time, I decided things would be different. I figured the looming deadline of Lee Child’s appearance would be solid motivation to plow through the unread novels. More a personal goal than anything else.
“The Midnight Line” finds Jack Reacher on a bus, headed out of Milwaukee. As is the case with Reacher, he is traveling to “destination unknown” — going wherever the spirit moves him.
During a comfort stop in Wisconsin, Reacher happens upon a pawn shop. He sees a 2005 West Point class ring in the window — with a black stone... a small ring in diameter.
His curiosity is piqued. Reacher himself is a graduate of West Point, and his intuition tells him that the commitment and sacrifice that goes into attending a service academy isn’t something you take lightly. He can’t shed his former life as a military police officer, and wonders why the ring ended up in hock.
Reacher questions the pawn shop owner, who directs him to a man at a biker bar named Jimmy Rat. Jimmy and his crew bring in items to sell from South Dakota (via Minnesota). They never move enough merchandise to draw the attention of the Feds.
Reacher learns from Rat (through our protagonist’s trademark brand of fisticuff persuasion) that their supplier is a man named Arthur Scorpio. Scorpio is a small-time crook who works out of a laundromat in Rapid City, South Dakota.
Our vigilant hero can’t let go of the burr in his brain. So he hitchhikes his way across the highways and byways to find Scorpio, and see if he can dig up more information on the ring’s original owner.
In Rapid City, Reacher meets a police detective named Gloria Nakamura. She is surveilling and investigating Scorpio. He also stumbles upon an Illinois P.I. — who drives a black Toyota Land Cruiser — who is showing an interest in the shady laundromat owner.
Reacher eventually gets an audience with Arthur Scorpio, and information gleaned leads him to Mule Crossing, Wyoming. That is where Reacher starts peeling away layers in his investigation, and where the main narrative in “The Midnight Line” takes place...
(I visted Wyoming last summer, and this pic I took just feels like something from a Jack Reacher book...)
The novel itself has an interesting setup, and Child is at home writing about wide-open spaces in the American landscape.
Child typically treats socio-political issues with kid gloves in his novels. That said, the author diverts from that a bit in “The Midnight Line,” and takes on a very topical crisis impacting the health of millions in the United States today.
As is the case with any Reacher story, there are some good nuggets throughout. The character loves greasy spoons, and it is mentioned that Reacher’s go-to breakfast is “coffee plus a short stack of pancakes with eggs, bacon, and maple syrup.”
The novel itself works. Child has a knack for mixing things up from book to book. While “The Midnight Line” lacks some of the nail-biting scenes found in the author’s best work, it is an interesting tale.
Reacher has never been a particularly introspective or wistful character, but his hunt for the owner of the abandoned class ring shows another dimension of the man. As Det. Nakamura says of Reacher, it is “a matter of military honor. Like a moral obligation. Verging on the sentimental...”
Reacher’s motivation in “The Midnight Line” is perfectly summed up by something a truck driver tells him on his journey across South Dakota:
“My wife would say you feel guilty about something. She reads books. She thinks about things.”
“I’ll wave to you from the finish line, McFly” — Art3mis in “Ready Player One”
First things first...
I need to give some love to Steven Spielberg. The preeminent sci-fi/action director of the 1980s is back. Just when you thought the 71-year-old storyteller had permanently settled into vanity projects like “Lincoln” and “Bridge of Spies,” he decides to do a flashy popcorn movie that makes a statement.
Way to show you still got it, Spielberg!
“Ready Player One” is based on Ernest Cline’s science fiction novel of the same name — an engrossing ode to 1980s pop culture. I reviewed the novel in 2017 (click here to read my review).
Before I talk about “Ready Player One” (the film), I should get something out of the way. The movie adaptation varies wildly from Cline’s novel. For fans of the book, that fact means the RPO movie is both a jarring ride, and a wholly original experience.
Don’t be wary. Cline was involved every step of the way (he penned the screenplay with Zak Penn).
“Ready Player One” tells the story of teen Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan). Watts lives in the year 2045 in Columbus, OH (it was Oklahoma City in the novel). Earth in that era is largely dystopian in nature (early in the movie, they mention societal unrest from a “Corn Syrup Drought” and “Bandwidth Riots”). Watts lives in the “stacks” — mobile homes and RVs piled high on stilts — with his aunt.
Most of Earth’s inhabitants spend their days in the OASIS — a virtual reality world created by a software developer named James Halliday. Wade is fully ensconced in the OASIS, and roots around for fun and reward via his avatar “Parzival.”
The reclusive creator of the OASIS leaves a short video message when he dies. He has hidden an Easter egg somewhere in the virtual world. The individual who finds the egg wins control of the virtual world (along with a cash prize). But the task requires solving three seemingly impossible tasks.
Wade and his fellow “gunters” (a fusion of “egg hunters”) obsess over the search, and analyze various aspects of Halliday’s life to find three keys in their pursuit (references involve 1980s pop culture — including movies and videogames of the era).
Watts has a friend in the virtual world named Aech (Lena Waithe) who helps him in his quest. He also has a rival/crush named Art3mis (Olivia Cooke).
In addition to the “gunters” searching for clues, a corporation named Innovative Online Industries (IOI) is in the hunt. The communications conglomerate is trying to gain permanent control over the OASIS so they can fully monetize the artificial world. Nolan Sorrento (Ben Mendelsohn) is the CEO — and main antagonist in the “Ready Player One.”
That’s the setup for the story. From there on out, “Ready Player One” basically becomes “Raiders of the Lost Binary Code.”
Viewers are treated to a variety of pop culture nuggets strewn throughout the film.
For example, Wade/Parzival and Art3mis dance in The Distracted Globe nightclub to the Bee Gee’s song “Stayin’ Alive” — on a floor that looks like it stepped out of the Odyssey Disco Club in the movie “Saturday Night Fever”:
There are references to films like “Back to the Future” and “The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension.” Wade’s avatar drives Doc Brown’s DeLorean from BTTF — which features K.I.T.T.’s pulsing light from the TV series “Knight Rider”:
I learned after I saw the movie that a Gremlin makes an appearance somewhere in the movie. I didn’t see it, but Steven Spielberg mentions it in this interview on NBC’s “Today Show”:
While some of these references stray from the book (it was likely an insane task trying to secure the rights to the varying properties featured in the novel), the filmmakers do a decent job coming up with relevant substitutes.
Of those new references, I liked the OASIS game piece called the “Zemeckis Cube” — basically a Rubik’s Cube that (once solved) can be used to turn the clock back 60 seconds (named after “Back to the Future” director Robert Zemeckis).
The main concern I had going into this adaptation of “Ready Player One” had to do with how “compelling” it would be watch digital avatars for most of the story’s narrative.
Spielberg does well balancing real-world interactions with the avatar world. Wade gets to meet the human counterparts to Aech and Art3mis (among others) within a reasonable amount of time.
Let me put it this way: the movie tries diligently to avoid becoming a tome geared solely to video game geeks. I think Spielberg is largely successful in that quest.
Composer Alan Silvestri (“Back to the Future”) serves up the musical score for “Ready Player One” (largely futuristic-sounding compositions), and the movie also features a healthy does of popular songs from the 1980s.
Spielberg told Billboard magazine how he selected the classic ‘70s and ‘80s tunes for the movie (click here to read the article). The track list includes “Everybody Wants To Rule The World” by Tears for Fears and “We’re Not Gonna Take It” by Twisted Sister.
While a movie is never able to fully capture the immersive feel a first-person novel can invoke, “Ready Player One” does a solid job capturing the tone and feel Cline was going for. It is paced well, and rarely lets off the accelerator.
Spielberg has created a sci-fi movie that tastes like a bowl of Lucky Charms chased down with a box of Hi-C Ecto Cooler — sugary fun that’s a sweet head rush.
In a world where so many sci-fi/fantasy movies are rehashes and reboots of older material, it is rather unusual to see something that feels fresh and new.
A little over a month ago, I made it my mission to read all the remaining Lee Child novels I had yet to complete. I have completed and reviewed four of the six I have remaining. In this review, I tackle the fifth on my list — “Night School.”
As was the case with my review of “The Enemy” a few days ago, “Night School” finds Reacher in another “prequel” story set in the 1990s.
It was sort of serendipitous that I happened to read these books back-to-back. “Night School” was published in 2016 — 12 years after “The Enemy.”
Both novels feature Reacher during his tenure as a military police officer. Both involve stories centered on the changing face of the military in the European theater.
“Night School” takes place in 1996, and starts off with Reacher receiving a medal for his service in The Balkans. Our independent-minded MP isn’t one for accolades. He is an individual focused on his duty — and doing the right thing in the cause of justice.
Others apparently admire that quality, and Reacher is soon ordered to report to a corporate office park in McLean, Virginia — a place called Educational Solutions Incorporated. Reacher, along with two men named Waterman and White (from the FBI and CIA, respectively), find themselves under the purview of the NSA.
They are tasked with solving a puzzle for the intelligence agency. An Iranian informant, who lives in an apartment with three Saudis in Hamburg, Germany, believes he has uncovered a secret plot that could pose a threat to the United States.
An unexpected messenger from the Middle East has visited the apartment — a courier on a mission unrelated to the informant and his roommates.
The informant overhears a conversation between the messenger and one of the Saudis. Apparently, the messenger was in Hamburg to be told something (not to deliver a message). An “opening statement,” in a manner of speaking.
The statement the messenger received was this: “The American wants a hundred million dollars.”
Warning klaxons sound throughout the intelligence community. Reacher and Co. need to find out what the message means, and who is involved.
Reacher ropes Sgt. Frances Neagley into the investigation (a character who has appeared in a number of Reacher novels, including “Without Fail,” which I reviewed in February). In fairly short order, the pair leaves the office park and heads to Hamburg to hunt down clues (because, as Reacher puts it, “[The NSA] said we’d get anything we want.”)
“Night School” finds Reacher in a race against time as he and the team try to track down the rogue American — and learn what is being sold for $100 million.
Typically, Lee Child structures his stories where the narrative stays firmly with Reacher — whether he is telling the story using a first person narrative, or a third person narrative.
He’ll often offer glimpses of an antagonist in the story (peeks around the corner), but those moments are typically short and mysterious. He rarely reveals too much.
In “Night School,” Child bounces around between various characters — using an approach that is more multi-threaded in nature. It's something you see in a number of espionage thrillers.
That structure can reveal too much information to the reader. Too many glimpses into the antagonist’s activities make “Night School” less of a mystery, and more of a thriller.
This appears to be conscious decision on the part of Child for the novel. In this interview from March 2016, Child reveals details about his yet-to-be-titled novel (“Night School,” which was published later in the year):
Child says, “For the new book [“Night School’] I’m making it less novelistic and ... more like a movie. Not in the sense that it is a screenplay disguised as a novel ... I’m trying to induce the same feeling in the reader’s mind that they would have if they were watching a movie. In other words the speed, the flow … and critically, certain conventions in movies that manage exposition slightly differently.”
I can tell the difference. I’ve been working on writing my own novel the past couple of years, and Lee Child is one of the authors I like to study — in terms of pacing, dialogue structure, and exposition.
“Night School” ultimately works as a thriller, but Child’s change in style makes the engrossing process of Reacher solving a mystery much less compelling than other entries in the series.
Yet there are still moments where we see Child at his best. For instance, this passage where Reacher is getting a shave at a Hamburg barber shop illustrates the author’s terrific prose:
“[The shave] turned out to be a luxurious experience. The water was warm, and the lather was creamy. The steel was perfect. It hissed through, on a molecular level.”
“Man, glass tables are acting weird tonight!” — Kevin in “Game Night”
Sometimes a movie surprises you.
“Game Night” is one of those movies.
The story starts off with a stylized opening credits montage that introduces us to Max (Jason Bateman) and Annie (Rachel McAdams) — competitive gamers who fall in love after they both know the name of one of the Teletubbies (the purple one) at a bar’s trivia night.
The couple eventually marries, and is in the process having a child. Max’s stress is proving an impediment to the process. His problem is this: Max has unresolved feelings of inferiority in relation to his older brother Brooks (Kyle Chandler).
Brooks is a big shot who apparently invested in Panera before it became big. He’s a foot-loose-and-fancy-free bachelor — handsome, confident, and financially successful.
Max and Annie host a weekly game night at their home. A hand-picked group of friends comes each week — including Ryan (Billy Magnussen), Kevin (Lamorne Morris) and Kevin’s wife Michelle (Kylie Bunbury).
Max and Annie have a creepy neighbor named Gary (Jesse Plemons) who hasn’t been invited to game night since he and his wife divorced — much to Gary’s chagrin. Max and Annie do everything in their power to avoid the subject of game night with him.
On one particular game night, Brooks shows up “loud and proud” in his vintage Corvette Stingray — and offers to host the next get-together at his new rental home.
When the gang shows up for game night at Brooks’s crib, he informs them that they’ll be playing in an interactive mystery — one person in the room will be taken; the winner will be the one who finds the victim. To sweeten the pot, Brooks says the victor will win the keys to his Corvette.
Before we know it, a man comes to the door claiming to be an FBI agent — ready to dispense instructions about the game. Moments later, two masked gunmen burst through the door, get into a violent brawl with Brooks, and haul him away.
Max, Annie, and their crew think this is all an elaborate setup for the murder mystery (put on by a company called “Murder We Wrote”). At first they take it all in stride, but soon discover that this is no mere game.
“Game Night” epitomizes a simple premise well executed. Rarely is a joke belabored, and the story keeps its momentum throughout. There are fun twists and turns along the way, and the characters are likable.
Comedy tastes can be very specific. It is relatively rare these days to find comedies that strike a perfect chord (especially those geared toward grown-ups).
“Game Night” isn’t perfect, but it has a nice beat.
My brother saw the movie a few days ago and told me it was fun. He was right. I found myself laughing a lot.
Considering the subject matter, “Game Night” could have veered too dark, or relied on “potty humor” to keep the laughs rolling. Instead, John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein (who also worked on the script for last summer’s “Spider-Man: Homecoming”) opted for a lighter touch. The pair wrote and co-directed “Game Night,” and I’m impressed with the results.
Be sure to stay through the entire credit sequence to see the easter egg at the end.
In an age where many movies are dark and overly melodramatic, it is nice to be able to go to the theater, check your brain at the door, and have fun watching a movie.
It’s kind of sad when bright, shiny, and iconic retail operations leave our landscape.
Sure, we’ll all soldier on, but things will be different.
Stores like RadioShack, Sears, and Kmart have fallen by the wayside. We learned last week that Toys ‘R’ Us and teen jewelry chain Claire's will soon be joining the fold — forever relegated to a footnote in shopping history.
Nostalgia buffs like me continue to lament the demise of brick-and-mortar stores, but we do little to stop the bleeding.
Things like “one-click ordering” and various digital shopping cart options — decorated with a collage of optimized PNGs and JPEGs — prove far too alluring and handy to resist.
Online giants like Amazon are convenient. That cannot be denied.
The great irony is that Amazon is now considering buying some Toys ‘R’ Us locations for retail operations. In 2015, they also discussed purchasing dormant RadioShack locations.
It’s like the victors at the end of a long war, trudging ahead to the vanquished castle, ready to take a seat on the empty throne.
I remember how much fun it was to go to a toy store as a kid.
There would be times when I’d get rewarded with a trip to the toy store for doing certain things — for example, reading a designated number of books was a benchmark that often resulted in a prize.
There would be other times when I’d get to go to the toy store “just because.”
I remember in 1978 when my mom and dad bought me my first set of Kenner “Star Wars” action figures at the Brandeis toy department at Crossroads Mall (located in the basement of the store...facing Dodge Street). Those figures — along with a shiny new Landspeeder — were important to me as a kid.
The C-3PO figure we purchased was one that the clerk at the register had been “limbering up” — because the hard-plastic joints were really stiff on the golden droid, and some customers had complained they broke easily.
That experience happened 40 years ago, but I remember the kind lady who made the experience of buying the figures special.
I recall moments when I’d be trying to decide between two Matchbox cars, and couldn’t make up my mind. My mom (God bless her heart) would often buy me both.
(I was either indecisive, or a master manipulator...)
I even had the opportunity to witness the next generation become "incentivized" with toys when my niece and nephew needed an extra nudge to go off the diving board at the pool.
There was something wonderful about perusing toy store aisles — like an explorer, you were curious to see what you’d discover around the next turn.
I went to my first Toys ‘R’ Us store in Austin, Texas, back in 1983. My brother had moved down there for work. We didn’t have the retail toy giant in Omaha at that time.
I was excited to check out the selection of “Star Wars” and “G.I. Joe” action figures and assorted vehicles. There is something soothing about gazing at row upon row of shiny action figures, trapped in plastic bubbles on flashy-cardboard backers.
The toy chain has one of the catchiest jingles in advertising history:
I mean, who didn’t “wanna be a Toys ‘R’ Us kid”...?
The toys we played with as children helped create the fabric of who we are. A couple months ago I reviewed the Netflix series “The Toys That Made Us” (read my full review of that show). The show focuses on the stories behind some of the most famous toy brands.
I can’t help but think that the rise and fall of Toys ‘R’ Us might one day be featured in a documentary of that sort.
The YouTube channel “Retail Archaeology” takes a look at the demise of Toys ‘R’ Us, and tours one of the stores being liquidated:
Apparently, a deal with a private equity firm in 2005 led to the current fate of Toys ‘R’ Us. The debt was substantial, and kept the chain from making improvements to its stores...
Like the narrator in the video, I’ve heard suggestions that the world of “analog toys” will die with subsequent generations because today’s kids are more interested in playing with their iPads and iPhones.
Maybe that’s true. Maybe it isn’t...
The tactile experience of playing with LEGOs and Lincoln Logs as a kid helped develop my creativity. I don’t know that I’d be doing the graphic design work I do today without moments putting together buildings and vehicles with those sorts of thoughtful toys.
But the wheel turns...and the clock ticks onward.
The cynical minded will say these sorts of operations had their fate coming. They’ll argue that change is inevitable.
But at times, you wonder if all the change is good.
“I don’t wanna grow up, cuz baby if I did, I wouldn’t be a Toys ‘R’ Us kid...”
