Why must life be complicated?

I find it interesting that America seems to be in search of "the simple life". Between all of our complicated means of communication and entertainment there seems to be a longing for when "times were simpler". I have a 1 year old daughter and watching her gives me a real look at a simple life. There is the unbridled joy when she encounters things she likes. Her interest in things is fascinating to watch. She learned the other day that her train and ark could roll across the floor. She spent almost an hour then experimenting as to finding which of her toys would roll and which would not. Life is simple for her. She is taken care of. She is feed, bathed, changed as she needs it. She explores the limits of her world and pushes her boundaries. A simple life that is becoming more complicated as she grows up. Soon she will have to deal with our complicated world and in some ways it is going to be painful to see her simple life fade away.

Puppetry Books (A Review)

I bought a copy of "Puppet Mania" by John Kennedy. ISBN 1581803729

This is a great basic puppet book with lots of those cool tips for the intermediate puppeteer.
He is in love with using hot glue to hold the puppets together, but then you don't need sewing skill to make the puppets. The designs and directions are very well thought out along with really great photos to illustrate what he is describing in the directions. I also like his short primer on "bringing the puppet to life". The patterns could be adapted for other more "advanced" puppets and he does give some suggestions on expanding from the simple puppets he is presenting. This book is what I wished "the Muppets make Puppets" had been more like.

This is the kind of book that I would recommend to teens who want to learn to build a variety of puppets and teachers that want to use puppets in their classroom.

I should be off editing Star Wars: Weapons and Technology II right now, but had to take a break from the word "blaster" and "photon energy"