h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

First I want to apologise for not being around here much. I'm quite busy these days with art and other projects. I must make a conscious effort to be here more and contribute ...

Anyways. This weekend, my sister, her husband Jakobus, and their boy Christiaan visited again. It was great fun as usual! Once more I read lots of books - mostly Tintin and Lucky Luke - to him. Let me tell you, Christiaan doesn't have problems paying attention! He can sit there for an hour or more, while I read to him. We managed to read the Tintin book 'The Seven Crystal Balls', and the Lucky Luke book 'Jesse James', from start to finish!

These books are in English and I translate them into Afrikaans for him as I read - not actually a totally literal translation though, but pretty close.

We also kicked and threw a rubber ball around, played with lego brick models, and played computer games. Christiaan likes my game called 'Spore' very much! It's a game where one can design alien life forms and can control them and guide them through a process of evolution from a simple cell living in the water, to a space-exploring civilisation!

We did make one mistake with Christiaan. Saturday evening, the James Bond movie 'Goldfinger' was on TV. Christiaan's parents were out having dinner, and we (my parents and I) thought Christiaan could watch the movie with us. We explained everything that happened to him. I didn't think the violence and action was too bad ... I know Christiaan has watched some other movies with potentially scary scenes, such as 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' and I didn't think he'd be scared, and he didn't *seem* scared as he watched, but then, the night, he didn't sleep well ... he came and woke up my dad a few times during the night. His mom later said that he often has nightmares after watching movies with scary bits. Actually it seems to me, not so much 'scary' as 'over-exciting' seems to be the problem. He's still only 5 years old ...

At any rate this makes me wonder about the effects of movies on children ... I know when I was young, I couldn't tolerate horror movies at all ... but general action movies, science fiction, that sort of thing, I enjoyed. There is just one movie that I think affected me in a long-term negative way ... the movie King Kong that I saw in the late seventies in Pretoria when I was seven or eight. Today I remember very little of the movie ... but I remember I did enjoy it, actually. I know I had a phase of drawing gorillas and imagining giant gorillas, around the time I saw the movie. But to this very day, I get nightmares about King Kong ... a variety of different King Kong-themed nightmares.

My sister has her birthday this Thursday. For her birthday present I have her five music CD's. I am very happy that she seems to enjoy a new group I introduced her to, a finnish group called Nightwish. Their music is called 'symphonic heavy metal', but actually they employ a great diversity of styles. They blend opera-style singing, and a full symphony orchestra, with loud and powerful guitar playing, heavy metal riffs. I like them immensely.

Anyways the weekend was fun for us all.

Right now I'm a bit sick! Seems to be a low-level flu, not very bad, but I was feeling a bit rotten yesterday. Today is somewhat better.

OK that's the news from me today. All the best to everyone reading here!

Willem

Hi Willem! I've been painting today! Working on the floral of roses again.

Hi Willem,

I do hope that you are not getting this extraordinary Swine flu.

take care of yourself.

Lovely to hear about your nephew, You are very close to him.

with affection

~Christiane.

I hope you are feeling a lot better now and that you haven't got this nasty swine flu. It would be as well to check that your nephew hasn't come down with anything as you spent so much time in close contact. He is so lucky to have such a wonderful uncle.

Clever too, translating as you read As for films I feel very strongly that films and television have a huge impact on children , more than we realise. You are probably right that it was over excitement with him rather than fright that unsettled him.

I can still remember a couple of films from my teenage years that scared the heck out of me, though they probably wouldn't do so now. It is the violence and bloodthirstiness that is commonplace now that worries me, and the fact that death is portrayed as such a casual thing. You see someone die in one film and a week later they appear in another, and children don't take the concept of death seriously.

Take care,

Websailor

Hello JEllen! Happy that you're still working hard at the art. I'm enjoying your mandalas in The Post! All the best with your insomnia
problems, as well. These days I'm managing a fairly consistent daily schedule, going to bed and getting up again at the same time each day - but it's still an effort.

Hello Christiane AR81, no it doesn't seem to be swine flu! It was just a quick little illness, over in a day.

Websailor, I agree, I think the people who make films do actually not give a d*mn about the effects on children. Even movies intended for children today, have lots of potentially very scary stuff in them, lots of action and violence, and also, scenes that are too 'busy', that could lead to sensory overstimulation and confusion. I really think the movie makers couldn't care less so long as they make lots of money. And I also think many parents could't care less either since they let the kids see anything they want.

At least with Christiaan, we know now to be careful about what he watches. Considering 'Goldfinger' - it is extremely tame compared to the action movies made today. But it was still too much.

In my own case I know a big part of my psychological problems started at a very young age when I learnt about the evil things in the world without having been able to rationally deal with them. That was *not* from movies, though, but from reading popular magazines, I started doing that when I was five or six.

It took me until well out of my teens before I could deal with horror movies ... but today, I can laugh at them because they are so unrealistic.

In Christiaan's case, he is very lucky to have parents and loved ones who *are* concerned about the effects different things have on him.