10.04.06 Party Favors (Formerly Niblets)

Thanks so much for stopping by! Grab a goodie bag, stuffed today with an assortment of low-cost, high-fun educational trinkets….

• LA Times columnist Joel Stein wrote a great piece yesterday on how kids today fail at one of their primary jobs: offending their parents. The whip-smart Mr. Stein suggests, quite rightly I think, that kids today haven’t managed to come up with anything shocking enough to send their codger parents retreating to a mature safe zone. He also includes a few quotes from me on how the kids of rejuvenile parents often simply don’t have any need to offend their parents; they’re too busy having fun together.

• Bernie De Koven, that reclusive Jedi knight of the rejuvenile world, has a great Podcast in which he monologues about the meaning of fun and games. Most recently, he posted a terrific audio essay on “deeply played games,” which he defines as high-profile, popular games that function as theatrical events and sources for life lessons as much as competitive events. My favorite line comes from a bit about American football: “It’s the brash, energetic, puppy-like play of a young culture, a game of total engagement, barely kept within the bounds of play. It’s highly organized, thinly disguised play fighting.”

• Another day, another viral kickball video. “Alive and Kicking” is a funny short about one man’s induction to the world of high-stakes adult kickball. In a sort of amateur kickball answer to “Dodgeball: A Ture Underdog Story,” the movie includes a championship match against a team of cut-throat rivals and a grizzled old kickball vet. Thanks, Scorekeeper, for the link!

Speaking of Geraldo, one of my buddies got the opportunity to legally point a gun at his chest (well, quasi-legal, anyways).

http://www.rizzn.com/2006/10/update-from-middle-east.asp

/rizzn