There were photocopies of the storyboards of the beginning and end of the animation that Dali had worked on. But the middle of the story wasn’t totally worked out on paper. To make the completed animation, in addition to using Dali’s artwork for the project, Disney relied on a journal Dali’s wife had been keeping that detailed Dali’s plans for the piece. They also used a 3D model of Dali’s painting The Tower of Babel to give the animation more depth.

Originally, the film was going to include live people interposed with animations. According to an article on the Disney site (that has since been taken down), Dali was going to be in the film. He would have been working at an easel at one point, and an actor was going to ask him the meaning of the imagery in his works… such as the “melting” clocks. I found what Dali was going to respond to be very interesting:

“What you see here are just symbols. Surrealism is like a new language. Every object means something other than what it naturally appears to be. This watch, for instance — it symbolizes the relativity of time. Depending on the circumstances, in love for instance, one minute of waiting may seem like a thousand years…or an hour may pass as quickly as if it were a few seconds. The time of human being is different than mechanical time. It’s flexible and viscous, like the time in dreams.”

I thought that bit of dialog nicely elucidates Dali’s work and certainly the meaning of the clocks in his paintings.

The music in the animation is an adaptation of a ballad by Mexican songwriter Armando Dominguez. It was sung by Dora Luz.

Here’s a trailer from the animation…

Here’s a trailer of the strangest part of the animation…

You can see other clips of Destino and the whole animation by typing in “Dali and Disney” into YouTube. A higher quality version is coming out soon on DVD.

In the early pages of this book, you realize that Abe was a kid just like any other kid. For example, he wrote this at about eleven (can’t you imagine your kid writing this?):

Abraham Lincoln is my nam[e]
And with my pen I wrote the same
I wrote in both hast[e] and speed
and left it here for fools to read

Abraham Lincoln his hand and his pen
he will be good but god knows When

Kids love to write poems like this one!

Earlier in the book you realize what a different world Abe really grew up in. When he was seven, his family moved from Kentucky to Indiana. Though Abe was only at that point nearly eight, he helped his father build their family a log cabin, with the help of neighbors.

Now every time my poor kids have a little chore to do and they complain about it, I can’t help but say, “Abe Lincoln helped his father build a log cabin when he was only 7 years old!”

Here’s how Sandburg described that time in Abe’s life: “It had been a hard year… They had to chop down trees, clear away underbrush, on what few acres they planted after plowing the hard unbroken sod. Their food was mostly game shot in the woods nearby… One drawback was water supply. Abe or Sarah (his sister) had to walk nearly a mile to fetch spring water… They were part of the American Frontier, many others like them breaking ground never before broken, settling a new midwest territory.”

This makes you think how different and difficult life was back then. Yet it’s part of what helped shape who Abraham Lincoln was to become as a man.

Many thanks to Lila for the drawing of Abe!

Dear Lisa,

Gerardo

Pin Pon is sung by children throughout the Spanish speaking world.

Guerra worked in children’s programs on Chilean TV in the 1960’s and 70’s. He went into exile after the military coup in Chile in 1973. He returned to Chile after democracy was restored in 1990.

Here you can see Jorge Guerra performing in one of his old shows…

RIP Jorgue Guerra.

Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the US. It celebrates the life of such an important American who had the courage to speak up for equal rights for all. Here are some activities to do with children to help them learn more about him…

You can listen to his I Have a Dream Speech online with your children. It’s his most well-known speech.

You can have your kids do an animated Martin Luther King Jr. Jigsaw Puzzle – choose Easy, Medium or Hard.

Let your school-age kid go to the site called America’s Story to read about Martin Luther King Jr. (with your help if needed).

Project Gutenberg just posted a book to read online or download called Domestic Life in Virginia in the 17th Century. Presumably, it would be similar throughout the North American colonies at that point in time.

Here’s a part I found to be interesting about how they cooked and washed clothes (they didn’t do laundry too often – so they wore a lot of perfume!)…

In the summer months, much of the cooking was done out-of-doors in huge pots slung from a tripod. The food for the servants went into a single pot, and their fare in “pap” was eaten in the open also, when the weather permitted. In the winter and during the cooler months, cooking was done on the hearth of an ample fireplace which customarily took up the greater part of the end of a room. If the family was of modest means, the kitchen area was the heart of the house. Here, in winter, was warmth, food and companionship. As the planter acquired numerous servants and preparation of food became an all-day matter, every day, the kitchen with its companion room, the buttery, was divorced from the house. Under this arrangement, the mistress of the household merely directed the preparation of food, the care of the dairy products, the salting of the meat, and the rendering of the lard.

Before the fire on the great hearth, meat on joints and fowl were trussed on spits, and to some small boy fell the task of keeping the spit turning. A drip-pan placed beneath caught the juices. Bakestones, griddles and clay ovens were at hand to stand on the hot embers, and later, ovens were built into the fireplaces. From cranes, simple at first and later with convenient arrangements for tipping, hung the pots for boiling. Bellows were at hand to enliven dying embers. On a rough table stood the brass mortar and iron pestle for mixing, the flesh-hook for handling meats, brass skimmer, rolling-pin, and other handy cooking utensils. Besides, in an adjoining space, there were pans, butter-pots, tubs and trays for the milk and milk products.

Water, which had to be drawn by hand from wells, except for an occasional windmill, was not a plentiful commodity. Therefore, the washing of clothes was not the semi-weekly operation carried on today with labor-saving devices. For the most part, it was carried on out-of-doors in clear weather, either at a nearby stream, or in the huge pots or tubs possessed by every family. Soap was brought into the Colony, and also was compounded from the animal fats available and the soap-ashes, which were plentiful. After soaking, the clothes were laid on boards and the grime driven out with “beetles” or paddles; then, the garments were hung up or laid out to dry or bleach in the sun. The few housewives, who owned napkin-presses, had the table-linen carefully folded, and placed, when damp, in the press in a pile. The board, screwed down firmly, eliminated the wrinkles, and the linen in some hours was smooth and ready for use. Also, various smoothing-irons and goffering (crimping)-irons, heated on the hearth were applied to garments. In all, however, laundering was a laborious process. Perfume, therefore, was a popular item in milady’s toilet.

Pictures Courtesy of the artist, Sydney R. Jones from Old English Household Life by Jekyll and Jones, published by B. T. Batsford, Ltd., London.

UPDATE: Come read more about Washing Laundry with Ashes and Climbing Cherry Trees in the Good Old Days!

WWD Fashion asked designers to send in sketches for clothing designs for Michelle Obama and her daughters to wear on Inauguration Day on January 20th – when Obama officially becomes President. Check out the results at WWD.com.

The sketch above was done by Isaac Mizrahi for Michelle, Sasha and Malia.

My daughter and I enjoyed watching the slide show together and picking out the dresses we liked best!

Last week we got, among other things, fennel and mibuna. Fennel tastes to me like licorice. I love it plain. But since I’m trying to fit these vegetables into our family meals, I’m often looking for recipes to deal with them. I was happy today to find a recipe that featured fennel by Mark Bittman in the New York Times. His recipe included celery (which I have in the house) and thinly sliced parmesan cheese (which I don’t have in the house – I only have grated parmesan).

Another complication to using Bittman’s recipe exactly as is, is that the fennel from the CSA is so good, that you don’t want to throw any part of it out.

Here’s what I did…

I cut up the fennel. After that, I happened to go over to my daughter to give her a kiss. She told me my breath smelled good. That’s because I was nibbling on the fennel. So I told her to try it. She liked it. So I put some to the side for her to eat plain – like she likes most food.

Then I added some grated parmesan (I recommend decent quality cheese for this purpose), olive oil, freshly squeezed lemon juice, salt, pepper and a little fleur de sel (which you can use if you have it – it’s a very tasty salt from France). I mixed it all together and voila – it’s great!

I also had a little mibuna in the fridge. Mibuna is a green leaf in the mustard family from Japan. It’s not as strong as most mustard greens I’ve tasted – though it has a little kick to it. I put some of the same mixture of olive oil, lemon juice, parmesan, salt, pepper and fleur de sel over it to make another little salad – Yum!

Check out Mark Bittman’s video to see how he made his salad. Yum Um!