Where to Find Fun
It's not hard to find kids fun. It's big, and even gigantic. And, it is everywhere. You'll find it bobbing, looking goofy, ready to bounce or explode or fizzle like a "pfghzzzz" into the sky, or squish with the mushiest "splooghhhsh" sound. All these things really play a part in fun for kids.
Fun is even found in an ordinary Italian meal. A pile of loopy spaghetti sits in silence. But then, the spaghetti gets topped with a great, weighty, round meatball that looks just like a big head on top of the noodles. Right away the dish seems to inspire the singing of that old-fashioned fun and famous song that goes: "I lost my poor meatball when somebody sneezed. It rolled off the table and onto the floor, and then my poor meatball rolled out of the door."
Big, round, fat, ball-shaped heads, or anything that can look like a big head, or get called a big head name, is funny and just fun. That must be why we have had for so long the likes of potato head, melon head, huge headed Macys balloons, bobble heads, and today some of the hottest video games are looming large in the head. Indeed, game designer Cliff Bleszinski would agree. He had said, "It's a general rule of thumb for comedy. A large noggin equals comedy." The producer of Black Box Games would also agree with the idea that big heads lead to kids fun. He had said, "It's quite simple really, big heads are intrinsically funny (kind of like games with Monkeys in them)."
So What's Big?
So, now we have a blockbuster movie that happens to be big on heads, and according to box office reports, is big fun. Not only kids, but adults as well love Alice in Wonderland's red queen's raging cry, "off with their heads" to those unfortunate people with tinier proportions. The queen, looking like a Clarabell candy apple, makes no bones about her big headed superiority. Yet she insists that her minions also have ridiculously, comically, huge proportions, to the point that they adorn themselves with fake bulbous noses, outrageous ears, and bulging bellies.
After the movie, I self-consciously smooth my hair down to minimize any comedic bouffant that might enlarge my own cranium. But, I am too late. The big head jokes from the peanut gallery begin. "Mom, your head is so big people thought it was another planet with arms. Your head is so big that when it rains your clothes don't get wet. Try it out, do a joke!" But I have a head like a melon and can't think.
Heads and Balls Can Roll
The next day, big heads talk was not forgotten. Lailee takes out one of those dispensing machines' small, but high bounce balls into the yard for a game of catch. "Take a bigger one," I caution, to which she jeers, "Hey, we don't need a blimp!"
"Okay then," I sigh.
A half-hour later she comes back into the house a bit scratched and bedraggled looking. "What happened," I raised my eyebrows in expectation of a story.
"Well, my hands missed the ball and it flew over the fence. But luckily, I found a hole near the bottom of the fence. I got down on my knees because I thought I could grab the ball, or maybe pull it out with a stick. The ball looked really close. I blew at the ball and it rolled a little. But guess what happened? I couldn't believe it, Mom, I got stuck! I think I need to shrink my head!"
Cynthia Goodman is a seasoned educator, counselor, writer and artist. She writes for this kid-friendly website: http://www.familyfuncartoons.com A top line resource of humor for kids and families.
![Chris Rock - Bigger & Blacker [UMD for PSP]](/51V6P3B52DLSL500.jpg)
Comedian Chris Rock makes a raucous return to his stand-up roots in this HBO special filmed at Harlem's legendary Apollo Theater. Despite his manic and profane delivery, Rock's comedy is often rooted in traditional subjects for comedians: family relationships, misunderstandings between men and women, and observations on how childhood has changed. But he takes his material right to the edge, proving himself to be a sharp-eyed satirist. Serious and timely issues, such as school shootings or children being neglected by partying parents, are tackled by Rock, who's not afraid to slip in a serious point while being hysterically funny. His defense of President Clinton against his accusers is a good example of how Rock's material is almost always bound to offend someone: he slices through the self-righteous rhetoric of the impeachment spectacle, but even the behavior he defends comes in for ridicule with jokes that are extremely funny as well as extremely coarse. The pace of this one-hour show is uneven, and some viewers will no doubt find Rock's penchant for using profanity as punctuation tiresome. But those who like intelligent comedy with a hard edge will find much to laugh at in Chris Rock: Bigger and Blacker. -- Robert J. McNamara