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Photo Diary: March 2018
TV
Media Play: Teletubbies Bubbles DVD
One of the great things about all the streaming services out there in the world is that older kids’ shows continue finding new life. Teletubbies has definitely been one of those shows and its recent reappearance on Nick Jr. has made it a favorite in our house. Our three year old son especially likes the show and has become a big Po fan. Every single time we watch an episode — even ones we’ve seen before — he roots hard for the little red creature to be selected by the windmill or for him to pop up at the very end of the show.
So, when I was asked if I wanted to check out the recent Teletubbies Bubbles DVD, I jumped at the chance. Thanks to a radioactive cat and a trip to New Hampshire, we haven’t had as much time to absorb this one as we probably would have otherwise, but the boy loved what he saw. I mean the first episode is about bubbles and, to paraphrase Paul Rudd in Knocked Up, kids go crazy over bubbles. In fact, I’d say that the “Bubbles” episode on this disc is not only worth the price of admission, but also the next best thing to actually letting them run around with tiny plastic rings and soapy water. Continue reading
Hey, Kids Comics! – DC Superhero Girls
You never know how, when or where your kids will finally be interested in the things you love. When I first heard about DC Superhero Girls a few years back, I was super stoked because it looked like it would be perfectly up my daughter’s alley. Young women with cool powers all going to school together and fighting bad guys? What could be better?! Continue reading
The Joys Of Smurfs: The Lost Village
Last weekend I found myself unexpectedly sitting in a theater watching Smurfs: The Lost Village. My daughter had been invited to one of her kindergarten classmates’ birthday party and I went along, thinking that I would simply drop her off and maybe hang around for the food-and-cake portion. Instead, on the way there, she asked if I could stay and I didn’t really have anything better to do, so I stayed. Continue reading
How I Got My Kids To Love Weezer…And Why It May Have Been A Mistake
I’m sure I’m not alone in wanting my kids to like at least a few of the things I’ve come to love over the years. They’ve shown passing interests in comics, cartoons and a few others, but right now our biggest shared love is the band Weezer. If you’re curious about how I got into them, I wrote all about it over on UnitedMonkee.
Anyone with kids can probably guess, though, that getting there wasn’t as simple as just putting on a copy of the Blue Album and rocking out. Instead, it was a multi-stop process, one I actually started about five years ago when our daughter was just a baby. How we went from barely interested to listening to “Buddy Holly” on repeat while driving my son over to my parents’ house — we get through it three time exactly on a good day — is a fun story, so let’s jump in. Continue reading
DC Super Hero Girls Looks Rad!
DC Super Hero Girls is here and I’m already a big fan! The cross-platform initiative plans to take many of DC Entertainment’s popular female characters, re-envision them for a younger crowd and make them easily accessible to kids, specifically young girls. The general idea was announced in the past few months, but USA Today scored the first look at the roll out this afternoon. 
DCSHG will come to life in a variety of arenas. There’s a cartoon presented in webisode chunks (the first one is here) from WB Animation plus a line of toys from Mattel, comics from DC, books from Random House and a variety of other offerings that will presumably make themselves known through the official website.
As you can see in the aforementioned animation, the general conceit here is that all of these young heroes attend the same high school where they’re trained how to use their abilities for good. It sounds like a mix of Ultimate Spider-Man and Monster High or the My Little Pony: Equestria Girls movies. 
From checking out the character page of the official site, it looks like Wonder Woman, Supergirl, Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, Batgirl, Katana and Bumblebee will take center stage, but others like Catwoman, Cheetah, Hawkgirl, Star Sapphire, Beast Boy and Hal Jordan will also appear. Follow the link at the beginning of this paragraph to go through each of them, read through their bios and even click around to see their specific powers and abilities.
The characters will also make their way to toy aisles thanks to Mattel’s action dolls. USA Today got the first look at these. Above you can see the foot-tall versions of Wonder Woman and Supergirl alongside the 6-inch takes on Harley and Bumblebee!
As a lifelong fan of comic books — specifically the ones published by DC — I’m very excited about the track that DC and WB are taking with this concept. Ultimately, I wish we didn’t have to make such a big effort to create entertainment that doesn’t alienate girls from the world of super heroes, but this seems like a really solid move. My daughter already has a good deal of comic-related toys in her ever-growing collection, but the fact that more will be aimed specifically at her is aces in my book!
The Pop Poppa Nap Cast Episode 101 Featuring Geof Grubb
On the 101st episode of The Pop Poppa Nap Cast, I’m joined by my longtime friend and internet superstar Geof Grubb. You can check out his Reddit (I don’t really know what that means) here and also the Instagram account he set up for the patches he draws on for his daughter Layla every day here. In the episode we talk about everything from being stay-at-home dads to the joys of spending some mindless decompression time with video games.
There aren’t much in the way of show notes this time around, so I’ll embarrass both of us by posting this picture of Geof and I from high school. This is us before prom our senior year. I cut out the ladies because I haven’t seen them in over a decade.
For more of me check out UnitedMonkee.com, Comic Book Resources, Geek.com and @PoppaDietsch on Twitter.
The Pop Poppa Nap Cast Episode 100
Hi Gang, welcome to the 100th episode of The Pop Poppa Nap Cast. I have an awesome guest with me this time and it’s my amazing wife Emily! This episode follows a brand new format and I think it’s pretty snazzy! If you want to compare this episode the first one, you can listen to it here.
Here’s a behind the scenes look at the outline we were working on off of the big board:
And this is a picture of what my wife calls a Boyfriend Pillow, but what Target calls a Bed Rest Pillow.
Meanwhile, Bedknobs and Broomsticks is far more entertaining than Babes In Toyland.
PAW Patrol continues to entertain the kid and, literally the day after recording, I saw that they have another female dog who shows up every now and then called Everest, so that’s something.
I thought Adventures Time Season 5 was parentally informative, but Em’s still not a big fan of our 4 year old watching it. We’re both not sure about Monster High.
Book-wise, I’m a big fan of all three of these, even if Jack thinks books should all have touchscreens. Frozen Fever: Anna’s Birthday Surprise
When it comes to toys the Funko Mystery Mini Kyle
Unfortunately, these two have seen better days, so I’m going to try cleaning them up with some Clearasil Stayclear Vanishing Acne Cream as suggested on this site. I’ll let you know how it goes.
This week’s Pop Poppa Seal Of Approval goes to Jack’s favorite toy, the Kid O Hide and Seek Discs