Hugo and Hula-hoops
26 Jun 2012 Leave a Comment
in co-ops
This morning we went to the kids summer $1 movie to see Hugo. We missed it at the regular theater and I really wanted to see it (especially after seeing a bit of the George Melies silent film that previewed before our Douglas Fairbanks silent movie.) The film was wonderful, I loved that it incorporated several silent films into the movie, even some very old late 1800′s film. Here is an 1896 Melies film, 1896 – that is freaking old!
There could not have been a better casting for the part of Melies than Ben Kingsley, he even looks like him! Sacha Cohen was the orphan eradicating station master who longs for love and was a quirky pick. At one point in the movie Hugo tells his friend Isabel that he imagines the whole world is a big machine; because, you know, machines never come with more parts than are needed – so that means there is a place in this world for Hugo, he can’t be an extra part, he is a part that fits in somewhere. Because we are novice silent film buffs I loved the addition of the silent works from Melies and other directors. Here is a 1902 Melies short that is hand tinted.
Hugo was a grown up film of sorts, it was sad and cruel at times, but in the end we all know that movies make sure there is a happy ending. The automaton had a very small part in the movie and the girls liked seeing it because it was like one we saw in a documentary (only that one was dressed and had a face.) The other thing I liked about the movie is that is made us want to find out more out silent films, George Melies and other directors and read about the pioneers of movie making. We’ve seen zoetropes and other early movie making machines at the museum, we might be enticed to come up with a film machine of our own in the coming weeks.
After lunch we went over to a co-op at a friends house. We were making hula-hoops from plastic tubing.
Here’s Hannah showing hers cut, after we cut the tubes the kids went inside one at a time to (have a adult) dip the ends in boiling water, then we inserted couplings that stuck fast once the ends cooled off.
The kids set about decorating with tape, Hannah taped over and over hers. These hoops are heavier than regular ones and that makes them easier to use.
Also, use a wider hoop, a smaller one spins faster and you have to work harder to make it go around.
The kids played and hooped, then played some more.
We loaded up our hoops and said bye, we won’t be at the park tomorrow, so it might be a whole week till we see our friends again!
