Take Your Stinkin' Molded Plastic Paws Off Me...

I haven't shown my Children many classic movies. We've covered the original Star Wars Trilogy, E.T. and The Princess Bride but not much else. I feel their attention spans as well as whatever gland it is that emits the chemical that drives them to patronize their old man are both a bit too underdeveloped to show them A Fist Full of Dollars, 2001: A Space Odyssey or The Great Escape.

Their dispositions are also still a bit more frail than would allow for me to show them Jaws. I hope to get them snorkeling someday and the image of a leg floating to the seabed might discourage that. Similarly, I'm trying to hold off on showing them Raiders of the Lost Ark until after I decide if we're going to make a return trip to Mammoth Cave National Park. Right now, both swimming and spelunking are activities that they see no inherent danger in and I'd hate to suggest otherwise.

Since I know for a fact they have very limited exposure to movies of the sixties, seventies, and eighties, it was to my surprise when I returned from dropping them off at school and sat at my dining room table with a cup of coffee to discover this:

As you may have read here last saturday, my sons and I have completed our set of Series 3 Lego Minifigures. Contained within the set are a guy in a gorilla suit (complete with zipper on the back of his torso and sweating, grimacing, yellow minifigure head below the gorilla mask...very clever) as well as a samurai warrior. In an attempt to create new figures by simply switching around pieces, my sons, I assume unwittingly, created a rather striking resemblance to General Ursus from Planet of the Apes, a movie which I know for a fact they have never seen.

Sure, he's missing the helmet, but if I just snag one of the myriad of extra rifles included with every Lego Star Wars set, you have a pretty impressive likeness. I makes me wonder if that gland might be developing in them after all. Maybe they will begin displaying a desire to watch old westerns or Bruce Lee films out of nowhere. I'm thinking that there is an sixties movie appreciation gene that may be making itself known in my sons.

Or, perhaps it's an inkling toward sci-fi and nerdery in general. Next thing you know, they'll be asking questions about Dungeons & Dragons or I'll catch them reading A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

I'm so proud.