JPOD 12.28.05

Joshua is going on four straight days of Christmas celebration and loving every bit of it. With the mild Maryland climate, this winter is turning out to be never cold and always Christmas. Tuesday was the Christmas hullabaloo for Joshua's family this year. All of his grandparents and aunts and uncles came to his house for a festive dinner, partly prepared by Joshua's father (evidence given below).


Here are the family pictures from the Kinsinger side

and the Marotta side.

A grand time was had by all!

JPOD 12.26.05

Merry Christmas!


Joshua gave Mom two books for Christmas, "Guess How Much I Love You" and "Love You Forever."


Mom couldn't make it through "Love You Forever" without crying.


Here's Joshua enjoying his first tub bath a few days ago. He loved being in the water! He did not love the before and after parts of bathing.

JPOD 12.24.2005

Today marks Joshua's first non-medical excursion: the Christmas Eve service. You can bet he'll be properly attired. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

JPOD 12.23.05

Do you hear what I hear? Joshua's first book was the onomatopoetic favorite, Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? by Bill Martin, Jr. and Eric Carle. Josh didn't consider it much of a page-turner. The reader is holding out hope that Joshua's literary tastes are somewhat finer than this kids' stuff and is eager to introduce Plato and Augustine to this developing mind.

JPOD 12.22.2005

Do you see what I see?

JPOD 12.21.05

Looks can be deceiving. Here, despite all appearances, Joshua is not really excavating Maria's nares. He's just waving his hand around.

JPOD 12.20.05

Anchors aweigh, my boy! Ain't he cute in his sailor suit? We're discovering that certain outfits are shrinking faster than we can fasten the snaps, a truly mind-boggling phenomenon, necessitating even more rapid photography before the clothes literally disappear. This is Josh's first time sporting these naval duds and they've got maybe another 2 days of wear...but who can predict these things? We're glad he's growing!

JPOD 12.19.05

Anyone for a little tummy time?

Hats Off to It's a Wonderful Life

No discussion of American Christmas film classics would be complete without serious consideration of my personal favorite movie, It's a Wonderful Life. I watched it for roughly the 28th time last night. Each year it's a new mystery as to which scenes will call forth my annual tears. I'll never forget watching it with Maria, just a month after we were married. George's overwhelming affection for Mary after his resurrection elicited a full deluge from me.

But the highlight of last night's viewing wasn't my emotional response. Rather, I noticed the contingency of the entire plot on hats. This dependency on toppers is more than the fleeting fancy of a headgear aficionado. Consider George's friend, Ernie, whose character would be lost had Capra worked with the bare fashions of today. We first meet him "sitting around on his brains" in his taxi, chilling with Bert the cop. When his friend-turned-rich-tourist becomes a patron, Ernie puts on his hat, "for the carriage trade." In a simple gesture, Ernie goes from friend to servant. Ernie's dependence on his chapeau doesn't end with our introduction to him. In George and Mary's honeymoon suite, we see a stovepipe transform Ernie to the doorman of the Waldorf Hotel. Ernie tilts his lid, and George empties his into Ernie's hand. What do today's fashions have to offer in comparison?

But I'm arguing for the contingency of the entire plot. Certainly the role of a dicer in a supporting actor's garb fails to constitute "entirety" in any sense of the word. Thus, let us turn now to two features of the skimmers of the movie's leading man. First, remember the scene below? Remember what brought George back to the Hatch residence after Mary kicked him out? You guessed it: his sky piece. This raises a number of questions. Would George and Mary have married apart from that forgetten item? What of the children? Who would have scoured around town collecting money for the business? There's no question. Many a family in Bedford Falls had a roof over their heads because George wore a fedora over his.



Secondly, George wears a dicer in nearly every outdoor scene leading up to his jump off the bridge. After that crucial moment, he traipses around Pottersvile, and later Bedford Falls, bearing full brow, as it were. This subtle wardrobe alteration illuminates the tension of the plot. At first glance, George's naked attic aids in his appearance as one on the brink of insanity. This is a result of his unkempt hairdo, and the simple fact that no one in their right mind would go about Bedford Falls in December without some kind of a rim. But the absence of a bean pod also communicates something deeper. George has served the "common, ordinary rabble" his whole life. Like them, he's adorned his head with the symbol of the everyday working man. Now, having flipped his lid before his family, George is faced with a fatal choice: he may either blow his top and head toward destruction, or remove his helmet and bow his head in submission to the One who called on all to love their fellow man.

That such an essay as this can be written is just one more reason that "It's a Wonderful Life" should always set the standard of a classic holiday movie. So, whether you've seen it once or a hundred times, be sure to tip your hat to It's a Wonderful Life this Christmas season.

JPOD 12.18.05

Josh has already shown an interest in the piano, which Dad is faithfully nurturing. Now, is Joshua actually posing for the camera, or is he simply hungry and looking to Mom for his next meal?

JPOD 12.17.05

All tucked up in a duck suit.

JPOD 12.15.2005

Today we are officially launching the JPOD - Joshua's Picture of the Day. Our goal will be to add a new picture of our little tyke each day. More than likely, commentary will ebb a bit, but the cuteness will keep right on flowing. To start it off, here is Josh in blue.

Joshua's preferred sleeping spot

It's naptime. Why is Joshua's bassinet empty? To date, Josh has logged less than two hours in this most exquisite bedchamber. In fact, placing him here has become the most surefire method of rousing him for his next feeding. Perhaps, as a boy, he is bothered by the frills, and would prefer something more manly. This hypothesis has some credibility since the two places Joshua finds especially soporific are his carseat and his father's chest, as shown below.

Nothing like snoozing atop Dad after a hard night's work.

Genuine Pacifiers

Grandma Kinsinger and Grandma Monika each succeeded in calming the roaring lion before either of Joshua's parents. Above, Grandma Monika goes to work on a feisty fledgling. Below, Grandma Kinsinger relishes a few more moments holding her grandson on the eve of her departure. She spent a weary week serving two rookie parents. How could we have survived the first week without her!

Scrub, Scrub, Scrub

In general, Joshua is a rather modest and mild-mannered individual, reserving passionate outcries for only his most detestable activities. So far, he finds the compromise of his modesty most objectionable. We observed this during his first sponge bath, when he demonstrated for us his full volume (or at least what we hope was full volume).

Grandpa Al

Three of four grandparents managed to see Joshua within two days of his birth. Josh found Grandpa Al's lap to be quite a haven for slumber. Note Grandpa Al's ultimate apparel protection cover.

Here for the Holidays

This picture is the subject of controversy. While most hold that Joshua is gazing at the Christmas tree lights (one of his favorite pastimes), his proud father argues that Joshua's focal point is actually Chief Illiniwek, the mascot for the University of Illinois. Incidentally, Josh's first sporting event was to watch the Illini defeat the Tarheels at North Carolina. Nothing like starting a life off on the right foot with an Illinois win.

Mommy's boy

Our little bandit captured his Mommy's heart right away.

Blissful Slumber

After an alert and active first hour of life, Joshua settled down into a sedative state, as shown here, in the hospital bassinet. Nothing like stretching out horizontally after nine months of being cooped up.

Into the Light

Enough of these penny-ante philosophical quandaries. Who wants to listen to a chemist muse? Let's get to the original purpose of this blog. WE'VE GOT A BABY! Joshua Lawrence Kinsinger entered this world on November 29, 2005 at 12:10 p.m., and he is a BOY! At birth, he weighed 6 lbs. 15 oz., and measured 20.75 in. His labor began fourteen hours before, and continued through the night into a rainy, cloudy November morning. Just after noon, the sun broke through the clouds, brilliantly illuminating the delivery room. Joshua was born into the light, and just a few minutes later, the rain resumed. However, life with Joshua has been anything but dreary!

Tsaichovsky

Of classical music, there is no shortage of opinions, so I will offer no new ones here. Rather, in continuing our discussion on the definition of classic, let us consider music. The technical definition of classical music is any piece written in a certain style between 1750 and 1820. This is called the "Classical Era." However, classical music entails much more than Mozart and Haydn. I suppose most Americans would classify anything from Gregorian Chant to John Williams as classical. Others would limit it to orchestral music. While rehearsing Mendelssohn's Elijah in my college choir, I was appalled to learn that Mendelssohn's works were not considered classic by many because they lacked originality. I have often said that I did not become a composer because Mendelssohn has already written everything I would have written. But what is music in the first place? Music is art expressed through sound. Thus, a piece may be classic on two accounts. Either it calls a new sound music or it finds a new expression. Hence, Beethoven's 9th gets the nod for adding the voice as an orchestral instrument (anyone who has sung this piece knows all too well how different his use of voice is from the composer of an opera or oratorio). As for expression, what piece better depicts the triumph of victory in battle than Tsaichovsky's 1812 Overture? My first remembered exposure to classical music was this piece. At age 4, my parents bought me an LP containing this heroic work. I only ever listened to the side 2, because that was the one that had the cannon. To this day, I still get chills when the cannon go off. For that matter, every Tsaichovsky opus affects me likewise. I just listened to his 5th Symphony, and again I was captivated. I know very little of the technical aspects of Tsaichovsky's music. Whether he was muscially ingenuis or not I cannot say. His music has a way of sounding familiar from the first hearing. As the piece progresses, I never have to say, "that's not how it should go!" Somehow, he always knows how I think it should go. Yet, his mastery does not cease with familiarity. Each piece is a journey that transcends earthly reality. This, for me, is the difference between classical music and folk music. Folk music is familiar but not transcendant. Contemporary music is transcendant but not familiar. Therefore, the definition of classical music is perspective-dependent. From my vantage, Tsaichovsky was the pinnacle, and music has since not been the same.

What is Classic?

In my junior year of high school, the purpose of one semester's term paper was to render a verdict as to whether or not a piece of literature should be considered "classic." This question resurfaced yesterday in our semi-annual excursion to the cinema. Every so often, I hear that a newly made movie will be to my liking. Yesterday's feature was Joe Wright's Pride and Prejudice. Is Pride and Prejudice a classic? Considering that it adorns the shelves of many a contemporary English-speaking home two hundred years after publication bodes well for a positive decision. But why is it still read? Most of the social customs of the day are outdated; the English country gentry who occupy most of the novel's limelight were a dying breed even in the day of writing; and the storyline is not so original that it could not be conceived from anyone who learned Cinderella or Beauty and the Beast from a young age. Yet somehow Jane Austen manages to blend societal parody and true love in such a way that makes young ladies pine and cynics chuckle. Her witty language puts modern romance novelists to shame. Furthermore, the manner in which she employs social norms to cause suspense and to conceal the characters' true feelings for each other makes her a masterful artist indeed. But should these crafts of subtlety place her among the ranks of Chaucer, Dante, and Tolstoy? I dare say not yet. The true classic element of Pride and Prejudice is that every Western romance contains a bit of Miss Bennett's curious reflection and a dab of Darcy's mystery. Which brings me to my favorite part of yesterday's movie experience. We saw the matinee, which meant most of the audience appeared married and over seventy. Walking out, I, along with all the other men in the room, carried ourselves with a little more grace and acted with a little more civility as we escorted our brides out into the street.

Baby Makes Bloggers

Welcome to "Classic Kinsinger: Queries about Life and Quantum Chemistry (a.k.a. baby, books, Bogart, and puns - and other serious matter)" or "Classic Kinsinger: Quantized Queries about Life" for short. This blog is the creation of Chris and Maria Kinsinger for the primary purpose of sharing photos, thoughts, and memories with our family and friends, particularly related to "Baby K," who should soon be making his or her eagerly anticipated arrival into the world. In addition to updates on Baby K, we hope to enjoy sharing our miscellaneous musings on life - and quantum chemistry, of course. Thank you for exploring our blog! We hope you enjoy your visit.