Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Laughter (+ Phil Collins) Cures What Ails

There are days I am bone dry creatively. It's an emptiness I can't explain. One where I just walk around in a daze from one task to another as if doing the mundane will somehow spark something extraordinary.

Yes, I complain about it. Wondering when the feeling will pass (as it always does). I sigh a lot during these times as if doing some sort of yogic breathing will free my body of the lethargy (it does help, I swear).

Then something happens. Someone does something or says something absolutely crazy and I lose it. I laugh so hard the tears stream down my cheeks. It's a release for me and then I am FREE. Free to be creatively crazy and silly and ready to try anything new and exciting.

Most of the time the source of the hilarity is either my spouse or my son. Both have unparalleled senses of humor, an oddball combination of slapstick and the Sahara dry.

The latest incident culminated yesterday. My teen aged, home schooled son had locked himself in his bedroom - of his own accord - for days (he did come out to eat, of course). At first I thought my less than stellar frame of mind had him running to the sanctuary of his boudoir. He was in there hours and hours and all I could hear was the crash of Legos being poured from their containers and angry mutterings about the cat eating yet another mini fig (Lego man/figure for those of you non-Lego people).

Finally, said son re-appeared with a huge grin on his face. (Again, for those of you without teenagers, this in itself is an unusual incident). No, he wasn't making a bomb, he had been working on his latest film - a stop motion masterpiece. He wants to be the next Alfred Hitchcock, but that's yet another blog...

Four hundred and twenty photos later here's what he came up with - a silly Lego music video of Genesis' classic Misunderstanding. The kid's a freak for 1970-80s music, with Phil Collins in the top five of all time. So, without further adieu, I will present his final cut of Lego Misunderstanding. It's crazy and weird with Legos dying and dropping like flies. But I laughed so hard my stomach hurt. Hope it will make you smile, too.
PS- Phil's the bald one and Peter Gabriel is ID'd as he had hair then...