There is one thing that I have always been hesitant when it comes to entertainment produced by a Christian organization. Normally the production values have been skimpy, the special effects laughable, and the premise of being taken seriously has always been watered down by a clear lack of original thinking. Products that come to mind are the “Guitar Praise” computer game, the “Left Behind: Eternal Forces” PC game, and even the Left Behind movies.

Maybe its because I have worked with some of the best people in the field of video games and computer animation at companies like EA Sports, but I set a very high bar for any production and especially Christian ones, as I personally feel they should be be on the same level as what Hollywood produces. One company that has never let me down in this regard is Big Idea and their show, VeggieTales.

Pistachio: The Little Boy That Woodn’t is the latest outing from the folks at Big Idea and the level of quality from this production is by far the best I have seen from Big Idea.

The story is based on a merging of two stories. One is from The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi and the other from The Parable of the Lost Sheep from the New Testament with a little of The Prodigal Son as well. The story is told with the same “tongue in cheek” humor that permeates the series. The story unfolds as Gelato, the local toy maker, receives a bit of wood that seems to have a life of its own. After carving it down to a new toy and naming it Pistachio, the toy comes to life and instantly begins his tirade of how he knows best over his father’s teachings. While at a local art museum, Pistachio is distracted by a puppet show and lies to get Gelato’s bit of money to go watch the show. What ensues after that is a grand chase, followed by the tricksy scallions (playing the fox and cat) cheating Pistachio out of his money at the Waterfront Carnival. In the meantime, Gelato leaves his other children (a small team of ducks) with Cricket the caterpillar in search of his lost son. After being swallowed by a whale (that looks to be part dog) and a misadventure with castor oil, the family is reunited. Pistachio learns that even though he may think he knows what is best, listening to your parents is the wise decision, as they know what is best.

The story is paced well and there is very little down time, and if you can forgive one major oversight (that Gelato passes within 1 foot of Pistachio on his search), it is well constructed. The writers originally planned to use the theme of The Prodigal Son and there are allusions to that story throughout but the story of the Lost Sheep is the dominant theme in the story. The DVD comes with a great discussion guide that you can use with your child after the movie to help reinforce the lessons within.

The story itself is bookended with the usual intro from the kitchen and email with QWERTY the computer, both of which have received a makeover compliments of the “Extreme Re-Do: Crying Edition” show. One neat upgrade to QWERTY is that it can now use V-Mail instead of email so the potential is there for actual kids to send videos of themselves asking questions of Bob & Larry. For this episode they used series co-creator Mike Nawrocki’s son for the role.

On a technical level, VeggieTales has never looked so good. Gone are a lot of the shiny surfaces and somewhat stiff animations. BigIdea has outsourced much of the animation to “HuHu”, a New Zealand animation company that has given the series a fresh coat of paint. The textures have all been given an added layer of depth and Pistachio looks and “feels” like a wooden toy. All the characters can stand closeups without any pixelation or texture degradation. Even the intro has been completely redone to include all the characters. One subtle touch is the fox at the Waterfront Carnival. He has a tail that not only moves back and forth, but twitches and reacts according to his mood. Another notable mention are the water effects, which look just as good as something I would expect from any Hollywood studio. The rain falls and breaks on surfaces in a realistic manner and the ocean water has a natural feel to it instead of repeating patterns.

Pistachio: The Little Boy That Woodn’t is a great addition to the VeggieTales catalog and if you are a fan of the series, you owe it to yourself to pick up this chapter. The story is solid, the animation superb, and the music and voice acting is top notch. If you are looking for a helping of vegetables for your little ones, you do not need to go any further. Pistachio is available for purchase by clicking on any of the links above. No iTunes version is available as of this writing.

- Daddy Creature

I must admit that I was eager to try out the customizable FLOR area rug from the get go. Seeing limited offerings in flooring stores while shopping for new carpet and tile had piqued my interest – however since the offerings were so limited, I did not look at the option of customizable area rugs or wall to wall carpeting (piece by piece) as a serious option.  Then came FLOR! They have many options and varieties of fabrics and colors.

The Instructions, Packaging and Installation:

The area rug arrived in a simple box , easy to open and contained detailed instructions for installation. There are helpful arrows on the back of each carpet square ’tile’ to assist you with lining them up correctly. A simple small sticky square is placed at the corners where the squares meet (in other words, each carpet tile has a non-skid backing and to connect each square to the next, you place a slightly sticky square at the edge of the carpet tile so that the tile are snuggly situated beside one another and so that the squares stay put!
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Please go vote for the winner of this giveaway! We have a lovely hardcover Photo Book Giveaway for an engaged couple! Did your sweetheart propose to you recently and you are making wedding plans? If you recently said “Yes, I will marry you!”, then tell us about the marriage proposal. We want to hear the how he proposed story and that will enter you in our Photo Book Giveaway.

For the special Bride and Groom to be we will be giving away a My Publisher’s Hardcover Photo Book! Three stories will be chosen by us here at Lil Duck Duck so our readers will then vote for their favorite story.

We have a sample here in our hands and this is truly bookstore-quality printing – and we are not easily impressed as we hold a high standard when it comes to photo printing . Think what a special memories book this will be for your photos from your dates, to highlight your wedding preparation photos, ring shopping or use it for your honeymoon photos! Read more

Casual games are all the rage now, and the kids gaming and educational market are no exception. There is a lot to be said for introducing a child to basic technology skills early and you can certainly do worse than Sabi’s ItzaBitza. The game has an impressive drawing recognition program that makes the experience great for kids that have little or no drawing experience. The game is toted as a great assistant for helping kids learn to read and to stimulate creativity. While our time with the game was limited by the trial copy we were given, we did come away with a good list of pros and cons for the game.

The program is only available for Windows XP and VISTA at this time. Sorry my fellow Mac faithful, but we have been overlooked yet again unless you have a full version of XP/VISTA and can run it on BootCamp. It will run on pretty much any setup and the game is not by any means a system resource hog, so you should have no problem running this game on your home computer.

The graphics are pretty consistent with flash games you see on the web and has a cute aesthetic to it. There is a total of 5 areas that your child can play in within the game with varying levels of difficulty. Starting from Home Sweet Home, you can go Camping, to a Country Farm, go on a Space Adventure and finally traverse a Haunted House.
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How do you encourage your children to brush their teeth properly and learn lifelong brushing habits? It is usually a struggle between the parent brushing their teeth or letting the child do it and risking them not doing a complete job!

There is a new Oral-B Triumph Smart Guide toothbrush that every member of the family will like. Why is this new Braun toothbrush better than the other models?

Children will like the wireless display that times them with the reward of the happy face after the two minutes. They can watch the time count down as it flashes and even pulses in their mouth .

There are also different brush heads to use so the child can have a choice (don’t they just love to think they are in control . For added interest, one of the buttons on the toothbrush changes the mode of brushing – one is a pulsating massage that feels funny . Read more

For your gift giving ideas, have you looked at a practical yet new product from Oral B – it’s their new Triumph electric toothbrush. Everyone can use a new toothbrush – it is practical and useful plus you get a discount on this special offer!

The Oral-B Triumph with SmartGuide is the first and only power toothbrush that uses a wireless digital display to help improve your brushing habits. It also has sensor to tell you if you’re brushing too hard and alerts you when it’s time to change the brush head!

You can see more information here:
http://www.oralb.com/en-US/products/power/triumphsmartguide/

Click on the Special Offers tab and you can print the $15 mail-in rebate offer thru December 31st. I am going to find the best price at the store today and then send in my rebate for a thoughtful gift for a family member. Don’t you love this kind of good deal?