Saturday, July 17, 2010

Summer fun #5

#5 is invite a friend over and make a stop motion movie. Travis has a friend named Dante that he only gets to see once or twice a year. He often says this boy is his best friend. I have always been a little confused why he calls someone a best friend that he hardly ever sees. I understand how as an adult we can keep a best friend without seeing them every day but I thought a childhood best friend is someone you see a lot. After the other day I have changed my mind. Watching the two boys together I could see they understand each other. They are the type of kids who will spend hours planing out a pretend war. The planning to them is more important than the playing war. Other boys who come over to play get right to the war play. They could care less about creating a story. Dante is so much like Travis I think they could have spent the entire day planning out this Lego war. Making the story and creating the characters was very important to both of them. Making a plan, thinking things out, being as historically accurate as possible is what they both care about. I watched them for 15 minutes deciding what would be the best way to have a Lego man hold the gun (they called it a flintlock musket loader or something like that). The day was full of things that they both do in the same way. I think it was a dream day for Travis. I think 100 play dates with other children would never equal one afternoon with Dante. Travis likes making plans, learning about things, reading books, writing his own books all things his friend Dante also likes to do. I am not sure what kind of friendship Dante thinks he has with Travis. With only seeing him once or twice a year he might not even think of him as a friend at all. No matter how Dante sees it I will never again wonder why Travis calls him as his best friend. After all isn't a person who understands how you think and has fun doing the same things you do reasons we cherish our best friends? Dante had never made a stop motion movie before so I don't think he knew how short they are when you put the pictures together. Travis knew but I think he was so excited making this with a friend he forgot how stop motion works. They spent a lot time acting out the Revolutionary War (or maybe it was the Civil War). They took about 100 pics. I think they both were shocked they only had a 12 second movie in the end. Once they added in the voice they thought it was very cool and wanted to make more movies. That is when Dante's mom came to pick him up. Maybe they will get a chance another time to make more movies or do some other thing they both like. Here is the movie they made.

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