Father-Husband-Marketer-Geek

Image via Wikipedia Yes, Sodor is the fictional island where the Thomas & Friends steam engine rails run their specials, shunting cars and hauling freight. Can you believe there is an entire mythology and history to Sodor? From  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodor_(fictional_island) : "The need for consistency in the locations for The Railway Series necessitated the creation of a suitable location. The Rev. Awdry required a setting for his books that would be within Great Britain,Rule[›] but would be sufficiently isolated from the rest of British Railways to allow him to do as he wished with the location. Inspiration came on a visit to the Diocese of Sodor and Man[1] in 1950. Awdry noted that while there was an Isle of Man, there was no similar Island of Sodor. A large island would meet the criteria he required, giving him the isolation from changes to the British railway system while giving him somewhere that people could believe in. Between them, Awdry and his brother George ...

...and this is one of them. The Department 56 blog was created when I was at the height of my affection for the product line. I was collecting the Original Snow Village, the Original Snow Village Halloween, Dickens' Village and the "A Christmas Story" line from Sears. A few years ago D56 was purchased by Enesco. Dealers were complaining about a change in the way they were being treated. Financial struggles forced us to purge our pieces, except for Halloween and A Christmas Story. I lost interest, barely paying attention to new product introductions. I saw dealers closing up shop. Two of my favorite dealers stopped carrying new merchandise. I also happened to become a father -- a blessing which I gladly reallocated time for. Less blogging, more diapers. Now I find myself interested in some other collectibles: Lego, Thomas & Friends, Comic Book stuff, things which he and I share a passion for now. My son is now 2 years and 8 months, and as train tracks lay across my hou...

Image via Wikipedia Our two year (and 2 months!) old has officially fallen in love with everything Thomas. From the moment my wife picked up a cheap Thomas and Friends DVD at Target , which he watched, mesmerized, he has evolved his love of trains to where his GeoTrax and Lego train sets are no longer sufficient. Now, his trains must be wooden, be propped up on a table, and the trains must be able to be manually pushed along. It does seem like a step backwards, after all, the GeoTrax ran on their own, as did the Lego set. The Thomas videos were a bit creepy at first, where the trains were speaking but their mouths were not moving. Yes, they were narrated ( George Carlin and Ringo Starr, nonetheless!) but it just wasn't quite right. They've since fixed this oversight and the newer films offer a true mouth-moving experience -- much more realistic. Now, to find the Sight and Sounds Deluxe set somewhere... Related articles by Zemanta Lego fish tan...