Sunday, December 6, 2009

Baby I'm a Rock Star

We have the American Idol game for the Wii. Essentially, this is karaoke at home (with the computer versions of the three American Idol judges) and I have to say it's a fun, albeit high-pressure way for Vaughn to practice reading. Plus, if you set it to "easy" it's pretty much a given that you're going to be rated Gold or Platinum (although I did manage to get my rendition of a Depeche Mode song ended early by the judges. Twice). This forgiving rating system is very affirming for Vaughn and he takes his high ratings as a sign that he must be a most excellent singer since "I barely even know the words!" He's even started to add bonus elements like "WOO!" and "Yeah!" in the beginning of songs when they are cuing up.

Unfortunately, in addition to a singing style that consists of mostly shouting the words, he also sticks to a very predictable line up that includes Life Is a Highway, 867-5309 (the "Jenny" song) and Eye of the Tiger. The crown jewel in the repertoire is Vacation by the Go-Gos. Vacation is sung over and over and other songs are really just filler in a long-running soundtrack of Vacation on repeat. I love the Go-Gos and at first I couldn't have been more happy with this but now it's a little maddening. Still, it's all pretty adorable and I really wish he'd let me videotape him more. All videos have to be taken very surreptitiously.

Even the Wii has apparently had enough of Vacation as Vaughn finished up the latest round to have a message appear that said, "Try a new song! Maybe you'll find a new favorite!"

**Update: The favorite song has switched now to Eye of the Tiger and has been memorized so that it can be sung outside of playing Wii. He will sing it with or without the Survivor video playing in the background. One morning I think we heard it ten times before we left for school. Whenever my brain is having "quiet time" - Eye of the Tiger is there.

Friday, December 4, 2009

Blowin in the Wind

Vaughn loves playing "Monster" with Jacob. This game is nothing more than them beating each other with couch pillows which allows them to act stereotypically male and I get to come around behind like the stereotypical female and say things like, "Watch the vase!" and "Can you please put the couch back together when you are done?"

At any rate, Monster also involves coming up with their WWF-style names. Sten was spending the night tonight and Vaughn explained that in the game his name was typically "Rock Baby" or "Muscles" but that Sten could be anything - even Bob Dylan. Bob Dylan? In the end, in true Vaughn and Sten fashion, they settled on Muscles and Muscles 2.