Earlier this week, I posted an item about how new FTC financial disclosure rules have impacted those blogs lucky enough to worry about FTC financial disclosure rules.

I don’t know if this post over at Dadcentric is in response to the Times article I mentioned, or if they are poking fun at the new rules independent of what the Times had to say on the matter, but either way it’s worth a look:

DadCentric Reviews: “Toy Story 3” Blu-ray + DVD Combo Pack

Disclosure: The good people at Disney sent me a copy of the Toy Story 3 Blu-ray + DVD Combo Pack for review purposes. Full disclosure: I used the case as a coaster for my beer while watching the Blu-ray disc for review purposes.

Now that, folks, is my idea of good, old-fashioned, anti-government passive aggression. The review, which you can watch here, is amusing as well (and far less nag-neurotic than Nathan’s review last month). I should say, however, that worrying about, well, anything financial as it relates to blogging, is the sort of high-class problems to which we here at DadWagon aspire.

Look, I wasn’t in China all that long. Just a couple of weeks. And while I’m away, all hell breaks loose! WTF?

I’m speaking, of course, of the recent antics of beloved Sesame Street all-stars Elmo and Bert, both of whom have been in the news for not exactly PBS-approved behavior. Let’s tackle Elmo first. According to the New York Daily News, the furry favorite of preschoolers everywhere showed up in Times Square recently, smelly and foul-tempered:

“Five dollars! Five dollars!” the dirty impostor shouted as he swiped at a tourist’s camera with his dirty red paw. “No five dollars, no picture of Elmo.”

“It’s a free country. Don’t touch me,” said Amanda Kelly-Knox, 36, as she angrily steered her baby stroller away.

“Ok, give Elmo two dollars. Two dollars for Elmo picture,” the character unsuccessfully counteroffered to the fleeing mom.

While the identity of the man behind the horrific mask remains unknown, I suspect one Mr. Kevin Clash, driven to drink and desperation by the realization that, in giving squeaky voice to the reddish monster, he has, well, created a monster, ruining parents lives for generations.

Identity was at the heart of the news billowing around Bert, too. This is all based on a Tweet that Bert twote back in June, in reference to the new “A Team” movie:

Ever notice how similar my hair is to Mr. T’s? The only difference is mine is a little more ‘mo,’ a little less ‘hawk.’

Get it? Right? “Mo” as in ‘mo, as in homosexual? Ye gods! I’m all for famous people coming out, but I feel somehow disappointed in this one (even if Sesame Workshop denies it). The tension that Bert’s ambiguity created was, simply, entertaining. Adults and precocious children alike could argue for hours over the signs that Ernie’s “roommate” was gay—or not. In so doing, they developed the close-reading skills that would serve them well on the way to Comp Lit Ph.D. programs, though not so well once they finished their dissertations, realized there were no jobs, and wound up waiting tables. Or writing ad copy. Or, worse, dadblogging.

Ok, so I know we’re about four months late on this, but someone reposted the pregnancy video from Pacing the Panic Room: Magic- A Belly Grows and reminded me just how cool it is, despite my general dislike of American Apparel.

The video itself is on Vimeo so I can’t figure out how to embed it here, but click on the link. It’ll be worth your time. It’s just one of the thousand little sound and picture shows that Ryan puts together of his family. Feel the love. Feel your own digital inadequacy. Go buy at least a Flip Camera and start documenting these fleeting days.

Oh, and go knock someone up. Pregnancy looks pretty cool in this video.

1. He’s young and alone on the flight from New York to Hong Kong. Or not exactly alone—he’s got an infant with him, a girl it looks like. Pushing her in a stroller on the jetway. God, he looks so young! In his mid-twenties at most, and from the way he’s dressed not an ABC. Maybe out of his depth, even without the baby. Where’s the mother? Why is he flying with such a small child? I can tell I’m not the only one asking this question, and not the only one too shy to ask it aloud. Later, I see him in the back of the plane, holding the baby, feeding it with a bottle.

2. The crowded Chongqing light rail stops, and even more people get on—including a dad in his late 30s, thin hair swept across his balding scalp in classic style-less Asian style. In tow are two kids, a girl of maybe 4 and an infant in his arms. My seatmates and I all get up to give them our spots, and he’s all smiles as he sits down. This doesn’t seem to be a big deal for him, even if it’s a surprising image to me. I just haven’t seen that many dads here schlepping their kids around on public transport. In cars, sure, and I saw one guy holding his 8-year-old daughter’s hand as they walked down a sidewalk, but it didn’t seem like quite the same thing. Could this dad be a househusband? I don’t know. He whispers in his daughter’s ear, and she looks shy. He does it again, and she turns to me and says, in English and in a very quiet voice, “Thank you.”

3. I’m walking through a park somewhere in Chongqing when I spot a tent. A nice one, big enough for maybe three people. It looks out of place here, a bit of high-tech outdoors gear in a grey-green manicured hillside. But when I glance through the screen, I see a guy holding an infant of maybe 6 months, feeding the baby with a bottle, then putting her down to sleep amid blankets. What could be going on here? Is he one of the region’s countless millions of migrants, forced by circumstance to set up a home here in the relative wild? Or just a well-equipped day-tripper hiding from the damp? I want to interrupt, but the baby’s asleep, so I walk away. When I return 20 minutes later, I see him standing outside, chatting with a friend. Both are well-dressed, definitely not impoverished laborers from Gansu province. But where is the mom? And why, in all of these cases, do I feel the need to ask this question?