My Son, the Artist and Mii

Did I forget to mention that my son is a a Wiizard ?

Of course, I didn't but what I forgot to mention was that he is an exceptional graphic artist too. That did not come from me, it came from hims teachers from pre-k, Kinder and now that he is in first Grade it came from the school's Art Teacher as well.

My son, who they call Chuckie but I insist in calling River, has a very good eye for color and his memory when it somes to graphical things is kinda photographic. When he was not yet attending Pre K here and he was here just 2 months in Maryland, he drew the flag of Maryland.

Now if you think that is not a big deal, let me explain. The Maryland slag is not like the California flag with a bear and the words Republic of California on it or like the Ohio state flag with an O in the middle. No, the Maryland flag is the coat of arms of the Calvert family who originally colonized Maryland. It is much miore complicated than the other flags of the states of the Union.

I will try to explain its complexity here while I try to retrieve his drawing. It is flag divided into 4 sections. 2 sections have the red crosses with rounded edges on a yellow background while the other 2 sections have black checkered boxes that are slanted, not the regular squares and are set on a white background. Even I, cannot draw it without looking at a sample.Its design is quite complicated.

First, my son drew this flag without the flag in front of him. Meaning to say, he drew it from memory ! There are Maryland flags flying in most stores here, particularly the burger joints like Burger King and Checkers but other public buildings as well. Maybe he saw it there, he must have a camera in his brain or something. Secondly, he drew it not using crayons but using the Paint program in Windows on our computer. In fact, he learned to draw first on the PC before he learned to draw manually. Third, he drew it when he was barely 3 years old. And lastly, it takes him only 3 minutes to draw this whole thing in a process which I watch in amazement because it is a demonstration of sheer genius, of exceptional artistry and an understanding of Paint that is beyond belief.

Now he is drawing things in school and his teacher have declared him the Best Artist from Grade 1 to Grade 3. Meaning, he beats the 3rd graders with his art work. I don't want to brag (yeah right, everyone knows I am humble ) but I think my son is a regular Van Gogh. His art work adorn the school corridors. His drawings of cookie monster, Neil Armstrong and volunteer parents are so colorful and original that they are fit to be placed in a children's museum of art.

I will continue my tale of my son the artist and how he brings this artistry to Wii in my next blog.........

My Son, the Wiizard

Wii is my son's passion.

Whenever 315 pm of a Friday school day arrives, he only has Wii and Wii in mind. He does not think of himself, he thinks only of Wii. The Wii bug bites him and it takes almost superhuman effort to pry Wii lose from him when it locks its cyberjaws upon him.

So I arrive there on that exact same minute and the first question he asks me is this "Can I play Wii ?" I ignore him because he already knows the answer to that question. "We'll see. After you eat, you can play."

But then he asked over and over and over again. "Can I ? Can I ? Can I, Dad ?" When you are driving 50 mph in a 45 mph freeway and you have this ringing sound in your ear, what do you do ? Do you ignore that question or do you just give in and say "Okay." in defeat ?

I am not and have never been a kill joy. In fact, as a parent I was the cool one. I let my kids enjoy themselves but of course I set my limits. Like this Wii thing, I only give the controller ( Thank God they are wireless, easier to hide them that way) weekends. Only Friday, Saturday and Sunday morning. Thats it.

My Wiizard can whine he can all week long and I will just ignore him. Its very hard to do but after 2 weeks of ignoring him he learns that he can only get Wii on Friday afternoon after class and then Santa, that me, gets it and hides it in the North Pole (aka my closet).

But when that Friday ends then you better give him his Wii remotes or he will pester you, he will annoy you, he will repeatedly try your patience, he will remind you that you promised, he will say you're a liar and he will not stop until you relent. He reminds me of someone who relentlessly campaigned for That One until he has renders everyone numb and he succeeds in making himself a nuisance and a pest. But when my son, the Wiizard gets the key to Nintendo land, he is quiet the whole Wiikend.

All is good if you keep your promises. Persistence that is the key to getting what you want. Ask my son, the Wiizard.

Why Wii is Different

Link www.jetguerrero.multiply.com

Wii has changed our son's life (and ours by extension) in a way not-so-ordinary.


PS3 is just an edition of PS2, Wii is a total different tech experience. Wii is the Imac of game consoles. That is why is was very hard to find for almost 9 months. The supply cannot keep up with the demand.


The only drawback to Wii is that it doesn't play BluRay or DVDs but thats okay. You can buy them separately anyway and BluRay is still very expensive. Thats basically what brought down MS Xbox (its HD-DVD only) and brought PS3's price (because you're forced to buy a Bluray player there, its built in is what I'm saying.)


Nintendo gambled by not choosing the conservative path of Microsoft (sticking with DVD) nor the high-tech road taken by Sony. It carved its own trail by creatiing the Wii experience.

PS3 is a techie dream like a high-end laptop is a techie's dream, but Wii is a revolutionary product in the tradition of Steve Jobs .