Random Thoughts with Will

     This summer, Disney is cashing in on people's nostalgia and love for the 1990s - a live action remake of Aladdin , Toy Story 4, and a "live action" remake of The Lion King are all being released. It's a little odd to call a movie starring CGI animals live action, but I digress. Like many people, I am looking forward to all 3 movies - and for the record, Aladdin comes out May 24 (Memorial Day Weekend), Toy Story 4 comes out June 21, and The Lion King comes out July 19.      If one excludes the "Circle of Life" reprise, the final line of The Lion King (1994 film) is this: "Remember". As Simba walks up Pride Rock to claim his rightful place as the new king, Mufasa, Simba's deceased father, tells him to "remember". While Mufasa may no longer be with Simba in the literal sense, the wisdom and lessons he imparted live on with Simba, including to remember, something that we can all apply to our own lives.      There are all sorts of...

     There's a new "challenge" on the Internet lately, one that's been popping up over just about everyone's social media news feeds: the 10-year Challenge. People are posting a photo of them from 2009 versus a photo of them from 2019. I still have to remind myself that it's 2019, let alone that we're in the last year of the 2010s. It feels like the 2010s went by a faster than the 2000s, but that's another story.      Seeing all the "10 Year Challenge" posts got me thinking about how much has changed in the past. In the spirit of the 10 Year Challenge, I'll do one myself - but with a twist: a "Dear Younger Me" letter that the Will from today would tell the Will from January 19, 2009: Dear Younger Will,      As you read this, you are halfway through 8th Grade at Hungary Creek Middle School. In just a few months, middle school will be thankfully over. There's no way around it, Will: middle school stinks. I'm not writ...

     Growing up, there were 2 big shows about science geared towards kids, shows that we'd sometimes watch in school: Bill Nye the Science Guy and The Magic School Bus . It's hard to think of two more fun people to learn science from than Bill Nye and Ms. Frizzle. While Bill Nye was great to learn science from ("Bill, Bill, Bill, Bill, Bill"), today's post is going to focus on the latter, mainly because Ms. Frizzle had a memorable catchphrase.       The Magic School Bus originally started out as children's book series and later a television show on PBS (and has since been rebooted on Neftlix with The Magic School Bus Rides Again ). The show was filled with great field trips - to outer space, a haunted house, a volcano, even the inside of a student! The show was also filled with some star power - Little Richard performed the theme song, Lily Tomlin voiced Ms. Frizzle, and the likes of Dolly Parton, Dan Marino, and Alex Trebek guest starred (err, voiced) ...