Like many moms, I spent countless hours of my son's second and third year hunched before a snaking train track, acting out various conversations and conflicts between Thomas the Tank Engine and his friends, Percy, Henry, Gordon, Annie, and Clarabel. A few years later I found myself sliding into a seat in a crowded movie theater to watch a feature-length version of what was essentially an infomercial for Yu-Gi-Oh cards. Ah, love. Sometimes it means putting aside something you'd love to do on a given afternoon to sit through something so dull you could weep. It flowed both ways, of course. [Read more...]