For the rest of the year, I will be spotlightingt African American toy designers. So from now until 2008, Lamont Morris will be the person of the year. Mr.Morris (HASBRO) created the Real Meal Oven (new Easy Bake Oven) and has created Play Doh items. Does anybody else reading this eat Play-Doh?? Because I used to eat it all the time- thank God they made it Non toxic!!! I want to hear from the Play-Doh eaters. HOw many of you have the Travel picture maker? If youre going to buy a toy this year, please make sure its a HASBRO toy.
Please read the article below that I got from tidbit.com.
Also, try to go to Chicago. The art museum is having an exhibit on great African -American industrial designers. And guess what, my person of the year, Lamont Morris, is one of them. WOO HOO WOO HOO. GO Lamont, GO Lamont, go, go,go!!!
Heres the link to the museum: http://www.msichicago.org/temp_exhibit/bc2007/index.html
INVENTOR of the MONTH
Lamont Morris: Toy Innovator
Lamont Morris holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Cleveland Institute of Art. After graduation he was hired by the toy creation firm of Marvin Glass & Associates in Chicago. Two and a half years later in 1988 he was hired by Hasbro, where he has worked ever since. He is employed in the Advance Concepts Department as a product design manager.
Morris holds five patents for toy products that he invented or developed innovations for. Four patents are assigned to Hasbro and one is assigned to Marvin Glass & Associates:
An upgraded version of the Real Meal Oven by Easy Bake
The Travel Lite Brite picture maker
Play-Doh Compound Extruder
Interactive Dance Ring
Rotating Ring and Character Toy (Marvin Glass/Fisher Price)
Lamont Morris was born in 1958 in Shaker Heights, Ohio the youngest of three children. Morris’ early inspiration was the renaissance inventor and painter Leonard da Vinci and the musician and guitar player Jimi Hendrix. While in Chicago (1986-1988) Morris was inspired by the charismatic Oprah Winfrey. “I felt that I could make a difference in my chosen field the way she was making in her profession,” he says. And between these unrelated influences, Leonardo da Vinci, Jimi Hendrix, and Oprah Winfrey, I am grateful to have been inspired in some way by their talents and creative energy.”
http://www.tibit.biz/inventor-2006-5.htm
Saturday, January 27, 2007
Thursday, January 18, 2007
The Fire in My Company Car (1.18.2007)
The other day I was at work driving the company car. Ok, Im driving. I get to a stop light and I thought I saw smoke. "Why would there be smoke in my car?" I thought to myself. SO im sitting at the light thinking it was my imagination. And then I turn around to look at the back seat and there is nothing but smoke. OH MY GOSH--Is my work car on fire???? YIKES!!!!!!!!! So while at the light, I put the car in park and get out of the car. If the car wants to blow up, go ahead, but its not going to blow up while Im in it. As I'm sitting on the curb waiting for my car to blow up, I call my company to tell them about the situation. They cant believe it. The company car key chain has a button to pop the trunk. Im asked to open the trunk. I open the trunk, from afar of course, and as it opens, a big cloud of smoke escapes. Im thinking,'Great my car is on fire due to something in the trunk." And people are walking by my car as the cloud of smoke escapes. Im screaming,' Ay, my cars on fire, get away from that smoke'. In stead, the guys walk straight up to my car, look at the smoke and say," Your car's not on fire. Its the fire extinguisher. It exploded. The smoke is from the fire extinguisher."
OH.
The company car has fire extinguishers that are supposed to be fastened in the trunk. The fire extinguisher in my car was NOT fastened, so it was freely rolling around in the trunk. While it was roolling around, the pin came out of the extinguisher, activating it.
So no , my car was not on fire, it was the smoke from the extinguisher.
Now we need to get rid of all the yellow gunk in the trunk but car washes dont want to do it because they say the extinguisher contents block up their vaccuums. I guess we'll figure that out later. ANyways, Im alive and well and so is my company car.
OH.
The company car has fire extinguishers that are supposed to be fastened in the trunk. The fire extinguisher in my car was NOT fastened, so it was freely rolling around in the trunk. While it was roolling around, the pin came out of the extinguisher, activating it.
So no , my car was not on fire, it was the smoke from the extinguisher.
Now we need to get rid of all the yellow gunk in the trunk but car washes dont want to do it because they say the extinguisher contents block up their vaccuums. I guess we'll figure that out later. ANyways, Im alive and well and so is my company car.
Problems with the Digital F-P Camera (1.18.2007)
Date: 1.18.2007
Happy New Year everyone. How is everyone. A lot has happened since I last wrote. Is any one interested in hearing about it?
Well.. let me talk about the camera first:
I do enjoy the Digital Fisher-Price Camera. Its nice. But the longer I have it, the less Im thrilled about it.Let me get straight to the point and focus on my qualms
1) How does the flash come on?? It never seems to come on when I need it to come on . Sometimes I have to point the camera at a light when its so dark in the room.With the original camera the camera hads a button you could push when you needed a flash. This camera needs a flash button.
2)It s very hard for me to print the pictures. I cant take the photos to Ritz camera because their computers dont read the F-P USB. Its very odd that their computers cant read the F-P camera. SO in order to print the pictures I have to download them, convert them, save them on disk and then go print them. Thats too much work.
3) The disk that the camera comes with is OKAY, but it places many limitations as well. Thats not F-P's fault though, so Ill move on
4) The quality of the image is not that good, not like the 35 mm camera I have by FP. These digital pictures come out looking smudged. As if they were printed when the negative wasnt fully developed yet, almost like that. They look fake in a strange smurfish kind of way.
5) This camera should have been built with a ZOOM feature which would have been very easy to add. You could have simply added it to the arrow keys that alreay exist: right arrow means zoom in and left arrow means zoom out. Without the zoom feature, its impossible to maximize the quality of the photos.
6) The ON Button: This camera does NOT stay on long enough. As soon as you turn it on, it turns off automatically like within 5 minutes. Advice to Fisher-Price: If someone is rich enough to afford this camera, they are rich enough to buy new batteries when the batteries die. Please get rid of the auto off feature, it cuts off WAYYYYYYYYY to soon. Ive seen other kids using this camera and it confuses them. Because by the time they are ready to take the picture the camera is turned off and they cant figure out why they cant take the picture. Either get rid of this feature OR expand the timer, dont let the camera go off until there's been 10 minutes of inactivity, not 5 minutes.
7) The sound effects: They are okay. It would have been neeat if you had allowed the kid to record their own voice so that whenever they took a picture their voice would be exposed.
IN a nutshell, the quality of he photos needs to improve and there needs to be a way to turn on the flash. Would I buy this camera again? No. Would I buy the 35MM FP camera again? ABSOLUTELY!!! SO I have gone back to using my 35 mm Fisher Price camera because it works very well and always produces top of the line photos. Im surprised about the quality of the Digital FP camera-It could have been better. Perhaps the producers were rushing to get it out for the 2006 Holiday season. I know it won many toy awards, etc. BUt I think the people who did the reviews had not had the camera long enough. If they had had the camera long enough, they would have viewed the negativities concerning the camera. Kudos to the person who invented this toy-its ingenious. It just needs a little tune up. Call me and we can talk.
Ok, thats my blog for today my friends.
Happy New Year everyone. How is everyone. A lot has happened since I last wrote. Is any one interested in hearing about it?
Well.. let me talk about the camera first:
I do enjoy the Digital Fisher-Price Camera. Its nice. But the longer I have it, the less Im thrilled about it.Let me get straight to the point and focus on my qualms
1) How does the flash come on?? It never seems to come on when I need it to come on . Sometimes I have to point the camera at a light when its so dark in the room.With the original camera the camera hads a button you could push when you needed a flash. This camera needs a flash button.
2)It s very hard for me to print the pictures. I cant take the photos to Ritz camera because their computers dont read the F-P USB. Its very odd that their computers cant read the F-P camera. SO in order to print the pictures I have to download them, convert them, save them on disk and then go print them. Thats too much work.
3) The disk that the camera comes with is OKAY, but it places many limitations as well. Thats not F-P's fault though, so Ill move on
4) The quality of the image is not that good, not like the 35 mm camera I have by FP. These digital pictures come out looking smudged. As if they were printed when the negative wasnt fully developed yet, almost like that. They look fake in a strange smurfish kind of way.
5) This camera should have been built with a ZOOM feature which would have been very easy to add. You could have simply added it to the arrow keys that alreay exist: right arrow means zoom in and left arrow means zoom out. Without the zoom feature, its impossible to maximize the quality of the photos.
6) The ON Button: This camera does NOT stay on long enough. As soon as you turn it on, it turns off automatically like within 5 minutes. Advice to Fisher-Price: If someone is rich enough to afford this camera, they are rich enough to buy new batteries when the batteries die. Please get rid of the auto off feature, it cuts off WAYYYYYYYYY to soon. Ive seen other kids using this camera and it confuses them. Because by the time they are ready to take the picture the camera is turned off and they cant figure out why they cant take the picture. Either get rid of this feature OR expand the timer, dont let the camera go off until there's been 10 minutes of inactivity, not 5 minutes.
7) The sound effects: They are okay. It would have been neeat if you had allowed the kid to record their own voice so that whenever they took a picture their voice would be exposed.
IN a nutshell, the quality of he photos needs to improve and there needs to be a way to turn on the flash. Would I buy this camera again? No. Would I buy the 35MM FP camera again? ABSOLUTELY!!! SO I have gone back to using my 35 mm Fisher Price camera because it works very well and always produces top of the line photos. Im surprised about the quality of the Digital FP camera-It could have been better. Perhaps the producers were rushing to get it out for the 2006 Holiday season. I know it won many toy awards, etc. BUt I think the people who did the reviews had not had the camera long enough. If they had had the camera long enough, they would have viewed the negativities concerning the camera. Kudos to the person who invented this toy-its ingenious. It just needs a little tune up. Call me and we can talk.
Ok, thats my blog for today my friends.
Wednesday, January 3, 2007
Fisher- Price Kid Tough Digital Camera
Last year, in late 2006, I was sitting down thinking, “Hmm, when is Fisher-Price going to update their camera?” Because those of you who have known me since 1997, know that I have that Big Red Fisher-Price 35MM Camera.
I love that CAMERA!!
That’s the best Camera I have ever had in my whole life. That camera means more to me than my Carl Zeiss SONY Digital Camera.
So I have had my Fisher-Price RED 35 MM camera since the winter of 1997, my freshman year in College. I know this because the first picture I took with it was a picture of my dorm room.
I’ve had this camera for nearly 9 years and I was like, “When are they going to upgrade this camera?” So I went onto Fisher-Price’s site the very day I had that thought and guess what: they had the NEW KID TOUGH FISHER PRICE Digital Camera. Those F-P people, they must have read my mind.
So in early November 2006, I call Target and Wal-Mart and Im like, “Do you have the new Fisher-Price Kid Tough Digital Camera?” Every single store was like, “Do we have the WHAT!!! What’s Kid tough, what Fisher-Price camera….um ,no, Im sorry, that must be an item that will only be sold online, that wont be sold in stores, weve never heard of it.”
Ok, so store representatives had no idea what I was talking about. Interesting. So I waited for the stores to catch up cuz they were obvioulsy out of the loop. So finally Toys R Us finally got the toy. There were many cameras sitting on the shelf. In fact, I stood in front of the cameras for like 20 minutes because the smell alone excited me and caused me to halt. I could not believe that the new Fisher-Price Digital Cameras were right before my eyes. They were right there, in arms reach, waiting to be adored and nurtured by me. I couldn’t believe it !! So I called my friend and asked him if I should get it, cuz it was going for the mid $60’s at Toys R Us. He convinced me to go to Target, because it’d be cheaper there. Fine. It was quite difficult departing Toys R US, but I just did it. I HAD TO !! I went to Target and they were there. WOO HOO !!! Once again, I was the only person standing in the aisle who cared about this product. People passed by and didn’t even bother to look at it. How dare people walk by this piece of work without even acknowledging it. I mean my goodness, have some respect for the new Kid Tough Digital Camera, PLEASE!!!!
As I stood before the cameras I had a very tough decision to make. It was one of the toughest decisions I have ever made in my whole life: blue or pink.
Should I get the blue version or the pink version of the camera ?? The pink was like Barbie pink, too pale, so I picked blue.
As I very carefully placed my fragile item in its undeserving carrier-the shopping cart- I looked at it with pride. Alas, Fisher-Price had finally updated the 35 mm camera . My baby had finally arrived. And what a beautiful item it was. With its 2 glass eyes, and its red nose, and blue and white skin, it was beautiful, just beautiful !! I then looked up, at the shelf for one last time, and something caught my eye. The carrying case. The New Fisher-Price Camera comes with a carrying case. WOW !!! Now why didn’t they make a carrying case for the 35mm camera ?? I could have used a carrying case for that camera. Well not really, that 35 mm camera has been dropped so many times and its still working perfectly. Anyways, I couldn’t buy the camera without getting the case, of course I bought the case…the case protects my precious Kid Tough Camera.
I took the camera home that night and just looked at it. No, no, I did not take the camera out of its case, I simply admired it from within the case. Wow, have you seen the packaging for this camera?? Its UNBELIEVABLE. Its in an oval case and its packaged beautifully. Thank God for Packaging Science.The packaging was and is ingenious. Quite beautiful. As I admired my camera, it kind of sparked a warm feeling within me. It was just so beautiful, this new Kid Tough Fisher- Price Digital Camera. Who needs friends when I have this camera.
I took the camera to work the next day to show off my camera, which was still unopened. People did not really ooh and awe over it because they weren’t aware of its existence. That’s fine, its not my fault if people are slow and not in the know. The people with kids glanced at it and continued to talk about how they were getting their kids other toys. I was like, ‘NOOOOOOOOOOOOO, you have to get them this new Digital Camera by Fisher-Price.’ No one listened to me. Why wouldn’t you listen to the toy expert ?? I can see a toy and tell you whether or not its going to be a hit. My co workers have me and my expertise for free, but yet they didn’t listen?????? OKAY.
In mid December, Fisher-Price finally introduced their Kid Tough Digital Camera commercial on t.v. And guess what? From that moment up to now, January 2007, that product remains off the shelf. The camera became SO HOT that it’s just not on the shelves at all…no one can get one. Its HOT, like FIRE !!!
Isn’t that funny how in November when no one knew about it, I was able to get one easily. There were PLENTY of cameras sitting on the shelves..PLENTYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!
And guess what, the same co-workers who couldn’t care less about my camera in November, well guess what?? In Mid December, they were BEGGING me to find the Digital Camera for them and their children. I was like,” I told you a month ago that this toy would be hot, why didn’t you listen to me???” This is a true story my friends, why would I lie to you ?. So I got the toy when no one cared and they were everywhere. Now, they are a hot commodity . It all goes back to demand and supply. Demand became equivalent and/or stronger than supply.
Either way, it does not matter- I am the owner of the updated Fisher-Price Kid Tough Digital Camera.
In my next blog, Ill discuss the pros and cons of the Kid Tough Digital Camera………….
I love that CAMERA!!
That’s the best Camera I have ever had in my whole life. That camera means more to me than my Carl Zeiss SONY Digital Camera.
So I have had my Fisher-Price RED 35 MM camera since the winter of 1997, my freshman year in College. I know this because the first picture I took with it was a picture of my dorm room.
I’ve had this camera for nearly 9 years and I was like, “When are they going to upgrade this camera?” So I went onto Fisher-Price’s site the very day I had that thought and guess what: they had the NEW KID TOUGH FISHER PRICE Digital Camera. Those F-P people, they must have read my mind.
So in early November 2006, I call Target and Wal-Mart and Im like, “Do you have the new Fisher-Price Kid Tough Digital Camera?” Every single store was like, “Do we have the WHAT!!! What’s Kid tough, what Fisher-Price camera….um ,no, Im sorry, that must be an item that will only be sold online, that wont be sold in stores, weve never heard of it.”
Ok, so store representatives had no idea what I was talking about. Interesting. So I waited for the stores to catch up cuz they were obvioulsy out of the loop. So finally Toys R Us finally got the toy. There were many cameras sitting on the shelf. In fact, I stood in front of the cameras for like 20 minutes because the smell alone excited me and caused me to halt. I could not believe that the new Fisher-Price Digital Cameras were right before my eyes. They were right there, in arms reach, waiting to be adored and nurtured by me. I couldn’t believe it !! So I called my friend and asked him if I should get it, cuz it was going for the mid $60’s at Toys R Us. He convinced me to go to Target, because it’d be cheaper there. Fine. It was quite difficult departing Toys R US, but I just did it. I HAD TO !! I went to Target and they were there. WOO HOO !!! Once again, I was the only person standing in the aisle who cared about this product. People passed by and didn’t even bother to look at it. How dare people walk by this piece of work without even acknowledging it. I mean my goodness, have some respect for the new Kid Tough Digital Camera, PLEASE!!!!
As I stood before the cameras I had a very tough decision to make. It was one of the toughest decisions I have ever made in my whole life: blue or pink.
Should I get the blue version or the pink version of the camera ?? The pink was like Barbie pink, too pale, so I picked blue.
As I very carefully placed my fragile item in its undeserving carrier-the shopping cart- I looked at it with pride. Alas, Fisher-Price had finally updated the 35 mm camera . My baby had finally arrived. And what a beautiful item it was. With its 2 glass eyes, and its red nose, and blue and white skin, it was beautiful, just beautiful !! I then looked up, at the shelf for one last time, and something caught my eye. The carrying case. The New Fisher-Price Camera comes with a carrying case. WOW !!! Now why didn’t they make a carrying case for the 35mm camera ?? I could have used a carrying case for that camera. Well not really, that 35 mm camera has been dropped so many times and its still working perfectly. Anyways, I couldn’t buy the camera without getting the case, of course I bought the case…the case protects my precious Kid Tough Camera.
I took the camera home that night and just looked at it. No, no, I did not take the camera out of its case, I simply admired it from within the case. Wow, have you seen the packaging for this camera?? Its UNBELIEVABLE. Its in an oval case and its packaged beautifully. Thank God for Packaging Science.The packaging was and is ingenious. Quite beautiful. As I admired my camera, it kind of sparked a warm feeling within me. It was just so beautiful, this new Kid Tough Fisher- Price Digital Camera. Who needs friends when I have this camera.
I took the camera to work the next day to show off my camera, which was still unopened. People did not really ooh and awe over it because they weren’t aware of its existence. That’s fine, its not my fault if people are slow and not in the know. The people with kids glanced at it and continued to talk about how they were getting their kids other toys. I was like, ‘NOOOOOOOOOOOOO, you have to get them this new Digital Camera by Fisher-Price.’ No one listened to me. Why wouldn’t you listen to the toy expert ?? I can see a toy and tell you whether or not its going to be a hit. My co workers have me and my expertise for free, but yet they didn’t listen?????? OKAY.
In mid December, Fisher-Price finally introduced their Kid Tough Digital Camera commercial on t.v. And guess what? From that moment up to now, January 2007, that product remains off the shelf. The camera became SO HOT that it’s just not on the shelves at all…no one can get one. Its HOT, like FIRE !!!
Isn’t that funny how in November when no one knew about it, I was able to get one easily. There were PLENTY of cameras sitting on the shelves..PLENTYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!
And guess what, the same co-workers who couldn’t care less about my camera in November, well guess what?? In Mid December, they were BEGGING me to find the Digital Camera for them and their children. I was like,” I told you a month ago that this toy would be hot, why didn’t you listen to me???” This is a true story my friends, why would I lie to you ?. So I got the toy when no one cared and they were everywhere. Now, they are a hot commodity . It all goes back to demand and supply. Demand became equivalent and/or stronger than supply.
Either way, it does not matter- I am the owner of the updated Fisher-Price Kid Tough Digital Camera.
In my next blog, Ill discuss the pros and cons of the Kid Tough Digital Camera………….
35MM Fisher-Price Camera - Red one with 2 Handles
HOMMAGE : FISHER- PRICE 35 MM CAMERA
I would like to pay homage to the 35MM Fisher Price Camera. The Big Red one, the one that has 2 eye-viewers and a handle on each side for each of my hands. This is the camera that has the child lock key which is yellow and supported by a knot. The child lock key has to be used to press the button that in turn opens the area where the film gets loaded. When I first got this camera, it took me 3 hours to figure out how to load this film. Its okay, it just caused a greater bond between us. This the Camera that has the flash button and uses 35mm film, not 110, but 35mm film.
THIS IS THE BEST CAMERA I HAVE EVER HAD IN MY WHOLE LIFE!!! EVER!!!!
Now I will be reflecting on my memories with the camera:
1.When I went to the White House and had to go through security, the guards were like, “What is this?” I said a camera. And they were like ok.
2.When I was interning with the US Justice Department, I had to go to the DC Courthouse. When it was my turn to enter the building I had to put my bags through the detector. The men opened my bags and were like,” What is this?” I said, ‘It’s a Camera!!!’ They were like, “Who carries around a red camera?” I was like, ‘I do, its Fisher Price and it’s the best camera Ive ever had!!’. Then they wanted me to open the camera to prove that it was really a camera. I was like, ‘I can’t do that. I have film in there, it will mess up my exposures’. They weren’t convinced. So they held on to my camera until I was done and ready to leave the courthouse.
3.US Embassy in Ghana, West Africa – I went to the US Embassy in Ghana to register as a US Citizen. The female guard was like, “Do you have any cameras on you?” I was like, ‘yeah, here.’ She laughed and was like, ‘ What is this?’ I told her it was a camera. She started speaking in her native tongue but didn’t realize that I understood every word she was saying. I think she was hoping that I would let her keep it. I was like, ‘Um no, this camera better be here when I return from registration.’ It was.
4.Do you know what its like being in a third world country and taking a picture with the red Fisher-Price Camera. Everyone is ready to take the picture and as you take out your camera , you catch everyone in the , “ Is that a real camera” expression. I love it!!
5.United States State Department- Washington DC – I was invited to ceremony that was being held in the State Department. After registering, the guard asked me if I had any film Id like to put in a tray, in order to keep it from being spoiled. I was like, ‘Yeah, my camera.’ So I handed him my camera. And he liked it. That guy had good taste.
6.Has anyone ever tried to get an odd looking camera into the Vatican-St Peters Basilica in Rome, Italy? Last November, well November 2005, I went to Italy for a month. I went to Venice and Rome. Venezia was beautiful, oh just lovely!!! Rome was okay. As I entered the security, before I could tour the building to view the Pope’s body, I was stopped. The beautiful Italian man was like, “What is this, you can’t bring this in.” I was like, ‘It’s a camera!! Es un macchina fotografica’ because by this time my Italian was pretty good). So then the guard called his co-worker over and asked him if he believed that it was really a camera. The guy took it, put it up in the air and spun it around very slowly and meticulously. Then he looked at me and reluctantly said, ‘Its ok, let her go’. PERFECTO !!! ‘CIAO’ was my response. My uncle was like, “Yeah, that camera is going to give you lots of problems.”
7.University of Virginia and Clemson University : My Fisher-Price Camera was with me during my four years of undergrad. It was with me when I visited the President of the University- good ole John Casteen-great guy. It was the official photographer of my graduation. It was also the official photographer of my graduate school ceremony. The Fisher-Price 35mm camera is a significant part of my life. Seriously.
8.The outgoing Mayor of DC, Anthony Williams, liked my camera.
9.Airports: I’m telling you, airport screeners get a kick out of seeing the Fisher-Price 35 mm Camera. Since I have had this camera, I have travelled with my big red 35mm Fisher-Price Camera to the following airports:
- Dulles and Reagan (Washington, DC)
- Hartsfield- Jackson Atlanta Airport (Atlanta, GA)
- Heathrow Airport (London, England – at least 2x)
- Kotoko International Airport (Accra, Ghana, West Africa)
- Schipol Airport (Amsterdam-what a beautiful airport)
- Toronto Pearson International Airport (Toronto, Canada)
- Milan Malpensa Airport (Milan, Italy)
- Trieste, R.Dei Legionari (Trieste, Italy)
10. Kids were always trying to take my camera. Everyone thinks it’s a View-Master, because it’s the same tone of red. It really does look like the Original View Master. But we all know that the View-Master has transformed and is now a projector. Anyways, kids always want to play with it and Im like NO,no, its not a toy, Ive got film in there. Im never worried about the film coming out, because that camera is built like a Tonka Truck-STRONG- but I do worry about kids rewinding my film the wrong way or taking unnecessary pictures. FILM IS EXPENSIVE. I do wish Fisher-Price would have come up with some deal with Kodak where the users of the Fisher-Price Camera could have received a discount or something. Oh well.
I would say getting the camera through the Vatican security was the greatest ordeal I’ve had concerning this camera. But oh, what a great camera it has been. Its met governors, mayors, officials, doctors, University presidents, lawyers, you name it, its done it. I love you , my red Fisher –Price 35 mm Camera. Without you, my life would have remained undocumented, and simply a vast array of memories contained within my mind.
LONG LIVE THE RED 35 MM FISHER- PRICE CAMERA!!!!
I would like to pay homage to the 35MM Fisher Price Camera. The Big Red one, the one that has 2 eye-viewers and a handle on each side for each of my hands. This is the camera that has the child lock key which is yellow and supported by a knot. The child lock key has to be used to press the button that in turn opens the area where the film gets loaded. When I first got this camera, it took me 3 hours to figure out how to load this film. Its okay, it just caused a greater bond between us. This the Camera that has the flash button and uses 35mm film, not 110, but 35mm film.
THIS IS THE BEST CAMERA I HAVE EVER HAD IN MY WHOLE LIFE!!! EVER!!!!
Now I will be reflecting on my memories with the camera:
1.When I went to the White House and had to go through security, the guards were like, “What is this?” I said a camera. And they were like ok.
2.When I was interning with the US Justice Department, I had to go to the DC Courthouse. When it was my turn to enter the building I had to put my bags through the detector. The men opened my bags and were like,” What is this?” I said, ‘It’s a Camera!!!’ They were like, “Who carries around a red camera?” I was like, ‘I do, its Fisher Price and it’s the best camera Ive ever had!!’. Then they wanted me to open the camera to prove that it was really a camera. I was like, ‘I can’t do that. I have film in there, it will mess up my exposures’. They weren’t convinced. So they held on to my camera until I was done and ready to leave the courthouse.
3.US Embassy in Ghana, West Africa – I went to the US Embassy in Ghana to register as a US Citizen. The female guard was like, “Do you have any cameras on you?” I was like, ‘yeah, here.’ She laughed and was like, ‘ What is this?’ I told her it was a camera. She started speaking in her native tongue but didn’t realize that I understood every word she was saying. I think she was hoping that I would let her keep it. I was like, ‘Um no, this camera better be here when I return from registration.’ It was.
4.Do you know what its like being in a third world country and taking a picture with the red Fisher-Price Camera. Everyone is ready to take the picture and as you take out your camera , you catch everyone in the , “ Is that a real camera” expression. I love it!!
5.United States State Department- Washington DC – I was invited to ceremony that was being held in the State Department. After registering, the guard asked me if I had any film Id like to put in a tray, in order to keep it from being spoiled. I was like, ‘Yeah, my camera.’ So I handed him my camera. And he liked it. That guy had good taste.
6.Has anyone ever tried to get an odd looking camera into the Vatican-St Peters Basilica in Rome, Italy? Last November, well November 2005, I went to Italy for a month. I went to Venice and Rome. Venezia was beautiful, oh just lovely!!! Rome was okay. As I entered the security, before I could tour the building to view the Pope’s body, I was stopped. The beautiful Italian man was like, “What is this, you can’t bring this in.” I was like, ‘It’s a camera!! Es un macchina fotografica’ because by this time my Italian was pretty good). So then the guard called his co-worker over and asked him if he believed that it was really a camera. The guy took it, put it up in the air and spun it around very slowly and meticulously. Then he looked at me and reluctantly said, ‘Its ok, let her go’. PERFECTO !!! ‘CIAO’ was my response. My uncle was like, “Yeah, that camera is going to give you lots of problems.”
7.University of Virginia and Clemson University : My Fisher-Price Camera was with me during my four years of undergrad. It was with me when I visited the President of the University- good ole John Casteen-great guy. It was the official photographer of my graduation. It was also the official photographer of my graduate school ceremony. The Fisher-Price 35mm camera is a significant part of my life. Seriously.
8.The outgoing Mayor of DC, Anthony Williams, liked my camera.
9.Airports: I’m telling you, airport screeners get a kick out of seeing the Fisher-Price 35 mm Camera. Since I have had this camera, I have travelled with my big red 35mm Fisher-Price Camera to the following airports:
- Dulles and Reagan (Washington, DC)
- Hartsfield- Jackson Atlanta Airport (Atlanta, GA)
- Heathrow Airport (London, England – at least 2x)
- Kotoko International Airport (Accra, Ghana, West Africa)
- Schipol Airport (Amsterdam-what a beautiful airport)
- Toronto Pearson International Airport (Toronto, Canada)
- Milan Malpensa Airport (Milan, Italy)
- Trieste, R.Dei Legionari (Trieste, Italy)
10. Kids were always trying to take my camera. Everyone thinks it’s a View-Master, because it’s the same tone of red. It really does look like the Original View Master. But we all know that the View-Master has transformed and is now a projector. Anyways, kids always want to play with it and Im like NO,no, its not a toy, Ive got film in there. Im never worried about the film coming out, because that camera is built like a Tonka Truck-STRONG- but I do worry about kids rewinding my film the wrong way or taking unnecessary pictures. FILM IS EXPENSIVE. I do wish Fisher-Price would have come up with some deal with Kodak where the users of the Fisher-Price Camera could have received a discount or something. Oh well.
I would say getting the camera through the Vatican security was the greatest ordeal I’ve had concerning this camera. But oh, what a great camera it has been. Its met governors, mayors, officials, doctors, University presidents, lawyers, you name it, its done it. I love you , my red Fisher –Price 35 mm Camera. Without you, my life would have remained undocumented, and simply a vast array of memories contained within my mind.
LONG LIVE THE RED 35 MM FISHER- PRICE CAMERA!!!!
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