…and this is a 
The nadir of Howie Mandel's career?
Category: Reproduction
Posted on: November 5, 2007 12:25 AM, by PZ Myers
No way — I've seen Gas and Little Monsters, so this review of his sex ed movie, Where did I come from? gets that part wrong. I think the video and the book Where did I come from? aren't actually that bad; it's cutesy, it doesn't take the whole ridiculous business too seriously, and it gets the job of telling the kids the essentials done without too much fuss. If you can find it and have a young kid who needs to have sex explained, it's worth watching together.
If they're much beyond 8, though, don't bother. They always know more than you think.
Comments
I have to admit I didn't realize the need for a duck during the proceedings.
Posted by: Christianjb | November 5, 2007 12:36 AM
Hey, I protest!! If even CARTOON CHARACTERS are going to be better endowed, I may lose my will to live.
...
I'm looking at those illustrations, and I notice Mommy and Daddy are having sex with the bedside lamp turned on, and the curtains wide open. I've been doing THAT wrong too?
...
Oh, and the duck. If there's a word that means the reverse of "erotic" -- "anti-erotic," perhaps, or "a-rotic" -- a hungry-looking duck with its bill inches away from your "Willy" probably qualifies.
Posted by: Hank Fox | November 5, 2007 1:27 AM
In other mediocre-comedians-from-the-180s news, did you know that Rich Hall is famous in the UK?
Rich Hall. Remember, from SNL? The Sniglets guy? Yeah, THAT Rich Hall.
Famous in the UK. Regular guest on all the panel shows like Have I Got News For You, etc. In fact, after 9/11, the BBC had him on to sort of be the "Official American" reaction.
I dunno if he had a 9/11 Sniglet for the occasion.
Posted by: craig | November 5, 2007 1:36 AM
crap. 180s=1980s.
Posted by: craig | November 5, 2007 1:38 AM
I like the idea of SNL being on during the 180's. Just thing of all of the invading barbarian and gladiator jokes that would have been topical.
Posted by: Janine | November 5, 2007 2:11 AM
"Imperator Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus is still dead."
Posted by: Numad | November 5, 2007 3:42 AM
I must admit the illustrations are ugly and creepy. When I was a kid, I had much cuter ones, I think a French book with great illustrations in color pencil. Also this one book of about 50 pages, all a solo performance of a cute cartoonish embryo/foetus in the womb. The little guy was sharing his thoughts, experiences and fears- and was well drawn. Funny for even older kids because of the weird "insider" perspective.
Not that it ever made me pro-life.
Posted by: Hipparchia | November 5, 2007 5:03 AM
Hipparchia - the cartoonish embryo - were those the "Egbert" cartoons? I loved them. My grandfather had the book and we just loved to read the cartoons. Don't know what happened to the book when he died. :(
Posted by: Dawn | November 5, 2007 6:45 AM
A few months ago, my six year old asked vaguely about where babies come from. I was delighted as it gave me the opportunity to go into our local children's bookshop, walk up to an assistant, and say "I've been asked to find out where babies come from. Can you help me?".
Actually I found a very smart little book which is now hidden away in a cupboard until the next time the little one asks.
Posted by: csrster | November 5, 2007 7:24 AM
Dawn, I think the name of the book was, "Mommy, I am Here", of course I only saw it in Bulgarian. I could not find it through Google.
The cartoons basically showed the little guy in the womb, sans umbilical cord. He was worried about his "nine months renal contract" expiring. Meanwhile, he was counting toes, coping with hiccups and freaking out when he overheard the doctor on the outside talking about "expelling" contractions.
The cartoon series started with- "Now I am the size of the full stop at the end of this sentence."
Does this ring a bell?
I should definitely find this book, it's lost somewhere among the loads of family books.
Posted by: Hipparchia | November 5, 2007 12:07 PM
My parents used this one on me when I was a kid. I was giggling so much art the illustrations that they basically stopped and said if I couldn't be serious about it, they would wait until I was ready.
So yeah, I actually have fond memories of that book. Was much more effective than the segregated and de-sexualized sex ed we got in Canadian public school.
I don't think we got any real education in sex ed until grade 8 or 9. In 4-6, the class was strictly segregated by gender, and the materials covered the basics in the dryest most desexualized terms possible, stripped of any context. Here's what the inside of your reproductive systems look like in an anatomical cross-section. Here's what you boys can expect to go through with puberty. What happens to girls? Don't ask.
It's not until grade 8 or 9 that the school started to connect the dots and explain that that strange phenomenon called "Sex" was somehow related to sex ed classes.
I'll take goofy education over no education anyday thanks.
Posted by: Left_Wing_Fox | November 5, 2007 2:28 PM
What's wrong with Fuzzy Bunny's Guide to You-Know-What?
Posted by: Curt Cameron | November 5, 2007 4:34 PM
For some reason, the link didn't work:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vvu2-PLFS0
Posted by: Curt Cameron | November 5, 2007 4:35 PM