They Might Be Giants Fridays

When I was in college, They Might Be Giants released their album Flood. I liked it well enough, but I admit I was a bit turned off by the sheer rabid intensity with which roommates tried to convince me to love the band. In fact, I wound at the point where I didn't really want to go see them when they played at Rice. In retrospect, I missed out big time. They've popped up on my radar here and there over the years since then, and I've enjoyed what I've heard. They've not been one of the bands on my "must share with my daughter list," though. I knew they did some kids-oriented stuff; I was vaguely aware of it because Dustin and Jess bought their Here Come the ABCs DVD, but it seemed like it might be too young for Brianna. I figured I'd keep my ears open to see if they released anything more oriented to her age. Today, when we went to lunch with Jess and James after church, Jess entertained Brianna during our long wait for food by showing her videos on her iPod. Specifically, she showed her the They Might Be Giants Friday Night Family Podcast. Brianna was absolutely captivated by each of the short episodes she saw. The podcast combines segments from both Here Come the ABCs and Here Come The 123s with original songs from John and John, the knitted puppet hosts. When we got home, I went ahead and subscribed to the podcast myself, and we watched the most recent episode before bedtime. As with most of their music, the songs are extremely catchy, and I found myself singing along with "Pictures of Pandas Painting" almost immediately. The one episode was enough to convince me I needed to have all of them downloaded so we can watch them periodically. I highly recommend checking out this podcast even if you don't have kids. It's just plain fun.