Grown Ups

Can you recall the moment when you finally felt "adult"? Maybe it was the day you finished school, or got your own apartment. Maybe it was the day you got married or had your first child or got your first job. But perhaps this state called "adulthood" has proved strangely elusive, no matter what you do. If so, says Cheryl Merser, author of a new book called "Grown-Ups," you're not alone. "I know people around 40, and even older, still poised and waiting for their lives to begin," said Merser, a former publicist for Random House, during a recent interview.

Infants are precious, yes; but a teeny-tiny babe in a tutu? That's just pinch-your-cheeks adorable. That's why Leah Wright was shopping late last week at Fiona's Fairies, Karen Clarke's Northern Liberties boutique. Wright heard Clarke's clothing was magical, and because her baby girl, Kalea, turned 1 on Thursday, she decided her pudgy-faced princess needed something in which to preen. "I want her to stand out," Wright said as she purchased a lacy eggplant tank and matching pettiskirt.

Animation, always a strong and provocative presence at the festival, is well represented by Life Cycles/Life Lines - a choice anthology compiled by Philadelphia-based animator Lynn Tomlinson. Much like the Tournees of Animation, which make all-too-rare appearances here, this anthology removes animation from the province of children's entertainment. The entries from around the world are infused with a sardonic wit and offbeat creativity that is perfectly summed up by The Janitor, a droll and ironic piece by American animator Vanessa Schwartz.

The continuing crisis in the Reagan administration is having one beneficial side-effect. It is sorting out the grown-ups from the juveniles in the nation's capital. The juveniles are jubilant; they haven't had so much fun in years; they'd like it to go on forever, or at least until they've settled all their old scores. The grown-ups recognize this disaster for what it is, a calamity for the nation, and would do anything in their power to put it in the past. These categories cross professional and party lines, but some of the most compelling examples of sensible behavior have been provided by Republican senators addressing the embattled President.

A couple of counties away from Cheap John's Army & Navy store in Cave City, Ky., the nation's finest manufacturer of ax handles hewed top-notch products from perfectly straight hickory. Cheap John bought the crooked ones - the factory rejects - at a price, trucked them back to his barn, dipped them in a vat of chemicals to straighten them, painted them and sold them cheap at his store. That was decades ago. His name was John Lancaster. Today, his son, John, 55, runs Discount Harry's toy and leisure-goods store in Pennsauken.

Once upon a time in a not-so-far-off land called Haverford, there was an elementary school called Coopertown. Coopertown was a nice little school, with teachers and classrooms and a nice new library that used to be a gym. Coopertown children were smart and hard-working and went by the name of Highlanders because of their location at Coopertown Road and Highland Lane. Many Highlanders loved to read. So one day they invited some grown-ups to their Coopertown castle for a book fair.

ARIES (March 21-April 19) Your big idea is becoming a full-blown ambition. Stay theoretical. It's not time to act yet. TAURUS (April 20-May 20). The better you can tolerate small, bothersome details, the farther you will go in business and pleasure. GEMINI (May 21-June 21). You may find that you are easily distracted by things that don't really matter. Take it as a sign to change tracks. CANCER (June 22-July 22). Do not make any decision when you are feeling overloaded or pressured.

Adults might not get it. That's what 10-year-old Anastasia Fair thinks, anyway. "Grown-ups dance real slow like this," said the Bethune Elementary School fifth grader, swaying back and forth with her head cocked and her eyes half closed. "They don't understand our movements. " But most grown-ups aren't like David Parsons and his New York dance company. They've created an entire modern-dance piece based on movements dreamed up by Philadelphia schoolchildren. Movements such as a backward crab walk that the children call the "low bridge," and a funky rubber-knees churn called "the butterfly.

A jewel-thieving English charmer and a wistful French chanteuse cross paths in a swanky Moroccan hotel, where each is experiencing bouts of amnesia caused by (1) brain tumors, (2) early-onset Alzheimer's, or (3) a secret diet of soap operas and romance novels. Whatever the cause(s) of the pair's forgetfulness in Claude Lelouch's enjoyably anachronistic and far-fetched And Now Ladies & Gentlemen, it makes for some cute moments, as Jeremy Irons (the thief) must explain to Patricia Kaas (the singer)

Right now, just thinking about the new season makes me want to search my face for pimples. It also makes me want to go play with my supercar model, annoy the girl sitting in front of me in science class and worry about my math grades. In short, it makes me feel as if I were 12 years old again. Just about everything the networks are offering this year is the kind of stuff I want to skip homework for. Nothing to do with whether it's good or bad. Just that the people seem to be speaking to my 12-year-old self.

We're in the midst of the fall holiday season, the time of year when we're stashing away the plastic skeleton that was taped to our light post and trying to avoid the glittery Santa Land display at Target. We're focused on the holiday in between. We're talking turkey. We've both been married long enough that we no longer have to argue over going to his parents' house or ours. Now we are the parents. We're the sandwich generation, and many of our parents are living the good life at Leisure World.

ARIES (March 21-April 19) Your big idea is becoming a full-blown ambition. Stay theoretical. It's not time to act yet. TAURUS (April 20-May 20). The better you can tolerate small, bothersome details, the farther you will go in business and pleasure. GEMINI (May 21-June 21). You may find that you are easily distracted by things that don't really matter. Take it as a sign to change tracks. CANCER (June 22-July 22). Do not make any decision when you are feeling overloaded or pressured.

THE GIZMO: Toys that mimic adult gadgets like iPads, Kindles and mobile phones grabbed lots of attention at the 2011 American International Toy Fair last week in New York. MY FIRST iPhone: You can't fool kids with nonfunctioning toy phones, when the real thing is around. So Fisher-Price says don't resist - protect - with the Laugh & Learn Baby iCan Play Case, designed for ages 9 to 36 months ($14.99, available in July). Mom or Dad's iPhone or iPod Touch is locked inside this durable rubber case with easy-grasp, baby-size handles.

Fifteen 4-year-olds in rosy satin princess dresses waving wands and wearing sparkling tiaras are a sweet sight, indeed. But it was the three tables laden with candy that catapulted Hilary Whitaker's birthday party to OMG-it's-sugar-heaven status. Next to dozens of glass vases filled with Gummi Bears, Swedish Fish, and saltwater taffy were licorice vines, Starbursts, M&Ms, rock candy necklaces, and three kinds of bubble gum. There were boxes of Nerds, Ring Pops, sheets of Candy Buttons, and rolls of Smarties.

Infants are precious, yes; but a teeny-tiny babe in a tutu? That's just pinch-your-cheeks adorable. That's why Leah Wright was shopping late last week at Fiona's Fairies, Karen Clarke's Northern Liberties boutique. Wright heard Clarke's clothing was magical, and because her baby girl, Kalea, turned 1 on Thursday, she decided her pudgy-faced princess needed something in which to preen. "I want her to stand out," Wright said as she purchased a lacy eggplant tank and matching pettiskirt.

You've probably noticed that it's reunion and revival time at the movies. The trend continues in "Grown Ups," a movie that doesn't quite stretch back to the persistently celebrated 1980s, but almost - stars Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, David Spade and Rob Schneider headlined the "Saturday Night Live" cast of 1990. Minus Chris Farley, replaced here by roly-poly doppelgänger Kevin James. Sandler plays the ringleader of old rec league youth team that reunites for the funeral of its inspirational coach, who taught the kids to work hard, to never quit.

Dignity is not a priority in Grown Ups . A reunion comedy in both concept (school buddies come together 30 years later) and cast ( Saturday Night Live confreres Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, Rob Schneider, and David Spade), the film drifts along on a stream of humiliation jokes - physical, emotional, sexual, hairpiece-ial. This should come as no surprise given the involvement of the SNL alums - joined, as the fifth of the friends, by The King of Queens ' Kevin James.

With an All-Star team of comedy - two movie stars, a critically acclaimed stand-up, a guy with four hit TV series, and Rob Schneider - this is what marketing comes up with? Guys who won't take their shirts off, on inner tubes? Maybe the water slide is a semiotic rebirth canal. Or maybe it's just lazy. All five heads are photo-shopped, and their openmouthed grins of joy look like they were taken at the moment the actors cashed their checks. (Schneider is so out-of-focus, he looks like Jamie Kennedy.

ATTEMPTS TO CAP a spill that is polluting the environment at 48th and Walnut streets have failed! No, the BP oil slick has not spread this far north yet. What is leaking around West Philadelphia High School this week is vitriol. This is the caustic residue of months of contention between groups of well-intentioned adults who all support West Philly in their separate ways. The School Advisory Council, the West Philadelphia Alumni Association and a well-connected group of community partners have staked out different positions on reform.