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03/18/09
03/18/09
03/18/09
03/18/09
03/18/09
Yeah, well, we would have loved it more if they'd namedropped MichLUG for pretty much single-handedly doing all the LEGO-work in the youngest kid's room. You know, considering they tracked us down and specifically requested our help in that regard. We got no listing in the credits, and out of about half a dozen participants, I am the only one you can see in the real-time footage...where I'm seen, from the back, holding up a model airplane in a different room. Plain and simple, we got shafted. Instead of acknowledging all the hard work we put in, they instead did some feel-good clip where they went to a child-therapy group that the three boys had been attending, and had them build a bunch of models to "help out". Not one of those models ever appeared in the room that I ever noticed, and while admittedly I was not actually in the room during the final hour or two before they let the family in, I have a strong suspicion that the segment with the kids was filmed after the house was turned over to the family.
When you really see what's going on, it's very obvious that it's more feel-good than do-good. They gave a 3000-sqft house to a family of four, and filled it with at least seven HDTVs and Blu-Ray players, lit pretty much every room with recessed lighting (nothing like lighting a 10'x10' room with a dozen 60w bulbs to keep energy costs down!), and gave them a living room that's two stories tall. Between skyrocketing property taxes and utilities, this family of four (that had no income that I'm aware of) should be in even worse financial ruin by the end of the year that they're required to keep the house intact. But of course, noone wants to watch an hour-long show where they give some deserving family a completely sensible house that they can afford to live in.
Also, they put a large aquarium in the dining area, and dropped a damn lionfish in it. Sure, it's a gorgeous fish, but who gives lethally poisonous pets to families with young kids?