“It’s 3:33 in the morning, and I, a man known by his wife to be a world-champion sleeper, am hopelessly awake.

Since I work from home these days, I’m not too concerned about having to power through tomorrow’s work day; one of the silver linings of this terrible pandemic is that instead of catching the 5:45am Manhattan-bound bus in a suit and tie, I wake up at 7:30 in mesh shorts and a t-shirt and go with my wife to get our little 9-month old daughter out of her crib.

Eventually I fire up the computer and earn my paycheck, but not before taking the time to be a good father and husband. I’ll miss this dearly when life goes back to normal.

But I won’t miss the underlying sense of concern I constantly feel for our Siena as we live amidst viral pandemic.

I never used to be this way; back in my twenties, when my bod wasn’t so dad-like, I was pretty fearless.

9/11 literally hit close to home and became my inspiration for joining the Marines. In the nine years I stuck around the Corps, I found myself volunteering often to deploy, eventually hanging it up after four tours. I never thought seriously about the possibility that I might get hurt or killed. Why bother with those harsh considerations when you are an immortal twenty-something anyway?

But the thirty-something game is way different. I used to run around with an M4 rifle strapped to my chest, my adventurous soul fueled by nothing more than Mountain Dew and a youthful ignorance sometimes known as bravery. Now, I take baby aspirin to reduce my risk of heart disease (okay, not really, but to be honest maybe I should start).

Life is not just about me anymore. It’s about the woman I get to wake up next to. It’s about the little girl in that crib who smiles and gives you this ‘thank God you’re here!’ look every morning when you rescue her from the monotony of her mandatory rest period.

No, little girl, thank God you’re here. You are my reason for being and I’m glad you’re awake.

And as uncertain as things are these days, at least one thing is for sure: there is no one I would rather be stuck with in this damn house than you and Mommy.”

– Nick De Gregorio

Want to share a story about fatherhood? Email [email protected]

Check out the previous editions of Father Figures here

They may fight seemingly non-stop, they may poke fun at each other or play elaborate pranks, but there’s nothing quite as pure as the bond between siblings. Recently, a 13-year-old from Elkhart, Indiana took to Facebook to sell his Xbox. When someone from the Facebook group started asking questions, Ashton Wagoner explained that something (or someone) in his life was more important than his beloved gaming system – his sister.

When Ashton Wagoner logged onto Facebook in mid-September, he posted his Xbox to a community garage sale page for a fair price. The post read, “Works perfectly fine comes with three games all the cords and one wired controller lowest is $130.”

Impressive entrepreneurial spirit for someone who, until this year, needed parental permission to watch the 4th Harry Potter movie. A 13-year-old boy giving up his Xbox of his own free will is unusual, at best. A curious member of the Facebook group realized just how strange it was for a kid to get rid of his gaming system (in the middle of a pandemic, no less), and decided to get some more information.

A Facebook user named Steve commented in response to Ashton’s post, “Hey kid… what you need the money for? I see you’re selling a bike too… What’s up?”

In the best imaginable response, the big-hearted big brother explained, “It’s my baby sis 1 bday sat so I’m trying to get her a present and trying to get a new bike.”

Yes. A 13-year-old boy tried to sell his Xbox, AND HIS OWN BIKE, to surprise his baby sister with a bike of her own. In under a week, Ashton’s post has been shared over 19,000 times. People from all over the world started pitching in to help Ashton make his sister’s first birthday a memorable one. According to Ashton’s dad, the generous teen collected over $4,500.

Ashton’s lucky little sister isn’t just getting a bike – he also bought her a kid’s electric car, a Mickey Mouse costume, and more. Oh, and he got to keep his Xbox.

Back in the day, Disney was really stingy with sequels, especially when it came to their animated movies. There was no Snow White 2, or Cinderella 2, or Aristocats 2, and when they did make the occasional sequel, to Aladdin or one of their modern classics, they went straight to video.

It was clear the studio didn’t want to sully their impressive track record with cheap cash-ins. Even Pixar, which Disney acquired, seemed reluctant to do sequels at first before they opened the floodgates to multiple Toy Storys and Cars movies. Disney has softened their stance – even Frozen got a sequel! And now they’re apparently going to make sequels to their live-action remakes.

The live-action Lion King, directed by Jon Favreau, was a big hit last summer, despite the fact that no one ever talks about it. Maybe the sequel will fare better, as it was just announced that Barry Jenkins, who directed the Best Picture-winning Moonlight, is directing a script from Jeff Nathanson, who also wrote the 2019 version.

Not much is known about the movie, but it will use the same technology as last time to make the talking and singing animals as realistic looking as possible, and apparently, it will tackle Mufasa’s origin story.

Deadline reports that the movie will expand the mythology of the Lion King universe, looking back on Mufasa’s life while also continuing to follow Simba. Shades of Godfather II!

Jenkins seems excited to tackle what is sure to be another Disney blockbuster, after having grown up on them like just about everyone else.

“Helping my sister raise two young boys during the ’90s, I grew up with these characters,” Jenkins said. “Having the opportunity to work with Disney on expanding this magnificent tale of friendship, love and legacy while furthering my work chronicling the lives and souls of folk within the African diaspora is a dream come true.”

No word yet on whether or not the cast, which included Donald Glover and Beyonce, will be returning, or when the movie will be released.

There are plenty of “what could have been” stories in Hollywood history, many of them focused on casting what-ifs, but some of them are based around a tragedy.

What could have been if Heath Ledger, after his iconic performance as the Joker, hadn’t accidentally overdosed? What could have been if James Dean hadn’t died in a car crash after starring in a mere three movies?

What could have been if River Phoenix, one of the most promising young actors of his generation, hadn’t died at the Viper Room at the age of 23? Maybe his career wouldn’t have been similar to the one his little brother Joaquin has made for himself. Unfortunately, we’ll never find out.

Over the weekend, Joaquin and his partner Rooney Mara welcomed their first child and named him River. Director Victor Kossakovvksy revealed the name after a screening of his documentary Gunda, which Phoenix produced, telling the crowd, “He just got a baby by the way … A beautiful son called River.”

🚨 Viktor Kossakovsky 📽️, Gunda: He just had a baby Boy who’s Called River. ( about Joaquin) pic.twitter.com/WuUISnuTsZ

— Max California’s Lover (@Paula_FlorV) September 27, 2020

It’s clear Joaquin had much admiration for his older brother, and naming his first-born after him is a touching tribute to a talented young actor who never had the chance to have a full career. Perhaps it wouldn’t have been all that unlike Joaquin’s impressive resume.

Joaquin won an Oscar for his role as the Joker in last year’s Todd Phillips movie, and he’s consistently been one of the most interesting and acclaimed actors of the decade. His older brother died before he had a chance to win an Academy Award, but his performances in Stand By Me, Running on Empty, and My Own Private Idaho suggest it wouldn’t have been long.

He may have never won an Oscar, but his memory lives on.

Whenever someone dies, it’s customary to say nice things about the person. Even if there aren’t that many nice things to say. When a celebrity dies, many of the stories that get told are a surprise to the public, most of whom have only known the deceased via their public personas, not their private lives.

When Chadwick Boseman died after a private four-year battle with cancer, it seemed that everyone who worked with him had something nice to say, and the sheer number of tributes and positive stories of the man makes it clear that he was truly special, not only as an actor but also as a human being.

The latest story to break only serves to further illustrate his goodness.

In the new issue of Empire Magazine, which was dedicated to Boseman, included a story from Sienna Miller, who costarred with Chadwick in last year’s action movie 21 Bridges. The actress revealed that Boseman, who was a producer on the movie, pursued her for a role.

“He was a fan of my work, which was thrilling, because it was reciprocated from me to him, tenfold. So he approached me to do it, he offered me this film, and it was at a time when I really didn’t want to work anymore. I’d been working non-stop and I was exhausted, but then I wanted to work with him.”

But negotiations stalled on the basis of salary, so Boseman stepped in.

“This was a pretty big-budget film, and I know that everybody understands about the pay disparity in Hollywood, but I asked for a number that the studio wouldn’t get to,” Miller said. “And because I was hesitant to go back to work and my daughter was starting school and it was an inconvenient time, I said, ‘I’ll do it if I’m compensated in the right way.’ And Chadwick ended up donating some of his salary to get me to the number that I had asked for. He said that that was what I deserved to be paid.”

Boseman gave her some of his salary so she could get what she deserves and appear in the movie. That’s not the kind of Hollywood story you hear very often.

“I think it’s a testament to who he was,” Miller said.

It’s becoming clear with every such story that Boseman wasn’t just royalty on screen. He was a true king.

Hey gamers. We did it. AGAIN. We’ve completed the second event for The Dad Gaming League, which we couldn’t have done without our sponsor, Planters.

We had 200+ people sign up for the Mario Kart event, which is outstanding!

Thank you to all the racers who showed up to the track, and shout out to our streaming hosts, Joel and Bayesic.

On September 18, we ran private tournaments for three categories. Battle Mode (6 battles), 150cc (12 races at high speed), and 200cc (12 races at ludicrous speed), streamed on The Dad Gaming’s Twitch channel.

We invited the top 12 of both the 150cc and 200cc categories back for the Grand Finals and the results were decisive, to say the least! Your 2020 The Dad Gaming League champion Mario Kart-er is: Mc (Brad McCaffrey).

We gave away prizes for the top three racers in ALL categories. As always, in the spirit of casual dad gaming, we also gave away a handful of random prizes, prizes to the first and last place racer in the first race with Joel (in both 150cc and 200cc), and possibly even some other surprise winners!

Prize winners are getting an epic loot box, with an official The Dad Gaming esports jersey and delicious Planters snacks. (First and second place in the Grand Finals also get $100!)

Congratulations to the champ, Mc, and all of the prize winners!

This was so much fun, everyone brought their A game and we saw some fantastic racers out there on the track.

Our next event is Super Smash Bros on October 9. Sign up now at thedadgaming.com. Then we have Rocket League (November, go here for a great Rocket League primer!), Apex Legends (December), and more!

If you have suggestions or ideas on how we can continue making these events better, we’d love to hear them. Email [email protected]. The Dad Gaming community is the best.

Squad up. Join The Dad Gaming FB group and Discord. Follow The Dad Gaming on Twitch, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.

Mario Kart Results

Battles:

12. 1genxer

11. TootLaRoo

10. M.A.T.

9. Solace

8. TJ

7. Matthew

6. Bayesic

5. MickyWinz

4. ElRey

3. SharkBait

2. Kaokoo333

1. Mc

150cc:

12. MickyWinz

11. Snock73

10. Kristie517

9. TootsLaRoo

8. Hunna

7. Josh

6. CampBean

5. SharkBait

4. GmrDad

3. Bayesic

2. MrTeets

1. Mc

200cc:

12. TootsLaRoo

11. Hunna

10. ElRey

9. Trey

8. thedadJOEL

7. Rhino

6. Kristie517

5. GmrDad

4. Bayesic

3. SharkBait

2. Mc

1. MickyWinz

Grand Finals – 150cc:

12. Ruben

11. CampBean

10. Snock73

9. GmrDad

8. MrTeets

7. TootsLaRoo

6. SharkBait

5. Hunna

4. Kristie517

3. MickyWinz

2. Bayesic

1. Mc

Grand Finals – 200cc:

12. Ryan’s Dad

11. GmrDad

10. ElRey

9. thedadJOEL

8. Hunna

7. TootsLaRoo

6. Kristie517

5. Rhino

4. MickyWinz

3. SharkBait

2. Bayesic

1. Mc

“Just want to write to tell you guys about Timothy Ebert. Tim served as a Marine and fought overseas for this country.

When he met Lindsay she had two sons from a previous marriage. Without hesitation Tim stepped up and raised them like they were his own. Lindsay and Tim were able to have a child together, a a beautiful girl named Tinley.

Tim was such a great dad that my kids grew to love him in a very short time. He would go out of his way to make sure everyone was taken care of. It’s just who he was.

Tim was tragically killed on his way to work last month stopping to help a motorist who had just gotten into an accident. This signifies who he was as a person, even in his last moments always trying to take care of someone else. Please share Tim’s story as he truly was and died a hero.”

– Ryan Roberson

One of Britain’s highest honors has been awarded to a rat. That’s kind of where we’re at in 2020, a rat gets awarded a medal for bravery, but the vermin definitely deserved it. Magawa is a mine-sniffing rat who has been trained to sniff out explosives, and he’s been saving lives in Cambodia.

Magawa, our hero rat, has helped clear more than 1.5 million square feet of land from mines, sniffing out dozens of explosives in the process. The British nonprofit PDSA awarded Magawa the gold medal for his bravery, making it the first time a rat has won the most prestigious honor for animals in Britain.

The relationship with animals usually goes one way, with people going out of their way to care for them in times of need or hang with them as a drinking buddy. Yeah, you see stories about dogs doing something cool, but there aren’t too many medal-winning badass rats out there. Magawa may be a tribe of just one when it comes to that.

Drumroll please! 🥁 Say hello to Magawa 👋 the first rat to be awarded the #PDSAGoldMedal & one of APOPO’s @HeroRATs trained to detect landmines 🐀 He’s discovered 39 landmines making him their most successful HeroRAT🦸‍♂‍ Watch his full story here 👀: https://t.co/so5CNCWlUw pic.twitter.com/YrVy2NWotW

— PDSA (@PDSA_HQ) September 25, 2020

In the virtual award ceremony (thanks COVID), the charity director called him a “hero rat”, which are two words that don’t go together much. “Pizza rat”, sure, or even “Pixar Cooking Rat” when you can’t come up with the title of Ratatouille, those make sense. “Hero rat” is a phrase that hasn’t been uttered since Splinter trained mutant turtles in martial arts.

“Magawa’s dedication, skill and bravery are an extraordinary example of this and deserve the highest possible recognition,” the charity said in a press release.

Learn more on how #PDSAGoldMedal recipient @HeroRATs Magawa’s work saves lives daily with every landmine he finds helping to eradicate the risk of death or serious injury in locations already suffering hardship ❤️🎖️🐀 See his incredible bravery here 👉 https://t.co/so5CNCWlUw pic.twitter.com/35wbsghI4o

— PDSA (@PDSA_HQ) September 27, 2020

The charity said they use rats to help detect landmines because they are so fast. A rat can screen an area of 200 meters in a half-hour, which would take manual deminers four days.

In this case, it makes sense to give their high honor to Magawa, whose bravery is much bigger than the adorably small gold medal rightfully adorning his neck.

Long-term relationships often need a little spicing up. It’s not easy being with the same person every day, year-in and year-out, and sometimes you need to find ways to keep things fresh. Even if that means annoying the shit out of your partner.

I’m an incredible husband, which is why I spend a few minutes every day irritating my wife. I have a variety of terrible jokes I use to poke at her, jokes I know she mostly can’t stand, but because I’ve been doing them for so long – years, in some cases – have become affection reminders of our bond. At least that’s what I tell myself.

Now, thanks to a tweet from writer Sophia Benoit, aka @1follwernodad, I know I’m not alone. She suggested that horrible, long-standing jokes – like when a random actor appears onscreen and I call my wife into the room so she can see her “favorite actor of all-time,” despite the fact that she almost never has any idea who the person is and it makes her angry – are a delight, and countless people responded with their favorite bits.

Literally nothing on earth is better than repeatedly doing a bit your partner doesn’t like

— Sophia Benoit (@1followernodad) June 27, 2020

The responses are, quite simply, the best thing that’s ever happened to me:

My boyfriend is getting his PhD in Geology. My favorite thing is wrongly explaining geology things and then interrupting him when he tries to explain it by going “trust me, my boyfriend’s a geologist so I know what I’m talking about”

— Julianna French (@Julianna_M_F) June 28, 2020

I call prescriptions ‘subscriptions’ then deny it

— David promises to shape up (@david1dea) June 27, 2020

Lol yeah like, my wife keeps gently—mostly gently— applying pressure to our infant son’s head because she says he looks, “too human”… keeps talking about heads needing the “proud ridges of a warrior”

— River Boat Gambler (@chudgambler) June 27, 2020

My preferred method is “the parrot”:
H: Ooh, the table is a bit lobsided…
M: YOU’RE a bit lobsided
Repeat with literally any negative comment on an inanimate object..
Tho in my defence, he’s incapable of buying a cucumber without thrusting it at me… in public or otherwise 🤷‍♀️

— Vonny (@Its_me_Von) June 27, 2020

I change the language setting on the appliances every once in a while. We used to have power outages regularly and he thought it was a faulty reset problem switching displays to Spanish after a flicker, then it switched French, and then Chinese. He called the manufacturer.

— DeAnne Pearson (@DeAnneCoaching) June 27, 2020

Whenever my wife mentions being gay, I scream “YOU’RE GAY???!” at her, as if I’ve just learnt it for the first time

— Brona C. Titley (@bronactitley) June 27, 2020

Whenever my wife comes into the room when I’m working I respond with “How did you get past security?”

— Rich James (@richjamo) June 27, 2020

Every 3 months or so I reference something important my wife needs to see on my phone, and when I show it to her it is just a picture of the aliens from Mars attacks

— DougTector (@DougTector) June 27, 2020

There are SO MANY MORE. Sometimes, your best intentions backfire:

My wife included “always laugh at your jokes” in her wedding vows. HUGE mistake

— John McNamee (@Piecomic) June 27, 2020

I beg you to go check out the threadcheck out the thread, and I leave you with this classic:

Wife trolls husband by screaming Alanis Morissette song for a month pic.twitter.com/G8H9jeLxdY

— The Dad (@thedad) September 14, 2018

The time to pimp out your property for Halloween is nearly here. You could “accidentally” order a massive reproduction of a dinosaur, or even bid on an animatronic one. But come on, it’s 2020, it’s time to kick things up a notch.

On October 6th, Christie’s will be auctioning off a full T. Rex skeleton, of the kind you might see at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.

I won’t lie, I haven’t spent a lot of time at auctions. Back in the early 2000s, I dabbled in some eBay stuff, but that’s about it. I have zero experience with those fancy auctions they hold at Sotheby’s and Christie’s and that screw desperate Adam Sandler characters out of the fortune he needs to pay off gambling debts. (All of my experience comes from repeatedly outbidding people in a fruitless attempt at landing a vintage Dwight Evans jersey.)

From what I understand, most of the stuff they sell at the high-end auctions are expensive artifacts and priceless (bids notwithstanding) works of art.

Now, for the first time, they’re auctioning off something unique that can be considered both an artifact and a work of art, though not exactly one that you can hang on your wall.

“This is one of the best specimens discovered,” Christie’s head of Science & Natural History, James Hyslop, said on Christie’s site. “There simply aren’t [any other] T. rexes like this coming to market.”

That doesn’t exactly come as a surprise. You don’t typically see T. Rex skeletons for sale on eBay, and trust me, I’ve looked.

The specimen, which is named “Stan” after Stan Sacrison, who discovered it, comes in at 37 feet long and 13 feet high, and is expected to go for a whopping 6 to 8 million dollars when bids are placed next month.

Somebody is going to walk away with one hell of a Halloween decoration.

Check out the video: