Beatlemania!

Move over, princesses! Here come...The Beatles! Liverpool's favorite sons are now in heavy rotation on Rhiannon's MP3 player (yes, she has one; doesn't every four-year-old?). Her favorite Beatles album? Help! Her favorite Beatles song? "Help!" Her favorite Beatles movie? Help! That being said, she know all of the words to "I am the Walrus", "Savoy Truffle", "Let it Be", and dozens of other tunes. Her favorite Beatle? Ringo (although, like her mother, she has a soft spot for Paul).

I'd like to take credit for introducing her to the Fab Four by sneaking Sergeant Pepper's into her CD player one night when she was two, which informed her taste in strawberries, but I think that Beatlemania is in her DNA courtesy of the Philipp side of the family. Me, I'm a Beach Boys fan and think Pet Sounds captures the zeitgeist of American culture and the zenith of pop music composition in North America much like Sgt. Pepper's did for Europe (and frankly the rest of the planet). But enough about me.

This morning Rhiannon wanted to sit with me to play computer games which she knows she can get to via Google.

"Dad, let's Google," she says.

"OK. What shall we Google?"

"Beatles games."

"OK. Let's have a look."

So we type in "Beatles online games" and come up with a couple. The first one we went to was actually a Flash animation featuring "Come Together". It's quite good. During the video, all of the Beatles make pixelated appearances. She knew who Paul was right away:

"There's Paul, dad! He's the one not wearing any shoes!"

She doesn't notice the bedroom eyes. She goes straight for the iconography like a good little art historian. This astonishes me. I know it shouldn't, but how many other four-year-olds pick up on this? So we watch the video and sing along until it ends and Rhiannon wants to know what's next.

While this video was quite cool, her favorite Beatles game is text-based, and you can play it by clicking here.

The first time we went through, she was the most like John. This made her giggle. I played and was most like Paul (even though my fave is George).

"I can't wait to see what Beatle I am tomorrow, dad," she says.

"Me neither, kiddo."

Rhiannon. Platinum cute.