Twinkle, twinkle, pox and pox and poy.

What's inside this little boy?

Strings and fur and mud and sticks, and if you poke it, it'll tick.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

Listen to Spooked.

Say tuned.

Okay, so ever since the firecracker started, I've been wanting to take them. I live close to Oakland's Chinatown, and as soon as you start hearing that pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, you know it's just about time for this massive Chinese New Year celebration and my little man.

And he was just two years old, I tell him, we got to get ready because

we're going to the festival, right? And it's a beautiful Saturday. Thousands of people

packing the streets, but I've got a plan. We start early, kind of push through the crowd to find

a spot on the curb where a tiny boy can actually see what's happening.

He's looking around, all wide-eyed, excited.

And finally, procession starts with all these synchronized drummers marching, and he's trying to clap to the beat.

They're followed by a kid's dancing troupe, deckbted all in white and it's angelic.

I stare at them.

Seeing all of this for the first time, it's awesome.

Men stroll by with giant stilts for legs, throwing candy.

Then hundreds of elderly women holding yellow and blue lanterns,

puppets on strings, a twirling flower show, it is so much color. Then the crowd starts pressing in tight, tight, tight, tight, and I know it's just about time.

And there it is.

Gorgeous, red, and orange and black, 25 feet long, leaping, shimming, animated by six separate

dancers.

...