Sunday, June 29, 2008
Who Wants Applesauce? Me!
Kellen continues to add more words and almost words to his verbal repertoire. He enthusiastically says “applesauce” and is always begging for “more Cheerios”. I remember when Aidan reached this stage and sometimes the parents know exactly what their kids are saying while others know they’re saying something but are not sure exactly what. Kellen likes to mimic what he hears and is doing a great job of using those same words later. He’s also copying his big brother raising his hand and shouting “me!” when I ask “who wants (fill in anything they love)?” Additionally he’s adding (can I use two “add” words that close together?) more and more animal sounds to his list. Sheep, rooster, pig, horse…the list is growing. Now if we can just ensure he doesn’t knock any of this newly expanded verbosity out of his head while diving off the furniture. A few bumps and scratches on his head has become quite normal.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Hooray for Free Ice Cream!
Aidan certainly shares his grandfather’s (Christensen) appreciation for Culver’s. Before he was old enough to care one way or the other, we could get him excited about going solely with the promise of their blue straws. At that time Culver’s was simply known as “The Place with the Blue Straws”. Now at the sophisticated age of four he is able to spot any Culver’s location quickly (there are many here in the Minneapolis area) and his new found desire for frequenting the restaurant with the blue straws (and the blue roof) is the free ice cream that comes with the kids meal.
Tonight he was sporting an especially impressive Oreo beard after downing a heavily topped scoop of custard (our thanks to the young lad behind the counter who was more than generous with the toppings). Rachel and I also partook in some free desert thanks to our two out, one in system. We generally hit the drive-thru on two visits and then take the boys inside on the third thus allowing us to bank two tickets from the kids meal bag and earn us all free desert on the third visit.
Outside of the custard, Kellen put on an impressive chicken eating exhibition as he chose to suck several of the pieces directly off his placemat rather than using his fingers. He looked like a little vacuum cleaner. Aidan also blessed himself twice consecutively on the ride home jumping in with a “bless me” after a sneeze and then simply a “me” on the aftershock (perhaps he was saying “bless” during the second sneeze).
Tonight he was sporting an especially impressive Oreo beard after downing a heavily topped scoop of custard (our thanks to the young lad behind the counter who was more than generous with the toppings). Rachel and I also partook in some free desert thanks to our two out, one in system. We generally hit the drive-thru on two visits and then take the boys inside on the third thus allowing us to bank two tickets from the kids meal bag and earn us all free desert on the third visit.
Outside of the custard, Kellen put on an impressive chicken eating exhibition as he chose to suck several of the pieces directly off his placemat rather than using his fingers. He looked like a little vacuum cleaner. Aidan also blessed himself twice consecutively on the ride home jumping in with a “bless me” after a sneeze and then simply a “me” on the aftershock (perhaps he was saying “bless” during the second sneeze).
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Word Puzzles and Fearless Toddlers
Aidan’s new daily interest is Wheel of Fortune…in high definition (or he wouldn’t watch, right?). He’s quite good at sounding out words and we’re working on polishing up his letter writing skills but I do question his claims that he solves every puzzle before I do. I will give him credit on sounding out some pretty lengthy words (the multi-syllabic seven or eight letter variety) but he’s going to have to become a more seasoned viewer before he solves Pat and Vanna’s game the way I do. He seems to solve everything else we throw at him so perhaps he and I can qualify for some kind of family edition together before the summer is over.
I'd like to solve the puzzle!
Big brother’s also got a new default number. The one he uses to indicate a large amount of whatever is sixty hundred and fifty. I translate that to mean 6,050 and I’m not sure where it came from but you can be sure if there are sixty hundred and fifty of anything that’s a lot.
I’ve got something all planned out for his next featured blog video to follow up on our super hero project. Kellen’s nap schedule being cut down to one a day makes it a little difficult to film though. Little brother is in the precarious transition stage where two naps doesn’t happen and one nap has him testy and falling asleep in his lunch. We’re trying to find the right balance that keeps him chipper during the day and resting peacefully (for everyone’s sake) during the night.
Kellen continues to impress with his animal noises. The parts of the body are a different story. He says eyes, ears, nose and mouth but he’s usually tugging or poking at the wrong part of my face when he says each one. Nothing beats sitting wide eyed without my glasses on as he says ears and sharply thrusts his finger into my pupils.
I’ve got something all planned out for his next featured blog video to follow up on our super hero project. Kellen’s nap schedule being cut down to one a day makes it a little difficult to film though. Little brother is in the precarious transition stage where two naps doesn’t happen and one nap has him testy and falling asleep in his lunch. We’re trying to find the right balance that keeps him chipper during the day and resting peacefully (for everyone’s sake) during the night.
Kellen continues to impress with his animal noises. The parts of the body are a different story. He says eyes, ears, nose and mouth but he’s usually tugging or poking at the wrong part of my face when he says each one. Nothing beats sitting wide eyed without my glasses on as he says ears and sharply thrusts his finger into my pupils.
N'yuk, n'yuk, n'yuk.
The little man is very into books and standing on things. There are two kinds of books. The ones you read three or four times in one sitting and the ones that have him diving off your lap to grab a different one after three or four sentences. Speaking of diving…Rachel turned and found him standing on the end table on Sunday. She shouted at him to get down and he promptly swan dived onto the couch. He’s fearlessly finding things to climb and dismount in a variety of heart-stopping ways.
A glimpse at Kellen's future?
A string of warm weather has us thinking swimming pool. We picked up a new inflatable backyard model and I’ll have to empty my lungs into it for a half hour some night and turn the hose on it. Aidan also starts swimming lessons the week after the 4th so we’ve been practicing things in the tub like submerging our faces without freaking out. Yesterday I joined the practice session leaning over the edge and showing that it was nothing to fear until he made some of his own bubbles. That quickly ended our face dipping lesson.
Rachel’s got a few business trips in the next few weeks. It looks like several three to four day stretches of guys only time await us. I do hope Aidan takes the absence of his mother better than he took my guy outing on Sunday. I got a call after about two hours from a weepy four year old saying he missed me. I guess when you’ve been together all day every day for three months you get used to having each other around.
Monday, June 23, 2008
Confessions of a Wireless Signal Thief
Our internet provider suffered a local outage recently leaving us disconnected from the internet for a week. The solid green lights of much anticipated web access returned after a few days but we discovered we were still not able to connect. Ninety minutes on the phone with tech support suggested that their outage did more than frustrate us, it killed our modem. A new hub is scheduled to arrive today or tomorrow along with a few weeks of free service. Until then I will continue to feverishly search for an open line to sneak onto for a few moments at a time, but I no longer need to call the automated help line * every 15 seconds to see if the service is back up.
* Incidentally, a recorded message that says today is June 18 and we anticipate that service will be restored by 11:00 pm does little to instill confidence in a customer when it is June 20 and you’re still not connected.
It has not been all gloom and internet doom for an entire week though. The last two weekends were very enjoyable. The neighboring town was holding their summer festival last week and we hit the barbeque and the midway on Friday night. The food was great and the midway was…expectedly overpriced. We let Aidan blow some cash on the rides that looked the least sketchy including a trip down the giant slide* with his dad.
* Note to those burlaping down a traveling carnival’s giant slide…check the seams on the way up. The middle lane was as fast as we anticipated but a nasty gap at the bottom threatened to separate my tailbone from the rest of my person. I thought for a moment that my coccyx was dislodged.
We returned to the festival on Sunday for the parade. Having grown up in Pella, Iowa with all that is Tulip Time during a six-parade weekend each year, my standards for a town parade are perhaps a bit higher than the national average. I will admit that the local parade was impressive in length and in the sheer volume of candy tossed from passing parade units (there were 100+ units). Aidan made out with more candy than he’s consumed in his lifetime and we were introduced to roughly 20 Minnesota town festival princesses riding the route with their runners’ up. They were all saluting us with a uniform I-am-the-teenaged-queen-of-(insert town here)’s-(insert festival here) wave while some musical treasure from the Spice Girls blasted from their float. Overall it was very nice and a beautiful Father’s Day afternoon.
* Incidentally, a recorded message that says today is June 18 and we anticipate that service will be restored by 11:00 pm does little to instill confidence in a customer when it is June 20 and you’re still not connected.
It has not been all gloom and internet doom for an entire week though. The last two weekends were very enjoyable. The neighboring town was holding their summer festival last week and we hit the barbeque and the midway on Friday night. The food was great and the midway was…expectedly overpriced. We let Aidan blow some cash on the rides that looked the least sketchy including a trip down the giant slide* with his dad.
* Note to those burlaping down a traveling carnival’s giant slide…check the seams on the way up. The middle lane was as fast as we anticipated but a nasty gap at the bottom threatened to separate my tailbone from the rest of my person. I thought for a moment that my coccyx was dislodged.
We returned to the festival on Sunday for the parade. Having grown up in Pella, Iowa with all that is Tulip Time during a six-parade weekend each year, my standards for a town parade are perhaps a bit higher than the national average. I will admit that the local parade was impressive in length and in the sheer volume of candy tossed from passing parade units (there were 100+ units). Aidan made out with more candy than he’s consumed in his lifetime and we were introduced to roughly 20 Minnesota town festival princesses riding the route with their runners’ up. They were all saluting us with a uniform I-am-the-teenaged-queen-of-(insert town here)’s-(insert festival here) wave while some musical treasure from the Spice Girls blasted from their float. Overall it was very nice and a beautiful Father’s Day afternoon.
Proudly representing their town in traditional Dutch attire, not donning prom dresses to promote a barbeque. These are certainly not the Spice Girls.
The week between Father’s Day and the one just passed is when our connection to the internet was interrupted. I felt disconnected from the outside world as I use the internet heavily for communicating with friends and family, exploring my current job options and such immensely important and life altering things like fantasy baseball. You know you’ve got a certain level of dependence when you’re searching for a neighbor with an unsecured wireless signal to “borrow” for as much time as you can before loosing the connection (and I do thank them for leaving that line unencrypted). The signal would come and go so I never knew just how much web time remained leaving me to open only emails that looked potentially life altering and acting quickly to grab the online information that was vital to surviving the day before loosing access. I was also made to call Rachel once at work late in the afternoon requesting that after her peers had left perhaps she could set my fantasy baseball rosters for the evening.
On to the present (or recently completed) weekend…
Being without internet meant Rachel was inhibited from completing some of the usual work related tinkering that she normally does in the evenings. That opened the door for causal time with friend Scott watching movies on Friday night with brownies and ice cream while cursing the neighbor’s fire pit that made the air a bit smoky. Saturday night we played four-person Mario Kart and Aidan was thrilled to have three live competitors. He had been waiting for this opportunity for some time and was allowed to stay up until 10:00 racing around the virtual track. I then stayed up way too late playing cyber golf with Scott (or way too early…how should I classify 2:30 am?). I might have been able to catch a little extra sleep on Sunday morning had I not made a promise to Aidan that we’d run out and find him a freshly sprinkled donut for Sunday breakfast. He woke me during the eight o’clock hour reminding me of my promise and announcing that he was hungry at that very moment. The event described in the next paragraph also nixed a potential Sunday afternoon nap so the short night ended with me crashing on the couch last evening shortly after my Cubbies swept the cross-town White Sox (it’s always nice to go to sleep smiling).
On to the present (or recently completed) weekend…
Being without internet meant Rachel was inhibited from completing some of the usual work related tinkering that she normally does in the evenings. That opened the door for causal time with friend Scott watching movies on Friday night with brownies and ice cream while cursing the neighbor’s fire pit that made the air a bit smoky. Saturday night we played four-person Mario Kart and Aidan was thrilled to have three live competitors. He had been waiting for this opportunity for some time and was allowed to stay up until 10:00 racing around the virtual track. I then stayed up way too late playing cyber golf with Scott (or way too early…how should I classify 2:30 am?). I might have been able to catch a little extra sleep on Sunday morning had I not made a promise to Aidan that we’d run out and find him a freshly sprinkled donut for Sunday breakfast. He woke me during the eight o’clock hour reminding me of my promise and announcing that he was hungry at that very moment. The event described in the next paragraph also nixed a potential Sunday afternoon nap so the short night ended with me crashing on the couch last evening shortly after my Cubbies swept the cross-town White Sox (it’s always nice to go to sleep smiling).
I blame this pastry (not my video gaming) for my exhaustion.
Free access to excellent Sunday afternoon Metrodome seats (the one’s where you duck a lot of foul balls) presented themselves and Scott and I hit the Twins/Diamondbacks game. It was not an afternoon at Wrigley to be sure. The air conditioning inside the dome had me considering the need for a jacket and you could only see the sun outside of the ballpark. I did enjoy vendor #37, a maestro of cotton candy concessions, and was impressed at the immensity of the ½ pound hot dog. There will be a future picture of this colossal wiener after our next visit to the Dome but for now I conclude with a photo of one of my Father’s Day gifts…
Aidan took me to see Kung Fu Panda at the local theater on Saturday and we enjoyed the show with a reminder that just because the animated character’s kicked and twirled around on the screen we would not be replicating such actions back at home.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
My Profile: Interests
The list goes on…
Outside of the previously mentioned music, movies and readings there are a few other key things that occupy my time.
I am of course interested in my kids. That shouldn’t need to be mentioned but the current situation that has us together from six or seven in the morning to eight or nine at night means they are in and around everything else (I guess we do sleep in the same house too, but you knew that). Hanging out together makes for good blogging material and has hopefully aided in their transition to a new state. I do wish to move myself into the appropriate career turn soon and it will be good to get them interacting with other kids before my creativity runs out. Until then we are here for your entertainment.
Aidan has become a little video game wizard which makes for a legitimate new playing partner in my continuing appreciation for gaming. The Wii is our outlet for father/son games and the PS3 is my wind down activity before bed. Having my #1 college gaming buddy back in the vicinity means I can keep up my skills against a more seasoned player and spend a night here and there playing way too late into the night.
My seasonal obsession is fantasy football. I’m working on three straight fantasy baseball championships at the moment but the world stops for three hours the week before Labor Day so I can hop online with my league mates and draft my football team for the year. This year will mark the ninth year of fantasy football for me allowing me to obsess about trying to win my fifth title staring now (yes, I’m strategizing two months in advance) until the end of the NFL season. Perhaps the fact that I’ve been thinking about this year since the end of last year means I should retract that “seasonal” suggestion and admit that I am ready to play now…whenever now may be.
Sticking with sports…Go Cubs! Go Bears! Go Cyclones! I’m very much enjoying the Cubs current success hoping that “Wait ‘til next year” is finally “Wait ‘til this year.” There are many Cubbie fans that have suffered much longer than I, but I feel we all deserve at least one title to celebrate each century and we’re running out of century. The previously mentioned obsession with fantasy football stems from the fact that Chicagoans are football crazy and having been a Chicagoan for eight years so too am I now crazy about that oblong pigskin. The Cyclones are the Cyclones good, bad or otherwise. You don’t change your colors after spending four years on campus so Cy is forever my guy.
Outside of the previously mentioned music, movies and readings there are a few other key things that occupy my time.
I am of course interested in my kids. That shouldn’t need to be mentioned but the current situation that has us together from six or seven in the morning to eight or nine at night means they are in and around everything else (I guess we do sleep in the same house too, but you knew that). Hanging out together makes for good blogging material and has hopefully aided in their transition to a new state. I do wish to move myself into the appropriate career turn soon and it will be good to get them interacting with other kids before my creativity runs out. Until then we are here for your entertainment.
Aidan has become a little video game wizard which makes for a legitimate new playing partner in my continuing appreciation for gaming. The Wii is our outlet for father/son games and the PS3 is my wind down activity before bed. Having my #1 college gaming buddy back in the vicinity means I can keep up my skills against a more seasoned player and spend a night here and there playing way too late into the night.
My seasonal obsession is fantasy football. I’m working on three straight fantasy baseball championships at the moment but the world stops for three hours the week before Labor Day so I can hop online with my league mates and draft my football team for the year. This year will mark the ninth year of fantasy football for me allowing me to obsess about trying to win my fifth title staring now (yes, I’m strategizing two months in advance) until the end of the NFL season. Perhaps the fact that I’ve been thinking about this year since the end of last year means I should retract that “seasonal” suggestion and admit that I am ready to play now…whenever now may be.
Sticking with sports…Go Cubs! Go Bears! Go Cyclones! I’m very much enjoying the Cubs current success hoping that “Wait ‘til next year” is finally “Wait ‘til this year.” There are many Cubbie fans that have suffered much longer than I, but I feel we all deserve at least one title to celebrate each century and we’re running out of century. The previously mentioned obsession with fantasy football stems from the fact that Chicagoans are football crazy and having been a Chicagoan for eight years so too am I now crazy about that oblong pigskin. The Cyclones are the Cyclones good, bad or otherwise. You don’t change your colors after spending four years on campus so Cy is forever my guy.
Oh, and I like to laugh. I love a good comedian. Granted they are better in some forums than others as is evident by my guy Frank Caliendo who is hilarious on the radio in spontaneous situations and not as much on his cable TV show (hopefully it comes back next season tweaked for the better). Unfortunately when you start following a comedian and have heard all their material it can get repetitious. All the more reason to uncover additional favorites.
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Friday, June 13, 2008
My Profile: Favorite Books
On to books…
I’ve got to lead the list with the big one, right? If you asked me what three things I would wish to have with me if stranded on a desert island I’d include the Bible. It’s not because I’m reading it as much as I should (are we ever?). Honestly I would answer that way because having an isolated area free from life’s distractions would give me enough pause to really dig into it like I should. I think God would appreciate having a captive audience as well. Incidentally I still carry the same Bible I received in third grade and it’s full of notes, underlining and extras that I’ve placed in the front and back. In college I kept my books as clean as possible as to maximize their resale value but this is one textbook I know I’m never giving back.
You may have seen Lee Strobel’s name on my “What I’m Reading” list. Strobel is a former journalist from Chicago who covered cases and stories of a legal nature. He’s also a former atheist and in a previous book titled “The Case for Christ” interviewed scholars looking for evidence supporting the fact that Jesus was more than a morally superior guy whose life was ended unfortunately. “The Case for Faith” follows the same style as he tackles the questions of how we can believe God exists in the midst of a sinful world including questions of science and the like.
In a previous professional life I read a lot of financial and leadership books. Robert Kiyosaki’s “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” was a simplified starting point and a good road map to understanding personal finances. I’ve got a number of his books and they are easy reads for those wanting to better understand financial concepts. I also really enjoy John Maxwell’s books on leadership. He’s penned a slue of books including offerings on how to improve yourself, those around you and the groups you are a part of. Maxwell’s suggestions are always illustrated in very practical ways.
For leisurely reading I really like Rick Reilly (formerly of Sports Illustrated, now at ESPN). Reilly took the advice of longtime sports writing legend Jim Murray (also a very creative writer) to never write a sentence that had already been written. The result is some very entertaining wordsmithing. His stories have a sports topical base and are much more poignant and eloquent than the coverage typically found on the sports pages.
And I would be remiss to not give a special acknowledgement to two literary characters that significantly shaped my early years. Packed with life lessons and humor, the saga of an imaginative and ornery boy and his furry friend…Calvin and Hobbes.
I’m not a big fiction reader but am anxiously awaiting the next offering from Dan Brown. Despite some questionable suggestions on religious history in the DaVinci Code, I enjoy his style of writing and following the clues and symbolism to the final destination. His book “Angels and Demons” was outstanding and currently being given the Hollywood treatment (which will undoubtedly fail the book). The next book is based in the United States and explores some of the symbolism in American monuments and historical items. I’m ready.
I’ve got to lead the list with the big one, right? If you asked me what three things I would wish to have with me if stranded on a desert island I’d include the Bible. It’s not because I’m reading it as much as I should (are we ever?). Honestly I would answer that way because having an isolated area free from life’s distractions would give me enough pause to really dig into it like I should. I think God would appreciate having a captive audience as well. Incidentally I still carry the same Bible I received in third grade and it’s full of notes, underlining and extras that I’ve placed in the front and back. In college I kept my books as clean as possible as to maximize their resale value but this is one textbook I know I’m never giving back.
You may have seen Lee Strobel’s name on my “What I’m Reading” list. Strobel is a former journalist from Chicago who covered cases and stories of a legal nature. He’s also a former atheist and in a previous book titled “The Case for Christ” interviewed scholars looking for evidence supporting the fact that Jesus was more than a morally superior guy whose life was ended unfortunately. “The Case for Faith” follows the same style as he tackles the questions of how we can believe God exists in the midst of a sinful world including questions of science and the like.
In a previous professional life I read a lot of financial and leadership books. Robert Kiyosaki’s “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” was a simplified starting point and a good road map to understanding personal finances. I’ve got a number of his books and they are easy reads for those wanting to better understand financial concepts. I also really enjoy John Maxwell’s books on leadership. He’s penned a slue of books including offerings on how to improve yourself, those around you and the groups you are a part of. Maxwell’s suggestions are always illustrated in very practical ways.
For leisurely reading I really like Rick Reilly (formerly of Sports Illustrated, now at ESPN). Reilly took the advice of longtime sports writing legend Jim Murray (also a very creative writer) to never write a sentence that had already been written. The result is some very entertaining wordsmithing. His stories have a sports topical base and are much more poignant and eloquent than the coverage typically found on the sports pages.
And I would be remiss to not give a special acknowledgement to two literary characters that significantly shaped my early years. Packed with life lessons and humor, the saga of an imaginative and ornery boy and his furry friend…Calvin and Hobbes.
I’m not a big fiction reader but am anxiously awaiting the next offering from Dan Brown. Despite some questionable suggestions on religious history in the DaVinci Code, I enjoy his style of writing and following the clues and symbolism to the final destination. His book “Angels and Demons” was outstanding and currently being given the Hollywood treatment (which will undoubtedly fail the book). The next book is based in the United States and explores some of the symbolism in American monuments and historical items. I’m ready.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Sherlock Aidan
Aidan has been playing investigator today looking throughout the house for small things that look much more exciting through his magnifying glass. I found one thing that looks pretty neat framed by his lens.
A curious sleuth has been searching the house for clues.Tuesday, June 3, 2008
VIDEO: Kellen Tricks
Kellen showcases a few of his favorite tricks. We're working on animal noises (including cow, kitty, duck and puppy). He's also expanding the list of furniture items that he's conquered. Our current favorite climbs are the couches. He also likes to drag Aidan's hand washing/teeth brushing stool out into the living room to conduct his imaginary orchestra before a not-so-graceful dismount. Aidan's bed was the first climbing hot spot and remains a favorite object to scale.
VIDEO: Kellen Watching Kellen
I'm often as amused watching Kellen watch himself on the computer as I am by the videos themselves. He likes to laugh at and talk to himself while viewing. You get an idea of how it plays out here as I flip the viewing screen around so he can see himself. The video co-stars big brother Aidan who's getting just as up close and personal with the camera as Kellen.
Monday, June 2, 2008
My Profile: Favorite Movies
Alright…
How do I scale down my favorite movies? Like my music, the collection is deep and wide. There are some definite top shelf medal winners in music though. With movies it’s just a lot of stuff I really like, not one all that significantly more than another.
There are the series. The Bourne trilogy…wow. Action films that don’t feel completely impossible using primarily hand-to-hand combat instead of people simply shooting ridiculously sized weapons at each other all the time. There were a few moments in the third film where I said "Wow!" outloud after a particularly intense and exhausting scene. The Pirates of the Caribbean movies were a lot of fun as was the Austin Powers trifecta (though the first one’s not my favorite). And then there are the classics like the Star Wars and Indiana Jones flicks.
I love a good comedy and usually the less sophisticated the better. I rank Tommy Boy with Chris Farley as my all time favorite and am saddened that we weren’t able to see more of Farley after his bad habits caught up with him. I'm also shocked that the movie did not win any Academy Awards. Dumb and Dumber? Love it! Caddyshack? Fantastic.
As a sports nut I’ve seen most anything worth seeing (and too many that were not). They are admittedly formulaic more often than not but who doesn’t love to see the underdog triumph even if you saw it coming…again? Of the bunch I would not only rate Field of Dreams at the top but also rank it among my favorites of any genre. It probably doesn’t hurt that it gives some love to Iowa but I find it unique and worthwhile even without that heartwarming element. I’ve even been to the site of the film and played a little ball among the cornstalks.
I really liked the remake of Oceans Eleven with George Cloney, Brad Pitt and Matt Damon. They all just seemed like a cool bunch to hang out (or steal large sums of money) with. I’m a big fan of films with clever and witty dialogue and the eleven interacting makes for some humorous interactions.
And how about some recommendations? Best movies you’ve never seen (or maybe you have). Read the summary of Frequency and you’ll think you’re in for the cheesiest two hours of your life. “Man talks to long deceased father via radio” sounds like a snoozer but it turns out to be very interesting. What would you do if you had information that could change the course of your family’s history and what would altering your own life do to others? Want one that plays with your head? Try Memento which starts with the last scene and works backwards scene-by-scene as a man with short-term memory loss tries to solve the mystery of who killed his wife. I could feel my brain working overtime while watching this one.
One thing I missed being in school again was no time for movies. It’s hard to catch up and keep up but I’m hoping to find the time if not in the theaters on DVD.
So what's your favorite flick and what's the best movie I've never seen?
How do I scale down my favorite movies? Like my music, the collection is deep and wide. There are some definite top shelf medal winners in music though. With movies it’s just a lot of stuff I really like, not one all that significantly more than another.
There are the series. The Bourne trilogy…wow. Action films that don’t feel completely impossible using primarily hand-to-hand combat instead of people simply shooting ridiculously sized weapons at each other all the time. There were a few moments in the third film where I said "Wow!" outloud after a particularly intense and exhausting scene. The Pirates of the Caribbean movies were a lot of fun as was the Austin Powers trifecta (though the first one’s not my favorite). And then there are the classics like the Star Wars and Indiana Jones flicks.
I love a good comedy and usually the less sophisticated the better. I rank Tommy Boy with Chris Farley as my all time favorite and am saddened that we weren’t able to see more of Farley after his bad habits caught up with him. I'm also shocked that the movie did not win any Academy Awards. Dumb and Dumber? Love it! Caddyshack? Fantastic.
As a sports nut I’ve seen most anything worth seeing (and too many that were not). They are admittedly formulaic more often than not but who doesn’t love to see the underdog triumph even if you saw it coming…again? Of the bunch I would not only rate Field of Dreams at the top but also rank it among my favorites of any genre. It probably doesn’t hurt that it gives some love to Iowa but I find it unique and worthwhile even without that heartwarming element. I’ve even been to the site of the film and played a little ball among the cornstalks.
I really liked the remake of Oceans Eleven with George Cloney, Brad Pitt and Matt Damon. They all just seemed like a cool bunch to hang out (or steal large sums of money) with. I’m a big fan of films with clever and witty dialogue and the eleven interacting makes for some humorous interactions.
And how about some recommendations? Best movies you’ve never seen (or maybe you have). Read the summary of Frequency and you’ll think you’re in for the cheesiest two hours of your life. “Man talks to long deceased father via radio” sounds like a snoozer but it turns out to be very interesting. What would you do if you had information that could change the course of your family’s history and what would altering your own life do to others? Want one that plays with your head? Try Memento which starts with the last scene and works backwards scene-by-scene as a man with short-term memory loss tries to solve the mystery of who killed his wife. I could feel my brain working overtime while watching this one.
One thing I missed being in school again was no time for movies. It’s hard to catch up and keep up but I’m hoping to find the time if not in the theaters on DVD.
So what's your favorite flick and what's the best movie I've never seen?
Sunday, June 1, 2008
'Tis the (Weather) Season
We had some brief weather excitement again yesterday. There was more hail, though much smaller in size. It came and went (and melted) very quickly but some did collect at the bottom of the downspout.
My friend Scott and I got our wives and children safely in the basement and then headed outside like storm curious men are prone to do. Through the dark and slightly swirling clouds the sun peaked brilliantly from the west and a rainbow was visible throughout the ordeal.
Scott's got a future in hand modeling, don't you think?
A rainbow over the ongoing remodeling on our neighbor's house.
My friend Scott and I got our wives and children safely in the basement and then headed outside like storm curious men are prone to do. Through the dark and slightly swirling clouds the sun peaked brilliantly from the west and a rainbow was visible throughout the ordeal.
Scott's got a future in hand modeling, don't you think? 
A rainbow over the ongoing remodeling on our neighbor's house.
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