SPC - Enclosed Spaces #5

Enclosed in a Wooden Box.


Here's the crazy guy with the camera at the Children's Museum again. Believe it or not, my daughter is in this box with me, but I look stoned in all the ones where you can see her too. :-)

See others' here.

This is the final week for 'Enclosed Spaces.' Next month's theme is Self Portraits "with someone." Stay tuned.

Quote of the Week

{edit 08/25/06 10:15pm}
The Microsoft thing below is now the runner up.

The new quote of the week just came in seconds ago.
Christy (to me): "I got a phone call from Samuel L. Jackson today. He chewed me out for not going to see Snakes on a Plane!"

OK -- who did it? She thinks it was me! :-)

Lonnie sent me an e-mail with a similar message last weekend, but he probably wouldn't have our cell phone number. Curious...
_______________________________________

From this article at BusinessWeek -- discussing the possibility of Microsoft being purchased by a consortium of private equity firms. Now, you can read the article if you want to, but this quote made everything perfectly clear to me, and it made me laugh, too!

"Snakes on a Plane will win a best picture Oscar before Microsoft gets acquired by LBO firms."
--Daniel Primack, Private Equity Week

Have a great weekend, everybody!

Photo Friday - 'Circle'

For Photo Friday - 'Circle'

Photo Friday - 'Friend'

"Strangers are just friends waiting to happen" - Author Unknown



for Photo Friday - 'Friend'

SPC - Enclosed Spaces #4

This was a shot taken with the camera on self-timer. I had to run through two small doors to get into the seat where I ended up.

I love the look on my daughter's face here. It's like, "Here we go again...Daddy's using me for another silly picture project."

Snakes on a Plane!

Films Recently Watched:

Snakes on a Plane (2006) dir. by David R. Ellis

Well, we had a very busy weekend so I didn't get to catch this until a late show Monday night. I just got back and I'm proud to say that it was every bit as bad as I had hoped it would be! The only thing that would have made it better would have been to go to a packed house showing on opening night with an appreciative crowd (like Ward did).

To be honest, I'm not a huge fan of the horror genre or much associated with it. For some reason, though, when I heard about this movie, something just 'clicked' -- as it apparently did for many in the internet community who adored this film long before they ever saw it. Regardless, this movie truly has everything one could want in a horror/thriller. Sex, drugs, violence, gore, relentless scary monsters in all shapes and sizes killing extras in every imaginable (and unimaginable) way, cheesy dialogue, cheesy actors making ridiculously poor decisions, and more jump-scenes than you can shake a snake at! Heading it all up is one of the coolest guys in Hollywood, Samuel L. Jackson. Naturally, he gets the lion's share of the coolest lines and coolest action sequences in the film.

It's snakes -- on a plane. What more could you possibly need to know? Don't take it too seriously, the movie itself, certainly doesn't -- many forked tongues are firmly planted in scaly cheeks here, folks. I can't, with any sense of responsibility, recommend this movie to anyone. Chances are, if you ever intended to see it, you probably already have.

Others:

The Family Stone (2005) dir. by Thomas Bezucha
Watched this a second time with Christy. She liked it too!

Young Mr. Lincoln (1939) dir. by John Ford
I have a feeling that not many people who are putting up their 'Snakes on a Plane' review are also putting up anything about this movie.

Henry Fonda is excellent here as the titular character. A few hints here and there are all you see during the course of the film of what Mr. Lincoln will eventually become. It's interesting -- as much as you hear about Abraham Lincoln in everyday discussion, it's almost always about the events of his Presidency. Rarely do we get a glimpse of his life prior to that. Here, we get to see it wonderfully portrayed. Abraham Lincoln is an upstart attorney from a small town. His first clients are accused of murder. The story is every bit as well-told and suspenseful as any modern-day courtroom drama.

John Ford also shows his skill with a camera. As always with Ford, careful attention is paid to framing and foregrounds and backgrounds. It's quite beautiful in black and white.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006) dir. by Gore Verbinski
Christy and I managed to fit this in over the weekend. We had both seen and enjoyed the first film and Christy's a bit of a Johnny Depp fan, so we decided to check this out. Overall, it was OK. Going in, I didn't know that this movie was nothing more than a set up for the third film, so I think that much of my disappointment rests there. The sequel seemed to me to be much more graphic than the first film, so Christy didn't care much for that. It is OK for what it is. If you haven't seen it in theaters, but are interested, my suggestion would be to wait until closer to when the third film is expected out and then rent this one to watch it right before seeing the new one.

New Look!

If you've ever been here before, you will notice that things look a bit different. It was almost a year ago when I first started playing around with the appearance of the blog template with which I began. I had fully intended then to do more, but never really got around to it. In the last few weeks, I've burnt some midnight oil occasionally working on this new look. I got the motivation I needed to finish the modifications when I read that Blogger is beginning to launch Blogger Beta. In Blogger Beta, they are indicating that changing the appearance of your blog will be much easier (i.e. clicks of the mouse instead of HTML and CSS coding). When I do finally get moved over to beta (which, I understand may be a while for some users), I may be making some more changes, or I may just stick with this.

As always, anybody using browsers besides IE, let me know if you see anything glitchy, etc. Regardless, I'd be happy to hear your thoughts about the new appearance. Just leave a comment on this post.

Photo Friday - 'Four'

I must give credit to this picture for the inspiration. I saw it when browsing pictures submitted to Photo Friday for the theme, 'Common' a couple of weeks ago.

Caution! Karate Kid on Duty!

Caution! Karate Kid on Duty!
Originally uploaded by Jeremy Stockwell.

This post serves two purposes:

1.) It's a test for posting pics from Flickr.

and

2.) It's an opportunity to show my blog readers this funny sign that I saw at one of our local McDonalds!

SPC - Enclosed Spaces #3

Enclosed on an elevator:



On the elevator at our local public library, to be exact.

Just about every week, Hannah and I go to the library. We go up the stairs to the children's department to pick out books for her and then "race" to see who can press the down button on the elevator (somehow, she always wins!).

We really enjoy our trips to the library. What's more, we've gotten to know several of the workers there and they all so enjoy seeing Hannah that I usually get in trouble with them if I go myself without her!

It's a fantastic resource and we're lucky to have it so close by.

Photo Friday - 'Private'

More here

What Hannah Said #3

This was recently her most glowing compliment: "You're so brave!"

"If I eat two donuts, my tummy will be nervous."

The other night at our evening meal:
Hannah: Can I have a show on while I'm eating?
Jeremy & Christy (in unison): No.
Hannah: But, I promise I won't look at it.

In early spring, I noticed the buds coming in on our lilac bush:
Jeremy: Hannah, see the buds on the lilac bush?
Hannah: Bugs? Where?
Jeremy: No, buds -- Buds -- BUDDDS
Hannah: (with horror) Blood???
Jeremy: Nevermind.

Praying: "Thank you, Lord, for our daily bread -- cause it's so good!"

Learning "dirty" words:
Upon hearing questionable words and/or phrases from the mouth of our four-year-old, such as, "oh my gosh" -- "stupid" -- "poopey-butt" -- etc., we sometimes respond by saying, "we don't say that" or "we don't like that word." So just the other day, Hannah asked me, "Do you like 'Holy Cow'?"

:-)

for Mom:
What Hannah Said (#2)
What Hannah Said (#1)


Films Recently Watched:

Mighty Joe Young (1949) dir. by Ernest B. Schoedsack
Christy was hoping I'd cry while watching this one like I did while watching the 1998 remake. (Shut up! I thought he was dead!!) No such luck. I do like the original though, despite seeing the remake first.

Underworld (2003) dir. by Len Wiseman
Man, that Shane Brolly, sure can overact! He plays 'Kraven' in this modern-day vampire vs. werewolf action flick. I think he used every single villainous cliche' known to Hollywood, including the good ol' "head on a plate" line. Overall, I wasn't impressed. Kate Beckinsale did much better with her deliveries than poor Shane, but none of the actors had much to work with here.

The Family Stone (2005) dir. by Thomas Bezucha
Give this a chance. Halfway through this one, I wan't too sure about it, but somehow, it all pays off. Just when you think you've got all the character stereotypes figured out, everything changes. A stellar ensemble cast (including Diane Keaton, Craig T. Nelson, Claire Danes, Sarah Jessica Parker, Rachel McAdams and Luke Wilson) works together here to pull off this family-home-for-the-holidays story.

SPC - Enclosed Spaces #2

Enclosed in a squircle:



"Squircle" = Squared Circle

This references the squared circle group over at Flickr.

Besides the above, here are a few more I've submitted to the group:




The picture itself was taken in the same mirror maze as last week's SPC contribution, but during a more recent trip to the Indianapolis Children's Museum.

Check out other 'enclosed spaces' self-portraits here.

SPC - Enclosed Spaces #1

The theme for Self Portrait Challenge in August is 'enclosed spaces.'

My first stab at the theme was taken at the Indianapolis Children's Museum where there is kind of a mirror maze. Off to one side is this triangular closet with mirrors on all sides. I'm sure crawling through the opening isn't difficult for a kid, but for a grown man and his camera, that's another story.



I'm looking forward to seeing what everybody else does with this new theme. Mainly, I hope that nobody (i.e. Me) gets stuck in any of the enclosed spaces they use for the challenge!

A few updates...

Happy August!

We've had a couple of busy weekends with a week of Vacation Bible School in between.

Here are a few highlights:

(disclaimer)
Beware: I'm in the process of becoming addicted to the photo hosting community, Flickr. If you have any interest in photography and don't want to become a victim of "Flickritis," I recommend that you steer clear. All that to say, there are a couple of links to my Flickr photostream in my sidebar, but I may also begin to post a few pictures here that will link to that picture at Flickr. I will also try to let you know when there are other related pictures over at Flickr that aren't posted here. Consider yourselves warned.
(/disclaimer)

OK moving on:

Last weekend, we went to a hot air balloon festival, the Ohio Challenge, to which Christy's sister, Becky, had invited us. While in the area, we also went to one of our Nephew's baseball games, which was won by his team.



Though it may look like it, Nate did not pitch and catch at the same time. He's fast, but not that fast. He did, however, play, at least, catcher, shortstop, and pitcher in the same game. He's quite talented.

Back at the balloon festival, despite some poor weather during a small part of the afternoon, we did get to see skydivers and hot air balloons.



See my Ohio Challenge set at Flickr for more pictures.

This was Hannah's first real year at VBS. I worked with a group of 2nd and 3rd graders. For those really interested in seeing a bunch of kids you probably don't know, there are nightly slideshows (complete with witty comments!!!) at the church website. Some of the images there are mine, others were taken by -- well -- others.

Each night, VBS let out about the same time as the sun was setting. Fortunately for me, the one night that Hannah stayed home with Christy, there was a particularly nice sunset and I was able to find a cornfield and a tree to use as foreground. Here are the results of that evening.



a couple more related at Flickr.

Films Recently Watched:

Toy Story (1995) dir. by John Lasseter

The Squid and the Whale (2005) dir. by Noah Baumbach