We're Going to the Zoo Today!

Well, not today, but we went last Saturday. Christy and Hannah and I met my Mom and Dad and we spent the afternoon at the Indianapolis Zoo. The weather was just about perfect. It was very windy, but pleasant. It was great to be outdoors and see the animals. Several animals that are often elusive (elusive as they can be in a cage, that is) also seemed to be out enjoying the weather. It was a nice day to spend with family.

We were at the giraffe exhibit at feeding time, so Hannah got to feed a giraffe some sweet potato! She was very brave! Hannah also liked seeing the monkeys. She especially liked seeing the baby monkeys that were just born in May.

I also got a chance to put my new camera to the test. I'm still getting used to some of the manual features on it, but I'm definitely enjoying the 10x zoom on it. Got to experiment with this at several exhibits (especially the Kodiak Bear, and Lion). Note that no digital zoom is being used in any of these shots.

(Click any picture to see a bigger version.)


"We're going to the Zoo today! And after that we're going to the baseball game and then we're going to Hong Kong and then they're taking us to Japan, and we're going to a lot of places; yup, yup, yup." from "Special Class" by Bill Cosby from his album, Wonderfulness.


Films Recently Watched:
Some Like It Hot (1959) dir. by Billy Wilder
During prohibition, two musicians (played by Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon) witness a murder by mobsters and go into hiding as cross-dressing musicians in an all-girl Jazz band. Marilyn Monroe plays "Sugar," the band's singer and ukulele player and a sucker for quirky, rich, tenor saxophone players. Of course, not everything goes exactly to plan. When the mobsters show up at the resort at which the band is playing, all hell breaks loose until the satisfying resolution and hilarious final two lines.
Funny stuff. Fantastic, quick-witted dialogue, cool music, beautiful black and white cinematography, I now see why this film is so well respected among film-lovers.

Monroe required 47 takes to get "It's me, Sugar" correct, instead saying either "Sugar, it's me" or "It's Sugar, me". After take 30, director Wilder had the line written on a blackboard. Another scene required Monroe to rummage through some drawers and say "Where's the bourbon?" After 40 takes of Monroe saying "Where's the whiskey?", 'Where's the bottle", or "Where's the bonbon?", Wilder pasted the correct line in one of the drawers. After Monroe became confused about which drawer contained the line, Wilder had it pasted in every drawer. 59 takes were required for this scene and when she finally does say it, she has her back to the camera, leading some to wonder if Wilder finally gave up and had it dubbed.

Director, Billy Wilder also had been quoted saying, "I knew we were in midflight, and there was a nut on the plane." apparently about Marilyn Monroe.

(Quotes from IMDB trivia)

By the way, I got pictures from Hannah's friend's parents and added them to the post titled, Autumn Party #2. Check them out, if you're interested.

And The Results Are In!!!

No, not the election, silly! Pop vs. Soda, of course!

Click on the picture for details.

I did "Trackback" on this, but I'll still give credit to Pat Hannon for posting this on his blog back in June, 2004.

Autumn Party #4

Well, it appears that the fourth time was the charm for us this time. Autumn Party #4 was last night at Rainbow Christian Camp in Converse, Indiana. The weather was perfect for this type of event; not too warm, not too cold.

Dinner was provided and they had lots of activities for the young and old. They had a bounce-house for young children (Dora the Explorer, no less). Hannah tried this briefly. The older kids were being a little too rambunctious for her. We did "Trunk-or-Treat" where people decorate their trunks or the back of their cars and then pass out candy to the kids from there. Christy and Hannah (whose picture can be seen in the previous post) walked around collecting candy while I stayed near our car and passed out the candy that we brought for other Trunk-or-Treaters. We also finally got to go on our hayride, except there was no hay. What's up with that??

I can see it now. . .

"Grandpa Jeremiah," (when I get older, I plan to insist that people call me Jeremiah, even though my given name is Jeremy. Somehow Jeremiah just sounds, older, ya know?) "why do they call hayrides, hayrides?"
"Well Sonny," I reply, "Back in my day they actually used to put hay in a beat up old wagon and everybody climbed in and went for a ride in the hay. That's why they're called hayrides."
"So you actually had to touch the hay??"
"That's right! Sometimes we'd take a handful and throw it at each other or stuff it down somebody's shirt, ha, ha!"
"But, Grandpa, where were the seatbelts?"
"Seatbelts? No, son, you don't understand. There were no seatbelts."
"Really?"
"Nope, we just had to hang on. That's the way it was, and we liked it!"

Anyway, they have this 45' tower there with lots of various activities; Jousting, a 300' Zip-line, a vertical obstical course they call 'The Matrix,' and a climbing wall. Well that was it. I've always wanted to try a climbing wall. So I got my safety harness, helmet, signed my waiver and went up the wall . . . about 10 feet up the wall, that is. Man, it was a lot harder than I expected it to be. I knew I wouldn't be able to pull myself up with my arms, but I thought if I could get my legs under me, then I'd be OK. Well, by the time I did get my legs under me, my fingers and hands were done! I guess I should have tried the beginner wall instead of starting with the intermediate side. After I got down, a little girl came up to me and said, "It's OK; you tried your best." Well, there went any hope that maybe nobody was watching. The next person on the wall was probably about 4 years old. He was really too small to be up there, but he wanted to try. Well, he hung on for a little bit, but finally broke down in tears and his dad went up and got him down. So Christy turns to me and says, "At least you didn't cry!" We all had a good laugh about it.



Films Recently Watched:

Charade (1963) dir. by Stanley Donen
Cary Grant and Audry Hepburn are both spot-on in this mystery/suspense/comedy/romance (yeah, a little something for everybody). Also starring Walter Matthau and James Coburn, Christy and I both enjoyed this one.

And for Halloween:
Frankenstein (1931) dir. by James Whale

(edit 11/02/2004: added climbing wall picture)

Happy Halloween!!

'Revenge Of The Sith' Teaser Poster

To the left (above) is the brand new teaser poster from the new Star Wars film 'Revenge of the Sith" (in theaters May 19, 2005). To the right (above) is the teaser poster from 'The Phantom Menace' that some of you may remember. That TPM poster is one of my favorite movie posters ever. The new ROTS poster is definitely more menacing, but TPM is, by far, more haunting.

Films Recently Watched:

Mr. Deeds Goes To Town (1936) dir. by Frank Capra
Gary Cooper is Longfellow Deeds in this film about a simple man from the small town of Mandrake Falls, Vermont, who inherits a sum of $20 million dollars only to acquire the unwanted turmoil brought on by wealth.

Deeds says something simple, yet profound that stuck with me, he says, "People here are funny. They work so hard at living they forget how to live." Which reminded me of something my friend, Brian, had to say recently over at his blog; "Stillness will not allow itself to be found in a world where the acquisition and maintenance of wealth require constant vigil." Deeds quotes Henry David Thoreau in this film when looking at the New York skyline he says, "I got to thinking about what Thoreau said. 'They created a lot of grand palaces here, but they forgot to create the noblemen to put in them.' I'd rather have Mandrake Falls." Thoreau also wrote, "It is not enough to be busy...the question is: what are we busy about?" And it all goes back to scripture (of course): in Luke 12:15, Jesus says, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."

Brian, I hope you feel that I've put you in good company, Capra, Thoreau, and God.

This film succeeds at both being a good romantic comedy as well as driving its point home clearly without compromise.

School of Rock (2003) dir. by Richard Linklater
Better than expected. I was hesitant on this one mainly because it starred Jack Black, but I heard enough good comments about it that I decided to give it a try. Jack Black stars as a rock star wannabe/slacker who pretends to be a substitute teacher at a classy prep-school. He eventually tries to turn his class of 10 and 11 year olds into a rock band, complete with groupies, manager, etc. and enter the group into the local "Battle of the Bands." This is not to be confused with Mr. Holland's Opus, but it works as a vehicle for Black's antics without allowing him to go completely over the top (OK, he's over the top on occasion). You didn't see this one up for the Academy's "best picture" for a reason, but the film is, for lack of a better word, "funny & sweet." (I know . . . it's two words, give me a break!)

Fallen (1998) dir. by Gregory Hoblit
My Sister has been hounding me for a year or more to watch this film. Denzel Washington is as good as ever in this supernatural thriller. With a supporting cast including John Goodman, Donald Sutherland, James Gandolfini, and Embeth Davidtz, I think this film succeeds at what it tries to do. I enjoyed it for what it is. I can't help but wonder, though, how much Jerry Ragovoy and his publisher got paid from this film and subsequent video/DVD releases. (Jerry Ragovoy is the writer of the song, "Time Is On My Side," used prominently throughout this film.)

One Thing, Two Thing, Right Wing, Left Wing

You won't often find me making overt political statements here or elsewhere, but this looks interesting:

The Political Dr. Seuss

From his early cartoons, to some of his most revered "children's" stories, Dr. Seuss made plenty of political statements, some by which you may be surprised.

Check link for local broadcast dates and times. For my local PBS stations, this show airs tonight, Thursday, and Sunday. At least for me, this is airing late at night (10:30p/12:30a/3:00a), so you may need to set your VCR/PVR to watch it at a more convenient time.




Thanks to The Sneeze for making me aware of this.

Autumn Party #3

What is it with these fall parties and the weather? It's not that we haven't had any nice days/evenings this fall; we have; just not on the days we're trying to do these parties.

Autumn Party #3 was with our Sunday School Class. We were supposed to be outside at somebody's house, but were relocated to the church after it rained all day Saturday.

I must admit that at the party Saturday night, we were a little out of our element. I'm 30 years old now and Christy is, well, ~ahem~ not yet 30. I doubt that there was anybody else at the party younger than 40 (except for Hannah and a few grandkids). They played a couple of games to identify photos of radio and television stars of the early days. I recognized Bob Hope, but that was about it. They also played a game where you were to match up old radio programs with their descriptions. I got "Little Orphan Annie," but, again, that was about it. Bill (Christy's Dad), I wish you'd been with us, we could have cleaned up on those radio programs! Regardless, good food, good people, good times. Several made specific efforts to make us feel welcome and I absolutely believe that we were welcome, just a little out of our element, like I said.

When we get to Sunday School on Sunday mornings, we never feel out of place. We learn from the teaching that happens there and enjoy hearing others' thoughts about the topic as well as expressing some of our own. We sampled several different classes recently when we were looking for a new class. We tried several that had young adults/young families, etc. None of those felt like the right fit for us. This older class just seemed like what we were looking for in terms of teaching.



Films Recently Watched:
Well, none, really.

Christy and Hannah had Annie (1982) on a little and Lady and The Tramp (1955) on a little, but I don't think anybody was able to sit down and watch them entirely.

I'm halfway through City of God (2002) and Touch of Evil (1958), but both are due back at the library tonight, so I won't be able to finish them.


Finally, for all you Star Wars fans, The Official Site has officially announced that the Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith teaser trailer will make its theatrical debut with the new Pixar film, The Incredibles, which opens Friday, November 5, 2004. Members of starwars.com's pay site, Hyperspace, get to see this trailer online beginning November 4, 2004. A friend from work is a Hyperspace subscriber, so I'm sure he'll be kind enough to let me see it on the 4th (right, Doug??).

Autumn Party #2

Autumn Party #2 was yesterday morning. Hannah's took her very first field trip with her daycare to Howell Farms in Middletown, Indiana. Christy and I both took the day off to go with Hannah and about 19 other 2 year olds. Thankfully, it wasn't just us, there were plenty of teachers, parents, grandparents there to keep the children moving in the right direction. Leaving the daycare facility at 10:00 and needing to be back there by 11:30 for lunch followed by naps didn't allow for much time once we were there, but it was still fun. Each child got to pick a small pumpkin to take with them (we're getting quite a little collection of pumpkins). They were supposed to pick it from the patch, but with recent wet weather, the field was too muddy for a bunch of 2 year olds, so they picked from pumpkins that the owners had set out in a nearby grassy field. I believe the children were also supposed to pick an apple from a tree in their orchard, but the orchard was too muddy as well. Hannah rode there and back in a van and I wouldn't be surprised if she thought that was the most fun part of the trip. When they were getting ready to head back to the daycare, Hannah said to Christy, "I go in the truck now, you not go in the truck." The teachers said that all the kids were a little wound up for the rest of the day, but I think that everyone had a good time.

What?? No pictures. Well, no, not yet. That's the rest of the story, I'm afraid.
(see below for pictures added 11/04/2004)

(Page 2)

I've had my Fuji digital camera for almost 3 years. I got it around Thanksgiving, 2001, knowing that Hannah would arrive sometime in early 2002. It's been a great camera for us. I really like the versatility that digital photography offers. I can delete bad shots instantly, easily print/develop only those shots that I want for an album, easily edit shots using user-friendly software, etc. However, yesterday, I turned the camera on to begin taking pictures and got a "FOCUS ERROR" and a flashing red light. Uh-Oh. Power off, power on, same. Remove batteries, replace batteries, same. Uh-Oh. This can't be good...

For the time being, I asked the parents of one of Hannah's friends if they would mind sharing some of their pictures by e-mail. They were kind enough to agree, so perhaps when I get those pictures, I'll update this post.

I am kind of in process about replacing our digital camera. I took our old one to Jack's Camera Shop in Muncie, hoping it might be something simple (yeah, right!) and they were willing to send it off to Fuji for a repair estimate, but that was going to be expensive too. I ended up purchasing a very early Christmas present for me, a Canon PowerShot S1 IS and am tinkering with it a little trying to decide whether or not to keep it. It has a lot of features that I really like. I'm still trying to determine if it is more camera than I need or will use. Hopefully I'll soon have some pictures to post from the new camera!


Films Watched Recently:
My Darling Clementine (1946) dir. by John Ford
This film tells the story of Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, the town of Tombstone, and the shootout at the OK Corral. I like this and I am still enjoying Henry Fonda, but I have to admit that I'm partial to this story and these characters as they are portrayed in the film Tombstone (1993) starring Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer.


Lastly . . .
Don't come here to get your news about sports, as I follow most sports from a distance. I try to keep up on how the Colts or Pacers are doing and who their latest coach is; I may check a score here or there if I see them playing, but that's about the extent of it. But, I must acknowledge the historical accomplishment of the Boston Red Sox last night.

I didn't see any of the first three games they played in this series (which were won by the Yankees). I was on the computer the night that game 4 was played, but had the game on in the other room, so I saw Boston win that one, but I also heard the know-it-alls after the game virtually dismissing that victory for Boston and indicating that for a team as strong as the Yankees having three more chances to win one more game, it was really just a matter of time. I didn't see any of games 5, 6, or 7, but heard this morning that the Red Sox won 4 in a row after being down 0-3, apparently, something that has never been done in baseball before.

Could the Curse of the Bambino finally be over?? We'll see.

[EDIT 11/04/2004] Added pictures - courtesy of Chad & Kim

Autumn Party #1

Christy, Hannah, and I are planning on attending no fewer than four, yes four, [Autumn/Fall/Harvest] [Gatherings/Parties/Outings] before the end of October.

The first was on Saturday. Christy's work was hosting it at Grandmas and Grandpas Pumpkin and Gourd Patch, here in Anderson.
(click any of these small pictures for bigger versions)

Even though the event began at 4:30pm, I was running sound for a wedding at our church which also began at 4:30m. We didn't get there until close to 6:30 and it was already getting dark, so the first thing we did was had Hannah pick out which pumpkin she wanted from the pumpkin patch.





It wasn't terribly cold, but the wind sure gets going out in those Indiana fields, so we tried to dress for cold weather.






They were running a tractor with a wagon for hayrides, but we just missed the last trip. Hannah wasn't happy about that...




...but, they had marshmallows. Hannah was happy about that (as you can see)! They had the rest of the stuff for making s'mores. So Christy roasted a few and we had s'mores. They also had hot dogs, chips, drinks, etc.







Obligatory bonfire shot




All in all, a good time was had by all. It was very nice for Christy's work to give the opportunity to get out and enjoy the great outdoors. It would have been better if we'd gotten there a little earlier, but we've got three more opportunities to catch anything we missed this time.



Films Recently watched (a Christopher Reeve tribute):
Superman (1978) dir. by Richard Donner
Somewhere in Time (1980) dir. by Jeannot Szwarc

God Bless The Internet!

Combining two ideas I discovered on the internet. . .

This guy's idea (using small toy cars to appear life-size)

+

This guy's idea (making a Starship Enterprise out of a 3.5" floppy disk)

=



and



and, a legitimate shot of my effort...



And finally, for the few of you who don't enjoy watching me play with my toys, another recent picture of Hannah. . .



[EDIT: added link to Parking Spots for the one picture they added.]