Photos from a holiday weekend well spent. Only sour notes: it was over too soon and my flight was delayed last night.
Home for the Holiday
Tag Archives: parents
Welcome (again) 2013
Yes, I know it is a little late to be welcoming the New Year, but to be fair, there are still people I am wishing a Happy New Year for the first time. I think this is socially acceptable until February.
So far 2013 has been a great year. I celebrated my birthday more times than I ever have in the past, including with my parents before returning to Clemson, in downtown Clemson day of, at a surprise party the week later, and at lunch with my co-workers the week after that. Let’s keep the party going!
I’ve taken my pseudo-resolution to “dance more” seriously. Thus far, I have made two trips to the Blind Horse Saloon to learn and practice my line dancing – yee haw! (To the right is a very poor picture of the blind horse.) I also have been practicing my moves with my xbox kinect. Let me tell you, it takes a special kind of confidence (or lack of self-consciousness) to try to keep up with the game.
I have seen two movies since returning to Clemson: Zero Dark Thirty and Waiting for Superman. Zero Dark Thirty was good, but for me, Argo was better. The suspense I felt during Argo even though I knew what was going to happen was palpable, and never quite reached that level during ZDT.
Waiting for Superman was at once disheartening and inspiring. You cannot watch that movie and walk away feeling like every child in America is getting a fair chance at education. We need change.
My guilty pleasure has been re-watching season one of Gossip Girl. They were all so young! It’s funny to see how similar the characters behaved then and in later episodes. You don’t pick up on it the first time through because you are just meeting them, but it is wholly evident when watching a second time. I can’t wait to see what happens next!
There was a weekend adventure through Great Smoky Mountain National Park (before it flooded) and a weekend non-adventure in the dungeon lab of Lehotsky. The views at Great Smoky Mountain were far superior. This upcoming weekend should provide good fodder for blogging. I also hope to have some exciting job news to announce soon. There’s the short long of it. It’s good to be blogging again.
Keeping it Reel
Some families cook together, others hike, some go on road trips, my family goes to the movies. We do other things too, but going to the movies together will always be prominent in my childhood and young adult life. I went to my first movie with my parents when I was three weeks old – I don’t remember much. My mom and dad took me to see artsy movies before I could appreciate artsy movies – I thank them now. In the two weeks I was home for the holidays, my parents and I saw ten movies. Here are my brief reviews:
I highly recommend Silver Linings Playbook. Of all the movies we saw, this is the first one I would see again. I would even consider buying it when it becomes available on DVD. The sweet, quirky, crazy reality of two, not “broken,” but maybe “bent” people trying to make their way. Who do we love? Who loves us? How do we recover?
Lincoln. This movie will make you wish you paid more attention in history class. Powerful and intense, you witness the skill of a true statesman. A somewhat ironic juxtaposition to the recent debacle of the fiscal cliff. Our country survived a civil war, that puts things in perspective.
A classic. I have seen Les Miserables both in theater and on the big screen, both were moving. Do you believe people can change? Can a broken soul be healed with love? Also, let this be an illustration to any country that lets the gap between rich and poor grow too large.
I could not miss The Hobbit. This was definitely a Dad and Carly movie. Middle earth, dragon, trolls, orcs, goblins, wizards, elves, dwarfs, and hobbits made for three hours of visually stunning adventure. I must confess, during the movie I forgot that it was Part 1, and I kept thinking, ‘we better hurry up and get to the mountain.’ If you consider yourself an adventure movie connoisseur, you need to see this movie.
With Quentin Tarantino as its director, Django Unchained was guaranteed to have a healthy dose of bloody violence, and it delivered. At times, I found myself cringing or looking away from the screen. Not a movie for the squeamish.
The combination of Clint Eastwood, Amy Adams, and Justin Timberlake peaked my interest in Trouble with the Curve. The movie had poignant moments, but tried to tell too many stories at the same time. I recommend as a RedBox.
As someone who has enjoyed the entire Bourne series, catching up with latest installment was only natural. The Bourne Legacy followed the same winning format – kick ass, rogue, genetically-enhanced hero saves super-smart-but-kind-of-clueless female from evil government spy programs and epic-proportion, multi-modal chases ensue. I enjoyed it.
We saw Guilt Trip and Wanderlust on the same day, both had sweet funny moments Family and love will make people do strange things. Maybe you’ll reconsider a road trip with your mom or living on a commune, or maybe not. Good for light viewing and easy laughs.
For something completely different, watch Beasts of the Southern Wild. Like Les Miserables, it will make you confront the haves and the have-nots, but unlike Les Mis, you will see a people who do not lust after the haves, but rather see those outsiders as the enemy. I think I may have missed something in this movie because for me it was rather strange.