The Wave–movie review

Posted on February 4, 2012 - Filed Under Family | Leave a Comment

This movie takes place in Germany, which you’ll quickly realize is very ironic. Because it’s the story of a high school teacher who takes his class on an adventure in autocracy. In an attempt to give the students the feeling of what it’s like to experience a national movement like Nazi-ism, he starts enforcing strict rules, and eventually the students become so fascinated with the the experiment that they volunteer to wear uniforms and adopt a logo (a wave) that represents their “movement.”

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The Man from Earth–movie review

Posted on February 4, 2012 - Filed Under Family | Leave a Comment

This is a nice little surprise that I found through a google referral while browsing movie sites one night. I’d never heard of it, and I’ll bet you haven’t either. It’s a story of a teacher who invites some friends to his going away party at a lodge. He tells them he’s 14,000 years old and was once a caveman. As you can imagine, no one believes him. But, as they try to get him to admit it’s not true, they draw him into giving accounts of his relationships of historical figures, and describing his personal observances of famous events.

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Cashback–movie review

Posted on February 3, 2012 - Filed Under Family | Leave a Comment

The Netflix description doesn’t do this film justice, “An aspiring artist develops insomnia and takes a night-shift job at a store. He soon discovers that he can freeze time and begins disrobing customers.” While true, the story is much deeper than that, and it tells a really good story. The artist has authentic talent, and one of the reasons he disrobes the female customers is so he can draw them. And that angle ties the story into a wonderful, heart warming love interest.

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Brenden visits DC

Posted on August 7, 2011 - Filed Under Family | Leave a Comment

Brenden rode the choo choo with Grandma for a visit to DC for a weekend. We may have bit off more than we meant to, because it really wore us out, but we hit the National Zoo and the Museum of Natural History, all in one day. The Metro was out of commission for maintenance this weekend, so we had to travel by bus for part of the trip, but that still beat driving.

Brenden really liked the Bird House. He said it was the best thing he’s ever done. We also saw elephants, orangutans, giant tortoises, giant pandas, leopards, elks, and emus.

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Bull Run, 150th anniversary reenactment

Posted on July 24, 2011 - Filed Under Family | Leave a Comment

I finally made to a reenactment. I’ve been living in Virginia for 25 years, promising myself every year that I would go this year. All the hoopla about this event that I’ve been hearing for months finally gave me the resolve to do it this year. It’s one of the biggest reenactments ever put on, and it certainly didn’t disappoint.

It was so big, people had to park in designated parking lots and take a shuttle bus to the battleground. Everything went like clockwork, and we were in the lot at 8:30 am, and at the event by 9:15. We did have to take a short walk, about a 1/4 mile, but walking by soldiers on horses, getting ready to take the field added to the excitement.

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The Writer Known as Sapphire

Posted on July 12, 2011 - Filed Under Family | Leave a Comment

Or also known as Ramona Lofton, gave a very nice talk on her newest book, The Kid, at a local book store, Politics and Prose. She read several passages from this sequel to Push (made into a movie, as Precious), and then took questions from the audience. I was really impressed with her passion, not only for writing, but for the message she was trying to convey in both books. And as far as book talks go, this one was way up there on the scale.

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Eastern Promises–A movie with Viggo as you never imagined

Posted on May 5, 2011 - Filed Under Family | Leave a Comment

Wow–what a change of pace for The Ranger. In this excellent movie, Viggo Mortensen plays the moral opposite of his role as a hero in Lord of the Rings. In this scenario, he’s a gangster, no he’s a guardian angel, no he’s… well, you’ll just have to see for yourself. And yes, it has a few surprises in store for you. It’s a no-holds barred, gutty, stark reality, in your face, brutal movie, but it held us rapt for the entire ride.

Review of Cleopatra: A Life by Stacy Schiff:

Posted on March 29, 2011 - Filed Under Family | Leave a Comment

Since there is very little record of her life, this was not your average biography. I liked the way Stacy was able to support the conclusions she came to, though. It was a little dry, as was expected, but Stacy injected some appropriate witticisms from time to time, that just came out of the blue. I was also able to see the author in person at a book signing here in DC, so that added to the inspiration for reading the book. She gave a great talk. And, I was inspired to watch the move (timely, with Elizabeth making the news).

Michio Kaku at book signing

Posted on March 20, 2011 - Filed Under Family | Leave a Comment

I was able to meet famous author Michio Kaku today, and got him to sign my copy of Physics of the Impossible. He was appearing at the Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum, so I drove back early from Richmond to catch the event. Of course, since I was already there, I had to take some pictures of stuff I hadn’t seen since my last visit.

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Cutting for Stone, by Abraham Verghese

Posted on March 7, 2011 - Filed Under Family | Leave a Comment

This book really caught me by surprise–it had good reviews, but it just didn’t seem like my kind of book. But, I took a chance and I’m very glad I did. It takes place in Ethiopa (another first for me), and tells the story of twin boys who are almost butchered during their birth, and whose father deserts them immediately after a miraculous birth. The mother dies in the process.

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