A bit more Memorial Day

Monday night I was privileged to join some buddies at the Angels/Mariners game in a corporate box. Good time, good eats, good score...M's win 12-5.

Movie Review: Pirates of Caribbean - At World's End

Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End (2007, In Theaters)

Let’s start with logistics. You’re going to want to budget some time to watch this film. The movie is 168 minutes, which for you non-math people is almost 3 hours. Thankfully, the movie moves along at a fast enough pace that 3 hours is not torturous. As for the film itself, I’m going to say that it is good, but not great. It is difficult to maintain the momentum with these types of films because at some point, you actually need to develop a (gasp) innovative plot. The story throughout the trilogy has not been bad, but it hasn’t been exactly Tolkienesque. If anything, the movie tries too hard to develop a complex plot, but the result is a certain level of confusion, as the audience has trouble deciphering who is loyal to who and what each character is actually trying to accomplish. This also leads to another recommendation, which is to avoid the jumbo soda before the movie because if you take any bathroom breaks, you may miss some subtle plot twists. As expected, the movie is visually stunning which makes it worth seeing in the theater. The landscape and conceptual sets are beautiful and are used well by the film-makers in tandem with the ongoing action sequences. As with the prior films, the writers have sprinkled humor throughout the movie, though they borrow liberally from running jokes, and the dialogue is not quite as snappy as prior films. The characters are mostly the same, though the primary villain Lord Cutler Beckett is a bit too diminutive to properly portray a striking antagonist. The film also has some interesting philosophical constructs revolving around the purgatory-like Locker of Davy Jones and the various motivations of main characters, but this is a bit too much of a high-entertainment summer blockbuster for these concepts to be properly developed. Overall, this film is worth seeing in the theater and though you may hear that it is a cliff-hanger, I’m going suggest that it really isn’t. 2 1/2 Stars out of 4. (PG-13 for violence, adult content). Enjoyable for my mom: Doubtful.

Memorial Day

On Memorial Day we did the Fiesta days run at Descanso Gardens in La Canada. The ladies started with some stretching and then we did various runs, ranging from a one-mile to a 10K. Meg ran almost the whole mile run and was excited to "win" a ribbon.

The Word

Mama Bea wrote us a little scripture on the floor of the mega-room before she left. It has a bit of dust on it now so if you can't read it, it's Deuteronomy 6:4-9.

Saturday

J-Man and I spent some time tearing out the carpet in the dining room and pulling up tack strips. Refinishing the hardwood in the dining room is tempting, but would probably be a lot more time-consuming and expensive. Meg posed for a quick shot as Emma ran around with the camera. The next two shots are the mega-room from opposite ends. The drywall is up and they are supposed to tape on Wednesday. We'll see.

Don't Ask

It's a monkey playing a banjo. I'd explain it, but you probably had to be there. Just appreciate the wonderful artistry of it. No, I didn't draw it.

Tough Roof, Part II

All our hard work, demolished by a bunch of eager high schoolers. The lesson went well and included a cut hand...which was an unintended but probably accurate possibility.

Tough Roof

My buddy Tim teaches Bible and he wanted to do an object lesson about the four friends who ripped up a roof to lower their sick friend into the crowded house where Jesus was teaching. So, we cemented chunks of concrete to a base of 2x4's and drywall. The students had to dig through the roof. I'm told the lesson went very well, which is a good thing because it was a labor-intensive setup. How's that for creative education?

Busy Day

Emma and some of her buddies participated in a Speech Meet and Emma took home a "Superior" ribbon. Then, Laura and Emma zipped to the OC for Todd's graduation. Grandma Bea also flew down from Seattle for the festivities. Good times!

Flashback

Saturday night was Laura's faculty/staff social. The theme was 50's, so I broke out the letter jacket and Laura borrowed a poodle skirt. Of course, the highlight of the evening was walking away with a $25 Home Depot gift card as a door prize.

Paint Crew

K & K came over Saturday and we did some painting. Yuck. I don't exactly enjoy painting. Oh well.

Art Show

We attended the art show tonight to see the kids masterpieces. Here are a few examples. Meg found a book in Jonathan's classroom more interesting.

Let the walls fall down...

Demolition was in full swing today (no pun intended) and all internal walls were knocked down. It's a little difficult to photograph the full scope of the rooms, but we were very excited!

Willing Workers

Since the front door is moving, we no longer have much use for the walkway through the lawn. So, Emma and Jonathan helped me break out the concrete so that we can eventually replace the lawn. Meanwhile, Meg contributed by washing dishes. Such talented children.

Dr. Teeth

The boy who fears no pain yanked out his other front tooth to create a double-wide window. He is quite proud, as you can tell.

"It's a wrap"

The house has been "wrapped" so we're ready to start busting out interior walls. In addition, the front door got moved to it's new home. This is getting serious!