The Eclectic Mix

I’m a sucker for punishment.

Yes, a mere one day after a two-day sojourn to the wilds of North Dakota, we hosted a party so Jenni could fulfill her obligation to a magazine and a TV network.

Here’s the short of it: Jenni got an e-mail from her favorite magazine in the whole world: Entertainment Weekly. As a result of the e-mail and a survey, she was asked if she wanted to host a screening party for a show the Fox network is debuting this fall. She agreed, and they decided to let her do it, so she got a box of show-logo-emblazoned swag, said screener copy of the show on DVD, and a few little snack items. Ah, but we needed to host the party before a certain date.

The only available and workable date, for a variety of reasons, was tonight. So, dinner, drinks, and hosting for about 20 folks was arranged, planned, and executed.

In the end, it was a great party. The show, not so much, but I’ll leave it nameless for now. But having some friends and family over for a fairly informal gathering was still a lot of fun. There was socializing, eating, talking, catching up, laughter, and all the good stuff that comes from get-togethers. Then came the watching of the show.

Lone Star is not great. At the same it’s not totally horrible. There’s an intriguing story there to work with, but some pretty bad scriptwriting that is trying to bring it to life. One hopes that they’re working right now to tighten it up for the future episodes and that the pilot isn’t a complete picture of what’s coming down the pipe. And I kind of hope they manage to slap Jon Voight a bit to get him to act a little more evenly. But otherwise, we were laughing when I’m certain it wasn’t intended, and probably didn’t laugh when it was. But no one just stormed out of the room.

So yet another day ends with a flurry of activity. Not that I’m complaining…much. It all has been the result or build up to fun events and good times. Tomorrow’s also busy for me, with a Twins game to attend with my mom, so I’m really looking forward to that. Then a Wednesday with…well, hopefully nothing. But never count things out around here.

I’m heading to bed, all.

See you tomorrow.

Must be a sign of somethin’. I racked up three Netflix movies this weekend. Okay, really two-and-a-half, but that’s about two plus more than I average for a weekend.

The third one tonight was called Gigantic, an odd little independent film which, contrary to my apparent usual standards of film preference, only featured one gay man , and that was in a peripheral role. Otherwise, it was a good character study, with some strange odds and ends that still have me wondering what they mean, but I’m finding I like Zooey Deschanel as an actress, even when she plays off and out-there women. And in this one, she’s out there, but for reasons we’re only led to assume, not that we have handed to us in some carefully scripted monologue or flashback.

Fall continues its vacation, as we had another 60 degree day today. And today, Jenni had her event at Sunrise discussing advent traditions and celebration. Talking about the christmas season, and I’m wearing shorts tonight. Oh well.

So we’ve run into one of the hassles of having the girls and Patrick in different schools. The girls have the day off tomorrow, and Patrick has school. As it turned out, it’s working out fine. The girls get a day with Grandma Peggy and head to Rochester to see my grandparents. They’re very excited and looking forward to it. So, should be a good day for them.

Meanwhile, the Vikings had the weekend off…And the state seems to be in that state of denial that comes only when the team is doing well. Don’t worry, folks, it’ll wear off by the second round of the playoffs.

Oh well. Bed time.

See you tomorrow.

Multi-phase post here, kids. Sit back and relax.

Patrick is a full two months into school at Roseville Area Middle School. And, unless he’s got us snowed, he’s loving it. A lot. His grades have mostly been good, but he’s learning that IDDS/FAIR Downtown was a bit too easy for him, and that Roseville is going to be a challenge. But that’s a very good thing for him–he’s a smart kid in a very smart school.

On the cooking front, we’ve kind of had a grand experiment here. I’ve put the bread maker to work, and have made bread for us for almost two months now. And for that same amount of time, I’ve actually bought one loaf of french bread and two packs of hot dog buns. All other bread has been homemade.

I’ve done several different kinds–sourdough, whole wheat, 50% whole wheat, egg bread, whole grain, English muffin bread, and the favorite of the bunch, oatmeal white. Some weeks, I’ve had to make a loaf a day. Most weeks, though, only 4-5 loaves for the week.

The upside: I know exactly what goes into each loaf–six or seven ingredients. The downside: well, really. Who doesn’t like homemade bread?

Moving on, the season must be changing. Friday morning, I was at Cub getting a few groceries, and the muzak was Christmas themed. One of the cashiers was talking to the other: “What, Christmas music already?” “Yeah, it’s been playing since midnight.” TV ads have moved up with Christmas themes. Is it all too soon? The only thing that gives me pause is that Jenni’s holding an event at Sunrise tomorrow talking about advent traditions.

Finally, I sort of had an orgy of movie watching tonight. Finished a watch instantly movie on Netflix: The Hebrew Hammer, a sort of spoofy homage to blacksploitation films, but with a Jewish bent. It was funny, sort of along the line of Airplane, but not quite as campy, and unnecessarily profane. But cute, none-the-less.

Then watched The Usual Suspects, a “crime thriller” that Netflix promised I’d rate four stars. I’m thinking that it decided on that rating because it had Gabriel Byrne and Kevin Spacey. It was trying to be a “smart” crime thriller, kind of told in reverse (we see how it ends before they explain how it got there). But I had it figured out within the first 30 minutes. And just ask Jenni: I don’t do that much. She does, because she’s a connoisseur of entertainment. So it was one of those disappointment moments, because I knew how the movie was going to end, but it kept me a little entertained until we got there. But, I got through another movie. Moving on to season two of a British TV series I really like: Doc Martin. Only three disks to get through it.

So there you go. You’re caught up a bit.

See you tomorrow.

It’s taken a couple of months, but I’m finally through the first season of Six Feet Under. So, time to review, since it took me more time to watch it than it probably took to make it.

Basic synopsis: life in a family owned mortuary after the patriarch dies, and the son who basically ran away comes back home for the funeral and decides to help run the joint. Wrapped up in the story is the typical late 90s-early 2000s angst and dysfunction of all the characters: the teenage daughter, the closet gay son, the son back to help run the place (who is basically portrayed as normal, but dating a genius wacko), and the widow who was having an affair before her husband died.

Maybe this is the old man in me talking, but the show’s an HBO production, so that seems to be an automatic reason to make it with content that wouldn’t be allowed anywhere else (i.e. over-the-top swearing, drug use, sex). On the one hand, it allows the presentation of subjects less delicately than anywhere else, but I think that in this case, it just became an excuse to get lazy with the script.

Each episode deals with one death, and the work at the funeral home to prep for the funeral is intertwined with the family’s life. It’s an interesting concept, and honestly, the first few episodes were pretty good and actually fairly funny. But after the first half of that season, it just got flat and I stopped caring about everyone.

It’s the problem with this genre–dysfunction becomes the storyline rather than the characters and their interaction. After the first couple of episodes, you get it: everyone’s screwed up in their own way. Trust me, I have first-hand knowledge of that in reality. But when it becomes the focus of every episode for the rest of the season, it gets old really quick.

In Netflix, I’m rating it three stars. It was enjoyable, but heavy stuff and not as fun as I thought. The basic take is this: I’ve got like six more seasons to go, and I’m not really feeling in a rush to get to the rest of them. I should be able to get to them sometime in the summer of 2013. I’ll follow up with you then.

In the meantime, I started watching a great little movie last night called The Hebrew Hammer, a movie which is described as the story of “Mordechai, an Orthodox Jewish ’superhero detective’ who joins the Jewish Justice League to stop the evil machinations of Damien, son of Santa, who aims to wipe out Hanukkah from calendars forever.” Funny, over the top stuff. Hopefully, it will stay that way. Meanwhile, I need to decide which movie is next: Milk or something a bit lighter. We’ll see. I’ve got a day or so to decide.

See you tomorrow.

Time for the occasional movie review.

Finished up Sweet Land tonight, a movie shot here in Minnesota, based on a short story about a Norwegian farmer who thought he was getting a Norwegian mail-order bride, but got a German. And no, it’s not inherently comedic. It takes place during World War I, so anti-German sentiment is very high, and the Norwegian community is reluctant to welcome an outsider.

You know right from the start that something here worked out, and the first 10 minutes are some of the best, most understated yet complete storytelling you’ll see in a movie. And that just sets the tone for the rest of the movie, which never stops telling its story well. As I said on Netflix: “Simple, easy to watch, painlessly simple, fun, and hopelessly romantic while still presenting the society of the day and place. The first 10 minutes alone are fantastic.”

It’s probably not everyone’s cup of tea, but I’ll come back with this: for a “slow movie,” it really moves quickly. I started watching it last night not thinking I’d get too far into it, and before I knew it, I was 3/4 of the way through it. And considering that bunches of the dialog in the early goings are un-subtitled Norwegian or German, it doesn’t detract from anything–the characters can’t really understand each other very well, so why should we?

As a viewer, you get uncomfortable when the characters are uncomfortable, and happy when they’re happy. You cheer for the good guys, and hate the bad guys, even though there aren’t very many. In short, it’s almost pure storytelling, and they did a good job of not cluttering it up.

Final verdict: well worth watching. Put it in your Netflix queue, if you’re so inclined; head down to your local rental store, or whatever route it is that you normally get your motion picture entertainment.

Site notes: I’ve delayed the chapter for the story until Friday. Just because. I know, I promised, but I need a little extra time. Also, the promised Twitter feed feature won’t come until toward the end of the week. Stay tuned.

See you tomorrow.