Big Boy Bed!

During all the Memorial Day department store sales, Alyssa and I decided to finally buy a nice bed to go with our nice mattress and bedding. We got a really good deal on it, though some assembly was required. The one we ordered was supposedly "khaki" colored, though when it arrived it seemed much more brown than tan. Which actually worked out considering we have tan walls. Obviously, we weren't really considering that when we chose a color for the bed.

Here it is, completed!

Mom's Day BBQ

Alyssa and I chose Mother's Day as the first holiday we hosted at our home. We had the parents and siblings over as well as the grandparents. It was a slightly cool and windy day but the sun fought through the clouds enough to keep us reasonably warm. There was an obscene amount of food; hot links, hot dogs, and bell peppers and onions off the BBQ as well as a pasta salad, Christi's potato salad and cheese plate and Alyssa's THREE homemade desserts (lemon sorbet, vanilla cake with chocolate frosting, and homemade oreo's). Calling them oreo's is selling them short though, they were delicious!
I'd show you all the fabulous pictures we took of everyone having a great time as well as all the delicious food but we didn't take any pictures. Oh well, there's always next year.

Like Clockwork

Our movie watching is flying along at a breakneck pace, which can be frustrating if a particular film requires in depth analysis or a little time to percolate in your brain. But in the case of "A Clockwork Orange" it's a good thing! Neither Alyssa or I particularly wanted to dwell on this one. As a warning against a future dystopian society it is heavy handed at best, and ridiculous at worst, though its central theme does have some pertinence in today's society.

Ultimately the movie tries to follow in the novel's footsteps by asking its audience, "to what point will we sacrifice our free will for the good of society" and in a post-9/11 world, that is a question many people struggle with today. But the way the movie went about it, in contrast to the novel to my recollection, was just so over the top that you couldn't help but feel that ultimately the criminal got exactly what he deserved, side effects and all. I don't know if Alex is meant to be a sympathetic figure, but he certainly doesn't come off that way. I suppose the theme could also be that society clamoring for the defense of irredeemable criminals helps the irredeemable get off easy, but either way the message is muddled and poorly executed. Alyssa HATED the film, shocking, I know, considering its overall message and individual scenes.

I can't really recommend this to anyone, and the author's feelings of the adaptation seem to back that up.

From the novel's Wikipedia page; "The film made it easy for readers of the book to misunderstand what it was about, and the misunderstanding will pursue me till I die."

To sum it up, don't bother with the film, read the book if you'd like an interesting thought experiment. Funny how often that sentence applies!

Cupcakes!

Alyssa made some delicious Lemon cupcakes using a cupcake mix from Sprinkles yesterday. She made some homemade lemon butter cream frosting to top them with and then used Sprinkles' hard sugar candy bits to jazz them up. As I said, they were delicious! I had two, one before dinner and one after, but Josh, Megan and Alyssa all had one as well. So far as I could tell they enjoyed them also. Thanks to Grandma Pat for the Christmas present of the cupcake mix to Alyssa.

Saving Private Ryan

Almost three years exactly from starting the process, Alyssa and I have watched 30 movies of the top 100 with our viewing of "Saving Private Ryan" Saturday night. Yet another classic that Alyssa hadn't seen, and yet another movie that she has no interest in seeing again. I remember when the movie first came out there was a backlash about the intensity of the violence in it, though Spielberg defended it by saying he had intended to make it as realistic as possible. I understand and appreciate his claim, but there were definitely sections of action sequences that seemed gratuitous in the degree of violence shown onscreen. Unfortunately that led to Alyssa ignoring a large potion of the movie due to its graphic nature.
Fortunately for her there was also enough eye candy onscreen to keep her interested. Matt Damon, Vin Diesel, Barry Pepper, Edward Burns, Giovanni Ribisi and other young actors of the time were scattered throughout, not to mention Tom Hanks, Tom Sizemore, Ted Danson and Paul Giamatti. The amount of talent featured was impressive. There are some really well done parts, simple and elegant, the reaction of Ryan's squad when Private Ryan is told of the loss of his three brothers, and Ryan's monologue on what to tell his mother if he also dies. The brotherhood among these men that led Spielberg and Hanks to go on to produce "Band of Brothers" is pretty obvious here as well.

Shawshank

Yay! Another movie knocked out! Actually we finished "The Shawshank Redemption" about a month ago but with Brian's Vegas trip, hanging with the Lacks and cleaning out our office of literally half the stuff we had in there, I hadn't had an opportunity to update. I love this movie, obviously the way Andy is treated by Bogs and his boys early on is enough to make you sick, but ultimately it's a story about the indomitable human spirit, and bromance.

It was Alyssa's first time seeing this movie and though she enjoyed it immensely it's another of the "I won't watch that again" types. Unfortunately, the whole damn thing has to be happy and not deal with anything somewhat depressing or dark for her to be willing to give it a second viewing. I'm not looking forward to her reaction to "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"

Butch & Sundance

Our month of movies continued last night when Alyssa and I finished yet another film off of the top 100, #73 "Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid" starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford. It has a lot of wonderfully comedic parts, including the one pictured, in which Newman's Cassidy convinces Redford's Kid that jumping off of the cliff they are sitting on will help them to elude their chasers. The Sundance Kid is hesitant and explains his hesitance by revealing that he can't swim, to which Butch replies, "Are you crazy? The fall will probably kill you!"
The film is full of moments showing Sundance's easy going nature and willingness to follow Butch, regardless of the many times Butch leads them astray. The natural chemistry of the two leads makes their camaraderie on screen so easy to believe and inevitably leads to the audience rooting for the outlaws.
A couple facets of the film that were particularly memorable/interesting to me were the fact that Butch had to go to the lawful side of things to kill someone (as a payroll guard for a Bolivian mine), and the steadfastness with which they were pursued by the railroad owner's posse of bad ass lawmen.
Ultimately it is a thoroughly enjoyable film with one huge exception for me, the music! The music by and large was awful, both in its quality and in the way it was used in the film. There are a few ridiculous scenes, including an extended bicycle scene that are just made significantly worse by the choice of music in them. The most frustrating part of these scenes is the films great use of silence in other areas. Anyhow, at this point I'm picking nits so I'll close by saying we loved it!

Hello Clarice!

The Silence of the Lambs is scary, also it's considered one of the greatest American films of the last 100 years. And Alyssa and I watched it Friday. Sir Anthony Hopkins is brilliant as the psychopath Dr. Hannibal Lecter and Jodie Foster really shows some acting chops in not being blown off the screen by him. There are definitely a few cringe worthy scenes, both gross parts and violent parts, but a really well done film overall that almost has you respecting "Hannibal the Cannibal" by the end. Alyssa watched the second half crammed in between me and the couch, alternating between watching and covering her eyes. She likes scary movies not at all. The last month has been really good for our progress on this list and hopefully we can continue with our one a week pace for a while, next up Redford and Newman in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

Horatio's with Grandma

After a wonderful weekend in Carmel with the Lacks, Alyssa and I ran over to Horatio's at the San Leandro Marina to take out Grandma Pat for her birthday, which happened in October. Sorry Gram! Anyhow, the food was great and the company better. I got a steak and potatoes dish, Alyssa a salmon and risotto, and Grandma got everything else on the menu. Not really it just looked that way when the food arrived. Her full rack of ribs came with sweet potato fries, a gravy boat full of BBQ sauce, chipotle cole slaw, and some baked Mac and cheese. She was a very gracious belated birthday girl though and insisted on sharing. We love you grandma!

Sidney Poitier, Man, Myth, Legend

Alyssa and I watched "In the Heat of the Night" yesterday, which has to be my second favorite Poitier film, behind "Guess Who's coming to Dinner". Two scenes in particular resonate with me. The first when the chief asks Virgil Tibbs what they call him where he comes from, and he responds, with righteous indignation, "They call me Mr. Tibbs!" and the second when he slaps the rich fat cat back after being slapped himself. Both scenes were enough to give me chills. It's also nice to see the evolution of the chief as he begins to understand Virgil's value both in general and regarding the murder case he's assisting on. Anyhow, great movie.

Can't Sit Here!

Alyssa and I knocked Forrest Gump off of our movie list yesterday. I still love it. The music is great and the stories are really well told and acted. I'm assuming everyone has already seen this movie so a plot synopsis isn't really necessary, but it is well worth a rewatch if you haven't seen it recently. And that's all I have to say about that.

I Am Not A Crook!

Alyssa and I knocked out another film off the Top 100 list. All the President's Men with Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman. I was commenting to Alyssa that the plot seems straight out of a spy novel or a 24 episode; a paranoid, delusional, power hungry President embezzles money out of campaign funds to hire ex-CIA operatives to spy on the competition. But wait, it actually happened! The American public chose to elect this guy twice! Granted, the level of Nixon's involvement was debatable, but the fact that he resigned before he could be impeached and then stripped of the Presidency speaks volumes.
I also enjoyed the initial skepticism of the national press towards the Post, that only intensified until the facts became public knowledge. The ending was somewhat abrupt but the film was well done and the fact that most of the stuff in the movie actually happened made it all the more interesting to me.

Christmas Time!!

Alyssa and I had finally gotten an opportunity to settle into a nice little routine around here when the holidays came up and smacked us upside the head. Halloween quickly changed into Harvest time which was followed by Thanksgiving and Christmas all around us. But with the changing of the seasons we also get our first chance to do these things as husband and wife.

Saturday we knocked off two firsts, picking out our first Christmas tree together and going to our first Tree Lighting Ceremony (as husband and wife anyway, Alyssa loves tree lighting ceremonies so we had gone to a few before we got hitched) with the Lacks.

Needless to say, both firsts were wonderful. We love the pageantry of Christmas and the good feelings all around. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Modern Times

Modern Times, in case you didn't know, is a Charlie Chaplin film, and number 78 on our top 100 movie list. It was actually decent, considering it was a 74 year old silent movie with outdated crap humor. One interesting thing that Alyssa and I noticed was the obvious age difference between the main characters. Charlie is probably 40 something when this film was made and his love interest was supposed to be a "juvenile" which means what, 16? Creepy. In reality, the actor and actress were only 21 years apart. And apparently they had an off screen relationship as well. And Chaplin married an 18 year old when he was 54, and had 7 kids with her, all of whom are still alive. Crazy. Unless you have a lot of time to kill I suggest you stay away from the Charles Chaplin wiki link, because it will suck you in. In any case, another one down, next up "All The President's Men".

Painting Days

From the moment I bought this house, Alyssa hasn't really liked the paint. It was poorly done originally, wasn't finished in certain areas and was just a peachy orange sherbet type color, which neither one of us was a big fan of. Before we got married she decided to paint the main ceiling in the open entryway, living room and hallway areas to cover up the three different colors of paint with a nice plain white.

Friday she painted the ceiling in our bedroom and today we went on down to Home Depot to pick out our wall paint for the bedroom. And then "we" painted. I hate to paint so she did 90% of the work, I just helped tie in the ceiling, which I can reach without a ladder, and helped tape the trim pieces. And I helped with the touch up work. Anyhow, it turned out great. We were trying for a sandy brownish color and it ended up pretty close to what we were looking for. It might be a little more green than we anticipated but it still looks fabulous and new.

We've also been upgrading the furniture and rearranging the living room. Alyssa and I had our eyes on a three piece sectional couch for literally years, my Nana has the same one so I knew it was comfy and we both like the way it looks. It barely fits in the room, but it actually makes our itty, bitty living room seem larger now that there is a place for more than two people to sit.

And I had been putting furniture together for weeks after the honeymoon, but it has calmed down a lot as we become settled. I'm particularly happy with the TV stand/dual bookcase combo. My side has all of my DVDs and her side has all of her library books. The house has truly become our home, and it's a great thing to experience! (that's me looking great, and topless, in the reflection of the television)

Two Plus Two

Alyssa and I have now been married for two months and two days, and I must say it has been completely incredible. She has completely blown my mind. She gets up with me at 6 every morning, makes my lunch, makes me coffee, and sends me off with a smile and a kiss (or two). She makes dinner every night the two of us are at home, and typically does an incredible job. She's trying new recipes, experimenting with things we know we like and truly being the most amazing housewife ever!

I told her when I came home from my first day of work after the honeymoon, and she greeted me with a full glass of ice water and a bowl of fresh made guacamole that her performance as my wife so far was not only much more than I expected but also significantly more than I needed. Well so far as I can tell, she's only getting better and better as time goes on.

Here's a little taste of our nights in Paris on the honeymoon. This is looking at the back of Notre Dame from the East on the bridge in between Ile St. Louis and Ile de la Cite or something like that. (French spelling is definitely not my strongest academic discipline.)

The Apartment

Alyssa and I got through our 21st film of the AFI top 100 on Saturday, "The Apartment" starring Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine. I enjoyed it, Alyssa had seen it previously and wasn't interested in paying complete attention to it, due to its less than uplifting story. Essentially, Jack Lemmon is a pushover, he takes a bunch of crap for an extended period of time before he realizes, screw it, it just isn't worth it. Shirley is the love interest, and wow, I have to say, you can see the much, much older, Shirley MacLaine in the young, beautiful elevator operator, and she really has aged very well. It's nice to see the young woman be improved by age.
And that's all I have to say about that.

Quick Catch Up

Sooooo... It's been a while but I thought I'd take a quick second and update the movie list. We watched "Spartacus" a week or so ago. It was blah, though seeing Kirk Douglas as a bad ass was interesting considering I'm most used to seeing him as a decrepit old man at The Oscars. We barely even watched it. Oh well.
I've been trying to consider the reason certain films have been included in this list, like the silent movie we watched the other day. Or the other month really, we're kind of slow. Anyway, at the time "Spartacus" was released, it probably blew people's minds the same way "Jurassic Park" or even more recently "Avatar" did. Which is great, but forty years from now "Jurassic Park", in my opinion, will still be appreciated for the original, interesting and entertaining story, as well as the great acting by the old dude that played Santa in Miracle on 34th Street (the remake). But "Avatar" and so far as I'm concerned, "Spartacus" just don't have that staying power. Though the blood, sex, blood, sex and sex "Spartacus" television show on Starz would argue that.
Epic storytelling is great, in every medium, if it is interesting, and original, and entertaining. When it is lacking (for my one regular reader) one or more of those elements it will fail to stand up to the test of time.
Perhaps my generation, myself included, is used to a faster pace or a story that doesn't seem so unnecessarily drawn out. Or we just don't have the patience to stick with a 3.5 hour long movie. Though I've watched "Dances With Wolves" multiple times without any problems. "Spartacus" did nothing to pull me in to the viewing experience, which is a shame because there really is a decent story to be told there.
"Spartacus" gets 2 thumbs down from Alyssa and I, or at least 2 thumbs sideways. We didn't hate it, we just didn't care.

Anyway, the point of this post was to mention the movie and to let any readers I may have out there that I know it has been a while and yes, I do intend to continue blogging here. I need to let all the stuff from the wedding and honeymoon sink in a little bit, not to mention actually upload pictures to the computer before I can blog about it.
So when we get really settled in, I can start working on those types of things rather than building Target furniture, which we love, and hanging pictures, which I don't love, though I do love seeing them on the wall. Unfortunately, moving in and becoming settled takes a while, so just keep on waiting. As much as I love typing and telling about myself, ultimately life is more important, especially when I have such a lovely, wonderful, beautiful, intelligent, gorgeous, hardworking new wife to share it with!

The Honeymoon Begins

After one hell of a tiring trip to Paris, Alyssa and I have begun to settle in nicely. Today we went to Notre Dame and wandered around the interior of the church, we will be returning after the US vs. Algeria soccer game to wander around the Bell Towers. In the meantime, we've treated ourselves to a fine Parisian lunch at our little apartment, emphasis on little. There is an annoying little dog yapping occasionally downstairs but for the most part it has been wonderful! Much love from Paris!

Home Improvement!

No, not the tv show, Alyssa and I have been doing some serious upgrades around here. First, Josh and I decided to redo the floors in the bathrooms. We ripped out the very old looking linoleum and threw in some nice tile floor. Then, because Alyssa is going to move in soon and has always hated our sink, I replaced the kitchen sink for her. After that she took it upon herself to paint the ceiling, with help from her mom and bro. And on Saturday, while she was out getting crazy at her bachelorette party, I put together one of her Christmas gifts. I know Christmas was six months ago but she didn't want me installing a shelf and bench combo while I had roommates. I guess she didn't think Josh and Vorp would appreciate it as much. Anyhow, to offset all that domesticating I went ahead and got a new beer fridge from my work. Alyssa loves it (not at all) but she said I can decorate the garage since she is taking care of every other aspect of personalizing our home. Also, I have less than two weeks until I'm married, and I have all of fifteen days until I land in Paris! We are both very, very, ready.