Month: December 2015 (Page 1 of 2)

Last day of the year, so a few moments to reflect are in order.

2015 was a strange year. Many good things. A few not-so-good things. Some frustrations mixed in as well.

The year got off to a bad start for me. As many of you know, a close relative was going through some serious health issues this time last year. In fact, on New Year’s Day we had a series of phone calls that were a pretty terrible way to kick off the year. On January 1, 2015, it seemed like the next few months, or perhaps only weeks, would be very difficult. I spent the next weekend in a hospital in Missouri, hoping for the best but prepared for the worst. Amazingly, things did turn better. I’m convinced this relative has nine lives, and while they are not exactly the picture of good health today, they are still with us.

Being a procrastinator of the first order, I allowed that to keep me from using early 2015 to figure out what to do with the hours in the day when the girls are in school. Once that cloud had lifted, spring break was right around the corner. Then the end of the school year. And so on. So as I sit here on December 31, the picture is no clearer about what I can and should do to fill that time each day. I’m hoping to be a little more motivated in the coming weeks and find something to occupy myself.

On to the good things. That spring break trip to Florida was fantastic. Well, other than the drive.
The girls had fun playing volleyball, soccer, softball, kickball, swimming, and running cross country.
Another summer of great memories at the LVS, which dodged an epic series of storms in early July.
There were lots of bike rides and walks through nature parks.
The whole family read tons of books.
Each girl grew just a little older, which is truly a bittersweet process. This Christmas season especially I missed the raw happiness that comes with having a bunch of little ones. It’s not that they didn’t enjoy the season. But their collective mood was definitely changed from years past.

S. continued to be successful in her job. I played a very small part in it, but the paper I work for was named best in Indiana this year, after winning best sports section a year ago.

And as much as I hate to admit it, the Royals winning the World Series was likely the highlight of my year. I mean, all the kid stuff came first. Obviously. But any time I think back to those four weeks in October, I get giddy like I’m 11 again. I loved getting Christmas cards from friends in KC where the family was posed in Royals shirts, or at a game, or the World Series parade. It’s silly that sports mean so much to me, I know. But in a year that was stagnant personally, a bunch of guys who wear the jersey of my hometown team winning the World Series was about the greatest fun I had over the past year.

A few of my close friends have had more trying years than I. To them I say, despite the pain, loss, and despair, we made it through. The simple act of hanging a new calendar tomorrow doesn’t change any of that. But 2016 is an opportunity to make new beginnings, create new relationships, and have amazing new experiences. Embrace the new year.

Happy New Year to you all. Thanks for reading.

I think this is going to end up being two pieces. I had planned on writing about the Star Wars phenomena as a whole as an intro to my thoughts on The Force Awakens. But I really should have posted that first, as it seems like it could turn into a pretty long post. So, for now, just my reaction to seeing my first new Star Wars movie in a theater since 1983.

I tried damn hard to avoid spoilers over the past week. Each time I came across a review online, I closed the tab. When I came across a thread on Twitter, I scrolled past. If I walked into a discussion, I kept moving. Thus when I sat down last night to finally watch The Force Awakens I was viewing without much idea of what was going to happen. I knew that reviews had generally been positive, which gave me some relief. But that was it.

This seems a good moment to point out there are spoilers below. If you’ve not seen the movie but plan to, you might want to skip reading further.

When that first crash of cymbals and blast of trumpets hit and the familiar logo flashed on the screen, I got chills. I’ve dogged the franchise plenty over the past 15 years, but as a child of the 70s and 80s, I admit I was sucked I immediately by the standard first shot.

Speaking of immediate, two things were clear to me right away: JJ Abrams was doing a fine job of mashing up the vibe from episodes IV-VI with modern aesthetics. Every step of the way, the sets and terrains honored those of the classic trilogy, especially those of A New Hope. At the same time, everything felt fresh. Dialogue matched the quicker, caffeinated style we’re used to today. Battle scenes were amped up by better computer assisted graphics and more fit actors. It felt like an action flick made in the ’10s.

Most importantly, Abrams seemed to be working with the impression his job was to not just knock the dust off the franchise so Disney can ride it through the next 10–20 years, but also to shed most of the damage done in episodes I-III. The constant callbacks to A New Hope in particular set fans at ease and allowed him to build the base upon which the next generation of movies will spring from.

Which leads me to my only major complaint about the movie: it was too much like A New Hope. I was handling the similarities just fine until the new variant on the Death Star appeared.

Seriously?!?!

It was bad enough that Lucas went back to the Death Star well in Return of the Jedi. But after 32 years, as the franchise gets a reboot, we have to go back to the bad guys building a planet-killing space station? I know, The Weapon was huge compared to the original Death Stars, and it was carved into an actual planet rather than being built as a free-standing structure. Still, I was annoyed by that whole element of the movie, along with the X-Wing sequence to blow it up.

Beyond that notable frustration, I loved just about everything else. Having avoided spoilers, I was surprised at how big a part of the story Han Solo, Chewbacca, and Leia were. I assumed all the classic characters would make a brief appearance and then fade away. The movie is as much about closing the door on Han as it is about opening it on Rey and Finn, though. Not going to lie, I got a little emotional when Han and Chewy walked onto the Millennium Falcon again. And Han’s final scene…well nine-year-old me, who loved Han more than any character in the originals, would have had a hard time with that one.

Harrison Ford was fantastic. That was classic Solo, with just a touch of age and wisdom and humility throw in. Carrie Fisher didn’t have as much screen time, but her updated General Leia was exactly how you would have wanted Leia to age.

The stars were the new additions, though. Daisy Ridley as Rey and John Boyega as Finn were both wonderful. Ridley is a complete badass. When I give L. the green light to watch the movie, she’s going to flip for Rey. And Boyega was just perfect as Finn. I liked the use of two unknown actors in these roles, too. And screw anyone complaining about Abrams cowing to the PC police by casting a woman and a black man as the cornerstones of the new trilogy.

Adam Driver was very good filling Kylo Ren with anger, doubt, and impatience over his personal history and his inability to fully control the Force. I enjoyed his petulant moments. He wants to be Darth Vader, but he’s clearly not mature or powerful enough. Yet.

We didn’t see a ton of Oscar Isaac, but Poe Dameron seems like Han Solo version 2 for the next couple episodes.

Despite being over two hours long, the movie felt brisk. There were tons of laugh lines, the dialogue seemed much better than Lucas’ infamously wretched efforts, and there weren’t too many setup scenes that slowed things down. In fact, there were a couple moments that seemed to pass too quickly as Abrams rushed to move the film along. Han, famously dismissive of women, seems awfully eager to accept Rey as an apprentice. And Kylo Ren’s brief capitulation to his father seemed to come with minimal reluctance, even if it was just a ruse. Minor quibbles, those.

From a visual perspective, it was stunning. The CGI battles were generally very well done. They were, at times, hard to follow because there was just so much on the screen. I really liked the little details, especially on Jakku, like the remnants of some battle between the Empire and Rebellion long ago: an Imperial walker here, an X-Wing fighter there, a crashed Star Destroyer dominating the landscape.

As for the ending, it was awfully abrupt. But I guess you had to offer up at least a glimpse of Luke Skywalker. Some have noted how The Empire Strikes Back had a cliffhanger ending. True, but it also had a sense of closure, as Luke and Leia stared off into the distance as Chewy and Lando flew away to search for Han. None of this dramatic stare-down between Luke and Rey. So it was a little weird. But it also makes me really want episode VIII to get here quick. Abrams for the win, I guess!

To wrap things up, I really liked The Force Awakens. It accomplished what I wanted from the film: make Star Wars fun and interesting again. Small issues aside, I thought it was really good. I’m debating whether L. is old enough to see it so I can take her and go see it again.[1]While Abrams is stepping back to executive produce and letting Rian Johnson take over directing and main writing duties for the next two movies, Abrams righted the ship. Filming begins on the next film next month. May 2017 can’t get here soon enough.

Christmas week always has odd effects on time and space. On one hand, it roars by, packed with activities and stress. It seems like you blink and you’ve gone from December 19 to the 26th in a flash. On the other, when I think back to picking folks up at the airport just over a week ago, it seems like a month ago with everything we’ve done in-between.

So much to catch up on. This will not be chronological, so my apologies for the jumps.

First, the important stuff. Our girls had good Christmases. M., who infamously struggled with her list, got a fuzzy, folding, papa san-style chair that she loves, a Snap Circuits electronic kit, and a Minecraft stop motion movie kit. She was wanting some Minecraft Legos, so she keeps calling the movie kit a Lego set, even though it is not. C. got an iPod Nano (engraved with her name on the back), a “Bag of Science” set, and one of those fake talking birds (Chirpakeet? I really should know the name of her gifts, right?). And L. got a drum set, a Cling Creator, and a remote control helicopter. All seemed happy with their hauls and have spent most of their time since Christmas morning playing with them. They also got Barnes and Noble gift cards that they cashed in yesterday.

Before Christmas, their cousins from Denver were staying with us. The five of them had a great time. There was almost no downtime every day. Which was a bit of a surprise because the weather kept them inside ever day. They went to see the new Chipmunks movie as well.

There was a wrinkle to our Christmas Eve plans. Normally we hit an early evening Mass as a family then gather for dinner. A stomach bug had hit a few people, though, and we decided Mass might be a little tricky.[1] So we skipped church and just had the family gathering. Everyone survived, no new people got sick, and it was a fun night.

Each year I kind of blank out how busy Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are when you’re hosting events. Then, about the 22nd, I remember how insane those 36 hours are going to be. We cooked and cleaned pretty much all day on the 24th. More cooking once the presents were opened on the 25th. So, with nothing to do on Saturday, both S. and I slept well past 10:00. I can’t recall the last time I slept that late without being sick. And I’ve slept past 9:00 the past two mornings. This dreary weather doesn’t make you,want to get out of bed any sooner than you have to.

Unrelated to Christmas but still fun, we bought L. her first pair of basketball shoes yesterday. She won’t practice for another week, but yesterday just after the Colts game ended seemed like the perfect time to go shopping. We dug through boxes at Dick’s, found a pair that fit in roughly the colors of the high school that is running her league, and she was set. She wore them all last night and already had them on when I got up this morning. I think she’s ready to get started!

There are haircuts on the agenda for the two younger girls today. And I’m going to see The Force Awakens this afternoon.

Still a full week of break left, so plenty more time to do fun stuff in the hours the girls are normally at school.

Just a few days into the Christmas break and already the stories are piling up.

We ended the calendar school year Friday with L. playing one of the lead roles in the first grade living nativity program. She was one of the cows that were annoyed by all the animals and people who were crowding into their stable in Bethlehem. She did a fine job, not missing any lines and getting laughs when she was supposed to.

From school we were off to the library, where the girls were allowed to pick out as many books as they could carry. L. and C. dumped their book bags in the back of the family truckster and filled them to the point of bursting. M. just walked out with a big stack in her arms. I told them between books, movies, holiday shows on the DVR, games and toys, and visiting cousins, they would have plenty to keep them occupied and no excuses to say “I’m bored.” I have yet to hear that phrase, but they’ve come close a few times.

Over the weekend we made two airport trips. Saturday we picked up my brother-in-law and his family, which meant we got to meet the newest cousin, baby L., who is seven months old. She was very smiley and happy to see everyone, which was nice since one piece of their luggage didn’t make it and we had to hang out longer than planned.

Then we went back Sunday night to pick up a sister-in-law and her kids who are making a quick pre-Christmas visit.

In between those trips we knocked out all the cookie baking and got them packaged up for delivery around the neighborhood.

Monday night was our annual family bowling night, which was fun as always.

Tonight the girls and cousins and some aunts are going to see the new Chipmunks movie. A couple of the adult relatives and I are going to see The Force Awakens next week.

The only negative came a week ago. As the kids were heading to bed on Monday, M. informed us that she no longer wanted anything on her Christmas list. She had decided the stuff she originally listed was too young for her. Which I had mentioned might be a problem a month ago, but she didn’t have time to hear me then. At first we were annoyed, as much at ourselves for always buying the gifts early as at her. We had in fact just wrapped and tagged everything earlier that day.

But after we put her to bed and S. and I talked about it, we realized M. was firmly in that awkward, pre-teen phase. Little kid toys still hold some appeal, but when you start talking to your friends at school about what you’re asking for, you realize maybe you should be interested in different things. Only you’re not sure what.

Since she told us she was scrapping her list, we’ve found a few blank lists lying around. But she’s never told us exactly what she wants. Which is a little sad. Every kid should have a lengthy list full of ridiculous requests. Her sisters both filled up a whole page with their lists.

We made a few executive decisions, placed some orders, and – knock on wood – the final replacement gift should be here later today. We think she’ll enjoy being surprised, but you kind of never know.

As always, this month is racing by. It’s hard to believe we’re just a couple days away from all the mysteries being revealed, our Christmas Day gluttony, and the Christmas music station going back to soft rock and old American Top 40s.

“Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” – Darlene Love

With no more Late Night/Late Show with David Letterman, that means no more Ms. Love making her annual appearance to belt out the greatest Christmas song ever. So here’s a look back at her first appearance on his show in 1986, complete with a Spuds McKenzie commercial and a quick sit-down with Dave after, and then her final appearance last year. Funny how relatively spare the first version was compared to the huge spectacle it became over the years.

Last week of school before the holiday break. I could sense some anticipation as I drove the girls to St. P’s this morning. There are a series of parties and other holiday activities scattered through their weeks, and then they all get extra early dismissal on Friday. The first graders do an annual Living Nativity program that day, and then they, and their siblings, can leave school early.[1] So we’ll leave right around 11:00. All the spelling and math tests that usually fall at the end of the week are clustered around Wednesday this week. So it’s going to be a pretty easy academic ride for them.

But overall the girls seem pretty chilled out about Christmas compared to recent years. Perhaps that is just them getting older. And/Or having the riddle of where gifts come from solved. Or maybe it’s just the weather. Other than that surprise snowstorm the Saturday before Thanksgiving, and a few cool days at the beginning of the month, it’s often felt more like April than December. We’ve had heavy clouds hanging over us that look like they could dump snow at any moment, but the temperature has been well into the 60s for most of the last week. I’m all for snow around Christmas, but admit I’m fine with an unseasonably warm end to the year. And mild winter for that matter. The last three have sucked.

The girls have also been more interested in TV shows that are not primarily aimed at kids this year. If there’s a holiday bake-off type show on, they are glued to the TV. They also are enjoying the Christmas lights competition shows. I think they’ve been watching all the traditional shows I’ve recorded, but they often do that on their own.

“Hey, anyone want to watch Rudolph?” I’ll ask.

“We already watched it,” will be the reply.

L’s mood may be altered a bit because she got an early Christmas present last week. After seeing C’s list, which included an iPhone, an iPad, and an iPod,[2] L. added an iPod as item #11 to her list. She lucked out as one of her aunts brought a box of old electronics over for me to dig through and see what could be given to Good Will or put into a yard sale and then what should just be pitched. There was an old 30 GB iPod in the box. I charged it up, let it play for a few hours to confirm it worked, and then passed it along to L. The case is cracked a little, but it plays just fine.

At first she wasn’t sure what to do with it. She probably hand’t seen an iPod of that generation in years, if at all. But once I showed her how to operate it, she began taking it everywhere. She struggles a bit to keep earbuds in her little ears, though. So I found her some over-the-ear headphones in the Target dollar bin. As soon as she gets home from school, she changes her clothes, throws on her headphones, and walks around listening to her tunes. She even falls asleep with them on. The look fits her hip-hop personality quite well, even if she’s mostly listening to Kids Bop and Christmas music.

Just a few links this week.

Drew Magary has become one of my favorite writers of late. He’s hilarious. Here is his epic takedown of the Williams-Sonoma holiday catalog.

The 2015 Hater’s Guide To The Williams-Sonoma Catalog

Scott Weiland’s ex-wife wrote a pretty powerful letter to the public in Rolling Stone.

Scott Weiland’s Family: ‘Don’t Glorify This Tragedy’

Finally, I have Fargo on the DVR and will dive into it once the holiday TV season ends. I’m thrilled that Ted Danson is involved. The AV Club recently cornered him for their Random Roles feature. These are usually good, bud Danson’s is great.

Ted Danson on Fargo, Damages, Cheers, and Leslie Nielsen’s fart machine

The Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby Christmas Special, 1957

Ol’ blue eyes.

The Chairman of the Board.

Frank Sinatra was born 100 years ago tomorrow. I know a few of my friends will be gathering in the suburbs of Kansas City to celebrate the occasion. I will be here in Indy, listening to some of Frank’s best Christmas songs, drinking something stiffer than your average Christmas beer.

Sadly, this does not seem to be the entire special. Here’s a good overview of the whole show.

I’ve been struggling with my Music Favorites lists this year. Where I normally love sifting through everything I’ve purchased, streamed, and downloaded over the past year to put together my favorite songs and albums lists, this year it’s been a bit of a chore.

My first inclination is to say that is because this has not been a particularly good year for music. At least for the types of music I listen to. And, to a certain extent, that is true. In the sweet spot of all the genres I favor, I don’t think there have been that many fantastic albums in 2015. But as I scan the various Best Of lists that are beginning to hit the web, I see plenty of albums that I listened to once or twice but failed to connect with. I think I found a partial explanation for that last week.

As I was skimming through my Best Of lists from years past, I was reminded at how freaking good 2014 was. I’m not sure I realized it at the time, but last year was one of my all-time favorite years for music. It featured one of my 20 favorite albums ever (Lost In The Dream by The War On Drugs, an album I still listen to frequently), one of the boldest statements in rock music in ages (Against Me!’s Transgender Dysphoria Blues), along with a dozen or so other albums I could put on right now and love, front-to-back. There were albums that did not crack my Top 5 last year that, if released this year, would have been a clear #1 album for 2015. Weird.

I wondered if perhaps I was out-of-touch with the zeitgeist in the end of the music pool I swim in. On both the music blogs I check daily and the SiriusXM alternative/indie rock stations that I listen to, guitar-heavy music seems to have fallen out of favor, replaced by artists who rely more on synthesizers, sequencers, and laptops, or have healthy electronic/dance elements to their sound. Not that I dislike those flavors. A couple of songs that fit into those sub-genres are on my Favorite Songs list this year. But I still prefer the guitar-based groups.

And as most of the albums I loved last year charted well on all the big Best Of lists, it’s not like I’m that out-of-touch. So perhaps it’s just an odd blip in history where there was a glut of albums that I loved in one calendar year then very few in the next.[1] Which could bode well for 2016.

Other things that made this year a challenge, musically:
* My June hard drive crash that wiped out 7–8 years of playlists, metadata, and a few hundred songs.
* Switching to Apple Music from Rdio, which caused some shifts in how I listen, especially to new releases.
* Several music blogs I follow either shutting down, or changing away from offering MP3 downloads of new tracks to streaming them through Soundcloud.
* Me aging? For years I’ve taken pride in still keeping up with new music. However, it seems like many of my favorite bands of recent years harken back to the sound of the mid–80s. Am I finally closing my ears to what the kids are listening to and are my preferences calcifying around the era I came of age? I hope not, so I’m just going to ignore this option.

As I’ve thought this through and read new Best Of lists each day, I’m realizing that perhaps this year wasn’t as bad as I originally believed. It sure wasn’t 2014, but through a variety of factors, I just was not able to appreciate it as much as I could have. In fact, I’ve found a couple albums and songs in the past week that I skipped over when they were released that I’m now enjoying quite a bit.

I’m putting the finishing touches on my lists. My Favorite Songs list will have a slightly different format this year, and I’ll likely post it in just one or two parts early next week.