"Little Boy" the movie

Our church offered a showing of the movie "Little Boy" this past Friday.  To entice attendees they offered free popcorn and candy to the audience.  Say no more, we were there!

The Missus and I were skeptical about the film.  After all, it was being shown at the church.  What if it was religious and we had to discuss it afterwards?   We vowed to sneak out if it was too sappy.

It wasn't sappy, there wasn't a test afterwards, and I defy anyone, even the most cynical, to see this movie and not have tears in your eyes when it is over.  We were moved by it.  And, they got all of the WW2 American and Japanese uniforms, kit and weapons correct down to the Japanese hand grenades used in the combat scenes!

It was a great evening.  if you have the chance, see the movie, ignore the professional reviewers who hated the sentiment and message of the movie and prepare to be moved.

http://littleboymovie.com/

Joy - the movie

So, for New Year's eve two years ago we went to the Disney concert hall and saw Pink Martini with the Trapp Family singers, an excellent show.  So excellent  that when PM is in town in February we will see them again.  The Missus bought us tickets for a Christmas present.

This past New Year's eve Pink Martini wasn't in town so we took in a movie after dinner with another couple.  The ladies picked "Joy" with Jennifer Lawrence as the movie.  I'll see Jennifer Lawrence reading the phone book so it was ok with me.

I'll start by saying that we enjoyed the movie and would give it four stars. Despite that the movie has taken some liberties with events and people, it was still a very entertaining story of a young woman determined to succeed while remaining a caring and loving daughter, sister, and mother.  We also enjoyed seeing a family ten times more dysfunctional than ours which made us feel even better.

We recommend the movie,   it is much better than some of the professional reviewers may lead you to believe.

http://www.foxmovies.com/movies/joy

After we saw the movie the Missus did some on line research on the title character and her life which was as interesting as the movie itself.

Imagine our surprise when the Missus received a catalog the other day which had products advertised by Joy Mangano including the world famous Miracle Mop!

The dam tour

Read about the latest trip to the St. Francis dam site on Bundu Trek

http://bundutrekusa.blogspot.com/2016/01/the-dam-tour.html

Christmas catch-up

I've been remiss in keeping the 'ole blog up to date.  Since I checked in last the Grouch clan arrived en mass to celebrate Christmas.  It was a fun and noisy time and the house seems almost empty now that everyone has gone back home.

For many, many years we obtained our Christmas tree from the U-cut it lot.  When we first arrived in our happy valley 27 years ago there were a number of cut it yourself lots in and around town. Sadly, one by one they closed until the last one shut down last year after Christmas, another victim of the transformation of a small ranching and farming town into a large modern city.

So this year we bought a pre-cut tree through a local Catholic high school.  I was skeptical to say the least because the pre-cut trees I see for sale around town are one spark away from being a flaming torch - they are so dry and shedding needles.  

The Missus and her friend went to pick up the tree at the school when they arrived from Oregon.  it was a noble fir, nominally 8' tall.   I didn't get the see their antics trying to load it into the Missus' Escape but she told me later that it could have been an episode of "I Love Lucy".  I don't know would be Ethel in this re-creation of the show but the weight of the tree was so great that they couldn't move it more than a foot themselves.  Fortunately the brawny baseball coach showed up to save the day and load the tree.

The Missus and Young Son got it out of her car and dumped it on the front lawn.  The tree was bound in cord to keep it tightly compressed.  The trunk was so big around that we had to buy a brand new $60 tree stand to fit it.  This tree was heavy!

Young Son and I got it into the house and in the stand.  We had to cut about a foot from it to get to clear the ceiling but in the end once the cord was removed and the tree sprang back into shape, it was all worth it.  It is beautiful, fragrant, and drank water like a fish until today.  Tomorrow it goes back outside to be cut into firewood and seasoned for a year before warming us next winter.

Sadly it is time to take the tree down and store the ornaments and train set for another year.

The Force Was With Us!

Young Son arranged for tickets for opening night of the new Star Wars movie for the L.A. based family.  Unfortunately Young Daughter was unable to make the show, so a friend of YS was more than happy to sub for YD.

The Missus arrived at the theater plex two and a half hours early and much to her delight was allowed into the theater to claim seats after only standing in line for half an hour.  The Grouch joined her by 5:30 and Young Son and friend by 6 p.m.

Anticipation mounted as the theater filled and by the scheduled start time of 7 p.m. the crowd was ready - when the theater lights dimmed a roar broke out from the assembled fans.

I'm not going to spoil the movie for my readers by revealing anything but I will say that it was a fun time and a great movie.  I well remember seeing the first movie in 1977 in Monroeville, Pa. and leaving the theater thinking 'wow'.  I was blown away by the experience.

I hope that some youngster seeing the current Star Wars movie will have the same experience and leave the theater thinking 'wow!'

I will comment that the new movie shows how far society has come in 30 some years.  The first movie had one female character of note and she was royalty.  I can't recall any other humans who weren't Caucasian and male.  Today's movie has main characters who are female and non white male but even more telling, female fighter pilots and even female bad guys -err- bad girls.  Some of the spear carriers in the background are also women and non white.  It's a good thing because our movies should reflect our evolving society.

Try it, you'll like it!

The Grouches visit the Nethercutt Collection (at least part of it)

Recently a co-worker mentioned to me that he had tickets to attend an organ concert at the Nethercutt collection.  I had heard that the collection existed not too far from our happy little valley but I had never really looked into visiting it.  

When I expressed interest in the organ concert, my co-worker called the ticket office and got me on the waiting list for tickets and luckily for us, we got four tickets for a Friday show!

The Nethercutt collection is owned by the family behind Merle Norman cosmetics and as we were told the evening of the concert, the family wishes to give back to the country for all of the support their customers have given to them.  The collection is completely free and nothing is roped off. 

It consists of two buildings, one with the automotive collection, the other with more automobiles and a Wurlitzer theater pipe organ and a collection of mechanical musical machines.

The stand alone car collection was closed but we did get the chance to linger over the amazing cars in the music building before and after the concert.

http://www.nethercuttcollection.org/

I found the mechanical music machines to be fascinating.  In fact the whole thing was fascinating!  We were so very fortunate to have the chance to hear the organ play and to see the collection.

Many years ago when we lived in Grand Rapids MI a local pizza parlor had an identical Wurlitzer organ that they played in conjunction with silents movie screenings.  We loved attending the shows and hearing the wonderful organ music backing up the movie.

Young Son in front of his all time favorite car

The basement of the Music building

All of the cars in the collection run, and they are periodically taken out for a drive in the neighborhood

Looking down to the first floor from the music level

One of the many mechanical music machines that work and were run for us that evening

This one was the best: the circular device spun and the violins would move forward at the proper time to create the notes.  The circular device is the bow.  The machine is German from 1910 and is completely vacuum operated and works perfectly!

The happy attendees.  The Misus and friend were constantly mistaken for sisters throughout the weekend by various people

The organ controls

Half of the pipes for the organ

The Grouch at the end of an exciting evening.  Let's do it again!

U.S.A.F. plays Union Station!

Worth the watch!