Our week

Just thought I'd briefly mention our week, for those who are interested in what is going on in our family. And yes, I realize many of my siblings have busier lives than this, but this is unusual for us, although it won't be for awhile...

Saturday: We head out at 10:30 for a birthday party for the younger brother of one of Jessie's friends from school. From there, it's straight to the baseball field, where we discover the game has been postponed (which is kind of ironic, because by this time it's bright and sunny, and there's no more rain until late that night). So, we go home for a little before I head off with Brennan to another birthday party, for a girl in his class (Dee and I have had suspicions for awhile that Brennan really likes this girl (although, to be honest, he's got quite a few girls he hangs out with.), and this was confirmed Wednesday night, when Brennan informed me, "I know who I'm going to marry. Do you know who?" "No." "Cara" (who is, of course, the girl whose party is currently being discussed (and if you haven't read much of my random writing before now, yes, I do like to overuse parentheses))). After that party, it was back home for a few minutes, before Jessie and I went to a ward barbecue. Dee wanted to work on a young woman's lesson, and Brennan was behaving in a way that indicated he was too tired, so he stayed home as well.

Sunday: Dee leaves first, to go to a meeting. By 9, we're all back at church for Sacrament meeting. After the regular meetings, Dee stays for BYC. As soon as she gets home from that, I head back to the church to do the usual clerk stuff. When I get home, we have dinner, and shortly after that, Dee's off again to a fireside.

Monday: Right after school, Dee and Jessie head off to get pictures of Jessie in her dance recital costume. I stay with Brennan and his friend Tyler, who is going to be at the house a lot this week, as the friends who usually take him before and after school are at Disney World. Once Tyler's mom comes and picks him up, Brennan and I head off for some batting practice.

Tuesday: Today's Brennan's turn for pictures, in his baseball uniform. Dee and he head straight to the picture studio after school. I take Jessie to her first swim team practice. Dee and Brennan get home about 4:40, and quickly eat some dinner. Swim practice is done at 5, so we rush home, I trade Jessie for Brennan, and it's off to warm up for his baseball game. Jessie and Dee come in time for the actual game (Brennan's team won, by a lot. Brennan had three hits). We go home, start getting the kids to bed, and then I head off to play softball (with a team that's mostly from the ward--I'm just filling in for the day because someone's out of town).

Wednesday: Dee takes Jessie, Brennan and Tyler to swim practice. I come a little after it starts, and Dee and the boys head back home. After swim practice we eat a quick dinner, and then Jessie, Brennan and myself head to pack meeting, while Dee goes to a meeting about the Kindergarten field trip. From there she comes to the church for Young Women. As soon as she gets home, I'll go back to the church to do some clerk work.

Thursday: Dee and Brennan are spending the day at the Kindergarten field trip at the zoo. After school, Dee and Jessie head to dance class (missing swim team practice), and a little after that Brennan and I will go to batting practice, and then a 7:15 game tonight (to make up the game rained out on Saturday). Of course, Brennan's usually in bed by 7:15, so this is going to be a very late, tiring day for him. Jessie and Dee will come to the game after dance class.

Friday: Dee and Jessie may be leaving for Lafayette to visit Beth right after school. If not, then right after school it's back to swim team practice. Either way, that night it's another 7:15 baseball game for Brennan, and another late night.

So, that's our week.

Save the Polar Bears

Last night B was brushing his teeth. It was very late because of baseball practice, and so well past his bedtime. He came out to the living room (where everyone else was), toothbrush in hand, so that either my wife or I could take a turn, but instead of coming to us he ran over and turned off the kitchen light, and then the dining room light.

Me: "We don't have time to play around."

B: "But we have to turn off the lights to save the polar bears!"

Me: "Polar bears?"

B: "Yes, 'cause the ice will melt."

Movie Review: Alvin and the Chipmunks

This one will be fairly short. And I'll start out by mentioning for future reference that "J" will refer to my daughter, and "B" to my son from here on out. I'll guess I'll make it a clean sweep and go with "D" for my wife. If I think of better things, I might change it.

Anyway, Alvin and the Chipmunks isn't the greatest movie in the world, but it never meant to be, so that's OK. I thought it was pretty clever, and very entertaining. I think I enjoyed it more because I was watching it with an 8-year-old and a 6-year-old, but I do think I would have enjoyed it in any event.

The chipmunks are done very well, and are, of course, the highlight of the movie. I thought that the personalities came out well. I thought that more time could have been spent on developing the relationship between Dave and the photographer (never really picked up on her name). The villain was pretty much just a caricature, and so not very noteworthy.

The most important thing I can say about Alvin and the Chipmunks is that it was very enjoyable for my kids, and since that was it's main goal, I'd say it was a success. As a bonus, it was enjoyable enough for the adults that we don't dread having to watch it again, or listening to the endless quotes from it.

Movie Review: Sydney White

Here is the first of what may be a series (I've decided not to make any promises about what may or may not appear on this blog) of movie, TV show and book reviews. Of course, as far as movies go, we almost never see movies in the theater, so it will be reviews of movies that are now on DVD, and most likely ones that have been on DVD for quite some time.

Nor should anyone make the assumption that I think my opinions of these forms of entertainment matter to anyone other than myself, but it's my blog, so I'm going to do what I want. So there. Oh, one more disclaimer: I am in no way a professional reviewer.

OK, now that that's out of the way, I can move on to the actual review.

Sydney White is a modernized version of Disney's Snow White, set on a college campus. That's probably all I'm really going to say about the plot. There are a few nice bits that play off of elements of the Disney version that everyone will recognize--in particular, look for the way they work "Heigh ho" into the movie. I was also impresses with the way they worked the personalities of the dwarves into the modern setting.

In general, the script is well done and enjoyable. There were a few thread of the plot that I wished had more explanation, most notably Sydney's mother's involvement with the sorority. I guess it is implied that the sorority wasn't as nasty until the current president (filling the spot of the wicked witch) took over, but there's plenty of other reasons why I at least am not convinced by that. But I suppose that's really just background that we're not supposed to concern ourselves with because it was only needed to setup the situation properly. And in fact it didn't ruin the story so much, as make me wonder if it could have been even better if that element had been fleshed out. (if I'm getting incoherent here, please excuse me and move on. I'm babbling again).

What really makes the movie work is the acting and the characters. And I do think it was a joint contribution. The characters were written well, with good dialog and reasonable motivations. I especially appreciated how in the end many of the seemingly shallow and superficial characters turn out to be decent people who submitted too much to peer pressure.

Those well-written characters are allowed to shine, however, through the performances of the actors. I've long been a big fan of Amanda Bynes, who plays Sydney White, and I think she was a perfect choice for this part. She has an ability to seem very natural and normal, which always makes her characters believable. More important, it makes it very easy for us to like her and want her to succeed.

Matt Long is also very good in the Prince Charming role. Again, he comes across as very natural and real, and you find yourself liking him very quickly. In fact, that was what we found ourselves saying over and over during the movie about most of the characters: "I like him/her."

The seven dorks are all very well played. Despite the fact that the characters are written to match up with the required personality quirks, they still, in the end, seem like believable characters.

To sum up, I enjoyed this movie a lot, and would certainly recommend it to others.

More explanation

Ok, so Shellie thinks I didn't explain the name of this blog well enough. I guess what I said is only explanation for those who are familiar with Weston, Lee and I together...

So, I'll try to explain it a little better, but you'll have to remember that this was all many years ago now, and the exact details are too vague.

During our years at BYU, Weston, Lee and I often ate lunch together. For the first several years, we would meet on the corner of the ledge surrounding the step-down lounge in the Wilkenson Center (until they took said ledge out, thus forcing a change in our plans...). We did this regularly enough that eventually other friends would go there if they were looking for us for some reason around lunch time.

During one of these lunches we were discussing something (I don't remember what), or doing something, and we realized we were sounding like hosts for some sort of show. From there, we went on to discussing what the name for such a show should be. Since we were discussing everything, we came up with Life, Death--and, well, it was lunchtime, so Lunch.

Anyway, I think somewhere I have a copy of the tape we made. If I ever find it, and there's good enough stuff in there, maybe I'll post some of it.

Two Poems

Once upon a time, I wrote poetry. Then I had kids. Actually, what really happened is that I got married. See, to write poetry I had to be in a certain type of mood--usually somewhat melancholy, or at least a certain amount of solitude and withdrawn or--well, apparently I don't know how to describe it, but maybe you get the idea (and yes, I realize the problem with the fact I claim to be a writer yet I never seem to be able to explain emotions well...). Anyway, if I had a point to get back to, it would be this: I got married, and now I do not find myself in that kind of mood anymore. Therefore, I no longer write poetry--aside from the odd bit as part of other writing projects.

But, back when I did write poetry, these were two of the ones I liked best out of everything I wrote. And they nicely demonstrate two extremes of style. So, here they are:

Cloud Dance

I soar above the clouds

On wings of dream and air

I fly to touch the sky.

The earth lies far below

As I race the rising sun

I find the clouds again.

I dance among the clouds

High up in the sky

I spin and turn and dive.

The clouds follow in the dance

Weaving in my path

I pause to watch them fly.

I leave the clouds behind

When the dance is done

I turn to the earth once more.

The Bees, the Cowbells and the Hedgehogs

A poem to be recited maliciously at someone,

as if fraught with hidden, vaguely threatening

meaning.

The bees wax poetic in the morning,

The beetles in the night.

The wolves are particularly friendly

When the moon is right.

The cowbells are a-ringing

The night draws ever nigh.

The light of day is dawning

With a grateful sigh.

The times, they are a-changing,

The road goes on and on.

The hedgehogs aren’t sleeping;

They’re playing on the lawn.

The beasts in the forest

Leave much to be desired.

Those in the field are better

If you’re getting tired.

Starting

OK, just throwing this up for now. We'll see if this works out. In particular, we'll see if I do better at updating this than I do at writing letters...

Anyway, if anyone is curious about the title of this blog, it comes from the combined imaginations of myself and my friends Weston Cann and Lee Reay, back when we were all at BYU. In fact, once upon a time I had a Life, Death and Lunch website, although its main incarnation was in the form of a "Radio Show" we did on tape for another friend, Marcy Mockett, who was serving her mission at the time. But don't worry, Marcy was able to avoid any lasting psychological harm (or is it just that I wasn't able to notice any? Hmm.)

So, hopefully sooner or later more stuff will turn up here, and if you're really lucky, it will be interesting and/or entertaining, or at the very least informative for those curious about me or (more likely) my family.