It’s been drawn to my attention that I haven’t made an entry in this blog in over a year. That couldn’t be right so I checked and it has: Where does the time go? It sure flies when you’re having fun! When I was making entries in this fairly regularly for about a year or so I think I talked about everything I wanted to talk about. Long story short: I enjoyed writing blog posts but I just ran out of things to talk about.

So Jen encouraged me to write another one and suggested that I just talk about what I, and we, have been up to the last year. The problem is, I have a hard time remembering what I did in the last week – much less in the last year. So what have I been up to you ask? I’ve been up to what I do best, three words: Books, Movies and TV Shows. (Or is that four words?) Note: I was pretty unclear of the rules when you should be using italics, “quotes” or underlining when talking about titles. The rules I uncovered where about as clear as mud and I left the site more confused than when I went in. To add to the confusion, you’re not supposed to underline a word or phrase on a web page unless it’s a hyperlink. Basically, what I got out of it was that that area of grammar is the Wild West and anything goes. Can you imagine how tough it would be to learn English as a second language? Learning it as a first language ain’t easy and it’s hard to talk and wright gud.

Anyway, here goes:

Books

“The Martian” – This book could have been called “MacGyver Gets Stranded on Mars”. The whole book is about him trying to orchestrate his own rescue. There’s been a lot of talk lately about possible manned missions to Mars in the next decade or so. If that ever comes to pass, count me out because that sounds like an absolutely horrible place.

“Go Set a Watchman” – Harper Lee’s original version of “To Kill a Mockingbird”. I never read it but it was a great movie. I listen to three types of books: a) crappy ones where I can barely get through a few chapters at best (unfortunately, I manage to download a lot of these!) b) good ones that I can half-heartedly listen to while my A.D.D. kicks into overdrive and I simultaneously jack around on my computer c) good ones that require my full attention so I don’t get lost. I make myself listen to these only when we’re riding around in the van running errands and I don’t have anything else to do. This one is a “riding in the van” book.

“Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX and the Quest for a Fantastic Future” – If you’ve never heard of this guy before (I hadn’t), you probably will in the next few years. He’s a Silicon Valley millionaire entrepreneur Steve Jobs type who’s into stuff like space travel, solar power and electric cars. Super smart and extremely ambitious – I know I have a pretty good excuse to sit around all the time but man, I felt like a major league slug while reading this.

“Endangered” – The latest in the Joe Pickett series by one of my favorite authors – C.J. Box (who we saw speak last spring) doesn’t disappoint. Stories about a Wyoming game warden sounded super boring to me but 15 books later, I’ve changed my tune. My expectations were pretty low going into the first one, Open Season, but I was pleasantly surprised.

“Ghost Boy” – Probably the best book I’ve read in the last year. The author, Martin Pistorius, tells the story of how he had developed a mysterious illness as an adolescent that left him in a Locked-In state. He had to deal with all sorts of challenges. Not only is it well written but I like it because I can relate to the subject matter.

“Food: A Love Story” – Jim Gaffigan’s second book (his first one was called “Dad is Fat”). He’s my favorite comedian. In this book he celebrates his lifelong addiction to food.

Movies

Gone Girl – I’m normally not a huge Ben Affleck fan, even though he was the recipient of the Nicolas Cage Thespian Arts lifetime achievement award, but this movie was an exception to his usual Limburger cheese sandwich. I reread the book right before we saw it to help me understand the plot twists better, you need to pay attention. Neil Patrick Harris and Tyler Perry also had small parts and they were really good.

Chef – I really liked this movie a lot but I feel bad about it. I ended up watching it by myself one afternoon on my computer, without Jen, and I know she would have loved it. So let’s just keep that between us, k?

Whiplash – An abusive and vulgar college jazz band teacher intimidates his drummer student and threatens to jeopardize his career. Say what you want about band class geeks, but if our teacher back in high school was half as bad as this guy he would’ve ended up getting knifed in the parking lot after school on Day 1.

Birdman: Or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) – Winning an Academy Award last winter (Best Picture?) meant that this movie had a 50-50 chance of being crappy. Despite being quirky as all get-out, Michael Keaton’s performance made it worthwhile. I hope he doesn’t take another 10 year hiatus.

Nightcrawler – Jake Gyllenhall got all skinny and gaunt like Matthew McConaughey did but it didn’t win him an Oscar (he should have, he was great). He plays a creepy, slithery videographer who trolls the late night streets of L.A. looking for car accidents that just happened and “fresh” crime scenes. I’ve been a fan of his ever since Prisoners, despite Southpaw.

American Sniper – Awesome movie about Navy Seal sniper Chris Kyle. What can I say? I like movies about the military. Jen calls them my ‘shoot ‘em ups’ – and this was a good one.

Unbroken – Directorial debut by Angelina Jolie. Pretty good movie but the book was better. It’s the true account of how a WWII airman survived a Japanese POW camp for a few years. I only mention her because I wanna mention a Clint Eastwood movie that she was in called Changeling back in 2008 that was really good.

The Gift – Creepy and suspenseful, I kept expecting a cat, or something worse, to jump from a closet any second for 108 minutes and startle me right out of my chair. Jason Bateman strayed from his usual comedic roles to play a convincing successful network security analyst who bumps into a vague acquaintance from his high school days. I hope I’m not giving too much away by saying this, but if you weren’t always the nicest person in the world – you probably shouldn’t have someone you barely know over for dinner.

Inside Out – Jen, myself and 23 toddlers saw this one at the new Streets of St. Charles theater (awesome place, BTW). Sure, it was an animated flick for kids but that kept the profanity and graphic violence to a minimum. If you haven’t seen this one already, it deserves a spot on your Netflix queue.

Prisoners – I know this movie came out a couple years ago but it was really good. It’s a warmhearted and delightful yarn about child abduction. Who doesn’t enjoy a good, rainy day dramedy? I recently watched it again with Jen and her mom, we had a real good time trying to figure out all the twists and turns of the plot.

To be continued…