Reviews

Fill your hand you son-of-a-…

Jan 23rd

Posted by Ryan in Reviews

1 comment

The days of the western being a staple at the box office have passed us by. Today we are lucky if we get one gunslinging movie a year. I’m very pleased that the Coen brothers have shown us that Hollywood still knows how to make a good western. Their rendition of Charles Portis’ True Grit is absolutely fantastic. Being a big fan of the 1969 version starring John Wayne I was concerned that a remake would disappoint me by being vastly different from the story I already knew and loved. Furthering my concern, reviews I had read claimed that it was darker and more like the book than the 1969 version. Never having read the book I started to wonder what kind of liberties may have been taken by the screenwriter and director of the John Wayne film. Much to my relief I discovered today that John Wayne is most likely smiling down on the Coen brothers. If the modern version is in fact more like the book, then the production crew from the late sixties must have only pared out some of the bloodier details to get a G rating, because the story in the new film flowed just how I thought it should. I’m not trying to say that the Coen brothers made a carbon copy with some deleted scenes reinserted. They definitely made this film their own, but they did so without changing the story. Of course, that last statement is somewhat speculative. I guess I’ll just have to read the book to see how both films did at telling the story. Now, I can’t end without stating that all the credit for this wonderful movie cannot go to just the directors. Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, and Hailee Steinfeld together did a wonderful job portraying the little posse that could. To sum up, True Grit 2010 is a great movie from a genre we do not see enough of anymore. I hope to see it again before it leaves the theaters. If you have not yet seen it you are missing out.

P.S.

I was so in the western mood after seeing True Grit that I had to watch 3:10 to Yuma this evening.  I haven’t seen the original, just the one from a couple years ago starring Christian Bale and Russel Crowe.  I guess I’ll have to see the original and compare those as well.

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Christmas cards?

Nov 2nd

Posted by Becky in Reviews

2 comments

I hate that it’s even close enough to Christmas that I need to start thinking about this, but it occurred to me the other day that we need to start thinking about what we are going to do for our Christmas cards this year. Last year we ordered postcards with this picture of Ryan and I in New York City:

Ryan and I on our vacation out East last fall.

This year, I think we’ll be ordering photo cards from Shutterfly. They have a promotion where I can get 50 free cards by writing about them, which is about 60% of the amount of cards we need to send out. There are several designs I like, so I figured why not? I think we’ll be ordering a photo card, kind of like this:

Sharing the Love Photo Card

But I also like the stationary cards. They are just a little out of our price range (but maybe in the future). I especially like this one:

Family Wall Red Photo Card

I like the cards that give us the option of having several photos, since we would like to show how much James has grown over the year. Another thing I saw that Shutterfly offers (and I know other online printers do too) is a calendar. That might be a neat idea for the Grandparents…calendars with photos of the baby. Of course they read the blog, so it wouldn’t be much of a surprise. But how can you resist photos of this guy?

That smile kills me!

Picture with Daddy on Election Night 2010

We’ll see what we end up doing. Whatever it is, I’m glad we have this adorable face to put on the cards!

Family Photo

  • To Do In 2011

    1. Make dinner 2 nights per week
    2. Finish James’s baby book     finished as much as possible
    3. Own a pair of comfortable dress boots
    4. Read 25 books
    5. Take a week of vacation in the summer and visit my family
    6. Try a new ingredient once a month (Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec)
    7. Organize my recipe collection
    8. Develop a more efficient workspace at my office     My new desk is WAY more organized/organizable.
    9. Own investment jeans     Not Happening
    10. Go to 3 local museums
    11. Organize a group camping trip     We had 2 of them!
    12. Learn how to run     In progress!
    13. See a concert
    14. Try out four new restaurants     (Jan 21) (March 18)
    15. Acknowledge the birthdays of every person on my list     Epic fail
    16. Make something for James using some of his old clothes
    17. Watch James take his first steps/say his first real words
    18. Put pictures in all the frames in our apartment
    19. Buy a cake from a local bakery
    20. Go to a band concert at UMD
    21. Exercise more     Y Membership
    22. See my sister graduate college     I'm counting this as accomplished; I didn't watch her walk, but we had dinner with her that night.
    23. Cut back on sweets     My new job has actually helped with this; less boredom/stress = less snacking!
    24. Get rid of cable 1/3/2011
    25. Finish our wedding scrapbook project
    26. Start purchasing Christmas gifts in March at the latest     HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
    27. Create a weekly menu, and stick to it!     See above: HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
    28. Meet someone in real life that I’ve only known on the internet
    29. Get my hair cut and style it more often     this last part is ongoing
    30. Host a party
    31. Go to church at least once per month, and make a donation each time
    32. Send thank-you notes for all gifts
    33. Make ice cream
    34. Encourage Ryan to get his first Cisco certification
    35. Try a new food     I'm counting brussel sprouts.
    36. Hang out with Alyson for an entire weekend
    37. Make more of an effort to dress up for work     No longer necessary; this is more of a nice jeans and sweater kind of place.
    38. Make a lunch (not frozen) 2 days per week.     I've been packing a peanut butter sandwich and carrots. I consider this an achievement.
    39. Take a community ed class     Swimming w/the boys
    40. Make something in our dutch oven that requires using it in the oven
    41. Go to bed before eleven more often
    42. Go to a Farmer’s Market and buy something 3 times this summer     Another failure. Although we did buy some local honey from a friend!
    43. Call my parents and sisters every other week just to check in     I think I'm doing WORSE at this than last year
    44. Make: caramel rolls from scratch (get the recipe from my grandma)
    45. Bring James on his first trip to Canada
    46. Learn to drive a stick
    47. Print out photos from our wedding and put them in an album
    48. Make breakfast more often on the weekends
    49. Keep the apartment cleaner than past years
    50. Buy a good area rug for the living room
    51. Make a general doctor’s appointment to get my cholesterol, blood pressure, etc., checked out 1/11/11
    52. Take more pictures and put some in albums
    53. Clean the basement and organize all our stuff down there     All bins labeled as of 3/13/11. This is as much organizing as is going to happen before we move
    54. Organize my jewelry
    55. Buy more bins for storage and put seasonal clothes away
    56. Donate all unused clothing/toys to Goodwill/Salvation Army

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