Netflix Madness

We've watched quite a few movies on Netflix recently so I thought I'd share what we liked and what we didn't.

2 thumbs up!

Away We Go - I usually don't like artsy movies but this was really good. It was a good story with some humorous moments and a good sound track.

Star Trek - A great prequel that Liz and I both really liked. The characters and the plot were well done. I'd definitely watch this again.

Thank You For Smoking - This is one that we got and then it sat around for a while before we were interested in watching it but I'm glad we did. It's a satirical comedy about the tobacco industry and the casting was great.

The Hangover - I thought I was going to hate this movie but it actually turned out to be great. We find ourselves repeating some of the one-liners from time to time. "I tend to think of myself as a one-man wolf pack ..."

Iron Man - This was another movie I had no intention of seeing but I kept hearing people mention how great it was so thought I'd give it a try. And it was awesome! There's a sequel coming out in May so if you haven't seen the first one see it soon.

1 thumb up.

The Good Shepherd - A somewhat true story about the early days of the CIA. A good cast but hard to follow and loose plot (but then that's the point of a movie about the CIA right?).

Up - Not the best animated film ever but definitely had some hilarious moments. The graphics were good, as all Pixar films are.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - This was good, though slightly weird, if you can get over the improbable basis of someone aging backwards.

No thumbs up :(

The Lion, The Witch an the Wardrobe - This could have been good but it wasn't. The acting was bad (which I don't usually notice) and it seemed pretty low budget.

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor - I liked the first two movies in this series quite a bit but this one, despite the addition of Jet Li, just seemed like the studio trying to milk some more money out of the first two movies. Save yourself the disappointment and just watch The Mummy again.

The Transporter - I'd seen this before but couldn't remember much about it. Now I know why--it wasn't that memorable. The acting's not that good nor are the action sequences. I saw part of the second one on TV the other day and it seems to be a little better (probably had a higher budget after the first one did better than expected).

Recent Happenings

Here are some pictures from our recent trips to Newport, RI (in November) and New York, NY (for my birthday in December).


Some scenes from our walk along the famous cliff walk in Newport


Liz's elementary school in Greenwich Village

Holiday decorations around Rockefeller Center

A Very "Special" Election

A couple weeks ago we had the primary for a special election here to fill the late Sen. Edward Kennedy's seat in the US Senate. I did my part and cast my vote though very few people did as it wasn't much of a race (Martha Coakley easily won her spot on the democratic ticket). As I reflected on this most recent voting experience I thought about why people are so uninterested in the process and it wasn't hard to find the reasons.

Our polling place is very conveniently located just around the corner from our place. It's in a not-so-nice nursing home that incidentally is built on the spot where the home of Helen Keller used to stand. There are the remnants of an ancient, yet finely crafted wrought iron fence that probably belonged to the original house but back to my original point. The whole experience was rather depressing. I was the only person voting at the time I stopped by and apart from the poll workers checking people in an out the only other people around were a couple of the nursing home residents who came to sit on a bench in the hallway to watch people come by and the most bored looking police officer sitting at a table in the back of the room reading a newspaper.

I thought about why it's so difficult to get young adults to vote and realized that this experience is part of the reason why. Whether you're in school or have just finished with school the last thing you want to do is drag yourself down to the local nursing home and fill out what's basically another scantron test. Maybe the answer is another format (and venue). What if instead of scantron forms you threw darts to pop balloons with the name of your candidate written on them, or you shot a squirt gun into the mouth of a clown that looked like who you wanted to vote for, or any other sort of carnival game. Anyway, I'm not sure what the answer is (beyond the obvious goal of making people more engaged in politics and elections) but I know that filling out little bubbles in a tiny booth in a nursing home isn't an appealing way to attract voters.

Snowed in

Today we woke up to several inches of snow here in Cambridge and it continued to snow all day long. It finally let up late this afternoon so hopefully the commute to work tomorrow will be manageable. Roxy thoroughly enjoyed romping around outside today while I shoveled the car out. She doesn't ever seem to get cold and could probably lay in the snow for hours and be perfectly content.

A Return to the Rose Bowl !!!

Yes, it's true, we've got a reason to celebrate because the Oregon Ducks are headed to the Rose Bowl. After a 37-33 win in the civil war game over the Oregon State Beavers the Ducks finished their season with a 10-2 record. They will face Ohio State in Pasadena on New Year's day.

New England "Mountain" Cimbing

Yesterday we took a family trek up Mount Watatic. It is a 1,832 foot peak at the southern end of the Wapack range on the MA/NH border. I've been excited to do some backpacking next spring and have been getting some of my gear together so this was a good hike to do some testing (we boiled some water on the butane stove at the summit for hot chocolate and filtered some water using a new filter from a mountain stream on the way back down). It was a steep climb on a cold day but we were rewarded with splendid views and a nice break spent sitting in a grassy area we found just short of the peak. Roxy also has a backpack and it was her first time using it--it didn't slow her down at all!

The only wildlife not scared away by Roxy
At the summit
Making the hot chocolate to warm back up
Ah, life is good

Oregon

Well we had a wonderful trip to Oregon to visit family and friends. We were able to spend time in Eugene, Portland, Cannon Beach and Monroe and Bellevue, WA. Here are a few photos.

Newport, OR
Cannon Beach, OR



This is the co-housing place that Liz's parents are moving to (still under construction in these pics). You can learn more about it here.
It even has a rooftop hot tub!