Another Finale

I love Scrubs. My friends Jon and Tanya introduced this show to us years ago and it was consistently great. Hilarious characters and situations, but also many episodes that were very heartfelt. J.D. (played by Zach Braff) is one of my favorite all-time characters on t.v. and the series finale gave him an awesome send-off. When he gets Dr. Cox (John C. McGinley) to finally admit how he has always felt about him, I died laughing. And the final moments where J.D. sees his life play out in front of him while Peter Gabriel's "Book of Love" is playing--finale perfection.

Next Finale

I was a fan of 24 since Day 1, Episode 1. The season finale of Season 1 was an absolute shocker! You think that Jack is going to save everything and everyone. But in the last few minutes he finds that his partner Nina kills his wife Teri! He holds Teri in his arms and just loses it. After a season of incredible television with serious twists and turns, I was still blown! I didn't see this one coming. By the way, if I gave anything away, too bad. It came out in 2001.

Best Season Finales?

So Lindsay and I finally finished Season 2 of Sherlock tonight. Holy Crap! Seriously, if you have not seen this show, you have GOT to download Season 1 from Netflix. One of my favorites ever! This season's finale was crazy! It got me thinking about great finales. I will start a list of the best. This one is definitely near the top.

Album Letdown

Barcelona-Not Quite Yours

I love this band! Barcelona released the album "Absolutes" in 2007 and I've been waiting 5 years for their follow-up. "Absolutes" was listed last year as one of my favorite albums. Every song on it is almost perfectly crafted. I have listened to it many, many times. So when this album finally came out last week, my expectations were of course high. I have listened to it a few times and I really want to like it, but it has been a huge letdown. They have strayed from the sound that made their first album great. The lyrics are quite shallow, the vocals are nothing like their freshman sound and I am only enjoying one or two songs from the album. I hate it when this happens! It's like they've become Coldplay a lot sooner than Coldplay became Coldplay. Progressively sucky.

Ranch with the Barks

We just got back from our annual spring trip to the ranch with Lindsay's family. We had pretty much the entire family down and it was crazy, but a lot of fun. This time around we had a razor and some four-wheelers. They were a blast! There was so much dust down there. Our kids were constantly covered in a thick layer of it. But we had great weather and great times!

Ivy and Brynn. Eternal frenemies!

Isabelle, Kam and Maddie playing on the tramp.

Adam. Every boy needs a picture of themselves taking a whizz at the ranch.

Scorpions! I haven't seen a scorpion at the ranch in years.

Sherlock

I think I blogged about this last year when it premiered. Can't remember. But the second season just started last night and it was fantastic! It's only a three episode season, but each episode is 90 minutes. Last night's might have been my favorite so far. The dialogue is fast and witty, the acting is superb and the direction is very inventive. If you blink, you might miss something. Love it!

Happy May the 4th!

Best line from the ENTIRE series: "Hold me like you did by the lake on Naboo."

My Little Pony

So Brynn is very much into "My Little Pony." You can download episodes free from Netflix and she watches about 10 a day. The funny thing is that Adam and Max (and even Kam a time or two) watch them with her and they LOVE them! It's quite funny.

Jazz 100 Club Part 2

Keller invited me to see the Jazz vs. Magic game this past week with his 100 Club connections! We ate a sweet buffet dinner at the top of Energy Solutions and then basked in the front row tickets for the game. And what an awesome game! I was telling Jon that I had never seen a really good Jazz game live. And lo and behold, we took it into overtime! I wish I had a picture of Keller and I on the court, but these photos below will suffice. I could smell the players... and it was good.

Hugo Cabret

As a school teacher, I've been a long time fan of Brian Selznick. He's done some great things in the past and his "The Invention of Hugo Cabret" was a genius book. I loved how his illustrations told most of the story. Kids love it because it's a gargantuan book that they can read in just a few days. I was a little worried when I saw that Martin Scorsese was directing the adaptation. The same man behind "The Departed?" Sunday afternoon we watched it as a family and I LOVED it! The performances were amazing (particularly Ben Kingsley), the score by Howard Shore was fantastic and overall it was just a beautiful love letter to the magic of cinema! If you haven't seen it, please do.

Mel, Mel, Mel...

Braveheart was on TV the other night and Lindsay and I watched little bits here and there. It's definitely one of the worst films ever made in terms of continuity. I can't believe how many mistakes there are in this movie. I love the film for the emotion, the score and the acting, but it's horribly made. Years ago, Mel was kind of a Hollywood figure to look up to. He made a variety of choices in his films, became a better actor as he went along, branched off into directing and had a strong, long-lasting marriage and family. Now he's divorced and an apparent drunk, violent, racist. Ah, Mel. What the heck happened?

Happy Birthday, Max!

I wish I had a more recent picture. We have been terrible at taking photos lately. This is Max at our Christmas Carol cast party in 2011.

Our wonderful Max just turned 7! One more year and he will be baptized. Lindsay was watching a home movie the other day of when he was born and she commented that she couldn't believe 7 years has gone by. He is such a great young man. He is bright, creative, peaceful, emotional, stubborn, loving, nostalgic (weird for a 7 year old), and has the cutest smile in the world.