Happy Thanksgiving

Hello all:

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving as people fell into food coma. We sure did! Sandy and Larry hosted the holiday in Whitewater, WI and we ate very well with excellent food. Both of them were great hosts.

We saw our little niece who is sooo cute! It is amazing to see her grow and discover things around her. We had a chance to visit Madison WI (Badger country) to see some friends and see Amie and David's new house. We got to see the state capitol, Amie's office close to the capitol, and try a couple of restaurants. David gave us a driving tour of the campus, too. I felt at home in a large Big Ten school campus.

It was nice to sit and visit with everyone, including Myla's grandma and great aunt who came in from Georgia and Florida. We able to put up the X-Mas tree, see Amie's Africa pictures, view the local birds, and visit the local Aquatic center for dip.

And to ring in the X-Mas season we had Santa on water skis as he went around the lake! Can't do better than that, right?! --Bryan

Book Review: I am Legend

I sometimes get eye rolling when I tell people I enjoy horror and Sci Fi. It is not just fun, but the best of these genres reflect on the human condition. I am Legend by Richard Matheson, one of the great suspense/horror writers, does exactly that. It was written in the 1950s and it tells the tale of one man, Robert Neville, fighting against a virus that changes people into vampires. He is immune to the virus somehow and must face his dreary existence. The book does not focus on the action of gore and vampires sucking blood, but about Robert facing the loss of his family, the dull routine of the daylight hours, and his search for a cure. It boils down to facing loneliness and hope in a world that offers a lot of the former and none of the latter. The movie will be coming out soon and they changed the location to a big city like NYC, but this should work just fine. It is not where you are, because the emotions will be same. I can see why it was one of Stephen King's favorites. It is a great story! --Bryan

Movie Review: Before the Devil Knows You're Dead

Grade: A-

Sidney Lumet directed this film with Philip Seymour Hoffman and Ethan Hawke as two brothers that rob their parents jewelry store for money. The robbery goes bad and you follow the consequences. Both actors were great. I understand the Oscar buzz for this one. Marisa Tomei played Hoffman's spoiled wife who had an affair with Hawke. It was her best role in a long time. Albert Finney played the dad and he was fantastic as the grief stricken man out for revenge. Another must see film for the year. --Bryan

VA Film Festival Shot by Shot

Hello movie fans:

One of the biggest highlights of the Virginia film festival are the shot by shot workshops. We saw some good ones like Roger Ebert and Chinatown. This year it was the playwright, Stewart Stern, and Rebel without a Cause. He wrote it and was friends with James Dean. He gave really good insights about the idea behind the movie. He told us it was the WWII veteran fathers that came home and were silent to not only their experiences in war but everything else. Their children seemed cut off. You saw this in such movies as the Best Years of My Life and The Gray Flannel Suit. Now their children rebel in search of meaning in their lives. We really needed two sessions, because we only saw about 1/3 of the film in two hours since Stewart tended to talk in detail and we just ran out of time. Now, I picked up a book on James Dean and I will have to rent the movie! --Bryan

Movie Review: Diving Bell & The Butterfly

Grade: A

We saw this movie as part of the Virginia Film Festival last weekend. It is the best movie we saw at the festival this year. It is based on the book Myla got from Uncle Bill and it is the story of editor Jean-Dominque Bauby. He was a vibrant editor of Elle magazine in France and had a massive stroke with "locked-in-syndrome." The only way he could move and communicate was with his left eye. I was unsure what to expect walking in because the film's description talked about dreamlike collages of memories and fantasies. I thought it was going to be some acid trip. However, it seemed to be faithful to the book, and the performances were outstanding. If this opens up in your town, go see it.