After it was decided that the siblings and I would invest in a Blu-ray machine for the parents, I decided to get something to play on it for them.  For some reason, the local Wal-Mart is not well stocked with Blu-ray disks.  I decided on Patriot Games which stars Harrison Ford as former CIA analyst John Patrick Ryan.  I say Ford does not play his typical Indiana Jones type hero this time because this film challenges him by giving him something that Indy never had (well…): a family.  While on vacation in jolly old England, Ryan, his wife, and young daughter inadvertantly stumble upon an assassination attempt on a British royal by a renegade IRA terrorist faction.  Instead of standing on the sidelines, Jack jumps into the fray, saving the Lord, and shooting a few of the terrorists.  One of the dead terrorists was the younger brother of the leader, Sean Miller (Sean Bean), who escaped.  Miller vows revenge on Ryan.

What follows is a nail-biting, action-driven thriller.  Cathy (Anne Archer) and Sally Ryan are placed in mortal danger.  Jack goes to his former associates at the CIA to help him track down the villains.  The thing I enjoyed most about the Jack Ryan character is his vulnerability.  In a scene demanded by Ford himself, Ryan is brutally attacked by a young member of the terrorist group.  There is also a red-headed villainess who causes problems.  Like any good Harrison Ford thriller, there is action aplenty to hold you in suspense.  Although it seems cliche with Air Force One coming a few years later, Patriot Games is worth a look.  The closing scene also left the door wide open for the sequel: Clear and Present Danger.

Irony of ironies, Sean Bean has a scar over his left eye which was given to him by Harrison Ford during filming.  And before anyone asks, the parents were quite pleased with the choice since they both watched with me.  [poll id=”4″]

New Year’s eve and I toasted in the new Year. I’ve made that toast with the same beverage for the Since New Years Eve 1983/1984. My future brother-in-law brought some Piesporter with him. My future wife did not care for wines at all really liked this wine. From that date on, we shared a bottle of some type of Piesporter. It has been a holiday tradition for a long time.

After her death, I kept buying that type of wine for both New Year’s Eve and our Anniversary. I have not shared the bottle with anyone until last night. In the past few years, if I was out for the evening, I would save my toast until I got home. I didn’t feel like sharing this wine. This year I spent the evening with some good friends. I did share my bottle with those who wanted it.

If they enjoyed the wine, that was wonderful. If they didn’t care for it, it doesn’t matter. I also shared a bottle of the same wine with family and friends on the anniversary of her death. This is the first year, I’ve shared the wine. It may not mean a lot to those who shared with me, but in mind it had a lot of meaning.

To those who shared, thank you for accepting a gift from my heart, and helping me remember the good times I did have for many years.

Happy New Year.

Back in 2007 the world learned that Andrew Lloyd Webber was writing a sequel to his world famous musical, The Phantom of the Opera.  At that time he revealed the setting would be New York rather than Paris, the setting of the original story.  Little more than that was known (at least by me) until last Sunday when he revealed more details including the possible move of opening in three places at once at the end of 2009.  Also revealed was the location in New York as well as the reunion of the Phantom and Christine Daaé, as the title, Phantom: Love Never Dies, suggests.  I can’t get over the location though- Coney Island.  I guess this quote from the man himself explains this choice:

“It was the place,” Lloyd Webber said. “Even Freud went because it was so extraordinary … people who were freaks and oddities were drawn towards it because it was a place where they could be themselves.”

In the article he also mentions the role of the phantom is as good as cast, but left the name a mystery.  Any ideas?  As I haven’t been part of the musical theatre scene for a while I offer no guess of my own.  Anyway, read the article at msnbc for more info:

‘Phantom of the Opera’ sequel due in 2009

Last night was another fantastic celebration at our semi-weekly gathering place.  Everyone brought food or spirits to endulge in.  Friends who do not usually frequent our game nights came to shar in the festivities.  I went with my lingering effects from a visit by Uncle Larry N. Gitis.  Honestly, I feel fine but my voice says otherwise.  I remember losing my voice years ago a few weekends before I auditioned for a summer position at Cedar Point.  I made the audition, sang my audition piece and was asked to come back a half-hour later for the dance portion of the try out.  Unfortunately, my graceful choreographic ability failed to impress… their loss, right?

While playing charades, which my team was winning (thank you very much) the time had arrived to watch Ryan Seacrest announce the ball drop.  Dick Clark made an appearance from the studio; however, the damage done by his stroke of a few years ago is still apparent.  I noticed an almost plastic appearance to Mr. Seacrest.  Not sure if it was the lighting or makeup but he just looked wierd.  Speaking of charades, I do not think that the movie or novel Return of the King is obscure.  It was a title given to one of the other two teams but I thought it was a very good suggestion.  My gracefulness was put to good use in my acting out the movie title Last Tango in Paris.

Shortly thereafter, we read some Weakest Link questions.  I tried to keep quiet to allow others to answer.  However, I heard some moaners from the other players imploring me to wait until the question was read.  Finally, we moved on to some Outburst, and thank goodness for the arrival of our final player because some of the questions were beyond my expertise.  By the time we had arrived to an I.Q. testing game, I was lying on the floor.

But like last year, it was a great end to the old and beginning of the new.  There was no other place I wanted to be.  I hope everyone had an enjoyable and safe holiday season and wish everyone the best in 2009.

The year 2009 would have been my 25 wedding anniversary, so these are movies of my married and widowed life.

Well, Entertainment Weekly published their 25 favorite Comedies of the past 25 years. I was sure that some of my favorite comedies would make the list. Strange thing is, most of the comedies they mentioned, I never saw. Some of the ones I saw, I didn’t really like. Some that I didn’t like are liked by some friends of mine…. I must have a weird sense of comedy. Of Their selection, the number 1 and number 3 were on my list of top comedies. Mel Brooks produced three comedies in the past 25 years, and none of them are on this list. I guess I’m just out of it.

Given time, I will come up with my own best comedies of the past 25 years. I’ll have to dig out the dates of the comedies I enjoy. Just so you know, I imagine both Space Balls and Robin Hood: Men in Tights will be on my list. Also included would be Beverly Hills Cop and Ghostbusters, the two movies I like that made Entertainment Weekly’s list.

Did you every have a day you thought would have turned out differently? Did you ever expect one thing, and have something else happen? To answer those questions, yes, I did. Yesterday was one of those days.

It was decided earlier that my daughters and I would go to the Zoo to see the Christmas Light display before it closed for the season. As a family we’ve always enjoyed visiting the light display. As a family we were members since 1984. The Lights before Christmas started in 1986 and has been our family tradition since that date. We took our small children in strollers, pushed grandfathers (due to health or injury) on wheelchairs. We took relatives from warmer climates on very cold evenings. We even went on cold rainy nights. It was a winter escape. As a family we enjoyed the evenings together.

Since 2003, we have not been able to attend as a complete family. My wife was too ill to take the cold weather in her final month, and I stayed with her. She hasn’t been there since that year of course. The years following one daughter or another has not been there as we toured the lights. This year my daughter in Florida was not in Ohio to attend. I am very sorry she missed it again.

So three of my daughters, my son-in-law, some friends when to the lights, on the 5th anniversary of my dear wife’s death. I thought a melancholy day was in order. I forgot who much I enjoy the company of my family and friends. I also forgot the magic of seeing hundreds of colorful lights. A day of memories and togetherness. Not really a sad memory last night at all.

After the evening of lights, we went to my eldest daughter’s house and shared a glass of wine and bit of dinner. A toast to her memory and more conversation. A wonderful night. I needed that. It was another healing effect on my life. Family is wonderful.

Because I barely have time to fit in the writing of this current blog post, I can safely say that with 4 kids running around (Christmas break = parental nightmare) this will be my last blog post of 2008!  What better way to go out then but to experiment with the new polling feature of tangents.org and make a New Year’s themed poll?  Enjoy, and have a very happy and safe New Year’s celebration!  Here’s wishing you the best of luck in 2009!  Check all that apply:

[poll id=”3″]

Reluctantly, I saw Marley and Me in the movie theater yesterday.  It’s not that it was a bad movie, but I didn’t want to see it in the theater because I knew it would be a tear-jerker since I read the book by John Grogan.  Unfortunately, I don’t remember much about the book since I read it a long time ago, and I do all of my book reading while I’m dozing off just before bed, which sometimes makes it difficult to remember what I’ve read.  But I know I really enjoyed the novel and recommended it to my family and friends.  The story is about a family who gets a puppy named Marley, and the novel follows his journey through life as the ‘world’s worst dog’.  But eventually, Marley charms his way into the hearts of his family, even helping them through life changes and tragedies.

From what I remember, I think the movie stays pretty close to the book, although I don’t necessarily agree with the casting choices of Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson as Marley’s masters.  I was a big fan of the tv show Friends, but every movie I’ve seen Jennifer Aniston in since seems like she’s still Rachel, her character from Friends.  She’s just not a very diverse actor in my book, which I also think she has in common with Owen Wilson.  But characters in this heartwarming family film were not very deep, so in the end the poor casting did little to sink the movie.  And you’ll notice that I crossed out family film.  Another thing that disappointed me was the PG rating Marley and Me received.  There are about 3 too many adult-themed scenes that I wouldn’t want my kids to see, and I’m really glad I previewed this film before I let them see it, which I usually do anyway.  This movie should NOT have received a PG rating, and it will make me more careful about making sure I preview everything before the kids view it, regardless of rating.

But overall, cute movie.  If you’re an animal lover or have ever owned a dog, prepare to cry.  Sorry if you consider that a spoiler, but it’s been all over the media and has dominated water cooler talk everywhere about how sad the movie and book are.  I’m sure you can guess what happens and you think you can prepare yourself, but you can’t.  I was a total wreck in the theater and have had a bit of a cloud over me ever since.  But don’t let that scare you away from seeing Marley and Me.  I think it just struck a chord in me because we own a dog who was once ‘The World’s Worst Dog’ and is now an old lady who has been a huge part of our family for over 10 years.  I probably would not watch this movie again, but only for lack of wanting to ride the emotional rollercoaster it provokes in its viewers.  The big screen version of Marley and Me was entertaining, and it made me definitely want to read the book again…  if only I had time for that.

I don’t have many fond memories of high school.  It wasn’t horrible, but it certainly hasn’t come close to being the best years of my life as some people had promised.  Even so, when I saw this copy of an email forward on my friend’s blog, I couldn’t resist filling it out and making it a blog post of my own, especially since he didn’t send me the email version for me to forward.  Feel free to make it an email and forward it to your friends.  Coincidentally, I’ve been working on a post about a different version of classmates.com…  stay tuned – I might eventually have time to finish it!  Here is a copy of the email forward:

Here is a fun email I received from my cousin who shares my alma mater as well as the year I graduated.  Some of the questions brought a chuckle as well as made me think.  See if it does the same for you.

Fill this out about your Senior Year of high school! The longer ago it was, the more fun the answers will be!!  FORWARD  (or post in comments) with name of high school and graduating year in the subject box. Send this to all your friends, but don’t forget to send it back to me.
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1. Did you date someone from your school? No

2. Did you marry someone from your high school? No

3. Did you car pool to school?  yes

4. What kind of car did you have? black Pontiac Sunbird

5. What kind of car do you have now? minivan

6 . It’s Friday night…where are you now? In high school?  hanging out at a friends house, shooting pool or hanging out at Denny’s – lots of hanging out

7. What kind of job did you have in high school?  Wendy’s

8. What kind of job do you do now?  Homemaker

9. Were you a party animal?  more than some, less than others

10. Were you considered a flirt? no

11. Were you in band, orchestra? band freshman year

12. Were you a nerd?  depends who you asked I guess

13. Did you get suspended or expelled? no

14. Can you sing the fight song? no

15. Who was/were your favorite teacher? I don’t remember

16. Where did you sit during lunch? in my car – how dangerous was it to speed to McD’s and back in 25 mins every day?

17. What was your school’s full name?  this makes me nervous – are you trying to track me down?!?

18. When did you graduate? 1996

19. What was your school mascot?  Tigers

20. If you could go back and do it again, would you? no thanks

21. Did you have fun at Prom? not really

22. Do you still talk to the person you went to Prom with? No

23. Are you planning on going to your next reunion? no

24. Do you still talk to people from school? trade a few emails a year with some people back and forth

25. School Colors? orange and black

26. If you could do 1 thing differently in high school, what would it  be?  I would have been a little nicer to people – not that I was mean, I was just quiet and disconnected from my huge community of a school.

Here is a fun email I received from my cousin who shares my alma mater as well as the year I graduated.  Some of the questions brought a chuckle as well as made me think.  See if it does the same for you.

Fill this out about your Senior Year of high school! The longer ago it was, the more fun the answers will be!!  FORWARD  (or post in comments) with name of high school and graduating year in the subject box. Send this to all your friends, but don’t forget to send it back to me.
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1. Did you date someone from your school? No

2. Did you marry someone from your high school? No

3. Did you car pool to school? No… walked out the front door and was there

4. What kind of car did you have? Ford Fairmont… the brown beast

5. What kind of car do you have now? Pontiac Sunfire

6 . It’s Friday night…where are you now? In high school?  Usually at a sporting event

7. What kind of job did you have in high school? worked in grocery store

8. What kind of job do you do now? the same… go figure

9. Were you a party animal? Do i seem the type?

10. Were you considered a flirt? Occasionally

11. Were you in band, orchestra? Yes – band

12. Were you a nerd? Darn right and proud of it!

13. Did you get suspended or expelled? nope

14. Can you sing the fight song? Yes

15. Who was/were your favorite teacher? Mrs. Curtis, Mrs. Peters, and others

16. Where did you sit during lunch? usually at home

17. What was your school’s full name? Edgerton High School

18. When did you graduate? 1992

19. What was your school mascot? Bulldogs

20. If you could go back and do it again, would you? Absolutely not.  Although I enjoyed high school, I am having way too much fun in the present.

21. Did you have fun at Prom? Yes

22. Do you still talk to the person you went to Prom with? No, though I would if I ran into her.

23. Are you planning on going to your next reunion? Most likely.

24. Do you still talk to people from school? A few people

25. School Colors? Maroon and gold

26. If you could do 1 thing differently in high school, what would it  be? Follow my heart instead of my head when deciding what career path to choose.