Goals 2020 -- March Recap

When I set forth my monthly goal to clean up my home office, I had no idea that I would end up working out of it for a good portion of the month.  But, thanks to COVID-19, I'm working from home.

It made all that much more sense to get my desk cleaned up then, right?

What I Watched -- Cookie's Fortune

Cookie's Fortune came out 20 years ago, but I don't recall hearing anything about it at that time.  It's interesting to watch now, all these years later, and see the likes of Chris O'Donnell and Liv Tyler in their much younger days.

The titular Cookie (played by Patricia Neal) is an elderly southern woman who passes away under somewhat suspicious circumstances to the family and friends surrounding her.  Accusations fly, and a display of true colors ensues.

This is not one of those movies that's set up so even the viewer doesn't know what happened.  We are omniscient.  The effect of that is that we know when the local police are on the right track and when they are on the wrong one, and we hope that they get it sorted out before time (or the film) runs out.

Bottom line: cute and endearing.

What I Watched -- Saving Mr. Banks

We watched a lot of Mary Poppins when we were younger, so when I heard about Saving Mr. Banks, I was immediately drawn to it -- and also desperately hoped it would live up to its predecessor's strong reputation.

S and I found Saving Mr. Banks at the library.  I was wary when I started it, worried that it wouldn't be everything that I hoped.  On top of that, of course I had high hopes for Emma Thompson and Tom Hanks -- individually and collectively.

Saving Mr. Banks wasn't exactly what I expected, but it certainly lived up to my expectations.  It was a lovely homage to a lovely piece of my childhood.

Bottom line: not the least bit worrying, in the end.

What I Watched -- This is 40 and Just Married

By far the better of the two Paul Rudd movies I've seen in the last couple of weeks was This is 40.  It is the completely adorable story of a couple reaching middle age.  Each of them are struggling with it in their own ways, and the somewhat realistic -- but still entirely comedic -- portrayal is enjoyable.

Paul Rudd's wife is played by Leslie Mann, whom I don't think I know from anything, but who held her own against Paul's much better known personality.









Shortly after watching This is 40, we watched Just Married.  It's the opposite in every way except that it attempts to be funny (but doesn't succeed).

Brittany Murphy played a spoiled little rich girl who falls for a guy (played by Ashton Kutcher, doing his only character) who doesn't live up to her family's standards.  The happily ever after starts to turn south on the ill-fated honeymoon. 

Bottom lines: first is likeable, second is skippable.

St. Louis City and County Quarantines Announced

There has been much speculation in the last week over whether St. Louis would go the way of Illinois in issuing a quarantine to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

And now we have.

Sort of.

The St. Louis City and St. Louis County orders are so riddled with exceptions as to be nearly useless.  Surrounding counties have not issued any stay-at-home orders yet.  St. Charles County's leader doesn't believe "that the government should dictate which businesses should stay open and which should close. 'We will continue to educate our residents that they should stay home except to go to work and procure the services they feel are essential.'"

Because that's going to work.

Happy St. Paddy's!

Friday the 13th

A very spooky Friday the 13th to you all!

Mwahahaha!

What I Watched -- Dinner for Schmucks

We found Dinner for Schmucks and didn't quite know what we were getting into.  I always love Paul Rudd, so that was good enough for me.  I'm not actually a huge fan of Steve Carell, but I overlooked that in favor of Paul.

The movie goes like this: Paul plays Tim, an ambitious mid-level employee.  He gets a crack at a promotion, and the weird deal in his company is that upper management hosts a dinner at which each employee invitee has to bring along a guest, with the goal being to bring the biggest clown or buffoon or curiosity.  Tim brings Barry, a weirdo he met on the streets of New York who practices mouse taxidermy.  Tim lies to his girlfriend Julie about his intentions, and that's the real heart of the story, because no Paul Rudd movie is complete without a sappy love story.

Possibly the best part of the whole thing, though, was when I googled "Dinner for Schmucks" to find this image.  The top three results were local restaurants:
1. Weber's Front Row
2. Happy Wok
3. Mike Duffy's Pub and Grill.
Do with that information what you will.

Bottom line: dopey, but cute and kind of funny.

What I Watched -- 2001: A Space Odyssey

We tried to watch 2001: A Space Odyssey recently.

Bottom line: it was terrible, or I don't get it.  Or most likely both.

What I Watched -- October Sky

S picked out October Sky for us -- actually for me, since he had already seen it.

It's the immediately-post-Sputnik true story of four high school boys, led by Homer Hickam, who take an interest in rocketry and eschew the traditional expectations of their small West Virginia mining town.  Homer has to overcome personal and family difficulties and make some tough decisions, which change the course of his progress

It's well cast, including a very young Jake Gyllenhaal as Homer, Chris Cooper as his complicated father, and Laura Dern as the science teacher and only person who fully supports their academic efforts.

It's a simple movie, but a well-made and feel-good one.  It shouldn't go without mention that the soundtrack is pretty good too!

The town of Coalwood, where Homer is from, began an annual October Sky Festival after the movie came out; it has since changed names to become the Rocket Boys Festival and moved to Beckley, WV.  There is also still an October Sky Festival in Oliver Springs, TN, where many of the film's scenes were shot.

Bottom line: entirely enjoyable.

Paintball!

You may not believe it -- I could hardly believe it myself -- but until a couple of weeks after our wedding, I had never been paintballing!  It was something I desperately wanted to do, so my dear friend M arranged the outing.  She brought us coffee and bundt cakes for breakfast, S and I provided a cooler full of beer, and it rained like the dickens near the end but we played anyway.  It was a total blast!

Can you pick me out of the crowd?

I had so much fun that I decided we needed to do it again, but unfortunately our first attempt at v2.0 was rescheduled due to freezing rain that I thought would make it no fun for anyone. We lucked out with a totally beautiful but quite muddy day on Saturday.  Another wonderful outing!

Goals 2020 -- March Edition

This has been a goal of mine before, but it's one of those ones you just have to keep doing over and over again.  Like laundry or dishes, they're never done!

And this month's winner is -- drumroll, please -- cleaning off my desk!

With any luck, this literal clearing of my desk will further my goal of Clearing My Mind, Simplifying My Life.  You know how when you see all those piles of paperwork, even if they aren't actually things you need to attend to -- they're just there -- they still make you feel overwhelmed?  Well, no longer!