The Skinny​

A family vacations in an abandon trailer park and gets stalked by a group of masked crazies.

The Good​

Creepy looking movie cover, and since the original Strangers was at least passable entertainment, I gave this one a go. There are some recognizable celebs in lead roles. And if this movie has anything going for it, it's darkness. So if you're scared of the dark, maybe this movie will provide some tension for you.

The Bad​

Everything. Where to begin? For starters: characters we don't care about doing things we don't care about. And this is true for both the family and the strangers. The family has all the time in the world to run away or fight back, and they don't. There's one particularly annoying moment where two family members could easily overtake a stranger, but instead flail and shriek and corner themselves like morons. They shouldn't receive all the criticism though. The strangers have all the time in the world to kill the family members, but for no reason they take their time. And speaking of having reasoning for things, there's some hope throughout the movie that you will learn more about the strangers and their bloodlust. Near the end of the movie, a stranger shares their motivation for killing in two words, leading me to let out two huge sighs and start preying...I mean praying...I could get 90 minutes of my life back.

The Ugly​

The slowest, boring-ist, ridiculous-ist, didn't-care-what-happened-ist showdown/finale I think I've ever seen in a horror movie. It turns into some sort of Wile E. Coyote cartoon except it isn't funny or entertaining.

The Bottom Line​

I put the finale in thumbnail mode while I checked email on my phone, if that tells you anything about how engaged I was at the end.

Score​

0.2/5 stars

Please read carefully. It's not 2 starts out of 5, it's 0.2 stars.

Well today was a joy/poop show. Lets start with the bad:

Bye bye Bruno​

We said goodbye to our loyal betta fish, Bruno, after 2.5 years with our family. He was a spunky guy who would swim enthusiastically if you talked or sang to him, and really seemed to enjoy my guitar playing.

Adulting is hard​

I won't go into too much detail (being this a SUPER popular and famous blog and all), but adulting is hard. My wife reminded me that sometimes things come to you broken - be they people, relationships, jobs, situations, etc. They come to you broken by no fault of your own, and you have to decide which things can be fixed quickly, which ones require you to dig in and work for days/months/years, and which ones can never be fixed. Making that decision, for me, is rarely easy.

Now for some good news...

Somebody call the Cambulance!​

I've been giddy all day because my son Cam started his first day of paramedic training at college (which he loved), then got home for a quick lunch before heading out on an 8-hour ride-along with a local fire department. He has worked so long and hard to achieve his EMT certification in high school and then a full load of generals last semester, and now he finally gets to see what his career will look like in the real world. I'm writing this a few hours before he gets home, but I'm sure there will be much more blog content to come about his adventures.

I am the world's #1 Skittles fan​

I have a pretty boring palette and am a man of simple tastes, but I love two things: mint hot cocoa from Caribou, and Skittles. My sister knows this, and got me an awesome Christmas gift:

Well this was fun....I came home one night this week to find our dishwasher looking like this:

What happened here do you think?

1. Dishwasher is crying blue tears
2. Too many cleaning pods in the current load
3. Somebody threw a TOILET CLEANING POD in the dishwasher

If you guessed 3, c'mon over and help me clean this mess up! Bring a mop!

Ugh. It's that time of year again for resolutions.

In the last few months, I've been reading a bunch of the Dan Harris substack and one of the things he talks about is making goals/resolutions more specific and measurable. So for example, don't say "I want to get fit this year." Make it more specific, like "I want to make sure I get to the gym three times a week" or "I want to lose 15 pounds." Some other posts on this topic suggest carving the year into smaller chunks to make the goals more attainable.

So with all that said, here are the two goals I'm going to start with for Q1, 2025:

• 3 gym visits a week minimum all year (with forgivess for illnesses/vacations)
• Drop 5 pounds (sure, I want to dump a whole bunch more than that, but this is a start)

I've got a gym membership purchased and have already started training. And yes, if I lose any weight in 2024 I'm definitely cheating and counting it for 2025 goals. And you can't stop me. Plus, nobody reads this but me and my mom anyway.

Hello world! If you can see this, the migration from WordPress to Docusaurus is complete. When I read this, I will do a happy dance.

More posts/info to come while I work out all the backend kinks and config changes.

The Skinny​

Taking place between the first and second Saw movies, Saw X finds its lead (John Kramer, played by Tobin Bell) in need of a life-saving surgery - which turns out to be a scam (relax, this isn't a spoiler...it's in the trailer).

The Good​

I can't believe I'm actually writing the following: this Saw movie has some heart. And not the literal kind that John's victims have to pull out of their bodies in order to escape his traps or whatever, but real emotion! To know he's walking into a scam is uncomfortable, but it helps you appreciate just how slick the players involved are. And I'm sure building up hate for the antagonists is very intentional by the writers - so that we don't mind at all when John starts carving them (well, making them carve themselves) into little pieces.

The Bad​

I haven't been able to watch movies like this since I had kids. Some of the scenes in here really made my stomach churn. I sort of blame my COVID fevers for picking this particular film, and while I definitely wouldn't say it was a bad film, it made me feel bad as a person to watch. And I took a shower immediately afterwards (night sweats might have been a factor as well).

The Ugly​

Pretty much everything that happens after John captures the people who wronged him.

The Bottom Line​

As much as a movie about that centers around torture can be "good" I'll say I was thoroughly entertained and there were some twists I thought I saw coming but didn't. And despite some over-the-top gore, there remains a tiny emotional heart at the center of Saw X.

Score​

4/5 stars

The Skinny​

Logan Marshall-Green stars as a not-so-tech-savvy mechanic who, after sustaining serious injuries from a car accident, agrees to an experimental body implant "upgrade" that comes with some interesting pros and cons.

The Good​

Sounds like some sort of Marvel movie premise, doesn't it? This is the kind of "what if" I would talk with my friends about at the elementary school lunch table. "What if you could get a super-powered body? Would you play it like Clark Kent and try not to get discovered? Or would you fully lean into it and get revenge on people who did you wrong?" The movie has a nice balance of both, and I enjoyed the tone all the way through. It is especially fun to watch Marshall-Green, fresh off his upgrade, slide into his first dangerous physical confrontation with a bad guy. He experiences both the joy - and terror - of having what is essentially a "Hey Google, kill this guy" device built right into his body.

The Bad​

I've heard people complain that the movie feels too "small" - that it's more like an episode of Black Mirror than a feature film. Comments like that always bother me. It seems outside the scope of critiquing the movie itself. Did the movie entertain you? Did you appreciate the acting? Was the story engaging? Then just say "Yes, I liked it!" Otherwise it's like saying "Well I liked the story but it seems like it could've just been a stage play."

The Ugly​

Not "bad" per se, but there is some pretty gooey violence and gore (a decent share of which plays off humorously).

The Bottom Line​

I loved it, and would definitely watch again!

Score​

4/5 stars

As I'm (hopefully) winding down this bout with COVID, I'm excited to start my second season as a dad and dancer this month. My youngest son, Atticus, has danced professionally for a number of years, and one of the opportunities his dance company offers to students and their families is called Dads and Dancers (I like to refer to it as DnD). Basically the students and their dads (or another family member) practice up a dance piece every week over the winter months and then perform it a few times during competition season.

No "newbie" jitters this year​

Last year was my first year with DnD, and I was nervous! Not so much that I couldn't handle the choreography, but because Atticus is super competitive, and made it clear that I better "bring it" or I'd basically be a huge, embarrassing failure - not just to him, but to the whole dad group, and essentially all humankind.

Even though the weekly practices weren't at my favorite time of week (Friday nights), I had a great time getting to know the other dancers and their dads. I especially enjoyed the "safety meeting" we had after each practice (which was an off-site hangout with pizza, wings and beverages :-). And heck, the dancing went pretty well too! Here's a shot of me doing my best to hoist Atti in the air so he can show off his splits:

This pic is hilarious to me as I get ready to start this year's DnD season because Atti is as tall as I am now. Maybe he'll hoist me in the air this year!

COVID diet continues​

I mentioned that over the past few days I've had a very limited appetite thanks to COVID. I'm a little concerned because today some foods taste...odd. Specifically, tonight Aimee prepared some chicken for dinner. That tasted fine, but I always eat chicken (and pretty much every other food but scrambled eggs) with an obscene amount of ketchup, and this time the ketchup tasted like copper! I almost spit it out onto my plate! I sanity checked this by having Cam and Aimee taste test the ketchup, and they thought nothing was wrong with it. This is the only food that has tasted funky, and my sense of smell is fine. So what does that all mean? No idea. But it's kind of freaking me out. Anyway, today I ate:

• 1 mint cocoa

• 1 caffeinated ice

• 2 pieces of pizza

• 2 chicken nuggets

• 1 apple

• 1 taco

A friend asked me, "What exactly constitutes your so-called COVID diet? Seems like you're just eating smaller amounts of unhealthy foods." Exactly, friend. Exactly.

Rolling into day 3 of COVID, my wife and I have been comparing side effects. One (and I know this may be just a coincidence) that's unique to me is I developed two huge canker sores directly under my tongue. Fortunately it only hurts a lot when I talk, eat food or drink. With limited appetite this is not really a problem, but then I got the b-day present my parents left for me while I was out of town:

The Skitt-dilemma​

Skittles and Starburst are my favorite candies ever. But to even look at them in packaging right now is making the back of my mouth fill with bile. However, we recently got an air fryer, and I found quite a few videos on using one to create freeze dried treats. Maybe out of sheer morbid curiosity I'll make a batch tomorrow and then enjoy them when the canker sores clear up. Of course...that's probably just inviting a new batch of sores to setup shop in my mouth, so maybe I just take the plunge right now?

Appetite is still jacked​

Only things I've found to sit well in my stomach today:

• Mint hot cocoa

• Pepsi

• Bag of lime rice

• Bag of trail mix

• Cheese stick

• A couple apples

COVID = no joke​

Let me be clear: COVID has not been fun and I'm not making light of it in any way. The Mrs. was exhausted - hibernating under covers for most of the daylight hours. She got exhausted from even a short walk around the kitchen. Also, I know this illness hits people in strange ways - and for long periods of time - with a potpourri of symptoms and complications. That part still freaks me out.

Fevers can be fun?​

But (and maybe I'm going to curse myself by writing this) one good side effect for me has been this constant light fever that I can tell is making my heart race juuuuuuust a little bit. The reason I consider this a good thing is it has kind of put me in this mellow, chill state of mind even though my body feels like literal hot trash. I've found myself feeling optimistic and thankful, which isn't crazy out of the ordinary or anything, but often when my mind is in neutral it says things like, "Hey, mind if I bring up this memory from 15+ years ago where you really hurt the feelings of someone you haven't seen since and probably hasn't thought of you since? ROLL THE TAPE IN HD PLEASE!"

Just call me Tony Robbins Jr.​

I get super easily annoyed at those overly peppy, "Go get the world by the tail!" life coach types, and I hate to say this but...I kind of feel like one of those today! I'm sure I will come to my senses tomorrow, but in the meantime I wanted to share an exercise I learned from (checks notes for source...and can't find source) about simple ways to get a tiny mood boost - and that is by regularly, either written or verbally, rattle off a freestyle list of things you are thankful for. Then end each one with "I'm thankful for that." That's it. No matter how small, simple or funny. Just do it. Here's one I started today:

• Both my eyes work. I'm thankful for that.

• I breathe without assistance from a machine. I'm thankful for that.

• Outside of, you know, COVID, our family has been very healthy. I'm thankful for that.

• My legs and arms work great. I'm thankful for that.

• We have good jobs that provide food and school and clothes and shelter for our boys. I'm thankful for that.

• We've got a neighbor who is like another dad to us and another grandpa to our sons. I'm thankful for that.

• I got to celebrate Christmas with a ton of great friends and family. I'm thankful for that.

• A situation that looked like it was going in the toilet today completely turned itself around at the last second. I'm thankful for that.

• ...and so on and so on...

From the "nobody cares" dept.​

Like I said yesterday, I promised myself I'd log my food intake for a bit in the new year - just to hold myself accountable and try to drop some poundage. Pretty proud of the list below, but can pretty much blame (thank?) COVID for my screwed up taste buds:

• Mint hot cocoa (yes, I'm addicted, mom. Back off.)

• Mountain Dew (yes, I said I'd stop Dews in the near year and I didn't mom. Back off.)

• Bag of trail mix

• Chicken noodle soup

• 1 piece of toast

• 1 apple

• 1 cheese stick