Category Archives: Friends

Basketball, Iowa State, Vest, WPC - Submissions

RWPE #48 – Active

2 Comments

Apparently the theme ACTIVE had the result of making everybody inactive. Then at least a few people should be pleased to know that ACTIVE has been eliminated as a theme for next year. Here are the submissions for a curiously inactive week:



Mike Vest


Christopher D. Bennett

I went down to the Random Theme Generator’s office and socked it a good one. As it was slightly dazed, I grabbed it by the scruff of the neck and told it to “give me a theme that will fire the creative energy of the people”.

I felt bad for ruffling the feathers of the Random Theme Generator, so I sat it down and helped straighten out the cheap suit it likes to wear on working days.

Then it spat the theme for this week out at me:

LOVE

Brilliant!

After all, everybody has somebody they love or some thing they love. Everybody should be able to come up with one visual concept or example of love. Right? If a person couldn’t, wouldn’t they in essence be a horrible shell of a person that was just barely getting by in this world? Like me on Thursday nights?

I hope my calculations are correct and there is an explosion of LOVE pictures in my mailbox next week!

Black & White, Dawn, Photoshop, Self-Portrait, Vest, WPC - Submissions

RWPE #47 – Discover

I don’t know if it was the theme or if it was the holiday, but once again submissions were somewhat anemic. Here are the submissions for DISCOVER.


WEEK 47 - DISCOVER - CHRISTOPHER D. BENNETT
Christopher D. Bennett

IMAGE LOST
Dawn Krause

WEEK 47 - DISCOVER - MIKE VEST
Mike Vest

There are only 5 themes left before this little experiment starts over. I went down and kicked the Random Theme Generator and told it to give me a theme that would light the fires of creativity under more people. It just sat there. Then it spit out the following theme:

ACTIVE

On the surface that seems like a good solid theme that could be interpreted in a bazillion different ways. Hopefully this will get RWPE back on track.

Movies, Nader, Sara

Movie Review: Conviction & Unstoppable

So I fell really far behind in my movie reviews, so I’m going to crank out a bunch of these in short order and without much detail.

Movie – Conviction

Director: Tony Goldwyn (The Last Kiss, A Walk on the Moon)

Screenwriter: Pamela Gray (A Walk on the Moon)

Starring: Hilary Swank (Million Dollar Baby, Insomnia, Boys Don’t Cry), Sam Rockwell (Moon, The Green Mile, Matchstick Men) and Melissa Leo (The Fighter, 21 Grams, Frozen River)

Theater – The Fleur Cinema – Des Moines, Iowa

Companion – Sara Junck

Food – Mezzodi’s

Intellectual Honesty

I didn’t bring much to this movie. I enjoy Hilary Swank’s acting, but I don’t think that I’m partial to her in a way that impairs my judgment.

Baggage

None. Don’t have a strong dislike for anybody in this film.

Synopsis from IMDB

A working mother puts herself through law school in an effort to represent her brother, who has been wrongfully convicted of murder and has exhausted his chances to appeal his conviction through public defenders.

Review

This is a fascinating true story, but it doesn’t really come off as that interesting in the movie. A woman without even a high school diploma goes back to school in the hopes of eventually getting a law degree and then getting her brother out of prison for a crime he didn’t commit. And she does it!

There is nothing wrong with this movie and the performances are solid, but this is the type of white trash that overcomes incredible adversity character that Hilary Swank plays in her sleep. Sam Rockwell is solid as the brother. Melissa Leo is impressive as the cop that frames Sam Rockwell, but she has an even more impressive performance that I’ll get to in a later movie review.

What isn’t covered in the movie is what happens after the brother gets out of prison. A year after he won his freedom he fell of a wall and died. How tragic is that? What I think is also fascinating about this woman that spent years and years trying to get her brother out of prison is that after she gets him out, she stopped being a lawyer. She went back to being a bartender. That is a fascinating person.

If this thing interests you, check out this link:

The Innocence Project

Rating: 3.5/5 Caramels

Buy on DVD

Not likely, but I would definitely watch it again.

2010 Ranking

I don’t think this really has a ranking. I guess it would sit just out of the Top Ten Movies I’ve seen this year.

Bonus Information

Before the movie I developed a love for boursin cheese. Thank you Mezzodi’s and Sara!

Movie – Unstoppable

Director: Tony Scott (Man on Fire, Top Gun, Domino)

Writer: Mark Bomback (Race to Witch Mountain, Live Free or Die Hard)

Starring: Denzel Washington (American Gangster, Glory, Malcolm X, Training Day) and Chris Pine (Star Trek, Just My Luck)

Companion – Nader Parsaei

Food – Probably but can’t remember.

Intellectual Honesty

I love Denzel Washington. I’ll watch him in just about anything and makes almost everything better. I like train movies. If I were to ever make films, one would definitely involve a train wreck. A real train wreck. No CGI!

Baggage

I think Tony Scott is a merciless hack and one of the worst filmmakers in the world.

Synopsis from IMDB

With an unmanned, half-mile-long freight train barreling toward a city, a veteran engineer and a young conductor race against the clock to prevent a catastrophe.

Review

Unstoppable? Unbearable is more like it.

You want to make a Tony Scott movie, here is his style in a nutshell:

Zoom camera. Cut to: Camera panning in a circle. Repeat until audience is nauseous.

For the most part, the acting in this movie was okay, but the action sequences were dreadful and the “ideas” these people had for stopping the train were laugh-out-loud ridiculous.

Plus here is free advice for Tony Scott. Next time you are trying to make a train look like it is going faster than it really is, even if you speed up the film rate, it is still obvious how slow the train is moving when you include so many other moving points of reference in the shot.

This film isn’t really worth any more discussion.

Rating: 1.5/5.0 Caramels

Buy on DVD

Not even for a buck.

2010 Ranking

Probably the worst action movie I saw in 2010.

Bonus Information

Nothing to report.

Art, Black & White, Dawn, Vest, WPC - Submissions, Writing

RWPE #46 – Spiritual

The theme of SPIRITUAL didn’t ring the bell of many people this week. It reminds me of one of my favorite Daniel Tosh jokes.

“When people tell me, ‘I’m not religious, but I’m spiritual’, I tell them ‘I’m not honest but you’re interesting.'”

Here are the submissions for SPIRITUAL:


WEEK 46 - SPIRITUAL - DAWN KRAUSE
Dawn Krause

WEEK 46 - MIKE VEST - SPIRITUAL
Mike Vest

WEEK 46 - SPIRITUAL - CHRISTOPHER D. BENNETT
Christopher D. Bennett

Dawn’s Poetry Submission

Spiritual

I thought of love in its glory
How each of us has a story
I thought of awe and thought of grace
Survival of the human race

And so it came I thought real hard
Of birds and trees in the yard
Of what it was that gave us life
And gave us strength in our strife

I pondered on many things
Of promises and wedding rings
Of how it is we know He’s there
The change we sense in the air

I felt a warmth begin to spread
It filled my soul from toe to head
I yearned to stay within that light
And so I prayed and said good night

We are definitely in the homestretch now. Just a handful of themes for the RTG to spit out. The theme for this week has been spat:

DISCOVER

That is a good broad theme. Hopefully it will light a fire of creativity under several people and the submission pool will gain a good depth again next week.

Black & White, Jill, Julie, Music, Shannon, Vest, WPC - Submissions

RWPE #45 – Diagonal Rule

3 Comments

This week there is a submission from somebody I have never met. I think that is an exciting development. Here are the submissions for DIAGONAL RULE:


WEEK 45 - DIAGONAL RULE - MIKE VEST
Mike Vest of Waxen Media

WEEK 45 - DIAGONAL RULE - SHANNON BARDOLE
Shannon Bardole of Little White Lye Soap

WEEK 45 - DIAGONAL RULE - CHRISTOPHER D. BENNETT
Christopher D. Bennett

WEEK 45 - DIAGONAL RULE - JULIE JOHNSON
Julie Johnson of The Joy Is In The Journey

WEEK 45 - DIAGONAL RULE - KAREN BITTNER
Karen Bittner

I stuck a quarter in the Random Theme Generator and pulled the handle. Before it gave me a theme for this week, it reminded me that there are only 7 themes left. As I was ruminating on this, the Random Theme Generator spit out the theme for this week:

Spiritual

Vest and I have decided to continue on with this project for another year. I put a call out for people to submit ideas for themes for next year. Nothing was submitted. Here is you last chance.

Vest and I are meeting soon (like today) to finalize the list of themes for next year. If you have a theme you want to see on next year’s list, you can leave it in the comments section of this journal entry and it will be considered for inclusion. But you are almost out of time.

Movies, Nader

Movie Review: Megamind

2 Comments

Movie – Megamind

Director: Tom McGrath (Madagascar, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa)

Screenwriter: Alan Schoolcraft & Brent Simon; Both their first film as a writer.

Starring: Will Ferrell (Anchorman, Stepbrothers, Talladega Nights), Brad Pitt (Se7en, Fight Club, Babel), Tina Fey (Mean Girls, Date Night, 30 Rock), David Cross (Mr. Show, Run Ronnie Run, Arrested Development) and Jonah Hill (Super Bad, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Get Him to the Greek)

Theater – Cinemark Movies 12 – Ames, Iowa

Companion – Nader Parsaei

Food – Chinese Homestyle Cooking

Intellectual Honesty

I love David Cross.  He and Daniel Tosh are kind of 1A and 1B for my favorite comedian.  I would watch David Cross do about anything.  That includes be in Scary Movie 2. Mr. Show is still the greatest show ever. Arrested Development is one of the Top 10 shows of all-time as well.  I also love Tina Fey.  Not enough to watch 30 Rock, but I think that is because I’m sick of people telling me I should watch it.  Also, I can’t stand Alec Baldwin. However, if David Cross was in it, that would surely trump my hatred of Alec Baldwin and I would start watching.

Baggage

I don’t particularly enjoy Will Ferrell in starring roles.  Anchorman is entertaining.  I enjoy Elf. But Talladega Nights is simply wretched, despite the fact that Amy Adams is in it. You all know how I feel about Amy Adams. I would rather watch anything with Will Ferrell than watch Jonah Hill.  I can’t figure out why he still gets work.

Synopsis from IMDB

After super-villain Megamind (Ferrell) kills his good-guy nemesis, Metro Man (Pitt), he becomes bored since there is no one left to fight. He creates a new foe, Titan (Hill), who, instead of using his powers for good, sets out to destroy the world, positioning Megamind to save the day for the first time in his life.

Review

Will Ferrell is actually fairly decent in this film.  Tina Fey is great. David Cross is brilliant, of course. Brad Pitt is barely in it, but is great.  Jonah Hill sucks it up beyond belief.  That is particularly hard to believe considering this is an animated film.

I don’t know if there is particularly much to say about this film.  It is decently written. The animation is good, but probably not all that special. Especially compared to the work Pixar does.  The characters are likable. The ending is satisfying.

The best part of the movie is Megamind’s interactions with Minion. I also enjoyed the references to Superman.  I’m not a comic book guy by any stretch of the imagination, but I enjoyed the references to the first Christopher Reeve Superman movie.

In essence this is an enjoyable kids movie that has enough going on to entertain adults as well. I enjoyed the movie, but I will have forgotten it exists in about 3 years.

Rating

3.0/5 Caramels

Buy on DVD

Not likely.  But I would definitely watch it again.

2010 Ranking

3rd Best Animated Film I’ve seen this year. How to Train Your Dragon and Toy Story 3 are both much better.

Bonus Information

I had to endure an ad for some Glenn Beck thing before the movie started. I remember when that guy wasn’t a complete psycho doucher.  That feels so long ago.  Some people think I’m liberal because I believe decent Health Care is a right and not a privilege. Other people believe that I am conservative because I hate poor people. (The 2nd part is a riff on a Daniel Tosh joke.) The truth is that I’m not an ideologue at all. I favor common sense and solving problems.  Neither political dogma has a monopoly on the right answers. I don’t hate Glenn Beck because he is conservative. I hate Glenn Beck because he never tells the truth. You are entitled to your opinion, but you aren’t entitled to your own facts.  The point is, seeing him on the movie screen made my movie experience at least 15% less enjoyable.

Up Next

Conviction, Unstoppable, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 and Morning Glory. I would still like to go see Waiting for Superman and Fair Game while they are still in Des Moines. 127 Hours comes to Des Moines next week as well. I will DEFINITELY be making a trip to Des Moines to see 127 Hours! Good thing I have lots of free time Thanksgiving week.

Derrick, Evie, Football, Formal Portrait, Jen, Jill, Personal Photo Project, Teresa

Personal Photo Project of the Week #42

1 Comment


IMAGE LOST
7 of 6

When it comes to framing and matting pictures I am a horrible procrastinator. So when Jill invited me to Evie’s final baby shower so that “Derrick and Rob would have somebody to talk to”, it provided me with a deadline.

I needed that deadline because although I had planned this project since shortly after Derrick told me that Jen was pregnant by telling me that they were canceling our trip to Kansas City to see the Cyclones play the Wildcats and I found this window sitting in my basement just begging to be used for such a project, I sometimes sit on things.

After all, I needed a gift for the baby shower. Otherwise, what would justify my eating of all the delicious free food? My natural charisma only takes me so far.

I got Teresa to cut the pictures since she has a steady hand and let’s face it, attention-to-detail isn’t exactly in my toolbox. Even though I’ve tried to purchase it at the local Sears on more than one occasion.

The baby shower was on a Sunday. We put it together on a Friday night. I snapped this picture and emailed it to Jill on the Saturday morning before I left to start the tailgating adventure before the final Iowa State-Nebraska game.

Since I didn’t get home from that game until after midnight and I woke up early for Church the next day and left for the baby shower shortly after I got out of my Methodist Men Board Meeting, what you see above is the only picture I have of the culmination of what was an 8 month project from beginning to end.

Probably the longest photo project of my career.