Road to the Oscars: Part II

Well, have you seen any nominated movies yet?

I have finished about everything on DVD. It is almost time to start living at the movie theater. One of my dream wishes in life is to be a voting member of the Academy. I think it would be so cool to have all the nominated movies sent to my home. I would pop some popcorn, crack a diet coke, and watch every movie from the comfort of my bed. Don't judge my dream!

I am going to continue to introduce you all to movies that are currently up for Oscars. I thought I should get this post up early because the rest of my week is devoted to one big SUPER BOWL PARTY!!

The Tree of Life: Nominated for: Best Picture, Cinematography, Best Director (Terrence Malick).

What can I say? It has been nearly a week since I watched this movie and I am still not sure I fully understand it. The good news: the movie has Brad Pitt, Sean Penn, and Jessica Chastain in it. Well, Sean Penn is in it but you really do not see much of him.

The story is about the loss of a son and the aftermath of that. It gets confusing when the mother starts questioning God about why. The movie shows us amazing photography of the ocean, volcano's erupting, and of.... dinosaurs. YES, I said dinosaurs. Then the movie takes us back before the death of their son and takes us through the formative years of Sean Penn's younger self. The movie won awards at the Canne's film festival.

If you watch this one, just be patient. It is a two and half hour movie. On the surface it does not make much sense. But please remember all the beautiful photography comes in when the Mother is questioning God. So, look at it God's response to the Mother.

A Better Life: Nominated for Actor in a Leading Role (Demian Bichir)

I started watching this movie while cooking and quickly realized large portions of the movie are subtitled. Have you ever tried to read and cook? Not a great idea.

This is a story of an illegal immigrant who works hard and believes in the American dream. His child is on the verge of destruction but a crisis pulls them together and sets him on a new course. I really enjoyed the movie and found Demian Bichir's character to be a great teacher and a wonderful father.

Warrior:Nominated for Actor in a Supporting Role (Nick Nolte)

The guy at the video store told me this was the worse movie ever. He said I would hate it. He could not have been more wrong. Maybe it is because I like MMA fighting or maybe it was because it was just a great story. But I loved this movie!

The basic storyline: two brothers split apart by alcoholism and divorce go on separate paths. They are reunited in the ring where they both are trying against all odds to win a MMA mega prize tournament. Both brothers are dealing with personal demons as well as the demons that come from a dysfunctional family.

Nick Nolte is the father figure. He is a recovering alcoholic who is trying hard to make his amends but both sons are not ready or willing to listen to him. I thought his performance was great.

Okay, that is all for now. More movies have arrived in the mail from Blockbuster. Tonight I am watching Beginners. More introductions next week.

Happy movie watching!

My Weekend Project: A PVC Camping Lamp Post and Flag Holder

I have seen a few of these around campsites and I knew I would like to have one. The only problem that I had is The Husband. He already thinks we drag too much stuff with us when we go camping and if I had told him my desire to have a PVC Camping Light Pole he would have shut it down quickly! So, that leaves a girl with only one choice: Figure out how to do it by herself. I did some internet searching and found a few road maps on RV forums. They seemed easy enough! I visited the local hardware store for the supplies: An exterior post lantern light 2 inch PVC pipe (I used 5 feet but had to purchase a 10 foot piece) A 3 inch toilet flange A 3 inch to 2 inch Reducer PVC Glue A 12 foot electric cord kit 2 - 3/4 inch PVC Caps I also used a few supplies we already had on hand: White Spray Paint 3 1/2 foot - 3/4 inch PVC Pipe Drill Bits (1 inch and 1/2 inch) Tent Stakes The first step was preparing the lantern light. I could only find black i...

Liver Cheese: A Family Tradition

Today is an anniversary date. One of those dates you wish you did not have to remember but there is no way you can forget. Fifteen years ago today,two days after his birthday, my father died of lung cancer. He was a lifelong smoker and his cancer was aggressive. His battle was short. He fought for six short months after his diagnosis. He knew the chemo was not working and that his time was limited. When he came to this realization he became the best dad in the world. In the days before my father's passing, my family shared some memorable moments. One of those moments centers around the deli meat: Liver Cheese.I would not be surprised if you have never heard of it, or even never tasted it. But I was raised on it as it was one of my Dad's favorite things. What is it? Well, it is a German food that is...

Tonsillectomy (Warning Photos!)

The Short Chic came down with a pretty nasty case of strep throat back in April. So, when The Boy started complaining about his throat hurting about 12 days later, I was pretty confident that he had inherited his sister's strep. Instead, The Boy was diagnosed with a peritonsillar abscess growing on his right tonsil. We had to immediately see an ENT Physician who took a needle and drained the abscess. He removed about 5.5 cc of puss from The Boys throat.and then told us that once you have a peritonsillar abscess you were high risk to keep getting them. The Boy's tonsils were now compromised and needed to be removed. We were told to plan for a two week recovery so we worked a surgery into our summer plans. Between family vacations, summer sports, and the beginning of school The Boy had his second surgery. A tonsillectomy. Pre-surgery prepping went well. It must be nice to be young and have healthy veins for an IV! The Boy had lots of pre-surgery vi...

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