My movie review of What If

Last night I watched What If? on DVD, with Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter!!!) and Zoe Kazan.

Guy has a bad break-up, and a year later meets a woman who he completely connects with, but it already in a long-term relationship. But they become friends, and he lives a tortured life for the next year or so.

Somewhat low-key, but good pacing:  I enjoyed it. Reasonably witty, with some good lines. Picked it up used for two bucks, but would probably put it on my “To Buy” list, as I can see myself wanting to re-watch it in the future.

Some implied nudity, possibly some swearing (I didn't specifically notice), and some frank sexual talk.

Worth watching if you like Rom-Coms. Also, I tend to like movies with Zoe Kazan in them (Ruby Sparks, In Your Eyes) – although I don't know if it's because she's a good actor, or because she knows how to choose film projects well.


 --GG

Amusing pics from Japan

My folks were in Japan a little while ago, and my dad sent me a few photos.

These three were my favorites.

Regarding the middle photo:  In the U.S. you "get takeout" (food); in Australia, it's a called "takeaway".  So, an extra level of amusement for me.


--GG

Guitar ancestor

When I visited home (i.e. Seattle) for Christmas, my dad gave me a CD-R of a bunch of scanned family photos.  Just tonight I finally got around to looking through them.

Two of them have my grandmother's brother (long since deceased), in 1937, playing a guitar:  I've posted one of the photos here.

That's pretty neat; I had no idea that anyone in the family, prior to Guitar Cousin and myself, played the guitar.


--GG

Woodworking humor

Not everyone will understand why this is funny.

And that's okay.


--GG

Patriotic necktie

Yesterday was the Fourth of July.  Back home in Seattle, I probably wouldn't "flag up" -- but since I'm the only American at my workplace, I figured "what the heck".

So:

Also, I wore this lovely pink monstrosity a few days ago:

--TWAB

Wherever did my weekend go

Nearly every Monday, my co-workers ask how my weekend went, and what I did -- and I usually can't tell them.  I know that I did "things" -- but usually none of it is noteworthy enough to stick in my brain.

Wow:  as I write that, it makes me sound senile.  The funny thing is, I can say exactly what I did at work the previous day.  So I suspect that I just drift through the weekend, happy to not be at work, but don't really pay attention.

This time, I actually paid attention -- and here's what I did.


Saturday, I slept in, and had a peculiar but enjoyable dream -- which I will not share.

Then I took the kids to their piano lesson, which takes an hour and a half:  30 minutes per child.  While I waited, I repaired the two wrist seams on an old long-sleeved t-shirt (using a whip stitch), plus the fallen hem on a pair of walking shorts (some sort of modified running stitch).

I watched a few episodes of Friends on DVD with my kids (we're methodically going through all ten seasons).

Then we all went to the 6pm showing of The BFG.

And finally, I finally typed various items into my computer -- and stayed up late doing it.


On Sunday I cut some firewood from a downed tree in the woods behind our house, and showed the kids how to start a fire from scratch, using flint and steel -- although I had to cheat and douse the tinder in rubbing alcohol to get it to catch!

The kids have a "Harry Potter" day this Friday at vacation care, so they looked for fallen branches to be their magic wands.  I showed them how to cut them to length, using a backsaw (but had them do the actual work), and how to use a rasp, a file and sandpaper to take the bark off, and round the ends.

I planted various seeds in some large pots:  three ginger roots; some weird seed pods that I found a few weekends ago at the beach, from a weird tree; and an avocado pit.

I trimmed one of our dogs with scissors, because his hair was getting a bit matted.

I did my chinups and pullups -- first time since getting back from vacation about two weeks ago.

I found the USB cable for the (somewhat obsolete) USB recording interface that I bought on my trip to the U.S. a few weeks ago.

And, I vacuumed our bedroom, with a long and annoying interruption while I unclogged our vacuum cleaner:  it's a bad design, where the telescoping portion gets narrower as it carries the items from the floor towards the bag -- so things sometimes get clogged.



So:  yep -- I did "stuff".  :)  Accomplished a lot. 


--GG

Some neckties

I enjoy -- and collect neckties.  Since I have them, I tend to wear them to work (only the "big boss", and his personal assistant, wear neckties -- besides me).

Rather than playing it safe, I try to push the boundaries of "what actually 'goes together'":  wearing a colored, patterned tie against a white or a black shirt would just be too easy...!!!


Here are some recent combos:

In June, it's "winter" -- or, what passes as "winter" -- here in Queensland.  Hence the jacket and the hat.


--GG