Netflix'n it!

This past week I sat down and enjoyed myself some Netflix.

The first movie I watched was "Lars and the Real Girl" staring Ryan Gosling. The synopsis of this movie says that it is an oddball comedy. Although there are plenty of comedic moments I thought the broader message of the film was that of a community coming together to help Lars and the journey of his character. The funniest moments in the film are the non-verbal reactions to Lars' delusion and at times the extent of Lars' lack of social skills. Ryan Gosling does a fine job of acting. His acting career has come a long way.

The second movie I watched was "The Visitor" staring Richard Jennings. I really enjoyed this movie. Although the ending was not what I had expected to happen the journey of Jennings character Walter was a delight to watch. The premise of the movie is that a widowed college professor finds an immigrant couple living in his New York apartment. Walter becomes immersed in their lives and learns how to live again. The movie also gives the audience a small glimpse on the treatment of illegal aliens and how they are treated in the United States. This one is definitely worth watching!

Socking folding and reflection?

What a weird night!

I found myself sitting on my bed matching up my socks and pondering about my life. Weird huh? Who knew socking folding would trigger a walk through memory lane and the self discussion of why I am the way am!

I was listening to the MGMT song "Time to Pretend"; the lead song in "21", on my ipod. This got me thinking how I should purchase this movie for my Mom and Dad as I think they would really enjoy it. That thought then snowballed into the memory of how my Dad sat my brother and me down in the kitchen one night when I was in elementary school and taught us how to play 21; aka blackjack. We would sit at the table and just play for hours. I'm pretty sure I begged my Dad on occasions to play blackjack with me. Come to think of it, I am fairly certain that I played blackjack by myself quite a bit. I used to deal out four hands and then I would take turns with each hand and deciding when to stay, fold, and hit. Then I discovered solitaire and my ability to entertain myself with a deck of cards for hours on end began!

It was with that memory that came the realization that my parents have instilled in me the ability to enjoy the simple things in life. Growing up as a kid we only went on one true vacation, and the only reason we went was because my uncle was going to convention and my mom and dad were a good babysitter option for my cousins and an extra driver on the way down and back. Other than that we went on short day trips to the zoo, air force museum, Indianapolis motor speedway, Grandma's house, Grandpa and Grandma's cabin, or a local park.

More times than not we would spend weekends doing lawn work, beginning and finishing household projects, or doing chores around the house. Of course I did a bunch of kid stuff as well. I used to shoot hoops in the driveway, play with dogs, kick the soccer ball in the backyard, explore the woods, and ride my bike around the neighborhood. In the spring and cool summer nights we used to sit around camp fires on the weekends and roast marshmallows, stare at the stars, swat at the mosquitoes flying around our ears, and just talking.

Sometimes the best things in life really are free.

Who knows maybe I've been sniffing too many dryer sheets tonight!

No Mom I'm not Dead

I promise to call you this Sunday!

An Evening with Netflix

On Monday night I came to the realization that I can only watch every season of "The Office" and "Family Guy" so many times before they are merely background noise while I waste away my life chatting in front of my computer, so I signed up for Netflix; trade one idiot box for another right? I had been meaning to sign up for awhile now and finally made the plunge. I haven't bought any new movies to watch lately; what? the economy is bad and my mom taught me to be very financially responsible, so my home movie experience was quite bland and predictable.

I opted for the option where I get 3 movies at a time with an unlimited number of movies a month. What can I say I'm loser with few friends, so I spend nights and weekends at home amusing myself. On the plus side though, this will give me a great opportunity to have more consistent blog entries. I got my first three movies in the mail on Wednesday.

Tonight's feature was "Into the Wild" starring Emile Hirsch and directed by Sean Penn. This is the first movie since middle school that I actually read the book before I watched the movie. The book was great and I felt a connection with Christopher J. McCandless and what he was searching for and what he did. Although, I don't think I could live as a drifter. I have too much of an obsession with showering for that to happen, so no need to worry Mom. I would though love to camp and live in Alaska one day. Just the idea of waking up with breath taking views of the Yukon would be a life worth living. Kayaking down the Colorado river would be pretty awesome too. The only issue for me would be that I don't want to experience these things alone. I want to find someone to share them with. This was a lesson that Christopher learned the hard way.

Sean Penn did an amazing job with this story and with this film. He's come a long way since his days with Madonna. Each actor and actress played their role extremely well and the cinematography was amazing.

Movies to come:
"The Visitor", "Lars and the Real Girl", "Once", "Blindsight", and "Michael Clayton"

From the Portfolio of Andy Everson

"Dreamtime"

Hello again

Yes, I know it has been a long time since I've updated my blog. I've been lazy and haven't really had anything worthy of "blogging out". But, I need to break out of the cycle so I'm going to bore you all with the musings of my mundane life.

So, what have I been up to you ask. Well, let me tell you. I've been up to the usual routine of work, eat, and sleep. Basketball season is grinding along and no it is not going well. We are currently 3-7 in conference and 9-13 overall. It has been a rough start to the conference schedule. We've lost games in all kinds of fashion. We've had double digit leads and have squandered them away in the second half. We've played well and have had chances to win in the end, but make silly turnovers, and shoot bad shots. We've even only scored 16 points in one half. All I have to say is that at least we've scored more points than Maryland and Oregon in a half (15 each in horrible losses); sorry Clay I feel your pain!

This past week we made the trip down to Orange county to play Fullerton and Irvine. We built up a 22 point second half lead just to end up losing by 7 in our first game. In the second game of the weekend we did considerably better beating Irvine by 9 and securing the season sweep over the team that had knocked us out of the Big West tournament when we were the higher seed the past two years. With last weeks road trip we only have one more conference road trip to make; a one game trek down to Northridge. This week we welcome our central coast travel partner/rival Cal Poly to the Thunderdome for our third consecutive Valentine's Day match up. We beat Cal Poly on the road a month ago, but Poly has been hot on the road and cold at home. This is a big game for both teams since we are both in the basement of the conference. The silver lining though is that the conference is living in a ranch style house this year, so it's going to be a wild sprint to the finish..

On the personal side of life things are status quo. I haven't been going out much, but then again I've been on the road with basketball for practically all of January. I'm proud to say that since I've gotten my Wii fit I have lost 20lbs. The best way to describe everything is that I'm going with the flow and seeing where it takes me.

With that said I'm just going to "Float On"! You all do the same!