Six Months and Various Moviegoing Methods

Six months old!  A whole half a year!  The Wife has written a great update post here.

SERiously, this child...

He tries to get around a lot more than he used to... This is how he usually ends up in the bouncy seat.

His newborn cap doesn't quite fit like it used to anymore.

To commemorate half a year, The Wife made half a cake.  It was DELICIOUS.  Bobo didn't get any.

And now, for something else, somewhat related:

Anyone who knows me and The Wife knows that we really like movies.  We went to see a lot of movies before this little Bobo came along.  Naturally, we knew that we wouldn't be able to often go see movies in the theater like we used to (and really, Redbox is a perfectly good option for many, even most movies that come out these days), but since May there have been a few movies that we really wanted to see, or wanted to see enough to try out a few methods, with varying results.

Man of Steel (29 June) -- The Take-the-Newborn-Along-and-Hope-For-the-Best Method

For this one we purposely waited until the movie had been out for several weeks, picked the most obscure matinee time possible, and sat in the most out of the way seats we could imagine, complete with emergency exit plan.  It turned out to be pretty successful, only a couple of 5-week-old baby squawks here and there, and he even nursed and/or slept through most of the movie, even when the second half was like an hour-long extremely loud and neverending video game (and then he a major diaper fill during the brooding, emotional conversation at the end, of course).  Still, though he was pretty good (and one guy in front of us kept glancing at us even when we were deathly silent... I had a few ideas of what to say to him if he confronted us after), we heaved a pretty big sigh of relief after.

Mini movie review:  Superman was a little too angsty for me -- I don't love it when superhero movies take themselves so seriously, but it was okay.  (But wouldn't you be angsty if you had two Robin Hoods for dads?)  Again, the action in the last half was ridiculous.

Monsters University (21 August) -- The Take-the-Three-Month-Old-To-a-Kids'-Matinee Method

This one was less of a gamble since it was at the cheap theater a good two months after it had been released, and also the other moviegoers would be a lot closer to his age.  He slept for a lot of it and when he did make little baby noises it just added to some of the other noises in the theater.  Another great success!

Mini movie review:  It was funny and Pixarish, but it was missing a lot of things that made Monsters, Inc. the masterpiece that it is.  I just don't know that this story needed a second installment.

Ender's Game (8 November) -- The Go-While-the-Wife-Stays-At-Home-With-the-Baby Method

Some friends invited us to see this, and The Wife hadn't finished reading it yet, and was really in NO hurry to see it anytime right away, so she fully supported me going solo and seeing it with our friends, with whom we ALL went to dinner beforehand, and who also came over after to visit.  This method naturally worked pretty well, though Julie still hasn't seen it yet (or finished the book yet...).

Mini movie review:  I actually really liked it!  I don't know why I expected not to.  One of those decades-long hype kinds of things, I guess.  I thought Ender was too old and I didn't love Valentine (and Bonzo was cartoonishly puny), but the battle room was pretty awesome and I liked it overall.  I will be glad to see this again when Julie gets around to finishing the book, ha ha.

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (22 November) -- The We-Can't-Possibly-Wait-Past-Opening-Night-So-We-Hired-a-Babysitter Method

Yeah, we weren't going to try to take a six-month-old to this one on opening night, and we certainly didn't want to wait, so we hired my sister's oldest girl to watch him!  He's had a couple of experiences with babysitters, and he IS getting better with stranger danger, and we planned to go after bedtime to minimize Katy's responsibilities and having to deal with a possibly frantic baby an hour after putting him down (which he had started to do the week or so before for some reason...).  We worried whether or not everything were going all right, but Katy was very confident and we had good company, and eventually we just trusted that no news was good news and all was fine, and when we came home learned that he did wake up, but she managed to calm him down and get him back to sleep.  Hurrah!!!  We shall use this method again (that means you, Mr. Baggins).

Mini movie review:  Um, yes.  I liked it a lot.  I haven't read the books in several years, so a lot of things were totally new to me and I couldn't remember them happening at all, so it was pretty exciting.  The only problem is that I wanted the last one to start immediately after (and also just be one movie instead of split into two).

Thor: The Dark World (23 November) -- The Go-In-Shifts Method

This was probably our most experimental concept.  The idea is that one goes to a matinee while the other stays home with the baby, and then they come home and swap places.  It worked out all right, except that we had some scheduling and timing issues so Julie wasn't able to see it until a few days after I did.  It's not ideal, but it worked, and can be a good way to fill a Saturday afternoon in a pinch.  Still, it's more fun to see movies together (I used to go to movies alone now and then, and didn't really mind, but now all I can do the whole time is think of how Julie would respond and things I would whisper to her during the previews or the movie).  Again, not the best method, but it was an interesting experiment.

Mini movie review:  I thought the first Thor was okay until I saw it a second time, when I realized it's kind of silly.  I liked the second one a lot better, though it still had too much Loki.  Loki is laaaaaame.  My favorite parts were every time he was pwned.  Captain America, please.

Frozen (27 November) -- The Maybe-He's-Old-Enough-To-Be-Quietly-Amused-Or-Perhaps-Nap-Through-An-Opening-Day-Matinee-For-An-Animated-Movie-I-Can't-Really-Wait-For Method

This was probably one of our biggest risks.  It's generally hard for me to wait even one day to see the latest from Disney Animation (except for Wreck-It-Ralph, which for reasons I had no problem waiting several months to see...).  The Boy doesn't watch much TV, but when he does he's pretty mesmerized, so we thought it was worth a try to take him to an animated movie where there would surely be other kids present.  We also planned it to be around naptime and picked seats (reserved seats FTW, by the way, but fees for online ticket buying FTL) immediately adjacent to the exit just in case, ready to take him into the stairwell or the hallway as needed.  As predicted, he WAS mesmerized by the trailers and opening scenes, and then, as hoped for, he did actually fall asleep on an off for about an hour, and hardly made a peep the entire rest of the time.  This method might not work as he gets older and noisier and wigglier, but who knows, maybe he'll inherit his daddy's love of animation and Disney and be perfectly glad to sit quietly through them in the future too.

Mini movie review:  For some reasons I was worried this wouldn't be as good as I thought it should be, but I was actually pretty into it, and left wanting to see it again right away, which just doesn't happen that often anymore.  I still and I'm sure forever will wish it were 2D animated like it was originally going to be, but it was very beautiful an vibrant and exciting and a musical (I haven't been able to get the soundtrack out of my head for days... though I still would love to have heard what Alan Menken would have done with that score), and the real star is definitely Anna, as you can see.  I used to devour everything about a new Disney movie before seeing it, including the music, but I've become a little more spoiler-wary in later years, which makes the first viewing experience pretty fun.  There were quite a few surprises along the way.  Olaf still hasn't won me over, but he wasn't as annoying as I feared.

So that's how that's been going for the first six months.  We didn't want to have to hire a sitter EVERY time we go see something, if he can possibly go with us, which for a while he on occasion has been able to.  Even when he's good in movies we're still pretty relieved when it's over (we certainly don't want to be Those Parents, and we clearly take precautions to avoid being such), and while we but it's nice to know there are options and we can still do this thing we enjoy doing while also enjoying our delightful little Bobo.  Sometimes I can't imagine him being any cuter or me loving him any more than I do, but then he is and then I do, and it just amazes me every time.   Happy six months, my son!

He evidently liked the tree lighting at Riverwoods.

Traditions & Toys: 2 Journeys

Journey 1: 

Last Saturday we had our traditional annual family Strawberry Days 5K.  It took some convincing to get all usual parties in attendance this year (and of course we missed Grandma, who couldn't make it down this year), and as it turns out, there was good reason.  The price had gone up since last year, and many other changes had taken place:

• The race is now sponsored by the Pleasant Grove Police Department and Fire Department, and as such is now called the Strawberry Days "Guns and Hoses" 5K.

• The price has gone up significantly, which you would think means better prizes and/or treats...

• Prizes included a certificate (not even a medal??) for the top three in each age group for their gender, and an inexplicable "finisher's coin."

• Treats included questionable water and Krispy Kremes.  I mean, everyone loves Krispy Kreme, but is that REALLY what you want after a serious race?

• The course has changed as well, and is no longer the nice, mostly downhill run we usually look forward to, but a there-and-back course through another part of town.  It's still a pretty nice, level course, but who wants to retrace their steps?

• And... NO STRAWBERRIES.  What's the deal??

Of course we still had a good time, but some things are just better left the way they are...

 

I amazingly placed first in my age group, and was promptly awarded with this... certificate... filled out by hand right there in front of me...  Classy.  (21:14 was the time on the finisher's card, but I maintain that the 20:56 on the timer as I crossed the line is more accurate.)

It was still fun.  I was glad to have a family run again, and it was good to have Amber back in the game (and Brady of course).  We probably won't go back next year.  We're thinking of writing a professional but adamant letter of complaint.  Guns and Hoses... More like Guns and Hosers...

Journey 2:

Then, after a very quick shower and an even quicker breakfast burrito (which almost cost me a broken finger), we were off to the theater...

For the last two weeks The Wife and I have been plowing through the Disney/Pixar catalog in anticipation of the release of their latest, Toy Story 3.  14 days, 11 Pixar films, 11 Pixar soundtracks, 20 Pixar shorts.  Quality.  It was quite a feat (just ask Julie), and at times I didn't think we would finish in time, but we finished Up on Friday night, in perfect time for our matinee plans the next morning.  I will say this about Pixar's films:  They are all excellent.  (The Incredibles is still my favorite.)  Pixar knows how to write characters and tell a story in a way that any studio could emulate, and their continued partnership with Disney is a stroke of genius.  The last two or three of their films, while impressive to me, had been the first that didn't blow me away.  Toy Story 3 brought them right back up.

What can I say about this movie?  First of all, I won't post any actual spoilers, so don't be afraid to read on if you haven't seen it.  I don't want to go on too long for fear that people will skim, or worse, skip over entirely!  I will try to be succint:  IT WAS BRILLIANT.  It was a perfect capstone to the Toy Story trilogy, and brings characters and relationships full-circle in a way only Pixar could.  A little darker, deeper, sadder and funnier than the first two, it kept me guessing from start to finish, and took the audience on an emotional roller-coaster that I don't think anyone expected.  The first two films had their moments of heartstring-tugging emotion, but nothing like in this installment.  It wasn't heavy-handed or cheesy (which you would think would be the case, as the characters are, well, toys), it felt real and relateable and true.  It resonated with me on a personal level, and is the first Pixar film to bring me to running tears (and more than once).  It's a film about growing up, making changes, letting go and then holding on.  I laughed heartily (Pixar's films have a really unique sense of humor about them) and I cried openly (this was more than a sigh and an "Oh, how sweet").  Based around the question of the fate of toys once their owner has grown up, I really wondered what would happen to our core characters when Andy went to college.  The entire voice cast is back, with minor exceptions (Jim Varney, having passed away, as Slinky Dog, has been perfectly recast, for example), including even the original voice of Andy, having grown the same amount of years as his character since the first film.  There's a slew of new and amusing characters, as well as a few new baddies, and some who really make you wonder on which side they'll end up.  Technically, it was excellent as well.  They have come a long way since the cringe-worthy designs and animation of the human characters in their first film.  Even the toy characters have more nuanced and believable animated performances.  We grew up with these characters, and they have a history and background that allows the audience to immediately care about them.  Bravo, Pixar.  Another home run. I loved it.  Go see it.

Oh yeah, and Ken+Barbie=TLA.

Also, I'm not the only one to have noticed a certain similarity between me and college-bound Andy...  The fashion sense, the hairstyle, (probably) even down to our first name, I thought I saw a lot of myself in his design...  Julie didn't really see it, but, well... you be the judge:

  

 I love how I used that "smoldering" bowling picture.  I tried to find a better one (I even have a shirt kind of like his), but it was the right angle and close to the right expression, not to mention lacking the beard and glasses and chubbiness.

P.S.  The "Day & Night" short that ran before the film was innovative and interesting, pretty much like no animation I've seen before, but it was kind of weird and turned sort of propagandistic at the end.  That was an unpleasant surprise.