Friday Night Video

Here's a short clip in honor of Thanksgiving. No explanation is necessary, which works out well since I don't intend to give one. Here you are...

Thanksgiving

Some of the things I'm thankful for:
I spent the day with Helaina and Sam.
I saw Jake on TV.
Sam helped me slice mushrooms and make pie.
I Skyped with Rachael.
I picked Jake up before dinner.
I cooked dinner for everyone.
I had multiple texts and a phone call from Rachael.
Everyone is sleeping peacefully upstairs as I write this (I think).

The only thing that would make this better is if Rachael were sleeping upstairs too.

Thanksgiving Preparations

This should be interesting. It’s the day before Thanksgiving and as I’m sitting here, a major storm is passing through the east coast. Thankfully, it’s not snow- just wind and rain. Jake’s in New York with the marching band, having arrived yesterday to prepare for the Macy’s parade. As I understand it, he has to get up about two in the morning tomorrow to get ready. The storm is supposed to have blown through by then, but it’s possible that it may still be in the area.

I just read a news article that, because of the wind, there’s a chance that the balloons won’t be able to be in the parade. Apparently, back in 1997, the Cat in the Hat balloon was caught in high winds which caused it to knock over a light pole, which in turn fell on some woman. According to this same article, the balloons have only been grounded once before, back in 1971. This article also mentions that activists plan to protest the Sea World float. Not sure how the possible un-inflation might affect those plans.

I guess one way or another, this will be a day he'll always remember.

Friday Night Video

I was looking around for a movie clip to post in honor of Thanksgiving coming up this week, but there aren't a lot of Thanksgiving movies that strike a cord with me.

I almost went with a clip of John Carpenter's "The Thing", which was pretty good. The only problem is, near as I can remember, it has absolutely nothing to do with Thanksgiving. It does have a shape shifting alien that terrorizes a scientific research team in Antarctica, but that's about as close as it gets.

Anyway, instead, tonight we have a clip from "Planes, Trains & Automobiles". I enjoy this movie, despite some perhaps corny parts. Corny is ok though, if it's done right. This clip is taken from the end of the movie and if I need to set it up for you, well, too bad. I'm not going to.

This may or may not be one of the cornier parts, but like I said, that's fine. I think it's done right.

Here you go...

Finale

It's hard for me to believe that all of the years of recitals and school plays and violin performances and soccer games and field hockey matches and basketball games and track and cross country meets and football half times; all of the concert choirs and all of the band performances- everything, it all comes to an end with this final performance.

I knew at those times that I should treasure every minute of it- from the too tired Friday nights, to the cold rain falling on the stands, to the waiting in the freezing cold car for the game bus to return. I knew even then that it was all irreplaceable and that if I missed it, I would regret it. I knew then that I should drink it all in.

After twenty plus years, it comes to an end, and while you would think I would be prepared for it, the sense of loss is profound.

Everything, as always, is too temporary to me.

So, here we are: a photo from the stands, which is about where the videos were taken from, a couple of clips of mace performances- one during the half time show, one from after. And another, longer clip of Jake singing, nearing the end of the senior show.

I'm surprised to see that the video is unfortunately so blurry. I thought it was only my eyes.

Jake is on the closest ladder.

And for a final reprise, a song that was originally performed from his first season, under George Parks, this time with Jake doing the vocals-



P.S. There is a much better video of the entire after game show here. It runs nearly fifty minutes. If you don't have time to watch the entire thing, watch from the four minute- thirty second mark, and again at the forty minute- ten second mark. My thanks to the person with the steadier hand and better camera than I.

A Long Day

A long and emotionally draining day today. I'll post about it another time... maybe. For now, enjoy some Everly Brothers.

Friday Night Video

It's been a while since we watched a little Outer Limits, so how about tonight? This, from October 1964, is called "Behold Eck!" It's the heartwarming tale of a two dimensional creature trapped in a world he didn't make... or something like that.

This is another one of those shows I wasn't allowed to watch, although I remember my babysitter sneaking a look. She told me I wasn't supposed to watch it, so she instructed to block my eyes as she checked it out for a minute. Naturally, I peaked.

Update

Sorry for not updating lately. I think I'm fighting a little bit of a cold and a little bit of a depression.

Friday Night Video

This video is from a game that the kids played when they were little- the three older kids, that is. I had bought the shareware version of this at a computer show- back when they had computer shows. It came on a floppy disk and it only had the first level. The kids played it so much, I tried to by the whole program but near as I could tell, the company had gone out of business.

I remember Rachael was particularly adept at this. So, it was almost always her in the driver's seat- with Helaina and Jacob flanking her on either side... one of the many things they bonded over.

This video goes on for six minutes and twenty-eight seconds. I'm pretty sure Rachael could beat that time.

Today's Comment

There's a video going around online of a mother singing to her baby girl. Only the baby's face fills the screen, while the mother sings off camera. It's a sad song I suppose, and the mother's voice is ok. But the baby just watches as tears well up in her eyes until finally the mother stops and comforts her, again off camera.

I guess this is supposed to be entertaining, but I can't figure out why anyone likes this sort of thing. The baby is clearly concerned and upset. Why put her through this? This isn't cute. All I can think is, "Shut your mouth, put the camera down, and go hug her."

Even worse is that the mother had to have discovered this at some point prior to this video, found it cute, or entertaining or ...something. And then set up a camera and put her baby through it all over again.

What the hell is the matter with people?

A Little More Mace Action

This video would have come out better if I wern't getting bumped throughout half time. Oh well...

Friday Night Video

When I was a kid, somewhere around kindergarten or first grade, there used to be a couple of old movie shows on TV in the late afternoon. One was Ed Miller's Dialing for Dollars, the other was Boston Movie Time.

The intro for Boston Movie Time started with the camera in first person, rolling through a couple of old theater doors into the movie theater just in time for the show to begin. For some reason, I found this quite creepy. Maybe it was the stark black and white of the era. Maybe it was because I probably wasn't supposed to be watching TV.

Whatever the reason, I remember catching glimpses of an old sci-fi movie. This particular one, uniquely enough, had to do with a robot that had gone out of control and was now on a rampage. As I remember it, the robot's body was a large, shiny cylinder and the arms were like silver dryer hoses. This thing lumbered around, terrorizing mostly women and me. I remember nothing else about this movie, other than that the thought of this thing kept me up for many, many nights.

I've looked many times for this movie on the internet, but as you can imagine, searching for an old sci-fi movie staring an out of control robot that's turned on it's creator, has brought me hundreds of thousands of results- none of which are the one I'm looking for.

So, instead, tonight I offer a clip of Mary Poppins in Japanese.

Trick or Treat

Nothing says "Halloween" like standing outside in the dark, cold rain, while your sixteen year old is knocking on doors, dressed as a pumpkin.