Sing 2

Last night Marilyn and I took Sean and Tashena to see Sing 2 and we had so much fun.  I really enjoyed the first movie but I think I liked this one even more!  Buster Moon (Matthew McConaughey) and his troupe have a hit show at his newly renovated theater but he aspires to greater things.  When a talent scout named Suki (Chelsea Peretti) dismisses him as a small-time player, he is encouraged by his patron Nana Noodleman (Jennifer Saunders) to take the show to Redshore City and audition for an entertainment mogul named Jimmy Crystal (Bobby Cannavale).  When Crystal rejects their act, Gunter (Nick Kroll) pitches his idea for an elaborate production starring Clay Calloway (Bono), a legendary rock star who has not performed for fifteen years.  Crystal enthusiastically backs this show because of Calloway's supposed participation but each member of the troupe faces a crisis of confidence during rehearsals.  Rosita (Reese Witherspoon) is scared of heights and is unable to perform the stunts required for the show so her role is given to Crystal's spoiled daughter Porsha (Halsey), Johnny (Taron Egerton) clashes with choreographer Klaus Kickenklober (Adam Buxton), Meena (Tori Kelly) is nervous about performing a romantic duet with the self-absorbed Darius (Eric Andre), Ash (Scarlett Johansson) is disillusioned when her idol refuses to perform, Calloway must overcome the devastating loss of his muse, Porsha has something to prove to her father who believes her to be an embarrassment, and Buster feels intimidated by Crystal and wants to cancel the show.  Does this ragtag group have what it takes to make it big?  As a huge fan of Bono, I really loved Clay Calloway and, while every character has a similar arc, I especially enjoyed watching him find the confidence to perform again after a long absence.  I had a tear in my eye as he listens to the crowd sing one of his songs after fearing that he had been forgotten.  I loved all of the songs used in this movie but my niece had to tell me to stop singing when "Where The Streets Have No Name," "Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of," and "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" were performed and I immediately downloaded the new U2 song "Your Song Saved My Life" which was written especially for the movie.  Sean and Tashena liked this movie as much as I did (they were singing "There's Nothing Holding Me Back") so I highly recommend it as a fun movie for families to see over the Christmas break.

Christmas 2021

Christmas was a little bit subdued this year because we were missing the one member of our family who loved Christmas the most and it wasn't the same without him.  We all had fewer presents because we didn't have as much free time to prepare but we were all very happy to be together and spent a lot of time reminiscing about past Christmases.

We really enjoyed having Thanksgiving dinner from Cracker Barrel this year so we decided to do it again for Christmas dinner.  This time we chose Olive Garden and it was delicious!  Later in the evening we played Shanghai rummy again (we love playing cards).  This time Kristine won (I have had a streak of bad luck).  It ended up being a really nice day.

I hope you were able to have a wonderful Christmas with the ones you love.

Christmas Eve 2021

We have a tradition of opening one present each on Christmas Eve and it is always new pajamas.  My Mom was pretty excited about her pajamas but Sean was absolutely thrilled because his have the Flash (his favorite comic book character) on them.  After opening presents, we once again played Shanghai rummy (and ate so many treats).  It got pretty boisterous and at one point we were all laughing so hard we couldn't breathe.  It felt really good because we haven't had many opportunities to laugh for the past few months.  Trent beat all of us again but we have all vowed that he is going down when we play again tonight!

The Matrix Resurrections

Yesterday afternoon I went with Kristine, Trent, Tashena, and Sean to see The Matrix Resurrections and it was so much fun to see it with my family.  I am a big fan of this franchise (I recently watched all three movies again) so I was really looking forward to this installment and I absolutely loved it!  Within the present-day iteration of the Matrix, Thomas Anderson (Keanu Reeves) is a successful video game programmer who has difficulty separating his dreams from reality.  He is inexplicably drawn to a woman named Tiffany (Carrie-Anne Moss), a married mother of three who has an affinity for motorcycles, and has an antagonistic relationship with his business partner Smith (Jonathan Groff).  His Analyst (Neil Patrick Harris) prescribes blue pills to keep him sane but he eventually stops taking them and inadvertently creates a modal with a program embodying Morpheus (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II).  Bugs (Jessica Henwick), a human outside the Matrix and the captain of the Mnemosyne, discovers this modal and realizes that Neo is still alive.  With the help of Morpheus, she extracts him from the Matrix and takes him to Io, the new human headquarters, where he meets Niobe (Jada Pinckett-Smith) and the sentient program Sati (Priyanka Chopra Jonas) who tell him what has happened since the Machine War ended sixty years ago.  As he struggles to assimilate within his new environment, he requests permission to extract Trinity but this request is denied.  Bugs and her crew go rogue in order to assist him but first he must confront several exile programs, including the Merovingian (Lambert Wilson), Agent Smith, and the Analyst (in some epic action sequences that are exciting even though they don't quite live up to those in the original).  I loved the winking self-awareness about this specific franchise (and of sequels in general) and I loved all of the nostalgia.  I was giggling out loud with every reference, call-back, and revelation.  I also loved the relationship between Neo and Trinity (Reeves and Moss give fantastic performances and they still have so much chemistry) and the meaning it gives to the notion of being the "One."  Finally, I loved the concept of free will and how it is used in Trinity's character arc as well as the implication of it when the swarm is used during the final battle within the Matrix.  It should be noted that Sean, who is as big a fan of the franchise as I am, also loved it (we spent quite a bit of time discussing it afterwards and have plans to see it again); Kristine and Trent, who are casual fans, liked it and thought it was very clever; and Tashena, who hasn't seen any of the movies in the franchise, was totally confused and fell asleep.  You should probably use these reactions as a guide in deciding if you want to see it but I highly recommend it!

Gingerbread Houses 2021

One of my family's favorite Christmas traditions is making gingerbread houses and, since we all needed a bit of Christmas cheer yesterday, we had our annual party and then played Shanghai rummy.

We had a lot of fun and, as always, we ate as much candy as we used on our houses!

Marilyn's house

My house

Tashena's house

Sean's house

I think they turned out pretty good this year!

After we made our gingerbread houses, Kristine and Trent joined us for Shanghai rummy.  It honestly felt good to relax a little bit after such a difficult month.  Trent won but the rest of us declared a rematch tonight!