Musquetera Consult

After a very nice bonding weekend with my Favorite Panamanian I have been summarily sidelined. This was expected with yesterday’s arrival of the Maine Musquetera, my wife’s sister in all but blood. They have some shopping planned (who’d a thunk that!) before they both head north into Maine for the weekend leaving me to my own devices. I will somehow survive the experience. I’m glad my wife, displaced from her immediate family, has friends like this to fill the void. I escorted both of them to our date night movie last night and felt my cool quotient increase geometrically with two beautiful women on my arm.

Dinner with Wingman

We talked with the BRS last night who was conducting father indoctrination lessons with my Favorite Son. The big event of the call was the BRS clearly saying “Grandpa” and looking directly at me when saying it. One of the small events that make life worth living. I video-conferenced in the abuela from her shopping location (they wasted no time) to share. The FBR was unavailable and we later learned this was because her mother had taken her out to dinner at Wingman’s restaurant. The photo above indicates it was a success as was my daughter’s purchase of a new cereal. At least the box was a hit.

Cereal Hit

I’ve seen a couple movies over the past couple days. While my wife was hunting in the Natick Mall I took in Jexi at a nearby cinema. This had an interesting concept and was a red hot poker aimed at skewering the millennial obsession/need to be linked with their smart phone. Adam Devine plays the lead and is called upon to carry the entire movie which I’m not sure he’s really up to. This new phone takes over Devine’s life with some of the funniest lines in the movie. This is what happens when you buy a phone from Wanda Sykes. The movie runs out of steam because it’s hard to invest in a lead character with so many flaws but there are some really funny moments because no one would want every private moment available for critical comment by a snarky phone based voice.

Gemini Man was much better. I know this isn’t getting a lot of love from the critics. Ang Lee does get carried away with trying to be too cute with his camera angles, action flicks may not be his best outlet. We get a whole lot of Will Smith, obviously since it stars both his current self and a computer generated younger version as well, which is never a bad thing. It seemed the computer generated younger version was limited in facial expression because he had none of Smith’s usual charisma. The older version more than picked up the slack though. Smith plays a world class assassin who tries to retire (never a cinematically easy task) and finds himself hunted by his much younger clone. There are plot holes galore but that comes with the territory and the action scenes were excellent. There was a tendency to come to screeching halts for a  little too much naval contemplation but Smith is good enough to carry you through that. He’s ably assisted by Mary Elizabeth Winstead who kicks some serious ass on her own. This is well worth the watch despite what you’re hearing from the critics.

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RECURRING CHARACTERS                                           

BRS - Blog Reader the Sequel - second granddaughter; FBR - First Blog Reader - first granddaughter, ABFA – Amazing Best Family Athlete = my daughter in law; Wingman – my son in law; Keene Friends 1 & 2 – friends since high school from my home town of Keene, NH; Soxfather - my brother in law; Great Aunt = my elder sister; Cantankerous Friend – friend since grade school who likes to argue about everything, poses as radical leftist to attract women; Pittsburgh College Roommate – high school friend, also a “Minor Celebrity” in Pittsburgh; Deckzilla – our backyard deck which grew to monstrous dimensions once my wife got involved in planning; Maine and Virginia Musqueteras – two close friends of my wife – her US sisters, my wife is the 3^rd musquetera (musketeer); Riggins - also known as the Grandpuppy, son's dog, surrogate grandchild while awaiting arrival of the BRS; PanaGals – female relatives/friends of my wife from Panama; Panamanian/Latin Mafia – inevitable group of Latino friends my wife accumulates wherever we have lived & their spouses; Neighborhood Mafioso - wife's close friend and Panamanian mafia member, Favorite Panamanian - the wife (of course); First Friday – celebrations to mark the First Friday of the Week; Deckzilla Dude – senior citizen carpenter/contractor; Voices of Inappropriate Worth - members of public who come to every Worcester public meeting to complain, all are on public assistance along with demeanor issues