Date Day

Daughter Having Some Fun with a Photo Filter

I was just finishing up yesterday’s blog post in the Man Cave and anticipating a day spent in sweat pants watching old war movies. Then my Favorite Panamanian appeared, dressed to the nines, informing me I was taking her out for lunch and then a movie. Talk about an immediate rise in fortunes! This is the big difference having her around on these cold winter days instead of her usual Panamanian sojourn. If left to my own devices it would have been sweat pants city.

We had a very nice lunch together before hitting the movie theater. After taking in the songs and dances of La La Land the night before we went in a completely different direction, seeing Assassin’s Creed. As in La La Land we could trace an interest in this back to one of our children. I remember watching for extended periods of time as my high school aged son played the video game this movie is based on. They gathered an all-star cast but should have spent more of their money on a coherent script. The action was great when they stayed in 1490s Spain with the lead character leaping off buildings and cutting a deadly swath through the forces of the Spanish inquisition (who no one expects! – sorry). Unfortunately the movie spends a lot of time in the present day with a convoluted and questionable plot. Marion Cotillard and Jeremy Irons are wasted with thankless roles while a too mysterious, age old war between the Assassins and the Knights Templar is barely explained. I guess you had to have played the game to understand some of that but the medieval Spain scenes were worth the price of admission.

Second Gen Curbsiders in New Jersey Yesterday

Since we had such a good time at the movies in the afternoon and there were several that we still wanted to see, we returned to the theater twice more yesterday. Once to retrieve my wife’s purse which she left in her seat after the first movie. We were almost home when she let out a gasp and we set a new land speed record returning to the cinema. She was dashing through the lobby when a very nice family group stopped her and told them they saw her leave without it and unsuccessfully tried to catch us in the parking lot. They had turned it in to the manager and we reclaimed it without a problem. It’s so redeeming to run into honest, nice people who do the right thing in situations like that.

The second movie was Why Him, a comedy about a father who has serious doubts about the inappropriate boyfriend his daughter has taken up with. 'Heisenberg' himself is the parent and is confronted with James Franco in full “Seth Rogen” mode issuing the F-word in new and seemingly endless fashion. The funniest bits were the clash between the generations as the parents confront the endless wave of new pop culture/technology and feel left behind, a feeling I know all too well. Despite the incessant vulgarity my wife laughed almost non-stop. It’s a very funny movie that takes a well-worn theme and tries some new avenues. Plus, I will go see any movie that features Gene Simmons in full Kiss regalia entertaining a suburban Christmas party playing the triangle. Just sayin.

With Keene Freind at his Day After Christmas Party

There was some fairly momentous news from New Jersey which may explain the lack of fresh granddaughter pictures. They actually went house hunting yesterday and found a house that they really liked!  I tried, very unsuccessfully, to contain my enthusiasm when I first heard that. They’re going through the whole pre-approval process and hopefully the house will still be around in a couple days. It’s enough to make certain grandparents confirm the existence of God after some serial praying over the past few months.