Family Adventures: George Clooney's Disastrous Tailoring

We went to an Oscar party last night, our second year in a row attending this particular affair. The golden boot above was my door prize from last year's soiree. Vermont is a state of small towns and it's easy to feel that everyone in the state knows each other, or at least isn't separated by more than two or three degrees. We have, in fact, two separate connections to our Oscar hosts. I taught all three of the children in high school choir once upon a time and My Wife worked with the mom at the same company for several years.

I didn't do too well in the pool, only picking eight of the awards correctly. I don't know if My Wife did much better. We were somewhat hampered by the fact that we've only seen one film that was nominated for anything: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. But the Oscars are always plenty of fun regardless. My Wife taught us about proper hemming. Apparently, American men (like George Clooney) never get their pants properly hemmed whereas European men (like her boyfriend, Colin Firth) do. Apparently, this is how it should look:


Photo via Threads Count

We had our own little party on Saturday night, entertaining the Mocks for another game night. The main attraction was a new addition to our collection: Pandemic.


Image via Wikipedia

It's a cooperative game - not in the everyone holds hands and sings "Kumbayah" sense. Rather, it's get in gear, people, or the whole world dies in puss-running agony. We played through, I believe, three times and finally managed to save humanity on the last attempt. I think Mock is now as obsessed as we are. The game is designed for 2-4 players but, as he pointed out, one could probably play a satisfying solitaire game.

We had a nice lunch in Waterbury on Sunday at Arvad's Grill & Pub. It was our second time there and, while I intended to order something different from before, I think I got the Roadside Chicken Sandwich last time, too. No matter - it's excellent. The Chocolate Mousse Torte was a great choice for dessert, too.

Finally, I have a link to recommend, sent to me by Kaitlyn Cole: 12 Colleges Bringing Comic Books into the Classroom. If you're interested in either education or comics, check it out.

Family Adventures: Happy New Year

Photo via Whats4lunch

While out on errands on Saturday, we stopped for lunch at the Asian Bistro in Williston. It's a bit further from our home than Joyce's Noodle House in Essex but apparently My Wife prefers their lo mein to Joyce's. I had no idea. It was chicken fried noodles for me - not bad but, as usual, My Wife ordered better.

Image via Amazon.com

We went to the Mocks' for an early evening New Year's gathering. We brought over a new game to share: Dixit. My Wife has had her eye on Dixit for a while now and bought it as a gift for our family. It's a sort of story telling/guessing/fool your opponents game. It's a lot of fun: easy to learn and perfectly suitable for a wide range of ages. The game is technically limited to six people and we had seven which was a little funky but two of the kids volunteered to play as a team so it worked out fine. It allows for a low-key atmosphere, too - not overly competitive and we could all be happy for the winner, Mrs. Mock in this case.

Image via ProductWiki

Pictionary was a different story. Things got a lot more emotional with that one! I hadn't played in years but it was fun. My team struggled but we made a strong effort in the end. The toughest word I had to draw (unsuccessfully) was current.

We brought over Duck Soup to share. It's long been our tradition to watch Marx Brothers movies on New Year's. Evidently, they tended to be on TV when My Wife babysat as a teenager on New Year's (I'm still learning new things about her all the time). Apparently, it's a long-standing tradition for loads of people. TCM had a New Year's Eve Marx Brothers marathon this year. Here I thought it was just her clever idea!

Duck Soup is my favorite Marx Brothers film, though I also like Horse Feathers, the first one I ever watched. The adults watched more than the kids did last night. Those kids who did wander in and out were mostly confused by it - understandable if you're not paying close attention, I suppose.

Before I sign off, I'd like to take a quick moment to express my disappointment with Fantasy Tennis Tour. Due to their apparent compatibility issues with Firefox, I wasn't able to log in and make my picks for the opening tournaments of the year. It's not worth the weekly frustration so I'm bagging the idea for the year. Oh well. I dare say I'll find other things to write about!

But let's end on a positive note. Here's my favorite scene from Duck Soup:



Happy New Year!

Family Adventures: Halloween Weekend

There was nothing to do except to give the weekend over to Halloween. We had three parties in total: two kid-only affairs and one for all of us. Our Girl had one party through her after-school program and one at her dance school. We were all invited for a shindig at Blue Liner's house. Our Girl is a black spider this year. We went along as two bugs caught in her web.


Photo via George Takei's Facebook page

A friend shared this photo and it's only right I should pass it onward. Our Girl and I just finished "Riddles in the Dark" this weekend, the Hobbit chapter in which Bilbo finds the ring. I'll do a full review once we finish the book but what an outstanding chapter! If Gollum isn't the greatest character in fantasy literature, he's in very exclusive company.

Mock predicted an epic broomball game this weekend and it was... for the other team. We got hammered, 8-0. After the blood bath, four of us headed to a local watering hole and had a bit of a chalk talk with napkins, salt shakers and so forth. We have three games left. Surely, we can manage at least one win.