tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-65275222991163734272024-02-19T00:32:52.846-08:00Loebrich.orgSundry information, thoughts and links to sort us outBruce Loebrichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16173938152239932059noreply@blogger.comBlogger131125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6527522299116373427.post-20061367248061823882013-09-29T18:32:00.001-07:002013-09-29T18:32:28.981-07:00HatsWhile I wear a lot of <i>proverbial</i> hats at work - Director, Producer, Writer, Editor, etc. - I didn't used to be much of a <i>literal</i> hat person. That is, until recently.<br />
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It all started in the summer of 2010, when we were planning a family trip to Disney World & I decided I needed a good sun hat. For most of my life I didn't think I looked very good in hats, but necessity is the mother of invention, or in this case, acceptance, & I found one that I actually liked - reminded me of Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm. I bought it at the Great Outdoor Provision Company. It was great for Disney, except that it doesn't have a chin-strap, so I had to take it off & sit on it on roller coasters.<br />
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The lack of a chin-strap became a bigger issue in the fall of 2010 when we got our first Smart Car, since it was a convertible. So we went hat shopping again & I found one at REI that had a strap. The olive green color (not necessarily obvious in this photo) was a big draw for me. (I had the chin-strap behind me in this photo.</div>
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Then we went to Hilton Head with Bruce's family in the summer of 2011 & discovered that Tilley now made some more "feminine" hats. With a broader brim & a new, lighter color the hat drew both Debbe & me straight to the hat rack. (We have the same coloring & wear a lot of the same colors & styles.) In fact, we each bought one & mine has become my Everyday Hat. </div>
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Bruce also has a Tilley hat, but his is more grey-green. Often when we wear them we get comments about our "cowboy hats" because of their shapes & brims. Mine is now also covered with collectible Disney Winnie the Pooh pins that Derek got for me doing Pin Trading on our Disney trips! :-)</div>
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But what really got me wearing hats more frequently - other than my Tilley, which keeps the sun out of my eyes - was the hat some friends got me for my birthday last year. It's a beautiful light blue with a broad brim & a coordinating scarf to tie around it for a pop of color. Our friends were the first to give it its name, which definitely fits & is what I still call it - my Sunday Go-To-Meeting Hat.</div>
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The above picture was taken right before I actually wore that hat to church! It looks great, makes me feel pretty, & got a lot of positive comments & smiles. That did it - now I've started wearing hats to church! The green one & the Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm one have both made appearances as has the official Sunday Go-To-Meeting hat - I match them to what I'm wearing. (I hang them in the choir robe room during service.) </div>
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I wear the Tilley to work 2-3 times a week, too, depending on the weather. For a girl who never was much of a hat person, I'm really starting to enjoy wearing my multiple figurative & literal hats!</div>
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<br />Katy Loebrichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02565227413268875795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6527522299116373427.post-20445869915881575272013-08-05T13:49:00.000-07:002013-09-02T14:33:15.253-07:00Florida 2013This year Mom & Dad Loebrich had two weeks at their Hilton Head time share & decided to split them up - one in SC & the other in Orlando. Debbe & Derek were with them for the whole trip, while we met them in Hilton Head at the end of the first week & caravanned from SC to FL (I stopped counting Buicks at 200, about half an hour outside of Orlando, & at that time we'd also seen 34 cops!). The hardest part of the trip was probably checking into the condo!<br />
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Once we got to it, our place was very nice. We had a 3-bedroom lock-out with a full kitchen in the main unit & a kitchenette in our room. Our building was a short walk from the pool & the complex was about 5 miles from Disney. We had dinner that first night at Raglan Road Irish Pub in Downtown Disney - yummy, & great music & dancing! - & we saw a full rainbow as we were leaving. We were pretty sure that the rainbow ended at Disney World. :-)<br />
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Debbe & Derek & Mom & Dad went to Legoland on our first full day in Orlando. They had such a good time that they upgraded their passes so they could go more during the week. Meanwhile, we went to Universal's Islands of Adventure so we could go to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. It was awesome! They did a great job of capturing the look & feel of the movies & the books. The main ride - Harry Potter & the Forbidden Journey - is a blast, & the wand choosing ceremony at Olivander's is worth the wait even when it's 100 degrees out! We bought wands & some Ravenclaw gear - oh, & frozen butterbeer is quite tasty!<br />
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The rest of Islands of Adventure is fun, too. Dr. Seuss-land is neat & colorful, Jurassic Park is almost as creepy as the movies, & Toon Town is fabulously full of both old & new comic strip characters. Plus, we randomly ran into Spiderman in the gift shop! What a treat - I've been reading Spidey since I was 7! - loved getting my picture taken with the famous web-slinger.<br />
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We went to EPCOT on our second day in Orlando. Bruce & I did not have Park Hopper passes, so some of the time we were on our own while the rest of the group bopped around. That was okay. We enjoyed the lands - I finally got to see the Canadian Celtic band Off-Kilter! - & we just happened to run into Tigger & Pooh in the toy shop in EPCOT England! We had a family character dinner at 1900 Park Faire at the Grand Floridian where we met Cinderella, Prince Charming, & the stepsisters. The food there is also excellent, btw!<br />
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The next day we went to Hollywood Studios & rode Toy Story & Star Tours. Plus we ate at the 50's Prime Time Cafe again - we didn't get our favorite waitress from last year, but we were well taken care of & the food was yummy! I took my phone out to check the Disney app to see what to do after lunch & our waitress chastised me saying, "This is family time - no toys at the table, princess!" :-)<br />
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Wayne & Abby drove up Wednesday evening after work & met us for dinner before following us back to the condo. They stayed with us till Saturday morning & we had a good time as a big group. We went over to the Magic Kingdom in a convoy (Derek rode over with Bruce each day - he had fun riding in Anakin!). We broke up into small groups & reconvened throughout the day - it was great fun to explore & ride rides & take pictures. We also managed to get into Be Our Guest for lunch in New Fantasyland. It was worth the half-hour wait in line, the food & the ambiance were amazing!<br />
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Friday we were back at EPCOT & started the day with lunch at the Rose & Crown. We also saw an adorable little girl, dressed as Minnie Mouse, playing with Alice in the garden - cutest thing ever as they skipped about the town square! Watched the Serveur Amusant ("balancing guy") in EPCOT France & two taiko drum shows in EPCOT Japan. Caught the Spirit of America fifes & drums as well as the Voices of Liberty concert in EPCOT America - one of the guys picked me out of the audience, took my hand, & sang just to me! It's part of the act, but it was still pretty amazing. (I was embarrassed until Wayne & Abby told me later that it was part of the show.) We also finally managed to meet up with my friend - & former coworker - Lucy for an early meal in EPCOT Mexico! So good to see so many loved ones on our vacation!<br />
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Saturday it was back to the Magic Kingdom, just the family. We had lunch at the Crystal Palace for a delightful visit with Pooh & the guys. Derek got picked to perform with the Giggle Gang clown show in the Storybook Circus & had a blast! He got a red clown nose for a prize & we all had fun wearing it & being silly. We debated about staying for the fireworks, but it was rainy & muggy, we were all tired, & we opted to go back to the condo. As we were leaving, Debbe spotted Dopey posing for pictures all by himself! He's one you don't see out much, plus the line was short - & he's a favorite of both Bruce & Debbe - so we grabbed the opportunity!<br />
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This was a much less structured trip than last year - & that was part of the plan - it was a little crazy to coordinate & find things that everybody could do together, but it was good just to BE together & enjoy our family time - some of it with extra loved ones - at the Happiest Place on Earth. :-)<br />
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<br />Katy Loebrichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02565227413268875795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6527522299116373427.post-57476090107094355362013-07-04T15:27:00.000-07:002013-08-17T16:04:32.474-07:00Howard ETC 2013More than 35 loved ones made the trek to the <a href="http://watsonhomestead.com/" target="_blank">Watson Homestead Retreat Center</a> in Painted Post, NY for our 2013 family reunion. Bruce & I arrived just after dinner time on Friday & were joyously greeted by my cousin Linda, recognizing our Smart Car from a distance as we drove up, who ran to give us hugs. Many more hugs & kisses abounded as we saw the faces of so many dear ones we'd not seen in far too long! Although it had been just over 2 years since we last got the extended family together, other than updating each other on basic news, it was almost as if no time had passed at all.<br />
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The folks at Watson Homestead took great care of us. They had upgraded us to mid-level cabins & they were just what we needed. Each unit had 8 bedrooms with 2 sets of bunk beds in each room. There were bathrooms with showers in each cabin. Each cabin also had a refrigerator, a microwave, & a couple banquet tables with chairs in the main room - as well as couches, armchairs, a fireplace, & a TV/dvd combo. (It might actually have been cool enough at night for the fireplaces, just barely, but we did not make use of them. Our cabin did use the dvd player to watch a couple movies in the evenings.) We split ourselves up between the cabins by choosing either the "Quiet Cabin" - for folks who wanted to go to bed early - or the "Loud Cabin" - for folks who didn't. Bruce & I chose the latter option so we could hang with my cousins, which was awesome! We had a grand time talking & laughing & watching movies together!<br />
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The two cabins were a short walk apart with a little yard between them. It was also a short walk from the cabin down to the Homestead's main hall & dining room. We had breakfast, lunch, & dinner there on Saturday, & brunch on Sunday before we all headed home. The facility also includes an indoor pool - where we swam on Saturday afternoon - & a beautiful chapel - which we toured, but did not use because of our varied departure times. We did get to go on a family wagon ride around the property in a flat-bed touring wagon pulled by two gorgeous Belgian draft-horses, though!<br />
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In the "Quiet Cabin" there were boards with & piles of family photos through the years. We had lots of fun looking at them, laughing over fashion, & sharing stories. Aunt Dot has been cleaning out the house since Grandma passed two years ago & had sorted many of the pictures into piles for the various folks connected to them - I came home with some photos of Mom & me from my high school years as well as a photo of Bruce & me that I thought was long-lost. Aunt Dot also brought many "heirloom" items to distribute - I had asked several years ago if I could have Papa's chess board that he made, so that came home with us (the pieces are still MIA back at the house in Wisconsin) as did a lovely ceramic plate that Grandma used to have.<br />
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While we didn't play "Manipulation" - the family-favorite card game - we did other good family stuff - some traditional, some not. There was the wagon ride I mentioned, of course. My cousin Sam also gave us all a family dance class in which he taught us to fox trot & promenade. I was more than nervous when I ended up paired with him for the demo, but he's an excellent dancer (I, on the other hand, seem to always add an extra beat somewhere & get off course)! My cousin MacKenzie called her dad (my cousin) Scott on Skype - he was on contract duty in Iraq - & we carried the laptop around so everyone could say hi to him. We made a family "Harlem Shake" video to send to Scott, too - can't wait to see how it came out! And we sang...a lot. We always do, but the Homestead had a piano in the main hall & we had two guitarists present, so there was a lot of music. The Saturday night "hootenanny" was held around a campfire near our cabins & we made s'mores while we were doing it - it was fabulous!<br />
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I loved seeing all my aunts, most of my first cousins, many of my once-removeds & second cousins, my great aunts, & of course my mom & stepdad. We had many moments of small, quiet conversations & chances to catch-up. It was a tremendous time & I'm so glad we made the trip!<br />
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Oh, & Bruce said the dance class was probably his favorite part - surprised?<br />
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<br />Katy Loebrichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02565227413268875795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6527522299116373427.post-20761942020033110322013-07-01T14:26:00.000-07:002013-07-01T14:26:20.433-07:00Notes from the RoadSafely back from a fabulous family reunion (more on that later), here's a quick post with a few tidbits from our travels!<br />
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What should have been a 9 hour drive ended up being 10 to 10 & a half hours thanks to weather, traffic, & an odd choice by our GPS (straight through downtown DC, really?!). But, our after-market stereo performed beautifully & we enjoyed our new SD card of music. Anakin Smart Car also performed beautifully & garnered quite a bit of attention both during the trip & the reunion.<br />
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We played Spot the Buick on both legs of the drive, of course. On the way up, we saw 181 Buicks, 31 cops (!!), 4 Smarts, a Lotus, an MG, a classic Thunderbird, a Model-A, a Model-T & a classic pink Cadillac (with fins!). The last two were both for sale, somewhere along US-15 in between Virginia & the Maryland line, if you're interested! We also saw lots of interesting vanity plates including one that said "red bliss" on a red Toyota Rav-4, the drivers of which proceeded to wave at us & gesture how much <b>they</b> liked <b>our</b> vanity plate! :-)<br />
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On the way back we ended up calling the game around 7ish because the intermittent storms were bringing twilight on sooner than expected and it was getting too dark to see. Even so, we counted 160 Buicks, 30 cops (!!), 2 Smarts, 2 classic Chevy Bel-Airs (!!), another classic Chevy whose model we couldn't identify, & a Maserati. We also passed an Amish buggy in Pennsylvania, the driver of which turned & smiled at Anakin as we went by. We got a kick out of that!<br />
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<br />Katy Loebrichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02565227413268875795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6527522299116373427.post-19139575779615363982013-06-27T12:57:00.001-07:002013-06-27T12:57:57.667-07:00Games People PlayAs Bruce & I are getting ready for a road trip to my family reunion, I've been thinking a lot about the ways people entertain themselves in cars. We just bought an SD card to copy a significant portion of our music library on it so we'd have stuff to listen to along the way. We used to use CD's, & we always started with <i>Pulp Fiction</i>, but we recently got a more versatile car stereo.<br />
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Anyway, what astounds me is all the people with TV's & DVD players in their cars to entertain their kids. We used to drive all over Ohio & Michigan (& a couple times all the way to Florida) when I was growing up. We weren't even allowed to read (except for maps or directions). We were supposed to talk to each other or enjoy the scenery. So we played games!<br />
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I had this great car bingo set with cards for different types of animals, or vehicles, or buildings, that you marked off as you went. Of course, we also played the Alphabet Game & the License Plate Game, but we had two family favorites that usually filled the majority of our trips - Inky Dinky & Double Rhyming & Guessing.<br />
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Inky Dinky is a rhyming game. One person comes up with a phrase that rhymes & gives a clue to the other players. The Inky Dinky part references the number of syllables in the phrase. For instance: depressed father, ink dink. If you answered "sad dad," you've got the gist. Double Rhyming & Guessing is one I think Mom & I made up ourselves. It's very similar, but involves adding more or different words. For instance, using the above example, we might say "now he's happy" to indicate an answer of "glad dad" or we'd say "depressed dad's apartment," which, of course, translates to "sad dad's pad," etc..<br />
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Bruce & I invented our current favorite driving game a few years ago. It's called Spot the Buick. The impetus for the game was the fact that, at the time, we & Bruce's parents both drove burgundy Buicks. During a trip home to visit them, we noticed there are an overwhelming number of Buicks in Ohio & Michigan! So, we started counting in Columbus & we had well over 150 points by the time we got home to Durham!<br />
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We have a grand time playing Spot the Buick. The rules are simple: 1 point for each Buick, 2 if it's burgundy, 3 if it's Mom & Dad Loebrich's burgundy Buick (only counts once per trip if we're caravanning with them). Since it's our game, we reserve the right to make up other rules - I once gave a burgundy Buick 3 points because the back seat was full of teddy bears! Because we're also kind of car nerds, & we're watching the traffic anyway, we also keep a rough tally of unusual cars we see - like Maseratis or Rolls Royces - &, of course, now that we drive one, we also count Smart Cars.<br />
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Driving games are fun - some of our friends invented a game that involves counting cows & can result in resurrected zombie cows if you pass a church & a cemetery in the right order! - I highly recommend interactive driving games that involve watching scenery & laughing with your traveling companions. It's the only way to go - & if you happen to spot a Buick (or the vehicle of your choice) along the way, feel free to make up your own rules & start playing!Katy Loebrichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02565227413268875795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6527522299116373427.post-12650205579246412842013-05-18T11:13:00.001-07:002013-05-18T11:13:42.519-07:00Paper TrailToday on my favorite radio show - <a href="http://www.npr.org/programs/wait-wait-dont-tell-me/">Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me</a> - they had a bit about how a woman's purse has more germs than a toilet. Disgusted, I, of course, immediately had to clean my purse! Now, this is something I generally do a couple times a month, but that cleaning usually consists of taking everything out of the bag, sorting it, throwing out/filing items I don't need in there, & putting everything else back in neatly. Today, I did that, but also sprayed the bag & all the individual contents (while removed) with Lysol. Then I left the items on the table to dry before replacing them in my purse.<br />
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Like most women, I have "regular purse stuff" - like lip gloss, aspirin, & business cards - in my bag. All that routine stuff goes back in after a cleaning. What comes out is paper, mostly receipts & a few shopping lists. I am always amazed at how many receipts I find stuffed in the various pockets of my purse! But I really shouldn't be.<br />
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Anywhere you purchase something, you're bound to end up with at least one receipt. At a restaurant, for example, they'll bring you one receipt to review before submitting payment, & then return with two additional receipts (if you pay by credit card, which most of us do) so you can sign one for them & then keep the original & the duplicate "for your records." In our household, "for your records" means Bruce hands the receipts to me, I stuff them in my purse, & a week or so later, pull them out & stick them on top of the filing cabinet until I shred them.<br />
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Why do we need all those receipts? Why do we use up all that paper? I know a lot of folks with small mom-&-pop businesses who ring up purchases by swiping the buyer's credit card through an attachment to their smart phone. The app they use offers the option of emailing or texting the receipt to the buyer.<br />
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Isn't that brilliant? Why can't everybody do something like that? Restaurants could bring a tablet out to your table, you could review the bill, they could run your card, & you could complete the transaction on the tablet, sending yourself an e-receipt. It saves paper & trees, makes filing your receipts easier which in turn would make filing taxes easier (wouldn't it?), & means less stuff (although not necessarily fewer germs) for me to stuff in my purse.Katy Loebrichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02565227413268875795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6527522299116373427.post-211190689257583452013-05-05T23:30:00.000-07:002013-05-07T11:12:55.645-07:00Mmm...MeltingBruce & I discovered <a href="http://www.meltingpot.com/">The Melting Pot</a> over 15 years ago. We were driving home to Cleveland after visiting friends in southern Ohio, & had made it about as far as Columbus before the pouring rain became too heavy to see through. We pulled off & started looking for a restaurant, figuring we'd have dinner while waiting out the rain. The first likely place we saw was The Melting Pot - if you're going to wait out a storm, a fondue restaurant is the place to do it! Dinner takes like 2 hours!<br />
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Seriously, though, it is fantastically yummy & lots of fun & we have been hooked ever since. Our Kalamazoo group ate there during our 10th Annual New Years Bash. Bruce & I have eaten at two of the NC locations since moving here & even introduced one of my K interns to The Melting Pot. I'm in their Club Fondue, so I also get special offers via email...like when it's my birthday!<br />
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So, we marked my 45th with a fabulous dinner at The Melting Pot! A couple of my choir chums noted that one of the early prayers in our church service did say to "delight in rich foods," so this was obviously the right restaurant. We opted for the traditional swiss cheese fondue for our first course, salads, the steak lovers selection cooked coq au vin style for our entree, & pure dark chocolate fondue for dessert. Really, when you get to dip fresh bread & apples into melted cheese & garlic, cook excellent cuts of steak in hot wine & herbs, & dip strawberries & rice krispie treats into melted dark chocolate - all accompanied by a glass of wine - what is not to like?! Mmmm....<br />
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Plus, as always, the wait staff was super. Our waitress was great fun - & told us that they actually do all-you-can-eat once a year, gonna have to keep an eye out for that special! The hostess who booked our reservation also went out of her way to make sure I could use my Birthday Coupon that got me a box of chocolate-covered strawberries to take home - yum! Plus, the couple at the table next to us popped in & gave us an extra coupon they had which brought down the cost of dinner - too nice!<br />
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If you thought fondue was just a kitschy 70's trend, think again. The Melting Pot is classy, but casual, fun & friendly, & too tasty for words! It's worth half an hour per course, & you go home happily full. Happy birthday to me!Katy Loebrichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02565227413268875795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6527522299116373427.post-69655969338397842013-02-02T11:43:00.001-08:002013-02-02T11:43:53.552-08:00Midsouth Emmy AwardsThe 27th annual Nashville/Midsouth Emmy Awards were held in Nashville on Saturday, January 26th. As regular readers will remember, <a href="http://www.loebrich.org/2012/11/its-honor-just-to-be-nominated.html">I was nominated in the Director/News category</a>. In my business, it's generally considered a bad idea to bury the lead, so...I did not win. Even so, we had a pretty good time.<br />
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On Thursday the 24th, my last workday before the ceremony, my coworkers gave me a little send-off party before the show. Everybody gathered in the newsroom where we toasted with Sierra Mist (it's clear & bubbly, like champagne, but non-alcoholic, so safe for work). I got a little misty while Erica was giving the toast - it was so sweet of them to throw me a little party!<br />
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Friday the 25th, of course, was Bruce's birthday. After we did the online check-in for our flight, we headed out to the Smart dealer, planning to go out to lunch & go shopping afterward. Well, that was about when the winter storm started. We got sleet & freezing rain that built up & made for awfully slick roads. We were slipping about on the way back from Cary & we decided to scrap the rest of our errands & go straight home. We stayed in - watching TV & opening Bruce's presents.<br />
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Saturday the 26th we had to be at the airport at 9. Albert Einstein Smart Car was pretty much encased in ice & Bruce practically had to chip his windshields clear. Our road & the expressway on/off ramps were still a little slick, but the main roads were clear. It seemed like everyone on our flight was going to the Emmys - I saw lots of people with dress-bags as their carry-on luggage! Also ran into my friend Sonya Williams Harris - who used to work at & still freelances for UNC-TV - who was nominated (& won!) for the show "In the Garden with Bryce Lane" which she helps produce.<br />
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Our flight was on-time & problem-free & we arrived in Nashville a little after 11am Central Time. We found the downtown shuttle easily enough & were at our hotel in about 15-20 minutes. We were too early to check-in. But they let us leave our bag with the valet so we could go to lunch. I had looked up the Hard Rock Cafe online before left & I knew it was less than a mile from the hotel. The valet pointed us in the right direction, it was an easy walk & the weather was sunny & mild. Our waiter - Robbyroo - was hilarious, with his hair spiked up into devil horns, & super friendly - he took great care of us. Hard Rock Media Manager Ari came over & chatted with us - & told all the nearby waitstaff about my nomination (he'd asked why we were in town). They all said they were going to crash the ceremony & cheer for me - the "ambiance" is totally why the Hard Rock is my favorite restaurant! Love all, serve all - oh, & serve them an Ultimate Nacho Platter...yummy!<br />
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After lunch, it was back to the hotel to get our room. Our Emmy chapter had reserved a block of rooms at a group rate & we were in on those. I had chosen a room with a jacuzzi tub because it was actually the same price as the other rooms in the discount, so why not?! We got settled in (hung my dress & Bruce's suit!), got sodas from the snack bar in the lobby & cash from the ATM, & discovered that the US National Figure Skating Championships were on TV - ooh boy! Bruce teased me that we would miss the Emmys because I was too busy watching skating - but, worry not, that didn't happen!<br />
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We had time for a nice soak in the jacuzzi - even with watching skating - & still had plenty of time to get ready. (While we were getting ready, the hotel brought up a gift bag - I assume everyone in the Emmy block got one - that had 2 little airplane-sized bottles of kahlua in it.) I had decided to wear my bridesmaid's gown from my college roommate Cyndee Garrod's wedding. I debated about getting it altered to tea-length & chose not to - in order to save money - glad I did, I would have been underdressed in a shorter gown. I bought Bruce a tie to match my gown for Christmas & it looked great. Dad & Cindy had bought me a bracelet to wear at the Emmys for part of my Christmas & it was the perfect complement to my dress.<br />
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The hotel was about half a block from the symphony hall where the ceremony was held. It was an easy walk & the weather was not too bad, even for walking in formal wear. The hall is gorgeous! Cocktail hour was held in the foyer with a cash bar, so we each got a glas of wine. We caught up with my friend Bobby Dobbs, who was nominated for an Emmy for an Interstitial Spot he produced, as well as my friend David Hardy, who was nominated for both the shows he produces, and my friend Sonya, who we'd run into at the airport earlier that morning. When they let us into the hall for dinner, we also met up with my friend Crystal Woods, a former intern of mine, who was nominated for the newscast she produces.<br />
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Dinner was quite yummy. We were seated with Bobby, David, & their wives, & composer Fred Story - who makes most of the music for UNC-TV productions, including the theme for my show. We had a good time together enjoying the food & scoping out the production set-up for the live Emmy broadcast!<br />
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Nashville/Midsouth is the only regional chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences to produce its Emmy telecast live. They are on a tight timetable! There were 73 awards to present & 3 hours in which to do so! Bobby was in the 4th category announced & he won - his first nomination & award in 40+ years in TV! Fred was nominated & won for the music for our Rembrandt documentary!<br />
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I was in the 22nd category presented & I did not win. I was super bummed, even though I didn't really expect to win. <i>North Carolina Now</i> is not a newscast, neither is it a one-time special program, so it doesn't really fit neatly into either directing category. Still, I would have liked to have won. After my category, I pretty much tuned out for half an hour or so. I spent the time checking my texts & emails, feeling very comforted by all the love & support I found there!<br />
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David would go on to win both Emmys for which he was nominated. My friends Sonya & Crystal also went on to win. Crystal thanked both her WRAL family (the station where she currently works) & her UNC-TV family (where she interned with me) - I appreciated the shout-out, to be sure!<br />
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The ceremony ended at about 11pm & we walked back to the hotel. The wind had picked up, making it a little chillier, but otherwise it was still an okay walk. At the hotel we opened the kahlua & toasted to being nominated. Since it was now around 12:30am Eastern time, we called it a night.<br />
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The flight back on Sunday was uneventful - it was only difficult because we were so exhausted! Most of us were on the same flight. We even ran into the same couple we'd been queued next to on the outbound flight. Turns out the wife of the couple is a producer at WRAL, & won an Emmy, while the husband is in computers, like Bruce is. We joked about having spouses who support our crazy TV careers & what it's like to be the one sitting at the table cheering on your winning friends.<br />
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While I am sad not to have won, I really do realize what an honor the recognition alone is. I am so thrilled to have had the experience & to know & to have met so many wonderful people along the way. I am very fortunate to work in a creative industry & am grateful to all my talented coworkers, colleagues, & friends who continue to teach & inspire me to new heights of creativity each & every day. Congratulations all around!Katy Loebrichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02565227413268875795noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6527522299116373427.post-67093135553825648282012-11-15T20:30:00.000-08:002012-12-02T10:32:44.159-08:00It's An Honor Just to Be NominatedI began working in television a little more than 22 years ago. Tonight I got the biggest perk in my career - I've been nominated for a regional Emmy!<br />
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The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences divides local television stations up by region. I have been an active member since I enrolled myself in 1994. I am currently in the Nashville/Midsouth chapter.<br />
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Local Emmys are just like the national ones you see on TV (when "The Daily Show" & HBO dramas win everything) except done by the regional chapters.* Stations & individual members enter their own work. Then another chapter somewhere else in the country screens & votes on the entries. When I was working in Cleveland, we voted on the Dallas/Fort Worth chapter's entries.<br />
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So, I've entered several times over the years, but have never been nominated until now. I am nominated in the Director/News category for an episode of my show, "<i>North Carolina Now</i>," that we did in advance of Hurricane Irene. It's actually a really good show & a good example of my work. We had to scramble a bare-bones crew to produce a program on a day we wouldn't normally have done so, & we pulled together a lot of last-minute elements with that small group of folks. Plus we were doing the show on short notice & needing to adapt with very little prep time. Additionally, I was <u>producing</u> a lot of this particular episode <u>as well as</u> directing it - & stuff changed as we were on air, so we were regrouping on the fly in the control room. All good elements for an example of good directing!<br />
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There are a total of 3 directors nominated in the category. I don't know the other two, but I know that one of them works at the #1 station in our market, & the other's entry title sounds really impressive. So I don't know what the odds are here, but it's still a totally cool recognition of my efforts.<br />
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The awards banquet - when the winners will be announced - is in Nashville at the end of January & Bruce & I are going. We're going to get all dressed up & have a good time - no matter the outcome - because it is an honor just to be nominated!<br />
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*Regional Emmy ceremonies are not televised nationally, & sometimes not even regionally, but I am keeping an eye out to see if it will be streamed online for my folks to be able to watch. :-)Katy Loebrichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02565227413268875795noreply@blogger.com1Durham, NC, USA35.9940329 -78.89861935.7884814 -79.214475999999991 36.1995844 -78.582762tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6527522299116373427.post-20567121422957146892012-09-07T18:42:00.001-07:002012-09-07T18:42:33.683-07:0020th Anniversary Trip, pt. 2: Star Wars ConventionAfter five days at Disney World, our anniversary vacation continued in a galaxy far, far away as we attended the world's largest Star Wars fan convention, <a href="http://starwarscelebration.com/">Star Wars Celebration VI</a>, at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando.<br />
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On Thursday the 23rd, Duncan, Derek, Bruce, & I arrived at the convention center around 9:30am & immediately started taking in the sights. From the parking lot pillars decorated to look like R2-D2, to the giant inflatable Death Star over the escalator, to the hundreds of costumed fans in attendance, there was a lot to see! Once in the building, we were directed to a big hall where we were given lanyards for our passes & schedule guides for the weekend, & got into the LARGE line to get in to the main hall. A woman dressed as Princess Leia (<i>Empire Strikes Back</i> era) was in line in front of us & posed for pictures. Convention Center workers were pushing a coffee cart up & down the lines. We were cordoned off in rows, they let us in one row at a time when the hall opened. Each row cheered as they got let in - although many of us in the other rows cheered for them as well!<br />
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We started out in the dealers hall looking at all the many fascinating booths filled with cool stuff, & made a brief detour to the food court for a midmorning snack. Then it was back to browsing & taking pictures of all the cool costumes & nifty things we saw. Most of the costumed characters we encountered were fellow attendees who had gone to great effort & produced some of the most spectacular, interesting, creative, & often-times incredibly accurate outfits you'ver ever seen - plus they were also, to a person, the nicest, friendliest people you'll ever meet, all of them graciously agreeing to pose for photos, just glad to share their enjoyment of the event. In addition to all the expected characters - Princess Leia, Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, & so on - we also saw the 11th Doctor, several Star Fleet officers, & Bender from Futurama, & many others. Just one big, happy universe!<br />
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We also stopped in the <a href="http://astromech.net/">R2-D2 Builders Club</a> room. It was fascinating! They had tons of astromechs either exactly like or at least based on the famous droid! Most were complete, but some were open so you could see the workings, & some were even being worked on right there in the room. We posed for pictures with R2-D2 in front of an Endor landscape as well as in his get-up as a waiter on Jabba's Pleasure Barge. There was also a replica of Han Solo in Carbonite - I took Bruce's picture by it! Bruce was really intrigued by the concept of building a droid, too - he picked up a lot of flyers.<br />
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Our main event for the first day was the Bounty Hunt. Duncan, Bruce, & I were signed up as a 3-man team with Derek as our "special consultant." We checked in at the Bounty Hunt Muster with all the other hunters. The teams were given packets containing Star Wars-themed puzzles. The solution to each puzzle was either the name of or a clue about a Star Wars character on whom there was a bounty. Also in the packet was a guide that told us where to find each of those characters - they could be <u>anywhere</u> in the convention center! We hunters had to collect at least 4 bounties from the first packet to get the second packet with the higher-value bounties in it. To collect a bounty, we had to go to the locations the guidebook gave for our quarries, then we had to look for the person with a red "bounty hunt" ribbon on their convention badge - trickier than it sounds in a convention center full of people! - when we found them, we had to call them by their Star Wars character's name, & sometimes even complete a challenge (like answer trivia questions) before they'd stamp our book to prove we'd claimed our bounty. <br />
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When we'd collected 4 from the first packet, we went back for the second - these were not only higher value bounties, they were harder puzzles. We split them up like we'd done with the first packet, trying to solve them as quickly as possible. It was during this round that we remembered we'd brought Bruce's laptop for just this reason! We happened to be sitting near an outlet & the convention center had free wifi, so he booted up & we kept working to crack the puzzles. We were relying heavily on Duncan's Star Wars knowledge to figure out the ones where the answers were clues rather than names & he came through big time - from the first three letters of one clue he deduced that the bounty had to be Lando Calrissian! The guide said that Lando could be found outside one of the theaters, we knew exactly where it was & hustled that way. We found the lady playing "Lando" & she said we were the first team to find her, plus she was super impressed that we got it from just 3 letters. <br />
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We had to hike a long way past "Lando" to locate our hardest-to-get bounty. I don't remember which character he was, but he was way out down by some conference room that was over the mezzanine, through a set of doors, & then around the corner because it was a divided hallway at that point with even numbered rooms on one side & odds on the other &, of course, we'd come out on the wrong side! This was also the guy who made us answer trivia questions to get our bounty. We did it, but at this point we were getting pretty nervous because we had 2 hours to complete the hunt & there were only 20 minutes left, plus we still had to hike all the way back to Bounty Hunt HQ to check in! We really hustled it & checked in with 16 minutes to spare. While I was guzzling down cold water & playing Legos with Derek, Bruce & Duncan went back over the remaining puzzles. They solved one more & the bounty was nearby! We sprinted down the hall to find the person & get our book stamped - Derek was really worried that we wouldn't make it back in time, I tried to console him with the reminder that we were already checked in & these were just bonus points - we got back with 42 seconds to spare! More importantly, when the points were tallied we took THIRD PLACE! We got a trophy & several rare action figures as our prizes - & we probably have to discard our presumption that we were the least geeky people in attendance.<br />
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On Friday, Derek went back to Disney World with Debbe while Bruce, Duncan, & I returned to the con. We met up with Duncan's friend Phil - who is not only a Star Wars afficiando, but also the vice admiral of our fleet in Star Trek Online - Phil was in uniform as a clone trooper with the 501st Legion. We had a great time watching them gather the group for their Rebel Unit photo - you wouldn't believe how many people were there in amazing costumes! After the photo, one of the unit members (dressed as Luke) proposed to his girlfriend (dressed as Leia) - she said yes. It was also fascinating to see all the R2 units milling about the convention. The R2-D2 Builders had many life-size radio controlled models & were steering them about the convention center - they beeped & interacted with people just like the famous droid does.<br />
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After we met Phil, we split up to attend different panels. Bruce & I went to see Anthony Daniels - he plays C3PO - who had actually shown up earlier that morning & crashed the queue line waiting to enter the convention center, posing for pictures & signing autographs for fans. His show was hilarious! He pulled people from the audience to serve as his "panel of experts" & then he took questions from the audience. Any he couldn't answer, he pitched to his panel - when one panelist answered one question with "because George Lucas hadn't thought of it," the entire audience booed! Mr. Daniels was outgoing & funny, he shared a couple personal & touching memories from filming, & we got to see some behind-the-scenes footage. I was also really impressed with the sign language interpreter for the show - she had the very nuances of C3PO's personality down, she moved like him & her very expressions conveyed the depths of the dialogue when they showed scenes from the movies.<br />
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Next we went to the Costume Masquerade. If you thought the general attendees were impressive in costume, you should have seen those competing for prizes! We had seen one of the competitors - Darth Maul - in line that morning. His costume was incredible! There were also two ladies who had made a Bantha costume (think "wooly mammoth") that they wore like a horse costume - one lady as the back legs & the other as the front - they danced across the stage, so cool! James Arnold Taylor, who voices Obi-Wan Kenobi on <a href="http://starwars.com/news/the_clone_wars_season5_and_syndication.html">The Clone Wars</a> cartoon, was the emcee for this event & he would come out & pose with or otherwise cheer on anyone dressed as Obi-Wan. One Asian girl had a spot-on perfect costume representation of him. One girl came dressed as Jedi Tinkerbell & her "bio" said that Obi-Wan was her mentor - it was funny & cool at the same time to hear James read "faith, trust, & pixie dust" in his Obi-Wan voice! The cutest moments were a little boy, probably about 2 years old, dressed as young Luke Skywalker in a perfect, child-size replica of his Tatooine outfit, competing in the Younglings category, followed by the same boy coming back in the Galactic Apparel category with his parents dressed as Uncle Owen & Aunt Beru.<br />
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We wrapped up day 2 at the con with a performance of <a href="http://www.facebook.com/starwarsin30">Star Wars in 60</a>. Convention officials came through the audience warning us that, if we attended this show, we would most likely not be able to get into Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker)'s panel later on the same stage since it would probably fill up before we got out. We chose to stay & we're really glad we did! The troupe of about 12 actors performs ALL SIX Star Wars films & the little-seen Wookie Christmas Special with minimal props & costumes in just about one hour - it's hilarious! They run around with folding chairs on their necks when they're flying X-Wings - one guy held two window screens beside his head to be a Tie-Fighter - they use squirt guns & shout "choo-choo" when they're supposed to be shooting blasters, & they put all sorts of over-the-top nuances & innuendo into the well-known dialogue. When they finished, they did it all over again in 60 SECONDS! Plus, this was the same stage where we'd seen Anthony Daniels earlier, & once again the sign language interpreters were great & almost as funny as the show itself. A fantastic choice of show, we had a blast!<br />
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Saturday, we returned for day 3. First thing we noticed was that it being a week<u>end</u> day definitely made a difference - attendance had to have at least doubled, it was <u>crowded</u>! We did a little browsing in the dealers hall & then split up again. Duncan went to a costuming panel while Bruce & I went to the Super Secret Panel With Seth, Todd, & Matt (the guys who make <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0437745/">Robot Chicken</a>). This was the second running of this panel so the "super secret" part was already out: they've got a new show coming out, this one backed by Lucasfilm, called <a href="http://www.facebook.com/starwarsdetours">Star Wars Detours</a>. They ran a lot of clips, it looks super cute, plus the guys themselves are pretty clever & funny & they told some great stories. But the best part was the surprise guest who crashed the panel: <u>George Lucas</u>!! Yes, Master George himself! Everyone - all 2500 people in attendance - stood & applauded raucously. Master George talked about the great job the guys were doing on the new show. It was SO AWESOME! Really glad we attended this second session because Master George was only at the con on Saturday, & I believe he only crashed one other panel, so we really lucked out.<br />
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(Duncan had texted me that George was spotted at <i>The Clone Wars</i> panel & might be on his way to our panel, but I didn't see the message until The Master had already walked out on stage & I had grabbed my phone to text him. I wrote back, "He IS!! You missed it bro!")<br />
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Next we took in the Star Wars & NASA panel. It was pretty packed, they asked us to cram together to make room for last-minute arrivals. The folks next to us were very gracious & made room for Duncan when he joined us because the panel he had wanted to attend was full. This session had four NASA scientists talking about how Star Wars had inspired their careers & spurred some creativity on NASA projects. They also talked about how desperately NASA needs funding & urged people to write their congressmen. Then they took questions from the audience. This was actually the best part of the session because the topic became a lot more relatable, but they'd waited until there were only 10 minutes left to open the floor. So, sadly, this panel was not as good as it could have been. I also heard later that the panel organizers didn't know until they got there that they would have a room with a projection screen & a computer, so they had not brought any videos or presentations. Getting to see footage from the Mars rover or something would have been cool.<br />
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Then we went to get in line for the evening panel we wanted to attend. We got sodas on our way & sat playing a couple rounds of <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/435243061/edition-wars-by-gamer-nation-studios">Edition Wars</a> while snacking on nuts & granola bars. Fun!<br />
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The evening panel we went to was Smuggler's Gambit. It was the debut live performance of a Star Wars radio drama like the ones that used to run on NPR back in the late 70's. The story centered on Han Solo & Chewbacca, hence the title, & took place after <i>Star Wars</i> but before <i>The Empire Strikes Back</i>. The actors were all voice talent from many projects including <i>The Clone Wars</i>. They received the script at 5:30pm & took the stage at 6 to do the show! They also had a master sound effects guy adding Star Wars sounds (like lightsabers). It was amazing! They were so good & were all obviously having a blast, it was great! After the show, they took questions from the audience, & there was some discussion about whether the performance would be available for purchase - which, hopefully, it will! There was strong support for a return of Star Wars radio dramas & many of the actors as well as the writer said they'd totally be up for it. One little girl asked why there were so few roles for girls in the show & the writer told her he'd write a role just for her to read in the one they want to do at the next Star Wars con, & that he'd let her read it herself if she came!<br />
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Sunday was the last day of the convention. Derek decided that he wanted to spend the day with daddy, so he came, too. This was our wrap-up day, the day to get everything done that we still wanted to do. I bought a couple t-shirts & Duncan got some figures for his collection. We also posed for pictures in several iconic settings: on a speeder bike in Endor, in a snow-speeder on Hoth - we had done the interior the Millennium Falcon & the Hoth Sick Bay the day before.<br />
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Then Bruce & I went to get in line for the Closing Ceremonies. It was crazy full! We were glad we got there earlier to ensure we'd get to get in! Convention officials came by & announced that we were at capacity & if anyone left, like to go to the bathroom, they had to show their unopened pack of 3-D glasses to prove they'd been in line before we reached capacity. Then they decided to escort us to the bathrooms in groups, like in elementary school. Good thing since we'd been sitting there for almost 2 hours! We got into a couple conversations with the folks around us - one about continuity & what's canon & not canon in the saga with the girl in front of us, & one about media covering the con with the guy behind us (who was media, covering the con for a tech blog in Arizona). A couple Jedi also started dueling alongside the line at one point - it was cool.<br />
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The Closing Ceremonies, on the other hand, were not. Of the five panels I chose for us to attend, this was the lamest. When we first got into the theater, the DJ's who had been warming up the crowds for one of the other stages all weekend were now in this theater warming up the crowd. They pulled 4 people from the audience to represent the rebels & 4 to represent the Empire & had them compete in a dance-off. The Empire ended up winning & it was actually fairly cool because they had this little kid who couldn't have been more than 5 & was dressed up like a Sith lord & man could he really dance! But after that, all that happened was the guys who had been the hosts for the three stages came together & briefly reminisced about all the fun they'd had all weekend. They showed a video montage that was actually pretty cool & then they announced that <i>Attack of the Clones</i> & <i>Revenge of the Sith</i> are coming out in 3-D just two weeks apart next fall. We got to watch the 3-D trailers, which were fun. Then they brought out the woman in charge of organizing the whole convention. She announced that the next Celebration will be held next summer in Germany. An oom-pah band came out wearing liederhosen & playing the Star Wars theme & marched around the room. Then the hosts told everybody to grab beer & pretzels on their way out. That was it. Lame.<br />
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We closed the day with a quick walk around the 501st Legion's room where they had many of their awesome costumes & sets on display. Duncan had paid to get his picture taken with Ian McDiarmid (Emperor Palpatine) & had to go pick it up, so he & Bruce made one last run through the dealers hall while I waited in an alcove with Derek. Then we headed back to Coronado Springs Resort, picking up dinner on the way.<br />
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After a nice rest break at the hotel (during which time, I started packing), we regrouped as a family & went to the Magic Kingdom to get some Sorcerers' Quest cards for Derek & watch the fireworks one more time. We got a great spot right in the plaza in front of the Cinderella Castle, bought some popcorn, & settled in for a wonderful time. There is something magical about the fireworks every night, but your last night in the park it seems even more special.<br />
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The next morning we checked out of our hotel, left our bags with the Magical Express people, & went to the Supercalifragilistic Breakfast at the Grand Floridian. This was our last character meal & our last planned meal in the parks. It was amazing - such tremendous, yummy fare - plus visits with our hostess, Mary Poppins, as well as Pooh, Tigger, Alice, & the Mad Hatter. After breakfast, we went into the Magic Kingdom long enough to get one more set of Sorcerers' Quest cards, & then Duncan went to return the rental car while the rest of us headed to Disney's Hollywood Studios. We rode Toy Story Midway Mania & then headed to Star Tours. Derek wasn't feeling up to riding that, so he & Debbe waited for us, then when we were done we sat with Derek while Debbe & Duncan (who had caught up to us) went on the ride.<br />
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Then Bruce & I headed back to the hotel to meet our Magical Express. As it turned out, even though we had an earlier flight than they did, Debbe & family caught back up with us not too much later. Then, one of the bus drivers offered to take us all on an even earlier shuttle, since he had room, so we all ended up with some nice family time at the airport. That sounds like a joke, but it isn't. We did some last-minute Disney pin trading in the Disney shop, then had a great time looking at Harry Potter stuff in the Universal Studios store, & nerding out in the NASA shop. Finally, we just chilled on some benches in the food court, wrapping up our great vacation with a spiffy bow.<br />
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It was the perfect way to celebrate our milestone anniversary - we had a wonderful time!Katy Loebrichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02565227413268875795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6527522299116373427.post-21421715998344282502012-09-03T16:55:00.000-07:002012-09-03T16:55:24.081-07:0020th Anniversary Trip, pt. 1: DisneyLast summer, Bruce's sister Debbe called to tell us that <a href="http://starwarscelebration.com/">Star Wars Celebration VI</a> - the world's largest Star Wars fan convention - was being held in Orlando & started the day after our wedding anniversary. She proposed that we take a trip to Florida & combine visits to Disney World & the convention to celebrate- we readily agreed! So last month we spent 9 days in Orlando with Debbe, Duncan, & Derek - & our friends Wayne & Abby - as we marked our milestone 20th anniversary. It was awesome!<br />
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First, some logistics. We stayed at Disney's Coronado Springs Resort, because early research had indicated that would be the Disney partner hotel with the convention. It wasn't. In the end, Disney decided not to be a convention partner, but we didn't find that out until we got there & we had been on a deadline to book our rooms in order to get the convention rate. Coronado Springs is near Animal Kingdom & is accessible to the rest of the Disney community by bus. This made getting to parks & meal reservations tricky to time. It was also difficult to connect up with friends & family since we couldn't easily predict when we would arrive anywhere. Disney opting not to be a convention partner, also meant there were no shuttles to the convention & we had to rent a car - that was an additional expense we were not counting on.<br />
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That said, Coronado Springs Resort is a nice place to stay. The theme is "Old Spain/Mexico" & it has a lot of quaint southwestern/pueblo-type decor. Our room was very comfortable & sufficiently appointed. The staff was very gracious & always helpful. Our fridge spontaneously defrosted itself the first night we were there & maintenance was quick to respond & replace it. The concierges went out of their way to help us figure out convention shuttles (obviously there were none) & other transportation needs. Our room was very close to one of the "quiet pools" & a short walk from the very cool family pool. Plus, we were right next to the guest laundromat - I was very happy when I found that since I had been washing our clothes in the tub up till that point (the tub had a clothesline for just that purpose, too). <br />
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Coronado Springs Resort is very spread out. The lobby, gift shop, & restaurants are in the main building. The rest of the guest buildings & pools are situated in a loop around a small lake. We had to walk past 3 other buildings & across a bridge to get to the lobby from our room. The Disney buses actually loop through the property - there are four bus stops so that guests can get off at one closer to their building, as necessary. We were stop #4 & our unit was very close to it, so that was convenient. But on the morning we were aiming to make Early Magic Hours at Animal Kingdom (remember, that's the closest Disney park to Coronado Springs) we waited 40 minutes for a bus & missed half the early hours. If we'd known Disney was not going to have a partner hotel for the convention, we would have chosen a more centrally-located/convenient place to stay, but Coronado Springs is not a bad place in general. If you do choose to stay there on your next Disney visit, you'll be comfortable & well-treated - allow extra time for the buses, & be sure to get pizza at the Rix Cafe in the main building, it was the best pizza we had the whole trip!<br />
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OK, so we flew down on Saturday, August 18th, arriving about 10:30am. We met the Magical Express & got shuttled to our resort. Debbe & family had flown down from Columbus that morning, too, arriving about half an hour before us. They were staying at the Boardwalk for the first part of the trip, though, so we had to coordinate meeting up, which was tricky. Thunderstorms grounded the boats from the Boardwalk, so they went to the Magic Kingdom, but we were already heading to EPCOT to meet our friends Wayne & Abby.<br />
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So we revised our plans & opted to spend time with our friends before meeting up with Debbe et al at our dinner reservations. We had a great time with Wayne & Abby riding Spaceship Earth, Soaring, and watching Turtle Talk with Crush - one little girl got up to ask a question of Crush & she was so nervous she just said "the sun goes down at night & the moon comes up" & Crush replied, in totally surfer dude speak, "True," now every time we say that, we say it like him! We also went to Soda World, where you can sample colas from around the world, & completely unexpectedly ran into Princess Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) in the hallway. She had a Disney Photopass photographer with her so we got a picture! It had been raining off & on most of the day, so we think they just moved inside to stay dry since that back hallway is not a normal character spot!<br />
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Then we hustled to make the Disney bus system work to get us to Downtown Disney to meet Debbe & the gang for our dinner at T-Rex Cafe, which was lots of fun! After dinner, we went back to EPCOT, intending to meet back up with Wayne & Abby, but they were at their own dinner reservation & Derek really wanted to go to the Magic Kingdom, so that's what we did. The Magic Kingdom has this new interactive game called Sorcerer's Quest where kids get collectable cards & then have to go around the park & unlock special messages from Merlin & try to save Ariel with the spells on their cards. That's what Derek wanted to do. We opted to just get ice cream & then go back to our room because our travel day had been tiring.<br />
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We spent the next day at Disney's Hollywood Studios. We finally managed to get the whole group together: us, Wayne & Abby, & Debbe, Duncan, & Derek. We rode Toy Story Midway Mania & Star Tours several times. We met up with Pooh Bear at his character spot in the Art of Animation exhibit! We had a fabulous lunch at the Sci-Fi Drive-In. Then we split up so Derek could get some rest, & Bruce & I stayed with Wayne & Abby at Hollywood Studios. We rode the Tower of Terror & the Rock & Roller Coaster, & Star Tours & Toy Story again. We watched the Voyage of the Little Mermaid & the Beauty & the Beast shows. Then we wrapped up the day with a fabulous dinner at the 50's Prime Time Cafe. Our waitress Quinn was an absolute hoot, we loved sitting in her section, she was so friendly & funny. The meal was yummy & best of all was spending some quality time with friends we hadn't seen in far too long.<br />
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The next day, Monday, was the day we attempted to make Early Magic Hours at Animal Kingdom. Even though we got there with only about 20 minutes left before the park officially opened, that was still enough time to ride Expedition Everest while the lines were short. Wow, that is a rough ride! It was fun, but I am thinking I am getting too old to get jostled around like that. What a sad commentary! We went on the Kilimanjaro Safari Expedition & saw lots of amazing animals. Then we went to Pooh's character spot & saw Pooh Bear, Eeyore, & Tigger. We also went to Camp Minnie Mickey & got our pictures taken with Safari Donald & with King Louie & Baloo from The Jungle Book. After that, Debbe & Derek went back to the hotel to rest while Bruce, Duncan, & I took in the awesome Flights of Wonder free-flight bird show. During which, my camera died. I managed to get pictures of most of the gorgeous birds, though. Then we went to meet Debbe at the hotel, eat our left-overs from T-Rex, & figure out getting a rental car.<br />
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On Tuesday, we went back to EPCOT. Bruce & I had a lunch reservation at Le Cellier in the Canada portion of the world showcase. Before we headed there, we rode Journey into the Imagination with Figment, went on Mission Space, browsed some shops, & watched the Canada movie. Lunch was fantastic! We have a tradition of having steak on our anniversary, but we'd planned a different meal in the Magic Kingdom, so we squeezed our tradition in a day early. The staff at Le Cellier is incredibly cool, the food was fantastic, the couple at the table next to us said they always go there for an early meal & then walk it off in the park in the afternoon. After the meal, our waitress brought us a tray with a piece of white chocolate on it that had Happy Anniversary & a Canadian maple leaf printed on it. So sweet! After lunch we walked through the World Showcase looking at the shops & the sights, rode the Maelstrom in Norway & the Three Caballeros in Mexico, & then met up with Debbe & family to play a little in the Innoventions Pavilion before dinner. We had a family meal reserved at the Garden Grill in EPCOT, which was awesome. Farmer Mickey, Pluto, & Chip & Dale all came by to say hi & pose for pictures. Our waiter was hilarious, when he saw how much we liked the steak, he brought us more, but we were all stuffed. He told Bruce if he ate it, he could have dessert. Bruce managed to finish all but one slice, so the waiter gave him a special kids dessert to go!<br />
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Wednesday was our anniversary - 20 years, hard to believe! - & we spent it in the Magic Kingdom. First was breakfast at the Crystal Palace - easily one of the best breakfasts in the park - with Pooh Bear, Eeyore, Piglet, & Tigger all stopping by to say "hi." Pooh Bear gave me a kiss, & Tigger saw our anniversary pins & applauded us while bouncing happily. The waiter brought us an unexpected dessert of chocolates & a strawberry cut like a rose with a dancing Pooh Bear painted on the plate in chocolate!<br />
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Breakfast was a family event, but afterward Bruce & I went off on our own. We rode the Haunted Mansion, the Enchanted Tiki Room, Pirates of the Caribbean, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, & Splash Mountain before taking the train back to the front of the park where we had booked lunch at Tony's Cafe. They had decorated our table with streamers & confetti, our waiter Casey was super nice & took pictures of us - especially when we shared spaghetti & meatballs just like Lady & the Tramp! The chef even made us gelato sundaes for our anniversary.<br />
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After lunch we rode the people mover & strolled about the park before getting back on Pirates of the Caribbean. The Disney Photopass photographer who took our picture outside the ride tipped us off that a parade was going to be starting so we watched that & then met up with Debbe & clan for a bit. They rode the Tea Cups while Duncan & I took pictures, we did a bit of the Sorcerer's Quest, then we all rode the carousel.<br />
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After that, Bruce & I headed into the castle for our dinner at Cinderella's Royal Table. It was awesome! We had a brief audience with Cinderella, who congratulated us on our anniversary & posed for photos with us, then we were seated up in the dining room. We dubbed ourselves "anniversary corner" since the family at the table to our right was celebrating the grandparents' 36th & the family to our left was celebrating their 14th. Our waiter Gustavo was funny & helpful, our food was excellent, & we got a magic wand & a sword to take home with us. Plus Snow White, Princess Aurora, Ariel, & Belle all stopped by to say hello & offer congratulations (& the nice family next to us graciously took our photos with all of the princesses so we could both be in the shots)! After dinner, we strolled a little bit, had our pictures taken a couple of places, & then Bruce said "I'm ready for the Carousel of Progress." This was a bit of a joke since it's a ride where you just sit still, in air conditioning, & watch an animatronic show for 20 minutes - it was the right ride at the right time after all that food!<br />
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We wrapped up the night with reserved seating at the Tomorrowland Terrace for the fireworks. Yes, our 4th sit-down meal of the day was an all you can eat dessert buffet! Oh my, it was tasty, but we were already so stuffed! I was content just to have decaf tea & melon, but I did try a little of the chocolates, too. There's a Photopass photographer staffing the fireworks dessert buffet, so we also got our picture taken there. But the best part was definitely the shows! The Magic Kingdom has added a new show called "The Magic, The Memories, & You" which runs before the fireworks. They take hundreds of pictures taken by the Photopass photographers in the park that day & project them onto the castle in time to songs from the movies - it's absolutely awesome, a breathtaking creation & fantastic use of technology to really share the Disney Magic! The "Wishes" fireworks show followed & was fabulous, as always. The best part was that I found out Tinkerbell is really in the show. No, seriously! I always thought it was just a firework aimed to fly over the castle like she does at the beginning of Disney movies, but she came right out of the tower spire & flew over the Tomorrowland Terrace & we could see her smiling & waving as she went right over our heads! (You may say it's just a girl in a Tinkerbell dress sliding on a wire, but I say it's really Tink, they just put her on the wire so she doesn't get caught up in all the excitement & fly the wrong way! Clap your hands if you believe in fairies.) As we were riding the bus back to our hotel, Bruce said, "This was truly a magical day."Katy Loebrichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02565227413268875795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6527522299116373427.post-73959065964110380732012-03-13T10:04:00.002-07:002012-03-13T10:07:17.807-07:00Three Food Poems<blockquote>Read like sweet<div>delicious milk</div><div>drink together</div><div>delirious river</div><div>morning</div></blockquote><div></div><div><br /></div><div></div><blockquote><div>I</div><div>promise</div><div>fruit</div><div>time to</div><div>share</div><div>its</div><div>blooms</div></blockquote><div></div><div><br /></div><div></div><blockquote><div>need bite but</div><div>ate breath</div><div>why then so</div><div>empty</div></blockquote><div></div>Katy Loebrichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02565227413268875795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6527522299116373427.post-47466823726324405072012-02-26T08:08:00.002-08:002012-02-26T08:27:59.069-08:00Oscar Night 2012I can hardly believe that it is Oscar Night already! <div><br /></div><div>This has been a weird year in our film-going life & The Big Night really seemed to sneak up on us this time. We decided early on that we weren't going to do our Annual Oscar Push this year - we just don't have the time - & my dad & stepmom (with whom we usually have a friendly competition) had come to the same conclusion. But despite choosing to take it easy this time around, & having seen a lot of our standard fare this summer but not a lot of typical Oscar fare, we have done moderately well in movie viewing leading up to the Big Show.</div><div><br /></div><div>Best Picture: we've seen The Artist, Hugo, Midnight in Paris, Moneyball, & The Tree of Life. I hated Tree of Life, it's a really weird movie. We both liked Moneyball, but it is a predictable true life piece, to use its own vernacular, it's more of a base hit than a homerun movie. Midnight in Paris is great, but I'm thinking it will win Original Screenplay. Between The Artist & Hugo, I liked The Artist slightly better - both are very good, I just thought The Artist had a better overall story & presentation. Hugo will probably get Visual Effects & quite likely Art Direction (Dante Feretti!).</div><div><br /></div><div>Best Director: we've seen The Artist (Michel Hazanavicius), Hugo (Martin Scorcese), Midnight in Paris (Woody Allen), & The Tree of Life (Terrence Malick). As I said, I really didn't like Tree of Life, it is a very strange & hard to follow film. I liked all the others. Midnight in Paris is Allen in top form again, which is delightful to see. Hugo was beautiful. But I'm going with The Artist again here.</div><div><br /></div><div>Best Actor: we've seen The Artist (Jean Dujardin), Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Gary Oldman), & Moneyball (Brad Pitt). All three men are good in their roles, again base hits. Although I haven't seen The Descendants, I've heard great things & am betting on George Clooney here.</div><div><br /></div><div>Supporting Actor: we've seen Moneyball (Jonah Hill). He's fabulous in this movie, possibly better than Pitt, but he's a long shot in my opinion. Here I bet on Christopher Plummer in Beginners.</div><div><br /></div><div>Best Actress: we've seen The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Rooney Mara). She's terrific in this film, & they did a decent job of adapting it although the book is still better. Nonetheless, bet against Meryl Streep? No, not likely, go for The Iron Lady here.</div><div><br /></div><div>Supporting Actress: we've seen The Artist (Berenice Bejo). Again, a talented actress in a great role, but I'm not expecting a sweep. I went with Octavia Spencer (The Help).</div><div><br /></div><div>Best Animated Feature: amazingly, we've seen none of the nominees! Even more amazing? The Academy did not see fit to nominate the new Winnie the Pooh film! Really now. I'm beginning to think they figured the only way to get Johnny Depp an Oscar was to have a field where Rango could be the stand-out winner. Love Johnny, but Pooh's film was great - rent it, peeps!</div><div><br /></div><div>So, we're off to the grocery store to lay in snacks for tonight. I'm looking forward to Billy Crystal hosting again. I hope it's a good show. Oh, & rent Winnie the Pooh (or buy it!), stupid Academy that was totally worthy of a nomination & possibly even Pooh's second Oscar (first won for Blustery Day in 1969).</div>Katy Loebrichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02565227413268875795noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6527522299116373427.post-76533020688132049182012-02-07T10:51:00.000-08:002012-02-07T11:32:27.678-08:00Sea ChangeLast spring my maternal grandmother passed away at the age of 97. Last fall Bruce's paternal grandmother passed away at the age of 91. The loss of these two family matriarchs has been difficult.<div><br /></div><div>The change was noticeable when we were home at Christmastime. <b>Our</b> parents are now the matriarchs & patriarchs. We were already calling ourselves the "crazy aunt & uncle," but now we're officially no longer the younger generation. Our nieces & nephews & first-cousins-once-removed are now the "kids." It's strange to be the adults.</div><div><br /></div><div>Last week the sea change was again made evident when my eldest cousin passed away at the age of 58. She had beaten cancer several times, but not this one. Despite a 14 year age difference between us, Gayle's passing really hit me hard. She was the first of the twelve of us first cousins on that side of the family (I am 9th, if you're wondering), but we have all always been close. I spent summers at various cousins' houses, or they spent time at mine. We had holiday dinners, family camping trips, & reunions overflowing with extended relations. </div><div><br /></div><div>It never seemed odd to me to have such a large family, nor did I feel distant or disconnected from any of them, despite differences in ages or living miles apart. There was a "meme" going around the internet awhile back about how cousins are our first friends, & my life really reinforced that theory! Even now, as adults, my cousins are among my dearest friends - I am always glad to see them & spend time together. </div><div><br /></div><div>When I heard that Gayle had been moved to hospice with very little time left, I was really shaken. The first of my cousins. She played with me when I was little, even though she was a teenager. She settled the squabbles between me & her youngest brother. She sang at my wedding. She could be found, with a guitar & a big smile, leading the Family Hootenanny at every reunion. She loved & supported me & mom, & our whole big goofy family - & we all knew it, every minute of every day.</div><div><br /></div><div>For the several days that she was in hospice care, my heart was full of thoughts of Gayle. It was hard to focus on other things. Once she had passed safely into Heaven, I was able to relax. I'm still terribly saddened by the loss of her, but comforted in the knowledge that she is at Peace, & that she loved "our whole big goofy family - & we all knew it, every minute of every day."</div>Katy Loebrichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02565227413268875795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6527522299116373427.post-51458575603102881042012-01-21T17:38:00.000-08:002012-01-21T17:41:47.821-08:00Candy Poems<blockquote><div style="text-align: center;">Together will see</div><div style="text-align: center;">joy</div><div style="text-align: center;">when find sugar</div><div style="text-align: center;">please</div><div></div></blockquote><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">-------</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div></div><blockquote><div style="text-align: center;">Trust</div><div style="text-align: center;">language</div><div style="text-align: center;">respect</div><div style="text-align: center;">chocolate</div></blockquote><div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>I'm pretty sure the first poem was written by one of my K College interns, Cailley. I am not sure to whom the second is attributed.</div>Katy Loebrichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02565227413268875795noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6527522299116373427.post-2809033487834387932011-12-01T11:18:00.001-08:002011-12-01T11:19:13.192-08:00Nature Poem<blockquote>I am rain<div>as you are sun</div><div>and they have the sea</div><div>like a rhapsody</div></blockquote><div></div><div><br /></div><div>I think this is one of mine, but I'm not sure....</div>Katy Loebrichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02565227413268875795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6527522299116373427.post-16452712765256765152011-11-19T07:39:00.000-08:002011-11-19T07:42:25.238-08:00Kristin's Poem<blockquote>Let<div>me be</div><div>your</div><div>love</div><div>yetI</div></blockquote><div></div><div><br /></div><div>Our friend Kristin was one of the first to post a poem on our fridge. Like the Pooh poem, there is a visual component to this one, too. Kristin combined the tiles for "yet" & "I" to make "yeti." The play on (or rather, with) words makes for an interesting double entendre. :-)<br /><div><br /></div></div>Katy Loebrichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02565227413268875795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6527522299116373427.post-74887779530506688082011-11-12T12:21:00.000-08:002011-11-12T12:29:56.649-08:00Poems From the FridgeWhile we were living in our previous apartment, the refrigerator died. The landlord immediately replaced it, of course, & we decided to "christen" it by getting some Magnetic Poetry tiles for it. We ended up buying 3 sets - Original, Shakespearean, & Romantic. These were put up on the fridge amidst our regular magnets - souvenirs, decorations, & the obligatory ones with pizza place phone numbers on them! We invited visiting friends & family to feel free to make poems if the muse so struck them.<div><br /></div><div>Over the years we've added additional sets of words. Two years in a row I had Magnetic Poetry calendars that came with their own mini-sets of words - all calendar-themed with words like "winter" & "rain," among others. When we moved, we photographed all the poems before packing up the words, then we put the words up on the new fridge for future poems to occur.</div><div><br /></div><div>As I have time, I am going to share those poems with you here. This is the very first poem we put together with our Magnetic Poetry set. It also used one Disney character magnet (you can probably guess which one). Enjoy!</div><div><br /></div><div><blockquote>Honey Pooh Fluff</blockquote></div>Katy Loebrichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02565227413268875795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6527522299116373427.post-19900113279347766002011-10-15T10:24:00.000-07:002011-10-17T09:38:56.681-07:00Star Wars Joke<blockquote>Q: How do you recognize a Lutheran Jedi?<div>A: When you say, "may the Force be with you," s/he replies "and also with you."</div></blockquote><div></div><div><br /></div><div>My sister-in-law told us this when we were home visiting last month. I think it's hilarious (and it works for Presbyterian Jedi, too)! I told Bruce we need to exchange this greeting with everyone we meet at <a href="http://starwarscelebration.com/">Celebration</a> next summer - that's going to be a blast! :-)</div>Katy Loebrichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02565227413268875795noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6527522299116373427.post-43137186389329138262011-09-24T08:37:00.000-07:002011-09-24T08:44:36.981-07:00PassingLast week Bruce's grandma, Eva Loebrich, passed away at the age of 91. We drove up to Ohio a week ago today, just got in the car & went, to be there with the family. We are very grateful for the time we had together with our loved ones. As always in these situations, we had to leave in a hurry & we are thankful for our coworkers here in NC who willingly took on extra shifts/duties on short notice to make it possible for us to go. We are also thankful for all the small blessings from friends & family who sent messages, came to the services, dropped by to visit, & housed us while we were in town. All those gifts of love made a difficult time easier & allowed us to honor Grandma & our family.Katy Loebrichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02565227413268875795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6527522299116373427.post-30003240951314616022011-09-02T18:15:00.000-07:002011-09-02T20:58:41.294-07:00Super Cinema SynopsisFor various reasons beyond our control (technical issues, work schedules, etc.), we went a significant portion of the spring without being able to post here online. The issues actually began shortly before the Oscars, denying us the ability to do our usual live blogging of the show. Additionally, the problems meant I wasn't able to post movie reviews of all the stuff we saw <span style="font-weight: bold;">after</span> the Oscars.
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<br />So here goes! Moms, to save you time if you don't want to read the whole post, I think the only films on this list that you could actually see are <span style="font-style: italic;">Midnight in Paris</span> and <span style="font-style: italic;">Winnie The Pooh</span>. Anyway, here are some brief thoughts on the 22 films we've seen since March.
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<br /><a href="http://www.theadjustmentbureau.com/index.php">The Adjustment Bureau</a>
<br />Matt Damon is David, an aspiring politician. When he meets Elise (Emily Blount), a ballet dancer, his focus changes & he looks to spend his life with her rather than pursuing advanced political office. But obstacles keep cropping up; despite his desires, David loses contact with Emily & his attempts to reconnect fail. Then he meets some men who tell him that there is a plan for his life & he must follow it, no matter what he wants. David, however, is not one to give up.
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<br />At the offset, I was expecting this to be another <span style="font-style: italic;">Bourne Identity</span>-type movie, but it wasn't. In the end it went in a slightly different direction than I would have guessed & I really enjoyed it. Nice, fun film.
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<br /><a href="http://redridinghood.warnerbros.com/dvd/">Red Riding Hood</a>
<br />Valerie, daughter of the woodcutter, is in love with Peter, but her parents have arranged for her to marry the rich Harry. Learning this, Valerie & Peter decide to run away together, but then Valerie's older sister is killed by the werewolf that has terrorized the town for generations. Town leaders bring in a famous werewolf hunter who locks down the town. The townspeople also learn that this werewolf could be any one of them, thus instigating panic & causing many of the citizens to plot & turn against each other. All while the werewolf continues to attack the townsfolk.
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<br />Yes, people, this is Red Riding Hood a la <span style="font-style: italic;">Twilight</span>. The cinematography is gorgeous, the story & acting are okay, the ending was actually a little unexpected. Bruce & I enjoyed it, but this is really just fluffy fare for those of us who are into fantasy werewolf films. Don't be fooled, however, it is rather bloody at points.
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<br /><a href="http://suckerpunchmovie.warnerbros.com/dvd/">Sucker Punch</a>
<br />A teenage girl witnesses her stepfather in the act of abusing her younger sister & attacks him. In turn, he commits her to an asylum for the criminally insane where she is set for a lobotomy. Once he leaves, she finds that the girls in the institution are being groomed to perform for rich patrons of the asylum, & she herself must also learn to do so. She is given the nickname Baby Doll &, as she finds her style, she meets a wiseman who gives her guidance on how to achieve her quest. Baby Doll & the other girls then prepare to escape by distracting the patrons. Or do they?
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<br />I described this movie as "David Lynch directs <span style="font-style: italic;">Kill Bill</span> as a video game." Layer upon layer of twisty plot, you're never sure what's real, what's symbolic, & what the symbolic symbolizes. The cinematography & effects are amazing to boot - ooh, delicious! This is still my favorite film so far this year.
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<br /><a href="http://www.filminfocus.com/hanna">Hanna</a>
<br />Hanna is being raised by her father in a remote northern location where he is training her in survival & fighting skills. When she feels she is ready, the teenage Hanna activates a beacon which alerts others to their presence. Her father leaves, having set up a rendezvous with her at a later date. Commandos infiltrate & capture Hanna, taking her to a military site. She escapes & begins making her way to her father. On her journey she learns a lot about herself, her father, & the things she was taught to believe.
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<br />Overall, the movie is probably pretty predictable, but golly it was interesting to try to stay a step ahead & figure out what was going on. Another fun, action-thriller!
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<br /><a href="http://www.enterthesourcecode.com/">Source Code</a>
<br />Jake Gyllenhall is Army helicopter pilot Colt Stevens. His last memory is flying a mission in Afghanistan when suddenly he wakes up on a commuter train. The girl across from him appears to know him & talks with him about certain events that he doesn't remember. There is an explosion &, the next thing he knows, Colt is in some sort of isolation chamber talking with an Air Force major. She tells him there is a suspected terrorist plot connected to the explosion on the train & that he must "find the bomb, find the bomber." He is sent back & wakes up at the same point in time on the train. He continues this process in 8-minute long attempts, looking at the incident from all angles, in the attempt to complete his mission.
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<br />This was an enjoyable movie, but it could have been better. It's a lot easier to guess what's going on in this one. The ending is obvious. The acting is all right & the effects are cool. There are some fun scenes as Colt starts taking crazy risks knowing he's just going to reset in 8 minutes anyway. Good popcorn flick, although also violent.
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<br /><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0968264/">The Conspirator</a>
<br />President Lincoln is assassinated. Seven men & one woman are arrested & charged with conspiracy in the crime. A rookie lawyer is assigned the defense of the lone woman - Mary Surratt - whose boarding house was the site of occasional visits from John Wilkes Booth.
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<br />This was a good, strong acting vehicle with a really interesting true story to tell. Of course, when Robert Redford directs you can certainly plan on getting good pacing & great performances! It's just too bad this came out so early in the year, it's definitely Academy-standard fare. Still might get a Best Actress nod for Robin Wright, that was a good, meaty part, & good actress parts are hard to come by.
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<br /><a href="http://www.yourhighnessmovie.net/">Your Highness</a>
<br />Two princes unite to save the heir apparent's fiancee from an evil sorcerer before their kingdom is destroyed. Along the way they meet a brilliant female warrior on a mission to avenge her family. As their quests coincide, they team up for a while. They face a minotaur, gain a magic weapon, are captured, escape, & eventually must face the sorcerer as he undergoes casting his evil spell.
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<br />Okay, I was iffy on this one at first, it's a slapstick comedy, which we don't usually like, but it's a medieval adventure a la dungeons & dragons, which we usually do like. Then I read a comment from a friend of mine - a film director in his own right - about how he really liked it despite what the reviews were saying. So, we took a friend who was interested in it & went to the movies. Well, it was awful. Way too many penis jokes (& penises in general), too many "poop jokes & pratfalls" (which will turn me off every time). It could have been better, but it went below sophmoric & down to "junior high-ish." Just not good.
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<br /><a href="http://www.waterforelephants.com/">Water for Elephants</a>
<br />Robert Pattison steps away from his iconic vampire role to play Jacob, a veterinary student whose life takes a sudden turn when his parents are killed in an accident leaving him destitute. Unable to finish school, he runs away & joins a circus where his animal-handling skills gain him a job & a bed. Ring Master August runs a tight ship. His wife Marlena is his star, but despite her beauty & talent, the show is not drawing in crowds & the troupe's finances are slim. August hits on an idea for an attraction when he buys Rosie the Elephant & asks Jacob to train her to work with Marlena. The ring master's hard drinking & violent tendencies make him dangerous....especially when the spark of romance flares between Jacob & Marlena.
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<br />Reese Witherspoon & Christopher Waltz are fantastic in this. Pattison is okay - he has color to his skin & is easy enough on the eyes to make Witherspoon's attraction to him believable. The plot is fairly predictable, but interesting. The best actor in the movie, of course, is the elephant.
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<br /><a href="http://thor.marvel.com/">Thor</a>
<br />Kenneth Branagh shows that he's not just a Shakespearean actor, he can direct him an action flick in this movie based on Marvel comic's interpretation of the Norse god of thunder. Young & eager, Thor wants to lead the Asgard forces against an ancient enemy. Odin casts Thor out for his disobedience, causing him to arrive on Earth. He meets scientist Jane Foster & establishes a bond with her that changes him. In the meantime, Loki is stirring up trouble on a grand scale back in Asgard.
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<br />Okay, I've been a Marvel girl since I first started reading <span style="font-style: italic;">Spider-Man</span> at the age of 7, but I've never read their <span style="font-style: italic;">Thor</span> comics. So I couldn't say whether the film stays true to the comic mythology, but we could argue for days on whether <span style="font-weight: bold;">comics</span> stay true to their mythology, so.... Back to the movie, if you go in putting aside any preconceptions of mythology - comic or Norse - & set yourself to watch a comic book action flick, you'll have a grand old time!
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<br /><a href="http://www.sonypictures.com/homevideo/priest/">Priest</a>
<br />Inspired by a graphic novel series, <span style="font-style: italic;">Priest</span> tells the story of a post-apocalyptic world where the church rules society with an iron fist. The priests are chosen by their God-given skills, which may manifest in childhood or later in life, to fight evil in all its forms, but more specifically in the form of vampires who are terrorizing the human population. One priest disobeys orders from the council of cardinals to go & rescue his niece who has been captured by a tribe of vampires.
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<br />Yes, the plot was predictable. Yes, the acting was on par with the plot. But man, the costumes, the sets, the effects, the concept...oh, I enjoyed this movie! It was cool to see Paul Bettany playing the action hero & the unattainable love interest for once, instead of the goofy/nerdy sidekick he usually is. It was hilariously funny to us <span style="font-style: italic;">True Blood</span> fans to see Stephen Moyer playing a human victim (he's the Vampire King on the HBO series). The downsides to <span style="font-style: italic;">Priest</span> were: it was only released in 3D in our area - & it wasn't filmed in 3D - & the movie itself is so dark that it was actually hard to see any detail through the after-market 3D conversion, & it is apparently only <span style="font-weight: bold;">inspired</span> by the graphic novel series, the plot of the movie has nothing to do with the comic books. Bummer, I liked the film so much, I would have bought the comics.
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<br /><a href="http://disney.go.com/pirates/">Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides</a>
<br />Captain Jack Sparrow & his rival Captain Barbosa are on a quest to find the fountain of youth. Jack has the map, & the compass which points to what you want most. Additionally, his ex, Angelica, knows what is needed to complete the ritual to activate the fountain. But she has a chip on her shoulder and an ulterior motive that even Jack doesn't know about. And then there's the British army to worry about.
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<br />Sure, some of the jokes are getting a little stale. A lot of the plot seems recycled from the other films. But Johnny & Geoffrey Rush are so good!
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<br /><a href="http://www.x-menfirstclassmovie.com/">X-Men: First Class</a>
<br />This is the origin story of how Charles Xavier and Eric Magnus became Professor X and Magneto, how their backgrounds shaped their decisions, and how their friendship bound & eventually separated them. Potentially a brilliant reboot of the franchise with reintroductions of many integral Marvel characters.
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<br />A while back Joss Whedon wrote a 24-issue arc of A<span style="font-style: italic;">stonishing X-Men</span>. At the end of the first issue there's a big reveal panel as the X-Men re-appear in their traditional blue & yellow X uniforms. It's delirious, squiggly, fan-girl happy-making to see. This movie feels just like that! Sure, it deviates from the previous movies' mythology, but it goes back to a lot of the comic book mythology - while pulling in more - & does so fabulously. It was great & I really hope they're going to rebuild the franchise on this set-up.
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<br /><a href="http://greenlanternmovie.warnerbros.com/">Green Lantern</a>
<br />Test pilot Hal Jordan's fast-living takes an unexpected turn when an alien crash-lands on Earth. The alien's ring chooses Hal to take over his role as a Green Lantern. This is the first time a human - considered to be "too young" a race - is so chosen. Hal has to overcome resistance from the rest of the Green Lanterns & from within himself before figuring out his true path.
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<br />Yes, it's been a great summer to be a comic book geek! I'm a Marvel girl & Green Lantern is a DC title, so I am sure there are discrepancies that I didn't catch - & some I did - but all in all it was a fun film.
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<br /><a href="http://disney.go.com/pooh/">Winnie the Pooh</a>
<br />Pooh Bear wakes up one morning to realize he has no honey. At Christopher Robin's he finds a note that he can't read & takes it to Owl, who interprets it as Christopher having been kidnapped by the mysterious Backson. The animals then set a plan in motion to capture the Backson & rescue their friend Christopher Robin.
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<br />Done in the traditional animation style of the original Oscar-winning Pooh films, this movie brings more stories from the original books to the big screen. Yes, there's new voice talent, but they are all spot on. It is cute, clever, funny, & fun - for adults & kids alike. The credits are incredibly fun, too - the guys are bouncing through them, playing games, chasing bees, poor Eeyore hangs by his tail off a row of credits for two rotations! - & there's a bonus scene at the end. Really! This movie is on my Christmas list already.
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<br /><a href="http://harrypotter.warnerbros.com/harrypotterandthedeathlyhallows/mainsite/index.html">Harry Potter 7, pt. 2</a> (twice)
<br />Harry, Ron, & Hermione continue the quest for the remaining horcruxes - magical items which allow Lord Voldemort to extend his life, even should his physical body be killed - while the Dark Lord himself continues to exert control over the wizarding world. Snape is now headmaster & rules Hogwart's with an iron hand. Even so, a resistance is growing amid students, professors, & wizards at large who align themselves with Harry. It all comes to a head with the boy wizard facing his nemesis in a battle to the death.
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<br />Yes, we went opening night. Yes, we went again the following weekend to see it in IMAX 3D. Brilliant! The book is much better, but the movie is a very good adaptation considering what they had to do to make it all fit into a film. The actors have really grown up in these rolls, so much that it is easy to identify with them. Of course, Alan Rickman has been deliciously devious as Snape throughout the franchise - & who doesn't love Dame Maggie Smith as Professor McGonagall? The effects are great - amazingly better in IMAX 3D, in fact! - & it is just tremendous fun to ride along to the end with this cast of characters we've grown to love.
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<br /><a href="http://captainamerica.marvel.com/">Captain America</a>
<br />Steve Rogers is determined to join the Army & fight in World War II, but his small size & poor health have hindered his goals. Until a scientist sees his determination & selects him for a special program. The secret growth hormone the scientist has developed changes Steve into a strong, fast, hale & hearty fighter, but the Army doesn't know what to do with him.
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<br />Did I mention what a great summer it is to be a comic book geek?! This movie was great! A good period piece, a good character piece, & a great premise starter...'cause this kicks off next summer's <span style="font-style: italic;">The Avengers</span>, directed by the amazing Joss Whedon. The bonus scene at the end is the preview for it, in fact. Great fun all around!
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<br /><a href="http://www.cowboysandaliensmovie.com/">Cowboys & Aliens</a>
<br />Daniel Craig wakes up alone & wounded in the middle of the desert. He has a strange shackle on one wrist & no memory of what it is or how it got there. In fact, he has no memory at all. He beats up a group of bandits who try to rob him, steals some clothes & a horse, & rides into the nearest town. Only to find that he is a wanted man & has somehow crossed the town's benefactor, a rich livestock wrangler played by Harrison Ford. But bygones become bygones when aliens suddenly attack the town & start abducting residents.
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<br />Put together Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Steven Spielberg, Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, & director Jon Favreau doing an epic period piece combining two diverse genres? Holy smoke, what can go wrong? Well, not all that much actually, but the movie just gets by on its cred, it doesn't really sing. The acting & plot are kinda flat. The effects are cool. It's fun, it just doesn't knock it out of the park.
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<br /><a href="http://www.foxsearchlight.com/thetreeoflife/">The Tree of Life</a>
<br />A family of 5 comes of age in the 1950's. The controlling father & free-spirited mother clash over raising their three boys, as the father deals with having given up his dreams to take a job & support the family. The middle son's unexpected death a few years later shatters the family. The eldest son draws on his memories & relationship with the divine to eventually come to terms with the loss.
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<br />This movie is trippy! You're never really sure what happened to the middle son. You leap around in time quite a bit through flashbacks. There's this incredibly lengthy segment that Bruce called the "Windows Screen Saver" part. It's like 30 minutes (really!) of CGI effects that tell the story of the Universe from the Big Bang to Modern Day. There are stars being born, planets set into orbit, cells dividing, dinosaurs crawling out of the primordial ooze, meteors striking them down, lots & lots of underwater photography, beautiful scenic vistas of mountains & valleys...all set to opera music. Then suddenly you discover that the eldest of the three sons, as an adult, is Sean Penn. He's an architect, & he's very depressed. He has visions of buildings & angels, of beaches & loved ones.
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<br />I remember thinking that if Professor Bogart hadn't retired from K College, this movie would totally be in film class next semester. He would have loved it's hearty dollops of symbolism & archetypal characters. I hated it. It was supposed to be this epic cinematic oeuvre, but I thought it was long, drawn-out, confusing, overdone, & awful.
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<br /><a href="http://www.sonyclassics.com/midnightinparis/">Midnight in Paris</a>
<br />Gil & his fiancee Inez go to Paris with her parents. While Inez' father John is there on business, Inez & her mother Helen shop for wedding & household supplies. Meanwhile, Gil, a Hollywood screenwriter, is hoping the ambiance of the City of Lights will spark his creativity & reinvigorate his writing career.
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<br />This is Woody Allen's latest foray as a writer/director & he is in peak form. Not as slapstick as <span style="font-style: italic;">Sleeper</span> or his other big hits in the 70's, but equally brilliant. The plot is pretty obvious, but the acting is terrific & really pulls everything together. Like many of his movies, the cast is huge & full of famous people all putting in perfect performances. Allen himself is not in the movie, Owen Wilson stars as Gil. I don't normally like Wilson, his usual fare falls into the "poop jokes & pratfalls" category which is one I actively avoid. But he is amazing in this film! I found myself thinking that they could end up being another actor/director pair on a par with Fellini & Marcello Mastrioanni, & what a great move that would be for Owen Wilson. Folks, this is really a movie worth seeing for his performance alone, but you'll also enjoy how good everyone else is & how well the ensemble comes together. See it.
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<br /><a href="http://www.welcometofrightnight.com/">Fright Night</a>
<br />People in a sleepy Vegas suburb keep mysteriously disappearing. Badly damaged corpses keep turning up. Meanwhile, Charlie Brewster has managed to overcome his geeky childhood to become a popular high schooler with a beautiful girlfriend...& a vampire for a next door neighbor.
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<br />Oh golly, my friends laughed at me, but I have been sold on this movie since I found out about it like a year ago! The original <span style="font-style: italic;">Fright Night</span> (1985) is one of my all-time favorite vampire films - it's campy, but so good (thanks for loaning it to me for a re-view, Peter!). The remake has Colin Farrell, who is awesome, & the truly delicious David Tennant. Oh, I was SO in from the beginning! Additionally, it's written by Marti Noxon, of <span style="font-style: italic;">Buffy the Vampire Slayer</span> fame. Oh yeah! People, it's even that good - really! In 3D, no less! Oh yes! The plot is eerily parallel & yet slightly off-kilter from the original, but all the better for the times it does sync back up & then drift back apart. The acting is so much better. The costuming (oh why did we think that stuff was fashionable in '85?) is lots better here, too. The effects are tremendous - the soundtrack is great. Oh, it was so so good!
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<br /><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1346849/">A Few Brains More: Summer of Blood</a>
<br />After falling into the Lazarus Stream, Lily has spent more than 100 years tracking Dead-Eye McShane & taking out the zombies he's created. Many years ago Lily destroyed the stream, but McShane has enlisted the aid of scientists to replicate the water's special chemical combination. He plans to unleash his new creation at a Woodstock-like concert in 1971. Lily continues in her role as Zombie Slayer, aided by the zombified Jack & a few "meddling kids" they encounter along the way.
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<br />This movie - the sequel to <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1204898/">A Fistful of Brains</a> - was made by my friend & colleague Christine Parker. We used to work together at the TV station. She had a screening at the theater on campus in Chapel Hill & it was too cool that other folks from the station were able to come out & support her & local filmmaking. Christine had put together a cool clip reel of outtakes & behind the scenes footage that was showing in the theater while we waited. The movie itself is funny & clever - it has some gross parts that the squeamish (me!) should close their eyes through, but for the most part even the gross stuff is stylized to be funny. The actors have really come together & are having a great time. There were some new cast members this time around, but they fit right in seamlessly. I liked the plot of this one better than the last one, I thought it flowed better. Guess what? I think there's going to be another one.
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<br /><a href="http://www.conanthebarbarianin3d.com/">Conan: The Barbarian</a>
<br />The son of a barbarian chief & his wife, Conan is born by improvised Ceasarean section when his mother is cut down in battle. She lives long enough to name the baby there on the battlefield. Conan is raised by his father, who is a brilliant swordsmith. However, a rival clan leader & his sorceress daughter are seeking the pieces of a mystic mask which will give the wearer the power of a god. After they kill Conan's father & decimate his clan to get the piece, the young barbarian grows up with a goal of taking down that rival clan chief.
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<br />I've never seen the original film version with Arnold Schwarzenegger. (I know, right?!) Nor have I read the books. Bruce says this was probably a better film simply because the art of filmmaking has improved. Overall, it's a really straightforward, predictable movie. The acting is okay. Jason Momoa is very easy on the eyes. The cinematography is nice. But it's just an okay film.
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<br />So...by now we've got to have the Sound Effects, Sound Editing, & Special Effects categories locked up for next year's Oscars, right?
<br />Katy Loebrichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02565227413268875795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6527522299116373427.post-51809530022216965812011-07-30T06:26:00.000-07:002011-07-30T07:02:49.762-07:00Recycling UpdateRegular readers will remember that we have been disappointed with the availability of recycling since we moved in the summer of 2008. At that time, our apartment complex did not offer the service because their previous contractor had voided the contract when tenants did not separate their trash from their recycling, thus polluting the whole process. Our first solution was to go to one of the county recycling centers, which happened to be just up the street from our grocery store. We bought lidded bins which we kept in our kitchen and hauled to the recycling center when we went shopping.<br /><br />This was fine until the county decided to give homeowners larger, lidded, rolling curbside bins for collection and closed all the community recycling centers. Only the main one at the town dump remained open and that location had limited hours. Apartment complexes should have begun providing facilities for their tenants to recycle at that time, but ours didn't - possibly because of the previous issues. Our solution was to load our bins in the car and drive to the recycling center next to A Southern Season - which is in Orange County, not Durham County, thus why it is still open - and then shop for gourmet food and chocolate while we were in the neighborhood.<br /><br />And that was fine until we bought the Smart Car last fall. We really weren't sure how we were going to get our big bins, which can hold two weeks worth of recycling, into our tiny car. As we were still trying to figure that out, miraculously our apartment complex started offering recycling again! Now we just had to roll our bins - which had wheels - across the parking lot to the dumpster area. Next to the industrial-size trash compactor is a small walled-off area where everyone usually dumps their Christmas trees after the holidays. This was previously the recycling center and now is again. There are six large recycling hoppers in there and we can put containers and mixed paper in them. There has always been a huge metal hopper for cardboard recycling, so we do still need to separate our paper from our corrugated cardboard.<br /><br />For us, this has been fine except for one hiccup so far. That was when one of our bins, which we purchased in 2008, got filled with fruit fly larvae! We had been wondering how we suddenly had so many fruit flies in the apartment - well, that answered that, blech! So, we just threw that bin (it was plastic, after all) into the plastic recycling contents and all. We replaced it with a new one that actually has a better sealing lid. Not long after that, we replaced the other bin, too. It had had the paper products in it, so it didn't have fruit flies, but one of the wheels had broken off and was always needing to be jammed back on, plus the new ones are a better size for actually putting in the Smart Car, if we ever need to do that.<br /><br />And this has been working out perfectly for us, except for one thing. Our neighbors are doing it again. No one is sorting their recycling and their trash. Even the Christmas trees they throw out at the holidays are really not supposed to be dumped there, but everyone does it and does it all year round. The recycling area has couches, TV's, lamps, once I found a box of clothes and miscellaneous items as if someone had broken up with their partner and threw all their stuff out of the house. These, and bags and bags of trash, are just piled up in, around, on top of the actual recycling collection bins. One day I was putting my trash in the correct place - the compactor - and I saw one of our complex's maintenance men moving stuff - one item at a time - from the recycling into the trash. We had the following short conversation.<br /><br />Me: Why do people DO that?<br />Him: (shakes head) I don't know.<br />Me: I just want to hang up signs, 'people, sort your dang trash!'<br /><br />And I do want to hang up signs, but that's not my responsibility as I am not management. Still, I think we're in serious danger of losing our recycling contract again which is not only bad for the planet, it's bad for us. It's illegal to throw recyclables in the trash in North Carolina. Individuals cannot be punished for it - how would they figure out who did it? ("We found your name on an envelope underneath a half a ton of garbage...." [ahem]). But trash collectors can be fined, which they would surely pass on to their clients in the form of price hikes, which would probably come back on us in the form of rent hikes. Come on, people, this is really obvious! Plus you're killing the planet, which is already overwhelmed with all of us using up its resources. Get with the program and sort your dang trash!Katy Loebrichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02565227413268875795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6527522299116373427.post-75361132452193413482011-07-18T09:27:00.001-07:002011-07-18T09:49:13.645-07:00Reflecting on Family<blockquote>"Family faces are like magic mirrors. Looking at people who belong to us, we see the past, present, and future."<br /> ~ Gail Lumet Buckley</blockquote><br /><br />I am so blessed to have an amazing family! Like probably everyone in America, I have an interesting family dynamic, but it's never seemed odd to me. Sure, I have like a zillion relatives and step-relatives and relatives-twice-removed, but they're <span style="font-weight: bold;">all</span> family and have never felt like anything other than that. When we have reunions - whether it's the Howard clan, the Rennells clan, the Stahl clan, or any other branch of the family - it's always just a joy to see and be in fellowship with everyone.<br /><br />I fondly remember summers spent sleeping over at cousins' houses, family trips to the cabin in Canada, pool parties at Aunt Helen's, Easter egg hunts in Amherst, and St. Patrick's Day dinners at any "O'Stahl" house available. I read once about how cousins are our first friends, and that feels very true to my own experience. Even now, as adults, the bond between us cousins is so strong - when we see each other, even though it may have been years, we are still connected just as firmly as we were when we played together as children.<br /><br />This past spring, the Howard clan got together for our first reunion in 8 years. 10 of the 12 of us first cousins were there, as were many of the "removeds," it was a tremendous time. Barely two weeks after that reunion, Grandma passed away. Now my cousin Gayle, the eldest of us on this side, and her brother Rick, are both very ill. My heart aches for these my "siblings of the heart" and for the family as a whole.<br /><br />I am truly blessed with a strong and wondrous family, ours is a deep bond. Right now I am thinking of <span style="font-weight: bold;">all</span> of you, my relatives, with gratitude and sending my love to each and every one of you, knowing that, no matter what, all manner of things shall be well.Katy Loebrichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02565227413268875795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6527522299116373427.post-21762480051269015002011-07-09T13:14:00.000-07:002011-07-09T13:37:59.099-07:00Hilton Head 2011Regular readers will remember that Bruce's folks have an annual time-share at Hilton Head Island, SC. We usually manage to go down there with them at least every other year (sometimes we're too busy at work to take time off). This was one of the years when they have two weeks on the Island instead of just one, & we were able to take some vacation time to join them for part of the trip!<br /><br />Debbe & Derek flew in to Raleigh a couple of days before Mom & Dad Loebrich arrived. It was fun to visit with them & play with our nephew! Mom & Dad drove down from Ohio, arriving on Saturday. After their long drive, they got to enjoy playing in the pool at our apartment complex with Derek - refreshing! The four of them then headed on to Hilton Head on Sunday morning. Bruce & I worked the following week, then loaded up the Smart Car & drove down to join them.<br /><br />We had great weather for our drive - had the convertible top down for the first half of the trip even. When we stopped to fill up our gas tank, I quickly put on sunscreen, though! There was a point when we were close enough to the eastern NC wildfires that for about half an hour the air just smelled like campfires constantly. We put the top up about noon as it was getting too hot, & arrived on Hilton Head a little before 3pm.<br /><br />Mom & Dad had managed to get the condo right next to the pool this year - brilliant! Each morning we stepped off our back deck & walked about 3 feet to the pool. Once I discovered the hot tub next to the pool, that's where I started every day! We usually spent at least an hour swimming & playing in the pool each day before heading back to the condo for showers & lunches. Can't beat that! <br /><br />We also got in one afternoon at the beach - it was super windy & there was a storm front moving in which made things awfully hazy, but we had a great time. I love it when the ocean is so warm that it feels like bathwater! (Although the current was insanely powerful so none of us swam much.) We tried to go to the beach another time & as we walked up everyone else was walking out. I was just thinking "is everyone going to get dinner at the same time?" (it was 5pm) when one lady kindly stopped me & told me that the lifeguards had just blown the whistles to evacuate the beach because there was a storm coming in. So, we all turned around & went home. Dad & Debbe took Derek down to the beach a couple more times, but Bruce & I opted to stay at the condo & rest on those days.<br /><br />While we did have a couple doozies of storms, one in the middle of the night which was accompanied by some spectacular thunder & lightning, most of the time the weather was good if a little (okay a lot) too hot. Thank goodness for a/c & the pool next door!<br /><br />In addition to the swimming & beach trips, we made our usual favorite treks - to the outlet mall & to the cute shops at Coligny Circle & Fresh Market Plaza. I bought fudge to bring back to work, & between the 6 of us we bought 23 pairs of shoes (including 4 pairs of water shoes for the pool)!<br /><br />Derek is really into drawing right now, too. He made pictures almost constantly. He put together a book of our adventures that is really cool! There are pictures of all the canons & time bombs & bad guys we fought, upgrades we earned, mazes we had to do, & even a treasure map, but my favorite is the picture of Derek with Bruce & me after we've earned our sensei hats for beating the big bad guy - I may have to scan that one!<br /><br />After the time-share was up, everyone came back to Durham. Mom & Dad headed back to Ohio on July 4th, we had Debbe & Derek for a couple more days during which time we went to the science museum & played in the pool.<br /><br />Fun family tradition!Katy Loebrichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02565227413268875795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6527522299116373427.post-899227458721396042011-04-30T09:20:00.001-07:002011-04-30T09:54:51.407-07:00TornadoesSo you've probably heard about the stormy weather across the Southeast this spring. The front that most impacted North Carolina actually began in Arkansas on April 14th. By the 16th, the storms had made it to our state. It was very weird, Durham was almost the calm at the center of the storm. We had gone out to Costco, which is 7 miles north of us, and the sky was ominous, but it was still rather warm out, we even put the top down on our convertible. When we were finished shopping and were loading our groceries into the car, it had started raining. By the time we got on the road the rain was pretty heavy and so were the winds, driving was rather tricky. However, when we got home (just 7 miles, remember!) the rain was only sort of "spitty" while the winds were still heavy.<br /><br />Our neighbors were heading out and asked about the weather. Since we'd driven out of the storm, we told them that the rain wasn't that bad but it was windy. Imagine our chagrin when, after putting away the groceries, we discovered that we were under a Tornado Warning! We turned on the local 24-hour news channel immediately. Not much later in the afternoon there were EIGHT simultaneous warnings as the storms swept across the state. Oddly, outside our window it was still just dark with some spitty rain which occasionally picked up for a short time. <br /><br />South Durham ended up weathering the storms quite well. As you've surely seen in the news, though, the rest of the state was severely affected. With 24 deaths and over 80 injuries, as well as about 800 homes and businesses damaged statewide, the impact was akin to the hurricanes which often pummel our state. Clean-up and recovery is still going on, so it was good that the second batch of storms this past week didn't come to North Carolina.<br /><br />The most difficult part of the tornadoes for me was, as usual, the aftermath coverage we did at work. It made for a very busy week and not only was it a struggle to rearrange our crews and shows, the subject matter was difficult to watch and report.<br /><br />I have to admit, however, that I am a little jaded after all my years in the TV biz. I kept joking about the Tornado Trifecta. My fellow TV folks know what I mean, but for the rest of you, it's the three things you always hear in witness comments after the fact: "Sounded like a freight train. Never seen anything like it. Lucky to be alive." No one had the trifecta in their coverage, but that's probably good because, in fact, these storms were no joking matter - even when jokes are the only thing helping you get through the coverage.<br /><br />Tornadoes are not nearly as common here in North Carolina as they are back in my native Ohio.<br />One of my earliest memories is of there being a tornado in the small town of Bryan, Ohio where I was living. We didn't have a basement and everyone went to the one house on the block that did. Many people here don't know what to do during a tornado. As soon as we heard we were in a Warning, we knew we needed to go into the master bathroom (most interior room, no windows) if things looked bad. There are no sirens here either. Even after 12 years of living in North Carolina, when I hear a fire siren, I still stop to hear if it will waver or stay steady (non-Ohioans, a steady siren means tornado, a wavering siren means fire).<br /><br />I'm glad that we and all our loved ones came through the storms okay. This has already been an odd season weather-wise, I hope that hurricane season isn't too bad.Katy Loebrichhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02565227413268875795noreply@blogger.com0