Movie Reviews

The Lives of Others

This was an R-rated movie that I saw thanks to the BYU International Cinema. It's yet another foreign movie about East Germany. You might think those are the only kinds of movies I watch anymore. This one was brilliantly made, the most thrilling and suspenseful movie I've seen in a while. I'll try to secure an edited copy an send it to my family. I couldn't find any trailers that portrayed the movie well enough, but here is one.



5/5 Stars


The King of Kong
This is a documentary that I had been wanting to see for a long time. When it came out I tried to rent a copy but to no avail- it was always out. Finally I got one and we were able to watch it. It is funny, I don't think a movie could cast these kind of characters. Steve, the protagonist, is a math teacher from WA. He reminds me of home, maybe it's his accent. He's somewhat obsessive compulsive. All the other people in the movie are gaming freaks from the 80s. They are the bread and butter of this movie. I'd recommend it, but it might not be what you'd expect.


This is a short video about one of my favorite characters in the movie, Joel. I like when he takes 90 degree turns.

4/5 Stars

Be Kind Rewind

I saw this movie recently and thought it was great. It's not as formulaic as many of the comedies out there right now and has good acting. It's clean. Jack Black and Mos Def go great together.




4.5/5 Stars

Every year during spring training there is a lot of optimism voiced by fans who think "this is our year!" I am no different. After making my NCAA bracket (which is near perfect so far-the only prediction wrong is BYU winning, what was I thinking?) I'm in the gambling mood and I'm going to be bold and predict that the Seattle Mariners will win the AL West this year. There have been changes that give the M's a legitimate shot at the pennant.

1. The Mariners finished a mere 6 games behind the Angels last year. They led the Wild Card race until early September, when the Yankees finally realized that they had a 195 million dollar payroll and should start playing baseball. The M's will be more than 7 games better this time around.

2. Richie Sexson will bounce back from a down year. Last year his average was dangerously close to the Mendoza line, he knocked in 63 RBIs, and hit only 21 homers. Fortunately he was making the most money of any guy on the team. Seattle is all too familiar with players getting huge contracts and then sucking it up ( see Andre Beltre, Shaun Alexander, Jim McIlvane). Richie will get his act together or get benched.

3. The pitching additions of Erik Bedard and Carlos Silva will solidify the starting rotation(and getting rid of Ho-Ram and Weaver helped too). Bedard is one of the best pitchers in the majors (I'd go as far to call him the PREMIER French Canadian southpaw in the Bigs), and Silva is at least known for throwing strikes. The starting pitchers should be Bedard, Hernandez, Silva, Batista, and Washburn. That's a HUGE upgrade. Unfortunately we had to give up Adam Jones. It reminds me of when we traded Jose Cruz Jr. and he never reached his star potential. So maybe he will end in the Houston Astros' minor league system up with a career 248 batting average. Maybe.

4. The O.C. Angels of California have lost starting pitchers Lackey and Escobar to injuries. They will be out for several weeks at the start of the season. That should give the M's some time to build a lead and hopefully wins some games against the team from the "City of Angels" not named the Dodgers.

5. The M's will be able to pad their win column vs. the Rangers and A's. OK, so this won't help them gain anything on the Angels, but it's good to know the other 2 teams you play the most are awful. But Billy Beane is still the smartest man in baseball.

6. Ichiro has a crouching tiger in his soul. Everyone else will have to pay. The A's and Red Sox were chosen to play in their opening series in Japan. How does that make sense? Neither of those teams have a better Japanese player then the M's. This will fuel Ichiro's rage and he will continue to take out MLB teams, let alone inferior Japanese players. Ichiro was quoted for saying about Dice K, "I hope he arouses the fire that's dormant in the innermost recesses of my soul, I plan to face him with the zeal of a challenger." Don't think that Ichiro has a bad translator--he's actually that crazy.

7. Coaching Stability: Since Coach Mike Hargrove is gone, the staff no longer needs to be on suicide watch. John McLaren should be fine as long as he remains as nondescript as possible. Norm Charlton has been brought on as a pitching coach, and I'm not sure how to feel about it. I mean, while we're at it why don't we see if Bobby Ayala or Heathcliff Slocumb are available? "The Sheriff" was never that bad, but there is something disconcerting about his Jheri Curl. It's nice to have Mel Stottlemyre in the clubhouse, he should have a positive effect.

8. The backlash from the Sonics moving will motivate the fans. Seattle fans are disgusted in the plight of their Sonics and they are going to use their angst to root on their other sports teams and take grunge music to new highs. I see good things happening for the Seahawks, but that is for another post.

The M's will have their work cut out for them, and in the end they'll at least make the playoffs. I'm exciting to watch the one televised game this year. I'll remain optimistic until our first losing slump-- then I'll start talking football.


p.s. Lindsay.....where are those scores?

Wii Sports Challenge: Provo vs. Spokane

The Stevens were thrilled last Christmas to get a Nintendo Wii from Santa. Now that they've had a little time to practice and learn the ropes, it's time for some friendly competition. Tara and I are challenging the Stevens to 4 events on Wii Sports: Tennis, Baseball, Golf, and Bowling. The Golf and Tennis events are points-based, so you can just play nine holes or 10 frames and see if you can beat our scores. In the Tennis and Baseball events you'll have to use more time (since playing Wii counts as taking care of the kids) to try and get high pro ratings. We have photographed our scores and posted them here. Please post your current scores and we'll track your progress and see if you're up to the task.
The winners retain all bragging rights and privileges, including the spot at #2 as Mom & Dad's favorite (behind Emily, of course). If things go well and you look competitive we can extend the challenges to the training parts of the game, or scores on the business lunch golf courses (3-holes each). We're game for anything.

Our current scores as of 3-9-08 are:

Tyler- 214 in bowling, par in golf, 1985 skill level in tennis, and 1401 skill level in baseball
Tara- 161 in bowling, 2 under in golf, 393 skill level in tennis, and 65 skill level in baseball

Beat that suckas!

Music Reviews #2

Featured Artist: Jose Gonzales

Here is some soft guitar music for my sisters. I know they have been listening to the likes of John Mayer and Jack Johnson, and I decided that I should give them a healthy alternative to their pot-smoking artists. "Jose Gonzales" sounds like a familiar family friend.
This song, "Heartbeats", is a cover of another band that I like, The Knife. You're still not ready for them, but maybe in the future.


Also, if any of you are buying music I should recommend that you to buy it at Amazonmp3.com, not iTunes. That way you'll get it in unprotected mP3 format which makes it easier for you to use and share. The prices are just as good or better usually.

The Kind of Stuff my Sisters Enjoy: Milli Vanilli

• MTV
• Music Videos
• MTV Shows
• Entertainment News

Their fall from grace in the early 90s was one of the tragedies of the decade. But has anyone else ever made lip-syncing look so good? I don't think so. Luckily my sisters felt the same way.
I thought that their outfits looked familiar and I realized that they look a lot like that picture of Dad when he was little wearing a blazer with shorts. That's where the comparison ends, though.

My Mom's Artist (that I secretly enjoy): ABBA

OK, there's no getting around ABBA if you're going to be talking about my mom and music. In truth, ABBA deserves an entire post, if not their own blog. But for now we'll stick to the confines of this modest post. There is no other band that my mother has listened to more, and for good reason. ABBA redefined Swedish rock music, set standards for intermarriage within a music group, and changed the lives of kids from rural America. Even today their music videos make for some of the strongest arguments against globalization.
In the 70s Swedes were doing big things with cameras. There are probably other songs that I like better, but I like this video and think that it gets really good towards the end (the lookbacks). Bjorn is my favorite, but we'll get to him later.
Mom left a comment earlier about being careful about what you listen to because you never know what the kids will pick up...

...Mom?

Other pictures

Tara and I walked on this road for miles looking for a hot spring. We eventually gave up and turned around.







It was scenic, though.

















Tara enjoys cold weather.












This is the building for BYU athletes. Rumor has it this is where Dad's next stop is, doing voluntary custodial work.





This is further evidence of my earlier post on the Utah/Red Sox Connection. I would never expect to see this on any other plate this side of the Mississippi.



I hope that all my sisters have invested in these license plate frames.