Movie Club movie - Lars and the Real Girl

If you haven't rented this one - you should.  Highly recommended.

Lars and the Real Girl

A critically acclaimed film about Lars (Gosling), a sweet yet quirky, socially inept young man develops a romantic relationship with an anatomically correct sex doll, a "RealDoll" named Bianca, and how family and friends grow to accept and welcome Bianca into the community for Lars' sake, not realizing that she would touch all of their lives in a profound way.

Cast: Ryan Gosling, Emily Mortimer, Paul Schneider, Patricia Clarkson, R.D. Reid, Kelli Garner, Nancy Beatty. Director: Craig Gillespie rated: PG, 106 min.

Rotten Tomatoes writes: Lars and the Real Girl could've so easily been a one-joke movie. But supported by a talented cast and a great script, the direction never condescends to its characters or the audience.

American Hustle

Went to see American Hustle tonight - we both thought it was a good movie.  Great acting and a super music track.  Some very funny scenes.

Jan & Marc's for brunch

Had a wonderful brunch with our friends Jan & Marc and Jane & Lou.  We watched whales pass.

Time flew and before we knew, it was the NFC playoff and another group of people arrived.  Jan and Marc's neighbors include Diane and Steven who are friends of our sister and brother -in-law Carol and Bob - what a small world.

We left early as Almas had been alone all day and needed to go out.  We watched the last quarter with Paula - a bad end of the 49ers.

Here's four pictures from Jan and Marc's deck.  The whales were just beyond that first rock in the ocean.  The whales are still going south to give birth.  this usually occurs in November and some of December but not this late.  We saw a number of whales passing by

If it's Thursday, I'm probably hiking.: CRISPIN LANE

If it's Thursday, I'm probably hiking.: CRISPIN LANE

What was great was this hidden glen with its own micro-climate.  It is January but it was hot on parts of the hike.  Here's some more pictures

The Glen

We ate lunch on the deck of this house

TU B'SHEVAT SEDER

Went to a beautiful Tu B'Shevat Seder tonight.  Luna decorated beautifully and the seder was grand.  We prayed for rain - lets hope it comes

Dinner and play reading at Paula's House

We read "Dining Room",  The play is a comedy of manners, set in a single dining room where 18 scenes from different households overlap and intertwine.  Each of us had about four characters.  Paula planned it all out and made personalized copies of the script - a super lot of prep work.

It was tied to a soup dinner - three kinds of soup plus people brought salads and bread, and of course desserts.  .  We read the play around the dining room table which seemed appropriate.  An awesome evening, something we all agreed we would love to do again..

Afterwords we got in one round of charades.  Susan and I helped Paula tidy up a bit and we played on game of Canasta before retiring for the night.  

Our hostess and Director - Paula

Donna, Nik, Nancy and Vera Lee

Susan prepares the grand dining room table

We first get our parts of the play

Donna Studies her lines

Soup in the kitchen

The dining room table

Bettye, Vera Lee, Patty, and Susan after the play reading

Nik and Nancy relax after a hard performance

Frankenstein by the National Theater of London

Absolutely one of the most sensational plays.  Great acting, great sets, and a great story.

Here's the description provided on the Arena Theater website

Frankenstein
By Nick Dear

National Theatre Live's 2011 broadcast of Frankensteinreturns to cinemas as part of the National Theatre's 50th anniversary celebrations.

Frankenstein enjoyed a sell-out run at the National Theatre, and went on to win awards including the 2012 Olivier Award for Best Actor for Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller.

Oscar-winner Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, Slumdog Millionaire) directs a sensational production with Benedict Cumberbatch (Star Trek: Into Darkness, BBC's Sherlock) and Jonny Lee Miller (Trainspotting, CBS's Elementary) alternating roles as Victor Frankenstein and his creation.

Childlike in his innocence but grotesque in form, Frankenstein's bewildered creature is cast out into a hostile universe by his horror-struck maker. Meeting with cruelty wherever he goes, the friendless Creature, increasingly desperate and vengeful, determines to track down his creator and strike a terrifying deal.

Urgent concerns of scientific responsibility, parental neglect, cognitive development and the nature of good and evil are embedded within this thrilling and deeply disturbing classic gothic tale.

The Great Courses - Masterworks of American Art

Our local library offers adult classes where they run the Great Courses videos and then there's a group discussion lead by a facilitator.

We signed up for one called Masterworks of American Art that is taught by Professor William Kloss from the Smithsonian.  The first class was excellent.  There's two videos per week plus the discussion.  The class runs three months (thru March)

Casablanca

We signed up for a twelve week film class at the library.  We see a movie each week and discuss it.  The first one was Casablanca.  Excellent discussion.  Of course the movie is fantastic.

Monday - Susan is better

Rose and Nicanor were here last week and Susan got their cold.  We stayed in for four days but got back in the swing today.  Went to our morning exercise class and then were going to dinner and the Monday night movie club feature tonight when Gary got a fire call for a bad accident nearby.  Ended up taking so long the movie was half over so we decided to not go and instead went back to Paula's for a puzzle and popcorn.

The puzzle is complete

Aviva and Mathew got Susan a puzzle for Hanukkah.  While Susan fights off a cold she got while Rose and Nicanor were here, we completed the puzzle (over three days).

Sunsets from yesterday and today our great

For the 118 sequence from the two days click on sunset pictures below.

Sunset pictures