Good Grief! I'm Trying To Watch 12 New Movies This Year, Again!

There is a lot of Charlie Brown in me. My middle name is Charles, I had a dog named Snoopy when I was a kid, my love for baseball has always exceeded my ability to play it well, and like the storied definition of insanity, I often do the same thing and expect different results

Charlie Brown Football GIFfrom Charlie Brown GIFs

This is particularly true regarding my annual plan to watch 12 movies I've never seen before and post the reviews here. The way it works is supposed to work is each year, I choose 12 films I haven't seen or haven't seen in their entirety, watch them, and then write a quick review and post here.  I also add a few wrinkles to the plan:

1. The movies have to come out no earlier than the year before the challenge. In this case 2024.

2. Although this is not a hard and fast rule, I generally do not count movies I watched in their original theatrical run if they came out the year prior.  For example. I watched  A Complete Unknown tonight at the theatre where I work.  Technically, it was released in 2024 and I watched it in 2025 so it could count, but since it hasn't left my theatre yet I'm going with the spirit of the law and not counting it.  If I had not watched it today and then watched it on DVD or streaming in a few months after its theatrical run ended I would certainly count it.

3. I divide the movies into 6 sections by years released. This year the sections are:

Films released from 2009 to 2024

Films released from 1994 to 2008

Films released from 1979 to 1993

Films released from 1964 to 1978

Films released from 1949 to 1963

Films released before 1934 and up to 1948

4. Since I'm trying to watch 12 films, I choose 2 films from each section.

This year I have already watched 2 films but have yet to review them.  This is where I usually get into trouble because until I review them and post them and have documentation of them, it is easy to lose track of what I've already seen.  In one of the first posts I did this year I mentioned the 

1976 Gene Wilder , Richard Pryor movie, Silver Streak.  In preparing that post, I discovered that there was also a 1935 film with the same name.  I have since watched that film and hope to post a review here before the end of the month.

The other "new" film I saw was at a staff party for the movie theatre I work at.  After all the last runs of movies in the theatre had begun they had a special showing of cartoons, and tow feature length movies.  the first film they showed, I had seen parts if but never in it's entirety, so I counted it as new to me. I hope to reveal the name of that film, and a review sometime in February.

Until then I see a girl holding a football for me, and I'm off to kick it. 

Weekly Writer's Workshop: 10 of my favorite Comic Strips

Here are the prompts for this week’s Writer’s Workshop: 

1.  Write a post based on the word shopping. 
2. Write a post in exactly 10 sentences. 
3. List ten of your favorite comic strips (from the newspaper). 
4. Write about a time when you laughed at an inappropriate time. 
5. Write about a joke (practical or otherwise) that did not go over well. 
6. List things you oddly obsessed about as a child.
   

I love comic strips.  I think I always have and I'm pretty sure I always will.  

Here are 10 of my favorite strips but not my favorite 10 strips

Rubes by Leigh Rubin

This is actually my favorite strip of Rubes.  I remember reading it in the Western Courier (my school campus newspaper). To learn more about Rubes click here.

Frank & Ernest by Thaves

The rest of the strips with images are not my favorite strip of the series I'm using them because I have previously used them on this or one of my other blogs.  This strip is a good representation of the regular content over the years. for more about Frank & Ernest click here.

Mister Boffo by Joe Martin

Along with Calvin & Hobbes, Peanuts & The Far Side, Mister Boffo, is probably one of my favorite 4  comic strips of all time.  The strip below while very representational of Martin's humor is definitely not up to his usual standards. For more Mister Boffo strips click here.

Non-Sequtir - Wiley Miller

Many of the Out There Comics like Far Side and Rubes   take place in a panel rather than a strip.  I think this is why I like Non-Sequtir so much it often appears in strip form strip rather than a panel.  For more about Non-Seutir click here.

Big Nate by Lincoln Pierce

The strip below embodies the titular character very well.  For more about Big Nate click here.

Animal Crackers By Mike Osburn

While Animal Crackers is a comic strip that appears in newspapers, this is not how I first digested it.  I remember strips being excerpted in some of my middle school textbooks and discovered it in newspaper version years later. For more Animal Crackers click here.

For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston

Paramount Pictures, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

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The above picture has nothing to do with the aforementioned comic strip.It's just I did not have permission to post any of the above strips but only used them since I had already used them on blogger before.  The above images or from the 1919 Cecille B Demille silent film For Better For Worse.

For Better or For Worse is a family comic strip that is humorous but also more realistic than many comic strips of it's era.  One way it was more realistic was the stylistic choice to age the family in real time.  At some point Johnston reversed the aging process and began telling the family story anew.  For examples of the strip click here.  

The Far Side by Gary Larson

I love The Far Side.  Gary Larson has a bizarre sense of humor and his artistic style blends very well with that humor.  One of my favorite strips is where you see a cat following signs scrawled out that say Cat Fud.  The signs eventually end at the inside door or a dryer,  While the cat appears to be following those signs into the dryer.  You can see dog waiting on the other side of the door ready to push it closed if the cat goes in.  The thought bubble above the dog says "Please! Let this work! For examples of the Far Side Strip click here.

Calvin & Hobbes by Bill Watterson

Calvin & Hobbes originally ran from November 18, 1985, to December 31st, 1995. Words cannot really describe what a wonderful experience it was for me to spend 10 years with Calvin and his stuffed tiger.  I adored every scrape they got in and don't really have a favorite strip.   Since I recently turned 60, I decided to put a link to the Calvin & Hobbes Strip from when I turned 30. The Strip features Calvin's Love Interest/nemesis. Susie Derkins.  It also use the phrase opposite day which is a phrase we use around the house quite a bit and I was unaware that Calvin ever talked about the concept.

Peanuts By Charles M Schulz

By Samsz - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5250404765

I have tried hard not to rank these comic strips or even say that they are my top 10 favorites. They are just 10 of my favorites. Peanuts, however, will always be my favorite strip. I'm sure that my love for comics strips grew from my love for Peanuts.  I once tried to learn French, just so I could read the French edition of a Peanuts anthology  at our library.  This strip is from the day I was born.  For more  Peanuts click here.

For more of this weeks Writers workshop click here.  

Thoughts on the Jimmy Carter Legacy on his 100th birthday.

  Jimmy Carter did not define the American Presidency.  It could well be argued that he defined the American Post Presidency.

To call Carter's 1  term tumultuous is to over-inflate the word tumult, it is better to refer to it as crisis-plagued. He inherited an energy crisis from Ford and left Reagan with a hostage crisis. In between these crises, He had to deal with a Russian invasion of Afghanistan that led to an Olympic Boycott and broker a peace agreement in the Middle East. I  highly recommend this article by Robert A. Strong for a synopsis of his presidency.

When Carter ended his 4 year residency in the White House in early 1981 he was 56 years old. That's 4 years younger than I am now.  This I believe is when his true legacy began.  Since leaving the White House, he started The Carter Center,  a global human rights organization, he has been a highly visible and highly productive volunteer of Habitat for Humanity, a prolific author, and a mediator and critic in Presidential politics.  He is the only U.S. President to win the Nobel Prize for accomplishments after his time as President.

Along with his work with Habitat for Humanity, the two accomplishments of Cater that I resonate the most with are his ability to speak his mind on divisive issues and his work as a rotating Sunday School teacher at his church in Plains Georgia.  An example of the first is a few years back when he tried to convince the Democratic Party to change their stance on abortion because it was causing so many voters who would otherwise vote for Democrats to either not vote or support Republicans.  

Jimmy Carter is not my favorite President, but he has long been my favorite former President.  When you look at his life as a whole, he may well be the most accomplished President we have ever had,  I find it fitting that he is the only President so far to live 100 years.  Next time I am enjoying boiled peanuts I will think about the Georgia peanut farmer who became an American icon.

12 New Movies 2024 Film #1 In The Good Old Summer Time

 When It comes to placing content on this blog I continually am reminded of the Peanuts comic strip.  Lucy would hold the football for Charlie Brown to kick it and then pull it away from him at the last second .  He would fly through the air and land on his back.  Lucy always seems to be able to convince Charlie Brown that this time it will be different and each time it ends exactly the same.

In my blog I have these ideas for recurring posts and quite often I start them but then never get to finishing them.  One of these actually predates my blogs and that is the idea of watching 12 movies I have not seen before in a year.  Of course I complicate this simple plan by stating that the films must be from different eras.  Each year by April or May I have forgotten which new movies I've seen and I don't meet my goal.  I thought blogging about them might help me keep track, but it only ends up documenting my failure .  In some ways I am both like Lucy luring me to try again each year and like Charlie Brown convincing myself that this time I'll be different  falling flat on my back when the football is metaphorically pulled from my path.

My wife likes to say that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and expecting different results.  But that same wife once co wrote a song with me entitled I'm insane, you're insane, who's gonna win.  So since I already am (I won) sanity challenged, trying again this year isn't that bad of an idea.  Maybe this time I'll at least make it to AAUGHust. 

As I said I try to split the films up so they are not all from the same era. I try to choose 4 films that are older than me and 8 that have come out in my life time 

This year I plan to see 2 new to me films from each of these 6 eras

I. 2009 to 2023

II. 1994 to 2008

III. 1979 to 1993

IV. 1964 to 1978

V. 1949 to 1963

VI. before and including 1934 to 1948

I have already watched 2 new movies this year.  

The first was the 1949 film In The Good Old Summer Time.  I have wanted to watch this one for a while, and actually was reminded of it when I shared a YouTube video here  earlier this month.

By IMDb, Fair use, Link

I would give this movie a rating between 2 1/2 and 3 stars out of 5.  The film takes place in the early years of 20th century Chicago featuring  Judy Garland and Van Johnson  as two music  music store workers  who are also engaging in a mail correspondence not realizing that they know each other in what will be called " IRL" more than a century later. This musical is based on the  1936 Hungarian play Parfumerie by Miklos Laszlo which has spawned 2 other movies and one Broadway musical. One theme from the film is that circumstances can effect the way we view the world especially how we  evaluate people. I really enjoyed the performances by Buster Keaton (Sherlock Holmes, Jr.) , and S.Z. Sakall  (Casablanca) as the shopkeepers nephew  and the shopkeeper, respectively.  Their presence helps bring out much of the films comedic elements.  One aspect of the film I did not enjoy was that many of the musical numbers, although entertaining on their own merit, did not really go with the story that was being told.  This led to kind of an uneven feel to the film, which led to my mediocre rating.  I would definitely recommend this film to fans of Garland and to those who like to watch different adaptations of the same source material.  

Comic Strips January of 2022

Peanuts 1/1/2022

Shoe 1/1/2022

For Better or Worse   1/2/2022

Bound and Gagged 1/4/22

Argyle Sweater 1/5/2022

Dilbert 1/5/202

Rubes 1/12/2022

Animal Crackers 1/13/2022

Calvin & Hobbes 1/24/2022

Half Full 1/29/2022

Last 5 Next 10 first 5 0f 2022 edition

Last year I tried to chronicle all the books I read in 2021 and failed miserably again but did not fail as miserably as I had failed in previous years.  This year I will attempt the same format I endeavored last year with one notable exception. When I finish 5 books I will write what they were and how I read them but will make no attempt at reviewing them in any way shape or form.  If I feel like reviewing one of these books I will do so in a separate post. Here is what I have finished from the beginning of the year until January 22nd ...

 A Fragile Stone by Michael Card

Listened to via Hoopla

1/2/2022

Betty & Friends: My Life at the Zoo by Betty White

Acquired interlibrary loan (read to self)

1/13/2022

Peanuts A Tribute to Charles M Schulz

borrowed from local library

read to self

1/13/2022

The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis

Own

read to self

1/17/22

Stone Fox by John Reynolds Gardiner

listened to parts at school 

read entire book on phone via Hoopla

1/22/22

I finished 5 books in 22 days a rate of 1 book every 4.4 days.  At that rate I will have finished 82.95 books by the end of the year.

Ten books I am currently reading or planning to read soon are .

Fodor's Essential Greek Islands

The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis

Collected Short Stories of Louis La'mour Vol I\

God's Forgetful Pilgrims - Michael Griffiths

Fish in A tree - Linda Mulally Hunt

Blue Like Jazz

Renegades, Born in the USA - Barack Obama, Bruce Springsteen

The Return Home - Elliott J. Anderson

Little House on The Prairie - Laura Ingalls Wilder

 Hawkeye Vol 1: My Life as a Weapon

Sunday Funnies 1/9/22

Sunday Funnies

Reading the Comics section of the Sunday Paper is a treat.  Today,  I had these strips emailed to me through Go Comics.  I hope you enjoy them as well.  

COMICS

GC BLOG

SHOP

MY COMICS

Comics I Follow for Jan 09, 2022

Frank and Ernest by Thaves

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The Flying McCoys by Glenn McCoy

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Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson

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Peanuts by Charles Schulz

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Rubes by Leigh Rubin

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View This My Comics Page on GoComics.com

© Copyright Andrews McMeel Universal 2022 All Rights Reserved. 1130 Walnut St. Kansas City, MO 64106Terms & Conditions - Privacy Policy

Last 5 Next 10 Vol III

 Summer is the time traditionally where I do a lot of reading. So far this Summer, I have read more than the anemic pace I set for myself at the start of the year.  I don't have that much to show for it as I am currently reading several books at a time but hopefully will be finishing a mess of those soon.  Here's what I've been up to recently.

Last 5 Books

I am using my HDOLL rating system.  Each books falls somewhere between hate and love with dislike okay and like coming between those extremes.

How To Hold Animals - Toshimitsu Matsuhashi

Why I chose this book: Our library has a section near the check out stations that I liken to the impulse buy aisle next to the check out aisles at a retail store.  I wondered why anyone would write, read or publish this book.  But my curiosity got the better of me.

Type: Book (read myself)

How Obtained: Borrowed from local library

Rating: Between okay and liked. 

In The Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson

Why I chose this book: As a substitute teacher I often end up reading parts of books to my classes to never encounter them again.  Being a big Jackie Robinson fan I decided to check this book out.

Type: Audio Book through my phone

How Obtained: I borrowed this book  from my library using the Hoopla app.  

Rating: Between Liked and Loved,

The Brave and the Bold Team-Up Archives Vol I

Why I chose this book: A few weeks ago I took my niece to our local library as she was visiting us for s few days.  I grabbed a couple of comic books off the graphic novels shelf to peruse while she read her books.  

Type: Hard Cover Book

How Obtained:  Borrowed from my local libray.

Rating: Solid like.

Black Widow Vol 1: The Ties That Bind- Kelly Thompson

Why I chose this book: I saw this book on the shelves at my local library and picked it up as the Black Widow movie was opening later in the summer and I thought it might be a good read in preparation for the movie

Type: Paperback Book

How Obtained: Borrowed from local library

Rating:Solid Like

Essential Defenders Vol I

Why I chose this book: In May I visited my friend Patrick.  He has an entire room in his house  dedicated to his comic book collection.  He had  a number  of volumes of The Defenders  which was a group of mostly loner super heroes that served as the last line of defense for humanity.  He was kind enough to lend me the first two volumes.

Type: Paperback Book

How Obtained: Borrowed from friend

Rating: Closer to Like than Okay.

2021 Book Stats as of  7/6/21

Previous estimate as of  5/25/21 25.43 books by the end of the year, 

After I finished Defenders Vol I yesterday I also finished book # 16 for the year.  This is fairly common as I am often reading multiple books at the same time.  I'll include that book in my next post but will include it in my projections for the year.  After reading 16 books in 187 days I'm on pace to o read 31.22 books  by years end. 

 

10 Books I'm  Reading or Planning to Read Soon

Farmer Boy - Laura Ingalls Wilder

The Unaborted Socrates - Peter Kreeft

News of The World - Paulette Jiles

World of Wonders- Aimee Nezhukumatathil

Schulz and Peanuts - David Michaelis

Essential Defenders Vol II

150 Glimpses of The Beatles - Craig BrownTT

The Answer is ... Reflections on My Life- Alex Trebek

The Big 50 Chicago Bears - Adam L Jahns

Sooley - John Grisham

 

Last 5 Next 10 Schools Out Edition

 Today is the last day of my school year.  This means no more substitute teaching until August and time to start thinking about Summer.  Specifically summer vacations. summer jobs and summer reading.  Before I get too far involved in that it's probably a good time to recount the last 5 books I read.  

Last 5 Books

Hondo by Louis L'Amour

Why I chose this book: Having gone 56  years without reading a single  Louis L'Amour book, Hondo is the 4th I've read this year. I had recently watched the filn version of this book and wanted to see how it stacked up

Type: Book (read myself)

How Obtained: Borrowed from local library

Rating: Loved

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen Children's Classics

Why I chose this book: I chose this book because I like to read at least one Jane Austen book a year.  It turns out I accidentally chose the children's version and did not realize it until I was halfway through it.

Type: Audio Book through my phone

How Obtained: I borrowed this book  from my library using the Hoopla app.  This is how it took me awhile to figure out I was "reading" an abridged children's version.

Rating:Liked only becuase it was a shortened version of this amazing book.

Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

Why I chose this book: After mistakenly listening to the children's version.  I wanted to listen to the unabridged version

Type: Audio Book though my phone

How Obtained: I borrowed this book from my library using the Hoopla App

Rating: Loved

For The Love of Mike - Mike Royko

Why I chose this book: I saw this book on the shelves at my local library and remembered with fondness all the newspaper columns I had read of Royko's.  So I decided to read this second anthology of his best columns that were published after his death in 1997

Type: Book (read myself) 

How Obtained: Borrowed from local library

Rating: Between liked and loved. 

Just Mercy - Bryan Stevenson

Why I chose this book: One of the blogs on my blogroll, Andy Unedited had a post called The Fruit-Tree Structure  that used the book Just Mercy as an example of that way of organizing a non-fiction book.  As I read that post I remembered that I gave that book to my wife for Christmas in 2019 shortly after we had seen the film adaptation of it.

 

Type: Book (read myself) 

How Obtained: Previously purchased for wife as a Christmas present.

Rating: Loved.

2021 Book Stats as of 5/25/21

When I read 5 books in 72 days I tried to put it off as a little deceptive.  Unfortunately I followed that with 5 books read in 73 days which is almost exactly the same.  If this keep us I will only complete 25.43 books by the end of the year.  Summer is when my reading usually picks up in the summer so  when I finish 5 more books I will hopefully have a more optimistic report.  

10 Books I'm  Reading or Planning to Read Soon

In my inaugural next 10 list I mentioned that the list would fluctuate beyond just crossing out the books I had read previously.  It turns out I was right. I finished 3 books from the list although I did "read" one twice. Looking at those that remain only a few will be on my current list.

Farmer Boy - Laura Ingalls Wilder

The Unaborted Socrates - Peter Kreeft

41 A Portait of My Father - George W. Bush

News of The World - Paulette Jiles

The Zookeeper's Wife - Diane Ackerman

World of Wonders- Aimee Nezhukumatathil

In The Year of The Boar and Jackie Robinson - Bette Bao Lord

The Magician's Nephew - C.S. Lewis

Schulz and Peanuts - David Michaelis

Concise Theology - JI Packer