Two Thoughts on Life

Robert Redford and Rob Reiner were two of my favorite actors turned directors.  They both passed away in the last 4 months of  2025 and as a result I've been thinking about them and their work.  Yesterday, quite by accident, a movie quote popped into my mind.  I could not place the movie at first, so I googled it and soon this scene was on my phone.

 

 

This quote from The Natural, although said to Redford's Roy Hobbs rather than by him,   informs and leads  the protagonist to the decisions that makes up the film's climax.

Thinking of Redford naturally made me think of Reiner. Thinking of Reiner led to thinking of the Princess Bride, which led me to this brief scene.  

In reviewing the context of both of these scenes, the hard fact that life is painful cannot be denied.   Both characters were denied (albeit temporarily)  true love due to circumstances beyond their control. The quotes are both delivered to their respective true loves when at each point of the film a happily ever after doesn't seem to be in the cards.  

Hope and bitterness both carry transformative powers.  The concept of hope in the line "the life you learn with, and the life you live with" says to me, yes life is pain, but much like pain you endure in a fire swamp you can learn from that pain.  Thinking that life is only pain can create a bitterness that is hard to overcome.  I am glad  that the 4 characters depicted in these scenes found their happy endings.  When I think of Redford and Reiner and all the stories they told through their acting and directing, it makes me sad that their lives have ended (especially in the tragic way Reiner's ended ) but glad that I am still learning about life through their work.  

12 New Movies: Saturday Night 2024

George Carlin circa 1975 
The year he hosted the first episode of Saturday Night Live

By Little David Records - eBay, Public Do
main, Linkhref="https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12827989">Link

  As with all the 12 New Movie reviews , I will attempt to do the following: 

1. Rate each movie on a 1 (worst movie ever) to 5 (best movie I have seen) scale.
2.  Provide a 2-3 sentence summary of the movie. 
3.  I will share 1 theme from the movie.  
4. Write one thing I liked about the movie and 1 thing I disliked about the movie. 
5. State who I think would make the best audience for this movie. 

Saturday Night (2024) Rating 3 1/2 stars out of 5 

 Summary: It is 1975 and in a few  hours the first episode of Saturday Night Live is going to premiere, or will it?   Loren Michaels must battle with censors, sponsors, affiliates, actors, writers, and network executives among others to try to revolutionize the variety show. 

Theme: You can't recognize something you've never seen before.

 Likes: Excellent ensemble casting throughout.  The director and the casting director do an excellent job and as do the actors themselves in doing what Variety "taking Icons and making them human

Dislikes:  I liked the frenetic pace of the movie and the fact that it seemed to really capture the inten.

sity of the last few hours before the show started.  There were times when the intensity was so much it became difficult to watch.  My wife actually had to stop watching because the she thought the intensity was raising her blood pressure.  

 A Good Audience for this Film: Fans of the work of Ivan Reitman, will love this homage to SNL by Ivan's son Jason.  Fans of Saturday Night Live and people who like behind the scenes back stage origin stories should enjoy this movie.  

2025 New To Me Film Update

 I have watched and reviewed 4 films:

Films released from 2009 to 2024                      Watched 1 Remaining 1 

Films released from 1994 to 2008                      Watched 1 Remaining 1 

Films released from 1979 to 1993                      Watched 0 Remaining 2 

Films released from 1964 to 1978                      Watched 1 Remaining 1 

Films released from 1949 to 1963                      Watched 0 Remaining 2 

Films released before 1934 and up to 1948       Watched 1 Remaining 1 

12 New Movies: The Train (1964)

By trailer screenshot (United Artists) - DVD bonus - The Train - US trailer, Public Domain, Link

  As with all the 12 New Movie reviews , I will attempt to do the following: 

1. Rate each movie on a 1 (worst movie ever) to 5 (best movie I have seen) scale.
2.  Provide a 2-3 sentence summary of the movie. 
3.  I will share 1 theme from the movie.  
4. Write one thing I liked about the movie and 1 thing I disliked about the movie. 
5. State who I think would make the best audience for this movie. 

The Train (1964) Rating 3 stars out of 5 

 Summary: At the end of World War II, A Nazi officer (Paul Scofield) attempts to bring a train filled with French art masterpieces to Germany.  The station master (Burt Lancaster) who is also part of the French resistance is tasked to stop the train from getting to Germany. 

Theme: Is art worth dying for?

 Likes: When I heard Paul Scofield (A Man for All Seasons, Quiz Show) was in this film I jumped at the chance to see it.  Scofield does not disappoint. His performances are known for being multilayered and this is no exception.  I also like the fact that this is filmed in black & white.  

Dislikes: This movie did not live up to the expectations I was given on line.  It would have worked as a straight action movie and it would have worked as a straight character study.  It almost works as both and almost is where the disappointment comes from.  

 A Good Audience for this Film:3 audiences come to mind: People who like WW II films, admirers of the films directed by John Frankenheimer, and  people like myself who come running when they hear the name Paul Scofield.  

2025 New To Me Film Update

 I have watched and reviewed 3 films:

Films released from 2009 to 2024                      Watched 0 Remaining 2 

Films released from 1994 to 2008                      Watched 1 Remaining 1 

Films released from 1979 to 1993                      Watched 0 Remaining 2 

Films released from 1964 to 1978                      Watched 1 Remaining 1 

Films released from 1949 to 1963                      Watched 0 Remaining 2 

Films released before 1934 and up to 1948       Watched 1 Remaining 1 

M is for Muppet Man

 My A to Z Challenge Theme this year is the ABC's of me.  Each day in the month of April with the exception of Sundays I will be posting about one aspect of my life that begins with the letter of the day. 

It's time for some  A to Z catch-up. , I am currently 2 posts behind.  The next letter is  M so let's get right to it shall we?

A was for Amateur Parodist

B was for Blogger

C was for Christian

D was for David Davidovich

E was for Evangelical Sans the Trump Kool-Aid

F was for Father of 3 Adult Children

G was for Giraffe Lover

H was  for Husband of One Amazing Wife

I was for Iguchi Appreciator

J was for Jester

K was  for Kindergarten Clear

L was for Library Lover

M is for Muppet Man

A Quote To Start Things Off

I only like movies about real things, like the Muppets.  - Amy Roller

To say I grew up on the Muppets is  not really too much of an exaggeration.  I remember watching the first episode of the show when I was in Kindergarten and introduced to Muppets like Oscar the Grouch, Grover, Bert and Ernie, Big Bird, and a reporter by the name of Kermit The Frog.  The Muppet Show started when I began Jr. High and the Muppet Movie came out the summer before I started High School.  My grandmother took us to see it and it changed my life.

Amy had a similar epiphany with The Muppet movie and even had a stuffed animal Kermit which not only attended our wedding, but sat on the piano for all to see.

The day before our first daughter was born we went and saw the movie Muppets from Space.  Not a great movie, but just another example of how I can measure my life by the Muppets.  I don't really have much more to add so I'm just going to put this music video of Man or Muppet  on to end our time together. 

Click on the various words to get to the various places.

A to Z Challenge Home Page

A to Z Challenge Page for the letter M

A to Z Challenge Master List

Coming Up: Narnia (I'm not lion)

J is for Jester

 My A to Z Challenge Theme this year is the ABC's of me.  Each day in the month of April with the exception of Sundays I will be posting about one aspect of my life that begins with the letter of the day. 

It's time for some  A to Z catch-up. , I am currently 4 posts behind.  The next letter is  J so let's get right to it shall we?

A was for Amateur Parodist

B was for Blogger

C was for Christian

D was for David Davidovich

E was for Evangelical Sans the Trump Kool-Aid

F was for Father of 3 Adult Children

G was for Giraffe Lover

H was  for Husband of One Amazing Wife

I was for Iguchi Appreicator

J is for Jester

I will use any excuse to play a scene from the classic Danny Kaye film the Court Jester.  

I used to describe myself as a court jester in the wrong century.  When you think about it a  jester is just an indivdualized comic.  

I like bringing my sense of humor to every occasion. I grew up watching the likes of Buddy Sorrell, Hawkeye Pierce, and Ralph Malph ( from the Dick Van Dyke Show, M*A*S*H, & Happy Days respectively.)  They were all great quipsters but they had a writing staff.   Just like I do my own stunts, I write, steal, or borrow my own material.  

One if the perks of being a substitute teacher is you don't get annual reviews.  Maybe this is different in other districts, and maybe some people don't consider this a perk, but one thing I do miss from annual reviews was when my bosses would write how funny I was.  I know that this is probably what they  write when they don't have anything else substantive to say but  reading that I had a good sense of humor was almost as important to me as my annual pay increase.   

At many of my jobs I have the opportunity to improvise and improve bits of comedy.  For example as a concessionist at a local movie theatre I do many of the same things multiple times a day like showing customers the sizes of our  drink cups. Many folks marvel at the size of our large cup so I told one customer that it was the only cup I knew that came with a diving board.  The next time a customer came in I changed diving board to life guard and that joke is the one I use now.   

Some of my jesting falls into the categories of timely quips based on the situation.  Others have me using the same joke over and over to different audiences.  The only cup with a diving board started as the former and is now the latter. One of my favorite types of jokes are the kind that seem like a statement and you don't realize there a joke it's too late.  A dated example of this is when people might be talking about a recording artist and I might say I have all their albums.  Then after a beat, I would say, "They  called me the other day, they want them back. ".   Since albums are not what they used to be I  don't make that joke a lot anymore.  A similar joke to that is when I see some one with any type of Notre Dame gear, I may tell them that my Dad and sister went there, and then quickly add in, "that's how they met.".  

Being a jester isn't all about jokes it's also about general merriment,  tricks, and enthusiasm.  When my son and I went to Joplin, Missouri to help provide tornado relief. We went in early August when the temperature could get over  100 degrees.  I would encourage everyone to drink water and make sure they had a water bottle.  Then I would say I was the hydration specialist and then add in the words "self appointed." At one point, our bus was having a little mechanical trouble and we had to make a quick stop.  I went to one of the teenagers and gave her a water bottle and said I was the hydration specialist.  Before I could say anything else she added in "self appointed." That's the kind of impact I  like to have. 

Here is an example of the kind of  tricks I am talking about from a video I used in my vlog a few years ago:

  

Two aspects of my Jester personality that I bring to the blog are limericks, which I featured at the challenge 2 years ago and parodies which started this years challenge.

I know I jest got started, but I should probably let you get back to the challenge and get back to catching up.  To find more A to Z challenge entries click here.  To get back to the A to Z challenge blog click here.

What's Next: Kindergarten Clear

B is For Blogger

My A to Z Challenge Theme this year is the ABC's of me.  Each day in the month of April with the exception of Sundays I will be posting about one aspect of my life that begins with the letter of the day.  Today's letter is B so let's get right to it shall we?

A was for Amateur Parodist

B is for Blogger

When I was your age, television was called books. William Goldman - The Princess Bride

When I was in my twenties, blogs were called newsletters.  I wrote one, a semi-whenever publication called Those Living On The Cutting Edge  printed on a dot matrix printer and mailed out when postage stamps cost 22 cents.  

It was written to like minded friends and contained interviews, reviews, rants and even a feature called "If I Could Draw This Would Be A Cartoon, in which I described a scene and then said what the caption would be.  

Another early pre-blog was when I would write prayer letters when I was a short term missionary in Russia.  It's title was The Siberian Sentinel.  Each month I would write a few snippets of what was going on and send it back home to be distributed.

One summer my brother visited me there and I tasked him to write that months letter.  So, I guess he was the first guest blogger.  I  don't remember everything he wrote, but I remember when he said that he could make a lot of money by selling the Russians the recipe for ice.

Geo-Cities was a dream come true for me.  It was my pre-blog blog.  My family had multiple pages including my ultimate Comic Strip Page where I put my 30 favorite comic strips as if I published a newspaper.  I had another page where I listed the last 5 sporting events we attended.  At Geo Cities I also posted editorials/ essays some like An Open Letter to the Car Behind Me eventually made their way to this blog.  

An Open Letter to the Car Behinf Me

Dear Car Behind me 7:30 p.m September 1st 2001 exiting Elk Grove Bowl Parking lot onto Southbound Arlington Heights Road, 

 Yesterday as my wife, daughter and I were heading home from dinner at the Rose Garden restaurant in Elk Grove we were making a left out of the parking lot of The Grove Shopping Center on the corner of Arlington Heights Road and Higgins. We were joined by you on our tail. My wife, who is probably the worlds best and safest driver, was waiting for traffic on both sides to subside before making our turn. 

 This is when you, in your 2nd row mentality, decided that you could see the traffic better behind our minivan than we could ahead of you. So you blared on your horn, indicating that we really should be turning at that exact moment and make you wait no longer. Well, Superman, (A reference to your x-ray vision; being able to see past our car to the ongoing traffic) not 3 seconds after you honked, a northbound car barreled past us. 

 This means that if we took your horn blowing advice, and stuck our cars nose out in traffic, that most likely my wife, myself, and my daughter and our unborn child would be dead right now. My daughter would not have turned two today. The house in Carpentersville we moved into yesterday would have never been lived in by us, nor paid off by us, saddling our parents with grief and debt. 

 Fortunately, as disconcerting as your second row salute was, my wife did not go until the coast was actually clear. You, then had the audacity to catch up with us and give my wife a glare! Don't you realize, that if we did take your advice and got smashed up, you would have most likely been even further delayed than you were. When we both stopped at the light at Landmeier it was all I could do to not roll my window down and give you an earful. 

 This has happened to me so many times before. We live in an area of congested traffic, driving in front of people who honk the horn at us before the light turns green. If you guys are so quick on the draw, how come you generally are behind me ? 

 So car behind me, next time you are second in line behind somebody else: try to remember that it's not just a car you are behind, it is people!

 Love, 

 Dave

At some point I started reading blogs, at first I didn't know they were blog.  One time I was reading an excellent review  of a movie I never heard of called Once, . I got the movie from our library and it is now one of my top 100 films of all time.  My wife and I have also seen the musical version of the film.  That blog was one of the first blogs I put on my first blog roll. Because of that blog and many others over the years, I have read things, experiences things, and even written things like a progressive poem that I wouldn't have without blogging.  My wife's siblings and other relatives started a family blog in 2006 or so,  A lot of seminal pictures of our growing family made their way  to that blog.

 

This blog was originally started in 2009 with the title Home School Dad.  To many the moniker Home School Dad connotates a Dad whose family home schools.  The picture you get in your mind is of a Dad who works outside the home with a wife who teaches the children.  In that scenario I was a Home School Dad since 2002 or so when my wife started doing school at the kitchen table with our 3 year old daughter as our 1 year old son toddled by. 

What I meant by Home School Dad was a Dad who was the stay at home primary educator of the children.  Starting in the Fall of 2008, I was that Dad.  After an introductory semester of teaching the kids, taking them to the library, and putting my toe in the water of Home School co-operatives, I was ready to dive in to full home schooling mode.  At that time this usually included, a home school blog.  So I made the transition from blog reader to blog doer and became Home School Dad.   I participated in lots of blog hops, carnivals,  and memes (which I pronounced  as me mes) . I built  a pretty good following in the home schooling community.

The mid to late 2000's are generally considered the height of blogging.  I think the late 2000's early 2010's were the height of home school blogging.  By 2010 I had 3 active blogs.  Home School Dad started in January 2009, Crazy Uncle Dave's Sports Page began in December of that year.  These were both on blogger.  I started a vlog called Dave Out Loud on Word Press and like Arthur Dent, who could never get the Hang of Thursdays, I could never get the hang of Word Press.  So in January 2012, I brought Dave Out Loud to Word Press.  2012 was also the first year I participated in the A to Z challenge at HSD.  

 I was the main home educator in our family for 5 school years between 2008 and 2013.  When I went back to working full time, I was still able to teach once a week at our home school co-op.  I also was able to continue to blog. In 2015 I came back to the A to Z challenge at this blog and also on my sports blog.  In 2016 I actually did the challenge on 3 different blogs.  That was the only year I didn't complete the challenge.

2017 and 2018 were dry years for me as far as blogging we concerned.  I participated in the 2019 A to Z challenge on a Word Press blog, dropped out for about a year and then resurfaced again in 2020 during Co-vid.  I have been back ever since.  From 2019 until now I have participated in the A to Z challenge each year.  In that time, I have consolidated my 3 blogs into one and changed the name of Home School Dad to Leap of Dave.

I still read quite a few blogs and use my blog rolls to keep up with them,  I know this is a bit of a rambling history of my life in the blogoverse. There are probably more things I could have said and some things I could have left out.  There used to be a Weekly Blog Meme called Works for Me Wednesday at the blog We Are That Family.  It was one of those mr. linky blogs and the basic idea is you would give some sort of tip that was helping you and your family.   What I'm trying to say amid the rambling, is that blogging works for me.

A to Z challenge wise, you can get back to the blog by clicking here and get to the spreadsheet by standing up, spinning around 3 times while chanting spreadsheet.  I'll wait.  Actually, it's April Fool's day as I'm writing this, so that may not work,  but still try it.  Clicking here  won't be as entertaining to those around you as my method, but it will get you to the spreadsheet.

Coming Up: C is for Christian.

  

12 New Movies: The Emperor's New Groove 2000

 

Kuzco Cosplay - FanimeCon2017

By Michael Ocampo from United States - FanimeCon 2017 647, CC BY 2.0, Link

The second  new (to me) film I watched this year was the 2000 Disney animated comedy film, The Emperor's New Groove.

 As in the last review, I will attempt to do the following: 

1. Rate each movie on a 1 (worst movie ever) to 5 (best movie I have seen) scale.
2.  Provide a 2-3 sentence summary of the movie. 
3.  I will share 1 theme from the movie.  
4. Write one thing I liked about the movie and 1 thing I disliked about the movie. 
5. State who I think would make the best audience for this movie. 

The Emperor's New Groove (2000) Rating 4 stars out of 5 

 Summary: A young selfish Peruvian emperor Kuzco, (voiced by David Spade)  is accidentally transformed into a llama by his wicked advisor in a failed assassination attempt. The Tribal leader, Pacha  (voiced by John Goodman) that Kuzco is trying to usurp land from  begrudgingly tries to restore Kuzco back into himself.   Over the course of their arduous journey, the emperor begins to see himself in a new light.   

Theme: One theme of the movie is the difficulties involved in putting others needs ahead of your own. 

 Likes: The emperor's new groove is an extremely funny movie.  The humor is both character driven and through it's over the top ridiculousness and frenetic pace.

Dislikes: The plot of the movie sometimes suffers from the slapstick nature of the film.  I think repeat viewing may place more emphasis on the emotional unevenness of the plot.  

 A Good Audience for this Film: People who like their Disney animated movies with less musical interludes, fans of Shrek, David Spade, and fast paced romps should enjoy this movie.   

2025 New To Me Film Update

 I have watched and reviewed 2 films:

Films released from 2009 to 2024                      Watched 0 Remaining 2 

Films released from 1994 to 2008                      Watched 1 Remaining 1 

Films released from 1979 to 1993                      Watched 0 Remaining 2 

Films released from 1964 to 1978                      Watched 0 Remaining 2 

Films released from 1949 to 1963                      Watched 0 Remaining 2 

Films released before 1934 and up to 1948       Watched 1 Remaining 1 

 My Daughter Lucy  and I watched this film at the local movie theatre that we work at.  It was part of an Employee appreciation party.  Watching it in a theatre setting with our co-workers was very enjoyable.  

Team Saturdazzle: The One Where I Finally Say Something About President Trump

 Wow.  This year is flying by fast.  It's already the last Saturdazzle of the month for the 2nd time this year.  

If you are a regular reader of this blog, or if you are joining in from my Facebook page, you may be confused by the title of this post.  "What?!? Roller talks about Trump all the stinking time.  He even had his Dad teach him how to play bridge so he could say No Trump. more often.", you might be thinking to yourself. (You may even be thinking parenthetically, that you're not sure if thoughts  should be in quotation marks).

The truth is that  in this blog, I have not written a thing about President Trump all year.  That isn't to say I haven't had thoughts,  I've had thoughts! Here's two I'd like to share today:

1. President Trump is My President.

I don't know where it started, or where I first heard it, but it seems very likely regardless  of who  is the  current president, or who's the governor of your state that you may hear or read someone mention, "He's not my president."  or  "She's not my governor".  This bothers me in many ways, but mainly linguistically.  

If I live in Elgin, Illinois,  (#Ido), the mayor of that city is  my mayor.  It doesn't matter, if I don't know his or her name (#IdoIjustlookeditup) or if I voted for him, (#Idid), that's my mayor.

On January 20th 2025 10:00 A.M. central time Joe Biden was my President.  No, I didn't vote for him.  No, I don't agree with him on a number of issues, but I'm a U.S. citizen as he was in the last hour of his presidency  for that hour he was  still my president.  

In the same way by noon central time  Donald Trump had again become my president.  I trust Trump about as far as I can throw Mount Rushmore.  I didn't vote for him in the 2016, 2020, or 2024 primaries or general elections but yet he's my president.

Saying someone is not your president, when they are is not to me an act of defiance, nor a nod of a disapproval.  It's more like saying I'm only part of my country when I agree with their choices.  I understand  the voting process the way  we elect our public officials but then those  elected officials  work for all of us and represent all of us.  This is why they are our elected officials.  While it's an essential part of our democracy to speak up when we disagree with our elected officials, disagreeing with them in no way makes them no longer our leaders.  It's because they are our leaders that we can  ask them to change. I live in the state of Illinois and a Republican presidential candidate has not won the state of Illinois since 1988.  Does that mean that President George W. Bush or President Trump aren't the President in Illinois.  No! Nor does it matter that I haven't voted for a winning presidential candidate in over 2 decades.  The President of the U.S. is my president and this brings me to my second point.

2. President Trump is not my savior, but he's not the devil either.  

As stated before, I have not posted on this blog  about President Trump all year.  This can not be said when it comes to  posting  my Facebook account.  Several times  I have written there about our current president.  A few weeks nto his most recent term, I asked my FB friends to mention one thing Trump had done in those two weeks which they liked and one thing he had done which they didn't like.  

I have 441 FB friends. Two gave me one thing they liked and one thing they didn't like.  My submission made for a total of three.  3 out of 442? Wow!

 I'm not exactly sure why it was this low.  Many people on FB say good things about him and many people say bad things about him.  How come so few can  mention both the good and the bad?  

We are all created in God's image, so we all have good inside of us.  We also are all sinners who have  fallen short of the glory of God so we all have bad coming out of us. Finding both good and bad should not be that hard of an exercise.  And if it is, then since we are called to pray for our elected officials maybe we should spend more time trying to think about good and bad things that they are doing to aid in our prayers.  

One of my FB friends asked why I hadn't done such an exercise when Biden was President.  I had  in fact done a very similar exercise when Biden was president. But I'll go ahead and conclude  this segment by  saying one good and one bad thing about both President Trump and former President Biden.

Donald Trump 

Good:  When he was on  The Apprentice, I liked how in the board room segments he would make  the contestants take responsibility for their actions.  There was one episode where a project manager was talking about how great he ran his team for that week. Trump turned it around on him and asked, Did you win?  Which of course he had not, which is why he was in the board room to begin with.

Bad: As a candidate and as president I have never seen him follow his own advice and admit a mistake.  This is shown most in his inability to concede the 2020 Presidential Election.

Joe Biden

Good:  Biden thought about the good of the country and the good of his party before choosing to drop out of the 2024 election.  

Bad: I didn't mind that he pardoned his son Hunter, I just don't like that he did it after saying that he wasn't going to.

Note: The things I mentioned about Trump are not the same things I mentioned on my Facebook Page.  Here is what I said on Facebook: 

 A good thing I think Trump has done is pardon the 23 people who were being prosecuted under the F.A.C.E act Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances. A bad thing Trump had done is the pardoning or commuting the sentence of all 1500 people convicted of crimes during the events at the Capitol on Jan 6, 2021

Coming Soon: Levi A to Z

Sometimes I like to use Team Saturdazzle as  a place to start the conversation about topics I'm preparing future posts about.  

A to Z challenge Update.  I believe I have a topic for the upcoming challenge.  I am in the process of preparing posts and making a theme reveal post as well.

Speaking of Alpha and Omegas: I have some future posts featuring a pair of  Levi's.  This pair is well worn on the pages of my blog.  The first is Allen Levi, a member of my Big 5 list of favorite musicians.  Actually I have 2 upcoming posts featuring Allen.  The second Levi, is Chuck Bartowski, Flynn Rider, Captain Marvel and Kurt Warner rolled into one, Zachary Levi.  I watched The Unbreakable Boy earlier today and hope to post a short review before the next Saturdazzle.  

 There are 24 hours in a day but  only 24 minutes left of  this particular Saturdazzle.  So on that mathematical non sequitur, I bid you farewell.  

Team Saturdazzle: The One Where Captain Abearica goes to work.

Team Saturdazzle is in the house.  I had many ideas this week for our time together.  Some of them I discarded, others I forgot what they were, still others, I discarded , forgot about them, remembered them again, bit forgot that I had previously discarded them, and then discarded them again.  This one  happened organically but took about a week to culminate, so I'll share a little of the genesis. 

Monday or Tuesday of this week I found out that our school was having yet another pajama day.  I thought that I might participate this time.  There also had been some talk about a lot of snow coming into our are Wednesday and  some thoughts that the regular school day might be replaced by an  e-learning day.  The main difference between a weather related closure, or snow day and an e-learning day is that an e-learning day does not be made up and a snow day does.  On E-learning days teachers give assignments to students, the students check in with them over the course of the day and it counts as a day of instruction.  E-learning days had their beginnings during co-vid 19 and can be used for weather related closures and other times when meeting at the school is not possible.  I think for the most part teachers like these e-learning days but as a building sub at least in my district I do not because I don't work on those days and when I don't work, I don't get paid.  In a traditional snow day situation,, I also don't work and don't get paid, but when the school year is extended because of the closure I work and get paid making up for the day I missed.

It turns out that our school was not cancelled.  But there was still a lot of snow in the forecast for the majority of the day.  So, I wore sweat pants, a tye dye t-shirt and then put warm pajama bottoms  over the sweat pants and a thick robe on over the ensemble.  As I was leaving I decided to bring 

Captain Abearica, the Build-A-Bear Captain  America my daughter Lucy brought for me and that I've been using in various ways as a Sub since 2019. I figured what goes better with pajamas than a stuffed animal.

Pajama Day  came and went.  The 6th grade science classes that I subbed for that day that weren't too cool for school enjoyed his appearance.  On Thursday after school I decided to take advantage of the perk I have at the movie theatre where I work and watch the new Captain America movie for free.  My plan was to bring Captain Abearica  in as well, because family members also get in for free.   I remembered to bring him to work on Thursday but forgot to take him into the theatre.  

Thursday was the soft opening of the new film whose full title is Captain America Brave New World.  The hard opening was Friday, I was working and I figured the place was going to be a zoo.  I have a very logical mind, at least to me. I thought if the place is going to be a zoo, why not bring a bear, especially one who's dressed for the occasion? 

I talked to my manager, who thought it was a great idea and provided me a name tag for "Cap".

Captain Abearica AKA Steve Pawgers

The Captain was a big hit and some people even offered to buy him.  My manager is letting me bring him back for my shifts for the rest of the run of the film.  Who knows maybe he'll even let me dress up like this?

I'll probably have to wait until the next pajama day.

April Blogging from A to Z Challenge 2025 SIGN-UP March 24-April 5 a-to-zchallenge.com

The A to Z Challenge blog posted yesterday for the first time since May of last year. Besides introducing the above 2025 badge.  They posted the schedule for this years challenge: 

 

2025 #AtoZchallenge Schedule: 

 The THEME REVEAL (optional bonus hop) : March 9- 15 

 Official Challenge Sign-ups : March 24 to April 5 

 Reflections (optional bonus hop) : May 2-9 

 Road-trip (sign up to keep visiting others all year _ optional bonus) : Opens May 10

I'm not sure exactly what I might be doing for the challenge.  I've had 4 ideas and I like all of them, but unlike some of the past years I'm only going to do one of them this year

Even as a big fan of the challenge,   I still take umbrage with the way they schedule the reflection so early .  This year challenge ends on a Wednesday and you have all of Thursday to reflect on the challenge before Friday when the reflection  sign up begins.  That's not enough time to reflect!!!  Well that's my rant.  Remember if you are missing any umbrage, I took it.  

Now for a new Saturdazzle feature:

 Something I said on Facebook this week

My friend's BIL posted on FB this week that he found the Super Bowl game boring. I so did not! So I said this on FB this week:

I loved everything about this game. The Eagles delivered in every aspect of the game after being overlooked in all the talk about a 3peat. Not a KC hater nor an Eagle lover but this was a quality football game Jeff. I’m sorry you didn’t like it.

That's it for this week.  That's my Saturdazzle and I'm sticking to it.   

Team Saturdazzle: The One where I Mispronounced Meme Twice.

Another Saturday, another Saturdazzle .  Todays Saturdazzle could also be called The one with the 14 year old video.  After I statrted this blog in 2009, I started in short order a few more blogs most notably Crazy Uncle Dave's Sport-O-Rama and Dave Out Loud. Dave Out Loud was my attempt at a vlog.  A few years ago I combined all 3 blogs into this one. 

As I often do in the early months of the new year I've been cleaning up this blog.  Spending time looking at old posts, and revamping the look of it.  While I was doing that I came across this video talking about my the previous week at our home school.

I was participating in a meme called weekly wrap up where you share post about your week and link your post up to a site.  These things still happen and I hope one day to see if I can make Team Saturdazzle a weekly link up.  

A few years after this post I discovered that I had been mispronouncing meme.  In it's correct pronunciation it's pronounced like it thymes with theme.  However, I was pronouncing it me me.  So when I learned of my mistake, I just corrected my pronunciation and moved on.  

What I didn't realized was that there was evidence of my earlier failure to communicate.  I invite you to watch what I am calling exhibit A.  Where I mispronounce meme not once but twice.

Now if you were wondering what I was thinking when I pronounced meme me me, it is this: Most of the memes I knew at that time were blogging memes and it seemed like the purpose of the blogging meme was to get the attention of other bloggers.  It was to me as if you were shouting Me! Me! Look at me,  That's why I pronounced it me me.  

Memories of Kite Fest 1999

Amy and I were married in April of 1998 and her two brothers gave us a wedding gift of a weekend  in Madison Wisconsin, where they both lived and still live.  We went up in early February and discovered there was a kite flying festival taking place.  I have pictures similar to the picture below in a photobook some where. If you click on the caption below the picture, it will give you more infor about the event this year.  While that festival no longer exists.  There is a kite flying event on the same lake today as part of a new winter festival in Madison.  

Kite Fest 1999 Madison Wisconsin
I do not own this picture, click on the caption for the full story.

Team Saturdazzle At The Movies

Powered by Box Office Mojo

Top 10 Films  January 2025 

and by default

 top 10 Films of 2005 as of 1/31/2005

10. Baby Girl Up 2 from December

9. Wolf Man

8. One of Then Days

7. Den of Thieves: Pantera

6. A Complete Unknown Up 1 from December

5. Wicked Down 3 From December

4. Nosferatu Up 2 from December

3. Moana 2 Down 2 from December

2. Sonic The Hedgehog 3: Up 1 from December

1. Mufasa: The Lion King Up 3 from December

Writer's Workshop: 4 Prompts in 8 sentences? I'll try.

 

Here are this week’s prompts(I have the 4 I'm attempting in bold): 

1.  Write a post based on the word military. 
2. Write a post in exactly 8 lines. 
3. Write a list of movies that always make you smile. 
4. Choose a social media platform (e.g. Facebook, X, Instagram etc.) and tell us what you love and hate about it. 
5. Tell us about a time you had to go to court. 
6. Tell us about your best friend from the old neighborhood. 

 My 10 favorite movies  which are The Princess Bride, Miss Potter, Marty, Adventures of Robin Good, Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, Chariots of Fire, Casablanca, Ordinary People, The Muppet Movie, and It's A Wonderful Life   (click here for more info) all have moments that never fail to make me smile.  What I hate about Twitter can be summed up by the response to my 2/3/2005 tweet, "I'm thinking of quitting Twitter, ( Can't bring myself to call it X) It's not what it once was.", 5 impressions, no engagements, no comments in 48 hours.  One time I had to go court, not sure exactly why, proof of insurance, probably.  While I was waiting I decided to watch the festivities one young man waited in line with his very  energetic baby  son and when it was their turn, he had to give an update on what he was doing to get his driving privileges reinstated.  He assured the court that he had taken the bus to this appointment.  In the town I used to live in there is no bus stop next to the court room but many are walking distance.  He was given another court date, and then I was called, I provided whatever documentation was required of me and walked out of the court building.  As I walked I saw the man driving his son away in a car, in my town you can put a bicycle in a special holder in front of the bus, I had no idea they also did that for cars!

8 sentences? Maybe. 8 lines? Probably not.  But at least, I get an E for Effort.  John Holton invites  your prompt reply to his prompts at The Sound of One Hand Typing by clicking here.

Muppet Movie Posters, Trailers & Clips. Oh My.

I found these posters for the Muppet Movie (1979) in draft status of my blog.  I probably put  then there in preparation for a post of the 45th anniversary.  Well the 45th anniversary has come and gone, but as it is one of my 3 all time favorite films I don't think it needs a special occasion to be celebrated.  The Muppet Movie is a special occasion.

All Muppet Muppet Movie Poster

Muppet Movie Poster Featuring Celebrity Cameos

 

 I really like the cameos in the Muppet movie.  

 It's interesting the next clip starts with Steve Martin who we saw in the last clip.    

12 New Movies: Silver Streak 1934

The first New (to me) film I watched this year is the 1934 film, Silver Streak.

In each brief review, I will attempt to do the following.

1. I will rate each movie on a 1 (worst movie ever) to 5 (best movie I have seen) scale.
2.  I will provide a 2-3 sentence summary of the movie. 
3. I will share 1 theme from the movie. 
4. I will write one thing I liked about the movie and 1 thing I disliked about the movie. 
5. I will say who I think would make the best audience for this movie.

Silver Streak (1934) Rating 3 stars out of 5

Summary:  A young train designer challenges the train industry by proposing a new streamlined diesel capable of high speed travel. When his girlfriends father, a railroad executive, doesn't approve his designs, he quite his job and convinces another manufacture to produce his train.   The completed train must race against time to deliver medical equipment that can stop a polio outbreak and save the life of his girlfriends brother.  

Theme:  One theme of the movie is the the resistance some have to changing technology.

Likes and dislikes:I watched this film with my wife Amy a few weeks ago and we both really enjoyed it. Here is specifically why.

Me: One thing I liked about the movie is how the train that the Silver Streak is based on The Burlington Zephyr, is the real star of the film and is even given a screen credit. 

Amy: The acting was first rate.  You believed that the actors were the characters they were portraying. 

Dave: One thing I didn't like was that the spy subplot seemed contrived.

Amy: I agree, I know they have to create conflict and tension, but the fight on the train was too much.

A Good Audience for this Film: Adventurers, Train Buffs, and Obscure Train Movie  aficionados.

Sally Blane and WIlliam Farnum

By Burlington Route (railroad) This appears to have been given to those at the fair who toured the train on exhibit. - eBay itemcard frontcard back, Public Domain, Link

Now that this review is over let's look at my progress so far this year.  At this point, I have watched and reviewed 1 film.  

Films released from 2009 to 2024                  Watched 0 Remaining 2

Films released from 1994 to 2008                  Watched 0 Remaining 2

Films released from 1979 to 1993                  Watched 0 Remaining 2

Films released from 1964 to 1978                  Watched 0 Remaining 2

Films released from 1949 to 1963                  Watched 0 Remaining 2

Films released before 1934 and up to 1948   Watched 1 Remaining 1

Amy and I watched this film on You Tube and you can too.  I proudly present Silver Streak ...

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. 

Not Sure How This is A Writer's Workshop But I'm In.

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

1. Write a post based on the word surprise. 
2. Write a post in exactly 8 sentences. 
3. Tell us about your favorite restaurant when you were a kid. 
4. Share links to 5-10 of your favorite non-political YouTube videos from this past week. 
5. Tell us about a time you had a really elaborate project in elementary school. 
6. Tell us how you named one (or more) of your pets.

I love writing too much, too look for a loophole when it comes to these Workshop prompts.  But if I were, prompt 4  would be right up my alley.  A writing prompt that just has me sharing links?  Bring it on.  

Some of the videos are not from  the past week but were in my you tube feed in the past week.  I had already put a few You Tube links in previous posts which is why I have the minimum amount.  Yet another loophole.  

Bob Bennett Weekly Live 1/12/2025

 

Ving Rhames Give His Golden Globe to Jack Lemon

MLB Remembers Legendary Broadcaster Bob Uecker

1987 Dal@Phi Buddy Ryan Runs Up The Score

The Newsroom: That's How I Got To Memphis

That was almost too easy,  So I decide to do # 6 as well. It's how I renamed a pet.

When I was in highschool my family bought a cat.  They named him Tiger.  I say they because If I had been conulted in the naming process such a predictable name would not have escaped my lips.  One of my best friends already had a cat named tiger, and of course every other striped cat was named tiger.  

Not only did I refuse to call the cat Tiger. I unilaterally decided to change his name.  So in my family of 7 people, 6 people called  our new cat Tiger and I called the cat Larry. I was very aggressive  and vocal with my naming preference. While no one switched over immediately I wore people down. My Dad would  accidentally call  him Larry, sweat under his breath and switch back to Tiger. I was always a pretty obnoxious teenager but this was me ar my most obnoxious.

in the early 80s VCRs were coming on the scene and our family got one before a lot of my other friends had them. So that summer I had a big party and we watched a number of movies. In between and even during movies people hung out I’m different places in the house and on the front porch and people came and went freely.

At some point during the party Larry/Tiger went freely but didnt come back. He probably got tired of  all the name calling. We never did see Larry or Tiger again. 

Team Saturdazzle: The One With a New Title?

Team Saturdazzle 

Welcome to the 1st 2024 Iteration of Team Sturdazzle, a hopefully weekly postpourri of random thoughts and regular segments.  

Occasionally I will try to curate ideas from my FB pages and share some of the comments here. Today was supposed to be one of those occasions.  On Thursday night I posted the following on both my personal FB page and the FB page for my blog:

Am approaching the 16th anniversary of my blog. On Jan 6th 2009 I published the first post there http://dave-homeschooldad.blogspot.com/2009/01/why-we-home-school.html A few years ago I changed the name from Home School Dad to Leap of Dave. I’m considering changing the name once again. Here are some ideas I have for a new name:

1. Sustainable Bedlam

2. Toaster Pastries w/o A Toaster

3. Blogging, People Still Do That?

4. A Hat, A Brooch, A Pterodactyl

Let me know which one you like, or If I should stick with Leap of Dave, or perhaps make a title suggestion of your own. I'll post results and suggestions in my next Team Saturdazzle post.

As of 11:30 Friday night I had no comments on either page.  I did ask 3 members of my family the same question over a rousing game of Catopoly, which I am winning.  The results were mixed: my wife Amy prefers Sustainable Bedlam,  my daughter Emma is a fan of Toaster Pastries w/o a Toaster, my daughter Lucy likes Blogging, people still do that?, and I am fond of A Hat, A Brooch, A Pterodactyl.  Certainly, there is no consensus on the nonsensical.  

I will put this post on both my FB pages again and see if I can get more votes.  If you happen to be reading this, please leave a comment with which one you prefer or a suggestion of your own.  

The Mountain Dew Code Red of Trailers

On January 3rd, 2022, I published a post called The Mountain Dew Code Red of Trailers about a movie trailer for The Unbreakable Boy, which was due in theatres in March 2022. The movie, based on a book based on a true story, starred Chuck actor Zachary Levi as the father of a middle school boy who had brittle bone disease and autism.  

Days before the March 22 release date The Unbreakable Boy was pulled from its release schedule with little to no explanation.  Fast forward to yesterday, January 3, 2025 when I was working at my movie theatre 3 years from the date of my original post.  I was patrolling the theatre and ensuring all the movies started successfully when I saw this new trailer for The Unbreakable Boy:

Apparently, Lionsgate has a February 21st 2025 release date.  I'll believe it when I see it.  

Team Saturdazzle At The Movies

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Top 25 Films 2024

25. The Fall Guy 92.9 M 24. Red One 96.81 M  23. Bob Marley, One Love 96.89 M 

22. Alien Romulus 105.31 M 21. IF 111.15 M  20. Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire 113.38 M 

19. Mufasa: The Lion King 128.14 M 18. A Quiet Place: Day One 138.93 M 

17. Venom: The Last Dance 137.73M 16. The Wild Robot 143.19 M 15. It Ends With Us 148.51 M

14. Sonic The Hedgehog 3 151.56M 13. Gladiator II 164.55 M 

12. Kingdom of the Planet pf the Apes 171.13 M 11. Bad Boys: Ride or Die 193.57 M 

10. Kung Fu Panda 4 193.59 M 9. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire 196.35 M 8. Twisters 267.76 M

7. Dune:  Part Two 282.14 M 6. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice  294.1 M 5. Despicable Me 4 361 M 

4. Moana 2 404.02 M 3. Wicked 432.94 M 2. Deadpool & Wolverine 636.75 M 

1. Inside Out 2 652.98 M (Movies I watched are in bold)

10 highest-grossing movies I watched this year by rank on Box Office Mojo

90. Here  70. Cabrini 68. Unsung Hero 53. The Forge 52. Reagan 51. The Boys in the Boat  27. Wonka and the aforementioned The Wild Robot (16), Twisters (8), and Wicked (3). 

Top 10 Films December 2024

10. Interstellar 2024 Re-release 

9. Kraven The Hunter

8. Red One - Down 3 from November

7. A Complete Unknown 

6. Nosefartu

5. Gladiator II - Down 2 from November

4. Mufasa: The Lion King

3. Sonic The Hedgehog 3

2. Wicked  Down 1 from November

1. Moana 2 - Up 1 from November

Top 5 Films for 2025

5. Wicked

4. Nosferatu

3. Moana 2

2. Sonic The Hedgehog 3

1. Mufasa The Lion King

That's all I have today, for your weekly dose of Saturdazzle.  Please comment especially about changing the blog's name or anything else that struck your fancy today.  

First 16 Out

10 years ago or some I curated a list of my 100 favorite films. A few years ago, I began the process of revising the list. Recently, I found a post in draft status which had a list of 16 films that after further consideration would not be making the top 100. I have a history with each of these films, and while they may not be in my top one hundred, I recommend them highly. If you click on the film,s title, you will be able to view a trailer for the film.

 Silver Streak (1976)

Airplane (1980)

Knute Rockne All American (1940)

Free Guy (2021)

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)

Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid (1969)

Gentleman's Agreement (1947)

Redtails (2012)

Sabrina (1995)

Sabrina (1954)

Amistad (1997)

The Man Who Knew Too Little (1997)

Stripes (1981)

Jerry Maguire (1996)

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)

Dolphin Tale (2011)