Friday, August 26, 2005

What's Your Favorite Part of a Wedding?

Here at the BandBlog (Motto: Yesterday's News...Next Week) we are committed keeping you current on the most recent, cutting edge events, family updates, etc, whenever we feel like getting around to it.

With that in mind, here is a pictorial survey:

What is your favorite part of a Wedding?


Cute Kids in Grown-up Clothes?


Pretty Bridesmaids in Single-use Dresses?


Handsome Rental Guys with weird Shadows?


Mushy Stuff? (I took the picture so I wouldn't have to watch)


Whiffle Ball?

I know what gets my vote...


Congratulations, Children, "
I've decided to give your my blessing...and my permission." Yeah, that's timely... (See our motto)

...And welcome back to the Blogsphere,
Reinman and the Jilb.

Tuesday, August 23, 2005

OK, We're Up To Ten

Here's a quick revision of the "Eleven Movie Plots" List.

If you didn't read the original post, scroll down and take a quick look.

Thanks to everyone for your comments so far. They were great.

With your comments in mind, the list has adapted, mostly to consolidate good sub-plots into single, simplified categories, and also to add a couple that seemed not to fit anywhere else.

1. Hero (or reluctant hero) rescues feisty Heroine: "Duh..."
2. Hero gets a big head and deserts friends before coming to senses, usually after a good talking to by an old friend;(Classic Sequel Plot): "Mighty Ducks 2", Toy Story 2", Princess Diaries 2", "Godfather 2", and so on...
3. Mistaken Identity (With Comical or Dramatic Consequences): "North by Northwest"
4. Boy Meets Girl; Conflict Arises: (Note: This one is revised: See Notes at end of list) "Romeo & Juliet" et. al.
5. Child not living up to Parents Expectations: "Elf"
6. New Authority (Boss, Parent, etc.) takes over: Changes Everything: Ex: "Nine-Five", "Gung Ho", "
Yours, Mine, Ours"
7. Disaster Movie (With an All-Star Cast!): "Towering Inferno", "Titanic"
8. Unforeseen Consequences (Be careful what you wish for): "It's a Wonderful Life"
9. "Bad Guy" finds the meaning of Love, Christmas, or Whatever: "The Music Man"
10. "Good Guy" goes for Revenge: "First Blood", "Walking Tall" (Often used sub-species..."
You Killed my Father...")

Notes:
Kudos to
D.Dan for the "Good Guy Gets Revenge" plot line. I hadn't thought of it. Then, after reading his quote, without realizing the connection, we rented Jimmy Stewart's "Winchester '73"
...Beautiful.

Thank you for the GREAT Subplot to "Boy Meets Girl" from
Mrs. Willy of Four. It was the impetus for revising that plot line to a bigger scope. Here's her quote if you don't click on comments...

"This is usually a sub-plot: two people fall in love, everything is fairy-tale like, til the boy has to go away, usually to war.Heartbreak insues as she finds out boy has died. Girl moves on to someone else,(so much for heartbreak) sometimes marrying them only to find that boy isn't really dead! and returns to her life (Pear Harbor, Notebook, Count of Monte Cristo, Casablanca, Four Feathers")

Finally, I WISH there was room on the list for this one from
Graceland King:

You forgot to mention the plot where a man turns into a fish, and um, well that's about it...The Incredible Mr. Limpet, Splash, A Fish Called Wanda...oops, maybe not that one.

Unfortunately, that also got lumped into the MASSIVE "Boy Meets Girl" Category.

The list is getting full, but not yet complete. The Challenge: Come up with a film, that can't be pigeon-holed into one of these ten. If we find more than one , we will then mash two categories together to make room for something really unique.

Homework: How many of these Plots are touched on in "
The Incredibles"? Any new ones? Discuss...

Success!!!!

I believe I am Close to understanding my RSS reader.

Soon, (Evil Laugh...) I will be able to read ALL your blogs without surfing to them. In short, YOU will come to ME! (Bwa-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha)



I hope.

Thursday, August 18, 2005

Eleven Movie Plots

I heard from someone, (I think it was the Boy) sometime, (Late December back in '63) that there are really only eleven original movie plots. Every film (or TV show, play, or novel for that matter) that you have ever seen or read is just a variation on, or combination of, one or more of these eleven themes.

It made a lot of sense to me. I mean, it really helps to explain why Hollywood has had trouble coming out with anything this year that isn't a remake of a
70's film or (worse) TV show that we didn't really care about in the first place.

So I said, "Your line of thought intrigues me, young one. Tell me more, and I would like to subscribe to your newsletter." (
Joke credit...)

But here's the rub: He couldn't tell me what the plots were. He got me all pumped up with this great theory, and then left me hanging for the details.

So since then,
the Blond and I have been trying figure out what these plots are.

Here's the game:

I'll list what we've come up with so far. We need both of you readers to help us finish the list.

Here's the rules:
1. To be one of the eleven, it has to be a unique plot, not a variation of one of the others.
2. Each plot must have an example of at least one film that fits it.
3. If any two plots are too similar, we should combine them into one to make room for another.
4. A film can combine more than one type of plot.
5. If a film doesn't fit any stated plot line, chances are you have come up with another.
6. Please Post your comments. I'll try to update the list with a new post from time to time.

Here's the List so far:
1. New Boss takes over: Changes Everything: Ex: "9-5", "
Gung Ho"
2. Child not living up to Parents Expectations: "
Elf"
3. Hero (or reluctant hero) rescues feisty Heroine:
"Duh..."
4. Hero gets a big head and deserts friends before coming to senses, usually after a good talking to by an old friend;(Classic Sequel Plot): "Mighty Ducks 2", Toy Story 2", Princess Diaries 2", "Godfather 2", and so on...
5. Mistaken Identity (With Comical or Dramatic Consequences): "North by Northwest"
6. Natural or Man-made Disaster (With an All-Star Cast!): "
Towering Inferno", "Titanic"
7. Unforeseen Consequences (Be careful what you wish for): "It's a Wonderful Life"
8. Boy Meets Girl; Parents, Friends, etc do not approve: "Romeo & Juliet" et. al.

Hmmmm...Problematic, at best.
Can you help me?

We need at least three more, not to mention "fixing" the first eight.

Post on, friends...

P.S. "Bad" guy discovers the true meaning of Love, Christmas, whatever: Now
where did I get that one?

Wednesday, August 10, 2005

I Didn't Go To The Dells To Get Wet

OK, one more pointless recap of our endless summer, and then we will return to the Band Blog's normal foolishness.

On our trip to Wisconsin Dells, (Motto: Even our police station has a water slide!) We decided one evening to head "Downtown". If you have never been on Broadway in Wisconsin Dells, just imagine the nicest street in the world, with tasteful little shops, staffed by polite, friendly employees who take great delight in interacting with pleasant, sober, and intelligent patrons. Then, imagine that the entire strip was purchased, bulldozed, and rebuilt by
Satan.

Let's see... There's Ripley's "Believe it or Not" museum, Tommy Bartlet's GyroTron (Do NOT eat a gyro before riding, although you can purchase one right next door.), 15 places that make "Authentic Swiss Chocolate" right in front of you, seven thousand t-shirt shops, and most importantly,
WIZARD QUEST: a place so nerdy that all the guys who camp out to see Star Wars prequels go there to make fun of someone else for a change. Seriously, they should change the name of this place to "Wedgie Quest", 'cause that's what you're looking for if you get caught going in.

So we went downtown to waste a couple hours and a mortgage payment or two. Finally, we found a decent candy kitchen. When we came out, with arms full of delicious, water soluble confectioneries, the rain began.

It was an incredible downpour, and our car was 2 miles away through a swirling purgatory of neon, garbage, and heavy precipitation.

"Quick!" I shouted, holding the Whiner by the ankles so she wouldn't blow away, "Let's gather the entire family under this SIX INCH awning." The awning was over a front window of a Mexican restaurant. Because it really was just half a foot wide, all it did was concentrate the rain from the entire roof onto the tops of our heads. So we just stood there, with our backs to the window, trying desperately to to avoid the deluge.

Finally, the owner tapped on the glass and invited us to come in out of the rain. He was a really nice guy. So we gratefully waited out the rain, and even ordered some food.



All the while, we were marveling at how nice it was for this guy to invite us in like that. It was only later that I realized how we must have looked to his customers, standing outside, soaking wet, with our backs, etc. pressed up against the restaurant window...

"Uh, yeah, I'll have a large burrito, a plate of nacho's, and a large chocolate sha..." (Noticing us outside) "Uh...on second thought, I'm not very hungry right now. Do you have any pepto bismal?"

But whatever his motivation, the owner was a really super guy. The food was good (Especially the house salsa) and if you are ever in Wisconsin Dells, we strongly recommend you eat at the Colotlan Mexican Restaurant down at the end of Broadway.


You can skip "Wizard Quest."

Friday, August 05, 2005

Chipotle: Before and After


This a picture from August, 2004. We made our Favorite Restaurant the last stop before dropping the Boy off at the airport.


Naturally, it was the first place he wanted to go when he returned.

We don't look much different than a year ago, except there's that
extra guy in there. Plus Mike looks a lot more urban. In fact, the cool-factor of our family increased by 15% just standing in line with him.

This post reminds me of a poem by
Richard Brautigan, entitled "Haiku Ambulance":

A piece
Of green pepper
Fell off
The wooden salad bowl...
...so what?

Monday, August 01, 2005

The Spotted Herbaceous Bisy Backson

Ok, We're Back...

What a month. Knowing that both of our fans missed this blog to the point of dysfunctionality, we are now ready to resume posting. For today, we will...

1. Give you a recap of the last month. (unless we get bored)
2. Post some pics for the sole purpose of annoying our dial-up readers.
3. Refer to ourselves in the third-person-plural

Here goes:

Fireworks was over and it was time to go get Aussie Boy. With his plane getting in at midnight, we decided to grab a room on hotwire.com. (No link here, for anger management reasons which follow immediately.)

We have normally have exceptional luck using Hotwire. Not this time. The hotel description stated that the "Facility was recently remodeled." This meant that they had painted over the blood stains. Seriously. All this place was missing was the
chalk outline out on the sidewalk.

We had booked two rooms in order for the entire family to get a good night's rest. Our difficulties began when we arrived. The
desk clerk gazed out from behind the bullet-proof glass and informed me that "Your rooms have one bed each...one bed each."

"No, that can't be right. I booked rooms with two beds."

"No no no no....one bed...one bed each room."

"Ok, well, I'm going to need some pillows and extra blankets."

He disappeared for about twenty minutes. When he returned, he handed me a couple of questionable looking pillows and, this is true, two bedspreads. No blankets...just bedspreads.

I was incredulous. "What? This is it?"

Clerk: "Thank you...Come again."



As soon as we got to the room, the
eldest son began checking the assorted locks on the door. "Ok, that one works, that one works, this one doesn't, these three do..."

Then he moved on to inspect the window bars.

Except for the smokey smell (We actually went to Wal-Mart for air freshener), the only other disquieting feature about the kids' room was the pattern of bullet holes in the wall to the left of the TV. (Take THAT, Jerry Springer! Oops, I missed.)



We left as soon as possible (3 hours early) for the airport. Everyone was glad to see the boy.


Especially the Blond...


..and the Whiner.

After many hugs, some gift giving, and lots more complaining about the accomodations, we all went to bed. Amazingly, the room disappeared the moment we closed out eyes.

For more on "The Return of the Boy" you can check out the Whiner's blog,
Invincible Persistence, or whatever it's called.

Coming soon: All together again at Chipotle, A Trip to Wisconsin Dells, and the Family reunion. (Maybe)

In the future: More of that Pathetic, yet Biting social commentary you have come to expect from IABTABK.