Easter 2024

With Tom on a South American Cruise, Jack working and Drew and Carmen in Chico, we decided to do something different for Easter. We had Morgan, Daniel, Lee and Clem over for an early Easter Dinner on Saturday.

After a hike around Ancil Hoffman Park on Sunday morning, Sharon and I got cleaned up and headed to the Ryde Hotel in the Delta for their Easter Brunch. We had a nice table on the back lawn. The food was good. The facility is more than a little rundown...

Early Easter Dinner with Morgan, Daniel, Lee and Clem

We hosted Morgan, Daniel, Lee and Clem for an early Easter dinner on Saturday afternoon.

Lee had a great time doing an Easter Egg hunt in the house and on the back deck.

All of us took Tiber for a walk in the neighborhood.

We had a nice dinner of honey-baked ham, au gratin potatoes, green beans and rolls with carrot cake for dessert.

I love having them so close!

Sharon and I finished the day watching What's Up, Doc? with Barbra Streisand and Ryan O'Neal.

California Historical Landmark #721

I explored this waymark on Day Ten of our California Road Trip.

Hill-Carrillo Adobe
California State Historical Landmark #721
See this location on Yahoo Maps in Flickr
See this location on Google Maps
This landmark is located at 11 East Carrillo Street, San Barbara, California. There are 16 other California State Historical Landmarks in San Barbara County. The GPS coordinates for this location are 34°25'18.9"N 119°42'06.2"W.

You can log your visit to this landmark at waymark.com.


Built in 1826 by Daniel Hill of Massachusetts for his bride Rafaela Luisa Ortega Y Olivera, granddaughter of Jose Francisco Ortega, Founder and First Comandante of the Royal Presidio of Santa Barbara. Later Occupied by the family of Guillermo Carrillo. Here in 1850, the first city council met. Preserved and Presented to the Santa Barbara Foundation by Major and MRs. Max C. Fleischmann.

Ancil Hoffman

After a late night with Tomasin, I was up at 6 am. I wound my way back to Carmichael.

The plan for the day was golf with the Sanborns. The Sanborns moved to South Carolina in April of 2021. They recently sold the house in South Carolina, are living in a condo in Natomas and having a house built at Lake Las Vegas in Henderson Nevada. While Sharon and I ran into Marlene randomly in 2022, I haven't seen Phil since my birthday in 2020.

The four of us teed off at 11:16 pm. Using a couple of mulligans, I ended up with a liberally scored 115. I feel like I am striking the ball better, but I remain wildly inconsistent. While I have faith in my putting, I continue to struggle with my short game inside about 25 yards. Like the last couple of rounds, I am really struggling from the tee starting about the thirteenth. I need to get back and take some more Golftec lessons!

We finished the night with dinner at our house. I barbecued a couple of filet migons. Sharon made a pasta and rice dish that Hood served us when we visited them in February.

Tomasin

Wednesday afternoon, I headed to Santa Rosa to connect with Tomasin. One of my goals for retirement is to spend more quality time with friends. I feel like I have failed in this regard. While I am really enjoying retirement, it is part of a larger discussion about how I don't feel like we have established a rhythm. Every day and week is very different.

After visiting for a while at his house, we barhopped to the Dry Creek General Store and then to Jake and Zeke's. Tomasin, Julie and I finished the night with dinner at Tomi Thai in Windsor.

I crashed at their house for the night.

Morgan, Daniel, Lee & Clem

On the way back from skiing at Sierra at Tahoe, Drew and I stopped and visited with Morgan, Daniel, Lee and Clem.

Sierra At Tahoe

After we went to the basketball game, Drew spent Monday night with us. Up early, he and I headed to Sierra at Tahoe. I skiied there last year with Drew, Tomasin and Glenn. This is the second time that I have skiied this year; I skiied with Larkin at Northstar at the end of January. I am hoping to ski at Northstar one more time this year.

I took it pretty easy; I was not very aggressive. Drew skiied a couple of runs by himself after lunch. I was surprised that the snow was starting to get heavy after lunch.

We quit about 2 pm and headed to Morgan and Daniel's apartment in Placerville.

2024 Kings versus 76ers

Drew and I went to the Sacramento Kings versus Philadelphia 76ers NBA Basketball game. Drew got his seats upgraded by his ticket representative to section 121, row FF, seats 1 and 2. The seats had Club Access. I have had a chance to go there twice before with Phil Sanborn [2017 Kings versus Pacers and 2017 Kings versus Grizzlies]. While nice, it was very crowded and doesn't compare to the club level at Chase Center.

Leading 60 to 48 at halftime, the Kings cruised to a 108 to 96 victory. As Drew noted, it was nice to see a win that was a nail-biter.

Keegan Murray and De'Aaron Fox were the high scorers for the Kings. They both had 23 points. Murray was 9 for 20 from the field, 3 for 11 from three and 2 for 3 from the free throw line, while Fox was 8 for 18 from the field, 2 for 6 from three and 5 for 6 from the free throw line.

Sabonis posted his 54th consecutive double-double, breaking a tie with Kevin Love for the longest streak since the 1976-77 merger between the NBA and ABA. Sabonis is nowhere close to the all-time record of 227 straight double-doubles held by Chamberlain, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Tyrese Maxey was the high scorer for the 76ers. Maxey had 29 points on 10 for 16 from the field, 5 for 7 from three and 4 for 6 from the free throw line. Maxey scored Philadelphia's first 16 points and was a one-man show offensively in the first quarter with 21 of the 25 points (84%) for the 76ers.

The Kings now have 4 wins and 2 losses in games that I have seen in person during the 2023-2024 season.

Feud: Capote vs. The Swans

Last week, Sharon and I finished watching Feud: Capote vs. The Swans on Hulu. I read the book that the series was based on in November of 2022. I really enjoyed the book and was interested in seeing the series.

Feud: Capote vs. The Swans is the second season of the American anthology television series Feud created by Ryan Murphy, Jaffe Cohen, and Michael Zam for FX. It was written by Jon Robin Baitz. The eight-episode season is based on the book Capote's Women: A True Story of Love, Betrayal, and a Swan Song for an Era written by Laurence Leamer. The cast includes: Naomi Watts as Babe Paley; Diane Lane as Slim Keith; Chloë Sevigny as C. Z. Guest; Calista Flockhart as Lee Radziwill; Demi Moore as Ann Woodward; Molly Ringwald as Joanne Carson; Treat Williams as Bill Paley, and; Tom Hollander as Truman Capote.

The show takes viewers on a journey through the real-life social and literary drama between Truman Capote and his circle of glamorous New York socialites. Writer Truman Capote ruins his friendships with a socialite group of New York City high society ("the Swans") by writing a thinly veiled fictionalized account of their scandalous and hedonistic lives in his (ultimately unfinished) novel Answered Prayersa. When Esquire publishes the chapter "La Côte Basque 1965", after the restaurant of the same name frequented by the Swans, several vow to ruin his life in revenge.

I don't recommend this series. I felt like the episodes were too repetitious; they highlighted Capote's drinking over and over and over again. While the book explores the lives of both Capote and the Swans, there were very little of this material in the series. It is mostly just the drama of Capote's conflict with the women.

Funny Girl

Saturday night, Sharon and I watched Funny Girl. Sharon recently read Barbara Streisand's biography My Name is Barbara. We have been working our way through a number of Streisand's films. We watched A Star is Born in December and The Way We Were in January.

Funny Girl is a 1968 American biographical-musical film directed by William Wyler and written by Isobel Lennart. It is adapted from her book for the stage musical of the same title. It is loosely based on the life and career of comedienne Fanny Brice and her stormy relationship with entrepreneur and gambler Nicky Arnstein.

The film stars Barbra Streisand (in her film debut reprising her Broadway role) as Brice and Omar Sharif as Arnstein. The supporting cast includes Kay Medford, Anne Francis, Walter Pidgeon, Lee Allen and Mae Questel.

Funny Girl was nominated for eight Oscars, including: Best Picture; Best Actress; Best Supporting Actress (Kay Medford); Best Cinematography; Best Film Editing; Best Score of a Musical Picture – Original or Adaptation; Best Song – Original for the Picture; and, Best Sound. Streisand won Best Actress, tying with Katharine Hepburn (The Lion in Winter).

Although it is almost sixty years old, the movie is very watchable. Barbara Streisand is very good. I enjoyed the movie and recommend it.

Parks and Recreation - Season Six

Sharon and I finished watching season six of Parks and Recreation in January. We finished watching season one in August of 2023, season two and season three in September of 2023, season four in October of 2023 and season five in December 2023.

The sixth season of Parks and Recreation originally aired in the United States on the NBC television network, from September 26, 2013, with an hour long premiere, and concluded on April 24, 2014, with an hour-long finale. This season consisted of 22 episodes. It stars Amy Poehler, Rashida Jones, Aziz Ansari, Nick Offerman, Aubrey Plaza, Chris Pratt, Adam Scott, Rob Lowe, Jim O'Heir, and Retta.

Much like the other seasons, Season six follows Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler) and her co-workers in local government of fictional Indiana town, Pawnee. The season chronicles Leslie facing the recall vote from City Council, Ann Perkins's (Rashida Jones) and Chris Traeger's (Rob Lowe) move to Michigan to start their family, Andy Dwyer's (Chris Pratt) career in London, and the city merger of Eagleton and Pawnee. The season concludes with a Unity Concert organized by Leslie.

Interestingly, we never watched this series when it originally aired. I enjoyed the season.

Yocha Dehe

Holly and Van met us at our house. The four of us drove to Yocha Dehe in the Capay Valley. I have never played this course before. With the hills still green, the course was beautiful. We started on the tenth hole.

Feeling good on the driving range, I got off to a shaky start. With the swing changes over the last couple of months, I feel like I am making alot of solid contact. Unfortunately, I remain wildly inconsistent. Like last Friday at Lincoln Park, I started to struggle off the tee in the last few holes. I ended up with a very, very liberally scored 110. I lost quite a few balls and used a number of mulligans.

The four of us ended the day at Casa East Sac. Sharon and I split a Casa Caesar salad. For entrees, I had lobster pene pasta, while Sharon had 1/2 roasted chicken.

Orange County Landmarks

California State Historical Landmarks
in Orange County
NO. 112 NORTH GATE OF CITY OF ANAHEIM
NO. 189 DANA POINT
NO. 198 OLD LANDING
NO. 199 THE SERRANO ADOBE
NO. 200 MISSION SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO
NO. 201 PIONEER HOUSE OF THE MOTHER COLONY
NO. 202 SILVERADO
NO. 203 RED HILL
NO. 204 OLD SANTA ANA
NO. 205 MODJESKA'S HOME
NO. 217 BLACK STAR CANYON INDIAN VILLAGE SITE
NO. 218 BARTON MOUND
NO. 219 ANAHEIM LANDING
NO. 225 FLORES PEAK
NO. 226 DON BERNARDO YORBA RANCHHOUSE SITE
NO. 227 DIEGO SEPÚLVEDA ADOBE
NO. 228 CARBONDALE
NO. 729 OLD MAIZELAND SCHOOL (RIVERA SCHOOL)
NO. 775 SITE OF FIRST WATER-TO-WATER FLIGHT
NO. 794 McFADDEN WHARF
NO. 837 ORANGE COUNTY'S ORIGINAL COURTHOUSE
NO. 918 OLINDA
NO. 959 BALBOA PAVILION
NO. 1004 OLD TOWN IRVINE
NO. 1015 Richard Nixon Birthplace - [map] - {33.889541,-117.818200}
NO. 1050 CRYSTAL COVE HISTORIC DISTRICT

List of California Counties

Magnolia Ranch Hike

Sharon and I met the Larkins at the Magnolia Ranch Trailhead. We hiked the River Trail and then the Connector Trail into Cronan Ranch. The four of us made a lunch stop where the Up & Down Trail connects with the Skyridge Trail. In total, we covered 6.4 miles in just over three hours.

Mission Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One

Saturday night, Sharon and I watched Mission Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One on Paramount+. This is the seventh installment of the series. Sharon, Jack and I saw Mission: Impossible - Fallout [#6] in 2018 and Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation [#5] in Boston in 2015 during our east coast college tour.

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One is a 2023 American spy action film directed by Christopher McQuarrie from a screenplay he co-wrote with Erik Jendresen. Part two [#8] is due out in May 23, 2025.

It stars Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt, alongside an ensemble cast including Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Vanessa Kirby, Esai Morales, Pom Klementieff, Mariela Garriga, and Henry Czerny. In the film, Hunt and his IMF team face off against "the Entity", a powerful rogue AI.

At the 96th Academy Awards, the film was nominated for Best Sound and Best Visual Effects. It is the first Mission: Impossible film to be nominated for an Academy Award.

I enjoyed the movie. It is essentially a series of stunts and action scenes connected by some explanatory dialogue. Calling back to my reading of the Murderbot series, I have a kink about an artificial intelligence's ability to hack any and all systems to work its way out of any situation. Although this is a different plot vehicle than those books, the casualness with which some extremely complicated technical things are accomplished grates on me. I appreciate the concern about artificial intelligence, but technology on this kind of scale is fragile...

St. Patrick's Day

I always enjoy Sharon's corned beef and cabbage.

With Tom on a South America cruise, there wasn't a St. Patrick's Day Party this year.

Back from San Francisco

With Jack taking off early to play golf in Santa Rosa (Valley of the Moon), Sharon and I had a lazy morning at the Stanford Court. We had breakfast at the hotel (breakfast burrito and omelette) and packed up the room.

We rolled towards home a little after 9:30 am. With two stops to find some corned beef, we were home in Carmichael a little after noon.

It was great to spend some time with Jack.

Lincoln Park

Heading to San Francisco, Sharon and I picked up Jack at his apartment. The three of us drove to Lincoln Park for a 12:10 pm tee time. Jack's friend Ryan met us there.

It is a beautiful course, but very hilly. There were some great views of the city and the bay, including the Golden Gate Bridge. I felt like I was playing the ball above or beyond my feet most of the day.

I started off playing pretty well, but fell apart on the par five thirteenth. I struggled over the last few holes. I ended up with a liberally scored 105.

After golf, we dropped Jack at his apartment. We had made a reservation at the Courtyard San Francisco Downtown/Van Ness Ave. This turned into a fiasco. I will probably write a longer post just on that next week. We pivoted and stayed at the Stanford Court Hotel where we stayed for Jack's birthday celebration in August.

After getting cleaned up, we walked back down California Street. We met him at Ciccino, a new Italian restaurant that opened just two blocks from Jack apartment. We split House-Made Focaccia [rosemary focaccia with olive oil, balsamic vinegar], a Scallop Skewer [binchotan grilled scallops, breadcrumbs, garlic, olive oil], and a Shrimp Skewer [binchotan grilled shrimp, breadcrumbs, garlic, olive oil]. Sharon and I also spilt a Romaine Fennel Salad [romaine lettuce, sliced fennel, fresh orange, ricotta salata, citrus vinaigrette]. For entrees, Sharon had Pappardelle Lamb Ragout [hand-cut pappardelle pasta, 6 hour braised lamb ragout], Jack had Ravioli Carbonara [cream and egg yolk filled ravioli, pecorino foam, guanciale] and I had a oyster ravioli special. My entree was very good. We finished with a Panna Cotta dessert.

Walking out of the restaurant, we ran into Ryan and his girlfriend. Sharon and I ended up joining a group of Jack's friends at the Wreck Room for a nightcap. It was 11:30 pm by the time we walked back to the hotel and crashed.

Ancil Hoffman

Late Thursday afternoon, Sharon and I walked nine holes at Ancil Hoffman with Jim and Debbie. I had gone to the driving range on Thursday morning. Although the score doesn't show it, I felt like I was making good contact. I ended up with a 60. I made a mess around the greens. I lost 7 to 9 strokes with short chips and putting.

I had bought a small pull cart at Hagen Oaks on Thursday morning. I really enjoyed walking the course. After the round, the four of us had a cocktail at the clubhouse.

Zone of Interest

Saturday night, Sharon and I watched Zone of Interest. This was the last of the ten Best Picture nominees that we hadn't seen. At the 96th Academy Awards, it received five nominations, including for Best Picture, Best Director, Best International Feature, Best Sound and Best Adapted Screenplay. It won Best International Feature and Best Sound.

The Zone of Interest is a historical drama film written and directed by Jonathan Glazer. The story is loosely based on the 2014 novel of the same name by Martin Amis; the novel is based partially on real events.

It stars Christian Friedel and Sandra Hüller [Anatomy of a Fall] as Nazi commandant, Rudolf Höss, and his wife, Hedwig. They live with their family in a home in the "Zone of Interest" next to the Auschwitz concentration camp.

The film is in German with English subtitles. As I said when we watched Roma, I feel like I miss some of the nuances because I am focused on reading the subtitles. At times, it felt like the subtitles were moving very quickly. Additionally, some of the subtitles were on a light background that made it impossible to read them... Reading about the film afterwards, the description talked about a voiceover narration from a a Jewish prisoner that I don't remember seeing. I appreciate what the film was doing; it was a powerful premise. It just wasn't the best viewing experience.

Date Night

Sharon planned a date night; I didn't know where we were going. We stopped at McKinley Park and walked around the pond, into the library and by the rose garden. The Sacramento Street Railway Company built the park in 1871 to attract passengers to its line.

Afterwards, we had dinner at the Casa East Sac. They have started a second Tuesday Chefs Dinner with a fixed menu and a wine pairing. We had a nice evening. We talked about trying to go next month with a group of neighbors.

I have to admit that one of the things that I like most about retirement is not having to think about getting up at 5:20 am and going to work after a night out on Tuesday!

Society of the Snow

Starting last Thursday night and finishing it on Saturday, Sharon and I watched Society of the Snow on Netflix. Sharon had heard one of the survivors interviewed on the Rob Lowe Podcast and wanted to watch the movie. At the 96th Academy Awards, it was nominated for the Best International Feature Film and Best Makeup and Hairstyling.

Society of the Snow is a survival drama film directed by J. A. Bayona and based on Pablo Vierci's 2009 book of the same name. It details the true story of a Uruguayan rugby team's experience in 1972 after Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 crashed in the Andes mountains. The cast is composed of mostly unknown Uruguayan and Argentine actors.

The crash and its initial aftermath are pretty gruesome. Filming included the actual crash site at almost 12,000 feet on a glacer in Andes; the scenery is spectacular. It is amazing that anyone survived. Although filmed in Spanish, there was an alternative English track in Netflix that made the film much easier to watch (unlike Zone of Interest!). The film is worth watching...

96th Academy Awards

Over the last ten plus years, Sharon and I have enjoyed working our way through the Oscar nominated films. Sunday night, we watched the 96th Academy Awards.

I texted my predictions to Clan Heringa, including:

• Best Picture - Oppenheimer
• Directing - Oppenheimer
• Best Actor - Cillian Murphy - Oppenheimer
• Best Supporting Actor - Robert Downey - Oppenheimer
• Best Actress - Lily Gladstone - Killers of the Flower Moon
• Best Supporting Actress - Da’Vine Joy Randolph - The Holdovers
• International Feature Film - The Zone of Interest

I got all of these right except Best Actress. I was pleasantly surprised that Emma Stone won. Personally, I would have picked Stone over Lily Gladstone, but would have bet that the Academy would give the Oscar to Gladstone.

Oppenheimer won seven Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor for Murphy, Best Supporting Actor for Downey Jr., Best Film Editing, Best Cinematography, and Best Original Score. Seven of the 10 best-picture nominees went home with at least something, with Maestro, Past Lives and Killers of the Flower Moon being the three that left empty-handed.

One footnote. We watched Zone of Interest and Society of the Snow over the last couple of days. I will post about those two movies this coming week.

Binchoyaki

Friday night, Sharon and I went to Binchoyaki. It is a modern Japanese style barbecue restaurant. The cuisine is based on a style of Japanese cooking called sumikayi ("Sumi" or "Bincho" is Japanese charcoal and "Yaki" is Grill).

We got there about 15 minutes ahead of our reservation. We were a little miffed having to stand around for about twenty minutes waiting for our table, but the food and the server (Lexi) were excellent. It was worth the wait.

We had two specials: Sake Avocado Salmon Crudo and Inegen Kaborcha (green bean and squash) Tempura. We also had a number of grilled items including some eggplant, four oysters, pork belly, and duck.

We would definitely go back. Sharon and I talked about taking the Wongs or the Habibis with us...

Lunch Adventure with Lee

Friday morning, Sharon and I headed up to Placerville. After visiting with Morgan, Lee and Clem, we took Lee to lunch at Main Street Melters.

California Historical Landmark #1015

We toured the Richard Nixon Library and Museum on Day Twelve of our California Road Trip.

Richard Nixon Birthplace
California State Historical Landmark #1015
See this location on Yahoo Maps in Flickr
See this location on Google Maps
This landmark is located at 18061 Yorba Linda Boulevard, Yorba Linda, California. There are 25 other California State Historical Landmarks in Orange County. The GPS coordinates for this location are 33° 53' 22.4" N 117° 49' 05.5" W.

You can log your visit to this landmark at waymark.com.

"I was born in a house my father built."
President Richard Nixon
(1913-1994)
In 1912 Frank and Hannah Nixon built this modest farmhouse on their small citrus ranch. Here Richard Nixon was born, January 9, 1913, and spent his first nine years. He served his country as Congressman, U.S. Senator, Vice President, and 37th President of the United States (1969-1974). He was the first native-born Californian to hold the Presidency. President Nixon achieved significant advances in International Diplomacy by ending U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, opening lines of communication with China and the Soviet Union, and initiating the Middle East Peace process.

Rustin

With Sharon working the primary with Tom until late, I watched Rustin on Netflix. This is part of my annual trek to see all of the Oscar nominated films. The film earned a Best Actor nomination at the 96th Academy Awards.

Rustin is a biographical drama film directed by George C. Wolfe from a screenplay by Julian Breece and Dustin Lance Black and a story by Breece about the life of civil rights activist Bayard Rustin. Produced by Barack and Michelle Obama's production company Higher Ground, the film stars Colman Domingo in the title role. The cast also includes Chris Rock, Glynn Turman, Aml Ameen, Gus Halper, CCH Pounder, Da'Vine Joy Randolph [The Holdovers], Johnny Ramey, Michael Potts, Jeffrey Wright, and Audra McDonald.

It is based on the true story of Bayard Rustin who helped Martin Luther King Jr. and others organize the 1963 March on Washington. The film shines a light on a lesser-known figure. It highlights his contributions to the Civil Rights Movement while acknowledging the challenges he faced due to his race and sexuality.

I was intrigued by the fact that the movie was produced by Barack and Michelle Obama's production company. I enjoyed it more than I expected. Colman Domingo's performance as Bayard Rustin is interesting, but he is not winning the Best Actor Oscar.

2003-2004 Kings Season

During the 2003-2004 Sacramento Kings season, the Kings
were 12 and 3 in games which I saw in person, including:

REGULAR SEASON

10/29/2003: Kings-106, Cavs-92 - Larkin [LeBron's First Game!]

11/14/2003: Kings-94, Raptors-64 - Jack

11/25/2003: Kings-109, Grizzlies-89 - Sharon with Tim

12/07/2003: Kings-91, Pacers-88 - Larkin

12/25/2003: Mavericks-111, Kings-103 - Jack, Sharon and Tim

01/11/2004: Kings-117, Nuggets-106 - Larkin

01/13/2004: Kings-90, Heat-88 - Sharon with Tim

01/20/2004: Trailbazers-109, Kings-104 OT - Sharon with Tim

02/08/2004: Kings-115, Nuggets-92 - Jack

02/17/2004: Kings-127, Celtics-111 - Larkin

02/24/2004: Kings-107, Knicks-94 - Sharon with Tim

03/02/2004: Kings-113, Clippers-106 - Larkin

03/09/2004: Kings-96, Warriors-93 - Sharon with Tim

03/14/2004: Kings-101, Spurs-87 - Larkin

03/21/2004: Kings-100, Rockets-95 - virtual: Larkin, Wike, Gasper, Jugoz and Hunter

03/23/2004: Bucks-112, Kings-101 - Jack

03/29/2004:Practice Like The Kings - Jack

04/08/2003: Timberwolves-94, Kings-86 - Sharon with Liz

Playoffs

04/18/2004: Kings-116, Mavericks-105 - Sharon and Jack

04/29/2004: Kings-119, Mavericks-118 - Sharon, Tim and Jack

05/10/2003: Timberwolves-114, Kings-113 OT - Gasper

05/12/2004: Kings-87, Timberwolves-81 - Sharon

05/16/2004: Kings-104, Timberwolves-87 - Sharon, Jack, Gasper and Jugoz

2023-2024 Season [3-2]
2022-2023 Season [5-3]
2021-2022 Season [1-5]
2020-2021 Season [1-0]
2019-2020 Season [1-4]
2018-2019 Season [7-4]
2017-2018 Season [5-2]
2016-2107 Season [5-3]
2015-2016 Season [2-2]
2014-2015 Season [1-4]
2013-2014 season [3-2]
2012-2013 Season [1-0]
2011-2012 Season [3-2]
2010-2011 Season [3-6]
2009-2010 Season [4-7]
2008-2009 Season [2-7]
2007-2008 Season [7-7]
2006-2007 Season [5-9]
2005-2006 Season [8-8]
2004-2005 Season [10-4]
2003-2004 season [12-3]

Anatomy of a Fall

Sunday night, Sharon and I watched Anatomy of a Fall. This is part of our annual trek to see all of the Oscar nominated films. The film is nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Original Screenplay and Best Editing at the 96th Academy Awards.

Anatomy of a Fall (French: Anatomie d'une chute) is a French legal drama film directed by Justine Triet from a screenplay she co-wrote with Arthur Harari. It stars Sandra Hüller. Appearing in supporting roles are Swann Arlaud, Milo Machado-Graner, Antoine Reinartz, Samuel Theis, Jehnny Beth, Saadia Bentaieb, Camille Rutherford, Anne Rotger, and Sophie Fillieres.

Sandra Hüller delivers a powerful performance as the wife, accused of her husband's murder. Her character, trapped in a web of suspicion and grief, embodies the film's emotional core. The narrative unfolds through flashbacks and courtroom scenes, gradually piecing together the couple's troubled past.

I have been trying to get Sharon to watch this movie with me for several monthes. She was hesitant due to the fact that there are subtitles in parts of the movie. With the Academy Awards ceremony next weekend, I am making a push this week to knock out the last two Best Picture nominations that we haven't seen. We both liked the movie; it is a solid film. It is not going to beat Oppenhemier for the Best Picture Oscar, but it is worth looking for. I was particularly intrigued by the courtroom scenes. They had a much different look, feel and set of procedures than you would see in an American Courtroom drama.

Davis Mafia Zoom Call

Chabrier organized a Rugby Buddies zoom call on Sunday evening. In addition to Chabrier, the group included Greene, Gribi, Moore, Nooter, Rehlich, Wallen and Wiley. It was one of the better zone calls that we have had; I enjoyed catching up with everyone.

True Detective: Night Country - Season Four

In Simi Valley during our Road Trip, Sharon and I finished watching season four of True Detective on HBO on the AppleTV. It premiered on January 14, 2024. We watched season one almost ten years ago in 2014 and season three in 2019. We watched about three episodes of season three, but never finished it.

The season is set in the fictional town of Ennis, Alaska. It follows the investigation behind the disappearance of eight men from a research station. The season stars Jodie Foster and Kali Reis as Detectives Liz Danvers and Evangeline Navarro.

The show establishes that Ennis is 150 miles north of the Arctic Circle. The setting was influenced by areas like Utqiaġvik (formerly Barrow), located in the North Slope Borough, the northernmost region of Alaska. This area aligns with the show's portrayal of a remote, desolate town with a harsh environment.

The show takes some creative liberties for dramatic effect. Locations as far north do experience extended periods of darkness in the winter and extended periods of sunlight in the summer. However, they wouldn't experience complete darkness all day as portrayed in True Detective: Night Country.

I enjoyed the series and recommend it. I was happy that the ending didn't go "Twin Peaks" with a supernatural ending to the crimes. I do appreciate Sharon's observations that it is possible that some people are more sensitive to a spirit world, but I was glad that this wasn't driving force behind the conclusion. Jodie Foster is very good in the series. It is hard to imagine living in the environment depicted in the series.

Lunch with Jack

I spent the day winding my way to San Franciso and back in the rain. I met Jack at his apartment for an early lunch. We ended up walking a couple of blocks to Mymy Coffee Shop. I had an Asian Salad, while Jack had a Tex Mex Scramble. It was nice to catch-up.

Sharon spent the day in Napa with Diana, Diana's daughter Mary, Janie and Terra. They wine tasted at Chandon and had a very late lunch at the RH Yountville Restaurant.