Thanksgiving in New York

Danny and I just returned from a week in New York to celebrate Thanksgiving with Danny's family. I am in love with New York City but I had not been in 8 years so I was so excited and energized to walk through the streets of that amazing city. We got to do fun tourist stuff but also had Danny's brother Michael and his wife Betsy as local tour guides.

We crammed a lot into a few days, so I'll list them off quickly and post a few pictures. If you want more pictures, I have them posted on Kodakgallery.com and you can email me and I'll invite you to view them.

We went to Michael's photography show at an art gallery near their home on the Upper West side of Manhattan. We met some very interesting people and I really enjoyed getting to say "I'm the sister-in-law of the artist."

We took a horse carriage ride through Central Park.

We went ice skating at Rockefeller Center and saw the entire city from the Top of the Rock observation deck.

We visited Ground Zero and saw the September 11 timeline and several memorials.

We walked through downtown and saw Trinity Church, Battery Park, and a long-distance view of the Statue of Liberty.

We saw the Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular with the Rockettes.

We left the country, meaning we visited the U.N. which is on international territory.

We saw the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade! Even if it was only 20 minutes and it was raining and cold, I was thrilled! We went down the night before to watch the balloons being filled. Up close, they are HUGE!

I took a LOT of pictures, we ate great food with family and celebrated Thanksgiving with Betsy's family in Connecticut. It was a great week!


Us at the Top of the Rock observation deck overlooking Central Park


With Manhattan and the Empire State Building in the background


The view of Times Square from our hotel room, thanks to Danny's brother and his wife. Mike and Betsy put us up in the Marriot Marquis on Times Square as a wedding gift.


At the parade: Danny, Scooby and Mike

Tomodachitachi!

If I'm correct, the title above means "friends" in Japanese. And Japanese friends are the theme of this post! This week we had visitors from Japan: Chiaki and her son, Kanta, who I used to live with in Osaka, and Shiho, a member of the church in Osaka that I used to work for as a missionary.

Our week was exhausting but so much fun! For all three visitors, it was their first time to America and they seemed to have a blast. Chiaki had a list of "goals" that included everything from seeing Victorian houses in San Francisco to eating Taco Bell! Fortunately, a cab driver convinced them to try a Mexican taqueria instead of Taco Bell and they really liked it. We also ate at In-N-Out, Texas Roadhouse, and ate clam chowder in a bread bowl on Fisherman's Wharf. They were constantly amazed at how large American portions are. They also commented on how fast Americans drive. Kanta even said "Bethany's car is like a rocket!"

For me and Danny, we enjoyed playing tour guide on a PERFECT day in San Francisco (and it was supposed to rain, haha). We saw the sea lions at Pier 39, the Golden Gate Bridge, and Kanta was enamored with the cable cars. We also showed them around the entire Bay Area (we crossed every bridge in a span of 3 days) and took them to both Campbell and First Covenant for church. It is such a joy to have a special friend see your home, church and family for the first time!

One of my favorite moments over the past week was talking and praying with Chiaki. Chiaki and I were really close when I lived in Japan, and her and her husband took me in when I needed a place to stay for a few months before returning to America. We used to have deep talks and pray together and it was such a blessing to do that again! Chiaki is one of the close friends who I may not see for a few years, but when we meet again it is just like old times. I am very blessed.

Here are some pictures from our adventures:

Me, Kanta, Chiaki and Shiho at the Golden Gate Bridge


Kanta with his new cable car toy


Shiho and Kanta with Alcatraz and the city behind them

44th Favorite Movie - Singin' in the Rain

Don't knock it 'til you've tried it.

45th Favorite Movie - Die Hard

Make sure you have read the first post in this series ("My 50 Favorite Movies") before you read on...

With Christmas time approaching (see other posts for my feelings about this), now is a good time to snuggle up by the fire and check out one of the all-time great Christmas movies.

Die Hard.

What does Die Hard have to do with Christmas you say? Remember, it is Christmas Eve when the German terrorists take over the Fox Plaza building in L.A. Bruce Willis' character, John McClane, a New York cop, is in town trying to patch things up with his estranged wife who is attending a Christmas party in the building. You get characters dressed as Santa Claus, "Let It Snow" on the soundtrack, and apparently there is even a Christmas theme to the DVD cover. What better way to bring in the Christmas cheer?

Of course, I'm kidding. The real reason to see Die Hard is to enjoy one of the best and most influential action movies ever made. It is funny, suspenseful, action-packed, and you can't help but root for the good guy. It actually holds up pretty well after nearly twenty years. Ok, writing that last sentence made me feel incredibly old. I still remember seeing this in the theater during the summer of 1988. It was the movie that me and all my friends wanted to see, it was rated R, and I was only 13. Somehow the guy taking tickets at the UA theater in Berkeley let me, my friend, and his 10 year old brother in to see it.

And we were never the same again.

I cannot convey to you just how COOL Bruce Willis was at the time this movie came out. He had made a name for himself as the wisecracking detective in Moonlighting, but he never really got a chance to run around and shoot guns in that show, which is what we as 13 year-old boys really wanted to see. My parents' generation had John Wayne, we had Bruce Willis.

I want to thank two of my friends from Fresno, Phil and Adam, for telling me about this: if you are ever channel-surfing and come across one of the Die Hard movies on FX, wait to hear Bruce say his infamous “yippee-kai-ay" line. The dubbing over this line is so awful, it is absolutely hilarious. They leave Bruce's voice alone for the “yippee-kai-ay" part, and then there is some other voice that tacks on, "Mr. Falcon", which makes no sense because there is no one named Falcon in any of the films. Comedy in the highest if you ever get a chance to hear it.

I really don't have much else to say about the movie, so I found some trivia on the IMDB that I thought was interesting:

*Bruce and Demi Moore tied the knot at the Golden Nugget hotel in Las Vegas during this shoot, Moore having recently broken her engagement to actor Emilio Estevez. Little Richard presided over the ceremony and former brat packer Ally Sheedy was a bridesmaid.

*Bruce Willis was the fifth choice for the main character. It originally went to Arnold Schwarzenegger then Sylvester Stallone then Burt Reynolds then Richard Gere before Willis got it.

*Bruce Willis's lines during the scene when he pulls the glass out of his feet were ad-libbed.

*The title in Spain was translated "Crystal Jungle" and in Poland "The Glass Trap". The Hungarian title is "Give your life expensive", the title of the sequel is "Your life is more expensive", and the third part is "The life is always expensive."

The most wonderful time of the year

At the risk of sounding crazy, I am so excited for Christmas! I don't know what it is about this year, but I can't wait for December! In the past, when I saw Christmas decorations in stores before Halloween, I scoffed at the marketing ploy. But a few weeks ago I started buying Christmas ornaments, Christmas movies, Christmas music, and I can't wait to use them! Danny says he can't get into the Christmas spirit while the temperature is in the high 70s, so I'll have to wait a few weeks before we get to read "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" together and put jingle bells on the door.

I think that my excitement about Christmas has to do with being a newlywed. For the first time, I get to splurge on Christmas decorations for my house and my own Christmas tree! I can't wait for Danny and I to buy our own stockings, tree ornaments, and house decorations.

Of course, I'm also looking forward to Thanksgiving and a great trip to New York. I might even have a chance to see the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade in person! Still, Christmas just can't come soon enough. Anyone else with me?

46th Favorite Movie - Napoleon Dynamite

This is one of those movies that people either love or hate. Case in point, the reactions of two different people from my church:

*"Bone" Branagh, who is a currently a sophomore at Wheaton, saw it 11 times before it left the theaters the summer it came out.

*Nancy, our children's pastor, said she "didn't get it" and thought it was "one of the stupidest movies she'd ever seen". What she remembered most about the film a couple days later was feeling sorry for Napoleon because his grandma left him for a week with nothing to eat but frozen steak.

The one thing that everyone can agree on is this: it has been a long time since such a wholesome film had such a massive appeal to young people. Napoleon Dynamite was a gift for every youth pastor who struggles to find a clean film to show on movie nights that the students will like. Is there a youth group or youth pastor in the country that did not love this movie? At First Covenant, we named our VEHICLES after characters from Napoleon Dynamite, right down to paying for personalized plates.

I could sum up the plot, but I bet that 90% of the people who read this blog have already seen it (Mom, Dad... if you ever decide to get a DVD player, go out and rent this, ok?). Instead, I will explain why this is one of my favorite movies.

1. It is the most quotable movie of all time. If you saw it and liked it, chances are you have uttered one of these beauties in your best Napoleon or Kip accent:

"whatever I feel like, gosh!"
"your mom goes to college"
"you ever take it off any sweet jumps?"
"Pedro offers you his protection"
"Tina, you fat lard, come get your dinner!"
"Do the chickens have large talons?"

On a similar note, check out some of the vocabulary that we (we meaning my contemporaries and I) picked up from Napoleon Dynamite and have incorporated into our everyday language:

Tots
Nunchuck skills
Liger
Tigon
Happy Hands Club
Rex-Kwan-Do

2. The wide range of characters.

I think this was my problem with Nacho Libre. It was funny, but Jared Hess' follow-up to Napoleon Dynamite did not resonate with me or most people like Napoleon did. I think it is because Nacho was pretty much a Jack Black one-man show. The only other funny guy I can remember was his wrestling partner, who was pretty much Pedro version 2.0. In Napoleon you've got Pedro, Kip, Uncle Rico, Don, Randy, and my favorite, Rex, to complement the star.

3. It is somewhat... charming

Really, there are a lot of life lessons in ND. No, seriously, check these out:

-Find something you are good at and share it with the world
-There is a companion out there for everyone
-It's ok to be a little different

I'm sure I am leaving some great quotes, vocabulary, and life lessons out. If you can think of any, post a comment!

Two more things I want to say. First, Jon Heder will never duplicate the success he had playing Napoleon. Never going to happen, because he is not a super-funny guy. Have you ever seen him in interviews (I have) or any of his other movies (I haven't, thankfully). He is a nice guy, a charming guy, but not a super-funny guy. In Napoleon, he was playing a super-funny character. That is the big difference between Jon Heder and someone like Will Ferrell, Jim Carrey or Adam Sandler. Second, I fear that his inability to make an impression playing any other character, along with people continuing to identify him as "the guy from Napoleon Dynamite" when he has already been in four films since then, will lead to the inevitable decision to make a sequel to ND. And like most sequels, it will suck (the only exceptions in the entirety of cinema being The Godfather Part 2, The Empire Strikes Back, Indiana Jones, LOTR, X-Men and T2) . So please... Jon and Jered, don't taint the legacy of a perfect film by trying to catch lightning in a bottle twice.