Superbowl, trip to Nannas, and Todd is the preferred person

Congratulations to the Steelers for avenging the Panthers in the Superbowl while defeating the pesky Cardinals. Normally, I would root for the Cardinals, since they were the Underdogs,and have never won a Superbowl. I have no allegiance to either team. Or HAD no allegiance. After the Cardinals dispatched the Carolina Panthers with ease in the play-offs, I became bent on insuring their destruction. It's Larry Fitzgerald, the wide receiver for the Cardinals! He catches every pass, even ones where he is covered by 20 defenders and the ball was thrown to opposite side of the field. He then immediately teleports to the end zone, or runs to the end zone while everyone else is moving in slow motion, bullet time matrix style.... and he did it again in the Superbowl. Yes, every cheer and movement I did was to aid the Steelers to defeat them, and if it wasn't for me cheering, they never would have made that last second touchdown to win the game. You can send me your thank you cards.

Cardinals, as long as you don't make the Panthers look foolish on the way to the Superbowl, I might root for you next year.

I got back just in time to see the game after a successful trip to Nannas house with Robbie, where little kid got to see Elizabeth and Todd as well. Eliz, the grove avenue bride, is in a fierce competition with her husband to become Robbies prefferd person but she did not fare well. Robbie loves Uncle Todd, and would not leave him alone. I laughed. Cruelly.

(Below: Robbie and the prefferd person bond in the driveway. Below below: Eliz gets some time in with Rob Rob as well.


I also got to meet the brand new Bryant, MacKenzie, who was quite mad for some reason. But, she was very cute. I am still freaked out that my cousin Patrick is a Daddy. I'm still trying to come to grips that he entered high school, meanwhile he is a college graduate, married with a kid.

(Below: Mackenzie SMASH puny Aunt Cindy...aka Nanna)

natalie, the asian Australian vlogger

I'm in love with a vlogger. It's true. I found Natalie on YouTube one day, just picking a random video trying to get my youtube to work again. I hate most vlogs, since people tend to ramble on and on while trying to relay their thoughts. But Nat, I found was completely different.

Well, she does have a tendency to ramble, but she also puts together some very funny and observant skits in which she usually plays most of the characters. This Asian from Australia who talks with an Australian accent and is a self proclaimed dork, is like a little miniature Seinfeld. Some of her videos miss the mark, but most of them will make you chuckle or at least say "you know, she's right...". For instance, her theory on why dead bodies are always discovered by "a passing joggah". Even when she misses the mark, she is at least cute. And yes, she is very much the not cool person. She is so not cool, it makes her cool.
Natalie, getting ready to tell us something important!
Here she is, playing the part of an emo animal lover.
Here's Nats, proving that she is indeed not cool, or graceful.
Natalie puts her "secret escape plan" into action. It apparently involves karate which she learned from YouTube.
Here she is again! This time trying to get directions from someone, and trying not to appear that she doesn't remember anything that they said.
Now there are three Natalies!
And here Natalie is playing the part of her childhood arch nemesis, Miranda. Apparently, Miranda always got the best of her.

Robbie loves villians!

Robbie, our sweet little kid, has a bit of a problem. We may need an intervention. He loves the villains of movies. He thinks they are great. I guess, in general, people tend to like the bad guys more anyway. Everyone went nuts about Jack Nicholson as the Joker, and later Heath Ledger for the same role... but at four, you would think he would root more for the heroes.Captain Hook - This one makes sense. Captain Hook is just as colorful and entertaining as Peter pan. Robbie prefers the "people peter pan" over the disney peter pan. And he prefers captain hook. He met captain hook, ( an actor who was playing him in a stage play) and ran up and gave him a hug. Captain Hook said "aren't you a brave little boy." Robbie thinks that Captain Hook is going to come over to our house and play with him.

Voldemort - Robbies access to this villain is somewhat limited and censored, but he still loves him. Unlike Captain Hook, Voldemort is a bit darker. but his manners are just as good. Robbie thinks that Voldemorts coming over for dinner. What about Harry, Robbie?


Davey Jones - Robbie has always misguidedly refered to him as "sharkhead", even though he clearly has an octopus head. Out of all the villains, this one I thought would be the most likely to scare Robbie. Robbie, however is unphased by Jones. Once again, Robbie doesn't get to see Jones very often, but he has a davey jones action figure and loves any scene with jones and the Kraken. He thinks that "sharkhead" is coming over to watch Pirates with him.

What can I do? I don't want to show him Darth Vador. He'll go nuts over him! We have tried to explain to him why the good guys are the good guys and why the bad guys are the bad guys. Christie described it as like "talking to a wall, only you get further with the wall.." For one thing, he doesn't get to see scenes where they are doing their bad guy stuff. But still! He's trying to invite them all over to eat our food! Help!

bryan 012

After a brief vacation and letting Obama enjoy his celebrations, Bryan for President in 2012 comes back to put the pressure on the new president.

Bryforprez

Christies B-Day Party

We had a surprise birthday "cook in" last weekend in honor of Christies birthday. We had over some guest and I george formaned some hamburgers. Good times. Had by all. The guest list included Uncle Dan and Granny....Mike and Michelle....Danny, Alison, Alyssa, and Abigale.
Mike and Danny took on Robbie in a two on one handicap match during the festivities. Robbie fought bravely but ended up overwhelmed. Here he is caught in a head lock by Mike and a figure four leg lock by LDG.

Alyssa gets her pirate on, with the help of her daddy, LDG. Arrrgh, matey.


The birthday girl, opening a gift. A box of olives.

The strawberry shortcake was made by chef 'Chelle, and it didn't last long.

The birthday girl. Completely caught off gaurd by her own party!

Indiana Review

The summer movie season is currently playing at the Vinson household.

During the winter.

There were a lot of good films this past year, but we've put off the summer movie season to the winter rental season. Here's my review for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

I found this movie riveting. Full of flawed characters and traditional American values. Indiana follows in the footsteps of Rocky and makes a comeback in his old age. Although, through the magic of special effects and stunt doubles, Indiana hasn't lost much of his step. The movie brings the nostalgia on full force with the return of Marion, Indys love interest from "Raiders".

Indie mostly succeeds in recapturing the old feeling of the movies hey-day, although, Harrison does falls flat in a few of the opening scenes. He appears to be "phoning it in." He gets into it though later in the movie. The nice thing here was a little trip back in time. Indy goes up against a villainous soviet union agent, depicted with cartoonish fun by Cate Blanchett, in the middle of the cold war. This is old school Hollywood unearthed from all the glitz and over complex, computer generated, politically correct new Hollywood.

It's not the best film in the series. The master pieces have already been made. It is a fun tribute to a fantastic movie series that both honors the originals, and does them no harm. Nick Cage and National treasure, and Angie Jolie and Tomb Raider better watch out. Grandpa still has a little left in the tank and a little zip on the whip.

Arrgh. Robbie's birthday it be, matey....