Shawnee Bowl is now...Family Video

The Shawnee Bowl building burned down in 1997, and that lot has been a field until now. Development has started, and that spot will be a Family Video. That is less than a mile from our house, at about 65th and Nieman.



My first reaction was that it is doomed to fail. It is not a high traffic location and this seems to be a Blockbuster town - there is one less than a mile away. And those McDonalds boxes have been majorly cutting into that market. I did some research and found out that it's actually the 3rd largest video rental chain in the country. So that gave me some hope. We don't rent any movies at all, so we would rather have a field than a video rental store. There are two in the Greater Kansas City area, and four in Wichita, and several others in smaller Kansas towns.

Here is an article about the building:
http://www.shawneedispatch.com/news/2008/jan/08/video_store_plans_approved/

Here is an article about City Council resisting the plans:
http://www.shawneedispatch.com/news/2007/dec/18/developer_stopped_questions/

Here is an article about the family that started Shawnee Bowl in 1957:
http://www.shawneedispatch.com/news/2006/may/03/one_of_the/

Worst of 2008: Movies

This year, I'd like to also share the worst movies that I saw for the first time. This will be a top 4, and I'll reveal them one at a time.

1. Rush Hour 3 (2007). This part of the Rush Hour series takes place in France. I enjoyed the first two movies when I was in college. And I don't know if I changed or if the quality of the movies changed, but I think this is the worst movie I've ever seen.











2. Home Alone 3 (1997) Continuing the series with completely different actors, but same plot. It's the first movie we watched in 2008, and Curtis Taussig picked it out, because he finished his dinner plate first.










3. GiGi (1958) A rich sugar baron falls in love with a poor clumsy young girl. Overall, it was a bore (and a Best Picture winner).










4. The Client (1995). Based on the book by John Grisham. It made me upset how much of the book they rewrote.

Movie Review: Evan Almighty

This movie actually had nothing to do with Bruce Almighty, except that Steve Carrel, playing Evan, had a small role in Bruce Almighty. And that is a good thing, because I didn't care for Bruce Almighty too much. Bruce Almighty was about a TV reporter who suddenly had God's power. But Evan Almighty is about a brand new congressman, and God suddenly tells him to build an ark.

Evan Baxter has to come to grips with how God is intruding into his life to have him build an ark. At first he is resistant, and then embarrassed and ashamed in front of the modern world and his family, and finally resolute in building the ark. Seeing this on film was a great way to visualize how it must have been for Noah thousands of years ago.



This movie was hilarious, thanks mostly to a great cast of actors, headed up by Steve Carrel (of the Office) and Morgan Freeman. I don't remember laughing out loud so much watching a movie any time recently. It was also family-friendly - nothing embarrassing that I can remember. It is also really cool how it filmed live animals, because it is after all about Noah's Ark. We watched the special features, and it was neat how they made an effort to be "green" by planting trees and donating materials to Habitat for Humanity. Also, the effort that went into making Evan's realistic beards was amazing. They spent 4 hours every morning putting a realistic beard on him.

Funeral for a coworker's wife

The wife of the COO at my work passed away last weekend. She was only 36 when breast cancer took her life. I invite you to check out her blog http://loloplunkett.blogspot.com/, and the obituary here.

I attended the funeral on Friday. I held back tears at the very beginning during the picture slideshow, with the pictures of her family. But immediately afterwards, when the pastor read Scripture about Christ beating death and winning for us eternal life, I couldn't completely contain myself. Courtney says she never sees me cry, but she wasn't there to see. This brought back memories of when I was in college, and I attended the Overland Park Mayor's Breakfast. When a music professor with a rich baritone voice sang The Lord's Prayer, I just could not contain my tears for probably 10 minutes. That is the only time I really remember weeping. Sometimes in rare moments the Holy Spirit touches my heart, and this time it happened at the funeral of someone I had never met.

Me as Prophet Isaiah

I did some Theater for the first time in 10 years, giving four lines as the Prophet Isaiah in the church's choir cantata. I knew a costume was involved, but when I showed up I was told that makeup was part of the deal. It smelled like crayons, but it definitely contributed to a more realistic part!

Here was my line, which I memorized:

Prepare the way for the Lord.
Make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be raised up, and every mountain and hill made low.

The rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain.

And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all mankind together will see it.

For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

Here are more pictures:

Book Review: The Cat Who Said Cheese

This was our first Cat Book read since May, because the series had bored us out.  And we may wait a while until the next one.  It was really good though, how it tied together several things to make a mystery.  

Movie Review: Bourne Ultimatum

We watched the first two Bourne movies in preparation of watching Bourne Ultimatum for the first time.  

It was fast paced, and included some neat twists.  Bourne has a good heart, and we finally learn, along with him, how he became an assassin.

Murder a mile away

Last week, on the way back from the gym (which is about a mile away), we noticed a news truck parked outside of an apartment complex. So we turned on the news, and found out there had been a murder. The first murder in our city in 3 years. A 21-year old woman was found dead in her apartment. Her family called the police after she didn't show up at Thanksgiving. And her 23-year old boyfriend with a criminal past was nowhere to be found. The suspect was found in Texas a couple days later, after setting his car on fire. We thought it was really stupid to do that, and bring attention to himself, but not complaining. One of his previous crimes was setting his ex-wife's car on fire.

The owners of the apartment complex are close to mom and dad, so we were able to get some of the inside details. Although I know a lot of the circumstances, it's not quite enough information for me to understand why the murder took place, other than it must have been an act of rage. This murder is distant from all logic. For example, if you want to kill someone, why are you dating them? Also, what good does it do to you or anyone by killing someone?

Best of November 2008

Best Movie That I Saw for the First Time: The French Connection

Best New-To-Me Restaurant: didn't go to any

Best Life Happening: Christmas Tree Lighting

Best Book I Read: Freakonomics

Best online video I watched for the First time: Eva Cassidy



2nd place: Digital Conversion PSA
My YouTube link got disabled, so I have to send you to this site.

http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1832247


Picture(s) of the Month by Courtney.

This was was actually taken by me.

Courtney tried on her wedding dress again before getting it professionally boxed up. She looked really good!