Awards Season Buzz

Now that awards season is in full swing, here'a quick word on some of our 2014 favorites.

I was thrilled to see that Gina Rodriguez won a Golden Globe for Jane the Virgin. Great show:


Having trouble finding good links, since in many cases the rave reviews—like the one in the New Yorker—came in articles about more than one show, which doesn't seem quite fair... But, well, I guess that's what the awards are making up for :)

And no harm in noting that the average from 21 "top critics" on Rotten Tomatoes is, yes, a not so shabby 100%.

In many ways it's quite different, but my other 2014 favorite is Mozart in the Jungle, which shares a kind of dreamy a-bit-more-than-realist tone.

Such a great show. We already watched the whole season (in barely a week), and I'm already looking forward to re-watching it, the sooner the better!

We recently read a pile of lists of the best albums of 2014, and picked up a few, all quite good. Hands down, though, my favorite is the New Pornographers:


Haven't seen quite as many movies as we'd have liked, but recently saw a couple of solid entries.

Birdman:

Very good. Not my favorite ever, but definitely worth seeing.

And the Imitation Game:

A movie about a computer scientist and philosopher? Named after a section of a philosophy paper he wrote? Yes. Doesn't hurt that the cast is great and the story is incredible either.

Almost as fun as the movie was returning home and reading the 1950 paper about whether machines can think. Good stuff. And free online: http://mind.oxfordjournals.org/content/LIX/236/433.full.pdf.

Also fun at first was the cryptic crossword referenced in the movie (solve it in 12 minutes or less and come help the British crack the German enigma code!). Fun at first, until I realized that there was no way I was going to solve it any time soon...

Well, that's about all for now. Meanwhile the award for best Halloween costume of 2013 (yes, 2013) goes to... the bee! Franklin spotted it after his bath tonight and insisted on wearing it for a while:

Cheers, and congratulations to all the nominees!

You Clean Up Nice

Busy fall, but let's just take a quick break to admire how nice Franklin looks in autumnal hues:

I can't decide—would that look better cropped? Like this:


Anyway...

Some of this is out there already, but what's fall without homemade apple pie?




And Halloween of course:

For weeks he's been saying he wanted to be a crocodile. Living the dream.

(Though I should add that on the day before the costume arrived he said he'd rather be a Spiderman Bee, so...)

But speaking of cleaning up well, have you seen this new series on PBS, How We Got To Now?

By far the best thing I've seen on TV in weeks (years?). That bit about raising Chicago up on jacks to install sewers? Amazing. Very cool show.

Emily's in Arizona on a mothers/daughters/aunts/cousins trip, so I just might indulge in another episode tonight as my reward for a day full of hard work and serious fun with Franklin.

What did we do? Main event was getting a pumpkin up at our friends' little farm north of the city. Sadly I didn't get a chance to take many pictures, and I so far have no record of the pumpkin itself, but the shot up top features one of the main fun prizes they hid in a pile of hay for the kids. And here are a couple from their tree house play apparatus:



Cheers, reader. Hope you're having a wonderful October!

Let It Fall!

A little of this and a little of that:

Love this photo Emily took! And it sure is a beautiful fall here this year! Made our rainy walk through the Arboretum last weekend especially nice.



Franklin sure likes puddles!










He also seemed to like Halloween, though we stuck with just the indoor, daycare version over at Mt. St. Vincent and the St. Joseph Residence:






Back home, Emily and Franklin worked on some yoga poses. Here's the Three-Legged Downward Dog:

Emily usually goes to the Y to do yoga on Sundays, and last week while she was gone Franklin said "Mommy yoga," so it seemed like he was ready to try a few poses...

It's sunny and calm so far today, but it is fall, which means, in the words of the book that inspired the title of this post:
Chilly, windy, gusty breeze,
rake, rake, rake the blowing leaves.
And also this:

Whoa! Tree down blocking Thomas at 17th. Buses etc cannot get thru pic.twitter.com/zYJ290q7ab

— yancy (@yancy9) November 2, 2013

Luckily no one was injured when it happened; and luckily we happened to walk by at the right time: my tweet was front page news on CHS for most of Saturday!

Also showed up in a KIRO TV photo gallery, apparently uncredited... But hey, it's TV news, what do you expect? ;)

All the wind and weather couldn't keep our young friend from having fun at the park, though. Had it all to ourselves on that blustery day:


And finally, one of Franklin's current favorite words and objects: ladder!

Let Summer Commence!

Wait, it's Thursday and I'm just now telling you about the weekend? Guess grading really has kept me busy! Nevertheless:

I had a nice time at the Seattle U. undergraduate commencement on Sunday. Erik Larson gave a pretty charming speech—I may need to take a look at that Devil in the White City book after all!

Anyway, I was looking for photos of the ceremony on the University photo database, and couldn't find anything yet... but I did happen across this cool photo of me watching student presentations in my Intro. to Phil. class:

Our room was really not designed for the unseasonably warm weather we had this spring, so we spent probably a third of the quarter outside. I'd totally forgotten that we ran into that school photographer; great shot!

Emily also got a couple of great photos over the weekend. Upon their return from the spraypark:

Love those trunks, and the rash guard!

And at Smith for Fathers Day:


Not sure if you already saw this, but the folks at Franklin's daycare helped him make a pretty cute card for me:


And Emily helped him pick out a very thoughtful gift: my own fitbit! I've been envious of Emily's for a while, especially now that she's doing things like comparing stats with her dad.

(Just for the record, Fran and Dave have been on a hiking trip, so he won't normally be that far ahead of me. (Right?))

Feel free to track my progress: http://www.fitbit.com/user/265QBP.

Finally, I love that Lewis is back on the air! Great finish to last weekend. This weekend too, I imagine :)

Watch Inspector Lewis: Series 6 Preview on PBS. See more from Masterpiece.

The only downside is that this very charming story in the Times makes it sound like this season may be the last. Though I suppose if someone gives us 26 years of good TV we should really just be grateful...

All right reader, I'd better go for a run so I can get my steps for the day!

Returning to Our Connections in the Northwest

We're packing and about to leave for Franklin's first international trip! Emily is presenting at the Northwest Archivists' meeting at the University of British Columbia this weekend. Looking forward to finally visiting Vancouver.

In the meantime, how about some more fun from this past week. Fun on the slide at Volunteer Park:


Fun visiting with Grandpa Ray and Grandma Rhonda:



Thanks again for the fun weekend!

This one is fun in a different way, and from the previous week, but I just loved this Daily Show segment on Australia's gun laws:

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Indecision Political Humor,The Daily Show on Facebook

Whoop-de-doo indeed.

There are two more parts to the series, also worth a look.

Finally, Franklin is warming up to the song and dance action at Toddler Story Time:

We've been enjoying the nice weather & walking to the Capitol Hill branch instead of busing it downtown, and I do really like the more chill, neighborhood-ly vibe.

All right, reader. Have a great weekend!

I Wish I Was a Little Bit Taller

Franklin says, Best stray object on the Miller Park playground yet:


Sure was excited to play with it. And although the big kids we were talking to said goodbye to him when we left, I'm pretty sure he was actually waving goodbye to the ball...

So, now I guess we just sit back and wait for Bill Self to give him a call :)

Meanwhile, the playground at Volunteer Park has been undergoing renovations for a while, but now it's finally open again!

I've been crazy busy finishing a paper for the upcoming West Coast Plato Workshop, but Emily and Franklin went and checked it out over the weekend:

Coolest part is that they have a whole separate area for 2-5 year-olds. So cute. And thoughtful. And fun!

I convinced Franklin to take me up there this morning so I could see it for myself. Lots of great stuff, but so far my favorite is the side-by-side baby slides, so I can go down next to him & keep a close eye on the smile on his face.


Two playgrounds in one day? Well, that's what happens when all of a sudden it's 60 and sunny. Obviously he's now tuckered out in bed, so hopefully I can stay awake long enough to crack the code of this new PBS show I've been reading about:

Watch Preview on PBS. See more from The Bletchley Circle.

The Near and The Dear Ones, The Old and The Young

Well, mostly young, and definitely dear. Franklin continues to charm his way into every blog post I write... Here he is entertaining his second cousin (or is it first cousin once removed?) Diana:




He also had fun Skyping with Anders the other day.

Couple of cuties!

And lunch with Vince:

(Aka Uncle Vinny.)

Fun to notice him noticing other cute babies too, on Skype, at daycare, and even in his copy of Global Babies:

Thanks again Bria & Michael!

Also fun that he fits in his new Jayhawk outfit:

Thanks again Wendy!

And of course he's still enjoying the tree and keeping us all on our toes:


Speaking of the holidays, let's end with some music. Colbert put together a pretty good version of one of my Xmas favorites:

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Sign Off - Jeff Tweedy, Mavis Staples & Sean Lennon - "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)"
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog Video Archive

All right, that's all for today, reader. I hope you had fun :)

Cute Guys and Dark Skies

Not really sure that the little guy is teething, but he sure likes his new toy:

Cute wooden lasso made by Maple Landmark.

Although it hasn't always been easy, we've been getting a little better with naps and bedtimes, which recently gave Emily and I a chance to contemplate some of what we give up living in a wonderful city like Seattle. Warning: some of this show is a downer. Worth it, though, on the whole.


And we're hoping that our upcoming road trip will give us a chance to introduce the little guy to some perspective on just how little he really is...

I'm especially excited about the Night Sky Program at Badlands National Park, where we plan to camp for a night.

I mean, look at that sky: Can't wait!

Wondering how the plans are shaping up? Us too! But we have a rough route mapped out: View Larger Map
If you're curious, Google says that's about 5,162 miles. Glad I'll have such great company!

Speaking of, in our weekly roundup of what wound up on Facebook, here's Franklin keeping me company while I did a little research on Plato and akrasia (remember that? I can't seem to resist the temptation to revisit the topic...):

And look what a gracious host he was last week when we had some company over:

Mild Rumpus

This interview with Maurice Sendak is just amazing:

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Grim Colberty Tales with Maurice Sendak Pt. 1
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog Video Archive

Brilliant.

All right, reader. Carry on.

Preparing for the Next Generation

An amazing young man is on his way, and we couldn't be more excited. It may make it tricky, though, for the two of us to zip off to the woods for a few days.

Fortunately, we were able to take a few days and spend time together in the beautiful rain forests on the Olympic Peninsula.

We stayed at the lovely and festive Lake Quinault Lodge:


Great place--cozy fireplace, handsome grounds:


Fisheye shot of the lake:


Moon:


This Seattle Times article was one of the reasons we decided to return for another winter visit, and so we drove up to the Hoh Rain Forest to enjoy some of the rainy fun.

Since it was Monday, the visitor center was closed; and we only heard rumors of elk and otters... But we did happen to run into some other families getting ready for the next generation at Taft Creek:


Also took a look at the ocean, but days like that are more pleasant in a forest than on a beach.


Luckily we were able to go back to the lodge to warm up. There's really nothing like reading by a fire on a comfy couch.

Among other things, I read an interesting piece on Portlandia's Carrie Brownstein in the New Yorker, and also a nice review of Parenthood. Really like that show.

Emily, in the meantime, has been enjoying The Hangman's Daughter, by Oliver Pötzsch.

A little funny to mention here, but I also read this Times Op-Ed column, and so I didn't check my email or look at Facebook for a couple of days :) (For a similar theme, but from the perspective of someone a bit more—ahem—like me, see this post from the Times' tech blogger.)

But the main attraction, of course, is the forest. Right near the lodge there is a great set of trails through the Quinault Rain Forest.

That's Gatton Creek up at the top of this post. If you look at the Quinault Rain Forest hiking map, you'll see that the trail up there ("Trail of the Giants") passes a tiny spur called "Connie's Trail." I have no idea who Connie is, but her trail is worth it for the suprise turn that brings you right through a huge downed tree:






Views coming down aren't half bad either:

Well, school's about to start, and soon all kinds of other exciting things will be starting up. In the meantime, cheers!