The gorgeous and gory new horror movie Overlord neatly ties together two facets of World War II history: Operation Overlord and Hitler’s obsession with the occult. Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy and the Allied troops really did land behind enemy lines to clear the way for the massive beach invasion of D-Day, as suggested in the film. But what if the Allied troops encountered more than just determined German soldiers?…Read More
[[ This is a sponsored post ]] Can you imagine a day when you are no longer working and when you’re going to be relying on earnings from savings and investments rather than a paycheck? When you’re in your 20’s that seems a just about impossible concept, but when you get into your 50’s and 60’s, the Big R is starting to stare you in the face. Heck, not working is starting to sound pretty…Read More
For reasons I can’t quite fathom, lots of people think that vacations require traveling great distances, often on a plane, and often overseas. Yes, there’s a whole world to explore, but if you live in Colorado then there are a ton of great adventure, activity, relaxation and other venues ready to enjoy within just a few hours drive. My family and I have definitely spent lots of time at Colorado destinations like Glenwood Springs, Manitou…Read More
I can totally imagine how this went down in some Brentwood living room, or maybe an apartment in West Hollywood: Writer/Director Justin Price is shooting the breeze with his buddies and someone asks “Hey man, did your folks ever do that Elf On The Shelf thing when you were a kid?” After the laughter and one-upmanship of weird Elf on the Shelf stories dies down, Justin gets moody and thoughtful. “What if,” he finally says,…Read More
On average, people buy a new mattress every 8-10 years or so. That’s a long time to wait. But how often do you get new sheets for your bed? It’s actually quite surprising just how luxurious it feels to slip into a bed with new high-quality sheets. Heck, truth be told, people don’t even wash their bedsheets very often: science suggests that you should wash them weekly, but on average, people change them about once…Read More
My youngest switched from a private school to public school this year. Moving up to high school was a great moment for such a big change, but it was with some sadness that we left the private school community. We’d been part of that school for almost 20 years, and I even served on the Board of Trustees. For K-, though, it was her friends that she’d miss as none of them were also heading…Read More
I have to start out by admitting I haven’t been much of a fan of Subaru for the last few years. Every Subaru vehicle I’ve driven has been woefully underpowered and had rough edges on the finish and drive experience. One of my most recent drives almost got me into an accident when I misjudged its ability to merge into traffic due to its sluggish acceleration from a stop. When I had a chance to…Read More
When the local Westminster restaurant 5280 Burger Bar reached out to invite me to check out their menu, I shanghaied a couple of buddies and we headed over on a weekend afternoon to see what they had to offer. Our agenda: Eat. We had a tentative plan about going to see the film Hunter Killer afterwards, but it was pretty loose because we weren’t sure how long lunch would last and because, well, any movie with…Read More
Mary had a little lamb from her flock and it tagged along with her to school, but did it really want to be seen as just a cute little lamb? Probably not. In fact, it probably harbored the secret desire that many sheep have: to be human. To be… Sheeple. That’s the rough premise of the terrifically fun family game Sheeple from Aaron Smith. A family game for 3+ people, your goal is to actually…Read More
I wasn’t the greatest driver when I was young. I don’t think my parents ever knew about all my poor driving habits, including a few incidents of being a bit too tipsy to see the lines properly, backing up with the back windshield so fogged that I actually bumped into a parked car, and general vehicular mayhem, including racing other kids and similar. It could have been the car: My hand-me-down car for high school…Read More
October weather in Colorado has a tendency to be all over the place. I mean, all over the place. And this month is no different: last Sunday, Oct 14, I was up in Breckenridge, stuck in my hotel due to a snowstorm. Between 8-10 inches and sub-freezing conditions made for a tough day throughout the state. Seven days later we were at Anderson Farms in Erie, Colorado (north of Denver and east of Boulder) sweltering in…Read More
[[ A guest post by film critic and father Christian Toto ]] This so-called film expert got Family Movie Night wrong. Again. I thought my boys (ages 7, 9) would love Billy Crystal’s cowboy antics in the 1991 comedy City Slickers, just re-released on Blu-ray. Slapstick comedy is right in their wheelhouse, the broader, the better. Or maybe I was too curious about my own reaction to the movie all these years later, given its…Read More
Driving the 2018 Chevrolet Equinox FWD Premier made me really ask myself why I’ve been playing it so safe with my vehicle color choices. If I think back across every car I’ve owned, I started with light blue, then faded yellow (hand-me-down Chevy Malibu. Thanks Dad!), then grey, gold, light blue, grey, blue, white, white. Yawwnnn. This Equinox cleary didn’t fit the mold in its bright and cheery Orange Burst Metallic which I renamed “burnt…Read More
My youngest has made the big leap from a private school to public school for her high school years and it’s quite interesting. I went to public school throughout my own educational journey; I don’t think I even realized that there were alternatives! My ex, however, went to private school, a rather prestigious K-12 institution in Kansas City with lots of elite, wealthy families. Very different experiences, even through college: she went to a private…Read More
In curious ways, the new biopic First Man mirrors the experience of a trip to the moon, alternating between breathtakingly exciting and boring as watching paint dry. Don’t get me wrong, First Man is a really good movie and a fascinating insight into the emotional journey of astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first man to step foot on the moon. But it’s also dull at times, heavy with dialog and too reliant on a wooden Ryan…Read More