2019 Lyons Family Ornament

Merry Christmas! I hope it's the hap-hap-happiest one since Bing Crosby tap-danced with Danny f***ing Kaye!

Yay! It worked! Maybe it took a few tries, but you made it. Enjoy your four-of-a-kind ornament that pays homage to the Lyons family's favorite Christmas movie, "Christmas Vacation".

QR code ornament by Christine Dascenzo, aka @helenandgerri

Each ornament was cross stitched with the same QR code that, when scanned by your camera, send you here (so I can grab those analytics) and plays the unofficial soundtrack to "Christmas Vacation", from a playlist put together by the one and only Jar Jar Binks (you can't make this stuff up).

I really enjoyed making these. From first being hit with the idea after learning you don't need a special app to scan QR codes anymore! YOU. CAN. JUST. USE. YOUR. CAMERA!!! to figuring out where the link should go, how to best capture stats on scans, how color could be incorporated, and, of course, my favorite part, actually cross stitching.

Find some process shots in my highlights on Instagram @helenandgerri. Eventually, anyway, but I don't want those posts to ruin the surprise. Fingers crossed, this blog is sufficiently under the radar.

Merry! Merry!
Stino

Internet Cat Video Festival

Movie: Internet Cat Video Festival

When: 5:30 p.m. July 20, 2016
Who With: JL, JP, VP, a coworker run-in, and adoptable kittens!
Movie Count: 43
Snacks: Popcorn, Cold Smoke for me, IPA for JL

Reaction: So much fun! This was our first time going to the local showing of the Internet Cat Video Festival. It was a blast with a sold out crowd. A ton of kids were laughing their heads off. The kind of laughter where you became addicted to the feeling of laughing and you start laughing even when things aren't funny (I'm looking at you claymationy balloon cat and purrkour cat) just to try to keep the euphoria pulsing through your brain.

One of the co-founders of Reddit had a nice video about adopting a cat and expressed an idea I hadn't really considered before. Cat videos are so The Internet because dog people bond outside and share the experience in parks and at sidewalk cafes (although not so much in Missoula anymore thanks to the City's enforcement of the health code, my sincere thanks). Cats are such an at-home experience, it's only natural to share that life online.

One cat killed a balloon version of itself, another lazily pushed a dog in a pool, one even scared off a bear through a glass door, and another almost won a slap fight against the air from a hair dryer. Loved it! Tons of fun. Highly recommend it. I also highly recommend getting yourself a cat. We went with more adulty black cats, Isby and Ivy, and they are our favorites.

Recommendation: Let’s Go! | Let it come to you  | Let it pass
Next Up: Star Trek Beyond (I actually first typed Star Wars Beyond, my insincere apologies)

Midnight Special

Movie: Midnight Special
When: Friday May 20th-ish
Who With: JL with an AW & AD run-in!
Movie Count: 33
Snacks: Beers at Flippers with AW & AD after

Reaction: You never totally know what's going on in this movie and that's part of the fun. This was definitely an "it's the journey not the destination" kind of story and I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. The tagline is He's Not Like Us and the glimpses into the world he is like seem pretty awesome.

Our after the movie conversation began naming all the movies that focus on super kids which the government would like to take from their families without just compensation (that's a takings "joke" for you land use nerds and/or constitutionalists). Seemed like there would be a lot but we didn't get too far: ET and The Hunger Games. Got any additions to our pre-empted discussion?

Recommendation: Let’s Go! | Let it come to you  | Let it pass
Next Up: The Meddler

The Man Who Knew Infinity

Movie: The Man Who Knew Infinity
When: 7:30 PM on Wed, May 18th
Who With: JL
Movie Count: 32
Snacks: Who remembers?

Reaction: With The Man Who Knew Infinity, you'll leave the theater with a very satisfied feeling of having seen a movie. It's not trying to do anything fancy, if revealing the truth within us all is nothing fancy. But it's all story and (male) characters here. Movies about math, ya'll, they never fail. And it's good to see that everyone's favorite Slumdog Millionaire didn't let the money go to his head and Scar's trying to be a bit more generous with those around him.

Recommendation: Let’s Go! | Let it come to you  | Let it pass
Next Up: Midnight Special

Blue Velvet

Movie: Blue Velvet
When: May 15, 2016 at 5:15 pm
Who With: JL
Movie Count: 31

Reaction: Holy Smokes! This is a crazy intense movie and I'm not sure I'm old enough to see it. Part of The Roxy's Essential Cinema Series, Blue Velvet was shown for a full week in honor of its 30th anniversary.

In between the squeaky clean opening and closing in Lumberton, a town similar to Missoula, the creepiest interactions and dialogue occur. Ears, singing, young love, and warped relationships. David Lynch knows what he's doing in combining a teen story line with the creepiest creepy adult thriller. It's "American Beauty" on creep steroids. If you haven't seen it, you gotta, but I can't imagine watching it ever again.

Recommendation: Let’s Go! | Let it come to you  | Let it pass
Next Up: The Man Who Knew Infinity

The Room

Movie: The Room
When: 9 pm, Saturday, May 14th
Who With: JL
Movie Count: 30!
Snacks: Beers

Reaction: I first saw this movie when friends trucked it over from Seattle circa 2010. The four of us watched it in the privacy of our Equinox apartment and I was blown away by how bad this movie really was. Maybe you've heard that it doesn't have a plot or dialogue that makes any sense or that it reveals so much about film making by making the invisible things boldly visible. I was excited to go through the experience again with a theater full of people laughing and quoting along. But, in a twist that would have confounded Tommy Wiseau, graduation weekend took any potential viewers and it was just me and JL in the theater. We should have recruited people!

Somehow, with the benefit of time, this movie got hilariously worse. I can't have anything to say that hasn't already been said. And if you haven't seen it you just can't know. Although, visiting the movie's website may give you a hint at what's in store. I really wish the website address was "TheRoomTheMovie" but "TheRoomMovie" will have to do. If you have seen The Room, I would recommend listening to Julie Klausner's 2014 interview with Juliette Danielle ["You're tearing me apart, Lisa!"] or episode 23 of How Did This Get Made?.

There is something stupidly fitting that now you have to differentiate between when you're talking about "Room" or "The Room." Here's hoping the person you're talking to has seen both!

Recommendation: Let’s [ALL] Go! | Let it come to you  | Let it pass
Next Up: Blue Velvet

Everybody Wants Some!!

Movie: Everybody Wants Some!!
When: 7:45 pm, Friday, May 6, 2016
Who With: JL
Movie Count: 29
Snacks: Popcorn

Reaction: We're back! This was the first movie we'd seen in a while. Well, looking back, there were only 12 days in between hitting up the Roxy. Not too shabby any other year but worthy of a welfare check nowadays.

The tone of Everybody Wants Some!! was the perfect remedy for working hella hard cleaning and moving out of our condo and into the new house (!). This movie follows a 1980s college baseball team and the few days leading up to the first practice. Honestly, it's pretty dumb but fun and just what we needed. It takes you back to a day when dudes were bro-ier, ladies were barely human, and movies knew no other way of being movies. There is a thin layer of struggling with identity but mostly its beer, boobs, and baseball. Maybe surprisingly shallow from Linkletter but he seems to capture the era well and brings something that was probably true for him to it. If you're up for relaxing your standards, or you're mid-move, or you yourself are a white guy feeling slightly threatened in these times, it may be the perfect movie.

Recommendation: Let’s Go! | Let it come to you  | Let it pass
Next Up: The Room