Dad passed from this life 12 years ago but he has never passed from my life.
Hearing his voice in my head at times both convenient and inconvenient reminds me that he’s not really gone and never will be, not as long as we remember him.
He told us earlier this spring that he and his wonderful girlfriend are moving to California this summer. Actually, Stretch’s wonderful girlfriend may have been the one to actually break this news. Either way, whichever of them told us, a certain clock started in my heart: a countdown to the end of two truly remarkable years of my professional career: working alongside my son in the family business.
Stretch is a gifted teacher. Empathetic, energetic, caring and compassionate, he connects with his students and they connect with him. This ability is more rare than one might think. It is a talent.
Hang on, I think I have something in my eye.
Stretch is an amazing coach. He was the head coach of the C-Team football squad this year and, while a better father would be able to quote the exact record of that redoubtable squad, I believe they lost two games versus nine or 10 wins. But the wins will not matter to his players. Coach Stretch’s treatment of them will as will the lessons he imparted.
Stretch is a ridiculous pet owner. He knows what I mean. His girlfriend does, too. Man, do they love their dog.
Stretch is a caring brother. Both his sister and his bonus brother would agree with this. He worries about his siblings. He wants to be connected to them. He loves them.
Stretch is a wonderful son. Ask his bonus mother. Or his mother. Do not ask me. I am trying to get something out of my eye…
And now, Stretch is at a crossroads, looking backwards at the man he is while determining the steps he should take to make him the man he wishes to become.
He is moving away. He is taking his girlfriend and his dog and his talent and his passion to the West Coast. He is taking the next step in his life.
I have no doubts whatsoever in him, in his choices, in his future.
The blessing in my life that is HJ Jr began when he was almost 10 years old and his mother and I started our romantic relationship and, eventually, married. In the months that The Cinnamon Girl and I dated, I got to spend a lot of time with the young man who would become my bonus son. I got to know him, he got to know me and we forged the beginning pieces of what would become the puzzle of the relationship that continues to this day, this day when he turns 26 years old.
I can relate many stories and anecdotes, many tales, some taller than other, about our time together, about the almost unbelievable things that have happened, about our lives growing intertwined roots. There is, perhaps, no other story than the one I am about to share that is more emblematic of us.
Seemingly minutes before The Cinnamon Girland I got married (it was actually a few weeks), the whole family was invited to a birthday party for one of my sisters. The Cinnamon Girl was going to meet HJ Jrand me there as were my own children from my first marriage. HJ Jr and I were going to drive across town and make our arrival at the same time.
We had one task. We had to pick up a chocolate cake for the party.
It was a rainy day in June, uncharacteristically stormy for Colorado, and as we went in and out of the store, we got soaked. We got the kind of drenched to your bones wet that fogs the windows of the car. We turned back into traffic out of the parking lot and the skies continued to pour Noah-like as we hydro-planed to my sister’s house.
HJ Jr was in the back seat of the car. He was only 10 years old, after all. Safety first.
“I bet I can remember every piece of chocolate cake I have ever had,” he said.
“Oh yeah?” I said, engaging on what I assumed was a passing thought.
For the rest of the drive, HJ Jr relayed to me the taste, texture and circumstances of every single slice of chocolate cake he could ever remember having. Ever. In. His. Life.
I remember the ride taking approximately 92 hours.
I remember fighting the rain and trying to focus on the road.
I remember thinking, when is this kid going to stop talking about chocolate cake?
Now, on his 26th birthday, I treasure the moment, the memory and my bonus son.
That ride was so very him. And so very us.
There is an us. Step father and step son. Bonus father and bonus son.
Happy birthday!
I love you.
And chocolate cake (though a little less than I did before that fateful trip…)
Later this year, on July 14, 2023, Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One will finally hit theaters worldwide.
Perhaps you have heard something about that?
This seventh film in Tom Cruise’s very successful Mission: Impossible franchise will mark almost 30 years for Cruise playing Ethan Hunt, a role he originated in 1996.
I am embarking on a rewatch of each Mission: Impossible movie (something I last did over 10 years ago) – one a month – until Dead Reckoning Part One opens this summer. If you are interested in a refresher in what came before because you don’t remember the earlier films (or you have not seen them), you have come to the right place.
Spoilers abound below. Be warned.
This message will not self destruct…
What happened in this movie?
Tom Cruise is back as Ethan Hunt. The movie starts with him on vacation (there is some odd resonance with Star Trek V: The Final Frontier and Captain Kirk’s very, very similar [if less well budgeted] free climb)... until he’s found by the IMF and tasked with a mission.
The movie feels a bit like a Goldeneye retread as Hunt has to deal with an IMF agent who has gone rogue.
There are significant identity confusions and red herrings throughout the proceedings as the movie has fun with the idea of the masks the IMF use to disguise themselves. There’s a lot of good turnabout here.
Searching for both a deadly virus and its cure, Hunt assembles another IMF team including (as was a staple of the old series) someone who is not an IMF agent – a woman named Naya played by wonderfully by Thandie Newton.
With Naya’s assistance, Hunt is able to destroy the virus and the cure, thus saving the day.
Was it any good?
Mission: Impossible 2 features some amazing and over-the-top set pieces beginning with a fairly epic plane heist and ending with a truly remarkable motorcycle chase that concludes with a martial arts display that really showcases Cruise doing his own stunt work. Unfortunately, the script is not quite on par with the action. The main antagonist is such a mustache twirling cliche that it is hard to work up any real fear of him. Ving Rhames is back as Luther Stickell and he is cool fun. Thandie Newton is excellent and Cruise is great.
However, it is worth noting, this is a very brutal movie. The violence is borderline sadistic. Additionally, the attitudes towards women are more than cringeworthy, they are offensive.
If you’re going to skip a Mission, skip this one.
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 2 receives TWO AND A HALF SLOW MOTION DOVES out of a possible five.
What do I need to know?
Tom Cruise snared John Woo to direct this installment. Woo’s signature style is very much in evidence, but that’s, perhaps, not a good thing.
Apparently, the script was written to incorporate action sequences Woo wanted to feature. It shows.
Dougray Scott, who plays antagonist Sean Ambrose, missed out on his chance at real fame when he had to pull out of X-Men when shooting on this film ran long. He had been cast as Wolverine and lost the role. How did that work out for Hugh Jackman?
Anthony Hopkins becomes the first person to speak the actual words “mission impossible” in the history of the television and film franchise when he says “it’s not ‘mission: difficult,’ Mr. Hunt, it’s ‘mission: impossible.'”
Ian McKellen was slated for the role Hopkins played. According to him, had it taken it, he, too, would have missed X-Men and The Lord of the Rings trilogy given the delays on the film.
Who was in charge of the IMF?
Anthony Hopkins is the unnamed director of the IMF in Mission: Impossible II.
Marvel Studios put a awful lot on the shoulders of their smallest hero in Ant-Man and the Wasp | Quantumania. This movie is tasked with fleshing out the main antagonist of the entire next “phase” of Marvel films while also, presumably, giving audiences some flavor of the previous two Ant-Man solo adventures. The result is a pleasant – if muddled – dive into the so-called Quantum Realm that succeeds in rolling out the carpet for Kang (Johnathan Majors), another purple-clad Marvel menace, while also reminding the audience of the fun of the smaller Ant-Man movies, perhaps to its own detriment.
The Quantum Realm chapters of the film are grand and loud, brightly colored and realized set pieces that set the stakes very high for the found family Scott Lang/Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) is trying to protect. That found family is comprised of his daughter Cassie (Kathryn Newton), his girlfriend Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lily) who is also The Wasp and her parents Hank Pym and Janet van Dyne (Michael Douglas and Michelle Pfeiffer), many of whom have secrets they are protecting. Forced into the Quantum Realm by accident (is there any other way?), the Lang-gang are separated and begin the search for one another while simultaneously discovering that all is not what it seems in this tiny world.
The design is wonderful and fun and the encounters here are enjoyable if rarely mind-blowing. But the bookends of the real world in which the audiences sees a newly minted celebrity Scott Lang negotiating his new life are so in keeping with the spirit of the first two movies and so entertaining, that I found myself wanting for them. Then I found myself wondering why this introduction to Kang (this is not the same Kang from the Disney+ series Loki) had to take place in the Quantum Realm, why did it have to be an Ant-Man adventure? This is not the type of question I like to be asking in a film and it took me out of the picture a bit. Never fear, I was able to get back into it before the rousing finale.
THE CAST
Paul Rudd is perfect as Ant-Man and has been since his initial appearance in Ant-Man. A welcome and grounded presence among the superpowered gods of the Avengers, Rudd’s performance has always been spot on and he remains, in this film, the eyes of the audience seeing things around him that are impossible to fully believe. Michelle Pfeiffer is full of secrets in a powerful performance as Janet van Dyne, the original Wasp. In all honesty, the movie revolves more around her character’s actions than the titular pair of characters and Evangeline Lily, while perfectly good in the film, is actually given very little to do. Michael Douglas again fills the bemused elder stateman role that Marvel seems to be so good at providing and he looks good doing it. Kathryn Newton is fun and engaging as Cassie Lang and gets a moment or two to shine. She handles them well.
The real story here is Johnathan Majors. He is simply magnetic in every scene he is in and illustrates very quickly why his villain (he is a villain, right?) is a worthy successor to Josh Brolin’s Thanos. Each line delivery, each choice, each action is so well drawn and he feels immediately at home in this, let us be honest, ridiculous Marvel Cinematic Universe. One can see something of where his Kang is going and it is nowhere good for humanity.
(There are a couple of cameos that are a lot of fun that I will not spoil here… but both worked for me.)
THE VERDICTAnt-Man and the Wasp | Quantumania is an entertaining, middle-of-the-road Marvel movie. For fans of the overall epic, it is required viewing. For those who love the caper-flavor of the first two films, disappointment awaits. For those who drop in for the biggest Marvel events, I have no doubt that Kang’s next appearances will make sense without a viewing of Ant-Man and the Wasp | Quantumania. Perhaps that is my biggest disappointment here: I like Ant-Man and the Wasp and Rudd and Lily in the roles. I like the world they had been inhabiting. This film seemed to take them and shoehorn them into another world – an important one for the Marvel saga, but not the one for which I was hoping.
ANT-MAN AND THE WASP | QUANTUMANIA receives THREE M.O.D.O.Ks out of a possible FIVE
Later this year, on July 14, 2023, Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One will finally hit theaters worldwide.
Perhaps you have heard something about that?
This seventh film in Tom Cruise’s very successful Mission: Impossible franchise will mark almost 30 years for Cruise playing Ethan Hunt, a role he originated in 1996.
I am embarking on a rewatch of each Mission: Impossible movie (something I last did over 10 years ago) – one a month – until Dead Reckoning Part One opens this summer. If you are interested in a refresher in what came before because you don’t remember the earlier films (or you have not seen them), you have come to the right place.
Spoilers abound below. Be warned.
This message will not self destruct…
What happened in this movie?
Tom Cruise plays young Impossible Missions Force (IMF) agent Ethan Hunt.
The movie, criticized for its convoluted plot, tells the story of a mission Cruise’s team embarks on that ends in the death of the entire squad except for Hunt, another operative named Claire and… someone else.
Hunt is blamed for the disastrous mission, condemned as a mole in the IMF and has to go on the run.
In order to smoke out the real mole, Hunt decides he must steal what the mole was after: a list of all covert operatives world-wide.
He does so, uncovers the real bad guy – his mentor Jim Phelps (Phelps’ wife, Claire, is also part of the plot) who also didn’t die during the disastrous mission – and protects the list of covert operatives.
Having saved the day, Hunt decides to quit the IMF – but the last scene of the movie suggests he might accept another mission.
Was it any good?
Mission: Impossible is a good movie. The action set pieces, especially the break in to CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, are terrific. Tom Cruise still looks very boyish in 1996, but he carries the film nicely. The supporting cast, from Jon Voight as Jim Phelps to Vanessa Redgrave as the enigmatic Max, are very good. Though some have said the plot is too complicated to follow, it’s actually relatively straightforward and fun. It is also very much a Brian DePalma film, with all of his visual styles and directing choices on full display from elaborating constructed sets (the cutaway elevator shaft, setting of the first N.O.C List theft is excellent), the use of odd angles and the copious amounts of blood (when he has the chance to use it) are all on full display.
What do I need to know?
Tom Cruise, who produced the movie, wanted any potential sequels to be directed by people with distinct visual styles following the choice of Brian DePalma, who directed here.
Emilio Estevez, who was something of a star at the time, was killed early in the film to suggest that stakes were very high. It was thought his death would shock audiences.
Many of the people involved with the Mission: Impossible television series didn’t like the story, were upset that Jim Phelps was shown to be a traitor and refused roles in the movie, including Peter Graves himself who had played Jim Phelps on television.
The movie introduces Luther Stickell as played by Ving Rhames. Along with Tom Cruise, he is the only actor appear in all the Mission: Impossible movies.
U2 arranged a cover of the famous Mission: Impossible theme that went to Number 10 on Billboard’s Top 200 Chart in 1996.
Who was in charge of the IMF?
The idea of having a big name actor in charge of the IMF really begins in Mission: Impossible II. However, the casting of Vanessa Redgrave in something of a cameo role here may have helped inspire that concept. Character actor Henry Czerny is the leader of the IMF here. He shows up in the previews for Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One, by-the-way…
Today is my father’s birthday and, as I have noted before, while he is not still with us in life, he is always going to be with us. A few years ago I said I choose to think of Dad as being “away” and that remains the way I consider him.
He is simply away, but never too far.
It has been a few years since I shared a series of photos of my father and I thought I would do so again today!
A Picture in the Sand by Peter Blauner might be the very first book I have ever read based solely on the recommendation on the book’s cover. I follow Stephen King on Twitter and he tweeted about A Picture in the Sand, essentially saying the same thing that is printed on the cover the novel.
High praise, indeed.
I like King. I like movies. I did not know much about The Ten Commandments and I did not know much about the history of Egypt and I was very intrigued by the idea of a multigenerational saga that could tie all of these elements together while also providing reflection on the state of terrorism in the world today.
This is a lot to expect a book to accomplish.
A Picture in the Sand does much of what it sets out to do. Blauner selects an effective device – that of a grandfather relating his life story to his grandson – but knows which side of the bread should be buttered. The story of Ali Hassan, the grandfather, is the far more compelling one and receives the most attention. Narrating his story in the first person, Ali name drops Cecil B. DeMille, Charlton Heston, Mohamed Naguib and Gamal Abdel Nasser while interweaving the story of the on location filming of The Ten Commandments and the 1952 Egyptian Revolution. He also paints for his grandson a picture of a young man coming to terms with expectations – those of his family and those he holds for himself – while learning that the world does not always wait for us to figure out our place in it.
As a brief overview of the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, the book taught me far more than I learned in high school, an indictment of my education, I am afraid. As a history of The Ten Commandments, it let me down. As the story of a grandfather reaching across many divides to his grandson, it was more than adequate.
I expected a bit more from A Picture in the Sand given the praise it had received but, upon completing it, I have found it has stayed with me. Blauner’s prose is engaging and his characters are well drawn. While I found their motivations often a bit confusing and the plot elements sometimes a bit too coincidental for my tastes, I enjoyed the book overall.
24 years ago today, Sous Chef was born and each-and-every year with her has been a blessing.
I cannot precisely tell when the line of demarcation is between your children being children and your children becoming your friends, but the Sous Chef and I have surely passed that. In any list of best friends I would compile, she would be in the top five, without question. Strong, funny, resilient, compassionate and accomplished, she is my favorite person to play a game with and to laugh with about inside jokes. She is my favorite daughter. And, for the next 364 days, she is my favorite 24-year-old in the world.
Happy birthday to you, Sous Chef. I hope and pray for an incredible year ahead!
What is the statute of limitations on secrets one held with his father?
These secrets, I am sure they were not mine alone. I have little doubt that my two sisters have similar secrets that they may not have told my mother or, for that matter, each other.
“Don’t tell Mommy,” Dad would say as he handed me a couple hundred dollars.
I remember these moments happening fairly frequently when I was growing up, when I was in the early stages of my adulthood, when I was a young father. Again, I am certain this scene played out with my sisters, too.
Dad would come by cash now and again for his work running jobs for folks on the printing press (no Kinko’s in the day, friends!) or in his work for the Church and would know that we needed it. And he would give it to us.
“Don’t tell Mommy.”
Dad did not have a lot of money growing up. Frankly, as he had devoted his life to the Catholic Church for his vocation, he did not have a lot of money as an adult. We lived comfortably, to be sure, and I never remember wanting for a thing.
But, when he came by money, he gave it away.
He gave it to his children.
I know me and I know my sisters. This is another lesson learned, Dad.
Even after you have been gone 11 years, the lessons keep on coming – thank God.
I miss you, Dad. I love you.
And I thank you.
“Don’t tell Mommy.”
I have a sneaking suspicion that Mom knew all about these moments. I do not think Dad could hide much from her… I know I never could.
Dad putting a plate on the press to print the Sunday bulletin for our parish.
THE FILM 
And There Came a Day... 