It's Only 40 Right ?!

Rocking those sweaters in the early 90's

Today's post is a brief nod to my awesome older brother Jeremy!

For him, this year's birthday is atop a hill of sorts.  Technically, most say it is the birthday that puts him over the hill (or OTH), but he's still as young as ever in my book.

Jeremy and I have plenty of memories of times together in our youth, teens, twenties, and thirties.  If I was better prepared, I'd have collected pictures to share from each of those decades ... but instead you get just a few pictures of Jeremy (and I ... and our other siblings too) from our high school days. 

Thanks for letting Charlie and I tag along
for your Senior Prom.  And thanks for
setting us up with our dates too!  :)

Jeremy, just for you, here is a short list of some memories I hope you will think fondly of:

Star Wars figurines, black and white movies, connecting basement bedrooms, bunk beds and tree-climbing (never again), throwing ice into the hotel pool (why did you answer the door?!), early morning seminary, the Babemobile, Senior Prom (for you), the Yellow house, the Brick house, playing cards in the hall at school (Card Club!), sword fights with anything we could find (pool noodles, those long leaves at the Orem house, etc.), MST3K (and later RiffTrax - let's go again soon, my treat!), rat tails, long hair, short hair, beards, bowling, staying up late watching satellite tv, old Nickelodeon shows (Out of Control, YCDTOn Television, Pinwheel - Stanley Sandwiches), board games (especially Sequence back in the early 2000's), Friends Scene It, and "why don't you move into our apartment?"

Thanks for supporting me before,
during, and after my mission!

Thanks for always going first in this life!  There are so many other memories that I can't wait to recall as we get the opportunity to reflect over the next 40 years.  I will always look up to you, even if I'll also always be taller.

Song Of The Day:

It has nothing to do with an OTH birthday.  But the song "Buffalo Stance" by Neneh Cherry is a nice Throwback Thursday song that will always remind me of Jeremy and times we spent together as teenagers.  I'll let you ask him for any more details, but I know he'll enjoy this blast from the (relative) past.  :)

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So Is It A Comedy ?

This past Thursday, my older brother Jeremy treated me to a special movie event.
The movie being shown was Starship Troopers ... but this was NOT an original or honorary showing of that film.
Instead it was a merciless mocking of this hollywood blockbuster flop from the genius minds of the Rifftrax crew.

The title question of today's post was overheard as my brother and I sat in the theater anxiously awaiting the fun poking barbs of the Rifftrax crew.  We chuckled to each other when we heard someone ask that question, probably thinking "Rookies!" and acting all smug.  You see, this is the second of what will be MANY movie events Jeremy and I will attend, because we love the mocking of mediocre (or very poor) movies.

You can look up all about Rifftrax at THIS link.  But if you remember a popular TV series titled Mystery Science Theater 3000, then you already know how the movies are ridiculed.  And you also know the level of wit and hilarity you can expect, even in a live event (which these showings are).

My favorite line from this mockery: "You're going to be the worst Bond girl ever.  Seriously!  They're going to call you Christmas Jones!"


Song Of The Day:
In honor of the title movie from this version of Rifftrax, I have selected my favorite song from the 80's group Starship (who actually had several different names).  "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" works for the song today too because these Rifftrax showings keep drawing larger audiences, which is great if you love these kinds of comedic events.

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Remember Pen Pals ?

I remember having a 'Pen Pal' back in the 3rd or 4th grade.  I do not remember much about the experience, but a few things stand out.
 - It was cool to get a letter from your pen pal
 - It was enjoyable to learn how you were similar to your pen pal
 - It was interesting to learn about someone else's life
 - Most of the time, it was fun to write these letters ... even if you hated writing



I am sure Jeremy will never
forgive me for using this picture
from our Disneyland trip in 2008.

Without any intention to do so, I have become "Pen Pals" with a good friend of mine, whom I have not seen but once in the last 10 years or so.
I got to know him through church because our wives were friends and we sorta started hanging out as small families (we each had just 1-2 kids at that time).  His job took him to AZ and then recently to TX, but we have kept in contact through email all this time.

We sometimes go several months without having time to write one another back.  We haven't "hung out" in a long time.  Our families have grown quite a bit (7 and 4 kids, respectively) and perhaps our stomachs too.  :(  But we are still connected and each email is just like a compilation of conversations we would have had if we still saw each other more often.

Through it all, the same things I remember about my grade school pen pal experience are still true now.  It's great to hear from him, no matter how long it's been.  We still share so many similarities and it is fun to hear how things are going for him and his family.  And I always love writing him back, especially because he doesn't care about punctuation or rambling sentences and thoughts or even when I randomly jump from one subject to the next.  Thanks for being my pen pal Jeremy!

Song Of The Day:
One of my recent favorite songs is "Heaven's Highest Hill" by Blue Jupiter.  The song is actually about a husband/father who is grieving the loss of his wife.  But the bigger message of 'love don't stop' is why I'm using it in this post.  I look forward (in no hurry though) to the day when I'll be surrounded by loved ones in heaven, enjoying each other's company and what I'm sure will be some amazing views!

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What Are The Odds ?

Some people are just board game playing kinds of people.  That very much describes my wife and I (and most of our truly good friends).  Of the millions of ways you can spend time as a couple or in small groups, playing a board game is one of the best.

A few months ago we came into possession of a Clue: Master Detective board game, which we found out later is out of print.  This makes it a rarity in and of itself, but what makes it more special is that my wife loves this game!  I did not know this, so when I picked it up from my parents (who were just clearing some things they haven't used in years) I had no idea that it would make my wife so happy to have.

So after sitting on our game shelf for a while, we finally pulled the game down to play it (when our friends - Aaron and Britney - stayed with us for a few nights).  We must have played about 10-12 rounds of the game over two evenings and here is the really weird thing ... in EVERY single game we played, the eventual "murderer" was either Aaron's character piece or mine.

For a little context, in Master Detective there are 10 different possible murder suspects.  So there was only a 40% chance in any ONE game that the murderer would be one of our 4 characters ... but it was Aaron or I every single time!

What is even weirder is that we played the game another 3-4 times with some other combinations of people (Jeremy, Jordan and Erin, just Aaron and Karen and I) ... and only ONCE was the murderer NOT one of our characters' playing pieces.  That makes about 14 of 15 times which is statistically almost impossible (50%, 40%, or 30% chance in just one game ... but over all these games it is just unexplainable).

Song Of The Day:
I'm as big a Phil Collins fan as Karen is a Clue Master Detective fan.  His song "Against All Odds" is a great tune and perfectly fits with this blog post subject.  Some of the lines in the song are eerily fitting "you're the only one who really knew me at all" and "there's nothing left here to remind me, just the memory of your face" are two quick examples.

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What Is Going On In This Movie ?

The other night, Karen and I watched the most recent in the Bourne movies: The Bourne Legacy.  I did enjoy the movie, overall, but we were quite literally an hour into the movie before I had any real idea what was going on.  That, I did NOT like.

My brother Jeremy is (and always has been for as long as I can remember) a movie critic.  But not in a bad way.  I mean it in the way that he can usually predict whether or not someone will like a movie.  He is aware of plot themes and cinematography decisions that enhance (or in some cases detract from) an overall film's value.  He has developed a good taste for truly impressive movies, as well as a refined affinity toward the true classics.

I am not nearly that devoted to complex analysis of my movies.

I like my movies to be relatively predictable.  I like to know the basics of the plot from the very start.  I am not bothered by long action sequences that are filled with explosions and clearly absent from the laws of physics.  I'm actually a fan of cheesy romantic comedies where the guy gets the girl or vice versa.  I generally DO NOT like movies that require a 2nd or 3rd viewing to "appreciate" them.  Ain't nobody got time for that!**  :)

**If you don't know the Sweet Brown Meme then you need to educate yourself.  Super funny!

Song Of The Day:
Being that it is Sunday (at the time of writing this blog post anyway), I often listen to more instrumental, classical, or spiritual music.  But some Sundays I need a little more bounce in the music to really make the day.  That's why I like Marc Antoine's guitar melodies.  They almost all have some peppiness.  One of my favorites of his is "Latin Quarter" it always makes me want to learn how to play the guitar ... just so I can jam to this song.

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What's Up My Brother ?!

The CASE Brothers
L-R ... Josh, Jeremy (oldest), & Jordan (youngest)

I have two awesome brothers from my family of origin.  And then several brothers-in-law, brothers in the church, and also a few "bros" of choice.  I honestly love them all and enjoy the time I get to spend with each of them in a variety of activities.

In the past few days, I've had the great opportunity to spend a lot more time with my older brother Jeremy.  Despite his stature being shorter than mine, I still look up to him in many ways.  He is a much better brother and uncle than I could ever hope to be.  He has such patience and love for my siblings and my own children.

A few nights ago he treated me to an evening at the movies for a special RiffTrax event (which is basically MST3K as a live broadcast show across theaters throughout the nation).  The movie was so bad that the riffers didn't even have to say much to have us in stitches.  It.  Was.  Awesome!  And even better because we had each other to share the humor with.

Then this evening, Jeremy enjoyed my family's annual "Groundhog Day" movie tradition with us (as well as dinner before and a game of Dominion afterward).  It was a very fun evening and I'm so glad he was willing to hang out with us old married folks!  :)

Song Of The Day:
There are several songs about brothers, family, love, admiration, etc. but for tonight I'm just picking a favorite tune that happens to be titled "Brother"  It is by Toad the Wet Sprocket and was on the soundtrack to "So I Married An Axe Murderer."  I always think of my older brother Jeremy when I hear the song because we both enjoyed the humor in that movie and the song is pretty good too.

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