The holidays gave me a lot of good family time in my old home state of California. I spent the most amount of time with my daughter, three grandsons and son-in-law that I have gotten in recent past Christmas's. As usual I stayed with my sister Norma and her husband Scott and had again a great reception and cordial visit. Their hospitality and kindness to me is unmeasurable.
Norma & Scott Nash
The weather in southern Cal was rather cool and down right chilly at night. We had a bit of rain a couple of days but no where near as bad as a couple of years ago when the whole time I was there we experienced a deluge. Christmas Day was sunny and clear with both my sisters, Norma and Marlena, her daughter, my niece, Ashley Louise, bro-in-law Scott and my brother Russell all in attendance for Christmas Dinner. With Russell in the area there is no lack of mirth. Later, in the early evening I visited daughter Tania and her family. Only difficult thing is not seeing my other daughter Natasha and her husband Jason around the holidays. However, Skype helps a lot.
Brother Russell & Me
All-in-all it was a great holiday. One striking thing was the amount of growth in my middle grandson (13) Cole since last I saw him in September. He has grown at least 5 inches and is as tall as his 16 year old brother Zac, the firstborn. They are all growing fast and are great young men.
Cole & his pet pineapple with Torin & Zac
I know this blog does not have much in the way of curmudgeonlyness ( a word I think I just made up) but it is a new year and you can expect quite a bit of grumpiness yet to come in future blogs.
Now to the important part, my top films as seen by me in theaters for 2012. I must make a note here that one of these films was seen yesterday but was in limited release in December. In the past these have not made it in but I am making an exception here since I endeavored to go see what turned out to be my top film in the first week of January, so am giving it a waiver to be included.
1. Zero Dark Thirty, it also wins my best director, Kathryn Bigalow, best actress, Jessica Chastain, and best screenplay.
2. Lincoln, winning my best actor, Daniel Day Lewis
3. Argo, runner-up best director, Ben Afflek, best supporting actor, Alan Arkin
4. Django Unchained
5. Silver Linings Playbook, runner-up best actress, Jennifer Lawerence, runner-up best sup. actor Robert Deniro
6. End of Watch
7. Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, runner - up best supporting actress' Judi Dench and Maggie Smith
8. Salmon Fishing in the Yemen
9. Skyfall
10. Perks of Being a Wallflower
Honorable mention: Looper, Moonrise Kingdom, Bourne Legacy, 7 Psychopaths, Amazing Spiderman, & Arbitrage. I viewed 65 films this year in theaters.
In addition I did not pick a supporting actress in my top films because she was in a movie I hated, Le Miserables. As a general rule I do not like musicals, but have enjoyed some in the past, i.e., Hair (not the movie the stage play), and Chicago was OK as were a few others. But, I have to recognize the acting in this film Le Miz as they call it. It was excellent for the whole cast, especially that of Anne Hathaway, my best supporting actress of the year 2012.
Thats it for now from very chilly downtown Flagstaff. Again I wish you all a Happy New Year!
Cheers!
