Noirvember 2021

 

In November, our house celebrates Noirvember, a celebration of the greatest film genre, film noir.  Film noir refers to the stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and motivations.  It's the genre that provides us the smooth talking detectives, the hard as nails femme fatales that get them in trouble, and the criminals we love to hate.

It's my favorite genre of film and of literature.  I've spent the last couple of years reading through the works of Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, and James M. Cain.  I've poured over the film careers of Humphrey Bogart, Robert Mitchum, Dick Powell, and Richard Widmark.

To me, film noir is best served in black and white, as only that setting can provide the dark enough shadows to make it so perfectly captured.  This puts the best films in the 1940s and 1950s, which unsurprisingly, is the era I have logged the most film viewings in my Letterbox app.

This year, we've seen quite a few film noir new discoveries, some of which have quickly jumped to the top of my favorites list.   We have a few more to go, so I reserve the right to update this list, but I've included a few of my favorites below in case anyone needs any recommendations.  The first four films on this list are also on my top 10 favorite films of all time.

• The Thin Man - Endlessly quotable.  Nick and Nora Charles are definitely couple goals, minus the alcoholism.  Comedy with a touch of noir.  The movie that defined gathering all the suspects in a room to identify the culprit.  I love the book and I love this movie.
• Maltese Falcon - Noir at its finest.  A wonderful collection of character actors.  Bogart, Lorre, Greenstreet, Astor.  Truly the stuff that dreams are made of.
• Who Framed Roger Rabbit? - I saw this at just the right time and it blew my mind.  All those characters together at once.  Interacting in inventive and appropriate fashions.  A touch of noir, and a lot of cartoon greatness.  Still technically impressive.
• Se7en - Again one that hit at the perfect time.  Great performances by Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, and Kevin Spacey.  The seven deadly sins motif.  It led me to following directors, particularly Fincher.  Neo noir with an incredible hook.
• The Third Man - Has the coolest shot of any in film ever made with Orson Welles' introduction.  The zither soundtrack, a great speech about German innovation versus Swiss innovation.  One of the best films of all time.
• In a Lonely Place - Perhaps Humphrey Bogart's greatest performance (as well as Gloria Grahame's).  The best trick that it plays is that you truly do not know what to believe until the very end.  Heartbreaking and wonderful.
• Sunset Boulevard - If it's not evident with Who Framed Roger Rabbit? and In a Lonely Place, some of my favorite noir films take place in Hollywood.  This is no exception.  An incredibly memorable opening where you start with the dead body and he explains how he got there.  Probably the best film about Hollywood ever made.
• Nightmare Alley -  A new discovery this year.  Tyrone Power's darkest role as a con man who reaches the top and falls to the bottom.  Haunting and deeply moving.  
• Out of the Past - Quintessential Mitchum, who along with Bogart, was made for noir.  Kirk Douglas, in only his second role, plays the heavy well.  Perfectly lit by director Jacques Tourneur and his cameraman Nicholas Musuraca.
• Mildred Pierce - James M. Cain's seminal noir brought to the screen, with a tour de force performance by Joan Crawford, as the mother who will do anything to provide her daughter a better life.  It goes wrong as only noir can.  A true classic.

And a bonus recommendation

• Woman on the Run - A great B noir, that keeps you off balance for the entire film.  Ann Sheridan provides a superb performance as a harried wife, seemingly unconcerned by the danger her husband is in as a witness to the central crime.  The film follows her journey to find her husband and avoid the police at the same time.

One day, I will get to go to Noir City, the annual noir film festival.  Until then, I'll settle for Noir Alley on TCM and our Noirvember celebration.  Lost in the shadows, and enjoying every minute of it.

Going Home

Going home, going home

I am going home

Quiet like, some still day,

I'm just going home

It's not far, just close by

Through an open door

Work all done, care laid by

Going to fear no more

Mother's there, expecting me

Father's waiting too

Lots of folks gathered there

All the friends I knew

Nothing's lost, all is gain

No more fret nor pain

No more stumbling on the way

No more longing for the day

Going to roam no more

Morning star lights the way

Restless dream all done

Shadows gone, break of day

Real life just begun

There's no break, there's no end

I'll be living on.

Wide awake with a smile

Going on and on

Going home, going home

I am going home

It's not far, just close by,

Through an open door.

I'll be going home

I'll be going home

Lord I'm going home.

(Antonin Leopold Dvorak, music 1893; William Arms Fisher, lyrics 1922)

Thomas T Brooks

I've often thought there are two types of people in this world, and you can tell them by the way they respond to one particular situation.  When faced with a shortage of room at the table, there are those that build bigger fences and keep their table small, and there are those that build bigger tables.  Those with a mantra of "the more the merrier."  That are always welcoming, always inviting.

Always inclusive.

It's my goal to be the latter.  To be inclusive.  To be welcoming.  To make people feel it.

And I learned that especially from Thomas T Brooks.  PawPaw Brooks.

His circle of friends was ever expanding.  Ever changing and growing for the better.  If he met you and talked to you, you were in.  If he visited your church, you were invited to the fish fry.  

Those are the great memories.  The reunions.  The large gatherings of family and friends.  The fish frys.  The turkey frys.  Mexican Train.  Hand 'n foot.  Washers. Horseshoes.  Fishing.  Traveling in the RV.

Always on the go.  Always meeting new people, making new friends.  

And he didn't really slow down much, even right up here to the end.  Still driving into his mid-90s.  42 at the church.  Breakfast here.  Dinner there.

His personality is going to be missed, for sure.  His warmth, his welcoming.  His stories.  I know he's having a great reunion now.  Granny Brooks.  Zach.  His brothers and his family.  All those friends and neighbors that have gone on before.  What a fish fry they are having.

He leaves big shoes for the rest of us in the family to fill.  I pray we can be as warm and inviting.  As inclusive. And as celebratory of life.  

It's hard in this time when gatherings are limited, when travel is difficult.  Just being so far away.  I look forward to when we can have a great, big fish fry in memorial.  

I can't think of a better way to honor him.

Rest in Peace, PawPaw Brooks.  You've earned it.

Our Family Mission Statement

For the past couple of months, we've started having a "regular" family meeting.  I say "regular" because the time and place have moved around a bit, veering from our plan of a scheduled, repeating event, but one thing we are definitely learning in this season is flexibility.  For a lot of our meetings, we've been having them on the road.  It's been a good place to have the entire family together, and provides a lot of good time to talk.

We've assigned everyone roles and have just been looking to have regular check-ins with everyone.  A lot like you would have in a business.  But a lot more chaotic (or maybe not) with a two year old and a five year old.  We're still learning the ropes and we know they will level off as the kids get older, but there has been many good things that have come from them.

One of the first things we tackled is a family mission statement.  Again, a lot like you would develop for any other organization, but a question that is not often contemplated in the family setting.  I think we even do better in this area as individuals than we do as families.  Truly sitting down to figure out the purpose of our individual family.  What was our family put together to accomplish?  What is the good that only we can do in the world?

It's a bit harder than you think.  It's easy to come up with the answers that apply generally to the family, the purpose for family.  But to drill down to your specific family and give it reason, give it purpose is challenging.

I think we've come up with a good one for us.  The goal will be to get this on a plaque to hang close to the door, so all that enter our home know what we strive for.

"To all who come to this happy home, welcome.  It is our hope that while you are in this house, you are one of us.  And in this house, we are lifelong disciples of Christ. We seek adventure, not tourism.  We build bigger tables, not higher fences.  We love our neighbors.  We build up, not tear down; we are creators, not consumers.  Here, education is a journey, not a destination, and time is not a guaranteed allotment.  We spend it wisely, knowing the best way to spend it is together." 

The verbiage is still being worked on, but the sentiment, the values are all there.

It's what we hope and strive for.  It's what we'll fight for.  And hopefully, what we'll be known for.

If I was to ask you a similar question, what is your family's purpose?  Your mission statement?

ROAD TRIP!

On our first day as nomads, we're off on a road trip.  We're heading out with Jamie's family to end up in Pendleton, Kentucky.

Through this trip, we'll be spending time in Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana.  We'll see new states and places we haven't been to.  We'll get to catch up with friends who have recently moved.  We'll have new adventures.

The trip will definitely end up as a Travelers' Report soon.  But wanted to let you know we're heading out, so that you can expect a little more relaxed posting pace.  I'm hoping to keep at it regularly and have some banked, but may not be as fastidious at it as I would typically be.

Keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we travel.  We've got four kids seven and under, so it's going to get really interesting, really fast.

But it should be a whole lot of fun.  And that is a welcome treat right now.

Bon Voyage!

The Importance of Dates

This past weekend was a reminder of the importance of dates.  Of the importance of spending time one-on-one with the people you care about.

Jamie and I make it a point to have at least one date night a month.  We'd love for it to be at least one night a week.  On the once a month schedule, it's usually a Friday night/most of the day Saturday where we just have a little time to ourselves.  The kids enjoying time with their grandparents and cousins.  And us getting to relax.  Getting to go out and watch a show.  Getting to stay in and watch something they can't see yet.  Going to eat somewhere they would turn their nose up to.  Keeping that honeymoon period alive.

This weekend, we got to watch BlacKkKlansman (which totally should have won Best Picture).  We got to have two great meals.  Brunch at Oscar Delta and our favorite local Italian at Napolis.  We got dressed up and went to see Anastasia at the Music Hall at Fair Park.

But most importantly, we got to spend time together.  To get to talk, without interruption.  To just relax and be present together.  It's much a much needed recharging, preparing us for all that's ahead.

Almost equally as important, I got to have a Daddy-Daughter Date with Avalyn Sunday afternoon.  We've had a handful of movie outings just the two of us, but most of our previous dates have been breakfasts.  When I'm not on the Sunday schedule for all three services, I would take Avalyn to breakfast while Jamie worked the first service and then we'd both attend the second.

This Sunday, though, Avalyn and I both got dressed up to go see Disney's The Little Mermaid at the Dallas Symphony Orchestra.  The Symphony played the score while the movie was shown on a large screen above them.  Jamie and I have seen Psycho and The Lord of The Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring this way, as well as several Looney Tunes shorts and Fantasia segments.

It was just an afternoon to invest in her.  She got to pick what music we listened to in the car (Mary Poppins Returns on the way, the original Mary Poppins on the way back).  She picked where we ate - Braums for both lunch before and an ice cream treat after the show.  She got to choose to walk to Klyde Warren Park after the show at the Meyerson to try to find the playground.

It was very clear that I was not the only dad who had the same idea at the show.  Several daddy-daughter dates, as well as mommy-daughter, mother-son, and full family outings.  And it was the perfect outing.  Something she's interested in.  Something that exposes her to something different, something more than she has seen.  To get to teach her about the symphony, to let her know I used to work for one, and especially for her to see a female conductor, to be able to see that as a possibility.

Both dates were absolutely worth it and I would not trade a minute of either of them.

But, both dates were also hard.

This is the crazy season for us, with Jamie rehearsing into the night getting ready for competition in a couple of weeks.  Work is ramping up and requiring a few more later stays in the office.  It's tough to even schedule a date night now.  We were all exhausted this past weekend and could have easily spent the days lounging around and just trying to catch up on rest and sleep.

I'm glad we didn't.  I'm glad to have those moments together with my wife and with my daughter.

I'm a firm believer that our most precious resource is time.  It's the one worth fighting for the most.  It's what motivates me.  I'm not motivated by more money or more things unless they afford me more time.   If you want to incentivize me, offer me more time with my family.  With friends.  More time to invest in those I've been blessed with and chosen to be around.

Time is one of the few resources we can never accumulate.  It's always running away from us.  So spend it and take it wisely.

Jamie and I didn't get our show selfie, but Avalyn and I did, so I'm thought I would close by including it here.

To many, many, many more dates, date-nights, daddy-daughter dates, and father-son outings.

Top Ten Things I'm Thankful For #2 - A wonderful family surrounding me

"The only people who truly know your story are the ones who help you write it."

For the second thing that I am most thankful for in all of the world, I think of the wonderful people that surround me.  That I call family.

I'm eternally grateful for my wonderful wife.  For my best friend, for my confidant, for my equal and match.  She is my helper and I am hers.  She is my patron and I am hers.  I am ever thankful for the decade we have been together and am hopeful for many more to come.  To the ends of the earth...

I'm exceedingly thankful for my two crazy and charming children.  For my daughter who made me a father and showed what a wonderful experience that would be.  For her amazing mind and personality that continue to surprise us.  For my son who shows us how to explore the world.  Who's sweet smile can brighten up the darkest of days.  I'm so thankful for learning that love is the one resource we have that cannot be depleted.  It is never divided, only multiplied.

I'm extremely thankful for the family that I was born into.  I'm thankful to have been blessed with parents that nurtured their children's dreams and equipped them to run toward them head long.  For parents that loved the unique qualities that made each of us different and who challenged us to be our best selves.  I'm thankful for a sister who was my closest friend and near twin growing up.  For a traveling partner.  And I'm thankful for a brother to share a room with, an apartment with, and a variety of interests and hobbies with.  For someone to share comics with.  I'm grateful to have known my grandparents, all five of them, to still have two with us, and to have briefly know two great grandparents.  I'm thankful for aunts, uncles, and cousins, all of whom left an indelible mark on my life.

I'm especially thankful for the family that I've married into.  I'm grateful for two in-laws that have welcomed me into the family as if I was always one of their own.  I'm grateful for new brothers and sisters to share movies, food, and life with.  I'm grateful for a new extended family, it's warmth, and it's wealth of knowledge and experiences.

I'm equally grateful for the family I've chosen.  For friends throughout my lifetime that have made this life enjoyable.  For memories that will last a lifetime and for new experiences yet to come.  Even if I haven't seen you in a while, I'm still thinking of you and looking forward to catching up.

There's a quote that I love - "when you have more than you need build a bigger table, not a higher fence."  My cup runneth over from blessings in family and friends.

Here's to bigger tables.

Family Pictures Part Deux

This past Sunday, we took part in another round of family photos, this time with Jamie's family.  And it was again an interesting process, especially with four children six and under.  The results turned out wonderful though and I'd like to share them here.

First up, full family photographs.

For context, there was a yellowjacket that decided it wanted to be a part of the picture.  That's what half of us are reacting to.  Jude just wanted out of the picture.

Then a group shot of the four grandkids.

I love Jude's face in this picture.  Almost like he just heaved a big sigh, and started with, "well, let me tell you...."

And finally, our little Keeler group subset.

Jude looks a little concerned here, and with Avalyn's little mischievous grin, he might have reason to worry.

Avalyn's real smile!

 

As always, thank you for reading. Hope you've had a great week and have a great week ahead.

The Travelers' Report Part 9 - Waco

This past weekend, we took a day trip to Waco to meet up with my brother, my sister, and her family.  We've discovered Waco is a good half-way point, about a two hour drive for us and an hour and a half for them.

We spent the day at the Cameron Park Zoo, a very nice zoo that I had not been to before, eating in downtown Waco, and making a pass through Silobration.  It's crazy for me to see how much Waco has changed just in the 13 years since I lived there.  Time flies.

We started the day with a stop at Slovacek's in West to get klobasneky and cinnamon rolls.  I chose a "jalapeno popper" klobasnek (cream cheese, bacon, and jalapeno) and Jamie got the Big Poppa with the garlic and cheese sausage.  And the kids loved the cinnamon roll and Nutella turnover.  We may have made another stop on the way back home for Gingerdoodle cookies.

The best part of the trip was getting to spend time with family and enjoy being out in the zoo.  It was a little cooler and still a little wet from rain the days before, but still a great time.  Here Avalyn and Ezra are ready to take on the zoo holding their Uncle T's hand.

Just a great shot of Avalyn and Jamie and Ezra and Ryan looking at one of the avian exhibits.

Avalyn and Jude both enjoyed feeding the giraffe.  This guy hung out at that balcony all morning and had a line waiting to feed him lettuce leaves.

Avalyn ad Ezra hand in hand.  They were best buddies throughout this trip.

My two little monkies.  The orangutan exhibit here was really neat and allowed for close up views of the large orangutan and the new baby.  The kids loved getting to sit on the statue as well.

A bit of the craziness with the kids at Jake's Texas Tea House in downtown Waco.  Good food and a neat atmosphere.  Not the best time with our kids as they both could have used a nap at this time.

The Magnolia Silos.  They were throwing Silobration with vendors and a concert that night.  The place was packed but neat to walk through.  The bakery had at least an hour wait line when we were there.

Avalyn had to get a picture with this Dinosaur across the street from the Silo exit.  This was the last stop of the day and looked like a fun place to come get a bite the next time we're in Waco. 

We're hoping we can keep up these kind of day trip meetings to get to see the Austin crew on a more frequent basis.

Until next time.

And The Initial Results Are In...

The initial results of the family picture session are in and as promised, I'm sharing with you all.

First, the nice, posed, smiling family.

Hannah J. Walters Design and Photography

And then something a bit more slice of life.  Yes, Jude is screaming at me in this picture.

Hannah J. Walters Design and Photography

Thank you to Hannah for helping us arrange this birthday present for Mom and for these great photographs.  Thank you also to Jerilyn for helping keep the kids smiling and looking at the camera for as long as possible.

If you are in Southeast Texas and in need of photography or graphic design, you can see Hannah's work and information here.  Highly recommended.

Family Pictures

Today we are engaging in the great endeavor known as family pictures.  For my mother's birthday, all the kids got together to pitch in for a family photo shoot for everyone.  Jamie, Avalyn, Jude and I.  Brooke, Ryan, Ezra, and Archer.  Taylor.  Mom and Dad.  And perhaps a few extended family.

This is always an interesting process, even with all adults.  It's going to be even more interesting with four children four and under.  Two of them at least understand the concept of taking pictures.  To stay and smile at the camera for however brief.  They understand what to do when you say "Cheese."

The other two - who knows.  The 18.5 month old and the 13 month old I'm sure are going to do exactly what they want to do and will let us know if we are interfering. 

Sometimes this makes for great candid shots.  Hopefully that is the case here.  At others, it's herding jello.  We shall see what the day brings.

Further, the weather has a great potential to be uncooperative.  Again, we shall see where we end up.

Pray for us.  We may need it. 

I'll post the results here when they are available.