Ant-Man

LaRue and I went to the matinee showing of Ant-Man today. Even watching the trailers online I was not that excited to see it. 
Boy am I glad we went. It was a tremendously fun, exciting movie. 

I'm not going to really say much about it except stay to the complete end. There is an extra scene about midway through the credits and another at the very end. 

Here's the first trailer (there are others online):

Inside Out 4th of July

LaRue and I decided at the last minute to drive out to Roy for the 4th of July weekend.

One of the things that prompted the trip was fixing the brakes on the car. I knew they were wearing out and took the car to one of the mechanics. They said the rear brakes were pretty much gone and the front brakes had about half their pads left. They quoted me a price of around $225 to replace the rear brakes.

I happened to call Robin and he said he could pick up some new pads for a lot less and he would be happy to replace them himself. He actually ended up buying new pads for all four brakes for less money than I was quoted.

So Friday we headed to Roy.

Saturday morning we got up to find Master French Toast Maker Emily cooking breakfast in the kitchen.

Then Robin proceeded to fix the brakes while I supervised. I was doing the hard part of raising and lowering the jack. I also listened to some of the radio communications of the trains that run near his house.

Here's K.D. on her bicycle.

Brighton on the computer.

Josh was climbing the walls. I have a picture of Robin doing the same thing in the hallway of the Mission Training Center.

Quinley spent a lot of time zooming up and down the sidewalk on her bike.

Once the brakes were finished we all went to see the movie Inside Out. It was really fun. I will definitely be purchasing this one when it comes out.

Here's the trailer.

Following the movie we had a nice BBQ. Robin and Emily had invited one of their friends and her kids to join us.

Some of the kids cooled off in the pool.

Here's Quinley, Grandma and Emily waiting for the evening fireworks festivities.

Even though K.D. was on her bike earlier, I think she rode her roller skates almost non-stop. There wasn't much time the whole weekend when she wasn't skating.

LaRue and I camped out in Robin's trailer.

Getting the chairs all set for the fireworks. Robin and a couple of his neighbors pooled their money and they bought some really fantastic fireworks.

Robin playing with his potato gun. The plan was to shoot glo-sticks into the air for the kids to catch.

K.D. watching the fireworks.

It was a really good weekend. LaRue and I stayed until Monday and drove home so I could get the car inspected and licensed.

Mr. Robot

**EDIT July 9 - Mr. Robot is trying to be something it isn't - good television. The story isn't going anywhere. The main character is completely unsympathetic. And the show has way too many adult scenes for USA network; maybe HBO, but not a channel that is included for free on every cable/satellite provider. And definitely not in prime time when kids are still up.

---

It's gone from my list of programs to follow.**

LaRue and I are fans of Brian Stokes Mitchell. He has a fantastic singing voice and his Christmas concert with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir is one of our favorites.

A few weeks back we read online that he had been cast in a recurring role in the new USA Network show - Mr. Robot. 

So we watched the first episode on the 24th. Brian Stokes Mitchell was not a part of the premiere episode but I believe he will be in the next one as some sort of corporate mogul.

Now let's talk about the show itself. First, there is language. USA is a cable network and I think they are trying to be more competitive by making more edgy programs. A few of the words I can tolerate. But be warned the first episode contains 3 or 4 F-bombs. I think that's a little too edgy for a more regular network. You expect that from an HBO or Showtime production, but since you don't pay extra for USA as you do those other channels I don't believe they should have the same degree of leniency.

That said, I'm still not sure what I think of the program. I will credit it with having some of the most accurate "computer speak" than I have seen in past shows or movies.

The main character is not Mr. Robot; that's Christian Slater, and we're not exactly sure what his motives are. He used the main character, Elliot, to bring down the CEO of a corporation and then disappeared.
As for the character of Elliot.....he has issues. He is a non-social person who makes it his personal mission to expose bad people by hacking into their lives and exposing what they do.

Bottom line - I might check out the second episode before I make a decision as to whether or not I will follow this show.

Cool Air

We made a nice improvement to the house over the last two days - we got the air conditioners put in the windows!

That's pretty much the excitement here.

Jurassic World

We had been looking forward to seeing the new Jurassic movie ever since we saw the first trailer.
But we decided that opening weekend would be a bit nuts; especially with kids out of school.

We opted for the 2D version but might go see it again in 3D. And we will definitely be buying the blu-ray/dvd combo when it comes out.

I must say that it is much better than the second or third Jurassic movies. But I still think the first Jurassic Park is the best.

Still, it's great fun highly recommended.

Here's the trailer:

Man of Steel in Color

LaRue and I love the Superman movies. I also love the old 1940's Superman movie serials and the Adventures of Superman tv show. I even have all of the Superman radio serial - about 1500 episodes.

We really enjoyed the latest Man of Steel. But here's something interesting I stumbled upon - what if Man of Steel was in color?



Until I saw this video I hadn't really noticed the washed out color of Man of Steel.
I would love to get a color restored version.

Robin and Family Visit

Robin had another 3 day weekend so they hitched up the trailer and came out to visit.

In addition to a nice visit, Robin and I got a couple of projects taken care of.

First we shut off the water and replaced the faucets for the bathtub. We had to got a couple of these metal fittings and a couple of new faucet stems:

Then we pulled out the clothes dryer and tore it apart. After a thorough cleaning and testing the motor we replaced the dryer vent hose with a periscope metal vent. We suspect that some of the trouble was due to the flexible hose being severely crimped because of the tight space.

Now it works just fine.

Okay, on to some pictures:

Brighton, Chris and Josh playing the "Fun Machine" organ.

Quinley with a bowl of cherries.

Here's Josh. And it looks like someone found a few Christmas Bears.

Robin and K.D.

Chris is playing a game on my computer. He tried to explain it to me, but Grandpas don't always quite comprehend. 

One exhausted little girl.

Josh and Chris playing a game of Blokus.

Brighton in the trailer playing on his Kindle.

It's the girls' turn to play the organ.

Finally, Robin playing his bagpipes in his Sunday attire.