Book Review: Locke and Key Vol. 3: Crown of Shadows by Joe Hill et al.

Locke and Key Vol. 3: Crown of Shadows by Joe Hill et al.

The Locke family continues its trials and tribulations. The children try to live a normal life in Lovecraft, Massachusetts, but that is not meant to be. After the lover of their uncle is put in a coma by an accident, their mom goes off to see him and leaves the children alone in Key House. Dodge, the woman from the well, is still snooping around trying to find more of the mystical keys, especially the key to a Black Door that leads to who knows where? A few hints to the past are given as the story goes on and the children are put in all sorts of perils.

The story and the horror are interesting but not as compelling as in previous issues. New keys are discovered that give strange and fantastic powers. They are used by both Dodge and the Locke kids. The powers are nothing I haven't seen before but they are used well to provide excitement, action, and visual flair. The daughter starts to investigate her father's past but not enough is revealed to be satisfying. Presumably it has something to do with Dodge's motivation but what is behind the Black Door is still a complete mystery. The art, as with the other issues, is top-notch.

The book also includes an appendix describing the keys that have been introduced so far, along with some art that seems like it was covers for individual issues.

The book keeps the story moving but the pace is slowing.

Our Hotel in Maryland

Our hotel in the BWI area of Maryland was one of those popular chains that have plenty of good amenities, including a pool, a tennis court, breakfast and happy hour treats.

When the weather was sunny enough we took advantage of the pool though we have no photos since our camera is not waterproof. Granny and Grandpa were well supplied with balls of various sizes which saw plenty of use in the tennis court.

Two-on-one tennis without rackets (and with Grandpa's coffee handicap)

L uses the Force to control the ball.

J throws high!

A much fairer one-on-one match with invisible rackets

The television wasn't good enough so J and L performed some theater for us with puppets courtesy Granny and Grandpa. J has an excellent memory for Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

The Three Little Pigs was another classic presented to us

The other popular treat was at breakfast, namely the waffle maker. Such machines seem standard nowadays at upscale hotels with breakfast bars. I'm just glad we don't have one at home because it has a lot of supporting infrastructure--whipped cream, chocolate syrup, powdered sugar, blueberries, strawberries, caramel, etc. The kids wanted powdered sugar like we had in Belgium, but L quickly branched out to other sweets, especially the chocolate.

A happy breakfast

The hotel was fun to stay at and served as a good base to visit friends and have other American adventures.

Grandmama's Playground 2013

Bing Crosby Park in Front Royal, Virginia, still rates very high with my children. Whenever we visit Grandma for more than an afternoon, we have to go to the playground. Sure, the park has other amenities like ball fields, barbeques, pools, and nature trails. But what is that in comparison with fabulous wooden castles, paths, and swings? And another more modern playground with slides and climbing challenges galore?

L slides on the modern metal/plastic playground

Swinging on the wooden playground

A new feature (or one that we forgot) was a spider climber. While not as crazy-tall and dangerous looking as its British cousins, L still made mommy and daddy a little nervous when she made it to the top.

L ascends the spider's web

L at the top!

J made a few friends while visiting the park (we went multiple times since we were there multiple days) and played tag and hide-and-seek with them. A fun time was had by all.

At Grandmama's House 2013

During our visit to America, the first place we went was Grandmama's house. We had lots of fun just hanging out at home.

Auntie M and Grandmama both had new outfits for L, which she gladly tried on. Cousin A also had an excellent dress.

L in cool summer fashion

A ready to go to church

Even better than a nice dress, A got to read with J. He's at the point where he can read to her from a lot of early reader books, which was fun for both of them.

J and A read together

L released her artistic talent with a watercolor book Grandmama bought her. Grandmama may have gotten more than she bargained for because she was drafted into the painting process. She was very happy to do so.

L and Grandmama working together

Happy in their work!

We did go out on Sunday for Uncle Ed's birthday to a Teppanyaki restaurant. We had a party of thirteen at a table that was basically a large grill. The chef came and cooked right in front of us. The start of the show was good but made J a little nervous, especially when the chef poured oil all over the grill and lit it on fire to get it ready for cooking. Soon enough, the chef made a small volcano out of some onion rings which amazed everyone.

The flaming volcano bit

The chef was very talented, tossing around his spatula, knife, ingredients, and spices with graceful ease. He even bounced an egg on his spatula several times to our delight. One egg wound up in his hat. At the end of the meal, he had a few scraps left over and asked if anyone wanted to compete in a contest. Having gone to these diners before, I knew what was coming and volunteered first. He took a little bit of chicken and flicked it in the air towards me. I tried to catch it in my mouth but was not successful. He gave me a second chance but it was not meant to be. Several other siblings tried it out. Even J had a go, though his morsel landed on his cheek rather than his tongue. He loved it. A good time was had by all.

Daddy, J, L, and A

Silly trio

The only bad thing is I didn't get a group shot for the blog. Luckily, the restaurant takes such pictures and my sister was able to scan it and send it along.

The family

It was fun to visit Grandmama's house with all the family visiting, but more fun for the kids was Grandmama's playground, which we'll see in the next post.

Manchester Airport, Most Awesome Airport Ever!

To begin our recent trip to America, we flew out of Manchester Airport in England. We had an hour and a half drive to the airport, which had burned out the activity books we'd brought along and an episode of Phineas and Ferb on the iPad. We were worried about our two hour wait in the airport. What would the kids do? After going through security, we headed to the gate wondering how to keep boredom at bay. Then we saw a glorious thing...

What every airport should have...maybe two in every airport!

We saw a play area in the Budapest Airport that wasn't so impressive. This was J and L heaven, though it did not tire them out enough to sleep on the seven hour flight across the Atlantic. On the other hand, they had a lot of fun and the time to the flight passed very quickly. Definitely a win-win situation for us.

Kids in the airport playground

L poses with her big ball and big cheesy smile

So keep your eyes open at the next airport you take the kids to--there might be a decent playground!

Movie Review: Parker (2013)

Parker (2013) directed by Taylor Hackford

Parker is a character tailor-made for Jason Statham. Parker is a loner tough guy who can get a job done. Most of his jobs are of the illegal sort, but at least Parker has a moral code that puts him in the sympathetic-to-likable category. He doesn't steal from people who can't afford it and he doesn't hurt people who don't deserve it. Statham as Parker definitely has the skills to get things done without killing and has enough charm to make him seem almost like a good guy.

The movie begins with a heist at the Ohio State Fair. The weekend ticket sales are somewhere between a million and 1.5 million dollars, making a good haul for five well-organized thieves. Parker does the organizing. The heist goes mostly without a hitch except one of the guys sets fire to hay bales by a stage rather than the live stock pens, which endangered some lives. The fire is only supposed to be a distraction that facilitates the getaway. The guy doesn't really care but Parker is ready to take his cut and dump these losers during the getaway.

The problem is the other brainy guy in the group, Melander, has another heist he's ready to do but he needs all five guys. Parker declines. Melander decides Parker can't live if he knows about the plan (though the information about the plan is rather meager and doesn't really justify killing Parker). Naturally, when the four other guys try to kill Parker, he just about makes it out alive. After a brief gunfight, Parker jumps from the moving car but is knocked unconscious on the road. The guys stop and they send the guy who messed up the fire to shoot Parker dead. As you might imagine, he messes up the shooting, leaving Parker for dead rather than dead. Parker is discovered by a good Samaritan family who take him to a local hospital. Before he even recovers, he escapes the hospital and seeks revenge against the four that done him wrong. The trip will take him to some dodgy places in exotic locales like New Orleans and Miami as he tracks down their next heist in order to kill them.

Jennifer Lopez is shoe-horned into the story as a Miami real estate agent who is pretty desperate. She drives Parker (who is posing as a wealthy Texan) around to various houses he might rent though he is actually trying to find the bad guys' hideout. When she finally figures out something of what he's up to, she helps him for a cut of the heist. Too bad for her Parker isn't interested so much in the heist or in her as a girlfriend (he's got one back in Chicago to whom he remains faithful, another check in the sympathetic-to-likable category). But he's an upstanding guy and by the end of the film he's taking care of her and the family who were good Samaritans to him.

The movie Parker is much like the heists in the film. A somewhat clever set-up leads to a simple smash-and-grab of valuables with a getaway tagged on the end. I enjoyed it well enough. It had some good laughs and lots of hard-hitting Statham action. The fights get a little graphic and the consequences don't last for long. Parker had a knife jabbed through his hand which was a problem during the fight but later, after his girlfriend sews up the wound, everything is fine. Also, when he left the hospital after gun shot wounds and a concussion he was back in fighting form in a day or two. Realism isn't the movie's strong point or even something remotely close to what they've done. Sometimes stuff like that bothers me but other times I just go with it. Going in with low expectations is a requirement for this film. Mine were low enough to make it enjoyable but I'm not sure I can recommend it.

Oh, and here's a fabulous line delivered perfectly by Statham when he's "interrogating" a guy with a bar stool:

If you don't tell me what I need to know, I'm gonna press down on this chair until it crushes your trachea. Trust me, it's agonizing. Plus, there's the posthumous humiliation of having been killed with a chair. 

Parental advisory:  In addition to the dubious morality of all the characters except for the Samaritan family, there's lots of violence and bad language. And Parker makes sure Jennifer Lopez isn't wearing a wire when she offers to help him out. So we all get to see her in her underwear, which isn't a spoiler because it's in the trailer. It's a solid R-rated film.

Movie Trailer

Book Review: Lumen Fidei by Pope Francis

Lumen Fidei by Pope Francis

 Just to throw in a little variety, here is a review of the recent encyclical for our Sunday post! A new church will be posted next week.

Pope Benedict XVI planned to write a trilogy of encyclicals on the three theological virtues: Deus Caritas Est on love, Spe Salvi on hope, and a third on faith. He retired before completing the encyclical on faith, handing over the draft he had to the newly elected Pope Francis. Francis made his own revisions and has published it as his first encyclical, Lumen Fidei.

Trying to tease out which parts were written by Benedict and which by Francis completely misses the point of the encyclical. It is a teaching on the Catholic understanding of faith, not a personal account or opinion. While different persons may come at it from different angles or focus on different facets, the same core jewel, the faith given by God to men through grace, is the substance. Having two view points blended gives a richer view; breaking them apart focuses on the person of the author rather than the subject at hand.

Faith is looked at in the historical context, from Abraham and the Jewish tradition into the Christian era and even as it is seen in modern times. Even though the history of faith is dominated by individuals, those individuals work in service of their society to make the faith grow and to be a witness to God's love and fidelity in their lives.

The emphasis on community may surprise modern ears used to radical individualism. The continuity of faith through time and space, i.e. from the Jewish roots in the Middle East spreading out to the whole of the earth, requires the transmission of faith from person to person, from people to people. The individual is limited and cannot grasp the fullness of the faith merely through solitary study. We are called to be brothers and sisters through Christ, to help each other in understanding and living our faith. We depend on His grace to give authenticity to our knowledge and our actions.

Thus faith takes its concrete form in the Church as the Mystical Body of Christ. All men and women are called to be not just a part of Christ but to be with Christ in the plan of salvation. In order to understand our place, we need the light of faith to show us the true path. Faith becomes not just an intellectual pursuit but even more a guide to action, a way to live with others, seeing Christ in others.

This encyclical provides profound but not difficult concepts for study and meditation and for grown in faith.

Quote on idols:

Martin Buber once cited a definition of idolatry proposed by the rabbi of Kotsk: idolatry is "when a face addresses a face which is not a face". [footnote: M. Buber, Die Erzahlungen der Chassidim, Zurich, 1949, 793.] In place of faith in God, it seems better to worship an idol, into whose face we can look directly and whose origin we know, because it is the work of our own hands. Before an idol, there is no risk that we will be called to abandon our security, for idols "have mouths, but they cannot speak" (PS 115:5). Idols exist, we begin to see, as a pretext for setting ourselves at the centre of reality and worshipping the work of our own hands. [13; note I have the British English translation, hence some of the spellings and punctuation that are not normal for American English]