My Ode to Dr. Jones

I promised I would be putting more movie-related stuff on the blog, so hopefully this is a good way to kick things off. I love the Indiana Jones movies. As far as adventure movies go, it doesn’t get much better than this. The other day I started thinking about my favorite moments from the films, and I came up with this list of my top five. For those hoping for the scene where Indy escapes a nuclear blast by hiding in a fridge, I’m afraid nothing from the most recent movie, Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull, made it onto the list (but you can read my review of the movie here).

5. The Sword Fight That Wasn’t


There’s no way this scene couldn’t make the list. After fighting off a handful of baddies, he has to go up against one last Arabian ninja with a sword. Rather than waste time with another fight, he simply shoots the guy and moves on (ala Han Solo). Which begs the question, why didn’t he just shoot all the other people he was fighting in the previous scene?

Interesting Fact: I’m sure at this point that most people know the story that there was supposed to be a big sword fight right here, but that Harrison Ford was too sick to film it, so he suggested, “Why don’t I just shoot the guy instead?” But what you may not know is that not only was Harrison Ford sick, but in fact most of the cast and crew was deathly ill while filming in Tunisia. In fact, the only person who did not get sick was Steven Spielberg, who only ate cans of Spaghetti-O’s from the States the entire time they were in Tunisia.

4. Escaping the Night Club


George Lucas and Steven Spielberg originally came together because they wanted to make James Bond-type secret agent movie. Instead, they came up with our favorite adventurer archaeologist. I think this scene made it in, however, because they did want to see Indy in a tux fighting some bad guys at least once. The fact that he’s been poisoned and is frantically searching for the antidote made it all the better.

Interesting Fact: The name of the night club where the fight takes place is the Club Obi-Wan, as an homage to George Lucas’ other trilogy.

3. Indy’s Magic Hat


This isn’t as much a moment as it is a recurring theme. Indy’s gone through a lot to protect his beloved fedora, including nearly being smashed by booby traps. This screenshot above references the scene in the Last Crusade where Indy miraculously survived driving a tank off of a cliff. Just as he’s catching his breath to get ready for his next adventure, his long-lost hat miraculously blows from over the cliff edge and lands in his lap. Classic.

Interesting Fact: In the “Making of the Last Crusade” documentary, Harrison Ford was filmed stapling the fedora to his head before filming the tank chase sequence. Many people believed this to be real, but sadly, he never actually stapled his hat to his head (though he did use double-sided tape).

2. The Bridge Sequence


This scene brings to its close a series of amazing action sequences: fighting for his freedom, escaping in a mine cart, outrunning a wall of water, and finally facing enemies from both sides on a rickety rope bridge hanging precariously over a crocodile-infested river (all while missing one of his shirt sleeves). What’s the manliest thing you could do in this situation? Cut the bridge in half.

Interesting Fact: Steven Spielberg was in fact terrified of the rope bridge and refused to cross it, which meant he had to drive an extra mile and a half to get from one side to the other.

1. The Truck Chase


This is without a doubt one of the greatest action sequences ever filmed. After fighting his way through the snake-infested well of souls and dispatching a giant Nazi with the propeller of an airplane, he begins chasing after the truck containing the Ark of the Covenant. This scene is every bit as edge-of-my-seat exciting for me as it was the first time I watched it.

Interesting Fact: The truck chase was one of the first scenes filmed for the movie. Harrison Ford was actually dragged behind the truck for some of the shots, bruising his ribs. When asked if he was worried, he stated, "No. If it really was dangerous, they would have filmed more of the movie first."

So there you have it; my top five Indiana Jones moments. If I missed any that you think should have made the list (like the fact Indy continually seems to be beating up Nazis and stealing their clothes), please let me know with your comments. Thanks for reading!

Blog-apalooza Part I

Sorry it's been a while since I've posted anything on the blog. That's why today we're putting up three posts of everything we have been up to in the last few weeks. First off, we completed the final do-it-yourself project of the move into our new place by covering up the hideous mirror walls that plague our front room.


For whatever reason our landlord thought some floor-to-ceiling mirrors would be awesome for his place. We're not allowed to take them down, so instead Sarah found a way to cover them up using fabric and ordinary spray starch.


It took us a few hours but we managed to cut the fabric and paste it up on the walls to get rid of seeing our reflections in every corner of the house.


The walls look great and we're glad to finally get them covered up. Also, there are two other new posts below, so please keep on reading.

Blog-apalooza Part II

Hey everyone, here's Part II of what we have been up to in October. On October 30, we went to Comedy Central's Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear, which was pretty fun. We had to stand around for a while on the Mall with a million other people before it finally got started, but it was actually pretty fun.


They had all sorts of different acts at the rally, including The Roots, Ozzy Osbourne, Cat Stevens, Sheryl Crowe, and a bunch of other performers; it was a lot of fun. Also, the idea was to bring signs to the rally that weren't divisive or argumentative, so these were some of our favorites.




And of course, no trip down to the Capitol would be complete without lunch at Good Stuff Eatery on Pennsylvania Avenue. They have some tasty burgers and the black-and-white shake rocks.

Blog-apalooza Part III

Hey folks, welcome to the last of all our new posts on everything we have been up to this last month. We had a great time for Halloween, starting with pumpkin-carving. We went with something a little more traditional this year.


We went to the Ward Halloween Party this year (since we are now members of the Activities Committee) dressed as Waldo and Wanda from the Where's Waldo books. I'd put up a picture of us but you probably wouldn't be able to find us.

Summer Movie Roundup 2010

Hey folks, it’s time for the annual summer movie review. Sorry it’s a bit late this year, but I was withholding judgment until I saw a few films that had recently come out on DVD. Also, I’m hoping to put more movie-related stuff on the blog from here on, so stay tuned for more of that in the future. Without further ado…

5. ROBIN HOOD


Although this movie was by no means great, it was definitely an entry on the “good” side of the many Robin Hood remakes. Russell Crowe does a decent job of bringing the character to life, except that he’s basically really angry all the time. However, you can always count on director Ridley Scott to give you a few really good action sequences. Oh, and apparently Robin Hood also laid the foundation for the Magna Carta. Who knew?

4. SALT


My one major complaint with movies where you don’t know if the main character is a good guy or a bad guy is that that question is usually answered within the first ten minutes of the movie. I remember going to see the film “Traitor” with Don Cheadle last year, and all the trailers made it look like you would spend the whole movie waiting to figure that out. But within the first five minutes, you know that his character is just an undercover good guy, rendering the title and plot of the film somewhat nonsensical.

Not so with Salt. I was impressed that they actually managed to keep you guessing right up until the very end, which raises this movie to the top of the recent undercover spy thrillers. You just have to suspend reality and believe that Russia has undercover agents working in the United States. Like that would ever happen in real life. Oh wait…

3. THE A-TEAM


I’ll admit that this one was a bit of a guilty pleasure, and I spent all Spring anxiously awaiting its arrival. This movie is completely ridiculous, which is what made it such an enjoyable summer film. Stuff explodes, someone makes a joke, unintelligible plot point, more stuff explodes, repeat. Yay!

2. TOY STORY 3


I didn’t exactly have high expectations for this film, which is surprising since this is Pixar, the film company that can do no wrong. I guess I was disappointed that they were doing another sequel to a series that I thought had already passed its heyday. On the contrary, this movie was fantastic! In addition to the incredible “Great Escape”-esque final act, the story really had an emotional impact exploring themes like growing up, friendship, and creepy baby dolls. It maybe even got me a little excited for their next sequel, Cars 2, due out in 2011.

1. INCEPTION


This was by far my most anticipated movie of the summer, and it did not disappoint. Not only is this my top movie of the summer, but I daresay that this movie belongs in my top ten films OF ALL TIME. This movie, in my humble opinion, was practically perfect. All of the actors were perfectly cast, the plot was intelligent and mind-bending, and the action sequences were something that no one had ever seen before. I’ve always been a big fan of the director, Christopher Nolan (Memento, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight), and this was a masterpiece. He has gone on record that he always wanted to direct a James Bond movie, and this was his answer to the sleek espionage genre, which even included a gripping snow fortress assault as an homage to his favorite Bond film, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. Did I mention that I love this movie?

So there you have it. Let me know if I missed any that you think should have made the list. Also, I’ll be posting more movie-related articles when I have a little more free time (which has been hard to come by lately).

New Apartment!

Well, I haven't been posting much on the blog lately, and the main reason for that is because we unexpectedly had to move this last month! The owners of our apartment were coming back unexpectedly from their overseas assignment, which gave us about two months to find a new place. Fortunately, we found one and were able to finish moving in over this last week. Now those of you who have seen our apartment may wonder why it looks exactly the same as the last one. We actually stayed in the same building, and moved from the third floor to the first floor. There have been some downsides (moving costs, crappy parking spot, etc.), but the new place has some definite upsides as well (we were allowed to paint, nicer appliances, fireplace). So overall we're pretty happy, especially now that I'm finally done hanging everything up.


Our living room is unfortunately a little bit smaller with the addition of the fireplace, but we were still able to make everything fit, and we're pretty happy with the outcome.


The bedroom looks about the same, except that there's a new coat of paint. We're excited to be able to stay in the same neighborhood and in the same ward, and I feel like we were really fortunate that this new place opened up in our building right as we were getting kicked out.

South American Adventure: Food Edition

Everyone who knows me knows I love to eat. Which is why I had to dedicate a post just to all of the amazing food we had while we traveled around South America. Unfortunately, this blog website will only let me post five pictures at a time for some reason, so I had to limit this to just a few of the meals we had during our travels.

It was pretty chilly down in Buenos Aires, which made it perfect weather for "submarinos." Basically you get a glass of really hot milk and a chocolate bar (sometimes in the shape of a tiny chocolate submarine), and mix them together until the chocolate gets nice and melty. It's best enjoyed along with an "alfajor" which is a soft shortbread cookie filled with dulce de leche and dipped in chocolate. Pretty tasty stuff.


The king in Argentinean cuisine is most definitely beef. Between the two of us Sarah and I ate roughly the equivalent of an entire cow. My favorite was the "ojo de bife," which is their version of a ribeye, pictured here. All the cows are grass-fed in Argentina, as opposed to grain-fed like in the States, which leads to a slightly tougher, but much tastier piece of beef. It goes well with a slice of "provoleta," which is just a thick slab of provolone cheese, seasoned well and slapped on the grill until it grows tough and chewy on the outside, and warm and gooey on the inside.

Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of our dinner at La Bourgogne, which was a really fancy French restaurant in the ritzy part of northern Buenos Aires. It is consistently ranked by several travel magazines as the best restaurant in South America, and I figure it would be tough to pass up a chance to eat at the best restaurant on an entire continent. They gave us everything from foie gras and goat cheese gazpacho as starters to flambeed beef tenderloin and rack of lamb as an entree.


Chile isn't exactly known for its cuisine, but they did have some great national dishes. One of the most famous dishes is "pastel de choclo," which is somewhat like a pot pie. They put big pieces of bone-in chicken into a cast iron bowl and fill it with gravy and vegetables. Then they top it with a generous helping of cornbread mix with honey and bake the whole thing for half an hour. The whole meal was pretty hearty. We also had plenty of seafood since we were so close to the coast, which Sarah enjoyed (me not so much).


We always tried to taste some of the national favorites everywhere we went, which in Rio de Janeiro means "feijoada," a thick bean soup/stew filled with whatever meat they happened to have on hand that day. Our feijoada had steak, chicken, dried beef, tongue, and a couple other things. It was amazing, except for maybe the tongue. You usually pour it out over a bed of rice and eat with tons of toppings, including vegetables, fried bananas, and peppers.


Finally, one of our last meals in South America was one of the restaurants I was most excited about, "Porcau," which translates to "piggy." It's a Brazilian rodizio-style steakhouse, which means the waiters continue to bring you food until you ask them to stop. Although this wasn't entirely true, since they will give you more steak even when you tell them you don't want it. This restaurant has raised gluttony to an art form, and they serve you every conceivable variation of beef, chicken, and pork. One of the strangest may have been a strip steak they somehow stuffed with cheese, but it was all amazing.

So there you have it. Our culinary tour de force of three nations in South America. Sarah and I had such an awesome time there, and I'm sorry my blog posts have to go back to normal old boring life from here on out. Oh well, I hope you all keep reading anyway.