Christmas and Pic's of Hailee

Brooke, Hailee and I had a great Christmas. Here are a few pictures from the last few days when we have been celebrating, relaxing and enjoying our time. Hailee has a festive new hat, a beautiful Christmas dress (From Blake and Kaleena) and of course many other Holiday outfits.
It was a fun season for Hailee to have her first Christmas. She is beginning to smile, laugh and even giggle a little bit. She is a great baby and even lets Mom and Dad get some sleep.

Happy "Real" Birthday to Krista

Today is my sister Krista's "Real" Birthday. So Happy Birthday to her today, even though we already wished her a Happy Birthday a couple months ago. It's all confusing.

The Da Vinci Code

A new trailer for The Da Vinci Code is out today. I know most of us have read this book and have high hopes for the movie. I have to admit that I have been skeptical ever since I heard Ron Howard was to direct, he seems to be a little too "safe" for me. The Da Vinci Code is controversial and I had hoped there wouldn't be too many compromises.
Go check out the trailer here. Unfortunately it requires the latest version of Quicktime, and I wouldn't do it without a broadband connection. Those who can, let me know what you think.
After seeing this trailer, some of my concerns were put to rest. It is a great trailer and the movie looks really good. I wasn't all that excited to see it before, but I am now.

Fancy Pants

Brooke decided it would be fun to play "dress-up" with some of Hailee's more fancy outfits. So here are a few more pictures of her, and of course a picture of the proud father.

Hailee and her denim outfit, from The Stones.

This is Hailee's "Snow Princess" dress, from The Donahoes made by a friend.

We had to show the back of the dress so you can get the full effect.

Harry Potter: The Goblet of Fire (* * * *)

I know most of you have already seen this movie but I did get the chance to get out and see it on Saturday. So finally here is my review of Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire.

The Goblet of Fire is the best Harry Potter movie yet. I very much enjoyed Prisoner of Azkaban (Regarding my rating policy and right to change ratings as I see fit, through subsequent viewings of the Prisoner of Azkaban I have changed it from 3 to 4 stars) as well as the Sorcerers Stone, but Goblet of Fire just took things to the next level. Much of the reason for this is that the Goblet of Fire book is that much more exciting and interesting. In fact, it continues to be my favorite of all 6. I am giving Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire 4 stars. It will most likely become one of my 5 star favorites, but if you refer to my rating information you will know that 5 star films are hard to come by and rarely are given after just one viewing. As with all of my reviews, spoilers are to follow, if you don't want to be spoiled stop reading now. (however since most of you have already seen it or read the book, it shouldn't be a big deal)

First of all I would like to say that you do not have to be a Harry Potter fan to enjoy this movie. But why shouldn't you be a Harry Potter fan anyway? Read Here to see why. You also don't have to have read any of the Harry Potter books to understand the movie, but it would probably help. There is a little bit of a lack of explanation near the end of the film, but those who have read the book or ask a few questions to someone who has will get the answers they need.

It was obvious when making this movie that there were going to be enormous differences between the book and the movie, and there are. But it's ok, the film makers did an excellent job of taking the important, fun and exciting parts from the book and putting them into the movie. Yes I did miss some of the pieces of the book that were cut, but it really didn't bother me because they told the story so well without those pieces. People who have read the books will probably be a little more critical of this movie, but I am sure will enjoy it all the same. And I will do my best not to turn this into a book vs. movie comparison. Rather just a review of the movie.

The story is actually pretty simple yet somewhat complex but it follows the usual Harry Potter formula. The film begins with the Quidditch World Cup. The World Cup event is funny and fun, with quite a tragic ending as the Death Eaters show up and cause trouble. It is a really good start to the movie. Harry then goes back to Hogwarts, but this year is different and more dangerous for him than ever. Somehow his name is entered into The Goblet of Fire, a magical device that chooses participants from three wizarding schools to compete in the Tri-Wizard Tournament. The Tri-Wizard Tournament is an ancient wizarding event that is to test the ability of wizards from different schools in competitions, and of course it is extremely dangerous. Reluctantly Harry competes in the world cup, battling dragons, underwater creatures and a deadly maze. There is also the annual event of a new defense against the dark arts teacher, Mad Eye Moody who has a unconventional way of teaching the students. The Yule Ball is also in the film and done very well. The story progresses and eventually we see Harry and Lord Voldemort face to face. The duel between them is very intense and exciting, for sure one of the best scenes in the film. The scene of tragedy after Cedric's death is very emotional and in fact I heard several people sobbing in the theater.

I think the story of this movie was what made it so great, this is a very exciting story, but there is also so much information given, information about Harry and Voldemorts past. But there is so much information about the kids growing up and their stories turn from one story about the three of them to three stories about each of them. There is even a little bit of romance. There is a lot of what I call "ah-ha" moments, when that light clicks on and the whole Harry Potter story so far becomes more clear. Basically a lot of questions you might have had before this movie are cleared up, but along with that there are new questions to be answered in the future.

Visually the movie is very stunning, the style of the movie creates and sets a mood that really makes sense. The special effects are excellent and even making Madame Maxine look as large as she really is was not distracting. The dragon effects are excellent as well as the underwater creatures. The set they used for the graveyard at the end is also excellent, everything visually is vivid and detailed.

The acting in the movie is also the best it's been in the Harry Potter franchise. As the kids get older they seem to become better actors and it really shows in the film. Some of the new characters are portrayed very well, Mad Eye Moody played by Brendan Gleeson was so great. He is one of those guys that is in a ton of movies and you recognize him all the time, but can't really place him. Well he really stands out in this film and will be remembered. He does such a great job of portraying the madness of mad eye as well as the calm determination and loyalty to Dumbledore. Another new character in this film is Rita Skeeter played by Miranda Richardson, while her part is much smaller than it is in the book she has a significant role and does a great job. I don't think I hated her as much as I should have, but it wasn't her acting, it was her amount of screen time. The new kids in the movie playing Cedric, Viktor, Fleur and Cho Chang also do a great job. Especially that of Robert Pattinson as Cedric. Of course all the regulars are back, some of my favorites are Snape, McGonagall, Lucius, Fred, George and of course Harry, Ron and Hermione. I was disappointed not to see more of Sirius, but his part in this story is much smaller, he only appears in a fireplace. I also am becoming disappointed in Michael Gambon as Dumbledore, he definitely looks the part but I am not sure he shows the personality of Dumbledore as I find it. For example his tone of voice and anger as Harry's name is thrown out of the Goblet, it just isn't the Dumbledore that I know. But it's a very minor problem and easily disregarded. And of course, Ralph Fiennes as Lord Voldemort is amazing and it's not because of the makeup they used to make him look like Voldemort. I hope he can continue to play Voldemort in the rest of the films because I have a hard time seeing anyone out there do what he did for that character. You can just feel the evil and arrogance coming out of him when he is on screen. You just have to go out and see it for yourself but it's a superb bit of acting. That scene makes you forget the whole rest of the movie happened, it's the most memorable part.

There are so many wonderful things I could say about this movie and just go on and on giving praise. But it's time for...

The Bottom Line: Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire is the best movie in the franchise, so far. That's not an easy feat to accomplish because the other movies are great as well. The story, acting, effects and visuals are excellent. There are a few very minor annoyances, such as Dumbledore's over acting, some favorite scenes being left and not enough explanation, but they are easily overlooked to make this a great movie overall. If you haven't already, go out and see this movie, fans and non fans won't be disappointed. Look for this film to be one of the biggest if not the biggest movie of the year, currently (after only a few weeks) it's only third to Star Wars and War of the Worlds, but look for it to surpass War of the Worlds before this weekend is over.

I am recommending that everyone should see this movie, with one exception, small children. There is violence and a lot of scary scenes, it deserves it's PG-13 rating. Parents, see the movie first and then decide if you want your children to see it. There were many young kids at the theater when I saw it and they seemed ok, but I am not sure I would have brought kids that age to see it. It's probably ok to see this movie if you haven't seen the other three, but again, there is really no excuse for not having seen any of the previous films (or for that matter read the books). In fact, if you haven't seen them go out and pick up a copy, they are selling cheap on DVD right now (usually $10.00).

Those who have seen the movie, read the book, or just have an opinion make sure to leave your comments.

Congratulations

Congratulations to Blake and Kaleena today, they had their baby early this morning. She was 6 pounds and 6 ounces, 19 inches long. They had her around 5:00, Cleveland time. Make sure to check Blake's blog eventually for pictures.

Xbox 360 & ...

Well there has been a lot of "Baby Talk" up here on the blog lately. It's probably time I get back to some geek subjects, such as the Xbox 360 and Harry Potter. So here is the first of what I hope to be several more posts regarding some of my interests, other than Hailee.

First of all, I was asked about my thoughts on the Xbox 360. If you haven't heard about it, you will. The Microsoft hype machine is at full speed promoting this thing. Initially I think the 360 is cool, there is a lot of new functionality that I think is awesome, like selecting your own MP3's from your MP3 player to play during your games, sweet. I think it was released a little bit premature though, the original Xbox hasn't really been out that long and I think it would have been to their benefit to wait and release closer to Sony's upcoming PS3. There is just some technology about the 360 that is "almost cool", a few more months in design and production could have made it more cool, like a Blu Ray or HD DVD drive and better backwards compatibility. Microsoft is doing cool things integrating it with Media Center PC's but does anyone really own one of those, I don't know anyone who does. I don't see myself streaming content from my PC to my Xbox, only major geeks are smart enough to do that stuff anyway. As far as gaming goes, I have been a Sony supporter for a long time, Playstation, PS2 and PSP. So I think I will wait and see what they offer with the PS3, it should be really exciting. I am glad to see Microsoft and Nintendo still in the game though, healthy competition is good for consumers and I think the Xbox 360 will push Sony to make the PS3 great. Video games and consoles are a huge business, Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo all have a lot to lose or gain in the next couple of years. I find it interesting to follow, there is a lot of trash talking between the companies. For some good resources, check out Engadget or Joystiq, both great blogs for people into electronics or gaming.

Now to Harry Potter, well I haven't seen the new movie yet and I am really anxious to get out there and see it. I am sure once we get things settled down at home with Hailee I will go and see it, I will be sure to post a review online. I know a lot of you out there have seen it, post a comment and let everyone know what you thought.

Hailee's first Thanksgiving, Stones and Santa

This weekend we celebrated Hailee's two week birthday as well as her first Thanksgiving. She was even able to kick off the holiday season with a visit from Mr. And Mrs. Claus. We are all three doing good, Hailee is becoming a little more like a normal baby and keeping us up at night more than she has been. She is growing already at 7 pounds 7 ounces, up from her birth weight of 6 pounds 11 ounces. The Dr. says she is doing great. Here are some pictures we have taken the past week, including Thanksgiving.

The Stones drove all the way from Phoenix to see Hailee, (and for Thanksgiving)

We had her all dressed up nice for the holiday.



Her first visit with Santa and Mrs. Claus.



Must be the turkey.

Update on Hailee

Well, now that Hailee is a little more than a week old and I have a few minutes I figure it's time for an update and a few more pictures. Brooke and the baby are both doing really well. Surprisingly, all three of us have been able to get a decent amount of sleep the past week and everyone is feeling good. Hailee had her first check-up with the Doctor and is doing great, she is gaining weight and as far as we know, enjoying life. She loves to sleep and go for a ride in her stroller but hates to have baths. Brooke is feeling great and taking to being a Mother wonderfully. We are both really enjoying spending so much time with her and each other.

Many of you had heard that out of all three of us, I was the one who was the worse for wear. Just the day after Hailee was born I was feeling some really intense pain in my stomach. I tried to treat the symptoms as much as I could, but ended up in the hospital myself. After several tests and some refreshing morphine, they diagnosed me with a stomach ulcer. I am sure it will come to no surprise to many of you who know how "high strung" I am. But I am taking medication and feeling much better, hopefully I will have a full recovery within a couple of months.

If any of you think the births they show in the movies, where the husband is speeding to the hospital, are fake. Well there is some truth to it. Brooke and I had a pretty crazy experience. Brooke was only in labor for a total of 4 hours, only 2 and a half of which were at the hospital. It all happened so quickly that by the time I called everyone to tell them we were at the hospital, I had to call back and tell them to get up there or they would miss the big event. But it was good for Brooke, because she wasn't as miserable as she could have been. In fact, it was good for Hailee too, she looked great even as soon as she was born. No misshapen head or anything.

I want to thank our families, friends and neighbors who have all been so helpful through this experience. We have had many dinners brought to us, gifts given to Hailee, people running us around and much support.

For your viewing pleasure, here are some other pictures of Hailee. Click on any of the pictures on this blog for a bigger version. Once you get the bigger version you can even "right click" on the picture and save it to your computer. Select "Save Image/Picture As" to do so.

"The Cutest Thing You Have Ever Seen"

It's official, The Cutest Thing You Have Ever Seen.

Hailee Brooke Gibson
Born 11:20 a.m. November 10th 2005
6 Pounds 11 Ounces
20 Inches

Halloweenerdog Party

Last Friday Brooke and I attended the Annual Halloweenerdog Party hosted by my good friends Kirk and Marcy. (Shown in picture #2, from the movie Elf!). We had a lot of fun and there was a lot of great costumes. We had a good time eating a lot of food and candy as well as bowling several games throughout the night. Thanks Kirk and Marcy for a great party.
Click on each picture for a larger version and I apologize for those of you on dial-up, because there is a lot of pictures and it might take while to load.

Finished

Well with two weeks left to go Hailee's room is finally finished. (It's actually been finished for a couple weeks but I hadn't taken more pictures yet) I figure since we have pretty much every item that Babies R Us sells, we have pretty much everything we need (using the term "need" loosely). It's been fun getting ready for the baby and the past couple of weeks have made Brooke and I start to get pretty anxious. Here are a couple more pictures of the baby room that now just needs a baby to fill it.

Brooke and I want to send out a special thanks to all of our family and friends who have thrown and came to Brooke's showers, given gifts, cards, money and hand me downs we are truly grateful for all of you and your support.

Bryce's Mission Call

Bryce received his mission call tonight. And in case you can't zoom in far enough on the pictures he is going to Recife, Brazil. He will leave on February 1st and spend a couple of months in the Missionary Training Center in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Good Luck and Congratulations to Bryce.
More information on Recife coming soon.
More information on Recife from Wikipedia, here.

4 Weeks Left

Well 4 more weeks (at most, says Brooke) until little Hailee comes along.  Brooke had another Dr. appointment today and everything is ok and on track.  We will begin to meet with the Dr. once a week now, until the big day arrives.

Brooke and I are starting to get anxious although 4 weeks is still a long time.  Especially Brooke though because she is finding it increasingly difficult to get comfortable, breathe, eat, walk, stand up, sit down, and sleep (so pretty much anything).   

The nursery is ready, we think we have pretty much everything we need (we better) so as far as we know all we need now is the baby.  Then the real fun begins, right?  Well there is light at the end of the tunnel and things are starting to get pretty exciting.  It won't be too long and we can have some real pictures of the baby up on the blog.

 

Happy Fake Birthday Krista?

Well Happy Fake Birthday to my sister Krista yesterday.  Don't ask me, I don't understand it either.

Lost! & other TV

In response to Krista's comments I am making a "Lost" post.  Yes, Brooke and I have not missed an episode of Lost this season or last.  It's my favorite show on TV right now.  Even though I never have a clue what is going on I can't stop watching it.  There are a ton of theories on the Internet and stuff, but it hurts my head to read some of them.  I think it would be a hard show to get into now that it's going, but the 1st season is on DVD and I am sure you could get the episodes of this season if you know where to look. 

For all the people who watch lost, let's pose a question.  What do you think will happen if they don't enter the numbers on the computer?

I don't think anything will happen, Jack is right and it's just an experiment. 

 

I have watched Dirty Jobs a couple of times and I like it, the guy that does all the Dirty Jobs is pretty funny.  It's on at weird times and I haven't set the Tivo for it yet so I check it out when I get a chance. 

We have one of our Tivo's set to record The King of Queens so we get a couple episodes each day and new episodes on Monday's.  If anyone isn't watching that show, set your Tivo because it's hilarious and you can get all the reruns.  

Another show I am watching right now that I really like is My Name is Earl.  Jason Lee from Almost Famous is in it and it's pretty funny. 

Of course I continue to watch ER, I don't really know why, it's so over dramatic.  But I watch it, even though Brooke can't watch it with me because she can't get over the fact that everything they do medically would never happen in the real world.  I guess that's what you get for working in a hospital. 

Ok so it sounds like I watch a lot of TV, but really if you have Tivo you maximize your TV watching time.  So it's not as bad as it sounds.  I am sure my Tivo will fill up when we have the baby, but how do you watch TV with a crying baby in your arms?  For my thoughts on Tivo, click here.

Hook and Fish

Here are some pictures of the two new pets in the Gibson family. My Dad has a couple of newly adopted Sulcata (African Spurred Tortoise) Turtles/Tortoises. Get more information about this species at Wikipedia here, here or here. (What is Wikipedia? Here) Click each picture for a much larger version of the tiny tortoises.