BenSpark Family Adventures

Last night Allison and I went with Allison’s friend Jenn to see Ocean’s Twelve at the Franklin Zeotrope Theatre. It was a good movie, much better than I expected it to be. I really didn’t have great expectations for it but it was good. Before the theatre we went to Casper’s Bar & Grill in Franklin (Formerly Goodfellas) for dinner. You gotta love the Entertainment Book for its savings. Casper’s was one of the platinum dining locations so we could get up to $13.00 off our bill. For a $20 book of coupons that is pretty good. Casper’s was a pretty typical little local restaurant with American fare on the menu. Allison had a great pizza and I had surf and turf and Jenn had a burger. There was something going on in the kitchen because the food took a long time but it was tasty and we had plenty of time to get to the movie. The Franklin Zeotrope Theatre is a second run movie theatre in downtown Franklin. The movies are $4.50 and a large popcorn is only $4.00, so much better than Showcase’...

Last night I went skiing with Neil, Andy and Neil’s friend Ron. We went to Blue Hills. It's actually not that bad. It is run by Ragged Mountain now. They have 3 runs and it costs $25.00 to night ski, luckily Neil has a 2:1 pass and skiing was only $12.50 which is about what it should cost to go there. There is one double lift and not one matching seat on the whole thing.  Andy and I rode up together and on one trip the lift operator told us to wait up and then turned around and held up his hand we move into position because we figured that he meant for us to wait for the people ahead of us and we were like, duh yeah we are waiting. What we didn’t noticed was that the safety bar on the chair directly after the people in front of us was down. Well I noticed it when it slammed into the back of my knees and then the whole lift stopped. Oops. Andy luckily got out of the way, thanks again for alerting me about the chair Andy. All in all a very good night of skiing.

Another great book on CD from the Library. The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl. This was a thriller set in 1865 with historical figures such as Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, James Russell Lowell and publisher J. T. Fields. The group is translating Dante’s Divine Comedy at the same time when a series of murders are taking place in Boston. The murders have a very familiar signature to them… I found this to be a very interesting book and it was great to see some of history’s figures in a fictional account. It is a similar vein to that of Caleb Carr’s The Alienist which featured Theodore Roosevelt and J.P. Morgan. Both books are very interesting because of how the characters approached such forensic investigation that is commonplace today but was just being discovered at that time.

I am the Disney Railroad. Not sure how I got that one but there you are. This was submitted by Mo, who is the Parking Lot Tram, she is, I verified it. The Disneyland Railroad: A real steam powered train, like the old mighty Santa Fe, on a picturesque route like no other! You take people from the turn of the century to Frontier-era New Orleans, to the bonafide hometown of Mickey Mouse, and into then into the world of the Future, passing through the Grand Canyon, Jungles, Forrests, Fantasyland, and the ancient world of the Dinosaurs along the way. Always on time, you are steady, reliable, orderly, and a practical form of transportation for your passengers in the park. You greet visitors as they enter and say goodbye to them as they leave tonight. You have an eye for old world detail and craftsmanship, even as you represent the industrial age and the spirit of American ingenuity. An old icon of progress, you may not be the fastest ride or as sleek as your Monorail cousin, but you can rest...

Okay some of you may not be on the Napoleon Dynamite train yet but believe you, me, its a wicked sweet movie. And it is insanely quotable. Check out this site. Napoleon Dynamite Quotes This was submitted to me by Mo, who is insanely quotable as well. Also Mo sent me this link to this quiz. Take the quiz and let me know in the comments which character you were. Mo was TRISHA, not the flippin Llama Tina. I turned out to be like Kip.  Which Napoleon Dynamite character are you? brought to you by Quizilla

Okay so there are some movies coming out that I am looking forward to. I thought I would share them with you. The one I am most looking forward too is Sahara. This is a movie that is based on the Clive Cussler Book of the same name. It is book 11 of the Dirk Pitt series of adventures. I sincerely hope that this movie does well because Dirk Pitt is one awesome character that would be great as a movie franchise. The trailer is great and I hope that this means a good movie overall. The second trailer is for the Fantastic Four movie. It was being filmed in Vancouver while I was working at a site out there. I hope that this also does well, although I am not as excited about this movie. The Third Trailer is for a Bruce Willis film. The name of the film is Hostage. I found out about this movie while at the airport bookstore in Boston. I saw the book and cover and thought, hey that looks like Bruce Willis, so I picked it up and read the synopsis. Sounds like a suspenseful movie. The last movie...

The Northeast is coated in a layer of white that keeps shifting all over. Dad and I cleared off the driveway around 12:00pm and finished around 4:00pm. The driveway is clear now. Here’s some pictures for you to enjoy. Notice that the post right before this one was from SUNNY 80 degree California. Mom is clearing off the cars Damn! That snow is high! Clearing a way to the street. Snow is everywhere. Let’s see how much of the house we can cover. Our poor redneck reindeer using its natural camouflaging ability.