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Fitbit IX – Week 34

A pretty good week, as I managed to surpass my daily goal twice while putting up my second-highest weekly total of the year.  A trip to Wrigley Field with old friends on Sunday got the week off to a great start, coming 10 steps away from 7600 steps.  Predictably, Monday’s total fell off just a little bit, dropping to 3500 steps.  Tuesday improved on that total, jumping up to 3600 steps.  A trip to the office on Wednesday pushed me up over 4600 steps.  Thursday went down a little, finishing with 4100 steps.  Friday saw a nice increase, going up to 4400 steps.  My first Purdue football game of the season led to a big surge on Saturday, ending the day 24 steps shy of 7800.

Total steps: 35,765

Daily average: 5109.3

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You Ought To Be In (23) Pictures

Many years ago, using the weekly TV guide that came with the Sunday Chicago Tribune, I started keeping track of all of the movies I had seen over the course of my lifetime.  The guide would list the two main stars for each movie, and that is a tradition that I’ve carried on in my database ever since.  Given those guidelines, it is time once again to look at the now 107 actors that have starred in at least 10 films that I have seen, as of July 1.

We continue today with the single actor that has starred in exactly 23 movies that I have seen, a level uncharted three years ago.

George Clooney

George Clooney was bouncing around Hollywood for a while before becoming a superstar on a little show called ER, whose pilot movie was his first entry on this list.  That launched him to great film success.  Two films is my high-water mark for Clooney, one which I have reached five different times, most recently in 2012.  My most recent Clooney experience came in 2022, thanks to Ticket to Paradise.

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Fitbit IX – Week 33

A nice bounce back, thanks to a couple trips out to the ballpark.  An unsatisfying trip to Guaranteed Rate Field on Sunday got the week off to a decent start with 5400 steps.  Monday’s total fell off just a little, coming just 27 steps short of 4300.  An after-work trip to Wrigley Field on Tuesday led to my best total of the week with 7100 steps. Things came back down to Earth on Wednesday, finishing 15 steps away from 4300.  Thursday was the low point of the week, needing 2 additional steps just to reach 3000.  Friday saw a small increase, going up to 3300 steps.  A trip out to dinner on Saturday helped drive a much bigger increase, coming 23 steps shy of 4700.

Total steps: 32,187

Daily average: 4598.1

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You Ought To Be In (21) Pictures

Many years ago, using the weekly TV guide that came with the Sunday Chicago Tribune, I started keeping track of all of the movies I had seen over the course of my lifetime.  The guide would list the two main stars for each movie, and that is a tradition that I’ve carried on in my database ever since.  Given those guidelines, it is time once again to look at the now 107 actors that have starred in at least 10 films that I have seen, as of July 1.

We continue today with the three actors that have starred in exactly 21 movies that I have seen, up two from 3 years ago.

Samuel L. Jackson

29 years ago, I first made the acquaintance of Samuel L. Jackson in two polar opposite films, Pulp Fiction and National Lampoon’s Loaded Weapon 1.  After 1994, I also saw multiple Jackson films in 2000, 2006, 2019, and 2020.  There was a six-year break between Lakeview Terrace, which I saw in 2010, and Kingsman: The Secret Service, which I saw in 2016.  He racked up five films between 2019 and 2021, the last of which was Death To 2020.

Scarlett Johansson

I, and most of the world, was first introduced to Scarlett Johansson in 2001 when I saw the comic-book adaptation Ghost World.  Starting in 2004, there was a six-year run where I saw eleven of the fourteen films that make up this total, including five in 2006 alone.  Another three films came in 2014.  After another three-year streak from 2017-2019, my most recent experience with her came in 2021 thanks to Black Widow.

Julia Roberts

Julia Roberts burst on to the scene in 1990’s Pretty Woman, which was one of two films of hers I saw in 1991.  I’ve seen multiple films from her in 1991, 1994, 2000, and 2017, with her big year for me being 2000, when I saw four different films in which she starred.  After a five-year absence, she returned to my screen in 2022 thanks to Ticket to Paradise.

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Fitbit IX – Week 32

An extremely consistent, if otherwise down, week, with four days coming within 37 steps of each other.  My highpoint of the week came on Sunday, coming just 34 steps shy of 4000 steps. Monday’s total came just 37 steps short of that.  Tuesday fell off a bit, dropping down to 3500 steps.  A bounce back on Wednesday put me 35 steps away from 3800.  Thursday was the low point of the week, falling down to 3200 steps.  Friday and Saturday both placed within that 37-step difference between Sunday and Monday, finishing over 3900 both days.

Total steps: 26,344

Daily average: 3763.4

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All That Glitters Is Gold

Steve Harwell, the former lead singer for Smash Mouth, died Monday at the age of 56 due to chronic liver failure, just one day after entering hospice.  Harwell retired from the band in 2021 after cardiomyopathy and Wernicke encephalopathy led to him being intoxicated and threatening audience members during a performance at a beer and wine festival.  His drinking was known to be out of control following the death of his six-month old son in 2001 due to acute lymphocytic leukemia.

I saw Harwell, and Smash Mouth, perform in May of 2008 when they performed at the opening-night party for the JavaOne Conference.  I don’t recall much of their set, other than a multi-song set of Van Halen covers in the middle of their performance.

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Book 41 (of 52) – Flux

Flux – Jinwoo Chong

Flux, the debut novel from Jinwoo Chong, features three main characters: Bo, a young boy who has just lost his mother in a tragic accident, Brandon, pushing thirty and just laid off from his publishing job, and Blue, survivor of a criminal tech startup that has stolen his voice.  Eventually, we learn all three are the same person, and he has gained the ability to travel through time.

I don’t really remember how this book landed on my radar.  It took me a while to get into it, as the beginning chapters, jumping between the three “characters”, were kind of hard to follow.  The story eventually picks up, even if it never makes a whole lot of sense.  There were some interesting ideas here, but, at the end of the day, I found the execution to be a little lacking.

 

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You Ought To Be In (20) Pictures

Many years ago, using the weekly TV guide that came with the Sunday Chicago Tribune, I started keeping track of all of the movies I had seen over the course of my lifetime.  The guide would list the two main stars for each movie, and that is a tradition that I’ve carried on in my database ever since.  Given those guidelines, it is time once again to look at the now 107 actors that have starred in at least 10 films that I have seen, as of July 1.

We continue today with the three actors that have starred in exactly 20 movies that I have seen, down one from 3 years ago.

Michael Keaton

Michael Keaton burst on to my movie going radar with 1983’s Mr. Mom.  He had two different years, 1995 and 2000, where I saw three of his films.  After a nine-year absence from my screen, he returned in 2015 to increase his total once again.  The last time I saw him in a starring role was back in 2020, where he starred as McDonald’s founder Ray Kroc in 2017’s The Founder.

Eddie Murphy

It’s hard to believe now, but at one time, Eddie Murphy was the biggest star in the land.  My first experience with him was likely Beverly Hills Cop.  Seven of his films were seen before I started my database, so I can’t be entirely sure of when I first saw them.  Of the seven years since that I have seen an Eddie Murphy film, five of them have been multiples.  After a 15-year absence, Eddie Murphy returned to my screen in 2019, when I finally took in 2003’s Haunted Mansion.

Sylvester Stallone

My first exposure to Sylvester Stallone was through the Rocky franchise, whose eight films make up 40% of this total.  Add in the Rambo franchise and is exactly 50%.  My biggest Stallone years were 1991 and 2007, when I took in a grand total of two films each.  His longest streak was four years, which ended with my most recent experience with his films in 2021, seeing the 1992 comedy(?) Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot.

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2023 College Football Kickoff

My alma mater, the Purdue Boilermakers, kick off their 2023 gridiron campaign today, starting a new era with new coach Ryan Walters hoping to continue the momentum that led the team to the Big Ten Championship game last December.  With Danny entering his final year in the marching band and the family having season tickets for the first time, I’m sure to make it back to campus for more than my usual allotment of games this year after tying my career high with three games last year.  With that, it’s time to take a look at the results of the now 27 college football games I have attended since the 1993 season, covering six different stadiums in a whopping three states, including one bowl game.

All-Time Team Records

Expr1000 Won Loss Winning Pctg
Penn State Nittany Lions 2 0 1.000
Ohio State Buckeyes 1 0 1.000
Louisiana State Tigers 1 0 1.000
Notre Dame Fighting Irish 4 1 0.800
Purdue Boilermakers 16 9 0.640
Northern Illinois Huskies 1 1 0.500
Illinois Fighting Illini 2 6 0.250
Western Michigan Broncos 0 1 0.000
Northwestern Wildcats 0 3 0.000
North Carolina State Wolfpack 0 1 0.000
Michigan State Spartans 0 1 0.000
Michigan Wolverines 0 1 0.000
Indiana Hoosiers 0 2 0.000
Florida Atlantic Owls 0 1 0.000