Good Stuff!

In 1969, Greg Laurie, was seventeen and going to high school Newport Harbor High School in California. Fourteen miles from Disneyland. Just one mile from the beach.

Laurie was raised by a single mother who had seven marriages and struggled with alcoholism. They moved often, sometimes to very different locations such as New Jersey and Hawaii. He was not raised in the Christian faith or a church environment.

He began participating in the hippie movement, doing drugs, dropping out, because it was fun and because maybe this was the way.

The 1960s and early 1970s was the height of the hippie movement, which sought love, beauty, honesty, freedom, and fun. Hippies felt that “The Man” (the establishment, the authorities, those in charge, Big Brother) had caused huge problems. And they wanted to drop out of that society. Leave it utterly. Find a new way.

Why? What was the problem?

The 1960s was the decade of the Vietnam war. It was the decade when we came to the brink of a nuclear World War 3 with the USSR over the Cuban Missile Crisis. It was the decade when a huge portion of the United States strove for equal rights for minorities and women against a lot of opposition. There were riots. Protests. Beatings. This was the decade when Martin Luther King Jr. and John F. Kennedy were assassinated. There were problems galore.

Now the 1960s was also a terrific decade. We passed civil rights legislation, men landed on the moon, super nerds introduced BASIC computer code which opened the door to the computer revolution. It was a decade of many good things, including the year when Lovely Wife was born. Let’s not forget that.

But it was certainly a tumultuous decade. And the hippies offered a counterculture. A different path.

A lot of youth followed that path. For example, in 1969 half a million hippies showed up at the Woodstock festival to protest the war, capitalism, and convention, and celebrate peace, love, and individual freedom.

This is the world young Greg Laurie was living in. And he was heading down the drug-hippie path.

But then he met a man named Lonnie Frisbee who looked like a hippie, had been a hippie, right at the epicenter in San Francisco, but was now inviting fellow hippies and youth to a different path.

A path that featured Christ. But not in the way of many of the churches at the time.

How was this path different? Did Greg turn around?

There’s a new movie out that is based on these true events. You can watch it and find out.

It’s called Jesus Revolution.

Nellie and I enjoyed the heck out of it. We laughed. We were on the edge of our seats, moved, and inspired. In fact, I enjoyed it so much I want to watch it again.

It’s a great entertainment for the whole family.

If you’re looking for a terrific, feel-good show, I think you’ll love Jesus Revolution. Give it a try.

I’m excited to share the Lockwood & Co. series by Jonathan Stroud. It’s a delightful audiobook experience for the whole family.

Nellie introduced me to it on our road trip to Yosemite last October.

And, oh my gosh, how we’ve enjoyed listening.

They’re young adult paranormal thrillers with a good dose of humor and English charm.

Yes, Netflix, launched a show based on the books, but Nellie and I tried it, and the Netflix productions don’t hold a candle to the audiobooks.

It’s not even close.

If you’re going to do this series, listen to the audiobooks or read them.

The story is set in England in, I’d say, the 1980s, before cell phones and the internet became a thing. The problem is that ghosts, specters, tommy knockers, etc. are appearing all over the place and causing havoc. Because, in this world, when you’re touched by a visitor from the other side, you can easily become ghost locked, basically put in coma, or die.

And while the ghosts can touch anyone, children and teens are the only ones who can see them. And so it’s children and teens who must fight them. Of course, large ghost protection agencies are formed, but our story is about Lucy Carlisle, who joins a tiny agency run by a daring young man named Anthony Lockwood.

There are five books in the series, which translates to about fifty-nine hours of delightful listening. Perfect for the long road trips, cleaning, fixing dinner, walks, etc.

Miranda Raison is the reader for the first book, Katie Lyons the second, and Emily Bevan for the final three. And they’ve all been a joy to listen to.

I’m not normally a paranormal kind of guy, but this is making me reconsider. We loved Stroud’s Bartimaeus series. And he brings the same fast action, interesting characters, and wit to these. 

If you enjoy delightful characters and derring-do leavened with some humor, give these a try. I think you’ll be glad you did.

Today I have some good fun coming your way.

The first is a game called Crossnet. It’s a mixture of volleyball and the playground game four square, and it’s a blast.

You can have one person per square or two people. And just like four square, those wanting to play line up by square one, waiting for someone to get out.

We did it with a huge group.  Our line always had 12-15 people in it, but you never waited long because the games moves fast. We laughed, teased each other, and had a great time.

The other great thing was that we could play it with folks of all ages. We had folks from 55 all the way down to 8 playing. And they all enjoyed it.

If you’re wondering what to do for the next family reunion or group activity, I think you’ll love Crossnet.

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The next fun activity is a shootout card game called Bang!

It’s played with 4-7 people. Each player is delt a unique Wild West character with special abilities and a role card. Some of the roles are on the side of law and order. Some are on the side of the outlaws.

As you play you shoot it out, try to figure out who the outlaws are, get life points back, acquire guns, steal cards from each other, avoid the dynamite, and more.

The game moves quickly. You can be done in less than 30 minutes, which is perfect for a family or date night. It’s one of our favorite family games.

If you’re looking for a new, fun, quick game to play, give Bang! a try.

I think you’ll be pleased you did.

I recently watched a move and two British TV mini-series that were just terrific.

The movie is News of the World. It’s a Western set in 1870, starring Tom Hanks as Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd, a former Confederate officer who makes a living traveling from town to town in Texas and reading newspapers to local residents for an admission fee of ten cents.

After departing Wichita Falls, Kidd comes across an overturned wagon on the road and finds the driver, a black freedman, had been lynched. He also finds the stray, young white girl who only speaks Kiowa (the language of an American Indian tribe), that the freedman has been transporting.

Kidd learns from the girl’s paperwork that she is Johanna Leonberger, who had been kidnapped and by Kiowa six years earlier. She doesn’t speak English. Doesn’t want to go with Kidd. But Kidd is tasked with getting her to safety. Of course there are all sorts of perils and issues along the way that threaten that goal.

There’s suspense, action, drama, bad guys, and some poignant moments that will move your heart strings. If you like westerns or Tom Hanks, I think you’ll love this movie. It’s the best western I’ve seen in a long time.

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Those of you enjoyed Downton Abbey will be very happy to hear that Julian Fellowes, who was the executive producer for that series and wrote many of the episodes, is back and has written two more historical dramas with that same type of feel.

The first is Dr. Thorne,a three-episode miniseries based on the novel by Anthony Trollope.

It’s set in the late 1800s. Mary Thorne and Frank Gresham, the only son and heir of the squire of Greshamsbury, fall in love. However, Frank’s parents want him to marry wealth because they have very little to leave their son. Mary is penniless and of suspicious birth. She’s not anything at all that would help Frank in the world. And so the drama begins. You get to enjoy the historical setting, the manners, and romantic suspense.

The second is Belgravia, a six-episode miniseries set in the 1800s and based on the novel by Julian Fellowes himself.

For you geography buffs, Belgravia is an actual place, an affluent district of London. And the story set there is about two couples. The first, the Richmonds, are part of the aristocracy. The other, the Trenchards, are from the business class.

The Richmond’s had one child, a son. The Trenchards had one child, a daughter. The two fell in love. But the son was killed in the battle of Waterloo. And the daughter died in childbirth. However, it was an illegitimate childbirth that the Richmonds don’t know about. The Trenchards thought it best, to retain the reputation of their daughter, to have someone else raise him.

Twenty-five years later, however, both couples still feel the hole those deaths left in their hearts. Mrs. Trenchard feels it’s time to reveal the truth to the Mrs. Richmond. But it does not go as planned. Especially not when the Richmond’s nephew wants the Richmond’s inheritance and is willing to remove all obstacles in his path.

It’s a story full of manners, heartbreak, suspense, hope, and, well, I won’t tell you the ending. But I will say that if you like these types of historical dramas, you’ll probably love this.