Half a Year Part 1 - Leaving, Arriving and Getting Settled

I must have wrote, deleted and re-wrote the opening few paragraphs of this post a dozen or more times. I guess what that says to me is - where do you actually begin... It will ultimately (most likely) become one of the defining events of not just mine, but also Emma, Tyler and Cecily's lives. Moving to a new country, a new culture and without any sense of understating this.... A new life!

I guess the first thing to acknowledge - as I did so far more succinctly in a Facebook post a few days ago - is that it hasn't been without challenges, that we are still adjusting and probably have a long way to go until we actually feel settled, comfortable and like we've "made it" - and at the end of the day, that's the goal isn't it?

It's probably key to understand what "making it" looks like. We have our goals and targets and most of them revolve around feeling secure. Be that though immigration status being sorted long term, be it owning equity (like a house or cars that are paid off and not a recurring hit out of payroll every 2 weeks), be it knowing what to expect - with as much degree of certainty as you can - on things like the weather, the traffic, with expenses such as medical and domestic bills.

First things first.... For us and I presume most other people who have gone through the same experience would echo, It's not a holiday. There are certainly elements of it that rightly should feel like a holiday and I'm keen to embrace those moments - otherwise what's the point - but it's ultimately a lot of hard work and adjustments. Making tough decisions. Saying difficult and emotional farewells to people that you care deeply for. Saying goodbye to infrastructure and institutions that are familiar and easy to navigate. Saying goodbye to that silly little football team you've followed since you were a young boy. Saying goodbye in at least a physical sense, to everything that you know and are familiar with.

Four paragraphs of doom and gloom right? We should just move back!!!!! In all honestly, it's not even nearly been all bad, in fact for the most part it's been exceptionally good. We made the best decision very early on in the process to move out into Spring / Summer. Mostly driven by a way of avoiding Tyler's low immune system going in to a potentially perilously cold mid-western winter, but also part guided by a want and a need to be able to get out and enjoy our new surroundings. And it worked. Really well. Probably better than we could have hoped for. But we're getting slightly ahead of ourselves... Lets go back to those last few days in England…

Leaving Coventry was mostly straightforward. Some emotional goodbyes to people we had grown very close to over the last few years – particularly in the Down Syndrome community – was without question the hardest part of it all but we got through it. Just about. It’s an odd feeling with the current state of technology allowing you to communicate over great distances with relative ease but knowing the distance and those physical meetings and encounters will be in the medium term at least, a thing of the past.

Coventry to Nottingham for one final trip to the banks of the River Trent. Some more goodbyes to both the people and the football team. As above, it’s not like it disappears forever. Games cam be streamed, good friends can remain contactable via social media, but at its heart, it just isn’t the same. You have to find ways to get over it and find ways of replacing what you miss with what you have – we’ll get to that 😉

 

Nottingham came and went and aside from the horror show stay at the Hilton Hotel, went as well as could have hoped. Then down to London for 2 quick nights in a hotel near the airport – some more emotional goodbyes – before the early morning cab ride (not without issues!!!) from the hotel to the airport, to the departure gate, to the plane, to the start of the new adventure.

The airport and flight went as well as could be hoped. We were lucky to meet a lady who was working the United desk last time we traveled in April 2018 – who was wonderful enough to upgrade us all to the extra leg room seats for the flight. This was a far bigger deal that you can image. We were very happy!

Cecily had a look in the cockpit of the plane – but wasn’t overly interested – and that was it, our time in England was at an end. With enough time to post a quick selfie from the plane onto social media, the plane took off and we began our journey across the Atlantic to our new home!

We were very lucky to have the support we did from my employers. Everything we needed or could have asked for was pretty much available to us. Worth noting at this point that without that support, the move would have been pretty much impossible.

We landed in Chicago. It was sunny and the plane was pretty much on time so short of waiting for our luggage, we were through the airport and in the rental van in good time. The only really sour note of the move came when we arrived at our home to find work still being carried out. A minor detail but that picture perfect moment of rolling the car onto the drive, collecting the keys and walking in - didn't exactly happen that way. Small fish in the grand ocean so we moved on pretty quickly and set to putting our feet up and getting ourselves sorted.

I looked back recently over my social media accounts at that first month. All things considered, I didn't actually post a huge amount. The first posts on Tyler and Cecily's Instagram account don't happen until 2 weeks after we arrived (3 weeks in the case of Cecily). I guess we were just busy getting sorted.

Within a week of arriving I had started work (no rest for the wicked!), the first weekend we were there was a large spread of garage sales in our neighborhood (on a ridiculously hot day to boot!), within 2 weeks we had Emma's birthday / mothers day, followed a week later by our wedding anniversary, followed a week later by Memorial Day weekend. Truth is, we didn't have time to post much!

Garage Sale Haul!

That first month was good. Busy but good. The weather played a huge part in that for sure. Memorial day as well - in that we were invited along to join a colleague of mine from work (who has become a very good friend over the last 6 months!) for a day at Silver Lake. Speaking of the weather - memorial day weekend was one of the hottest on record for Chicago (and by extension southern Wisconsin!) > https://chicago.cbslocal.com/2018/05/27/chicago-hits-97-degrees/ 

Silver Lake, WI

It was a good weekend and a great way to end out first month

Most of that first month was spent unpacking, replacing loan / temporary furniture with our own - Emma drove that from start to finish and by the end of the month we were not that far off from where we are now 5 months later. We had a sofa, some furniture for the lounge. A bed and furniture for the bedroom (kids bedrooms had to wait a little while longer to be fully completed but not by much), we had a table in the kitchen and all the small knick-knacks we needed to start off. 

A few weeks later, we had cars. You have no idea how liberating it was picking up our cars from the lot before returning the rental car we had been using back to the shop. Nothing to flashy, we made practical choices based on our specific needs. 

We also treated the kids. As with the furniture with Emma leading the way, we bought some outdoor play equipment for Tyler and Cecily. A swingset, a slide, a trampoline. We also picked up lots of little bits - some from the garage sales that first weekend - like sports equipment (baseball gloves, basketball hoop, an assortment of footballs and baseballs!) While this summer was great, don't get me wrong the weather meant you could go play outside most days, I think we'll really see the benefit of all of this next summer. It's interesting reflecting on this that have happened so recently but familiarity breeds comfort and knowing what to expect from the boiling hot days when the temperatures exceed 100F to the intense thunderstorms that roll over occasionally to clean the air. We'll get more good days than not, by quite a distance as well, so knowing that and having things that the kids are used to bodes well for next year.

Cecily showed a real strong interest in sports. That makes me especially happy. Tyler has shown an interest but the challenges there are a lot more complex so it's great that Cecily can show some independence from our paternal responsibilities to Tyler to become interested in football, baseball, basketball and golf. We still have hockey to come next year as well having been given a hockey net set by some friends who live on the same street.

We also had a visit in June from a good friend of Emma's Mum and Dad (and by extension Emma!) which enabled us to take a jolly up to Milwaukee to visit the Harley Davidson museum. 

Overall, if the purpose of this post is to summarize the initial part of the move and that "getting settled" phase that I called out as the sub title of this post, I go back to the social media post I mentioned near the start. "Not without its challenges... Still lots of adjusting to do...." that much is clear and how long it will take who knows. It may never get to a stage where we feel fully settled and acclimatized . I think we will eventually, there are dots on the horizon that will grow closer with every little thing we do. We'll get there.

And overall. Event though there has been (and continues to be) challenges and lots of adjusting still to do. The last six months have been worth every second of it so far.

That covers roughly the first 6-7 weeks of the move. By the end of June and through July, things ramped up considerably and we covered a lot of ground, figuratively and literally. So we'll save that for part 2!

A Fresh Start. A New Beginning.

When I logged back into this blog to check on the date of the last published post - a review of the horror movie "Let Me In", I wasn't surprised to see it was from the summer of 2013.

While I love writing, I've never really be able to find the time to sustain a single online project. February 12th 2014 obviously had a significant impact on my time - for all the right reasons - but even then, when there was a chance to write about things and create a more textured narrative to what was happening to me and my life, it still ended up being put largely on the back burner with the primary focus being on more simplified, punchy mediums like Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

Tyler's Twitter Profile

Since creating Tyler's Twitter account @JustTylerCove in February of 2015 (as good a 1st birthday present as I could have imagined!!!!!), that has been where I've lived online. My story because Tyler's story because they are so intertwined, it would be silly not to put all energy into that, especially after seeing the monumental exposure increase we encountered in August 2016. I'm especially proud of Tyler's Instagram as well though it doesn't quite get the same attention as his Twitter, but there is some great work on there too. Throw in Cecily's Instagram as well and a renewed love of YouTube and the channels I subscribe to, it doesn't leave much space to do "my own thing".

The last blog post (as of today) that I wrote for Tyler's page summarized the last 8 or so years of my life. From the MSc, to the difficult few months that followed completion of the course, right through to the incredible news that eventually our hard work had paid off and we had landed our dream move to the USA to work in North Chicago.... And that brings us to now.....

There's no guarantee that time will be as kind to us as I hope it might be but I always found it easier to be creative and write when I was travelling so the idea of being somewhere new for an extended period of time gives me hope that the spark of inspiration and desire to document the new experiences will reignite and maybe even on a broader level than the current scope allows, I can start telling mine and by extension my families story again.

It's almost nailed on as a certainty that we'll be living pretty much equidistant between Chicago and Milwaukee. If it's not smack in the middle, it's only going to be out by 10-15 miles at most. So before we even start, there are two cities to explore. Of those two, Chicago would generally be considered as one of THE great American cities so you can up the wow factor significantly because there's a reason Chicago is so beloved.

Wrigley Field. Home of the Chicago Cubs

So whilst we're in that window of expectation over knowing... What do I expect to be the new experiences I will engage with. What exactly am I looking forward to?

Those who know me well, will know that I am a big baseball fan. Second sport, only to football (no, I will stand my ground and continue to call it football - or at least footy for as long as I can!!!) so being in the Chicago / Milwaukee area presents the chance to watch not one, not even just two but THREE Major League Baseball teams within a short drive. The Milwaukee Brewers with a new, purpose built ball park may end up being perfect for family trips with the kids. There should be more "distractions" there than at the other two options. US Cellular Field (sorry, I just can't bring myself to call it the Guaranteed Rate Field) home of the Chicago White Sox and ironically the first ballpark I ever saw a game played in back in 2003, will be a bit of a trek the other side of downtown but a good American League / Interleague option none the less. And then we come to Wrigley Field. One of the two great historical ballparks still in existence (sorry Campden Yards) running joint first alongside Fenway for the nostalgia factor.

Wrigley Field, famous for its close proximity to houses at the read of the ballpark and its ivy covered outfield wall, is probably the thing (to do) that I am looking forward to the most. Baseball in general I guess. If I can't my Forest with me, I can at least find something else that I love to get back involved with. Of course, baseball in general extends to things like having a session in the batting cages. Or taking the kids to softball. Or even just being in the right time zone so watching a game doesn't require an IV hooked up to a gallon of Monster Energy drink just to get to the 7th inning stretch!

Beyond baseball there's also NFL, NHL and NBA to sink my teeth into and against my better judgement, I'll be taking my Callaway Big Bertha's with me too and will certainly be looking forward to getting a round of three in at some of the local courses. Just got to find me a golf buddy now!

The first trips into the main downtown areas of Milwaukee and Chicago will be quite special if we time it right. The dozens of videos I've watched on YouTube all paint a cracking portrait of Chicago as a place to visit with lots of things to do and see. A trip to the bean, a pizza at Giordano's, a sightseeing trip on the river, the SkyDeck and beaches!!!!! To name but a few from Chicago. And Milwaukee having the Harley Davidson museum and a rich German heritage and culture means there will be lots of fun things to do there too!

We're going to be about a 5 and a half hour drive away from the Twin Cities, Detroit and St Louis. A bit further afield we can get to Columbus, Nashville and Cleveland. That's just the cities that I know. We may not be in an area blessed with densely populated national parks that sit on most peoples lists, but there will be things to do. More things that we will have time for. And that's exciting. A long list of too many things to do, especially over the summer, should extend that "extended holiday" feeling deep into the back end of the year.

And then, when we hit winter time (and can get over the shockingly low temperatures that I'm sure will take us by surprise even with as much foresight as we can have!) we'll be able to enjoy snow! And be able to plan around having snow, which will be even better.

Weather in the UK has a bit of a reputation. And I for one am not going to be joining the line of people to defend it... It's mostly terrible. Not in the way people think or stereotypically gets reported (yes it rains, it's not as often as you think, yes it's depressing when it does) but more so in that it can be completely unpredictable. From warm spring like temperatures over Christmas to 6 weeks of rain in July. You can't really plan because you never know what you will get from season to season.

Bit cold?

My understanding of the greater Chicago and Milwaukee area is that seasons are pretty well defined and largely predictable. Which is great. We can form a plan!!! Heck, we might even get a white Christmas! And actually be able to celebrate it with a real tree and all the trimmings! Being able to watch Tyler and Cecily feed off the feeling that it is actually winter and that Christmas might match the cliche's they have seen in the numerous movies we force them to watch through December to try and ignite even just a little bit of yuletide enthusiasm, will probably make the move worth it on its own.

But it isn't just that. There's so much more I haven't even mentioned (the dream of the 1967 Chevy Impala lives on!!!) but as it inevitably seems to be doing a lot lately, time has got the better of me and I will have to bow out for now!

Next week, we're in Chicago so I will hopefully begin my rise from the flames and be inspired to post about that too! If not, it will likely be once we have moved over in May and if that is the case, I bid you god speed and will see you on the other side!

Let Me In [2010] - LetterboxD Review

Link to Original Review

For fans of horror films and those who remember when vampires didn't used to sparkle or have the rich kid problems of the Glee generation, the original release of seminal Swedish horror classic Let the Right One in came at literally just the right time. Vampire films of the quality of Kathryn Bigelow's Near Dark seemed to exist an age away from the 90210 lite Twilight generations interpretation on such a classic and at times misunderstood horror sub genre. Let Me In bucked that trend!

Coming hot on the heels of the success both critically and commercially or his first proper release Cloverfield (David Schwimmer vehicle The Pallbearer does not count, sorry!), Matt Reeves could have had his pick of probably any script he wanted. The decision to take his level of restraint and clever direction (yes, despite its bombastic nature, even Cloverfield is restrained!) and remake the aforementioned Let the Right One In was both a great career move and a joy for fans of really really good horror films. After 2 hours had passed, Matt Reeves' stock in Hollywood was on its way up again for the second time in 3 years.

Taking that restrained approach I mentioned before, Reeves crafts a vampire story built on characters and specifically, with the younger characters, a social drama about the difficulties of childhood, how being the outcast at a young age and the trials of childhoof bullying can be more painful that a smack to the ear from a metal pole

Let Me In never plays the cheap game of trying to make you jump, neither does it go out of its way or try especially hard to be scary, its not that kind of film. That's not to say it doesn't have some great moments. The tension of the tease when Owen refuses to confirm the invite, the brutally visceral car crash that triggers the primary cause and effect chain of the latter half of the story, the number of scenes where Owen encounters the bullies including the amazingly well paced and crafted finale. In fact, its because of these moments of quiet and restraint that when the film does amp it up, it makes it all the more impactful, not because it is over the top but because the hard work has been done in the build up. These moments work because there isn't so much a contrast from quiet and loud, it's more that the loud isn't that loud, the quiet is just so deafeningly silent.

The perennially great Chloe Grace Moretz is again outstanding as Abby, hopefully a sign of things to come for the upcoming reboot of Carrie. Then there are the various supporting characters, most notably Elias Koteas playing the investigating officer perfectly in the broader context of the film.

While some may prefer the original, I have such a fondness for the remake that I would go as far as to say I prefer it of the two. In a similar way to how Vanilla Sky retrod but didn't walk all over the same space as Abres Los Ojos, Let Me In takes the source material and fleshes out (no pun intended) exactly what is needed to in order to make such an incredibly compelling and subtle story of a young girls curse at being trapped with difficulties of adolescence and her escape from that by finding someone to connect to, to help, to empathise with and to share the experience and the pain.

I mentioned it earlier but the films final climactic scenes are so terrifyingly brilliant that from the moment Michael Giacchino's incredible score starts to rumble into gear that you find yourself gripping the edge of your seat. Michael Giacchino;s score reminded me of Howard Shore's pitch perfect mood setting score for De7en and its a great comparison as both films share a lot of tonal similarities. The quiet build up, the subtlety of the relationship and a character driven horror film that creates its tension and its horror from the relationships we the audience have carved with the characters and the fear that their well-being has been put in harms way brings.

As horrors go, this is one that will stand the test of time. That it will stand alongside Let the Right One In is all the more testament to how good both films are. Neither is better than the other, one of them simply came first. For me though, the one I enjoy watching the most is Matt Reeves "Let Me In".

I rated this film 5 out of 5.

Room 237 [2013] - LetterboxD Review

Link to Original Review

Sometimes you can read TOO much into a movie but that's not to say that the hardcore fanaticism on display in Room 237 isn't fascinating in itself!

Room 237 is a purely visual documentary exploring the themes and hidden (and sometimes obvious) meanings on display in Stanley Kubrick's The Shining.

I remember watching The Shining for the first time when I was a lot younger and being absolutely terrified by it. The inversion of horror cliche of light and dark, the slow, deliberate pacing, the gradual build up and decent into madness... The location of the Overlook Hotel and, in a similar way to Hitchcock's Lifeboat, the freedom juxtaposed with the claustrophobia of the great outdoors and being trapped in the great wide open. The metaphor of the hedge maze... of being trapped. Even as a kid, the symbolism on display in The Shining was very obvious and brilliantly realised.

Whilst Room 237 certainly offers some fascinating perspectives on the movie, that 2001 and The Shining are proof that the moon landing was faked being the most curious and probably outlandish, it does also deliver these opinions with a restrained but obvious passion and love. Some of their ideas are interesting. Some, I just didn't see which ultimately is what sets Room 237 out from the crowd. Very rarely does a "making of" documentary get into this level of detail on a movie. With the odd exception, movie analysis to this degree is usually left in the lecture theatre of the bar at the local arthouse cinema and for that alone, Room 237 should be commended. This is one for both fans of The Shining, fans of Stanley Kubrick and fans of cinema. It's also one for people who "want to believe", who swear blind that the moon landing was faked and who find meanings and patterns in places where there just isn't anything there, but you could certainly make the argument that Kubrick certainly weaves a rich enough tapestry on any of his movies that there is enough there to be able to go into the level of detail that Room 237 does.

Its certainly to be commended that a movie like Room 237 exists because it brings to the fore the idea of not just film criticism, but the love of cinema and specifically the love of a single piece of entertainment that can be read so many different ways and produce so many different opinions and ideas. Room 237 is in many ways a fitting tribute to one of the greatest horror movies of all time, it's only fault, by its very own nature, is that sometimes, its ideas just seem a little bit too preposterous to take seriously.

I rated this film 4 out of 5!

Man of Steel [2013] - LetterboxD Review

Link to Original Review

There is a lot to like about Man of Steel, lets get that out there right away. As a fan of DC and the world they have created, Superman, Batman et al always rank my interest higher than their popcorn friendly Marvel cousins. I'm also a fan of Zach Snyder (although the fear levels in the run up to the release of Man of Steel suggested more that he's barely capable of directing himself out of a paper bag) with Watchmen especially ranking as one of my favourite films. Then there's Christopher Nolan who, aside from not really delivering with TDKR, has largely been one of if not the most dependable mainstream directors around at the moment. The credentials for Man of Steel look good and we haven't even seen the first reel yet... so how did it ride?

The opening scene's on Krypton are some of the films best. The visual imagination, the flare for Snyder's unique aesthetic and some fantastic "weighty" dialogue delivered impeccably by Russel Crowe (one of the films standout performances).

Then we get to earth and very soon realise that we're not quite in store for the introspective "Tree of Life warts and all coming of age boy finding himself as a man and his place in the world" story that certain trailers had suggested might be possible, but at times, its not far off. The brooding, dark tone set across the film is in complete contrast to Bryan Singers Superman Returns (a film I mostly didn't mind aside from some massive plot inconsistencies and below par performances) and largely works well. This is The Dark Knight's Mate Returns territory and Nolan's influence, though subtle, is clearly present and welcomed. But it is the moments that are clearly Snyder's that work best. The significant set piece on a freeway is probably the films best and also, at this stage, its worth adding that every scene Kevin Costner is is is magic. It would have been easy to drop a "father and adopted son playing catch" scene in there but Costner plays it straight down the middle and him and Diane Lane are perfectly realised as the surrogate parents with the weighty secret they've kept and protected most of their lives.

Then there's the other performances... Amy Adams is predictably good (when is she ever not good) as Lois Lane and then there's Henry Lennix (who I loved as Boyd in Dollhouse) making a welcome return to the visibility in a strong supporting role. And of course, there is Henry Cavill himself who perfectly captures the strength, vulnerability and the tortured nature of Clark Kent, being pulled emotionally (and physically) all over the place... Cavill pitches the performance exactly right.

So what does it all mean? Is Man of Steel good? Yes, it most definitely is but with a small rider tacked on to that. Because while it is good, it does probably outstay its welcome by a good 20-30 minutes. The set pieces are always spectacular but by the time you get to what you realise is the final act, the interest level has started to wain a little. In the context of what I hope becomes one of the next big franchises, its a very good start... Philosophers Stone compared to Prisoner of Azkaban hopefully...

So how best to sum it all up? I guess you could say whilst Man of Steel is a great start and does show some real promise, the real hope with this creative team and actors is that they find a way so that Superman Returns!

Overall, I rated this film 4 out of 5.