Newseum

The Newseum. Not only is it a weird word, it's a weird museum too. Located on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C., the Newseum is right down the street from the Capitol building. As a matter of fact, if you go up to the sixth floor, there is an amazing view of the Capitol from the balcony. (Beware though, tons of people stop to take pictures.) Unfortunately, this is pretty much the best part of the museum unless you are a media junkie.

Befitting its name, the Newseum is, well, a museum for news. On the bottom floor (where you first start out), there are some interesting exhibit. There are chunks of the Berlin Wall, as well as one of the watch towers. (Unfortunately, you can't go up it...though I imagine that would be a logistical nightmare since the inside is so small.) There is also a Sports Illustrated athletic photographic exhibit and a G-Men exhibit. I think I would have liked these better if I enjoyed sports and if we hadn't just finished with the Spy Museum earlier in the day.

From there, you take a great glass elevator up to the sixth floor to experience the museum from the top down. This is where things begin to fall apart. After gazing at the Capitol, you are shuffled down a walkway filled with nothing but the day's front pages of newspapers from around not only the country but also the world. Some of them were vaguely interesting but newspapers, in this day and age, just aren't interesting any more. Luckily, a little bit farther down the museum (I forget which floor, they all kinda blended together after awhile), there are decades-old newspapers. These, to me, are way more interesting than what is currently going on in Backwoods, Iowa. On the bad side, there were tons of them so I didn't get a chance to read too many. This part of the exhibit stands in the center of the floor while video rooms line the walls. Various short films about the media were shown in these. For example, there was a 'Bias' film and a 'Sources' film nearby. Since I was walking around with my husband and my 8-year old daughter, we didn't check out any of these films. (They didn't look particularly appeasing from the outside.)

The next big exhibit was a 9/11 Memorial, which contained a piece of one of the towers. This also featured the front pages of newspapers from around the world. Though what I found most interesting was the tribute to William Biggart, a photojournalist who lost his life running toward the Towers to capture everything on film. His items, as well as the interview with his widow, were much more jarring than the piece of crumpled metal in the middle of the room.

I'd like to note here that the one exhibit that my daughter was looking forward to was the Presidential Dogs exhibit. Unfortunately, all it consisted of was a long line of photos of the presidents with their animals and a small description of them. It was along the lines of "This is 41st President George H. W. Bush with his dog, Millie." On the positive side, this did lead us to a small interactive exhibit on the Bill of Rights so I did get a chance to discuss that with her.

We ended our journey in the Interactive News Room. This gives people (mostly kids, I think) a chance to 'be a reporter.' There are various terminals with games where you question witnesses to get the story on a crime or matching the pairs of photographs of media personalities. However, the big draw is the "Be A Reporter" feature where you can actually pick up a microphone and step before the camera to report a story.

Overall, my husband, my daughter, and I found the museum to be rather boring. On the other hand, my mother, my sister, and my sister's boyfriend enjoyed it so much that they went back the next day to see all the stuff they missed. I guess it's a good thing that the tickets are good for two consecutive days, not just one. At least I don't have to go back again.

International Spy Museum

I spent last week in Washington, D.C. with my family. Over the next few days, I'll be talking about the various museums we visited. First up is the International Spy Museum.

I was a bit torn on this one. We didn't do any of the extra "spy operations" so my opinions are solely based on the regular trip though the museum. After a short elevator ride, you are told that you must memorize a new cover identity. You pick one of the identities written on the pillars in the middle of the room and try your best to remember all of the information. (Your new name, age, country of origin, etc.) Then you sit through a briefing video. Then the museum begins. Depending on how many other people are in your 'group' (it may not necessarily just be the people you came with), this part is either really fun or really annoying. There are a bunch of little games teaching you how to be a spy. From trying to figure out if someone is spying on you to learning how to read aerial maps, there is a lot to learn here. However, each area has two terminals. If there are a ton of people around, chances are you won't really get to use them. My husband and I walked all around the area and played a few of the games before we could get anywhere near the terminals for the secret identity game. (You get more clues that you are supposed to memorize to use later.) I think the museum either needs more terminals or to figure out a way to lower the number of people in each group.

From this point, the museum is pretty much like any other museum. There are a lot of exhibits featuring decades old spy memorabilia from the around the world. While some of it is interesting, a lot of it is a bit dull unless you are really into the whole spy thing. Also, the museum itself is badly laid out. Exhibits line the walkways, which make it difficult to walk though an area without bumping into the people reading the placards. My husband and I were stuck in one area because there was a man reading a placard on the left side of the walkway while a woman was translating a placard for a young boy on the right side. There was no room for us to squeeze in between them to get to the next section.

At the end, you were supposed to be able to use the clues you got from the secret identity terminals in the beginning to finish your mission. Either I (and my sister and her boyfriend) missed a terminal in the middle somewhere or the museum changed the information on one terminal without updating the second because the information that we had wasn't even available as an option on the second terminal. As a result, we failed our "missions." I was very disappointed since this game was one of the big things I was looking forward to.

In all, if you are a big spy nerd, you'll probably love this place. If you don't like crowds or are only vaguely interested in spy stuff, skip this altogether. There is much more interesting stuff in town.

Movie review: Cop Out

Cop Out is a comedy directed by Kevin Smith (of Clerks and Chasing Amy fame). Bruce Willis plays a cop who decides to sell his rare baseball card so he can pay for his daughter's expensive wedding after he gets suspended without pay. When his card is stolen, his jealousy-ridden partner (Tracy Morgan) helps him track down the thief.

I've watched almost all of the movies that Kevin Smith has directed and I've enjoyed them. I wasn't sure what to expect from Cop Out. Especially considering it's been awhile since Willis has done a comedy. Luckily, the stars have aligned themselves and the result is quite hysterical. Though, I have to admit, a good chunk of that credit is due to Morgan. His performance as Paul is comedic brilliance. It's been a rather long time since I laughed so hard. Definitely worth it!

Movie review: The Losers

Much like The A-Team, The Losers are a black ops team that has been betrayed. However, The Losers are a CIA black ops team and they are left for dead after an operation that would have required them to kill children. (Again, like The A-Team, they have a soft spot for the kiddies.) Now living in Bolivia, a strange woman brings the group back together with promises of revenge against Max, the mysterious voice that sent them to their doom, as well as a promise to give them back their lives.

Despite making tons of comparisons to The A-Team, I found myself enjoying the flick. Both my husband and I felt that Chris Evans as Jensen was the best of the bunch. There isn't a lot I can say about the movie without giving away spoilers so I'll leave it at this: If you are a fan of action movies like Die Hard, you'll definitely enjoy this one. While there are a lot of fight scenes, this isn't the movie to watch if you're just looking for explosions. The awesomeness comes from the mixture of comedy and action. Enjoy them both and you'll have a great time watching this.

Update!

Lately, The Geek has been having some server problems. Our server box has randomly been turning itself off. As a result, the site has moved. We were on vacation this past week so we weren't able to focus a lot of energy to the switch. But now the change is done. I have to re-configure the site's theme and some other items but, for the most part, things should be working better now. Please let me know if you experience anything weird. Thank you!

RVing

My mother has been looking at RVs recently. That opens up more options for family vacations. It would be pretty cool to drive to multiple locations and stay for a few days instead of renting a whole house for a week. More things to see! I wonder if motorhome insurance is similarly priced to regular car insurance. The things are bigger and heavier...so does that mean they cost more to insure? I wonder....

Chinchillas!

We have two pet chinchillas at our house. They live in a very large cage in our living room. (It's four feet tall and about three feet wide.) Sadly, chinchillas get bored fairly easily. We have some big pieces of apple wood for them to climb and chew but we don't have any clamps or anything to hold them into place. As a result, the wood is just sitting in the bottom of the cage. Not really climbable, in my opinion. Maybe I should call a woodworker to see what they might use to clamp a piece of wood to a metal cage.

TV review: The Fabulous Beekman Boys

How many of you knew that Discovery has a channel called Planet Green? I didn't. At least not until The Fabulous Beekman Boys appeared. (New episodes aired Wednesday nights at 9PM.) Yes, Discovery has dragged me back into reality television.

The show revolves around city boys, Josh Kilmer-Purcell and Brent Ridge, purchasing a farm in upstate New York called Beekman Farm. Their goal is to turn the farm into their main source of income. In order to do that, Brent (a doctor that previously worked for Martha Stewart) works and lives at the farm full-time while Josh (a former drag queen who is now an ad exec) works in New York City during the week then commutes up to the farm on weekends. Luckily, they have farmer John to help them tend the goat herd that gives them milk for their cheese and soap. Unfortunately, they don't have someone to help them through the strains of a long-distance relationship.

When I first saw the commercial for the show, I was delighted. It was touted to be a "City Boys Become Farmers" type show. (Yes, there are a lot of Green Acres comparisons.) The commercials claimed the boys knew nothing about being farmers and everything they knew, they learned from Google. In reality, the show is about the strains on their relationship. The pair have been together for 10 years and, for the first time, they aren't together all the time. Josh spends 5 days a week in New York City, which is 3 hours away by train, while Brent stays at the farm working on building the Beekman empire. A lot of the episodes revolve around Josh complaining that he never sees his boyfriend as Brent reminds him that they agreed to this "year of sacrifice" or Josh complaining that he's tired from working hard all week only to return to the farm so Brent can hand him a list of farm chores. Yet, underneath it all, you can see that Josh and Brent really do love each other and, if they can get the farm to a point where it can financially support them, things will be happy again.

So what is my opinion on the show? The 10-episode season ended last night. I purposely waited until the end to talk about it. The first few episodes were annoying. I wanted the "How do we milk a goat? Google it!" show and not the 'Gay guys whine/cry a lot' that we were given. However, by the end of the season, I was hooked. I really want to try their cheese and smell their soap. I want Josh to quit his city job and be a real farmer. I want Brent to relax a bit...though I know it won't happen. The show has been renewed for a second season. I'm hoping that there will be less whining this time around.

Tires are expensive

My car needs new tires. The front brakes were recently replaced but now I need at least two tires. I can't believe tires are so expensive. It's not like they are gold-plated or anything. And can anyone tell me what a 5th wheel warranty is? That sounds like there's a warranty on your spare tire? I'm not sure why you would want that. I suppose if you bought a brand new tire as a spare then you never had to use it....I'm not sure what the warranty would do. At what point would it kick in? I don't think I'd ever purposely buy a spare tire anyway. I'd replace the tires on my car and use one of the 'good' tires as a spare.

No carbs?

I am amazed that Drew Carey has lost 80 pounds! Apparently he did it through a strict no-carb diet and tons of cardio. No weight loss fat burner schtick for him to advertise. (Do you hear me Jenny Craig celebs?!) It sort of motivates me to try something similar to lose weight. Then again, Drew Carey has tons of money. He can afford an expensive diet change. Perhaps I can try to find some inexpensive no-carb recipes for us to try out. Wish me luck!