Tag Archives: movies

Two Movies and a Book: Fairy Tale Love

15 Friday Jun 2018

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This weekend marks the middle of prime wedding season. All sorts of friends, families and acquaintances will gather and mingle to honor love. As greetings and vows get exchanged, expectations of all involved parties mount. Everyone wants the fairy tale love, or they at least want to witness it. If you don’t have a wedding to attend this week, you can soak in the weirdness of love throughout history by dappling in stories and characters from Arabian Nights, Shrek 2 and Enchanted. 

Arabian Nights has an overarching story of a newlywed bride telling a series of intertwined vignettes to her king husband to ensure she survives another day since the wives before her lasted one day before he executed them due to his mistrust of women. Her tales involve travelers, jinn and other creatures and men of various occupancies. Throughout them all, the characters expect something from the others and retaliate when disappointed. Read some or all to see how the queen keeps herself and the other women in the kingdom alive through story.

When you need a break from the long Arabian Nights, you can enjoy a lighter side of ancient fairy tale creatures by watching Shrek 2. The second installment of the series picks up after Shrek and Princess Fiona’s honeymoon and follows them to Far Far Away, where meet Fiona’s king and queen parents. Their expectations of what they dreamed for their daughter clash with reality, and they all struggle to accept the new family dynamics. Though an animated family movie, it reminds those joining families this wedding season of the true difficulty, and oftentimes tension, of interacting with in-laws and extended family. Of course in this story we get the added comedy brought from classic characters from Brothers Grimm fairy tales.

To add to the fairy tale dream, watch Enchanted as your next movie feature. This live action film follows a storybook princess as she finds herself in New York City. Clearly, her expectations of love vary a bit from most of the people she meets in NYC, including the man who helps her survive the big city. The fairy tale world and real world clash to show the contrast and balance between dreams, expectations, hope, reality. Since it’s a Disney film and pays homage to its classic predecessors, you can rest assured they all find happy endings.

As we continue through prime wedding season, we can renew our hope in fairy tale love and also balance it out with reality. Summer time works great for a light story, and we all enjoy a happy ending sometimes. When we want to give ourselves a reality check we can revisit the roots of these fairy tale stories and be thankful the tensions with in-laws in our world typically don’t result in people getting changed into animals or run ins with jinn. Here’s to a weekend of real life happily ever afters.

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Two Movies and a Book: High School Dreamers

01 Friday Jun 2018

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Ten years ago, I graduated high school. While I may not have a reunion to attend, I can spend a weekend basking in world of young adults. The movies She’s the Man and Hairspray as well as Sarah Dessen’s book The Truth About Forever came out during my high school years. The characters in these stories grapple with the cost of pursuing their dreams and the tensions that arise within themselves and from those around them as they take aim. Spend the weekend in the high school realm with Amanda Bynes on your screen and young ladies of various backgrounds reminding you to hold onto your dreams.

In She’s the Man Amanda Bynes’ character Viola follows the plotline of the Shakespeare comedy Twelfth Night as she poses as her brother so she can play soccer. Laughs follow as she attempts the mannerisms of an adolescent boy and hones in skills. Though her mother wishes Viola to shine as a debutant, Viola proves she can wear a dress as well as a soccer jersey.

Hairspray, which stars Amanda Bynes in the best friend role, demonstrates not only the tensions that arise from pursuing a dream but also racial tensions as Tracy Turnblad auditions for a dance show and supports integration. Singing and dancing abound as people start to notice the talent surrounding them. In the face of rejection for her weight and her views, Tracy holds onto her desire to dance and to develop her friendships.

Sarah Dessen’s novel The Truth about Forever deals with loss and the discovery of new and old dreams as Macy recovers from her father’s death. She and her mother don’t discuss their situation, and at a new summer job Macy makes new friends who help her sort through her pain. Though her mom resists the friends at first, Macy evaluates her life and how she wants to progress. Rather than box herself in with rules, she starts to consider goals again as she opens up with herself, her mom and her friends.

As young adults, high schools start to really take hold of their dreams. Even as an adult ten years out of high school, I struggle to keep those dreams close and pursue them despite tension that may arise within myself or from those around me. As these characters show, our goals have a purpose that can benefit not only ourselves but those around us. We can join forces with friends and family to progress them and see positive results.

Stepping Into Structure

20 Tuesday Jan 2015

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I’m at Dunkin Donuts for my high tea and writing hour again. GROUPLOVE’s song “Ways To Go” just started playing as I contemplated the topic for this post. The title alone reminds me that I indeed have a ways to go before I feel “normal” again, well normal for me at least. At this point, I have to tell myself to take one day at a time and consider each task I do an accomplishment, even if it’s simply “I went to the gym today. That’s good.” Otherwise, it seems too daunting to improve so many aspects of my life at one time.

My overall goal is to knock out my depression, anxiety, and PTSD symptoms. This entails tasks in just about every facet of my life. Right now I see that structure and regularity will give me grounding for performing in this three ring circus where I seem to star. I previously mentioned that having my journaling and writing time every day alleviates some of my anxiety. That gives at least part of my day some structure, and that makes my standing stronger. Next is to add more to it (and my regular exercise routine).

Regular events or tasks can be anything. I love mornings and treasure my two minutes to sip on my coffee before I am ready to tackle the day. Those quiet moments that happen without fail guarantee me a good starting point, whether I get to enjoy my makeup application or not. Watching a weekly TV show one night can provide structure as well. A local movie theater has been playing the Back to the Future trilogy for the past couple weeks on their Retro Thursday night. As those are some of my favorite films, I have gone to each one. Anticipating the movie and getting out of the house give me a positive distraction, especially as I sit on the edge of my seat lost in the action of the movie. As the films wrap up this week, I have to find another weekly event to enjoy. Perhaps I can find a book club or some such similar group; it would provide meaningful interaction as well.

It may seem odd to focus on the seemingly superfluous aspects of life first, but they’re more steady. They provide a structure, and they give me some extra support. Then I can add more therapy sessions and such, knowing I still have time with people and fun distractions already in motion. That means I can add more and more accomplishments to each day.

Life can get daunting, especially when at the starting point of so many aspects. Take it one item and one day at a time, and use that to create a standing point for yourself. Then you can pivot different directions to tackle each area of your life and goals.

Liebster Award

24 Friday Jan 2014

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The lovely Ginger Loves Makeup has nominated me for the Liebster Award! This gives me the opportunity to share a little more about myself and to encourage other bloggers with my own nominations.

Here are the rules I’m following for this Liebster post:

  1. thank the person who nominated you, and post a link to their blog on your blog.
    2. display the award on your blog — by including it in your post and/or displaying it using a “widget” or a “gadget”.
    (Note that the best way to do this is to save the image to your own computer and then upload it to your blog post.)
    3. answer 11 questions about yourself, which will be provided to you by the person who nominated you.
    4. provide 11 random facts about yourself.
    5. nominate 5 – 11 blogs that you feel deserve the award, who have less than 1000 followers.
    (Note that you can always ask the blog owner this since not all blogs display a widget that lets the readers know this
    information!)
    6. create a list of questions for the blogger to answer.
    7. list these rules in your post. (You can copy and paste them from here.)
    Once you have written your post, and published it, you then have to:
    8. Inform the people/blogs that you nominated that they have been nominated for the Liebster award
    and provide a link for them to your post so that they can learn about it (they might not have ever heard of it!)
    I would like to add that you can nominate someone who already has been given this award, as long as
    they have less than 1000 followers/subscribers. The idea behind this award is to recognize new bloggers and
    help promote them! The benefit is that you get from doing this is that you get some promotion, too!

 

Here are my answers to Ginger’s 11 questions:

  1. What is your favorite time of year?

 

Fall is my favorite season, and I enjoy the following holiday season

 
2.What’s your favorite type of nail polish?
OPI, especially red shades

 
3. What are your favorite TV show and movie of all time?
My absolute favorite TV show is One Tree Hill, and my all-time favorite movie is a tie between Finding Neverland and Stranger Than Fiction.

 
4. Who or what inspires you the most?
Typically, music inspires me most.

 
5. In your free time, what is your favorite thing to do?
I like to journal and write.

 
6. What is your favorite color to wear year-round?
Green. Just green.

 
7. How often do you normally change your nail polish?
I religiously paint my nails every Sunday night.

 
8. What’s your favorite thing to eat?
Ice cream.

 
9. Name three things in your purse right now.
my wallet, sunglasses, my new Swiss card knife.

 
10. What is one beauty product you cannot live without?
nail polish

 
11. And lastly, what made you start your blog?
I’m not quite sure. It was a new venue for writing to try, and it slowly lured me into sharing more of my thoughts.

 

 

 

My 11 facts about myself are:

  1. I have finally given Grease 2 (it came with Grease when I bought it a couple years ago), and I find it surprisingly entertaining.
  2. Mark Wahlberg may be my Fantasy Celebrity Valentine Day Date Draft pick for this year; it’s an inside joke since my boyfriend likes Mark Wahlberg movies so much. Mila Kunis may be a funny choice for him too since she was the romantic lead in a Mark Wahlberg and a Justin Timberlake movie.
  3. Valentine’s Day has always been my favorite holiday even though I’ve only had a Valentine once. I like the new idea around thinking of it as GALentine’s Day.
  4. I’m honored to share that my cousin asked me to be her Maid Of Honor at her upcoming wedding. I get to attend to beautiful weddings this spring!
  5. My dad’s had a Harley my whole life, and I’ve never ridden on a motorcycle. I refuse to ride one.
  6. My coffee mug today has a British flag on it; my dad and I have matching mugs from England.
  7. This year marks the 10th anniversary of my first real concert, Hanson (after seeing Avril Lavigne do a small mall show before releasing her second album that spring).
  8. I love Rock Of Ages and want to see it on stage in New York. The time period in that story is where I would go if I could time travel.

 

My 11 questions for my nominees are:

  1. What is your favorite musical?
  2. What movie is your favorite book to screen adaptation?
  3. If you could go to any concert this year, which artist would you see?
  4. What is your favorite pick up line?
  5. How did you choose your topic for your blog?
  6. How will you likely spend your Valentine’s Day this year?
  7. When was your last vacation and where did you go?
  8. If you were to host a party this upcoming weekend, what would be your ideal theme?
  9. What’s the biggest risk you have taken for potential gain or success?

10. Who has given you the greatest encouragement on your writing?

11. What movie or book character would you fancy for a Valentine’s Day date?

My nominations are:

There’s So Much To Smile About

Roamin4Happiness

Flux & Flow

 

After Marky Mark Came The Work Mouse

02 Wednesday Oct 2013

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I don’t really believe in superstitions, but I have had a strange October day. My mind at work slowly drifted as a record number of older gentlemen acted extra sweetly toward me, a mouse lurched from my locker when I opened it to retrieve my purse on my way home, and a black cat sat at the street corner by my apartment. Luckily, the cat did not cross my path. Neither did any other bad omens.

On the contrary to bad omens, I found out a new fun fact today: Mark Wahlberg used to rap under the name Marky Mark. I discovered this fact during my Skype date with one of my best friends from high school as we chatted about life. This fact came up when I mentioned all the Mark Wahlberg movies my boyfriend and I watched this past weekend (2 Guns, Pain and Gain, Date Night) and I joked that my honey had a man crush on Mark since he picks movies because Mark’s in them. I can add the “Good Vibrations” music video to the list! I’m dying to share it with my boyfriend.

Now I’m more curious about other Mark Wahlberg films. I hadn’t realized I might be interested in more Wahlberg movies, some of his dramas perhaps. I like sharing entertainment details with people I love, whether they be mutual interest or the basis for an inside joke or relation. For example, now I think of my boyfriend when I see Wahlberg movies. I’m not as into action movies, but we share time together during those movies. I even got him to try a more comedic movie during my Sunday Ritual when we watched Date Night. We got to sit close, laughing together as we soaked up each other’s company. It seems like Mark Wahlberg is vying to reach Justin Timberlake’s status as our shared person of interest. We continue to bond over JT; we discussed him and his music as we initially became friends and boyfriend/girlfriend, his “Mirrors” is our song, we have tickets to see him in concert soon, we still talk about JT and suits and ties. It’s fun to think of a special someone when you see a certain celebrity, hear a particular song, see a movie because of any connection to that person.

As I’ve mentioned previously, it’s all about the details. Now I have even more details surrounding me to remind me of the specifics of a person I love. I also have the small details of my October to make me reconsider my disbelief in superstitions. You could say it was karma for me to have a mouse jump out of my locker since I didn’t exactly participate in the spirit week crazy hair day today. I substituted crazy hair for a dress I guess. Maybe that’s why all the older gentlemen gave me extra attention, commenting on my dress and my smile. Yet the cat didn’t cross my path. I came home to sip on lemonade and chat with my old friend on Skype, during which I gleaned a new detail about my honey’s man crush.

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I captured some of my initial excitement of the “Good Vibrations” discovery.