Do you compete… Life’s a movie, right?

When I first watched this film I was like… “OK.. I wanna see how this woman gets her groove back.” I think I live in this testing world of questioning to really understand people and their motives. Stella was a corporate executive struggling with time, and seeking to find value in herself. Sometimes the best thing you can do in life is step away from the daily grind and enjoy a freedom break for the mind. Her break was a trip to Jamaica, and so the story unfolds.

Stella meets Winston Shakespeare, yes, a man by the last name Shakespeare.

See at first my little feelers go crazy… wasn’t Shakespeare the most romantic brilliant poet of all time? Well, aside from all of that, I loved how this movie allowed the beauty of the islands to captivate the essence of Stella’s soul. Winston was half her age, but she felt more than her age when dealt with choosing love over the life she already knew and created.

How Stella Got Her Groove Back is one of those escapism movies. Tropical paradise, timing for meeting an incredible attractive man, and of course an instant attraction.

What I liked about this film is how a stubborn Stella became more and more relaxed when she fit into the groove of her own self. People get caught in ruts all the time. People are trying to make sense of their own self pity and unsatisfied needs from time to time. But, what I adored about Stella’s character was that she wasn’t trying to escape when she found Winston, she wasn’t trying to do anything.

Circumstances can do a lot of different things to people. The saying time is money is just as critical as timing is everything.

Being at the right place and at the right time is sometimes more critical than forcing the ending of a story to come true. When I first heard the title of this movie I laughed, I couldn’t imagine how someone can find a groove back, I didn’t understand how life had so many grooves. What I found was that the groove was in ones own security, not their insecurity.

Life offers us many insecurities from time to time, but, when we know that confidences is all that matters, the idea that getting something back seems so cliche’.

So how do you do it? How do you get your groove back? Do you need a tropical island and a man to show you that? Or do you simply need to find yourself and give yourself time to shake your groove thing in your own little way? I’d have to say that people are people and the more we realize how important it is to find peace within ourselves first, the more critical it is to understand how others will embrace and understand us better.

Tags Impressions, Love, Self

Drew Barrymore gave audiences a sweet memory after watching Ever After. The classic Cinderella story comes to life in the film as the characters of Danielle and Henry find true love. I have to admit, I always adored watching Prince Charming sweep Cinderella off her feet. He gave a perceptual poor servant a chance out of a world of turmoil and into the arms of a dream life and fantasy lived experience. I however, was saddened that the step mother had to be evil, as evil step mother seemed so cliche at the time this movie came out.

Cinderella was a giving, level headed girl. Cinderella was a sweet, innocent girl. As Cinderella turned more and more into a woman, we see her evolve and change and become stronger and stronger.

I loved this quote from the film because a woman with strength and wit is always a great combination. A woman with dreams and follow through is potentially just as better.

Sometimes I imagine how many times I was swayed by the idea that there truly was this fantasy that as a little girl you will age and Prince Charming will sweep you off your feet. I believe its true that Prince Charming is just what you needed as a young girl, but, that Prince Security seems to kind of take better precedence.  

I question whether or not true love only exists in the past, and if true love is to standstill against the changes of time, are we all giving into security more or less than the fantasy?

A valuable lesson in the Cinderella story and even in Ever After is that young girls and young women grow up to know that love is stronger than anything else you have to work through. Love is not just about who you are, but who you want to become. The greatest gift Cinderella and Prince Charming can give to one another is trust and security.

The lessons I will teach my daughter… trust yourself, give your soul to someone who wants it and steal the heart of a man, because ultimately I really don’t think anyone can walk in a glass slipper without a loving arm to hold.

Tags Fantasy, Love

So being the curious that I am, I take on this curiosity of seeking to find answers to the most complex issues. I learned a valuable lesson today, a huge one to say the least; you cannot sit around wondering what happened, you must get up and make sure you don’t allow the happening to get to you.

We all appear to have the same make up. We breathe, we think, we imagine and we feel. When we question what takes someones breath away or what they think, we seem to fall short in understanding how one can imagine seeing themselves feeling like they know what its like to be in another person’s shoes.

I still to this day compartmentalize and categorize things in my life. I check things off the list and structurally move to the next challenge, goal or even impossible situation. I think, what if I stopped categorizing the check list, and started to enjoy the categories I put myself in rather than move through them like a freaking survey, I may actually not take things so far for granted.

Literally… Somethings Gotta Give.

So, I think about it this way, I must stop seeking the approval of my to do items, and start living the approval of my own self worth. We cannot all be superheros, we cannot all be intelligent or successful, but we can all be mirrors to our own perception.

Spending time with one another is like spending time with your own valuable worth. People are running ragged these days, constantly trying to figure it out. I am one of them. Racing to the next finish line before enjoying the sprint or marathon I am in.

My brother made a good point. You cannot drive down the road just focused on the car in front of you, you have to look at all your surroundings. Often you cannot find what you are truly looking for without relieving yourself some pressure of who’s really watching.

I know this film was about realizing that sometimes life strikes us different at different times. Just because we may want something to fill the void, doesn’t necessarily mean the void was needing to be filled. Maybe, perhaps just maybe the compartment was not in need of any category, maybe it just wanted to come down from the shelf and be enjoyed.

Tags Competitor, Life choices

A suggestion for today’s post… Nothing to Lose. As I reflect on this film I saw, oh 13 years ago.. and only saw it once, I think to myself.. hmm.. what if that philosophy is true. What if we have nothing to lose but an epiphany of opportunity to gain?

Are gains truly calculated based on monetary expenditures or, are we strictly judged by a calculator of wins and losses in life?

If you start to risk all to gain so much in return, are you attempting to gain so little to risk everything else as a constellation prize?

So, I at first ponder the concept of money versus a judge in character. Money doesn’t buy you happiness it just makes life a bit more comfortable. Money enables life to co-exist with adventure, power and entertainment. Without money, would the world revolve on its axis so seamlessly? I would contest not. I would contest that once someone is given the opportunity identify worth through money, they are easily swayed that it will solve all their problems instantaneously. 

Each time I think about risk and the reward that people seek, I think about how sometimes hard work doesn’t necessarily pay off monetarily. I think about how people are handed rewards without any punishment or teeth in the game. I think about times when I would give a million dollars to change a moment or a time I felt I lost everything I had emotionally invested.

Sometimes life and value are odd matches. Sometimes life and value are oddly related as critical to finding ones purpose for existing.

If I lived with the nothing to lose philosophy, have I essentially given up on everything I worked for previously? Or have I given myself a motive to find what I seek to gain in the form of simplicity? I know this movie was light hearted, fun witted and of course a cross connection of people versus their own choices.

But, I have to admit… you can’t find what you’ve lost if you never had it to begin with.

Tags Competitor, Life choices, Risk

Sometimes I think the jokes on me. Sometimes I think I do not have any of the answers to these impossible questions that generate perception. When I look at life as a whole, I think about how I thought I knew everything and realized I am just too naive to know everything.

Sometimes life hands you these circumstances where you question your own will and your own effort, yet, you find peace in the calm of the storm.

Often at times the questioning is just as painful as the answers we seek. Sometimes not knowing is better than knowing, and sometimes knowing is worse than accepting. Point Break didn’t speak to life as this moving target of ups and downs, but it spoke to life as relationships with moving targets, and addressing those past choices first hand.

Sometimes I wonder why we meet the people we meet.

I think about why what we know, is sometimes blurred by what we wish we didn’t know. When you search and hunt for what is real, and find that its not real, do you live a more fulfilled existence trying to fight it? Or do you live a fuller life re-affirming your existence by building healthier relationships?

I struggle a lot with trust. I struggle a lot with giving people the benefit of a doubt.

I can’t challenge that you trust the wave without testing the water each time I look at the ocean.  I can’t challenge that you trust a person without testing their intentions when you feel deceived. Because ultimately, once you realize that trust is beyond testing other variables, you have to recognize that you need to trust yourself first in order to put your foot in the water and grab someones hand.

If we are all given a break to rationalize and look at the outside perspective,  is it all about time and how we meet ourselves on the edge of the shoreline suspecting that the water will teach us how to breathe?

I may not have all the answers but I do question the intent of ones choices. I guess questioning leads to more questions and finding answers leaves to letting things go with definition. I guess there cannot be crime without punishment, or punishment without crime.

Tags Competitor, Life choices, Words in emotion

Inspired by a duet by two folks on American Idol this last week, I felt compelled to see what this film is all about, as the song was just too breathtaking to not infer such thought. Once is a film set in Dublin during two musician’s lives, yet, on two different paths in life. Once stars a guy and and a girl, music, a few guitars and a story about writing and re-writing ones love story.

Is it true that love is able to be written and re-written?

The caption on this poster says “How often do you find the right person?” Seriously, are there too many right people? Or is there just the right one? I think about how when you are young you think you are in love, you think you found the person that somewhat completes you. As you age, you realize that those temporary feelings are replaced by intrigue and interest in seeing another “right” person.

Being “right” for someone doesn’t necessarily mean its the “right” time. The film creates the intrigue that place, timing and music can show you the way. If a person’s love cannot be found through experience, can the experience of love be found through the written words with music?

Once is often a term used as a single notion. A single plight, a one not, two connotation.

The film expresses the notion that right is for the time, and time is just right for the music. Music expresses ones soul, it expresses ones feelings during their experience, or someone they know. Making up a song can only be a song with no timing. Living a song before or after the lyrics can identify with having a once in a lifetime chance to say what you really mean.

Haven’t you used a song to clarify, identify, or explain what you truly mean to someone?

If not, maybe just Once will give you enough inspiration to express exactly what it is you meant to say.

Here is the performance by Crystal Bowersox and Lee DeWyze. Enjoy!

Tags Love, Music

The question rings true… just how do you swoon in on the man that has it all; money, women, power and confidence? Well.. you give him art, a fascination for thrill and of course a moment he will always remember. The only caveat…when the investigator on the crime becomes more than just an a catalyst to the assignment to find the stolen art; it becomes a love affair Thomas Crown never imagined.

Thomas Crown was popular, had his fortune, in inevitable fame, yet, still found that trusting others, and living for more than his status kept him somewhat at a disadvantage.

I think about how sometimes those people who have it all, are really missing so much. Yet, it appears that what they are missing is not necessarily something they need to find. If the drive for instant gratification and implicit satisfaction is short lived, how does one cope when the lasting fascination of the change falls short?

Think about adrenaline junkies… the need for speed, jumping out of airplanes and even climbing the tallest rock mountain. After the thrill of completion is it over? Or is it just beginning?

Thomas Crown identified a lot with the idea that power, success, popularity and drive only gave so much to an alone soul. Finding love beyond the lust or affairs with other women became more than that priceless thrill of art, it became a part of his inner perception. I always wondered why this film called itself an affair. I always wondered if the affair was because of the drive, or the intensification of going after something you know you shouldn’t or couldn’t really have.

Going after a temporary high, with long term affects; was that the case?

If it wasn’t art, was it desire? If it wasn’t the desire was it the thrill? Did it make sense? Was it worth it? I am sure these explanations could only make matters seems relevant, but if art is art, then is an affair just an image beyond the canvas? Or something only people in power can explain?

Tags Love, Risk, Temptation

I heard a saying the other day and thought, hmmm.. how do I take this. The saying was “It’s not good to chase ghosts”. At first I was like… hmmm, is that with regards to fear and the unknown and speculation? Or is that in regards to irrational, non-existent, and invincible thought?

I immediately thought of the movie Casper. I saw this movie with my dad like twelve times at the dollar theater when I was growing up. Yet, never in my wildest dreams thought I’d be talking about it today.

Casper was a ghost with unfinished business. I think about some unfinished business I have, some unfinished interpretations of people and their intentions. I think about times when you wish you could have said something better, instead of saying nothing or too much at all. I question whether or not saying anything to suffice silence is like talking to ghosts. The speak is just an invincible thought.

I thought, if you can see right through people that are not your reality, is there an alter reality present to even begin with? Are people ultimately chasing non-existent realities?

Two ways I can look at this. One, realize that you can’t ultimately ever know what someone is thinking or their true intentions are; because they can be afraid of themselves. Two, people need to feel alive and chase the unknown because ultimately not knowing is sometimes better than knowing, and a ghost may just be hypothetical. 

Maybe, just maybe I have over thought this statement. Perhaps I am too young or naive to understand it. But, if you have seen someone for their reality and their existence and they become detached from you, are you ultimately waiting for their ghost to appear to answer your questions?

One minute I face my fears, the next I chase a ghost to make sense out of an escape I thought existed.

 After much thought and of course analysis I realized that a ghost is just a thought. A ghost is something you can only imagine or think you can see when nothing else seems to be in front of you. A ghost can be a friend, a ghost can explain the strange noises in the night, but… realistically a ghost is hypothetical to circumstances, and you can easily run right through it because it will never be who or what you thought it was.

Tags Fantasy, Temptation

Infatuation, lust, desire, homophobia, obsession and depression are all underlining themes in this film. American values are cultures and implicate an understanding the core of ones honor, mentality, goals, value and will power with regards to understanding why people do what they do.

If one is to choice infatuation over explanation, has one gone beyond what is required of them as an individual?

American Beauty surfaced a lot of controversial and intricate topics that left audiences a bit taken aback on what was is is acceptable form of communicating this story. Mid-life crisis, infatuation, obsession and bias were minimal compared to the greater picture of this film and it’s message.

Sometimes we look at life, our lives and think… “why is this happening to me?” Sometimes we look at our situations and think we can easily fix them and find some form of comfort in knowing that the situation ends up working itself out when one allows it to run its course.

Often at times we want to fix problems, we want to find reasoning to the problems we’ve created for ourselves, yet, we don’t necessarily know why we have these problems surrounding us in the first place. Blame is the easiest form of anger and guilt. Anger is the greatest interpretation of fear. When one fears the unknown, we fear the result. When one is angry, we fear the relationship shift or change.

Can self gratification play an important role in who we are as human beings?

If one is to take a step back and decide whether or not to take on chance with experience and experience chance with no fear, are we living the ultimate dream? Or have we become trapped in our own sub-culture called suburbia?

I used to imagine life as an adult. I used to image choices as a teen as a path towards the road I like to pave called success. When people regret choices it is only because those choices made us weak when we were only regretting the relationships we’ve destroyed along the way.

“It’s a great thing when you realize you still have the ability to surprise yourself. Makes you wonder what else you can do that you’ve forgotten about.” – Lester

Tags Impressions, Love, Risk, Self

Could one night change your life? Could one corporate decision cost you your integrity? Empire Records was a story about music, teen angst, and capitalism at its best. When the store, Empire Records becomes behind financially, the crew has one night to decide what they have to do to save the store and what they are going to do for the rest of their lives.

Open till midnight, yet, choices for the future.

I think about my first job and how crucial it seemed to make sense out of the role in which I was assigned. I think about how serious I took the job and how much I invested in perfecting my skill. That job led me down a seven year path of learning, growing, experiencing and experimenting. Yet, what I remember the most were the friendships, the laughs, the challenge and the accomplishment.

The best part about having a great job, is being surrounded by the people you grow to care about the most.

The greatest part about incorporating music and song and lust and angst in a job is that you find yourself drawn to go to work each day because it becomes your mini-series story. Empire Records idolized the teenage job category with creativity and skill. Work was supposed to be fun as a teen. Work was supposed to test your will power and evoke your own creativity.

Work is just like it is supposed to sound; work. Yet, when you work to play and play to work, are you realistically a part of a little experiment we call life? Or are you playing in someone else’s play?

The cast of characters in Empire Records were diverse, yet, troubled in their own little ways. You have the dreamer, the creative thinker, the Mr. corporate, the free thinker, the suicidal, and the lover. Think about the characters in your life’s movie. Think about the personalities and roles each one of them play.

Do you know the dreamer? Do you know the free thinker? Perhaps you know the lover, the one that seeks to find passion and lust in everyone, or maybe the Mr. corporate that takes everything so seriously.

Either way, jobs lead to careers, and friendships lead to relationships. Embrace the music, remember your story and live like each day closes down at midnight. If we can’t find peace in the job, we can always look to the people to make the workload just a tad bit manageable.

Or I guess we could just sit around and fantasize about a rock star.

Tags Business, Love

Change. Breaking the routine. Living like there is no tomorrow. Embrace the moment, seek the un-obvious and eventually let life happen. I reflect on change as a comfort. Sometimes we live in a world of fear. Emotional fear to say the least. When we step outside the fear and look back through that door that we call our guard, we tend to let the guard down and give it a second chance.

Change is uncomfortable; life is sometimes uncomfortable.

When you realize that the greatest gift you can give someone besides loving them is the adaptability to change, you are in a way giving someone the greatest freedom emotionally. I think about change and the negative connotation with the word. I think about how people had change and stepping outside their own normalcy.

Is change supposed to enact normalcy? I know that temporarily the change is a shock, it is full of uneasy tension and doubt; but, once the change is happening do we see it or do we realize something has happened after the fact?

In The Bridges of Madison County a woman’s soul and heart goes through change. A life of what she always knew began to slowly differ than what was expected of her. She, married with children enacts a change critical to her children some years later as they discover their mother’s secret and feel torn between what they knew and have grown to know.

 The story takes us through a journal collection of four days in 1960 when a man, Robert (Clint Eastwood) stumbles upon Francesca’s (Meryl Streep) farm in 1960. A change awaits, yet, unbeknown to either, their affair would be critical in knowing that life was about to change and their love would bring it back to that Roseman Bridge.

Are people allowed to experience love outside the norm? Why are people able to find change temporarily and ignore it, while living a life hiding from the change?

I think what we miss in the world of choices is that change is inevitable with wanting to be or become someone else. Have we given change such a protocol that we ignore that happenings are just a second nature? I empower growth and acknowledgment. I know change comes sometimes when we least expect it or when we have to make a different stroke in life.

Love though… how do you change love? How do you know when love has changed you? 

Tags Impressions, Love, Redemption, Risk

I just recently saw this film and I was impressed. It was cute, a little off the wall in the Hollywood spectrum, but it was a classic little fairy tale with anticipation, lust and of course heartfelt humor. Leap Year starred Amy Adams as Anna and Matthew Goode as Declan.

The storyline surfaced around a woman wanting to get married and her hesitant boyfriend who appeared always busy. John Lithgow plays Anna’s father and tells her about this Irish tradition that women propose to their boyfriends on Leap Year in Dublin. When Anna’s boyfriend goes away for business to Dublin, she takes a flight to surprise him and lands a little off the beaten path in a pub/innhouse owned by a lad named Declan.

Declan along with his quirky wit and passive ways, offers to take her to Dublin. Through the bumps in the road, the weather, the mis-steps and the journey,  the two of them find one another in comparable positions and circumstances while traveling from bed and breakfast, to train stations, to inevitably missing the trains, and to losing the car as it rolls down a hill.

What I adored about this film was the sweet, touching way of these two characters who couldn’t stand one another at first, and how they capture dthe heart of one another amidst all the turmoil.

It makes me reflect on love stories as a whole. It makes me recollect times when I couldn’t stand someone, yet, I found their cute wit to be immensely profound and comforting.

Leap year only occurs every 4 years. Life happens in between those years. Life occurs when we least expect it, and how we know something we most want can only be in the stars. Yet, love is a gift of letting one in, and lust is a passion for wanted something to supposedly happen.

As we learn to accept situations and circumstances life gives us, we learn to let the rain fall, we learn to let the wrong turn become an adventure, and let the special moments shine sun through the clouds.

This film may have happened during the premise of a leap year, but, it was a sweet test of true love and going for what you want, even though sometimes what you want seems a bit idiotic to others. Even if that idiocracy is for the wrong reasons.

Tags Impressions, Love, Risk

Mother’s day… a day to celebrate mom, the sacrifice of moms who are there for their children, and especially grateful for their gift of their children.

Being a mother is an important role, being a step mother is even more important.

I remember watching this film for the first time, before I even knew I would be a mother, and before I knew I’d be a step mother. The preface of this film was a terminally ill mom, seeking to find a mother for her children. It was touching, sweet, emotional and heart wrenching all together.

This movie teaches us that life sometimes is about sacrifice, that sometimes when we least expect turmoil or decision making to intervene, we have to imagine life for our children without us.

That thought pains me. Knowing that one day my daughter will walk this earth without me, yet, she will do it so with the love and knowledge of her mother, and her mother’s teachings. Is it premature to think that motherhood is ever changing and a cycle to which one must take highs and lows with humble pride?

Step mother’s play a crucial role in a child’s life as well. Step mothers  may not be a child’s biological mother, but, they will play the most important and poignant role in developing a child’s view of the world when they are away from their biological mother.

I have to admit, being a step mom has its challenges, it has its sacrificing moments and it has its  joyful moments as well.

I love the phrase that states the best gift a father or a mother can give to their children is to love their father or mother as divinely as can be. Children are sponges, children are observing beings, creating an exactly with heart and love is the greatest gift one mother can give to another.

To all the mothers out there, and especially the stepmothers, cheers to you for your consistent love and devotion to your children. It may have started with the first cry when they skin their knee, but loving a child is just as rewarding until the last emotional tear of joy is expelled when they say they love you.

Happy Mother’s Day!

Tags Family, Kids in general

I always dreamed of being an anchor, delivering the news, rambling on about interesting must knows, and of course being on camera. Yet, as I aged and came more to my senses… the news is about 95% depressing now. So, when Anchorman came around it gave newsworthy a different analytic to the phrase reporter.

Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy was not only about competition in the newsroom, it was about status in position.

Have we all been in a position where years over experience ranked higher in the mindset of our superiors? Haven’t we all been in a position where what we thought we knew was only half of what we ended up re-learning? I think about comedy, humor, and of course one-liners when I think of this film.

Will Ferrell and Christina Applegate did a great job playing rival news anchors. It is apparent that sometimes competition is inevitable, and competing for a job, love, or even status seem to all measure up just the same.

Stay classy San Diego! Yep, stay classy.

Living there for 10 years gave me such an experience of a different way of life. Waking up with warm temps, the beach around the corner, the endless array of things to do, museums, Sea World, Wild Animal Park… you name it.

San Diego was classy, San Diego is classy. Question is: What makes the news, news?

In a world of public relations I find that PR folks make the news, news. Getting involved in a story with a soul is news worthy for reporters to take part in. Getting involved in the reality of the news is that sometimes things just occur that need publicity. I was lucky enough to be on set at a new station when I interned in college. It was incredible. The men were applying just as much make-up between takes and the camera juggling and positioning was enough to give an anchor whiplash.

The glamour to the news is in the delivery. The seamless spoken word with improvisation and intelligence.

I will always look at reporters, anchors and the media the same; we are in an information world, surrounded by technology. We are surrounded by “need to know” and “be the first to know”. Yet, we sometimes forget the hard work that goes into making a story a reality. The hard work in making the reality someone’s story.

“Ladies and gentlemen, can I please have your attention. I’ve just been handed an urgent and horrifying news story. I need all of you, to stop what you’re doing and listen. Cannonball!” -Ron Burgundy 

Tags Competitor, Talent

When pick up lines could not get worse, they just get better. I have to admit, we used to sit around thinking of how lame pick up lines were. You know where you were like…”it must have hurt when you fell from heaven”. Or, “you must be tired, because you’ve been running through my head all day”.

Ok.. I am sure there are others that blow those out by far, but, in all actuality, does a 40 Year-Old Virgin have hope?

Life revolves around the philosophy that sex is everything. It really does, people talk about sex all the time, they imitate it, they motion for it, they complain about it, they dream about it, they are addicted to it, and they are in disposable to it.

If sex is just sex, then why are we categorizing it as something as important as the whole grains and fruits we need on the food pyramid?

Well, The 40-Year Old Virgin can answer a few of those concerns for us. This film took a few topics and twisted them, inserted their own vibrant accounts of scenarios, and even enlisted cultural boundaries to say the least. Is the world judgmental or are we just trying to make sense of it all?

When we look at a person we instantly judge them, size them up a bit, even imagine briefly what their “style” is. Come on …. we all do it from time to time. We enlist on this subconscious journey of “hmm… what’s their story”. Not necessarily are we looking or thinking of mounting them, but, we are day dreaming about the typical necessities of ones qualities.

Sex makes the world go round. The need for sex is obviously important, if it wasn’t why does sex sell? Why do we get all revved up for intimacy? Why are in a world of selling lingerie, or romantic getaways?

Sex is something teenage boys dream about. Sex is something teenage girls are curious about. Sex for adults is like coming of age with ones individuality. Sex is not only a goal, it has become a spectators’ sport.

So, as we encourage the youth to have safe sex, and we encourage happy couples to engage in sex, we can take a little detour about the time in our lives where we thought we knew it all, and yet, once we figured it out, we found ourselves chuckling at the idea that we must have been so naive to think it would be so easy.

Virgin or not, the comedy is, we’ve all been there.

Tags Fantasy, Sex

I think about times where we think we can never get over anything, yet, we find a way to make do with circumstances beyond our control because we just have no other choice. I think about how when we first fall in love we are so blinded by thinking our life is over when the relationship faltered or there was a hiccup in the continuity. I think about crushes, and childhood lusts, even high school sweethearts when I see people devastated by endings but, I remember that it just enlists new beginnings and is about a new journey. 

Is it easier to forget, than it is to love?

Forgetting Sarah Marshall was one of those films that brought the ultimate break up to the ultimate reality that sometimes the grass isn’t always greener on the other side. When Peter learns that Sarah is into someone else and dumps him, he finds solace in running away to paradise to  escape the pain and free himself from the image of Sarah and her new beau.

Yet… that did not work out to the best of his original plan. When Peter arrives in paradise, Sarah is there with her new beau and Peter is ultimately more devastated.

I think in life it takes a strong person to get over a strong loss. I believe it takes a dedicated person to get over an uncommitted person. When one has to find solace to get over the love or the loss, they must reach out to their friends to make it clear and possible to breathe again.

I think about friends that have incurred a loss. I think about family and peers that have taken the reality to a different degree of acceptance. The similarities with love and loss is that both take impeccable timing to enlist transitional results. Losing something you never had is as comparable as gaining something you’ve only dreamed about. You have to find it in yourself to want something bad enough to learn to accept not having something you’ve invested one hundred percent in.

It is great to have a soul friend. Someone that you want to be with forever. Your lover, your mate, your spouse, your partner, and even your friends. The storyline with Forgetting Sarah Marshall is that you may not ever forget someone you love, yet, you will always remember and cherish all that you have grown to know about how they’ve affected your life.

Take the time to know you. Take the time to embrace life.  Know that getting over someone or something is just as challenging as letting someone else into your life. Remember that friendships last a lifetime, love is right there to piggyback that emotion. Forgetting is just a way to deal with the instant pain. Remembering is about living in the moment.

Finding your happy medium…well that is what they call happiness.  

Tags Love

I believe this film just came out to dvd/blu-ray recently. I saw this at the theater and laughed my butt off. Vince Vaughn never ceases to let audiences down. The cast was fun, hip and the chemistry was spot on. I think the greatest part about this film is that the idea no one can escape turmoil by running off to a tropical island. In all actuality it is somewhat absurd.

We all know the paradise is just a brief interruption to the daily bump and grind. Marriage is an endless ocean of ebb and flow. High tides and low tides, calm waters and yes, rough patches at sea.

When four couples enlist on this tropical vacation to help one of their friends save their marriage, they all realize they are in for more than they originally signed up for. As the couples go through counseling sessions, interactive exercises and strict rules and protocols, they all realize they were brought to paradise for more than just a retreat, it was for an actualization of their own relationships.

It was relationship 101.

That actualization is knowing in life that we all must work through the knots. We must all work out the differences and realize that people are just people. If the situation is worth it, the couple is investing in a priceless commodity. That commodity is a lifetime of commitment. Sometimes marriages should just end, but, how is one so sure?

Remember, marriage is not a competition, it should be a team with equal players. Yet, sometimes the team needs a manager as well as a coach. Sometimes the team needs a little pep talk from now and again.

I think paradise is the means of all means with regards to romance. I am sure many have a different idea of romanticism, but, honestly;  water, the sun, the sand, the wind, and the relaxation are supposed to equal happiness. It is supposed to be the sum of all parts.

Couples Retreat was creative and fun. It brought up things that we’ve all wanted to say, yet did not know how to say during times when we just wanted to make a point. I am telling you now, laughter is the secret to many things. If you can sit and laugh with your teammate, you are surely going to have the advantage over the competition.

Marriage is therapy if you look at it from a different perspective. A perpsective that states… people are able to exist if someone they love is willing to work it out.

Tags Competitor, Love, Temptation

Assertiveness, life experience, creativity, and humble beginnings. We all strive to have some direct-ness in life. We all strive to have experience and be creative enough to share our talents with the world. When we realize that history often starts with humble beginnings, we attempt to view our life as not only important, but history in the making.

This film demonstrated a variety of topics. Friendship was key. Tomatoes…well, they were important. When someone starts to see the world as splendid as fried green tomatoes, perhaps the secret to life is in the sauce.

Perhaps life is about spicing it up every now and again, and adding an extra few tomatoes.

Life should not be about fearing death. Life should not be death fearing life. We should embrace the air we breathe and the experiences we have to gain a better understanding of who’s story preceded us.

If one is so unhappy in life, is friendship stronger than any other relationship?

Fried Green Tomatoes took audiences on an adventure about life in general. It took the characters of bored housewife and elderly wise woman to different calibers and scales. As we attempt to weigh in on our life’s purpose, the experiences we strive for can only allow us freedom if we find ourselves bendable.

I’ve always confused assertiveness with aggressiveness. However, the two are distinctly separately defined.

When you are assertive, you have great eye contact with your conversation. You have a confident posture, you offer feelings and opinions without making them too personal. You are clearly stating your needs and wants and you are most definitely more open with respect for others. Being aggressive is where your eye contact is staring or in a challenging form. You exude this arrogant posture and demeanor and you conceal opinions and feelings because in a way it is a form of manipulation when you play your cards right. Aggressiveness is overbearing and dominate in conversations, you interrupt others and honestly do not really listen to the content of a conversation.

Fried Green Tomatoes demonstrated an assertive woman, with a passion for storytelling and a heart warm enough to invite souls in.

I have always said you cannot have enough tomatoes in a spaghetti sauce. I have always thought fried green tomatoes was an urban myth, yet, a few elders I know swear by them so I had to try them. You know what? Not that bad… but, I prefer to have my tomatoes in a sauce with garlic and basil and of course pepper.

Tags Friendship

If it hasn’t been mentioned before… Children change everything!!! Of course they change the world for the best, how could they not with their adorable grins, pudgy little cheeks, all the layers and crevices, the soft skin, the little laugh and cries…

Yes.. I remember it fondly. I still tell everyone that I completely had it wrong when babies are born.

Hollywood makes it appear so glamorous.  A clean baby, not crying, just wrapped up warm and snug in a blanket, resting on mommy’s chest. Ah yes.. Hollywood. What they don’t tell you… well, Three Men and a Baby captured everything in between.

This film was great! Demonstrating that life is definitely about patience, and creativity.

Three Men and A Baby expressed that babies as cute, and charming and fun, are a lot of work. That work is well paid off throughout the years. My daughter is 3 and amazes me each day. The off the wall witty humor, the will and desire to jump and scream and show everyone who she is. I think about children and their free will spirits. I think about how they don’t have a care in the world, accept when to eat, sleep and poop.

Children make the humble more humble. Babies make the impatient more patient. I commend parents and siblings for embracing babies and loving the little moments that define who one is when pressed up against not so charming situations.

When friends in Three Men and A Baby are left to take care of their roommate’s child, we see the men go on a roller coaster of emotions from singing to the screaming cries, to changing diapers up to 10 times a day, to enjoying the peacefulness of each breath taken in.

I still love this film for its humor, yet, I owe true to the concept that babies are challenging, but, it is a pride driven equation when you see  a child smile or laugh.

Bachelor or not, these guys did a great job. I will always think about them singing and of course them cleaning up the doo doo!

Goodnight Sweetheart it’s time to go… sha na na na na.. Goodnight sweetheart…

Tags Kids in general

Oh yes… American Pie. This film took teen angst to the next level. It took it beyond the ultimate desire to get laid, it went into the self stimulating, visual appealing, and even MILF category of wow-ness!

With a film based along the preface of sex, lust, boy meets girl, boy wants girl, and girl who is completely out of someones league, yet boy gets her, American Pie gave us laughter, humor, vivid memories and yes… horrific nightmares about Jim’s dad. We will never forget “band camp” and will most likely never forget “shit break”.

The talents of Jason Biggs, Chris Klein, Alyson Hannigan, Shannon Elizabeth, Tara Reid, Seann William Scott, Mena Suvari and Eugene Levy, this ensemble cast made high school cool, and sex even more cool.

I think about the times where not knowing what something was could be so intoxicating. I think about times when feeling as if you were the last one on earth to know what a certain position was or how something felt gave you the creepiest vibe of being inexperienced. I think a lot of people learned about sex from this film. I think a lot of people heard words before that they would most definitely not bring home to momma.

American Pie was innocently sweet, yet vividly candid and vibrantly expressive. I like films that shock me. I like films that kinda leave you uncomfortable in certain scenes. It is what makes us human. Step outside our comfort zone, accept what is in front of us, and walk away with an open mind.

I think everyone competes with sex. I think everyone competes for sex. Does is bring you status, power, or energy? Does sex give you satisfaction?

A lot of books, films, songs and even paintings reflect sex. It is like the world is oppressed and needs to be reminded more and more that sex is out there. So the question is; what turns you on? Is it the thought, the visual, the act, the surprise, or the consistency?

We may all seek routine, yet, American Pie goes beyond the act, and into taking matters in ones own hands

Tags Impressions, Self, Sex

Often at times we reflect on the dogs we’ve met and the cats we’ve passed by. We think about the biological differences between cats and dogs, just as we look at the differences between men and women.

This film captured the reality of love in disguise. A man falling for a woman behind the voice. A courage of making a first impression, yet it becomes mistaken for the wrong woman. Dr. Abby Barnes is a radio host and Noelle is her beautiful friend. Brian is a man drawn to love by Abby, yet, mistakenly presumed that Noelle was Abby.

I am sure this occurs a lot with twins. Yet, never thought it could with a voice. Voices identify ones soul. Whether it is auditory spoken or literary written down it just seems a bit superficial.

Someone becomes someone to someone when that someone expels such desire to define ones relationship. Is it true that we all assume love at first sight is an overstatement? I know that love at first laugh is often more engaging and acceptable. But, what makes more sense? Auditory connection or physical connection? Perhaps can a sense of humor be the end all to all ends?

What exactly is the truth about cats and dogs? Is a cat just a passive lady with claws that come out at night? Is a dog a man that focuses on the entertainment of  woman and longs for her to come back as quickly as possible?

 I know a few independent women. I know more less of a dependent man. Yet, is it true? Can a woman achieve such success by hiding behind her appearance? Can a man look beyond someones appearance and see their inner beauty? Can someone trick themselves into believing the soul makes a person either more interesting or less appealing?

Are we all just cats and dogs, and only a few of us can play it nice?

Tags Impressions, Love

Pretty In Pink captured the essence of capitalism following a socialism type movement and of course the elite socialites in just a few years of high school. Friends, acquaintances and even those analogies tied to what we call “the teen years”, can be identified as characters in the role of life, playing each others self worth. Yet, this time, one who’s a bit crazy and one who’s just pretty in pink find a pull towards the anomalies called love when true friendship and outcast become up against each other for the same girl.

I think about this film and how perception rules the school and follows the image of Duckie, Blaine and Andie through a triangle that to the obvious is slightly connected at the tip, yet, to society a little off in geometry.

I think about status and rankings in today’s world. Is it as prevalent as when Andie and Blaine experienced it in the late 80′s? Was where and who you came from just as important?

Seems like today is a bit more forgiving than perception some twenty years ago. Seems like today has become more accepting of things outside the norm than things that are supposed to fit into a perfect little box called popularity. Today has become more capitalistic though, the corruption of money and finances has overcome the perceptions surrounding the socialite and the elite; well maybe not; maybe it has never gone away.

I recall being in high school, wasn’t that a trip? The power the girls had over the boys and the weakness the boys had over the girls.

Can one help who they fall into so hard for?

Can one help finding a way around someone that is unobtainable?

When I see love today, I see commonalities. When I see lust today, I see imperfection. It seems as if status and perception all come together when love and lust are confused.

Did we want Andie to pick Blaine? Or did we want Andie to embrace Duckie?

Friendship for the right reasons is about loving them knowing they can only be your friend. Wanting that friend to be your lover, well… I guess sometimes opposites just seem more profound to attract. Sometimes status outweighs any financial differences, because ultimately what defines one relationship, becomes the catalyst to the content in another.

Tags Impressions, Love, Status quo

That quote was classic. This movie was brilliant. I have to admit, before picked the film for today I really wanted to make a transition from animation to real life characters. But, before I completely left that genre, I had to do Jurassic Park.

Please agree with me that this film was eye opening and one of Spielberg’s best displays of character on film. Spielberg is a class act. Vividly capturing audiences for decades and of course enlisting and evoking thought beyond nature occurrences.

Jurassic Park was by far a “wow” factor for me. The animatronics, the whole theme park idea, the safari like tour, the cloning, the labs, the deceit from an internal employee (Wayne Knight), the attention to detail, and of course the scenery. Jurassic Park did  not stop at mediocre, it went beyond technology and creativity with confidence and energy beyond anyones expectations.

I know some talented folks. They are creative, energetic, witty and outgoing. I think I am drawn to movies and film because I seek to find that escape that allows creativity to be displayed.

What was the lesson in Jurassic Park? What was the idea really about?

All I know is that I had a preconceived notion about dinosaurs growing up. I had a preconceived notion about archeology and the past and even extinct creatures in general.  Bringing this story to life, was like icing on a cake, it was the perfect topping to a sundae, it was the best au jus on a steak. Memories are about imagination and recollection. Jurassic Park was entertainment, with a historical approach.

I will always remember the first time I saw this film, and I will always be grateful for how Spielberg brought history to life, and told a story through exquisite detail.

Bravo Spielberg! You are a genius.

Tags Life choices

The circle of life. The revolving door. The window to the world. The cliff-less mountain. The road less traveled. The world on your shoulders. 

We are all a part of some circular momentum that drives one to not only seek, but to find their true meaning and identity in a world full of many options and most profound choices. The Lion King marks my 200th posting thus far. A film that not only gave children a few laughs and told a story about how naive and how ashamed someone could become just by being told they have failed.

The Lion King is a film that not only provides a commonality to what matters the most in life, but, it also delivers us a strength in which I did not come to realize until I was older.

Haven’t we all been in situations where we were told we were less of something? That our sub-standards were somewhat unobtainable? The truth of the matter is, that we seek to always find guidance. Some do it internally with their beliefs and others rely on ancestors, and individuals with proven consistency and wise attributes.

I always looked up towards my elders. I always looked up to the historical aspect of who paved the way for success.

Simba was a naive lion cub. With the manipulation from Scar a jealous relative, Simba seeks off on an exile adventure to run far away from his reality and perception as a cub held responsible for his father’s death. The blame game is an ugly game to play. The regret game is even worse when shown that you must not always regret your choices, you should just learn from them.

The vulnerability of ones soul is often at times the strength of anothers. Anger and resentment often shield the world of what people are really thinking. Isn’t anger just because someone is afraid? Afraid of looking ridiculous, or losing a battle that wasn’t a battle to begin with?

I walk away from this movie and this post with reassured confidence that being true to oneself is the circle of life. Finding ones place in all the madness is just as exciting as knowing you were just you all along. Bravery comes with strength, but, knowing who you are, well… that comes with lessons learned and an open mind.

Plus… Timon and Pumbaa were hilarious

Hakuna Matata!

Pumbaa: Hey, Timon, ever wonder what those sparkly dots are up there?
Timon: Pumbaa, I don’t wonder; I know.
Pumbaa: Oh. What are they?
Timon: They’re fireflies. Fireflies that, uh… got stuck up on that big bluish-black thing.
Pumbaa: Oh, gee. I always thought they were balls of gas burning billions of miles away.
Timon: Pumbaa, with you, everything’s gas.

(excerpt from The Lion King)

Tags Competitor, Family, Impressions, Life choices

Looks and love, perception and image, assumptions and tryst, the beauty and the beast.

Every time I reflect on this film I think about the ultra meaning of true love. I think about a 90s version of online dating. Okay, not necessarily online dating, but, where two people are aside of appearances learning about one another.

It must have been so frustrating and helpless for the beast to go through his life deemed hideous, yet, the spell for selfish acts, unkind nature and spoiled nature was what he needed to find that there is kindness and love in people.

The Beauty and the Beast is one of those films that gave imagination exposure. A talking candle, a tea pot and her tea cup, a clock, and even a castle large enough for enchantment paved the way for creativity and song and classic storytelling. Beauty and the Beast was and is a symbol of true love and stereotypes. People are about their souls, we all are very different in appearances and yet, we strive to sometimes be someone we are not.

I look at this film as more than an animated piece of art, I view this film as a story with a heartfelt lesson. A lesson that at times in ones life we barter happiness for looks. We trade looks for happiness. Belle discovers a world of wonderful enchantment at the Beast’s castle, she trades her life for that of her fathers, she enjoys books and lets her imagination soar.

Belle was a strong woman, and the beast had this phony power over her, when in all actuality he was just as alone as he could no longer see  his own reflection in the mirror.

When the enchanted rose’s last petal fell and the beast transformed, the question is; did Belle still love him the same? Of course the answer was yes! Looks can be deceiving, taking time to learn about someone, embrace their character and go out on a limb, may just be as enchanted as learning a lesson about true love, by being as hideous as one could imagine, yet, having a soul as solid as gold.

Tags Impressions, Love, Self