So...What's Next?!?

A Great Year for Summer Movies

Co-written by my teenage son and eight year old son.

Last weekend the family went to see Wolverine, which according to my teenage son was the best of all of the X-Men movies. However his friends did not agree. My son felt that the story was better and had more personality to it - especially because it focused mainly on Wolverine. His friends however felt that it was cheesy.

I personally liked it. I guess for some of the same reasons as my son. I liked being able to get a more in-depth story of the main character Wolverine and it filled in a lot of the back story for the other X-Men movies.

This past weekend we saw Star Trek. I have never been a "trekky" but I did grow up with the series. My older brother was a "trekky." I would have to say Star Trek ranks a little below Wolverine. Captain Kirk really did not win me over, I could not figure out where Scotty came from and what was up with that love story happening? The movie delivered on the action and was amazingly pretty funny. What I liked most about Star Trek though was the way Spock and Capt Kirk's relationship developed. I am more of a Star Wars fan and I recognized a number of elements from Star Wars as well as one scene that my husband pointed out was from Willie Wonka. When you see the movie you will see the Willie Wonka reference.

My teenage son felt Star Trek was better than the first two Star Wars movies (Episode 1 and 2) and he is looking forward to seeing the sequels. He says that Star Trek is taking the place of Star Wars right now since there is nothing really happening with Star Wars.

Another anticipated movie for the summer is Up - My eight year old expects that it is going to be a really funny movie. Right now his favorite part from the trailer is the dog with the collar that gives the dog the ability to speak.

Right now the most anticipated movies is Transformers 2 - which features a Linkin Park soundtrack - which is the favorite band of the whole family. We all enjoyed the 1st Transformers and the trailer of the the 2nd one looks like it is going to be equally as good.

My eight year old has become more sensitive to harsh scenes in movies. For example he used to watch Star Wars - which so did my older son at a younger age, but now my younger son is bothered by certain Star Wars scenes. I had to take him out of the theater when we were watching Wolverine even though he has seen the other X-Men movies and he was concerned that Star Trek would bother him, but it was child friendly.

The movie that my eight year old will not be seeing, but that I will be taking my teenage son to on opening day is Terminator Salvation. I know I liked the earlier Terminator movies, but when I have tried to watch reruns I find that I do not like them anymore. However this new Terminator looks like it will be packed full of action and story and drama and will be completely mind blowing.

Another child friendly move that I have been informed we will be seeing is The Battle for Terra which looks like a cartoon version of Star Wars.

My husband and I are looking forward to seeing Angels and Demons. Like the Da Vinci code it is the perfect movie for us. It satisfies my love of history, religion and conspiracy and his love of art and architecture and action/drama.

As far as comedies, we are pretty big Jack Black fans and the movie Year One looks stupid and funny which takes a lot of skill to pull off. One of my favorite movie's is  Knight's Tale which masterfully blends historical elements with today's cultural elements. It looks like Year One is going to do the same but with the flare of Jack Black.

Looks like it is going to be an action packed summer. Any other recommended movies we are forgetting?

Oh to be Human

That seems to be the theme for my day. I am reviewing GA blogs today, reading them, categorizing them, being inspired by them. This one is by far my favorites so far.

When I came home I walked into the middle of the movie Bicentennial Man playing.

Robin Williams is the perfect actor for that movie because he such a raw, deep human. I think that is what made him so great as Mork in Mork from Ork.

I love the part when he gets his skin and his friend explains that the secret is in the imperfections. I wish more people understood that. I also love his exhilaration of feeling the pain of being poked in the eye and how his girlfriend insist that he makes mistakes and do the wrong things.

"Human beings are terrible messes" is the perfect line.

I miss you but I am better off without you

I miss you but I am better off without you.
the world is better off too
I am stronger and feel more free
I have the strength and confidence to simply be me

You calling me crazy and me calling you an asshole, it just isn't right
I wish we could simply part ways without a fight
Go now, and be the hero we all know you are
I pray that all your dreams, desires, and visions take you far.

(Inspired by the movie Hancock)

What Makes You Happy?

There is a scene in the movie Karate Kid, right before this scene, where  Mr. Kesuke Miyagi rubs his hands together to somehow help Daniel's leg so that he can finish the fight.

The movie came out in 1984.I was 12, my parents had divorced and my mom moved me from Miami to  Indiana (BIG culture shock!). The point is, I related to this movie really well.

So well in fact I picked up a habit from this movie that drives most people around me a bit nutty and my oldest son has the misfortune of picking the habit up from me. For whatever reason, when I am feeling a happy burst of energy I rub my hands together in a similar fashion as Mr. Miyagi.

Now, it is actually kind of cool to have this little signal that let's me know I am feeling pretty happy. It is actually very cool when I see my son rubbing his hands together. What other parent gets to see such burst of happy energy from their teenager?

Anyway, I was feeling pretty happy most of the day today and it just made me stop for a moment and think about what was going on that made me happy.

Stability...believe it or not I like stability and I believe I am finding it again with the people I want in my life. That is pretty important as well, having healthy and growing relationships with people I care about and look forward to growing with.

Friendship - this is not something I take lightly. I like a lot of people. I can hang out and converse with lots of people. But friendship has a very special meaning to me and there are very few people I call friend - very few, but very special.

Direction - something that I feel is going the right way finally! Thanks to someone I consider a friend.

Chocolate - there is a lot of chocolate in my house right now. No I am not being sarcastic, chocolate makes me happy.

So I  find myself rubbing my hands together quite a bit lately. I am waking up early ready for the day and looking forward to what my next task might be. I am feeling up to any task. I am feeling ready to take on the biggest dream and the biggest goals I have. I feel things are finally finding an order which has not been easy.

Think of it this way...

Man who catch fly with chopstick accomplish anything.

-Miyagi

Do We Discover a New World or Does the New World Discover Us?

That is the question Queen Elizabeth asks of the charming explorer that is seeking her support for a voyage in the movie Elizabeth: The Golden Age - the movie I watched tonight.
 

He follows up with the inquiry of ever knowing the pleasure of being liked for yourself.

Queen Elizabeth has always been an interesting historical figure for me. According to all of the history I have read, she was a Queen who ruled, not acted as a figure head but actually ruled with strength and conviction.

There are many mysteries surrounding who Queen Elizabeth was. The movie suggests that she was the "Virgin Queen" simply because she was in love with the "wrong man" - a man she could not have.

She beat enormous odds in her life to lead a country during great turmoil.

I have also always been intrigued with this time period. The chaos, the struggles for the birth of new beginnings, the challenges of norms, the explorations that made the world smaller.

The scene of Elizabeth on her horse, hair flowing, giving a speech that inspires all to fight for their country is quite powerful. Not because of the directing or the acting, though both were good - but because you know that at that time she was a woman, commanding respect, inspiring troops, long before most women had a right to even have a voice.

At the end the men of Spain are left humbled by the fate of Elizabeth I.

   "God give me strength to bear this mighty freedom.

    I am your Queen.

    I am myself"

    - Elizabeth: the Golden Age

Everything I know about Social Media I learned from watching my son play XBox Live

Alright - a few people such as Tim Moenk, Amber Rhea, Grayson Daughters, Josh Hallet, Jim Stroud, Rusty Tanton, Chris Boese, and many more might take a little offense to that title. The reality is most of what I know I learned from very smart, brave forward thinking people.. :)

However, I developed some profound (if I do say so myself) insights from watching my son play XBox Live.

Today I had a wonderful meeting with Les Ottolenghi who is setting up an amazing program schedule for the TAG Enterprise 2.0 society - but I digress.

I was telling him my theory that XBox Live and all the other ways our kids are connected will end wars in the next decade or two. Our children will not want to battle the friends that they have known and grown up with online. They will accept, understand, and appreciate the differences that our generation and generations past have killed over.

He agreed on the fighting aspect but felt the new wars will be fought over available resources. I thought that made since... humans will have to go through stages in the evolutionary process. The majority have stopped enslaving and torturing other humans (unfortunately I am aware that this still happens in many many places - but we are at least appalled by it and it is not
accepted globally like it once was) - next we will stop killing each other over our differences. However that does not mean we will be ready to play nice. We will probably just move into parallel play - which means we will have evolved into toddlers. Eventually we might be able to share.

Later tonight I got to hang out with some friends and again I made the comment that everything I have learned from social media I learned from watching my son play XBox Live. The point I was making then was that people of celebrity status, whose careers benefit by connecting with their fans, but who also get so overwhelmed that they have to escape - can utilize social media to gain their humanity back, connect with fans while playing. I connected those dots when my son informed me that Jack Black plays Halo. I began to wonder if my son ever got to play with Jack Black and did not know it. Then I thought what wonderful PR that was if he did play and everyone knew it was him...

Speaking of celebrities, I can not get Heath Ledger out of my mind today. I first saw him in 10 Things I Hate About You - one of my favorite movies - and then in Knight's Tale - another favorite. He is/was damn good looking, but so what - so are many who died young. So why does he keep coming to mind today...I guess he just did not "seem the type" to be found dead.

Finally - I think since I have a fresh start with this blog, I am going to end each post with a quote as opposed to a random quote randomly.

Many people can appreciate the fact that I can appreciate this quote...so this is for you (you know who you are :))

Personally, I am always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught. - Winston Churchill