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And yet how many of us have actually seized the day? I know I have not but this has got to change..
On this truly historic day – Dead Poets Society first screened in Australia on July 20 – 1989 – here are some must reads and one must watch.
Josh Charles shares his Dead Poets Society memories 25 years on <-- there is a video at the bottom of the cast reflecting on making the movie which is must watch. My movie review of Dead Poets Society.
So I bought me a little friend at Costco.
This is Carter, my skeleton friend.
Back when I was getting along with everyone at work, and when I was doing the overnight shift, Carter spent a few over-nights sitting out in my car. It was hilarious because people would suddenly notice him as they were walking past my car, and let out bloodcurdling screams, or perhaps do a little freak out jump.
This is one of the best movies I have seen in a long, long time. I’m no Affleck fan – though I did enjoy him in Bounce – I usually find him wooden, as though every facial muscle has been botoxed, nothing moves. However I went into this knowing there was a great supporting cast and an interesting story so I wasn’t so worried about that. Bryan Cranston, Alan Arkin, John Goodman, Victor Garber.. these were all great performances. Bryan Cranston continues to amaze with his talent to completely vanish inside the character he is playing.
I personally would have suggested Affleck focus on the directing and find someone to play the main role that was not himself. However it worked quite well in this case. I guess the character he was playing needed to be pretty unflappable and wooden plays as unflappable nicely. Regardless he did an incredible job of directing this movie. It was a rollercoaster ride of awesomeness.
One of the best things about this movie in my opinion is the travelling back in time – things like stewardess uniforms, eyeglass frames, clothes, furniture, cars, hairstyles.. all of it looked like it jumped directly out of 1979 onto the screen.
This movie was fantastic and I highly recommend it. 6 thumbs up from Snoskred! :) Click here for the IMDB listing.
Any movie that involves a plane as one of the major characters, I’m there. Sounds weird when you put it like that, but being an aviation nut the usual thing you see in a movie is a happy jumbo landing at random airport when x character moves away etc. A movie where the story is about something going wrong with a plane and what happens as a result is interesting to me.
When you put that kind of story with someone like Harrison Ford (see Random Hearts) it becomes a movie that whenever I stumble across it on the cable I am glued to the chair, until it ends. Even though there is not so much about the plane in there, it has Harrison Ford and aviator sunglasses, so..
Flight was not another Random Hearts sadly. I don’t think the entire movie is a re-watch. The first half of the movie possibly. The crash sequence is on the edge of your seat stuff and it is extremely well done. However, it goes mucho downhillo from there.
Because the pilot (Denzel Washington) is an alcoholic and takes drugs as well and was under the influence of these while flying and is generally not a nice person, but he was the only person who could possibly have crash landed this plane as well as he did even if he was drunk and high and he meets up with this random woman at the hospital blah blah yadda yadda I have no idea what the rest of this movie was about because my brain drifted off and created a much more fascinating movie.
Where the pilot was not an alcoholic and in fact the movie was not so much about the pilot and his issues as it was about finding out what went wrong with the plane, kind of like a fictional big screen air crash investigations.
I have been reading lately that Denzel Washington is not the nicest of people in real life which may have colored my view of this movie. And contrary to Ben Affleck, Denzel spends much of the movie with a sulky or angry look on his face.
There was a great scene where the night before the NTSB investigation, they put Denzel’s character in a hotel having dried him out and they have emptied the minibar. But did they think to make sure the interlocking door into the next room was locked? No sir, and so Denzel has himself a few drinks drinks the entire contents of the minibar. A condition that can only be fixed with the arrival of a cocaine toting John Goodman (fantastic as always).
On the plus side, it did contain Tamara Tunie usually only seen on Law and Order – SVU – as a flight attendant and she was brilliant as she always is. So for that alone I give it one thumb up. Click here for the IMDB listing.
This is going to seem a bit crazy. I’ll put that out there right up front..
Lately I have had some interactions with people in real life that made me very unhappy. I’m not going to go into huge amounts of detail about it because the majority of it is work related and I don’t know how comfortable I feel with telling the whole story to the internets at large.
These happenings, and a teevee show that I have been watching recently, have started to change my mind on some of my long held values and beliefs. The one value that I now feel I should rip up and throw out the window is “Three strikes and you’re out”.
As in, kick me in the teeth once and I’m willing to consider it a mistake. Kick me in the teeth twice and I’m going to start considering maybe the first time was not a mistake after all. Kick me in the teeth three times, and I’m going to assume you absolutely meant to do it all three times. Plus I probably have no teeth left.
I used to give people second and third chances even when they did things that should never have merited another chance. I liked to think this was decent of me, the right thing to do, a good thing. What it actually is – is stupid.
The reality for me now is – I will no longer give people a second chance after the first teeth kicking. I like my teeth, and I’d like to keep them in their original condition.
Not everyone is like me, not everyone has that same value system as I do. So what have my basic values been?
– Treat others as you would like to be treated
– Accept others for who they are regardless of race, sex, religion, size, finances, etc
– Be excellent to each other
– Do the right thing
– If you can’t do the right thing do the closest to the right thing that you can
– Be generous with time, treats, money
– Act professionally at work regardless of how you feel about the others working with you
– Treat others as a part of the team even if they are not acting like a part of the team
– Help others – if you know the answer to the question speak up
– Get to know people before making a judgment on them
– probably many more – I’ll keep thinking on this
Let me give you an example of how I am learning this lesson now. It is a very minor thing compared to some of the things that have happened, but it is a good example of why I am saying goodbye to the three strikes rule.
We have to share desks at work, and in one room there are people regularly in the same space where they need to be able to write things down. Every time I would come in, there would only be one working pen (it happened to be a red one) and all the other pens would not work, or would start to write and then stop..
Work does not provide a lot in the way of stationery. Ok, they provide nothing. Everyone brings in bits and pieces that they pick up – the NAB bank free pens have been extremely popular.
But this one red pen, it kept going and going. It seemed like it was going to last forever. And we had to write in red quite a bit, so everyone remarked on how awesome this one red pen was. And one day, I was at Officeworks, and I saw the same brand pen (it isn’t one you can find just anywhere) and I thought I would buy them and take them to work. But these pens were not cheap at $14 a packet. I bought one for work, and one for myself to keep at work in my own container.
So I sent out an email letting people know I had put 6 brand new pens in the office that were the same brand as the awesome red pen, and that I hoped they would have the same longevity as the awesome red pen.
For all I know, they are having that longevity in some other location. Within 4 weeks of the pens being placed in the office, all 6 had vanished – and then, the awesome red pen vanished too. That awesome red pen had been there for over a *year*. No joke.
So me being the idiot I am, I brought in a second set of pens. Not the same expensive brand, no, these were much cheaper. Those lasted a little longer, I guess because they were not as awesome. However there are now just two left of them.
I have here at home a huge box of cheap Officeworks pens, you get 50 in a pack. They are the worlds crappiest pens. Sure, they will write, but it is the ugliest result you will ever see. And I had been tempted to take in that pack of shithouse pens. It is the level of pen that these pen stealing heathens deserve. But I won’t do it.
I still have the 6 good pens in my pencil case, and there they will stay. I get the joy of writing with them but I make sure I put them away when my shift is over and that I know where they are at all times. Ain’t nobody stealing any more of my pens.
If I look back in my life, I cannot give you one example where someone treated me badly just the one time. I gave them second opportunities to treat me badly and they took that chance to treat me badly again. If I gave them a third opportunity, they took it.
I know one person – a person I considered to be my best friend – she treated me badly so many times I lost count. But I kept forgiving her because I thought she was my best friend. She was not. She was a user – she would take constantly but never gave anything back. And let me tell you, she is still doing that to people today – until recently she was doing it to my own sister.
So what teevee show is changing my mind on this and other things? It will sound bizarre. The show is called The Walking Dead. It is a show about a Zombie Apocalypse – not like plants and zombies on iPhone. These are not cute little animated zombies. It is horrible to watch. It is gory. But it has made me see things in a completely new light.
I haven’t completely formed my thoughts on it yet but I think there are things I want to say about this show and how it relates to the society we find ourselves in. I’m still processing and when I can get the words together in the right way, I’ll put them here.
What are your values? Have they changed over the years?
Lunch – Chicken & Vegetable Risotto (236Cal)
It was decent. Could have done with a bit more chicken. No corn but there were tiny bits of cauliflower which I will be adding to my version in the future. Mine also has asparagus.
My Mum makes an awesome version of this. When I stop the Lite N Easy at some point, I will be making batches of this and freezing it.
Breakfast – Baked Beans (123Cal) on Multigrain Toast (98Cal) = 221
What can one say about baked beans on toast? I personally am a great fan of this. Some people would consider it quite boring and I guess in some ways it is..
The one problem I have been discovering is that if the frozen bread is not completely flat, it becomes quite difficult to toast and/or make the beans sit flat on it. Without cheese to hold on the beans this has every possibility of a great saucy beans all over ones self disaster. For this reason I do not allow the beans to get too hot.
Snacks – Classic Choc & Oats Bar (127Cal)
These are great, again. If these were available to buy, I would pick up a stash of them to keep at work.
Dinner – Fettucine Provincale
Could have done with more mushroom and I personally would have added spinach. There was quite a bit of mushroom in there but unless you have 400 mushrooms it isn’t enough for me! Absolutely zero corn, JM. :)
Fruits – Green Apple (75Cal) Kiwifruit (42Cal)
Skipped both of these in favour of a cinnamon crunch muffin with black cherries which I cooked for work – yes, the occasional bad food slips in. :) In fact the next time I make these, I will blog it – it is just a packet mix which I add tinned black cherries to but people go nuts for them and you look like a baking diva – which I most certainly am not, lol.
But this will come in handy – tomorrow we are off to Costco, a family trip this time. Finally I have talked my parents into going YAYS!! I might need the extra apple for the car trip.
I have popcorn for the afternoon. Again, if I could buy this separately I would. There is something about the popcorn – it says lightly salted but I think there are hints of icing sugar in there as well. There is something slightly sweet as well as salty.
I am not likely to be able to do the lunch – I won’t have a microwave. So, I will have to go out into the world and fend for myself as best I can without making bad choices.
Whatever happens, you’ll get to see it right here. ;)
Last week when I had popcorn was coincidentally the same day I went to the movies. Yes, I will admit it here. I went to see the final Twilight movie. I don’t love Kristen Stewart but I do enjoy the rest of the actors and of course Taylor Lautners torso is quite pretty to watch and I wanted to see the ending. I quite enjoyed it especially the bit where everything suddenly got completely out of control. Great twist which I never saw coming.
Oh also too – check out this recipe for dairy free condensed milk using coconut milk –
I don’t know for sure what has gone wrong with JB Hifi, but if I were to take a wild stab in the dark, it would be that they can’t afford to keep the same range of DVDs they once did..
A couple of weeks ago I was in one of their stores and I was looking for something to buy. Someone like me, a fan of so many shows, this should not have been a difficult thing. However every tv show I was thinking about buying could not be found on the shelves at all.
Then I started looking for some of the teevee shows I already had, and they were not there either! Or maybe there was one season out of 4 or 7 and it was never season one.
This was odd because JB Hifi had long been a reliable dvd haven.
I ended up going home and re-watching ER seasons one and two. At some point the other half came in and he was looking for a dvd of his, and he ended up moving all his dvds into his room. While re-organising the shelves, we discovered I only had seasons 1, 2, 9, 10, 11, 12.
So it is an hours drive to the local JB Hifi, and knowing that last time I was there they had very little of any of my shows and I know I didn’t see any ER at all, I did an online order. Some of it arrived today – I think I am still missing episode 14, and we couldn’t find episode 15 on the JB Hifi website to order at all!
Their search engine is *woeful*. We ended up finding ER by accident – somehow we ended up with “E>R” in the search box, and all of the episodes (bar 15) appeared.
On top of all that, they just left the box on my doorstep. Lucky they rang the doorbell or else I wouldn’t have known to look, and it would have been stolen. What kind of business in Australia allows deliveries to go out without the must be signed for sticker? How much stock must get lost just because of this? And how do they treat the people that happens to?
I know what you are all thinking. Why didn’t I just download it? First up, they are $19.98 each which is relatively cheap. Second, they have special features including commentary tracks and bonus footage which I greatly enjoy. Third, I would like to own all the series I love on DVD. Old fashioned maybe, but that is the way I like it.
Some of them make this very difficult – eg NYPD blue only released seasons 1-4 meaning when I wanted to watch it last year, I had no choice but to download. But if and when they release 4-12, I’ll be buying them.
What do you think about Prince Harry?
My thought is, the older he gets the more handsome he is.. :)
The last two nights, I’ve gone to bed with Rob Lowe and frankly I am completely exhausted at this point..
I want to go to bed with him again tonight but I am not sure I have the energy.
Not only is he sexy and extraordinarily pretty but he is incredibly smart too!
And he is an amazing writer..
Of course the real truth is that I have been going to bed with his awesome book titled Stories I Only Tell My Friends.
The first night I was already tired and I intended to only read a couple of chapters. I finally managed to put it down with great reluctance when I finished chapter 8.
The second night I went to bed even earlier so I could read more of it before it was sleep time. One minute it was 10pm, the next minute it was 11:50 – where did that almost two hours go?
I was hoping I could finish it tonight but I honestly don’t know if I can manage it. I haven’t even got to the bits about The West Wing yet. I am looking forward to that.
I think maybe I’ll get an early night and seeing as I don’t have to go to work tomorrow, I might finish the book before getting up in the morning. ;)
Before I even had time to sit down and put my thoughts together about the new cd from Take That they have released an awesome song which is in the new movie X-men First Class..
Like all songs with me, I wasn’t too sure about it the first time I heard it, but it is quite the addictive little tune and before long it was going round and round in my head.
Without further ado, love love. Have a listen and let me know what you think! ;)
Look. I love Sex and The City as much as most people out there who own a television set and have seen the show more than once. I have seen the whole series several times over. There were cringeworthy moments but these were more than made up for by the fashion, the glitter, the hair, the shoes, the ladies, the gorgeous men..
I saw the first movie and it was pretty good. Mildly annoying in places, but generally good. There was full frontal male nudity which is always an epic win as far as I am concerned. ;)
I read the reviews of the second movie and decided to wait till it arrived on dvd from Quickflix. I am so glad I did wait but then again.. I almost regret sitting through it. Twice. The second time for the commentary track.
I pity the poor men who were dragged along to this movie. It took an hour of screen time for them to even leave to go to Abu Dhabi, then it took an hour and a half for the rest of it to play out! If not for the gorgeous outfits, shoes and general prettiness, I would not have made it through the movie at all. I almost switched it off when they karaoke sang I am woman but they all had sparkly outfits on and I was dazed by the glitter..
Listening to the commentary track I understood better the reasons why it was so over the top but there was never an explanation for the two and a half hour running time.
Some of the jokes fell so flat.. eg Abu Dhabi Doo.. that was plain disturbing especially coming from the normally sane Miranda.
I cannot possibly imagine a third movie but if one were made, such is my addiction that I would watch it. Only once the next time, though!