Tag: Silver Linings Playbook

Before…

Before Midnight:

I was so excited to learn that another Linklater movie was going to come out this summer… and it did not disappoint!

Cover of "Before Sunrise"
Cover of Before Sunrise
  • In 1995, “Before Sunrise” came out – a small independent movie about a couple who meet on a train and have one night in Vienna.
  • In 2004, “Before Sunset” came out – a small independent movie catching up with this same couple 9 years later.
  • And now, in 2013 “Before Midnight” is released.  The same couple, now in their very early 40s.

I won’t give any spoilers here (links below to many reviews – read at your own risk!), but will simply say that if you love movies with smart dialogue, romantic chemistry, beautiful European settings, and real-world conversations and relationship troubles, you should definitely see all of these movies.

I am thankful that I was able to borrow the first two movies and binge on them a bit before seeing the 3rd movie.  It was a great way to reacquaint myself with Jesse and Celine.  I plan to buy all three when they’re all out on DVD so that I can binge again!

I was listening to a podcast last night (Filmspotting) and they were wondering (as I was) if since the characters were approximately my age during all three of these movies if I have more of an affinity to love the movies.  I would love to have this discussion – if anyone else has seen them!  🙂

Before Summer Solstice:

  • I finished “Circle of Friends” by Maeve Binchy this morning.  It’s a re-read and I wondered if it would hold up as I’m not in my 20s anymore (like I was when I first read it) but it did.  She writes such great stories about great places with great characters.  Love it!
  • I will watch “Anna Karenina” with Cindy tomorrow – and can’t wait for the re-watch!  I’m sure there will be vodka and something sorta Russian to eat.  Love me a theme!
  • I had an impromptu game night last Saturday night!  Beth came for a planned girl’s night, and we stayed in and invited others over.  We played Loaded Questions and “What if…”  A great time!
  • I watched Trajan graduate from 8th grade – such a fun kid.
  • I celebrated Jenny’s birthday with her at Goonie’s and the Loop!  The comedians were fun – the raunchy one leading up to the cerebral one made for some big brain shifts!
  • I sang with Take Note! at our yearly spring concert, on Over the Back Fence, and during Art in the Park in Lanesboro!  Good stuff.  I think I finally have the songs committed to memory and now we won’t sing them again!
  • I listened to music outside during Harmony at Mayo on Monday 6/10.  Great band, great food and great company!
  • I chatted about “Little Wolves” with Sarah, Paul and Heidi.  What a delicious meal was prepared and enjoyed al fresco!  A beautiful summer evening…

Before the end of Quarter 3 (44 Things)

Here’s my list of 11 things for this quarter… how am I doing?  Have til the end of the month…

11 Things: 3rd Quarter: 

  1. Book Club – LOVE talking about books, whenever and wherever!  April 2 – with rum & Cokes, pizza burgers, and Mississippi Mud Cake!! May 27 – with hot turkey sandwiches we discussed The Accidental Tourist!  Good stuff!  Next one July 9!  
  2. Cosmo Girls – April brought green smoothies, chair massages, and henna!  May brought A Cosmo Girl Party to celebrate another year of fun! Next – organize for next year!  
  3. A Spring Break facial – and pedicure!
  4. Baseball games and softball games – hopefully in sunshine!
  5. THE GREAT GATSBY movie! Saw it once in the theatre – it was great!  
  6. Marissa’s graduation in May with a party to celebrate her Bachelor’s in Biology!  Taran’s graduation in June! Both parties were very fun!  Very proud of their accomplishments!  
  7. Take Note! spring concert – most likely in June! Done! A great concert followed by a get-together at Mom and Dad’s with s’mores around the campfire!  Perfect!  
  8. New walking shoes – so hopefully many walks! Knee feels better – still no power walks!  Just short ones and stretching!  
  9. Catch up on the TBR pile – as many as possible!  #1 Silver Linings Playbook!  #2 Elizabeth the First Wife #3 Little Wolves #4 Circle of Friends – the list is interminable!  Oh well!  
  10. June will bring Thursdays on First and Rochesterfest – outdoor food, music and fun!  And hopefully sunshine!  (Can you tell we’ve been without for too long?)  Spun through Thursdays last week and plan to go this week – on June 20!  
  11. Strike up a conversation with a stranger (NOT a patient!) weekly (?) and WRITE about it!  Woot!   Haven’t done this really!  What was I thinking?  Looking for a challenge, I guess.  I’m just enjoying getting to know my coworkers and planning things for my “circle of friends.”  🙂  

I suppose it’s time to think about my 4th Quarter list… hard to believe that I’m winding down my 44th year and really close to 45!  What will the theme of 45 be?

What do you have planned – Before Midnight?  Before the Summer Solstice?  Before the end of the month?

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What’s Making Me Happy 4/30/13

  • The first thing that is making me happy is the date!  I love that it’s the 1st of May tomorrow – all 1sts are great! – and I love that I have one more opportunity to plug Poetry Month! 
  • Poetry makes me happy!  Here’s a flowchart (courtesy of Book Riot) to help you choose one poem to read before May dawns a new month to celebrate.  I chose two poems from the list and copied them below:  

DEEPER

Dennis Lee
From:   unpublished, 1999.

Often at night, sometimes

out in the snow or going into the music, the hunch says,
“Deeper.”
I don’t know what it means.
Just, “Push it. Go further. Go deeper.”
And when they come talking at me I get
antsy at times, but mostly I stay put and it keeps saying,
“Deeper. This is not it. You must go deeper.”
There is danger in this, also
beautiful fingers and I believe it can issue in
gestures of concord; but I
cannot control it, all I know is one thing—
“Deeper. You must go further. You must go deeper.”
http://www.library.utoronto.ca/canpoetry/lee/poem3.htm

Dennis Lee’s works copyright © to the author.

I had a little nut-tree,

I had a little nut-tree,
Nothing would it bear.
I searched in all its branches,
But not a nut was there.

‘Oh, little tree,’ I begged,
‘Give me just a few.’
The little tree looked down at me
And whispered, ‘Nuts to you.’

Roald Dahl
  • I finished reading “The Accidental Tourist” by Ann Tyler.  I listened to about 2/3 of it and then after I finished my other book I picked it up and read to the end.  It is a great book!  The audio was painfully slow – I would count to 7 between sentences sometimes.  Just try listening to someone talk that way!  So I was glad to pick up the book and review it and power through to the end.  I look forward to seeing the movie and getting together with book club to discuss!  I think I may be a little bit of an Accidental Tourist… and can’t decide if it’s a good thing!  
  • I had the bonus weekend off last week and enjoyed the beautiful weather (baseball game! walks! playgrounds!) but still made it to two Rochester International Film Group Festival movies!
  • Saturday I saw “Caesar Must Die” (Italy), which is about inmates at a high security prison who put on a public performance of “Julius Caesar.”  Random thoughts: Even Italian prisoners at high security prison have fashion sense; it was powerful seeing prisoners memorizing Shakespeare in their solitary cells; it was even more powerful seeing the prisoners return to their solitary cells after their beautiful performance.  Good stuff.
  • Sunday I saw “A Royal Affair” (Denmark), in which a young queen, marries an insane king, falls secretly in love with her physician – and together they start a revolution that changes a nation forever.  Random thoughts:  Beautiful people, those Danes; gloomy weather, that Denmark; beautiful dresses and corrupt government; sad story with hopeful ending, foreshadowed during a conversation about the purpose of working for change today when you may not live to see it, but realizing that we hope for a better world for the future.  I cried.
  • Tomorrow is May Day, a fun memory from childhood!  Doubt I’ll see any May Baskets on my door tomorrow, but if I do I’ll be home to chase the givers!  Day off!  Woot!  Gonna spend it cleaning madly and then get a haircut!  Maybe other fun stuff will be thrown in there, but although the weather may still threaten winter, I’m going to clean like it’s spring!
  • And tomorrow “Silver Linings Playbook” on DVD and ‘Helen the Second Wife” by Lian Dolan should arrive from amazon.com!  Yay!  Woot!

So that’s it for tonight … so much to be happy about.  

How about you?  

What’s making you happy??

What poem will you be reading in the wee hours before May brings new celebrations?  

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What’s Making Me Happy 4/16/13

Ah, a day off with little sleep.  Hopefully tonight I will sleep soundly, waking refreshed for a long work day!

But here’s what’s making me happy:

  • Getting through overnights at work is always good… another month until it happens again!  
  • I finished “Gone with the Wind” last night!  Woot!  It was a great book, unfortunately I didn’t have a lot of endurance with it, so I read it in shorter spurts than I would have liked.  But I can’t wait to discuss it with others who have read it and to revisit the movie.  So much to talk about!  Scarlett’s coping skill of “thinking of it tomorrow” is something I have employed… sometimes things are just so hard to face that you have to divert attention elsewhere and move forward with plans tomorrow.  It is spoken so often in the book… and it is the final sentence of the book:  “After all, tomorrow is another day.”  I’m so glad I read it.

    Gone with the Wind cover
    Gone with the Wind cover (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
  • Book club with the Preston gals was a lot of fun.  We read a great book (“We are all Welcome Here” by Elizabeth Berg) and had great food – rum and Cokes, pizza burgers, cheesy potatoes, and Mississippi Mud Cake.  Yummy!  Always good to see those women!
  • Met girls from work for dinner on a Friday night!  It was good to get together outside of work and to get to know them better.  Hopefully it’s something we can do again and again!  We celebrated having a Friday off before a weekend off!  Doesn’t always happen!  Maybe this Friday we will have a happy hour after we have supervision from 6-8pm!  🙂
  • I had a terrible cold during my weekend off, but enjoyed movies and reading… not a bad way to spend a weekend off!
  • Singing is always good… love the songs we’re singing in choir!  Some river songs, medley style (“Old Black Water,” “Swanee River,” “The Old Folks at Home,” “Mood River” and more!) and some Irish songs (yay!) and “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off.”  Love it.
  • Had some good days off last week before my weekend overnight work.  Good meals out, good cooking at home, good movie in the theatre (“Admissions”) and hanging out with Marissa.  Good stuff.
  • A great post-tax-day out with Beth today – delicious breakfast at Burdey’s in Peterson (cinnamon roll pancakes – so good!) followed by shopping and fro-yo!  Good stuff.

And coming up:

  • 3 days of work ahead and a weekend off.  No big plans (yet!), but just glad to have a Saturday, Sunday, Monday off!  
  • Hanging out with the kids a little as Dana and  Koni jet off to Vegas!  
  • Starting in on my pile of TBR books – #1 is The Silver Linings Playbook!  Yay!  DVD comes out 4/30, so that’s something I”m looking forward to! Also have 2 book club books going – “The Accidental Tourist” by Anne Tyler and “Sick Girl” by Amy Silverstein (for work).  Good stuff!  I’m listening to the audio of “The Accidental Tourist” and I think it’s read by the slowest narrator in the history of narrators.  Goodness.  But it’s a good book!
    The Accidental Tourist
    The Accidental Tourist (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

     

  • Planning a small graduation party for Marissa is fun… it sure is something to celebrate!
  • Have so many good shows to catch up on – so glad I still have my DVR!  I’ll catch up with them sometime – so no Mad Men or Smash spoilers!

What is making you happy this week?

44 Things: Q2

Goodness… we’re tripping right along into the end of March, aren’t we?  How did that happen?  I was feeling unsuccessful in my 44 Things: Q2, until I looked at it.  I guess I’m not doing too badly – which is what happens when you simply document “things to look forward to” with a few added “things to do.”  I think I felt unsuccessful because I haven’t given it much thought lately.  So as we all push into the latter half of March, here’s my recap: 44 Things – Quarter 2 (Jan-Feb-Mar)

  1. A January mini-vacation at Deadra’s, including many movies and much wine! It was a great mini-vacation at Deadra’s!  Good conversations, good wine, good food, and a good (great!) movie!  As well as some great dance parties!  

    January Dance Party!
    January Dance Party!
  2. Read “Persuasion” by Jane Austen with Wallace’s readalong in January –  I fully participated in the “Persuasion” readalong!  Woot!  Readalongs are so good… inspires you to have a deadline, critically think about what you’re reading, attempt coherent communication about those thoughts.  Good stuff.  I didn’t participate in her next one, “Crime & Punishment,” but a friend is and is loving the book!  Guess I’ll have to add that to my TBR list!  
  3. START reading “Gone With the Wind” in February – it’s so large I’m not sure I can finish it in two months!  But it’s after “Persuasion”! I started it!  Had a few great days of reading and then kind of fell off that wagon… I’m on pg 200 (of 900) so quite a ways to go.  It is a great book and amazing how much of it is already in my head through the movie and knowledge of the movie.  Hopefully I will have quality reading time throughout the month so that I can finish sooner than later!  So many books to read!  
  4. “The Book of Mormon” with Deadra and John in February! This was such a fun event!  We had dinner at a great Indian restaurant (Bombay Bistro), a brisk walk to the show, and belly laughs throughout!  I already posted about turning my pins into magnets (making me happy!), and when I hear someone shout, “Hello!” I usually sing the next line in my head!  Good stuff!  

    Pre-show dinner @ Bombay Bistro!
    Pre-show dinner @ Bombay Bistro!
  5. Host a baby shower for a work colleague at my house on February 13! This was a lot of fun, too!  It was fun to share my home with my new co-workers, meet family of the guest of honor, have delicious and fun food and drink, and simply socialize with the great people I work with!  

    Shower Sweets - what will it be? A boy or a girl? Can't wait to see!
    Shower Sweets – what will it be? A boy or a girl? Can’t wait to see!
  6. Gaelic Storm in March with Kristine! Last weekend we finally saw them in concert!  We have been talking about going to see them for more than a year and it finally happened.  It was so fun!  It was at the Fitzgerald Theatre, which was fun to see on its own, and they are so fun to listen to!  Clever, quirky, energetic, and fun!  A great concert with great friends!  Gaelic Storm in concert!

    Post-concert - not going strong, but still looking good!
    Post-concert – not going strong, but still looking good!
  7. Social-ICE in February! Already blogged a bit about this, but worth mentioning that it was a great time once again!  
    Keeping warm at SocialICE 2013!
    Keeping warm at SocialICE 2013!

    ice sculptures
    Icy Skyscrapers
  8. Walk at least twice weekly and do yoga once weekly. I was doing pretty good at this – in fact it was happening for all of January and into February.  But horrible knee pain has derailed that and I think it’s been a month since I walked for exercise, as I can barely walk to “get where I’m going” without terrible pain.  There’s been a doctor’s visit, a steroid shot, and now I don’t know what the plan is.  Bummer, eh?  So I’ve been focusing on healthy food choices (and easy quick cooking meals, since it hurts to stand in the kitchen and cook!) instead of getting my heart rate up.  Boo.  
  9.  Spray Tan!  Get the look of a summer glow! Have not done this yet but will have to make a plan for that soon!  Maybe next week during my days off… or maybe before Easter… or maybe on April 1 so the glow moves in to Q3!  
  10.  Pick a closet and clean it out OR watch all of the Oscar nominated movies (which would you rather do??)  Well, I didn’t get either one fully done – yet!  I still haven’t seen Amour, Django Unchained, or Zero Dark Thirty.  I’m ok with that to this point, but I will look for them on DVD when they’re available.  Still can’t wait to purchase Silver Linings Playbook, as it was my favorite of all.  And cleaning?  Hmmm.. maybe I’ll get to a closet.  We’ll see!  
  11.  Invigorate book club and plan ahead for the year.  Well, we met in February to discuss The Great Gatsby and ate and talked for 4 hours!  We did discuss the book and are now reading another book from the Book Club in a Bag program – We Are All Welcome Here!  And we have a date picked for our next meeting – April 2.  No plan for the year, but a little more planful to get together!  

Well, there’s my list – as I said, I haven’t done as badly as I thought I had!   I will have to start making my list of 44 Things: Q3 very soon, as April will no doubt be here before I blink again!  

First February Friday Film Footnotes

I know I have mentioned a few films in my past few posts, but thought I’d do a full-fledged Film Footnote.  It is Friday the First of February, after all.

“The Impossible” – Saw this with Marissa at the late-late show on a Wednesday.  Before going, I read a bit about the family the movie is centered on.  It  would be interesting to read the book that they wrote, as it is very amazing how they came though the horrific situation as whole as they appear.  Having lived through a national disaster, as well as spending time thinking about a crisis response to a disaster, it is hard to imagine the response needed to a disaster of this magnitude.  The underwater scenes were painful to watch; the search for family was painful to watch; the difficult hospital situation was painful to watch.  I guess, it was painful to watch!  The middle son broke my heart when he said, “But I’ve never taken care of anyone before” after he is asked to take care of his younger brother.  Wow.  I cried throughout the movie and thought that the flashback underwater scene was a bit much.  I can recommend this movie, even as it isn’t the kind of movie that I would usually be drawn to.

“Silver Linings Playbook” – I just can’t say enough about this movie.  I saw it a second time last week and can’t wait for its next viewing!  I will refrain from purchasing another ticket and will wait until it comes out on DVD, but it is truly my favorite movie from 2012.  I’m glad it is nominated for so many Oscars and I hope that it takes a few!  Although it tackles the serious subject of mental illness, it is happy and light and funny.  It is sooo feel-good.  The first time I saw it, I was surprised by some of the plot.  No spoilers here.  It is just a clever story.  I ordered the book and will see if it lives up to the movie!

From Netflix:

“What to Expect When You’re Expecting“ – a second viewing for me.  I saw this in the theatre and was pleasantly surprised.  It isn’t great literature or film, but it is a cute movie, well-done.

“The Ides of March“ – political intrigue, not my usual cup of tea, but this was well-done as well.  Ryan Gosling and George Clooney, oh my!  But aside from being easy to look at, it had a good story.

In Honor of Pride & Prejudice being 200 years old:

Pride and Prejudice
Pride and Prejudice (Photo credit: elycefeliz)
A scene with Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy after a ...
A scene with Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy after a swim in a lake is recognized as “one of the most unforgettable moments in British TV history”. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“Pride & Prejudice- BBC version” – I own this and thought it deserved a viewing upon finishing reading “Persuasion” by Austen and in honor of the 200th year since publication of the book.  It is just so delightful.  Colin Firth is a perfect Darcy; watching him play disagreeable and prideful and then seeing the love in his eyes when Elizabeth plays piano… amazing.  Ah…. such good stuff.  All 5 hours of it.   I’ll watch the most recent version sometime soon, too.

Coming next from Netflix: “Beasts of the Southern Wild” and “Ruby Sparks.”  Can’t wait to see what the Oscar buzz is about for Beasts and think that Ruby will be a fun one to watch.  

What about you? What have you seen lately?

 

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“It is a truth universally acknowledged…

that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.”

200 years ago on January 28, Pride & Prejudice was published in England.  200 years ago!

I just finished reading Jane Austen’s final novel, “Persuasion.”  Austen doesn’t disappoint, but I”m afraid it can’t compare to “Pride & Prejudice.”

Detail of a C. E. Brock illustration for the 1...
Detail of a C. E. Brock illustration for the 1895 edition of Jane Austen’s novel Pride and Prejudice (Chapter 3) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Favorite quotes:

“A lady’s imagination is quite rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony in a moment.” Darcy

“I have been used to consider poetry as the food of love,” said Darcy.

“Of a fine, stout, healthy love it may. Everything nourishes what is strong already. But if it be only a slight, thin sort of inclination, I am convinced that one good sonnet will starve it entirely away.” Elizabeth Bennet

I could go on and on… I can’t wait until my next re-read.

In honor of the occasion, I started watching the BBC version of “Pride & Prejudice.”  Almost 5 hours of delight with the great Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy.  So proud and outwardly disagreeable.  I won’t get it done in one sitting, but it will be what I’ll be watching for a few days!

So that’s what I’m watching…

In other news,

  • I’m reading “Tell the Wolves I’m Home” before I read “The Great Gatsby” and “Gone with the Wind.”  
  • I saw “Silver Linings Playbook” for the second time and will have to refrain from seeing it again and again!  It definitely will be purchased!
  • Saw “The Impossible” with Marissa in the late show.  Wow.  Painful and heart-wrenching to watch, even knowing the outcome.  Those kids were incredible!  The adults were amazing, too.  Good stuff.
  • Had a great few nights with Deadra and family – watched “Magic Mike,” “Once,” “Young Adult” and episodes of the Take Home Chef.  Good talks and good food and good wine!  Good times!

What about you? What are you reading?  Do you have a favorite Pride & Prejudice quote?  Favorite film adaptation?  “Bride & Prejudice” done Bollywood style was pretty fun, too!

Good articles:  The Independent or First Post or NPR 

 

 

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First Friday Film Footnotes 2013

So far I have seen two GREAT movies in 2013 in the theatre and one pretty fun one at home from Netflix.  Sounds like a great start to a great New Year!

Silver Linings Playbook 08
Silver Linings Playbook 08 (Photo credit: GabboT)

On New Year’s Day evening, I went to see Silver Linings Playbook, and I absolutely loved it.  I wouldn’t mind seeing it again soon, as there was a lot to notice and think about. I thought that Bradley Cooper did a great job at portraying a bi-polar man and Jennifer Lawrence played crazy pretty well, too.  Cooper’s character, Pat, loses everything when he loses it and is sent to a mental institution rather than jail.  The movie begins with him being released after 8.5 months in the institution, still against the psychiatrist’s advice.  He lives at home and is doing everything he can to get his wife back.  And there’s ballroom dancing!

Good stuff.

Even Crazy Anchormen LOVE the Slackers!! Cropp...
Even Crazy Anchormen LOVE the Slackers!! Cropped by riana_dzasta to focus on Paul Rudd. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Then last night the Cosmo Girls went to see This is 40 and there was much guffawing!  It was funny scene after scene, and although it isn’t the best movie ever, it was fun to see with the girls and to laugh hysterically together.  And I love Paul Rudd and Melissa McCarthy and Albert Brooks and Chris O’Dowd and Lena Dunham and Judd’s kids and all the small parts played by big people… very fun.  A great night out with the girls.

From Netflix DVD I watched Shirley Valentine.  It was one of those movies that came to the top of my queue and I wondered why it was there, and I began watching it on the B&W tv one night and fell asleep but thought I’d give it another chance in all its colorful glory – and I’m glad I did.  A middle-aged woman wonders what happened to her life, how she got to be who she is, and desires to to re-create the person that she once was.  She goes to Greece (hence the need to see the movie in its beautiful color – Greece is so beautiful!) and still doesn’t feel the happiness she thinks she should, even after being swept away by Costos, handsome Greek man.  🙂  I’m glad I started it over and watched it in full.

The Shirley Valentine Taverna
The Shirley Valentine Taverna (Photo credit: wallygrom)

Looking forward to getting some BluRay discs from Netflix (love the new player!) and will figure out what movies are on my next “Must See” list!  Last year I saw every single Oscar nominee – almost all in the theatre; I’m not sure that will happen this year, but it may.  I know there are a few that I missed but they will probably be available on DVD when the list comes out.

How about you?  Do you have a favorite movie of 2012?  Have you seen anything good lately?

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