Maleficent: movie review

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Maleficent, movie, postaday2014, reviews

Guess what?! My husband and I really enjoyed Maleficent; shocking I know!.
Angelina Jolie was amazing in the movie; she dominated the film completely. I have read other reviews and many of the critics see her performance as both a positive and a negative; that by being such a strong presence she doesn’t allow other components to shine or have as much of an impact that they perhaps should have had; but the critics blamed the director, not Angelina Jolie. I didn’t really see any negative aspect to the movie; the director told a good story; my husband and I understood what the director had in mind; Maleficent has been misunderstood for all of these years. We see Maleficent’s evolution as a character during the entire movie; she isn’t a one note creature; she is complicated, full of emotion and passion. We see that in her relationships within the fairy world and with her relations in the human world.

My husband and I particularly liked Maleficent’s relationship with her aide, Diaval a crow, but in human form was quite witty and entertaining, their banter was very funny. My favorite part was when we get to see Maleficent and Diaval interact with the baby Aurora and then toddler Aurora; I had a smile the entire time.

Aurora was brilliantly played by Elle Fanning; she glowed and embodied light and radiance. You could see how the animals and everyone could just fall in love with her.

I did like the message within he movie for little ones to pick up; you shouldn’t be mean to people because they are different, stealing is bad, hatred and revenge are bad, forgiveness is wonderful and love can fix things.

I’m glad that we went to see Maleficent; we had a nice afternoon of entertainment.

Daily prompt: Game of Groans

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cell phones, postaday2014, technology

Think about an object, an activity, or a cultural phenomenon you really don’t like. Now write a post (tongue in cheek or not — your call!) about why it’s the best thing ever.

I think that everyone knows how much I dislike the cell phone. So here goes an attempt to write about the cell phone as the best thing ever.

Have you ever worried about feeling alone, bored, undistracted or not in the loop? Well do I have the cure for you!!! It’s called a cellphone and once you have it, you will wonder how in the world you ever survived life on a daily basis before its inception! Just think, where before you would be in the bathroom, enduring countless minutes of unending boredom doing your business where now with the cellphone you can communicate with the outside world, you can upload pictures, play games all while relieving yourself; the essence of the multi-task. Or why go to a restaurant with friends and just speak to them when you can be messaging and poking an entire group of people not even within your vicinity. How is that for progress?

Better yet, you can provide endless amounts of entertainment to all sorts of strangers by speaking out loud in public over your cell phone reliving the worst break up or the horrible thing you did at the office. The things that you can share with the world is limitless, because don’t forget those eye catching selfies that everyone just loves posting for the world to see. As you can see the cell phone has made your life, everyones, isn’t it grand?

Okay I think that that was enough snark for me for a long time. Personally I would never deny someone their cell phone, I just don’t like them. In my opinion; they are too much of an interference and how did the world become convinced that they were a vital necessity in our daily lives? I really think that they speed up time or at least our awareness of time passing; they make things have to be more immediate or at least that is how it seems to me.

Any questions you can call me at ha, ha, ha. Write or leave comments instead 😀

I really like Philadelphia

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history, Philadelphia, pictures, postaday2014, Walnut Street

We just left Philadelphia today, I am writing this from our room in Herndon, Virginia, but I have to say that I look forward to going back to Philadelphia and spending more time there. If everything goes the way that it has been, it seems that my husband or I should say his firm will be helping Comcast build their third tower in Philly, so we would need to spend a little more time there during the duration of the project.

What I like the most about Philadelphia is the strong sense of history that I feel walking along its streets. Granted I have been seeing just a small piece of the grand city, but just looking down the narrow side streets, I can imagine Philadelphia from centuries ago. You can’t walk a block without seeing the name Benjamin Franklin or George Washington somewhere in large letters.

We have been visiting exclusively around the Walnut Street area and besides being a part of the French Quarter; it is a mish-mash of old right next to brand new and somehow it fits together very nicely aesthetically. The Holiday Inn Express in one of the pictures up above was where we stayed last night; very convenient being right in the heart of Philadelphia for what my husband needed to do for work.

Philadelphia is a great university city; you can never have too many universities in your city; their presence does so much to increase the vitality, the diversity and the dynamism of any city. I am happy to say that Philadelphia is home to quite a few and the young blood is alive and kicking everywhere on the streets of Philadelphia.

If anyone has any spare time for a mini-vacation this summer; I recommend a few days in Philadelphia, you will have a lovely time.

Daily prompt: Memory on the menu

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fading, memory, past, postadya2014

Which good memories are better — the recent and vivid ones, or those that time has covered in a sweet haze?

I would have to say that the vivd memories are best; when you can practically relive those special moments and all of the wonderful sensations are right there to grasp and hold for a few extra moments. I hate it when they start to fade, to me it feels as if they are slipping away through my finger tips; gradually fading away to the recesses of my memory banks that have become more and more difficult to fully access these past few years.

When I was young; I had a photographic memory. I could read my text books and after a few hours I would have pages filed away in my head with easy accessibility for future tests, essays and papers; it was great. Having all of the information stored in my head, right there at my fingertips, meant that I could construct arguments for my essays very quickly and the same for my other tests. However my memory talents didn’t extend to conversations or people’s names or places. I didn’t have that kind of crazy memory; just enough to make schooling very easy, but I wasn’t complaining.

Nowadays, I wish that I had a quarter of the capacity that I once had; not so much for knowledge, but more for the past such as my childhood capers, my childhood vacations, especially the times that my sister and I spent with both sets of our grandparents. I think that it s only when we get to adulthood that we really appreciate our grandparents and by that time it is all too often too late.

These days, my memories of my grandparents feel like those old black and white pictures, hazy from too much exposure to the sunlight. I would give a lot to recall some of the conversations that we had and to see all of the adult members of my family kicking back and having a wonderful time around the dinner table, laughing loudly at each other’s jokes and nonsense.
That would be great, to relive those moments as if they were yesterday. I don’t think that I would want the type of memory capacity where you remember every single detail; that would be too much for me. I think that emotionally I would be on overload; all that I would like is a little upgrade, that’s it, or a reboot, that may be even better.

Daily prompt: Great Expectations

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novels, postaday2014, procrastination, writing

Tell us about one thing (or more) that you promised yourself you’d accomplish by the end of the year. How would you feel once you do? What if you don’t?

Everyone who has been following my blog for over three years will be sick and tired of this familiar theme by now; sorry but here goes: I promised myself that I would at last finish my novel by the end of this year; it has only been three nanowrimo marathons and it still isn’t done. I have a nice list of why’s, but the why’s don’t fill a screen; only dedication and will power will fill a screen and currently I am too tired to extend that amount of energy.

I have gotten my character Madeleine to New York. I have researched New York City 1926 fairly well; I have a solid notion of how it will end; the in betweens are a bit vague; how will she fill up her day in New York City while her lover goes about his daily business? That sort of thing.

Why am I stuck? I do not know, well I sort of know, but it still isn’t a very good excuse for not getting over it and just doing the work. It won’t hurt anything or cost me anything if I just sit down and write the words. Goodness knows; I do write every single day. All of you know that very well, I am faithful in that respect. Why am I not applying the same dedication to my novel? Well to be fair, this is far and away much easier then writing my novel, for me at least. When I write here, I feel as if I am writing a fun letter to you my friends so the words just flow from my brain to the screen, no worries, no angst. When I am writing my novel I am writing as my character and I feel her emotions and her truth and the words feel as if they are being ripped out of my gut and it is a little scary. I feel so much more exposed within the context of my novel then here in my blog. It’s weird because this blog is personal, but I feel very safe here, not raw and exposed as I feel when I am living in my novel.

Even within the realm of my political blog, I haven’t any qualms over filling the page. Politics can be quite incendiary, but that doesn’t stop me from writing everyday as well, I know that there are tons that disagree with my views, but I never feel threatened or intimidated so my posts flow very easily.

I have to do something; the longer I put it off, the longer it will lay around not getting done and before I die, I want this novel to be written with The End typed on the last page.

Argh

Putting in some annuals for color

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annuals, Gardening, ponds, postaday2014, water aeration

Today my husband and I went down to pick up a new water aeration pump for our pond mostly to keep the mosquitos at bay; when water is being whipped up it is much harder for mosquitos to lay their eggs, or at least that is what I read somewhere. While we were shopping for the pump, we spied some very pretty annuals which the front yard was very much in need of, while we are waiting for the perennials such as the peonies and lilies to bloom; some discreet splashes of yellow and purple to perk up the front, always a good idea.

So while I planted the annuals out in front, my husband put the pump together, submersed it into the pond and voila, a pretty fountain effect:

Now that we have the pump working again, I feel better about not contributing to the mosquito population, I might be wrong about the idea that moving water inhibits egg laying, I hope that I’m not, but I still feel better.

I thought that two trays of annuals would have gone farther than it did. I still have at least seven more containers to fill out in front. I could always use some annuals in the back, but it isn’t needed as much as it is in the front. I’ll probably get the rest of the containers planted with different colored annuals next weekend or at least I hope so.

I am very happy with the work that we did outside today; it’s always nice to add some beauty to the house, either inside or out.

Cheesecake makes for a great birthday cake

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birthday, cakes, cheesecake, postaday2014

My sister hosted my mother’s birthday party yesterday at her house, she lives in Westchester, New York. The four of us drove to my sister’s house, a roundtrip ride and I brought the birthday cake; my mother’s favorite dessert of all time cheesecake!.

I remember, during my teenage years, making cheesecake very often for my mother; constantly experimenting with different recipes, eternally looking for the perfect cheesecake. It only took practically 3 decades and it actually was my husband who found the perfect recipe: here it is
http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/new-york-style-sour-cream-topped-cheesecake-10000001677932/

What I have found over time is to heed the cooking times; when I inadvertently left it in longer, the cheesecake wasn’t as creamy as when I adhered to the time specified n the recipe.

We had such a lovely time celebrating my mother’s birthday. My sister had a great menu, Vietnamese themed, we had summer rolls and the Vietnamese sandwich Banh Mi. That was fun because my sister had set up a buffet and we all got to make our own rolls; my niece and nephew are huge fans of the summer roll. My poor nephew was feeling under the weather, but even sick, he is very entertaining. My niece was out and about roller-blading, but she came in when necessary, at food time. The Vietnamese sandwiches were easy to make and quite tasty; my sister and I assembled them together. She had two long baguettes warmed up in the oven and we split them in half, took out the insides to leave room for the filling, brushed the insides with a dressing of oil, fish sauce and soy sauce, then we spread a French pate, added a layer of rotisserie chicken, a slaw of daikon and carrots, sliced onion, and lettuce, my sister cut the baguettes into 4 inch sandwiches and we dug in, they were excellent sandwiches.

Dessert time came and we had the cheesecake, my mother was very happy, I left the rest of the cheesecake and I am sure that my mother made it a point to bring some home with her so that she could have cheesecake for breakfast. Cheesecake for breakfast is a very good idea; you have the eggs, cream cheese and sour cream, what isn’t good for you in that mix?

Actually, when my sister offered to wrap up some cheesecake for us to take home, I sheepishly admitted that when I made the one for our mother, I had made another one for us and it was waiting for us back home in our refrigerator. I did it for the kids and my husband, they are huge fans of the cheesecake.

I highly recommend trying the cheesecake recipe, it hasn’t let me down, not once.

The wonders of what rain will do

Tags

gardens, plants, postaday2014

I go away for a few days and when I come back I am welcomed by a cornucopia of green; it is so pretty and a huge turnaround from the last pictures I posted.

As I was looking at my garden, I was appreciating the breadth and depth of green, but I was also dissecting; what needs to be trimmed, moved and radically cut back. I am talking about the vinca major, the dark green ground cover that has gotten a little out of control in certain areas. As I say this, this is why I love gardening; it is never boring, there is always something different to tackle and gardens evolve in a living and vibrant way.

X-Men Days of Future Past: a movie review

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movie, postaday2014, X-Men

Ny husband and I went to see the newest X-Men movie out of the franchise and guess how we liked it? We loved it. Really in the final analysis, my husband and I, all we ask for from a movie is to sit in the dark for however long and forget the world around us, save for the movie being shown, and X-Men came through for us, as all of the previous movies did in the past.

I don’t want to give away any spoilers, but I loved all of the actors, Jennifer Lawrence was especially great as Raven/Mystique and she has great chemistry with everyone that she interacts with; I have to say as an actress, I have yet to see her not have chemistry. I enjoy her work as an actor enormously and I look forward to seeing what other roles she will embody in the near future.

James Mcavoy has an incredible relationship and access to a wide range of emotions; it is beautiful to watch his expressive face and his eyes are truly a window into his character’s soul. His interpretation of Charles Xavier is very believable even when present day Professor Charles Xavier is in the movie; I truly got a real sense of who Charles Xavier is, the complete picture past and present. Moreover it was so lovely to see how many relationships within the X-Men family developed and evolved over time.

I realize that there are many comic book fans who may have some issues with the X-Men movies in terms of story lines, the special effects are never an issue from my understanding, but I have watched the X-Men cartoons since the early 1990’s and they may have deviated from the story boards, but I don’t mind, I love the actors tasked with bringing the characters to life and like I said, my husband and I only ask to take a journey for a few hours and we had a very nice journey today.

Poor Jack with his upset tummy

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food, ill, Jack, postaday2014

Our poor Jack, over the past week or so, he has been having issues with his gastrointestinal system. Our son, who was Jack sitting, described it not as diarrhea, but more like a raspberry jam like substance oozing out of his bottom. He took Jack to the vet, had them do all sorts of tests and what did we find out? That Jack, like so many small dogs, might just be prone to having bouts of this when under stress. We were concerned that perhaps Jack, who will eat anything, might have swallowed something that had perforated his intestines, but his x-rays were clean, the doctor is thinking that he responds to stress vis his intestines.

Now what is highly ironic is that our Jack, he who will eat anything, turns up his nose to his medicinal food, his pills and his powdered food supplement. I captured it quite nicely, I think.