Life + Culture
Recently Watched: Winter’s Tale
When I saw the preview for Winter’s Tale last year, I was immediately interested. Give me a hint of time travel and I’m all over it.
Plus I’m a Downton Abbey fan and was happy to see Jessica Brown Findlay again after the very sad and unexpected death of her character Lady Sybil. The beautiful smiling face of Colin Farrell didn’t hurt either. Actually, his beautiful face is the best part of the movie in my opinion.
Luckily, I did not pay to see Winter’s Tale when it first came out. Although I was tempted. Before Christmas, I was at the library randomly getting DVDs to watch and grabbed it.
Can a movie be a fairy tale if there are no fairies? If so, it’s a fairy tale. If not, it’s just a tale. I can suspend disbelief along with the best of them and even I had a bit of trouble with this one. The magic was rather inconsistent and not what I expected. In a bad way.
The cast is great. With Russell Crowe, William Hurt, Graham Greene, Jennifer Connelly and a surprise to me, Will Smith. A pretty big name to not have been mentioned in the previews. Smith’s role is rather small and certainly not his best, but it was nice seeing him anyway.
If you don’t see this movie, you’re not missing anything. Don’t pay to see it. Apparently Farrell is up for a Razzie as Worst Actor because of this movie. However, there have been other movies which never get blogged by me. They were so horrible that I was angry that I wasted two hours of my life that I could not get back and didn’t want to spend anymore time thinking about them.
Winter’s Tale isn’t that bad. But mostly because two hours of looking at Colin Farrell is still rather enjoyable. Plan accordingly.
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Screenshot: Winter’s Tale – Official Trailer
2014: A Look Back
As 2014 began, I wrote a post looking back at 2013. I liked the tie-it up in a bow feeling to the post and decided to do it again.
Much of what happened last year was unexpected. While my beloved Bug was having problems for a while, at the end of last year, it gave out completely. In JANUARY, I traded in my Beetle for a RAV4. Sometimes I miss the fun of the Bug. Maybe too much of my identity got tied up with driving it. But the space, feeling of safety and convenience of the RAV4 is wonderful. It’s stylish and easy. I love it.
In FEBRUARY, I saw Ice-T speak at MIT and learned quite a few lessons. In case you don’t click over to the post, below are some of the things that I took away from his talk.
“Remain calm. Do not panic. Believe in your idea. Surround yourself with people who are smart and have a good work ethic.”
“Do not get comfortable. When you get to the top, that is when you push.” Keep pushing. Planting seeds. Say things that you want to do, that you are thinking about doing. Say it when you are at your peak.
“Humble yourself to this game. Someone to the left is better than you. Someone to the right would die to be in your shoes.” You are only competing with yourself. Nobody else.
Advice now that he would give to himself at 19. “Think in broad strokes. Keep your mind open.”
I was writing and talking about seafood and sustainability in MARCH. I learned a lot and was really proud to have my social media efforts recognized with the Seafood Sustainability Award by the Global Aquaculture Alliance.
APRIL marked my 8th year blogging! FIELD was the word that I chose for this 8th year. I went on my second Hashcapade and visited Julians in Providence, Rhode Island for a wonderful meal with my mom. It was also my first out-of-state road trip in the new car. I met author Matthew Quick and got some writing advice. He said to be brave and use my life experiences. Not to be afraid to put it out there.
In MAY, the Boston smell walk that I had taken the August before finally was broadcast on the radio! I was interviewed briefly too. You can read the smell walk story on PRI and listen as well.
Father’s Day was in JUNE and I felt especially grateful for my dad. I wrote about my new practice of writing letters to my near future self and finally finished re-doing the chair that I bought at Goodwill.
JULY and AUGUST brought the summer of Market Basket. By the way, everything worked out in the end for the workers, customers and the beloved CEO, Arthur T. Demoulas. He is back and now has control over the company!
Behind the scenes, I was working on creating this new blog and working on purpose for my dreams.
In SEPTEMBER, I wrote up a post about my day on Cape Cod with G, eating good food, and driving around in convertible Corvettes and Camaros. What a perfect day!
Then I had a big birthday, said goodbye on my old blog and launched this new blog!
A tree fell on my house in OCTOBER. I had just walked in the door and missed getting hit by a mere few seconds! I went to a fun event at Perkins School for the Blind. My mom and I went to Nantucket. We had the best time!
Being published in The Atlantic about an important issue was a very proud moment for me in NOVEMBER.
Kwanzaa Culinarians was back again in DECEMBER and I was really happy to participate. I also attended the Massachusetts Conference for Women and had a wonderful time. Unfortunately I haven’t had a chance to write up the post yet. Hopefully soon!
Happy New Year! Here’s to 2015!
Season’s Greetings to You!
All the best to you during this holiday season! And for those who celebrate, have a Merry Christmas!
Quote of the Week: Desmond Tutu
“Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.” ~ Desmond Tutu
This week we have the least amount of daylight for the year. Sunday is the Winter Solstice — the first day of winter. After that, we start back toward longer days and more sunlight.
While winter is not my favorite time of the year, there is beauty in the season and a certain coziness with coming inside out of the cold. So I’ll appreciate the gifts of winter and look forward to spring.
Happy Solstice!
