Monthly Archives: January 2013

Interests

Let’s All Go To The Movies

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This will admit you!
This will admit you!

I had recently challenged the always wonderful, beautiful, kind, considerate and very funny Purnimodo to come up with her top five American movies.  Purnimodo decided to call them movies to watch when you are stranded, but many of them I would watch any time.  She came up with a pretty potent list, but I have a few years on the fair blogger from Holland, and that means a little more movie expertise.

This is a rundown of my top movies with an explanation of why each one is so very awesome. I am not putting them in any particular order and I don’t think I will be able to keep it to five, because movies are awesome. (So are you, if you are still reading.)  My criteria are pretty simple, I have to have seen it at least five times and still want to watch it right now. In most cases I even know the dialogue, but I’ll be quiet if we watch it together.

Good Will Hunting

good will hunting
Watch this

This movie has it all.  Robin Williams playing the sensitive shrink, who works with the tough kid from Southie, Matt Damon, and gets him to use his talents wisely.  It involves friendship, romance and fulfilling your potential.  Great movie any way you look at it.  Best line in the movie: “Tell him I’ve gone to see about a girl.”  You must have a very little heart if you don’t like this one.

Do you like apples?    National Security Agency   Not Your Fault 

Gone to see about a girl

The Shawshank Redemption

shawshankThere are not many films that take place inside a prison like this.  Andy Dufrane falsely accused of murdering his wife spends twenty years in prison, launders money for the warden, breaks out, takes all of the money for himself.  Best line in the movie, “Get busy livin’ or get busy dyin’. That’s goddamn right.”  You will feel like going to live on a beach in Mexico after this one.

Opera Scene 

Tar the roof

The Legend of Bagger Vance

Bagger VanceThis is a movie that many people have never seen, but it is worth the time.  On the surface it is about a golf match, but underneath it is so much more. It is about finding your own unique talent and doing the best you can with it. Letting go of the past, and living in the present moment.  Starring Matt Damon, Will Smith, Charlize Theron and directed by Robert Redford, it should have been a hit, but it was a flop at the box office. Still a great movie that you should see. This movies has so many good lines it is hard to choose just one but I will choose this one: ” You got a choice… You can stop… Or you can start…” Bagger Vance says as he is guiding Rannolph Junah back into the light.

See it, you will love it.  Movie

Just a moment ago         The Field    Your Authentic Swing

The Princess Bride

princess brideOK, this one is kind of a kid’s movie, but I still watch it every time I am feeling under the weather and need some extra rest.  Who can argue it has everything, fencing, boxing, giants, revenge and true love.  What can top all of that?  This is a classic, with many lines and I recently threw a few around it made me realize that I haven’t watched it for so long that I might be feeling a bit under the weather, ahem today!  Great lines, a million of them, “inconceivable!” , “As you wish”, “Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.” I can’t believe you are still reading this and not watching this movie!

Hello!            Sword Fight      Battle of Wits  

Rocky and Rocky III

RockyI put these two together because they are the best of the franchise. If you have never seen Rocky then you need to quickly, it is a classic about how anyone on any given day can be a champion and give a championship effort.  Rocky III has Mr. T in it and is great because it came out while I was in junior high.  I skipped Rocky II because it was too long and drawn out, and anything after III was either over patriotic or didn’t make sense.  Although, Rocky Balboa, the last Rocky movie gave one of the best speeches ever, so I included that one here.   Enjoy the fight. The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows………..

Rocky Balboa Speech         Training with Rocky           Rocky Wins     YO, Adrian

A Few Good Men

few good menA great story that I now know pretty much word for word.  Jack Nicholson is great in this one and Tom Cruise was ok too.  Star studded cast with Demi Moore, Keifer Sutherland joining Cruise and Nicholson.  Full of good lines, but has the best speech and courtroom confrontation that you can imagine. Between Danial Caffey (Cruise) and Colonel Nathan Jessep (Nicholson).  The moral of the movie is nobody is above the law and we should all do what we can to protect those who need it.  “You don’t need a patch on your arm to live with honor.”

Can you handle the truth?               Introduction 

 

 

Fight Club

Fight Club

Fight Club is an awesome movie about……..Sorry rule number one prevents me from telling you anything further so does rule number 2.  Just watch it if you have never seen it.  Great movie.

Rules of Fight Club       Speech About Fight Club

There it is, my top five movies. Well really it is Seven, but who is counting, well I guess you are if you have read this far then you should definitely leave a comment and let me know how you think I did.  What makes your list my friends?

What I Know

Books Are Beacons of Possibility

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Reading books
If you read, you make yourself better!

This is the second article about the things that I know for certain after a few years of trying to answer the questions of life.  The access to and the willingness to read and learn is the great equalizer of all people.  

Books and Reading Changed My Life

I have always been a reader, but not a learner.  The books that I read for much of my life were designed to entertain and tell a story but not to teach me anything in particular.  I am almost ashamed to say that I lived more than forty years before I truly discovered the power of books.  This is what I have learned to be true.  Not everyone is born with great athletic ability, or supportive parents, or money, but once you learn the skill of reading you able to build your intellect to any level that you desire.

You Can Do Anything

If you have access to books, you have the ability to learn from the greatest thinkers that mankind has ever produced.  What you want to learn, you can learn all you want to about. This means that all of the world, science, math, literature, or physics are all there for you to

Reading allows you to do anything
Reading Provides Magic

delve into as deeply as you could possibly want to.

This is what happened to me, once I started to realize that books possess a whole lot of power, I had trouble reading anything for fun.  I didn’t want to waste any of my reading time with something that didn’t make me think or to gain a better understanding of the world around me.  I am certainly no intellectual giant, but I do realize the miles that I have crossed, and the distance I still need to navigate.  What a trip.

Once You Start…….

 

Much like a rock rolling down a hill, once knowledge is gained, and you feel like true understanding has started to peek through the haze of your mind, you want to learn more and more as fast as you can.  The great part about this is that once you stretch your brain out,  to accept these new ways of thinking, and thoughts that you have aquired, it will never shrink back again.  There is no turning the light of knowledge off.

This power of gaining knowledge and understanding is the factor that levels the playing field for all people.  you can feel sorry for yourself because of the circumstances that you were born into, or your experiences of life, but there is absolutely nothing stopping you from learning all that you want to from the many books of the world.  All of which can be accessed free of charge at your local library.

You Can Do Anything By Reading

You have the opportunity to learn about business from Andrew Carnegie, or philosophy from Nietzsche. There are no limits to what level of expertise you want to acquire.  The only limit is in the amount of time and thought that you want to invest in a particular project.

If you can read, you can do anything at all and that is a fact that I know to be true.

 

 

 

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