It is said when you are stressed, you should find that place in your head where you feel at peace. What better place than high above the clouds, away from the problems of the world, yet grounded by a mountain peak.
Posted in inspirational, magic moments, peaceful world, photography, random thoughts | Tagged Photos | Leave a Comment »
Do you remember what you were doing from April 26th to May 1st in 2003?
Ask Aron Ralston what he was doing, it is five days that he will never forget and almost didn’t live to tell about.
127 Hours is based on Aron’s book “Between a Rock and a Hardplace” and is one of the most amazing story’s of survival I have ever come across.
James Franco, who played the part of Aron, was brilliant and his performance was definitely worthy of an Oscar, and I love director Danny Boyle’s style as it is most engaging.
In case you hadn’t heard Aron’s story on the news, he is a rock and mountain climber and was climbing alone in Utah’s Blue John Canyon. While climbing, a boulder became dislodged, and fell pinning his arm to the canyon wall. After five days of being stranded, he ended up self amputating his arm with a cheap pocket knife.
The scene where he performs the surgery was quite realistic and I could feel myself wincing as if I could actually feel his pain. I halfway covered my eyes and peeked through my fingers trying hard to divert my attention anyway that I could because it was most overwhelming.
There is a point in the movie where he is contemplating on his ill-fated situation, and he thinks to himself “You know, I’ve been thinking. Everything is… just comes together. It’s me. I chose this. I chose all this. This rock… this rock has been waiting for me my entire life. It’s entire life, ever since it was a bit of meteorite a million, billion years ago. In space. It’s been waiting, to come here. Right, right here. I’ve been moving towards it my entire life. The minute I was born, every breath that I’ve taken, every action has been leading me to this crack on the out surface.”
Upon hearing it, I remember repeating it to my husband to see if it had the same profound effect on him as it did on me. On a quick Google search, I discovered it is one of the most referred to quotes from the movie. Obviously it had the same impact on many.
An incredible story, lovingly portrayed and beautifully shot. It will keep you thinking for days.
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I don’t read as often as I would like and I am reminded of that every time I pick up a good book.
While surfing for cookbooks on my local library website, I happened to catch out of the corner of my eye, a review on the side column for this book called “Packing for Mars” by Mary Roach. The review stated that the book was quite funny, and I just so happened to be in the mood for funny, so I clicked on it, ordered it, and forgot all about it.
About two months later, I get an e-mail from the library telling me that the book was ready to pick up, and I though, wow, if it took that long to come in, it must be good because I was on quite the waiting list.
Having never read Mary Roach before, I was expecting to read more of a novel about traveling to Mars, when actually Mary Roach is a scientist and the book was more of a dissertation about all the engineering and planning and science and quirky type things that actually goes on behind the scenes in planning a trip for months on end in zero gravity.
I have always been fascinated about space travel and took many trips with my kids to the Johnson Space Center while living in Houston. At the time they had an exact model of the space shuttle that you could walk through and get an up close and personal glimpse of what it is like inside. The only thing missing was the sense of zero gravity.
Mary Roach was not only funny, she also gave you quite an all around eduction on the up close and personal of life in outer space, like how one must smell after so many days without bathing. I particularly was amazed that in zero gravity even the organs inside your body would float, to the point that you may not even feel the weight of your bladder filling up and could forget to pee. I was talking to my boss about the book and was telling her that in space you can grow 2 to 3 inches taller because there is no gravity to compress your back. She thought for a moment and then exclaimed, “wow, how good would that feel on my back”. Personally I was thinking more on how good that would make my boobs look.
If you have ever had the curiosity about what it is really like to travel and prepare for travel in outer space, Mary Roch seems to cover everything that NASA purposely leaves out. A refreshing quick read that will lift you off your feet.
Posted in books | Tagged mary roach, packing for mars, space | Leave a Comment »
I have been searching for a new teapot for several weeks now as I just cracked my second beautiful glass pot from Crate&Barrel. I tried to be extra careful with the second one, washing it by hand and carefully storing it away when not in use. I guess I am to much of a klutz to keep a glass pot. After the second one cracked, I decided that I would look for something that would last a bit longer like cast iron.
I drove all over town shopping for a cast iron pot that I could afford and came up empty handed. Teavana had some beautiful ones, however the ones I liked were over $170 plus tax. So I started surfing the net and found this one one on Amazon.com for only $36 plus free shipping.
The package was delivered super fast, and I was so surprised when I opened it to find that it was just as beautifully designed as the ones I saw in Teavana and it brews the perfect cup of tea. Actually it holds 38 oz. so it really brews 4 perfect cups of tea.
Traditionally it is called a Japanese Tetsubin Teapot and was considered a sort of status symbol in Japan beginning in the 19th century. The more elaborate pots were embellished with symbols which expressed a sentiment of purpose or desire.
The Bamboo and pine symbols on my teapot represent friendship and longevity.
Here’s to my friends and a beautiful life ahead of me!
Posted in green living, natural remedies, wellness | Tagged Japan, japanese, tea, teapot, tetsubin | Leave a Comment »
This was one of Zhang Ziyi’s first films and the sweet innocence she portrays is so refreshingly beautiful. She doesn’t even have to utter a word for us to understand what she is feeling, her eyes and smile tell everything.
There was a small scene in the movie that really left quite an impression on me. A potter came through the town to see if anyone had pottery to be repaired, and in this scene he skillfully repaired a broken ceramic bowl. I was quite amazed that so much effort and care was put into mending a broken bowl. In today’s world, if it is broke, we just throw it away, however, there was a time when people salvaged all that they could.
I think this world needs a few more people that mend good things back together rather then just whipping up cheaper versions with such a disposable life span.
The potter mentioned that it would cost more to mend the old bowl than to just buy a new one. And even then when money was sparse, it was worth the investment of mending and old bowl because it had a memory attached that made it so exquisitely beautiful.
The movie was slow and quite predictable, yet Zhang Ziyi had a way of pulling you into her heart and falling head over heal in love with her, I just can’t see it working with any other actress. I really enjoyed it.
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If you are looking to find a way to quickly de-stress and give your mind a break, this movie may just do the trick. You won’t find any action here, not even much of a story to contemplate on, however, the movie really does work and it is actually quite magical.
The film starts out with a young man with Mayan roots and an Italian woman who fall in love and have a child. The problem, as with many relationships of such extreme cultural differences, neither one of them could give up their world for the other, thus they parted ways.
Wanting to leave his son with something to remember him by, the father takes him on a journey out to sea.
The journey will be one that five year old Natan will long remember as he gets a glimpse of life on, under and beside the sea.
Although the story was fiction, the father and child where real so I guess you could say it was fiction based on reality.
There was a scene just after they left shore that made you feel like you were right there sitting at the bow of the boat with the waves parting just beneath you. One could almost taste the fresh ocean air as beads of salty water sprayed across your face. The scene was most refreshing and I could actually feel my muscles start to loosen up and stress easing away.
Natan was simply adorable and reminded me of the days when my own boys were so young and impressionable. Towards the end of the film, Natan was asked about what parts of the trip he would remember most, and one of them he so innocently stated was the “camera” . I thought that response was actually was quite perfect.
A charming little film that I could see myself watching again.
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I had not seen this movie until this year and can’t believe I missed such a gem when it came out in 1993.
It is a story about a man named Benny (Aidan Quinn) who has devoted his life to taking care of his mentally ill sister Joon (Marry Stuart Masterson).
Things were already starting to get difficult as June was maturing and wanting more independence, when into the picture enters Sam (Johnny Depp) whom Benny ended up taking care of after losing a game of friendly poker.
The entire movie was simply delightful and I loved the scenes where Sam would try to impress Joon in his silent zany ways similar to that of the great silent movie artists Charlie Chan and Buster Keaton whom Depp in preparation for this movie had had devoted countless hours trying to emulate.
June though mentally ill, was a talented artist, and there was a scene that took place in her studio where you could see moonlit blue water rippling in a lake behind the house that brought such tranquility to the viewer. I distinctly remember the calm and peace I felt during that particular scene.
And then there was the whimsical music that was really quite perfect all the way through. One of the songs that has become a new favorite of mine is called “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)” from a Scottish band called “The Proclaimers”. The band is composed of identical twin brothers born in 1962 from none other than Leith, Scotland. I believe that it was this song that pushed them to stardom.
Click on the link and enjoy the music.
Posted in movies, music | Tagged Buster Keaton, Johnny Depp, Leith Scotland, Mary Stuart Masterson, Proclaimers | Leave a Comment »
