You can also visit the other Life List Club crew by clicking on any of the names in the sidebars of our blogs and we’ll all be around in the comments section!  See you there!

Scams by David N. Walker

WANA: We may not have it all together, but together we have it all.

Not too long ago, everyone in my Yahoo contact list received an email purporting to be from me and stating that I was stranded in Madrid penniless and without ID because I’d been mugged. More recently I received this email.

Dear Sir/Madam,

My name is Barrister Manuel Francisco Suarez Calafell, an Attorney at Law, in Madrid-Espana.

I am writing to notify you of the unclaimed inheritance deposit (US$37.3Million) of our late client, Mr. MROTZEK GERD who passed on to the Great beyond on August 21st, 2008 in the Spanair Flight JK-502 2 Crash in Madrid.

I got your name and email address through a web search engine in my quest to get a reliable individual who shall work with me in claiming this inheritance deposit since all efforts to get the biological relative has proved abortive.

Conclusively, I await your urgent response to include the following:(1).Your full Names & Address. (2).Your Telephone and Fax numbers. (3).Your business name if any: for more information on how to release the inheritance deposit, procedure and legality of this claim via email: manuelfrancisccalafell.suarez@aim.com

Regards,
Manuel Francisco Suarez Calafell (Esq)
Attorney At Law

Has Spain become the new Nigeria? I haven’t received anything lately from any Nigerian bankers asking me for a processing fee so they could send me several million dollars. Maybe someone from Spain stole all their computers.

Have you been spammed with any junk like this letter? Had your email account commandeered or your identity stolen? This seems to be growing in seriousness.

David N. Walker is a Christian father and grandfather, a grounded pilot and a near-scratch golfer who had to give up the game because of shoulder problems. A graduate of Duke University, he spent 42 years as a health insurance agent. Most of that career was spent in Texas, but for a few years he traveled many other states. He started writing about 20 years ago, and has six unpublished novels to use as primers on how NOT to write fiction. Since his retirement from insurance a few years ago, he has devoted his time to helping Kristen Lamb start Warrior Writers’ Boot Camp and trying to learn to write a successful novel himself.

So here’s the final review on some of the hottest nominees for Best Picture.  Stay tuned at the end to enter Jess’ Ultimate Oscar Win Contest!

The Tree of Life

This film is not for everyone.  If you hate really artsy, existential movies where the cinematography is really the height of the story, then you probably won’t make it all the way through this movie.  I did like the film.  It’s artsy, thought-provoking, and the cinematography was like watching Planet Earth all over again!  The main story tells that of a family in the 50′s parented by Brad Pitt and Jessica Chastain (nominated for Moneyball and The Help).  Their three boys are growing up in a household where life isn’t perfect.  There are good times and bad, and interspersed with that theme of a father and son’s relationship is some of the most breathtaking natural images of science and space.

Does this film stand a chance for Best Picture?  I doubt it.  But I think it’s an incredibly well made and poignant film written and directed by Terrence Malick.  The footage is breathtaking and there are some scenes where the essence of life is so beautifully blended between the family and the natural element that you can’t help but look at it with awe.

Hugo

Nominated for 11 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Costumes, Best Original Score, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Cinematography, Hugo appears to be the race winner.  The titled lead, Hugo, is a boy who lives in the train station, desperately trying to piece together an automaton, a magician’s machine he and his father were working on before his father’s death.

The film creates a wonderful and imaginative world inside the clocks at the train station as well as the city of Paris.  The costumes and music are well coordinated to the setting, but what I loved the most is the colorful array of characters and their body language.  The picture seems as though minute detail was taken with every extra and every corner of the set.  I loved Sacha Baron Cohen as the Station Inspector!

Hugo could very well be the film to beat at the Oscars.  Scorsese certainly earned the Best Directing nomination!  And with so many other categories functioning together all in the same film, why wouldn’t the Academy select this one?  Don’t quote me yet, but I think the film picked will be Hugo, though I’m secretly rooting for The Help.

The Descendants

Will this be the year for George Clooney?  I’m going to say no.  But I could be incredibly surprised with the Best Actor category.  The Descendants is an incredibly well made film with honest characters and true to life acting of them.  Clooney is great as Matt King, a father who struggles to keep his family sane after his wife ends up in a coma from a boating accident.  The chemistry between Clooney and the two young actresses (Shailene Woodley and Amara Miller) playing his daughters is really quite charming, and I don’t know why unexpected, but it was.

I definitely recommend this movie for any audience. Note*  There is a lot of swearing.  The message of family is strong and presented in an equal balance of big and small picture, tough times and funny ones.  I like how they picked a paradise of a setting like Hawaii and blended it with the real issues we all face.  Definitely a film I’d watch again.

Jess’ Ultimate Oscar Challenge!

I’m going to list the nominees for 4 big categories:  Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Actress.  Vote for your picks below.  All entries must be submitted before Sunday at 6pm.  The commenter with the most correct answers wins AN AMAZON GIFT CARD!!!  And an array of Oscar themed fun like recipes and movies!  Don’t you want in?  Here are the categories; I’ll see ya’ll below!

10.  Beautiful Girls

Back home for their high school reunion, stars Timothy Hutton, Matt Dillon, and Michael Rapaport are still trying to put their lives together.  Not a one of them knows a thing about women, but they’ll spend their days trying to figure us out.  The film also stars Uma Thurman, Rosie O’Donnell, Mira Sorvino, Martha Plimpton, Lauren Holly and very young Natalie Portman as the women who drive them crazy, but who they can’t live without.  It’s as much a coming of age story as it is a romantic comedy, and these guys have some great lines.  Plus, you know how when you go out with a group of friends to the local pub and the jukebox starts playing Sweet Caroline, and you all start to join in?  Yah, I think that came from this movie.

9.  Muriel’s Wedding

I can’t get enough of Toni Collette!  She’s awesome in the Showtime series United States of Tara, and I loved her way back when she was Muriel Heslop.  Set in Australia, Muriel is the outcast of society.  Her family is full of losers, her father is a philanderer, and the only thing that makes her feel better is ABBA.  But Muriel decides to change her life, run away, call herself Mariel, get a best friend played by Rachel Griffiths, and find herself a husband.  This film is unconventional and awesome!  I guarantee you’ve never seen a film like this one, but you’ll want to watch it again and again, even if just for the ABBA dance sequence!

8.  Earth Girls Are Easy

Geena Davis is Valerie, a California girl looking for love.  Jeff Goldblum, Jim Carrey, and Damon Wayans are the three aliens from outer space who crash their ship in her swimming pool.  The good girl that she is, she cleans them up and befriends them, helping them make their way in the new world.  Filled with 80′s hair and dress, some slightly absurd song and dance numbers, and laser light steamy scenes, this film’s got em!

7.  Mermaids

An underrated and unappreciated Cher film, I have always loved this quirky romantic comedy.  Mother of two, Cher is Mrs. Flax, raising her daughters, Charlotte, played by Winona Ryder, and Kate, played by Christina Ricci.  Mrs. Flax goes from man to man and moves her daughters with her.  Charlotte takes up extreme hobbies.  Recently, she’s become obsessed with the life stories of saints and plans on becoming a nun, that is until she meets a cute boy in town.  Kate is going to be an Olympic swim champion and spends her time with a stopwatch hanging out several inches underwater in the bathtub.  The surprising love interest for Mrs. Flax is the local shoe salesman played by Bob Hoskins, who, with a good sense of humor, will change the lives of these women when they least expect it.

6.  How to Marry A Millionaire

How can anyone say no to Betty Grable, Lauren Bacall, and Marilyn Monroe?  This is my favorite Monroe film!  It’s the story of three women who’ve all been jaded by love and have set their sights on millionaires to make their dreams come true.  They’ll do whatever it takes to set the scene right, whether it’s modeling the latest fashions, selling and buying back all their furniture, and even dating a man who wears an eyepatch.  “Not bad for a one-eyed man!”  “Is that all he’s got?  I thought somebody must’ve belted him!”  It’s wild Betty, sultry Lauren, and naive Marilyn gold!  And as for love, it may have entirely different plans for these leading ladies after all.

5.  Saved!

Pure campy satirical goodness.  Jena Malone stars as Mary, a young Christian girl who does what Jesus tells her to do, including have sex with her gay boyfriend to make him all better.  Alas, Mary ends up pregnant, and her gay boyfriend ends up at Mercy Camp, a home for Christian kids who’ve wandered off the path of righteousness.  Mary then struggles with all she thought she believed, including her friendship with Christian Jewel elite Hilary Faye, played by Mandy Moore.  The last thing Mary is looking for is love, and let’s face it, she’s in no condition to get involved.  But Pastor Skip’s super cool skateboarding missionary son, Patrick, played by Patrick Fugit, really digs Mary.  Co-starring delightfully handicapped Macaulay Culkin and Jewish badass Eva Amurri as Mary’s newfound friends, this film is hysterical and lovely all wrapped up in one.

4.  Strictly Ballroom

Fans of Baz Luhrmann will appreciate this early film about a champion dancer who loses his star partner.  Scott Hastings was a great dancer.  His mother was a great dancer.  His father a great dancer.  But one day, his father lost it, and it cost his parents the competition.  Now all hopes are riding on Scott, but there’s little time to find him a new partner.  Fran is the awkward, ugly girl who practices alone but tries her hardest.  A chance encounter may show the two that they’ve more to learn from one another than they ever expected.  Despite the odds, they’ll show the crowds that dancing, and more importantly love, isn’t just strictly ballroom.

3.  200 Cigarettes

One of my favorite movies for its all star casting and quoteable lines!  Kate Hudson, Jay Mohr, Martha Plimpton, Casey and Ben Affleck, Christina Ricci, Gabby Hoffman, Courtney Love, Paul Rudd, Janeane Garofalo, Dave Chappelle, and Elvis Costello all together in a New Year’s Eve movie where everyone is looking for love.  Following different characters as they journey towards the same party, this film is a depiction of the 90′s at its finest and the games people play when they’re looking for love.  This flick is a party you won’t want to miss.

2.  Garden State

Maybe not all that absurd, but it is a quirky and unusual romantic comedy.  Zach Braff is Andrew Largeman, home for his mother’s funeral, depressed, and without direction in his life.  While sitting in the hospital waiting room he meets Sam, played by Natalie Portman, a neurotic and very unconventional girl with ideas of her own.  Together, they help each other face the obstacles in life:  a dead hamster, a swimming pool, a flaming arrow, as well as the past.  Co-starring Peter Sarsgaard, Garden State is a movie about friendships that blossom into something more and about forgiveness as we come of age.  Plus, it has a killer soundtrack!

1.  Amelie

This is my favorite feel good movie of all time.  Only once have I ever finished a film, rewound it, and watched it over entirely again, and it was this movie.  Audrey Tautou stars as the namesake, Amelie, a reserved French girl who takes pleasure in learning what pleases others and in helping destiny get its revenge.  Filmed full of color, lively accordion music, and snapshot stories of all the characters Amelie encounters, it’s as much a love story of humankind as it is Amelie’s own fate with romance.  So much of what she’s thinking can be seen in Tautou’s candid facial expressions, that though it is a foreign film and subtitles are not everyone’s cup of tea, I hardly think you can turn this one down.  Indeed, you really shouldn’t.

What films would make your slightly absurd guilty pleasure list of romantic comedies?

What, you missed them?  Well, allow me to give you directions.  You can find Jenny talking about definitions of love here and Marcy talking about overcoming anything for 30 seconds here!  Enjoy!

But today, we’re talkingOscars again!  I’m reviewing two films with Best Actress Nominees, and these are leading ladies you won’t want to miss!

The Nominees for Best Actress in a Leading Role are:

• Glenn Close for Albert Nobbs
• Viola Davis for The Help
• Rooney Mara for The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
• Meryl Streep for The Iron Lady
• Michelle Williams for My Week With Marilyn

(source: teaser-trailer.com)

My Week With Marilyn

Based on the memoir by Colin Clark, My Week With Marilyn captures the film shooting of The Prince and the Showgirl, which starred Monroe opposite Laurence Olivier (played by fellow Oscar Nominee Kenneth Branagh).  Clark was a young man avoiding more sensible routes of adulthood, by earning himself a position as third Assistant Director on the set.  The film shooting took place shortly after Monroe’s marriage to author, Arthur Miller (who wrote the classic Death of a Salesman).

What Michelle Williams manages to portray are the polar opposites of celebrity poster child and girl interrupted.  Granted, this is all taken from the diary Clark kept while filming, so we only see his perception.  But we know enough about Marilyn’s tumultuous life and her struggle to feel loved.  On film, she stole the viewer’s hearts and they couldn’t take their eyes off her.  Behind the scenes, she worked diligently, albeit not timely, with an acting coach and whether she knew it or not, probably needed someone to take care of her.

The film, My Week With Marilyn, isn’t exactly a love story, but perhaps its players would say so.  Though Monroe was newly married, she began an affair with Clark, who probably never had a real girlfriend before.  That’s quite a coupling!  Michelle Williams is stunning in her doe eyed, young Marilyn and impressed me by doing her own singing in the film.  She is gorgeous and I think well deserving of this nomination.  How does one begin to embody an epic Hollywood starlet like Marilyn Monroe?  I think Williams got it right!

(source: imdb.com)

The Help

Nominated for several awards including Best Supporting Actresses Octavia Spencer and Jessica Chastain, Best Picture, and Viola Davis for Lead Actress, The Help is a film to contend with.

Viola is quickly becoming a favorite actress of mine.  From small scenes in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close to this starring role, she proves again and again she’ll do what’s needed and what’s right for the character.  What’s more, I caught the end of the SAG Awards (Screen Actor’s Guild) and both Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer won, as well as the Cast won Outstanding Performance in a Motion Picture.  When Davis got up to speak she said this film was truly a story where everyone came together, and having such a large cast, it was remarkable how they all came to work and made this movie happen, no egos, no demands, just working together.

Davis plays Aibileen, the Godly and good maid who cares for white people’s children.  The story of The Help is set during the civil rights movement in Jackson, Mississippi.  New graduate, Eugenia ‘Skeeter’ Phelan, returns home to Jackson and doesn’t understand the segregation going on around her.  She decides to write a book from The Help’s perspective.  What follows is a beautiful and strong friendship caught on film through the acting of Davis and Spencer, who plays Minny, the much MUCH  more outgoing and sassy maid.

This film, largely in part to its actors, will make you laugh so hard you could choke on your popcorn if you’re not careful, but it also will make you unnerved and moved in a very real way.  Both Davis and Spencer, and even Chastain, have done exceptionally well, being nominated in almost every award ceremony, and winning several more.  They are strong performances to beat, but I wonder if those awards cancel them out for the Oscars?  Will this be the year Meryl’s name gets called?  I don’t know, but Viola and Octavia are two women who have earned their nominations!

Your turn!  What films have you seen nominated for the Oscars?  Which leading lady are you rooting for?  Who would play you in your own Oscar worthy life story?

You Can Do Anything for 30 Seconds

I’ve broken both my arms (not at the same time) and multiple toes, sprained my right ankle three times, torn the cartilage in my left ankle, and dislocated my shoulder, and if there’s a door I can walk into or something to trip over or slip on, I will. It’s safe to say I could be a founding member of a clumsiness support group.

So when my husband and I needed to lose weight and bought the P90X workout series, I had visions of ending up on a first name basis with the ER staff. If you’ve ever seen the videos, you know that P90X is the scariest workout imaginable.

The people in the 12 videos do airborne clap push-ups. They do an hour and a half of yoga with exercises where you flip your feet back over your head to touch the floor (what kind of a person is that flexible?), and an ab routine that makes you long for normal crunches.

But “the mother of all P90X workouts” is plyometrics. It’s an hour of jump-training cardio exercises. The instructor broke each exercise into 30 seconds to one minute moves because he claimed, “You can do anything for 30 seconds.”

And I thought, “Yuh-huh. Maybe you can, but I can’t do that.”

Until I tried it. What looked impossible when I thought about it as an hour of pain became manageable in those 30 seconds. I could do those crazy hopping lunges for 30 seconds. I could do the wall squats and chair dips.

Normally I’m a planner who has contingency plans for her contingency plans and looks ahead, but sometimes, when you hit the P90X moments of life, those moments that hurt but also end up building character and strength, the way to get through them is to take 30 seconds at a time.

When my husband enlisted in the Marine Corps, a lot of people thought he’d never make it. The Marine Corps’ boot camp is the longest of any branch of the service—14 weeks. For those 14 weeks, you have no contact with your family, and your body is pushed to its physical and emotional limits. The drill instructors scream in your face about how worthless you are, you hike 15 miles carrying 50-60 lbs of gear, and if the DIs don’t give you permission to speak, you can’t ask to go to the washroom. My husband went chow to chow (meal to meal) because going day to day was too hard. That was his 30 seconds.

My neighbor while I was growing up was like an uncle to me. Just before he moved in down the street from us, he’d lost his driver’s license for repeatedly driving drunk. It was the point where he admitted he was an alcoholic and needed help. He once told my mom that he couldn’t think about not drinking for the rest of his life. He had to think about taking it one day, one hour at a time. He could do it for one hour. That was his 30 seconds, and he’s been sober ever since.

It’s the same way with anything in life that seems overwhelming and impossible. When we take it one box at a time, one application at a time, one page at a time, one breath at a time, it’s manageable. Not fun, but manageable. What’s better, doing something for 30 seconds proves we can do what we thought we couldn’t. Maybe we can even do it for longer. And maybe one day we’ll be able to look back and see how much better we are for surviving it.

Like the corny old joke says, “How do you eat an elephant?”

“One bite at a time.”

What’s your 30 seconds? What elephant seemed impossible to eat until you took it one bite at a time?

Marcy Kennedy is a fantasy author who also writes suspense/thriller short stories and works as a freelance writer for magazines, newspapers, and non-profits and a freelance editor for both businesses and individuals. Her current work-in-progress is a co-written historical fantasy about Amazons. When she’s not wrestling unruly commas, she spends her time with her equally nerdy husband, her Great Dane, and more cats than she’s willing to admit to in public. You can visit her at her blog, Life At Warp 10.

Every commercial I’ve seen today is about romance. It’s almost Valentine’s Day and love is in the air. And on TV…in magazines…and spreading like wildfire across the internet.

(source: fucsia.hubpages.com)

The yearning for love and connection seems to be built into our DNA. And humans, particularly those in the Western world, place an incredible amount of focus on the subject.

We dream of love. We write songs and novels about it. We chase love. We build shrines to it. We sacrifice for love, work for love, and cry about love, in all its various embodiments.

It’s stunning to see such a wealth of attention paid to a topic with very few clear answers. Is it just me, or have you noticed how difficult love is to define?

• There’s love between friends
• The deep connection between parent and child
• The close community of family
• Romantic love typically seen during dating
• The deeply shared life-bond of romance and friendship in long-term couples.

Certainly, there’s more but these are the first five that came to my mind. Here’s how Psychology Today answers the question.

What is love?

Three different people will give you three different answers. Heck, I might give different answers on different days. As a psychology major at the University of Missouri, I participated in an experiment where we walked around campus, asking this question.

Here are the five answers to “What is love” that I never forgot:

1. Love is finding joy in the other person’s happiness.
2. Love is wanting what’s best for one another, even when it’s not what’s best for you.
3. Love is not being able to imagine your life without that person in it.
4. Love is a completeness of being. Where the other person not only fits with you, but becomes a part of you.
5. Love makes you braver than you ever knew you could be.

Complete strangers gave me food for thought that affected me for the rest of my adult life. So, now I’m asking you: “What is love?”

I can’t wait to hear your answers down in the comments section!

Jenny fills her nights with humor: writing memoir, women’s fiction, chick lit, short stories (and chasing after the newly walking Baby Girl). By day, she provides training and social media marketing for an accounting firm. After 15 years as a corporate software trainer, she’s digging this sit down and write thing.

When she’s not at her blog, More Cowbell, Jenny can be found on Twitter at jhansenwrites and at her group blog, Writers In The Storm. Every Saturday, she writes the Risky Baby Business posts at More Cowbell, a series that focuses on babies, new parents and high-risk pregnancy.

(source: google images)

Most of you know that I’m OBSESSED with the Academy Awards.  If you didn’t, I’m OBSESSED with the Academy Awards.  There, now you know.  For the past 5 years I’ve hosted elaborate parties (except for that one year where an epic snowstorm ruined my life by barricading all guests from leaving their homes and I was left with an entire bowl of red pepper parmesan dip to eat by myself). 

Where was I?  Oh yes, the parties!  I host one fine swanky soiree!  The food is always gourmet appetizers and deserts with lots and lots of wine.  I’ve made platters of antipasto, bacon wrapped apricots with a honey barbecue sauce, cranberry salsa with green chilies, sundried tomato and pesto hors d’oeuvres, and many more delectable goodies.  And all my guests share one appetizer or dessert as well, so we have a full spread!  Some years we’ve also dressed up in our finest formals, walked a real red carpet to classical music and interviewed guests about “who they’re wearing” tonight!

In fact, the theme for this year’s party hasn’t been totally set.  I’m welcome to ideas!  What would you want to do or see?  We’ve suggested coming dressed for the Oscars as a member of the opposite sex, coming dressed as your favorite Oscar winning actor/actress or character, or dressing like the “Worst Dressed” Oscar attendee.  I’m completely open to more ideas, so do share! 

As the award ceremony draws near, I’m hoping to enlighten you all on what I think of the nominees.  I hope you’ll share with me too!  We’ll start with some of the Best Picture nominees, of which there are nine this year.

Best Picture Nominees for 2012:

• The Artist
• The Descendants
• Hugo
• Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
• The Help
• Moneyball
• Midnight in Paris
• The Tree of Life
• War Horse

Today I’ll feature Moneyball and Midnight in Paris.  I previously reviewed Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, and you can check that post out here.

Moneyball

(source: google images)

I’m not sure what I was expecting when I picked up a copy of Moneyball from the video store.  I don’t think I expected this film to be as fascinating and the story so gripping as it was.  Without seeing the movie, I would’ve told you all convincingly that Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill didn’t stand a chance at the Oscars.  I would’ve been badly mistaken.

Moneyball stars Best Actor Nominee, Brad Pitt, as Billy Beane, the General Manager for the Oakland Athletics baseball team.  The story, however, is more than just a tale of home runs and who beat who.  What Moneyball portrays is the politics and science behind the game.  It is a biography of the unconventional tactics used to change the game of ball forever and what role money plays in this sport.

The Oakland Athletics were one of the worst paid baseball teams, and most likely still are.  After a poor playing season, Beane loses his three best players to trade ups that all provided more money to the player.  Left in a position of zero dollar increase, Beane had to find a solution that would make a whole new team of players, winning players.

A chance partnership with Yale graduate, Peter Brand, played by Supporting Actor Nominee, Jonah Hill, creates a unique approach to drafting players based on statistical data of their playing.  Suddenly, Beane is selecting the players that everyone else in baseball neglects and has written off.  What Billy Beane does in this movie, with great talent from Pitt, is change the way baseball is run.  He did what was right for the team and showed the million dollar moguls of the game that money isn’t everything.

I rate this one a surprise contender because while I LOVED this movie and both actor’s performances, I do think they are up against some “heavy hitters” of their own.  I would be thrilled if any of them did win.  Most of all, Brad Pitt, I think this was a smart role for him and could do what The Blind Side did for Sandra Bullock.  Kudos to this film!

Midnight in Paris

(source: google images)

I never noticed the similarities between Owen Wilson and Woody Allen were so striking until this film.  It’s like Woody attached strings to Owen and danced him around the film like a babbling marionette puppet.  It’s uncanny!

Per usual Woody Allen, this film stars a man who wants greater things in life, is intimidated by others around him, but is really a creative genius.  Don’t get me wrong, I adore a good Allen film.  I’m a big fan of Small Time Crooks, Mighty Aphrodite, and of his book Without Feathers.  I recommend this flick for fans, people in the mood for nostalgia, and anyone who likes a little light-hearted magic.

Owen Wilson plays Gil; he’s engaged to Inez played by Rachel McAdams (the couple’s second film together following Wedding Crashers).  Gil is already a Hollywood writer, but he can’t find his groove when it comes to his novel.  While traveling with Inez’s parents in France, Gil daydreams of a golden age:  Paris in the 20′s, raining.  *swoon*

One night, Inez goes dancing with friends, and Gil decides to take a walk.  Where he’ll find himself is a parallel world of Paris in the 20′s and soon this couple will have to face whether the illusion around them is better than their actual relationship or not.

I already gave kudos to Wilson’s character being a new generation’s introduction to Woody Allen humor.  He really captures an idealist’s heart that we all can understand.  The supporting cast of his Parisian fantasy includes such names as Oscar winners Marion Cotillard and Kathy Bates as well as the First Lady of France herself, Carla Bruni.

While I liked this film, I don’t think it’s a contender for Best Picture.  Allen may be the underdog win for Best Director, but he’s also facing top nominee Martin Scorsese for Hugo.  I can’t help but wonder if this is another case of a nomination come too late.  Should Allen have won last year for his more poignant and stellar casting film, You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger?  *shrug*  Time will tell.  February 26th to be exact.

What say you fellow movie watchers?  Have you seen either of these nominees?  What do you think their chances are?  Who are you rooting for?  And don’t forget to weigh in on the costumes of the evening! 

(source: moviegoods.com)

Dummy:  Adrien Brody stars in this offbeat comedy about a man who’s at the end of his ropes.  Fired from his job, Brody’s character, Steven, decides to become a ventriloquist.  He also really wants to date his unemployment counselor, played by Vera Farmiga.  His best friend, Fangora, exceptionally acted by Milla Jovovich (who some like myself may love from The 5th Element) is a desperate woman dealing with her sick mom and trying to start a band.  Any band.  Other cast favorites include Illeana Douglas as Steven’s sister and Jessica Walter (the mom, Lucille, on Arrested Development) as Steven’s mother.  You’ll love every awkward moment of Steven’s life, I swear!

(source: imdb.com)

Oscar:  Some people love Rocky movies.  I prefer to take my Stallone in the form of this enchanted mobster movie.  Sylvester Stallone plays “Snaps” Provolone, a newly retired mobster trying to make his home presentable while under FBI surveillance.  His daughter is played by Marissa Tomei, and she’s in love with anyone who’ll take her away.  His other daughter just appeared for the first time today on his doorstep.  And there are three leather bags shuffling around the whole time: one with 1000′s of dollars, one with expensive jewels, and one with the maid’s underwear!  Tim Curry is an excellent supporting actor as the speech therapist, Dr. Poole.  All English buffs will get a kick out of this film.

And this blog wouldn’t be MY blog if it didn’t  have a little paranormal nod and tribute to Jane Austen. 

(source: wikimedia.org)

High Spirits:  A group of American tourists travel to a legendary haunted castle in England for a getaway.  The staff knows the place is going under.  But the manager, Peter O’Toole, has better plans: he’ll make it haunted!  Charading his team around as ghosts and banshees, he’ll try to frighten the guests who’ve come.  What no one expected is that the place is haunted, and now the ghosts are out for some vengeful fun.  Starring Steve Guttenberg and Daryl Hannah as starcrossed physically and elementally troubled lovers, this will be a unique movie to watch.  Supporting actors include Peter Gallagher, Beverly D’Angelo, Jennifer Tilly, and Martin Ferrero as the tourists.

(source: amazon.com)

Pride and Prejudice:  An updated classic with a wardrobe like Clueless: College Years, Kam Heskin stars as Elizabeth Bennett.  The plot is the same, but the Bennett sisters are comprised of college roommates instead, all of them looking for love.  Elizabeth is an aspiring author, and Will Darcy just happens to own a publishing firm.  A few characters are missing, such as the Bennett parents.  The mother is really represented by a newly published book called The Pink Bible that is selling out fast.  A few other fun spins include Jane’s character as a latina and Charles Bingley has made his riches by creating music cds for canines!  It’s a complete romp with fabulously quotable lines and I’ve shared it with all my Austen-crazed girlfriends.  You really ought to too.

Have you seen any of these flicks?  What are your favorite off the wall films?  Share them in the comments and they could be my next featured Guilty Pleasures: Off the Wall films!

I guess one can never be too sure.  At this point in my life, the childhood me would be drumming her nails on the table going where’s the book already?!  And where are all the cool clothes from Anthropologie I’m supposed to have by now?

Danielle Trussoni (source: barnesandnoble.com)

I thought a lot about how different my story was from that of Danielle Trussoni.  Trussoni grew up in La Crosse, Wisconsin, and was named after her father, Daniel.  My parents didn’t even name me, they let the waitresses at our restaurant do it.  Our memoirs would be very different from each other, but I still understand her.

Trussoni’s memoir, Falling Through the Earth, is a story of survival, a coming of age tale most of us wouldn’t dream of.  It jumps around between Trussoni growing up in the household where her parents divorced and into her twenties when she traveled to Vietnam, trying to understand the war her father came home from.  Danielle always felt closest to her father, that they were one and the same.  When her parents divorced, her brother and sister went to live with their mom, and Danielle stayed with their dad.  Daniel Trussoni was a stubborn man, returned from the Vietnam War, where he had worked as a tunnel rat searching for Vietcong in the jungles of Asia.  He kept a human skull on the TV mantle.

This book is a picture of what America looked like for more people than we’d like to admit.  Danielle’s father suffered from Post Tramautic Stress Disorder and cured it with cigarettes and booze.  He wasn’t diagnosed until 30 years later when chemicals like Agent Orange had taken their toll on his alcohol-hydrated body.  He was married three times, had several other children he never claimed, and as hard as Danielle tried, wouldn’t talk about or relive much of his days in Vietnam.

The thing I loved and hated about this book was Danielle’s honesty.  A funny thing to love, since rumor has it the family put up quite the stink over her publication of this story, saying much of it was false.  The way I see it, it’s Danielle’s story, and this is what she saw and dealt with growing up.  She’s got a humorous side, like using her father’s gas card to buy hoards of candy and soda for her siblings.  She’s got a courageous side, like walking to one of the bars her father frequented and keeping quips with the locals and bartenders as a grade school student.  She’s got a rebellious side for sure, for example she started smoking around 12, kissing boys, and sneaking out at night.

In her twenties, Danielle traveled to Vietnam by herself trying to understand the world her father both glorified and resented for all the hell it brought him.  I think that trip must have been one of the most frightening and exhilarating things Danielle ever did.  While there, she actually crawled into one of the remaining tunnel systems from the war to get a glimpse of the underground world her father lived in for years.

Her story is unlike any other.  It could have happened to many.  It could’ve been my tale.  My father and his brothers were all in service during the Vietnam War.  But my dad came back able to love and hug and tell us he was proud every day.  My parents stayed together.  My family is not a perfect family, but I appreciate and understand Danielle’s alliance.  In many ways, I am like my father.  What wouldn’t I give to understand him better?  To know what he went through?

I now live in La Crosse, Wisconsin.  The Trussoni’s house is still there and so are the bars Danielle and her father went to.  She grew up on the North Side.  I live on the South.  It could have been my story, but it was entirely  Danielle’s.  I highly recommend you check it out.

Do you have any local authors where you live?  What was it like to read their stories? How does it enhance the book to read about and know the landmarks in a story?

(source: ideachampions.com)

Hello Family and Friends,

Some changes are ahead for the ol’ Happiness Project.  I’ve read many other writer’s blogs and listened as they adapted their schedules to get more writing time.  I held off as long as I possibly could.  I made rules and tried to live by them hoping I could prepare blogs ahead and still work on my book.  But, it wasn’t happening.

So, I’ve decided to make a big change in order to focus on my writing more.  I’m limiting my blogging to twice a week.  Starting in February, I’ll blog on Tuesdays and Fridays.  Tuesday will be my “anything goes” day blogging about all things paranormal, travel-related, book and movie reviews, and any tales from my accident prone life!  Friday will remain on it’s alternate schedule of Guilty Pleasure Fridays and then Life List Club guest posts.  I may on occasion throw in a 3rd post, but only if I have something or someone really awesome to share with you!

This decision was not made easily; I’d been thinking about it for awhile and finally decided it’s time.  The biggest wake up call is the fact that I’m completely starting a new writing project.  I’d been working on one paranormal fiction piece for the last year and started over with that about 6 or 7 times.  I’m getting really good at beginnings!  But after workshopping it with my Warrior Writer’s Boot Camp team, I realized the direction it was going didn’t have my heart in it any longer.  I’d still like to come back to this project, but I need time to really hash it out.

My new endeavor is one that I feel right with and one I know won’t fizzle halfway through.  I’m taking the opportunity to write about my family.  It’s something I’ve always wanted to do and I figure now’s as good a time as any.  All those wacky stories about my dad and those life threatening instances with my siblings are going to get put on page!  That is, provided my siblings don’t tie me to a stop sign again or bury me in the sandbox for revealing these tales. 

I’d also like to take the advice of two wonderful friends and bloggers Pam Hawley and Sonia G. Medeiros and spend time writing short stories and learning about the craft.  Nina Badzin is another great blogger to follow with tips for social media and she really woke me up one day on the importance of submitting your work and building credit to your name.  In order to submit good work, I need to dive in and study more.  Eliminating one day’s blog post will give me another day to work on these projects.

I hope the change doesn’t impact my readership.  I love you guys so much, you have no idea!  You are my motivation for making this change so I can work on the really important thing for a writer to have: a book.  But none of it would be worthwhile if I didn’t have readers.  So I still plan on being a pest in your comment sections and chatting up with all of you here.

Thanks for listening!  Stay tuned!

But wait, there’s more!!!

More Blogs That Ask Questions and Give Great Advice:

Kate Wood blogs about Fear and Change, asking writers the difficult questions and challenging them with smart advice.

August McLaughlin could save your life by reading her post Trusting Your Instincts; this is one you don’t want to miss.

Kristen Lamb gives a holistic approach to writing in 3 Steps to Freedom – Grab Hold of Your Brilliant Future.

Need to remember why you started blogging?  Jenny Hansen writes I’m Having a GREAT Time – What About You?

The hilarious Chuck Wendig gave us 25 Things Writers Should Start Doing, and I really like his list.