Showing posts with label Elvis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Elvis. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 29, 2022

"Elvis" and The Week in Reviews

[I review the new "Elvis" biopic as well as the movie "Stillwater" and the documentary series "Bad Vegan." The Book of the Week is "Empty Mansions: The Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark and the Spending of an American Fortune"]


Elvis (2022)



Director Baz Luhrmann's two hour and 39 minute take on the life of Elvis Presley.

This movie could also have been called "Colonel Parker" or "Colonel Parker and Elvis," because it is as much, if not more, about Colonel Parker as Elvis.  He was Elvis's manager, almost a Svengali, and is the narrator of the film as he tries to prove that he wasn't a crook and didn't abuse Elvis.  

Or the film could have been called "The Baz Luhrmann Show" because Luhrmann throws everything he's got at this long, long film - split screens, animation, film footage, flashbacks, flash forwards, ominous music, and an epilogue of footage of the real Elvis from his early days to the end, in case you weren't paying attention during the first two and a half hours. It's frantic, over-the-top and A LOT! But there is a lot that's good.   

The film follows Elvis from his early days as a boy living in a mostly black neighborhood, attending black tent revivals and being filled with the holy spirit, which Luhrmann attributes to Elvis's wild, hip swinging movements when he performed. And it was Elvis's love of rhythm and blues that popularized him with white folks.  But it was that very same thing that got him in trouble in the segregated South.  The white girls loved Elvis but their white Daddy's did not. They didn't like Elvis the Pelvis singing that devil music. Supposedly Colonel Parker made him join the Army to clean up his image. Was that really true?  Who knows?  

After the army, Elvis's story is fairly well known.  He married Priscilla (Olivia DeJonge), they had little Lisa Marie, he became a movie star and then when his star began to fade he had a famous comeback.  You know the one - the black leather Elvis period.  And then there was the residency in Las Vegas, that also according to Luhrmann, is what killed him because Colonel Parker just would not let him stop.  Elvis was Colonel Parker's meal ticket to cancel his debts and allow him to gamble at will.

And it's Parker's story that is probably unfamiliar to the general public.  He was always there with Elvis and guided his career (taking 50% of everything), but he was a shadowy figure.  Here we learn he was an ex-carny who was known as The Snowman because he could "snow" anyone and that's what he sold to Elvis. He was also not a colonel, nor was his name Tom Parker.  He was born Andreas Cornelis (Dries) van Kuijk, was from Holland and his American citizenship was dubious.  Hence the plot line where Elvis wanted to tour abroad but Parker did everything he could be prevent it, probably because he had no passport. Yes, he made Elvis a star, but according to this film he also contributed to Elvis's death. Luhrmann made sure we knew he was a bad guy because whenever Parker was around or made a trenchant statement, ominous music played. 

Tom Hanks chews the proverbial scenery as Parker.  He's all padded and pancaked up and if the make-up team that did what they did to make him look like Parker doesn't get an Oscar nod, I will be surprised. I enjoyed Hanks' performance and I will also be surprised if he doesn't get an Oscar nod as well.

But the real kudos go to Austin Butler who plays Elvis.  

He embodies Elvis at all stages of his career, from the hip-swiveling 50's to his stint in the army to his film roles to his TV specials to his Las Vegas residency to his last bloated appearance.  He is believable at every turn.  He supposedly studied Elvis for two years, read every book about him and watched every movie and special and it paid off.  I thought I was watching Elvis. This guy is going to go far and I see an Oscar in his future as well. 

But speaking of bloated. The unhealthy, aging, drug-addicted Elvis is given less than 30 minutes of this bloated film, and before I go on, let me rant a bit. No movie should be two hours and 39 minutes unless it's "Gone With the Wind," and I am even having second thoughts about that one.  Movies seem to be getting longer and longer and directors more and more long-winded.  They can't seem to edit themselves. Luhrmann could have pulled this film in at two hours and he would have still been able to say what he wanted to say.  And he had a lot to say about the influence of blues and gospel music on Elvis, about racism, segregation, capitalism, the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy, and more. Maybe he tried to say too much.  

Despite my wondering if everything in this film was true about Elvis (I think Luhrmann used some dramatic license here and there), the film, written by Luhrmann, Sam Bromell and Craig Pearce has the blessing of Priscilla and Lisa Marie Presley and I see why.  Priscilla is shown in the best possible light and as the real love of Elvis's life. No marital fights and no mention that she was only 14 when they met. Elvis is shown in the best possible light too. There was no mention of Elvis's obsession with Nixon or his really bad eating habits which led to his weight gain and bad health, and his womanizing, shooting up TV screens and drugs are given short shrift. It's Parker who is not portrayed in a good light.  In fact, he is portrayed as the villain. 

Despite some of my reservations, if you loved Elvis and you don't mind really long films, Butler does him proud and the music and performances are wonderful.  The film is also beautiful to look at though at times frantic.

Rosy the Reviewer says...wait, let me catch my breath...I was kind of out of breath after seeing this film because it was A LOT.  It was stylish and beautiful to look at, the kind of epic experience that only Baz Luhrmann can deliver. If you like A LOT and you love Elvis, you will enjoy this. Just don't have too much to drink before you go! It's a loooong movie! (In theatres)


Stillwater (2021)


An Oklahoma father moves to France to try to help his imprisoned daughter.

Matt Damon is Everyman because he can play every man.  Here he plays Bill Baker, a sometime oil worker, a sometime construction worker, a sometime handyman from Stillwater, Oklahoma.  He has had a tough past with drinking and drugs and has been estranged from his daughter, Allison (Abigail Breslin), but now he's clean and he wants to help her.  She is in prison in France for murdering her girlfriend but claims she didn't do it.  She also says she has new evidence that will clear her if only her lawyer would reopen her case. Supposedly there is prison gossip that a guy named Akim did it, so Bill travels to Marseilles to talk to her lawyer. When her lawyer says she can't help, Bill takes the case into his own hands.

Bill is a religious good old boy who not only doesn't speak French, he doesn't have much concept of European culture. The first thing he does when he gets to Marseilles is get a Subway sandwich to eat in his Best Western hotel room. But he's a good guy who fortunately meets Virginie (Camille Cottin) and her precocious young daughter, Maya (Lilou Siauvaud), who help him navigate Marseille and the French legal system.  And let's just say, Marseille isn't a charming French village.  It has its rough edges and there are people who don't like nosy Americans asking about a guy named Akim.

And then there is the whole murky issue of Allison's guilt or innocence that hangs over the film.  Did she do it?

Written by Tom McCarthy, Marcus Hinchey, Noe Debre and Thomas Bidegain and directed by McCarthy (who also directed the Oscar winning "Spotlight"), one can't help but draw a comparison here to Amanda Knox, the American girl studying in Italy, who was convicted of killing her roommate, despite her protestations of innocence. 

But there is more to this film than the guilt or innocence of Bill's daughter.  This is also a story of family relationships, a clash of cultures including those within France itself, a fish out of water, and second chances with some vigilantism thrown in. Bill may be from Stillwater, Oklahoma, but "still waters run deep."  Get it?  With that said, perhaps this film tried to do too much, and as the film wrapped up, there were several unbelievable plot twists that left me saying "Huh?"

But Matt Damon's performance saves the day.  He is one of those actors who is believable no matter what he plays.  He can play an astronaut marooned on Mars ("The Martian"), a zookeeper ("We Bought a Zoo") or an ex-CIA assassin on the run (the Bourne series) and you believe him.  French Actress Cottin is also believable.  You may recognize her from "Killing Eve" and "House of Gucci." And Abigail Breslin is all grown up.  I didn't recognize her at first but she has matured into a fine actress, though she doesn't have very much to do here.

Rosy the Reviewer says...though there are a few "Huh?" moments, all-in-all this is a satisfying, though perhaps overlong, film experience thanks to the wonderful performance by Damon.
(On DVD, Showtime, and for rent on most platforms)
 


Bad Vegan: Fame. Fraud. Fugitives (2022)


A successful NYC vegan restauranteur meets a guy who says he can make her dog immortal and then everything goes to hell.

Sarma Melngailis seemingly had it all.  She was beautiful, smart and had a popular New York City vegan restaurant called "Pure Food and Wine."  Celebrities like Alec Baldwin were regulars and he actually met his wife, Hilaria, there (after actually flirting a bit with Sarma). Both Forbes and New York Magazine named it one of the top restaurants in New York City.  Everything was going along smoothly until Anthony Strangis AKA Shane Fox slid into Sarma's DM's.  

Anthony or Shane was a con man and gambler who used elaborate mind games on Sarma and convinced her that he could make them both immortal, including her beloved dog, Leon. She just had to believe him. So she married the guy, they stole money from her own restaurant and went on the run. You can't make this stuff up, people.  

As crazy as all of this sounds, director Chris Smith (who also brought us "Tiger King") does a good job of telling this story, how someone as smart as Sarma could be lured into the nutty world Anthony created. This four-part docuseries follows Sarma through her meeting Anthony or Shane or whomever he was, marrying him, embezzling money from her own restaurant, ($1.6 million) and going on the run, leaving the restaurant and her employees high and dry.  The story is told through a series of interviews with past employees, investors and celebrities. 

Sarma herself cooperated with this docuseries and tells her story without the help of Anthony, who wasn't happy about it. She claims it was all him, he brainwashed her and just wore her out so much she couldn't think. Turns out, in the end, Sarma wasn't happy with the docuseries either.  Check out how it ends. You will have to decide just how culpable she was.

Rosy the Reviewer says...this series shows that reality really is so much stranger than fiction and why it's so much fun. And here's the most fun part. The two were eventually caught after using a credit card to buy a pizza from Dominoes! I wonder if it was vegan!
(Netflix)


***The Book of the Week***


Empty Mansions: The Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark and the Spending of an American Fortune by Bill Dedman


Who was Huguette Clark and why did she have so many empty mansions?

F. Scott Fitzgerald said "...the very rich...are different from you and me."  You got that right, F. Scott.  They have more money.  Though actually, I don't think they are that different. They just have enough money to allow themselves to give into their personal craziness.

And here is just such a story.

This is the fascinating story of Huguette Clark, a woman who inherited millions of dollars when her father W.A. Clark died.  It's strange that W.A. Clark is unknown today because in his day he was probably richer than Rockefeller.  During the late 1800s, he was one of the "Copper Kings."  He was also a politician, was involved in banking and railroads and was one of the founders of Las Vegas.  He built a "palace" in New York City, on the corner of Fifth Avenue and Seventy-Seventh, right in the middle of Millionaire's Row, "up the avenue from Vanderbilt and Astor, down from Carnegie. By the time it was finished in 1911,...it was 'without doubt the most costly and, perhaps, the most beautiful private residence in America" and was estimated to have cost the equivalent of $250 million in today's dollars. It was nine stories high and consisted of 121 rooms - 26 bedrooms, 31 bathrooms, five art galleries, a Turkish bath, swimming pool, a storage room for furs and more, with 17 servants in attendance and that is where Huguette lived from the age of five to eighteen. Yes, the very rich are different from you and me.

Huguette was one of two daughters that Clark had later in life when he married his second wife, Anna Eugenia La Chapelle.  He was 62 and she was 23. The first daughter, Andree, died at 17 of meningitis, leaving Huguette as the only child of that marriage. 

  

Huguette spent her early years in France but eventually moved to New York and after a marriage and divorce and inheriting millions when her father died, became a recluse, collecting dolls, watching "The Smurfs," and spending the most of her later years in a hospital, even though she wasn't sick. Why?

Despite owning estates in New Canaan, Connecticut ("Le Beau Chateau") and Santa Barbara ("Bellosguardo" which will soon be open to the public) and several floors in an apartment building on Fifth Avenue in New York, in later life, Huguette never lived in any of them, though she spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to maintain those residences as if she would return at any moment. But she never did. They remained empty. Why?

Huguette lived to be 105 and left $300 million and two wills, one that shared her fortune among relatives, the second left most of it to charity, but $30 million to her nurse and $12 million to her goddaughter.  Mmmm.  Needless to say, the second will was contested. Was she coerced by those closest to her at the end to change her will?

With the help of one of Huguette's cousins, Paul Clark Newell, Jr., one of the few people to be in contact with Huguette through the years, Dedman attempts to answer those questions and shed light on this very rich and eccentric but practically unknown heiress. But this is not just the story of Huguette. It's also the stories of her father, W.A. Clark, her mother, those who surrounded her...and those empty mansions.  It's a piece of little known history.

Rosy the Reviewer says...if you are interested in The Gilded Age, enjoy historical biographies about eccentric people with architecture as a theme or you just like a fascinating story, this is for you.  And it's not surprising that the film version of this book has been optioned by Ryan Murphy!
(Check it out from your local library)

Thanks for reading!

See you again soon!

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Friday, October 31, 2014

The New Movie "St. Vincent" and The Week in Reviews

[I review the new movie "St. Vincent," the DVDs "Lucky Them," and "Chinese Puzzle" and the new book "Elvis and Ginger," as well as keeping you abreast of my progress with my "1001 Movies I Must See Before I Die Project" and that "changing my life thing" I started at my last birthday.  How am I doing?  Read on.]



Is Saint Vincent Really a Saint?
 


A curmudgeon with a messed up life is redeemed by the love of a child.

I have good news and bad news. 

Which do you want first? 

Actually since this is my blog, I am going to choose.  I always like to hear the bad news first since it can only get better after that.
 
The bad news is just what I said...It's the "Curmudgeon with a messed up life  redeemed by the love of a child"  cliché and throw in that other cliché - little kid knocks out his bully oppressor and they become best friends.
 
But here is the good news. 

The acting, writing and directing brings this film out of clichés into refreshing, cathartic territory. 

I loved this movie.
 
When Bill Murray left SNL and first embarked on his dramatic acting career in "The Razor's Edge," I thought he was terrible.  Then he found his niche in comedy films such as "Caddyshack," and "Groundhog Day."  Now here he has refined his skills into comedy-pathos, and it is something to behold.
 
Vincent drinks too much, partakes of the "ladies of the night," has no money, gambles, smokes, is politically incorrect...you name it.  Think Archie Bunker meets Clint "Get off my lawn" Eastwood in "Gran Torino."  Vincent's life is a mess. He doesn't like anybody and nobody likes him.  Enter Maggie (Melissa McCarthy) and her son, Oliver (Jaeden Lieberher) who move in next door.  Maggie is in the midst of a divorce and needs child care. Her life isn't so great either. Vincent reluctantly offers his services for a price and then helps Oliver overcome his bullies and learn a thing or two about life such as hanging out in bars and betting at the race track.

So how can Vincent be a saint?
 
Just what is a saint?  That is Oliver's school assignment.  To find sainthood in the every day person.  And we learn all about Vincent along with Oliver as Vincent cares for his wife stricken with Alzheimer's (I detected a bit of "The Notebook" in that), his stint in Vietnam and other details of his life.

We learn that there is so much more to the people we encounter in life than how they appear on the surface. There is a little "Saint" in all of us.  Not just in the heroic acts, but in the little every day acts of kindnesses we perform, especially seen in the eyes of children. Here it took Oliver's young eyes to see Vincent's saintliness.
 
But don't get me wrong.  This is not all about warm and fuzzy.  It's also very edgy and very funny.  Don't think Murray isn't still funny.  He is.  But here he manages to be funny, outrageous, silly and obnoxious and we still care.  It's that vulnerability thing.
 
Melissa McCarthy plays the straight woman in a comedy, believe it or not.  She is majorly toned down.  And, if you read me regularly, you know I am not a fan of precocious kids in movies but this kid is not obnoxious and sets just the right tone.
 
A highlight is Chris O'Dowd, who seems to be everywhere these days ("Cuban Fury," "Thor," "This is 40") as Brother Geraghty in Oliver's private Catholic school.  On Oliver's first day, he asks Oliver to lead the class in prayer at which point Oliver says he thinks he is Jewish.  Brother Geraghty then has all of the kids share their religious bents to show Oliver that the class is filled with kids from different faiths, and it's everything from Buddhist to "I don't know," upon which Brother Geraghty says "The "I don't knows" seem to be winning."  Very funny scene.
 
Naomi Watts does a great job as Daka, the pregnant Russian stripper/"lady of the night," though I couldn't help but wonder if she is now relegated to supporting roles since she starred in that stinker "Diana," about Princess Diana.
 
Rosy the Reviewer says...Bill will definitely get an Oscar nod for this, but don't just see this film for him.  See it for YOU.  It's a charming film. You will feel better.



***DVDS***
You Might Have Missed
(And Some You Will Be Glad You Did)


Lucky Them (2013)



A rock & roll journalist wants to find her old boyfriend, a once famous musician who has disappeared.

Toni Colette stars as Ellie Klug, a Seattle rock critic whose boyfriend was Matthew Smith, a rock god who "disappeared" 10 years ago.   Ellie needs the money so takes the assignment from her editor (Oliver Platt) to try to find Matthew, and no one is even certain he is still alive.  Another "sort of" boyfriend (Thomas Haden Church) who is also wealthy goes along for the ride ostensibly to film her search as a documentary.  

Ellie is in her 40's, but hasn't realized that fact yet.  Her life is as chaotic as a twenty-year-old's would be and her search for Matthew is a sort of coming of age metaphor. 

Colette is fine as Ellie, but, geez, can she get any skinnier?  I liked her better as Muriel ("Muriel's Wedding").  Remember, Toni, as you get older you have to choose between saving your butt or your face. Church is his usual quirky self, but his character doesn't seem to fit nor does he really have much to do.

Seattlites will enjoy seeing favorite spots such as the Rob Roy Bar and Snoqualmie Falls, but this film missed the opportunity to show the Pacific Northwest in all of its lush glory.  Likewise, the opportunity to highlight some great indie music was also lost.

Ellie's search is reminiscent of the documentary "Searching for Sugar Man," which won an Oscar for Best Documentary in 2013, but unfortunately isn't as engrossing.

You have to care about Ellie to care about her search and that isn't easy to do because she keeps screwing up.  Fun twist, though, when you see who Matthew turns out to be.

Rosy the Reviewer says...there was a reference to the title somewhere along the line, but I didn't get it.  Didn't get this film either.  Forgettable, just like Matthew Smith wants to be.  See "Sugar Man" instead.



Chinese Puzzle (2013)
 


When the mother of his two children decides to move to New York, Xavier (Romain Duris), a 40-something French father, decides to move there too, so he can see his children.


Wendy (Kelly Reilly) and Xavier are not getting along. So Wendy decides to move to New York from Paris for a temporary job. Xavier is a writer and the book he is working on is called "Chinese Puzzle.  Interesting coincidence because Xavier's life is also like a Chinese puzzle, very difficult and complex. His lesbian friend, Isabelle (Cecile De France) wants a baby with her girlfriend, Ju (Sandrine Holt),and hopes that Xavier will supply the sperm. His old girlfriend, Martine (Audrey Tautou) shows up with her kids and Xavier must navigate the U.S. immigration system so he can get a green card.  His solution?  Find a bride of convenience.

Wendy has already found someone new, Isabelle is cheating on Ju and Martine wants to get romantic again.  Oy.  Lot's of new couplings and lots of opportunities for romantic comedy.

But that doesn't mean Xavier's life was any less complicated in France.

This is the third chapter in Cedric Klapisch's "Spanish Apartment Trilogy," after "The Spanish Apartment in 2002 ("L'Augerge Espanole") and "Russian Dolls" in 2005 and many of the same characters come together once again.  In the first installment, Xavier is a student sharing an apartment in Barcelona with young people from all over Europe, one of whom is Wendy. Martine breaks up with him. In "Russian Dolls," those same characters meet again in Russia for Wendy's brother's wedding at which point Wendy and Xavier get together.

If you are expecting to see Audrey Tautou looking like Amelie, don't.  She doesn't and is pretty much wasted in this last installment.  But Duris is really funny in a very droll, French way.  He is a recognizable face from many French films.

Each part of the trilogy stands alone and is worth seeing, but think about doing a binge weekend and see all three in a row.  It would be a great weekend. 

Rosy the Reviewer says...a rich, complex and fun French comedy.   (subtitles)



"My 1001 Movies I Must See Before I Die Project"
 
 
304 to go! 
 
 
 
 
 
Uncle Charlie (Joseph Cotton) is not the man he appears to be.
 
Charlie (Teresa Wright) is the namesake of her Uncle Charlie and adores him.  She is in a funk and thinks her family needs Uncle Charlie to visit to give them the spark they need and wake up their small town existence.  Unbeknownst to Charlie, Uncle Charlie is already on his way to their small town because he is on the run from the police.
 
Why it's a Must See:  "...Hitchcock referred to [this] as his favorite film...Tellingly, it's also one of his least flashy works, a quiety character study set in the heart of suburbia...Hitchcock emphasizes traditional suspense beats over intricate set pieces, stocking the story with just as much uneasy humor as tension...[the] script, written by Thornton Wilder...takes perverse glee in destroying preconceived notions of quiet, small-town life.  The film is also peppered with numerous references to twins and the duality of good and evil, paralleling the trustful and innocent Charlie with her dangerous and deceitful uncle."
---"1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die."
 
Rosy the Reviewer says...Hey, it's Hitchcock.  I want to see all of his films, but, sadly, the melodramatic performances don't hold up today
(b & w).  I prefer later Hitchcock as in "Strangers on a Train," "Vertigo," "The Birds" and "Psycho."
 
 
 
 
Swedish silent film retelling of the legend of the "Phantom Carriage" - if you are a sinner and the last to die on New Year's Eve, you will have to drive the Phantom Carriage for the whole year, picking up the souls of the dead.
 
David Holm is a bad guy who dies at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve.  We see in this film how he turns into a bad guy so, as per the legend, he is doomed to drive the Phantom Carriage unless he sees the evil of his ways.
 
Here's the thing about silent films. 
 
In this day and age, we can barely stand black and white films let alone silent films and then there are those darned subtitles we have to read.  But remember the old adage, "A picture is worth a thousand words?"  Well, that was what was going on in the early days of movie-making.  You had a picture and then it MOVED! Audiences were happy to read the subtitles.  But there actually were not that many subtitles because the thing about silent films - the moving pictures spoke for themselves.  In silent films, you will find that the subtitles are few and far between because the filmmakers knew that their audience could figure out what was happening just by watching the story played out via images - they trusted their intelligence (unlike today in some cases when dialogue is shoved down our throats).  
 
So don't dismiss silent films. 
 
Yes, they can be a bit overdramatic, because the acting styles were different in those days (the actors had to exaggerate a bit to convey the story and meaning without words).  You can't judge silent films made in the early 1920's by today's standards.  But there is a reason why people fought the advent of "talkies."  They knew they were witnessing an art form that would be forever lost.  This film illustrates that.  And when you think that this film was made almost 100 years ago, it's astonishing.
 
And influences?   I think there is a bit of "The Shining" in this thing and major Bergman elements, as in "The Seventh Seal."  I also saw a bit of "A Christmas Carol," though, duh, I know Dickens came way before this film.
He came way before film in general.
 
Why it's a Must See:  "[This film] had a well-documented, artistic influence on many great directors and producers...The scene in which the protagonist - the hateful and self-destructive alcoholic David Holm - wakes up at the chime of midnight on New Year's Eve only to stare at his own corpse knowing that he is condemned to hell, is one of the most quoted scenes in cinema history."
---"1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die."
 
Rosy the Reviewer says...I concur.  A "Must See" for the serious movie fan and just in time for Halloween, because it is creepy as hell.
(b & w silent film with subtitles)
 
 
 
***Book of the Week***
 
 
 
We know who Elvis is, but who is Ginger?  She was his girlfriend when he died and she discovered his body.
 
I know what you are thinking.  Well, you already knew I had this guilty pleasure side, but remember what Buddha said.  "Judgment is the road to suffering."

I was an Elvis fan and his death was as shocking to me as John Lennon, Michael Jackson and all of those other superstars who died too young.  So I wanted to learn about his final days from someone who had yet to weigh in.

This is one of those tell-alls where everyone else has weighed in and Ginger says she wants to set the record straight.  I will give her credit for not jumping on the bandwagon with a book right after his death, though she admits to having cashed in on some tabloid money early on, but, hey, she was only 20.
 
However, what I learned was that she was 20, he was 40 something and was not looking so good or taking very good care of himself. I also learned how boring it would be to be the girlfriend of a huge star like Elvis.  If you want to be the girlfriend of a superstar (probably works the same way for boyfriends too), you need to keep your mouth shut, be malleable (she used the word "flexible"), do what he tells you and put up with your boyfriend shooting up the TV when something comes on that he doesn't like.  She definitely captured the boring part with this book.
 
Rosy the Reviewer says...already knew all of this stuff about Elvis.  Was hoping for something new.  Didn't happen. 
 
 

***My A-Ha Moment of the Week,

or

How am I doing on that Changing

My Life Thing?***
 
On my 66th birthday and one year into retirement, I decided I was already in a rut so I decided to spice things up a bit and make one change to my life every month.
 
I talked about it in my birthday blog post.
 
In July I was supposed to order something from Starbucks besides a Skinny Vanilla Latte.  Check.  Except I have since lapsed into a Tall Skinny Vanilla Latte, please. 

In August, I was supposed to moisturize.  Oops. 

In September I was supposed to ride my bike every day that the sun shone.  Wouldn't you know the sun was out almost every day?  Oy.

So in October, I was supposed to walk 10,000 steps every day.  Well, it didn't happen every day, but it probably happened more days than I rode my bike in September.
 
But here is the A-Ha moment.  I'm not very good at changing my life.  Even with the little things.
 
For November, I said I would take my little poodle Tarquin for a walk every day.  At the rate I've been going, good luck on that, Tarquin.

 
(Don't ask!) 
 
 
Thanks for Reading!
 

See you Tuesday

 

for


"My Un-Bucket List"



      
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