Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Top Ten TV Shows I Never Thought I Would Like

Since the new Fall TV season will soon be upon us, I thought I would share with you my new favorite shows, all of which are shows that I never in a million years thought I would ever watch, let alone like.

Actually, I don't just like these TV shows.  I LOVE THEM!

Now before I go into the details about why I love them, I want to say that these shows do not replace my usual favorites that I knew I would love and I do, because you know I am a reality TV junkie.  And these are worthy shows.  "Survivor," "So You Think You Can Dance," "The Amazing Race," "Top Chef," "Dateline," The Housewives, "The View..." I could go on and on.. Well, maybe the Housewives aren't particularly worthy, but we all have to have our guilty pleasures. 

I have my regular shows that make up my viewing repertoire season after season and I knew I would like them because I like competitions, dancing, racing around the world, food, true crime and talking heads.  I also see myself as a glamorous housewife, so that's where they come in.

No, the shows I am going to talk about here are ones that I happened upon or was urged to watch, never thinking they would turn out to be so GOOD.

So let that be a lesson to you...don't have preconceived ideas.  Get outside your comfort zone from time to time.  You just might find some gems.

And here are mine:



 
 
 
 
 
I never thought I would like this show because how boring is it to watch someone being alone?

I can do that by looking in the mirror.

But, boy, was I wrong.  Watching someone trying to survive all alone in the wilderness can be riveting.

I am not sure how I happened to watch this show.  I think I read a review and I do really like reality shows and I like "Survivor," which is actually kind of strange since I am about as far from an outdoorsy person as you can get.  I can't swim, I am afraid of mountain lions and I sunburn very easily.  My idea of being outdoors is sitting under an umbrella on a deck drinking a pina colada.  
 
And this show is on the History Channel and actually about as far from "Survivor" as you can get.  There are no tribes, no plotting, no competitions, no cameramen.  Just 10 guys, each scattered around the uninhabitable west side of Vancouver Island (B.C.) and all very much alone.
 
There is however a prize.  Whomever can stay out there the longest wins $500,000.  Let's just say four guys didn't make a week.
 
Each guy is able to take 10 items of their choice and must film themselves as they go about their business setting up camp, trying to find food and avoiding the many scary critters hanging about.
 
You would think this would be boring but it is anything but.  It is a fascinating exploration of man vs. nature.  Who will last and who won't?
 
And it is absolutely riveting and thrilling.
 
 
 
 
I never thought I would like a show with a title like that. 

I like a lot of crap TV, but I usually draw the line at really tacky titles.

This is another survival show and I know what you are thinking.  No, it's not the naked part I am interested in.  Hubby probably is, but no... It's the afraid part.  I was turned on to this show...well, maybe those are the wrong words.  A friend mentioned this one to me and I think he actually was drawn to the naked part at first but it intrigued me. I actually started watching this show before "Alone" came along.

But this show is as far from prurient as you can get unless you are into naked butts.  Yes, lots of butts, but all of the "naughty bits" are pixilated out, and I noted that as soon as someone could weave a skirt, she did. For most of us, being naked is not something we choose.
 
This show is similar to "Alone" but here you have a man and a woman who meet naked and must survive for 21 days in some godforsaken place like the Amazon or the Colombian jungle.  Each can bring one survival item (they usually choose a fire starter or machete), but otherwise no food, no water, no clothes.  They do however have a camera crew, but the crew does not interfere unless it's a matter of life or death. 

But here is the kicker. 

THERE IS NO PRIZE. 

These people must be nuts.  They do this for what?  The pride thing?  Something to talk about at cocktail parties?

"Hey, I survived out in the Everglades for 21 days with another person of the opposite sex and we didn't have any clothes the whole time or food and we had to eat rats and poop in the woods." 

"What the hell is that about?" you ask.

"I don't know.  So I could say I did it?"
 
The show is a fascinating experiment on not just survival but the psychological issues that can arise between a man and a woman who have never met before, who are naked together in the wild and who must survive together.  All kinds of things come to light.  Funny how often the issue is the man trying to run things.  Mmmm.
 
But this show is fascinating.  So fascinating in fact that I fantasized about how I would do on the show. (Here are more details on that).
 
 
 
 
I never thought I would like a show about something I knew very little about.

I didn't even know what steampunk was until a couple of years ago when we did a library program about this literary genre. 

Here I am in my version of a Steampunk Vampire.


(See how much fun libraries are?)!

Now it's a lifestyle (not for me but, you know, other people).
 
This is a competition show that combines elements of "Design Star," "Project Runway," and the Maker Culture as the contestants, steampunk devotees all, create various rooms in "The Manor" and an appropriate steampunk costume.
 
As in most shows like this, there are personality conflicts and drama (the men are clueless about how chauvinistic they are).

If you like design shows with something a little different, such as rooms with medicine cabinets full of poisons and swords that come out of unexpected places, fashion with epaulets and top hats and repurposing items, you will enjoy this show.
 
 
 

I never thought I would like a show about genealogy.

I mean, zzzzzz.

Reference librarians are not often fans of people doing genealogy as they can sometimes be very demanding and annoying.  Sorry, genealogists, but you know how you can get.  But I understand, because searching for one's ancestors is difficult work, despite the many online resources now available. (Just imagine us older librarians who had to help people do it by hand)!

But this show, produced by Lisa Kudrow, is a personal and insightful look into the lives of famous personalities from Tom Bergeron to Alfre Woodard to Kelly Clarkson as they strive to find out about their ancestors.  They travel to the countries of their ancestors to meet with historians and genealogists to find out where they came from and what their ancestors had to go through so they could get born. Fascinating unknown facts come to life such as Bergeron finding out he is a descendant of the "filles du roi," "The Daughters of the King," who were sent over to Canada in the 17th century to help boost Canada's population.

Sobering and utterly riveting.


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
I never thought I would like a show where celebrity dishing was the main theme. 

OK, yes, I would, but I didn't know that's what this show was all about.
 
"The Wendy Williams Show" has been on the air since 2008 and since I love talk shows, I am surprised that I did not start watching it until this year.  If I had known she is as big a devotee to celebrity gossip and pop culture as I am, I would have been there years ago.
 
She starts each of her shows sitting in a chair dishing about what is going on with Kanye and Kim and The Housewives and Ariana Grande...you name them, she dishes about them.  It's like having a wine-infused lunch with your girlfriends.  She is funny and disarming and tells it like it is.  She takes herself less seriously than the ladies on "The View," and is more down-to-earth than Ellen.
 
If you like to be in "the know," watch Wendy!
 
 
 
 
I never thought I would like a show where people had to pitch their small business ideas to a bunch of mean entrepreneurs.

It didn't sound very interesting at all.  But it is!
 
Hubby and I discovered this show while on a vacation when we couldn't find anything we wanted to watch on the hotel TV.  "Shark Tank" was having a marathon so we hunkered down and really, really enjoyed it. 
 
Like most reality shows, it's all about the personalities and this one is no exception.  Those poor small business hopefuls must get up in front of The Sharks, highly successful businesspeople, and pitch their ideas.  The regular and recurring Sharks are Barbara Corcoran, Mark CubanLori Greiner, Robert Herjovec (my fave), Daymond John and Kevin O'Leary ("Mr. Wonderful" because he's not). In fact, he can be quite mean.
 
The show started in Japan as "Dragon's Den (Canada's version is also called that and is as much fun as ours and can also be found on cable. The Canadian "Dragons" are not as mean as our "Sharks.")
 
If you liked Simon Cowell on "American Idol," these guys are kind of like that, except they are dashing the dreams of small business entrepreneurs instead of singers.  But it's fun!
 
 
 
I never thought I would like a show that was on early on a Sunday morning and reminded me of church.

I grew up in a church-going family and my Dad didn't expect much from us kids, except not forgetting what he asked us to do and going to church.  So by the time I was 18 I was ready to no longer go to church.  And by the time I finished my freshman year in college and took Philosophy 101 I no longer thought religion had a place in my life.
 
But now that I am a woman of a certain age, I am thinking about my mortality and my place in the world and The Church of Oprah works out just fine.

As you know, I have discovered meditation and I have Oprah to thank for that.  And you know how I feel about Oprah.
  
This show is on Sunday mornings and Oprah gathers an impressive roster of people involved in spiritual growth from the late Wayne Dyer to Gary Zukav to  Elizabeth Gilbert to get us thinking about being better people. Oprah interviews them in amazing settings that are Oprah's homes and you get to feel you are sitting in on a seminar with Oprah. Oprah is using her power for good.
 
I didn't like going to church but I can do "The Church of Oprah."
 
 
 
 
I never thought I would like a show that I thought was stupid.

When I first heard about this show, I thought "no way!" 

Talk about a stupid reality show.  The premise is a man and a woman are matched up by "experts" and they agree to marry that person sight unseen.  They don't meet until the day of the wedding when she is bedecked in her wedding gown and he is waiting for her at the end of the aisle.
 
But on a visit to my son and daughter-in-law's, I found out they were watching it and it was almost over.  My daughter-in-law was traveling and I was there to help my son until she returned. They invited me to watch the finale with them when she got back, but that meant I had to get up to speed, so while I was waiting for my daughter-in-law to return from her business trip, I watched all of the earlier episodes.  So I did my homework, watched every episode and it was absolutely fascinating.
 
Here you had four couples invited to participate in a "social experiment," who were handpicked for each other.  They had to get married, to live together for six months and then decide whether to stay married or not.  And what a ride.
 
The couple you thought would never stay together did better than the couple who liked the look of each other and jumped into bed right away.
 
A year later and a restraining order, you wonder about messing with Mother Nature.  Can't wait for another season!
 
 
 
 
I never thought I would like a show about selling real estate.

Again, I am a big fan of "House Hunters" and "House Hunters International," because I am a huge "looky lou," but I never thought I would enjoy a program about real estate brokers selling homes I could never hope to ever own. 

I knew "Million Dollar Listing: New York" had been on as well as the L.A. version, but I just wasn't interested until the San Francisco installment came on.  I had lived most of my adult life in San Francisco and environs so now they had my interest.
 
But this show is all about the brokers who you will love or love to hate.  And now that I have started watching "Million Dollar Listing: LA" I realize this show is all about the personalities of the brokers.   I love Roh, the Muslim broker who is open to expanding his understanding of others, Justin Fichelston, the king of tech buyers and Andrew Greenwell, the openly gay broker whose biting comments about the other brokers are gold.

These guys are endearing in their desire to be the best. It's funny how enjoyable it can be to learn about real estate and drool over homes you will never hope to live in.
 
 
 
 
I never thought I would like a show about medieval stuff, dragons and fighting and peasants and torture and other unpleasantness.

But I do!

So this show did not initially spark my interest at all. 

Initially, meaning about 5 seasons ago. But you have to have been living under a rock to not notice how popular it was and all of the Emmys it has amassed.  My daughter was a huge fan and this show kept getting in my face until I thought, hey, I need to get off the reality TV wagon and start watching some shows that other people like. However, Season 5 was just starting and despite knowing I had to watch four seasons to get caught up, I decided to bite the bullet and record Season 5 thinking that with binge watching we could get to real time quickly.
 
So I got Season One from the library and we jumped in.  However, this project was also smack dab in the middle of our trip to Italy so I took Season 3 and 4 with us.  There's nothing like watching "Game of Thrones" on the computer in Rome.
 
We were hooked after about three episodes.
 
No matter what the era or whether there are dragons or not, this has all the elements of great theatre - family drama, empire building, love, abandonment, jealousy.  It's all here and it's amazing.
 
So now that I know what I have been missing by not watching this award winning drama, I start wondering what else I have been missing:  "Orange is the New Black," "Scandal," "Homeland," "The Fall," "Mad Men," "Breaking Bad"....did I miss any? 

Let the binge-watching commence!




So if we are ever talking about TV shows and I say, "I don't think I like...," stop me and remind me what I said about these shows.

I might be missing my next favorite!



Thanks for Reading! 
 
 
See you Friday

for my review of the new movie 
 
"A Walk in the Woods"
(Robert Redford's take on the Bill Bryson book) 

and
 
The Week in Reviews
 
(What to See or Read and What to Avoid)
 
and the latest on

My 1001 Movies I Must See Before
 I Die Project."


 
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Friday, September 11, 2015

"Mistress America" and The Week in Reviews

[I review the new movie "Mistress America" and DVDs  "Iris" and "The Congress."  The Book of the Week is  "Stir: My Broken Brain and the Meals that Brought Me Home."  I also bring you up to date on "My 1001 Movies I Must See Before I Die Project" with the 1926 film "The Adventures of Prince Achmed," credited as being the very first full-length animated film.]

 

 
Mistress America


A lonely college freshman's life is changed when she meets her lively and so sophisticated 30-year-old soon-to-be sister-by-marriage.
 
Tracy (Lola Kirke) is a young freshman at Barnard College in New York City.  She has a crabby roommate, is bored with her classes and just isn't fitting in. She wants to be a writer and applies for membership in the Mobius Society, an exclusive literary club, but doesn't get in. Her mother is going to marry a guy she met on the Internet, so encourages Tracy to get in touch with his daughter, Brooke (Greta Gerwig), who also lives in NYC.  After all, they are going to be "sisters."  Tracy calls Brooke and they meet in Times Square, because, strangely, that's where Brooke lives (Who actually lives in Times Square)?

Maybe I shouldn't say "strangely," because Brooke herself is rather strange. 

She is a 30-something Millennial who talks constantly, has done and thought of everything (according to her) and is a sort of "Holly Golightly" and Tracy is immediately enamored of her and the things she says, e.g. "He's the kind of person I hate but I'm in love with him" or "I'll probably end up doing something depressing but young." 

Do you remember being young and meeting someone older whose life seemed so much more exciting than yours?  It's like that.

Brooke's vibrancy and fun stimulates Tracy to write using Brooke as her subject.  But as what happens in life, our bubbles are burst. Brooke has hundreds of ideas and seems to have life by the tail, but it eventually becomes clear that she can't seem to make anything happen for herself.

Brooke "adopts" Tracy and introduces her to her friends and her life. Tracy gets caught in the adventure and fun that is Brooke, not realizing at first that Brooke is all smoke and no fire.  Brooke has rapid-fire ideas such as creating a superhero ("Mistress America," hence the film's title), T-shirts and a restaurant.

However, despite also running a spin class, Brooke's focus becomes the restaurant that she plans to open with her boyfriend, Stavros (who is never seen).  The restaurant will be called "Mom's" and it won't just be a restaurant but also a hair salon and an art gallery.  However, when the money for that venture falls through, Brooke must scramble to find the money and decides, with the help of a psychic, that she needs to find her old friend, Mamie-Clare (Heather Lind), who stole her boyfriend, Dylan (Michael Chernus), and her T-shirt idea and get her and Dylan to cough up the money.  Brooke, Tracy, and two of Tracy's friends travel to ritzy Greenwich, Connecticut to get their help. 

And that's where the film fell apart for me.

Noah Baumbach has written and directed some great films: "The Squid and the Whale" "While We're Young" and "Margot at the Wedding" but unfortunately this film isn't one of the greats.

Greta Gerwig is an indy-darling who has collaborated with Baumbach before with "Frances Ha," where Gerwig played another quirky character, but a sweet one.  She is clearly Baumbach's muse.  I am a huge fan of her unconventional looks and style, but here her Brooke character is so quirky as to be annoying. I think we are supposed to feel that she is a charming force of nature, living a party girl life in Manhattan, vibrant and fun, but she comes off as frantic and grates after awhile. That is not to say that Gerwig doesn't put in a great performance.  She does.  She plays Brooke exactly as Baumbach and she created her. The character just got to be too much. 

Gerwig and Baumbach seem to like to create edgy characters and make statements about the narcissism of hipster Millennials, which Baumbach did to great effect in "While We're Young," but making characters annoying to show how annoying they are is...well, it's just annoying.  Everyone in this film talks at each other and over each other, but never to each other, especially Brooke who yacks constantly but rarely connects with anyone. That's probably the point they are trying to make but it's just...annoying.

Newcomer Lola Kirke plays Tracy and with her charming lisp is very good and the best thing about this movie, but she turns out to not be a particularly nice person either as the story she writes about Brooke turns out to not be a flattering one.  But perhaps her unflattering story is the wake-up call Brooke needs to actually make a real life for herself.  Maybe these "Holly Golightly" types need a wake up call from time to time. 

Baumbach often uses the theme of writers and writing in his films, and Baumbach and Gerwig make an interesting statement about using your friends and loved ones for your fictional fodder.   

But all of that is lost when the movie turns into a farce.

The film is supposed to be a screwball comedy and has some comic moments, but falls into farce when Brooke confronts her old, rich and not very nice friend, Mamie-Claire and her husband, Dylan, at their fancy home in Greenwich.  It reminded me "Noises Off,"  as character after character kept leaving and showing up.  All it lacked was the slamming doors.  I never liked "Noises Off."

I am for any film that shows strong female relationships and great parts for women, but I just couldn't get over how annoying everyone was.  I liked Gerwig as Frances ("Frances Ha").  As Brooke, not so much.  I just didn't care about any of these people.

Rosy the Reviewer says...and interesting premise that is ultimately disappointing.



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

Iris (2014)
 
 
A documentary about the fashion icon Iris Apfel.

If you don't know who Iris Apfel is, you need to.  And here is your chance.

One of the last films directed by legendary documentarian Albert Maysles ("Grey Gardens"), this documentary about fashion icon and collector, Iris Apfel, is wonderful.  If you are into fashion but have never heard of Iris, you are really missing something.  She is an artist and uses clothing and accessories to create a vision.

Oh, and did I say she is 94 and still going strong?

Married for 67 years to her husband Carl (he turned 100 during the making of this film), they launched Old World Weavers in 1950, a company specializing in reproductions of 16th, 17th and 18th century fabrics and ran it together until 1992.  Iris was also an interior designer and businesswoman who did restoration work on great houses, most notably the White House.  But it was her jewelry, her fashion style and signature glasses that brought her fame.  Forget the old adage, less is more.  For Iris, it's more, more and more.

She is also opinionated and known for her bon mots:

When talking about her fashion style and how she puts her outfits together: 
"I like to improvise.  I like to do things as if I am playing jazz."

When Albert Maysles died this year at the age of 88, we lost a phenomenal filmmaker. Maysles showed his documentary filmmaking power with "Gimme Shelter" ( with his brother David) back in 1970 and later by giving us a look into the shocking lives of Big Edie and Little Edie Beale in "Grey Gardens. 

Here again his signature style is evident - no narration but rather letting the subject tell her own story and letting the story unfold on its own.

"I don't have any rules because I would only be breaking them."

"The best thing was getting dressed for the party...[better than going to the party]."

"Everything I have I go out and find.  It's not easy."

"You have to pay for being stylish."

"Color can raise the dead."

"I could never be a friend with someone who wasn't curious and didn't have a sense of humor."

She sees her shopping for original and wonderful pieces as her job.  I totally get it.  I wish my Hubby got it when he sees our credit card bill.  But after seeing this film, I don't feel so bad about my modest three closets of clothes and my 75 jackets. Like Iris, I am a collector.

But what really resonates about this film is Iris's vibrancy and joy in her items and not little her fame at the ripe old age of 94.  She has been photographed by Bruce Weber, who speaks fondly of Iris in the film, and she has appeared in many fashion magazines.  The Met did a show of her items and it was a phenomenal success.  Bergdorf's has done windows showing some of her collection and MAC Cosmetics has featured her.

"Life is grey and dull so you might as well have a little fun and amuse people."

"I don't happen to like pretty.  Most of the world is not with me but I don't care.  If you are not pretty, you need to develop style.  Pretty fades.  If you want to be attractive in old age, develop style."

I'm with you, Iris!

Rosy the Reviewer says...I want to be her!  This is a joyful look at a woman who loves life and if you are into fashion, you must know who she is.





The Congress  (2013)
 

An aging actress accepts one last job that has consequences she can't foresee.

Robin Wright plays herself as an aging actress who has made bad choices and whose career is not doing well.  When she is approached by Miramount Studios to purchase her likeness to do with whatever they want - they want her to sign away her likeness so they can "sample" her - she must make a huge decision about her career.  They will scan her likeness and she will remain forever "young" in films, advertisements, etc.

They will pay her well but the downside (and there is always a downside, right?) is that she can never act again.  She initially turns the offer down, but she is living near the airport in a trailer with a son with some unspecified syndrome that seems to have something to do with an obsession with airplanes (he knows every airplane's schedule) and flying kites, which sometimes get onto the flight paths causing all kinds of trouble.

The Miramount studio head (Danny Huston) continues to work on her.  Why wouldn't you do it?  You would still be famous, you would never age and you wouldn't actually have to work anymore.  "We will keep you 34 forever."  Since she was 47 when this film was made, that would be a miracle.

She decides to do it so she will have the money to treat her son's medical condition.  She cites in her contract what her image can't do - no porn, no scifi, which is kind of funny and ironic here since this film is scifi.

Fast forward 20 years to 2030.  Robin is now 64 and the distinguished guest of the Futurist Congress at Abrahama.  She is told that she will be entering an animated site and must take an ampule and everything literally becomes animated - psychedelically so.

And this is where this movie lost me.

This dramedy is a satire on the movie business and what they would do if  they could.  Why deal with temperamental actors when you can scan their images and do what you want with them?  It also explores the obsolescence of movies, our fascination and objectification of celebrities, the egos of actors and asks - What is reality?  This also seems to be a parody of Wright's career, which is quite brave considering she is playing an "aging" actress.

Rosy the Reviewer says...an interesting concept exploring some interesting ideas that worked well for the first half but got lost in the second half...or maybe I just should have smoked something first.






***My 1001 Movies I Must See Before I Die Project***


293 to go! 
 
 

Prince Achmed joins forces with Aladdin and the Witch of the Fiery Mountains to save a beautiful princess from an evil magician in this animated retelling of stories from The Arabian Nights.

German animator Lotte Reiniger produced this silent film in 1926 and it is considered by many to be the very first full-length animated film.  Only 67 minutes long, it tells the story of Prince Achmed who embarks on a series of adventures when he acquires a flying horse.  He falls in love with a princess on the island of Wak-Wak but an evil magician kidnaps her and Achmed must join forces with the Witch of the Fiery Mountains and Aladdin to get her back.

Through a series of silhouettes that act as shadow puppets, the story unfolds with wonderful music and artistry that creates a ballet of animation that is enthralling and mesmerizing.

Why it's a Must See: "Reininger's use of silhouette is as magical as her world of sorcerers, genies, and fairies.  Produced over an ardulous three years, the film resulted in the invention of many new techniques, including a multiplane animation stand, which gives the illusion of depth to images.  It is a method whose creation is often mistakenly attributed to Walt Disney...[This film] is, in every way, a pioneering work whose timelessness lies in its skill and achievement."
---"1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die"

Rosy the Reviewer says...it goes without saying that film students and film enthusiasts should see this film, but older children might also enjoy the experience, though there are some scary parts.



***Book of the Week***

 


Jessica Fechtor was only 28, a Harvard graduate and happily married when she was felled by a brain aneurysm.  Cooking food helped her on the road to recovery.

First the stories plus recipes craze was "let's buy an old wreck of a house in Tuscany and fix it up" - WITH recipes.  Then it was "I am going to travel the world," -- and oh yes, WITH recipes. 

Now the trend is the healing power of food and cooking.

I am obviously on a food as healer kick if you read my blog last Friday where I reviewed "Life From Scratch: A Memoir of Food, Family and Forgiveness" by Sasha Martin.

So I thought it would be fun to compare this book to that one.  However, here we are not dealing with a sad, disrupted childhood as in Martin's book, but rather a medical condition.

Fechtor was on a treadmill at conference center when she had the brain aneurysm that eventually left her with no sense of smell and blind in one eye. As she slowly healed, she found herself again in cooking.

"What a click in my head, and a moving belt, and a headache that knocked me down might have to do with butter, and flour, and eggs at room temp, and hunger, and love, and a kitchen with something to say, I couldn't have known that day. How a detour could become it's own path, I would never have believed."

The book starts with the aneurysm and then Fechtor alternates chapters flashing back to meeting her husband and getting married and the memories of food in her life. The theme throughout is the healing power of food as she shares 27 recipes that helped her find her way.

"Food has powers.  It picks us up from our lonely corners and sits us back down, together.  It pulls us out of ourselves, to our kitchen, to the table, to the diner down the block.  At the same time, it draws us inward.  Food is the keeper of our memories, connecting us with our pasts and with our people."

She connected with me. Amazing what we have in common, me a sixty-something and she, a thirty-something.  We both like cottage cheese on our baked potatoes, we both live(d) in Seattle; we both make grocery lists by each department in the store and we both don't believe things happen for a reason.

     "Everything happens for a reason?  I don't see it that way at all.  To me, only the first part is clear: Everything happens.  Then other things happen, and other things still.  Our of each of these moments, we make something.  Any number of somethings, in fact.
     What comes of our own actions becomes the 'reason.'  It is no predestined thing.  We may arrive where we are by way of a specific path -- we can take just one at a time -- but it's never the only one that could have led to our destination...There are infinite possible versions of our lives.  Meaning is not what happens, but what we do with what happens when it does."

This is Fector's first book and like Sasha Martin in "Life from Scratch (that I reviewed last Friday)," Fechtor started a food blog to help her heal and deal with her illness.  She created "Sweet Amandine."

When she was in the kitchen, she was able to test herself physically..."gauging the strength of my body with each recipe...it seemed whenever I'd enter the kitchen, I'd discover a story, one that would nudge me over to something more real and more permanent about my life than illness."  Then she would sit down and write, struggling to get her brain to do what she wanted it to do but as her "phrases became sentences became paragraphs, I felt like I was flying."

She writes with candor, heart, humor, warmth -- and recipes!

I am definitely going to make her "Crispy Rice and Eggs."

Rosy the Reviewer says...a stunning debut that foodies, people coping with an illness and people who just like to eat, will savor.





Thanks for Reading!


That's it for this week.


See you Tuesday for

"Top Ten TV Shows I Never Thought I Would Like"

 

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Tuesday, September 8, 2015

Make Someone Happy

"Be kind because everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle."

This quote is attributed to Plato and Philo, but it is thought to actually have been first said by Ian Maclaren.  It doesn't really matter who said it.  What matters is that it is true and profound, and if we could only think that thought when we encounter our fellow humans, even when they are cutting us off in traffic or giving us the finger, it would be a better world.

But we are not saints. In the bustle and stress of everyday life, it is often difficult to be self aware and think of others.

I have spoken of my Dad often in my blog posts. He was not a famous person or a rich person and he certainly had his foibles.  But he was an extraordinary person nonetheless. 



I have never forgotten his telling me that you show love by doing something you don't want to do, but you do it anyway without expecting anything in return.

I think of that every time I remember how when he had to go somewhere himself he would let me have the car to drive around my friends when I was the only one who could get the car -- and he would walk. 

Or the time he drove all over our nearby big town to the Army/Navy stores trying to find me a Navy pea coat that I "had to have" because it was all the rage.  He was always doing that kind of thing. He made me very happy.


He also bought me a white sports car with a little white poodle to match so I wouldn't be sad and lonely while my husband was in Vietnam.  He was that kind of person.

I have tried to be that kind of person.  And I notice it and am appreciative when others do that.

Recently Hubby played in a reunion concert in our hometown.  Many of our old friends came including one who traveled over 100 miles in traffic to show support and spend those few hours with us. That effort made us very happy.



Meditation has also taught me that there really is something to throwing kindness and positivity out into the universe.  You never know when a smile or some small thing you do makes a big difference in someone else's life and makes them happy.

And the Universe gives it back.

I have talked before about smiling and being cheerful to flight attendants on planes
(see my post about traveling - Baby Boomer Style).


How difficult is it to give them a big smile when you get on the plane and say something complimentary like how smashing they look in their cute uniforms?  I did that on a recent trip to Italy and when I disembarked and thanked the flight attendants for taking care of us, one said to me, "There's that great smile again!"  So I know I made her day when I got on the plane and she made mine when I got off.

Another thing I like to do is wish people I encounter "great happiness." 
When I sit for an hour or two at a bar, as I am wont to do from time to time, and carry on a conversation with the bartender, or if I meet a young couple while traveling and we share travel tips, if it has been a positive encounter when we part I will say, "I wish you great happiness."  And I do.  And I can see the effect that has because think about it.  How often does anyone wish you great happiness?

One of my favorite instances of that was a recent trip to London. 

We found a pub near our hotel that was a classic one.  It had great food and was just like the pub - The Queen Victoria - in my favorite British soap opera, "Eastenders" that I have been watching for over 25 years. 



We ended our day there more than once, engaging the bartender and the wait staff.  On our last night there, when they were getting ready to close (it was one of the London pubs that still closed at 10:30pm), I wished them great happiness as I said goodnight and told them how much fun we had had. I said, "It's just like The Queen Vic!" The manager patted the bar, handed me a free drink and said, "Stay."  They closed up the bar and we got to stay afterhours with them as they cleaned up.  We learned how they all lived upstairs over the pub, how they came to be there and all kinds of personal tidbits. I felt like one of the locals.  It was the highlight of my trip.

Thanking your server.
In the same vein, when you have had a good experience in a restaurant, why not thank the server for taking care of you?

It goes without saying that you don't wave at your server, ignore him or her or act rudely.  If our server has been attentive and friendly, I will often say, "Thank you for taking such good care of us."  I know that makes servers happy, because how often does anyone take the time to do that?

Thoughtful gifts.
My Dad was the most thoughtful person I have ever known. 

We might be window shopping, and I might point out a coat I really liked.  By the way, before I go on, does anyone even know what "window shopping" is anymore? Window shopping is what people did for fun before social media took over. You would go for a walk downtown and look in the shop windows at things you couldn't afford and that was considered a lot of fun.

Anyway, after a window shopping excursion with my Mom and Dad, where I had expressed interest in a coat, weeks or even months later, when a gift giving occasion would come around, there that coat would be...with a hat and a muff thrown in! 



I think of that now and realize that my Dad would have not only had to remember what I had admired, but he would have had to make a special point to go back and get it before it was gone.  That made me happy to know that my Dad remembered and cared enough to do that, but I also know it made him happy to see me happy. 

I have never forgotten those acts of love and kindness and they helped to shape my own life.

(Here's something I have to share about that and it probably accounts for my rabid shopping tendencies.  My Dad used to say that when you see something "you can't live without," you must get it even if you can't afford it, because if you don't, when you have all of the money in the world, you will never find it and always regret it.  How's that for some kind of advice about money?  Psychologists would have a field day with that, don't you think)? 

We are not invisible busy bees going about our stressed-out lives in a vacuum.  We are humans who affect other humans. 

When you say something kind, when you smile, when you give a thoughtful gift, you make someone else happy. 

Yes, you might have to go out of your way a bit but that special effort can make someone's day.

It takes so little to do so much.

And you know what? 

You discover that you have made yourself happy too.

So go make someone happy!  The power is yours.

 
Thanks for Reading!

See you Friday

for my review of the new movie 
 
"Mistress America" 

and
 
The Week in Reviews
 
(What to See or Read and What to Avoid)
 
and the latest on

My 1001 Movies I Must See Before
 I Die Project."




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