quotes
January 6, 2013 Leave a comment
“To lose balance sometimes for love is part of living a balanced life.” – Elizabeth Gilbert
2012, adieu.
January 2, 2013 Leave a comment
If I were to try to describe 2012, I would say it was the punctuation on negatives in my life. By that I mean, that it was the curtain call for people, things, and parts of me that needed resolution and an end. In years prior I had begun the process of cleaning out the negative things and people in my life. This was complemented by a brutally honest self-evaluation, which began years of work on me.
At the start of this year, I got about the business of “goodbyes”. The whole process was only as hard as I made it and made life a lot easier (and happier now). But, even years that feel easy have lessons. Along the way I was reminded how gossip kills so many relationships. It reminded me to let more people go and so those I know spoke gossip about me were also on my goodbye list this year, adieu…
More than anything, a removal of negative made breathing feel easier, living feel simple, and life have more joy. It made it easier for me focus on the things and people who are nearest and dearest to my heart. It made this year amazing and filled with love.
I go forward into 2013 wishing you all the best in life and love. I hope everyone feels inspired and empowered to make a difference in their own lives and in the world around them. I hope you achieve you dreams and share them with wonderful people who encourage and support you.
All the best in 2013!
My Facebook First…
November 12, 2012 2 Comments
I will start with it is called a break-up because it is broken… not my line I know, but one I live by. I do not believe in relationship do-overs in the real or virtual world. So when a relationship with an acquaintance went south… way south… I did something very 2012 and I hit the button and unfriended them on Facebook. Frankly, I should have done the deed months ago because the monster that was building in them, against me, was growing exponentially in size and truthfully life is too short to fill the space of my time with nonsense and nonsensical people. And while this is no grand thing, the unfriending deed I did, it is something that I would not have done this summer when I first joined the “social media site of the century”.
Alas Facebook has changed me… not really but it has changed my perspective. Today I actually put my picture on the site also… another, like I would never ever do… but I guess there is an evolution occurring in me. I started blogging as a person who would lay her soul bare on the web, and then I became a virtual introvert. Then I found myself, place of comfort in the middle, though I will admit my middle is closer to being closed off, but I am a work in progress. Aren’t we all? This week I officially broke off an acquaintanceship with someone… (a friend told me it is official when some unfriends you on Facebook) and official, was what I wanted.
None of this is a big deal. It is however a first, a new chapter for me and these moments are never ones I take lightly. Self-awareness is important. So is sleep… though I don’t really do that one much. Nevertheless, I am going to call it a night and try. 
Iron Man 3 Trailer
October 22, 2012 Leave a comment
Here is the latest and longer trailer for IM3
Marvel is super (hero) smart and using the momentum it has been building lately to propel the genre of comic movies into “James Cameron epic type” status, and so far they are well on their way. Here is one of the shortest trailers ever, and people are still watching it. I watched, three times. I’m a nerd… with geek tendencies, don’t judge! Also don’t blink because it is that short and you will miss it…
What’s the big bad deal about iOS 6
September 22, 2012 1 Comment
Ok seriously… what is the big negative deal about iOS 6? iPhone 4S updated just yesterday so the amount of negative press baffles me. It seems a little early for those who didn’t get to give the OS (or the new phone) an early test run to be griping. iPhone 5 broke sales records prior to release and people are sleeping on the streets again to purchase the phone… but apparently a lot of people still don’t like it.
In spite of all the talk I decided to play around with Apple’s map just to see if it worked. I actually liked it for one reason, how it gives visual directions. I happened to be heading home when I decided to let my Map App lead the way. At first it was ridiculous in that I purposefully went home a way the directions were not suggesting and for about three miles it kept telling me to do U-turns and each street I happened upon. Eventually it adjusted and decided to send me home along the route I was taking. The part that made me like the app was the directions it gave me when I came to one of those weird circle turns. It actually told me where to exit the circle. I haven’t had this result from any other mapping app, ever. What I didn’t like was that the app offered direction voice commands, but only once. (I’m not sure if I messed up or the app did but I didn’t really want Siri telling me where to go anyway!)
Other than my Siri “issue”, the app worked fine. I do live in the D.C. Metro so this could have helped me with getting direction results. I am hearing the issues with Apple’s Map App are pronounced in areas that are farther away from major cities.
I am also a fan of the Panorama camera and the newly integrated post to Twitter and Facebook functions in the notification toolbar. This feature is just one of a more functional integration between popular social media sites and iPhone. Another feature of this integration is that it
allows users to update their calendar from invites posted to Facebook, which again turns this super-smart phone into a serious virtual assistant, not a toy. (Take that BB!!!!)
Overall there is a lot of function in the update and yes some idea borrowing from Android. But a lot of the updates are new in general, at least since the last time I used Android, about six months ago. In the end iOS 6 is a mild update from iOS 5 but I generally found the changes positive. It works, it’s very Apple-like, and the edits are usefully and thoughtfully done, not just hype and tech fluff.
My Present Playlist
August 29, 2012 Leave a comment
Lately I’ve been filling my workout playlist with independent girlie music… and these are a few of my favorites. I’m also becoming a huge Taylor Swift fan!!! (I never thought I would say that in my life.) The good thing is that I’ m listening to so much music because for the first time in years I am in the gym with a really rigorous fitness program. Of course I am using technology to get moving (more about that later, next week is my first “official” week on the program, but in the mean time here is the music that motivates me…
Taylor Swift – We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together
David Guetta Feat. Sia – Titanium
Change…
June 19, 2012 Leave a comment
A few nights ago, I was channel surfing the television and I ran across Katy Perry’s new video “Wide Awake.” The song is great but the video struck me because it consist of update after update of what looks like a mix of Twitter and Facebook post. Just the fact that a video such as this exists, this alone screams of the difference in the world today versus the days before and even during the height of the dotcom bubble. I think this video is a sort of apex of the social media evolution.
Acknowledging where the world is with updates, post, sharing, and oversharing it should be easy to see that change is never an easy road to travel and the virtual social evolution that is coming into its own challenges existing social norms. I still feel uneasy when I meet someone for the first time, having already learned from post and updates personal information of a most personal nature. To me it compares to living in nudist colony and most of us are exposing ourselves to our neighbors, only in the virtual world, everyone is a neighbor. I know I sound like a broken record but I seriously wonder what this is doing to us social, even more what will it do to our children. Personally, I think it will lead to greater degrees of dysfunction, virtual social dysfunction, not that we can afford that!
Tonight I got a Facebook account, reactivated my Skype, and pushed a video to my own YouTube channel. (Yay me!) This whole evolution occurred without any fanfare and no pomp and circumstance… other than @jomb1 fake fainting when I said I set up a Facebook account tonight! However, he immediately recovered and inquired on the number of hits my newly uploaded YouTube video received, how 2012 of him! This is exactly the sort of thing I am griping talking about when I have reasoned avoiding social media. Everybody knows too much about everybody else and all that matters is the number of hits you receive. Thanks to @jomb1’s inquiry about my hits on YouTube, I will purposefully not check until at least tomorrow just to be sure I’m still sane and not all oversharing or measuring my value on hits.
So in the end I am learning to find balance in technology, social media, and sharing, I guess, and giving it a go for the first time in a long time. So much like the song that goes with Katy Perry’s awesome video, I’m letting go a little bit and waking up to new things. I am realizing that I can take the best of social media and make the most of it, and do it in my own way so I am navigating my on course. Tonight I already reconnected with someone on Facebook and chatted with them for the first time in, I do not even know how long. I think I’m off to a good start!
The Avengers – One-liners
May 8, 2012 Leave a comment
Bruce Banner: “I don’t think we should be focusing on Loki. That guy’s brain is a bag full of cats. You can smell crazy on him.” Thor: “Have care how you speak. Loki is beyond reason, but he is of Asgard. And he is my brother.”
Natasha Romanoff: “He killed 80 people in two days.”
Thor: “He’s adopted.” I don’t know how this reads but it’s quite fun on screen… maybe you had to be there. *Images and script are the property of Marvel.
Avengers Assemble
May 7, 2012 1 Comment
By Thursday of last week, I had shopped for an Avengers t-shirt for my son so he could wear it to the movie. (Yes, we are that geeky.) Today we are planning to see the movie again, even if it requires waiting in line for another hour. It was that good! If you haven’t seen the movie yet, don’t worry I won’t ruin it by giving away plot elements. What I will say is stay until the very end, I mean until the lights come on… seriously, or you will miss stuff.
If this was an official review, and it’s not, I would say generally speaking that this was the best movie I have seen in the last ten years at least. For a comic movie, it now holds my top spot, over Spiderman 2. This movie is a great example of how characters that may have been comic book minors, with the right actors and a good script can make for an amazing storyline and movie, with much of the credit for the original character development going to comic genius Stan Lee.
There is no bad acting in this movie. Actually, there is some great acting. Mark Ruffalo is amazing as Hulk and unlike previous versions of the character Mark portrayed Hulk utilizing virtual-camera motion capture, and he nails it. Hulk’s movements are a balance of beast and humanity, teetering on the edge. This is the best cinematic version of Hulk ever, handsdown. Mark Ruffalo is the Hulk, Lou Ferrigno still does the voice. (He voices Hulk in all the movies.) With Ruffalo’s version of the Hulk, you empathize with the man struggling to contain the beast, you love the beast, and you cheer for them both. Actually the Hulks actions were so impressive, I missed a few of his lines because the applause for his character was so loud that you could not hear a thing in theater. I hope Ruffalo gets his own movie, his portrayal earned it.
Robert Downey Jr., is again the embodiment of Tony Stark, with tech toys and attitude intact. Surprisingly, there is even more of the character shown in this film. The same goes for Chris Evans who makes the WWII hero lines not seem cheesy in millennial America. Actually there is a rumor that 30 minutes of movie footage didn’t make it off the cutting room floor, and will be included with the DVD which goes even further to deal with poor Cap’s adjustment to life after being a “cap-cicle.” Chris Evans makes you love Captain America and all that he stands for, seriously… and in this day and age of cynicism that takes talent. Jeremy Renner is amazing as another comic virtual unknown in the role of Hawkeye as is Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow, though she still doesn’t seem comfortable or natural in fight scenes, but she is better than in Iron Man 2. She comes off as sexy and strong, in a good way.
As for Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Clark Gregg, and Samuel L. Jackson they do an amazing job of letting you get to know the characters they play. All of this is done without overwhelming you or making you feel bombarded with characters. None of these character feel underdeveloped, but they all leave you wanting to see movies about them… like right now. And many other characters from Avengers prequels show up too, Pepper Potts, Dr. Selvig, Jane Foster, Odin, and a list of others show up in some form for this movie, as do the personal lives and relationships of all the characters. This is another accomplishment of Marvel’s, so many prequels and still this movie works.
Overall, this movie gets a 10, and there are plenty of one-liners and amazing scenes, full of well-done CG animation that will have people in awe or laughing until the DVD comes out, with a supposed 30 minutes of deleted scenes. Unlike many recent movies, none of the best lines of the movie are in the trailers, the best parts exist somewhere else in the 2:30 minutes screen time.
Yes, it is a long movie, but does not feel that way at all when you are watching it. Overall, the worst parts of this movie are better than the best parts of most. Stan Lee does make his usual cameo appearance, which seems to be become a Marvel movie tradition, for a franchise that is getting better with every movie. There are also political/social statements made in the movie that were not lost on me, but if I talk about them I will possibly expose plot elements. There are two more Marvel movies presently in the work,s Iron Man and Thor due out in 2013. There is also a rumored Nick Fury movie and I hope that there will be at least one or two more Avengers movies. Oh and I read this morning that The Avengers broke the opening weekend record!
*All images from and belonging to marvel.com/avengers_movie/ and accessed as downloadable materials.
Important Things…
April 12, 2012 Leave a comment
If you haven’t seen or heard any of the talk about the movie Bully then implore you, please educate yourself. Also please check out the site and movement at http://thebullyproject.com. If there was ever a time to get involved and turn energy and passion into action this is it. Here is the link to the trailer. I warn you it is hard to watch.
There is not an adult or a parent who should sleep sound until we protect our children from this. We should not sleep until we ensure our own children are not spreading hatred like this. Get involved in your community, local schools, or a big brother/sister program and help out. There is no such thing as a small donation or effort when it comes from the heart. Just please do something to help end bullying, please.
It is the responsibility of us all to care for one another, stop bullying.
