Black Swan

Darren Aronofsky has made some of the strangest movies I've ever seen.  Between Pi, his low-budget math movie,  and The Fountain, his weird tri-story about the search for a longer life, Aronofsky has covered some very unique subjects with some beautiful images and imaginative scripts.  Now that I've seen it, Black Swan has officially become my favorite of his films.  Aronofsky found the script ten years before the production started for the movie, and at first it was actually about a New York stage group and called "The Understudy.
"  But after talking to Natalie Portman who has wanted to do a story about dance for a while since she studied as a young girl, he decided to change it from theatre to ballet.  At one point, Aronofsky even considered mixing the plot of Black Swan with the plot for the wrestler, making it a movie about a ballerina and wrestler in love.  Not really sure how that would have gone. I'm glad this is what he ended up with.  Natalie Portman does some of her best work in the Black Swan.  Her character Nina is both timid and rigid and dark and troubled.  Nina has been preparing her entire life for this part as the Swan Princess, part White Swan, part Black Swan, good and evil.  Her mother had to give up her dancing career to give birth to her, so Nina has been raised to take over.  Her mother, played by Barbara Hershey, is demanding and over protective.  She treats Nina likes she's one of those porcelain dolls that is meant to be seen and not touched.  Once Nina gets the part she has a couple of obstacles she hadn't foreseen.  A hands on director who likes his leading women and an understudy, played by That 70s Show alumni Mila Kunis, that is brazen and better suited for the dark and sexier Black Swan part.   Until this movie, I didn't really think Mila Kunis can act, and she can.  I'm not entirely sure the lesbian scene was necessary, but I'm sure it helped with the main characters demise.  Nomination Status:  Cinematography, Leading Actress (Natalie Portman), Directing, Film Editing, and Best Picture.  The only one I so far picture this having a chance of winning is Leading Actress, but I agree it deserves the nominations.  I was sad to see a nomination in Makeup and Costume missing for this movie.  Of what I've seen, it's the best in both categories so far. 

perhaps.

The first time I met you, you caught my eye.

But it was unrealistic and I moved on.

As time went by, my mind kept going back to you.

I wasn’t sure what it was.  It was nothing.

Then I saw you again. , but this time was different.

This time you became a real person.

This time you were more than just that guy I met.

We became more than acquaintances, but not quite friends.

If circumstances were different, if we were not so far apart,

I might have pushed further.

But things as they are, they go as they go.

Now I’m not so sure of anything anymore.

Perhaps there is something where I thought nothing.

I feel like I don’t really know you, but yet know you.

I feel like I want to know the parts of you I don’t.

It’s so hard to know how you feel.

Perhaps you’ve never really noticed me.

Perhaps I am just that girl you met.

Than again, perhaps not.

and the nominees are....

The official Oscar Nomination came out this morning and I have to say, I don't think I've ever been less surprised by the selections.  Continuing the tradition from last year, there are ten Best Picture nominees again, and I've already seen 7 of the 10, so I'm in really good shape of my usual goal of seeing them all before the big night.  Now if 127 Hours can just have a wider release, I'm good to go.  I've already done a review for two of the ten, obviously planning on doing the other eight as well, but for now I wanted to just tell you what made me happy about the nominations.  First, I am extremely happy that Jesse Eisenberg is nominated for Lead Actor for his part in "The Social Network".  Movies with young stars tend to be tossed into the run of the mill blockbuster comedys and action flicks and not seen for what they can often be, pieces of art, giving us a glimpse of a bright future for film.  Eisenberg was excellent in that movie and is very deserving.  I haven't seen 3 of the other 5 actors, so I can't say he'll deserve the win, but I'm sure he'll pull his own.  I'm also thrilled to see a nod to Jeremy Renner for "The Town", and no, not just because he's a part of my nightly fantasies. *Note to Jeremy, I'm ready and willing to attend the awards with you if your mom isn't available that night* He did a great job in that movie and shined far above his co-stars in a role, tougher than I expected.  Annette Bening was nominated for Lead Actress in "The Kids are All Right."  I haven't done a review for that movie yet, so I won't go into to much detail, but WOW, you could have sworn that was her real personality it was so believable.  And as always, I am delighted that the Fargo Raising Arizona Lebowski Coen Brothers are nominated again.  True Grit is among their best work and I'm really excited for them.  Those guys deserve awards for just awesomeness in general.  I'm also happy to see that Inception is being nominated for some of the more technical awards, ie. Sound Mixing, Visual Effects, Cinematography, but none of the acting awards.  While HIGHLY entertaining and twisting and fantastic, the acting was so-so.  I love DiCaprio, he's very talented, but I wouldn't have called this his acting masterpiece, so I'm glad the academy was realistic on this one.  My only real disappointment was not seeing "The Black Swan" in the costume category.  While it might seem ballarinas are easy to dress, I really thought the choices were so proper for the movie's dark theme.  To sum up, I can't wait to see the rest of the films nominated. To see a full list of the nominations, click here.

going the distance

Last night I watched "Going the Distance" and there was a scene in the beginning that got me thinking.  It was the beginning of a relationship and the guy calls the girl and asks her if she'd like to catch a bite to eat with him.  She's got a sandwich in her hands that she had planned to eat, tosses it in the trash and says "yes" to the date.  I realized I used to do that kind of thing.  When I was younger, if I REALLY wanted a date with a guy and it wasn't working with my existing plans, I'd rearrange them just to make sure I could keep the date.  I can remember a time when a guy called and I had just finished eating dinner and he asked me to dinner, so I actually had a second, albeit smaller, dinner just to be able to go on the date.  I remember not feeling too well when I got home that night.  Was it worth it?  Well, don't recall dating that guy for much longer.  I also remember faking interest in things to get the guy I wanted interested in me.  "Oh sure! I'd love to go see the new Sylvester Stalone movie!"  "You want to watch wrestling?  Ummm okay? Sure!"  (Actually, I ended up enjoying that more than I thought, kind of like a soap opera where they beat each other up.) "Oh yes, I know all kinds of things about cars.  You can talk for hours about them if you want." (Sure I know all kinds of things about cars... I know cars have four wheels... and two pedals... a gas... and a brake...)  I'd like to think I'm much older (well not TOO much older) and wiser now at 32.  Sure, I'll try something you like.  I'll even be happy to sit next to you while you watch Nascar as long as you'll sit next to me while I watch Myth Busters.  But I won't fake interest.  If I've just eaten, I'll tell you, "Sorry, I just ate dinner, perhaps you can go ahead and eat and we can meet after?"  I guess it's just having more confidence in myself. But I will admit this.  If I have a sandwich in my hand and the right guy calls?  Sorry sandwich, you may meet Mr. Trash Can.  I'm only human :)

winter's bone

There has been a lot of buzz about the Sundance Film winner, The Winter's Bone.  Now that I've seen it, I see why.  It's a beautifully written story about a 17 year old girl living in the poor part of the Ozarks.  Ree's father, a meth manufacturer, is about to skip out on his bail.  Unfortunately, he used the homestead as collateral for his bail bondsman.  With a depressed mother who is no help at home and two young siblings she is determined to enter her dad's dark and trashy world to try to find him and make him show up to his court date.  We meet her extended family and her father's "associates" as she searches and discovers finding her father might be hard, because he might not be dead.  Ree is played by Jennifer Lawrence who is certain to get an Oscar Best Actress nomination.  Her character is both stubborn beyond her safety, and yet also timid and cautious.  She wants to know where her dad is, and knows that she could get hurt digging into his whereabouts.  For such a young and little experienced actress I was very impressed.  The rest of the cast of characters are all quite minor, but each powerful in their own way.  The movie was filmed in the Missouri Ozarks and shows a beautiful backdrop for the seedy place they live.  The people there are not particularly humane, they are almost animals just fighting for their own survival, not caring what they have to resign to to do it.  Debra Granik is a new writer and director, having only 2 other pictures to her credit according to IMDb.  After watching this, I want to see if I can track down the other two.  She definitely has high potential as an artist.  I predict a Oscar Best Picture, Best Direction, Best Actress, and Best Screenplay nomination in the future.

the race is about to start.

Last night I watched "The Social Network".  It won best picture at the Golden Globes last weekend, so it's pretty much guaranteed a spot in the Oscar race, so I thought I better check it out.  It wasn't at all what I expected.  I was picturing a party movie with a lot of flash and color, but it was actually a well organized story teller parallel to a court deposition regarding the creation of facebook.  I really didn't know much about the history of facebook, never seen an interview of Mark Zuckerberg the creator, so I don't know how accurate the story was or how go of a job Jesse Eisenberg portrayed his character, however I think both were done quite well.  The story was fluid and intriguing without being outlandish.  Eisenberg created a complete and complex character as Zuckerberg.  The awkward, unsocial, spastic nerd who would go into
"the zone" was unusual and yet believable.  The writing was wonderful.  Eisenberg's Zuckerberg took things literally and seemed to misunderstand any time someone said something ironically or metaphorically.  He had an odd smugness.  A "I am so smarter than everyone else in the room and I don't mind admitting it" attitude that seems proper for who Zuckerberg really is.  I think this movie has an excellent chance at Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Screen Play nominations.  Based on what I have seen so far of the potential contenders, I'm not sure it will actually WIN any of these awards, but it has a fighting chance.

me

My graying hair.

My big feet.

The zits on my chin that never seem to go away.

My geeky glasses.

Scars on my legs.

The scale that tells me how much I weigh.

My warm smile.

My laugh.

A wit that can make anyone a friend.

My singing voice.

The way I listen.

Someone of which you can depend.

My secret wishes.

My dreams of what I can be.

How I feel on the inside.

These are all a part of me.

is it just me or do we have a doppelganger in our midst?

Exhibit A:

Friends with Benefits

Releasing July 2011

Mila Kunis - recently in Black Swan

Justin Timberlake - once a teen idol, now a 29 year old actor and favorite of SNL shorts

Weird Musical Moment - singing "Closing Time" while performing.

Exhibit B:

No Strings Attached
Releasing this weekend
Natalie Portman - recently in Black Swan
Ashton Kutcher - once a teen idol, now a 32 year old actor married to Demi Moore
Weird Musical Moment - making a "period tape" for his friend including songs, "Sunday Bloody Sunday", and "I've Got the World on a String"

Do you think the writers knew each other?  Anyways.  Even though there are some strong similarities, I want to see No Strings Attached and really have no interest in Friends with Benefits.  Go figure.

my thoughts on last weekend.

The last few days, when reading the news I have seen little else but the Arizona shooting that happened over the weekend.  I knew I wanted to comment about it on my blog but took some time to think about it before saying anything.  Shocking events are hard to digest sometimes.  Most of the articles I've seen have been about political retoric, crazy mugshot guy and his history of creeping people out, politician that died, politician in hospital, 9 year old girl dead, crazy kansas church wanting to protest the funerals (don't even get me started on those weirdos).  Today I read two articles that were quite different.  They were about heroes of the day.  And I wondered, why did I just read these today and not sooner.  Why did the media not focus on these positive moments.  I wanted to share them with you in case you didn't see them.  So you can see that humanity can be good.

It was supposed to be a nice, quick moment. A photograph to help commemorate an important event.

Mary Reed and her daughter, Emma McMahon, were only going to be there for a few minutes.

Emma, a Tucson high-school senior, had been a congressional page for U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords over the summer. But things had been so busy, she never got a photograph of herself with the congresswoman. Giffords inspired her, and she wanted the memory.  So, on Saturday morning, the two went to Safeway, where Giffords would be holding a "Congress on Your Corner," a meet-and-greet event. Also along were Mary's husband, Tom McMahon, and son, 13-year-old Owen. They were the second-to-last people in line to meet Giffords. Then everything changed. A gunman approached, shot Giffords in the head and kept on firing.  Mary didn't know exactly what it was when she first heard the noise, but she knew it was loud and bad. She knew she wanted to protect her daughter.  So, Mary pushed Emma up against the brick wall, cradling and covering her with her own body. "There was nowhere to go," she said.  Only when she was shot the first time did she realize what she was protecting her daughter against. "I knew what it was then," Mary said.  That's when she saw a man with a gun, 2 feet away.  "It was terrifying," Reed said. "But I had to save my daughter." Then, Reed was shot again. And shot again. But she didn't move. She couldn't expose Emma.  "Yes, a mama bear," Mary said.  Emma remembers hearing screaming and seeing people fall to the ground, and feeling the warmth of her mother pushing her against the wall.  About 6 feet away, she watched as two men wrestled the man with the gun to the ground, and as a woman grabbed the gun's magazine.  Then, almost as soon as it started, the crime was over. Emma was fine.  "My mom was so amazing," Emma said Monday after school, where she had attended a prayer service for the victims. "I am so grateful and amazed by her."  Reed says recovery will take a while, and remains amazed that none of the bullets or shrapnel hit a vein, artery, organ or bone.  It is not easy to consider yourself fortunate after being shot three times, but Mary does, she said, because her family is safe: "I'm very blessed."

The man had 17 stints in his heart, the arteries, over the years. He was kind of like our bionic man, he just kept going and going and going.  It turns out his heart had one more mission. When a gunman opened fire outside a Tucson grocery store, Dorwan Stoddard was there with his wife Mavy. As soon as they realized that what they were hearing were not fireworks, he threw himself on Mavy and forced her to the ground. Dorwan took three bullets while he was shielding his wife.  Mavy was his childhood sweetheart. A woman Dorwan reunited with and married in his 60's, a wife he cared for until the end. As soon as the shooting stopped, Mavy realized that Dorwan had been shot. She cradled him when he passed. They had maybe ten minutes. At that point I think he realized that she was OK and he left.

These two stories are great example of how much you can love someone.  Their instinct was to cover their family and take the hit. 

Something else I've noticed, while a lot of people are ready and willing to offer up prayers for the victims and their families, I think someone is getting forgotten.  When I read the statement the shooters parents made to the media, i stopped breathing for just a moment.  I hadn't even spent time thinking about what they were probably going through.  These people are completely heartbroken.  While I'm sure they were aware of the fact that their son might have been troubled and needed help, I have no doubt it didn't occur to them that he could be a danger to people.  I don't they could have even conceived of the possibility that he could do something like this.  They lost their son that day.  He might not be dead, but something tells me the son they thought they had is gone. I'm sure they are carrying a lot of guilt and shame with them as well.  How could they not?  When I consider which I'd rather be, the parent of one of the victims or a parent of the shooter, I think I'd chose the first.  As horrible as it is to lose a child in ANY way, discovering they are capable of such violence would seem to be the ultimate pain.  Please say a prayer for these people, I'm sure they need it.

Finally, I'd like to share a video.  Its a video that both my brother and my friend Chris have already shared on facebook.  It is probably the best response I have seen in the media for this event.  Jon Stewart made a wonderful speech at the beginning of his show. 

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-january-10-2011/arizona-shootings-reaction

Winter Wonderland

The snow outside is so pretty.  I've always enjoyed just staring at the snow as it fell. Snow has this tendency to silence everything.  Its just quieter when it's snowing.  Probably partly because there are less cars out, but it also seems to be a barrier to sound.  You feel like you should be tiptoeing around.  It's a shame I have to drive in it.  Living so close to work, its kind of hard to say, sorry I can't make it to work today.  Someone would just come pick me up.  My favorite part of winter is when Sherlock makes me get up at like four in the morning and we go outside and see the untouched blanket of snow.  No one has wiped off their car yet, no tire tracks in the parking lot.  The trees are dusted with snow like powdered sugar.  Of course, shortly after seeing this beauty Sherlock goes out into the snow and makes a yellow dent in it.

the dog and the painting,that's it.

I went to a really neat event this morning.  Early New Year's Eve morning there was a tornado that came through NWA and it hit a town called Cincinnatti, AR really bad.  A friend of mine knows a family that lost their home in that storm and they had a relief event for them.  Because I live in NWA where the Walmart home office resides, there are a bunch of vendors/suppliers in the area.  For those not familiar, the companies that make all the products you buy at the store have offices here in NWA so they can deal with Walmart and get their stuff on the shelves.  Several of the vendors donated samples of their product, everything from sheets and comforters to kitchen supplies, dvds and games, food, baby stuff, etc.  Then they had a sale and all the funds received are being given to this family.  It occurred to me, there is definitely a benefit to leaving in this area.  It's not like that have suppliers all over small town oklahoma or missouri.  I hope they were able to raise a good amount.  I arrive toward the end of the sale and there wasn't a lot left, so I'm hoping that's a good sign.  Thinking about someone losing all of their possessions makes you really appreciate not having to go through that yourself.  I pray I never hve to know what that's like.  I'm sure, living in such a great community and having such great co-workers, I would probably be helped out with the things I NEED, but what about all those things that you can't replace.  The photographs and souveniers.  That favorite t-shirt you've had since high school.  If you had to evacuate your home, knowing it probably wouldn't be there to return to, what's the one things you would grab and take with you.  My first thing would obviously be Sherlock, but after him, I'd grab a painting I own.  It is my favorite painting in the whole world and I'm the only one that owns one.  It is a Nathan McKinney original, which is why its so special to me, but its also a reminder of my home I grew up in.  We had this old farm house right next door to us.  I always use to comment how pretty it was and how it would make a good puzzle picture.  In highschool, Nathan painted it for school and told me I could have it when his assignment was done.  Every home I've lived in since I left home has had it hanging in it.  It's something I love and could never replace.  So the dog and that painting and I'll be okay.  Hopefully I'll never have to lose my home.  I hope the little I was able to give will be able to help bring the family that last their home last week at least a little comfort. 

Anybody up for a knitting party?

do I really have to say anything?

My Cup Runneth Over, Part I

I had a discussion with someone today about the reasons we meet certain people during our lifetime.  Sometimes we take for granted how important certain people can be to our lives and who we are.  I know I would not be who I am today without several different people.  Some of them are family, some are really good friends, and some of them I may have known for a brief time but just learned something from them.  What can be really frustrating is, I often don't realize how much someone has affected me until they are no longer a part of my life.  I wish I could tell them how they helped mold me.  So I've decided to every once in a while dedicate my blog to a couple of them.  They may never read it, but I still want people to know how awesome they are.

During college I had several good friends from school, but one of the people that really taught me something was a guy i met online.  At most times during our friendship, we didn't even live in the same town.  Charlie is from oklahoma and moved to texas around the same time I did.  He is one of the most unique and awesome individuals I've ever met.  He is one of a kind, and has no interest in being anyone but himself.  I think he made me realize how important it is to except yourself as you are and once you can love yourself, others will follow.  He was always there with concern when I was having a bad day, and a good joke to cheer me up.  Charlie and his now wife Dana even asked me to be in their wedding, which I gladly excepted.  That was actually one of the last times I saw them in person, which I think is sad.  But sometimes your journeys take you into different directions.

When I moved to Texas it took me a while I really find my place. One of the first stops was the Catholic Student Center.  I met a woman there that ended up becoming a very powerful friend.  I knew from the moment I met Amy that she was a wonderful person and a great Christian.  But it wasn't until she invited me to wake up at like four am on a Wednesday morning and drive to Austin to feed the less fortunate.  My first thought of course was, people are up at 4am?  Seriously?  But she was so enthused about it I decided to tag along.  It was such a great experience.  People caring about other people.  Seeing how much they appreciated the little thing we were doing.  Amy taught me the importance of not being selfish and giving what you can.  She taught me that when you give you get so much back.  We'd return from Austin before our classes started and I'd have to best days after wards.  It just put me in such a good mood.

The Advertures of Huckleberry &$(#@!

Apparently they are releasing a new addition of Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn.  In this version they have removed the n word and replaced it with "slave".  I was listening to NPR on my way home today and there were several people calling in expressing their anger about this and several thanking the publisher.  I don't get it.  The reason they decided to release this new book is because a lot of teachers have been unable to use the book in their classrooms and now they can.  Personally, I remember reading the book when I was young and I don't find myself using the n-word.  If anything, I felt the hatred that was in that word.  Mark Twain was displaying how the blacks were treated back then, he wanted us to see it as an ugly word.  All the same, I understand some people just feel too strongly that children these days shouldn't have to read it.  For those people I say, great, have them read the new version of the book.  Make yourselves feel better, convince yourselves that that kind of racism doesn't exist anymore.  You're kids are still going to hear that word, they are still going to see that there is ugliness out there.  One of the guys that called in said that changing the word made the work no longer Mark Twain's work.  I don't know that I would go that far.  It's not like that was the only word in the book.  There was a lot more to that story than just a derogatory term.  I do think they are doing the children who will be reading it a bit of a diservice.  As I recall, reading that book opened a discussion on my classroom about racism and history.  Being from a town where there weren't many blacks around, a little exposure to understanding what its like to be a minority couldn't have hurt.  I'm not saying reading Huckleberry Finn is the ultimate lesson in racism, but its definitely a start.  Along with other books like To Kill a Mockingbird.  I don't see a problem with someone wanting to read an edited version of the book as long as they understand, its probably not going to read the same way.  They won't get the full effect of what Twain was trying to convey.  I know it won't be on my shelf.  On the bright side, it could be worse, they could have added Zombies to the storyline. 

and they call it puppy love...

This evening, after work, I got to do something I absolutely LOVE to do.  And no, I'm talking about coming home and finding my dogs sickness played blitzkrieg on my bedroom floor, but that happened too.  I'm talking about singing.  We had an audition this evening for the next play/musical Village Players is doing.  It's called "The Taffetas".  It's a 1950s singing group comprised of 4 sisters, trying to get on the Ed Sullivan Show.  It is really fun.  The songs are all songs we know and love from that decade.  I had to prepare a song, not in the play, but from the 50s to sing at the audition so I've been listening a lot to Connie Francis and Leslie Gore the last few days and I've noticed a few things about music from the 50s.  First off, they really like to repeat themselves.  I was listening to Sam Cooke's "You Send Me"  I realized he basically sings the same 8 lines, over and over again.  Lyrics today are so much more complicated, which sometimes means they say more, but I think it also means they some time say too much.  Songs back in the 50s where about very basic things and they didn't need to say a lot to express those things.  A friend of mine commented today, the repetitiveness was because they were all on drugs.  Probably also true.  But back in the 50s and 60s songs were written quite differently than they are today.  I heard an interview with Paul Anka not long ago and he was talking about when he started off as a songwriter.  Apparently they had a group of writers all hanging out in an office together just churning these songs out, several a day.  You have to stay simple to work that way.  And yet, somehow this group of people have written some of the best songs of that era. Another thing I noticed about songs that were written before 1985 or so, they didn't end.  Just think about it, try to think of the ending to some of your favorite songs from the 60s and 70s.  A lot of them don't have a true ending, they just fade away with the chorus.   I wonder if that has anything to do with the radio being the main means for people to hear the music.  Fading out in the end probably made it easier to go from one song to the next.  Well its getting late and I still have some bedroom floor to clean.  I'll just leave you with the words from one of my favorite songs in the show.  "Mr Sandman, someone to hold would be so peachy before we're too old so please turn on your magic beam Mr Sandman, bring us, please, please, please Mr Sandman, bring us a dream."

Gum digests as fast as any other food.

Have you ever received an email from someone telling you to CAUTION, people are out to kill women in mall parking lots and the government is trying to pass some crazy outrageous law, contact your local officials?  Well I get this stuff all the time from friends a family.  Yes,  I know a few chronic "forwarders" out there.  Well turns out, most of those email are complete crap.  A couple years ago I found a website that I have to admit is now a guilty pleasure of mine.  Its called snopes.com.  It lists urban myths, legends, stories and they do research find out if there is any validity and where these things originate.  After checking out the stories, they determine if the info is true, false, or misrepresentation of the truth.  I think it's a pretty trustworthy source.  For example, for years I have been putting my batteries in the fridge because my mom kept her batteries in the fridge.  She told me that this keeps them alive longer.  Apparently this is a pretty wide spread belief, and last week when I was just browsing the site, I found out its not true at all, in fact, according to Energizer, it can actually be bad for todays' batteries because condensation can form on them, damaging them.  If you check out the site you can also find out that Twinkies do not in fact have an indefinite shelf life, although I don't know who doesn't eat them as soon as they open the package  anyways.  However, it is true that the youngest person to have a successful pregnancy is a 5 year old Peruvian girl.  And in case anyone was wondering, im sorry to tell you, but Elvis Presley is in fact dead.  When an email says, "after you forward this to 7 people, you'll get a really funny response"  don't spend too much time watching your inbox, it ain't coming.  Oh, and I'm sure you all are far too intelligent to fall for this one, but just in case, you do NOT have any relatives in Nigeria that left all their money to you.

10 Minutes

I'm sure this isn't the most unique first post anyone's ever had.  A lot of people probably start blogs as a new year's resolution.  Hopefully, I will not be one of those that fall apart by January 5th.  I have several friends that keep quite interesting blogs and it has inspired me to give it a shot.  I've started many resolutions in the past years that were broken by the first week and have had some I've stuck to this day.  For example, I am still drinking caffiene, although it has definitely less than the 6 pack of soda a day I use to drink.  I'm still struggling to go to the gym three times a week.  I did however manage to play the wii at least three times a week.  So that's a start.  And no, I'm not counting watching netflix on the wii.  Just the get up and move games.  I have successfully for the last several years kept the resolution to watch all of the best film oscar nominations each year.  And that includes all TEN of the movies on last years list.  My most proud resolution that I have stuck with since New Years 2003 is that I spend at least 10 minutes each day meditating on my life and spending time with God in my thoughts.  I may not be the best Catholic I can be, but those 10 minutes have been the best thing I've ever done for myself.  Those 10 minutes help make life altering decisions and come to terms with who I am and who I want to become.  In 10 minute increments during early 2004 I decided it was the right thing to do, to leave college early, leave all my friends in texas who I loved dearly, and move to arkansas of all places.  Probably the best decision I've ever made.  I can't even imagine who I'd be right now if I hadn't decided to do that.  In the winter of 2008, during my 10 minutes a recurring discussion kept popping up.  I kept feeling a pull toward joining a local community theatre.  One night I decided to do a search for a group I'd once helped and discovered they were doing a play called Nunsense which I wasn't familiar with and thought, nah, doesn't really interest me.  But during my 10 minutes something kept pulling on me and finally emailed the link on the website and offered my help.  Next thing I know I'm on stage in a nun's habit surrounded by props that I, and I alone procurred or created, listening to these great and hilarious women sing and joke around, and watching this brilliant pianist do his thing.  I fell in love with the group right then and there.  Now I'm their treasurer and have been on stage along with them.  They are all so dear to me.  If it wasn't for those 10 minutes I doubt I'd have gone through the trouble of finding them.  Lately I've been spending a lot of my 10 minutes thinking about my future.  A part of me would like to go out and find something different to do, job wise, but during those 10 minutes all I get in response is, wait... be patient... don't make any rash decisions.  I have no idea what's in store for me, but somehow I know that I won't be led in the wrong direction.  It may take me a while to get to my "future", but it will be done in the manner in which it was meant to be done.   Well, this year, my resolution is to start this blog and spend ten minutes expressing myself and whatever way I feel necessary.  At time's it may just be what I thought of the movie I just saw or the book I am reading, but other times it may be an extension of those 10 minutes with God.  Hopefully someone out there will find me interesting.  If they don't that's okay too.