Monday, October 14, 2013

Mindfulness Meditations for Anxiety



meditation for everyone
I've been practicing meditation for a few years now and recently discovered Ira's meditation technique effective to help me focus more clearly and easily. There are different guided exercises and tools in the video that you can follow or just watch him meditate in beautiful places - it's relaxing to see. My favorite tool is the " labeling your thoughts". I incorporate this in my practice and happy to say that it's working.

excellent mindfulness meditation video
I really liked Ira Israel's "Mindfulness Meditations for Anxiety." I thought it was well done and I definitely felt calmer being led through meditations. Ira is very genuine on camera and definitely sounds as if he has done his homework on the subjects of anxiety and stress and has worked very hard to develop tools to help others. Some of the shots were spectacular so it was a joy to watch also! Highly Recommend!

Very chill, super relaxing
Very easy to follow. Music is quite cool - loved the Jacqueline Fuentes! A sweet space to fall into. The meditations wash over you like soft waves. Soothing.

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Intolerable Cruelty [HD]



Coen Farce
There is a point in Intolerable Cruelty where George Clooney is giving a key note speech professing his love that is long enough to make you suspect the Coen brothers have "sold out" into schmaltz. Wrong! The film, in typical Coen style, dives into as many twists and turns as is needed in a good thriller. Fortunately, the film is a comedic farce.

Clooney plays Miles Massey, the most prominent divorce lawyer in southern California. A man so good at what he does he has a prenuptial contract named after him. Massey's good and he knows it. Near the beginning of the film, he and his assistant, Wrigley (Paul Adelstein), are chatting about how boring Massey's life has become while a sweating client sits between them as the client's wife describes how she was used as a sex slave. Massey is that confident of himself.

And confidence is what Clooney is all about. He is simply incredible. Swaggering around like a peacock while checking to make sure his teeth are clean, Clooney...

Friends don't let friends miss Coen Brothers' films...
Intolerable Cruelty has to be the funniest film I've seen all year! Fans of the Coen Brothers will instantly love this fast paced, witty and surreal piece of cinematic genius, brilliantly directed, fantastically scripted and incredibly intelligent. While the idea of Clooney and Zeta-Jones fogging up the screen in a romantic comedy turned me off so much that I missed this in the cinema, now I've seen it I can't believe I had so little faith in Joel and Ethan. The Coen's didn't write the story, so this is sadly no Big Lebowski or Fargo, and some of the characters are a tad unsubtle (Cedric the Entertainer's private dick, the half-dead head lawyer and Clooney's sidekick come to mind) but they did have a hand in the screenplay, and therefore the dialogue sparkles with the typical Coen shine. I think the best scene for this is during Zeta-Jones' first divorce, as Clooney, his sidekick and this Client, in strained whispers, discuss their experience with the Judge ("Have you sat before...

uneven film with a most beautiful woman
I doubt that there are two more strikingly attractive actors in movies today than George Clooney and Catherine Zeta-Jones. Zeta-Jones, in particular, has the kind of classic beauty that puts her right up there with the great screen legends of all time, women like Ingrid Bergman, Natalie Wood and Audrey Hepburn, who, with their ravishing good looks and photogenic quality, came to define the ideal of female pulchritude in their time.

Credit the Coen Brothers, who made "Intolerable Cruelty," with having the good sense to know what they had in these two stars and for exploiting it to the full. They have allowed the actors to play off their good looks, most especially Ms. Zeta-Jones, portraying an icy gold-digger who specializes in marrying rich men with the express purpose of taking them for everything they've got once the marriage is ended. Clooney is the first-rate divorce lawyer who finally meets his match when he falls under the spell of this strangely bewitching woman.

The...

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Discover the World India



genuine India
very succinct and very real - highly recommended watch it and watch it one more time. Congratulations to the creators for great work!





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The Bourne Legacy [HD]



The Legacy continues!
I confess I am addicted to this series of movies, but this one is quite different as it delves into the science behind the agents in the 'Program'. Don't expect Jeremy Renner to replace Matt Damon, as this is not the intent. Renner is quite a good actor in his own right, and has risen in the ranks of action stars recently, most notably as 'Hawkeye' in the Avengers. The Bourne Legacy starts slow, but picks up tempo quite quickly as it intertwines with the plot of the Bourne Ultimatum. There is a great supporting cast including Edward Norton and Rachel Weisz. The car chase is replaced by motorcycles, but in all a great follow up to the previous three movies. If you liked them, this will not disappoint.

A movie in search of a director
Other reviewers have already recounted much of the plot. So, I'll skip that and go to a critique of the production itself.

I gave this an overall rating of four stars because I found the movie to be interesting, engaging, with a good story and some really good action scenes. I found that I cared about the primary characters - Renner and Weisz. This tells me that the characters were fairly well developed and interesting

Renner's character, Aaron Cross, would have been more compelling if more of his backstory came out sooner, and if his pathetic origin were presented differently. I think Weisz' character could have used more backstory too - all I know about her is that she's an attractive scientist with a top secret clearance.

The story is really good. But this movie could have been a classic if the plot were tightened up and presented differently - too much dialogue where 'showing' instead of 'talking' would have got it across to the viewer better...

Great addition to the Bourne franchise
The Bourne Legacy does not feature Matt Damon's character, Jason Bourne. Instead a new agent, Aaron Cross played by Jeremy Renner, is introduced. Aaron Cross is similar to Jason Bourne in many ways and there are hints that he is a genetically improved version of the agents that Treadstone created. Rachel Weisz plays Cross' romantic interest, Edward Norton plays the main antagonist, and Joan Allen, David Strathairn, Albert Finney, and Scott Glenn return as Landy, Vosen, Hirsch and Kramer, respectively, all from previous Bourne installments.

The movie also attempts to tie in the previous Bourne movies and their plots into this installment. Most interesting about this movie is that it builds on what we have learned in the last three movies, but promises that Jason Bourne was just the beginning and that the conspiracy is much larger than just the Treadstone project.

After Treadstone was revealed by Bourne and Landy at the end of the third movie the CIA and top...

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Sunday, October 13, 2013

The Priest's Wife



A Comedy Concerning The Catholic Conundrum...
(1971) Valeria (Sophia Loren) has just broken up with the man she's been dating for four years, seeing as how she just found out he's married and has a family all this time, by demolishing his car before verbally tearing him a new a*hole. Distraught, she goes home where she lives with her parents (which was still commonplace at that time in Italian households), heads to her room and begins ingesting twenty narcotic pills to end it all. The pills she begins to take are laid out on a magazine cover that has a suicide hotline ad displayed, and she phones it as a comically ironic last gesture. The person at the other end of the line is Prof. Don Mario (Marcello Mastroianni), who just happens to also be a priest. He advises her not to go through with it, but she continues to ingest the narcotics while they converse, ultimately passing out while still on the phone with him.

Father Don gets a phone call from the local hospital while teaching a classroom of Catholic hoodlums the...

It takes two to tango,,,,
The Priest's Wife

The explosive chemistry between Marcello Mastroianni and Sophia Loren is undeniable. Although this is not one of their best films together, it is still very good. Sophia is delightful as the hot tempered, scorned woman who fails at all her relationships and then sets her cap on a priest played by Marcello. Handsome Marcello is incredibly believable as the celibate, pious priest who tries to help Sofia while attempting to rebuke her advances. Of course he fails so the age old duplicity of priests is well highlighted. Very good movie, well worth a view.,

C3 = Comedy, Caper, Catholic = Cute, Cuddly and Charismatic
Who can resist these leading couple, the Italian equivalent of Hepburn & Tracy, Bogart and Bacall, with the pairing of Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni.
They absolutely shine in their comedic genius and Sophia looks absolutely ravishing in her mod clothing. And WOW what a looker she is.
There is also some good camera work with some swell sights of late 60s/early 70s Italy
A definite must have for all Sophia and or Marcello fans.

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Home Alone [HD]



Home Alone - Family Fun Edition
On November 21st, 2006, 20th Century Fox released Home Alone - Family Fun Edition. This DVD edition is the long awaited special edition to one of cinemas most adored Christmas films. This edition offers a hefty amount of extra goodies...such as over 30 minutes of deleted scenes, on the set featurettes, new interviews, and a brand new commentary track featuring director Chris Columbus & Macaulay Culkin. I have to say unlike most commentary tracks, this one is actully very informative and very fun. Macaulay and Chris seem to have so much fun watching the film. This edition like the first one is presented in its original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1. I read somewhere that the video and audio is updated too, I cannot confirm if it is or not but I read that. If you own the previous edition of this film, it is definately worth your money to update to this. The special features alone warrant a double dip. Also for the hold outs not wanting to buy the film til it got a special edition,...

AT LAST!
Finally Fox studios came to their senses to re-release a childhood classic. Now this re-release does have a substanial amount of bonus features including 4 behind the scenes feature, deleted scenes, 3 trailers, and some trivia games but the icing on the cake is the Christopher Columbus and Macaulay Culkin Commentary. Its good to know that Macaulay Culkin being the highest paid child star back then in the early 90's and still to this date, he is humble enough to go back to his childhood memories. Deff worth the upgrade if you own the previous release..a true classic...

It Will Never Wear Out It's Welcome!
This movie was a favorite amongst many when it first came out in 1990, and more than a decade later, this movie *still* remains a classic, and will continue to be a classic for many more years to come.

The story is simple, really: young Kevin (Macaulay Culkin) is the underdog of the family; always getting picked on by his older siblings, and feeling like an outcast. One day, he gets into it with his older brother, and Kevin ends up being punished. During his punishment, he wishes that he could spend a christmas by himself without any of his family members. Wouldn't you know it - due to his family's carelessness, they accidently leave Kevin home on their way to the airport (to fly to Paris for Christmas vacation.)

And from there, the fun begins. While Kevin is home by himself, two bumbling, nincompoop burglars (played by Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern) known as the "Wet Bandits," set their sites on Kevin's house. When Kevin figures this out, he sets the house up with...

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That Night (1993)



DVD RELEASE PLEASE!!!!!!
This is a wonderful movie set in the 50's about a little girl who adores her neighbor who lives across the street. A GREAT movie that should be released on DVD so that everyone can enjoy.

Work of Genius
I bought this a few days ago and so far I've watched it with my eleven year old daughter 3 times, and she has invited a half dozen freinds over, all of whom love it. Having grown up in the 50's I find this a masterpiece. Finally I got to show my daughter a real 1949 Mercury, my absolutely favorite all-time car! One of Juliette Lewis' best roles and Elisa Dushku, the actress who plays 10 year old Allie is magical. There is a dancing scene near the pier with C. Thomas Howell, Christy's punk boyfriend Ricky, that makes me cry every time. The birthday party is heartbreaking as well, my daughter had to ask how you play spin-the-bottle. The set design were masterful,with stop frame I recognize hundreds of things from my youth. The movie is an absolute work of genius!

FOUND THE SONG!!!!!!!
Like everyone else I agree that this is a great film. One of the few I can watch again and again......but like everyone else I too have been searching for the title song Ruler of my Heart by Lisa Fischer and want to say I found it on Kazaa......good luck.

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