First off, I count myself blessed to have made it to another year in good health, and with my family and friends all in good health as well. 2010 was a year of many changes and revelations for me. Some good, some bad, some I’m still processing. I’m not going to get heavy and go into a lot of details here about it, but some things I learned about myself in 2010 are:
1. I can’t always have what I want- an ongoing lesson
2. I’m done settling for less- life is too short
3. I loathe laziness & procrastination-both in myself & others
Moving into 2011, I have 3 things I want to work on:
1. Improve my physical, mental, and spritual health-this means regular exercise and healthy eating, regular church/meditation time, & regular downtime to recharge my batteries.
2. Cultivate my relationships with family & friends- no one is promised tomorrow
3. No Excuses!- A bit of a double edged sword, this one. No excuses for not doing what I need to do, nor any for for doing what’s best for me.
4. Be happy- Life is too short, so courage is required to fully explore what I want out of life and to work for it.
That’s it, real short & sweet for me this year, but not simple, and definitely not easy. As only iron sharpens iron, only I can make me a better me.
Now, enough of the heavy. Back to the special brand of specialness that you’ve come to know and love from me.
I am fresh off a mini vacay from Charleston, South Carolina. Some friends and I drove down to attend a writers’ conferenceand to relax a bit. I had a great time on my first visit to Charleston and can’t wait to get back there for another visit.
Luckily, one of my friends is a Charleston native that was a licensed tour guide once upon a time. She loves her city and is a wealth of information about it. I spent nearly a week there and I know we only scratched the surface of the history, spirit and tradition Charleston.
I’ve decided to do a few blogs on some of my favorite things from the Charleston trip. First up: The sunrise
I love being in nature (on my terms that is-lol) and being surrounded by its beauty. I have a growing 3×5 photo collection– name insipired by a John Mayer song of the same title– which contains my attempts to capture nature’s beauty as I see it. Most of my 3×5 pictures are images of the sky, sun rises and sun sets. I find the sky to be one of God’s most interesting and ever changing canvases (people are #2 on that list, but that’s a blog for another day).
Here are just a few of my favorite 3×5 moments from Charleston:
This pic is from my first morning in Charleston, it was my first glimpse of the ocean. While my friends took their morning walk, I enjoyed the quiet and peacefulness of the morning
In this one, the light from the rising sun makes the sky look like its streaked with pink cotton candy.
This morning I was lucky enough to catch the sun as it was rising with the waves gently crashing on the shore.
And I saved the best for last. This is absolutely one of my favorite shots from the trip. This is another morning I caught the sun rising, but this time against a beautiful blue sky with thin, cottony clouds
Ok, people (and do) say what they want about one Mr. Kanye West. Personally, I don’t like or agree with more that half of his statments or actions, I also don’t consider myself to be a huge fan of his music, not to the point where I would buy an entire album, a song or two, yes. When it comes to Kanye, I tend to like his colloborations much better than his solo projects.
However, I will admit that Kanye is a highly creative and a musical genius–most artistic types are a bit out there at times. And he can put on a mean performance when he wants too. I can also appreciate his gift & talent without blanketly co-sigining on everything the man has ever done. (The author in me can’t help but respect and appreciate his creativity though).
Anywho, I happen to love his latest single, “Power”. I’ve seen the “Power video, it’s been getting a lot of hype, and it is most definitely different and artistic. Of course, some folks are all up in arms and hollering “demonic this” and Illuminati that”. I’m not going there with either of those trains of thoughts, I simply think its Kanye being Kanye.
Frankly, I like of the video. It’s different, looks like everyone is floating in it. Anywho, I say all of that to say Kanye performed “Power” on SNL this past Saturday and it was awesome. It’s like a live verson of the video. Kudos to the dancers. Both are posted below for your enjoyment:
Ok, for those in the know, the Deathly Hallows, part 1 premire is fast approaching. And this looks like it will be the best Harry Potter movie yet.
YES I am a hugh HP fan, and YES I say that about every movie, but I really mean it this time-lol.
Check out the trailer for yourself and tell me you don’t agree. (Harry Potter haters need not respond-lol)
I love it! My favorite part is Kingsley’s patronus delivering the warning. Good stuff indeed. It really looks like they’re attempting to finally do the book justice with the movie. The acting, effects, and direction look spot on from what I can gather.
Here’s another clip I found. My favorite parts of this one is the split second shot of Filtch (LOL, it tripped me out) and is that Ginny kissing Harry??
The hubby & I went to seeTakers today and I gotta say, it not only exceeded my expectations, it BLEW them out of the water.
I’ve had this movie on my radar since last year. And I’ll admit it, I was drawn to it more so for the cast than the actual plotline.
And no, not just because I find 5 of the 6 stars to be quite the epitome of hotness in their own way. (I’ll let you guess as to the one that didn’t make the cut); but I was really very interested in how this cast of actors (none really known as the ”Leading Man”–I know some may note Paul Walker has been cast in leading roles several times, but Paul’s acting in said movies is real borderline IMO in those earlier movies) could/would pull off the feat of carrying this movie.
Well, they did an excellent job IMO.
The story is good and compelling for the characters, the action is hot (the chase scene involving Chris Brown’s character was truely some unique, acrobatic stuff for the genre), the acting is more than decent all around (that darn T.I. played his character to the hilt. Ghost is a baaaaaad man, I’m telling ya); and the actual direction is pretty good. There is one scene in particular (I won’t ruin it for those that have not scene it yet) that was quite beautifully done. For those that have seen the movie, I will only say it involved Michael Ealy and Chris Brown.
Now, was it the more original and best written story ever? No, but it was good and I enjoyed it.
Was I able to call a few of the plot twists well in advance? Yes, but I never could figure out exactly how it was going to in. In fact, I called one within the first 5 mins. Of course, the hubby gave me the side eye, but I was right.
Could there have been more character development? Yes. I, for one, would have loved a bit more about Hayden’s character. They only scratched the surface with him and I needed more. I would have also like a bit more on the history of the crew, where they came from and how they came to be.
Overall, I have to give it 5 stars (which is predominately inspired by all the pure male hotness contained within this film), or 4.75 at the very least. I hope the actors involved are able to parlay their performances in Takers into bigger roles in the future. Michael Ealy and Idris Elba really shined in this one. I also enjoyed what Jay Hernandez brought to the table. He was a good balance to Matt Dillon’s character.
I heard the creators have a prequel in mind. I hope they get it done.
First off, I count myself blessed to have made it to another year in good health, and with my family and friends all in good health as well. 2010 was a year of many changes and revelations for me. Some good, some bad, some I’m still processing. I’m not going to get heavy and go into a lot of details here about it, but some things I learned about myself in 2010 are:
