CURRENT EVENTS

Meat Loaf

(September 27, 1947 – January 20, 2022)

This romantic and sweet love song says it all about Meat Loaf

BOOK OF THE WEEK

I read this book back in 1999 and I have reviewed it periodically ever since and even today it still stands the test of time. It is also a fun and easy to read book. 

The 30-Day Plan to Whip Your Career 

Into Submission

By Karen Salmansohn

Feeling enslaved by pointless meetings, overflowing “in” boxes, and endless phone calls? Shackled by mindless busy work and jealous colleagues that keep you from landing the corner office and the recognition you deserve? If so, now is the time to break free from the chains of job slavery and whip your career into submission!

In this frank and witty rescue manual, Karen Salmansohn–the highly successful, award-winning advertising veteran of corporate wars is on a mission to liberate you.  For everyone who is into S&M (Success and Money, that is), Whip Your Career Into Submission offers an easy-to-follow, 30-day plan for taking control of your career–instead of letting circumstances take control of you.  (Source: Goodreads)

MOVIE OF THE WEEK

If you like Jim Jarmusch films, you might like this one. Much like this blog, this film isn’t for everyone.

Paterson (2016)

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Paterson is a 2016 drama film written and directed by Jim Jarmusch. The film stars Adam Driver as a bus driver and poet named Paterson, and Golshifteh Farahani as his wife, who dreams of being a country music star and opening a cupcake business.

The film spans one week, beginning with Monday, in the life of Paterson, a bus driver in Paterson, New Jersey. Every day follows much the same pattern: Paterson gets up early and goes to work, where he listens to passengers talking and, during pauses, writes poetry in a notebook he carries with him. After work he walks Marvin, his wife’s dog, and stops for a beer at Shades Bar, where he interacts with the other patrons and the owner, Doc (Source: Wikipedia)

MUSIC OF THE WEEK

Rather unusual, but nice.

Good Feeling / Price Tag

By Elle & The Pocket Belles

ART OF THE WEEK

Years ago, when I was at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, I saw this statue that I thought was so visually striking. A photo does not do it justice, but hopefully some of you will appreciate it.

Arab of Algeria (1857)

By Charles Cordier (1827 – 1905)

  EXTRAORDINARY PERSON  OF THE WEEK

Meat Loaf

Michael Lee Aday (born Marvin Lee Aday; September 27, 1947 – January 20, 2022), better known as Meat Loaf, was an American singer and actor.

He was noted for his powerful, wide-ranging voice and theatrical live shows. His Bat Out of Hell trilogy—Bat Out of Hell, Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell, and Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose—has sold more than 65 million albums worldwide. The first album stayed on the charts for over nine years and more than four decades after its release still sells an estimated 200,000 copies annually, making it one of the best-selling albums in history.

After the commercial success of Bat Out of Hell and Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into Hell, and earning a Grammy Award for Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance for the song “I’d Do Anything for Love”. [… He became] one of the best-selling music artists of all time, with worldwide sales of more than 100 million records.

[… He] appeared in over 50 films and television shows, sometimes as himself or as characters resembling his stage persona. (Source: Wikipedia)

  JOKE OF THE WEEK

PHYSICAL TRAITS

Weight Lifting

I got my first experience with weight lifting when I was 15 and in the tenth grade. Two teachers put together an after school volunteer weight training class. I loved it and my parents were kind enough to buy me a weight set when school was out for the summer. Those two teachers are gone now, but I hope somehow they know what they started.

I kept at weight lifting off and on over the years, but it wasn’t until my friend and training partner Walter, got me into competitive powerlifting.

Those of you who have been following this blog know that I am still at it and have another contest coming up this March

CHARACTER TRAITS

It has been said that you should live every day like it is your last. If you think this way, many arguments will seem petty, and you will appreciate more every time you see your family and friends.

SOCIAL TRAITS

LEARNING TRAITS

MISCELLANEOUS

I like to believe people into wokeness have good intentions.

On another note, what was that road to hell paved with?

 

CURRENT EVENTS

Ten Year Challenge

Runner Up

Winner

BOOKS OF THE WEEK

There are many books on developing a healthy lifestyle and there is some merit to most all them. Please just keep in mind that what works for one person, may not work for everyone. You are your own best coach, no one knows you like you know you; if you will listen to your body.

The Body  Book

By Cameron Diaz

Grounded in science and informed by real life, The Body Book offers a comprehensive overview of the human body and mind, from the cellular level up. From demystifying and debunking the hype around food groups to explaining the value of vitamins and minerals, readers will discover why it’s so important to embrace the instinct of hunger and to satisfy it with whole, nutrient-dense foods. Cameron also explains the essential role of movement, the importance of muscle and bone strength and why we need to sweat a little every day. (Source: GoodReads)

The Longevity Book

by Cameron Diaz

(Although this book was written for women, I think anyone can find useful ideas in this book.)

Cameron Diaz wrote The Longevity Book to help educate young women about how their bodies function, empowering them to make better-informed choices about their health and encouraging them to look beyond the latest health trends to understand their bodies at the cellular level. She interviewed doctors, scientists, nutritionists, and a host of other experts, and shared what she’d learned—and what she wished she’d known twenty years earlier. (Source: Harper Collins Publishers)

MOVIE OF THE WEEK

This is a most enjoyable show. I look forward to a Season 3

Emily in Paris (Season 2)

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MUSIC OF THE WEEK

Well, the joke is music related.

ART OF THE WEEK

Any time we see unrelated objects put together in a manner that we don’t normally expect, it is a bit of a shock. The shock caused by the painting below is a bit different, since this time the cage and the egg are related, since they are both objects that contain a bird, although one contains a bird  embryo and the other is made to contain a bird. 

Elective Affinities (1933)

By Rene Magritte

Perhaps, Magritte better explains what I tried to say in the above about this work:

One night, I woke up in a room in which a cage with a bird sleeping in it had been placed. A magnificent error caused me to see an egg in the cage, instead of the vanished bird. I then grasped a new and astonishing poetic secret, for the shock which I experienced had been provoked precisely by the affinity of two objects—the cage and the egg—to each other, whereas previously this shock had been caused by my bringing together two objects that were unrelated.

  EXTRAORDINARY PERSON  OF THE WEEK

Those Who Help Themselves

  JOKE OF THE WEEK

PHYSICAL TRAITS

Your Next Job After Retirement?

Clue: It’s  Full Time

At the start of each year many people will think about retiring sometime during the year. I hope they realize that they are retiring from one job only to start another job.

That new job is not being a babysitter for your grandchildren. It is not preparing more cakes and pastries than a bakery. It is not to watch every sporting event 24/7 or simply to view mindless television.

Your new job is  maintaining your health,  or regaining your health, or even to becoming more physical than ever. This is a full time job, not a part-time job. This job calls for a serious exercise program, proper diet to manage your weight and rest to recover from a day of physical exertion. Well, most people are pretty good with the rest, it is the other two things that is their challenge.

Old people can be strong, they don’t have to be frail and weak

Ignore this advice and there will likely come a day when you will regret it.

CHARACTER TRAITS

I fear the only people who will give this some thought,

are those who aren’t busy.

SOCIAL TRAITS

LEARNING TRAITS

You may want to consider living your life with a sense of urgency.

MISCELLANEOUS

Klingon Gods

 

CURRENT EVENTS

West Side Stories

First we have the 1961 West Side Story 

Now we have the 2021 West Side Story

My favorite of the above two films is the 1961 film. However, if you are looking for a different take on this story, check out:

West Bank Story (2005)

BOOK OF THE WEEK

I tend to favor short easy to read books, but not always. This is a very interesting book, but had I to do it over I would have simply read Voltaire’s Philosophical Dictionary. 

His dictionary contains so many interesting ideas such as, “Faith consists in believing not what seems to be true, but what seems to be false to our understanding.”

The Portable Voltaire

Edited By Ben Ray Redman

This encyclopedic anthology acquaints us with Voltaire’s mercurial range of expression as well as with the steadfastness of his vision, which might be called the religion of reason. It includes his sardonic comedies Candide and Zadig; the tales “Micromegas” and ‘Story of a Good Brahmin”; more than seventy articles from the Philosophical Dictionary that offer heretical definitions of subjects from Adultery to Tyranny;  and letters written to such correspondents as Frederick the Great and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. (Source: Goodreads)

MOVIE OF THE WEEK

This week’s films are under Current Events.

MUSIC OF THE WEEK

No disrespect towards the Amish, as I look around at today’s world, I appreciate their point of view.

Nevertheless, I found some humor in the following.

Amish Paradise

By “Weird Al” Yankovic

ART OF THE WEEK

Photography is an art form. Below is a rather interesting photo if you look “closely”.

  EXTRAORDINARY PERSON  OF THE WEEK

Voltaire

François-Marie Arouet (21 November 1694 – 30 May 1778), known as Voltaire

Satirist, novelist, poet, dramatist, historian, moralist, critic, courtier and correspondent, champion of reason and fanatical adversary of fanaticism, a darling of kings with the unfortunate habit of turning them into enemies, François Arouet de Voltaire is one of the few writers to have imposed his name on an entire epoch. It is entirely appropriate that the French Enlightenment is also known as “the age of Voltaire.” And if that age ended with a revolution, Voltaire was nothing if not a subversive. His abiding motto was “Écrasez l’infame”: “Crush infamy.” (Source: Goodreads)

  JOKE OF THE WEEK

This one is for Star Trek fans

PHYSICAL TRAITS

The Corona Virus Continues to Mutate

CHARACTER TRAITS

Tips On How To Avoid Criticism

SOCIAL TRAITS

This could help one get along better with people in 2022.

LEARNING TRAITS

Some of you may find this helpful.

MISCELLANEOUS

You may want to think about this before

taking down your Christmas decorations.

 

CURRENT EVENTS

2021 Views by Top Ten Countries

BOOK OF THE WEEK

I first read this book in 1986 and have reviewed it a number of times over the years as well as just this past week.

It works, if you apply yourself to its teachings. However, where it speaks of wealth or money, I would suggest replacing those words with whatever you really want.

Money in my view, should be an enabler and not the end goal.

Think and Grow Rich

By Napoleon Hill

Think and Grow Rich has been called the “Granddaddy of All Motivational Literature.” It was the first book to boldly ask, “What makes a winner?” 

Think and Grow Rich, published in 1937, draws on stories of Andrew Carnegie, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, and other millionaires of his generation to illustrate his principles. 

MOVIE OF THE WEEK

I thought it was an interesting film, worth watching. I do wish it had been in chronological order, since some of the flashbacks made the film a bit confusing.

 Being The Ricardos (2021)

“A revealing glimpse of the couple’s complex romantic and professional relationship, the film takes audiences into the writers’ room, onto the soundstage and behind closed doors with Ball and Arnaz during one critical production week of their groundbreaking sitcom I Love Lucy.” (Source: Wikipedia)

MUSIC OF THE WEEK

The reason I selected this song is because I was briefly watching a New Year’s Eve show from Nashville, Tennessee. There was a comedian on the show talking about how scared people are and he went on to say something like, “In Nashville, the only thing these folks are afraid of, is running out of beer.”

Ballad of Davy Crockett

By Fess Parker

ART OF THE WEEK

Every year brings the loss of friends and family members; however, every year also brings forth new friends and new family members. Stay positive.

Melancholy

It is called Melancolie. And it is heartbreakingly beautiful.

The artwork created by Albert György (living in Switzerland, but born in Romania) can be found in Geneva in a small park on the promenade (Quai du Mont Blanc) along the shore of Lake Geneva.

  EXTRAORDINARY PERSON  OF THE WEEK

Scotty

I did some research and apparently this story is true.

But, even if it weren’t true, it should be.

  JOKE OF THE WEEK

PHYSICAL TRAITS

Clothing Choices

CHARACTER TRAITS

Some people think it is fine for people to loose their livelihood because for various reasons they don’t think a Covid shot or shots are in their best interests. 

Others think it is fine to prevent people from traveling or going into restaurants, gyms, entertainment venues, etc., unless fully vaccinated.

One can always find a reason to discriminate against any group. Perhaps, your group (aged, overweight, disabled, too many kids, etc.) may be the next group to be discriminated against and who will stand up for you?

SOCIAL TRAITS

This could help one get along better with people in 2022.

LEARNING TRAITS

It is important to stay current with technology.

MISCELLANEOUS

This Cannot Be Said Enough Times

 

CURRENT EVENTS

BOOK OF THE WEEK

It is starting to look like the only thing George Orwell was wrong about was timing.

If you haven’t read this classic, perhaps you should while you still can.

1984

By George Orwell

The book 1984 was George Orwell’s chilling prophecy about the future. And while 1984 has come and gone, his dystopian vision of a government that will do anything to control the narrative is timelier than ever…

“The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”

Winston Smith toes the Party line, rewriting history to satisfy the demands of the Ministry of Truth. With each lie he writes, Winston grows to hate the Party that seeks power for its own sake and persecutes those who dare to commit thought crimes. But as he starts to think for himself, Winston can’t escape the fact that Big Brother is always watching…

A startling and haunting novel, 1984 creates an imaginary world that is completely convincing from start to finish. No one can deny the novel’s hold on the imaginations of whole generations, or the power of its admonitions—a power that seems to grow, not lessen, with the passage of time. (Source: Amazon)

MOVIE OF THE WEEK

No surprises in this film, but still an entertaining Christmas film.

 The Knight Before Christmas (2019)

MUSIC OF THE WEEK

1999

By Prince

ART OF THE WEEK

Ghost Sculpture in Castle of Vezio, Italy

The quirky plaster ‘ghosts’ on the castle grounds are made from white chalk.

They are re-made each summer by tourists who agree to be put in a particular position, then covered with gauze and white chalk staying like that for 20 mins until the chalk is dry.

The sculptures remain until destroyed by snow.

  EXTRAORDINARY PERSON  OF THE WEEK

Nora

This is a rather long video; however, I think the message in this video of my friend and teammate Nora and our Trainer Art,  is so inspiring that I wanted to make it available to all of you. You don’t have to be old and frail, you can be old and strong, if you will do the work.

It is a new year and perhaps it it time for a new you.

Taken at the 2021 AWPC Worlds

Art and Me

  JOKE OF THE WEEK

PHYSICAL TRAITS

CHARACTER TRAITS

You may not agree with Joe Manchin; but, it is hard not to admire him for standing up to what he believes regardless of the enormous pressure being put on him.

SOCIAL TRAITS

Consider this, if you want to get the new year off to a good start

LEARNING TRAITS

MISCELLANEOUS

The Start of a New Year is a Good Time for Some

Self-Reflection

 

CURRENT EVENTS

Merry Christmas

BOOK OF THE WEEK

MOVIE OF THE WEEK

This is my favorite version of

 It’s a Wonderful Life

MUSIC OF THE WEEK

Merry Merry Christmas

By Ken’ Mo’

ART OF THE WEEK

  EXTRAORDINARY PERSON  OF THE WEEK

Who Else This Week?

Santa Claus

  JOKE OF THE WEEK

PHYSICAL TRAITS

Santa Without His Costume Padding

Santa Knows The Importance of Staying In Shape

CHARACTER TRAITS

Mr. Scrooge, proof that people can change

SOCIAL TRAITS

LEARNING TRAITS

MISCELLANEOUS

Santa When He Isn’t Working

 

CURRENT EVENTS

Raise The Bar

Push / Pull Powerlifting Contest

Dec. 11, 2021

Rochester Performance Gym (RPG)

Located in Rochester, Michigan

I lifted in the 75 to 79 year old & Under 181.7 lbs. class

Here is a video of my final deadlift of the day.

352.5 Lbs.

BOOK OF THE WEEK

Below is a book I have read and reviewed often in the last 20+ years and I believe you will find many valuable lessons among its pages.

Do Less, Achieve More

By Chin-Ning Chu

For anyone tired of chasing ever–elusive desires, of doing more only to find that more needs doing, and of making more money only to need more money, Chin–Ning Chu shows you that life was meant to be easy, if you know the secrets. (Source of Description:  Amazon)

MOVIE OF THE WEEK

A nice little romantic Christmas story.

A Castle for Christmas

A Castle for Christmas is a 2021 American Christmas romantic comedy film. The film was released on November 26, 2021.

The story follows bestselling American author Sophie Brown, who travels to Scotland to escape the scandal of her last book. She visits the ancestral village of her grandfather, who worked as a groundskeeper at the estate of a nearby castle. While there, she ends up falling in love with the castle, Dun Dunbar, but must also face off with the ill-tempered duke who owns it.

MUSIC OF THE WEEK

Pitch Perfect 2

Winter Wonderland / Here Come Santa Claus

By Snoop Dogg & Anna Kendrick

ART OF THE WEEK

This is a different kind of art, but still art.

I hope you find the photo of the MGM lion being filmed as interesting as I do.

Photo Source: Alamy

Filming the MGM Studio Emblem in 1928

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (more commonly known by its initialized version MGM) is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of feature films and television programs.

It is one of the world’s oldest and most iconic film studios, partly to do with the ‘lion’s roar’ emblem presented before each and every film it’s involved with.

This image is a behind-the-scenes look at the recording of that aforementioned roar! While most movie studios have their own intros, few are as memorable as the classic roaring lion that is so associated with MGM studios.

  EXTRAORDINARY PERSON  OF THE WEEK

Michael Nesmith of the Monkees

Robert Michael Nesmith (December 30, 1942 – December 10, 2021) was an American musician, songwriter, actor, producer, and novelist. He was best known as a member of the pop rock band the Monkees and co-star of the TV series The Monkees (1966–1968). His songwriting credits include “Different Drum”, which became a hit for Linda Ronstadt and the Stone Poneys.

  JOKE OF THE WEEK

PHYSICAL TRAITS

There are usually a number of people retiring from a lifetime of work around this time of the year. I hope they realize they are not actually retiring from work and that their new job is maintaining or trying to regain their health. That job calls for a serious exercise program, proper diet to manage your weight and rest. Well, most people are pretty good with the rest, it is the other two that is their challenge.

Ignore this advice and there will likely come a day when you will regret it.

CHARACTER TRAITS

I think being your authentic self is one of the hardest things one can strive for with society pressuring you to confirm, but you should still make the effort.

SOCIAL TRAITS

When The Pandemic Is Over

When this is over, you can ask yourself if you were in favor of people losing their livelihood because they had different views about their own health than you had for their health?

Did you avoid friends are family members because of your fear?

When it comes to abortion, did you believe people have a right to control over their own bodies, but when it comes to vaccines, people didn’t have a right of control over their own bodies?

When it comes to abortion, did you believe people do not have a right of control over their own bodies, but do have that right when it comes to vaccines?

Did you do any critical thinking whatsoever, or did you simply believe whatever the media told you regardless if it did or did not make sense?

Were you a good representative of the land of the free and the home of the brave?

LEARNING TRAITS

If you want to avoid being scammed, remember if it is too good to be true, it probably isn’t true.

MISCELLANEOUS

 

CURRENT EVENTS

BOOK OF THE WEEK

I have another powerlifting contest coming up Saturday, December 11. In October, I failed my third bench press and my third deadlift. This time, I will make both lifts.

As a little insurance that I make those third lifts, I thought it would be wise to study Ernie’s book again.

The Ten Commandments of Powerlifting

By Ernie Frantz

Ernie autographed his book for me

If you want to know how good this book is for powerlifting, it is one of the few powerlifting books that has been translated into Russian.

MOVIE OF THE WEEK

I thought this was a very nice film.

Love Hard

Love Hard is a 2021 American romantic comedy film, about a young woman who travels to her online crush’s hometown for Christmas, but discovers she’s been catfished (Catfishing is a deceptive activity where a person creates a fictional persona or fake identity on a social networking service).

Love Hard was filmed in Vancouver from October to November 2020. The film was released by Netflix on November 5, 2021. 

MUSIC OF THE WEEK

Especially when it is 95 year-old Tony Bennett

singing with Lady Gaga

I’ve Got You Under My Skin

by Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga

ART OF THE WEEK

My Kind of Christmas Decorations

  EXTRAORDINARY PERSON  OF THE WEEK (Again)

As I watch America over recent years, I find it difficult to retain my faith in the future of America. However, my faith is restored when real Americans like Enes Kanter stands up for America.

I think being an American is a state of mind and not an accident of the location of one’s birth. There are many people born within the boundaries of USA that don’t appear to believe in the American Dream and there are many people all over the world who do believe in the American Dream.

Enes Kanter Freedom

  JOKE OF THE WEEK

I’ve used this before, but it still strikes me as very funny.

Perhaps, because there is some truth in it.

PHYSICAL TRAITS

I’ll Be In Another Powerlifting Contest This Saturday

It is a local Push/Pull Contest

A push/pull contest is the combination of your best bench press and best deadlift.

I’ll be in the 75 to 79 years old category, so I will be surprised if I have any competition. Usually, it has to be a national or world competition, since there aren’t that many over 75 powerlifters. My goal for this Saturday is to do better than I did last October.

CHARACTER TRAITS

SOCIAL TRAITS

The odds of you fixing a broken person is a long shot.

 

LEARNING TRAITS

MISCELLANEOUS

Proof There Is A God

There has always been people who claim there is no proof that there is a good. Finally, these people are presented with undeniable evidence of God.

 

CURRENT EVENTS

BOOK OF THE WEEK

I found this book to be a good story. I will let Amazon (below) tell you more about the book.

The Religion War

By Scott Adams

In this frenetically paced sequel to Adams’ best-selling “thought experiment,” God’s Debris, the smartest man in the world is on a mission to stop a cataclysmic war between Christian and Muslim forces and save civilization. The brilliantly crafted, thought-provoking fable raises questions about the nature of reality and just where our delusions are taking us.

Unlike God’s Debris, which was principally a dialogue between its two main characters, The Religion War is set several decades in the future when the smartest man in the world steps between international leaders to prevent a catastrophic confrontation between Christianiy and Islam. The parallels between where we are today and where we could be in the near future are clear.

According to Adams, The Religion War targets “bright readers with short attention spans-everyone from lazy students to busy book clubs.” But while the book may be a three-hour read, it’s packed with concepts that will be discussed long after, including a list of “Questions to Ponder in the Shower” that reinforce the story’s purpose of highlighting the most important-yet most ignored-questions in the world. (Source: Amazon)

MOVIES OF THE WEEK

I have recently seen four very good movies and I will post them in the order that represents their importance to me.

Please just watch the trailers for the films that interest you.

King Richard

I thought King Richard was the best movie I saw because Will Smith did some of the finest acting I have ever seen and I liked the film’s message about “Failing to Plan is Planning to Fail.” It is a simple concept and yet few people will go to the trouble and so their plans are merely wishes that are unlikely to come true.

House of Gucci 

What a story and much of it true behind this famous fashion brand. My gosh, Lady Gaga is a terrific actress. As for Adam Driver, he is Gucci.

Red Notice

This movie stars The Rock, so I had to see it.

Spencer

It was okay, I’m not sorry I saw it 

(However, I think the movie would have been better had Samuel L. Jackson been casted as Prince Charles)

MUSIC OF THE WEEK

King Tut

by Steve Martin

ART OF THE WEEK

It is amazing what people can do with old tires

  EXTRAORDINARY PERSON  OF THE WEEK

Sir J. M. Barrie

Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet (9 May 1860 – 19 June 1937) was a Scottish novelist and playwright, best remembered as the creator of Peter Pan.

He was born and educated in Scotland and then moved to London, where he wrote a number of successful novels and plays. There he met the Llewelyn Davies boys, who inspired him to write about a baby boy who has magical adventures in Kensington Gardens (first included in Barrie’s 1902 adult novel The Little White Bird), then to write Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up, a 1904 “fairy play” about an ageless boy and an ordinary girl named Wendy who have adventures in the fantasy setting of Neverland.

Although he continued to write successfully, Peter Pan overshadowed his other work, and is credited with popularizing the name Wendy. Barrie unofficially adopted the Davies boys following the deaths of their parents. 

Before his death, he gave the rights to the Peter Pan works to Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children in London, which continues to benefit from them. (Source: Wikipedia)

  JOKE OF THE WEEK

PHYSICAL TRAITS

I’m wondering if critical thinking has become a lost art.

Or 

Perhaps it is simply laziness.

It is so much easier to take a pill or get a jab,

than it is to change your behavior. 

CHARACTER TRAITS

This Is The Problem With Hatred  

SOCIAL TRAITS

I Hope Everyone Had A Nice Thanksgiving

Here Are Some Photos From My Thanksgiving

LEARNING TRAITS

MISCELLANEOUS

 

CURRENT EVENTS

Aren’t Most of Us Guilty of This

The Serenity Prayer

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
courage to change the things I can,
and wisdom to know the difference

BOOK OF THE WEEK

Brian Tracy writes a lot of what I call self-help books, which to me is a negative. However, I read this book back in 2014 and have reviewed the notes and highlights I have made in the book several times, including last week. I still think it is a helpful book.

Change Your Thinking Change Your Life

By Brian Tracy

This book provides a lot of solid advice. For example, “Everything you do that requires time represents a choice. … You must be adamant about not spending your time on activities of low value.”

MOVIE OF THE WEEK

If you are looking for an action film, this isn’t it. However, I thought it was very good film.

Belfast

Belfast is a 2021 coming of age comedy-drama film written and directed by Kenneth Branagh. The film stars Caitríona Balfe, Judi Dench, Jamie Dornan, Ciarán Hinds, Colin Morgan, and newcomer Jude Hill.

The film, which Branagh has described as his “most personal film”, centres on a young boy’s childhood amidst the tumult of Belfast, Northern Ireland, in the 1960s.

Belfast had its world premiere at the 48th Telluride Film Festival on 2 September 2021, and also won the People’s Choice Award at the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival. The film was released theatrically in the United States on 12 November 2021, and will be in the United Kingdom and Ireland on 21 January 2022. (Source: Wikipedia)

MUSIC OF THE WEEK

Rock N Roll is King

by Electric Light Orchestra

“Rock ‘n’ Roll Is King” is a song written and performed by Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) released as a single from the 1983 album Secret Messages. With this song the band returned to their rock roots.

ART OF THE WEEK

Looks like the Sun can create art.

  EXTRAORDINARY PEOPLE  OF THE WEEK

Flappers

Flappers were a generation of young Western women in the 1920s who wore short skirts (knee height was considered short during that time period), bobbed their hair, listened to jazz, and flaunted their disdain for what was then considered acceptable behavior.

Flappers were seen as brash for wearing excessive makeup, drinking alcohol, smoking cigarettes in public, driving automobiles, treating sex in a casual manner, and otherwise flouting social and sexual norms. 

Flappers are icons of the Roaring Twenties, the social, political turbulence and increased transatlantic cultural exchange that followed the end of World War I, as well as the export of American jazz culture to Europe.

There was a reaction to this counterculture from more conservative people who belonged mostly to older generations. They claimed that the flappers’ dresses were ‘near nakedness’, and that flappers were ‘flippant’, ‘reckless’, and unintelligent.

 

The flapper lifestyle and look disappeared and the roaring ’20s era of glitz and glamour came to an end in America after the Wall Street Crash of 1929. (Source: Wikipedia)

A Flapper and Me

Although it is commonly believed that there are currently no Flappers in existence, I was fortunate to run into one during last week’s trip to Bay City, Michigan.

  JOKE OF THE WEEK

PHYSICAL TRAITS

CHARACTER TRAITS

SOCIAL TRAITS

Think about this

You need to put some distance between you and wrong people,

because they will do nothing but cause you problems.

LEARNING TRAITS

It Is Up To You

You can come up with a lot of reasons for whatever undesirable situation you find yourself in. When we look at probability, the majority of people will have a mix of fortunate and unfortunate circumstances. A very few will be blessed with much good fortune and a very few can’t seem to get a break

But for the vast majority of us, it is alway up to us regarding how we do in life.

MISCELLANEOUS

I’m reluctant to think of anyone as stupid.

I think intelligence is the only thing god distributed fairly.

You may be wondering why do I think that.

I think that because everyone believes they 

Received more than their fair share.