Lights... Camera.... ACTION!

I’ve written and now re-written this posting about 4 times.  I’m not one to be so indecisive but as I was first moved to write based on a movie that I had just seen, I wasn’t able to finish my thoughts in one sitting. Subsequently I’ve seen about a dozen other movies and each one has shaped my thought process and moved me in another direction.

While my initial intention was to recapture my feelings from during my viewing of the movie Beginners (great film: http://focusfeatures.com/film/beginners/prestitial - check it out) as well as to convey them to my (small) audience, I then realized that doing so was taking away from that movie experience, limiting it to only those moments that I was writing about, and potentially I may have ruined the movie to any future movie-goer.  Often in high school the essays that we as students had to write about the books we were reading were given the critique that they were full of plot and synopsis instead of thoughtfulness and analyzation… Similarly, in hindsight, that is exactly what I had done in my first draft.  Upon further review, my new intention is to convey the way that movies in general make me feel.  Each film has the potential to bring me to a new mental space and shape my outlook and thoughts.  Each time I sit and watch a movie, it is a like a small little life experience happening for that given period of time.  I’m not too dense to realize the difference between life, or ‘the real world’, but movies can provide a setting that we may not actually experience in our own lives and that exposure can be enlightening. 

I remember in college the time that I realized that I was choosing TV/movie world over my own life experiences – it was a real turning point for me.  I think it was a Wednesday evening (America’s Next Top Model night) and someone had invited me to do something (don’t remember what it was) and I gave up the opportunity because I couldn’t miss watching my show that evening.  That was a really sad time for me!  It’s no wonder I can’t remember what that’s nights invited activity was because I didn’t participate in it! But I grew from that moment and that’s certainly influenced why I now have a DVR – no more enslavement to TV schedules.  On the flip side though, I still watched a lot of movies when I was in college.  At one point my roommates joked that I was majoring in movies because I was watching so many of them.  One time we were watching the movie Cellular (silly movie but still entertaining) and the fire alarm went off in the building for a fire drill.  Instead of evacuating as we should have, my roommates and I plowed through the beeping noise and continued watching the movie while complaining that the alarm was a nuisance.  But movies, or anything on DVD for that matter, are good because you can watch them on your own schedule.  But I digress…

In general, I am lover of movies.  Some say that I am easily entertained, but I don’t think that is a bad thing.  I don’t need a movie to be an academy award winning film to enjoy it.  To me, ‘Bring It On’ and ‘An Education’ (2 movies that I have seen recently) each served an entertaining purpose in my life while the feel for each and what I got out of each were completely different.  And that’s the beauty of movies – that they are all so different! There are times when I want something silly on so that I can ‘shut down’ and give my busy brain a rest.  Other times, I’m in the mood for something thought provoking and smart so that my ideas and creative juices can flow.

A little while ago I started tapping into a beautiful resource to watch movies… the LIBRARY! In the past couple of years I’ve visited the library plenty of times to take out books as I was honing my relatively new found interest in reading.  But the Library is a great place for media as well!  My office in the city is right around the corner from the Mid-Manhattan branch and I literally go in there at least 3 times a week…. All the guards there know me!  The best thing about the NYPL system is that you don’t have to pay anything to request an item that you can’t find on the shelf.  I’ve currently maxed out my limit for how many items you can request at a time (its 15), and I’ve also learned that maximum number of times you can renew something (assuming there is no hold on the item) is 9.  I highly recommend the Library to movie (and book) enthusiasts.

To end, I just want to share a handful of the movie titles that I’ve seen recently that are worth recommending:

-         An Education

-         Never Let Me Go (both of these are with Carey Mulligan, who I think is fantastic – I kind of want to be her…)

-         Vitus (this is a foreign film but well worth the subtitles… this may be one of my favorites ever)

-         X Men: First class (a fantastic prequel that really shed light on the others in the series… also surprisingly intertwined with history)

-         Beginners (I referenced it before, but it really is worth recommending)

For the record, I would like it to be noted that I am extremely excited for the last Harry Potter movie to come out, and I’ll be sure to write all about it because it will be surrounded by Harry potter Movie Marathon Weekend including all the HP movies and lots of good food.

Happy July 4^th! Celebrate your independence with a good movie! (Independence Day maybe?)

Middle-Child Syndrome... REALIZED!!!

Middle child syndrome is an age-old malady which I am convinced has been perpetuated over the years by parents with multiple children.  Being a middle child myself, I can't honestly remember a time when I felt resentful or left out due to my place in the chronological order of my family.  Granted we aren't a hugely numerous family (we stand solidly average at 5 persons - 2 parents and 3 children) so there isn't much place to get lost, but we've all been given our shining moments and times when each of us has been favored (as well as given the short end of the stick) on different occasions.  I guess it's also pretty cliché to say that the first child has the mistakes made with them, but along that line of thought I don't think I had what to feel jealous of comparing up, but with my younger brother - who I will admit has many more allowances than either my sister or I had, there could be room for passing some jealousy judgment.  To clarify, an outsider might interpret actions as provoked by jealousy, but as the actor, I would speak otherwise.

My parents (or really my dad) love to tell me that they think I was/am jealous of my younger bro.  He has the more lenient rules, his activities are better parentally financially funded than mine were, and he gets to benefit from the trail my sister and I have blazed by softening up my parents.  Additionally, I hold that my parents are a lot older now (there is a 7 and 1/2 year age different between myself and the bro) and I think they have less energy to be as combative with him as they were with us.  Teenage years are the most difficult in our household, and while my brother has had his clashing moments with the ‘rents, it hasn’t been as bad as it was with us.  As a personal anecdote, I didn’t speak to my Dad for 6 months my senior year of high school and we lived under the same roof… awkward? I think so.  Anyway, why do I give all this background info and stage-setting?  Because despite all of what I’ve painted, I still don’t feel like I’ve suffered this Middle Child Syndrome, and I’ve come out of my younger youth relatively unscathed.  I actually get along really well with both my siblings (easier with my older sister as we live in 2 different countries, and our e-mail and phone conversations are rarely laced with fighting words –and with my brother, I’ve made a conscious effort over the past 6 years or so to befriend him and set a good example for him and as a result we’ve bonded to become good friends, and he’s someone I choose to hang out with {even if he doesn’t enjoy it as much as I do}) and that helps me to be at peace with myself in the family dynamic as well as being happy for those who had/have it better than I did/do.

That is until now. 

The end of school season is upon us, and what that means in our family is that we are celebrating my brother’s high school graduation.  It’s a momentous occasion and one that we are all very proud of.  He’s put in a lot of hard work and it’s a rite of passage.  Never did we think that there was a question as to whether or not he would graduate (we thought he would) but he’s done so with his head held high and he’s leaving with more direction and knowledge than when he came in.  One of the physical ‘rewards’ for graduating is a school yearbook.  And in addition to all the memories frozen in time on the many pages of this special book are “Ads” that families buy to show their support for their graduating loved-one.  I remember the ads that I had in both my elementary school and high school yearbooks.  Both stood out as unique due to my mother’s creative touch and design which made them less cookie cutter and more personal.  My brother took a more active editing roll in his yearbook ad and nixed the original (very creative/funny/cute) design that my mom came up with and opted for something more textually based and ‘standard.’  None of the rest of us in the family really saw what was written and then submitted (again, without our review) with all of our names signed in agreement with the aforementioned words.

Usually this wouldn’t present a problem.  “We love you – we’re so proud of you – may you go from strength to strength and reach great heights in your future endeavors… bla bla bla” – that type of generic, yet acknowledging and supportive writing would have been expected and unequivocally signed off on.  However, dear Mommy made a very grandiose statement in our little Moshe’s yearbook ad and it has caused quite a commotion.  The line in question, which comes after the usual stuff reads, and I quote: “WE LOVE YOU THE MOST.”  What?!?!?!?!  Who agreed to that!??! And what does that even mean?!??!  It wasn’t until a few weeks after this was submitted to the yearbook staff that I first got a chance to see the Ad, and I immediately took issue with it.  I read it out loud to the rest of the family and everyone, aside from my Mom thought it to be peculiar.  Her immediate reaction was that it’s not what we think – rather it means “we love you the most that we can.”  Unfortunately for her (or really for us) is that that is not what it says.  It says “we love you the most” and stops right there.  What makes it worse even is the fact that we all have our names signed on the bottom, so it looks like we all agree!  Hows that for not taking favorites – there’s no skirting around this one – it looks like a favorite has been chosen.

Now, it’s time for me to reach deep inside and connect with the positive thoughts I’ve been raised to have, knowing that my self-worth is not dependent on what others think or say, but rather what I know in my heart to be true of myself.  And who knows me better than me?  I know I’m loved by my family (and I’m very grateful for that – despite what they might think) but it can still HURT to have it written on paper that a sibling is loved THE MOST!

Obviously this should be read with a grain of salt.  I know that my mom would never choose a favorite (although if she did, no doubt it would be me… I’m the best) and I believe that she was really intending her explained message, but we learn 2 things from this story.  Firstly, I have a very good editing eye which should be put to better use by my family (God knows they take advantage of me and my mad skills at work…).  And secondly, Parents, blog-world-wide, should take note to be a little more careful when expressing feelings and support towards their children making sure to step on as few toes as possible. 

And just to drive home the fact that I do love my brother (even though not the most) (as well as my sister – but she isn’t the subject of this story) (can one put multiple parentheses side by side in a sentence? Oh well, I just did) and I am very proud of him, I would like to publicly recognize (just how public depends on how many people read this, so I’m guessing its more of an intimate recognition) his academic accomplishments, and wish him congratulations on graduating (ceremony to take place on Monday evening!) and I kvell a bit from how handsome he looked at his senior dinner! This posting is dedicated to you, Mo!

SPOILER ALERT! Watch TV - it's good for you

Shall we just gloss over the fact that I haven't written since December? OK, great - lets do that.

I hate to resort to pop culture as a source of interesting material, but I would be kidding myself if I said that it isn't discussion worthy.  Along with the blessing of my beloved DVR comes the freedom to live my life on my own time schedule while still getting to watch all the shows that I want to watch.  We are at a very interesting cross-section with show schedules right now as some great shows just ended, we're approaching the end of others while new seasons are starting, as well! Review? I think so:

Biggest Loser - I've been a fan for about 6 years since the first time i caught an episode. I was at the gym (how appropriate) and I flipped through channels on the personal TV's by the treadmills when I happened upon the 3rd to last episode of that season.  As i walked with tears streaming down my face, I got hooked and made it a point to finish that season.  I'll admit that I haven't watched them all since then, but these past 3 seasons I've been addicted.  This season 10 was particularly emotional and was the biggest group of people, on the campus for the longest period of time, had use of more trainers, and i want to say had some of the best results ever! Olivia, pictured above, was the inspiring winner having lost 120 something lb's! I really enjoyed this season and am psyched for the next one to start.  Sad that Jillian won't be around anymore, but kind of weirdly exciting that Anna Kournikova will be taking her place as the new trainer.

American Idol - I'm not a consistent fan of the show but I also particularly enjoyed this season.  Super talented people and nice chemistry amongst the contestants.  I have to say that Im not pleased with who America voted into the top 2 - and as embarrassing as this is, I do have a right to complain becuase I was a voter.  Lauren Alaina peaked at her audition.  Yes she has a great voice but she was really too young and immature to connect with songs and sell them to the audience as meaningful.  She also cried a lot.  And I really don't know who was in charge of dressing her, but not good.  That obnoxious, pepto bismol, barbie, country tutu that she was wearing when she was told she made the top 24 actually still gives me nightmares.  I often found it hard to look at her.  And is it just me or did that mole by her lip start to appear only a few weeks before the end and slowly get more defined?  (had the season kept on going, she would have ultimately had on her face the same 'natural mole' that lady gaga had the week that she mentored them...) So verdict: really good voice, but needs some seasoning.  And on to the winner Scotty McCreery - there must ahve been something in the water because as the weeks went on, his plastic face started bulging his eyes in the creepiest, wierdest ways during his performances! Crazy-eyes Mcreery also held his mic like he was playing a flute, and often his stance looked like he was riding an imaginary horse. I know these are stupid reasons to be against someone, but they affected how I watched his performances.  He's super talented and will no doubt have a huge country-singing career but he was so clearly in that genre only that it didn't make for fun AI material (not to mention I usually was unfamiliar with his song choices).  Hailey was my fave, basically from the beginning.  I loved her Jazzy voice and her performances - even when she slipped on stage! I especially loved her duets with Casey and I hope they have babies together.  My friends T, S, R and I (as in me for the last one - the rest I am protecting with anonymity) watched the last months performance nights together with food, booze and good times.  We created a drinking game where we took a shot each time Steven Tyler said "Beautiful", Jennifer Lopez said "really, really" and "baby" and when Randy Jackson said (duh) "In it to win it."  Obvi we had to use beer shots because otherwise we would have poisened ourselves with those trigger phrases. EVen though my top choices weren't in the finals, I ahve to say that I really enjoyed the Finale show with great performances, collaborations and look backs at the season.
 

ABDC: Season of the Allstars - If you don't watch America's Best Dance Crew, you should start.  Other than the fact that Mario Lopez is a super cute host (although for the record I really don't agree with his extra-marital choices, and they detract from his over-all appeal), the dancing on this show is amazing! The final 2 crews are in and my fave 'I.Am.Me' is one of them.  This eclectic mix of dancers has the sickest formations and they aim to "brain-bang" in each performance, creating really intricate visuals with their hands and bodies.  Additionally, they are super talented dancers with an amazing knack for creativity.  And one of their best - Olivia (blonde) is only 15 years old - crazy! Instead of discribing them, here are a few links to their best performances - you really want to check these out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9a2Blr7RD8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEm-ycoEpgU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUU2_O9p36k

The Voice - Not so much to be said as its just starting, but LOVING IT! Clearly all these celebrity panels on all the shows are using their positions as a platform to further their career (eg Christina Aguilara is coming out with new material and this show is putting her back on the map) but if that means that Adam Levine is coming out with ne stuff than I am on board (LOVE him).  New singing talent is fun and i'm kind of looking forward to the live performances.  Mazal Tov to Blake Shelton on his recent marriage to Miranda Lambert.


SYTYCD - Last night was the 2 hour premier, and granted I havent finished watching the whole thing (i only got home at midnight and and before starting the show I did the dishes, showered and watched ABDC - I'm a very busy lady) but it looks like they aren't showign enough of the auditions.  I love the beginning part of the season when we are first introduced to the potential contestants that we will later on become attached to.  No doubt I will continue to write about my experience and connection to the show as the season goes on (assuming I continue to blog...).   Based on the commercials they have been showing, it looks like it promises to be a really fantastic season with incredible dancers and new dance flavors.  Im still kind of on a high from last season....

Tosh.0 -  We in the Lewy-Neuman household (minus the strictly Lewy) are fans of the show.  Sir Tosh took a break for a couple of weeks and unfortunately his first show back (last week) was pretty disappointing.  He is usually so damn exntertaining, and yet I felt like i was frowning throughout the episode.  Plainly, it just wasn't funny, and I was sad abou that.  However, Tosh came back with avengance this week and his show was MAJOR! I literally laughed out loud multile times and I'm hoping that is indicative of what is to come in the future episodes. 


I'll take the flack that this was a generally unimportant update as consutructive criticism, but I figured a glossy way was a good way to come back after a 6 month Hiatus.  I'll try and be a little more thought-provoking (only a little) from now on.  I'm also retracting one of my first initiatives to end each post with a sharing of something (like a song, picture, or whatever) but from here on in I will end it however I please to on that particular day.  Enjoy!