Bye Bye Bullying

The much-publicized "Bully" documentary is coming out next Friday and I didn't realize until today that part of it takes place in Sioux City, Iowa. I spent two years in Sioux City as a news anchor/reporter at KMEG, the CBS affiliate, and covered many stories at local schools, so I became even more interested in seeing it. Bullying has been around forever and it's sad that it took this long for it to become such a topic of conversation and attention in the news. I think most of us have either been a bully to some extent or been bullied at some point in our lives. And let's be honest, it doesn't stop when you graduate from high school. There's bullying among friends and neighbors, and in the workplace. While I would love to say that I've never bullied anyone, that just wouldn't be true. I remember not being very nice to a certain girl in elementary school for really no reason at all, except that she was different. I thought I was being funny. Clearly, I wasn't. We're ALL different and we should be celebrating that, not ridiculing people, because of it. Once I got to junior high (luckily), I realized on my own that what I had been doing was wrong and mean, and I apologized to her. We then became friendly, but it doesn't change what I did. And here I am, all these years later, still mad at myself for acting that way. I also know what it's like to be on the receiving end. When I was in ninth grade (it was still junior high back then), I rode the school bus every day and just about every day, these two boys who had gotten kicked out of their school in Santa Monica and sent to my school, would harass me. I know their names, but I won't mention them here. They would grab me, pinch me, you name it. One day I was wearing this really nice dress that my mom had gotten me for Christmas and I was trying to get off the bus at my stop. I was in the back of the bus and they were both grabbing and pulling at me, not letting me off the bus. I swear to this day that the bus driver saw what was going on and didn't step in. He continued on to the next stop with me still on the bus. The boys even ripped the back of my dress. I was finally able to break free and get off a couple stops up the hill. I was angry and humiliated. I walked all the way home crying, but wiped away the tears before I got home, because I didn't want my mom to see me so upset. I didn't want to tell her what happened, even though I didn't do anything wrong. I think so many kids don't share what's going on with their parents, because they don't want them to get involved or they're embarrassed, and sadly, as we've seen recently, some kids end up killing themselves or others, because of it. Something needs to be done about this... NOW. Bus drivers, teachers, parents, kids... Nancy Reagan taught us to say no to drugs. Now, let's start saying bye bye to bullying. I think this would be a good place to open up the discussion about bullying - for children and adults, bullies and victims. Who would like to share???

Year of the Mediocre Movies

Is it me or has it been a weak year for movies??? Strong performances, but none of the movies wowed me. I just saw "War Horse", which means I've now seen every film nominated in the best picture, best actor, best actress, best supporting actor and best supporting actress categories, plus a few more. Sure, it's not like last year when I saw 33 of the Oscar-nominated movies, but still, I saw the majority of them. So, let's recap. I was not looking forward to seeing "War Horse" at all. I mean, I waited this long to see it, didn't I? While I was thrilled that I only paid $3.00 at the second-run theater (yes!), I now know that I would have enjoyed it even if I had paid full price! Though it is longer than it needed to be, I found myself rooting for the horse. And Jeremy Irvine, the lead kid in the movie, is quite simply a movie star. Watch for him, people! Young Celine Buckens sort of steals your heart too. She's the girl living with her grandfather, who cares for the War Horse and his fellow equine for a while. She reminds me of a young Gabrielle Anwar. This year has been strange for me in the movie world. Every year at Oscar time, I have a definite favorite to win for best picture. Often times, I know it won't win or realize there's a good chance that it won't, but nevertheless, I have a definite favorite. This year, I couldn't care less which picture wins. Did you catch that? "Couldn't" care less. If you COULD care less, that means you care. Got it? Cool! Remember it. Be original and use it correctly, please. So many people don't. But I digress! I honestly don't care this year which movie takes the top honor. Though "Hugo" was slow at times and I didn't feel that the revelation was as shocking as it could have been or should have been, it was, at times, magical. Again, another strong child performance. Asa Butterfield, who plays Hugo, carried the movie perfectly. The directing by Martin Scorsese, no big surprise, was superb. I wouldn't be upset if "The Artist" won, because it was so different from anything we've seen in so long. The production value alone made me happy, but it was slow at times. That seems to be a running theme in the movies of 2011. Slow, slow, slow. Pick up the pace! While I've mentioned some memorable performances by youngsters, I'm sorry to say that Thomas Horn ruined "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close" for me. I know his character is supposed to be odd, but if an actor is in virtually every scene of the movie, he still has to be likeable. "The Descendants", "The Help", "Midnight in Paris" and "Moneyball" are all solid, mostly enjoyable movies with strong performances and decent screenplays, but best picture of the year? I don't think so. And "The Tree of Life"??? Sorry, folks. Didn't like that one at all. I would have LOVED to have seen an entire movie though on Brad Pitt, Jessica Chastain and their two young sons. THAT would have been a good movie, but all the other stuff mixed in (i.e. dinosaurs and waves - really???) ruined it for me. And I'll be honest, I've never witnessed so many people walk out of a movie and rip it apart at the end (if they stayed) than I did when I went to see "The Tree of Life". I understand what Terrence Malick was trying to do, but it would have made a better film to run at some science museum or something, not on the big screen. OK, on to the acting categories... while I think Gary Oldman should already be an Oscar winner and I'm shocked that this is his first nomination, I don't feel that he was the standout in the film. Though it's filled with talented actors, for me, the standouts were Tom Hardy (and not just because he's sexy) and Mark Strong. If you don't know who Mark Strong is, he looks like a cross between Stanley Tucci and Matt Lauer, and he's been popping up in more and more movies and in bigger parts lately. You'll be seeing a lot more of him. I know Jean Dujardin from "The Artist" may stand out in this category, because of the kind of movie he's in and I truly believe Brad Pitt should be an Oscar winner by now, but I think George Clooney may deserve the award for "The Descendants". We'll see. Best actress is a STRONG category this year. I think you can make arguments for each of them to win. Before I saw "The Iron Lady", I was saying I wanted Meryl Streep to win simply based on the trailer and the fact that she gets nominated so often, but rarely wins. I think she deserved to win for "Julie and Julia", because she MADE the movie, though I realize she was only in half of it. I like Sandra Bullock and she was great in "The Blind Side", but if Streep hadn't been nominated so many times, she may have taken that award. Anyway, now that I've seen "The Iron Lady", I feel that some elements of Julia Child comes out in the performance. She's still brilliant (of course), but I think Michelle Williams should win for playing Marilyn Monroe. You may disagree, but that is no easy task and many people would do it as a caricature. Williams didn't. I felt the pain and constant quest for love and affection that Marilyn went through, because Williams did it right. I'm hoping this might be the surprise win of the night. Viola Davis is clearly talented enough to be an Oscar winner. Her performance in "Doubt", though short, was intense. She delivered another powerful performance in 2011 in "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close" and she very well may take home the statue. Glenn Close was wonderful and also deserves to win an Oscar in her lifetime and Rooney Mara was fantastic, but this will not be their year. For best supporting actor, I don't think anyone doubts that Christopher Plummer will win, and he should. No question in my mind; however, I did love Max von Sydow in "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close". I wanted much more of him! For best supporting actress, Octavia Spencer will almost definitely take home to award, and she should, but don't discount Jessica Chastain's performance in "The Help". Every moment she was on-screen, I had a huge smile on my face. Her performance was so refreshing. I just loved her. Someone else in that movie, who did not receive a nomination, but deserves big props is the one and only Sissy Spacek. She stole every scene she was in and made it look effortless. And let's talk effort for a second. I'm sincerely hoping studios and producers will put more effort into making movies in 2012. If a screenplay needs work, spend the money to improve it before you start shooting. So many times, a movie could have easily gone from good to phenomenal with a few nips and tucks of the screenplay. Come on, Hollywood! We pay a lot of money to go to the movies these days during an economy that is still struggling. Make it worth it for us and bring back the movie magic of yesteryear.

Is the Tree of Life Growing For You?

"The only way to be happy is to love. Unless you love, your life will flash by." I've been thinking about this since I saw "The Tree of Life" starring Brad Pitt and Sean Penn four days ago. We all need love in our lives, right? We need to love and we need to be loved, but are we all finding love? I mean true love... not just love for now. Some choose not to love, because they fear they'll be hurt. We all know the saying "'Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all." But what if we can't find true love, will our lives flash by? I feel like it will. People go through different phases of life - childhood, high school, college, the working world, relationships, marriage, kids, success, failure, hardship, joy, retirement and so many other things, but if there's no love mixed in, doesn't your life tend to feel like one big phase, instead of a bunch of different ones? If you spend your whole life working and not focusing on what really matters, what do you end up with at the end of your life? I'm thinking probably not a whole lot. What do YOU think?

The Art of Surviving

"We live alone. We die alone. Everything else is just an illusion." That's how "The Art of Getting By" begins. The movie stars Freddie Highmore and Emma Roberts as high school students getting ready to graduate and dealing with the usual issues of grades, parents, friends and falling in love. Highmore is a bit of a fatalist. He believes the opening statement, but do you? Let's take a look. Do we live alone? I'm sure we all feel alone at various times in our lives, but do we really live alone. Certainly, we have friends, boyfriends, girlfriends, husbands, wives, children, other family members and co-workers. Sometimes even when we have the most people in our lives, we feel the most alone. We're lacking something - a connection, a bond, someone who understands what we're going through at that particular time in our lives. Do we die alone? Pretty much. Many of us will outlive our spouses. Some will even outlive their children, which is always tragic. Even if we're surrounded by loved ones when we die, we do in fact go off to Heaven or wherever we go completely by ourselves. Is everything else just an illusion? I don't think so. Unless you're David Copperfield or Criss Angel, I don't think everything else is an illusion. Some people do live their lives in their own world completely out of touch with reality, so I guess in a sense, they are living an illusion. But if it's real to them, does that make a difference? Who are we to tell someone else if their thoughts and beliefs are real or an illusion? If it's THEIR reality, is that enough? Is learning the art of getting by enough? Or should we strive for something more? Simply getting by doesn't seem like a very rewarding or enjoyable life. What do YOU think?

Hamlet 2 Be or Not to Be - That Is the Question

"Hamlet 2" stars Steve Coogan as a wannabe actor, who's appeared in a series of embarrassing commercials, but takes a job as a high school theater teacher to pay the bills. In his mind, it's a temporary situation. The movie starts off posing the question "Where do dreams go to die"? In this movie, out on DVD, dreams apparently go to Tucson to die. But is that where they truly are buried? You'll have to see the movie to find out, but let's talk about that. People dream of being actors, rock stars, astronauts, but at what point do you throw in the towel? Not everyone can become a famous actor, not everyone can become a legendary rock star, not everyone can walk on the moon. While some try harder than others and really attempt to make their dreams come true, others just sit back and wait for it to happen. Some set goals for themselves - if I'm not a series regular on a sitcom by the age of 30, then I'll go to law school and become a lawyer. If I'm not making a decent living as a musician by the time I'm 35, I'll become a music teacher. But what about those people, who are 40, still struggling to pay their rent and still clinging to the hope that one day, they will make it? People say if you follow your dream and do what you love, it will work out, but will it? Does it always work out for everyone? It just doesn't seem possible. Los Angeles is full of people, who moved there to be famous. It's also full of broken dreams and bitterness. So, I want to know what YOU think. When should people take a dose of reality and say "Ya know what? I gave it a try and it didn't work out. What are my other options? Maybe I can make a living at something else that will make me happy enough and do what I TRULY love in my spare time." DISCUSS. Thanks.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and in the Fountain of Youth

Ahoy, mateys! Today, we're talking about Johnny Depp's latest quest - to find the fountain of youth. Penelope Cruz joins the popular franchise in the latest, "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides". Finding the fountain of youth, huh? My initial thought was "Yeah! Wouldn't that be awesome? I could feel and look young forever and ever". But then, I really thought about it and changed my mind. While I loved childhood and I REALLY loved college, I decided that I'd like to experience ALL stages of life. Being carefree as a child was incredible... accomplishing things as an adult has been rewarding... but I wouldn't want to trade one for the other. I want to experience marriage, kids AND growing old. Yes, that's right. Retirement sounds kind of nice right about now. Spending time with my grandchildren? Fantastic! Being one of the oldest people around and being able to talk about how life used to be, not simply because I read about it, but because I lived it? All that sounds simply divine to me. Plus, if you were the only one who found the fountain of youth and all your friends and family were growing old without you, wouldn't that be awful? I think it would be. C'mon, you scallywags. This is when you weigh in! What do you think?

Just Friends? Are You Sure About That?

It's time to talk about a rental, one that's been out for a few years now. "Just Friends" stars Ryan Reynolds as a fat kid in high school, who's in love with his best friend, Amy Smart. At a graduation party, he decides to finally tell his long-time love that he is, in fact, in love with her, but she responds by saying "I love you... like a brother". OUCH! So, what does he do? He gets skinny (and hot), moves to Hollywood, becomes a ladies man and becomes a successful music executive. Flash forward ten years when he gets stuck in his Jersey hometown around Christmastime and runs into Smart. He loses all his confidence and starts acting like the overweight, dorky kid from high school. OK, so "just friends". You've heard the term a million times. "Me and so and so? Oh no, we're just friends." But if you've ever seen "When Harry Met Sally", you know that men and women can't ever really be friends, because one of them always wants to be with the other. Often times, when that person admits it, the two stop being friends all together... but other times, the two end up being a great couple, because they knew each other as friends first. You never know what will happen. So, do you risk it all telling that person knowing that you could lose him or her forever or do you go on living a bit of an untruth just so you can keep that person in your life? Has this happened to you? Care to share your experience? And here's something else to ponder, there's a recurring theme in the movie that says if you're just friends, you will go to LUNCH with that person. If he or she thinks it's a date, you'll go to DINNER. I admit, if I'm trying to keep it on a friendly basis, I feel like lunch is safer. Dinner gets a little riskier. Thoughts on that? Either way, next time you say "oh, we're just friends", think about if that statement REALLY is true.