Renewed Musings - Personal Update

The last post I had was a tribute to my Mom.

And a temporary suspension of posts.

So I thought I would update you all.

The saga dealing with the aftermath with Mom's passing has a trying time. Breaking me down. But I'm starting to feel a bit better about the whole situation.

And... I admit I miss do my posts.

I do have some comedian posts I want to finish. But I'm not exactly in a funny mood. So, eventually those will get finished, but I don't have a timeline for those.

But I have do have some movie posts I would like to get out there. I have a June Blockbuster post, but it will be late. And a July Blockbuster post to go with it. Also, will be seeing both Elvis and Thor Love and Thunder as soon as possible, so reviews will be coming(and I have to go back and review Uncharted). I also thought about doing a couple of lists as tribute to my Mom(one for movies about Moms or focused on them, and one maybe highlighting some of her wonderful movie tastes). And I was thinking about some wrestling related posts. And some gaming posts.

So... ideas ARE brewing. And I just have to get them out of my head and into posts.

It will be a process. And thank you for understanding.

I lost so much in a month's time. I felt like I lost almost everything. And... I know there are pieces of me that are just gone. But I discovered that I still have so much left around me. And maybe I can repair some of those broken pieces... maybe I can find some of those piece I thought were gone... and maybe... I can find new pieces to redesign myself.

Bear with me... readers... friends... and family. While I figure out what that is. What it is going to be. And know that I will be here soon... slowly getting back to some of the stuff that I love.

I am going to highlight my favorite movie. Disney Pixar's Inside Out. It is one of the BEST depictions of Depression I've ever seen in a movie. So many people are like "Depression is just being super sad. Stop being sad." But... it isn't. Depression is the absence of sad. The absence of being happy. They just aren't there. If I could be sad... I could get it out. If I could be happy... I could heal it. But they just aren't hanging around. But I have been seeing them... they are visiting. And I'm starting to feel better.

So... all of you. I'm getting there.

And... thank you.

Thank you.

"Comedy can be a cathartic way to deal with personal trauma."

"Comedy is acting out optimism."

"If Heaven exists, to know that there's laughter, that would be a great thing."

All of those by Robin Williams.

I'm ready to laugh again. For real.

Renewed Musings - The Turkey and The Stuffing

Welcome Readers! I would like to introduce you to "Renewed Musings"! This segment will be opinion/editorial pieces. Whatever just... works. But I need to warn you before hand, in the past, these kind of posts never really had structure. I tend to ramble, and I don't mean to. But... passion is the name of the game.

So... let's get this going... with our first topic: Thanksgiving. More so... Thanksgiving in movies.

Before we get to the movies, I need to make clear my stance on the holiday season. I hate most of it. I'm not an overly positive person. But I get why so many people love the holiday season. And I do have a favorite holiday in the stretch. Halloween. Spooky season is amazing. And then of course, for many people, Christmas is a huge tent pole(if you don't celebrate Christmas, and celebrate another holiday instead... that isn't the point... doesn't apply here). But what about Turkey Day? I mean... usually, my local Walmart starts putting out Christmas shit the day after Halloween. This year, they started BEFORE Halloween! And either way, what about Thanksgiving? Turkey Day accessories? Maybe fall themed placemats? Plushie Cornucopia? I mean... the browns and oranges would make for GREAT decor! But...

Why forget about Thanksgiving!?!?! Sure... Halloween... dressing up in costumes... spookiness... and candy. And Christmas is the Holiday for Capitalism and gift giving. But Thanksgiving is about food, family, and togetherness. Makes me miss all my family and friends that I've lost, but makes me thankful for the ones that are still here. So why doesn't Thanksgiving get more love?

Same thing goes for Hollywood. Just about every long running TV series has some kind of Thanksgiving episode... but movies... not so much. I wanted to make a Top 10 list, but... I only got 5 or 6 movies(that I've seen) that I MIGHT consider Thanksgiving movies. Movies that have to do with Thanksgiving as a plot point. I make that distinction, because I was researching T-Day movies... and Ranker threw Rocky at me. Rocky isn't a Thanksgiving movie. So... I will highlight these few movies... and we will come back.

So let's start with "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving". At least Charles Schultz remembered the Turkey. He had plenty of holiday specials, including The Great Pumpkin... but he DID bring the stuffing. I just gotta point out, the dinner the Peanuts gang put together... WAS accidentally racist. It was awesome that they included Franklin(the only black kid in the group) to be a part of the dinner, but did they really have to give him a side of the table to himself? Regardless... it is a good animated movie highlighting the togetherness of Thanksgiving.

Next movie I want to highlight is "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles". Legendary inadvertent buddy comedy starring the iconic Steve Martin and John Candy, directed by another legend, John Hughes. Mishaps befall this duo trying to make it across country for this holiday. Sometimes regarded as the ONLY Thanksgiving movie. That means something. Watch it, if you haven't.

Another movie to point out is "Dutch". Starring Ed O'Neill(yes, Al Bundy). Dutch is dating a rich girl. Due to plans getting canceled, Dutch goes to bring her snobby son from a private school home for Thanksgiving. A road trip, buddy comedy with Turkey as the goal. Guess what? Written by John Hughes!!!

Next movie I need to bring up is "The War At Home". Starring Emilio Estevez. Directed by Emilio. Co-produced by Emilio. Co-starring Martin Sheen. About a soldier with PTSD being forced by his father to adjust to civilian life and Thanksgiving.

Don't worry, I'm not going to forget about "Son In Law". During the height of Pauly Shore's Paulyness. Farm girl goes to college, meets and falls in love with the Pauliest of Shores... and decided to take him back home for Thanksgiving. And then more Paulyness ensues. Did I mention this was a Pauly Shore movie?

And one Unlockable Gem for you all... "The Ice Storm". Ang Lee and I have a torrid history. Some GREAT Asian Epic films, Life of Pi, Brokeback Mountain... but I avoided Gemini Man and... Hulk(Eric Bana) felt like it was made from the perspective of a Nerd with ADHD that just came out of a coma. But "The Ice Storm" is underrated.

There are a few other movies where Thanksgiving is present or at least present, but not a plot point. "Spider-Man" and "Addams Family Values" are just 2 example. But it all goes to show that there isn't much love for T-Day in movies, and honestly... why the hell not!?!

And I have to highlight one more...... just to show you how absurd it is! The movie is... "Dan In Real Life". Steve Carell killed in this movie. And as the center of it is an annual family get together. An... annual... family... get... together. This could've been a Thanksgiving movie. This could've been a Christmas movie. But it was neither of those things. The perfect up for a wonderful Thanksgiving movie...... and it isn't set during ANY holiday at all...

People love family comedies. Thanksgiving is about family, and friends, and food! Hollywood... come on... you can do something with that! You have for DECADES! And honestly, you can adapt those random family comedies. It can't be that hard...

Just add the Turkey and the Stuffing...

The Year In Preview 2019

It's been awhile. I'm sorry to my readers. I have been neglecting this blog, after being so happy to restart it. It's been a combination of reasons. One: I wanted to retool the review system after one of my best bros pointed out that while I was scoring the movies, my opinion was missing in the actual scores, pointing out the review for "Murder on the Orient Express" as the example. And he was/is right. As much as I loved that movie, it should've reflected properly in the score. So, I AM making it better. but I'm also going to reduce how many I do... you WILL see more of them, but I wanted to shift focus on how I did this blog. And this post will just be the first. Two: depression. I suffer from it off and on, and you could say that it took me away from what I love doing since I restarted... and it killed my inspiration. But things have gotten better... learned some valuable lessons. And I hope this is the spark I needed to get back into this. Let's see where it goes. "On the record" lol

With that out of the way... let's dive in.