Starring: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost & Seth Rogen Directed by: Greg Mottola Written by: Simon Pegg & Nick Frost Genre(s): Sci-Fi Comedy
NO SPOILERS HERE!
This past week I returned home from attending the Boston 37th Sci-Fi Movie Marathon where I watched over 24 hours of movies. Some new, some old, some great, some good and one absolutely horrible! Yes, all kinds of sci-fi films, including one from Bollywood.
Every year there is one movie which stands out or completely surprises me. This year’s winner was PAUL, starring Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Seth Rogen (as the voice of Paul, the alien). Jason Bateman plays a major role too as a government agent.
Up until a week ago, I never heard of this movie and had no clue what it was about. As a sci-fi film buff, I haven’t had this much fun watching a movie since GALAXY QUEST (1999).
PAUL is an enjoyable road trip, buddy movie which delivers laughs and has plenty of references from other sci-fi movies. This movie was truly made for sci-fi fans, and especially for sci-fi film festivals. The casual movie goer may miss some of the jokes. Be warned.
My baby hippo video which I posted last year on youtube.com is now included on Yahoo.com’s MOMENTS OF MOTHERHOOD site. This episode is called Animals and Their Babies! (Jan 2012)
What: 37th Annual Boston Science Fiction Movie Marathon (SF37) Where: Somerville Theatre (Boston, MA) When: February 19-20, 2012 Why: 24 Hours of Movie Madness!
I can’t believe it’s been another year already! If you love sci-fi movies, there’s only one place to be this Presidents’ Day weekend. Starting at noon on Sunday, Feb. 19., SF36 in Boston blasts off — 24 hours of sci-fi movies: old & new, color & black and white, short & feature-length — movies, movies and more movies! The mayhem ends Monday, Feb. 20 at noon. It’s a FANTASTIC event!
Last weekend while I was on a walk, a simple, but strange thing happened. I found a brand new shiny penny on the sidewalk and picked it up.
It may not seem like a big deal or even worth writing about. I wholeheartedly agree, but it reminded me of one of my New Year’s resolutions: to save as much money as I can. I’m hopeful I can spend less this year. Depressingly, with inflation, the future is not so promising methinks.
What is the value of the penny in today’s world? Not much. I agree with you there. However, the real value are the object lessons and simple reminders it can foster.
When I was growing up, my dad and I would pick up all the spare change we would find on our walks. It use to be a big deal to find pennies to add to my collection.
I’m not sure exactly when the lucky penny became ostracized by society. I guess I stopped picking up orphaned pennies from the ground years ago when I noticed people would walk right over them, avoiding them like a pile of dog poo. Fearing that I would be viewed as an oddball, a penny-pincher or a desperate tight wad, I stopped picking up pennies too.
Strange how societal pressures effect us.
What’s even stranger is, some years ago, lost pennies seem to have vanished all together. I know no one was picking them up. Where could they have gone? Perhaps the rains washed them away into the storm drains. No, that wasn’t it. I think the real reason was (and still is), most of us no longer use cash to purchase things.
As you know, there’s been societal shift toward plastics. Who knew, the movie THE GRADUATE (1967) would have predicted the future so spot on! Plastic credit cards, debit cards, prepaid cards, gift cards, gas cards, etc. are prevalent and pervasive in our daily lives.
Nowadays I’m not sure how kids learn about the value of money if they are not observing transactions done with cash or spare change or even with the lowly penny. More over, do little kids pick up pennies they find if they see parents avoiding them instead? The fundamentals of sound money and budget management begin when we’re young.
I still think cash is king, but to each his own.
As reminder to you, those found pennies may even add up to dwarf some interest earnings at some banks. Unfortunately that’s the sad reality we are living in and there’s no change (for the better) in sight.
I saw this movie when it was first released back in 2004 and I recently rediscovered it in my DVD collection.
One word describes this movie: BEAUTIFUL — the animation, the story, the characters and of course the music. What a marvelous piece of filmmaking!
The story is about three young students (Hiroki, Takuya & Sayuri) in Japan on a quest to discover the secrets behind a mysterious tower. A promise is made to fly there in airplane designed and built by Hiroki and Takuya.
HIROKI: Back then, I felt that this place, this time would last forever. The tower I admired that lay beyond the clouds… became the place of a precious promise. At that moment we weren’t afraid of anything. But in reality, the world and the flow of time kept on going all around me.
