It’s been a few weeks from my last post, as you may have noticed. I’m going to pretend that I have an actual audience here, rather than admit to talking to myself.

I’m also going to pretend that you’re deeply concerned about my well-being, so in that light, I’ll assure you that I’m well. Now. I caught whatever nasty cough-intensive crud that’s been going around work, and it’s sort sapped my ability to chase trains spastically as I’m normally known to do.

I ended up being off of work for almost a week in there somewhere, and in a fit of boredom after about day four, I ventured out of the house. I went and sat in my car by the tracks not far from my house, and waited. Nothing came.

I tried again a day or two later, and had similar luck.

After about a week of train nothingness, I gave up. Then, at the first sign that my health was improving, I hopped in the car and ran for Fostoria at the speed of light. Or, at no more than 4 miles over the speed limit.

Because I’m a good girl.

What I needed was simple: I needed trains. I needed lots of them in rapid succession. I needed not to sit staring at a green signal for an hour and a half without so much as a horn heard distantly down the tracks. I needed a signal that was going to turn green, and a train that was going to come.

Fostoria’s that kind of place.

At least, it is usually. On this particular Sunday afternoon, though, it most definitely wasn’t. I left cold, defeated, and broken. It was every bit as pathetic as you might imagine.

But first I took these pictures, so it’s not a total loss.

I sat at what I call Train Dork Alley, along the east-west CSX tracks that run right in front of the old Amtrak depot. Generally speaking, these tracks see the most action.

I have to admit, I was a little sad to keep seeing CSX coming at me. Not that there’s anything wrong with CSX, mind you, but I was hoping to catch something a little more rare headed east from far out in the western half of the country. So everytime I made out the ‘CSX’ on the front, my heart sank a little.

But only a little.

I always manage to get one good long train hauling nothing but autoracks in this same exact spot. After about the 22nd car, it gets a little monotonous, but I like seeing the names of all of the other railroad companies on the cars.

But really, any ol’ train will do.

I say that, but I should probably clarify: any ol’ diesel freight train will do. I think that covers it. The others are nice and everything, but they just don’t do it for me, ya know? I thought you’d understand.

Finally, something other than CSX! A Union Pacific! This is my second favorite railroad company, if you’re keeping count. BNSF, UP, then Norfolk Southern. But if I ever have a chance to go hang out with anyone from CSX, I’ll deny I just said any of that, and claim this site was hacked.

So there.

This marks the second time I’ve seen UP in Fostoria, and I was under the impression that UP doesn’t come this far east. Still, here they are, twice in 6 months. I’ve seen pictures of BNSF in Fostoria in the last 2 years (I’m fairly sure), so I’m hoping that one day all of my luck will come together at once and I’ll see a shiny orange and black locomotive headed down this same set of tracks.

A girl can dream, right?

Then I got bored with sitting still, and decided to check out a bundle of tracks I saw on my Google maps. It sits northeast of Fostoria on a county road. When I got there, I found this NS car mixing facility. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get close to it without trespassing or having to sign in somewhere, so I stayed way out on the road and zoomed in as far as I could.

On the way back home, I pass through the town/village of Carey. Carey has some sort of cement/rock-breaking/quarrying operation just east of town, and if you turn down one of the residential side streets you can get kinda close to the tracks up on a hill. I’ve seen a CSX ‘motive back there before, but this time I found a Chessie System caboose!

There was some sort of attaching/connecting operation going on with the train cars (I’ve really got to learn what that’s called), so I listened to a little bit of bumping and clanging around before I decided to skedaddle and look for a better angle.

I circled back around toward the actual job site and saw a number of hoppers sitting around waiting to get loaded and sent off to wherever. I wasn’t able to find the caboose I’d seen before, but I did see several other Chessie System cars in the area.

Between the UP-led train and the Chessie System cars in Carey, I opted to call it a good day, instead of being bummed by the overall lack of activity and my generally cranky demeanor.

My days off change at work change next year, and I’ll be off during the week instead of on the weekends. I’m toying with the idea of making it a 2-day trip and staying the night in a hotel, especially once they break ground on the railpark. Then maybe I can buckle down and just gawk at train after train after train for hours on end, instead of worrying about running out of daylight and needing to head back south to Columbus.

For now, I’m looking ahead to next month and a road trip home to northeast Texas for Christmas. There isn’t much going on in that area as far as train traffic goes, but there are some spots in Memphis TN and Little Rock AR that look promising.

And I might just get a shot at BNSF out there. Talk about a Merry Christmas!

Here are Ways #s 4 and 5 from the last post which promised you 5 Ways to Be More Great-full (Boost Your Gratitude Attitude)…

#4: FAMILY (or couple’s) GRATITUDE BOOK
We just spent a very pleasant hour doing this great art & writing interactive project. So simple and yet so meaningful and fun! Quality family time!

We do not watch television, nor do our children. We are dedicated to parenting consciously and strive to support a vibration of love in our household. Yet, given that my husband and I are both entrepreneurs, with seven businesses between the two of us, and given that our children are still quite young, we know how important and sometimes challenging it can be to come up ideas (not to mention time, energy and materials) for positive family experiences.

I myself am about the least craftsy person you will ever meet and can draw a stick figure on a good day! So believe me when I tell you: Yes, you CAN do this project, and probably with what’s already available in your home. It really ranks high on simple, high on fun, high on memorable, and low on expense. (I can NEVER do those Origami things, puuleeeeeazzze, can we talk?)

Thanksgiving weekend is the perfect time to do this Family Gratitude Book…but of course so is any day that ends in “y.” Monday, Tuesday…. Enjoy!

Materials:

All you need is:

Some blank paper (we used printer or copy paper, white)

Construction paper

Ribbon or brass brads to secure the book

Markers, pencils, hole punch and/or scissors

Optional: Stickers, stamps, other art supplies, scrapbook, photos

Definitely: A little bit of time and lots of love!

We started by making a brainstormed list of everything we are grateful for. You can do this any way you like; follow your own creative impulses & inspiration. We have four family members, so I decided to color code what we wrote on this collective page or you could just all write and draw without attributing who said/drew what, or make a chart, have sections of the page, etc. The things my 6-year-old called out first were written in yellow, my 10-year-old chose blue, I picked purple and my husband green. We made a color key on the page and wrote and drew various things we are thankful for: Our dog came first, followed by a lovely torrent such as family and friends, food, a good home, music, the Earth, music, health, God, life and so on.

Then I gave each family member a separate page on which to do whatever they like, the only requirement being that whatever is on the page relates to or represents what they are thankful for. We stuck in some more blank pages, so we can add more later as we are inspired.

The kids each got to pick a color for the front and back covers. The older did the words, the younger did the drawings. We punched holes, added brads, all signed the masterpiece and voila! A Family Gratitude Book.

Not only a wonderful way to spend part of our Thanksgiving Day, but a precious keepsake, and, I trust, a new family tradition as well. We will be sharing this book with family all weekend long and inviting them to add to it as well. And of course, it can be done any day! Every day bears its own gifts if we just open the package.

Today we focused mainly on what we are thankful for in our current lives (now), but we could also include wonderful memories (past) and gratitude for all the blessings on the way! (future)

Alternative for Couples: You can also do this as a Couple’s Gratitude Book or Journal, a beautiful way to show appreciation and deepen connection. So few marriages last or are happy, as we all know, and I am blessed to have a deliriously, deLIGHTfully ecstatic marriage, 12 years strong and better every day. One of the reasons is of course, the selection of the right mate; but in order to do so, we had to do the necessary self-healing and inner preparation to bring whole, healthy individuals to the relationship. Much of this work is presented in my book: The Radical Self-Love Workbook. But it is also essential to nurture even the best of relationships, and my husband and I do so daily in many creative ways such as this.

More tips on love and relationships are at

www.LoveandSpirit.org

and at my love blog: loveandspiritblog.wordpress.com.

Whether you do the Gratitude Book as a homemade book like we did today, like a scrapbook or journal, and whether you do it as a family activity or a couple’s relationship-enhancer, it will help you see your life through the eyes of love and gratitude, and bring you even closer with those you love. Enjoy! And I welcome you to send me a comment or email to share your experience.

#5: Honor the 4 Directions and 4 Sacred Elements:

Earth, Air, Fire, Water

You do not have to be Native American to appreciate one of their traditions, which is to honor the Medicine Wheel, facing each of the four directions, thanking each one for their gifts. This is also a tradition in all indigenous cultures including pre-Christian Europe (a.k.a. Wicca, Druidry, paganism, et al.), Africa, Australia, Hawaii and South America.

In fact, if you scratch the surface beneath contemporary religions on any part of the Earth, you will find an ancient shamanic tradition that honors all the directions and all of nature as sacred.

All things follow this cycle of birth, growth, fruition and quietude, whether we are looking at seasons, a lifespan, a day, or a garden. The beauty of Medicine Wheel ceremony and the paradigm itself is that it can be applied to our lives in so many ways.

So how do you honor the directions and elements, to give thanks for what they give to us so generously? Here are a few ideas:

* Altar: Create an altar to each direction or a Medicine Wheel altar encompassing all the directions/elements. This can be in your home or outside. My husband specializes in creating Medicine Wheels as a sacred practice on the land, and has helped others to do this as well.

* Cherokee Dance of Life – You would need to learn this in person from someone who has learned it, oral tradition. This is an incredible moving meditation to all 4 directions, peoples, and elements which also honors Mother Earth and Father Sky, balances their energies as sacred partners in our hearts, and helps us give away the gifts of Spirit that are our special medicine to share with the world through our right work and service. Occasionally my husband and I share this Dance with our community. If you live near Sacramento, and would like to experience this dance, let us know so we can invite you. Or perhaps Spirit will guide you to another teacher of this beautiful tradition.

* Drum, chant, play flute to each direction

* Give offerings such as cornmeal, tobacco or sage smoke to each direction

* Speak aloud from your heart to each direction and give thanks

* Sweat lodge

* Vision quest

If you do either sweat lodge or vision quest, please do so with the guidance of a Native elder to be sure you do it properly and safely.

* Journal or journey (shamanic meditation) to discover what power animals comprise your personal Medicine Wheel of your own energy field. I love to lead these meditations when I am called to do so. Honoring your own inner Medicine Wheel supports a strong aura and keeps you connected to your spirit guides, if this resonates for you.

Associations with Each Direction

Depending on which culture or even which tribe you consult, there are somewhat different associations with the directions, colors, elements and meanings, the medicine or power that direction helps us receive and embody. The one I am most familiar with follows but this is not dogma, merely a summary of what I have found to be the more universal associations. Follow your own heart and work with any spiritual practice in the way that resonates for your own heart and inner truth.

While I have a small amount of native blood, I was adopted and was not raised in that tradition. I discovered shamanism after my initiation and spiritual awakening 15 years ago. I do not claim to be a tribal elder or teacher of any one tradition. I am an interfaith minister, meditation teacher, hypnotherapist, energy healer and intuitive life coach. I have been on the path of Spirit, studying, practicing and sharing healing and wisdom teachings from many cultures for several decades, so I offer here a simplified summary as a starting point for your discovery journey. You would do well to study more in depth with a local teacher steeped in the particular tradition that calls to your spirit, and of course feel free to research further on the Web, in books, classes, and listen to your own inner guidance. I always say the best way to pray, do ceremony or ritual is the way that feels best to you, with harm to none, of course. But we do need to honor the specific traditions so they are not all diluted through multiculturalism.

From the East we have the yellow people (Asia) and the gift of Air, Brother Wind, clarity of vision, inspiration, the new day, new beginnings, establishment of purpose and intention, and springtime.

From South, we receive the wisdom of the black people (Africa), Fire. The tools, strength, perseverance and energy to follow through and manifest, midday/ noon, summer, also humor and passion, innocence and trust.

The West gives us the culture of the Red people (such as Native Americans), the setting sun, Water, emotions, the fall season, self-evaluation toward completion, looks-within time, peace, rest and healing.

And the North represents the White (European) people and all their cultural gift. The sacred mountain, winter, midnight, time to slow down, go within and be still to receive guidance for what comes next. Completion, what you keep from the past cycle and all that you have accomplished and learned. It is also associated with the Spirit and wisdom.

Note: You can also honor the other 3 directions: Earth (below), Sky (above) and Center (within).

I hope you enjoyed these five creative ways to give thanks and I wish you abundant blessings on your journey!

Finally, in the spirit of Sufi mystic poet Rumi, I invite you to kiss the ground. Blow kisses to the sky. Bow to everything. Everything is sacred.

With Love,

Sage

More resources for your path, including free special reports on abundance, love, transformational classes, soul and energy healing sessions, intuitive readings, matchmaking and more are at:

www.LoveandSpirit.org

Taylor@LoveandSpirit.org

“Let the beauty we love be what we do.

There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.”

- Rumi

- Spoooooilers! Muitos spoileeeers!!! -

Eu acho que eu era o único ser humano do mundo que ainda não tinha visto Up – Altas Aventuras e Wall-E! Como esse fim de semana não teve a costumeira sessão de RPG (nem sábado e nem domingo, imaginem como estou seca pra jogar…), Dudu resolveu fazer uma maratona de cinema de final de semana, sem ir pro cinema! Começou com Paranormal Activity (que prometo falar em outro post!) no sábado, e no domingo optamos por algo mais light como 500 Days of Summer e o esse combo da Disney-Pixar!

Bem, pra começar, eu odeio a Disney, o único filme que eu sou apaixonada é a A Espada era a Lei. Então, no começo, fui super chata dizendo que não queria ver nada que a Disney tivesse metida no meio, mas quebrei a cara, é claro! Sorte minha que tenho um namorado que não me escuta, ele enfiou o DVD no PC e quando me dei conta, já tava me acabando de chorar com a historinha de Carl e Ellie!

Eu não tenho nem palavras pra explicar o quão bom Up é! Além do filme ser perfeito graficamente, a história é uma das mais lindas que eu já vi! O “conto de fadas” moderno fala sobre o casal Carl e Ellie que se uniram por causa do seu espirito aventureiro quando crianças, encontraram o amor na juventude e envelheceram lado a lado. As cenas deles do começo já é o suficiente pra vocês se debulharem em lagrimas, quer dizer, se vocês forem molengas que nem eu. Eu me acabei no filme inteiro… Mas cortanto o papo fiado de quanto eu chorei no filme, vamos ao que interessa, falar sobre o filme.

Ellie sempre teve um sonho, que era se mudar para o Paraíso das Cachoeiras, mas nunca foi concretizado, pois sempre havia algo mais importante pra comprar e eles sempre acabavam quebrando o vidrinho de moedas pra outras coisas. Mas Ellie acaba morrendo de velhice e Carl, que é um vendedor de balões, resolve concretizar o desejo de sua amada em levar a sua casa para o Paraíso das Cachoeiras. Como assim levar a casa? Simples, ele improvisa um dirigivel com milhares de balões de gás, que arranca a casinha do chão e leva ela para o destino tão apreciado por ele e a sua amada.

A premissa do filme é basicamente essa, eu não quero contar todo, se não perde a graça pra quem não viu! Mas tem muitos personagens legais, como o escoteiro Russell, que acompanha o velhinho Carl na aventura, sem saber nem pra onde está indo, e o cachorro Dug, que tem uma coleira que traduz o seu pensamento em fala! Super recomendado!!!

Eu comenti uma grande besteira, assisti primeiro Up pra depois ver Wall-E. Então, eu não posso dizer que eu adorei Wall-E… O filme é muito bem feito, a animação é digna de filme de Sci-Fi, mas a historinha, eu achei muito bobinha… Não prendia a minha atenção nenhum pouco, nem me fazia rir, nem nada… Mas não culpem o filme, culpem a mim que ficou abestalhada depois que acabou Up!

O filme conta a história de um Planeta Terra que ficou ficou inabitado depois que foi soterrado de lixo por nós humanos e uma grande corporação chamada BNL solucionou o problema, levando todos os habitantes da Terra para o espaço, onde tudo é automotizado e você não precisa mais nem andar, tem uma cadeirinha automatica que te leva pra onde você bem entender! E claro, nesse futuro somos todos gordos e nem sabemos andar, pois nunca precisamos! Mas aqui na terra ficou Wall-E, que é um robozinho que fica compactando o lixo, ele é a única maquina que sobrou aqui, todas as outras acabaram pifando com o tempo.

Wall-E é fascinado pela cultura humana e fica coletando todo tipo de troço que ele acha interessante. E em uma das suas andanças, ele acha uma plantinha, ele tira ela da terra, coloca dentro de uma bota e leva pra casa. É ai que a coisa começa, pois uma robô chamada EVA aparece aqui, procurando algum tipo de vegetação a mando da BNL. Wall-E se apaixona por EVA e acaba dando a plantinha pra ela, com esperança de que ela entrelasse os dedinhos dela com os dele (parte fofa do filme, o que me lembrou da minha personagem de EdP, Val, que entrelaçou os dedinhos com o futuro namorado na praia, cena linda, também pra outro post). Uma nave leva Eva de volta e Wall-E segue a amada para a nave mãe da BNL, onde acontece toda a trama da história.

O filme é legal sim, eu gostei, mas não me apaixonei como eu vi que várias pessoas adoraram… Recomendado também. Eu achei bom. E só. Sem “maises”.

Espero que tenham gostado das minhas resenhas de filmes do ano passado! Juro que vou procurar fazer a resenha de filmes mais novos, como Lua Nova (que vi na segunda), Paranormal Activity e 500 Days of Summer!

Happy Thanksgiving!

“The eye, altering, alters all.” – William Blake

I recently saw the movie Up with my family and we were touched by the sweet message that it is the most simple moments that have the most meaning for us. I call those moments, like when Russell sits on the curb counting red and blue cars with his dad and then with his new (grand)father figure at the end of the movie, the “pearls on life’s necklace.” Individually, they are precious and delicate, yet strung one after another, they form a true treasure.

In an earlier post, I shared several reasons why it is so essential to enhance our gratitude attitude. So now, as promised, here are some fun, practical ideas for how to become even more grateful (great full), how to count more of those pearls and value them with your heart, while they are in your hands:

1. My Feet Touch the Earth.

A Native American custom is to give thanks to Mother Earth each morning upon rising, when your feet first touch the floor or ground. This helps us remember that the land we live upon is alive and sacred, worthy of our deepest respect and greatest appreciation. It also helps you receive her bounty, through food, health, abundance and every good thing you can touch or experience through your senses, and to feel more grounded and “in your body.” Another thing I love about this practice is it takes zero extra time; it’s just a shift in consciousness, and isn’t that what we are most striving for?

2. Write a (different kind of) Thank-You Letter.

Well, you already know about the traditional thank-you-for-the-gift kind of letter. I believe it’s on the Endangered Species List. (When’s the last time to sent or received one of those?) I highly recommend we resuscitate these as they bring and spread so much joy, especially the kind of letters, cards and notes you can actually…what’s that called?….Oh, yeah, TOUCH with your actual hands and reread over and over without having to go online. What a concept!

In addition to writing to give thanks for specific gifts or favors you have received, I propose you explore writing Thank-You Letters to:

* Your loved ones…just because

* Yourself

* God/The Universe

* Your Body

* Money

* Your Ancestors

* The Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Sun, Moon, Stars…

You see, the possibilities are as infinite as your abundantly grateful heart.

3. Take a Gratitude Walk.

Dedicate a walk to the awareness of thankfulness. This is a walking meditation and is best done in silence or punctuated only with your statements of appreciation or a simple mantra such as:

* Thank you, God, for all that is.

* Right here, right now, beauty all around me.

* I give thanks.

* I am thankful.

Your gratitude mantra can also just run in your mind without being spoken aloud. You can rhythmically coordinate the mantra to your steps, or not; follow your own guidance and what your body tells you to do.

Another option is to think or praise something with each step or everytime you notice something you are thankful for, such as: “Thank you for my feet that I may walk. Thank you for these trees I see…. Thank you for the air I breathe. Thank you for my children (husband, wife, etc..). Thank you for my home. Thank you for my dog. Thank you for my car. Thank you for my work. Thank you for music….”

While you are walking, you may give thanks for gifts from Spirit which you can see and hear and touch in the present moment, or other blessings in your life, counting your pearls, but the key is to keep every step, every breath, every moment focused on hearful, mindful appreciation.

This is an excellent exercise which combines nourishing your body through the movement itself with nourishing your mind, heart and soul by returning your awareness to what is precious and good, all around you and within you.

As a meditation teacher for the past 11 years, I have frequently met beginning students who lament, “I can’t meditate because I can’t sit still so long. My body hurts and gets fidgety.” Some meditation disciplines and teachers simply reply to this: “Just sit. Let the distraction of the mind chatter and body aches just fade away and just sit anyway. They are all illusions, and your mind will eventually clear as you ignore the ‘monkey mind.’”

This is true for some people, some of the time, as with so much wisdom. However, some people really do need to move more often. This can be due a medical condition, a tendency toward being highly kinesthetic, and/or a need to move energy and remember they have a body through touch and motion.

I am solidly in the latter category myself and find that I benefit optimally from a kaleidoscopic, multicultural meditation practice, drawn from Eastern and Western traditions – like the Meditation for Busy People course I designed for and taught at Kaiser Permanente. Sometimes still, some moving, sometimes silent, others with chanting or music or sacred sounds, sometimes focusing on the heart, third eye, or other chakra, other times aware of the whole body and energy field, sometimes open-eyed (gazing meditation is called “tratakam” in India), sometimes closed, focused on the inner space. Let me know if you would like to me to share more of my knowledge of meditation in this blog column. I teach many methods in my workshops, teleseminars and private practice and share them also on my meditation audios.

For whatever reason, if you do not enjoy an extended sitting meditation practice, you will likely give up on it, so I highly recommend exploring moving meditation such as Tai Chi, Chi Gun, Native American Dance of Life (Dance to the 4 Directions) and even some dynamic forms of yoga, or simply authentic body movement and dance as a meditation. Walking meditations like this gratitude walk is another wonderful way to integrate Body, Mind, Heart and Spirit, so give yourself permission to move while you meditate, and give yourself credit for “meditating” if you are moving consciously and feeling a physical, mental, emotional and spiritual benefit.

Anything you do that brings your awareness to the present moment, that cultivates mindfulness and what I call heartfulness, is a form of meditation, be it walking, stretching, drinking a cup of tea, even cooking or cleaning.

As Buddhist monk and teacher Thich Nat Hanh says, whatever you are doing, even if you are washing dishes, it is the most important thing in the world.And it can be done joyfully and gratefully. Absolutely anything and everything is a meditation when done with focus and appreciation. Right here. Right now. Love.

So I invite you to join me in striving to live Life as The Grand Meditation. The Prayer of Thankfulness that Never Ends. The moment of choice, the moment of change, the moment of power, healing and grace, is now.

∞

As for me, time to go practice gratitude with my family. Right here. Right now. We are about to create a Family Gratitude Book! I’ll let you know how it turns out, and I suspect that may become Gratitude Tip #4.

Your life can change in a moment’s notice.

And the moments you notice can change your entire life.

So, my friends, have a beautiful day…and another…and another…Keep adding to, and treasuring those precious gifts of moments of simple pleasure, in oneness, and in the company of loved ones, the pearls on your necklace of life.

With Love, Sage

P.S. Please share in comments:

What part of this article did you most resonate with?

What are your favorite ways to deepen your gratitude attitude?

And what are you most thankful for this season?

(what are some of your precious pearls)

Just click on the article title to add a comment if the box is not visible below. Thanks for visiting!

www.LoveandSpirit.org

Ok I made a little mistake.  I will elaborate on this later on.  My day started off with my 3^rd private lesson in Power Yoga with Lori.  It was AWESOME!  Not only did I do the usual Sun Salutations, I also got introduced to some really cool standing poses and some hand stand poses.  Handstand stuff, neato!  Again thanks Lori for the great experience.  I am definitely going to check out this Power Yoga stuff when I get back home.  Namasta Lori.  Again good luck to you, your husband and your baby!

After this I made my way to the academy to give Mehdi a hand with his training.  Mehdi had already completed 15 rounds of boxing with Perry when Josip and I got there.  I held Thai pads for Mehdi for 5 three minute rounds.  Again Mehdi was on the ball!  This is going to be a great fight.  Then I held some pads for Josip.  Josip man you look sharp!  We finished off with some bag work and some plyo ab work.

I was talking to Mehdi about our flight arrangements to Thailand and he made me realize my MISTAKE.  I thought I was leaving Thursday midnight; nope BIG mistake.  I was leaving Wed midnight; tonight.  LOL.

I rushed off to cram some Persian food down my throat, get home, do 2 loads of laundry, pack my gear in the suitcase (I did an AMAZING JOB!), packed my amazing Maxpedition sling bag, with the Jack Bauer patch, handled banking and credit card authorizations, bribed my cab driver to speed to the airport, and I MADE IT!  I did 24 hours worth of crap, in about 3 hours.  Not bad.

Mehdi just shook his head as we checked in.  This was my 1^st time flying with Eva Airlines.  This is a Taiwanese Airline (Hector and Ivano you have to come).  I actually felt pretty tall.  I was actually taller than quite a few of the passengers.  Sitting in the Deluxe section, I was treated to huge chairs, that reclined like Lazy Boy chairs, complete with foot rests, an actual glass for my wine, an actual cup for my coffee and a remote for my TV!  Heaven!  Got to kill 12 hours on this flight, so I am going to watch the Ugly Truth, Up! and Ghajini, a really awesome 3 hour love story with action (this will be the 2^nd time I have watched this good foreign film).

I did not get to say a proper “good bye” to my bro Josip.  I hope you read this guy.  Again thanks my friend for putting me up at your house, showing me a good time, eating and drinking with me (I know you gained a lot of weight because of me) and for helping me out in a lot of immeasurable intangible ways.  You’re a great friend and brother to me Josip, again thanks.

The second leg of my journey has begun.  I’m off to Thailand guys to help Mehdi as he prepares to defend his championship belt.  I’ll be back soon guys, have a good one for me-Jd

PS.  Quick update: I’ve stopped off in Taipai, Taiwan.  ALL IS GOOD

Hace un año, mi profesor de Guión explicó una técnica para fomentar el pensamiento creativo, “producir propuestas, establecer objetivos, evaluar prioridades y generar alternativas”. Era un método de Edward de Bono, que “basta con utilizar seis sombreros imaginarios, cada uno de un color diferente”. Quizás sería una estrategia autodidacta y emprendedora para analizar algunos ejemplos de banner en Eyeblaster, una innovadora empresa especializada en marketing digital.

Fantasía 1.000%. Me pongo en situación. Estoy dentro de una tienda de sombreros. Hay de todo tipo: de lana, de fieltro, de cuero y de paja; de copa, de ala, de banda suave, de cinturón y con visera; boina, gorra, de bruja, etc. Pero al fondo, me esperan seis sombreros, todos ellos iguales aunque de un color distinto.

Empiezo por el blanco: pureza, mirada objetiva, “los hechos son los hechos”.

L’Óreal skin. Home Page Takeover. Sutil. Delicado. Estático y de color pastel, su presencia no llega a inmiscuirse excesivamente.

Wall-E. Expandable Banner. Ocupa un espacio relativamente reducido. Sobrio, pero audaz.

Estilo muy ibicenco. Voy a probarme el rojo: legitima los sentimientos, presentimientos y la intuición, sin necesidad de justificarse.

Carl’s Junior. Floating Expandable. Interrupción agresiva, tanto en imagen como en sonido.

Ikea, Seat the Table. Expandable Banner, Interactive Game. Extrema sencillez, insulso.

¿Y el negro? ¡Combina con todos los colores! Critica, es prudente, evidencia la lógica negativa y el juicio. El por qué algo nos puede ir mal.

Lancôme, L’Óreal. Expandable Banner, upload/download. Sensación desagradable. Una interrupción abrumadora, “atacante”.

Dacia. Expandable Banner, Maps in Banner. Desequilibrio estético y conceptual entre si se clica el banner o no.

Fanta. Overlay. Dominio vasto: rota la página Web, molesta, rompe la barrera creatividad-intrusión.

Amarillo: optimismo, lógica positiva, beneficios.

Vodafone Facebook. Expandable Banner, Interactive Game. Interactividad clara y curiosa, moderada y prudente.

Duracell. Overaly. Rápido, fugaz, creativo, gracioso, “respetuoso”.

Demasiado chillón… ¿Qué tal el verde? Creación de nuevos conceptos, apertura, creatividad.

Acciona. Polite Banner. Movimiento y oportunidad. Juego de contrastes y saturación blanco y negro. Notoriedad.

Up. Expandable Banner, Interactive Video. Entretenimiento. Diversión y curiosidad, sorpresa y dinamismo.

Sony Walkman. Expandable Banner. Creatividad acertada. Color y vitalidad.

Atrápalo. Expandable Banner, Interactive Game. “La plaga de los atrapantes conquista Cannes” (post del 29/06/09): una obra maestra.

O, ¿mejor el azul? Control y gestión del proceso del pensamiento.

McDonald’s Big Mac. Expandable Banner, Interactive Game. Mucha agresividad y brusquedad, el producto irrumpe. Debería ser menos evidente, menos directo.

Creo que voy a comprarme los seis sombreros. Son de mi talla y están de oferta: si me los llevo, me regalan otro del color que yo elija. Quiero uno naranja: sabiduría, claridad, deseo, felicidad, dedicación, persistencia, alegría, energía. Volkswagen Polo Snail. Expandable Banner, Alpha Video. ¡Es “nuestro” banner!

¿Os apetece aprender a pensar de forma alternativa? Acudid a la Avenida de la intuición, número infinito. Ni en metro, ni en tren, ni en coche, ni en moto, ni andando. A un solo pensamiento. Sin dependientes plastas y pelotas. Self service. Cerrad los ojos y podréis entrar.

Hey! Long time no see!!! Sorry about that. There were some complications going on with the settings in the Matrix of Life; some corrupted code that I needed to take care of.

As you can see, it's a pretty difficult programming language to play around with.

So, I’m going to explain some things that have been going on – or, more like, have gone on. For example, everyone in my class yesterday had an official publishing party, without the girls and poles of course (and, instead, all boys), so what we were supposed to do was make a public speech where you introduce the winner of a certain award. The award was for the best participant in orgies. And, if you haven’t noticed, I have just finished cracking a joke. Though it probably wasn’t quite funny.

Some of us were given special roles, though, since we made considerable progress, or could not do much more progress than had already been done. I have a perfect 13 for my ITBS, meaning, my reading and writing capabilities are supposedly at college level, and I’m only in eighth grade. If I can’t brag, I can gloat. If I can’t do it in public, I can do it on a blog – however public a blog is as well.

So what role did I play? I was “DJ” (Dick Jerker) – though I think that’s more of a euphemism. I was just the put-music-during-transitions-from-public-speech-to-public-speech person, which was quite enjoyable for me, since I like poppin’ and then showin’ off my tunes (as in my penis).

I'd rather listen to myTunes.

Like, Cult of Personality, or some other cool ones like White Light by Gorillaz, Feather by Nujabes (featuring some other guy who does the rapping), Prodigy, Motorhead, but, of course, Led Zeppelin.

I had perfect timing on the breaks for the most part, and people actually liked the music. I tried to put music of all genres insofar as they fit the occasion. Mostly hip hop and rock. This is because audience’s won’t always have the same tastes – some will think rap is shitty. I’m not a big fan of rap, except for some jazz rap. So I compromised, and put some jazz rap, which I call candy rap.

Candy rap.

Primarily because it has a sweetening instrumental sound that soothes the ear, backing up the rap so it sounds like spoken word – I also call that hip hop.

I always knew my music wasn’t shitty, like a pile of shit. Sometimes the audience bobbed their heads, and sometimes the “award winners” (actors, really) would dance to it also, just to make themselves look absolutely ridiculous.

I was the Jesus of music during the whole show, yet I had not gotten nailed.

DJ Jesus: "I turned whine into music. And I turntabled music into dance."

My language arts teacher also decided to let me borrow his Operation Ivy CD for me to listen to, also. It was radical, dude. \m/

Damn it, it’s getting dark. And I hate that, because it sort of numbs my mind a little. But, oh well. I’ll find some excitement and adventure again eventually.

I’ve started to try and work things out again with Mickey, after some inner emotional doubt, and then a bit of sullen-ness. Which I think didn’t help much, and I hope she feels better. Sometimes I have no idea what direction I’m taking, or whether I’m doing something awry. But that will only be relevant when it doesn’t work out, right? Right. I hope so.

And, Abe? Well, things have been going fine with him and me, as friends, really. I still rate him a 45. While, last school year, it would’ve been a 25. He says he wishes he would’ve never met me or talked to me, which was a severe blow.  But then he said, well, I’m better than I was last year. I guess he said that only because my eyes met the ground once he said the former. I don’t completely understand, though, of course.

Now I’m going to go to a Thanksgiving family party, to stuff some turkey anally.

Excuse the sexual language, ma'am.

I have a lot of things to give thanks to. Like, maybe boobs, shaven Turkeys, myself..but, I don’t think I’m ready for Thanksgiving. I feel more compelled to ask for something than to give thanks. I want things to get back as they once were; well, just that they ride towards the better.

Hi There Everyone,

Great News I now have an official Facebook Fan Page!

Simply search for “Ashleigh Alexandra Louise Smith” on Facebook and Join my Fan Page today as that is where
photo’s and Video’s and News is being posted more regulary than at this blog.

So my advice is to join my facebook fan page and keep checking back here on a regular basis as the plan is to release
some exclusive photo’s and videos via this blog every now and again which will not appear on my facebook fan page and
then also put some stuff on Facebook which won’t appear here!

As you can see in the above video I sleep very well even when in noisy room’s, indeed
I reckon I could sleep through an earthquake I take after daddy like that : ) !

To finish for today here’s a quick video clip which daddy made by accident when he
was trying to take a picture of me on his mobile phone..

So Remeber to go to Facebook and search for “Ashleigh Alexandra Louise Smith” in the Manchester Network (England)
and join my Fanpage today!

Keep checking back as I have some important and amazing news coming very soon!

Hugs

Ashleigh

bleh bleh bleh bleh bleh.

i HATE today sooo much. its shit. can’t wait for it to end. can’t beleive I’m ILL! like, propper, sick up ill. and im soooo bored.

and as if it couldn’t get any worster, my laptops speakers have gone weirdo on me. its not fair. if i say it enough times maybe things will sort themselves out.

I had two nightmares last night, I think thats what I’m gonna blame all this shit on. the first was, i was mega huge ass saggy man boobs fat. it was horrible, i didnt even have a chin. bleh. nad the second was I was being chased through a field by a flying sheet that kept sing ”baa baa fat kid, I will eats you  now!”

So I didnt exactly sleep very well. :’(

cant wait to get my new ipod tomorrow! ahhhh im actually gonna be devestated if it doesnt come!!! please come please come please come!

wow, just got a notification that I have an email from homebase notifying me that they are currently have a sale. BLEH to that maties, I’m sick.

I plan on having a three post day today, so watch this space. or dont, im sure you actually have a life! Xx

Starring the voices of Ed Asner and Christopher Plummer

Rated PG

Total Running Time: 96 minutes

Few non-animated movies have as much heart as this movie does.  As did Wall-E before it, Up harnessed the emotions in me that make me feel damn good once I turn the TV off. 

Many folks may not be interested in seeing animated movies as the stigma might be that they’re “cartoons” or “they’re for kids”.  Hell… if half the adults in this world had the same values portrayed in movies like Up… humankind would have a much better track record.

Up starts pretty slow… but this slow time allows the main character to be built.  In a period of about 15 minutes, we see Carl Fredricksen go from a small child to a tired old man.  Up effortlessly portrays in this 15 minutes how quickly life can go by and if we’re not careful, we may not enjoy them as much as we could have.  Carl and his wife share an incredible love for adventure and from the moment they met each other as kids… they vowed to one day make it to Paradise Falls in South America: the epitome of their adventurer dreams.  Unfortunately, life gets in the way.  Despite numerous efforts to save money to go… they have to dip into their savings time and time again to help pay for things and before they realize it… they’re too old.  Then, in a blink of an eye… she’s gone.

Up to this point, Up doesn’t seem to me like it’s going to be that great of a movie.  I’m an emotional person and tears were welling up in my eyes as I went, “What the freak?  I thought this was going to be funny!”

Well… I was fortunately correct in my assumption as Up gradually gets to the moving and accomplishes what it was set out to do… and that’s “put a happy feeling in your tummy”.

At the final moments before Carl is forced into a retirement community, he rips the only home he’s ever known from its foundations aided from about a million helium filled balloons.  His destination:  Paradise Falls… to fulfill the lifelong dream he and his late wife had shared for so long.

With the surprise addition of a pudgy kid named Russell to his floating, runaway house, Mr. Fredricksen is forced to realize it’s never to late in life to start a new adventure and the fact that age is just a number… OLD PEOPLE CAN HAVE FUN TOO DAMMIT!!

I loved this movie.  Last year when Wall-E wasn’t nominated for “Best Picture” (although it won “Best Animated Movie”) I was a little put out because I think that animated movies get pigeon-holed a little.  The message that a lot of these animated movies portray are the same values that movies like “A Wonderful Life” did back when it won Best Picture back in ­­­1947.  Now movies, actresses and actors that win revolve around films portraying violence, murder, hatred and the like.  When is it going to be time to give movies like Up the credit it deserves?

By gosh… let’s give the award to a movie that depresses the poop out of you rather than a feel good movie like this one.

Gimme a break.

So… In the spirit of Thanksgiving… I give Up FIVE out of FIVE turkeys with tan lines:

I wouldn’t recommend renting this movie… I would recommend buying it.

Hier also der (mehr oder weniger) versprochene Look mit den MAC Pigmenten von “Sexpot”.
Im inneren Augenwinkel habe ich weiße Pigmente von Kryolan verwendet.

Barriers are in place along the River Severn as the Environment Agency says water levels will peak on Saturday…. From BBC News. Full story

This site may contain information about: water depths. The blog is also related to: ocean.

Very happy Sashimi added.

So yes, my long suffering fans… I have returned, perhaps 5 kilograms heavier than when I left, with an immeasurable desire for ostrich biltong, and a nice tan.

The holiday to South Africa rocked. We got to do some familial bonding time, and a fair amount of time got spent with the friends. Mr & Mrs B… many thanks for the awesome trip to Knysna and back… much obliged. Now come and visit us so we can return the favour. Wooz and SPF… it was great to be able to spend so much time with you guys… thanks for taking the leave and making it all possible. Chris and Lily and Megan… thanks for the accomodation and for letting us skank up your bathroom one week before your wedding.

So. This Blog has been built up by three weeks absence, and is bound to be a little longer than normal. As usual, if you want to skip the personal stuff, jump ahead to the line of asterisks at the end of this piece.

South Africa. Well well. It was an absolutely awesome trip. One of my favourite things to do in the whole world is to get a car that I like driving and then to take a long road trip. And the wife and I got to do just that with her family. The four of us piled into their car and drove off on what worked out to be an insanely expensive, but very enjoyable experience. And my god did we shop. Everything from Chutney to Cuckoo Clocks went into that car.

Let’s see, first stop was the Willows in Port Elizabeth. This was a classic little caravan/chalet place, and we got a two-bedroomed chalet for the four of us. Very comfortable, very clean and so close to the sea that even my youngest students could throw a stone into the water from the living room. We were there for two nights… and used the time soaking up some much-needed shopping. And thus began my fixation with finding the perfect pie on the holiday. See… the wife and I recently stopped being vegetarian and started eating seafood. Well… poultry has been added to the pile of edibles now… meaning that Chicken was back on the menu. (For the record, we still don’t eat mammals…. which means that yes, TURKEY is back on the menu for Christmas.) With chicken scratching at the doormat, I started in on Chicken Pies.

Woolworths to the rescue. AWESOME chicken and mushroom pie. Try it. Very good.

An aside – If it feels as if all the wife and I did on this holiday was sleep and eat, well… we feel that way too. It was a great holiday.

After PE, we drove on to Sedgefield…. chosen because it was nice and close to Knysna, which was where our friends Stompie and Jax were getting married. Yes… we did it all on this trip, weddings included. The place in Sedgefield was fantastic, the view was simply unbeatable.

Stompie and Jax threw themselves a Euro-funded Afro-ethnic wedding. And it was really a great evening. Good to be able to catch up with them again, as we hadn’t seen them since leaving Ireland. The wedding itself was out-standing and if their friends are anything to go by, they’ll be blessed in the future.

After the wedding it was a case of doing some family time in and around Knysna and George. We took in the sights of Hoekwil and Wilderness, the former very rustic, the latter full of sea spray.
Much seafood was eaten. Much chicken was eaten.

One of the highlights for the wife and I of the Sedgefield trip was a visit to the Wild Oats Farmer’s market… where local farmers sold their wares. (Mainly foodstuffs, but some raw produce too.) We got to soak up a little culture…

It was here that I found the undisputed BEST chicken pie in South Africa. The Steam Whistle Stop Pie company, operating out of god-knows where, but with a stand at the market.

After Sedgefield, there remained only the trip back to East London, which took much longer than expected. This is because of a little known family problem. Fact: If you place two women with disposable income in the back seat of a car, they will hatch plans to visit as many farm stalls as possible on the way back home. This is in a misguided effort to fill the car with very fattening farm foodstuffs and home produce. Thus, some 600 kilometres, 23 pieces of fudge, a half-dozen bottles of chutney, three full wheels of cheese, and 39 farm stalls later….. the entire Western Cape was denuded of produce, the car was groaning on its springs and we got home. To a huge dinner cooked by my sister in law.

The rest of the trip was spent with friends and family. I got to get in a fair amount of roleplaying with Wooz and the bunch, and even GMed a demo session for Jebb and his bunch. An obnoxiously large amount of time was spent virtually supine on Wooz’ patio drinking coffee… which is the perfect way to conduct oneself on holiday. Besides, the view from there isn’t half bad either.

Three weeks flew by with absolutely no regard for how much it cost us to get there, or indeed just how long 14 hours in economy class feels. (Particularly when you are bloated on fudge and chicken pies.)
There were tears, there were hugs and then we were gone.

To everyone who made the effort, thanks a hell of a lot guys, it was a vastly enjoyable experience.

************

And let’s get on with the jokes and stuff shall we?

The Truth About College:

SOCIOLOGY: For sheer lack of intelligibility, sociology is far and
away the number one subject. I sat through hundreds of hours of
sociology courses, and read gobs of sociology writing, and I never
once heard or read a coherent statement. This is because sociologists
want to be considered scientists, so they spend most of their time
translating simple, obvious observations into scientific-sounding code.
If you plan to major in sociology, you’ll have to learn to do the same
thing. For example, suppose you have observed that children cry when they
fall down. You should write: “Methodological observation of the
sociometrical behavior tendencies of prematurated isolates indicates that
a causal relationship exists between groundward tropism and lachrimatory
behavior forms.” If you can keep this up for 50 or 60 pages, you will get
a large government grant.

This weeks musical talent comes to you from the talented Ms. Nina Simone. This one is called Strange Fruit. And if it is depressing, well, it is meant to be. Give yourself a search for the lyrics. Sometimes, I am sad to be a human.

And that is that.. .. if there appears to be a lack of linkage in this blog, sorry… but 3 weeks without internet means that I didn’t find as many interesting things. Next time. K?

Ciao
Yeti out.

Pixar lo ha vuelto  a hacer; Una película que se supone que es para niños y que al final no lo es. Sin duda de visión obligatoria si te gustan los productos de esta productora.

Personalmente disfruté como un enano viendo la peli, haciéndoseme cortísimos los 87 minutos que dura.

Mi puntuación:

Merci DJ Hero!!

un mix revival du feu de dieu et hop: 2 chansons d’époque en tête… pour un bout de temps je pense!

M’enfin, c’est toujours bon ce genre de flashback!

Ludacris – Turn Up Freestyle
Gucci Mane – Heavy
Crooked I – Girls, Guns, Gangsta Shit
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Ludacris – Turnt Up Freestyle
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venerdì 4 dicembre 2009

L’Associazione EFFETTO CINEMA in collaborazione con il Comune di Umbertide annuncia in data venerdì 4 dicembre l’apertura del nuovo cinema comunale METROPOLIS. La sala sorgerà presso i locali della FA.MO in Piazza Carlo Marx (ex Chiesa di Cristo Risorto) e consta di 99 posti a sedere e dispositivi di proiezione audio/video di ultima generazione, capaci di garantire una fruizione confortevole e al passo con i tempi. La sala sarà aperta sei giorni alla settimana, garantendo una programmazione regolare di film di qualità. L’Associazione EFFETTO CINEMA intende riportare presso il pubblico umbertidese il gusto per il grande cinema e l’interesse verso gli aspetti peculiari di questo mondo, mantenendo sempre aperto un canale di comunicazione con la cittadinanza e offrendo eventi e incontri con i protagonisti e i nuovi volti che agitano il mondo della settima arte. La programmazione comincerà in data 4 dicembre con la proiezione del nuovo film di Michael Mann ‘Nemico pubblico’ con Johnny Depp, per poi proseguire in data 7 dicembre con il nuovo lungometraggio della Pixar ‘Up’, che ha già riscontrato un notevole successo di pubblico e critica in tutto il mondo. L’inaugurazione della sala è fissata per le ore 17 e sarà occasione per un primo incontro con il pubblico al quale faranno da contorno una serie d’iniziative speciali legate al mondo del cinema, tra cui la proiezione del documentario ‘Umbertidesi al cinema’ realizzato dall’Associazione Effetto Cinema e l’esposizione della mitica Delorean, la macchina del tempo vista nella trilogia di ‘Ritorno al futuro’. La programmazione partirà la sera stessa a partire dalle 21, ora in cui si avrà il primo spettacolo ufficiale

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VUOI ESSERE AMICO DI GOODMORNINGUMBRIA?

scrivi a redazione@goodmorningumbria.it

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HOTEL RISTORANTE LA ROSETTA****

Centro Storico di Perugia  p. Italia tel. 075 5720841

larosetta@perugiaonline.com

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“C’ERA UNA VOLTA” – GIOCATTOLI

di Lorena Tega

PROSSIMA APERTURA Via Vittorio Veneto – Gualdo Tadino

tel. 075 9140664

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OTTO Abbigliamento Donna

di Maurizio Giorgelli

via Bonazzi 8 Perugia tel. 075 5729084

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PARAFARMACIA EMALFARMA

di Emanuela Coreno e C.

via Settevalli 208/b  Perugia  tel. 075 5004777

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christy and her “muffin cuff” craked me up too much.

working hard over here today…  cleaning house for visitors that i won’t even be here to see, cutting and pasting like a madwoman for the big show on sunday, and prepping a few things for thanksgiving…  just the same ol same ol here.

was a show that I was putting on that the Hollywood Improv monthly. It was fun, but I am sad to say that it is over.

I’d like to thank everyone that made the show possible, and everyone that performed or stopped by to peek their head in. I noticed you and thanks for coming.

Anyway, I hope that all of you have a Happy Thanksgiving. We’ll keep in touch. I love you.

O stand-up(aquele tipo de show que fica só um cara no palco falando,geralmente fazendo piadas) é um gênero que eu gosto,mas caiu um pouco no clichê.Os manolos do hermes e renato(que aliás,eu sou fã)fizeram uma amostra de como stand-ups tem sido ultimamente

Bônus:banda Axêgo

Buy Up DVD at Amazon.. Product: Up Average customer review: Amazon Price: Sale Price Too Low To Display Click Here To See Amazon Sale Price Add to cart to see discount price@ Availability: In Stock Usually ships in 24 Hours Free Shipping At Amazon

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Here’s a movie for dog lovers, the elderly, children of divorce, FOBs (Friends of Birds), traditional Boy Scouts, people yearning for adventure, and anyone who has ever loved… and lost. Up is for everyone. It made me laugh out loud, and it made me wail.

Buy,Download, Or Stream Up! Click Here

I understanding it would be tough for Up to match the emotional power of Wall-E. The two Pixar films are similar in their lack of dialogue in the first act, which helps deepen the emotional impact. Up begins with Carl, a disquieted young boy star-struck by a notorious explorer; and kookie Ellie, who has a similar obsession. The two kids become quick friends, and assure to one day go to Venezuela’s Paradise Falls. After getting married, they consume their dream home and fix it up, hoping to possess it with children. Carl and Ellie’s life together from childhood through faded age is depicted, silently, with delicacy and subtlety. The first 15 minutes is like a celebration of a glad marriage, and you truly feel Carl’s distress when he is left alone. He sits slumped in his chair, talking to the house as if it is the missing Ellie.

When developers halt in on Carl’s beloved home, he decides to fulfill his promise to Ellie and fade to Paradise Falls. A dilapidated balloon vendor, Carl lifts his home with hundreds of sparkling balloons. Stowing away on the porch is Russell, a tubby, brave kid trying to gain a scouting badge.

Buy,Download, Or Stream Up! Click Here

After landing in Paradise Falls, the faded man and the diminutive boy are joined by a golden retriever named Dug who can talk with his collar, and a sizable rare bird that bonds with Russell (he names her “Kevin”) . Dug is priceless: spot-on for every dog that ever lived, including an obsession with squirrels. Through a series of end calls and adventures, the quartet vanquishes a villain, saving the day. And Russell earns his scouting badge.

In the process, Carl learns to let go of his dark mourning for Ellie, and live life again. When this happens, a truly magical thing happens. Before, Carl’s craggy face is gray and monochromatic. At the moment of his transformation, Carl’s face is awash in color, and he is surrounded by attractive hues. It reminded me of The Wizard of Oz, when Dorothy steps out of her gray world and into a candy-colored Munchkinland. Carl, too, enters a whole unusual world.

Up is a deeply emotional film, fat of truth. It’s the year’s best film. Gain another triumph for Pixar.

Someday, Pixar is going to do it — they’re going to beget an emotionally uninspiring, lackluster enchanting movie. But in the meantime, they’re serene putting out toothsome consuming movies like “Up,” which defies the usual kid-movie conventions by starring a crotchety customary man. It’s a charming, fun diminutive adventure record with flying dogs and balloon-powered houses, but underlying it is a bittersweet cramped sage about loss and esteem.

As a child, the scared Carl Fredricksen bonded with the oddball Ellie over their shared care for of adventure, the explorer Charles Muntz, and Paradise Falls. They later married, depart into their “clubhouse” together, and lived a long, sadly childless life together. When Ellie died, she had never fulfilled her dream of going to Paradise Falls.

Now crotchety, alone and harassed by a sincere estate developer, Carl (Ed Asner) is finally ordered to a retirement home. But he isn’t going quietly — instead he attaches thousands of balloons to his house and floats it away toward South America. But he accidentally takes an eager, naive Wilderness Explorer (a thinly-veiled Boy Scout) named Russell (Jordan Nagai) along for the fling. Bad kid was objective trying to come by an “assisting the elderly” badge.

And the jungle whisk to Paradise Falls turns out to have some surprising obstacles: a huge emulike bird that Russell names Kevin, a talking dog named Dug (“I am jumping on you, bird!”), and a mysterious ragged man who lives deep in the heart of the jungle. Turns out the stale guy is very familiar to Carl — and to retract Kevin, he’s willing to sacrifice Carl and Russell.

Industry experts were babbling about how “Up” wouldn’t be as accepted as the previous Pixar movies, because the protagonist is basically a crusty obsolete coot. Well, shows what they know. It ended up becoming one of those classic movies that somehow appeals to all ages — while the humor and action appeal to children, adults can enjoy Carl’s like for his lost wife, and his dumb realization that he’s clinging to the past.

In fact, the first ten minutes are some of the most heart-tugging, quietly bittersweet scenes I’ve seen in a long time. Without a word, they exhibit all the ups and downs of a realistic marriage — joys, sorrows (Ellie’s inability to have children), growing ancient together, and finally loss.

But it’s not a depressing movie by any stretch — in fact, it’s like a childhood fantasy advance to life, complete with a floating house suspended on hundreds of balloons, and biplanes piloted by a talking dog army.. Plenty of vast dialogue (“Do you want to play a game? It’s called Peer Who Can Go the Longest Without Saying Anything.” “Frosty! My mom loves that game!”) and an action-packed climax in an veteran airship.

Ed Asner is absolutely perfect as ubergrouch Carl — crotchety, grumpy, and positive to fulfill his wife’s lifelong dream, but gradually realizing he’s clinging to the past. Nagai is equally perfect as Carl’s polar opposite: a naive, chattery Scout who is obvious to reunite Kevin with her baby chicks. And the utterly adorable Dug and the other dogs deserve special see. These creatures are utterly hilarious — they talk (“I hid under your porch because I savor you”) and act the plot dogs would if they talked. Three words: cone of shame.

The two-disc edition is going to have some very nice extras, but once again people with regular-def DVDs are going to pick up shafted because the Blu-ray edition will have a bunch of weird stuff. Grr. As for this one, there’s a digital copy, the director’s audio commentary, kinda-alternate-ending “The Many Endings of Muntz,” and the documentary “Adventure Is Out There” about the research for this movie.

There are also a pair of adorable sharp shorts. “Partly Cloudy” has a much-abused stork having to explain potentially spoiled baby creatures from a kind but clueless cloud. And “Dug’s Special Mission” is a sort of backstory for the adorable Dug, explaining what the heck he was doing before he met up with Carl and Russell.

“Up” continues Pixar’s running tally of gloriously entertaining, emotionally layered movies that the entire family can savor. With that, I have only one more thing to say… SQUIRREL!
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With the unfortunate loss of Al Harris and Aaron Kampman for the season following the win over San Francisco, changes are going to have to be made moving forward to continue playing at the level we were at. Right now, more than ever, is when experienced coordinators with good football minds earn their paycheck. What sort of changes might we see out of Dom Capers?

Replacing Aaron Kampman:

Replacing Aaron might be easier than fans realize. This is one place where the 3-4 scheme really shines. The fluidity of the scheme allows for very different player types to be successful in the outside linebacker role, bringing different skill sets to the table. Many of the players that play OLB have to be hidden by scheme to some degree, and Kampman was no different. Clay is one of the rare 3-4 OLB’s that seems equally at home in virtually any role.

It was obvious that one of the places that Kampman was schematically hidden was in pass coverage. He dropped on occasion, but generally that was limited to little zone drops. He was not left in trail technique coverage on fast TE’s splitting the seam, and did not move over to press and bracket cover a WR. This is in very sharp contrast to Clay Matthews, who is trusted to do all of these tasks.

Kampman was also helped rushing the passer both by occasionally playing a 3-3-5 defense that put his hand in the dirt, and by overall maintaining a consistent launch point without an excess of twisting and stunting. In other words, things that he has been comfortable with. It has helped, though it has limited some of the overall defensive options.

Replacing Kampman most likely will be rookie Brad Jones, though Brady Poppinga and Jeremy Thompson could see time as well. Brad couldn’t be more different than Kampman, which could work to Dom’s advantage in a very big way. Hopefully this is where Dom Capers separates himself from former DC Bob Sanders. Brad is not the kind of player that can or should be plugged in to do the tasks that Kampman did the same way he did them. But on the flipside, he does open up a lot of things that were not previously possible.

Brad Jones is extremely fast and agile, and is especially noted for his ability to drop into coverage. Like Clay he can drop extremely deep from the 3-4 OLB position, and has the ability to stay with WR’s and TE’s, at least when he has some help. Dom almost surely will be much more comfortable with him in coverage, and won’t be consistently making an effort to have him rush the passer, limiting his coverage to the bare minimum as he was with Kampman. Of course the effect of this will be to enable more blitzing/zone blitzing. Clay will likely get to rush more, but I think that the biggest beneficiaries will be the ILB’s, I suspect that we will see them rush a good bit more.

Having been a 3-4 OLB, Brad likewise was not married to a small little plot of land on the line most of his career. I suspect that his launch point will not be as rigid as Kampman’s was, and be more like Clay, who moves around in the formation a great deal. This is greatly aided by the defensive line; they are playing at a level where the OLB’s don’t have to be extra DE’s on run plays, freeing the OLB’s up to shut down any attempts to bounce run plays outside, or pursue the tackle quickly. Every one of our top 4 defensive lineman can hold his ground in the face of a double team. Brad’s quickness will allow Dom to move him around a bit to probe for pass rushing weaknesses, and to allow for more stunting and combo rushing, where instead of an every man for himself, the LDE (typically Jolly) attempts to open a lane for the OLB moreso than plow through himself. The faster the OLB, the more effective that is.

While changes will be necessary, changes can be made to insert Brad Jones into the lineup without a big downgrade in defensive quality. Brad has a different skill set and will have to be used a different way, but the overall effect should hopefully be minimized. however it may change the way things “look”.

Replacing Al Harris:

This should almost be rephrased “replacing Tramon Williams”. Replacing Al should be the easy part, plug in Tramon, but replacing Tramon will be a task.

Dom can go two completely different directions with this. He can do exactly what Bob Sanders did, and literally replace Al with Tramon, placing him at the RCB spot over the split end on the sideline, or he can take the approach to keep Tramon doing what he has been doing, at least in nickle+ defense, only moving him over to Al’s spot on base defense. Either option should be equally viable, the route chosen will largely depend on how Dom adjusts to cope with the changes.

Al’s position at RCB is unique in that the route tree used by most teams is somewhat more limited. Few QB’s roll to their left. The timing of read progressions and pass patterns cuts out a good amount of intermediate routes, and if the QB turns to watch his split end, he is also watching his best pass protector, turning his back on some of his worst.

Though our defense plays all sorts of different coverages, if you had to group them into classifications, Al would be more of a man guy, Tramon more of a zone guy, and Woodson more of a rover. Al played the least amount of underneath zone of the 3. When rolling a S into the box or forward out wide, and using a CB as a S in a cover-2, 3, or 4, (forms of sky and cloud coverage), Al was typically a bail corner covering a deep zone, with LB’s or S’s covering underneath. Tramon bails much less, instead if one corner is used in the short zones more than others, Tramon is that guy. Whereas Woodson does a little of everything, generally in an effort to have him where the offense most wants to go.

When Tramon did fill in for Al last season, he did an excellent job basically doing Al’s job. In fact there seemed to be some differences where we might actually have had better pass defense, as we did run a little more zone during that time, not necessarily becasue Tramon is better in zone, but because he seems at home doing either, whereas Al definitely (at least in Sanders’ defense) was more at home in man.

One thing that we will likely see, with the hopeful return of Chillar soon, and Jones at OLB, is return to sparse dime defense. Prior to Chillar’s injury Green Bay rarely ran dime defense, even agaisnt 4-5 WR sets. The 4th CB did not see the field a whole lot.

If we do put Tramon in Al’s spot and replace Tramon, likely an increased amount of LB/S bracketing will be required. Which could mean less play in the box by Bigby and more zone drops by the LOLB. If we replace Al’s spot and keep Tramon in his, we are probably looking at 2 different players dedicated to the sideline, either CB shallow S deep, or CB deep S/LB shallow in distinct zones.

Whichever direction Dom goes, replacing Al wil surely stress our secondary.

The Potential Positives:

While the negatives of these injuries are obvious, some positives may be taken away.

Tramon will be a free agent again next year. This year he played for just over the tender amount. This is his time to grab hold of the starting job for good (even if Al returns, I don’t think that he will return as a starter). This gives Ted and his staff 6 games to determine just how much Tramon is worth, and if he is a viable starter. I’d like to think, if he makes the most of this situation that Ted will not tag him again, instead giving him a full starting CB contract while his value is still on the low end of starting CB’s.

It also gives Ted a chance to evaluate Bush as a defensive back. I doubt that he gets another chance. He’s been developing too long, this is a seize the moment or go away couple of games for him. If he can hold his own as the 3rd CB, he’ll likely stick. If someone else is given a shot after he is, because he didn’t seize the job, I suspect that this will be his last year. He have replacements at ST gunner now; his hold on a roster spot is much more tenuous than it has been.

With free agency on the horizon for Kampman, few Packer fans seriously thought that he would return to the team. The prevailing though being that he would be franchise tagged and traded (similar to Corey Williams) to a team that runs a 4-3 defense. With this injury he now has very little trade value and almost surely will not be franchised, chances are he simply leaves as a free agent.

This means that Kampman will need to be replaced long term this offseason. That task is much easier if Brad Jones (or Jeremy Thompson/Brady Poppinga) shows that they belong on the field this season, and that they are the long term solution. If not I suspect that free agency and/or higher draft picks will be used to fill this spot.

Young guys stepping up to fill an injury void and impressing is one of the primary ways that players become full time starters in this league. Lets keep our fingers crossed that we have the good fortune of that occurring at both spots for us. The players behind our lost starters are certainly physically talented enough to do so, it remains to be seen thather they put it all together.