Susan Boyle-Living Her Dream.

Beth April 16 2009 For The Tweeters, General Ramblings 10 Comments

Susan Boyle: Never Too Late To Dream Your Dream

In less than a week, the unassuming, 47 year old Scottish woman on the left, has managed to open the eyes of two continents, perhaps the world. If you’ve been under a rock, (I know, I’m late in mentioning it), please watch her performance on Britain’s Got Talent: Susan Boyle, I Dreamed A Dream, Les Miserables. (Embedding of all the videos have been disabled). Didn’t expect much of anything at first, right? But, I can bet, if you have any emotions at all, you were cheering along with the audience by the end.

I’ve written quite a bit about pursuing your dreams and if, after a certain age, it’s worth the hassle. Susan Boyle is an unemployed, single lady, who has a cat and, from what I’ve read and heard, was bullied as a child, because she was quiet, suffered through depression, and had even tried to audition for others in the past, but never given the chance. Who, in their right minds, would, or could never, give this woman a chance? And why? Because she isn’t what society deems as “star quality,” or attractive.

She proved everyone wrong.

Not just through her talent, but with the courage she had to walk on stage and take the chance. The video link on YouTube, at the time of this post, has almost 12 million views-and this is only one video. The world is watching. I know I’ll keep up to date via YouTube, since the US doesn’t broadcast Britain’s Got Talent, (not on BBC America!!!). It just goes to show, the most precious of gems can be found in the plainest of packages.

Unusual

Beth February 1 2009 General Ramblings Comments Off

Wondering why Twitter Tools has stopped working- won’t authenticate.

Blog Theme Clean-Up.

Beth January 5 2009 General Ramblings 8 Comments

Over the next week, I will be cleaning up code, redesigning the site and overall maintenance -much needed. The site is slow and since DreamHost doesn’t seem to want to upgrade on their end to allow for WordPress coding upgrades, which, let’s face it, can slow down a site, I’ll have to do this from my end. If you advertise with me via Project Wonderful, (a thank you to those who do, the funds pay for my web hosting), you may notice intermittent outages. I will try to upgrade during off-peak hours, so you will not lose visitors.

Should I stay with blue, or go crazy? I want a clean look. I’m going back to my roots of blogging. Less is more.

Doubt Worth The $9.

Beth December 27 2008 General Ramblings 5 Comments

Doubt 2008

It’s very rare Charleston is privy to high-profile, Oscar and Golden Globe films. After all, we’re a small city and most would rather watch blood and gut action movies, than one in which thinking is involved. Doubt, based on the John Patrick Shanley, Tony award winning play is just that- a thinking person’s movie. Heaven forbid, (pun intended), movie goers be forced to think.

Set in 1964, the film begins with a sermon given by Father Flynn, (Philip Seymour Hoffman) about “doubt.” This sermon sets the tone for the rest of the film. The conflict between gender roles, changing times and innocent vs. guilty. Does suspicion bring forth truth? Everyone knows I am a huge Meryl Streep fan and Sister Aloysius, by far, is her most intriguing character to date. I won’t give away pivotal scenes, but the mere sparring between her and Hoffman’s characters, not only the dialogue, but the body language and facial expressions forces one to decide-did he, or didn’t he conduct in appropriate behavior with a boy student. This facet of the film is also interesting- we never really learn, although suspect, the “behavior” was sexual in nature.

Viola Davis, in a few short minutes with Meryl, blows you away with an Oscar-worthy performance. She manages to give the audience more information, by saying very little. Amy Adams, who is caught between Sister Aloysius and Father Flynn, innocent in her thinking and approach is like us-the audience-she’s never really sure. While I don’t see her winning an award, if Meryl, Hoffman and Viola do not win, either a Golden Globe, or an Oscar, then it only proves my point that higher paid, larger budget movies are here to stay. Gone are the days where the movie goer chooses his, or her own stance on a situation. Too bad Hollywood seems to believe young actors, who are far from the likes of the cast of Doubt, are worthy of more money-and theatres, all for the sake of raking in millions. Doubt is why movies are made-and why the genre is worth the $9.