Ellipsis Movie Of The Week... A Simple Favor

 

"Five days ago, Emily went missing."

~Stephanie Smothers (Anna Kendrick)

A Simple Favor

The title of the movie tells the whole story. This is a fun, elegant, twisty little mystery with Anna Kendrick as a pretty, cool YouTube mom, who has her own successful vlog, and carries a deep secret! And Blake Lively is a cold brash career woman, who not only brings just the right bitchiness to her character of Emily that you find yourself applauding her strength, but you she carries her own secret, and let me tell you, it's a whopper! This film has a sequel, a Prime original, Another Simple Favor, and let me tell you, it might be an even wilder ride then the first one!

 Watch them together if you can.

 The first movie will leave you wondering what came next!

Another Simple Favor 

Ellipsis Christmas Movie Countdown #12

 

"I never thought it was a bad little tree. It's not at all, really. Maybe it just just needs a little love."

~Linus

A Charlie Brown Christmas

A Charlie Brown Christmas, premiered on television on December 9th, 1965, so that means this masterpiece is 60 years old, and I watched it the night it debuted, and every year since then. It's timeless! It's not actually movie length, it's only 25 minutes long, but it holds you as well as any feature length movie could! No CGI, just an old fashioned Christmas moment. It's about what Christmas is all about, and lessons learned!

Watch it. Remember 1965. Love it all over again.

The Autumn Of Murder?

 

"Oh no. It costs a lot more than your life. To murder innocent people?"

 Peeta says, "It costs everything you are."

~Suzanne Collins

Mockingjay

Most of the time, autumn is a season of magic for me. The light of the beautiful sun, especially in October, the keen mixture of the weather, the first night that an extra blanket on the bed is required. Horror movies, holidays, spooky shadows, and little monsters, witches, princesses and super heroes on October 31st. We just put up our holiday tree yesterday. Christmas is mostly an autumn holiday. Christmas eve is only a few days into winter, but the shopping, the cookie making, the planning all takes place in autumn. Good stuff... right? So why is the grim reaper making such an overwhelming ass of himself? There has been so much death all around me. My favorite neighborhood duck, Kenny was run over by a careless driver, devastating the neighborhood. That young man killed on Pixie, for making horrific decisions. The murders last Saturday, at a child's birthday party, and now this... a father murders his 11 year old son, while the child's mother watches all of it on her home surveillance cameras. 

You can read the full story here... KCRA

Sigh.

I have done my best to ignore, to push away the feelings happening inside me, but sometimes those feelings pound me with depression. There are several units of law enforcement in the area right now, and if you can believe it, they still haven't caught the shooter from Saturday night! So that guy is still who knows where? Another child is in the morgue, and his 6 year old sister who watched her dad murder her brother, will feel that pain forever! How much more can happen? I miss my duck. I miss looking for him and his wife, Jenny, every time we come home through the park along the canal. I miss feeling like I can take a photo in the open, without wondering if I will get shot by a paranoid criminal. Autumn is a kind and gentle season full of spirit and magic, but winter has the most painful bites. Why is autumn allowing winter to insinuate itself into autumn's life, and bring with it, such cruelty? 

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #36

 

“Every story begins somewhere, some in the rain of forgotten yesterdays and some in the scent of autumn leaves...” 

~Jayita Bhattacharjee 

 

My favorite color combination is, pink and yellow. When I was a little girl I had a pink room, and a yellow bedspread with Holly Hobby on it. I chose the paint colors and bedding for myself, and I requested a lemon yellow bean bag chair for the corner of the room, next to my TV. I always thought my room would one day be featured in a design magazine, but alas, I never got that call! LOL. I kept that bedspread for years, well into my teens, but around the age of 16 or 17 I did a redo of the decor and opted to paint my room blue, and chose a blue and green ivy quilt. It was so cute, and just the rights shades of both colors. A little darker than the yellow and pink, but also very girly. I was a girly, girl, so while the quilt was at that point gone, my Holly Hobby doll always remained on my bed. Gosh that was a long time ago, but every time I see pink and yellow together, it takes me back to a really nice memory of me designing my very own bedroom!

 

 

Family Day 2017

"If you move faster than the music, it will look strange; if you move slower than the music, it will look strange! Be like autumn leaves which follow exactly to the rhythm of the wind!"

~Mehmet Murat ildan

I am only posting a Leaf Of The Day today, because we are going on our official Family Day outing! Family Day has been a family tradition since we got married on October 13th, 1990. As newlyweds, we had planned to have a child or two, and so we decided because young children might not understand a wedding anniversary is mostly for mom and dad, we created a special day, October 23rd, made it our own Family Day that the whole family would enjoy!

We were inspired to create that day, because as Alan and I were honeymooning in Half Moon Bay, when we happened to meet Joe Montana and his wife Jennifer at Pastorino's Pumpkin patch. They were there with their children, enjoying their family day, and they were having such a good time choosing pumpkins and enjoying a hay ride and pumpkin pie, that it was more than just a little heart warming! And a new holiday was born, Family Day!

Well, we were never lucky enough to have human children, but we did have little fur babies that fill our hearts! Our cat, Elvis, was my baby, but he was Alan's best friend! When he passed away, and we were so lonely for the sound of little bells running through the house, along came Hendrix and Dylan... and a few years later... Joey! Joey was a surprise! We had our little family, and then one day Alan found Joey, who had been abandoned on the San Mateo bridge. He was cold, underweight, and injured by some crows who were trying to fly off with him!

He was so scared and so tiny, that we couldn't help but fall in love with him! That happens sometimes to couples who have human children too. You think you have a full family, and then one day you find out there is one more ready to join your family and be loved. But it's really quite the same... love is love. And while our family is a little unconventional, its ours, and I wouldn't trade it for the world!

The cats don't come with us, of course, but when we get home there are new treats and a new catnip mouse for each, and they get to have bites of baked yams, which all three boys enjoy, and is fine for cats in proper amounts, and lots of snuggles! Sometimes balloons and a game of laser mouse makes for a fun time. But earlier in the day, it's just Alan and I, in Half Moon Bay, reminiscing about our honeymoon, and the long road that lead us to this Family Day... October 23rd, 2017! 

Mood: Happy

~Me

The Orator

"The hidden harmony, is better than the obvious."

-Pablo Picasso

This sculpture is one of my favorite pieces by Picasso. It is titled, "The Orator." I first saw it in person, last year, while visiting the Legion of Honor, during the Monet exhibit. I can't tell you how many times I have opened the file of photographs I took that day, just to be transported back to one of my most inspirational days with my camera. Not only had I got to spend the whole day admiring some of my favorite art pieces by Rodin, Gauguin, and of course, Monet, but when I was walking out of the museum, there was a young couple, just married, and in full wedding attire, posing for their wedding photographs on the lawn in front of the museum. I was able to photograph the candid moments of such love between the two, and the overwhelming adoration that was in their eyes, as they became living portraits... a true work of art. I found the following quote tonight, as I was studying an article on Picasso, earlier this evening. I had a long day today, and I am feeling a bit tired, but it was so lovely that so I thought I would share it with you. It seems to fit life at this moment, and like with most truths, it's message is timeless...



"The Orator" Pablo Picasso, 1933 or 1934 (Plaster and Mixed Media)

"Each second we live is a new and unique moment that will never be again. And what do we teach our children? We teach them that two and two make four, and that Paris is the capitol of France. When will we also teach them what they are? We should say to each of them: Do you know what you are? You are a marvel. You are unique in all the years that have passed, there has never been another child like you. Your legs, your arms, your clever fingers, the way you move. You may become a Shakespeare, a Michelangelo, a Beethoven. You have the capacity for anything. Yes, you are a marvel. And when you grow up, can you can then harm another who is, like you, a marvel? You must work, we must all work, to make the world worthy of the children."

I was a lucky little girl, that I had some amazing teachers who encouraged me to spend time looking at art books, and studying the natural beauty of the world around me. The best day of my life as a child, was when a teacher put a camera in my hand, and told me to look beyond the obvious, to find the light that surrounds everything. It was the best piece of advice that I ever got, in regards to art, photography, and life. :)

So tell me, is there a particular piece of art, or an art form, that you find especially inspiring? Please share with me in the comment thread for this entry.

-OndineMonet
"The Orator"
Legion Of Honor Museum
San Francisco, California
July 27th, 2006
Afternoon