The Madlab Post Blog

Monday Movie Meme: Struggling to Reconcile

Nicole — Tue, 21 May 2013 03:26:05 +0000

Today’s prompt for the Blog Everyday in May Challenge couldn’t be any more perfect in terms of where I’m at, at this point – getting real. More specifically, Jenni asks to share something that you’re struggling with right now. That’s easy to do, given the fact that I’ve skipped nearly one week’s worth of daily blogging this month.

What’s a gal to do about it? Make it up!

So, the theme for this week’s Monday Movie Meme is based on my plan to play catch-up over the next several days by possibly doubling up on some of Jenni’s prompts: Reconciliation.

Share on your blog or in the comments section, movies featuring people who make attempts to reconcile something that once went well before going awry. This could involve platonic relationships, crime investigations, public and/or personal reputations, etc. so long as there is an attempt to mend that thing. Here are my selections for this week’s Reconciliation theme.*

On the Waterfront

Expect to be harassed, lose loved ones to violence, receive threats and get beat up if you choose to help dismantle the corruption plaguing your entire town, while standing up for your freedom of equal opportunities, in addition to better working conditions. Honesty and courage might get you in trouble and cause you to lose some friends but will eventually work out in your favor, earning you much respect.

The Town

Nothing else says “let me make it up to you” like planting a surprise in the garden tended to by the very person your friends are trying to kill.

What’s Love Got to Do with It?

Want to know what the proper etiquette is for damage control after beating up your wife during a pool party? Just offer her some bedside flowers in hopes that she awakes in pure joy – despite having a bloody nose and swollen facial bruises. Yeah, one dozen roses (or were they carnations? I forget) will surely help smooth things over!

What movies can YOU think of that feature some form of reconciliation – or at least an attempt to reconcile?

*The descriptions of my last two selections are obviously sarcastic.

Monday Movie Meme – Zero Explanation… #wtf

Nicole — Tue, 14 May 2013 02:43:22 +0000

At the typing of today’s post, its Monday, 9:45pm and I am super pissed.

For some reason that I cannot determine at this time (nor have I heard any word back from the service, yet), my profile count of followers and people who I’m following on Twitter is at zero. Since I’m not tweeting on a daily basis, I didn’t know this occurred until this evening while updating my blog. After doing some investigation, it looks like the most recent updates that I received from the people I’m following were from last week – on Thursday! WTF happened over the weekend?!!! Anyway, I would like to issue a public apology to everyone who started following me on Twitter, as well as to those who I’ve followed on that social media platform.

I’m hoping that the Twitter Support team can get to the bottom of this and send me some answers as to why this occurred and the next steps going forward. Now that I’m aggravated, the theme for this week’s Monday Movie Meme will be pushed back to next week, to make room for a more pressing one: Unexplained Events.

Share on your blog or in the comments section, movies featuring strange occurrences that affect people in an either inconvenient or problematic way. Here are my selections for this week’s Unexplained Events theme.

The Forgotten

Two strangers race to find answers about a crash involving their children, in this psychological thriller starring Julianne Moore and Dominic West. The main characters are met with resistance by people and forces that claim these kids never existed.

The Adjustment Bureau

A politician fights for his freedom in shaping his life after learning that certain aspects of his existence and future is being controlled by a group of strange men in suits. If that wasn’t already an issue in and of itself, these men also claim to answer to some elusive head honcho they refer to as “the Chairman” in this romantic Sci-Fi thriller starring Matt Damon and Anthony Mackie.

The Sixth Sense

Nothing says strange like a little boy who communicates with the spirits of dead people – but that’s what goes down in this mystery thriller starring Bruce Willis and Haley Joel Osment.

What movies featuring unexplained events have YOU watched?

Sunday Synopsis: Notes on an Atlanta Film Festival Buzzkill, IMAX/3D and Stuff… #lammys2013 #thelamb

Nicole — Mon, 13 May 2013 03:40:30 +0000

In today’s Sunday Synopsis, I’m mashing up three prompts from the Blog Everyday in May Challenge, hosted by Jenni – who wants participants to spill the goods on their most embarrassing moment(s). She also proposed the task of selling yourself in 10 words or less.

Lastly, Jenni asks “What do you miss?” – Here are my responses to her suggested topics, (each) in a nutshell.

A few years ago, I was at a party in Atlanta, following one of the premiere film festival screenings for a VH1 special. No matter how much I tried to get rid of a huge red and swollen pimple on my face prior to this day, my attempts were not only unsuccessful, they also made it worse....

There I was, chatting it up in a room full of movers and shakers in the music and film industries including MTV program hosts and artists such as Big Boi, etc. looking like a mosquito bit me on the face. Needless to say, that was not one of my best moments – especially when everyone else at this party is trying to bring their A-game – what with the glitz, glamour and networking and all. This isolated event hardly makes the list of my most embarrassing moments but the experience was uncomfortable enough to qualify for a mention here. You didn’t think I was really going to spill the beans on this kind of stuff, did you?!

I’m an idea engine with ever-flowing notes. (7 words. Woot!)

I miss the thrill of being content with watching a 2D movie – nowadays, it seems like everyone and their mama is all about IMAX and 3D showings – as if they’re really all that better. The 2D movies appear to have lost their luster among general movie going audiences – becoming an afterthought or backup plan for sold-out shows. 3D and IMAX have their place but should not be a total replacement for how we view films in a theater – especially for the types of movies that would play just fine without multiple viewing options....

The need for additional effects should enhance the movie going experience – not compensate for all that’s lacking at the theater such as so-so customer service, excessively high concession prices for junk (I’d gladly pay $5-$8 for a roasted turkey sandwich or an organic fruit salad, but $6.50 for a box of sugary candies like Skittles? C’mon!) and *gasp* a bad movie. If “Iron Man 3” is not as good as its predecessors (I’m not saying it sucks; just using it as an example), then it sure as hell doesn’t need to be in 3D/IMAX.

Also, I’m seeking nominations for the next King Dong – it’s time to re-launch this series that has been dormant for a while now. Daniel Craig was the last one on the throne in December 2012. So, I’m looking for his successor. What actor would YOU like to see highlighted over the course of a month?

In addition, three more categories featuring movie blogs competing for this year's LAMMYS were released today -- one of them being the Best Running Feature category. Since I was one of the presenters this year, I checked out the nominees and favor two of them:

1. DVD Court at The Cinematic Katzenjammer - It's like "Law & Order" meets Blockbuster Video Stores, FYE Target, Wal-Mart or wherever you buy your movies. Each week, a jury of film fanatics make their case on one of the newly released movies and then deliberate for a final verdict that can go one of three ways -- Burn it, Skip it, Rent it or Buy it. I'm not a fan of the first verdict because piracy is not cool but aside from that, DVD Court is worth checking out if you're indecisive about purchasing some of the films mentioned in the Cinematic Katzenjammer's case files.

2. Visual Parallels at The Cinematic Corner - Scene by scene, frame by frame, two movies are paired up beside each other at a time, via photos that depict what they share in style, props, action and related elements. What I find most interesting is how some of the films featured in the Visual Parallels series are titles that we might not think have anything in common. The most recent pairings include "Breaking Bad" and "Pulp Fiction" while another mash-up compares the similarities that "The Dark Knight" has with "Skyfall." I'd say it's worth checking out if you're curious to see how much -- or how little -- you've really been paying attention to in the movies that you watch.

You'd be surprised at how many things that make a movie memorable or special are just a reincarnation (although sometimes possibly unintended, but still...) of another film.

Lastly, The next Monday Movie Meme will be posted tomorrow evening.

That’s all folks!

Do YOU have anything to add to these prompts? Can YOU sell yourself in 10 words or less? What or who do you miss?

The Great Film Festival ‘Audience Award’ Hoax – A Piece of Advice for Moviegoers #indiefilm

Nicole — Fri, 10 May 2013 03:57:56 +0000

A moment in my day (2012): At a screening of "The Last Fall" starring Lance Gross.You’ve seen the movie posters, read the newspaper reviews and website listings, looked at the DVD covers that are all toting badges of honor for a film that won the Audience Award at your local festival.

Guess what – those laurels don’t mean the title you're looking at was the most popular film playing there (although this could still be a possibility, so don’t count it out).

The award indicates that there were people in attendance who actually took the time to vote for this movie.

So, here is some sound advice for men and women who attend film festivals: Participate in the voting process during screenings where you are asked to vote on films!

Your vote counts – and I know you’ve heard these lines time and time again from political campaigners that spew them out on television, on the sidewalk, on Obama/Romney (whoever’s camp you’re with) T-shirts, buttons and baseball caps, etc. – but voting at film festivals makes a HUGE difference where Audience Awards are concerned. Most, if not all, other main awards (Best Film, Best Director, Best Documentary, etc.) given out are selected by a jury of people with a myriad of expertise and interests including (but not limited to) festival staff members, seasoned directors, television & film producers, university professors, screenwriters and even corporate executives that have nothing to do with making movies (but are probably sponsoring the event).

The Audience Award is a whole different ballgame because festivals use the votes tallied from people who sat in the theater (or lawn, rooftop, bar, etc.) watching all of the movies that are competing for this particular honor. This includes people who are not affiliated with the festival or the films playing on screen, in any way shape or form. If you ever bought a ticket or pass to attend a film festival and if you ever plan on visiting one in the future – YOU are among these people – the audience members who festivals (and filmmakers selected to screen at the event) rely on for votes.

A moment in my day (2011): The Q&A for "The Casserole Club" directed by Steve Balderson; At Tribeca.Audience Awards provide the kind of bragging rights that indicate moviegoers at the festival enjoyed a particular film the most, compared to other films in a given category.

Since filmmakers, cast, crew, newspaper journalists and related workers are the ones mainly filling up the seats at some of the festival screenings that take place each year, it can be difficult to gauge who likes what and more importantly – where the Audience Award is going to go.

All voting methods and tallying of those votes are not created equal. I’ve worked at festivals where paper ballots are given to attendees and I’ve also attended a film screening where the voting was done electronically. Some festivals are better at organizing the voting process than others, regardless of what form the ballots are dispersed in and collected. That said, it’s easy for almost any film to win no matter how well or how poor the audience received it when, under the right circumstances, the director’s parents put in that winning ballot that put their kid’s movie over the top.

Since indie pictures need all the support they can get, my call for more active audiences is not meant to discount the votes of family and friends who have showed up to back their favorite movie in every way that they can. That is awesome! There is an equally, if not more, important side to that, however, when a lot of independent films are at slight disadvantages because audience members who just came to check out new movies that they are curious about stop at the roll of end-credits. You can’t stop there. You must get involved in the voting for movies that you watch at film festivals.

If you don’t vote, then you make it easier for your favorite films to fall by the wayside while other movies get to win laurels in their place – including flicks that may not even be that good. It is a reality that occurs far more often than you may think at festivals. You can watch two films that are like night and day when it comes to entertainment value but it won’t matter if Film A plays better than Film B – festivals are counting the votes.

Film A is considered to be Great but received 12 votes from the audience

Film B is considered to be Ok but received 17 votes from the audience

Film C is considered to be Poor but received 9 votes from the audience

Which film do you think won the Audience Award? -- It surely isn’t Film A!

As you can see, voting matters when it comes to independent films. It doesn’t matter if you attend a festival with the intention of watching one movie, or several that are playing there – Make sure your participation at these screenings include a vote for the films that YOU enjoyed watching!

Today’s post is a mash-up of two prompts from Jenni who is hosting the Blog Everyday in May Challenge. She encourages participants to share a piece of advice for others, as well as a moment in your day via photography.

Courage Under Fire - My 2013 A to Z Challenge Reflections #atozchallenge

Nicole — Wed, 08 May 2013 19:21:12 +0000

"I believe that if, at the end of it all, according to our abilities, we have done something to make others a little happier, and something to make ourselves a little happier, that is about the best we can do. To make others less happy is a crime. To make ourselves unhappy is where all crime starts. We must try to contribute joy to the world. That is true no matter what our problems, our health, our circumstances. We must try. I didn't always know this, and am happy I lived long enough to find it out." - Roger Ebert

Life is a constant battle where we go to war with strangers, enemies, family, friends, co-workers and (what seems to be the most damaging) – with ourselves. The 2013 Blogging from A to Z Challenge was my opportunity to try and find some answers to the question “What makes life worth living?” by presenting some outlooks on the options that we have with the 24 hours in our day.

Here are some of my experiences that made those 26 days in April exciting, trying and worth every single minute.

The Plan of Attack

A lack of internet access caused me to have to manage my daily schedule wisely while also being as resourceful as possible to carry out the necessary A to Z duties – commenting, posting and visiting. This was my first year as a Co-Host, which added additional tasks such as policing sign-ups, carrying out Twitter shifts and addressing questions or concerns at the A to Z Blog. Add to that the fact that I didn’t have a theme until like three days before the challenge started and you have a recipe for the chaos that involves posting everyday – sometimes on a whim – with only an idea but no outline.

So, I developed a system of what I call “A to Z Hacks,” which included scheduling two posts at a time within the limited timeframe that local libraries gave me to use their computers – which was sometimes two hours and often as little as 90 minutes, depending on the day. When all other ideas failed or I couldn’t figure out what to write for meaty posts, I took advantage of the Wordless Wednesdays meme as well as List-style posts just to get something up quickly without any hassle. I also used the Sundays that we had off as my “catch-up” day during weeks when I was behind by a letter (or two).

Since this was the first year I fell behind while doing the challenge, I posted announcements on my most recent posts, giving visitors either a heads-up (if I was sick or knew that I would be away from the computer) or an update on when they can expect to see latest letters up on this blog. Doing all of these things saved me a lot of time, worry and frustration.

The Battles

I went to places like Starbucks and Qdoba when the library wasn’t a viable option; The WiFi at these places was shoddy – sometimes going down suddenly or becoming very slow.

There were occasions when the connection would timeout while I was in the middle of typing up posts or finding photos; there were days when the computer browser would just not move while I tried to format and publish a new post for the challenge. On another occasion, I had so much to do between visiting blogs, responding to comments, corresponding with the other Co-Hosts about administrative matters and updating my blog that I had to prioritize the tasks that were going to get done immediately and the ones that were going to be put off for the next day, because a Starbucks employee told me they were closing in 10 minutes.

Some blogs that I visited – particularly the ones on the Blogger platform -- had Google+ setup for their comments; it was impossible for me to leave comments on those blog posts because I don’t have a Google+ profile. Since I usually didn’t find this out until after reading the posts and then scrolling to the bottom of them to write a comment, the experience left me feeling like I wasted my time on some (I say some because I enjoy reading a portion of them and would have likely visited a few of these blogs anyway, regardless of their commenting system) of the blogs that were new to me. I did, however, manage to find a way around this and other commenting problems (disabled comments, etc.) – sorta.

If the bloggers were on Twitter, I’d just send them a tweet with one quick comment, just so they would know that I am reading their posts.

The Medals of Honor

Surprisingly, I received some subscribers through a service called Bloglovin’ – which was I found to be interesting given that I didn’t use the service. So because of these subscribers, I signed up for Bloglovin’ just in case it made it easier for other A to Z participants to follow my blog that way.

I also won two blog awards – Holly at It’s all a Matter of Perspective gave me the Liebster Award because she likes the theme that I chose for this year. Although the award was given to me in March, she found my blog because of the A to Z Challenge, so it warrants a mention in this reflections post.

On April 10^th, Jean Yates gave me the Very Inspiring Blogger Award because she learns so much from the honest observations that I derive out of movies featured here on this blog; As if I didn’t already feel like the pressure is on…now, I have try to live up to that. Yikes! Much like last year, the comments I received came in heavy loads at the start of the challenge and then shrunk mid-way through April until they all but vanished towards the last few letters. Still, I have no complaints because many of the comments that were made on my posts were some of the most heartfelt responses that one could read in on a blog.

Kristen Dyrr at Random Musings from the KristenHead someone who I am especially delighted to have read my posts because she showed me the best comment love. I was also glad that several other bloggers became regulars among the discussions presented here, including Bev, Sam, Matthew MacNish, C. Lee McKenzie, Suzy Turner, nutschell, Alison, Heather, Nina D’Arcangela, Dee, Bob Sanchez and Jeremy (Hawkins).

Angela Brown at Pursuit of Publishness, who participated in the 2012 challenge and is currently working on her latest YA masterpiece, stopped by many times to share insight on life and all its layers while Maurice Mitchell at The Geek Twins brought his Sci-Fi twist to the challenge this year – I am so happy that he jumped on our alphabet blogging train because of his great sense of community; I noticed his comments on many blogs while doing my rounds of visiting during the challenge.

The Minion Soldiers

My Mighty Madlab Minions were in full swing leading up to and during the A to Z Challenge. They kept this machine well-oiled and running on time – their efforts were a tremendous help this year, given my technical setbacks in April. M.J. Joachim not only managed multiple blogs during the challenge but was also very instrumental in keeping on top of the back-end administrative stuff throughout April. She completed all of the tasks that I assigned to her while also putting in extra help during times when I didn’t have any open assignments, and was always available, prompt and thorough in helping me make sure that the challenge ran as smooth as we could get it this year.

If M.J. is a part of any future minion team, I would make her a Minion Crew Chief, to be sorta like an executive assistant who oversees the tasks for all minions. She also visited my blog often and made it a point to leave comments on additional participant blogs that were in our assigned sections. She rocks! Sheila Scribbles is someone who I’d nickname “Social Sheila” because she was very active on Twitter – utilizing the #atozchallenge hashtag and even adopted use of the #madlabminions hashtag early on when I released it.

Sheila also had the brevity thing down to a science, as she shared her favorite things from A to Z in short blog posts that were easy to read in a flash.

Tami Von Zalez kept me up to speed when dealing with changes to the list and was also very prompt in sending reports about things that needed to be addressed and/or reviewed for further action. Sydney Aaliyah held her own while showing people around Dallas, Texas – complete with places to visit and fun facts about that city. It’s been a treat to have her on my team because she inspired me to get more organized in the handling of all the back-end A to Z administrative stuff.

The De-Briefing

Yes, I lost some battles during the A to Z Challenge – but I still managed to win the war. All that’s left is my hope of having brought some joy to those who read my posts during the challenge.

Throughout April, I learned a lot about other people's lives -- some who have been through divorce, custody battles, self-doubt and suicidal moments as well as individuals who are proud of their accomplishments, giving toward others, and sharing their dreams and goals.

So if this blog post has delivered even an inch of happiness, inspiration or a brief smile, then I believe I’ve done the best I could do during my time as a Co-Host and participant in the 2013 A to Z Challenge.

I would like to send a special shout out to Paula at Paula’s Place for staying course with the challenge all the way to the end. It is because of her that I'm toying around with the Blog Everyday in May Challenge – one that goes straight through with zero days off! As if my life isn’t already hectic; I guess I’m burning for more mountains to climb until I collapse, maybe?! The challenge was tough – I’m not going to lie about it but I still enjoyed the experience and would do it all over again in a New York minute if given the chance.

My Co-Hosts are the kind of leaders that I am proud to stand next to on this journey because they faced much adversity for days or weeks on end and still came out strong.

When Google tried to take Stephen Tremp down, he took to twitter and kept on going, doing what he could to make sure that participants knew where to find his A to Z musings. Technical challenges, health scares, traveling woes, parenting duties, 9-to-5s and related curveballs didn’t stop Arlee Bird, Konstanz, Tina Downey, Shannon, Damyanti, Livia Peterson, Alex J. Cavanaugh, DL Hammons, L. Diane Wolfe or any Co-Host heading up this challenge. They are a group of tenaciously efficient individuals filled with encouragement and understanding.

Would do another A to Z in the future? Yes.

In fact, I'm Co-Hosting the Post A-to-Z Road Trip with Shannon and Tina. We're inviting people to join us in visiting all of the participating blogs between now (signups are open today!) and the next April Challenge.

Over, and out!

What Freaks Me Out – Playing the Waiting Game with My Movie #indiefilm

Nicole — Tue, 07 May 2013 18:24:13 +0000

One of the things I’m most afraid of is not finishing my movie in enough time to make the deadlines for any of the 40+ film festivals where I want to submit it for a premiere screening; and completing this flick at all.

Post-production is taking longer than it took me to shoot this project, partly because I’m currently trying to shorten it up and make a version that meets my vision for it as closely as possible within the right amount of time. In the last few days, I’ve been back and forth through that old mindset of wanting to just throw a project aside and move on to the next thing – but -- there likely won’t be a next anything if I don’t first finish the one I’m working on now.

Speaking of the next best thing, there’s also nothing else for me to do if I’m not involved in some capacity of filmmaking. I mean, I went to school to study it, then started writing about it on the path to becoming one – or so I thought. No one can be a filmmaker without having made one, which means, until I actually have a movie in my hands that I can show to people, I suppose I’m just a writer – after all – that is what I do.

Today’s post is a mash-up of two prompts from Jenni, who wants participants in the 'Blog Everyday in May Challenge' to answer the question “What do you do?” and share the thing(s) you’re most afraid of. I could’ve just as easily written about other fears such as watching “Requiem for a Dream” or witnessing animals -- or people -- get hit by cars in oncoming traffic, but those things didn’t come to mind until I finished writing this post.

What do YOU do and what are the thing(s) you're most afraid of?

Monday Movie Meme - Road Trips on Screen #atozchallenge

Nicole — Tue, 07 May 2013 03:48:00 +0000

The theme for this week’s Monday Movie Meme is inspired by the Post A to Z Road Trip that will kick off on Wednesday, May 8^th. For the first time ever, I am Co-hosting this year-long activity with veteran A-to-Z hosts, Tina at Life is Good and Shannon at Warrior Muse, as bloggers join us in visiting the entire list of 2013 A to Z Challenge participants.

So, in honor of our continuing blogathon mania, let’s hit the road with a Monday Movie Meme theme that – like our road trip -- has a pretty flexible speed limit: Are We There Yet?

Share on your blog or in the comments section, movies featuring people who are involved in some type of road trip. The plot of the film itself doesn’t necessarily have to be about a road trip, but there has to be a point in the story where somebody hits the road. Here are my selections for this week’s “Are We There Yet?” theme.

The Puffy Chair

All hell breaks loose when two brothers embark on a road trip to finalize the birthday gift -- that they bought off of eBay – for their dad.

The Open Road

A son takes a road trip with his estranged father, to appease his ill and hospitalized mother. During their sqabbles, a girlfriend gets caught in the middle of some stubborn family dynamics. Justin Timberlake stars in this movie, opposite Ted Danson; and although it makes the list for this week’s meme, I would not want to watch the film again. It's just plain wack.

Get on the Bus

Cultural and political views clash during a bus trip to Washington for the Million Man March in this historical drama starring Charles Dutton, Ossie Davis and Andre Braugher.

What movies have YOU watched that involve someone going on a road trip?

Sunday Synopsis: ‘The Color Purple,’ People who brought me back from the Dead

Nicole — Mon, 06 May 2013 02:33:26 +0000

"I remember when I was in the store with Miss Millie…I was feeling real down, I was feeling mighty bad…and when I saw you, I know there is a god and one day I was gon’ get to come home” – Sofia in “The Color Purple”

Of all my favorite movie quotes that I’ve featured on this blog (and in guest posts) time and time again, I never thought that a line from Steven Spielberg’s 80s drama “The Color Purple” -- starring Whoopi Goldberg, Danny Glover and Oprah Winfrey – would be among them. It wasn’t until a moment of sulking this past weekend, over a few seemingly huge mountains I need to climb (figuratively speaking) that I thought of the infamous dinner scene where Sofia (played by Winfrey) – as her father-in-law would describe -- rises from the dead.

For those of you who haven’t watched “The Color Purple,” please understand that I have paraphrased this quote as well as shortened it to include only the bit that spoke to me. There is a scene in this movie where Sofia must go grocery shopping to fulfill her duties as a maid for the wife of her town’s mayor and Celie (played by Goldberg) provides a helping hand by gathering the necessary groceries on Sofia’s list. Sofia later thanked Celie during dinner, after finally being released from jail and subsequently granted freedom from working for Miss Millie.

I love this particular movie quote because it isn’t about a higher power (to me, anyway), but rather, a glimpse of light at the end of what seems like a very long, dark tunnel that we’ll never get out of – until someone shows us some hope that there is another way -- that we’re not alone and somewhere, somehow – we can make it.

So today, I’m professing my love and devotion to not one – but two blogger friends – each of whom I dedicate the above movie quote:

Alana Garrigues who offers up fun writing exercises at Writercize is someone I think has a form of ESP when it comes to her interactions with me online. Aside from giving her readers cool ways to flex our mental muscles so that our brains don’t get dull, she also (unknowingly) resuscitated my energy and attempts to keep it moving – twice.

On one of my many sleepless nights, I was going through a major downturn even though a friend who I’ve known for some time gave me some pieces of clarity.

For some odd and almost unexplainable reason, several messages from Alana ignited something that removed me from the downward spiral that I found myself in at that time. Another incident occurred when I was no longer as active online as I would be, including on Twitter – around a time when my tweets would come regularly. New posts were only going up on Mondays for the Movie Meme that I host; I was lost and stressed out. It was then that Alana sent some sunshine my way – and so, I’m grateful for having met her.

I owe tremendous allegiance and gratitude to Herman Turnip, a devoted husband, father and IT genius who delves into a variety of goodies for the senses -- from the championing movie trailers of anxiously kick-ass releases to jumping out of airplanes, to five-minute stories and everything in between at Terrible Analogies.

Herman is a true blogging friend who’s been around since the early days of my blog – I’m talking back when my posts were so sporadic that you wouldn’t even know if I was going to put something up next week or next month. I’m talking back when even I wasn’t sure what the direction of this blog was going in, where I wanted to focus my attention with regards to topics and when my writing could’ve used much editing and several drafts before pushing the “publish” button. Since then, he is the one who comes to mind sometimes when I have writer’s block or am feeling sluggish or indecisive about my next move on the blogging front.

At times when I’m stuck for a voice or perspective to aim for, I just imagine that I’m writing directly to Herman; experts suggest that you writers should write to an audience – he is my audience. At times when I’m not in the mood to get up and write another post, I know I better damn well snap out of it and have something live sooner than later because I want to make sure that I’m accountable for keeping fresh posts on deck here.

There are nearly a dozen or so very specific people who I continue to be thankful to for reading my blog because they make it what it is and make my hours of research, last-minute trips and interviews worth doing; it is because of Herman, however, that I have continued (or try) to remain consistent in my blogging activities.

He tops the list of all my blogging friends who I am grateful to know due to his ongoing support, which keeps me aware that somebody is reading, so I need to make sure that there is something up for him (or her -- Hey Tina, this one’s for you!) to check out and discuss.

In addition to making some of the oddest discoveries that I’ve ever learned about, Herman has also been a dear friend in the non-blogging realm of things, sharing insight on some of the challenges and/or perspectives that I’ve pondered with regards to life/work matters. To speak of a blogger who I think is great and not name him would be a crime.

FYI & Other Stuff....

As the first full week of May approaches, I have a long day planned for tomorrow, so the Monday Movie Meme will be posted in the evening this week (Monday, May 6th), as opposed to the morning – consider this a heads up!

Also, I'm still working on my 2013 A to Z Reflections and expect to post it on Wednesday.

I was approved to be a presenter for the 2013 LAMMYS and will be announcing the winner in the category of Best Running Feature. The LAMMYS will begin on May 6th with announcements on YouTube and continues through May 16th when an official list of all winners will be published by The LAMB.

What is one of YOUR favorite movie quotes and why do you love it?

Is there any particular blogging friend that YOU want to profess your love and devotion to? If so, what makes him or her great?

Today’s Sunday Synopsis is a mash-up of two prompts from Jenni’s Blog Everyday in May Challenge. She asked participants to share their favorite quote and why they love it. She also wants participants to publicly profess their love and devotion to a fellow blogger friend while also explaining what makes them so great. The title and style of this post is inspired by Arlee Bird at Tossing It Out, who’s Sunday Summaries in 2012 highlighted people who mentioned the A to Z Challenge to their online network.

Cassmob at Tropical Territory also convinced me that I could switch-out “Summary” for a word that better matches the subject matter of this blog.

The Nutty Professor Meets Cats and Ving Rhames #uncomfortable

Nicole — Sat, 04 May 2013 03:54:24 +0000

Today, Jenni at Story of My Life wants to know what makes you uncomfortable. The list of things that fit this bill for me is long, far and wide; so, here are a few things that come to mind….

Watching cats groom makes me uncomfortable, especially when they lift their leg up in the air and start licking their crevices like they’re searching for a cure or something. It’s a grotesque act that my cat seems to be comfortable performing at anytime, anywhere – in the middle of the floor, on the windowsill, etc. wherever they are situated at the time and I just don’t care for the view.

In a perfect world, cats would complete their grooming in the privacy of the bathroom or their pet beds – you know, like civilized animals! Still, I’d probably be more willing to tolerate the open grooming policy that felines practice than I would the dinner scenes in those Nutty Professor movies starring Eddie Murphy and Jada Pinkett (or Janet Jackson, depending on which one you watch). Yikes! – That’s what I also think about the group bathroom scene in the comedy “I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry” starring Adam Sandler, Kevin James and Jessica Biel.

I mean, after watching Ving Rhames pull of the role of a badass hero in John Singleton’s drama “Rosewood,” there is something about him signing Whitney Houston’s “I’m Every Woman” song while dancing in the shower with other men that just doesn’t sit right with me. Don’t get me wrong – I like the movie as well as his acting – I just can’t stomach that particular scene. His beefy man-build doesn’t lend well to the thought of a gay firefighter singing Whitney Houston songs in the shower.

What makes YOU uncomfortable?

Throwback Thursday - A 2012 A to Z Reflections Comment... #atozchallenge

Nicole — Fri, 03 May 2013 01:51:25 +0000

On Monday, May 14, 2012, Tina Downey at Life is Good left on my A to Z Reflections Post but it got eaten by the Squarespace cyber wizards – a technical glitch that just didn’t let this one comment go through. Aren’t you all annoyed when that happens? I know I am, for sure.

Thankfully, Tina was kind and understanding enough to bring it to my attention and emailed her comment to me.

As I gear up to do my Reflections for this year’s A to Z Challenge, join me in taking a moment to highlight one of the comments of 2012 that made me smile and grateful to elicit such a response from one of the boldest people I’ve ever come to know -- all because of a typo on my end:

"This was one of the best reflections posts I've read so far. Your pain and passion and feelings rang loud and clear and true. You persevered through quite a bit of challenges, and I admire you for that. I'm really glad our paths have crossed and that you'll be a regular poster at the A-Z now.

It cracked me up that you called me Tiny instead of Tina. There's kinda a history to that...used to be tiny, as in eating disorder. Am now healthy, but a sturdy size 14, not a vanish-when-turned-sideways...but thanks for the mention.

I hear your frustration with visiting as encouraged and not having that returned. I don't know if it was a pattern for all of us, my visitors certainly thinned out as well there at the end. A month is a long time, and not everyone has the stamina.

Hugs,

Tina"

Stay tuned for the 2013 A to Z Challenge Reflections; Coming this weekend to a blog near you!