Category: Uncategorized
Chicagoland from Above
Took a few pictures during my Southwest flight from San Diego to Newark, Nj last week. We made stops in Vegas and Chicago on the way to Jersey. My favorite shot was this one of Chicago as we approached from the West.
Visit to Mt. Soledad
I biked to the top of Mt. Soledad in La Jolla on July 4th. Mount Soledad’s summit is at height of 822 ft and biking up or hiking up to the top is a serious physical challenge. I had not done any serious biking in a while and I had to walk up a few steep sections of the route up from the Pacific Beach side of the mountain, but the 360 degree views of the San Diego area and the Pacific Ocean were well worth the effort, as was the opportunity to see the historic National Veterans Memorial again. I highly recommend a visit to Mt. Soledad for those of with plans to visit San Diego. Of course, you don’t have to hike or bike up there if you don’t want to. Driving up to the summit is a bit easier and there is ample parking near the memorial.
Returning to the GMF Journal
Gee, it has been over three weeks since my last blog post. I plan to resume posting on a more frequent basis soon. This last hiatus was not planned, it just happens sometimes, usually when I’m busy with a few different projects. That has been the case this time too, but can’t disclose too much about that at this time. There have been a wide variety of subjects that have crossed my mind in the past few weeks that I’d like to blog about that, including Iraq, the border crisis in Texas, Bitcoin, as well as a few San Diego related topics and other things. I hope to address those subjects and more soon. So, stay tuned……
……….a few more thoughts…..
Ironically, I have not published blog posts about a few of subjects I listed above not because I have too little to say about them, but rather because I have quite a bit to say and it is very challenging to do that in a few sentences. IOW, I don’t want publish posts that are slightly more detailed than a 140 character tweet when the subject is serious. Subjects such as Iraq, the Immigration crisis or Bitcoin are all very complex. I could write the equivalent of a college term paper on all them, but I don’t have the time to do that right now. I would like to condense my thoughts on these topics and others and put together at least a few intelligent paragraphs on them in the not too distant future.
I’m going to be very busy over the course of the next few weeks for a variety of reasons, but I hope to publish at least one or two posts per week.
I hope what I am explaining above doesn’t make me sound self important in any way. I am well aware that readership of this blog is quite small at this stage and that there aren’t too many people just waiting to see what will show up next here, but I still like to keep my audience informed of what is going on in this space.
BAFTA Awards: ’12 Years’ and ‘Gravity’ Race to the Oscars (Analysis)
Here and There
Well, it has been a couple of weeks since I lasted anything posted on this blog. No particular reason for that, I’ve just been busy with a variety of small projects and I have been out and about a lot the last few weeks. However, there are quite a few topics I want to put my two cents in on including, but not limited to, the following:
UFC
NBA
NFL
THE ACADEMY AWARDS
U.S. POLITICS
THE NEXT POPE
PLANES
TRAINS
&
AUTOMOBILES
AND OTHER ASSORTED TOPICS.
I’ll start with the UFC, since there is a big UFC event on tap for this evening. That would be UFC 157 in Anaheim, CA.
My 5 favorite films of 2011
I saw my fair share of films during 2011. I didn’t see everything I wanted to see, but most of the films I was interested in seeing. I’ve put together a list of what I thought were the 5 best films of 2011. I also included some of my other favorites, which didn’t make my top 5 cut, but which I thought were very good films and well worth seeing.
1) The Artist – Directed by Michel Hazanavicius
I must admit that before I saw The Artist (TA) was a bit skeptical of the all the rave reviews it received. I just didn’t think a black and white, silent film could be all that entertaining for 100 minutes. After watching the film I understood why it was so highly praised.
TA really succeeds at recreating the magic of silent films. Jean Dujardin and Berenice Bejo, play the lead actor and actress of the film, and are both incredibably charismatic. The French stars are supported very ably by a cast that includes James Cromwell, John Goodman and Penelope Ann Miller, as well as Uggie, the funniest dog to hit the big screen in years. I would recommend seeing this on the big screen if at all possible.
2) The Descendants – Directed by Alexander Payne
In another year the Descendants, could have won Best Picture, but it had the misfortune of going up against The Artist, which was a singularly outstanding and unique film. I thought that The Descendants , a tragicomedy set in modern day Hawaii, was a highly engaging film that made the audience care about
3) The Tree of Life – Directed by Terence Malick
Terence Malick is a Harvard and Oxford educated philosophy professor, who taught philosophy at MIT before moving on to becoming a filmmaker. I think that explains why he is so intrigued by the question of the meaning of life. That question is explored in The Tree of Life and the film is quite thought provoking, but it is not an easy film to comprehend. It is a profound and complex film which explores of the meaning of life and the origin of the universe. How does the film do this? By segueing between scenes of the lives of a young family living in Waco, Texas in the 1950’s and scenes depicting the development of earth after the Big Bang. That makes sense, right? Well, you have see it. I think Malick makes it work, although I would concede that the film seems disjointed and difficult to follow sometimes, but it was still fascinating.
Jessica Chastain and Brad Pitt star in this film and turn in outstanding performances.
4) Midnight in Paris – Directed by Woody Allen
One of Woody Allen’s best films in years, which combined very witty humor, great acting and literary references not seen in films very often these days. Like the Descendants, it may have had a shot at Best Picture in another year.
The great cast includes Owen Wilson, Rachael McAdams, Michael Sheen, Kathy Bates and Carla Bruni.
5) Drive – Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn
The entire cast of the film was great, but lead actor Ryan Gosling really distinguished himself in this action film/crime drama. Gosling, playing Hollywood stunt driver/getaway driver in contemporary Los Angeles gave a performance that was reminiscent of a young Robert DeNiro, Mel Gibson or James Dean. That is high praise, but I think it is deserved. Albert Brooks, Bryan Cranston, Ron Perlman and Carey Mulligan were also very good in supporting roles.
Other 2011 films I enjoyed and would recommend: Moneyball, Margin Call, A Dangerous Method, Warrior, The Hangover II, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Limitless & X-Men: First Class
Documentaries: Senna, The Revenge Of The Electric Car
Post Oscars comments:
A walk through Balboa Park in San Diego
The slideshow below provides a view of the scenery that one will encounter if you walk the length of Balboa Park, from north to south, along the west side of the park, which runs parallel to Sixth Avenue.
UFC 128 Jon Jones: Superstar
Wow, what was I thinking picking picking against “Bones” Jones??? Actually, I thought that Rua might be one of the few fighters who would have a chance against Jones because of his mutli-faceted MMA skill set and his superior experience in MMA. I thought that might enable Rua to prevail over the of relatively inexperienced challenger. Wrong.
Jones was in control in entire fight. Jones’ large 6’4″ frame combined with fast reflexes and outstanding wrestling ability give him a huge advantage over everyone in the UFC Light Heavyweight division.
I hope Jon Jones has a long run as champion. He is an admirable young man in many ways. He is smart, articulate and polite. He is also a committed Christian. The tattoo on his upper right chest is Philippians 4:13.
Which is:
“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
Back to Blogging
Holy smokes, it has been over a month since my last post on this blog! Hmmmm, I can’t think of any single reason for that. I guess it has been a combination of things. Too busy sometimes, but certainly not all the time. Other times I think experienced some form of writer’s block or maybe I should call it “blogging block”. Anyway, I’m going to try to pick up the pace here a bit. There are a lot of topics I want discuss and throw in my two cents on.
gmf journal 