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Wednesday, April 3, 2024
A to Z 2024: C is for Cinematic Compositions
Tuesday, April 2, 2024
A to Z 2024 - B is for Books for Children
Monday, April 1, 2024
A to Z 2024: A is for Adult Children
Andy Gullahorn and Jill Phillips |
Wednesday, March 27, 2024
Themes for the A to Z Challenge 2024 for Blogs featured on my Blog roll
Many of the blogs that appear on my blogroll are blogs I discovered during the A to Z challenge. Last year I put out a post right before the challenge featuring the themes for all the blogs on my blog roll that were in participating in that years challenge.
This year I am putting them in order of who has posted most recently as of midnight 3/26/2024
Liz of Laws of Gravity is participating this year but has not specified a theme. Like myself. Liz is a substitute teacher by trade and I am looking forward to see what She has fir us this year.
John Holton of The Sound of One Hand Typing is an epic blogger. He has an epic theme this year in rhymes with "ale". I wonder if S will be for Swale, the race horse that won 2 legs of the Triple Crown in 1984 and died 8 days after winning the Belmont Stakes.
Our Next Stop is Wolf of Words . The Fan Fiction Master is back at it again this year, color me very excited.
Rambling With A.M is a blog I added to my blog roll after last years challenge. Her Theme this year; Gardens, History, Art, and the Unexpected. Speaking of unexpected, this is just one of 3 blogs on my roll with rambling in the title.
Janet's Smiles is an avid concert goer and is using that as this years theme.
One of my favorite blogs is Sue's Trifles. Her theme this year is poetry.
We move from poetry to prose with hdhstory.net, who is using the theme "Truth or Consequences" in his stories for April.
Last year I had 5 bloggers from my roll participating in the challenge. I also want to do a special shout out to Helen at Are We Nearly There Yet. Helen started the 2021 A to Z challenge and got through J. She added K and L in 2022, and got M through Q in 2023.She continues to plow through the challenge and her writing is honest and encouraging. She is nearly there and has only 9 letters to complete her journey.
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The A to Z Challenge starts this Monday! If you are thinking of participating you can sign up here.
Friday, March 15, 2024
Attention All Poets: April A to Z Challenge is Coming.
Monday, March 11, 2024
📚 Kids Read Aloud | INTERRUPTING CHICKEN by David Ezra Stein
Friday, March 8, 2024
A to Z Challenge 2024 Theme Reveal
March 10th is the official theme reveal for the 2024 iteration of the A to Z challenge. Last year I actually announced my theme for 2024 here a year early while announcing my theme for 2023. In that post I stated,
"The 2024 theme will be Narnian characters and creatures from A to Z. My working title is Narnia: From Aslan to Zardeenah."
Well it turns out, I lied. Lied is a strong word. I miscalculated. Almost every year for the last 35 years I have reread each book in the Chronicles of Narnia. Last year when I made the announcement, I had not yet started on my literary pilgrimage to Narnia and thought the idea of reading the books would help in making the alphabetical list of entries.
I ended up reading a sum total of zero Narnia books in 2023. While it's true that I could easily journey from Archenland to Zalindreh, my heart was not in it. I chose to abandon delay my Narnian sojourn for another time (Although I would prefer to do all my blogging in Narnia, as no time would pass while I was writing).
I then toyed with the idea of having no theme and simply blogging about something new from A to Z each day. I liked that idea quite a bit, but then it occurred to me, I would have nothing to say at the theme reveal. I then thought of having an overarching theme but leaving it wide enough to choose the individual topics the day they were due. That also seemed a little problematic as I often suffer more from topic block than it's cousin writer's block.
Holidays by Nick Youngson CC BY-SA 3.0 Pix4free
Finally I thought of a topic that would give me both flexibility and stability. I decided to blog about Holidays. However instead of A is for Arbor day, C is for Casmir Pulaski Day (It's A Chicago Thing), I will be focusing on lesser holidays, the kind you would find at sites like the National Day Calendar or What is Today Holiday's like National Take A Poet to Lunch day which takes place on January 6th each year, the holiday that inspired this poem.
My process this year is each day of the challenge to post about a holiday that is taking place that day. Some holidays like April Fools day on the 1st would match very well for the letter of the day. Others will take a little pushing to make it fit the letter of the day. April 2nd for example is Children's Book day. If I choose that holiday, I would have a title like B is for Books for Children.
In addition to actual holidays, I am going to also create 5 new holidays as part of my list, including ways to celebrate these new festive occasions.
Recent A to Z Challenges
2023 A Month At The Movies
2022 Limericks, Homeruns, & Wordles (Oh My!)
2021 A to Z People who were alive in 1921
2020 State (& Other) Capitals
Each year on Spotify I make an A to Z playlist for the year. At the end of each post I will have a link to the song for that day .
I am very excited about this Holiday edition of the A to Z challenge. To learn more about The 2024 A to Z Theme Reveals click here, if you are ready to participate in said reveals click here, and finally if you are looking for a spreadsheet of who is already participating this year click here.
Thursday, June 1, 2023
May Stats
The Month of May can be a low posting month for a blogger who has participated in the A to Z challenge. After posting 38 times in April, I really had no where to go but down. I did make 14 posts in May for a total of 52 for April and May. This amount is exactly twice the number of posts for the first 3 months of the year. I am on track to finish 187 posts by the end of the years. That is only 5 less than it was at the end of April, which means that My May was not much of a letdown as it could have been.
Tuesday, May 16, 2023
A to Z Roadtrip
Sunday, April 30, 2023
Z Is For Zootopia
A to Z Challenge 2023
A Month At The Movies
Film: Zootopia (2016)
Directors: Byron Howard & Rich Moore
2016 was a big year at the movies for Walt Disney Studios. According to Box Office Mojo, they had 5 of the top 7 grossing films released in that year. It was also a big year for animated children's movies with 3 of the aforementioned top 7. Zootopia was 7th on the list grossing 341.3 million in the U.S. alone.
Next Time: A to Z Reflection
Saturday, April 29, 2023
Y is for You Cant Take It ...
A TO Z Challenge 2023
A Month At The Movies
This year I am copying from a myriad of other A to Z challengers by reprinting the same synopsis about my theme with every letter. You can skip over this part if you want to.
Film: You Can't Take It With You (1938)
Director: Frank Capra
You Can't Take It With You is your standard issue 1930's screwball comedy with the Frank Capra touch. The below video does a great job in 9 minutes of recapping and reviewing the film.
The son of a Wall Street banker falls in love with the granddaughter of the person blocking the banker's money-making scheme. Stars Edward Arnold, Lionel Barrymore, Jimmy Stewart and Jean Arthur.
Positive Tomato: It's one of the most amusing and satisfying pictures to be seen in months, and certain to be an enormous hit with audiences. Edwin Schallert - Los Angeles Times
Negative Tomato: It may be disappointment that any Frank Capra comedy should be heavy and overdone which makes You Can't Take It with You seem such a dud. Otis Ferguson - The New Republic
Resiliency: You Can't Take it with you is the oldest movie on this list. It is celebrating its 85th anniversary this year. That its themes would still resonate with audiences today shows how resilient film can be.
Top 100: This is one of those movies that I would tell you I think it would be my the top 100 and then wind up with 125+ films on my list. It is definitely worthy of consideration and may end up making my actual list.
A to Z Connection: This is the third film featuring my favorite director Frank Capra in the challenge along with Arsenic and Old Lace and It's A Wonderful Life. It is also the 3rd film featuring my favorite actor Jimmy Stewart (It's A Wonderful Life and Vertigo). Speaking of 3s, it is the third film along with the aforementioned Arsenic and Old Lace and A Man For All Seasons to be adapted from a broadway play. This is the 5th and final Academy Award winner for Best Picture on my list. The other 4 are A Man For All Seasons, Chariots of Fire, Ordinary People, and The Kings Speech. The Kings Speech has also been produced on Broadway, but in this case, the play was adapted from the film, not vice-versa.
Next Time: Zoo-Dun-It?
Thursday, April 27, 2023
W is for When
A to Z Challenge
A Month At The Movies
This year I am copying from a myriad of other A to Z challengers by reprinting the same synopsis about my theme with every letter. You can skip over this part if you want to.
Tuesday, April 18, 2023
O is For Ordinary People
A to Z Challenge
A Month At The Movies
Hello and welcome back to A Month at the Movies, my contribution to the A to Z challenge for 2023.
This year I am copying from a myriad of other A to Z challengers by reprinting the same synopsis about my theme with every letter. You can skip over this part if you want to.
Monday, April 17, 2023
N is For North By Northwest
A to Z Challenge
A Month At The Movies
Hello and welcome back to A Month at the Movies, my contribution to the A to Z challenge for 2023.
This year I am copying from a myriad of other A to Z challengers by reprinting the same synopsis about my theme with every letter. You can skip over this part if you want to.
By Ante Brkan - Dr. Macro, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=14857139 |
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cary_Grant_North_by_Northwest_still.jpg#/media/File:Cary_Grant_North_by_Northwest_still.jpg |
- The above painting depicting the aforementioned scene is part of a mural in the Leytonstone (The section of London where Hitchcock was born.) Tube station.
- Alfred Hitchcock featured the motif of the "wrong man" in several of his films.
- Hitchcock and Grant collaborated on 4 films from 1941- 1959. North by Northwest was the last of these films.
- North by Northwest was Hitchcock's 2nd highest-grossing film 2nd only to Psycho. It was Cary Grant's highest-grossing film.
- Leo G. Carrol (who was in 6 Hitchcock films) plays the head of a secret international counterespionage and law-enforcement agency in the film and essentially plays the same type of role in the 1960s television phenomenon The Man From U.N.C.L.E.
Saturday, April 15, 2023
M is for A Man for All Seasons
A to Z Challenge
A Month At The Movies
Hello and welcome back to A Month at the Movies, my contribution to the A to Z challenge for 2023.
This year I am copying from a myriad of other A to Z challengers by reprinting the same synopsis about my theme with every letter. You can skip over this part if you want to.
By w:Robert Bolt - Scanned by uploader, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=54061906 A Man For All Seasons is based on the play of the same name. It is the story of British Lord Chancellor Sir Thomas More. According to Wikipedia More in addition to having served as Lord Chancellor was also an English lawyer, judge, social philosopher, author, statesman, and noted Renaissance humanist. More is one of my heroes, which is odd because He was a Roman Catholic opposed to the Protestant Reformation and I am a former Catholic who is a big fan of the Protestant Reformation. The reason why I am such a fan or More and A Man For All Seasons is that More was an exemplar of standing up for your faith with dignity, grace, and intellectual integrity.
This clip is proof that you can make a great movie and a bad trailer for it. |
Positive Tomato: Such a film as A Man For All Seasons makes the silly efforts of avant-garde and "new" picture directors look raw and hideous. This film combines so many qualities of excellence that it stands alone as an example of what a motion picture can be. Marjory Adams - Boston Globe
Negative Tomato: Despite the awards which have been extravagantly heaped upon it and the cool brilliance of Paul Scofield's performance, it remains a costume drama which adds nothing to our understanding of the times, or indeed of men. Craig McGregor - Sydney Morning Herald
This film was nominated for 8 Academy Awards and won 6 including Best Actor, (Paul Scofield), Best Picture, and Best Director (Fred Zinnemann). While I agree with all of those selections, I think the award that highlights the greatest strength of this film is the Oscar for Best Cinematography going to Ted Moore. Moore gives us a gorgeously filmed picture from beginning to end.
Resiliency: Paul Scofield won a Tony award and an Oscar for his portrayal of More.
Top 100: I sometimes am questioned about whether my list of top 100 films is for technical excellence or for how much I enjoyed the film. I have yet to land what I would call a satisfactory answer to that question. I will say this, the excellence of the Zinnemann direction, Moore cinematography, and the Scofield portrayal of More are 3 reasons why this film resonates so much with me and why it is certainly in my top 100 favorite films.
Next Time: Not the spy you're looking for.
Thursday, April 6, 2023
E is For Empire
A to Z Challenge
A Month At The Movies
Hello and welcome back to A Month at the Movies, my contribution to the A to Z challenge for 2023.
This year I am copying from a myriad of other a to z challengers by reprinting the same synopsis about my theme with every letter. You can skip over this part if you want to.
Star Wars Begin Again |
Too back new friends are |
Darth Darth Darth Darth Darth Darth Darth Darth Darth |
These Blogs Are So Last Year
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Does Grief Last Forever?1 year ago
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Growing Up1 year ago
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