Writer's Workshop: 4 Prompts in 8 sentences? I'll try.

 

Here are this week’s prompts(I have the 4 I'm attempting in bold): 

1.  Write a post based on the word military. 
2. Write a post in exactly 8 lines. 
3. Write a list of movies that always make you smile. 
4. Choose a social media platform (e.g. Facebook, X, Instagram etc.) and tell us what you love and hate about it. 
5. Tell us about a time you had to go to court. 
6. Tell us about your best friend from the old neighborhood. 

 My 10 favorite movies  which are The Princess Bride, Miss Potter, Marty, Adventures of Robin Good, Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, Chariots of Fire, Casablanca, Ordinary People, The Muppet Movie, and It's A Wonderful Life   (click here for more info) all have moments that never fail to make me smile.  What I hate about Twitter can be summed up by the response to my 2/3/2005 tweet, "I'm thinking of quitting Twitter, ( Can't bring myself to call it X) It's not what it once was.", 5 impressions, no engagements, no comments in 48 hours.  One time I had to go court, not sure exactly why, proof of insurance, probably.  While I was waiting I decided to watch the festivities one young man waited in line with his very  energetic baby  son and when it was their turn, he had to give an update on what he was doing to get his driving privileges reinstated.  He assured the court that he had taken the bus to this appointment.  In the town I used to live in there is no bus stop next to the court room but many are walking distance.  He was given another court date, and then I was called, I provided whatever documentation was required of me and walked out of the court building.  As I walked I saw the man driving his son away in a car, in my town you can put a bicycle in a special holder in front of the bus, I had no idea they also did that for cars!

8 sentences? Maybe. 8 lines? Probably not.  But at least, I get an E for Effort.  John Holton invites  your prompt reply to his prompts at The Sound of One Hand Typing by clicking here.

You Can't Take It With You - Saturdazzle Adjacent Post

The past coupla Saturdays I've tried and failed to put out a Team Saturdazzle post. The truth is my Fridays have been frenzied lately and my Saturdays have been swamped. The phrase 20 pounds in a 5-pound bag aptly describes them. My best friend noticed yesterday that yesterday at least until mid to late afternoon was anything but dazzling and told me to stop what I was doing, go home, and spend a quiet evening with my wife. This worked out well for my best friend and my wife as they are the same person.  

So I went home, and we watched a movie together.  The Movie was the 1938 Film: You Can't Take It With You.  I have blogged about it before here,  as the Y entry in "A Month at the Movies" from the  2023 A to Z challenge.  

It did Saturdazzle my weekend right up.  So much so, that I am taking some time on a Sunday to breathe a little and blog a little.  In the A to Z post, I shared the below YouTube video which is a good synopsis and review of the movie.  

 

T.V. in the Background: A Very Brady Christmas 

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.  

I love movies and have decided to share with you a movie each day that I have enjoyed to one degree or another.  With each entry, I'll give a brief synopsis of the film, share a positive and negative review from Rotten Tomatoes ( a website, I didn't use much at all until preparing for the challenge), discuss its resiliency (the theme of the A to Z challenge this year), and other tidbits like whether the film may appear in my top 100 film list, which I have been revamping this year. I think that's enough in the way of introduction, considering you'll be reading it (hopefully) 1  more time this month.

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?

She's A Wonderful Wife

 I have a routine when it comes to my A to Z  challenge posts. I schedule the time of the post for the date of the post.  For example, today is April 11th or numerically 4/11 so I would generally schedule my post for 4:11 a.m. so people could see it as they were checking their computers in the morning.  

This by the way is not an A to Z post but I am posting this at 4:11 in the morning because April 11th is a very significant day in my life.  It is the day I married my wife Amy. Today is almost as significant as that day as it is our 25th wedding anniversary.

I have scheduled my A to Z post at 4:11 p.m. It talks about my favorite movie It's A Wonderful Life.

In that film, the main character gets a glimpse of what life might have been like if he was never born and gets to realize what a wonderful life he had.

In December of 2005, our 3rd and final child was born and 2 days after they were released from the hospital I rushed Amy to the emergency room.  They did tests and her heart was working at 10% capacity.  I remember driving back from the emergency room to my house with 3 children between the ages of 3 days and 6 years old and I got a glimpse of what my life might look like If Amy was gone.  I prayed on the way home and asked God to restore her to health.

Thankfully  Amy was back to 100% use of her heart and her kidneys and was home to our family in a few short days. We were never given an adequate reason for the occurrence but we believe it was due to a lack of proper hydration after the C-section. 

I really didn't need an angel to show me the worth of my wife.  We were best friends for 8 years before she signed the Marry Dave Agreement. She takes the best care of me and our children.  Often preparing and perfecting foods for us that she doesn't even like to eat.  While she is just a sinner that said I Do, she is a loving, Godly influencer on me and our children.  

I have had the opportunity in the past 5 years to substitute teach in the same building where she works as a school psychologist.  I have never seen anyone take their job so seriously and still love on the children and show compassion and concern to the teachers, administration, and parents. We also have worked side by side the last 2 summers working concessions at a ballpark where she would bring sunshine even in a two-hour rain delay. 

So you see she really is a wonderful wife.  Happy Anniversary Amy.  You really do complete me.

A is for Arsenic

A to Z Challenge 2023

A Month At The Movies

Hello and welcome 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.  I love movies and have decided to share with you a movie each day that I have enjoyed to one degree or another.  With each entry, I'll give a brief synopsis of the film, share a positive and negative review from Rotten Tomatoes ( a website, I didn't use much at all until preparing for the challenge), discuss its resiliency (the theme of the A to Z challenge this year), and other tidbits like whether the film may appear in my top 100 film list, which I have been revamping this year. I think that's enough in the way of introduction, considering you'll be reading it (hopefully) 25 more times this month. 

Film: Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)

Director: Frank Capra

By Photographer not credited - <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.org/stream/cinemundial28unse#page/156/mode/1up">Cine Mundial, April 1943</a>, Public Domain, Link

Arsenic and Old Lace premiered on September 23rd, 1944.  This was exactly 20 years before I premiered.  It's a funny story actually, my Dad and my 9 months pregnant Mom were at an Arsenic and Old Lace 20th anniversary party when ... No, Just kidding.  

 Cary Grant stars in this dark comedy/ screwball comedy that was the first Frank Capra film I ever watched.  The basic gist of the film is that Mortimer Brewster (played by Grant) is a theatre critic and avowed bachelor who at the beginning of the film marries the girl next door to his boyhood home in Brooklyn.  

"The Fun" begins when Grant discovers his beloved salt of the earth aunts are actually serial murderers and is then also reunited with a few other of his sanity-challenged relatives. 

Positive Tomato: It's not mere hyperbole to state that Frank Capra's Arsenic and Old Lace ranks as one of the funniest films ever made. Matt Brunson - Film Frenzy 

Negative Tomato: Not one of Capra's best. Grant is too hammy and out of control, and without Boris Karloff as Jonathan Brewster, the joke is lost. Bob Bloom - Journal and Courier (Lafayette, Indiana)

I really enjoyed this movie watching it on T.V. as a kid.  In recent viewing, I found it a little long and a little uneven but still enjoyed it and would probably watch it again, especially with folks who have not seen it before.  

Resiliency: Mortimer Brewster shows a lot of resiliency throughout the film trying to figure out how to best deal with his family situation since he literally knows where the bodies are buried.  

Top 100: I don't think this will make my top 100 list. I'm a Big Frank Capra fan and while it's not one of my favorite Capra films, I do think that maybe it would make its way onto the bottom 100 of my top 200 film list.  

For more A to Z Challenge click here. 

Next Time: B is for Bike Movie