B is for Breaking Away

 A to Z Challenge

A Month At The Movies

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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.  

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) 24 more times this month. 

Film: Breaking Away (1979)

Director: Peter Yates

By www.impawards.com, Fair use, Link 

Breaking Away is a coming-of-age sports movie about four friends from Bloomington, Indiana.  The movie features Dennis Christopher, Daniel Stern, Dennis Quaid, and Jackie Earle Hailey.   Dennis Quaid and Daniel Stern are probably the most famous of the 4 now, but at the time I only recognized Jackie Earle Hailey from the Bad News Bears films.

The movie takes place in the late '70s in Bloomington, Indiana, a college town in the midwest.  Christopher plays the main character Dave Stoller. The movie takes place in the year after Stoller and his 3 friends graduate from high school and are spending their gap year hanging around together when Stoller isn't cycling around Indiana or tormenting his father by cosplaying an Italian cyclist.  

The movie does a great job of confronting the divides between social classes and generations.  It has humor, introspection, romance, and intrigue while being true to its David vs. Goliath roots.  The American Film Institute (AFI) has placed on two of its lists of top 100 films.  In 2006 it was named #8 on the list of most inspirational movies.  In 2008 The AFI named it 8th on their list of sports moves.   

                                           ( Left To Right ) Christopher, Hailey,  Stern, Quaid

(Photo by John Springer Collection/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)

 This is both a well-written and well-acted movie as this monologue by Dennis Quaid will attest.

 

 

 Positive Tomato: I seriously can't imagine anyone not liking it. Gene Siskel - Chicago Tribune

Negative Tomato: This timeworn material probably should work, but it doesn't really since, most of the film's angst and conflict seem calculated. Jeremy Heilman - MovieMartyr.com

The movie was filmed entirely in Bloomington, Indiana.  If you are interested this video goes back and shows some of the main places where it was filmed.

 

Resiliency: Resiliency is sometimes pre-meditated as near the end of the movie when Dave and his friends tape Dave's feet to the bike pedals so as the commentators observe they can no longer switch riders for the duration of the race.  That scene is a visual reminder to me of  the end of Hebrews 12:1 , "And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us."

Top 100:  When I last made my top 100 list, I wasn't really sure what to do with Breaking Away.  I loved it when it first came out but when I saw it last 20 years ago or so I remember thinking it hadn't aged well.  I watched it again earlier this year and it really resonated with me again.  It would definitely make my top 100 this time out and wouldn't be surprised at all if it broke into the top 50. 

For more A to Z challenge click here

 Next Time: C is for Champion

Last 5 Next 10

 How do I spend my off day on the a to z challenge? By releasing 2 non a-z related posts.  It is time for the first official last 4 next 10 of the year.

LAST FIVE

The Annotated Pride & Prejudice

Jane Austen

Annotated and Edited by David M. Shapard

Borrowed from libray.

Read to myself

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Read myself borrowed from library.

The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club

 Dorothy L. Sayers

Borrowed from Hoopla read from Ipad.

Pure Drivel

Steve Martin

Borrowed from Hoopls listened to on phone

Strong Poison

Dorothy L. Sayers

Borrowed from Hoopla listened to on phone

An Old Fashioned Girl

Louisa May Alcott

Family Owned

Read to myself

NEXT TEN

The Last Juror- John Grisham

The Last Sweet Mile - Allen Levi

Write Better - Andrew T. Le Peau

Gentle and Lowly - Dane Ortlund

Luke - The Gospel of Amazement - Michael Card

What To Do on Thursday - Jay E. Adams. 

75 Readings - An Anthology

Heroes of the Faith - Gene Fedele

The Five Red Herrings - Dorothy L. Sayers

Alone - Megan E. Freeman

Concise Theology -  J.I. Packer

On The 40th day of the year I had read 8 books.  52 days later I have finished 5 more.  So with 1/4 of the year finished I have finished 13 books.  In 52 days I have gone from a projected 74 books at years end to a projected 51.57.  With the Challenge this month I may not finish a lot of books and my projections may continue to plummet, but hopefully I'll get back into the swing after the challenge.

March Stats

 I am taking a scheduled rest from posting on the A to Z challenge today.  I have been posting my monthly stats the first day of the new month, but since yesterday was the first day of the challenge. and I knew I'd have a respite today, I decided to wait until today for the stats post.  I posted on my blog 8 times last month.  I had posted 9 each in January and February, so my average for the year has been pretty much the same.  At this rate I should have 104 posts by the end of the year.

My average posts per month for the past quarter have been 8.63 rounding up to 9.  Over the past 18 months I have posted 167 times for an average of 9.28 posts per month.  If you take away my most prolific month (April 2022 - 28 posts) and my most abysmal (November 2021 - 1 post) my average  goes fown to 8.63 post per month which is nearly identical to my output this quarter.

With my A to Z post yesterday this is the 30th month in a row that I have posted at least once on this blog.

I should be back later today with a second post regarding my last 5 books read since I was up past midnight finishing An Old Fashioned Girl.  I have some work to do on the challenge as well today and make sure my next few posts are ready for publication.  

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

A to Z Themes for Blogs on My Blogroll

 

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Over the past few weeks I've posted about my A to Z Theme reveal for the upcoming A to Z challenge and I've posted a little about blogs that appear on my various blogrolls on my home page.  I'd like to combine those today and tell you about blogs I have on my blogrolls that are participating in this year's challenge and tell you about their themes.

One of my favorite blogs is Sue's Trifles.  Her theme this year is revisiting her theme from 2013 where she combined alliteration with content to help people learn more about Christ and Christianity.  I am really looking forward to her posts this year.  

When Sue isn't doing the A to Z challenge she mostly posts book reviews which is why Sue's Trifles can be found in my Writing, Poetry, Publishing, and Book blogs blogroll.

The next blog has recently moved from my Bloggy Blogs (more on that soon) blogroll to my Writing, Poetry, Publishing and Book Blogs blogroll where it fits the category much better.  hdhstory.net is using the theme of an adventure at the Kingdom of Selat.  I am looking forward to the "tales" that  will be found there.

Janet's Smiles is another blog I follow.  Her theme this year is the Illuminate SF - Festival of Light. I have Janet's Smiles in my Bloggy Blogs blogroll.  A bloggy blog is a blog that kind of sprays to all fields.  

I got the inspiration for the title bloggy blogs from a friend of my son when they were in high school together.  She and her family attend a local megachurch which doesn't really look like a church at all.  I was driving my son and his friends to an outing and we passed a local church that looked like your typical steeple and triangular roof church.  She wasn't looking at it at first and then when she saw it, she said "Look! A churchy church." 

John Holton who is a member of the A to Z team hosts a blog called TheSound of One Hand Typing. He can also be found on my Bloggy Blogs blogroll. His theme this year is really jazzy.  It makes my heart jingle and my mouth ajar in contemplation. He is going to juxtapose the letter j in each of the 26 words he's choosing for the challenge.  Well, that's what he said, hopefully, he didn't perjure himself.

The 5th and (so far) final of my blogroll blogs participating in the challenge this year is Wolf of Words.  This is the 4th time the wolf is using the theme of fan fiction.  I am especially looking forward to the Scooby Doo/Dr. Who Mash-up.

The A to Z Challenge starts this Saturday!

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