I am doing my A to Z Reflections in 2 parts this year. The traditional reflection with the index and the pontification will follow. This year I paid homage to John "1 Hand Typing" Holton by having a "song of the day" for each letter of the alphabet at the end of my post. I would post a You Tube video of the song in question and then daily add that song to my Spotify A to Z playlist.
I am adding a bonus song of the day for the reflection called appropriately enough, Reflecting on My Reflection by Allen Levi.
The Leap of Dave A to Z Playlist ia now ready with all 26 songs from the challenge.
I will be back later this week with my traditional reflection. Foe more reflections click here.
Today is Easter Sunday. Well it still is in my time zone. After church today I was driving to a family gathering and I heard this song. The song is over 30 years old and I have heard it plenty of times. As I listened to it today and reflected upon the lyrics and thought about it in the context of Easter. I realized I'm accepted by Christ, and He loved me so much to die for my sins and his resurrection shows that His love is packed with power. I hope these lyrics minister to you today as much as they did to me .
"I'm Accepted"
by Degarmo & Key | from the 1989 album The Pledge
I May not be rich Don't wear fashion clothes Don't live in a mansion Don't have much that shows Never won a contest in popularity Don't have much to offer But Jesus still loves me
I'm accepted, accepted I'm accepted by the one who matters most.
Never set a record in sports agility Never was magnetic in personality That don't really matter I'll do the best I can 'Cause there's a God above me Who loves me like I am
I'm accepted, accepted I'm accepted by the one who matters most. If you think you're a loser When you fail it seems at everything you do Just remember there's a Savior And you are worth enough He gave his life for you
I'm accepted, accepted I'm accepted by the one who matters most. I'm accepted, accepted I'm accepted by the one who matters most. I'm accepted, accepted I'm accepted by the one who matters most.
At the end of each year I like to reflect on the year past and prepare for the coming year. I have been thinking quite a bit about some of my goals and whether I have achieved them this year. One goal I set each year and have so far failed to achieve is to watch 12 movies I have not seen before.
I like movies and have worked at a movie theatre since 2019. Besides watching new movies at the theatre, I tend to watch my favorites over and over. I also like to watch movies that are new to me and discover new favorites. On many occasions I have attempted to watch 12 new to me movies in the course of the year. I may have accomplished this goal in the past, but I have always failed to chronicle it. Next year,I will try again to write a post each month about the "new" movie I have seen.
Let me explain the parameters I have placed upon myself. When I say new movies, I do not mean 12 2022 movies at the theater. I mean 12 movies released prior to 2022. Also, I don't only want to watch movies made in my lifetime, I want to explore through all the eras of cinema.
Here is how I am doing it: I was born in 1964 and have divided that time in 4 periods and then divided the time prior to my birth into 2 periods. These periods are:
2007 through 2021 1993 through 2006 1979 through 1993 1964 through 1978 1949 through 1963
Pre 1934 through 1948
I will attempt to watch 2 movies from each era, and report back here each month with a review. I was recently subbing for some high school English classes saw an assignment for a movie review. I am going to use that assignment as the template for my monthly reviews.
I will rate each movie on a 1 (worst movie ever) to 5 (best movie I have seen) scale.
I will provide a 2-3 sentence summary of the movie.
I will share 1 theme from the movie.
I will write one thing I liked about the movie and 1 thing I disliked about the movie.
I will say who I think would make the best audience for this movie.
The thing I like most about this type of review is that it is only supposed to be 1 paragraph. I have failed many times in the past not to watch the movies but to chronicle them as I have had unrealistic expectations of the quality of such a review and the time it takes me to make a longer review. \
Last Thursday I finally watched The Matrix (1999) for the first time. It was playing at my theatre in anticipation of Matrix Resurrection which opens soon. When I told my wife that it was showing she noticed it was also on a streaming service we subscribe to so we watched it together after work.
Here is a review of The Matrix following the template and giving me some practice for the task at hand next year.
In my opinion The Matrix deserves 4 of 5 stars for being a thrilling innovative and entertaining film that kept me on the edge of my seat. The Matrix appears to take place at the turn of the 20th century but the main character Neo discovers that all is not what it seems. His discovery leads him to another reality and to a choice of which reality he should follow. Once Neo makes his choices he uses his new powers for the good of humanity. One important theme of the movie is the concept of fate. One thing I really liked about the movie was the fast paced frenetic action. I disliked the intense violence of the movie, I was not aware that this series of movies are all R rated, I think the violence could be ratchetted down a little for a PG13 rating instead. This movie is best suited for sci-fi fans who like post apocalyptic action films that are both dark and hopeful at the same time.
1921 seems like a long time ago. And in a way, it was. Spending the month looking back at it through the lens of people who were alive then has given me the perspective that 1921 is still visible in our rear view mirror.
Every morning on my way to work I listen to music from one or two artists and every few weeks I change up those artists. Consequently, I have heard Billy Joel's. We Didn't Start the Fire many times in the past few weeks. This was at the same time I was participating in the A to Z challenge and I was surprised as to how many people mentioned in the song, I had featured in my 1921 theme. I have included the lyrics below wit links to all the people mentioned by both Joel and myself. I have also placed in bold anyone in the song who was alive in 1921 but not mentioned in my posts.
Harry Truman, Doris Day, Red China, Johnnie Ray South Pacific, Walter Winchell, Joe DiMaggio Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon, Studebaker, television North Korea, South Korea, Marilyn Monroe
Rosenbergs, H-bomb, Sugar Ray, Panmunjom Brando, "The King and I", and "The Catcher in the Rye" Eisenhower, Vaccine, England's got a new queen Marciano, Liberace, Santayana, goodbye
We didn't start the fire It was always burning, since the world's been turning We didn't start the fire No, we didn't light it, but we tried to fight it
Joseph Stalin, Malenkov, Nasser and Prokofiev Rockefeller,Campanella, Communist Bloc Roy Cohn, Juan Peron, Toscanini, Dacron Dien Bien Phu falls, "Rock Around the Clock"
Einstein, James Dean, Brooklyn's got a winning team Davy Crockett, Peter Pan, Elvis Presley, Disneyland Bardot, Budapest, Alabama, Krushchev Princess Grace, Peyton Place, Trouble in the Suez
We didn't start the fire It was always burning, since the world's been turning We didn't start the fire No, we didn't light it, but we tried to fight it
Little Rock, Pasternak, Mickey Mantle, Kerouac Sputnik, Chou En-Lai, "Bridge on the River Kwai" Lebanon, Charles de Gaulle, California baseball Starkweather homicide, children of thalidomide
Buddy Holly, Ben Hur, space monkey, mafia Hula hoops, Castro, Edsel is a no-go U2, Syngman Rhee, Payola and Kennedy Chubby Checker, Psycho, Belgians in the Congo
We didn't start the fire It was always burning, since the world's been turning We didn't start the fire No, we didn't light it, but we tried to fight it
Hemingway, Eichmann, "Stranger in a Strange Land" Dylan, Berlin, Bay of Pigs invasion "Lawrence of Arabia", British Beatlemania Ole Miss, John Glenn, Liston beats Patterson Pope Paul, Malcolm X, British politician sex JFK – blown away, what else do I have to say?
We didn't start the fire It was always burning, since the world's been turning We didn't start the fire No, we didn't light it, but we tried to fight it
Birth control, Ho Chi Minh, Richard Nixon back again Moonshot, Woodstock, Watergate, punk rock Begin, Reagan, Palestine, terror on the airline Ayatollah's in Iran, Russians in Afghanistan
"Wheel of Fortune", Sally Ride, heavy metal suicide Foreign debts, homeless vets, AIDS, crack, Bernie Goetz Hypodermics on the shore, China's under martial law Rock and roller, cola wars, I can't take it anymore
We didn't start the fire It was always burning, since the world's been turning We didn't start the fire But when we are gone It will still burn on, and on, and on, and on, and on, and on, and on, and on
I knew I was going to mention more than 26 people alive in 1921. That being said, I was very surprised when I tabulated that I had mentioned 69 people and 1 stuffed bear that were around in 1921.
At the first mention of each these people, I always included how many years they had lived before 1921 and after 1921. On average these people lived 30 years before 1921 and 48 years after. This means my average subject was born in 1891 and died in1969. In 1891 there were 44 states in the U.S.
During the challenge I tried to include material from my other blogs, both new material and previously published material on the people I was profiling. I also tried when possible to include people living in 1921 who were still alive in 2021. I started with Al Jaffee on my first post, Prince Phillip passed away during the challenge before I got to Q for Queen's Consort. I discovered today that I had already included someone years ago in the A to Z challenge who is currently living. In 2015 I participated in the A to Z challenge from, Crazy Uncle Dave's Sports Blog and my theme was White Sox Home Run Hitters. For E I wrote about Eddie Robinson. At the time Eddie was 94 years old and the 21st oldest living major leaguer. Since then, Eddie has become the oldest living major leaguer. He was born December 15, 1920. That means I began the A to Z challenge with someone from 1921 who is still alive and I get to end the challenge the same way.
I really enjoyed participating in the challenge again this year. I have my theme all set for next year but first I'm going back to the simpler non a to z blogging lifestyle. I am looking forward to the a to z road trip after a little rest. Working for a century can do that to you.
