First of all, let me say, if you have not yet read the book, A Dog's Purpose, by W. Bruce Cameron, RUN!!! DO NOT WALK!!! To your nearest bookstore or library and READ IT NOW, or purchase it by clicking HERE. You want to read this book. It is one of my all time favorite books, and those of you who know me personally, know I love to read a LOT, so that is saying something important. Get a box of tissues and keep them nearby and read the book. DO NOT STOP READING the book until the very end. I am serious. DO NOT STOP READING. Sorry. Didn't mean to shout, but that is important to know because you will want to stop. You will probably stop several times, but don't. Just don't. You will thank me for this later. That book will make you laugh out loud. It will make you cry out loud like you've lost your best friend in the world. You will wail! You will be elated! You will be devastated. You're going to be so happily exhausted in the end that you will want to go see this movie. Don't get your hopes up too high. There is no way that a movie can possibly replicate the emotion of this book. Know this going into the theater. Believe it. It is true. But it is still a pleasant enough movie. I may have enjoyed it more if I didn't know how good the book is. The dogs in the movie are adorable, and I want them all. Yes. I always want all the dogs in the world, but these are particularly fetching, I'd say.
The human characters didn't seem as developed.
There's just not enough time in a movie to go through that many scenes with so many characters, and the dogs were the focus, so I felt you really didn't have enough time to get to know the humans, except for the boy. The boy's character was good, and I admit I cried like a baby when the dog found him in the end. I'm a sucker for a good dog story, and I would honestly LOVE for all the furry children I've had in this life to find me again. I miss them all so.... There were some happy scenes with the dogs, and there were some disturbing scenes with the dogs. In other words, it kinda showed real life a little bit. A dog's life is not always pleasant even though I do try to make my own dogs' lives very pleasant, I know it is not like that for all dogs, or for all children or for all people or other animals for that matter. The movie showed some of that. It made me sad. It is a good enough movie. I enjoyed it, but I think I would have enjoyed it just as much on DVD. I'd recommend you seeing it at some point, but if you only have so much money for movies, then I think this is one to get from Redbox later. Just one dog lover's opinion. What are your thoughts? Have you seen it yet???
Do watch the trailer below. It is very good! Enjoy!
This is just a short movie clip. It is the song, White Christmas, from the movie White Christmas. You can buy the movie HERE if you like, but click below to enjoy the song. I love this movie. It is perhaps my favorite of all the Christmas movies.
For the next few days I thought I'd share links to some of my very favorite Christmas movies. This is the first one.
I watch these movies every year. The quality of this one today is not that good, but it is watchable.
The movies are all better on DVD or Blu Ray or Netflix, etc. If you prefer to buy this movie, click HERE. But if you don't mind lesser quality viewing and you missed it on television recently, click the link below to watch it on YouTube. Enjoy! Miracle on 34th Street (1954)
Kris Kringle makes us all believe in Santa Claus.
There are several versions of this movie. This is the 1955 version and not my favorite. My favorite version is the 1947 version, but I couldn't find a good video of that one to share with you. You can buy a DVD of the 1947 version HERE.
For the next few days I thought I'd share links to some of my very favorite Christmas movies. This is the first one.
I watch these movies every year. The quality of this one today is not that good, but it is watchable.
The movies are all better on DVD or Blu Ray or Netflix, etc. If you prefer to buy this movie, click HERE. But if you don't mind lesser quality viewing and you missed it on television recently, click the link below to watch it on YouTube. Enjoy! A Christmas Carol: Scrooge (1951)
Alastair Sim, Kathleen Harrison Scrooge spends Christmas Eve with three spirits determined to change his life.
There are several versions of this movie. This is the first and one of my very favorites.
For the next few days I thought I'd share links to some of my very favorite Christmas movies. This is the first one.
I watch these movies every year. The quality of this one today is not that good, but it is watchable.
The movies are all better on DVD or Blu Ray or Netflix, etc. If you prefer to buy this movie, click HERE. But if you don't mind lesser quality viewing and you missed it on television recently, click the link below to watch it on YouTube. Enjoy! It's a Wonderful Life George Bailey wishes he was never born and discovers that his life really did have meaning.
Today I'm still thinking about Westerns and also my Daddy. Daddy LOVED westerns. He loved watching them on television, but he also loved reading the old Zane Grey western books. I didn't know much about Zane Grey until recently. I only knew he wrote the books my Daddy loved so much. Turns out Zane Grey's first name was Pearl and he was not originally an author. He was an American dentist who attended college on a baseball scholarship! He actually played minor league baseball for a time. His working life is as diverse as my own. I'm pretty sure I would have liked this man, if he had lived during my lifetime. A baseball player turned dentist turned western novel writer. He also loved to fish. I never knew. Riders of the Purple Sage was Zane Grey's best selling novel, but he wrote many western novels. You can buy Zane Grey: The Ultimate Collection - 49 Works - Classic Westerns and Much More to read on your Kindle or Kindle app for $1.99. I own this particular collection and plan to read them all after I retire. I love reading books on my Kindle. The Kindle has saved me from having to buy a larger house to store all my books. I'm afraid I'm a bit of a book-aholic. But I digress.... Zane Grey Theater was a television series that aired from 1956-1961. It was one of the shows my Daddy loved to watch. Daddy also loved Gunsmoke, Rawhide, Have Gun Will Travel, Cheyenne, The Lone Ranger, The Rifleman, Maverick, Bonanza, Wagon Train, Roy Rogers Show, Laramie, Gene Autry Show, and probably a good many others that I am forgetting. We also watched a LOT of old western movies back when Daddy was alive. He loved the movies too. Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier. The Man from the Alamo, Rio Bravo, the original Magnificent Seven....
The westerns were a great escape. Men never did hard work in the westerns. They mostly were sheriffs who walked around the town talking to the various characters. The characters played cards or rode around on their horses hunting bad guys to shoot. They were always heroes and if they died, they died fighting with honor. They were about as far away from real life in the wild wild west as you can get, which is why they were so popular, I guess. Even today I've had people tell me they wish they had been born in the wild wild west. My reply to them? "Ugh. I prefer running water, indoor plumbing, and electricity. Hospitals and real doctors and dentists are nice too."
They don't really want to live in the real wild west. They mean they'd like to be Matt Dillon with a star on their chest and six shooters on their hips.
They don't really want to plow with a mule and carry water from a spring and have to use a chamber pot late at night when it's too cold to go to the outhouse.
They just want to walk through those swinging saloon doors with their gun-belt and spurs on their boots and order a whiskey at the bar. They want a fantasy. Unfortunately real life is not like fantasies. We should all be careful what we wish for because we just might get it and find out it's not really what we want at all. Life is like that. I still like watching the westerns though....
Recently a friend and I went to see the 2016 remake of the Magnificent Seven at a local movie theater. It was magnificent!!! I came away remembering all the old westerns I've seen in my lifetime and all the actors and actresses I loved watching play the characters in them, John Wayne, James Arness, Amanda Blake, Richard Boone. Clint Eastwood.... Then it occurred to me that it has been literally years since I've watched a western! Why? No clue. I love them as long as the horses don't get hurt. They can kill off all the humans they like. Just don't hurt the animals. I can't stand to watch that. If you are like me and haven't seen a western in a very long time, I would highly recommend that you go see the Magnificent Seven that is now playing in theaters. I wouldn't take small children to see it because of all the bloodshed, but if you like shoot-em-up movies, this is one of the best.
I love that this movie has all the diversity of the human condition represented. That almost never happens in movies, and it was good to see. It is pretty impossible to not have a favorite among these seven. I have to tell you. My favorite is the one with the knives. That man is impressive! My second favorite would be the one with the card tricks. He's pretty smart and I like smart men. Then I'd have to go with the Native American. Gotta love a man who can use a bow and arrow like that. Okay. I admit it. I love the weapons. I like sharpshooting and knife throwing and archery. Can't help it. I also love martial arts, but that is a story for another day.
Searching for Sugar Man is a documentary. The story is so incredible that this film won an Oscar for Best Documentary in 2013. It is about the 1970s singer/songwriter, Sixto Rodriguez. Known merely as Rodriguez.
To view all the film's awards click HERE and be prepared to scroll a long way down before getting to the end of that list. It is a remarkable film - a modern day rags to riches story - a story of a life that should have been.
I personally believe every human on this planet should see it, so I'm sharing the trailer with you today.
After seeing the movie in the theater back in 2012, I bought the DVD of it as soon as it released in 2013. If you want one too (or a Blu Ray), you can buy it HERE. You can also rent and stream it on Amazon, or you may be able to find it in your local library. Streaming it on Netflix is unavailable, but you can get the DVD on Netflix if you have that plan. However you decide to see it, I'd recommend that you do see it.
Below is Rodriguez as he appears today, singing his hit song, Sugar Man. I admit. I just love this man and his music.
The reason I'm thinking about Rodriguez today is I drove to North Carolina recently and listened to his music all the way there and all the way back. I just can't get enough of it.
Truth be told, I love that he finally is receiving the recognition he deserves.
Rodriguez is a rock star you never knew you loved.
To purchase his music, click HERE. Enjoy and you're welcome!
Back in 2011 I was looking for a good book to read when the title "A Dog's Purpose: A Novel for Humans" caught my eye in my local Barnes and Noble Book Store.
If you have been following my blog, you already know that I am a dog person. I love dogs. All dogs. Big dogs. Little dogs. Fat dogs. Skinny dogs. All dogs. But the dogs I love the MOST are always my own dogs. They are THE BEST dogs in the Universe in my opinion, which is as it should be, but I digress.... So...when I saw the book A Dog's Purpose, I picked it up and took it home. I had never read any of the author's work before, so I was hopeful I would like the book. I'm always looking for new authors to love. This author's name was W. Bruce Cameron. That night I decided to just read a chapter or two before going to sleep. At 3:00 AM I decided that being a zombie at work the next day was a small price to pay for reading just a little more. I finished the book in record time and then I read it again about a week later. I've read that book many times now and I love it every single time. I've given the book to friends who have lost dogs (or just who love dogs) with the command, "Whatever you do, DO NOT STOP reading the book!!" You will be tempted to stop reading. There are times in the book that you will cry out loud. You will feel like you just can't finish that thought. It is just too painful. DO NOT STOP. Seriously. This is the BEST book ever. Yes. It will make you cry out loud, but it will also make you laugh out loud! The book follows a dog through many incarnations. Yup. The dog is reincarnated over and over. Each life teaches the dog new things, but the dog's last life in the book is the very best of all. If you have not yet read it, RUN; do NOT walk; to the nearest library or book store and pick up a copy NOW, OR just click HERE to order your copy online. You can thank me later. Now recently, to my great surprise and delight, I discovered that this book has been made into a movie slated to be released January 27, 2017. To see the cast and crew click HERE. I CAN NOT WAIT!!! Here is the trailer for the upcoming movie. (MAJOR SPOILER ALERT: Do NOT watch the trailer below before finishing the book unless knowing large parts of the story in advance is okay with you.)
