During my years of teaching film appreciation classes at the Flint Institute of Arts, no course attracted as high an attendance as the one I led on the cinema of Alfred Hitchcock. While Hitchcock (amazingly) won no competitive Academy Awards during his half-century career, “The Master of Suspense” did win the respect of the film-going public – and the admiration of filmmakers like François Truffaut.
The push to promote the “summer” movie season’s initial blockbuster didn’t start during the Super Bowl telecast. But if you’d been living under a rock prior to football’s Big Game, you were informed via ample buys of incredibly costly ad time about Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice.
There’s a side to vacationing that isn’t all that much fun. Or relaxing. There are aspects of planning a trip that are frustrating, stressful, and sometimes, downright infuriating. They include picking the vacation spot, and coordinating the transportation.
Eight years ago this month, my husband Rick and I were married in Key West, Florida. The ceremony was small – just my husband, his best man, my mother, my matron of honor and me … and a half dozen or so drunks who happened to be passed out on the beach nearby.
As I write the story about Women’s History Month, it got me thinking about the women in my life who have inspired me. They weren’t famous – not a movie star or politician – I’ve been inspired most by everyday, ordinary women.
Six years have passed since the financial collapse of 2008 and 2009, and I feel it appropriate to re-visit some of the lessons learned during that crisis period. One of the most important lessons: operate your financial investments from a position of strength. A prime example of this strategy in action is the concept of buying low and selling high.
You’ve been invited to witness the union of your friends and family … amazing, right? After Saving-the-Date for an upcoming wedding, the next question is: what on Earth will you wear? We understand the stress of figuring out what is appropriate – something that’s dressy enough but doesn’t upstage the bride, and when you add seasonal restraints on attire, it can be even trickier. Here, we show you two dresses that can cover all four seasons, giving you more bang-for-your-buck during a whole year of wedding celebrations.
I was not even going to write anything about Valentine’s Day in this month’s column. I had a self-righteous “dare to dream” diatribe all worked out in my head. You know, something like, “This is where the rubber meets the road, friends.” Whoever “they” are, “they” cautioned us the entire last week of December that most of us would fail at whatever New Year’s Eve declarations of intent we made. Here we are over a month into the New Year, and Fat Tuesday is sitting there like a huge dead-end to whatever “new me” or “new you” we were determined to become in 2016.
Chantilly Castle brings to my mind images of lace and thick whipped cream. A gorgeous castle complex on the outskirts of Paris, it’s a Beauty and the Beast kind of castle, with stables filled with thoroughbred horses, tiny little ponies and a myriad of sad looking donkeys. But don’t worry; even amongst the luxury, splendor and rich history of a European castle – I still kept my eyes peeled for whipped cream.
Pink hearts, bouquets of red roses, heart-shaped boxes of chocolates, and words of love. What’s not to like about Valentine’s Day – a day for love and romance, and candle-lit dinners for two? It makes me think about some of my favorite (and not-so favorite) love stories that I’ve read or watched at the movies or on TV.
