Movie Recommendations

DVD RECOMMENDATIONS

There are so many movies cropping up here and there----mostly commercially viable movies for mainstream viewers. My list is very unique because I think these are movies most people will pass on because of the following reasons:

1. It's a foreign film and sub-titled. So it takes too much effort to read. (What? Reading is hard?)
2. They are movies that didn't make the theaters for one reason or another. (Read: $$$)
3. They do not have 'stars' with name power.

So, let me list this months top picks:

1. Duma: A wonderful film! No, it's not "Jungle Book". And it is not a story about a cheetah either---even if there's one involved. It is a beautiful story about family and a young boy's determination.
2. Swimming Upstream: Little seen Aussie gem. Inspiring. Especially because it's a true story. Beautifully acted. Watch the scene when mother and son bid each other farewell.
3. Il Mare: The original. Though Keanu and Sandra made an Americanized version (The Lakeplace), this original version is a lot more tight and tidy. Korean.
4. Downfall: Hitler's last days in the bunker. Excellent fast-paced story-telling. (German)
5. Everything is Illuminated: a well-crafted piece about a young Jewish man who goes on a search for the gentile woman who saved his grandfather. Quirky characters.
6. Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter....Spring: Another Korean masterpiece. Very zen. If a poem can be interpreted as a movie, this is a masterpiece. It attempts, and beautifully at that, to show the meaning of life, it's sorrows and wisdom...in a Buddhist mindset. Don't expect this movie to move along. To enjoy it, you must calm yourself and let the movie take you where it must.
7. Little Manhattan: First love set against the beautiful backdrop of....Manhattan! You will have a longing for all things pure and honest after this experience.
8. Zelary: a wondrous film about the clash between two different worlds...and two different people...and love. You will fall inlove with Joza. (in Czech and German)
9. Der Tweeling (Twin Sisters): A moving tale about twin sisters orphaned and then separated. A tragic and thought-provoking cautionary tale. Just when you think you know where this movie is going, you don't. Every time. (in Dutch and German)
10. Les Choristes (The Chorus): This movie will put a smile on your face. Guaranteed. I just can't seem to leave this one out though I've had this title on my other lists.

My Top Ten iPod Picks for the Month

My Top Ten iPod Picks for the Month:

1. Singing Softly To Me -----Kings of Convenience
2. Loneliness Finds Her Own Way ---Clem Snide
3. Love's A Game ------The Magic Numbers
4. Only Molly Knows ------Travis
5. John Wayne Gacy, Jr -----Sufjan Stevens (so sad this song...)
6. Love Will Tear Us Apart -----Nouvelle Vague
7. Wake Me Up When September Ends ----Green Day
8. 1989 ------Clem Snide
9. The Riddle ----Five For Fighting
10. This Never Happened Before ------Paul McCartney

And for all you sentimental people like me, here's my sentimental pick of the month:
Ne Me Quitte Pas-----Django Reinhardt & Stephane Grappella

My album pick for the month is
TWO LIGHTS by John Ondrasik of Five for Fighting
EVERY song is a wonderful discovery----a dozen piano-driven songs with thoughtful lyrics all melded in delicious melodies powerfully executed by John Ondrasik's dulcet tenor voice.

Thanks to Jordan for keeping me in the loop with songs that crop up from the vast universe of talent out there.

So. there I am today.

The Question I Am Often Asked

THE QUESTION I AM OFTEN ASKED

I am often asked how my children turned out to be so kind and self-assured. I've thought about this question and though it is so frequently asked of me, I seldom give straight answers. The reasons are perhaps that I do not hold myself up as an expert on parenting or simply that my thoughts regarding this are so simple that even if I share them, no one will take them seriously. Thus, I decided that the best way to articulate my ideas is to write about them. However, if I were to sum up my thoughts about the answer to this question, I would list three of my best 'discoveries' which I think are merely simple principles.

1. The best way to parent a child is to love your spouse above all things...and make SURE they are aware that you do.

2. Never pay attention to negative behavior. This is easier said than done because our tendency is to hurry and finish whatever task we need to complete WHILE the children are behaving. Thus, we lose a myriad of opportunities to 'catch them being good'. It takes imagination, creativity, effort and a sharp focus to pay MEANINGFUL attention to good behavior.

3. Speak with a kindly toned voice. I found that speaking in hushed tones with firmness and with eyes focused into their eyes and therefore, the spirits of your children is the most effective way to provide them with what I call "parameters of safety".

About Tauck Tours

ABOUT TAUCK TOURS:

After a careful and exhaustive research, I decided to use Tauck Tours to effectively use 10 days of vacation time that we wanted to spend in Spain. Tauck is very pricey but our experience with them well exceeded our expectations. Tauck took the stress out of EVERYTHING. We never had to handle our baggage or worry about pilot strikes. Our hotels were always superlative (Meridien Hotel in Barcelona, The Palace Hotel in Madrid (!), a beautiful parador in Ronda.....) complete with bidet (except Madrid which was surprising...) and crisp Italian linens. (again, except in Madrid which is a Westin hotel that uses American high thread count sheets....), and beautifully appointed rooms and lounges. Magnificent buffet breakfasts were always included and we never had to worry about tipping bellhops, waiters, etc bec Tauck took care of all of that. Judging from the way we were treated, I would guess that they tipped them all very generously.
While in Barcelona, Iberia Airlines’ pilots went on strike and cancelled our flight to Granada. Our tour guide, Matt Curran, somehow arranged so that we were able to take an earlier flight out which was an amazing feat considering that most flights were cancelled and many tourists were stranded to find other ways to complete their itineraries. There were also wonderful surprises along the way like a horse and carriage ride through Granada, our very own Flamenco show in Sevilla and a group of troubadors (very charming young men but man....they sang so badly...) called La Tuna in Madrid who serenaded us whilst we completed our desserts. We were also the first in line at the Prado museum which made the tour so pleasant. Every contingency was anticipated. Our train ride from Sevilla to Madrid was via business class complete with movie and lunch with wide and roomy seats. (Though the movie was a French movie dubbed in Spanish, L’Enfant, I totally enjoyed it even if it was a sad one.) Another feature that I cannot even express enough relief about, is the fact that there were no hidden charges or extra charges tacked on. I mean, I didn't have to worry about making any more decisions if I wanted to tack on another "optional tour". I hate that. It just feels soooo tacky. (Trafalgar Tours is notorious for this one....) For a memorable, stress-free vacation full of unexpected charm and the little touches that make such a HUGE impact, Tauck Tours clearly, excels. This is a classy, well-run enterprise. Whoever is in charge deserves the cover of some business magazine! Tauck Tours has more than won my loyalty and my next vacation will be another Tauck Tour, I am sure of it!

Spain: My Impetus For Starting A Blog

SPAIN: HOW TO GET TO MONTSERRAT

We spent 2 and a half days on our own, arriving on a Friday, in Barcelona ---my beloved city where I lived for 6 months in 1980 as an LDS missionary. The infrastructure is the same but I noticed that more people spoke English and seemed to be better off economically which made me happy for them. The biggest change is that they changed ALL the streets and city names from Castillian to Catalan. We stayed in a hotel called Hotel 1898 which is literally just a few steps away from Le Meridien Barcelona where our Tauck Tour was to commence on Sunday evening. Hotel 1898 used to house the Philippine Tobacco Company and is now a boutique hotel run by a local Spanish company. Very charming and lovely. The rooms are decorated in the Moderne style---beautiful wood floors, granite bathrooms complete with bidet and a large shower room with large rainshower heads and body showers and beautiful caste iron sinks. The nearest metro stop is just a few meters away, Liceu, on the green line. Walking out of entrance that faced the Ramblas, if you turned left, you would run into a local supermercado where you can get sundries and food with a sandwich shop next door called Pans where they made the best “bocadillos”---french baguettes with tomatoes, manchego cheese and jamon iberico. YUMMY. If you walk the Ramblas the same direction, you will reach Plaza Catalunya within 5 minutes. Walking out of the Hotel and turning right, you will reach “La Boqueria”---an open market full of fresh fruits, meats, fish....and the best cold horchata. No, not the horchata that you buy at Vons or Albertsons made of rice. It’s the REAL horchata made of CHUFA beans---so refreshing and addicting-----to me, anyway. It’s packed with proteins. I wish it were readily available here in the US but to get it, you will need to order from LaTienda.com at a premium. Going the same direction on the Ramblas, and turning left on the first little street (called “carrer” in Catalan), you will find the best shopping! WOW. July is the time of REBAIXES. or sales. We frequented Mango, Zara, Paramito and all kinds of little shops. We also discovered a little restaurant that served the best tarta de manzana and my favorite: CHURROS y CHOCOLATE. No, not colacao or hot chocolate from a mix---the very thick (pots de creme) chocolate that you dip the churros in....and NO, the churros do not come sprinkled with sugar or cinnamon. They are crisp and wonderful. If you continue on the Ramblas, you will eventually reach Plaza Colón where the Ramblas end. There will be a monument of Cristóbal Colón pointing out to the sea. Of course, he is pointing at the wrong direction because he is pointing towards Asia, not the Americas.

Early Saturday, we decided to go on our own to Montserrat. I had been there before so I thought it should be easy to take the Metro and then the train but alas---we had a series of “mistakes”. To get to Montserrat, one must first get to Plaza España which is an easy proposition. It was a mere 2 stops from Liceu. From there you must find the railroad, the Line R5 to Manresa---which is subterranean so you go down a series of stairs. Henceforth, you will find yourself in a very vulnerable situation because EVERYTHING---every sign, every map is in Catalán. No Spanish. No English. Nothing. Just Catalán. To get tickets for the train, you use the machine. There is supposed to be a manned table where one can get assistance but it was empty perhaps because it was still early at around 8:00am. So we went ahead and used the ticket machine. Of course, everything was in Catalán as well and we saw about 6 fares that had the name “Montserrat”. I punched the first button I saw that had “Montserrat Aeri” because I knew that “aeri” meant cable car and I knew that in order to get to Montserrat, one has to get on a cable car or cog-wheel train. We each paid about 9 euros. The train arrived perfectly on time: 8:35. Very nice, comfortable train. I knew that the stop we needed to get off was “Montserrat Aeri” and that it was going to take us over an hour. About two stops away, the conductress asked to see our tickets. She took a look at Tascha’s first, then at Tascha, then at the ticket and looked perplexed. Then she asked her something in Catalán. Of course, none of us spoke Catalán so I said: Perdón, hay un problema? To which she replied that the ticket was for retired (jubilados) people! Ha! We all got the discounted tkts for seniors! So I told her we would gladly pay the difference and she gave me instructions on how to do that. As the train neared our stop, I got up and confirmed with her that this was our stop. She said, no, next one. Which confused me. The next stop was Monistral and I knew there was NO cable car there. So we sat down and got off Monistral. Found out that Monistral stop is where you catch the cogwheel train which is NOT our ticket. So I spoke with another lady conductor who looked at my ticket and said “Da igual...passád vosotros!” So we got on! BEAUTIFUL! The slow train took us on a very steep grade of tracks and out towards beautiful vistas as we went higher and higher. After about 20 minutes we were in beautiful Montserrat. It was heavenly.

On the way back, we walked to the funicular (aeri) house and bought tickets back to Plaza España, this time, on the cable car again with fantastic and unparalleled views. When we arrived in Barcelona and to our hotel, we were very pleased with ourselves for making the “correct mistake” because if I had bought the round-trip tickets via aeri, we would not have experienced both ways to see the views. So, everything went well and our adventure was well-worth it all. Cost to see Montserrat on our own: about $30 each. Cost to Montserrat on an organized tour via tourist bus: minimum of $60 each and you have to choose either cable car or cog-wheel train but not both...First tour leaves the city at 9:30am. If you go on your own, you have at least an hour to enjoy the views without the crowds. By the time several buses arrived at about 11:00 carrying hordes of people, we were ready to leave and our cable car which they usually pack with around 35 people, carried only 7 people. It was wonderful! And easy. This is DEFINITELY the way to do it.