MY NETFLIX MOVIE REVIEWS #232

The Kims - mother and father Chung-sook and Ki-taek, and their young adult offspring, son Ki-woo and daughter Ki-jung - are a poor family living in a shabby and cramped half basement apartment in a busy lower working-class commercial district of Seoul. Without even knowing it, they, especially Mr. and Mrs. Kim, literally smell of poverty. Often as a collective, they perpetrate minor scams to get by, and even when they have jobs, they do the minimum work required. Ki-woo is the one who has dreams of getting out of poverty by one day going to university. Despite not having that university education, Ki-woo is chosen by his university student friend Min, who is leaving to go to school, to take over his tutoring job to Park Da-hye, who Min plans to date once he returns to Seoul and she herself is in university. The Parks are a wealthy family who for four years have lived in their modernistic house designed by and the former residence of famed architect Namgoong. While Mr. and Mrs. Park ... Written by Huggo (Courtesy of Internet Movie Database)

PARASITE (2019) is directed by Bong Joon Ho, written by Bong Joon Ho &Jin Won Han, and produced by Bong Joon Ho, Moon Yang Kwon & Kwak Sin Ae. Having heard this film won numerous awards including best picture I knew it would only be a matter of time till I would get to see for myself what all the noise was about. Upon watching, nothing much struck me as groundbreaking yet I watched on.

As the film progressed I began to disconnect from the group of main characters. I thinking that may have been the reason for my lack of ultimate understanding of the film and I believe it affected my overall affinity for the film.

In the End: PARASITE was an interesting story up to a point, but I do question the point this film was trying to share. So for this film I give it a 3 of 5 stars.

ART SHARE

Welcome back to another Able Abe Studios Art Share. Today I'm serving up a little something from the back burner that I completed today ...Let's GO!!!

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HOW THE POWER OF WORDS CAN CHANGE OUR LIVES

 

I came across this quote, looking back at an old book I had read. The book was The Mindful Athlete. The author George Mumford accredited with helping Michael Jordan reach championship status. The quote I am talking about is, "What you habitually think largely determines what you will ultimately become." In today's piece, I will talk about this quote, what it means, and how this way of thinking can affect our lives.

I believe that our thoughts and words have power, especially when we put intention behind them. I know for many people when they hear talk like this, it seems a little far fetched. Having read the Mindful Athlete by George Mumford and reviewed here on my channel, I recommend it to anyone who'd like to go deeper into this way of thinking, so check out my review here, BOOK REVIEW.

In this piece, though, I would like to focus on this quote, "What you habitually think largely determines what you will ultimately become." To help decipher this quote, I want to introduce the Rice experiment. If you are not familiar with this experiment, here is a preferably well-made video on the topic RICE EXPERIMENT VIDEO.

If I had to explain this experiment, if you took cooked rice and put a portion of this rice into three containers and labeled each container, one loved one hate and the last container with no label. And in one month, proceeded to praise the loving container with your words, speak hateful things to the hate container, and said nothing to the non labeled container; you'd find some interesting stuff at the end of the month. What you would find is that container-spoken love and praise would still look reasonably good, even eatable. The container spoken hate and ill will to would become moldy rancid and not eatable. And lastly, the non-labeled container not spoken to would have the start of mold and not eatable.

So what is happening here? The experiment was initially done by Dr. Masaru Emoto using water. He found that based on the words spoken, the crystals in the water when frozen would look magnificent if spoken to lovingly, crystals in water spoken hate to were ill-formed and ugly, while water not spoken to showed no real change. This experiment proves words spoken with intention have power.

And now you probably thinking, why is this important to know? It is essential because if you go back to our quote, it says, "what you habitually think" or even say "largely determines what you'll ultimately become." Think of it like this, how many of us have negative thoughts or negative self talk that we use throughout the day? Telling ourselves we're idiots, we're not good enough, or that no one could love us. I know there are times we use talk like this is to be self-deprecating, and that can be charming and humorous, but if we took a good look, what is the dialogue saying?

My point then is this believing our thoughts and words have power would benefit us. It would benefit us to subdue any negative or hurtful self-talk and turn it into a more positive and loving dialogue with a positive outlook, which, as the quote directs, will significantly determine what we'll see in our lives.

I hope this was helpful to you somehow, as I know it has helped me think about the thoughts and words I use. So God bless, and I will see you on the flipside ...Let's GO!!!

HOW THE POWER OF WORDS CAN CHANGE YOUR LIFE a 2020 Vision Vlog

MY NETFLIX MOVIE REVIEWS #231

A soldier introduces himself to the Peterson family, claiming to be a friend of their son who died in action. After the young man is welcomed into their home, a series of accidental deaths seem to be connected to his presence. (Courtesy of Internet Movie Database)

THE GUEST is directed by Adam Wingard, written by Simon Barrett, and produced by Keith Cadler.
Having pasted up view this film for some time, I finally gave it a chance when hearing some good things about it from a friend.

As I watched, I could tell things weren’t right for what reason I didn’t know. So as I watched on, I found this film had you thinking one thing, and it goes another. This could be a great Halloween movie if you are into that kind of thing.

In the End: I found myself entertained with a satisfying ending; at least, in my opinion, that may lead to more? So for this film, I give it a 3.5 of 5 stars.

The UNBOXING: WOODZEE sunglasses a California Wood Acetate Line

ART SHARE

Welcome to another Able Abe Studios Art Share WIP completed. Dropping the final panel of my mini-comic and now on to the next ...Let's GO!!!

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HOW TO GET YOUR WORK NOTICED

 

When I look back on my life this far and see where I once was, one thing becomes clear life is a process. I have always been talented enough, even through my accident, to draw from memory or to draw what I see. My skills have even improved over the years of work. I can even see how I could become even better if I worked on this talent/skill. So in today's article, I want to emphasize a point that can help you become better at whatever you do. 

I have a book that I read and once reviewed on this channel to help explain my view. This book is SO GOOD THEY CAN'T IGNORE YOU by Cal Newport. In this book, Mr. Newport discusses how one's skill is a better barometer than a passion for finding the life work one will love. This book goes into great detail to explain this idea and what you can do to achieve that. I highly recommend this book, and if you like to see my review on this book, follow the link here BOOK REVIEW.

Moving along to the idea, I would like to explain from this book is where Mr. Newport speaks on this idea of "Craftsman's mindset." There is no brief passage I can reference to express this idea from the book so I will explain it in this way. The Craftsman's mindset is the ability to take something you know little or nothing about but have interested in it. Then stick to regularly focused repetitions of doing this task or exercise so that you will have confidently grown to master it or do it at a high level over time.

I hope you can see where I am going with this, but here is an example. Let's say a person wants to play the guitar. At first, they may know one or two chords, yet through diligent, focused practice, that person can soon learn all the chords and turn those simple chords into melodies that structure songs. Here is an example of what The Craftsman's mindset looks according to Cal Newport. I can even give you another example using myself.

At one point in my junior college days, a professor commented that I might have a writing future. I had written a few stories. One of which I read in class and received some excellent feedback. I wasn't till after taking a few other paths did I came back to writing and gave it a strong go researching and reading books on becoming a better writer. Soon I was writing everyday challenging myself with writing prompts I found online. I even sniffed out an opportunity to write for a magazine, periodically taking assignments as they come available. I have written numerous short stories and screenplays. This year I even entered my first screenwriting competition; wish me luck. The idea here with The Craftsman's mindset is to do the focused work that will make you better over time.

Furthermore, as you hopefully begin to see my point, there is a passage in the bock where Cal Newport talks about watching an interview by Charlie Rose with Steve Martin, and the topic was how Steve Martin dealt with giving advice. Steve Martin would go on to explain that the answer everyone was hoping for would be the blueprint to the same success he had, yet Mr. Martin would tell him or her, "Be so good they can't ignore you." As you can see, this advice turned out to become the title of Cal Newport's book. More importantly it proves to be a good starting point as Cal Newport sums it all up when talking about skill "That if you're not focusing on becoming so good, they can't ignore you, you're going to be left behind."

My point here is anyone of us can take The Craftsman's mindset as I have lain out from Cal Newport's book So Good They Can't Ignore You and can systematically master any chosen field with a focused craftsman's mindset. I know it has worked for me in my art, as well as my writing. If I had never taken that step, I don't know if I'd be as confident as I am to write, post, and share this article with you today. So there you have it; I hope this piece may benefit you in some way. Have a blessed day, and I will see you on the flip side.

HOW TO GET YOUR WORK NOTICED a 2020 Vision Vlog #33

MY NETFLIX MOVIE REVIEWS #230

Years after Adonis Creed made a name for himself under Rocky Balboa's mentorship, the young boxer becomes the Heavyweight Champion of the World. While life is good with that victory and his marriage to Bianca, trouble comes to Philadelphia when Ivan Drago, the Russian boxer who killed Adonis' father, Apollo, arrives with his son, Viktor, to challenge Adonis. Against Rocky's advice, Adonis accepts the challenge without his mentor's participation and pays the price in a punishing bout he wins only by a technicality. Now injured and demoralized, Adonis cannot bring himself back into the game, leaving his spirit and title in jeopardy. Together, Adonis' family and Rocky must find a way to rekindle Adonis' fighting spirit to face the future in whatever choice he makes. Meanwhile, the Drago family has its own troubles trying to regain respect in their homeland that they lost at Rocky's hands as they wonder whether it is truly worth it. Written by Kenneth Chisholm (kchishol@rogers.com)

CREED II is directed by Steven Caple Jr., written by Juel Taylor & Sylvester Stallone, produced by William Chartoff. Well you know how it goes, you see the first film and then you got to see the sequel. In this case it was exactly that as I found CREED to be fairly good.

I was hoping for something memerable to happen in this film as it seemed both films had cameos from characters from the original ROCKY films. I thought that all was a nice touch although like I stated I was hoping for something memorable to shake things up. Even though what I hoped did not happen I found a sequel that tied a nice bow on a group of films that spanned several decades.

In the End: I found CREED II to be a likable film not much for breaking from the formula or being too edgy, but if it works it works. So for this film I give it 3 of 5 stars.

THE KEY TO UNLOCKING HABITS

One summer, when I was a youngster for those three months, I would wake and start my day memorizing a new bible verse. Over time I was able to recite from memory a good deal. Believe me, when I say it wasn't easy as at first, I was reluctant to do it, looking for a way out of it, or sometimes I didn't feel like it at all. My incentive to doing it was the church my family attended at that time its Sunday school was running a contest awarding the student who could memorize the most scripture would win a new bike. That as a driving force helped, and through as it turned out, I realized something compelling even at that young age.

I am sure you may be thinking this post will be something on spirituality or religion, being I mentioned memorizing bible scripture, but you'd be wrong. The thing I'd like to talk about is the power of creating habits. I know we all have habits because they are sometimes easily made, yet it can be hard to break once they become a part of our lives. In this piece, though, I want to focus on how habits can improve our lives and become our best versions. 

The key I found in the book Turning Pro by Steven Pressfield another book I'd recommend reading and have done a book review on that you can find here BOOK REVIEW.  In the book, Steven Pressfield talks about habits in this way.

"The difference between an amateur and a professional is in their habits. An amateur has amateur habits. A professional has professional habits. We can never free ourselves from habits. The human being is a creature of habit. But we can replace bad habits with good ones. We can trade in the habits of the amateur and the addict for the practice of the professional and the committed artist or entrepreneur." 

Even another way to look at habits comes from the author of Atomic Habits, James Clear. I have yet to read this book but have watched a TED talk with James Clear, and he described habits as votes for the type of person you'd like to become. 

So in a sense, if you want to be athletically fit, the right votes to achieving that would be eating right and training in some specific way to attain the results you seek. If you wanted to be a writer, reading and writing regularly, if not daily, would be the votes set forth to achieve that. 

Furthermore, over time your results may vary due to the level at which you did them.  Were you the amateur, or were you the professional? Did you take days off? Did you only do them when you felt like it? Or did you do them regardless, day in and day out, when you felt good and when you didn't? 

These minor details are vital to forming habits that produce the best outcomes. And the most rewarding results come with taking a professional mindset and seeing them through. These books discussed here are great reads with tons more ideas on creating habits that help develop you.

My point to sum this all up is that no matter what you are looking to achieve in your life, the essential thing you can do is create habits that will help you move in that direction. And by sticking to them as a professional will further put the odds in your favor, the outcome will be all you desired. 

As for that scripture-memorizing contest so many years ago, I am proud to say I won, beating out the pastor's son by sticking to my plan. I didn't get the bike, though, as I opted for the original Nintendo Entertainment System, a big deal back in the day. I hope this article has been helpful to you somehow; thanks for stopping in. God bless, and I will see you on the flip side ...Let's GO!!!

ART SHARE

Welcome to another Able Abe Studios Art Share WIP. So the first mini-comic panel complete now with putting in some work on the second. Always grinding ... Let's GO!!!

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THE KEY TO UNLOCKING HABITS a 2020 VISION Vlog #32

ART SHARE

Welcome to a late post Able Abe Studios Art Share. Today I share the first of my completed panels for my mini comic which is still a WIP ...GO!!!

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SCHOOLING YOURSELF

I recently had my 44th birthday, and if you know me and wished me a Happy Birthday, I want to thank you, I appreciate it. I find that getting older is that sometimes things seem to cycle back through, one day seems to blur into the next, and life can seem to take on a dull outlook. 

Realizing this happens to lots of people, I sought out a book that has helped me. This book is Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon. I read this book a while back in hopes of finding some new ways of being creative. It is a small pocket-sized book with a ton of great ideas. I encourage people to read it and check out my book review from when I first read it here Book review

Today though, I will talk about one aspect from the book: " Schooling yourself" Austin Kleon puts it this way...    

"School is one thing. Education is another. The two don't always overlap. Whether you're in school or not, it's always your job to get yourself an education. 

You have to be curious about the world in which you live. Look things up—Chase down every reference. Go deeper than anybody else that's how you'll get ahead. 

Google everything. I mean everything. Google your dreams, Google your problems. Don't ask a question before you Google it. You'll either find the answer or you'll come up with a better question. 

Always be reading. Go to the library. There's magic in being surrounded by books. Get lost in the stacks. Read bibliographies. It's not the book you start with it's the book that book leads you too. 

Collect books, even if you don't plan on reading them right away. Nothing is more important than an unread library. 

Don't worry about doing research. 

Just search."

My point is that sometimes rather than always looking to improve ourselves, we get comfortable and don't question the things we know to help inspire new ideas or school ourselves to the world around us. We need to get curious about life. Sometimes the answer to one question may lead to a solution to a yet to be asked problem. 

I am talking about educating yourself and learning how to do that, which starts with curiosity. Austin gives some great ways to get lost in the search, be it Google or a library. Being my 44th year on this planet, I'm going to pledge this year to be excited about being more curious and asking questions. I can say the book reading will continue as I enjoy reading tremendously already. So yeah, Google and I are going to be good friends. 

To finalize this, you have one effortless step you can take to improve your overall life and put yourself in a better headspace by jazzing up your curiosity and Schooling yourself. So until the next time, have a blessed day, and I will see on the flip side ...Let's GO!!!

SCHOOLING YOURSELF a 2020 VISION Vlog #31

ART SHARE

Welcome to another Able Abe Studios Art Share WIP. Another step closer, and this is only the first page ...GO!!!

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