Speech by Robin Williams. All footage is from Robin Williams Movies, in this case (It’s from the movie Jack (1996). ——–

You know, as we come to the end of this phase of our life, we find ourselves trying to remember the good times and trying to forget the bad times, and we find ourselves thinking about the future. We start to worry , thinking, “What am I gonna do? Where am I gonna be in ten years?” But I say to you, “Hey, look at me!” Please, don’t worry so much. Because in the end, none of us have very long on this Earth. Life is fleeting. And if you’re ever distressed, cast your eyes to the summer sky when the stars are strung across the velvety night. And when a shooting star streaks through the blackness, turning night into day… make a wish and think of me. Make your life spectacular. I know I did.

Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Am I the only one
embarrassingly so
who has to sadly admit again
how I fail
to see just how
S     P     E     C     T     A     C     U     L     A     R 
L    I    F    E
I   S.          .          .  
Maybe it’s not so much
WHAT’LL TAKE FOR ME TO RECOGNIZE
HOW SPECTACULAR  LIFE IS
AS MUCH AS JUST NOT FORGETTING 
T  H  A  T
i  t
i  s.          .          .          ?

WOW. . .
how could it be that this movie,
THE DEAD POET’S SOCIETY
came out in.            .             .
ANY GUESSES?
1     9     8     9
A new English teacher, John Keating (Robin Williams), is introduced to an all-boys preparatory school that is known for its ancient traditions and high standards. He uses unorthodox methods to reach out to his students, who face enormous pressures from their parents and the school. With Keating’s help, students Neil Perry (Robert Sean Leonard), Todd Anderson (Ethan Hawke) and others learn to break out of their shells, pursue their dreams and seize the day.
AND IT BEGS
THIS QUESTION:

Just what will your verse be?
H            I            N            T :
If you use words
you’ve already failed.           .           .
Forget about iambic pentameters
or does it rhyme
is it free verse
or what the length of any poem is
You are the living version
of what needs to be seen
and experienced
and not just read
or merely written.             .            .
Now more than ever
the Verb of You
Your Caring Catalyst
needs to be known
more than any Noun of You
needs to be represented.             .            .

Just sayin’. . . .

CUTE AS A BUTTON
and all of the other
sappy stuff
that comes with
CHRISTMAS MOVIES
that has us reaching for the box of tissues
and wiping our eyes
before we remote control
ourselves to the next one
that’ll do the same thing all over again
(but only better)

Just what exactly
LIGHTS UP YOUR CHRISTMAS TREE. . . ?

Sure, Netflix Christmas Movies Are Often Patently Absurd; They’re Also Occasionally Perfect

It’s official: our brains are fried. The holiday season is stressful enough in normal times. But this year, what we wouldn’t give to have that normal level of present-buying, cookie-baking, tree-decorating stress, instead of all this 2020-specific heartache, anxiety and exhaustion. It’s enough to make you want to line up a bunch of Netflix Christmas movies and gaze upon them, one after another, with reckless disregard for alleged quality or degree of believability. In fact, the less realistic, the better. A Chicago cupcake baker—who bears an uncanny resemblance to the duchess of a phony European nation—falling in love with a prince? Calgon, take me away, Right?

By no means does Netflix have a monopoly on the brain-candy Christmas movie; these have been Lifetime and Hallmark Channel staples for years, and it’s likely that even people you’d never suspect harbor a secret favorite or two. (Hallmark’s The Nine Lives of Christmas, from 2014, involves cats and a fireman played by Brandon Routh. Probably only about eight people have seen that one.) But Netflix, in addition to flooding the market with original movies, makes it numbingly simple to watch one of these films after another, with barely a flick at your trackpad. You can stack up Holidate (an unsentimental Emma Roberts lines up Australian hottie Luke Bracey as a boyfriend for holidays only), Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey (a lively, if overlong, musical fantasy about an eccentric toy inventor played by Forrest Whitaker) and The Princess Switch: Switched Again—a sequel to the 2018 sensation featuring Vanessa Hudgens as the aforementioned duchess-doppelganger baker—all without having to leave the bathtub, unless you need to refill your wine glass. Once you’ve jetted through those, you can shimmy over to Alien Xmas, The Christmas Chronicles: Part Two, or any number of Christmas-themed offerings from earlier years. You could always just watch A Christmas Prince—or either of its two sequels—again.

I know what you’re going to ask next: Aren’t these movies bad? Shouldn’t I be embarrassed about watching them? The answer to the second question is NO, because how we respond emotionally to visual information is not an arena for shame or judgment. Does that mean that there are more beautifully made and wonderfully acted Christmas movies beyond these? Of course. Check out Jimmy Stewart in Ernst Lubitsch’s 1940 Shop Around the Corner—for my money the most beautiful, bittersweet holiday romance—for the lot of them.

It is possible to give yourself over to a movie even when it’s written in lingo you’ve seen many times before—to note how pretty a castle looks when it’s surrounded by snowy trees, to admire a fairy-tale character’s colorful wool coat, to succumb to the unsurprising surprise of two allegedly mismatched characters bumping into each other beneath the mistletoe—without scolding yourself for what gives you pleasure. The line between a cliché and a cherished convention is often so slim it’s almost undetectable.

So what awaits you in the Christmas 2020 Netflix queue? Holidate works too hard at being raunchy, but you may happen to have a soft spot for Emma Roberts and her resolute eyebrows. Plus, you’ve got Luke Bracey as a ridiculously good-looking manly-man golf pro with a surprisingly sensitive side. You may as well be eating ice cream right out of the carton. Jingle Jangle—a holiday fantasy aimed at kids, but not bad for adults—is quietly radical in its mostly Black cast. It’s a switch from the norm that underscores how misguided those norms are in the first place. Plus, the costumes (by Michael Wilkinson) are a delight, a riot of Victorian and steampunk silhouettes rendered in traditional Kente cloth and African wax prints.Madalen Mills as Journey Jangle and Forest Whitaker as Jeronicus Jangle in ‘Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey’ Gareth Gatrell/NETFLIX

But for pure candy-box escapism, the prize goes to The Princess Switch movies, with Vanessa Hudgens playing at least two different versions of Vanessa Hudgens. In the first Princess Switch, she’s the perky Chicago baker, Stacy De Novo, who, while attending a baking competition in the picturesquely phony European nation of Belgravia, discovers that she’s a dead ringer for svelte and elegant Lady Margaret, a royal denizen of the nearby and equally phony European nation known as Montenaro. Lady Margaret is engaged to be married to the Prince of Belgravia, the kind but seemingly bland Edward (Sam Palladio). Unfortunately, she’s just not that into him. Meanwhile, Stacy’s best friend and business partner, the totally hot and adorable Kevin (Nick Sagar), has a crush on her that’s been unrequited for years; Stacy loves Kevin platonically, but doesn’t feel any sparks. Margaret, bound by her royal duties, longs for more spontaneity; Stacy wouldn’t mind being a fancy royal for a day or so. And so the two switch identities, only to discover that one woman’s rejected beau is the other’s dream match. The movie ends with one royal wedding and a hint at a future engagement. Everybody goes home happy.

In The Princess Switch: Switched Again, Lady Margaret is about to be crowned Queen of Montenaro. Sadly, her acquiescence to royal duty has broken up her romance with Kevin (though you know that’s not going to stick). Enter Margaret’s bad gal cousin Fiona (played by—surprise!—Hudgens again), a party girl with a peroxide tumble of tresses, who favors tacky clubwear and faux furs in tones not found in nature. Fiona hatches a scheme to impersonate Margaret and thus become Montenaro’s monarch. Chaos ensues, though romance prevails.Vanessa Hudgens and Vanessa Hudgens in ‘The Princess Switched: Switched Again’ Netflix

If nothing else, how can you not love the idea of fictional countries with names that sound borrowed from 1960s sportswear companies? The Princess Switchand its followup are so indefensibly enjoyable they need no defense. Recently, over socially distanced lunch with a friend, I found myself regaling him with a highly animated summary of the first movie’s plot. “Oh. It’s Shakespeare,” he said, between bites of sandwich. (It’s also a device Mark Twain put to use in The Prince and the Pauper.) Stories of swapped identities, of one character being mistaken for another and causing mischief, or falling in love, are nothing new, and they were invented by people with good instincts for what human beings like. Our consistencies unite us across eras.

If you were to break the Princess Switch movies down to their barest elements, they could almost be performance art—big squares, circles and triangles that speak in ways that defy words. These are movies written in flag language, semaphore that can be read clearly from a great distance. Switched Again ends with (spoiler alert), a wedding, a reconciliation and a coronation, all of which tap out a code that our wilted minds receive gratefully. We may think our brains aren’t working, but they are; they’re experts in the art of the busman’s holiday. Love, forgiveness, the beauty of a sparkly gown: These are oversized signals, easy to read and comprehend from a great distance, reaching out to us as we watch from our respective isolated islands, or bathtubs. If they were good enough for the Elizabethans, they’re good enough for us. . .

So let’s have it:
WHAT ARE YOUR GO-TO’S
WHAT ARE YOUR TOP-FIVE-GOTTA-SEE-THEM-AT-CHRISTMAS-MOVIES:
A CHRISTMAS STORY
HOME ALONE
IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE
WHITE CHRISTMAS
CHRISTMAS VACATION
LAST CHRISTMAS
WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING
HOLIDAY
LOVE, ACTUALLY
If there was ever a year
to gush
to be sappy
to go all comedy
to reach far for the box of tissues
2020
is THAT year. . .
so pop some corn
get the fire crackling
turn on the Christmas tree lights
turn off all of the other lights
bundle up with your favorite blanket
and ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
e n j o y
(and be the better for it)

This past week, Gayle Sayers a Hall of Fame Football player died and in reviewing his life in the sports world the question came up:
WHAT SPORT’S MOVIE MADE YOU CRY

BRIAN’S SONG first aired, November 30, 1971
and I remember
ohhhh yeah, crying
(s h o c k e r)
but also calling my (STILL) best friend, Joe Nicolella
to do what we always did after a
sporting event
movie
album
book
. . .d i s c u s s
I don’t think that either one of us admitted it to each other
but yeah, be both cried
and maybe because
to this day
Joe and I have that
close
don’t-have-to-talk-to-you-everyday-to-know-what-you-think/feel
relationship. . .
but what about that Sport’s movie. . . ?

This one, for me has to have a top three consideration. . .
The movie is a sports fantasy drama
that came out in 1989 and was nominated for an Academy Award
It has a fantastic
music score
a great cast of
Kevin Costner, Amy Madigan, James Earl Jones, Ray Liotta and
Burt Lancaster
that culminates in the last scene
that answers the statements
that haunt throughout the movie:
IF YOU BUILD IT HE WILL COME
and
EASE HIS PAIN
both of which talked about Costner’s dad
who actually comes in this last scene
where they both wonder
IS THIS HEAVEN
and
IS THERE A HEAVEN
with the powerful answer of
“Oh yeah. . .It’s the place where dreams come true.”

N O N E
of us have ever lived in a
2020-like
Time before
and we’ve each experienced it
the same
and yet so differently at times
with there be no wonder
why it feels
THE FARTHEST PLACE FROM HEAVEN
. . .and yet. . .
has there been a little bits of
h e a v e n
in all of this
seemingly
unending
h e l l

THE KEY TO A HAPPY HEART
IS MAKING ANOTHER’S
H A P P Y
. . .TRUE OR FALSE
Pssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssst:
You answer with every act
with every act
you create
(or demolish)
A PLACE WHERE DREAMS COME TRUE
. . .Quick,
Pass me a tissue

Some Coffee Commercial, huh. . . ?
When I saw it this past week
somehow the first thought that came to my mind wasn’t,
“WOW, DO I WANT A CUP OF HOT COFFEE AT THIS VERY MOMENT!”
and then I researched it a little bit
AND THEN I RESEARCHED IT A LITTLE BIT MORE
and saw that it was Charlie Chaplin that actually made the speech
AND SAW THAT IT WAS CHARLIE CHAPLIN THAT ACTUALLY MADE THE SPEECH AS A CHARACTER THAT RESEMBLED HITLER
AND THEN I SAW THAT

“In “The Great Dictator”, Chaplin plays two identical characters – the Jewish Barber and Adenoid Hynkel. Hynkel is a stand-in for Hitler. At the end of the movie, the Barber has replaced Hynkel and delivers the speech we hear in the commercial. Therefore, it’s not Hynkel/Hitler delivering the speech, it’s the Barber. Of course, the speech is really Chaplin’s plea for understanding.”

Sometimes
IT IS WAY MORE THAN JUST
PERSPECTIVE
Sometimes
IT IS WAY MORE THAN JUST
HOW YOU SEE THINGS
Sometimes
IT IS JUST THE WAY
IT IS
(and that may be the toughest way of all to see things)

Without a doubt
. . .our life doesn’t come
with instructions
(BUT IT DOES HAVE INSTRUCTORS)
or subtitles. . .
at best
the seemingly non-existent subtitles
are ones you can’t read
or are in a foreign language
or much like life
feels like
. . .comes at you upside down

When all we really want to do is read
as we are read

We all want to help one another, human beings are like that. We all want to live by each other’s happiness, not by each other’s misery. We don’t want to hate and despise one another. In this world there is room for everyone and the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone. You have the love of humanity in your hearts. You the people have the power to make this life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure. Let us fight for a new world, a decent world that will give men a chance to work, that will give you the future and old age and security. Let us fight to free the world, to do away with national barriers, to do away with greed, with hate and intolerance. Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all men’s happiness. Let us all unite!

KNOW
as we are
KNOWN
. . .but that just might be too much to ask for
BUT NEVER
TOO MUCH TO
KEEP ATTEMPTING
. . .rub your eyes again
b l i n k
LOOK
SEE
JOIN ME
(no subtitles necessary)

The COVID-19 Pandemic
has brought many different changes
to the entire world
and out of all of the signs and symptoms
that have been identified in actually having this dreaded virus
I’m not so sure that
EXTREME VERKLEMPTNESS
isn’t one of the
unidentified
unspoken
o n e s. . .

On July 12, Kelly Preston
the Co-star in
FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME
died
after a courageous two year battle of breast cancer. . .
In 1999 she joined Kevin Costner
in making this movie
. . .NO, NO,
it wasn’t up for any awards or honors
and it might have long been forgotten by this time
if she hadn’t recently died and it started being shown again on
HBO and other cable outlets
to honor her;
the premise of the film
is kind of flimsy
in that Kevin Costner’s character of
Billy Chapel
a so-so pitcher
throws the game of his life,
A No-Hitter
against the famed Yankees
fulfilling his
FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME
legacy
and what should have been the greatest night of his life
w a s n ‘ t
because he painfully discovered
it wasn’t a
game
therapy
intervention
pharmaceutical
scientific discovery
medical advancement
B U T
RELATIONSHIPS THAT HEAL US
. . .hence,
EXTREME VERKLEMPTNESS
which begs the
simple
somewhat evasive question of the Soul:
What’s a celebration with no one to share it?
Well. . . ?
What puts the tear in your eye
and more,
WHO HELPS DRY IT?

. . .SOMETIMES WHAT IS BROKEN
IS REALLY
F I X E D

So what kind of a person are you?
 Are you the kind of person that believes everything happens
for a purpose
or a reason
and it absolutely has a meaning. . . ?

Are you the kind of person that says hey nothing has a purpose;
it’s all fate. . .
Are you the kind of person that believes in the Doris Day Que Sera, Sera whatever will be will be
kind of person?  
We probably have the opportunity to ask ourselves this question at least 100 times a day,
maybe even 10,000 times a week
and the interesting part is
the answer
may change from situation to situation.  . .

So here we are at a movie to see The Goldfinch and having went through all of the previews are awaiting the main attraction when all of a sudden the screen goes blank. . .
Well not completely blank ~~
computer blank:

Now mind you, there were only two couples that were attending this movie and after the more than uncomfortable 20 minutes of silence and shifting about, Management came in and apologized and said there will not be a movie that night; that they were having a malfunction with the equipment. Now there were a couple of options: we could go to another show or we could be refunded our tickets. 

Fate ?
 Purpose ?
 Que Sera, Sera ?

It kind of hit me at that moment
that maybe
some of the best movies there are,
A R E N ‘ T
M A Y B E
The best movies aren’t the ones that come from the screenplay
weren’t adapted from a novel or short story
The best movies aren’t the ones that are being adapted from a true life situation
or even the infamous, Mark Twain one-liner:
“All stories are true; some of them actually happened. . . .”

No,
I didn’t think any of those things so much as
maybe the best movie really
is the one that’s not on the screen
or not from any other medium
but the one that’s continually being created, formatted and shown from the Inside;
NO TAKES,
NO CUTS,
NO EDITING,
NO BUDGET
n e c e s s a r y
The one
where no Concessions are available,
no bathroom breaks taken. . .
(or needed)
The movie of our mind
and better still
the actual real life footage
from our life
is much more compelling
than anything that can come from a book
Anything that can be shown on the screen
Anything that can be adapted to the digitalized formats. . . 

So what kind of a person are you?

An Everything has a reason and a purpose, Person
A Fate. everything is just fate, Person
Que Sera, Sera whatever will be will be, Person
Or a you kind of person where
You are the Creator
the writer
the producer
the co-producer
of your movie.   . . ?

Maybe it’s the one that hasn’t even made it to the reel
hasn’t even been digitalize to get up on the screen
hasn’t haven’t even had the first letter of the first word in the first paragraph imagined or written yet.  . . ?

Maybe

Maybe
Maybe
it’s that fresh
that new
that now kind of thing
It would even surprise you
what you’re about to produce. . .

And now for the most important question of all:

Who are your co-stars?

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Turn off your cell phones

The lights have dimmed
the theaters darkened
and all is quiet on the set
The action is about to begin
And here’s the promise:
The next scene is better than the last one or any others before
If. . .

COME ON. . .
You’ve paid for
THE TICKET
a thousand times over
DON’T MISS THE SHOW
(a g a i n)

P A T C H     A D A M S

.        .        .the movie came out in 1998.          .          .

has the message been lost or diminished over the past twenty years?

HAS THE MESSAGE

been any more needed over these past twenty years

or.          .          .

NOW

I’ve shown this movie clip

several times over the past twenty years

in several of my presentations

with usually great feed back

but the only feedback

the only reaction I’m really seeking

is the intimate part that speaks especially to you.          .          .

Having worked in the Hospice Healthcare World since 1994

I have seen many terminal diseases

not so much been courageously fought

as audaciously been lost,

h       o       r       r       i       b       l       y

but I’ve also witnessed and been partners with

some of the fiercest

superior

C A R E G I V E R S

L O V E R S

H E A L E R S

who have taught

re-taught

illustrated

L        I        V        E        D

that treating a person

is a guaranteed win.          .          .
(universally)

The Shame

The Horror

The Embarrassment

KNOWING THIS

doesn’t always mean

DOING THIS

TREAT A PERSON

Pssssssssssssssst:

No Medical Degree

Bachelor Degree

No Master Degree

No Doctorate

No License

No Master of Divinity

No Ordination

n e c e s s a r y

(e   v   e   r)

QUICK:

wait no longer.          .          .

Treat      a      Person
(kindly, compassionately, lovingly, unfailingly)

What’s Your’s?

When you’re flipping through your remote with wild abandon,

what’s the Movie (s) that makes you stop your  f l i p p i n g ?

Little Miss Sunshine

Rocky (any of them)

St. Vincent

Simon Birch

While You Were Sleeping

The Christmas Story

It’s A Wonderful Life

The Mighty

Begin Again

The African Queen

Billy Madison

Happy Gilmore

The Bucket List

The Tin Cup

As Good As It Gets

The God Father (Any of them)

For The Love of the Game

Dances with Wolves

Die Hard (Any of Them)

Blended

Shawshank Redemption

(or anything with Morgan Freeman’s voice)

What’s    Y   o   u   r   s  ?

I love this last scene

Maybe it’s the words:

“GET   BUSY   LIVING   OR   GET   BUSY   DYING”

Maybe it’s

H          O          P          E

“I     hope     I     can     make     it     across     the     border.     .     .

I     hope     I     can     see     my     friend     and     shake     his     hand.     .     .

I     hope     the     Pacific     is     as     blue     as     it     is     in     my     dreams.     .     .      

i

h          o          p          e  “

Y   O   U  ?

What not only makes you

p    a    u    s    e

but put down your soul’s remote

and

h     o     p     e  ?

Y e a h.        .        .

what’s your

h          o          p          e

your evidence of things  NOT    YET    S E E N.       .       .       ?

Is it getting you busy to

l   i   v   e

or

d  i  e

]]> http://thecaringcatalyst.com/i-h-o-p-e/feed/ 0 1769 http://thecaringcatalyst.com/your-movie/ http://thecaringcatalyst.com/your-movie/#respond Thu, 12 Jun 2014 00:40:14 +0000 http://thecaringcatalyst.com/?p=596

Movies.

The very first movie ever made was in 1878, THE HORSE IN MOTION.

I know nothing of it, and most likely, you don’t either. You probably haven’t heard of the first movie ever shot in the USA, MONKEYSHINES NO. 1 (1889 or 1890).

You might not know of the movie that just came out last weekend or hundreds sitting in your local REDBOX or the thousands that can be downloaded via NETFLIX.

The only movie you might KNOW and know intimately is the one of your very own life. The one that plays every day in your heart, projected on the screen of your Soul and needs seeing than more of just your eyes.

So, which Movie, or parts of a Movie, bests describes THAT Movie of YOU?

Is it something from, IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE? PATCH ADAMS? ROCKY? DANCES WITH WOLVES? STAR WARS? MARTY? THE ARTIST? KING OF KINGS? SIMON BIRCH? THE MIGHTY? PATCHY ADAMS? MRS. DOUBTFIRE? THE TEN COMMANDMENTS? HOPE FLOATS? WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING? THE OTHER SISTER? KILL BILL? BIG DADDY? TOY STORY?

Maybe we are just parts of some really good movies or some not so good ones all mixed together.

I recently saw a movie, BERNIE, with Jack Black as the main character. It’s a true story that took place in Carthage, TX. Bernie is a funeral director that the whole town loves. The town loves him so very much because he’s kind, he’s overly generous and he’s a killer. He killed the town’s most least liked woman. He shot her 4 times in the back. The town loved him so much, the Prosecutor, played by Matthew McConaughey, had to take the case out of town to get a fair trial–a trial he tried and successfully won. At one point, McConaughey’s character was sitting in Church listening to the minister tell the congregation how they needed to support Bernie during his time of trouble. After the service there was a conversation between McConaughey and the minister where McConaughey reminded painfully the minister of his allegiance because of the large amount of money Bernie donated for the new Church Prayer Wing.

The movie played on but my Projector stopped. It got caught up on the Reel that touched something REAL in me. Do I have a price? Has my loyalty been compromised, or worse, bought and secured elsewhere outside of me? Do I pledge my allegiance to the higher Bidder or to something only cash purchases?

What is it? What movie stopped your REEL from turning without a squeak or a hitch? Which movie has brought tears to your eyes, a knot in your throat or words snatched from your mouth as your stomach tumbled?

The Movie…YOUR MOVIE is well past the beginning stages of early Production. Money has been raised, donated and severely pledged.

Will you bring laughs, tears, jears, hoots/hollers or inspiration/motivation?

The script, at times might seem staged or unbelievable. The dialog might be contrived or raw, but make no mistake…THIS MOVIE IS YOU!

Many are awaiting to see it. Many have already seen bits and parts and have read or heard about it’s coming attraction.

READY!

SET!

ACTION!

…bring it. . . .