It's cheesy, predictable, gooey-sweet. Should come with a warning: DO NOT watch if you are diabetic or easily annoyed by goofy writing and skitchsy themes.
I loved it.
For all the reasons that I loved the original Bewitched....in fact, I was the one laughing the loudest during the clips of the original show.
I've tried really hard to "not" like Nicole Kidman, but alas, I must give in and admit it...she's amazing. True, it's easier to love her now that she is no longer Ms. Cruise. Personally, I think maybe he dumped her because he somehow knew - she'd probably get more billing than he would someday.
And what can I say about Will Ferrell? (Those "backhair" skits from SNL still ring in my head everytime I see him.) He isn't the funniest guy I've ever seen - I certainly like other comics better. But he's somehow been able to make the transition from his sophomoric days at SNL to holding his own in a scene with heavyweights like Michael Caine, Shirley MacLain and other Hollywood legends.
I also liked this movie for the simple fact that it had great supporting casts. Jason Schwartzman and Heather Burns rounded out a great casts that supported and added depth to an already full slate of actors and actresses.
There were some slack moments, to be sure. I didn't care much for the performance of "Uncle Arthur" although I love the comic who does him -- the guy on the "Office" and also a big hit in "Bruce Almighty" as the anchorman that loses his cool at the desk.
I also saw some great upcoming flicks, including "In her Shoes" with one of my cult favorites -- Toni Collette. I was encouraged by the offerings in spite of the dismal selection of movies currently playing -- I'll avoid spectacularly boring fare such as "War of the Worlds" and "Batman Begins" just because I've already heard more than I care to about the new little love birds.
http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/bewitched/site/
Saturday, June 25, 2005
Friday, June 24, 2005
Thoughts on a Friday Night
The Oklahoma heat has been slamming into me all day as I went about my appointments. My car has become a dustball, my hair has gone limp, my clothes grimy with restaurant grease, sweat and grime.
This is end of the year ---end of the road. In the past two weeks I've put over 1000 miles on my car as I've driven from one end of Dallas, through Denison TX and then back home. In one more week, I'll be re-starting a new year of business.
I'm ready.
This year has brought challenges but more importantly it has brought me nose to nose with myself. I have had to dig deep to find meaning in what was once a simple hobby. I've had to face some demons of doubt (always lingering) some appiritions of fear (never far away) and most of all, my own skepticism in if I could meet the demand.
For the record, I have.
But that's not why I'm celebrating. I'm celebrating because it just feels so damn good to look a fear in the eye and say, "I'm not going to let you define who I am".
For the record, I haven't met the "benchmark" that I had originally set. In fact, I may not even get halfway there. But therein lies the point.
The objective of goals are not always the goals themselves -- but instead the way that goals lead you back to yourself, your abilities, your commitments.
As I've struggled with myself this past few months I've had to take a hard look at myself, my leadership, my lack of skills and my abundance of them. I've had to get really honest with myself on why I do what I do and ask myself, "do I really want to do this for the rest of my life?"
The answer - nope.
Not in the way I have. But in a new way -- a deeper way -- a way with more meaning and more value. I call it "thumbprint leadership".
For me this means the kind of qualities that are central to me as a person and how those qualities (values) will be reflected in my leadership. Here are a few of the central tenets:
a - Accepting others uniqueness
b - Accepting others choices -- even (and mostly) when they disagree with me.
c - Letting go -- of others, situations that need to be parted with in a way that brings harmony to the relationship -- and to myself and that person.
d - Expecting others to "show up" for their mission (but allowing them to define it).
e - Working with passion towards a completed goal.
f - being a "3-D" person -- allowing for all aspects of my personality to be fed. This is mostly made manifest in that I am no longer willing to allow my artistic side to take a back seat. In fact, the creative process is a vital tool I can use to sustain long, dusty roads in my life.
g - being clear in the "real" goal. The goal for me can no longer be simply a paycheck, a bauble, an achievement...but it must be something that brings value to another person.
These are the central themes that I have defined that are critical for my definition of success. For me, these are the ways that I can gain authenticity in my leadership and in my life.
This is end of the year ---end of the road. In the past two weeks I've put over 1000 miles on my car as I've driven from one end of Dallas, through Denison TX and then back home. In one more week, I'll be re-starting a new year of business.
I'm ready.
This year has brought challenges but more importantly it has brought me nose to nose with myself. I have had to dig deep to find meaning in what was once a simple hobby. I've had to face some demons of doubt (always lingering) some appiritions of fear (never far away) and most of all, my own skepticism in if I could meet the demand.
For the record, I have.
But that's not why I'm celebrating. I'm celebrating because it just feels so damn good to look a fear in the eye and say, "I'm not going to let you define who I am".
For the record, I haven't met the "benchmark" that I had originally set. In fact, I may not even get halfway there. But therein lies the point.
The objective of goals are not always the goals themselves -- but instead the way that goals lead you back to yourself, your abilities, your commitments.
As I've struggled with myself this past few months I've had to take a hard look at myself, my leadership, my lack of skills and my abundance of them. I've had to get really honest with myself on why I do what I do and ask myself, "do I really want to do this for the rest of my life?"
The answer - nope.
Not in the way I have. But in a new way -- a deeper way -- a way with more meaning and more value. I call it "thumbprint leadership".
For me this means the kind of qualities that are central to me as a person and how those qualities (values) will be reflected in my leadership. Here are a few of the central tenets:
a - Accepting others uniqueness
b - Accepting others choices -- even (and mostly) when they disagree with me.
c - Letting go -- of others, situations that need to be parted with in a way that brings harmony to the relationship -- and to myself and that person.
d - Expecting others to "show up" for their mission (but allowing them to define it).
e - Working with passion towards a completed goal.
f - being a "3-D" person -- allowing for all aspects of my personality to be fed. This is mostly made manifest in that I am no longer willing to allow my artistic side to take a back seat. In fact, the creative process is a vital tool I can use to sustain long, dusty roads in my life.
g - being clear in the "real" goal. The goal for me can no longer be simply a paycheck, a bauble, an achievement...but it must be something that brings value to another person.
These are the central themes that I have defined that are critical for my definition of success. For me, these are the ways that I can gain authenticity in my leadership and in my life.
Jimmy Buffett: Quiet Time
Most of the time fish are swimming around either eating or avoiding being eaten.”“I know a lot of humans that do the same thing.”“But fish know they need a break from the cycle of the food chain, and it happens at slack tide.”“So it’s kind of a universal time-out?”“I call it Quiet Time, people would be better off if they did the same.”
—Jimmy Buffett
—Jimmy Buffett
Monday, June 20, 2005
Today
I had the opportunity to have lunch with some friends today. Darren LaCroix (www.Presentation411.com) was the guest and we got to pick his brain on how he makes his living as a professional speaker. (Darren is the 2001 World Champion of Public Speaking). It was a very interesting lunch and I learned a lot.
I'm interested in how to be a better communicator -- written word, speech, etc., so these kinds of informal learning are very helpful to me. In the last few months I've really been thinking a lot about my more creative side -- writing/creating/speaking and I like what I'm designing. No, I don't think I'll make my living (yet) by giving speeches, although it is tempting to know that there hasn't been a world champion (female) since the '70's. Hmmmm....
Seriously, I give a lot of presentations and being able to do them with aplumb is important to me.
I'm interested in how to be a better communicator -- written word, speech, etc., so these kinds of informal learning are very helpful to me. In the last few months I've really been thinking a lot about my more creative side -- writing/creating/speaking and I like what I'm designing. No, I don't think I'll make my living (yet) by giving speeches, although it is tempting to know that there hasn't been a world champion (female) since the '70's. Hmmmm....
Seriously, I give a lot of presentations and being able to do them with aplumb is important to me.
Sunday, June 19, 2005
Father's Day and Amazing Grace
I'm going to try to write something here about Father's Day.
I could write that I believe Father's Day, like other holidays, are merely fantasies created by card makers to sell more cards. And I would be right.
What I also believe is that the mental health profession is probably making a killing during days such as Father's Day. Who among us doesn't yearn for the bucolic image of father and son or father and daughter times spent together playing chess, riding bicycles, doing homework? Who among us doesn't pine for the acceptance of a parent, namely that of a father? Who among us isn't caught up between the need for a parent and the parent's rejection, even if that rejection is merely the silence of a parent that has been largely absent? I imagine that far too many of us are spending time at least trying to come to terms with the parent -- or lack of one -- in our lives on days such as "Father's Day".
But at 42, the time has long passed that I can really cry "foul" on the lack of parenting from my father. Truly, I watch the credit card commerical of the guy watching his daughter grow up in front of him and tears do well and emotions do come. And I sneer at them, "yeah, if I'd ONLY had a dad with a large credit line, then surely all my problems would be gone." Uh huh...that'd do it. What kind of marketing slime creates such images for us to view? As if parenting is just about footing the bill and signing on the bottom line?
The reality is that parenting is a job for those that have much more at their disposal than large credit lines. If parenting were ONLY about filling the perpetual extended hand! Parenting is an investment of every emotional capability we have -- emotional, spiritual, physcial. There is no job or challenge that can compare to that of raising emotionally healthy beings in a world that values one's cash value more than they do one's ability to live at peace with oneself and with others.
Though my father has been absent most of my life, he is the ghost that haunts me in my parenting. I simply want to do it better than he did. I want to be "there" in more ways than flesh...I want to be there for my kids in ways that matter.
And here is where they difference between me and my father must end. I am far less able to be a "present parent" and do that well than I would have thought when I was a kid, sizing up my parents and declaring them less than what I wanted. For if I am honest with myself (and honesty is a key element of being a healthy parent) I have to admit...it is tough stuff to keep one's head in the parenting game amidst the cry of mortgage payments, school activities, work comittments, life disappointments.
Recently, my son picked up his first check from his summer job. While I knew in my adult head (and heart) that his minimum wage paying job was going to be long, arduous and thankless, he did not yet see it that way. This was his independence day! This was the day he become a wage earner! He was excited to get his first check and we went to the place together, me holding my breath the entire way. His jubilance was held in check as he opened the envelope and realized what so many of us do at payday-- there is often far less in that weekly envelope than we had hoped. Far less cash, far less opportunity, far less acclaim and sometimes far less satisfaction.
This, coupled with the recent event of his first speeding ticket provided him a great life opportunity. The opportunity for him to be accountable for the results of his actions and quite literally, to "pay up". The reality was, after the ticket, filling up his gas tank and keeping up with the demands of teenage life, he was already out of cash.
My heart broke for him. Part of me wanted to take him and say, "Hey, no problem, I'll cover this for you." And I could've. Easily. Would have taken it away from him in a heart beat. That would've eased my pain but could have easily doubled his.
Being a present parent requires that we feel that pain and realize that the pain of today will be multiplied a hundred fold when the lesson is learned later. Today, it may be a few nights out with friends that he is missing so that he can make the cash he needs to pay for his day in court...in a few years, the cost to him might be much greater. This was simply an opportunity for him to learn the cost of living is one that has to be measured in a large degree on how we manage our time and how we manage our resources.
This is when it is not easy to be a parent. It's not easy when your kids KNOWS you can take away his momentary pain and you resolutely decide you will not. It isn't fun knowing that he looks at every purchase you make and says, "yeah, but will she help ME OUT?" It isn't easy, frankly, to be the one that makes the hard choices.
It would be easier to be my kid's buddy, their best friend, their "fun-time" pal. But it wouldn't be the kind of parent that I know I needed -- and still need -- and the kind of parent that my kid needs.
Nope, I'm quite sure I didn't have a perfect dad. And I'm almost as certain I won't be the perfect parent either. Perhaps the best that we can do it as we grow into parents ourselves is to have the grace to look to our own parents and say, "yeah, you were a screw up. you blew it a lot. "
The reality is, we all do. Parenting isn't about perfection. It's about growing up. Becoming mature. Facing responsibility when we'd rather duck it. Following through when we'd rather quit. Continuing on when it'd be so much easier to give up.
And all of us, in every generation, do this imperfectly. Maybe, if I can learn grace myself -- how to give it, accept it, lavish it on others, they just might be able to extend it to me as they evaluate my parenting.
I could write that I believe Father's Day, like other holidays, are merely fantasies created by card makers to sell more cards. And I would be right.
What I also believe is that the mental health profession is probably making a killing during days such as Father's Day. Who among us doesn't yearn for the bucolic image of father and son or father and daughter times spent together playing chess, riding bicycles, doing homework? Who among us doesn't pine for the acceptance of a parent, namely that of a father? Who among us isn't caught up between the need for a parent and the parent's rejection, even if that rejection is merely the silence of a parent that has been largely absent? I imagine that far too many of us are spending time at least trying to come to terms with the parent -- or lack of one -- in our lives on days such as "Father's Day".
But at 42, the time has long passed that I can really cry "foul" on the lack of parenting from my father. Truly, I watch the credit card commerical of the guy watching his daughter grow up in front of him and tears do well and emotions do come. And I sneer at them, "yeah, if I'd ONLY had a dad with a large credit line, then surely all my problems would be gone." Uh huh...that'd do it. What kind of marketing slime creates such images for us to view? As if parenting is just about footing the bill and signing on the bottom line?
The reality is that parenting is a job for those that have much more at their disposal than large credit lines. If parenting were ONLY about filling the perpetual extended hand! Parenting is an investment of every emotional capability we have -- emotional, spiritual, physcial. There is no job or challenge that can compare to that of raising emotionally healthy beings in a world that values one's cash value more than they do one's ability to live at peace with oneself and with others.
Though my father has been absent most of my life, he is the ghost that haunts me in my parenting. I simply want to do it better than he did. I want to be "there" in more ways than flesh...I want to be there for my kids in ways that matter.
And here is where they difference between me and my father must end. I am far less able to be a "present parent" and do that well than I would have thought when I was a kid, sizing up my parents and declaring them less than what I wanted. For if I am honest with myself (and honesty is a key element of being a healthy parent) I have to admit...it is tough stuff to keep one's head in the parenting game amidst the cry of mortgage payments, school activities, work comittments, life disappointments.
Recently, my son picked up his first check from his summer job. While I knew in my adult head (and heart) that his minimum wage paying job was going to be long, arduous and thankless, he did not yet see it that way. This was his independence day! This was the day he become a wage earner! He was excited to get his first check and we went to the place together, me holding my breath the entire way. His jubilance was held in check as he opened the envelope and realized what so many of us do at payday-- there is often far less in that weekly envelope than we had hoped. Far less cash, far less opportunity, far less acclaim and sometimes far less satisfaction.
This, coupled with the recent event of his first speeding ticket provided him a great life opportunity. The opportunity for him to be accountable for the results of his actions and quite literally, to "pay up". The reality was, after the ticket, filling up his gas tank and keeping up with the demands of teenage life, he was already out of cash.
My heart broke for him. Part of me wanted to take him and say, "Hey, no problem, I'll cover this for you." And I could've. Easily. Would have taken it away from him in a heart beat. That would've eased my pain but could have easily doubled his.
Being a present parent requires that we feel that pain and realize that the pain of today will be multiplied a hundred fold when the lesson is learned later. Today, it may be a few nights out with friends that he is missing so that he can make the cash he needs to pay for his day in court...in a few years, the cost to him might be much greater. This was simply an opportunity for him to learn the cost of living is one that has to be measured in a large degree on how we manage our time and how we manage our resources.
This is when it is not easy to be a parent. It's not easy when your kids KNOWS you can take away his momentary pain and you resolutely decide you will not. It isn't fun knowing that he looks at every purchase you make and says, "yeah, but will she help ME OUT?" It isn't easy, frankly, to be the one that makes the hard choices.
It would be easier to be my kid's buddy, their best friend, their "fun-time" pal. But it wouldn't be the kind of parent that I know I needed -- and still need -- and the kind of parent that my kid needs.
Nope, I'm quite sure I didn't have a perfect dad. And I'm almost as certain I won't be the perfect parent either. Perhaps the best that we can do it as we grow into parents ourselves is to have the grace to look to our own parents and say, "yeah, you were a screw up. you blew it a lot. "
The reality is, we all do. Parenting isn't about perfection. It's about growing up. Becoming mature. Facing responsibility when we'd rather duck it. Following through when we'd rather quit. Continuing on when it'd be so much easier to give up.
And all of us, in every generation, do this imperfectly. Maybe, if I can learn grace myself -- how to give it, accept it, lavish it on others, they just might be able to extend it to me as they evaluate my parenting.
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