81 Watch every single dvd I haven't already watched

This is not yet completed. However, as I am doing with Shakespeare, it makes more sense for me to update as I go along than to wait until I have completed the process. Before I woke up with vertigo, I had joined the Spiritual Cinema Circle. I had hoped to watch the movies with friends and family but I rarely can find anyone who is willing to watch them with me so I have given up and am now watching through the backlog of dvds I accumulated over the months of my now canceled membership.

Volume 9 2007

Believe in Me is a feel good movie about a man who is hired to coach a high school basketball team. He thinks he will be coaching the boys team but discovers that he actually has to coach the girls team. It’s based on a true story and the ending is unsurprising.

5 Wishes is a short that was inspired by a real experience Gay Hendricks had, a conversation that helped him focus his life when he was younger. Apparently he has written a book by the same name but this short movie didn’t inspire me enough to want to read it.

Now You See Me, Now You Don’t is a thirty minute Hungarian movie that is beautifully filmed, emotionally intense, and surprising. I honestly thought that the story would conclude differently and to see it unfold so beautifully was wonderful. I’m definitely glad I took the time to watch this one.

7 Days With 7 Dogs is about a family who rescues dogs and decide to take the dogs, most of them older or with health problems, on a road trip to dog friendly locations. It’s a very short “dog-umentary,” as the opening credits call it, lasting only seven minutes. It’s cute. That’s about all I can say about it really.

Volume 10 2007

Déjà Vu is the feature film with Vanessa Redgrave in a small but pivotal role. I am not a huge fan of Redgrave for political reasons. This movie is predictable and I don’t necessarily agree with its message. With better editing, the movie would have been enjoyable in spite of how unsurprising the climax of the movie proves to be. If every repeated line were removed, I am almost positive that the movie would have been at least 20 minutes shorter without the story being compromised at all.

Between Heaven and Earth is an adorable short with deep meaning. A Master and his two disciples sit in meditation (Heaven) but then when one gets the other in trouble (Earth) the lessons the two disciples learn are relevant to anyone who would watch this. In a way, we all live between these extremes of being what we should be and what we often fall into being when we lose awareness.

Magic Mile is another short, a curious movie about a woman who experiences something extraordinary while walking along the beach. And how she responds to the magic is where the lesson lies.

Dream People of the Amazon is a documentary, a brief film that introduces SCC members to the new Earth Cinema Circle. The Achuar are an indigenous people who live in the Ecuadorian jungle and fighting the encroachment of oil companies. And so far they are winning, which is wonderful. It was especially interesting to see how they use the plants for healing, enlightenment, and productivity. Seeing how they live and listening to their stories, it is hard not to feel a connection to these people.

Volume 6 2007 (my favorite of these three)

Wondrous Oblivion is the feature film for this month’s dvd and although it is only 106 mins once again I find myself seeing ways in which the story could easily have been edited to make it tighter and allow the movie to move along more fluidly. But this is my favorite that I have watched, having watched three of these dvd selections in a row. My biggest disappointment was an unnecessary subplot that involved the adults. The theme of the movie could have easily been communicated had the movie remained focused on the boy and his understanding of his experiences.

Grace is one of three shorts. A lovely little movie with a remarkable little actress in it. Somehow the director managed to keep this potentially saccharine story from becoming too sweet to be appreciated.

After Shave is delightful, a charming short movie about a relationship between a barber and his affluent, reclusive customer. I did not know what to expect and was pleased with it from beginning to end.

Miraculous Collision is a quirky piece that touches on depth but with a sardonic light tone. The introduction has Stephen Simon, the creator of SCC saying that the director and star, Scott Cervine, is like Woody Allen. I suppose so but Cervine doesn’t seem to take himself nearly as seriously and his humor is perhaps less intellectual or perhaps it is merely less New York City-centric.

Puppy of the Day: A

Note: There will be a brief haitus from the Puppy of the Day posts until puppies start opening their puppy eyes. I mean, taking pictures is fun and all but this blog has become rather canine-centric and it is time for me to branch out again. (In other words, I have a few books to be reviewed.)

Introducing Puppy A!!!


Puppy A is actually the first puppy to be born. He is the puppy that started it all.

A looks more like Romanov than almost any other puppy, other than G. (I'll have to take a side by side pic of them.)

He is a loner. Most of the time when I see him sleeping, he is by himself and not snuggling close to any of his siblings.

He is a sweetie. Maybe not a snuggler but I can already tell he has a mild temper. Of course, I may be mistaken and I can only say this based on how he behaves now. Wouldn't it be ironic if one of the more mellow ones was the first to escape the box?

#1 Twelfth Night 4/27

Because Marc had to read this for his British Literature course, I decided to read along with him. I am glad I did, having never read the play before but having heard of it, naturally enough. And when I recently watched Shakespeare in Love I was reminded of this play just in time for Marc to announce that he has to read it. Woohoo!

What's more, I have it on dvd. I can't even remember buying it which reinforces why one of the things on my list is to watch every one of my dvds. Now that I have read the play, I am sure to watch the dvd.

As I read it, the story was clear but I kept thinking that it would be a confusing play to watch. I like that, although this is a comedy, it is not all sweetness and light. Of course, if I were an actress, the opportunity to play Viola would be downright irresistable as her character goes through so many confused and confusing moments, her emotions running the gamut of wry to wrenching.

This was also a nice break from the histories which I had been reading. I needed the break. But now I must return to the Henrys because I have yet another dvd in my collection I won't watch until I have read the play. (I actually am almost certain I have already read Henry V but because I am not 100% convinced I have done so I am willing to read it just in case. Ahhhh . . . the sacrifices I make!)

98 Plant a gardenia in the back yard

I have, sitting on my desk, a coffee cup of five gardenias. Every time I walk into the room, I am surrounded by this enchanting scent. Lovely.

25 Spend a weekend in silence

I am marking this complete mostly because I did complete it more than I didn’t. What do I mean by that? I would have finished had the neighbors not had a party with dogs. I think that Romanov and Snowdoll would have been fine, eagerly watching the frivolity and wondering how to get to there from here. However, once they saw other dogs running around, occasionally wandering into our backyard, all puppy rationale was out the window, where they wanted to be. And there was no chance of my settling them down.

I made it through until 2pm Sunday.

I used Bliss in a Box with great excitement after having read and enjoyed Susan Piver’s How Not to Be Afraid of Your Own Life. That the retreat included such things as yoga and meditation thrilled me. I was eager and ready for this experience.

I will never ever use this set again and am probably going to give it to the first person who wants it.

Please let me reiterate how much I liked Piver’s book and encourage anyone reading this to read the retreat schedule she has outlined because it is a good one. Next time I do a retreat in my home, I will use her schedule but not these materials.

The kit comes with 2 compact discs. There are guided meditations. Given how much I adore the cd that complements Piver’s book I assumed that these meditations would be of the caliber. They are not. They are led by Tara Brach and has this New Agre droning music in the background. I can’t even call it music. Really it was more like a tone that would change periodically but there is no way one could call it music. What one could call it is boring and narcoleptic. I kept falling asleep during the meditations until I stopped using the ones in the kit and replaced them with comparable ones I had on other cds. Also, I found it incredibly distracting and even silly to be told to imagine:

• The souls of my feet are plump
• My right kidney evaporating like vapor
• My left kidney like a fluffy cloud

It was all too cute to be anything but annoying.

The yoga practice, led by Jill Satterfield was not much better. The warm-up was okay although some people may find Pigeon Pose (Eka Pada Rajakapotasana) a bit too challenging. Remember, this is a warm-up yoga practice—not a full practice. And someone not familiar with yoga would find it challenging to follow along with the audio recording without referencing the cards which are included in the kit. However, to refer to the cards would be distracting so either the person had better be familiar with yoga or be willing to pause the cd a lot along the way.

But what is really incredible is that during the Vinyasa (Flow) practice Satterfield actually has you go through Eda Pada Rajakapotasana at a pace that is obviously not meant for beginners. “On the inhale bring your right knee forward and turn your leg so that the outside of your calf is on the mat. Exhale and bow down over your right knee. On the inhale, straighten your arms and on the exhale go back into downward dog.” I want to see a beginner yogini do pigeon in three breaths. Not an experienced one. A beginner! (Maybe I'm wrong and there are all these beginner yoga practitioners easily slipping in and out of pigeon pose.)

To fully appreciate this I invite you to watch this person instruct on how to do this pose and you will see that moving in and out of it is not that easy unless you are a) very flexible and b) not a beginning yoga practitioner.

Let me also point out that Satterfield doesn't know the difference between Cobra and Upward Facing Dog poses because you don't have to "turn your toes under to go back into Downward Facing Dog" because your toes should be turned under for Upward Facing Dog.

The kit also comes with a set of cards. Most of the cards show you images of the yoga poses. Not very helpful but not useless. There are also a few quotes, which are also included in the workbook, a checklist, a shopping list, and some journaling prompts. I have been journaling too long and found the prompts to be incredibly fundamental. For someone either new to journaling or for someone who mostly keeps a gratitude journal or a log of their day to day activity, then the journal cards might be enlightening. However, after reading the journaling exercises in Piver’s book, I wish I had used those instead. Still, I read the cards. That should count for something, I suppose.

But it wasn’t just the huge disappointment in the materials included with the kit that made it a challenging experience. On Friday night I was cold. Although I turned off the overhead fans I had left the windows open and that was a mistake. I slept very poorly, trying to block out the sound of a howling dog nearby.

Is it possible my not sleeping well reinforced my falling asleep during the meditations? Yes. Undoubtedly. But I still think meditating on my plump feet or imagining that my kidneys are evaporating like vapor (which, excuse me, is rather redundant) is not something that would put me into a meditative state of mind. Although I slept better Saturday night, that was mostly due to my being so tired that I was better able to tune out the howling dog. The ceiling fans were off again but this time I was uncomfortably warm. Go figure.

Would I do the retreat again? Yes. In fact, I am going to use the guidelines and create a retreat of my own, using meditations and yoga practices I know I will enjoy. I won’t have another opportunity to do it for a while because I would rather do it when Rob is out of town which he does not do very often. But I definitely haven’t given up on the idea. And although this wasn’t done as perfectly as I would have liked, I think it was done well enough for me to have fulfilled my intention of experiencing a silent retreat.

(I will probably post the "alternative retreat" in my blog sometime in the near future.)

11 Do yoga every day for four weeks

I enjoyed the 28 days of yoga, exploring some of the resources I have on hand as well as those borrowed from the library. Some moreso than others.

Take away every one of my yoga dvds and leave me nothing but this one and I would be content. I hav used this one so much that I can do most of it with my eyes closed. Because Rob has the dvd player connected to the stereo, I don't even have to turn on the television. What do I love about it? The setting, the music, the practices! The menu also offers a "how to use props" section which is beneficial. For this dvd you will need a yoga mat (duh!), a yoga strap, yoga blocks, and a blanket. And if you don't know how to use them then go to the section that shows you how to best use each. My only complaint is that at one point during the PM yoga practice you will not be facing the television. If you must see what you are doing and can't listen your way through this very slow practice, after a couple of times you will be able to anticipate when the "turn away" is about to occur and adjust your practice accordingly, turning left instead of right.

Here is the second favorite practice which I did once a week. What I love best about this dvd is that there are four levels of practice. For the less flexible, there is a highly modified practice using blocks and other props. As you increase in flexibility, you can move to the next level of practice where you use the props less. Then there is yet another level before you have eased your way to the Suzanne Deason's level. I moved from the 3/4 modified to 1/2 modified by the end of the month before the month was over and seeing that progress was delightful. Almost as delightful as seeing women on the dvd who were not fresh out of high school or super slender. These women look real and it is easy to believe that if they can do it you can do it too. And you can. (I found myself surprised when the 45 minutes had ended and wishing that the dvd went on for longer!)

Although I only used this yoga practice one time it is one I highly recommend. The kit comes with a strap, a candle, some incense, a cd, and cards. I almost wish that there were a dvd too so I could be sure that my flow from one asana to the next is as described on the cd but I think that if I were to have used this more often during the four weeks to see if I would eventually figure it out. The practice is an hour long, just long enough to feel challenging but not so long as to wear one out. And this is slow enough for me not to have felt overwhelmed although it also helped that I am familiar with the poses and didn't have to refer to the cards quite as much. I would love to make this a regular part of my life, perhaps once a week as a longer yoga experience.

These three dvds are videos that have been repackaged into a boxed set. I have a few complaints before I discuss the content. One, I think that these three could easily have been merged into one dvd. The technology is there so why put three different practices onto three different dvds? Two, there is no improvement from vhs to dvd. On the Lower Body Yoga there is a section on how to use the props to help with alignment and make the practice a little easier and instead of making this "extra" section available through the menu, you have to fast forward through the practice to access it. More helpful would have been a screen within screen that would show the viewer how to use the prop or at least a way to get to the section from the menu.

Still, these are not bad routines. I never felt sore from using these but when I used them in conjunction with strength training I very much felt the difference! I would say this dvd set is a good supplement to weight lifting or as an addition to your yoga dvd collection but I wouldn't consider it as part of my core practice.

I borrowed this dvd from the library and I have added it to my wishlist not because I necessarily love it or recommend it but because I want to add it to my repertoire. I love to dance and watching this dvd made me wish I could participate in one of Shiva Rea's trance workshops. I have absolutely no doubt that the shared experience of having others around me, moving and flowing, would reinforce the energy that is meant to be stirred during the dancing. There is NO choreography. This is not about getting the movement precise, as in the bellydancing dvds I used, but about feeling the music and moving. There are yoga practices used for the warm-up and cool-down and there are several different trance practices. What's more, you can choose from a very detailed menu practices of varying lengths. Have you ever wondered how a workout could be both intense and lovely at the same time? Use this dvd one time and you will quickly find out. I was sorry to return this dvd to the library after using it only two times. I'll be borrowing it again in the near future. No doubt about it!

I have this dvd with a pair of weighted gloves which help with alignment and slightly increases the challenge of some of the practice. This is a very slow routine, mostly done seated. Very helpful for me when the vertigo was stronger. I like this dvd but it isn't a favorite or even one I would encourage others to run out and buy it. In fact, you could easily flesh out your dvd collection without this one and be covered. However, there are times when sitting down is nice and for an easy practice, this dvd is one that I wouldn't necessarily ignore. But if I were going to recommend one . . .

. . . this is the one I would recommend. This is a good dvd to have if you spend a lot of your time sitting at a desk. There are simple twists and bends that one can do while at work. Easily. Everything from the warm up to the cool down is done in a chair. There is no standing before you sit. There is no lying down at the end. You begin and end seated. And there is no doubt that this dvd kept me more flexible when my vertigo was very bad than I would have been without it. The stability I needed by sitting down in the chair allowed me to move more deeply through stretches that otherwise would have been difficult not because of my inflexibility but because of my imbalance. However, the truth is I did not use this dvd during my 28 days because I had loaned it to someone who never returned it.

This is another one I borrowed from the library but I borrowed it in vhs so I am not sure if the content is identical. This dvd is good but not great. I never felt like I was immersed in the practice. Although there are different levels of practice shown, unlike the Yoga for Weight Loss, the camera doesn't focus on any one person. The practice also felt like something that would be easier for people who are physically fit--who exercise regularly and have a certain amount of upper body strength and flexibility. Could a person new to yoga use this practice? Yes, definitely. But I would still only recommend this to someone who is exercising regularly and maybe wants to add yoga to a more rigorous program or to someone who does yoga regularly and wants something new for their collection. It isn't a bad practice but not a great one. I won't feel compelled to borrow it again, frankly.

This is another kit that has cards, 2 cds, and a booklet. I have to say that I didn't actually use this kit during my 28 days but I have used it in the past. Some familiarity with asanas helps so I wouldn't say that this is for anyone who is an absolute beginner to yoga. Someone who is familiar with yoga, who is ready to try to work through a practice without the distraction of looking at a dvd, or for someone who has only used dvds, this is an excellent addition to your collection. There is something wonderful about being able to do yoga with your eyes closed, synchronizing your breath with the movement, not wanting or needing to refer to any visual explanation.

I don't know if this is necessarily a bad dvd/book set. I just found it confusing because the names for some of the asanas are not the same as those with which I am familiar. A rose by any other name may smell as sweet but when I am trying to move from one pose to another and I don't recognize the name of the asana it can be a little confusing. Worse is that it is incredibly distracting. Instead of sinking into the practice, my mind is trying to reinterpret what I am doing. Like hearing a second language with which I am not yet fluent, my mind hears but then has to filter to reach understanding. One of the things I love most about doing yoga is the opportunity to get outside of my head occasionally, to be able to really be in the moment.

I cannot say enough how much I adore doing yoga. I would happily do it for another 28 days, spend more time using some of the above resources to see if my guess about loving them more the more I use them is correct and using some of the other resources I never got around to exploring. If I make another 101 Things List after finishing this list, I will definitely have this on the list again. And again. And again!

34 Give up something for Lent in 2008

I forgot to write about this before but, in spite of my forgetfulness, I did accomplish this. What did I give up? If you really want to know, email me. Otherwise, suffice it to say, I survived the 40 days.