Tag: Oscars

Michael J. Fox, Fahrenheit 451, Philadelphia, Sadhguru, and a Japanese Proverb

Michael J. Fox, Fahrenheit 451, Philadelphia, Sadhguru, and a Japanese Proverb

Published by Drew Alexander Ross on April 7, 2024

Sunday Supplement #152 (April 7th, 2024)

Below is another Sunday Supplement with a quote worth sharing, a book worth reading, a movie worth watching, brainfood worth consuming, and a spiritual passage worth pondering.

Please take something away from these recommendations that enriches your week ahead!

Quote of the Week:

“Acceptance doesn’t mean resignation; it means understanding that something is what it is and that there’s got to be a way through it.”

– Michael J. Fox

Book of the Week:

Fahrenheit 451 – Ray Bradbury

My 6th-grade teacher gave me Fahrenheit 451 to read. It was one of those door-opening moments in the world of literature, and it’s one of the few books I’ve read more than once.

The dystopian novel follows fireman Guy Montag, whose job is to burn books that the government has outlawed.

Montag’s life changes when he meets a neighbor who reads books. He then embarks on his own journey of reading, which leads him to flee the city after he is caught.

Fahrenheit 451’s depiction of books filtered out because of people losing interest and the government’s controlling of narratives through media is one of many eery but poignant themes.

Ray Bradbury’s classic won a “Retro” Hugo Award in 2004 and should be on everyone’s classics-to-read list.

Movie of the Week:

Philadelphia

1993’s Philadelphia follows Andrew Beckett as his law firm fires him because of his HIV condition and his subsequent wrongful dismissal lawsuit headed by a small-time homophobic lawyer, Joe Miller, as his only willing advocate.

Jonathan Demme (The Silence of the Lambs) brilliantly directs the Ron Nyswaner screenplay. Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington bring the story to life as Beckett and Miller.

I was only two years old when this movie came out, but watching it later gave me an interesting glimpse into the culture at the time.

Philadelphia won two Academy Awards, including Best Actor in a Leading Role for Tom Hanks, and was nominated for an additional three Oscars, including Best Writing.

Brainfood of the Week:

Why Acceptance is Freedom | Sadhguru

I’ve featured Sadhguru in several previous Sunday Supplements. He is an Indian yogi and bestselling author. His YouTube page has over 11 million followers.

In this video, Sadhguru discusses how our personalities can be like filters of likes and dislikes based on our preferences.

The danger of this comes from judging people and situations through our lenses of experience. You can carry many psychological wounds from slights you held onto for years.

Through total acceptance, you can remove the judgment from people and situations.

I find Sadhguru’s videos thought-provoking. They are worth watching and reflecting on. If you enjoy this one, check out my other posts.

Closing Spiritual Passage:

“Spilt water won’t go back into its tray.” (覆水盆に返らず)

– Japanese Proverb

This Japanese proverb has a Western cousin: “Don’t cry over spilled milk.” I think it’s pretty straightforward, but I like the Japanese Proverb’s translation.

I like the image of trying to force something like water or milk back into its container after it has been spilled.

I find myself guilty of trying to make things perfect or not acting until I think things are in the perfect conditions for action.

This proverb reminds me to think about what is the best usage of our time and energy. Once you’ve accepted something, you can decide how to move forward.

Accept the situation, move forward, and have a blessed week ahead!

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John F. Kennedy, The Dead Zone, The Last Samurai, Kurzgesagt — In a Nutshell, and a Quran Passage

John F. Kennedy, The Dead Zone, The Last Samurai, Kurzgesagt — In a Nutshell, and a Quran Passage

Published by Drew Alexander Ross on March 31, 2024

Sunday Supplement #151 (March 31st, 2024)

Below is another Sunday Supplement with a quote worth sharing, a book worth reading, a movie worth watching, brainfood worth consuming, and a spiritual passage worth pondering.

Please take something away from these recommendations that enriches your week ahead!

Quote of the Week:

“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.”

– John F. Kennedy

Book of the Week:

The Dead Zone – Stephen King

I’ve featured several Stephen King books in previous Sunday Supplements, and while I tend to mix up my recommendations, I think there are many King books worth reading. There’s a reason he’s written over 60 books, and all of them are bestsellers.

The Dead Zone follows the lives of Johnny Smith, a high school teacher in Maine who suffered an accident as a child that planted a seed for future events, and Greg Stillson, a door-to-door salesman with grand ambitions.

Johnny and Stillson’s paths cross after Johnny suffers an accident that leaves him in a coma for over five years. He realizes he must thwart Stillson’s ambitions at any cost.

What I love about King’s books is the character building. In The Dead Zone, King brilliantly builds Johnny and Stillson’s characters. What Johnny loses in his five years in the coma, along with Stillson’s growing ambitions, drives the narrative to the heartfelt climax.

If you are curious to check out Stephen King’s works but aren’t a horror fan, this is a solid book to choose for your first read.

Movie of the Week:

The Last Samurai

One of my favorite screenwriters is John Logan. He is the creator/writer of Penny Dreadful and the writer of Skyfall, Hugo, Rango, Sweeny Todd, and Gladiator (among others).

The film follows a US Army veteran who gets hired by the Japanese emperor to train his army in modern warfare and quell the samurai, who are viewed as relics of the past that impede Japan’s westernization.

The veteran, played by Tom Cruise — (spoiler alert) — is captured by the samurai. The film follows his journey as he ends up being saved by the culture he was hired to destroy.

The film was nominated for four Oscars, including Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Ken Watanabe.

While it’s hard to choose from Logan’s excellent filmography, and I will cop out and not pick a favorite, The Last Samurai competes for the top spot. I highly recommend it.

Brainfood of the Week:

An Antidote to Dissatisfaction | Kurzgesagt — In a Nutshell

I recently stumbled upon Kurzgesagt’s YouTube channel and can’t recommend it highly enough. They are “a team of illustrators, animators, number crunchers, and one dog who aim to spark curiosity about science and the world we live in.”

This video starts by discussing how it’s easy to slip into thoughts of scarcity, inferiority, and negative comparison and how researchers have looked into how to counteract these impulses in the last twenty years.

One of the strongest predictors of how happy people are, how easily they make friends, and how good they are at dealing with hardship is gratitude.

How you experience life is a representation of what you believe about it. If you attack your core beliefs about yourself and your life, you can change your thoughts and feelings, which automatically changes your behavior.

The above points are just a few of my favorite picks from the video, but its breakdown of gratitude, its evolution, and how to practice it make the video well worth watching.

Closing Spiritual Passage:

“For whoever is grateful, it is only for their own good.”

– Surah Luqman 31:12

This Quran passage discusses gratitude to God. However, I don’t think it is necessarily solely limited to a creator; it can encompass what God can represent.

Being grateful for love, your fellow humans, nature, life, etc, all fall under the umbrella of what God represents.

For me, the key point of this passage is the focus on gratitude. Cultivating a habit of gratitude can only be beneficial.

Operating from a perspective of gratitude allows you to see the good in any situation. That doesn’t mean you ignore bad things, but you can always look to the good after you’ve handled or processed the bad.

Practice gratitude, and have a blessed week ahead!

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Zora Neale Hurston, The Princess Bride, Dirty Dancing, Wentworth Miller, and a Bible Passage

Zora Neale Hurston, The Princess Bride, Dirty Dancing, Wentworth Miller, and a Bible Passage

Published by Drew Alexander Ross on February 11, 2024

Sunday Supplement #144 (February 11th, 2024)

Below is another Sunday Supplement with a quote worth sharing, a book worth reading, a movie worth watching, brainfood worth consuming, and a spiritual passage worth pondering.

Please take something away from these recommendations that enriches your week ahead!

Quote of the Week:

“Love makes your soul crawl out from its hiding place.”

– Zora Neale Hurston

Book of the Week:

The Princess Bride – William Goldman

Most people know The Princess Bride from the 1987 film of the same name. I featured the movie in Sunday Supplement #108.

I’m a huge fan of the movie, and I always wanted to read the book. I finally did earlier last year, and I loved it. The book was like an extended cut of the movie, which makes sense.

The novel follows a fictionalized Goldman as he attempts to gift his son the book his father read him as a child.

Goldman discovers that the actual book is much more dense than the version his father read. He proceeds to write his version, which encapsulates one of the best love stories in fantasy.

It’s so hard to encapsulate in a brief blurb, but I highly recommend the book to anyone who loves the movie. And if you haven’t seen the movie, give it a watch.

Movie of the Week:

Dirty Dancing

The 1987 film Dirty Dancing is one of my favorite feel-good movies to put on. The music, the dancing choreography, the acting, and the story are wonderful.

Dirty Dancing follows Baby Houseman, played by Jennifer Grey, as she spends her summer at a Catskills resort with her family. She falls in love with the camp’s dance instructor, Johnny Castle, played by Patrick Swayze.

The film was nominated for one Academy Award, Best Music – Original Song, and won the Oscar for the song “(I’ve Had) The Time Of My Life.”

I delved into a lot of classic films while I was in high school. I wasn’t sure if I’d like Dirty Dancing, but it was on too many top film lists to ignore.

I’m glad I watched it back because I still enjoy the film today. I highly recommend it for a fun movie about summer love.

Brainfood of the Week:

Wentworth Miller | Full Q&A | Oxford Union

Oxford Union is one of the most prestigious debating societies. The institution is renowned for bringing international guests and speakers for discussion and debate.

In this video, actor, writer, gay rights and mental health advocate Wentworth Miller discusses a variety of topics, including his experiences with depression.

In responding to a question about his experience with depression, Miller discusses talking to yourself in a way that is loving and supportive.

Miller goes on to talk about how he knew how to support friends in crisis, but his response wasn’t always kind when he was in crisis. If he spoke to his friends like he spoke to himself, he would have no friends. So, he started to pay attention to how he talked to himself.

I’ve put the link for this video to start when Miller receives the question about his experience with depression, but the whole video is worth watching.

Closing Spiritual Passage:

“Let all that you do be done in love.”

– 1 Corinthians 16:14

There are many Bible passages about love, but I think this one sums up where our actions should originate.

Love can be assumed to mean only good things, but I believe love also means being open, honest, and from the heart.

Being nice can often be a way to avoid confrontation. But I believe if you are operating from love, you wouldn’t avoid challenging situations.

That doesn’t mean you have to be mean, but I think operating from a place of love means connecting with your truth.

Express your love, and have a blessed week ahead!

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Heraclitus, Slade House, Lost in Translation, The Art of Improvement, and a Dhammapada Verse

Heraclitus, Slade House, Lost in Translation, The Art of Improvement, and a Dhammapada Verse

Published by Drew Alexander Ross on January 21, 2024

Sunday Supplement #141 (January 21st, 2024)

Below is another Sunday Supplement with a quote worth sharing, a book worth reading, a movie worth watching, brainfood worth consuming, and a spiritual passage worth pondering.

Please take something away from these recommendations that enriches your week ahead!

Quote of the Week:

“No man steps into the same river twice, for it’s not the same river, and he’s not the same man.”

– Heraclitus

Book of the Week:

Slade House – David Mitchell

Every nine years, in an alley down the road from a British pub, a unique someone who’s different or lonely will be extended an invitation to Slade House.

The novel spans five decades, starting from the 1970s, and the people who enter Slade House find that they don’t want to leave but later learn they can’t.

David Mitchell’s Slade House is an excellent blend of paranormal fiction with elements of horror that combine for an enthralling read.

I’ve featured one other David Mitchell book, Cloud Atlas, in Sunday Supplement #35, and though the books are wildly different, the quality of writing is of the highest caliber.

Movie of the Week:

Lost in Translation

Sophia Coppola’s Lost in Translation focuses on a faded movie star’s and a young woman’s experience of disconnection in their respective marriages.

The film is set in Japan, where the faded movie star, Bob, goes to promote a whiskey, and the young woman, Charlotte, accompanies her husband on a business trip.

The two disillusioned Americans keep bumping into each other on their respective trips, and an unlikely kinship forms from their search for connection.

Coppola won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, Billy Murray as Bob was nominated for Best Actor, and the film was nominated for Best Picture.

Brainfood of the Week:

4 Zen Stories That Will Change How You Think About Life | The Art of Improvement

I’ve featured The Art of Improvement in a few previous Sunday Supplements. Their videos focus on self-improvement and feature a variety of topics based on various sources.

This video starts by stating we sometimes get stuck overthinking and worrying in life, and an easy way to get out of a negative thought loop can be experiencing a good story.

The Art of Improvement video then tells four short zen stories: The Farmer’s Horse, The Learned Man, The Couple on the Donkey, and The Move.

Each story is a fun little parable with a lesson worth listening to. The end of the video reminds us that if you’re in a funk, stories can help you change your perspective.

Closing Spiritual Passage:

“Before long, alas, this body, deprived of consciousness, will lie on the earth, discarded like a useless log.”

– Dhammapada 41

At first look, this Dhammapada verse can be a little disheartening and a downer. But looking at it a little deeper gives me much to take away from it.

The obvious lesson is that we all die one day, and we should make sure we live a full life before we do. But I think the power of this lesson comes from the idea that we shouldn’t fear failure or negative experiences.

Along with the bumps and bruises of living life, this verse points out consciousness as a significant marker of life. We often go through life with periods of unconscious behavior, and this verse reminds us to try and stay as conscious as possible.

Continue to experience life consciously each day, and have a blessed week ahead!

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Nadia Comăneci, The Dark Tower Series, The Theory of Everything, Sadhguru, and Matthew 6:21

Nadia Comăneci, The Dark Tower Series, The Theory of Everything, Sadhguru, and Matthew 6:21

Published by Drew Alexander Ross on January 7, 2024

Sunday Supplement #139 (January 7th, 2024)

Below is another Sunday Supplement with a quote worth sharing, a book worth reading, a movie worth watching, brainfood worth consuming, and a spiritual passage worth pondering.

Please take something away from these recommendations that enriches your week ahead!

Quote of the Week:

“Enjoy the journey and try to get better every day. And don’t lose the passion and the love for what you do.”

– Nadia Comăneci

Book of the Week:

The Dark Tower Series – Stephen King

If you’re new to my blog, you might not have seen me feature Stephen King before. For those who have read the blog consistently, I apologize for another Stephen King entry.

I’ve featured eight Stephen King books before this, but The Dark Tower Series was the start of my reading King’s works. They are arguably his magnum opus, and many of his other stories tie into the world of The Dark Tower.

Roland Deschain, a member of a knightly order known as “gunslingers” and the last of the line of “Arthur Eld” (his world’s analogue of King Arthur), attempts to seek the Man in Black in a world that has “moved on.”

Roland’s journey crosses over many worlds, including our own. The tale blends dark fantasy, science fiction, western, and horror genres.

There’s no easy way to describe The Dark Tower in short, which is surprisingly one of his lesser-read works. I believe it to be his best writing and can’t recommend it more highly.

Give the series a try (read at least the first two books). King spent over thirty years completing the series, which should show how important it was to him.

Movie of the Week:

The Theory of Everything

Stephen Hawking was a theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author who was the director of research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology at the University of Cambridge.

The Theory of Everything is a 2014 film that captures Hawking and his wife, Jane Wilde’s relationship, as they met at University in the 1960s through their struggle with Hawking’s diagnosis of motor neuron disease.

Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones star as Stephen Hawkins and Jane Wilde. Redmayne won the Oscar for Best Actor, and Jones was nominated for Best Actress.

The film was nominated for three additional Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Writing – Adapted Screenplay.

Anthony McCarten adapted the script from Jane Hawking’s novel Traveling to Infinity: My Life with Stephen. It’s a powerful story and beautifully captured in the 2014 film.

Brainfood of the Week:

Playfulness and Passion | Sadhguru

Sadhguru is an Indian yogi and bestselling author. His YouTube page has over 11 million followers and over 1.5 billion video views.

Sadhguru begins the video by talking about how playfulness can often be frowned upon as childish. He then explains how being too serious makes everything about you.

Approaching problems with a sense of playfulness will also help you not get overwhelmed by the difficulties you encounter. By being playful, you are not becoming entangled in the problem.

At the end of the video, Sadhguru talks about passion and being consumed by it. He discusses how burning passion opens up new possibilities.

I’ve featured Sadhguru in a few previous Sunday Supplements. If you like this video, check the other posts out.

Closing Spiritual Passage:

“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

– Matthew 6:21

This Bible passage from the Book of Matthew discusses how we shouldn’t store our treasures on earth but should store them in heaven. It then states the verse above.

I believe this verse speaks to the passions and love we have in our lives.

Whether toward the ones we love or our pursuits of meaningful achievements, the treasures should be in the doing and not tied to the outcomes.

As I’m starting my 2024 journey, I’m focusing on bringing as much love to the people in my life and my passions as possible.

Bring love and passion to the treasures of your life, and have a blessed week ahead!

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