2018 - Taking the Bull by the Horns

 Every year I write a post discussing my selected “theme” for the coming New Year.  Every year I go back and read the previous years’ “theme” posts and reflect on them.  In looking back today, I realized I never did post a theme for 2017.  I think I wrote one but it was on my laptop that died and in the process of getting my new computer, the post was never retrieved and posted.  Somehow that’s fitting because 2017 was what can best be described as a “shit-show” of a year for me and mine.  No matter what theme I might have had in mind, it would have been blown to hell by a myriad of set-backs, hard times, illnesses, losses, and more.  I’ve spent the better part of 2017 as a care-giver in one capacity or another to my parents and my husband and all their health issues and crises, to a few friends, as well as being a mom to Punky.  We have dealt with a ton of health issues, a disability, a job loss, huge financial burdens, a stalker, and impending death this year and there’s no real end in sight right now.  To be honest I was seriously thinking about not doing a theme for the coming year either as very little of the aforementioned “shit-show” has resolved itself and the world at large seems like a very gloomy, destined-to-implode place right now.  Then a friend quoted Captain Picard to me: “It is possible to do everything right and still lose”.  I sunk down into that quote for a couple of days, bemoaning in the truth of it actually.  And then I came upon this quote by Robert Brault:

"Everything we possess that is not necessary for life or happiness becomes a burden, and scarcely a day passes that we do not add to it." 

2016...The Year of NOW

As some may remember, I don't do resolutions.  They are wasted on me as I'm more of a 'big picture' person.  At the end of 2011 I realized that my life was too hectic and busy.  I was allowing myself to be pulled into too many directions.  I decided that I need to change that for the coming year and so I picked a theme for the year.  One word that I could focus on that would help guide me, focus me, on how I lived and to fulfill my goals for that year.  Simplify was the word then.  In the years since I've continued to select a one word theme for each new year as I've found it really helps me.  It's a way of letting go of what didn't work in the previous year but not getting bogged down with a lot of 'have tos and shoulds'.  Through the years I've embraced "Authentic", "Peace", and "Transformation" as well as the original "Simplify".

I must admit that surprising results are netted from doing this.  Sometimes, throughout any given year, I'm reminded of something my mother always said, "Careful what you ask for." 

Black and White is Never Inappropriate!

Punky is all about ‘the acting’.  She loves T.V. shows, movies, plays, musicals, etc.  She also loves music in general and has eclectic taste.  With the exception of  Country music, she enjoys a wide variety.  I felt it was my patriotic obligation to introduce her to Elvis at a very early age and by the time she was ready for Pre-K she could recognize his voice and music.  My mother was very proud.  She’s been hypnotized by the television from the time she was a baby and truthfully, that hasn’t stopped.  Her tastes are eclectic in that regard as well.  She loves ‘Doctor Who’ but no more so than she loves the old ‘Dick Van Dyke Show’.  This brings me to Black and Whites.  Yes, television and movies before there was color exist!!  I’m kidding, I’m sure you knew that.  But so many kids today don’t seem to realize it!

   

Now that Punky is fully immersed in acting and theatre, I wanted to make sure she was exposed to the greats!  There are, of course, wonderfully gifted actors from the last few years that are in color pictures.  Meryl Streep, Robert De Niro, Jack Nicholson, Brad Pitt, Helen Mirren, actually it’s a long list.  But some of the greatest actors of all time are found in the ‘old’ Black & White movies.  Punky has no problem with watching black and whites, and I’m so glad because otherwise she would miss out on some truly wonderful experiences!  Another real plus to black & whites is that so many of them are completely family friendly!  Well, depending on what you consider acceptable, of course.  But really, even the old movies that had themes revolving around “love” or “murder” are TAME, TAME, TAME compared to the junk in movies today!  There are exceptions, of course, and depending on your definition of ‘appropriate’, there may be a few we approve of that you may not.  That’s ok!  But it is certainly not the landmine of navigation that today’s movies can be!

So here’s a list (in no particular order) of some of the greatest black and white movies, with the greatest actors of all time, which we will enjoy with Punky!  Perhaps you will enjoy some with your children.  Maybe you have a budding actor in your midst as well!

Sunset Boulevard 1950

Touch of Evil* 1958

Top Hat 1935

On the Waterfront 1954

To Kill a Mockingbird 1962

The Big Sleep 1946

Invasion of the Body Snatchers* 1956

Psycho* 1960

Night of the Living Dead* 1968

Young Frankenstein 1974 (not a typical B&W, but too good to not be on the list)

The Defiant Ones*

Modern Times 1936

It’s a Wonderful Life 1946

All About Eve* 1950

Some Like It Hot 1966

Notorious 1946

Casablanca 1942

Double Indemnity 1944

Manchurian Candidate* 1962

Maltese Falcon 1941

High Noon 1952

12 Angry Men 1957

Dark Victory 1939

The Grapes of Wrath 1940

His Girl Friday 1940 (A personal favorite – I AM a huge Cary Grant fan!)

Rebecca 1940

A Streetcar Named Desire* 1951

It Happened One Night 1934

The Best Years of Our Lives 1946

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington 1939

Bringing Up Baby 1938 (Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn – fantastic!)

The 39 Steps* 1935

Rear Window 1954

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre 1948

The Miracle Worker 1962

Inherit the Wind 1960

Random Harvest 1942

Duck Soup 1933

Dracula 1931

The Bride of Frankenstein 1935

The Philadelphia Story 1940 (Another fav!)

Strangers on a Train 1951

The Birds 1963

My Man Godfrey 1936

A Christmas Carol 1951

The Mask of Zorro 1940

Tarzan the Ape Man 1932

D.O.A. 1950

The Absent-Minded Professor 1961

Grand Hotel 1932

Sherlock Holmes The Hounds of Baskerville 1939

Laura 1944

To Have and Have Not 1944

Abbott & Costello (ANY)

Suspicion 1941

To Be or Not to Be 1942

Topper 1937

Holiday Affair 1949

Gaslight 1944

The Women 1939

Whatever Happened to Baby Jane* 1962

Jailhouse Rock 1957

Kid Galahad 1952

… And so the list doesn’t grow TOO long, I’ll sum up with:

ANY Cary Grant film

ANY Katherine Hepburn film

ANY Jimmy Stewart film

There are so many older movies that are in color that are worth seeing as well, of course, but the old black and whites are never inappropriate!

Happy Viewing!

~Mari B.

*I recommend viewers be 12 or older