That's A Best Picture Nominee ?

This evening my wife and I settled in to view a movie we had recently heard a lot about and decided we should finally watch.  This movie was one of ten films to receive an Academy Award nomination for best picture this year.  Needless to say, our expectations were reasonably high.

I learned two things after watching Gravity:
First, I have no idea what constitutes a "best picture" any longer.
Second, I am thankful my wife agrees with me (she has no idea what constitutes a "best picture" any longer either).


Song Of The Day:
One exceptionally perfect thing that came from watching the film is that it provides a perfect tie in for me to feature a recent song that I simply LOVE!  In fact, I love it so much that you get TWO versions for the price of reading ONE (short) blog post.
"Say Something" is originally performed by A Great Big World (featuring Christina Aguilera) but this a capella version by Pentatonix is absolutely amazing in it's own right.
SPOILER ALERT:  The perfect tie in is found in the lyrics "say something I'm giving up on you" which would have been a perfect phrase to hear Sandra Bullock's character utter to George Clooney's character as he floats off into space.  At that point their intercoms are the only method of connection between them and she begins to lose sight and sound of him.  If he could just say something she wouldn't have to give up on him

...

Who Says Flying Would Be Faster ?

Everyone makes the exact same assumption ... and I'm sick of it!

 

"If I could fly, that would be so much easier/better/faster, etc."

For sake of argument we will bypass the ridiculousness of any scenario in which your 150 to 350 pound person would even be capable of getting airborne.  Let's just assume it was possible and you are now "in the air, a.k.a. flying."  It is absurd to assume that the same laws of gravity and physics would somehow not be in existence any longer.  If that is the case, I should think that "flying" would not be any easier/better/faster for 99.9% of the population.  Let me break this down for you.

First, it would not be easier.  The energy needed to propel yourself through the air would at least be equal to that energy needed to move your body on the ground.  Did gravity just stop being in effect as soon as you got off the ground?  I think not.  In fact, some argument could be made that the higher you fly off the ground the greater the weight of gravity pulling you down, thereby actually making it harder to fly than to walk, run, or otherwise move around.

Second, it would not be better.  How could it be better than riding or driving in a car?  Remember that this is just you flying and not "you in some contraption that flies."  So the correct comparison would be with you walking or running somewhere.  I seriously doubt that your main reason for driving everywhere is because it's too cold to walk or run or whatever.  Which leads to my last point ...

Third, it would not be faster.  In fact, it might actually be slower than any other mode of transportation.  At least with a bicycle (a machine, but one powered initially by you) you can "coast" some of the time and let the bicycle carry you further.  Can you "coast" while walking or running?  Try it.  Let's see if that kinetic energy keeps you moving forward when you don't lift your foot and take that next step.

So the only 0.1% of the population (and that is probably generous) that would benefit from flying might be the long distance runners (marathoners) and the really, really skinny but still having some muscle mass people.  They alone would have the stamina and weight ratio to enable them to travel the necessary distances without wishing they hadn't.

This is the kind of thing that I think about while I drive home from work.  Sorry.

Song Of The Day:
Although not really related to the subject of flying, the song "Gravity" by John Mayer is apropos, at least in the sense that in the song he seems to wish gravity didn't exist.  So that's a shout out to all you who would still believe flying would be easier/better/faster.

What's good painting music?

Well I am sure everyone has their own preference but today I listened to my John Mayer CDs while I was painting Brooklyn's room (stage one painting that is ... there will likely be a dozen stages since she wants blue sky, white clouds, brown mountains, green grass patches, and every color of flower and butterfly imaginable).

I have mentioned before that I love all kinds of music and John Mayer's stuff is definitely on that list (sometimes my favorite and other times just nice to have in the background).  I listened to two of his CDs today while I painted:  Heavier Things (which I had not heard in a LONG time) and Continuum (which I only heard a few songs on because I listed to the first CD several times over).

My favorite song on Heavier Things has to be Come Back To Bed.  It is just a smooth song about making up and I like the message when he says "What will this fix?  You know you're not a quick forgive." and "You can be mad in the morning.  I'll take back what I said."  I just think it supports the theory of not going to bed angry and working things out when they happen and not days later.

But I enjoy all of the CD (two songs a little less than the others), especially because the tunes and words just beg you to sing along with them.  And I love singing!  I am not particularly gifted int hat area, but I can carry a tune and my mom taught me to harmonize quite well to virtually any melody.

Continuum has some very different songs on it but I love so many of them it is impossible to highlight them all ... so I'll pick two:
First, Gravity.  I have my own personal reasons for loving the message of this song, which I will not be sharing here.  But I will say this much ... the following words from the song have deep meaning for me: "gravity, wants to bring me down" and "twice as much ain't twice as good and can't sustain like one half could ... it's wanting more that's gonna bring me to my knees"
Second, I'm Gonna Find Another You.  This song doesn't have much meaning at all to me personally as I have found the only YOU that I ever want in my beautiful wife Karen.  But it is a sweet break-up song and I can picture myself back in high school and I would have loved to have this song to sing to a certain ex-girlfriend.  The lines "I hope she looks like you and she's nicer too!" and "I'm gonna do some things you wouldn't let me do!" really mean alot when you're in a break-up situation.

The "hot mama" of my Daughters (& sons too!)

Anyway, I could go on and on about other songs on these CDs but needless to say it made the time while I was painting fly by and gave me a chance to reflect on lots of things.  I have a super great life and I am so very blessed!