A cancer diagnosis is devastating news for anyone, but it can be especially heartbreaking when the patient is a child. When young Miles Scott was diagnosed with leukemia, his parents, Nick and Natalie, sprang into action to attend to his medical needs. And, even though his prognosis for recovery was good, there were no guarantees, a potentially cruel prospect for someone barely starting out in life. Being robbed of one’s childhood just seems so patently unfair. But, then, that’s what good guys are for, and they more than came to the five-year-old’s rescue.
Jane Roberts
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Carol Petersen (Blythe Danner) knows a lot about love and loss. Having been widowed 20 years earlier, when her adoring husband was tragically killed in a plane crash, the spry 70-something now spends most of her days on her own, living alone in a small but comfortable home. She has a close circle of card-playing friends who live in a nearby retirement community (June Squibb, Rhea Perlman, Mary Kay Place), and she periodically receives visits from her daughter, Kath (Malin Akerman). But the fear of being hurt again is so strong that she rarely ventures outside her limited daily routine. It’s all very controlled and very safe but also very lonely.
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Arts & Entertainment
‘She’s Beautiful’ charts a culture-changing movement
by Brent Marchant March 27, 2015The impact of an idea can be considerable. When that notion is infused with the energy of a mass collaboration, it can become huge. And, when that initiative is linked with others of like tenor, a movement is born. So it was when the women of America united to get behind a cause that liberated them from the shackles of stifling limitation, a culture-changing crusade that reshaped society forever, the subject of the engaging new documentary, “She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry.”
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Arts & Entertainment
Intent, integrity get put on trial in ‘American Hustle’
by Brent Marchant December 27, 2013Getting what we want out of life often takes considerable moxie. But all the chutzpah in the world won’t matter a damn if it’s not properly backed up with traits like personal integrity and sound intent. That can be a difficult lesson to learn, too, as a coterie of colorful characters finds out all too well in the new, fact-based, period piece comedy, “American Hustle.”
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Arts & EntertainmentFamily & Relationships
‘Hope Springs’ breaks the chains of limitation by Brent Marchant
by Brent Marchant August 17, 2012We’ve all heard the expression “hope springs eternal,” and that’s certainly true if we leave ourselves open to the possibilities it affords, even under the most seemingly dire circumstances. Kay and Arnold come to discover this for themselves in a town whose name, ironically enough, embodies the essence of that notion. But then that should come as no surprise, because that’s the kind of magic that happens when we make that expression our mantra, when we incorporate it into the belief structure that brings us what we concentrate on, one that breaks the chains of limitation and ultimately makes it possible for us to live more fulfilling lives.
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Arts & EntertainmentHealth & Well-being
READ: Fresh starts showcased in the film ‘Marigold Hotel’
by Brent Marchant May 11, 2012Many of us have come to fear change, that the disappearance of the familiar will leave us sad, disoriented or less well off than we’ve grown accustomed to being. But it need not be that way at all. Change just means doing something differently, and it doesn’t automatically equate to things being worse than they have been; it could indeed be the start of something far better than we could have possibly imagined but that we have not previously permitted to materialize.
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Arts & Entertainment
READ: ‘The Iron Lady’ reveals how ‘what we think, we become’
by Brent Marchant January 20, 2012At its metaphysical core, “The Iron Lady” showcases one individual’s efforts at practicing conscious creation, the philosophy that maintains we each create our own reality. This theme is perhaps best summed up by a quote from the protagonist: “Watch your thoughts, for they become words. Watch your words, for they become actions. Watch your actions, for they become habits. Watch your habits, for they become your character. And watch your character, for it becomes your destiny! What we think, we become.”
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“Ondine” (2009 production, 2010 release). Cast: Colin Farrell, Alicja Bachleda, Alison Barry, Stephen Rea, Dervla Kirwan, Tony Curran, Emil Hostina. Director: Neil Jordan. Screenplay: Neil Jordan. www.ondinefilm.com Magic is something…