Movie Review: Aloha directed by Cameron Crowe

Aloha, directed by Cameron Crowe, is a romantic comedy with a wonderful cast, a promising story and a number of challenging relationship dynamics. The disjointed nature of the story did however, leave me wondering how much of it was left on the digital cutting room floor. The story revolved around a planned satellite launch by a multimillionaire, the involvement of the American military, and the secret weapons payload that would be on the second launch. Bradley Cooper played Brian Gilchrist as washed up contractor who had gone over to the private sector but maintained ties with the military. His love interests were an old girlfriend, Tracy played by Rachel Adams who was married with two children; and his military liason, Captain Ng played by Emma Stone. Her blond good looks defied her Hawaiian lineage, however the script made sure that she told us how she was in fact 1/4 Hawaiian - more than once.

Set in Hawaii with stunning landscape shots, the story brought in another issue - the fact that the Hawaiians have had to give up their land, with little recompense. Alternatively I did find that this movie made me laugh out loud many times at parts that were just plain funny. The only humility I could find were from Tracy’s (Rachel McAdams) children, Grace and Mitchell. Mitchell (Jaeden Lieberher), a wannabe camera man with sincere interest in Hawaiian mythology, was clear and direct in his interactions with the adults in the movie. Grace (Danielle Rose Russell) embodied her name - a quiet respectful girl who was learning the hula as part of her extracurricular activities. One of her final scenes was beautiful as she expressed emotions without any words.

“Cinema is a matter of what’s in the frame and what’s out.”

~ Martin Scorsese

Cast of Main Characters:
Bradley Cooper - Brian Gilchrist
Rachel McAdams - Tracy Woodside
Emma Stone - Captain Alison Ng
Bill Murray - Carson Welch
Alec Baldwin - General Dixon
John Krasinski - John ‘Woody‘ Woodside
Danielle Rose Russell - Grace Woodside, 13 year old daughter of Tracy and ‘Woody’
Jaeden Lieberher - Mitchell Woodside, younger son of Tracy and ‘Woody‘

Rated PG-13

Attitude Adjustment

Humility  ~ an attitude of adjustment.

Sunshining brightly
Heat lovely and summery
Cool breeze through the trees
Herons chattering in the distance

An evening shift offered at three…

How lovely that I’ve already walked in the meadow!

“Life is the continuous adjustment of internal relations to external relations.”

~ Herbert Spencer

All in a Row - Now, please!

Ducks could be considered humble birds ~  
sitting quietly in the sun
floating lanquidly on a pond
waddling slowly across a lane


But….
Wee ducklings that do not follow close behind mom
running (if ducklings can run) down the stairs instead of staying with mom on the other side of the wall ~
can expect to get a good talking to!

Mom noticed them missing,
her head went up 
she heard their frantic cheeping when they realized that mom was out of sight.

No sympathy, 
she waddled round the wall, rounded them up 
ushered the little darlings sternly into the water and joined another mom and her ducklings for morning swim.

“Sometimes the strength of motherhood is greater than natural laws.”

~ Barbara Kingsolver

Being What It Takes

Ordinary

Being ordinary does take a certain amount of humility
going to the doctor and the dentist, 
the drycleaner’s and the bank
the grocery store and filling the car with gas……...

Ho-hum……
just lists of things to do
things that everyone does ~ or should do ~ well because someone has to!
No bright lights, no applause
just  - well, ordinary!

“You can find something truly important in an ordinary minute.”

~ Mitch Albon, For One More Day

A New Tune

Piano music - my favourite instrument of music ~

my favourite musical tones and melodies ~

from humble tunes to grand sweeping sonatas.

The lilting melody she played just felt good ~

good to hear in my home.

‘She’ was the piano tuner ~ Stacey Benn.

After an hour of ‘tink-tink’, deep ‘tonk-tonk’

Up and down the old ivory keys,

testing each one for tone and pitch ~

She played a short lilting melody to test her work.

There are piano tuner schools ~ her's was a year long training.

A relatively new career, Stacey Benn, has been tuning pianos for three years.

Now, I may just go find a piano teacher ~ maybe ~ in the meantime I’ll play Fuer Elise every now and then.

“The piano ain’t got no wrong notes.”

~ Thelonius Monk

Stacey Benn is a certified piano tuner who studied Piano Technology at the University of Western Ontario.

See Stacey’s website at:

www.tuning.staceybenn.com

She is also on Facebook.

Willing to Be

To live in a shadowed world
with largesse all around

To accept one’s place in the world
when space is humble and spare

To stand just as tall as possible
whether the sun is shining or not.

Is being just who you are
with what life has to offer.

“We are at our most powerful the moment

 we no longer need to be powerful.”

~ Eric Micha’el Leventhal

Like a Map

diagrams of life outline
roads crooked or straight
mountains climbed
wanderings through lowlands
uncertain fords over rivers or streams

Life’s journey traverses it all
in the moment memory forgets
pains and joys, fear and excitement
intensity lost in the wake of time
etched into fine crevices on our faces. 

To even begin such a diagram
stretches lost imagination and rememberings
memory stripped of today’s knowings.
Humility for the child, teen, young adult
only doing what they were able while they grew.

“Wherever you go becomes a part of you somehow.”

~ Anita Desai