The Summer Of NetFlix....(I Sure Do Miss Ragnar Lodbrock.)

(Be forewarned… this blog post is a link bomb!)

It’s been over three (3) months since the faithful phone call to end one of my longest relationships. It was painful, brutally abrupt and left me feeling kind of disconnected, for about a minute. There were reasons behind the ending of our union: 1) No real communication, 2) Only one of us paid, all the time, 3) Moments were almost always about reruns, non-relevant issues and other people’s dramas. And other small irreconcilable differences.

I had an urge for some Space 1999. Yes, it’s a thing. And damn if I wasn’t successful in finding the complete series, for free, on #YouTube. (Sorry that sounds like a spam comment insert, but it’s the truth.  INSERT LINK HERE). I binged on the commercial-free marvel of SCI-FI for two weeks. Most of January and February of 2016 were spent in this manner. Time well spent learning, exploring and almost vomiting in my mouth, all thanks to YouTube.

Then came the awakening of an under-used Netflix account. If anybody was being neglected it would have to be my friends at Netflix . Being one of their original Canadian customers since so long ago, I starting browsing their homepage of (kind of) boundless entertainment offered in T.V. shows and movies.

A big Must Watch is Swelter! My love-lust for Jean Claude Van Damme has been reignited and yes, that man is still relevant and certainly, not ‘faking’ it. The cast is well-rounded, and the story holds up, for me anyway. Danielle Favilli is just fantastic as the psycho half-brother.

Then I spent two days with Jai Courtney smokin’ hot, talented, versatile actor from Down-Under. I binge-watched Spartacus prior to GDTDH, and was already tickled by that man’s physical condition. I had previous watched the first season of this series back in the day. Unfortunately, after the death of their previous leading male actor, Andy Whitfield, I was lacking interest and lost track of the show. (That’s another blog that shall be written someday, in the near future.)

(Quick note: EXCLUSIVE Trailer: ‘Be Here Now (The Andy Whitfield Story)’ Goes Inside the ‘Spartacus’ Actor’s Battle With Cancer. Released April 8, 2016)

Continuing with the Action theme, I was able to view recently uploaded Terminator Genisys  and spoiler, he still doesn’t die in this one, either. But the plot twist did catch me by surprise, so I give it a ‘Thumbs Up”. And oh yeah, Jai Courtney is also in this one. Mr. Courtney also stars alongside Bruce Willis in A Good Day to Die Hard 2013. Be your own critic and watch some of these.

Which brings me to the darker side of exploring unseen films. These films are usually independent, scantly censored and either nonsensical, psychologically twisted, or both. And the next mentioned piece cinematic art is all of those and features a mega-superstar Canadian, Ryan Reynolds. The movie that I’m speaking of is – The Voices 2014. The versatility of this extremely gorgeous man is not in question. Ryan Reynolds proves his range of emotion and extreme control, within the role of Jerry. There will be no spoilers for this one. I was creeped out, in awe and almost sorry that the movie ended, really. (Think of it as ‘Taxi Driver’ meets ‘The Truman Show’ with a drop of ‘Hannibal’ for dessert.) Definitively, recommend this at least once. (FYI to anybody inside Netflix, Two Guys, A Girl and A Pizza Place would be a real treat for us, your customers. Trust me on this.) Also note-worthy is that both Ryan Reynolds and Jai Courtney are in the now international blockbuster Deadpool.

Needless to say after experiencing such intensity with The Voices 2014, I was in the mood for short spurts of comedic relief, with a story line if possible. And I’m still pretty much in the midst of an almost perfect summer viewing blitz.

Here’s a short list of some suggested time well-spent and the laughter alone will make your heart, lungs and other organs, get a workout. So don’t say I didn’t warn you.

1.      Grace and Frankie – Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin. These ladies are as ‘relevant’ as they were when they enacted “9 to 5”. I was so upset to come to the end of the first season. And it’s at the top of my must-watch list during the summer when season two is uploaded to Netflix. Hurry up! Hurry up! Hurry up!

2.      The Ranch – Sam Elliott (enough said)…. Joking aside the cast is loaded and pretty solid storyline in the first season. This one took me by surprise as I’m not a country girl by any means and I’ve become immune to Ashton Kutcher. Yet, I absolutely love, love, love Same Elliott. And he is in this, so watch it. Really.

3.      Spartacus – Andy Whitfield’s last know contribution to the entertainment world prior to his untimely passing. He is still sadly missed. The series continued on, thanks to Netflix and gave several more seasons of spectacular, historically correct moments in Roman society and some of the bloodiest scenes I’ve ever enjoyed. Oh and did I mentioned the copious amounts of bare-breasted women, the unadulterated orgies and the epic gladiator matches. Obviously, I will never say enough about something I enjoy so much. I yelled “Spartacus!!!” every chance I got for at least three weeks. I order you to watch this show during those rainy days.

4.      Marco Polo – Not particularly standing out for anything but still holding its own as historically accurate, for the most part and the scenes are breathe-taking.

5.      Flaked – Will Arnett and some other underrated, yet very talented actors who portray eccentric people living in Venice, California, of all places. Will Arnett is dark, yet lovable, endearing, yet untrustworthy and that’s just the first episode. And yes I admit, he can almost be very seductive.

And that just the beginning of my adventures in the world of Netflix (Canadian link). And did I mention the crap-load of savings from not paying for cable. (I sure do miss watching Vikings on History Channel.) I just have to make sure that all this new control over my quality of entertainment is going to lead to a more controlled intake of this said entertainment. NOT!!!

If you don’t have an account yet, get one. Start by going here Netflix.ca, or check with your actual Internet provider.

(One last thing: who’s on board to petition Netflix to give us back the reviews and ratings options? I’ve got some feedback that’s dying to get out. Anybody else feeling the same way, too?)

©Dominique Clark 2016

Get The Love Back...(And why your cooking may taste like sh*t.)

       As a teenager, I LOVED to eat. So I enjoyed baking, too. The pleasure of making delicious pies, cream puffs, crepes and so many kinds of puddings. I made some fantastic apple pies from scratch, back then. And I got even more pleasure when my family would enjoy what I had made. I was still learning and more important, I wanted to keep trying even after a failure or two with some new recipe.

As I set off into repetitive, random chaos of choices and compromises that is Adulthood, the love of food became a battle against food and thus started my spiral descent into non-culinary care and fear of delectable exploration. I came to the sad resolve that nothing I would concoct would ever be edible so never presentable to others besides my family, who were also defeated to knowing the meaning of ‘Free-For-All’,  in the torture chamber that became any kitchen that I was standing in. Pizza (or other Take-Out menus) were handy when expecting company. Alcohol was helpful with the hosting or lack thereof.

Then Life shifted, as it does, presenting me with a re-do of opportunities and lots of time to think about all of everything. Since it wasn’t my first time at the rodeo, I had long decided that I would go into this new shift of circumstances using the knowledge of the past, without fear blinding my future possibilities.

I caught myself watching a cooking show now and then. Nothing ever lasted more than 15 mins (or the time of a recipe) and none of the hosts were my kind of teacher – sorry Mr. G. Ramsay. Until I came across Anna& Kristina’s Grocery Bag and I was hooked. I had previous caught some of their shows during their earlier show “The Grocery Bags” (good stuff), I just wasn’t able to appreciate what they were offering to me, at the time. During the first episode of Anna & Kristina’s Grocery Bag, I was enjoying watching them execute a random recipe for their first time and showing that mistakes happen to everybody (even you, Mr. G. Ramsay). And it was okay to try again, or find something else to create that you can accomplish.

The inspiration from Anna & Kristina’s Grocery Bag helped bring the love back for me. I cleaned out my kitchen and started making some bread. It was a re-do, of course. That is why I went for it. And I was rewarded with some pretty delicious dinner rolls. Then came the whole turkey (secret ingredient - Club House Montreal Steak Spice) and started the New Year with a Knock-Your-Socks-Off  Banana Bread, using a variation from the original Betty Crocker recipe.

And when I rocked the French Crepe recipe from King Arthur’s Flour, to the raves of my teenage son, I knew I had brought myself back to a level of contentment that was reflected in the love I infused while I was in the kitchen.

Get your ‘bake’ on, people. It might be the therapy you need.

©Dominique Clark 2016

Before You Say 'I Do'...

 

The concept of the Institute of Marriage has been long disintegrating within the North American culture, as half of American marriages end in divorce (http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/marriage-divorce.html) and Canadian marital statistics are not much more encouraging (http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/marriage-and-divorce/) The lack of current information at the Statistics Canada, last updated in 2005, is also a little concerning, yet I will leave that for later. The normal course of marriage has become divorce as more thought is put into a divorce agreement before the actual ceremony, than asking the more important questions to make sure that the union survives the waves of time.

Marriage is a commitment that requires effort, compromise and sacrifice, EVERY DAY! When you choose to be in this type of arrangement, you need to put the thought, passion and motivation you put in every day at work, at your favorite hobby or your weekly group activity. This article is written to help those contemplating this major life-changing decision. Read it with an open-mind and your thinking cap on. To start this examination of marriage, please read:

"I, ____, take you, ____, to be my (husband/wife). I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. I will love you and honor you all the days of my life.

In the United States, Catholic wedding vows may also take the following form:

I, ____, take you, ____, to be my lawfully wedded(husband/wife), to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part."

These are traditional Roman Catholic vows. Let's not knit-pick about the wording, most cultures have similar vows expressing same commitment, sacrifice and loyalty. It seems that the meaning of these vows has either not been explained properly or the mass general public has no use of any of these qualities and characteristics in a partner. It's exactly those three things that are lacking in most relationships.

When talking about spend their lives together, most couples talk about cute babies, having a nice car, where their first vacation is going to be (if they didn't already take that trip pre-honeymoon) and how much the wedding is going to cost. These questions have become too much of priorities and yet are nowhere to be found in the vows. Not everybody will make it the whole stretch and yes, shit happens. But if any part of you is human, you would like to believe that the person beside will always be there, no matter what.

Let's start the list of important points of marriage when picking a life-time partner.

1. Take a good visual look at the one you want to bind your life with. Close your eyes and picture them old. Picture them with thin grey/white hair or none at all. Picture them with a hunched back, swollen finger joints and wrinkly skin. You need to visualise this person in the most advanced stages of aging. Most of the time, looking at their parents is a very good indicator of the person your 'life's desire' will become. Do you want to be there?

2. Imagine this person you 'can't get enough of', sick or permanently injured. Imagine this person needing continuous care. Imagine them not able to function or be productive for the rest of your future together. Imagine this person losing their limb, their speech or their consciousness. Can you say "I do." to 'in sickness or in health'?

3. Where are you going to live during your golden years? This should be discussed long before the number of kids (if any) or which house you really like right now? If you want to finish the Race of Life at the foot of a mountain and your current 'reason for being' can picture all the conveniences the city would offer to seniors, you would be blind to not see a problem.

(Are you really reflecting on these first few points enough to even need to continue reading? Have you realized that you are 'not there yet'? More 'in lust than 'in love'? Keep reading, as this should help you make sure that when you are ready it's one time and forever.

4. Whose career path holds more importance when the promotion and move comes up? The reason this should be discussed is that, if any changes occur at the drop of dime due to the employment of one or other spouse, there is always the chance of resentment and feeling of missed opportunities by the partner who changed everything for their loved one. This resentment can come from abandoning a loved job, a circle of friends and family and a structure of life they loved. Will they do this for you as you would do this for them? So you hope and you must blindly trust.

Military families are not the only families, anymore, who have a parent faraway from home for weeks at time. All the decisions that are needed will be made by one partner in absence for the other. What kind of involvement do you expect from your partner in the establishment of a foundation and continued growth of your relationship for those golden years together?

5. Are you ready to support every decision or idea even if it isn't what you would want or do? The most passionate of relationships crumble in the face of reality that not both parties are in it to the same degree. If you can't give unconditional support despite your personal feelings, you are not completely loyal or committed to this person. And if you are not working on the end game, then there really is no point in working on the present together.

A real marriage is built on the basis on two individuals with similar goals, needs and desires. Anything not founded on those principles is doomed to end. Sooner or later, it really doesn't matter, it will end. One of you will want out and one of you will be devastated. Are you prepared for the 'light in your life' to quit caring as quickly as they cared for you? Are you ready for the little things you love much to become the things that may annoy you the most?

At this point, you should be able to make your choice of asking your 'future better half' to continue on the beautiful journey of life together or you decide to just continue to enjoy the relationship you have and let it run it's course without intertwining everything and everybody in the process. Good luck on making the 'right choice' for yourself and your beloved. My only wish is that this article would help somebody make the choice that is best for them.

#marriage #relationship #commitment #choices #compromise #sacrifice

©DominiqueClark2016