Sunday, March 30, 2014

Thinking about the future and retirement when you are young

I’m always a bit surprised by what people respond to on social media sites. I am a rather infrequent commenter myself on social media; it takes a lot to get me to write a pithy response to an online article that I found provocative, timely or interesting. If something strikes me as inherently kind or compassionate, I may write a short note praising the writer for his or her insights and empathy. This past week I read a very short but good article on the Care2 website that dispensed some good advice on how to stop wasting money and to think about the future (http://www.care2.com/greenliving/top-6-ways-we-all-waste-money-and-how-to-stop.html). I thought the article was well-written enough to comment on, and this is what I wrote:

Very good tips. If I could emphasize one thing, it would be this. Think about retirement when you are young and starting out in the work world. It's never too soon to start saving your own money toward retirement.

The Care2 community likes to deal out what it calls Green Stars of Appreciation, and I got quite a few for this little comment (notification by email). All well and good. What struck me was that this way of thinking is perhaps not so widespread as you might think. When I worked at different American workplaces in the 1980s, there was always the requisite orientation day that included presentations of 401K plans and IRAs and that sort of thing, so we were in fact briefly introduced to the topic of retirement. But it wasn’t ‘emphasized’ to think ahead, to sock away as much as possible so that you had a good nest egg for when you were older. And when you’re young, you think you’ll be young forever, so you don’t save as much as you should toward retirement. I asked several people, all of whom are middle-aged like me, whether they had been encouraged to save for retirement when they were young and starting out in the work world. The answer was unanimously ‘no’, and that’s true for me as well. Several of those I talked to wished that it had been hammered into them—save for retirement no matter what.

I make it a point to tell the young people I know to save a lot toward retirement when they’re young. Think income, promotions and salary raises. Look out for yourself. I say this to young women especially, but the advice is relevant for young men as well. Why? When you are young, work matters a lot, in fact, identity becomes wrapped up in one’s work. You love your job and you think you will want to work forever. You don’t consider any other possibility. And the world around you is telling you ‘don't play it safe, take risks, live for now’. But mindsets change as we grow older--gradually for some people, abruptly for others, depending upon how you are treated by your workplaces in many cases when you reach middle-age. Suddenly you may find yourself thinking about retiring early in order to pursue a new career, course of study, hobbies, volunteer work—but you don’t have the funds to retire. You don’t have the freedom to change your life. This might not seem like a big deal to some people, but it is a big deal. It is no fun to be stuck in a job or a way of life you are weary of until you are 70 years of age in order to have enough money to retire. I think it might also be smart to tell young people that they don’t have to have the biggest homes, multiple cars, expensive vacations, and all the rest, at the expense of a good retirement account. You don't have to achieve the materialistic dreams that society deems important. Enjoy life, enjoy material pursuits (to a point), pursue your work dreams and goals, but be smart about the future. One day you will retire and you may want to do it sooner than later.   

Monday, March 24, 2014

Favorite movies from the 1980s until now (so far)

  1. 2010 (1984) with Roy Scheider, John Lithgow, Helen Mirren, Bob Balaban
  2. 28 Days Later (2002) with Cillian Murphy, Naomie Harris, Christopher Eccleston, Alex Palmer
  3. A Fish Called Wanda (1988) with John Cleese, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kline, Michael Palin 
  4. Aliens (1986) with Sigourney Weaver, Michael Biehn, Carrie Henn, Paul Reiser
  5. Another Earth (2011) with Brit Marling, William Mapother, Matthew-Lee Erlbach, DJ Flava
  6. Body Heat (1981) with William Hurt, Kathleen Turner, Richard Crenna, Ted Danson
  7. Brokeback Mountain (2005) with Jake Gyllenhaal, Heath Ledger, Michelle Williams, Randy Quaid
  8. Bugsy (1991) with Warren Beatty, Annette Bening, Harvey Keitel, Ben Kingsley
  9. Casino (1995) with Robert De Niro, Sharon Stone, Joe Pesci
  10. Children of a Lesser God (1986) with William Hurt, Marlee Matlin, Piper Laurie
  11. Coraline (2009) with Dakota Fanning, Teri Hatcher, John Hodgman, Jennifer Saunders
  12. Dances with Wolves (1990) with Kevin Costner, Mary McDonnell, Graham Greene
  13. Despicable Me (2010) with Steve Carell, Jason Segel, Russell Brand
  14. Dracula (1992) with Gary Oldman, Winona Ryder, Anthony Hopkins
  15. Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010 documentary) with Banksy, Space Invader, Mr. Brainwash
  16. Far from Heaven (2002) with Julianne Moore, Dennis Quaid, Dennis Haysbert 
  17. Ghost Busters (1984) with Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, Sigourney Weaver 
  18. Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003) with Scarlett Johansson, Colin Firth, Tom Wilkinson, Judy Parfitt
  19. Grey Gardens (2009 TV Movie) with Drew Barrymore, Jessica Lange, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Ken Howard
  20. Hamam (The Turkish Bath) (1997) with Alessandro Gassman, Francesca d'Aloja, Carlo Cecchi 
  21. Home Alone (1990) with Macaulay Culkin, Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern 
  22. I Am Legend (2007) with Will Smith, Alice Braga, Charlie Tahan
  23. Ice Age (2002) with Denis Leary, John Leguizamo, Ray Romano  
  24. In the Mouth of Madness (1994) with Sam Neill, Jürgen Prochnow, Julie Carmen, David Warner
  25. In the Valley of Elah (2007) with Tommy Lee Jones, Charlize Theron, Jonathan Tucker, Jason Patric
  26. In Time (2011) with Justin Timberlake, Amanda Seyfried, Cillian Murphy, Olivia Wilde
  27. Jacob's Ladder (1990) with Tim Robbins, Elizabeth Pena, Danny Aiello  
  28. Jane Eyre (2011) with Mia Wasikowska, Michael Fassbender, Jamie Bell, Su Elliot
  29. Jodaeiye Nader az Simin (2011) with Peyman Moaadi, Leila Hatami, Sareh Bayat, Shahab Hosseini
  30. Jurassic Park (1993) with Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum
  31. Lady Chatterley (2006) with Marina Hands, Jean-Louis Coulloc'h, Hippolyte Girardot  
  32. Le renard et l'enfant (2007) with Bertille Noël-Bruneau, Isabelle Carré, Thomas Laliberté, Camille Lambert
  33. Light Sleeper (1992) with Willem Dafoe, Susan Sarandon, Dana Delany, David Clennon
  34. Lincoln (2012) with Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, David Strathairn, Joseph Gordon-Levitt
  35. Marley (2012 documentary) with Bob Marley, Ziggy Marley, Jimmy Cliff, Lee 'Scratch' Perry
  36. Max Manus (2008) with Aksel Hennie, Agnes Kittelsen, Nicolai Cleve Broch, Ken Duken
  37. Men in Black (1997) with Tommy Lee Jones, Will Smith, Linda Fiorentino 
  38. Michael Clayton (2007) with George Clooney, Tilda Swinton, Tom Wilkinson, Michael O'Keefe
  39. Minority Report (2002) with Tom Cruise, Colin Farrell, Samantha Morton, Max von Sydow
  40. Miss Potter (2006) with Renée Zellweger, Ewan McGregor, Emily Watson, Barbara Flynn
  41. Moon (2009) with Sam Rockwell, Kevin Spacey, Dominique McElligott, Rosie Shaw
  42. Oblivion (2013) with Tom Cruise, Morgan Freeman, Andrea Riseborough, Olga Kurylenko
  43. Out of Africa (1985) with Meryl Streep, Robert Redford, Klaus Maria Brandauer
  44. Pandorum (2009) with Dennis Quaid, Ben Foster, Cam Gigandet, Antje Traue
  45. Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) with Ivana Baquero, Ariadna Gil, Sergi López, Maribel Verdú
  46. Phoenix (1998) with Ray Liotta, Anthony LaPaglia, Daniel Baldwin 
  47. Pitch Black (2000) with Radha Mitchell, Cole Hauser, Vin Diesel, Keith David
  48. Prometheus (2012) with Noomi Rapace, Logan Marshall-Green, Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron
  49. Ratatouille (2007) with Brad Garrett, Lou Romano, Patton Oswalt, Ian Holm
  50. Romancing the Stone (1984) with Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner, Danny DeVito
  51. Romeo is Bleeding (1993) with Gary Oldman, Lena Olin, Wallace Wood, Juliette Lewis
  52. Scarface (1983) with Al Pacino, Michelle Pfeiffer, Steven Bauer, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio
  53. Shoot the Moon (1982) with Albert Finney, Diane Keaton, Karen Allen, Peter Weller
  54. Skyfall (2012) with Daniel Craig, Javier Bardem, Naomie Harris, Judi Dench
  55. Sleeping with the Enemy (1991) with Julia Roberts, Patrick Bergin, Kevin Anderson 
  56. Snow White: A Tale of Terror (1997) with Sigourney Weaver, Sam Neill, Gil Bellows
  57. Solaris (2002) with George Clooney, Natascha McElhone, Ulrich Tukur, Viola Davis
  58. Something Wild (1986) with Jeff Daniels, Melanie Griffith, Ray Liotta  
  59. The Accidental Tourist (1988) with William Hurt, Kathleen Turner, Geena Davis, Amy Wright
  60. The Age of Innocence (1993) with Daniel Day-Lewis, Michelle Pfeiffer, Winona Ryder  
  61. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007) with Brad Pitt, Casey Affleck, Sam Shepard 
  62. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011) with Judi Dench, Bill Nighy, Maggie Smith, Tom Wilkinson
  63. The ‘Burbs (1989) with Tom Hanks, Bruce Dern, Carrie Fisher, Corey Feldman
  64. The End of the Affair (1999) with Ralph Fiennes, Julianne Moore, Stephen Rea 
  65. The Grifters (1990) with Anjelica Huston, John Cusack, Annette Bening, Jan Munroe
  66. The King's Speech (2010) with Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, Helena Bonham Carter, Derek Jacobi
  67. The Last Seduction (1994) with Linda Fiorentino, Peter Berg, Bill Pullman  
  68. The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996) with Geena Davis, Samuel L. Jackson, Yvonne Zima, Craig Bierko
  69. The Money Pit (1986) with Tom Hanks, Shelley Long, Alexander Godunov, Maureen Stapleton
  70. The New Daughter (2009) with Kevin Costner, Ivana Baquero, Samantha Mathis, Gattlin Griffith
  71. The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) with Danny Elfman, Chris Sarandon, Catherine O'Hara, William Hickey
  72. The Proposal (2009) with Sandra Bullock, Ryan Reynolds, Mary Steenburgen, Craig T. Nelson
  73. The Shawshank Redemption (1994) with Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, Bob Gunton, William Sadler
  74. The Shining (1980) with Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd, Scatman Crothers
  75. The Silence of the Lambs (1991) with Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Lawrence A. Bonney, Kasi Lemmons
  76. The Sixth Sense (1999) with Bruce Willis, Haley Joel Osment, Toni Collette, Olivia Williams
  77. The Skeleton Key (2005) with Kate Hudson, Peter Sarsgaard, Joy Bryant, Gena Rowlands
  78. The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988) with Daniel Day-Lewis, Juliette Binoche, Lena Olin, Derek de Lint
  79. The Witches of Eastwick (1987) with Jack Nicholson, Cher, Susan Sarandon, Michelle Pfeiffer
  80. Traitor (2008) with Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Archie Panjabi, Saïd Taghmaoui
  81. Twelve Monkeys (1995) with Bruce Willis, Madeleine Stowe, Brad Pitt  
  82. Volver (2006) with Penélope Cruz, Carmen Maura, Lola Dueñas, Blanca Portillo
  83. What Dreams May Come (1998) with Robin Williams, Cuba Gooding Jr., Annabella Sciorra, Max von Sydow
  84. What Lies Beneath (2000) with Harrison Ford, Michelle Pfeiffer, Katharine Towne, Miranda Otto
  85. What Women Want (2000) with Mel Gibson, Helen Hunt, Marisa Tomei, Alan Alda

Saturday, March 22, 2014

Favorite movies from the 1930s - 1970s

  1. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) with Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, William Sylvester
  2. 40 Carats (1973) with Liv Ullmann, Edward Albert, Gene Kelly, Binnie Barnes
  3. Adam’s Rib (1949) with Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Judy Holliday
  4. Agatha (1979) with Dustin Hoffman, Vanessa Redgrave, Timothy Dalton, Helen Morse
  5. Alien (1979) with Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, John Hurt
  6. All That Heaven Allows (1955) with Jane Wyman, Rock Hudson, Agnes Moorehead, Conrad Nagel
  7. All the Fine Young Cannibals (1960) with Robert Wagner, Natalie Wood, Susan Kohner, George Hamilton
  8. Arsenic and Old Lace (1944) with Cary Grant, Priscilla Lane, Raymond Massey
  9. Barefoot in the Park (1967) with Robert Redford, Jane Fonda, Charles Boyer, Mildred Natwick
  10. Brigadoon (1953) with Gene Kelly, Van Johnson, Cyd Charisse, Elaine Stewart
  11. Burnt Offerings (1976) with Karen Black, Oliver Reed, Burgess Meredith and Eileen Heckart
  12. BUtterfield 8 (1960) with Elizabeth Taylor, Laurence Harvey, Eddie Fisher, Dina Merrill
  13. De Dødes Tjern (1958) with Andre Bjerke, Bjørg Engh, Henki Kolstad
  14. Dial M for Murder (1954) with Ray Milland, Grace Kelly, Robert Cummings
  15. Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark (1973, TV) with Kim Darby, Jim Hutton, Barbara Anderson, William Demarest
  16. Don’t Look Now (1973) with Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie
  17. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941) with Spencer Tracy, Ingrid Bergman, Lana Turner
  18. Fantasia (1940)
  19. House of Dark Shadows (1970) with Jonathan Frid, Grayson Hall, Kathryn Leigh Scott, Roger Davis
  20. House of Wax (1953) with Vincent Price, Frank Lovejoy, Phyllis Kirk
  21. I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932) with Paul Muni, Glenda Farrell, Helen Vinson, Noel Francis 
  22. It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) with James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore
  23. Klute (1971) with Jane Fonda, Donald Sutherland, Charles Cioffi, Roy Scheider
  24. Light in the Piazza (1962) with Olivia de Havilland, George Hamilton, Yvette Mimieux
  25. Marlowe (1969) with James Garner, Gayle Hunnicutt, Carroll O'Connor, Rita Moreno
  26. Midnight Cowboy (1969) with Dustin Hoffman, Jon Voight, Sylvia Miles, John McGiver
  27. Mon Oncle (1958) with Jacques Tati, Jean-Pierre Zola, Adrienne Servantie, Lucien Frégis
  28. Oliver! (1968) with Mark Lester, Ron Moody, Shani Wallis, Oliver Reed
  29. Psycho (1960) with Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, Vera Miles
  30. Rebecca (1940) with Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine, George Sanders
  31. Romeo and Juliet (1968) with Leonard Whiting, Olivia Hussey, John McEnery
  32. Rosemary’s Baby (1968) with Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon
  33. Splendor in the Grass (1961) with Natalie Wood, Warren Beatty, Pat Hingle
  34. Straight Time (1978) with Dustin Hoffman and Theresa Russell
  35. Sunday in New York (1963) with Rod Taylor, Jane Fonda, Cliff Robertson, Robert Culp
  36. The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1957) with Jennifer Jones, John Gielgud, Bill Travers, Virginia McKenna
  37. The African Queen (1951) with Humphrey Bogart, Katharine Hepburn, Robert Morley
  38. The Apartment (1960) with Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Fred MacMurray
  39. The Paradine Case (1947) with Gregory Peck, Ann Todd, Charles Laughton, Charles Coburn
  40. The Pearl of Death (1944) with Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Dennis Hoey
  41. The Sentinel (1977) with Cristina Raines, Ava Gardner, Chris Sarandon, Martin Balsam
  42. The Split (1968) with Jim Brown, Diahann Carroll, Ernest Borgnine, Julie Harris
  43. The Two Mrs. Carrolls (1947) with Humphrey Bogart, Barbara Stanwyck, Alexis Smith
  44. The Uninvited (1944) with Ray Milland, Ruth Hussey, Donald Crisp, Cornelia Otis Skinner
  45. Westworld (1973) with Yul Brynner, Richard Benjamin, James Brolin, Norman Bartold

Sunday, March 16, 2014

Street Art in Oslo III

Out walking yesterday in the nice weather, as were many others. We came upon some newer street art (at least I haven't seen it before on my walks around Oslo) and snapped some photos. There were a lot of other hobby photographers doing the same. A lot of artistic talent out there......Enjoy today's photos, and my earlier posts about street art in Oslo: http://paulamdeangelis.blogspot.no/2012/10/street-art-in-oslo.html and http://paulamdeangelis.blogspot.no/2013/06/more-street-art-in-oslo.html






























Sunday, March 9, 2014

Another great poem

Invictus

by William Ernest Henley

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul. 

Friday, March 7, 2014

A great poem by Charles Bukowski


air and light and time and space 

”– you know, I’ve either had a family, a job,
something has always been in the
way
but now
I’ve sold my house, I’ve found this
place, a large studio, you should see the space and
the light.
for the first time in my life I’m going to have
a place and the time to
create.”

no baby, if you’re going to create
you’re going to create whether you work
16 hours a day in a coal mine
or
you’re going to create in a small room with 3 children
while you’re on
welfare,
you’re going to create with part of your mind and your body blown
away,
you’re going to create blind
crippled
demented,
you’re going to create with a cat crawling up your
back while
the whole city trembles in earthquake, bombardment,
flood and fire.

baby, air and light and time and space
have nothing to do with it
and don’t create anything
except maybe a longer life to find
new excuses
for.

------------------------------------------
What a great poem, and it came along just at the right time for me. I've been feeling 'stuck'--as though I've been sitting in creative prison, waiting for the jailor (most likely myself) to come free me so that I can write, take photos and work on book projects again. I forgot that most of my creative work has in fact been done while I have been 'stuck' doing other things, like working full-time at another kind of job. So thank you Mr. Bukowski for your inspiring words--they got me out of my funk and back to work..........

Started watching Sleepy Hollow, still watching TWD

Started watching the show Sleepy Hollow at the beginning of January; we’re some months behind the USA where I know the season finale already took place in December. I love the show; it works for me, thanks to the superb acting of Tom Mison as Ichabod Crane, Nicole Beharie as Abbie Mills and Orlando Jones as Frank Irving. I grew up in Tarrytown NY, the sister town to Sleepy Hollow (which was formerly called North Tarrytown); The Legend of Sleepy Hollow written by Washington Irving was required reading in high school. Most inhabitants of both towns are familiar with the story of the Headless Horseman and Ichabod Crane. The TV show bears little resemblance to the original story, but it’s a cleverly-written supernatural show that works. Tonight’s episode, Sanctuary, was especially good; we now know that Katrina, Ichabod’s wife, gave birth to a son in a house that was a sanctuary for former slaves as well as a haven against supernatural evil forces. The baby’s birth breaks the protective spell surrounding the house and the evil forces invade the house. It is implied that many of the inhabitants were killed. In the present time it is an abandoned haunted house—haunted by good and evil ghosts, and ‘guarded’ by the ‘tree monster’ that was sent by the demon Moloch to destroy the original inhabitants of the house. The tree monster is awakened to life when a descendant of the original family who owned the house overtakes it and decides to renovate it and live there. Every now and then when I watch this show, I am (briefly) reminded of The X-Files, another favorite show of mine, because the wonderful chemistry between the two main characters Ichabod and Abbie in Sleepy Hollow reminds me of the chemistry between The X-Files’ Dana Scully (played by Gillian Anderson) and Fox Mulder (played by David Duchovny).

Still watching The Walking Dead (and it still gets under my skin—as in, it’s still pretty creepy after four seasons in). It’s not so much that I’ve grown attached to any particular character; it wouldn’t make much sense to do that, given that the show is not averse to killing off major as well as minor characters. Again, the actors (thanks to the writers) do a very credible job of showing us what it might be like to live in an apocalyptic world peopled by zombies. But the show also realistically depicts what it might be like to have to deal with other survivors who might not be the nicest people (the Governor and his lackeys). It is one of those rare shows where the group dynamics provide much of the reason for my watching it. I like the interplay between the characters, their different strengths and weaknesses, the way they depend on each other, and the way they face their fears, as well as watching them deal with the ‘walkers’, because that’s what the show is really about—dealing with the living dead that are always lurking about. It’s not so much the shuffling and the way they move and look that are unnerving, but rather the way they sound—you can hear them coming (growling) long before they actually appear. I suppose in one way this should be advantageous, as it gives the characters time to get away or to prepare for confrontation. On the other hand……..


Trying to understand the mystery of life

Apropos my last post, where I talked about accepting some things in this life (like my faith) that I know I will never understand on this ea...