TOP MOVIES TO WATCH ON VALENTINE'S DAY

The best kind of love stories, my personal belief, is the one that contains a good amount of angst and my selection below contains just that. Check them out!




SABRINA (1954)

 My favorite movie of all time and cannot stop re-watching; about a love triangle between two wealthy brothers and Sabrina, the beautiful and very sweet daughter of their chauffeur. There's a 1995 remake and that's one worth watching too. (Humphrey Bogart & Audrey Hepburn) (1995: Harrison Ford & Julia Ormond)

Memorable line:
Sabrina: It's so strange to think of you being touched by a woman. I always thought you walked alone.
Linus: No man walks alone by choice.

(remake)
Linus to Sabrina: I think you know I love you




AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER(1957)


   

 I first heard of this film while watching Sleepless in Seattle and after seeing it on TCM, I understood why! Two people meet and fall in love on a cruise, promising to meet each other on top of the Empire State building in 6 months but alas... only one of them made it to the rendevous... (Cary Grant & Deborah Kerr)


Memorable line:

Nicky to Terry: There must be something between us; even  if it's only an ocean



JANE EYRE (1983) 

Charlotte Bronte's story about a governess who falls in love with her employer and vice versa is a popular watch and read on Val's day. It has many adaptations but I recommend the 1983 version starring Timothy Dalton & Zelah Clarke

Memorable line:
Edward to Jane: Jane, you strange, almost unearthly thing... I love you!



THE NOTEBOOK (2004) 

 

The very moving story of two people of different classes who fall in love in the 1940's is definitely a must watch! (Ryan Gosling & Rachel McAdams) 

Memorable Line: 

Allie: Do you think our love can take us away together? 

Duke/Noah: I think our love can do anything we want it to do.

THE PROMISE(1979)

Another story about a couple of different classes; the main antagonist being a snobbish and evil mother who succeeds in separating the couple after a car accident that ruins the heroine's face. I'm not talking about the Bollywood remake Yeh Vaada Raha starring Rishi Kappor & Poonam Dhillon but the original starring Stephen Collins & Kathleen Quilan and later novelized by Danielle Steel.

Memorable line: 

Michael: How can I believe such a thing as beauty could die?

Nancy/Marie: Michael... (they kiss)

HOW STELLA GOT HER GROOVE BACK(2001)

 

A business woman in her 40s meets a 20 something young man while on holiday. A fling or is he the one??? (Angela Bassett & Taye Diggs) 

Memorable line: 

Stella to Winston, in reply to his earlier marriage proposal: Yes... Yes!

(They hug and kiss)

GHOST(1990)

                 

Keep the tissues handy for this moving story. A man is murdered during a robbery but his ghost keeps watch over his beloved girlfriend as the man responsible for his death is still very much around.
 (Patrick Swayze & Demi Moore)

Memorable line:
 Sam to Molly (as he's about to go to heaven): It's amazing Molly... the love inside, you take it with you. 


SOMETHING NEW(2006)

An interracial couple meet on a blind date and fall in love afterwards but the heroine has to  listen to her heart and decide what she really wants; not listen to the opinions of her friends and society. (Saan Lathan & Simon Baker)

Memorable Line:
Kenya: You're the one I want Brian, I love you.

Brian: I love you too Kenya, I never stopped loving you. (kisses her)





TIM (1979) 

Starring Mel Gibson in one of his earliest roles and Piper Laurie, it's the story about a 20 something rather mentally challenged young man who falls in love with his employer/mother figure; a businesswoman in her 40s; much to the dismay of his older sister.

Memorable moment: Tim and Mary walking along the beach after affirming their love.



PRIDE & PREJUDICE

Jane's Austen's tale of a spirited young woman who falls for a rich snob after an initial dislike for him is always a must watch for Val's day. I recommend the 1995 version starring Colin Firth & Jennifer Ehle.

Memorable Line:
Liz: Perhaps I didn't always love him as well as I do now but in such cases as these a good memory is unpardonable.


MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE(1999)

A columnist finds a message in a bottle and tracks down the writer, a widower. They fall in love but he still has trouble letting go of the memory of his late wife. (Kevin Costner & Robin Wright Penn). Adapted from the best selling novel of the same name, written by Nicholas Sparks

Memorable Line:
Garret: Teresa, I don't want to lose you.

Teresa: Then don't.



YOU'VE GOT MAIL(1998)

Two business rivals reluctantly and gradually fall in love with each other, at the same time unaware they are each other's online penpal. (Tom Hanks & Meg Ryan)

Memorable Line:

Joe: Don't cry ShopGirl, Don't cry...

Kathleen: I wanted it to be you, I wanted it to be you so badly! (They kiss)




NOTTING HILL(1999)

A simple, unassuming travel bookstore owner falls in love with a movie actress. Will their love overcome the obstacles between them? (Hugh Grant & Julia Roberts)

Memorable Line:
Anna to William: I'm just a girl, standing in front of a boy... asking him to love her.



THE THORN BIRDS(1983)

A forbidden  but long lasting love between the only daughter of a sheep station manager and the parish priest who later became a cardinal. (Richard Chamberlain & Rachel Ward)


Memorable Line:

Meggie: Do you know how terrifying it is, that power you have over me?
Ralph: How could I fail to know? (kisses her)



50 FIRST DATES(2004)

An aquarium vet falls for a lovely girl who has short term memory so he goes out of his way to make her fall in love with him and remind her of their past encounters... every day. (Adam Sandler & Drew Barrymore)

Memorable Line:

Henry to Lucy: You're the girl of my dreams and apparently, I'm the man of yours.



SWAN PRINCESS(1994)

A prince goes in search of his fiancee- believed dead- not knowing she is under a spell.

Memorable Line:

Odette: Will you love me Derek, till the day I die?
Derek: No, much longer than that Odette, much longer. (they kiss)



PRETTY WOMAN(1990)

A hooker and a cynical business man unexpectedly find love with each other (Richard Gere & Julia Roberts)

Memorable Line:
Edward: So what happens after he climbs up and rescues her?
Vivian: She rescues him right back (They kiss)

BEST T.V COUPLES OF ALL TIME II

This is my first blog post of 2014 and I bid my kind visitors a belated happy New Year and my profound apologies. I DO try to update this blog as much as possible but the current power problem in the country and lack of enough funds for my Internet subscription are the main obstacles to my task. But I'm praying that this year will be my year of triumph by God's grace and I promise to do better. To my visitors who have been leaving comments; thank you so much for the encouragement. Also, it's NOT definite yet but I hope to post recaps of a very popular telenovela soon, so please stay tuned.

Last year I posted pics of my favorite T.V Couples: BEST T.V COUPLES OF ALL TIME. Now that particular post wasn't easy because I really had to narrow the choices down; I'm T.V/Movie buff so I like a LOT of couples. After posting it, I saw that there were several I missed out so here's the next "batch"!

Sydney Bristow & Michael Vaughn  Alias

   

                                                    

Gary & Valene Ewing Knots Landing/Dallas

                                         




                                                 

Alex & Maria Jose Lombardo  Sortilegio Amor

                            
                                     
                                   
                                        

Dwayne Wayne & Whitley Gilbert A Different World

                                 
                                 


                                      
                                        

Paul Williams & Christine Blair The Young & The Restless

                               


                            
                                

Tom Cudahy & Livia Frye Cudahy All My Children

                             

Snow White & Prince Charming Once Upon A Time 

Shane & Kimberly Donovan  Days of Our Lives 

                                           
                                       

Farewell To A Great Man: NELSON MANDELA

I wasn’t born when Nelson Mandela was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1964. I got to know a lot about this great man via news reports, photographs of him in the newspapers, songs demanding for his release, documentaries and Social Studies classes at school. It was Dad who answered my earlier questions: “Who is Mandela?” “Why is he in prison?” “What is the meaning of apartheid?”

 I clearly remember that night in February 11, 1990;  when my father excitedly calling Mum from the kitchen and we all saw him on T.V, a suited grey-haired gentleman triumphantly holding his fist in the air as he finally walked out to freedom after 27 years in prison. The whole world not only celebrated his long awaited release but the end of the immoral regime of apartheid; where black South Africans were treated as third class citizens in their own country. A documentary followed by the musical SARAFINA! told me a lot of things about that terrible time (including the massacre of protesting workers and students); years later I learnt even more after reading Alan Paton’s CRY; THE BELOVED COUNTRY and Athol Fugard’s SIZWE BANZI IS DEAD. The latter in particular made me cringe; black Africans having to carry identity books and work-seekers’ permits, the racial inequality and other things they had to put up with at the time e.g. “Whites Only” signs really sickened me, that and the fact that apartheid in South Africa was actually legal.

This is what Nelson “Madiba” Mandela fought against and in the end, his (and his supporters in South Africa and other countries) paid off big time; independence, end of apartheid, freedom and in 1994, he became the first democratically elected black president of South Africa. What I liked best about him was his efforts in bringing about racial reconciliation in South Africa after that; wanting both the blacks and Afrikaans to get along from then on and let go of the past- not an easy thing of course, especially if one looks at how long apartheid reigned in that country; from 1948 to 1990. His commitment to World Peace and willingness to forgive the people who had put him in prison in the first place really moved me. He said, “As I walked out the door toward the gate of freedom, I knew if I didn’t leave my bitterness and hatred behind, I’d still be in prison.”

When he was sentenced, Mandela was 45; when he was released, he was 72,  over two decades in incarceration. Yet, his defiant spirit remained unbroken all those long years and he was a symbol of hope to those who abhorred racism and apartheid and motivated them to continue fighting. While in prison, he recited William Ernest Henley’s poem- INVICTUS ("Unconquered" in Latin) - to other prisoners, influenced by the poem’s message: 

  INVICTUS

“Out of the night that covers me,

Black as the pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be

For my unconquered soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance,

I have not winced nor cried aloud.

Under the bludgeoning 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 scrolls,

Iam the master of my fate:

Iam the captain of my soul.”

The world is now in mourning of a great man but we must not be sad, even though naturally we all are right now. Like Gandhi before him, Madiba cared about his people and fought for the end of tyranny and inequality. He did and achieved a lot of things; including influencing thousands. Now he has gone to rest. As we say goodbye to Nelson Mandela; we pray to Almighty God to grant his soul eternal rest, to give his family and South Africa the fortitude to bear this loss. And the rest of the world, particularly world leaders to remember what Madiba fought and stood for and do their best to emulate him. REST IN PEACE MADIBA. 

"I am not a saint, unless you think of a saint as a sinner who keeps on trying"- Nelson Mandela

"Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies." ~ Nelson Mandela: http://t.co/Kuu63FHZsM
— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) December 5, 2013

President Obama remembers Nelson Mandela: "A man who took history in his hands and bent the arc of the moral universe towards justice."
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) December 5, 2013

I was not a messiah but an ordinary man who had become a leader because of extraordinary circumstances-Nelson Mandela http://t.co/1XS5juxab6
— NAACP (@NAACP) December 5, 2013

Carbo Fan Fiction- Return Journey Chapter 27

 Chapter 27

The song selected for the newlyweds’ first dance as man and wife was Ella Fitzgerald’s At Last. Darcy Jonas felt it was more than fitting as she watched her parents on the dance floor; her handsome papa’s eyes on his wife, his arm round her waist. She smiled at the matching look of love on her mother’s face. If there was a couple who deserved a life time together, it was those two.

Carbo Fan Fiction- Return Journey Chapter 26

 

Chapter 26

Vivian had neglected to tell Hope about the botched task so she was unable to hide her shock on seeing Bo waiting for her.

Bo stared at her hard. After the drugging/almost burning him alive episode, not to mention her outburst in court; he wasn’t surprised she’d tried to kill him again. But to actually conspire with Vivian- that was the real bombshell.

BEING STRESS FREE: POSSIBLE?

*First, my sincere and heartfelt apologises to my visitors for the long gap between updates. I am currently unemployed hence unable to afford regular internet, so please bear with me*

"STRESS IS AN IGNORANT STATE. IT BELIEVES THAT EVERYTHING IS AN EMERGENCY. NOTHING IS THAT IMPORTANT" - Natalie Goldberg


No matter how we keep believing that, there is no way we can escape getting stressed out on several occasions. I should know; worry and anxiety over my writing, finding work, battling with my part time studies and lords knows what ends up with me feeling ill- pains on the back of my neck, stomach aches, a few panic attacks and don't get me started on the hideous migraines. I'm too lazy to learn yoga so these days I rely on herbal tea to ease the stress. It's a lot better than two years back- I was so stressed and depressed that, to my horror- I lost half of my hair. I didn't even know until I went to get my hair washed and my hair dresser was like, 'Amina, have you been thinking too much?' 
There is always something to worry about, sorry to say. We humans just can't help it- especially in the workplace. One puts in their best at the job then it comes the time when they are given a lot to do (more than they can handle but too proud to say so), when they are told they are not doing enough hence do too much or the meaner bosses who make them feel after everything, there's still something lacking! The brain gets the biggest hit, one would feel rather disoriented and unable to function properly for a while and it leads to fatigue and early aging.
There are other reasons outside the workplace; personal problems, worry about money, worry about security, pressure from family members- the list is endless as anything or anyone could be a stressor.
Of course there are ways of treating it, proper ways of course like lying down and listening to slow music, yoga (which is pretty much non existent here in Nigeria), exercise, taking up a relaxing hobby.  I do all I can to reduce any form of anxiety but afterwards it's back to square one.
Just how can one be absolutely free from Stress? Is it even possible to be free of it?

Carbo Fan Fiction- Return Journey Chapter 25

 

Chapter 25

Victor knew he deserved Bo, Roman and Shane’s contempt but all the same he was very angry Bo would think he conspired to kill him. After bonding with Bo after Shawn Brady’s death, Victor believed his son had finally decided to let the elevator incident and other past crimes go and establish a proper relationship with him. 

Carbo Fan Fiction- Return Journey Chapter 24

Chapter 24

Dr. Marcus Hunter was tired from his journey but he briskly looked through Carly and Darcy’s charts after looking in on them; his heart clenching at how ill his old friend and former colleague looked.

CARBO FAN FICTION: Return Journey Chapter 23

First of all, very sorry for the delay in posting new blog posts. Currently I am unemployed so I cannot afford regular internet service like I used to; I go to internet cafes when I can so please bear with me, thanks.

Chapter 23

Bo didn’t sleep that night at all; the bed was empty without Carly beside him and the house painfully lonely without the children. He wouldn’t be at home at all but Roman, John, Marlena and the others who came to visit Carly and Darcy had urged him to get some rest; he’d been with the two women all day. 

CASTRO's LAST BOW

Before the shocking news of his suicide; the last we heard of this evil man was that the 'House of Hell' where he imprisoned his victims was torn down. At the time, I said 'good riddance', why should his house become a tourist attraction considering what went on in there for a decade? And I cannot believe what he said in court, ' I am not a monster, I am sick.' Man, I know mental illness exists but if he was truly sick he would have been sentenced to an institution of the criminally insane, not life imprisonment in jail. No, that evil man knew what he was doing big time, just as he knew what he was doing when he hanged himself in his cell after just a month in prison. Every one says he took the coward's way out, preferring to take his life after stealing 10 years of those poor girls' lives; after just one month! After many years of terrorising and killing innocent people, Hitler could not face impending arrest and probably the death penalty for his crimes, so he and his wife committed suicide. The biggest monsters are the biggest cowards, it seems.
For those who feel this man got off lightly, do not say that! He has gone to face an even higher judge.

PORNOGRAPHY

 When I was a child, they were known as 'Blue' Films; later on they were called 'mojos', 'smut', 'porno'. My early sight of a porno film  was at age 7 (I sincerely maintain by accident- the actual viewers had no idea I was in the room; early than that I found a discarded smut magazine (It's amazing what children find no thanks to careless adults). Pornography's in many forms- erotic pics, erotic literature, magazines like Playboy, Hustler, Penthouse etc. and the movies themselves; Soft, Hardcore, Gay  and the more very  disgusting ones like  Child Porn, S&M and 'Snuff'. In Nigeria, there was Bubbles and Lolly ; sex cartoons and  some nude photos.These days, viewers don't even need to buy tapes or Dvds; when the Internet has more than enough porno websites  anyone can easily logged into (the side effect being vicious malaware creeping into the computers' hard disks)
Mind... this post is not to advocate  for Porn but  merely exploring how people see it.

In the view of  Feminists; it's demeaning to women. 'Snuff' porn especially is a serious threat to women as Snuff films include violence. According to Feminist activist and journalist Gloria Steinem (step mother of actor, Christian Bale), Porn is totally different from Erotica( which is merely any artistic work that deals with sexually simulating subject matter), ''just as love is from rape, as dignity is from humiliation, as partnership is from slavery and as pleasure is from pain." She further stated that besides the female demeaning; Porn- be it Heterosexual or Gay- one person is basically the dominant master/ conqueror; the other is the submissive victim/slave. (I wonder if the  porn viewers and addicts take the time in the middle of being sexually aroused to see it that way)
The general  religious view simply is that porn  depicts fornication, complete lack of morals  and  explicit acts of prostitution; therefore they are trash and sinful. It  promotes Lust and carnal desires, corrupts the mind, body and soul into doing things forbidden-  harboring impure thoughts, premarital sex, self stimulation (masturbation), adultery, rape, unhealthy obsession with sex  and is dangerously addictive. To cleanse the mind, body and spirit- the evils of porn must be avoided at all cost. Simply put; Don't watch it!
To some, and I mean those in the Porn Industry- be it magazines and films- it's a form of Free Speech. Okay... free speech, as in the right to express your yourself or opinions  in any form or impacting knowledge and info via different  forms. Does pornography portray the dos  and the don'ts of sexual intercourse or displays the height of  human sexuality- that we are capable of letting out our most hidden fantasies and carnal desires; or that we are simply human when doing what we never thought we were capable of doing in the bedroom? Desire, Intimacy  and Sex between two people is normal but perversion is not; BSM, Snuff  and Child Porn for example- it promotes sexual abuse, violence and human trafficking- so no.
As for the ' necessary evil' view- those who support that notion would say that it is like marijuana- good and useful when used right. In Hospitals , Fertility clinics and Sex Therapy institutes- it is uses as a tool to obtain 'specimens' for fertility testing, artificial insemination and to help people with sexual problems. As it is viewed in a controlled, sterile medical environment and for a good cause; the viewers would feel a lot less guilty watching or reading it- especially if it's not one of the more perverted types. And from what I heard, petitions are being made to add to the Sex Education curriculum ; which is a very bad idea as  while it would show them what sex is about,  it could also give the students the wrong  idea about intimacy and encourage early sexual activity or much worse.
What's your view?