Buddhism, a New York monastery, and a trip back in time

This weekend I traveled to one of my favorite far-away places, a beautiful Buddhist temple in New York called Chuang Yen Monastery.

You can check out more pictures by clicking here.

The monastery is a place of real joy and calmness for me, and not just because of the beautiful landscape or the big Buddha statues. I received my first Buddhist teachings here in the form of weekly meditation lessons and group discussion from a Buddhist priest. In nice weather we would all sit on those very benches you see in the picture above, and talk. His name was Venerable Wisdom, and he's still teaching in Danbury, CT.

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The teachings were often very practical in nature, and he would answer questions from the group such as, "How do I deal with my angry neighbors?" Other times, they were more about the teachings of the Buddha. I remember telling him, "I read something about Buddhism and women - that women could not reach (the ultimate goal of Buddhism) enlightenment." I asked him what he thought of that.

He told me that everyone makes their own effort towards enlightenment. It takes time, sometimes lifetimes to accomplish. Some of those lifetimes may be lived as women, some as men. "Why not focus on the gains you can make now, in this life, rather than worrying about someday?"

I still try to reach my goals a little at a time.

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Now I come back here with my kids, to walk the grounds and to give my mind a chance to be calm again. It feels really, really good. I'm doing a little something toward my goal of a being a happier and more peaceful person.

Janet

Movie Review - Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves

You thought I was going to talk about empathy...well, not today. I'll do an empathy post soon. But in the meantime I'm going to share another snippet of my life in the hope that you will want to share something with me in the comments or on our facebook page.

If you know the movie and don't like it, here's someone else's review that agrees with you.

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I love the movie. I love it in the way that I love my favorite socks, even with the holes and fuzzy spots. What I love about this movie is that there's just SO MUCH for me to think and talk about!

The movie is yes, another take on the classic tale of Robin Hood. So all the important characters are there, Robin, Friar Tuck, Will Scarlet, Little John, Maid Marion, and the Sheriff of Nottingham. But in this tale we also have some fabulous secondary characters that I love to watch again and again. Fanny, Little John's wife, is a strong woman willing to pick up a sword (in at least one scene) and is played by Soo Drouet. The Sherrif's cousin, Guy of Gisbourne, is played excellently by Michael Wincott.

The movie stars Alan Rickman as the Sherriff, and he's one of my favorite bad-guy actors. He's so much fun to watch, and has some great lines like "I'm gonna cut your heart out with a spoon". There's this one scene where he's telling some little kids that he's insane, and it just makes me laugh so hard every time I watch. It's kind of the precursor to his 'Professor Snape' bad guy to kids role, although I believe he's become a much better actor over time.

I have to talk a little bit about Kevin Costner here. I hear so often when I bring this movie up in conversation that it's a ridiculous movie, because Mr. Costner doesn't hold an English accent for more than half a line at a time. I agree with this statement but I still love how he plays the role. He plays Robin exactly as I imagine him. A little egotistical. A lot lacking in intelligence. Very physically skilled but emotionally kind of a child. A streak of honor that lasts a mile long. Yeah, I know I'm not going to be popular for saying this but I enjoy watching him act in this movie.


Although the movie did have a few female characters, I'm pretty sure it fails the bechdel test. If you don't know what I'm talking about read this. Marion has a handmaid, Mary, but they don't ever talk to each other. In one scene, Fanny is in labor and Marion is by her side, and Marion tells Fannie to 'bite down' on a stick. I don't think that counts as conversation, since Fanny doesn't say anything in response. Even if it did count as a conversation, it was a conversation about her soon-to-be-born baby son, so it would fail the test anyway.

Like I said - so much to talk about!!

I watch it and think, yes, they made some choices in casting that seem very silly to me now. I can picture a group of people sitting around a casting table and saying "Okay, to make sure we're including a larger audience, let's put in Christian Slater to capture the 18 and under crowd, since Kevin Costner is a bit older and may not appeal." However it also has Walter Sparrow as Robin's servant, who I just adore (he was also in another of my favorite movies, Ever After).

The costumes are cheesy (sorry I can't find a good link for that one).

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I know it's not considered a good movie by everyone. I love it in spite of (or because of) the flaws. What about you? What movie do you love?

I'm just a girl

If you don't want to read anything negative, stop reading now and go back to one of my other posts. But before you go, here's a picture of some cute fuzzy tiger babies.

I'm Just A Girl

I'm a fan of american football, and I love to watch games and root for my favorite team (the Buffalo Bills, yeah, I know). I realize that I'm not the target audience for most advertisers that use these shows to sell their products. However, it still burns my muffin when I see ads like this one:

Don't you really want a beer, now?  :)

I know that most/all alcohol ads objectify women. That doesn't mean I have to like it. Seriously what does a beer and a woman have in common? The first woman, wearing a brightly colored dress, smiling and laughing,  is being derided for the following traits mentioned in the ad. She's :

friendly
bubbly
(has less) character
(has less) style
less taste (no, wait, I think that last one was just about the beer)
and of course, has blonde hair.

Haven't we had enough of the blonde jokes, folks? Seriously is this the way folks talk about beer to each other?

The fact that both women (actually, all women in the ad) are well-below average weight and well above average height is what I expect from a TV ad. But this ad is laughable, I can almost see Mel Gibson's character from 'What Women Want' writing this ad. I can't find the clip online but it was the bit where he was trying to bluff his way out of a meeting for selling women's products by talking about using a woman showering in the tropics.....

Yeah can I just say ugh.


Any television or movie ads that you've seen that have pushed your buttons the wrong way? What about them?