Swamp Princess by Allie Bullock

It's here - the latest version of a literary short story that embellishes the magic of falling in love in Florida. Of course the story of Beauty and the Beast, Phantom of the Opera and other mismatches has been told and retold. Is this about unrequited love? Love at first sight? Impossible odds? or is it merely an account of how unexpected instances lead to life changing experiences? Swamp Princess faces our deepest fears and ends in unfamiliar territory. This tale came to me quite unexpectedly at a weekend workshop. The mediator challenged all of us writers over a Saturday and Sunday to create a story based on our senses related to citrus fruit. Yep. You heard that right! She had a bag of lemons and a bag of oranges sitting on the desk and said to avail ourselves. See what the texture and scent of the fruit of choice brings to the empty page.

The bag of Navels called to me, an echo of past years spent in a developing area of Florida. A place we shared with nature and wildlife. The boys were different in the South than in New York but the rules were the same. Swamp Princess explores these differences and threatens to break cultural barriers that would otherwise keep people at bay.

See for yourself if you don't see something in Bubba and Penelope that you can relate to on some level. And if you do find yourself reading this story please leave a rating on Nook's site and comment. Thank you!!
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/swamp-princess-a-short-story-allie-bullock/1122268241?ean=2940151109710

Top Five Movie Nominations of 2014

The Oscars have come and gone but here are the films with a common theme well worth watching!

There’s a little something for everyone at the movies this year. For the youngest set, Big Hero 6 made a splash with its band of high tech heroes to the rescue! And heroism seems to have been the overall theme in 2014 for some of the biggest stories on the Big Screen. Let’s take a look at the best of them.

The Theory of Everything

Magical fare, especially for those who were clueless about Stephen Hawkings’ private life. British actor Eddie Redmayne gives the performance of a lifetime as the wheelchair bound genius, Hawkings, who fell in love with his wife when they were in their early 20s whilst attending Cambridge. At the time, Hawkings was given two years at the most, having discovered he had contracted Lou Gehrig’s disease. This story hits the sweet spot: love at first sight; opposites attract. In this case, polar opposites. He being a confirmed atheist and she a devout Christian. Despite their foundational differences, this beyond challenged couple produces three children and later grandchildren, which proves that the human spirit can reign over a devastating diagnosis. The hero in this story is resilience and surprising wit despite cruel odds.

The Imitation Game

Outfoxing the Third Reich proves tricky in this biopic of the man who set out to break the Nazi movement code, giving allies the edge to win the war. Again, the Brits come to the rescue with Benedict Cumberbatch’s performance as Alan Turing, inventor of the computer, who during WWII led an ensemble of top engineers to outwit Hitler.

Wild

Soul searching can be a downward spiral, as Cheryl Strayed experienced at age 22 after the unexpected death of her 45-year-old mother. After blowing up her marriage with infidelity, drugs and general mayhem, Cheryl’s forage back to life begins with a walk in the wilderness. A solo trek along the rugged Pacific Crest Trail. A makeup-less Reese Witherspoon portrays the sullied Strayed on her healing, self-heroic journey, touching viewers on a gut survival level. Before she could get on with the business of life, this heroine had to reason herself back to reality.

Selma

It’s been 100 years since the Civil War emancipated slaves and Blacks still can’t seem to register to vote. British actors David Oyelowo (as Martin Luther King) and Carmen Ejogo (as wife Coretta Scott King) masterfully re-enact the historic walk in segregated Alabama from Montgomery to Selma in 1965 that culminated in a movement, which translated to getting President LBJ on board to enable Blacks the same rights as everyone else.

American Sniper

Then there’s the life of Navy Seal Chris Kyle played so well by Bradley Cooper, who disappears into the role by adding 40 pounds of sheer bulk to his frame. To not acknowledge Kyle as America’s modern day hero would be to ignore current events. Cooper’s Academy Award nomination is well deserved.

For a list of other nominees: http://oscar.go.com/. The 87^th Academy Award ceremony took place February 22^nd and was hosted this year by Neil Patrick Harris, followed by the 10^thAnnual Jimmy Kimmel Live: After the Oscars. Best moment was Eddie Redmayne's acceptance speech, Common and John Legend's Glory, and Lady Gaga's tribute to Sound of Music and Julie Andrew's response. Also, Jennifer Hudson's performance!

Double feature: Heaven is for Real & Noah

So, I finally got to these two. Randall Wallace's (Braveheart) Heaven is for Real shows that other dimension we know is there, but did the kid really see Jesus and a bunch of dead relatives or was it that angel of light, the great distractor? I guess I buy that no one is old up in Heaven because age is a sign of deterioration and there's none of that up there. This film, based on a true story of a little boy who visits heaven during surgery to save his life, begs the question: Is there life after death? Also, why are some taken while others are left behind for a while? And, should we fear the hereafter? Will we see lost loved ones again? Moreover, if Jesus is the only one who can truly offer eternity, why is it so hard for so many to embrace that truth?

Perhaps Noah has the answer.

Yes, Noah. The film panned by most Christians as inaccurate, fabled and even dreadful. For me, the only standout inaccuracy was that they changed the most compelling part of the flood story and had Noah close the door to the Ark. (If you're curious as to who shut Noah, his family and the animals two by two in, get hold of a Bible and read Genesis 7:16b.) Well, despite this blaring omission, I thoroughly enjoyed this film. Could've done without the Rock People - don't know what that was all about. Perhaps they're a metaphor for the Earth itself crying out to defend its position against destruction caused by sin and chaos. All right. Enough of those annoying CGIs. Let's get to casting.

The subtle pairing of Jennifer Connelly and Russell Crowe, formerly cast in A Beautiful Mind as husband and wife, is nothing short of brilliant. Here they are centuries ago as spouses facing a different sort of mindful drama. And, I just gotta say I love Russell Crowe as Noah. His portrayal shows the heart of a man who wants to please God. It is prophetic how he does an "Isaac" (See Genesis 22:6-13) with his granddaughters. And I love Emma Watson's soulful performance as his daughter-in-law. Then there's Anthony Hopkins as Methuselah, Noah's old grandfather, albeit a bit of a magic man.

The real beauty is that this story actually answers all the questions raised in Heaven is for Real. The flood represents death and the new earth life after death. It starts all over again but this time round, though the truth is still hidden in our hearts, it is up to us to enter God's ark. Well, that's how I see it. If you combine these two films, Noah finds out that Heaven is for real.Heaven is for Real trailer

Winter's Tale - the movie

While it's got nothing to do with Shakespeare's drama of the same name, Akiva Goldman's "Winter's Tale" (he directed "A Beautiful Mind") is about a beautiful heart. Though most critics see this overwrought story filled to the brim with sappiness, at its core, this is a fairy tale about sacrifice and repentance. Strange virtues for a society of selfies. Inspirational fodder for those of us who are, alas, hopeless romantics. Dreamers. Believers in redemption.

That there is an author out there, Mark Helprin, who can spin a story like a Grimm brother, and that someone got it spot on by pairing the handsome and utterly charming Colin Farrell with the, as his character Peter Lake said, "impossibly beautiful" Jessica Brown Findlay (otherwise sorely missed Lady Sybil of "Downton Abbey" fame) is not only brilliant but blissful. And then there is that white pegasus that goes by the name of Horse, a symbol of all that is good to fight all that is bad in the person of Pearly Soames (Russell Crowe) who receives orders from a comic book version of Satan (under-acted by Will Smith).

But, the sweet spot in the movie that might be sorely overlooked, especially by boys writing reviews who prefer something more action-packed, is that mystical and perfect tent built on various rooftops for a dying girl. What more could one ask for? Who doesn't like to sleep outside and watch the stars? And, better yet, gaze at the universe with someone like Colin Farrell in mind.

This movie will steal your heart, if you let the reality of the fable sink in.

Monumental "Monuments Men"

Dear Mr. Clooney,
I just saw a movie that may change my life. I'm not sure if it is the humanity or lack of humanity that moves me more.

Thank you for bringing "The Monuments Men" (from Robert Edsel's book of the same title) to the big screen with a cast, including yourself, who honorably retell a piece of unknown history of brave historians, tasked by FDR, who trek through war torn Europe in possibly the greatest treasure hunt on earth. Their mission: to retrieve art stolen by the Nazis and return plundered public and private artworks to its rightful owners, whether dead or alive. 

Aside from the joyous revelation that Hugh Bonneville (aka "Downton Abbey's" Lord Grantham) and Jean Dujardin ("The Artist") play important roles in the movie, let's just say Cate Blanchett's riveting portrayal, of a Parisian curator privvy to Nazi thievery of the world's priceless masterpieces and what she does with the information, takes the air out of the theatre. Too, Matt Damon's faithful James Granger and the German-Jewish soldier who eavesdrops on the Fuehrer's evil plans as our heroes attempt to outpace the Russians, after stolen art for early reparations.

But the real stars of this show sit in cloaked wheelbarrows and stockpiled frames signed by Peter Paul Rubens, Claude Monet, Michelangelo and Rembrandt, to name but a few. This well directed and written film brings the importance of art into focus and how the plight to protect civilization from extinction due to the ravages of war continues to this day. Like art itself, "Monuments Men" belongs to the ages.

http://www.monumentsmenfoundation.org
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/true-story-monuments-men-180949569

And the Oscar Goes to ...

Sunday, February 24th, Academy voters will determine who walks home with this year's coveted Oscar, and as it turns out, the competition is fierce.

Let's look at five contenders.

There's Lincoln, up for the lion's share of awards including best movie and director with veteran Stephen Spielberg at the helm and Daniel Day Lewis giving audiences more than a glimpse into the very soul of a beloved and hated commander in chief. Day's intimate portrayal of the Civil War president agonizing over a young nation is worthy of Best Actor.

Though Les Miserables is a musical and has way too much music with no song and dance, its cast did well and are up for Best Actor (Hugh Jackman) and Best Original Song. Prognosticators say it's a shoe in for Anne Hathaway (Princess Diaries, The Devil Wears Prada) to grab Best Supporting Actress. That the film's mostly a Debbie Downer could play against the odds were it not for an underlying thread of redemption that runs its characters ragged yet inspired.

Kathryn Bigelow's at it again, directing another war thriller nominated for an Oscar. In 2010, her moving account of soldiers deployed to Iraq to snub out explosives nabbed the Oscar for Best Picture with The Hurt Locker. This time it's Zero Dark Thirty, a dramatization of a decade's worth of highbrow snooping to locate al Qaida leader and instigator of 9/11, Osama bin Laden, and bring him to justice. The film's protaganist, Jessica Chastain, is up for Best Actress, and shows her acting chops in this film from ditzy gal in "The Help" to a CIA intelligence officer with killer instincts whose research gets the Navy Seals on board for a wild ride to Pakistan to seal the deal.

Let's include Ben Affleck in this amazing mix of filmmakers with his Argo movie, a declassified tale of how the CIA posed as fake film producers to smuggle six stray American diplomats, holed up in the Canadian Embassy, from the clutches of revolutionary Iranians during the Iran Crisis. This film could take home the Oscar for its suspense so raw and well crafted that audiences were watching the entire film on the edge of their seats. The only flaw comes during the credits when President Carter recaps the end of the Hostage Crisis with no mention of how newly inaugurated Ronald Reagan orchestrated release of those hostages by intimidating their captors.

And then there's the hyped Silver Linings Playbook, a movie I saved for last, skeptical that it'd be preachy or repetitious of other films about mental illness. Forget all that. Playbook is magical. Largely in part to Best Actress nominee Jennifer Lawrence (The Hunger Games), who plays opposite Bradley Cooper (The Words, Hangover), up for Best Actor. Lawrence captivates Cooper and moviegoers from the moment she's on screen. It's this year's Cinderella story about two wounded souls who understand what it's like to try to recapture some semblance of normalcy when the rug's been pulled from underneath. This movie's a smart, sexy love story with off putting characters full of endearing qualities and intense chemistry despite their dysfunctional DNA.

Three Musketeers!!!

There's something so cool and mysterious about babies having babies, who if born today, could live to see the 22nd century. Take Jonathan Patrick Kagamaster, whose birth day December 5, 2012, represents the future. In 2112, he'll be 100 years old and a day. What an amazing little fellow. For now, we're all thrilled that he's here on the present day scene with us so we can love him and cherish him and watch him grow with his cousins. It's the new three musketeers! Welcome to our world, JP!