Dear John Explores What It Means To Be Human

I met up with Sheena, Kami and Keisha for a Sushi dinner at Iron Sushi on E. 10 between First and Second Ave. Sheena went to a rave in Flushing, Keisha and Kami went to Karaoke at Duet 48. I wanted to go to Karaoke but decided to go home because it was cold but as I was making my way to Crumbs I decided to go see a movie. I ended up seeing "Dear John" starring hottie Channing Tatum and the lovely/ultra hot Amanda Seyfried. The movie still has me thinking so much that I needed to blog about the movie.

"Dear John" is film adaptation of Nicholas Sparks' novel of the same title; for those of who don't know him, he is well known for his novel "The Notebook." Well Spark's must be a bucket of love or knows how the human heart works because this movie had me reeling with love and joy. If a film critic asked me, I would give this movie four thumbs up not because it was a romantic tearjerker and we sometimes need that in our lives but because it was close to reality. What do I mean by real? I felt I was Seyfried's character Savannah, I felt I was in the movie watching her not just on the screen but actually there. The movie emanated so much emotion and truth...it had me thinking of my past relationships.

I hear most people never find true love. They have to settle because maybe they are getting older, have kids, money troubles, too comfortable or tired of playing the game. Savannah married Tim because she was a goodhearted person and saw someone in need and denied herself of true love because she saw someone who needed her more and was there in the moment--not at war where John felt he was needed more. Maybe he extended his tour because he loved his job and his country more than Savannah or maybe he felt guilty for not stepping up to help his country in a time of need. Tim needed Savannah more and John needed to support his country more. At the time they just did not need each other like they wanted...key word "wanted."

Life has a funny way of throwing people in our lives at funny times. People are put in our lives to serve a purpose and once that purpose is over they disappear or step down from duty. Some people are staples in our lives because there is a part of us that will always need them.  Savannah and John fell in love within two weeks of knowing each other...what purpose was that? Who knows but it happened. We never know why people come into our lives. Now we should know by now that everyone that slips into our lives does not need to be there.

I think about this when I hear women being beat by their husbands, boyfriends or significant others for many years and never have the courage to walk away. Maybe that is the devil or pure fate. Why would fate put bad seeds on our path or journey? Only the person can know but I hope everything and everyone comes with a lesson. Believe it or not, this was the topic of my conversation at dinner tonight so maybe I need to explore this very thing more.

However, Seyfriend and Tatum have amazing on screen chemistry. I looked into Tatum's eyes and I saw that he is a better actor than I thought. He stepped out of himself and became vulnerable and lovable. Seyfried showed she has diversity in her roles and that she is truly a beautiful actress. Not beautiful appearance (because we all know she is) but her talent and technique is completely beautiful. She is believable and she took on her role. The movie was well executed. I also loved how the movie portrayed how miscommunication can get in the way of how we truly feel about people--the same way John and his father were never able to truly communicate until the last minute.

This was a great movie and I recommend this movie for those who want to see a great romantic movie but who also want to see a movie that explores what it means to be human--love, emotions, communication, sense of duty, wanting versus need, sense of lost time, pride, guilt, parenthood, etc. This movie has it all. Kudos to the entire movie crew because this movie was executed well. I cannot compare this to "The Notebook" because it was truly a completely different movie experience.

PS- What is with these movies with kissing in the rain? Ask a black girl to be kissed in the rain and she would complain about her hair!! I know I would. 

Social Media Addiction

The rise of social media has been increasing at outrageous numbers over the last several years. There are times when I feel all I do is check my Gmail account (email), Facebook, LinkedIn, update my Twitter status, bookmark my favorite content and vote for others, and watch web video! I have to admit I rarely use MySpace and Friendfeed. I am also signed up for Squidoo and Noovo, which I have yet to find use for.

However, sometimes I check-in to most of these networks all in one day and maybe that is a bit obsessive but when and where should I draw the line on how many times a day I should "check-in?" Speaking of where to draw the line, as I write this post (which I have not done in a while) I can't help but research hard facts about social media use and consumption--and that has become quite an obsession in the last few weeks. With all these questions, I ask myself "Is social media becoming a burden?" Yes!!!

According to my own business definition, social media is a way to connect with existing and potential customers online to promote and share content and hopefully they share content among their own individual networks. Thus, companies have tools to listen, monitor and respond to how the market reacts to their brands in the marketplace and online. Hopefully the feedback that is received is then used to improve products and/or services, and can even provide ideas for new products and services.

The personal definition of social media is for individuals to connect with their friends, family, colleagues and others to share content, keep in touch and aggregate the amount of information they take in daily. People use social media for different reasons. For example, musicians use MySpace to share their music and get discovered by record labels; filmmakers use YouTube, MySpace and similar sites to showcase their past and upcoming projects; Comedians use all social media sites to show the world how funny they are and to get others to viralize their hilariously entertaining videos; Hobbyist use social media to instruct other individuals on how to learn necessary skills to master a certain craft.

All the uses for social media are great but there is so much to see, do, watch, listen to and read about that social media has become an addiction. What are the symptoms for social media addicts? In my opinion, social media addicts check their blackberry every 25-30 minutes to read the latest email, update their twitter or Facebook status or forwarding content onto others. Other symptoms are stiff neck, blindness (from the computer screen), slight deafness, blisters from sitting in one spot for so long, etc.

What is the cure for social media addiction? Dare I say one whole day without checking-in but that just sounds crazy. What is the percentage of people that relapse? Probably everyone who is reading this blog post and forwarding it on to their friends! Just kidding but it's extremely hard to be weened off of checking-in because it is the way of life and we may have to just accept that. How would we have known about the earthquake in Haiti, or the Christmas Day Underwear Bomber and any other the important breaking news. We would be at a lost for information because newspaper readership is down and I am sure most people don't watch the news all day long.

What do you think about social media addiction? Share this post with your friends, family, colleagues and others and see what they have to say. Start a mini debate.

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