Taste: Women vs Men

Men and women have different taste in movies!

A study of 2,000 adults, commissioned by Direct Line for its 40 Seconds Straight short film competition, found that men look for sex, nudity and action, whereas women prefer a musical rom-com with a happy ending. It’s official!

Women:

• Happy Ending
• Tearjerker scene
• Song and dance
• Romantic comedy
• Psychological thriller
• Straight-talking characters
• Musical
• Animation
• Tragedy
• Disaster

Men:

• Sci-fi/Fantasy
• Action sequence
• Chase scene
• Martial arts
• Violent/Gory scene
• Sex/Nude scene
• Time travel
• Violence

Only those are true for me :-))))):

Happy Ending
Romantic comedy
Song and dance (Sound of music)
Time Travel (Lake House)
Animation (Shrek)
Futurist Martial arts (Matrix, Crunching Tiger)
Sci-fi Action/Fantasy

I think men like: Sci-fi/Fantasy, Action, Chase scene, Sex/Nude scene, Martial arts, Horror, Adventure.


Yes, we are from different planets ......  don't look at me like that if I can't watch the movie you like the best. Sorrrrrry  ;-))))))

Method Actor

Daniel Michael Blake Day-Lewis (born 29 April 1957) is an English actor with both British and Irish citizenship. Day-Lewis, who grew up in London, is the son of actress Jill Balcon and Poet Laureate Cecil Day-Lewis.

Despite his training in the classical presentational acting style at the Bristol Old Vic, he is a method actor, known for his constant devotion to and research of his roles. Often, he will remain completely in character for the duration of the shooting schedule of his films, even to the point of adversely affecting his health.

(1) Day-Lewis threw his personal version of "method acting" into full throttle in 1989 with his performance as Christy Brown in Jim Sheridan's My Left Foot which garnered him numerous awards, including the Academy Award for Best Actor. Daniel prepared for his role by frequent visits to Sandymount School Clinic in Dublin, where he formed friendships with several people with disabilities, some of whom had no speech. During filming, his eccentricities came to the fore, due to his refusal to break character. Playing a severely paralysed character on screen, off screen Day-Lewis had to be moved around the set in his wheelchair, and crew members would curse at having to lift him over camera and lighting wires, all so that he might gain insight into all aspects of Brown's life, including the embarrassments.

(2) In 1993, Day-Lewis played Newland Archer in Martin Scorsese's adaptation of the Edith Wharton novel The Age of Innocence, opposite Winona Ryder and Michelle Pfeiffer. To prepare for the film, set in America's Gilded Age, he wore 1870s-period aristocratic clothing around New York City for two months, including top hat, cane and cape in cold weather.

(3) In November 2010, it was announced that Day-Lewis would play Abraham Lincoln in Steven Spielberg's film Lincoln. Based on the book Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, the film began shooting in Richmond, Virginia in October 2011. The film was released in select US cities on November 9, 2012, and received a US national release on November 16, 2012. Day-Lewis spent a year in preparation for the role, a time he requested from Spielberg. Day-Lewis read over 100 books on Lincoln, and long worked with the film's makeup artist to achieve a physical likeness to Lincoln. Lincoln received widespread critical acclaim, with major praise directed to Day-Lewis' performance.

He is known as one of the most selective actors in the film industry, having starred in only five films since 1998, with as many as five years between roles.

He has twice won the Academy Award for Best Actor, for his portrayals of Christy Brown in My Left Foot (1989) and Daniel Plainview in There Will Be Blood (2007). He also won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor and the Screen Actors' Guild Award for his role as Bill "The Butcher" Cutting in Gangs of New York (2002). Most recently, he won his fourth BAFTA Award for Best Actor, the Golden Globe for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role for his role as Abraham Lincoln in Steven Spielberg's Lincoln (2012), for which he is also currently nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor.

Will he win tonight? Yes as Abraham Lincoln :-))))))

He looks much older now. When I watched his movie for the first time, it was The Age of Innocence. His eyes of deep sadness could trap others to follow him. There are something in those eyes. We are addictive to certain kind of sadness ...... in life, for what we lose or what we can not have.

The other movie I watched (that I may not like) was the Milan Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being, co-starring Lena Olin and Juliette Binoche, as a Czech surgeon whose hyperactive and purely physical sex life is thrown into disarray when he allows himself to become emotionally involved with a woman (a womanizer). During the eight-month shoot he learned Czech and first began to refuse to break character on or off the set for the entire shooting schedule. Later he disappeared for a while until shown up in Gangs of New York.

He will be considered as a great actor. No doubt.

No matter what you do, as long as you put your full heart in it, you will be successful. You will be happier in your own world. Don't care what others say. Others may not be qualified to judge us - good or bad   :-))))))))))))))))))

Oscar - believe in or not

The Academy Awards, as of February 20, 2013 officially re-branded as The Oscars, are a set of awards given annually for excellence of cinematic achievements. The Oscar statuette is officially named the Academy Award of Merit and is one of nine types of Academy Awards. Organized and overseen by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), the awards are given each year at a formal ceremony. The AMPAS was originally conceived by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studio executive Louis B. Mayer as a professional honorary organization to help improve the film industry’s image and help mediate labor disputes. The awards themselves were later initiated by the Academy as awards "of merit for distinctive achievement" in the industry.

The awards were first given in 1929 at a ceremony created for the awards, at the Hotel Roosevelt in Hollywood. Over the years that the award has been given, the categories presented have changed; currently Oscars are given in more than a dozen categories, and include films of various types. As one of the most prominent award ceremonies in the world, the Academy Awards ceremony is televised live in more than 100 countries annually. It is also the oldest award ceremony in the media; its equivalents, the Grammy Awards (for music), the Emmy Awards (for television), and the Tony Awards (for theater), are modeled after the Academy Awards.

The Oscar statuette is made of gold-plated britannium on a black metal base, it is 13.5 in (34 cm) tall, weighs 8.5 lb (3.85 kg) and depicts a knight rendered in Art Deco style holding a crusader's sword standing on a reel of film with five spokes. The five spokes each represent the original branches of the Academy: Actors, Writers, Directors, Producers, and Technicians.

In 1928, MGM's art director Cedric Gibbons, one of the original Academy members, supervised the design of the award trophy by printing the design on a scroll. In need of a model for his statuette, Gibbons was introduced by his future wife Dolores del Río to Mexican film director and actor Emilio "El Indio" Fernández. Reluctant at first, Fernández was finally convinced to pose nude to create what today is known as the "Oscar". Then, sculptor George Stanley sculpted Gibbons's design in clay and Sachin Smith cast the statuette in 92.5 percent tin and 7.5 percent copper and then gold-plated it. The only addition to the Oscar since it was created is a minor streamlining of the base. The original Oscar mold was cast in 1928 at the C.W. Shumway & Sons Foundry in Batavia, Illinois, which also contributed to casting the molds for the Vince Lombardi Trophy and Emmy Awards statuettes. Since 1983, approximately 50 Oscars are made each year in Chicago by Illinois manufacturer R.S. Owens & Company.

As a movie lover, I watched the ceremony some years. Some of the movie winners are worth watching. Who will win tonight? Argo or Life of Pi? I will be happy to see Anne Hathaway to win hers and Daniel Day-Lewis to win his.

But there is one person who is well known not to attend the Oscar for his wins.

Woody Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg; December 1, 1935) is an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, author, playwright, and musician whose career spans over half a century. His family was Ashkenazi Jewish; his grandparents were immigrants from Russia and Austria, who spoke Yiddish, Hebrew, and German.Allen spoke German quite a bit during his early years. To raise money he began writing jokes for the agent David O. Alber, who sold them to newspaper columnists. According to Allen, his first published joke read: "Woody Allen says he ate at a restaurant that had O.P.S. prices – over people's salaries." He began to call himself Woody Allen. He would later joke that when he was young he was often sent to inter-faith summer camps, where he "was savagely beaten by children of all races and creeds." At the age of 17, he legally changed his name to Heywood Allen. He was already earning more than both of his parents combined

He began as a comedy writer in the 1950s, penning jokes and scripts for television and also publishing several books of short humor pieces. In the early 1960s, Allen started performing as a stand-up comic, emphasizing monologues rather than traditional jokes. As a comic, he developed the persona of an insecure, intellectual, fretful nebbish, which he insists is quite different from his real-life personality. In 2004, Comedy Central ranked Allen in fourth place on a list of the 100 greatest stand-up comics, while a UK survey ranked Allen as the third greatest comedian.

His first movie was the Charles K. Feldman production What's New Pussycat? in 1965, for which he wrote the initial screenplay. He became disappointed with the final product, which inspired him to direct every film that he would later write.

By the mid-1960s Allen was writing and directing films, first specializing in slapstick comedies before moving into more dramatic material influenced by European art cinema during the 1970s. He is often identified as part of the New Hollywood wave of filmmakers of the mid-1960s to late '70s. Allen often stars in his own films, typically in the persona he developed as a standup. Some of the best-known of his over 40 films are Annie Hall (1977), Manhattan (1979), Hannah and Her Sisters (1986), and Midnight in Paris (2011).

With one exception, Woody Allen has never attended the Academy Awards. In spite of his previous 21 nominations and three wins, he declines the invites. He's known for it, so notoriously so that urban myths are told as to why. He broke this pattern only once. At the Academy Awards ceremony in 2002, Allen made an unannounced appearance, making a plea for producers to continue filming their movies in New York City after the 9-11 attacks, where he stated, "I didn't have to present anything. I didn't have to accept anything. I just had to talk about New York City." He was given a standing ovation before introducing a montage of movie clips featuring New York.

Why he never showed up Oscar for his wins? One simple reason: He doesn't believe in it.

"It's really almost impossible, as he puts it, to judge art, that it's so subjective, you can't really say, well, this performance is better than that or that writing is better than this and that, if you get caught in that trap of relying on other people, however great they are, to tell you whether you're any good, you're either going to consciously or subconsciously start playing to that group."

Back in 1974, when his funny, futuristic hit "Sleeper" was ignored by the Academy, Allen was quoted as saying, "The whole concept of awards is silly. I cannot abide by the judgment of other people, because if you accept it when they say you deserve an award, then you have to accept it when they say you don't."

He is a short tiny but smart person with focus on what he wants to do without others' influence. He doesn't care what others say. He doesn't have to please everyone.

It was no surprise of his coping with the famous scandal when he started relationship with Song-Yi Previn (In 1991, when the relationship started, Allen was 56 and Previn was 19). Allen's and Farrow's biological son, Ronan Farrow, is widely quoted as disparaging Allen and having said he cannot see him. On Father's Day 2012, he tweeted "Happy father's day— or as they call it in my family, happy brother-in-law's day"

June 22, 2011, Reuters quoted Allen as saying, "What was the scandal? I fell in love with this girl, married her. We have been married for almost 15 years now. There was no scandal, but people refer to it all the time as a scandal and I kind of like that in a way because when I go I would like to say I had one real juicy scandal in my life."

Asked whether their age difference was conducive to "a healthy, equal relationship," Allen said equality is not necessarily a requirement in a relationship and "The heart wants what it wants. There's no logic to those things. You meet someone and you fall in love and that's that."

He may not be a good father or partner, he will be still considered as "a treasure of the cinema". I haven't seen most of his movies, I do want to see the Midnight in Paris someday. Everyone has their own version of Paris dream. :-)))))))))))

500 Days

(500) Days of Summer is a 2009 American comedy drama film. It was written by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, directed by Marc Webb, produced by Mark Waters, and stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel. The film employs a nonlinear narrative structure, with the story based upon its male protagonist and his memory-driven look at a failed relationship. Principal photography began in April 2008 in Los Angeles, California.

The film received numerous awards and nominations; including Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber receiving the 2009 Satellite Award for Best Original Screenplay and the Independent Spirit Award for Best Screenplay. Notable nominations included two at the 67th Golden Globe Awards for Best Picture (Musical or Comedy), which it lost to The Hangover, and a nomination for Joseph Gordon-Levitt for Best Actor (Musical or Comedy), who lost to Robert Downey, Jr. for Sherlock Holmes.

Zooey has a very fresh look with big beautiful blue eyes and Joseph has a cute smile with dimples. One memorable part is when he was invited to her party, there are two side-by-side scenes: one is what Joseph imagined what would happen and another one is what really happened at the party. He expected her hug him and very happy to see him. The reality is: the party was for her engagement. She found true love in someone else which made Joseph heart broken badly. The movie is Joseph's recall of their 500 days together to get a clue where the relationship went wrong. We all have expectations from others. When reality is different, we feel hurt and unhappy. We will be happier if we have less expectations from others. Sometimes we just need to learn to let go.


Plot

The film is presented in a nonlinear narrative, as it jumps from various days within the 500-day span of Tom and Summer's relationship, indicated by an animation that includes the day's number; this summary is a linear version of the events of the film.

On January 8, Tom Hansen (Joseph Gordon Levitt) meets Summer Finn (Zooey Deschanel), the new assistant to his boss. Tom trained as an architect but works as a writer at a greeting card company in Los Angeles. Following a karaoke night, Tom's friend and co-worker McKenzie (Geoffrey Arend) reveals that Tom is attracted to Summer. During the next few months Summer and Tom grow closer, despite Summer's telling Tom that she does not believe in true love, and does not want a boyfriend.

Tom shows Summer his favorite spot in the city, which overlooks a number of buildings he likes, although the view is spoiled by parking lots. After several months of dating, Tom gets into a fight with a man who flirts with Summer, and they have their first argument. On day 290, Summer and Tom end their relationship after they see The Graduate, a film which Tom thinks shows true love. Tom does not take the breakup well, and Tom's friends call his younger sister, Rachel, to calm him down.

Summer quits her job at the greeting card company. Tom's boss moves him to the consolations department, as his depression is not suitable for happier events. Months later, as Summer and Tom attend the wedding of a co-worker, they dance at the wedding and Summer catches the bouquet. They sit next to each other on the trip home, and Summer invites Tom to a party at her apartment. He attends the party, but leaves when he sees that Summer is wearing an engagement ring. Tom enters a deep depression, only leaving his apartment for alcohol and junk food. After a few days, he returns to work with a hangover and after an emotional outburst, quits his job. He decides to rededicate himself to architecture, makes a list of firms, and begins to attend interviews.

On day 488, Summer sees Tom at his favorite spot in the city, and they talk. Tom states his lack of understanding towards her actions. Summer explains that he was right about the existence of true love and that she discovered in someone else all the feelings she had never been sure about with Tom. Summer holds Tom's hand. She says she is glad to see Tom is doing well. As she leaves Tom tells her he really hopes she is happy.

Twelve days later, on Wednesday, May 23, he attends a job interview and meets a beautiful girl who is also applying for the same job. They talk, and Tom learns she shares his favorite spot and dislike for the parking lots. Before entering the interview, he makes a date to have coffee with her afterwards. He asks her name, and she replies "Autumn".

Writing

The style of film is presented in a nonlinear narrative. Each scene is introduced using a title card showing which of the 500 days it is.

The film begins with a disclaimer: "Any resemblance to people living or dead is purely coincidental... Especially you, Jenny Beckman... Bitch." Co-writer of the film Scott Neustadter admitted the film was based on a real romance. Neustadter explains that when he met the real girl who inspired the character Summer as a student at the London School of Economics in 2002, he was rebounding from a bad breakup back home, and promptly fell "crazily, madly, hopelessly in love" with the girl who "returned his kisses but not his ardor." The ending of the relationship was "painfully and unforgettably awful," which prompted him to co-write the film with Michael H. Weber. When Neustadter later showed the script to Summer's real life counterpart, she said she related more to the Tom character. Weber also stated that, "we've all been in the trenches of love, we've all gone through the highs and lows, so Scott and I felt that the only way to tell this story was to come at it from a completely real place. It was pretty interesting for us because Scott was just going through a break-up and I was in a long-term relationship, so we each brought a totally opposite perspective, living it and not living it, and I think that tension helped to bring out more of the comedy".

Keane - lovely boy

Keane are an English alternative rock band from Battle, East Sussex, formed in 1997. The group currently comprises Tim Rice-Oxley (piano, synthesisers, backing vocals), Richard Hughes (drums, percussion, backing vocals), Jesse Quin (bass guitar, electric guitar, backing vocals) and Tom Chaplin (lead vocals, acoustic guitar). Their original line-up included founder and guitarist Dominic Scott, who left in 2001.

Keane achieved mainstream success with the release of their debut album, Hopes and Fears, in 2004. The album won multiple awards, including the Brit Award for Best British Album, and was the second best-selling British album of the year. Their second studio album, Under the Iron Sea, continued the band's success, topping the album charts in the UK and debuting at No.4 on the Billboard 200 chart. Their third album, Perfect Symmetry was released in October 2008. The launch featured a series of symmetry-based installations including a 10m long half image of a sleeping woman pasted over 100 cardboard boxes and reflected in 400 mirror tiles on the floor to reveal a full person.

In May 2008, both Hopes and Fears (number 13) and Under the Iron Sea (number 8) were voted by readers of Q magazine as among the best British albums ever, with Keane, The Beatles, Oasis and Radiohead the only artists having two albums in the top 20. Their EP, Night Train, was released in May 2010. Their fourth studio album, Strangeland, was released in May 2012, and again peaked at No.1 on the UK Albums Chart.

Keane are known for using a piano (or a synth) as the lead instrument instead of guitars, differentiating them from most other rock bands. The inclusion of a distorted piano effect in 2006 and various synthesisers were a common feature in their music that back then combined the piano rock sound used during their first album and the more electronic sound which developed on the second and third albums. Since the start of their career, the band have sold over 10 million albums worldwide.

Sunshine


He used to be a lovely boy


Time to leave this town
Now your dreams have all let you down
No one here will miss you now
Time to wakeup and look around

Used to be a lovely boy
Lovely boy
Lovely boy
Used to be a lovely boy

Turn away and turn our heads
Just a hopeless dreamer she said
Eyes of cloud and feet of lead
Find a shore that needs you instead

Used to be a lovely boy
Lovely boy
Lovely boy
Used to be a lovely boy
Time on your hands
World at your feet
No adventure left incomplete

Da da da da da da da da da da da da da

Find a place where you can hide
From the love that holds you inside
Time so unkind
Like an old friend leaves you behind.

Used to be a lovely boy
Lovely boy
Lovely boy
Used to be a lovely boy
Time on your hand

Sonnet 126

Written in 1594, Sonnet 126 is one of 154 sonnets by the English playwright and poet William Shakespeare. It's the final member of the Fair Youth sequence, in which the poet shows how Time and Nature coincide.

Sonnet 126 O thou, my lovely boy, who in thy power

O thou, my lovely boy, who in thy power
Dost hold Time's fickle glass, his sickle, hour;
Who hast by waning grown, and therein show'st
Thy lovers withering as thy sweet self grow'st;
If Nature, sovereign mistress over wrack,
As thou goest onwards, still will pluck thee back,
She keeps thee to this purpose, that her skill
May time disgrace and wretched minutes kill.
Yet fear her, O thou minion of her pleasure!
She may detain, but not still keep, her treasure:
Her audit, though delay'd, answer'd must be,
And her quietus is to render thee. 

Paraphrase: O you, my lovely boy, who hold in your power Time’s hour-glass and his sickle—you who wane as you grow older and in that show your friends withering as you yourself grow up: if Nature, sovereign mistress over chaos, as you go onwards will ever pluck you back, she keeps you to demonstrate her power to hold up time. Yet fear her, you who are Nature’s darling: she may detain her treasure, but not keep it for ever. Her last account, though delayed, must be paid and her discharge is to render you up.

Unforgettable

Natalie Maria Cole (born February 6, 1950) is an American singer, songwriter and performer. The daughter of jazz legend Nat King Cole, Cole rose to musical success in the mid-1970s as a R&B artist with the hits "This Will Be (An Everlasting Love)", "Inseparable" and "Our Love". After a period of failing sales and performances due to a heavy drug addiction, Cole reemerged as a pop artist with the 1987 album, Everlasting, and her cover of Bruce Springsteen's "Pink Cadillac". In the 1990s, she re-recorded standards by her father, resulting in her biggest success, Unforgettable... with Love, which sold over seven million copies and also won Cole numerous Grammy Awards. She has sold over 30 million records worldwide.

I Miss You Like Crazy - Natalie Cole



I Miss You Like Crazy - Other version



Even rainy day is lovely with your memory
God knows I always want you near
Always longing for your sweet kisses
And dreaming of your gentle caress
Remembering the softness of your voice
Rejoicing on the moments shared
You’re so sweet, smart, kind, and gentle
You’re the reason, my heart always smiles

There are always something can not explain, can not make sense ...... sigh

Infinity Poolside Dreams

(1) One&Only Reethi Rah, North Male Atoll, Maldives

Address: K. Medhufinolhu, North Male Atoll, Maldives Islands, Maldives 08440

Set on a private island in the middle of the Indian Ocean, this luxury resort consists of 130 intimate villas scattered across white-sand beaches and lushly landscaped grounds along the 6 kilometer coastline of the Indian Ocean. Every villa at this hotel offers views of the spectacular and breathtaking ocean and has direct access to the lagoon. Guests have a choice of the Beach Villas or Water Villas. Beach Villa is hidden amongst the tropical foliage with private access to the beach and lagoon and Water Villas are located above the lagoons offering guests a dazzling view of the Maldivian sunset with over water sunbeds and a private pool.

Indian Ocean

(2) Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc, Cap d’Antibes, France

Address:  Blvd JF Kennedy, 06601 Antibes, France

It is a resort hotel on the sea in classically styled Napoleon III mansion dating from 1863 in a 25 acre pine wood setting. For more than 140 years, this illustrious hotel—built in 1870 by Hippolyte de Villemessant, founder of the newspaper Le Figaro—has been a legendary playground for international royalty, politicians, artists, movie stars, and the literary elite. It wasn’t until 1914, however, that the property added a saltwater pool, carved out of basalt rock and overlooking the Lérins Islands and the Mediterranean Sea. Surrounded by a massive sundeck and Art Deco–style railings that resemble those on cruise ships, the pool’s saltwater is heated to a balmy 82.5 degrees Fahrenheit.

Mediterranean Sea

(3) Qasr Al Sarab Resort by Anantara, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Address:  Qasr Al Sarab, Abu Dhabi

With the world’s largest desert as your backdrop, legendary adventure whispers across the undulating sands as you unwind in princely Arabian luxury.  Wake up to a sumptuous international breakfast and feel fully revitalised before a day of evocative desert activity.  Trace ancient nomadic footsteps at the most romantic times of day, either by trekking or riding a camel when the first sun rays shed golden light across the dunes, and as the sun sets an unforgettable tapestry. Sports enthusiasts can try their hand at archery, while thrill seekers can traverse the towering crests by 4X4 and travel further afield.Water is a recurring theme throughout this sprawling 206-room desert resort, from the terra-cotta jars outside the entrance (traditionally provided by locals for travelers to quench their thirst) to the tranquil stream running through the arid grounds. Not surprisingly, then, the swirling free-form pool is one of the hotel’s defining features—set among towering palm trees and otherworldly sand dunes, it is a true oasis.

Desert

(4) Ubud Hanging Gardens, Bali, Indonesia

Address: Banjar Susut, Desa Buahan, Payangan, Ubud, Bali, Indonesia

Bali is a small island in Indonesia, a magical place, known worldwide due to its rich culture and mesmerizing landscapes.The Ubud Hanging Gardens Hotel is a man-made attraction. The most striking of the hotel’s design features is a large, multi-leveled infinity pool, with curves that are said to copy the shape and beauty of the hills nearby. Guests can swim at the edge and enjoy peaceful vistas of the ancient Pura Penataran Dalem Segara temple, located on the opposite hillside. Decks adorn the pool, offering visitors a chance to relax in the sun, while contemplating. Taking full advantage of the setting, the resort was built on wooden pillars among the steep rice fields of Ubud. This way, each of the 38 luxury private pool villas is perfectly integrated in this scenic environment.

Perched on a steep embankment next to terraced rice fields that overlook the lush Ayung river gorge, this Orient Express hotel consists of 38 Balinese-style villas that appear to float down the hillside. Just as dramatic is its split-level infinity pool, designed by the French architect Gordon Shaw. Lined with Batu Chandi volcanic stone and consisting of geometric walls of solidified volcanic ash, the striking bi-level pool is suspended over a dense rainforest, with an undulating shape that echoes the surrounding terrain.

Forest

(5) Katikies, Santorini, Greece

Address:  Oia 84702, Greece

Perched on the Caldera cliffs, 300 feet above the azure waters of the Aegean, the Katikies hotel in Oia Santorini provides an experience of unparalleled romance and prestigious luxury. Built in the traditional Cycladic style, with white-clay walls and a maze of staircases, wood bridges, and terraces, this picturesque Greek resort sits atop a cliff overlooking an extinct volcanic caldera. Despite its intimate size, the 27-room boutique property actually boasts two pools—a small cold-water option inside a cave, as well an extraordinary cobalt blue infinity pool featuring sweeping views of the azure waters of the Aegean Sea.

Aegean Sea

When we have time, money, mood, and company ...... someday not in dream :-))))))))))

Phil's Prediction

Groundhog Day is today: February 2. The day each year when we wait for the famous groundhog Punxsutawney Phil to emerge and provide a forecast for the late winter and early spring ahead. If he sees his shadow, we will get six more weeks of winter. If he doesn’t see his shadow, we will get an early spring.

According to groundhog.org, Punxsutawney Phil has seen his shadow 100 out of 116 times. By 1900, the tradition officially began and we’ve been wondering since then if this lovely creature will see his shadow. Last year, Punxsutawney Phil did a horrible job “forecasting” our pattern when he did see his shadow, thus giving us “six more weeks of winter.” In reality, that never occurred as the contiguous United States had its fourth warmest winter on record. In fact, February 2012 provided the contiguous U.S. widespread warmer-than-average temperatures with twenty-seven states in the Northern Plains, Midwest, Southeast and Northeast having winter temperatures ranked among their ten warmest.

Punxsutawney Phil has had a 39% accuracy rate regarding his early spring/late winter forecasts. Phil has seen his shadow nearly 87% of the time, so the odds are for six more weeks of winter. However, cloudy and snowy conditions will occur on this day, which could increase the chances for Phil to not see his shadow and bring us an early spring.

Today, Phil told us there are another 6 weeks of winter before spring comes.

The Movie:

Groundhog Day is a 1993 American comedy film directed by Harold Ramis, starring Bill Murray, Andie MacDowell and Chris Elliott. It was written by Ramis and Danny Rubin, based on a story by Rubin.

Murray plays Phil Connors, an arrogant and egocentric Pittsburgh TV weatherman who, during a hated assignment covering the annual Groundhog Day event in Punxsutawney, finds himself in a time loop, repeating the same day again and again. After indulging in hedonism and numerous suicide attempts, he begins to re-examine his life and priorities.

In 2006, the film was added to the United States National Film Registry as being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

It is a very nice movie to watch. Do we want to re-live the same day to fix regret moment or happily welcome another new day with so many unknowns? IF, you can choose, do you want another chance to re-live your childhood, or high school, or college, or your early work life, or marriage? The movie triggers much imagination for us. Just dream it :-)))

Plot:

Self-centered TV meteorologist Phil Connors (Murray), news producer Rita (MacDowell), and cameraman Larry (Elliott), of Pittsburgh television station WPBH-TV9, travel to Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania on February 1st. Their assignment is to cover the annual Groundhog Day festivities on February 2nd. Phil, who doesn't like the assignment or the town, grudgingly gives his report on the festivities. He then gets his team on the road back to Pittsburgh, but a blizzard shuts down all travel. The team is forced to return to town and stay another night.

Phil wakes up to find that he is reliving February 2. The day plays out exactly as it did before, with no one else aware of the time loop, and only Phil aware of past events. At first he is confused, but, when the phenomenon continues on subsequent days, he decides to take advantage of the situation with no fear of long-term consequences: he learns secrets from the town's residents, seduces women, steals money, drives recklessly, and gets thrown in jail. However, his attempts to get closer to Rita repeatedly fail.

Eventually, Phil becomes despondent and tries more and more drastically to end the time loop; he gives ridiculous and offensive reports on the festival, abuses residents, eventually kidnaps Punxsutawney Phil and, after a police chase, drives off a high overlook into a quarry, evidently killing both himself and the groundhog. However, Phil wakes up and finds that nothing has changed; further attempts at suicide are just as fruitless, as he continues to find himself waking at six o'clock on the morning of February 2 with the clock radio on his nightstand playing "I Got You Babe" by Sonny & Cher.

When Phil explains the situation to Rita, she suggests that he should take advantage of it to improve himself. Inspired, Phil endeavors to try to learn more about Rita, building upon his knowledge of her and the town each day. He begins to use his by-now vast experience of the day to help as many people around town as possible. He uses the time to learn, among other things, to play piano, sculpt ice, and speak French.

Eventually, Phil is able to befriend almost everyone he meets during the day, using his experiences to save lives, help townspeople, and to get closer to Rita. He crafts a report on the Groundhog Day celebration so eloquent that all the other stations turn their microphones to him. After the town's evening dance on February 2nd, Rita "buys" Phil at at the event's auction. They retire together to Phil's room. He wakes the next morning and finds the time loop is broken; it is now February 3 and Rita is still with him. After going outside, Phil talks about living in Punxsutawney with Rita.