Checking out with an inspiring book or a funny movie is like Medicine for the Soul. I love the actor Will Ferrell in the movie Elf because he takes me away. I temporarily escaped with this funny, gregarious and childlike actor just by popping on Netflix. Movies are good for this—especially good ones—and we all know the really good ones are not that common. I don’t want to see real-life family dramas or Rom-Coms. That’s just my taste. You can give me a James Bond film or silly comedy any day. 🙂
Last weekend I saw two movies and both were none of the above. They were The Man Who Knew Infinity about the famous mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan (Dev Patel) and the documentary Hockney, about David Hockney, a charismatic personality and influential English painter, printmaker and photographer most known for his paintings of Los Angeles swimming pools. These movies were both playing at the local college campus theater. Two movies that couldn’t go better with an educational institute. I love the campus energy of the Living Room Theatre at FAU. It’s comfy and not at all pretentious. Both movies were touching and brilliant. Escape for a bit and take a look when you get a chance!
I also spent the weekend reading two books that were genius, touching, and uplifting. The books were The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho and Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse. I loved them so that they gave me goose bumps! I shared them with a few special people who I knew would agree. My son John (who I told about the Alchemist) said, “um, Mom… you gave that to me as a gift… remember?” So obviously it was on my radar, but I hadn’t jumped in. However once I did, I couldn’t stop reading! I think it’s no accident that I read these at the same time. They’re both full of gorgeous poetic writing that makes you think about your life’s path and all of its beauty.