UPDATE

It is January 20th and I have so far managed to keep my New Year’s Resolution of de-cluttering and staying that way. It is a long journey, my house is very cluttered. I am almost done with my bedroom, only a few more areas to attack such as my closet and drawers. The next room I plan to tackle is the Living-room. This room needs an overhaul, so that will take a month at least.

I did manage to clean the coat closet in my foyer. That was serving as a ‘junk’ closet. The ‘junk’ that was in there was old electronic devices (mostly). TVs, VCRs…etc. I don’t know why I was holding on to them, I suppose I was hoping I could fix them one day, but much of that stuff is over 5 years old.

I also am planning to thin out my book shelf. Yes guys, I will be giving away my books. I was thinking of sending the paperbacks that are in good condition to the prison libraries, and the hardcovers I’ll send to Catholic Charities, maybe they can sell them.

I will soon post pictures of my newly de-cluttered spaces.

I am behind on my reading, I’m only on my 2nd book of the month. “The Given Day” by Dennis Lehane, which I’ve been reading since December. I’m over the ½ way mark, and hope to finish it by next week, because I have another book waiting. “The Warmth of Many Suns”, is a non-fiction book about the African-American migration from the South to the North during the early part of the 20th century. I’m interested in this subject because my grandmother migrated. This book highlights 3 different people and their experiences. After that, I’ll probably read “The Help” as a movie is due out in August, and I also want to read “The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother” by Amy Chua. I got a lot of high hopes. I am concentrating on reading many of my shelved books. During my cleaning I found some books that I forgot I bought. Other than stuff on my Kindle (that I might purchase) I will not buy any more physical books until I read some that I have. How am I supposed to de-clutter?

Movie watching as only slowed a bit. This week and next I’m working long hours, but I’ve caught some stuff prior to this week. I saw “The Green Hornet” what a great film. I loved Jay Chuo, who played Kato. I have to say, he blew Seth Rogen out of the water. It was campy, funny, action packed. I highly recommend it. Even if you are not familiar with “The Green Hornet” you will love this movie. There is no pre-existing knowledge required.

I also saw “Season of the Witch”. The critics panned it, but I thought it was OK. I’ll give it 3 out of 5 stars. It took an interesting turn, and I like period pieces. The acting was pretty good.

On DVD I got to see:

The Town – What is all the hype about? It was an OK movie, nothing to spectacular or extraordinary. Acting was good, but it was kind of slow for a movie about bank robbers. 3 out of 5.

Winter’s Bone – This one was up for a Globe as well. OMG…boring! It is labeled as a film noir, but it was a film snore. 2 out of 5

Toy Story 3 – I was going to pass this one up, but my son was home for Christmas break and he said he’d like to see the 3rd installment, as he remembers 1 and 2 and really liked them. So for my 19 year old son, I rented it. It was pretty good as far as sequels go. I can see why this one was up for an award. 4.5 out of 5

Case 39 – My friend Patrick said the little girl in this movie reminded him of my daughter. He said she looked like her, I didn’t see the resemblance. However, I did like this movie. This is what a Thriller should be; enough suspense to keep you interested, but not cheesy or gory. 4 out of 5.

The Kids are All Right – Another Globe nominated movie. I think Annette Bening won for Best Actress. It also stared Julianne More and Mark Ruffalo (yum). Good drama, good pace, good story, good nude shots of Mark…ahem. 4 out of 5.

City Island - Since I'm from The Bronx, this was a must watch, and it was up for a Globe as well. Starring Andy Garcia as a married working man who lives with his wife and kids in City Island in the Bronx. Typical dysfunctional family but with funny and touching moments. Andy works in at a prison and he discovers his son is an inmate. The son does not know that this guard is his father. Vince (Andy's character) takes his son home on a month trial probabtion. It all takes off from there. 4 out of 5.

You Don’t Know Jack – One of the TV movies up for a Globe. About Dr. Jack Kevorkian’s activities during the 80s. If you don’t remember him, he was also known as Dr. Death. Al Paccino played him exceptionally well. 4 out of 5.

Temple Grandin – Another bio-pic that was a TV movie and it was also up for a Globe. About autistic woman Temple Grandin who single handedly created a humane system that would allow cattle ranchers to safely process the cattle without loss of cows and money. The first part of the movie dealt with how Temple grew up and went to college. The second half deals with the way she was treated as an autistic adult. Inspirational movie. 4 out of 5.