The Fighter

Movie Review

The Fighter

January 30, 2011

I had high expectations heading to this movie. Not only is it a rare occasion that I get to a movie but I had heard nothing but positive things about this flick. Having Mark Wahlberg as one of the lead actors didn’ t hurt either! I have always been a fan of the Wahlbergs’ acting and had heard his acting in this movie was stellar. The movie ended up exceeding all of my expectations. It was full of drama, action and a little bit of romance.

The Fighter, starring Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale, is based on the true life story of Irish Micky Ward and his step brother, Dick Ecklund.  The movie is set in Lowell, MA and takes on a dramatic flair of Mickey Ward’s rise to fame leading up to his historic battles with Arturo Gotti. 

Mark Wahlberg does a phenomenal job at creating and maintaining the authenticity of the story.  He trained as a professional boxer for a significant amount of time even before the movie began.  The true to life boxing scenes added to the dramatic flair of the fighter.  This movie certainly wasn’t just another recreation with ho hum fight scenes and mediocre cinematography.  The director, David Russell did an excellent job of recreating the images and footage of the area while keeping true to telling a story.
Christian Bale plays the role of Dick Ecklund.  A one time professional boxer whose claim to fame was the “knockdown” of Sugar Ray Leonard.  Sadly, Dickie’s fame and fortune was destroyed by his crack addiction.  One of the subplots of the movie, was again, based on real time documentary, CRACK IN AMERICA, where a camera crew follows Dick around on his battle with his addiction.

With all the nostalgia and real life drama, this film captures the true essence and similarities of a boxer struggling to make it in this tough industry and comparatively the battle of crack addiction.

The Fighter takes on this challenge and rises to the top of the “sports movies” crop.  Its real life feel, its no holds barred fight scenes, and the fantastic interpretation of Dick Ecklund by Christian Bale had people cheering for Micky Ward as he overcomes his demons, professionally, personally and makes it as a professional boxer. With very few drawbacks, the movie is definitely worth seeing.  The only advice I would give is do a quick research on both Mickey Ward and Dick Ecklund to appreciate the authenticity of this movie.

Evolution of Saturday Nights

The Evolution of My Saturday Nights

25 years ago

Walked laps at Halifax Citadels hockey game

What am I going to wear under my hockey jersey?

Home in bed by 10 p.m.

Average sleep? 11 hours

20 years ago

Hanging out at a friend’s house, performing a lip sync/talent show for each other

Are my bangs curled perfectly?

Picked up by mom between 10 and 11 p.m.

Average sleep? 9 hours

15 years ago

Getting ready to head out at 9 p.m. Hop in car full of friends to begin our tour of the city

Can we find someone we know we could follow? Will the server at McDonald's give us extra caramel sauce on our sundae?

Finish the night with one more lap of McDonald’s and then home in bed by midnight

Average sleep? 10-11 hours

10 years ago

Heading out to dinner with fiancée

Can I find some new clothes and shoes for the wedding?

Catch a late movie

Head home to eat a late night snack, watch some tv and drift off to sleep around 1 a.m.

Average sleep? 10 hours

5 years ago

Out for an after-supper walk with our first born

Is there spit-up on my jacket?

Eat a late night supper

Put baby to bed and watch a movie

Bed by 11 p.m.

Average sleep? 3 to 4 hours before first wake up

3 years ago

Share the kids’ supper Kraft Dinner or Alphaghet are about all they’ll eat at this point

Is there any wonder why I am always hungry at bedtime?

Bath kids…each put a kid to bed

Lie on coach for 15 minutes then off to bed. The first wake-up will be within the hour. Bed by 10 p.m.

Average sleep? 4 to 5 hours

Today

Feed the kids three different meals even though we know that is the wrong thing to do

Clean up supper, sweep, fold and put away laundry, play with kids, bath kids, have them all asleep by 8:30 p.m.

Sit on the coach to eat ice cream and head to bed by 9:30 p.m.

Ask my husband “Did we eat supper tonight?” “No” “Better eat another bowl of ice cream then.”

Asleep by 10 p.m. with a child in our bed….preparing for next wake-up. Bathroom run before midnight. Peeing-the-bed incident around 2 a.m. Screaming baby around 3 a.m. “I need a drink” call around 4:30 a.m. Night terrors around 5:30 a.m. May as well just get up.

Average consistent sleep? an hour here and there

Letter to the Editor

A letter to the Editor

To All Those Snow Day Haters,

After another snow day in Halifax I am writing to express my frustration with all those parents who choose to complain when schools are closed. I would like to respond to a few of the common quotes I hear from parents:

 “Why do teachers think they can’t go to work in the snow when everyone else has to?”  Do these people think we are the ones that actually decide when there is a snow day?

“It didn’t even snow, what were they thinking?” Unless these people are meteorologists, and this probably wouldn’t even matter, do they really think that anyone can be 100% certain of what the weather will be on any particular day? I know being a mother I would prefer they err on the safe side when it comes to the safety of my children.  What would these people say if, god forbid, they didn’t close the schools and there ended up being an accident?

“What do they expect me to do with my children? I have to work you know!” These people obviously think that we are their kids’ babysitter. Well, we aren’t. Our job is to educate your child, not babysit them so you can live your life of luxury.

“Oh to be a teacher. There’s no other job that gets so much time off!” Then why weren’t you a teacher? Did you decide that you didn’t want to spend oodles of extra hours of your own time preparing lessons for which you don’t get any paid time for? Or did you decide that stretching your patience to the extreme limits on a daily basis wasn’t in your cards? Or did you decide that playing the role of counsellor, teacher and parent wasn’t an easy task after all?

If you are one of these parents who chooses to complain about snow days perhaps you should take a look at your parenting. As a parent and a teacher I look at snow days as a chance to spend extra time with my children that I wouldn’t normally get. Yes, I here you all now screaming at the fact that it is easy for me to say being a teacher, but I truly believe that any extra opportunities you have to spend with your children is a blessing. There are few opportunities for your children to be home from school so take advantage of it when they are. And if you can’t get the day off don’t complain, because you could have chosen to be a teacher if you wanted to. You just chose not to.

Mommy Rant

My Mommy Rant

“Oh he is so adorable”

“Oh he is so cute”

“Oh he is so tiny”

“Oh my, how old is he? What, no way. He can’t be five? Are you kidding me?”

“He doesn’t go to this school does he? What?! He can’t be in Grade Primary? Are you serious? I mean he is just so cute!”

“I can’t believe that you are that little out there on the ice playing hockey!”

These are just a few of the quotes my son and I hear everyday. Although I love to hear how cute and adorable he is (because he really is!), it has grown quite tiresome over the years. Especially because the comments are usually preceded or followed up by “he is sooo tiny!”. Although I am confident the majority of people mean well when they express their feelings about his size, sometimes I feel like biting their heads off. Logan has a very fierce stare he gives anybody who mentions he is cute or tiny. He told me the other night he hates going around all the girls because they always say he is so “adorable”. I guess, at the age of 5, it is already too cool to be adorable.

Perhaps I just wish people could come up with a better way of presenting their feelings. Like the other day when the woman walked onto the school grounds and announced to all those around her and beyond, “Fort Sackville? He goes to Fort Sackville? Are you kidding?” Logan slowly crept behind me and said he wanted to go home. But oh no this wasn’t enough of a hint to get her to shut her mouth, she kept going on and on. In fact there was a teacher in the proximity and she went over to her to confirm with her that Logan was indeed a student at the school. She must have seen the glare in my eyes as she came back over to me and said “I mean he is just so cute”. I responded by saying “he doesn’t like being called cute”. We turned and walked away and I once again began my speech to Logan that being called cute is a compliment.

Having been through numerous invasive tests to confirm that Logan is in fact just small, and he doesn’t have anything medically wrong, has made me even angrier when people comment on his size. I often ask myself what if there was something medically wrong that caused him to be small? How would that make us feel?

As I write this I am feeling much better about the whole situation and have decided to try to put myself in other people’s shoes. If I saw Logan entering the hockey rink, soccer field, or school ground I would probably join everyone else and say “Oh my gosh he is just so cute!”

I will always remember the neonatologist at the IWK coming in to see us after Logan was born and saying “Well, you can’t expect elephants from mice!” I guess he thinks my husband and I are small too. He didn’t make any mention of us being cute though….

The Yellow Dandelion

The Yellow Dandelion

Standing on its own, taller than the rest

It’s safe from predators

Not a spot one would seek out to mow or fertilize

Perhaps it chose this spot for a reason

Bright yellow, with a hint of green

Where the skinny, long green stem pokes through it’s center

Like the stick through a lollipop awaiting a child’s first lick

Dark orange towards the center

Where the petals hug each other tightly

Before they branch out and separate just a bit

Forming their ever so jagged edges like the bottom of a raggedy pair of jeans

Dancing a little with the movement of air

It’s not a windy day, but it still chooses to dance wildly

Would it survive a hurricane?

Standing on it’s own, taller than the rest

Saddened that it’s hated so much

Trying to show it’s beauty

Within it’s sunshine yellow dandelion existence

The Store

The Store

We are heading up from swimming at the beach.  I am soaked and full of sand.  “Anyone want to go to the store?” I ask my group of friends, knowing they will all say yes.  We all agree to meet at my cottage in two minutes.  Next, I ask the all important question, “Are you showering?” I always have to figure out when my shower will fit into my day.  My friends, who aren’t quite as into their showers, quickly respond that they will just pull on their shorts and shower later. I agree, deciding that there might be another beach trip in the plans later on in the day.  I run inside and throw on my favorite, ever so cool, tie dye blue Chip n Pepper tshirt and my black tie dye shorts.  I panic for a minute thinking ‘Did I just wear this yesterday? No, no, I am good I wore my purple tank top’ There is no way I would be caught wearing the same outfit twice in one week…especially my tie dye outfit at that. I can feel my shorts already getting wet as I run out the back door. “Perhaps I should have taken the extra second to take off my bathing suit”, I mumble to myself.  I grab my change along the way, which mainly consists of pennies.  I check with the others and they all seem to have around the same amount of money to spend on our candy voyage.  “What are you getting?” I ask the others as if it’s the only thing that matters at this moment.  I of course have already decided what I want today.

We all head on our way up the rocky path to the store.  Although it is only a few feet away this walk can present much opportunity for dialogue amongst a group of young kids. We dodge mud puddles and kick rocks as we mosey along our way.  We look to the left of the store to see if Mac, the store owner, is in the store or in his trailer.  You see, us kids are really the ones that keep this little candy shack open.  Without us, the store would definitely go bottoms up.  “We see Mac peeking out the window and beginning to head over to join us at the store.  As we open the door we hear the ever so familiar “CREEEAAAKK” of the old rickety door and step over the old rotten boards and into the dark store.  Mac joins us shortly after.  He never seems worried about us being along in his store. We are regulars here to say the least. It’s amazing the trust you can build up with someone when you see them numerous times everyday! The store is very tiny and so old and tilted that it feels as if it could topple over at any moment.  I am actually surprised that my mom hasn’t made it one of the forbidden buildings in which I am allowed to enter.  There are a few of those at cottage land.  To our parents the store is dirty, dingy and should be closed.  To us kids, the store is magical and a huge part of who we are.  To our parents, the store is one big expired best before date.  To us kids, the store is filled with everything you would ever want.  We have all experienced a time, although far and few in between, where our moms have run out of something and we were ever so happy to hop up to the store and find it there!!!! We loved coming home and reminding our parents of the fact that we would never be able to survive without the store!

The penny candy is lined up behind the cash and counter.  We all line up and wait our turn. “What can I get you?” grumbles Mac.  Although he is a dirty, grumpy looking man we don’t seem to mind or judge him at all.  Besides he is our candy provider and that is all that matters! “106 gummi bears please” I confidently respond.  Mac picks through the gummi bears, trying to find all the red ones he can as he knows red is my color of choice.  He dumps them into the little mini brown paper bag one by one.  I hand over my money, which mainly consists of pennies, some full of mud from being dropped along the way or from being found in a game of finders keepers.  It really is amazing how much money you can find in the puddles on the way up to the store.  I wait by the door as the others place their orders, searching out all the red bears first.  I listen as the others order and become a little jealous at the fact that they are ordering a variety of things, green Swedish fish, Swedish berries, “Shoot, I’ll get some of those at our next trip up after supper”.  We have all ordered and begin to head back down the road to our cottages.  We sit on our picnic table, eat our candy from our brown bags and contemplate what to do next.  “How ‘bout another swim?” I suggest as I wolf down the last of my gummies.  And we all rush inside to do it all over again. 

I Am From

I am From…

Summers at the cottage,

Playing from dusk till dawn,

Care free days at the beach,

Never noticing the rain

Playing soccer on teams

Built of relationships that have stood the test of time

Learning life skills I never knew existed

Only worried about the next half

Duc d’Annville Elementary

Awaiting the special days

Where mom or dad would pick us up

Driving straight to McDonald’s for a cheeseburger and fries

Playing outside till exhaustion set in

Four Square and Ghost in the Graveyard

Board Games galore

Best Friends Forever

Slouch socks of all colors

Matching shirts and scrunchies

Leg warmers and tie dye

Biggest worry was not to wear the same thing twice in one week

The Bill Lynch Fairs

Cotton Candy and rides

Candy Apples and games

Never caring about the dirt or strangers all around

Yearbooks and pictures

How many notes did you get?

Late Drive by’s to McDonalds

Where did everyone go?