The clock is ticking, only so much time is left

Some things to think about as the new year approaches:

“An optimist stays up until midnight to see the new year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves." - Bill Vaughn

"We will open the book. It's pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day" - Edith Lovejoy Pierce

“The best thing about the future is that it comes only one day at a time." - Abraham Lincoln."

“The best thing to give to your enemy is forgiveness;
to an opponent, tolerance;
to a friend, your heart;
to your child, a good example;
to a father, deference;
to your mother, conduct that will make her proud of you;
to yourself, respect;
to all men, charity.” - Benjamin Franklin

'Last Chance' Movies

For the new year, millions of people around the world take the uncertainty of the future into their hands and make resolutions to change their behaviors, routines, and overall, lives. And what better way to make an attempt at switching everything up than getting inspired by movie characters who turned their lives around. Sure, it took some angels, alternative universes and some damn good script writers, but they did it! And, there's no reason why we can't too, but with the power of our own choices and attitudes. Hope you enjoy this list of miserly grouches who eventually transformed into do-gooder, heppy-peppy people.

From Charles Dicken's classic tale A Christmas Carol comes the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, a mean selfish old miser who is visited by three ghosts on Christmas Eve and whisked through his grouchy past, present, and future. Countless versions of this story have been through the years, so you might be surprised to know that the animated tv special Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol has been rated by fans and critics alike to be the most-well liked adaptation. My favorite version happens to be the 1970 film starring, Albert Finney & Guinness, titled Scrooge. This British film version took the long dramatic tale of Scrooge and mixed in several song n dance numbers, which definitely ups the ante for the overall mood of the movie. The pivotal musical sequence to me happens to be "I Like Life" while some peeps I know much prefer "I Hate People". Which one will be your favorite? Watch and decide!

Iconic filmmaker Frank Capra it's hit out of the park with the classic Christmas movie It's a Wonderful Life. George Bailey (James Stewart) is strapped to his seemingly ordinary and uneventful life in Bedford Falls. Caught at the end of his rope after years of obligatory service to his father's savings and loans company, Bailey wishes to have never lived and gets the opportunity to see what life would have been without him with the help of his guardian angel, Clarence. Because of it's distinct message that one person makes a difference in everyone's life, (plus the top-notch acting and directing), this is without a doubt my favorite Christmas movie.

The Family Man, with Nicolas Cage and Tea Leoni, has been called by many a mix between A Christmas Carol and It's A Wonderful Life. Jack Campbell (Cage) is a very successful single man of Wall Street who wakes up in the alternate universe of suburbia New Jersey with a wife (Leoni) and kids after a chance encounter with a magical stranger (Tim Meadow). Campbell's new lot in life throws some unsuspecting questions on what it means to truly seek success in life. While Nicolas Cage is mostly known to for his B-action movies as of late, one would be surprised at what a nice performance he can bring in as a conflicted family man.

My Man Godfrey, headlining William Powell and Carole Lombard, is a classic film of a different 'last chance' nature. In the depths of the Great Depression, a 'forgotten man', Godfrey Smith is discovered by two spoiled socialites during a peculiar scavenger hunt. In effort to help one of the nicer sisters, Irene Bullock, Godfrey agrees to join the scatterbrained blond to the morally corrupt party game, where he is hired as a butler for the eccentric wealthy family. What ensues is riotous comedy and romance that cannot be missed!

Another comedy with a big message is Groundhog Day with Bill Murray and Andie McDowell. The former SNL member plays an egocentric TV weatherman, Phil Connors, during a hated assignment covering the annual Groundhog Day event, finds himself reliving the same day over and over again. Following an indulgent string of hedonistic pursuits, Connors begins to examine his life and priorities, and uses the repetitive daily events for good rather than evil.

And, finally, in taking a step towards romance dramas, we have Last Chance Harvey, starring Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson. The main character, Harvey Shine, is an disenchanted American jingle-writer, who travels to London for his estranged daughter's wedding and finds himself with only last chances to keep his job and strengthen the relationship with his daughter. During his weekend trip across the pond, Shine takes a leap at love with a single, equally disenchanted, Londoner Kate Walsh, an airport clerk, who he did not treat very nicely during their first encounter. Last Chance Harvey is a charming movie about two imperfect middle-age people who fall in love under somewhat awkward circumstances. It'll leave ya feeling content and delighted afterwards, as it always leaves me feeling that way!

Word.

I have seen a lot of exploratory lists floating around the web in celebration of the end of the first decade of the 21st century. While most of the lists I have seen were on the topics of pop culture news, I began to wonder about our grammar and English skills and how it has evolved through texting, pop culture, politics, and other areas of interest. So I called for my screenager skills to come forward and did a little cyberslacking to see which words and terms have entered our vernacular since the new millenium.

adultescent: a middle-aged person whose clothes, interests, and activities are typically associated with youth culture. This is a mix of ADULT + ADOLESCENT

muggle: n. a person without magical powers

word: 1. interj. Correct.; Right. : I hear you, man. Word.

bromance: n. A non-sexual relationship between two men that are unusually close.

Tweenager: a pre-teenager, generally aged 10-12; also, a youth aged 10-14; also called tween, tweenie

shopaholic: n., a person who can't stop spending money at the mall

fandom: n., fans collectively, as of a motion-picture star or a professional game or sport.

The Uni-Name:
The trend behind the combining and shortening of celebrity couples names arrived in the early 2000s when Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez began dating. Amid a tyraid of huge media scrutiny "Bennifer" was coined. The " " became such an icon in pop culture that Affleck poked fun at it on NBC's Saturday Night Live. While Vinnifer (Vince Vaughn + Jennifer Aniston), (Britney Spears + Kevin Federline), and , came and went because of the lack of staying power and unity of the couples, names such as TomKat (Tom Cruise + Katie Holmes), Brangelina (Brad Pitt + Angelina Jolie), and

blog: n. A weblog., intr.v. blogged, blog·ging, blogs, To write entries in, add material to, or maintain a weblog.

google: v., to search for information about a specific person through the Google search engine

text: tr.v. text·ed, text·ing, texts,
1. To send a text message to
2. To communicate by text message

Threequel: n. a second sequel; a third installment of a book, movie, event, or other series

bouncebackability: n. the ability to recover from near-defeat in a competition; the ability to recover from a setback

fan fiction: n., a fictional account written by a fan of a show, movie, book, or video game to explore themes and ideas that will not or cannot be explored via the originating medium; also called fanfic

unfriend: .to remove someone as a friend on a social networking site such as Facebook.

staycation: n., a vacation spent at home or nearby

lol: laugh out loud; laughing out loud

Axis of Evil: Former President George W. Bush coined this term in 2002 by singling out North Korea, Iran, & Iraq when entering the War in Iraq.

Ti·Vo: transitive verb, to record (as a television program) with a DVR

frenemy: n., one who pretends to be a friend but is actually an enemy

preggers: adj., pregnant; also called preggo

Other words commonly used throughout the 2000s: carbon footprint, political correctness, global warming, climate change, sex-up, faultless, docusoap, blamestorming, fugly, metrosexual, newbie, legit.

ALSO SEE:
10 Words to Define the 21st Century by That's So Fetch
Unwords.com
Cool is the standard for slang by CBSnews