*ddileo

Boston, a good day for the soul

Exploring cities has always been interesting to me and while admittedly, i’m more the quiet type of walking and observing fame, i find my thoughts and words brimming over the top to recap such a great day. From the New England Aquarium all the way to the depths of the T, me and my family had a special day in Boston.

The history that Boston has spawned is immense, vast and simply remarkable. The minute you begin to grasp just how much content has been born there is the minute you feel overwhelmed to learn every last drop of it. As a native new englander, i’ve been to Boston many times and while my appreciation increases with each visit, it never fails to amaze me how much i actually don’t know about the city. The conversion of the Liberty Hotel from a jailhouse to 5 star suites, the manipulating maneuvers of the Charles River due to rain in the forecasts and Ben Franklin’s favorite park area are just a few small examples of fascinating facts that would be passed by on any other day.

First stop was the New England Aquarium. A great way to start the day for sure. Construction was going on throughout the building and while some people were clearly taken back by the visuals of the work, we simply swayed around it and enjoyed the wet world of fish. The highlight was undoubtly touching starfish and crabs. In a weird moment of me feeling proud, my son had no fears to touch these fish. My only thought was thinking of myself 20 years ago and how the idea of touching crabs (or anything under the sea for that matter) was a strict no go. Great job Liam, another area you’ve surpassed daddy. When walking became Liam’s main attraction instead of sea lions and sting rays, we knew it was probably time to go. Exit aquarium.

Enter Quincy Market. A nice enough place to shop, a better venue to eat. While the food isn’t the best Boston has to offer, you get a good sense of bostonian grub and a good variety to choose from at that. Bacon wrapped chicken it was and while it was good, the clear winner of this trip was a sugar cookie the size of a frisbee. Not kidding. An added bonus of spending time at Faneuil Hall is to simply drop in on a strangers convos and experience a bahston accent first hand.

Duck tours sound corny. If you have ever seen one, you would agree they look it too. Added to that fact that forced “quacks” will inevitably be echoing in your ears for hours to come. With that said, anytime a car drives into a river and stays a float wins as default as the coolest thing in the world. My son was asleep for most of the trip but me and Linds took it all in. Our tour guide, MC History (not joking) was super informative and as we learned, very passionate about Boston and it’s history. I could tell Linds was really appreciating the history of Boston and how could you not. It’s like the romance section of America’s video store. With one final quack the duck ride was over, as was Liam’s Nap.

It was great to see my son(2 years young) walk around Boston freely. Sure there were times when hands were held, but for the most part, he was free to roam (under strict supervision of course :) ) This means significantly more, considering the cowardly acts that occurred on 04/15/2013. My wife Linds made a statement in the neighborhood of “America’s greatness rests in it’s strength.” I couldn’t help but agree. Say what you will, but there was something empowering about walking in that very location where those bombs went off and seeing people observing, respecting yet continuing. Continuing on, visitors and locals alike. I’ll be the first to admit America has more than it’s share of problem, but frankly, strength of the common people isn’t one of them. Visiting Boylston St. was one of those moments in life where time stood still. All of life’s worries and issues seemingly were small standing on that battle ground. Priorities took the forefront and you measure up whats really important and more importantly what’s not.

A word on Visuals. The unison of old and new is one aspect of Boston that has routinely stuck out at me. I don’t personally feel that Boston is an esthetically pleasing portrait to view in a whole, but in many ways it’s the polar opposite of the “painting effect” put in practice. The closer you look into Boston the more appealing things become. The details shine. The buildings that have been thoughtfully and carefully added on to preserve the original integrity yet adding a glimpse of contemporary flair. The perfectly kept cobblestone roadways that seamlessly blends into the main roads of Boston. Keep in mind, all this attention to detail can be lost with a simple pass by, but the observant eye is king in Boston. Moreover, Boston deserves the observant eye.

With the help of warm sunshine and good directions, we had a fantastic time. I live a very busy life and this retreat reminded me just how important it is to take time off. From your job yes, but from your everyday thoughts. It was refreshing to be on streets i’ve never walked before. It was exhilarating to be a part of history by simply engaging with it. It was captivating and humbling to learn facts i wouldn’t push myself to learn otherwise. Most importantly and paramount, it was joy unspeakable to experience this great day of learning and laughing with great people in my life. I recommend such a day. Good medicine for the mind. Even better for the soul.

Life

opening credits

Excuse me while i shake off the jitters. This first entry of what i hope to be many entries is surprisingly, a call to arms for my nerves. It’s late, and a big “thank you” to my fantastic wife Linds is in order. She helped me set up the “theme” to this site and as minimal as it looks, there was nothing minimal about creating it.

The truth of the matter is, i don’t know how often i will post. To be honest though, the decision to create this site was a big enough one that the frequency of my activity is irrelevant to me. I wrote a bunch during my childhood for various reasons and while i haven’t as of late, the urge of it has never left. I’m hoping this site allows me a window to people and visa versa, but more importantly, a journal if you will. Not in a traditional sense, but maybe in the likes of a scrapbook. A collection of the times per se.

Other people have inspired me to do this blog. I’m a tech junkie, so when introduced to RSS feeds years and years ago, i was hooked on the idea. Blogs only started hitting major popularity scales within the recent years. While my RSS subscriptions slowly transitioned from news sites to people’s personal blogs, my interest was piqued. I saw a fascinating similarity to one of my other passions: Film. What makes a great film? Personal application and intimacy i say. I started to see blogs as no different. Sure some blogs have different agendas, but ultimately, all the same goal. A personal connection is met and a journey begins. So why not me? Why not now?

I’m still not entirely sure of the answers to those questions or for that matter the questions alone. Maybe in time, those answers will come to fruition. Maybe in more time, those questions won’t be accurate. I know this though, i will try my very best to write honestly and accurately about things i love and people who i deeply care about and inspire me, which are usually one in the same.

Like a film, this would be considered the score over the opening credits. The mood sweeping through that dark screen. Your not sure entirely what to expect, but you have hints, a considerable small gist of the story which is to come. You sit in anticipation, and ultimately, wait patiently for the first frame of the film to shower over you.

In a statement of complete transparency, i’m in that crowd with you. In the dark theater grasping at what this film might bring. Because, while the themes and emotions of the music are there, the story is still very much unknown.

How’s that for personal application :)

Movies

Movie Review: Interstellar

When Christopher Nolan makes a movie I take notice with extreme interest. It doesn’t matter the premise, synopsis or what actors are involved. His filmography speaks for itself: Memento, The Prestige, The Dark Knight Trilogy, Inception. I really could go on but there’s no need to do. Interstellar marks Nolan’s most ambitious film to date and not only does it push Nolan’s filmmaking abilities technically, it also solidifies the fact that Christopher Nolan is a great filmmaker, but he slowly but surely is joining a small but special list of filmmakers in the “Auteur” category. A group that names include Stanley Kubrick, Alfred Hitchcock and Frederico Fellini.

Interstellar is as follows: With our time on Earth coming to an end, a team of explorers undertakes the most important mission in human history; traveling beyond this galaxy to discover whether mankind has a future among the stars.

Interstellar is not only the best movie I’ve seen all year, quite possibly it’s the best movie I’ve seen in the past five years. There’s something to be said for a movie that sets out to be something grand in size and completely succeeds. I don’t envy Christopher Nolan or his brother Jonathan for having to write this script or to pull off this gigantic idea, but we all will sure enjoy the results. They reach for something huge here and while the ending may leave a little to be desired in it’s complexity it doesn’t take away from the fantastic journey you will take if you board this ship.

The movie’s biggest strength without question is Christopher Nolan. You can make a very real argument that Christopher Nolan is the best working director in the movie business right now. There’s no one who makes a big movie feel so small and intimate. He has an unbelievable way of fitting these really sweet, smaller sized scenes into a very large movie. Take Interstellar for example: the movie is quite possibly the largest scale movie of all time due to where it takes us logistically in the universe. The best scene in the movie, however, comes from inside a bedroom on a farm between Mathew McConaughey and his daughter with probably about five pages of dialogue. Firstly you don’t see a movie with five pages of dialogue in one scene anymore, secondly Christopher Nolan tailors this seemlessly into a huge movie.

I don’t think it’s a stretch to say Interstellar deserves multiple viewings. It’s a highly complex film that demands every second of your attention and quite frankly it deserves every second of it. It’s very rare in Hollywood nowadays we see a team of Jonathan and Christopher Nolan work together to create something so seamless and so complicated yet complete and effective. Interstellar unbelievably pulls off with great achievement a fantastic movie experience, you will laugh you’ll cry and most importantly you will interact emotionally. The movie isn’t so big it leaves you. It constantly holds your hand.

THE VERDICT
Please go see interstellar, I’m begging you as a life long film fan. This is a special movie that will be talked about for a long time. I intentionally left out the words “2001 Space Odyssey” for comparisons but the fact of bringing it up isn’t a crime in the least bit, in fact I believe if Stanley Kubrick was living today he would tell you this is closest we’ve come to a 2001 Space Odyssey experience.

What makes Interstellar one of the best, most enthralling, intelligent and moving science-fiction films of modern cinema is not so much the inter-galactic journey it takes you on as the emotional journey your left with. Bottom line: Interstellar is as cinematically epic as it is dramatically intimate. Go see it.

10/10