Nope Scroll all the way down to listen to the podcast instead Nope opened with 44 million at the box office. It reunites Daniel Kaluuya with director Jordan Peele since their huge break-out film, Get Out . Peele went on to release US before reuniting with Kaluuya again. I am no longer a huge horror film fan so I had to get my mind right to watch this. However, when I saw that UFOs were in it, I adjusted my thinking. I did not see it as a horror movie but thought of it as a science fiction suspense film.  Thank goodness I did because as a horror film, it failed in my opinion. As a science fiction film, it was okay. I thought there were a lot of missed opportunities where suspense and a little thrill could have been injected as the storyline was being built.  Those missed opportunities took Nope down a few notches for me. The horror categorization needs to be removed completely.  Nope finds itself in the interesting valley where all the elements of a great movie were there but it just

Optimal Response to Stress and Anxiety The first step to managing stress is getting to know yourself. Start the process by reflecting on what your values are and how they tie into your life. - Litevi I like to think of myself as your stress well curator. I look for helpful stress management tips and tools to add to your tool kit so you don’t have to. However, it never fails that when I do a search for stress-related articles, gloom and doom always pop up. In order to get the helpful information, I first have to sift through all the results that tell us how awful stress is and that it will kill you. Sheesh! We get it. Stress, left unchecked can cause problems, but if you learn how to manage the inevitable stress that will occur in life, you can thrive.  One way to improve your stress response is to focus on your values. Alice Boyes, Ph. D. contributed a great article to Psychology Today that highlights how your values can help you handle the challenges that life throws at you. In How

Thor: Love and Thunder Scroll down to listen to Podcast instead Thor: Love and Thunder starring Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, and Tessa Thompson reunite some of the MCU's favorite and familiar faces. I have to admit, I was nervous when I first saw the teaser trailer and the first few trailers that were put out. It seemed a little too quirky and over the top. After watching, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness I don’t know how much more over the top I could have handled. I also was not sure about the whole Jane as Thor thing.  After watching it, I can say that I was pleasantly surprised at the final outcome of the film. It was fun and quirky and corny but in an endearing way. My daughter actually had to remind me that, it kept in line with the Thor series. Now, I know there were some complaints about the CGI, and the only time, for me, that it was most notably not great was in the very beginning … well, and some parts in the middle.  All of the elements that make a good

You are a Badass Everyday Part 3: The Spiritual Gym Scroll down to listen to the podcast. Have you read You are a Badass Everyday by Jen Sincero? She really is a badass. This is my third installment regarding what I have learned from reading her book. All in all, this will most likely be a 5 part series. Below you will find parts one and two.  You Decide: You are a Badass Everyday by Jen Sincero Part 1 You are a Badass Every Day Part 2: Success This reflection on her book is particularly interesting because it directly ties in to managing stress and building your stress management toolkit. If you have been in any of my workshops, you would have learned that I do not believe in reinventing the wheel. I scour books, the internet, and articles for the latest on stress management so I can share what I have learned with my readers/listeners so that together we can move a little less clunky through life.  When Sincero writes about the importance of a spiritual gym in our badass quest, she is

  Mr. Malcolm’s List Scroll down for podcast Mr. Malcolm’s List based on the same-titled book by Suzanne Allain was released in theaters this weekend. I went to see it for a couple of reasons. The first one is that I am a huge fan of cheesy historical romance novels. I used to devour them in my younger years and every now and then I indulged in them when I am not listening to an audio nonfiction book. Secondly, I had to go see it because they are clearly trying to capitalize on the whole Bridgerton diverse casting trend, and a diverse cast it was. The weekend box office just touched 1 million with it being in about 1,300 theaters.  If you are a fan of historical romances, then you will enjoy the film as I did. These novels and therefore movies are very formulaic and predictable. Every now and then a plot twist slightly surprises me but the ultimate outcome is the same. Guy meets girl, guy loses girl in some preventable conflict and guy gets girl back. Mr. Malcolm’s list was no differen