"By Choosing to be our most authentic and loving self, we leave a trail of magic everywhere we go."~ Emmanuel
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| Photo by Christina Rowsell PV Mexico Jan.2013 |
17.5.13
Authentic and Loving
Happy moving!
The Brighter Side is all about Good News, Great Ideas & Amazing People. We have found a company that is all three. Good News, an eco-friendly company! Great Idea, where they deliver the eco-friendly moving supplies AND pick them up from their customer's new home after the move is complete! Less stress and less work for YOU! And to us, that equals AMAZING PEOPLE! So we've invited FROGBOX to be a part of our mission on The Brighter Side! 
According
to the Canadian Association of Movers over 5 million Canadians make a move each
year. Typically we see an increase of families moving within the summer months
after their children wrap up their school year. Purchasing a new home can be
exciting but it’s also important to stay focused by creating a plan of action
ahead of time. Being organized will allow the transition for you and your
family to be as stress-free as possible.
I
like to call it, “Moving Madness” syndrome, where the individual is not
prepared for their upcoming move. They typically think they have all this time
to prepare and before they know it - moving day is this upcoming weekend and
the boxes are yet to be filled with their belongings.
To
stop “Moving Madness” syndrome from developing I recommend the
following five tips to make the transition easier:
- Prepare – The earlier you start the better it is in the long run. Start by sorting your belongings well in advance. Put aside items you would like to keep, then segregate the rest into your haven’t used in a long time, lost their meaning and no longer needed pile.
- Reduce – From the various piles your belongings have been segregated into look into having a yard sale or posting items up on sites such as Kijiji to make a couple of bucks for the items you no longer need.
- Get Packing – Start by packing the non-essential items you do not utilize on a day to day basis. We recommend starting in the attic then working your way through your storage and garage areas. Following this room by room process will make packing up your kitchen a breeze.
- New Address Notifications – It’s important that your mail trails you to your new home after the move. Canada post does have a mail forwarding program which can be arranged at any post office or online before the transition. Make a list of all the important organizations & businesses that need to be advised of your upcoming move – many companies require a minimum of thirty day notices.
- Important Documents, Contacts & Medication – Your families’ most important documents such as passports along with important medications should all be kept in one secure location that can be effortlessly tracked prior, during and after the move.
And most importantly, stay positive. Yes,
moving can be a hassle but we promise – there is a light at the end of that
tunnel. Look forward to the new space you and your family will get to utilize
and share memories within.
Happy Moving!!
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15.5.13
Why Do Summer Blockbuster Movies Begin in May?
Tis’
the season, whether you're a hard core movie lover or a casual viewer, to hit
up the summer blockbuster movies when they come to town. Yes, Hollywood
puts on quite a show to make sure they have everyone scrambling to be first in
line for a string of blockbusters, which populate the show times for the next
few months. Is it some of their best work? On the whole, no, most
of the best stuff comes outside of the spotlight filled months between May 1st
and August 31st except those looking for an Oscar or Golden Globe in special
effects and technical wizardry. What these movies all have in common
though is massive budgets and gigantic promotions to make sure your almighty
dollar...or $25…or who am I kidding, if you're bringing a date or members of
the family you could be look at 50 bucks. Sigh, I remember "$2.50
Tuesdays".
Have
I pitched a tent out in front of my local theatre? No, but I can't say I
haven't been tempted. And this summer's roster is certainly pushing me to live
in a line up for the next few weeks. With titles like Iron
Man 3 (May 3rd), The Great Gatsby (May
10th), Star Trek:
Into Darkness (May 17th),
Epic (May 24th), Fast and
Furious 6 (May 24th)
and The
Hangover Part III (May 24th).
Not to mention a few movies later on such as After Earth (May 31st) and who can
forget Man of Steel (June 14th). Plus many more over the next few
months! I won’t be talking about much else during this time.
But
why are we even talking summer blockbuster movies in May? When I look at my
calendar, you can see the summer solstice doesn't kick off until June 21st…
right where it should. And May Long weekend is still three weeks
away at this point. Let me be clear, I associate three things with
May: start of camping, university and college students getting let free
for four months and now for the past few years, the kick off to the blockbuster
season. But why May?
Evolution of the Blockbuster
My
first reaction as always was to consult to good ole trusty Wikipedia the definition of movie blockbuster. It notes
the first film to be defined as a "blockbuster" was Jaws in 1975,
which set countless record. When was it released? June 20th
(I
still don’t like going for a swim after seeing that movie. )
The
records it set however did not last long, a certain man named George
Lucas came out with a small film
two years later which slightly topped Jaws records.
"There
will be no escape for the princess this time…." – C-Threepio
Oops, sorry. Nostalgia moment.
When
did Star Wars IV: A New Hope come out? May 25th, 1977.
With
a little digging and some general perception, I started thinking the release of
summer blockbusters prior to the May long
weekend was recent
phenomenon. I was wrong.
The Modern Blockbuster
Take
for instance the Iron Man trilogy. Iron Man came out on May 2nd 2008;
Iron Man 2 May 7th 2010,
with Iron Man 3 ready for release on May 3rd this year. Five years ago,
Marvel was at a point where it was really starting to pick up speed with its
slate of comic book movies and it wanted to make sure it was first out of the
gate and a weekend all to itself.
Then
you have a film like The Matrix, it was released on March 31st,
1999. I found this blockbuster to be a bit of an anomaly in terms of a summer
blockbuster. It was released outside of the summer blockbuster season, however
the special effects were awesome and the plot and script were simply
mind-blowing. It had such a successful run, many will choose lump
it in with the rest of the summer blockbusters of that year.
(I
still pick up new things in that movie every time I watch it!)
Like
a good blockbuster, I may have managed to divert your focus away from real
life. I’ve managed to talk a lot about blockbusters, but not give any
real opinion to the question at hand: "Why Do Summer Blockbuster Movies
Begin in May?" Well I believe there is a lot of weight to the idea
that studios and their release companies are always jockeying for position,
they don’t want to open the same weekend as a film which will threaten to steal
money from them. Competitive studios will make it so no blockbuster will
be released on the same weekend and, in some cases, the same month.
And since there are only so many weekends during the summer time,
it's forced them, in the last two decades, to push their films out earlier to
accommodate for "box office spacing" (I just made that up but it
sounds good). Case in point: The Avengers and the The Dark Knight Rises were not even close on the calendar.
Why? Quite simple, the same audience would be going to those two films and
there was no way comic companies Marvel (really Disney) and DC (really Warner
Bros.) wanted to be going head to head with each other.
Maybe
it is the warm weather (consumers seem more likely to get out to be entertained
during the warmer temps) or the fact that university and college students are
getting out for the summer (a key demographic of most movies being shown during
the summer blockbuster months)? No matter what the thought is there,
Hollywood sure has us figured out. What do you think?
QUICK
FACT: The 2012 summer blockbuster season brought in $4,303,618,452. Can
2013 top it? It looks like it has a chance. Thank-you to Box Office
MoJo.com for the ticket tally information.
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