Author: clairemobrien

Miracle Club (2023)

Great ‘doco’ type movie, with Dame Maggie Smith’s humour stripe. It showed the different stories of a group of women who knew eachother a little who went to Lourdes France for their cure, hailing from Dublin Ireland – whether their malady was obvious or not, and they grew in warmth and understanding of each of their true characters and what it took to be them.

Emily (2023)

In 2023 I watched the movie Emily, about Romantic period author Emily Brontë (1840s) who wrote the novel Wuthering Heights. The movie was awesome. I liked how Emily and brother Branwell yelled out on the Moors “Freedom of Thought”! This reminded me of John Henry Newman’s book (1852) The Idea of a University.

I also liked how she spoke French at home and spoke her mind with her sister when using it ( it sounded so delicate in the French tongue) and I liked how there was a twist in the tale at the end. The movie brought tears to my eyes, even in the nonchalant parts, I suppose as a precursor, i could sense the movie’s building of heaviness and the sense of gloom near the end. I like Emily’s sense of adventure and the theme of “ the greatest joy in life is love and be loved”.

What I loved about the movie was the fact that the father (the mother had died) and sisters and brother encouraged eachother to best their best person and to write! What a roller coaster ride of emotions in this movie! Worth seeing.

Flowers

I love to come across flowers on my walks. I will endeavour to post a few flowers over time here…

Viola Hederaea ‘Australian Native Violet’
On retreat at St Canisius I am taking time out with the flowers! Such vivid colours of roses, blue eyes, irises etc.

Elvis – Directed by Baz Luhrmann (2022)

Watched this recently with a friend and it was great. Who to blame for Elvis’ (played by Austin Butler) death at 42 to be up to the audience to decide, but it was expertly narrated by the manager Colonel Tom Parker (Tom Hanks) and he was made to pay fines to court in real life for squandering Elvis’ money on gambling. It was acted inspiringly by Austin Butler who really brought out the human Elvis who struggled with the misgivings of fame along with provocative direction by Baz Luhrmann. I was moved by supporting actress Olivia De Jonge for her excellent role as wife of Elvis – there were such strong scenes that brought tears. I really liked the spirit of Elvis and his “love” of the audience. Great soundtrack too.

Spiritual books and Jesuit public lectures

I enjoy reading spirituality books and attending lectures on spirituality. God’s Spirit has moved me. I did learn some education subjects at uni (up to year 3 at Sydney Uni) before I started full time work and it taught me some philosophy, psychology, sociology and history. It was good fun. Books such as ‘The God Who Won’t Let Go’ by Peter Van Breeman shape my home life. Also my sister recommends John Henry Newman’s (1852) The Idea of a University.

Music to ‘colour my world’ – thanks to Coldplay for the phrase!

It’s so inspiring to hear of the cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason (of Meghan & Harry’s Royal Wedding fame) to be going back to study after performing at that extravagant wedding. I feel now inspired to pursue both music and study but I’ll have to make time. I used to be part of a community orchestra as cellist ( and earlier as saxophonist) till Covid hit home. I’m busy now with full time work (typing) so my fingers are otherwise occupied and my arms tired at the days end. I would like to go back. The orchestra members say they keep a chair out for me waiting till I return. There’s nothing better than feeling wanted and part of the music flow & ebb. Ps. I play just for the term to feel with and play the music week by week is fun however I’ve got to work up to concert standard where I’m brave enough to play when a crowd is watching, but also to bother enough about it so that competing events in my calendar can be missed as I want to play the music enough. Music can change the feel of a place and of a relationship. I want to include music when I’m cooking or socialising for instance.

Quality choices and books

I love books. I prefer good books well written. The ones that currently interest me have either won book awards or are on a reading list for a uni course. In order to make decisions about how to spend my time I need to cope with the fear of missing out (FOMO). Will need to read The Freedom of Missing Out by Michael Rossmann SJ (thanks to my CLC leader Michael for this link to Audible)