US Weekly Defends the Women's POV: A Casual Observation

What do Katy Perry, Kim Kardashian and Heidi Klum all have in common? Bingo! Divorce! I thought I would show you the recent covers of US Weekly and see you if can find a commonality amongst them. Also, here is a must see link of Jimmy Fallon's spoof of this cover. The inspiration to this article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/07/jimmy-fallon-russell-brand-reads-us-weekly-video_n_1191311.html

Now, I don't know one thing about any of these relationships, but my guess is that it wasn't all the man's fault. 4? Jessica Biel:

Synchrodestiny

Synchrodestiny was first introduced to me by Deepak Chopra at a seminar I attended in San Francisco many moons ago. The term borrows from the term first coined by the British musical group, the Police (just kidding), by Jung. Synchronicity is the experience of two or more events that are apparently causally unrelated or unlikely to occur together by chance and that are observed to occur together in a meaningful manner. (wikipedia)

Example: The French writer Émile Deschamps claims in his memoirs that, in 1805, he was treated to some plum pudding by a stranger named Monsieur de Fontgibu. Ten years later, the writer encountered plum pudding on the menu of a Paris restaurant and wanted to order some, but the waiter told him that the last dish had already been served to another customer, who turned out to be de Fontgibu. Many years later, in 1832, Deschamps was at a dinner and once again ordered plum pudding. He recalled the earlier incident and told his friends that only de Fontgibu was missing to make the setting complete—and in the same instant, the now senile de Fontgibu entered the room. (Wikipedia) Deepak believes that events similar to what happened to Emile Deschamps are signals of the cosmos to guide us on our path and should not be ignored. What these events mean are a matter of interpretation, specifically to the subject. I am not certain of the relationship between Deschamps and de Fontgibu was, perhaps they only shared a passion for plum pudding.

Whatever it might have been, Deepak stresses that it should not be dismissed as mere coincidence. He explains the concept fully in "The Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desire", but I will go over what I took from it. 1. Pay Attention and Ask Yourself What it Might Mean Similar to detective work, I believe coincidences, deja vu's, are clues to our destiny. A belief not shared by Deepak (from what I have read of him) but one that I share from the psychic, Sylvia Browne, is that before we are born we plot our lives, from the family we have, to the tragedies we face, etc. While at times on the Earth we feel there is no direction, or that we lack a path, I believe coincidences are lampposts in our lives to illuminate the courses we should take. Using the Deschamps example, Emile should have gotten off his seat and approached the Monsieur and asked "what's up?", in current lingo. Synchrodestiny is identical to the lore of the New Age classic's, the Celestine Prophecy, First Insight, "become conscious of the coincidences in our lives". 2. Don't overcook it In other words, Deschamp's shouldn't have gone up to the Monsieur, grabbed the coat he was wearing and shake him, "Give me the message! You must have a message for me!" Back off! Maybe just explain the dude the coincidence you had. Sometimes, they might only be significant to you. Maybe the other person won't buy into your New Age wackiness. 3. Comfort Be patient. Don't force things. And take comfort when they do arrive you are not alone, that there is a path for you and follow the clues. You won't be disappointed.

Robert James Waller, famous for authoring "Bridges of Madison County", is lesser known for his other works, "High Plains Tango", "The Long Night of Winchell Dear", "A Thousand Country Roads" and this one "Slow Waltz in Cedar Bend". "Slow Waltz in Cedar Bend" followed "Bridges of Madison County" in publication. If you liked "Bridges" you should like "Slow Waltz". While no one in their right mind would call these works literary masterpieces, they are enjoyable pieces to read, if the subject matter suits you. His work usually involves a love story, in this case professor Michael Tillman and another professor, Jim Braden's wife, Jellie Braden. Their first conversation centers on their trips to India and her marriage to Jim. "Close to her like this, gray eyes steady on his, he upgraded his earlier idea about putting her on the dean's kitchen table. The new plan involved stripping her naked, taking off his own clothes, and flying in that shimmering state of affairs, all the way to the Seychelles, first class. Upon arrival it would be a headlong and forever plunge into lubricious nirvana. He was quite certain Jellie Braden would look better than wonderful under a jungle waterfall with a red hibiscus in her hair. 'How long ago was that, when you got married?' As soon as he asked, a voice in his head groaned, you dumb ass, Tillman, why'd you say that? It's more than you need to know and too damned forward-you just met the woman.' He stood up and stomped out his cigarette on the dean's driveway. Anyplace else he field-stripped them and stuck the butts in his pocket, but not in the dean's driveway. Michael was like an old dog there, staking out his territory, making sure he left a little something behind for Arthur to sniff. She walked over to her car and put hers out in the ashtray. 'Jimmy'll complain like crazy when he sees that. He won't let me smoke at home when he's there. I'll get a lecture on our way out of here, and he'll spray the car with air freshener two minutes after we leave the driveway.' She looked at him and chewed lightly on her lower lip. 'Jimmy and I have been married for ten years. I suppose we better go inside.' He started pulling off his tie. 'You go ahead. I'm going back to my apartment and snuggle down with Joseph Conrad.' 'Nice meeting you,' Jellie Braden said. 'Same here. See you around.' She smiled. 'Sure.' And Michael thought of a waterfall in the Seychelles that would be just perfect. Fifteen months later he rode the Trivandrum Mail into south India, toward places he'd never been, looking for her."

This scene is from Frank Capra's "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington". I was not a huge fan of the film. I found it slow. I did enjoy this scene when Jimmy Stewart's character, Jefferson Smith, meets Senator Paine's daughter, Susan, played by Astrid Allwyn, for the second time. Their first encounter was in Washington's train station when Susan is meeting her father and Jefferson is carrying homing pigeons, which have the purpose of flying home to his mother and delivering messages. It is country boy meet city girl. Here is their second meeting when Jefferson visits the Senator's house.

Jefferson is clearly nervous and fidgets with his hat throughout the scene. I am not sure many directors have captured sequences like these quite like Capra.

Here the hat falls.

Their small talk is focused on the pigeons. Jefferson explains that they are trying to find their bearings and on their way to Kentucky like a "bat out of...like a rifle shot".

Jefferson picks up his hat and again begins fidgeting.

He drops the hat again when asked by Susan if he has a girl.

Jefferson picks up the hat and attempts to put it on his head.

Susan asks, "Don't you think I should hold this for you?" Jefferson tells her that "I think I should go tonight," as he runs into a lamp. "Gee, I'm sorry".

"At the expense of the furniture Susan I do believe you've made another conquest"