manna?

Sunday January 9, 2005

Posted by Ed and Lois

Manna meets @ 10:42 in the Park Rheatre

248 South River Avenue
Holland, Mi 49423-3201

Back to Acts.

Million Dollar Baby by Peter Travers (Rolling Stone)

Posted by Ed and Lois

Review of new Clint Eastwood movie. He stars and directs.

At seventy-four, Clint Eastwood is enjoying a second championship season. Last year he directed Mystic River and gave the piece a tragic poetry that seeps into Million Dollar Baby, a stunningly drawn map of the human heart disguised as a boxing yarn. Adapted by Paul Haggis from a story in the F.X. Toole collection, Rope Burns, this emotional wallop of a movie focuses on Maggie Fitzgerald (Hilary Swank), an uneducated waitress from the Ozarks who thinks she can be a fighter. Her dream brings her to the L.A. gym of Frankie Dunn (Eastwood), a fight trainer and cut man (he staunches the flow of blood during a match) with zero patience for female warriors (“girlie tough is not enough”). He tells Maggie, 31, that she’s too old to begin. The one person who thinks otherwise is Frankie’s pal Scrap (the ever-magnificent Morgan Freeman), an ex-boxer who lost an eye in a fight for which Frankie was cut man. If you smell a setup for Rocky rah-rah, you don’t know Eastwood. Even when calamity climbs in the ring and the script flirts with teary cliches (Maggie has an exploitative family, Frankie has an estranged daughter), Eastwood—a true film artist—never pummels you. Swank delivers the goods with ferocity and feeling. And the prickly Eastwood-Freeman rapport is a joy. But the knockout punch comes from Eastwood. His stripped-down performance—as powerful as anything he’s ever done—has a rugged, haunting beauty. The same goes for the movie. 

Manna Movie Night

Posted by Ed and Lois

This Friday Jan. 7, 2005 somewhere in Holland.

We’re taking suggestions on which movie to see. Dave G and Greg S put forth The Life Aquadic with Bill Murray. Dave also suggests The Aviator.  Million Dollar Baby is also getting good reviews. Let us know what looks good to you? We all don’t have to go to the same movie.  I’m sure we’ll have to meet afterwards to discuss what we’ve seen.

Ed

Manna “Book Club” Returns

Posted by Ed and Lois

The Book Club meets Thursdays in Barnes And Nobles @ 7:00 PM

We have no book to dicuss but that’s hasn’t stopped us yet. No membership required. Lets see? Lets talk about what to expect in 2005. Yeah, thats the ticket.

2005 List Of Banished Words (Lake Superior State)

Posted by Ed and Lois

I’ll bet we could come up with a few too.

“… AND I APPROVE THIS MESSAGE” – Received the most nominations of the words and phrases that came out of the presidential election. From political ads to auto parts…
“What started in political ads is spiraling out of control.” – Jim Blashill, Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.
“I’ve heard three local car commercials where the morons use that phrase!” – John Venezia, Colorado Springs, Colo. –“Would a political candidate approve a message they did not agree with?” – John Gorsline, Albuquerque, NM. “I’m Kristina and I approve this nomination.” – Kristina, Granite City, Ill.

POCKETS OF RESISTANCE – “Are we talking about someone not buying a round of drinks or people shooting at each other?” – Rob of Crawley, West Sussex, UK.
“Sounds like someone having trouble pulling their hands out of their pants pockets.” – Joe Hutley, Las Vegas, NV.

CARBS – low carbs, high carbs, no carbs, carb-friendly… Meant ‘carburetor’ in a previous life. Needs to be purged from our system.
“You’re not fat because you eat bread; you’re fat because you eat too much!” – Emily Price, Norfolk, Va.
“What’s the point of low-carb beer? A person that concerned about ‘carbs’ shouldn’t even be drinking beer.” Roger Briskey, Orlando, Fla.

YOU’RE FIRED! – “…and the little hand movement, too!” – Jason Ranville, State College, Penn.
One nominator suggested that to say it would soon constitute a trademark infringement.

BLOG – and its variations, including blogger, blogged, blogging, blogosphere. Many who nominated it were unsure of the meaning. Sounds like something your mother would slap you for saying.
“Sounds like a Viking’s drink that’s better than grog, or a technique to kill a frog.” Teri Vaughn, Anaheim, Calif.
“Maybe it’s something that would be stuck in my toilet.” – Adrian Whittaker, Dundalk, Ontario. “I think the words ‘journal’ and ‘diary’ need to come back.” – T. J. Allen, Shreveport, La.

ERECTILE DYSFUNCTION – Do we need to hear about it daily on TV and radio, even on racecars? Firmly rejected by the committee. “Too much information!” Carolyn Jamsa, Chillicothe, Ill.

JOURNEY – “Every single person on every reality show comments on how amazing the ‘journey’ was. Since when does dating a dozen nerds over a six-week span or conniving to win a million dollars over 15 other people qualify as a ‘journey’”? – Cindy, Victoria, British Columbia.

BODY WASH – “Also known as ‘soap.’”—Ray Hill, Jackson, Mich.