Nora and Hae Sung, two deeply connected childhood friends, are wrest apart after Nora’s family emigrates from South Korea. Two decades later, they are reunited in New York for one fateful week as they confront notions of destiny, love, and the choices that make a life, in this heartrending modern romance.
Q-tips say: Good but a tad slow. FYI -for some people subtitles are needed. Past Lives may be a bit weepie but a very striking way to look at relationships and the ways that love lingers.
of Science & Nature – 201 19th St. Bradenton, FL 941-746-4131-
941-746-4131 – bishopscience.org
3/5/24 – Great museum for all especially for families & Grandparents to take grandkids to enjoy.
South-Florida- Museum – The largest natural and cultural history museum on Florida’s Gulf Coast, The Bishop Museum of Science and Nature offers engaging exhibits as well as educational programs which interpret the scientific and cultural knowledge of Florida, the world, and our universe. In addition to the permanent exhibits, The Bishop features a constantly changing lineup of temporary exhibitions – offering something new to discover with each visit. Featuring fossil evidence of Florida’s earliest animal inhabitants and archaeological materials representing Paleo-Indian, Archaic, and pre-contact cultures, as well as local history and creative exhibitions, visitors of all ages find something to love at The Bishop Museum of Science and Nature.
The Museum also features an all-digital Planetarium and the Parker Manatee Rehabilitation Habitat. At The Bishop Museum of Science and Nature, you can learn about the world around you – land, sky, and sea – through the lens of Florida’s natural sciences.
Below & above viewing of the Manatees Exhibit.
Sylvia (Jessica Chastain) is a social worker who leads a simple and structured life: her daughter, her job, her AA meetings. This is blown open when Saul (Peter Sarsgaard) follows her home from their high school reunion. Their surprise encounter will profoundly impact both of them as they open the door to the past.
Q-tips say: A dementia drama, is the kind of film that, initially, is so familiar and heavy-handed.
“Memory” doesn’t necessarily have direct answers to all the questions. But it does well enough to know that even if a person is damaged, whether emotionally or psychologically, that shouldn’t negate them from receiving the kind of support that doesn’t belittle them but treats them with a dignity that goes beyond their trauma.
A psychiatrist takes in a young patient who escaped from a cult, putting her family and life in danger. A series.
Q-tips say: Was ok & a little disappointing. Did not flow as other movie this type. FYI- not a movie some might NOT enjoy – it is about a cult.
Mrs. Q says: I totally get the Psychology behind it all. Unresolved trauma lives in the present and clearly, the mum hadn’t worked through it to notice the parallels and prevent crossing her boundaries. Was surprised it’s ok for a Dr to take a patient home and become their foster parent. So strange. Suzanne really needs that therapy. Maybe Mae could’ve stayed if the adults put down some boundaries and helped the kids do the same. I get that Suzanne felt the need to take care of Mae and be in her corner, but at the expense of her own family? The dad is protecting the girls and Suzanne doesn’t get it.
On Netflix – Using archival footage and his own words, this docudrama chronicles what happened after the scientist fled Nazi Germany and dives into the mind of this tortured genius.
Q-tips say: Yes, we did enjoy it. Especially enjoyed that we watched Oppenheimer & then Einstein & the Bomb. Interesting movie indeed.
The documentary film focuses on the suffering and pain of a man who, although innocent, feels the weight of the consequences of his ideas on his shoulders. The most convincing moment of a project that for long stretches obtains the opposite result to that achieved by Oppenheimer that is, making the analysis of a fundamental historical phase for the world we live in today.
Widowed surgeon Tom has struggled to raise his two daughters alone following his wife’s death a year ago. Things seem to be on the right track for the family, who live in a gated community, because they have close friends nearby and Tom is in the early stages of a new relationship. But the situation takes a turn for the worse when Jenny, Tom’s oldest daughter, goes missing along with her boyfriend. Tom enlists girlfriend Sophie, a police detective, to help locate the teens, but her new partner is working her own agenda. As the investigation intensifies, Tom unearths dark secrets about the people closest to him in his affluent neighborhood. The drama series was created by mystery novelist Harlan Coben.
Q-tips say: Was just ok. A series – Starts with a murder and a disappearance in episode 1, and every next episode brings new clues (alongside new questions), so that more and more the mysteries get solved.
Told over eight 45-minute episodes, the story went up down and around the town before all was revealed in the final episode. How do so many people with a wide range of careers afford to live in a posh, gated community?
During World War II, Lt. Gen. Leslie Groves Jr. appoints physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer to work on the top-secret Manhattan Project. Oppenheimer and a team of scientists spend years developing and designing the atomic bomb. Their work comes to fruition on July 16, 1945, as they witness the world’s first nuclear explosion, forever changing the course of history.
Q-tips say: Yes we did enjoy it. The movie is 3 hours long. We watched the entire movie one night.
The film not merely captures the splendor of New Mexico’s desert panoramas but contrast the external coolness and internal turmoil of Oppenheimer, a brilliant mathematician and low-key showman and leader whose impulsive nature and insatiable sexual appetites made his private life a disaster, and whose greatest contribution to civilization was a weapon that could destroy it.
Mrs. Q says: “Oppenheimer” rediscovers the power of huge closeups of people’s faces as they grapple with who they are, and who other people have decided that they are, and what they’ve done to themselves and others.
A spiritual journey of compassion, redemption and unconditional friendship between two solitary souls at opposite ends of life.
Aging widow Fall (Partnow) finds joy wherever she goes, from the aisles of the local supermarket to the melody she hears grumpy busker Adam (Jesse Pepe) playing in the park. She offers to pay him for piano lessons, and his desperation leads him to teach her on the Slipaway, the docked boat where she lives. Fall’s happiness is contagious, but Adam’s past threatens to unravel the work she is doing to improve his life in the present.
Q-tips say: Yes, we enjoyed it. Slip away is a simple and sweet film.
2/16/24 –
Wonderful way to spend an afternoon walk with Chicago neighbors, Michael & Helen, who are visiting FL.
Bradenton Riverwalk – 452 3rd Ave W., Bradenton, FL 34208
Q-tips say: SEE IT! Go and enjoy. You can park for free in downtown Bradenton (by City Hall/police station) and follow the walkway under the bridge to get to the park. There are great pieces of art to look at, sculptures, a pier, a walking dock, benches, covered swings and a playground for children to play in & they can enjoy the water park. It ends at the downtown marina close to city hall and Old Main Street where several restaurants await after this long refreshing walk that passes under the US 41 bridge. Also, you might see a Tropicana train go by.
The playground was very large, clean, a variety of sets that included a jungle gym, swings, fountain, large grass field and lots of fun!!
There is plenty of lightening & while sitting for a few moments enjoy the river breeze, joggers, rollerbladers, bikers, dogs being walked (pet friendly ) and also an out door stage area where it looked like plays or entertainment could be found.
After enjoying the Riverwalk went to Pier 22. ENJOY!
DESOTO Natl. Park – 8300 De Soto Memorial Hwy, Bradenton, FL 34209, (941) 792-0458 Raised walk through the mangroves. Hours: Mon-Sun 9 am – 5 pm
https://www.nps.gov/deso/index.htm
Q-Tips say: Great walk with long time Chicago Friends. A great park, excellent for kids, of all ages, beautiful marked trails to walk, and there are cardboard cutouts throughout, and sign post explaining the history of Desoto Park. A museum and also a movie explaining the history. They also offer a “special event” when they have people dressed in the costumes and the culture of that period.
After our walk we went for an lunch/dinner before the Big Game – The Super Bowl.
Mrs. Q says: Entrance Fee: FREE. FREE is good. Yes, you may bring your dog, but doggie must be on a leash at all times. Also, a Hugh Monument to remembering the Priests of the period. Don’t forget to see the Gumbo Limbo tree – you can’t miss it. It is over 200 years old. The Gumbo Limbo tree is also called Gumbo, the tourist tree, because it get red from the sun and peels. Unfortunately, the tree is gone due to a hurricane. Go & enjoy, we always do.
History & Culture – Hernando de Soto was born around 1500 in the Extermadura region of Spain. De Soto was the second born son to a minor country noble or Hidalgo. He would learn in his youth the skills of horsemanship, reading, writing, and armed combat, but due to the laws of inheritance he would have to look outside of his estate for wealth and glory. At the age of 14, Hernando de Soto would leave Extermadura for Seville and enlist in an expedition set for the New World. He would arrive in present day Panama at the colony of Darien founded by his childhood hero Alviar Nunez de Balboa. De Soto would serve Balboa and the governor Pedrarias Davila as soldier of horse, where he would quickly distinguish himself.
Pedrarias named El Furor Domini the scourge of God by his men would quickly strike out and eliminate many of his chief rivals within the colonial government, including Balboa his Son-in-Law. He would wage a brutal conquest over the native people of Central America conquering Panama and Nicaragua. De Soto would carefully navigate the time of political upheaval and executions and would rise to a position of prominence in the colonial government under Pedrarias. De Soto would game wealth and fame due to his partnerships with several men. Entering into a compania or partnership with Hernan Ponce de Leon, and Francisco Companon, De Soto would make a decent fortune ranching horses and trading and shipping Indian slaves.
Cajmarca -Atahualpa’s capture at the battle of Cajamarca.
A Chance for Immortality
In 1530 on a failed expedition into South America, a down on his luck conquistador named Francisco Pizarro stumbled upon evidence of a rich and culturally advanced society in Peru called the Inca. Pizarro would fail in his petition to Pedrarias to lead expedition of conquest into Peru. Pizarro would call on Hernando de Soto and Hernan Ponce de Leon to lend horse cavalry and ships for the expedition as well as influence on Pedrarias to approve the expedition. In exchange for his services, De Soto would be named second-in-command of the expedition and receive a lions share of the spoils of conquest.
The largest obstacle would prove to be De Soto’s old mentor Pedrarias who would stand firm on his decision to not allow the expedition. De Soto would attempt a coup to unseat Pedrarias’s power and would be thrown in prison and possibly executed. Fortunately for De Soto Pedrarias would die in March of 1531, freeing De Soto and Ponce to outfit Pizarro’s expedition. 1532 Pizarro and De Soto would lead 300 soldiers into Peru to conquer an empire of millions. Fortunately for the Spanish the Inca empire was experiencing a bloody civil war between two brothers Atahualpa and Huascar, in which Atahaulpa would win and become the Sapa Inca Emperor. Showing contempt for the Spanish, Atahualpa would meet with Pizarro at the Inca town of Cajamarca. Atahualpa would come un-armed and ultimately be captured by Pizarro in a bloody takeover. Atahaulpa and De Soto would become friends during the Inca Emperors captivity passing time playing chess and teaching him Spanish. Pizarro would offer Atahualpa a chance at freedom for a great ransom in which the Inca Emperor would fill three rooms with gold, silver and precious gems totaling 90 million dollars in today’s money. For his troubles Atahualpa would be tried and executed by Pizarro. De Soto in disagreeing would be sent away to put down a false rebellion during the trial. De Soto would bitterly leave the expedition in 1535 after being denied governorship of Cuzco by Pizarro. He would then travel to Spain and marry Donna Isabella de Bombadilla a daughter of his old mentor Pedrarias. In 1537 Hernando de Soto would meet with the Emperor Charles V and impress him with his tales from the indies. Charles would later approve De Soto’s request to govern and conquer a portion of the New world, a place named La Florida. De Soto would depart Spain in September 1537 to travel to Cuba were he would claim his title of Governor and begin forming his expedition to La Florida. May 1539 De Soto would depart Havana and sail for a selected bay on Florida’s west coast to begin the expedition that would cost him his fortune and his life.
