A Few of My Favorite Things

This page includes my favorite exercise videos, poems and quotes, books, music, movies, and TV shows. For more information about any of the books, music, and exercise videos, you can't beat the awesome Amazon.com, but for movie details, I recommend that you check out Internet Movie Database, the motherlode of movie information--it's helped me to win a lot of arguments!

Exercise Videos

Exercising is my most-frequent hobby! Although I have a recumbent bike, which I use regularly, the main way that I work out is with my very extensive collection of fitness DVDs!  I have over 100 exercise videos focusing on kicboxing, dance workouts, strength training, barre work, stretching, Pilates, and especially yoga. If you are interested in working out at home with videos, be sure to check out the web site Video Fitness; also stop by Collage Video tand Total Fitness DVDs to view video clips. For more information about my workout habits, including my favorite fitness instructors and exercise DVDs, visit my Fitness/Reviewing page.

Poems and Quotes

Over the years, I've come across many poems and quotes that have been meaningful to me, and I thought this might be a good place to share them.

Sonnet 116--This Shakespeare sonnet is my all-time favorite poem and was one of the readings at my recent wedding. And here's more from the Bard, a quote from King Lear (Act 1, Scene 1) with a theme that's similar to the sonnet:

Love's not love when it is mingled with regards that stand aloof from the entire point.

I also like the following Robert Browning quote, which we used on our wedding programs:

Grow old along with me--the best is yet to be

And while I'm on the subject, our wedding ceremony also included these beautiful words originally used as part of Apache marriages (there are many different versions; this is how it appeared in a book of poetry I received from my husband):

This saying is attributed to Pastor Martin Niemöller.  I like it because I think it demonstrates that no one has true freedom unless everyone is equal.

First they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew.

 

Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.

 

Then they came for the communists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.

 

Then they came for me,
and there was no one left to speak out for me.

Nothing Gold Can Stay--No longer my number one favorite as it was when I first read it in the book The Outsiders, but still up there.

Der Handschuh --This poem might be the only good thing to come out of my high school German class! The title means "The Glove" (literally, "hand shoe"), and although the poem has a greater impact in its original German form, this is a nice English translation.

Books

Anyone who knows me knows that I'm a voracious reader of fiction! Bob gets annoyed with me for all of the times we've gone to the movies and I've said "That's not what happened in the book!" ;-) Reading is clearly my favorite pasttime (FYI: others include gardening, picture-taking, cross-stitching, and exercising), and I've read enough so that several beloved books have emerged:

Stephen R. Donaldson, Mirror of Her Dreams and A Man Rides Through. Although these are two separate books, they make up one long, fantasy story called Mordant's Need. Truly the best and most original concept I have ever read; a wonderful read.

Stephen King, The Dead Zone (my favorite!), The Gunslinger Series, especially The Drawing of the Three and The Wastelands, the recent releases Bag of Bones and Hearts in Atlantis, and finally, the short stories/novellas contained in Night Shift (my first introduction to King). Stephen King is a master storyteller; I've read ALL of his books (with the exception of the online ones) and there are many more that I like, but these are the ones which stand out from the pack.

Dean Koontz, Strangers. Although Koontz is a also an excellent storyteller (and I've read all of his books as well), I find many of his books to be retreads of the same theme, but this one was a wonderful exception. I also really liked his book of short stories, Strange Highways.

If you like the same types of books as I do, consider voting for some of my online reviews at Amazon.com--I'm a Top 100 Reviewer on that site (lately I've been in the mid-80s). Go to my Amazon About You page and you'll see more of my favorite reads as well. I am also the the Official Media Reviewer for iHanuman.com, a community of yoga teachers, and I review psychological and yoga materials for Metapsychology Online as well.

Music

Although I mainly listen to popular and classic rock, I like many different types of artists within this category, which you'll see from the eclectic collection of my favorite albums below.

Pink Floyd, The Wall. I like a lot of Pink Floyd's music and wouldn't be able to select a favorite song, but this is the album that I like more and more as time goes on. I also love band bassist Roger Waters' 1990 live version, Live at the Berlin Wall.

Roger Waters, Amused to Death; I especially like the song "The Bravery of Being Out of Range." Waters has his own new live version of The Wall, In the Flesh, which I hope to get soon.

Don McClean, American Pie. A classic; enough said.

Jim Croce, Photographs and Memories. A greatest hits album that contains most of the must-haves.

Hooters, Nervous Night. This is one of the definitive albums of my high school experience, and I still think it's great.

Gin Blossoms, New Miserable Experience. A newer entry, included partially because the song "Found Out About You" is one of my all-time favorites.

Maroon 5, Songs About Jane. A relatively new favorite!

Want to check out more of my all-time favorite songs? Go to my songs page.

Movies

There are so many movies out there that it's tough to come up with favorites. When it comes to movies, I like just about anything--comedy, drama, romance, sci-fi, thriller, horror, etc.--so it's hard to make a list of those that stand out from the rest. But, inspired by having seen the AFI's review of the 100 Best Comedies, I've given it a try on my movies page.

TV Shows

Compared to most people who have flat-screen TVs (we don't, except in my basement workout room), satellite/premier cable channels (none for us), and/or DVR (still nothin'), Bob and I actually don't watch all that much TV.  When we do find a favorite, it seems like it wind up going off the air.

What Not to Wear--This was my way to relax on Friday nights; unfortunately, it's now on Tuesdays, which isn't quite as fun.
The Dailly Show  and The Colbert Report--I love both, but I've found it hard to watch them since they changed the times of the evening replays.
Whose Line is it Anyway? --I like both the US version with the hilarious Wayne Brady and the old British version that's still aired occasionally.

A few animated favorites:
The Simpsons (really more of Bob's favorite)
Adult Swim a block of adult-themed cartoons shown on the Cartoon Network; we actually don't watch much anymore since they took our favorite Home Movies, off the air.

I can't list any sitcoms because they keep taking our favorites off the air! Right now we love The Office, 30 Rock, and Parks & Recreation (we had also started getting into Outsourced, but it's been canceled).  However, we are still mourning for Arrested Development, which is sometimes shown on the IFC channel.