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Valentine’s Day is right around the corner. There’s going to be a lot of the traditional flowers and candy gift-giving occurring, but in the spirit of American Heart Month, here are some thoughtful gifts ideas with a healthy spin. Consider giving your loved one a gift of love that helps them self-love their mind, body, and soul.
Tip 1: Skip the Restaurant, Cook
Skip the traditional dinner and go out on a cozy cooking date so you can put a healthy spin on your food. When you’re mindful of what is in your food, you have an opportunity to make healthy substitutes and be more conscious of calories and portion control. And there’s research that suggests women are more aroused by men when observed cooking in the kitchen versus working a power drill.
Tip 2: Trade Flowers for Fruit
Instead of a bouquet of flowers, try a bouquet of fresh fruit. They’re just as beautiful, and it’s a creative and healthy sweet option that provides more bang for your buck. Not only are they just as gorgeous as real flowers, she can eat them too.
Tip 3: Dark Chocolate
If you’re going to buy chocolate because that’s what she loves, make sure it’s dark chocolate. It’s the healthiest of all the chocolates. It has tons of health benefits when eaten in moderation. It’s full of antioxidants that bind to free radicals in our bodies that are known to be culprits in causing heart disease and many cancers. And if she likes nuts with her chocolate, opt for almonds. Almonds contain lots of healthy fats, fiber, protein, magnesium and vitamin E. The health benefits of almonds include lower blood sugar levels, reduced blood pressure, and lower cholesterol levels. They can also reduce hunger and promote weight loss.
Tip 4: Body Cream
Gift her with a scented body cream. When she looks and smells good, she feels more attractive, which can boost her confidence. It is also important for having healthy skin. Your skin is the largest organ in your body and is the first line of defense when it comes to preventing infection. So clean, moisturized, and intact skin that smells good not only feels and looks good but it’s also healthy, both physically and mentally. Not to mention this is definitely a zero calories kind of gift.
Tip 5: Send a Message
Give yourself through a video message to start the day telling someone how much he or she means to you. This is low-cost and intimate and definitely a one-of-a-kind gift. Take the time to not only tell someone that you love him or her, but why. It doesn’t need to be professionally made or scripted like a movie. Be thoughtful and speak from the heart. This type of gift can trump expensive and lavish gifts anytime. It also promotes healthy communication, intimacy, and will definitely earn you brownie points.
Valentine’s Day is right around the corner. There’s going to be a lot of the traditional flowers and candy gift-giving occurring, but in the spirit of American Heart Month, here are some thoughtful gifts ideas with a healthy spin. Consider giving your loved one a gift of love that helps them self-love their mind, body, and soul.
Tip 1: Skip the Restaurant, Cook
Skip the traditional dinner and go out on a cozy cooking date so you can put a healthy spin on your food. When you’re mindful of what is in your food, you have an opportunity to make healthy substitutes and be more conscious of calories and portion control. And there’s research that suggests women are more aroused by men when observed cooking in the kitchen versus working a power drill.
Tip 2: Trade Flowers for Fruit
Instead of a bouquet of flowers, try a bouquet of fresh fruit. They’re just as beautiful, and it’s a creative and healthy sweet option that provides more bang for your buck. Not only are they just as gorgeous as real flowers, she can eat them too.
Tip 3: Dark Chocolate
If you’re going to buy chocolate because that’s what she loves, make sure it’s dark chocolate. It’s the healthiest of all the chocolates. It has tons of health benefits when eaten in moderation. It’s full of antioxidants that bind to free radicals in our bodies that are known to be culprits in causing heart disease and many cancers. And if she likes nuts with her chocolate, opt for almonds. Almonds contain lots of healthy fats, fiber, protein, magnesium and vitamin E. The health benefits of almonds include lower blood sugar levels, reduced blood pressure, and lower cholesterol levels. They can also reduce hunger and promote weight loss.
Tip 4: Body Cream
Gift her with a scented body cream. When she looks and smells good, she feels more attractive, which can boost her confidence. It is also important for having healthy skin. Your skin is the largest organ in your body and is the first line of defense when it comes to preventing infection. So clean, moisturized, and intact skin that smells good not only feels and looks good but it’s also healthy, both physically and mentally. Not to mention this is definitely a zero calories kind of gift.
Tip 5: Send a Message
Give yourself through a video message to start the day telling someone how much he or she means to you. This is low-cost and intimate and definitely a one-of-a-kind gift. Take the time to not only tell someone that you love him or her, but why. It doesn’t need to be professionally made or scripted like a movie. Be thoughtful and speak from the heart. This type of gift can trump expensive and lavish gifts anytime. It also promotes healthy communication, intimacy, and will definitely earn you brownie points.
At Trump’s terrifyingly unhinged and dictatorial press conference, he railed against members of the press as “dishonest people” who create “fake news” and don’t give him the coverage he wants. Today, a tweet took this reckless rhetoric to the next level of authoritarianism.
The FAKE NEWS media (failing @nytimes, @NBCNews, @ABC, @CBS, @CNN) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 17, 2017
That “enemy of the…people” language is straight out of the fascist playbook. I never thought I would hear a U.S. president say something so bluntly, viciously authoritarian in my lifetime.
Journalists have responded to Trump’s attack with the hashtag #NotTheEnemy, which reminds Americans of the crucial public good that a free press provides, as well as the human cost of providing that service.
Some of the tweets focused on historic precedent: excerpts from the Constitution, references to Nixon’s hatred of the press, and quotes from past presidents.
This is Woodward and Bernstein. Nixon called them the enemy. They proved that no president is above the law. #NotTheEnemy pic.twitter.com/ekxoiBZis1
— Jim McGovern (@RepMcGovern) February 18, 2017
From ‘SEDITION, A FREE PRESS, AND PERSONAL RULE May 7, 1918’
by President Theodore Roosevelt #NotTheEnemy pic.twitter.com/9NMeBSV1xC
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) February 18, 2017
“The only security of all is in a free press.” — Thomas Jefferson #NotTheEnemy pic.twitter.com/cy0j4cuJet
— Tech of Meaning (@techofmeaning) February 18, 2017
“No one can terrorize a whole nation, unless we are all his accomplices.” Edward R. Murrow #NotTheEnemy pic.twitter.com/3wA09JDG84
— Sasha Stone (@AwardsDaily) February 18, 2017
Other posts paid tribute to the thousands of journalists who have been attacked or killed while doing their jobs–including those who reported on political corruption.
This is the @Newseum‘s Journalists Memorial, listing the 2,291 individuals who have died around the world reporting the news #NotTheEnemy pic.twitter.com/FazzRTTQyL
— Phil Williams (@NC5PhilWilliams) February 18, 2017
1,230 journalists killed since 1992. 41% of them were killed covering war. But 66% were killed covering politics or corruption. #NotTheEnemy pic.twitter.com/fJsuImjEvM
— Barry Malone (@malonebarry) February 18, 2017
This is the great L. Alex Wilson. A black journalist who was beaten by an angry white mob as he covered the Little Rock Nine. #NotTheEnemy pic.twitter.com/6ZuGTw8RFK
— Ava DuVernay (@ava) February 18, 2017
This man was my friend & mentor. He was shot in Israel. He was kidnapped in Libya. He finally died in Syria. An American hero, #NotTheEnemy https://t.co/bJxvwWHgQn
— Anthony Breznican (@Breznican) February 18, 2017
This is Marie Colvin. She died covering the siege of Homs in Syria and was a lifelong war reporter. #NotTheEnemy pic.twitter.com/8bwk2tX5KG
— Alex Berg (@AlexfromPhilly) February 18, 2017
This is Arizona Republic investigative reporter Don Bolles, who was murdered in 1976 while investigating the Mafia #NotTheEnemy pic.twitter.com/8hec4pJM9O
— Phil Williams (@NC5PhilWilliams) February 18, 2017
This is Chauncey Bailey, an Oakland journalist, murdered in 2007 as a result of his reporting on corruption in his community #NotTheEnemy pic.twitter.com/BEDwAXySqe
— Phil Williams (@NC5PhilWilliams) February 18, 2017
Trump’s attitude toward the press is increasingly disturbing, and no one in the administration is checking his reckless rhetoric. It’s high time for someone in the White House to condemn and curb this language–but we all know that, unlike the journalists honored here, they don’t have the courage.
(Via Twitter and The Huffington Post; image via Warner Brothers Animation)
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The Great Wall was, as the movie posters implied, about how we should all say #ThankYouMattDamon. Yes, he comes up with the brilliant plans that the Chinese hadn’t figured out in the last 2,000 years (even though there was a clue in ancient texts) and all that white savior stuff — fittingly, the movie was written by the same guy who wrote The Last Samurai. Seriously, you can’t make this stuff up). But I’m not gonna talk about it because you can find it all over the internet.
You can read about the plot here — or read Valerie’s review here — so you know what I’m going to be talking about, but it’s basically Starship Troopers in ancient China. But there was a theme that made me not want to slit my wrists and go screaming out of the movie theater (which was the case when I saw Kubo and the Two Strings, but that’s for another day). What was it? It was the portrayal of womyn.
There was no romance (thank god!) and no awkward forced sexual chemistry using clever edits. There is a troop within the army called the “Crane Corps” that is comprised of all womyn, and they were treated and portrayed as equal to the men. Both genders on the front lines are never discussed by anyone in the army other than our Westerners (Matt Damon and Pedro Pascal) commenting on it. In fact, the womyn warriors have more on-screen time getting killed by the invading monsters compared to the male warriors. Okay, I’d have to re-watch the film and tabulate, but I’m pretty darn sure I’m right.
Jing Tian was a good casting choice to go from commander to general by the end of the story. (And she reminds of Chung-Li, especially with the blue colored armor). Her scenes with Matt Damon could’ve turned into sexual tension, but I felt she was able to successfully stick to professional warrior talk.
As for the (mostly white) men, I appreciated Pedro Pascal’s performance as the comic relief to Matt Damon’s stoic warrior. Willem Dafoe was thrown in there too… as soon as I saw him, I was really really hoping he’d speak some Mandarin (his character has been living in China for 25 years), but alas no.
It’s always great seeing Andy Lau! It was especially cool to see him share the screen with Matt Damon, especially since Damon played his character in the Hollywood remake of the classic Infernal Affairs.
Overall, I see this film as a gateway movie for Westerners for Zhang Yimou’s work. Hero did well in the US in 2004, and he is THE best of the best filmmakers coming out of China, so he might as well make the next career move and head West.
