I read these 2 reviews and this sounds like a really good and inspiring documentary.
Aug. 5, 2016 "Life, Animated follows Owen Suskind, a young autistic man who learned to communicate with the help of Disney movies": Today I found this article by Chris Knight in the Edmonton Journal:
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Life, Animated follows Owen Suskind, a young autistic ma... 'Regardless of whether this is a one-off neurological miracle or a new technique to help autistics connect, Life, Animated tells a fascinating story with an upbeat ... | |||||||
Preview by Yahoo | |||||||
Owen's childhood is presented in the film by his parents, Ron and Cornelia, and his older brother Walt, sharing memories of what happened, how they felt.
These backstory sequences are accompanied by home movie footage as well as evocative animation, created by Mathieu Betard, Olivier Lescot, Philippe Sonrier.
The animation grows in complexity as Owen starts to join the world.
At first, for example, there's a small black-and-white boy shown standing at the end of a long dark hallway, no way out.
Later, the animation goes to fantastical Technicolor, as Owen accesses his own creativity.
Owen was bullied in school, and he found comfort in drawing various Disney characters. Ron Suskind, looking at the piles of artwork by his son, realized at one point that Owen only drew the "sidekicks," never the heroes.
Owen declares: "I am the protector of sidekicks. No sidekicks get left behind."
Throughout, the adult Owen is shown dealing with the stresses of his life by watching Disney films. In the first night in his new apartment, he lies in bed watching "Bambi," in particular the wrenching scene where Bambi's mother is killed. It's how Owen feels: He's lonely for his mother.
The Disney movie says, "We know. This is tough. Bambi got through it and so will you." Disney footage abounds in "Life, Animated," and these familiar images resonate in a totally new way, as seen through Owen's eyes.
They are stories about
adversity,
pain,
looking for belonging,
sparks of joy
and togetherness,
being lost
and then being found.
The first thing Owen does in his new apartment is unpack his boxes and boxes of Disney movie VHS tapes.
Life is not all sunshine and roses. Owen's anxiety is often acute and debilitating. Ron and Cornelia still tear up when they talk about Owen "vanishing" (Ron's word) at age three.
Owen's older brother Walt, older and wiser than his 26 years, speaks openly about his fear of what will happen to Owen later in life, what will happen when their parents die.
It will be Walt's responsibility to make sure that Owen is okay, and the thought is overwhelming.
Owen has a girlfriend named Emily, and there's an endearing scene where Walt and Owen play miniature golf, and Walt tries to give his brother the "birds and bees" talk, to prepare him for what a relationship might entail.
Walt gives it a shot, saying, hoping Owen will fill in the blank, "When people kiss, they don't just kiss with their lips. They kiss with their ... " Owen guesses, "Feelings?" (It's actually a pretty good answer.)
"Life, Animated" is powerful and emotional, without being manipulative. It is deeply inspiring, without trying to be.
It is honest about Owen's struggles, and the struggles of his family.
It does not soft-pedal the difficulties.
It shows the group-effort of the family to set Owen up in life,
get him the help he needs,
and validate who he is
(as opposed to who they wish he could be,
as opposed to yearning for who he was "before").
"Life, Animated" is also (perhaps the most moving part of all) a testament to the power of art and a shining example of what it can do.
"Sesame Street gets it right with Julia" (autistic character)/ "TV's attempts at autistic characters get mixed reviews"
"Netflix's grown up dramedy about autism" ("Atypical")/ "The complicated case of Glenn Gould"
Shannen Doherty has died after years of living with cancer, PEOPLE has confirmed. She was 53.
"It is with a heavy heart that I confirm the passing of actress Shannen Doherty. On Saturday, July 13, she lost her battle with cancer after many years of fighting the disease," Doherty's longtime publicist Leslie Sloane confirmed in an exclusive statement to PEOPLE on Sunday, July 14.
"The devoted daughter, sister, aunt and friend was surrounded by her loved ones as well as her dog, Bowie. The family asks for their privacy at this time so they can grieve in peace," Sloane continued.
The Beverly Hills 90210 star was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015 and spoke candidly to PEOPLE in November 2023 about her Stage 4 breast cancer, which had by then spread to her bones, saying at the time that she didn't "want to die."
“I’m not done with living. I’m not done with loving. I’m not done with creating. I’m not done with hopefully changing things for the better,” she told PEOPLE. "I’m just not — I’m not done.”
Following her 2015 diagnosis, the actress revealed less than two years later in April 2017 that she had gone into remission, however, by 2019, the cancer returned. Doherty announced her diagnosis of metastatic stage 4 cancer publicly in 2020. Then, in June of 2023, the actress shared that the cancer had spread to her brain and that she had undergone surgery.
In 2019, she signed on to join the TV reboot of Beverly Hills, 90210, once again playing an adult version of the character that made her famous.
Though the actress said she was aware of her stage 4 cancer diagnosis, she kept it a secret from the cast after the unexpected death of her costar Luke Perry in March 2019 at age 52.
"It's so weird for me to be diagnosed and then somebody who was, you know, seemingly healthy to go first," Doherty said on Good Morning America in 2020. "It was really, like, shocking."
https://ca.yahoo.com/news/shannen-doherty-star-charmed-beverly-122152819.html
She then said that she was focusing on creating memories with friends and family rather than material items in her last years of life.
“I don't need this, it doesn’t really bring me any great joy, but what does bring me great joy is taking my mom to the places that she's always wanted to go to,” she said, adding, “I get to build different memories — I get to build memories with the people I love. I'm not digging into the money that's in my estate that is going to make sure everybody in my life is taken care of.”
Doherty went on to reflect on a trip she took with her mom to Italy to make those memories a few years ago.
"[My mom] had tears pouring down her face because she never really thought that she would see that, and she certainly didn't think that she was going to be able to see that with me," Doherty said. “Those are the things that matter the most. Not your possessions, not what you have.”
Fitness guru Richard Simmons has died at the age of 76, multiple media outlets reported, including ABC News and TMZ.
The reports said his housekeeper found him unresponsive on Saturday morning and Los Angeles police were called. TMZ reported that police were treating it as a natural death.
Los Angeles police and fire departments told The Associated Press that they responded to a Los Angeles house, where a man was declared dead from natural causes. Neither provided a name, but AP matched the address and age to Simmons through public records.
Born Milton Teagle "Richard" Simmons, the flamboyant fitness instructor became a household name and pioneered gyms as safe places for people who weren't already in perfect shape. He revealed in a series of social media posts this year that he had been diagnosed with skin cancer.
Simmons, who grew up in the French quarter of New Orleans before settling in California, weighed 268 pounds when he graduated from high school, his website said.
His own story of struggling with weight loss, where he tried everything from fad diets to laxatives before settling on exercise and better lifestyle choices, inspired millions to do the same.
Today I found this article by Ben Cost from the New York Post and Yahoo:
It was watching over him.
Chalk up another save for the Apple Watch. A quick-thinking Australian body surfer survived getting swept out to sea after dialing emergency services on the life-saving digital device.
“It’s amazing that I was able to use that technology to save my life,” Rick Shearman, 49, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
The Aussie had been partaking in a morning body surfing session at Tallow Beach in Byron Bay on Saturday when he got caught in the impact zone — the area where the waves break.
While treading water, the quick-thinking swimmer used the gadget to call emergency services, whereupon he was asked whether he needed the police, fire brigade or ambulance.
“At this point, I was a long way out to sea, I was being buffeted by wind and big swells, it was actually quite difficult to utilize [the watch],” Shearman recalled. “I had to hold it up to my ear to hear what was going on and speak to the respondent.”
Despite being stranded at sea, the Aussie managed to stay on the line for an hour as he directed the responders to his location.
Shortly thereafter, he was fished out by a helicopter and flown to safety.
Rescuers claimed that if he hadn’t been wearing his Apple Watch the rescue could’ve taken days and involved multiple agencies due to the expansive search area. It would’ve also likely had a more tragic outcome.
Jul. 17, 2024 "You can never have too much money, happiness researcher finds": Today I found this article by Conrad Quilty-Harper on BNN Bloomberg:
“The results suggest that the positive association between money and well-being continues far up the economic ladder,” Killingsworth said.
Higher satisfaction
The new research, which is being self-published by Killingsworth, found people with a net worth in the millions or billions reported an average life satisfaction rating between 5.5 and 6 out of 7,
compared to a rating of about 4.6 for those earning around $100,000 a year
and just above 4 for those earning about $15,000 to $30,000 a year.
That makes the difference in happiness between the richest and middle-income groups almost three times larger than the difference between middle- and low-income groups, Killingsworth said.
“The magnitude of the difference between the low and high end of incomes is gigantic,” he said.
“Within the bounds of what money can explain, a huge amount of that difference occurs above the median income.”
The findings were made combining data used in Killingsworth’s earlier research with that from a 2018 study of 4,000 people with a median wealth of $3 million to $8 million from 17 countries, and a 1985 survey of the Forbes list of wealthiest Americans. The earlier studies asked “virtually identical” questions as Killingsworth, with individuals asked to rate the degree to which they are “satisfied” with life.
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