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So Long, and Thanks for All the Cookies

2 Apr
cookies

Like Pavlov’s dog and the bell, these cookies made me salivate on a regular basis

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: I’m a very lucky person.

Today I’m saying it because I’m happy to announce that I have a new job and it’s my last day at my current place of employment.

Woo hoo!

To be honest, I don’t even want to say I’m leaving my current job. Rather, it’s more like I’m seizing an opportunity and moving on.

This opportunity came along at pretty much exactly the right time, and was the kind of job I was hoping for next. Actually, it’s the kind of job I was hoping for when I left a previous employer back in April 2012. So, yes, I’m very excited about the change, and the fact that things for me professionally seem to be back on track again.

Continue reading →

The 2015 Happiness Project

5 Jan

balloon-smiley-faceIn 2014, I was happy, and I’m committed to being happy in 2015 too.

So in an effort to demonstrate that every day has at least one thing to smile about (even the so-called bad days), I’ve decided to steal an idea from my friend Christoph Trappe, who spent the entire year last year posting happy thoughts, memories, or moments in one running blog post that he updated daily. It was a great way to show gratitude and remember what made each day so special for him.

That idea, like so many other good ideas, came from Twitter — specifically, a fellow tweeter named Krista, who did a similar thing in 2013. So you might say I’m now continuing the chain. Maybe next year somebody else will follow my lead.

Here’s the plan: For the next year, at the end of every day, I’m going to write down something that made me happy, whether that’s something I did, something I ate, something somebody said, a music lyric or line of movie dialogue that resonated with me, a tweet, or something else. It’s just that simple. Doesn’t have to be a big thing, just something that made me smile.

With apologies (and all due respect) to Gretchen Rubin, I’m calling this blog post my “2015 Happiness Project.” Think of it as a digital “rememberlutions jar,” a way to make sure I’m doing everything on my 2015 to-do list, or, in a way, an abbreviated version of the journals I used to keep when I was in high school. And please, check back here often to see what’s making me smile all year long.

Here we go. Continue reading →

Instead of Happy New Year, I’m Celebrating Happy This Year

31 Dec
Photo credit: nImAdestiny/Flickr/Creative Commons

Photo credit: nImAdestiny/Flickr/Creative Commons

I really didn’t want to write this blog post.

No, not for the same reasons that have prevented me from writing more often this year. I just didn’t want to admit — to myself, or to anyone else — that 2014 was over.

A year ago, things for me were looking (and feeling) good, and I was on the verge of some much anticipated professional stability. If things went as predicted, I was finally going to be able to reprioritize and shift from job searching to living my life again, and let things get back to normal. And then it happened: In January, my contract gig became a full-time job, and after about a year and a half of being unemployed and putting my life on hold, I was ready — determined — to make up for lost time.

And holy crap, did I. Continue reading →

The Best Movies of 2014 Were Quite the Present

29 Dec
Photo credit: Fox Searchlight

Photo Credit: Fox Searchlight

The thing about movie trailers — great as they are — is that they get us focused on movies still to come, when what’s currently playing at the multiplex (maybe even on the screen right in front of you) is worthy of attention too. It’s kind of an ironic shame if you like this sort of thing.

That’s especially true now because in 2014, there was plenty to see. There was, for example, Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill satirizing ridiculous sequels in 22 Jump Street. Chadwick Boseman bringing James Brown back to life in Get On Up. Matt Damon making a surprise cameo appearance in Interstellar. Chris Pine and Billy Magnussen grappling over who feels more “Agony” in Into the Woods. Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader lip-syncing to Starship’s “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now” in The Skeleton Twins. And of course, Groot getting down to the Jackson 5 in Guardians of the Galaxy.

And then there were the movies themselves. If trailers are about future movies, the movies this year served as quite the present. (Sorry.)

So, before we turn to 2015, a year in which we’ll see Jurassic World, a new Star Wars, and even a dramatic version of the Oscar-winning documentary Man on Wire (a.k.a. Robert Zemeckis’ The Walk), among other things, allow me to look back on the films that made going to the movies so much fun this year.

Of the more than 60 movies I saw in 2014, these were my favorites. Continue reading →

These Songs Are in My Musical Time Capsule for 2014

17 Dec

2014 Time Capsule PlaylistEvery year, folks like DJ Earworm and Daniel Kim create mashups of the year’s most popular pop songs. The top 40 songs of 2014 include ones by Ariana Grande, Jason Derulo, Taylor Swift and Iggy Azalea, so it’d be easy to be dismissive and say there wasn’t much good music to listen to.

And yet, DJ Earworm and Daniel Kim’s 2014 mashups are still pretty awesome. Which proves, in one way or another, that when you listen to the right song in the right context, it can sound better than you remember.

Also, that we all have our own soundtrack, and like to listen to music in different ways. What sounds good to one person doesn’t to another. We all march to our own beat. Etc.

Plenty of music writers have already ranked what they think is the best/worst music of the year, and I have no intention of creating that kind of list. That said, as I look back on the past year, I’m finding that there was plenty of music I want to remember. Admittedly, not all of it was good (by my standards, anyway). But months or years from now, when I’m trying to put my head back in the place it was this year, playing these tracks will do the trick.

You won’t find any U2 here (free or not, I just didn’t dig their new album), but you will find multiple songs by folks like Bruce Springsteen, Jamie Cullum, and Pharrell Williams. You may even find a song from a Broadway show and a jazz instrumental track. (And two Megan Trainor songs, too; no judging.) That’s what I listened to this year. That was my soundtrack.

For your listening pleasure, here’s my musical time capsule for 2014, with some commentary on some of the tracks. Songs are listed (on the playlist and in this blog post) in no order other than a roughly chronological one. Enjoy! Continue reading →

40 Reasons Why the Summer of 2014 Was Awesome

2 Sep

SailboatBack in May, I published a bucket list of all the places I wanted to go, foods I wanted to eat, people I wanted to see, and things I wanted to do this summer.

Sure, I didn’t get to all of it, but I knew I wouldn’t. That said, I can say I accomplished the overwhelming majority of things I set out to do — and then some.

I drank a flight at Bantam Cider in Somerville, walked around Lake Hollywood in Los Angeles, sat out by the pool at the Hotel Indigo in Newton, ate all the steak I wanted at Fogo de Chão, watched my nephews have a blast aboard a Duck Tour, saw two Red Sox games (if you count the AA affiliate minor league team in Portland), watched all 26 episodes of House of Cards (in less than three weeks), etc. etc.

That’s why today, on the day after Labor Day, I can look back on the summer and confidently declare … Mission Accomplished. Continue reading →

On the 9th Anniversary of This Blog, I Have a New Perspective

1 Sep
Photo credit: edenpictures/Flickr/Creative Commons

Photo credit: edenpictures/Flickr/Creative Commons

Like so many blog posts I’ve written — or tried to write — over the last couple years, this one didn’t come easy.

I had a germ of an idea, started to write, hit a wall, walked away, and didn’t finish.

But I was determined to publish something today because it’s September 1, and that date is special for me. No, not because it’s Allston Christmas. It’s the anniversary of this blog.

Nine years ago today, I started what I hoped would be a fun outlet for me to share thoughts, reviews, stuff I came across, and other random “musings” for anyone who wanted to read them. Kind of like the journals I kept in high school, except in a public venue. Thankfully, people did want to read them, and the blog grew over time: The subjects I wrote about became less random, the writing improved, the audience increased, I migrated from Blogger to WordPress, and all was well. Continue reading →

A Letter to Myself on My 40th Birthday

7 Jun

Young Martin LiebermanDear Martin,

Where did the time go? It seems like just yesterday you were skydiving to celebrate your 30th birthday. Now it’s 10 years later and you’re 40 years old.

Wait a second. You’re 40? How are you 40? You don’t look 40. You don’t act 40. You’re still single. You have no kids. You still tell and laugh at the same juvenile jokes. You still eat Lucky Charms for breakfast (sometimes, anyway). And hell, you still watch the Real World/Road Rules Challenge every week on MTV. (Ahem, you have a season pass set on the DVR.) The fact that you’re 40 just doesn’t seem right.

Are you sure that’s how old you are? And if it’s true, then why doesn’t it seem to faze you?

Continue reading →

40 Things I Learned Before I Turned 40: Part Two

6 Jun

reflectionWhenever you hit a milestone in life, it’s only natural to reflect on what’s come before and pick out the takeaways you want to bring with you as you move forward.

I guess that’s my clunky, long-winded way of saying my 40th birthday (it’s tomorrow; maybe you’ve heard me mention something about it?) has resulted in me doing a bit of soul searching and reflection.

Last week, I shared the first 20 in my list of 40 things I’ve learned in my first 40 years of living. Today it’s time to share the second half of the list. (Unranked, just for the record.)

Sure, I’m no Navy Seal. But we all have our life lessons. These are some of mine. Continue reading →

40 Things I Learned Before I Turned 40: Part One

30 May

paper and pencilSpend enough time doing something, and you’re bound to learn a few things along the way.

Such is the case with life.

Over the past 40 years, as I’ve lived a life full of ups and downs, I’ve learned many, many, many things. Some, of course, are the obvious ones: How to walk, talk, drive, cook, and write with decent grammatical ability.

But there are other things I’ve learned — important lessons that I hope will stick with me as I enter my 41st year. Many of these weren’t easy to learn, and some haven’t quite sunk in yet.

Regardless, I thought I’d put together a list of 40 lessons learned from 40 years of living. Here, with one week left till my actual birthday, are the first 20. Enjoy. Continue reading →

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