A Drop of Happy

This Week’s Happy Drop: Old Guard 2 & the Entertainment Buzz You Don’t Want to Miss!

Stress Well Tip/Journal Prompt: Believe in you. Think about a time when you let self-doubt take over. What was the outcome? What lessons did you learn? Ultimately, you have to believe in yourself and your capability to be more than what others think of you or to rise to the occasion.

Where’s your happy place?

Movie review of Old Guard, now streaming on Netflix, starring Charlize Theron, Kiki Layne, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Uma Thurman, and Henry Golding

Eyes of Wakanda

Highest 2 Lowest A Spike Lee joint starring Denzel Washington

Oldboy, another Spike Lee joint

The New Superman Soars — A Powerful Reminder to Believe in Yourself

What’s on the show: Justine Timberlake, NPR, PBS, Shannon Sharp, Kamala Harris, Cowboy Carter, Superman

Stress Well Tip/Journal Prompt: Believe in you. Think about a time when you let self-doubt take over. What was the outcome? What lessons did you learn? Ultimately, you have to believe in yourself and your capability to be more than what others think of you or to rise to the occasion.

Entertainment Shananigans

Justine Timberlake's not-so-performances and Lyme disease

Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) will be shutting down after Congress passed a bill that cut funding for the corporation– NPR and PBS will still function. Smaller stations will be impacted

Kevin On Stages Churchy gets a second season on BET+ and a new series, The Hospital

Shanon Sharp and Chad Ochocinco- 20 million dollar lawsuit

Busta Bust got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

Kamala Harris's 107 Days

One Music Fest

Cowboy Cater Tour comes to an end at 407.6 million gross and Shaboozey, Destiny’s Child

Superman Review

Superman is back, and it is my Pride and Prejudice, my A Christmas Carol, my Spider-Man. It is one of those movies that no matter how many different versions of it they create, I will watch. Now, I can’t say I was overexcited about this version, but I was looking forward to it.

Superman stars David Corenswet as Superman, Rachel Broshahan as Lois Lane, Nicholas Hould as Lex Luthor, Maria Gabriela de Faria as Engineer, Isabela Merced and Hawkgirl, and Edi Gathegi and Mister Terrific, to name a few of the cast members. This installment follows Superman as he deals with the media backlash from his attempt to prevent an impending war between two foreign countries.

Audiences seem to love it from the ratings on Rotten Tomatoes at 83%, 4 out of 5 from Google reviews, and IMBd at 7/6/10. After watching it, I would say I agree. Before we get into a more robust breakdown, there are a few things about it I did not enjoy. Unfortunately, Lex Luther was one of them. Now, I do think the special effects were pretty cool and well done. The pacing could have been better, but I think that was partially because I did not care for Lex. With that being the case, the writing and bringing it all together could have been done better. The acting was mostly good. Nicholas Hoult committed. He gave it his all. I just don’t think he was given the best material. Maria Gabriela de Faria missed the mark for me. Again, I partially think it was due to the writing of her character, though. Everyone else did a great job acting wise. I thought the special effects were on point, and I do have a special effects-related scene.

Superman had a lot to enjoy. Unfortunately, there was enough to distract me from how good it could have been.

Superman 7/10

Listen to the show for more of a breakdown with spoilers

Clark Kent/Superman

Lois Lane

Justice Gang

Mister Terrific

Green Lantern

Hawk Girl

Krypto

The Engineer

Lex Luthor

Clark’s Family

Your Body, Your Power: Quotes from Rest is Resistance That Hit Deep

Powerful Quotes from Rest is Resistance: Tenet 2: Our bodies are a site of liberation

What’s on the show: Journal prompt. Tenet 2 from Rest is resistance. Do you know what dehumanization is? Parents don’t want to buy community school supplies. Social media death threats.

Journal Prompt: Write this quote down as your affirmation statement. “We are meant to survive, and ultimately thrive, because we are divine.”

We have multiple parts to this series, so I am going to stop numbering them at this point.

These four tenets are:

Tenet 2: Our bodies are a site of liberation

When I think of this second tenet, I think of how dehumanization is a prominent tool of oppression. It is a tool that allows for violence, genocide, and ruling over other living beings.

What is Dehumanization, Anyway?

Tricia Hersey Rest is Resistance Tenet 2 Qoutes

“When we finally wake up to the truth of what a machine-level pace of labor has done to our physical bodies, our self-esteem, and our Spirits, the unraveling begins.”

“We are wrapped up in a web that feels inescapable and hopeless. Will you trust me and trust your divinity enough to believe it is indeed not hopeless? Can you trust, even for a second that we can reside in a rested future?”

“The ongoing socialization and manipulation by the systems then become internalized, and we become the agents of grind culture”

“In order for a capitalist system to thrive, our false beliefs in productivity and labor must remain. We have internalized its teachings and become zombie-like in Spirit and exhausted in body. So we push ourselves and each other under the guise of being hyperproductive and efficient.”

SLOW DOWN

“We become rigid and impatient when our checklist isn’t completed to perfection. WE become less human and less secure. We believe we are only meant to survive and not thrive.”

“I clearly remember the moment it clicked for me how a capitalist, patriarchal, ableist, anti-Black system could never make space for the success I wanted for myself. The ‘success’ grind culture props up centers constant labor, material wealth, and overworking as a badge of honor. Resting is about the beginning process of undoing trauma so that we can thrive and evolve back to our natural state: a state of ease and rest.”

“We are meant to survive, and ultimately thrive, because we are divine.”

“Our everyday behaviours and false beliefs about productivity drive us into behaving in a robotic, machine-like way.”

“Liberation and oppression cannot occupy the same space.”

Happy Happenings

Fantastic Four: First Steps

Superman

Jurassic World Rebirth

Streaming

Sandman Season 3

Happy Gilmore 2

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Why We Love the Messy Ones: When Celebrity and Fictional Characters Reflect Our Self-Sabotage

A Drop of Entertainment

Beyonce's 16 carriages malfunction, tour update

Beyoncé’s stolen music and other stuff

Halle Bailey's new boo, aka Scott Bridgeway, producer for Kendrick Lamar

Meg the Stallion and Klay Thompson

Jeff Bezos’ Wedding- 50 million bucks

Nick Cannon, the 12 kids, and a new show

Nelly and Ashanti- We Belong Together ended

Kanye West is still off the rails- Shanghai concert gone wrong

Nicki Minaj vs Jay-Z vs SZA vs Herself

Journal Prompt: Have you ever self-sabotaged? Do you know why? What was the lesson learned? Do you still need to learn a lesson? Is it something you still do?

IronHeart series comes to an end.

Let's Talk Self-sabotage

Why do we self-sabotage

Self-sabotage basics

Hot Drops and Happy Picks

Ironheart, starring Anthony Ramos, Dominique Thorne, Manny Montana, and Lyric Ross, was released by Disney+ to some controversy and mixed reviews. And by controversy, I mean misogyny and racist hate. So there is this thing that racists do when they can’t help their racism in the entertainment industry. They tank a production with bad reviews when they haven’t even engaged with it. Similar to those who talked trash about Cowboy Carter without even having listened to it. Similar to those who already decided they hated the Little Mermaid live-action movie because Halle Bailey played Ariel. The same people who will hop on social media and leave terrible, disparaging comments on posts that they are hateful towards because they are racist or anti LGBTQ. They have to find a way to express the hate in their hearts when people are just trying to live their best lives. It’s called review bombing, and it was happening to Ironheart of Rotten Tomatoes before it was even released. 

Fans rallied to counter the review bombing on Rotten Tomatoes, as it currently sits at 69%. I had the opportunity to watch it, so let’s talk about it. The cast has good chemistry together, and the acting is decent. The first 2 episodes were building up, and the third episode was a good way to end, while we have to wait till July 1st for the final three. I am ready for them now, so that’s a good sign. All in all, it gets a strong 7 right now but may increase after watching the full season. 

Ironheart Episodes 1–3: 7/10

Journal Prompt: When have you been your worst enemy? What were the circumstances and outcome? Did you learn anything from it?

Entertainment Updates

Cardi B - including older songs (W.A.P and Up) to boost album sales for “Am I the drama”

Damson Idris on press tour for F1 (Brad Pitt movie) and talks of Black Panther

Brandy and Monica are going on The Boy Is Mine tour

Prosecutors in the Diddy Case rest. Jury deliberation to begin

Mahershala Ali still wants Blade (2019), and so do we. He is in Jurassic World: Rebirth

Tiffany Haddish: multiple baby daddy comments

Box Office: How to Train Your Dragon, 28 Years Later

We can be so toxic to ourselves. I am trying to be my best friend and treat myself with grace and kindness. That treatment includes how I take care of my body. I would say some of us could improve on how we care for ourselves. Sometimes we need to be better parents to ourselves. We are old enough now to set our guardrails and try to deter ourselves from danger. We are also old enough to allow ourselves to indulge in whatever we want, even if it is to our detriment. Nowhere is that more apparent than in American fitness. 

Working out is a wonderful, beautiful thing. The benefits to our body and mind are phenomenal. But the effort it requires is mountainous, especially when it hasn't been a part of your routine in life. However,  moving is detrimental to our quality of life. 

In the article Exercise and stress: Get moving to manage stress, the Mayo Clinic lists 5 benefits that exercise will provide towards stress relief. Again, these are probably things that you have heard or been told before, but repetition will hopefully lead to action, so here goes.

Exercise: 

Pump your endorphins

Cuts down on the negative effects of stress

Is meditation in motion

Improves your mood.

And, throwing in my own contribution to this list, if done right, can contribute to eliciting the relaxation response as well. 

Now, on the flip side, a sedentary lifestyle is the kiss of death. I know that sounds quite dramatic, but it’s completely intentional. It needs to be taken seriously. 

A sedentary lifestyle is what a lot of us can easily fall into because we might be trying to keep up with life’s ups and downs, and when we get a breather, we just want to rest. However, there is a big difference between resting and consistently not moving. It is spending a lot of time on your butt. It’s a lifestyle in which we hardly engage in physical activity. In the article, Health Risks of an Inactive Lifestyle, Medline Plus lists 10 health risks associated with an inactive lifestyle. Interestingly enough, these 10 health risks are very similar to the risk associated with poor stress management. 

These risks include:

Obesity

Heart disease, including CAD and heart attack

High blood pressure

High cholesterol

Stroke

Metabolic syndrome

Diabetes (Type 2)

Certain cancers

Osteoporosis and falls

Increased feelings of depression and anxiety

The article goes on to give some suggestions on how to start working on increasing our level of activity. 

Personally, I am trying to get back into it because time waits for no one, and neither does age. It is not easy until it becomes habitual, and you don't stop. So here I go again because it is important. Exercise is a great stress reliever and helps to keep the mind sharp. Let's release some stress, balance ourselves out and get moving! The below pin from Pinterest is a good suggestion to kick-start a workout.

In this Show

Short & Stories

A Drop of Happy Shorts and Stories coming

Journal Prompt: What’s the one thing you do that always brings you some level of joy

Teaser: coming up, entertainment shenanigans cocoa, Tyler Perry lawsuit, Hot new couple, tiktok ban, main impacts of missed opportunities

Entertainment News

R. Kelly hospitalized

Congratulations, Colman Doming,o for Native Son Award

Beyoncé Carter’s Cowboy tour is killing the chitlin circuit

Teyana Taylor and Aaron Pierre make a beautiful couple

Mariah Carey's new song

BET Awards with Kevin Hart hosted: Glorilla, Snoop

The American Music Awards, with host J-Lo

Tyler Perry lawsuit, Straw

Brit Eady 20 million Bravo lawsuit

Shannon Sharpe lawsuit

Chris Brown May arrest in the UK

Justine Baldoni $400 million counter lawsuit dismissed

Diddy Trial follow Mona

TikTok ban but not ban again

Don’t worry about failures, worry about the chances you miss when you don’t even try –Jack Canfield

Let’s talk about The 5 Types of Overthinkers

Let’s talke about FoMO. Cleveland Clinic Article: FOMO Is Real: How the Fear of Missing Out Affects Your Health

So missed opportunities can increase and impact the feelings associated with FoMO. I also think it affects our morale as well. As discussed in the Cleveland Clinic article as to why it happens, the link to low self-esteem and then depression makes sense. 

The cause and cure is you. –Xscape. 

I cannot stress enough the impact of trying vs not trying at all. It is like the act of living. We have to shift our mindset and find success in the doing because sometimes the ultimate outcome may not be all that we thought and then we will look for the next journey. 

However, if we do nothing, we will have nothing or be in the same spot