Word: lifes
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...They do not disappoint, although the movie, while effective in portraying the complications of any life lived publicly, is on the whole less eloquent than its principals. It is structured on the belief that we need an expository guide to get the complexities of the Tolstoy's life, offered in the form of Valentin Bulgakov (James McAvoy), a nervous, good-hearted young secretary sent to the Tolstoy's country estate to help Leo with his papers. Valentin arrives as a pawn of the Countess' sworn enemy, the exiled Chertkov (Paul Giamatti), who urges him to keep vigilant...
...life among the Tolstoyans plays out as a parallel to Leo's. Arriving at their woodsy compound, Valentin cheerfully observes that it's a beautiful day. "Yes, but we'll pay for it," says the grumpy Sergeyenko (Patrick Kennedy). Except for a carnal handywoman named Masha (Kerry Condon), who serves as a mini-Sofya to Valentin's mini-Leo, the Tolstoyans are too busy trying to adhere to their standards - vegetarianism, living off the land, practicing celibacy - to appreciate either a beautiful day or the fact that Tolstoy himself doesn't live up to them...
...Barbara Fredrickson, author of Positivity and a professor of psychology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, says it's crucial for people to pay attention to their workday emotions. "Doing so," she says, "will help you discover which aspects of your work are most life-giving - and most life-draining...
Vincent Cushnahan, 29, currently the youngest diocesan priest in Ireland, knows how hard the decision can be. "I had to forsake married life, my own house, money," he says. "[Being a priest] can be more isolating and countercultural than it has been in the past. It's more challenging, but also more rewarding because of that...
...widening gap between the haves and the have-nots in North Korea, partly due to the prevalence of relatively free markets, says Cheong Seong-chang, senior fellow at the Sejong Institute, a think tank in Seoul. Since 2000, the bigger traders in North Korea have come to live a life "almost as lavish as South Koreans," says Cheong. "They have big refrigerators, color televisions, DVD players." In a socialist utopia like North Korea, such economic divides are unacceptable; the currency change would reduce inequality by making a broad swath of the North Korean population poorer. (See pictures of North Korea...