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As a kid in suburban Chicago, Gary Sinise was more interested in sports and rock ‘n’ roll than reading or schoolwork. But when he impulsively auditioned for a school production of West Side Story, he found his purpose–or so it seemed. 

The military community’s embrace of the character of the disabled veteran he portrayed in Forest Gump,was matched only by the depth of Gary’s realization that America’s defenders had not received all the honor, respect, and gratitude their sacrifices deserve. In the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, this became Gary’s mission. While starring in hits like Apollo 13, Ransom, Truman, George Wallace, CSI:NY, and Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders, Gary has worked tirelessly on behalf of those who serve this country, entertaining more than a half million troops around the world playing bass guitar with his Lt. Dan Band, raising funds on behalf of veterans, and eventually founding the Gary Sinise Foundation with a mission to serve and honor America’s defenders, veterans, first responders, their families, and those in need.

Grateful American is the moving, entertaining, profoundly gripping story of how one man found his calling: to see that those who defend this country and its freedoms are never forgotten.

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Mi-ja and Young-sook, two girls living on the Korean island of Jeju, are best friends that come from very different backgrounds. When they are old enough, they begin working in the sea with their village’s all-female diving collective, led by Young-sook’s mother. As the girls take up their positions as baby divers, they know they are beginning a life of excitement and responsibility but also danger.

Despite their love for each other, Mi-ja and Young-sook’s differences are impossible to ignore. The Island of Sea Women is an epoch set over many decades, beginning during a period of Japanese colonialism in the 1930s and 1940s, followed by World War II, the Korean War and its aftermath, through the era of cell phones and wet suits for the women divers. Throughout this time, the residents of Jeju find themselves caught between warring empires. Mi-ja is the daughter of a Japanese collaborator, and she will forever be marked by this association. Young-sook was born into a long line of haenyeo and will inherit her mother’s position leading the divers in their village. Little do the two friends know that after surviving hundreds of dives and developing the closest of bonds, forces outside their control will push their friendship to the breaking point.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbsZohEMn38

Click the link above to watch the hilariously fun video of a grandma reading the “Wonky Donkey” book to her grandchild

Kids will love this cumulative and hysterical read-aloud!”I was walking down the road and I saw . . .
A donkey,
Hee Haw!
And he only had three legs!
He was a wonky donkey.”

Children will be in fits of laughter with this perfect read-aloud tale of an endearing donkey. By the book’s final page, readers end up with a spunky, hanky-panky, cranky, stinky, dinky, lanky, honky-tonky, winky wonky donkey!

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Gritty. Real. Real gritty.
Once again, Eastwood stars and directs a film about an aging Korean War veteran, Earl Stone, who continues to take pleasure in his lifetime past times, beautiful women, alcohol, and…….flowers (?).
Now in his nineties, with lingering guilt about neglect and abuse placed on certain family members, he tries to cling to the things he knows & loves: flowers. Offered a “driving” job, Earl finds himself in the modern age of cell phones, texting, & GPS.
Earl is now a drug runner, he knows what he is into, and uses his “gobs ‘o money” to get his house out of foreclosure, finance improvments to his VFW, and pay for other, a-hem, pleasures.
 Very little. The film is really about family, personal honor, integrity, and doing the right thing, even after doing wrong.

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