Thursday night – 7:15 pm – we’re cleaning up the kitchen from dinner and chatting about Brian’s girlfriend situation. A typical night at the Coffey household. and then… the power goes out! No big deal, we think at first – it will be back on in a few minutes. We do out best to finish our tasks in the dark, and the lights don’t come on. We look out the window and see that the whole neighborhood is dark. Time to find the flashlights. But it’s dark, and we don’t exactly remember where we put everything since we just barely moved in. Luckily Greg, the Pitta poster boy, has a flashlight (a “torch” in Australian) in his desk drawer, and he finds his way there easily. The other flashlights are in a drawer in the utility room closet. I find about 5 of them and carry them to the kitchen table. None of them work. Dead batteries. Or old batteries, whatever the case may be. Back to the closet for batteries, and we spend the next 20 minutes getting the new batteries in the old flashlights. I’m amazed that we are doing this, that we have enough batteries to go around. Family bonding time. Since we have no computer, Brian must do his homework by flashlight in his room. A modern day Abe Lincoln. The boy has a built-in excuse for not turning in an assignment but Brian is diligent, and a little obsessive, so he works away. I bring him a candle and put another in his bathroom. Greg and I decide to spend the time meditating. 7:55 and anxiety sets in. The O.C. is on and we’re going to miss it! Oh, no! Brian and I commiserate. His friend Jason will Tivo the show, but then Brian has to go over there to watch it. We wonder how Ryan and Seth and Marissa and Summer will do without us for the evening. The minutes tick by, and still no power. I put photos in the albums. I put candles in the bedroom. We can always go to bed early and catch up on some sleep. We hear noise from the neighbor’s house and surmise that they must have a generator. Their lights are on, but there is still no power on the rest of the street. We brush our teeth by candlelight. Suki, our cat, doesn’t seem to notice our quandry. It’s business as usual for her. 9:30 and we’re in bed – I leave a candle flickering in the bathroom so we can find our way in the middle of the night. Finally relaxed, knowing that the light of day will come and I might as well give in to sleep. 9:50 the lights come on! The clocks all flash and need to be re-set, but that’s okay. Just in the nick of time, I race downstairs to catch the last few minutes of The Apprentice – and watch Clay get fired. What a night.

It’s always entertaining living with teenagers. Annika, Greg’s 14 year old from Australia, stayed with us for 3 weeks over the holidays. One day Brian, my 15 year old, says to me: “Mom, they’re having that KROQ around the world concert again! I want to go! Green Day is playing in Bulimia!” Annika starts laughing hysterically. I do a double-take. Bulimia? “It’s Bolivia!” Annika shouts across the room. Okay – later in the day we’re actually listening to the radio station, and KROQ is playing in Scotland. These are the kinds of things you have to write down to remember so you can all laugh about it again when they’re older. ]]>

FEATURE FILM
WINNER: Alfonso Cuarn, Gravity
Paul Greengrass, Captain Phillips
Steve McQueen, Twelve Years A Slave
David O. Russell, American Hustle
Martin Scorsese, The Wolf of Wall Street

DOCUMENTARY
Zachary Heinzerling, Cutie and the Boxer
WINNER: Jehane Noujaim, The Square
Joshua Oppenheimer, The Act of Killing
Sarah Polley, Stories We Tell
Lucy Walker, The Crash Wheel

DRAMATIC SERIES
Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad, “Blood Money”
David Fincher, House of Cards, “Chapter 1”
WINNER: Vince Gilligan, Breaking Bad, “Felina”
Lesli Linka Glatter, Homeland, “The Star”
David Nutter, Game of Thrones, “The Rains of Castamere”

COMEDY SERIES
Mark Cendrowski, The Big Bang Theory, “The Hofstadter Insufficiency”
Bryan Cranston, Modern Family, “The Old Man & The Tree”
Gail Mancuso, Modern Family, “My Hero”
WINNER: Beth McCarthy-Miller, 30 Rock, “Hogcock!/Last Lunch”
Anthony Rich, The Big Bang Theory, “The Love Spell Potential”

MOVIES FOR TELEVISION AND MINI-SERIES
Stephen Frears, Muhammad Ali’s Greatest Fight
David Mamet, Phil Spector
Beth McCarthy-Miller and Rob Ashford, The Sound of Music Live!
Nelson McCormick, Killing Kennedy
WINNER: Steven Soderbergh, Behind the Candelabra

VARIETY/TALK/NEWS/SPORTS – REGULARLY SCHEDULED PROGRAMMING
Dave Diomedi, Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, “#799”
Andy Fisher, Jimmy Kimmel Live, “#13-1810”
Jim Hoskinson, The Colbert Report, “#10004”
WINNER: Don Roy King, Saturday Night Live, “Saturday Night Live with Host Justin Timberlake”
Chuck O’Neil, The Daily Show With Jon Stewart, “#19018”

VARIETY/TALK/NEWS/SPORTS – SPECIALS
Louis C.K., Louis C.K.: Oh My God
Joel Gallen, 2013 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony
Louis J. Horvitz, The 55th Annual Grammy Awards
Don Mischer, The 85th Annual Academy Awards
WINNER: Glenn Weiss, The 67th Annual Tony Awards

REALITY PROGRAMS
Matthew Bartley, The Biggest Loser, “1501”
WINNER: Neil P. DeGroot, 72 Hours, “The Lost Coast”
Paul Starkman, Top Chef, “Glacial Gourmand”
J. Rupert Thompson, The Hero, “Teamwork”
Betram van Munster, The Amazing Race, “Beards in the Wind”

CHILDREN’S PROGRAMS
Stephen Herek, Jinxed
Jeffrey Hornaday, Teen Beach Movie
Jonathan Judge, Swindle
WINNER: Amy Schatz, An Apology to Elephants
Adam Weissman, A.N.T. Farm

COMMERCIALS
Fredrik Bond, Voyage, Heineken; From The Future, Johnny Walker
John X. Carey, Real Beauty Sketches, Dove
WINNER: Martin de Thurah, The Man Who Couldn’t Slow Down, Hennessy VS; Human Race, Acura MDX 2014
Matthijs van Heijningen, Perfect Day, Sony Playstation; #Forty Eight, Verizon
Noam Murro, Basketball, Guinness; Kids, DIRECTV; Mask, Volkswagen

I am beyond upset right now.  I am appalled, sickened, and totally thrown by what I just witnessed on television.  If I had seen this sooner, I would have written sooner.  I had E! Entertainment on in the background while I was busy working on my newsletters.  The show “Kourney and Kim Take Miami” was on – I was hardly paying attention, until I saw Scott Disick, Kourtney’s baby daddy, shoot and kill an alligator. 

Yes, he did.  We saw the shot.  We saw the blood.  We saw the lifeless body.  It was horrible.  It was REAL.  This is not fiction, this is not a scripted drama – this happened ON CAMERA.  And then, to make matters worse, Disick and his group of hunter pals guffaw as they take the dead animal to the skinner, and he proceeds to cut off its leg.  The whole time the group is making jokes, and Disick arrogantly is caught up in how great his alligator shoes are going to be. 

This network is called E for “Entertainment” – how is this entertainment?  I understand that there are people who don’t get it, who take life for sport, who think hunting is a game.  But I certainly don’t need to see this on television.  Have we gotten so de-sensitized to killing that this can happen on a cable television show and no one blinks? 

Thankfully, PETA noticed, and responded.  But that’s not enough.  Any one who values life, who values the tradition of television needs to respond, and loudly!  There is no excuse for this.  I know that the Kardashians are known to trash talk – they are bleeped out all the time – even their subtitles are bleeped out.  And yet, to kill an animal is ok?  No – it’s not.  If this were a dog instead of an alligator would people be more upset?  A life is a life – whether it is a pet, a wild animal, or a human.

E! needs to have some respect – for its viewers, and for the value of a life.

Eat, Pray, Love has spiritual seekers everywhere following in Elizabeth Gilberts footsteps, literally, traveling to Italy, India, and Bali on an adventure of a lifetime.And now that Julia Roberts has followed suit on the big screen, it is likely that many more will make the sojourn to these exotic locations in pursuit of something to marvel at.There is much to marvel at anytime you travel.Everything is new, and different.It opens your eyes, engages the senses. Travel is an amazing opportunity to learn and grow through new experiences.

And yet, as Confucius stated so plainly: No matter where you go, there you are. The spiritual journey is a journey within.We dont need to climb a mountain in Tibet to achieve the kind of inner peace we so desperately crave.We dont need to go anywhere, we dont even need to do anything, to find ourselves in a place of balance and bliss.

So, given that we can’t all jet off to foreign countries on a whim, let’s go on our own spiritual quest, right where we are, starting with eat.

Tantra teaches us that we experience the world through our five senses.Taste is definitely one of those senses where we can experience much pleasure  and given the cuisine, one might even say nirvana.When eating, the sense of smell also comes into play; the aroma heightens the anticipation, and enhances the flavors.Sight is involved with food.We’ve learned from the many Food Network shows how important presentation is in a meal.When food looks good, we’re more likely to perceive it as tasting good.Touch is in the texture of the food.How does it feel in your mouth? And even sound is in food from the sizzle on the grill to the crunch of that perfect bite, to the oohs and aahs that emerge from satisfied diners.

Great pasta dinners aren’t only in Italy. We can cook, and have fun in our very own kitchen creating and experimenting with sauces and seasonings. Or we can find a lovely little neighborhood restaurant, and allow ourselves to be served with careful attention. Eating gives us a chance to indulge all of our five senses, to be present in the moment, to savor the experience and to be aware of the feelings that it evokes from deep within. When we are in present moment awareness there is no regret, fear, or guilt. There is only gratitude. And that is a beautiful place to be.

Pray takes us into silence, into the stillness where all the wisdom of the universe can be found. Our busy world is filled with commotion. We are inundated with errands and e-mails and obligations. Our lives are slaves to the clock and the calendar, scheduled out farther that we even care to plan. But when we meditate, there is no time and space. The world seems to stop; our mind begins to quiet. Gone are the commercials and the traffic and the to-do lists. Suddenly we become aware of our breath, which brings us back to ourselves. We listen, and answers come, truth reveals itself, calmness settles in.

We could be in a temple, some historically preserved monument. Or we could be right where we are, perhaps smack dab in the middle of the couch.It doesn’t matter, because it’s all the same, it’s all connected. When we get together and meditate in groups, the experience is amplified. Energy rises, and circulates, and infuses each participant. Take that time away from the busy-ness, shut off the phone, unplug from technology  get back to nature, get back to yourself and you’ll remember who you are.

Love is all about relationships.And life is all about love.Who we love, and what we love. When we are doing what we love and also helping people, then we have found our dharma or purpose in life. There is nothing more fulfilling. If there is anything this world needs more of, it is love. We can never get too much of it! Extend yourself beyond your comfort zone, beyond the parameters that have been self-imposed, and reach out to someone with love. It’s easy to love a baby, or a kitten. So innocent and sweet, so receptive and accepting. The challenge is for us to love something or someone that might appear to us to be unlovable. The rejected, the downtrodden, the messy, the annoying. Yet when we do open our hearts, and we allow that love to pour forth, we feel an influx of love coming right back to us. Love the moment, every moment. Love where you are, wherever that is. Marvel at your surroundings, the miracles that extend in and around the immediate environment. Everything that is here is here for you. The ground yearns for your footsteps. You love, and you are loved completely.

When you implement these simple techniques, what starts as a holiday becomes a habit. That habit then becomes a lifestyle. It’s a matter of mindfulness. We have the opportunity to practice every day, every moment, anywhere we are.

My new e-course with Daily Om is 9 Weeks to Joyful Living. Do the exercises and you’ll find you are living a life filled with elegance, joy, and simplicity. Once you do that, you can’t go back.