Saturday movie review: Alive Inside

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I shared a video a few years ago here on Grandma's Briefs of an elderly nursing home resident who amazingly comes out of the fog of dementia when headphones connected to an iPod are placed on his head. ALIVE INSIDE is the full documentary of that magical moment as well as others experienced by several dementia and Alzheimer's patients when given the opportunity to once again hear beloved tunes from days long gone. Joyous moments that prove music is far more powerful than pharmaceuticals.

Alive Inside documentary

In ALIVE INSIDE—winner of the 2014 Sundance Film Festival Audience Award (Documentary)—filmmaker Michael Rossato-Bennett follows social worker and founder of Music & Memory, Dan Cohen, as he brings music to nursing home residents, via iPods and headphones. The results...

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Saturday movie review: 'Unfinished Song'

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Vanessa Redgrave and Terence Stamp star in a lovely, poignant film that deserves far more attention than it's been given. UNFINISHED SONG is a 2012 movie that never played in my town, possibly never played in yours either. It's now playing on Netflix Streaming, though, and I urge you to add it to your queue. Heck, don't just add it to your queue — watch it this weekend!

 Unfinished Song

UNFINISHED SONG was originally titled "Song for Marion," which seems a far more appropriate title. Vanessa Redgrave brilliantly plays Marion, the terminally ill...

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Saturday movie review: 'The Sapphires'

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My husband and I scanned Netflix streaming the other night, in search of something uplifting and fun yet unrelated to the holidays. We happened upon THE SAPPHIRES, a 2012 film I had heard great things about but that we never had the opportunity to see in theaters here in Colorado, where the mountains are high, the skies are blue... and the independent film scene is dismal. 

Thank heavens for streaming movies, for THE SAPPHIRES turned out to be one serendipitous and soulful find.

The Sapphires

The film is an Australian musical dramedy loosely...

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The Saturday Post: Grandma-roots-for-Adele edition

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The Grammy Awards are tomorrow. Though I don't typically watch them, I just might this time. Because of Adele. I want to see her first major performance since having surgery on her vocal chords in November, and I want to see her win. The breathtakingly talented and beautiful 23-year-old (23!) is nominated for six Grammys.

Adele garnered three nominations—Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Short Form Music Video—for this song and video:

And she's nominated for Best Pop Solo Performance for this song:

Rounding out the six are Adele's nominations for Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album for 21.

I hope she makes a sweep of it, walking away with the Grammy in every category she's been nominated.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure I'll be watching—and definitely rooting for awesome Adele.

Today's question:

Who and what are some of your current favorite artists and songs?