Sheila “Spiral Sister” Murrey Art & Music, Balancing Perspectives, Connections, Moral Ambiguities

Movie Review: If it weren’t for all the magic, the eight Harry Potter films would be the most Christian we seen in a long time!

I’m thankful to author, J.K. Rowling, for writing the Harry Potter books on which all eight films were based. And while these were intense, and of course, were all about natural magic–including potions, spells, and poison, they were great! So clean! No F-bombs. No sex, okay a bit of “kissing in the halls” kinda teenage stuff, but it wasn’t blatant. And no gays (and if there were–not front and center).

We loved watching all the children age a year or so every single night. Yes, we watched each of the films (one per night) in succession. We enjoyed seeing many of the older actors that we don’t see as much too, like the incredible Maggie Smith (whom we loved in Downton Abbey), Alan Rickman (the character we love to hate from Die Hard), John Hurt, Richard Harris, Robbie Coltrane, Warwick Davis, and Verne Troyer, and how many remained in their roles throughout the 8 films. I loved watching how they changed Emma Stone’s hair throughout, it was a mess in that first movie, much like my long naturally curly hair was when I was that age. And Daniel Radcliffe was good, but one could certainly appreciate how he grew his acting skills along with way. Rupert Grint did a fine job throughout as well, though there were a few times when we weren’t sure he should have been jealous, though that’s “per the script” and direction too, perhaps not his acting choice.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001)

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010)

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011)

I’m not anti-gay. But over the years the gayness has increased across the board. It seems now that EVERY movie or TV series we’ve watched in the last 10-20 years has been overrun with gay content.

Of course, we laugh at Little Britain. We own the DVD series of that British comedy–and we used to laugh at Russell Brand’s audacious stand-up comedy routines too! And my gay friends are funny (hilarious at times in fact!) because they don’t take themselves so seriously. Something I struggle with–taking myself so seriously.

But they’re adults, and we’re adults. I know no one wants to DO adulting, but come on. We know people are people and each have free will to live as they choose and love who they want. We simply don’t want to see gay themes in EVERY SINGLE show. Sorry. We don’t!

We just watched Mark Wahlburg in Balls Up last night and thought it was hilarious–I’ve never laughed so hard during the first five minutes of a movie!!! And there were gay references in it, but Mark scored points for Jesus in it too, and for me, it was a GREAT BALANCE!

Per Google (just now): “Based on global surveys, approximately 3% of adults worldwide identify specifically as gay or lesbian, while around 9% identify as LGBTQ+ overall, according to a 2023 study across 30 countries. The broader LGBTQ+ figure includes bisexual (4%), pansexual (1%), and asexual (1%) identities.” And they do allow for generational differences, regional variations, and data limitations.

I’m simply saying that Hollyweird (Disney, in particular) has gotten to the point where everything, even Star Wars, has gone gay. (Talk about Girls Gone Wild.) Geesh! The Acolyte did no favors for witches (or women) either, by burning them all in that one scene. Ugh! Why can’t we all just get along? As an occultist (one that likes to study the hidden, that does not mean demonic or evil stuff), I was offended!

Mostly, this is why I think Taylor Sheridan has done such a great job on his shows. He’s found a way to balance things. Yes, I know he stretches history. I hear some guys say he emasculates his male characters. I hear the negative rants about Taylor.

But as much as we love The Chosen it was becoming one of the few shows we could watch that was as clean as Harry Potter!

Spoiler alert: As I’ve written about before, I watch a ton of YouTube because even Stranger Things, which I had looked forward to its season 5 for so long–ended on a huge gay note! And speaking of endings, we were SAD when Doby died! Hubby says, “That last Harry Potter flick didn’t have to end that way.”

I’m compassionate and empathic, and I know everyone has a gay member in their family or circle of friends. We do too! Or at least a non-binary, whether they claim to be gay or not (which is none of my business). And I want to support them. But as for the cult-like LGBT+ community, when it was simply LGB I did support them. When they added the T and the plus–which stands for all the other bizarre stuff and wanted the rest of us to think it was all NORMAL… nope!

I wasn’t one to talk about the “slippery slope” stuff either years ago, but now, I see where it HAS been a slippery slope!

We went to Disney once during “gay days” and lived in St. Petersburg, Florida where they love their Pride parades. Well, I have an issue with Pride on the whole anyway, as a concept, and rarely use the word. So no, I don’t go out for those kind of events either.

Bash me. Call me a hater. So be it. You say that like it’s a bad thing. I’m entitled to my opinion just as you are to yours. And I won’t call you a hater, though I may unfriend/unfollow you (and probably will) if we can’t agree to disagree on this one aspect of life. I’ll go back to listening to my Tom Macdonald songs.

Rant, er, review done. Bring on the comments!

Integrating the Spirals – JIGGLE WIGGLE

In my YouTube channel, I encourage those “over 50” to:

  • Open to lifelong learning (observe, gently question, and loosen up pre-conceived beliefs, aka ‘Programming’)
  • Become more aware of our thoughts and emotions to encourage more ease 
  • Loosen up and move our bodies (we’re stuck in our heads also due to our “Programming” and physically unhealthy)
  • And become strong and resilient in spirit, soul, mind, and body. 
  • And to question EVERYTHING!

Link to my YouTube channel where you can see the videos: https://youtube.com/@spiralsister

Yours in consciousness-expansion as we evolve and revolve during our mystical awakening. All while doing-my-egoless-best, to take you on a limitless, spiraling thought ride to better health, through doing more with ease, to help us sustain the JOY in our lives! (With lots of Gratitude throughout.)

Sheila “Spiral Sister” Murrey

The information provided is for educational purposes only and is not intended to treat, diagnose or prescribe.

About us

My husband is an award-winning illustrator, plus he’s a seasoned guitarist, bass player, and songwriter (with over 400 original songs). You can view some of his artwork and listen to many of his songs at: https://www.youtube.com/user/richardmurrey

Here’s a video (on Vimeo) of us performing back when we lived in an RV on an off grid plot of land in the woods of northeastern Florida: https://vimeo.com/416711742?ref=fb-share

My books on Amazon

I have five books in total for sale on Amazon. The newest book is: We Are All Connected: The How and The Why, plus these: Have Yourself a Wholly Vibrant Life: Reversing Asthma and Other Chronic Illness Naturally and Blue Eyes: Ethereal Messages of Connection as well as two other co-authored books.

Connect with us

Social channels where I am most active:

Sheila “Spiral Sister” Murrey Art & Music, Balancing Perspectives, Connections, Moral Ambiguities

Movie Review: One Battle After Another

I’m thankful the filmmaker, Paul Thomas Anderson, wanted One Battle After Another to be a dark-comedy because I was sure laughing within the first few minutes of this flick! Oh, geez! Yes, spoiler alert (well, not too much of one), this movie is so intense!

Now, I’m a huge fan of both Leonardo DiCaprio and Benicio del Toro, so this movie has been on my ‘must see’ list since it released, but other than Wicked, I wasn’t going to go trek out to the theatre. Luckily, the family added us to their HBO account so hubby and I could see this. But wow! We were NOT ready for the ridiculous discordant jazz that ran throughout most of it! Yes, I know the soundtrack is meant to create tone and layers, tension and release, but it made me super anxious and annoyed at the same time! I want to watch it again with closed captioning and MUTE on! Seriously!

Otherwise, the rest of the songs used in the movie soundtrack were good, some even great. Use of the nostalgic songs such as, “Dirty Work” by Steely Dan (which, was my favorite and will stick with me for a long time), “Soldier Boy” from The Shirelles, “Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor, “Ready Or Not Here I Come (Can’t Hide From Love)” from The Jackson 5, and “American Girl” by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, were great additions–and certainly brought relief from that terrible jazz. Well, I could have done without “Eye of the Tiger” since it’s so over played in film. But you get the idea. Jonny Greenwood (from Radiohead) really messed up the movie in my humble opinion. And this is why music is sooo subjective! Then again, Jonny is a risk taker I suppose.

Benicio made a GREAT sensei and helper to Leo in the movie and I was happy to see the two act together. But there’s at least one scene where Leo is running and his legs are so skinny! He looks like a little girl! I laughed at that one, and felt like they shot it in a way that made him purposefully look silly. Sorry Leo! As for star power, all the acting in ‘Battle’ was impressive. Sean Penn was a surprise right from the beginning of his performance. You’ve gotta see it to get what I’m referencing here. And talk about moral ambiguity. Sean’s character certainly brought THAT! I had flashbacks while watching Sean’s colonel antics to David Walliams gun-loving instructor in the Little Britain skits! Hilarious!

Anyway, a few scenes were let down’s like when the daughter is found in the nunnery. But overall this was a funny romp and not a waste of time. It shed a bit of light on an otherwise sad tale of revolutionary types. And with what all that’s been going on in Minnesota lately, it seems timely. It may get your rebel juices flowing.

February begins

Our son-in-law (SIL) added us to their HBO family account, which is how we watched One Battle After Another. I’d hoped Don’t Look Up would be on there too, as I’d been waiting a good while to see it, but I didn’t find it there. If anyone knows where I can watch that, let me know in the comments please. I’m a huge Leonardo DiCaprio fan, so there’s that. Years ago, my daughter and I went to see Gangs of New York in the theatre because we love him so much, and that’s saying a lot because neither of us like blood and gore in movies!

Of course, I guess I got over my disdain of blood and gore because I’m finally getting to finish Stranger Things, thanks to my son sharing his Netflix account with me! Ha! I’d never seen season 4, so I’m watching it currently in order to see the final season. Season 5. It’s had me glued to my chair! I love all of the characters and all the 80s stuff… they even had a hanging glass lamp (though in a different color) as my parents had and that my son had kept and had hung in our outdoor kitchen when we lived on his off grid property in Florida a few years ago!

I’m starting to feel a little better too, thanks to some wonderful nerve tinctures a soulie-sister friend formulated for me and shipped to me from Florida. I can’t thank her enough! If she’s going to sell them on her website I’ll write a separate article on that with a link. I hope she will sell them because WOW! It was sure an answer to prayer for me! And I know my son and at least a couple friends will want to give these a try. Here’s the brief note I wrote on Substack about the tinctures:

Screenshot

Finished Sons of Anarchy

Hubby and I finished watching the older TV series, Sons of Anarchy. And OMG we couldn’t believe how IT ended! Ugh. Sad. Suspense. Brutal. It will live with me for a while. I was so glad Gemma saw her dad again, but Jax!

Integrating the Spirals

I’m encouraging those “over 60” to open to lifelong learning (observe and gently question their pre-conceived beliefs, aka ‘Programming’), become more aware of their thoughts and emotions, consistently move their bodies (too many are stuck in their heads and physically unhealthy), become strong, and resilient in spirit, soul, mind, body. And to question EVERYTHING!

Link to my YouTube channel where you can see the videos: https://youtube.com/@spiralsister

Yours in consciousness-expansion as we evolve and revolve during our mystical awakening. All while doing-my-egoless-best, to take you on a limitless, spiraling thought ride to better health, through doing more with ease, to help us sustain the JOY in our lives! (With lots of Gratitude throughout.)

Sheila “Spiral Sister” Murrey

The information provided is for educational purposes only and is not intended to treat, diagnose or prescribe.

About us

My husband is an award-winning illustrator, plus he’s a seasoned guitarist, bass player, and songwriter (with over 400 original songs). You can view some of his artwork and listen to many of his songs at: https://www.youtube.com/user/richardmurrey

Here’s a video of us performing on Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/416711742?ref=fb-share

My books on Amazon

I have four books on Amazon. The two most recent are: Have Yourself a Wholly Vibrant Life: Reversing Asthma and Other Chronic Illness Naturally and Blue Eyes: Ethereal Messages of Connection.

Connect with us

Here are the social channels where I am most active: