VanDyk Mortgage - March 2021

MARCH 2021

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I’m not a professional film critic, but I do like watching movies. Who doesn’t? Movies are a great way to spend time with friends and family, and they used to be something we did as a community. As great as getting all these films and show on our devices at home may be, don’t you kind of miss going to a dark theater and seeing something for the first time, knowing you couldn’t find that movie anywhere else — unless you were willing to break the law, I guess, which would be missing the point. My love of movies is what got me going on Timdango reviews (#TimDango). You can Google that and my thoughts find some of the films I’ve watched. I do a write-up and talk about things I notice, especially things that you might need to be a fan to catch. For example, if you didn’t notice that “The New Mutants” has more in common with “Game of Thrones” than just its actors, I point out the similarities. From “Cobra Kai” to “Peanut Butter Falcon,” I’ve reviewed a fair number of movies and TV shows on there. Sometimes I’ll do a video format and have a guest, like my buddy Travis who did Facebook live broadcasts with me. I enjoy writing those reviews a lot. They’re never very long, because I’d rather you go see the movie yourself and form your own opinions. Apparently, my friend Eric Raddatz, a film festival and Florida Weekly editor who I helped with his mortgage loan in the past, saw my reviews because he asked if I wanted to be a “celebrity judge” for his weekly film viewings. “I’m not a professional critic,” I told him. “I don’t even know what to say about movies.” He told me to say what I’d been saying in my web reviews, and everything would be great. THANK GOD FOR MOVIES A Great Way to Bring Folks Together

because of the pandemic. That’s been a tough break. It was a really cool red-carpet event done up like the Oscars and it brought the community together, especially the many awesome filmmakers in our area. TGIM is much smaller, but it’s a cool event where people pay 10 bucks to get in and Eric shows them five indie movies that are 3–10 minutes long. After each one, the judges say what they think. That was a little trickier for me. I’m usually pretty positive about the movies I review, but these were all films I had to watch. On the other hand, when I make Timdango reviews, the filmmaker isn’t usually there staring at me while I type or talk! Afterwards, a bunch of us headed over to Blu Sushi for dinner and drinks. It was a great end to the night, and I got meet a lot of new people in my community and see some familiar faces (like Kimberly from my office and her husband.) If you haven’t checked out TGIM yet, you really need to. You can find them on Facebook and get info on their next gathering. Believe me, it’s worth the money.

The event is called Thank God for Indie Mondays (TGIM), and it’s a response to not being able to do the Fort Myers Film Festival

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Field trips are always an exciting time for kids. It changes a monotonous school day into a learning adventure. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic has put field trips on hold for the time being. Luckily, there are ways kids can still enjoy field trips from the safety of their homes through virtual field trips! Check out some great virtual field trips below. Visit the National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art provides 10 digital educational resources for children and adults to explore. These resources include video tours, educational PDFs, and even a few lessons and activities. Children can become engrossed in art, expand their knowledge of the arts, and practice some creativity of their own. Find out more and get exploring at NGA.gov. FIELD TRIP DAY, RIGHT FROM THE LIVING ROOM 4 Virtual Adventures to Take With Your Kids

See Buckingham Palace In this virtual tour, your kids can explore Buckingham Palace’s throne room, grand staircase, and white drawing room. Each room has a 360-degree view to look around each room, and, by clicking on the information icons, you can learn about certain aspects of each room. This is a wonderful chance to bring your kids into a completely different world right from your living room by heading to Royal.UK/virtual-tours-buckingham-palace.

Learn about farming with BrightFarms BrightFarms’ virtual tours let viewers explore indoor farming, specifically how leafy greens are grown, harvested, packaged, and delivered to grocery stores. The growers narrate the videos in an easy-to-follow tour that is perfect for kids and adults alike. Find these tours at their website at BrightFarms.com or Vimeo.com. Fly to Mars and the Moon By heading to AccessMars.WithGoogle.com, you and your kids can embark on an exploration of Mars with narrator Katie Stack Morgan, a NASA planetary geologist on the Mars Science Laboratory mission, and the rover Curiosity. Morgan takes viewers through certain points of Curiosity’s adventures on the real surface of Mars. NASA also has a virtual tour of the moon's surface at Moon.NASA.gov, providing viewers with information gathered since 2009. Improve Your Attention Span And Transform Your Life!

S ince the COVID-19 pandemic swept across the world last year, many things have gotten shorter, like school days and our patience. But perhaps the main thing that’s grown shorter for all of us is our attention spans. In 2019, researchers from the Technical University of Denmark reported that our collective attention span is indeed narrowing — and it may be because we’re bombarded with tons of information that we don’t want to “miss out” on, whether we’re scrolling through Facebook or finding new videos on YouTube. Unfortunately, a poor attention span can affect us in many ways. It may impact our performance at school or work or cause communication difficulties in relationships. It may even result in poor health related to self-neglect and an inability to practice healthy habits. How do you fix it? Is it even possible to improve your attention span? Yes, you can! But it will take time. Here are a few ways you can get started. First, accept that you may make yourself a little mentally uncomfortable while expanding your attention span. It simply won’t feel natural to focus on a single task for a longer period of time than normal, but, with a routine, it’ll get more comfortable as time goes on.

Second, give the Pomodoro method a try. Named after a tomato- shaped timer that its creator used, the Pomodoro method has gained a lot of attention over the years as a brain workout, and it’s a great way to slowly expand your attention span while accomplishing tasks. To get started, think of a small task. Then set a timer to 25 minutes (or longer, if your attention span will allow). Work on your task for 25 minutes straight. Then, take a five-minute break. After the break, repeat the process. After four rounds, take a break of 15–20 minutes. Congratulations, you’ve used the Pomodoro method, which you can repeat as many times as you want. It’s very handy for getting your tasks finished in a flash, despite any attention span issues! Third, meditate, work out, or adopt new educational interests. Anything that keeps your brain, body, and spirit engaged can help you learn how to focus better. There’s plenty of research that shows the benefits of meditation and exercise to your focus — the trick is exploration. Not every form of meditation, exercise routine, or hobby will work for you, so don’t give up right away! Stay curious and keep exploring. We’re living in a technological age where we can learn almost anything and reach almost anyone at the tap of a button, so we have to learn how to create opportunities for ourselves. We hope these tips help you get started!

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Anyway, the movie had great suspense and action. I loved it and highly recommend it if you are into sci-fi, monster movies … or Bigfoot! If you are not into those things, you may not like this movie, and we might not be able to be friends.

I give this a 720 credit score.

‘Greenland’ For some reason, I had some spare time on Sunday and got a chance to watch “Greenland.” I had heard from a couple of people that it was good, so I gave it a shot. I was not disappointed. I’m a sucker for any kind of doomsday movie like “Armageddon,” “Deep Impact,” or “2020.” FYI: Judge me if you want to, but I cried in “Armageddon” when Bruce Willis stayed on the planet and told Ben Affleck something about taking care of his daughter and how he would be proud to call him his son. Tear-jerker! Back to “Greenland.” A comet from another galaxy is heading to Earth, and no one knows much about it. They think it will be far away from Earth, so everyone is excited to watch. Spoiler alert — that you don’t need to be told — as the comet gets close to the sun it heats up and explodes,

sending thousands of pieces of the comet into Earth. Whoops.

holding a shield. He has an estranged wife and kid to save.

The guy from “300” does a really good job in this movie. His name is Gerard Butler, but everyone knows him as the guy from “300.” I think the movie did a solid job of portraying what mankind would be like in this extinction-type of event. It has some great chaos scenes mixed with a few plot twists. No, the guy from “300” does not stand shirtless in front of Earth while

I think you will like this movie. It is solid, mindless entertainment that does not require much thought. Right up my alley!

I give it a 680 credit score.

For more reviews like this, search for #TimDango online.

Solution on Pg. 4

TRIVIA QUESTION: In what state does the movie "Exists" take place?

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Tim Hart, NMLS #354676 8280 College Parkway, Suite #101 Fort Myers, FL 33919

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Inside This Issue

Movies Are a Great Way to Come Together PAGE 1

It’s Time for a Virtual Field Trip!

How to Improve Your Attention Span! PAGE 2

Testimonial From the Hart

2 Most Recently Reviewed Films PAGE 4

TimDango Movie Reviews 2 MOST RECENTLY REVIEWED FILMS

I thought that you might be interested in checking out a few of the TimDango reviews that got me a spot at the film event I talked about in the cover. Big thanks to Eric Raddatz for organizing that event. Eric is a good friend and I really appreciate the chance. I also love writing these reviews, so here they are. You can read more at TimHartJr.com/blog/timdango-movie-reviews ! ‘Exists’ This movie came out in 2014, and I have no idea how no one ever told me to watch it. I only found out about this Bigfoot movie because I watched “Willow Creek” (a movie directed by Bobcat Goldthwait and recommended by Joe Rogan). “Willow Creek” was a good movie, but nothing compared to “Exists.”

Initially, I thought it would take several days of me watching this movie — and falling asleep during it. Nope! It kept me up until midnight; that is a record since I turned 40. “Exists” is a story about college-aged kids who go off into their uncle’s rundown cabin, somewhere in the middle of Texas. On the way there, they end up hitting something that you know is Bigfoot (since the movie is about Bigfoot). That part was not hard to figure out. Kind of a Spoiler Alert Over the next hour and 20 minutes, Bigfoot gets his revenge by wrecking these people, and the film shows it. Lots of these types of movies hide the monster or just give you glimpses while people are getting destroyed, but not with “Exists.” Bigfoot was the freaking main character. Dude deserved an Emmy!

CONTINUED ON PG. 3 ...

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