I went to visit a blockbuster store over the holidays. Either I must be getting old, or the world seems to be filling up with trashier movies and flimsier storylines. Some of the current storylines in movies have become so weak that semi-naked women and girls are thrown in as a last resort to keep the audience's attention. Is a naked body the only way that we can keep the viewer awake? What is a wrong with a good solid, storyline and captivating characters? When I look back at the films I grew up with, they were engaging and fun. I looked forward to seeing new movies. Look back at films that you grew up with and loved. What were the storylines like? To me, they were far better as a whole than movies today. Years ago when screenwriters wrote scripts for movies, the documents were 700-800 pages. Think of how great a story you could develop, how many questions you can pursue with your characters in that amount of space. You get to know your story and your characters well. You find out what works and what doesn't work. You see where you made mistakes or took a wrong turn within the story. I think this is part of the reason why so many old movies have become classics. The writers spent much of their time understanding and developing the story and the characters. These are the kind of characters that we have not forgotten over time.

It is hard to match that kind of writing today. As a Filmmaker, I spent years in Hollywood and more recently in the independent film and documentary world. The independent market has always been much more interesting and compelling to me. Why? I have found the filmmakers to be passionate about storytelling and getting their film completed. Most of them don't stop until the film is on the screen. Even if it is only one screen.

I can still remember the movies that changed my life as a child. They filled my heart and my imagination to the brim. I would often see three movies on a Saturday and walk out so uplifted. I suppose it is the reason why I choose to go into filmmaking. Believe me in tough times, I have wished that I didn't have this passion. I fantasized about having the ambition to be a plumber, like my father and my brothers; it would have been a much easier path, even as a woman.

Over the last couple of years, a small group of women, including myself, founded a new company that we are launching this spring. It is our goal to create a place for people to listen to new and different voices of filmmakers who are passionate and have compelling stories to tell. We have been acquiring the kind of films that you might see at a film festival, but would never be distributed in mass market. Our goal is to inspire and thrill, perhaps make you think, and always to broaden the platform for new voices. Check us out at www.womensindependentcinema.com. Let me know what you think.

I rarely see great films for my kids either, and it makes me incredibly sad. Not to mention the missed financial opportunity for Hollywood. Yes, there is the Harry Potter series and the Eragon series, but they are few and far between. As a kid, I saw The "Sound of Music", six times before the theatre owner stopped taking my money and waived me through. I can still sing every song in that film. Today, I feel stuck in a bad dream made up of violent, unimaginative movies that continue to regurgitate old concepts. Movies that are made up of poor storylines, stale jokes and extreme graphic violence that plays to the lowest common denominator. It's depressing.

I worry about my kids getting a steady stream of bad language and excess violence. Do we really need all the violence, the poor language and excess cleavage? I have seen my kids completely captivated by entertainment that had none of those things. A movie that had a story so simple and clean that my kids were trying to emulate the experience before we even got home! Movies are suppose to surprise and delight us, to take us out of our everyday world where we can suspend our disbelief...go along for the ride.

So, we just started a new year. I would like to challenge Hollywood. Start thinking more out of the box. Take risks. Create new characters; don't just keep re-making the old ones. Create some original concepts that are unique, that stir up a whole new generation of kids with imagination and passion. Perhaps you might see people wanting to go to the movies more...Yep that's what I would like in 2007, surprise and delight me...and my kids. We'll see what happens.

Read More: Harry Potter

As of the end of September, I had not cooked a single meal since the second week of June. No, no personal chef, here. And as a mother of 3 active boys, 10, 9 and 3...that is not an easy feat. Being 100% of Italian blood, this is even harder to accomplish as we have some malfunctioning gene to compulsively feed people.

Our chickens were the last to be fed by me as it was the 60 pound bag of feed that shredded my plans for the summer. I lifted the bag and poured it into a larger garbage can. From there I took a scooper and pushed the food into the metal chicken feeder. The birds were already pecking at anything that moved, including my shoe laces.

I remember thinking about the next day and creating something special for my husband since it was Father's Day. We planned to take a hike and have a picnic somewhere.

Sunday morning beckoned, but I was unable to move from the bed. My husband chastised me for lifting the bag. "You never take care of yourself" he said. I ignored him. I thought the pain would take a day or two to go away.

By Tuesday, I began to black out from the pain. The emergency room was quite comical-really as a doctor and nurse jabbed needles in my behind filled with large doses of morphine that would hopefully stop the pain. It took three rounds to lesson the spasms.

I began using a cane that someone had jokingly given my husband for his 40th birthday party. I started riding around in the electric cart at Target. My life, my summer plans came to screeching halt, although the kids loved riding in the cart.

The next month was a haze of epidurals and pain pills. Finally on July 23rd I left UCSF spine center having had a double laminectomy, stenosis and bone spurs removed. The only thing that my boys understand was that over those 3 rows of stitches mom had super glue holding her back together. Super Glue-how cool.

Pre-surgery I was extremely active with yoga, hiking and swimming. I thought for sure, due to my physical conditioning that recovery time would be minimal. It wasn't.

I struggled with what I was going to do with the kids over the summer, when I couldn't walk, I hired extra help and my babysitter was irreplaceable. Often I thought about people who did not have the wherewithal to get extra help. How did they manage? How did they cope?

Then a miracle happened right here in Silicon Valley. Home of the gold-dusted Mercedes and 23 year old millionaires. Yes, that Silicon Valley. But there is another side to this valley, one that you don't often hear about. The kindness of one's neighbors.

The miracle was the phone. It kept ringing. Suddenly people were bringing cooked meals to the house every night. (My husband would cook on weekends.) My 79 year old mother came out. I wasn't sure in that scenario who was helping who, but it was still great to have her here. A good friend started to field the calls from neighbors and friends and people that just wanted to help. It was awkward for me, I was a bit embarrassed. I was in serious pain, facing questions about mortality and the quality of my life and I couldn't take care of myself. Yet, every one was holding out a hand to help.

The first day of school I walked my middle son to class. When I went back to the car with my 3 year old, I realized that I couldn't lift him up to put him in his car seat. The simplest task-how humiliating! A girlfriend must of the saw the look of distress on my face and pulled her car over. She lifted my son, buckled him into his seat and turned to me. "There is nothing wrong with asking for help-you need to ask!" Tears streamed down my cheeks but I just nodded.

After this experience I began to ask for help. What can I do, I heard people say. I would say, "Bring us dinner". "Do your boys need a ride to soccer, I said yes. By the end of the September and close to 100 meals cooked by neighbors and friend, I was ready to take over again.

I have learned that asking for and accepting help are okay. If you search beyond that wall of pride, you can come up with enough courage to accept someone's offer to help. I am grateful to a community that took on helping our family with enthusiasm and care. I see the community do it all the time. One of the mothers in the kindergarten class as school is battling cancer.

When I see moms or dads carrying plastic containers with food, I smile. This is part of Silicon Valley that you don't hear much about. Every night people came into my house with a big smile on their face and terrific meals. No one talked about how much money they made, or how successful they were, they just walked in the house and I said. "What's for dinner?"

I received an email from one of my oldest and dearest friends before the holidays. I finally had a chance to respond this week. She passed on a note that went something like this. "I assume you have all seen the reports about how Sears is treating its reservist employees who are called up to serve our country? By law, companies are required to hold their jobs open and available, but nothing more. Usually, people take a big pay cut and lose benefits as a result of being called up...Sears is voluntarily paying the difference in salaries and maintaining all benefits, including medical insurance and bonus programs, for all called up reservist employees for up to two years. I submit that Sears is an exemplary corporate citizen and should be recognized for its contribution."

Let me stop here. We have all heard and read the stories about those Americans who are called up to go to Iraq, who have to file for bankruptcy, lose their house or their car, or their spouse when the financial pressures get overwhelming. This is of course, backwards. How can we continue to give multi-million dollar bonuses to CEO's of companies and not even give our soldiers enough money to pay their bills while they put their lives at risk? Those courageous people who fight for our freedom, no matter how we feel about this war, should be treated better. Not only are they fighting to stay alive, but have to worry about how their bills get paid and whether they will have a job when they return. We CAN and should do better than that in the United States. Our behavior to our soldiers should be of deep embarrassment to this country and to corporate America. I am not sure it even registers to most people what we put or soldiers through.

After reading her email regarding SEARS, I decided to find out if this was fact or fiction. It's a great story...but is it true? The original writer of this email had also sent a note to Sears to find out how accurate this was.

They sent the following email to the Sears Customer Service Department:
"I received this email and I would like to know if it is true. If it is, the
Internet may have just become one very good source of advertisement for
your store. I know I would go out of my way to buy products from Sears
instead of another store for a like item even if it was cheaper at the
other store. Their answer came back as follows:

Dear Customer:

Thank you for contacting Sears. The information is factual. We appreciate your positive feedback. Sears regards service to our country as one of greatest sacrifices our young men and women can make. We are happy to do our part to lessen the burden they bear at this time.

Bill Thorn
Sears Customer Care
webcenter@sears.com
1-800-349-4358

Okay, so I might be a little cynical. This could be one astute marketing team's great idea for a campaign. I still needed to find out the answer for myself. Besides, I can't blog about something without some fact-checking. I need to talk to someone at Sears myself. I called Sears Customer Care Wednesday night at about 9:30 pm. It was when my three year old finally conked out. I wasn't sure that anyone would even answer, let alone not be from some India call center. The customer care person responded pleasantly. I told him why I had called and he verified that it indeed was true.

Okay, here it is. FACT: A corporation that cares about and shows by their actions their respect and commitment to employees. A company who actually has put their money behind their beliefs. By their actions, and beliefs, "service to our country as one of the greatest sacrifices our young men and women can make" Sears is showing exemplary leadership. We can all talk about how companies have foregone corporate responsibility and cater only to the shareholders. We can continue to moan about CEO'S getting multi-million dollar bonuses or we can do something about it.

Here is a company with the courage and the commitment to do the right thing. And they followed through. Think about it. According to About (part of the New York Times) The US retail industry generates $3.8 trillion in retail sales annually. If all of us just took one of those trips to SEARS to say thank you-imagine what that could produce? Not only are you supporting our troops, but a company that has values. The stores have a huge selection of products and good prices. Go shop at Sears, and THANK THEM as a citizen for being a good corporation. We need more of them. You have the power to put your money where your mouth is. It's in your hands now. I'm going shopping.

I have been coming to the Sundance Film Festival since 1992. To me, even as the festival is taken over by Hollywood, it still offers in-depth films that explore a broad spectrum of subjects whether in short films, features or documentaries. I enjoy hearing about how people behave, what celebrities don't tip, and what movies are creating passionate debate, because the best part of Sundance is seeing people ENGAGED.

So I got really pissed off about the movie Hounddog. The director did an incredible job--told a rich narrative that actually dealt with sexual assault. The movie has caused quite a bit of controversy as the film depicts Dakota Fanning, playing a 12-year-old girl who gets raped. The scene is very powerful and tastefully done--as you never see anything below the shoulders.

Roger Friedman of Fox News, my first question to you is do you really believe that the rape scene has "no point" and "is simply there for shock value"? Either you are completely ignorant or stupid -- neither word I use lightly as I do not allow my children to use them.

Let me explain what the purpose of that scene was. Lewellen, is a young girl trapped in a tumultuous, dysfunctional family. Her only escape from her tragic life comes from her singing Elvis songs. She is so desperate to see him in concert, that she sings for the young man who rapes her. She had been promised a ticket by her friend--when she follows him into the shed, the older man is waiting there.

The one thing that allows her to feel safe is taken away by this violent act. After the rape she refuses to sing. It eats away at her soul and the gift that she has. How can she not stop singing? She associates her singing with the loss. Of her innocence.

If one bothered to see the film it would be clear how gentle and gingerly the rape scene was filmed. Powerful.

I've heard the complaint that this will be a pedophile rental. If that is true--and I don't think it is--should that take precedence over educating the public? Because TRULY mothers were bringing their daughters to the screening. One mother cried as she thanked the director. What is more important? Shouldn't we worry about pedophiles on the street rather than sitting in their home. I don't think so.

I heard a statistic from one of the mothers who brought her daughter. That 40 percent of girls will experience this before their 18!

The director, Deborah Kampmeier, told her very personal and difficult story. She defended Dakota Fanning today and said "Dakota should be applauded for the voice she has given to so many silenced women."

I was one of those silenced children and it took me years to recover from the incredible damage. Many never recover. So Dakota, thank you! Deborah-thank you. It's not the movie, its the act that's so vile. We should look at THAT issue. It took tremendous courage to tell this very personal story. AMEN