Retiring Overseas: Find The Best Place For You In This Great Big World

They say it’s a small world, but from our experience it’s plenty big, especially if you’re trying to decide where to retire.

When we moved overseas in 2001 we thought we knew how big it was. Today, after living in seven different communities in four different countries, we’re still amazed at what can be found around the next headland or over the next mountain range.
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San Jose, Costa Rica
It could be a seemingly endless stretch of white-sand beach…or a sparkling, gem-like mountain village…or an urban center overflowing with street music, theater, and the arts. They’re all out there, and there are more of them than you might imagine.

If you’re considering retiring overseas, trying to decide which of the world’s many extraordinary destinations is right for you can be daunting. You may even think you already know where you’d like to go. It might be a place you’ve been going on vacation for years. “One of these days,” you think, “I’m going to go there on vacation and never come back.”

Which is a great plan, and we know many people who have done just that. But … we know just as many who discovered that the place they loved to vacation in for a few weeks out of the year is a very different place to live full time.

Zeroing in on the community that’s right for you to live … not just vacation … is fairly easy to do if you know how. There is a process that allows you to confidently cross lots of destinations off your list and pare it down until you have a short list of likely prospects.

Just an example…close your eyes and imagine your perfect retirement destination.
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The Black Sands of Coronado Beach, Coronado, Panama
What do you see?

Beach or mountain? Desert or jungle? Balmy, cool, or winter wonderland? Empty countryside, tiny village, mid-sized town, or bustling city? Perfectly maintained roads and streets, or a little scruffy and laidback? Easy access to modern shopping, entertainment, and dining, or rustic and rural and straight from the farm? Modern medical facilities close by or just a basic stitch-your-cut and butter-your-burn clinic?

You need to really focus on what your “perfect place” looks like. As we all know, beauty is in the eye of the beholder … but sometimes it’s only skin deep. What we’re getting at is that, eventually, even the prettiest picture starts to fade. You’ll want to be sure your perfect place can stand the test of time.

Using these eight crucial factors, profile yourself honestly when assessing a possible overseas retirement destination:
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The Lunigiana Landscape, Northern Tuscany, Italy
1. Affordability: How does the cost of living stack up with your income and budget? Err on the side of caution here, and understand that there will always be unforeseen factors that can confound your budget planning. Give yourself — and your budget — a cushion.

2. Healthcare: Will you be comfortable with the healthcare options, are good health insurance or hospital plans available to you, and will costs be in line with what you can afford? Make sure you factor in any unusual or extraordinary health needs you may have that go beyond regular care.

3. Ease of transition: Are you comfortable with language and currency issues? Are there some familiar items in the grocery stores and pharmacies? (If not, can you live without them?) How easy is it to get a resident visa and to import your household items?

4. Accessibility: How close will you be to your friends and family back home? Is there an international airport? Are other amenities you’ll need, such as good hospitals, nearby?

5. Community: Is there an expat group? Are you comfortable with the locals and their culture?

6. Housing prospects: Are homes for rent or sale at a reasonable price? If you buy a property and later change your mind, will you be able to sell it easily enough?

7. Climate: Are you hoping for four seasons or year-round warm weather? It’s best to plan your exploratory visit during the worst weather season so you’ll know exactly what to expect.

8. Things to do: What are your hobbies and will you be able to continue to enjoy those? If you like good restaurants or artistic events, will there be enough of these to keep you busy?
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View of Vilcabamba, Ecuador
Being ruthlessly honest with yourself as you make your assessment is important. Making a well-informed decision about the best environment for you is essential to your success before you start planning any long-term move. But remember, we have lived in seven different communities in four different countries. And we’ve considered each one successful.

Why? Because the world really is a big place, and we’re spoiled for choice. So many beautiful destinations, so many interesting cultures, so many magnificent vistas.

If you find the one that is just right for you, right off the bat, you’ve done your research well. If you don’t … well, you won’t run out of places to try next. The good news is that in so many places in the world, the cost of living can be so affordable that you can make another move … and another … and another…

It might get in your blood. It seems to have gotten in ours.

So when they tell you it’s a small world, don’t believe it. It’s big, it’s beautiful, and it’s waiting for you.

Related Articles
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How Do You Measure The “Wealth” In Your Life?

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8 Tips That Will Fill Your Calendar With Great Guys

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Every day, I speak with awesome women over 50 about their dating lives. They communicate the desperation they are feeling about ever finding a good man to share their lives with.

Dating has become a tremendous source of frustration and failure for them. Many become despondent at the very thought of having to go back online and look for dates after a relationship ends.

In fact, quite a few have completely stopped dating because the constant rejection or disinterest from men over 50 has become too painful for them.

After asking a couple of questions about their dating lives, I’ve consistently found most women really don’t understand who these over-50 men are or what they are looking for in the women they’d like to date.

I’d like to share with you eight tips about men that you can start using right away. I’ve had clients use this advice and go from zero dates to men falling over themselves to get to know them better.

Tip #1: Appreciate a man for who he is. Men are wonderful but they aren’t women. They don’t think like women, nor do they communicate like women. This means don’t expect a man to behave the same way you do or you’re guaranteed to be disappointed.

Tip #2: Men over 50 are very masculine. They love when you bring this trait out in them. They have no interest in competing with you. To them, that’s like dating a man. The key is learning to come into your true feminine power that compliments their masculine power.

Tip #3: Men show you love with their actions. Hollywood has messed with our heads on this one. On the big screen, they show us men like Tom Cruise’s character in the movie, Jerry McGuire, professing his love with romantic speeches that end in the famous words, “You complete me.” Real men show you their love by cutting your grass and giving you their coat when you’re cold. If you expect love to always come in words … you could be waiting a very long time.

Tip #4: Men want to give to you. Let them open the door for you and change that light bulb you can’t reach. It makes them happy to please you. All they want in return is to be appreciated and thanked. If you do this, they’ll do anything you want, which leads us to Tip #5.

Tip #5: Don’t criticize the job a man is doing for you. He’s doing his best and yes, you may be able to do it better or faster than he can but don’t. It makes him feel emasculated. If he has offered to do something for you, allow him to do it his way.

Otherwise, the next time you ask for help, he’ll tell you to hire a handyman. He doesn’t want the aggravation of not being able to do anything right for you.

Tip #6: Leave the demands out of your online profile. When you’re dating a man over 50, don’t place demands on how he must be or what he has to do in order to date you.

Men tell me again and again how much they dislike the online profiles of women who demand nothing less then the best restaurants or a certain salary to date them. Men have had enough of the demands put on them at work and from ex’s. The last thing they want to do is meet yours before you’ve even met.

Tip #7: Men are not pet projects. Don’t try and remodel a man. Either accept him for who he is or let him go and move on.

Tip #8: Make it clear you are interested. A lot of men over 50 are pretty insecure when it comes to asking you out. Having been rejected time and time again by so many women, they aren’t too quick about putting themselves back in a vulnerable position unless it feels safe to do so.

If you like a man, encourage him with eye contact, a warm smile or a flirt online to let them know you’re interested.

Remember, men weren’t given a dating rule book with their divorce papers either. So be kind to them and understand that as scared as you feel about dating, most of them are too.

Please let me know in the comments how these tips work for you.

Lisa Copeland is known as the expert on over 50’s dating. She’s the best-selling author of The Winning Dating Formula For Women Over 50 and her mission is to help as many women around the world as she can discover how to have fun dating and finding their Mr. Right after 50. To get your FREE Report, “5 Little Known Secrets To Find A Quality Man,” visit www.findaqualityman.com.

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Life Inside This Cult Was Beautiful, Until It Wasn't

In 1985, recent film-school graduate Will Allen found what appeared to be an exciting alternative community in Los Angeles.  Always curious about the meaning of life, Allen was lured by a charismatic South American-born guru known as Michel, who seemed able to answers his questions. With little hesitation, he joined Buddhafield, a group where love and enlightenment flowed in abundance.

It wasn’t until 22 years later that Allen realized he belonged to a cult.

“There’s always someone who brings you or invites you,” Allen said. “My sister invited me. It felt very safe having her bring me. When someone you already trust is there, [everyone becomes] your friends instantly. They already knew I was coming. There was a chair waiting with my name on it.”

Allen’s film-school stint led to a role as the group’s de facto documentarian. Armed with hours of footage of life inside Buddhafield, Allen has made “Holy Hell,” a documentary that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January and opens in limited release on Friday. (It will air on CNN later this year.) Combining interviews with former devotees and chilling Buddhafield archives, “Holy Hell” charts the cult’s rise in Reagan-era California and the implosion that prompted many members to flee in 2006.

Throughout the movie’s 102 minutes, and during a lengthy interview with Allen, Phillipe Coquet and Vera Cheiffo, two other former Buddhafielders, The Huffington Post got an eye-opening look at life inside a cult. Here is a snapshot of what drew Allen, Coquet and Cheiffo to Buddhafield, what their existence was like once they were part of it and how they finally realized Michel’s teachings were bunk. 

Joining is easy, maintaining is hard — in retrospect

Michel was born Jaime Gomez, according to “Holy Hell.” Like Charles Manson, he chased fame. Michel came to America to be a movie star and briefly appeared in “Rosemary’s Baby.” As Buddhafield members later discovered, he starred in gay porn and, according to speculation, studied the “dark arts.” When those fields didn’t pan out, Michel adopted the role of a lifetime: self-appointed prophet.  

Attracted to Michel’s messages of healing and self-fulfillment, newcomers often gave themselves over to Buddhafield readily. Calling him “The Teacher,” they ditched functioning society and moved into one of Buddhafield’s several houses together. Rape survivors, for example, felt cleansed, and lost souls found salvation through Michel’s tutelage and their newfound family. In joining Buddhafield, some sought to escape society’s authoritative decrees or replace drug habits with spiritual highs. Others were tossed out of their homes or contending with trauma or battling disillusionment with their respective religions. Most maintained low-end jobs to pay rent, but they rarely communicated with people who were not part of the roughly 100-member organization. Life as they knew it ended. And for more than two decades, they loved it. 

“It somehow felt good to be elite,” Coquet said of his 25 years in the organization. “There was something about it.”

Allen, Coquet and Cheiffo realized that, once they took the plunge, nothing could be halfhearted. Michel, who is also a well-read ballet dancer trained in hypnotherapy, led activities on six nights of the week. If anyone said they’d rather not attend, a friend would question their devotion, insisting that person was stuck inside their own muddled headspace. Supposed enlightenment waited beyond every doubt.

“We all thought we were going to be with him until we died,” Coquet said.

Sometimes the guidelines were more specific. Michel would hand down dictums on an individual basis. His biggest hangups were sexual, as the group later discovered in a dark way. He banned most members from fornicating, citing the release of energy that comes with an orgasm as an inferior high. Often seen in nothing but a Speedo and Ray-Bans, Michel was particularly interested in recruiting attractive young men. Even better if they were virgins. (He was raised Catholic and probably feared the AIDS epidemic that was sweeping the country, Coquet pointed out.) In truth, “everybody was fucking everybody” surreptitiously, one ex-member says in the movie.

Buddhafielders told themselves lies about what was going on, and they fed lies to outsiders too. When the mob appeared in public together, they fibbed about their affiliations. At a movie theater, they would claim to be a “movie club.” While on hikes, they were an “ecological group.” They had T-shirts to prove it.

The rare times anyone conversed with strangers about their personal lives, Buddhafielders lied about where they resided, fearing potential exposure. “Society is not going to understand it, so just don’t even try,” Coquet said of the Buddhafield groupthink. 

Barring fleeting skepticism, no insiders questioned Michel’s rules. They’d found tranquility. “There was truth in all of it,” Coquet said. “There were lies and weird manipulations, but they were based on something we really believed in.”

And for a long time, no one would rather return to normal society, anyway.

“‘This [was] such a great way to live, to see life from this way,'” Allen said, describing their justification. 

And part of it really was beautiful

When we think of cults, we picture murder and nutty religious practices. But in Buddhafield, positivity abounded, and they kept up with current events throughout. “There was a lot of humor in everything we did,” Allen recalled. “[Michel] was very funny, and we laughed and laughed and laughed a lot.” 

Everyone lived, cooked, did yoga, meditated and attended seminars (including acting and ballet lessons) together. Some worked together too. Allen, Coquet and Cheiffo said they were temporarily employed at an Indian restaurant whose clientele included Barbra Streisand, Ally Sheedy and Michael Jackson. A cultlike faction of Sikhs apparently hired the trio to pose on their behalf because “people in that cult were too spacey to be waiters.” They donned traditional Sikh turbans to appear authentic.

Members paid Michel $50 for weekly hypnotherapy sessions called “cleansings.” Coquet, in fact, was a licensed therapist himself. Michel hired him to give non-hypnotic counsel, while Michel oversaw the sessions oriented toward metaphysical growth. Working closely with Michel lent Coquet and Allen unprecedented access to their teacher.

For his finest act, Michel performed what he called “the knowing.” Promising the most intimate connection to God possible, only privileged disciples were granted “the knowing.” No one wanted to leave before they’d experienced it. Cheiffo, a self-described “punk-rocker” who was loyal for 27 years and received “the knowing” seven months after arriving, said some waited 18 years hoping they’d be selected. The documentary’s subjects liken “the knowing” to an LSD trip: colors swirl, trees sway and divinity presents itself. Today, Allen, Coquet and Cheiffo recognize the manipulativeness of the practice. Michel would employ an ancient Hindu technique, pressing his fingers to the recipients’ eyes in such a way that intense beams of light would form. Using the spiritual teachings they’d been fed, members fixed deep meanings to the experience, often calling it, at most, “God” or, at least, “intoxication.” If it was ineffective, Michel claimed that person wasn’t spiritually prepared to receive “the knowing.”

“When I was actually revealed ‘the knowing,’ I was screaming bloody murder,” Coquet said. “It was so painful to me, and everything in my being was saying, ‘Get out of this house. Leave now.’ And I did everything I could do to just stay there and stick with it. There were other times when it was just amazing. I would put my hands on my eyes and have there be a light show.”

Then things got more intense

The warning signs were always there, but the tribe’s bond both strengthened and splintered after the FBI raided a Texas cult led by David Koresh in 1993. The standoff ended in flames, killing 76 affiliates of the Branch Davidians sect. Michel panicked. He changed his name to Andreas, effectively creating a new character for himself. Fearing a similar fate, he relocated Buddhafield to Austin. Mutual support within the institution fortified, yet somewhere in that process, a shift occurred. For those who’d been around since the beginning, Andreas’   purpose went from imparting enlightenment to ensuring the group stayed afloat. He was convinced he was a Christlike figure, and history tells us that most Christlike figures are executed.

Members had to derive positivity among themselves. Many were at Andreas’ every beck and call. They got little sleep, yet they were expected to remain alert at all times. One guy made Andreas ornate fruit salads every morning — they were mostly thrown away, but he continued nonetheless. Allen, who lived with The Teacher for 18 of his 22 years in Buddhafield, was tantamount to a personal servant, reading to Andreas and tucking him in nightly, among other tasks. As if being worshiped weren’t enough (some members called him “my lord”), Andreas’ “Howard Hughes neurosis” — Allen’s words — was satisfied at all hours. 

Because his role as therapist provided unique access to the mysterious leader, Coquet learned things few did. According to Coquet, Andreas claimed a “persecution complex” as a result of being molested as a young boy. Members later learned that, despite his sex regulations, Andreas was manipulating male Buddhafielders into sleeping with him. Advised never to say no to their teacher, disciples — gay and straight — would receive spiritual awakenings during “cleansings” and then convince themselves to give their bodies to Andreas. They were effectively being raped, but it carried the guise of consent. 

No one talked about it. “You’re just a sack of meat to this person,” one man says in the movie. “That’s when I began to hate him.”

In fact, their $50 therapy dues effectively paid Andreas for the weekly sex. “The paradigm is just to say ‘yes, yes, yes’ all the time and not to oppose,” Allen said. “That adds up. You’re losing your critical thinking. You don’t have a fighter in you anymore.”

Buddhafield imploded, more or less

Through it all, no one outright confronted Andreas — at least not to Allen, Coquet and Cheiffo’s knowledge. When someone was tempted to raise concerns, another member would encourage them to return to their spiritual center. Those who actually left were forced to “disconnect” from the group, just like in Scientology. (Buddhafielders were sometimes ordered to maintain ostensible friendships with these people to keep tabs on them, should anyone choose to contact the authorities.) But in 2006, a nostalgic apostate returned to Buddhafield after a decade. Unlike some of the current insiders, he was able to spot the change in Michel/Andreas’ spirit. He wasn’t a teacher anymore — he was a master, and a fussy one at that. 

Then the returnee heard from his friends that Andreas was a sexual predator. This “character,” as Allen described him, barged into his wife’s cleansing session — a strict no-no — and accused Andreas of hurting his disciples. Andreas denied it and later blamed Cheiffo for not being there to “protect” him. But the damage was done: Before leaving again, the former member wrote an email to the group outlining all of the abuse allegations. More victims came forward. A steady implosion set in.

A few Buddhafielders had already planted seeds toward exiting. Allen, for example, who’d been a kept man, got a job in 2003 so he could save money in case he decided to leave. Most were facing an uphill battle if they chose to reboot their lives, so they didn’t jump ship immediately upon learning of Andreas’ wrongdoings. Even some who had suffered his advances didn’t quit right away. In fact, some victims refuted the allegations altogether, still hoping to protect The Teacher. Instead, Buddhafield saw a gradual wave of departures as people accepted that they belonged to a cult. Andreas left for Hawaii, starting a new clan. Certain loyalists followed him, and he rounded out his numbers with locals who are devoted to him today. Now charging $100 a pop for therapy sessions, Andreas still has all his financial and personal needs secured. “Holy Hell” shows Allen and other ex-Buddhafielders confronting him on a Hawaiian beach. 

After enlightenment, life must go on

“He used to say, ‘In the world, but not of it,'” Cheiffo recalled. “Now, when this thing was over, we were not in the world. My God, it’s been so hard to get back into life. I feel like I was in a frickin’ convent — or jail, really.”

With few marketable skills, minimal income and intense intimacy issues, displaced Buddhafielders have had to piece their lives together. Legal recourse is not easy, so Allen hopes “Holy Hell” will draw attention to the darker side of Andreas’ actions — if he can get the movie distributed in Hawaii. But Allen, Coquet and Cheiffo say people they introduced to the group are still following Andreas, which means attacking from the inside would be like harming their own family. Andreas covered enough of his tracks to eliminate a potential criminal case. That’s why he called his therapy sessions “cleansings” and ensured his sexual encounters had a semblance of consent. They could bring civil cases for harassment or duress, but is it worth the effort and money?

Allen and Coquet were in their 50s when they were forced to hit that bitter “reboot” button. They felt like “gypsy” 20-somethings. They were building careers, exploring relationships and learning how to be self-sufficient adults — things that enlightenment alone cannot accomplish. The struggle was roughest for Cheiffo, whose partner left her when she quit Buddhafield. Her dear friend of 17 years, who is still one of Andreas’ pupils, will no longer speak to her. 

“Later, we had to use humor to heal this whole thing,” Allen said of their 10 years outside of the cult. “We said, ‘We were laughing then — why aren’t we laughing now? Let’s get through this one step at a time, one day at a time.’ There was a lot of crying, a lot of tears and frustration and confusion, but eventually, after that, you have to laugh. You have to. Otherwise, what? You’re going to be a victim your whole life? You’re always going to suffer. It is funny to step back and laugh at yourself and not take yourself so seriously because that’s a problem too.”

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Why Summer Can Be Public Enemy #1 For Those Worried About Aging

Summer is every teenager’s favorite season. It’s filled with long lazy days where you can sleep in, stay up late, and homework doesn’t exist. Utopia. And then along comes middle age and suddenly things change. Summer, it seems, can be Public Enemy #1 for those concerned about aging.

1. You only thought the sun was your true love forever.

Well, maybe it once was when the two of you got together and somebody brought along the baby oil to slather all over you. It was hot, for sure. But then along came a few zillion studies that convinced you the sun was really up to no good. Who needs skin cancer? Still, the sun just makes us feel good. That’s because ultraviolet radiation from the sun releases endorphins — those “feel-good” hormones, which are actually pretty addictive.

So we admit that we are occasional sun-cheaters. We continue having a silent affair with the sun when we think no one is there to lecture us about using sunscreen. We tell ourselves that we need Vitamin D or else we will join the three out of four Americans who suffer from a Vitamin D deficiency

But alas, the sun has its own way of aging us. Those same blessed rays that we credited with clearing up our teenage acne now cruelly ages our skin. Wrinkles and sags? Yes, it’s that no-good, two-timing sun. UV rays account for up to as much as 80 percent of wrinkles and diminished skin elasticity. And let’s not even discuss sunspots, those little brown patches that dot your face, arms and hands. At our age, you’d think we’d have outgrown the bad boys.

2. Summer is a middle-age foodie’s worst nightmare. 

One of life’s greatest unresolved questions is: Do we eat more in summer in winter? We side with the theory that says early man bulked up in the summer when food was in abundance and then ate less in the winter when the plants went fallow and the animals hibernated.

We eat more in summer because summer food is better than winter food. Grilling is better than deep frying. There is an abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables come summertime. But then there is all the rest of it: Salt seems to be ever-present in our summer diet. How can you eat corn on the cob without butter? And what’s a summer evening without ice cream? Sangria, anyone? Are those chips and sour cream-onion dip on the BBQ table? Summer’s temptations are mighty — and summer invariably is our season of weight-gain. 

We know that summer’s more moderate temperatures should be getting us out on the hiking trails, tennis courts and in swimming pools. Still, we gain weight. And if the extra pounds don’t kill you, they sure as heck will make you feel older.

3. Vacations are synonymous with over-indulgence.

Summer is vacation season. And increasingly, we try to cram too much into our time away from the job. We simply may have lost the art of relaxation. We eat too much, drink too much, race around too much. We come back to work more tired than when we left and call this state “refreshed.” In reality, we return from most vacations jet-lagged, exhausted and unable to focus clearly. First day back at the desk is spent counting how many more hours until we can go back home and resume the sheet show. It may be fun, but is it healthy? No, why no, it is not.

4. Jet-lag knocks you for a bigger loop.

Jet-lag becomes more hideous as you get older. Our bodies just don’t adjust as quickly to changing time zones. It can take days — even weeks — to recover from a trip. You wake up in the middle of the night, fall asleep in the middle of the day and in general, walk around feeling pretty much awful. The answer is not to stop visiting exotic places when you get older, but to learn how to manage jet-lag. Lay off the booze, eat carbs just before you want to fall asleep, and do your best to reset your circadian rhythm. Planes can be noisy and bright, but if you can shut out the world by using a night mask and earplugs, it can help your body tremendously. 

 5. Summer is clothing-optional time.

So even if you’ve never been to Black’s Beach in San Diego — a bucket list item if ever there was one — summer clothes are skimpier. We wear less of them. This is the season where we expose our arm flab and varicose veins in all their glory. Feh, who cares? Go forth with confidence, which is the only thing you really need to wear to be dressed well.

 

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ReThink Review – <em>X-Men: Apocalypse</em> – Marvel/FOX Closes the Gap With Marvel/Disney

For almost a decade now, Marvel Studios has been the gold standard in the wave of superhero movies that has dominated the international box office and reshaped the way studios develop and produce their tentpole franchises. While other studios have made plenty of money with their own superhero franchises, none seem to match the respect and adoration Marvel Studios’ films elicit, even when competing studios are using popular Marvel characters. And with the support of Disney’s genius and muscle for marketing, branding, and distribution — along with the critical drubbing received by both films in the DC/Warner Bros’ rebooted Superman franchise — it seems like Marvel Studios may be the sole possessor of the magic formula for modern cinematic superhero success.

But after watching the impressive X-Men: Apocalypse, I’m beginning to think that 20th Century FOX and the X-Men franchise — after some misguided, gutsy, and arguably maddening moves — might finally be closing the gap with Marvel/Disney by following their lead. Watch the trailer for X-Men: Apocalypse below.

The original X-Men trilogy was completed two years before Iron Man, the first official film of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, was released in 2008. But with Iron Man‘s modern sensibilities, humor, the depth and humanity of Robert Downey Jr.’s performance, and the film’s focus on realism, Iron Man ushered in the beginning of the revitalized superhero age we’re now in. If superhero movies were smartphones, Iron Man felt like the first iPhone while the X-Men trilogy felt a bit like the Blackberry — a beloved champion of its day that still had a lot of earning potential, but suddenly felt a generation older when compared to its new competition.

FOX first attempted to mine material from the X-Men trilogy with an X-Men Origins series that yielded only a single Wolverine film that kept the franchise alive but felt stale in a post-Iron Man world. So FOX tried a different sort of prequel by going further back in time with X-Men: First Class.

The X-Men trilogy started in a world already well aware of the existence of Mutants, and where the primary Mutants were mostly adults in full control of their abilities who had already chosen which good guy/bad guy team they were on. This denied viewers of the heroes’ origin stories, which is often the most satisfying and edifying part of a superhero story, since it’s where we learn to relate to the characters as they begin their journey from regular human to superhuman and attempt to figure out their place in the world. And good origin stories are something that Marvel Studios excels at.

But with First Class, we began in a stylish 1960s world where most Mutants didn’t even know that other Mutants existed, and where the two most powerful Mutant nemeses (Charles Xavier and Magneto) were allies still learning how to use their powers while figuring out what role Mutants would play in humanity’s future. And by making the first generation of X-Men teenagers, not only did FOX inject the franchise with youthful energy, but it instantly made the characters more sympathetic and relatable as the angst and confusion of adolescence was compounded with the alienation of being a Mutant. However, First Class was still a prequel for a completed trilogy, which meant that the roadmaps for its characters were already set.

That’s what made X-Men: Days of Future Past such an audacious, unprecedented move. First, it projected the trilogy timeline into an apocalyptic future, then merged it with the prequel timeline by sending Wolverine back in time to the 1970s to meet up with the characters from First Class to prevent that future from happening. By changing the past, not only did Days of Future Past effectively erase the events of the X-Men trilogy, but it retroactively turned First Class into a partial reboot since any new X-Men films would no longer have to lead to the events of the original trilogy.

Normally, a move like this that invalidates nearly everything that came before it would be as infuriating as learning that the X-Men trilogy was really just a dream and that all of the affection and concern you might’ve felt for the characters was basically for nothing. At the same time, a reboot of a franchise basically does the same thing by starting a story over again with new actors and license to make changes, like what happened when Spider-Man was rebooted just five years after the original trilogy ended. However, a character from an original series going back in time to essentially reboot his own franchise has got to be a first.

And the amazing thing is that it actually worked — which finally brings us to X-Men: Apocalypse. Now in 1983, the young X-Men — anchored by Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique and Nicholas Hoult as Beast, with newcomers Sophie Turner as Jean Grey, Tye Sheridan as Cyclops, Kodi Smit-McPhee as Nightcrawler, and Alexandra Shipp as Storm — infuse the film with humanity, vulnerability, and a welcome amount of humor, though the returning Evan Peters as Quicksilver once again speeds away with the movie’s most fun scene. James McAvoy delivers as a young Charles Xavier becoming more assured of his powers and his responsibility for the futures of both Mutants and humans. But it’s Michael Fassbender as the tortured, conflicted Magneto who gives the film’s best performance, and may soon replace Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine as the franchise’s most interesting character. Unfortunately, Apocalypse, the awakened Mutant/Egyptian god (Oscar Isaac) who wants to destroy and rebuild the world is a bore, as are Ben Hardy and Olivia Munn as his mostly-silent henchmen.

X-Men: Apocalypse is no the Avengers or Captain America: Civil War, and the X-Men franchise has a ways to go before it can match the best films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But while I eventually became uninterested in the original X-Men movies, X-Men: Apocalypse now has me excited and curious to see where this franchise might go, how screenwriters will weave the storyline into recent history, and how its talented cast might reinvent and deepen their characters. Despite director Bryan Singer’s statement that Apocalypse is “kind of a conclusion of six X-Men films”, it feels like a franchise that now has a promising future.

Put another way, while I still feel that the Marvel Studios films are the best-in-class iPhone, the pseudo-rebooted X-Men no longer feels like the now-dead Blackberry, but more like today’s best Android phones, which have had years to learn from the best while developing a few original tricks of their own. And while I’m not getting rid of my iPhone, I’m pretty interested to see what Samsung has in their product pipeline.

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Behind Every Successful Woman is Her Tribe of Sisters

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By Julia Abbiss

Competition is a tricky concept. As a core American value, competition is an embedded part of our social and economic makeup. From a young age, we’re taught that getting ahead means being the best, without however, taking into account the various factors that may prevent certain demographics from achieving such success. Regardless, competitiveness often runs through our blood, affecting our attitude and relationships with people. That’s why when I saw this Gif on my newsfeed, it made me stop and think.

This simple animation sends a powerful message: As women, we should be empowering, not competing with each other. This notion is one that I feel is often lost with Western millennial women today. As equality is earned, the pressure of “having it all” rises. There is no doubt that women can have it all, however, in the pursuit of this, I think we forget that achieving “all” doesn’t mean achieving “more” than the woman next to you. This Gif is so poignant because it quietly points out that the success of one woman only assists the success of another.

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I read this great quote recently that said, “Behind every successful woman, is a tribe of other successful women that have her back.” It’s important to recognize that this tribe is not just populated by the women in your immediate circle. Instead, I believe that women are at their strongest when they consider every woman from every walk of life as a member of their tribe.

This is a belief that is shared by Humanity Unified International, a nonprofit that empowers women to rise out of poverty through education, food security programs, and economic opportunities. Their latest project has them partnering with Aspire Rwanda, a woman-led Rwandan organization, in an effort to empower the lives of 100 Rwandan women.

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Together they developed a farming cooperative project that aims to triple the women’s agricultural yields over the course of one year, starting in July 2016. They plan to do this by equipping the women with the management skills necessary to run the cooperative as a team. Additionally, the program enrolls the women in courses that teach business skills, women’s rights, and provides information about mental and physical health. Male sensitization trainings and workshops are conducted alongside these courses to foster male engagement, with the goal of building strong, harmonious families.

You can become part of this story of empowerment by joining the Humanity Unified International family in their efforts to end poverty. To watch their latest video, learn more about the initiative and to donate, visit: humanityunified.org


About the Author

Julia Abbiss is completing her M.S. in Nonprofit Management from Johnson & Wales University, where she obtained her B.S. in Travel-Tourism & Hospitality Management. When she not guiding tours through the southwest or spending her money on breakfast burritos, Julia is working with Humanity Unified to develop campaigns to reach their July fundraising goal. Follow Julia’s adventures at www.jabbiss.wordpress.com

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Obama Embraces Hiroshima Survivor Who Pushed To Add U.S. Victims' Names To Memorial

The world was reminded how far America’s relationship with Japan has come since the terrifying days of World War II when U.S. President Barack Obama embraced one of the survivors of the Hiroshima attack.

Obama became the first sitting U.S. president to visit Hiroshima, paying tribute to the city ravaged by an American atomic bomb at the end of the war. 

Over 100,000 people died from the attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the only times in world history that a nuclear bomb has been used as a weapon of war. Nuclear disarmament has been a top priority of Obama’s presidency, and he urged those who heard his Friday speech to continue his mission.

“We remember all the innocents killed in the arc of that terrible war,” he said before meeting Shigeaki Mori, a historian who lived through the 1945 bombing of Hiroshima.

Mori isn’t just a survivor, though. He’s also spent decades advocating for the American victims of the Hiroshima attack.

Mori tracked down the families of the 12 American POWs killed in the bombing, learning about their lives and pushing for their names to be added to the city’s official memorial. Mori was 8 when the bombs dropped, and considers the Americans victims as much as the Japanese.

“Unless someone speaks for them, their sacrifices would be thrown into darkness,” he told Stars and Stripes last year. “I wanted to shed light on those Americans who fell the victims of the bombing just like [the] other 140,000 people.”

The Americans’ names were eventually added to the Hall of Remembrance in Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park.

Prior to Obama’s trip, Mori told CNN that “I think it is wonderful that he will visit Hiroshima to mourn for all victims of war.”

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These Emotional Photos Show The Real Reason For Memorial Day

Every year on Memorial Day, the nation remembers those who’ve died while serving our country. The day is marked in somber ceremonies and celebrations around the U.S., offering photographers a chance to capture the quiet moments of people spending time near their loved ones.

As you look at the photos below, remember that Memorial Day is more than just a day off — it’s a day to reflect on those who made the ultimate sacrifice. 

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'The Voice' Winner Alisan Porter On Finding Success Again After Child Stardom

Alisan Porter wowed coaches Christina Aguilera, Adam Levine, Blake Shelton and Pharrell Williams with her blind audition on “The Voice” this season. From then on, she was the frontrunner of the competition, until she was ultimately crowned the winner alongside her coach Aguilera this week. But what made Porter’s story all the more emotional was that she once had a career in Hollywood as a child star. The now 34-year-old starred as the titular character in 1991’s “Curly Sue” before quitting show business to live a “normal” life. After struggling with addiction, she got sober in 2007, fell in love, and became a wife and a mom of two. She finally found the time to pursue a singing career last year, and decided to go out and audition for “The Voice” after a friend of hers passed her number on to a casting director. 

“I kind of retired in my mind and was like, ‘OK, I’ll just make music for myself and play gigs here and there.’ It was weird coming in as someone who’s been in the business before because I can understand how people could be like, ‘Oh, she already had her chance.’ You know, what the haters say … I get it, haters, I get it. At the same time, I had been trying to be a singer for a decade, so for me it was like, if I get this one shot, I’m going to take it,” she told HuffPost on AOL Build of her decision to go on the reality singing competition show. 

Before she knew it, Porter was several rounds into the audition process and was “totally freaked out,” but in the end, it was clearly worth it. 

“I’m glad that I did [it],” she said. “I walked through a lot of fears and … I won!” 

Now, Porter hopes to produce a wonderful album that not only her fans will enjoy, but that she can be proud of.

“I want to focus on writing songs and kind of put the puzzle together,” she said. “I don’t want to put myself in any kind of slot. I’ve waited too long for this and the music will speak for itself and sit where it’s supposed to sit.”

Watch our full interview with Alisan below.  

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Social Media Trends to Watch

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Social media is moving at breakneck speeds and what was yesterday’s latest craze is today’s “That is so 2015.” In order to stay on top of your marketing game, you need to know what’s going on in this ever-evolving social world. Knowledge is power, and the more social media knowledge you have, the less likely you’ll be hanging out on MySpace when everyone else has moved on to Snapchat and Periscope. Let’s get schooled.

Live Streaming

We don’t only want more video; we want more reality. An unscripted performance in whatever form you want to serve is just what users are demanding. With the introduction of Facebook Live and the announcement that the network will give preferential treatment to Live videos, there’s no reason why brands should not be cashing in on this exposure. Getting your video placed at the top of followers’ news feeds is a marketing goldmine on The Social Network.

Periscope and Meerkat’s unedited, unfiltered live streams took the world by storm in 2015, and there’s no sign of them slowing down. The photo and video sharing app Snapchat is also slated to be a front-runner in social media in the coming years, but only 5 percent of marketers are currently taking advantage of the network. Snapping is no longer just for the kids – the brands that are hopping on the bandwagon are bringing innovative and fresh content for this ever-expanding audience. Now is the time for businesses to get on board this fast growing network.

Influencer Marketing

According to the latest Nielson study, over 90% of consumers trust recommendations from friends and family. We’ve slapped a fancy name on it, but at the end of the day, this is what influencer marketing really is: getting products into the hands of people whom others trust. Peer recommendations have the power to sway buyers and inspire purchase decisions, not because they have a zillion followers or have perfect lips, but because they are reliable, personable sources we believe. For this reason, it is crucial that brands create a superior customer experience, fostering community and building strong relationships with followers: word-of-mouth is quickly becoming the million dollar commercial.

Video

Video use on social media has been steadily increasing, with astronomical growth reported in 2015. Facebook’s move toward more video includes its launch of 360: “a stunning and captivating way for publishers and content creators to share immersive stories, places and experiences with their fans.” In other words, all kinds of industries can capitalize on this new technology by showcasing panoramic views of everything from office spaces to hotel destinations.

Snapchat’s new Discover function has become a portal for brands to reach new audiences with bite-sized, easily-digested snippets of video and infographics, while Instagram’s new upgrade to 60-second video satisfies the demand for more airtime.

Social Buying

Like it? Prove it. The BUY button: if it hasn’t already, it’s coming to a social network near you. With the growth of online and mobile commerce, this is a natural next step in the world of buying and selling. A BUY button simplifies the purchasing process, reducing the amount of steps between browsing and buying. It eliminates changed minds and aborted transactions when the consumer is redirected to a website from a social post. Now time will tell if the masses consider social buying a trustworthy way to conduct business.

What do you think? Will you be purchasing products from the BUY button? Will you be using it for your business?

You can read more current social media updates at the Ghost Tweeting blog.

[Nika Stewart gives daily social media tips on Twitter and Periscope @NikaStewart]

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