Long time no see, Internets. How's it going? Oh, me? I'm doing okay. Obviously I have not stuck to writing as a creative outlet to make me forget about my miserable existence and general aimlessness. I know I said I was going to write more, but when I have a couch and episodes of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia calling my name, I tend to not be so productive any more.
I am on here to write today though, and to write about something I truly truly care about - Bette Midler. That's right, folks! It's movie review time!
I have known about Bette Midler's newest film Parental Guidance since it was in pre-production, so I have been anxiously waiting to see her onscreen again for quite some time. More than a year, as a matter of fact. My original plan, after finding out about Barbra Streisand's new one, The Guilt Trip, was to do a double feature on Christmas Day. My family from Texas decided to come in for the holidays, so that changed my plans a little bit. Yesterday, though, is going on the books as one of the greatest days in recent history for me. I did Parental Guidance at 7:35 and The Guilt Trip at 9:35, giving me just enough time to make a bathroom stop before the previews for the second film started. I was giddy, trying not to anxiously tap my feet or randomly shout out yips like an excited puppy. Maintaining my cool was difficult. (In fact, this whole year has been spectacular film-wise for me. Shirley MacLaine had Bernie, Meryl Streep had Hope Springs, and Susan Sarandon had a couple of supporting roles. Since all five of these women are my imaginary lovers - Streisand to a lesser degree than the others - I have been pretty stoked about cinema this year.) So, without further ado in regards to my...weirdness...I present you with my opinions on my Most Anticipated Films of 2012.
Billy Crystal is a funny guy that tries really, really hard to be funny. Sometimes too hard. That was obvious in Parental Guidance. Some of his jokes fell flat or felt awkwardly placed (no one always has a witty retort to lighten the mood during emotional times), and as someone who has tried for years to escape their family's obsession with baseball, the fact that Crystal's character was so wrapped up in the game sort of put me off. Marisa Tomei was great as the neurotic mom, and there was a really funny role-playing thing between her and Tom Everett Scott that contained just the right amount of weird to work. Bailee Madison is a pretty fantastic little actress and Kyle Breitkopf was utterly charming, even at his brattiest. Joshua Rush, as the middle grandchild, was all kinds of adorable, even with his obviously fake stuttering. Bette was severely underused. It was obvious her character was the knockabout, the one always either striving to please her daughter or struggling to get her husband to notice her. Other than the mention of her having been a weather girl when she was younger, you don't really learn much about her character. She had one scene where she cried (like you could keep me from crying while I'm watching her well up) and another where she sang (again, giddy here), and I thought she looked just great. I really enjoyed the movie and could have easily watched it twice back to back. My only complaints were really about the lack of good lines for Bette and the fact that the movie felt a little rushed. There was little room for character development, and too much focus on Crystal as the reluctant grandfather instead of focus on the grandmother who really wanted desperately to be more involved in her grandchildren's lives. But the movie had just the right amount of schmaltz to work for me, and I would definitely recommend it as a rainy day flick.
I could tell from the previews I was going to enjoy The Guilt Trip. I love Seth Rogen and everything that he does due to my crush on his 'fro. Right from the start, the movie had me laughing. The dialogue was genuinely funny, not just chuckle-worthy, and Rogen's character is so awkward that you can't help but grin as he fumbles to look like a respectable businessman. Streisand looks phenomenal, with just the right amount of frump thrown in to make you forget you're watching perfectionist and world-renowned singer and class act Barbra Streisand. Obviously, most of the film is devoted to mother-son bonding due to the road trip theme, but there is also a little time to show off Rogen's character as this brilliant scientist/inventor and develop a love interest storyline for Streisand. There is also one incredibly well-done scene where mother and son butt heads due to being completely fed up with one another. (The film's one use of the f-word gets to be utilized by Streisand, and it was AWESOME.) There's a sweet little twist near the end, and the movie leaves you feeling like both characters (fully developed, flawed characters) have grown due to their excursion. Personally, I could not get over how flawless Streisand looked. Her hips have widened and she's added a little weight with her age, but with her hooked nose and slightly crossed eyes, she is just perfectly imperfect. Her hair is softer around the edges, curving nicely toward her face versus the angular bob that has been her signature look for the past twenty years. Age has treated her very well, and the over-protective Jewish mother thing doesn't seem contrived with her. This movie was worth the 15-year wait since her last major role. Brava.
Showing posts with label celebrities. Show all posts
Showing posts with label celebrities. Show all posts
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Saturday, August 4, 2012
Triple Feature Movie Review
With the recent re-emergence of Burns and Allen in my life, I decided to order myself an early birthday present and get some B&A merchandise I've had my eye on for quite some time. One of these is a triple feature DVD of Burns & Allen films. (If I could find all of their early film shorts on DVD, I think I would literally shit myself.) Since I've decided to write more, I will occasionally do book, movie, or album reviews here to build my repertoire. I used to do a weekly feature on a music forum I frequented, but I haven't been on there for years and I would love to start doing reviews again.
The first film on this triple feature DVD is a movie called Here Comes Cookie from 1935. Gracie plays the ditsy daughter of a very rich man who decides that in order to protect his fortune from a gold-digger that is courting his other daughter, he must sign his money over to Gracie. Mr. Allen agrees to let Phyllis marry this suitor if, with falsely generated word that Mr. Allen has gone broke, he sticks by her side despite Daddy no longer being a possible meal ticket. Things begin innocently enough, with Gracie deciding to assist with the homelessness problem in New York by offering free room and board to unemployed actors (who apparently consisted of the majority of the city's homeless population at the time). Gracie instructs the butler to start cutting up their clothes in order to make them look like vagrants. Hearing about the new financial arrangement, her sister Phyllis's beau decides to pursue Gracie, sending a fortune teller to set up their meeting by telling her when, where, and how she will meet the man of her dreams. Meanwhile, her father finally enjoying his retirement in North Carolina on mere pennies a day, until Phyllis arrives to reveal Gracie's inanities and urge him to return home. When they arrive, Gracie has had the home reconstructed into a theater to put on a show with her new actor friends, at the insistence of her new fiancé, who has concocted the theatrical production as a means of embezzling the money without having to actually marry either daughter. The play is a riotous disaster, and this leads to the swift but pleasant ending. The suitor and his accomplice get locked in the box office, while Gracie gets offered a job as a movie producer. Cops get thieving suitor; Pops gets his piece of mind back by getting his wacko daughter out of his hair. Cue credits.
The movie is full of Vaudeville acts, ones that are unrecognized today but I'm sure would have been known by audiences at the time. (Many of them go uncredited as well.) George Burns is on hand to be befuddled by Gracie's antics as her father's legal advisor. Gracie is a delight through and through. She's thin and bright-eyed, and you can't keep your eyes off of her. She's quite agile as well, performing a cute little Latin-inspired song and dance number during the show within a show. Her voice is airy and lilting, and she appears as light as air on her feet. The movie contains a few pratfalls as well. It's is entertaining but very brief, and it feels more like a showcase for Gracie's talents than a movie with an actual plotline.
Film number two is a road trip comedy called Six of a Kind, also starring Charlie Ruggles, Mary Boland, and W.C. Fields. The Whinneys are about to set off on a cross-country trip to celebrate their twentieth wedding anniversary. The wife decides to take out an ad in the paper offering to share the ride with another couple in an attempt to save money. George and Gracie answer the ad, much to the chagrin of the husband. They take off for California with Gracie's Great Dane in tow. Calamity ensues. The older couple's plans for a second honeymoon are further thwarted when, finding out George and Gracie aren't married, they don't even get to share a room together on their trip. In the meantime, a bank co-worker of Mr. Whinney's stays in hot pursuit of the foursome. It seems he decided to embezzle $50,000 from the bank and pin it on Whinney, thinking he could place the money in Whinney's suitcase and retrieve the money from them along the way. Finally catching up to them in Nevada, the embezzler gets caught by the local sheriff (Fields), who is tricked into thinking the embezzler is actually the embezzled. Detectives, who became aware of the Whinneys whereabouts when the couple ran out of cash and wired the bank for cash from the road, show up and the whole crazy scheme is revealed.
This film is another one with a speedy resolution, but the laughs along the way are worth it. Ruggles (who I instantly recognized) and Boland make a great little team, and the patter between George and Gracie is brilliant, as always. "You have an aunt that sees with her mouth?" "Yeah, she sees if her soup is cold." W.C. Fields doesn't show up until halfway through the movie, but he has a gut-busting scene involving a pool cue that he just can't seem to shoot straight. He also has a few funny zingers, including, "I'm as busy as a pickpocket at a nudist colony." This feature also has a nice special feature. It includes the original trailer!
The final movie in the set (Love in Bloom) features Dixie Lee (Mrs. Bing Crosby) and Joe Morrison in the lead roles. A young girl whose family are carnival people decides she's had enough and runs away. Starting over in the big city, she meets an aspiring songwriter. They both get a job working at a music store, where they fall in love and decide to get married. George plays Dixie's brother, who brings his wife Gracie along in search of little sis. Their alcoholic pop has landed himself in jail again, and they need sis to bail him out. Unfortunately, once he's out of jail, Dad's mission is to bring his beloved daughter back home. She refuses at first, but when her father inadvertently crashes the wrong wedding while stone-cold drunk, she decides to go with him to save herself from further embarrassment. As the carnival travels the world, our budding songwriter finally gets published. Dad decides to let his daughter have her freedom after all, after acquiring a new business partner from New York, which turns out to be our songwriter. He basically paid for his lover's "freedom", but hey, the young-in-love couple gets to be together in the end and that's all that matters.
During an early scene, Gracie sings a little number called "Here Comes Cookie" (seems misplaced, huh?) while George stuffs cotton in his ears. This is reminiscent of one of their later running gags on their radio show where George randomly breaks out in song with great protestation from everyone around him (except Gracie). Aside from this, Gracie and George are onscreen for less than 1/3 of the movie. Lee and Morrison are decent enough actors and both have pleasant singing voices. On its own, the movie is fairly good, but the billing is misleading as this is not a Burns-Allen vehicle. Enjoyable enough, though.
For all three films, I'd give four out of five stars. One succeeds where the others fail, and for me, the presence of Burns & Allen made it worth the price of the disc.
The first film on this triple feature DVD is a movie called Here Comes Cookie from 1935. Gracie plays the ditsy daughter of a very rich man who decides that in order to protect his fortune from a gold-digger that is courting his other daughter, he must sign his money over to Gracie. Mr. Allen agrees to let Phyllis marry this suitor if, with falsely generated word that Mr. Allen has gone broke, he sticks by her side despite Daddy no longer being a possible meal ticket. Things begin innocently enough, with Gracie deciding to assist with the homelessness problem in New York by offering free room and board to unemployed actors (who apparently consisted of the majority of the city's homeless population at the time). Gracie instructs the butler to start cutting up their clothes in order to make them look like vagrants. Hearing about the new financial arrangement, her sister Phyllis's beau decides to pursue Gracie, sending a fortune teller to set up their meeting by telling her when, where, and how she will meet the man of her dreams. Meanwhile, her father finally enjoying his retirement in North Carolina on mere pennies a day, until Phyllis arrives to reveal Gracie's inanities and urge him to return home. When they arrive, Gracie has had the home reconstructed into a theater to put on a show with her new actor friends, at the insistence of her new fiancé, who has concocted the theatrical production as a means of embezzling the money without having to actually marry either daughter. The play is a riotous disaster, and this leads to the swift but pleasant ending. The suitor and his accomplice get locked in the box office, while Gracie gets offered a job as a movie producer. Cops get thieving suitor; Pops gets his piece of mind back by getting his wacko daughter out of his hair. Cue credits.
The movie is full of Vaudeville acts, ones that are unrecognized today but I'm sure would have been known by audiences at the time. (Many of them go uncredited as well.) George Burns is on hand to be befuddled by Gracie's antics as her father's legal advisor. Gracie is a delight through and through. She's thin and bright-eyed, and you can't keep your eyes off of her. She's quite agile as well, performing a cute little Latin-inspired song and dance number during the show within a show. Her voice is airy and lilting, and she appears as light as air on her feet. The movie contains a few pratfalls as well. It's is entertaining but very brief, and it feels more like a showcase for Gracie's talents than a movie with an actual plotline.
Film number two is a road trip comedy called Six of a Kind, also starring Charlie Ruggles, Mary Boland, and W.C. Fields. The Whinneys are about to set off on a cross-country trip to celebrate their twentieth wedding anniversary. The wife decides to take out an ad in the paper offering to share the ride with another couple in an attempt to save money. George and Gracie answer the ad, much to the chagrin of the husband. They take off for California with Gracie's Great Dane in tow. Calamity ensues. The older couple's plans for a second honeymoon are further thwarted when, finding out George and Gracie aren't married, they don't even get to share a room together on their trip. In the meantime, a bank co-worker of Mr. Whinney's stays in hot pursuit of the foursome. It seems he decided to embezzle $50,000 from the bank and pin it on Whinney, thinking he could place the money in Whinney's suitcase and retrieve the money from them along the way. Finally catching up to them in Nevada, the embezzler gets caught by the local sheriff (Fields), who is tricked into thinking the embezzler is actually the embezzled. Detectives, who became aware of the Whinneys whereabouts when the couple ran out of cash and wired the bank for cash from the road, show up and the whole crazy scheme is revealed.
This film is another one with a speedy resolution, but the laughs along the way are worth it. Ruggles (who I instantly recognized) and Boland make a great little team, and the patter between George and Gracie is brilliant, as always. "You have an aunt that sees with her mouth?" "Yeah, she sees if her soup is cold." W.C. Fields doesn't show up until halfway through the movie, but he has a gut-busting scene involving a pool cue that he just can't seem to shoot straight. He also has a few funny zingers, including, "I'm as busy as a pickpocket at a nudist colony." This feature also has a nice special feature. It includes the original trailer!
The final movie in the set (Love in Bloom) features Dixie Lee (Mrs. Bing Crosby) and Joe Morrison in the lead roles. A young girl whose family are carnival people decides she's had enough and runs away. Starting over in the big city, she meets an aspiring songwriter. They both get a job working at a music store, where they fall in love and decide to get married. George plays Dixie's brother, who brings his wife Gracie along in search of little sis. Their alcoholic pop has landed himself in jail again, and they need sis to bail him out. Unfortunately, once he's out of jail, Dad's mission is to bring his beloved daughter back home. She refuses at first, but when her father inadvertently crashes the wrong wedding while stone-cold drunk, she decides to go with him to save herself from further embarrassment. As the carnival travels the world, our budding songwriter finally gets published. Dad decides to let his daughter have her freedom after all, after acquiring a new business partner from New York, which turns out to be our songwriter. He basically paid for his lover's "freedom", but hey, the young-in-love couple gets to be together in the end and that's all that matters.
During an early scene, Gracie sings a little number called "Here Comes Cookie" (seems misplaced, huh?) while George stuffs cotton in his ears. This is reminiscent of one of their later running gags on their radio show where George randomly breaks out in song with great protestation from everyone around him (except Gracie). Aside from this, Gracie and George are onscreen for less than 1/3 of the movie. Lee and Morrison are decent enough actors and both have pleasant singing voices. On its own, the movie is fairly good, but the billing is misleading as this is not a Burns-Allen vehicle. Enjoyable enough, though.
For all three films, I'd give four out of five stars. One succeeds where the others fail, and for me, the presence of Burns & Allen made it worth the price of the disc.
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Tomorrow may be even brighter than today.
Wow, I have been writing less and less, haven't I? Well, to be honest, there hasn't been much to write about. For a while now, I've felt like I'm just existing. The only purpose to my life has been earning money to pay off my debts, and I can't get that done quickly enough to suit me. I am loathe to think that this is what the rest of my life will be like: being a workhorse with no greater purpose. I pour out love quite abundantly and give so much of myself to things that don't even matter. In return, I feel I get nothing but worry and stress. I am far too young to think of my life as going nowhere, but that is precisely how I feel.
I do have something to write about today, though. When I was a senior in high school, I became interested in George Burns and Gracie Allen, partly thanks to reading this book penned by George called "Gracie: A Love Story". Thanks to purchasing an antenna (after four years without cable or internet) and picking up a classics channel, I have rediscovered Burns & Allen. Obviously, I didn't forget them. Who could? But this station brought them to the forefront of my mind, and I have been brought such happiness because of this.
George and Gracie were beautiful, talented people, but the reason I love them so much is because they so loved each other. I always have these running fantasies about couples. I ask, "What if Lucy and Desi's relationship wasn't so volatile and they had stayed together?" "Lindsey and Stevie still love each other. They should be together." George and Gracie though, they stayed together. In fact, George never remarried after Gracie died. And one of the best parts for me? In the aforementioned book, he states that the first night he made love to Gracie was the best night of his life. He actually changed "had sex" to "made love" to more accurately describe it. He was about 90 when he wrote this. Over 20 years after her death, and he still remembered that night. God. Isn't that one of the most romantic things you've ever heard? They were so amazing.
I am being a total geek over this. It's sad.
I do have something to write about today, though. When I was a senior in high school, I became interested in George Burns and Gracie Allen, partly thanks to reading this book penned by George called "Gracie: A Love Story". Thanks to purchasing an antenna (after four years without cable or internet) and picking up a classics channel, I have rediscovered Burns & Allen. Obviously, I didn't forget them. Who could? But this station brought them to the forefront of my mind, and I have been brought such happiness because of this.
George and Gracie were beautiful, talented people, but the reason I love them so much is because they so loved each other. I always have these running fantasies about couples. I ask, "What if Lucy and Desi's relationship wasn't so volatile and they had stayed together?" "Lindsey and Stevie still love each other. They should be together." George and Gracie though, they stayed together. In fact, George never remarried after Gracie died. And one of the best parts for me? In the aforementioned book, he states that the first night he made love to Gracie was the best night of his life. He actually changed "had sex" to "made love" to more accurately describe it. He was about 90 when he wrote this. Over 20 years after her death, and he still remembered that night. God. Isn't that one of the most romantic things you've ever heard? They were so amazing.
I am being a total geek over this. It's sad.
Saturday, March 17, 2012
In praise of Michelle Williams.
I didn't get a chance to watch very many of this year's Oscar-nominated films before the awards ceremony. Last year, I made a point to watch as many Best Picture nominees as possible. I didn't get around to all of them, but I did see over half. This year, I only saw one. (Although I did get to see the film that housed Meryl Streep's winning performance.) Anyway, this week I saw My Week with Marilyn.
I was a little skeptical, just because the Marilyn biopic has been done so many times before in varying forms. The movie itself was not very impressive. The story had a few holes, and there was very little setup of the plot in the beginning. You're given a portrait of Marilyn that only extends over a very brief period of time, and there are characters whose opinions of Marilyn seem to have no basis, or are contradicting throughout the film. However, the saving grace of the movie is Michelle Williams. She embodied Marilyn in a way that I have never seen. The physical resemblance is minimal, but she felt Marilyn. It was obvious in the way that she moved, the way that she laughed, the way that she batted her eyes at men.
Many people will not know what is meant by this, but Michelle Williams was to Marilyn Monroe what Judy Davis was to Judy Garland. This is an incredibly high compliment to be paid, as I feel Judy Davis became Judy Garland when she portrayed her a decade ago. Both of these women, if only momentarily, make you forget you are not watching the true Hollywood star on screen. If not for the fact that Meryl Streep was PHENOMENAL in The Iron Lady, I would gladly put the words "Oscar winner" in front of Michelle Williams name on any possible occasion.
Isn't it amazing how Michelle Williams ended up being the best thing to come out of Dawson's Creek?
I was a little skeptical, just because the Marilyn biopic has been done so many times before in varying forms. The movie itself was not very impressive. The story had a few holes, and there was very little setup of the plot in the beginning. You're given a portrait of Marilyn that only extends over a very brief period of time, and there are characters whose opinions of Marilyn seem to have no basis, or are contradicting throughout the film. However, the saving grace of the movie is Michelle Williams. She embodied Marilyn in a way that I have never seen. The physical resemblance is minimal, but she felt Marilyn. It was obvious in the way that she moved, the way that she laughed, the way that she batted her eyes at men.
Many people will not know what is meant by this, but Michelle Williams was to Marilyn Monroe what Judy Davis was to Judy Garland. This is an incredibly high compliment to be paid, as I feel Judy Davis became Judy Garland when she portrayed her a decade ago. Both of these women, if only momentarily, make you forget you are not watching the true Hollywood star on screen. If not for the fact that Meryl Streep was PHENOMENAL in The Iron Lady, I would gladly put the words "Oscar winner" in front of Michelle Williams name on any possible occasion.
Isn't it amazing how Michelle Williams ended up being the best thing to come out of Dawson's Creek?
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Goodbye, Whitney Elizabeth.
When I was about thirteen or fourteen years old, I was a huge Whitney Houston fan. I was a member of her fan club for a year after My Love is Your Love came out, and even through all of her struggles personally, I was able to enjoy her body of work without letting the bad parts of her cloud that original image in my mind.
I follow the celebrity world so closely that I did not find out as early as some people about her death. I've been so busy, and the day it happened I had been helping my sister and her family move into a new apartment. I had to take something over to my aunt and uncle's house that evening, and their big screen is visible from the front door. So as soon as I open the door, before I even say hello, I see on CNN "Whitney Houston 1963-2012" and I felt my heart fall into my stomach. I have so many memories that are tied in closely with celebrity events that there are not a lot of them I remember vividly. I do remember the exact moment I found out John Ritter died and the exact moment I found out Rue McClanahan died, and I'm sure this memory of Whitney's death will always stick out in my mind as well. Even three days later, I cannot get Whitney out of my head.
In middle and high school, before I got into Stevie Nicks, I had seven women that I adored. Of course Bette and Meryl were two of them; there was also Susan Sarandon, Shirley MacLaine, Mimi Rogers, Joan Cusack, and Whitney. I doodled their names like a little schoolgirl and was always coming up with different ways to arrange their initials to make some sort of anagram to discreetly put their names on my notebooks without seeming like a total weirdo. I felt a connection to Whitney because our birthdays were just a few days apart and because we had the same middle name. To me, she was THE voice. I mean, don't get me wrong. I adore Bette, but for actual vocal ability, Whitney blew everyone else out of the water. Such talent, such control. No one else will ever touch her in my mind.
So today I'm listening to Whitney, remembering what she meant to me, and remembering what a fantastic spirit she had before her life was taken over by drugs. As corny as it is, and as many people as have already said this, I will always love you, Whitney.
I follow the celebrity world so closely that I did not find out as early as some people about her death. I've been so busy, and the day it happened I had been helping my sister and her family move into a new apartment. I had to take something over to my aunt and uncle's house that evening, and their big screen is visible from the front door. So as soon as I open the door, before I even say hello, I see on CNN "Whitney Houston 1963-2012" and I felt my heart fall into my stomach. I have so many memories that are tied in closely with celebrity events that there are not a lot of them I remember vividly. I do remember the exact moment I found out John Ritter died and the exact moment I found out Rue McClanahan died, and I'm sure this memory of Whitney's death will always stick out in my mind as well. Even three days later, I cannot get Whitney out of my head.
In middle and high school, before I got into Stevie Nicks, I had seven women that I adored. Of course Bette and Meryl were two of them; there was also Susan Sarandon, Shirley MacLaine, Mimi Rogers, Joan Cusack, and Whitney. I doodled their names like a little schoolgirl and was always coming up with different ways to arrange their initials to make some sort of anagram to discreetly put their names on my notebooks without seeming like a total weirdo. I felt a connection to Whitney because our birthdays were just a few days apart and because we had the same middle name. To me, she was THE voice. I mean, don't get me wrong. I adore Bette, but for actual vocal ability, Whitney blew everyone else out of the water. Such talent, such control. No one else will ever touch her in my mind.
So today I'm listening to Whitney, remembering what she meant to me, and remembering what a fantastic spirit she had before her life was taken over by drugs. As corny as it is, and as many people as have already said this, I will always love you, Whitney.
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Patti LaBelle lawsuit
Has anybody else seen this shit?
http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/patti-labelle-sued-west-point-cadet-houston-airport/story?id=13752701
Doesn't look like an "unprovoked" attack to me.
http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/patti-labelle-sued-west-point-cadet-houston-airport/story?id=13752701
Doesn't look like an "unprovoked" attack to me.
Monday, August 22, 2011
Strange, she runs from the one she can't keep up with.
Things have been rolling along in my life. Sometimes I feel like nothing's happening, and sometimes I feel like a steamroller is on my heels, threatening to crush everything around me at any moment.
I was supposed to have been on a trip to Pennsylvania and New York about a week and a half ago, but due to circumstances beyond my control, my travel companion and I had to reschedule. So I have another six weeks or so until that trip happens. But plenty of things have been happening. I had a decent birthday celebration, both with my self-consumed extended family and with my generous and wonderful friends.
Two days ago, I went to a Stevie Nicks concert in Cincinnati, OH totally and completely alone. It wasn't bad, seeing as how it's not that long of a drive from here. There was some road work that put me getting there later than I had hoped, but I was still there a good 40 minutes before the show. The opening act, Michael Grimm, was really talented and I enjoyed his short set. I was seventh row in the center pit, just left of center stage. It was a great seat and I was really excited to be there. I got my camera in with no issue and managed to get some pretty good pictures from my seat, although they weren't great because my arm kept shaking and I couldn't hold the camera still. During a guitar solo toward the end of "Edge of Seventeen", a bunch of fans got to rush the stage and I was right up front. Stevie always does a walk during this portion of the song and shakes hands with audience members. She didn't shake my hand because the hands directly behind me were higher (fucking tall people), but I managed to touch the top of her hand as she was shaking a hand just to the right of me. It wasn't as magical as I thought it would be, but she was right there, and I couldn't not touch her after she passed me. I would've regretted missing that opportunity, and I am so glad I didn't have to.
She looked and sounded great, and it was really cool getting to hear the newer songs live. This was the fourth time I've seen her live, including twice with Fleetwood Mac. I don't remember the exact order of the songs and I may be missing one or two, but here's a rough setlist from the night.
Stand Back
Secret Love
Dreams
Moonlight (A Vampire's Dream)
Gold Dust Woman
Soldier's Angel
Annabel Lee
For What It's Worth
Rhiannon
Ghosts Are Gone
Edge of Seventeen
Love Is
I was supposed to have been on a trip to Pennsylvania and New York about a week and a half ago, but due to circumstances beyond my control, my travel companion and I had to reschedule. So I have another six weeks or so until that trip happens. But plenty of things have been happening. I had a decent birthday celebration, both with my self-consumed extended family and with my generous and wonderful friends.
Two days ago, I went to a Stevie Nicks concert in Cincinnati, OH totally and completely alone. It wasn't bad, seeing as how it's not that long of a drive from here. There was some road work that put me getting there later than I had hoped, but I was still there a good 40 minutes before the show. The opening act, Michael Grimm, was really talented and I enjoyed his short set. I was seventh row in the center pit, just left of center stage. It was a great seat and I was really excited to be there. I got my camera in with no issue and managed to get some pretty good pictures from my seat, although they weren't great because my arm kept shaking and I couldn't hold the camera still. During a guitar solo toward the end of "Edge of Seventeen", a bunch of fans got to rush the stage and I was right up front. Stevie always does a walk during this portion of the song and shakes hands with audience members. She didn't shake my hand because the hands directly behind me were higher (fucking tall people), but I managed to touch the top of her hand as she was shaking a hand just to the right of me. It wasn't as magical as I thought it would be, but she was right there, and I couldn't not touch her after she passed me. I would've regretted missing that opportunity, and I am so glad I didn't have to.
She looked and sounded great, and it was really cool getting to hear the newer songs live. This was the fourth time I've seen her live, including twice with Fleetwood Mac. I don't remember the exact order of the songs and I may be missing one or two, but here's a rough setlist from the night.
Stand Back
Secret Love
Dreams
Moonlight (A Vampire's Dream)
Gold Dust Woman
Soldier's Angel
Annabel Lee
For What It's Worth
Rhiannon
Ghosts Are Gone
Edge of Seventeen
Love Is
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Baby loves to dance in the dark, 'cause when he's looking she falls apart.
I see it's been a while since I posted. I certainly think the death of Elizabeth Taylor warrants a murmur.
Firstly, I do want to mention Lady Gaga. March 12th was the Lady Gaga concert in Louisville, and I will admit that between her set and the opening act, I was getting a little antsy. The Scissor Sisters only played a thirty minute set before the hour-long intermission, but once Gaga was onstage, she more than made up for it. The set was elaborate, and the whole show was set up kind of like a rock opera, with her and friends having their car break down on their way to the concert. She was onstage more than the back-up dancers, and the costume changes were incredibly quick. The only times she left the stage were for set changes, and I'd say that was for less than twenty minutes out of the entire two hours that she played. Her energy was amazing, and she sang all of her really big hits. She even sang a lesser hit which is a personal favorite of mine, "Dance in the Dark". She is one immensely talented individual, and the ticket price was more than worth it. Plus, I found a $100 leaving the arena, so that ended up being my shirt + gas money. All in all, it was a great night.
Now, to Dame Elizabeth. I will admit, I am not a very big Elizabeth Taylor fan. I admire her much more for her personal attributes than for her contributions to film. In fact, I never really considered her to be very talented until seeing her in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof less than a year ago. But I haven't seen very many of her movies, so I suppose I should do my research before making any further judgments for or against her talents. Elizabeth was, however, an incredibly beautiful and classy woman, and despite having eight very highly publicized marriages (and ensuing divorces), she was quite a private woman. Those attributes, in addition to her relentless charity work for HIV/AIDS research, are why I admire her. She always prevailed in the face of scandal, and the opinions of all who knew her personally really attest to her great qualities. She was the last of the true Hollywood Legends, and she will be greatly missed by all.
Firstly, I do want to mention Lady Gaga. March 12th was the Lady Gaga concert in Louisville, and I will admit that between her set and the opening act, I was getting a little antsy. The Scissor Sisters only played a thirty minute set before the hour-long intermission, but once Gaga was onstage, she more than made up for it. The set was elaborate, and the whole show was set up kind of like a rock opera, with her and friends having their car break down on their way to the concert. She was onstage more than the back-up dancers, and the costume changes were incredibly quick. The only times she left the stage were for set changes, and I'd say that was for less than twenty minutes out of the entire two hours that she played. Her energy was amazing, and she sang all of her really big hits. She even sang a lesser hit which is a personal favorite of mine, "Dance in the Dark". She is one immensely talented individual, and the ticket price was more than worth it. Plus, I found a $100 leaving the arena, so that ended up being my shirt + gas money. All in all, it was a great night.
Now, to Dame Elizabeth. I will admit, I am not a very big Elizabeth Taylor fan. I admire her much more for her personal attributes than for her contributions to film. In fact, I never really considered her to be very talented until seeing her in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof less than a year ago. But I haven't seen very many of her movies, so I suppose I should do my research before making any further judgments for or against her talents. Elizabeth was, however, an incredibly beautiful and classy woman, and despite having eight very highly publicized marriages (and ensuing divorces), she was quite a private woman. Those attributes, in addition to her relentless charity work for HIV/AIDS research, are why I admire her. She always prevailed in the face of scandal, and the opinions of all who knew her personally really attest to her great qualities. She was the last of the true Hollywood Legends, and she will be greatly missed by all.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
OMG. WTF? ROTFL!
I had a lot of respect for Chuck Norris until I read this article, posted yesterday on World Net Daily. In italics you will see my commentary. And apparently this article is part 1 of 2, so be prepared for more.
U.S. public schools: Progressive indoctrination camps
by Chuck Norris
via World Net Daily
Why should liberals want to change the public educational system when it is turning out the product they have been striving for years to produce?
Check out these real news headlines from the past several weeks and months about the state of U.S. public education across the country:
"U.S. teachers tell U.N. sex is a 'spectrum' – advocate mandatory classes to free students from 'religion'"
"Principal orders Ten Commandments yanked from school lockers"
Separation of Church and State, buddy. Nothing new there.
"Teens ask for more sex ed, greater condom availability"
Teaching abstinence only DOES NOT WORK. There is research on this.
"State university defines Christians as 'oppressors'"
"Why Catholic schools score better than public schools"
Because they have more money?
"Teachers take charge to save ailing public schools"
"Schools' mandatory Arabic classes create firestorm"
"District taking money, but censoring Christians?"
I'm sorry, what does that even mean?
"No opting out of pro-gay school propaganda"
Clearly this school is not in the South.
"District pays up for slamming student's rosary"
"Judge cites homeschoolers for violating U.N. mandate – Police interrogate parents, confiscate their curriculum"
"Some say schools giving Muslims special treatment"
On Dec. 27, 1820, Thomas Jefferson wrote about his vision for the University of Virginia (chartered in 1819), "This institution will be based on the illimitable freedom of the human mind. For here we are not afraid to follow the truth wherever it may lead, nor to tolerate any error as long as reason is left free to combat it."
Yes, let's cite something that someone said 200 years ago. Because that's relevant.
But what should happen 200 years later when our public schools and universities avoid the testing of truths? Or suppress alternate opinions because they are unpopular or politically incorrect? I thought alternate opinions was what you were dissing here? Or no longer tolerate opinions now considered errors or obsolete by the elite? What happens when sociopolitical agendas or scientific paradigms dominate academic views to the exclusion of a minority even being mentioned? Huh?
What happens when the political and public educational pendulum swings from concern for the tyranny of sectarianism in Jefferson's day to secularism in ours? Did a ghost writer write this for you? Seriously. What happens when U.S. public schools become progressive indoctrination camps? CAMPS?
Dr. Jim Nelson Black, founder and senior policy analyst of the Sentinel Research Associates in Washington, D.C., wrote an excellent book, "Freefall of the American University." In it, he documents the clear biases pervading our public academic settings. Among that lopsidedness is the intentional training of students to disdain America, freely experiment sexually, forcefully defend issues like abortion and homosexuality, as well as become cultural advocates for political correctness, relativism, globalization, green agendas and tolerance for all.
This is where I have to stop things. I have never known a public school in this country to teach one to disdain America. Private schools? I don't know, maybe. I never attended private school, so that's not information I am privy to. My school did not teach me to freely experiment sexually. It taught me that sex was wrong and evil and could send me to Hell. I did learn in college that if I'm going to have sex, my partner needs to wear a condom. That's not sexual experimentation; it's disease prevention. No school I attended defended abortion or homosexuality. In fact, the college I went to allowed what Mr. Norris would call "conservatives" to display photographs of aborted babies as a scare tactic to prevent abortion. I would hardly call that defending abortion. As for the closing statement, are green agendas and tolerance bad things? If so, Mr. Norris's world is not one I would choose to live in.
One of the primary ways these educative platforms are spread is by recruiting and retaining faculty members who reflect and teach them. For example, citing from the polling firm of Luntz Research, Dr. Black notes that the 57 percent of faculty members represented in our most esteemed universities are Democrats (only 3 percent Republican) and 64 percent identify themselves as liberal (only 6 percent conservative). The reason for these skewed numbers is simple: Republicans and conservatives find themselves above education. If you polled the employment at brokerage firms, or even those Catholic schools Mr. Norris seems so fond of, I'm sure the numbers would look quite different. Moreover, 71 percent of them disagree that "news coverage of political and social issues reflects a liberal bias in the news media." Fox News anyone? And the No. 1 answer they gave to the question, "Who has been the best president in the past 40 years?" was Bill Clinton (only 4 percent said Ronald Reagan). It would be imporant here to cite the ages of people polled. Many of them could not have been of voting age (or even born) at the time Reagan was in office. Also, people's memories of a President 15 years ago is going to supercede memories of a President 25 years ago. That's just simple math.
This is why it is no surprise that the two largest teachers unions, the NEA and AFT, are the largest campaign contributors in the nation (giving more than the Teamsters, NRA or any other organization), and that 90 percent of their contributions fund Democratic candidates. In doing so, do we think such funding is going to balance traditional and conservative values in public schools? If someone is so concerned with "the agenda" of the school their child is attending, then I'm sure this sort of person would be more than willing to pay tuition for their child to attend a school that teaches other values.
The impact of progressivism is being experienced by students across this land, hundreds of thousands of whom have already cried out with complaints of academic inequity. Academic inequity has nothing to do with cirriculum, only funding. And isn't it the conservatives who are voting to pull education funding? A sampling of the hundreds of student grievances from across the academic spectrum can even be found on websites like the Students for Academic Freedom and NoIndoctrination.org.
It is also no surprise that an average of 6,000 students every year is leaving the approximately 94,000 public schools in America. There are other factors here aside from the education. Teenage pregnancy is a major contributor to dropout rates. Teaching abstinence-only leads to what? Teenage pregnancy. Bam. If the power-to-be over our public schools, like government and unions, continue to oppose conservative curricula and impose overarching liberal educational revisions and laws, public schools will continue to experience an exodus.
I fully realize there are some great conservative people on the staffs of many public schools and universities, but I know virtually all of them would concur that a liberal bias in our academic curricula and system is overwhelmingly dominant and ubiquitous.
Is this present, restrictive and one-sided educational environment that which Thomas Jefferson and other founders intended for the future generations of America? Absolutely not! Rather than encourage free thinking, the U.S. academic system has turned Jefferson's plans for open education into our culture's system of indoctrination. Conservativism at its core rejects free thinking.
U.S. public schools: Progressive indoctrination camps
by Chuck Norris
via World Net Daily
Why should liberals want to change the public educational system when it is turning out the product they have been striving for years to produce?
Check out these real news headlines from the past several weeks and months about the state of U.S. public education across the country:
"U.S. teachers tell U.N. sex is a 'spectrum' – advocate mandatory classes to free students from 'religion'"
"Principal orders Ten Commandments yanked from school lockers"
Separation of Church and State, buddy. Nothing new there.
"Teens ask for more sex ed, greater condom availability"
Teaching abstinence only DOES NOT WORK. There is research on this.
"State university defines Christians as 'oppressors'"
"Why Catholic schools score better than public schools"
Because they have more money?
"Teachers take charge to save ailing public schools"
"Schools' mandatory Arabic classes create firestorm"
"District taking money, but censoring Christians?"
I'm sorry, what does that even mean?
"No opting out of pro-gay school propaganda"
Clearly this school is not in the South.
"District pays up for slamming student's rosary"
"Judge cites homeschoolers for violating U.N. mandate – Police interrogate parents, confiscate their curriculum"
"Some say schools giving Muslims special treatment"
On Dec. 27, 1820, Thomas Jefferson wrote about his vision for the University of Virginia (chartered in 1819), "This institution will be based on the illimitable freedom of the human mind. For here we are not afraid to follow the truth wherever it may lead, nor to tolerate any error as long as reason is left free to combat it."
Yes, let's cite something that someone said 200 years ago. Because that's relevant.
But what should happen 200 years later when our public schools and universities avoid the testing of truths? Or suppress alternate opinions because they are unpopular or politically incorrect? I thought alternate opinions was what you were dissing here? Or no longer tolerate opinions now considered errors or obsolete by the elite? What happens when sociopolitical agendas or scientific paradigms dominate academic views to the exclusion of a minority even being mentioned? Huh?
What happens when the political and public educational pendulum swings from concern for the tyranny of sectarianism in Jefferson's day to secularism in ours? Did a ghost writer write this for you? Seriously. What happens when U.S. public schools become progressive indoctrination camps? CAMPS?
Dr. Jim Nelson Black, founder and senior policy analyst of the Sentinel Research Associates in Washington, D.C., wrote an excellent book, "Freefall of the American University." In it, he documents the clear biases pervading our public academic settings. Among that lopsidedness is the intentional training of students to disdain America, freely experiment sexually, forcefully defend issues like abortion and homosexuality, as well as become cultural advocates for political correctness, relativism, globalization, green agendas and tolerance for all.
This is where I have to stop things. I have never known a public school in this country to teach one to disdain America. Private schools? I don't know, maybe. I never attended private school, so that's not information I am privy to. My school did not teach me to freely experiment sexually. It taught me that sex was wrong and evil and could send me to Hell. I did learn in college that if I'm going to have sex, my partner needs to wear a condom. That's not sexual experimentation; it's disease prevention. No school I attended defended abortion or homosexuality. In fact, the college I went to allowed what Mr. Norris would call "conservatives" to display photographs of aborted babies as a scare tactic to prevent abortion. I would hardly call that defending abortion. As for the closing statement, are green agendas and tolerance bad things? If so, Mr. Norris's world is not one I would choose to live in.
One of the primary ways these educative platforms are spread is by recruiting and retaining faculty members who reflect and teach them. For example, citing from the polling firm of Luntz Research, Dr. Black notes that the 57 percent of faculty members represented in our most esteemed universities are Democrats (only 3 percent Republican) and 64 percent identify themselves as liberal (only 6 percent conservative). The reason for these skewed numbers is simple: Republicans and conservatives find themselves above education. If you polled the employment at brokerage firms, or even those Catholic schools Mr. Norris seems so fond of, I'm sure the numbers would look quite different. Moreover, 71 percent of them disagree that "news coverage of political and social issues reflects a liberal bias in the news media." Fox News anyone? And the No. 1 answer they gave to the question, "Who has been the best president in the past 40 years?" was Bill Clinton (only 4 percent said Ronald Reagan). It would be imporant here to cite the ages of people polled. Many of them could not have been of voting age (or even born) at the time Reagan was in office. Also, people's memories of a President 15 years ago is going to supercede memories of a President 25 years ago. That's just simple math.
This is why it is no surprise that the two largest teachers unions, the NEA and AFT, are the largest campaign contributors in the nation (giving more than the Teamsters, NRA or any other organization), and that 90 percent of their contributions fund Democratic candidates. In doing so, do we think such funding is going to balance traditional and conservative values in public schools? If someone is so concerned with "the agenda" of the school their child is attending, then I'm sure this sort of person would be more than willing to pay tuition for their child to attend a school that teaches other values.
The impact of progressivism is being experienced by students across this land, hundreds of thousands of whom have already cried out with complaints of academic inequity. Academic inequity has nothing to do with cirriculum, only funding. And isn't it the conservatives who are voting to pull education funding? A sampling of the hundreds of student grievances from across the academic spectrum can even be found on websites like the Students for Academic Freedom and NoIndoctrination.org.
It is also no surprise that an average of 6,000 students every year is leaving the approximately 94,000 public schools in America. There are other factors here aside from the education. Teenage pregnancy is a major contributor to dropout rates. Teaching abstinence-only leads to what? Teenage pregnancy. Bam. If the power-to-be over our public schools, like government and unions, continue to oppose conservative curricula and impose overarching liberal educational revisions and laws, public schools will continue to experience an exodus.
I fully realize there are some great conservative people on the staffs of many public schools and universities, but I know virtually all of them would concur that a liberal bias in our academic curricula and system is overwhelmingly dominant and ubiquitous.
Is this present, restrictive and one-sided educational environment that which Thomas Jefferson and other founders intended for the future generations of America? Absolutely not! Rather than encourage free thinking, the U.S. academic system has turned Jefferson's plans for open education into our culture's system of indoctrination. Conservativism at its core rejects free thinking.
Friday, March 4, 2011
So long, Carrell.
Steve Carrell's last day of work on The Office is today. Big Love is within its last month on the air. Even for someone who doesn't have cable or satellite, and only watches television from time to time on the internet, this is a sad time in television, as far as I'm concerned.
I used to be a television addict. I'm still way too tuned in to pop culture, but I watch far less television than I used to. Wait, scratch that. I watch far less live television than I used to. I still have my TV on constantly, but I'm mostly watching DVDs of series that have long been off the air. I have the complete series of Will & Grace, Arrested Development and Reba, four seasons of Friends, two seasons of The Golden Girls, seven of the eight seasons of Bewitched, one season of 227, and the first two seasons of True Blood. I just received Friends and True Blood for Christmas, so I had even less to watch three months ago than I do now. I do occassionally watch movies (of which I have many), but when I'm home I'm usually just cycling through those television seasons, or watching whatever I've gotten in the mail through Netflix.
Anyway, the point is, two of my favorite series currently airing are closing chapters. Big Love is ending (on what I hope and pray is a good note, after a fourth season trainwreck and a rocky final season). The Office might as well be ending, because removing Michael Scott from Dunder Mifflin would be like watching...what's a fair comparison? It will be like watching Cheers without Sam Malone, or The Mary Tyler Moore Show without Lou Grant. Sure, other major members of the cast will remain, and there will still be other stories, but how can you have a workplace comedy without the boss? Or an ensemble show without everyone's favorite buffoon? I am anxious to see the remaining episodes, especially the ones featuring Will Ferrell, but I can't imagine anyone else running that office as well as Steve Carrell. Unless of course, it would be the new company overlord Kathy Bates, but she has her own show now, so that dream is dead.
I just hope The Office isn't the next show to go on to that great television set in the sky, because I will miss having the sweet romance of Jim and Pam in my life as a reminder that love really does exist. And it's sad that I need TV characters to remind me of that.
I used to be a television addict. I'm still way too tuned in to pop culture, but I watch far less television than I used to. Wait, scratch that. I watch far less live television than I used to. I still have my TV on constantly, but I'm mostly watching DVDs of series that have long been off the air. I have the complete series of Will & Grace, Arrested Development and Reba, four seasons of Friends, two seasons of The Golden Girls, seven of the eight seasons of Bewitched, one season of 227, and the first two seasons of True Blood. I just received Friends and True Blood for Christmas, so I had even less to watch three months ago than I do now. I do occassionally watch movies (of which I have many), but when I'm home I'm usually just cycling through those television seasons, or watching whatever I've gotten in the mail through Netflix.
Anyway, the point is, two of my favorite series currently airing are closing chapters. Big Love is ending (on what I hope and pray is a good note, after a fourth season trainwreck and a rocky final season). The Office might as well be ending, because removing Michael Scott from Dunder Mifflin would be like watching...what's a fair comparison? It will be like watching Cheers without Sam Malone, or The Mary Tyler Moore Show without Lou Grant. Sure, other major members of the cast will remain, and there will still be other stories, but how can you have a workplace comedy without the boss? Or an ensemble show without everyone's favorite buffoon? I am anxious to see the remaining episodes, especially the ones featuring Will Ferrell, but I can't imagine anyone else running that office as well as Steve Carrell. Unless of course, it would be the new company overlord Kathy Bates, but she has her own show now, so that dream is dead.
I just hope The Office isn't the next show to go on to that great television set in the sky, because I will miss having the sweet romance of Jim and Pam in my life as a reminder that love really does exist. And it's sad that I need TV characters to remind me of that.
Friday, February 25, 2011
FWC FTW!
Goldie Hawn tweeted yesterday: Just had the most fab lunch with Diane and Bette talking about another film! Best part was being together!
Anybody who has any sort of pop culture knowledge whatsoever knows that Diane and Bette refer to Keaton and Midler respectively. If this tweet means there is going to be a sequel to The First Wives Club, I am going to kill myself. No no. You don't understand. I will have to kill myself if there is a sequel to The First Wives Club, because nothing greater or of higher importance will ever happen to me as long as I live. Ever. Okay, I take that back. If Bette Midler and Stevie Nicks did anything together - recorded a duet, wrote a song, performed a concert - that would be the best thing of all time. But a First Wives Club sequel would just be...I can't even describe what feelings I would have to see this come to fruition!
There have been whispers of a sequel to this movie for years. Bette has even mentioned it in interviews before, saying that it has been talked about but that Hollywood views the three of them as being too old to carry a film (which was actually said when the first one was done). But with the recent turnaround (Mamma Mia anyone?) at the box office, I totally think that the studios could have a really big hit on their hands. The first movie was done through Paramount, so I don't know if they have the rights, or where things stand on that front, but personally I think any studio would have to be stupid to turn down three high caliber stars such as Hawn, Keaton, and Midler. It would be a goldmine!
Of course, I'm probably biased.
UPDATE: Bette Midler tweeted this about 30 minutes ago:
Three First Wives yakking about their new movie project.... @goldiehawn
With this picture:
Anybody who has any sort of pop culture knowledge whatsoever knows that Diane and Bette refer to Keaton and Midler respectively. If this tweet means there is going to be a sequel to The First Wives Club, I am going to kill myself. No no. You don't understand. I will have to kill myself if there is a sequel to The First Wives Club, because nothing greater or of higher importance will ever happen to me as long as I live. Ever. Okay, I take that back. If Bette Midler and Stevie Nicks did anything together - recorded a duet, wrote a song, performed a concert - that would be the best thing of all time. But a First Wives Club sequel would just be...I can't even describe what feelings I would have to see this come to fruition!
There have been whispers of a sequel to this movie for years. Bette has even mentioned it in interviews before, saying that it has been talked about but that Hollywood views the three of them as being too old to carry a film (which was actually said when the first one was done). But with the recent turnaround (Mamma Mia anyone?) at the box office, I totally think that the studios could have a really big hit on their hands. The first movie was done through Paramount, so I don't know if they have the rights, or where things stand on that front, but personally I think any studio would have to be stupid to turn down three high caliber stars such as Hawn, Keaton, and Midler. It would be a goldmine!
Of course, I'm probably biased.
UPDATE: Bette Midler tweeted this about 30 minutes ago:
Three First Wives yakking about their new movie project.... @goldiehawn
With this picture:
I. Died.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Update
Well, guess what? Still waiting to get my car back. It was supposed to be Friday, then it was supposed to be today, now it will be late tomorrow or early Thursday. I have had it up to my ears with this thing.
In other news, my great uncle passed away last week, so I had to go to Campbellsville and then Elizabethtown for family stuff and the funeral service over the weekend.
I also got an iPhone on Saturday. (Yay.) And, possibly most important of all, a release date for Stevie Nicks' new album was announced. It's available for pre-order, and I got a free download of one of the new songs for pre-ordering. I have listened to it over a dozen times since Thursday, and I even created a ringtone from the song. I am so pumped. In fact, things over the past several days really seemed to be going my way until the news about another delay on my car, so I guess I should just suck it up and stop complaining. But I'm pretty sure the Earth would actually stop revolving if I were to be completely happy for more than a day. Something had to ruin my mood for the good of the rest of the human race. I suppose that's a sacrifice I can make.
Oh! And remember when I got runner-up on the D-Listed CAPTION THIS contest twice in one week some time back? Well, for yesterday's contest I was the mutha effin' winner. See the brilliance here.
In other news, my great uncle passed away last week, so I had to go to Campbellsville and then Elizabethtown for family stuff and the funeral service over the weekend.
I also got an iPhone on Saturday. (Yay.) And, possibly most important of all, a release date for Stevie Nicks' new album was announced. It's available for pre-order, and I got a free download of one of the new songs for pre-ordering. I have listened to it over a dozen times since Thursday, and I even created a ringtone from the song. I am so pumped. In fact, things over the past several days really seemed to be going my way until the news about another delay on my car, so I guess I should just suck it up and stop complaining. But I'm pretty sure the Earth would actually stop revolving if I were to be completely happy for more than a day. Something had to ruin my mood for the good of the rest of the human race. I suppose that's a sacrifice I can make.
Oh! And remember when I got runner-up on the D-Listed CAPTION THIS contest twice in one week some time back? Well, for yesterday's contest I was the mutha effin' winner. See the brilliance here.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Kim Zolciak ruined my life.
I just heard Kim Zolciak (from one of those fucking Real Housewives shows) perform her song "Google Me" on Bravo..."LIVE"! That woman's face is busted, her weave is busted, and her voice is so busted I was ready to physically injure myself just to not have to listen to one more second of her "singing". And you know what? I just let Zolciak fucking win by using her damn name so many times. This blog entry may even show up in a fucking Google search of Kim Zolciak now. I am perpetuating this horrible cycle!
Oh, and Zolciak? You don't "click" keys, you idiot!
Oh, and Zolciak? You don't "click" keys, you idiot!
Thursday, November 4, 2010
weird dreams
Someone once told me that they would swear I do acid because of all of the bizarre dreams I have. Last night's may have been my strangest yet.
Last night I had this dream that I was apparently best friends with Will Truman and Grace Adler (from Will & Grace, obvs), because we all lived together. There was a blackmail plot involving the kidnapping of Mel Gibson, and it was up to me to find him. I was given this phone number and told that the person that would answer this call would be the one to give me the first clue to finding him. When I called, Barbara Eden answered. We talked for less than two minutes, but I got the information that I needed to take the next step to finding Mel. Unfortunately, she worked in a brothel, and the line I called was some sort of phone sex line. Will got really pissed at me because they charged $600 a minute for calling this line and I was running on his dime. So I apologized profusely and explained the kidnapping, but he still wasn't happy that I had to call this whorehouse in order to get my first clue.
I can understand the Will & Grace part. I've been watching that show a lot lately. But Barbara Eden in a brothel? And why in the name of all that is holy would I give a shit about finding Mel Gibson?
I sincerely apologize to Barbara Eden for dreaming that she was a prostitute.
Last night I had this dream that I was apparently best friends with Will Truman and Grace Adler (from Will & Grace, obvs), because we all lived together. There was a blackmail plot involving the kidnapping of Mel Gibson, and it was up to me to find him. I was given this phone number and told that the person that would answer this call would be the one to give me the first clue to finding him. When I called, Barbara Eden answered. We talked for less than two minutes, but I got the information that I needed to take the next step to finding Mel. Unfortunately, she worked in a brothel, and the line I called was some sort of phone sex line. Will got really pissed at me because they charged $600 a minute for calling this line and I was running on his dime. So I apologized profusely and explained the kidnapping, but he still wasn't happy that I had to call this whorehouse in order to get my first clue.
I can understand the Will & Grace part. I've been watching that show a lot lately. But Barbara Eden in a brothel? And why in the name of all that is holy would I give a shit about finding Mel Gibson?
I sincerely apologize to Barbara Eden for dreaming that she was a prostitute.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Bootleg Betty, how I will miss thee.
This article makes me incredibly sad:
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2010/sep/25/lawyers-argue-r-j-stories-web-arent-protected-copy/
Copyright infrigement is bullshit, as far as I'm concerned. The purpose of the internet is for information sharing, so as long as someone isn't trying to pass off a story as their own, then what harm is being done? Due to what you read in this article, my favorite website, my main source of news for my favorite celebrity, is shutting down at the end of this month. I think our country has far worse problems than people sharing articles/files. I'm all about supporting artists and writers, but why should they get a piece of everything? I mean, file sharing, for example. Many files shared between people in the fan communities I am in are files that were not and never have been for sale. So if people share things that were never meant for profit in the first place, then what are they doing wrong? I am so tired of the almighty dollar running everything.
I mean, I have worked my ass off since I turned 18. I worked full-time while attending college full-time, and everything I have I paid for myself. I'm making the payments on my student loans, I'm paying for my car, and I pay every penny of my rent and bills. My dad has worked for over 30 years, earning money to build a home and support a wife and two children, even working nights and working two jobs so that my mother could stay home with us before we started school. It is not fair for some people to have to work like that when other people do not do a day of work in their lives and get to travel extensively and coast through life, all on someone else's penny. I am sick of it all. I am sick of this country, this government, and people with their self-righteousness.
All of that because my Bette source is getting taken away...geez.
10/25 UPDATE: Bootleg Betty is not closing just yet! Don has decided to hold off at least until the end of the year, and is exploring his options to save the site! Yay!
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2010/sep/25/lawyers-argue-r-j-stories-web-arent-protected-copy/
Copyright infrigement is bullshit, as far as I'm concerned. The purpose of the internet is for information sharing, so as long as someone isn't trying to pass off a story as their own, then what harm is being done? Due to what you read in this article, my favorite website, my main source of news for my favorite celebrity, is shutting down at the end of this month. I think our country has far worse problems than people sharing articles/files. I'm all about supporting artists and writers, but why should they get a piece of everything? I mean, file sharing, for example. Many files shared between people in the fan communities I am in are files that were not and never have been for sale. So if people share things that were never meant for profit in the first place, then what are they doing wrong? I am so tired of the almighty dollar running everything.
I mean, I have worked my ass off since I turned 18. I worked full-time while attending college full-time, and everything I have I paid for myself. I'm making the payments on my student loans, I'm paying for my car, and I pay every penny of my rent and bills. My dad has worked for over 30 years, earning money to build a home and support a wife and two children, even working nights and working two jobs so that my mother could stay home with us before we started school. It is not fair for some people to have to work like that when other people do not do a day of work in their lives and get to travel extensively and coast through life, all on someone else's penny. I am sick of it all. I am sick of this country, this government, and people with their self-righteousness.
All of that because my Bette source is getting taken away...geez.
10/25 UPDATE: Bootleg Betty is not closing just yet! Don has decided to hold off at least until the end of the year, and is exploring his options to save the site! Yay!
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
This is a picture of the ladies of the Cyrus family, minus big sister Brandi. That cute little bundle of joy in the middle is Noah. She is 10.
I cannot begin to say how many things are wrong with this picture. Let's forget the whore on the right and the trash on the left and just focus on Noah. Am I mistaken, or is that blue poking out at the top of her shirt a bra? No one should be seeing this girl's bra! And those shorts are ridiculous. I just cannot understand why someone would let their TEN YEAR OLD out in public in this!
photo via D-Listed
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
D-Listed
D-Listed CAPTION THIS for September 14th - runner up right here!
http://www.dlisted.com/node/38839
UPDATE: I did it again for the 20th!
http://www.dlisted.com/node/38920
http://www.dlisted.com/node/38839
UPDATE: I did it again for the 20th!
http://www.dlisted.com/node/38920
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
I am all alone, there is no one here beside me.
I'm a little disappointed today, for a lot of reasons. One of those reasons is because my birthday extravaganza that I had planned for the upcoming weekend isn't going to be as spectacular as I hoped. Secondly, I was going to go through my Bette files on my external hard drive to find a picture for today's challenge. Going through my stuff, I realized that I had deleted all of the pictures I once had. I've cleaned off my computer because I expect it to fail at any moment, and I don't want to lose any files, so I transfered my things to an external hard drive, but decided to delete my celebrity pictures that I had saved because I've "outgrown" that sort of thing. So the pictures I had of Bette, Stevie, Judy Garland, Rosemary Clooney, Agnes Moorehead...all gone. All that was left were the two pictures I have of Bette and Stevie together, and a few collages I had made to use as wallpapers. I understand that I didn't transfer them because they're not "important" and they're not personal documents or pictures or things, but why did I think I wouldn't want them at all anymore? I am terribly sad now.
I'm having a hard time finding good Bette pictures, because no website has a definitive archive. Google searches often bring up "Bette" pictures that aren't of Bette at all, and I don't know what picture I want to use for the one that makes me go UNF. I really want it to be striking, so that other people can see why see makes me go UNF.
Sigh. I'm just a little depressed today. Don't mind me.
I'm having a hard time finding good Bette pictures, because no website has a definitive archive. Google searches often bring up "Bette" pictures that aren't of Bette at all, and I don't know what picture I want to use for the one that makes me go UNF. I really want it to be striking, so that other people can see why see makes me go UNF.
Sigh. I'm just a little depressed today. Don't mind me.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Agnes Moorehead
I went with my friend Jade to Dayton, OH on Friday of last week. I really just wanted to go to have a mini-road trip, but the reason I specifically chose Dayton was because it is the burial place of Agnes Moorehead.
Agnes's name is one I'm sure is not familiar to a lot of people, but she was an intelligent and incredibly talented woman, and she is worth Googling if you ever get bored. She had a very prolific career as a character actress and radio personality, and she also worked as a teacher for a time. (She had a Masters in English - a woman after my own heart!) Most people who are familiar with her would know her as Endora on the beloved '60s sitcom Bewitched.
Visiting celebrity gravesites is sort of a dream of mine, if that's the proper way to phrase it. I would say hobby except for the fact that this would make only the second one I've visited, so I guess interest is a more appropriate term. Anyway, I found it to be an interesting experience this time around, and I am so lucky to have a friend like Jade to do these things with. Many people would be creeped out by it, but she enjoys the history aspect of it. She also accompanied me to Rosemary Clooney's gravesite a few years back.
Aside from the visit to Dayton Memorial Park's mausoleum, we went to the Dayton Art Institute, the Cox Arboretum MetroPark, and ate dinner at the Spaghetti Warehouse in downtown Dayton. We had a very nice and full day, even if it was scorching hot.
The reason I post this now is because last night I had a dream about Aggie. It was present-day and I was at some sort of picnic or outdoor gathering. Jade was there as well. I saw Agnes from far away and kept trying to get closer to her because I wanted to meet her, but I never succeeded. The part about this dream that made it so unusual (I often have dreams about famous people and interacting with them) is that Agnes has been dead for 36 years and would be over 100 if she were alive today. Yet in my dream, she looked very youthful, as perhaps she might have looked if I were to see her up close and personal in the late '40s to early '50s. It was a very pleasant dream, and all I wanted was to be close enough to Agnes to admire her lovely face and hear her speak. A very interesting dream indeed.
Agnes's name is one I'm sure is not familiar to a lot of people, but she was an intelligent and incredibly talented woman, and she is worth Googling if you ever get bored. She had a very prolific career as a character actress and radio personality, and she also worked as a teacher for a time. (She had a Masters in English - a woman after my own heart!) Most people who are familiar with her would know her as Endora on the beloved '60s sitcom Bewitched.
Visiting celebrity gravesites is sort of a dream of mine, if that's the proper way to phrase it. I would say hobby except for the fact that this would make only the second one I've visited, so I guess interest is a more appropriate term. Anyway, I found it to be an interesting experience this time around, and I am so lucky to have a friend like Jade to do these things with. Many people would be creeped out by it, but she enjoys the history aspect of it. She also accompanied me to Rosemary Clooney's gravesite a few years back.
Aside from the visit to Dayton Memorial Park's mausoleum, we went to the Dayton Art Institute, the Cox Arboretum MetroPark, and ate dinner at the Spaghetti Warehouse in downtown Dayton. We had a very nice and full day, even if it was scorching hot.
The reason I post this now is because last night I had a dream about Aggie. It was present-day and I was at some sort of picnic or outdoor gathering. Jade was there as well. I saw Agnes from far away and kept trying to get closer to her because I wanted to meet her, but I never succeeded. The part about this dream that made it so unusual (I often have dreams about famous people and interacting with them) is that Agnes has been dead for 36 years and would be over 100 if she were alive today. Yet in my dream, she looked very youthful, as perhaps she might have looked if I were to see her up close and personal in the late '40s to early '50s. It was a very pleasant dream, and all I wanted was to be close enough to Agnes to admire her lovely face and hear her speak. A very interesting dream indeed.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Shirley MacLaine
I watched the film The Apartment on Sunday night. It was the first time I had ever seen it. I am a big Shirley MacLaine fan, and have been ever since I developed a girl crush on her in middle school. I know (and adore) Shirley as the incarnation-believing wacktress that she has been for the last thirty years or so, so it's nice to see her as the wide-eyed ingenue. Her performance in this film was spectacular and really displays the range of her talents all together. Of course, she's also a decent singer/dancer, but as far as her acting talents go, nothing shows her range quite like this movie. It was also really interesting to see Fred MacMurray as sort of the bad guy. The utter sexuality of the movie was the most shocking thing - men in the corporate world openly portrayed as having sexual affairs. Obviously this thing had been alluded to before, but we may as well have been viewing blatant sex scenes it was all so obvious. I loved the dialogue, and the relationships between the characters really developed throughout the course of the movie without it seeming contrived or rushed. Despite his sunny disposition, it's clear from the beginning that Jack Lemmon's character is truly sad within. You want him to succeed and be happy, but yet you feel as embarrassed as he does for the way that this success unfolds. We know he's better than that and he knows he's better than that, but it seems he just doesn't know how to stand out any other way.
Okay, I'm sort of babbling about the movie at this point, but I did really love it and encourage any one to see it, if you can stand watching black and white film. (This movie wouldn't have been right in color; it would have been too distracting.) All this post has really done has kept me from being completely bored for the last ten minutes or so, and it reminded me how fascinating I find Shirley MacLaine and how I need to watch another one of her movies very soon. I may do a Terms of Endearment/The Evening Star marathon if my tear ducts can handle it.
Which reminds me, Shirley MacLaine is the first woman over the age of 60 that I recognized as sexy. Many of my other "loves" have caught up to her now, age-wise, but I loved her as an older woman before I ever saw her work in her younger days.
I like men, I swear I do.
Okay, I'm sort of babbling about the movie at this point, but I did really love it and encourage any one to see it, if you can stand watching black and white film. (This movie wouldn't have been right in color; it would have been too distracting.) All this post has really done has kept me from being completely bored for the last ten minutes or so, and it reminded me how fascinating I find Shirley MacLaine and how I need to watch another one of her movies very soon. I may do a Terms of Endearment/The Evening Star marathon if my tear ducts can handle it.
Which reminds me, Shirley MacLaine is the first woman over the age of 60 that I recognized as sexy. Many of my other "loves" have caught up to her now, age-wise, but I loved her as an older woman before I ever saw her work in her younger days.
I like men, I swear I do.
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