Answers to Life's Questions...(really yesterday's Thursday Thirteen):
1. Robert Palmer (musician "Addicted to Love") Dead. Sorry. Even I thought the babes he used in his videos were hot.
2. Johnny Bench (Cincinnati Reds baseball Hall of Famer). Alive and signin' baseballs at JohnnyBench.com
3. Betty White (actress most notably from Golden Girls). Doesn't anyone remember her reeming William Shatner a new one at his Comedy Central Roast last year? Yup, still alive and lettin' 'em have it.
4. David Cassidy (pop teen star). Alive -- and still pissed off at his dead father, Jack, jealous of his step brother Shaun, and wishing he's never seen a Partridge.
5. Beverly D'Angelo (actress from "Christmas Vacation" with Chevy Chase). She's alive -- and very, very busy. Had twins late in life with Al Pacino. Like REALLY late in life (49)!!! Now she's raising 3.
6. Johnny Carson (talk show host). Conducting interviews from the afterlife. Dead.
7. Mohammad Ali (champion prize fighter). Still alive, but very ill. Passed his fighting genes onto his daughter.
8. Gloria Steinem (activist, author, National Women's Hall of Famer). Still alive and still fighting the good fight.
9. Peter Benchley (author Jaws). Dead. I didn't know this one and had to look it up.
10. Francis Ford Coppola (director The Godfather). Alive and now producing very expensive wines from his Coppola vineyards.
11. Julia Child (world famous chef and TV icon). Dead. And I truly miss her. She was one of a kind.
12. Jimmy Carter (president). Alive. No comment. Just thought I put a president in here.
13. Elizabeth Taylor (actress) Alive -- shockingly. She's near Frankenstein in the number of surgeries she's had, but she's still a tireless campaigner for AIDS research from the sidelines.
and one trick one:
14. Cat Stevens (musician). Nicholas got it. He's alive, but is now known as: Yusaf Islam. Can you say "Moon Shadow"?
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Thursday Thirteen Part 2
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Thursday Thirteen #22
Gone...or Maybe Not??
My girlfriend Anne and I have this macabre game we play every once in a while. It's called "Dead or Alive: Your Call". We think of celebrity names and try to guess if they are still alive or deceased.
Oh...c'mon....it's sick...it's fun...it's entertainment! Really. Have a bash and see if you can pick out who is Living or Deceased from this list of 13 (answers to follow):
1. Robert Palmer (musician "Addicted to Love")
2. Johnny Bench (Cincinnati Reds baseball Hall of Famer)
3. Betty White (actress most notably from Golden Girls)
4. David Cassidy (pop teen star)
5. Beverly DeAngelo (actress from "Christmas Vacation" with Chevy Chase)
6. Johnny Carson (talk show host)
7. Mohammad Ali (champion prize fighter)
8. Gloria Steinem (activist, author, National Women's Hall of Famer)
9. Peter Benchley (author Jaws)
10. Francis Ford Coppola (director The Godfather)
11. Julia Child (world famous chef and TV icon)
12. Jimmy Carter (president)
13. Elizabeth Taylor (actress)
and one trick one:
14. Cat Stevens (musician)
Ok troops.....no using google or wiki or anything. Give it your best shot!!
I'll post the answers tomorrow!
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Thursday Thirteen #20! Thirteen Men....
...I Would Run Away With and Why. Perhaps the WHY part is more important here? And let me know of any similarities you see in my picks. It'll help me when I place my wish list on match.com. (Note to Sam: just kidding, honey!)
1. Robert Redford. Sure, you're thinking it's because of that still perfect head of hair. But no (well, maybe a little). It's because of Sundance...the film festival and all that beautiful land in Utah we could explore! With any luck, they'd never find us. 
2. William Shatner. C'mon. Who laughs at himself better than the Negotiator? And truth be told, I've been a Shat-nerd since that Captain James Tiberius Kirk thing, but the Shat of the new millenium is funnier than hell. And funny is so attractive.
3. Tommy Lee Jones. It's that rugged man's man thing -- strong, street smart, totally confident, comfy in his own skin. So sexy. Someone to watch over me....and I wouldn't have to hold in my stomach.
4. Johnny Depp. Because one minute you'd be sleeping next to the man in Chocolat and the next that murderous singing barber, Sweeny Todd. Would definitely keep you on your toes. And then there's those deep, dark, expressive EYES. Whew.
5. Tom Selleck. The epitome of Tall, Dark and Handsome. And smart. Looks good in Hawaiian shirts. Could probably hold up the end of the car with one hand while changing the tire with the other. Or...maybe just hire someone to do the job while he kisses you up against that red ferrari (that's where the smarts come in). 
6. Barry Manilow. Besides those magnificent piano playin' hands, he could wake you up by singing a love song he composed for you overnight. He's Type A and doesn't sleep anyway. Music and passion, honey, music and passion. It's that illusion of creative vulnerability -- and I fall for it every time.
7. David Duchovny. Great ass and poster man for the saying, "Smart is Sexy". All he would have to do is punch out a couple of those dry "Mulderisms" and I'd be a goner. (Altho Anne and I have debated if we should run away with the WRITER who WROTE the line, or Duchovny who interpreted and delivered the line....hmmm? Silence to those of you suggesting a menage a trois. I'm a one-man-at-a-time woman.)
8. Matthew Perry. I can't explain it. All I can say is "we love whom we love". He's like a stranded kitten and I couldn't resist him with wild horses dragging me the other way.
9. Hugh Grant. It's the whole package....the accent, the British-ness of him. All those feelings behind that stoic British exterior all saved up just for little ol' me. I feel I'm up to the challenge.
10. David Steinberg. I've loved him since the 1970's. He's been a stand up comedian, a director, a writer, an author and a talk show host. Funny, brilliant and so handsome. And since he was studying theology before he went into show business, my walking Old Testament. Who could resist a Moses joke?
11. Dick Cavett. A Yale graduated brainiac with a great sense of humor, I've adored him forever too. Anyone who can comfortably interview the likes of Janis Joplin, Truman Capote, Katherine Hepburn, John Lennon and hold his own with Groucho is someone I want to be with. I'd be a walk in the park next to the likes of them and I could talk all day without complaint.
12. John Cleese. I could listen to him talk for hours. Funny, smart, talented, saavy and kenetic...in a great package. Besides, he cleans up so well as a woman! And who could not love the man who portrayed the head of the "Ministry of Silly Walks", Basil Fawlty, and who blurted out, "I fart in your general direction" on the big screen? 
13. Morgan Freeman. Strong, smart, totally sexy...I would follow him anywhere and not worry about a thing. Ever. He's one of those men that gives you the impression that if he says he loves you, he LOVES you...and that's that. You'd never have one moment of doubt. ahhh.....security.
And because I need someone UNDER 40 (and found this absolutely gorgeous picture of Leo):
14. Leonardo DiCaprio. Every movie he's in, I like him more and more and respect his talent more and more. Besides, he a staunch environmentalist ala Redford. So more and more I think I could run off with him and not look back. (As long we don't go by ship).
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Thursday Thirteen #10
Thursday Thirteen #10!!!
13 Top Earning Celebs** (**Who are Dead)
Now normally I try to research something with a little more meat than this, but I have been known to say “the hell with it” and go for the joke. Not that being dead is a joke, but the fact that these people (12 men and 1 woman) make more money DEAD than I do ALIVE is a bona vide knee-slapper. There’s something wrong about that, but I don’t feel like thinking about that right now.
So here’s some news right off the top. To hit this list, the dead celeb had to have earned at least $7 million in a year….and collectively, this list earned $247 million dollars in 2005/2006.
#1 – I’m shocked. That’s all I have to say. It’s Kurt Cobain. What the hell is that all about?
#2 – Who I thought would be number 1 and actually has been for a number of years: Mr. Gyration: Elvis Presley.
#3 – The creator of Snoopy and Charlie Brown and Woodstock and Lucy: Mr. Charles M. Schulz.
#4 – John Lennon.
#5 – This shocked me. Really. It’ll shock you too. He earned at least $7,000,000 dollars over the course of the year. Sure he told us that E=mc2, but he’s still drawing in the bucks: Mr. Albert Einstein. Perhaps it’s due to the sale of those pictures of him sticking his tongue out.
#6 – Another one I can’t figure out. Andy Warhol. Although maybe someone sold one of his pictures, and that earned him the 7mil.
#7 – This one made me happy. I read his stuff when I was small and apparently lots of kids are still buying “Red Fish, Blue Fish” – Dr. Seuss (Theodor Geisel).
#8 – Ray Charles. I heard the movie helped create a resurgence of appreciation for his music and I’m glad. He is a genius.
#9 – Forever and ever and ever. She’ll probably be on this list till the end of time: Ms. Boop-boop-be-doop, Marilyn Monroe.
#10 – Ladies and gentlemen, the one and only: Mr. Johnny Cash.
#11 -- Perhaps because of the new interest in hobbits and rings and stuff: J.R.R. Tolkien.
#12 – My own personal Beatle, whose stuff I still buy, finding it my own personal goal of supporting Olivia and Dhani: Mr. George Harrison.
#13 – And finally: Bob Marley.
So, any surprises here? Who did you think would be on the list?
Friday, June 1, 2007
Bowing Before False Idols
I walked into my 10 year old daughter’s room the other day and noticed that one entire wall was filled with pictures of various stars of the Disney Channel. As a mother, as a woman who was once a little girl, I wept. Wept. Any concern I had that she had taken after her father completely disappeared. She was mine. All mine. Those pictures of Zach and Cody and Hannah and Raven confirmed that my sweet girl did indeed carry a heavy load of my DNA.
I was whisked back in time to my 10th year in 1966, and remembered my bedroom walls covered with pictures of the Beatles, the Monkees, the stars of “The Mod Squad”, Donny Osmond and Captain James T. Kirk of the USS Enterprise (whose picture, I’m sorry to say, was always hard to find in the latest editions of Fave, Tiger Beat and Sixteen). As I move my time line to 1976, I see Robert Redford, that infamous picture of Al Pacino as Serpico, Shaun Cassidy and Barry Manilow. The 80’s – who else? The poster man of ALL poster men, Tom Selleck…and a newly issued picture of William Shatner as our Captain, now featured in the big screen version of Star Trek. The 90’s? Well, if I’d had the nerve to do it, I would have put David Duchovny up on my wall. The year 2000? Please. Johnny Depp, alrighty.
Now should you think I developed this fascination for celebrities through any fault of my own, let me correct you. Allow me to introduce you to my mother, Rose.
My mother loved Clark Gable. She snuck off to the theater to see “Gone with the Wind” when she was a young girl and was hooked. Hooked on Gable, hooked on movie stars, hooked on the movies. My grandmother NEVER would have allowed my mother to see such a movie. “For heaven’s sake, Rosebud,” – they called my poor mother Rosebud to distinguish her from the dozen other Rose’s in my family – “they show a woman HAVING A BABY in that moving picture!” Reason enough in my grandmother’s mind to disallow such a consideration. (Please note: Gramma was from the old country and thought the following: seeing a scary movie when you were pregnant produced birth defects and sitting on cement caused kidney problems. We loved her anyway.)
But my dear mother’s legacy of loving the movies, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Chopin, Van Cliburn, Victor Borge, Van Gogh and Monet left an indelible mark on me. Not only did she love them and share them with me, she loved whom I loved.
1964. The Beatles on Ed Sullivan. My mom noted how innovative they were, how fresh, how different and how their music had a great, bluesy/jazzy beat. She also liked that John Lennon spoke his mind and except for that "Jesus" quote, never backed down from a confrontation.
My mother traveled with me through the Monkees (“didn’t Neil Diamond write some of their songs?”), Shaun Cassidy (“lots of talent there, Cookie! Check out his parents!”), Barry Manilow (“such a nice voice and a talented pianist – he likes Chopin! How can you go wrong?”), William Shatner (“Captain Kirk is the ultimate hero!”), and of course, Tom Selleck (she just fanned herself with a dishtowel).
Yes, I come from a history of bowing before false idols. But as my mother watched Star Trek with me and listened thoughtfully to Alice Cooper and Led Zeppelin, I reciprocated. I truly listened to Mozart and Mahalia Jackson. We watched dark film noir starring Robert Mitchum and that squirrelly little blonde guy whose name I’ve forgotten; giggled at Lana Turner, cheered on Joan Crawford as “Mildred Pierce” and was shocked when Bette Davis let her husband die in “The Little Foxes”. We loved William Powell and Myrna Loy in the “Thin Man” series and we watched every single black and white horror movie that Universal ever made. We watched Chaplin, Pickford, Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn.
What did I learn? To share my enthusiasm for music and film and art with my children. The first song either one of my children learned was “Here Comes the Sun” by George Harrison. I have my Beatles posters from the 60’s framed and up on the wall. My Barry Manilow calendar graces my kitchen and we play his albums on my old turntable (When my daughter yelled, “Hey, where’s the other 6 songs???”, I had to explain that albums weren’t like CD’s with all the songs on one side; that you had to flip the album over to hear the rest of it. She was very put out by this ancient technology, and let out a heavy, 21st century sigh. She was even more aghast with my mono version of “Meet the Beatles” which is a worn shade of gray and produces more static than music.) We watch the original Star Trek episodes on VHS tape (“Mom, it’s so cool and CHEESY!”) and DVD’s of the X-Files and Magnum PI. However, I have learned to appreciate what my children love. Through my mother’s talent of finding something good in literally anything and everything, I can sit through Disney Channel sitcoms and laugh with my daughter. Not because it’s funny necessarily, but because she thinks it’s funny. I can listen to my son’s new wave/heavy metal music and smile, thinking of my mother trying to say something nice about “Welcome to My Nightmare” by Alice Cooper. I mean is there any difference between Green Day and White Snake when you come down to it, really?
It can be a struggle to come up with something brilliant to say about “The Suite Life of Zach and Cody”, but I think my daughter is just happy to sit with me and hear me laugh with her. Just as I was with my mom. “The Monkees”, “Gidget” and “Batman” just cracked us both up. I know my son is happy is have me in his room, while he tries to play his own guitar to a new song he just purchased by Alkaline Trio. This sharing forms a unique and long lasting bond that transcends time and teaches some valuable life lessons.
My mother has given me a great gift...to look for things to appreciate in what your friends and loved ones like, even if it really isn't your cup of tea. To find something to enjoy in what others may wrongly dismiss as idiotic or not worth their time. Life becomes more of a shared adventure and bottom line, it just might be fun, you just might learn something, or you just might meet someone who will be important to you the rest of your life.
My girlfriend jokingly once told me, “you’d have fun at a garbage dump.” And I just might. Thanks to Mom.
Friday, May 25, 2007
The Luckiest Woman in the World
Believe me, I've thought this through carefully during all my "down" time...like when I'm supposed to be getting my full 8 hours of desperately needed sleep. I wouldn't throw a title around like that aimlessly, without contemplating precisely where the arrow should land.
Now the precursor to this "Luckiest Woman" revelation is that there are several subcategories I've discovered. As women, we are unfortunately defined by our roles as daughters, sisters, mothers and wives in a larger capacity than men are. Men, it seems to me, are more defined by "what they do" or "what they like" rather than their connection to others. This personal observation supports that "men are from another planet" theory. You know, as in, "hey, why do I have to communicate? I'm a longshoreman."
Men are viewed as "accountants" or as "a big Bears' fan" (...ie, "yeah, Mark? I know Mark. He's a Cubs' fan") where women, even if they are a Bears' fan and an accountant, are labeled as a single mom, or a stay at home mom or a single woman who just broke up with a guy, but has a big family to help support her through this terrible time (...ie, "Susan? I know Susan. Her dad is really ill with cancer. Her husband is a moron and she has 3 kids").
Am I right?
Anyway, in naming "The Luckiest Woman in the World" I believe there must be clarification by stating the subcategory. And this is: wife/girlfriend/significant other. My choice would be different if the subcategory was, for instance, single woman or daughter.
Now that we have the rules down, let me tell you about that Lucky Woman.
She's had 2 famous, talented men completely and totally fall all over her, woo her and marry her. Even after divorcing the first one to marry the second, her first ex only had glowing and loving things to say about her (I don't know why Ripley's Believe It or Not didn't get a hold of that one). She eventually divorced the second one too, and he didn't utter a negative word about her either.
Keep in mind, both these men are famous. You will recognize their names. They've been on the cover of magazines. Starred in movies. Are internationally known. Generally, divorces are ugly and nasty, even when played out in private. Famous people divorcing usually gets a lot of press...especially when the woman is divorcing the first one to marry another. And the men are friends. Yes, I said FRIENDS.
I think we are all surprised the whole mess didn't end up on Court TV.
Uh huh. You know who I'm talking about. Patti Boyd Harrison Clapton (and maybe back to Boyd and then I think she married someone else, but that's beside the point).
Beatle George Harrison met Patti Boyd on the set of "A Hard Day's Night" and fell head over heels. At the time, Patti was engaged to someone else and had a promising modeling career. She really didn't give him much of a notice (which, in and of itself, was novel in 1964), but eventually George won her over. She gave up her fiancee, her career and they married in January, 1966. (Beatles' fans ---you may check my dates without hurting my feelings).
He wrote "something in the way she moves, attracts me like no other lover" for her. They were in love, hip and mod. However, by the late 60's as the Beatles' fell apart, so did George. He found solace in religion and wrote what I consider another great love song: "My Sweet Lord". However, as he was composing and praying in solitude, Patti got left out in the wind. She found shelter in the arms of George's friend, Eric Clapton, who immediately wrote "Layla" for her. The guitar work in "Layla" is about as beautifully woeful and longing as you'll ever hear.
Anyway, as George was happy in his quest to "know" God, he let Patti go, patted Eric on the back and went to their wedding. His comment? "At least she didn't marry some jerk."
Really. No bad press, no harsh words, no finger pointing, no taped conversations between the lovers released by the soon-to-be ex-husband. Nope. Not ever. And they all stayed friends happily ever after.
Patti Boyd Harrison Clapton (Boyd..whatever..etc, etc). Luckiest Woman in the World....as opposed to the other Patti --- Patti Hansen, to whom Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones wrote "tits and ass with soul, she's my little rock and roll."
