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!
Monday, January 21, 2008
Me and Alice
Subtitle: Everyone Needs A Fantasy Bad Boy.
I can't tell you what it is about Alice Cooper that I find intriguing. Maybe it's his severe case of schizophrenia. Maybe I just need a bad boy. I'm not sure...
But I never gave Alice Cooper one single moment of thought or consideration other than a passing thumbs up at "School's Out" until about 1975. I was a senior in highschool and I heard "Only Women Bleed". When I asked someone who sang it, they told me, "Alice Cooper". I thought: they had to be kidding.
But they weren't. And thus began my love/hate relationship with Alice, one which I'm sure has kept him up many a night.
What glues me to Alice is the dichotomy of his nature. His split personality(ies). He's a gentleman golfer and a violence-exploiting putz at the same time. And while most people wish to hide the good/bad in their personalities (see: Wilde, Oscar. "Picture of Dorian Gray"), Alice is just comfy sharing the whole lot. Emotional stability be damned! I just couldn't...and still can't...understand a guy who pretends to drink blood on stage, yet has been happily married for years, plays 36 holes of golf a day and was invited to sing with Ms. Piggy on The Muppet Show.
Is it just me?
Now ol Coop was born Vincent Furnier, but gave birth to Alice as an entity that became his band. He referred to Alice always in the third person...even when speaking about himself. This, alone, should have made loved ones get him to Bellevue, but Alice Cooper (the man and band) began to make big bucks and therefore, no one stopped Vince/Alice (the man) from doing anything. Like almost drinking himself to death or using a snake as a stage prop, or throwing a chicken out into the audience who promptly killed the poor thing. In Alice's defense, he said he thought chickens could fly and would just come back to the stage. In reality, I think he was probably toasted and had lost all ability to reason.
But the Alice Cooper I came to like gave us "Welcome to My Nightmare" which contains "Only Women Bleed" and is about as sensitive a song as any man could give us. I found the song insightful to the point of scary as a wide eyed 18 year old, and now listening to it as an older woman who had been in an abusive relationship, well it's even more stunning...compounded by the fact that it was written and sung by a man named Alice. The theme albums that followed "Goes To Hell" and "Lace and Whiskey" (which contains another very female POV song: "No More Love At Your Convenience") are my favorites in the Coop repetoire.
So now, Alice (the man) has taken another turn to sobriety, book writing, golf and an embracing of Christianity. But the old Alice is still there too...out on stage for that "Psycho-Drama -- This Won't Hurt...Much" Tour.
Go figure. I certainly can't.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Thursday Thirteen #21
13 Things about Oscar Wilde. And boy was he ever!
1. Oscar Wilde was born Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde on October 16, 1854 in Dublin, Ireland.
2. His family consisted of his parents, Sir William Wilde and Jane Francesca Elgee and 5 siblings: Henry, Emily, Mary, William, Isola. His father was a well known and respected doctor, his mother was a writer, but because of the era she lived in, wrote under an alias.
3. Oscar attended college at Oxford and graduated with many prizes for his works. After graduation, Oscar moved to London to live with his friend Frank Miles, a popular high society portrait painter.
4. In 1881, Wilde published his first collection of poetry. It received mixed reviews by critics, but helped to move Oscar's writing career along and precipitated a trip to the United States in December, 1881. He delivered a series of lectures on aesthetics that was originally scheduled to last four months. It eventually stretched to nearly a year, with over 140 lectures given in 260 days. In between lectures he made time to meet with Henry Longfellow, Oliver Wendell Holmes and Walt Whitman. After returning to England, he then set off on a lecture tour of Britain and Ireland.
5. Wilde was popular on the lecture circuit and is regarded as one of the greatest playwrights of the Victorian Era -- he wrote and produced nine plays, but only one novel -- "The Picture of Dorian Gray".
6. He was known for his sharp wit and many of his famous quotes still resonate today. For instance, On Men:
"No man is rich enough to buy back his past."
"I delight in men over seventy, they always offer one the devotion of a lifetime. "
-- “A Woman of No Importance”
"I don't like compliments, and I don't see why a man should think he is pleasing a woman enormously when he says to her a whole heap of things that he doesn't mean."
-- “Lady Windermere's Fan”
His quotes on Women:
"Women are meant to be loved, not to be understood."
-- “The Sphinx Without a Secret”
"It takes a thoroughly good woman to do a thoroughly stupid thing."
-- “Lady Windermere's Fan”
"My dear young lady, there was a great deal of truth, I dare say, in what you said, and you looked very pretty while you said it, which is much more important."
-- “A Woman of No Importance”
"I am sick of women who love one. Women who hate one are much more interesting."
-- “The Picture of Dorian Gray”
"I prefer women with a past. They're always so damned amusing to talk to."
-- “Lady Windermere's Fan”
Quotes on People
"People who count their chickens before they are hatched, act very wisely, because chickens run about so absurdly that it is impossible to count them accurately."
-- Letter from Paris, dated May 1900
"The public have an insatiable curiosity to know everything, except what is worth knowing."
-- “The Soul of Man Under Socialism”
"Most men and women are forced to perform parts for which they have no qualification."
-- “Lord Arthur Savile's Crime”
"It is perfectly monstrous the way people go about, nowadays, saying things against one behind one's back that are absolutely and entirely true."
-- “The Picture of Dorian Gray”
Quotes on Life
"Life is much too important a thing ever to talk seriously about it."
-- “Vera, of The Nihilists”
"The Book of Life begins with a man and woman in a garden. It ends with Revelations."
-- “A Woman of No Importance”
"We are each our own devil, and we make this world our hell."
-- “The Duchess of Padua”
"The world is a stage, but the play is badly cast."
-- “Lord Arthur Savile's Crime”
Quotes on Love
"Nothing spoils a romance so much as a sense of humor in the woman - or the want of it in the man."
-- “A Woman of No Importance”
"One should always be in love. That is the reason one should never marry."
-- “A Woman of No Importance”
"To love oneself is the beginning of a life-long romance."
-- “An Ideal Husband”
"A man can be happy with any woman as long as he does not love her."
-- “The Picture of Dorian Gray”
"Young men want to be faithful and are not; old men want to be faithless and cannot."
-- “The Picture of Dorian Gray”
7. Wilde married Constance Lloyd in 1884. She was well read, spoke several different languages and was very outspoken. They had 2 sons: Cyril in 1885 and Vyvyan in 1886.
8. With a family to support, Oscar worked at Woman's World magazine from 1887-1889. The next six years were to become the most creative period of his life. He published two collections of children's stories and his first and only novel, "The Picture of Dorian Gray". It was published in 1890 originally as a short story in an American magazine to a storm of critical protest. This fueled him to expand the story and get it published -- which is was the following year. Its implied homoerotic theme was considered very immoral by the Victorians and played a considerable part in his later legal trials.
9. Oscar's first play, “Lady Windermere's Fan,” opened in February 1892. It was a financial and critical success and as a result, he focused on writing for theater. His subsequent plays included “A Woman of No Importance” (1893), “An Ideal Husband” (1895), and “The Importance of Being Earnest” (1895). These plays were all highly acclaimed and firmly established Oscar as a playwright. He was the delight of the stage......until:
10. In the summer of 1891, Oscar met Lord Alfred 'Bosie' Douglas, the third son of the Marquis of Queensberry. Bosie was well acquainted with Oscar's novel “Dorian Gray” and was an undergraduate at Oxford. They soon became lovers and were inseparable until Wilde's arrest and conviction four years later of gross indecency. He was sentenced to two years hard labor. His wife Constance took the children to Switzerland and reverted to an old family name, “Holland.”
11. Upon his release from prison, he and Bosie were reunited for a time, but the relationship didn't last. He wrote a play about his experiences in prison, but it failed to rekindle interest in his works.
12. Oscar spent the last three years of his life wandering Europe, staying with friends and living in cheap hotels. When a recurrent ear infection became serious several years later, meningitis set in, and Oscar Wilde died on November 30, 1900 in Paris, France.
13. Numerous books and articles have been written on Oscar Wilde since his death, one of note by his grandson, Merlin Holland, in 1997.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Oh No, That's Gonna Hurt...
I have been to the doctor about 10 times since Christmas because of a cold, then a virus, then a sinus infection. In a nutshell, I am miserable.
However, I didn't know exactly HOW miserable I was going to get. The doctor blindsided me today. It went something like this:
"um...Lara....we ran some blood tests because you've been unable to shake this infection you have."
I nod. I know it -- it's doctor speak. I'm fine. But here comes the question that sends the hairs on the back of my neck to a 90 degree angle.
"Do you have a history of diabetes in your family?"
I stared for about 10 seconds, then hung my head ala Thomas Magnum. Resigned. Aware. Cooked. Busted. Cornered.
"Yes...."
"Well, your fasting glucose is....blah, blah, blah and your A1c marker is blah, blah, blah. Your markers have been going slowly but steadily upwards...and you are now considered diabetic."
Yup. Ambushed.
Now I know enough to know that this isn't a death sentence. It could have been much worse. It was found early and hopefully I can be controlled with diet and more exercise. But this news comes on the heels of a special anniversary this year: 10 years since I had a heart attack. 2/14/1998 -- Valentine's Day -- My heart gave out. But I survived and I'm here and FINALLY, when I'm just beginning to get the thumbs up from life insurance agents, I get kicked out of the ballpark again.
Man, I hate it when that happens.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Suburban Misanthopia
Last September, my daughter decided she wanted to be a cheerleader. Well...ok!...although this encompassed an exorbitant amount of my time taking her to practices and driving her to football games that could be 25 miles away or more. But she was excited, the bonding was good for her because of her ADD and the training helped her expend her boundless energy. Me? Yea, I should have been training with them, but I used the time as I sat at the practices and little league football games to read, listen to my iPod or close my eyes behind my sunglasses. She loved it. I cheered her on during her squad's halftime show and then we went home after the game.
Now I am a fairly chatty, personable person. I can have a decent conversation with just about anyone, anywhere, even if alcohol isn't present. Somehow, and I don't know why exactly, I'm having...and have had...trouble bonding with the typical Suburban Mom.
We've already established that I'm a bit "off the wall". As much as I wish I was, I'm just not Suburban Wife and Mom material, even though being a wife and mother is what I truly wanted. Now that I have my own life (as I did in my 20's), the kids are getting older and a bit more self sufficient, I find I have more and more difficulty "blending" in with the neighborhood/cheerleading/soccer moms. This is no reflection on them. It's a reflection on me.
Most of them -- say 95% -- are married, either non-working or working just part time outside the home. There are very few of them in my section of the boat....status post heart attack with panic disorder, a crazy ex-husband, 2 kids, one with ADHD, no other family, a bright son who quit highschool (but will be starting junior college early and taking his GED), working full time and trying desperately to stay ahead of the dirty laundry monster who is perpetually at my heels.
I guess part of the disconnect is that I look at some of these women with envy -- one just got her last child of 3 off to college and she decided to start to look for a job. She landed a great one at a little bookstore, 9-3, 2 days a week. Some are in school, taking a class here and there. Others are at home, comtemplating starting a home-based business. I guess what they have, which I wished I had, is not the time to be home necessarily, but is having a stable, relatively happy marriage. I'll probably never know what that feels like, even though it is something I wanted. I'll never know what it's like to have your husband overjoyed that you are pregnant and taking part in your pregnancy and preparing for the birth of your child. And that makes me sad. Sometimes overwhelmingly sad.
But to combat the blues, I have marched decidedly forward as a single person, determined to get my self confidence back...to make a list of goals that I can achieve on my own.
And this is all good. All totally positive and good.
But I still wish for that which I will never have.....
Saturday, January 12, 2008
New Year, New Ideas
Yes, I could go on and on about losing weight, or getting my finances in order, or organizing my house or organizing my office, or my quest to get my kids to listen to me....but I won't. I've decided to try something new and not rehash what I should be doing. Like losing weight, saving money, policing the kids and organizing the mess that surrounds me.
I've discovered over the life of this blog that people's lives are intertwined so beautifully and intricately. People, things and experiences that touch us resonate into other areas of our lives and bring up memories, help us to grow, help us heal. They sometimes provide outlets for our creativity and our need to express and to connect with others.
So this year, my blog will be dedicated to people who have crossed my path, whether it be face to face, or in a book, or through a blog or whatever. Maybe this sounds very "Secret Squirrel", but you'll get it as I roll (literally) through 2008.
Take for instance, one whom I've blogged on before: Abraham Lincoln. Me and Abe. Why do I, along with many people, find him so fascinating? What about his life sticks to me and makes me want to know more? Why is there more written on Abe (yes, part of it was the Civil War) than, for instance, Grover Cleveland? Or is it that I haven't researched Grover enough to know??? So should I research Grover more? Nah. Right now, my dance card is really full.
In an effort to clear the card (in anticipation of old age dementia), I'm gonna begin a series: the "Me And...." series. Like Me and Anne, Me and Monty Python, Me and the Three Stooges, Me and Colleen, Me and the other Colleen (who writes a beautiful blog I'll tell you about...Loose Leaf Notes--see the link in my Link Love list), Me and Susan (who writes another great blog, West of Mars -- also in the Link List), Me and the Delaney Sisters, Me and WAM (the crazy ex-husband), Me and MMD (I'll explain later). Like that.
Thanks to all of you who have crossed my path. You have saved my life in more ways that I can even begin to tell you.
So in the immortal words of Jackie Gleason..... And Away We Go!!!
