keepingfaith

OMG!

OMG OMG OMG!

Personally, and I don't expect agreement -- but I do believe that this isn't puffy. This is a new jawline. I think it's HOT!!!!!!!

I love this one!

.... and Neil Young, too. I remember he had a big thing with Joni. Okay, does this book opine on the subject of "You're So Vain?" Conventional wisdom has always been that it's Beatty. As I remember the times, many counter-culture icons were slow to shed the burden of chauvinism. Many of them tried, and a few were beautiful, but too many were fully invested in their domination-mindedness. They had been trained from birth. Enlightened women had to endure a lot of hypocrisy before lights flickered on in some heads. And in Texas, the women's movement arguably may have instigated the emergence of a subset of long-haired, dope-smoking, macho-fraud rednecks that continues to this day. I love the younger generation of men, who weren't taught the "old ways" by their mothers, and grew up in a culture that demanded respect for women. It's an evolved reality. They don't have to translate words and deeds in their heads.

Scarlett and K: No Vietnamese for me today. I have an injured foot, caused by avoiding stepping on my pup sleeping in the hall. Another broken toe. Not the Florida-toe, but the one next to it. Doc is sending out pain meds so I'll be soaking in epsom salts, elevating, and catching up on sleep. When I grow up and become a dignified lady, I may stop running in the house. In the meantime, lunch has to be either tomorrow or next week for me, luckiest, I love that dream! It was in March two years ago that Houston tix went on sale, so I'm getting that loving feeling.

This is for KAndre: Traxler: Say, Professor Tripp, is all that stuff really true about Errol Flynn? How he used to put paprika on his dick to make it, you know, like, more stimulating for the chick? Tripp: Christ, Traxler, how the hell should I know? Traxler: You're reading his biography, aren't you? Tripp: Oh! .... Yeah, it's true. He used to rub all sorts of things on it. Salad dressing... ground lamb...

Two classic rants (can't have one without the other) from one of my Top 3 movies, Chayevsky's amazing and prescient, "Network" (1976) -- Howard Beale: I don't have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. It's a depression. Everybody's out of work or scared of losing their job. The dollar buys a nickel's work, banks are going bust, shopkeepers keep a gun under the counter. Punks are running wild in the street and there's nobody anywhere who seems to know what to do, and there's no end to it. We know the air is unfit to breathe and our food is unfit to eat, and we sit watching our TV's while some local newscaster tells us that today we had fifteen homicides and sixty-three violent crimes, as if that's the way it's supposed to be. We know things are bad - worse than bad. They're crazy. It's like everything everywhere is going crazy, so we don't go out anymore. We sit in the house, and slowly the world we are living in is getting smaller, and all we say is, 'Please, at least leave us alone in our living rooms. Let me have my toaster and my TV and my steel-belted radials and I won't say anything. Just leave us alone.' Well, I'm not gonna leave you alone. I want you to get mad! I don't want you to protest. I don't want you to riot - I don't want you to write to your congressman because I wouldn't know what to tell you to write. I don't know what to do about the depression and the inflation and the Russians and the crime in the street. All I know is that first you've got to get mad. [shouting] You've got to say, 'I'm a HUMAN BEING, G-damnit! My life has VALUE!' So I want you to get up now. I want all of you to get up out of your chairs. I want you to get up right now and go to the window. Open it, and stick your head out, and yell, 'I'M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!' I want you to get up right now, sit up, go to your windows, open them and stick your head out and yell - 'I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore!' Things have got to change. But first, you've gotta get mad!... You've got to say, 'I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!' Then we'll figure out what to do about the depression and the inflation and the oil crisis. But first get up out of your chairs, open the window, stick your head out, and yell, and say it: [screaming at the top of his lungs] "I'M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!" Arthur Jensen: I started as a salesman, Mr. Beale. I sold sewing machines and automobile parts, hair brushes and electronic equipment. They say I can sell anything. I'd like to try to sell something to you. [bellowing] You have meddled with the primal forces of nature, Mr. Beale, and I won't have it! Is that clear? You think you've merely stopped a business deal. That is not the case! The Arabs have taken billions of dollars out of this country, and now they must put it back! It is ebb and flow, tidal gravity! It is ecological balance! You are an old man who thinks in terms of nations and peoples. There are no nations. There are no peoples. There are no Russians. There are no Arabs. There are no third worlds. There is no West. There is only one holistic system of systems, one vast and immane, interwoven, interacting, multivariate, multinational dominion of dollars. Petro-dollars, electro-dollars, multi-dollars, reichmarks, rins, rubles, pounds, and shekels. It is the international system of currency which determines the totality of life on this planet. That is the natural order of things today. That is the atomic and subatomic and galactic structure of things today! And YOU have meddled with the primal forces of nature, and YOU...WILL...ATONE! [calmly] Am I getting through to you, Mr. Beale? You get up on your little twenty-one inch screen and howl about America and democracy. There is no America. There is no democracy. There is only IBM, and ITT, and AT&T, and DuPont, Dow, Union Carbide, and Exxon. Those *are* the nations of the world today. What do you think the Russians talk about in their councils of state, Karl Marx? They get out their linear programming charts, statistical decision theories, minimax solutions, and compute the price-cost probabilities of their transactions and investments, just like we do. We no longer live in a world of nations and ideologies, Mr. Beale. The world is a college of corporations, inexorably determined by the immutable bylaws of business. The world is a business, Mr. Beale. It has been since man crawled out of the slime. And our children will live, Mr. Beale, to see that perfect world in which there's no war or famine, oppression or brutality. One vast and ecumenical holding company, for whom all men will work to serve a common profit, in which all men will hold a share of stock. All necessities provided, all anxieties tranquilized, all boredom amused. And I have chosen you, Mr. Beale, to preach this evangel. Howard Beale: Why me? Arthur Jensen: Because you're on television, dummy.

Gibby, dahling, do have the most marvelous birthday! 50? *hunh*, piece of cake*, my dear. *CAKE! I wish you red velvet with cream cheese icing! ETA: But the icing can't be green. Can't have sweet, green icing flowing down. *hee*

That's my favorite airport picture. What a profile! ******* I probably have an anti-Pavlovian response to "Ms. BMG." When I came into the fandom in mid-2006 some of the most widely believed hokum (at least at OFC) was from a supposed BMG source, blowing up expectations and making claims that were not reality based. What shocked me is the group of people who continued to believe the source even after the information was exposed as fraudulent, and obviously just made-up to further some ego-based agenda. After the veil was lifted, it didn't stop and the spin to try to excuse the wrong information rivaled Fox News. And yet people continued to be duped and some hung on every word as if it came from the mountaintop. Say "inside information from BMG" to me and bells ring -- only I don't head for the food bowl, I run the other way.

POST HO! Just read that Will Ferrell's show will be on HBO tomorrow night, from the Broadway stage. Didn't someone see a Twitter that Clay was there this week?

IF there is an active 6 month non-compete ... who knows when the 6 months began running? Maybe it was in September. I can't see any advantage in either believing or not believing such information. Those who know don't tell, and those who tell don't know. I think I'm going to have to disagree with that. I remember Johnny Carson being big on the "light in the loafers" jokes, and jokes at others' expense. He made so many cracks about Wayne Newton's sexuality that Wayne claims he threatened physical violence on Johnny. If Clay had been around back then, Johnny may not have been so popular with Clay fans. And it wasn't something that others did so much at the time, certainly not Dick Cavett. Confession: I was a Dick Cavett girl. If a party violated a non-compete agreement, they open themselves to a lawsuit. As I understand it, a non-compete would prohibit an artist who left a company (with an offer on the table) from signing with another company, or releasing a competing product. I can't see how a tour would even enter into the picture. I didn't notice RCA sponsoring any tours for Clay. I don't for a minute believe that Clay was indentured to RCA -- that kind of artistic bondage has been over for decades. And there's not a one size fits all contract. The more economic clout, the more freedom. Well it wasn't the same bed, but it was in the yellow room, and you were my first roomie, as we hugged our posters into the night. Okay, I confess. I went to Huynh's yesterday. Had to make sure it was acceptable for the discriminating palates of the eHP... and I thought it was wonderful. Except most of the best stuff had shrimp in it! Dammit! The guy sitting next to me was having Vietnamese coffee and the aroma was to die for. He explained to me that Huynh's doesn't serve Saigon food, it is Hue cuisine. Whatever, it's very good. I can go Monday or Tuesday. The rest of the week I'm partaking of spring break at school ... it's either that or mental break. My giant nightmare that began in October is almost over ... March 24. I have no idea why I'm doing financial work, except that I came into it through a misunderstanding -- just because I worked for a now-Final Four accounting firm for ten years didn't mean I knew anything about financial management, but somebody at the college made that assumption. Back at the firm, I wrote press releases for products and events, and did a lot of ghost-writing of articles in magazines and trade journals with partners names on them, and organized conferences, and all manner of stuff like that. And for a couple of years I had two bosses, one in Beijing and the other in Moscow, with me in Houston. Prior to that I worked for a law firm that did litigation and entertainment rep, including ZZ Top's management. (So I'm vaguely familiar with 20-year-old entertainment law.) But now I'm playing finance, and it's topping off a long strange career that started at NASA in 1968. I was the only hippie chick that I knew of at JSC, or MSC at it was known then. I was there from '68 (with Raytheon), through '69 and the moon landing, to '70 and Apollo 13, the glory days. But I love where I am now. I'd just never have thought I'd be doing this. Yeah, I'm happier now that it's almost March 24. I have no idea what music Clay likes to listen to, but I'm sure he listens to a lot of demos. I hope he's looking for that spectacular song, even if his old label doesn't want him to!

That would be played by Jack McBrayer. "Kenneth" made the news a lot recently after the media compared Bobby Jindal to Kenneth the Page, after Jindal's disastrous response to Obama's speech to Congress. Jack McBrayer even made a humorous video disassociating himself with Jindal. Myself, I never got the Kenneth/Clay comparison at all.

*waves back to laughn*, I've missed you. ..... And chach, I missed you too while you were away. I'm with djs on the "site" thing. It jumped out at me too. But the giveaway was the phrase "his career is not nearly over".... that was as good as an official ID for me, no need for salt. No professional would make a comment like that. (Off topic: I wonder who would have predicted a month ago that Chris Brown's career would now be over?) I just don't think that was "nearly" a professional comment. FWIW and it's not worth much since I doubt the underlying story: Non-compete clauses are applicable to breaking a contract, not fulfulling one. And if RCA initiated the divorce, they wouldn't have a legal leg to stand on with a non-compete clause. However, if Clay broke the contract a non-compete could come into play. Back to real life .... Clay is making me happy. 30 Rock rocks and I'm thrilled Clay will be on. I don't watch it regularly, but when I have seen it, it's been outrageously funny. Or, to qualify, Alec Baldwin may be the funniest man on TV right now.

Color me double jaded on the BMG insider. Every point along the way was oddly familiar. LdyJ, is there really a lot of hand-wringing going on about Clay's career? Really? You'd think, or hope, after all this time that every Clay-lover could relax into being a fan of a wonderful human being and a great talent and enjoy the gifts he shares. I don't have to know him personally to have built up some serious faith in his many gifts. He's in a position to create a lot of opportunities for himself in Hollywood, on Broadway, on tour, and on record. He has a first-class publicist, manager, attorney, and I hear he's pretty close to his executive producer. But mainly, I think he has the desire and the energy to get where he wants to be, and go there via his own path. That he's unpredictable and private is part of the draw for me. I don't think Clay is missing anything except the right song at the next right moment. Oh, for a gifted songwriter to write a magnificent song for Clay that will unlock and free some minds. I know for a fact that Clay has a lot of fans waiting in the wings -- people who loved him on Idol, but don't so much love what he's recorded since Idol. These people still want to hear BOTW, UM, Solitaire, and TITN, and nothing he's done subsequently has stirred them, outside of MDYK and OHN. I know at least a dozen people that fit into that group, and I don't know that many people, so some statistical factors must indicate a ton of fans-in-waiting out there, or else I know a strange sampling of characters! Anyway, if that perfect storm of a song and lightning strike never happens for them ... it already happened for me, so I feel like an insider on that criteria alone. Clazy, that's a great write-up. Congratulations!!! merrieeee, thanks for that link to the People Celebrity Makeover pictures. "It takes a village of stylists ..." -- they probably got that line from Clay! Regarding Tyra, no doubt those two hit it off immediately, and she apparently loved the nice flowers he sent her ... They are so CUTE!!

This blood and guts stuff jogged my memory. Back in the early 80's I was dating a guy who was a serious movie buff and he loved The Wild Bunch. I had never seen it and he was determined that I should see it on the big screen and not on TV. He found out that the director's cut was playing at the Rice Media Center, so he had to go. We arrived just about movie start time and went to the back row where no one was sitting, until a small group came in and sat beside us. As the movie progressed, I was horrified by the violence, and the slow motion blood squirting scenes caused me to remark several times that this was the most disgusting thing I'd ever seen, and questioned why my guy would have ever brought me to such a wretched paean to gore. Cut to the chase. After the movie ended and the lights went up, it was announced that the movie's director, Sam Peckinpaugh, was there and would take questions. Yeah, the guy sitting next to me got up and walked to the front ... after definitely hearing me shoot off my mouth about the brothel of gratuitous violence that was his masterpiece. This is just another example of how I can keep my mouth shut 1,000 times, but let me open it just once, and I'll pay the consequences. In time, I learned to enjoy The Wild Bunch, until Loverboy and I broke up a couple of years later. In retrospect, maybe Peckinpaugh was going for a brothel of gratuitious violence and I was complimenting him? Also in retrospect, it's amazing how jaded I've become, because while I still don't like a lot of blood and gore, The Wild Bunch is a walk in the park.

I found the opening sequence of Watchmen again ... so if you're interested, click here Watchmen - Opening Sequence and scroll down to the video. Bob Dylan could have something to do with this for me. All I know about The Watchmen is that it's alternative universe, set in 1985, and Nixon is in his 4th term of office. The opening sequence blew me away, so I'm tempted to see it, even with the body parts. And ... some body parts don't swing on the pages of Playgirl as well as they do on the big screen! If anybody watches the intro, let me know what you think.

Calling Doctor Bombay .... Manhattan ..... Doctor Gonzo. Yeah, that's the ticket! (Billy Crudup? Geez, he was so hot in Almost Famous, I may go see Watchmen tonight.)

Messing with One Degree of Kevin Bacon will getcha every time!!! ETA: Who has seen The Watchmen? I intend to see it this weekend because after watching the opening sequence online (before it was pulled) I was hooked. Then I read this on an entertainment website: Okay, who plays Doctor Manhattan!

I DVR'd AI this week and watched it last night. I was reminded more of Season 2 than any season since, and maybe because I thought the medley was decent, the finalists are living together in a mansion, and there are some quality singers this year. My personal favorites (with the caveat that all I've seen is this week) are the 16 year old girl with bright red hair -- Danny -- Lil -- and Kris, the cute guy with the guitar. Adam is a showman, and he did a great job on his MJ song, but I wonder if he will wear well, week after week. I'm skeptical. But as a whole I think this could be the best season Idol has had in a few years. I started watching last year and dropped out early because there were too many singers I couldn't stand to hear sing! I thought Kelly looked and sounded great last night, even though I'm not a fan of that song. I prefer her voice and stage presence about a 1000 times over that of Carrie Underwood's.

Wellllll, unless it's out of your control .... I seem to remember a "lickiest1" running around here a couple of years ago?

Oh yeah, the famous "God forbid the Clack skips around" clack. How wonderful was that? He was never cuter. And, as for the "cute" appellation for males -- some guys may not like being called "cute" -- but cute guys will always be called cute guys by females, and there's nothing they can do about it. Some guys are hunky and hot and NOT cute. But IMO Hot and Cute are IT!

I consider myself a true connoisseur of the Ft. Myers clack -- and the very best way to watch Quiana-in-Clay's-lap is from scruffy13's montages, which allows viewing from both angles, and shouldn't be missed! The Ft. Myers montages are in three parts, and Spotlight/WTLGD begins about 6:00 into 21b. My advise is to go ahead and download all of it -- 21a, 21b, and 21c. This is Triple A Fine Clack, my friends. And, 21a has Clay confiscating Our Girl's camera and making that great personal Clack of his own! Again, from "all" angles -- the Clay and Scarlett Clack. For anyone who doesn't know how to find it at CU ... Montages scruffy13 (17th from the bottom) Best of SRHPT 2007 So, do you think I like it? The whole night was memorable -- and I wasn't even there except in spirit *boo hoo* But I have the Clack. And .... I'll always have West Palm ..... *big sigh*

I actually liked Mr. and Mrs. Smith .... but I love Mr. Smith Goes To Washington with Jimmy Stewart. They play it a lot on TCM. And I'm crazy about Love Actually. Or am I just crazy about Karl? No no no the cake was left out in the rain OMG...*sniff*...and I'll never have that recipe again! OH NOOOOOOOO!!!!

I must be some freaking weirdo. My current read is The Looming Tower -- Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 by Lawrence Wright. To me, there could be no fiction as enthralling and sweeping as this narrative covering five decades, it's horrifying and breathtaking and just an amazing read so far. Fiction can rarely do that for me anymore. I feel like I've had my fill of stories -- unless John Irving comes out with something new, because A Prayer for Owen Meany remains my favorite book in the whole world and I keep giving him chances to equal it. May I just take a moment to confess that I have this Clayaholic disease that I must buy anything I see with Clay's face in it or on it. I've walked past that PEOPLE Yearbook 2009 about 50 times in the past few weeks and never gave it a second look ... until I saw it face down and Clay's picture on the back cover, so I had to check inside and there was the full page picture of Clay and Parker, so I had to buy it .... even though I have the original People with the same picture on the cover and all, I had to have it in the Yearbook. I feel like writing People Magazine to tell them that I only bought their Yearbook for Clay's picture. I think they need to know about us Clayaholics. This is exactly why I'm buying a couple of BOCA's even though I already have all those songs, many times over. Anyway, the packaging is new, and environmentally friendly, so I'm hooked .... like a fish.