#50: He puts a happy face on my heart

[Lotus]

good morning FCA i am exhausted, happily so. my daughter and i just walked back to her place from GM place where we saw this amazing, wonderful Leonard Cohen concert. It was 3 hours long and that doesn't include the intermission.

just wanted to share that before i stagger off to bed.

[Kareneh]

good morning FCA i am exhausted, happily so. my daughter and i just walked back to her place from GM place where we saw this amazing, wonderful Leonard Cohen concert. It was 3 hours long and that doesn't include the intermission.

just wanted to share that before i stagger off to bed.

I am officially jealous.

My days in Baku are now officially done. I'm sitting in Frankfurt waiting for my connection to Toronto. I'm halfway through my 8 hour wait! Then it's only a few hours of clearing customs with the dog (who was a great trooper in the airport last night), meeting bonnechance for a coffee, and on to Halifax. I hope Kenai is enjoying the doggie digs here in Frankfurt, I hear they are quite nice.

Movies....well I remember I saw The Sting, and Star Wars on their opening days, and without seeing any advance hype or trailers. I thought they were both great. It's strange but I like Science Fiction movies way more than I like the books....usually it's the other way around with me. I read the Lord of the Rings when it was doing the rounds while I was in high school. I never went back and reread them. One of my favorite movies is Almost Famous, another is Terms of Endearment. I prefer Jezebel to Gone with the Wind. When I was a kid I my most favorite movie of all was Imitation of Life, I loved spending Saturday afternoons curled up in a chair watching movies on TV. I think it was the only time during the week everyone was too busy to watch TV so I got it all to myself. Mostly I like movies that make me laugh, though.....Four Weddings and a Funeral and I loved both Bridget Jones movies. And I rather liked Barefoot in the Park.....come to think of it, anything by Neil Simon. Phantom of the Opera? Meh! Les Miserables? I saw it in London last year and it was the best thing I have ever seen.....next to Robert Redford that is.

End of my treatise on cinema and other stuff.

I need a nap very badly. Maybe a banana will do instead.

[luckiest1]

Good luck with the guinea pigs, ausdon!

So I did a really stupid thing last night. I got home and of course had to run right back out to get son #2 something to eat (since we can't even open the fridge). On the way over I explained to him that the driver's side automatic window in the car will go down but it won't go back up......something wrong with the motor. So I'd have to open my door in the drive through. So what do I do? Pull up to the speaker and put the window down. OMFG. So the window's been down all night and of course it's been raining all night and now I have to go to work. Guess I'll get out some towels to sit on.

Happy Monday!

[FearofH2O]

oooo true confessions?

My daughter and I hated Phantom of the Opera.

H.a.t.e.d.

Me too! Love real Opera with the classic voices but that movie was too dark.

Me too!!!!

<snip>

Totally OT : Does anyone want a guinea pig? Seems the darling little one month old I got for the kids a couple of months ago was up the duff! :o Total surprise for us all. Yesterday went out to the cage and there were the littluns. I think this makes me a granny? :o

Seriously....I could just pop one in a post bag.....anyone?..........

They are probably just the right size for our cat, Simba, to snack on.

Kareneh back to North America. What an adventure your life is. I really enjoy your blogs.

[djs111]

I really have no time for snobs who don't have the capacity to accept pop music just because it is popular music.

Yep. Although I extend that sentiment out quite a bit further and in various ways.

I never read the sociological reason stuff because that is usually dismissive and is almost always done when someone doesn't like something and feels the need to explain why other people do. Just reading the wonderfully diverse opinions on this one board shoots that stuff out of the water. And I think perhaps broad swathes of people are/were attracted to a singer/genre/whatever because of availability and exposure, not because they got to choose from a vast array of things. The net and youtube have really changed things and broadened horizons.

Love some opera - love Nessum Dorma, the Flower Song irritates the shit out of me. I can't categorise opera as a whole to be dismissed or loved - I love Placido Domingo and don't much care for Pavarotti even though Pav. is supposed to be technically superior. Some voices just float into my ears and some don't.

I don't dislike Harry Potter, I love the movies. But LOTR kinda blows HP away, for ME, and I think I got fantasied out after the fabulous early science fiction got more political and fantasy took over, many many moons ago. Dragonriders, etc. I do love murder mysteries.

GWTW? I love the book, the movie makes me laugh, the too-long music in the beginning is irritating, and for the movie's purposes, if the South's soldiers were all as wussy as the Tarleton twins, that may be why they lost. Not much subtlety in GWTW.

I can never tell if I am going to like a movie until I start watching it, although I tend to steer away from sappy ones.

Heeee.....Brendan Frasier's Still Breathing - that is a WONDERFUL movie, and very hard to find. It was not on Netflix when I recommended it to a friend a couple of years ago, I ended up buying a brand-new PAL version off ebay because of course I had to have it, and then someone gave me a dual-format DVD player not long after that, so I'm good.

Love Baz Luhrman movies, Strictly Ballroom, Muriel's Wedding - now THERE is the definitive ABBA movie! - love movies with Tony Leung, love most Asian movies I have seen. I like what little Bollywood I have seen - love the exuberance.

Taking my grandson to the movies has been enlightening, I have leaned to just settle in and enjoy the movie, it is only two hours, and I like the sharing. And who knew I would love Tokyo Drift and Vin Diesel - those movies just are different, that's all.

Fear, it is Gabriel Byrne in that TV show, yes he is really good, and what pretty pretty eyes.

Love House, love Scrubs, never have watched any other medical TV shows ever. Love BBCAmerica, except for that Top Gear thing. Loved BBC's The Office, hated the USA version until I learned to disassociate it completely from the original - another case of not much subtlety there.

TV is not a destination for me, I only watch what I am interested in and then go do something else, so I don't see many network shows at all, I hate having any kind of "schedule".

Love Eddie Izzard tremendously.

And Leonard Cohen. I am QUITE jellus of Lotus. A three hour concert!!!!!!!

[Scarlett]

guess no one wants to see Clay in Phantom of the Opera.

This is all premised on Clay not having to do anything with the show/s. At this point, I'd watch "Springtime for Hitler" if he were in it, ditto POTO and all its incarnations, including that oft-rumored sequel *cough! sputter! choke!*.

Keepingfaith, how about that Vietnamese this week (except today)? I need to deliver something that merrieeee needs to send to Shanghai with KAndre.

ETA: Have a nice trip back, Kareneh!

[jmh123]

good morning FCA i am exhausted, happily so. my daughter and i just walked back to her place from GM place where we saw this amazing, wonderful Leonard Cohen concert. It was 3 hours long and that doesn't include the intermission.

just wanted to share that before i stagger off to bed.

Oh boy do I wish I could've been there! Can't wait for a report!

Safe travels, Kareneh and Kenai!!

Oh luckiest, I've done that kind of thing. Sorry.

[aikim]

Good Morning Everyone,

1 Day until Clay receives his Family Equality Council Honor!

7 Days until Rosie's Benefit and possible Clay video!

24 Days until Clay is Rockin' 30 Rock!

Everyone have a great day!

Kim

[FearofH2O]

Thanks djs. Too many Byrnes.

[djs111]

Heh, Fear, Gabriel Byrne - I would be happy following Ellen Barkin around and taking her guys when she is done with them - Gabriel Byrne, yum, and then when she divorced the next husband, Ron Perelman, Revlon heir, she sold the jewelry he gave her at a Christie's auction for $20.3 million.

Oh, and if nothing else, the HP movies have Alan Rickman. That's all they need for me.

[jmh123]

I have a one day reprieve, and now that I do, it's too late to go back to bed, and I'm too tired to start working.

It's raining. One of those all-day, steady rains. Workmen were supposed to come today and start tearing down my apartment. Actually, I don't know exactly what they are going to do, but it involves work on the wall to the outside. A few weeks ago they removed the bricks from outside above the door--what a lot of fun that was! I felt like I'd been in the dentist's chair all day by the end of that. They did the apartment next to mine one day, all day, and mine the next. I work/play/live on a sofa in the living room right next to that wall. So having removed the bricks, they discovered rot in the wood behind the brick. I have had a leak when it rains really hard, sideways towards the house, which happens about once a year. Anyway, there are structural problems in the building, and these folks were hired to fix them all, and evidently my little leak is on the list.

So I'm not sure what they're going to do exactly. Upstairs they took the doors and windows out--these take up most of the wall--and then they did some stuff. Not sure what, but it was loud. So after they got the bricks off and found the rotten wood, they wanted to come in the next day and start tearing things apart in my place. They were going to be working right in the middle of my "office"--the internet connection, phone, computer, all of that is right in the middle of where they need to work. And there's no room anywhere to move anything to. Ever since I moved in, I've had a "too much" stuff issue, because I moved from a bigger apartment, and also moved in everything in my office at my former job. Then I got this job working from home, which I've been doing for six months now, and that was taking up more and more space. And now all of a sudden, these guys want to come and move it all out of their way so they can tear down the wall/doors/windows/whatever.

So I said you just can't do it now. I need to meet the deadline for my job, and I need to do my taxes too, which are really complicated this year because through no fault of my own, I'm "self-employed." There's no room in here to move anything and I can't work in here if you're here tearing my apartment apart. They weren't happy, but what could they say?

So, they started a job somewhere else, and I got my project finished, and my taxes, and there was a delay on their other job, so today was to be the start date. Last week's delay was lucky for me, as I was so not ready yet. I'd actually been looking for places to move to, which is crazy, but what else could I do? I happened across a great deal on an office in a building down the street, so I took it for three months, and spent Thursday and Friday packing up 20 boxes and getting them moved to the office, and putting that in some sort of order. (I'm really psyched about having an office!! Hopefully I will take this opportunity to sort through and get rid of a bunch of crap, now that I actually have room to move around to get that done.) Then it was off to my mom's for the weekend to take care of her. Got home yesterday around 5 and busted ass moving all the stuff from my work/living area into the spaces created by moving the other stuff to the office. I had everything ready before I went to bed except for disconnecting the cable and computer. But now I have a reprieve! And the people I work for will be happy, as there are some things they've been wanting me to do for a week, but I've been tied up with taxes and getting ready for the demolition. So today I will work. Here--not in my new office.

[luckiest1]

{{{jmh123}}} I feel your pain.

Oh, and if nothing else, the HP movies have Alan Rickman. That's all they need for me.

Hee, my daughter would agree with you. Personally, they have Robbie Coltrane, and that's all they need for me! But I love them for lots of other reasons too, just as I love the HP books. Can't wait for the new movie to come out, finally! They keep postponing the damned thing.

Forgot to mention that I pretty much wore my new BOCA out on the weekend, I played it so many times. What a great mix of songs.

[Carolina Clay]

Good Morning, FCA!

New week as students prepare for 5/17 Spring Recital. Just learned that the birth date for my granddaughter will be 5/18. I should be a total wreck that weekend.

The latest Kai story is that he loves picking up the dog carrier and shaking it all about --complete with the two chihuahuas on board! My daughter asked that I not run his picture on the Internet, so his escapades will have to do. Apparently, he really is strong. :biggrin:

Safe travels, Kareneh and Kenai! Toronto is where AmazingCA lives.

My new blog is about a musician I met on Twitter. Aspiegirl's montage of Clay singing BOTW at the 2003 MDA Telethon leads into the story of Ace Noface, a gutsy piano-rock artist racing against time and ALS to leave a substantial musical legacy.

The only CA graphic is by cindilu2, but one of my friends said Clay would be the first person to step aside for a blog about this amazing man. Hope you enjoy at Carolina On My Mind.

Ace tweeted back last night, but I also enjoyed noting the steady stream of visitors from his East Lansing, MI, hometown. His music and lyrics are powerful. Some are in the blog, and others are linked.

Catching up after a long wet Saturday driving around town with Solo, a very yummy Cajun seafood dinner last at Floyd's with merrieeee and Solo -- great recommendation, keepingfaith & desertrose -- and a very interesting speaker phone conversation among KAndre, Solo, merrieeee and me while Solo was navigating the hazards of 1960, like random people in dark clothes casually strolling across the street mid-block against the traffic lights.

Would love to have been there ... or at least on the speaker phone, Scarlett!

I came across this, this morning.

The world's first collaborative online orchestra performed at Carnegie Hall on April 15, 2009. Selected by the YouTube community and several members of the world's most renowned orchestras, the YouTube Symphony Orchestra is made up of over 96 professional and amateur musicians from 30+ countries and territories on six continents and represents 26 different instruments.

As a former orchestra director, I must say this reminded me of All-State events -- except the ensemble was very professional. Once the conductor stopped talking, the music was great! Thnx for linking, Lotus!

Claaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!!!!!

Come Baaaaaaaaaaaaack!!!

Maybe we should send Clay your "little" hint, cindilu2!

Have an awesome new week, all!

Caro

[cha cha trusty]

Movies? I love so many of them!! Star Wars (all 6), Lord of the Rings (plus books, wish there were more), Indiana Jones, Harry Potter (plus books) and can't wait for the next one! I love everybody in the HP movies, especially loved the role Kenneth Branaugh played, and I love Ron's character, and his mother, Snape, and on and on. I wish Richard Harris had lived a little longer and been able to be Dumbledore throughout the whole series.

I also love romantic comedies, like Bridget Jones, Sleepless in Seattle, pretty much anything with Hugh Grant, Colin Firth, Rene Zelwiger, early Meg Ryan. Tom Hanks. (Anyone ever see Joe and the Volcano or Volunteers?)

I like suspense/murder/mystery stuff too, and action stuff like James Bond. Not the bloody yucky ones tho, for example, I hated Braveheart. Love the Brendan Fraser stuff where he plays the museum/adventure guy (can't think of the names.) Liked Angelina Jolie in those Laura Holt (?) movies. Can't wait to see Angels and Demons.

I love period pieces like Pride & Prejudice (Colin Firth ) and Duchess. Musicals, I loved Mamma Mia (saw it way too many times, bought it and listen to the music often) Love the old musicals like Mary Poppins, The Music Man, The Sound of Music.

Love comedies too, but the new ones seem to rely on bathroom humor a lot (which I am not fond of). mrchach and I enjoy a lot of the Pixar/Disney animated movies, they're clean and funny. One we saw recently was Meet Dave (not animated but a comedy) and enjoyed that. Love the SILLY stuff like Monty Python (goes without saying) and some other British comedies, although not many do silly like Monty P. Ricky Gervais comes close, but he's only made one movie so far.

Well if you've read to the end of this.... I can't end without mentioning the BEATLES! Loved their movies, and short films, they didn't make enough of them!

I pretty much love any movie, unless it's all violent, dirty, and gorey - and I am not fond of horror films.

Time for some pretty!!

Oh! And Susan Boyle? I think she has a great voice, needs a makeover, has been overexposed already tho, maybe has a slight chance of winning, but will definitely have the career she's wanted, but the competition has barely started! I hope she has an agent and doesn't get screwed over!

Oh yeah CLAY!!! Does anyone think he's headed for another Broadway show?

[wandacleo]

My general rule is I never go to see any movie that involves a horse. That pretty much eliminates period pieces and westerns (although I DID like Pride and Prejudice--the long version with Firth).

I love science fiction (Star Wars). Hate fantasy (Ring Trilogy, Harry Potter).

Love Clay Aiken (and I'd even go see him in Cats--TRUE devotion).

[luckiest1]

lindylo at CH has posted a few pics of Reed from public facebook sites. Seems he has a fondness for NC.

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a71/lindylo/090419Nice1.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a71/lindylo/ReedNChat.jpg

[beryl]

The first time I saw Gone With The Wind, I cried because of the war and I felt it deserved the accolades. Then I saw it on TV twice and stopped raving about it as a great movie.

More than a decade ago, I read an article about the real Scarlett O'hara and Rhett Butler.

After the war, Rhett became a Methodist minister and in the course of his pastoring, he had to talk to an owner of a brothel who turned out to be Scarlett (Emily Louise something). The result: she closed the brothel and opened an orphanage to which she devoted her remaining life. They didn't go back into each other's arms but they became good friends.

Here's my list:

Never read nor seen: Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings series

Enjoyed reading and watching: John Grisham novels and movie versions , Bourne Identity

Preferred: Titanic starring Catherine Zeta Jones

Disliked: Titanic with Leonardo diCaprio and Kate Winslet

Favorites: Giant, Ben Hur, A Few Good Men, The Sound of Music, Love Story, Sister Act

Likes: Old movies with great actors, comedies like The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes, Now You See

Him Now You Don't, Back To The Future

Hated: Cleopatra, The English Patient (Both depressed me.)

[preden]

lindylo at CH has posted a few pics of Reed from public facebook sites. Seems he has a fondness for NC.

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a71/lindylo/090419Nice1.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a71/lindylo/ReedNChat.jpg

Seems like it, let me think I wonder why????

[preden]

lindylo at CH has posted a few pics of Reed from public facebook sites. Seems he has a fondness for NC.

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a71/lindylo/090419Nice1.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a71/lindylo/ReedNChat.jpg

Seems like it, let me think I wonder why????

Bye the way, just got the cds in the mail this morning! Thanks to the one who mailed them to me.

[Lotus]

good morning FCA i am exhausted, happily so. my daughter and i just walked back to her place from GM place where we saw this amazing, wonderful Leonard Cohen concert. It was 3 hours long and that doesn't include the intermission.

just wanted to share that before i stagger off to bed.

Oh boy do I wish I could've been there! Can't wait for a report!

This morning feeling muzzy headed with this damn cold which now has me in its grip I came across this review of last nights Leonard Cohen concert. It reports much better than I could do even if I weren't feeling this way.

GMPlace holds 18,000 people for a hockey game. Last night there was floor seating and the upper boxes were not filled. There were probably 15,000 people at least there.

Hallelujah Leonard Cohen Still the Best

[merrieeee]

lindylo at CH has posted a few pics of Reed from public facebook sites. Seems he has a fondness for NC.

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a71/lindylo/090419Nice1.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a71/lindylo/ReedNChat.jpg

Seems like it, let me think I wonder why????

Ya think he might know someone from there?

[keepingfaith]

guess no one wants to see Clay in Phantom of the Opera.

This is all premised on Clay not having to do anything with the show/s. At this point, I'd watch "Springtime for Hitler" if he were in it, ditto POTO and all its incarnations, including that oft-rumored sequel *cough! sputter! choke!*.

Keepingfaith, how about that Vietnamese this week (except today)? I need to deliver something that merrieeee needs to send to Shanghai with KAndre.

ETA: Have a nice trip back, Kareneh!

POTO requires a mask doesn't it. I prefer Clay's bare face.

Re Vietnamese this week ... I need it ... just let me know day and time. merrieeee coming into downtown for lunch? Yippee! KAndre going to Shanghai? Wait a minute, aren't you required by law to finish recaps from previous Asian treks before going again? I'm so out of the loop!

Kareneh, when are you planning a Houston visit? I know, you're waiting for those lovely temperate days of July and August with gentle breezes wafting across the verandas. Miss you girl ... and love Sally!

Returning to the movie theme, I saw the movie M*A*S*H on opening day back in 1970 (?) without foreknowledge or any idea whatsoever as to the cast (all unknowns to me), the director (a genius in the making) or the plot -- the definitive black comedy IMO. Sutherland, Gould, Duvall, Skerritt, and the incredible Sally Kellerman (as the one and only Hot Lips Houlihan in my universe) blew me away. It was different from anything I'd ever seen on the screen before. About two or three weeks later, I was in Hermann Park Zoo and ran across Sally Kellerman being directed by Robert Altman in a scene from Brewster McCloud -- a truly bizarro film. Then came McCabe and Mrs. Miller -- one the best movies ever. I didn't like everything Altman ever did ... I was meh about Nashville, while many people think that was the quintessential film of the 70's. Obviousy not me. Chayefsky's "Network" gets the glory from me.

Okay -- here's a physological profile of sort -- my favorite movies of all time in no particular order 'cause it depends on my mood and the time of day ...

Avalon * Wonder Boys * Almost Famous (Director's Cut) * Pleasantville * The Big Lebowski * O Brother Where Are Thou? * American Beauty * Memento * Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil * The Green Mile * Best in Show * Love, Actually * Gangs of New York * The Hours * The Commitments * Adaptation * Big Fish * Frida * Mrs. Doubtfire * A Bronx Tale * Schindler's List * Malcolm X * Reservoir Dogs * Pulp Fiction * Kill Bill I & II * As Good As It Gets * The Usual Suspects * The American President * Master and Commander - Far Side of the World * Life is Beautiful * McCabe and Mrs. Miller * LA Confidential * M*A*S*H * Jackie Brown * Casablanca * Treasure of the Sierra Madre * For Me and My Gal * High Fidelity * Good Will Hunting * Donnie Darko * Traffic * Sling Blade * Fargo * Shawshank Redemption * Moulin Rouge! * Natural Born Killers * JFK (Director's Cut) * Salvador * Rain Man * The Ruling Class * Who Framed Roger Rabbit? * Sounder * Miller's Crossing * Easy Rider * Blow * Do the Right Thing * One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest * Parallax View * Serpico * Patton * Glory * Apocalypse Now * Godfather I and II * Moonstruck * The Last Waltz * Before Sunrise * Before Sunset * Dazed and Confused * The Last Emperor * No Way Out * Coming Home * Being There * 9-1/2 Weeks * Reds * All the President's Men * The Purple Rose of Cairo * Midnight Run * Radio Days * Z * Little Buddha * Kundun ----- And that's all I can think of right now but if I were home I could check out my DVD collection and come up with other favorites no doubt. I love movies.

[djs111]

Oh, Lotus, that concert sounded wonderful, hopefully there will be film or , uh, Lack?

I can just hear him singing Famous Blue Raincoat, and I love Who By Fire....and all the rest!!!!!!!

Thanks for that link!!!!!!!!

My favorite Titanic movie is the one with Clifton Webb.

And I love the Colin Firth P&P bestest, but the newer one is a close second.

I am thinking I don't really categorise what I like in a genre fashion, that is too limiting!

Besides that leads to people shouting at me and insisting I don't like Josh Groban because I am loyal to Clay, which is ridiculous on quite a few levels.

Returning to the movie theme, I saw the movie M*A*S*H on opening day back in 1970 (?) without foreknowledge or any idea whatsoever as to the cast (all unknowns to me), the director (a genius in the making) or the plot -- the definitive black comedy IMO. Sutherland, Gould, Duvall, Skerritt, and the incredible Sally Kellerman (as the one and only Hot Lips Houlihan in my universe) blew me away. It was different from anything I'd ever seen on the screen before. About two or three weeks later, I was in Hermann Park Zoo and ran across Sally Kellerman being directed by Robert Altman in a scene from Brewster McCloud -- a truly bizarro film. Then came McCabe and Mrs. Miller -- one the best movies ever.

The first time I saw Mash, I was visiting friends in Lincoln, Nebraska. My then-husband and I loved it so much we drove back to Bloomington Illinois the next day and saw it two more times, so we could be sure we caught all the chatter.

I have never really gotten into the TV version.

And Yep!!!!! about McCabe and Mrs. Miller - and a soundtrack by Leonard Cohen to boot!

[Penny]

oh.my.God!!!!

I would DIE and GO TO HEAVEN if Clay would do Phantom of the Opera!! See, I floved it--

I love Michael Crawford!!

and I think I'd lose it to hear Clay sing "Music Of The Night".

I guess I'm in the minority here...as a Phantom Phan...

[merrieeee]

Hee Phantom phan is phunny!

Not a lover of POTO but I love Michael Crawford. I saw him in NY in 1986 and he was great! For the life of me I cannot remember the name of the musical.