A human life is a story told by God. ~Hans Christian Andersen

JUNE 25th 2009

Like everyone today, I was shocked to hear the news of the death of Michael Jackson. I was shopping for some scrubs for work when Sean called and said he heard it on the car radio ..I thought he was joking..I had just heard about the passing of Farrah Fawcett and this was just a little unreal. Life does turn on a dime and we should live every moment with love, laughter and joy..
When I think of Michael's passing it reminds me a lot of the passing of Diana and Elvis because I think his funeral will be massive, maybe even more dramatic .
I enjoyed his music, he was a great entertainer and had a surreal short life. He leaves 3 young children and a grieving family. Whether you are famous or not, that is sad.
Two entertainment icons died today and it is a date to remember, so I will in print.
May they both rest now, in the loving arms of God.

Michael Jackson, pop music legend, dead at 50 - CNN.com
Actress Farrah Fawcett Dead at 62 - Celebrity Gossip Entertainment News Arts And Entertainment - FOXNews.com


People do not die for us immediately, but remain bathed in a sort of aura of life which bears no relation to true immortality but through which they continue to occupy our thoughts in the same way as when they were alive. It is as though they were traveling abroad. ~Marcel Proust

Go ahead "make your day" with Gran Torino

I watched Clint Eastwood's 'Gran Torino' last night ( Gran Torino ) and I was blown away by his brilliant performance.

Eastwood plays an elderly World War 2 vet named Walt that is haunted by pain, guilt and loneliness. He lives in an area of town that is surrounded by gangs, both Mexican and Korean and he just about hates anyone that isn't American or white. Actually he even dislikes members of his own family , and tends to growl at them. His distaste for people and his expressions were both appalling and made me laugh out loud! Walt is not a likable character. He is downright mean, rude and very prejudice. If you are offended with racial slurs, this movie is extreme, so go into it expecting to be offended, it is his character, and the audience isn't suppose to like him. That's good writing and good acting!

The movie opens up with the funeral of his wife. As Walt stands at the alter of the church he watches his family come into the church and snarls at them and then snarls at the priest. You know then that this grumpy old man has quite a story to tell.

Living next to a Korean family doesn't sit well with Walt and he does a lot of growling their way until an altercation erupts on his front lawn with one of the gangs. Armed with a rifle, he stops the violence with his signature "make my day" bad ass attitude. Walt suddenly becomes the Korean neighborhood hero, a reluctant one at that. It is a mixed blessing because he doesn't even like the people he rescued, they were just on his manicured lawn.

From this point you begin to see a different side of Walt. He starts to open his heart in his own surly, sarcastic and prejudicative way. His demeaning slang can be shocking to hear at times, but it works in this movie so superbly. As the events take place, and the drama of the story unfolds you find that your own dislike for this man start to fade. You begin to understand him, forgive him and actually like him.

In the end Walt looks for redemption and peace and finds it in an unexpected act of self sacrifice.
There are great moments in this movie. There is laughter and shock, deep messages and insight. I really enjoyed the interactions between Walt and the Korean girl next door. She understands Walt and humbly accepts his degrading insults with maturity and humor.

Its rated R for hard core language and moderate violence. I so enjoyed this movie because you come full circle with your emotions. Why is it called Grand Torino? I don't want to get to detailed with the plot for you, just rent it, find out and enjoy, or even growl...."go ahead ,make your day"

MTV Movie Awards

I was channel surfing last night and happened across the degrading, and horrifying MTV Movie Awards. I have always thought that the MTV music awards were bad enough but this award show was the lowest of the low. It was "anything goes" and the presenters, winner's and entertainer's made sure to 'out do' one another with tasteless and obscene humor, F bombs, sexual overtones and gross in your face obscenities(Sacha Baron Cohen, among others) It is no surprise how I feel about award shows (see my older posts) but this one should have been rated and the producer's handed a huge fine.

The movies and actors that were awarded were basically Young Hollywood. I felt embarrassed for them as this young crowd was bombarded by low class toilet humor by their adult peers. I felt a huge disrespect from many actors that I do or did admire . It was almost ridiculous to hear Miley Cyrus thank God in her acceptance speech, I literally cringed! "Oh pleeeease don't even bring God in here, somebody might turn to a pillar of salt!" No disrespect on Miley, her heart was right, but the atmosphere was so anti God that it was completely out of place. As a mother I felt like I wanted to grab everyone of those young impressionable 'kids' and yank them out of there, then ground them for a week and scold the adults!

The online news this morning talks about the "silliness" of the show. Silliness? I would surely use another descriptive word besides silliness. Vulgar, obscene, tasteless, repulsive, but silly? not even close. I wonder how anything good can come out of Hollywood with disgust like this in the face of young talent. They don't have a chance unless they can hold on to some strong ethics and have some kind of moral code. OMG!! I forgot , silly me..Hollywood and moral code in the same breath? What WAS I thinking!! My bad!! click....