Nobody Put These Two in a Corner

Mourning the deaths of two great leading men today...

First, Patrick Swayze (this is a favorite photo of him):

Then I saw this photo taken of him days ago out in L.A. with his wife, and it was very painful to look at. Look if you dare, it is very sobering. Pancreatic cancer sure took its toll on him. He was 57, same age as The Hubster.

I guess everyone has a favorite movie of Swayze's. I liked most everything he did, even the often-panned Grandview, USA he starred in with Jamie Leigh Curtis. Then there was the other movie of his considered a bomb: Red Dawn. I liked that movie a lot...Wolverines! It made a big impression on me at 28 in 1984, because even though I had been in my share of bomb shelter fire drills under my desk as a schoolkid, I'd never before really thought about what it would be like to be invaded by an enemy. Red Dawn brought that home to me.

So, the next year when he played Orry Main in the TV mini-series North and South, I was in looooooovvvvvve. OMGawd. For me, it was Nick Nolte's Tom in Rich Man, Poor Man in the 70's and Swayze's Orry in the 80's that defined awesomeness for a television mini-series. He was perfect in that role and America began to take notice.

Then came Dirty Dancing. Nothing I can say that hasn't been said, except that he made Jennifer Gray sexy. No small task, as she was Jewish cute at best. When Ghost came out in 1990, he was set as a major star, and he made Demi Moore sexy-sensual, not just sexy-cute like she was in St. Elmo's Fire. He also played a great straight-guy to Whoopi's Oscar-winning role. Suffice it to say he made both his leading ladies classy in his presence.

After Ghost, he battled addictions and rehab, but managed to hang in there and give us two more of his best performances: as the awesome, awesome, awesome, did-I-say-awesome surfer-bank robber Bodhi in the ultimate xtreme sport action movie Point Break (with an also awesome Keanu Reeves in his first big break role). For those of you who have never seen this movie, I feel sorry for you. The photo above is Swayze as Bodhi. Here's another:

Oh, man. Hubba hubba and great acting, too. Plus, check it out: Swayze was the better surfer of the two, despite being 12 years older. Yes, they did their own stunts. Ya just gotta rent it if you haven't seen it.

The other great performance was as the sweet and graceful drag queen Vida in To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar. Wow, what an amazing cast in that movie, and several of them were standouts. Still, Vida tends to be everyone's favorite. Even Roger Ebert's, who remarked that Swayze made a pretty nice looking woman. What do you think?

Swayze, a Houston native who graduated high school with actress Shelley Duvall, was in my opinion a pretty good actor when given decent material who put 200% into every role he played and made several less than decent roles presentable. I believe that he was vastly underrated because of his chick-flick roles, much like a beautiful woman is never believed to be a brain. Those of us who liked him, however, know the truth of his talent.

We also lost actor and Broadway star Harve Presnell this week. Younger fans will know him as the SOB father-in-law in Fargo, or Mr. Brooks in Dawson's Creek. But those of us who grew up watching the color musicals of the 50's and 60's will remember Presnell as Debbie Reynolds' husband Johnny in The Unsinkable Molly Brown movie (as well as on Broadway opposite Tammy Grimes), and in one of my favorite movie musicals, Paint Your Wagon, he sings the song They Call the Wind Mariah (as in Carey, and I betcha $10 bucks that's where her mom got her name from...just went to check and I am correct...yes!). 

Presnell then starred as Daddy Warbucks in Annie on Broadway and in between Fargo and Dawson's Creek, he appeared in the movies Saving Private Ryan, The Legend of Bagger Vance,  Flags of Our Fathers, Face/Off, Patch Adams and Old School. He was 75.

I remember when I first saw Presnell sing Mariah in Paint Your Wagon. I was awed by his rich baritone voice, but I was stubborn in my insistence that was Howard Keel. In fact, the two actors looked like brothers. Here's Keel young and old:

Not only did Harve and Howard look alike, their singing voices were alike, too. Both were rich, deep baritones. I had known Keel from movie musicals like Annie Get Your Gun, Show Boat, Calamity Jane, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and Kiss Me Kate. Later on, he was Miss Ellie's 2nd husband on TV's Dallas.
But I digress. We are here to remember Harve, not Howard. I think it is a compliment to mistake Harve for Howard; that is how good Presnell was in musicals and then later on as a straight dramatic actor. Both Presnell and Swayze did their vocation justice and had many fans worldwide. They both loved to work and were complete professionals at it. Their deaths are our loss. God speed, gentlemen. May you sing and dance all you want to now.

More than it seems

I'm sitting here watching High Noon for about the 40th time. Listening to the opening theme song, sung by John Ritter's daddy, Tex Ritter. Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darlin, he croons lazily, in a voice that sounds eerily just like Robert Mitchum's.




I'm shamelessly getting my Man-Hunk fix on Marshall Will Kane, aka Mr. Gary Cooper, who, at a weary age 50 in the movie, with a beat-up body full of hip, back and stomach ulcer pain, still managed to be man enough for Grace Kelly's Amy and give an absolutely hypnotizing and sympathetic performance that won him a second Oscar for Best Actor in 1952. Sadly, he would not live another decade. (The above photo is Cooper in his twenties at the start of his career, and is my current favorite photo of him. Below, is a still from the movie.)



The plot: On the day he gets married and hangs up his badge, lawman Will Kane is told that a man he sent to prison years before, Frank Miller, is returning on the noon train to exact his revenge. Having initially decided to leave with his new Quaker wife, Amy, Will decides he must go back and face Miller. However, when he seeks the help of the townspeople he has protected for so long, they turn their backs on him. It seems Kane may have to face Miller alone, as well as the rest of Miller's gang, who are waiting for him at the station...



Every time I watch High Noon, and truthfully I've seen it about a dozen times, I willingly forget that I know the outcome and sit riveted for every minute of it. I scream at Amy for most of it, until she comes around and stands by her man. I writhe in disgust at how the townspeople treat their hero and protector. It's a hard movie to watch if you're into its premise.



Along the way I enjoy every drop of the wonderful supporting performance given by the great Mexican actress Katy Jurado. She literally drips sex appeal, but it is through her that Amy finds her own truth, and it is through Jurado's gorgeous almond-shaped eyes that we see what is really important to know.



You may watch it and think, okay, it's a good western and filmed in real time. But what's all the big deal? The big deal is, it's more than a western, it's an allegory for (the then) current times.



High Noon was released in 1952 at the height of the Red Scare and McCarthy Congressional hearings. According the screenwriter who was blacklisted after writing it and before it was filmed, he meant to draw parallels between Will Kane and those who were blacklisted, whose friends disappeared when they were needed most, who feared standing up because they might lose what they had. I do not know how proveable this is or if I even believe it, but aside from being a fabulous classic, it also holds a certain status in the folklore of Tinsel Town.




Regular readers of this blog will know that if women get hard-ons, Cooper -- at any age -- gives me one every time I look into his eyes. And, Heaven help me if he smiles. (Below, Coop with the one and only Shirley Temple.)

Oops, I let 10 days go by

...without posting. Sorry. I've just been doing boring old everyday things: chores, rearranging, a lot of drawing out furniture plans for 4 rooms (I'm redoing one room that impacts 3 others), made some art, did a bunch of laundry, cooked some meals, mailed off some RAK goodies, did some online shopping. Just regular boring stuff.

One thing I've also been doing a lot of is watching old movies on Turner Classic channel. The other day I spent all day watching Robert Montgomery movies and had such a pleasant day. He was one of those actors from the 1930s thru the 1950s who was a master of intelligent and chic light comedy. These are some photos of him:
In his younger days ---

With Carole Lombard in Mr. & Mrs. Smith, 1941 (a firmly established movie star) --

In his later years before retiring, 1950s --


His daughter was Elizabeth Montgomery, who was Samantha on Bewitched. Her first gig was on his very popular tv show in the 1950s.

My favorite Robert Montgomery performance is in the film adaptation of the Noel Coward play, Private Lives. The fact that he is romantically partnered with my favorite actress, Norma Shearer, is a big part of it, but also because he is in all his debonair and witty glory in this kind of vehicle. A very attractive man, too. Those eyes were unlike any on a man, next to my favorite actor's eyes (Gary Cooper).

Another fun time was had catching up on all the episodes of The Girls Next Door that I taped to watch. LOVED the episode where Hef shares his more than 2,000 scrapbooks with the Kendra, Holly and Bridget. The crazy thing is that in his earlier scrapbooks before he was famous, he ART JOURNALED in them, mostly cartoons he would draw and dialogue about a guy who created a tasteful magazine for men about women. Too dang funny.

A few days ago, we finally got Missy's old car out of our driveway and into my brother's driveway. My nephews were thrilled to get the vehicle and were already making plans to change the sound system. I'm really glad we gave them the car.

Well, as soon as I can think of some more boring stuff to blog, I'll be back! winkwink

keepin' up with the corleones

Yup, got sucked into watching Part I tonite on AMC. To be honest, doesn't take much suction at all to draw me in. Parts I and II are in my Top Ten of All Time Favorite Movies. Pressure me and I'll even add Part III to the list, even though it is my least favorite of the trilogy. (Actually, I cheat and list the Trilogy as one slot on my list...too many movies, too few slots.)

The thing about the Godfather that sucks me in is the intensity of the details: of mafia life, of family life, and the details of the awful transition of Michael Corleone from a likeable innocent into a driven monster. Frankly, by Part III, I'm rooting for someone to do him in. Alas, nature takes its course and makes it anti-climactic for me. Michael, as does his father, goes out with a whimper, not a bang.



I was reading Internet Movie Database (again - it's like Trivial Pursuit Solitaire for me), and somehow I ended up on Spencer Tracy's biography. There I read the most interesting thing about his long time lover, Katherine Hepburn. She purposefully never saw Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, because it was Tracy's last movie (he died just 17 days later) and she feared it would just be too hard on her because she would want to watch it with him.

This alone would be one of those stories only told in Hollywood, but it gets even more amazing when you realize that Hepburn won the Best Actress Oscar for that performance! Wrap your head around that for a minute. Could you, or anyone else you know, have won THE award in your profession and not watch the movie and your winning performance? That's gotta be a first and last. I highly doubt Bette Davis would ever be able to resist. And just forget today's actors.

But then, this was a woman who never had a mirror in her home because she thought it vain and silly to gawk at oneself.

I also learned a few juicy tidbits about Loretta Young, who had a TV show when I was a child where she was a mercurial domestic goddess, the kind you could almost believe was still a virgin, just a married one...with children.



That was an image she carefully cultivated later on in her career and life, becoming a daily Roman Catholic communicant. But when she was younger she was apparently quite the risk-taker. I had known for a while that she'd had a torrid affair with Clark Gable on the set of Call of the Wild in 1934, became pregnant, went off in secret to have his child and then kept the paternity a public secret for a good many years.




Now, check this out. At the time, Loretta was single and unmarried, Gable was married - to someone else. Both were Catholic and both had clauses in their movie contracts that forbid scandal. Loretta kept their daughter in an orphanage for 2 years, then "adopted" her. So, the daughter, Judy, lived her entire childhood in the home of her real mother thinking she was her adopted mother, and never knowing who her real father was, although most of Hollywood knew, including her classmates. Many of them knew just by looking at the girl. She eventually found out about Gable when her fiance told her on the eve of her wedding.

This all makes my head spin. Unbelievable! But, maybe totally believable...my Catholic mother-in-law can convince herself of almost anything.

Spring in My Step...

Golly Geebers, I needed a good day today and so far I've been blessed. Today has been wonderfully Springy down here: 70's, partly sunny, not too much wind. The hum of lawn mowers and trimmers has been constant. Usually I abhor that, but I cannot be mad at anything today.

Sorry I've been so long between posts, but this past week has been a bad one for me healthwise. Last week was my intravenous therapy week for my arthritii, and I always feel like warmed over crap for about 7-10 days afterwards. I have night sweats, the runs, and I am sick to my stomach more often than not. It is in fact a bit like chemotherapy, except thank goodness no hair loss. It's all about forcing toxins and bad stuff out. I really ought to be feeling poorly, but on the Spring Equinox with cooperative weather, how can I feel other than great? Mind over matter for one day! winkwink

Today I took good care of our Reggie Dog. It had been 1 month and 10 days since his last bath, I am ashamed to say. So, I corrected that. Then, I washed and dried his dog bed, his blanket and the curtain covering his dog house door. (He lives right outside our back door on the covered porta cache, in a Little Tykes Playhouse, with a space heater inside, and it would have a window unit air conditioner if it were up to me, winkwink.)

While his bedding was in the wash, Reggie got to spend the afternoon on top of a soft cushiony blanket and watch Animal Planet. Hubster came home from work and Reggie got to go sit with him and watch TV a little longer. Then, we all went outside and helped Hubs shop-vac the inside of the doghouse. I picked up and threw out all of the remnants of steak bones that were hidden in corners, along with some nasty little stuffed animals that were beyond saving.

King Reginald's castle is once again clean and refreshed. I've made a promise to give him a bath every Saturday and to wash his bedding. He's such a sweet obedient doxie and loves his baths and his clean digs. I know 2009 is officially the year of the ox according to the Chinese, but around here it might just be the year of the dog. winkwink

Malto-Meal Morning

Every once in a while, I splurge. Kinda like people who never quit wanting their breakfast to be Cocoa Puffs every day.

I never got to eat Malto-Meal growing up, though. Hubs neither. Both of us were in families where foods like that and Tang and frozen veggies and tv dinners were extravagances. So we indulge our childhood dreams in this small and enjoyable way.

Well, Spring is sputtering awake around my parts. The weather has been much like Dickens described, "It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer
in the light, and winter in the shade."

All week it's been sunny at times during the day, then cloudy and blustery. No rain, though. We are down 7 inches on the year so far, which is a lot. I just don't remember such a display of seasonal change as in the last year. It's a welcome change.

I finally have a working car now! A birthday present of sorts from the Hubster...getting it fixed, that is. He took off a couple of days last week and got it repaired. The right rear wheel bearings had to be replaced. But then it got sort of ridiculous. There's a diagnostic light that is supposed to come on when there's engine trouble, but as the car aged it came on when the gas cap wasn't on there just exactly like it liked. (My Honda has the same light, and personally I think it's a sneaky way to make you have to take it in to the dealer for maintenance, if you ask me.)

Anyway, the Focus light was on and Hubs took it down to the auto parts store to get it turned off. But he had to then drive it for 40-50 miles in order to let it re-diagnosis all the different things it monitors and a-okay them. Only then would it pass inspection.

For almost 2 days, Hubs drove the Focus around and around, until Saturday it finally was ready to get inspected. Thankfully, it passed or I'd probably still be car-less.

Took it out for the first time yesterday to run some quick errands. It has just over 48,000 miles and I realized that if I drive it slowly I'll enjoy it. That is the key. Otherwise, I'm going to expect it to be as powerful and responsive as the Honda, and that ain't gonna happen. Missy always mentions how powerful the Honda makes her feel when she's driving, and the engine is quick and strong. It could easily be like crack to Missy, who never met a speed limit she obeyed. winkwink

I'm ashamed to say I've gained back those 5 pounds from the holidays. I suspect it was/is the Valentines chocolate, of course. I emailed the nutritionist and she was like, no worries. Immediately begin drinking green tea, cutting out all butter, and get more exercise in. I really can't argue with that.

The last few days have been high on pain for me. I've been trying to get all my sleep, too. And since I'm now doused in drowse, I'll seeya next time!

what's doin'

There's been some chilly nights down here lately. We've been having a few days of nasty uber-humidity and then a cool front blows through to dry things out slightly before the cycle repeats.

That means pain for me...when it's humid, pain all over. Pain after sleeping no matter the position. Even tried one night in the recliner and that used to never make me hurt. It's just to be suffered. When it's cold, I get a little relief but I also tend to feel the cold more and I'm a shaker. winkwink

Lots of concern down here over border events, too. People are on edge about it. It was recently reported that the Feds find around a dozen Middle Easterners a month illegally crossing the border. They just don't publicize it. Knowing this has somehow woke us up down here a little and we are concerned about the recent confrontations, on the border too. On top of everything else to feel insecure about right now, adding fear of invasion is not welcome. Not to mention that it was also reported that Houston is like the top Al Queda hit spot now. That's just great. Seriously.

I did my annual thing tonight and watched the Academy Awards. Didn't see any of the movies, but it did inspire me to share my 3 top actors and 3 top actresses of all time (this week):

Actors:
1. William Powell
2. Dick Powell
3. Gary Cooper

Actresses:
1. Norma Shearer
2. Lana Turner
3. Ingrid Bergman

Well, sleep calls. Time to go cause some more pain. winkwink

Sunday Confessional

http://www.myheritage.com/collage

Visited Drea's blog by way of Mackey's and finally succumbed to that dang celebrity look-alike quiz.
ROFL, gotta say that, while I am still a bit jealous of Drea for getting Hillary as one of her look-alikes, I'm more than happy with mine.
Attention Diane, Marcia, Katherine and Kimberly: look closely, my face is in the mirror of your futures!
Get thee to the plastic surgeon, chicas, now!

It's past time for a Fitness Update from me, I know. I've sort of let things go, although I have tried to get in a minimum step count every day, and I've also recorded my steps. I've tried to take my meds and eat and drink my Daily Musts, although these have suffered a bit due to my current sleep problems. Intake is best when a schedule is followed, right?

To refresh the memory, I was going to take a bit of a break on conscious weight losing and just let my body find my current weight as its new set point. (I think that was about a week to 10 days ago.) And on that, I believe I've succeeded. Although I haven't lost any more pounds, I have stayed the same weight since beginning my break. And believe me, there have been a few times I could have (should have) gained a bit. Since that eating behavior is what tests the set point, this is a good thing, especially since I have not gained.

But, I've let my water intake decrease. I've also not drunk my green tea or eaten my yogurt every single day. Now, to my mind, I maybe could have lost a tiny bit had I just kept those two things up, ya know?

So, I'm beginning a renewed commitment to my Daily Musts today, and I'm adding the list to my sidebar in hopes of that being a motivator for me. To repeat, this list may seem like it's lightweight, but for me these little things make a big difference in my health and how I feel. And, isn't the difference usually in the details? Isn't it always the little things that count the most in the end? For me, yeppers.



I also said I was going to stop my art making through the end of October, which I have. I was going to start going through all the accumulated piles of crap in the public areas of my house and put/clean/throw away. And I've been working on it! I was also going to tie up my loose work ends and print/package/deliver/mail my last group of tax returns, and on that goal I have not done well. Therefore, my focus this coming week will be on that, and then back to the general cleaning.

Sounds like a good plan for me... What are your goals this week?

Whatever your goals, I hope you accomplish them. Here's to great upcoming week for us all!