Wednesday, March 23, 2011

'Tell mama, tell mama all...'


Those five words were uttered by Elizabeth Taylor in George Stevens', 'A Place in the Sun.' It was a passionate scene; an anguished Montgomery Clift and Taylor on a balcony with the camera angled and hovering over Clift's shoulder peering in at Taylor as she spoke those lines...almost choking me on my popcorn as I sat in a theater watching retro classics. Elizabeth Taylor absolutely radiated beauty in that film. She was the stuff of manly dreams, and of mine too. Long before that, I fell in love with Elizabeth Taylor. It was 'Lassie come Home,' and 'National Velvet' on the black and white tele that did me in. Movie mags said she had violet eyes. How on earth does anyone get procreated with violet eyes? And there was something ethereal about her voice. She never lost that tone; if you saw her in movies made in the 40's and heard her voice late in the 80's, you know what I mean...there was a lilt that stayed profoundly the same. Creation or victim of the tinsel town industry, Elizabeth Taylor's personal life made for sensational media tabloid headlines. Petite, cursed with health issues, she became Hollywood's royal; and she collected jewels (and husbands) as if she were collecting marbles for a throw down. A dear friend to Roddy Mcdowall, Mongomery Clift and Rock Hudson, Taylor became the first actor/celebrity to publicly speak up and raise millions for Aids. In 1994, she won the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian award from the Academy of Motion picture Arts and Sciences. Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor...1932-2011.

Monday, March 14, 2011

March Madness


1. Had an unbelievably turbulent flight to the islands a couple of weeks ago. 3 of the 5 1/2 hours were spent huckabucking through the atmosphere as the plane was tossed around like a tin can being kicked down the street. Did I start moving my lips in prayer? No, but as the minutes turned to hours I began to mentally list all of the things I had put off and wished I had done before I f**king sat down in seat 27B. Stressed and craving a cigarette (passengers were tossing back mini bottles of booze like it was going to be their last drink on the face of the planet), I tried to watch the in-flight movie, 'Secretariat.' Which was good, but concentration was at a premium. When we landed in Honolulu, it was overcast and storm clouds filled the horizon. But who cared? It was a relief to be on land again, even if it was an island.

2. I arrived back in Cali, on the day of the 8.9 quake in Japan. I thought of all the Japanese tourists who love to visit Hawaii and who were now stranded indefinitely away from their loved ones. My flight was one of the last to leave the islands. While I was unpacking that night, my brother called to tell me they were on tsunami alert. A friend's son in Osaka is making an early exit back to state side; this is catastrophic devastation on many many levels.

3. California has 2 nuclear power plants: one in San Luis Obispo, and the other in San Onofre.
California is also the mother lode of fault lines. Deep food for thought.

4. Who in the USA is working today? How many workers across the nation called in 'sick?' Because of the added pressure of 4 play-in games (greedy bastards) which start Tuesday, everyone is scrambling to complete brackets without the luxury of 4 days to info surf. If you, bosshog, think that your employee is deep into the analytics of the state budget, think again. Seed numbers and match ups, yes! Sweet 16, and Final Four possibilities. Uh-huh. Under dogs and chokers (Pitt). When all the crying (there's a ton of crying in the tournament) stops, standing all alone at center court, ready to cut down the nets on April 4th...the Rock Chalk Jayhawks, Kansas, who can make amends for the Northern Iowa debacle last year. Big East? And Big 10? Over rated.