Tag Archives: films

Tippi Hedren: The Birds-Marnie-Hitchcock-Activism

Tippi Hedren: The Birds-Marnie-Hitchcock-Activism
By Jennifer Kiley
Written 11.13.12
Reworked May 11th 2013
Posted May 12th 2013

sean connery as mark kissing tippi hedren as marnie

Watched “Marnie” on Saturday for the more than 100th time. It inspired me to pull out this post I starting writing just after I saw made for TV film “The Girl,” about the relationship between Tippi Hedren and Alfred Hitchcock while they made the films “The Birds” and “Marnie.”

Read on and discover Tippi Hedren and if you have never seen the films she made with Hitchcock, I would highly recommend that you either find them on DVD or Blu-Ray or find a site that streams them. They are both fantastic films that will grab a hold of your attention until the last reel finishes rolling. Jk the SK

Sienna Miller plays Tippi Hedren in HBO’s ‘The Girl’
A response to a comment made on my post: “Alfred Hitchcock: Man or Beast.”
Mr. Hitchcock had an obsession with Tippi Hedren and pursued her endlessly and she rebuffed him. He retaliated by the cruelty he showed in his treatment of her during the shooting of the the films “The Birds” and “Marnie.” In “The Birds,” he taped over and over the birds attacking her in the scene in the phone booth, where he even has a fake bird come crashing through the phone booth’s glass walls, purposefully to terrorize. Her nerves were shot already. This just caused her to be further traumatized. Then to add to this, the scene where Tippi’s character is caught up against the door of a room in the house which the birds have surrounded, she has this scene shot over and over for hours as the birds literally attack her, causing her injuries and to bleed. He refused to yell “cut.”During the filming of “Marnie,” all along still pursuing her sexually and he felt romantically to her rejection and threatening her when she says that she is going to quit, by telling her he will ruin her in the film industry. He traumatizes her during several of the sexually questionable scenes.

Reputations: Alfred Hitchcock (Episode 2 Hitch: Alfred The Auteur)
Her character in “Marnie” witnesses something traumatizing when she is a child but it is buried. She becomes a kleptomaniac and hates the touch of any man. Sean Connery plays the male lead who finds her character out and convinces her it would be the best thing for her if she marry him.

mark and marnie at recetrack

Of course, this eventually leads to a scene where he cannot hold back any longer from wanting to be sexual with his wife.

This scene Hitchcock plays to the creep in himself and the scene ends up appearing real, if it is not so, that Sean Connery’s character drops her robe to the floor and she is naked. He then forces himself on her. Which, of course, by the next morning, he finds her floating in the ship’s pool face down.

marnie movie poster

The sex scene is created in such a way that leads you to see Hitchcock as a voyeuristic creep who relishes every moment that Tippi Hedren is suffering while doing the scene. Added to the scene is that Hitchcock takes his time before he says “cut” long after it should have been said.

marnie dinner party

This makes me so angry that he treated Tippi in such a manner. He throws himself on her while they are in the limo just before the premiere of “The Birds.” It was quite clear from the start that Tippi Hedren was not interested in Hitchcock in this manner and he kept forcing himself on her and everyone could see it happening including his wife but would do nothing to stop him. He was too powerful.

marnie changing hair colour

I am a fan of Tippi Hedren’s for her portrait of the character of Marnie. I felt a connection with her from the first time I watched this film as a kid. It always captures me. It is a traumatic experience but a release and satisfaction comes from the ending.

I, also, respect Ms. Hedren for her work with animals, wild and tame. This furthers my respect for her. Her advocacy for the humane treatment of animals. My strongest of causes.

I have loved animals for my entire life and could not live without them as companions and in their existence on Earth in the wild preferred but in man made habitats that are humanely structured.

melanie griffith with mom tippi hedren

Her daughter Melanie Griffith stated of the film “Hitchcock,” that she hoped they portrayed him accurately, as the motherfucker that he was.

Alfred Hitchcock’s Marnie with Tippi Hedren and Sean Connery
You see why he has lost a great deal of any honour or good feelings that I had for him. He was well known for not having respect for actors and also known for his casting of blonds. I told my partner while watching “The Girl” that he better not have treated Julie Andrews like that when they made “Torn Curtain.”

marnie-tippi with hitchcock

If he tried I am sure that Paul Newman would have punched him out. Paul Newman said of Julie: “That she is the last of the great broads.” Not offensive in the manner to which I am sure he meant it. Jk the secret keeper

The following is a brief biography of Tippi Hedren and hopefully some trailers from her films “The Birds” and “Marnie” for which I felt she should have been honoured by the Academy with no less than an Oscar Nomination. She was brilliant in playing the character of Marnie.

marnie mark trying to kiss her

An excellent performance that I have watched over and over again. My film collection would, of course, have “Marnie” amongst all the other remarkable films made over the years. I am an obsessive cinephile who appreciates films from any era or language.

Marnie — Trailer

Sean Connery and Tippi Hedren—the Kiss in Marnie Marnie — Trailer

Tippi Hedren talks about the kiss scene from Marnie Marnie — Trailer
Date and Place of Birth
19 January 1930
New Ulm, Minnesota, USA

Birth Name
Nathalie Kay Hedren

Height
5′ 5″ (1.65 m)
Biography:

From working for (Best Director) Alfred Hitchcock, to a movie written by (Worst Director) Edward D. Wood Jr., Tippi Hedren, the Minnesota girl of Scandinavian descent, has had a distinctive career. She moved to New York City in 1950 and worked as a fashion model for the next eleven years. In 1952, at age 22, she married 18-year-old Peter Griffith (divorced in 1961). She gave birth to her only child, future star Melanie Griffith, on August 9, 1957.

Alfred Hitchcock discovered Tippi, the pretty cover girl, while viewing a 1962 TV commercial on NBC’s “Today” (1952). He put her under personal contract and cast her in The Birds (1963). pet shop in “the birds” rod taylor and tippi hedren
In a cover article about the movie in Look magazine (Dec. 4, 1962), Hitchcock praised her; he also told the Associated Press: “Tippi Hedren is really remarkable. She’s already reaching the lows and highs of terror”.

the birds rod taylor jessica tandy tippi hedren

Her next film was the title role in Hitchcock’s masterpiece Marnie (1964) with Sean Connery, and she gave the performance of her life.

Though it took years before she won well-deserved admiration for her work, the film is now widely considered a classic. The professional relationship with Hitchcock ended with mutual bitterness and disappointment during the filming of Marnie.

marnie with gun

Movie Legend — Tippi Hedren
That year, she married her then-agent, Noel Marshall (divorced in 1982). She had a cameo in Charles Chaplin’s final film A Countess from Hong Kong (1967), which flopped. Thereafter, Tippi and her husband Marshall collected big cats and other wildlife for the film Roar (1981), which they starred in and produced. The film took 11 years and $17 million to make, but it only made $2 million worldwide. Nevertheless, the film was a turning point in her life; she became actively involved in animal rights, as well as a wide variety of humanitarian and environmental causes. She married her third husband, businessman Luis Barrenecha, in 1985 but divorced him 10 years later. In 2002, she married her fourth husband, veterinarian Martin Dinnes.

Tippi has devoted much time and effort to charitable causes: she is a volunteer International Relief Coordinator for “Food for the Hungry”. She has traveled worldwide to set up relief programs following earthquakes, hurricanes, famine and war, and has received numerous awards for her efforts, including the “Humanitarian Award” presented to her by the Baha’i Faith. As for animal causes, she is founder and President of “The Roar Foundation”. Onscreen, she continues to work frequently in films, theater and TV. She appeared in I Woke Up Early the Day I Died (1998), finally bringing to the big screen the last screenplay written by the late Edward D. Wood Jr. in 1974 (and featuring Wood regulars Vampira and Conrad Brooks, just about the only surviving members of Wood’s stock company).

She also enjoyed playing comedic roles, such as an abortion rights activist in Alexander Payne’s satire Citizen Ruth (1996) and slapping Jude Law in I Heart Huckabees (2004). She was also a cast member of the night-time soap opera “Fashion House” (2006). Tippi’s contributions to world cinema have been honored with Life Achievement awards in France at The Beauvais Film Festival Cinemalia 1994; in Spain, by The Fundacion Municipal De Cine in 1995; and at the Riverside International Film Festival in 2007. In 1999, Tippi was honored as “Woman of Vision” by Women in Film and Video in Washington, D.C., and received the Presidential Medal for her work in film from Hofstra University. She enjoys spending time with her daughter, Melanie Griffith, son-in-law Antonio Banderas, and grandchildren Alexander Bauer, Dakota Johnson, and Stella Banderas. Biography By: kdhaisch@aol.com
Spouse:
Martin Dinnes
(2002 – present)

Luis Barrenecha
(1985 – 1995) (divorced)

Noel Marshall
(27 September 1964 – 1982) (divorced)

Peter Griffith
(1952 – 1961) (divorced) 1 child (Melanie Griffith)
Trade Mark:

Platinum blonde hair
Sparkling green eyes
Voluptuous figure
Deep sultry voice

Tippi Hedren on relationship with Hitchcock

Trivia:

At the end of shooting Mister Kingstreet’s War (1973), she discovered that the big cats used in the production had no place to go and would likely languish in small cages. This prompted her to obtain a parcel of land on her own to establish a home with a natural setting for retired big cats. She named it Shambala and it exists to this day.

Mother of Melanie Griffith.

Presides over The Roar Foundation, an animal preserve outside of Los Angeles.

Director Alfred Hitchcock unsuccessfully pursued a relationship with her during the filming of Marnie (1964).

Is a vegetarian.

She named one of her house cats after Sean Connery, her co-star in Marnie (1964).

Lobbying for passage of Shambala Wild Animal Protection Act.

Participated in panel at University of Illinois on “Hitchcock, Women and Terror”, October 2001.

Her first television commercial was for a cigarette brand in the early 1950s. She learned to smoke for the commercial, because she felt viewers would know if she was faking it. Her smoking habit lasted for 15 years until her daughter, actress Melanie Griffith, then 10 years old, came to her after a school health lecture and begged her to stop.

Received a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7060 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on January 30, 2003.

Alfred Hitchcock saw her in a 1962 commercial aired during the “Today” (1952) show and cast her in The Birds (1963). In the commercial for a diet drink, she is seen walking down a street and a man whistles at her slim, attractive figure, and she turns her head with an acknowledging smile. In the opening scene of The Birds (1963), the same thing happens as she walks toward the bird shop. This was an inside joke by Hitchcock.

Grandmother of Alexander Bauer, Dakota Johnson, and Stella Banderas.

Mother-in-law of Antonio Banderas. Former mother-in-law of Don Johnson and Steven Bauer.

Operates an exotic animal sanctuary which prompted her testimony in February 2005 in Riverside Superior Court. Hedren made a complaint regarding animal cruelty by a tiger rescuer and was told by U.S. Department of Agriculture that there were not enough inspectors to respond to her complaint. She eventually made room for a lion rather than have it go to the rescuer. She stated she felt like she was walking through a trash dump.

Her store owner father, Bernard, was Swedish and her school teacher mother, Dorathea, was German-Norwegian.

Friend of Linda Blair, Rod Taylor and Diane McBain.

Has a sister named Patty Davis.

She met with Alfred Hitchcock and his wife Alma Reville for the final time in London, England, in 1966, while she was filming Charles Chaplin’s last film, A Countess from Hong Kong (1967). They took her to tea at Claridge’s. The atmosphere was tense because she knew Hitchcock was upset that she had been cast in what was expected to be a big film, and he was unable to hide his bitterness.

Camille Paglia on Women and Magic in Hitchcock BFI

Her performance as Melanie Daniels in The Birds (1963) is ranked #86 on Premiere Magazine’s 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time.

British neo-progressive band Landmarq have a song titled “Tippi Hedren” on their 1992 album “Solitary Witness”.

Attended Suzanne Pleshette’s funeral in 2008. They starred together in The Birds (1963).

One of her favorite sweet treats is Marnie’s red velvet cake, which she named after her character from the film of the same name Marnie (1964). She graciously provided the recipe for this three-layer cake to a website called high-societea.com, which specializes in articles on tea and accompanying treats.

Requested director Alfred Hitchcock to give her the fur coat that she wore in The Birds (1963), and he graciously gave it to her but charged it to the production company. Eventually, she stopped wearing fur after she became an animal rights activist.

Found it touching when Sean Connery, her leading man from Marnie (1964), said on television that she was underrated while almost everyone in Hollywood was overrated.

Of all her films, Marnie (1964) continues to be her favorite film, because of the complex title character. This is even more telling, considering all the problems that reportedly took place during the filming, which spelled the end of her professional relationship with the film’s director Alfred Hitchcock, as well as the mixed critical reception and the indifferent box office results upon the film’s release.

In most of her films (and in all of her films before 1982 except Tiger by the Tail (1970), her character’s name starts with an M: Melanie Daniels in The Birds (1963), Marnie in Marnie (1964), Martha Mears in A Countess from Hong Kong (1967), Marla Oaks in Satan’s Harvest (1970), Maggie Kingstreet in Mister Kingstreet’s War (1973), Margaret Tenhausen in The Harrad Experiment (1973), Madelaine in Roar (1981), Marcia Stevens in Inevitable Grace (1994), Maylinda Austed in I Woke Up Early the Day I Died (1998), Martha in The Darklings (1999) (TV), Michelle Labner in Searching for Haizmann (2003), Mary in Dark Wolf (2003) (V), Mary Jane in I Heart Huckabees (2004), and Minnie in Dead Write (2007).

Bridget Fonda, who played her daughter in the straight-to-cable film Break Up (1998), gushed to her about how she had watched Marnie (1964) “a million times”.

She was supposed to play the leads in Bedtime Story (1964) (opposite David Niven and Marlon Brando), Mirage (1965) (opposite Gregory Peck and Walter Matthau), and Fahrenheit 451 (1966) (opposite Oskar Werner), but Hitchcock told the directors and producers that she wasn’t available to work with them. Shirley Jones, Diane Baker, and Julie Christie eventually played the parts she was considered for.

Actress Sienna Miller portrayed her in the cable movie “The Girl” (2012), which dealt with Tippi’s three years with Alfred Hitchcock. She told Miller to portray her as strong, since she rejected Hitchcock’s advances, even though it meant the end of her career as a leading lady. She said she was happy with Miller’s portrayal.(View Video of Sienna Miller talking about playing Tippi Hedren in “The Girl”)

Met President John F. Kennedy once when he was on vacation, as she was, in the South of France. Later, she was driving to her horse-riding lesson in preparation for her role in Marnie (1964), when she learned about the President’s assassination. She said that she was “stunned, and very angry,” that the assassination could have happened.

Is a fan of actor Johnny Depp and named one of her house cats after him. Even though, she hasn’t met him, her son-in-law Antonio Banderas acted with him in Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003), and her grand daughter Dakota Johnson appeared in 21 Jump Street (2012), though not in the same scenes as Depp.Personal Quotes

[on Alfred Hitchcock] To be the object of somebody’s obsession is a really awful feeling when you can’t return it.

[on 3/1/05, when asked which is her favorite of the Alfred Hitchcock films she starred in] I think Marnie (1964). They were both so different that it’s kind of hard to figure out which, but The Birds (1963) was sort of a chase. All of the Hitchcock films have a mystery to them and that sort of thing, but the personality of Marnie was so intriguing. She was really – poor Marnie.

My advice to anyone contemplating acting as a profession is to be independently wealthy or have another vocation as a backup. [Melanie Griffith] and [Antonio Banderas] are well set, but most actors make a pittance.

For years, directors and producers came up to me and said they’d wanted me for a role, but [Alfred Hitchcock] wouldn’t allow it. The worst was when I found out that François Truffaut had wanted to cast me. I’d never heard a word about it. That one hurt.

[on being offered the title role in Marnie (1964) by Alfred Hitchcock] I was stunned. I was amazed that he would offer me this incredible role and that he would have that kind of faith in me . . . I thought Marnie was an extremely interesting role to play and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

[on working with Sean Connery, her leading man in Marnie (1964)] He was just fabulous, a consummate actor with a great sense of humor. He was practicing his golf swing all the time – a rather profound golfer. We honored him on June 8, 2006, at the American Film Institute. They asked me to speak about him, which was great fun. It was one of the most wonderful evenings.

It is interesting because some of the critics who really panned [Marnie (1964)] when it came out see it again and it is like they are reviewing an entirely different movie. I think a lot of it was that all those years ago, people were not aware of how a trauma being inflicted upon a child can affect what happens to them as an adult if it isn’t properly dealt with. I think there were multiple reasons why they didn’t like it. For some reason, the painted backdrops really bothered people forty years ago – that was a big deal for some reason with the critics. I kept thinking “So what, it’s a movie!”

[In 2006, when asked whether she can watch The Birds (1963) and Marnie (1964) and separate herself from the experience of making them] I can do that now and it is quite a relief, actually. I can look at it and think “She did a good job!” There were years where I would see things and wish I could do them over but now I can just watch them.

They called and asked what I thought about a remake of The Birds (1963) and I thought: ‘Why would you do that? Why?’ I mean, can’t we find new stories, new things to do?

Tippi Hedren – Talks about “The Birds” & Alfred Hitchcock plus other Leading Ladies
When you do a love scene with someone in a movie, you have cameras and lights surrounding you. It’s not very romantic, especially considering what I was going through. A lot of people have asked me whether or not I had a fling with Sean Connery during the filming of Marnie (1964), and the answer is no. Marnie was so frigid and cold that she screamed when a man came near her. If I had strong feelings for him in real life, it would have shown through my eyes in the film. I was too dedicated to acting. So, no, I don’t really know what it’s like to kiss Sean Connery.

Tippi Hedren: Hitchcock Ruined My Career | HPL

Salary:

The Birds (1963)
$500 per week

Marnie (1964)
$600/per week

BFI Tippi Hedren in Conversation
An extremely moving conversation, especially when she described her being stalked by Alfred Hitchcock.

Tippi Hedren battles for lions, tigers, against Hitchcock and circus. Oh, my! Interview (AUDIO) For all Animal Activists this Interview with Tippi Hedren is highly enlightening.
QUOTATIONS on OBSESSION:

“Friendship marks a life even more deeply than love. Love risks degenerating into obsession, friendship is never anything but sharing.” ― Elie Wiesel

“Book collecting is an obsession, an occupation, a disease, an addiction, a fascination, an absurdity, a fate. It is not a hobby. Those who do it must do it. Those who do not do it, think of it as a cousin of stamp collecting, a sister of the trophy cabinet, bastard of a sound bank account and a weak mind.” ― Jeanette Winterson

“I would like to be the air that inhabits you for a moment only. I would like to be that unnoticed and that necessary.” ― Margaret Atwood

“Don’t be self-conscious, if I could dream at all, it would be about you. And I’m not ashamed of it.” ― Stephenie Meyer, Twilight

“They do not love that do not show their love. The course of true love never did run smooth. Love is a familiar. Love is a devil. There is no evil angel but Love.” ― William Shakespeare

“I have little left in myself — I must have you. The world may laugh — may call me absurd, selfish — but it does not signify. My very soul demands you: it will be satisfied, or it will take deadly vengeance on its frame.” ― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

“If you ever looked at me once with what I know is in you, I would be your slave.” ― Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights

“May she wake in torment!” he cried, with frightful vehemence, stamping his foot, and groaning in a sudden paroxysm of ungovernable passion. “Why, she’s a liar to the end! Where is she? Not there—not in heaven—not perished—where? Oh! you said you cared nothing for my sufferings! And I pray one prayer—I repeat it till my tongue stiffens—Catherine Earnshaw, may you not rest as long as I am living; you said I killed you—haunt me, then! The murdered do haunt their murderers, I believe. I know that ghosts have wandered on earth. Be with me always—take any form—drive me mad! only do not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you! Oh, God! it is unutterable! I cannot live without my life! I cannot live without my soul!” ― Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights

“All extremes of feeling are allied with madness.” ― Virginia Woolf, Orlando

“The first time I saw you, my heart fell. The second time I saw you, my heart fell. The third time fourth time fifth time and every time since, my heart has fallen.
I stared at her.
You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. Your hair, your eyes, your lips, your body that you haven’t grown into, the way you walk, smile, laugh, the way your cheeks drop when you’re mad or upset, the way you drag your feet when you’re tired. Every single thing about you is beautiful.
I stared at her.
When I see you the World stops. It stops and all that exists for me is you and my eyes staring at you. There’s nothing else. No noise, no other people, no thoughts or worries, no yesterday, no tomorrow. The World just stops and it is a beautiful place and there is only you. Just you, and my eyes staring at you.
I stared.
When you’re gone, the World starts again, and I don’t like it as much. I can live in it, but I don’t like it. I just walk around in it and wait to see you again and wait for it to stop again. I love it when it stops. It’s the best fucking thing I’ve ever known or ever felt, the best thing, and that, beautiful Girl, is why I stare at you.” ― James Frey, A Million Little Pieces

“I love the ground under his feet, and the air over his head, and everything he touches and every word he says. I love all his looks, and all his actions and him entirely and all together.” ― Emily Brontë

“I desire to be with you. I miss you. I feel lonely when I can’t see you. I am obsessed with you, fascinated by you, infatuated with you. I hunger for your taste, your smell, the feel of your soul touching mine.” ― Jack Llawayllynn, Indulgence

“This connection we have isn’t going away, it’s only getting stronger. Because the more I spend time with her, the closer I want to be.” ― Simone Elkeles, Perfect Chemistry

“Hopeless heart that thrives on paradox; that longs for the beloved and is secretly relieved when the beloved is not there.” ― Jeanette Winterson, The Passion

“I wanted to see you again, touch you, know who you were, see if I would find you identical with the ideal image of you which had remained with me and perhaps shatter my dream with the aid of reality. -Claude Frollo ” ― Victor Hugo, The Hunchback Of Notre Dame

“Color is my daylong obsession, joy, and torment.” ― Claude Monet

“It’s not like love at first sight, really. It’s more like… gravity moves. When you see her, suddenly it’s not the earth holding you here anymore. She does. And nothing matters more than her. And you would do anything for her, be anything for her… You become whatever she needs you to be, whether that’s a protector, or a lover, or a friend, or a brother.” ― Stephenie Meyer, Eclipse

“I vow I am, and always will be, constant and faithful in my love for you, Anais. Nothing you or anyone else does shall alter these feelings. I am forever loving, forever waiting, forever yearning…forever yours.” ― Charlotte Featherstone, Addicted

“To have the beginning of a truly great story, you need to have a character you’re completely and utterly obsessed with. Without obsession, to the point of a maddening addiction,there’s no point to continue. ” ― Jennifer Salaiz

Why Lists Appeal To Us ?

3 Replies

Why Lists Appeal To Us
Inspired by Susan Sontag
Written by Jennifer Kiley
Created May Day 05.01.13
Posted 05.02.13

Quite Busy — abstract digital art

WHY LISTS APPEAL TO US

Whenever I am online and come across the top (fill in with random number) list, I cannot resist finding out who or what made that list. I am, especially, interested in lists that would contain films, books, actors, food, who died and how, famous scandals, famous or infamous murders. I am sure there are many other curiosities I’d want to add to this list.

Umberto Eco stated: “The list is the origin of culture.” It is a currency of culture, unfortunately, also.

Susan Sontag had the clout. When she made a list it meant something because she was somebody. I think to our own self our lists would mean something. It would record our opinion for this period of time what we lied or disliked. It would also be a fun game to play with friends or friendly acquaintances. We could make our list fun. Make up our own. Do some research and find out interesting details and make lists out of them. That is what I am going to try to do with this post. Make a fun group of lists. Adding some illustrations. Make it a fun and possibly inspiring post that might set off the spirit in you, the reader, and possibly fellow artist, to make your own lists.

Oh, and I just want to make it clear this has nothing to do with making lists of things to do for chores. I, personally, hate to do those lists. If I need to absolutely have a number of things that need doing, I will tell Shawn, my partner, and hope she will remember. With my writing I make outlines for a screenplay. For a post for my blog, I will set up a new edit page and copy & paste the beginnings of the post and add to it as I build to prepare post. For writing a poem, if it is for an X-treme Haiku poem, I collect and research the words and definitions I might want to use. First though I choose the main word. The center of the poem from which I am to build the complete structure. In a technical way, these are a kind of list but in this post I really am thinking more in the line of specific likes and dislikes and lists of the top ten or twenty of something specifically related. Enough of that as an explanation.

A list is like an unordered stream of consciousness of likes and dislikes flowing from ones mind like a meditation forming it self into a creative poetic form.

THESE ARE NOT NECESSARILY IN THE ORDER OF REFERENCE BUT JUST HAPPEN TO BE IN THE ORDER OF HOW MY MIND DELIVERED THEM TO MY BRAIN:

Things I Like: cats, techno gadgets, sound of the ocean, love, lily, metaphysical books, metaphysical passionate poetry, writing, writing love poems, great poems, e.e. cummings, dreams, white horse in dreams, philosophy, psychology, psychotherapy, psychoanalysis, editing manuscript, rewriting manuscript, illustrating manuscript’s rewrites, posting on the secret keeper, love reading great poems & books by Niamh Clune, living with Shawn, our family of animals, saki our amazon parrot, my body naked, reading, water, streams, rivers, lakes, coke(drinking kind), mescaline, mysteries, British TV, marijuana, panthers, wild cats, horses, massages, being warm, music, having money to help other people, swimming pools, horseback riding, walks on the beach, classic films, understanding, wisdom, knowledge, libraries, lesbians, gay people, psychotherapist, friends, emails, lottery, winning lottery, fantasies, day dreaming, great/good dreams, angels, black, white, rainbows, good crying, feeling good, delicious food, freshly baked bread, chocolate, eclairs, coconuts, orange juice, music mp3, great documentaries, dvds, dvrs, laptop computers, tablets, cell phones, text messages,

Things I Dislike: spiders, snakes, lizards, republicans, tea party jackasses, nightmares, clutter, pain, site of blood, animals bites, parrot bites, liars, interloper, covet, floods, feeling cold, mean people, classism, 1%, car accidents, awful music, loud noises, pain in back, pain in whole body, starvation, droughts, hungry children, homelessness, bugs except fireflies butterflies and lady bugs, demons, black magic, curses, evil, guns, killing, bombs, hatred, pedophiles, spanking children,

Things I Like: furry animals, great films, great actors, smoking good weed, high naturally, good hypomania, tablet, sleep when ready, being awake, working on creative projects, ear buds with music at the other end, great art, abstract digital art, Jackson Pollock dropping phase, Walkman, comedy, plays, theatre, good erotica, women with character, hugging the right person, British accent(the one Henry Higgins taught Eliza Doolittle, Julie Andrews, Emma Watson, Daniel Radcliffe, Maggie Smith, British Actors, Nicole Kidman, Virginia Woolf, Veggie Cheeseburgers, rain, sound of rain, laughing, truth, honesty, peace, writing screenplays, film making, creating abstract digital art, making collages, making posters, using my laptop, creating stories, writing books, writing poetry, writing letters to those I love, making my friends smile, creating blog posts, swearing when necessary, tickling, blueberry pie, cupcakes with white frosting, my niece Christa, my great nephew Luke, my brother AL, Carl G. Jung, playwrights, screenplays, short stories, reading about psychology, being on the internet, skyping with someone I care about, chatting online, posting my poems, creating ideas for blog, working on posts for blog, getting high naturally, hypomania when in control, trusting, trust

Things I Dislike: reality tv, tv where women are brutally murdered, cigarette smoke, racist sexist white males, homophobia, Westboro Baptist Church, Survivalists, terrorists(homegrown & worldly), people who seek to be presidents should not be, women who don’t support other women’s rights, dogmatic individuals, messianic lunatics, fundamentalists, Taliban, censorship, prudes, homophobes, religious right, war, the shadow mother, abusive people, people who harm children, murderers, people who don’t try to be understanding, bigots, depression, delusions, suicide, bullying, physical abuse, sexual abuse, child abuse, stupidity, ignorance, close mindedness, domestic violence, drunkedness, father’s who abuse, mother’s who abuse, none responsive to your children, beating children,

TOP 25 FILMS ACCORDING TO IMDB (Internet Movie Data Base)

Rank Rating Title Votes
1. 9.2 The Shawshank Redemption (1994) 959,986
2. 9.2 The Godfather (1972) 684,463
3. 9.0 The Godfather: Part II (1974) 441,880
4. 8.9 Pulp Fiction (1994) 747,062
5. 8.9 The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) 291,444
6. 8.9 12 Angry Men (1957) 236,037
7. 8.9 The Dark Knight (2008) 933,988
8. 8.9 Schindler’s List (1993) 492,471
9. 8.8 The Lord of the Rings:
The Return of the King (2003) 685,775
10. 8.8 Fight Club (1999) 730,858
11. 8.8 Star Wars: Episode V -
The Empire Strikes Back (1980) 470,576
12. 8.8 The Lord of the Rings:
The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) 710,646
13. 8.8 One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) 401,249
14. 8.7 Inception (2010) 749,430
15. 8.7 Goodfellas (1990) 418,847
16. 8.7 Star Wars (1977) 527,265
17. 8.7 Seven Samurai (1954) 148,699
18. 8.7 Forrest Gump (1994) 631,307
19. 8.7 The Matrix (1999) 692,586
20. 8.7 The Lord of the Rings:
The Two Towers (2002) 615,729
21. 8.7 City of God (2002) 315,150
22. 8.6 Se7en (1995) 558,811
23. 8.6 The Silence of the Lambs (1991) 469,175
24. 8.6 Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) 131,741
25. 8.6 Casablanca (1942) 255,926

25 BEST NOVELS

1. ULYSSES by James Joyce
2. THE GREAT GATSBY by F. Scott Fitzgerald
3. A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN by James Joyce
4. LOLITA by Vladimir Nabokov
5. BRAVE NEW WORLD by Aldous Huxley
6. THE SOUND AND THE FURY by William Faulkner
7. CATCH-22 by Joseph Heller
8. DARKNESS AT NOON by Arthur Koestler
9. SONS AND LOVERS by D.H. Lawrence
10. THE GRAPES OF WRATH by John Steinbeck
11. UNDER THE VOLCANO by Malcolm Lowry
12. THE WAY OF ALL FLESH by Samuel Butler
13. 1984 by George Orwell
14. I, CLAUDIUS by Robert Graves
15. TO THE LIGHTHOUSE by Virginia Woolf
16. AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY by Theodore Dreiser
17. THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER by Carson McCullers
18. SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE by Kurt Vonnegut
19. INVISIBLE MAN by Ralph Ellison
20. NATIVE SON by Richard Wright
21. HENDERSON THE RAIN KING by Saul Bellow
22. APPOINTMENT IN SAMARRA by John O’Hara
23. U.S.A.(trilogy) by John Dos Passos
24. WINESBURG, OHIO by Sherwood Anderson
25. A PASSAGE TO INDIA by E.M. Forster

TOP 63 TV SHOWS OF ALL TIME

1. Dexter (2006 TV Series)
2. Game of Thrones (2011 TV Series)
3. Breaking Bad (2008 TV Series)
4. Lost (2004 TV Series)
5. Sherlock (2010 TV Series)
6. Louie (2010 TV Series)
7. House M.D. (2004 TV Series)
8. Doctor Who (2005 TV Series)
9. The Sopranos (1999 TV Series)
10. The Wire (2002 TV Series)
11. Futurama (1999 TV Series)
12. Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV Series)
13. It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (2005 TV Series)
14. The X-Files (1993 TV Series)
15. Arrested Development (2003 TV Series)
16. How I Met Your Mother (2005 TV Series)
17. Mad Men (2007 TV Series)
18. Friends (1994 TV Series)
19. Firefly (2002 TV Series)
20. Six Feet Under (2001 TV Series)
21. The Simpsons (1989 TV Series)
22. Spartacus: War of the Damned (2010 TV Series)
23. Deadwood (2004 TV Series)
24. 24 (2001 TV Series)
25. The Big Bang Theory (2007 TV Series)
26. Oz (1997 TV Series)
27. The Walking Dead (2010 TV Series)
28. Modern Family (2009 TV Series)
29. South Park (1997 TV Series)
30. Monk (2002 TV Series)
31. Fringe (2008 TV Series)
32. Death Note (2006 TV Series)
33. Family Guy (1999 TV Series)
34. Band of Brothers (2001 Mini-Series)
35. Criminal Minds (2005 TV Series)
36. Seinfeld (1990 TV Series)
37. True Blood (2008 TV Series)
38. Curb Your Enthusiasm (2000 TV Series)
39. Scrubs (2001 TV Series)
40. Twilight Zone (1959 TV Series)
41. Prison Break (2005 TV Series)
42. The Office (2005 TV Series)
43. The West Wing (1999 TV Series)
44. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000 TV Series)
45. Sons of Anarchy (2008 TV Series)
46. Supernatural (2005 TV Series)
47. Psych (2006 TV Series)
48. The 4400 (2004 TV Series)
49. The Shield (2002 TV Series)
50. Married with Children (1987 TV Series)
51. Boardwalk Empire (2010 TV Series)
52. Mr. Bean (1990 TV Series)
53. Entourage (2004 TV Series)
54. Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987 TV Series)
55. Rome (2005 TV Series)
56. Weeds (2005 TV Series)
57. Twin Peaks (1990 TV Series)
58. Coupling (2000 TV Series)
59. Homeland (2011 TV Series)
60. Freaks and Geeks (1999 TV Series)
61. Heroes (2006 TV Series)
62. White Collar (2009 TV Series)
63. Castle (2009 TV Series)

Rank Name Cumulative Top Currency Stars
Score Profession(s) Age
1 Will Smith 10.00 Actor, Composer, Director, Producer, Rapper, Writer 44
2 Johnny Depp 9.89 Actor, Director, Producer, Singer (Cameo), Writer 49
2 Leonardo DiCaprio 9.89 Actor, Producer, Writer 38
2 Angelina Jolie 9.89 Actress, Director, Producer, Singer (Cameo) 37
2 Brad Pitt 9.89 Actor, Producer 49
6 Tom Hanks 9.87 Actor, Director, Producer, Singer (Cameo), Writer 56
7 George Clooney 9.81 Actor, Director, Producer, Writer 51
8 Denzel Washington 9.76 Actor 58
9 Matt Damon 9.69 Actor, Producer, Singer (Cameo), Writer 42
10 Jack Nicholson 9.68 Actor, Director, Producer, Singer (Cameo), Writer 76
11 Julia Roberts 9.65 Actress, Producer 45
12 Adam Sandler 9.61 Actor, Composer, Producer, Singer (Cameo), Writer 46
13 Tom Cruise 9.60 Actor, Director, Producer, Writer 50
14 Russell Crowe 9.57 Actor, Director, Musician, Producer, Singer, Writer 49
15 Will Ferrell 9.56 Actor, Producer, Singer (Cameo), Writer 45
16 Meryl Streep 9.55 Actress, Singer 63
17 Robert De Niro 9.54 Actor, Director, Producer 69
18 Ben Stiller 9.50 Actor, Director, Producer, Writer 47
19 Jim Carrey 9.42 Actor, Producer, Singer (Cameo), Writer 51
20 Clint Eastwood 9.33 Actor, Composer, Director, Producer, Writer 82
21 Robert Downey 9.29 Actor, Producer, Singer (Cameo), Writer 48
22 Nicole Kidman 9.27 Actress, Producer, Singer (Cameo) 45
23 Bruce Willis 9.16 Actor, Director, Musician, Producer 58
24 Nicolas Cage 9.02 Actor, Director, Producer, Singer (Cameo) 49
25 Al Pacino 9.00 Actor, Director, Producer, Writer 73

Rank Name Cumulative Top Currency Actresses
Score Profession(s) Age
1 Angelina Jolie 9.89 Actress, Director, Producer, Singer (Cameo) 37
2 Julia Roberts 9.65 Actress, Producer 45
3 Meryl Streep 9.55 Actress, Singer 63
4 Nicole Kidman 9.27 Actress, Producer, Singer (Cameo) 45
5 Reese Witherspoon 8.24 Actress, Producer 37
6 Charlize Theron 8.00 Actress 37
7 Cate Blanchett 7.85 Actress, Producer 43
8 Jodie Foster 7.78 Actor, Director, Producer, Singer (Cameo) 50
8 Keira Knightley 7.78 Actress, Singer (Cameo) 28
8 Gwyneth Paltrow 7.78 Actress, Director, Singer (Cameo), Writer 40
11 Drew Barrymore 7.76 Actress, Director, Producer 38
12 Cameron Diaz 7.72 Actress, Model, Producer, Singer (Cameo) 40
13 Kate Winslet 7.63 Actress 37
14 Sandra Bullock 7.60 Actress, Director, Producer, Singer (Cameo), Writer 48
15 Jennifer Aniston 7.58 Actress, Producer 44
15 Halle Berry 7.58 Actress, Fragrance, Producer 46
17 Renee Zellweger 7.50 Actress 44
18 Hilary Swank 7.43 Actress, Producer 38
19 Penelope Cruz 7.39 Actress, Dancer, Producer, Singer (Cameo) 39
20 Scarlett Johansson 7.34 Actress, Director, Singer (Cameo) 28
21 Anne Hathaway 7.27 Actress, Singer (Cameo) 30
21 Kate Hudson 7.27 Actress, Director, Producer, Singer (Cameo), Writer 34
21 Natalie Portman 7.27 Actress, Director, Producer, Singer (Cameo), Writer 31
24 Catherine Zeta-Jones 7.24 Actress 43
25 Helen Mirren 7.15 Actress, Director, Producer, Singer (Cameo) 67

Rank Name Cumulative Top Currency Actors
Score Profession(s) Age
1 Will Smith 10.00 Actor, Composer, Director, Producer, Rapper, Writer 44
2 Johnny Depp 9.89 Actor, Director, Producer, Singer (Cameo), Writer 49
2 Leonardo DiCaprio 9.89 Actor, Producer, Writer 38
2 Brad Pitt 9.89 Actor, Producer 49
5 Tom Hanks 9.87 Actor, Director, Producer, Singer (Cameo), Writer 56
6 George Clooney 9.81 Actor, Director, Producer, Writer 51
7 Denzel Washington 9.76 Actor 58
8 Matt Damon 9.69 Actor, Producer, Singer (Cameo), Writer 42
9 Jack Nicholson 9.68 Actor, Director, Producer, Singer (Cameo), Writer 76
10 Adam Sandler 9.61 Actor, Composer, Producer, Singer (Cameo), Writer 46
11 Tom Cruise 9.60 Actor, Director, Producer, Writer 50
12 Russell Crowe 9.57 Actor, Director, Musician, Producer, Singer, Writer 49
13 Will Ferrell 9.56 Actor, Producer, Singer (Cameo), Writer 45
14 Robert De Niro 9.54 Actor, Director, Producer 69
15 Ben Stiller 9.50 Actor, Director, Producer, Writer 47
16 Jim Carrey 9.42 Actor, Producer, Singer (Cameo), Writer 51
17 Clint Eastwood 9.33 Actor, Composer, Director, Producer, Writer 82
18 Robert Downey 9.29 Actor, Producer, Singer (Cameo), Writer 48
19 Bruce Willis 9.16 Actor, Director, Musician, Producer 58
20 Nicolas Cage 9.02 Actor, Director, Producer, Singer (Cameo) 49
21 Al Pacino 9.00 Actor, Director, Producer, Writer 73
22 Harrison Ford 8.69 Actor, Producer 70
23 Keanu Reeves 8.59 Actor, Singer (Cameo) 48
24 Mel Gibson 8.52 Actor, Director, Producer, Singer (Cameo), Writer 57
25 Christian Bale 8.49 Actor, Producer, Singer (Cameo) 39

Maksim Mrvica — Hungarian Rhapsody #2

QUOTATIONS on LISTS

“The list could surely go on, and there is nothing more wonderful than a list, instrument of wondrous hypotyposis.” ― Umberto Eco, The Name of the Rose

“I love the ritual of drawing up lists, and there’s something wonderfully satisfying about ticking tasks off.” ― Shaida Kazie Ali

“In the shop window you have promptly identified the cover with the title you were looking for. Following this visual trail, you have forced your way through the shop past the thick barricade of Books You Haven’t Read, which were frowning at you from the tables and shelves, trying to cow you. But you know you must never allow yourself to be awed, that among them there extend for acres and acres the Books You Needn’t Read, the Books Made For Purposes Other Than Reading, Books Read Even Before You Open Them Since They Belong To The Category Of Books Read Before Being Written. And thus you pass the outer girdle of ramparts, but then you are attacked by the infantry of the Books That If You Had More Than One Life You Would Certainly Also Read But Unfortunately Your Days Are Numbered. With a rapid maneuver you bypass them and move into the phalanxes of the Books You Mean To Read But There Are Others You Must Read First, the Books Too Expensive Now And You’ll Wait Till They’re Remaindered, the Books ditto When They Come Out In Paperback, Books You Can Borrow From Somebody, Books That Everybody’s Read So It’s As If You Had Read Them, Too. Eluding these assaults, you come up beneath the towers of the fortress, where other troops are holding out:

the Books You’ve Been Planning To Read For Ages,

the Books You’ve Been Hunting For Years Without Success,

the Books Dealing With Something You’re Working On At The Moment,

the Books You Want To Own So They’ll Be Handy Just In Case,

the Books You Could Put Aside Maybe To Read This Summer,

the Books You Need To Go With Other Books On Your Shelves,

the Books That Fill You With Sudden, Inexplicable Curiosity, Not Easily Justified,

Now you have been able to reduce the countless embattled troops to an array that is, to be sure, very large but still calculable in a finite number; but this relative relief is then undermined by the ambush of the Books Read Long Ago Which It’s Now Time To Reread and the Books You’ve Always Pretended To Have Read And Now It’s Time To Sit Down And Really Read Them.”
― Italo Calvino, If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler

Happy Birthday 4/26/13 Stana Katic

1 Reply

Happy Birthday 4/26/13 Stana Katic
Created by Jennifer Kiley
Redesigned Material from the secret keeper posts
Posted April 26th 2013

je t’aime stana par j. kiley © jennifer kiley 2013

being as it’s to time by j. kiley © jennifer kiley

Castle/Beckett — Best Love Story Part One

Castle/Beckett — Best Love Story Part Two

Castle/Beckett — Best Love Story Part Three

Philip Wesley — Two Souls

QUOTATIONS on DESIRE:

“To crave and to have are as like as a thing and its shadow. For when does a berry break upon the tongue as sweetly as when one longs to taste it, and when is the taste refracted into so many hues and savors of ripeness and earth, and when do our senses know any thing so utterly as when we lack it? And here again is a foreshadowing — the world will be made whole. For to wish for a hand on one’s hair is all but to feel it. So whatever we may lose, very craving gives it back to us again.” ― Marilynne Robinson, Housekeeping

“To burn with desire and keep quiet about it is the greatest punishment we can bring on ourselves.” ― Federico García Lorca, Blood Wedding and Yerma

“I want her to melt into me, like butter on toast. I want to absorb her and walk around for the rest of my days with her encased in my skin. — I want.” ― Sara Gruen, Water for Elephants

“Profound desire, true desire is the desire to be close to someone.” ― Paulo Coelho, Eleven Minutes

“But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires:
To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.
To know the pain of too much tenderness.
To be wounded by your own understanding of love;
And to bleed willingly and joyfully.
To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving;
To rest at noon hour and meditate love’s ecstasy;
To return home at eventide with gratitude;
And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise on your lips.”
― Kahlil Gibran

“Ultimately, it is the desire, not the desired, that we love.” ― Friedrich Nietzsche

“Desire makes life happen. Makes it matter. Makes everything worth it. Desire is life. Hunger to see the next sunrise or sunset, to touch the one you love, to try again. “Hell would be waking up and wanting nothing.” ― Karen Marie Moning, Shadowfever

“Language is a skin: I rub my language against the other. It is as if I had words instead of fingers, or fingers at the tip of my words. My language trembles with desire.” ― Roland Barthes

“I have outlasted all desire,
My dreams and I have grown apart;
My grief alone is left entire,
The gleamings of an empty heart.

The storms of ruthless dispensation
Have struck my flowery garland numb,
I live in lonely desolation
And wonder when my end will come.

Thus on a naked tree-limb, blasted
By tardy winter’s whistling chill,
A single leaf which has outlasted
Its season will be trembling still.”
― Alexander Pushkin

“There is no fulfillment that is not made sweeter for the prolonging of desire”
― Jacqueline Carey, Kushiel’s Dart

“Please, touch me, I pray.” ― Jess C. Scott, The Intern

“Oh to have you with me, to have you here, not to be alone, but to be with you, my beauty, you of all souls! You.” ― Anne Rice, Pandora

“I spin worlds where we could be together. I dream you. For me, imagination and desire are very close.” ― Jeanette Winterson

“….love and desire enjoy a symbiotic relationship, meaning that one cannot exist without the other. Desire is an enemy to contentment; desire is illness, a feverish brain. Who can be considered healthy who wants? The very word want suggests a lack, an impoverishment, and that is what desire is: an impoverishment of the brain, a flaw, a mistake.” ― Lauren Oliver, Delirium

“When you were a wandering desire in the mist, I too was there, a wandering desire. Then we sought one another, and out of our eagerness dreams were born. And dreams were time limitless, and dreams were space without measure.” ― Kahlil Gibran

“Her cheeks were flushed. She caught hold of the Savage’s arm and pressed it, limp, against her side. He looked down at her for a moment, pale, pained, desiring, and ashamed of his desire. He was not worthy, not… Their eyes for a moment met. What treasures hers promised! A queen’s ransom of temperament. Hastily he looked away, disengaged his imprisoned arm. He was obscurely terrified lest she should cease to be something he could feel himself unworthy of.” ― Aldous Huxley, Brave New World

“To be desired is perhaps the closest anybody in this life can reach to feeling immortal.” ― John Berger

“Anxiety and desire are two, often conflicting, orientations to the unknown. Both are tilted toward the future. Desire implies a willingness, or a need, to engage this unknown, while anxiety suggests a fear of it. Desire takes one out of oneself, into the possibility or relationship, but it also takes one deeper into oneself. Anxiety turns one back on oneself, but only onto the self that is already known.” ― Mark Epstein, Open to Desire: Embracing a Lust for Life – Insights from Buddhism and Psychotherapy

“Because life is short. I feel we’re made of a hunger, a desire for life – if that can be described as a material. As I get older, I’m trying to open that channel more. If you don’t, if you close off desire and get complacent, life loses its freshness and sweetness, and that’s what I crave. That’s my bliss.” ― Sarah Slean

purpose P U R P O S E purpose

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purpose P U R P O S E purpose
Written by Jennifer Kiley
Art created by j. kiley
Created 04.13.13
Posted 04.13.13

purpose P U R P O S E purpose by j. kiley © jennifer kiley 2013

Fireworks — Katy Perry

QUOTATIONS on PURPOSE:

“If you were all alone in the universe with no one to talk to, no one with which to share the beauty of the stars, to laugh with, to touch, what would be your purpose in life? It is other life; it is love, which gives your life meaning. This is harmony. We must discover the joy of each other, the joy of challenge, the joy of growth.” ― Mitsugi Saotome

“When you lost sight of your path, listen for the destination in your heart.” ― Katsura Hoshino

“The magic of purpose and of love in its purest form. Not televison love, with its glare and hollow and sequined glint; not sex and allure, all high shoes and high drama, everything both too small and in too much excess, but just love. Love like rain, like the smell of a tangerine, like a surprise found in your pocket.” ― Deb Caletti

“Those who have failed to work toward the truth have missed the purpose of living.” ― Gautama Buddha

“It’s funny. No matter how hard you try, you can’t close your heart forever. And the minute you open it up, you never know what’s going to come in. But when it does, you just have to go for it! Because if you don’t, there’s not point in being here.” ― Kirstie Alley

“Make your work to be in keeping with your purpose” ― Leonardo da Vinci

“In spite of where we were, how we had gotten here and why we had come, I felt that at this moment of our lives, this place was exactly where we belonged. We were not drifting but rising, rising toward something right and of significance.” ― Dean Koontz

“Spirituality is recognizing and celebrating that we are all inextricably connected to each other by a power greater than all of us, and that our connection to that power and to one another is grounded in love and compassion. Practicing spirituality brings a sense of perspective, meaning and purpose to our lives.” ― Brené Brown

“There are so many stupid things that steal that purpose from us. The stupid things that you believe a lie that we ‘re not as important as we really are. That our life isn’t as important as it really is. It’s important to the people that you love, it’s important to the people that you will love in the future, it’s important to the world around you and it’s so important that you fulfill the purpose that only you can fulfill the way that you can fulfill that.” ― Lacey Mosley

“I read of a man who stood to speak
at the funeral of a friend.
He referred to the dates on her tombstone
from the beginning…to the end.

He noted that first came the date of her birth
and spoke of the following date with tears,
but he said what mattered most of all
was the dash between those years.

For that dash represents all the time
that she spent alive on earth…
and now only those who loved her
know what that little line is worth.

For it matters not, how much we own;
the cars….the house…the cash.
What matters is how we live and love
and how we spend our dash.

So think about this long and hard…
are there things you’d like to change?
For you never know how much time is left.
(You could be at “dash midrange.”)

If we could just slow down enough
to consider what’s true and real,
and always try to understand
the way other people feel.

And be less quick to anger,
and show appreciation more
and love the people in our lives
like we’ve never loved before.

If we treat each other with respect,
and more often wear a smile…
remembering that this special dash
might only last a little while.

So, when your eulogy’s being read
with your life’s actions to rehash…
would you be proud of the things they
say about how you spend your dash?”
― Linda Ellis, The Dash Making A Difference With Your Life

“The great essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love and something to hope for.” ― Joseph Addison

“Art has always been the raft onto which we climb to save our sanity. I don’t see a different purpose for it now.” ― Dorothea Tanning

this is my purpose. this is what makes my life have meaning.

Writing Is Life Itself

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Writing Is Life Itself
TED Talk: Roger Ebert: Remaking My Voice
Post Created by jk the secret keeper
Post Created 04.07.13
Posted 04.08.13

writer—film critic—thinker—roger ebert 1942—2013

TED Talk — Roger Ebert — Remaking My Voice

When film critic Roger Ebert lost his lower jaw to cancer, he lost the ability to eat and speak. But he did not lose his voice. In this moving talk from TED2011, Roger Ebert and his wife, Chaz, with friends Dean Ornish and John Hunter, come together to tell his remarkable story.

“Life Itself: A Memoir” Excerpts from Roger Ebert’s Book:

“I was born inside the movie of my life. The visuals were before me, the audio surrounded me, the plot unfolded inevitably but not necessarily. I don’t remember how I got into the movie, but it continues to entertain me.”

“I got the feeling I sometimes have when reality realigns itself. It’s a tingling sensation moving like a wave through my body. I know the feeling precisely.”

“I read endlessly…one book led randomly to another. The great influence was Thomas Wolfe, who burned with the need to be a great novelist, and I burned in sympathy. I felt that if I could write like him, I would have nothing more to learn.”

“…the most useful advice I have ever received as a writer: ‘One, don’t wait for inspiration, just start the damn thing. Two, once you begin, keep on until the end. How do you know how the story should begin until you find out where it’s going?”

…the writing process is mostly an unconscious act of mesmerism by finding the purpose and doing it because you love it: “When I write, I fall into the zone many writers, painters, musicians, athletes, and craftsmen of all sorts seem to share: In doing something I enjoy and am expert at, deliberate thought falls aside and it is all just there. I think of the next word no more than the composer thinks of the next note.”

“My blog became my voice, my outlet, my ‘social media’ in a way I couldn’t have dreamed of. Into it I poured my regrets, desires, and memories…I didn’t intend for it to drift into autobiography, but in blogging there is a tidal drift that pushes you that way…first-person writing, and I’ve always written that way. How can a movie review be written in the third person…If it isn’t subjective, there’s something false about it.”

“The blog let loose the flood of memories…told…I should write my memoirs…It was the blog that taught me how. It pushed me into first-person confession, it insisted on the personal…Some of these words…first appeared in blog forms… They come pouring forth in a flood of relief.”

“…Movies are hardly ever about what they seem to be about. Look at a movie that a lot of people love, and you will find something profound…”

“…as a young boy I am awed by people who take the risks of performance. I become their advocate and find myself in sympathy.”

“What’s sad about not eating is the experience…The loss of dining, not the loss of food…The jokes, gossip, laughs, arguments, and memories I miss. I ran in crowds where anyone was likely to start reciting poetry on a moment’s notice. Me too. But not me anymore. So yes, it’s sad. Maybe that’s why writing has become so important to me. You don’t realize it, but we’re at dinner right now.”

Relationship with mortality: “We’re all dying in increments.”

QUOTATIONS on WRITING:

“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” ― Maya Angelou

“You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children.” ― Madeleine L’Engle

“We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospect.” ― Anaïs Nin

“No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader.” ― Robert Frost

“How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live.”
― Henry David Thoreau

“Tomorrow may be hell, but today was a good writing day, and on the good writing days nothing else matters.” ― Neil Gaiman

“We live and breathe words. …. It was books that made me feel that perhaps I was not completely alone. They could be honest with me, and I with them. Reading your words, what you wrote, how you were lonely sometimes and afraid, but always brave; the way you saw the world, its colors and textures and sounds, I felt–I felt the way you thought, hoped, felt, dreamt. I felt I was dreaming and thinking and feeling with you. I dreamed what you dreamed, wanted what you wanted–and then I realized that truly I just wanted you.” ― Cassandra Clare, Clockwork Prince

“Writing is like sex. First you do it for love, then you do it for your friends, and then you do it for money.” ― Virginia Woolf

“Let me live, love and say it well in good sentences.” ― Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar

“You can make anything by writing.” ― C.S. Lewis

“This is how you do it: you sit down at the keyboard and you put one word after another until its done. It’s that easy, and that hard.” ― Neil Gaiman

“Make up a story… For our sake and yours forget your name in the street; tell us what the world has been to you in the dark places and in the light. Don’t tell us what to believe, what to fear. Show us belief’s wide skirt and the stitch that unravels fear’s caul.” ― Toni Morrison, The Nobel Lecture In Literature, 1993

“If you do not breathe through writing, if you do not cry out in writing, or sing in writing, then don’t write, because our culture has no use for it.” ― Anaïs Nin

“Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.” ― John Steinbeck

“I love writing. I love the swirl and swing of words as they tangle with human emotions.” ― James A. Michener

“Write what should not be forgotten.” ― Isabel Allende

“Writing is a way of talking without being interrupted.” ― Jules Renard

“Words do not express thoughts very well. They always become a little different immediately after they are expressed, a little distorted, a little foolish.” ― Hermann Hesse

“A good poem is a contribution to reality. The world is never the same once a good poem has been added to it. A good poem helps to change the shape of the universe, helps to extend everyone’s knowledge of himself and the world around him.” ― Dylan Thomas

“A book is made from a tree. It is an assemblage of flat, flexible parts (still called “leaves”) imprinted with dark pigmented squiggles. One glance at it and you hear the voice of another person, perhaps someone dead for thousands of years. Across the millennia, the author is speaking, clearly and silently, inside your head, directly to you. Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people, citizens of distant epochs, who never knew one another. Books break the shackles of time ― proof that humans can work magic.” ― Carl Sagan

“There is no real ending. It’s just the place where you stop the story.” ― Frank Herbert

Deconstructing Woody

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Deconstructing Woody:
Woody Allen Relevant as Ever
Created by jk the secret keeper
Created & Posted 04.06.13

Woody Allen invites the legendary conservative icon William Buckley on his show. Discuss the late 1960s and take questions from the audience. Quality of tape not great but visually okay. Conversations and answers are quite amusing and laugh out loud funny. Some of the discussion is actually relevant to today. jk the secret keeper

Woody Allen vs William F. Buckley Jr. — FUNNY

An interview of Woody Allen by a French Journalist. Some of the interview is in French (en Francais) when the interviewer is just speaking to the audience. Woody speaks English with French subtitles. Quite understandable if you only speak English. You do not miss the content of the interview. It does not interfere listening through the French. Very Enjoyable. A great many clips from Woody’s films which are entertaining and memorable, especially if you are regular viewer of his films but fun even if you haven’t seen a great many of his films. I’m an avid fan so it is fun for me to see so many of those moments from so many of his films from the past. I have watched and been a fan of Woody Allen’s since forever and have seen all of his films. I wish there was a way to see what he did before he became a film maker. That was long before my time. I found this video quite enlightening and entertaining. I feel this video and what it discusses is quite relevant to the world of today. Woody discusses pretty much everything you can think of in this interview. jk the secret keeper

Woody Allen (Rare Interview 1979 — 61mn.) by a French Journalist

I will add the comment that I support him and find that we share a great deal in common in relation to our thinking and beliefs in life and the relevancy of the views we have on life. The controversy he went through many years back I feel was blown out of proportion. What he may have done, many of those in my life feel they cannot respect him and when I mention my love for his films they reject wanting to have anything to do with him. Everyone believes what they will and likes what they will like. I believe Woody and have enjoyed him though out my life. I am also a huge fan of Mia Farrow and was greatly disappointed that their relationship had to end the way in which it did. Life has gone on. Woody is happy with his wife and their children. They are enjoying their lives together. That is what is important. I will not apologize for my belief in him.

I am fascinated with his interest in psychoanalysis and portraying it in his films. We both share that fascination. Being analyzed has been quite important in my life. To understand one’s self is quite enlightening and it helps to live one’s life more fully.

I hope you take the time to view the complete video. If not all at once. Do come back and listen as you have the time. It will be well worth your time. jk the secret keeper

QUOTATIONS on COMEDY:

“Life doesn’t make any sense, and we all pretend it does. Comedy’s job is to point out that it doesn’t make sense, and that it doesn’t make much difference anyway.”
― Eric Idle

“My tendency to make up stories and lie compulsively for the sake of my own amusement takes up a good portion of my day and provides me with a peace of mind not easily attainable in this economic climate.” ― Chelsea Handler

“It’s like a fairy tale. . . on crack!” ― Hillary DePiano

“[Comedies], in the ancient world, were regarded as of a higher rank than tragedy, of a deeper truth, of a more difficult realization, of a sounder structure, and of a revelation more complete. The happy ending of the fairy tale, the myth, and the divine comedy of the soul, is to be read, not as a contradiction, but as a transcendence of the universal tragedy of man…. Tragedy is the shattering of the forms and of our attachments to the forms; comedy, the wild and careless, inexhaustible joy of life invincible.” ― Joseph Campbell

“He stares at me, and then leans back in his chair. “He’s ill, Jacob.”
I say nothing.
“He’s a paragon schnitzophonic.”
“He’s what?!”
“Paragon schnitzophonic,” repeats Uncle Al.
“You mean paranoid schizophrenic?”
“Sure. Whatever. But the bottom line is he’s mad as a hatter…”
― Sara Gruen, Water for Elephants

“Luck is the bastard child of Fate and Destiny.” ― Carroll Bryant

“Those of you who are not aware of my brilliant career as a stand up comic, I’m not aware of it either so we might well wonder what we’re doing here.” ― Alan Rickman

“Recent studies have shown that approximately 40% of authors are manic depressive. The rest of us just drink.” ― Melodie Campbell

“People who try to pretend they’re superior make it so much harder for those of us who really are.” ― Hyacinth Bucket

“Come here, let me share a bit of wisdom with you.
Have you given much thought to our mortal condition?
Probably not. Why would you? Well, listen.
All mortals owe a debt to death.
There’s no one alive
who can say if he will be tomorrow.
Our fate moves invisibly! A mystery.
No one can teach it, no one can grasp it.
Accept this! Cheer up! Have a drink!
But don’t forget Aphrodite–that’s one sweet goddess.
You can let the rest go. Am I making sense?
I think so. How about a drink.
Put on a garland. I’m sure
the happy splash of wine will cure your mood.
We’re all mortal you know. Think mortal.
Because my theory is, there’s no such thing as life,
it’s just catastrophe.”
― Anne Carson

“Some people fight fire with fire. I’ve found water to be more effective.”
― Adrianne Ambrose, Confessions of a Virgin Sacrifice

“Ever since the robot was first invented, there have been people who swear up and down that this marks the first step towards the fall of man … To be fair, their arguments are backed with scientific fact taken from documentary films such as The Terminator, The Matrix, and RoboCop.” ― Weston Locher, Musings on Minutiae

“Poetry is only the highest eloquence of passion, the most vivid form of expression that can be given to our conception of anything, whether pleasurable or painful, mean or dignified, delightful or distressing. It is the perfect coincidence of the image and the words with the feeling we have, and of which we cannot get rid in any other way, that gives an instant “satisfaction to the thought.” This is equally the origin of wit and fancy, of comedy and tragedy, of the sublime and pathetic.” ― William Hazlitt

“At least one way of measuring the freedom of any society is the amount of comedy that is permitted, and clearly a healthy society permits more satirical comment than a repressive, so that if comedy is to function in some way as a safety release then it must obviously deal with these taboo areas. This is part of the responsibility we accord our licensed jesters, that nothing be excused the searching light of comedy. If anything can survive the probe of humour it is clearly of value, and conversely all groups who claim immunity from laughter are claiming special privileges which should not be granted.” ― Eric Idle

“I don’t believe in virgin sacrifice. It encourages promiscuity at an early age”
― Adrianne Ambrose, Confessions of a Virgin Sacrifice

“You ever noticed how people who believe in Creationism look really un-evolved? You ever noticed that? Eyes real close together, eyebrow ridges, big furry hands and feet. “I believe God created me in one day”. Yeah, looks like He rushed it”
― Bill Hicks

“Last time I was down South I walked into this restaurant, and this white waitress came up to me and said: ‘We don’t serve colored people here.’ “I said: ‘that’s all right, I don’t eat colored people. Bring me a whole fried chicken.” ― Dick Gregory

“To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research.”
― Stephen Wright

“I live in my own little world. But its ok, they know me here.” ― Lauren Myracle

“Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It’s the transition that’s troublesome.”
― Isaac Asimov

“If at first you don’t succeed then skydiving definitely isn’t for you.”
― Steven Wright

“When I was growing up I always wanted to be someone. Now I realize I should have been more specific.” ― Lily Tomlin

“Be what you would seem to be – or, if you’d like it put more simply – never imagine yourself not to be otherwise than what it might appear to others that what you were or might have been was not otherwise than what you had been would have appeared to them to be otherwise.” ― Lewis Carroll

Best Film Critic Ever Dies—04.04.13

3 Replies

Best Film Critic Ever Dies—04.04.13
Tribute to Roger Ebert
June 18th, 1942 — April 4th, 2013
Post Created by jk the secret keeper
Created 04.04.13
Posted 04.05.13

Roger Ebert 1942 — 2013

A Few Words About Roger Ebert
By Jennifer Kiley
04.04.13

I am too speechless to say anything but I will try. Roger Ebert’s death took me by surprise Thursday. That the cancer had returned and he was going for further treatment was the last thing I knew. And that he would write about his favorite films in the future. Others would take over the watching and reviewing of the majority of the films in the near future. Roger would return. But now he will never return with his brilliant words and observations about films and life. Whenever I wasn’t sure about watching a film, I would look to Roger for his guidance by scanning his reviews of the film in question. He was always fair, direct and honest about the way he evaluated a film. Some films that others turned away from Roger did not.

I was grateful to discover a great film many times because I trusted Roger and doubted those who dismissed the films in question so easily. Roger would go into great depth as to the reasons he felt a film was worth the time to view it. He always came up right in his recommendations. I have fallen in love with films that other people have shunned as boring or unwatchable and Roger praised as brilliant. I must admit that I favoured Gene Siskel when the two worked together. And like Gene and Roger, my partner and I would have the same debates over the same films. She would favour Roger’s views and I , Gene’s. But all that changed when Gene died so suddenly.

Roger gained my focus but there wasn’t anyone who could replace Gene. I started listening more to Roger. I started following him online by reading his reviews at the Sun Times and also reading his journal. Also, I loved following him on Twitter. He always left the most amusing comments and leads to fantastic reading material. Then he moved over to Facebook and I followed him there and continued to follow him on Twitter. I was hopeful when he tried to resurrect the PBS Review show after he had his cancer surgery and couldn’t speak except through a computerized voice and do a special review. I was so pleased but then it went away so suddenly, also.

Only a week ago, I wondered about whether I wanted to watch a film. It had received negative reviews by many reviewers. Then I thought of Roger. What would he say about this film. I never did find out but I am going to watch it because someone that had the spirit of Roger in her words recommended it as a film that stood out for its difference and how it treated life and women. I used that reviewer’s words in the post on that film and I definitely want to see it. I think Roger Ebert would approve. The mantle unfortunately has been reluctantly and unfortunately relinquished. I won’t be able to turn to Roger on any future films that come out but I will still be able to refer to the ones that he had already reviewed. He left a great legacy for all of us. I say Good-bye Roger. You were a great gift to us. Now it is time for you to be out of pain and to R.I.P. and look for your old partner Gene Siskel. Tell him you kept his secret to the end.

A statement from Chaz Ebert on April 4, 2013

Chaz Ebert issued the following statement Thursday about the passing of her husband, Roger Ebert, a day after he celebrated 46 years as a film critic:

“I am devastated by the loss of my love, Roger — my husband, my friend, my confidante and oh-so-brilliant partner of over 20 years. He fought a courageous fight. I’ve lost the love of my life and the world has lost a visionary and a creative and generous spirit who touched so many people all over the world. We had a lovely, lovely life together, more beautiful and epic than a movie. It had its highs and the lows, but was always experienced with good humor, grace and a deep abiding love for each other.

“Roger was a beloved husband, stepfather to Sonia and Jay, and grandfather to Raven, Emil, Mark and Joseph. Just yesterday he was saying how his grandchildren were “the best things in my life.” He was happy and radiating satisfaction over the outpouring of responses to his blog about his 46th year as a film critic. But he was also getting tired of his fight with cancer, and said if this takes him, he has lived a great and full life.

“We were getting ready to go home today for hospice care, when he looked at us, smiled, and passed away. No struggle, no pain, just a quiet, dignified transition.

“We are touched by all the kindness and the outpouring of love we’ve received. And I want to echo what Roger said in his last blog, thank you for going on this journey with us.”

Roger Ebert Dies at 70 After Battle with Cancer

BY NEIL STEINBERG
nsteinberg@suntimes.com
April 4, 2013

Roger Ebert loved movies.

Except for those he hated.

For a film with a daring director, a talented cast, a captivating plot or, ideally, all three, there could be no better advocate than Roger Ebert, who passionately celebrated and promoted excellence in film while deflating the awful, the derivative or the merely mediocre with an observant eye, a sharp wit and a depth of knowledge that delighted his millions of readers and viewers.

“No good film is too long,” he once wrote, a sentiment he felt strongly enough about to have engraved on pens. “No bad movie is short enough.”

Ebert, 70, who reviewed movies for the Chicago Sun-Times for 46 years and on TV for 31 years, and who was without question the nation’s most prominent and influential film critic, died Thursday in Chicago.

(for the whole story click on the following link)
Roger Ebert Dies at 70 After Battle with Cancer

Roger Ebert’s Journal
A Leave of Presence
By Roger Ebert on April 2, 2013 9:37 PM

Thank you. Forty-six years ago on April 3, 1967, I became the film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times. Some of you have read my reviews and columns and even written to me since that time. Others were introduced to my film criticism through the television show, my books, the website, the film festival, or the Ebert Club and newsletter. However you came to know me, I’m glad you did and thank you for being the best readers any film critic could ask for.

Roger Ebert on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

Typically, I write over 200 reviews a year for the Sun-Times that are carried by Universal Press Syndicate in some 200 newspapers. Last year, I wrote the most of my career, including 306 movie reviews, a blog post or two a week, and assorted other articles. I must slow down now, which is why I’m taking what I like to call “a leave of presence.”

Siskel & Ebert – Special Tribute Show to Gene Siskel, part 1 of 3!

What in the world is a leave of presence? It means I am not going away. My intent is to continue to write selected reviews but to leave the rest to a talented team of writers handpicked and greatly admired by me. What’s more, I’ll be able at last to do what I’ve always fantasized about doing: reviewing only the movies I want to review.

At the same time, I am re-launching the new and improved Rogerebert.com and taking ownership of the site under a separate entity, Ebert Digital, run by me, my beloved wife, Chaz, and our brilliant friend, Josh Golden of Table XI. Stepping away from the day-to-day grind will enable me to continue as a film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times, and roll out other projects under the Ebert brand in the coming year.

Siskel & Ebert – Special Tribute Show to Gene Siskel, part 2 of 3!

Ebertfest, my annual film festival, celebrating its 15th year, will continue at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, my alma mater and home town, April 17-21. In response to your repeated requests to bring back the TV show “At the Movies,” I am launching a fundraising campaign via Kickstarter in the next couple of weeks. And gamers beware, I am even thinking about a movie version of a video game or mobile app. Once completed, you can engage me in debate on whether you think it is art.

And I continue to cooperate with the talented filmmaker Steve James on the bio-documentary he, Steve Zaillian and Martin Scorsese are making about my life. I am humbled that anyone would even think to do it, but I am also grateful.

Siskel & Ebert — Special Tribute Show to Gene Siskel — part 3 of 3!

Of course, there will be some changes. The immediate reason for my “leave of presence” is my health. The “painful fracture” that made it difficult for me to walk has recently been revealed to be a cancer. It is being treated with radiation, which has made it impossible for me to attend as many movies as I used to. I have been watching more of them on screener copies that the studios have been kind enough to send to me. My friend and colleague Richard Roeper and other critics have stepped up and kept the newspaper and website current with reviews of all the major releases. So we have and will continue to go on.

At this point in my life, in addition to writing about movies, I may write about what it’s like to cope with health challenges and the limitations they can force upon you. It really stinks that the cancer has returned and that I have spent too many days in the hospital. So on bad days I may write about the vulnerability that accompanies illness. On good days, I may wax ecstatic about a movie so good it transports me beyond illness.

I’ll also be able to review classics for my “Great Movies” collection, which has produced three books and could justify a fourth.

For now, I am throwing myself into Ebert Digital and the redesigned, highly interactive and searchable Rogerebert.com. You’ll learn more about its exciting new features on April 9 when the site is launched. In addition to housing an archive of more than 10,000 of my reviews dating back to 1967 we will also feature reviews written by other critics. You may disagree with them like you have with me, but will nonetheless appreciate what they bring to the party. Some I recruited from the ranks of my Far Flung Correspondents, an inspiration I had four years ago when I noticed how many of the comments on my blog came from foreign lands and how knowledgeable they were about cinema.

Siskel & Ebert — Sleepless In Seattle

We’ll be recruiting more critics and it is my hope that some of the writers I have admired over the years will be among them. We’ll offer many more reviews of Indie, foreign, documentary and restored classic revivals. As the space between broadcast television, cable and the internet morph into a hybrid of content, we will continue to spotlight the musings of Pulitzer Prize-winning TV critic Tom Shales, as well as the blog “Scanners” by Jim Emerson, who I first met at Microsoft when he edited Cinemania. The Ebert Club newsletter, under editor Marie Haws of Vancouver, will be expanded to give its thousands of subscribers even bigger and better benefits.

For years I devoutly took every one of my tear sheets, folded them and added them to a pile on my desk. The photo above shows the height of that pile in 1985 as it appeared on the cover of my first book about the movies published by my old friends John McMeel and Donna Martin of Andrews & McMeel. Today, because of technology, the opportunities to become bigger, better and reach more people are piling up too. The fact that we’re re-launching the site now, in the midst of other challenges, should give you an idea how important Rogerebert.com and Ebert Digital are to Chaz and me. I hope you’ll stop by, and look for me. I’ll be there.

So on this day of reflection I say again, thank you for going on this journey with me. I’ll see you at the movies.

Siskel & Ebert Review Fargo

QUOTATIONS by Roger Ebert: FILM CRITIC & Much More

“Your intellect may be confused, but your emotions will never lie to you.”
Roger Ebert

“Every great film should seem new every time you see it.”
Roger Ebert

“If a movie is really working, you forget for two hours your Social Security number and where your car is parked. You are having a vicarious experience. You are identifying, in one way or another, with the people on the screen.”
Roger Ebert

“No good movie is too long and no bad movie is short enough.”
Roger Ebert

“No matter what they’re charging to get in, it’s worth more to get out.”
― Roger Ebert

“It’s not what a movie is about, it’s how it is about it.”
― Roger Ebert

“Every scene should be able to answer three questions: “Who wants what from whom? What happens if they don’t get it? Why now?” ― David Mamet

“I don’t believe in learning from other peoples pictures. I think you should learn from your own interior vision of things and discover, as I say, Innocently, as though there had never been anybody.” ― Orson Welles

“A good movie can take you out of your dull funk and the hopelessness that so often goes with slipping into a theatre; a good movie can make you feel alive again, in contact, not just lost in another city. Good movies make you care, make you believe in possibilities again. If somewhere in the Hollywood-entertainment world someone has managed to break through with something that speaks to you, then it isn’t all corruption. The movie doesn’t have to be great; it can be stupid and empty and you can still have the joy of a good performance, or the joy in just a good line. An actor’s scowl, a small subversive gesture, a dirty remark that someone tosses off with a mock-innocent face, and the world makes a little bit of sense. Sitting there alone or painfully alone because those with you do not react as you do, you know there must be others perhaps in this very theatre or in this city, surely in other theatres in other cities, now, in the past or future, who react as you do. And because movies are the most total and encompassing art form we have, these reactions can seem the most personal and, maybe the most important, imaginable. The romance of movies is not just in those stories and those people on the screen but in the adolescent dream of meeting others who feel as you do about what you’ve seen. You do meet them, of course, and you know each other at once because you talk less about good movies than about what you love in bad movies.”
― Pauline Kael

“Well anything thats interesting in a film, or in a character (all your passion, your sex, your anger, your rage, all that) comes from that part of you that you want to hide and push away, and you want to deny all those things most. So if you can sort of visualize a version of your shadow. And if you sort of invite him or her to the party. And if you can really understand that this is where you’re going to let that shadow come out (this is where its home) Its really just understanding that its your job to get vulnerable.

And most people who have the exact opposite; most people go through life and they try all their time not to feel all those dark things. We have to go feel them, but its an opportunity too. I think to think of it that way, that just gets you into flow and that unclocks your subconscious, so you get out of your head and into your heart. Thats what I do, I just try to remember that the part of you thats going to do a good job is the part of you you want to most deny.” ― John Cusack

“It is an example of what films can do, how they can slip past your defenses and really break your heart.” ― David Gilmour

“I think that is what film and art and music do; they can work as a map of sorts for your feelings.” ― Bruce Springsteen

“I want to thank anyone who spends a part of their day creating, I don’t care if it’s a book, a film, a painting, a dance, a piece of theater, a piece of music – anybody who spends part of their day sharing their experience with us – I think this world would be unlivable without art and I thank you.” ― Steven Soderbergher

“I’m lucky enough to be able to make films and so I don’t need a psychiatrist. I can sort out my fears and all those things with my work. That’s an enormous privilege. That’s the privilege of all artists, to be able to sort out their unhappiness and their neuroses in order to create something.” ― Michael Haneke

The Mystery Box

Admission & Jurassic Park

1 Reply

Admission & Jurassic Park
Post Created by jk the secret keeper
Created & Posted 03.30.13

The film Admission trailer. This film stars Tina Fey and Paul Rudd. From viewing the trailer I feel the possibilities of this film to be amusing if not hysterically funny rests at a high scale in probabilities. That is why I want to offer this to you to check out for yourself. However, from one source, which I shall check out more thoroughly, thought it was not as funny as it should be & should have let Tina Fey write the script. Now to check out Rotten Tomatoes before I close out what the critical acclaim is on Admission. jk the secret keeper

REVIEW OF ADMISSION: Draw your own conclusions. From this review I would want to see the film.

You know how you sometimes cut a movie way more slack than it deserves, just because there’s something about it that gets to you? That was my experience with Admission, Paul Weitz’s comedy-drama about a Princeton admissions officer (Tina Fey) whose tidy life goes into freefall when she meets a young man she suspects may be her biological son. Admission is all over the place narratively and tonally; its blend of rom-com slapstick and heartfelt drama never quite gels, and its multiple plotlines (there are at least four of them) don’t so much tie up as just … trail off. But I found myself curiously willing to overlook Admission’s weaknesses, or even to reinterpret them as strengths—couldn’t those inconclusive endings be seen as a refreshingly un-rom-com-like embrace of life’s open-endedness and complexity?

In putting my thumb on the scale for Admission in this way, I may just be operating under the influence of the film’s heroine, Portia Nathan, whose problem is precisely her inability to stop cutting a worthy but flawed candidate too much slack. Portia’s motives may be nobler than mine—it’s not every day that the baby you gave up for adoption resurfaces in your life as a brilliant but materially disadvantaged autodidact whom you are uniquely positioned to help. But in my defense, romantic comedies that truck in real human emotion—that make you, however intermittently, squirm and cringe and laugh and cry—don’t grow on trees either.

Admission, adapted by Karen Croner from a novel by Jean Hanff Korelitz (who herself briefly worked in the Princeton admissions office as an application reader), doesn’t aim to satirize the institutional elitism of the Ivy League admissions process but to illuminate its workings from the inside. It may gently mock the excesses of the dog-eat-dog selection system at top-tier universities—the pushy parents, the cloyingly earnest personal essays, the ever-more-arcane lists of extracurricular interests—but it also ultimately affirms that system’s value (and, by extension, the value of an undergraduate liberal-arts education). This would be a good movie for a parent to watch with a high-school-age child facing down the college admissions slog—it’s mildly snarky but resolutely uncynical.

for the conclusion to review CLICK ON: ADMISSION REVIEW CONCLUDES

I, also, add the film trailer for that old favorite Jurassic Park, which if when you saw it on the screen for the first time didn’t scare the sh*t out of you. I did a great deal of screaming. It is back for those who are into 3D but I am just posting it here for nostalgia. Even the trailer brings back feelings of terror as the velociraptors still scare me. This film has scared me more times than Alien or any of its sequels. Enjoy both trailers.

jk the secret keeper

Admission — Movie Trailer

Jurassic Park — Movie Trailer

QUOTATIONS on FILMS:

“Give them pleasure. The same pleasure they have when they wake up from a nightmare.” ― Alfred Hitchcock

“The moment we cry in a film is not when things are sad but when they turn out to be more beautiful than we expected them to be.” ― Alain de Botton

“Film as dream, film as music. No art passes our conscience in the way film does, and goes directly to our feelings, deep down into the dark rooms of our souls.” ― Ingrid Bergman

“Up until then, whenever anyone had mentioned the possibility of making a film adaptation, my answer had always been, ‘No, I’m not interested.’ I believe that each reader creates his own film inside his head, gives faces to the characters, constructs every scene, hears the voices, smells the smells. And that is why, whenever a reader goes to see a film based on a novel that he likes, he leaves feeling disappointed, saying: ‘the book is so much better than the film.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Zahir

“It’s not what a movie is about, it’s how it is about it.” ― Roger Ebert

“Oh how Shakespeare would have loved cinema!” ― Derek Jarman, Dancing Ledge

The Twilight Saga Is Over

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The Twilight Saga Is Over
Breaking Dawn Part 2
By Jennifer Kiley
Created 03.24.13
Illustrations
Posted 03.25.13
SPOILER ALERT FOR FILM AFTER POSTER

breaking dawn part two

SPOILER ALERT — SPOILER ALERT — SPOILER ALERT — SPOILER ALERT — SPOILER ALERT

I DO NOT GIVE AWAY THE ENDING BUT I DO GO THROUGH THE SCENARIO OF WHAT LEADS UP TO THE FINAL THIRD OF THE FILM.

BE WARNED. DO NOT READ IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THE FINAL FILM. Just enjoy the images and video trailer and the video of a song in the film.

The last of the Twilight Saga Films Breaking Dawn Part 2 is a satisfying film for all Twilight Vampire Lovers Among Us. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Shouted many expletives and watched twice within the same week. The extras that come with purchasing the Final Film of the Series do a marvelous job of explaining and creating a more enjoyable second viewing of the Final Film, giving you even more satisfaction to the conclusion.

The final film in the series of The Twilight Saga — Breaking Dawn part 2

The fantasy of The Twilight Saga. Have an imagination and enjoy the world of fiction.

This final film pays attention to Bella’s perspective, describing her painful transformation and finding she had changed into a vampire. She enjoyed her new life and abilities. She moves like the wind on black beauties. Mountains from top to bottom or in reverse, no problem. More strength then anyone, male or female. Love her new look. Hot and alive, not that wearing jeans and sneakers is a bad look. Loved that, also.

And then there’s the vampire Irina, who misidentifies Renesmee as an “Immortal child”, a child turned into a vampire. “Immortal children” are suppose to be uncontrollable, so it had been outlawed by the Volturi. Irina presents her allegation to the Volturi. Honestly feeling she is doing the right thing for vampires everywhere. This greatly disturbs the Volturi to the point of a murderous distraction. They device a plan which takes no time to hit the entire vampire network. Feeling threatened by the implications of an “Immortal child” to their survival, they intend to destroy Renesmee and the Cullens.

Now, you know that the Cullens are not going to just wait for the Volturi. They have a strong survival instinct. They come up with their own course of action. The Cullens start gathering other vampire clans from around the world to stand as witnesses and prove to the Volturi that Renesmee is not an “Immortal child.” The Cullens feel, if the Volturi are made aware that Renesmee is not a threat, they will back off and leave the Cullens in peace.

Being confronted with the Cullen allies and witnesses, the Volturi discover that they have been misinformed. Without hesitation they make Irina pay dearly for her mistake, but still remain undecided on whether Renesmee should be viewed as a threat to the vampires’ secret existence.

Eventually, it seems, all that remains leads up to the final confrontation and the end result. I feel you should see the film to discover what the culmination is to the complete story of The Twilight Saga, if you haven’t already read it in the book or have already seen the film in the theatres or on DVD or Blu-Ray.

Will their love survive. Will they survive the final showdown?

Stephanie Meyer ends the series:

The Twilight Saga is really Bella’s story, and this was the natural place for her story to wind up. She overcame the major obstacles in her path and fought her way to the place she wanted to be. I suppose I could try to prolong her story unnaturally, but it wouldn’t be interesting enough to keep me writing. Stories need conflict, and the conflicts that are Bella-centric are resolved.

Breaking Dawn cover showing Bella’s transition

Cover art: SPOILER ALERT

The cover is a metaphor for Bella’s progression throughout the entire series; she began as the physically weakest player on the board, the pawn, but at the end she becomes the strongest, the queen. The chessboard also hints at the conclusion of the novel “where the battle with the Volturi is one of wits and strategy, not physical violence.”

Title:

The title, Breaking Dawn, is a reference to the beginning of Bella’s life as a newborn vampire, wanting to add a “sense of disaster” to the title to match the novel’s mood. Also, it centers around “a new awakening and a new day.”

Twilight Breaking Dawn Part 2 Official Trailer

A Thousand Years — Christina Perri

QUOTATIONS from THE TWILIGHT SAGA & VAMPIRES:

“Nessie? You nicknamed my daughter after the Loch Ness Monster?” — Bella Cullen

“I thought we would be safe forever. But “forever” isn’t as long as I’d hoped.” — Bella Cullen

“It’s healthy to ditch class now and then.” To be precise, it was healthier for humans if vampires ditched on days when human blood would be spilt.” ― Stephenie Meyer, Midnight Sun

“Sorry if I can’t be the right monster for you Bella.” ― Stephenie Meyer, New Moon

“Mom. I have something to tell you. I’m undead. Now, I know you may have some preconceived notions about the undead. I know you may not be comfortable with the idea of me being undead. But I’m here to tell you that undead are just like you and me … well, okay. Possibly more like me than you.” ― Cassandra Clare, City of Ashes

“You know that old saying. Once you go dead, no one’s better in bed.” ― Jeaniene Frost, One Foot in the Grave

“Clary- “How to Come Out to Your Parents,” she read out loud. “LUKE. Don’t be ridiculous. Simon’s not gay, he’s a vampire.” ― Cassandra Clare, City of Ashes

“I have been stabbed, shot, burned, bitten, beaten unconscious too many times to count, and even staked. None of those held a candle to the pain I felt at seeing his mouth on hers.” ― Jeaniene Frost, One Foot in the Grave

“When other little girls wanted to be ballet dancers, I kind of wanted to be a vampire.” ― Angelina Jolie

“You undo me, Merit. Wholly and completely. You don’t take me at my word. You challenge me at every opportunity. And that means when I’m with you, I am less than the head of this House…and I am more than the head of this House. I am a man.” He stroked my cheeks with his thumbs. “In my very, very long life, I need you more than I have ever needed anything.” ― Chloe Neill, Twice Bitten

“A witch, a vampire, and a pixy walk into a bar, I thought as I led the way into the Squirrel’s End. It was early, and the sun had yet to set when the door swung shut behind Jenks, sealing us in the warm air smelling faintly of smoke. Immediately Nick yanked it open to come in behind us. And there’s the punch line.” ― Kim Harrison, A Fistful of Charms

“I am your sire. I am to guide you through your first days as a vampire. Your first feeding is a rite of passage, a sacrament. It will not be wasted on some hormone-driven frenzy. This is why I wanted you to feed from me.”
“I will not drink it in a house, I will not drink it with a mouse. I will not drink it
here or there, I will not drink it anywhere,” I wheezed, hoping I was able to communicate adequate sarcasm through the crippling belly cramps.
“Did you just quote Green Eggs and Ham?”
― Molly Harper, Nice Girls Don’t Have Fangs

“Ivy turned. ‘He bit you on the neck?’ she said, deadpan serious but for her eyes. ‘Oh, then it’s got to be love. She won’t let me bite her neck.” ― Kim Harrison, Dead Witch Walking

“I never knew what life was until it ran out in a red gush over any lips, my hands!” ― Anne Rice

“I glanced at George half naked in his towel, then at Barkley, completely naked in his . . . nothing. A vampire and a werewolf.
I shook my head. It was obvious. I was having one of my Anita Blake dreams again. ”
― Michelle Rowen, Fanged & Fabulous

“I am the Vampire Lestat. I’m immortal more or less. The light of the sun, the sustained heat of an intense fire-these things might destroy me. But then again, they might not.” ― Anne Rice

“Oh Lestat, you deserved everything that’s ever happened to you. You better not die. You might actually go to hell.” ― Anne Rice, The Vampire Lestat

“Eternity is a long time to spend alone, without others of your kind.” ― Cassandra Clare, City of Fallen Angels

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