(I know. I'm late with the Saturday blog. It doesn't seem to take much to get behind when you write a daily blog. I'll see if I can't get us caught up today.)
As many of us here in Denver cheer on much-beloved and beautiful local actress, singer, and dancer Kendra Jacobs in her battle with leukemia, I wanted to share a little bit of information with you about leukemia and other blood cancers.
Blood cancers make up about 9% of all diagnosed cancers every year.
Every four minutes another person is diagnosed with a blood cancer.
It is estimated that over 50,000 people in the U.S. died last year from blood cancers. That's roughly six people every hour - one person every ten minutes. The good news is that those numbers are better than a decade ago, and the rate of survival is improving significantly, due in no small part to advances in cancer research. The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society is one organization funding that research. LLS also provides resources and support to people diagnosed with blood cancers.
As always, there are plenty of ways that you can help.
Keep fighting, Kendra. We've got your back.
Way back in July of last year, I posted a wonderfully cheesy song from the soundtrack of a lesser-known Al Pacino film of the 1980s, Author! Author! This film also happens to be one of my absolute favorite guilty pleasures. I watch it at least every couple of months or so. The film is written by Israel Horovitz and directed by Arthur Hiller and follows the the travails of Ivan Travalian (probably not a coincidence) a successful New York playwright through the casting and opening of his new play on Broadway.
But it's not really about the play.
Ivan lives with his wife, Gloria (Tuesday Weld), his son from a previous marriage, and Gloria's four children from three previous marriages. Then, Gloria leaves.
This film was pretty much trashed by the critics. They thought the kids were too precocious. They thought Al Pacino was too manic and rambling and that his line delivery was odd. They thought that some of the characters were a little too broad.
*sigh*
Okay. These are all things that I love about the film. The kids are smart and funny - they're written by Israel Horovitz, how could they not be? The cast of young actors deftly crosses the line from comedy to drama and back again. Included in the cast is a young Ari Meyers in her first major role. (Oh, such a crush I've had on her since Kate & Allie.) I think Pacino's performance is perfect, and I'm sorry that he doesn't do more comedy. One reviewer criticized his mumbling. I don't know. Clean your ears, dude. I understood every word.
Yes, the supporting characters are a little broad. Alan King as the larger-than-life wheeler-dealer producer chews scenery like nobody's business, and you love him for it. Dyan Cannon is adorable as a quirky L.A. actress in her first stage role. As the intrepid director who doesn't actually like the play, Bob Dishy is a stitch. Richard Belzer appears in a minor but memorable role as the gay stage manager.
One of my favorite characters in the movie, though, is the city of New York. My first trip to New York City was in 1986, and this movie is how I remember it.
Push aside the city, and the odd characters, and the cheesy theme song (all of which I love), and you find that this is still a movie with a heart and a message. Horovitz's story comments on an age when people move from marriage to marriage leaving heartache and sad children in their wake. He is quoted as saying, "The film had to be written in a comic mode, otherwise it's too painful to deal with."
I agree, and, in my opinion, John McClane could stop an alien invasion with a water pistol and a pair of needle-nose pliers, and he would still not be the hero that Ivan Travalian is in this movie. Author! Author! is, at this writing, available for streaming on Netflix, or, if you ask me very nicely, I might let you borrow my copy on one condition: I get to watch it with you.
On Tuesday, Iranian officials suspended a production of the 120-year-old Ibsen play, Hedda Gabler, in Tehran on the basis that it was "vulgar" and "hedonistic." A ban has been imposed on the play, the actors were called before the Iranian chief prosecutor, and a new office has been established to police the arts in a "crackdown" on cultural affairs in the country. (Kinda puts the Colorado smoking ban in perspective, huh?)
You can read more about the story here.
The show had been running for about a week before governmental officials closed it - in part for a scene in which a man almost kisses a woman who is not his wife. (Physical contact between men and women who are not related is banned in Iran.) The chief prosecutor also objected to the fact that the production was based on a western play full of "nihilistic" ideals.
I decided to write about this today, because I just wanted to remind theatre folk in this country just how free we are to produce new and bold works that challenge conformity and traditionalism. Audiences here will not be barred from entering a theater because the play inside does not fit within the ideals of the local church or the government. In this country we have freedom of speech and freedom of expression, and we can use that freedom to push against barriers of prejudice and conventionalism with controversial or thought-provoking drama.
Or Sound of Music. Whichever. The point is, we have a choice.
For those needing a quick refresher on Hedda Gabler, I found a quick adaptation in . . . Lego.
Um, spoilers?
One hundred and three years ago yesterday, President Theodore Roosevelt made the Grand Canyon a national monument. Carved by the Colorado River, the Grand Canyon is 277 miles long, up to 18 miles wide, and over a mile deep in places. It is home to 75 species of mammals, like the coyote:
Note: Do NOT feed the wildlife, cherubs. (Check out this article from Christian Espanol, writer for the Grand Canyon South Rim Examiner to learn why.)
The Grand Canyon is also home to 50 different species of reptiles and amphibians, including the Canyon Rattlesnake. Don't worry, I'm a mild ophidiophobe myself, so nothing's going to jump out at you in the following video.
My trepidation around snakes comes from a couple of scary experiences with rattlers when I was really young, but I have to admit that snakes are actually pretty cool. Rattlesnake bites in the Grand Canyon are rare and are usually the result of some person being a doofus. That rattle you hear means, "Dude, I don't want to have to bite you, so back off."
In the Colorado River, you will find 25 species of fish. You will. I won't find anything. I'd have to survive on cactus flowers and tree bark. I'm a terrible fisherman. I couldn't even find any good videos of Grand Canyon fish. All I found was fat guys drinking beer and yelling, "Keep your line taut, Steve!" (I do not understand modern flirting.)
I did find an example of one of the 300 different species of birds in the Grand Canyon, who, inarguably, have the best view of the park. Look at this video of a beautiful California Condor.
Cool, but also a make-sure-you-know-where-the-family-shih-tzu-is moment. What? You couldn't tell that was a California Condor? Didn't you see the screenplay in its talons? (I hear Nicolas Cage is interested.)
Anyway, I think we owe Teddy Roosevelt a big thanks for looking out for the Grand Canyon a century ago so that today we can enjoy this:
(Do yourself a favor and go "fullscreen" on this.)
There are some other people in the
movie, but, for the life of me, I can't
remember who right now.
I just watched the A-Team movie on DVD. It was fun: lots of implausible stunts, incredible explosions, snappy wisecracks, and Jessica Biel. I was happy. (Didn't even really need the wisecracks, explosions, or stunts.)
As the score played with variations on the old 80's TV theme tune, I thought back on one of my favorite things about TV in the 80s: Mike Post.
"Now, if I could only remember where I hid the cookie jar . . ."
Post composed the theme songs for everything from CHiPs to the A-Team to Quantum Leap to Law & Order. He started out as the musical director on The Andy Williams Show but got his big break when he co-wrote (with Pete Carpenter) the theme from - come on, you knew I was going to play this one - The Rockford Files.
"This. Is the city.
I carry a dog."
Post would next receive high praise for the theme song to Hill Street Blues and continue to compose for many police/private eye shows like Riptide, Magnum P.I., The Commish, Hunter, and Wiseguy. For a while there in the 80s, it seemed like, if you were watching prime time TV, you were listening to Mike Post. These days, it seems that opening theme intros have been more or less abandoned. I miss them. Opening themes were like an overture, setting the tone for what you were about to see. One of my favorites was for the short-lived John Ritter police "dramedy" Hooperman:
"Power of . . . JAZZ HANDS!"
I would be remiss if I ended this entry without mentioning the Mike Post theme song that was a bigger hit than the show for which it was written (though I always liked it). The theme from The Greatest American Hero - "Believe It Or Not" (lyrics by Stephen Geyer) - was one of the few TV theme songs to make the top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100, ultimately peaking at #2 via Joey Scarbury's golden vocals.
Now, I'm going to do something that you all aren't going to like, but, every once in a while I have to remind you of why I am the Big Bad Wolf.
I'm going to get one of Mike Post's more insipid little theme songs stuck in your head without even playing the song. Are you ready? One, two, three: THEME FROM BLOSSOM!
Gotcha. Good luck getting that one out of your brain now.
(For those too young to remember, here's a link. You've been warned.)
Note: I was having technical issues on Sunday and into today, so that is why there was no Superhero Sunday entry yesterday. I have decided that I will instead double-up on next Sunday's entries.
For today, I thought I'd go back to the font of wisdom that is Dr. Wayne Dyer. However, instead of sharing another video of the good Doctor, I thought I'd instead treat you to some poetry by one of Dr. Dyer's favorite and oft-quoted poets, Rumi.
Soul receives from soul that knowledge, therefore not by book nor from tongue.
If knowledge of mysteries come after emptiness of mind, that is illumination of heart.
Rumi was a 13th century mystical Sufi poet, and the wisdom of his words is sometimes quickly revealed, but often the words need to be turned over in the mind for a while to glean the full meaning. (The word "ruminate" does not have any link to the great poet's name, but it makes for an interesting coincidence.)
This World Which Is Made of Our Love for Emptiness
Praise to the emptiness that blanks out existence. Existence: This place made from our love for that emptiness! Yet somehow comes emptiness, this existence goes. Praise to that happening, over and over! For years I pulled my own existence out of emptiness. Then one swoop, one swing of the arm, that work is over. Free of who I was, free of presence, free of dangerous fear, hope, free of mountainous wanting. The here-and-now mountain is a tiny piece of a piece of straw blown off into emptiness. These words I'm saying so much begin to lose meaning: Existence, emptiness, mountain, straw: Words and what they try to say swept out the window, down the slant of the roof.
The meaning of the words may differ from person to person, so I won't attempt to tell you what the wisdom is in each of these poems. Mostly, I am still absorbing them myself.
These spiritual window-shoppers, who idly ask, 'How much is that?' Oh, I'm just looking. They handle a hundred items and put them down, shadows with no capital. What is spent is love and two eyes wet with weeping. But these walk into a shop, and their whole lives pass suddenly in that moment, in that shop. Where did you go? "Nowhere." What did you have to eat? "Nothing much." Even if you don't know what you want, buy _something,_ to be part of the exchanging flow. Start a huge, foolish project, like Noah. It makes absolutely no difference what people think of you.
They are beautiful, regardless of meaning, even though they were not originally written in English.
If thou wilt be observant and vigilant, thou wilt see at every moment the response to thy action. Be observant if thou wouldst have a pure heart, for something is born to thee in consequence of every action.
In the northern part of the Pacific Ocean floats an unintentional man-made "sculpture" of plastic debris that is literally choking the flora and fauna of the region. It is referred to as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and its size has been described as being anywhere from the size of Texas to the size of the continental United States. The measurement I have heard most frequently is "twice the size of Texas." Whatever its size, that's a lot of garbage. Covering that area, there is more plastic than there is plankton, and, unfortunately, birds and fish that survive on plankton can't always tell the difference until it's too late.
It can be daunting to think about the size and impact of all of this garbage floating on the ocean, and I've heard that they've found a similar patch in the South Pacific as well.
So what do we do?
Well, we've all heard this one before: reduce, recycle, and reuse. It was wise the first time you heard it, and it's just as wise now - if not more so. I'm not really good at doing this myself, so here's a few tips for both of us:
Reduce the number of plastic bottles you go through for water by hooking up a water filter to your home faucet.
Recycle the items you use and look for easily-recyclable items when you shop. It's not easy to do at first, but it can eventually become a habit.
Reuse the items that you can't easily recyclable. Sometimes local artists will use items in their work or schools use them as art supplies in classes. Growing up, I remember opening up three or four margarine containers that were being used as left-over containers before actually finding the margarine. (Eventually, my mom got better at labeling stuff.) This was a habit that my mother had learned from her mother, who I'm sure, learned it from her mother.
In fact, here's an article that looks at some of the rationing practices that took place during World War II, and how some of those same practices can be applied to today's excesses of consumerism that have led to the excesses of pollution and waste.
The last thing I will leave you with today is a visual example of how plastic garbage and nature do not mix:
That plastic ring got stuck on the turtle when it was young,
and its exoskeleton grew around it.
The good news is that those numbers are better than a decade ago, and the rate of survival is improving significantly, due in no small part to advances in cancer research.
