more rat

"The success of the Rat Pack was due to the camaraderie,
the three guys who work together
and kid each other
and love each other."
-Sammy


(ocean's eleven)

"Real success is not on the stage,
but off the stage as a human being,
and how you get along with your fellow man."
-Sammy



"During three decades, along all the highways of my youth,
Frank had always been there for me."
-Sammy


the lawfords, frank, and marilyn


"Marilyn and I were rumored to be an item.
We were friends. Nothing more.
Marilyn was one of the sweetest creatures that ever lived."
-Sammy



"I would like to be remembered as a man who had a wonderful time living life,
a man who had good friends, fine family -
and I don't think I could ask for anything more than that, actually."
-Frank



"When I sing, I believe. I'm honest."
-Frank



"You gotta love livin', baby.
'cause dyin' is a pain in the ass."
-Frank



"Cock your hat - angles are attitudes."
-Frank



james and sammy.


bits and photos from:
https://www.google.com/search?q=rat+pack+gallery&hl=en&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=p95oT4rtMevPiAKWic3XBg&ved=0CEEQsAQ&biw=1280&bih=850
http://www.askmen.com/galleries/the-rat-pack/picture-1.html
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/s/sammy_davis_jr.html#ixzz1qFnf6agg
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/f/frank_sinatra.html#ixzz1qFrgoRLN

go George, go!

WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 16:


photo/story from The Washington Post

Amnesty International activists, and members of Congress
were arrested for blocking the entrance of the
Sudan Embassy.



The blocking of the embassy entrance
was in protest of Sudan's continuance to block aid
from reaching the suffering people of its country.



nick instilled in his son, george, the importance of politics and backbone.
so, it's got to make them both very proud to have been arrested together today,
and bring attention to the ongoing genocide in sudan.




previous quotes -

...
"It is not merely your right but your duty to question your government."

...
george has visited Sudan multiple times over the years
and met with the people there.
"It gets in your bloodstream and you have a responsibility to them,"
he told Woodruff after testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
from this video


...
When the pro-war lobby fought back he was initially unnerved.
"I remember when they were picketing the movie theatre for me
and I called my dad and said, 'Er, so, am I in trouble?'
And he's like, 'Shut up. Mohammed Ali went to prison for protesting against Vietnam,
and you're worried about making a little bit less money? Grow up. Be a man.'"

...
"I remember having a big fight with a guy named Ed Weinberg
on the set of a sitcom called Baby Talk, which was my big break.
Connie Selleca was on it and I remember having a big fight with Ed
because he was a rat and he was doing rotten things and treating people mean.
I called up my agent and said 'What happens if I walk?'
and he said 'You'll be sued.'
It continued on, this bad treatment of everybody else
and I thought 'you know what? It's worth it'
and I thought I would survive and I walked.
Weinberg said you'll never work in this town again and threatened to sue me.
Columbia threatened to sue me.
ABC threatened to sue me.
But it was the right thing to do.
It was the first time, as an actor, that I got to be a man,
which isn't always easy to do,
because a lot of times as an actor you have to go 'this crap I'll eat.'
And you have to draw a line in the sand.
Most of the time you're forced to move or adjust that line.
What I realized was if you draw a line in the sand
and you actually stand by it.
In general, your career won't end based on one move or one decision.
It's incredibly freeing.
Suddenly it meant I could do what I wanted to do.
Suddenly it made it much easier for me to try and do different projects
and try to do different things that I thought were the right thing to do.
It was certainly a moment of clarity for me.
- from this interview

Lent, and it's pre-func

lent is the penitential preparation of the believer
through prayer, penance, repentance, alms giving, and self-denial.

to overcome selfishness,
to desire more strongly to live a holy life,
and to show to others the love and compassion.

sin injures and weakens the sinner,
as well as relations with god and neighbors

"penance" is derived from old french and latin "poenitentia",
root meaning repentance; the desire to be forgiven.
merits of faith and good works.
the whole activity from confession to absolution.

jesus spent forty days fasting in the desert
where he endured temptation by satan,
before the beginning of his public ministry.

Antonio Ciseri's depiction of Pontius Pilate
presenting a scourged Christ to the people
"Ecce homo!" (Behold the man!)


---


- Clean Week, Maslenitsa (in russia), Butter Week, Pancake week, Cheesefare Week
The entire first week of lent.
(though, christians celebrate this the week before Lent)
confession is customary, and cleaning the house thoroughly.

- Forgiveness Sunday, Cheesefare Sunday:
the day lent begins, in some religions, at a special service called Forgiveness Vespers,
which culminates with the Ceremony of Mutual Forgiveness,
at which all present will bow down before one another and ask forgiveness,
so Lent can begin with a clean conscience, forgiveness, and renewed love.

- Clean Monday, Ash Monday, Shrove Monday, Collop Monday,
Rose Monday, Merry Monday, Hall Monday:
the Monday before Ash Wednesday.
Orthodox Lent begins.
"cease to do evil; learn to do well." -Isaiah 1:1-20
some countries go on picnics and fly kites,
or snowball fight, sled, swing, and sleigh ride, etc.
this happy, springtime atmosphere may seem at odds
with the Lenten spirit of repentance and self-control,
but this seeming contradiction is a marked aspect of the orthodox approach to fasting,
where you're encouraged not to mope around:
"When ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance:
for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast.
Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face,
that thou appear not unto men to fast,
but unto thy Father which is in secret"
Matthew 6:14-21


- Shrove Tuesday, Mardi Gras, Fat Tuesday, Pancake Tuesday, Pancake Day:
the day before lent.
rich foods ere eaten on the day before fasting to use up butter and sugar.
In Portuguese-, Spanish- and Italian-speaking countries, it is known as Carnival
[from the words carne levare (to take away meat), another aspect of Lent]
It is often celebrated with street processions and/or fancy dress.
The most famous of these events is the Brazilian Carnival in Rio de Janeiro,
while the Venetians celebrate carnival with a masquerade.
The use of the term 'carnival' in other contexts derives from here.
they make large batches of malasadas
(egg-sized balls of yeast dough that are deep-fried in oil and coated with granulated sugar)


- Ash Wednesday:
is the first day of lent.
occurs 46 days before Easter.
the beginning of 40 day period of prayer and fasting.
The ashes used are typically gathered after the palms
from the previous year's Palm Sunday are burned.

The priest or minister marks the forehead of each participant
with black ashes in the sign of the cross,
which the worshiper traditionally retains until it wears off.
The act echoes the ancient Near Eastern tradition of throwing ashes over one's head
to signify repentance before God, mourning, and sorrow for sins and faults.

The priest or minister says:
"Remember that thou art dust, and to dust thou shalt return." -Genesis 3:19
this act and the ashes are sacramental, not sacrament.
sacramentals may be given to anyone who wishes to receive them
sacraments are reserved for church members, except in grave cases.

sometimes, small cards are distributed to the congregation
on which people are invited to write a sin they wish to confess.
These small cards are brought forth to the altar table where they are burned.

On Ash Wednesday and Good Friday,
Catholics are permitted to consume only one full meal,
which may be supplemented by two smaller meals,
which together should not equal the full meal.
Some undertake a complete fast or a bread and water fast.
Ash Wednesday and all fridays during lent, are days of abstinence from meat.
Some continue fasting throughout lent, concluding only after easter.

in 1984, in Ireland, Ash Wednesday is National No Smoking Day.
because it ties in with giving up luxury.
it's now fixed as the second Wednesday in March.


- Muandy Thursday, Holy Thursday:


the six Sundays in this period are not counted
because each one represents a "mini-Easter" celebration
of jesus' victory over sin and death.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lent
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penance
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passiontide

dino and sammy

lately, my thoughts are currently on the rat pack.
specifically these two cats.

lucky for me, an endless supply of stories, films, songs and photos
will keep me busy for while.















these neat photos and more:
http://life.time.com/culture/the-rat-pack-25-never-seen-photos/rre

(again) more george quotes...

"I don't care a lot about my looks;
I don't even have a personal stylist.
It is unmanly and unsexy if you always worry about it."



"I don't tweet, I don't go on Facebook.
I think there's too much information about all of us out there.
I'm liking the idea of privacy more and more."

I've had a pretty good life, so there's no reason to be a butt-head.
The things that are going well so much outweigh the bad,
you'd have to be a jerk to complain."

"...if you thought about it for any period of time, you wouldn't do anything.
I mean, I never would have left Kentucky to be an actor if I'd pondered the odds."



- "I was raised Catholic in Kentucky: [in Catholicism] death is a very interesting thing,
because death is an open casket. It’s a very real thing.
I actually think it’s sort of barbaric,
but I understand the theory of it, which is that you have to see them dead.
You have to let that sit with you.
I also think being with my Uncle George, who I was close to,
and holding his hand – he had lung cancer – when he died
was a very specific thing that changed me fundamentally from the minute it happened.
I was on a show I didn’t like.
I was in a relationship that didn’t work
and I was holding his hand
and he just kept saying, ‘What a waste, what a waste…’.
And I also remember thinking at that moment,
‘I’m not gonna be 68 or 70 years old and be lying somewhere and saying, “What a waste”.
At the very least it’s gonna be foot on the gas pedal all the way.
As fast and as hard as I can.
So, if I get hit by a bus tomorrow, you go,
‘Well, you jammed a lot in 50 years’.
And that to me was immediate.
- alexander payne: "Was this your dad’s brother?"
- gtc: "Actually my dad’s uncle. So my great-uncle."
- ap: "Are you named after him?"
- gtc: "Yes."



- brad balfour (interviewer):
"At the crux of The Descendants are notions of forgiveness, maybe redemption.
What are your thoughts on forgiveness, both in the context of the film and in real life?"
- gtc:
" 'I forgive you. Now I don’t forgive you. I take it back.'
You’re absolutely right, there’s a big part of it, it’s forgiving yourself as much,
because so much of this that happened was also his responsibility.
I think a big part of that release at the end,
when he’s with his wife and he looks at her and he kisses her goodbye,
is understanding his part in this as well.
Yes, she cheated on him,
but he was not there and he was not a good father as much as he thought he was.
He was busy working. That happens.
Part of it was coming to understand that,
and I think that forgiving yourself is a very big part of that.
We all go through those experiences of understanding that the older you get,
the more forgiving you are of other people’s mistakes.
When you’re young, you find that anything that stands against something you believe in is just plain wrong.
I remember there would be relatives of mine who would say something
and I would say 'Well, he’s a bigot,'
and then come to find out later that I was way too judgmental.
I was making the issue much bigger than it was.
As we all get older, we get a little more forgiving of everything.
...except the guy driving 45 miles an hour."



"Our family always got our tree on Christmas Day.
One year, I was away at college, and I got a call from my mom.
She told me the dog I'd had for about 12 years had gotten into a neighbor's yard,
and the guy shot him in the butt.
I wanted to kill the guy.
He had this beautiful little house.
Everything was perfect--little picket fence,
perfect yard and one evergreen tree right in the middle.
So, on Christmas Eve, I snuck into his yard and sawed down that goddamned thing.
That was our Christmas tree that year."

"Nobody but nobody dominates Harvey on screen.
I did my best, but when I look at the result,
I can see him throw in a gesture, raise an eyebrow, or even take a pause, and he takes focus.
That's why he's Harvey Keitel,
and I'm just a lucky guy with the best job in the world."

"When I heard Terrence was making a new movie,
I let it be known that, hell, I'd carry film boxes.
I just wanted to be able to say that somewhere down the line I worked with Terrence Malick.
It was a little intimidating. Not only Malick and all the tanks,
but great actors whom I've never worked with.
I happen to think that Sean Penn is the most talented actor of my generation
-- we're around the same age -- so it was a little intimidating working with Sean for the first time."

"You know, you think you reach a point in this business
and you'll only be getting better-than-average stuff sent to you.
Well, wrong.
At one point I was five scripts a week for months,
and with script after script it was like, "God, this is awful."
Then you hear of the name stars who wind up doing it,
you read about it or hear about it, and you think, "Man, were they stoned?"
It's a test of your will, reading all those scripts.
You hope you find something that's good to do before they stop sending you stuff."

regarding One Fine Day;
"The kids in this movie were great.
They were more adult than I was.
Mae Whitman, who plays my daughter, is one of the best actors I've ever worked with.
The director would say, "I need you to cry,"
and she'd go, "Okay, hang on."
Then he'd say, "Now I need about 30 percent less,"
and she would cry 30 percent less!
I hate her."


since george gave a tour of his home in Person to Person,
i no longer have to ponder what his bar looks like...
or his sink...
or the contents of his fridge

these latest tidbits from:
http://www.cnn.com/2011/SHOWBIZ/01/20/clooney.piers.morgan/index.html
http://www.gossipcop.com/george-clooney-parade-interview-september-2011-aarp-50-pranks/
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/6346628/George-Clooney-interview.html
http://www.parade.com/celebrity/2011/09/george-clooney.html

steff

he knocks my argyle socks off.

he's rich. clean. and BAD.
i love him.

in general, i hang on james spader's every word,
but especially as Steff in the film Pretty in Pink.







for years, my look was dramatic.
black eye shadow. red lips. long jet-black hair.
over the last year, i've slowly matured into a whole new look and lifestyle.
this transformation became apparent to me late one night a few months ago;

i had been drinking, smoking, and paused some movie to use the restroom.
well, when i glanced in the bathroom mirror, i started hysterically laughing.
this was NOT the reflection i was used to seeing.
instead, there was this ...preppy,
as accentuated by my new horn-rimmed glasses
and men's crisp white dress shirt
(to which i've become accustomed to lounging/sleeping in).
i was simultaneously tickled and proud.

what made it even funnier was the realization;
i'm totally rockin steff's hair cut/color!

(of course, i don't wear it feathered like this. but still.)
heh. just sort of happened by accident.
...or did it?


... there is also something to be said for the other two boys in the film:



more steff appreciation:
http://geekt.blogspot.com/2008/03/james-spader-man-crush_19.html

dress shirt photo from:
http://michaelmay.blogspot.com/2011/04/100-things-i-love-about-movies.html

positively 4th street

lyrics by bob dylan


you got a lot of nerve to say you are my friend.
when I was down, you just stood there grinning.

you got a lot of nerve to say you got a helping hand to lend.
you just want to be on the side that’s winning.

you say I let you down, you know it’s not like that.
if you’re so hurt, why then don’t you show it?

you say you lost your faith, but that’s not where it’s at.
you had no faith to lose, and you know it.

i know the reason that you talk behind my back.
i used to be among the crowd you’re in with.

do you take me for such a fool to think I’d make contact,
with the one who tries to hide what he don’t know to begin with?

you see me on the street, you always act surprised.
you say, “how are you?” “good luck”, but you don’t mean it.

when you know as well as me, you’d rather see me paralyzed
why don’t you just come out once and scream it?

no, I do not feel that good when I see the heartbreaks you embrace.
if I was a master thief, perhaps I’d rob them.

and now I know you’re dissatisfied with your position and your place.
don’t you understand, it’s not my problem?

i wish that for just one time, you could stand inside my shoes
and just for that one moment, i could be you.

yes, I wish that for just one time, you could stand inside my shoes
you’d know what a drag it is to see you.


[this is how i felt in new york. the history all around.
(cool photo from: http://flickrhivemind.net/Tags/zimmerman/Interesting)]

Salma Hayek

quotes -

"I keep waiting to meet a man who has more balls than I do. "

"I'm good at working, but I'm very good at playing."

"I've stolen a couple of hearts and they are in my private collection!"
"My heart has been stolen too -
but I've gone and got it back every single time!"



"People often say that 'beauty is in the eye of the beholder,'
and I say that the most liberating thing about beauty
is realizing that you are the beholder.
This empowers us to find beauty in places where others have not dared to look,
including inside ourselves."

"Producing is hell,
writing is frustrating,
acting is really satisfying,
directing is heaven."



"Before you do anything, think.
If you do something to try and impress someone, to be loved,
accepted or even to get someone's attention, stop and think.
So many people are busy trying to create an image, they die in the process."

The Boxer

lyrics by Simon & Garfunkel

I'm just a poor boy though my story’s seldom told
I have squandered my resistance for a pocketful of mumbles
such are promises: all lies and jests
still a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest

When I left my home and my family I was no more than a boy
In the company of strangers in the quiet of the railway station

Runnin’ scared Laying low
seeking out the poorer quarters, where the ragged people go
Looking for the places only they would know.

Asking only workman’s wages I come looking for a job
But I get no offers, just a come-on from the whores on Seventh Avenue
I do declare there were times when I was so lonesome I took some comfort there

Now the years are rolling by me they are rockin’ evenly
I am older than I once was and younger than I'll be
that's not unusual, no it isn't strange
after changes upon changes we are more or less the same
After changes we are more or less the same

Then I'm laying out my winter clothes and wishing I was gone,
goin’ home where the new york city winters aren’t bleedin’ me
leading me to going home

In the clearing stands a boxer, and a fighter by his trade
And he carries the reminders of every glove that laid him down or cut him
’til he cried out in his anger and his shame; "I am leaving, I am leaving!"
but the fighter still remains