I couldn’t pass this up. Gene Kelly would have been 100 years old last week, and so, I give tribute to a great actor, dancer, and director.
Except for Xanadu. I’ll never understand why he consented to be in that atrocity.
Because of him, I always sing in the rain, dance on couches, and dream of a Brigadoon.
Have a great Wednesday!! 🙂
I must be the geekiest mom ever.
As I was setting up the mini laptop on the vanity, I noticed that there were some books available to read. Some not so well-known, like Houses of Stone, by Barbara Michaels. As light as it sounds, I will have to pass, in favor of the book right next to it:
Volume IX of the Encyclopedia Brittanica Great Books, Aristotle II.
Courtesy of Matthew Was Prey.
During my senior year in high school, our *ahem* petite virago known as our English V teacher was a devout follower of Mortimer J. Adler, who collected the works of influential writers into volumes called The Great Books. A philosopher and educator, he was most famous for his writings geared in layman’s terms. He claimed to write for people, not for academics, since they always wrote to each other. He also came up with the concept of The Great Ideas, words defined by the individual, such as “Beauty”, “Truth”, and ironically, “Idea”. Our English teacher was very adamant that we learn the concepts. Several exams can attest to that!
I never got around to reading the second volume of Aristotle’s works. I always meant to, but Life got in the way. And Fate, being the finicky weaver she is, has decided that I must finish what I started. It is no coincidence that this volume contains Politica and Rhetorica.
Who says I don’t love a little light reading?? 😉
Hm…where was I…?? Oh, right! The two hour tribute to the National Health Service.
I had to break it off there, because truly it took a very large portion of the program. I must give kudos to Danny Boyle for starting this tribute to the government by tying it in with J.M. Barrie’s bighearted contribution of his work, Peter Pan, to the Great Ormond Street Hospital. It was a very smooth transition. And after all of the hospital beds lighting up, and kids jumping on the trampoline “beds”, and nurses and staff dancing around (and they were great at it, which begs the question: do they have a second job to supplement their income from the NHS??), J.K. Rowling showed up to recite something I assume she wrote, since I can’t find any information on it, and suddenly, figures from every kid’s worst nightmare show up!!
The Red Queen, Cruella De Vil, Captain Hook, and VOLDEMORT!!! And he was HUGE. But not to worry, because an army of Marys Poppins arrived floating down in umbrellas to vanquish the nightmares.
Like Mary Poppins could take on Voldemort… Sheesh…
Moving away from the NHS lovefest, we find esteemed comedian and British icon Rowan Atkinson in his role of Mr. Bean, playing the theme from Chariots of Fire with the London Symphony Orchestra, texting on his phone, playing his chord with an umbrella as he reaches for a tissue in his backpack, so he can blow his nose, and toss the offending tissue to the pianist. Classic Bean, right?? But his chord is rather boring, so he begins to daydream that he is running with the runners on the beach, falling behind, hailing a taxi to take him to the front of the line, and crossing first at the finish line after he trips the guy in the lead. I have to admit, I was in tears from laughing so hard.
And after such a great skit, it goes to Hades again. A convoluted tribute to music spanning decades from the 60’s to today. Apparently, there was no music in the UK until the Beatles. It was full of black lighting, peace signs, and then a clubbing scene where a girl loses her phone, but a guy finds it and texts her he has it, and she texts back, but I have no idea how she can do that unless she also was carrying an iPod, but why would you carry an iPod to a dance club?? And this texting and cell phone and emailing debacle is a tie-in to Sir Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the internet. Finally the texting and cell phones make sense. But the choice of a rapper to finish leaves more than a few people speechless.
And then the athletes begin to file out. Greece is first, as is custom, and then alphabetically with the host country going last.
Some of the countries chose well in the uniform department. Among them were American Samoa, Fiji, Australia, and China. Some chose poorly. Among them Germany (pink and baby blue track suits??), Czech Republic (rain boots and shorts??), USA (we looked French), and sadly, Great Britain (gold accents on white track suits??). After they file out, there are more musical acts, complete with cyclists sporting glowing wings. They looked a bit like the Flying Monkeys, which was creepy, in my opinion.
The head honchos give their speeches, and they cut away to David Beckham “driving” the speedboat carrying the torch. Nice touch with Beck. He passes the torch to five-time Olympic gold medalist Steve Redgrave, who brings it in to the stadium. Traditionally, a former Olympian of the host country lights the torch. But not this time. A group of seven young athletes hand-picked by former British Olympians for their prowess and promise run with the torch, and then come back to the Olympians to have six additional torches lit, which they in turn use to light the petals of the cauldron, arranged in a circle, which then rise to make the torch:
The mechanics of it and vision were spectacular, but the cauldron is supposed to be seen from ALL points of the Olympic Village, not just in the stadium, so to me it’s a bit underdone and disappointing. But it is very lovely, nonetheless.
After the lighting, Sir Paul McCartney comes out to close the ceremony with “Hey, Jude”, bringing down the house. I guess because he’s a Beatle. Personally, I think Sir Elton John would have done a better show. A duet with the two of them would have been spectacular! All in all, it was everything Britain liked, which I suppose that’s the point of the whole ceremony: to introduce to the world the host country.
At least, my droning over it is over. At least for the next four years 😉
What can I say? I knew I would be in for disappointment!
The Olympic Opening Ceremony was yesterday, and I was very, very careful to not peek during the day, since it was going to be preempted here. Before the opening, there was an introduction, nicely narrated, beginning at the source of the Thames and encompassing the beautiful English countryside as it followed the river to London. As the narration began, they showed sketches of famous British icons: William Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Charles Darwin, and then John Lennon and Paul McCartney. It was as if there had been NOTHING of import composed or written or discovered in England between Darwin and Lennon. But I let it slide, since most young people here wouldn’t know if there had been, anyway. One thing that struck me as odd was how the narration talked about different nationalities competing, like the Chinese, and even the Massai, but lumped all Latinos. Huh…
The ceremonies opened as my British blogger friend Katipede informed: with a reproduction of a British pastoral scene, complete with livestock and working well and everything!! I had scoffed at it, but it truly was amazingly done. And ZOMG!!! Kenneth Branagh, who is awesomeness, recites from The Tempest!!!
Then as if by magic it began to transform into an industrial scene, and that was beautifully done. Smokestacks rising from the earth and men (and women, too) working in a factory setting, Branagh and Co. watching the transformation, with hundreds of drummers instead of 84 pianos to mark the transition, culminating in the forging of the Olympic Rings suspended above the field. It was masterful from a technological perspective. As the industrial revolution took root, there was then a pause for the War to End All Wars. Now, I’m all for a moment of silence, and was advocating for one specifically in memory of the Israeli athletes murdered at the Munich Olympics in 1972, forty years ago. But the IOC said that would be too political. However, the IOC did allow for a moment of silence for those who had died in the World Wars, as well as for the victims of the 7/7 attacks.
I assume those aren’t political in any way. Yes, I am a bit bitter, why do you ask?? But I had to remind myself that A) the director of this shindig happens to be a left-leaning socialist, and 2) the IOC is not exactly …. unbiased towards certain nation-states. And that’s where I will leave it!
Then it went to Hades.
People began filling the area dressed as members of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, and other sundry Beatles films and song references, along with Chelsea Trumpeters and carnival goers, suffragettes, and dark figures representing the wounded. In a sweet tongue-in-cheek moment, Daniel Craig as James Bond escorts Queen Elizabeth II to the games, only to parachute into the stadium. Like that would happen! But she was a good sport, and did a great job for her first acting gig. That was the only redeeming part of this section. Because Danny Boyle decided to make the National Health Service the centerpiece of his tribute.
I am not putting down the NHS. They do have their problems, true. But my problem with this is that Great Britain, the United Kingdom as a whole, has contributed far more to the world than just universal healthcare. In fact, they didn’t contribute universal healthcare at all, since it is their system, not everyone else’s. And this is the OLYMPICS, where ALL countries come together to put aside their political differences and rejoice in the human spirit. Music, literature, medicine, law…there is no end to what they have contributed to the world. But the tribute to the NHS seemed like a discreet push to the government. It was tacky and overdone, and if the NHS is so strapped, why did they use actual nurses and staff to dance around?? GAH!!!
Anyway, stay tuned tomorrow for Part 2. There was so much to cover, I have to break it down in two posts. Trust me 😉
Today we celebrate our country’s independence from Great Britain. It was a Shot Heard ‘Round the World.
Growing up in Puerto Rico, I was taught about Christopher Columbus, but not about Benjamin Franklin. I was taught about Juan Ponce de Leon, but not about Patrick Henry. I came to live in Texas in the summer of 1976, during the Bicentennial celebrations. I asked my dad why everything was red, white, and blue, and he told me it was a very important year. We were celebrating 200 years of being a country.
He said “WE”. That is when I realized that although I was Puerto Rican, I was an American. And as I grew older, and learned about the sacrifices men made in order to break free from tyranny, I began to see this place with new eyes. So often a revolution will simply remove one bad government and replace it with another just as bad (and don’t get me started on the French Revolution!). But the American Revolution was different. It didn’t seek to substitute a government. It sought to establish a government based on principles that had been lost by centuries of neglect. The people had been lost to power, and it was time to return that power to the people.
I’m no Constitutional scholar by any stretch, and this is simply my opinion. But it seems to me that of late, the people are losing the power over the government. I can’t really articulate it well. All I know is this:
But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
Our Founding Fathers wrote this on the Declaration of Independence. And they meant it. The question is if the time comes, will we mean it, too?
On this day, in 1775, the Massachusetts Provincial Congress appealed to the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia to assume authority for the New England army, because as we all know, THE BRITISH WERE COMING!!! (I hope my friend Katie has a good laugh!) So, allegedly at the behest of John Adams, Congress voted to take the NE Army and conscript it for use in all colonies (though no written record exists for that vote). However, they did vote to “to bring in a draft of rules and regulations for the government of the Army,” thus, the birth of our U. S. Army.
Being an Army wife, I am partial to this military birthday, for it is two-fold.
Today is also Flag Day!! On this day, the Second Continental Congress passed the Flag Resolution of 1777, which officially adopted the flag of our new found country.
When I arrived in Texas, it was the summer of 1976. Everything was red, white, and blue, and I thought this was the most color-coordinated country in the world. My dad explained that we were celebrating a very important birthday, and so began my love affair with History.
Long may she wave!!!
Crossposted everywhere I’m at 😉
I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full victory!–
Dwight D. Eisenhower, June 6, 1944
I regret never taking the opportunity to visit Normandy while stationed in Germany. I did get to visit the Luxembourg American Cemetery and Memorial near the village of Hamm in Luxembourg. The cemetery was established in December, 1944, by the U.S. Third Army during the Ardennes Offensive. General George S. Patton is buried there. Walking alongside the crosses, listening to the beauty, it felt as if Time was waiting for something. I think it still is.
These men had their victory. I pray we have in our spirit the same abilities to achieve our own.
With love and gratitude, we thank you for making the ultimate sacrifice so that we may enjoy freedom.
May we remember always.
For God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.– John 3:16
Happy Easter, and may you be showered with blessings 🙂
I love making up words. I think I enjoy it because English is my second language, and it was a challenge for me to learn it. And what better day to come with a new word than on Dr. Seuss’ birthday?? The man had a gift for brevity, and a beautiful soul to show for it.
“It has often been said
there’s so much to be read,
you never can cram
all those words in your head.So the writer who breeds
more words than he needs
is making a chore
for the reader who reads.That’s why my belief is
the briefer the brief is,
the greater the sigh
of the reader’s relief is.And that’s why your books
have such power and strength.
You publish with shorth!
(Shorth is better than length.)”
― Dr. Seuss
It is also Texas Independence Day! On this day, Texas adopted its Declaration of Independence, effectively telling Mexico that Texas was free from tyranny. It is also the birthday of General Sam Houston, who is rumored to have wanted the ratification of the document on his birthday. What a way to celebrate!!
Long may she wave!!
And as a short aside, today also marks the day that Puerto Ricans were granted citizenship by President Woodrow Wilson. So if not for that, my path to being a Texan in love with Seussian wordsmanshippery would not have happened. I hope y’all have enjoyed this little tribute to some wonderlyful historicality 🙂
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