Sleep Well Sweet Princess.

Wow. Time sure does past fast. It was one of those evenings that started off like normal. It was Saturday, August 30th, 1997. I was over at a family friend's where we were doing needlework and watching old movies. We used to do this a lot.

Then sometime around 8:00, we heard that Princess Diana had been in a car accident. I distinctly remember thinking, "She'll be all right. She's Diana." We turned off the movie and turned on the tv to CNN. Within minutes it was confirmed that Diana was indeed dead. I was devastated.

I stayed way past midnight, glued to the tv. When I got home, I continued watching. It was surreal. I couldn't believe it. It just couldn't be true. I finally went to bed sometime around 3:00 a.m. It was then that I let loose all the tears I'd been holding back and cried myself to sleep.

I felt like I had lost a friend. I had been an admirer of hers since 1981. She had her faults; we all do. I don't agree with some of the decisions that she made in her personal life - but who am I to judge?

I was in London the summer she got married. Almost every store was decorated for the event and selling memorabilia of some kind. It was then that began my love of all things royal.

I met her in 1986 when Prince Charles and Diana came to Expo 86. My best friend and I got up very early and waited three hours at Central Park to see them. It was worth it. We couldn't believe our luck when they rolled out the red carpet right in front of us. There was a child next to me getting squashed against the barricade. Diana bent down to talk to the child and said, "Dear, are you squashed?" She straightened up and looked around at her bodyguards and said, "Can't we do something?" Prince Charles shook his head and said, "It happens everywhere we go." I managed to hand her a single red rose and a note. I even managed to snap a few pictures. I was struck by her beauty. She was stunning. No picture ever captured how truly beautiful she really was - I'm not exxagerating. The afternoon I met her was the day she fainted in the California Pavillion at Expo 86. A few days later, I received a reply to my note. It's a treasured momento (even if was only signed by her secretary).

It's so sad that someone so beautiful was snatched away so young. Thirty-six is far too young to die. To think that her death was completely unnecesary. For all that I don't really care that much for Prince Charles, it is a credit to him that William and Harry have turned out so well.

Rest well, Diana.

Happy Birthday

Wow. Time sure has flown. My little blog is two years old today. Not that I post as often as I should. I'll try to do better; I seem to post in fits and starts. Here's hoping this starts a few flurry of posts.

Here's to the first two years - and to more to come.

Two Thumbs Up to Pixar

In case you think I write too many rant/soapbox-type posts, here's one that's completely different.

All I can say is, "Well done, Pixar. You've restored my faith in the goodness of humanity." I couldn't help but cry as I read this story a few days ago. It still chokes me up.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31448115/ns/entertainment-movies/

Star Trek - 2009

DH and I went to see the new Star Trek movie this afternoon, and since I made it known that we were going, I am under pressure to post a review. Here goes:

Let me start by saying, I'm not a die-hard Star Trek fan. I'm a Star Wars fan. I have seen a fair amount of episodes of The Original Series("TOS"), but I've seen almost six full seasons of The Next Generation ("TNG"). Though I like TOS, I prefer TNG. I've seen almost all the movies (with the exception of #3 "The Search for Spock").

This new movie sets the story back with the original crew (Kirk, Spock, Chekov, Uhura, McCoy["Bones"] Scotty, and Sulu. We are introduced to a younger crew, back when some of them were cadets at the Starfleet Academy.

The movie starts off the day that James Kirk is born. We are then fast-forwarded to a young Kirk as a rebellious teen in Iowa. We are also introduced to Spock as a child on his home planet of Vulcan. Then we are fast-forwarded to Kirk as a young man (Chris Pine) getting himself into trouble in a local watering-hole where he meets Nyota Uhura (Zoe Saldana) for the first time.

If you remember your Star Trek, you will know that Captain Kirk was not the original captain, it was captain Christopher Pike. He was in the pilot episode, "The Cage." This time around, he's played by Vancouver actor, Bruce Greenwood ("I Robot", "National Treasure 2", "Thirteen Days"). Taking the mantle of James Kirk is Chris Pine. He was fine. He had Kirk's swagger and roving eye with the women. There was a moment when he was lounging in the captain's chair just like William Shatner before him. He certainly had the looks to play the young Kirk, and occassionally if I closed my eyes, I thought I heard William Shatner's voice. Zachary Quinto (tv's Heroes") as Spock was also a good choice. He had the look to play Spock and the mannerisms. He didn't quite have Nimoy's gravelly voice, but he was fine. Zoe Saldana as Uhura was all right; nothing special. I think she could have been better, or perhaps they could have got someone better. There were moments when I thought I was watching Reese Witherspoon in Legally Blonde. John Cho ("Harold and Kumar") was miscast as Sulu. For one thing, he doesn't even look Japanese; he's Korean. Didn't have the voice or the mannerisms. I think they could have got someone better. Simon Pegg as Scotty didn't really look like James Doohan, but he had the Aberdonian accent and was otherwise true to the character. Anton Yelchin as Pavel Chekov had the voice down perfect, but I don't ever remember Chekov with curly hair. Other than that, he was fine. Eric Bana ("Troy", "Munich") as the villian "Nero" was unrecognizable. It wasn't until it was almost over that I recognized his voice. Saving the best for last, Karl Urban ("Lord of the Rings II and III") NAILED Bones. He looked like him, acted like him, and had the voice. He was perfect.

Directed by JJ Abrams (tv's "Lost" and "Alias") I was looking forward to see what he would do with the series, since I consider Lost and Alias two of my all time favourite tv shows. He did a good job. The special effects were great. Don't look for some moral lesson which is something one could expect from both TOS and TNG. This was no morality play speaking out about social issues of the time. (If you know the series, you will know that Kirk and Uhura shared the first inter-racial kiss on tv). I was thinking that under Abrams' hand, perhaps there would be something like that here, but there wasn't. Abrams is known for things like that in Lost and Alias, especially moral ambiguity. msnbc.com called it, "popcorn perfection" and I agree.

You don't really have to know the series to enjoy it. However, it does help if you know what a kobayashi maru is. (If you don't know, go do a google search, but I'm not spilling the beans).

Go see it. It's great. I give it 4 1/2 stars out of five.

Never Judge A Book By Its Cover

By now, you've probably heard of Susan Boyle, the Scottish singer who has literally gone from unknown obscure citizen to a household name. If you don't know who she is, you can see her here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY

Obviously, what makes her so special is that you didn't expect such a quality powerhouse professional-level voice to come from someone like her. Watch the video and you'll see when Susan says that she wants to be a professional singer that one girl in the audience rolls her eyes. When she says she wants to be as famous as Elaine Paige, another girl can be clearly seen to say, "Who's Elaine Paige?" For those of you who don't know, Elaine Paige was the original Evita from the 1978 Andrew Lloyd Webber stage production. The female judge, Amanda, appears a little sceptical at first, judging by her face, but seems to be reserving judgement about what she's about to hear.

That is until Susan started to sing. She sang Fantine's aria, "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Miserables. She sang it better than at least one professional actress I've seen play the role on the stage. Watch the reactions of both Simon and Amanda. They were completely blown away. No one expected that.

Good luck, Susan. You represent all of us who were laughed at, scorned, bullied, made fun of and ridiculed in school. I wish you much success with your dream. If you release an album of show tunes, I will definitely buy it. Your success is an inspiration for those of us who were laughed at and told we would never succeed in this life.

You go, girl.

In Defence of Barbie

So, yesterday there was a story on msn that some West Virginia lawmaker wants to ban the sales of Barbie. Here's the story: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29508066/ .

It's good to know with a war going on in two fronts, an economic mess on their hands, global warming, and the worst economic downtown in 70 plus years that this lawmaker has nothing better to do with taxpayers' dollars. His reasons: "such toys influence girls to place too much importance on physical beauty, at the expense of their intellectual and emotional development".

I had Barbies growing up and some of her cool accessories: Country Camper, her Townhouse, and, of course, lots of clothes. I think I was about 12 or so when I gave up playing with them, but I still like them. To this day, I have a Scarlett O'Hara barbie. If you saw how I dressed some days, you would know that Barbie did not force me to "place too much importance on physical beauty."

Did it cause me to not pursue "intellectual and emotional development"? Not likely. I was a reader; I read lots. In fact, I can't think of another kid I went to school with that read as much as I did (and that includes the Bible and other spiritual books).

Sure, Barbie has her detractors and people are entitled to their opinion. Yes, I know of one woman (I think she was in Britain) that was obsessed with Barbie and thousands upon thousands of dollars worth of plastic surgery to look like Barbie, but that's her problem. She's the one that needs some self esteem; don't blame the doll.

If I had a child, I'd rather they played with Barbies than toy guns, learning how to kill people and learn of war. Get your priorities straight.

Barbie is a rite of passage in a girl's life, and the age passes quick. Let them enjoy it while they can. If parent's don't like it, they won't buy it. People will vote with their dollars. Let the parents decide what's right for their child.

Oscar Night in Hollowood 2009

Well, it's that time of the year. It's the night when Hollywood hands out the hardware and the culmination of awards season. Here are my predictions in the major categories:

Best Picture: Slumdog Millionaire;
Lead Actor: Mickey Rourke (the Wrestler);
Lead Actress: Kate Winslet (the Reader);
Supporing Actor: Heath Ledger (The Dark Knight);
Supporting Actress: Penelope Cruz (Vicky Cristina Barcelona);
Directing: Slumdog Millionaire.

I'll report back later on how I did and to report on the ceremony itself. I'm looking forward to it; we have only missed it once in the 10 years we've been married. Besides, it's three hours of uninterupted stitching time!! whoo hoo.

Edited to add:

Well, I did pretty well in the major categories, with the exception of Best Actor. I don't care for Sean Penn (over actor) so I wasn't pleased to see him win again. Overall, I did 13/24 in my picks. I was very surprised that Slumdog won in categories like "Sound Editing (or was it mixing?)." That didn't make sense to me as something like The Dark Knight would have been far harder to mix and/or edit.

Good to see Kate Winslet finally win an Oscar. She looked lovely, as did supporting actress winner Penelope Cruz (both were high on my best-dressed list, as well as Amy Adams). Nobody really stood out as horribly dressed, though I didn't like Jessica Biel's outfit, nor Beyonce's.

I thought it was a nice touch having past winners in the acting categories introduce this year's nominees. Hugh Jackman did a good job of hosting. I really liked his opening number, especially when he grabbed Anne Hathaway up on stage for a Frost/Nixon routine. She was a good sport.