My picks for entertainment ~ suggested movies, TV shows, music, and books ~ so you can enjoy some quality ME time! (ATTN Korean drama addicts! This blog has lots of K-drama love.)
My tribute to the iconic and legendary Tony Bennett. From Frank Sinatra and Sean Martin to Amy Winehouse and Lady Gaga? Yes! Speaking of the man who left his heart in San Francisco but made his way into the hearts of generations of Americans beginning in 1949. Now that's hip! \
In Memory Of: Anthony Dominick Benedetto aka Tony Bennett (August 3, 1926 - July 21, 2023)
People who know him would describe him as a genuinely warm, humble, and kind-hearted human being. He was not just an entertainer but a civil rights activist who lent his celebrity status to support the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.
The late Frank Sinatra or Old Blue Eyes as we liked to call him is considered an American Master, a standard, for all other American entertainers to measure up to. But one of his contemporaries is equally worthy of praise: Tony Bennett, a crooner like no other.
Anthony Dominick Benedetto (1926 - ) is
an American singer; also an actor, artist, and activist.
He is a humble yet
great Italian-American, born in Astoria, Queens, New York who marched
with Martin Luther King Jr. and has been a tireless fighter for equal
rights. Sinatra and Bennett had mutual respect and admiration for one
another. Sinatra once said: “For my money, Tony Bennett is the
best singer in the business. He excites me when I watch him. He moves
me.” Bennett complimented Sinatra by founding a high school in his
hometown that offers diplomas in fine art, dance, vocal and
instrumental music, drama, and film. Whereas he could have named the
school after himself, instead the institution is named Frank
Sinatra School of Arts.
Bennett began singing at an early but
his signature song, "I Left My Heart In San Francisco", was
released in 1962. He has won numerous awards and sold millions of
records and still continues to perform. Several young artists such
as Lady Gaga, and the late Amy Winehouse, were honored to be chosen
to collaborate with him on his “Duets”
album. You can find several YouTube music videos, but for my listening pleasure, I start with this one wonderful collaboration between Bennett and the late Amy Winehouse.*
We've lost a legendary soul sista! TINA TURNER (1939 – 2023)
Anna Mae Bullock was born in Nutbush, TN. She is known and loved by many as Tina Turner. The first time I saw Tina Turner perform was on the Ed Sullivan Show, on Jan 11, 1970. She was electric! She became famous for her cover of the Creedence Clearwater Revival classic song “Proud Mary”. I followed her career from that time forward.
Whereas Aretha Franklin was called the “Queen of Soul”, Tina Turner was the “Queen of Rock and Roll”.
In her personal life, she did something that made me proud. ~
She's a survivor. SHE WALKED AWAY FROM HER ABUSIVE HUSBAND, IKE
TURNER. She left everything behind and walked off with nothing her
stage name “Tina Turner”; and with
that name, she reinvented herself and become even more successful than
when she was Ike.
She performed her last live concert in Austin, Texas USA. I live in this city but sadly I did not get to attend the show.
When I think of Tina Turner, I think: STRONG WOMAN. REMARKABLE. A FIGHTER. ICONIC. EXEMPLARY and LEGENDARY. A BEAST!! (And I mean that in a good way.)
He
was very popular but since I did not like football, I can't say much
about his sports career. Nevertheless, I knew his name because
everybody in my neighborhood knew who Jim Brown was.
I am proud that he used his celebrity status to work with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to promote civil rights.
Also, I enjoyed his movies. I will always remember him for these 2 movies: The Dirty Dozen AND 100 Rifles.
In the movie The Dirty Dozen (1967),
he had a support role. He was part of a team of 12 men (a dozen) who
had to sneak behind enemy lines during World War II and blow up the
Germans.
In 100 Rifles (1969),
he and Raquel Welch had a steamy interracial love scene. Forget what
the movie was about. The only thing people remember is that scene with Jim
Brown and Raquel Welch making out. It wasn't even X-rated but it caused quite a stir.
If you are making a list of greatest war movies, The Dirty Dozen (1967) has to go on that list. All-star cast. All-star action! “The Dirty Dozen” is a war movie classic.
Traditionally, in the United States, around Independence Day (4th of July), Memorial Day (celebrated the last Monday in May), Veterans Day (November 11), etc. television stations air military movies that are supposed to foster American patriotism. At one time FoxNews.com published a list of The 30 Greatest War Movies of All Time. Some of the movies I picked were on their list. Some were not. But they're still on my list for great war movies.
The Dirty Dozen (1967) is one of them.
This is a great movie about 12 convicts being given a second chance to start life over if they serve their country on a military mission and of course if they survive. I still enjoy it every time I watch it. These two lines are the ones I still remember.
*** (Background for the scene: There was an obvious commotion coming from the room; the definite sound of men fighting, or rather settling their differences in the only way men know how.)
- Sergeant Clyde Bowren: [as Major Reisman exits the room ] : Whats going on, sir?
- Major John Reisman: Oh, the gentleman from the South had a question about the dining arrangements. He and his comrades are discussing place settings now.
*** Cracked up (laughed) when the major said that. Some say the movie Inglorious Basterds was inspired by this movie. Well it may have been inspired but it was nowhere near as good as this classic starring some of my favorite actors: Lee Marvin, Charles Bronson, Telly Savalas and Jim Brown, to name a few. They tried to do sequels but they are not as good as the original.
No argument that it's a classic. But some say the movie “Inglourious Basterds” was inspired by this movie. Inspired? Perhaps. Better than? Not even close!! Have no doubt Quentin Tarantino, the Director of "Inglorious Basterds", would say "Amen!" to my comparison. This classic film starred some of my favorite actors: Lee Marvin, Charles Bronson, Telly Savalas and Jim Brown, to name a few.
Harry Belafonte passed away, on April 25, 2023, at the age of 96. He left an indelible mark in the history and the heart of America.
If you were preparing a list of iconic and legendary American entertainers, then Harry Belafonte would be on that list.
If you were making a list of notable civil rights activists in America, then Harry Belafonte would be on that list.
If you were making a list of humanitarians worthy of double honor for their good works, then Harry Belafonte would be on that list.
Harold George Bellanfanti Jr. known to the world as Harry Belafonte is a Jamaican-American singer, songwriter, actor, activist, and humanitarian. Date of Birth March 1, 1927 — Date of Death April 25, 2023. Cause of death: Congestive heart failure.
Americans from my generation (50s, 60s, and 70s) know Harry Belafonte. We know the lyrics to the Banana Boat and Matilda songs, backward and forward. Several years back (1997) there was a special program on television — “An Evening With Harry Belafonte & Friends” — where he sang many songs accompanied by fabulous singers and musicians. He performed Banana Boat and Matilda. I’m sure he knew that if he had not sung those songs, the audience would have been very disappointed.
Mr. Belafonte is known for his singing, and also for the memorable roles he has played in several films like “Carmen Jones” (1954), and “Island in the Sun” (1957). He has won numerous awards, including a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Kennedy Center Honors.
In addition to knowing him as an extremely talented triple threat, i.e. he can sing, dance and act — we also know him to be a civil rights activist and a humanitarian, involved in many good works.
Giving honor where honor is due, one person referred to Mr. Belafonte as “living history”. While he was alive, you did not have to read historical events in a book because you could just talk to him since he was alive during the time and actively participated in history-making.
Mr. Belafonte has passed from living to legend now. He was almost a centenarian; age 96.
“If I’ve impacted on one heart, one mind, one soul, and brought to that individual a greater truth than that individual came into a relationship with me having, then I would say that I have been successful.” ~ Harry Belafonte
IN MEMORY OF: Harry Belafonte (1927–2023)
♦
I hope that his amazing talent, his fight for human rights, and his selfless charitable acts will be appreciated and remembered by Americans for generations to come.
In 2016, we lost music legend and icon, David Bowie (David Robert Jones (Jan 8, 1947 ~ Jan 10, 2016). Before he departed he left us with timeless music.
Follow this link to 700+ articles by my fellow freelance writers, ardent admirers who are passionate about the man, the music, the legend, the icon. Pages loaded with facts, trivia, etc. He has been referred to by some as the “master of reinvention”. He must have been the inspiration or role model or example for artists who seem to have been successful at reinventing themselves as well, and maintaining their long-standing position in the fickle mob world of entertainment, which is no easy feat!
"David Bowie might be one of the most unlikely blue-eyed (or more accurately, one blue eye and one green eye) soul singers in music history. Born in the bombed-out London neighborhood of Brixton in 1947, the pale, skinny, sometimes emaciated singer became known for his elegant, continental image and eclectic, artsy lyrics on his songs beginning in the late 1960s."
The incomparable "Queen of Soul", Aretha Franklin, crossed over on August 16, 2018. Another music legend has succumbed to cancer.
Aretha
Louise Franklin was an American singer, songwriter and pianist.
Referred to as the "Queen of Soul", she has twice been placed ninth in
Rolling Stone's "100 Greatest Artists of All Time". With global sales of
over 75 million records, Franklin is one of the world's best-selling
music artists.Wikipedia
Ms.
Franklin set the standard for all the soul sisters who would come after
her and influenced many female singers and musicians such as sweet
little soul sister Esperanza Spalding. Ms. Spalding was once asked to
name the 5 songs by Aretha Franklin that she considered “Essential”. These were her picks:
“Day Dreaming” “Spanish Harlem” “Respect” “Spirit in the Dark” “All the King’s Horses”
* * *
These are the 5 songs that embody my memory of “The Queen Of Soul”.
R-E-S-P-E-C-T Natural Woman Chain of Fools Spanish Harlem I Knew You Were Waiting for Me (collaboration with the late George Michael)
Peter Sellers was the perfect person to play the clumsy French detective Jacques Clouseau. His job is to prevent a notorious thief from stealing a world famous jewel known as "The Pink Panther" which belongs to a princess.
I like the original music from the original Pink Panther movie. Henry Mancini won an award for it and he said he can't believe he received an award for making up such fun music.
Nope! My mind was not changed, The original movie released in the 1960s and the soundtrack to the movie are both vintage classic memorable entertainment!
I would not recommend the 2006 remake; however I would recommend: "The Return of the Pink Panther" (1975); "The Pink Panther Strikes Again" (1976); or any of the many other sequels to the original Pink Panther movie which starred Peter Sellers. I would also recommend the hilarious animated TV series "The Pink Panther Show" (1969).
On June 7, 2015, acting legend Christopher Lee bid us farewell. He departed this life. Henceforth, he will be spoken of as the late great Christopher Lee.
A polished actor, a distinguished gentleman, and a man with an immediately recognizable voice. You didn't even need to to see his face, When you heard that voice, you knew it was Sir Christopher Lee.
It is said that he was an Intelligence Officer in the British Royal Air Force. But it's hard to find information about what he did because apparently, even though he's dead, his work for God and country is still “a secret”.
People from my generation might remember him as Count Dracula. People from the younger generation might remember him as Saruman, the wicked wizard in “The Lord of the Rings”. Either or, he was a very memorable guy.
• He holds the world record for oldest video game voice actor. (SOURCE)
He entered the film industry in 1947 and his acting career spanned several decades. At his death, he was preparing to start his latest film 'The 11th' about the lead-up to the 9/11 terrorist attacks on America.
“The
Twilight Zone” was a popular TV series that aired from 1959 to
1964. It was hosted/narrated by its creator Rod Serling. The man
was a genius!! Sadly, he lived a very short life: 50 years. Rodman
Edward Serling (1924 – 1975). Even though this TV program only
lasted for 5 years, it left an indelible mark in the history of science fiction entertainment.
Anybody
who has watched this classic TV series probably has one particular
episode they remember. Some people say that the most popular episode
was the one titled “To Serve Man”. I don't know if it was
popular because of the content OR because of that creepy looking guy
with the funny-shaped head.
— Author🦑John DeLaughter🦑 (@HPL_JDeLaughter) March 10, 2022
But
to me the most memorable episode was “The Rip Van Winkle Caper”. The moral
of the story was twofold:
(1)
One can plan for the future but one can not predict the future; and
(2)
Avarice and greed are probably timeless human characteristics.
Here's
the plot. These guys get together to steal gold. One of the guys is
a scientist. He tells his friends that they can steal the gold, and
evade the law enforcement authorities by getting into this time
capsule. They will go to sleep for several years, like Rip Van
Winkle, and when they wake up in the future, they won't have to worry
about going to jail for committing the crime. They reason that, in
the future, law enforcement won't be looking for them because it will
be assumed that they died many years ago. When they arrive in the
future, they reason that they are now free from being fugitives from
justice, and THEY'RE RICH! They can go to the secret place where
they hid the gold, divide up the gold amongst themselves, and start
living the good life! Right?
Uuuummm ... not
quite. Because even in the future, there is no honor among thieves.
They are still avaricious and greedy. They try to kill each other,
and only one of them survives the double-crossing and the betrayal.
That one who survived found himself with a lot of gold and in a hot
desert. No humans around for miles. And also … no water. By the
time he does see human beings, he tries to get help for himself,
offering to pay them in gold, however … he drops dead! The humans
who had stopped for him were confused by my his words and behavior.
April 21, 1961: Twilight Zone's "The Rip Van Winkle Caper" airs. You steal a shipment of gold, but how do you spend it? Hey, it's the fifth dimension: Hibernate for 100 years. Sounds like a fool-proof plan, right?
The
humans remark to themselves: “He seemed to think that gold was
valuable.”
It
turns out that in the future, gold was worthless!! Humanity had
changed to the point where there was no need for gold. That was a
fact that the thieves had not even considered.
This
episode aired in April 1961. Out of all of the Twilight Zone
episodes I watched, that one made an impression on me and the life
lessons learned have stayed with me to this day.
I am in the habit of checking my Twitter account every day. It is usually the first online in the morning. I don't use Twitter as my reliable news source. But every once in a while they will tweet a bona fide fact about a current event that blows me away like the death of Ray Liotta (pronounced "Lee-oh-ta"). Only 67 years old.
I once heard him say in an interview that he was adopted. ("Due to extreme poverty, the biological parents abandoned Ray immediately after his birth. ..." ~ Source) That me think: So? Is he really Italian or was he just raised Italian? I know. It's a stupid thought. But hey! Don't we all think stupid thoughts? No matter his biological heritage, it looks like his parents, Mary and Alfred Liotta, raised him to be a real good guy; not a fictional "Goodfella". Although ... I must say that he played the part of a gangster quite well. He was cast as Henry Hill in Martin Scorsese's movie "GoodFellas" (1990). In my humble opinion, it's his most memorable role. It's a cult classic and won 6 Academy Awards.
My late mother loved gardening. She had a way of arranging flowers in the front yard of our home, based on the season of the year. Do you remember back in the day when neighbors used to visit each other and sit outside and talk? Well, I have a memory of one evening when my mom and some of her friends were sitting outside talking. I don't know what season of the year it was, but when I came outside there was a wonderful scent in the air. I had to interrupt the adult conversation and ask my mom what was that delightful odor I was smelling. She told me it was the gardenias she had planted and that in the evening was the best time to smell their fragrance.
Later on in life (in my teens), I learned about a jazz singer named Billie Holiday and she loved using gardenias to adorn her hair. I must say that she looked quite stylish. I wanted to copy her style so I bought fake flower hair ornaments. Sharing an image of the late Billie Holiday. She was a great jazz vocalist but she had a really sad life. They did a movie about her life and Diana Ross played her part. The movie was called “Lady Sings the Blues” (1972). Some say a lot of the bio details are not accurate. But don't most movies about famous people change details in the name of “artistic license”? The film was adapted from a book, her autobiography by the same name, published by Doubleday in 1956. Anyway! Entertainment-wise, it was a really good film. It's listed at TCM (Turner Classic Movies). Even if you don't watch the movie, you should listen to music. The soundtrack is pretty awesome!
In Memory Of: Eleanora Fagan Gough (1915-1959). She chose the stage name “Billie Holiday” and was nicknamed “Lady Day” by Lester Young, a saxophonist in the Count Basie Orchestra. The two worked together in nightclubs on New York's 52nd St.
When you hear the name Anne Rice, if you’re like most people you think of vampires. So I was rather surprised several years back when a miniseries was aired on television called the “The Feast of All Saints”. This miniseries is anadaptation of a bookwith the same title by Ms. Rice, published in 1979. It is historical fiction about people of color, not slaves but free, who lived in New Orleans, Louisiana during the 19th century. The series included many celebrated African-American actors whose work in the entertainment industry is well-known, such asEartha Kitt, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, and Ben Vereen. The series also introduced other not so well-known actors of color like Gloria Reuben, Robert Ri’chard, and Nicole Lynn.
I have yet to read the book, but the televised series was excellent from start to finish and very educational. It shed light on a part of American history that is practically unknown.
♦
Books by Anne Rice ~ https://t.co/abqbln0axq ~ Ms. Rice has written 30+ #books, Her 1st novel, "Interview with the Vampire", published 1976 and another novel “Feast of All Saints” about the free people of color of ante-bellum New Orleans, published 1979, were adapted to film. pic.twitter.com/VL15YFGfYV
This blog post is in celebration of her birthday. Most people know her as the author of "Little Women", which was adapted for film several times. The film adaptation I remember starred Elizabeth Taylor, released in 1949. There was a much later remake with Winona Rider, { Little Women (Collector's Series) }. Of course, Ms. Alcott wrote many more novels and poetry; and she also did other interesting things in her life during a time when the movements, actions, and decisions of women were restricted or limited. She is worthy of double honor.
Louisa May Alcott was born in Germantown, Pennsylvania and she had three sisters. Her father made sure that they were all educated. Louisa began her writing career publising poetry and short stories. She used a pen name, Flora Fairfield. Before she became famous she also published Gothic thrillers under the pseudonym A.M. Barnard. At the age of 35, in 1868, she published “Little Women”, an autobiography, which was an overnight success and has become a classic. Her company of friends included successful authors Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Henry David Thoreau.
Her life was far from glamorous and sophisticated, but she lived a life worthy of admiration. She volunteered as a nurse to serve during the Civil War; however contracted typhoid fever and was sent home. She was a suffragette and in 1879 when the laws were passed allowing women to vote in Concord, Massachusetts, she was the first woman who registered to vote. She never married and her health was very poor. Nevertheless she took care of her parents when they were ill until their deaths, and adopted and cared for her niece when her sister died. Louis May Alcott died of a stroke, two days after her father's death. She was 55 years old.
Today is August 29, 2020, and I was not expecting this shocking news. A brilliant talent has departed this life far too soon. Chadwick Boseman (1976–2020). He chose his acting roles carefully. No doubt he will be remembered for being the first black superhero portrayed in American films. He was Black Panther.
Other roles he played he chose likely because they were people he admired and praised:
James Brown (known as the hardest working man in show business and the godfather of soul), and
Jackie Robinson (first African American to play in Major League Baseball).
Mr. Boseman suffered quietly for 4 years but in the end, lost his life to colon cancer. "Deaths from colorectal cancer. In the United States, colorectal cancer is the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths in men and in women, and the second most common cause of cancer deaths when men and women are combined. It's expected to cause about 53,200 deaths during 2020." (Source: Colorectal Cancer Statistics | How Common Is Colorectal Cancer?) As expected tributes to this young man are pouring in via Twitter.
Chadwick Boseman quote worth remembering: "press on with pride and press on with purpose.”
Treathyl Fox aka Cmoneyspinner – Home Business Entrepreneur. Think. Dream. Focus. Believe in yourself? Hire yourself! Be your own boss! Do it! Self-employed and loving it! ♦ DISCLOSURE: In compliance with FTC rules and guidelines, be advised that some links shared via this websites might contain affiliate referral links which means commissions might be earned if product sales resulted from your click-through to the vendor’s website.