The Innocence Of Guilty Pleasures--#1--a series

Here's a series for us to 'fess up with our tiny eccentric, eclectic, electric sources of enjoyment that are seemingly so out of character, or wildly unexpected, or just dipped in the soupy sauce of innocent wackiness! OK, I'll start...

1. Wilson Phillips - these ladies accompany me via cassette to and from Iowa City, and they let me sing along on every harmony part, bouncing around from high to mid to low. Besides, I identify especially with Carnie, the one most musically talented, yet most likely to be fotoshopped like Ann Wilson next to Nancy in Heart...

2. Danielle Steel movies -- like that one with Melissa Gilbert doing that weird quasi-Frenchish attempt at an accent, or anything with a former Charlie's Angel. They have trials, they have hairspray, they have glamorous fireplace love scenes, with soapy, suspension-of-disbelief happy endings. What could be better?

3. Mandy Moore -- specifically, her last 2 CDs, "Coverage" and "Wild Hope". She's still young, but she is making subtle changes toward musical adulthood for the better. And she does kooky roles in movies, like "Southland Tales" where she was the wife of...

4. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson -- big brute, but in interviews he comes across as amazingly zen and articulate and classy. For me, that's hot!

5. Kathy Griffin -- yes, she gets a little racy--actually even a lot sometimes. But she is so funny and clever and astute in her observational humor, I really can't help but give in to the tabloid giggles once in a while!

And last but not least...

6. Anything and everything Olivia Newton-John -- I owe this lady sooooo much! She has been my psychic friend on many lonely rainy childhood days, including a bout in the third grade with the chicken pox. The beauty of that voice inspired me to find the beauty of my own, and still does today. No longer a commercial blockbuster, she continues to make more beautiful music than ever, more spiritual and substantial. But hey, I dare you to give "Xanadu" another chance and listen more carefully--if you don't get it after that, you just don't have a heart!

And now--your turn to bare your guilty-pleasure-filled soul...

Cumpleanos feliz...

...correctly pronounced "coom-play-AHN-yose fay-LEESE." That's how you say "Happy Birthday" in Spanish. And that's what I celebrated this past Saturday the 19th of April, my 43rd year of existence. I'm probably closer to the end now than the beginning; and for all the fear this provokes, it also inspires passion, urgency, wonderment, thrill, as well as the "less-sexy" qualities of gratitude and maturity.

First, Lady Blue played at an Earth Day event called "Blues For Greens" downtown, then I was treated to a romantic breakfast of French toast and thick juicy sausage, with popcorn and Sterzing's--the best potato chips in the world--as we watched "Before Sunrise" and "Before Sunset," two lovely movies featuring--brace yourself for the lack of frills--two people walking and talking. That's it, well not really, but that is the core of the premise. Two people sharing a soulful connection in a soulful location. Can't tell you anymore without ruining it, but I highly highly highly recommend these films, and I loved loved loved "sharing their sharing" with my partner-in-rhyme, breakfast chef extraordinaire. Then we had the KADOBRA moment--Karen, Dove, and Brandon, all together with me at Karen's, over superb enchiladas, Dirty Dancing, and Citizen Kane. This, my friends, was a red-letter day, and I am wondrously blessed beyond belief.

So go have yourself some Sterzing's and soulfulness, and have fun charting the course for the rest of your days on this planet. Raging Aging can be Really Awesome, so I invite you to Respond Accordingly, both here and in life!

influencer

this is a very very interesting book; check it out and be influenced by it...
www.influencerbook.com
it's from the same people who did the "crucial conversations" books.

yoo-hoo, be an influencer right now, and please report to me on your findings...

Antidote to the world's woes--the Bee Gees?

Anyone savvy about blogging will tell you that it's supposed to be used at times as a commentary on things like culture, recent headlines and trends, politics, government, economics, celebrity tabloid stuff, etc.. When I combine the heavy issues of the world at large with the heavy issues of my own world, sometimes honestly all I feel like doing is screaming, crying, or sleeping. So it may seem a little strange that, upon thinking of all the areas listed above, this is the response I'm choosing to focus on and share with you this day. I hope its relevance is not lost on all who read this; it certainly isn't lost on me:

This melancholy hormonal just-snowed-again-in April morning, I was soothed by the voice of my lovely husband, whisper-singing in my ear while we were lying in bed, "you don't know what it's like, baby you don't know what it's like, to love somebody, to love somebody, the way I love you..." Sometimes all I can say is: to heck with all the woes of the world and my own world; moments like these are what make life worth living. Filling life with many more moments such as these would be an outstanding antidote to "what needless pain we bear."

Today in the face of all I cannot change but wish desperately that I could, I cling to the sound of a whispered song from the voice of my own personal "inner-beast whisperer." May we all be so blessed to see enormous mounds of pain dissipate at the mere presence of tiny whispers.

the floor is yours--tell it like you see it...

From learned to learner

If you are the least bit interested in theology and future spiritual/cultural trends, or even if you're not, I cannot recommend the works of Mr. Leonard Sweet highly enough. One of my favorite writings of his is called "From Learned to Learner" and here's the link to it.

www.leonardsweet.com/llltransformation.asp

You really should check out his whole site, www.leonardsweet.com, and bash in the greatness of all the wisdom, progressive thought, good solid humor and writing skill that lies therein.

I'm actually reading his book, "Summoned To Lead" for 5 minutes every workday morning, and it's one of the best books on leadership that I've ever read, with a truly unique perspective using the exploits of Shackleton as an ongoing case study.

Taste some "Sweetness" today!

the floor is yours--tell it like you see it...

Feast of funky films

Lately during my oh-so-vast expanses of free time, I've been gravitating toward films with some kind of experimental bent to them. Me being the free-spirited open-minded cinema student that I am, I've thoroughly enjoyed my recent imaginary travels through these 4 films--try one or more out and enjoy the "mind grapes"--bonus to you if you know where that's from:

1. Yes - with Joan Allen, a Sally Potter film, spoken entirely in the beautiful rhythm of iambic pentameter - I recommend subtitles to help celebrate the writing.

2, Nine Lives - with a plethora of great actresses (NOT the Paris Hilton B-movie), this one features nine different short stories, each filmed in one unbroken take, so that's about 10 to 15 minutes each.

3. Marie Antoinette - a film by the lovely soulful director Sofia Coppola (please forgive her acting moment in Godfather 3--she has more than redeemed herself in her 3 films), that uses a hedonistic 80s soundtrack and greatly decreased dialogue to tell the story through action and atmosphere

and last but not least:

4. Cloverfield - by JJ Abrams of "Lost" fame; WOW-this is one wild frentic postmodern "Blair Godzilla Project" fantasy. Not for the faint of heart, but stick with it, it's an amazing movie experiment. (We saw this at Billy Joes on 4-1-08, our 39 month anniversary present to ourselves--xoxoxo!)

Enjoy your feast of funky films!
peace, tina