Life is what happens when you are making other plans~ John Lennon
An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind~Gandhi
The time is always right to do what is right~ Martin Luther King Jr.


Friday, October 28, 2022

Rock musicians react to the passing of Queen Elizabeth II

It's a shocking bit of news, but Queen Elizabeth II has passed. It seems her death has even shocked the world of music.

A lot of musicians had expressed their deepest condolences to the Royal Family for the loss of their Queen.

On Twitter, Black Sabbath bassist/songwriter Terence "Geezer" Butler wrote "I remember the street celebrations when she was crowned Queen. Always a staple of growing up in England. GSTQ - RIP."

Butler's former bandmate, Ozzy Osbourne, also wrote on Twitter. "I mourn with my country the passing of our greatest Queen. With a heavy heart, I say it is devastating the thought of England without any Queen Elizabeth II."

The Rolling Stones made sure to show their respect and sympathies to the Royal Family. They called the Queen "a constant presence in their lives as in countless others." Jagger stated "For my whole life Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, has always been there. In my childhood, I can recall watching her wedding highlights on TV. I remember her as a beautiful young lady, to the much loved grandmother of the nation. My deepest sympathies are with the royal family."

Elton John took a similar route to The Rolling Stones. John stated "Along with the rest of the nation, I am deeply saddened to hear the news of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth's passing. She was an inspiring presence to be around and led the country through some of our greatest, and darkest, moments with grace, decency and a genuine caring warmth. Queen Elizabeth has been a huge part of my life from childhood to this day, and I will miss her dearly."

Def Leppard commented on their Twitter feed. They wrote: "Dignity. If there's ever one word to describe this wonderful lady & monarch it's dignity. We will never see the likes of this again."

Even American musicians were mourning the loss of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II. Sebastian Bach wrote on his Twitter feed "Cant help but think of Dads painting on this day. Hope the painting is still in good condition. RIP #QueenElizabeth a leader who brought the whole world together

Wednesday, October 26, 2022

October Birthdays

Since it's October, time to say Happy Birthday

KK Downing

-Birth name: Kenneth Keith Downing

-DOB: 10/27/1951

-Where: West Bromwich, England

-Is one of the founding members of Judas Priest

Hugh Jackman

-Birth name: Hugh Michael Jackman

-DOB: 10/12/19668

-Where: Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

-He has a degree in communications with major in journalism from the University of Technology Sydney

Sting

-Birth name: Gordon Thomas Matthew Sumner

-DOB: 10/2/1951

-Where: Wallsend, Newcastle, England

-Earned his nickname "Sting" from his habit of wearing a black and yellow striped sweater during his early days in music

Kate Winslet

-Birth name: Kate Elizabeth Winslet

-DOB: 10/5/1975

-Where: Reading, England

-She turned down the roles played by Gwyneth Paltrow in Shakespeare in Love and Jodie Foster in Anna and The King

Brian Johnson

-Birth name: Brian Francis Johnson

-DOB: 10/5/1947

-Where: Dunston, United Kingdom

-He wears his unique hat because from the part of England he's from, everyone wore a hat, so it was a nod of respect to the locals

Chris Slade

-DOB: 10/30/1946

-Where: Pontypridd, United Kingdom

-His first album with AC/DC was The Razor's Edge

Mikkey Dee

-Birth name: Micael Kiriakos Delaoglou

-DOB: 10/31/1963

-Where: Gothenburg, Sweden

-He claims he had blisters on his hands from playing the manic, breakneck style of music Motorhead was known for

"Fast" Eddie Clarke

-Birth name: Edward Allan Clarke

-DOB: 10/5/1950

-Where: Twickenham, United Kingdom

-DOD: 1/10/2018

-Where: London, England

-He formed a band called Fastway with UFO bassist Pete Way after leaving Motorhead

Glenn Tipton

-Birth name: Glenn Raymond Tipton

-DOB: 10/25/1947

-Where: Blackheath, United Kingdom

-The song "No Surrender" from Judas Priest's Firepower album is about Tipton's fight with Parkinson's Disease

Ken Watanabe

-DOB: 10/21/1959

-Where: Uonuma, Japan

-His big break into Hollywood came when he starred in the film The Last Samurai with Tom Cruise

The Addams Family Values (1991)

This is the sequel to the 1991 movie

Summary

-The Addams Family comes to the rescue of Uncle Fester, who has fallen in love with a gold digging black widow named Debbie










Cast

-Raul Julia: Gomez Addams

-Anjelica Huston: Morticia Addams

-Jimmy Workman: Pugsley Addams

-Christina Ricci: Wednesday Addams

-Christopher Lloyd: Uncle Fester Addams

-Joan Cusack: Debbie Jellinsky

-Carol Kane: Granny

-Carel Struycken: Lurch

-David Krumholtz: Joel Glimmer

-Dana Ivey: Margaret Addams

-Peter MacNicol: Gary Granger

-Christine Baranski: Becky Martin-Granger

-Mercedes McNab: Amanda Buckman

Did You Know?

-When Wednesday and Joel meet for the first time at camp, in the background Pugsley can be seen attempting to hang himself

-The swimsuits that Pugsley and Wednesday wear are Victorian-style swimsuits, from the late 1800s to early 1900s. Throughout the film, numerous references to the Victorian era are made and seen in and around the Addams house. The all black clothes, towering mansion-like house and decor are all modeled after Victorian decor

-This was the final film for Raul Julia, who died on Oct. 24, 1994

-The character Pubert Addams was played by two twin girls named Kaitlyn and Kristen Hooper

-When Morticia gives birth, her bed is shaped like a coffin

-Gomez is seen throwing weird ingredients together into a bottle for Pubert after the wedding reception. It's a supposed cure for a hangover called a Prairie Oyster. It included vodka, worcestershire sauce and a raw egg. When Gomez gives the bottle to Pubert, he states "hair of the pup", a reference to "hair of the dog that bit you". This phrase translates into drinking a small amount of what got you intoxicated in the first place. The baby is even wearing sunglasses, suggesting a hangover

-When Gomez and Morticia and Wednesday and Joel each say "cara mia" and "mon cher", they are saying the same thing, but in different languages. "Cara Mia" is the feminine form of "my darling" in Italian and in French, "Mon Cher" is the masculine form of "my darling"

-The song being played by Lurch at Fester's wedding is "Sunrise, Sunset" from Fiddler on the Roof

-In almost every scene Morticia was in, her eyes were illuminated, to highlight her unique look

-The play Gary puts on is not only "puerile and under dramatized" (as Wednesday describes it), but also factually incorrect. The Chippewa tribes are from the Midwest. Pocahontas was a member of the Powhatan tribe, native to Virginia. She nor the Chippewa tribe would have been in attendance at the first Thanksgiving. Not only that, by 1621 (the first Thanksgiving), Pocahontas had been deceased for four years

-When Pugsley, Wednesday and Joel are exchanging cards on serial killers, Joel remarks that he has every card in his Serial Killer Collection "except Jack the Ripper and that Zodiac guy." Jack the Ripper and The Zodiac Killer are two of the world's most famous unsolved cases

-The gun that Debbie points at Fester is a Magnum Research Desert Eagle .50 caliber AE. It's said to be the most powerful handgun in production

-The mask Pubert wears when he's sleeping is similar to the mask worn by Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs

-When Debbie is moving into her mansion, there is a photo of her being taken in. Right down to the green gown, it bears a strange resemblance to a photo of Diana Spencer, aka Princess Diana, taken to commemorate her engagement to Price Charles

-Three of the actors in this film-David Krumholtz, Peter MacNicol and Christopher Lloyd-all appeared on the 2005 TV show Numb3rs, which was about a mathematician using equations to solve crimes with the FBI

-When Debbie tells Fester "no woman in her right mind could ever love you", this is a nod to the woman Fester falls in love with. A woman named Dementia is hired to be the nanny for Cousin Itt's child What. They both explain what their names mean. Dementia means insanity while Fester means to rot. Dementia would love Fester because she isn't in her right mind

-When Debbie mentions her second husband getting hacked to death by an axe and Grandma sighing nostalgically when she sees the slide, is a reference to the Addams Family having ancestors and past friends who were famed serial killers

Tuesday, October 25, 2022

The Addams Family (1991)

This is one of my sister's favorite movies. She often says that if everyone had a relationship like Gomez and Morticia, no one would ever feel unwanted.

-Two con artists have a plan of getting money out of an eccentric family using a man claiming to be their long lost uncle

Cast

-Raul Julia: Gomez Addams

-Anjelica Huston: Morticia Addams

-Christopher Lloyd: Uncle Fester Addams

-Dan Hedaya: Tully Alford

-Elizabeth Wilson: Abigail Craven

-Carel Struycken: Lurch Addams

-Dana Ivey: Margaret Alford

-Paul Benedict: Judge Womack

-Christina Ricci: Wednesday Addams

-Jimmy Workman: Pugsley Addams

-Christopher Hart: Thing







Did You Know?

-After the premier of the movie, children would see Raul Julia out in public and recognize him as Gomez Addams. This brought a smile to his face. He said this was his favorite role and that, according to his family, this recognition was especially important to him during the final months of his life. It was important to him because he loved making kids happy

-Christina Ricci improvised the sleeping position for Wednesday, which was sleeping with her arms folded across her chest

-Wednesday's name was inspired by the Mother Goose poem that includes the line "Wednesday's child is full of woe."

-In the original TV series from 1964, Uncle Fester Addams was the brother of Morticia's mother. In this film, he is the brother of Gomez

-On the original TV show, the Addams family had a pet lion named Kitty. In the part of the film where Gomez is entering the vault for the first time, a lion's roar can be heard. He is also seen and heard cracking a whip and saying "Down, Kitty!"

-To get Morticia's rigid figure, Anjelica Huston wore a metal corset. She also endured getting gauze eye lifts, fake nails applied and neck tucks

-By the time this movie had gone into production, most of the adult cast from the original TV show had passed, except for John Astin, who played Gomez. He outlived Raul Julia, who played the film version of Gomez and died in 1994. He also outlived Ken Weatherwax, who played Pugsley on the TV show, who died in 2014

-Bruno Kirby, who starred in The Godfather, Pt. II, lent his fat suit to Christopher Lloyd to play Uncle Fester

-During the scene where Fester comes to the Addams house, his suitcase bears stickers from locations known for horrible events and disasters, such as Elba, Jonestown, The Bermuda Triangle, Death Valley, The Black Hole of Calcutta, Three Mile Island, Alcatraz, Pompeii, Devil's Island among others

-The car that the Addams family uses is a 1932 Packard Twin Six

-Olivia Hussey and Cher were considered for the role of Morticia

-When this movie came out, Christina Ricci was only 11 years old

-The book that unlocks the vault is titled "Greed" and authored by J.P. Addams. This is a nod to American banking legend John Pierpoint Morgan, aka JP Morgan, whose bank is still operating to this day, only under the name Chase Bank

Tuesday, October 11, 2022

Quantum of Solace (2008)

The installment in the famed James Bond series starring Daniel Craig

Summary

-James Bond's next mission is wrapped in mystery as he investigates a shadowy organization trying to rid a country of its most valuable resource






Cast

-Daniel Craig: James Bond

-Olga Kurylenko: Camille

-Mathieu Amalric: Dominic Greene

-Judi Dench: M

-Giancarlo Giannini: Rene Mathis

-Gemma Arterton: Strawberry Fields

-Jeffrey Wright: Felix Leiter

-David Harbour: Gregg Beam

-Rory Kinnear: Bill Tanner

Did You Know?

-During filming for this movie, Daniel Craig was injured at least three times. One injury was to his face, which required four stitches. Another was to his shoulder, which required an operation to insert six surgical screws, leaving his arm in a sling. And his hand was injured when one of his finger tips was sliced off. In addition, he underwent minor facial plastic surgery

-Because of how unstable the production on this film was, Daniel Craig stated he would never do a movie without a script being official ever again

-Marc Forster, the director of the films, wanted Judi Dench to have a bigger role in this film than the other films. He thought that M deserved a bigger role because "she was the only woman Bond doesn't view in a sexual way", which was an interesting thought

-Daniel Craig felt the role for this movie was a lot more physically intense for this film than Casino Royale. For this film, Craig had to do more boxing, running, operating a speedboat and stunt driving

-Gemma Arterton received a phone call one day from her agent, who proceeded to sing the James Bond theme to her to tell her she won the role of Strawberry Fields

-The first James Bond film where Bond is shown intoxicated. In Casino Royale, it was different because he was poisoned.  The airplane bar scene shows that he is under the influence of alcohol, after mentioning he did consume six Vesper martini cocktails

-Legendary American fashion designer Tom Ford was hired by Daniel Craig to design clothing for his character 007

-Real life operatives from intelligence agencies acted as consultants or advisors on this film. They included spies and assassins from Britain's MI6 and the Israeli Secret Service

-During filming in Panama, Daniel Craig had to change hotels several times due to paparazzi discovering his location

-When Olga Kurylenko read the script for the film, she was relieved that there was no love scene between her and Craig. She felt it would have distracted the viewers from her performance in the film

-Marc Forster is the first director of the James Bond movies not to come from England or New Zealand. He is German-born, while the other directors were from England or New Zealand

-Mathieu Amalric based his character Dominic Green on British Prime Minister Tony Blair and France's then president Nicolas Sarkozy

-Olga Kurylenko was inspired by Michelle Yeoh, who appeared in 1997's Tomorrow Never Dies because she did all the fight scenes herself

-Olga Kurylenko is the first leading Bond Girl who comes from Ukraine

-Stana Katic, who is best known for playing Det. Katherine "Kate" Beckett on the 2009 TV show Castle, is the Canadian intelligence officer who enters the apartment with Vesper Lynd's previous boyfriend

-Jewelry company Chrome Hearts designed all of the jewelry for Mathieu Amalric, which he kept after filming

-While filming her love scene with Daniel Craig, Gemma Arterton was nervous

Wednesday, September 28, 2022

Casino Royale (2006)

This is the first James Bond movie to feature current actor Daniel Craig

Summary

-Now that he has a 00 status and legitimate license to kill, James Bond is given a new mission. He must investigate a banker who is funding terrorists through a high-stakes poker game at Casino Royale in Montenegro










Cast

-Daniel Craig: James Bond

-Eva Green: Vesper Lynd

-Mads Mikkelsen: Le Chiffre

-Judi Dench: M

-Jeffrey Wright: Felix Leiter

-Giancarlo Giannini: Rene Mathis

-Caterina Murino: Solange

-Simon Akbarian: Alex Dimitrios

-Isaach De Bankole: Steven Obanno

-Jesper Christensen: Mr. White

Did You Know?

-Daniel Craig was hesitant to take the role of James Bond because he felt the series had settled into a standard format. After reading the script, he changed his mind

-When Bond orders his first vodka martini, it's the same way that James Bond ordered them in the Ian Fleming novels

-For the iconic scene where Daniel Craig comes out of the water in Speedos, the film crew were out of camera range in boats fending off the paparazzi, who heard there was a movie being filmed

-To prepare for his role as James Bond, Daniel Craig read all of Ian Fleming's novels and he also talked with British Secret Service agents and Mossad agents who worked as advisers for the 2005 film Munich

-Daniel Craig had gotten a call from producer Barbara Broccoli stating he won the role of James Bond while he was grocery shopping. He left everything behind to celebrate with martinis. She told him "Over to you, kiddo."

-To prepare for this movie, Daniel Craig had managed to gain twenty pounds of muscle by doing cardio on the weekends, training five days a week, eating mostly proteins and limiting intake on carbs

-The character Le Chiffre was said to be based on English occultist Aleister Crowley

-For most of the shooting, Daniel Craig stated he was in pain due to the rigorous stunts he was required to perform

-This is the first film to show James Bond as a rookie MI6 agent. In the previous movies, he was already an established spy

-A lot of news was made about Daniel Craig's incredibly muscular form in this film. Being in good shape is nothing new to him; he was a semi-professional rugby player at one point

-Daniel Craig had quit smoking and hired Simon Waterson to work as a trainer to help him get into shape

-During a fight scene in Prague, Daniel Craig lost two of his front teeth. He had his dentist fly all the way from London to fix them

-Former James Bond actors Sir Sean Connery, Sir Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan and George Lazenby were all in high support of Daniel Craig being the new James Bond

-Prior to Daniel Craig being hired for the role of James Bond, actor Henry Cavill was seriously considered for this role. But, according to director Martin Campbell, Henry was only 22 years old and considered too young for the role

-Barbara Broccoli's first choice for James Bond was Daniel Craig after seeing him in 2004's Layer Cake

-Daniel Craig stated he wanted to stay faithful to the book by showing the character's vulnerabilities and showing that he makes mistakes. He also stated that the drama would be there when he gets it right and make the audience think it's all going to go wrong and that when it goes all right, the audience would get more excited

-This was the highest grossing James Bond film until 2012's Skyfall beat it

-The navy-blue three-piece suit worn by Daniel Craig at the end resembles the gray suit worn by Sean Connery in 1964's Goldfinger

-There is a supposed nod to Honey Rider's entrance in 1962's Dr. No in this movie. That is because Daniel Craig hit a sandbar that he didn't know was there, forcing him to stand up and walk to the shore

-Some of the actors considered for the role of James Bond included Henry Cavill, Gerard Butler, Dominic West, Alex O'Loughlin

-When it was announced Daniel Craig would be the new James Bond, controversy erupted everywhere. It was due simply to the fact that Daniel Craig was blonde and didn't have dark hair like the other actors who played this character. Because of this, Craig had earned the nickname "James Blond" because of his blond hair

-The original novel has Le Chiffre as an unattractive, overweight man. The actor who plays him in the film, Mads Mikkelsen, doesn't fit that type

-The poker dealer at The Ocean Club is a woman named Jessica Miller. In real life, she is the Poker Room Manager at the Crystal Palace Casino in Nassau, Bahamas

-At 5'10'', Daniel Craig was the shortest actor to play James Bond, compared to George Lazenby, Sir Roger Moore, Sir Sean Connery, Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan, who were all around 6'2''

-On October 14, 2005, the day that Daniel Craig was announced as the new James Bond, former James Bond actor Roger Moore was celebrating his 78th birthday

-The character Steven Obanno was based on terrorist Joseph Kony

-When Le Chiffre explains his bleeding eye, he says "Weeping blood comes merely from a derangement of the tear duct, my dear General. Nothing sinister." In optometry and ophthalmology, the medical term for the left eye is the Latin term Ocular Sinister or OS. The Latin word for left is sinister. Left side or left handedness was always associated, historically, with evil

-When he first got the role of James Bond, Daniel Craig ran to the previous actor who played Bond and he told Craig to take the role because of Craig being hesitant to take the role. Later on, in an interview, Pierce Brosnan stated Daniel Craig is a great James Bond and that he enjoyed watching him a lot

-M's personal assistant is named Villiers. It's a nod to Amherst Villiers, a British automotive engineer best known for creating the supercharged 4.5 liter Bentley that James Bond drove in the novels

-Some of the actresses considered for the role of Vesper Lynd include Jennifer Connelly, Vera Farmiga (who was turned down for being "too American), Kimberly Davies, Rachel McAdams, Michelle Pfeiffer, Olivia Wilde and Rachel Stirling. Ironically, Rachel Stirling's mother is Diana Rigg, who appeared in 1969's On Her Majesty's Secret Service

-The gambling scene was inspired by the Casino Estoril in Lisbon, Portugal. During WWII, German high command figures would frequent this casino, because of its relatively close distance to Germany. On his visit there, Fleming lost three times, but was unaware that his future novel series starring a British spy names James Bond, would have a title made into three movies

-When Bond is poisoned at the casino, the condition is diagnosed as Ventricular Tachycardia Digitalis. It's an increased heart rate that leads to uncoordinated heart contractions called ventricular fibrillation, which leads to death. The digitalis references digitalis-induced ventricular tachycardia, which is caused by a drug called Digoxin or Lanoxin. This is a medication for cardiac issues that can kill if done in overdose conditions. It's derived from a type of foxglove plant called Digitalis Lanata, better known as either Grecian Foxglove or Woolly Foxglove

-It isn't until 2012's Skyfall that M's real name is revealed as Olivia Mansfield

-When James Bond realizes he's been poisoned in the casino, he grabs a salt shaker and a glass. In medicine, it's known that salt water is an emetic, which means you will throw up if you consume it. He is trying to clear the poison out of his body