Daily stuff: Turner Classic Movies, My fabulous Career, my sons, my awesome friends, taking care of myself with healthy pursuits, exercise, reading.....Weekly: more of the daily stuff, with a good measure of fun, diversion....As Much as I can: Hanging out with friends, going to San Francisco and enjoying the City and friends and activities there, diggin' on the Wine Country where I live....brushing up on my Italian language skills....Seasonal: skiing, swimming, traveling, sunbathing with 70SPF sunscreen and wide-brimmed hats, hiking in the hills, driving to the ocean, scuba-diving, sailing (wish it were more frequent).....Stuff to do in the Future: get back into Yoga, do more charity auctions (as auctioneer), continue to excel in life and career.....How can I really portray an accurate and complete picture here? Well, this is a good start.......................................................
............................................................
.............
" So, so you think you can tell Heaven from Hell,
blue skies from pain.
Can you tell a green field from a cold steel rail?
A smile from a veil?
Do you think you can tell?
And did they get you to trade your heroes for ghosts?
Hot ashes for trees?
Hot air for a cool breeze?
Cold comfort for change?
And did you exchange a walk-on part in the war for a lead role in a cage?
How I wish, how I wish you were here.
We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl, year after year,
Running over the same old ground.
What have you found? The same old fears.
Wish you were here."----
Longing and pain, imagery so throught-provoking....last time I heard Pink Floyd do this
I was driving headlong in pelting rain over a big scary bridge to a place I did not want to go...so it only made perfect sense to crank this up loud and sing along....Truly, this lyric
represents to me a great moment in modern music.**********************************************Gable & Crawford---nice pic, but it's time for an update....how about Gable and Lombard??
************************************************
Pictured above with me is renowned Wine Writer Paul Franson and Restaurant Legend,
Pat Kuleto at the Napa Valley Wine Auction 2006
***************************************************
It's dusk in San Francisco, and the light is just pouring in on us at the Wittenberg Castle
on Telegraph Hill.....and here's Kippy just goin' nuts with his camera....before I put on the
war-paint....the heavy 'going out' makeup, I had NO MAKE-UP...and Kip captured the moment. Dude, you make me look good....July 2005
***********************************************This is what you look like when someone loves you.......this is what you look like when someone saves you from the spiral....this is what you look like when your soul pours out of you....March 2006--San Francisco. Photo credit goes to Dr. Kippy....AGAIN.
I'd like to meet:
Friends Far and Near---Old and New--- D&S.PLEASE CLICK ON THE MOVIE TRAILER BELOW TO VIEW SCENES FROM THE UPCOMING MOVIE '300,' about SPARTA!!!!
Music:
Where to start? First of all, gotta love the Ipod Video so my tunes go with me effortlessly.
Classical, Mozart and his operas, anything with Ludwig van Beethoven....Debussy, Cole Porter, Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitagerald, Count Basie, Nat "King" Cole, Miles Davis, Jerry Vale, stuff from the '50's...lots of 60's stuff....
sorta missed the boat on disco, but it is fun to dance to....lovin' the Big 80's and so does practically eveyone of my generation....Oingo Boingo back in the days of USC and Helll-A.
Mostly now I listen to House, Techno, Trance stuff (Paul Oakenfold, etc), Saturated Fatty for that All Night Groove Thang we do SOMA....got turned onto Zero 7 recently, Gwen Stefani (so cute and sexy!), Destiny's Child (I can't believe I said that, but those babes are great!), Cafe Del Mar stuff....Lounge stuff...and the usual retro stuff----Lately I have been seriously diggin' on Bobby Short. What a voice!!! Another Favourite it the 1940's channel on XM Satellite Radio at work---it's so awesome, so retro. And a MUST-HAVE for road trips...I discovered same incredible Deep House/Trance while driving up 'The 5' recently....made that heinous trip bearable for sure!
****************************************************
****************************************************
"What happened here as the New York sunset disappeared, I found an empty garden
among the flagstones there....Lived there, he must have been a gardener who cared a lot...I keep knocking, and no one answers...and I keep knocking most of the day, Oh and I've been callin' Hey Hey Johnny, can't you come out to play, Johnny???"
****************************************************
This is me in front of the Dakota in Manhattan---where John Lennon lived and was assasinated....this is a video still and I had no idea that I was getting out of the subway and that behind me was The Dakota.....thus the goofy, lost, 'Where am I' look on my face...
Movies:
TMTC--Too many to Count!! Almost all Hitchcock---Rebecca and Vertigo esp.
GWTW of course. Casablanca, Citiizen Kane (a masterpiece of film for sure),Godfather I and II....Wuthering Heights, Shrek 2 (I am dead serious, this movie rocks!!!!), The Philadelphia Story, Ferris Beuller's Day Off, Back to School, Gladiator, Braveheart
Passion of the Christ (if only for the courage to put that movie in theatres----wow, see it even if you don't believe it...), Legends of the Fall, Meet Joe Black, The Green Mile, Shawshank Rdemption, TOMBSTONE, Dad's Home Movies (Dad, WHY the bloody hell did you HAVE to be a dentist? You had the looks for Hollywood....), Heat (DeNiro), Pulp Fiction (Samuel Jackson quoting Scripture is such a turn-on), Reservoir Dogs, Goodfellas, Saving Private Ryan, To Hell And Back, Patton (and lots more 'Guy Flicks'), The Mission, The Misfits, Gable, Gable and MORE Gable, please....
Gable did his own stunts for The Misfits....He remains, even in death the True and ONLY King of Hollywood....Seven Year Itch, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes---my youngest son remarked, 'Gee Mom, Marilyn wasn't just sexy, she was really funny too!!!".....MM was the 'Blonde Mantrap,' I LOVE that term.....What else----The Lion in Winter....Anything with Gable, Jimmy Stewart, Cary Grant. Marilyn, Grace Kelly, Kim Novak... If I can just got into Modern times I will say that love Sir Anthony Hopkins in anything he does, Mike Meyers make me laugh big time, and so do most all SNL grads....Brad Pitt is lovely to waitch as is Matthew McCounaghy....Angelina Jolie is a guilty pleasure too.....We'll have to come back to this some time.....OKAY, it's August 2006 and time for updates!!!! Last month, me and my guy saw and walked out on Miami Vice---it sucked so bad....Saw Crash! (thanks Mama-San Shari) and it was one of the best films I have seen in recent memory...other than that, nothing super exciting....
"Why Johnny Ringo, you look like someone just walked over your grave!!"
"You must be Doc Holliday." "That's the rumour."
"....There's no such thing as a normal life, Wyatt, there's just Life."
"My dear, I do believe we ned to discuss the nature of our association.....Oh you are the
antichrist!" ".....So go off and find that spirited young actress Wyatt, and make her your own.....Live for me Wyatt."Yeah.....Tombstone ROCKS....Especially Val Kilmer
And yeah...I drive my friends crazy as I quote movies all day.....I just love this image of Butch and Sundance....I mean, what a moment....what gorgeous eyes, especially for a guy who makes salad dressing :-) Hey, did I ever tell you the story about my Dad and Bob Redford???
Yeah, they were buds in high school....
Do I have a thing about cowboys? Sure looks that way....but really, I don't.
Wait til I put up pics of 'Daddy Playing Polo....'
Television:
Turner Classic Movies was the sole reason I had cable, until I discovered HBO's Deadwood. Below is me with Deadwood's Writer and Creative Genius, David Milch and
Paramount's AC Lyles....I served as Co-Auctioneer along with a partner for a Tribute honouring an actress on Deadwood....in Santa Rosa!!! What FUN!!!! PHOTO UNAVAILABLE RIGHT NOW--SORRY!!!
What an amazing show, clearly the most brilliantly written, albeit foul-languaged show ever done. I do admit I was a big fan of MTV in the 80's and VH1 in the 90's. Oh yeah, I forgot Sex and the City...what a hilarious show!!
Books:
Bartlett's, The Republic, The Prince, Los Versos Del Capitan, de Pablo Neruda, various biographies, science books from the USC and dental school days....
astrology books, classical Greek Mythology, more Pablo Neruda, en espanol, thank you....history books, feng shui books, The Tao of Motherhood....I wish I had more time to read...just getting through the demands of the day, and staying on top of dental journals is almost overwhelming.....but I love lightweight reading too while waiting in line at the Market... People Magazine..I could go on and on.....As time permits, I enjoy reading The New York Times, even if it's online....
Heroes:
Who comes to mind first? My awesome and brave grandfather, coming over to America in steerage from Greece around 1904. A great man, of Spartan strength and the patriarch of the family---wish he were still here to kick everyone's ass...Talk about an 'Against All Odds' Success Story....He is total hero material...
.Yiayia is still here, although she doesn't kick ass, but she can kick ass in the the kitchen anytime!!! She is 'beyond' hero. I just love her....Who else....Ronald Reagan was a big hero and meeting him in 1997 was a highlight of my life....Let's see, who else----Katharine Hepburn, John Wayne, Dr. Morton Wells, father of modern anesthesia, Shakespeare, b/c no one can turn a phrase like the Bard, Jesus Christ, for obvious reasons, St. Paul, Martin Luther, Wolfgang Mozart with his childlike brilliance....Ludwig van Beethoven b/c of his insane passion...The brave soldiers at Thermophile and Marathon.....Socrates. who taught that you have all the answers if you just ask the right questions...Abe Lincoln...There are more, and I hope to revisit this, but let me just say now, that my close and wonderful and amazing friends do qualify as Heroes, if you take the perspective that heroes save you....So my heroes are my friends who are there with me in the foxhole of Life with the bullets blowing by....thank you for sheltering me from the assaults of daily life.....to be continued for sure.
*******APRIL 2006---David Bowie sang, 'We Could be heroes, just for one day....'
Well....heroes....I said I would re-visit this and it is time----I have so many heroes, so many folks who have made my life fabric such a rich tapestry---So as to avoid name-dropping, I will just describe----An octenagerian (KO) Bavarian and his lovely and ethereal wife (NHO), years ago who changed my life.....Dr. Jeff F. who ferryed us punk dental students through school and lived the good life and fought the good fight...My professors at USC (Jim Ellern,in Organic Chem, and Liguistic Genius) and UOP Dental ('Carp,'Jacobsen & Day).My most-valued and adored friends---Wittenberg, Kippy, Robin, Dina, France, my hot party girls Gina, Joanie, Dianne----and my own personal Rasputin (Mmmmmm St. M) a newer member of my extended 'family.'...My brothers (Anfy, Kurtie, Robby---hehe) who are so unbelievably cool and fun and high energy---such a blessing. I am so lucky to have them...I can't fail to mention my beloved Scott...he's in a class by himself.....Heroes....You guys have taken the bullets for me....
Heroes...'Til the bitter end....I love you endlessly....All the 'proud parents' here list their kids as their heroes and that is cool....
but I think of them in another catagory. They are my treasures, and it is MY job to be the best human possible so they can say someday, that I am one of their Heroes....
