With Passion and Wild Regret

Letter from Burton to Taylor after she left him (the first time). Stolen from the always wonderful, Letters Of Note:

June 25, 1973

So My Lumps,

You're off, by God!

I can barely believe it since I am so unaccustomed to anybody leaving me. But reflectively I wonder why nobody did so before. All I care about—honest to God—is that you are happy and I don't much care who you'll find happiness with. I mean as long as he's a friendly bloke and treats you nice and kind. If he doesn't I'll come at him with a hammer and clinker. God's eye may be on the sparrow but my eye will always be on you. Never forget your strange virtues. Never forget that underneath that veneer of raucous language is a remarkable and puritanical LADY. I am a smashing bore and why you've stuck by me so long is an indication of your loyalty. I shall miss you with passion and wild regret.

You may rest assured that I will not have affairs with any other female. I shall gloom a lot and stare morosely into unimaginable distances and act a bit—probably on the stage—to keep me in booze and butter, but chiefly and above all I shall write. Not about you, I hasten to add. No Millerinski Me, with a double M. There are many other and ludicrous and human comedies to constitute my shroud.

I'll leave it to you to announce the parting of the ways while I shall never say or write one word except this valedictory note to you. Try and look after yourself. Much love. Don't forget that you are probably the greatest actress in the world. I wish I could borrow a minute portion of your passion and commitment, but there you are—cold is cold as ice is ice.

"The 27 Club"

Today another talented, troubled, mixed-up soul died at the age of 27. Amy Winehouse joins a macabre sort of club, its members comprising of self destructing musicians who all died at the age of twenty seven:

Brian Jones in 1969
Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin in 1970
Jim Morrison in 1971
Kurt Cobain 1994

Head Case of the Week

Bill Maher is a man so bitter and repulsive that I usually ignore his hateful rants. I shove him in the same dusty mental file as David Duke, Louis Farrakhan, Ward Churchill, and other assorted nasty rodents.

But I can't help but wonder...where is the liberal outrage at Maher's latest tirade? Labeling the two top women of the Republican party as "MILF's" may not be a new low for sleazy, unimportant Maher, but it sure ranks up there in the "psychiatric disorder" category. The amused tittering from Piers was very impressive too, don't you think?



H/T: The Blaze

Friday Night Music

Recently I wrote about the current season of American Idol. For the record, I still like it. Negative point? Steven Tyler seems to be the new Paula Abdul. I do not understand how telling everyone that they are the greatest thing since sliced bread would help them. But c’est la vie.

I wondered how the show would go without Simon. It turns out that the show is doing well without Mr. Cowell, thank you. This season we have a dynamite country singer. We have one of the best heavy metal singers you would want to hear – one who even can include Fay and me as fans.

And Jazz. There is a contestant this year who is a great jazz vocalist. If you have ever seen AI before, you have seen contestants bring their guitars and keyboards. This guy brings his string bass.

This week he went way out on a limb and performed “Nature Boy.” Wow. Maybe it takes an old fart and a brilliant young lady to appreciate it.



Casey knows music. He is a musician. Is he perfect? No. But damn he gets into a groove.

Another thing they do this season? Instead of having those insipid group song butchering, er, song and dance performances, they have been pairing off the contestants to sing together at the beginning of the elimination show.

The country guy and the country girl sound like they should already have an album.

But Mr. Jazz? This week he paired with a blond who has not impressed us. She puts a growl in every song whether it needed it or not. We have been waiting for her to go home. Well, this week she teamed with Mr. Jazz.

They bought down the house. I don’t think Ryan Seacrest has ever thrown a performance during the elimination show back to the judges.

I doubt Casey Abrams will win. But he has certainly has opened up the eyes of people to some great music. And perhaps he has given Haley Reinhart her voice as well.

Does A Picture Tell A Story?

So why, exactly, did the shrews on The View all wear black or white, or black and white?

Sting Gets Stung

A great read from Big Hollywood.

Quentin Tarantino "The Mantovani of Testosterone"

Critique. As only Steyn can.

Third Grade: Revisited

 What a pitiful display of clawing, biting, eye-gouging, and hair pulling.  It's no wonder that most of us are dyspeptic.



Please pass the Rolaids.  

The Big Five O

Happy 50th Birthday to James Spader, one of my favourite, and oh so didn't he used to be drop dead gorgeous, actors. His politics and mine have a galaxy between them but I could watch him on screen forever.

RIP Jean Simmons

Actor and screenwriter Julian Fellowes described Ms Simmons as being "among the last of that tier of movie stars who left Britain for Hollywood in the Fifties.'' She belonged, he said, to that "gentler generation of players, those who were well bred. Personally I mourn their passing. She was up there among the greats along with Audrey Hepburn and Deborah Kerr. I fear there ilk has not been replaced.''

Jean Simmons died on Friday at the age of 80.