Heavenly Beautiful Helen Mirren

I am going to be disobedient only for today and write because of a statement I saw in the newpaper this morning.

Last night I did not watch The Academy Awards. Actually I have not viewed the show since the early 1990s, and that was when I was in Peace Corps in Botswana. There a condensed two hour version of the show was beamed in from South Africa. Those Batswana with television sets soaked up the program.

Over the years I have become less and less of a TV watcher since there is so little on the tube that interests me. Also TV watching is so passive, and I love to partake in activities where I can participate and contribute. The fare on US television is so pedestrian or too salacious nowadays that I really do not want to waste my time.

Anyhow, this morning when I glanced at the section of my town's/city's newspaper, I rather liked the comment made about award winning actress Helen Mirren (62), "A-A-R-P and H-O-T!" AARP is an abbreviation for the American Association of Retired Persons a non-profit organization whose mission is to enhance the lives of people over 50. My parents receive their monthly magazine. Dame Helen Mirren is a British citizen, so she would not qualify for the organization's services.

I have been fascinated by Helen Mirren since I first saw her playing the part of King Arthur's evil sister Morgana in the 1981 movie Excalibur. She could easily pass for an older sister of my Russian friend Tanya. As it so happens, Ms. Mirren is the paternal granddaughter of a Russian nobleman, soldier, and diplomat who was stranded with his family in England when the Russian Revolution broke out in 1917, and her great great grandfather Mikhail Kamensky was a hero during the Napoleonic Wars. Dame Helen's stage name is Helen Mirren but her birth name is the very Russian Ilyena Vasilievna Mironov. However, she is not fluent in Russian.

It is said that as wine ages it gets better. Helen Mirren shows that this can also be true with some people. She was stunning and stately last night as more photos which can be seen here can attest.

Helen Mirren describes herself as being "famous for being cool about not being gorgeous."

Three Romantically Handsome American Actors

Three Romantically handsome American actors who give me chills not solely because of their good looks but also because of their immense talents are Denzel Washington, George Clooney, and Johnny Depp.

Denzel who is the eldest at 53 is a two time Academy Award winner.

George, who is 46, has received an Oscar once. Johnny (44) has been nomimated three times.

In tonight's 2008 Oscars, both Clooney and Depp are nominees, with Clooney for his role in Michael Clayton and Depp as Sweeney Todd.

Like me Clooney and Depp are southerners. Both were born in Kentucky. Also like me, Depp is of partial Native American ancestry. As for age, I am right in the middle between Clooney and Depp.

I see all three gentlemen as Renaissance men who are different and unique in their own way and with qualities that I admire. Clooney is not only an actor, producer, director, and screenwriter, he is also an activist. Depp has chosen to go his own way not only in the roles he chooses to play, but he has decided to not live the typical lifestyle of existing in vapid Hollywood, but resides in France immensed in old world charm with his lover French actress and singer Vanessa Paradis. Washington is also a director now, and unlike his counterparts he is married and has never been divorced, an extreme rarity in Hollywood. His church going grounds him, for he is a devout Christian. His father, Denzel Washington, Sr. was a Pentecostal minister He was born in New York, but his mother came from Georgia, my state.

Looks are not everything, but if I could pick a man with all the accoutrements that I like, I would pick one of these three. It is not about money for me either. It is about hard work, dedication, charisma, and sophistication, and all three have these qualities.

With the state of the African-American male being so pathetic with high incarceration rates, illiteracy, and irresponsibility, Denzel Washington is a rarity in so many ways just like Barack Obama. My mother has said several times that if I had been able to meet Denzel before he married and we had been attracted to each other, he would have been the perfect man for me.

Aphrodite and Apollo Post Moderne

This is slightly old news, but 41 year old Halle Berry's wish has come true; she is now pregnant by her French Canadian boyfriend, model Gabriel Aubry. They are reputed to have met at a Versace fashion show. Halle says that Aubry, 31, was initially rather shy, but he obviously overcame his impediment.

After two failed marriages to black men, Halle Berry stopped seeking marriage and instead found someone she says she is happy with, who has shown her real love, and has given her her wish, a baby. Personally I believe for a number of reasons that it is best to have kids inside the context of marriage. Still because people are imperfect, with even a married father around, there is no guarantee raising children will go smoothly. It all has to do with having a level head, and a lot of men and women in this day and time don't even bother to have any balance in their outlook on life. Seems those who should have never gone the route of producing kids are the first ones to plunge in having them. The most blatant current public example of this is Britney Spears. In my most recent sojourn in Turkey, the family I worked briefly for as a live-in English tutor showed horrible parenting skills, this in a country which still holds on to traditional marriage and family. Some people are just not cut out to be parents even in such places too.

Hopefully, with her age, Halle will display some common sense and skill. But wisdom does not always come with age. But for the child's sake, I hope she does. It is said that older parents tend to be better than those who are young. Older parents don't take things for granted where having a child later in life is concerned. To older parents, a longed for child which finally appears on the scene is a blessing.

A couple of weeks ago, I watched a YouTube video of a Christian Lebanese woman whose parents had been married for over 30 years and had remained childless. When they had gave up hope, her mom became pregnant. When she was born, her mother was 55 and her dad was 60! I bet they were wonderful parents. This was in the days before fertility treatments, and being in one of the Bible lands, I am not surprised. Remember Abraham and Sarah or Elizabeth and Zachariah, both elderly Biblical couples who had a child when all hope was lost?

Halle Berry is the product of an African-American father and an English mother. With their good looks Berry's and Aubry's child may be very attractive. African-American, English, and French.

In their beauty, I think of Halle Berry and Gabriel Aubry as a post modern Aphrodite and Apollo. Here are more photos of them.

The Romance of It's A Wonderful Life

The Romantic clip above is from the movie It's A Wonderful Life. This 1946 classic was a regular fixture on American television each Christmas season during the 1980s. At Christmas it was not unusual during that decade for the movie to be playing every evening on several TV channels sometimes at once. The showing of the film was eventually reduced because of copyright laws, and today if the the film is shown at all, only NBC is licenced to present it once a year mainly on Christmas eve.

The idea for me to write this post was actually e-mailed to me by Ardent of Ardent Observations which came at a very timely time since this is the Christmas season and little did she know It's A Wonderful Life is one of my all time favorite films and Jimmy Stewart, who plays the main character, is one of my favorite old actors from the Golden Age of Hollywood. During the heyday of its' frequent showings, I actually watched It's Wonderful Life at least 20 times. A few years ago I purchased the the film on VHS, but by that time I had overdosed on so many viewings of it on the tube, I actually have never viewed the video. It lies in storage with some of my other videos and DVDs. However, before New Year's has come and gone I hope to set aside time to watch it. And guess what?! Wonder of wonders, I have actually found the entire full length film online which can be watched here entirely free. But before watching it, get a taste by viewing the clip.

When It's A Wonderful Life was released, it was one of the few Capra films that was a box office flop. It was not until the 1980s that it actually became a Christmas cult favorite. I remember being hardly able to wait for each Christmas season to come so I could watch the movie over and over again. In the 1980s I had passed the age of waiting for Santa to bring me the latest neat toys, so It's Wonderful Life was the treat I anxiously waited to behold. The main character George Bailey stood for everything I believed in and still believe a person should be. He was generous, honest, and selfless. George Bailey grows up and lives his life in the small American town of Bedford Falls. It is a bittersweet tale with a shade of Dickens about a regular goodhearted guy with big dreams, but because of various unforseen circumstances, he cannot live out the life he plans. Nevertheless, his life impacts many people around him in a positive way over the years. It is only when George is about to toss it all alway that an angel from heaven is sent down because of the prayers of family and friends. The angel Clarence who is trying to earn his wings shows George what the world would be like it he had never been born. In the end, George comes to realize that despite the disappointments and setbacks, he is not a failure, but has actually had a "wonderful life."

There are many messages in It's A Wonderful Life which makes it still very relevant even today over 60 years after its' making. The importance of sincerity, family, community, giving, self sacrifice, are all messages that are as timeless as the reason for the season. George Bailey may not be or will ever become a rich man like the vindictive and dishonest Mr. Potter who is the town millionaire and who really cares for no one but himself and his riches, but George has more: a big heart. Today in a world where so many care only for themselves (even when they pretend not to), and when so many lack a word or transparency, It's Wonderful Life's message is one that is more important than ever. The qualities of George Bailey which I cited above is very much a part of the many qualities which I feel define a "Romantic:" uniqueness, uprightness, vision, selflessness, openness, imagination, courage.

Kissing by Valentino

Last week I posted a video of the Latin Lover and silent screen superstar Rudolph Valentino in action. Valentino was a true artist, not like many in Hollywood today who have devalued the term art by calling themselves artists. Being in the era before sound, Valentino was adept at expressing emotions through his facial expressions. He was also the master when it came to kissing. In this video clip (the link is below) Rudy does the hand kiss which is almost a lost art.

In the country of Turkey, hand kissing is still done sometimes as a gesture of respect. A young person may go up to an older person, take their hand, kiss it, and then after kissing the hand of the older person, the younger person will take the older person's hand and touch their forehead with it. Before I got worn out with trying to exist in Turkey after living there twice briefly, I had become slightly acculturated. Several times I have done this gesture to older people I met there. Most accepted the gesture reluctantly out of humbleness, I believe. One of my friend's mischievous nephews who was about 8 even kissed my hand this way one time.

Like the previous Valentino clip that I posted last week, the producer of it has disabled embedding, so you can see the Master by clicking here.