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."