Player Awards, Part I - He's Still Got It

I mentioned in my last post how I love it when artists reinvent themselves. Let me explain. It would be all too easy to just remember the following gentlemen as people who did some cool thing way back when. While these celebrities will always be remembered for the things that initially made them famous, they come back in their later years and do things that make us remember just how cool they still are.

William Shatner


From Captain James T. Kirk to Denny Crane, he's still got it. (My husband saw this and could only say "Oh yeah, Canadian Pimpin'" - it's a compliment and a reference to Shatner's Canadian heritage - don't sweat it.) In my house, we have a saying that someone went to the William Shatner school of acting when they do the overwrought, overdramatic thing - like how he was as Kirk. Some other cool moments: Shatner instructing Eddie Murphy and Robert DeNiro how to be TV cops (Like T.J. Hooker, remember?) in the movie Showtime. So funny.

Billy Dee Williams

I couldn't resist putting up the picture of Billy Dee as the Colt 45 spokesperson. I prefer to look past the tagline: "It works every time" and see it as a piece of history.

Anyway, Billy Dee was an actor before he appeared as Lando Calrissian - he was in the tearjerker Brian's Song (which I bawled at as a kid), and showed off that sexy, sexy, sexy speaking voice in Lady Sings the Blues with Diana Ross - the diva I love to hate. The movie came out in 1972, but somehow I saw it on TV with my mom when I was probably about 11 or 12. Just hearing him say "Ciao Bella" in that deep, drawn out way was enough for me, and I was just a kid! I just saw him again in an AT&T ad, playing on his old persona as all around cool dude and ladies man.

Tony Bennett

Anthony Benedetto. Would you ever believe that the guy who left his heart in San Francisco would be back singing with Christina Aguilera, guest starring on Saturday Night Live (playing a Tony Bennett imitator who was guest starring on the "Tony Bennett Show", with Alec Baldwin playing "the real" Tony Bennett - if I could have found the video, I would have posted it) and being totally cool without even trying? How could he help but be cool? We have the same birthday! Of course, he was born 45 years before me. :)

He Was a Bad Mother...Shut Yo Mouf!

Issac Hayes - August 20, 1942 - August 10, 2008

More Than Shaft: Hayes Was a Goldmine of Influence. Associated Press, August 10, 2008.

Of course, we remember him as the composer of the Theme from Shaft, which won an Academy Award for best Original Song for the movie Shaft (1971).

I love it when people reinvent themselves -- and he did that, keeping his fame alive with his role as the Chef in South Park, and with roles and cameos in many films. One short role that he had that always cracks me up ('cause I'm twisted and have an extremely weird sense of humor), was in the truly horrible movie Reindeer Games. He and Ben Affleck were inmates in the same prison, and in the cafeteria, Hayes' character had a meltdown, jumping up and exclaiming "There are...monsters...in the gelatin" louder and louder until complete havoc ensues. After that, you might as well turn the movie off.

I just had to add this picture because my parents have so many pictures of my father in plaid suit jackets just like this one, and this car, while not a Monte Carlo, reminds me of the old, red, Monte Carlo that we had in the seventies. For a while, growing up, I even thought one of my uncles looked like Isaac Hayes.

Olympics Update

Wow, what is going on? A tourist at the Olympics was killed by a guy in Beijing?! That's horrible. I was reading an article about this, and one thing that struck me is that it said that "Attacks on foreigners are extremely rare in China, not least because they carry heavier punishment than crimes against Chinese people." <"Olympics 2008: US coach's relative murdered in Beijing" www.guardian.co.uk> That completely sidetracked me from feeling bad about the death to feeling really weird about that statement - it's like saying that it's okay to kill your fellow citizen, but God forbid you hurt a foreigner and bring the criticism of the world upon us. Actually, I can't really see any good reason for that policy, which is probably why I'm not in politics. Killing someone is pretty heinous. Why not have the same punishment, regardless of the victim? Look at what I'm saying. Just think of the injustice of how people are sentenced in the U.S.

Side note: a spectator at an Equestrian event tried to fly a flag with a Tibetan symbol on it and was hauled out of the event. (They did ask her to leave first, and she refused) I applaud the Free Tibet protesters for their determination to bring attention to China's human rights abuses against Tibet, but I really hope that it all stays peaceful and no one gets hurt.

Child at Free Tibet/San Francisco Torch Protest in April, 2008

Side note: So I missed watching Michael Phelps win a gold for swimming, but I did happen to catch badminton?

Whaaat? I don't mean to be disrespectful to the athletes that surely have trained hard for this event, but I have a hard time seeing this as something that should be an olympic sport. It's a backyard game. If I can play it well, I feel like maybe it's a bit too easy for the olympics. Maybe they'll add Connect Four as an Olympic Sport, too.

And please, I really hope they never add Poker as a sport. It's bad enough that it's on ESPN. How much more boring can you get? I really don't want to watch other people play poker. I just don't care. I'd rather watch badminton. At least with badminton, I saw the female player from Indonesia working up a sweat. That is, before I fell asleep. (I'm in my third trimester and on vacation -- give me a break!) Just know that I would have fallen asleep much faster had it been poker.

Rest In Peace

I heard a few days ago that comedian Bernie Mac was in the hospital for pneumonia, but I didn't realize how serious it was. He passed away today at the young age of 50. It was a shock, if only because we are so used to celebrities bouncing back from illnesses and setbacks.

If you only saw him in his movie appearances, you missed out. Check out one of his taped stand up performances; he was hilarious. And no, he was not always P.C. - I can't think of one comedian that I really like that hasn't said something at sometime to offend somebody. (Although, I do have to admit that Bill Cosby's offensive remarks didn't happen during a comedy routine - which might make them worse.)

I didn't even hear until today that Bernie Mac got some flack from Obama for saying some "inappropriate" comments and using "salty" language at a benefit for Obama. Come on, Obama, were you not familiar with his comedy, or are you living in Leave It to Beaver land? I honestly don't know what Mac said, but he is (was) a comedian, and anyone familiar with his comedy would have known what kind of things he would have been liable to say.

Enough of that. That's not what this post is about.

Anyway, Rest in peace, Bernard McCullough. You made us laugh.

"Chicago Comedian Bernie Mac Dead at 50: Fearless rants on race, fatherhood captivated audience." Chicago Tribune, August 9, 2008.

Thats Hot!

I'm loving Paris's response to John McCain's ad.
From Funny or Die.com

'nuff said.

8.8.08

I have to admit, I am a BIG olympics nut! I love the individual sports, the inspiration of these athletes who have committed their lives to excellence in their sport, and even the sappy tear-jerker stories about those who have overcome incredible obstacles.

I'm excited about the start of the games, and hope that with my increasingly addled brain, I don't forget that it's going on and miss some of my favorite sports. (By the way, sorry I've been gone so long -- we've got a lot of catching up to do!)

One world, one dream.

(oh, my corniness begins...)