Forever Golden

Ever since she co-starred as the spunky grandma of Ryan Reynolds in Sandra Bullock's hit comedy The Proposal last year, Betty White has been enjoying a career resurgence that had rarely been seen in Hollywood before. First she was chosen for a hilarious Snickers commercial during the 2010 Super Bowl final, traditionally the most expensive timeslot of the year for commercial airing due to its high viewership



That commercial was voted as best ads of the year’s event which led to a grassroot Facebook campaign that successfully lobbied her to be the guest host of the popular comedy sketch show Saturday Night Live(SNL). At the age of 88, she became the oldest guest host ever for the program, no mean feat considering the target audiences of SNL are primarily in the teen and 20s.



That episode registered the highest rating for SNL in two years and won Betty White an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actress In A Comedy Series. Striking the iron while it is hot, TV network quickly offers Betty a spot in their new sitcom Hot in Cleveland. As if her comeback didn't gathered enough momentum, fellow cast member of The Golden Girls Rue McClanahan passed away on Jun 3rd this year, leaving Betty as the last survivor of the wacky foursome in the perennial favorite series and the sole receiver of all the residual fan’s devotion. At this rate I wouldn't be surprised Betty will end up as the Entertainer of the Year when December comes.

The Golden Girls was/is one of the best and most successful sitcoms came out in the 80s and it is the series for which Betty White is best remembered for (notice that it received the most applause when The Golden Girls was mentioned during her monologue in SNL). Even though the series has finished its run in 1992, it remains a rating champion on rerun for the last twenty years and continues to win fans who aren’t even born when the show went off the air. This September marked the Silver Anniversary of The Golden Girls and here is my tribute to the beloved series and the four remarkable women who made TV history

The Golden Girls



The Golden Girls was the brainchild of NBC executive Brandon Tartikoff who witnessed how his elderly aunt argued and bickered with her neighbor constantly and yet remained best friend to each other. He gave the idea to TV writer Susan Harris and thus The Golden Girls was born. Susan created a sitcom about four post middle age women sharing a house together in Florida: Blanche Devereaux, the owner of the house, was a vain, man hungry southern belle from Atlanta, Georgia who leased her house after her husband passed away. Answering her ads for roommate was Rose Nylund, a naïve, simple-minded farm girl from the fictional town Saint Olaf, Minnesota who moved to Miami to start afresh after her husband died of heart attack (when they were having sex!), and Dorothy Zbornak, a commanding, no-nonsense substitute teacher whose husband of 26 years dumped her for a stewardess. When the retirement home of Dorothy’s mother Sophia Petrillo, a feisty, spunky Italian immigrated to America from old world Sicily, has burnt down, she moved in with her daughter and completed the quartet. In seven seasons, the girls shared laughter, heartbreak, fights and most of all, cheesecakes, poked fun at everything under the Sun from sperm bank, menopause to age discrimination. Together they shared many riotous adventures such as a TV game show appearance where they shamelessly humiliated themselves for the prize, an inadvertent stint at a nudist camp, a fiercely competitive (with each other) bowling tournament and also this freakingly hilarious sequence in preparing for a romantic cruise in the Bahamas:



The Golden Girls broke new ground because for the first time there is a series with an entirely female ensemble cast. Even more amazing for the youth-dominated medium is that they are all over 50s, vivacious, sexually active and well-groomed. It is one of the rarity that depicted the life of woman doesn't end at 50s and they still date and lead an active life. It is debatable whether Sex and The City is just a blatant rip-off of The Golden Girls but one thing for sure is The Golden Girls featured a much better cast and chemistry. It had some of the most legendary veterans on TV and it is impossible to pick a favorite Golden Girls since each is wonderful in their own way. In fact their chemistry is so explosive that eventually each of them had won an Emmy for the show, becoming one of the only three (All In The Family and Will & Grace are the other) shows in TV history that had won an Emmy for the entire cast. But unlike the other two where each character won for a different category, three of the four members of The Golden Girls were competing in the same category and they each triumphed once. It showed you The Golden Girls was truly an ensemble piece since all four women has moments to shine and no one got overshadowed by anyone



Dorothy Zbornak


Bea Arthur (1922 - 2009)
Bea Arthur was born to a Jewish family in New York as Bernice Frankel, a name she hated and as early as she can remember she called herself Beatrice instead. She started her career as a stage actress in off Broadway during the late 40s. Blessed with a statuesque physique and a baritone voice, Arthur specialized in playing strong and assertive women even though in real life she is very shy and quiet. She eventually worked her way up to the Broadway smash hit Mame in the late 60s. As Vera Charles, the bosom buddies to Angela Lansbury’s Mame Dennis, Arthur won a Tony award and in 1971 she was invited to guest-star in the hit sitcom All in the Family as the outspoken feminist Maude Findlay. It was well received enough to prompt TV producer Norman Lear to spin-off a separate sitcom named Maude, starring Arthur herself. The show is best remembered today for the episode “Maude’s dilemma”, which featured the first ever TV character to have an abortion when Maude found herself unexpectedly pregnant at the age of 47:



Riding the height of the feminist movement in the 70s, Maude became a big success and made Bea Arthur a household name. The show runs for six seasons but in 1978 Bea Arthur decided she didn’t want to continue the role of Maude. After the end of Maude Bea Arthur divorced her second husband and dedicated her time to her family, with only occasional TV guest appearance until the script of The Golden Girls arrived.

In the original script of The Golden Girls, the part Dorothy Zbornak was described as a Bea Arthur type character. It was only after awhile somebody had the genius idea to cast Bea Arthur herself as Dorothy. However, Bea Arthur initially was lukewarm to the idea because she was informed that fellow Maude cast member Rue McClanahan will be cast as the dimwit Rose as well and Arthur felt their characters will be too similar to what they have played in Maude. She only became interested in the project when Rue McClanahan personally persuaded her and it was Blanche Rue would be playing.

While Dorothy shared many outspoken traits with Maude, the writer did give Dorothy a little softer edge. For example, the fact that she was dumped by her husband for a younger woman and she was always the butt of the jokes for being unattractive gave Dorothy a more vulnerable side. However, Bea Arthur was at her best when she was in charge, such as how she fended off a potential prison brawl when the girls were (wrongfully) arrested for prostitution:



I work in the public school system and it's not that different from this

It is hilarious but it is also somewhat true :)

In 1992 Bea Arthur decided she wanted to leave while the show was still on top, thus ended the run of The Golden Girls. She kept a very low profile from then on but returned to Broadway in 2001 with her one woman show And Then There’s Bea. On Apr 25th 2009, Bea Arthur passed away from lung cancer at age 86. Private to the end the public has no idea of her illness. Upon the news of her death broke, I was surprised by how many women has found Bea beautiful and listed her as their role model, considered that Ms. Arthur was never the conventional beauty with her build and low voice. However, as American had learned from the women’s movement, of which Bea was very much a part of, a strong woman is indeed an attractive woman.

Blanche Devereaux


Rue McClanahan (1934 - 2010)
Rue McClanahan was born Eddi-Rue McClanahan in a small mid-western town in Oklahoma. Despite her small town background, McClanahan hailed from a rather progressive and liberal family where her mom owned her own beauty parlor business. Eddi-Rue herself was already a co-partner in a dance studio when she was still in high school, very unusual for teenagers of her time, much less a girl. Even at a very young age McClanahan was encouraged to realize her full potential and she excelled academically. However, McClanahan loved to perform and after graduating from college, she decided to move to New York to become a professional actress

Despite her obvious talent and love of performing, McClanahan had to go through a long apprenticeship before finding success and financial security in the business. Two things went against her: while her parents had always encouraged Rue to dream big, what they didn’t prepare her is the rough life of big city and McClanahan found her small town value is no match for New York. In additions, her romantic ideal of relationship had imprudently brought her six marriages and numerous affairs, many of which had seriously jeopardized her career and livelihood.

It was only until legendary TV producer Norman Lear, who had saw Rue McClanahan performed on stage before, casted her as the naïve Vivian, best friend to Bea Arthur’s Maude, in the series Maude that Rue finally has steady employment and not to mention income. However, when Maude finished its run after six seasons, Rue’s life was once again thrown back into crisis due to the nasty divorce from husband number four, who asked for half of her earning. Meanwhile she suffered from a near fatal surgical complication during an operation for gall bladder attack. So she kept her finance afloat by appearing as the mousy Aunt Fran in the sitcom Mama’s Family, a part she felt she was wasted in. All these were rescued when the script of The Golden Girls arrived. Rue instantly connected with the part of men-hungry vixen Blanche Devereaux and knew she had a hit in hand. The problem was producer intended to give the part to Betty White instead. Fortunately casting director had the senses to ask Betty and Rue to read each other’s parts during audition. Any indecision on who should play who was quashed and the rest is history

Even though all four characters in The Golden Girls are not shy from romantic pursue, Blanche is by far the most sexually liberal of all and the least socially acceptable for women of their demographic at that point. Rue played the part with just the right combination of aggressive sexuality and emotional vulnerability that the role never sank below good taste. It also allow women above fifty to feel sexy for the first time, that female empowerment has become one of the cornerstone of the show. In additions, The Golden Girls challenged many of the social taboos of its time, such as lesbianism in this classic episode that won the Outstanding Comedy Series Emmy for the show:



It was way ahead of its time when you considered The Golden Girls debuted during the Reagan era, under which one saw some of the most homophobic policies due to AIDS. It will be even funnier if you know who Danny Thomas, perhaps the most famous and beloved Lebanese in America, is. By the way, Danny’s son Tony Thomas was actually one of the executive producers of The Golden Girls. He sure is a good sport to allow the show to make fun of his own father.

The Golden Girls finished its run in 1992 when Bea Arthur decide to leave, the other three tried to carry on in the spinoff The Golden Palace but without Bea the series never found its footing and got cancelled after just one season. Rue thereafter guest starred in a number of series, got married for the seventh time and released her autobiography My First Five Husbands…And the Ones Who Got Away. However, she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1997 and poor health has undermined her subsequent career. On Jun 3rd 2010 Rue McClanahan passed away after suffering from a massive stroke. She was 76.

Sophia Petrillo


Estelle Getty (1923 - 2008)
All the Golden Girls were already a household name before the series started in 1985, except Estelle Getty who played the octogenarian matriarch Sophia Petrillo. That is because Ms Getty took a twenty years detour in becoming a professional actress in favor of doing what was expected of her at the time – raising a family. Estelle was born Estelle Scher to a Polish-Jewish immigrant family in the lower East side of Manhattan in 1923. Though her family was not well off, one luxury Estelle got to enjoy as a kid was the frequent trip to vaudeville her father would take his family to after work. That experience had left a life-long impression on Estelle’s young mind but as with so many of the time her dream of being actress were met with dissuasion. As a result she compromised by taking secretarial jobs during the days once she graduated from high school so that she can audition for parts in the local theatres at nights

In 1947 Estelle met business Arthur Gettlemen and nine months later they were married. The Gettlemen soon started a family when Estelle gave birth to two boys. Even though Estelle continued to finding ways to act in the provincial theatres for the next thirty years, success was understandably limited when she had to stretch between her secretarial job and raising her children.

It was only until 1976 when her children had grown that Estelle could dedicate more her time in pursuing her goal. She met a young struggling playwright named Harvey Fierstein, who was writing a play about a Jewish torch-song singing transvestite’s search for love in New York. Estelle read the play and was smitten with it. She asked Harvey to write a part for her in the play and so he added a third act circling around the mother of the transvestite and the play became Torch Song Trilogy.



Torch Song Trilogy started off extremely modestly in off-off Broadway where the entire cast was made up of amateurish actors who mostly don’t have day jobs or real income. However, good word-of-mouth allowed the play to move to off Broadway within three months and before long it was moved to Broadway in 1982 where immense popularity means tickets had to be booked three month ahead. Eventually Torch Song Trilogy won the Tony for Best Play in 1983 and after plugging along for over thirty years, Estelle finally made it as a legitimate actress.

However, Estelle Getty remained an unknown outside of the small circle of New York theatre but that was about to change. While touring with Torch Song Trilogy in 1984 Estelle came to Los Angeles. She was called in by TV producers to audition for a TV pilot called The Golden Girls. The audition wasn't exactly a smooth ride because producers weren’t entirely convinced when Estelle was substantially younger than the character Sophia Petrillo. No decision were made even after numerous readings. It was only until her manager dressed her up to the part with powder in her hair during the last reading that Estelle had secured the part. Even so, Sophia was not originally designed as a regular cast member for the show. However, the chemistry among the four actresses was too undeniable in the pilot for the producer to ignore. Consequently, an original character, a male servant of the house, was cut after the first episode and The Golden Girls had become a foursome ever since

Sophia Petrillo was written to have suffered from a stroke before, which left her speaking whatever on mind with no inhibition. As a result the writer always gave Estelle some of the raciest lines ever on TV which endured her to millions of fans over all America. At a pint size 4’ 10 ½”, the physical contrast between her and Bea Arthur made Sophia and Dorothy one of the most memorable mother and daughter team. However, it is not just the feistiness that made Sophia such a colourful character. There is genuine affection between her and Dorothy, such as the time when it was discovered that the hospital might have switched the baby and Sophia might not be the real mother of Dorothy:



Interestingly, the writer never bother to resolve the real relationship between Sophia and Dorothy but I believe it is intentional: The show appeal to millions for because, blood-related or not, these four women are a family, however unconventional it might be.

For a few years after the end of The Golden Girls and The Golden Palace, Estelle Getty kept herself busy with various TV appearances and she co-starred in the hit family movie Stuart Little (also the last real hit for Geena Davis). However, in the late 90s she was diagnosed with dementia, a nervous disease that causes the loss of cognitive ability. As her health and mind began to decline due to the condition Estelle had stopped making public appearance. Reportedly she was unable to recall her former co-star when Betty White and Rue McClanahan visited her during her last years. On July 22nd 2008 Estelle died of complications from her disease, just three days before her 85th birthday and making her the first Golden Girl to pass away

Rose Nylund


Betty White (1922 - )
Three of the four Golden Girls are originally from the stage. Uniquely, Betty White’s background firmly rooted on television. The oldest of the cast, Betty White was born on the outskirt of Chicago in 1922 to a household full of love for animal, which has a life-long influence on her. Her family would move to Los Angeles when Betty was only two. Growing up next to the movie capital didn’t not inspire Betty to become an actress. Her foray into show business was only because of her singing in her high school graduation. A producer of radio programming heard the performance and asked Betty if she would be interested in an experiment broadcast called television. Thus began Betty’s legendary television career in 1939, three months after her graduation. To put this in the proper perspective, before World War II the major public broadcast in America was primarily radio. It was only in April of 1939 New York’s World Fair that televisions made its debut in the country. That means Betty White was truly a pioneer of the new medium.

The outbreak of WWII temporarily halted the development of both American television and Betty’s career. In the meanwhile she did what was expected of women to do at the time – got married, first to an Army pilot and later to a veteran turned talent agent. Both marriages ended briefly in part of the fact that instead of being a cookie-cutter housewife, Betty, unusual for women at the time, wanted to have a career and NOT to have children. So by 1949 Betty White became twice divorced. With two failed marriage, a defeated Betty felt marital bliss probably is not in her card and so threw herself into her work in a local Los Angeles TV show. Soon it paid dividend as she was approached to star in and produce her own TV series Life with Elizabeth, making her one of the first female TV producer ever. The success allowed the show to move beyond just Los Angeles area and to be broadcast across the nation. Eventually it won Betty her first Emmy for Best Actress which led to NBC offering her her own daytime variety show on national TV.

Although her variety show ended only one year later, Betty moved on to become a frequent guest panelist in many TV game shows, a programming that has gain tremendous popularity in the mid fifties. One of the game shows Betty often made her guest appearance was Password, hosted by the king of game shows Allen Ludden. Turned out the widowed Ludden has more romantic intention behind her frequent invitation. In 1962 Allen Ludden proposed to Betty White but with her past failures Betty was more than a little hesitant and turned him down. Undeterred, the persistent Ludden put the ring Betty returned upon his proposal on a chain around his neck as a reminder to Betty. After a year of trying, Allen and Betty finally got married.

Professionally Betty also reached a new pinnacle through Allen. Through her relationship with Allen Ludden, Betty became a close friend with Mary Tyler Moore and her then husband Grant Tinker. At the time Mary Tyler Moore was starring in the classic TV sitcom The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Mary suggested Betty to the producers of the show when they were looking for someone to play a new character Sue Ann Nivens, a sweet on the surface but conniving underneath homemaker. Soon Sue Ann Nivens became Betty White’s first classic TV character and won her two Emmy for Best Supporting Actress.

However, just when life with Ludden was at its most charmed disaster struck. In 1980, not long after Betty's enormous success with The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Allen Ludden was suddenly diagnosed with cancer. The cancer was on his stomach which was inoperable. Betty White was devastated when doctor told her that there was nothing they can do. In Jun the following year Allen Ludden passed away, just five days shy of their eighteenth anniversary.

Betty White never found another love like Allen but just as unexpected as Allen’s death, she was on the verge of her greatest professional success. Four years after the death of her husband, due to her previous fames as the home-wrecker Sue Ann Nivens, Betty was approached to play Blanche in the excellent script of The Golden Girls. A last minute switch of character with Rue McClanahan proved to be no challenge to Betty. During the first year of The Golden Girls, all four actresses were nominated for an Emmy but only Betty went home with the Best Actress award, making her the first to win an Emmy for the show. Her character Rose Nylund was written as a total naïve. On a lesser actress the character will appear innocuous but Betty played her with just enough sweetness to be endearing, as evidenced in Rose's moving monologue to her deceased husband back in hometown St Olaf:



Reportedly Betty blew her lines in the scene multiple times by addressing to her real-life husband Allen instead of her TV husband Charles

Betty White remained the most active of the four Golden Girls after the series finished its run in 1992. Even at 88 she is still going strong with numerous guest appearances on TV from The Simpsons to Family Guy to Ugly Betty to 30 Rock. With a TV career that is as long and luminous as hers Betty practically became the TV institution itself. With the passing of Rue McClanahan early this year, she also became the last surviving member of the cast. I’m sure when the new of Rue’s death broke many fans of The Golden Girls were reminded of this eerily prophetic scene:



However, just Sophia said, the ever indomitable Betty White will be able to carry on and keep the memory of The Golden Girls alive. I started this tribute almost three months ago and, due to my procrastination, it wasn’t finished until now. Turned out Betty White was indeed named Entertainer of the Year by Associated Press, and deservedly so. However, even with each new height she soared in the last eighteen months, I can’t help but felt something was missing, something like the magical chemistry among the four actresses that was so palpable in The Golden Girls. For individually they each are a legend in their own right but together, they are Golden

花旗明光社

A common impression for people in Hong Kong about America is that it is a lot more open-minded and accepting. In their fervent imagination those puritan and controversial stances The Society For Truth And Light (明光社) hold will simply be unfathomable to the American public. Granted sexual minorities tend to have greater visibility, but they are far from having equalities in America. In fact, apart from the major cities along to either sides of the coast, America is actually made up substantially by a vast South and Midwest that could be surprising conservative to people in Hong Kong. Commonly referred as the Bible Belt, this is an area culturally dominated by conservative Protestant churches, some of which have such extremities in their religious belief that they can easily put 明光社 in shame. The notorious Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) that currently making headlines in United States is a prime example.



Based in Topeka, Kansas, WBC is a small virulently homophobic, anti-Semitic hate group. Headed by the pastor Fred Phelps who was also a disbarred lawyer, the church consists primarily the members of his extended family including his equally toxic (and licensed attorney) daughter Shirley Phelps-Roper and her *eleven* children.





The Phelps spawns regularly stage protests around the country, often several times a week. In obvious abuse of the protected freedom of speech, they hold up some of the most obnoxious signs you can ever imagine, picket institutions and individuals they think support homosexuality or otherwise subvert what they believe is God’s law (They have famously proclaimed their intention to picket actor Heath Ledger's funeral because he played a gay character in Brokeback Mountain).





Their extreme view and action has drawn intense criticism and monitoring around the world which eventually led to father and daughter being banned from entering the UK. However, the church obviously relishes the notoriety and attention they are getting, resulted in many of the media ignoring the church in order to deny the publicity the Phelps crave. In response, the church started to push the envelope even further by picketing the funerals of soldiers who perished in the war, where the controversy followed will ensure them staying on the public’s radar.





Perhaps as what the Phelps might have hoped, Albert Synder, the father of a deceased marine whose funeral in 2006 the church picketed, had filed a lawsuit against WBC, citing that their repugnant action has constituted "intentional infliction of emotional distress". The Synder family won the first round in a Maryland court against Westboro Baptist Church and awarded $5 million for the damage. However, that award was overturned during appeal when the court ruled that the protesters were exercising their right of free speech. Last week Albert Synder took the legal battle all the way to Supreme Court where the justices heard the oral arguments from both sides in the case





It is safe to say that I along with 99.9% of the American population would like to see the church pay for their repulsive behaviour. On the other hand, the freedom of speech is too sacred to be compromised for what amount to a household of loons. I wouldn’t be too concerned about the WBS preaching of hatred since their views are so extreme that it could only appeal to people with severe mental issues. However, if I were the authority I would seriously look into issue of child abuse within the church. The children of the Phelps family were fed and bred into their delusional world from day one. They need to be really alienated from reality in order to practice what they believe in. I have tremendous doubt if these children will be able to cope with the rest of the world once outside of such an institution. No matter how much you dislike your own family, you should consider yourself lucky that you weren’t born into this house of wackos!

輓歌

Since you have only been to my home once, I know the chance is slim that you would come to visit my place. However, I was thinking, you flied thousand of miles only to die in a strange land, would you able find your way home?

Your dad has called me to stop by your apartment last week. Honestly it was with tremendous trepidation that I see your parents since I know your mom is still very much distraught and my mandarin is not anywhere close to be able to console her. Turned out they just want to leave me some of the stuff they originally brought with them for your rehabilitation since they don’t have enough room. By the way, my mom said never in her life had she seen such great 雲耳 like those they brought from China. However, I hate to think that you never got the chance to try what was meant for you. I told your parents a little anecdote of your life in Boston, when I saw how excited they are about every little detail of you I can imagine how tough the road ahead for them will be. They decided to fly back to China on 中秋節, thinking that by spending that day on the plane it will be one less opportunity to mourn the loss of you…

Seeing how you struggled for your life in the last couple months had been a torture. The moment I heard the doctor said you only had weeks left I just felt that there is a clock ticking inside me. And I am not ashamed to say that I felt relieved when you left, knowing that you wouldn’t be suffering anymore. I thought I was prepared for that, but that night I found myself toss and turn through the hours. All the memories were just flashing in front of me, like the time when you ranted about you were out of your wits for the down payment of a house and how you envied me that I already had that taken care of, not knowing that I am in fact a whole ten years older than you. I said when you got to my age you would probably have much more than I do, talk about 一語成讖. Also the time we went to watch Avatar together, it was only last December, how can things changed so fast? It was only then I realized in six years you have never been to a movie theatre in America because you didn’t know that there is no seat number in movie tickets here. Life as a foreigner can’t be easy I supposed.

In retrospect, it might be a good thing that I dragged you to see the film so that you got to experience the 3D gimmick in the only time you went to movie in America. However, if I can do it again I would rather get you to do another thing you have never done in America - to go see a doctor for your annual checkup. Things could be a lot different otherwise.

日本歌星話滄桑之 由紀さおり

A recent post from net friend Wordy reviewed the Morita Yoshimitsu's acclaimed movie 家族ゲーム(Kazoku Game). I am not familiar with Mr. Morita's movies so I don't have much to contribute. However, what caught my attention is the part of mother is being played by the old time singer 由紀さおり/由紀沙織 (Yuki Saori), and I can't resist sharing a classic JPOP oldie I have discovered through the power of Internet.


由紀さおり

Yuki Saori was born 安田章子 (Yasuda Akiko). Together with her older sister 安田祥子 (Yasuda Sachiko) they released a series of children songs. Then in 1965 Akiko went solo but because of her deeply cemented children songs background she only had minimal success with the more mature audience. It was not until 1969 she got her big break with the song 夜明けのスキャット (Yoake no Scat).



Originally written as a jingle for the TBS radio program 夜のバラード (Yoru no Ballad), 夜明けのスキャット was released as a single after lyrics was added to it. Eventually it went to number one in ORICON chart and sold over 1.09 million copies, becoming the best selling single in 1969 Japan. It also hold the record of shortest lyrics for a number one song in ORICON history.

Billed as the first ever スキャット (scat) hit in Japan (日本初のスキャット・ヒット!!), the scat here refers to the style of singing often found in Jazz music where improvised wordless vocables or nonsense syllables being rapidly and repeatedly sung over the music. While it is true that the lyrics of 夜明けのスキャット contains a rather long segment of meaningless words but I doubt many people will consider this as scat singing. Nevertheless it is still a very melodic tune.



After the success of 夜明けのスキャット, Saori spent a few years in the early 70s as one of the top selling artists where she scored another number one hit 手紙(Tegami). However, from 1982 onward the Yasuda sisters once again get back together in the children songs business but with more classical flavor. Here is their haunting rendition of the classic Okinawa folk song 花~すべての人の心に花を~(Hana~Subete no Hito no Kokoro ni Hana wo~) , accompanied with a beautiful piano concerto.

Tall and Mighty

For fans of the TV hit musical comedy series Glee, the big news last week was of course the Emmy Awards. While it lost out the Best Comedy Series to Modern Family, Glee did win the Best Direction. Although I haven't exaclty followed the series at all, I am thrilled that it snatched the Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for Jane Lynch for her part as Will Schuester's nemesis, the acerbic head cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester.



After years of TV guest roles, Jane Lynch finally established herself as a household name at the age of 50. Standing at six feet, she is also one of the tallest actresses working in Hollywood. But for connoisseur of independent films, Jane Lynch is known as part of the motley crew that includes Michael McKean, Harry Shearer, Fred Willard, Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara, John Michael Higgins, Parker Posey, Bob Balaban, Jennifer Coolidge...etc director Christopher Guest often like to cast for his ensemble comedies.

Christopher Guest is a NYC-born Brit who is famous for directing a few repertory-like comedies in a style that comes to known as mockumentary. Guest was first involved in this genre through playing the lead guitarist in the Rob Reiner’s movie This is Spinal Tap, which follows the concert tour as well as faux interviews of the fictional rock band Spinal Tap. The subsequent cult following of the movie prompted Guest to direct a few more features in this rein to spoof a certain sub-cultural phenomenon of the society, such as community theater in Waiting for Guffman, dog show in Best in Show and my favorite, A Mighty Wind, a movie that is both a parody and a tribute to the folk music revival during the 50s to the late 60s



A Mighty Wind chronicle, due to the recent passing of legendary folk manager Irving Steinbloom, a memorial concert in The Town Hall to reunite three folk groups that Steinbloom has guided to stardom: The Folkmen, played by the exact same three actors who disguised as the rockers in Spinal Tap, The New Main Street Singers, a knockoff of The New Christy Minstrels, and the *former* sweet hearts of the folk music scene Mitch & Mickey. Jane Lynch played Laurie Bohner(wink!), an ex-pornstar who, together with husband Terry Bohner, paradoxically fronts the cheesily colour-coordinated and squeaky clean The New Main Street Singers. Here is a clip of Terry and Laurie explaining how they come to reform the ‘neuftet’, as they describe themselves as:



I like the way how Jane looks all sympathetic and comforting as Terry recalled how he was *musically* abused as a kid and how John Michael Higgins looks increasing uncomfortable as Laurie related her former life as an actress in the adult film industry and how she learned to play the ukulele in her last film Not So Tiny Tim

However, unusual for Guest’s mockumentaries since they are ensemble pieces in general, the focal point of A Mighty Wind is without a doubt the one-time lovebirds Mitch & Mickey. Mitch Cohen and Mickey Devlin met each other through a gig at a folk cafe in NYC during the 60s and it was a love at first sight. Soon they hooked up to form the folk duo and released a series of records that soaked with "true love".







In one of their signature songs, A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow, it featured a stage kiss that comes to symbolize their devotion to each other. Mitch and Mickey are brilliantly played by Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara, who are perhaps better remembered as the dad in American Pie and the mom in Home Alone respectively. Both hailed from Canada, Eugene and Catherine actually dated all the way back to the 70s in a sketch comedy show called SCTV (Second City TV), sort of like a Canadian version of Saturday Night Live which unfortunately has overshadowed SCTV. Because of their long history, Christopher Guest like to pair Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara together in his movie and the result is often hilarious, even when both Levy and O’Hara play it straight.




However, as the relationship between Mitch and Mickey started to unravel and finally broke down, they parted way and Mitch went on to a couple poorly received solo releases with increasingly dark tone. It all eventually led to a mental breakdown and a stint at the hospital. As a result, the same kiss comes back to haunt both of them





Now the big question is will Mitch and Mickey be able to bury their differences to reunite for one night? Will they be able to handle the memories brought back by performing together? Will they reenact the kiss when they sing A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow?



Remarkably, while the movie is played for laugh, all the songs featured in the soundtrack are original and genuine folk music. Even more amazing is that they are all written and performed by the cast who also played their own instruments themselves. I bet a lot of listeners would believe they are authentic folk groups if they haven’t been told otherwise. Admirers accustomed to Christopher Guest’s mockumentries are often surprised and moved by the sincerity of the Mitch & Mickey story, of which the song A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow no doubt has added to its poignancy. In fact, it has touched enough people to win the movie an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song

It is an unexpected nomination for a small budget comedy like A Mighty Wind and naturally the cast was thrilled. Much like Mitch & Mickey in the movie, people are anxious to see how Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara would appear on Oscar night now that the stage had been set for them to perform the song. Eugene even quipped that they might pull a wardrobe malfunction stunt a la Janet Jackson, where he will rip Catherine’s dress only to get stuck…. While he didn’t exactly do that but their rendition was definitely a highlight of otherwise yet another dull Oscar show. Unfortunately the Academy is very stringent with their copyright. So even though I have the performance on avi, I cannot post it to YouTube lest they should close my account. But leave to the fans in Asia (Taiwan I believe) who managed to sidestep the legal right by posting the Oscar broadcast on STAR movies. Notice that Eugene and Catherine performed the song in characters, even the announcer introduced them as Mitch & Mickey. I like the way Catherine all choked up with emotion and said “I can’t” when Eugene made his move to kiss her. Comedy at its most sublime



As a tradition, all Christopher Guest’s mockumentaries always end with a "six month later" segment where it will catch up with all the major characters half a year after the event that bring them together. A Mighty Wind is no exception; turned out everyone except Mitch and Mickey themselves took their reunion much more seriously than it actually was.



Well they certainly had us fooled :-)

When lyrics were still good and affirmative

For someone who is forever trapped in a time warp, anything that is post-1988 is as good as new. It was only when I Google online did I realize it was over 18 years old. No wonder it doesn't sound like anything written out there these days. I particularly like the line "回望時我也笑得温婉". There is so much aftertaste to it.

仍感激相愛了一年 - 林帆

曲:陳容森    詞:周禮茂    編:盧東尼

渡過一天 還又有一天 終於心不掛牽
但這一刻 超出了預算 與你邂逅重見面
挑不起的心亂再湧現 但比想的少了點
熱烈問候亦只感覺微*暖 默默又讓你掠過身邊

仍感激相愛了一年 仍感激走過了一段
還是回頭 期望你繼續流連
仍感激相愛了一年 仍感激走過了一段
回望時我也笑得温婉

没有許多 還是有許多 講不出的眷戀
但也心知 不可再越線 過去了是場紀*念
關不起的心又再紛亂 亦比想的多了酸
熱烈話别亦只感覺微*暖 默默又讓你掠過身邊
　
仍感激相愛了一年 仍感激走過了一段
還是回頭 期望你繼續流連
仍感激相愛了一年 仍感激走過了一段
回望時你已眼中飄遠
　
仍感激相愛了一年 仍感激走過了一段
還是回頭 期望你繼續流連
仍感激相愛了一年 仍感激走過了一段
回望時我眼已濕千遍

* I never manage to find the lyrics of this song online. The above was only deciphered through listening. In the song "感覺未暖" and "是場記念" are what it sounds like but based on the context, "感覺微暖" and "是場紀念" would seem to make more sense.

星光伴我心之魚目混珠

People always like to say the quality of TV programs (in particular TVB's) isn't what it used to be. However, things always look better when you glimpse it through the flitering lens of memory. Not to defend the creativity (or the lack of it) in TVB's production, do we really remember what TV was like back then?

During the dawn of public television broadcasting in Hong Kong, TV programs understandably relied heavily on foreign productions due to the limited local resources. One such example was the Saturday night broadcast of dubbed foreign movies that are marketed as some kind of five star cinema. Being at my pre-adolescence I of course had no idea what movies or stars have been featured. Among the bit and pieces I remember is an absurd image of a screaming and wailing woman being strapped in a bathtub that was covered with a canvas, with only her head was above the tub. Later she tried to use her toe to tear open the canvas from underneath but once she succeeded her wailing has turned into a howling of agony...

I don't remember anything else from the movie (except a brief snapshot of a joint wedding) but this scene stayed with me because it was so bizarre to me at the time. Then fast forward thirty years later, to take advantage of living in America, I was exploring the many great and not so great filmdom got to offer. Unexpectedly I stumbled across the same scene again



This scene is from a movie named Valley of the Dolls. The rediscovery of the scene also leads to the realization of how TVB managed to get away with the kind of movie they passed as five stars cinema, for Valley of the Dolls is a movie known to be infamous rather than famous.



Until Mommie Dearest came along, Valley of the Dolls was the undisputed champion of Camp Cinema, which had wrecked the career of the aspiring starlets and stigmatized the legend starred in it. Its strong pop culture following is sustained merely because of its camp appeal and no serious film program will choose Valley of the Dolls as part of their repertoire. 'The Best, Funniest Worst Movie Ever Made', here is how the stars of the movie aptly summed it up thirty years later:



Adapted from one-time Broadway hopeful Jacqueline Susann's trashy bestseller of the same name, which chronicled three young women trying to make their ways in showbiz only to end up getting hooked on pills, affectionately known as Dolls, thus the book’s title. Filled with sex, drugs and schlock in the entertainment industry, the book was and meant to be scandalous, outrageous and sensational since such lurid inside stories have hitherto been the best kept secrets in Hollywood. However, as the old studio system crumbled in the sixties, Hollywood was scrambled to find what used to be taboo subject matters as inspiration in order to stay in touch with the young audience. Valley of the Dolls the movie was one such misguided attempt.



Hell bent on shocking the audience, the movie went all out with such way over the top kitsch and scene chewing performances that what intended to be a outrageous inside look at show business became a laugh riot of backstabbing caricature and unintentional humor (Reportedly the audience response was so hysterical during the movie première that Jacqueline Susann had to leave in tears). Highlights, or should I say lowlight, include:

The Gillian Girl Montage. A Classy, Radcliff graduated good girl, Anne Welles is really an idealized version Jacqueline Susann had of herself. Not contented to be the blissfully married New England housewife yet, Anne set out to see the world by working as the secretary of a theatrical lawyer in New York; and from there she stepped into the glitter world of false eyelash, tacky splendor and hair that defies gravity of supermodeldom, simply just by walking into her boss office taking shorthand



Before Anne can practice her catwalk sashay, she would need to prove her secretary competency by delivering contract to brassy, over-the-hill Broadway legend Helen Lawson, who had been around the business long enough to understand the secret of staying on top is to cut off anyone near who is better than you("The only hit that comes out of a Helen Lawson show is Helen Lawson, and that’s me, baby") such as Neely O’Hara, played by Patty Duke



But fear not for the poor ingénue. The very same night Helen had her kicked out of her show Neely O’Hara landed herself a gig in a charity telethon where she belted out a god-awful song, aptly named “It’s Impossible", and soon enough she was on her way to stardom, heaven knows why. Patty Duke lip-synced the song as if she was giving birth, with her pelvis constantly thrusting to you. Even more surreal is at one point her beads just cupped her breast, talk about impossibility. In the Broadway spoof of the movie Theatre-A-Go-Go’s Valley of the Dolls, the actress who played Neely O’Hara had to tape her beads to her sweater in order to recreate the same effect.



As if challenging for the most nonsensical musical number, Helen Lawson in her true grand dame fashion up the antics by barking out an even more horrendous tune called I’ll Plant My Own Tree. Without a doubt this must be one of the worst songs ever on film, with idiosyncratic lyrics like:

It’s my yard so I’ll try hard
to welcome friends I have yet to know
Oh, I’ll plant my own tree
and I’ll make it grow
They sure don’t write lyrics like these anymore, if they ever did. Adding injury to insult is the plastic translucent Calder mobile-like set decor that keeps spinning around Susan Hayward on stage. Combined with Hayward's own demon-like facial expression and preposterous posture where her upper torso and lower torso seem to inhabit in two different zip codes, it is a number needed to be seen to believe.



Hardly coincidental, Judy Garland was originally signed on to play Helen Lawson, in what would be her last movie. But by that time of her career she had become so unreliable that it was practically impossible to work with. One week into shooting she was increasing uncomfortable with the movie, probably because of the similarity with her own story according Barbara Parkins who played Anne Welles. Garland simply just walked off the set and never come back, and took with her all the costumes the studio made for her part in the movie. That left 20th Century Fox with no choice but to fire her and Susan Hayward had to step in. However, Miss Hayward agreed to play Helen Lawson only if Judy Garland can keep her salary. That of course was a very noble gesture of Susan and she most definitely didn’t expect Valley of the Dolls would advance her career but even she wouldn’t expect the movie will skid so badly toward trash

Now we have come to the most notorious scene of the entire movie. As Neely’s star rises (not to mention her addiction), Helen Lawson’s is fading. Despite the fact that it was open to poor review, Helen brought her latest show on the road anyway with just a little *fine tune*. Smelling blood even a Continent away, Neely showed up at the opening gala of the show uninvited. Soon spark flied between the two, not to mention catty and trashy dialogue:

Look, they drummed you right out of Hollywood, so you come crawling back to Broadway. Well Brooooadway doesn’t go for booooooze and dope.



What better place for such rotten dialogue than the ladies’ room? It is a scene All Above Eve failed to deliver to the fans of campy soaps like Dallas and Dynasty. What make it all more delicious is that it was between not one but two Oscar winners: Susan Hayward won an Oscar for the jailed prostitute in I Want To Live but almost all her other best roles she played a singer: Smash-Up: The Story of a Woman, With a Song in My Heart, I’ll Cry Tomorrow, and she was Oscar nominated for all of these. Unfortunately, rather than joining the former three, Valley of the Dolls fell into the same league as The Conqueror, her other So Bad It is Almost Good movie that featured John Wayne as, get this, Genghis Khan (成吉思汗). I would urge you check out The Conqueror too if you want to have a good laugh.

But on a more serious note, the movie The Conqueror played the unfortunate role of the puzzling clue in an American episode of China Syndrome: The movie was filmed on location in a Utah dessert. Unbeknownst to the public at the time, the site was a near a nuclear testing grounds. The crew even shipped some of the sand back to Hollywood to complete the studio shoot. An unusually high percentage of the cast and crew eventually developed cancer and died relatively prematurely, including Hayward herself.

Patty Duke won an Oscar for her role as Helen Keller in The Miracle Worker five years before she starred in Valley of the Dolls, making her the youngest Oscar winner at the time. With her own popular TV show “The Patty Duke Show” she became the hottest adolescent star in America during the sixties. However, when "The Patty Duke Show" ended in 1966, like most successful child stars, she was desperate to shed her wholesome image. Relishing the opportunity to play spunky Broadway upstart turned alcoholic, pill-popping, foul-mouthed diva Neely O'Hara (a character supposedly based on Judy Garland) Patty went way over the top, chewed every single scene she was in and her reward was having her movie career killed in the process.

As indispensible in any cautionary tale is the fallen from grace scene. After a brief stink in the rehab Neely quickly relapsed back into her old vice but this time she found herself alone in the back alley, with all her friends and ally deserted her. You have to hand it to director Mark Robson, even in the supposedly downtrodden finale he was still going for broke. For lack of better idea of conveying the character’s anguish, he just simply had the heroine screaming her name at the top of her throat. I can easily imagine the camp audiences in the theater will screams God... Neely?...... NEEEEEEELLLLLYYYYYYY O HARAAAAAAAA!!!! (and laugh) with Patty Duke during this scene.



Patty Duke's personal life was as tumultuous as Neely O'Hara’s. For years she had been struggling with bi-polar disorder, which had not been diagnosed until she was in her late thirties. At 23, she romantically linked with Desi Arnaz, Jr, the 17 year-old son of sitcom queen of American Television Lucille Ball, much to the mother’s disapproval. Distraught over the broken relationship, she embarked on an affair with actor John Astin and found herself pregnant. To escape the stigma of being an unwedded mother, she reckless married to Michael Tell, a rock promoter she just met and the marriage lasted all of thirteen days. After the marriage was annulled she rekindled her relationship with John Astin and the two got married with John adopting Patty’s son. Because of the timing of the birth, there had been speculation in the public that her son was actually Arnaz’s but for years Patty believed he was Astin’s. It was only until her son was in his early twenties that it confirmed through paternity testing that the actual father was Michael Tell. Despite of these marital messes, her son Sean Astin turned out to be quite normal and became a modestly successfully Hollywood actor, most famously as Samwise Gamgee, the faithful sidekick to Elijah Wood’s Frodo Baggins in The Lord of the Rings trilogy


Mother and son, Patty Duke and Sean Astin. Can you see the resemblance?

Completing the Unholy Trinity with Anne Welles and Neely O’Hara is Jennifer North, played by the then rising star Sharon Tate. A sexy bombshell who self confessed that all she had is a body, the way for Jennifer to make it in the business is by doing bust exercise. While she might have no talent, but what Jennifer had is a heart of gold. She yanked all the rich sugar daddies going after her to marry for love – in the form of the struggling crooner Tony who was under the tight control of her half-sister manager Miriam, played by Lee Grant.



Turn out there was a reason for Miriam’s reticent toward Jennifer. Tony was an unfortunate victim of Huntington’s chorea, an incurable heredity disease that would eventually lead to mental and physical degeneration. In another word Jennifer was married to a vegetable in the making. This part of the story might sound familiar to you because TVB has totally ripped this off for their series《大亨》. For those who are not “seasoned” enough to remember, 《大亨》was TVB’s own cautionary tale about how four young men get to the top through some honourable and unhonourable means. The four main characters were played by 鄭少秋, 劉松仁, 盧海鵬 and the mostly forgotten Shaw Brothers (邵氏) actor 林偉圖. The subplot of 林偉圖 involved him being infatuated with a young but naïve singer played by 容惠雯, much to the disapproval of her manager sister 蘇杏璇. It was only after they are married that 蘇杏璇 revealed to 林偉圖 of her sister’s illness.



In Valley of the Dolls, eventually Miriam had to pimp Jennifer to a French director to make ‘art’ film (a.k.a nudies) over Europe in order to support Tony’s medical expense. Now I do wish TVB had the nerve to steal this part of the plot as well, particularly if you remember how 林偉圖 looks like


林偉圖

Because of its reputation, everyone involved in Valley of the Dolls has long been the target of ridicule. The public in general, however, is a little kinder to Sharon Tate. It isn’t so much her performance is better than everyone else but more because of her real life tragedy as the victim in one of the most horrific homicides ever in American history



Sharon Tate (1943 - 1969)

Sharon Tate started out as an extra in Hollywood before getting notice in the TV sitcom The Beverly Hillbillies. Discovered by producer and mentor Martin Ransohoff, she was recommended to director Roman Polanski for his first Hollywood Movie The Fearless Vampire Killers. Polanski and Tate fell in love during the filming and soon they were married in 1968. With both careers on the rise they seem to be the 'It' couple in Hollywood


Sharon Tate's wedding to Roman Polanski

After wrapping the comedy 12 + 1 in Italy, Sharon put her career on hold and flied back to her LA home to expect on her first child, with Polanski joining her in about three weeks for the birth. Unknowingly, Tate has become the target The Manson Family, a quasi-commune of alienated, confused, social misfits drawn to the Hippie movement and drug culture in the late sixties, all but eventually brainwashed by the extremely charismatic, manipulative yet dangerously disturbed and anti-social Charles Manson.


Charles Manson

Charles Manson was a child of an unwedded prostitute who rejected him. Until he was in his thirties Manson spent much of his life in and out of reform schools and prison. It was in prison that he learned how to play guitar and developed an interest in music. After he was released from prison in 1967 Manson soon settled in San Francisco. Through the power positive thinking skill he acquired in prison, he turned a legion of flower children that fled to the city at the time into his fanatic followers. Meanwhile he wrote songs and made acquaintances with people inside the music business. However, his view of the world turned increasing twisted with his lack of success in the industry. He told his followers that the song Helter Skelter from The Beatles’ White Album was a coded message of an impending apocalyptic race war, and they would need to follow his order in order to survive. That included breaking in the former home of record producer Terry Melcher, now shared by Sharon Tate and Roman Polanski, and ‘totally destroy everyone, as gruesome as you can’…

I don’t want to go into the grotesque detail of the crime for the tone would deviate too much from the rest of the article. Suffice to say that it is very unnerving to hear the testimony of how Sharon begged for her life so that her son, who was two weeks away from being born, could be spared. In the end, both were denied mercy. Had her son lived, he will be my age. May both mother and child rest in peace.

Two From The Heart

In a blink of eyes it has been twenty years

About the only thing I look forward to before moving to Boston back in May of 1988 was – MTV. For years we had to settle with music videos of cliché galore TVB had chunked out, filled with tiresome images of either strolling on the beach or breaking glasses or dry ice overloaded or all three. I was more than hungry for production with some real quality. Unbeknownst to me at the time, MTV is actually a cable network and you will have to pay for it, something not every struggling new immigrant family can afford, such as mine. By the time we are settled enough to enjoy such extravagance, I was already on my way to college and stay in the dorm. It was not until the Christmas/New Year break in year one I finally got the chance to catch the elusive entertainment. One of the very first music videos I watched was Don Henley



Don Henley made a name as a founding member and the drummer of the 70s country-rock band The Eagles. But in 1980 when the partnership ended in acrimony all the members went on to their own solo careers. As with many super-bands that have for years established themselves as a joint entity, it took Don Henley sometimes to re-invent himself. However, when he scored it big in 1985 with his second solo album Building The Perfect Beast, which featured the Top 5 hit Boy of Summer and won him a Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance Don Henley became the most commerically successful of all The Eagles. Little did we know the best from Don Henley had yet to come

When he released his third solo album, The End of the Innocence, not only did it become his best selling album in his career, but also one of the most critically acclaimed of the year and the decade. Released in the last months of 1980s, the album took on many social phenomenon of the Reagan era: from lost of the small town attitude (the title track) to the blatant Reaganomic materialism (Gimme What You Got) to the Pat Robertson/Jerry Falwell religious fanatics (Little Tin God). But for those like me who didn't live under the Reagan administration, the biggest impression is probably two VERY heartfelt ballads in the album

The Last Worthless Evening was released as the second (some sources said third) single after the title track. At 6:03 it is a rather long running song but with its earnest lyrics it hardly feels dragging at all. Though it would not be something I recommend, you can't deny there is a certain nobleness in being so enthusiastic to be the rebound guy. When going through a painful breakup, can you not be moved when someone "walk up to you and say this is the last worthless evening that you'll have to spend"? By the way, it is from this song I learned the term "sink or swim", a darn good phrase to describe a desperate situation.


The Last Worthless Evening by Don Henley

Despite the success of the album, Don Henley went into litigation with Geffen Record and its owner David Geffen over breach of contract soon afterward and The End of the Innocence remains the last original album Don Henley released under Geffen Record. Maybe because of the dispute, all the music videos from the album posted to Youtube tend to get removed. It is only through Yahoo Video that I can find the one for The Last Worthless Evening. It probably will take a bit longer to load but bear with it.


The Last Worthless Evening @ Yahoo! Video

There isn't much frill in the video but it makes good use of colour to create a very soothing ambience that is just right for the song. I particularly like the bridge "Time Time Ticking, Ticking Away" when the video juxtaposed the image of a fading flower and the heroine's shock discovery of how wasted away she had become. A side note: before she made it big with All I Wanna Do, Sheryl Crow was working as a backup singer for various artists including Don Henley. Reportedly one of the backup singers in the video is her. I will let you be the judge.

Don Henley followed this up with an even better ballad. As the very last track of The End of the Innocence, there can't be many better 'wrap up' songs than The Heart Of the Matter.


The Heart Of The Matter by Don Henley

Although The Heart Of The Matter was a big hit at the time, it never cracked into the Top 20 in Billboard Hot 100, which is the chart most in Hong Kong used to gauge popularity. So I suspect this song might not be that well known in Hong Kong. If you have never heard of it or pay attention to its lyrics, I would urge you to check it out, it has some of the best lyrics ever written out there:

There are people in your life who've come and gone
They let you down, you know they hurt your pride
You better put it all behind you baby; cause' life goes on
You keep carryin' that anger, it'll eat you up inside, baby

I wish ballads in Hong Kong could have more lyrics like these instead of the endless rant of 爛泥\垃圾\壞人\好心無好報. Don't they understand clemency and redemption can be far more emotionally poignant than perennially dwelling on self-pity?

The subject matter of The Heart Of The Matter is much more abstract and thus lot harder to visualize. Though inexplicable in part, the music video for The Heart Of The Matter does manage to convey a sense of regret toward the past and emancipation in moving forward, much in the same vein as the song conceptually, if not faithfully. It also has some good fading in, fading out of lighting. Unfortunately, the video is even harder to find than Last Worthless Evening. What you can find in Youtube is usually the India Arie's cover. So you might want to catch the original before YouTube takes it down

On Borrowed Time

It's no use reminding yourself daily that you are mortal:
it will be brought home to you soon enough

Albert Camus

For me, it has certainly been brought home in the last month

Reminder 1
An uncle who is still at a relatively young age has unexpectedly passed on during a trip to China by himself. Even with a history of heart problem, the abruptness has caught the entire extended family by surprise nonetheless, particularly when it was last than a week before we had our long distance Chinese New Year greeting on the phone. The irony is my uncle already has a procedure (an LVAD implant I believe) scheduled in a month time as a precaution to the major heart operation he had had fifteen years ago. It is always tempting to second guess in situation like this - what if the appointment was schedule just a wee bit earlier? What if family member has accompanied him during the trip? What if...? However, the cold fact is what happened did happen. In retrospect, it had been suggested that he might not have survived the operation he had fifteen years ago. You can argue that he had managed to bargain an additional fifteen years from death already. It is just that human are naturally greedy. When you have an extra fifteen years spared to you, who wouldn't ask for a sixteenth year?

Reminder 2
Despite my valiant effort of clean living which includes daily swimming, light diet AND 100% smoking and alcohol free, my blood pressure just refuses to go down. My diastolic reading has consistently hit over mid-ninety, a rather fearful number for someone my age. As much as I hated to concede, it seems I have no choice but to cross the point of no return - take up the advice of my physician of medication and just try to put the unnerving notion that likely it will be for life out of my consciousness. Maybe the thought that my maternal grandmother and now her son have both met their early end will make it easier to bear.

Reminder 3
A co-worker who has been complaining about stomach pain for awhile had checked himself into hospital three weeks ago. Only last week it was confirmed to be cancer. Being a working visa holder, he has no family whatsoever in US at all and as a non-relative the hospital did not have the permission to reveal the detail to me. All I know is from what he is willing to divulge but he appeared to be upbeat about the situation...

The biggest blow came when I have to visit him for some paperwork he needs me to fill out for him two days ago. Having just completed his first round of chemotherapy, gone was the cheerful optimism. What remained seems to be a wreckage of flesh that somehow survived the onslaught of chemical corrosion. He looked under-nurtured even when he was healthy, now he is just downright anorexic. When I see how alarmingly prominent his collarbone has become I tried my best to feign unperturbed but even I can tell I didn't succeed. Years ago when I read 《死亡, 別狂傲》 by 蘇恩佩, a point she made is the treatment sometimes is even more frightening than the disease itself. That sentiment no doubt was dancing in my mind. He told me the doctor is putting him under observation for now to see if he would need a second round of chemotherapy. I just swallowed my question about whether his frail body can take that.

When I walked out of the hallway of the ward to the elevator I can't help but feel death has brushed me by. You got to wonder how would that do to one’s spirit by prolong staying in that habitat, regardless how spacious and nicely decorated it is. Even worse is when I looked at date of birth on the completed form he wants me to send, I realized he just spent his 30th birthday in that room...

The tough part is he has asked me to keep his condition a secret at work and he prefers not to receive guests at the moment. It is understandable why - with the portable toilet that situated next to him and the dark fluid coming out periodically through the tube tucked into his nose, it is not just the worry brought to the visitors but also the indignation he didn't want to face. However, it is not easy to hold back your emotion answering people's inquiry of his well being, when all the images of his skeletal frames are flashing before your eyes. The sad truth is covering it up is really the only thing I can do for him now and I didn't even do that well. It is only when we are faced with the crisis in life that you realized how powerless human are, how powerless I am.