On Living Forever

I'm a fan of old "classic" Hollywood movies. Criticisms notwithstanding (and there are many valid criticisms, technical, political / social and otherwise such as racism, misogyny, actors "overdoing it" -- theatrical acting in movies, and more; I am a card carrying liberal Democrat, as well as a proud American -- I sometimes must hold my nose during parts of many old movies), I'm into seeing how things were long ago. Times weren't any simpler then, for instance people in Western countries suffered the ravages of disease, malnutrition, and the lack of social safety nets for the disadvantaged, as well as institutionalized racism, sexism, state sanctioned spousal abuse and more. No, times were not simpler at all, they were different. Society definitely had a list of problems... Gas may have been 25 cents a gallon, but Dad was lucky if he brought home $50 a week and the car got 8 miles to the gallon, not to mention that it was much less safe (watch old movies and note the scenes where Mommy carries baby in her lap in the front seat, and no seat belts -- thanks Ralph Nader!) and it was ripping a giant hole in the ozone layer.

Wow, do I digress! Back to my topic. Turner Classic Movies is a wonderful channel to catch many old movies. I'm about to watch "The Locked Door", Barbara Stanwyck's 1929 "talkie" debut.

Here is a youtube clip from a piece TCM does routinely to honor those who have passed during the year. One of the actors in the clip, Gloria Stuart, lived to be 100 years old. She was in a lot of movies, among which were Gold Diggers of 1935, a wild musical movie by Busby Berkeley (Mr. Razzle Dazzle), and Titanic (1997), the movie from which she is shown here at position 2:32. She worked up until 2004 according to the website imdb.com.

If you read the comments, note that someone mentions that through movies, people do live forever. I like that thought.



TCM Remembers 2010

The song used in this clip is "Headlights", performed and written by Sophie Hunger.

Making it

I had a good year. A year of healing and growth. I'm learning how to be the new me.

Life changes when you survive cancer, and lose a leg. It gets more real somehow. Knowing that you have a CaT scan every three months to let you know if you're still cancer-free makes you take things differently. Things matter in a different way. Having one leg makes the world sort of spin right by you. You're here, but not here. People stare then they don't see you anymore. I'm not being bleak, or dark, or maybe I am. I have massive gratitude that the cancer beast is out of my body, but I miss jumping and running.

I may never even update this blog. Sometimes I have a lot of stuff I want to say and if I'm near a keyboard and feel inclined I might put it down here. I don't really _care_ that I'm exposing myself so much, its kind of hard to hide after all. Its a huge part of who I am anyway. This is for me. I have an awesome and blessed life, yet I've been kicked a lot. I've made my life the way it is, yet that nasty cancer has made my life the way it is.

I'm glad I stopped watching the news all of the time. The news is going to keep happening no matter what. I'll hear about it, where I work... after all where I work we help make the news what it is. My beloved job... it pales in comparison to my relationship with my children. That is something I know I'll never lose, for the rest of my life. You know, for the few weeks I have until my next quarterly CaT scan. I know I'm a bad son-of-a-bitch, so good luck taking me out, cancer. I shed you once and I'll do it again.