R.I.P. Christopher Lee

English actor Sir Christopher Lee -- best known for playing the lead role in many Hammer films (including the title role in the 1958 movie Horror of Dracula) as well as for key roles in the second Star Wars trilogy and the Lord of the Rings trilogy -- chose to join his former co-star Peter Cushing on June 7, 2015, at age 93.

He will be missed.

R.I.P. Betsy Palmer

American actress -- best known for I've Got a Secret and the original 1980 horror movie Friday the 13th -- passed away with her head intact on May 29, 2015, at age 88.

She will be missed.

R.I.P. Tanith Lee

English writer Tanith Lee -- best known for such books as The Birthgrave and Death's Master -- finished her last tale on May 24, 2015, at age 67.

She will be missed.

Quote of the Week

Nothing is permissible in the United States these days unless it somehow lifts up our children, who, in case you haven't been paying attention, are our future. (So how come millions of American children live in poverty, lack health insurance, and don't have enough to eat? Never mind.)
--Dan Savage, Skipping Towards Gomorrah: The Seven Deadly Sins and the Pursuit of Happiness in America

Movie Quote of the Week

In a free society you are what you say you are.
--Loren Dean, Mumford (1999)

TV Quote of the Week

There's Laura Eason, ninth grader. She plays the flute. She would have been one of the first to go... coming out of Orchestra at the wrong time. And Andrew Bayer: he would have tried to save his friend Lawrence DiStasi and lost his life. And Gavin Price. And three other students in the cafeteria. And Mr. Harvey. And Ms. Schmidt in the library. And finally, Steve Ramsey himself. And for each of these faces Joan, there are twelve more whose lives would have come to an end today -- lives altered forever by you. By the simple effect of being present, by entering the light, by joining the dance.
--Kathryn Joosten, Joan of Arcadia, "The Uncertainty Principle"

Pensamientos Acerca de Televisión

Joan of Arcadia: “The Uncertainty Principle”

This had the potential to become the stupidest episode in the entire series -- but somehow the last five minutes managed to redeem it when we the audience were given a glimpse of what terrible things could have happened had it not been for Joan's actions earlier in the episode. Granted, I can think of many reasons why this episode should not work as well as it did. After all, we have seen far too many episodes of senseless violence in the real world to believe that one individual --even a fictional one -- can stop all such acts of evil.

And yet even God himself was not suggesting in this episode that it was possible for one person to stop all such terrible deeds. Just one.

And I would like to believe -- nay, I need to believe -- that sometimes stopping just one is enough.

And if you can stop one, you can stop two. And so on and so on...

Anyway, it's a lot better than believing the exact opposite.

Quote of the Week

From all these friends, I could not escape learning some of the statistics that I preferred not to know. Forty-one people at the mall had been wounded. Nineteen had died.

Everyone said it was a miracle that only nineteen perished.

What has gone wrong with our world when nineteen dead can seem like any kind of miracle?
--Dean Koontz, Odd Thomas

¡Feliz Día del Padre!

Happy Father's Day to all my readers!

I hope you all are able to enjoy this holiday with your own fathers.

My father, unfortunately, is no longer with us but while he was alive, he inspired me in so many different ways that it seems futile for me to try and list them all.

For example, I once saw him working on a painting that looked much like the above illustration. When he asked him about it, he said that he had copied it from a picture -- and I'm guessing that the above illustration -- which comes from a famous book by Mexican architect Ignacio Marquina -- is the one he copied it from. To some people, that might not seem like much but it seemed obvious to me even when I was a child that it took a lot of effort for him to duplicate a picture like the above illustration so well that it looked like an original piece of work. And of course, my father's interest in things artistic eventually helped inspired my interest in the arts -- although, unlike him, I never seriously tried to copy an actual picture, much less create one from scratch.

Anyway, I am sorry that I never had a chance to question him more about his painting when he was alive but perhaps it is just as well. After all, some things are better left to the imagination.

Anyway, please enjoy the holiday.

Movie Quote of the Week

A man might be thought wealthy if someone were to draw the story of his deeds, that he may be remembered.
--Vladimir Kulich, The 13th Warrior (1999)

TV Quote of the Week

No, you know what, Uncle Phil? I'm gonna get through college without him, I'm gonna get a great job without him, I'm gonna marry me a beautiful honey, and I'm-a have me a whole bunch of kids. I'll be a better father than he *ever* was. And I sure as hell don't need him for that, 'cause there ain't a *damn* thing he can ever teach me about how to love my kids!
--Will Smith, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, "Papa's Got a Brand New Excuse"

Quote of the Week

I write fantasies, but draw from the world I see. If that sometimes hurts, it’s because the truth usually does. John Steinbeck was accused of gratuitous ugliness when he wrote about the migration of the Okies to California in The Grapes of Wrath, even of trying to foment a domestic revolution, but most of his accusers -- like those who made similar accusations against Upton Sinclair when he wrote about the corrupt putrescence of the meat-packing industry in The Jungle -- were people who preferred fairy-tales and happily-ever-afters. Sometimes the truth of how we live is just ugly, that’s all. But to turn aside from these truths out of some perceived delicacy, or to give in to the idea that writing about violence causes violence, is to embrace hypocrisy. In Washington, hypocrisy breeds politicians. In the arts, it breeds pornography.
--Stephen King, speech at the 1999 Vermont Library Conference

R.I.P. Anne Meara

American actress Anna Meara -- the mother of actor Ben Stiller and the spouse and comedy partner of comedian Jerry Stiller -- took her last bow on May 23 at age 85.

She will be missed.

R.I.P. B. B. King

American blues singer B. B. King -- best known for such songs as "The Thrill Is Gone" -- strummed his last guitar string on May 14 at age 89.

He will be missed.

Movie Quote of the Week

The city of San Francisco does not pay criminals to commit crimes. Instead we pay the police department.
--John Vernon, Dirty Harry (1971)

TV Quote of the Week

On my planet, to rest is to rest. To cease using energy. To me, it is quite illogical to run up and down on green grass using energy instead of saving it.
--Leonard Nimoy, Star Trek, "Shore Leave"

R.I.P. Grace Lee Whitney

American actress Grace Lee Whitney -- best known for her role as Janice Rand on the original Star Trek series -- used the transporter for the last time on May 1 at age 85.

She will be missed.

R.I.P. Nigel Terry

English actor Nigel Terry -- best known for his roles in such movies as Excalibur and The Lion in Winter -- took off his crown for the last time on April 30 at age 69.

He will be missed.

R.I.P. Ben E. King

American R&B singer Ben E. King -- former lead singer for the Drifters who was best known for singing and co-writing the song "Stand by Me"-- sang his last note on April 30 at age 76.

He will be missed.

Quote of the Week

The best thing art can do is make you think, make you re-evaluate the opinions you thought were yours.
--Simon Pegg, "Big Mouth Strikes Again", Peggster, May 19, 2015

Movie Quote of the Week

High school's never over.
--Emily Blunt, The Jane Austen Book Club (2007)

TV Quote of the Week

He and I are exactly the same. Except that I'm younger, Cuban, female, single, and straight.
--Melissa Fumero, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, "M.E. Time"

Quote of the Week

But forget whether Hollywood is black enough. A better question is: Is Hollywood Mexican enough?
--Chris Rock, "Chris Rock Pens Blistering Essay on Hollywood's Race Problem: 'It's a White Industry'", Hollywood Reporter, December 3, 2014

Progress Report

Well, I'm actually making progress.

I think...