Why So Serious?

I have no relationship with him. I have never met, and now, never will. I would not have called myself a fan. And if you had asked me some of the people I would have loved to meet in my lifetime, he probably would not have been one of them.

But

Yesterday, I cried for him. From the minute he came on screen, my eyes welled with tears. My heart skipped a beat, failed to go back to the usual tempo, smashed wildly against my ribs. No one seemed to feel what i was feeling then. Even my movie date observed that my reaction was very visible upon seeing him.

And

I cried some more. The recurring image I have of him is masses of blond curly hair, disarming smile and forever pools of chocolate eyes. His work is brilliant, picking roles that portray fights and struggles against the public to rise beyond.

Then

I thought about his last performance. The sheer brilliance and execution of talent unmatched and unrivalled. The ability to become another human being, step out of yourself to embrace and become a spirit so dark the night folds away in fear of it.

Yet

Be able to epitomise that in a way that surpasses people's understanding, and still be able to see you as the person that you are- shy, beautiful of soul and of face, talented and still so unpretentious.

I cried some more, when the credits rolled. The theatre hushed and i could feel my thoughts mingle with the rest of the audience. He's gone and that is what he left us with - an epically brilliant performance never to be duplicated or even equalled.

Today

I went and added my signature to the petition to nominate Heath for an Oscar- because it would be just wrong if he didn't!


and a tribute to him:

How can I then return in happy plight,
That am debarre'd the benefit of rest?
When day's oppression is not eas'd by night,
But day by night and night by day oppress'd,
And each, though enemies to either's reign,
Do in consent shake hands to torture me,
The one by toil, the other to complain
How far I toil, still farther off from thee.
I tell the day, to please him thou art bright,
And dost him grace when clouds do blot the heaven:
So flatter I the swart-complexion'd night,
When sparkling stars twire not thou gild'st the even.
But day doth daily draw my sorrows longer,
And night doth nightly make grief's length seem stronger.



Today even here does not make me smile.

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What's wrong with Australian Scientists?

No publicity is bad publicity. Ask Paris Hilton. Ok, bad advice, she'll probably tell you how dressing a chihuahua in an outfit matches yours is the best way to get on CNN. or sleeping with someone else's husband, or DUI, or making a reality show on all the above.

But all that will be good ways of getting publicity, compared to what I saw in the news today. Since Heath Ledger is dead, and the fact that the land Down Under can milk on the publicity the Tasmanian Devil cartoon character for only so long, they had to some up with ways to remain on the news. I think I would resort to such measures if my country was tucked away - no, that is too nice - crammed and stashed away in the end of the universe, faced with a prominent fear of being forgotten. A long time ago, they decided to be a continent, thus clinching the title of 'Smallest Continent'. That goes with the title of the 'Worst Places to Visit'. No, not by me. By Wikipedia. I swear. Don't believe me? Click Here.The argument behind this (no, not argument behind the reason why it's one of the worst places to visit- no one knows why for that one, it just is) is because the island sits on it's own tectonic plate. Not gonna go into that, don't know what it is, if you care, Google it. I dislike anyone who uses hard words to confuse me. I refuse to be intimidated by tectonic plates, or any other plates for that matter. They used that same hard (plate) word on Greenland when those freezing dudes up there wondered why they were not a continent too. Told them that they shared wildlife with North America while OZ had Kangaroos...in your face!!! I'm sure they said, and sent this post card (as displayed in the Greenland Museum of The Continental Status Quest)

If we were to, say by some sort of really really bad luck, agree with OZ argument for being a continent, then Madagascar should as well be! Apparently, of the 10,000 plants indigenous to this African Island, 90% are found nowhere else in the world. (that includes Australia, by the way). 90%! I'll do the math for you. That is a total of 9,000 plant species. Did you hear that Australia? Of course you did not, you're too far down in the hemisphere. Why do i even bother?

Talking of things indigenous to countries and continents brings me back to the Australian scientists. They used to, along long time ago, have an animal called the Tasmanian Tiger. This animal became extinct, maybe because they made it a delicacy. I don't know. Whatever the reason, the want to bring it back to life. And they have. Only this time, with some mouse elements in it. And it looks like this. (Disclaimer - Viewers discretion advised. Contains Nudity, Sex, Violence , a mouse, a Tasmanian Tiger and nothing else. If you don't see how sex is involved, you're probably too stoned. Animal Rights Activists will surely see the Violence. If you can see the Mouse, please save it. If you can see the Tiger, Kill it.)

Try as i may, i cannot come up with one good reason as to why they did that. Australians are not concerned that that is how their tax money is spent, if they are, well, they are too far for the rest of the world to hear them. I'd welcome Nate Smith to give me ten reason why he thinks they did though. And I'd welcome any mice lovers to hold demonstrations on behalf of the mice. And I'd ask Douglas Adams whether mice will still take over the world, at this rate, they really should, and start with OZ while at it.

And to the Aussies, please do not call that thing a Tiger, Tasmanian or not, whatever you do, please don't. (as requested by Tigers Association of the World)

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Goodbye Great Artist

I don't want to say goodbye anymore.

Not to great personalities that I wish I will meet one day, and suddenly, even though the dream was far-fetched, I realize that it now will never happen! First was the abrupt end of my Knight's Tale then now my new found favourite artist, Tony. Just a few weeks ago, I blogged about him and his work as I was very impressed and wanted to share him as Helena did. I usually don't go through my Spam on my mailbox, but today, just less than an hour ago, something prompted me to it. I was scrolling past the make millions in a day, and get paid to read emails junk when I saw Helena's mail. It was dated 28th March, at 21:31. She was thanking me for blogging about Tony (no problem Helena) and informing me that Tony was very ill. I have to admit that in my traveling and the planning days before that, I had not been active in reading any blog, not even updating my own as regularly as I usually do, and had no idea about Tony's health. I quickly replied, assuring her that Tony would pull through, as I believed it so hard then. I mean, he is an amazing, extraordinary being. I then log onto his blog page. The heading hit me...hard. In memory of Tony it read. As I scrolled down the post, I could feel tears welling up in my eyes. And I'm crying for two reasons; That Tony is no more, even though his memory lives on, it's just not the same and I have just written this optimist mail to Helena. I did not live with him , but just thinking of the effect he has on me all the way from across the seas, I could only imagine the impact he had on the people he lived with, and the feeling of loss they must be experiencing.

He was cute
and creatively talented and he will be missed.

PS - I just went back to Tony's blog to pick the image above, and I noticed one thing- Tony passed on on 28th March at 20.15 (UK time), which translates to 22.15 Kenyan time - about an hour after Helena had written to me.

Rest in Peace Tony, enrich Rat Heaven with your incredible art...

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A Knight's Tale

Wednesday morning, last day I’ll be seeing DVP in a while as he is leaving for his bird watching escapades in Lake Baringo and the surrounding areas. So, there I was, trying hard not to sulk, trying even harder to have a decent conversation with him as if I was okay with his leaving for a week, yet he is leaving for Denmark in two weeks. I make it a habit to watch at least 10 minutes of CNN every morning as I get ready for work. Jenny Harrison or the other weather lady (the Hispanic one) was talking about about the weather in the background and i mentally switched off. I was aware that the weather was over and something about this years Oscars and the nominees of the same. I became attentive around the time they mentioned Cate Blanchett(what with recently just watched Elizabeth - The Golden Age), then drifted off again. I was about to leave the room when i thought i heard the mention of the word dead and Heath Ledger in the same breath. I stopped dead, no pun intended, in my tracks. Slowly i walked back into the room, picked the remote control and sat down on the bed. Took me a while to register...Heath Ledger and the dead part. I just sat there and stared at the TV screen , showing clips of him, his daughter and his ex-fiance. Then Lars, who was still in bed and virtually blind without his contacts, asked, 'Heath Ledger is Dead??' It's like he had just picked the words as they had been running through my head and reconstructed them in a such a way that i understood them. Like completing a jigsaw puzzle by moving the last piece that i had been struggling with. Actually, those same words had been been colliding in my head in no particular order, completely refusing to make sense. Ain't it funny how your brain refuses to digest information that it knows is not acceptable. Like 'You're fired' or I'm not in love with you anymore' or ' We tried our best to revive him / her...' Funny i should say those words, since i heard them a day later, still in regards to Heath.

Let me start on how we met.

I'm a sucker for children's films, and medieval times films. I got introduced to the world of romance by a historical romance novel, the ones with Lords, Knights, serfs, wenches, Ladies, ladies-in-waiting and chamberpots. When all my friends we reading Mills n' Boons and Silhouettes, I was on to Amanda Quick, Connie Mason and Johanna Lindsey. I was getting Timeswept into lands of vikings and into the arms of outlaws. Now, i live the reverse of that. I'm in the arms of a viking and in the lands of Outlaws. Sometime in 2006, i got a copy of a film that changed the way i looked at Heath entirely - A Knight's Tale. It was awesome, splendid, out-of -this-world.

I fell in love with Sir William Thatcher/Sir Ulrich von Lichtenstein of Gelderland instantly.

Thus begun my obsession , which was later fueled by Casanova, then The Order, The Brothers Grimm (which he appeared with my other love, Matt Damon- said in a sotto voce in as i imitate 'Team America' Mmmaaattt Dammmmmooonnnn ) and the the grand finale, Brokeback Mountain. He is or was up there in my list of hot men, with the likes of Patrick 'McDreamy' Dempsey....

.....Johnny Depp (ooh, I'm thinking of him in The Libertine) and Matthew Mcconaughey.

I have to admit, Heath rode at the top of that list more so because he is Aussie.

Now he is no more. as of 3.36pm, when the medical workers moved Heath to the floor from the bed, used a defibrillator and CPR, and pronounced dead. More here.

He was a sweet man, i never met him, but i have watched clips about him, can't quite remember if it was on E! or some other celebrity channel but no one said a bad word about him. It was all about how easy it was to work with him, and how eager he was to learn and deliver. Unlike most young actors who money and fame cloud their judgment, Heath (called by many Ledger) maintained his down -to - earth personality.

It is sad that all we have left to see of his fine work will be 'I'm Not There', while he is not really here. Rest in Peace, Heath, my Knight.

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