An American Medley

As we celebrate Memorial Day, in honor of the men and women who serve our country in the armed forces and especially to the ones that lost their lives in doing so....I wanted to share this medley of state songs from a movie about Jane Froman starring Susan Hayward.  The movie was called With a Song in My Heart.

Jane Froman was a singer and actress who sustained severe injuries in a plane crash in 1943.  She was performing on a USO tour and had changed seats with another performer who died in the crash, something that haunted Froman for the rest of her life.  As a result of the crash, there was always the possibility that the doctors were going to amputate her leg.  Jane was rescued by the pilot of the plane who later became her husband.

Jane Froman did the voice over for the movie.  I've always loved Susan Hayward movies and this was one of my favorites.  I hope that you enjoy this song and remember those who risk their lives for our freedom.

Below is a picture of Jane Froman....what a beauty!

Duets....I Love Discovering Some Unusual Pairings

Every so often when I come across some unusual pairings in duets I just have to pause and watch the outcome. 

Here are some of my favorites....I hope that you enjoy them as much as I have.

I'm sure that there are many more duets to discover yet....I find it fun to find pairings that are not even believable....Tony Bennett has a series of recordings such as these....but I haven't found one that I feel is out of this world or too funny yet.

As you've probably figured out....Barbra Streisand and Josh Groban are 2 of my many favorite singers.

A Friend Just Sent Me This Joke....Too Funny!

COMPUTERS -

Enjoy....

A SPANISH Teacher was explaining to her class that in Spanish, unlike English, nouns are designated as either masculine or feminine. 'House' for instance, is feminine: 'la casa.' 'Pencil,' however, is masculine: 'el lapiz.' A student asked, 'What gender is 'computer'?' Instead of giving the answer, the teacher split the class into two groups, male and female, and asked them to decide for themselves whether computer' should be a masculine or a feminine noun. Each group was asked to give four reasons for its recommendation. The men's group decided that 'computer' should definitely be of the feminine gender ('la computadora' ), because: 1. No one but their creator understands their internal logic; 2. The native language they use to communicate with other computers is incomprehensible to everyone else; 3. Even the smallest mistakes are stored in long term memory for possible later retrieval; and 4. As soon as you make a commitment to one, you find yourself spending half your paycheck on accessories for it. (THIS GETS BETTER!) The women's group, however, concluded that computers should be Masculine ('el computador') , because: 1. In order to do anything with them, you have to turn them on; 2. They have a lot of data but still can't think for themselves; 3. They are supposed to help you solve problems, but half the time they ARE the problem; and 4. As soon as you commit to one, you realize that if you had waited a little longer, you could have gotten a better model.. The women won.

Love Is.....

At the risk of sounding like I'm preaching....I wanted to share this "AHA" moment that I had on the meaninng of LOVE.

What is love?  Love is everything....not only in the sense that when you are loved or in love you feel as though you have and can be everything....no, it is much simpler than that.  Love, literally IS everything. 

It all began with God.  I remember something that was told to me in religious classes when I was growing up....For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 

Then our parents gave us love.  They worked hard to give us a life better than what they had.  They sacrificed to give us what they believed was important...in whatever form that may have taken. 

Then we learned about romantic love.  With hopes and dreams....we wanted to share everything that was good with the partner we chose for the rest of our lives.

Then we became parents ourselves...and with this we were able to understand so much more about how our parents loved us.  Even though we were caught up in the everyday busy-ness of life...for a few fleeting moments...at least 2 times a year (Mother's Day and Father's Day)...we celebrate what that love meant to us with gifts and usually the bounty of food.

As grandparents....the world has slowed down for us....now we can take the time to enjoy family, grandchildren and friends.  Although we have had friends throughtout our lifetime....the friends and family members that are still around us during this time of our life seems so much more to us....Why?  because we were so busy living and working and raising children, running family errands, shuttling the kids to play dates or soccer practice....we couldn't devote the time to just take it slow and easy with a deeper introspection of what and who are important in our lives.

But love goes even deeper than that.  Love is also unconditional.  Love is about continually showering our loved ones with a tremendous amount of love,  and without expecting anything in return.  Yet even deeper....it is about loving EVERYONE!  Even people we haven't met!

When we do this....we have unconditional love....we have the kind of love that God is giving us and this is the kind of love that he wants up to pass on to everyone we meet....when we do that we can heal the world.

Wow....what a concept!

I warn you....this has been brought to you from a fleeting senior moment of clarity, but profound nonetheless....don't you agree? 

Let's Tango

The Tango is always fun to watch.  I especially love the song Por Una Cabeza that is used in the last video but would prefer a little less violin and more of the accordian and percussion....to make the music less mello and more rough because the Tango is about being rough, sexy and artistic....oh and body posture!

What is also important as you look at these videos....are the way the dancers are dressed and the attitude they display....it is ALL about ATTITUDE!

Lastly and most importantly...is the sex appeal that the dancers exude....given that....there is only one winner!

Let me know who you think it is.....Al Pacino, Antonio Banderas or Richard Gere.

A little known fact....I took one Tango dance lesson....and believe me....it was not pretty and oh so hard to do.

Have fun!



A 3D Experience

Last week I watched a new movie called....Avengers....what an experience.  Not only was it in 3D...but it was also at the IMAX Theater.  Not only did I have things in my face so to speak but I also could feel the vibrations in my body. 

What a difference from my first experience when I was about 7 or 8 years old and we went to the Princess Theater in downtown Honolulu.  That theater is long gone.  That was when 3D just came out and the movie screen was blurry....they gave us these cardboard glasses with cellophane paper for the lens.  It was really "hokie."  I was not impressed.

This new movie however was really impressive.  It was like you are a part of the movie itself.  I hemmed and hawed about going because I wasn't impressed with my experience the first time.

What is really telling is the credits at the end of the movie.  It literally takes a lot of people to put together a movie such as this.  I swear the credits were about 10 minutes or more in length all by itself.  Needless to say, the cost for all that technical talent must be tremendous!

Who'd thunk it?  Thanks to people like Steven Spielberg and George Lucas who started us on this journey of computer graphics with E.T. and of course...Star Wars.

In Bollywood....Shahrukh Khan brought technology to India with his new film Ra.One.

It's a whole new world!  So many possibilities!

Happy Mother's Day

Mother's Day is a day when we celebrate mothers and motherhood around the world.  This Mother's Day was especially significant and different for me.  Although I lost my mother many years ago, I was thankful today for the kindnesses of people close to my heart.

The day started out when I opened my eyes after sleeping in late and saw a friend waving at me.  That was sweet.  A buffet lunch starting with a sumptuous salad and ending with a decadent pecan yogurt topped with hot fudge.....yum!  Slot machine playing was fun as we cheered some strangers on when they hit a $200 jackpot.   

I remember Oprah saying on her Facebook entry on my page today.....how we should spend the day thanking our mom or someone who has been like a mom to us and that was what was so different for me this year.

I spent the day thinking a lot about my mom and I know that she was thinking about me today and sending me a lot of love.  I can remember holding her hand when we were out shopping.  She was so frail in her later years.  She would always thank me for being so wonderful to her and I remember her telling me that I didn't have to visit her grave after she passed because I had treated her so well in this life.  That was my mom.

What I realized today too was that I now have 2 people that are like mothers to me and strangely enough they are both named Shirley.  My aunty Shirley called me from Hawaii to wish me Happy Mother's Day.  How great is that?  She had such wonderful words to say to me and I had tears in my eyes during the conversation.  She sent me a lot of love.

After wiping my eyes and putting an ice pack on them to take away the puffiness....I jumped in my car and was off to see my best friend Shirley and just like a mother she gave me soup, dessert and tea.  We talked and yes even laughed again about something or another.  Shirley and I have so many things in common....but the biggest thing is that we love to eat.  She always calls me 3 or 4 times a week and asks me to meet her for lunch.  We have a great time because she also loves to people watch....just like me.

Thank you God for great moms and friends that share the love just like moms do.  I am so blessed....oh by the way.....it became clear to me today that Shirley(s) must have a special significance in my life.....I'm going to keep an eye out for more people named Shirley from now on!

Aloha from Hawaii

For the past 2 days I have been spending time with my cousin Rocky, her husband Kimo and their son Mana.  It was so great catching up with all the news from back home.

We spent a lot of time talking together, sharing great food and even their friends from nearby Pahrump, Nevada were there.  What is really wonderful is the immediate connection one feels to people from Hawaii, even though we'd never met before.  We call it the Aloha Spirit.

Rocky retired this year and it was great to see her....because every time I visited Hawaii, Rocky was at work and we never got to connect for some reason or another.  But we finally had our visit and there was just so much to catch up on.  We laughed about when we were younger and the sleepovers we had at her family home.  We also shared cooking recipes for our favorite Korean dishes, family secrets we didn't know about each other and of course those "back in the day" reminiscences...you know the ones!

In the course of our busy lives....we forget what is most important....and that is family.  Being an expatriate of Hawaii...you don't realize what you are missing until you hear people from back home speak.  The local twang and pidgin phrases just draws you in and we revert back to that colorful way of speaking just because we are together.

The hugging and kissing that goes on when one meets people from back home is something that is not done enough here in Las Vegas.  Luckily enough, we will meet again in October with even more family coming up from Hawaii.

In the meantime.....I want to share this video of my favorite Hawaiian song by Keali'i Reichel, called E O Mai.  The video shows the beauty of Hawaii that I truly miss.

Phases in Life

I don't know about you....but I can remember certain phases in life that were somewhat decadent, somewhat cultural, somewhat risque, and also very indulgent.  There was the shoe phase....I was in love with designer shoes.....that was soooo costly.

Then there was the handbag phase.....also very costly.  Of course now there's the Bollywood and Korean Drama phase.....very time consuming and I just finished watching a series that had me actually crying my eyes out!

One phase that I never regretted has been the opera phase.  I can remember going to operas at the Neal S. Blaisdell Center Concert Hall.  It was great because they had English subtitles above the stage.  There I got to see my 2 all time favorites....  Les Miserables and Phantom of the Opera. 

Les Miserables.....I've seen that one several times....It is my favorite.....and the reason is not only the music.....but the stage with that huge prop that transforms from a street in London into a barricade and the lighting and sound of the sewers....unbelievable.

Of course Phantom of the Opera is also wonderful...and they even have a DVD starring Gerard Butler, Emmy Rossum and Patrick Wilson, with Minnie Driver.  Beautiful music and beautifully done.  I highly recommend this version.  But as great as this movie version is, as well as the stage version....it cannot compare with the live performance of Les Miserables.

However....until you can get to see the live version....you can access the stage version with all of the performers in costume.....but without the stage sets.  You can see and hear the performers sing but there are no elaborate sets.  I do have a few of my favorite songs from the play here...from YouTube and also a bonus feature whereby 17 different Jean Valjeans from all over the world perform....it is truly wonderful and will definitely give you goose bumps!  Enjoy the ride!

"May Day is Lei Day in Hawaii"

Growing up in Hawaii, the 1st of May was always a colorful and fragrant celebration in school.  We would watch hula dancing in the typical May Day program.  There would be contests on who could create a beautiful and unusual garland of flowers.

There was always Hawaiian music being played with the ukelele and of course, a king and queen was also selected from amongst the students.  I am proud to say that someone actually nominated me for queen in high school.  While I was honored at the selection, I knew that I didn't look Hawaiian enough to win....but very happy none the less.

One year we even celebrated May Day with a maypole like those used in many countries.  It was so much fun to perform that in front of the student body in elementary school.  But that was the exception....that is not how it is celebrated in Hawaii.

As an elementary school kid....it was fun because we got to watch a program for half the day and we even got to have a Hawaiian school lunch.  All the girls would be dressed in muumuus and the boys in Aloha shirts.  It was truly a colorful day at school.....and of course we all wore leis.

In the business world....eventually Fridays became designated Aloha Friday when people could wear muumuus and Aloha shirts to work.  I remember that Bank of Hawaii was one of the first to have Aloha attire as the standard uniform for employees and execs....do you remember those "inside out" material Aloha shirts?  That became the standard for bank execs.  Hawaiian fabric factories really got a boost with that executive decision.  Hawaiiana became the "in thing" like never before.

Whenever I return to Hawaii for a visit....I really take the time to smell the flowers and soak in the Hawaiian culture as much as possible.  I love listening to Hawaiian music and especially relish hearing and seeing it in person. 

On my trip to Hawaii last year, I had the pleasure and honor to listen to my cousin Paul Kim perform with his group called the "Sons of Hawaii."  They perform traditional Hawaiian music and Paul sang my favorite song called Alika....a song that was sung by Genoa Keawe for many years.... now....not all singers can perform it well.  There is a part of the song where a note is held for a very long time on just one breath.  Well...cuz.....you nailed it!  I was certainly impressed!  My aunt and uncle was there along with my cousin Rocky and her husband Kimo.....we had fun that night and I could tell that they had so much pride (as did I) listening to Paul perform on the steel guitar....a dying art in Hawaiian music.  Imagine....I have a cousin that is even mentioned in Wikipedia and appeared in a documentary filmed about the many iconic members of the "Sons of Hawaii" over the years.  OMG...WOW.

That is my handsome cousin on the left with the straw hat with the haku lei in the picture below.

Happy May Day to All!