ACTOR HEATH LEDGER WAS ABOVE THE REST HERE ON EARTH

I AM IN AWE OF THE DARING AND SEEMINGLY FEARLESS EMOTIONAL VESSEL THAT HEATH ALLOWED HIMSELF TO BE in the choice of the diversity of the roles he chose to play.

I love Heath Ledger in The Four Feathers. A movie that apparently is accepted as a failure to many. How that can be is beyond any understanding I can summon. It is one of my favorite movies. I recommend it to everyone I know.

I have seen the collection of movies and TV roles that Heath Ledger has played, introduced to the library of his work on Youtube. Candy wasn't a movie I wanted to see because it was about drug addiction...a sad subject. But, then things changed...

Heath and his co-star Abbie Cornish are exceptional in Candy. Heath received his Oscar posthumously for The Dark Knight, but I feel both The Four Feathers and Candy show Heath's acting ability that certainly deserved an Oscar as Harry and Dan in these two roles. Oscar performances all. Simply above all the rest - Heath - in these two other movies with Heath. And I just saw Monsters Ball because of what I heard Daniel Day-Lewis said of Heath (a small role, timewise) in Monsters Ball on Youtube. And the movie that the general public does know - Brokeback Mountain - Heath got attention for his role of Ennis Del Mar. Deservedly so, but not so welcome by Heath. Another Oscar performance of Heath's.

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Candy ~ Tribute to Heath Ledger
Uploaded by the gifted jopicca

This video by a Heath beloved fan - jopicca - is wonderful. Just exceptional. I love the overlapping of the videos as she did within this Youtube.

Candy is a 2005 Australian romantic drama film, adapted from Luke Davies' novel entitled Candy: A Novel of Love and Addiction. Candy was directed by debut film-maker Neil Armfield and stars Heath Ledger, Abbie Cornish and Geoffrey Rush.

The song Song to the Siren that is used first in this tribute stood out to me the most from Candy. All music used is from the movie.

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Because of Simheona's tribute to Candy and Heath, I knew I had to see Candy and I just saw it Sunday. I continue to learn of Heath's work late.

Music: A Brave New World by The Verve and Richard Ashcroft.

I love this song with this Candy tribute. It is a great companion to the story.

Lyrics

Brave New World

Into the brave new world
I hope I see you on the other side
Of this changing world

Baby when my ship pulls in
I try to believe in anyone
Look at the state I'm in.

But for now I'm just sitting at the table
Hearing songs
Wishing I was able, stable
nah nah nah nah nah nah
I hope I see you on the other side

Brother don't try to find
Don't try to believe in anyone
For I would change your mind

Baby when my ship pulls in
I try to believe in anyone
Look at the state I'm in, I'm fine

But for now I'm just sitting at the table
Hearing songs
Wishing I was able, stable
nah nah nah nah nah nah
I hope I see you on the other side

But for now I'm just sitting at the table
Hearing songs
Wishing I was able, stable
Brave new world
nah nah nah nah nah nah
I hope I see you on the other side

Amazon - Candy DVD:
http://www.amazon.com/Candy-Abbie-Cornish/dp/B000LAZDPG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1249950185&sr=8-1

Heath touched and continues to touch - many all over the world. I have only recently learned of Heath's work. And that was by accident, as I bought earlier this year - A Knights Tale - because Rufus Sewell was in it, then I fell in love with Heath's work. I have been quickly catching up with all of the movies available in the USA. First I see them by checking them out from the library. I have bought several so far. The diversity of roles he chose to play is overwhelming and stunning.

Have you seen Heath's latest work with The Masses? ...An animation against illegal whale hunting directed by Heath and finished by those who love him.
The video at We Are The Masses
http://www.wearethemasses.com/videos/modest-mouse-king-rat
Written tribute at We Are The Masses
http://www.wearethemasses.com/

I paid no attention to Heath Ledger or his movies out of ignorance, when he was alive. So it is quite remarkable that I am having such a difficult time having him gone. Something so genuine about him, about his emotions, his vulnerability and strength within his roles that he puts in his face, his eyes, movements, timing, delivery of words.

I think Heath must know from wherever he is that the connection so many of us feel with his soul and spirit is strong and genuine.

Song to the Siren

Lyrics

Performed by Paula Arundell and Paul Charlier

On the floating, shapeless oceans
I did all my best to smile
til your singing eyes and fingers
drew me loving into your eyes.

And you sang "Sail to me, sail to me;
Let me enfold you."

Here I am, here I am waiting to hold you.
Did I dream you dreamed about me?
Were you here when I was full sail?

Now my foolish boat is leaning, broken love lost on your rocks.
For you sang, "Touch me not, touch me not, come back tomorrow."
Oh my heart, oh my heart shies from the sorrow.
I'm as puzzled as a newborn child.
I'm as riddled as the tide.
Should I stand amid the breakers?
Or shall I lie with death my bride?

Hear me sing: "Swim to me, swim to me, let me enfold you."
"Here I am. Here I am, waiting to hold you."

I downloaded this song for free
http://www.airmp3.net/download/paula_arundell_song_to_the_siren/mp3/dla4_c5976_0

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The song of the Sirens by Homer

Source: http://deoxy.org/alephnull/sirens.htm

In the Odyssey, the Sirens sing a song so irresistible that none can hear it and escape. Circe warns Odysseus of the danger and tells him how to avoid it. He must plug up his mens' ears with beeswax, and have himself tied to the mast, if he wishes to hear it:

Square in your ship's path are Sirens, crying
beauty to bewitch men coasting by;
woe to the innocent who hears that sound!
He will not see his lady nor his children
in joy, crowding about him, home from sea;
the Sirens will sing his mind away
on their sweet meadow lolling. There are bones
of dead men rotting in a pile beside them
and flayed skins shrivel around the spot.
Steer wide;
keep well to seaward; plug your oarsmen's ears
with beeswax kneaded soft; none of the rest
should hear that song.
But if you wish to listen,
let the men tie you in the lugger, hand
and foot, back to the mast, lashed to the mast,
so you may hear those harpies' thrilling voices;
shout as you will, begging to be untied,
your crew must only twist more line around you
and keep their stroke up, till the singers fade. (Book 12, 41-58)

HUMANE HUMANS NEEDED

On the first day of the new school year, all the teachers in one private school received the following note from their principal.

Dear Teacher,

I am a survivor of a concentration camp. My eyes saw what no man should witness:

Gas chambers built by learned engineers.

Children poisoned by educated physicians.

Infants killed by trained nurses.

Women and babies shot and burned by high school and college graduates.

So, I am suspicious of education. My request is: help your students become human. Your efforts must never produce learned monsters, skilled psychopaths, educated Eichmanns.

Reading, writing and arithmetic are important only if they serve to make our children more human.

As I am reading my journals that I have written since 1969, I came across the quote which is shared above. I had written these words in my journal after I heard it at a music teachers workshop. I attended these workshops on Saturdays. This particular workshop was titled Creative Drama, Sound, Sight and Movement taught by Mavis M. Serries of the Waltham, Massachusetts Public Schools.

Reading it today moves me, as much as it did the day I wrote it down in my journal. It is from Haim Ginott's book, Teacher and Child. It is the book's epilogue, page 317.

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Uploaded by geornata

Your children are not your children,
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but are not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children
as living arrows are sent forth.
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
Kahlil Gibran

More notes from Haim Ginott's Books
can be found at eqi.org/ginott.htm

Haim Ginott's most famous quote:

I have come to a frightening conclusion.
I am the decisive element in the classroom.
It is my personal approach that creates the climate.
It is my daily mood that makes the weather.
As a teacher I possess tremendous power to make a child's life miserable or joyous.
I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration.
I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal.
In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated, and a child humanized or de-humanized.

Between Teacher and Child

Haim Ginott died at age 51 years old and his wife, Alice Ginott, wrote about him:

‘He wanted to learn how to discipline without humiliating; how to criticize without destroying self-worth; how to praise without judging; how to express anger without hurting; how to acknowledge, not argue with, feelings; how to respond so that children would learn to trust their inner reality and develop self-confidence.

“What is the goal of education?” he would ask, “When all is said and done, we want children to grow up to be decent human beings, a ‘mensch’, a person with compassion, commitment, and caring.” How then does one go about humanising a child, making a “mensch” out of him? Only by using “menschy” methods: By recognising that the process is the method, that the ends do not justify the means, and that in our attempt to get children to behave in a way that is conducive to learning, we do not damage them psychologically. Also, that we do not talk to children in a way that will enrage them, diminish their self-confidence, inflict hurt, or cause them to lose faith in their competence and ability.’ (p.10)

Haim G. Ginott (1922-1973) was a teacher, child psychologist and psychotherapist, who worked with children and parents. He pioneered techniques for conversing with children that are still taught today. His book, Between Parent and Child. The book stayed on the best seller list for over a year and is still popular today.

Teacher and Child

Ginott, Haim (1972)

New York; Colliers Books Macmilllan Publishing Company

The book primarily comprises a series of very short sections with a point to make about a humane way of being in the classroom and stories to illustrate. Each feels like a springboard for an enquiry focussed on ‘How can I improve what I am doing and live my values more fully through my practice?’ which would enable the enquirer to theorise their practice, to tell the story for how they account for themselves and their learning, recognise themselves as contradictions and progress; a quick and provocative read and good resource.

The next page of this journal has these words by Charles Silberman, from his book, Crisis in the Classroom:

Thinking alone, does not make a human being human. Feeling is also needed.

What tomorrow needs is not masses of intellectuals, but masses of educated men...men educated to feel and to act as well as to think.

Other links:

alice-miller.com

Emotional Intelligence

How to help a suicidal teen