❧❧❧ Whatever you can do or dream, you can BEGIN IT. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Goethe ❧❧❧
❧❧❧ You were born whole, not broken. Sandra Hammel ❧❧❧
Saturday, July 24, 2010
LET MY SPIRIT SING
Every time I am going to sing and play piano in public, I go through this "dialogue" with myself. I don't know why I do it so relaxed at home with my spirit doing the singing, not so much my voice....the voice is the vehicle, but the spirit does the "driving". So tomorrow I am singing. I would like just once - to get this right - to sing and be able to relax into the music's soul. Serve the sound.
For inspiration .........................................................
......................................................... Uploaded by PinkVEVO
"Glitter In The Air"
Have you ever fed a lover with just your hands? Closed your eyes and trusted, just trusted? Have you ever thrown a fist full of glitter in the air? Have you ever looked fear in the face and said, "I just don't care"?
It's only half past the point of no return The tip of the iceberg The sun before the burn The thunder before the lightning The breath before the phrase Have you ever felt this way?
Have you ever hated yourself for staring at the phone? You're whole life waiting on the ring to prove you're not alone Have you ever been touched so gently you had to cry? Have you ever invited a stranger to come inside?
It's only half past the point of oblivion The hourglass on the table The walk before the run The breath before the kiss And the fear before the flames Have you ever felt this way?
La La La La La La La La
There you are, sitting in the garden Clutching my coffee, Calling me sugar You called me sugar
Have you ever wished for an endless night? Lassoed the moon and the stars and pulled that rope tight? Have you ever held your breath and asked yourself will it ever get better than tonight? Tonight
This is a wonderful video. My heart sunk when I saw the picture at the beach. I became a Heath Ledger loving fan this year. Even in death, Heath reaches out and grabs hearts and souls. Bless him.
Those of us who feel Heath's radiant spirit and know that his eyes expressed his soul ~ share a special awareness of beauty.
Wes Bentley who co-starred with Heath in The Four Feathers expresses himself about Heath in this article as well as:
Terry Gilliam, Director of Brothers Grimm and The Imaginarium and Doctor Parnassus, Marc Forster, director of Monster's Ball, Todd Black producer of A Knights Tale, Donna Morong, the casting director of Ten I Hate About You, Gil Yunger, director of Ten Things, Steve Alexander, agent, Mel Gibson, Catherine Hardwicke, director of The Lords of Dogtown, Diana Ossand, screenwriter of Brokeback Mountain, James Schamus, producer of Brokeback, Rodrigo Prieto, cimematographer of Brokeback, Nicola Pecorini, friend and cinematographer, Gary Oldman, Emma Thomas both of The Dark Knight, Charles Roven of TDK and Brothers Grimm.
Alexander: Sony asked me to come over and read the script for Spider-Man. It was going to be a really cool tentpole movie. But as soon as I said Spider-Man, Heath said, ''It's not for me. I would be taking someone else's dream away.'' He never second-guessed his decisions or said ''what if'' — which was amazing, because I certainly did!
Marc Forster, director, Monster's Ball: When he read the script, Heath said, ''Look, I get this character. I totally understand him. I'll come down there and breathe in that world.'' He wanted to try something different, something where the movie wasn't resting on his shoulders. The one thing he said was, ''I'm not going to participate in the promotion of the movie. I’m just going to come in and focus on the acting.''
Alexander:Monster's Ball (pictured) definitely did some heavy lifting for him. A lot of important filmmakers and studio executives saw him in a different way after that movie. It achieved exactly what we wanted it to in terms of stripping away the shininess of a leading man.
By 2004, Ledger's career momentum had slowed following a series of critical and financial flops: the period epic Four Feathers(pictured), the Australian Western Ned Kelly, and the horror film The Order.
Alexander: Heath was going through growing pains. He wasn't really going forward, he wasn't really falling back — it was just kind of a push. He was getting more experience, but the movies weren't working. He said he was sort of tearing his career down so it could be built back up the right way.
Bentley: Heath didn't give himself enough credit for his talent as an actor. He didn't know what he had so he decided to enjoy what was being offered to him. I wanted to explain to him, ''Please wake up to how great you are.'' He didn't have any classical training. He didn't have anyone making him feel like he had credibility. The only voice he listened to was his own self critic, because it was the loudest.
Alexander: Heath generally backed out of almost every movie that he did. He would say yes to something and then he really started thinking about it and it would spin him out. He'd go away and he'd tinker and play and then we'd have a conversation several weeks later and he'd say, ''I got it. I figured it out.''
Terry Gilliam, director, The Brothers Grimm: [Cinematographer] Nicola Pecorini was working on The Order, and he called me and said, ''This kid is extraordinary. He's fearless.'' I went out to L.A. and met Heath and just liked him immediately. As we were talking, he was constantly jiggling around. I was like, ''That's great — you've got to keep that.'' He just had this incredible energy that was intense but very vulnerable at the same time. Heath was determined to be his own man, despite his success. Johnny Depp was someone he really admired. I introduced them at the Toronto Film Festival. Johnny has a good sense of competition. Right from the start, he was just, like, ''Ooh, this guy — watch out!''
Black: Heath was the pied piper. If you were sad, he took care of you. If you were happy, he made you happier just by dancing or talking or laughing. Fear didn't enter his psyche. He would say whatever was on his mind. If he didn't like you, you would know it, and if he liked you, you would know it.
Gilliam: He was a very old soul. When we were in Prague doing Grimm, there was one night we went to see this gypsy band. Somehow his age came up in conversation. At that time, Matt Damon was 32, and I always felt Heath was the same age, if not older. He said, ''I'm 24.'' I said, ''What? That's not possible!'' He had a kind of wisdom you only get from centuries of former life. He could talk about any number of things — books, ideas — and this was not a 24-year-old you were talking to. Maybe he was part aborigine somewhere down the line.
Bentley: Heath had great taste in music. He always knew what to play at 5 a.m.: Neil Young, ''Old Man.'' He'd find the right time for it and sneak it in.
Diana Ossana, screenwriter, Brokeback Mountain: I called Steve Alexander and said. ''Get this script to Heath now.'' Heath was with [then-girlfriend] Naomi Watts in New York and on the way back to Australia, they both read it. When I met Heath, he told me that after they read the script, Naomi was jumping up and down on the bed going, ''You have to do this! This will repay you in ways that you can't imagine!''
James Schamus, producer, Brokeback Mountain: Heath was somebody that [screenwriters] Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana had always used as a reference point in writing the character of Ennis. You knew that part was in Heath. It was just a question of whether Ang could bring it out. Heath met Ang, and it was one of those funny conversations. All Ang wants is about 45 minutes to stare at the person. He doesn't need to say anything and doesn't care what the person has to say. But the minute Heath left it was like, ''Okay, great. Yep.''
Hardwicke: Heath said, ''I've got to go be a gay cowboy.'' And everyone was talking every which way, making every kind of joke. You knew it was going to be great and he had to do it. But there was the fear embodied in it, too: What was I thinking? Did I really agree to this?
Bentley: I had the offer [for Brokeback], like, five years earlier, when Gus Van Sant was going to direct it. I was definitely interested but it didn't come together. And then Heath brought it up. I got to make fun of him a lot. I said, ''You know you're going to be the gay cowboy for the rest of your life.'' It was scary for him. He wasn't gay — quite the opposite. But crossing that boundary, I don't know if I could have done it the way he did it. Heath got beyond that.
Pecorini: Heath was extremely relieved he didn't win the Oscar. I saw him the next day and he was like, ''It's a big, bloody weight off my back.'' I said, ''Don't you have even a little regret?'' He said, ''No. It's over! I'm free now!'' If he had won, he would have had to deal even more with this system that wanted to guide his career and his life. He immediately threw himself back into a project that was really important to him: a movie he wanted to make about ['60s British singer] Nick Drake. That was one of his dream projects. The moment the Oscars were over, he said, ''Now we can do the Nick Drake thing.''
Pecorini: When he came to me with the first makeup test of the Joker, I said, ''S---, man, they're going to fire you!'' And he said, ''Maybe, but that's the only way I can play it.'' Movie studios are scared of daring. They're scared of pushing the envelope. And Heath was exactly the opposite. He was always pushing, pushing, pushing. It was in his nature to push the boundaries.
Gilliam: Heath was exhilarated by playing the Joker. He said, ''I'm able to do things I never believed were inside me.'' He's working with great actors, like Gary Oldman and Aaron Eckhart, and he'd say, ''I go into these scenes, and they can't do anything to me!'' He used to just giggle that he had found a character that was impregnable. They could beat him, hit him, and it wouldn't make a difference because he was so utterly wacko. It freed him up and got him out of that uncertainty after Brokeback. It was just, ''Let's go. Let's fly.'' And he flew.
Roven: I showed Heath the first six minutes of The Dark Knight, the bank heist sequence, on an IMAX screen in London. I said, ''You have to see this. You haven't seen yourself be the Joker!'' He watched it, and it just blew his mind. He was so thrilled, he was just laughing. He said, ''I want to see it again!'' It's not an easy thing to rethread an IMAX, so it took about 15 minutes but we showed it to him again. That was the last time I saw him.
In late 2007, Ledger went into production on Gilliam's next film, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (pictured). It was a time of intense stress, as his relationship with Williams was falling apart. Ledger began to complain of terrible difficulty sleeping.
Hardwicke: The pressures he was under, with his family, his daughter, everything, would stress out any yogi. Buddha would be stressed. You're being buffeted and pulled and tempted and flown across the ocean back and forth — how does anybody survive that? Obviously a lot of people don't.
Gilliam: All of us who were close to Heath knew what was going on, and it was not the most pleasant experience.... He was obsessed with his daughter. She became the center of his thoughts. He would drag her up to my house in London. Here's Heath, Academy Award nominee, and he'd just grab his daughter, stick her in a backpack, hop on the Tube, and come up to the house. Nobody would have thought, There's Heath Ledger. He was just a guy with a kid.
Pecorini: Separation when there is a kid involved is always very painful, no matter what. And Heath was always very hard on himself. His tendency was always to say, ''What did I do wrong?'' He was really bleeding. And I'm pretty sure that all his sleeping problems had nothing to do with work and all to do with Matilda and Michelle.
Oldman: Most of the conversations we had were about family. I think because I had been through being a single dad in the past, he was picking my brain a little. The last time I saw him, he said he was looking forward to spending some time with Matilda.
Pecorini: I'm convinced Heath caught pneumonia at the end of that year. I remember I forced him to see a doctor, even though he didn't want to. The doctor said, ''Yes, you have the beginning of pneumonia. You'd better get antibiotics and go home and sleep.'' He got the antibiotics, but he refused to go home and sleep. And that very night, he delivered one of his best performances I have ever seen him deliver. He went on nerves, mainly. (Pictured at 2007's Venice Film Festival)
In January 2008, Ledger traveled to New York for a brief break from filming on Parnassus. On Jan. 22, he was found dead in his SoHo apartment. There was immediate speculation he had overdosed on illicit drugs, but autopsy reports ruled his death an accidental toxic combination of prescription painkillers, anti-anxiety medication, and sleeping pills.
Gilliam: I was in Vancouver, and there was a computer with a BBC website and it says, ''Heath Ledger found dead.'' My immediate response was, ''It's a f---ing Warner Bros. publicity stunt for the Joker!'' We kept looking at the computer thinking it was going to change. But it wouldn't go away.
Hardwicke: I was in a van in Oregon scouting a location we shot for Twilight. And my phone just exploded. And then you're just on the ground, weeping. At least I was outside in this beautiful place with the trees and the green and you could just try to connect with his spirit right then.
Schamus: It was one of those ''where were you on the day Kennedy was shot'' moments. I called Jake and remember wailing.
Oldman: I call it the cosmic s--- hammer. Just one of those things. I can't even say I ever remember seeing Heath smoking. It was a complete shock.
Gilliam: They tried so hard to pin [drug abuse] on him, but they couldn't because Heath was as clean as you could be. We know about the pills. But he had stopped smoking. Marijuana was no longer in his life, which he had enjoyed a bit. He wasn't drinking. Nothing. This was a body that had cleansed itself for over a year of anything.
Pecorini: He was so solid into keeping clean, it was quite stunning. I really think he died of a broken heart. I know it can sound very romantic, but it's very tragic. I think that's what killed him.
Alexander: We were making these incredible plans about what was next, career-wise. The day after he died, he was going to meet Steven Spielberg to explore the idea of playing Tom Hayden in a movie about the Chicago 7. This wasn't a guy who was even for a second thinking about checking out in any way, shape, or form. There's a moment in The Dark Knight when Heath's hanging upside down and he says to Batman, ''You and I are destined to do this forever.'' It's a very sad moment. A sequel certainly would have happened. I cringe when I read that he was a tortured soul or a Method actor who couldn't get out of his own way because he'd played this dark character. It's just not true.
Bentley: I wish I knew what was going on with the prescription drugs. I could have said, ''That's not gonna help. Don't mix all that.'' I think he just didn't know what he was doing. I feel like at least he would have listened to me. I didn't go to the funeral because I know Heath would have been laughing at it. He would have had that smile on his face. At the very least he would have shrugged it off.
Pecorini: I remember when we went to the memorial service, most of the people there had nothing to do with Heath. He used to despise most of them, and there was no reason for them to be there. I understand the family wanting to give the ''Hollywood community,'' so-called, the opportunity of saying goodbye. But I’m telling you, 85 percent of the people in that room had no right to be there. It was pretty disturbing for me.
Oldman: If Heath does get an Oscar nomination, I can just picture him up there, looking down and going, F---!
Pecorini: We joked about [an Oscar nomination]. Heath used to say, ''This time I'm going to give them such a hard time — they'll have to cry to get an interview.'' He knew he'd done something special. But he was saying, ''This time I’m going to lead the dance.''
This was one of the comments left by A Kindred SpiritFri, Feb 13, 09 for this article:
I found myself struck by the tragedy of this young man's death. I didn't know the man and can't claim to know what was going on in his head, but obviously, he was in pain. I believe that he was only trying to find some peace and rest. I think that he just wanted the pain in his head and his heart to quiet just long enough to let him sleep...and in his desperation, he slept too deeply. The man was a damn good actor and by all accounts, a genuinely nice man who loved his daughter. God rest.
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......................................... Heath Ledger wanted to do a movie about Nick Drake. A very well-done video of Nick Drake's Pink Moon Uploaded by leeses1973
This is the best Pink Moon video on Youtube that I have seen.The undulating and swaying visuals are a perfect match for the rhythmic undercurrent of the guitar.And I love the percussive picture displays "dancing" in ensemble with the songs percussive rhythm sections.
Great work, Lisa.Heath would like this very much.Hopefully, he is smiling at it from where he is.
WHICH ONE DO YOU BELIEVE? When is a lie, not a lie? Force-feeding lies by GW Bush is his mode of operation. And yet, we act like a deer caught in head lights.
If George W Bush was an employee and bumbled in any other job as blatantly as he has done as "The Decider for All of US", I would like to believe he would be FIRED. Why can't we fire the President? I wonder does he think he is underqualified for this job? I do. There is only one way a person could believe he is doing an acceptable job as President. The person isn't paying attention. One thing, my strict up-bringing and the over-reaching disciplining, taught me as a child...was to pay attention.
I listened to much of what Petraeus, the one with the medals, and Crocker, the one that said, "uh" so many times that I finally turned it off - said today to the US Representative and Senate committees. 'Uh', though was just as good a response as any thing else that was said by these two puppets of GW Pinocchio Bush. When I listened to the reading of Crocker's initial statement, I thought to myself, that sounds like what GW Bush would be saying. George W Bush was pulling the strings to Crocker's mouth. Blatant. And yet. And yet, what will we do about it? My guess? Nothing. We just think we can do nothing and our lives will go on like always. Are we really that disinterested in our near future? And ignoring risk by choosing complicity means we go on living by our own affecting silence.
I said to a friend when George W Bush was running for his second term as President of the USA, that if the American people vote for GWB, we'll get what we deserve. She said, it wouldn't matter. I wish she would have been right. But, no.
This is a disaster. We invaded Iraq without the good sense of a four year old. And we have a breeding ground for those who want to commit genocide on the USA. Good job Bush administration. You know that is irony, right?
I don't blame the world for losing respect for the USA. I don't respect the USA policies. The rhetorical body "head" of this government is inserted in the ground. Polluted ground. This government is corrupt.
At some point the truth can only be lied about so many times until some of us will get angry. The kind of angry that talks. And we won't shut up. ...................................................................
I love my life. I love where I live. And I am passionate about my passions. I love to dance. Necessary to live: music, piano, singing, writing, acting, painting.
I have been fighting for and supporting the arts all my adult life. Since 2004, I have been working with other activists to end the Darfur genocide.
I have traveled to Europe many times since my early twenties. Places I have been: many USA states including Hawaii, Montreal, Canada, Barbados, France, Spain, Luxembourg, England, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Greece and Germany - and have wonderful memories.
My last trip was in May - June 2013 to Spain.
I would like to travel to Europe and Kyoto, Japan.
I love the southwest where I have visited Hopi, Navajo, Zia and San Idlefonso potters.
Life is exciting and I intend to live it full-out to the end.
B.S. and M.M., both in music
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Khartoum, Sudan Stop Genocide Time
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RAFA NADAL -BRING BACK LONG PANTS - SLEEVELESS TOPS
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Darfur - The Abandoned Genocide - a video by Sandra Hammel
Want to help? Call 1~800~GENOCIDE
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Satchita - Playing for Change
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Genocide is not only a word,
it is crying of the whole human race.
There is nothing redeeming about being silent
when speaking up is the humane thing to do.
The honor and integrity of the human race is at stake.
