I GAVE MY SON A SONG FOR CHRISTMAS 2011 ~ UNTIL FOREVER ENDS

Christmas Eve
December 24, Saturday, 2011
Photo credit: Sandra Hammel

Christmas Eve
December 24, Saturday, 2011
Photo credit: Sandra Hammel

......................................................

......................................................

This is a public video, however the purpose of this song is for my son, which is a personal matter. He is 24 years old. Some bonds are deep, some never take at all. The bond that I feel with my son is the deep kind, that of hearts, spirits - between two souls. And he came into my life when he was 8 years old.

I am grateful for this special experience, this special bond.

One day, I hope to do this song with better voice. In the meantime, I upload what I did yesterday and include the live version that I sang for my son as one of his Christmas presents on Christmas Eve 2011, which was shot with the cheapest camera sold. I dream of having a decent camera one day. I just can't afford one.

This song was written December 14, 2011 for my son.

Until Forever Ends

Written by Sandra Hammel

Though we are two hearts, many years apart,

Our bond runs deep, deeper than the blue sea,

Now, you, you sail on,

I stand here and watch you take flight……

Every day, keep your passions alive, breathe free,

I will love you always,

Until forever ends,

I will love you until forever ends.

Key: F Major

6/8 feel

Raw title: Until Forever Ends Live.mov

''HE PRAYETH WELL THAT LOVETH WELL BOTH MAN AND BIRD AND BEAST" from THE RIME OF THE ANCIENT MARINER

Karen Blixen in Kenya, 1918

One of my very favorite movies is Sydney_Pollack's Out of Africa. Sydney was born in Lafayette, Indiana. I did not know this until I googled him, but since I was born in Indiana this means something to me. (From wikipedia: Sydney Pollack was born in Lafayette, Indiana, to a family of Jewish immigrants from Ukraine,^[1] the son of Rebecca (née Miller) and David Pollack, a semi-professional boxer and pharmacist.^[1] The family relocated to South Bend and his parents divorced when he was young. His mother, an alcoholic with emotional problems, died at the age of 37 while Pollack was a student.^[2]Despite earlier plans to attend college and then medical school, Pollack left Indiana for New York City soon after finishing high school at age 17. Read more)

The very special relationship between Karen Blixen (17 April 1885 – 7 September 1962), (Meryl Streep) and Farah (Malick Bowens) is one of the highlights of the film beyond the scenery and the way it was edited and presented with wonderful music, beyond the love story between Karen and Denis (Robert Redford), beyond Berkeley Cole (Michael Kitchen). Even the more minor parts are superbly acted.

I am reading two of the books used for the film ~ Isak Dinesen: The Life of a Storyteller by the wonderful writer Judith Thurman and Silence Will Speak: A Study of the Life of Denys Finch Hatton and His Relationship with Karen Blixen by Errol Trzebinski which is a dynamic book about the man played by Robert Redford.

Also, I especially enjoy the special features on the dvd, including Sydney's commentary with the movie.

Sydney prefers widescreen

Click the post title for Sydney Pollack : press conference (France) - Sydney talks about directing Robert Redford and says his only complaint is that RR is always late.

Tribute to Sydney Pollack

................................................

.................................................

There isn't much on youtube with clips of Out of Africa, probably due to copyright restrictions. But here is the burial scene of Denys.
.................................................

.................................................

• Meryl Streep - Karen Blixen
• Robert Redford - Denys Finch Hatton
• Klaus Maria Brandauer - Bror Blixen/Hans Blixen
• Michael Kitchen - Berkeley Cole
• Malick Bowens - Farah
• Joseph Thiaka - Kamante
• Stephen Kinyanjui - Kinanjui
• Michael Gough - Baron Delamere
• Suzanna Hamilton - Felicity
• Rachel Kempson - Lady Belfield
• Graham Crowden - Lord Belfield
• Benny Young - Minister
• Leslie Phillips - Sir Joseph (this was presumably meant to be Sir Joseph Aloysius Byrne, who took office as the Governor in early 1931)
• Annabel Maule - Lady Byrne
• Dr. Steven Kee - Extra
• Iman - Mariammo

Academy Awards

The film won seven Academy Awards and was nominated in a further four categories.^[4]

Won

• Best Picture
• Best Director (Sydney Pollack)
• Best Art Direction (Stephen Grimes, Josie MacAvin)
• Best Cinematography (David Watkin)
• Writing Adapted Screenplay (Kurt Luedtke)
• Original Music Score
• Sound

Nominated

• Best Actress (Meryl Streep)
• Best Supporting Actor (Klaus Maria Brandauer)
• Costume Design (Milena Canonero)
• Film Editing (Fredric Steinkamp, William Steinkamp, Pembroke Herring, and Sheldon Kahn)

[edit] Golden Globes

The film won three Golden Globes (Best Picture, Supporting Actor, Original Score).

[edit] AFI

American Film Institute recognition

• 2002 AFI's 100 Years... 100 Passions #13
• 2005 AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores #15

"He prayeth well that loveth well both man and bird and beast" from The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.

.................................................

.................................................
Part 2 of Sydney Pollack's interview (Out of Africa)
Sydney answers about actors not going out to "sell" a movie when it is released.
Uploaded by dvdguy2011

.................................................

.................................................

I ADORE THE SUNDANCE CHANNEL

THE TIGER AND THE SNOW

I had never seen this movie. But it was on the fantastic TV channel, The Sundance Channel, today. With subtitles. I especially liked Tom Waits singing You Can Never Hold Back Spring and the poetry of the movie. Some great art - this movie.

..................................................

..................................................
The Opening Scene of the movie
Tom Waits sings You Can Never Hold Back Spring from his Orphans CD.
Uploaded by scavosauras
To view in larger screen ~
Double click the video and it will take you to youtube

Tom Waits was great in the Terry Gilliam movie
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

After creating LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL, the Oscar-winning comedy set during the Holocaust, actor/filmmaker Roberto Benigni takes on a no-less-audacious project: a romantic comedy set during the opening days of the Iraq War. Benigni plays a madcap poetry professor hopelessly infatuated with an elegant writer (Nicoletta Braschi). When he learns his beloved is wounded and lying near death in a Baghdad hospital, our hero impersonates a doctor and is soon dodging bullets and bombshells to win her heart. "Winsome, charming and irresistibly romantic" -Salon.

The Sundance Channel schedule - airing The Tiger and The Snow

Tuesday, October 5 11:15 AM

Tuesday, October 5 4:20 PM

Monday, October 11 11:00 AM

Monday, October 11 2:50 PM

Tuesday, October 12 6:25 AM

Thursday, October 21 10:35 AM

Thursday, October 21 3:30 PM

Sunday, October 31 1:30 PM

Cast and Crew

Director	Roberto Benigni
Screenwriter	Roberto Benigni
Screenwriter	Vincenzo Cerami
Cinematographer	Fabio Cianchetti
Editor	Massimo Fiocchi
Composer	Nicola Piovani
Actor	Roberto Benigni
Actor	Nicoletta Braschi
Actor	Tom Waits

..................................................

..................................................
The Tiger and The Snow
The trailer
Uploaded by EuropaFilmes
To view in larger screen ~
Double click the video and it will take you to youtube

HEAVENLY CAUSES NEED THEIR CHAMPIONS

The song The Impossible Dream was sung beautifully by Brian Stokes Mitchell Friday night at Ted Kennedy's memorial service. The sound had some technical difficulties. Here is another time Mr. Mitchell sang The Impossible Dream.

.........................................................

.........................................................
Brian Stokes Mitchell singing The Impossible Dream with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

Click on the post's title to go to the Ted Kennedy special tribute website.

At tedkennedy.org/pages/video_celebration_of_life_memorial_service can be found the song Just A Closer Walk With Thee performed by the Boston Community Chorus from the Ted Kennedy Memorial Service of August 28, 2009. Using the top video on the page - slide to 2:42:35 for the song.

Kennedy memorial service: poignant, powerful TV

It was good for my soul to watch the memorial and funeral services.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A comment

Vitriol appears all over the internet. Those who leave their vitriolic words in comments show what they carry around with them on the inside. Those comments are deleted here. This blog is not a place of any speech is okay place. Freedom of speech isn't a given here. Disagreement with me is not the issue. But, comments of disagreement are required to be delivered here with a sense of respect. I figure if you want the freedom to say anything you want in any way you want, you can create your own blog to do what ever you want. Here, this is like my home. You are a guest here.

There are those who love to hate. Love to drop their anger here and there. Love to put on the outside what they have on the inside. And it doesn't take too many words to show what kind of life is going on inside. There are plenty of places on the internet for them to find their soul mates. It just isn't here.

.....................................................

.....................................................
Michael Ball sings
Uploaded by aragornluvr580

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Love Changes Everything
as sung at Ted Kennedy's memorial service by Nick Littlefield

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
.....................................................

.....................................................

Sarah Brightman sings
Uploaded by estellepuna

Whatever you did for one of the least of these

We are visitors on this planet.

We are here for ninety or one hundred years

at the very most.

During that period,

we must try to do something good,

something useful, with our lives.

If you contribute to other people’s happiness,

You will find the true goal, the true meaning of life.

H.H. the 14th Dalai Lama

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

www.savedarfur.org

www.stopgenocidenow.org

1-800-GENOCIDE

If We Only Have Love

JUST DISCOVERED I LIKE PAUL NEWMAN - LOVE TO JOANNE - HIS LOVE

What a treat. How did I miss out on this?

Thanks to the great invention of video and films - Paul Newman can be enjoyed even though he has passed on to the Great Spirit out there.

I saw a very brief clip of this Paul Newman movie and became interested in it. Haven't seen it, but here is a clip made by an admirer...
.........................................

........................................
Somebody Up There Likes Me
Uploaded by pheonix243

........................................

........................................
Until They Sail
If you don't like the music - just turn it down and enjoy the great montage - it is great.
Paul Newman and Jean Simmons
Uploaded by MissNewmanDeppDelon age 14 from Brazail

Actual clips from Until They Sail Cammie37

........................................

........................................
Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward Tribute for their 50th Anniversary
Song: Cruisin' by Gwyneth Paltrow and Huey Lewis
Uploaded by uhriseuh

Thanks Paul

A MOMENT THAT LASTS A LIFETIME

It can be someone you meet once. It can be someone you only have a few minutes with. You know when it happens. The experience lasts a lifetime. And it is never less real. And it is never really in the past. I love that about life.

Something in you and something in the magic of two people's spirits finding "home" in a moment enters and lets you know what it feels like to be real and alive. Eternity in that moment is the glory of being alive.

And the first verse of this song says it so well.....

.......................................................

.......................................................
I'll Remember You
Uploaded by netlynn
The song is by Bob Dylan
Performed by Grayson Hughes
Movie is Fried Green Tomatoes

Lyrics

I'll remember you
When I've forgotten all the rest
You to me were true
You to me were the best
When there is no more
You cut to the core
Quicker than anyone I knew
When I'm all alone
In the great unknown
I'll remember you.

I'll remember you
At the end of the trail
I had so much left to do
I had so little time to fail
There's some people that
You don't forget
Even though you've only seen'm
One time or two
When the roses fade
And I'm in the shade
I'll remember you.

Didn't I, didn't I try to love you ?
Didn't I, didn't I try to care ?
Didn't I sleep, didn't I weep beside you
With the rain blowing in your hair.

I'll remember you
When the wind blows through the piney wood
It was you who came right through
It was you who understood
Though I'd never say
That I done it the way
That you'd have liked me to
In the end
My dear sweet friend
I'll remember you.

.......................................................

...........................................
A portion of the movie Fried Green Tomatoes
Idgie & Ruth - Part 9
Uploaded by SilverLining1862

Quotes from Fried Green Tomatoes

ONE OF MY FAVORITE SONGS ~ THE WATER IS WIDE

I love you. Whoever reads this, I don't care that I don't know you ~ I can love you. May you find peace in your spirit. If you don't have joy, I can give you mine.

.............................................................

.............................................................
The Water is Wide

This is one of my favorite songs. It is plaintive, soothing while at the same time, sad. If we live and haven't felt these feelings, we have missed a wonderful experience. The words have been slightly altered in many versions, but the music has stayed the same.

.............................................................

.............................................................
The Water Is Wide


The Water is Wide
Sung by Indigo Girls, Sarah MacLachlan and Jewel

Joy, Peace, Happiness, Contentment, Be in Love

I SAY MAKE A SPLASH

Love and Drama. Exaltation.

I love music.

When you are young, young enough to feel love, don't miss the joy. It is just too luscious to miss. When you become older in life, it is such a source of gratitude and elation to have lived life, loved life, dared to be different if that is who you are and to have loved. How exciting!

Don't
play it safe
or do what you're expected to do
or ignore your own heart.
When anyone tells you that you can't do something, ask yourself why he or she would have a reason to tell you what you can or can't do. Trust yourself first.

"Friend, don't be a perfectionist. Perfectionism is a curse and a strain. For you tremble lest you miss the bulls-eye. You are perfect if you let be. Friend don't be afraid of mistakes. Mistakes are not sins. Mistakes are ways of doing something different, perhaps creatively new. Friend don't be sorry for your mistakes. be glad for them. You had the courage to give something of yourself. It takes years to be centered; it takes more years to understand and be NOW."
Frederick Perls

...........................................................

...........................................................
Be as you are

By davidtheharper from Sweden

...........................................................

...........................................................
If You Go Away
This is sung by a Youtube poster, Rudy, jazzdjoe from Singapore who writes: This is my humble rendition of a wonderful song of Brel. English lyrics are by Rod Mc Kuen. I added the Malay lyrics at the end. Enjoy.

If you go away
On this summer's day
Then you might as well
Take the sun away
All the birds that flew
In the summer sky
When our love was new
And our hearts were high
And the day was young
And the nights were long
And the moon stood still
For the night bird's song

If you go away
If you go away
If you go away...

But if you stay
I'll make you a day
Like no day has been
Or will be again
We'll sail on the sun
We'll ride on the rain
And talk to the trees
And worship the wind

But if you go
I'll understand
Leave me just enough love
To fill up my hand

If you go away
If you go away
If you go away...

If you go away
As I know you will
You must tell the world
To stop turning
'til you return again
If you ever do
For what good is love
Without loving you?
Can I tell you now
As you turn to go
I'll be dying slowly
'til the next hello

If you go away
If you go away
If you go away...

But if you stay
I'll make you a night
Like no night has been
Or will be again
I'll sail on your smile
I'll ride on your touch
I'll talk to your eyes
That I love so much

But if you go
I won't cry
Though the good is gone
From the word goodbye

If you go away
If you go away
If you go away...

If you go away
As I know you must
There is be nothing left
In this world to trust
Just an empty room
Full of empty space
Like the empty look
I see on your face
And I'd been the shadow
Of your shadow
If you might have kept me
By your side

If you go away
If you go away
If you go away...

If you go away
If you go away...

BECAUSE OF MY DAD I KNOW I HAVE KNOWN WHAT LOVE FEELS LIKE ~ DAD'S MY ANGEL

…………………………………………………..

…………………………………………………..
The Last Rose of Summer

Tis the last rose of summer,
Left blooming alone,
All her lovely companions
Are faded and gone.
No flower of her kindred,
No rose bud is nigh,
To reflect back her blushes,
Or give sigh for sigh.

I'll not leave thee, thou lone one,
To pine on the stem.
Since the lovely are sleeping,
Go sleep thou with them.
'Thus kindly I scatter thy leaves o'er the bed
Where thy mates of the garden
Lie scentless and dead.

So soon may I follow
When friendships decay,
And from love's shining circle
The gems drop away!
When true hearts lie withered
And fond ones are flown
Oh! who would inhabit
This bleak world alone?

This is the note I sent recently to the nurse who was with my father when I talked to him on the telephone when he moved from mortal life to immortal life…

I cried today. I have my regret that I wasn’t there in body to be with Dad and watch him take his last breath, to hold his hand. But you were. I am grateful for you. Thank you.

I didn’t know how my note would be received because my family is broken and people knew it where dad lived his last year of his life in an institution. They didn’t know the weird inside story, but we had to appear in ways to draw judgments. I was never told by my mother that dad was near death and she knew he was. So I was in Rhode Island the day he died. I sent my note to Marcia anyway because I am sincerely grateful for what she did for me and for my father. I really only knew Marcia from a couple exchanges. So I took a chance that she would receive me in the spirit that I sent my sentiments.

Today, I received a reply from my note that I sent to Marcia ~ who sat with my father in Indiana, May 10, 2007 the morning he died. I have been so moved. It has helped me grieve, finally, for losing my father.

This is the note sent to me.

Dear Sandra,

I felt privileged and honored to act in your behalf at your Father’s Death.

I admire your courage and strength born of the great faith that you shared with your Father.

I think back at that unforgettable moment in time when Mark took his final breath precisely at the final word of your song. I was in awe at the peace and stillness in his presence.

I have no doubt that Mark was very proud of you ~ and had great love for you ~

Sandra ~ thank you for sharing those final ~ precious moments with me ~ PEACE

The song that I sang to him was “The Old Rugged Cross”.

Today, I don’t feel like sharing my deep feelings or talk more of the story. I did write about it complete with pictures at posts
Though My Dad Died He Lives On
and
I Sang for My Father ~ Precious Memories

From my childhood through today, I love the old hymns we sang as I was growing up. And Dad and I shared this love together.

This is in honor of my beloved Father:
…………………………………………………..

…………………………………………………..

I Surrender All

Thank you, Dad.


Mahalia Jackson ~ Just A Closer Walk With Thee

LEGAL TO HAVE SKIN COLOR AND HAIR

We have never made laws about plant color. But we have about human skin color. Why are "we" so bothered by skin color and the texture of human hair? I love color. Imagine a world without color.

The thing is I look white. Well, not white. But you know that skin color that is referred to as white.

As far as I know, I am part French, Irish, Swiss, and German. My mom’s side has had an official research done and published in a hard copy book (cover page) that informs that the name Mickley was originally Michelet. My father’s side has had no formal search, but while in Switzerland, I was informed by the nuns where I was staying that a man across the street had my last name, Hammel. And there is a Hammelburg in Switzerland, however there is also a Hammelburg, Germany. My red hair and fair skin is shared by no one in my family. Since my father’s mother had the red hair gene, and I assumed she was Irish, I thought that is where I got the red hair. But when I was in Innsbruch, Austria, I met a young lady who had the exact color of red that I have now and the same complexion color. Red hair has many shades. Even my color has not remained the same. It was once darker. My mother’s mother told me once that there was someone black in my ancestry. No one else has ever mentioned this. I did have one black hair once. Who knows? And some wonderful Hopi told me I looked Cherokee while visiting in Priscilla Namingha Nampeyo’s home in Arizona.

And although my mother “told” me as a child that all people were “equal”, it only played out as painful for me when I was attracted to one of two black boys while 11 years old at my Yellow Creek Lake Church of God summer camp in northeastern Indiana . I never had met a black person before in my life, but didn’t think anything of it, as... well ... you know, something ~ WRONG to do. His name is Eddie Griffith and was from Gary, Indiana. His minister, Brother Cherry, was a camp counselor. He sang at one of the nightly church services, “No Not One”. A clear and sweet voice. I was “in love”. He was adorable. The only thing we ever did was hold hands, have two pictures taken together and exchange letters. But when those pictures and two letters mysteriously came up missing from my bedroom desk drawer without ever an explanation ~ I was crushed. I cried myself to sleep while smothering my sound into silence. It was only the second emotional pain of my life. And this was my first time of being hurt this way. I didn’t understand. My mother never explained. My father only made a passing comment that I didn’t want striped or polka dotted children, while waiting for the school bus one morning. (The first hurt had to do with a "just-hatched" bird ~ no feathers yet ~ I found on my mile walk home from school, that had been run over ~ when I was in third grade. I was going to nurse it back health, but my mother made me throw it away in the woods across the street from our house. That hurt.)

So when I once again had a black person in my life in my thirties, I knew what to expect. Disapproval. I was not wrong about that. When Mark and I decided not to get married, but to live together, we planned a “Commitment Ceremony” which we invited his parents, one friend each and my family. But when my family couldn’t condone our decision not to marry, it was better not to have that “aura” present. They have never approved of me in general. Just never fit the mold.

I have been thinking of race lately. White people can do that. Think about race only when it is convenient or when it suits us. If you are not white or don't look white, you don’t have that choice. It is thrown in your face daily. One of the people I met in New Hampshire while volunteering for the Obama campaign, said that the lady at the door she was canvassing wouldn’t touch her flyer about Barack, but was instructed to lay it down at the door. This young girl, looked fine to me. I didn’t ask her what her race was, but it struck me as puzzling because I didn’t see why someone would think she wasn’t white. I’m aware of racism, but even this was a mystery to me.

The host of where I was staying asked me if Richard Wolffe was black immediately when I showed him who he was. I didn’t get the reason for the question. What would it matter first of all unless it was an issue? And anyway, Richard doesn’t look black to me. So.

After Eddie, my 11 year old beau friend ~ my dad always would think I was some expert on whether someone was black or not. He would ask me if Leslie Uggams was black, etc.

These questions to me are telling. When my cousin pointed out that the people of Lousiana were black and his reason for explaining ~ in his mind~ their behavior during hurricane Katrina was because they were black, I found that a bigoted statement on a couple of levels. When I heard a family member, say that hurricane Katrina happened because all of the people in the area were evil, I thought this had bigoted undertones to the statement.

And when a couple people thought they were being open-minded and showing their acceptance of Mark, they said, that they didn’t think of Mark as black. My comment was to a family member, that Mark thinks of himself as black.

After 15 years, I am no longer living with Mark. But I miss his extended family. They opened my world. They welcomed me. I felt accepted by them. They have had to deal with white people their whole lives.

At our “Commitment Ceremony” we wrote our own “vows”. I included a small excerpt from SPORT OF NATURE By Nadine Gordimer. Below I have included this excerpt between the *….* but I have also included what follows this portion. I enjoy the differences. And I acknowledged the difference by using this passage. Why pretend? I see no reasons. Part of the enjoyment of life is to see the beauty and differences can be beautiful. I love skin. There is nothing like touching skin. Body to body. It’s quite a gift given to us to enjoy. I know it makes some people cringe to think of white skin and not-white skin touching, but I’m not one of those people.

* Lying beside him, looking at pale hands, thighs, belly: seeing herself as unfinished, left off, somewhere. She examines his body minutely and without shame, and he wakes to see her at it, and smiles without telling her why: she is the first not to pretend the different colours and textures of their being is not an awesome fascination. How can it be otherwise? * The laws that have determined the course of life for them are made of skin and hair, the relative thickness and thinness of lips and the relative height of the bridge of nose. That is all; that is everything. The Lilliesleaf houseparty is in prison for life because of it. Those with whom she ate pap and cabbage are in Algeria and the Soviet Union learning how to man guns and make bombs because of it. He is outlawed and plotting because of it. Christianity against other gods, the indigenous against the foreign invader, the masses against the ruling class ~ where he and she come from all these become interpretative meanings of the differences seen, touched and felt, of skin and hair. The laws made of skin and hair fill the statute books in Pretoria; their gaudy savagery paints the bodies of Afrikaner diplomats under three-piece American suits and Italian silk ties. The stinking fetish made of contrasting bits of skin and hair, the scalping of millions of lives, dangles on the cross of Christ. Skin and hair. It has mattered more than anything else in the world. Page 177

More text in the comment section...

.........................................................

.........................................................
Emily faced racism in her family. But her family has come around.

LIFE'S REASON TO BE

When I first heard this song, it was before I adopted my son. He was one of hundreds of students I had at the time. I was his music teacher in school.

The song's lyrics ~

"If it all falls apart,
I will know deep in my heart
the only dream that mattered had come true:
In this life I was loved by you" said what I felt.

Then when my father died, I put the lyrics to this song on the poster with all the pictures I displayed at dad's funeral.

When we love ~ we have found life's true purpose. There is nothing that compares with knowing how it feels to love another.

dad

son

The lyrics

. . . Let the world stop turning.
Let the sun stop burning.
Let them tell me love's not worth going through.
If it all falls apart,
I will know deep in my heart
the only dream that mattered had come true:
In this life I was loved by you.

For every mountain I have climbed,
every raging river crossed,
you were the treasure that I longed to find.
Without your love I would be lost.

Let the world stop turning.
Let the sun stop burning.
Let them tell me love's not worth going through.
If it all falls apart,
I will know deep in my heart
the only dream that mattered had come true:

In this life I was loved by you.

I know that I won't live forever,
but forever I'll be loving you.

Let the world stop turning.
Let the sun stop burning.
Let them tell me love's not worth going through.
If it all falls apart,
I will know deep in my heart
the only dream that mattered had come true:
In this life I was loved by you
In this life I was loved by you

>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:
Do Something Because to Do Nothing Is Wrong
In the Biggest Possible Example of Human Kindness
darfurgenocide.org
dosomething

Special Message To You From Bette Midler

Dear Friends,

Like many of you, I have recently been deeply affected by the terrible suffering of the people of Darfur, Sudan. Over the last two years, over 380,000 people have died, and 2 million driven from their homes by a brutal campaign of repression by the Sudanese government. Darfur's women have been targeted for systematic rape and brutality.

This terrible inhumanity must stop. It affects all of us, because we are all connected in one human family. But to stop it you and I need to rise up and be heard. We CAN stop the killing, if we can persuade our government to put enough pressure on the Sudanese government and its allies to make them stop. Please take just 3 minutes today, right now, to send a strong message to President Bush, or donate money to advocacy or humanitarian aid.

Click here to send a message to President Bush.

Click here to donate to advocacy or humanitarian aid.

Thanks so much for your time. There is always hope, let's keep it alive for our brothers and sisters in Darfur, and be their heroes.

Sincerely,

Bette Midler

TENNIS SCORES. LOVE, LOVE TENNIS. NADAL WON MY HEART.

RAFA NADAL

FEDERER and NADAL

Some Great Glory Days of Tennis Are Here

I have a tennis racket and tennis balls, but my love for tennis really has nothing to do with my playing it.

I love to watch Wimbeldon every year. But this year seemed to have some really special talent to watch.

Some of the men

Roger Federer

Rafael Nadal

Marcos Baghdatis

Richard Gasquet

Novak Djokovic

Andy Roddick

Some of the women

Venus Williams

Marion Bartoli

Ana Ivanovic

Svetlana Kuznetsova

Maria Sharapova

Serena Williams

Amelie Mauresmo

Justine Henin

The Nadal and Federer Rivalry Is Extra, Extraordinary to Watch

How special to watch Roger Federer, a hummingbird on the court, and Rafael Nadal who wins my heart with his flare after he wins a point. What better arms’ biceps to pump are there?! And it’s not just in the arms, the whole body works and is in jubilation. Just love it!!

How great to watch the test of their hearts and minds while flexing their whole-game-tennis! Even the external stoicism of Federer gave way to the internal crying out “I WANTED This Win So Much!!!” All with the tears and deep emotion. Okay so Roger Federer won. I was cheering for Rafa Nadal – because of the passion I get to watch pour out of him. And that white sports jacket and the white pants of Roger Federer after the Championship Wimbledon match only needed a stylish white hat to go with it!

In all fairness, the test wasn’t all about the winner of Wimbledon... due to the rain. Federer glided through the week with barely any games when the others were grueling it out. Personally, my insignificant opinion is that Wimbledon did tennis a disservice by forcing players to play under unhealthy conditions. There should be a minimum of hours that a player has to play between matches. Novak Djokovic had to concede to Nadal Saturday which had a little to do with the rain delays jamming the matches too close together for the human body to recover between them.

Power to these terrific athletes who are a joy to watch. The strength illustrated in tennis includes power, mental toughness and heart. I don’t know why history has chosen war to beat opponents when games such as tennis are a far better platform. Killing and maiming just bears sickening spoils. Love tennis. Thanks for the fun!

Even if tennis isn’t your thing, he is fun to look at.

Some pleasure for you below.

Rafael Nadal’s website

It’s worth it for the fan-provided pictures of him alone

http://www.rafaelnadal.com/

Someone has put together some wonderful pictures of Rafa Nadal:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=cbkUWF

More beautiful pictures:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=yR_NoszHMAs

And more:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=iT74CQqRi7Y

Nadal plays on clay and Federer plays on grass at the same time:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=KnBMVRpeKHA

http://www.wimbledon.org/en_GB/index.html

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19661409/

>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:

STOP AND PREVENT GENOCIDE

IT'S THE HUMANE THING TO DO

"NEVER AGAIN" ARE MEANINGLESS WORDS
WITHOUT THE POLITICAL WILL

Where there is a will, there is always a way

and where there is no will, there is never a way, Mr. Bush.

www.savedarfur.org

www.genocideintervention.net
www.sudandivestment.com

www.ajws.org
www.aiusa.org

Call Mr. Bush and ask him
to live up to his words, "Not On My Watch"
202-456-1111

Democracy doesn't work without "We the People" speaking out.

Use Your Voice.

Thanks

>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>:>: