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Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Examining the Hundred Acre Wood With Winnie-The-Pooh

I think if I were to go back in time and re-examine each year that I spent in school, third grade would probably be one of those years in which I remember quite fondly.  It doesn’t rank as my favourite year, but I’d say it would be in the Top 3.


In third grade, my teacher was named Mr. Porter, and as far back as I can remember, he was a teacher that I liked.  He had some interesting art projects, his gym classes were mostly ones that I liked because he made sure that everybody participated despite athletic ability, and on Remembrance Day, he would play the bagpipes in real Scottish attire, complete with the traditional Scottish kilt. 

I wouldn’t say that it was all fun and games in his class.  I was known for being quite the chatterbox in third grade, and was probably booted out in the hallway countless times for ‘disrupting the class’.  You know, come to think of it, I think some of those hallway visits were set up by some kids in my class who found it great fun to watch someone else get in trouble by the teacher.  But, I’m not a paranoid person, so we shall never speak of this again.

The point was that I have more positive memories of third grade than negative ones.  In third grade, Mr. Porter made sure that we all had library cards so that we could leave the school to walk to the Public Library every Thursday to check out a few books each week.  I still have the library card from third grade, and have used it ever since...although considering that the last date on the card reads as August 9, 2002, I’m guessing that I’m going to have to renew it if I expect to use it again.
If memory serves me, third grade was the year that I invited most of the boys in my class to my 9th birthday party so we could watch the ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ movie at the movie theater.  Come to think of it, I think that entire year, I was obsessed with the Ninja Turtles, and would often write and illustrate my own Ninja Turtle comic books so that the kids in the class could read them.

(Yes...even at the tender age of nine, I had been bitten by the writing bug.)
I think one of the things I liked best about third grade were the projects that we had to do based on books that we studied in class.  I already talked about how one of the books we read in the third grade was Mordecai Richler’s ‘Jacob Two-Two Meets The Hooded Fang’, and how much I loved it.

That wasn’t the only book we read in class though.
Today’s blog topic is a book that was written in the 1920s about a bear and the many adventures he had in his forest home.  And if you click on the video below, you can see how the title character was created.



Yes, today’s blog entry is the A.A. Milne classic, Winnie-the-Pooh, released in 1926.  A book that has been translated into several languages, has sold millions of copies worldwide, and spawned a sequel, 1928’s “The House At Pooh Corner”


It was also a book that I was first introduced to in third grade.  My class even went to the town arts center to watch a stage performance of Winnie-the-Pooh put on by a local theatre group.


And of course, everyone has likely seen the number of Disney adaptations of the book.  Whether it was the motion pictures, the direct-to-video films, the live action series “Welcome To Pooh Corner”, or the Disney cartoon series, Winnie-the-Pooh was one popular bear.
The Heritage moment video that I posted earlier in this blog entry sort of explains the reason behind the bear’s unusual name.  As you have seen, the bear was named after a real life bear seen at the London Zoo during that time.  It was a Canadian Black Bear who had the name of Winnie (which was named after the Canadian city of Winnipeg, Manitoba).  A.A. Milne would frequently take his young son to the zoo to see the bear, and the boy loved the bear so much that he decided to name his beloved teddy bear after Winnie.  Today, you can see the bear on display at the New York Public Library.


Oh, and the name of A.A. Milne’s boy?  Christopher Robin Milne.


Christopher Robin, as you know by reading the book, was one of the main characters in the book.  And Christopher Robin Milne was responsible for naming other characters that appeared in the book as well, taking the names from various toys that he had played with.  These included Tigger, Piglet, Kanga, and Roo, in case you were interested in knowing.
As for how the ‘Pooh’ in Winnie-the-Pooh came about, well, the answer came about during the first chapter of the novel.

“But his arms were so stiff...they stayed up straight in the air for more than a week, and whenever a fly came and settled on his nose he had to blow it off.  And I think – but I am not sure – that that is why he is always called Pooh.”
I’ll let you interpret that however you like.

The one thing I find wonderful about the book was that the setting was based on a real-life place.
That place was Ashdown Forest, situated south of London.  In Christopher Milne’s autobiography, he went into great detail about how each weekend, he and his family would drive down to the family’s country home to spend time together.  A lot of the features of the forest were used to illustrate Winnie-the-Pooh’s home.  For instance, the “Hundred Acre Wood” was inspired by the real-life “Five Hundred Acre Wood”.  The section of the forest known as “Gill’s Lap” became the fictional “Galleon’s Leap”.  And Christopher Robin’s “Enchanted Place” was based on a clump of trees located on Gill’s Lap.



Further evidence of the influence of Ashdown Forest in the book ‘Winnie-the-Pooh can be seen in the illustrations provided by artist E.H. Shepard.  Shepard took the features of the real life Ashdown Forest and incorporated them into the pictures he did of the landscape.  It has also been said that if one were to take all of the illustrations that appeared in the book, and compared them to real-life locations of Ashdown Forest, the similarities would be striking.


Of course, Winnie-the-Pooh was our main character of the book.  A bear that lived in a house bearing the name Mr. Sanders, Winnie-the-Pooh loved honey, and often did everything in his power to get his fill of honey.  If I remember correctly, he borrowed a blue balloon from Christopher Robin to fly up to the tree tops so he could grab a giant beehive filled with sweet, delicious honey.  While the plan was resourceful, it wasn’t very successful.
Neither was his plan to visit his friend, Rabbit.  After eating every bit of honey in Rabbit’s house (and, while we’re on the subject, why would a rabbit have honey in his house in the first place?), he proceeds to get stuck through the door because he ate too much.



But that was part of the charm and fun of Winnie-the-Pooh.  How he innocently ended up getting caught in some of the strangest situations, and the methods he took to try and get out of these situations. 
At least Winnie-the-Pooh had a great group of friends on his side.

Christopher Robin was Winnie’s only human friend.  He helped Winnie out of some very sticky situations throughout the book, and always had a kind word to say about everyone.


There was Piglet, a small pig named after one of Christopher Milne’s toys.  He was probably the closest friend that Winnie-the-Pooh had, and lived in a “very grand house in the middle of a beech tree”.  He liked to hunt Heffalumps, his favourite food was the ‘haycorn’, and ended up trapped by a flood in the first book.


Next is Eeyore, the donkey that never smiles.  With his monotone voice, and gloomy, depressing outlook on life, it seems hard to believe that he and Winnie share a close bond.  Eeyore’s other main distinguishing feature is his detachable tail, accented by a bright pink bow.  He is one of the few characters who can write.  He lives in the southeastern area of the Hundred Acre Wood known as “Eeyore’s Gloomy Place: Rather Boggy And Sad”.  He seems to have negative opinions towards most of the animals that live in the forest, and his favourite food is thistles.


Then we have the mother/son kangaroo duo known as Kanga and Roo. 
Kanga is the only female character to appear in the two Winnie-the-Pooh books.  She is kind-hearted, and extremely devoted to Roo.  She is constantly looking out for Roo, making sure he gets his medicine for strength, and making sure that Roo stays out of trouble.  She ends up serving as a motherly figure to Winnie-the-Pooh and all of his friends, and her pocket is big enough for both Roo and Piglet to ride inside.

Roo is the smallest animal in the book, even smaller than Piglet.  Some of his adventures in the story include being ‘kidnapped’ by Rabbit, going with Piglet on an expedition to the North Pole, and getting stuck in a tree with Tigger.  He also takes the medicine that Kanga gives him, although he doesn’t really like it very much.


Next, we have Rabbit, who was one of only two characters who were not named after one of Christopher Milne’s toys.  Rabbit lives in a house in the northern area of the Hundred Acre Wood and sees himself as being a wonderful leader, even though his plans don’t always go off as planned.  Rabbit is also quite wary of newcomers.  He was initially cold towards Kanga and Roo when they were introduced in the first book, and also showed similar feelings towards Tigger in the second book, but as he got to know them, he welcomed them into his life with open arms.  He’s more or less a dependable friend to the animals of the forest, though his patience does get severely tested.


Owl lives in a tree (referred to as ‘The Chestnuts’) in the heart of the Hundred Acre Wood.  Widely regarded as the wisest creature in the whole forest, Owl loves to offer advice to the other creatures, whether they want it or not.  He can spell his name “Wol”, can write the word ‘Tuesday’, and wished Pooh a ‘Hipy Papy Bthuthdth Thuthda Bthuthdy.’


Lastly, we have Tigger, the striped tiger who bounces on his tail.  He isn’t introduced until the second book of the series, but when we do meet him, he arrives with a bang.  After sampling every possible food to eat for breakfast, Tigger finds that his favourite food is Roo’s medicine!  Tigger forms such a strong bond with Roo that Kanga actually looks at Tigger as another one of her children!
Quite the motley crew of characters, huh?

Yet, when you put them all together, you have a group that gets along well with each other.
Personality wise, they could not be more different.  But none of that mattered to the group.  They all liked and respected each other very much.  If they did get into a conflict, they managed to resolve it fairly quickly.

And, you know, I think that’s why I have such a fondness for Winnie-the-Pooh.  It’s a classic tale of friendship at its finest.
I’ll admit right now that I wished that I had a group of friends in third grade who I was really close to in the same way that Winnie-the-Pooh was close to his friends.  I wish I had a Tigger who could teach me how to bounce.  I wish I had a Piglet who I could go on expeditions to the North Pole with.  I wish Owl could wish me a hipy papy bt...well, you get the idea.

Come to think of it, that sounds kind of nice right now, matter of fact.


Tuesday, January 24, 2012

January 24, 1943

It's time for another fantastic installment of the Tuesday Timeline, the day where we take a look back in on what happened on this day a number of years ago. It could be from last year, 10 years ago, or even 100 years ago. And since I started up this Tuesday Timeline feature three weeks ago, I've noticed that it seems to be a big hit with all of you who do read this blog.

So, let's not waste any time chatting too much longer. Let us get right to today's date.

January 24 was a rather interesting year as far as historical events goes. And January 24 has a sort of negative connotation associated with it. According to an MSNBC article, January 24th is officially known as the 'most depressing day of the year'! Researchers and psychologists in the United Kingdom made this claim based on a number of factors. With people still in debt from Christmas shopping, the weather being most uncooperative (at the time I'm writing this, we have a real slushy mess of snow, ice, and rain on the streets), and a distinct lack of sunshine, they claim that this makes January 24 a real downer of a day, as far as they're concerned.

That must be terrible for everyone out there who happened to be born on January 24. Some celebrities that were born on January 24 include the following;

Ray Stevens, Neil Diamond, Aaron Neville, Jools Holland, Mary Lou Retton, Matthew Lillard, Ed Helms, Tatyana Ali, Mischa Barton, and the late John Belushi.

We lost quite a few celebrities and public figures on January 24, as well. We said goodbye to Chris Penn in 2006, Thurgood Marshall in 1993, and Winston Churchill in 1965.

There were some interesting events that happened on January 24 in history. Back in 1984, Steve Jobs introduced the very first Apple Macintosh computer complete with a memorable Super Bowl commercial that aired two days prior (which you can view HERE if you're interested). Little did we know that this would be only the beginning for Apple computer products to hit the market.

January 24, 2003 marked the first day of The United States Department Of Homeland Security in operation. And, in 2009, a severe storm strikes the coast of France, killing 26 people and causing disruptions to power services and public transportation.

January 24 seems to also be a date linked with a lot of criminal activity, oddly enough. Whether it was the date that a crime occurred, or whether the date is linked to a criminal's personal life, it appears January 24 played a role.

Way back in 41 A.D., controversial Roman emperor Caligula was assassinated on January 24. One thousand nine hundred and forty-eight years later in 1989, serial killer Ted Bundy was executed in a Florida state prison. In 1993, a Turkish journalist named Ugur Mumcu was killed by a car bomb in Ankara. And, just last year, in 2011, 35 people were killed, and 180 more injured in a bombing at a Moscow airport.

And then there's today's flashback date, which happens to be linked to one of the worst criminal acts of the 1960s in Hollywood.



Today's flashback date is January 24, 1943.

That date happens to be the birthdate of young Hollywood starlet, the late Sharon Tate.



And, sadly, Sharon Tate met a demise that was too cruel for words, a life cut way too short, thanks to the actions of a serial killer and his group of followers, one summer day in 1969.

But, I'm getting ahead of myself here.

A lot of people who were born since 1969 have likely never heard of Sharon Tate. I'll admit that I didn't know who she was until I was in high school, when we did a case study on her murder for one of my classes. And after hearing what happened to her, and the aftermath surrounding her death, I figured that I would use this blog entry to talk about her short, but interesting career, so that everyone can know who she was, and how she was remembered before she became one of the most famous murder victims ever known.

As stated before, Sharon Tate was born on January 24, 1943. Had she survived, she would be sixty-nine years old today. She was born in Dallas, Texas, the eldest of three daughters. From a very early age, it became clear that Sharon was going to grow up to become a performer. She even won a pageant in the summer of 1943 when she was just six months old.

Because Sharon's father was a United States Army officer, this meant that the Tate family was forced to move across the country a lot, often without much warning. This proved to be quite difficult for Sharon to adjust to, and by the time Sharon was a teenager, she had lived in six different cities, and found it difficult to make and nurture long-lasting friendships, as she moved away so frequently.

Because of this, Sharon acted incredibly shy, and was self-conscious about herself, and that people mistakenly believed that she was aloof until they really got to know her better. I can only imagine how hard it must have been for her to fit in somewhere in the world, especially since her world kept changing at the drop of a hat.

As Sharon grew older, people commented on her natural beauty, and she decided to enter some beauty pageants throughout the early 1960s in an effort to boost her confidence. She had high hopes of entering the 'Miss Washington' beauty contest in 1960, but that same year, her father received word that he was being transferred to Italy, and the family moved to the city of Verona.

This move proved to be of great fortune for Sharon though. Shortly after they arrived, she found that she had become a little bit of a celebrity, as a photograph of her in a bathing suit was published in 'Stars And Stripes', a military newspaper. She attended an American school in Verona while she was there, and began to form lasting friendships for the first time in her whole life thus far. It was as if coming to Italy opened up Sharon's world to wonderful things that she had never experienced before.

In 1961, Sharon and her newfound friends got word that the film 'Adventures Of A Young Man' was filming nearby. With the film boasting such big talent names as Paul Newman, Susan Strasberg, and Richard Beymer, they all decided that they had to be a part of it. And, they ended up getting their wish, albeit as background, non-speaking extras. For Sharon though, that was enough. In fact, her appearance in the movie stood out so much that Richard Beymer actually ended up dating Sharon while the film was being shot! That same year, she ended up appearing in a Pat Boone television special which was being filmed in Venice.



Sharon attempted to further her film career by moving to the United States in late 1961, but due to some health problems that her mother was experiencing, Sharon returned to Italy. But in 1962, the entire Tate family relocated to Los Angeles, California, where Sharon was promptly represented by the same agent that Richard Beymer used, Harold Gefsky. Through Gefsky, Sharon underwent a series of screen tests, and almost landed a role on the television series 'Petticoat Junction'. She did not get the role, because it was felt that she lacked the experience to be able to handle it, although she did get some bit parts on 'The Beverly Hillbillies' and 'Mr. Ed' in the meantime. The director of Filmways, Inc., Martin Ransohoff, signed Sharon to a seven-year contract, but initially kept it hush hush at the beginning. As Tate would explain in an interview given by Playboy magazine in the late 1960s, she claimed that the reason Ransohoff did this was to make sure that she was ready to deliver her best work to the audience.

Sharon's first year under contract though was incredibly frustrating though. She tried out for a role in the film 'The Cincinnati Kid', but was turned down in favour of Tuesday Weld. She also auditioned for the role of Liesl in 'The Sound Of Music', but was also unsuccessful. However, Ransohoff would end up giving her several walk-on roles on films in which he served as a producer. Those two films were 'The Americanization Of Emily' and 'The Sandpiper'. At this point, Sharon's personal life was also developing. She had a noted relationship with French actor Philippe Forquet, which ended when both of them wanted different things regarding their careers. She also began a relationship with Hollywood hair stylist Jay Sebring, but rejected his marriage proposal, stating that she wanted to make sure she had established herself as an actress first before settling down.

By 1965, Ransohoff had felt that Sharon Tate had learned enough skills from the minor roles she had to be featured in a major role in a motion picture. The movie was “Eye Of The Devil”, and it featured David Niven, Donald Pleasance, Deborah Kerr, and David Hemmings. In the movie, she played the role of Odile, a witch. She didn't have a whole lot of lines, but she had to set an ethereal tone, and had to keep in character in any instance where she was filming a scene.

And Sharon Tate nailed it.

Her co-star, David Niven, called her a great discovery, and Deborah Kerr had said that Tate could potentially be a great success if luck was on her side. Sharon had said herself that Deborah Kerr had taught her a lot about how to act just by seeing her in action. The movie was filmed in London, and initially, Jay Sebring accompanied her for the film preparations. But when Sebring had to fly back to Los Angeles, Sharon stayed behind in London. It was during this time that she ended up meeting someone who she would become very close with.



Roman Polanski.

Although they didn't exactly hit it off when they first met, Polanski, who was a film producer/director, who at the time was looking to cast his latest project, 'The Fearless Vampire Killers', which was co-produced by Ransohoff. One of the roles in the movie that he was looking to cast was the female lead. Initially, Polanski was looking for a red-headed actress to fill the role, such as actress Jill St. John. Ransohoff convinced Polanski to consider casting Sharon Tate instead. And, Sharon got the role, but had to wear a red wig for the role.



With the filming taking place in Italy, Sharon had a little advantage when she found that she could communicate with the crew in fluent Italian. But where she was succeeding with the crew, she was initially floundering with Polanski, who felt that Tate was trying his patience. It was rumoured that he had shot seventy takes for one scene alone!

As work progressed on the film though, Polanski ended up changing his view on Sharon, and began to praise her performances, which in turn caused Sharon's confidence levels to rise. Eventually, Sharon and Roman Polanski began to date each other, and would eventually get married in 1968.



But Sharon was still struggling in her career, and it was becoming clear that people just weren't taking her seriously as an actress. Shortly after wrapping up 'The Fearless Vampire Killers', she took on a role in the 1967 film 'Don't Make Waves'. Although it was technically Sharon's third project, it was the first one to be released in theaters. Reportedly, Sharon was very unhappy about being in the film, and the film itself bombed at the box office. The film was heavily promoted though, using cardboard cutouts of Sharon Tate in a bathing suit, as well as an advertising campaign for Coppertone based on the movie, and while the film itself was panned, critics did say that they found Sharon's presence to be engaging.



Later on in the year, she won the role of Jennifer North in the movie adaptation of the popular book 'Valley Of The Dolls', a role in which Sharon had great affinity for. The character of Jennifer North was one who was admired only for her body, and given her past experiences with 'Don't Make Waves', I can see how Sharon could sympathize with her character. Sure enough, there were instances of this in the media, as well as how she was treated during the filming. Although director Mark Robson was critical of all the actresses in the movie, he seemed to focus most of his criticism towards Sharon, and Patty Duke (who also starred in the movie) defended Sharon, saying that the director constantly treated Sharon as if she were stupid, and she really was anything but. Magazines had described Sharon Tate as being 'hopelessly stupid and vain'. When word got out about Sharon having a nude scene in the film, the media jumped all over her. Yet, Sharon defended her nude scene, by telling a journalist who asked her about it the following;

“I have no qualms about it at all. I don't see any difference between being stark naked or fully dressed – if it's part of the job and it's done with meaning and intention. I honestly don't understand the big fuss made over nudity and sex in films. It's silly. On TV, the children can watch people murdering each other, which is a very unnatural thing, but can't watch two people in the very natural process of making love. Now, that really doesn't make any sense, does it?”

Not bad for an actress who was constantly deemed 'stupid' by the press, don't you think?

Although the movie itself was critically panned, some critics actually praised Sharon Tate's performance, even though they feared that she would never be taken seriously as an actress. And if anything, Sharon formed a friendship with the other actresses in the film, so she ended up getting something out of filming it. She was even nominated for a Golden Globe for her performance in the film, and was now being described as a promising newcomer.

She was also beginning to get more involved with her husband's film projects as well. Although she was not cast in the film 'Rosemary's Baby' (the part instead went to Mia Farrow), she did play an extra in one scene, and visited the set quite often during filming. Although the Polanski/Tate marriage wasn't without its problems, and Sharon grew frustrated over her husband having random affairs with other women. But she stuck with the marriage, believing that as they matured, he would change his ways. Around this time, Roman Polanski and Sharon Tate were getting into the party scene, and they would often host lavish parties at their home where the biggest names in Hollywood at the time would gather. Some criticized the couple for seemingly letting any random stranger into their home, as some of them looked rather shady and sketchy, but they took no heed to the warnings.

They probably should have listened.

By 1969, it seemed as though life was going very well for Sharon. Having two more film projects under her belt, and expecting her first child with Polanski, due in August of 1969, life couldn't be better. She had just finished doing a photo shoot and interview with 'Queen' magazine, and she was doing publicity interviews for her newest film projects. What was interesting was that during one of these interviews, she was asked by a journalist if she believed in fate. Her response?

“Certainly. My whole life has been decided by fate. I think something more powerful than we are decides our fates for us. I know one thing – I've never planned anything that ever happened to me.”

This was a statement that would prove to be quite tragic, for just a few weeks after that, something unimaginable happened to Sharon Tate. When the dust settled, nothing would ever be the same.

It was August 8, 1969. Sharon had flown back home to California alone, as Polanski was held up in London. She was just two weeks from giving birth to her child, and entertained a couple of friends for lunch. That evening, she went out to dinner at a trendy restaurant, El Coyote, with her longtime friend Jay Sebring, actor Wojciech Frykowski, and his companion, coffee heiress Abigail Folger. They returned to the Polanski-Tate residence that evening.

It would be the last night they would ever see.

The following morning, August 9, the bodies of Tate, Sebring, Frykowski, and Folger were found. All four had been murdered. Stabbed to death. Sharon Tate had been stabbed sixteen times. Her unborn child also died. Outside the home, 18-year-old, Steven Parent was also found dead inside a car parked nearby.



Sharon Tate was just twenty-six years old. Her unborn child was named Paul Richard Polanski, and the two were buried in the same casket. Her husband took the murder especially hard, and given all the problems that Polanski had in his later life, it would probably be safe to assume that he never really got over her death.

The killers were identified three months after the murders took place when a prisoner named Susan Atkins (who was in prison for a car theft incident) was bragging about how she had a hand in the murder of Sharon Tate to other inmates. Shortly after this incident, the names of the other perpetrators were named. Charles “Tex” Watson, Patricia Krenwinkel, Linda Kasabian...all three of them were named as accomplices in the murders, themselves part of a commune started up by their leader.



Charles Manson.

Atkins also confessed to having a hand in the murders of Reno and Rosemary LaBianca, which took place one day after the Sharon Tate murder, and implicated another one of Charles Manson's accomplices, Leslie Van Houten.

Through testimony given by each of the people suspected in the murders, police were able to piece together how the crime went about. The details were later made public in the book 'Helter Skelter: The True Story Of The Manson Murders'.

Steven Parent was collateral damage, having been in the wrong place at the wrong time. He was killed first. Kasabian was ordered by Manson to stand outside the house while the others broke in. The group gathered the four people inside the house together and kept them prisoner inside the living room. Watson ordered everyone to lie down on their stomachs. At this point, Sebring attempted to make the group understand that Sharon was pregnant, and he begged them to leave her and her baby be. Unfortunately for Sebring, this plea went unheard, and Watson shot Sebring first. In the commotion, Folger and Frykowski managed to break free, and tried to escape the house, but both of them were overtaken and killed before they got far. Sharon Tate was the last one left alive, and reports were that she begged the group to let her live long enough so that she could give birth. But Sharon's pleas went unheard, and she was the final one to die at the hands of the Manson family.

The end result was that almost everyone involved in the Sharon Tate murders were sentenced to life sentences in prison. Only Linda Kasabian managed to avoid a lengthy jail time due to her taking a deal of 'immunity from prosecution' in exchange for her testimony. The others were sent to prison, where they all remain today. Susan Atkins died in September 2009.

This was the story of a woman born sixty-nine years ago. A woman who wanted to be a star and was well on her way to becoming one. A woman whose spotlight was dimmed way before her time.

It's been years since Sharon Tate was brutally murdered in her home. Looking back on the work that she did in her short career, film critics now describe Tate as potentially becoming a gifted comedienne. And while 'Don't Make Waves' may have been critically panned at the time of its release, it now is considered to be the film where Sharon Tate truly shone as an actress. Even 'Valley Of The Dolls' is regarded as a cult classic.

And, Sharon Tate's death also had a significant impact on how trials were conducted in the state of California, as thanks to the work of her surviving family members, the families of murder victims were able to have a voice at parole hearings. Sharon's death, as tragic as it was, helped bring about change, and brought forth new rights for victims.

It's hard to say whether Sharon Tate would have become as big of a success in Hollywood as Mia Farrow, Patty Duke, or Jane Fonda. I think it's entirely possible that had she lived, she might have had a brilliant career. She very well could have won dozens of awards for film projects. Sadly, her star was one that burned out way too soon. Although, given how hard her family has worked to keep her memory alive, maybe Sharon Tate left behind a legacy after all...one perhaps far more important than having a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.



This was the story of Sharon Tate. Born January 24, 1943.

Monday, January 23, 2012

Peeling Back The Many Layers Of Shrek

Here's a question for all of you reading this blog today. When you hear the word 'hero', how would you define it?

I imagine that for some of you, a hero is a type of sandwich with lettuce, cheese, tomatoes, and lunch meat.

For the rest of you, I have my suspicions that the word 'hero' means something different.

I'm sure if I were to take a poll on who people consider to be a real hero to them, there's probably going to be a lot of possibilities. Perhaps your definition of a hero could describe a police officer. Some of you might consider a celebrity to be a hero. Military men and women, firefighters, athletes...even our own parents. Everybody has their own opinions as to what makes someone a hero.

Certainly each of those examples I've listed have a lot of qualities that one could deem heroic. Bravery. Fearlessness. Strength. Intelligence. Wisdom.

Today's blog entry happens to be about one of these heroes, although at first glance, you might deem him anything but. On the surface, he doesn't appear to have a very heroic look about him. He's big, fat, dresses in rags, and brushes his teeth with slug guts. Not exactly the sort of description that one might associate with heroism, wouldn't you say?

But this is the story of how he proved everyone wrong, and how he learned something about himself along the way.

This is the story of Shrek.



As most of you know, Shrek is an ogre that first appeared in the DreamWorks film 'Shrek', released on May 18, 2001. Over the next eleven years, the Shrek franchise has grown, including three sequels, two television specials, and a spin-off movie, 'Puss In Boots'. And to think that the movie started off as a fairy tale picture book by William Steig!



The film managed to make almost five hundred million dollars at the box office and through DVD sales, and is widely regarded to be the film that put DreamWorks on the same playing field as its main competitor, Pixar, in terms of computer animation. Part of the film's charm was the fact that it appealed to both children and adults. Children were entertained by Shrek and the adventures he shared with Donkey in hopes of rescuing Princess Fiona from the evil Lord Farquaad, while there were subtle adult-oriented jokes mixed in to keep the parents laughing just as much as their children. The soundtrack of the movie was fantastic as well, incorporating songs from Joan Jett, The Proclaimers, Smash Mouth, and Jason Wade. Add an all-star voice cast including Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, and John Lithgow, and you have a box office recipe for success.

Shrek is probably one of my all-time favourite animated movies. The fact that the movie came out on my 20th birthday might have a smidgen bit to do with it, I must admit. But Shrek is a rather interesting character in his own right, and I really wanted to use a Monday Matinee day to do a character spotlight on Shrek, because I really wanted to peel back the layers of his complex personality to figure out why he is the way he is.

When we're first introduced to Shrek, we see him scaring a whole bunch of townspeople into hiding. On the surface, he seems to get a great kick out of making everyone run away whenever he comes close. It's almost as if he wanted to be alone. Nobody would blame him, of course. Shrek was an ogre. For the people in the kingdom of 'Far Far Away', and all the little towns in between, ogres were bad creatures. They were ugly. They were disgusting. They were frightening. Certainly, no human being would ever be caught dead or alive around someone as vile as a nasty ogre.

And that's how Shrek wanted things. At least, in the beginning.

Each day, Shrek would scare the human population just a little bit more, and once he got bored with it, would retreat back to his home in the middle of a desolate swamp (complete with 'BEWARE OF OGRE' signage outside), and sit down to a nice, relaxing, candlelit dinner of slugs and other...delectable swamp goodies. It was a quiet, potentially lonely life for Shrek, but it was all that he had known.

But elsewhere, outside the kingdom of Duloc, an evil lord who goes by the name of Lord Farquaad was kicking out every fairy tale creature that was unfortunate enough to live nearby, banishing them to the swamp lands outside of the castle. He kicked out the Three Little Pigs, he tossed Pinocchio aside, kept Gingy prisoner by snapping off cookie limbs one by one, and sent a little grey donkey named 'Donkey' to be sold. However, Donkey manages to escape, and he inadvertently leads the outcast fairy tale creatures to Shrek's front door.



And Shrek is NOT happy about this at all.

Try as he might, Shrek can't seem to get anybody to leave. Everyone is in a tricky spot. Shrek valued his privacy and the fairy tale creatures just wanted their home back. So Shrek decides that he will just have to go to Lord Farquaad's castle to ask him to take back the fairy tale creatures so he can have his swamp back, which everyone is really excited for. After all, if Shrek succeeded, he would become their hero...a title that Shrek had never once considered for himself. But Shrek wasn't going to set out on the journey alone. He needed a sidekick. Donkey ended up being chosen to tag along, not knowing the adventure that the two of them would face along the way.



At the same time, Lord Farquaad learned from the Magic Mirror that in order for him to be a true king of the kingdom of Duloc, he needed to marry a princess, and given all the choices that he had been presented, the princess that chose was Princess Fiona. The problem was that Fiona was being held prisoner in a tower by a fire-breathing dragon, and word was that any knight who tried to rescue her never got out alive. And, Farquaad, all four feet of him, was a bit too cowardly to take on the task himself. He needed someone else to do the dirty work for him, and he thought that by holding a tournament where the last knight standing would win the chance to rescue the princess, it would be a keen way for him to get what he wanted without working for it. Such a charmer, that Farquaad.



I'm sure you know what happens. Shrek arrives at that very moment to yell at Farquaad, and he gets caught up in the middle of the tournament. Shrek's power and force easily makes mince meat out of the other knights in the battle, and Shrek ends up being selected to go rescue Fiona with the promise that Farquaad would help Shrek get rid of the fairy tale creatures in exchange.

And with that, Shrek and Donkey set off on their very first whirlwind adventure, where along the way to the tower where Fiona is held, Donkey tries to get Shrek to talk about himself. In the process, this interesting conversation comes up.



Ogres are like onions, eh? They have layers, eh? Remember this for future reference.

So Shrek and Donkey arrive at the castle, which is surrounded by lava, and one very rickety bridge to cross it. They manage to make it across just fine, and Shrek sets off to locate Fiona, but Donkey is held up when he is confronted by the dragon. The big pink dragon. The big pink FEMALE dragon who finds Donkey to be the dreamiest person she has ever laid eyes on. While Donkey is aghast at this suggestion, it does give Shrek ample time to make it up to Fiona's room to rescue her.



But don't believe for a second that it was love at first sight. Fiona had her heart set on being rescued by a loving, sensitive, romantic, handsome prince...which Shrek was not. Though, Shrek's indifference to her was quite funny to watch, I have to admit. And, naturally, Shrek had to rescue Donkey and when he did, the dragon got extremely upset. After all, who did Shrek think he was, trying to come in between her and her man? Fortunately, Shrek, Fiona, and Donkey made it out of the tower without being flame-broiled. It seemed all was well, and while Fiona was surprised by Shrek's overall personality, she was thrilled to have been rescued at all, and wanted to reward her saviour with a kiss...

...until Shrek took off his mask, and revealed his green ogre skin in all its...um...glory. Poor Princess Fiona was crestfallen to find that her knight in shining armor was just a big green oafish ogre. She is disgusted by the idea of being rescued by Shrek, but when Shrek convinces her that he's acting by proxy for Lord Farquaad, Fiona decides that it might be worth it after all to go with Shrek...well, once Shrek picks her up and carries her down the path to Duloc like a sack of rice, anyways.



Something peculiar happens along the way though. The more time that Shrek and Fiona spend together, the more they start to like each other. They soon find that they both have a lot in common. They love eating unconventional foods, they enjoy turning snakes and frogs into balloon animals...they both even seem to share a love of kicking butt when the group is ambushed by 'Monsieur' Hood and his henchmen. This time, it's Fiona who showcases her kung fu moves, impressing Shrek and Donkey.

Sure, there was that strange quirk that Fiona had to stop for a rest every time the sun went down, but Shrek could overlook that. It was strange for him though, as he had spent most of his life being alone. He had never wanted to be near anybody before, and yet here he was developing feelings for Fiona, and sharing a friendship with Donkey. And he didn't know why.

He had been so accustomed to being alone. He even tells Donkey in confidence that the minute they bring Fiona back to Duloc, he plans on building a ten foot wall around his home so that nobody else could get in. When Donkey asks why, Shrek tells him that he is tired of people judging him based on a stereotype instead of getting to know him. Because everybody had the idea that all ogres were mean and nasty, Shrek thought that everyone would think that about him. He feels that everyone would be better off if he isolated himself from everyone around him. Never mind the fact that Donkey (and all the other fairy tale creatures) never saw Shrek as the monster that everyone else claimed he was.

And neither did Fiona...for Fiona knew all too well what Shrek was going through. Especially at the midnight hour.

You see, anyone who has ever read a fairy tale story about a princess knows that there's something that is usually off about her in the beginning. In Cinderella, we know that she comes from a poor, abusive household. In Sleeping Beauty, our princess is in an everlasting coma from a spinning wheel accident.



And in Shrek, when the moon rises up, Princess Fiona becomes an ogress herself.

The curse only lasts from sunset to sunrise though, so she isn't an ogress for very long. But when Donkey happens to come across her secret one fateful night, Fiona explains to Donkey that when she was a child, a curse was placed on her. The curse caused her to change from human to ogress every evening. This was explained as the reason why Fiona spent most of her life trapped in the tower where Donkey's not-so-secret dragon admirer lived. There was only one way to break the curse...if she received a kiss from her one true love, the curse would end up broken, and she would take on 'love's true form'. Fiona just assumed that she would automatically become a human again...and not to give away the ending, let's just say that we all know what happens when we assume something...

...and this is a lesson that Shrek learns the hard way. Heartbreakingly so.

Right around the time Fiona shared her secret with Donkey, Shrek was looking deep inside himself, and he realized that he was starting to develop real feelings for Fiona. He had made the decision to tell Fiona how he felt. She didn't have to marry Farquaad after all. If he told Fiona how he felt, there was a possibility that she'd feel the same way. But when Shrek overheard Fiona talking to Donkey and misinterpreted a comment she said about herself being a big ugly beast, thinking that she was really saying that about him, Shrek is deeply hurt, and the next morning acts really cool towards Fiona and Donkey. By the time they arrive back at Duloc, Shrek was almost relieved to hand Fiona to Farquaad, thinking that he had been hurt enough.

Once he arrives back home, minus the fairy tale creatures, he realizes that he may have made a mistake letting Fiona go. He really misses her, and is beginning to understand that life simply wasn't as much fun without her around. He's feeling so miserable that he decides to take a walk, where he runs into a very angry Donkey, who wants to know why Shrek treated them both so badly. Shrek shoots back that he overheard them talking about him and how ugly he was, but Donkey explains that Fiona wasn't even talking about him. Shrek comes to the eventual conclusion that he overreacted, and that he owes Fiona an ogre-sized apology. But with Fiona set to marry Farquaad, can Donkey and Shrek get back to Duloc in time to stop the wedding to tell Fiona how he really feels about her? And will Fiona finally get the chance to tell Shrek her secret before she becomes Mrs. Fiona Farquaad?

I'm sure that you know what eventually happens, considering that the Shrek series has four parts to it. Just know that Donkey's love interest plays a huge part in the conclusion of the first film.

So now that we know the story of Shrek, what can we take from Shrek?

Well, we know that we shouldn't judge people before we get to know them first. Underneath Shrek's rough and tumble exterior, we found that he's a really decent guy inside. He really does care about people, even though he might not show it. And while he might be set in his stubborn ways most of the time, he is willing to listen to advice on how to make things better for himself.

We can also safely say that like Shrek's speech about onions, ogres do have a lot of layers. There's a lot of strength and vigor in Shrek, but there's also a lot of heartache and pain as well. You wouldn't have expected a big, hulking guy like Shrek to have such sensitive feelings. But yet, there they were.

Here's my confession for all of you out there reading this blog entry right now. I see myself in Shrek. If it wasn't for the fact that I have hair on my head and that my skin isn't even remotely close to being green in colour, I would say that I AM Shrek.

Shrek spent his whole life hiding away from people because he was sick and tired of people's prejudices about him. He wanted to hide away from the world because he didn't see himself as being able to contribute to it in a positive manner.

I'm almost ashamed to admit this now because I'm beginning to find my way back out of a shell that I spent the better part of a decade and a half constructing, but I know how Shrek felt.

When I was a kid, I was subject to being picked on and teased by my classmates. In elementary school, it was really bad some days, and I probably faked quite a bit of sick days (with my parents consent, of course) because I simply didn't want to go to school to be made to feel badly about myself by kids who didn't know any better. It wasn't as big a deal back then because in elementary school, we didn't have that much homework, and any work that we did do, I could easily get caught up in. And besides, this was elementary school, and we were all idiotic kids back then. It certainly didn't make what the kids did to me right, but I'm more in a position to forgive and forget.

High school on the other hand was different. I'm not going to sugarcoat things. What happened to me at high school was abuse. Plain and simple. And it wasn't one of those situations where I could just skip school to get away from it. For one, I lived right next door to the school, so anyone who happened to be around the school grounds smoking a cigarette could have ratted me out. For another, missing one day of high school meant a boatload of work. I know. I developed a really bad chest infection just before March Break in grade eleven, missed four days of school, and practically spent the whole week catching up.

So, I ended up enduring the abuse for five years (and yes, in Ontario, there was a grade 13). Abuse from teenagers who really should have grown up by that point but simply lacked the maturity to do so. It's not a fun experience to have to go to a place every weekday for five years where if people don't hate you, they just plain ignore you. It kind of gave me a bit of a major complex about myself that lasted for many, many years. It was like, if I'm not good enough for people to even speak to me in high school, let alone treating me with a shred of decency and respect, then why bother trying to be that way with anyone else on the street, or in town, or anything like that.

So, I did what Shrek did...minus the mud and slugs. I retreated to my room, cranked up the stereo as loud as I could, and just stayed there. If memory serves me, I think I even began to eat meals up in my bedroom during high school because I didn't care to go out anywhere. I felt that horribly about myself. I'm almost ashamed to admit that this behaviour even lasted years after high school even ended. But that's what it was like. People were judging me based on stories that they had heard about me without even having the balls to approach me to get the full story. I often wonder why I didn't just end up telling the whole lot of them an expression that involves the pairing of a certain four-letter expletive with the word off. I guess I was just in a state of mind where I just didn't care to impress people who didn't want to be impressed.

It's only now that I realized how much of a fool I was. Not because I took the abuse that I did (although looking back on it, I really shouldn't have). But because I allowed the small-minded opinions of a few rotten apples who in all likelihood I'll never see again in my lifetime to control how I lived my life. I locked myself in isolation for the better part of a decade because I was so worried that everyone in the world would see me the way that those classmates did. I ended up losing that part of my life because of my own insecurities about myself brought upon by some spiteful people, and I am disgusted that I was ever that weak.

But, that was in the past. I can't get those years back even if I wanted them. At least now I'm finding that I'm not nearly as horrible as I thought I was. I mean, at my current workplace, my colleagues seemingly like and respect me (as I do with them), so it became pretty obvious that not everyone in the world was as cold as the people I was unlucky enough to have to pass by in the hallways of a school. It's something that I learned a little late, but at least I still have some time left to make up for it.

I almost think that Shrek had it even worse than I did, as it appeared that Shrek was being judged right from birth. He had a whole lifetime of people thinking the worse of him, and it really messed him up. But, I think with Shrek, he allowed himself to peel back the layers of insecurity and despair to allow the friendships that he shared with Donkey and Fiona enter. It didn't take long for the onion inside of Shrek to transform into a beautiful blooming onion of warmth, complete with a side order of friendship for flavouring.  He also became an unlikely hero in the eyes of the fairy tale creatures, as Shrek managed to bring them back home.



All he needed was to believe in himself...and once he did, he could accept Donkey and Fiona into his life without second-guessing himself or them. And by doing that, he finally managed to smash that wall he built around himself.

I'm at the point where I'm in progress with doing the same. I think I just need a bigger sledgehammer to really get the job done.

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Spotlight On Basia

One of the most frustrating moments that I can think of is when you hear a song playing somewhere that you have heard several times before in a specific place, but you can't place who sang the song or what the song title is.

It happens to me more times than I can count.

I'm sure we've all been in a situation where we're maybe in a car, and you have the radio going when suddenly a song comes on that you feel is familiar, but aren't sure as to what the song is, or even who sings it. Because you're driving the car, you can't really go onto your iPhone, click on whatever app you use to access the Internet, and look up the answer, because you and I both know that using an iPhone while driving a car at the same time is illegal and dangerous, not to mention stupid.

I've been in many situations where I have heard songs that I thought that I had heard before at some point, and couldn't figure out anything about who sang it, what the song was about, what album I heard it from. Even more frustrating is the fact I don't always remember to look up the information about the song once I get home and forget all about it until the next time I hear it again.

This happens all too often at my current workplace (the one I spend time at when I'm NOT working on this side project). The songs that play at work are at least five years or more old. On top of that, there's a good possibility that on any given shift, you can hear the same songs being played EVERY SINGLE DAY, due to the fact that the playlist that my workplace uses selects songs from the random pool of one thousand in any random order selected. I've been told that our playlist is really a bunch of CD's on the randomizer setting, but I wonder if the system that controls our music is really done by computer. I suppose that's a topic for another day.

Would you like to hear a story regarding one of these songs? It's linked to today's Sunday Jukebox spotlight.

A lot of people at my workplace usually tune out the music that plays throughout the store, but over the last couple of weeks, I admit that I have tuned in more than I really should. As much as it pains me to say this, I think I've got it down to a science as to when certain songs are likely to be played at my workplace, and quite possibly what order they might appear.

I know, it sounds bad, doesn't it? It's just a good thing that some of the music that the store does play, I actually don't mind too much.

Now, here's where my frustrations begin. Over the last couple of weeks, it seemed as though that every time I came in for a shift, there was one song that kept playing each one of my shifts. And, for the life of me, I could not figure out who it was that sang the song, nor did I know the artist.

It also proved problematic at first in regards to finding out this information. For one, I work in a grocery store setting, where depending on the day and time, the general noise level can range from extremely quiet to absolute chaos. And just my luck, each time the song usually came on, it was played on those absolute chaos days. Further complicating things was the fact that the singer of the song had a bit of an accent, so trying to figure out exact lyrics to enter into a search engine afterwards proved difficult, since I didn't know what the exact words were.

At first thought, the female's voice sounded as if it were British.  Initially, my thoughts were steering towards Kim Wilde or Samantha Fox, but neither one of them had songs that even remotely resembled the one I kept hearing day after day.

It wasn't until about five days ago or so that I finally got enough information to go on to perform a search. As luck would have it, I was on my fifteen minute break and was about ready to go back when the song that had drove me crazy for the last couple of weeks started to play, and I finally had enough lyrics to do an adequate search.

Once I got home, I typed in the first four words that were sang in the song. “Hello again, it's me.” Once I entered those lyrics into Google and clicked on the search button, I finally had the answer.



ARTIST: Basia
SONG: New Day For You
ALBUM: Time And Tide
DATE RELEASED: October 20, 1987
PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS: #59
PEAK POSITION ON THE ADULT CONTEMPORARY CHARTS: #5

The song was called “New Day For You”, released in 1987 (as if the hairstyle of the male lead of the video didn't give it away).



And the artist of the song isn't British. She's Polish singer, Basia (pronounced BASHA).

Of course, Basia is just her stage name. Her real name is Barbara Trzetrzelewska. Do NOT even attempt to ask me to pronounce her last name because I know I'd butcher it if I tried.

At any rate, Basia is the subject for today, and just looking through her official website and other places, she has had one heck of a career. And, just looking at her discography and playing back some of the songs that she has recorded over her career, it almost seems as if my workplace plays a large selection of Basia songs.

But who exactly is Basia?

Basia was born in Poland in September 1954, making her fifty-seven years of age today. When she was just fifteen years old, she got her first big break in performance arts by performing alongside an amateur rock band known as Astry at a Polish rock festival. There was a judging panel at the festival, and thanks to Basia's help, the group ended up winning the contest, and Basia ended up singing with a couple of bands throughout the 1970s.



By 1979, Basia had made the decision to try and branch out in the world of music, and one of the first things she did was move out of her native Poland abroad. After a brief stay in the United States, Basia ended up settling in London, England by 1981. During this time, she met a couple of musicians named Mark Reilly and Danny White, and Basia joined the two of them to form a jazz trio. Initially called 'Bronze', the name of the band changed to 'Matt Bianco'. They released an album together in 1984, and had a couple of hits in the United Kingdom. If you'd like an example of Matt Bianco in action, you can just take a look at the video below.



The band's success together would prove to be short-lived, as Basia left the band just one year later to pursue a solo career. And in 1987, her first solo album, 'Time And Tide' was released, which contained the hit singles 'New Day For You', 'Prime Time TV', and the title track, which became Basia's first Top 30 hit on the Billboard Charts. Basia's success in the United States was especially noticed, and her debut solo album had sales of almost two million copies since its debut.



I can definitely see why Basia was so popular. Back in 1987, there were more or less three different kinds of music that dominated pop charts. Heavy Metal, Pop, and Rock. Basia's music was something was was quite different given the time that it was released. It was almost as if someone took an album of jazz classics and blended them together with contemporary Latin melodies to create a mix that was soulful, yet romantic. If you really listen closely to the lyrics of a lot of Basia's songs, they're quite deep. When you consider that English was Basia's second language, it was quite amazing that Basia could create such wonderful albums.

'Time and Tide' was merely the beginning though.



Her next solo project came about in late 1989. The album was called 'London Warsaw New York', a title that was almost autobiographical, as it represented three cities in the three countries that Basia once called home (England, Poland, The United States). The album also did very well, selling just as many copies as her first one. On the album were hits like 'Copernicus', 'Baby Be Mine', and the below, 'Cruising For Bruising', which peaked at #29 in early 1990.



(TRIVIA: 'Cruising For Bruising' is my favourite Basia song.)

Basia's second album proved to be even more successful than her first, with the album being named one of Billboard's Top Contemporary Jazz Albums of the Year, and her popularity grew in other countries including Japan, France, and the Philippines. She would release another album in 1994, “The Sweetest Illusion”, which continued her worldwide success. Two years later, she released a live album which was recorded during a concert set in New York City, entitled “Basia On Broadway.”

By 1998, however, Basia had decided that she needed a break from performing, and opted to take a sabbatical from music, despite the fact that she had earned a huge fan following, and had massive sales of her albums in various parts of the world. The truth was that 1998 was the beginning of a really rocky road for Basia's personal life, as it was right around that time that she had lost quite a few people who were very close to her.

One of those people happened to be her mother...a loss that Basia especially took hard, as I'm sure most people who have lost a parent can surely attest to. Although she did make a guest appearance on a 1999 single by Taro Hasake, she more or less remained out of the music scene for the next six years of her life.

That was until 2004, when her former 'Matt Bianco' bandmates approached her to reform the band. By this time, Basia was starting to get back into the music scene, and she agreed to rejoin her former bandmates to release another 'Matt Bianco' album, which garnered immediate critical success internationally. This was just the push Basia needed to go back to doing what she loved doing, which was making music, and in 2009, she released her first album of original material in fifteen years, entitled “It's That Girl Again”, which became a commercial success in the United Kingdom, and did fairly well on jazz charts in the United States.

What's funny is that Basia has had so much success in the world of music, yet it seems as though nobody that I've talked to even knew who she was. It's almost kind of a shame that she didn't have more of an impact in popular music, because I really think that her voice and talent far outweighs what currently passes as music these days. At the same time though, my own personal tastes in music seem to deviate from what is considered popular. I like music that can really touch your soul and make you feel something deep inside. I think Basia's music certainly qualifies, and I'm sure that she'll just get better and better as the years progress.

There's a couple of life lessons that Basia can teach us about ourselves as well. One lesson is that no matter what happens in someone's life and times, they should never forget where they came from, or what made them feel their best. And despite the fact that Basia took a little bit of a break to cope with the stress of her personal life, she still managed to hold her musical career close to her heart, and released a comeback album that was well received.

The more important lesson that she showed me especially is that if you want something bad enough, it can be possible...you just might have to make a lot of changes to make it so. Certainly leaving Poland and moving to two different countries would be a culture shock for most, but Basia knew that if she wanted to become a musical success, she would have to take that chance and move somewhere where she would have the best chance to succeed.

She never gave up on her dream, and took chances. It ended up paying off for her in a big way.

And in a way, this blog entry would have never been possible had one of her songs not played at work, and had me curious over who sang it.