I'm Just a Dreamer

I just heard this song and had to find a YouTube clip. Problem is that Ozzy is too much of a joke now, but if you can discard that and listen to the song, you may get something nice from it. Beatle-like, Lennon-like, Harrison-like, with a good bit of ELO, in there, I think. Ozzy's "Imagine."

I'm impressed.

I must add that I like dreaming, although not much is accomplished by it.

New Book Project #1

On Thursday, the 21st of this month, February, I received an e-mail stating that my book proposal was accepted by a publishing house. The contract should follow in the mail. I'm rather mysteriously keeping more information private for a number of reasons. So this is a mere notation, in a journal-type situation.

Though a part of the book is done in draft form, much work will be needed for the due date of March of next year. I'm looking forward to the work, however, as the topic is something I've been fascinated with and researching for years. The book will be significant and hopefully of solid use to an interested readership.

In all such endeavors, one has to manage one's time and become more organized than ever before. Time management and organization have been my weaknesses, so it's imperative that I get better at both.

The Only Thing We Have to Fear

... is fear itself.

While websurfing I came across this page on NBC, What Freaks Stars Out? A slideshow presents celebrities and their phobias. We learn, for instance, that Drew Barrymore has a fear of enclosed spaces (claustrophobia), Kim Basinger, a fear of open spaces (agoraphobia), David Boreanaz, a triple threat of closed spaces, heights and waterfalls, Colin Farrell and Aretha Franklin, a fear of flying, Sarah Michelle Geller, a fear of graveyards, Nicole Kidman, a fear of acting (no, that's not a joke--I think!), Madonna fears thunder, while Matthew McConaughey fears revolving doors and tunnels. The list goes on.

Unfortunately, the piece does not mention what these celebrities do to overcome their fears (if their fears are overcome). Do they take medication? Are they going through therapy? A combination of both, perhaps?

As someone who has suffered various phobias in his life and still is tagged with a few, I find the question of fear fascinating and critical as a link to our core beliefs and sense of the world. Illuminating is the fact that many people live in fear, whether a subtle fear that is bearable and kept simmering in a thankful distant background or a stronger fear that intrudes itself upon a person during the day and can make life difficult. Unless we truly believe in a hereafter, the canopy of our adult lives is the presence of vulnerability and death, and that naturally makes us live with some type of fear. So, welcome to the club. You are not alone--and neither am I.

Phobias and panic are considered psychiatric disorders. The government's National Institute of Mental Health classifies them under the umbrella "Anxiety Disorders," and Anxiety Disorders are classified, along with "Mood Disorders," "Eating Disorders," etc. under the larger umbrella of "Mental Disorders." At this point I do not want to make a case for phobias, panic and anxiety being appropriate responses to life, but I will state that no one who is suffering from these conditions wants to suffer from them. (Unless they've developed an identity with their fear or use it as a means of generating sympathy and control--but these are issues to be addressed at some future point and not now.)

At times, I wonder how many people suffer from "Mental Disorders" in our society. The NIMH states that: "An estimated 26.2 percent of Americans ages 18 and older — about one in four adults — suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder in a given year." Yes, one in four, making up about 57.7 million people in the United States. For panic disorder, the statistics are the following:

• Approximately 6 million American adults ages 18 and older, or about 2.7 percent of people in this age group in a given year, have panic disorder.
• Panic disorder typically develops in early adulthood (median age of onset is 24), but the age of onset extends throughout adulthood.
• About one in three people with panic disorder develops agoraphobia, a condition in which the individual becomes afraid of being in any place or situation where escape might be difficult or help unavailable in the event of a panic attack.

Again, welcome to the club. You are not alone, and neither am I.

Sometimes, when I walk the streets, I would like to see on people's foreheads the names of the medications they are taking--for all sorts of problems, both psychological and physical. My betting is that at least half of the people we see are taking something for some ailment. And yet, foolish mortals that we are, we look upon people as being free of the same troubles, doubts, fears, moods that we succumb to, even if just once in a while. We cannot read people's thoughts; their outward forms generally do not reveal their inner struggles. We are all good actors; acting is imperative for survival and good communication.

So whenever you are in a shitty mood or filled with doubt and anxiety, do not pass people by, thinking how lucky they are. For chances are good, that they are members of the same club you belong to.

You are not alone, and neither am I.

Camille's Brave Face

The recently released DVD of Riccardo Freda's TRAGIC CEREMONY revealed to me something I have never noticed: Camille Keaton's brave face. I've had a liking for this actress since seeing her in the infamous I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE, but perhaps due to the long hair she had that, hippy-style, covered most of her cheeks and jaw I never spotted that she had slight scaring on her face. In the "Camille's European Adventure" featurette present on TRAGIC CEREMONY, the actress unhesitatingly admits: "I was involved in a car accident in 1969, which left me with some scars. And that was before I went into the film business. And I was self-conscious about the scars, and being able to make films was a very positive thing for me."

Not only does the DVD release show in clarity these scars, but it also shows that Camille suffered from a skin condition (probably acne) that manifested itself in a series of bumps that hovered chiefly around her mouth. As with any scaring or skin condition, lighting is crucial in hiding, minimizing or highlighting details, and in certain shots Camille's "brave face" is surprisingly evident and would have been much more so on the big screen. I write "surprisingly" because we are talking about an institution (cinema) that is careful to choose lead actresses with the clearest complexions. Not so with Camille, who had a moderate, short-lived success in Italy during the early 1970s. She was even a model for women's and men's magazines.

It is kind of inspirational that this young actress with scaring and a skin condition decided to become a model and an actress, and that she ventured into those domains despite what must have been serious doubts and even fears (and possibly other voices which may have been discouraging her from those career paths). She succeeded where the vast majority of hopefuls did not, and is a "cult" film personality with a fan base that many working actresses do not have.

Congratulations on your bravery, Camille. You fought the system in your own way, a fight few were aware of, and you won.

I'll be paying more attention to Camille from now on...and her brace face.

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Addendum: I've been informed by the lady herself that the skin condition mentioned above was, indeed, acne, a possibly allergic-sourced outbreak which occurred after she arrived in Madrid for shooting of the film.

The Great Amitabh Bachchan

What's this? Over a month without posting anything here? Busy and somewhat difficult times.... Well, I left with music, and now I'm back with music.

Today I had lunch with my good friend Louis at NYC's Curry In A Hurry. Shouldn't have taken the lamb, as most of it was bone, but lots of basmati rice and cauliflower made up for that. (And the sweet rice pudding filled up whatever space was left in my stomach.) Upstairs, in the dining area, the restaurant has an large HD monitor, and they were playing some recent movie musical numbers featuring Amitabh Bachchan. For those who don't know who Amitabh Bachchan is--probably most everyone who reads this blog--Bachchan is a god in India, that country's most popular actor of the last few decades. Ages ago, I use to make a point of seeing his films at the Indian theaters in NYC (Bombay Cinema in Manhattan--long gone--and some theater in Jackson Heights). The pairing of Bachchan and fellow Hindi actor Sashi Kapoor was always a guarantee of seeing a quality and important film from Bombay (or, as it is called now, Bollywood). I hope to write more about Indian film and the importance of seeing these films in a theater, but now back to Bachchan--and the music I promised.

After lunch, Louis and I headed over to an Indian CD and DVD store nearby, where I picked up a double film score set of two Bachchan films--NASEEB and SHAAN. The latter is one of my all time favorite Indian films with life affirming music that inspires, thrills, and bounces/shakes your body instinctively. Great stuff.

Here are two clips from these films.

This one is from NASEEB:



And this one is from SHAAN; Bachchan with Shashi Kapoor, and the stunning Parveen Babi and adorably cute Bindiya Goswami. This is one of the most joyous bits of cinema from India, or from anywhere in the world, in my opinion: