THE SOUND OF MUSIC's GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY

Image: www.movieguide.org

If anybody asked me the first time I watched THE SOUND OF MUSIC, I wouldn't know. This movie was an "often-watched" one when I was a child, mostly on weekends. Dad would pop in the tape in the VCR, and my brothers and I would watch the beautiful woman (Julie Andrews) appearing on the mountain and burst into song- a sight we were never tired of! The nuns didn't have to give their differing opinions about Maria- the main one being "Maria is not an asset to the abbey"- it was obvious to us even then that Maria stood out, despite her protests, the abbey was her home and life. So we were rather glad the Reverend Mother (Peggy Wood) sent her off "only for a little while" to experience the world by being a governess to the Von Trapp children (Lisel, Friedrich, Louisa, Brigitta, Kurt, Marta and Gretl). Little did Maria know her life would be changed forever after meeting their handsome and initially forbidding father, Captain Von Trapp( Christopher Plummer).

Image: www.theguardian.com

Maria proved to be the family's guardian angel as she made some positive changes in the household, befriending and earning the trust of the children, teaching them to sing, and there's the epic scene where she stood up to Captain Von Trapp and accused him of shutting out the children, drawing him back to their arms. I think the part where he realised she was right and apologised to her afterwards was when I started liking him; I couldn't see why any father would treat his children the way he did, even if he was still grieving their mother (how I hated that whistle he initially used to summon them). Hence, it was wonderful watching the change from a cold man to a warm father.
Even a heart warming story like this wouldn't be complete without a little conflict, the conflict was in the shape of the elegant Baroness (Eleanor Parker) who immediately saw what the Captain felt for Maria before he even realised it himself and her subtle move of keeping them apart only brought them closer and I must say, the woman showed maturity by gracefully admitting defeat and leaving them to be together.

 To this day, the scene where Captain Von Trapp admitted his love to Maria at the gazebo is my favourite and the song 'My Favourite Things' was actually the inspiration behind this blog's title.
And there's the other conflict, the Nazis occupying Austria and the Captain, refusing to be one of them- "and joining them... unthinkable"- hence their flight from Austria to Switzerland and the beginning of a new life. As this is a true story, to the uninitiated fans, the Von Trapp family became professional singers, their legacy still continuing to this very day, one of which includes a music institute.

I have The Sound of Music on DVD presently, and I rejoice with the cast as they celebrate its 50th Anniversary. I remember its last anniversary, where Christopher Plummer and Julie Andrews appeared on OPRAH (still handsome, still beautiful), but I was more enthralled when the children were summoned, via whistle! It's so great to see them all together again to celebrate this wonderful classic's anniversary. The Sound of Music is a tale of faith, unexpected turns of life and the importance of family. It will always be a delight to me and millions of fans around the world, and I wish it a very happy golden anniversary.





The Lonely Goatherd - The Sound Of Music, Sung by Julie Andrews as Wonderful Original Maria from Isaac Sarayiah on Vimeo.

HEADS UP CARBOS... PETER'S RETURNING TO DAYS!

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This is a piece of info I found after a comment left on facebook and I wanted to see if it was true. And yep, it is true; Peter Reckell's handsome face will be seen in DAYS OF OUR LIVES after leaving 3 years ago. And no, he's not the only one coming back but alas... the cast member returning won't be our beloved Crystal Chappell reprising her role as Dr Carly Manning, (Bo's most significant ex who was written out of DAYS  twice).

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 Instead it's a past cast member I personally didn't expect would ever  return to DAYS, Stephen Nichols who is going to reprise his role as Bo's brother-in- law and close friend; Steve Johnson. According to what I found out, Bo is to return to Salem to wrap up his storyline with *cough* Hope (Kristan Alfonso), who from what I heard (I stopped watching DAYS after the end of Bo and Carly's story) has moved on with a new dude called Aiden Jennings, who has a son from his previous marriage.

It seems DAYS will clock 50 years old this year and naturally two key cast members' (and characters) presence is needed. 

A huge pity I've given up on soaps- DAYS especially- because I would so want to see Peter Reckell reprise his role; and I don't know how long he and Nichols will be be in DAYS. Info says one thing but things  can change- will Peter and Stephen be staying after DAYS 50th anniversary, with new storylines? That might just happen.

Anyhow, it doesn't matter if they do, DAYS stopped being a soap to look forward to after the huge disappointment us carbos got 4 years ago so I'm not even going to bother watching Bo and Steve's big return to Salem. If there's anything that will get me to watch DAYS again, it would be Carbo 3.0 but sadly I don't think we'll ever get that.

And I have to add this. I'm a huge Carbo fan; no mistake about that and I'm not into Bope bashing, I always try to be diplomatic. But I can't but feel that DAYS or rather the producer and writers were never really fair about CC's character. First they write her out in 1993 after reuniting her with sleazy Lawrence Alamain (her real life husband Michael Sabatino) who caused caused them a lot of trouble. Then she returns in 2009 and made a pariah; people in the story acting as though she was the reason Bo and Hope's marriage was on the rocks and what they had was new and wrong. And don't get me started on how her daughter was made to treat her, EVEN THOUGH Carly's action had been coerced!
But the real upset is this development.

 Apparently Bo is returning to make his break up with Hope more respectable. With a  25 year history, they are DAYS signature couple, fine. But it's not like he didn't have a significant past with Carly. Unlike Billie, Carly never did all she could to separate them. When she returned, Bo fell in love with her again. And then the Carbo fans had to painfully watch Carly left in the cold eventually and turned into a lonely, heart broken drug addict.  And Bo was turned into a cad; we didn't even get to see him say goodbye to her and show some remorse by asking for her forgiveness, it was all abrupt and disrespectful. At least such a scene should have been shown and a montage of their past as Bo watch her leave with Nicholas because they had a significant past even if it was only for 3 years; like it or not!

And did any  notice that during Frances Reid's (Alice Horton) tribute, how a lot of characters got flashbacks of past conversations with Alice but Carly didn't, even though Mrs. Horton was a mother figure to her?

This makes me even more disappointed with DAYS and I'm glad it's no longer on my 'to watch list'; after what happened in 2011, I've long given up on soaps, DAYS especially. Bo and Carly's final parting wasn't handled well at all but now they are able to get him back for DAYS 50th anniversary to wrap up his story with Hope but back in 2011, they couldn't write a proper goodbye scene with Carly. If they had let them exchange a goodbye at the airport, with Carly quietly giving him her forgiveness, maybe I wouldn't feel there's a lot of bias on the part of the DAYS producers.

Wuthering Heights: Heathcliff & Catherine

This intensely gothic classic, penned by the younger sister of Charlotte Brontë, best known for Jane Eyre, should have been titled Heathcliff and Catherine or just Heathcliff instead of Wuthering Heights. Having read Jane Eyre several times over, Emily’s only novel was a surprise as it was a lot darker in tone; a love story, yes, but a doomed one. After reading this, one wonders if two people who are too much alike can actually make a relationship work!

THIS CAN'T HAPPEN ON N.T.A!

Weather report turns to a hilarious tug of war between weatherman Mike Sobel and Ripple the dog! I can't imagine this happening on N.T.A... lol

CARBO FAN FICTION - CARLY'S DIARY: CHAPTERS MAP

CARBO FAN FICTION- CARLY'S DIARY PART 18 (FINAL PART)

PART 18

They fell asleep in each other’s arms, waking up just before dawn to make love again, this time slowly but not less thoroughly; their mouths and bodies locked in heated delight.

CARBO FAN FICTION- CARLY'S DIARY PART 17

PART 17

A month after and completely recovered from her illness, Carly was sitting in a wicker chair on the patio, Starr in her arms. 

CARBO FAN FICTION- CARLY'S DIARY PART 16

Part 16

‘Frankie, you have to be reasonable and not make this about you,’ Molly said. ‘Melanie, Nicky and Abby here acted on Carly’s best interest, nothing more.’

THE CHARLIE HEBDO ATTACK

I just had to write a few words on this. What happened in France recently was a terrible tragedy and as I continue reading the news posts on the Net and following it on T.V; I keep thinking how it could've been avoided.

Journalists are known to take risks, they do anything to get a story, they protect their sources and live up to the ‘Free Speech Act’ and the ‘Freedom of the Press thing’; that’s no news. But surely there has to be a time when they do not cross the line and put their lives at risk. I am not defending what those terrorists did. In every religion, you will find the fanatics and extremists who think they are fighting for a right cause and then proceed to take things too far by “killing in the name of God.”  The cartoon depicting the Prophet was a slap on the face of Islam; and they had no right to use ‘Freedom of Speech’ to insult the Muslim faith.

But Islam deploys violence and is definitely notaffiliated with terrorism. The magazine insulted the Muslim faith via that published cartoon but the loss of life WAS NOT JUSTIFIED. Will the Prophet (Peace be unto him) be happy at such a blatant disregard of human life?  No!  Would God approve of this terrible attack? NO!!!

This is not the first time the Prophet was depicted in a drawing and the cartoonist behind it had to go in hiding after the death threats behind. One would think from then on, ‘publications’ like that would be avoided completely. Freedom of Speech is one thing but maintaining peace is another. What exactly where they trying to prove by publishing it in the first place, if their intention was not provocation? And how does killing the Charlie Hebdo staff make things right, except further blacken the name of Islam, Muslims accused of being terrorists and the families of the slain staff suffering under a great loss.   

I am very sad and heartsick about the whole matter. When will it all end; news about terrorist’s attacks, shootings, bombings where lives are taken and people left to grieve and speculate by asking that one question… why?

God help us all. 

THROW BACK: MY FIRST MOBILE

Compared to my current phone which has the usual smart phone features, my first mobile phone looks like a mere toy on sight. It was a Siemens A35 and I remember the day I got it clearly. My preference at the time was actually the Nokia 3310 but the Siemens was what was within the price range. I loved that phone, mostly because it was my very own and in those days, you get excited at the idea of having a phone you can carry around in your pocket or purse, choose your ringtone and phone settings, you can store your numbers in it without the hassle of looking them up from a little book and best of all… the novelty of “texting” if you don’t have enough money to make a call. Back then, a phone was simply a handy gadget one used to make calls and send texts and with some of the old models play games in; for example the Nokia 3310 had the classic ‘snake’ game.

My A35 didn’t have games, which pissed me off a bit but I was too excited at finally owning a cell that it didn’t bother me… at least until I came across the Siemens C-35 some time later; which not only had games in it but also a model you could compose ringtones, with it I was able to compose Aqua’s “Barbie Girl” and Missy Elliot’s “Git Ya Freak On”. What made the next model different in those days was the size, the games in it and being able to compose your own ringtone using what you can get from “ringtone” websites. Camera phones  were yet to happen, at least in the mind of the unsuspecting public. Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson however… they had other ideas of course.

Several phones later, I now use a second hand Samsung Duos; camera, music player, e-book reader, Bluetooth, radio, video player- you name it. Smart phones have out sat the features phones and as more models are brought into the market, the more the older ones are cast aside.

My little Siemens A35 is still with me, and will stay with me for a long time- God Willing. Every time I see it, I look back at the day I first held it in my hand and feeling so proud I was finally a cell phone owner. And it reminds me of simpler times; when the only thing we had to worry about is having enough phone credit to make calls and keeping the battery full. 

CARBO FAN FICTION- CARLY'S DIARY PART 15

Part 15

Before he even got Melanie’s forwarded email, Bo had felt a sense of dread and anxiety about Carly but assumed it was because he’d left town without seeing her. The last attempt had brought forth bottled bitterness and pain and he’d found himself unable to ever face her again. He never imagined the next time he would, she would be lying in a hospital bed.