FRESH : FURIOUS 7 (FAST AND FURIOUS 7)

Latest in "The Fast & Furious" franchise;  FURIOUS 7  has additional cast members; Jason Statham (The Transporter), Djimon Hounsou (Blood Diamond) and veteran actor, Kurt Russell.  Sadly (As we all know) this is the final movie of original cast member Paul Walker who died in a car crash on November 30th, 2013.
Spoiler: Look out for a fight between Jason Statham and The Rock!
When I watched the first FAST & FURIOUS so long ago; I never imagined it would go this far- six sequels! 
Rest in peace Paul Walker.

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, Fredrich, 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 favorite and the song 'My Favorite 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 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 importance of family. It will always be a delight to me and millions of fans over 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!

tvguide.com

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).

soapoperadigest.com

 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 Bronte- 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.