>During a pre-Oscar discussion with a few of the 2008 nominee’s Frank Langella reflected on his beginnings in the movies… “I wish I’d known sooner in my career how getting out of one’s own way is the best advice you can give an actor. I could do anything on the stage; I had no fear. But I was like an old Italian lady in my first couple of movies. I thought my soul was being taken by the camera. So I had to find my way to be utterly open and free in front of the camera.”
The best advice you can give…. get free of fear. and ‘find a way to be open.’
Check out the discussion with Langella, Anne Hathaway, Brad Pitt, Robert Downey, and Mickey Rourke… Newsweek's Oscar Roundtable
A recent study on genital arousal amoung the sexes, compared what men and women said, with how their genitals reacted to different sexual imagery.
‘For the male participants… The men’s minds and genitals were in agreement.
All was different with the women. No matter what their self-proclaimed sexual orientation, they showed, on the whole, strong and swift genital arousal when the screen offered men with men, women with women and women with men.’
In other words… the words out of their mouths differed from the responses of their vagina.
>Ghandi said “salvation begins when you see the possibility there is another way.”
It’s been a powerful week…
Monday – Martin Luther King Jr. – We celebrated our Freedom
Tuesday – Inaguration Day – We most certainly celebrated Change
Today – The First Day of a New Era – We fly into Action
There are many things about Barack Obama’s Inagural Address that struck chords… but. what I remember most was was one word — imagination.
For the first time in a long time the imagination of this country is activated. The imagination of the nations artists, and poets, and dreamers. The singers, and the actors, and the show people are back in force. We have a place to contribute our time and talents. A place once again to stretch into new possibilities.
A power has been unleashed, a power to move mountains. the power of belief.
Freedom. Change. Action.
Where we got it wrong. We’re going to make a correction. And get it right.
ps. I love Bono… and. the fact that he isn’t American is part of the movement of positive human color-blind-ness, being borderless, embracing oneness and working as humans. America’s song is everyone’s song. Thanks to the Oprah gang for putting it together.
>As we transition from one President to another, from one era to another, as we move into the ‘angels of our better nature’ thought I’d share a portion of one of my favorite speeches by a President… Lyndon B. Johnson… given before a joint session of congress on voting rights, one of the most basic tools of democracy. It isn’t an inaugural address but it is a speech to remember.
Lyndon B. Johnson did not ‘win’ the Presidency, he ascended to the office due to the horrific assassination of President Kennedy. Johnson understood that one man doesn’t ‘make’ human rights changes, he merely steps into the space of truth and offers it up for review, so the people, all the people, can move into a higher thought pattern, a space of humanity above the ‘battlefield’ and petty tyrannies of fear…
:President Lyndon Baines Johnson’s speech to a joint session of Congress on March 15, 1965:
“At times history and fate meet at a single time in a single place to shape a turning point in man’s unending search for freedom.
Our mission is at once the oldest and the most basic of this country: to right wrong, to do justice, to serve man.
In our time we have come to live with moments of great crisis. Our lives have been marked with debate about great issues; issues of war and peace, issues of prosperity and depression.
Rarely in any time does an issue lay bare the secret heart of America itself. Rarely are we met with a challenge, not to our growth or abundance, our welfare or our security, but rather to the values and the purposes and the meaning of our beloved Nation. The issue of equal rights.
And should we defeat every enemy, should we double our wealth and conquer the stars, and still be unequal to this issue, then we will have failed as a people and as a nation.
For with a country as with a person, “What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”
—
Everything starts at home. it starts with our own being. it starts with our own hearts. Take care and remember the truth. All men are created equal.
To view the whole speech and read a transcript here’s a great link….
The President does lead the nation in action and tone. I am grateful that today we the people have a leader who is thoughtful, intelligent and is ever ready with a smile.
>And no, it’s not the cry of the straight girl who experimented in bi-curious land. It’s officially and finally over…. and out.
We thank George Bush for his service, for his unerring and steadfast display of arrogance that shook Americans to the point they were ripped out of a deep paralysis that had blanketed the country. We thank George Bush for showing us what doesn’t work. And for igniting a passionate movement of peaceful, thoughtful activists committed to integrity and new ideas. We thank George Bush for reminding us that service actually means to serve and is the pathway to love, and mostly we thank him for making it so obvious that sitting on the sidelines wasn’t an option, that we had no choice but to show up. In force. To show up for justice, to show up for truth, and to show up for change.
>”Imagine what America would be like if Martin Luther King Jr. never had a dream.”
He often said “there is a power in our hearts more powerful than the power of bullets”… and today. in the land of the free and the home of the brave. it’s never been more important to remember.
Freedom is a commitment we make every day. A commitment to accepting everyone in all their glory and all their flaws, as brothers.
So today. open your heart and lean into its power. get comfortable with how it feels… because there is much to celebrate and much work ahead.
In tribute and rememberance here’s one of Martin Luther King’s appearances, selected by the late, great Tim Russert, on Meet the Press…
THE VIBE Mel is an award winning writer/producer living in Los Angeles, California. THE FACTS Mel creates an atmosphere of love and trust in everything she does. Her work with a list of Top Stars, Major Brands and Entertainment Companies has delivered block busting, high rating success. Mel has a ... Continue reading →
Melanie Lutz 
