Death at a Funeral

Last night I saw the new movie, Death at a Funeral http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0795368/.
While watching it I did not look at my watch, check my phone, send txt msgs, get up for water, candy, bathroom, disturb other movie goers or rearrange my possessions. I might have squirmed but I am not good at sitting still even when I am at full attention and I was at full attention watching this action packed film.

Death at a Funeral is a British farce is directed by Frank Oz. It starts out simply as everyone gathering for a funeral and then dissolves in to madness. There are lots of possible victims.  It has drugs, violence, sex, nudity, dysfunctional relationships, bad language, love, secrets, a bit of really gross humor, beautiful setting, strange characters, and a relatively happy ending-at least for the living.  I don't want to say much more for fear of giving the plot away except that I recommend people go see it.

The US release date is June 29, 2007.

Places

Bold the places you've been and italicize the places you long to see. At the end, add one place you've been and one place you'd like to go. Grabbed from lesliepear.

(This list is a bit heavy on amusement parks. )

1. Times Square, New York City, NY: 35 million visitors every year ¹
2. National Mall & Memorial Parks, Washington, D.C. (Washington Monument, Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials, the war memorials): About 25 million
3. Disney World's Magic Kingdom, Lake Buena Vista, Fla.: 16.6 million
4. Trafalgar Square, London, England: 15 million
5. Disneyland Park, Anaheim, Calif.: 14.7 million
6. Niagara Falls, Ontario and New York: 14 million
7. Fisherman's Wharf/Golden Gate National Recreation Area, San Francisco, Calif.: 13 million
8. Tokyo Disneyland/DisneySea, Tokyo, Japan: 12.9 million
9. Notre Dame de Paris, Paris, France: 12 million 10. Disneyland Paris, Marne-La-Vallee, France: 10.6 million
11. The Great Wall of China, Badaling area, China: About 10 million
12. The Great Smoky Mountain National Park, Tennessee/North Carolina: 9.2 million
13. Universal Studios Japan, Osaka, Japan: 8.5 million
14. Basilique du Sacré-Coeur de Montmartre, Paris, France: 8 million
15. Musée du Louvre, Paris, France: 7.5 million
16. Everland (amusement park), Kyonggi-Do, South Korea: 7.5 million
17. The Forbidden City/Tiananmen Square, Beijing, China: At least 7 million
18. Eiffel Tower, Paris, France: 6.7 million
19. Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure at Universal Orlando, Fla: 6 million 20. SeaWorld Florida, Orlando, Fla: 5,740,000
21. Pleasure Beach (amusement park), Blackpool, England: 5.7 million
22. Lotte World (amusement park), Seoul, South Korea: 5.5 million
23. Yokohama Hakkeijima Sea Paradise, Japan: 5.4 million
24. Hong Kong Disneyland, China: 5.2 million
25. Centre Pompidou, Paris, France: 5.1 million
26. Tate Modern, London, England: 4.9 million
27. British Museum, London, England: 4.8 million
28. Universal Studios Los Angeles, Calif.: 4.7 million
29. National Gallery, London, England: 4.6 million
30. Metropolitan Museum, New York, NY: 4.5 million¹
31. Grand Canyon, Ariz.: 4.4 million
32. Tivoli Gardens (amusement park), Copenhagen, Denmark: 4.4 million
33. Ocean Park (amusement park), Hong Kong, China: 4.38 million
34. Busch Gardens (amusement park), Tampa Bay, Fla.: 4.36 million
35. SeaWorld California, San Diego, Calif.: 4.26 million
36. Statue of Liberty, New York, NY: 4.24 million¹
37. The Vatican and its museums, Rome, Italy: 4.2 million
38. Sydney Opera House, Sydney, Australia: More than 4 million
39. The Coliseum, Rome, Italy: 4 million
40. American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY: 4 million¹
41. Grauman's Chinese Theater, Hollywood, Calif.: 4 million
42. Empire State Building, New York, NY: 4 million¹
43. Natural History Museum, London, England: 3.7 million
44. The London Eye, London, England: 3.5 million
45. Palace of Versailles, France: 3.45 million
46. Yosemite National Park, Calif.: 3.44 million
47. Pyramids of Giza, Egypt: 3 million
48. Pompeii, Italy: 2.5 million
49. Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia: 2.5 million
50. Taj Mahal, Agra, India: 2.4 million
51. Angel Falls, Venezuela
52. Pyramid Kukulcan in Chichen Itza, Yucatan Mexico
53. Temple of the Descending God in Tulum, Quintana Roo Mexico
54. Dunns River Falls in Ocho Rios, Jamaica
55. Star Trek: The Experience, Las Vegas, NV
56. Space Needle Seattle, WA²
57. Machu Pichu, Peru
58. Amber Palace in Jaipur, India
59. The Smithsonian in Washington DC³
60. The Berlin Wall, Berlin, Germany⁴
61. Stonehenge, England
62. Auschwitz Concentration Camp, Poland
63. Cape Cod, MA
64. Vienna, Austria
65. Experience Music Project Seattle, WA²
66. New England Aquarium Boston MA
67. The Bronx Zoo¹
68. The Old City in Quebec, Canada
69. Key West, Florida
70. Antarctica
71 Edinburgh Festival and Fringe
72 Kathmandu, Nepal

Its windy here...

its blowing the pinwheels off my balcony, rearranging the furniture & planters and I am singing "the highwayman' as sung by Phil Ochs. Of course our voices are a bit different, I'm an alto and he was Phil Ochs!

Unfortunately Phil Ochs died before I could hear him live, but from what I can tell he was a great guy and he wrote some amazing lyrics, although Highwayman was a poem by Alfred Noyes. My favorite album of his is "I ain't Marching anymore" which is basically a collection of his protest songs.
'The first song of his I heard was called "outside of a small circle of friends" about a woman in New York who was stabbed to death while her neighbors watched, I remember reading about it, her first name was Kitty. The refrain goes "it really wouldn't interest anybody, outside of a small circle of friends..."

Anyway, a friend of mine used play that song in the Boston subways and I would go down to listen to him. He had a voice similar to Phil's, so much so that occasionally friends of Phil's would approach us crying to say how much my friend sounded like him. This was in the summer of 1978 only a few years after his death.

I used to wonder why about his suicide when he was so loved, but now having watch a wonderful person and my kindred spirit disappear into the abyss of severe depression, I understand a bit more. It is so frustrating for those on the outside trying to help, but it can only be sheer hell on the inside trying everything and nothing working.

"The wind was a torrent of darkness
Among the gusty trees
The moon was a ghostly galleon
Tossed upon cloudy seas
And the road was a ribbon of moonlight
Over the purple moor
And the highwayman came riding, riding, riding
Yes, the highwayman came riding
Up to the old inn door
Over the cobbles he clattered
And clashed in the darkened yard
And he tapped with his whip at the window
But all was locked and barred
So he whistled a tune to the window
And who should be waiting there
But the landlord's black eyed daughter
Bess the landlord's daughter
Plaiting a dark red love knot
Into her long black hair
One kiss, my bonny sweetheart
For I'm after a prize tonight
But I shall be back with the yellow gold
Before the morning light
Yet if they press me sharply
Harry me through the day
Oh, then look for me by moonlight
Watch for me by moonlight
And I'll come to thee by moonlight
Though Hell should bar the way
He did not come at the dawning
No, he did not come at the noon
And out of the tawny sunset
before the rise of the moon
When the road was a gypsy's ribbon
Looping the purple moor
Oh a redcoat troop came marching, marching, marching
King George's men came marching
Up to the old inn door
And they bound the landlord's daughter
with many a sniggering jest
And they bound the musket beside her
With the barrel beneath her breast
Now keep good watch and they kissed her
She heard the dead man say
"Oh look for me by moonlight
Watch for me by moonlight
And I'll come to thee by moonlight
Though Hell should bar the way"
Look for me by moonlight
Hoof beats ringing clear
Watch for me by moonlight
Were they deaf that they did not hear
For he rode on the gypsy highway
She breathed one final breath
Then her finger moved in the moonlight
Her musket shattered the moonlight
And it shattered her breast in the moonlight
And warned him with her death
Oh he turned; he spurred on to the west
He did not know who stood
Out with her black hair a flowing down
Drenched with her own red blood
Oh not 'til the dawn had he heard it
And his face grew gray to hear
How Bess the landlord's daughter
The landlord's black eyed daughter
Had watched for her love in the moonlight
And died in the darkness there
Back he spurred like a madman
Shrieking a curse to the sky
With the white road smoking behind him
And his rapier brandished high
Blood red were his spurs in the golden noon
Wine red his velvet coat
When they shot him down on the highway
Down like a dog on the highway
And he lay in his blood on the highway
With a bunch of lace at his throat
And still on a winter's night they say
When the wind is in the trees
When the moon is a ghostly galleon
Tossed upon cloudy seas
When the road is a ribbon of moonlight
Over the purple moor
Oh the highwayman comes riding, riding, riding
Yes the highwayman comes riding
Up to the old inn door."