I wanted to touch on three things that have been playing on repeat through my mind today.
Andy Griffith passed away this morning in North Carolina. He was 86 years old. He was an icon to millions, and was my dad's hero. He has watched The Andy Griffith Show every time he could find it on, sometimes bypassing A Christmas Story if he could find reruns of AGS running instead. In our family, that is huge. With his discovery of Netflix, he has watched AGS every day for the past year or more. To put it mildly, my dad is upset and mourning his childhood idol and hero. RIP Andy.
Nora Ephron passed away last week of complications due to leukemia. She was 71. Her name might not be as brightly illuminated to some as Mr. Griffith's, but her passing has left many in mourning too. Many remember her for her big movies Sleepless in Seattle, When Harry Met Sally, and You've Got Mail. I remember her for All I Wanna Do, a young adult film starring many of the big names of my age group (Kirsten Dunst, Vincent Kartheiser, Matthew Lawrence, Rachel Leah Cook, Gabby Hoffman, Monica Keena, Hayden Christensen, and Shawn Ashmore) that failed to reach beyond a 6 digit gross. I fully admit that I originally watched it solely because of Danny Smith, a remarkably comedic actor playing in a campy Canadian teen show called Big Wolf On Campus at the time. But I fell in love with Nora's talent (she produced AIWD) and went on to spend several years in college attempting to watch every project she was associated with. To date, I have seen everything except Julie & Julia, My Blue Heaven, and her stuff prior the the 1990's which is a lot harder to find. RIP Nora.
John Irving's 13th book, In One Person, explores the BT part of LGBT, a hot button topic right now. He gave this fantastic interview (here) that made me do a "Wait. John Irving is gay? Anderson Cooper is gay... sure, no surprise there. But John Cider House Rules Irving? Damn!" A quick cross reference with some web sources confirmed that Irving is in fact... straight. I was pretty ashamed of myself when it occurred to me that a straight man could write openly and honestly about a bisexual youth exploring his sexuality while growing up in rural Vermont without sounding trite and put-on. I get pissed at people for being judgmental and relying on stereotypes and yet, I did the exact thing that I despise. I gave myself a stern talking to and resolved to work on mending the error of my ways.
Love is love, no matter the back story. <3 DS
4 comments:
John Irving is gay? That's two people I found that out about today. Apparently a major comic book artist came out in an interview...in 1991. I missed it and it's never been brought up since. That's how it should be. Unless there's some reason to hit somebody over the head with it, you simply note it--or don't--and then move on.
As far as tHE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW, tell your Dad that Rene and I were friends with actor Parley Baer who played Mayor Stoner in early episodes! Parley told me he would have loved to have stayed with the series but he was having to give up major roles in films for one or two lines in certain episodes of ANDY and maybe no lines at all the following week! He just couldn't stay. Said he really enjoyed being associated with the series, though!
As far as Nora Ephron, I fell for her when she appeared as a wonderful talk show guest way back in the seventies. If you haven't read her books, they're hilarious! Bittersweet, female-oriented humor about life, love and growing older but always with a quirky smile attached.
Steeeeeeeven! Nooooooo. That is exactly my point. Irving is NOT gay. I immediately assumed because he wrote about a bisexual male that he must be bisexual too. He is straight. Honestly man, did you even read the whole post? :P I love you. Please don't hit me when I come see you. <3
Ahem...missed that last part of your post. hehe....ahem.
hahahahaha <3
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