Gary Coleman Passes Away

On this date May 28, 2010 Gary Coleman passed quickly and peacefully with his wife and family by his side when they removed him from life support this morning.  Two days prior to this on May 26, 2010 it is said that Coleman fell and hit his head and was immediately rushed to the hospital in Provo,Utah at the Utah Valley Regional Medical Center. He aged to be 42 years old. Gary Coleman was born in February 8, 1968.
He was well known for his famous catchphrase in the Diff'rent Strokes show "What'choo talkin' 'bout, Willis?" At the height of his fame on Diff'rent Strokes, he earned as much as $100,000 per episode as Arnold Jackson.  He acted small roles in other sitcoms as well like The Jeffersons and Good Times.

He was described in the 1980's as "one of television's most promising stars." Coleman suffered a intercranial hemorrhage and slipped into a coma. Life support was terminated when it became clear that he was not going to recover.
 Coleman was born in Zion Illinois.  He was adopted by Edmonia Sue, a nurse practitioner, and W.G. Coleman, a fork-lift operator.  Gary Coleman suffered from a congenital kidney disease caused by focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (an autoimmune destruction and alteration of the kidney), which halted his growth at an early age, leading to a small stature (4 ft 8 in; 1.42 m) and his childlike appearance. He underwent twokidney transplants over the years, one in 1973 and one in 1984, and required daily dialysis.
Coleman was a candidate for governor in the 2003 Califonia recall election.  This campaign was sponsored by the free newsweekly East bay Express as a satirical comment on the recall. After Arnold Schwarzenegger announced his candidacy, Coleman stated that he would be voting for Schwarzenegger. Coleman placed  8th out of 135 canadates, receiving an impressive 14,242 votes.
Coleman went out and secretly wed his girlfriend after knowing her for five months, Shannon Price, 22, on August 28, 2007^.  They met on the set of the 2006 comedy film Church Ball. On May 1 and 2, 2008, Coleman and his wife appeared on the show Divorce Court to air their differences in front of Judge Lynn Toler. Unlike regular Divorce Court participants, they appeared on the show with the intent to save their marriage rather than separate.
Coleman suffered a seizure on the set of The Insider on February 26, 2010. Dr.Drew Pinsky, who was with Coleman at the time, assisted him until paramedics arrived.

Rest In Peace Gary, you will be missed...

Kate Winslet

Kate Elizabeth Winslet was born October 5th 1975. Occasionally she sings but is better known for her acting. Raised in Reading, Berkshire, England. At the age of 12, Winslet appeared in a television advertisement directed by filmmaker Tim Pope for Sugar Puffs . Pope said her naturalism was "there from the start". Her acting career really took off in British television 1991. In 1997 she starred in the blockbuster smash hit Titanic, which was the highest grossing film for more than 12 years until Avatar beat it in 2010(both movies directed by James Cameron). Cast as the sensitive seventeen-year-old Rose DeWitt Bukater, a fictional first-class socialite who survives the 1912 sinking of the RMS Titanic, Winslet's experience was emotionally demanding. "Titanic was totally different and nothing could have prepared me for it. We were really scared about the whole adventure. Jim Cameron is a perfectionist, a real genius at making movies. But there was all this bad press before it came out, and that was really upsetting." Obviously they were wrong about Titanic.
New York magazine's writter David Edelstein described her as "the best English-speaking film actress of her generation".
Kate Winslet is the daughter of Sally Anne (née Bridges), a barmaid, and Roger John Winslet, a swimming-pool contractor. Her parents were "jobbing actors", which led Kate to comment that she "didn't have a privileged upbringing" and that their daily life was "very hand to mouth".
Her maternal grandparents, Linda (née Plumb) and Archibald Oliver Bridges, founded and operated the Reading Repertory Theatre and her uncle, Robert Bridges, appeared in the original West End production of Oliver! Her sisters,Beth and Anna Winslet are also actresses. The Washington Post writer Desson Thomson commented: "As Juliet, Winslet is a bright-eyed ball of fire, lighting up every scene she’s in. She's offset perfectly by Lynskey, whose quietly smoldering Pauline completes the delicate, dangerous partnership." Speaking about her experience on a film set as an absolute beginner, Winslet noted: "With Heavenly Creatures, all I knew I had to do was completely become that person. In a way it was quite nice doing [the film] and not knowing a bloody thing."

While on the set of Dark Season, Kate met actor/writer Stephen Tredre, with whom she had a nearly five-year relationship. He died of bone cancer soon after she completed filming Titanic, causing her to miss the film's premiere in order to attend his funeral in London. She and Titanic co-star Leonardo DiCaprio have remained good friends since the filming.Kate later was in a relationship with Rufus Sewell, but on November 22nd, 1998 she married director Jim Threapleton, whom she met while on the set of Hideous Kinky. They have a daughter, Mia Honey, who was born on 12 October 2000 in London. Winslet and Threapleton divorced in 2001,Kate then began a relationship with Sam Mendes, whom she married on May 24th, 2003 on the island of Anguilla in the Caribbean. Their son, Joe Alfie Winslet Mendes, was born on 22 December 2003 in New York City. Mendes and Winslet announced a separation in March 2010, stating, "The split is entirely amicable and is by mutual agreement."
The media have tried to document her constant weight fluctuations over the years. She has been outspoken about her refusal to allow Hollywood to dictate her weight. In February 2003, British GQ magazine published photographs of Kate Winslet which had been digitally altered to make her look dramatically thinner than she really was. Kate issued a statement that the alterations were made without her consent, saying "I just didn't want people to think I was a hypocrite and that I'd suddenly lost 30 lbs. or whatever". GQ in turn issued a full apology. She won a libel suit in 2009 against British tabloid The Daily Mail after it printed that she lied about her exercise regime. Kate stated she had always expressed the opinion that women should be encouraged to accept their appearance with pride, and therefore "was particularly upset to be accused of lying about my exercise regime, and felt that I had a responsibility to request an apology in order to demonstrate my commitment to the views that I have always expressed about body issues, including diet and exercise."
Kate now resides in Greenwitch Village, New York City.

Nicknames include English Rose and Corset Kate. Height 5' 6½" (1.69 m)

Here is an odd fact... Sam Mendes was scheduled to fly on American Airlines Flight 77, which was hijacked on September 11th, 2001 which was the plane that crashed into the Pentagon.! In October 2001, Winslet was seven hours into a London-Dallas flight with her daughter Mia when a passenger who claimed to be a terrorist, later charged with creating mischief, stood up and shouted "We are all going to die." As a result of these incidents, Winslet and Mendes never fly together on the same aircraft, for the fear of leaving their children parentless.

Russell Crowe

 Russell Ira Crowe was born in Wellington, New Zealand April 7th, 1964. Naturalized Australian known for being an actor and a musician. His acting career began in the early 1990s with roles in Australian TV.
Russell is the son of Jocelyn Yvonne (née Wemyss) and John Alexander Crowe, both of whom were movie set caterers; his father also managed a hotel. Crowe's maternal grandfather, Stan Wemyss, was a cinematographer who was named an MBE for filming footage of World War II. Crowe's maternal great-great-grandmother was Maori, and his paternal grandfather was from Wrexham, Wales; Russell also has Scottish, Norwegian, English and Irish ancestry in his blood line.
In his early years Russell returned to Australia at age 21, intending to apply to the National Institute of Dramatic Art. "I was working in a theatre show, and talked to a guy who was then the head of technical support at NIDA," Crowe recalls. "I asked him what he thought about me spending three years at NIDA. He told me it'd be a waste of time. He said, 'You already do the things you go there to learn, and you've been doing it for most of your life, so there's nothing to teach you but bad habits." In 1987 Crowe spent a six-month stint as a busker when he couldn't find other work.
Of course there is the business of the kidnapping. On 9 March 2005, Crowe revealed to GQ magazine that the FBI agents had approached him prior to the 73rd Academy Awards March 25 2001 and told him that the Islamist terrorist group al-Qaeda wanted to kidnap him. Crowe told the magazine that it was the first time he had ever heard of al-Qaeda and was quoted as saying: "You get this late-night call from the FBI when you arrive in Los Angeles, and they're, like, absolutely full-on. 'We’ve got to talk to you now before you do anything. We have to have a discussion with you, Mr Crowe.'" Crowe recalled that "it was something to do with some recording picked up by a French policewoman, I think, in either Libya or Algiers...it was about taking iconographic Americans out of the picture as a sort of cultural-destabilisation plan"
Crowe had a relationship with Meg Ryan during and after the filming of Proof Of Life in 2000! Can you believe it? I can't stand Meg Ryan that much and Russell Crowe and Meg Ryan do not seem like they would be a very good match. Which turned out that they indeed were not. Because on April 7th, 2003 his 39th birthday, Crowe married Australian singer and actress Danielle Spencer. Crowe met Spencer while filming The Crossing in1990. Crowe and Spencer have two sons: Charles "Charlie" Spencer born December 21st, 2003 and Tennyson Spencer born 7 July 7th 2006. Prior to his marriage to Spencer, Crowe had a relationship with Meg Ryan during and after the filming of Proof Of Life in 2000.
I thought this was interesting... Crowe stated in November 2007 that he would like to be baptized, and feels that he has put it off for too long. Russell states "I do believe there are more important things than what is in the mind of a man," he says. "There is something much bigger that drives us all. I'm willing to take that leap of faith."
My favorite films include L.A. Confidential, Virtuosity and Gladiator of course. I'm not even into the whole Ancient Rome kill or be killed movies but Russell did the trick for me in Gladiator. Same deal with the Robin Hood movies. I've seen so many! How could this one possibly any different than all the other movies. Same old story. Oh well maybe Russell can pull off the Robin character in this movie like he did for Gladiator.
I've been hearing all about the controversy on whether Russell Crowe has an Irish accent during the new film "Robin Hood". Does he have the Northern English accent he is supposed to during this film? I for one don't know because I refuse to watch previews. So I won't find out untill it comes out on DVD. Anyways, here is the full audio, when he walked out of the interview with BBC's Mark Lawson.

9 minutes 16 seconds


Russell Crowe speaks of all the different stories that has now become the Robin Hood we know and how it has been changed over the years.

2 minutes 17 seconds

Mariah Carey

 Mariah Carey was born March 27, 1970.  Mariah is an American singer, songwriter, record producer and actress. She made her recording debut in the year 1990 under the guidance of Columbia Records through the executive Tommy Mottola.  She became the first recording artist to have her first five singles top the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart.

She was considered According to Billboard magazine, the most successful artist of the 1990s in the United States.  Mariah has sold more than 175 million albums, singles and videos worldwide.  She was named the best-selling female pop artist of the millennium at the 2000 World Music Awards.  According to the Recording Industry Association of America, she is the third best-selling female artist and sixteenth overall recording artist with shipments of over 63 million albums in the US.  In 2008, Mariah passed Elvis Presley for the most number-one singles for a solo artist in the United States with eighteen, just behind The Beatles.  She is well known for her five-octave vocal range,powerful voice and melismatic style and her impressive use of the whistle register.

 Carey was born in Huntington, Long Island, New York. She is the third and youngest child of Patricia Carey (née Hickey), a former opera singer and vocal coach, and Alfred Roy Carey, an aeronautical engineer.  Unfortunately her parents divorced when she was three years oldwhich I guess is not to uncommon these days.  After her parents' divorce, Mariah had little contact with her father, and her mother worked several jobs to support the family. She spent much of her time at home alone and turned to music to occupy herself. She began singing at around the age of three, when her mother began to teach her after she was imitating her mother practicing opera  in Italian.

1988, is when Mariah Carey met Columbia Records executive Tommy Mottola at a party, where Starr gave him Mariah Carey's demo tape. Mottola played the tape when leaving the party and was impressed. He returned to find her, but she had already left the party. Nevertheless, Mottola tracked her down and signed her to a recording contract. A bit like a fairy tale the story became part of the standard publicity surrounding Mariah's entrance into the industry.  Mariah Carey and Mottola had a relationship from 1993 but then officially separated in 1997. Although the public image of the marriage was a happy one, she said that in reality she had felt trapped by her relationship with Mottola, whom she often described as controlling.
Mariah has many albums Self titled Mariah Carey in 1990, Emotions in 1991,MTV Unplugged 1992,Music Box 1993,Merry Christmas 1994,Daydream 1995,Butterfly 1997,#1's 1998,Rainbow 1999,Valentines 2000,Glitter and her Greatest Hits in 2001,Charmbracelet 2002,The Remixes 2003,The Emancipation of Mimi 2005,E=mc² and The Ballads 2008,Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel 2009,Playlist: The Very Best of Mariah Carey, Love Songs and TBA in 2010.
I like the one quote by Mariah Carey ""My voice is my instrument; it always has been."

I Could Really Use a Wish Right Now

May is such an eventful month, I don't even want to get into detail really about it.
As I'm approaching graduation, many lingering thoughts are constantly in my head, and yes the negative ones. I just feel for some reason I need a new beginning. Lately, I've been around so much negativity, that I can tell is just pulling me down, putting me in a big slump. For a girl with big dreams, I need every support I can get. I feel I've been under such a protective shield my whole life, that I may not ever get the fulfillment of making my own decisions devoid of asking someone if they agree.
I've prided myself with my parents approval my whole life, taking into consideration everything they told me, and did what they suggested me to do. But it just seems like right now I can do nothing right, and there's so turning back. I feel my relationships getting stretched too thinly, close relationships that I felt would be there for me forever. Who knew that some of my choices in college would affect my future with the people I care about the most. Am I wrong for following what I want sometimes, especially if I'm doing everything else right?
I have come to question myself as an individual. Of course I feel bad that I can't be the straight A student I was throughout my whole academic career. I remember when a C would make me cringe, and now a C is seen as a sigh of relief in passing my economic courses.
It's bad enough not getting into the college I always wanted to go to, but not even excelling in school was not something I thought I'd ever go through. School did involve a lot of hard work and dedication, but I never knew I'd be struggling to pass almost every course I enrolled myself into. Sure I could've changed my major to something simple, but I'm so close to graduating, I can taste it. Which is a bad thing because I have the worst case of Senioritis ever. Instead of being in the present, I find myself thinking about the future constantly. I'm so used to wanting to plan things and knowing what my future entails, instesad of it being up in the air.
Since my honeymoon in my personal relationships is not coming to a close, I have realized that I need to be independent, and not rely so much of other people. I could've have the great graduation gifts I was promised, but knowing for sure now that I will probably get none makes me realize I can wait and do things for myself. I always prided myself on accomplishing things on my own and that's what I can say college has done for me. I'm not the most responsible person, but I do learn from my mistakes and I take fault for my actions. I've learned the hard way that if I'm not on top of my stuff, things can turn out badly. Recently I paid a $40 late fee for my tutoring I had earlier this year, turning out to $100. And now I recently misplaced/lost my phone. Though I believe someone stole it from my bedroom.
Why are all these things happening to me to me right now, in the midst of me graduating, and needing to focus on my academics!!! I need money, but it's hard for me to work when I have all these classes and other things through the week. I feel like I always have to defend my actions, but why can't I just say something happened and not be criticized for it.

I Could Really Use a Wish Right Now...






Camille

My Name: My Identity

So before I start with my topic, I have made a resolution to update my blog at LEAST ONCE A WEEK!!!

So as I'm approaching graduation, I still haven't secured a job out of college. I thought I would at least have some advantage due to an experienced resume, but obviously that's not the case. As I'm applying to countless jobs, there's always a hint of hope to expect some sort of reply back. But I've noticed that the advancement of technology is not always a good thing. Of course it's great being able to apply for numerous jobs at one time, but I feel there's no personal interaction between the person who would consider you for the actual position. That job is up to those at human resources who get to make the ultimate decision if your the right person in their terms.

Recently, I've become very intrigued in my Labor Economics course I'm taking this quarter. One topic we've covered is Discrimination in the Labor Market, one that I never though I'd go through. With numerous job submissions and no replies from any I'm interested in, I've begun to question my identity. Is my name too ethnic? Does my address signify I'm from a "ghetto" area? Is being a female not necessarily head strong enough to survive in a fast paced environment? Do all my qualifications suddenly become ignored because I don't have a personal reference "in the business"? Most of these things I have no control over, but the ones that really hit me or made me think a little more about things is from place of origin and my name given to me at birth.

First of all, I really like my name, it's very unique and fits me. The next thing is that I live in a pretty okay neighborhood, though my surroundings aren't ideal. A name and location should never put a hindrance to the chances of being considered for a job your well qualified.

This has had me questioning my future, once again I know. I'm ready to make a name for myself, but how can I when I'm not even getting a chance to be looked upon. It's a fact that 2/3 resumes are thrown away (not even considered) for any job. Am I another statistic? Even though the economy is still not in shape, I never once considered that I would have trouble finding a job. Reflecting back, it seemed that I got more job replies when I put my address in Irvine. Is it a coincidence? I don't know for sure, but these connections I'm putting together are not encouraging.

My journalism teacher even told me that 90% of the jobs he got was from someone he knew from that specific job. Why is there even higher education when in the end networking is what gets you places? I mean I'm not fortunate enough to know people in the media industry, but I know I have more than enough qualifications for any entry level job. If I can only get my foot in the door somehow, I'd take it and run with it...

Check out this article from my Labor Economics class to see where I got the idea for this blog from: https://eee.uci.edu/10s/62460/readings/bertrand_mullanaithan.pdf


You Just Do You, Imma Do Me,


Camille Mendez