Elegy

I watched a movie entitled "Elegy" last evening and it affected me deeply. It stars Penelope Cruz, Ben Kingsley and Dennis Hopper. Kingsley plays a cultural critic and professor and his relationships with women are usually casual and sensual in nature. This May-December romance hit home, shaking me up pretty well to the point that I found myself occasionally pausing the movie to keep my composure.

Believing himself to be an independent and self-actualized individual, Kingsley encounters Consuela Castillo (Penélope Cruz), a beautiful and confident student who attends one of his lectures. She captures his attention like no other woman, and they begin a serious relationship.

I found that Kingsley's character and my own personality occasionally intertwined and the gamut of emotions that the movie evoked from me were highly tense. I cannot go deeper into my explanation of the movie because even the slightest additional tidbit might affect your view of the movie.

I will say that the movie moved me to the point where I needed to take a walk and rein in my emotions. Although I would recommend Elegy to both men and women, the latter portion of the movie brings up a subject that women will definitely identify with. It is this portion that affected my emotions drastically.

Elegy was released in 2008 and can currently be seen free for Comcast subscribers. It is listed under "Preferred Movies."

The Mississippi River and it's tributaries are flooding the mid-west and this will continue for a least a month. The floods have easily equalled the floods in New Orleans after Katrina. Has anyone seen FEMA in the mid-west with free trailers? Has anyone heard or seen people looting stores there?

The News As I See It: Al-Qaida is not what it used to be. You can see they don’t have the money anymore. Instead of 70 virgins, martyrs now get a gift certificate to Olive Garden.

Officials still can’t say what happened to $6.6 billion that was sent to Iraq for reconstruction. That’s money we could have wasted and mismanaged right here at home.

American fathers are spending more than twice the amount of time with their children than they used to in years past. Experts say it’s due to a sweeping new trend called "unemployment."

Gas prices have come down just in time for summer vacation. That’s how the gas companies get you. Once you’re 300 miles from home, they jack up the prices again.

According to a new report, only 12 percent of American high school students can pass a basic history test. President Obozo was very disappointed and remarked, "That’s the lowest percentage since our country was founded in 1876. When I was a senior, I did a 10-page paper on my favorite president, George Jefferson."

One of Osama bin Laden's wives said he was a sex machine. In fact, he was the only man who could find her jihad spot.

President Obozo said he'd be OK being a one-term President and with that he shoved his cell phone down his pants and pressed "send."

This Date In History: 1775; The Battle of Bunker Hill took place during the American Revolution. 1885; The Statue of Liberty arrived in New York City aboard the French ship Isere. 1928; Amelia Earhart embarked on the first trans-Atlantic flight by a woman.

1944; The Republic of Iceland was established. 1963; U.S. Supreme Court ruled that no locality may require recitation of Lord's Prayer or Bible verses in public schools. 1972; Burglary of Democratic Party headquarters in Washington, DC, started the Watergate political scandal.

1994; O. J. Simpson's slow-speed chase by the police, watched by millions on TV, ended in his arrest. 2002; Australian scientists announced that they had "teleported" a laser beam—breaking it up and reconstructing it in another location.

Picture Of The Day: Virtual Reality - When video games combine with life, you get this....Tetris lives!

Printable Things I Never Told You: 1) Give me strength to change the things I can, grace to accept the things I cannot and a great big bag of money. 2) Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you're a mile away and you have their shoes. 3) A Democrat is a person who sees a glass partially filled and says, "This glass is half full!" A Republican is a person who sees the same glass and says, "Hey! Who's been drinking my water?" 4) I usually choose the path less traveled by, but it's only because haIf of the time, I'm lost. 5) Stress is when you wake up screaming and you realize you haven't fallen asleep yet.....and that's five !

Today's Birthday Horoscope: Gemini - June 17th: Beware! You get more attention than you bargained for when the Eyewitness News Team does a feature on sleazy-out-of-the-way-motels. Film at 11:00. Meanwhile, stay focused. You're wasting way too many bullets!

Birthdays: John Wesley, English preacher, founder of Methodism 1703, James Weldon Johnson, author, educator 1871, Igor Stravinsky, composer 1882, M. C. Escher, artist 1898 Dan Jansen, skater 1965, Venus Williams, tennis player 1980.

The AREA 51 Retirement Home Bar And Grill: A guy goes into a bar and complains of a headache. The bartender tells him says, "Do what I do. I put my head on my wife's bosom and the headache goes away." The next day at the bar, the bartender says, "Did you do what I told you to?" The guy says, "Yes, I sure did and my headache went away. By the way, you have a nice house!"

An elderly couple was attending church services. About halfway through she leans over and says to her husband, "I just silently passed gas - what do you think I should do?" He replied, "Put a new battery in your hearing aid."

The Hits Just Keep On Coming: My thanks to President Ronald Reagan via my pal Wally for their contributions to today's stories.

A republican was campaigning in a rural New Orleans area and came upon a house in the woods. He knocked on the door and introduced himself as the republican candidate for the local county seat. The man who answered the door said, "Wait a minute! Let me get my wife because she's never met a republican."

While the man was getting his wife, the republican looked around for something he could stand on to deliver his speech. Unfortunately, the only thing nearby was a large pile of horse manure.

The man returned with his wife and the republican stood atop the horse manure mound and gave his speech. After the republican finished speaking, the man said. "That's the first time I ever heard a republican speech." The republican said, "Well, that's the first time I ever gave a republican speech from a democratic platform."

Murray spotted his pal Hiram in the park and they sat down on the park bench to talk. Murray was elated and he said to Hiram, "I've got a new hearing aid and I can finally hear the birds sing and the rustle of the leaves in tha Autumn breeze." Hiram smiled and nodded his approval.

Murray raved on, "Hiram, in the bedroom, I can hear every "sweet nothing" that comes out my bride, Rose's mouth. Yes Murray, this new hearing aid cost me a bundle, but it was worth every penney!" Hiram said, "That's great Murray, what kind is it?" Murray said, "4:15".

That's it for today my swizzle sticks. Remember, if we could just get everyone to close their eyes and visualize world peace for an hour, imagine how serene and quiet it would be until the looting started. It's time to head over to AREA 51 for Happy Hour. I want to get there before the looters do. Happy Father's Day to all the Dads! Have a great weekend and more on Monday.

Stay Tuned !