city of stars

Here is La La Land trailer featuring City Of Stars by Ryan Gosling:

gotta catch them all

Pokemon Go arrived on July 6 and has since taken over the streets and the world.  Places like The Beach Chalet are overrun all hours of the day because of the many Pokemons to be caught there.  The yoots are out en mass walking around staring down at their phones.  Some girl even found a real dead body while hunting for Pokemon by a river.  And opportunistic robbers are using the game to lure unsuspecting players.  I myself don't know a Squirtle from a Charmander, but I could use a Pokeball right now to save me...July is seriously kicking my butt.  I won't go into it but a week ago I received news that turned my life upside down.  I haven't slept through the night since.  I think I should start believing in God, because I need some divine intervention to make everything alright.  Maybe I'll be able to write about it soon enough, but 2016, you suck..."Who knows if it's the start of something wonderful, or one more dream that I cannot make true?"  That's a line from a new song from Ryan Gosling off the La La Land soundtrack.  It's a swoon-worthy line from a swoon-worthy song.  My life is full of dreams that I cannot make true, but I am still a sucker for the start of something wonderful...Garry Marshall, creater of many beloved sitcoms, passed away.  What would my youth be without the laughter that he gifted us with Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, etc.?  RIP, Garry Marshall...I am actually looking forward to seeing Star Trek Beyond, which is getting great reviews and is said to be the best of the new series.  I loved the first Star Trek reboot but did not like Into Darkness.  It will be sad though, to see Anton Yelchin's last turn as Chekov...Star Trek was a show that wore its optimism about humanity proudly.  Right now, the world feels as if it's being ripped apart by hatred.  The latest incident was a shooting spree in a mall in Munich.  I don't think for the past month or two, we've had one week go by without some mass violent attack.  And then this being an election year, we have to listen to politicians spewing even more hate than usual to promote their self-serving agendas.  Those talking heads don't give a crap about making America or the world great.  All they want is more power to feed their insatiable egos...Thank goodness that the Olympics is coming in a few weeks.  Of course there are politics being played out in the games as well, but sometimes when you strip that all away, the Olympics is a welcomed reminder of what individual human beings are capable of doing when they push their wills and bodies to the limit.  There is an essence to the games that is hopeful.  And we need hope more than ever.  Either that, or an augmented reality where we just catch pocket monsters all day long.

try to remember

Another week, another round of terrorist attacks.  Earlier in the week was a suicide bombing at Istanbul Ataturk Airport in Turkey that killed 36 and injured 147 people.  Then just yesterday terrorists stormed a Bangladesh restaurant and killed 20 hostages.  Both attacks are believed to be responsibility of ISIS.  There was also a video allegedly released by ISIS that names San Francisco and Las Vegas as targets.  What chaotic and scary times we are living in...Elie Wiesel who lived in even scarier times as a Holocaust survivor passed away today.  He was 87.  He wrote the powerful book Night, which is about his time spent in the concentration camp as a young man but is really more about his questions about faith and God.  I think I need to reread soon.  I feel as if my mind has turned numb for many years now.  There was a time when my mind was preoccupied with the big questions that Elie Wiesel asked.  I used to wonder about man's place in the world and what that place means and what we need to do about it.  But now, my mind is too lazy.  My attention span is about 140 characters long.  Everything is abbreviated and simplified.  All I know to say and think is, love is greater than hate. And then I get dragged into office gossips and stay awake at night over my house leaks.  I don't do anything of real consequence.  I don't even have thoughts of real meaning.  I would say I've regressed.  In my youth, I at least aspired for higher learning.  I need to be a better man, like Elie Wiesel...I was listening to this song on my Broadway playlist called Try To Remember.  I actually never quite paid attention to it til today.  It's from the musical The Fantastiks.  The song affected me a lot today.  I think I will try to remember and follow, follow, follow.  The lyrics go like this:

Try to remember the kind of September
When life was slow and oh
so mellow.
Try to remember the kind of September
When grass was green and grain was yellow.
Try to remember the kind of September
When you were a tender and callow fellow.
Try to remember and if you remember
then follow
follow.
Try to remember when life was so tender
When no one wept except the willow.
Try to remember when life was so tender
When dreams were kept beside your pillow.
Try to remember when life was so tender
When love was an ember about to billow.
Try to remember and if you remember
then follow
follow.
Deep in December it's nice to remember
Although you know the snow will follow.
Deep in December it's nice to remember
Without a hurt the heart will hollow.
Deep in December
it's nice to remember
The fire of September that made you mellow.
Deep in December our hearts should remember and follow
follow.