Doriano Carta

The movie “City Slickers” is an underrated movie in my book. It’s not only hilarious but there are many heart-warming memorable scenes such as Billy Crystal’s speech at his son’s school and the one where Jack Palance (Curly) shares his secret of life theory. He said it’s One Thing and Billy asked what that one thing was and he replied that it’s something we all have to figure out and stick to it.

We’re living in complicated hectic times so this simple philosophy really hits home. It’s all about making thing less complex and focusing on what matters most to us. Yes, Curly used some colorful language to make his point but basically that’s all there is to it. Less is more. Follow your bliss and keep your eyes on the prize.

Here’s the wonderful scene as they ride on the range.

Here’s Billy’s midlife crisis speech

One of my favorite performers ever from “So You Think You Can Dance” was Blake McGrath from season one. He might actually be my favorite period if it weren’t for his ego which prevented him from winning the first season of SYTYCD. Still, he ranks right up there with Benji who won season two and Mark from season four.

Blake gave what I consider the best audition ever as well. It was so powerful and so different that I’ve never forgotten it. As I said, he truly should have won season one but only made it to the final six because of his ego. I think it all started with some controversial remarks he made regarding one of the judges/choreographers that criticized him. Blake said something to the effect that he thought the judge was jealous which he apologized for later on but the damage was done in the eyes of the viewers. Still, I think he was the best dancer that season and one of the best I’ve ever seen. He’s gone on to become one of the best choreographers in the industry now so things have turned out well.

Here are some of his performances starting with his unforgettable audition.

Here’s Blake breaking down emotionally in Mia’s class. Look how moved everyone else in the class became as well including Mia who obviously felt a great deal for him.

Here’s Blake doing Mia’s lyrical Jazz

Blake doing Mary’s Samba

Argentine Tango. Checkout his leg action at the end. Wild.

Rock n Roll again with Ashle

Disco, can you dig it?

Smooth Waltz

Here’s the awful moment he was voted off. Ironically he had to dance off against the eventual winner Nick.

It should be no surprise that “Dead Poet’s Society” is one of my all-time favorite movies. After all, the name of this blog is “Seizing the Day” and clearly inspired by the Carpe Diem phrase from the movie which means Seize the Day!

Even after all these years, I still think of this movie a lot. I remember all of the inspirational living in the moment messages in the film. The scene where professor Keating shows his boys the photo of the students from many years ago still haunts me. That’s when he starts whispering “carpe diem” as the camera slowly zooms in on the faces of all those long dead students. 

It was such a powerful scene because I always did that kind of thing whenever I looked at old photos or watched old movies. 

Of course, the best scene is the ending when Keating leaves his class for the last time and his students stand on theirs desks as they say “O Captain, My Captain”. Chilling stuff even just thinking about it now.

Here are some of my favorite moments that I seized from Dead Poet’s Society, beginning with the chilling ending!

So You Think You Can Dance has had more than their share of amazing dancers but one of my favorite couples has been Allison and Ivan. Together they performed a series of amazing routines week after week. Here are my favorite numbers.

Their best was this Argentine Tango

Here’s a wonderful contemporary number choreographed by Mia Michaels.

Here’s a hip hop routine they did for Ne Yo’s Sexy Love that demonstrates how versatile they were in all forms of dance. Sadly, this was to be their last dance together as Allison was voted off the show in a shocking results show. American got it totally wrong that week and year. She should’ve won.

I heard Marie Digby’s “Say it again” for the first time today while shopping at Publix! I had to use my trusty Shazam iPhone app to find out the name of the beautiful song and the angel that sang it.

As it turns out, Marie is a long time Youtube artist that landed a recording contract. I love when that happens. Here’s her studio produced music video followed by one she did on youtube a while ago.

Say It Again

The thing about love
Is I never saw it coming
It kinda crept up and took me by surprise
And now there`s a voice inside my heart that`s got me wondering
Is this true, i want to hear it one more time

Move in a little closer
Take it to a whisper
Just a little louder

Say it again for me
Cuz i love the way it feels when you are telling me that i`m
The only one who blows your mind
Say it again for me
It`s like the whole world stops to listen
When you tell me you`re in love
Say it again

Thing about you is you know just how to get me
You talk about us like there`s no end in sight
The thing about me is that i really want to let you
Open that door and walk into my life

Move in a little closer
Take it to a whisper
Just a little louder

Say it again for me
Cuz i love the way it feels when you are telling me that i`m
The only one who blows your mind
Say it again for me
It`s like the whole world stops to listen
When you tell me you`re in love

And it feels like it`s the first time
That anybody’s ever brought the sun without the rain
And never in my whole life
Have I heard words as beautiful as when you say my name

Say it again for me
Cuz i love the way it feels when you are telling me that i`m
The only one who blows your mind
Say it again for me
It`s like the whole world stops to listen
When you tell me you`re in love
Say it again

When you tell me you`re in love�
Say it again

I can’t wait to see the new movie “My Sister’s Keeper” and the book it was based on. It seems like such a wonderful story with a fantastic cast. Here’s the trailer and the full song that was used in it, “Life is Beautiful” by Vega 4.

Despite all of the advancements we’ve made with web browsers, it’s still rather messy when it comes to printing pages from websites. We still kill too many trees by printing reams of pages full of superfluous junk we didn’t even want.

Enter PrintFriendly which is an easy service that makes things quick and easy. Just copy and paste the URL onto their site and you’ll get a printer-friendly version of the pages. You can use their tools to further remove any elements you don’t want/need.

There’s also a cool bookmarklet which makes things even quicker and easier while you’re surfing. Just click, preview and print. Very nice. Also, you can add a PrintFriendly button to your own site to make things easier for your visitors and readers.

Here’s a video of how it work.

I love “Stealing Heaven” (1988) which is based on Margret Meade’s book that covers the true legend of the forbidden 12th century romance between Abelard and Heloise. He was a renown and controversial philosopher and she was a stunning beauty with extreme intelligence that drove the monastery crazy with all of her brilliant questions and theories.

Their love story is considered one of the most heartbreaking tales ever but it also doesn’t end like so many classic tales. Without giving away too much, I can say that their love affair was unique and some would say it had a happy ending. You’ll have to be the judge of that one. I think it did.

Warning: The movie is a little steamy with some racy romantic scenes. The radiant actress Kim Thomson that plays Heloise is amazingly gorgeous and there is palpable chemistry between her and her co-star Derek De Lint.

My favorite scene and one of favorites in any film is when Heloise grabs a falling feather at the height of her romance with Abelard and saves it as she proclaims that day as a Holy Day. She looks at that feather through the years and remembers the pinnacle of her happiness.

Here are some scenes

From Windows IT Pro magazine’s CTRL-ALT-DEL section. These unfortunate URLs have been floating around the internet a long time, but it’s worth nothing that they’re still happily active and hilarious.

10. TeachersTalk is www.TeachStalk.com

9. Dollar Exchange is www.DollarSexchange.com

8. Therapist Finder  is www.theRapistFinder.com

7. A site called ‘Who Represents‘ where you can find the name of the agent that represents a celebrity. Their domain name… wait for it… is
www.WhorePresents.com

6. Then of course, there’s the Italian Power Generator company…
www.PowerGenitalia.com

5. Want to holiday in Lake Tahoe? Try their brochure website at
www.GotaHoe.com

4. World Taekwondo Federation becomes www.WTF.org

3. Speed of Art www.speedoFart.com or Pots of Art www.PotsoFart.com

2. If you’re looking for computer software, there’s always
www.ipAnywhere.com

1. Looking for a pen? Look no further than Pen Island at
www.penisLand.net