I was sitting in the cinema when I watched the news on my iPhone.

Whitney Houston, dead, 48 years old.

Breathing stops. Immediately floods of memories rush into my mind’s eye: bursting into tears the first time I heard Whitney sing, “I will always love you”; wearing bright yellow / green pants and pink headbands in the ’80s to look as pretty as Whitney; all of us scratching our heads when she married Bobby Brown and the pride that black people experienced when he sang Star Spangled Banner to open the Supper Bowl. I remember that his version was played over the public address system at school because we were so proud. Next breath. Whitney Houston. Dead. Bath. Hotel room. Pills Fade to black when I open my eyes in dark cinema with the credits rolling.

It has not been 48 hours sold since the news broke. There will be many stories and suspicions about the cause of death. The media is already looking for an addicting angle. I’m writing about Whitney because I want to talk about how self-esteem and success may have been the ‘drug’ that cost Whitney her life.

When I was a black girl from the Baltimore ghettos, I always wanted to be “big.” When I watched TV, I saw Whitney Houston as the biggest winner of all: beautiful, talented, and supported. Whitney became the standard of success in my young mind. I added to my cannon of ideals Mariah Carey, Janet Jackson, Celine Dion, Halle Barry, Angela Bassett, Tina Turner, Mary J. Blige, CC Winans, Oprah, any girl strong enough to be known by millions. I wanted to be ‘someone’. I kept asking God why they were so successful and everything in my life was so difficult. I have been envious, jealous, and spiteful of these amazing women. I have used them as my yardstick for success. You identify? I asked God, what about me? I am a good person. Hard work. I give everything I have. How come they, not me? Have you ever had that thought? It could be at work, in your family, or about someone famous. Well, I have and I have shaken an angry and frustrated fist to the sky many times.

As I was sitting in the dark at the movie theater, I had a new thought. What must it have been like for Whitney to be grouped in the musical shadow of her mother (Cecily Houston)? The extraordinary career of his aunt (Dionne Warwick)? And the genius of his godmother (Aretha Franklin)? Let me be clear: I don’t blame his family for Whitney’s actions. We all walk our own way. I’m suggesting that it’s not hard to imagine how having such incredible influencers in your family could create a sense of having to prove yourself, a large dose of selfishness, or a deep level of insecurity covered in mascara and bravado. The spirit of the songs Whitney sang was directly influenced by family, culture, and history. Women have been rewarded for identifying with their relationships. Especially immortalized in music. Soul songs. Blues songs. Songs about love, betrayal and pain.

The songs that Whitney sang from her heart were about a man. Get a man. Loving a man. Keep a man. And if you think about when things started to change for Whitney, it all started (publicly at least) when the world disagreed with the choice of her man: Bobby Brown. Like so many (black) women, she had been cultivated to love, honor, and cling to her man. Good or bad. When the world said no, Whitney sought her cure. When she found out, she also had to stop listening to others and even stop talking to people to shore up her choice of love. She would have to do it alone to stay true to her conviction. Everyone hated Bobby Brown for her. But she loved him. And it was that love, that righteousness about her choice, good or bad, right or wrong, that she would defend and fight for, at all costs.

We have all fought for the things we thought we had, be it out of love or a point of view. Whitney is all of us. But I wonder. I wonder what would have happened if Whitney had known it was worth it separately from their relationship. I wonder if the message that had taken root in his heart was her it’s your best thing, as Toni Morrison said, and no man, record deal, Grammy, or blockbuster movie makes you valuable.

I wonder if Whitney’s self-esteem, her own internal relationship with herself other than people, places, and things, would have been measured by peace and joy (rather than accolades, tours, and a man) would have changed the outcome of her life. . I think I would have. I say that success is a gloomy and sad second after self-esteem. When you don’t know who you are, your story, your family, or your friends can take root and impersonate the truth. I wish to God that Whitney could have felt and understood, throughout her life, that her success was not Bobby, not money, not even Bobbi Kristina; My prayer for Whitney would have been that her self-esteem, her experience of the intrinsic worth that she naturally brings to life, was her success.

I open my eyes. The cinema is empty. Just empty popcorn boxes crumpled on the floor and half-empty soda glasses in chair cup holders. My prayer and my vision of Impossible Challenge for you today is simple and I ask you to pour this on your daughters with passion: measure your success in terms of your experience of yourself. Your success is not what is outside, it is not your achievements and it is not a man. Or woman. For me, I know I don’t want the kind of success that Whitney experienced. The price is too high. We lost Whitney long before 3:55 pm yesterday. We lost her when she felt that no one could hear her. Then she did what we all do when survival kicks in: She stood firm in her choice alone. She was alone. She was alone. And she felt that no one understood her.

Dear Whitney, I’m very sorry I didn’t listen to you.

I am very sorry that we have joked and criticized.

I am very sorry to have judged you. We didn’t, at the community level, we didn’t listen.

We judged you, which only made you not trust us or listen to us.

So sorry. Please forgive me. Forgive us for our arrogance.

Look into your own life and see who you have judged. Clean it up. If you do, you have a chance to influence them. I did this with my sister Nichole, who was addicted to heroin. I stopped judging her and was able to influence her life just before she died. Nichole knew she was loved and had someone she could also tell all her secrets to before she died because I talked about her success as a mother and she knew it was worth it. Whose life could you save? Whitney showed us how we got it wrong. How can you love someone, without judgment, with an open heart, and do it well?

When you think about doing a fitness training program, you will find that there are millions of programs to choose from. This ensures that you will enjoy variety and will never find yourself thinking, oh no, it is not the same exercise all the time. You can go ahead and choose exercises that make sense to you and that interest you. Whatever fitness training program you choose will have benefits for your body as well as your overall health.

You can also formulate your own fitness program. This can be quite simple as it is a mix and match of the exercises available. Once you stick with the basic guidelines and continue exercising, you will find that the fitness program is effective.

The method of exercises used

The first thing to find out is the right type of fitness training program that works best for you and suits your body’s needs. Women love going to aerobics classes as they are not that intensive, on the other hand men love exercises like boxing or weight lifting.

What happens with time?

Time plays a crucial role in a fitness program. If you have a lot of time, you can select a program that is long-lasting. On the other hand, if you have a full-time job and commitments at home, then you should select an exercise plan that is quick and doesn’t take up too much of your time.

Intensity matters

The intensity you have in the fitness training program plays an important role in deciding whether or not to continue with the program. If you are going to choose an exercise plan that is too difficult for you, then you may be tempted to give up halfway or you could harm your body. If you are doing more in your physical training, you will end up straining your muscles. If you are a beginner and you are exercising for the first time, it is recommended that you do it calmly at first. Once you’ve built up your stamina, you can do more strenuous exercises.

If you have any questions or concerns about your fitness training program, it is a good idea to ask a trainer, as they will be able to provide you with more information. By keeping all of these things in mind, you will ensure that you can get the best out of your fitness training program.

I owned a baseball academy for many years that used pitching machines where hitters could work at hitting without fear of being hit by the ball. Pitching machines consistently threw strikes, and hitters often built confidence by using them. Confidence is always good, but I’m ashamed to say that the consistency of the machines may have been detrimental in helping hitters. “What was that for?” you ask. The launchers are not consistent for the most part, and each launch is done at a different speed and location. The problem is that the throwing machines are usually very consistent, which is not like a game. Pitching at the same speed with nearly the same location each time can negatively affect a hitter when playing games. Rarely are two pitches exactly the same in a real game.

I have seen a lot of changes and / or times of the hitters “spoiled” due to the hitting machines. Hitting a ball continuously with the same speed and pitching location for 10 minutes or more can cause a batter’s swing to be wrong and create timing for just that velocity pitch. As mentioned, when hitters later go to games and are faced with pitchers not throwing anywhere near the same pitch that they threw in the batting cages, this can turn their use of the batting cage into negative practice. Does this mean that I don’t recommend that players practice going to the local batting cages? Of course not, but with the potentially damaging issues mentioned above, there are certain things players should do when doing hitting practice with pitching machines. Following these guidelines will help hitters use their time in the batting cages in the most effective way.

1. If there is a faster-slower setting on the controls, then they should be used frequently. Likewise, if a coach can change gears relatively easily, they must do so often.

2. Batters should always start with a strideless approach to avoid jumping to the ball. This will help players get used to speed without launching, because it’s hard to get a rhythm without the arm action of a real pitcher.

3. Similarly, as long as the hitters know the correct hitting technique, they should start with a few taps to get an idea of ​​the consistency and speed of the machine.

4. Batters must move around the batter’s cage frequently (even for every pitch).

to. To work in low tones, they may have to go further into the batter’s box or get closer to the machine to receive higher tones.

B. Along the same lines, batters should move closer to home to work on inside pitches and away from home to have balls on the outside of the plate. As with any batting practice, it is recommended that batters always try to hit the ball in the direction the ball is thrown.

5. It is further recommended that the speed batters face be changed each time they go to the cages; remember to work on slow pitches when they have trouble waiting for the ball in games and face faster speeds when they are continually late in games.

6. Finishing at slow speeds is always recommended because it is generally easier to “hit the bat” in a game than to wait for balls when a batter’s time is too early on the pitched ball.

Of course, this is all based on taking on consistent pitcher machines. Inconsistent machines can be more game-like and useful, but care must be taken from getting hit by the ball with inconsistent machines. Finally, hitters should be careful not to use their playing bat in the cages too often, as wear and tear can damage aluminum bats.

Cincinnati Bengals:

The Bengals were solid enough on offense and defense not to have too many areas of focus other than injuries and quarterback Andy Dalton’s performance in the playoffs. They chose to look to their future and keep their running game intact and Dalton upright by selecting a pair of offensive linemen with their first 2 picks. Texas A&M OT Cedric Ogbuehi will be a cornerstone for years to come, although he will work slowly later this season as he is coming off a torn ACL. Oregon OT Jake Fisher will have a more immediate impact this season.

This team selects tight ends like the Raiders do with wide receivers. This year’s draft further solidified that trait with Rutgers’ TE Tyler Kroft in the third round and Auburn’s CJ Uzomah in the fifth round. They still have former first-round pick TE Tyler Eifert on the roster, but he had a poor 2014 season plagued with injuries and they need some production from this position in 2015. Kroft will get his first shot at that spot.

Fantasy Starters: RB Jeremy Hill, WR AJ Green, Cincy D

Fantasy Bench: QB Andy Dalton, RB Giovani Bernard, WR Mohamed Sanu

Sleeping Fantasy: TE Tyler Kroft

Pittsburgh Steelers:

The Steelers have focused more on offense in recent years rather than propping up their aging defense and caught up with them. Following the adage of “better late than never,” they focused on that unit in this year’s draft. They picked up LB Bud Dupree in the first round from Kentucky. Projected to go much higher, Dupree looks like a steal in the 22nd pick. He runs a 4.56 40-yard dash and has a 42-inch vertical and will have an immediate impact on the outside. With their second pick, they addressed an evident need in the corner with fellow SEC graduate CB Senquez Golson of Ole Miss and added Ohio St’s Doran Grant in the fourth round.

The offense didn’t need much help, but they added a bit of depth by adding RB DeAngelo Williams in Carolina free agency and selecting WR Sammie Coates from Auburn. Coates is an intriguing prospect, but he joins several WRs who have similar abilities, which is a bit strange unless they plan to move one of them through the exchange.

Fantasy Openers: QB Ben Roethlisberger, RB La’Veon Bell, WR Antonio Brown

Fantasy bench: WR Martavis Bryant, WR Markus Wheaton, TE Heath Miller, Pitt D

Sleeping Fantasy: WR Sammie Coates

Baltimore Ravens:

The Ravens surprised on defense last season, but were inconsistent on offense. They strengthened their offense in hopes of providing some consistency and added a bit of defense to replace some defections. After losing Torrey Smith in free agency, the Ravens Dyed to get a higher WR somehow. They chose to do it in the draft. In another deep wide receiver draft, they grabbed Central Florida’s Breshad Perriman. He fell into the Ravens’ lap at the 26th pick of the first round and they were kicking his heels when they surrendered his name as their pick. He’s big and has astonishing speed (4.29 in the 40-yard dash). He’s the kind of receiver that quarterback Joe Flacco NEEDS and the Ravens need to help open up midfield. In that midfield, Steve Smith Jr should have another productive year. The Ravens are normally solid at TE, but all they had at that position entering the draft was TE Dennis Pitta, who comes off consecutive years plagued with injuries. They solved this problem by selecting Minnesota’s top-ranked TE Max Williams in the second round.

To repair holes in the defensive line, the Ravens were able to get DT Carl Davis of Iowa in the third round and DE Za’Darius Smith of Kentucky in the fourth round. One element the fantasy community should be aware of is that the Ravens added USC’s RB Buck Allen in the fourth round. They caught lightning in a bottle last season with Justin Forsett, but he’s not a true pass catcher and Allen could easily see running and catching passes right away this season.

Fantasy Openers: QB Joe Flacco, RB Justin Forsett, WR Breshad Perriman

Fantasy Bank: WR Steve Smith Jr, Baltimore D

Fantasy Sleeper: TE Max Williams, RB Javorius “Buck” Allen

Cleveland Browns:

Somehow, the Browns excelled in the first half of the 2014 season before returning to play at their talent level. Their offense was too inept for them to live for a playoff spot and it was definitely their focus in the offseason. Too bad they have a clueless front office. They replaced a mediocre QB with another mediocre QB in Josh McCown. I hope to see him fail this season, like he did in Tampa last season, followed by Johnny Manziel proving he’s a complete NFL bust and finding out that Connor Shaw is their best quarterback on the team and possibly their quarterback of the future. . . I still think RB Terrance West is their best RB, but they selected Miami’s Duke Johnson in the third round to add to the mix with Isiah Crowell and repeat the leading RB confusion of 2014.

The Browns formed the worst receiving corps since the scabs were played during the NFL strike in 1987. While it’s virtually impossible not to improve that unit, they didn’t do so convincingly with their free agent signings of Dwayne Bowe and Brian. Hartline. With back-to-back harvests of incredible wide receivers available in the NFL draft, it’s inconceivable that an NFL team could have such a poor unit. It’s so bad that fourth-round pick Vince Mayle could easily break the starting lineup in no time.

The defense is by far the better of the two units for the Browns and actually improved a bit with the addition of DT Danny Shelton from Washington. However, if the defense doesn’t outperform the opposing offense, I’m not sure how many games they will win this year.

Fantasy starters: Not a soul

Fantasy bench: WR Dwayne Bowe, RB Isaiah Crowell, RB Terrance West

Sleeping Fantasy: RB Duke Johnson

I am a proud, self-proclaimed nomad, always in search of fresh pastures. I can pack essentials and be on the road in less than five minutes. A relative once said that it’s easy for me to be a nomad because I don’t really have anything. But in my eyes, I possess everything that any modern nomad could need. A 9 1/2 foot 6 peso St. Croix rod, a new laptop, a car, and a GPS. Oh yeah, some clothes and some personal hygiene products. But while my Buick dealer and I can easily travel anywhere at any time, I have a collection of memories stored in the basements of my happily divorced parents. I’ve never seen the TV shows “Hoarders” or “Intervention,” but a member of my family might one day nominate me to star in an upcoming episode of both.

Now remember, after reading this, that you will think to yourself, “possibly he could not have invented those things.”

Present my Taiwanese wooden massage tool in the shape of a woman’s boobs and the replica of the Iranian battle ax and chainmail helmet. It would certainly be foolish to have things like that lying around for no reason. I only keep important junk, things worthy of valuable storage space.

While looking for a hammer the other day, I came across my copy of a “registration recognition” from the Selective Service System. 35 years later, you never know when your military draft status might show up during a job interview. Along with this document are the test results that revealed what career you might be successful in in the near future. “You should consider ‘Truck Driver.’ Damn, that’s where I went wrong in life! Stupid restaurants. My DAT (Differential Aptitude Test) results actually seem a bit more accurate. Abstract reasoning and verbal reasoning: at the 95th percentile. Spatial relationships-30%. I can figure it out myself, but don’t stay that close. This is how I read it.

In a treasure box are my teddy bears that I patted with as a child. Smokey and Jo Jo. Don’t tell them if you see them, but they look worse than me after all these years. Now the name “Smokey”, I get it. Smokey the Bear. Belt, hat, badge and everything. But Jo Jo? Inspired by Jo Jo White / Boston Celtics point guard? He hadn’t even been drafted into the NBA at this point. Who knows.

There are lots and lots of elementary school Valentine’s Day cards. There were no transgender cards available at the time. Everyone gave everyone a card. “Be my Valentine, Ralph signed.” I don’t want to be homophobic, Ralph, but I’ve still had a suspicious eye on you, even after 45 years. As he matured, so did the cards. I kept stacks of letters and cards from the first love of my life. And the second. And a couple from a younger girl who kept promising me all kinds of immoral acts. I didn’t like it very much, but it was a good read. And what a romantic little shit I was when I was a teenager. I wrote a poem for my first love who dreamed of living in a cave in Bolivia. “Give me a blonde and a bottle of rum and everything will be fine.” Nice try, but it didn’t work.

For whatever reason, I have several of my mother’s grade school report cards. It was probably a leverage / barter tool back in the days when I brought home my own less than stellar grades from high school. A quick scan of my college transcripts shows astonishing success in chemistry and biology classes (thanks to Ms. Bauserman), but complete disinterest in elective courses like 16th century music. Heck, in my defense, you had to WALK to the library to listen to rocker Hans Neusidler and his orchestra without electric guitars.

Grandpa Knode was a Freemason. Thomas Jefferson, George Washington and Grandad. Along with your membership certificate embossed in the secret chapter of the District of Columbia, I have forever kept your Masonic apron and your statute book.

Grandma Knode worked as a secretary to Senator Millard Tydings. The senator gave him a monogrammed wooden box that was on his desk as a token of thanks after he left office in 1950. That wooden box is now in my mother’s basement and contains a recipe written by me. Aunt B. The recipe is from Grandma Knode for “24 Hour Salad,” which is now a traditional dish served annually at our family’s Thanksgiving meals.

Grandpa Lambert worked for a period of time when a man’s word and a handshake meant more than any written contract. A receipt I have, handwritten in the 1940s, was probably given to you as a monthly reminder by a local gas station; bagged ice and gasoline for an outrageous grand total of $ 3.10. Obvious price increase. There are some birthday cards from Grandpa and Grandma Lambert. And several birthday cards from my Aunt Dot. On her way to family sanctity status, religiously every year, Aunt Dot sent birthday cards, each containing a five dollar bill, to me, my two sisters, and our 23 cousins. Each and every year, no matter where you lived. “How did she know I was in Savannah for three months this year?” Even if he didn’t remember it was his birthday, he did so after he had checked his mailbox.

There’s an issue of The Weekly World News, the now-defunct tabloid news publication, mostly fictitious, that I always found hilarious. My girlfriend who was living at the time had outnumbered me by moving out of our house while I was at work. He later left this issue as a kind of strange peace offering, knowing that I found sarcasm a lot of fun. “Redneck Aliens Takeover Trailer Park” The image of a husband and wife, who had witnessed the invasion, was stoically captioned saying “There goes the neighborhood.” I think the delivery of this gift had a doubly sarcastic message behind it. She was good at it.

Fishing was always a big part of my life and basements are dotted with all kinds of fishing relics. A 40 year old automatic fly reel that came mounted on my first fly rod is still armed with the original fly line, forever cured with Shenandoah water. There is an antique wicker basket that Neil Armstrong gave me. Not the astronaut, silly. The UPS delivery driver who was a bar mate years ago at The Boston Beanery. His uncle had passed away and literally gave him the farm. Three ancient bamboo poles were discovered in the barn. “Well Neil, those are all Montague rods, you might want to check their value.” A couple of weeks and a couple thousand dollars later, I received that fishing basket as a referral commission. Securely secured in a roof rack built by my dad are half a dozen other fly rods. Because, you know, you can never have too many fishing rods.

If your phone number was (704) 637-4293 and you don’t have the rotary dial for your phone, I have it. Call me.

I was once almost a father, but he died in utero. Hidden in a box in the corner of the basement is a photo of Andrew, which was supposed to help with the grieving process. It does not work. The picture is on top of a couple of self-help books that are given away, one of which is titled “The Future Father.” I wish I had, but I never took the time to read those books.

My only younger sister had some severe nausea during her first summer camp experience. A letter she had sent from camp, addressed to me and my other sister, was written on the second day at Camp Strawderman. The now empty letter once contained a single stick of chewing gum. The letter said: “The gum is for Robin and Mary.”

I wonder if I ever paid this parking ticket from Dulles airport. I had left my car unattended for two minutes near the main gate of the airport, while helping my Bulgarian friend Lucy with her luggage, in a hasty attempt to catch her flight home at 6 in the morning. I guess since I have the ticket, that’s not a good sign. Wasn’t it my car in any way?

Then an ex-wife came barking at my house one day, accusing me of possessing a fine china set that we had received as a wedding gift. I wholeheartedly denied any knowledge of the flower pattern of coffee plates and cups, knowing full well the definition of a fifty percent division. She gets 100% and I get zero. One afternoon years later, I was searching for something “really” important in my little mountain of memories, when I came across box after box full of old newspapers. The Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star to be exact. Well thank you funny, I used to live in Fredericksburg when I was married. Whoops! I’d give that china set for free, but it seems like the food tastes sour. (But a little revenge tastes sweet) So in the basement he sits.

Before the days when OCD and ADD were invented, my childhood friend Stan and I spent hours playing my electric soccer game. For the unknown, electric soccer games were a small metal playing field that vibrated with an electric motor, which created the movement of plastic figures of soccer players. It was very loud and a lot of fun for a child. But being too competitive, even at a young age, Stan and I took it to a whole new level of intensity. I have the spiral notebooks, full of plays and formations, that we write by hand and develop over time; we even kept detailed game statistics. Spiral notebooks, still-working playing field, and six plastic bags filled with little players in official NFL team colors rest comfortably in the basement, alongside Coach Lee’s new soccer playbook brochures. that we get once a week before math class in my senior year of high school.

There’s the yellow lucky rabbit foot that I wore on the belt loop of my minor league uniform. Several engraved leather bracelets and a Saint Christopher necklace. A Happy Turkey Day card, the turkey image created with the tiny watercolor stained left hand of my goddaughter Rachel. An 8mm copy of “I’m a teenage werewolf”. I must have lost Mr. Magoo’s.

Wait a minute, is that Zeppelin on the radio? Good times, bad times … You know I had my share …

When talking on the phone, you don’t need to say goodbye. When you have all the information you want, just hang up. Even if the other person is your boss and they called you, and they haven’t finished talking, that’s fine, just hang up.

When you follow someone and you don’t want to be seen, you don’t have to hide. Park your car in plain sight about twenty feet from where they stand, and when they get out they won’t see you.

If someone shoots you with a machine gun or high-powered rifle, you can hide behind a bush or an empty garbage can and the bullets will not penetrate. Alternatively, you can push someone in front of you (even a corpse) and that person will absorb the bullets, keeping you safe.

While hiding behind the empty garbage can, if four people shoot at him with machine guns and he only has one pistol, he will not get hurt. Wait for a pause in shooting, then jump up, close your eyes, and fire four quick shots. You will get them all.

A ninety pound woman, if she’s fit, can kick the shit out of a 300 pound bully.

The same 40-pound woman will never break her nose or lose any teeth while kicking trash.

When defusing a bomb or other explosive device, and there is five minutes on the timer, go ahead and have a conversation with someone else. Wait until the timer is reduced to 2-3 seconds before cutting the last wire.

When typing on a computer keyboard, type as fast as you like and don’t look at the keys, even while on the phone. You will never make a mistake or have to back down. This is especially important when time is short and you are writing a complex hacking program or connecting a security video.

When you’re stealing data from someone else’s computer, the moment you log in you’ll see exactly the files you need, conveniently displayed, and the printer is always ready.

Almost no one in the movies uses Windows on their computers. Their screens are much prettier than Windows’ screens, but no one in the real world has ever seen them … yet the characters know exactly how they work.

In movies, everyone uses Apple laptops.

If you are on foot and someone is chasing you in a car, don’t run sideways to get out of the way. Instead, run down the middle of the street or alley to make it easier for them to run you over.

If you are a cop and your suspect comes across a dark building, follow him inside, but whatever you do, don’t turn on the lights. Turning on the lights could help you see him before he shoots you, and that would never work.

If you are hunting a suspect in a dark room with a gun and flashlight, be sure to hold the light directly in front of your body to give the suspect a clear target.

It only takes three or four minutes for two women in high heels to dig a six-foot-deep grave big enough to hold a coffin.

When digging up a coffin in a municipal cemetery at night, turn on the headlights of your car so you can see what you are doing. No one will notice or call the police.

If you hear an intruder in your home and find a broken window, don’t run away or call the police. Instead, proceed cautiously through the house (in the dark) and continually shout, “Is anyone there?” (Works even better with a British accent: “Is anyone theah?”)

When you have sex, you have to start outside the house or apartment. First they hit the door with their backs while they kiss feverishly. Once inside the apartment, go to the bedroom and drop your clothes on the way. Go to bed ready for sex, but you don’t need to remove your underwear, apparently copulation is possible while fully clothed below the waist.

If you are a mature adult and something is bothering you, don’t handle it like an adult. Instead, sweep all the papers off your desk (including computers and other expensive hardware), flip the desk over, lower the bookcases, throw chairs out the window, and just throw a tantrum like any responsible adult would. This sets a good example for children to follow. This is especially appropriate if you are an elected official.

If you need to whistle to get someone’s attention, it’s easy – just put two fingers in your mouth and blow. The result will be a high-pitched, piercing whistle that will awaken the dead. It takes no practice, anyone can do it.

If you are ever at the scene of a plane crash, you don’t need to worry about fire. Despite the hundreds of tons of jet fuel that will be spilled, all you have to worry about is the dozen small fires burning in isolated locations around the crash site. Plus, all the bodies will be intact, and you might even run into a survivor here and there, even if the plane crashed from 30,000 feet.

If you are a computer geek and someone hacks your mainframe from the outside, you will have no problem fixing it because you can look at the fast scrolling hexadecimal and binary number lines and read them with no problem. You will have the problem solved in about thirty seconds.

If two or more men commit rape, they all laugh like hyenas all the time.

All the ancient Romans spoke with a British accent.

When a tire explodes, there is always a flash under the wheel well and a sound like a rifle shot.

If your house is on fire and the fire department is on the way, stay inside the burning house until they arrive, even if it takes them an hour. It is much more dramatic when you walk out the door with flames chasing you, or even if you are on fire, than simply standing on the grass and waiting for help.

In movies and television, it is possible to stand in a pouring rain while the sun reflects off the metal surfaces around you.

When you park your car, you don’t need to lock it. When you return, don’t bother checking the back seat for intruders. If someone with a club is waiting there to strangle you, you’d probably rather not know.

If the movies are accurate, no one but me has dinner before 8pm. Usually it’s even later, as the filmmakers pick up their dinner appointments at eight and then head to a great restaurant where they have reservations at ten.

If you ever have to remove a bullet from someone’s body, it is important that, when you retrieve the bullet, you drop it into a metal plate at least six inches long, for that satisfying “clunk” sound.

When you go after that bullet, you won’t have to dig very deep. Even if it is a 20mm round, it will stay just under your skin where you can easily reach it.

Even in 2020, people who stay in hotels, when they watch TV, can only watch old westerns from the 1950s shot in black and white, usually with Indians attacking wagons.

If you are an overweight fifty year old cop wearing cowboy boots and you find yourself chasing a twenty year old suspect who is eight feet tall and runs like a deer, be sure to yell “Stop! Police!” It won’t stop immediately, but if you keep screaming as it fades into the distance, you could wear it out.

If you are driving a car with a passenger in the front seat, feel free to maintain full eye contact while conversing with that person. It doesn’t matter if you are on a highway or busy city street, you don’t need to keep your eyes on the road. Really, it will be fine, you won’t have an accident.

When you’re being chased by assassins, be sure to run through the roughest terrain you can find, then continually look over your shoulder so you can’t see where you’re going. That way, you’ll be sure to fall flat on your face multiple times, just to keep things exciting.

If you own a very hot and very fast sports car, like a Camaro or better, it is important that you spin the tires every time you exit the driveway or parking lot. There is no particular reason for it, it is the right thing to do.

If you are a police officer driving a fast car and chasing a suspect, be sure to follow the trail every time you turn a corner. It can make you waste a few seconds while you regain control, but it helps you catch the bad guy a little faster.

If someone kidnaps your child and demands a ransom, they will probably call the FBI. They will install a telephone tracking kit in your home to locate the kidnappers. Now when the kidnappers call to tell you where to take the ransom, don’t answer right away. Let the phone ring fifteen or twenty times before answering. Criminals will never suspect that you are stalling so the feds can start their tracking.

If you are chasing a murderer in a dark alley or warehouse, a stray cat will jump out of the shadows and scare you. You’ll sigh in relief, and that’s the exact moment the killer will jump you from behind.

Police cars must always start, stop and turn on squeaky tires. It doesn’t help them catch criminals faster, but it’s great for Goodyear’s results. Buy shares in tire companies.

Security guards fall into two categories: 1) fat retirees who are always hit in the head and killed, or 2) rejected from the police academy who can’t wait to shoot someone.

When pursuing a suspect on the street, a police officer may run over a police officer at high speed, launch himself several times in the air, land on his feet, and continue the chase.

When cars fall off a cliff, they will always explode when they hit the bottom, and the explosion will occur inside the car.

If someone ever puts a bomb in your house or car, it will explode 26 times, allowing for very interesting images from 26 different directions.

Now it is possible to pour gasoline all over a floor, wait until the room fills with explosive fumes, and then light a match to threaten the hostages and the police who are there to arrest you. When the match burns up to your fingers, you can safely drop it without fear of igniting gasoline fumes.

Even if you shoot someone with an elephant pistol, it will only make a small red hole in their forehead.

If you are ever on the run from the police, the best way to escape is to drive the wrong way in rush hour traffic at 90 mph. It’s easy, just turn the steering wheel left and right and the other cars will get out of your way.

When you smoke a cigarette, just take a puff or two (but don’t inhale) and then put it out. If that doesn’t satisfy your wish, you can always light another one. After all, they only cost a dollar each.

When people in movies get cancer, they never lose weight. The day they die, they are still robust and completely fleshy.

Film fire victims can burn all their skin, but not their hair. They will squirm and scream in agony while perfectly styled.

People who live in Boston and New York all have California accents.

If you enter a room (or a jail cell) and find someone hanging by a rope from the ceiling lamp, you should not (and this is very important) leave the tray you are carrying. Even if the tray contains expensive crystal goblets or highly unstable nitroglycerin, you MUST drop it and let everything break. This is how you do it.

Only two hymns were known to parishioners in the Old West: Amazing Grace and Bringing In the Sheaves.

In the 24th century, when Starfleet rules the galaxy, everyone in France will speak with a Shakespearean accent.

People on television hate being indoors. They constantly need to “get some air.”

In 2015, wrestling superstar Hulk Hogan left the wrestling business under rather interesting circumstances, where he used racial slurs during an adult film. Now he has since apologized and expressed an interest in getting back to wrestling. However, he has left many people wondering if he should be allowed back into the ring.

Here are 5 reasons why Hulk Hogan’s return would be beneficial for wrestling!

Your fan base

Needless to say, he already has a huge fan base and will bring him back to wrestling. As this is an arena where having a large fanbase almost means great success, you will have no trouble entertaining your fans and raising your profile.

Your general physical condition …

Hulk Hogan has struggled before so it’s not like he needs a lot of retraining, and he has said that he feels like he’s in great shape as he still works out. All you have to do is get back in top shape and get back in the ring. Watching him fight some of the rookies will help the rookies realize what they may be capable of!

Your experience!

Hulk Hogan has fought before, in fact most of his life. And that experience will be crucial to help raise your profile and help transition from wrestling to the new era. With that said, he’s not young anymore, so he might prepare for some interesting and epic matches!

His attractive star …

Despite some controversies, he is still a huge star, and has been for many decades. You are almost guaranteed a great return on investment in wrestling, as your star power will draw large crowds who would like to see you perform in the ring.

In an era where the wrestling movement is changing, the handsome star Hulk Hogan will help calm the nerves.

Other fighters have returned …

And its reception will probably be no exception. Considering that he has great appeal as a star before he leaves, plus the fact that other wrestlers have returned to the ring, this will rekindle his wrestling fan base.

Wrestling is one of the few sports in which the old can compete with the young. If Hulk Hogan returns, this will be more apparent. Expect big crowds, big epic performances, and even bigger matches if Hulk Hogan returns to the ring.

I’m not a big fan of hunting and never will be. So I guess I’m qualified not to like this movie. However, the reason I can’t honestly say that I liked the movie is not because it’s about hunting, you can tell good stories through horrible things … Josh Brolin to tell a story. I appreciated some of its quirks and the fact that the tone was deliberately a big mess, but I don’t see it as something that meets the viewer’s expectations. Other than the fact that it’s Brolin in the lead role, nothing else ties you to the character, there is no emotional bond and the only bond that exists is very predictable. The dynamic between Brolin’s character and his annoying son is so obvious that I can’t even call this “lazy writing.” This was “sleeping writing.” Recently, I found myself reviewing movies that often felt like missed opportunities, add this one to the list. The artists and the stage could have worked towards an entirely different goal, the final product could have been an independent sensation. In the end, we are looking at a very light comedy that only gives you a small amount of excitement and / or fun. Without Brolin and McBride, it would have been a half-star movie. I don’t know, I’m thinking about it and I don’t think it’s a movie that deserves to be ripped apart, but it didn’t make me feel much while watching it, so … the potential to work, but it was half-baked. Or maybe not, maybe that was the movie Jody Hill wanted to make, a silly slice of life that doesn’t really come home after delivering all the goods. The comic elements are present, but never fully embraced, because it seems like Hill was more interested in this unusual character study than a dramatic / comic development of the story. Perhaps a tougher hand in dosing the comedy bits could have helped. Even when dosing the dramatic parts, actually. Hell, imagine if the boy died while hunting, it would have been a huge blow to the stomach for the public who were on the light trip, it could have elevated a mostly anonymous image to something that people would not do. I have forgotten, as always.

They obviously had different intentions, the Netflix production just wants to take you to the place of pressing the thumbnail and sticking with it, so these movies have to stay on a much more conventional route, sadly, despite the fact that all “doing weird things” seems to have worked the same way in the past. I hope that Netflix, a place of ideas and creativity, does not take too many steps to become a regular film studio, where instead of shaping the tastes of the audiences, they fall into the pattern of predicting the tastes of the audiences and giving them things. simple that (supposedly) they want. I found some narrative similarities to I don’t feel at home in this world anymore, because of how the story unfolded in an unconventional character-centric way, placing absolutely weird (sometimes unrealistic) dynamics between the characters (McBride showing footage of his girlfriend being gangbanged by uncles Brolin’s son, who is only twelve years old). While IDFAHITWA (I thought using the acronym would have made my life easier, it didn’t) found the perfect balance between the weird, the sad and the funny, delivering an incredible climax; The Legacy Of A Whitetail Deer Hunter (Dude, what about these titles, by the way) really didn’t? It’s too sketchy to become concrete, even the ending (where things get a little more intense) feels too light and not rewarding enough. I was not bored, again, 100% by Brolin, but I was never enthusiastic either, and that is certainly not good. Visually, they worked enough to make a classic setting feel a bit more lively, putting the characters in some situations worthy of a light Bear Grylls episode, environmentally even, and that was great. He also doesn’t really take a position on the “train your son to hunt” situation, at least a little moral dilemma would have been nice to see. There is a very small part, but it remains unsolved and unexplored, like most of the movie.

What colors should you wear to look fabulous? I have the answer!

But first … a brief history …

About a year ago … I was surfing the internet for fashion ideas. No particular reason. I guess I was a bit in a style routine and I thought … maybe if I look at what other people wear, I’ll be inspired.

Do you ever look at yourself one day and think … what is my style … how do I look as a whole … what the heck is that on my shirt?

Well, I guess I had one of those moments. I was feeling drab and unappealing. She had very nice clothes … but she was bored and uninspired.

I found an article on seasonal colors and how each person fits into a seasonal color palette. As I read this article, I began to understand that color plays a HUGE role in how a person looks and feels.

The idea of ​​using the “correct” color never occurred to me. And honestly, I’m not sure I know exactly what my best colors were.

So, I seriously studied this concept. This magical idea of ​​12 seasonal color palettes.

I did my own personal color analysis. I found out that I am a Light Spring. I bought a Light Spring color swatch book and make sure all my clothing matches these swatches.

This changed my life. Why? Because for the first time, I was very confident when I got dressed. The right color can be the big difference between looking drab or bright. I get compliments all the time … wow, good color on you! Your eyes look so blue in that sweater. You look great!

The more I listen to this, the better I feel. And you too!

Now when I shop, I look for my best colors first and then the style. If there’s a shirt that’s super cute but doesn’t have my colors, I don’t even bother to pick it up.

So, I want to share with you what the 12 seasons are and how you can do your own seasonal color analysis. Then you can read my other articles for each season to see the colors and start sorting your closet by awesome … and not so awesome (maybe donate?).

How to do a personal seasonal color analysis:

First, you need to determine your dominant “feature” in your coloration.

• Deep … dark and rich.
• Light … Light and delicate.
• Smooth … Smooth and muted.
• Sure … Clear and bright.
• Warm … No cold undertones.
• Fresh … No warm undertones.

Second, you need to determine whether it looks better in cool or warm colors. If your skin has a yellow undertone, then you look best in warm colors.

Now combine the two to reduce your season.

For example, I am light colored. I have little contrast between my skin and my hair. My eyes are light blue green … but not crystal blue. My skin has a distinctive yellow undertone, so I am a warm palette. From this description, I can determine that my season is a Warm Light season.

Read the descriptions above again and then read below to choose your season. I am a source of light.

And … drum roll please … here are the stations to choose from:

Cold, deep colors = deep winter (Sandra Bullock and Kim Kardashian)

Deep, warm colors = Deep Fall (Eva Mendes and Julia Roberts)

Light and warm colors = Light Spring (This is me !!) Ellen Degeneres and Kate Hudson

Light and cool colors = Light summer (Heather Locklear and Reese Witherspoon)

Light and cool colors = Light winter (Megan Fox and Liv Tyler)

Light and warm colors = Clear Spring (Emilie de Ravin and Jenny McCarthy)

Soft, warm colors = Soft Autumn (Drew Barrymore and the Olsen twins)

Soft, cool colors = Soft summer (Ellen Pompano and Jennifer Aniston)

Warm, light colors = Warm Spring (Nicole Kidman and Reba McEntire)

Warm and Medium Colors = Warm Fall (Debra Messing and Marcia Cross)

Cool and Medium Colors = Cool Summer (Kimberly Williams and Miranda Lambert)

Cold dark colors = cool winter (Lauren Graham and Brooke Shields)

Here’s the magic of knowing your seasonal colors. Now you know what colors to choose for clothing, makeup, scarves, jewelry, nail polish, and eyeglass frames. You can even extend your colors to your home … highlighting your personality.

Color is powerful when used the right way. Read more about her seasonal colors for ideas on clothing, jewelry, and makeup.

The good, the ugly and the bad (Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo in Italian) – 4 stars (Excellent)

After enjoying unexpected commercial success with “A Handful of Dollars” and “For a Few Dollars More,” Italian director Sergio Leone ends his “Spaghetti Westerns” trilogy with “The Good, the Ugly, and the Bad.”

Surprisingly, even at this point in his masterful directing of Western films made in Spain, Leone would not enjoy a penny of the adulation of critics, as only the Laurel Awards would award a single award to Clint Eastwood for Action Performance, and that was as runner-up.

Hollywood and its stars ignored Sergio Leone as well as Johnny Depp. They refuse to acknowledge that even westerns or pirate movies can be cleverly made and have unique acting performances. Clint Eastwood is The Man with No Name, and Johnny Depp is the perfect pirate as Captain Jack Sparrow. There will never be another like it in these roles.

At least one film director, screenwriter and actor – Quentin Tarantino – has identified Leone’s The Good, The Bad and The Ugly as “the best directed film of all time.” It was Tarantino who gave the viewers “Reservoir Dogs.” “Pulp Fiction” and “Kill Bill (Vol. 1 and Vol.2)” among others.

But let’s go back to Leone, who helped write the script with Luciano Vincenzoni mainly. It was Vincenzoni who came up with the premise of the film (Three Rogues in Search of Treasure in the American Civil War era) and its title.

The triangle of rogues included The Good (Clint Eastwood, a professional gunman referred to as “Blondie” in this film who would become The Man With No Name in later Western films derived from his character), The Bad (Lee Van Cleef, a self-centered hit man known as “Angel Eyes”) and El Feo (Eli Wallach, a self-centered outlaw known as “Tuco”).

Simply put, the plot is to first establish the three rogues as genuine killers. Blondie then becomes a pseudo bounty hunter in association with Tuco, handing him over for the bounty, rescuing him before he is hanged, and repeating the process until Blondie leaves Tuco in the desert to die. Tuco survives and lives to find Blondie and return the favor.

When the blonde is about to die as Tuco forces her to walk through the desert, they are interrupted by a runaway, driverless carriage laden with corpses. Except one body, Bill Carson, lives long enough to tell Tuco where $ 200,000 worth of gold in exchange for water is buried. As Tuco goes for water, Carson tells Blondie the exact grave in a cemetery where the gold can be found. Suddenly, they have a compelling reason to become partners again.

Dressed in the Confederate uniforms of the dead, Tuco takes Blondie, who is on the verge of death, on a local Catholic mission led by Tuco’s brother, a priest. Blondie’s recovery is going well, but Tuco’s reconciliation with his brother is not.

Blondie and Tuco abandon the mission and end up being captured by Union soldiers and taken to a prison camp where Angel Eyes (now Union sergeant) is personally charged with torturing the captives. Angle Eyes notices the gold, makes his enforcer beat Tuco senseless, and learns the name of the cemetery. He then hands over Tuco for the reward, frees Blondie (who knows the exact location) and he and his gang of 5 thugs head to the graveyard with Blondie.

Tuco manages to escape on his way to being hanged, appears in a city that the Union forces have foolishly bombed and collides with Blondie, Angel Eyes and their gang of 5. Blondie and Tuco manage to kill the 5 thugs while Angel Eyes escapes. , and now the three are heading to the cemetery.

On the way to the cemetery, Blondie and Tuco encounter a full-blown Civil War battle on a bridge that crosses a river into the cemetery. They witness the continued carnage, blow up the bridge, and then the soldiers on both sides, as well as Blondie and Tuco, continue on their way.

Once in the cemetery, it is inevitable that the three rogues will face off in one of the largest Western confrontations ever filmed. The confrontation is filled with masterful panoramic shots of Leone, extreme close-ups, and a clever sequence of final events. If you haven’t seen this movie then you must, it might just be the best western movie ever made. If you’ve seen it, you should watch it again to better appreciate Sergio Leone’s masterful direction.

There are many great moments in this movie. Two of my favorites involved Tuco. In the first, while Tuco is in the bombed town, he manages to find a bathtub and take a bath. As he does so, a bounty hunter (remember Tuco still has a price on his head) confronts him naked in the bathtub.

At the beginning of the movie, the bounty hunter is one of three gunmen who confront Tuco and Tuco shoots all three. The one facing Tuco lost his right arm but lived and now shoots with his left arm. It reminds Tuco of his anguish and, as he does so, Tuco kills him with his weapon that is hidden under the water in the bubble bath. Tuco then utters this memorable phrase: “When you have to shoot, shoot, don’t talk.”

The other scene that I love is when Tuco walks miles and miles out of the desert and enters a town with a gun shop in front of him. After getting wet at a waterhole, he confronts the owner, remakes a pistol with parts from three other pistols, and then goes out to test the weapon.

Hit three standing figures down, turning them sideways, and then fire three shots to cut each one in half. Two figures fall immediately and the third remains standing. Tuco takes a shot of whiskey, then jumps up and when he lands, the third target falls. This is a boy’s movie, and you really need to be a boy to fully appreciate what I’m sharing here. Tuco’s role in this scene helped invent the word cool.

Viewers watching this movie at the time were unaware that Eli Wallach (Tuco) nearly died three times while playing his role.

He was nearly poisoned on set after drinking acid used to burn the bags filled with gold coins so that they would tear more easily when struck with a shovel. A movie technician had poured the acid into a lemon soda bottle and Wallach didn’t know it. He drank a lot of milk and ended the scene with a mouth full of sores.

In another scene where Wallach was about to be hanged while on a horse, the rope was severed by a pistol shot, but the frightened horse galloped for nearly a mile with Wallach’s hands tied behind him and the rope. still taut around his neck.

In a third scene, to cut off his captor’s handcuffs, Wallach places his captor on the train tracks and waits for a train to pass and break the chain attached to the handcuffs. He was one foot from the track and lowers his head to the ground as the train passes. The entire film crew and Wallach were unaware that the heavy iron steps protruded from each car and that any of the numerous iron step cars would have beheaded Wallach if he had raised his head.

Wallach would later acknowledge and complain in his autobiography that on-set safety was not one of Leone’s main concerns when directing the film.

For the record, Tuco’s full name in the film’s script was Tuco Benedito Pacífico Juan María Ramírez.

Since Sergio Leone barely spoke English and Eli Wallach barely spoke Italian, the two communicated in French. Because an international cast was employed, only Eastwood, Van Cleef and Wallach spoke in English and they were dubbed into Italian for the premiere in Rome. All the other members of the international cast spoke primarily French or Spanish and were later dubbed. This explains the fact that none of the dialogue in the film was completely in sync.

Here are three cool facts from the boys movie:

1) The stash of gold in the movie was $ 200,000, which doesn’t seem like a lot of money today. However, gold was $ 20 + an ounce in 1862 and $ 628 an ounce in 2006, so gold was actually worth more than $ 6 million in today’s money.

2) In the movie, Blondie (Clint Eastwood) used a Colt 1851 cartridge conversion revolver with silver snake grips, and an 1866 Winchester “yellow boy” with raised sights with ladder. Angle Eyes (Lee Van Cleef) used a Remington 1858 Army percussion revolver. Tuco (Eli Wallach) used a Colt 1851 Navy percussion revolver with a lanyard. The soldiers used Gatling pistols with drum magazines and Howitzer cannons.

3) Clint Eastwood wore the same poncho without replacement or cleaning during Leone’s three spaghetti westerns. In the second movie (For a few dollars more) you can visibly see that his poncho was mended after being punctured by 7 bullet holes from Ramon’s Winchester in A Fistful of Dollars. The patched area, originally on the left chest, is worn over Eastwood’s right shoulder blade in For a Few Dollars More.

With virtually no praise at the time, Sergio Leone’s “The Good, the Ugly and the Bad” is now considered a classic by many critics. It was part of Times “The 100 Best Movies” of the last century, and it’s one of the few movies to enjoy a 100% Certified Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes (rottentomatoes.com). The good, the bad, and the ugly are currently ranked fifth in the top 250 in the internet movie database, all of which is not bad at all for an Italian guy directing an American western.

Even the master film critic Roger Exert gives Leone his fair share as an excellent director and recognizes two other Sergio Leone films as unquestionable masterpieces: “Once Upon a Time in the West” (1968) and “Once Upon a Time. In America”. (1984)).

Sergio Leone was born in the cinema. His father was Roberto Roberti (aka Vincenzo Leone), one of the pioneers of Italian cinema, and his mother was actress Bice Valerian. Sergio Leone was born in Rome in 1929 and died in Rome in 1989 of a heart attack. He remains one of the great directors in the history of cinema.

Copyright © 2008 Ed Bagley