“FADED MEMORIES & FALLEN STARS - REMEMBERING CHRIS FARLEY - Gather.com” plus 3 more |
- FADED MEMORIES & FALLEN STARS - REMEMBERING CHRIS FARLEY - Gather.com
- Manager Manny Acta inspires with action and words: Indians Insider - Cleveland Plain Dealer
- There's something about 'Alice' - Boston Globe
- Opera’s ‘Figaro’ treats eyes, ears - Omaha World-Herald
| FADED MEMORIES & FALLEN STARS - REMEMBERING CHRIS FARLEY - Gather.com Posted: 27 Feb 2010 05:37 AM PST Message from fivefilters.org: If you can, please donate to the full-text RSS service so we can continue developing it.
CHRIS FARLEY (1964-1997) The creative over-the-top comedian & actor was a member of Chicago's The Second City Theatre & in the cast of NBC Saturday Night Live.
Chris also was in several comedy films before his unprecedented death Dec. 18th, 1997. Chris died of cardiac arrest caused by a drug overdose.
He was born in Madison, Wisconsin & started his career in comedy at the ARk Improv Theatre in Madison & at the Improv Olympic theater in Chicago. He went on to perform at the Chicago's Second City Theatre, first as part of Second City's touring group & eventually went on to their main stage performances.
He was then discovered by Lorne Michaels of Saturday Night Live.
Toward the early 1997s, Chris's health was in decline which was often observed by his hoarse voice & continual perspiration & flushed skin. In his earlier years Chris had sought treatment for his obesity & drug use on 17 separate occasions. He struggled with his career image & his dreams till the very end. Chris was found dead by his younger brother in his apartment on the 16th floor of the John Hancock Center in Chicago. The autopsy revealed that Chris had succumbed to a heart attack & also overdosed on a combination of cocaine & morphine. Also the autopsy cited advanced atherosclerosis as a contributing factor to his death. Chris's death is often associated with the death of John Belushi, another comedian & actor who was a member of The Second City & starred in SNL. The Hollywood Walk of Fame holds a star for Chris in front of the Improv Olympic West. An authorized biography of Chris was written by his brother Tom Jr. & Tanner Colby, titled, The Chris Farley Show. Anyone having seen Chris Farley act, knew he was giving a performance that literally out smarted & out talented & out yelled, everyone around him. Funny, insensitive yet sensitive, Chris made you laugh even when you knew you shouldn't!
FILMS: 1992 - Wayne's World - Security Guard 1993 - Coneheads - Ronnie the Mechanic & Wayne's World 2 - Milton 1994 - Airheads - Officer Wilson 1995 - Billy Madison - Bus Driver & Tommy Boy - Thomas "Tommy" Callahan III 1996 - Black Sheep - Mike Donnelly 1997 - Beverly Hills Ninja - Haru 1998 - Almost Heroes - Bartholomew Hunt & Dirty Work - Jimmy
TV: 1990-1995 Saturday Night Live - 100 episodes 1992 The Jackie Thomas Show - 1 episode 1993 Roseanne - 1 episode 1994 Tom - 1 episode 1997 All That
With his fame continually growing, Chris did not want to be the "fat guy who falls down" - but his problems grew bigger than he could manage.
Chris weighed in at 296 pounds & as a big as life character he used his body as part of his comedic talent & freely shared his 'make fun of everything attitude'.
Chris was known for his innovative 'anti-slapstick' comedic style that he personally created & honed to a perfection.
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| Manager Manny Acta inspires with action and words: Indians Insider - Cleveland Plain Dealer Posted: 27 Feb 2010 05:51 AM PST Message from fivefilters.org: If you can, please donate to the full-text RSS service so we can continue developing it. By Paul Hoynes, The Plain DealerFebruary 27, 2010, 1:05AM View full sizeIndians manager Manny Acta goes over base stealing with players during practice on Friday in Goodyear, Ariz. Friday was the first day of spring training for the position players.Updated at 1:05 a.m. GOODYEAR, Ariz. -- Manager Manny Acta threw a curveball to reporters Thursday when he said he was going to give his "Vincente Lombardo" speech to his players before the Indians first full-squad workout Friday. Vincente Lombardo, translated, is a reference to football coaching legend Vince Lombardi. "I just dropped that name on you guys," said Acta after Friday's workout. "I'm not a Vince Lombardi-type guy. I'm a John Wooden-type of guy. I've never met him personally, but coach Wooden has made the most impact on my career as a coach. I read his biography and a lot of other books."
"John Wooden is all about the team," said Acta. "No individual is above the team. That is the kind of mind-set you want to set in your guys. Also, you need to be a major-league person before you become a major-league player. "He believes good things happen to good people. It worked for him. You have to admire a guy who has lived the way he has lived. And a guy who had the patience to lose for 14 years in a row and then became the greatest [men's college basketball] coach ever in this country." Wooden is the former UCLA basketball coach who won 10 straight NCAA championships. The Indians have been picked to finish last or close to last in the AL Central this year. The Sporting News ranks them as the worst team in the big leagues. Acta touched on that in his speech. "It's freedom of speech here," he said. "We respect all of your opinions, we just don't have to believe it. You have to be positive and believe you can do it." Acta was a blur for most of practice. He sprinted from one field to the next. He hit grounders to infielders. At the end of one drill, he grabbed an empty bucket and sprinted to short left field to help coaches and players pick up baseballs. It's safe to say no other Indians manager in the past 28 years has done that. "I've always done that," said Acta. "I used to be an infield instructor and third base coach. I'm not going to stop instructing and [coaching] just because I'm manager." The only thing Acta can't do is throw batting practice. He had surgery on his right shoulder in September, the result of throwing batting practice for 20 years. He could be back in the mound in a couple of months. "I just don't like to be standing behind the batting cage," Acta said. As for his speech, Indians outfielder/first baseman Matt LaPorta said, "It fired me up."
He'll keep taking grounders at first base, but once he gets on a running program, he'll gradually move to left field. He's still a man without a position, knocked loose of his moorings at first base by the acquisition of Russell Branyan. "I can't worry about positions until I'm 100 percent healthy," LaPorta said. Acta said LaPorta or Michael Brantley will bear the brunt of Branyan's presence with a probable trip to Class AAA Columbus. "If Matt is healthy, he's going to get 500 at-bats somewhere," Acta said. "We've still got 40 days to go. Let's see what happens." Old friend: Carlos Baerga, doing games for ESPN Deportes, stopped by the Indians' complex Friday. "You might see me coaching next year," Baerga said. Good tracking: Indians hitters looked, but didn't swing at the offerings from their pitching teammates Friday. They'll do the same thing today before starting to swing Sunday. Hitters "track" pitches instead of swinging at them. Acta believes batters are at a disadvantage this early in camp and could fall into bad habits by swinging so early in camp. He did it last year with Washington. Finally: Jeremy Sowers (left shoulder), who threw a bullpen session Friday, could get into a Cactus League game before the end of spring training. . . . Acta said second base is "Luis Valbuena's job to lose." . . . Brian Bixler, competing for a utility infielder's job, could get a look in center. The Pirates played him there last year. To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: phoynes@plaind.com, 216-999-5158 Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
| There's something about 'Alice' - Boston Globe Posted: 27 Feb 2010 06:20 AM PST Message from fivefilters.org: If you can, please donate to the full-text RSS service so we can continue developing it. All in all, "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (which is often shortened to "Alice in Wonderland''), is one of the most influential books ever written. In making a girl his chief protagonist, Carroll paved the way for L. Frank Baum's "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.'' Indeed, countless forays into otherworldly fantasy owe a debt to "Alice'' - among them J.M. Barrie's "Peter Pan,'' C.S. Lewis's "Chronicles of Narnia'' (where the characters pass through a wardrobe to another world), J.K. Rowling's "Harry Potter'' series (train Platform 9 3/4, which Harry takes to get to Hogwarts, is a rabbit hole or looking glass of sorts), the books of Dr. Seuss, the sci-fi film "The Matrix,'' and Neil Gaiman's "Coraline.'' James Joyce's "Finnegans Wake'' is studded with allusions to "Alice,'' as are the novels of Vladimir Nabokov and Douglas Hofstadter's "Gödel, Escher, Bach.'' Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
| Opera’s ‘Figaro’ treats eyes, ears - Omaha World-Herald Posted: 27 Feb 2010 06:27 AM PST Message from fivefilters.org: If you can, please donate to the full-text RSS service so we can continue developing it. Opera Omaha launched its four-year celebration of Mozart on Friday night with a visually splendid and vocally stunning account of "The Marriage of Figaro." From the moment the lights dimmed at the Orpheum Theater, the audience knew that it was in for something unusual. No sooner had conductor Stephen Hargreaves launched into a brisk, effervescent version of the "Overture" when the curtain rose. In most productions, the stage remains hidden until the end of the overture and the beginning of the first act, when Figaro and Susanna launch into their breezy duet "Cinque, dieci." But Opera Omaha's dramatic director Garnett Bruce couldn't wait for the overture's closing chords. With the enthusiasm of a kid opening a Christmas present, Bruce unveiled his stage right away and quickly paraded his entire cast in front the audience. The subtitle of this opera is "The Crazy Day," and from the outset Bruce captured that feeling with a production that was positively brimming with comic and dramatic thrust. And that was just the beginning. In another departure from most productions, Hargreaves led the Omaha Symphony from the fortepiano instead of a harpsichord. The result was akin to blowing dust off an antique, giving the music a sharper and more colorful edge. The Marriage of Figaro
What: Opera Omaha production When: 2 p.m. Sunday Where: Orpheum Theater, 409 S. 16th St. Tickets: $19 to $99; call 345-0606. Designer Constantinos Kritikos' sets are traditional, opulent and believable. Yet even the visual side was full of delightful surprises. At the beginning of the second act, for instance, we encounter the Countess not in her bedroom but in front of a large stage curtain that is lit to look like a dark forest. The effect is to make the Countess' heartsick aria "Porgi amor" seem all the more bittersweet. All of that said, the best thing about Opera Omaha's "The Marriage of Figaro" is the singing. The entire principal cast is first rate. Maureen Francis sparkled all evening as Susanna. A wonderful lyric soprano, she sang with a plush, supple voice that was creamy in its middle range and silvery in its top. As an actress, she was utterly convincing in creating a character of deep, forgiving love. Bass singer Jason Hardy was no less successful in the title role, singing with a voice like black velvet ––equally dark and soft. Yet his dark instrument was also remarkably flexible. For instance, the notes in his aria "Non più andrai," Figaro's playful first act song to Cherubino, were surprisingly light and playful. Soprano Monica Yunus gave some of the evening's most memorable performances as the Countess. Just in her early thirties, she's already a rising star at the Metropolitan Opera –– another notable thing about her biography is that she's the daughter of Muhammad Yunus, the Bangladeshi economist who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006. Yunus sang every note with a golden tone and unfailing sensitivity –– her "Porgi amor" was to die for. Kelly Markgraf, as the Count, sang with a voice that was so beautiful and burnished that you almost forgot his character's vengeful, prideful nature. Mezzo-soprano Daniela Mack, in the trousers role of Cherubino, performed with a glistening voice. She created a sense of breathless infatuation in her wonderful aria "Non sò più cosa son." Other singers –– bass-baritone Kevin Short (Bartolo), soprano Shannon Brogan (Marcellina), tenor Mark Calvert (Basilio) and soprano Maria Lindsey (Barbarina) –– also gave worthy performances. The opera chorus was luminous. The opera repeats Sunday afternoon. You should RSVP to this wedding at once. Contact the writer: 444-1076, john.pitcher@owh.com
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