Jean-Claude Van Damme
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jean Claude Van Damme
Birth name: Jean-Claude Camille François Van Varenberg
Date of birth: October 18, 1960
Birth location: Sint-Agatha-Berchem, Brussels, Belgium
Jean-Claude Van Damme (born Jean-Claude Camille François Van Varenberg in Sint-Agatha-Berchem, in the Brussels-Capital Region, on October 18, 1960), is a Belgian-born martial artist and actor who is most known for his large catalog of action movies. His Belgian background gave rise to the nickname "The Muscles from Brussels".
Early life
Van Damme began martial arts at the age of 11, enrolled by his father in a shotokan karate school[1]. He eventually earned his black belt in karate (see [1]), later winning the European Professional Karate Association's middleweight championship[1] (although he has claimed that he was "twice world champion"[2]). He also started lifting weights to improve his physique, which eventually led to a Mr. Belgium bodybuilding title [3]. At the age of 16 he took up ballet, which he studied for five years. He says of ballet that it "is an art, but it's also one of the most difficult sports. If you can survive a ballet workout, you can survive a workout in any other sport."[4]
At the age of 18, Van Damme opened up the California Gym in Brussels, which one article claimed brought in $15,000 a month [4]. Van Damme was first seen on screen in the French-made Rue Barbare, released in 1984, followed in the same year with Monaco Forever, where he was credited as ('Gay Karate Man').
This gave Van Damme the impetus to give up his profitable fitness business in favor of acting. He left for America in the early 1980s (having first tried Hong Kong), initially sleeping in a rented car and doing odd jobs until he broke into film[4].
Acting career
Early films
He appeared as an extra in Breakin during one of the breakdance scenes.
In 1985, he played Ivan Krushensky in No Retreat, No Surrender, which starred Kurt McKinney in the main role.
Van Damme was scheduled to play the part of the camouflaged extraterrestrial monster in the Arnold Schwarzenegger action film Predator, but wearing the heavy alien costume in the jungle was too difficult, and Van Damme, unhappy with his role, left the production. How he left the picture is disputed: some sources say he quit,[citation needed] others say he was replaced when the character was revised. Van Damme claims he intentionally got fired so he could move on to other movies.
Van Damme's breakthrough role came in Bloodsport, a film that earned him a nomination as "Worst New Star" in the 1988 Golden Raspberry Awards. The critics were unimpressed, but Bloodsport proved to be Van Damme's stepping stone to more lucrative roles. The movie became a cult classic and is seen as one of the major contributors to the rise in popularity of Mixed Martial Arts.[citation needed]
Van Damme became well known for his ability to do full splits while performing stunts, and his better than average flexibility, even for a martial arts practicioner. Many of his movies feature scenes showcasing him performing such splits.
Mainstream movies
Van Damme worked his way up to Hollywood mainstream in the 1990s, often working with acclaimed foreign directors. Notable movies include Kickboxer (1989), Double Impact (1991), Universal Soldier (1992), Nowhere to Run (1993), Hard Target (1993),Sudden Death (1995) and his most critically acclaimed work, Timecop (1994). Many of these roles included doppelgänger or Lazarus themes involving Van Damme's characters, an aspect unusual for the action movie genre.
Later career
By the end of the 1990s, Van Damme's high-profile career had faded but he continues to star in smaller, often direct-to-video movies. His movies have earned over $ 1 billion worldwide, earning him a place in the action movie world along with others like Steven Seagal and Chuck Norris.
In 1998, Van Damme and his former bodyguard Chuck Zito were involved in a fist-fight at a New York strip-tease bar called Scores.[2][3] The event became notorious in the news and a scandal for Van Damme.
Health issues
He had troubles with cocaine during 1993, entering a month-long rehab program in 1996, but leaving it only after a week. [5] He is also reported to have experienced bipolar disorder. [5] A turning point in his health issues came in late 1997, after having signed divorce papers charging him with spousal abuse and drug addiction.
Bipolar disorder
Quoted in the January 30, 2006 edition of the Australian Woman's Day magazine:
The former action hero says he had bipolar disorder, but didn't know it until he became suicidal. He was diagnosed with rapid-cycling bipolar disorder and was placed on sodium valproate, which he calls "that simple salt".
On-screen nudity
Van Damme has had nude appearances in many of his films, though his nudity has only been shown from the rear. He first appeared nude in Bloodsport, with numerous such appearances in his subsequent films, including a lengthy one in Universal Soldier.
Van Damme has expressed pride in his body and especially his posterior, often citing the appeal of his body. Van Damme is on record as saying, "If you have a decent body why not show it? I'm very proud of my butt." This was the subject of parody in the television show Friends, where Van Damme, guest-starring as himself, flirts with a main character by announcing that he can "crack a walnut with [his] butt."
[edit]
An "abstract thinker"
In the French-speaking world, Van Damme is well-known for the picturesque aphorisms that he delivers on a wide range of topics (personal well-being, ecology, etc.) in a strange mixture of French and English. [4] He is especially well-known for his use of the English word aware when speaking French.
Marriages
Van Damme has been married four times, including two marriages with his current wife, bodybuilder and fitness competitor Gladys Portugues.
Cynthia Derderian (1985 - 1985) (divorced)
Gladys Portugues (1986 - 1992) (divorced) 2 children
Darcy LaPier (3 February 1994 - November 1997) (divorced) 1 child
Gladys Portugues (25 June 1999 - present)
The Lawnmower
When our lawn mower broke and wouldn't run, my wife kept hinting to me that I should get it fixed. But, somehow I always had something else to take care of first, the truck, the car, fishing, always something more important to me.
Finally she thought of a clever way to make her point.
When I arrived home one day, I found her seated in the tall grass, busily snipping away with a tiny pair of sewing scissors. I watched silently for a short time and then went into the house. I was gone only a few minutes. When I came out again I handed her a toothbrush.
"When you finish cutting the grass," I said, "you might as well sweep the sidewalk."
The doctors say I will walk again, but I will always have a limp.
Marriage is a relationship in which one person is always right, and the other is a husband.
before i ride off into the cyber horizon, must play this one by Mr. Chuck B:
Maybellene, why can't you be true
Oh Maybellene, why can't you be true
You've started back doin' the things you used to do
As I was motivatin' over the hill
I saw Mabellene in a Coup de Ville
A Cadillac arollin' on the open road
Nothin' will outrun my V8 Ford
The Cadillac doin' about ninety-five
She's bumper to bumper, rollin' side by side
Maybellene
The Cadillac pulled up ahead of the Ford
The Ford got hot and wouldn't do no more
It then got cloudy and started to rain
I tooted my horn for a passin' lane
The rainwater blowin' all under my hood
I know that I was doin' my motor good
Maybellene
[Solo guitar]
Maybellene
The motor cooled down the heat went down
And that's when I heard that highway sound
The Cadillac asittin' like a ton of lead
A hundred and ten half a mile aheadv The Cadillac lookin' like it's sittin' still
And I caught Mabellene at the top of the hill
Maybellene
[Solo guitar]
Maybellene
Maybellene, why can't you be true
Oh Mabellene, why can't you be true
You've started back doin' the things you used to do
Well, hawkman, we know all is well in Boston when you complete your celeb background with a "man and a woman" funny. Thanks again,Bob, for all the great info. I think most of us recognize your famous folks, but we shall await the arrival of our studio photographer to acknowledge.
Mr. Turtle, don't you ride off anywhere. Atop that great white whale will only get you harpooned. <smile> Thanks, honey, for your cameo appearance with Chuck. Great song, incidentally.
There's our Raggedy, folks. Only two today, PA? Peter and Jean-Claude are great, however. I believe that I saw Time Cop the other evening on TCM, but not certain. Sleeping in a strange bed has its disadvantages.
Of course we all know George C. I know someone who played bridge with him on a regular basis.
Well, folks, I can't do pictures on this borrowed equipment, but things are much faster.
I do believe that our Greek lady did this one:
Song: Never On Sunday Lyrics
Oh, you can kiss me on a Monday a Monday a Monday
is very very good
Or you can kiss me on a Tuesday a Tuesday a Tuesday
in fact I wish you would
Or you can kiss me on a Wednesday a Thursday a
Friday and Saturday is best
But never ever on a Sunday a Sunday a Sunday
cause that's my day of rest
Most anyday you can be my guest
Anyday you say but my day of rest
Just name the day that you like the best
Only stay away on my day of rest
Oh, you can kiss me on a cool day a hot day a wet day
which ever one you choose
Or try to kiss me on a grey day a May day a pay day
and see if I refuse
And if you make it on a bleake day a freak day or a week day
Well you can be my guest
But never ever on a Sunday a Sunday the one day
I need a little rest
Oh, you can kiss me on a week day a week day a week day
the day to be my guest
Well, folks. It's odd to me that I could see George C. on my test pattern, but not here. Well, slow and steady wins the race, maybe.
Incidentally, that quote comes from Aesop, but obviously I am too slow and not quite steady.<smile>
Pink Spiders
» Going Steady
Going Steady by Pink Spiders
And it goes
Doo wah doo wah things are getting petty
She said, "no more sex unless we're going steady"
I said, "alright goodnight. wake me when you change your mind"
Cause I don't wanna see your bedroom sugar
I'm not looking for love
And she says I don't wanna be the girl in your backseat tonight
What are you doing in that short skirt sugar?
You can't be lookin' for love
There's no time for fool around when I'm in another town tomorrow.
Well, there's our Raggedy back with Melina. That bottom pix is the one that I tried to do. Thanks for the welcome addition.
OK. Aesop. One more time:
Say what you will about Patton, folks. He saved the Royal lipizzaners, and those horses are the only ones who can do aires above the ground.
Good afternoon all. I have been looking everywhere but
I Guess The Lord Must Be In New York City
Artist: Harry Nilsson Lyrics
I say goodbye to all my sorrows
And by tomorrow I'll be on my way
I guess the lord must be in New York City
I'm so tired of getting nowhere
Seein' my prayers going unanswered
I guess the lord must be in New York City
Well here I am Lord
Knocking on your back door
Ain't it wonderful to be
Where I've always wanted to be
For the first time I'll be free
In New York City
I say goodbye to all my sorrows
And by tomorrow I'll be on my way
I guess the lord must be in New York City
I'm so tired of getting nowhere
Seein' my prayers going unanswered
I guess the lord must be in New York City
Well here I am Lord
Knocking on your back door
Ain't it wonderful to be
Where I've always wanted to be
For the first time I'll be free
In New York City
Hey, Try. I think George feels the same as you do, buddy:
Artist/Band: Jones George
Lyrics for Song: Detroit City
t
I wanna go home I wanna go home oh how I wanna go home
Last night I went to sleep in Detroit City
And I dreamed about those cottonfields and home
I dreamed about my mother dear old papa sister and brother
I dreamed about that girl who's been waiting for so long
I wanna go home I wanna go home oh how I wanna go home
Homefolks think I'm big in Detroit City
From the letters that I write they think I'm fine
But by day I make the cars by night I make the bars
If only they could read between the lines
Cause you know I rode the freight train north to Detroit City
And after all these years I find I've just been wastin' my time
So I just think I'll take my foolish pride
And put it on a Southbound freight and ride
And go on back to the loved ones the ones that I left waitin' so far behind
I wanna go home I wanna go home oh how I wanna go home.
My Buddy/ How About Me
Nights are long since you went away
I think about you
All through the day
My buddy... my buddy...
Nobody quite so true
Miss your voice, the touch of your hand
Just long to know that you understand
My buddy... my buddy...
Your buddy misses you
Its over
All over
And soon somebody else
Will make a fuss about you
But how about me?
Its over
All over
And soon somebody else
Will tell the friends
About you
But how about me
Hell find somebody new
But what am I to do
Id still remember you
When you have forgotten me
And maybe a baby
Will climb upon your knee
And put his arms around you
But how about me
My buddy... your buddy
Misses you...
Barbra Striesand
edgar, I love that song. I had always thought that it had to do with the "buddy poppy", and was referring to the buddy system that the soldiers had in fox holes in WWII. I need to research that, I guess.
Well, folks, there is a new movie out called "Flags of Our Fathers" and it's about Iwo Jima. Hmmm, wonder if there's a secret agenda there:
Artist/Band: Truckers Drive-By
Lyrics for Song: The Sands Of Iwo Jima
Lyrics for Album: The Dirty South
George A. was at the movies in December '41
They announced it in the lobby what had just gone on
He drove up from Birmingham back to the family's farm
Thought he'd get him a deferment there's was much work to be done
He was a family man, even in those days
But Uncle Sam decided he was needed anyway
In the South Pacific over half a world away
He believed in God and Country, things was just that way
Just that way
..
When I was just a kid I spent every weekend
On the farm that he grew up on so I guess so did I
And we'd stay up watching movies on the black and white TV
We watched "The Sands of Iwo Jima" starring John Wayne
Every year in June George A. goes to a reunion
Of the men that he served with and their wives and kids and grandkids
My Great Uncle used to take me and I'd watch them recollect
about some things I couldn't comprehend
And I thought about that movie, asked if it was that way
He just shook his head and smiled at me in such a loving way
As he thought about some friends he will never see again
He said "I never saw John Wayne on the sands of Iwo Jima"
Most of those men are gone now but he goes still every year
And George A's still doing fine, especially for his years
He's still living on that homestead in the house that he was born in
And I sure wish I could go see him today
He never drove a new car though he could easily afford it
He'd just buy one for the family and take whatever no one wanted
He said a shiny car didn't mean much after all the things he'd seen
George A. never saw John Wayne on the sands of Iwo Jima
The Ballad Of Ira Hayes
by Johnny Cash
[CHORUS:]
Call him drunken Ira Hayes
He won't answer anymore
Not the whiskey drinkin' Indian
Nor the Marine that went to war
Gather round me people there's a story I would tell
About a brave young Indian you should remember well
From the land of the Pima Indian
A proud and noble band
Who farmed the Phoenix valley in Arizona land
Down the ditches for a thousand years
The water grew Ira's peoples' crops
'Till the white man stole the water rights
And the sparklin' water stopped
Now Ira's folks were hungry
And their land grew crops of weeds
When war came, Ira volunteered
And forgot the white man's greed
[CHORUS:]
Call him drunken Ira Hayes
He won't answer anymore
Not the whiskey drinkin' Indian
Nor the Marine that went to war
There they battled up Iwo Jima's hill,
Two hundred and fifty men
But only twenty-seven lived to walk back down again
And when the fight was over
And when Old Glory raised
Among the men who held it high
Was the Indian, Ira Hayes
[CHORUS:]
Call him drunken Ira Hayes
He won't answer anymore
Not the whiskey drinkin' Indian
Nor the Marine that went to war
Ira returned a hero
Celebrated through the land
He was wined and speeched and honored; Everybody shook his hand
But he was just a Pima Indian
No water, no crops, no chance
At home nobody cared what Ira'd done
And when did the Indians dance
[CHORUS:]
Call him drunken Ira Hayes
He won't answer anymore
Not the whiskey drinkin' Indian
Nor the Marine that went to war
Then Ira started drinkin' hard;
Jail was often his home
They'd let him raise the flag and lower it
like you'd throw a dog a bone!
He died drunk one mornin'
Alone in the land he fought to save
Two inches of water in a lonely ditch
Was a grave for Ira Hayes
[CHORUS:]
Call him drunken Ira Hayes
He won't answer anymore
Not the whiskey drinkin' Indian
Nor the Marine that went to war
Yeah, call him drunken Ira Hayes
But his land is just as dry
And his ghost is lyin' thirsty
In the ditch where Ira died
ah, yes, edgar. Ira Hayes, the American Indian in the staged photograph. Johnny did 'em all.
here's something to make us all sleep tightly tonight .
the "buttermilk song" from scotland .
(btw i did drink buttermilk with a shot of rum many , many years ago - it was the only mixer we had
)
hbg
WHISKEY ON A SUNDAY - but buttermilk during the week
Chorus
Come day, go day
Wish in my heart it were Sunday
Drinking buttermilk thru the week
Whiskey on a Sunday
He sits in the corner of old beggar's bush
On top of an old packing crate
he has three wooden dolls that can dance and can sing
And he croons with a smile on his face
Chorus
Come day, go day
Wish in my heart it were Sunday
Drinking buttermilk thru the week
Whiskey on a Sunday
His tired old hands tug away at the strings
And the puppets dance up and down
A far better show than you ever would see
In the fanciest theatre in town
Chorus
Come day, go day
Wish in my heart it were Sunday
Drinking buttermilk thru the week
Whiskey on a Sunday
And sad to relate that old Seth Davy died
In 1904
The three wooden doll in the dustbin were laid
His song will be heard nevermore
Chorus
Come day, go day
Wish in my heart it were Sunday
Drinking buttermilk thru the week
Whiskey on a Sunday
But some stormy night when you're passing that way
And the wind's blowing up from the sea
You'll still hear the song of old Seth Davy
As he croons to his dancing dolls three
Chorus
Come day, go day
Wish in my heart it were Sunday
Drinking buttermilk thru the week
Whiskey on a Sunday
Good early morning WA2K radio fans and contributors. Back to my quiet time so that I may keep and ear and an eye on my young charge.
hamburger, that is a fabulous song, buddy. I love buttermilk, but haven't had any for a long time. Some comedian commented that it wasn't buttermilk itself that turned him off; it was the way the glass looked after the buttermilk has been drunk.
Buttermilk and rum? My word, Canada, the very thought of that makes me a bit queezy.
Morning song, folks
Morning Dew
Lyrics: Bonnie Dobson
Music: Bonnie Dobson
One of the songs the Dead played almost every year from the 60s to the 90s.
Walk me out in the morning dew, my honey
Walk me out in the morning dew today
Can't walk you out in the morning dew, my honey
I can't walk you out in the morning dew today
I thought I heard a baby cry this morning
I thought I heard a baby cry today
You didn't hear no baby cry this morning
You didn't hear no baby cry today
Where have all the people gone, my honey?
Where have all the people gone today?
There's no need for you to be worrying about all those people
You never see those people anyway
I thought I heard a young man mourn this morning (note 1)
I thought I heard a young man mourn today
I thought I heard a young man mourn this morning
I can't walk you out in the morning dew today
Walk me out in the morning dew, my honey
Walk me out in the morning dew today
Can't walk you out in the morning dew, my honey
I guess it doesn't matter anyway
Well I guess it doesn't matter anyway
John le Carré
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
John le Carré is the pseudonym of David John Moore Cornwell (born October 19, 1931 in Poole, Dorset, England), an English writer of espionage novels. Le Carré has resided in St Buryan, Cornwall, England for more than forty years.
Early life and career
The son of Richard Thomas Archibald Cornwell (1906-75) and Olive (Gassy) Cornwell, John le Carré was born on October 19th, 1931. He began his formal schooling at St Andrew's preparatory school near Pangbourne, Berkshire, and continued at Sherborne School, in England. From 1948-49, he studied foreign languages at the University of Berne, then studied at Lincoln College, Oxford. He was graduated from Lincoln College with a B.A. (with honours) in 1956. He then taught at Eton College for two years; le Carré left Eton in 1959 to spend the next five years working for the British Foreign Service. He initially served as the Second Secretary in the British Embassy in Bonn, but eventually was transferred to Hamburg for service as a political consul; ultimately, le Carré was recruited into MI6. He wrote his first novel in 1961, while yet a member of the service.
Le Carré's career as a secret agent was destroyed by Kim Philby, a British double agent, who blew the cover of tens of British agents to the KGB. Years later, le Carré carefully depicted and analysed Philby's weakness and deceit in the guise of "Gerald", the mole hunted by George Smiley in the central novel of le Carré's uvre, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.
In 1954, he married Alison Ann Veronica Sharp; they divorced in 1971. Together, they had three sons: Simon, Stephen and Timothy. In 1972, he married Valérie Jane Eustace, a book editor with Hodder and Stoughton; this marriage produced one son, Nicholas.
As an author
Nearly all of le Carré's novels fall in the spy-thriller genre, with a particular emphasis on the Cold War. A notable exception is The Naïve and Sentimental Lover. This novel has autobiographical elements, as it is based on the author's relationship with James and Susan Kennaway following the breakdown of le Carré's first marriage.
His first two novels, A Call for the Dead and A Murder of Quality, closely follow the Mystery fiction approach, where the emphasis is on a complex riddle that hero George Smiley must solve. In later, longer works, such as The Honourable Schoolboy and The Night Manager, le Carré approaches his material more as novelist and less as a mystery writer, focussing on the in-depth development of his characters.
Le Carré's work is in many ways a critical and reasoned response to the lurid sensationalism of the James Bond genre of spy writing. His heroes are three-dimensional, their engagement with the world altogether more realistic, and their circumstances markedly unglamorous. He is widely hailed as writing some of the most literary and philosophically significant spy novels of the 20th century.
His works also differ from the Bond books in that they are morally complex; there are constant reminders of the fallibility of western espionage systems and western countries in general, often with the implication that the Soviet bloc and the NATO bloc are essentially two sides of the same coin. The over-simplicity of the good-versus-SPECTRE world of Ian Fleming has no place in le Carré's work, where the spies seem to serve espionage more than any ideology. Le Carré is more interested in the uncertainty inherent in spycraft -- the most unimpeachable information from the enemy might always prove to be bait or a trap, a logic that tends to render the information obtained far less useful. In short, his books leave behind an unmistakable air of skepticism.
A Perfect Spy, le Carré's most autobiographical novel, deals with the author's peculiar relationship with his father. Lynndianne Been, the author of a biography of le Carré, describes Richard Cornwell as "an epic con man of little education, immense charm, extravagant tastes, but no social values" (John le Carré, p. 2). Beene quotes le Carré's reflection on the novel that "writing A Perfect Spy is probably what a very wise shrink would have advised" (p. 14).
Film and television
In 1965, Martin Ritt directed the first film adaptation of a le Carré novel, The Spy Who Came in From the Cold. Richard Burton was cast as the novel's protagonist, Alec Leamas. The following year, in 1966, Sidney Lumet directed The Deadly Affair, a film adaptation of le Carré's novel Call for the Dead. Later, in 1969, Frank Pierson directed a film adaptation of The Looking Glass War.
A decade later, in 1979, the BBC adapted the first novel in the Quest for Karla trilogy, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, into a television miniseries in which Alec Guinness starred as George Smiley. On the DVD release, le Carré says this was his favorite filmed adaptation of his work. Three years later, in 1982, Alec Guinness reprised his role in a BBC adaptation of the final book in the trilogy, Smiley's People. The middle novel, The Honourable Schoolboy, was never adapted for film or television.
In 1984, Diane Keaton appeared in an adaptation of The Little Drummer Girl. Three years later, in 1987, A Perfect Spy was adapted into a television mini series. In 1990, Sean Connery was cast as the protagonist in Fred Schepisi's film adaptation of The Russia House. The following year, in 1991, A Murder of Quality was adapted by Gavin Millar for television. A decade later, in 2001, Pierce Brosnan, the contemporary Bond, was cast as the lead spy in The Tailor of Panama.
In 2005, the film The Constant Gardener was released, based on his novel. The story is set in slums in Kibera and Loiyangalani, Kenya. The situation affected the crew to the extent that they set up the Constant Gardener Trust in order to provide basic education around these villages. Le Carré is a patron of the charity.
The Mission Song is being read on BBC Radio 4's Book at Bedtime October 2-October 13 each weekday evening at 10.45pm. Each episode is available online after transmission on the BBC website.
Politics and honors
Le Carré published an essay entitled "The United States has gone mad" in The Times in January 2003, protesting the war in Iraq, saying: "How Bush and his junta succeeded in deflecting America's anger from Bin Laden to Saddam Hussein is one of the great public relations conjuring tricks of history." He has turned down a number of awards, including a knighthood. He is the author of a testimonial in The Future of the NHS (2006) (ISBN 1858113695) edited by Dr Michelle Tempest.
