This motivational speech was delivered by Al Pacino to a fictional football team in a Hollywood movie, Any Given Sunday, directed by Oliver Stone. If you listen carefully, it's a speech about living life to it's fullest, giving your best and working as a team with those around you.
Here are some highlights from the speech:
We are in hell right now,
....we can fight our way
back into the light.
We can climb out of hell.
One inch, at a time.
....You know when you get old in life
things get taken from you.
That's, that's part of life.
But, you only learn that when you start losing stuff.
You find out that life is just a game of inches.
So is football.
Because in either game
life or football
the margin for error is so small.
I mean
one half step too late or too early
you don't quite make it.
One half second too slow or too fast
and you don't quite catch it.
The inches we need are everywhere around us.
They are in every break of the game
every minute, every second.
...when we add up all those inches
that's going to make the fucking difference
between WINNING and LOSING
between LIVING and DYING.
I'll tell you this
in any fight
it is the guy (ed. note: or gal) who is willing to die
who is going to win that inch.
And I know
if I am going to have any life anymore
it is because, I am still willing to fight, and die for that inch
because that is what LIVING is.
The six inches in front of your face.
My most recent iTunes purchase was Goodnight, We Love You, a video montage of Phyllis Diller on stage for her final live comedy act. The movie highlights snippets of stories that happened along her career including work with Bob Hope, time in a symphony orchestra and a close-up of some of Diller's artwork. I curled up in my recliner with my tabby cat and watched on my laptop.
I forgot how much of an impact Phyllis Diller had on my life. And I'm absolutely positive that my mom and grandma had to have seen her, it's almost like they stole her moves.
To think, I was at her mansion a few years ago and I didn't even fully realize it then. It was quite amazing. One of the things that stood out: Diller has a huge portrait of Bob Hope in her entryway.
One of my favorite things in the house was the Phyllis Diller art piece made with random household goods like soup cans and plastic curlers. Diller had it in one of the front rooms propped up against a fireplace. I'll share a few photos here just for fun. Including one of me and Dr. Kate posing in Diller's wig and costume room. What a treat that was.
I enjoyed the movie Goodnight We Love You with Phyllis Diller by Gregg Barson. It was good for lots of laughs and the story of Diller's life is pretty inspiring. Diller is quite organized and has a method to her craft, she shares all of that in the movie which is altogether enlightening and endearing. Here's a snippet of the movie from YouTube.
This past week I went on a day-long search for quality information about child abuse that I could use for my class, Introduction to Victimology. One of the things I found was a trailer for Gardens of the Night. It's a movie staring Tom Arnold and John Malkovich about a young girl who was abducted as a child and molested throughout her youth. As a teen she is turned to the streets to become a prostitute. Eventually, she runs away with a friend and they survive street life together.
I was thinking this movie might be entertaining and informative for the students in my class so I wanted to find out where its playing and how can I get a DVD. I went to their website at www.gardensofthenight.com to discover that the movie is playing in a total of 2 theatres in all of the United States of America. No, I didn't leave any numbers out, it is not an editorial error. It is playing in 2 (two) theatres in the entire nation.
I guess I'm lucky that one of the theaters is less than 50 miles from my house and if traffic is light, it might only take an hour and a half each way to get there. Hopefully, once I do make it there it will be a good movie and they will be selling DVD's on site.
In case you happen to live somewhere near one of the two places in the nation that show this movie, here is the GARDENS OF THE NIGHT Screening Schedule:
November 7
Village East Cinema
181-189 2nd Ave
New York, NY 10003
December 5
Laemmle's Sunset 5
8000 Sunset Blvd.
West Hollywood, CA 90046
Gardens of the Night won the International Critics Award at the Deauville Film Festival.
Watch CBS Videos Online
Tom Arnold stars in Gardens of the Night video to help spread awarness about child abuse and the after-effects.
Here is a trailer for the movie:
I happened to be channel surfing when I tuned into the end portion of The Banger Sisters. It's when the uptight mom (played by Susan Sarandon) shows up to her daughter's graduation in skin-tight lycra pants and spikey hair after a night of partying in the bar and flirting with guys.
The daughter, a beautiful, spunky blond is delivering the graduation speech. She begins to talk about how she'd rather be fighting with her family than pretending everything was perfect. It was a healing moment for several of the women in the family.
I am amazed at how so many women lose themselves one little bit at a time over the years. They stop dancing, they pretend they don't like sex anymore. They try to follow all the rules but being themselves is the most beautiful thing they could be. What I know is that our mass media programming is not conducive to building self-esteem. If you want to get programming that IS conducive to making you feel better about yourself, you will have to look outside the box. Literally.
In my book, From Sabotage to Success, I try to help people break free from self-imposed limitations. I'm no saint. I'm most like Suzette (Goldie Hawn) than anyone in the movie but for years I tried desperately to be Lavinia (the character portrayed by Susan Sarandon). I wanted "you" to love me more than I wanted to be happy. I thought if "you" loved me, I would be happy but now I'm realizing the only way I can be happy is when I'm being me.
Are you a Suzette (Goldie Hawn) trapped in a Lavinia (Susan Sarandon) body? Check it out:
P.S. The book my Dad bought me, the one I told you about a few blogs ago, I think that has something to do with helping me let go of self-condemnation too. So does reading A Course in Miracles. By the way, the book my dad bought me is called Victory Over Darkness. There are over 2 million copies in print. Hallelujah.
This Wednesday Rinkrat and I had date day. We started the morning with breakfast at 212 Bistro at 2708 E. 4th Street in Long Beach where we took our seats on the back patio and sat next to a lovely water fountain surrounded by flowers. I am soothed by the sound of running water.
I ordered the Chilaquilles, a breakfast tortilla casserole. It's an exotic mix of corn tortillas, scrambled eggs, sauteed onion, garlic, oregano and house salsa topped with crumbled queso fresco and cilantro with a side of refried beans. The plate was beautiful, colorful and artistic with cilantro sprinkled around the edge. My husband had The Bistro: chorizo, potatoes, onions, and garlic, topped with cheese, house salsa, sour cream and avocado. I had a bite. The chorizo was to.die.for.
The coffee was rich and robust, the ice water had a slight cucumber taste and was so refreshing. We chatted with co-owners Angel Maldonado and Irene Saldana before leaving. Irene is also the Executive Chef. Angel and Irene are both very down-to-earth, friendly and dedicated people. I had an overall vibe of being in a trendy San Francisco restaurant.
After breakfast, we headed over to Marina Pacifica to catch the 11:30 viewing of Hancock. This movie was very endearing and had a touching, prophetic storyline with many subtle messages about individuality, humanity and spirituality. I don't like to give away specific details because I think you should go into this movie with a fresh mind. I'll just say that the writers effectively weaved Universal concepts into the story so that many people on many levels could mentally adapt and relate to it.
These Universal concepts are presented in a cool, super-hero, comic book context, not the usual cheezy, predictable methods used by Hollywood decision makers. The movie presents some surprises and uses innuendos and a creative storyline to give alert viewers food for thought in regards to issues of humanity.
I couldn't leave the theater without first trading my dollar for four game tokens all of which I used to feed the Galaga machine. I have been a Galaga fiend for 25 years. When I hear the Galaga sounds I am drawn to the machine like a gambler to a slot machine. For those of you who are Galaga freaks and know what it means, I went to level 11.
If you want to find out more about 212 degree Bistro, call 562-439-8822.
