RIP: Gregg Allman

In the news: Gregg Allman of The Allman Brothers Band dies at age 69

While I wasn't a huge fan of The Allman Brothers and the Southern rock thing, I did like many of their songs, and they often jammed with others I liked a bit more, like Eric Clapton. Greg in particular was often in the news ... for instance, for a time he was married to Cher ...

Cher and former husband Greg Allman by photographer Norman Seeff. pic.twitter.com/bhbK3Ye8Fz

— Just Me † (@VisionsOfMe) March 2, 2017

Here's one of his songs that I like, I'm No Angel .....

Jared Kushner and Russia

Russian ambassador told Moscow that Kushner wanted secret communications channel with Kremlin ... holy mackerel!

The Song in Your Heart

One of the tv shows that I like so much is ending, at least in its current form ... Once Upon a Time. The actress who plays the main character of Emma has decided to move on professionally and at least four of the other core characters will be leaving as well. There will apparently be one more season with a few of the important characters still there, but the show will be much changed. I've just watched the second to the last episode, The Song in Your Heart, which is something unusual - a musical episode.

The beginning of the episode, set in the past, has Snow White and Prince Charming waking up to a situation in which everything they say comes out in song. They realize that their friend, the Blue Fairy, has cast a spell to help them defeat the Evil Queen's upcoming curse on them and their soon-to-be-born daughter, Emma ...



I already posted Captain Hook's song, but here it is again. It takes place in the past, when Snow White and Prince Charming ask Hook to take them to the Evil Queen's castle so that their magical song can stop the curse. Hook doesn't want to help them at first because all his attention is devoted to finding and slaying the Dark One (aka Rumpelstiltskin, aka the "crocodile") who cut off his hand and who killed his lady love ....



There are a few other songs in the episode as well, but here is the one at the end of the episode. It takes place in the present, just after Captain Hook and Emma get married, and just before a different curse, one cast this time by the evil Black Fairy, erupts upon them and everyone else in town ....



More on the show later.

Some music :)

From The Guess Who ...

It's Endangered Species Day

Please let your political reps know you want them to save the Endangered Species Act from the Republicans ... Saving The Endangered Species Act From The Threatened List

Today is Endangered Species Day. All of the species from this story remain threatened or endangered 50 years later: https://t.co/znjtCkEdiF pic.twitter.com/4Foq1QLBZj

— LIFE (@LIFE) May 19, 2017

Today is Endangered Species Day. Raise your voice to protect the voiceless and share this video! #EndangeredSpeciesDay pic.twitter.com/08xiiOpu4m

— Smithsonian Earth (@SmithsonianErth) May 19, 2017

See the species in peril on Endangered Species Day https://t.co/p1UKe6n3DZ pic.twitter.com/gGwGPiV1Qs

— USA TODAY Video (@usatodayvideo) May 19, 2017

Thank you, Captain Hook

- Captain Hook of Once Upon a Time

Things have been very stressful here lately with worries about health, money, and the cats. It's at times like this that I'm so glad for Once Upon a Time as a distraction. Here's Captain Hook, singing of getting revenge on his enemy "the crocodile" :) ...

Rogue One

My latest movie rental was Rogue One ...

a 2016 American epic space opera film .... It is the first installment of the Star Wars Anthology series, set immediately before the events of the original Star Wars film. The cast includes Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Riz Ahmed, Ben Mendelsohn, Donnie Yen, Mads Mikkelsen, Alan Tudyk, Jiang Wen and Forest Whitaker. Rogue One follows a group of rebels on a mission to steal the plans for the Death Star, the Galactic Empire's superweapon.

There was so much publicity when the movie came out that I was aware of the storyline, the actors, and the technical stuff long before actually seeing the film. The movie seemed an effort to be a more grim and gritty version of Star Wars .... one of the main characters, Cassian Andor, is shown murdering someone in cold blood for the sake of expediency near the beginning, and in the end he and all the main character end up dying for the cause. It was hard for me to find anyone to really like and my favorite character soon became the resident robot, K-2SO ... Why ‘Rogue One’s’ sassy new K-2SO is the droid we’ve been looking for



Sort of notable was that Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen was in the movie - he was recently also in Doctor Strange. I recall him from the past King Arthur which I posted about here: King Arthur, student of Pelagius :) ...




And one thing that I was interested in was the CGI creation of characters from the original Star Wars movies for this film ... How ‘Rogue One’ Brought Back Familiar Faces. I have to say that I found the attempt a bit creepy and Carrie Fisher's CGI Princess Leia looks to be deep in the uncanny valley to me ...



But anyway, the film was very popular and got good reviews ... here's one from The New Yorker: “Rogue One” Reviewed: Is It Time to Abandon the “Star Wars” Franchise?

And here's a trailer ...

Happy Mother's Day

Happy mother's day to moms of all species! pic.twitter.com/e0C2GEXegg

— Animal Cognition (@animalcog) May 14, 2017

More, from The Atlantic: :) Baby Animals and Their Moms (Because It’s Mother’s Day)

Marie

Another homeless cat has appeared in my yard with kittens - haven't seen them, just heard them squeaking in the dense bushes. This has been happening every spring for the last few years and every year I seem to have less resources with which to address the situation. Hopefully blind-as-a-bat me can eventually find and catch the kittens and hopefully the vet will take them if I can give a big enough donation (and if they don't already have other kittens). But anyway, I've named her Marie after this song by Justin Hayward of the Moody Blues about his wife :) ...