The Magnificent Seven

Today is a special day at Poseidon's Underworld because this day - 8/24/16 - marks the seventh birthday of the site! In that very first post, I had almost no clue at all how the blog was going to proceed, nor how long I would continue, but I put forth a few notions and in many ways I've stuck to them, albeit adding in other features along the way. This anniversary period is ALWAYS a very hectic one for me personally. My company holds a convention the third week of August, which I attend, and once I'm back work is always piled up. And my own birthday is the 19th, so there are usually various things going on before and after that. Thus, I never get to really do the date up right the way I might like! This time, while I couldn't create a big, delicious post, I did manage to do something unusual. I submitted to an interview of sorts! One of my online friends and I were noting the upcoming anniversary date and we decided - sort of a challenge, I guess - that he could ask me seven questions and I would answer all honestly here! (In my typical, droning, lengthy fashion, of course!) Hopefully, you'll find it interesting. If not, I'll soon my back with more of my usual musings. I really don't try to make this site all about "ME" as a rule, and I am well aware that I am nobody, but on this one occasion I'm indulging just a bit. So on we go:

You rarely devote space at P.U. to music and musicians. Do you have a favorite song or singer?

That's interesting... As a child, music was so important to me. My second ever post describes some of the effect that The Sound of Music (1965) had on me and I was raised on cast album Broadway recordings as well as having music of the '70s and '80s always playing. I think when I started to develop my love of classic movies, music was shunted to the side a bit and then when I began to sing semi-professionally and in theatre, I was always occupied with the songs at hand more than any others. Also, as I have professed on the site often, I have never felt that I had any great TASTE in music (or anything else, really! LOL)

That said, I enjoy a wide variety of music. The music that always meant to most to me in my (now-dead) youth was from groups like Depeche Mode, Erasure, New Order, The Pet Shop Boys and so on. When pressed, I always gave my favorite song as "The Different Story" by Peter Schilling! In more recent years, and it does shame me to say this, that has been in ever-present danger of being eclipsed by Bosson's "One in a Million." The part at 2:18 never, ever, EVER fails to make me want to bleat along with the song. This is another typically insane thing of mine, but part of the verse (when he sings "I always will remember how I felt that day, a feeling indescribable to me") the music is HIGHLY SIMILAR to the theme from Airport '77! Ha ha!

But I also love certain films scores, some classical, vocalists like Matt Munro, Shirley Bassey, Rosemary Clooney, Tom Jones and, more recently, Lara Fabian (and, yes, even Josh Groban.) I really love 1960s pop such as from groups like The Association, The Supremes, Gary Puckett & The Union Gap. A recent find, thanks to the wondrous website The Redundant Variety Hour, was The Flirtations' "Nothing But a Heartache" which I've since listened to I know well over 100 times... I do get obsessed. I walk a lot outside and the sad answer to the question, "What's on his iPod?" is a lot of Back Street Boys, NYSNC, Britney Spears, David Guetta, Pitbull and other bouncy songs to keep me going.

We sort of know what you like in terms of movies and stars, but are there famous stars that you dislike, or even hate?

I receive e-mails from time to time from readers, some of who never take an active part in the site - such as leaving comments for example - who thank me for putting forth what is generally a positive and fair-minded blog. I have been told about, and in fact have occasionally experienced, places which draw a heated, ugly crowd of people who bicker, complain, tear-down and tend to stew in a vat of unpleasantness. Now I am snarky, sometimes derisive and bitchy - though mostly with a goal of pithiness tossed in! - but I knew from the start that I didn't want to work on a site that dwelt on the negative. I wanted it to be a place for fun and/or interest. You can likely tell which celebrities I am not particularly drawn to by their virtual omission from the posts, though there are some stars who are so iconic and have been written about so much that I simply don't spend much time on them myself whether I like them or not.

I have practically no interest at all in most contemporary film & TV stars, though sometimes one (like Chris Pine, for example) will capture my attention. There's no point in me writing about them, however, or posting photos of most of them as the Internet is saturated with sites that track their every move, outfit and appearance. I mentioned recently in the comment section of a post that my family often took stars' off-screen lives into account when determining our level of affection for them. Thus, I do sometimes bear a grudge against actors and actresses who have done something to offend my sensibilities and I then decide not to add any money to their bank accounts, nor give them any further attention or publicity. The bigger problem for me has been that I might find a new star that I really like a lot and then not long after, they seem to careen off the rails and go crazy!  LOL  Or their career just peters out entirely.

You've alluded to your sideline hobby of acting on stage. What is one of the most memorable experiences you've had in that arena?

Heavens to Betsy!  I've been performing for 22 years and have done more than 40 plays, so it's tough to narrow that down. I will say that the most physically and mentally challenging thing I ever did was the stage version of Stephen King's "Misery." Apart from a fifteen-minute Intermission, I never once left the stage for twenty scenes and was either in a bed or a wheelchair or having a foot cut off or fighting for my life! I did "1776" and mostly stayed quiet for the longest time until ripping into Thomas Jefferson and John Adams and then delivering the powerhouse number "Molasses to Rum," which was beyond exhilarating to do. A more recent moment came with the musical "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" in which I was the Sheriff. I heard my song and was completely horrified. However, I set to work on it, making it far more melodic and musical than the more clipped, sing-speak method that had most often been done and the result was winning a top regional award for it. That was immensely gratifying and unforgettable, but was also a blur as my eyes were filled with tears as I accepted it. It was marred only by the fact that I was overweight during it, which didn't matter for the role, but mattered when it came to my own self esteem. I have slowed down recently to maybe one show a year, but I hope I'm not completely done. It's something that has meant a lot to me (and educated me significantly about life and people) over the years.

What has been your most memorable celebrity encounter?

Again, that is so hard to choose! As someone who has always felt it worth crawling through broken glass to meet even the lowest rung celeb and yet who lives in a place where so few visit, each time has been memorable! I was recently joking with another online pal about how our local news runs stories whenever anyone of note comes here and does, well, anything! For example, Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani recently stopped for ice cream at an old dairy whip right in my suburb! And John Travolta has been filming a movie about a mile from my work. I haven't met a large number of celebrities. I think I can count them on my hands. But I think the zaniest and most unforgettable time was when I was at a Women's Health Expo with a female friend and out of 300 or so people Richard Simmons picked me out of the crowd to go up on stage and Sweat to the Oldies with him! Someone near me tried to go up, but he screamed out, "NO!!  YOU! In the red sweatshirt!" The song was "Jump!" by The Pointer Sisters and we interacted in a highly amusing way before getting down to the business of exercising. He was very flirty... never even attempted to act straight, but was so infectiously funny and animated. Afterwards, we chit-chatted for a while. I took the attached pic as he was entering the arena. It's been sad to see some of his recent issues come to light in the news media. He was quite inspiring to that gaggle of fans and to millions of others it seems.

If you could "live" inside one movie, which would it be?

Aaack!  Okay, now it's getting rough. It's a true statement - one I shouldn't admit because they will put me away - that I have never once been on a cruise because, as much as I love The Poseidon Adventure (1972), I always felt that taking one in which the ship remained right-side-up would be a complete and utter let-down.  LOL  In more recent years it's been either financial or work-related reasons why I don't go on one, but that was my standard answer for ages!

I don't even know if I can honestly answer this question because sometimes I love a film's settings, but the circumstances are dangerous or off-putting for one reason or another. You know, I still love the clean, austere design of the Von Trapp household (not to mention that ornate, gilded ballroom!) and Salzburg looks fun in The Sound of Music, so as long as the Nazis don't come, I'll say that. And what a back yard and veranda!

You love TV titles/opening credits and have featured them several times, but what movie opening credits rank amongst your most favorite?

I am so glad you asked this!! I have been meaning to get around to a post on this subject for years, but never have. I get a kick out of "cutesy" opening credits with animation like The Pink Panther movies or It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963), Grease (1978) and many others (which, of course, aren't springing to mind at the moment!), but generally I like opening credits because of the music or at least a combination of the music and visuals. I enjoy virtually all of the James Bond opening credits. One of my all-time favorites which is almost solely due to the music is the opening of Capricorn One (1977) (Link is just to the music, not the actual credits.) Oh my God, that pulsating Jerry Goldsmith music against the stark lettering... I love the way it keeps building. I love "stirring" types of scores and one that I adore also is Zulu (1964), and this link too is also just the music not the actual credits. I have a fondness for music in which there is a counterpart playing against the main theme (sorry, I'm too dumb to express the actual term for this!)

It goes without saying that I also worship all the opening credits for the great disaster movies from Airport (1970) to The Towering Inferno (1974) to Earthquake (1974), to name a few. One recently discovered favorite of mine is the opening theme to the mega-flop The Razor's Edge (1984), which I have listened to countless times. (Again, the link is just to the music - and takes 20 seconds to kick in!) But I just love opening credits in general from the sweeping Gone with the Wind (1939) to the anxiety-laden strings of Psycho (1960) and many before, between and after.

Are we ever going to meet the man behind the name Poseidon and Poseidon's Underworld?

Well, I initially didn't reveal my name and who exactly I am because - as I mentioned earlier - no matter how pleasant or kind or friendly I intended to be, the Internet is filled to the brim with haters and destructive personalities and I was in no hurry to open myself up to that on a global level. But then again you also find as you get older, and I just turned forty-nine, that you care less and less as time goes by what venomous people think or have to say. There have been a few adept detectives who managed to gather up clues here and there and ultimately find me and every one of them (with the possible exception of one) were exceedingly friendly and enriching to know. The one who wasn't was never unkind to me, just excruciatingly negative about so many other people and things and picked fights all over the worldwide web and I felt that in time I would, however inadvertently, become a target, too, so I got out and away pretty quickly. Life's too short for all that.

I've wanted to "come out" - as it were - for a couple of years now and always intend to, but I am hyper-critical of myself and have been waiting for a time when I felt I looked my best yet that simply hasn't ever come! I'm a compulsive eater and tend to wreck my progress after a few weeks of dieting success. (I mean, I'm not someone that Richard Simmons is going to have to come and airlift out of my bed after knocking a wall down, but I'm probably 40 to 50 pounds heavier than I want to be.) This photo is from about a month or two ago, a two-person selfie that a friend took, who I've cropped out for privacy's sake.

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I hope this didn't lull you into too deep a sleep!  I truly value all my readers and the wonderful remarks and information that is shared in the comments. It's been so gratifying to find an audience of friends who like and appreciate the same sort of show business related things that I do! I'm consistently amazed by the fact that the things I love are also held dear by others out there. We are our own special club and it's my pleasure to put forth anything I can for others to see and enjoy! Thank you all very much for your time and attention.