Michael Joseph Jackson’s untimely death on June 25, 2009 shocked the world. The world’s greatest entertainer had died and far too soon at that. MJ still had work to complete. There was the long rumored new album to launch his “comeback,” which I was anticipating. There was the record-setting 50 sold out shows in London, which he was to perform at the O2 arena. MJ seemed to be laying the groundwork for re-entry into the public music scene again. No one was more excited by this than I was – a loyal fan who’d been following his career since the age of six.

As a child, I had two huge musical influences that played a huge role in my life – Prince & The Revolution and Michael Jackson. MJ’s music first connected with me as a child with his Motown 25 performance. I remember being bedazzled with his performance of “Billie Jean” and of course, the moonwalk. After that performance, I became a fan for life, and I always stayed loyal to him. My faith in MJ as a human being, entertainer, and musical genius never wavered. Where many doubted he could perform the 50 This Is It shows, I never did. After viewing the This Is It film on opening day, it only reaffirmed what I always believed – that MJ still had it.

Note: Some portions of this review contain excerpts from my Twitter film review of This Is It.

When the beginning credits for This Is It rolled, you could feel the reverence, respect, and calm in the crowd. Never felt anything like it.

I actually saw This Is It twice before writing my review. At both showings, I was very much aware that I was amongst MJ fans. For both showings, there was such a respectful tone in the audience, and I really could feel the love and yes, even somberness of the others in the theater. It was definitely an interesting in-theater experience, which I will describe in further detail later. (more…)

That Was Then. This Is Now.

As a movie watcher, films that appeal to me have dramatically evolved in recent years. There was a time when you couldn’t have paid me to sit down and watch most Oscar-type films. As for independent films, I pretty much stayed away from them. My filmmaker brother would have to twist my arm to get me to watch an independent film in the old days. I was all about the big budget, summer blockbuster films for the most part. While my film tastes had already started transitioning from so many blockbusters, I would say Spider-Man 2 was a pivotal shift in my film viewing experiences.

Spider-Man 2 was a blockbuster film, but it was something different. It actually had a good story and good acting, which was far more interesting to me than the action and special effects. From Spider-Man 2 onward, I started measuring other blockbusters against it. If Spider-Man 2 could deliver an action film that was Oscar-worthy (in my opinion and other film critics), then others could do the same. Is it unfair to hold other blockbusters up to the greatness of Spider-Man 2? Yes, it is. Nevertheless, I started to expect more from blockbusters. When I didn’t get what I wanted, I started viewing fewer blockbusters and checked out the independent/Oscar-type films. (more…)

My maternal grandmother is the sole reason why I am a soap opera fan. When I was a child, my grandmother was my primary caretaker while my parents worked. I feel pretty confident that as a baby, my grandmother cradled me in her arms and had me watching “her stories” right along with her. As I grew up a bit and entered my pre-school years, I remember my grandmother bringing me home early. After fixing me something to eat, she would place my little mini rocking chair next to her own rocking chair. We would then watch the CBS soap operas together. Like many children who grew up with a soap opera watcher, I didn’t like to watch soaps. I would rather watch PBS programming (i.e. Mr. Rogers, Sesame Street, etc.) than the soaps. Granted, my grandmother would turn on the educational TV programs for me to watch, but she had to see her stories. As a result, I watched them right along with her. I have many vivid and fond memories of soap operas as a child. Many of those came from the Guiding Light.

My earliest memories of the Guiding Light came from the 1980s. At that time, I was old enough to understand the characters and stories being told. I started identifying who the families of Springfield were such as the Spauldings, the Bauers, the Raineses, the Lewises, and the Reardons. Naturally, I gravitated towards the characters I liked, and during the 1980s, I specifically loved watching the Four Musketeers – Phillip Spaulding, Rick Bauer, Mindy Lewis, and Beth Raines. The Four Musketeers were some of my favorites of the younger cast members, but I also liked Brandon “Lujack” Spaulding and later on, Alan-Michael Spaulding. Nevertheless, I primarily loved the older characters on the Guiding Light.

Several iconic Guiding Light characters made a huge impression on me as a child, and they include Alexandra Spaulding, Reva Shayne, Josh Lewis, and Vanessa Chamberlain. (more…)

As you are aware, I decided to take a hiatus from writing Otalia posts. I realized early on that there wasn’t going to be much to write about until Jessica Leccia (Natalia Rivera) returned from maternity leave. I also had a deep suspicion that the Guiding Light writing team wouldn’t have a good story line for Crystal Chappell (Olivia Spencer) while Leccia was away. Unfortunately, I was right about that, too. I realized fans were going to see nothing but “broken Olivia,” which was downright unbearable. It was just far too depressing to watch “broken Olivia,” so I actually stopped watching shortly after I wrote this post. I decided to catch back up on the Otalia story once I knew Jessica Leccia would reappear on Guiding Light (August 17, 2009 episode).

For me, the week of August 17 on Guiding Light was a critical week. It would help me make my final decision on if I would continue to write about Otalia or quit. As I wrote in my July 26, 2009 post, I was leaning towards quitting. Nonetheless, I wanted to be sure because I was torn between continuing and quitting the Otalia posts. During my hiatus, I had time to figure things out (just like Natalia). I knew I wanted to quit as the weeks passed and I didn’t miss writing the posts. That internal tug of war I experienced went away, and I felt at peace with my decision to quit writing the Otalia posts. I also didn’t miss Otalia that much when I quit watching for a few weeks either. It helped that I managed to start de-investing myself from Otalia around the time I wrote this June 23, 2009 post. Despite my acceptance that I was quitting the Otalia posts, I wanted to be 100% sure I was doing the right thing. I would say I was 99% sure I wanted to quit for weeks; however, I wanted to wait for Jessica Leccia to return and see if I felt a spark of something. I wanted to know if there was something there…if there was something that would make me change my mind. I wanted know if I would magically get my Otalia writing mojo back; nothing is impossible. As a result, I watched Otalia closely, and I watched the week of August 17 very carefully. Did I feel a spark? To put it simply, yes…but there is a “but.” (more…)

Hola Otalians,

I have been writing about the Otalia pairing on Guiding Light since April 20, 2009. As many of you are aware, the weekly grind of cranking out Otalia posts have been pleasurably painful. Unfortunately, I have gotten to a point where I am considering one of three options:

1. Continue writing about Otalia on a weekly basis as normal – This scenario is not likely.
2. Write about Otalia occasionally, when there is something significant to write about – This scenario is possible and likely.
3. Quit writing the Otalia posts forever – I have honestly leaned more towards this scenario as of late.

I thought I could write about Otalia to the very end, but for the past few weeks, I have had my doubts. Quite simply, I am tired and drained. As many of you are aware, my Otalia posts have become episodically longer every week. On average, the Otalia posts are 17 pages these days. That’s a lot of writing, but that part isn’t what’s the most time consuming. It’s the actual watching, re-watching, and analysis of the current week’s Otalia footage and past footage. These days, I end up spending more time studying archived footage of Otalia to conduct my weekly analysis. I have to baby step my way through new/archive footage sometimes to write the Otalia posts, which takes hours. This is one reason why my Otalia posts have been coming out on Sundays rather than Saturdays the past few weeks. I have a lot more stuff to watch than just the current week’s episodes. As many of you know, I come correct with my Otalia posts, or I don’t do it at all. There is no halfway with me when I write about Natalia Rivera (Jessica Leccia) and Olivia Spencer (Crystal Chappell). (more…)