Month: April 2021

I saw The Jungle Book when I was 7 years old in an open-air cinema in Nigeria.  My father was on contract to Nigerian Airways from Aer Lingus at the time.

We lived there for six months and they are some of my favorite memories of all time.  I will never forget this movie and the experience. I was transfixed.

My obsession with Disney and animation began there and then. From Mogli and Balou, Kaa and Bagheera to Shere Khan it was mesmerizing.

I drove my mother wild asking her to bring me again and singing ‘I’m the King of the Swingers’ and ‘The bare necessities’ around the house for months. I also took to ripping up a sheet- much to my mother’s discontent- and wearing a piece of it around the house as a loin cloth.

This brings me to my book ‘Tara Tree’ a romantic comedy fiction and part of a trilogy.   I have finally finished the first draft.  I employed the Jungle Book Motto – If anyone can I Shere Khan ‘. And I did.

The not so joyous art of editing is now in process. Once the editing finishes, I will begin the Prequel. Why? Because if anyone, can I Shere Khan.

That’s all for now

Stay fab

Adele

I adore my two dogs ‘Buzz and Finn’. I mention them often enough throughout my blog.  They are my spirit animals. They are all the spirit I need as I gave up alcohol 19 months ago and am feeling all the better for it.

Buzz is four years old now and in the early days I realized that my love for him was possibly reaching a tipping point. I noticed his inimitable penchant for sniffing poo and found myself poo spotting for him. Too much?  Yes, I know.

However, when I got Finn 2 years ago, he had somewhat upped the poo sniffing game to eating it. And rolling in it. A blissful day for him would be rolling in poo after ingesting some of it. It is gross.   All the same I do find myself on occasion going back to the poo spotting.

‘My eyeshite’ is the phrase I use for this practice. I am aware that it is a dreadful affliction. One of my lovely neighbors yesterday confessed to picking up other people’s dog poo.

He has a gorgeous dog and two beautiful children.  As he uses the green areas where we live a lot, he wants to keep them clean for his kids. His neighborly commitment to keeping our areas poo free is rather impressive.

I pick up litter that has been left around. Maybe I need to do a bit more?    Maybe not. For now, I think I just need to wean myself off the poo spotting.

That’s all for now

Stay fab

Adele

This cartoon is from my favorite lewd, ribald and coarse magazine ‘Viz’- crap jokes section.

This has to be Mrs. Doyle in Father Ted at her very very finest.

The Joy of Cursing. Yes, I said it.  I love cursing. Unfortunately, it is a hobby that I am unable to allow myself to indulge in as frequently as I would like.  Somebody once told me that there are holidays specifically tailored to weaning you onto hard drugs- in a safe environment- of course. I suppose it makes sense. If you are going to take them why not do it in a safe environment under guided supervision.

It must be a very different classroom to what I was brought up in. The teacher may ask

‘How are you? Are you off your tits yet? ‘

‘Oh yes Miss. Completely and utterly tittless’.

Whilst this is not my cup of tea or gram of coke.   I have been wondering if such a holiday could exist for people like me who wish to spend 7 days dropping the ‘f’ and ‘c’ bombs to our hearts content. Or dare I say cuntent……

Imagine the check in

‘What the f*ck do you want?’

‘I want to f*ck*n check in’

Well, you are some c**t for asking me that.   But here’s your f**kin key’.

‘How do I get to my f*ck*n room?’

‘Just f*ck off you stupid c**t’.

My idea of bliss.  No social niceties.  No manners.  Just sheer bliss and freedom to be coarse and belligerent.

That’s all for now

Stay fab

Adele

I heard one of my favorite comedians Bill Bailey tell a lovely animal rescue story.  It was when he was in Guangdong touring with his comedy show. His wife was with him and they were having a meal in a Chinese restaurant.

They noticed an owl in a cage near the kitchen.  Being the animal lover that he is, Bill noticed that the owl was looking particularly miserable. To be honest I am not sure how he could tell as owls seem to me to be quite expressionless. But he is Bill Bailey. A comedic demi God.

Anyhoo, twit twoo (couldn’t resist) he decided that he was going to ask the owner of the restaurant if he could buy it.  When he was telling the story he mentioned that he was not even sure if the owl was going to be part of the menu, hence the owl’s general demeanor.

After much haggling, eventually the owner agreed to sell the owl to Bill and his wife. They took a taxi to the nearest forest and released the bird.  He said that he got tremendous satisfaction from doing this.

Which does not surprise me as I would imagine anyone would experience great joy in releasing a bird or preventing it from ending up as a crispy owl pancake.

That’s all for now

Stay fab

Adele

Finn was as sick as a dog yesterday.  I wonder where that phrase comes from.?  Well, thanks to Google I have found out. Where would we be without it?  Possibly Googless ?   If that is even a word?  Enough of the questions.

Apparently, it comes from the early 1700’s when diseases like the plague were primarily said to be spread by animals such as dogs. All things undesirable were compared to our canine friends.

The day started well, myself and a friend had a picnic at the beach. We wiled away a few hours chatting and gazing at the ever-changing sky from menacing grey clouds and rain to Mediterranean blue. Buzz and Finn were in their element chasing each other round.

A few hours later Finn was shivering, panting and peed so much in my living room that it resembled a lake at one time. I couldn’t clean it up quick enough as he was at it again. Poor thing.

I guessed that he had possibly eaten something that did not agree with him and promptly whisked him off to the vet. As ever they looked after him in their caring and wonderful professional manner.

He is fine today. As good a dog as he ever was or will be. Buzz also looked after him or Dr. Buzz as I call him sometimes as he does like to lick anything better.

That is when he is not performing the early morning medical breath assessment.  This is when he comes within 1 cm of my mouth to sniff my breath. Once he is happy, he jumps off. A friend confided in me that her dog also performed this daily health assessment.

I am blessed with two gorgeous little dogs who are very very good dogs indeed.

That’s all for now

Stay fab

Adele

How cute is Sean Penn in this photo? I realize that the word cute is not normally associated with Sean Penn.  But hey I am a gal who likes to live on the edge…… Come and get me Sean if you think you are hard enough.? Well. Actually. You are. Well Hard.  So please accept my sincere apologies for calling you cute- if you are reading this. Which is highly unlikely. But there you go.

He has quite the acting chops and is of Russian, Lithuanian, Irish and Italian descent. His father was an actor and director and his mother was an actress.

Sean Penn is the 9^th person to win 2 academy awards. His first was for Best Actor in ‘Milk’ and second for Best Actor in ‘Mystic River’. He has directed one of my favorite movies ‘Into the Wild which has a massive cult following. And most famously was married to Madonna.

WPA – Woeful pun alert-   When it was not in ‘Vogue’ to date famous pop stars they were an item.  She was certainly not a ‘Virgin’ when they met and always claimed their relationship success was due to her ability to ‘Express herself (yourself)’.  They were ‘Borderline’ obsessed with each other and were married from 1986-1989.

He is famous for being serious and quite a ‘hard man’. I had difficulty finding any funny facts about him.  I had hoped that maybe he had appeared on Sesame Street but nope.  All I could find was that comedians love making jokes about his serious nature.

Such as ‘Neil Patrick Harris, Eddie Murphy and Sean Penn all walk into a room.  No one laughs until Sean walks out’. Another comedian claimed that the US had sent Sean Penn to interview Putin.

My claim to fame is that I was standing behind Sean Penn and his then wife Robin Wright at a theatre in New York in 2002.  The previous week I had watched ‘I am Sam’ with my nieces and we had all cried. He was magnificent as was the movie.

I decided to tell him so. Not in so many words. But I did say that it was superb. and thanked him. I will always remember his aura. His presence and charisma fill a room.

Oh, and he is also famous for his political and social activism. And founded the J/P Haitian Relief Organization following Hurricane Katrina in 2005 which at one time ran a 55,000-person tent camp. What a man. He could never have appeared in Games of Throne. The Penn is mightier than the sword quip would have been woeful.

That’s all for now

Stay fab

Adele

What a girl.  What an actress. What a name. Actually, I am not too sure about the name?  Named after a cheese?  Well maybe it is better than Gorgonzola Larson, Mozzarella Larson or Gouda Larson.  Although thinking it through if her parents did name her after a love of their favorite snack, they could have called her crackers. So perhaps she had a lucky escape with Brie.

I wonder if she is any relation to Gary Larson of the brilliant ‘Far Side Cartoons’.  Although I doubt it somehow.  Mentioning this fact is really just an excuse to post one of his cartoons.

Brie received the best acting Oscar for her role in ‘Room’ written by the amazing Irish author Emma Donoghue.  To prepare herself for the role Brie confined herself to her home for a month. Maybe she had a crystal ball and could see Covid around the corner.    Killing two birds with one stone?    Movie and Covid practice. Boom! Job done.    It is a harrowing movie to watch and the fact that it is based on true events makes it all the more horrific.

Little known facts are that she was in a band and she is a gamer.  I had to look up the name of the band as I was desperately hoping that it was cheese-related.

I know that I should stop now before I go nuts on the cheese puns.  But unfortunately, I cannot.    ‘Punitis’, a well-known affliction is something that I suffer from regarding the indiscriminate overuse of puns.

Perhaps her band was called ‘ Cheesus ‘? ‘Feta Chicks?’, or ‘Grate Magic?’. It turns out that it was none of these and her band’s name was ‘Metric’.

That’s all for now

Stay fab

Adele

Jake Gyllenhaal is just way too cute in this picture. Remember him in Brokeback Mountain with Heath Ledger. What a movie? Two outstanding actors. Heath is such a sad loss. 

It’s hard not to like Jake Gyllenhaal.  I tried and it didn’t work.   His acting heritage and chops are extraordinary.  Apparently, he was only 11 years old when he appeared opposite Billy Crystal in City Slickers.

He is very much a member of a Hollywood acting dynasty.    Jake’s father is a director and his mother is a producer/screenwriter.    Maggie Gyllenhaal- his sister- is also a well-known actress, Jamie Lee Curtis is his godmother and Paul Newman was his Godfather.

Finally, Gyllenhaal is godfather to Matilda Ledger, the daughter of Michelle Williams and Heath Ledger. Apart from all of that he really has no acting links in Hollywood whatsoever…….

That’s all for now

Stay fab

Adele

Happy World Earth Day.

Who knew that famous people resembled mere mortals like the rest of us?  This is the second in a 5-part blog series featuring photos of stars before they were famous.  I adore Kevin Bacon. It is hard not to. I also adore the fact that he is one half of one of the most successful marriages in Hollywood.  ‘Kyra Sedgewick’ is Kevin’s esteemed and also very successful wife. This also reminded me of one of my first 3 blogs referencing Kevin.    Here is the link.

http://adeleleahy.ie/kevin-bacons-mango/

Did you know that Kevin’s last name is double barreled and is actually ‘Bacon- Rind’? I jest, but imagine if it was? Kevin has taken to posting videos on TikTok of late.

We all know that he is most famous for his iconic role in Footloose and his awesome dancing.  When I watched it again, I guessed that he must have been a gymnast before he became an actor.

To my surprise he was neither a dancer nor gymnast and had body doubles for both. The Guardian has also named him one of the best actors Never to have received an Oscar.

‘Six degrees of Kevin Bacon’ was a meme that suggested that all Hollywood actors are connected to each other in some way.  It was derived from the many varied and eclectic roles that Kevin starred in. He later embraced it and set up a charitable foundation that links people and charities to each other.     He is one of a kind, Mr. Bacon Rind.

That’s all for now

 

Stay fab

 

Adele

David Hasselhoff, what a guy?    I adored ‘Knight Rider’ as a kid. I truly believed that it was the coolest show.  Imagine a car that can talk to you and obey your commands?    Nowadays it is not such a remote idea.

My car speaks Japanese to me. It is a Japanese import and the toll card reader announces something when I turn on the engine. Not quite the same thing as in it does not obey my commands. But it will do for now. I need to learn the language to understand what she is saying.  Perhaps she is providing directions to the nearest Sushi restaurant? Although I doubt it.

David was also a huge popstar in Germany before he was globally famous. Apparently, he has quite a voice.  I suppose with a name like ‘Hasselhoff’ they were welcoming their own. I wonder if people give him grief over his name?    Asking if their request for an autograph is a Hassle? And asking that he doesn’t stride off in a Huff/Hoff?

I am sure that he has heard all the woeful puns a million times. Since his ‘Knight Rider’ and Popstar days he has gone onto global stardom in ‘Baywatch’ and as a judge on ‘Britain’s Got Talent’. I have decided not to add any links to YouTube for his music as it is not my kinda thing and is truly woeful. Long may he be the star that he is.

 

That’s all for now

Stay fab

Adele