Why We Love Men...

(started by Paul Coelho )

Please feel free to add more to the list.

We love men because they can never fake orgasms, even if they wanted to.
Because they write poems, songs, and books in our honor.
Because they never understand us, but they never give up.
Because they can see beauty in women when women have long ceased to see any beauty in themselves.
Because they come from little boys.
Because they can churn out long, intricate, Machiavellian, or incredibly complex mathematics and physics equations, but they can be comparably clueless when it comes to women.
Because they are incredible lovers and never rest until we’re happy.
Because they elevate sports to religion.
Because they’re never afraid of the dark.
Because they don’t care how they look or if they age.
Because they persevere in making and repairing things beyond their abilities, with the naïve self-assurance of the teenage boy who knew everything.
Because they never wear or dream of wearing high heels. (this recent trend in Paris should be halted)
Because they’re always ready for sex.
Because they’re like pomegranates: lots of inedible parts, but the juicy seeds are incredibly tasty and succulent and usually exceed your expectations.
Because they’re afraid to go bald.
Because you always know what they think and they always mean what they say.
Because they love machines, tools, and implements with the same ferocity women love jewelry.
Because they go to great lengths to hide, unsuccessfully, that they are frail and human.
Because they either speak too much or not at all to that end.
Because they always finish the food on their plate.
Because they are brave in front of insects and mice.
Because a well-spoken four-year old girl can reduce them to silence, and a beautiful 25-year old can reduce them to slobbering idiots.
Because they want to be either omnivorous or ascetic, warriors or lovers, artists or generals, but nothing in-between.
Because for them there’s no such thing as too much adrenaline.

Because when all is said and done, they can’t live without us, no matter how hard they try.
Because they’re truly as simple as they claim to be.
Because they love extremes and when they go to extremes, we’re there to catch them.

Because they are tender when they cry, and how seldom they do it.

Because what they lack in talk, they tend to make up for in action.
Because they make excellent companions when driving through rough neighborhoods or walking past dark alleys.
Because they really love their moms, and they remind us of our dads.
Because they never care what their horoscope, their mother-in-law, nor the neighbors say.
Because they don’t lie about their age, their weight, or their clothing size.
Because they have an uncanny ability to look deeply into our eyes and connect with our heart, even when we don’t want them to.
Because when they say “I love you” they ask for an explanation.

Release. Resolve. Forgive.

I know It is in my Italian DNA...

...But I can't get enough of Dean Martin when he floats by my atmosphere.



Andiamo!

A Few of my Favorite Things....

Intricate ways to turn words into soul stirring nuggets of inspiration are high on my list of just plain awesome.

Imagine my delight when discovering Lend Me Your Ears: Great Speeches in History, Updated and Expanded Edition written by the legendary word smith William Safire opens with a short succinct introduction on the use of the contrapuntal turnaround with two very powerful examples...

Lincoln used it in switching the cynical "Might makes Right" to the moral "Right makes Might"

and

John Kennedy did the same with "never negotiating out of fear" into "never fear to negotiate."

These simple but effective contrapunts of the English language move hearts to attention creating that zinging sound bite that can tip the tides of history.

That my friends is what gets nerdy writers excited!

One of the most inspiring speeches of all times delivered by Abraham Lincoln on the occasion of our Civil War is a master stroke of effective efficacy.

Lincoln's Gettysburg Address

These 266 Words Delivered.... Beautifully. Shaped all that would follow.

"Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead who struggled here have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us--that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion--that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth."

Growing up in Pennsylvania offered many rich historical influences to shape my young life, to be sure, but the fifth grade class trip to Gettysburg is one that colors my heart so deeply and still speaks to me so clearly is one I will never forget. The voices that whispered off the grass covering the battle ground where so many lives were lost in defense of the truth as we walked across and through the gravestones wanted no one to forget.

Let There Be Light!

My heart is alternately breaking and expanding with equal beats as I witness the events of our days.

On the surface it is a time of truly devastating tragedies and deep ungrounded indulgence bringing up all our fears, numbing us into inaction because what was will not be what is. On a deeper level we are being called and encouraged to move into the adult conversation, to know the great resourcefulness and incredible displays of true inner spirit we are longing to tap into. Like Mark Antony urging mourners into action over the body of Julius Caesar "If you have tears, prepare to shed them now." It most certainly won't be the last. But remember these are adult tears. Propelling action. Finding solutions. Telling the truth.

The era of great leadership seems to be on a hiatus and really when it finally emerges is not wholly going to right this ship. We are in a time when taking personal responsibility must ignite the way forward. Where we've been good we are going to need to be great and where we've been unconscious we need to wake up. The one thing we can be sure of... the person standing in front of you, driving next to you, working down the hall has experienced, or is experiencing as much trauma as you. In that light. Be kind.   

Our 21st Century America never had to develop its sea legs, we didn't have to cross an ocean to gain our freedom. We built this America by using freedoms we were given. In the midst of this tremendous transformational time of necessary change there is no need to be discouraged when it seems to only bring more change. Faith is an aspect of consciousness. We can choose to have faith in the microcosm and macrocosm of misery that seems to litter our horizons or we can choose to have faith and vision for a world in harmony. A world transformed. It is not a time to feel powerless and tired to the point we need to curl up in a ball and take a nap closing our hearts and falling into a fog. It is a time to be a light so others, our children, our neighbors, our communities, here and across the globe, can rise and shine. Everyday. Fully fed and safe from suffering.

"A nation reveals itself not only by the men it produces but also by the men it honors and remembers." John Kennedy had it right in his speech celebrating Robert Frost.

Make no mistake the message we are currently projecting is being internalized sinking deep into young minds. Right now we are producing (and to a certain extent honoring) role models of zero substance. A series of Pratts, entitled Housewives, Cheaters, Daughters that want to be Porn Stars and a generation looking to celebritize everything about themselves and their existence. 

Let's be remembered for our ability to change with grace to transform our present turmoils into peace on earth. Let's get really clear, what we do matters. As Martin Luther King, Jr. said "Living a life of meaning is not a popularity contest." We have challenges, for sure, things are breaking apart and falling away... However when Winston Churchill on the day of the French capitulation said "Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the human race lasts for a 1000 years, let them say ... "This was their finest hour" he offered a space above the doubt, beyond the uncertainty and bleakness of circumstance to rise into.

Join me in celebrating moments of magnificence, individuals of purpose, and every expression of love that you see, encouraging more of that kind of behavior. Uplifting every moment that follows. Leading us into a new era.

Dudes... It is time to say "Let there be Light!"

Email me will any ideas on people you want to celebrate -- info@alwaysalice.com 

Brought to you by:  Catch the Jazz Train

POETRY PARTY! GOT BUDDHA...

In a moment of grace all karma is burned...

Buddha's powerful words on achieving escape from suffering through detachment from our thinking and the five senses kicks down the door to freedom.

"All things, O priests, are on fire. And what, O priests, are all these things which are on fire?

"The eye, O priests, is on fire; forms are on fire; eye-consciousness is on fire; impressions received by the eye are on fire; and whatever sensation, pleasant, unpleasant, or indifferent, originates in dependence on impressions received by the eye, that also is on fire.

"And with what are these on fire?

"With the fire of passion, say I, with the fire of hatred, with the fire of infatuation; with birth, old age, death, sorrow, lamentation, misery, grief, and despair are they on fire.

Decide now to get off the "wheel of suffering." Release your attachment to what was with love in a moment of grace you can give yourself. Do it. Now. Be free today and always. Be free of what was, but more importantly be free to live in the possibility of this moment by being willing to be your best self unattached to any labels anyone, including yourself tries to pin on you.

Be Our Guest

YOU ARE INVITED

A PHENOMENAL TEA PARTY

 

THE BARE ESCENTUALS &

THE BARE MEL
JOIN TOGETHER
for an amazing
BARE DOWN 
EVENT

Join AMP Experience
Sunday, October 3rd
West Hollywood
11-3pm
Tea, Snacks, Makeup
& Soulful Networking

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SHARE THE LOVE  

Defining Moments

"You watched Wilie Mayes and like Michael Jordan you couldn't keep your eyes off him. He did everything well."

One of my favorite quotes from a humble guy... baseball great Willie Mayes on Charlie Rose when asked about his strategy on the field "They threw it and I hit it.  They hit it and I caught it."

A mentor of Willie Mayes said to him upon entering professional baseball "You're going to have to show yourself that you can handle all the stuff that is going to come at you."



"Greatness is doing what you have to do so others can do what they need to."

Check out the book -- Willie Mays: The Life, The Legend on Amazon. It is an extraordinary story.

Starting Here. Starting Now.

Everythings coming up roses!

Arguably (not for me) Gypsy is the greatest musical of all time. A dream collaboration of Jule Styne and Stephen Sondheim with the terrific Arthur Laurents providing the book based on the legendary stage mother to Gypsy Rose Lee and June Havoc.

Here's two of my favorite performances of the penultimate moments that close out Act one - Everythings Coming Up Roses and the Finale - Rose's Turn providing examples of a comprehensive master work of that incredibly profound animal from the musical theater -- the three act song performed in one kick ass show stopping production number.

Here she is world. Here she is boys. 

You either got it or you aint.

Even late in life, Ethel Merman delivers the goods, showcasing all the juice and essence of the archetypal stage mom filled with all torment of a life in the shadows ultimately remembering there moment in the sun.



With Angela Landsbury the role of Mama Rose shifts....

Everythings coming up Roses.

Curtain up. Light the lights. We've got nothing to hit but the heights.

You can do it... all you need is a hand.
We can do it.... Mama is gonna see to it.


Everythings coming up Roses and Daffodils
Everythings coming up Sunshine and Santa Close.

Everything coming up Roses this time for me.




"Just for that moment. It was mine." -- Angela Landsbury "share and hold a moment that belongs to no one else.... living in time and in our memories."

Here's Glee's use of the song.... showcasing the power of the work... however you use it.



This is an interesting transposition of Ethel Merman's cast recording with the screen version's Rosalind Russel performance.



That's what a classic show tune looks like!

A Mel Prayer

Mel in the Roses - Huntington Gardens

The sacred relationship

Holy union

Of spirit and relationship

That has been opened up

May it be surrendered over

May any thoughts brought forth

Lay at rest

To the highest form of source

Getting our selves

Out of the way

To be of service

To what wants to be born

Amen

Churchill Chatter....

As the curtain rose on Churchill’s Prime Ministership he knew the tasks ahead were daunting….

“You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word.

Victory.

Victory at all costs. Victory in spite of all terrors – victory however long and hard the road may be, for without victory there is no survival.”

Words to remember.

Search Amazon.com for churchill finest hour

"Here we are together."

A speech Churchill made in the Capital of the United States of America which is the very
heart of our democracy...

"it is not given to us to peer into the mysteries of the future... still I avow my hope and faith, sure and inviolate that in the days to come The British and American people will for their own safety and for the good of all, walk together in majesty in justice and in peace."

Amen. 

That is what magnificence looks like.

I AM

Everything I need

I have

Everything  I want

is given me

Everything that is

I am

Donate  $50 dollars and receive a copy of I AM A MAGNIFICENT WOMAN.

Self Portraits are in Demand..

Manet's Self portrait sale sets record for artist's work...

Sotheby's sold an Edouard Manet self-portrait for $33.1 million, a record for the artist but towards the lower end of pre-sale expectations of $16.3 million to $24.4 million.

Brought to you by: Mel's Written Self Portrait  THE BARE MELCESSITIES

Birthday Self Portrait

Think about the moments of joy you have experienced, the moments of complete happiness that flow forth from your being. 

Can you feel it?   Alright!

Thank you for helping me celebrate my birthday!

Be a person who remembers the joy in every situation and rise up... take the moment of grace and burn all that crazy Karma you are tired of carrying....

Witness the Unfolding...

MIRACLES

HAPPEN

---

THEY HAPPEN EVERYDAY

---

IN EVERY

WAY

A Mel Favorite...

Love Will Always Win... with Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood...

"No way over it, no way around it.
If we want it, we have to go through it.
Fight for love and the world tries to bring us down.
But the world will bend,
An' the fight will end.
Love will always win.

Hold on till we see tomorrow,
There is time to borrow,
Till we own our own.
Walk on and our hearts will lead us.
But our hearts will need us,
To be steady and strong.
So we can stand and face the fire.
Burning higher and higher."

Marianne Williamson at Agape Services

Let's get Fierce in protecting the planet and rise up in our magnificence...

Check out the talk here.

Baby Penguins Get It...

Everybody Needs Some Help Now and Then

Lend a hand when you can.

Click here to donate to the Gulf Oil Spill recovery efforts!

8-9-10 Kicks off A Week of Celebrating!!

Celebrate, Celebrate, Celebrate!!

Luis Mariano singing Cole Porter's C'est Magnifique from the 1950's Musical Can Can... and you can't help but smile...

Enjoy!

Forgiveness Now and Forever...

In the course of human history we've done things that are largely and entirely horrific. There are always reasons as to why it had to be done. Why in the general scheme of things something intolerable had to take precedence over a continuing pattern of destruction.

I was not born when the events of the World War II were being decided but I can take today to apologize.



In that deeply personal space of your heart. Take this moment to say "I'm sorry" for the wounds inflicted; for the fallout (literally) and for the ways we have, since our action, overlooked the basic tenants of humanity.

Today on the 65th Anniversary of Hiroshima... remember any loss of human life leaves the whole of society weakened.

AGREED!

As David Denby writes in his New Yorker review of Chris Nolan's INCEPTION

"His new movie, “Inception,” is an astonishment, an engineering feat, and, finally, a folly. Nolan has devoted his extraordinary talents not to some weighty, epic theme or terrific comic idea but to a science-fiction thriller that exploits dreams as a vehicle for doubling and redoubling action sequences."

Nobody enjoys the subconscious, dreams and general projecting more than me. I was excited to see Chris Nolan's cinematic take... with that said I found myself mildly intrigued, enjoying the artistry, and appreciating the efforts that went into the telling... However like a visit to the museum on an empty stomach... There was not enough grounded story telling to sustain the trip. The whole thing was a single note played to long and I couldn't wait for the thing to end... Read the whole New Yorker review here... Christopher Nolan’s “Inception,” review: newyorker.com

Let me know what you thought of the film audiences are flocking to.

Affirmation Mondays

Turn your perspective ON to the truth...

* I am not weak, but strong.
* I am not helpless, but all powerful.
* I am not limited, but unlimited.
* I am not doubtful, but certain.
* I am not an illusion, but a reality.
* I cannot see in darkness, but in light.

Rock it out and let me know how it shifts the tides for you!

lots of love,

Melanie

Dear God....

"Through love she finds the strength to triumph over adversity, discovering her own voice in the world."

Here's an interview with Alice Walker.... discussing the origins of The Color Purple.

Alice Walker says...
"I always thought of it just as a gift."