ONE SICK AND SAD PUPPY

I have not died....yet. The last couple of weeks I have felt terrible. Sometimes Lupus gets the best of me. My doctor - a SPECIALIST, I might add - says "Lupus is a terrible disease". Just think - he went to med school for that bit of wisdom. Don't get me started on our health care system!!

AND - my dog is sick. She has a terrible cough - actually, she sounds like the AFLAC duck. She is not eating - which REALLY means she is sick. The vet gave her some medicine on Friday - but she is not getting better...so that means another trip to see him. There is nothing more pitiful than a sick pet. They just look at you with those big eyes that seem to beg you to"fix it". I wish I could.

OKAY...on top of all of this...Deborah Kerr died.

I know - she was old. 86, I think and suffering from Parkinson's disease. But she was such a class act. Her movies are a sharp contrast to what we have now. I still remember the closing scene in "Tea and Sympathy," where she unbuttoned the top button of her blouse and said, "When you speak of this...and you will....be kind." Then the music swelled and the screen went dark. That was so much more erotic and sensual then what we see today. And - who can forget the passionate kissing scene in the surf with Burt Lancaster in "From Here To Eternity?" Or her emotionally wrenching performance in "An Affair to Remember???" I know - these are old movies. But they were wonderful.

I can't help but compare Deborah Kerr's movies to the new HBO series, "Tell Me That You Love Me." Actually - there really is no comparison - more like a sad commentary on what passes as entertainment. If you have tuned into the HBO series, you know that you think you have inadvertently tuned into a porn channel. There is not only explicit nudity...there is explicit sex, and crude language. And what saddens me most, is that a stellar actress, like Jane Alexander, has cheapened her art and talent by choosing to appear in this mess.

We have lost the enchantment, somehow, of the "magic of movies". Now we have real life...and sometimes, real life is not so pretty. I miss being entertained. I mean, with drama. Sure, we still have entertainment in the form of fantasy - like the Harry Potter movies. But the romantic movies are less about acting, and more about seeing how far they can push the envelope. Actually, maybe it is more than that. Maybe during Deborah Kerr's heyday - movie stars were more mysterious - less accessible. Their public appearances were well-scripted, just like the movies. Now we have TMZ and a zillion paparazzi who capture on film every time the celebrity burps, or scratches their rear end. Now we see them as horrendously human and flawed - just like we are - so it is impossible to create real "magic and mystery" on the screen.

When Deborah Kerr and Burt Lancaster kissed in the surf - they didn't have a camera man zooming in close enough to count the grains of sand that made their way into the actors' bathing suits. We, in the audience, were allowed to think that part of the kiss didn't happen. That for that one passionate moment, the irritating sand disappeared, or didn't exist. We were allowed to suspend realism.

Oh well...I will miss knowing Deborah Kerr is still alive somewhere in the world. When Doris Day dies, I will be inconsolable....that's a heads-up warning to you all...just so you know.