Happy 50th Birthday President Barack Obama

I want to wish a very Happy 50th Birthday to our great President, Barack Obama.

I continue to deeply admire this strong leader, who methodically, quietly, and brilliantly, handles each of the challenging situations that he faces as an American President. Additionally, he continues to be forced to contend with the most conspicuous greed ever in history from the party/"parties" of his opposition -- and even blatant bigotry from those who would typically support him politically -- and does this with the greatest of dignity.

We are also fellow August Leos--both born in the 1960s. Rrroarrrrrr, President Obama!

Please celebrate with our President by continuing to support him and his work with citizen pressure to the U.S. Congress to be more responsible, and less avaricious, than they've been in recent months/weeks, with your votes, and with your donations to President Obama's 2012 Presidential Campaign.

In Memorium: Bruce Lee the Greatest on the 70th Anniversary of His Birth

There were and are great martial artists. There were and are great action stars of world cinema. Then, there was the one and only, Bruce Lee (李小龍). Unmatched.

He was born in San Francisco, California, 70 years ago (on November 27, 1940) as Lee Jun-fan/Li Zhen-fan (李振藩), to parents of Chinese and Chinese/German heritage. I won't provide a bio or filmography in this post--there are more than enough out there written by experts and commentators with far more experience and insight than me. The temporal world lost him on July 20, 1973, when I was soon to turn 9 years old. Too soon. (A gross understatement.) Despite his only 32 years in this life, we lost him after his nearly life-long career on screen--though he only made seven major films, he was in countless films in cameo parts since he was a child, and appeared in numerous television programs.

Sir Run Run Shaw Happy 103rd Birthday

A very happy birthday to living legend, Sir Run Run Shaw (邵逸夫), co-founder (with his brothers) of the Shaw Brothers Studios, and of TVB. The official date of his birthday, November 23 (the auspicious date of the 14th day of the 10th month of the Chinese calendar in 2007) may or may not be exact, but this remarkable man's birth year is confirmed by all sources as having taken place in 1907.

Dame Gwyneth Jones Happy 74th Birthday

A very Happy Birthday to Dame Gwyneth Jones (born November 7, 1936), one of the greatest ladies of opera and one of my all-time favorite singers. This beautiful, elegant Welsh soprano had, in the heyday of her career, one of the largest hochdramatisch voices in memory. Out of this slim and lovely woman came sounds so huge that she could capsize the world's largest aircraft carrier! Yet, in roles like the Marschallin in Richard Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier, she could be tender and gentle.