Breakfast of champions?

Watched the hour and half Framing Britney Spears documentary while cooling down after my morning walk and having brekkie...something to take in a little tongue in cheek as even though this really puts into focus the term and meaning into a conservatorship (especially her conservatorship), it's much more of a conversation into the effects of fame and the differences between the effects of public relations on any celebrity (eg. be it male vs. female/ethnicity/age).

I've taken it into bringing to light as to the effects of celebrity status and the type of toll it takes on anyone's mental well-being (which seems to also have been gaining much more attention in the media recently).

It's hard to define this as a movie or documentary as it tells a story and as a viewer, I don't know how much to believe but it's definitely showcased a different perspective on how to view her situation. Not that I've had much of an opinion but I'm glad I'm not in her boat and hope it makes it to a destination in one piece. (fingers-crossed) *yikes*

Netflix's 'The Chair'

Is a satirical six-part series of contemporary academia disguised as a rom-com that's cocreated by Amanda Peet and starring Sandra Oh, Jay Duplass and Holland Taylor to name a few.

For “The Chair,” Amanda Peet needed a very specific kind of lead actress. Who else but Sandra Oh, could both “do a pratfall and also pass as someone with a Ph.D. in literature?” (agreed!!!)

At a major university, Ji-Yoon Kim's (Oh's character) the first woman of color to become chair tries to meet the dizzying demands and high expectations of a failing English department. Personally, Sandra embraces every character she's played so well (even in the thrilling Killing Eve) that it's always so much fun to see how she transforms into her role and take the ride with her!

Weekend distractions…

WE LOVE NYC: The Homecoming Concert
New York Philharmonic - 'Candide', 'Rhapsody in Blue', 'Manhattan','Arthur's Theme', 'New York State of Mind', 'New York, New York' DJ Cassidy introducing Andrea Bocelli, Tenor with New York Philharmonic - 'You'll Never Walk Alone'; 'O Sole Mio' with Flute solo Jennifer Hudson with New York Philarmonic - 'Nessun Dorma'
Clive Davis introduced Carlos Santana - 'Maria Maria'
Santana with Rob Thomas - 'Move'; 'Smooth'
Julia Michaels & JP Saxe with Sam Smith, H.E.R. & Alessia Cara, Niall Horan, Keith Urban & Finneas - 'If The World Was Ending'
Gayle King - Co-host, 'CBS This Morning' presents Kane Brown - 'Homesick' & 'Be Like That'
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer
Journey ' Any Ay You Want It,' Don't Stop Believin'
Don Lemon, CNN Anchor introducing LLCool J, Melle Mel & Scorpio, Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five, French Montana, Bad Joe, Remy Ma, Boogie with the Hoodie, Run DMC & Busta Rymes
Melle Mel and Scorpio - 'The Message'
Busta Rhymes and Spliff Star - 'Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Can See'
A Boogie Wit da Hoodie - ' Look Back At It'
French Monatana, Fat Joe and Remy Ma - 'All The Way Up' & 'Lean Back'
LL Cool J - 'Mama Said Knock You Out,' LL Cool J and Rev Run - 'It's Tricky, 'LL Cool J and Friends - 'Rock The Bells'
Stephen Colber, Host 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' presents Jon Batiste - 'Freedom'
Mayor Bill de Blasio & Charlene - New York introducing Earth, Wind & Fire Ft. Lucky Daye - 'Want My Love' & 'September'
DJ Cassidy introduces Executive producers Jeff Gordon & Jason Miller from Live Nation
Polo G - 'Rapstar'
Don Lemon and Carlos Espinoza (Bakery giving free food to the public) introduces and Barry Manilow - 'Copacabana,' 'Mandy'

Due to rain, concert stopped and Barry Mainlow's called in and played 'I made it through the rain'
On the phone convos with Carlos Santana, rapper French Montana, DJ Cassidy, Elvis Costello, Stephen Colbert in The Killer's tent with a Digeridoo - Bruce and Paul Simon drops in looking for Paul Simon to jam with The Killers.
Snapshot of an acoustic performance fromThe Killers (Brandon Flowers) singing 'Mr Brightside' with Gayle King (Co-host, 'CBS This Morning) with Don Lemon on the phone

On the phone with Patti Smith
Final word via Erica Hill (CNN National Correspondent) that the rest of the show is cancelled in the park. Oh well, we take what we can!

Stand Up To Cancer:
Celebrities supporting research into the disease: Tony Hale, Katie Couric, Anthony Anderson, Ken Jeong, Tran Ho, Sofia Vergara, Common, Brittany Howard
Chapter One - Valuing the Importance of Life - hosted by Reese Witherspoon (Jennifer Garner; Tony & October Gonzalez; Ed Helms; Ciara)
Dr. Rayne H. Rouce, MD - Texas Children's Hospital; Dr. John Carpten; Dr. Kimberly Stegmaier; Dr. Andrew Chan; Dr. Brian Wolpin; Dr. Folasade May; Dr. Michal Sheffer; Brittany Howard;
Chapter Two - Equity Is Necessary - hosted by Anthony Anderson (Tony Hale, Michael Pena, Mj Rodriguez, Chandra Wilson, Iliza Shlesinger, Jamie Camil, Kate del Castillo)
Cancer: A Love Story - Once Upon A Time...Yaphet and Kelly Smith - Cancer was upon them
Yaphet volunteered to be a part of the PROMISE Study, a SUZC supported trial that tests healthy people who may be at risk for multiple myeloma. 'CANCER IS NOT A DEATH SENTENCE' And they are living their Happily Ever After

Chadwick Boseman's wife Simone sings
Danielle Michaud - Host, Sportsnet; Yannick Bisson - Murdoch Mysteries, CBC; Bryan Mudryk - Sportcaster, TSN; Carolyn Mackenzie - The Morning Show, Global;

Chapter Three - Science Saves Lives
Hosted by: Ken Jeong & Tran Ho - 'You complete me, Ho!'

'MAKING THE IMPOSSIBLE POSSIBLE'
HOPE
Stand Up To Cancer came at a very critical time. Everyone was siloed and sharing data was a very difficult thing. Now we can credibly say 'it's a collaborative effort'. Dream teams, immunotherapy, convergance, innovative approachs, technologies and genetics, precision medicine, pharma, clinical trials, interception...HOPE. Stand Up To Cancer really allows us to take chances and they are okay with not all the ideas working to get that special one that's going to make a huge difference. The world cancer started in 1971. We did not think we had the tools to cure cancer. What's actually changed? EVERYTHING. Cancer doesn't need to be that death sentence that we used to think 10 years ago. It's scientists, it's technologists, it's advocates, it's patients...we're ALL working together. Stand Up To Cancer has made team science the norm. And that's why Stand Up To Cancer is out there shouting 'NOW NOW NOW!' ARE YOU STANDING YET?
NEW EVERY DAY , NEW IDEAS, NEW INSIGHTS, NEW DISCOVERIES
Amazing arsonal of diverse weaponry: - quantitative ways of thinking, targeted therapies, combination therapy, tumour micro-environment, bioinformatics, geonomics...LET'S MAKE THE IMPOSSIBLE POSSIBLE.
Stand Up To Cancer started the revolution but it's an evolving revolution. There's no turning back.
The fight against cancer...is a fight for more time.

Ken & Tran thanks Bradley Cooper who was there for them as he'd lost his own father, Charlie from lung cancer 10 years ago
Italia Ricci, Cecily Strong, Max Greenfield, Deon Cole
Survivor: Alison Sweeney
Chapter Four - Better Together
Hosted by: Sofia Vergara
Katie Couric - Legacy Circle with AACR - American Association for Cancer Research

Matthew McConaughey

Common raps, Stevie Wonder on harmonica

This date's CELEBRATIONS!!! #wootwoot! #family

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY DEAREST RANDHAWA'S!!!

&

HAPPY BDAY AMES!!!

“Suji-wa-Dokushin-ni-Kagiru"

'Numbers should be single, a bachelor' - translation

Awww....I was scrolling through msn and just saw a post (from this morning) that Maki Kaji, the creator of (my MOST favorite hobby and past-time) the numbers puzzle Sudoku, whose life's work was spreading the joy of puzzles, has died from bile duct cancer.

Known as the 'Godfather of Sudoku', Kaji had created the puzzle to be easy for children and others who didn't want to think too hard. The name 'Sudoku' is made up of the Japanese characters for 'number' and single,' where the numbers 1 through 9 are placed in rows, columns and blocks without repeating them.

After dropping out of Keio University in Tokyo, he founded Nikoli in 1983 and came up with Sudoku around the same time. Nikoli has provided original puzzles to more than 100 media companies, 10 of them foreign ones. He'd traveled to more than 30 countries spreading his enjoyment of puzzles. Sudoku championships have drawn over 200 million people in 100 countries over the years!

'Kaji-san came up with the name Sudoku and was loved by puzzle fans from all over the world. We are grateful from the bottom of out hearts for the
patronage shown throughout his life.'

According to the article, it Sudoku only became a global hit in 2004 when a New Zealand fan pitched and had it published in The Times newspaper. Two years later, Japan rediscovered the puzzle as a 'gyakuyunyu' or 'reimport.'
A major Japanese newspaper Mainichi in its obituary credited Kaji for starting the puzzles sections at bookstores, as well as introducing the word ' Sudoku' into the Oxfor English dictionary. !!!

The extraordinary impact Kaji-san has had on my life cannot be adequately explained. It played a gigantic role in my recovery period, so much that I had even written a speech about Sudoku (Hobby - Sudoku - 'Going Out Of My Mind) in my 2018 toastmasters group (Mon Sheong Inspired Toastmasters)

Besties catch-up!!!

Had TWO awesome nearly hour long phone convo chats (as she's headed to and from work) with bestie, Shelley today!!!

Granted, we message one another regularly online but I think the last time we had a long phone convo was back in May for her birthday. So, I'd like a record to remember this day (conversation topics irrelevant, lol!)!!!

Aug 20, 2021 Update:
Had a 90 minute intense check in chat with bestie where I learned some potentially unforgiving news regarding her health that she's currently still in the midst of. Due to the unknown, everything (including covid-19 vaccine) is potentially dangerous...tbd...
MUCH love from afar...

Hump day Bar barritto & bake shop

Catching up on some
sweet memories
with Winnie!!!

Dins over at BarBurrito first...

Magical 2 pics detz!!! Before dessert next door at Bake Code
#besties

Watched the HBO Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind documentary (that was released back in 2018) that looked into the extraordinary life and career of a most amazing comedian, the great Robin Williams. It included celebrity guests with the likes of David Letterman, Jay Leno, Billy Crystal, Whoopi Goldberg, Steve Martin (Waiting for Gadot), Matt Damon & Ben Affleck (Good Will Hunting) as well as his breakout acting partner, Pam Dwaber (Mork & Mindy)

'His pathos was seeking to entertain and please. And he felt when he wasn't doing that,
he was not succeeding as a person. That was always hard to see because in so many senses he is the most successful person that I know. and yet he didn't always feel that.'
- Zack Williams (son)

'Great ppl make you better. You got over the fact that it was Robin, and then you got to work.
You did what you needed to do...because you wanted to be up to speed.' It was just like
'Oh no, you're not leaving me in the dust. I'm going to be right next to you, running.
You wanted to be able to play and keep up.'
- Whoopi Goldberg

The three muskateers (Billy Crystal, Whoopi Goldbert & Robin Williams!)

Also caught Les Miserables in Concert: The 25th Anniversary which included Nick Jonas who portrayed the role of Marius!

This musical NEVER stops being popular, it has such a history in my life...I remember being introduced to this musical via Grace and Jules when Ames and I were all such young'uns...I mean we were literally babies.
We memorized ALL the words in Les Mis...so that to this day I always remember and sing along to all the songs!

BUT the four of us were so diligent in learning the lyrics to the roles we were committed to (Grace - Cosette; Ames - Eponine; Myself - Fantine; Jules - ALL the male roles ahahahaaaa!!! )