Like They Used to...Michael Fassbender

Like They Used to...is going to start jumping into some modern actors and actresses that you should keep an eye on.  Like today's!

The Irish-German that I've fallen in love with is...yup, Michael Fassbender.  Sexy and very intense.  He is a fantastic actor who can play villians, spys, and brooding romantics with ease.  One of the things I love (and hate) about him is that the genres that he takes up in film jump all over the place.  Having a Michael Fassbender-athon would be a mindbending and emotional upheval.

Want a stark view of the Irish hunger strikes...watch Hunger.  Want to see lots Nazis get killed in increasingly horrific ways, Inglorius Basturds.  Scifi fans can watch X-Men.  Romantics can swoon at Jane Eyre.  Want to see him with long hair and wearing nearly nothing at all (hehehe of course you do!) then re-watch the film 300.  There was even a small production family friendly movie about the original "Winnie Bear" that inspired the Winnie the Pooh stories.

As a German Nazi

 One of his most recent films, A Dangerous Method, is "A look at how the intense relationship between Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud gives birth to psychoanalysis."  I've never had much interest in Freud but now...yup I'll be watching that one.  The next one that I'm really excited for is called Shame, don't be looking for an upbeat movie with a title like that.

It isn't just his looks that makes him someone to watch.  Sometimes he can be downright frightening!  It is the presence that he brings to the characters he portrays.  His severity often comes off as sincere but intense.  So I guess the best thing about becoming a Michael Fassbender fan is that you will try a bit of everything, not all of the movies have been great (Jonah Hex), but he is worth watching.  If you haven't seen him in a movie yet, keep an eye out.  I'd bet that he is about to jump into your favorite genre very soon!

Like They Used to...The Brothers Grimm

For they had ready red-hot iron shoes, in which she had to dance until she fell down dead.

Amputated toes, pecked out eyes, entrails on the floor, and torture that even Dick Cheney would have disapproved of.  If you think that all fairy tales were intended to be pleasant then you must have skipped over these ones.  The brother's Grimm were a twisted pair and it is no wonder that their ingenous tales have been dumbed down through the centuries into the Disney fair that they are now.  Don't get me wrong, I still love Disney movies but you have to read the originals to truly appreciate what those two German brothers did.

Let's not argue over who had the first Cinderella story.  Egypt, China, Greece, France, all claim to have told the original version 2000 to 3000 years ago.  What it really comes down to is that by the early 1800s Cinderella and many other fables had spread to Germany where they were collected by the Grimm's brothers and turned into a series of short stories.  Most were meant to impart morals or warnings for not being good.

One interesting thing of about the Grimm's tales is that even when they were published they were seen as being too gritty and raw for children, which is who they were marketed to back then.  In fact before they were released the second time the brothers were told to go back through their stories and change all of the evil mothers into evil step-mothers to somewhat lesson the shock of how they treated their daughters.  That is why there is no one like them around now.  I'd love to see someone create this gore and have the gall to market it to children!

Not all 210 fables are worth reading, some are repetitive and others don't seem to make much sense.  However if you have a stout stomach and perhaps a bit of a macabre sense of humor I fully suggest finding a copy of the Grimms Fairy Tales that hasn't been 'translated' into something for little kids.  How to tell?  Look up the last few lines of Snow White and search for some version of the phrase at the top of the blog.  If instead you see 'happily ever after' then you know you have the wrong book!

Next Time: The German-Irishman who has stolen my heart...

Like They Used to...Elizabeth Taylor

She is considered one of the last classic movie stars, if not the last. Before there was Bennifer and Brangelina there was Elizabeth Taylor and her eight marriages.

Much of her life was controversial and headline worthy. She has been ridiculed for her support of Michael Jackson and is the Godmother of two of his children. She was made a Dame by Queen Elizabeth II. She loved expensive jewelry and her fourth husband joked that a $50,000 diamond could keep her happy for approximately four days. In recent years her health has held her back from furthering her career and she has become more of an activist especially for AIDS.

But what really made her famous was her beauty and her engaging acting. There is no denying her talent. She was the first actress to earn $1,000,000, for her part in Cleopatra, and it was certainly not her last time. Despite the ups and downs of her career she was nominated for five Oscars and won twice. Elizabeth Taylor once explained that "Success is a great deodorant. It takes away all your past smells."

I never understood why I often heard her as the butt of jokes, especially when I was younger. Her looks have changed with age, which is not surprising. Luckily I've also noticed that people seem to think better of others when they have left this world. Gerald Ford was considered a dud until the day that he died and people began to fondly remember an undervalued man. Perhaps that is the day the people will look back on the life of Elizabeth Taylor and stand in awe of what she was able to accomplish. Maybe then she will be added to the ranks of Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn.

Next Week: The truth about Acton Bell.

Like They Used to...Arthur Tudor

The 'Almost King' Arthur

I have quite a wild imagination and I love history. Maybe this is why my mind drifts into the ideas of the 'what if' realm. Today's handsome figure is very intriguing to me because what if...he had lived.

Arthur Tudor was named after the mythical figure Arthur of Camelot by his father King Henry the VII. His reign was supposed to tie England to it's old noble history and restore the golden age back to the people. He was constantly being tutored and trained to become the next king of England, something that his younger brother did not participate in.

From the early age of two Arthur was engaged to marry Catherine of Aragon, from Spain, and at the young age of fifteen they were wed. The morning after, Arthur boasted to his friends that he had 'been in Spain' and that being a husband was 'thirsty work'. It is strange to consider that the history of Catholicism in England and the history of England itself once hung on the truth of that boastful claim.

Only 20 weeks later Arthur had died from a still undetermined illness, one that nearly claimed his wife as well. Before naming Arthur's younger brother heir apparent, England waited to see if Catherine was with child. Any of her issue would have been the future King or Queen of the country. When a child did not arrive the line of succession passed to Arthur's younger brother, a man who was completely untrained and unprepared for the role before him. He was the future King Henry the VIII.

When I look at portraits of the young and hopeful Arthur Tudor I wonder how history might have changed had he lived. How would it have unfolded without the influences of Henry VIII and his two daughters; Queen 'Bloody' Mary and Queen Elizabeth. We might never have heard of Anne Bolyne or the other four of his six wives. England would have been a very different country... had there ever been a King Arthur.

Next Week: Back to Hollywood! The first actress to earn $1,000,000 per movie! Hint-1963

Like They Used to...Josephine de Beauharnais

“I awake full of you. Your image and the memory of last night’s intoxicating pleasures has left no rest to my senses.”

Napolean Boneparte was obsessed with the woman he crowned as France's first Empress. Some of his love letters still exist and it is hard not to blush while reading them. They stopped abruptly after word reached him that she was cheating on him with other men, it appears to have broken his heart. Even after their divorce and his marriage to another women, Napoleon could not keep her out of his head. His dying words were “France, the Army, the Head of the Army, Joséphine.”

Josephine was known to be elegant and stylish with a beautiful voice. When looking at her gentle face it is hard to imagine that she ravaged the heart of the man who conquered Europe.

Next Week: The man who might have been King of England.

Like They Used to...

I'm sure that he's charming, but Fabio just doesn't do it for me. Neither does Robert Patterson or even Colin Farrell. In my opinion that old saying is true; they don't make them like they used to.

There is something so romantic about men and women from the past. Think about the wild appeal that James Dean, Humphrey Bogart, Audrey Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe still have in our popular culture. Now let's go back even farther. Imagine the grandeur of Cleopatra, stare into the eyes of Mona Lisa, or take in a mosaic of Alexander the Great. Maybe Abraham was hot too and the bible was just a bit too prudish to mention it, I mean he did have two wives after all.

We hear enough about the modern day hotties for me so I'm going to focus on the kind that you don't find anymore. The ones that aren't likely to be on the cover of any magazines, except maybe National Geographic.

To start off this week I've brought back Todd Karns. You may have never heard his name but most of you have seen his handsome baby face with that off kilter smile or at least can recall his famous line at the end of It's a Wonderful Life, “To my big brother George, the richest man in town!"

I love actors like him that were supposed to be little more than a bit character but their charm brings them to the foreground where they can't be ignored. He scores double points when you add in the uniform. No girl can turn down a man like that!

Next Week: The woman who conquered the heart of France's first Emperor.