Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

All My Children Casting Call...

'All My Children's' casting call is for a real-life Iraq veteran
By LYNN ELBERTHE ASSOCIATED PRESS
An open casting call for "All My Children" is far from business as usual: The soap opera is seeking an Iraq war veteran to play an injured vet.
The ABC daytime show has created a romantic story line to combine entertainment and a window into the challenges faced after combat, said executive producer Julie Hanan Carruthers. "All My Children" has launched a broad search to fill the role, inviting veterans to contact the show's New York casting director. The series also is working with a veterans' support group, USA Cares, and the military.
"It will make it such a heightened experience for the audience and for us ... to cast a real-life soldier, a veteran, and bring him into our created drama," Carruthers said.
The veteran-turned-actor will play the character of Brot, a key figure in a plot that's already under way and involves a visitor to fictional Pine Valley, Army Lt. Taylor Thompson (Beth Ehlers). Taylor, who was stationed in Iraq and is on medical leave, has come to town to deliver medals to fellow soldier Dr. Frankie Hubbard (Cornelius Smith Jr.). But it's Brot, the soldier and lover she believes died in combat, who's on her mind.
Brot, however, survived. Unwilling to involve Taylor in his suffering, he has allowed her to think he's dead.
Their story will begin unfolding when the right veteran is found for the part, Carruthers said. The casting call isn't limited to those who were wounded in the war. But the role will be shaped around a veteran's experience, possibly including a war-caused disability, Carruthers said.
"It's a very delicate subject to begin with," she said. "There's so much about the individual person that's going to help us create the character, and whatever they bring and whatever their challenge is will be fit into the story."
The show has woven potentially controversial events and themes into drama before, from the Vietnam War to, in recent years, a plot involving a lesbian mother who was forced to give up her daughter.
Also figuring in the "All My Children" wartime story is Jake Martin (Ricky Paull Goldin), an antiwar physician who provides differing social and political points of view.
Viewers accept tough issues in TV shows when they are dealt with on a personal rather than a political basis, Carruthers said. "The audience embraces it because they relate to the people involved, who they care about," she said, allowing viewers to "surpass personal biases."
USA Cares, a nonprofit group that provides financial and other support to wounded soldiers and their families, is helping the show's writers assess the accuracy of medical and military details, said spokesman John Revell.
"They're great at drama but there are many nuances that can be left out without getting the reality from the troops themselves," Revell said.
The show also has sought help from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Carruthers said.

Michael Phelps on Sports Illustrated...


Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Obituary for Dolores Aguilar....

Dolores Aguilar, born in 1929 in New Mexico, left us on August 7, 2008. She will be met in the afterlife by her husband, Raymond, her son, Paul Jr., and daughter, Ruby.

She is survived by her daughters Marietta, Mitzi, Stella, Beatrice, Virginia and Ramona, and son Billy; grandchildren, Donnelle, Joe, Mitzie, Maria, Mario, Marty, Tynette, Tania, Leta, Alexandria, Tommy, Billy, Mathew, Raymond, Kenny, Javier, Lisa, Ashlie and Michael; great-grandchildren, Brendan, Joseph, Karissa, Jacob, Delaney, Shawn, Cienna, Bailey, Christian, Andre Jr., Andrea, Keith, Saeed, Nujaymah, Salma, Merissa, Emily, Jayci, Isabella, Samantha and Emily. I apologize if I missed anyone.

Dolores had no hobbies, made no contribution to society and rarely shared a kind word or deed in her life. I speak for the majority of her family when I say her presence will not be missed by many, very few tears will be shed and there will be no lamenting over her passing.
Her family will remember Dolores and amongst ourselves we will remember her in our own way, which were mostly sad and troubling times throughout the years. We may have some fond memories of her and perhaps we will think of those times too. But I truly believe at the end of the day ALL of us will really only miss what we never had, a good and kind mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. I hope she is finally at peace with herself. As for the rest of us left behind, I hope this is the beginning of a time of healing and learning to be a family again.

There will be no service, no prayers and no closure for the family she spent a lifetime tearing apart. We cannot come together in the end to see to it that her grandchildren and great-grandchildren can say their goodbyes. So I say here for all of us, GOOD BYE, MOM.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

What's HOT with Fritsch...


Micheal Phelps...

Cell phone popcorn...

Click here to see the You Tube video of cell phones popping popcorn...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPf8dXsZ1PE&feature=related