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Anita De Las Moses

Canada

(educator)

Lovemarks:
Simple Kapadia, Janis Joplin, Maria Callas, Shilpa Shetty, David Knight, Benazir Bhutto.

Comments:

• Enriched our lives...

  Derek Jacobi

  19 October 2005

  "God hath touched Derek Jacobi on the shoulder" as Larry Olivier would have said. He is the Picasso of acting and he keeps attempting to excel-even as a peer of the realm. When I met him, he has been the most gracious person with impeccable manners. His plaintive dialogue from the play "Kean" still rings in my ears "I work for a living." Indeed Derek Jacobi has enriched our lives with Claudius, Richard the II or whatever else he attempts while at the same time working for his extraordinary living. We love and appreciate this more than he will ever know.

• The unforgettable...

  Rose Marie

  21 October 2005

  One of the unforgettable old-timers together with Eve Arden that was the glue in every single film. Those one-liners of hers did you away. She was the sister the aunt you had that had too much intelligence than any man but was so kindhearted you kept wanting to see her succeed in love. She was the best and only straight lady to the indomitable Morey Amsterdam. Rose Marie- was not afraid to be herself and what a gal she is.

• Level of focused consciousness

  Bruce Lee

  21 October 2005

  Bruce Lee took us to another level of focused consciousness regarding what it meant to fight and why. He was a progressive thinker. I watched him as Kato on the Green Hornet as he stole the show and I remember listening to the news of his death over the radio as my heart sank. Bruce Lee was singular in what he was attempting to convey philosophically and he was way ahead of his time. I love him still and I miss his presence in the world. For it would have been much different had he been around.

• A person with such pathos

  Frank Sinatra

  21 October 2005

  I am listening to one of Frank's cds. Above my desk is that picture of the Rat Pack. If he were alive and Ava wasn't around, would he date me? Handsome. In my mind I am one of his girls. Frank wasn't just a singer but a person with such pathos in all that he did. Talk about the comeback kid - I remember him when I am about to fail. I rise up bloody swinging and he taught me that from his life. Thanks.

• Criminally contemporary and classical on the stage

  Judi Dench

  25 October 2005

  Dame Judi is such a beautiful lady and unassuming actress. She is fantastic on the stage and recently Hollywood is having a love affair with her. She can be criminally contemporary as in James Bond and classical on the British stage. In the league of Derek Jacobi - you always take way something that she has given you through her acting excellence.

• Making impossibility - impossible

  Robert F. Kennedy

  25 October 2005

  As Robert Kennedy campaigned we felt the euphoria of being on the brink of a Periclean era with his impending presidential victory in 1968. He used to avidly read and quote the ancient Greeks and things pertaining to the essentiality of democracy. That is why he believed you could make a difference as a sole citizen. It was an Athenian concept. He is my political lovemark because he intended to empower the citizen and make impossibility - impossible. I wish with all my heart that he had still been here. What a different world this would have become.

• The sole aristocrat in the field

  Kabir Bedi

  25 October 2005

  I have known of Kabir Bedi for a number of years now and followed his career. He is as magnetically articulate as Lawrence Harvey and is absolutely concise as Cary Grant in his acting capabilities and portrayals. Kabir is a wonderfully kind father, magnanimous friend and highly evolved human being way ahead of his time. To my lovemark Kabir {one of the handsomest men in the world-body and soul}I wish to express my admiration that all this has not gone to his head. From a distinguished background, Kabir is the sole aristocrat in the field I can think of today.

• The heir to Laurence Olivier

  Kenneth Branagh

  26 October 2005

  Kenneth Branagh is the lovemark to lead you when we stalwarts must say adieu. His Shakespearean abilities proved he is the heir to Laurence Olivier in the next generation. An honest and strangely not materialistic fellow, he is the best of the modern lot of thespians.

• The greatest Bel Canto soprano

  Maria Callas

  28 October 2005

  Maria Callas or La Divina as her critics dubbed her was the greatest Bel Canto soprano of all time. A magnificent operatic acting presence her appearance met with opposition more than was necessary. This made her fiercely temperamental and men considered it sexy that a woman could have that kind of a temperament. Her rivalry with Tebaldi is the stuff of legends-Callas said "I will never sing Aida again" after having heard her counterpart sing it. Vissi D'Arte Vissi D'Amore might well be her motto for when her ashes were ascribed to he seas of the Aegean I knew that she was going to meet the seafring ships of Onassis.Their passionate lovestory remains immortal. Brava!

• My Lovemark in medicine for actually caring

  Frederick Banting

  31 October 2005

  Dr.Banting had returned from the First World War when he had to teach a class at the University of Toronto on diabetes and its ramifications. He lived in a room with scarce heat at Danforth and Carlaw and was behind on his rent. He was so appalled at this disease that he took his natural syllogism for a potential method of control or cure to McLeod and was reproved by his hearty opposition Dr.Banting finally got approval for his idea & Dr.Best was assigned as his assistant. When he succeeded at his invention of "insulin" and won the Nobel for Medicine he gave half of the prize to Dr.Best. Dr.Banting is my Lovemark in medicine for actually caring about those pictures of the people he saw with what was then a fatal disease. For his personal initiative to strive in medicine his selflessness and success are always remembered. Thank you Dr.Banting.

• Way ahead of her time

  Audrey Hepburn

  03 November 2005

  Audrey Hepburn is my Lovemark because she made us all more aware of aesthetics through her portrayals on the screen. She was way ahead of her time as she collaborated with Givenchy. They left a landmark in the twentieth century regarding appearances and clothes. In "Roman Holiday" Audrey is delightful and in "Wait Until Dark" extraordinary. With Audrey being thin was in and she gave us our Holly Gollightly moments. Audrey Hepburn was probably the only actress of her time who could actually spell "schizophrenia"!!! I miss her as the years go by all the more for her fine taste, exceptional manners and work in Unicef.

• When I think of Greece I think of the Parthenon

  Greece

  04 November 2005

  Greece is possibly one of the most beautiful countries in the world. The phenomenal climate of zero humidity may have a lot to do with it. I could sleepwalk through Athens and not lose my way. I could live on the waterfront penthouses in Thessaloniki and forget that the rest of the world exists. I could travel the islands and want to return to the mainland. I have seen a mermaid in the Aegean, Alexander the Great's sister and she asked me if he rules and conquers and I said yes lest she anathematize me. When I think of Greece I think of the Parthenon my architectural Lovemark because "democracy" began there. Greece is the Zen of countries!

• Emphasized deep sincerity in simplicity

  Gandhi

  05 November 2005

  If Mahatma Gandhi hadn't been India I would have sworn he was from Sparta in Greece. The Spartans too emphasized simplicity, deplored ostenatation and considerd labour a dignity as well. Gandhi emphasized deep sincerity in simplicity as opposed to simplified practice. For him you didn't need to be wealthy to live a life of consequence. I wonder what the Mahatma would say today when people walk around with the labels of their designer clothes on their foreheads to give a signal of their status. I re-read Gandhi often. His truths are not for all because they demand discipline and asceticism. He is my lovemark because he stands for the most exalted of truths in all spheres of living.

• The world will never be complete

  Make Poverty History

  05 November 2005

  Make Poverty History is an absolute must. Lyndon Johnson is the last person who waged a succesful war on poverty and perhaps we would benefit by asking Lady Bird about that campaign. Throughout Johnson's war on poverty I remember us thriving in every sector everywhere in the world. Make Poverty History needs to ask presbyters what they did to eradicate poverty and pestilence in the most affluent times after World War Two. Of course this is my lovemark because the world will never be complete when such inequality exists.

• A lover on screen

  Shah Rukh Khan

  06 November 2005

  I just finished watching a movie from beginning to end with Shah Rukh Khan called Chalke Chalke, filmed in Greece. SRK is born on the same day as the great love of my life. He is the top actor in India at the moment detractors or not. His ability to emote is extraordinary. It is phenomenal!! He has energy and good humour. He is a lover on screen. He needs no one's approval because his performances sweep you away. SRK has been around the block a couple of times and is not afraid to show it. As an actor he is a compelling Lovemark and he also seems like a wonderful human beiing as well. God bless you.

• Aa lovemark in drama and humanities

  Elizabeth Taylor

  07 November 2005

  Grace Kelly said of Elizabeth Taylor "she is so beautiful it is hard to look at her". Indeed Elizabeth Taylor whether in Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf where she rattles your chain or her great strides for Aids and posing on a magazine cover holding a condom, tells you how selfless she is - how caring. Elizabeth Taylor is a lovemark in drama, humanities and the lesson of her perfume Passion. She invented the purple lovemark I am sure!

• I am moved to tears to read the final lines

  John Keats

  10 November 2005

  For me John Keats is one of my favourite lovemark poets in the English language. He died young and wrote prolifically as if he had a premonition of his impending death. When I read "Ode on a Grecian Urn" I am moved to tears to read the final lines "Beauty is truth, Truth beauty, That is all ye know on earth and all ye need to know."

• What a voice!

  Celine Dion

  14 November 2005

  Celine Dion, my fellow Canadian has entered the Guinness World Book for the most record sales in the history of mankind. She ties with Lata Mangeshakar of India. What a voice! What a passion to sing and a talent to interpret those songs so passionately. Celine gives 150% in everything she does musically. She is extremely focused so watch out! She is beautiful in the sense that she is a classical painter's subject. Celine cannot help but be everyone's singing lovemark because she has given us all her love from within her voice. Mille merci.

• A lady's privilege

  Erno Laszlo

  18 November 2005

  Everday people compliment me about my complexion. Little do they know the story of what a tentative young lady I was when I first walked up to the Erno Laszlo counter thirty years ago. After all, Garbo, the Duchess of Windsor and Jackie O used this line of skin care products. The regimen is about discipline and the ritual of worshipping one's skin. Since then my face has become a big investment, but it makes me feel so happy looking being smooth and vibrantly alive. The moment I walked up to the Erno Laszlo counter I created the most constant lovemark that I will not do without. A lady's privilege, that is Erno Laszlo.

• The lady's voice kept pulling me in

  Janis Joplin

  02 December 2005

  When Janis Joplin came to Toronto in the late sixties my older brother and I snuck to roof of the Royal Conservatory to look into Varsity stadium where she was performing. From a distance the lady's voice kept pulling me in with her animal magnetism, iconocalstic pitches and incredible octave range. I remember her singing "You say that you love me baby" and "Summertime" by Gershwin. No less and I cannot forget her long curly tresses parted down the middle and elegant clothes which I had clear visibility of. The audience enthralled by Janis Joplin's renditions was in a parallel universe and so was I. I have been there since whenever I hear her and I am elated as she lifts me up out of any doldrums. "Levitation man" as Janis would say laughingly. Wish she was still around today. I miss her and I luv her always.

• The most hospitable and comforting people ever

  Thessaloniki, Greece

  02 December 2005

  There is a song in Greek that pronounces Thessaloniki an impoverished mother that has the best children and that anyone who knows her cannot denounce or renounce her. Thessaloniki has the most hospitable and comforting people ever. When you leave you feel like you have been pampered-if you can fit back into your clothes from tasting their delicacies!. If you have travelled widely you know it is the twin city to Mumbai and the Queen's Necklace because it has the identical configuration of apartments by the sea. The city is a custom-made shopping mecca!! Not to be missed are loukoumades a dessert served at the outside cafes at the seashore. From there you can stroll the length of that quay and soak up the sun. Inviting Thessaloniki is in my dreams because it is so unforgettable and holds me much by inspiration still.

• Has made the greatest difference in Bollywood

  Amitabh Bachchan

  07 December 2005

  Amitabh is sick in hospital and has had some minor surgery. To this gracious of all the host of greatest thespians I say a speedy recovery and hope to see you on the screen soon. His mark has been left on an entire generation and beyond. He has made the greatest difference in Bollywood. Need I say more?

• A Lovemark of abounding wisdom

  Maya Angelou

  12 December 2005

  Maya Angelou is an inspration to all that know about her. She survived a segretated, violent childhood in Arkansas and has beome one of the most respected women in the world. I first heard of her as a civil rights activist then a best selling author, an academic of great ethos. Her poetry always moves me. Maya's newest poem "Peace" is the best and most significant message to our times by a woman who tells us again the surpassing virtues of it. I stilll read her books "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings", "And Still I Rise" to name just two. I am grateful to be walking the planet at the same time she does. Now I know why Dr. Angelou sings and why her rhapsody of love is so moving. She is my Lovemark because she is a Lovemark of abounding wisdom.

• My Lovemark of intellectual sophistication

  Costa Gavras

  01 August 2006

  I recently saw a rare interview given by Costa Gavras on Greek television. I was deeply moved and inspired by how he spoke so articulately. He was unafraid to allude to his roots and to speak so eloquently about man's conflicts with other men, society or whatever. Finally, I give my heartiest felicitations that some one gave an interview and didn't mention "filthy lucre" once or the glory of fame. Costa Gavras is a Lovemark because he teaches us innumerable lessons. He has abounding humility and modesty. His mind is progressive and he once had an international retrospective for Smita Patil. Mr.Gavras is my Lovemark of intellectual sophistication.

• A man of consequence and caring

  Richard Gere

  25 September 2006

  I love Richard Gere! Not only is he a criminally contemporary actor;he is vibrant and poignant at the same time. He has given another more accessible dimension to Tibetan Buddhism and helped to cast a new light on the Dalai Lama. He is gentle but firm in his convictions and that gives him sex appeal. Gere is a man of consequence and caring. He is handsome body and soul.Richard Gere can teach me the Tibetan alphabet anytime he wants...I would love to learn.

• She has beautified the world

  Simple Kapadia

  25 October 2006

  Simple Kapadia is a Bollywood costume designer whose clothes are conceptually exceptional. The illumined emanation is from the Simple’s ingenuity and sense of perfection. Structurally the costumes are created to the imperative of the core essence. It is as if Simple Kapadia has found a window on the absolute of allowing critical energy to do its work through her. Her selection of colours is Byzantine and warm hued. Simple Kapadia is my lovemark because she has beautified the world with her fabulous confections and the love and joy with which she approaches this is more than apparent.

• When I want to exorcise anything less than funny

  Angelo Tsarouchas

  07 November 2006

  Angelo Tsarouhas has made me laugh so hard I cried. His websites are a scream from just their names www.funnygreek.com and www.katsika.com which means "goat" website translated from Grenglish. His CD "It’s All Greek to Me" is a staple when I feel the blues and want to exorcise anything less than funny. Like I have written to Angelo if there is someone to play in a remake of "The Hustler" Fats Domino {movie with Jackie Gleason} it is him. I think that we have yet to see his great dramatic side. Anyone who can send you into hysterics can certainly make you cry. This man has inimical powers. Like Ang says "promise to start a diet on Monday"and "thin is in but fat is where its at". He is a lovemark because in a coarse and unforgiving world, a man has remembered that the gift of laughter is simply a birthright. Hey Ang thanks for the big picture!

• An eternity with just a dress

  Audrey Hepburn

  08 December 2006

  The recent auction of Audrey Hepburn’s dress from Breakfast at Tiffany’s brought an astounding sum of $807,000 US. I wonder what she would have said about that navy evening gown by Givenchy that she wore in the opening scene of the movie while nibbling on a Danish pastry and wearing sunglasses in the morning overcast skies? Could Audrey have ever imagined that her sense of aesthetic would be so imbibed and respected in world culture? I often wonder if it was her mother, a Baroness that advised her about attire and timeless looks. She, herself, had said that she had loved the ambience of Breakfast at Tiffany’s probably the best over all her other films. A little known fact is that Truman Capote wrote the book for the famous model Dorien Leigh who was the sister of Suzy Parker. Also hardly anyone knows that Audrey Hepburn did model her looks on those of famous fifties model Nancy Berg. Audrey Hepburn continues to be a lovemark as she has not only given us a Holly Golightly moment...but an eternity with just a dress and that screen presence. Thanks Audrey, wherever you are.

• Our love affair with you has just begun

  Shilpa Shetty

  29 January 2007

  As the virtuous and ethical Shilpa walked out of The Big Brother home triumphant, the world has found its new Grace Kelly. Beautiful Shilpa Shetty still embodies the long lost principles of Gandhi. Her conduct and comportment are above reproach. Her kindness and goodness are apparent on her beauteous face. She is a fantastic actress and human being who has made India proud. Unknowingly, the rest of humanity is enamoured with her for proving that such a one as Shilpa walks this planet. Shilpa is a lovemark because she has taught us how to be universally literate with our love. Our love affair with you has just begun.

• Perfect standards in astrology

  David Knight

  27 October 2007

  Educated to reach across destinies by exacting calculations and interpretation I have had the privilege to know David Knight, Toronto's finest astrologer for the past twenty five years. With astrological charts before him he is wise not to dazzle. I divine his prudence of classicism in which astrology as taught by the eminent Dr. Tessier has been kept and preserved at an orthologistic level. David Knight has been enabled not to be misled ever by a thousand misleading sirens in this past twenty five years of technological and revolution in astrology. Resisting the drag of the vast technological world he is still one who is able to calculate with pencil in hand. He is one who is can read directly from the astrological ephemeris. Interpretation in astrology just as in metaphysics is not the same as in other written worlds. It is David Knight's genius which renders the spirit of the stars with an accuracy so we are properly guided and never fall into the internal sedimentation of the existing yet abundant revisionsm that exists in the astrological cosmos. David Knight is a Lovemark for not having compromised his purist and perfect standards in astrology. By so doing this Lovemark has done astrology a great service and rendered justice to that which he has been called.

• Quite awestruck

  Benazir Bhutto

  21 January 2008

  I remember Benazir Bhutto. In 1991 I saw and heard Benazir Bhutto speak of politics here in Toronto at a luncheon given with her as speaker. Afterwards at the Pakistani embassy I met her and was quite awestruck by her beauty. She looked like she was the Madonna of Islam. When I asked her how it felt to be the second lady to rule in Islam she asked me who was first and I said Razia Sultan.We both laughed as they people do at diplomatic receptions. But she differentiated between her and Razia saying she had been elected to which I agreed of course. Benazir had a haunting presence and a beauty that is rarely seen. I know she had ideals in the face of mankind that has despair. She wasexceptionally educated and cultured and we spoke of the poetry of Faiz Ahmed Faiz. Benazir still had much to give and was willing to serve to do so. May She Rest in Peace.

• Studied masterpieces

  Bulgari

  20 February 2008

  Bulgari is one of my favourite jewellers because his pieces are solid and have a talismanic symbolism. The craftsmanship within his pieces of jewellery are flawlessly articulated. Every piece is timeless, transcending time and trends. His clean lines are a testament to his Hellenic roots and hence the pieces look almost Doric. It takes a certain ability to act in truth to wear his pieces as it does with Armani's clothes. There is no other embelllishment but that which is needed to enhance. You have nowhere and nothing more to hide behind when sporting his pendants. I am passionate about my collection of his pieces. Expensive and luxurious they are studied masterpieces each and every one.

• Way ahead of her time

  Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

  21 February 2008

  Jackie O was a shrewd lady and way ahead of her time. I had seen her shopping many times on Hermou Street in Athens as the road was filled with paparazzi and she would ascend to the roof of the building to have a helicopter take her away. I always wondered if she spoke one word of Greek as I know that at her funeral they did recite from the Alexandrian Greek poet C. P. Kavafy the famous poem" Ithaca" which was a favourite of hers apparently. At the Onassis Foundation building, her portrait is formidably situated between Tina Onassis, Maria Callas and Penelope, the mother of Onassis. Her time as Jackie O gave her a new lease on life. She was cultured but not giving. Jackie evoked a hysteria when she was First Lady like no one before her or since. Onassis, it is said, once took her to a Greek nightclub asking her to take her lipstick off. He owned the club where the famous Christakis sang bouzouki numbers like "I want to be as free as a bird" and he made her dance while he threw caly plates that broke on the floor. That is the way I will remember Jackie on that night in Athens when she, like Zorba before her, was celebrating life.

• An interviewer in his latest foray

  Kabir Bedi

  26 February 2008

  Kabir Bedi as an interviewer in his latest foray. Well I cannot think of anyone more cosmopolitan and the knowing of what has psychological appeal than this superb actor to ask anybody the fascinating questions we all want asked. Once again another dimension to this thespian of thespians who has a philosophical and spiritual understanding exceeding all that of others. Kabir knows the line where philosophy and spirituality cross and touch each other. He understands that one's looks and physicality have to do with the spiritual as well as the physical. That is integrity and truth spelled in a thousand languages. I look forward to seeing what his guests say and what is asked of them. You can interview me anytime.

• My Lovemarks prayer for you

  Robert F. Kennedy

  02 June 2008

  Dear Bobby, Forty years later I can still hear the train avenging the train tracks across the nation of your birth and the thousands upon thousands of people just average citizens coming out to wave adieu to see you to your final destination. Only days ago you had quoted Aeschylus on the death of Dr. Martin Luther King. to give your brethern perspective and a sense of comfort that all was not lost. Thirty years later there is not much I have been able to forget about you. Your pragmatism was embedded in deep sense of an elevated humanistic spirit and idealism that lives with us today .No one quotes the Ancients nowadays. I still see your widow Ethel standing veiled in her black dress and the eulogy of your brother Ted still rings in my ears especially when his voice cracked. The world changed forever then when you left us June 6th, 1968. It was like we took the wrong turn on a long road. You must know we are trying our best as you would have wanted us to. We are optimistic about tomorrow. And In this small way pay tribute to your life and what could have been, Ave atque vale. This is my Lovemarks prayer for you, sent to you from the city of your favourite democracy. Athens.

• A spiritual epiphany

  Glenn Gould

  19 August 2008

  Obsessed with Bach from an early age, Glenn Gould with all his famous and infamous nocturnal eccentricities gave his life for that which was music. He was forced by his demons not to perform publicly thus bringing the technology of his terpsichore to the fore. In his photo, he is bent towards the keyboard almost as if in an act of worship. For Gould the notes were a spiritual epiphany. Eccentric to the core of his being and with hands he sometimes covered with mittens because of it he once said after playing one of the the Rachmaninoff concertos for piano in public "Not for me". Those here in Toronto who have been to the Glenn Gould studio feel his presence. Those who have heard him play on that piano can hear the energy of the music long after it has ceased. Glenn Gould is my Lovemark because it was like he was with his idiosyncratic approach to what he did so exceptionally narrating with his didactic approach a beautiful story to us and suddenly pehaps much too early he fell asleep. Repose in justice Glenn wherever you are.

• An abundance of pathos

  Paul Newman

  29 September 2008

  In 1961, Paul Newman made one of the most memorable films to my mind: 'The Hustler' with Jackie Gleason. In it he plays the low ironic hero who wishes to win out at billiards over the unbeatable Fats Domino carnation in lapel and all. There is an abundance of pathos in his performance. It is an unforgettable one yet enacted with such ease. Newman is handsome as any man can get without being sued. Those piercing eyes of his speak whenever he does not. Newman stood for many progressive causes always in his thinking and was level headed. I so enjoyed him in 'Butch Casssidy and the Sundance Kid' because he was having so much fun. A great thespian and a greater man. Let those who are able follow his monumental example. We will miss you.