Happy Independence Day Everyone!
With symbols celebrating the spirit of freedom everywhere I look, like the beautiful image I borrowed from PIED TYPE below, the 4th of July holiday is most definitely my favorite holiday of the year:
via PIED TYPE’s Let freedom ring!
I began my celebration last night by watching our big annual Red, White & Boom extravaganza on TV. It seemed a little shorter than usual, but the fireworks and music were just as awesome as ever. After that, I watched Independence Day for the umpteenth time. Talk about symbology – that movie practically gives you an overdose of it! But as many times as I’ve searched for my very favorite clip from it to post, I’ve never been able to find it. So this time I decided I’d recreate it in another way.
It’s the scene where “Black Knights” team members Captain Steven Hiller (Will Smith) and Capt. Jimmy Wilder (Harry Connick Jr.) are talking, just before their ill-fated mission to take down one of the alien’s spaceships, and Wilder breaks out his hilarious impression of the Rev. Jesse Jackson:
Audio clip via Hark.com
And speaking of symbology, what could possibly be more representative of the American Dream than a celebration of the great Hollywood classics the entire world associates with it? Please enjoy these clips from The Friends of Mr Cairo by Jon and Vangelis:
But of course, it’s that universal desire to be free that’s really behind all the celebration. This clip is from The Friends of Mr Cairo as well:
Finally, it just wouldn’t be right if I didn’t acknowledge the passing of a genuine American legend: Andy Griffith. Having struggled my whole life to be free from the stigma associated with having a country accent, the “hillbilly boy” living on inside me will sorely miss the man that did so much to dispel it…
Rest in peace Andy.
Have a safe and happy holiday everyone! 😀
I want ice water.
More of my Random Ravings
I Want Ice Water! 
Wishing you a Happy 4th of July.. Sending you some special thoughts ~Sue
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Thanks Sue. My best wishes to you as well! 😀
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Sounds like most of your celebrating was last night Whatever you do today, have a great time and stay safe.
(BTW, I have a similar accent problem. Five siblings in my family, all college educated, and I’m the only one who still sounds like a hick from Little Dixie. Never have figured out how that happened, but it certainly doesn’t help my image. 😦 )
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It’s all sports and face stuffing indoors today PT. It’s too damned hot to go outside, even if I were so inclined. I tell ya, it was tough moving to L.A. from W. Va. at age 12. My accent was a real “winner” out there! 😀
I forgot to mention falling asleep watching Breaking Bad. I really wanted to know how that one ended too! 😀
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Yes! Happy the 4th of July to you too!!
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Thanks you so much. I’m so glad you stopped by! 😀
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🙂
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Happy 4th to you, always great to celebrate and be ok with being patriotic now and then. Love the Andy G memorial video, knew him mainly from Matlock from our side of the world but what a guy///
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Thanks my friend! Andy really was a great personality. I can’t think of anything he did that I didn’t like. I hope you listened to the great music too! 😀
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Happy 4th of July IzaakMak.
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Thanks Loon! Hey, did you hire a “slow boat FROM China” to bring me that package? 😆
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I paid friggin airmail!!! Bastards. I was hoping you would be sucking on the tube of Vegemite on the 4th of July. Hmm, I hope it hasn’t been stopped at customs as toxic waste 😯
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Hmm… Let me see here… Bio-hazard alarms clanging away… Over a package from someone named “The Friggin Loon”… Now who would possibly have a problem with that? 🙄
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😯 Oo oh!!!!!
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The black helicopters are on their way Loon! 😛
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Forget waterboarding, you might get vegemited ….a fate worse than marmite 😯
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I had to look “Marmite” up like I did “Vegemite” Loon, which of course didn’t really help, other than to add to the anticipatory stomach churning I’m already feeling…
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Happy 4th Izaak and thank for the videos.
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Thanks Frank. I’m glad you like them and I hope your 4th was a great one! 😀
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Yes, I just found out about Andy Griffith’s death on another blog, yesterday. Are actors dying at a faster rate than ever before, or am I just getting older? Anyway, he was extremely talented. But the best role he ever played, in my opinion, was one most Andy Griffith fans shy away from, because it’s so unlike that of his usual roles. It was a film called “A Face in the Crowd”. This isn’t a comedy, it’s a serious, epic drama, with a touch of noir. And his acting, as the lead character, is superb!
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I don’t know Scott, but I think I am getting more sensitive to news like that as I get older. As disturbing as it was, I thought Andy’s performance in “A Face in the Crowd” was one of his very best as well. I know it really made me leery of the corruptive capacity of fame! 😀
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