The Terrible Catsafterme

When I attended the Hollywood Celebrity Show in Chicago on Saturday, October 18, 2009, Tia Carrere wasn’t on my list of celebrities to gather an autograph from or a photo with. Oh, I knew she was there, I just had no interest. But when I realized that she was one of the main voices heard in the recent Disney animated classic Lilo & Stitch, I changed my tune right then and there. Tia is actually best known for her role in the inane comedy Wayne’s World, which I had seen – but practically forgotten. Read the rest of this entry »

I previously shared the article I wrote for Dante’s Info #17, which highlighted the many goings-on of the 1996 Sons of the Desert Laurel and Hardy Cruise (seen here). What follows are a few postings that include the memories that still linger in my head during the present day – with the notes found in my little 1996 Sunshine Pocket Planner assisting. The cruise itself didn’t actually begin until Monday, July 15, 1996, but our group, which included friend and fellow tent member John Poe, Mom, Denise, Lisa, and me, decided to take the pre-trip to Disney World. This of course was right up our alley. Read the rest of this entry »

The Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California, is a very nice Catholic cemetery which houses the final resting place of well over 150 famous Hollywood celebrities. The cemetery, which was founded in 1939, requires that every headstone or marker placed within its borders contains a cross. I had been to the cemetery in the past to check out the grave of Laurel and Hardy co-star Edgar Kennedy, but my visit in the summer of 2009 was by far the most extensive. Read the rest of this entry »

The Forest Lawn Cemetery in the Hollywood Hills, nestled at the bottom of the north slope of the Santa Monica Mountains, is certainly one of the most beautiful and majestic of the cemeteries in Hollywood. Before the cemetery was built, the location was actually used in the film The Birth of a Nation. It is also one of the two cemeteries that I have most often visited. This is because it is where Stan Laurel is buried, and thus far, I have have visited it every year that I have been to California. This means that I was here in 1980, 1988, 1992, 1995, 1997, 2005,  2007, and 2008. So as you might guess, I am quite accustomed to the surroundings here. Read the rest of this entry »

I would not have thought that it was possible to enjoy spending an entire day at Disney’s California Adventure park…but I was wrong. Typically when I visit California, my friends and I spend just a brief time at this park, hitting a few highlights and then quickly move on over to Disneyland around lunch time. And so it has been with my last three visits. However, whereas those three visits have been during the off-season when my pal David can get us free admission to both parks, but his one was smack in the middle of the Summer – Thursday, July 16, 2009, to be exact. Read the rest of this entry »