Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Larry Miller








I received an email from Larry's wife Milly Miller.  Here is a portion of it:

Thank you for re-posting Larry’s fund raising letter so frequently. I wanted to let you know that we have been blessed to receive the maximum matching amount of $10,000. This gives us $20,000 with the matching funds and we believe it should be enough to pay for his prescription drugs as long as my insurance is as good as it is now. That’s a big question with the state of our current health care issues but we have reason to rejoice right now and thank everyone for their help.  PS: he is doing AWESOME. All of his bronchoscopy’s have shown, no infection, no rejection. That is the best you can get. His blood work continues to be very good also. Can’t wait to see everyone again, minus the oxygen tanks.

This has been posted many times. Everyday when I had a new post this one slides down more out of view. When it slides off the page it is time to repost. Hi!

Have you ever faced a life-threatening illness for which there is no treatment or cure?
Have you ever become overwhelmed by the costs of your illness?
Have you ever had to rely on your family and friends to make a life-saving difference on your behalf?

Larry faced these conditions all at once. Larry was diagnosed with Pulmonary Fibrosis, Emphysema, and Pulmonary Hypertension. There are no treatments for these diseases and there was no hope for him without a lung transplant.

Larry was evaluated and approved for a bi-lateral lung transplant at Emory University Hospital in April.

On May 14th Larry received the call from Emory saying they had lungs for him. His transplant was performed on the 15th with excellent results. Due to the generosity of the donor’s family, he received a very healthy set of young lungs (to use the surgeon’s words). Larry is recovering exceedingly well and was released to go home on the 31st of May. He is gaining strength each day by following his drug regimen very carefully and by following a vigorous program of Pulmonary Rehabilitation. 

His recovery is great news, but with it comes enormous annual costs for post-transplant treatments and medications. I have known Larry and been his friend since the 5th grade (1953) so I offered to head up his fundraising committee. We are working to help Larry raise money to cover some of these costs. Fortunately, Larry qualified for a matched account in the Georgia Transplant Foundation’s (GTF) Fundraising Program, GTF will match every dollar we raise up to a maximum of $10,000, and then they will hold the money and administer the distribution for Larry’s medication expenses.

We need Your Support to reach the $10,000 Goal! Please consider making a donation to help us raise the funds Larry will need to buy post-transplant medications which will support the maintenance of his transplant.

How to Donate:
Checks/money orders should be made payable to Georgia Transplant Foundation with Larry’s name in the memo section of your check. Please mail checks/money orders to Georgia Transplant Foundation, Attention: Transplant Fundraising Program, 500 Sugar Mill Road, Suite 107-A, Atlanta GA 30350. An envelope is enclosed for your convenience. Thank you for supporting this life-saving campaign.

The Georgia Transplant Foundation, a non-profit organization that provides financial, educational, and emotional assistance to Georgia’s transplant community, is assisting us in our fundraising efforts. If you have questions or want further verification, please see the Georgia Transplant Foundation website at www.gatransplant.org or email TFP@gatransplant.org.

If you have already made a donation, please accept our thanks.

Sincerely,
Paul Roper
Committee Chairman


Monday, April 29, 2013

Checking out HITCHCOCK





On  yesterday's rainy cozy afternoon we rented HITCHOCK and enjoyed it.  It had a lot, and I'm sure we didn't catch it all.

It was directed by Sacha Gervasi, starred Anthony Hopkins at Alfred Hitchock; Helen Mirren as Alma, Hitchock's wife; Scarlett Johansson as Janet Leigh; Jessica Biel as Vera Miles; and James D'Arcy Anthony Perkins.

At first I thought Anthony Hopkins was not such a good Alfred Hitchcock but as in just a short time he convinced us he was Alfred Hitchcock.  In fact, if I saw the real Alfred Hitchcock now I would probably think he was doing a lousy job being himself, Hopkins was much better at it.

The movie takes place during the making of PSYCHO.   The studios and the banker backers was afraid to put up their own money, the movie was breaking new grounds  Hitchcock put up his own money by getting a loan with his house as collateral. 

The movie was made in such a way that you could see little bits of the Alfred Hitchcock tv series.  One time two of the lead "actresses" were talking about him in a negative way and one of them looked up and saw his silhouette shadow on the door that was opened.  The silhouette shadow was exactly the shape and look exactly like his icon on his TV series.  I'm sure that was intentionally - the movie was full of little unspoken symbols like that.

In many instances  the movie present scene was presented in such a way, you  knew what "Hitch" was thinking and what inspired him.

Interesting, when he interviewed Tony Perkins Tony had an unstable way about him and talked about an unnatural relationship with his mother and seeing his father drop dead.  You can see Hopkins mind lighting up, saying to himself, "He's out man!"

Tony Perkins must have been an attraction for "unstable" roles.  I remember once,  before PSYCHO he played   J immy Piersall, a baseball player in FEAR STRIKES OUT  who did some very unpredictable things on the playing field.

The movie suggested that Hitch's wife, Alma, made all the wise decisions when it came to film making.     It hinted that she was actually was better at directing than he was.  The same thing was suggested in another movie about HITCHCOCK.    Where there is smoke usually there is a fire.

It also hinted he had  an unhealthy obsession or compulsive for blond actresses.  Just about all his starlets were blonds.  Think of one that wasn't?  Janet Leigh, Doris Kay, Kim Novak, Grace Kelly -  and on and on.

There was a lot of trivia too!

The movie was good and put me in a mood to look for more Hitchock movies either on COMCAST's ON DEMAND  or maybe NETFLIX.






Sunday, April 28, 2013

Varner Reunion 2013 Videos

I divided these up in three videos.  Youtube has a problem with you if they get too long.  Or should I say you have a problem with youtube.



The first one is the general video of the reunion of trying to inhale as many people as possible:






The second one is professional singer Melanie Denard pays tribute to her parents Melvyn and Joyce Jackson Denard and the upcoming 50th wedding anniversary:





The third is simply Elvis Presley possessing Chuck Ayers, our entertainment for the night:










Varner's 2013 Reunion, Apr 27, 2013

We got to see some old friends.   That is always most important to us aging old farts.  Jackie Gaskin reminded us we might not see some of them next year.

I apologize for not identifying everyone.  That is because I don't know everybody.  I know some people but then the aging factor kicks in, and then my aging mind kicks out... it gets itself confused.

Videos are still being edited, so hold on.

Monty Calhoun, Jackie Gaskin, Paul Roper, Chuck Ayers (Elvis), and invisible forces did a great job putting it  all to together,   From my view point everybody had a great time.


Arnold Guest

Bill Dunaway

Gusest of Honor
Bill Spinks




Frank Owenby (center)

David Clotfelter (center)

David Cain










Gary Quarrels (center)


Horace Armfield & Parky Latimer

Paul Roper aka Jackie Gaskin


James & Sally Williamson Kirk

Joe Harshbarger

Kay Calhoun

Ken Chaney & Jackie Gaskin

Larry Miller

Larry Sparks, left


Lynda Hawkins

Marvin Young


Steve Tumlin


Millie Miller

Monty Calhoun & Clarence Robinson

Neal Lawrence & Parky Latimer

Parky Latimer - a rare treat


Pat McPherson & Ronnie Knighton

Patsy Spinks & Hilton Dupre

Patsy Spinks Dupre

Paul Roper & Hilton Dupre

Randy Randal Randall

Rick Kenricks

Rick Kendricks, Mark McGee, & Joe Harshbarger

Orinda Ruggles & Christain Jenikins

Sandy Ramsey










SUNDAY FUNNIES!! MAD's POOPEYE!



MAD #21.  Above: The cover.  Click to make it readable.  Each little block is MAD warp-humor funny.

again click on the above to read what the readers were saying about MAD.

Below:  Again click to read.  Well, you know Popeye, so I don't have to explain what Popeye is about.  The art is by Will Elder.  The story was written b MAD's editor Harvey Kurtzman.

Enjoy!