His Smile Hid a Lifetime of Sadness

John Candy: I Like Me (2025)

When your father dies of a sudden heart attack (at age 35) on your 5th birthday, and everyone celebrates it as if nothing has happened, the burden that you would carry for the rest of your life would be awful. And, yet, in spite of that burden, John Candy spread joy and kindness to everyone he met.

John Candy (October 31, 1950 – March 4, 1994)

I suspect that no one has any idea what time John Candy was born. Because his father died on his 5th birthday, I have rectified his birth chart to reflect the approximate time, as set by Saturn in his 5th House.

The South Node being 2° from Saturn implies a past life where he lost his father at a young age, too. But, because I cannot ‘prove’ this timing, we will all have to take it on faith that he came back in this life to overcome that loss. By taking care of everyone, he seems to have succeeded. Because his death time has been reported as 2:30 am, I can show you how the birth and death charts align.

Note the role(s) Mars plays out in his life and death: his natal Mars is conjunct his ‘fatal’ Ascendant; his ‘fatal’ Mars is conjunct his natal Jupiter. That’s how the sudden death syndrome works, I guess. He outlived the specter of his father’s death age by eight years. But it haunted him in his final years.

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These Wishes Caused a Lot of Consequences

(AKA) 12 Christmas Wishes for My Dog (2011)

The lesson here is to consider the cause and effect of wishes. Wouldn’t we all wish for things to change when life starts to drift sideways? But, as I’ve often said, be careful what you wish for.

We watched this bit of Christmas fluff on Prime Video last night. It was cute, but improbable. Like Laura, the protagonist, we didn’t read the fine print before engaging. Strangely, the setting of the story looked very last century. But it was still entertaining, nonetheless.

The villain of the story was Laura’s next door neighbour, Harry, who I recognized was played by the actor who was the dad on “Family Ties”. I thought he had died years ago, but it turns out that Michael Gross is still alive and kicking.

The Dog

I just watched it and liked the movie somewhat, especially the beginning. A bit corny which I expected. Through the entire movie I kept waiting for her to get her poor dog out of the (dog-friendly) shelter. Of course it eventually happens but it wasn’t even one of her regrets or bad choices, which is what the movie was about. She loved the dog so much, was granted 12 wishes and didn’t even wish to have her dog back. That would have been my 1st wish. If you watch it, I’m sure you will agree. She won a car, got a new wardrobe and even won the lottery and still stayed in the rented apt that did not allow dogs. Maybe I missed something, since I was not paying 100% attention to the movie …. if so, someone please let me know. It could have been a great Christmas movie if written a little better. It was okay … I would watch it again.

IMDb User Review

I agree, wholeheartedly.

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It’s Taken Almost Ten Years to Finally Realize:

All Roads Lead to Moscow

It’s no wonder that Putin really wanted Trump to be US President again. He has Epstein dirt on him. He can be manipulated. He can be coerced. He is a Russian asset, even if unwittingly.

I don’t have any ‘proof’, just a ‘feeling’. But I’m usually found to be correct, years later.

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Bending the Rules: When Needs Must

Grocery Shopping at Walmart…with Buddy

He’s not a service dog. But we couldn’t leave him alone in the car while we did a very necessary food shop in Orillia, yesterday. No one challenged us, and most of the employees commented on how cute he was. And he is cute:

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The Title of This Christmas Film Tells You All About It

Champagne Problems (2025)

This is not a Hallmark film. That’s already a good thing. The setup is the same, though.

Executive Sydney Price flies to Paris to acquire a champagne brand for her company before Christmas, but after promising her sister to take one night off, she has a magical evening with a local – only to find his company is their proposed acquisition.

Wikipedia

I liked it. The girl, played by Minka Kelly, has a light Jennifer Lopez feel to her. I’ve never seen the actress in any show before, so I wasn’t expecting to be so well entertained. But the film is well done, especially when it comes to showing off Paris at Christmas, and the snow country around the Champagne district. It was also informative, which usually is the missing element. And the humour brought a wry smile to my face, especially when they got to discussing watching “Die Hard” at Christmas.

When looking up Minka Kelly’s bio, I was surprised to see that she was engaged to the NY Yankees captain, Derek Jeter, for a year in 2010. Really?

That’s when the Jennifer Lopez connection finally clicked into place.

J-Lo and A-Rod (Alex Rodriguez) started dating in 2017 and got engaged in 2019. They never married, too. Funny, that.

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There’s a Whole Load of Changes Going On

Revisionist History

It’s almost as if the stories we’ve been told our whole lives were nothing but lies. Did we do this to ourselves? The Mandela Effect seems to be operating here.

Almost every other day, a new YouTube video or Facebook posting tells us that the person we thought we knew as a saint was actually a vile, nasty person. Do these things change our perspective? I think so.

In Wicked, Glinda comes across as a saint, according to the people of Oz. In the same story, Elphaba is painted as the ‘evil’ one. However, the story shows that both witches were actually something far different than their perceived histories. That makes the whole exercise one of a revisionist history.

Interesting, eh?

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When the Protagonist is Also the Villain

Wicked – Part 1 (2024)

I was surprised to see this film on terrestrial TV so soon, but I guess it’s because the second part, “Wicked For Good” is being released in theatres this American Thanksgiving weekend and they want to make sure that everyone’s seen the first part.

The idea of showing an origin story of the Wicked Witch of the West from the Wizard of Oz movie (1939) puts the story on its head. When the stage musical was first produced, critics and audiences alike loved it. In the age of the underdog, we tend to cheer for the outsider, no matter what their colour or stripes.

Elphaba was born green. That sets her apart from everyone else, including her family. However, her temper brings out the worst (best) of her. She, in the first part, does not yet have control over it. She feels utterly alone. And then the teacher of magic decides to tutor Elphaba as her only pupil. And then things begin to change. She shares Glinda’s room, and little by little they become friends. Sounds like normal university life, doesn’t it?

Glinda (originally Galinda) is a very self-centred girl. Anything she does ‘for good’ has an egotistical edge to it. The contrast of her with Elphaba couldn’t be more extreme. Elphaba is an activist, also for the underdog (or lion cub, in this case).

Hogwarts couldn’t have been better served as a school (Shiz) of higher learning. It’s the equivalent of a High School Musical, so teens of the female persuasion would be the best fans of this film. But the prejudice and privilege on display are hard to watch at times. Glinda doesn’t come out looking as good as she thought she was. Elphaba doesn’t come out as the villain the Wizard’s propaganda would suggest.

There are life lessons here. Hopefully, people are paying attention.

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After Trump’s Latest About-Face, Pay Attention, Please

Reverse Psychology 101

Sometimes, it seems that the main stream media are really obtuse. They don’t appear to understand that he hasn’t really changed his mind, just his tactics. After a campaign to get Republicans in Congress to vote ‘no’ about releasing the Epstein files, he realized that it will be a slap at his presidency if the vote succeeds. So, he decided to instruct the Republicans to support the ‘yes’ vote instead. His pride will then allow him to claim victory. (“It’s a Democrat hoax.”)

But there’s another aspect to this 180° turn: he’s hoping that the rebel faction in his party will take what he says, at face value, and vote the other way, just to spite him. Then he will have changed their minds while not really changing his own. But, unfortunately, he hasn’t understood that negative hypnotic suggestions are the true motivators in reverse psychology. The rebels will think he truly has capitulated and will vote the way they were going to, anyway.

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Upside-Downy Woodpecker?

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Two Men from 1881, Forgotten by History

Death by Lightning (2025)

Strange title, to be sure, but is attributed to James Garfield, when asked if he was worried about being assassinated, like Lincoln. His answer was that it’s unlikely, like “Death by Lightning”.

I must admit that I knew nothing about the 20th United States President’s life or death. So, I suppose, this Netflix series has done its civics duty in giving us this story. *Spoiler alert*

James Garfield (November 19, 1831 – September 19, 1881)

This birth chart was already on my computer program. Just looking at the inconjuncts, it is obvious what motivated the man: the Sun/Mercury conjunction linked to a Gemini Midheaven; Mars inconjunct Pluto; and the Jupiter/Uranus conjunction linked to Saturn. To say that the odds were stacked against him is an understatement. Pluto (in Aries) in the 7th House (of open enemies) represents his killer, Charles Guiteau. Like Garfield’s wife, I’m not going to glorify the assassin by publishing anything about him.

Because it took almost 80 days to die from the infection that resulted from the lack of sterilization of the medical equipment used to try to retrieve the bullet, Garfield’s actual death chart doesn’t show us too much, except that Mars was transiting the Ascendant at the time of death (10:35 pm local time). Says it all, really.

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