That's What She Said, The Rapture, The Big O

That’s What She Said, The Rapture, The Big O

24 May 2011 No Comments

By Darling Nicky

The Rapture

“It’s the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine.” Via @darlingnicky999 on Twitter

The internet was a buzz last week with chatter of the impending Rapture that was to take place on Saturday, May 21, 2011. According to several websites geared at spreading the word of this event (such as www.judgementday2011.com), The End of Times describes the second coming of Jesus Christ to save believers from the scheduled Apocalypse later this year in October.

While most people took the news with a grain of salt and enjoyed the lovely spring weather (as a matter of fact, Toronto saw its first day of summer-like temperatures on this day), many devout believers went to great lengths in preparation for the arrival of Jesus–some even liquidating all of their assets, while others were said to have spent obscene amounts of money “hunkering down”.

Regarding the religious origins of this prediction, I pass no judgment (coincidentally, the day was also coined Judgment Day), but what I found interesting was how in these modern times, we were very nonchalant about the validity of the prediction, and that, while we acknowledged the chatter, we mostly approached the day as we would any other.

But for argument’s sake, what if the government had issued a State of Emergency and instructed us all to take action and evacuate our cities as we would for any other looming disaster? Would we have ignored the instruction and risked the consequences of staying put–as those who have refused to part with their homes and belongings even when the most accurate meteorological tools indicate that a hurricane is well on its way and is “predicted” to cause insurmountable devastation.

There are warnings in the world around us everywhere we turn. There are warning labels on cigarettes that say smoking causes cancer. People still smoke. There is a reasonable amount of risk that bungee jumping may result in death. People still pay money to do it. So what was it that happened in our society’s experience that rendered us so immune to global warnings? Is it because we made it through the turn of the millennium fairly unscathed? No banks were crippled by the rollover from 1999 to 2000, so therefore we can make it through anything?

If people were indeed “saved” this past Saturday, we certainly will have no way of knowing because the idea behind The Rapture was that the “saved” would become separated from the “unsaved” and protected to be used later to repopulate the Earth once the Apocalypse has cleansed the earth of all of the evils.

But didn’t the US military just recently kill the #1 Most Wanted Terrorist Osama Bin Laden? Looks like Mankind is taking The Apocalypse into its own hands.

#thatswhatshesaid

Oprah – Living a Better Life

“Yeah, I try not to idolize anything or anyone, but like Madonna, Oprah is quite possibly the only person on my ‘alive’ list.” Via @darlingnicky999 on Twitter

This tweet came as I listened to Madonna’s tribute to Oprah in Day 1 of her two-day Farewell Spectacular which aired May 23, 2011. Madonna was explaining that if asked who the most influential and inspirational people have been in her life, her “dead” list would have named many, but her “alive” list would name only one: Oprah.

Whether you are a loyal Oprah fan or just someone who acknowledges her impact on our generation, you may have been among the millions that tuned in to watch the “last-to-second-last” episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show.

In all the grandeur that is the Oprah Show, the farewell episodes were taped last week at Chicago’s United Center (Home to the Chicago Bulls) and (so far) featured an impressive list of A-listers who paid their highest respects to a woman that has truly impacted their lives and careers in what was an obvious surprise to Oprah. Among the celebrities on the first day of the spectacular were music legend Patti Labelle, Josh Groban, Halle Berry, Katie Holmes, Dakota Fanning, Beyonce, Rascal Flatts and many more.

Oprah is something like a phenomenon *cue LL Cool J*. She is a mentor, an educator, a reporter, a humanitarian, a philanthropist, an advocate, an inspirer, an influencer and most of all; the poster child for self-made women everywhere. She is so many things to so many people. She perhaps IS every woman. From single-handedly making America fall in love with books again through Oprah’s Book Club, to launching several other celebrity careers, including Dr. Phil and Dr. Oz, Oprah has seemingly attained superhuman qualities over the past 25 years of keeping us company in our living rooms.

This is a woman who simply by mentioning a product’s name on her legendary “Favourite Things” episodes can quadruple a company’s revenue (for the quarter!). Oprah may have been the key factor in Obama’s election win swaying otherwise “would-be non-voters” along with fence-sitters and also Republicans to vote for the current president.

Anyhow, with still a couple more episodes to go before the Oprah Show retires forever, I just wanted to make sure that I had a blog post somewhere on this World Wide Web, that acknowledged, and yes thanked, the woman that has helped me “Live a Better Life”.

So, Oprah – I hope you graciously accept your place in popular culture royalty and go ahead and live the BEST life ever!

Darling Nicky is an entertainment writer, blogger and publicist. Check out her out at www.darlingnicky.ca

Photo: JOHN GRESS/REUTERS