He is risen. Easter Sunday 2011.

"...he was despised and rejected of men,
a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief,
he was oppressed, and afflicted yet he opened
not his mouth, he was brought as a lamb to
slaughter, and of a sheep before his shearer
is done, surely he hath bore our griefs and
carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed him, stricken,
smitted of God and afflicted, but he was wounded
for our transgressions, he was bruised for our
iniquities, and through his wounds we are healed
- and born again."

Isaiah 53:3 (and some liberties from "Jesus of Nazareth" - the greatest movie on the life of Christ)

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"Where'd ya go, Pop Culture Chick #7, Salome from 'Jesus of Nazareth'?"

Hailed by TV Guide in 1987 as "the best miniseries of all time" and "unparalleled television", the 1977 epic "Jesus of Nazareth" is considered by many - including my own family - as the definitive telling of the life of Jesus Christ. I just watched some of it today - it's aired every Christmas and Easter.

I won't get into much background of the television movie (you can look it up), aside that Franco Zeffirelli directed and produced it and the multi-national cast was a Who's Who in Hollywood - James Powell as Jesus, Farentino, Bancroft, Plummer, Mason, Olivier, Pleasance, Steiger, Ustinov, York, McShane, James Earl Jones, Hussey, Holm, Keach, Borgnine, Cardinale, Quinn, Richardson. Difficult to do that today.

But if you've seen it, you'll remember Salome, who dances for King Herod and gets the king to chop off the head of John the Baptist. The actress who portrayed Salome is the Spanish actress Isabel Mestres. Growing up, I waited with a sense of irreverence for Salome to do her thang. Whoo! Oops - sorry.

According to IMDB, the last movie she was in was in 1996. I can't find her anywhere on the Internet. She's 62 now (unbelievably). The only picture I could find of an older Isabel is this one. If it's her (the picture listed her name).

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TGIF! Good Friday bonus presents..."Jesus of Nazareth" (1977).

"Ecce homo." "Behold the Man". Franco Zeffirelli's "Jesus of Nazareth" is, at least in the opinion of my family, the best production of the story of Jesus. And this scene is among the more powerful in the mini-series. If you'd rather, you can fast-forward to the 1:50 mark. This scene between Pilate (Rod Steiger) and Jesus (Robert Powell) leaves me speechless.

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