Archive for the 'Entertainment' Category

My cousin is appearing in the upcoming movie Iron Man. Released this coming weekend, I will be attending a sneak preview tonight courtesy of a co-worker who was unable to use a ticket he received.

My cousin, apparently, will be Press Reporter #4. At the current moment, I know nothing more than that.

This gives him a Stan Lee Number of 1, since Stan Lee is of course making his usual cameo in Marvel Universe movies.

He already had a Kevin Bacon Number of 1 (if you count television appearances, since he apepared on the same episode of Will and Grace as KB…the final episode)

Now the time is here
for Iron Man to spread fear
Vengeance from the grave
Kills the people he once saved

[Movie Trivia Note: Gwyneth Paltrow is the godsister of Drew Barrymore. I’m not sure that term is used very often, but they apparently share the same godfather - Steven Spielberg]

Cory Doctorow at BoingBoing has just discovered the card game, Fluxx.  It is as insanely fun as Cory says it sounds.  I’ve been playing it with some friends for over a year now.  It’s a rare feeling to know about something this long before it hits the geek sites.

You can find Fluxx locally at GamerGround.

Personally, my favorite version is Zombie Fluxx.

It seems Neil Diamond and myself have something in common. He has just admitted, that at age 29, he wrote the song Sweet Caroline about none other than Caroline Kennedy, after he saw a photograph of her. She was only 12 years old. There are some rather disturbing lyrical images in the song when you consider he was 29 and she was 12. (”Hands touchin’ hands reachin’ out touchin’ me touchin’ you..”)

And Drew Barrymore was only 9 in 1984 when Firestarter was released. Of course, I was only 15. So it’s not really as bad. And of course, I didn’t write a hit song.

In case you haven’t seen it yet, The Daily Show writers present the “Not The Daily Show” explanation of the writer’s strike.

Less humorous presentations from United Hollywood

In short…don’t piss on writers, because writers know how to write!

Here’s a news article about actress Angelina Jolie.

Angelina Jolie has admitted she was got a little shy when she saw her nude scenes in her latest film “Beowulf.”

The actress says although the nude scenes were stimulated, she was still a little embarrassed. “I was a little shy,” she says. “I was really surprised that I felt that exposed…

So, do you see a (likely) mistake? Do you see more than one? I count at least one in each paragraph.

[as seen at Neil Gaiman’s journal]

Meme taken from Blair.

In bold, the ones I’ve seen. I also have put *s by all the books I’ve read. (Not all have books, of course.) I’ve seen 45%. At least parts of them, as some of them I suspect I fell asleep, and missed key scenes. The books didn’t put me over 50% as I had hoped.

Yes, I know all my SF friends will tell me, and you’re right. I need to either see or read #97. I need to read several of PKD’s books. He’s on my list.

1. “Citizen Kane,” 1941.
2. “The Godfather,” 1972.
3. “Casablanca,” 1942.
4. “Raging Bull,” 1980.
5. “Singin’ in the Rain,” 1952.
6. “Gone With the Wind,” 1939.
7. “Lawrence of Arabia,” 1962.
8. “Schindler’s List,” 1993. *
9. “Vertigo,” 1958.
10. “The Wizard of Oz,” 1939. *
11. “City Lights,” 1931.
12. “The Searchers,” 1956.
13. “Star Wars,” 1977.
14. “Psycho,” 1960. *
15. “2001: A Space Odyssey,” 1968. *
16. “Sunset Blvd.”, 1950.
17. “The Graduate,” 1967.
18. “The General,” 1927.
19. “On the Waterfront,” 1954.
20. “It’s a Wonderful Life,” 1946.
21. “Chinatown,” 1974.
22. “Some Like It Hot,” 1959.
23. “The Grapes of Wrath,” 1940. *
24. “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial,” 1982.
25. “To Kill a Mockingbird,” 1962. *
26. “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” 1939.
27. “High Noon,” 1952.
28. “All About Eve,” 1950.
29. “Double Indemnity,” 1944.
30. “Apocalypse Now,” 1979.
31. “The Maltese Falcon,” 1941.
32. “The Godfather Part II,” 1974.
33. “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” 1975.
34. “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” 1937. *
35. “Annie Hall,” 1977.
36. “The Bridge on the River Kwai,” 1957.
37. “The Best Years of Our Lives,” 1946.
38. “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre,” 1948.
39. “Dr. Strangelove,” 1964.
40. “The Sound of Music,” 1965.
41. “King Kong,” 1933.
42. “Bonnie and Clyde,” 1967.
43. “Midnight Cowboy,” 1969.
44. “The Philadelphia Story,” 1940.
45. “Shane,” 1953.
46. “It Happened One Night,” 1934.
47. “A Streetcar Named Desire,” 1951.
48. “Rear Window,” 1954.
49. “Intolerance,” 1916.
50. “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring,” 2001. *
51. “West Side Story,” 1961.
52. “Taxi Driver,” 1976.
53. “The Deer Hunter,” 1978.
54. “M-A-S-H,” 1970.
55. “North by Northwest,” 1959.
56. “Jaws,” 1975. *
57. “Rocky,” 1976.
58. “The Gold Rush,” 1925.
59. “Nashville,” 1975.
60. “Duck Soup,” 1933.
61. “Sullivan’s Travels,” 1941.
62. “American Graffiti,” 1973.
63. “Cabaret,” 1972.
64. “Network,” 1976.
65. “The African Queen,” 1951.
66. “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” 1981.
67. “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”, 1966.
68. “Unforgiven,” 1992.
69. “Tootsie,” 1982.
70. “A Clockwork Orange,” 1971. *
71. “Saving Private Ryan,” 1998.
72. “The Shawshank Redemption,” 1994. *
73. “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” 1969.
74. “The Silence of the Lambs,” 1991.
75. “In the Heat of the Night,” 1967.
76. “Forrest Gump,” 1994.
77. “All the President’s Men,” 1976.
78. “Modern Times,” 1936.
79. “The Wild Bunch,” 1969.
80. “The Apartment, 1960.
81. “Spartacus,” 1960.
82. “Sunrise,” 1927.
83. “Titanic,” 1997.
84. “Easy Rider,” 1969.
85. “A Night at the Opera,” 1935.
86. “Platoon,” 1986.
87. “12 Angry Men,” 1957.
88. “Bringing Up Baby,” 1938.
89. “The Sixth Sense,” 1999.
90. “Swing Time,” 1936.
91. “Sophie’s Choice,” 1982.
92. “Goodfellas,” 1990.
93. “The French Connection,” 1971.
94. “Pulp Fiction,” 1994.
95. “The Last Picture Show,” 1971.
96. “Do the Right Thing,” 1989.
97. “Blade Runner,” 1982.
98. “Yankee Doodle Dandy,” 1942.
99. “Toy Story,” 1995.
100. “Ben-Hur,” 1959.

What is wrong with these landlubbers?

They go to see a pirate movie, and they turn around and run, from their seats, almost literally, several minutes before the end of the movie. Stupid gits. Movies costing what they do today, leaving before the movie ends is insane, unless you didn’t like the movie…and are going to ask for a refund. These idiots, though, watched it up to the beginning of the credits. They bolted as the credits began to roll.

Completely missing out on the treasure at the end of the credits.

landlubbers, I tell ye.

Here’s a tshirt that spoils the ending of a dozen films, one tv show, and one book. Within a few years, the book will become a movie, unless the earth explodes before then, but for now it’s just the sixth book in a series that ends in July.

What’s spoiled:
Dallas (Who shot JR)
The Usual Suspects
Citizen Kane
Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back
Planet of the Apes
Sixth Sense
The Matrix
Fight Club
The Others
Psycho
300
Soylent Green
Beautiful Mind
Crying Game
Donnie Darko
Harry Potter Book Six

And two films…one about a village, and another about a group of villagers. No clue, but they sound like horror films.

It’s a funny tshirt, but I wouldn’t wear it until after the film is released.

In July of 2002 I wrote the following poem:

Body Worlds

Real live dead people
on display in the UK.
Pregnant woman with

womb exposed, foetus
revealed for gawking tourists.
Athletes posed in

action. Goalkeeper,
cyclist, basketball player.
Is it surprising

the curator of
this ghoulish museum’s German?
Is Madame Tussaud’s

now passe? Missing
wax statues of Arafat
now considered tame.

The final stanza refers to an incident in May of 2001 where New Yorkers complained about a wax statue of Arafat at Madame Tussaud’s. In December of 2001, the statue mysteriously disappeared.

Anyway, Body Worlds has been touring the world for the past five years (It even made an appearance in the Bond film, Casino Royale), and it will be at the St. Louis Science Center in October.

Always on the lookout for ways for readers of my blog to watch the Academy Award winning short film, West Bank Story.

And always on the lookout for ways for me to earn a little fundage from my Amazon Associates Store

I would be extremely remiss if I didn’t point out that on May 1, a collection is being released on DVD that contains

1) The Academy Award winning Live Short - West Bank Story
2) The other nominees for the Live Short category
3) The Academy Award winning Animated Short - The Danish Poet
4) The nominated animated short - Maestro
5) and a handful of other random bonus shorts (at least, they appear random to me. Maybe they’re not random)

That seems to be a nice selection. For only $22.50 from Amazon. ($29.98 List Price).

And just as a sidenote, I have absolutely no control over what the text in the linkage below reads.

These films can be seen as a package on several movie screens scattered throughout the country (Unfortunately, not in St. Louis. Shelbyville, IL, 2 hours 15 min away, is the closest, I think.)

West Bank Story is on YouTube. The short film that won the Oscar. The short film starring my cousin. It might not be on YouTube for long. It is a violation of copyright and all. But if you still haven’t had a chance to see it, and want to watch it first before you make up your mind to spend I think $3 to download it from ITunes…

Part One:

Part Two:

March 16-24, Carrie Fisher, known to many as Princess Leia, will be spending a relaxing week in Bermuda, as one of the judges at the Bermuda International Film Festival. Others lucky enough to be selected for this hardship are actor Richard Dreyfus (Close Encounters of the Third Kind), producer Stanley Nelson (Murder of Emmett Till), Director Lucinda Spurling (Rare Bird), Tamara Tarasova, and actor Ben Newmark (West Bank Story).

Note: information for this blurb came from Variety, and IMDB. The only Tamara Tarasova I can find online is a figure skating coach.

I was at a house concert last night.
The house was nearby Bevo Mill.
The performer was S.J. Tucker, aka Skinny White Chick.

As SWC is popular in the local pagan-community, and I have a few friends from that community, I’ve had the pleasure of hearing her play in some unique locales. Pagan Boy with a Mini had his own house concert two summers ago. She also joined our troupe for a winetasting jaunt in Ste Genevieve, and brought her guitar alolng. The acoustics were good in the cave at Cave Vineyard.

I’m really lousy at describing music. I can tell you I like the songs Mummy Medusa and Mama Dragon from her debut album, Haphazard. Or The Wendy Saga from her recent, Sirens. However, that tells you nothing. (Except that she is interested in Greek mythology, fantasy, and Peter Pan.) However, since some of her CDs are available at CDBaby, such as Haphazard, Tangles, and the live album Tales from the Road — You can listen to her music there. The only place online to buy Sirens, I think, is her website, and, alas, it doesn’t have a listening feature. I do think it’s her best album yet, more on which below. Finally, Haphazard and Tangles are on Itunes, so you can find individual tracks there.

Owning some of her music, and knowing the others were available online, I entered the house concert sure I’d be able to resist the merchandise table. But, to help curb any ‘crimes of passion’, I intentionally came with only enough money to put in the tip jar. Of course, I looked anyway, just to see what was available, and if there were any new items for me to look up online later — away from the siren call of her music. And I saw chapbooks. Chapbooks!

They turned out to be the lyrics and liner notes to her songs — one for each album. And the covers had some really nice cover art as well. It’s a creative marketing scheme. I was told they weren’t available online. But the blue and yellow stripes were visibly displayed on the table. And I’d not left my blue and yellow stripes at home:

Worse “crimes of passion” have been committed. Three chapbooks have been added to my library.

Let me share with you some of the lyrics from Sirens. Particularly, the Wendy Saga. This covers three tracks, and has 44 stanzas, so this is but a small taste. Which I think Sooj would appreciate.

Now, Wendy never was a girl to go against her friends
But recall when Hook had kidnapped her and promised no good end
Surrounded then by pirates and asked to join the crew,
the story goes she told them no, but not all tales are true!

Wouldn’t she rather climb the rigging and wield a cutlass bright,
Wouldn’t she rather have her own sweet say o’er wrong and right?
“Your decision, girl,” says Hook. “You think you’ll pass the test?”
The scurvy crew are sniggering, but Wendy answers “Yes!
You set me any task, old man, and watch me see it through.
You’ve never known the likes of piracy a girl can do!”

I don’t want to give too much of the story away, but the following comes from Part III (most probably could predict this was coming…the tale lies in the getting there):

Wendy’s ship it prospers, and the girls are eating well
A roving band of sisters, singing songs and raising hell.

Another track from the album, Sirens, which she performed last night as well, was Go Away God Boy. She makes it clear in the book, and when performing the song that it is not a church-bashing song, but a psycho-online-stalkers-who-think-they’re-Jesus-bashing song. And, alas, she isn’t using any of the words metaphorically.

The song contains these wonderful lines:

Who wants to go to heaven when your stalker meets you there?

and

Don’t try to wrap your head around my heartful of free will
I’ll shake you up, I’ll tear you down, do my worst and give you chills

The full lyrics can be read at The Bardic Circle. There’s also a song that should please kids, of all ages, entitled, Alligator in the House.

Elizabeth Donald is a local sf/fantasy author. She recently began writing a Culture blog for the Belleville News Democrat.

Today there’s a post with the title: MovieGeek Special: Ben Newmark. It pretty much covers everything. West Bank Story, The Wilton, Will and Grace, and in true (greater) St. Louis fashion, even mentions what high school he went to.

You’ll find out why my cousin won’t be at the Academy Awards, the name of the camel, and why the 2005 St. Louis Film Festival was so important. None of this information has appeared in any other news article I’ve read.

Mardi Gras was different this year. It was quite chilly in St. Louis, chillier than usual. So those I annually partake of the Soulard Festivities with decided to take a radical change in plans. We brought Mardi Gras indoors. We brought the alcohol. We brought New Orleans syle music CDs, and They Might Be Giants cds. We had a fun time inside a heated home. I’m told the real They Might Be Giants concert only lasted half an hour. Our concert lasted longer.

But I arrived at this indoors-Mardi Gras at approximately 2:30 pm. From noon until 2 I watched Ghost Rider at the Theater of the Broken Heart. (aka Creve Coeur Cine) I’ve not read much of the comic series, so I didn’t have that to compare it to, but I was told that it compared well, though some attributes of two different Ghost Riders were combined into one.

As some of you know I am a leader of a local group of science fiction fans who refer to ourselves as the USS Discovery. The group’s been around since the 1980s. It is this group that went rafting earlier this year. It is also this group that goes wine tasting all over Missouri and Illinois. So we have other interests besides SciFi.

I have been their “Commanding Officer” for 2 years, and was re-elected to a second two-year term on Sunday. I told them they were all insane, but I worry what that makes me.

Sunday evening a few of us rented Little Miss Sunshine from a local Blockbusters. It’s up for Best Picture, and Alan Arkin is up for Best Supporting Actor, and Abigail Breslin is up for Best Supporting Actress. She’s only 10 years old, or I’d have predicted she’d win it. One ten-year-old winner of an Oscar in the history of the Oscars is probably more than one can expect, and Tatum ONeal already did it.

But I think the movie is well-deserving. I like comedies in general. As Victor Hugo said, “Laughter is the sunshine that wipes winter from the human face.” This wasn’t gag-comedy in the tradition of Airplane or National Lampoon’s Vacation. However, I think there were a couple homages to Vacation, and there was definitely riotous laughter in the room in a handful of scenes.

I worry if Breslin wins the award (or perhaps even if she doesn’t) that someone will blow a key scene for those who haven’t seen the film yet. The movie does build up to a climax, and the viewer knows something is coming. Often in these circumstances the scene is a let-down; and I was fearing it would be. I couldn’t imagine how they could provide a satisfying conclusion to the build-up. They did. But if I knew in advance a key part of that finale, I don’t think I would have received the same amount of enjoyment.

The Oscars are now less than a week away.

Let’s see how far I can extend my record of being extraordinarily lousy at predictions:
I’ve only seen six movies up for an award, so these aren’t based on any real knowledge.

I was naturally torn on a few where I am certainly rooting for a particular film to win; but since I am quite lousy with predictions, do I really want to say that I predict them to win? I decided I couldn’t predict against a film I was rooting for.

1 Best Actor
a - Leonardo DiCaprio, Blood Diamond
b - Ryan Gosling, Half Nelson
c - Peter O’Toole, Venus
d - Will Smith, The Pursuit of Happyness
e - Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland

2 Best Supporting Actor
a - Alan Arkin, Little Miss Sunshine (seen)
b - Jackie Earle Haley, Little Children
c - Djimon Hounsou, Blood Diamond
d - Eddie Murphy, Dreamgirls
e - Mark Wahlberg, The Departed

3 Best Actress
a - Penelope Cruz, Volver
b - Judi Dench, Notes on a Scandal
c - Helen Mirren, The Queen
d - Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada
e - Kate Winslet, Little Children

4 Best Supporting Actress
a - Adriana Barazza, Babel
b - Cate Blanchett, Notes on a Scandal
c - Abigal Breslin, Little Miss Sunshine
d - Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls
e - Rinko Kikuchi, Babel

5 Best Picture
a - Babel
b - The Departed
c - Letters From Iwo Jima
d - Little Miss Sunshine
e - The Queen

6 Best Director
a - Alejando Inaritu, Babel
b - Martin Scorsese, The Departed
c - Clint Eastwood, Letters From Iwo Jima
d - Stephen Frears, The Queen
e - Paul Greengrass, United 93

7 Best Foreign Film
a - After the Wedding, Denmark
b - Days of Glory, Algeria
c - The Lives of Others, Germany
d - Pan’s Labyrinth, Mexico
e - Water, Canada

8 Best Animated Film of the Year
a - Cars (seen)
b - Happy Feet
c - Monster House

9 Achievement in Art Direction
a - Dreamgirls
b - The Good Shepherd
c - Pan’s Labyrinth
d - Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Man’s Chest (seen)
e - The Prestige

10 Achievement in Cinematography
a - The Black Dahlia
b - Children of Men
c - The Illusionist
d - Pan’s Labyrinth
e - The Prestige

11 Achievement in Costume Design
a - Curse of the Golden Flowers
b - The Devil Wears Prada
c - Dreamgirls
d - Marie Antoinette
e - The Queen

12 Best Documentary
a - Deliver Us from Evil
b - An Inconvenient Truth
c - Iraq in Fragments
d - Jesus Camp
e - My Country, My Country

13 Best Documentary Short
a - The Blood of Yingzhou District
b - Recycled Life
c - Rehearsing A Dream
d - Two Hands

14 Achievement in Film Editing
a - Babel
b - Blood Diamond
c - Children of Men
d - The Departed
e - United 93

15 Achievement in Makeup
a - Apocalypto
b - Click
c - Pan’s Labyrinth

16 Best Original Score
a - Babel
b - The Good German
c - Notes On A Scandal
d - Pan’s Labyrinth
e - The Queen

17 Best Original Song
a - “I Need to Wake Up” An Inconvenient Truth
b - “Listen” Dreamgirls
c - “Love You I Do” - Dreamgirls
d - “Our Town” Cars
e - “Patience” Dreamgirls

18 Best Animated Short
a - The Danish Poet
b - Lifted
c - The Little Matchgirl
d - Maestro
e - No Time For Nuts

19 Best Live Action Short
a - Binta and the Great Idea
b - One Too Many
c - Helmer & Son
d - The Saviour
e - West Bank Story (seen)

20 Achievement in Sound Editing
a - Apocalypto
b - Blood Diamond
c - Flags of Our Fathers
d - Letters from Iwo Jima
e - Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Man’s Chest

21 Achievement in Sound Mixing
a - Apocalypto
b - Blood Diamond
c - Dreamgirls
d - Flags of Our Fathers
e - Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Man’s Chest

22 Best Visual Effects
a - Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Man’s Chest
b - Poseidon
c - Superman Returns (seen)

23 Best Adapted Screenplay
a - Borat (seen)
b - Children of Men
c - The Departed
d - Little Children
e - Notes on a Scandal

24 Best Original Screenplay
a - Babel
b - Letters From Iwo Jima
c - Little Miss Sunshine
d - Pan’s Labyrinth
e - The Queen

It’s the nominations few have seen during the year. The shorts. Since they often only appear at film festivals. The Tivoli is showing them every day this week in two separate showings. You can view all five animated shorts, or all five live-action shorts.

Most Actors or Actresses in a movie dead by the time it is actually released.

This 2007 TV movie has two (John Candy and Madeline Kahn)

Does anyone know of a movie that had more? (I know, this is a rather gruesome question)

According to Wiki:

The Magic 7 is an animated TV movie written and directed by Roger Holzberg. It centers on the adventures of two children and a dragon as they fight the arch-enemies of Earth. It was originally slated to air on Earth Day (April 22) in 1997, but was postponed. The film was later rescheduled for a 2005 release, but it was once again suspended indefinitely.

Magic 7 actually has a star-studded cast of voice actors in it, including Henry Winkler, Kevin Bacon, Michael J Fox, Bette Midler, Judy Collins, Ice-T, Meryl Streep, Olivia Newton-John, Demi Moore, Jeremy Irons, Ted Danson, and James Earl Jones,

Here are some publicity photos from the London Stage Play - Equus.

These photos are not safe for work, not safe for kids. And thousands of words have already been written about them, and thousands more will be written. Though few mention what I’m going to mention.

Yes, Daniel Radcliffe, who has played Harry Potter in the movies, and is only 17 years old, is going to appear naked on stage in a few weeks, and the publicity photos show a lot (but, naturally, not all). Since the age of consent as I understand it in the UK is 16, this is perfectly legal.

However, the actress Joanna Christie is in a couple of these photos, and she is being ignored by a lot of commentators. I can’t let that happen. I can say with comfort that I find her damn attractive, and would like more publicity photos with her in them. I am comfortable saying this as she is 24. True, fourteen years separate us, but she is still an adult.

So yes, if I were going to be in London, I would probably try to buy tickets to the play. I hear it is a good play, and won some Tony awards back in the 1970s.

note: for completeness, I have changed the link at the top of this post to the one on the play’s official website, where they have all the photos. Some I have seen nowhere else. Unfortunately, no additional Joanna Christie ones

Complete list of Academy Award nominations

I haven’t seen any of the movies up for Best Movie, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Anything, or Best Director. I’ve seen one of the nominees for Best Adapted Screenplay, and I hope Borat doesn’t win. I’ll be rooting for Cars in the Animated film category, and Pirates of the Caribbean in the handful of technical categories it’s nominated for.

Excerpt you might otherwise not notice…

23. Live Action Short Film:
“Binta and the Great Idea (Binta Y La Gran Idea),”
“Eramos Pocos (One Too Many),”
“Helmer & Son,”
“The Saviour,”
“West Bank Story.”

It’s unfortunate there’s no category: Best Actor in a Live Action Short Film.

My birthday’s approaching so I thought this could be fun. Three Parts.

Part I Found on Blog on the Edge of Forever

NSTRUCTIONS
1. Go to http://popculturemadness.com/Music/index.html, and find the greatest hits for the year you turned 18 (on the left-hand side)
2. Select at least the first 40
3. In some way categorize them into these 4 categories (Some people like bold, italics and strike-thrus. Others like lists.

(I threw in two songs lower than 40 on the chart because I felt like it.)

Like

8. La Bamba - Los Lobos
9. You Can Call Me Al - Paul Simon
20. (You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party) - Beastie Boys
47. Dude (Looks Like A Lady) - Aerosmith
61. Touch of Grey - Grateful Dead

Hate

Indifferent

1. Living On A Prayer - Bon Jovi
2. Mony Mony - Billy Idol (1st released in 1981)
4. Lean On Me - Club Nouveau
11. Faith - George Michael
13. Bad - Michael Jackson
18. Girls, Girls, Girls - Motley Crew
26. Funky Town - Pseudo Echo

Not Familiar With

3. (I’ve Had) The Time Of My Life - Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes
5. Songbird - Kenny G
6. Always - Atlantic Starr
7. Oh Yeah - Yello
10. With Or Without You - U2
12. Don’t Give Up - Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush
14. It’s Tricky - Run DMC
15. You Got It All - the Jets
16. U Got The Look - Prince
17. I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For - U2
19. Didn’t We Almost Have It All - Whitney Houston
21. Keep Your Hands To Yourself - Georgia Satellites
22. I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me) - Whitney Houston
23. The Lady In Red - Chris Deburgh
24. Brass Monkey - Beastie Boys
25. La Isla Bonita - Madonna
27. Girls - Beastie Boys
28. Wanted Dead Or Alive - Bon Jovi
29. The Final Countdown - Europe
30. True Faith - New Order
31. Open Your Heart - Madonna
32. Where The Streets Have No Name - U2
33. Casanova - Levert
34. Looking For A New Love - Jody Watley
35. In Too Deep - Genesis
36. Let’s Wait Awhile - Janet Jackson
37. Tonight, Tonight, Tonight - Genesis
38. Somewhere Out There - Linda Ronstadt & James Ingram
39. Rhythm Is Gonna Get You - Gloria Estefan & Miami Sound Machine
40. Shake You Down - Gregory Abbott

Part II and III are based on the above, but I had to do a little searching to find the lists.

Part II

1. Go to http://www.hawes.com/no1_f_d.htm and find the list of #1 books (NY Times Bestseller List) for the year you were 18
2. Select all of them (Since books stay #1 on the NYTimes Bestseller List for multiple weeks, there might only be ten or so)
3. Categorize them similarly to the music above

Like

The Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King (Viking) - February 1, 1987
Misery by Stephen King (Viking) - June 7, 1987
Presumed Innocent by Scott Turow (Farrar, Straus) - July 26, 1987
The Tommyknockers by Stephen King (Putnam) - November 29, 1987

Hate

Indifferent

Unread

Windmills of the Gods by Sidney Sheldon (Morrow) - February 8, 1987
Fine Things by Danielle Steel (Delacorte) - March 29, 1987
The Haunted Mesa by Louis L’Amour (Bantam) - May 31, 1987
Patriot Games by Tom Clancy (Putnam) - August 2, 1987
Kaleidoscope by Danielle Steel (Delacorte) - October 25, 1987

Part III

1: Go to http://theenvelope.latimes.com/extras/lostmind/ratings/ratings.htm for the top rated television shows for the year you turned 18 (stats for 1950-2004) Since the seasons run Fall to Spring, if you were born in the summer, choose the season before or after.
2: Categorize them into the following: Those you watched regularly, those you sometimes watched, those you never watched, those you’ve never heard of.

Watched Regularly

1 - The Cosby Show
2 - Family Ties
3 - Cheers
7 - Night Court
8 - Growing Pains
10 - Who’s the Boss?
12 - Newhart
30 - Head of the Class

Sometimes

5 - The Golden Girls
14 - 227
16 - CBS Sunday Night Movie
17 - NBC Monday Night Movie
20 - NBC Sunday Night Movie
28 - Alf

Never

6 - 60 Minutes
4 - Murder, She Wrote
9 - Moonlighting
11 - Dallas
15 - Matlock
18 - Monday Night Football
19 - Kate & Allie
21 - L.A. Law
22 - My Sister Sam
23 - Falcon Crest
24 - Highway to Heaven
25 - Dynasty
26 - Knots Landing
27 - Miami Vice
29 - Hunter

Hunh?

13 - Amen

Now you know a lot about what I was interested in 20 years ago.

Before I left town, I ordered a CD from CDBaby. It was waiting for me in my held-mail pile when I returned. It’s Log-a-Rhythm by the Andy Carlson Band.

I don’t usually listen to much bluegrass (or “new grass”), but I enjoyed it. Of course, Andy is a long-time friend. I remember eating freshly baked cookies, from his mom’s oven, when I was a youngun. So you might not take my review with much salt. But then again, if I didn’t like it, I could just refrain from saying anything.

I have a prejudice for lyrics, so my favorite tracks were A Long Way to Travel, and the cover of Nanci Griffith’s Outbound Plane. You can listen to 2 minutes from each track streaming at the CDBaby link at the top of this post, and judge for yourself.

The NYTimes referred to Andy a few years ago as a demon fiddler. He’s never seemed very demonic to me. I’m not quite sure what the NYTimes meant. But he can sure play the fiddle fast. He’s now a professor at Denison University, and has appeared on albums by such groups as REM, Nanci Griffith, Cowboy Junkies, Uncle Tupelo and Billy Bragg.

JK Rowling has revealed the title for the seventh and last Harry Potter novel: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

She has also re-confirmed that two characters will die that “she hadn’t intended to die.” So anyone predicting who those two characters are shouldn’t include Voldemort or Harry in their predictions, as I suspect their fates have been planned since book 1. As I said in the earlier post, I have faith that Harry will survive, but not unscathed. One possibility is that in destroying Voldemort he might lose his magic. But there are other possibilities. (Death isn’t the only way to discourage sequels)

My early prediction on the two additional fatalities are Hagrid and Draco, though if Draco dies, he will perform an act of redemption beforehand. It should be noted my success rate on predictions isn’t good.

Q. What religion is Harry Potter?

Answer: I’m not sure JK Rowling has answered this question in any of the books. Witchcraft isn’t treated as a religion, so the answer isn’t ‘Wiccan’. It has been indicated that the Dursleys, Harry’s aunt and uncle, celebrate Christmas, though not really as a religious hoilday. They just bury their spoiled son in presents. I don’t think Rowling has touched upon the faith of James or Lily Potter, much less of Harry. She certainly hasn’t touched upon ethnic and cultural identity.

Q. What religion is Daniel Radcliffe, the actor who portrays Harry Potter in the films?

Answer: In a recent interview in Australia (see below) he revealed his mother is Jewish, and his father is Protestant. However, he implied he wasn’t raised in either religion, and doesn’t consider himself any religion. Though Religion and Philosophy are two academic subjects that do interest him.

If by accident of birth his parentage were switched, this would be much less the news story that it is. But some will undoubtedly latch on to certain Conservative/Orthodox religious definitions and proclaim him Jewish. There’s already this article. While I haven’t found the news yet anywhere else except fan message boards, it will be very surprising to me if it doesn’t start to spread fairly quickly. Whether it is out of pride, or hate, the action is misplaced. He is an adult (17). He has stated that he is not religious at all. The religions of his parents should be irrelevant. (His own religion should be irrelevant, unless he chooses to emphasize it, but for some, out of either pride or hate, this will never be.)

There are a few other interesting facets of the interview. Apparently fans in the US are a lot more aggressive than elsewhere. He also remains convinced his character will die at the end of the seventh novel. I remain hopeful that Rowling will come up with a different, but still satisfying ending.

I’ve been procrastinating writing about this particular aspect of the Michael Richards story just to see if anything else turns up about it. But apparently after it was revealed that Michael Richards made anti-Semitic jokes in a routine several months ago, his PR guy announced, “Michael Richards can’t be anti-Semitic, because he’s Jewish.”

Of course, the reaction he got was, “Really? When did he convert?”

And it was, “Oh, he hasn’t converted. He has some Jewish friends though, and he likes the Jewish philosophy.” Source

Of course, I feel with great power comes great responsibility, but I’m not a Marvel Comics Superhero. I also agree with most everything Jesus said in the New Testament, but I’m not Christian. Of course, most everything Jesus said is also in the Old Testament. The Jewish philosophy, and Christian philosophy, and the Muslim philosophy are pretty much all very similar. But Richards proclaims himself Jewish, so he can’t be anti-Semitic. It’s a shame he can’t proclaim himself Black. (Unless of course you’re reading a satirical newspaper)

Of course, it’s all reminiscent of The Yada Yada — the 153rd episode of Seinfeld. Where Seinfeld’s dentist converts to Judaism, and Jerry thinks it’s only so he can tell Jewish jokes.

Note: I’m not saying I think Richards is anti-Semitic. He’s probably as anti-Semitic as he is racist. It’s just that he came up with a very stupid defense. Of course, lapsed Catholics have never been accused of being overly ‘clever’. With apologies, naturally, to my friends who fall in that category.

1. Ring around the Rosie Rag - Arlo Guthrie
2. Don’t Download this Song - Weird Al Yankovich
3. Not Fade Away - Grateful Dead
4. Red, Red Wine - Neil Diamond
5. Le Moribund - Jacques Brel

I’ve blogged about MortalBlog before. A new BlogSurvivor type game. Today they’re trying to solicit links from other blogs registered at stlbloggers.com. (They have to have been registered there prior to noon today, preventing ballotstuffing.)

Well, I’m registered, so I am linking, in no particular order, to Puppy, El Gecko and Toad, because I like animals, and they appear to be the underdogs right now.

On October 8th, TS Eliot will yield his crown to Victor Hugo as Cats is finally surpassed as the world’s longest running musical. Les Miz’s original Broadway run was cut short in 2003 by the decline in NY tourism. It’s returning to Broadway this fall, but it was London where the show was introduced, and has continued, and will turn 21 next month. Cats closed on its 21st birthday, almost as if crystals had turned black in the cats’ paws.

I should indicate that I am fully cognizant that the Official London Theater page is arguably in error. There are two opinions of what the longest running musical is, and some argue Les Miz is only half-way, and has 21 more years to meet The Fantasticks Off-Broadway 42-year record from 1960-2002.

I hope she makes it.

Do you like listening to country music, but you can’t stand the politics?

Do you think progressive country music begins and ends with the Dixie Chicks?

Check out the Music Row Democrats

As you may have read, actor Mel Gibson was allegedly pulled over Thursday driving drunk, and is alleged to have made comments to the police that appeared in an initial police report, then were removed in a later one.

Lets go over some of the facts first, as not every news story I have read seems to do so.  Of course, the final police report hasn’t been released yet, and all the facts aren’t known.

What did Mel Gibson say?

TMZ has the alleged initial police report.  Here’s an excerpt:

S/Gibson almost continually threatened me saying he owned Malibu…S/Gibson blurted out a barrage of anti-Semitic remarks about “Fucking Jews”.  S/Gibson yelled out, “The Jews are responsible for all of the wars in the world.”  S/Gibson then asked, “Are you a Jew?”

(I’m not overly familiar with police reports, but my assumption is the S stands for Subject.)
The San Francisco Chronicle has his complete apology,

“After drinking alcohol on Thursday night, I did a number of things that were very wrong and for which I am ashamed,” Gibson said in a statement. “I drove a car when I should not have, and was stopped by the LA County Sheriffs. The arresting officer was just doing his job and I feel fortunate that I was apprehended before I caused injury to any other person. I acted like a person completely out of control when I was arrested, and said things that I do not believe to be true and which are despicable. I am deeply ashamed of everything I said. Also, I take this opportunity to apologize to the deputies involved for my belligerent behavior. They have always been there for me in my community and indeed probably saved me from myself. I disgraced myself and my family with my behavior and for that I am truly sorry. I have battled with the disease of alcoholism for all of my adult life and profoundly regret my horrific relapse. I apologize for any behavior unbecoming of me in my inebriated state and have already taken necessary steps to ensure my return to health.”

 What did Abraham Foxman from the ADL say?

The Scotsman claims:

Calling for a criminal investigation into the Oscar-winning actor and director’s remarks, Abraham Foxman, the national director of the US Jewish Anti-Defamation League, said: “We believe there should be consequences to bigots and bigotry.”

A look at the ADL press release shows that no suggestion of a criminal investigation was made.  Foxman and the ADL have said stupid things in the past, they are fairly extreme, but I don’t think anything quite as stupid as suggesting hate speech is the same as a hate crime.
What do I think? 
Oy.  Where to begin?  Let’s go back in time 10 years.
In 1995 Michael Jackson released his album HIStory.  In April 1996 the single from the album, “They Don’t Care About Us” was released.  (dates according to wiki).  It contained the lyrics “Jew me, sue me.” and “Kick me, Kike me.”  After complaints, he agreed to change the lyrics to the less offensive “Do me, sue me,” and “Kick me, hike me.”  The ADL was grateful, with Foxman saying,

“We are pleased that Michael Jackson will be re-recording, They Don’t Care About Us, and removing the anti-Jewish lyrics from his hit album HIStory. We have always believed that Mr. Jackson never intentionally meant to be offensive, yet the anti-Semitic words cut deeply.”

Let’s be completely clear.  Michael Jackson was 100% sober when he recorded the original lyrics.  An apology and an agreement to re-record with different lyrics was sufficient for Foxman to say that he believed Jackson never meant to be offensive.  Gibson was extremely drunk, has apologized, and Foxman is sure Gibson was revealing his true self.

Other press releases in their archives show they were quick to accept apologies from Ted Turner, Barry Bonds, and Rev. Billy Graham.  Upon the release of some Nixon tapes, he was referred to as, “a great man, flawed.”   And when anti-Semitic comments were found in Truman’s diaries, he was referred to as “a man of the times.”

What’s different with Mel?  My guess is it may have something to do with The Passion.
I am in the strange position of thinking that the ADL was extremely generous with Jackson and some of the others above, but are holding an unfair grudge against Mel.

It is generally considered true that alcohol removes inhibitions, but I’m not inclined to accept as fact that the things one says while drunk are the ‘true’ inner-self.  I know that in my day-to-day life I will have waves of irrational thought.  In 1993, I first started going to the open mic at the Wabash Triangle Cafe.  The Wabash was located where The Pageant is now, and that section of Delmar was a little more run-down than it is now.  The first few nights I was scared walking to my car at midnight when the open mic was over.  Rationally, I knew there wasn’t much to be afraid of.  I wasn’t the only one exiting the building.  The parking lot was well lit.  But I had grown up a sheltered suburban childhood, and I am sure some would say my fear had racist underpinnings.  And I won’t argue with that.  But the point is that my brain wasn’t racist, and overpowered the fear, and I kept coming back.

Alcohol does more than lower inhibitions, it stops the rational part of the brain from functioning.  I believe there is a psychological argument that what one says while drunk isn’t necessarily a good indication of what one truly believes.  And when Gibson says in his apology that he doesn’t believe the things he said, and finds them despicable, I am willing to believe him.

I am certainly more willing to believe him, than I am to believe any of the apologies Michael Jackson has given over the years for the things he has said while in complete control of his mouth.

Daniel Radcliffe has decided to shed his Harry Potter image by - naturally enough - shedding his clothes.  He’s 17, and has signed to star in a West End Production of Equus,
which will require him to be naked on stage.

Someone should have told him there are other ways to shed an image.

The Cardinals won today (11-3), and I had an opportunity to watch the game from a box seat.  Unfortunately, I had to stay home, with a stomach virus.  There were two things I am grateful for.

1) My mother…who even though I am 37…still made me some jello.  Though she didn’t make me chicken broth….she went to the store and bought me a carton.

2) It’s not next weekend.  Missing a Cardinals baseball game is one thing.  I have tickets to the Fox next Sunday night for the Les Miserables Au Revoir performance.  I was unable to make the trip to New York for the final Broadway performance back in May, 2003.

However, the Broadway revival begins in October, and they decided to use the sets from the National Tour, so the National Tour had to end.  And they chose St. Louis for the final performances.  I don’t think there was any way for me not to buy tickets.

found the meme on Greg’s lj

“Bold all of the following TV shows which you’ve ever seen three or more episodes of in your lifetime. Italicize a show if you’re positive you’ve seen every episode of it. Strikeout a show if you’ve never seen a single episode. If you want, add up to three additional shows (keeping the list in alphabetical order).”

24
7th Heaven
Absolutely Fabulous
Adam-12
Adventures of the Gummi Bears
Aeon Flux
ALF
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Alias
All Creatures Great And Small
America’s Next Top Model
American Chopper
Angel
Arrested Development
At Home with the Braithwaites
Babylon 5
Babylon 5: Crusade
Bad Girls
Battlestar Galactica (the old one)
Battlestar Galactica (the new one)
Baywatch
Beauty & The Beast
Beavis & Butthead
Benny Hill
Beverly Hills 90210
Bionic Woman
Birds of Prey
Blackadder
Blossom
Bonanza
Bosom Buddies
Boy Meets World
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Bug Juice
Carnivale
Chappelle’s Show
Charles in Charge
Charlie’s Angels
Charmed
Chip ‘n Dale Rescue Rangers
Cheers
Cold Case
Columbo
Commander in Chief
Coupling
Cowboy Bebop
Crossing Jordan
CSI
CSI: Miami
CSI: NY
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Danny Phantom
Daria
Dark Angel
Dark Skies
Darkwing Duck
DaVinci’s Inquest
Dawson’s Creek
Dead Like Me
Deadwood
Degrassi Junior High
Degrassi High
Degrassi: The Next Generation
Desperate Housewives
Dharma & Greg
Diagnosis Murder
Different Strokes
Dinosaurs
Doctor Who (the latest season on US/CA)
Dragnet
DuckTales
Due South
Early Edition
Emergency!
Entourage
ER
Everwood
Everybody Loves Raymond
Facts of Life
Family Guy
Family Ties
Farscape
Father Ted
Fawlty Towers
Felicity
Firefly (including the unaired episodes from the DVD, of course)
Forever Knight
Frasier
Friends
Futurama
Gargoyles
Get Smart
Gilligan’s Island
Gilmore Girls
Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.
Good Eats
Green Wing
Grey’s Anatomy
Growing Pains
Gunsmoke
Hannah Montana
Happy Days
Hex
Hogan’s Heroes
Home Improvement
Homicide: Life on the Street
House
I Dream of Jeannie
I Love Lucy
Inuyasha
Invader Zim
Invasion
Hell’s Kitchen
JAG
Jackass
Jeremiah
Joey
Kingdom Hospital
Kindred: The Embraced
Law and Order
Law and Order: SVU
Law and Order: Criminal Intent
Law and Order: Trial By Jury
Life Goes On
Life On Mars
Little House on the Prairie
Lizzie McGuire
Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman
Lost
Lost in Space
Love, American Style
M*A*S*H
MacGyver
Mad About You
Malcolm in the Middle
Married… With Children
Melrose Place
Miami Vice
Mission: Impossible
Monk
Mork & Mindy
Muppets Tonight
Murder She Wrote
Murder in Suburbia
My Three Sons
My Two Dads
NCIS
Nip/Tuck
Now & Again
Numb3rs
Once & Again
One Tree Hill
Oz
Penn & Teller’s BULLSHIT
Perry Mason
Pokemon
Poltergeist the Legacy
Power Rangers
Prison Break
Profiler
Project Runway
Quantum Leap
Queer As Folk (US)
Queer as Folk (British)
Quincy ME
Red Dwarf
ReGenesis
Remingon Steele
Rescue Me
Road Rules
ROME
Roseanne
Roswell
Sailor Moon
Saved by the Bell
Scrap Heap Challenge
Scarecrow & Mrs. King
Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?
Scrubs
Seaquest DSV
Seinfeld
Sex and the City
Silent Witness
Silk Stalkings
Sisters
Six Feet Under
Smallville
Soap!
So Weird
South of Nowhere
South Park
Spaced
Spongebob Squarepants
Star Trek
Star Trek: The Animated Series
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (I think I missed a few)
Star Trek: Voyager
Star Trek: Enterprise (I think I missed a few)
Stargate Atlantis
Stargate SG-1
Sugar Rush
Superman
Supernatural
Surface
Survivor
Taxi
Teen Titans
That 70’s Show
That’s So Raven
The 4400
The Addams Family
The Andy Griffith Show
The A-Team
The Avengers
The Beverly Hillbillies
The Brady Bunch
The Commander (UK)
The Cosby Show
The Daily Show
The Dead Zone
The Division (one episode which my cousin was in)
The Flintstones
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
The Golden Girls
The Goodies
The Honeymooners
The Jeffersons
The Jetsons
The L Word
The Love Boat
The Monkees
The Munsters
The Muppet Show
The O.C.
The Office (UK)
The Office (US)
The Outer Limits
The Pretender
The Real World
The Rose of Versailles
The Sentinel
The Shield
The Simpsons
The Six Million Dollar Man
The Sopranos
The Suite Life of Zack and Cody
The Twilight Zone
The Waltons
The West Wing
The Wire
The Wire in the Blood
The Wonder Years
The X-Files
The Young Ones
The Young Person’s Guide to Becoming A Rock Star
Third Watch
Three’s Company
Top Gear
Twin Peaks
Veronica Mars
Weeds
Whose Line is it Anyway? (UK and US)
Will and Grace
Wings
Without A Trace
Xena: Warrior Princess

The colleague I normally share my office with is gone for a few days, so I can play my choice of music.  So I decided to bring in showtunes.  Today, I brought in Les Miserables CSR. 

(For non Les Miz-geeks, that’s shorthand for the Complete Symphonic Recording, which contains on 3 cds every note and every word of the original musical…which bears that adjective because they did some editing after the 10th anniversary.  I don’t believe there’s a CSR for the post-10th Anniversary musical, but I wouldn’t want it.  OK, maybe I would for completion.  I do have the Original Broadway Cast, Original London Cast, Tenth Anniversary Concert, and Original French Concept…clever people can figure out the genearlly accepted acronyms for all of those. No, I don’t understand the French, but I have the CD, and I have listened to it.  I don’t yet have the Japanese Cast, even though it is available from Amazon.  It is rumored there once was a Hebrew cast recordin