6.28.2008
Another Carlin classic
Something else to watch while planning that trip to Ferndale, CA...or Indiana, PA.
6.26.2008
Ginger's New Gig
6.25.2008
RIP
Do you say RIP to someone who was an atheist? I love that he is obviously on a set for a play. Couldn't figure out what show though.
6.24.2008
"Driving into Indiana, PA"
Okay, someone ACTUALLY POSTED THIS ON YOUTUBE. We could make a game of it...how long did you watch before you couldn't stand it anymore?
6.20.2008
puzzled? disgruntled?
For a "musical" analysis of this clip, see Alex Ross's blog http://www.therestisnoise.com/
A nerd goldmine
6.18.2008
CSC blog
Has this blog really been around since 2002? The slide show effect is nice.
6.16.2008
Another Historical Memory Embedded in America's Social Consciousness
I was watching "The Great Debaters" tonight with Em. We were both very moved by the film. There is a scene where one of the debaters runs to the back of a locomotive. For some reason, perhaps the image of a steam engine bound across our country, the scene reminded me of Bobby Kennedy's funeral train.
I was seven at the time, but I can very clearly recall the television coverage and how sad the whole time was. Two months prior, we had an unexpected holiday from school when Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot. Here we were again, this time a tragedy marking the beginning of our summer vacation. Because I was seven I couldn't wrap my mind around the whole thing. Forty years later I still find the madness incomprehensible. I was explaining, or attempting to explain, the event and my feelings and those of the country to my daughter. Which made me think of you all and I was wondering if any of you remembered this event and what your memories are?
I was seven at the time, but I can very clearly recall the television coverage and how sad the whole time was. Two months prior, we had an unexpected holiday from school when Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot. Here we were again, this time a tragedy marking the beginning of our summer vacation. Because I was seven I couldn't wrap my mind around the whole thing. Forty years later I still find the madness incomprehensible. I was explaining, or attempting to explain, the event and my feelings and those of the country to my daughter. Which made me think of you all and I was wondering if any of you remembered this event and what your memories are?
6.10.2008
the politics of cats
I'm not endorsing anyone here, but animal lovers should take heed of the following post on a New York Times blog about rumors swirling around the Democratic candidate:
"Just type 'Obama eats kittens' into a google search and you’ll get 459,000 results!"
"Just type 'Obama eats kittens' into a google search and you’ll get 459,000 results!"
6.09.2008
The Shat speaketh (CNN story)
Star Trek as Greek tragedy, Ian would be proud. Actually, isn't this episode notable for a rather good looking Joan Collins and Bones' line about surgery in the 20th century: "My God, they actually have to cut people."???
One recent week, William Shatner did something he hadn't done for many years -- watched the original "Star Trek." It was kind of an accident.
In the "Trek" episode "A Piece of the Action," Spock and Kirk traveled to a planet modeled on 1920s gangsters.
Now, you might think that a bit odd. But Shatner rarely watches himself work. When it comes to acting, he says, he lives in the moment and moves on. Same thing these days with his work as Denny Crane on ABC's "Boston Legal."
This particular night, though, he was recovering from hip surgery and couldn't sleep, so he was watching TV. An old episode came on -- the one where the crew of the USS Enterprise visited a society that had modeled itself after Chicago gangsters of the 1920s. Kirk and Spock dressed up in pinstripe suits and held court as tough guys.
Watching, Shatner was more pleased than he expected.
"I haven't seen myself playing Captain Kirk in a long, long time," he says. "And I watched it now, from my perspective of 40 years later, and I thought, 'You know, that's rather good.' It's a starship captain trying to do the accent, the Noo Yawk accent, trying to play tough, trying to be one of the guys. It's not quite right, but it's what a starship captain would have done -- a decent imitation, enough to fool those guys but not the audience."
Don't Miss
* The pleasure of being William Shatner
Shatner won't be playing Kirk in the upcoming reboot of "Star Trek" directed by J.J. Abrams. Leonard Nimoy plays an aging Spock, but the Jim Kirk character -- a young version -- is portrayed by actor Chris Pine. Shatner has said he's sad but not angry at the decision, which springs from the killing off of Kirk in the 1994 film "Star Trek Generations."
The recent late-night TV watching got Shatner thinking, though, about the character of Kirk and how it has endured.
"That was a good hero," Shatner says. "He made decisions. He was forceful. He was compassionate. He was the instigator. He fought hard and long physically and emotionally. He carried the dilemma of whether to intrude or not to intrude. It was all the classic forms of good Greek playmaking: The hero has the dilemma and resolves the dilemma."
Even the series' renowned cheesy production design, done on an increasingly tight budget through the show's 1966-69 run, didn't put him off.
"The actors were wonderful. And I didn't care about the sets or anything like that or the cheesy spaceship," Shatner says. "I think that's what happens in 'Star Trek.' Your eye goes past all the faults because you're concentrated on the actors and the plot."
One recent week, William Shatner did something he hadn't done for many years -- watched the original "Star Trek." It was kind of an accident.
In the "Trek" episode "A Piece of the Action," Spock and Kirk traveled to a planet modeled on 1920s gangsters.
Now, you might think that a bit odd. But Shatner rarely watches himself work. When it comes to acting, he says, he lives in the moment and moves on. Same thing these days with his work as Denny Crane on ABC's "Boston Legal."
This particular night, though, he was recovering from hip surgery and couldn't sleep, so he was watching TV. An old episode came on -- the one where the crew of the USS Enterprise visited a society that had modeled itself after Chicago gangsters of the 1920s. Kirk and Spock dressed up in pinstripe suits and held court as tough guys.
Watching, Shatner was more pleased than he expected.
"I haven't seen myself playing Captain Kirk in a long, long time," he says. "And I watched it now, from my perspective of 40 years later, and I thought, 'You know, that's rather good.' It's a starship captain trying to do the accent, the Noo Yawk accent, trying to play tough, trying to be one of the guys. It's not quite right, but it's what a starship captain would have done -- a decent imitation, enough to fool those guys but not the audience."
Don't Miss
* The pleasure of being William Shatner
Shatner won't be playing Kirk in the upcoming reboot of "Star Trek" directed by J.J. Abrams. Leonard Nimoy plays an aging Spock, but the Jim Kirk character -- a young version -- is portrayed by actor Chris Pine. Shatner has said he's sad but not angry at the decision, which springs from the killing off of Kirk in the 1994 film "Star Trek Generations."
The recent late-night TV watching got Shatner thinking, though, about the character of Kirk and how it has endured.
"That was a good hero," Shatner says. "He made decisions. He was forceful. He was compassionate. He was the instigator. He fought hard and long physically and emotionally. He carried the dilemma of whether to intrude or not to intrude. It was all the classic forms of good Greek playmaking: The hero has the dilemma and resolves the dilemma."
Even the series' renowned cheesy production design, done on an increasingly tight budget through the show's 1966-69 run, didn't put him off.
"The actors were wonderful. And I didn't care about the sets or anything like that or the cheesy spaceship," Shatner says. "I think that's what happens in 'Star Trek.' Your eye goes past all the faults because you're concentrated on the actors and the plot."
6.05.2008
This is your brain on cake
6.04.2008
Pino Blanc(he)
Hearing/seeing this immediately made me think of Pino. This wine, strangely, made me think of Bonanza star Pernell Roberts.
6.02.2008
Graffiti Stop-Motion Animation
6.01.2008
caption contest anyone?
This day in history: "She's dead"...and a blog is born
