September 28, 2012
Commander Sinclair has been reassigned.
Michael O'Hare, the Chicago-born actor who is best known for his role as Jeffrey Sinclair in the science fiction television series Babylon 5 has died, aged 60 (non FB link)
O'Hare suffered a heart attack on September 23 and had remained in a coma until the 28th, when he passed away. [more inside]
We need more bozos on this bus
Romney is perhaps best known for being a clown and a humanitarian, but long before his involvement in presidential politics, Romney was an LSD-fueled comedian. Here's a snippet.
(No, not that Romney; the other one.) [more inside]
A Better Place
Glen Campbell started his career in 1954, and his solo career in 1961. In 1965 he hit #45 with a version of "Universal Soldier" (and, ironically, also stated that "People advocating burning draft cards should be hung.") [more inside]
Frida Kahlo's Dresses
Dresses that hid Frida Kahlo's pain come to light decades on. The colorful dresses of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo will go on display for the first time in November after being kept hidden from public view for 50 years at the request of her husband, acclaimed muralist Diego Rivera. [more inside]
I reside in the area near where your paper is published
When Rex Conte's letter to the editor -- "Why I am Voting for Mitt Romney" -- was featured in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and then reached top-tier status on Google News, several commenters pointed out that Rex had a similar letter published in the Chicago Sun-Times. Nothing too abnormal there, but in the Post-Dispatch letter he claimed his residence was "Chesterfield," outside of St. Louis, and in the Sun-Times letter, he claimed that his residence was "Oak Hills," outside of Chicago. So, "where does Rex live?" curious readers wanted to find out. An editor from the Post-Dispatch called Rex to find out and followed up with a note at the bottom of the letter: "Mr. Conte wrote a similar letter to the Chicago Sun-Times that said he lived in Oak Park, Ill. Comments and emails questioned how he could live in two places and whether he was a real person. I talked on the phone with Mr. Conte, who says he used to live in Chesterfield but not any more. So we've changed his hometown in this letter." So, we now know he doesn't live in Chesterfield any more but the editor doesn't go into whether he still lives in Oak Park now or if he just "used to live there." The Sun-Times hasn't added any notes to Conte's letter in their publication but critics on the web are claiming that the GOP is "planting fake Letters to Editors." [more inside]
John Singer Sargent and the Boston Public Library
In 1890, the painter John Singer Sargent--best known for portraits like Madame X and The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit--accepted a commission to execute a large-scale mural cycle in the Boston Public Library, The Triumph of Religion. His last completed mural was installed in 1919, but the cycle remained unfinished. After years of decay, the cycle has undergone extensive conservation work, and the Library now has a detailed site devoted to Sargent Hall. [more inside]
A story about a peculiar method
Adelaide is a short movie about a woman who seeks attention in a very particular way.
I wear the black for the poor and the beaten down
Johnny Cash once called 1968 the happiest year of his life. It was the year his masterpiece At Folsom Prison came out, the year he was named the Country Music Association’s Entertainer of the Year, and the year he married the love of his life, June Carter. So it was a fortunate time for a young filmmaker named Robert Elfstrom to meet up with Cash for the making of a documentary. Elfstrom traveled with Cash for several months in late 1968 and early 1969. The resulting film, Johnny Cash: The Man, His World, His Music, is a revealing look at Cash, his creative process and his ties to family. [via]
Pinterest's most wanted
The Pottstown Mercury is using Pinterest in a bit of an unusual way - they're using the site to post photos of wanted criminals and arrests are apparently up in number.
Doll scene from episode 313 of LOUIE
4K digital restoration of "Lawrence of Arabia" in theaters October 4
On October 4 you will have the cinematic opportunity of a lifetime to see David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia on the big screen in a new 4K digital restoration.
Fast Train, I Am On A Fast Train
"I'm pretty happy. I think we've almost got our house together now. We just need, like, a coupla lamps, maybe a nice piece of photography to hang, and we'll pretty much be there. So, yeah. I guess we're gonna make some pasta now and watch HuluPlus."
Warren Buffett as Teacher
Analog, Warren Buffett and Digital Media - Why Warren Buffett invests in newspapers: " You essentially have a business that will make a lot of money if you are terrific, it will make a lot of money if you're lousy," Buffett said, "...how good a newspaper is depends entirely on the wishes of its owner. There is no correlation between profits and excellence," Buffett added, "there's really nothing like that in American business." Enjoy nearly a full 60 minutes of Warren Buffet's (all too rare) public teaching style in this recently uploaded video from 1992.
Say cheese
Broadway's Spider-Man: Turn of the Dark is now taking pictures of its audiences, and posting them to Facebook so you can tag yourself watching a Broadway show.
Nadia has never cried.
Nadia is perfect. Nadia is perfect. Nadia is perfect. Nadia never cries and never falls. Nadia is a covergirl. Nadia is a Hero of Socialist Labor. Nadia is very dangerous to her enemies. [more inside]
"It's basically about a Hannibal..."
Someone named Casey Couture wants to tell youall about his 50 favorite movies. Perhaps you've heard of some of them?
Pog Songs
Tick tick tock tick tock tock tick tock tick tock
Synchronizing 2, 3, 5, 9, 16, 24 and 32 metronomes on a moving platform. A brief explanation. Another explanation, with pictures.
Henderson has scored for Canada!
"All of their lives they had been taught and told--hypnotized, really--that no one played better hockey than Canadians. And in a span of the first few weeks, when they lost two games and tied another on Canadian soil, they had to confront the fact that this was just plain wrong. And then they had to immediately adapt and overcome and figure out a way to win anyway."Andrew Cohen of The Atlantic makes the case that 40 years ago today, the final game of the "Summit Series", between Canada and the Soviet Union, was the greatest day in Canadian history. [more inside]
A Death Ray that explodes after being dropped once is a poorly-designed Death Ray.
Dr. Horrible and products liability. Doctor Who and the necessity defense. Firefly and contract law. The Legal Geeks blog is exactly what it sounds like.
You're doing it wrong
Californian Nights
Here's a full Tears For Fears concert from 1990, filmed in Santa Barbara, California. Tracks inside. [more inside]
Something is rotten in the town of Bluffington
There's something distinctly off about the Wikia for Doug. For starters, I doubt the veracity of these 'extended universe' books. And, maybe I'm wrong, but I think the "theories" section on Mr. Dink is in desperate need of citation. The Hamburger Boy article is, frankly, a mess of half-cooked conjecture, the This Doug Live page is filled with spurious information... a whole page for Lardy the Fat Cell?... don't even get me started on the editorializing in the Chalky Studebaker article. The culprit appears to be Skeeter Valentines Day Massacre, the rapscallion. Other users have noticed this problem, and the effect it's having on the credibility of the Doug Wikia community. If you want to get your facts straight, you can check out some real info over at the Doug (previously) Wikipedia page.
What's a Girl Doing Here?
What's a Girl Doing Here? Short documentary about two female taxi drivers in NYC.
Crazy Ruskie Psychedelic Layering
Layered psychedelic animation goodness from mother Russia's Lyapis Trubetskoy. As I don't speak Russian i can't really tell you what this video is about -- although "something about capitalism" wouldn't be a bad guess. I can tell you that director Alexey Terekhov has a wonderfully trippy sense of layered animation. ('Shroms, Mr. Terekhov?) Viewing it certainly put a smile on my face this Friday morning....
Librarians Vs. The ACS
Librarian Jenica Rogers wrote an interesting post on how her library decided to cancel their ACS subscription. Walking away from the American Chemical Society where she talks about money issues all too familiar to librarians but maybe not well known in the general public. Her post was picked up by The Chronicle Of Higher Ed The ACS only said "We find little constructive dialogue can be had on blogs and other listservs where logic, balance and common courtesy are not practiced and observed..."
Things took a turn on a discussion list, where The Director of Office of Public Affairs for the ACS said "But I think you would agree that vulgarity and profanity postings do not lend themselves to meaningful, productive and civil discourse, thus our decision not to engage any further with her on this topic." Many other bloggers have taken up the torch including Walt Crawford, Jonathan Eisen, Iris Jastram, Chris Zammarelli and Steve Lawson, Any Woodworth, John Dupuis and one on ChemBark.
“He would roll his eyes and say, ‘Jeez, can you believe it?’”
Cruise post-Cruz was apparently tired of having ... ecclesiastical pillow fights interfere with his sex life: he needed a devout Scientologist to sleep with. Thus began an elaborate auditioning process ... to find him a drop-dead-beautiful true believer to share his lifeMaureen Orth charts the rise—and fall—of a celebrity marriage. [more inside]
The Man, the author, his reader & her e-book
The American Library Association fires the latest response in its tussle with publishers over e-books in public libraries, while in England, a government review of e-books in public libraries is announced.
The actor behind a successful brand character enters a state of existential limbo
Branded For Life: what it's like to be the face of a brand.
(Interesting fact: Andrew Olcott - probably better known as "Smiling Bob," the face of Enzyte - also works as a visual artist.)
Goya Galore
More than 1,000 works by Goya are now online. Presented only in Spanish, the site concerns the works found in the Prado alone, but covers the paintings, drawings and engravings. This is a catalogue raisonné (there are entries for all of the paintings) of the collection, including works with debatable attributions or by followers, copiers and imitators. High definition images are available and users can edit a PDF version of each of the entries for the works. A section is also devoted to Goya’s correspondence, residing at the museum ; for each letter, besides once again offering high definition images, the site provides information on the bibliography, watermarks, inscriptions as well as a transcription. Finally, an important bibliography is rounded out with texts from twenty books and nine articles on the artist published before 1920. (from Tribune de l'Art via Art History News)
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