Rick or treat? (guardian.co.uk)
Once, he was never gonna give you up or let you down. Now, Rick Astley just wants to make you laugh. But how does he feel being the butt of the joke? 'Flattered,' he tells Priya Elan.
Brian Seibert: Jimmy Slyde (1927-2008) (threepennyreview.com)
Except for Peg Leg Bates and Sandman Sims, the great tap dancer with the most illustrative name was Jimmy Slyde. Printed on a program or spoken by an announcer, the name told audiences what to expect: a man named Jimmy, not James or Jim, was going to slide around the stage, and as the unorthodox spelling hinted, he was going to do it without losing his cool. He was born James Titus Godbolt in 1927, but it was as Jimmy Slyde that he began a professional career that lasted from the mid-Forties up until his death this past May, and it is as Jimmy Slyde that he will be remembered.
Who should have McCain have picked for VP instead of the 'Hockey Mom'?
The Devil's Advocate Edition...
Ok, Pollfans, it's time to think contrary wise... It's time to pretend yer back in high school debate class. Remember when ya had to argue a position ya didn't agree with?
Huh? do ya? Remember how that irritated the bejabbers out of ya? Well, guess what?
It's that time again... Because the question is...
Ya got the cojones to answer this, eh? Do ya? Bring it on, I'm sayin'!
On 9 January, 1793, ____?___ conducted the first balloon flight in North America.
A: Jean-Pierre Blanchard
B: Charles Ferson Durant
C: Louis-Sébastien Lenormand
D: Thaddeus S.C. Lowe
E: John Wise
Source 1
&
Source 2
On 9 January, 1793 , Blanchard conducted the first balloon flight in North America, ascending from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and landing in Deptford, Gloucester County, New Jersey.
Vic in AK was first, and correct, with
I know the answer is A: Jean-Pierre Blanchard cuz I flew in a ballon and strangely enough I featured my flight (in full werewoof make-up) in the episode of my show that I'm dropping off later today to air on Friday night...weird huh?
It was a cool flight, over the Berkshires in the winter. We almost crashed when the Balloon Dude tried to land on a golf course and we hit some tree tops, basket was almost completely sideways...ZOINKS!!! It was because he tried landing on a short par-3 instead of the long par-5...Duffer
DanD answered:
Back in the day, as with much "pushing-the-envelope" of human inventiveness, it was an altitude-seeking cheese-eater (A) who achieved this accomplishment, even though it was an American, John Jefferies, that he had gotten high with during his earlier Euro-continental activities.
socdan noted:
Depends on what the definition of "first" and "flight" is... A child named Edward Warren went aloft in a thethered hot air balloon on June 24, 1784 in Baltimore, I think (I can't remember the city from five seconds ago when I clicked off of Wikipedia, and I ain't going back in to find out - gettin' old and cranky's a bummer). Jean-Pierre Blanchard went aloft in an untethered balloon on January 9, 1793 in Philadelphia.
Marian the Teacher answered:
Jean-Pierre Blanchard in PHILADELPHIA
Sally said:
On 9 January, 1793, Jean-Pierre Blanchard (A) conducted the first balloon flight in North America. Ah, I remember it well.
Blanchard made the first ever balloon ascent in North America, and on it he carried a letter from President George Washington from Pennsylvania to New Jersey and therefore created the idea of air mail. The flight was also witnessed by President George Washington in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Apparently, Mr Blanchard was sort of a despot, and for more info about him, see this link.
PS: Okay, would you believe that there is a bloody rabbit (of the bunny variety) sitting outside of my window quietly munching on MY cucumber vine! He is not the least bit worried that either myself or any "hunter" will see him and immediately think about the most tasty was to prepare hossenpheffer. Hummmmm, anyone know the fastest way to strangle the little beast - and the best herbs to use for the subsequent dinner? Just kidding, sort of...
CBS begins the night with a RERUN'Ghost Whisperer', followed by another RERUN'Ghost Whisperer', then a RERUN'NUMB3RS'.
Scheduled on a FRESHDave are Ricky Gervais and Meg Ryan.
Scheduled on a FRESHCraig are Seann William Scott and Lena Headey.
NBC starts the night with a RERUN'America's Toughest Jobs', followed by a 2-hour 'Dateline'.
Scheduled on a FRESHLeno are Hugh Laurie, Dame Edna, and Raphael Saadiq.
Scheduled on a FRESHConan are Eva Mendes and the Fab Faux.
On a RERUNCarson 'The Scab' Daly (from 6/18/08) are Aviva Yael and The Game.
ABC opens the night with the FRESH, but pre-taped & edited, '2008 Alma Awards', followed by '20/20's fluffing of Parah Salin.
Scheduled on a FRESHJimmy Kimmel are Jon Hamm, Darren Taylor, and Justin Nozuka.
The CW offers a FRESH'WWE Friday Night Steroid SmackDown!'.
Faux has a FRESH'Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?', followed by a FRESH'Don't Forget The Lyrics!'.
MY has 'The Academy', followed by 'Paradise Ho-Tell'.
PLEASE check local PBS listings for a FRESH'Bill Moyers Journal', and a FRESH'NOW With Bill Moyers David Brancaccio'.
AMC offers the movie 'Quigley Down Under', followed by the movie 'The Karate Kid', then the movie The Karate Kid: Part II'.
BBC -
[12:00 PM] How Clean Is Your House? - Episode 4
[12:30 PM] How Clean Is Your House? - Episode 5
[1:00 PM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares - Ep 3 Momma Cherri's
[2:00 PM] Cash in the Attic - Ep 20 Langford
[3:00 PM] Bargain Hunt - Ep. 9 Ardingly 49
[3:30 PM] Bargain Hunt - Ep. 10 Kedleston 45
[4:00 PM] You Are What You Eat - Episode 13
[4:30 PM] You Are What You Eat - Episode 14
[5:00 PM] How Clean Is Your House? - Episode 6
[5:30 PM] How Clean Is Your House? - Episode 7
[6:00 PM] Newsnight - Episode 28
[7:00 PM] BBC World News America
[8:00 PM] Monty Python's Flying Circus - Ep. 5 The All-England Summarize Proust Competitiom TV-14
[8:40 PM] Monty Python's Flying Circus - Ep. 6 The War Against Pornography
[9:20 PM] Star Stories - Tom Cruise & Nicole Kidman
[10:00 PM] Newsnight - Episode 28
[11:00 PM] Monty Python's Flying Circus - Ep. 5 The All-England Summarize Proust Competition TV-14
[11:40 PM] Monty Python's Flying Circus - Ep. 6 The War Against Pornography
[12:20 AM] Star Stories - Tom Cruise & Nicole Kidman
[1:00 AM] Monty Python's Flying Circus - Ep. 5 The All-England Summarize Proust Competition
[1:40 AM] Monty Python's Flying Circus - Ep. 6 The War Against Pornography
[2:20 AM] Star Stories - Tom Cruise & Nicole Kidman
[3:00 AM] The Graham Norton Show - Ep 4 Louis Walsh and Jenny Eclair
[4:00 AM] Bargain Hunt - Ep. 33 Ardingly 50
[4:30 AM] Bargain Hunt - Ep. 34 Wetherby 53
[5:00 AM] Cash in the Attic - Ep. 1 Doyle
[5:30 AM] Cash in the Attic - Ep. 2 Rice
[6:00 AM] BBC World News (ALL TIMES EDT)
Bravo has the movie 'Rocky', followed by the movie 'Rocky II'.
Comedy Central has 'Scrubs', another 'Scrubs', an old 'Jon Stewart', an old 'Colbert Report', 'Chappelle's Show', another 'Chappelle's Show', 'Comedy Central Presents' (Sebastian Maniscalco), and another 'Comedy Central Presents' (Kyle Dunningan).
HBO offers a FRESHReal Time with Bill Maher - scheduled guests
include Janeane Garofalo, author Salman Rushdie, and journalist John Fund (R-Vile).
FX has the movie 'Rebound', followed by the movie 'Big Momma's House 2', then the movie 'Big Momma's House 2', again.
History has 'Modern Marvels', another 'Modern Marvels', followed by a FRESH'Gangland', then a FRESH'Shockwave'.
IFC -
[7:00 AM] IFC Short Film Showcase
[8:00 AM] A Hard Day's Night
[9:30 AM] Vatel
[11:15 AM] Newsfront
[1:05 PM] Pretty Dead Girl: A Musical Necromance
[1:30 PM] Separate Lies
[3:00 PM] Vatel
[4:50 PM] Newsfront
[6:45 PM] Beyond the Sea
[8:45 PM] Body of Evidence
[8:45 PM] Body of Evidence
[10:30 PM] Z Rock
[11:00 PM] The Whitest Kids U'Know
[11:30 PM] Gunslinger Girl
[12:00 AM] A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors
[1:45 AM] IFC in Theaters
[2:00 AM] Z Rock
[2:30 AM] Gunslinger Girl
[3:00 AM] A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors
[4:45 AM] Beyond the Sea (ALL TIMES EST)
SciFi has 'Stargate SG-1', 'Stargate Atlantis', another 'Stargate Atlantis', followed by a FRESH'Stargate Atlantis'.
Sundance -
[06:00 AM] Eco Documentaries - Season 2: Escape From Suburbia: Beyond the American Dream
[07:45 AM] Old Joy | Directed by: Kelly Reichardt
[09:00 AM] The Staircase: Chapter 6. The prosecution's revenge
[10:00 AM] It's Not Easy Being Green Season 2: Episode 7
[10:35 AM] Eco Documentaries - Season 2: Escape From Suburbia: Beyond the American Dream
[11:50 AM] Big Ideas for a Small Planet - Season 2: Transport
[12:20 PM] Heavy Metal Jr.
[12:45 PM] Old Joy
[02:00 PM] The Long Run
[04:00 PM] Boom!
[06:00 PM] The Life and Times of Vivienne Vyle: Episode 1
[06:30 PM] The True History of The Traveling Wilburys
[07:00 PM] Drop Back Ten
[08:30 PM] Heavy Metal Jr.
[09:00 PM] Live From Abbey Road - Season 2: Mary J. Blige, Dashboard Confessional & James Blunt
[10:00 PM] Gimme Shelter | Directed by: Albert Maysles
[11:35 PM] Be Quiet | Directed by: Sameh Zoabi
[12:00 AM] Stille Nacht I (Dramolet)
[12:00 AM] The Life and Hard Times of Guy Terrifico
[12:30 AM] Stille Nacht I (Dramolet)
[01:30 AM] The True History of The Traveling Wilburys
[02:00 AM] Live From Abbey Road - Season 2: Mary J. Blige, Dashboard Confessional & James Blunt
[03:00 AM] John Safran vs. God: Episode 2
[03:30 AM] City of Men - Season 4: Episode 5: Somewhere in the Future
[04:05 AM] Fierce People (ALL TIMES EST)
Bernadette Peters, left, and Bette Midler pose for a picture before the spring 2009 Zac Posen show during Fashion Week in New York, Thursday, Sept. 11, 2008.
Photo by Seth Wenig
Film critic Roger Ebert on Thursday confirmed that a fellow critic yelled at him and whacked him on the knee with a program during a movie screening at the Toronto Film Festival last weekend, but said the incident was "blown out of proportion."
Ebert, who has battled cancer in recent years and was left unable to speak, did not name the other critic involved in the incident. But he said an account published in the New York Daily News that named the other man as rival New York Post movie critic Lou Lumenick was "truthful."
Saturday's incident began, Ebert said, when he could not see subtitles for the film "Slumlord Millionaire" because the man sitting in front of him was leaning into the aisle.
"In my medical condition I cannot speak, I tapped him lightly on the shoulder, and gestured him to move over a little. He said, 'Don't touch me!' and remained in position. I tapped him lightly again. 'I said - don't touch me!' He leaned further into the aisle, as if making a point of it. I tapped him a third time, and he jumped up and whacked me on the knee with whatever it was," Ebert said.
"This whole matter was embarrassing, because it drew attention to me and invited pity, which makes me cringe," said Ebert, former host of the syndicated show "At the Movies with Ebert & Roeper."
Legendary Beatles star Paul McCartney said he was pressed to cancel his upcoming performance in Israel, but reassured Israeli fans in comments published on Thursday he would go ahead with the planned concert.
"I was approached by different groups and political bodies who asked me not to come here. I refused. I do what I think, and I have many friends who support Israel," McCartney said in an interview with Israel's Yedioth Ahronoth.
McCartney will perform hits from his Beatles days and his solo career during a September 25 concert in Tel Aviv as part of a series of shows that has taken McCartney to cities he never visited before.
Actor Chevy Chase and his wife Jayni arrive for the premiere of the new film 'Righteous Kill' at the Ziegfeld Theater Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2008 in New York.
Photo by Jason DeCrow
The Boston archdiocese says a priest accused of stalking Conan O'Brien has checked himself out of a medical facility against Sean Cardinal O'Malley's wishes.
Rev. David Ajemian pleaded guilty in April to disorderly conduct after admitting he sent letters and DVDs to the NBC late-night TV host. In one of the letters, he called himself one of O'Brien's "most dangerous fans."
After his plea, he was told by O'Malley to remain indefinitely at an unidentified residential treatment facility.
The archdiocese said it was told Thursday that Ajemian left the facility. It said it was a violation of his priestly vows to disobey O'Malley, and Ajemian can no longer function as a priest.
Garbage's Shirley Manson will return to the recording studio next month to lay down solo material she's been working on for the past several months.
Manson is now part of the cast of Fox's "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles," but doesn't anticipate the role getting in the way of her music career. "I've got a lot of material," she says. "We'll see if I manage to pull it off."
On the show, Manson portrays Catherine Weaver, a high-powered CEO with a secret. Yep, ala Arnold Schwarzenegger and Robert Patrick, she's a Terminator that's been sent from the future to kill John Connor.
Manson said Garbage bandmate Butch Vig sent her a quick e-mail upon her screen debut that read: "F---ing awesome, I love it, queenie!"
How's this for a twist: Of all the No. 1 songs in the 50 years of the Billboard Hot 100 chart, Chubby Checker's "The Twist" ranks as the most popular single.
Elvis and the Beatles didn't even make the top five.
Santana's "Smooth," featuring Rob Thomas, is the No. 2 most popular, followed by Bobby Darin's "Mack the Knife," Leann Rimes' "How Do I Live" and "The Macarena" by Los Del Rio.
The Beatles did make the top 10, coming it at No. 8 with "Hey Jude." But Olivia Newton-John's "Physical" and Debby Boone's "You Light Up My Life" are ahead of that hit. Rounding out the top 10: Mariah Carey's "We Belong Together" at No. 9 and Toni Braxton's "Un-break My Heart" at No. 10.
The opening of a museum dedicated to Swedish pop group ABBA has been delayed.
The initial target for the opening was June 2009, but project co-founder Ulf Westman said Thursday the renovation of the building will take longer than expected because it is "more complicated than what was predicted earlier."
General view of the Beatles-Platz square in Hamburg, Germany, Thursday, Sept. 11, 2008. The titles of Beatles songs are written on the white lines on the record-shaped-place that was named after the famous musicians from Liverpool on Thursday.
Photo by Axel Heimken
The classic rock band Yes, which was forced to cancel their 40th anniversary tour this year due to the illness of its lead singer, has decided to relaunch the tour with an "understudy" - a Yes tribute band singer.
Benoit David, who sings in several Yes tribute bands in Montreal, will replace Jon Anderson on the "In the Present" tour, which kicks of Nov. 4 in Ontario, Canada, according to bassist Chris Squire.
Yes, which consists of Squire, Anderson, guitarist Steve Howe and drummer Alan White, scrapped their anniversary tour in June after Anderson suffered acute respiratory failure and was ordered by doctors to rest six months.
Squire found David on the Internet after a friend sent him a YouTube clip of David's tribute band, Close To The Edge. Squire liked what he saw and called David to offer an audition.
Laila Ali and her husband, former Bears receiver Curtis Conway, are new parents of a baby boy whose name packs a familiar punch.
Curtis Muhammad Conway, Jr. was born Aug. 26, the couple's first child, Ali announced on her Web site Thursday. The boy is named after his father, and Ali's - Muhammad Ali.
While Ali, 30, had planned to have a natural, home birth, "there were some surprises during labor that altered Laila's birth plan," her publicist, Thea Ellis, said in a statement. She declined to elaborate.
Kanye West and one of his bodyguards were arrested Thursday at Los Angeles International Airport after an altercation with paparazzi in which the rapper allegedly smashed a camera on the floor.
Airport police arrested West and his road manager, Don Crowley, who also serves as a bodyguard, on suspicion of felony vandalism shortly before 8 a.m., LAX spokesman Marshall Lowe said. He said early reports indicated that a camera valued at more than $10,000 was broken.
The incident happened before West and his bodyguard passed a security checkpoint at an airport terminal that houses American Airlines. The pair were scheduled to board a flight to Honolulu, Hawaii, Lowe said.
In a June 6, 1960 photo provided by the Walker Art Center and the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, a patent drawing for pedestal chairs, June 7, 1960 by architect Eero Saarinen is shown. The first major retrospective of Saarinen's work opens this weekend in Minneapolis.
The okapi, an African animal so elusive that it was once believed to be a mythical unicorn, has been photographed in the wild for the first time, the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) said Thursday.
Camera traps set by the ZSL and the Congolese Institute for Nature Conservation (ICCN) captured pictures of the okapi in Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The pictures have dispelled fears that the species had died out in more than a decade of civil war.
Dr Noelle Kumpel, ZSL's Bushmeat and Forests Conservation Programme Manager, said: "To have captured the first-ever photographs of such a charismatic creature is amazing, and particularly special for ZSL given that the species was originally described here over a century ago.
NBC Universal, fresh off its record-setting Olympic coverage, has sold 85 percent of the commercial time available for the 2009 Super Bowl, with a dozen spots selling for $3 million each.
The media company majority-owned by General Electric Co said on Thursday advertisers have scooped up all but 10 spots for the National Football League's championship game scheduled to take place in Tampa Bay, Florida on February 1.
NBC Universal said it expects to sell those remaining 30-second commercial slots for at least $3 million each.
Overall, advertising executives say, average prices for the game are up about 10 percent from a year ago, when they averaged around $2.7 million. That Super Bowl was broadcast by News Corp's Fox.
This photograph courtesy of The Richard Avedon Foundation, titled 'Karl 'Turdblossom' Rove, senior adviser to resident George W. Bush, Washington, D.C.,' is part of the exhibition, Richard Avedon: Portraits of Power, opening Sept. 13, 2008 at the Corcoran Gallery of Art.
A tiny frog species thought by many experts to be extinct has been rediscovered alive and well in a remote area of Australia's tropical north, researchers said Thursday.
The 1.5 inch-long Armoured Mistfrog had not been seen since 1991, and many experts assumed it had been wiped out by a devastating fungus that struck northern Queensland state.
But two months ago, a doctoral student at James Cook University in Townsville conducting research on another frog species in Queensland stumbled across what appeared to be several Armoured Mistfrogs in a creek, said professor Ross Alford, head of a research team on threatened frogs at the university.
Conrad Hoskin, a researcher at The Australian National University in Canberra who has been studying the evolutionary biology of north Queensland frogs for the past 10 years, conducted DNA tests on tissue samples from the frogs and determined they were the elusive Armoured Mistfrog.
Archaeologists have unearthed gold jewellery, weapons and pottery at an ancient burial site near Pella in northern Greece, the birthplace of Alexander the Great, the culture ministry said on Thursday.
The excavations at the vast cemetery uncovered 43 graves dating from 650-279 BC which shed light on the early development of the Macedonian kingdom, which had an empire that stretched as far as India under Alexander's conquests.
Among the most interesting discoveries were the graves of 20 warriors dating to the late Archaic period, between 580 and 460 BC, the ministry said in a statement.
Some were buried in bronze helmets alongside iron swords and knives. Their eyes, mouths and chests were covered in gold foil richly decorated with drawings of lions and other animals symbolizing royal power.
Jacqui Landrum, who teamed with her husband to choreograph many Hollywood films, has died. She was 64.
Landrum died of cancer Aug. 29 in Los Angeles, her husband Bill Landrum told the Los Angeles Times. The Landrums coordinated giant, writhing crowds and choreographed gyrating rockers in the biopics "Great Balls of Fire" and "The Doors."
The couple also worked on several Coenbrothers films including "Barton Fink" and "The Big Lebowski," which featured a Busby Berkeley-inspired dance number set in a surreal bowling alley with Vikings, showgirls in bowling-pin hats and Saddam Hussein.
Born Jacqui Levy in Los Angeles on Dec. 10, 1943, Levy graduated from Fairfax High School and first worked as a choreographer for a 1960s TV show called "Hollywood a Go-Go."
She met her husband in 1969, and the pair worked as a team for 40 years. They were nominated for an Emmy for their work on the Bruce Willis and Cybil Shepherd show "Moonlighting" in 1987.
In this photo released by the Wildlife Conservation Society, a sunbittern is photographed at the Bronx Zoo in New York, Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2008. The colorful bird can be found in the wild in areas that include most of the southern part of Central America south to western Ecuador, and South America east of the Andes Mountains through the Amazonian portions of Colombia, Venezuela, and Guineas, as well as portions of Brazil, Ecuador, and Peru.
Photo by Julie Larsen Maher)
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