from Bruce
Anecdotes
Clothing
• Ballet dancers started out by wearing ankle-length dresses, but the nature of dancing demands that the dancer’s form be revealed and as time went on, the dancer’s skirt became shorter and shorter until dancers began to wear tutus—the shortest possible skirts. Such shortening of the skirts has been alarming to many. When Marie Camargo first wore a skirt that bared her ankles, authorities made her wear calçons de précaution—translated as “precautionary panties,” this was an undergarment worn over hose—to protect the audience from accidentally seeing the bare flesh above a stocking. By the way, the great ballet dancer Marie Taglioni is shown in many lithographs wearing a choker around her neck and pearl bracelets on her arms—no matter what role she was dancing. The reason for this consistent costuming is that she had a very long neck and very long arms and the choker and the bracelets helped break up their length.
• Frank Rodney, a British theatrical romantic lead in the late 19th century, was very attached to a dirty tweed cap and an old coat. This upset actress Constance Benson, so she warned him that if he ever again appeared in public wearing those articles of clothing, she would fix them so that not even he would wear them. Mr. Rodney did appear in public wearing them, so Ms. Benson tossed his cap into the fire, then used a penknife to slit his coat down the back. Mr. Rodney rescued his cap from the fire and paid a tailor to sew up his coat, then he continued to wear them. By the way, as long as Mr. Rodney was on stage dressed in his costume and wearing a wig, he looked dashing, but off stage and dressed in his usually unkempt clothing, he looked quite ordinary. Often, a woman in the audience would see him on stage and fall in love with him, then go backstage, and burst into tears with disappointment when she saw what he looked like in real life.
• Ballerina Alicia Markova had very small hands and feet. During a bitterly cold winter, the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo toured Chicago, where Ms. Markova was forced to keep her hands warm with little girls’ Shirley Temple gloves because nothing else would fit her. By the way, small decisions early can make enormous differences later. Ms. Markova was thought to have weak feet and legs when she was a little girl, so her doctor suggested that she study classical ballet to strengthen her limbs. As all of the dance world knows, Ms. Markova became an accomplished ballerina as an adult.
• At the beginning of a long tour, Anna Pavlova took along a huge number of ballet shoes. She would try them all on, quickly reject many of them as unsuitable for her feet, then give them to the members of her company. By the way, Ms. Pavlova loved to swim, although she was not very good at it. She liked to dive into the water and once knocked herself out with a dive.
• Laurence Olivier wore a different suit each day at rehearsals of Mary Queen of Scots. This caused resentment among members of the cast and crew, who thought Mr. Olivier was showing off—until he explained, “Each suit is a relic of a different flop.”
Comedians and Humorists
• Here are a few anecdotes about comedians: 1) At age 10, comedian Joe Cook got his first job in show business by using a photograph of himself juggling 17 balls. The photograph was faked—the balls were hung from the ceiling with invisible wires. 2) Comedian Eddie Cantor grew up in the city and believed that oranges grew underground. When he went to California and saw his first orange tree, he thought that his friend Georgie Jessel was trying to pull a practical joke by tying the oranges to the tree. 3) Way back in 1929, comedian W.C. Fields used to say that his favorite actor was Benito Mussolini.
• When Corey Ford wrote for Life magazine, he worried because a writer named Torrey Ford was also contributing to the magazine. Robert Benchley advised, “Maybe the best idea would be to let Torrey handle the articles, and you handle the checks.” By the way, Mr. Benchley once was granted a loan by a bank. The next day, he went to the bank and withdrew all his money, saying, “I don’t trust a bank that would lend money to such a poor risk.” Also by the way, Mr. Benchley frequently endorsed his checks in strange ways—for example, “Dear Bankers Trust, I love you. Bob.”
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Presenting
Michael Egan
has returned to semi-retired status.
In memory.
BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATION
BANDCAMP MUSIC
BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATION OF BANDCAMP MUSIC
Music: "(She’s a) Zombie"
Album: THIS IS JUST A COMPILATION
Artist: Dead City Dealers
Record Company: This Is Just A Record Label
Record Company Location: Pennsylvania
Info: “I hope you like three chords and a bad attitude.”
Price: $3 (USD) for 28 tracks by various artists
Genre: Punk.
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Dead City Dealers (Sam Sinister, Vocalist) on YouTube
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Reader Suggestion
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BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATION
Censorship
Russian Retreat Leaves Trail Of Dead Ukrainian Civilians in Bucha (MSNBC)
Warning this clip contains graphic footage. Russian soldiers withdrew from Bucha, a city on the outskirts of Kyiv, leaving a trail of dead bodies. The mayor of Bucha, Anatoliy Fedoruk, described a city filled with “corpses of executed people.”
Ukrainian MP Reacts To Bucha Massacre: “I Cannot Get Those Images Out Of My Head.” (MSNBC)
Now that Russians have retreated from the Kyiv region of Ukraine, horrific images have surfaced of massacred civilians lying dead in the middle of the streets in the town of Bucha. They’re some of the worst things we’ve seen of the war in Ukraine so far – “unimaginable,” says Ukrainian MP Inna Sovsun, and “it’s only getting worse.” People need to be prosecuted for the crimes, says Sovsun. “I cannot get those images out of my head…. One of the images – the person had sneakers just the same as I did. I was thinking, ‘this is the same person as myself.’”
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Jeannie the Teed-Off Temp
Reader Comment
Current Events
Linda >^..^<
We are all only temporarily able bodied.
Thanks, Linda!
that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Thick marine layer almost burned off by sunset.
Grammy Webcast
LeVar Burton
It had to happen: a comedian has taken to the dais at a major awards show wearing a helmet. Nate Bargatze was the comic who came packing protection as he stepped out to present awards during the Grammys’ premiere ceremony Sunday afternoon in Las Vegas.
Said LeVar Burton, who hosted the webcast in which most of the day’s Grammys were handed out, “Now, I want to warn you all that our next presenter is a comedian, if you know what I mean.” They knew. “So I need to caution everybody, remain in your seats and keep your hands to yourselves. All right?” Burton introduced Bargatze as a comic who is “selling out shows across America with clean family-friendly comedy and reaching another milestone today with a nomination for best comedy album.”
Further referencing Will Smith striking Chris Rock at the Oscars a week ago, Bargatze said, “They said comedians have to wear these now at awards shows during the joke parts. It doesn’t even cover your face, I think it just focuses where you would hit me… All right, this is stupid, I’ll take it off.”
Bargatze was nominated for comedy album this year for his album “The Greatest Average American,” against competition from Lavell Crawford, Chelsea Handler, Louis C.K., Lewis Black and Kevin Hart. The Nashville-based comic’s Netflix specials include “The Tennessee Kid” as well as “The Greatest Average American.”
LeVar Burton
From ‘Hacks’ to ‘Eternals’
GLAAD Media Awards
“Hacks” and “Eternals” picked up top honors at the 33rd annual GLAAD Media Awards, where they were named Outstanding New TV Series and Outstanding Film, respectively. The awards, hosted by the LGBTQ+ media advocacy organization, also honored Grammy winner Kacey Musgraves with the Vanguard Award and Golden Globe winner Michaela Jaé Rodriguez with the Stephen F. Kolzak Award.
The star-studded ceremony was held at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills on Saturday night and included appearances by Andrew Garfield, Troye Sivan, JoJo Siwa, Jasmin Savoy-Brown, Mira Sorvino, Ben Platt, Cynthia Erivo, and more. Hosted by Bob the Drag Queen, Eureka O’Hara and DJ “Shangela” Pierce, the awards also featured a performance by pop musician Jake Wesley Rogers.
Aside from honoring outstanding media from the year prior, the GLAAD Awards spotlighted urgent issues facing LGBTQ+ communities, including Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s sponsoring of anti-trans legislation. President and CEO Kate Ellis denounced said in her speech, “These bills are designed to erase us as a community, but GLAAD will not let that happen. We have never been more committed to our vision of a world where everyone can live the life that they love.”
The full list of winners - GLAAD Media Awards
Weekend Box Office
‘Morbius’
Sony Pictures’ Marvel adaptation “Morbius” landed with dismal reviews but still managed to debut with $39.1 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday.
That was enough to easily hand “Morbius,” starring Jared Leto as a vampire-transforming biochemist, the top spot at the box office — even though it was an uncharacteristically low debut for a Marvel movie. Sony’s last movie to launch a Marvel character, 2018's “Venom,” opened in 2018 with double the ticket sales.
Last week’s top film, the Sandra Bullock-Channing Tatum rom-com adventure “The Lost City,” slid to second place with $14.8 million in its second week. With a two-week total of $54.6 million, “The Lost City” is performing much better than other recent entries in the genre.
Following the Academy Awards, Apple put best picture-winner “CODA” into more than 500 theaters. The film, which debuted on Apple TV+ last August, became the first movie from a streaming service ever to take Hollywood’s top honor. Apple didn’t share ticket-sales figures Sunday, making “CODA” the first best-picture winner without any recorded U.S. box office.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.
1. “Morbius,” $39.1 million.
2. “The Lost City,” $14.8 million.
3. “The Batman,” $10.8 million.
4. “Uncharted,” $3.6 million.
5. “Jujutsu Kaisen 0,” $1.9 million.
6. “RRR,” $1.6 million.
7. “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” $1.4 million.
8. “Dog,” $1.3 million.
9. “X,” $1 million.
10. “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” $1 million.
‘Morbius’
Street Being Renamed
Memphis
James Alexander, the last surviving member of The Bar-Kays band that backed soul music star Otis Redding, will have a street renamed after him in his hometown of Memphis, Tennessee, Stax Museum said.
Located near the Stax Records studios where the the soul-funk collective recorded, Stafford Avenue in Memphis is scheduled to get a new name on April 24: James E. Alexander Avenue.
The bassist is the founder and last living member of the Bar-Kays. Four band members and Redding died when their plane crashed into an icy lake in Wisconsin on Dec. 10, 1967. They were headed to a show in Madison when the plane went down.
After the crash, Alexander and Cauley re-formed the band, with the addition of lead singer Larry Dodson. Alexander played bass on the “Theme From Shaft,” which was written by Isaac Hayes. The song won an Academy Award in 1971. Cauley has since died.
Memphis
Gridiron Club
Chris Sununu
Republican Gov. Chris Sununu roasted Trump as 'crazy' and said if he were in a mental institution 'he ain't getting out'
Sununu, a Republican, was speaking at the Gridiron Club dinner, an annual event that hasn't been held since the pandemic. Put on by a prestigious journalistic organization, the dinner draws politicians from both parties, oftentimes including the president.
"You know, he's probably going to be the next president," Sununu began in his remarks on Trump the loser, according to Politico, adding that Trump the failed game show host tweeted with "rationale" and had "experience" and a "sense of integrity."
"Nah, I'm just kidding! He's fucking crazy!" Sununu continued, prompting laughter from the crowd.
"The press often will ask me if I think Donald Trump that grifter is crazy. And I'll say it this way: I don't think he's so crazy that you could put him in a mental institution. But I think if he were in one, he ain't getting out!" Sununu said, according to Politico.
Chris Sununu
12 TV Stations
MeinPillow
MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell said he has been barred from appearing in some of his company's commercials.
"I had 12 TV stations just the other day now say that I couldn't be in the commercials. I cannot personally be in them," Lindell said during an interview with the Right Side Broadcasting Network (RSBN) on Saturday.
The business mogul did not specify which stations stopped him from appearing but said they were "smaller networks."
In the RSBN interview, Lindell said: "They want my voice stopped." He added that he had only heard the news about his appearance ban on Friday. "Believe me, they cancel, they will never get to sell my product again," he said.
MeinPillow
Bans Opium Cultivation
Taliban
The Taliban announced on Sunday a ban on the cultivation of narcotics in Afghanistan, the world's biggest opium producer.
The order said the production, use or transportation of other narcotics was also banned.
The Taliban banned poppy growing towards the end of their last rule in 2000 as they sought international legitimacy, but faced a popular backlash and later mostly changed their stance, according to experts.
The country's dire economic situation has prompted residents of south-eastern provinces to grow the illicit crop that could bring them faster and higher returns than legal crops such as wheat.
Taliban
Ocean's Depths Can't Escape
Climate Change
We know that global warming affects ocean currents in a variety of ways, but questions remain about exactly how this relationship works. A new study attempts to answer some of those questions.
Scientists pored over data stretching back 66 million years over 293 sites, looking at gaps in sedimentary layers, known as hiatuses, to figure out the varying strength of ocean currents across the millennia and how this relates to temperature changes.
The team found that over the last 13 million years, as the Earth has gradually cooled down, the hiatuses in the sediment record became less frequent. That suggests current speed in the deepest parts of the ocean has slowed down overall.
In comparison, in the 'hothouse climate' period that preceded the 13-million-year cooling-off era, deep ocean circulation appeared to be much busier. At this time global temperatures would have been 3-4°C (5.4-7.2°F) warmer than they are today.
Climate Change
Up For Auction
Lunar Dust
Most people want to get rid of dirt, but this special sample of lunar dust is out of this world.
Particles of lunar dust collected by Neil Armstrong in 1969 during the Apollo 11 mission are up for auction this month.
Bonhams, the auction company in charge of the sale, estimated the sample to be worth between $800,000 and $1.2 million.
It's the only known lunar dust sample from Apollo 11 that can legally be sold, making it difficult for the auction house to estimate its value, according to Bonhams specialist Adam Stackhouse.
Lunar Dust
| CURRENT MOON lunar phases |
