What makes The Great Gatsby great? (Guardian)
As Baz Luhrmann's adaptation of F Scott Fitzgerald's classic bursts on to our screens, it's not hard to see why this cautionary tale of the decadent downside of the American dream has returned to haunt us, writes Sarah Churchwell.
Lucy Mangan: "The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis" (Guardian)
The books are a heaving mass of medieval poetry, fairytale, folktale, Celtic, Norse and classical myth, legend and scholarship filtered through the imagination of an Oxford don. The films are perfectly acceptable, denatured, deracinated pablum, filtered through Disney's bean counters.
My Albertine (Slate)
Patti Smith on the long-lost novel she's carried with her for almost 40 years.
A Different Russian Dash Cam Compilation (Neatorama)
Russians commonly use dash cams to record what happens on the road to defend themselves in case of accident fraud. That's why we have so much footage of the meteor that exploded over Chelyabinsk. The custom also records some wonderful instances of kindness. This compilation shows drivers and passersby helping drivers stuck in the snow, animals in the street, and many little old ladies terrified by traffic.
Detective Sergeant Joe Friday is a fictional detective of the LAPD.
The Joe Friday character was created and played by American actor, television producer, and writer Jack Webb (1920-1982) on Dragnet. The series ran on radio (1949-1956) and television (1951-1959 and 1967-1970), and there was also a theatrical film (1954) and a TV-movie (1969).
Dragnet used Joe Friday's police badge, with the iconic numbers "714", as its title logo. It has been suggested that Jack Webb wanted badge 714 because he was a big fan of Babe Ruth, who slugged 714 home runs in his career; however, this is an urban legend. In My Name's Friday, the book-length history of Dragnet by TV commentator Micharl J. Hayde, it was asserted that Friday originally wanted the badge number to be "777," tripling the lucky number 7, but decided instead to add the last two digits together to get "14," thus making the badge number "714."
When Webb died in 1982, LAPD Chief Darryl Gates officially retired shield number 714 (Webb was also buried with full police honours, a rarity for a non-policeman).
Source
Charlie was first, and correct, with:
Joe Friday (in real life it was somebody named Dan Cooke).
I thought Jack Webb was a horrible reactionary, but I'll let him rest in peace for now.
mj said:
That honor went to
Joe Friday, portrayed by deadpan almost actor Jack Webb. Just the facts, Ma'm.
Alan J wrote:
Joe Friday
Baron Dave (Pinky: "What if the dragon eats us?" Brain: "That would alter our plans.") responded:
Searching tne net for something interesting to link to, here's an unusual take on Stan Freeberg's "St. George and the Dragonnet"
PS: Your link to "Now a Blogger - Columnist at US News and World Reports "Economic Intelligence" is ill formed, and only opens your main page. [Thanks, Baron Dave - corrections have been made! ]
Well, it's time for the May Day Parade here in Mpls, but the weather isn't supposed to be all that good. I'm going anyway, and will take photos as best I can.
Jim from CA, retired to ID, replied:
Dragnet used Joe Friday's police badge, with the iconic numbers "714", as
its title logo
Roy in Tyler, TX said:
Just the facts, ma'am... Badge 714 was carried by Detective Joe Friday of that classic TV drama, "Dragnet."
rob c wrote:
Jack Webb / Joe Friday
STEPHEN F responded:
Joe Friday
Adam answered:
I thought it was something like that- Joe Friday of 'Dragnet'.
Marian replied:
Joe Friday from Dragnet
Sally said:
714 badge was carried by "Friday" (as a lieutenant) during the final season of the 1951-59 series, "Dragnet!"
I was so happy when I found that, "Antenna TV" was airing reruns of the show. I soon changed my mind, and was absolutely turned off by Friday's 'lectures' about Marijuana and other things. Suddenly, I became the weekend hippy of old, and had the urge to throw a brick at the TV.
I didn't...
PS: Loved the piece, "Professor Tackles 'Myth' Of Christian Martyrdom" on yesterday's page. I have always suspected that the nuns (parochial school) embellished those stories to justify their physical abuse to the children in their care! I could tell you my own stories and those of the little Martyrs who suffered at their hands in order to learn about religion...
Dale of Diamond Springs, Norcali, took the day off.
Ann & Tom responded:
Badge 714 was worn by Sergeant Joe Friday in "Dragnet".
MAM wrote:
Joe Friday played by Jack Webb on 'Dragnet'.
BttbBob replied:
Detective Sergeant Joe Friday...
... and I knew that straight away. I liked "Dragnet" as a little kid, but it never made me want to become a cop...
~~~~~
More Trivia within Trivia Moments - 1.) Friday never said, at any time, ever...
"Just the facts, ma'am" in any episode. The actual phrase used was "All we want [or "know"] are the facts, ma'am". 2.) Among the many real-life police officers who submitted story ideas for this series was future Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry. 3.) This was the first ever American import shown on British Independent Television (its 2nd day of broadcast) 4.) Badge #714 was retired by the LAPD after Jack Webb's death... ...
Dragnet (1951-1959) - Trivia - IMDb
~~~~~
May 6 Birthdays - Celebrities Born May 6 | Famous Birthdays
I'm having display driver issues with YouTube videos, dagnabbit, so I'm too bummed to post any names... I'll be on it tomorrow...
And, Joe S answered:
Just the facts MAM, just the facts. The name's Friday MAM, Joe Friday. Ladies and gentlemen, the story you are about see is true. The names have been changed to protect the innocent. Dum-da-dum-dum.
Dragnet!
I can't believe I didn't send the link to yesterday's song, so here it is. It's a doozie.
CBS opens the night with a FRESH'How I Met Your Mother', followed by a FRESH'Rules Of Engagement', then a FRESH'2 Broke Girls', followed by a FRESH'Mike & Molly', then a FRESH'Hawaii Five-0'.
Scheduled on a FRESHDave are John Krasinski, Kerry Washington, and James Blake.
Scheduled on a FRESHCraig are Isla Fisher and Jim Rash.
NBC begins the night with a FRESH'The Voice', followed by a FRESH'Revolution'.
Scheduled on a FRESHLeno are Magic Johnson, Savannah Guthrie, and Fall Out Boy.
Scheduled on a FRESHJimmy Fallon are Steve Martin, Jenna Fischer, the latest "Celebrity Apprentice" castoff, and Steve Martin & Edie Brickell.
Scheduled on a FRESHCarson 'The Scab' Daly are Amy Schumer, David Peterson, and Gold Fields.
ABC starts the night with a FRESH'Dancing With The Stars', followed by a FRESH'Castle'.
Scheduled on a FRESHJimmy Kimmel are Rod Stewart and Edie Falco.
The CW offers a FRESH'Oh Sit', followed by a FRESH'90210'.
Faux has the FRESH'Rhianna 777', followed by a RERUN'Bones'.
MY has an old 'L&O: SVU', followed by another old 'L&O: SVU'.
A&E has 'Duck Dynasty', another 'Duck Dynasty', still another 'Duck Dynasty', yet another 'Duck Dynasty', 'Bate Motel', followed by a FRESH'Bates Motel'.
AMC offers the movie 'Kingdom Of Heaven', followed by the movie 'The Last Samurai'.
BBC -
[6:00AM] BBC WORLD NEWS
[7:00AM] BBC WORLD NEWS
[8:00AM] THE GRAHAM NORTON SHOW - Season 10 - Ep 11 - Kenneth Branagh, Zach Braff, Frank Skinner, Taio Cruz
[9:00AM] THE GRAHAM NORTON SHOW - Season 10 - Ep 12 - Liam Neeson, Patrick Stewart, Alan Davies, Ed Sheeran
[10:00AM] DOCTOR WHO: A CHRISTMAS CAROL
[11:00AM] DOCTOR WHO - Season 6 - Ep 1 - The Impossible Astronaut
[12:00PM] BATTLESTAR GALACTICA - MINISERIES-Night 1, Part 1
[1:00PM] RAMSAY'S KITCHEN NIGHTMARES US - Season 2 - Ep 9 - Fiesta Sunrise
[2:00PM] RAMSAY'S KITCHEN NIGHTMARES US - Season 5 - Ep 9 - El Greco
[3:00PM] RAMSAY'S KITCHEN NIGHTMARES US - Season 5 - Ep 10 - Park's Edge
[4:00PM] TOP GEAR - Season 12 - Episode 1
[5:00PM] TOP GEAR - Season 12 - Episode 2
[6:00PM] TOP GEAR - Season 12 - Episode 3
[7:00PM] TOP GEAR - Season 12 - Episode 4
[8:00PM] TOP GEAR - Season 12 - Episode 5
[9:00PM] TOP GEAR - Season 12 - Episode 6
[10:00PM] JAMES MAY'S MAN LAB - Season 2 - Episode 4 NEW
[11:00PM] TOP GEAR - Season 12 - Episode 1
[12:00AM] TOP GEAR - Season 12 - Episode 2
[1:00AM] JAMES MAY'S MAN LAB - Season 2 - Episode 4
[2:00AM] TOP GEAR - Season 12 - Episode 3
[3:00AM] TOP GEAR - Season 12 - Episode 4
[4:00AM] TOP GEAR - Season 12 - Episode 5
[5:00AM] TOP GEAR - Season 13 - Episode 1 (ALL TIMES EST)
Bravo has 'Real Housewives Of OC', another 'Real Housewives Of OC', followed by a FRESH'Real Housewives Of OC', then a FRESH'Newlyweds: The First Year'.
Comedy Central has an old 'Colbert Report', an old 'Jon Stewart', 'Key & Peele', 'Futurama', another 'Futurama', 'South Park', another 'South Park', and still another 'South Park'.
Scheduled on a FRESHJon Stewart is Christiane Amanpour.
Scheduled on a FRESHColbert Report is Robert Caro.
FX has the movie 'Live Free Or Die Hard', then the movie 'Live Free Or Die Hard', again.
IFC -
[6:00AM] Comedy Bang! Bang!-``Weird Al'' Yankovic Wears a Hawaiian Shirt
[6:30AM] Undeclared-Pilot
[7:00AM] Undeclared-So You Have a Boyfriend
[7:30AM] Undeclared-Eric Visits
[8:00AM] Undeclared-Jobs, Jobs, Jobs
[8:30AM] Undeclared-Sick in the Head
[9:00AM] Freaks and Geeks-Pilot
[10:00AM] Freaks and Geeks-Beers and Weirs
[11:00AM] Freaks and Geeks-Tricks and Treats
[12:00PM] Freaks and Geeks-Kim Kelly Is My Friend
[1:00PM] Lord of War
[3:30PM] Slow Burn
[5:30PM] Clash of the Titans
[8:00PM] The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
[10:15PM] The Fugitive
[1:00AM] The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
[3:15AM] The Fugitive (ALL TIMES EST)
Sundance -
[6:00AM] The Day Before-Sonia Rykiel
[7:00AM] Bulletproof Salesman
[8:15AM] Control
[10:30AM] The Art of the Steal
[12:15PM] Bulletproof Salesman
[1:30PM] The Day Before-Sonia Rykiel
[2:30PM] Control
[4:45PM] The Art of the Steal
[6:30PM] Less Than Zero
[8:15PM] The Usual Suspects
[10:00PM] Rectify-Plato's Cave
[11:00PM] Breaking Bad-Phoenix
[12:00AM] Breaking Bad-ABQ
[1:00AM] Rectify-Plato's Cave
[2:00AM] The Usual Suspects
[3:45AM] Nurse Betty
[5:45AM] The Business Trip (ALL TIMES EST)
SyFy has the movie 'Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines', 'Defiance', followed by a FRESH'Defiance', then a FRESH'Warehouse 13'.
TBS:
Scheduled on a FRESHConan are Keith Urban, Guillermo Diaz, and Jay Larson.
Stevie Nicks, left, Mick Fleetwood, center, and Lindsay Buckingham, are seen on stage as Fleetwood performs at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival in New Orleans, Saturday, May 4, 2013.
Photo by Gerald Herbert
The old, neglected lab of Nikola Tesla, arguably the closest real-world example of the archetype of the brilliant but eccentric scientist, has been purchased by a non-profit group, with the aim turning it into a museum and science learning center.
Tesla patented the logic gate (which makes modern computing possible) in 1898, and pioneered both the alternating current that ferries electricity over long distances and into our homes, and radio technology, which gives us not only Top 40 and talk, but also WiFi.
Edison's laboratory and residence in West Orange, N.J., has been preserved as a museum and a national historic park for half a century. Meanwhile, Tesla's Wardenclyffe lab on Long Island sits empty, unsecured, and in need of repair.
But the fortune of Tesla's lab, and perhaps his legacy, are seemingly about to change. A nonprofit group, Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe, which has been attempting to save the site for the past 17 years, raised $1.37 million in 2012 with the help of crowdfunding site Indiegog.com and popular Internet cartoonist and author Matthew Inman.
Singer Rihanna watches Game 7 in a first-round NBA basketball playoff series between the Brooklyn Nets and the Chicago Bulls in New York, Saturday, May 4, 2013.
Photo by Julio Corte
Tens of thousands of people, including some of the stars of "The Office," gave a rousing send-off to the television comedy show that ends this month in the city where it was set and whose image it changed forever.
When the Emmy-winning comedy started nearly a decade ago, the northeastern Pennsylvania city of Scranton was best known for its former mainstay industry of coal mining, but not anymore.
"The outward perception of the town is that we're a hard-scrabble coal town, but nobody here identifies with that," said Michele Dempsey, an architect and one of the organizers of The Office Wrap Party in the city of 76,000.
More than a dozen members of the show's cast and crew took part in Saturday's event, which included a four-block parade through town where smiling, screaming fans mobbed cast members.
Actor Steve Carell, who played the bumbling office manager Michael Scott in the show, was a surprise guest at the cast party at a baseball stadium just outside of the city.
Actor Don Cheadle talks with Oscar De La Hoya (L) before the Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Robert Guererro title fight at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada May 4, 2013.
Photo by Steve Marcus
Less than two months after British forces captured Savannah in December 1778, patriot militiamen scored a rare Revolutionary War victory in Georgia after a short but violent gunbattle forced British loyalists to abandon a small fort built on a frontiersman's cattle farm.
More than 234 years later, archaeologists say they've pinpointed the location of Carr's Fort in northeastern Georgia after a search with metal detectors covering more than 4 square miles turned up musket balls and rifle parts as well as horse shoes and old frying pans.
The February 1779 shootout at Carr's Fort turned back men sent to Wilkes County to recruit colonists loyal to the British army. It was also a prelude to the more prominent battle of Kettle Creek, where the same patriot fighters who attacked the fort went on to ambush and decimate an advancing British force of roughly 800 men.
Carr's Fort, midway between Athens and Augusta, was one of numerous small outposts on the colonial frontier built for American settlers to defend themselves against enemy soldiers and hostile Indians.
An Aerosmith concert promoter says the band has canceled next week's show in Indonesia over security concerns, one day after news surfaced about an alleged bomb plot at the Myanmar Embassy.
Helmi Sugara, event organizer spokesman, said Sunday that the legendary American rockers were scheduled to perform May 11 before a nearly sold-out crowd of 15,000 in the capital, Jakarta.
He said the band canceled Saturday, a day after Indonesia announced it had arrested two suspected militants with bombs. They were allegedly planning to attack the embassy in Jakarta to protest Myanmar's treatment of Muslims. It's unclear if the concert's cancellation was directly related to the terror plot or if there was some other threat.
In a statement posted on the promoter Ismaya Live's website, Aerosmith's management apologized to fans.
A man holds up a rifle which organizers said was used by actor Charlton Heston (R-Cold Dead Hands) in the film "The Mountain Men", during a gun raffle at the National Rifle Association (NRA)'s annual meeting in Houston, Texas on May 5, 2013. NRA organizers expected 70,000 people at the three-day convention, which ends on Sunday.
Photo by Adrees Latif
Being a scientist is a noble profession, but it has its darker side. From fierce competition to plagiarism to outright scientific fraud, scientists are far from immune to the sordid.
A panel of experts discussed the slimy side of science at an event held here on April 30 at the New York Academy of Sciences and moderated by "Scientific American" Editor-in-Chief Mariette DiChristina.
Dr. Morton Meyers, professor and emeritus chairman of the department of radiology at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Stony Brook, recounted historical conflicts over the Nobel Prize; Harold "Skip" Garner, a professor at Virginia Bioinformatics Institute at Virginia Tech, described wholesale plagiarism in scientific literature; and Dr. Ivan Oransky, executive editor of Reuters Health, delved into the slippery world of retracted studies.
As most humans do, scientists seek recognition for their efforts, and nowhere are the stakes higher than for that pinnacle of scientific honor: the Nobel Prize. Meyers' new book, "Prize Fight: The Race and the Rivalry to be the First in Science" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012) deals with some of the great conflicts over priority and credit in the Nobels.
A famous German World War II bomber nicknamed "the flying pencil" has spent decades submerged in the English Channel after being shot down in the Battle of Britain. Now, divers are braving dangerous tides to bring it to the surface.
British officials on Friday announced a complex salvage operation just off the Kent coast in southeastern England to rescue the only known surviving example of the German Dornier Do 17 bomber. The operation is under way and if all the preparations go well, the plane will be lifted from the water in three or four weeks.
But the director of London's RAF Museum, which has been raising money for the salvage, cautioned that the recovery would be risky - divers will only be able to work for 45 minutes at a time because of perilous tides, and they face other challenges.
RAF Museum officials also said the challenging salvage will be the biggest recovery of its kind and they hope to one day display the Do 17, an aircraft nicknamed "the flying pencil" because of its narrow fuselage, at the museum. The museum has already raised the estimated 600,000 pounds ($930,000) that will be needed for the lifting phase of the operation, with the help of a substantial donation from the National Heritage Memorial Fund, and funds are being raised for the conservation effort.
Easter eggs are seen during an Orthodox Easter mass at Saint Sava church in Mitrovica, May 5, 2013. Ethnic Serbs from the Serb-dominated northern part of the ethnically divided town of Mitrovica cross the bridge to attend a mass at Saint Sava church located in the town's Albanian-dominated south.
Photo by Hazir Reka
Until a decade ago, no one knew if Heracleion, believed to be an ancient harbor city, was fiction or real. Now, reports the Telegraph, the researchers who found it-150 feet beneath the surface of Egypt's Bay of Aboukir-are sharing some of the amazing historical artifacts preserved there.
The finds include 64 ships, 16-foot-tall statues, 700 anchors and countless gold coins and smaller artifacts.
According to underwater archeologist Franck Goddio, credited with having discovered the site, the city was probably built sometime around the 8th century B.C., which makes it older than the famed city of Alexandria. Over the years, it fell victim to a number of natural disasters before being swallowed by the sea, probably around A.D. 700.
It's believed that gradual soil erosion eventually caused Heracleion to fall into the Mediterranean. "It is now clear that a slow movement of subsidence of the soil affected this part of the south-eastern basin of the Mediterranean," Goddio writes on his site. "The rise in sea level-already observed in antiquity-also contributed significantly to the submergence of the land."
Iron Man reigns as the standard-bearer of Hollywood superheroes with a $175.3 million domestic opening weekend for his latest sequel and an overseas haul of a half-billion dollars in less than two weeks.
According to studio estimates Sunday, "Iron Man 3" has raced to a worldwide total of $680.1 million. That includes $175.9 million in its second weekend overseas, where the film has rung up $504.8 million so far.
No other solo superhero - not even Batman or Spider-Man - has managed this kind of business.
Hollywood's domestic revenue this year is at $3.14 billion, off 11 percent from 2012's pace, according to Hollywood.com.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Where available, latest international numbers are also included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.
1. "Iron Man 3," $175.3 million ($175.9 million international).
2. "Pain & Gain," $7.6 million.
3. "42," $6.2 million.
4. "Oblivion," $5.8 million ($6.5 million international).
5. "The Croods," $4.2 million ($17.4 million international).
6. "The Big Wedding," $3.9 million ($2.5 million international).
7. "Mud," $2.2 million.
8. "Oz the Great and Powerful," $1.8 million.
9. "Scary Movie 5," $1.4 million ($4 million international).
10. "The Place Beyond the Pines," $1.3 million.
Frederic Franklin, a British-born dancer who helped popularize modern ballet in the United States and performed until his mid-90s, has died. He was 98.
Franklin succumbed to complications from pneumonia on Saturday at a Manhattan hospital, according to his lifelong partner, William Ausman.
Franklin last appeared with the American Ballet Theatre at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts three years ago - as a friar in "Romeo and Juliet."
"He gave me my first job, and I gave him his last," said the company's artistic director, Kevin McKenzie. "He was a seminal figure in the ballet world."
McKenzie said the amazingly energetic native of Liverpool, England, remembered the greatest 20th century dance moves, starting with Serge Diaghilev and the Ballets Russe de Monte Carlo. He toured the United States with them in the 1950s.
"He had a muscle memory," McKenzie said.
Choreographers including George Balanchine relied on Franklin to keep their tradition alive, Ausman said.
"His death puts a period to an era in the dance world," McKenzie said. "He epitomized both the old ballets and the modern ones, and he helped establish the importance of classical ballet in the United States."
Franklin also danced with Britain's Sadler's Wells Theatre and as a backup for Josephine Baker in Paris.
You have reached the Home page of BartCop Entertainment.
Make yourself home, take your shoes off...
Go ahead, scratch it if it itches.
The idea is to have fun.
Do you have something to say?
Anything that increased your blood pressure, or, even better, amused or entertained?
Do you have a great album no one's heard?
How about a favorite TV show, movie, book, play, cartoon, or legal amusement?
A popular artist that just plain pisses you off?
A box set the whole world should own?
Vile, filthy rumors about Republican hypocrites?
Just plain vile, filthy rumors?
wrote:
replied:
answered:
