from Bruce
Anecdotes
Valentine’s Day
• Toni Dukes, an African-American, is a 911 dispatcher in San Francisco who uses her own money to give gifts to homeless and other needy people. In zip-lock bags she places a hat and gloves and a package of Kleenex. On the outside she writes in black marker “From the Heart.” She carries around many zip-lock bags containing gifts so that she can fulfill requests. She then will ask a needy person if he or she wants a gift, and if the answer is yes, she asks the person his or her size and favorite color. She does this a few times a month, and she notes that often the people are as grateful to have someone to talk to for a few minutes as they are to receive the gifts, hundreds of which she has given away. Near Valentine’s Day in 2008, she saw a woman and said to her, “Hello, ma’am. Would you like a pair of gloves and a hat?” The woman asked, “Free?” Ms. Dukes replied, “From the heart — it’s a Valentine’s present.”
War
• The United States military forces have sometimes worried about gay and lesbian personnel. (Many gays and lesbians are patriotic and want to perform military service for their country.) For example, during World War II, General Dwight D. Eisenhower worried about lesbians in the war effort. He ordered Sergeant Johnnie Phelps to find out which members of the Women’s Army Corps under his command were lesbians. She replied, “I will be happy to do this investigation …. But, sir, it would be unfair of me not to tell you, my name is going to head the list …. You should also be aware that you’re going to have to replace all the file clerks, the section heads, most of the commanders, and all of the motor pool.” General Eisenhower thought for a moment and then said, “Forget the order.”
• During World War I, Charles MacArthur, who was later a famous playwright and screenwriter, was forced to suddenly take refuge from the explosions of enemy bombs. Unfortunately, he had the bad luck to dive headfirst into an abandoned German latrine. Still, he was optimistic, thinking to himself, “MacArthur, this is the lowest point of your life. From here on everything has got to be an improvement.”
• Richard Wagner has the reputation of being an anti-Semite and an advocate of the Aryan race — Adolf Hitler regularly listened to Wagner’s operas at Bayreuth. For these reasons, after liberating Bayreuth in World War II, African-American GIs donned opera costumes and paraded down the streets dressed as such Aryan heroes as Wotan, Siegfried, and Parsifal.
• The characters in the TV series M*A*S*H sometimes showed inventive problem-solving. In one episode, a hawkish general who sends many young men needlessly to their deaths is stopped — the M*A*S*H surgeons fake a medical emergency and give him an unnecessary appendectomy.
• General Joe Wheeler had fought for the Confederates during the Civil War. Years later, he was fighting in the Spanish-American War at Las Guasimas. In the heat of battle, he forgot where he was and yelled, “Come on, boys, we’ve got the damn Yankees on the run!”
Wit
• Bob Denver appeared in the movie Back to the Beach, starring Frank Avalon and Annette Funicello. In it, he played a bartender who looked very much like Gilligan (Mr. Denver played Gilligan on the TV series Gilligan’s Island). In the movie, his character said that he once knew a guy who could build a nuclear reactor out of coconuts and pineapples, but the guy didn’t know how to build a boat.
• Fred Astaire danced in many movies with Ginger Rogers. When Ms. Rogers won the Oscar for her role in Kitty Foyle, Mr. Astaire sent her a very short telegram: “Ouch.” By the way, Mr. Astaire had a pet cockatiel that he named Gregory — after a famous movie star — because it pecked.
• Charles Talleyrand once was riding in a carriage with a bore who talked incessantly. Another carriage drew up beside them — inside it a man could be seen giving a huge yawn. Taking advantage of the situation, Mr. Talleyrand told his boring companion, “Hush — you are overheard.”
• Opera singer Eileen Farrell was a large woman with a sense of humor. She once joked, “They’re shipping my costume in a boxcar.”
***
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***
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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
Track: "Utopia Beach"
Album: SURFELECTRO 2.1
Artist: Los Tornillos
Artist Location: Edinburgh, UK
Info: GUITAR + REVERB + SYNTH + DRUM MACHINE = SURFELECTRO!
Price: $1 (USD) for track; $5 (USD) for seven-track album
Genre: Electronic Instrumental Surf
Links:
SURFELECTRO 2.1
Los Tornillos on Bandcamp
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Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
New Venture
Michael Egan
BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATION
Ukraine
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Bonus Links
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
Local politicians have over-indulged in over-sized, extra-glossy, can't be recycled crap delivered by the post office, in a variety of non-standard shapes and sizes.
Not a fan.
Return to Theaters
Morbius
Sony and Marvel’s Morbius has become an internet meme over the last few weeks, and for the most part, they’re hilarious. Seeing this, Sony came to the conclusion of re-releasing the Jared Leto film this weekend in the hopes that all the internet goofs would translate to a bigger box office haul. And if you were among those wondering if the joke had gone too far and we’d irony’d ourselves into a Morbius 2, somehow, let this serve as good news to allay your fears.
To be quite blunt about it: the movie bombed hard on its first day back at the cinemas. According to Forbes’ Scott Mendelson, Morbius’ Friday returns only came to a meager $85,000, leading to an overall $73.6 million domestic take home. Saturday’s earnings have yet to be revealed at time of writing, but the odds aren’t exactly in its favor. All those jokes were merely about the idea of Morbius rather than the film itself, something that Sony learned the hard way. Their attempt to get in on the joke didn’t just backfire, it exploded in such a way that even Michael Bay found himself impressed by the sheer, stupid spectacle of it all.
The thing about Morbius and its rise to a meme is that it all took off because no one had much faith in the film to begin with. We’re all actively aware that Sony’s basically throwing darts at a wall to figure out what people want to see with Spider-Man’s supporting cast, a roster that’s basically kneecapped from the jump because they inevitably have to brush shoulders or acknowledge the teenage webhead in question. Tom Hardy’s Venom movies have enough going on to make you temporarily forget he could ever try to devour Tom Holland’s Spidey, but that’s only because the comics have spent years giving the character his own weird, gooey mythology in the hopes of giving future films enough material to avoid having to strike a deal with Holland’s agent. Meanwhile, other characters such as Morbius, Kraven, and Madame Web have yet to be afforded a real, consistent opportunity to distance themselves from the amazing arachnid in the source material.
Yes, Sony lucked out extremely well with Venom and Miles Morales’ Spider-Verse films, but both of those characters already had strong, built-in fanbases to begin with, to say nothing of what each of their respective films set out to accomplish. The Spider-Verse movies have a unique animation style and a genuine earnestness that puts just about all other superhero content to shame, and Venom has Tom Hardy talking to himself and getting beaten around by a passive aggressive goo monster. Morbius has neither, and it couldn’t even make the most of its lead actor being a musician. Say whatever you want about Venom, at least it managed to summon a cheesy song to play over the end titles that later winds up on you Spotify for longer than you’d care to admit.
RIP in Morbius, Morbius. You died as you lived, as a joke who realized too late that you yourself were the punchline.
Morbius
Weekend Box Office
“Top Gun: Maverick”
The high-flying “Top Gun: Maverick” continued to soar in its second weekend, dropping just 32% from its opening with $86 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday.
The Paramount Pictures release, with Tom Cruise reprising his role from the 1986 original, is holding steadier than any film of its kind has before. Its modest drop — 50-65% is more typical for blockbusters — is the smallest decline for a movie that opened above $100 million. “Top Gun: Maverick” debuted with $124 million last weekend, scoring Cruise’s biggest opening yet.
“Jurassic World: Dominion” got a head start over the weekend in 15 international markets, where the Colin Trevorrow-directed film grossed $55.5 million. Universal said that was in line with the previous franchise entries. “Jurassic World” made $1.67 billion in 2015, while its 2018 follow-up, “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom,” grossed $1.31 billion.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.
1. “Top Gun: Maverick,” $86 million.
2. “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” $9.3 million.
3. “The Bob’s Burgers Movie,” $4.5 million.
4. “The Bad Guys,” $3.3 million.
5. “Downton Abbey: A New Era,” $3 million.
6. “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” $2 million.
7. “Vikram,” $1.8 million.
8. “ Sonic the Hedgehog 2,” $1.7 million.
9. “The Lost City,” $1.4 million.
10. “Crimes of the Future,” $1.1 million.
“Top Gun: Maverick”
“A Terrible Idea”
Paul Schrader
No stranger to hot takes, Paul Schrader has a new target in his sight: his own movie.
To be more exact, an upcoming television adaptation for his 1980 movie. Showtime released a trailer earlier this week for American Gigolo, starring Jon Bernthal, Gretchen Mol and Rosie O’Donnell.
The director of the original, starring Richard Gere and Lauren Hutton, took to his Facebook page to lambaste the new adaptation produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, saying he had no involvement with the series and that he won’t be watching it.
Paramount apparently called Schrader years ago fielding interest from the Oscar-nominated director on adapting the original film that centers on a male escort accused of murder.
“I replied that I thought it was a terrible idea–times had changed, internet porn had redefined male sex work, viruses, etc. I couldn’t imagine Julian Kay working a Hen Party,” Schrader wrote. “I thought that was the end of it.”
Paul Schrader
Dog Found
Iditarod
An Iditarod sled dog was found safe after disappearing from a checkpoint in the race three months ago and covering nearly 150 miles, the Iditarod Trail Committee said Saturday.
Musher Sebastien Dos Santos Borges of France was picking Leon up and returning with him to France, the trail committee said in a statement.
Leon went missing in March after what the trail committee said was his “escape” from the Ruby checkpoint. In May, residents of the Alaska city of McGrath, over 120 miles south of the checkpoint, reported to Race Director Mark Nordman that they’d seen Leon frequently near a cabin.
The resident of the cabin and another musher left food for Leon in the hopes of catching him, according to the trail committee. He was captured early Saturday morning and was safe, alert and “understandably skinny but seemingly healthy,” said Iditarod spokesperson Shannon Markley.
Iditarod
Deception 'Exceeded Even Nixon's Imagination'
Woodward and Bernstein
Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein said (the) former President Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election was something not even former President Richard Nixon would have imagined.
In an op-ed in The Washington Post, the two reporters known for uncovering the Watergate scandal said they thought Nixon defined corruption until they saw Trump's presidency.
Woodward and Bernstein said the news media, the Senate Watergate Committee, special prosecutors, a House impeachment investigation, and the Supreme Court exposed Nixon's conduct, a contrast to Trump's attempt to prevent the peaceful transition of power.
As for Trump, Woodward and Bernstein said his "diabolical instincts exploited a weakness in the law," referring to the 1887 Electoral Count Act.
"In a deception that exceeded even Nixon's imagination, Trump and a group of lawyers, loyalists and White House aides devised a strategy to bombard the country with false assertions that the 2020 election was rigged and that Trump had really won," they said.
Woodward and Bernstein
Unusual House Primary
Alaska
Alaska voters are facing an election unlike any they’ve seen, with 48 candidates running to succeed the man who had held the state’s only U.S. House seat for 49 years.
While some of the candidates in this week’s special primary have name recognition, including Sarah Palin and Santa Claus — yes, Santa Claus — many are relative unknowns or political novices — a fishing guide, a contractor, a gold miner who went to prison for allegedly threatening federal land managers.
The huge number of candidates and the short timeline for holding the election after Republican U.S. Rep. Don Young’s death on March 18 has some voters overwhelmed and scrambling to learn more about their options. This will be the first election under a system approved by voters in 2020 that ends party primaries, meaning all candidates are on the same one-page ballot.
The four candidates who win the most votes will advance to an August special election, in which ranked choice voting will be used. The winner of that contest will serve the remainder of Young’s term, which ends in January. A separate set of elections later this year will decide who serves a two-year term beginning in January.
Nearly half the candidates running, 22, are independents. That includes Al Gross, an orthopedic surgeon who ran for Senate in 2020 with support from the state Democratic party, and a self-described “independent, progressive, democratic socialist” whose legal name is Santa Claus and who serves on the city council for the community of North Pole.
Alaska
Russia-Ukraine War
Dolphins
Scientists are reporting many dolphin deaths, with Putin's invasion of Ukraine blamed for the spike.
Dolphins are washing up on the coastline of the Black Sea (which borders Ukraine, Bulgaria, Turkey, Russia, Georgia, Romania, and Moldova), showing war-related injuries, including burn marks from bombs.
Ivan Rusev, research director at Ukraine's Tuzla Estuaries National Nature Park, has been documenting the 101 days of the war on his Facebook page, using his platform to raise awareness of the ecological effects of the invasion.
Writing on Facebook, Rusev explains how dolphins are washing up on shore with burns from bombs and landmines, internal injuries, and showing signs of not eating for days.
The ecologist states that the data collected by him and his team and other researchers around Europe show that "several thousand dolphins have already died."
Dolphins
Newly Released Doctor's Letters
Hitler
The Swiss descendent of one of Adolf Hitler's longtime doctors has released details of historic letters showing how the Nazi dictator was afraid of serious illness.
Robert Doepgen found letters written by his great-great-grandfather Dr Carl Otto von Eicken when he was researching his family history for a school project, according to Reuters.
The news agency reported that von Eicken, who died in 1960, was an ear, nose, and throat specialist who had treated Hitler several times between 1935 and 1945.
The letters, which were partially published in the Swiss newspaper NZZ am Sonntag, have had their authenticity confirmed by British historian Richard J Evans, Reuters said.
According to the documents, Hitler postponed an operation to remove a polyp until after a major speech. The letters said von Eicken had previously advised the Nazi dictator that he would need to rest his voice following the polyp procedure, Reuters reported.
Hitler
Which Is Colder
North or South Pole
The North Pole and South Pole are the coldest places on Earth. However, as similar as these areas might seem, one is far icier than the other.
So, which pole is colder?
Both the North Pole and South Pole are cold because their positions at the top and bottom of the planet mean they do not get any direct light(opens in new tab) from the sun. At both places, the sun always rests low on the horizon, even in the middle of their summers. During their winters, the sun lies so far below the horizon, it does not come up for months at a time.
In addition, the white surfaces of the ice and snow at the poles are highly reflective. This means that most of the energy from the sunlight that reaches them bounces back into space, keeping the air above those surfaces relatively cool.
Although these factors make both poles downright chilly, the South Pole remains significantly colder than the North Pole, according to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. The annual average temperature at the North Pole is minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 40 degrees Celsius) in winter and 32 F (0 C) in summer. In contrast, the South Pole's averages are far frostier, with an annual average temperature of minus 76 F (minus 60 C) in winter and minus 18 F (minus 28.2 C) in summer.
North or South Pole
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