"Shock Value: How a Few Eccentric Outsiders Gave Us Nightmares, Conquered Hollywood, and Invented Modern Horror" by Jason Zinoman: A review by Gerry Donaghy
In the book 'Shock Value,' author Jason Zinoman traces the renaissance of contemporary horror films to Robert Evans and his production of Roman Polanski's 'Rosemary's Baby.' The film, featuring Mia Farrow as the mother of the antichrist, spends most of its running time exploring urban angst and the terror of new home ownership, saving the devil for the very end. Where Evans was canny was that he got arthouse director Polanski to direct the film instead of William Castle, who owned the rights to Ira Levin's novel and intended to direct it himself.
"Inside Scientology: The Story of America's Most Secretive Religion" by Janet Reitman: A review by Anne Saker
You've got to hand it to L. Ron Hubbard. He might have been relegated to the minor ranks of science fiction writers except that he figured out that spiritual seekers in post-nuclear America craved a personal understanding of the self and the universe -- and they would gladly pay for that knowledge again and again and again and again ...
EDWARD COPELAND to Netflix: Drop Dead
Of course, what the change is really about is that Netflix is trying to get all its customers to go the streaming route so it can eventually dump the DVD-by-mail side of their business - the side that made it the success story it is today - and lose the expense of postage.
Henry Rollins: Howdy Neighbor, Let's Rock This Joint (LA Weekly)
I am the first to admit that I am perhaps too much of a reeking-of-patchouli-oil, looking-for-a-tree-to-hug optimist when it comes to the power, majesty and unrivaled brilliance of music. I dig genius and am in awe of a soaring intellect like Michelangelo, but as cool as he was, what Coltrane did for music is just as incredible as the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. In my opinion, music is humankind's finest achievement.
David Bruce has 42 Kindle books on Amazon.com with 250 anecdotes in each book. Each book is $1, so for $42 you can buy 10,500 anecdotes. Search for "Funniest People," "Coolest People, "Most Interesting People," "Kindest People," "Religious Anecdotes," "Maximum Cool," and "Resist Psychic Death."
The kilt first appeared as the great kilt in the 16th century, a full-length garment whose upper half could be worn as a cloak draped over the shoulder, or brought up over the head. The small kilt or walking kilt (similar to the "modern" kilt) did not develop until the late 17th or early 18th century, and is essentially the bottom half of the great kilt.
Source
Marian was first, and correct, with:
16th but I missed Cloris Leachman yesterday so this could be wrong too.
Alan J wrote:
16th Century
Charlie responded:
16th century
Sally said:
The kilt first appeared as the great kilt in the 16th century. The kilt as we think of it, did not occur until the mid-1700's.
The History of the Irish Kilt
I chose this photo of the Scottish kilt wearer, in particularly, to share with you an experience I had while visiting Honolulu, Hawaii!
While there, a few years ago, my friend and I were cutting through a beautiful park, heading to the beach to swim. As we walked, we heard the unmistakable sound of bagpipes - it was surreal. Upon continuing our walk, towards the sounds of the music, we saw a huge tent, and several Hawaiian-looking men (or not, as the man in the photo) strolling around wearing wool kilts! I felt as if I had walked into another realm of reality! We entered the tent, and found out it was an annual event, celebrating the Scottish presence on the island of Oahu. The participants were playing Scottish music, had tables and tables of plaids for sale by the yard, and selling foods such as haggis (how they got it through customs is beyond me, sheep lungs are illegal in the US. Maybe they made it there). IAC, it was a sight to behold, and made our visit even more interesting, if that was possible. Needless-to-say, I love it there...
If you doubt my word, check this site out:
Hawaiian Scottish Association
P.S. Tell me, do you and the kid sit on lawn chairs, out in your back yard, hours on end - binoculars in hand, watching those caterpillars for entertainment, or has your TV set broken down? I prefer the mental image of you guys with the binoculars, but that's just me and my vivid imagination... Kidding aside, it's nice that you and your son have this to share, and we, the readers, as well! ;)
Jim from CA, retired to ID, replied:
The kilt first appeared as the great kilt in the 16th century, a
full-length garment whose upper half could be worn as a cloak draped over
the shoulder, or brought up over the head.
Adam answered:
The kilt first appeared as the great kilt in the 16th century, a full-length garment whose upper half could be worn as a cloak draped over the shoulder, or brought up over the head. The small kilt or walking kilt (similar to the "modern" kilt) did not develop until the late 17th or early 18th century, and is essentially the bottom half of the great kilt.
So, fairly recently. The kilt isn't left over from Scotland's pagan past or anything.
DanD responded:
At a little before 1599 (give or take a decade), long-form kilts were
invented. It took about another hundred years or so for the "small"
(or I like to imagine it as, bikini) kilt was developed for those guys
who just like to squat-n-trot.
This is not too different from the evolution that happened from boxer
shorts to tighty-whiteys.
The History of the Kilt stretches back to at least the end of the 16th
century. The kilt first appeared as the belted plaid or great kilt, a
full length garment whose upper half could be worn as a cloak draped
over the shoulder, or brought up over head as a cloak. The small kilt
or walking kilt (similar to the 'modern' kilt) did not develop until
the late 17th or early 18th century, and is essentially the bottom
half of the great kilt.
In 1925, Jacob Golomb, founder of Everlast, designed elastic-waist
trunks to replace the leather-belted trunks then worn by boxers.
Boxer ShortsBriefs
Briefs were first sold on January 19, 1935
I really don't know, but I think that women's panties have a much more
convoluted history.
MAM wrote:
16th Century. The kilt first appeared as the great kilt in the 16th century, a full-length garment whose upper half could be worn as a cloak draped over the shoulder, or brought up over the head.
The small kilt or walking kilt (similar to the "modern" kilt) did not develop until the late 17th or early 18th century, and is essentially the bottom half of the great kilt.
Tradition has it that a "true Scotsman" should wear nothing under his kilt.
And, Joe S answered:
The kilt first appeared as the great kilt in the 16th century, a full-length garment whose upper half could be worn as a cloak draped over the shoulder, or brought up over the head. The small kilt or walking kilt (similar to the "modern" kilt) did not develop until the late 17th or early 18th century, and is essentially the bottom half of the great kilt.
Answering the centuries old question..
Note to Sally:
I wish. I try to walk by the fence with the vines a couple of times a day. That's it.
The caterpillars only eat one kind of vine, and there isn't that much of it. It's an easy job. : )
CBS opens the night with a RERUN'How I Met Your Mother', followed by a RERUN'Mike & Molly', then a RERUN'2½ Men', followed by a RERUN'Mike & Molly', then a RERUN'Hawaii Five-0'.
Scheduled on a FRESHDave are James Franco, Dianna Agron, and Christina Perri.
Scheduled on a FRESHCraig it's Craig in Paris and Craig tours the Eiffel Tower.
NBC begins the night with a RERUN'America's Got Talent', followed by a RERUN'L&O: CI', then a RERUN'Harry's Law'.
Scheduled on a FRESHLeno are Ryan Reynolds, Sheryl Crow, and Matt Nathanson.
Scheduled on a FRESHJimmy Fallon are Cory Monteith, Lou Dobbs, and tUnE-yArDs.
On a RERUNCarson 'The Scab' Daly (from 5/6/11) are Paul Feig, Eliot Rausch, and Charles Bradley.
ABC fills the night with a FRESH'Bachelorette'.
Scheduled on a FRESHJimmy Kimmel are Howie Mandel, "Bachelorette" Ashley Herbert, and Jake Shimabukuro.
The CW offers a RERUN'Gossip Girl', followed by a RERUN'One Tree Hill'.
Faux has a RERUN'Hell's Kitchen', followed by a RERUN'MasterChef'.
MY recycles an old 'L&O: CI', followed by another old 'L&O: CI'.
A&E has 'The First 48', 'Hoarders', followed by a FRESH'Hoarders', then a FRESH'Intervention'.
AMC offers the movie 'Swordfish', followed by the movie 'The Godfather'.
BBC -
[6:00 AM] BBC World News
[7:00 AM] BBC World News
[8:00 AM] The Graham Norton Show - Ep 10 Willem Dafoe, Lily Allen
[9:00 AM] Gordon Ramsay's F Word - Episode 2
[10:00 AM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares - Ep 8 Sabatiello's
[11:00 AM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares - Ep 1 - Mojito's
[12:00 PM] Dragons' Den - Episode 3
[1:00 PM] Gordon Ramsay's F Word - Episode 2
[2:00 PM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares Revisited - Ep 4 Bonapartes
[3:00 PM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares - Ep 6 Seascape
[4:00 PM] Star Trek: The Next Generation - Ep 10 The Defector
[5:00 PM] Doctor Who - Ep 2 The Fires of Pompeii
[6:00 PM] Doctor Who - Ep 3 Planet of the Ood
[7:00 PM] Top Gear - Episode 2
[8:00 PM] Top Gear - Episode 4
[9:00 PM] Top Gear - Episode 1
[10:20 PM] James May Drinks to Britain - Episode 4
[11:00 PM] Top Gear - Episode 4
[12:00 AM] Top Gear - Episode 1
[1:20 AM] James May Drinks to Britain - Episode 4
[2:00 AM] Top Gear - Episode 6
[3:00 AM] Top Gear - Episode 7
[4:00 AM] Top Gear - Episode 8
[5:00 AM] BBC World News (ALL TIMES EST)
Bravo has 'Real Housewives Of NJ', another 'Real Housewives Of NJ', 'Real Housewives Of NYC', followed by a FRESH'Real Housewives Of NYC'.
Comedy Central has the movie 'Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay', 'It's Always Sunny In Philly', another 'It's Always Sunny In Philly', still another 'It's Always Sunny In Philly', and yet another 'It's Always Sunny In Philly'.
Scheduled on a FRESHJon Stewart is Freida Pinto.
Scheduled on a FRESHColbert Report is Tony Hsieh.
FX has '2½ Men', another '2½ Men', followed by the movie 'The Day The Earth Stood Still'.
History has 'TBA', 'Pawn Stars', another 'Pawn Stars', followed by a FRESH'American Pickers', then a FRESH'Pawn Stars', followed by another FRESH'Pawn Stars'.
IFC -
[6:00AM] Walkabout
[8:15AM] UndeclaredHal and Hillary
[8:45AM] Daddy and Them
[11:00AM] Where God Left His Shoes
[1:15PM] Walkabout
[3:30PM] United We Stand
[3:40PM] The Making Of: Transformation
[3:45PM] Daddy and Them
[6:00PM] Freaks and GeeksChokin and Tokin
[7:00PM] UndeclaredThe Day After
[7:30PM] The Whitest Kids U'Know
[8:00PM] Basic Instinct
[10:45PM] Requiem for a Dream
[1:00AM] Basic Instinct
[3:45AM] Requiem for a Dream (ALL TIMES EST)
SyFy has the movie 'Star Trek: Generations', followed by a FRESH'Eureka', then a FRESH'Warehouse 13', followed by a FRESH'Alphas'.
TBS:
Scheduled on a FRESHConan are Harrison Ford, Marisa Miller, and Pitbull.
Scheduled on a FRESHLopez Tonight are Jon Favreau, Aaron Paul, and Colbie Caillat.
Pete Seeger, right, talks backstage with his grandson Tao Rodriguez-Seeger at the Newport Folk Festival in Newport, R.I., Sunday, July 31, 2011.
Photo by Joe Giblin
Katharine Hepburn's former home on Connecticut's Long Island Sound is up for sale.
Owners have updated the house by combining rooms to create larger and more open spaces. The house had 21 rooms and nine bathrooms but has been reduced to 15 rooms and 7 ½ bathrooms.
The estate is now on the market for $28 million. The house, on the largest of three lots, can be purchased separately for $18 million.
Seven years ago, the property sold for $6 million.
Emmylou Harris performs at the Newport Folk Festival in Newport, R.I., on Sunday, July 31, 2011.) The Newport Folk Festival continues through Sunday evening. Tickets for the festival sold out in advance for the first time in its 52-year history. Headliners this year include Emmylou Harris, Elvis Costello, Gillian Welch and the Decemberists.
Photo by Joe Giblin
Maybe because "Bob Dog's Neighborhood" just doesn't have the same ring to it, PBS has given the greenlight to a new animated series for preschoolers called "Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood," the first show produced by the Fred Rogers Company since "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood."
The series, which PBS senior vice president of children's media Lesli Rotenberg announced Sunday at the Television Critics Association press tour, will revolve around 4-year-old Daniel Tiger, the son of Daniel Striped Tiger, the always questioning and timid pal of Mister Rogers who resided in the Land of Make Believe in the original series.
The premise of the cartoon is that some of the characters from the original Land of Make Believe have grown up and have preschoolers of their own. The series is in production and will launch in the fall of 2012.
Daniel Striped Tiger is not to be confused with fellow Land of Make Believe resident Henrietta Pussycat, the hand puppet who frequently said, "Meow meow, Mister Rogers, meow meow." This is a common mistake, in the same way that people often conflate the "Fat Albert" characters Mushmouth and Dumb Donald.
Rob Cohen is set to direct the most expensive film in the history of the Korean film industry.
Cohen, the director of adrenaline-jolting movies like "The Fast and the Furious" and "XXX," will make "1950," a film set in the Korean War with a budget of $100 million. CJ E&M Pictures of Korea and Grapevine Entertainment are producing.
It is based on the dispatches of Marguerite Higgins, then the Tokyo bureau chief for the New York Herald Tribune. Higgins was initially barred from covering the conflict by the U.S. Army because she was a woman, but Gen. Douglas MacArthur later gave her permission in a significant moment for female journalists.
Production is slated to begin in May of 2012, with a release date the following spring.
Written during World War II when the composer was in his 70s and never performed in his lifetime, Richard Strauss's "Die Liebe der Danae" was long dismissed as a lame effort by an aging genius whose inspiration was running dry.
But the composer's next-to-last opera has also had its champions, none more fervent than Leon Botstein, music director of the American Symphony Orchestra. Botstein, who is also president of Bard College, had already recorded the work, and on Friday night he brought it to Bard's SummerScape arts festival for what he calls its "first fully-staged New York production."
It turns out the champions were right. The performance made a persuasive case for the opera (whose title translates as "The Love of Danae") as a piece well worth staging, if not quite an unjustly neglected masterpiece.
From its agitated opening chords to its elegiac conclusion, the score contains long passages of gorgeous music - along with a fair share of tedious "note-spinning." And the whimsical mythological plot has some surprisingly effective dramatic moments, made all the more pointed in the wittily updated production by architect Rafael Vinoly and Mimi Lien.
An avid Xbox gamer died from a blood clot which formed as a result of marathon gaming sessions, an autopsy has revealed.
According to the UK's Sun newspaper, 20-year-old Brit Chris Staniforth, who had never had any serious health problems before, played on his Xbox for up to 12 hours at a time.
The pathologist who performed the autopsy said that the clot, known as deep vein thrombosis, was the cause of Staniforth's death.
Such clots can form in the legs or lower part of the body when a person stays in the same position for a long period of time without taking a break. For the clot to be fatal, it would have to become detached and enter the bloodstream, where it can eventually cause a blockage in the lungs. Air passengers on long-haul flights are particularly at risk if they sit in the same position for the entire journey.
Wanda Jackson performs at the Newport Folk Festival in Newport, R.I. on Sunday, July 31, 2011. The festival was sold out this year for the first time in its long history.
Photo by Joe Giblin
Newspaper reports say a 19th century Polish painting that went missing during World War II has been returned to Poland after being removed from an auction in Germany.
The Gazeta Wyborcza and Rzeczpospolita dailies reported Wednesday that Poland's Culture Ministry got back "Jewish Woman Selling Oranges" by Aleksander Gierymski after negotiations with its German owner.
The ministry refused to confirm the report but said Culture Minister Bogdan Zdrojewski would brief reporters later Wednesday on the picture.
The oil-on-canvas painting went missing from the National Museum in Warsaw when the Nazis occupied Poland during the war.
Distributor Warner Bros. said Sunday that "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2" crossed the $1 billion mark at the worldwide box office.
The last of the eight films about the young wizard became the first in the franchise to reach that level. The previous best global haul was $974.8 million for the original film, 2001's "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone."
With $21.9 million domestically this weekend, "Deathly Hallows: Part 2" climbed to a domestic total of $318.5 million. That tops the franchise's previous best of $317.6 million for "Sorcerer's Stone."
But factoring in today's higher admission prices, "Deathly Hallows: Part 2" has not caught up to "Sorcerer's Stone" in terms of actual tickets sold.
Actress Allison Janney speaks with a reporter prior to a benefit screening of "The Help" in Madison, Miss., Saturday, July 30, 2011. The film is based on the New York Times best-selling book by Kathryn Stockett about the lives of three women in the 1960s Mississippi. Janney plays Charlotte Phelan in the film.
Photo by Rogelio V. Solis
Russia's vast permafrost areas may shrink by a third by the middle of the century due to global warming, endangering infrastructure in the Arctic zone, an emergencies ministry official said Friday.
"In the next 25 to 30 years, the area of permafrost in Russia may shrink by 10-18 percent," the head of the ministry's disaster monitoring department Andrei Bolov told the RIA Novosti news agency.
"By the middle of the century, it can shrink by 15-30 percent, and the boundary of the permafrost may shift to the north-east by 150-200 kilometres," he said.
The temperature of the zones of frozen soil in oil and gas-rich western Siberia territories will rise by up to two degrees Celsius to just three or four degrees below zero, he predicted.
Permafrost, or soil that is permanently frozen, covers about 63 percent of Russia, but has been greatly affected by climate change in recent decades.
A Roman Catholic monastery in North Dakota is putting its ranching operation out to pasture because it lacks monks with cowboy skills.
Abbot Brian Wangler tells The Dickinson Press that ranching has been a part of Assumption Abbey since 1893, when it was in Devil's Lake. He says raising cattle helped make the monastery self-sufficient.
He says two monks now care for 260 cows at the Richardton abbey, but only one has the skills to do it by himself.
Seventy-six-year-old Brother Placid Gross has tended the monastery's cattle for 51 years and says it once had one of the biggest ranching operations in the region. He says he won't miss the hard work but will miss the cows.
Among the wildflowers and native grasses in the garden atop Chicago's City Hall stand two beehives where more than 100,000 bees come and go in patterns more graceful, but just as busy, as the traffic on the street 11 stories below.
The bees are storing honey that will sustain them through the bitter winter and be sold in a gift shop just blocks away.
"Already this season, one hive has produced 200 pounds of surplus honey, which is really a huge amount of honey," said beekeeper Michael Thompson after checking the hives one July morning. "The state average is 40 pounds of surplus honey per hive."
The Chicago bees' success could be due to the city's abundant and mostly pesticide-free flowers. Many bee experts believe city bees have a leg up on country bees these days because of a longer nectar flow, with people planting flowers that bloom from spring to fall, and organic gardening practices. Not to mention the urban residents who are building hives at a brisk pace.
Beekeeping is thriving in cities across the nation, driven by young hobbyists and green entrepreneurs. Honey from city hives makes its way into swanky restaurant kitchens and behind the bar, where it's mixed into cocktails or stars as an ingredient in honey wine.
Little blue Smurfs and not-so-little green men from space are in a photo finish for the No. 1 spot at the weekend box office.
Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford's science-fiction Western "Cowboys & Aliens" and the family adventure "The Smurfs" both opened with $36.2 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.
That leaves Sony's "Smurfs" and Universal's "Cowboys & Aliens" tied for the top spot. Figuring out the No. 1 movie will have to wait until final numbers are counted Monday.
Going into the weekend, "Cowboys & Aliens" seemed to have the edge, with analysts figuring it might top $40 million, while "The Smurfs" might come in around $30 million.
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 (tie). "Cowboys & Aliens," $36.2 million.
1 (tie). "The Smurfs," $36.2 million.
3. "Captain America: The First Avenger," $24.9 million ($48.5 million international).
4. "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1," $21.9 million.
5. "Crazy, Stupid, Love," $19.3 million.
6. "Friends with Benefits," $9.3 million.
7. "Horrible Bosses," $7.1 million.
8. "Transformers: Dark of the Moon," $6 million ($42 million international).
9. "Zookeeper," $4.2 million.
10. "Cars 2," $2.3 million ($30 million international).
The 1939 Plymouth Deluxe 6, also referred to as the "Ghost Car" because its chassis was constructed of plexiglass , is driven at the Inn at St. Johns in Plymouth, Mich. July 28, 2011. The see-through Pontiac built by General Motors for the 1939-40 New York World's Fair is going on the auction block this weekend. The car's Plexiglas body offers a view of its chrome, steel and iron innards. It also features white-colored rubber moldings and tires.
Photo by David Guralnick
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How about a favorite TV show, movie, book, play, cartoon, or legal amusement?
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wrote:
answered:
