Paul Krugman: The Fear Economy (NY Times Column)
When the economy is strong, workers are empowered. They can leave if they're unhappy with the way they're being treated and know that they can quickly find a new job if they are let go. When the economy is weak, however, workers have a very weak hand, and employers are in a position to work them harder, pay them less, or both.
Jed Lipinski: The Legend of The Oregon Trail (Neatorama/Mental Floss)
Rawitsch pictured a game in which students would become pioneer families traveling the treacherous 2,000-mile route from Independence, Mo., to the Willamette Valley in Oregon. They would set out in ox-drawn wagons and purchase food, clothing, and ammunition; along the way, they'd encounter a series of historically accurate calamities. Surely, nearly dying from snakebite or exhaustion would get the kids' attention, right?
Eddie Deezen: "Who Framed Roger Rabbit: The Inside Story" (Neatorama)
The actual lead role in the film is Eddie Valiant, the hard-boiled P.I. who is investigating the death of Marvin Acme. Producer Steven Spielberg's original choice for the role was Harrison Ford, but Ford's asking price was too high. Bill Murray was another early choice, but because he was so hard to locate and contact, Spielberg and Zemeckis decided to pass on him, too (when Murray read this story, he reportedly screamed, as he said he would have happily taken on the "Eddie" role). ?
The Absolute Best Cosplay of 2013 (io9)
This was an amazing year for creative costumes and clever tributes - so it was a lot of work to do all of it justice.
Totie Fields (May 7, 1930 - August 2, 1978)[1] was an American comedienne.
Fields was born Sophie Feldman in Hartford, Connecticut. She started singing in Boston clubs while still in high school, taking the stage name of Totie Fields. The name "Totie" was a childhood nickname, a baby-talk pronunciation of the name "Sophie".
Fields gained fame during the 1960s and 1970s. Ed Sullivan gave Fields her first big break when he booked her on his show after seeing her perform at the Copacabana in New York. She made multiple appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show, The Mike Douglas Show, and The Merv Griffin Show, as well as a fifth season episode of Here's Lucy starring Lucille Ball.
Source
Marian was first, and correct, with:
Totie Fields....Lois, I remember seeing that too about Hitchcock's opening. Thanks for reminding me. That was a long, long time ago.
Charlie said:
Totie Fields
Alan J wrote:
Totie Fields
sara replied:
That would be Totie Fields!!!!! Watched her on Ed Sullivan.....what a voice!! A rough, whiskey swiggin, three pack a day voice......
have no idea if she smoked or drank but she died too soon at age 48 from a pulmonary embolism. Sara, upstate NY
mj responded:
Another regular from the Merv Griffin Show
That's Totie Fields.
Adam answered:
Totie Fields
Sally said:
For all who celebrate this holiday!
This American comedienne was born Sophie Feldman, her stage name was Totie Fields.
I remember her from the Ed Sullivan Show. Never thought she was very funny, but it was sad; she was grossly overweight, diabetic, and eventually lost one of her legs to the disease. She also lost a breast to cancer somewhere along the line.
She died in her prime...
PS: Gee, I am wondering if B2BB and JoeS have lost their Internet/power? I have a friend in Lansing who has been WO power for over a week! Hope not...
Jim from CA, retired to ID, wrote:
Totie Fields
Deborah in NorCal replied:
Merry Christmas and thanks for your E page!
Dale of Diamond Springs, Norfallcali answered:
Yuck, Totie Fields!
A few of her jokes - "Shirley Temple had charisma as a child. But it cleared up as an adult". " Raquel Welch - a moron with less on". And of course "I've been on a diet for two weeks and all I've lost is two weeks. " She just wasn't humorous at all. Here are some witty comedians of today. Sarah, Amy, Chelsea, Kathy and Heather "long boobs".
Lame Lois Of Oregon responded:
Totie Fields! Remember seeing her on Ed Sullivan or
somewhere when I was a kid. Looked up some of her jokes;
Went on a diet for two weeks. All I lost was 14 days. Also;
Shirley Temple had charisma as a child. Now she's just an
old bitch. Or something like that. Always preferred Phyllis
Diller, frankly; Got complimented on my alligator shoes. I
was barefoot! I shouldn't make sport of poor Totie though,
she died too young. When she was my age, she'd been dead 10
years, and she actually had a life.
Roy the hoghead (Without music to decorate it,
time is just a bunch of boring production deadlines
or dates by which bills must be paid. -- Frank Zappa) said:
A) Totie Fields
Marla responded:
Totie Fields, she was hilarious!!
Gene L replied:
Totie Fields
Litebug answered:
TOTIE FIELDS.
And, Joe S said:
Totie Fields. Wow, I'd forgotten all about her. I used to see her on Ed Sullivan's show, she was okay but Carla really liked her a lot.
PS Detroit Lions fans, the year started out so great! We beat the Packers for the first time in modern history, we beat the Bears (twice), we beat the crap out of the Dallas Cowboys (yea)..........and then........
Time Is Running Out To Save Florida's Oranges : The Salt : NPR Cuppla yrs ago, there were fears that some sort of citrus fly might invade AZ, spreading disease. Some agency came by and hooked fly-traps to my tiny orchard, checking on them every month for half a year. Never heard back from them..
CBS begins the night with a RERUN'Mike & Molly', followed by a RERUN'Mom', then '48 Hours'.
NBC opens the night with the FRESH'WWE: Salute To The Troops', followed by a RERUN'The Blacklist', then an hourlong RERUN'SNL'.
'SNL' is a RERUN, with Paul Rudd hosting, music by One Direction.
ABC starts the night with the movie 'Just Go With It', followed by a RERUN'Trophy Wife'.
The CW offers an old '2½ Men', followed by another old '2½ Men', then an old 'Family Guy', followed by another old 'Family Guy'.
Faux has a RERUN'Almost Human', followed by a RERUN'Bones'.
MY has an old 'Burn Notice', followed by another old 'Burn Notice'.
BBC -
[6:00AM] TOP GEAR - Season 12 - Episode 4
[7:00AM] TOP GEAR - Season 12 - Episode 5
[8:00AM] RAMSAY'S KITCHEN NIGHTMARES US - Season 5 - Ep 1 - Blackberry's
[9:00AM] RAMSAY'S KITCHEN NIGHTMARES US - Season 2 - Ep 11 - Cafe 36
[10:00AM] RAMSAY'S KITCHEN NIGHTMARES US - Season 2 - Ep 12 - Casa Roma
[11:00AM] JAMES MAY'S MAN LAB - Season 3 - Episode 4
[12:00PM] TOP GEAR: TOP 41 - Episode 1
[1:00PM] TOP GEAR: TOP 41 - Episode 2
[2:00PM] TOP GEAR: TOP 41 - Episode 3
[3:00PM] TOP GEAR: TOP 41 - Episode 4
[4:00PM] ATLANTIS - Season 1 - Episode 5
[5:00PM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - Season 3 - Ep 22 - The Most Toys
[6:00PM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - Season 3 - Ep 23 - Sarek
[7:00PM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - Season 3 - Ep 24 - Menage a Troi
[8:00PM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - Season 3 - Ep 25 - Transfigurations
[9:00PM] ATLANTIS - Season 1 - Episode 6 NEW
[10:00PM] THE GRAHAM NORTON SHOW - Season 14 - Episode 10 NEW
[11:00PM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - Season 3 - Ep 25 - Transfigurations
[12:00AM] ATLANTIS - Season 1 - Episode 6
[1:00AM] THE GRAHAM NORTON SHOW - Season 14 - Episode 10
[2:00AM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - Season 3 - Ep 22 - The Most Toys
[3:00AM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - Season 3 - Ep 23 - Sarek
[4:00AM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - Season 3 - Ep 24 - Menage a Troi
[5:00AM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - Season 3 - Ep 25 - Transfigurations (ALL TIMES EST)
Bravo has the movie 'xXx', followed by the movie 'The Fast & The Furious', then the movie 'The Fast & The Furious', again.
Comedy Central has the movie 'The Dukes Of Hazzard', followed by the movie 'The Longest Yard', then the movie 'Liar, Liar'.
FX has the movie 'Night At The Museum: Battle Of The Smithsonian', followed by the movie 'Hall Pass'.
IFC -
[6:00AM] Comedy Bang! Bang!-Pee-wee Herman Wears a Halloween Costume
[6:30AM] Malcolm in the Middle-Jury Duty
[7:00AM] Malcolm in the Middle-Cliques
[7:30AM] Malcolm in the Middle-Monkey
[8:00AM] Malcolm in the Middle-Zoo
[8:30AM] Malcolm in the Middle-Humilithon
[9:00AM] Malcolm in the Middle-Family Reunion
[9:30AM] The Three Stooges-False Alarms
[9:55AM] The Three Stooges-Fright Night
[10:20AM] The Three Stooges-From Nurse to Worse
[10:45AM] The Three Stooges-Gem of a Jam
[11:10AM] The Three Stooges-G.I. Wanna Home
[11:35AM] The Three Stooges-Goofs and Saddles
[12:00PM] The Three Stooges-Half-Shot Shooters
[12:25PM] The Three Stooges-Half-Wits Holiday
[12:50PM] The Three Stooges-Healthy, Wealthy and Dumb
[1:15PM] Comedy Bang! Bang!-Clark Gregg Wears a Navy Blazer & White Collared Shirt
[1:45PM] Bunk
[2:15PM] Whitest Kids U'Know
[2:30PM] U.S. Marshals
[5:15PM] The Fugitive
[8:00PM] Eyes Wide Shut
[11:30PM] Eyes Wide Shut
[3:00AM] The Fugitive
[5:45AM] Whitest Kids U'Know (ALL TIMES EST)
Sundance -
[6:00AM] Love Lust-Power Couples
[7:00AM] The Producers
[10:00AM] Romancing the Stone
[12:30PM] The Jewel of the Nile
[3:00PM] A League of Their Own
[6:00PM] The Lost Boys
[8:00PM] Donnie Darko
[10:30PM] JFK
[2:30AM] Traffic
[5:45AM] Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty (ALL TIMES EST)
SyFy has the movie 'The Matrix', followed by the movie 'Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines'.
Russian punk band Pussy Riot members Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, right, and Maria Alekhina smile during their news conference in Moscow, Russia, on Friday, Dec. 27, 2013. Tolokonnikova and Alekhina were granted amnesty on Monday, Dec. 23, two months short of their scheduled release after spending nearly two years in prison for their protest at Moscow's main cathedral.
Photo by Ivan Sekretarev
HBO's "Game of Thrones" and AMC's "Breaking Bad" have the dubious distinction of being the most-downloaded shows of 2013 on illegal file-sharing services, according to piracy news site TorrentFreak.
The "Game of Thrones" season 3 finale was downloaded 5.9 million times, most within one week after it aired in June, and "Breaking Bad" - which scored record ratings for its series finale - saw 4.2 million downloads of the ep. "Game of Thrones" also took the crown as 2012?s most-pirated TV show.
Digital piracy has long been a source of concern for Hollywood and in other industries. But recently some execs have pointed out that the economic harms of illegal file sharing are mitigated by its promotional benefits.
Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes this summer quipped that widespread piracy of "Game of Thrones" was "better than an Emmy," and said HBO has been dealing with theft of its content for years. And "Breaking Bad" creator Vince Gilligan said in a BBC interview that piracy helped boost the show's "brand awareness," while also acknowledging it was a problem.
Greenpeace activists Anthony Perrett (L), Alexandra Harris (C), Iain Rogers (2nd R), Phillip Ball (R) and video cameraman Kieron Bryan (2nd L) pose for photographers after arriving at St Pancras station in central London December 27, 2013. Four British Greenpeace activists and a video cameraman, who were imprisoned in Russia after being arrested in a protest over Arctic oil drilling, arrived back in London after being granted an amnesty by the Russian authorities.
Photo by Neil Hall
Hoquiam, Washington will celebrate its first-ever Nirvana Day on April 10th, 2014, paying tribute to the band whose frontman, Kurt Cobain, was born and raised just four miles away in Aberdeen.
Though the small town of Hoquiam isn't necessarily associated with Nirvana or Cobain - the frontman did live there for a brief period of time - Mayor Jack Durney told radio station KXRO, "They bring great honor . . . to our entire community. And I think that it's good Kurt Cobain lived in Hoquiam for a little while, but he and Krist Novoselic are part of our community, and I think it's good to honor our sons and their great accomplishments."
April 10th will be a day filled with accolades for Nirvana, as the band is also set to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame alongside Kiss, Peter Gabriel, Hall and Oates, Cat Stevens and Linda Ronstadt. "This is a great honor," Noveselic said after this year's honorees were announced. "Thank you to the people who nominated and voted for us. Thank you most of all to Kurt Cobain. And to everyone who's kept rock music going strong for 60 years and counting."
Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl added in a statement: "I'd like to thank the committee not only for this induction, but also for recognizing Nirvana for what we were: pure rock & roll. Most of all, thank you to all of the fans that have supported rock & roll throughout the years, and to Kurt and Krist, without whom I would not be here today."
Marijuana plants grow under special lights inside the grow facility at Medicine Man marijuana dispensary in Denver, Friday Dec. 27, 2013. Medicine Man was among the first batch of Denver businesses which received their licenses allowing them to legally sell recreational marijuana on Friday.
Photo by Brennan Linsley
Traces of ancient vineyards that date back 1,000 years were discovered in the terraced fields of a medieval village in Spain, according to a new archaeological study.
Researchers from the University of the Basque Country found evidence that fields within the medieval settlement of Zaballa were once intensely used to grow grape vines.
The researchers' examination of the fields, which are still visible in the landscape, suggests they were more agriculturally suited to growing vines, rather than cereal crops, he added. The archaeologists also unearthed metal tools that were likely used to maintain the ancient vineyards.
The village of Zaballa was abandoned in the 15th century, largely after local lords operating under a newly created rent-seeking system drove out many of the town's settlers. Zaballa is one of more than 300 deserted settlements collectively known as Araba-Alava. Today, archaeologists from the University of the Basque Country are trying to reconstruct the region's rural heritage by combing the remains of these deserted settlements.
The A&E channel said it's reversing its decision to drop "Duck Dynasty" patriarch Phil Robertson from the show for his remarks about gays.
In a statement Friday, A&E said it decided to bring Robertson back after discussions with the Robertson family and "numerous advocacy groups."
The channel had put Robertson on what it called "hiatus" following his comments in a magazine article about how the Bible informs his view of gays.
His comments were slammed by groups including GLAAD, the gay media watch organization. But A&E's decision drew a backlash from those who said they supported Robertson's comments and others who defended him on the basis of freedom of speech.
The .38 caliber Colt pistol retrieved from the skirt of Bonnie Parker of the infamous Depression-era outlaw duo of Bonnie and Clyde, as her bullet-riddled body was stripped for embalming in 1934 is shown in this handout photo provided by Case Antiques Inc., Auctions and Appraisals in Knoxville, Tennessee. The semi-automatic gun, complete with clip and six bullets will go up for auction on January 25, 2014 and has a pre-auction estimate of between $125,000 and $175,000, according to the auctioneer.
France is considering banning performances by a black comedian whose shows have repeatedly insulted the memory of Holocaust victims and could threaten public order, Interior Minister Manuel Valls said on Friday.
He said his ministry is studying legal ways to ban shows by Dieudonne M'bala M'bala, a comedian repeatedly fined for hate speech who ran in the 2009 European Parliament elections at the head of an "Anti-Zionist List" including far-right activists.
Dieudonne, as he is known on stage, has responded to the criticism from prominent Jewish figures by threatening to sue them for linking his gesture - a downward straight arm touched at the shoulder by the opposite hand - to the Hitler salute.
Dieudonne, 46, Paris-born son of a Cameroonian father and French mother, began his comedy career with a Jewish sidekick in the early 1990s and appeared in several films.
Originally active with anti-racist left-wing groups, he began openly criticizing Jews and Israel in 2002 and ran in the European elections two years later with a pro-Palestinian party.
Sherlock Holmes' status as a copyrighted character is easily as complicated as any of the cases he's had to solve. Created over 125 years ago, Holmes would remain a fixture in author Arthur Conan Doyle's work until the late 1920s. In the UK, that means that all Sherlock Holmes stories are in the public domain, where they can be used and adapted by other authors. But under American law, ten stories remain copyrighted, and Conan Doyle's estate has argued that this is enough to keep Holmes and Watson under their jurisdiction. Earlier this week, though, a lawsuit changed that, as Judge Ruben Castillo found that the two characters were no longer protected by copyright in the US.
Castillo was responding to a case against the Conan Doyle estate by lawyer and Holmes scholar Leslie Klinger, who has edited collections of newly written Sherlock Holmes stories. When one author included a character from a copyrighted story in an anthology, the estate insisted that the publisher license not only that character but Holmes and Watson as well, suggesting it would work with retailers to pull the book off shelves. Klinger went to court to defend the anthology, and Castillo determined that any characters and story elements from before 1923 - the cutoff date for the copyrighted stories - were fair game for other authors. The ten later stories, Castillo wrote in his opinion, built on the characters of Holmes and Watson, but only the incremental changes they introduced could be protected by copyright.
Effectively, this means that anybody can write about Sherlock Holmes, but they might have to leave out some details that were added in later stories: one couldn't mention, for example, Watson's past as an athlete or Holmes' retirement from his detective agency. Ruben also denied part of Klinger's request, saying that the anthology included examples of things that clearly weren't in the public domain, like characters written later in the series. But he flatly denied the Conan Doyle estate's major argument: that Holmes and Watson were such well-rounded, three-dimensional characters that they continued to develop throughout the series. Klinger "suggests that Holmes and Watson can be dismantled into partial versions of themselves," wrote the estate in an earlier defense. "But a complex literary personality can no more be unraveled without disintegration than a human personality."
Ruben said that, from a legal perspective, that's exactly what can be done, especially because judging literary quality is difficult to do in court. "Conan Doyle fails to offer a bright line rule or workable legal standard for determining when characters are sufficiently developed to warrant copyright protection through an entire series," he wrote. Of course, the legal situation up until now hasn't necessarily dampened the supply of Holmes adaptations. In addition to countless film, television, and video game versions of individual stories, there are two modern-day reworkings on the air: the American Elementary and Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss' Sherlock, which in turn has a large community of fan fiction writers. The final ten Holmes stories, meanwhile, won't be in the American public domain until the 2020s.
Workers and a crane are seen next to a newly-built ice sculpture of a castle ahead of the 30th Harbin Ice and Snow Festival, in Harbin, Heilongjiang province December 27, 2013. According to the festival organizers, nearly 10,000 workers were employed to build the ice and snow sculptures, which require about 180,000 square metres of ice and 150,000 square metres of snow. The festival kicks off on January 5, 2014.
Photo by Sheng Li
Letter writer Shakil Ahmed is a proud keeper of secrets.
For decades he penned the missives of Mumbai's illiterate workers, whether lovers pledging devotion to faraway sweethearts or prostitutes sending home money while concealing their trade.
"Thousands of people used to come -- we didn't have time to eat. But in the last seven years or so it's been going down," the scribe said at his weathered wooden desk, perched opposite the city's domed century-old General Post Office.
There used to be 17 letter writers in this bustling corner of the city's south. Now there are eight, whose tasks are largely reduced to packing parcels and filling out forms.
On Ahmed's desk sit piles of muslin wrapping and an old tin of pens, next to a seal engraved with his initials and a wax candle to stamp his work.
Despite a string of summertime flops, Hollywood is expected to have a banner year at the domestic box office, coming in just shy of $11 billion, the largest annual take ever. But because of higher ticket prices, actual attendance at North American theaters remained flat after a decade of decline.
With the current domestic box-office tally nearly 1 percent ahead of last year at this time, 2013 could surpass 2012's overall haul of $10.8 billion by more than $100 million, according to box-office tracker Rentrak.
High-profile flops such as "The Lone Ranger," ''After Earth," ''R.I.P.D." and "Turbo" were offset by mega-hits like "Fast & Furious 6" and "Iron Man 3," which consistently filled theaters last summer.
More recently, Warner Bros.' space epic "Gravity" has earned $254 million domestically, Lionsgate's sci-fi sequel "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire" has grossed $378 million and fantasy prequel "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug" has brought in $150 million for Warner Bros.
Although year-end figures for the overseas box office are not yet available, foreign receipts are typically two to three times higher than domestic earnings. So fan-driven hits like "The Hangover Part III," which grossed $112.2 million in North America, are expected to earn more than double their domestic takes overseas.
Allan McKeown, who with his wife Tracey Ullman created her TV series Tracey Takes On… at HBO and State Of The Union at Showtime, died December 24 at his Los Angeles home after battling prostate cancer. He was 66. McKeown was a UK-born hairdresser in the 1960s with clients like the Beatles, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, and Michael Caine, working on such films as If and Get Carter. He shifted careers and eventually became one of the first indie producers in the UK. He also was a founding member of a group that successfully bid for the ITV franchise in the Southeast of England, with McKeown producing most of the programming; he sold his stake in 1996.
McKeown married Ullman in 1983 while working in LA for Fox and Paramount; they have a daughter and son. Together McKeown and Ullman won an Outstanding Variety Series Emmy in 1997 for Tracey Takes On… . Later in his career, McKeown produced Jerry Springer The Opera at the UK's National Theatree; the production won the 2004 Olivier Award for Best New Musical. In 2005, he produced Lennon The Musical on Broadway with Yoko Ono.
Ring-tailed Lemurs (Lemur catta) sit on a bench with a ready to use scale during an animal stocktaking at the Hagenbeck Zoo in Hamburg, December 27, 2013.
Photo by Morris Mac Matzen
You have reached the Home page of BartCop Entertainment.
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?
is recuperating.
wrote:
said:
