from Bruce
Anecdotes
Editors
• As editor of the Emporia Gazette, William Allen White read and rejected many stories. A woman wrote him after one of her stories was rejected, “You sent back last week a story of mine. I know that you did not read the story, for as a test I pasted together pages 18, 19, and 20. The story came back with these pages still pasted. So I know that you are a fraud and turn down stories without reading them.” Mr. White wrote her in reply, “At breakfast when I open an egg I don’t have to eat it all to determine if it is bad.”
Education
• In 2006 novelist Ian McEwan, author of Atonement, weeded his fiction library in his London town house. Then he and his younger son, Greg, gave away 30 novels in a nearby park. Mr. McEwan says that “every young woman we approached … was eager and grateful to take a book.” However, the men responded with “Nah, nah. Not for me. Thanks, mate, but no.” Mr. McEwan concludes, “When women stop reading, the novel will be dead.” By the way, Mr. McEwan’s younger son, Greg, had to study Mr. McEwan’s novel Enduring Love that featured two characters named Clarissa and Joe and answer this question: What is the moral center of the book? Greg asked his father about the novel, and Mr. McEwan said, “Well, I think Clarissa’s got everything wrong.” Greg wrote an essay in which he stated that, and his teacher gave him a D. Mr. McEwan says, “The teacher didn’t care what I thought. She thought that Joe was too ‘male’ in his thinking. Well. I mean, I only wrote the damn thing .” In addition, Mr. McEwan’s older son, Ian, Jr., remembers, “I once had to answer a question on Dad’s book Enduring Love for my A-level English. I based the answer on what he told me while writing it. I got a low B.”
• When he was a child, Walter Dean Myers loved comic books, even smuggling the forbidden reading into his house in the legs of his pants. When he was in the 5th grade, his teacher caught him reading a comic book in class. Disgusted, she handed him a book of Scandinavian fairy tales and said, “If you’re going to sit here and read, you might as well read something worthwhile.” Mr. Myers remembers, “It was the best thing that ever happened to me.” He read that book and other books she handed to him, and he became a reader. He worried that reading might not be well regarded by many of his friends, and often he carried library books inside a brown paper bag so that other children could not see them. His teacher, Mrs. Conway, helped him in other ways. Young Walter had a speech impediment, and she required students to recite a poem out loud in front of the class; however, the poem could be something that the student had written. Walter wrote a poem that used only words that he could pronounce well, and he impressed the other students with his recitation.
• Hunter S. Thompson worked very hard to become a writer. He wrote lots of stuff on his own, of course, but he also would type pages of material by F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway simply to “feel the rhythm” of the way they wrote. This hard work paid off when he wrote his breakthrough book, Hell’s Angels, at age 29. The first part was more scholarly than the second, which was much more “gonzo” — the kind of writing associated with Mr. Thompson, who discovered that he had only four days to write the second part. He simply holed himself up in a room with what he considered the necessities of life — Wild Turkey and Dexedrine — and created the second half of the book. By the way, Mr. Thompson says that he was able to do this not because of the alcohol and the drug, but because of the 15 years that he had spent learning to write.
• Young-people’s author Richard Peck taught for a while, but he quit because he thought that educational standards and the quality of students dropped dramatically during the 1960s. Even the brightest students were not so bright — or if they were bright, their brightness was dimmed by excessive pride. Anthropologist Margaret Mead once lectured some gifted girls at Hunter College High School, where he taught. She suggested that the girls learn real-world skills such as secretarial skills or nursing skills since such skills are useful in life — in addition to the academic work that the girls were doing. One of the students replied, “Lady, I don’t think you know who we are. We aren’t going to be secretaries. We’re gifted!” Mr. Peck does have strong opinions. For example, he says, “Watching television is what you do with your life when you don’t want to live it.”
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© Copyright Bruce D. Bruce; All Rights Reserved
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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: "Come Back When You Can" (Barcelona Cover)
Album: QUARANTINE COVERS
Artist: Matt and Emily Gennetti
Artist Location: Manchester, New Hampshire
Info:
“Pop/rock music with an aggressive rock edge. All music is available for free download. Thank you for your support.”
“ALL SONGS ORIGINALLY WRITTEN AND RECORDED BY BARCELONA, PAPER ROUTE, THE CINEMA, AND ACCEPTANCE.”
Price: Name Your Price for four-track EP
Genre: Pop. Rock.
Links:
QUARANTINE COVERS
Matt Gennetti on Bandcamp
Matt Gennetti on YouTube
Other Links:
Bruce’s Music Recommendations: FREE pdfs
David Bruce's Amazon Author Page
David Bruce's Smashwords Page
David Bruce's Blog #1
David Bruce's Blog #2
David Bruce's Blog #3
David Bruce's Apple iBookstore
David Bruce has over 140 Kindle books on Amazon.com.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Reader Suggestion
Data Points
Hi Marty,
I thought you might be interested in seeing a new study we’ve just published “A picture is worth a thousand data points”.
We walk through 4 examples of how we were able to take a publicly available image and build a whole profile of the individual including DOB, address, spouse names and so forth.
In addition, we also cover some of the basics of metadata privacy and how to scrub it before uploading any image to the internet.
New Venture
Michael Egan
BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATION
Recommended
Other Links:
David Bruce's Amazon Author Page
David Bruce's Smashwords Page
David Bruce's Blog #1
David Bruce's Blog #2
David Bruce's Blog #3
David Bruce's Apple iBookstore
David Bruce has over 140 Kindle books on Amazon.com.
Bonus Links
Jeannie the Teed-Off Temp
Reader Comment
Current Events
Belly laugh for the day
Idiots on MSNBC actually wasting time and breath speculating on whether some Republicans (Collins, who will furrow her brow for about half a second, or someone else) will vote for Biden's SCOTUS pick.
Linda's prediction--not one single one. In fact, I predict Moscow Mitch will now try saying it's too close to the mid-term elections even to consider hearings or seating a new justice.
Linda >^..^<
We are all only temporarily able bodied.
Thanks, Linda!
that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Another extra foggy night.
Spotify Will Grant Request
Neil Young
Neil Young’s music will be removed from Spotify at his request, following the veteran rock star’s protest over the streaming service airing a popular podcast that featured a figure criticized for spreading COVID misinformation.
Spotify, in a statement on Wednesday, said that it regretted Young’s decision, “but hope to welcome him back soon.”
“I realized I could not continue to support Spotify’s life-threatening misinformation to the music loving people,” Young said in a statement.
Spotify airs owns the popular propaganda podcast, “The Joe Rogan Experience,” where last month the comedian interviewed Dr. Robert Malone, an infectious disease specialist who has become a hero in the anti-vaccine community. Malone has been banned from Twitter for spreading COVID misinformation and has falsely suggested that millions of people have been hypnotized into believing that the vaccines work to prevent serious disease.
Neil Young
Avoided The Sun
John Leguizamo
John Leguizamo is one of the most recognizable Latinx actors, with more than 100 credits, including major titles like Romeo + Juliet, John Wick, and Carlito’s Way. He even became the first Latino to play Luigi in 1993's Super Mario Bros. Leguizamo’s career has continued to thrive for over two decades, but in a new interview he discusses how difficult it was achieve his success while also acknowledging his own privilege as a light-skinned actor of Puerto Rican and Colombian descent.
In his chat with Nick Barili for The Academy Of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ new interview video series, Seen, Leguizamo talks about colorism in Hollywood, and he admits he would avoid tanning so he could continue to get roles.
“I’ve benefitted from being light skin, and I stayed out of the sun so I could work. I definitely would not go in the sun. For years I was so pasty so I could work,” he says. “All the Latinos who’ve made it so far, a lot of them were light-skinned. What happened to all the Afro Latinos and the majority of the indigenous Latinos? They don’t get a shot.”
He also says the auditions he landed were “always for a drug dealer, a murderer, a killer, or your gardener or somebody servicing your house.” He notes that, at the time, with very little opportunities in Hollywood, he turned to improv and writing, in order to find other avenues for his talents.
John Leguizamo
Enlists Full Orchestra
‘South Park’
To celebrate the upcoming 25th season of South Park, creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone assembled a group of Broadway stars, along with a 30-piece orchestra, to perform the series’ classic tune “Kyle’s Mom’s a Bitch.”
Arranged by Broadway veteran Stephen Oremus, the (classy) “Kyle’s Mom” rendition premiered Wednesday, featuring singers Nikki Renee Daniels, Tamar Greene, Jeff Kready and Elizabeth Stanley. And, of course, the South Park kids make an appearance. The orchestra has performed other notable songs from the show, such as the theme, in the lead-up to the new season.
“I was thrilled to get to reimagine these South Park classics in a more traditional orchestral concert setting,” Oremus tells The Hollywood Reporter. “It was so much fun getting to blow them up and give them such proper classical renditions. I called some of the best musicians and singers I knew — friends and colleagues who I have worked with on Broadway and TV, and we got to make music and dress up and laugh our asses off for a few days.”
“Kyle’s Mom” is a series classic and fan-favorite sung by Cartman about Sheila Broflovski, which was initially performed in the first-season episode “Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo.” A new version of the song made an appearance in the feature film South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut. There is also an instrumental version in the video game South Park: The Fractured but Whole.
It was announced earlier this month that the Comedy Central cartoon staple is (finally) returning for weekly episodes starting Feb. 2. The new season will consist of six episodes.
‘South Park’
Hits the Auction Block
‘Rain Man’ Buick
Late January marks the official kick-off to the collector car sales season, with the major auction houses sponsoring events in Scottsdale, Arizona. Interest is particularly high this year for a trio of celebrity sales: Dustin Hoffman’s 1949 Buick Convertible, which made a star appearance in Rain Man; an over-the-top yet under-appreciated 80s Italian supercar owned by—and named after—famed music producer and soundtrack composer Giorgio Moroder; and a diverse collection of ten vehicles from the estate of the late director and producer Richard Donner.
Last year was a record year for enthusiast car sales, with more than $2 billion in sales happening at in-person and online auctions alone. “Scottsdale auction week is where we’ll find out if this momentum is going to continue,” says McKeel Hagerty, CEO of collector car conglomerate Hagerty. “We predict $211 million in sales there between now and Sunday evening.”
Celebrity provenance can add significant value to a vintage vehicle. “It’s people who give value and meaning to cars,” says Hagerty. “Celebrity influence on vehicle values correlates to the staying power of the specific celebrity or film.” Some cars also benefit from their own turn in the spotlight, having found their way into screens themselves.
After the Rain Man shoot wrapped, in the late ’80s, Hoffman decided that he wanted to purchase one of the two 1949 Buick Roadmaster convertibles used in the filming of the movie. Hoffman has owned the car ever since. Director Barry Levinson bought the other one.
‘Rain Man’ Buick
Tennessee School Bans
‘Maus’
A Tennessee school board has voted to remove the Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel “Maus” from an eighth-grade language arts curriculum due to concerns about profanity and an image of female nudity in its depiction of Polish Jews who survived the Holocaust.
The Jan. 10 vote by the McMinn County School Board, which only began attracting attention Wednesday, comes amid a number of battles in school systems around the countries as conservatives target curriculums over teachings about the history of slavery and racism in America.
“I’m kind of baffled by this,” Art Spiegelman, the author of “Maus,” told CNBC in an interview about the unanimous vote by the McMinn board to bar the book, which is about his parents, from continuing to be used in the curriculum.
“It’s leaving me with my jaw open, like, ‘What?’” said Spiegelman, 73, who only learned of the ban after it was the subject of a tweet Wednesday – a day before Holocaust Remembrance Day.
“I also understand that Tennessee is obviously demented,” said Spiegelman. “There’s something going on very, very haywire there.”
‘Maus’
Former Royals Demand Return of Crown Jewels
Italy
Italy's former royal family is demanding the return of their crown jewels, which they lost after the country abolished the monarchy following WWII. The collection has since been held in a vault in the Bank of Italy.
The heirs of the last king of Italy, King Umberto II, have made their first formal request to get the crown jewels back in their possession. Included in the House of Savoy's collection, believed to be worth $300 million, are 6,000 diamonds and 2,000 pearls mounted on tiaras, earrings, brooches and necklaces. An informal request was already rejected by the Bank of Italy in November.
A mediation meeting was held on Tuesday between representatives of the Bank of Italy and lawyers for the Savoys, including Prince Vittorio Emanuele, the son of Umberto II, according to The Telegraph. The meeting was inconclusive.
Italians voted to abolish the monarchy and become a republic in June 1946 after the royal family collaborated with fascist dictator Benito Mussolini and then fled to Rome in 1943 to avoid an invading German army. King Umberto II subsequently fled to Portugal and male heirs of the royal family were banished from Italy until 2002 when parliament voted to end the exile and allow them to return as ordinary citizens. Umberto II died in 1983.
Italy
Tectonic Activity
Earth
Earth is far from a solid mass of rock. The outer layer of our planet – known as the lithosphere – is made up of more than 20 tectonic plates; as these gargantuan slates glide about the face of the planet, we get the movement of continents, and interaction at the boundaries, not least of which is the rise and fall of entire mountain ranges and oceanic trenches.
Yet there's some debate over what causes these giant slabs of rock to move around in the first place.
A newly published study looks to the skies for an explanation. Noting that force rather than heat is most commonly used to move large objects, the authors suggest that the interplay of gravitational forces from the Sun, Moon, and Earth could be responsible for the movement of Earth's tectonic plates.
Key to the hypothesis is the barycenter – the center of mass of an orbiting system of bodies, in this case that of Earth and the Moon. This is the point around which our Moon actually orbits, and it's not directly in the center of mass of our planet, which we call the geocenter.
Instead, the location of the barycenter within Earth changes over the course of the month by as much as 600 kilometers (373 miles) because the Moon's orbit around Earth is elliptical due to our Sun's gravitational pull.
Earth
Oldest Living Aquarium Fish
Methuselah
Meet Methuselah, the fish that likes to eat fresh figs, get belly rubs and is believed to be the oldest living aquarium fish in the world.
In the Bible, Methuselah was Noah’s grandfather and was said to have lived to be 969 years old. Methuselah the fish is not quite that ancient, but biologists at the California Academy of Sciences believe it is about 90 years old, with no known living peers.
Methuselah is a 4-foot-long (1.2-meter), 40-pound (18.1-kilogram) Australian lungfish that was brought to the San Francisco museum in 1938 from Australia.
A primitive species with lungs and gills, Australian lungfish are believed to be the evolutionary link between fish and amphibians.
No stranger to publicity, Methuselah's first appearance in the San Francisco Chronicle was in 1947: “These strange creatures — with green scales looking like fresh artichoke leaves — are known to scientists as a possible ‘missing link’ between terrestrial and aquatic animals."
Methuselah
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