Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Purl | Pixar SparkShorts (YouTube)
Purl, directed by Kristen Lester and produced by Gillian Libbert-Duncan, features an earnest ball of yarn named Purl who gets a job in a fast-paced, high energy, bro-tastic start-up. Yarny hijinks ensue as she tries to fit in, but how far is she willing to go to get the acceptance she yearns for, and in the end, is it worth it?
Garrison Keillor: Winter is winter, it's not the tribulation
The beauty of winter, aside from aesthetics, is the fact that we go through it all together. In Minnesota, where I live, it's universal. I am a left-wing Democrat and support the idea of equality though I don't practice it, and so this appeals to the egalitarian in me. On a minus-forty day in Minneapolis, when I walk into the grocery store, I feel comradeship. … by God, we have all felt the wind in our face and ice underfoot and we look around with a sense of kinship. We are citizens of winter. For all its faults, it has blessings to bestow. Praise God.
Jonathan Jones: Velvet Buzzsaw is a fiendish portrait of art-world avarice - but is it realistic? (The Guardian)
In Netflix's new showpiece, Jake Gyllenhaal sells his soul to an LA art scene full of grime, crime and flesh-eating sculptures. 'It's 100% accurate,' says its director.
Jonathan Jones: "Leonardo da Vinci: A Life in Drawing review - the superhuman hits you like a thunderbolt" (The Guardian)
It was in Cardiff that I finally cracked the Da Vinci Code. For years I've been searching for the clues that would explain this weird and wonderful genius. I've visited the Tuscan hill town Vinci, where an illegitimate boy called Leonardo was born in 1452, and Amboise in the Loire Valley, where he died on 2 May 1519, looking for traces of his secret self. Yet it was on an icy afternoon in the Welsh capital that I finally found the killer clue to a real Leonardo da Vinci mystery: his sex life.
Kim Liao: What Collecting 100 Rejections Taught Me About Creative Failure (LitHub.com)
My official New Year's resolution, this year, was to drink more water. My unofficial (i.e., secret and therefore unenforceable) New Year's resolution was to lose some weight before my wedding this summer. My super-unofficial-very-secret-and-even-embarrassing New Year's resolution was to become more accepting of rejection and creative failure in my writing.
Nick Ripatrazone: IS LINE EDITING A LOST ART? (LitHub.com)
"A GREAT TEACHER IS A GIFT. A GREAT LINE EDITOR IS A MIRACLE."
Alexandra Petri: "Other euphemisms for 'people of means'" (Washington Post)
Howard Schultz's awkward decision during an interview with CNBC to reframe a derogatory statement about "billionaires" as criticizing "people of means" has earned a fair amount of mockery. Is "billionaire," as Schultz suggests, a "catchphrase" now? Should it be avoided in favor of gentler terms? Well, if this is what we're doing, some further euphemisms follow: …
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Presenting
Michael Egan
wrote:
has returned to semi-retired status.
In memory.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
David E Suggests
PAYING
David
Thanks, Dave!
Bonus Links
Jeannie the Teed-Off Temp
from Bruce
Anecdotes - Fans
• The world-famous opera singer Leo Slezak was a stamp collector. He once met a man who told him that he too was a stamp collector and that he could show Mr. Slezak some interesting specimens. Intrigued, Mr. Slezak took the stranger's card and later visited him. Unfortunately, it turned out that the stranger wasn't a stamp collector at all, but had contrived this as a way to get a celebrity to visit him and his family. Having trapped Mr. Slezak into visiting him, the stranger asked for free tickets to a concert and then tried to sell him insurance. After that, Mr. Slezak kept his hobby a secret from the public.
• Baseball scoreboards put up tons of information, including the batting average of the batter. In 1986, St. Louis Cardinal manager Whitey Herzog decided that this was hurting the team - four of his regular players were embarrassed because they were hitting under .200. However, the idea didn't work. Fans noticed that the scoreboard was no longer displaying batting averages, so whenever a player came to bat, a fan would hold up a placard bearing that player's batting average.
• George Majerkurth was an early umpire whom many fans loved because of his fighting ability. Once, a baseball fan who didn't like him threw a soda pop bottle at him. The fan missed, but Mr. Majerkurth picked up the bottle, threw it, and hit the fan in the shoulder. On another occasion, Mr. Majerkurth got into a fight with a fan and punched him. As a result, he was fined, but the other fans took up a collection to pay his fine.
• Carol Klein was a young superfan who followed a singing group called the Tokens all over Brooklyn. Wherever the Tokens were performing, young Carol was sure to be there. Tokens member Neil Sedaka even wrote a song titled "Oh! Carol" and dedicated it to her. Years later, Carol Klein had become singer/songwriter Carol King, and she wrote a song titled "Oh! Neil" and dedicated it to him.
• Saul Bellow had a well-hidden house in Vermont, which was a retreat away from everything - until a member of The Saul Bellow Society tracked him down. Mr. Bellow was busy writing one day in his woodsy studio when he looked up to see a woman who began to describe how she had tracked him down. However, Mr. Bellow was not interested in the details - he ordered her off his property.
• Umpire Beans Reardon once made a mistake. Richie Ashburn slid into second base and Billy Cox attempted to tag him. Beans yelled "Safe," but at the same time he flung his arm in the "Out" gesture. Mr. Ashburn asked, "What the hell does that mean?" Mr. Reardon replied, "Richie, you know you're safe. Billy, you know he's safe. But 30,000 fans see my arm. Richie, you're out."
• In 1961, the Philadelphia Phillies lost 23 straight games. As the baseball players departed from a plane in Philadelphia following a lengthy road trip, they found some fans waiting for them. Pitcher Frank Sullivan advised his teammates to "leave the plane in single file. That way they can't get us with one burst." Fortunately, the fans weren't there to wreak havoc; instead, they welcomed the players with a show of support.
• The poet John Greenleaf Whittier disliked celebrity hunters. Once he was in a store talking with the owner when a woman came in and asked if he could tell her when the famous poet John Greenleaf Whittier lived. Mr. Whittier pointed to his own house, which was across the street. Then he made sure to keep away from his house until the celebrity hunter had left the vicinity.
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© Copyright Bruce D. Bruce; All Rights Reserved
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Reader Comment
Current Events
Women in white
Friend Janet shared the link below--great background on all the democratic women (and at least one man) wearing white to the SOTU:
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
JD is on vacation.
Visit JD's site - Kitty Litter Music
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Beautiful sunny day, but about 15° cooler than seasonal.
Hollywood Walk O' Fame Star
Pink
Pink was her usual badass self as she accepted her Hollywood Walk of Fame star on Tuesday morning.
"This is surreal," the artist said to the crowd of people who came out to see her in Los Angeles. "I feel like a lot of people probably only thought I'd make it to the walk of shame, but here I am."
Comedian Ellen DeGeneres introduced Pink, who was joined by her husband, Carey Hart, and two children, Jameson Moon and Willow Sage. In her acceptance speech, Pink talked about staying true to herself as one of the main reasons she is where she is today.
Pink reflected on her two-decade career in a recent interview with Variety, telling the outlet that her love for different types of music has helped her stand out over the years.
"I have been through many different phases in my life," she said. "I was a little girl that loved Debbie Gibson. Mary J. Blige was the first cassette I bought. I liked 2 Live Crew. I liked Green Day. I loved 'Les Miserables' and 'Phantom of the Opera.' I liked everything and I think my music reflects that. I was the [only white artist] at an all-black label at a time when Toni Braxton, TLC and that awesome Atlanta sound was happening, but I also loved Linda Perry and 4 Non-Blondes."
Pink
Forever Stamp
Gregory Hines
The U.S. Postal Service introduced the Gregory Hines Forever Stamp at the Buffalo Academy of Visual and Performing Arts on Tuesday night.
Hines was a performer who danced, sang and acted on Broadway and on the screen. He is credited with renewing interest in tap during the 1990s.
The stamp is the 42nd issued in the Black Heritage series by the U.S. Post Office as a celebration of Black History Month.
Gregory Hines
Renewed For Seasons 31 and 32
'The Simpsons'
The Simpsons has been renewed by Fox for a 31st and 32nd season, which will bring them to a record-shattering 713 episodes by the end of the deal. "Woo hoo! 32 Seasons!" Homer Simpson said in a statement. "Watch your back Meet the Press."
And while they're likely to never catch up to the 70 season run of Meet The Press, The Simpsons is still the longest running scripted prime-time series in the history of American television. They pulled ahead of Gunsmoke in April of 2018, though the classic Western was an hour long for much of its 20 year run and thus has still created far more hours of television than The Simpsons.
The Simpsons began its life as a series of animated shorts on The Tracey Ullman Show in April 1987. It became its own series on Fox in December 1989 and quickly became one of the fledgling network's signature hits, spawning a seemingly endless stream of t-shirts, stuffed animals and other bits of merchandise that generated a fortune for Fox and the show's creators.
Ratings are down significantly down from the early days of the show and many fans say it has been a steep creative decline for the last two decades, but it still reliably pulls in between 3 and 8 million viewers per episode. The voice actors behind the core characters are also still around, even though Harry Shearer - who voices Mr. Burns, Ned Flanders, Principal Skinner, Waylon Smithers and many others - nearly left in 2015 following a pay dispute.
'The Simpsons'
'Complications From the Flu'
Ozzy Osbourne
Ozzy Osbourne has been hospitalized.
The 70-year-old Black Sabbath rocker's health took a turn for the worse after complications from the flu, his wife, Sharon Osbourne, revealed on Twitter on Wednesday. The news comes a week after Ozzy announced to fans that he would be postponing his No More Tours 2 tour following his flu diagnosis.
"As some of you may have heard, Ozzy was admitted to hospital following some complications from the flu. His doctors feel this is the best way to get him on a quicker road to recovery," Sharon explained. "Thanks to everyone for their concern and love."
Ozzy's team announced last week that on doctor's orders, he was unable to begin the European and U.K. legs of his tour.
Ozzy himself also released a personal statement to his fans about the situation, writing on Facebook, "I'm completely devastated for having to postpone the European leg of my tour. It just seems that since October everything I touch has turned to s**t. First the staph infection in my thumb and now coming down with the flu and bronchitis."
Ozzy Osbourne
Bryan Singer's Name Removed From Nomination
BAFTA
The BAFTA awards has suspended the nomination for Bryan Singer for his work on the film "Bohemian Rhapsody," the British Academy announced Wednesday.
"Bohemian Rhapsody" was nominated for seven awards, and Singer's name was listed along with producer Graham King and writer Anthony McCarten for its nomination for Outstanding British Film. King and McCarten's names will still be listed as nominees for the film.
"In light of recent very serious allegations, BAFTA has informed Bryan Singer that his nomination for 'Bohemian Rhapsody' has been suspended, effective immediately," BAFTA said in a statement. "BAFTA considers the alleged behavior completely unacceptable and incompatible with its values. This has led to Mr Singer's suspended nomination. BAFTA notes Mr Singer's denial of the allegations. The suspension of his nomination will therefore remain in place until the outcome of the allegations has been resolved. BAFTA believes everyone has the right to a fulfilling career in a safe, professional working environment, and it will continue to collaborate with the film, games and television industries to achieve this."
Singer was accused by five men of either seducing them or rape when they were underage boys in a piece published in January by The Atlantic. Singer said in a statement that the article was a "homophobic smear piece."
Singer was fired from "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Fox weeks before the film completed shooting due to Singer's "unexpected unavailability" and later closed his offices on their lot. Singer said he was fired because the studio would not give him time to care for a sick parent.
BAFTA
Given Category Designation Like Hurricanes
Atmospheric Rivers
Nothing is more frightening than the term 'atmospheric river' being used on an evening newscast to forewarn of an approaching winter storm.
The torrential rains, roaring winds and blinding snowstorms that accompany storms hurled into Northern California from the Pacific Ocean by atmospheric rivers have caused death and destruction over the years.
So scientists have finally decided it was time to create a rating system much like those used to warn of hurricanes to help prepare residents for the intensity of the oncoming storms.
"If there's an atmospheric river coming, is it going to be a big scary one or a helpful one?" Marty Ralph, director of UC Diego's the Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes told the East Bay Times. "The scale can help answer that question."
The new scale ranks atmospheric rivers from 1 to 5 and creates the categories "weak," "moderate," "strong," "extreme," and "exceptional." It uses amounts of water vapor within an atmospheric river as its basis and a period of 24 to 48 hours as its standard measurement of duration.
Atmospheric Rivers
Snack Time
Bear
Park officials say an autopsy found that a man whose body was discovered being eaten by a bear in Great Smoky Mountains National Park in September died of accidental methamphetamine intoxication, not a bear attack.
A park news release Monday says officials decided to euthanize the bear that was feeding on the body of 30-year-old William Lee Hill Jr., of Louisville, Tennessee.
Officials say they didn't know the definitive cause of death at the time, but decided to euthanize a few days later for public safety reasons after consulting with wildlife professionals and further understanding the bear's aggressive behavior.
Officials estimate 1,500 bears are in the park along the Tennessee-North Carolina border, and though very few show aggressive behavior toward humans, bears that pose a threat to visitor safety are euthanized on rare occasions.
Bear
Understand Mathematics
Bees
Bees are able to grasp basic mathematical ideas, according to a new study, which suggests a small brain may not mean low intelligence.
After training a group of the pollinating insects scientists at the French National Centre for Scientific Research found they were able to perform addition and subtraction.
These abilities require animals to carry out intricate processes in their brains, remembering complex rules while applying them to new situations.
Maths was therefore long thought an ability unique to humans, but in recent years experiments have shown the skill is found across the animal kingdom.
Chimpanzees, parrots and pigeons are just some of the creatures that have demonstrated the capacity to add and subtract.
Bees
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