from Bruce
Anecdotes
Martial Arts
• It is easy to be intimidated by people without the power to harm you. Martial arts expert and actor Bruce Lee noticed that this sometimes happened to martial arts student Joe Hyams, so he drew a chalk circle on a driveway, then had Mr. Hyams stand inside the circle. Outside the circle, Mr. Lee made a few martial arts moves. Mr. Hyams stiffened, but Mr. Lee told him he had no reason for fear because as long as Mr. Lee was outside the circle, he wasn’t close enough to harm him. Mr. Lee drew a little closer, and again Mr. Hyams stiffened. Again, Mr. Lee pointed out that he wasn’t close enough to do him any harm. Mr. Lee then jumped inside the circle, and Mr. Hyams moved back. “Good,” said Mr. Lee. “You’ve moved your circle back so that I am no threat to you.” This exercise taught Mr. Hyams to recognize when he was truly threatened and not to worry about mere attempts at intimidation.
Media
• The 1965 Figure Skating World Championships took place in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Back then, figure skating was not recognized as a major sport, and incredibly, only eight accredited media people were present. Although you would expect the figure skaters to do their best to please the media, the head of the Canadian delegation tried to deny them access to Petra Burka after she won her gold medal. Eventually, they managed to speak to her but only for approximately 90 seconds. Following this debacle, figure skater Donald Knight lunched with media representatives Frank Orr and George Gross. Mr. Gross was aggrieved with the process of trying to interview Ms. Burka after her win, so Mr. Knight volunteered to give them his interview right then. He gave the reporters quotes to use if he finished third, as expected; if he got lucky and finished second; if he got really lucky and won the gold medal; and if he messed up and did not win a medal. In other words, Mr. Orr and Mr. Gross had their quotes from Mr. Knight before his event even started. Mr. Orr says, “Ever since then, Don Knight has been one of my favorite athletes.” (Mr. Knight won the bronze medal, as expected.)
• In 1989, figure skating choreographer Sandra Bezic worked on the full-length motion picture Carmen on Ice, where she had some interesting experiences. For one thing, a German actor who played the role of the officer who orders Carmen’s arrest had stated on his resume that he could skate — he lied. For filming, other people had to push him into the scene with just enough force so that he would stop where he was supposed to. For one scene, Katerina Witt, who played Carmen, was supposed to land a triple jump at 4 a.m. She missed the jump 30 times in a row due to exhaustion and rough ice on a smaller-than-normal rink, then she rubbed the bald spot of Ms. Bezic’s husband for good luck. After successfully landing the jump, Ms. Witt said that she had discovered a good-luck charm.
• In Maryland in 1973, Ilie Nastase and Clark Graebner played an Indoor Tennis match at which a Washington Post reporter sat courtside typing in order to write his story and file it by his deadline. The tennis players complained about the noise made by the typewriter, and the tennis fans told the reporter to stop his noisy typing because it distracted the players. However, because of his deadline, the reporter ignored the fans. Eventually, a fan grew so annoyed that he grabbed the reporter’s typewriter and ran away with it.
• John Chapman, drama critic for the New York Daily News, loved Shakespeare. He once started to attend a new production of Henry V at the Shakespeare theater at Stratford, Connecticut, but was surprised to see gymnasts performing on stage. Thinking that he was early for the play, he asked an usher what was being performed on stage, and he was surprised when the usher told him that the performance was Henry V and that it opened with gymnasts. Mr. Chapman replied, “The hell it does,” and then he left the theater.
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Presenting
Michael Egan
U.S.A. took the day off.
has returned to semi-retired status.
In memory.
BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATION
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BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATION OF BANDCAMP MUSIC
Music: "I’m Sick and Tired of Being on My Own"
Album: THIS BOY DON’T CARE
Artist: Mr. David Viner
Artist Location: Norfolk, UK
Info:
“Mr David Viner is an English folk and blues musician from London, England, described by GLORIOUS NOISE online music magazine as ‘an accomplished guitarist, a roguish vocalist and a skillful lyricist.’” — Wikipedia
Price: Name Your Price (Includes FREE)
Genre: Acoustic. Folkabilly. Blues.
Links:
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Mr. David Viner on YouTube
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Current Events
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In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Quiet day at the laundromat-of-the-darned.
Hosted By Sarah Silverman
‘Stupid Pet Tricks’
David Letterman’s “Stupid Pet Tricks” is making a television comeback. TBS has greenlighted a 10-episode half-hour comedy-variety series inspired by the iconic segment Letterman did for three decades on NBC’s Late Night and CBS’ Late Show, with Sarah Silverman as host. The project hails from The Jay & Tony Show’s Jay Blumenfield and Tony Marsh and Letterman’s Worldwide Pants. Blumenfield, Marsh, Letterman, Silverman and Amy Zvi executive produce.
Stupid Pet Tricks, the series, promises to retain all the original segment’s charm, silly fun and appreciation for the often-absurd bond between humans and their animal friends, with Silverman infusing it with a quirky vibe. Each episode will feature a parade of pets performing the most ridiculous, impressive and extraordinary tricks on a studio stage before a live audience, interweaving comedic bits along with games, as pet parents join their furry (or scaley!) friends in the quest to be crowned with the coveted title of Stupidest Trick of the Week. Production on the series will begin in Los Angeles later this year.
“The rule in show business is, ‘never work with animals or children,’ but I choose to work with David Letterman anyway,” said Silverman.
Stupid Pet Tricks fits into TBS’ brand focused on “having a good time” and is part of the ramp-up of unscripted fare on the cable network led by Corie Henson, head of unscripted for TNT, TBS and TruTV, to complement TBS’ original and acquired scripted comedy series as well as sports programming.
Stupid Pet Tricks is executive produced by Blumenfield and Marsh with Worldwide Pants for TBS. Merrill Markoe serves as a consulting producer.
‘Stupid Pet Tricks’
‘South Park’
Casa Bonita
Trey Parker and Matt Stone are fighting for the future of Casa Bonita, or “Mexican Disneyland,” as Eric Cartman would say. The “South Park” creators are in talks to purchase the iconic Colorado restaurant featured in their hit animated series.
The duo shared their plans to buy the original Casa Bonita in an exclusive interview with The Hollywood Reporter Wednesday.
“We want to buy Casa Bonita and treat it right. I feel like it was neglected even before the pandemic,” Parker told the outlet.
“We are absolutely trying to buy it,” he added. “We are going to do everything we can. We want to make it right and make it amazing.”
The company that currently owns Casa Bonita, Summit Family Restaurants, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy back in April. According to Parker, a possible sale is currently in limbo due to ongoing court proceedings.
Casa Bonita
Ending After Season 25
‘Arthur’
Arthur, the longest-running children’s animated series in the history of American television, is set to end with its 25th season.
The iconic children’s series will end on PBS Kids with its final season debuting in the winter of 2022.
The news emerged from an interview with Kathy Waugh, who originally developed the show from the books by Marc Brown, on the Finding DW podcast with Jason Szwimer.
“Arthur is no longer in production. We had our wrap party two years ago,” Waugh told Szwimer. “I think [PBS] made a mistake, and I think Arthur should come back and I’m know I’m not alone in thinking they made a mistake. I don’t know if it was a ratings issue or if it felt like it needed to be retired. To me, it felt evergreen, like it was never going to end but it did end, we finished the last episode, season 25 two years ago.”
‘Arthur’
Jimi Hendrix’s Personal Recording
Joni Mitchell
It’s not a Joni Mitchell/Jimi Hendrix collaboration, per se, but the next best thing, or at least the next oddest thing: A recording of a 1968 Mitchell concert that the legendary guitarist captured from a front row seat has been discovered after decades of being considered lost. And it’s among the unreleased material that’s been rounded up for her next boxed set, “Joni Mitchell Archives Vol. 2: The Reprise Years (1968-1971),” coming in October.
“The Dawntreader,” a track from the Hendrix-recorded set, was released Wednesday to preview the collection.
The five-CD or 10-LP set also includes a complete rendering of Mitchell’s 1969 Carnegie Hall debut, held shortly before she released her second album, “Clouds”; a live 1970 show from London originally broadcast over the BBC; previously unreleased compositions like “Jesus,” captured in a Chelsea apartment in ’69; and alternate takes from the “Ladies of the Canyon” and “Blue” sessions with extra orchestration or instrumentation that was abandoned for the final release versions.
As with the previous boxed set in the series, Mitchell sat for a liner-notes interview with filmmaker/journalist Cameron Crowe, in which she explained the circumstances of how Hendrix came to be an unlikely recording engineer for that occasion.
“They came and told me, ‘Jimi Hendrix is here, and he’s at the front door.’ I went to meet him,” she told Crowe. “He had a large box. He said to me, ‘My name is Jimi Hendrix. I’m on the same label as you. Reprise Records.’ We were both signed about the same time. He said, ‘I’d like to record your show. Do you mind?’ I said, ‘no, not at all.’ There was a large reel-to-reel tape recorder in the box.”
Joni Mitchell
Tipping Point
Climate Change
A new study tracking the planet’s vital signs has found that many of the key indicators of the global climate crisis are getting worse and either approaching, or exceeding, key tipping points as the earth heats up.
Overall, the study found some 16 out of 31 tracked planetary vital signs, including greenhouse gas concentrations, ocean heat content and ice mass, set worrying new records.
“There is growing evidence we are getting close to or have already gone beyond tipping points associated with important parts of the Earth system,” said William Ripple, an ecologist at Oregon State University who co-authored the new research, in a statement.
“The updated planetary vital signs we present largely reflect the consequences of unrelenting business as usual,” said Ripple, adding that “a major lesson from Covid-19 is that even colossally decreased transportation and consumption are not nearly enough and that, instead, transformational system changes are required.”
While the pandemic shut down economies and shifted the way people think about work, school and travel, it did little to reduce the overall global carbon emissions. Fossil fuel use dipped slightly in 2020, but the authors of a report published in the journal BioScience say that carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide “have all set new year-to-date records for atmospheric concentrations in both 2020 and 2021”.
Climate Change
Capitol Riot Arrest Rattles Hometown
Kane, PA
A crank caller ordered an “insurrection pizza” from Pauline Bauer’s restaurant. A profane piece of hate mail addressed her as a domestic terrorist. She even became a punchline for Stephen Colbert’s late-night talk show on CBS.
A swift backlash greeted Capitol riot suspects like Bauer when they returned to their homes across the U.S. after joining the mob that stormed past police barricades, smashed windows and disrupted the certification of Joe Biden’s presidential victory on Jan. 6. Relatives, friends or co-workers reported scores of them to the FBI. Some lost jobs. Others lost their freedom, jailed awaiting trials.
In Bauer’s hometown in rural Pennsylvania, her arrest and that of a longtime friend have rekindled partisan bickering, more often on social media than on street corners, some residents say. As Bauer and William Blauser Jr. fight the charges in court, many in the town of Kane have struggled to comprehend how two of their neighbors could be among the hundreds of Trump loyalists bent on overturning the election that day.
Bauer tries to shrug off the scorn from strangers, but acknowledges her actions have angered some in her community.
Before the riot, most Kane residents knew Bauer for the deep-dish pizza and ice cream she has been serving since she bought the restaurant 15 years ago. That began to change as the coronavirus pandemic temporarily closed her business along with many others in the small town on the edge of the 517,000-acre Allegheny National Forest.
Kane, PA
UNESCO’s Heritage List
Bologna
Bologna’s extensive porticoes, dating back to the 13th century and still very much part of the city’s everyday life, have been added to the World Heritage List.
At a meeting in China on Wednesday, the World Heritage Committee of UNESCO, the U.N. culture agency, inscribed the porticoes on the prestigious list.
The addition raised to 58 the number of Italian sites on the list. Earlier this month, the northeastern city of Padua, noted for its early 14th-century Giotto frescoes in the Scrovegni Chapel, and Montecatini Terme, a well-preserved thermal spa town in Tuscany, also made the list.
The medieval porticoes are a cherished meeting place for Bologna’s residents, sheltering them from the sun and rain and serving as a crossroads of civic life. The city’s porticoes cover some 62 kilometers (37 miles). Some of the structures were built from wood while others used stone or brick.
Bologna
Tip Of A Sunken Continent?
Iceland
Iceland may be the last exposed remnant of a nearly Texas-size continent — called Icelandia — that sank beneath the North Atlantic Ocean about 10 million years ago, according to a new theory proposed by an international team of geophysicists and geologists.
The theory goes against long-standing ideas about the formation of Iceland and the North Atlantic, but the researchers say the theory explains both the geological features of the ocean floor and why Earth's crust beneath Iceland is so much thicker than it should be. Outside experts not affiliated with the research told Live Science they are skeptical that Icelandia exists based on the evidence collected so far.
Even so, if geological studies prove the theory, the radical new idea of a sunken continent could have implications for the ownership of any fuels found beneath the seafloor, which under international law belong to a country that can show their continental crust extends that far.
The North Atlantic region was once entirely dry land that made up the supercontinent of Pangaea from about 335 million to 175 million years ago, Foulger said. Geologists have long thought that the basin of the North Atlantic Ocean formed as Pangaea began to break up 200 million years ago and that Iceland formed about 60 million years ago above a volcanic plume near the center of the ocean.
According to the new theory, Pangaea didn't split apart cleanly, and the lost continent of Icelandia remained as an unbroken strip of dry land at least 200 miles (300 kilometers) wide that stayed above the waves until about 10 million years ago, Foulger said. Eventually, the eastern and western ends of Icelandia also sank, and only Iceland remained, she said.
Iceland
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