Garrison Keillor: Hors d'oeuvres! Hors d'oeuvres in the house!
The NRA has five million members. The Mormon church has six and a half million. If it pays enough money, will the Republicans bring back polygamy? If the Emotional Support Animal Association ponies up the cash, will Congress vote to allow llamas in restaurants? If the American Sunbathing Association fights for nudity as a basic First Amendment right and plunks down $30 million to the RNC, will POTUS come out on the White House drive and appear before the cameras wearing his Make American Naked Again cap? Do you think this POTUS is incapable of such a thing? Really?
Paul Waldman: "A shocking CNN scoop confirms: Officials are defending our country from Trump" (Washington Post)
Try to imagine something similar happening with any other president from either party. Imagine American intelligence officials saying "We'd better exfiltrate this spy we have in the Kremlin before the president tells the Russians about him" if the president was Obama or Bush or Clinton or Reagan or Nixon or any other. You can't do it. It's in part because of events such as this one that I'm certain history will judge Trump to be the worst president America has had in 230 years.
Jim Sciutto: "Exclusive: US extracted top spy from inside Russia in 2017" (CNN)
In a previously undisclosed secret mission in 2017, the United States successfully extracted from Russia one of its highest-level covert sources inside the Russian government, multiple Trump administration officials with direct knowledge told CNN. A person directly involved in the discussions said that the removal of the Russian was driven, in part, by concerns that President Donald Trump and his administration repeatedly mishandled classified intelligence and could contribute to exposing the covert source as a spy.
A favorite from my childhood, this sandwich is particularly popular in New England and has been proposed as the official state sandwich of Massachusetts. What is it called?
A top 20 hit for Tony Bennett in its original 1951 version, the most successful recording of this song was by Bobby Vinton in 1963, when it reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on 21 September 1963 and remained there for two more weeks. What is the title of this popular song?
"Blue Velvet" is a popular song written and composed in 1950 by Bernie Wayne and Lee Morris. A top 20 hit for Tony Bennett in its original 1951 version, the song has since been re-recorded many times, with a 1963 version by Bobby Vinton reaching No. 1.
The most successful recording of "Blue Velvet" was released by Bobby Vinton in 1963. Vinton's version reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on 21 September 1963 and remained at No. 1 for the subsequent two weeks. "Blue Velvet" also afforded Vinton a No. 1 hit on the U.S. Middle-Road Singles chart, where its No. 1 tenure was eight weeks.
Source
Dave said:
Blue Velvet. Unusual for a pop singer, Bobby Vinton had a college degree in musical composition. Besides "Blue Velvet," teen idol Bobby Vinton also scored #1 hits with "Roses are Red (My Love)," "There I've Said it Again," and "Mr. Lonely." "There I've Said it Again" was succeeded in the #1 spot by The Beatles first #1, "I Wanna Hold Your Hand." Although the #1 hits ended with the British Invasion, Vinton continued to chart singles and albums in the top 20 throughout the '60s and well into the '70s. Later on Vinton opened his own theater in Branson, Missouri which he sold in 2002. Vinton retired from performing in 2015, and lives in Florida.
Photos: Bobby Vinton in his teen idol phase | later on he updated his wardrobe and hairstyle
zorch responded:
Blue Velvet was a hit for both
Mac Mac replied:
Blue Velvet
Cal in Vermont wrote:
Blue Velvet. Lotsa Blue Something Or Other over time. Also, it is spelled "bleu" in French and, as a committed Anglophone, is hilarious to say in the manner of French persons.
Deborah responded:
I'm thinking it's "Blue Velvet." Nice diversion on an otherwise somber day.
Kevin K. in Washington, DC, replied:
The song was "Blue Velvet".
Daniel in The City said:
Blue Velvet
Rosemary in Columbus wrote:
Blue Velvet
Michelle in AZ answered:
Blue Velvet
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• Matt Groening, who is most famous for his long-running series of panel cartoons Life in Hell and for TV's Simpsons, is a music lover. As a young man, he loved some kinds of music that drove other people away. He says, "If my friends and I could drive people from the room when we put a record on, that was great." Another favorite activity was attending punk concerts, sitting in the balcony, and watching the audience: "To this day, there's nothing funnier than watching people being outraged by being bumped into while everybody else is slamming." For a while, he worked as a music journalist. He would recommend albums that no one would buy, and eventually he started making up band names and reviewing non-existent albums. One of the band names he invented was Chatterbox Punch Gruffy.
• When author Wilborn Hampton was a young person, he and some kids from the neighborhood played Elvis Presley's new RCA record "Heartbreak Hotel" in a backyard. He and the neighborhood kids danced to the music. Suddenly, a neighbor lady opened her door and yelled, "Jezebels! You should all be ashamed of yourselves! That music is evil!" Then she went back inside. Wilborn and the others turned down the volume of the music a little and kept dancing. Certainly, people - especially females - reacted to Elvis strongly. Very early in Elvis' career, Mae Axton, a publicist for Colonel Thomas A. Parker, asked a girl who had been jumping up and down and squealing while Elvis sang, "Honey, what is it about this kid?" The girl replied, "He's just a great big beautiful hunk of forbidden fruit."
• Joey Ramones, lead singer of the Ramones, was very likeable. In Japan, he went backstage at a Bob Dylan concert, and at that time people obeyed a backstage rule that stated, "Don't even look at him." Supposedly, people were required to stay away from Mr. Dylan and definitely not make eye contact. Best was simply to go into a room and shut the door if you saw Mr. Dylan coming down the backstage hallway. However, when Mr. Dylan saw Joey, he walked over to him and said, "Hey, Joey, my kids love your music."
• Small things can make a fan happy. Jazz enthusiast and photographer Duncan Schiedt was once in a Fifty-Second Coffee Shop in New York when Sidney Bechet, who played clarinet and soprano saxophone in jazz groups, sat beside him, listened to the jukebox, and asked, "What's the name of that tune they're playing?" Mr. Schiedt answered, "Dill Pickles." Many years later, Mr. Schiedt says that "etched in my mind is the small pride I carried away from the event!"
• All copies of the December 1989 issue of Sassy, a magazine for North American teenage girls, contained a flexidisc of R.E.M. covering the song "Dark Globe" by Syd Barrett. Sassy editor Jane Pratt walked by Tower Records and was happy to see that every copy of Sassy had been sold - until she noticed a trashcan filled with copies of Sassy. R.E.M. fans had bought Sassy, thrown away the magazine, and kept the flexidisc.
• YouTube allows viewers to press a button to indicate whether they like or dislike a video. For example, when a video of the excellent A Touch of Class pop song "I'm in Heaven (When You Kiss Me)" was given over 1,500 likes and 24 dislikes. ATC fan Gemgurllove has a very plausible explanation for the 24 dislikes. She commented, "24 people were [so] busy pressing the replay button they pressed the wrong button!"
I adored my mother--she was the finest human being I have ever known. The words that filled me with terror--hearing Momma quietly say "You will regret this."
Predator should be filled with terror now! Bolton--"I will have my say in due course."
Shudder! And I haven't even done anything. But NOOOOO idiot Predator had to spew word salad today throwing Bolton under the bus while simultaneously claiming that he's good friends (still) with Bolton AND that he's a "tough guy." (And Bolton's a wimp?)
OMG--just now Predator was rambling on about vaping--"Melania has a son..." Melania has a son?! Isn't Barron HIS son?! Does he not remember Barron's name?!
Linda >^..^<
We are all only temporarily able bodied.
CBS opens the night with a RERUN'Young Sheldon', followed by another RERUN'Young Sheldon', then a FRESH'Big Brother', followed by a RERUN'FBI'.
Scheduled on a FRESHStephen Colbert are Jake Tapper and Jon Lovett.
Scheduled on a FRESHJames Corden, OBE, are Ed Helms, June Diane Raphael, and 5 Seconds of Summer.
NBC begins the night with a RERUN'Superstore', followed by another RERUN'Superstore', then a RERUN'The Good Place', followed by another RERUN'The Good Place', then a RERUN'L&O: SVU'.
Scheduled on a FRESHJimmy Fallon are Jennifer Garner, Jim Jefferies, and Megan Thee Stallion.
Scheduled on a FRESHSeth Meyers are Wendy Williams, Kaitlyn Dever, Eric Holder, and Terri Lyne Carrington.
On a RERUNCarson 'The Scab' Daly (from 11/15/18) are Jameela Jamil, Lily Allen, and Erica Rhodes.
ABC fills the night with LIVE'ABC News Demo Debate', then pads the left coast with local crap.
Scheduled on a FRESHJimmy Kimmel are Sean Penn, Danielle Macdonald, and Green Day.
The CW offers a FRESH'The Outpost', followed by a FRESH'Two Sentence Horror Stories', then a RERUN'Two Sentence Horror Stories'.
Faux fills the night with LIVE'MLB Baseball', then pads the left coast with local crap.
MY recycles an old 'The Good Wife', followed by another old 'The Good Wife'.
A&E has all old 'Live PD Presents: PD Cam' all night.
AMC offers the movie 'Jaws 2', followed by the movie 'Pearl Harbor'.
BBC -
[6:00AM] STAR TREK: VOYAGER - SEASON 7 - EPISODE 1-Unimatrix Zero, Pt. 2
[7:00AM] STAR TREK: VOYAGER - SEASON 7 - EPISODE 2-Imperfection
[8:00AM] STAR TREK: VOYAGER - SEASON 7 - EPISODE 3-Drive
[9:00AM] STAR TREK: VOYAGER - SEASON 7 - EPISODE 4-Repression
[10:00AM] STAR TREK: VOYAGER - SEASON 7 - EPISODE 5-Critical Care
[11:00AM] STAR TREK: VOYAGER - SEASON 7 - EPISODE 6-Inside Man
[12:00PM] STAR TREK: VOYAGER - SEASON 7 - EPISODE 7-Body and Soul
[1:00PM] STAR TREK: VOYAGER - SEASON 7 - EPISODE 8-Nightingale
[2:00PM] STAR TREK: VOYAGER - SEASON 7 - EPISODE 9-Flesh and Blood, Pt. 1
[3:00PM] STAR TREK: VOYAGER - SEASON 7 - EPISODE 10-Flesh and Blood, Pt. 2
[4:00PM] STAR TREK: VOYAGER - SEASON 7 - EPISODE 11-Shattered
[5:00PM] STAR TREK: VOYAGER - SEASON 7 - EPISODE 12-Lineage
[6:00PM] STAR TREK: VOYAGER - SEASON 7 - EPISODE 13-Repentance
[7:00PM] STAR TREK: VOYAGER - SEASON 7 - EPISODE 14-Prophecy
[8:00PM] VEGAS VACATION (1997)
[10:00PM] VEGAS VACATION (1997)
[12:00AM] REAL GENIUS (1985)
[2:30AM] A BRONX TALE (1993)
[5:00AM] DIRK GENTLY'S HOLISTIC DETECTIVE AGENCY - SEASON 1 - EPISODE 7-Weaponized Soul (ALL TIMES EDT)
Bravo has 'Million Dollar Listing NY', another 'Million Dollar Listing NY', followed by a FRESH'Million Dollar Listing NY', 'Below Deck Mediterranean', then a FRESH'Watch What Happens Live'.
FX has the movie 'The Fate Of The Furious', followed by a FRESH'Mr Inbetween', then it repeats
History has 'Pawn Stars', 'Ax Men', followed by a FRESH'Ax Men', then a FRESH'Knife Or Death'.
IFC -
[6:00A] Night Flight - Art Pop and Rock Muses
[6:15A] Night Flight - The Who and the Damned
[6:30A] Night Flight - The Heartbreakers
[6:45A] Planet of the Apes
[9:15A] A Night at the Roxbury
[11:15A] The Incredible Burt Wonderstone
[1:30P] Drillbit Taylor
[4:00P] The Cable Guy
[6:00P] The Campaign
[8:00P] Knocked Up
[11:00P] The Campaign
[1:00A] Drillbit Taylor
[3:30A] Revenge of the Nerds IV: Nerds in Love
[5:30A] Sherman's Showcase - Ray J's Showcase (ALL TIMES EDT)
Sundance -
[6:20am] The Andy Griffith Show
[6:55am] The Andy Griffith Show
[7:30am] The Andy Griffith Show
[8:05am] The Andy Griffith Show
[8:40am] The Andy Griffith Show
[9:15am] The Andy Griffith Show
[9:45am] The Andy Griffith Show
[10:15am] The Andy Griffith Show
[10:45am] The Andy Griffith Show
[11:15am] The Andy Griffith Show
[11:45am] Carrie
[2:00pm] Enough
[4:00pm] Law & Order
[5:00pm] Law & Order
[6:00pm] Law & Order
[7:00pm] Law & Order
[8:00pm] Law & Order
[9:00pm] Law & Order
[10:00pm] Law & Order
[11:00pm] Law & Order
[12:00am] This Close featured - Look Both Ways
[12:33am] This Close - No Place Like Home
[1:15am] Law & Order
[2:15am] Law & Order
[3:15am] The Mary Tyler Moore Show
[3:50am] The Mary Tyler Moore Show
[4:25am] The Mary Tyler Moore Show
[5:00am] The Mary Tyler Moore Show
[5:35am] The Mary Tyler Moore Show (ALL TIMES EDT)
SyFy has the movie 'Edge Of Tomorrow', followed by the movie 'Mad Max: Fury Road'.
TBS:
On a RERUNConan (from 8/19/19) is Gerard Butler.
The History Channel has dropped out of a planned documentary of the notorious killer as plans for the exhumation of his body remain in limbo.
A&E Networks spokesman Dan Silberman told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the The History Channel is no longer involved in the documentary, which aimed to feature the raising of the gangster's remains.
Two Dillinger relatives had obtained a state permit to exhume the gravesite, claiming there is evidence that Dillinger's body may not be buried there. However, Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis has resisted the plan, and Dillinger's nephew Michael Thompson has filed a lawsuit to force the exhumation.
"Thompson has sound reason to believe the individual buried in Crown Hill in Lot 94 Section 44 may have been misidentified as his uncle at the time of death and burial, and therefore seeks to disinter the remains in order to confirm his identity by forensic scientific examinations," read the lawsuit obtained by TV station Fox 59.
James Cameron's "Avatar" and "Titanic" held the top two spots at the worldwide box office for nearly 10 years, but this summer "Avengers: Endgame" ended the filmmaker's long reign. The Marvel superhero epic finished its run with $2.796 billion to become the world's highest grossing movie (unadjusted for inflation), pushing Cameron into the second and third positions on the list. Cameron congratulated Marvel and Disney for the achievement at the time, but in a new interview with Deadline expanded on his views about no longer holding the all-time box office record. In what may come as a surprise, the infamously competitive Cameron said he is relieved he no longer holds the top spot.
"It gives me a lot of hope," Cameron said, "'Avengers: Endgame' is demonstrable proof that people will still go to movie theaters. The thing that scared me most about making 'Avatar 2' and 'Avatar 3' was that the market might have shifted so much that it simply was no longer possible to get people that excited about going and sitting in a dark room with a bunch of strangers to watch something."
For Cameron, "Avengers: Endgame" was proof the theatrical experience is still alive and well. If "Endgame" was able to earn record-breaking money at the box office, then the door is not closed on his long-delayed "Avatar" sequels to do the same.
"Avatar" opened in 2009 at the height of the 3D reemergence and became a box office phenomenon because the theater was the only place to fully experience Cameron's movie. "I'm all about the big screen," Cameron said. "Not that I wouldn't do something for streaming where you can get into the characters in a different way but what I love the most to do is to create that completely kind of subsuming experience where you turn off your phone and you engage. You as an audience member engage for two hours or two and a half hours, whatever it is. And that still exists!"
"Endgame" proves people will come out in large numbers to see a movie in theaters, but will audiences be interested in "Avatar" over a decade after the original hit theaters? The giant time gap in between the "Avatar" movies is the biggest hurdle Cameron faces, and he'll have to get people to remember what made the original so special if he plans to have "Avatar 2" break records. The second "Avatar" film will be released by Disney on December 17, 2021, with 'Avatar 3' arriving on December 22, 2023.
Fox has reached a settlement over the long-running profit participation lawsuit with "Bones" stars David Boreanaz and Emily Deschanel, executive producer Barry Josephson and Kathy Reichs, the forensic anthropologist whose books inspired the show.
Both parties filed dismissal papers in Los Angeles Superior Court on Wednesday, which brings an end to the ongoing lawsuit that was first filed in 2015. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed.
The dispute centered on the license fees that the Fox network, Fox's foreign affiliates and the streaming service Hulu - in which 21st Century Fox has a stake - paid to 20th Century Fox for the rights to air or stream the series. "Bones" aired on Fox from 2005 to 2017.
In February, arbitrator Peter Lichtman slapped Fox with a $179 million judgment, one of the largest rulings of its kind in television history, arguing that that Fox had committed "breach of contract, fraud, and tortious interference with contract" regarding profit participation. He further called out former Fox execs Peter Rice, Dana Walden and Gary Newman, whom he said "appear to have given false testimony in an attempt to conceal their wrongful acts."
In May, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge overturned the $128 million in punitive damages, leaving in place the remaining $50 million portion of the monetary award. At the time, lawyers for Deschanel, Boreanaz and Reichs said they planned to appeal the ruling against punitive damages to a higher court.
Podcaster Stitcher is launching Office Ladies, billed as "the ultimate podcast for nostalgic fans of NBC's The Office," thanks to the presence of two of the stars of the comedy series, Jenna Fischer (who played Pam Beesly) and Angela Kinsey (Angela Martin).
Office Ladies premieres October 16 on Stitcher's comedy network, Earwolf, home to podcasts including Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend, Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness, How Did This Get Made? and Comedy Bang! Bang!
Each week, Fischer and Kinsey break down an episode of The Office and give behind-the-scenes stories that only two people who were there would know. While watching the show that made them best friends, they will reminisce, share memories and answer questions from fans.
The show will be available for listeners on Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Spotify and anywhere podcasts are available.
A just-released book by the Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalists who helped uncover Harvey Weinstein's alleged predatory behavior is revealing new details about the disgraced film producer and his legal team's efforts to discredit the women coming forward with allegations of sexual misconduct. She Said, by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey of the New York Times, includes a memo Weinstein received from attorney Lisa Bloom, in which she shared her strategy for portraying accuser Rose McGowan as a "pathological liar."
The memo sent by Bloom, a prominent civil rights attorney who worked as a legal adviser to Weinstein before stepping down in October 2017, has gone viral after journalist Yashar Ali posted it on Twitter. In it, Bloom outlines her suggestions for casting doubt on McGowan's rape accusation while rehabilitating Weinstein's image with women. These include befriending the former Charmed star in order to work out a deal; planting stories in the press that prey on the actress's mental health and paint her as "unglued"; setting up a "Weinstein Foundation" to promote gender equality in Hollywood; and undercutting the allegations against him with a televised interview in which he discusses "evolving on women's issues" without conceding guilt.
"This will be headline-grabbing if you express genuine contrition for anyone who hurt you, while emphasizing it was always adult consensual behavior," the memo reads.
Elsewhere, Bloom tells Weinstein to "be the hero of your story, not the villain," and touts her credentials as a civil rights attorney who has represented a number of women in high-profile sexual misconduct cases - experience she says she can use to undermine those making "nasty, unfounded, hurtful rumors."
"I feel equipped to help you against the Roses of the world, because I have represented so many of them," she writes. "They start out as impressive, bold women, but the more one presses for evidence, the weaknesses and lies are revealed."
We've confirmed reports from this afternoon that Viacom is in the lead for a portion of the Miramax library, though no deal is done and talks are ongoing. This comes in the wake of Lionsgate withdrawing its bid to focus on growing its core business.
That said, Lionsgate's current worldwide home entertainment rights deal (packaged and digital) to the Miramax library, which it has had for the past seven years, remains intact. We understand that 30%-50% of the Miramax film library is up for sale as owner beIN Media Group seeks to maintain a controlling stake in the 700-title library built by Harvey and Bob Weinstein that includes Pulp Fiction and Best Picture Oscar winners Shakespeare in Love, The English Patient and Chicago. Reports peg the value of that stake at around $100M.
When news broke back in June about beIN's interest in selling a portion of the library, a $650M number was floated, but sources who had experience with the library - which is chock-full of arthouse titles - said that $325M-plus for the entire asset was more reasonable. Filmyard paid Disney $663M back in 2010, but that consisted of close to $300M in cash receivables. Miramax was acquired by BeIN from Colony Capital in 2016.
Under CEO Bill Block, Miramax has been aiming to capitalize on the titles in its library. Last year, in conjunction with Blumhouse and Universal, there was a reboot of Halloween from the library that grossed $255.4M worldwide. Next up for Miramax is Guy Ritchie's shoot-em-up The Gentleman, already being released by STX. In fact, Miramax is in business with Viacom's Paramount TV Studios as they're co-developing a TV series based on the 1998 Gwyneth Paltrow fantasy drama Sliding Doors. The movie written and directed by Peter Howitt followed a London woman on two hypothetical paths, one where she gets home early and catches her boyfriend in bed with another woman, the other where she doesn't. No writer has been attached to the new project yet. There's been buzz of a No Country for Old Men series being in early development as well.
There's a lost continent hidden below southern Europe. And researchers have created the most detailed reconstruction of it yet.
The lost continent "Greater Adria" emerged about 240 million years ago, after it broke off from Gondwana, a southern supercontinent made up of Africa, Antarctica, South America, Australia and other major landmasses, as Science magazine reported.
Greater Adria was large, extending from what is now the Alps all the way to Iran, but not all of it was above the water. That means it was likely a string of islands or archipelagos, said lead author Douwe van Hinsbergen, the chair in global tectonics and paleogeography in the Department of Earth Sciences at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. It would have been a "good scuba diving region."
Hinsbergen and his team spent a decade collecting and analyzing rocks that used to be part of this ancient continent. The mountain belts where these Greater Adrian rocks are found span about 30 different countries, Hinsbergen told Live Science. "Every country has their own geological survey and their own maps and their own stories and their own continents," he said. With this study, "we brought that all together in one big picture."
Earth is covered in large tectonic plates that move relative to each other. Greater Adria belonged to the African tectonic plate (but was not a part of the African continent, since there was an ocean between them), which was slowly sliding beneath the Eurasian tectonic plate, in what is now southern Europe.
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