Garrison Keillor: Lighten up, people, it's Thanksgiving for God's sake
My mother did not encourage complaint - "Other people have it worse than you," she said, referring to children in China. She also said, "If you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all." Which eliminated journalism as a career and politics, music criticism and any form of fiction except children's books.
Alexandra Petri: There was definitely no irony in Alexander Vindman's testimony. Right? (Washington Post)
"In Russia, my act of expressing my concerns to the chain of command in an official and private channel would have severe personal and professional repercussions and offering public testimony involving the president would surely cost me my life. … Dad, my sitting here today in the U.S. Capitol talking to our elected officials is proof that you made the right decision 40 years ago to leave the Soviet Union and come here to the United States of America in search of a better life for our family. Do not worry, I will be fine for telling the truth." - Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, in his opening testimony before the House Intelligence Committee
This American television game show hosted by Gene Rayburn featured contestants trying to answer fill-in-the-blank questions, duplicating the celebrity panelists responses. What is the name of this TV program that debuted December 31, 1962?
The colloquial name of the Queensboro Bridge in New York City provides the title of a song Simon and Garfunkel performed at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival. What is the title of this groovy hit?
"The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)"
Source
"The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)" is a song by folk music duo Simon & Garfunkel, appearing on their 1966 album Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme. "59th Street Bridge" is the colloquial name of the Queensboro Bridge in New York City. The song's message is immediately delivered in its opening verse: "Slow down, you move too fast".
The studio version features Dave Brubeck Quartet members Joe Morello (drums) and Eugene Wright (double bass).
Footage of Simon and Garfunkel performing the song at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival is featured in the film Monterey Pop.
The theme song to the American children's TV show H.R. Pufnstuf, originally composed by Sid and Marty Krofft, was found to closely mimic "The 59th Street Bridge Song" after Simon sued; his writing credit was subsequently added to the H.R. Pufnstuf theme.
Source
Dave responded:
The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy). In 1967, the song peaked in the Hot 100 chart at #13. As far as the bridge goes, the 0.7 mile long, 100 foot wide automobile/pedestrian double deck bridge spanning the East River was completed in 1909 and carries 9 lanes of automobile traffic and one lane for pedestrians and bicycles. Paul Simon composed the lyrics while on an early morning walk across it, although the lyrics don't mention a bridge. Later on Simon confessed to hating the song and avoided playing it live.
zorch replied:
59th Street Bridge.
Jim from CA, retired to ID, wrote:
The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)
Daniel in The City said:
The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)
Barbara, of Peppy Tech fame answered:
The answer is: "The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)."
Micki replied:
59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)
Deborah responded:
That's the "59th Street Bridge Song," which I've always called "Feelin' Groovy."
Obnoxious, dessicating wind is howling again, wreaking havoc on my potted plants and trees in the backyard. What a mess. Just send rain.
Rosemary in Columbus wrote:
59th Street Bridge
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~~~~~
Bjorn Isheden (fan) wrote, "I love this record! Fantastic songs with an awesome spaghetti western sound. To me it feels like cool film music from the sixties."
Price: $1 (USD) for song; $10 for 16-track album
If you are OK with paying for it, you can use PAYPAL or CREDIT CARD.
According to these infographics, Jim Jordan thinks the clitoris is a winged horse from Greek mythology and Denny Heck cried during "Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2."
• Comedian Eddie Cantor often spoke in Christian churches, and when he was present "officially" for a charity, the church was usually standing room only. But when he dropped in without advance notice, the church would often be half-empty. Once he ended a speech by saying, "Your minister tells me you've set an attendance record today. I suppose I should be honored - but isn't it a shame that God Himself isn't a big enough attraction!"
• Starting out as a stand-up comedian can be tough. Dallas comedian Sherry Belle remembers getting laughs her first time on stage; unfortunately, the audience was laughing at all the wrong places. For example, she finished a joke, but the audience didn't laugh, so she said, "That was the punch line." That made the audience laugh.
• Sam Mayo was a British music-hall comedian who was popular for a time, but whose comedy fell out of favor and forced his retirement. After retiring, he used to stand outside of music halls listening to the applause given to other performers as tears ran down his cheeks.
Auditions
• Jim J. Bullock is famous in part for playing Monroe Ficus on the TV sitcom Too Close for Comfort. To get the part, he first had to perform at the audition, which started late and kept him waiting for an hour. Mr. Bullock stormed into the audition, threw a hissy fit - and threw the screenplay at the feet of the producer - screamed that he should never have been kept waiting that long, and stormed out. A moment later, he entered the room again - on his hands and knees, begging for the job. Everyone laughed, and he got the part.
• Comedian Robin Williams earned great fame as Mork of the TV sitcom Mork and Mindy. Mork was an outer-space alien, and when Mr. Williams was asked at an audition to sit in a chair while in character as Mork, he did exactly that - and sat on his head. Fame really did come quickly. At an ice-skating rink, Mr. Williams stepped into a telephone booth to make a call. He was recognized by fans, who gawked at him through the glass. Mr. Williams says, "I felt like I was in the San Diego Zoo."
Autographs
• Morris "Moe" Feinberg was the brother of Larry Fine, one of the Three Stooges. Mr. Feinberg went to a nightclub in Atlantic City, where an entertainer recognized him and introduced him to the audience, talking about the Three Stooges and saying, "I see Larry's brother, Moe Fine, a good friend and a fellow performer. Moe, would you stand up and take a bow?" Afterward, a woman came up and asked for Mr. Feinberg's autograph. He explained that he was only a small-time performer and not famous, but the woman smiled and said, "You can't fool me with that 'brother' stuff. You're Larry, all right." Mr. Feinberg signed the autograph, "With warm regards, Larry 'Stooge' Fine."
• English comedian Benny Hill appears to have been very likeable in real life. For one thing, he answered every letter from fans and never turned down a request for an autographed photograph. Also making him popular, of course, was his talent at being funny. Mr. Hill did joke about his public image as a comic lover. He used to say, "I imagine people also think I'm having it off with the girls in my show. Well I haven't had it off with them since … what time is it now?" and "This is the book where I keep the names of all the girls I've been to bed with. They're in alphabetical order. Starting with Zelda."
• Being a popular entertainer does have drawbacks. Country comedian Jerry Clower once ordered a ham dinner at Cracker Barrel, but he never did eat it because his gravy got cold as he signed 39 menus. He ended up going to a Seven-Eleven and buying crackers and Vienna sausages.
• Groucho Marx wrote this note in reply to an 11-year-old autograph collector: "Here is the autograph. I would send you a lock of my hair but it's at the barbershop getting washed."
LOTS of coverage of the story that Chick-fil-a was going to stop their hate donations. But I don't see all the same media outlets covering that they've backtracked QUICKLY and will continue funding hate!
It's a fun column to read on these stressful hearing days so it's worth it for the humor. In addition, there is reproduced a copy of the letter the press secretary to Michelle Obama left for her successor. It's really lovely and worth reading:
Rainy, and what's considered cold in these parts - mid-50°s.
Tonight, Thursday:
CBS opens the night with a FRESH'Young Sheldon', followed by a FRESH'The Unicorn', then a FRESH'Mom', followed by a FRESH'Carol's Second Act', then a FRESH'Evil'.
Scheduled on a FRESHStephen Colbert are Sen. Kamala Harris and Adrienne Warren.
Scheduled on a FRESHJames Corden, OBE, are Chadwick Boseman, Sienna Miller, and Stephan James.
NBC begins the night with a FRESH'Superstore', followed by a FRESH'Perfect Harmony', then a FRESH'The Good Place', followed by a FRESH'Will & Grace', then a FRESH'L&O: SVU'.
Scheduled on a FRESHJimmy Fallon are Will Ferrell, Alan Cumming, and Jessica Kirson.
Scheduled on a FRESHSeth Meyers are Dolly Parton, Tobias Menzies, Rep. Ro Khanna, and Jon Theodore.
Scheduled on a FRESHLilly Singh is Susan Kelechi Watson.
ABC starts the night with a FRESH'Grey's Anatomy', followed by a FRESH'A Million Little Things', then a FRESH'How To Get Away With Murder'.
Scheduled on a FRESHJimmy Kimmel are Billie Eilish, Taylor Kitsch, and Jessie Reyez.
The CW offers a FRESH'Supernatural', followed by a FRESH'Legacies'.
Faux fills the night with LIVE'Thursday Night Football', then pads the left coast with local crap.
MY recycles an old 'L&O: CI', followed by another old 'L&O: CI'.
A&E has 2 hours of old 'Live PD Presents: PD Cam', followed by a FRESH'Live PD Presents: PD Cam', then another FRESH'Live PD Presents: PD Cam', followed by a FRESH'Live PD: Wanted'.
AMC offers the movie 'The Hunger Games: Catching Fire', followed by the movie 'The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1', then the movie 'The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2'.
BBC -
[6:00AM] STAR TREK: VOYAGER - SEASON 5 - EPISODE 16-Dark Frontier, Pt. 2
[7:00AM] STAR TREK: VOYAGER - SEASON 5 - EPISODE 17-The Disease
[8:00AM] STAR TREK: VOYAGER - SEASON 5 - EPISODE 18-Course: Oblivion
[9:00AM] STAR TREK: VOYAGER - SEASON 5 - EPISODE 19-The Fight
[10:00AM] STAR TREK: VOYAGER - SEASON 5 - EPISODE 20-Think Tank
[11:00AM] A FEW GOOD MEN (1992)
[2:00PM] THE OUTSIDERS (1983)
[4:00PM] FIRST BLOOD (1982)
[6:00PM] RAMBO: FIRST BLOOD PART II (1985)
[8:00PM] FIRST BLOOD (1982)
[10:00PM] RAMBO: FIRST BLOOD PART II (1985)
[12:00AM] RAMBO III (1988)
[2:15AM] CLIFFHANGER (1993)
[4:15AM] DOCTOR WHO: THE DAY OF THE DOCTOR (ALL TIMES EST)
Bravo has 'Below Deck', another 'Below Deck', followed by a FRESH'Below Deck', then another FRESH'Below Deck', followed by a FRESH'Watch What Happens Live'.
FX has the movie 'Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation', followed by the movie 'Baywatch', then a FRESH'Mr Inbetween', and another 'Mr Inbetween'.
History has 'American Pickers: Bonus Buys', 'American Pickers', followed by a FRESH'American Pickers', and another 'American Pickers'.
IFC -
[6:00A] Night Flight - Fame!
[6:15A] The Skeleton Twins
[8:15A] Admission
[10:45A] The Karate Kid Part III
[1:15P] The Karate Kid Part II
[3:45P] The Karate Kid
[6:45P] Caddyshack
[9:00P] Tommy Boy
[11:15P] Tommy Boy
[1:30A] The Karate Kid
[4:30A] The Karate Kid Part II
[5:00A] SIGN OFF (ALL TIMES EST)
Sundance -
[6:10am] The Andy Griffith Show
[6:45am] The Andy Griffith Show
[7:20am] The Andy Griffith Show
[7:55am] The Andy Griffith Show
[8:30am] The Andy Griffith Show
[9:00am] The Andy Griffith Show
[9:30am] The Andy Griffith Show
[10:00am] The Andy Griffith Show
[10:30am] The Andy Griffith Show
[11:00am] Rudy
[1:30pm] Draft Day
[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] Law & Order
[1:00am] Law & Order
[2:00am] Almost Famous
[4:30am] The Mary Tyler Moore Show
[5:05am] The Mary Tyler Moore Show
[5:40am] The Mary Tyler Moore Show (ALL TIMES EST)
SyFy has the movie 'Edge Of Tomorrow', followed by the movie 'Mad Max: Fury Road', then the movie 'Ghost In The Shell'.
Michelle Obama - former first lady, best-selling author and "world's most admired woman" - can now add a new accolade to her resume: Grammy nominee. That's right, the Grammy nominations were announced on "CBS This Morning" Wednesday, and Mrs. Obama is nominated for best spoken word album for the audio version of her memoir "Becoming."
Fellow nominees in the category include members of the Beastie Boys and actor-director John Waters.
"Becoming" is on track to be the best-selling memoir ever. According to Bertelsmann SE, the German conglomerate that has a controlling stake in publisher Penguin Random House, the book surpassed 10 million copies sold in March.
Aside from becoming a hugely successful author, she and her husband, former President Barack Obama, have also become producers. The first of their many projects produced for Netflix premiered in August - a documentary called "American Factory." The power couple's Higher Ground Productions is set to release a whole slate of content on the streaming service.
The Anita Hill-led Hollywood Commission on Eliminating Sexual Harassment has launched its long-anticipated survey of industry workers to gauge the extent of harassment and abuse in the workplace. The commission says it's a "call to action," and is asking for "everyone who has ever worked or sought work in entertainment to participate."
The commission says its goal in conducting this first-of-its-kind survey, which is completely anonymous and untraceable, is to gather data that will be used to develop policies that encourage diversity and inclusion while preventing bias and harassment.
"Due to the heroic and brave work of many, we all now know there are serious problems of harassment, bias and mistreatment of others in Hollywood," said Hill, who chairs the commission. "What we need to get our arms around, if we're going to come up with effective solutions, is reliable data that reveals the specific nature and actual extent of those problems as well as the cultural environment that enables and hides them. We also want to know what is going well, and how we can improve the industry for all employees. Therefore it is important for everyone who has worked or even tried to work in the entertainment industry to partake in the survey as their experiences will tell us what we need to know."
The survey will be conducted over the next four weeks via a secure website. It will be administered by the Ethics & Compliance Initiative, a leading nonprofit provider of independent research about workplace integrity and ethical standards.
Jennifer Lopez and Scarlett Johansson will host December episodes of NBC's Saturday Night Live, joining the previously announced Eddie Murphy.
Closing out the year with three new shows, SNL returns Dec. 7 with Lopez hosting, with musical guest DaBaby. The episode marks Lopez' third time as host, and DaBaby making its SNL debut.
Johansson, who recently confirmed her engagement to SNL's Weekend Update coanchor Colin Jost, will host Dec. 14 for the sixth time (she's currently starring in Marriage Story and Jojo Rabbit). Her musical guest will be Niall Horan, in his first solo appearance outside One Direction.
Murphy, the long-ago SNL cast member, was previously announced as the Dec. 21 show, with Lizzo as his musical guest. Murphy is currently starring in Dolemite Is My Name, streaming on Netflix.
Better Call Saul promises "speedy justice for you!" but not necessarily a speedy return. AMC has revealed a premiere date for the fifth season of the critically-acclaimed Breaking Bad prequel series, along with a pair of brief teasers and some new photos. The premiere date is a bit of a good news/bad news situation, in which the good is that we finally know when Bob Odenkirk's Jimmy McGill will return, and the bad news is that it isn't until February 2020-a year that still sounds like science fiction despite being less than two months away.
Another point for the Good News column: The season five premiere is a two-night event that begins on Sunday, February 23 at 9:00 PM ET and continues with the second episode on Monday, February 24 (preceded by a rerun of the season premiere). In the 10-episode fifth season, "Jimmy McGill's (Odenkirk) decision to practice law as 'Saul Goodman' creates unexpected and profound waves of change for those in his orbit," according to AMC's press release. A predictably simple and somewhat ominous summation for the next chapter of Jimmy's life. Along with the first teaser, AMC teamed up with Cinnabon for a rather clever bit of Better Call Saul marketing:
We also have the first batch of images from the upcoming fifth season, featuring Jimmy/Saul, Kim (Rhea Seehorn), Mike (Jonathan Banks), Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito), and more. The photos aren't particularly thrilling, unless you enjoy images of actors looking vaguely concerned and serious about... whatever the hell is going on in the middle distance:
It's a hot day. A bee buzzes over for a drink at a nearby pond, but oh no! Her wings just made contact with the water's surface; now she's stuck, and aerodynamics is no longer an option. Is it certain death?
According to scientists' best estimates, the bee has only minutes before gravity threatens to pull her into the depths.But that's plenty of time - given a unique biolocomotion strategy bee kind appears to have evolved.
In a new study, researchers at Caltech have identified a handy survival tactic honeybees (Apis mellifera) can use to escape exactly this kind of soggy predicament: propelling themselves through the water by using their wings to generate a wave - a behaviour that's never before been documented in insects.
"The motion of the bee's wings creates a wave that its body is able to ride forward," says bio-mechanics engineer Morteza Gharib.
When evolutionary biologist Nick Grishin wanted to tackle big questions in evolution - why some branches of the tree of life are so diverse, for instance - his team set out to sequence the genomes of as many butterflies as it could: 845 of them, to be precise.
In a study that some researchers are hailing as a landmark in genomics, Grishin's group at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas sequenced and analysed the genome of what it called a "complete butterfly continent": every species of the creature in the United States and Canada. The study was posted on the bioRxiv preprint server on 4 November.
"I think its bloody amazing, because the technology involved in sequencing 845 species is there," says James Mallet, an evolutionary biologist at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. "It's a beautiful piece of work, a tour de force, to do all that."
The data allowed Grishin's team to build an evolutionary tree detailing the relationships of all the butterflies, as well as to determine the pace at which new species formed. The team suggests that fast-diversifying groups of butterflies are those that swap genes with close relatives through interbreeding - a phenomenon that could extend to other organisms.
Others, however, have pointed out that that most of these genomes will be of limited use to other researchers, because they are low-quality 'drafts' comprised of thousands of short DNA stretches, and not higher-quality genome sequences that have been assembled into longer stretches. Grishin says that the sheer number of genomes, even of low quality, allows his team to draw broad conclusions about evolution that could not be made from more limited data sets. He plans to make the genomes publicly available when the study is published in a peer-reviewed journal.
A church in Mexico unveiled an extremely large statue of baby Jesus that inadvertently bears a striking resemblance to Phil Collins.
Per The New York Post, the statue is nearly 22 feet tall, weighs 2,000 pounds and was made out of fiberglass, resin, automotive paste and car paint. Sculptor Roman Salvador crafted the statute, which was built in the city of Chimalhuacán before being transported to La Epifanía del Señor church in the Mexican state of Zacatecas.
And while the gigantic baby Jesus is undeniably impressive in its own right, its big blue eyes, full cheeks and this-mullet-is-definitely-not-an-attempt-to-compensate-for-a-receding-hairline hairdo give it the uncanny aura of Eighties-era Collins.
The true piece de resistance, though: The statue's perfectly curled widow's peak.
While creating a holy homage to the former Genesis frontman probably wasn't the intention of the sculptor or the church, La Epifanía del Señor is still seeking recognition for their new centerpiece in the form of a Guinness World Record. Priest Humberto Rodriguez said the statue was only meant to fit the uniquely large dimensions of the church, but after receiving it, the church began to wonder if their big baby Jesus was, in fact, the biggest baby Jesus.
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