Joe Queenan: "Psycho: the film that frightened me most" (Guardian)
I saw Psycho when I was 21, and it had a permanently disruptive effect on my psyche. It terrified me in part because it is a weird, unconventional horror film that mixes reassuring touchstones of American life - motels, state troopers, the lure of the open road - with the grotesque in a new and unexpected way. Psycho seems real in a way that The Ring does not. It seems like something that could happen to you.
Mark Morford: $2 gas is the worst thing to happen to America (SF Gate)
Flush times! Economy fully recovered, unemployment down, jobs finally on the rise, housing crisis over, all wars sort of mostly concluded, Wall Street shamelessly gorging, racial tensions aflame, wealth more unevenly divided than ever, consumer spending up, that awful socialist Obama obviously hurling us deeper and deeper into a hellpit of, uh, shocking stability and (messy, flawed, still sort of miraculous) success.
Mark Morford: Stop texting in bed, or the iPhone gets it (SF Gate)
Girlfriend texting in bed? Boyfriend won't stop Instagramming in lieu of pillow talk? Spouse habitually checking Twitter and Facebook instead of tenderly caressing your fair and scintillating flesh? You are not alone.
Tim Parks: A Weapon for Readers (NY Review of Books)
Imagine you are asked what single alteration in people's behavior might best improve the lot of mankind. How foolish would you have to be to reply: have them learn to read with a pen in their hands? But I firmly believe such a simple development would bring huge benefits.
The California Raisins were a fictional rhythm and blues musical group as well as advertising and merchandising characters composed of anthropomorphized raisins. Lead vocals were sung by musician Buddy Miles. The California Raisins concept experienced high popularity in the mid-to-late 1980s principally through claymation TV commercials and animated specials, winning an Emmy Award and one nomination.
Randall replied:
Who could forget The California Raisins?
They sprang on the scene in the 80's singing "I Heard It Through The Grapevine"
- get it?
GRAPE vine?
Raisins?
HAH!
It might be hard for today's youth to believe, but at the time The Raisins were as big as today's My Little Pony or Hello Kitty.
There were California Raisin T-shirts, bedsheets, backpacks, mugs, keychains, 3-D comics, LOTS of little Raisin action figures, records
lunchboxes
even California Raisin video games...
I think one of the Raisin Bran cereals had the California Raisins on their box at one point...
The Raisins were everywhere.
They were a cultural phenomena.
Now you find California Raisin "collectibles" in antique shops...
I always thought they were missing the boat by NOT having a group of girl backup singers called the...
Marian said:
The California Raisins
Dale of Soon to be drowning in droplets, Diamond Springs, Norcali replied:
The California Raisins, featuring the late Buddy Miles as Beebop. Buddy had "it" when he wasn't too high on PCP. Nice guy!
Time to prepare for Cali's grand slobber knocker of a storm to hit. Can the prognosticators of danger be right?
MAM wrote:
The California Raisins ~ Experienced high popularity in the mid-to-late 1980s principally through claymation TV commercials and animated specials.
1986 - The California Raisins
DJ Useo responded:
It be the California Raisins.
I actually own a record of them. I like to keep "novelty" albums around to break up the pace of all the normal music I hear so much.
It's akin to watching a Bullwinkle episode after a bunch of The Mentalists.
I trace the habit of advertisement bands back to the Archies, & their hit "Sugar, Sugar".
After they made number one, all of the animated shows featured contrived bands.
( Just look at the Groovie Ghoulies! Lmao! )
Although, maybe it began with the Monkees. Lol.
Deborah answered:
I knew that I knew that answer and so refused to Google or Wiki the answer.
It took all day and my brain is more flexible than a Russian gymnast now, but I'm pretty sure those are the California Raisins. And yet I have doubts.
Stormaggeddon lurks. So far, fog and mist. A slight breeze. Yet SF, Oakland, Marin, Santa Rosa, and other school districts in the Bay Area have cancelled school tomorrow and even Friday due to the RAIN. Who has ever had a rain day??? What kind of veal calf people are we that we have a RAIN DAY.
If it turns out to be the Storm of the Decade I'll eat those words. Meanwhile, #raindaywhy
Oy.
As you all know the untimely passing of Terry was unexpected, even by
him. We all knew he had cancer but we all thought he had some years
left. So some of us who have worked closely with him over the years are
scrambling around trying to figure out what to do. My job, among other
things, is to establish communications with the Bartcop community and
provide email lists and groups for those who might put something
together. Those who want to play an active roll in something coming from
this, or if you are one of Bart's pillars, should send an email to
active@bartcop.com.
Bart's final wish was to pay off the house mortgage for Mrs. Bart who is
overwhelmed and so very grateful for the support she has received.
Anyone wanting to make a donation can click on this the yellow donate
button on bartcop.com
But - I need you all to help keep this going. This note
isn't going to directly reach all of Bart's fans. So if you can repost
it on blogs and discussion boards so people can sign up then when we
figure out what's next we can let more people know. This list is just
over 600 but like to get it up to at least 10,000 pretty quick. So
here's the signup link for this email list.
( mailman.bartcop.com/listinfo/bartnews )
Kinda overcast. Local TV says it's gonna rain pretty good tomorrow.
Tonight, Thursday:
CBS opens the night with a FRESH'Big Bang Theory', followed by a FRESH'Mom', then a FRESH'2½ Men', followed by a FRESH'The McCarthys', then a FRESH'Elementary'.
Scheduled on a FRESHDave are Chris Rock and Sting.
Scheduled on a FRESHCraig are Kunal Nayyar and Sarah Chalke.
NBC begins the night with a FRESH'Biggest Loser', followed by a FRESH'Bad Judge', then a FRESH'A To Z', followed by a RERUN'Parenthood'.
Scheduled on a FRESHJimmy Fallon are Dwayne Johnson, Barbara Walters, and Rick Ross.
Scheduled on a FRESHSeth Meyers are Mark Wahlberg, Diane Von Furstenberg, Kyle Dunnigan, and Bob Mould.
Scheduled on a FRESHCarson 'The Scab' Daly are Wes Bentley, Lemaitre, and Remote Area Control.
ABC starts the night with a FRESH'The Taste', followed by a (R) 'How To Get Away With Murder'.
Scheduled on a FRESHJimmy Kimmel are Blake Shelton and Laura Dern.
The CW offers a FRESH'The Vampire Diaries', followed by a FRESH'Reign'.
Faux has a FRESH'Bones', followed by a FRESH'Gracepoint'.
MY recycles an old 'The Mentalist', followed by another old 'The Mentalist'.
A&E has 'The First 48', another 'The First 48', followed by a FRESH'Beyond Scared Straight', then another FRESH'Beyond Scared Straight'.
AMC offers the movie 'Footloose', followed by 'Blake Shelton's Not So Family Christmas', then the movie '101 Dalmatians'.
BBC -
[6:00AM] BBC World News
[7:00AM] BBC World News
[8:00AM] Doctor Who - Season 6 - Ep 11 - The God Complex
[9:00AM] Doctor Who - Season 6 - Ep 12 - Closing Time
[10:00AM] Star Trek: The Next Generation - Season 6 - Ep 25 - Timescape
[11:00AM] Star Trek: The Next Generation - Season 6 - Ep 26 - Descent (Part 1)
[12:00PM] Battlestar Galactica - Season 1 - Ep 13 - Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part 2
[1:00PM] Battlestar Galactica - Season 2 - Ep 1 - Scattered
[2:00PM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares US - Season 1 - Ep 9 - The Olde Stone Mill
[3:00PM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares US - Season 6 - Ep 15 - Amy's Baking Company
[4:00PM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares US - Season 3 - Ep 8 - Lido Di Manhattan Beach
[5:00PM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares US - Season 6 - Ep 3 - Mama Maria's
[6:00PM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares US - Season 6 - Ep 5 - Barefoot Bob's
[7:00PM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares US - Season 5 - Ep 2 - Leone's
[8:00PM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares US - Season 4 - Ep 1 - Spanish Pavilion
[9:00PM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares US - Season 4 - Ep 2 - Classic American
[10:00PM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares US - Season 4 - Ep 3 - Grasshopper Also
[11:00PM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares US - Season 4 - Ep 1 - Spanish Pavilion
[12:00AM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares US - Season 4 - Ep 2 - Classic American
[1:00AM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares US - Season 4 - Ep 3 - Grasshopper Also
[2:00AM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares US - Season 3 - Ep 8 - Lido Di Manhattan Beach
[3:00AM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares US - Season 6 - Ep 3 - Mama Maria's
[4:00AM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares US - Season 6 - Ep 5 - Barefoot Bob's
[5:00AM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares US - Season 5 - Ep 2 - Leone's (ALL TIMES EST)
Bravo has 'Real Housewives Of Atlanta', another 'Real Housewives Of Atlanta', still another 'Real Housewives Of Atlanta', 'Girlfriends' Guide To Divorce', followed by a FRESH'Watch What Happens Live'.
Comedy Central has 'South Park', 'Tosh.0', another 'Tosh.0', followed by the movie 'Shallow Hal'.
Scheduled on a FRESHJon Stewart Daily Show: is Mick Foley.
Scheduled on a FRESHColbert Report it's "The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies" special.
FX has 3 hours of old 'Mike & Molly', followed by the movie 'Step Brothers'.
History has 'Pawn Stars', another 'Pawn Stars', still another 'Pawn Stars', yet another 'Pawn Stars', followed by a FRESH'Pawn Stars', then another FRESH'Pawn Stars', followed by a FRESH'Pawnography', then another FRESH'Pawnography'.
IFC -
[6:00AM] THE FOG
[8:00AM] JOY RIDE
[10:00AM] THE LAST EXORCISM
[12:00PM] THE FOG
[2:00PM] JOY RIDE
[4:00PM] THE LAST EXORCISM
[6:00PM] THE MATRIX
[9:00PM] THE MATRIX RELOADED
[12:00AM] THE MATRIX REVOLUTIONS
[3:00AM] THE MATRIX RELOADED (ALL TIMES EST)
Sundance -
[6:00AM] Rectify-Donald the Normal
[7:00AM] Dream School-Les Stroud ``Survivorman''
[8:00AM] Beyond the Sea
[10:30AM] Best in Show
[12:30PM] Friends With Money
[2:15PM] Last Action Hero
[5:00PM] Cliffhanger
[7:30PM] Cliffhanger
[10:00PM] Groundhog Day
[11:45PM] Dragonslayer
[2:15AM] The War of the Roses
[4:45AM] Love Lust-Love Lust & Holiday Feasts
[5:45AM] Love Lust-Love Lust & the Little Black Dress (ALL TIMES EST)
SyFy has the movie 'The Fifth Element', followed by the movie 'Terminator 2: Judgment Day'.
TBS:
Scheduled on a FRESHConan are Rosario Dawson, Joel Edgerton, and Bahamas.
Country Joe McDonald, a musician who was the lead singer in the 1960's band "Country Joe and the Fish," poses with his vanity license plate at his home in Berkeley, California December 9, 2014. Gray-haired activists still hand out leaflets on Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley, but the California university town that has seen violent protests over police killings of unarmed black men is a far cry from the leftist hotbed that was the face of the anti-Vietnam War movement of the 1960s. McDonald, a veteran whose "I-feel-like-I'm-fixin'-to-die rag" became an anthem for the anti-Vietnam War movement, came to Berkeley in 1965.
Photo by Robert Galbraith
At some point, it stopped being weird and started becoming an annual tradition for The Lord of the Rings franchise actor and Hammer horror films star Christopher Lee to release a Christmas-themed heavy metal song, and this year's "Darkest Carols, Faithful Sing" has arrived just in time for the holiday.
The new single is the third Christmas classic with a metal twist released by the 92-year-old actor, who offers up his deep, bass vocals over Hedras Ramos' guitar this time around. The single is a dark twist on "Hark, The Herald Angels Sing!" and is available in three different mixes when you purchase it from iTunes, Amazon, or Google Music.
Lee's unexpected involvement with heavy-metal Christmas tracks began with 2012's "A Heavy Metal Christmas," which featured Lee's renditions of "Little Drummer Boy" and "Silent Night." That album was followed by 2013's "Heavy Metal Christmas Too," which had Lee singing "Jingle Hell" and "My Way."
It's worth noting that "Jingle Hell" made it all the way to #18 on the Billboard's popular music chart, making Lee the oldest performer to ever appear on Billboard's tracking chart.
Nobel Peace Prize winners Malala Yousafzai from Pakistan and Kailash Satyarthi of India hold their Nobel Peace Prize diplomas and medals during the Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony in Oslo, Norway, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2014. The Nobel Peace Prize is being shared between Malala Yousafzai, the 17-year-old Taliban attack survivor, and the youngest Nobel Prize winner ever, and Indian children's rights activist Kailash Satyarthi in a ceremony in Oslo on Wednesday.
Photo by Cornelius Poppe
Plans to auction the letter that inspired Jack Kerouac to turn "On The Road" into a literary classic have been put on hold after Kerouac's estate laid claim to the 16,000-word missive from the author's friend and literary muse, Neal Cassady.
Profiles in History spokeswoman Sabrina Propper said Wednesday the auction's house's Dec. 17 sale has been "postponed indefinitely."
She declined to elaborate but the San Francisco Chronicle quoted attorney Nick Mitrokostas as saying the Kerouac estate believes the letter is its property.
Kerouac said Cassady's correspondence, nicknamed "The Joan Anderson Letter," inspired him to scrap an early version of "On The Road" and rewrite it in three weeks in his friend's fast-paced, stream-of-consciousness style.
The letter, lost for nearly 60 years, was found by LA performance artist Jean Spinosa as she went through her late father's belongings.
Late night U.S. talk show host David Letterman will anchor his final broadcast on May 20 before retiring and handing the reins of the "Late Show" to Stephen Colbert, network CBS Corp said on Wednesday.
The comedian, known for his sardonic wit, announced his retirement in April. CBS has not said when Colbert, the host of Comedy Central's faux political news show "The Colbert Report," will begin as "Late Show" host.
Colbert's final broadcast of "The Colbert Report" is scheduled to air on Dec. 18.
Actress Sarah Silverman arrives at The Hollywood Reporter's 23rd annual Women in Entertainment breakfast, in Los Angeles, California December 10, 2014.
Photo by Jonathan Alcorn
Prince Albert II of Monaco and his wife Charlene on Wednesday welcomed their twin babies to the world, as cannons roared and church bells tolled in the tiny Mediterranean principality.
Despite being born two minutes after his sister Gabriella, Jacques is next in line to head the House of Grimaldi, whose origins go back seven centuries before equality between the sexes.
Gabriella Therese Marie was born at 5.04 pm (1604 GMT) followed by Jacques Honore Rainier at 5.06 pm, the palace said in a statement, adding that the newborns and their mother were "doing well".
Crown Prince Jacques will receive the title of Marquis of Baux, while his sister, second in line to the throne, will have the title of Countess of Carlades.
The damning Senate Intelligence Committee report on post-9/11 interrogation techniques has cast a new pall over the 2012 film "Zero Dark Thirty."
Kathryn Bigelow's docudrama about the hunt for Osama bin Laden ignited controversy for implying that the "enhanced" interrogation techniques of the detainee program helped lead to finding bin Laden. Bigelow claimed that torture was a part of the story that couldn't be ignored.
The Senate report released Tuesday found that the coercive techniques led to no unique intelligence, a conclusion that seemed to officially debunk part of the narrative suggested by "Zero Dark Thirty."
Bigelow was asked about the report on "The Daily Show" on Tuesday while promoting a short film about elephant poaching and the ivory trade.
"We made the movie based on the reporting that we did," said Bigelow. "I applaud transparency in government, so I think it's good that it's out there. It's complicated. It's very, very, very complicated."
Ansel Elgort, left, and Eva Longoria announce Michael Keaton from "Birdman" a Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role nominee for the 21st Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2014, in West Hollywood, Calif. The SAG awards will be presented Sunday, January 25.
Photo by Danny Moloshok
In 1960, the American South mostly voted for Democratic candidates and was solidly Democratic at the congressional level. By 2000, it was solidly Republican in presidential politics and mostly Republican at the congressional level. The transformation, clearly, had something to do with race and the Civil Rights Movement. But a provocative new paper suggests that Ku Klux Klan activity - as opposed to the broader phenomenon of racism - played a small but meaningful role in the process. Counties with more Klan activity saw a more dramatic shift toward the GOP, a shift that stands up to a range of reasonable statistical controls and suggests that the Klan was really a difference maker.
Notre Dame's Rory McVeigh, Brandeis's David Cunningham, and Yale's Justin Farrell looked at county-level presidential voting data from 1960 to 2000 in ten southern states, and coded each county based on whether a Klan chapter was established there between 1964 and 1966, when the organization was growing in response to the Johnson administration and Warren Court's increased vigilance on civil rights. Here are the counties identified:
The researchers wanted to capture the role that the Klan organizations themselves played, which is a tricky methodological problem to solve. There are a lot of other reasons why some counties might have seen more growth in support for Republicans, some of which could also explain the presence of a Klan chapter. For example, maybe a county that's just particularly racist both was fertile ground for the Klan and was less likely to vote for Democrats when they started backing civil rights - both had the same cause, but the Klan chapter didn't cause the increase in Republican support.
They conclude that having a Klan chapter present was associated with a 2 percent bigger increase in Republican support from 1960 to 1972, a 3.7 percent bigger increase from 1960 to 1980, a 4.9 percent bigger increase from 1960 to 1992, and a 3.4 percent bigger increase from 1960 to 2000.
Screenwriter, director and producer Shonda Rhimes arrives at The Hollywood Reporter's 23rd annual Women in Entertainment breakfast, in Los Angeles, California December 10, 2014.
Photo by Jonathan Alcorn
Swedish file-sharing website The Pirate Bay was taken down after Swedish police seized servers and computers from a server room in Stockholm.
Other file-sharing sites such as EZTV, Zoink, and Torrage were also offline, as was Pirate Bay's forum Suprbay.org.
It was unsure if Pirate Bay was taken down for hosting some of the movies leaked due to the recent cyber attack on Sony Corp's Sony Pictures Entertainment, tech website Wired reported.
Pirate Bay resurfaced for a while late Tuesday, after changing its domain name to .cr (Costa Rica), according to Russian news site Rt.com.
Actress Geena Davis arrives at The Hollywood Reporter's 23rd annual Women in Entertainment breakfast, in Los Angeles, California December 10, 2014.
Photo by Jonathan Alcorn
A Harvard Business School instructor is battling a Chinese restaurant for overcharging him $4 on a takeout order.
The Boston Globe reports that associate professor Benjamin Edelman recently complained to the Sichuan Garden after the Brookline, Massachusetts restaurant charged him $1 more on each of the four items he ordered.
Edelman - who consults for corporations like AOL, Microsoft, the NFL, Wells Fargo and the New York Times on "preventing and detecting online fraud," according to his website - had expected to pay $53.35, based on prices listed online. He had ordered shredded chicken with spicy garlic sauce, sautéed prawns with roasted chili and peanut, stir-fried chicken with spicy capsicum, and braised fish filets and Napa cabbage with roasted chili, according to a lengthy email exchange posted on Boston.com.
In response, a restaurant manager acknowledged the website prices were out of date and promised to update them soon.
But Edelman accused the restaurant of systematically overcharging customers and demanded a $12 refund, arguing that he's eligible for triple damages under the state's consumer protection statute.
Jeffrey "Sparky" Katzenberg, left, and Sharon Stone attend The Hollywood Reporter's 23rd annual Women in Entertainment Breakfast at Milk Studios on Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2014, in Los Angeles.
Photo by Todd Williamson
A group of Russian designers on Wednesday scrapped a planned light installation modelled on the all-seeing evil eye in JRR Tolkien's fantasy novels after the Russian Orthodox Church protested.
The group had planned to raise what resembles a giant glowing eye on the 21st floor of a skyscraper to celebrate the local release of the final part of Peter Jackson's movie adaptation of "The Hobbit" on Thursday.
In Tolkien's "The Hobbit" and also in the subsequent "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, the Eye of Sauron is a giant flaming eye controlled by the "dark lord" Sauron which allows him to watch anyone who puts on the fateful, power-giving ring.
But the Russian Orthodox Church's head of public affairs, Vsevolod Chaplin, objected to what he called a "demonic symbol" in an interview with Govorit Moskva radio station.
The installation was planned as a 10-metre (33 foot) sphere with a light show projecting from behind to create a 3-D effect on a 21-story tower in Moscow's business district.
A giant Christmas tree and a light show decorate the Grand Place in Brussels, Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2014. The Christmas tree is a gift of Riga, capital city of Latvia and European cultural capital 2014. This exceptional Christmas tree measures 22 meters (72 feet), one of the highest to have adorned the Grand Place, and is one of the many attractions the Brussels' Christmas market has to offer.
Photo by Geert Vanden Wijngaert
You have reached the Home page of BartCop Entertainment.
Do you have something to say?
Anything that increased your blood pressure, or, even better, amused or entertained?
Do you have a great album no one's heard?
How about a favorite TV show, movie, book, play, cartoon, or legal amusement?
A popular artist that just plain pisses you off?
A box set the whole world should own?
Vile, filthy rumors about Republican hypocrites?
wrote:
took the day off.
returned to semi-retired status.
