The Weekly Poll
Results
The '2010 Good, Bad, and Butt-Ugly' Edition...
Well, then, Poll-Fans... Let's do our own '2010 Year in Review' thing, eh?
Be-damn'd to all those other corporate media lists, I'm sayin'... I'm thinkin' we can do it better, Dagnabbit! (Or, at least have us some more fun at it and all...)
Everything and everybody is fair game... People, events, TV shows, Movies, Books, Music, Weather, inanimate objects... you get the idea, right?
A.) The 'Good'...
B.) The 'Bad'...
C.) And the downright dad-blamed 'Butt-Ugly'...
Have at it, then, would ya now?...
A.) The 'Good'...
Joe B.
The "Good", is I'm a year closer to 2017 when I will turn 66 and can retire. (If we still have Social Security)
BttbB
The 'Lame duck' congress successes e.g. DADT repeal (although I'm predicting a rocky road with its implementation. See new poll response next week) and START. I had a remarkably drama-free and enjoyable
Holiday Season... PBS programming (Nature and NOVA, in particular...)
Adam in NoHo...
Well, for the fan of music written for film and TV, it has been a banner year (almost a decade, really). More companies are releasing more good music past-present-and-future that it's just impossible to for
even the most serious collector to keep up... Also, The Chelsea Handler Show, The Soup, Community, The Big Bang Theory, Mad Men, Breaking Bad, later episodes of Rubicon, and The Jon Stewart/Stephen Colbert Better-Than-The-News-And-More-Informative Power Hour. If Stewart doesn't win an Emmy just for his Glenn Beck impression, there is no justice... The Southern Poverty Law Center officially designating the Family Research Council a hate group. The fact that The Concerned Women for America is run by men is probably
a good thing, right? I mean, they're not all 'Concerned' in the kitchen where they belong makin' me dinner, so maybe the men need to be in charge. The Concerned Women, though, are a Bad Thing. Making it to the end of the year with a job, a paycheck, and a few cents left over (still no Health Care, though)... DADT 'Permission to Repeal' was huge, even if the news doesn't want to talk about it any more. It's a big deal in that it's no longer a big deal (except for Li'l Johnny McCain :-( ). What's even bigger is that the military is going to implement this sooner than later... My husband and the eight dogs (including the three new rescues)
Paul of Seattle...
Julian Assange,
BDS ... Stephen Colbert, John Stewart, Dennis Kucinich, Mike Malloy,
BartCop, Rachel Maddow
B.) The 'Bad'...
Joe B.
The "Bad", is finding out that Barack isn't what he said he was.
BttbB
The GOP take over of the House with the attendant specter of 'Blubber' Boehner on TV with more of the same for at least the next two years (Gad!)... The awful leadership of the Democrats that caused it (Yes, you, Nancy...). The continued pouring of Billions of Dollars into that rat-hole Afghanistan with no end in sight (I don't care what Joe Biden says)... 'Jersey Shore'... The various (vapid) 'Housewives of yada yada yada'...
Adam in NoHo...
Obama didn't do anything to help repeal DADT. He promised during the campaign, then did nothing. It took a Democratic congress on the eve of losing power to pull that one out of a magic hat. On top of that, Obama has not reversed anything Bush put into motion Constitution-wise. This administration is probably in more violation of the Constitution that Bush/Cheney was, and that's hard to do... Everything Sarah Palin-related is bad, just by default, including her slutty, bigoted children... Not being able to put solar panels on the roof...
Knowing that solar tech is almost ready for prime-time, but not quite... 'Reality' shows, esp those on A&E, TLC, and E!... Canceling 'Whatever, Martha!' Canceling Caprica AND Stargate: Universe, probably on cliffhangers that will never be resolved. At least Syfy will show all the episodes...Changing 'The Sci-Fi Channel' to 'SciFi', then to 'Syfy' and showing wrestling.
Paul of Seattle...
Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Democrats in general
C.) And the downright dad-blamed 'Butt-Ugly'...
Joe B.
The Butt Ugly is after 50 yrs. realizing that not all but the majority of Dem. politicians are Repub. lights, so nothing will really "Change". I will still vote Dem.
BttbB
Hand's down the worst: Lady Gaga's meat dress. Good grief!... Awful... Nothing comes close...
Adam in NoHo...
Glenn Beck... Mormons buttin' into everyone's business they crying about it when we look into theirs...
The Catholic Church for generations of Child Abuse (and lying about it), and laundering money for terrorists and other criminals. RICO anyone? ANYONE...? John Boner's crying jags. He's in charge? Really? If Hillary Clinton or Nancy Pelosi went around sobbing all day like that we'd never hear the end of it...
Global climate change that includes monster snow storms and out-of-season flooding... People who say, 'There's no Global Warming, there is a monster show storm [2nd this year] right now! People who are paid to ignore scientific evidence and common sense.
Paul of Seattle...
Rush Limbaugh, John Boner, Sarah Palin, Sean Hannitty,Glenn Beck, Rupert Murdoch Fox News, Bill O'Reilly, Michael Weiner
...and then...
bebo simply responded...
In the late 60s or early 70s, I took my girlfriend's 7 year old son to see Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch. after the movie, I asked him how he liked it. he replied "bebo, who were the good guys"?............. this is how I feel about 2010.
Thanks to the responders... Yer the Best...
BadToTheBoneBob
~~~~~~~~~~~
New Question
The '2011 Crystal ball' Edition...
I read somewhere this past week that some manner of 'seer' has predicted that Michelle Obama will become pregnant this year. O-o-o-kay... Not sure how the Obamas feel about that, but I think it might give the White House a much needed PR boost... Anyway...
Anybody game to make some 2011 Predictions?
Send your response to
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Paul Krugman: Deep Hole Economics (New York Times)
There's a danger in policy makers' overreacting to a few positive economic indicators. It's jobs, not G.D.P. numbers, that matter to American families.
Annie Lowrey: Depression Economics (Slate)
What happens to people when their unemployment insurance runs out and they still can't find a job?
Rape Victim Arrested for Refusing To Be Groped By TSA at Austin Airport (2:52-long Video)
Nicholas D. Kristof: Equality, a True Soul Food (New York Times)
Want a happy, healthy country? Focus on reducing inequality.
David Sirota: A Snow-Filled Glimpse Of America's Future (Creators Syndicate)
Billionaire Mayor Bloomberg personifies this plutocratic order - and his declaration that "the city is going fine" during the blizzard because "Broadway shows were full" demonstrates what plutocracy means in practice. It means that when an emergency does not hurt the Bloombergs of the world, our government does not see any emergency at all.
Jim Hightower: THE TECHNO-GIZMO TAKEOVER OF AMERICA
Whether you want it to or not, technology marches on! And on... and on... and on...
Abandon resolutions. Stop looking for a soulmate. Reject positive thinking (Guardian)
Oliver Burkeman kicks off our new year issue with advice on how to be a better person in 2011 (and it's not what you think).
Your prescription for 2011 is… (Guardian)
… be slightly overweight, don't exercise too much and stop peeling your fruit and veg. Dr Tom Smith on seven simple steps to better health.
Lucy Mangan: Stars in my eyes (Guardian)
A new year, a new beginning… and a time to look back on the highlights of 2010. Drum roll, please.
Paul Constant: Reading Regret, Writing Regret (The Stranger)
Jonathan Safran Foer and Michael Chabon Map the Pain of Abandoned Worlds.
Roger Ebert: Dark Turn for Dunst
In her new film "All Good Things," Kirsten Dunst plays a character who is murdered, maybe. She certainly disappears. The movie is based on a true story of a poor girl who married into a rich family and vanished into thin air. For an actor, that's a little like playing the Road Runner. You're moving straight ahead and then suddenly the road disappears. Or you do.
Roger Ebert: Shoah (A Great Movie)
For more than nine hours I sat and watched a film named "Shoah," and when it was over, I sat for a while longer and simply stared into space, trying to understand my emotions. I had seen a memory of the most debased chapter in human history. But I had also seen a film that affirmed life so passionately that I did not know where to turn with my confused feelings. There is no proper response to this film.
David Bruce has 39 Kindle books on Amazon.com with 250 anecdotes in each book. Each book is $1, so for $39 you can buy 9,750 anecdotes. Search for "Funniest People," "Coolest People, "Most Interesting People," "Kindest People," "Religious Anecdotes," and "Maximum Cool."
wrote:
is taking some tine off.
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Reader Suggestions
Michelle in AZ
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
More rain.
Donate $2 Million
Jolie-Pitt
Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are donating $2 million to the Namibian sanctuary where they spent Christmas with their kids.
The donation to the Naankuse Lodge and Wildlife Sanctuary was made through the Jolie-Pitt Foundation in the name of their daughter Shiloh, who was born in Namibia.
In a statement released late Sunday, Angelina said, "We want her to be very involved and grow up with the understanding of her country of birth."
Angelina said Rudie and Marlice van Vuuren, the owners of the sanctuary, are old friends. "We continue to be impressed by their hard work and dedication to the people and conservation of the land and wildlife of Namibia," she said.
Jolie-Pitt
'Abbey Road' Suit Sold
John Lennon
The white two-piece suit John Lennon wore on the cover of the Beatles' "Abbey Road" album has been sold at auction in Connecticut for $46,000.
The suit and other Beatles memorabilia were sold Saturday at the Braswell Galleries' annual New Year's Day auction to an online bidder who wished to remain anonymous.
The suit was custom made for Lennon by French designer Ted Lapidus.
Hank Gioiella of Darien paid $5,500 for a rusted green 1972 Chrysler station wagon Lennon and Yoko Ono owned.
John Lennon
Renewed For Ninth Season
"SpongeBob SquarePants"
"SpongeBob SquarePants" has been renewed for a ninth season.
Cable network Nickelodeon, which airs the popular animated children's television program, has ordered 26 episodes, which also includes the series' 200th episode.
Season 9 is scheduled to air in 2012.
SpongeBob has been the No. 1 animated series for kids 2-11 for 10 straight years. It follows the adventures of a sea sponge who lives in a pineapple under the sea with his pet snail, Gary.
"SpongeBob SquarePants"
Breaks Its Box-Office Record
'Wicked'
There's nothing wicked about the attraction of the Broadway hit "Wicked."
The musical took in a record $2.2 million during its eight performances last week, the third time in six weeks the show has grossed more than $2 million over eight shows.
The show about the witches in "The Wizard of Oz" has won a Grammy Award and three Tony Awards. Besides the Broadway production, there are also versions in England, Japan and Germany, plus touring versions across North America and Australia.
The latest Broadway numbers show "Wicked" isn't slowing down. It had its best week ever by earning $2,228,235 at the sold-out 1,800-seat Gershwin Theatre for the week ending Sunday.
'Wicked'
Returns Home
Chuck Berry
Chuck Berry, who fell ill with exhaustion and was escorted from stage during a Chicago concert this weekend, has returned home to suburban St. Louis, a close friend of the rock-and-roll legend said Monday.
The 84-year-old performer did not require hospitalization and Berry's friend, Joe Edwards, said he appeared to have fully recovered.
"I think it was just exhaustion," Edwards said, noting that Berry played two shows in New York on New Year's Eve, then flew to Chicago where he played at the Congress Theater on Saturday night.
Edwards said Berry returned to his home in Wentzville, Mo., on Sunday afternoon, and that he is feeling well enough to prepare for a Jan. 19 concert at Blueberry Hill in University City, Mo. Berry has performed monthly concerts at the popular bar and restaurant that Edwards owns since 1996.
Chuck Berry
Hospital News
Zsa Zsa Gabor
Actress Zsa Zsa Gabor was resting in a Los Angeles hospital on Monday, awaiting a decision on whether her leg should be amputated because of gangrene, her husband said on Monday.
Gabor, who is believed to be 93, is receiving antibiotics and a decision on amputation will probably have to wait "two or three days", said Prince Frederic von Anhalt.
"We don't know; the antibiotics have to kick in," von Anhalt, the ninth husband of the legendary Hollywood star, told reporters.
Von Anhalt said her right leg had become infected and had swelled, turning gangrenous. She was taken back to hospital on Sunday after insisting on spending New Year's Eve at home for her traditional celebration of champagne and caviar.
Zsa Zsa Gabor
Joins Rupert Network
John Roberts
Veteran CNN and CBS reporter and anchorman John Roberts is joining Fox News Channel.
The network announced Monday that Roberts was joining the network as a senior national correspondent.
Roberts was most recently a host of CNN's "American Morning," but he was bumped from that job when the network announced a reorganization last month. He had been discussing a transfer to Atlanta, home base for his fiancee, CNN anchor Kyra Phillips.
Roberts spent 14 years with CBS, working as a White House correspondent and anchor of the weekend evening news. He joined CNN in 2006.
John Roberts
Murder Charge
Nicholas Brooks
An Academy Award-winning songwriter's son has been indicted on a murder charge in the death of his swimsuit designer girlfriend, who was found in a posh hotel bathtub, according to court records that show the upgraded charges.
Nicholas Brooks is due in court Tuesday to answer the murder charge. He initially had been charged with attempted murder and strangulation after Sylvie Cachay was found dead at the SoHo House hotel on Dec. 9.
Since his arrest, medical examiners have ruled the 33-year-old Cachay's death a homicide, determining she was strangled and drowned. The murder indictment was filed after a grand jury vote last week.
Brooks is the 24-year-old son of "You Light Up My Life" writer Joseph Brooks, who is fighting separate charges of forcing himself on 13 women.
Nicholas Brooks
Fighting To Bitter End
LimeWire
LimeWire isn't going quietly to its death.
The popular file-sharing service, which allows people to transfer music, movies and TV shows free of charge over the Internet, is looking to get court-ordered subpoenas that require third parties to open up about their dealings with the record industry.
After U.S. District Court Judge Kimba Wood delivered what was essentially a death penalty for LimeWire for copyright violations with an injunction against the company in October, the case moved onto the next question: How much money should LimeWire pay the record industry for its misdeeds?
The labels claim more than $1 billion in damages and plan to argue for such compensation in a jury trial scheduled for April. But before that happens, LimeWire is fighting tooth and nail to get the record industry to prove its losses.
LimeWire
Booga Booga!
End of Days
If there had been time, Marie Exley would have liked to start a family. Instead, the 32-year-old Army veteran has less than six months left, which she'll spend spreading a stark warning: Judgment Day is almost here.
Exley is part of a movement of Christians loosely organized by radio broadcasts and websites, independent of churches and convinced by their reading of the Bible that the end of the world will begin May 21, 2011.
To get the word out, they're using billboards and bus stop benches, traveling caravans of RVs and volunteers passing out pamphlets on street corners. Cities from Bridgeport, Conn., to Little Rock, Ark., now have billboards with the ominous message, and mission groups are traveling through Latin America and Africa to spread the news outside the U.S.
"A lot of people might think, 'The end's coming, let's go party,'" said Exley, a veteran of two deployments in Iraq. "But we're commanded by God to warn people. I wish I could just be like everybody else, but it's so much better to know that when the end comes, you'll be safe."
In August, Exley left her home in Colorado Springs, Colo., to work with Oakland, Calif.-based Family Radio Worldwide, the independent Christian ministry whose leader, Harold Camping, has calculated the May 21 date based on his reading of the Bible.
End of Days
5000 Birds Fell From Sky
Beebe, Ark
Thousands of dead red-winged blackbirds fell from the sky in an Arkansas town on New Year's Eve after massive trauma, tests by Arkansas veterinary officials concluded on Monday.
Some 5,000 birds mysteriously fell from the sky in Beebe, Ark. after dark on New Year's Eve.
"The birds suffered from acute physical trauma leading to internal hemorrhage and death. There was no sign of chronic or infectious disease," the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission said in a statement. The birds were otherwise healthy, it said.
The commission also is trying to determine what caused the deaths of up to 100,000 fish over a 20-mile stretch of the Arkansas River near a dam in Ozark, 125 miles west of Beebe. The fish were discovered December 30.
Beebe, Ark
Ex-Priest Writes Of Romance
"Father Oprah"
A former Catholic priest from Miami who left the church after photos surfaced of him kissing his then-girlfriend is criticizing church leaders in a new book and calling their stance on priests' romantic relationships hypocritical.
Alberto Cutie - dubbed "Father Oprah" by the English-language media for his relationship advice - left the Roman Catholic Church in 2009 to become an Episcopal priest.
Cutie details his once-secret relationship and speaks candidly about his former church in a new book, "Dilemma: A Priest's Struggle with Faith and Love."
The 41-year-old says church leaders secretly accept homosexual and heterosexual relationships among priests but disapproved of his because it became public.
"There are so many homosexuals, both active and celibate, at all levels of clergy and Church hierarchy that the church would never be able to function if they were really to exclude all of them from ministry," Cutie writes.
"Father Oprah"
Microsoft Restores Service
Hotmail
Microsoft Corp's Hotmail service, the world's most-used online email system, is back to normal operations on Monday after some users over the weekend lost access to emails or found them transferred to a deleted mail folder. Skip related content
The world's largest software company, which has more than 360 million Hotmail users, said it has "restored full email access and recovered content to those who were affected."
Microsoft's online message boards and Twitter were abuzz with complaints Sunday about the Hotmail glitch. Microsoft said on Monday it was still investigating the root cause of the problem, which started four days ago.
"Beginning on Dec 30, we had an issue with Windows Live Hotmail that impacted 17,355 accounts," Chris Jones, a Microsoft executive, said in a company blog on Monday. "Customers impacted temporarily lost the contents of their mailbox through the course of mailbox load balancing between servers."
Hotmail
In Memory
Anne Francis
Actress Anne Francis, who was the love interest in the 1950s science-fiction classic "Forbidden Planet" and later was sexy private eye in "Honey West" on TV, has died at age 80.
Francis, who had surgery and chemotherapy after being diagnosed with lung cancer in 2007, died of complications of pancreatic cancer, her daughter, Jane Uemura, told the Los Angeles Times.
Francis, a stunningly beautiful blonde with a prominent beauty mark, appeared opposite such stars as Spencer Tracy, Paul Newman, Robert Taylor and Glenn Ford in some of the most popular films of the 1950s. But "Forbidden Planet" and "Honey West" made her reputation.
"Forbidden Planet" was hailed in Leonard Maltin's "2006 Movie Guide" as "one of the most ambitious and intelligent films of its genre."
A science-fiction retelling of Shakespeare's "The Tempest," the 1956 film had Leslie Nielsen and other space travelers visiting a planet where expatriate scientist Walter Pidgeon, his daughter (Francis) and their helper, Robby the Robot, built a settlement.
Before filming began, the actors held a meeting and agreed "to be as serious about this film as we could be," Francis said in a 1999 interview.
In "Honey West," which aired from 1965 to 1966, Francis' private detective character - who kept a pet ocelot, a wildcat - was a female James Bond: sexy, stylish and as good with martial arts as she was with a gun.
In "Blackboard Jungle," the landmark 1955 film about an idealistic teacher (Ford) in a violent city school, Francis played his pregnant wife who is targeted for harassment by one of his students.
Among her other films: "Bad Day at Black Rock" with Tracy and Robert Ryan, "Rogue Cop" with Taylor, "The Rack" with Newman, "A Lion Is in the Streets" with James Cagney, and "Hook, Line and Sinker" opposite Jerry Lewis.
When her movie career declined, Francis became active in television, appearing in dozens of series, including "Fantasy Island," `'The Virginian," `'My Three Sons," `'Ironside," `'Gunsmoke," `'The Twilight Zone," `'Charlie's Angels," `'The Golden Girls," `'Home Improvement" and "Nash Bridges."
Her name was Ann Marvak when she was born Sept. 16, 1930, in Ossining, N.Y.
By age 5 she was working as a model, and by 11 she was appearing on daytime radio serials, winning the nickname the Little Queen of Soap Operas. She also had some small roles on Broadway.
After her first MGM contract, during which she attended studio school with Elizabeth Taylor, Jane Powell and Natalie Wood, she returned to New York. There, she took part in television's Golden Age, acting in such acclaimed dramatic series as "Studio One" and "U.S. Steel Hour" before returning to Hollywood.
Francis' early marriage to actor Bam Price ended in divorce.
In addition to Jane, Francis and her second husband, Robert Abeloff, had another daughter, Maggie, before divorcing. She also is survived by a grandson.
Anne Francis
In Memory
Bill Erwin
Bill Erwin, a character actor best known for playing an irascible old man on a "Seinfeld" episode, has died of natural causes aged 96.
He died December 29 in the Los Angeles suburb of Studio City, coincidentally near the old "Seinfeld" production lot. Erwin received an Emmy nomination for his turn as Sid Fields, an embittered man whom Jerry Seinfeld's character volunteers to look after -- but then loses -- in an episode involving flying dentures, a giant goiter and a Senegalese housekeeper.
He also played Arthur the Bellman in the 1980 film "Somewhere in Time," a time-traveling romantic drama starring Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour. Erwin returned many times to the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, Mich., the film's setting, to participate in annual fan celebrations.
The Texas native had a long career on stage, working on Broadway and locally in southern California. Among his numerous TV commercials was a Dreyer's Ice Cream spot in which he played an old man notified by his wife that "Dessert's ready, it's Dreyer's Ice Cream." That prompted Erwin's chair-bound character to leap up and break dance.
He was also a self-taught cartoonist whose work was published in the New Yorker, Playboy and Los Angeles magazine. He is survived by four children and eight grandchildren.
Bill Erwin
In Memory
Pete Postlethwaite
He could have stayed in teaching. That's what his parents wanted: it was the safe, secure route for a young man with working-class roots and a face few would describe as handsome.
But Pete Postlethwaite wanted more. He wanted to pursue his passion for acting and, at 24, he left teaching to train at the Bristol Old Vic theater. His parents remained skeptical, but when he was introduced to Queen Elizabeth II after a stellar 1980s performance with the Royal Shakespeare Company, even his mother was convinced he would make his mark.
Postlethwaite had little going for him when he started in an industry where good looks are valued. He had few connections, a name that was hard to pronounce, and could distinguish himself only by his talent.
Postlethwaite was part of a small coterie of British actors who came up together through the theater and found a measure of success in Hollywood. The group included Daniel Day-Lewis and Emma Thompson, longtime friends who starred with him in "In the Name of the Father," a 1993 classic that earned Postlethwaite a best supporting actor Oscar nomination for his role as Day-Lewis' father.
He branched out into movies and television work in the 1980s, most often taking roles as an occasionally menacing working-class figure.
He had recently been seen in the critically acclaimed film "Inception" and had worked with Steven Spielberg on "The Lost World: Jurassic Park" and "Amistad". He also drew high praise for his starring role in "Brassed Off" in 1996.
Over the years, some British actors who moved into the Oscar stratosphere were seduced by the glamour and moved to Hollywood. But Postlethwaite stayed away, living in recent years with his wife and two children in a farmhouse in rural England, where his comings and goings drew little more than a friendly smile from neighbors who took his presence for granted.
Postlethwaite did not become a household name in much of the world - he is said to have resisted an agent's efforts to come up with a stage name that would be easier to pronounce and remember - but he was honored by Queen Elizabeth II when he received an OBE award in 2004.
Postlethwaite was a political activist known for his opposition to the war in Iraq and his calls to fight global warming. He used a wind turbine at his home to generate electricity.
He is survived by his wife, Jacqui, his son Will and daughter, Lily.
Pete Postlethwaite
| CURRENT MOON lunar phases |
