M Is FOR MASHUP - August 18th, 2010
A 4-Hour Long Mashup
By DJ Useo
(Heavily quoting RIAA)
"USA" is a four-hour-long "mix-album," from RIAA,the popular mashup mixer from Earth.This new project is purposefully & conveniently divided into 10 separate mixes. The history, geography, culture, and politics of the United States is all fair game for RIAA's musical collages, incisive observations, and cheap jokes. The mixes' length range from 15 - 30 minutes; the final mix is 47 minutes. This album uses roughly 335 different sources, and that's a conservative estimate.
RIAA aka Mr. Fab sez "After literally years, I'm finally finished. And I hope everything is more or less in key, on time and not too awful because, really I. Am. Finished. In fact I'm putting RIAA on the back burner (not retiring) as Baby Fab is more of a priority now. All info and downloads are
here.
( mrfab-riaa.blogspot.com/2010/07/riaa-presents-usa-mix-album-in-10-parts.html )
Enjoy! Any further contributions to this project (i.e. videos) are more than welcome."
UPDATE 8-3-10: 18 pop song-sized radio friendly singles have been broken out and included on a new comp from
RIAA : 'USA: The Singles' This very user-friendly collection will let you sample what the larger 'USA' is all about.
( mrfab-riaa.blogspot.com/2010/08/riaa-usa-singles.html )
Here are some of the words used by listeners of RIAA's 'USA' - agreeable alert alluring ambitious amused boundless brave bright calm capable charming cheerful coherent comfortable confident cooperative courageous credible cultured dashing dazzling debonair decisive decorous delightful detailed determined diligent discreet dynamic eager efficient elated eminent enchanting encouraging endurable energetic entertaining enthusiastic excellent excited exclusive exuberant fabulous fair faithful fantastic fearless fine frank friendly funny generous gentle glorious good happy harmonious helpful hilarious honorable impartial industrious instinctive jolly joyous kind kind-hearted knowledgeable level likeable lively lovely loving lucky mature modern nice obedient painstaking peaceful perfect placid plausible pleasant plucky productive protective proud punctual quiet receptive reflective relieved resolute responsible rhetorical righteous romantic sedate seemly selective self-assured sensitive shrewd silly sincere skillful smiling splendid steadfast stimulating successful succinct podgorny talented thoughtful thrifty tough trustworthy unbiased unusual upbeat vigorous vivacious warm willing wise witty wonderful
If you think you'd like some tunes that are mixed like that, try RIAA's ' USA'.
( mrfab-riaa.blogspot.com/2010/07/riaa-presents-usa-mix-album-in-10-parts.html )
Mix Of The Week
Fidget Freeman's 'Boom Mix' is great electro-fidget mixed live by someone who knows how. Listen for artists like Major Lazer, Orbital, Will Bailey, Bass Weazal & HiJack among MANY more.
( fidgetfreeman.pellapushers.co.uk/?p=248 )
Mashup Tip : Make sure to stock up on extra pellas in case company shows up.
Latest Useo Thing
T.Rex Singing 'Get It On' to the music of The Stranglers' '(Get A) Grip'.
Not the kind of mash you hear every day, or so I've heard since posting.lol.
( groovytimewithdjuseo.blogspot.com/ )
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
David Bruce: Wise Up! Art (athensnews.com)
Early in life, independent filmmaker Jim Jarmusch had a job in Paris delivering paintings from a gallery to other galleries or to the homes of people who had purchased the paintings. Once, he and a co-worker had to deliver approximately 100 pieces of an artwork that was a huge painting with holes torn in it so that the artist could paint on different surfaces. Unfortunately, Mr. Jarmusch and his co-worker accidentally ran over the painting, leaving tire marks on it. Fortunately, the private collector who had bought the painting did not notice anything wrong with it.
Ted Rall: THE LIBERTARIAN WAR ON FREE SPEECH
Two months ago long-time White House correspondent Helen Thomas got fired by her employer, the Hearst newspaper conglomerate, in response to her off-the-cuff slam at Israel. I criticized the firing on free speech grounds.
VOTE FOR MOVING FORWARD (my.barackobama.com)
"I know politics is tacky and simplistic. But the broad themes are clear and real: The Republicans really have tried to block everything the President has done. The President really is leading the country forward - on education, on energy, on health, on financial reform. Here he asks us to choose DRIVE over REVERSE this November."-Andrew Tobias
Daniel Gross: Take This Job and Shove It (slate.com)
JetBlue's Steven Slater isn't the only one: why more and more American workers are unhappy.
Scott Burns: "Future Medicare: Cheap, But Not Available" (assetbuilder.com)
If the reports from the Trustees for Social Security and Medicare are accurate, our collective unfunded obligations shrank by a whopping $15.56 trillion when the reports were released on August 5th.
MAUREEN DOWD: No Love From the Lefties (nytimes.com)
Robert Gibbs should be yanked as White House press secretary. Not because of his outburst against the "professional left." He was right about that. In an interview with The Hill last week, Gibbs once more proved Michael Kinsley's maxim that a gaffe is just truth slipping out.
G. JEFFREY MacDONALD: Congregations Gone Wild (nytimes.com)
THE American clergy is suffering from burnout, several new studies show. And part of the problem, as researchers have observed, is that pastors work too much. Many of them need vacations, it's true. But there's a more fundamental problem that no amount of rest and relaxation can help solve: congregational pressure to forsake one's highest calling.
MARK C. TAYLOR: Academic Bankruptcy (nytimes.com)
WITH the academic year about to begin, colleges and universities, as well as students and their parents, are facing an unprecedented financial crisis. What we've seen with California's distinguished state university system - huge cutbacks in spending and a 32 percent rise in tuition - is likely to become the norm at public and private colleges. Government support is being slashed, endowments and charitable giving are down, debts are piling up, expenses are rising and some schools are selling their product for two-thirds of what it costs to produce it. You don't need an M.B.A. to know this situation is unsustainable.
KATE MURPHY: Web Photos That Reveal Secrets, Like Where You Live (nytimes.com)
When Adam Savage, host of the popular science program "MythBusters," posted a picture on Twitter of his automobile parked in front of his house, he let his fans know much more than that he drove a Toyota Land Cruiser.
STEVE MOYER: Burying Moliθre ?(And reburying him)
Last year, on the fiftieth anniversary of Albert Camus's death, French president Nicolas Sarkozy proposed the Nobel Laureate's body be exhumed, brought to Paris, and placed in the Panthιon.
Stuart O'Connor: "Lang Lang: 'I feel left behind all the time'" (guardian.co.uk)
Concert pianist Lang Lang wishes he could spend more time practising video games.
George Varga: Rock Solid -- Kim Fowley a Fixture in Pop Music for 50 Years (creators.com)
When notorious rock legend Kim Fowley was about to be sedated before having cancerous tumors removed from his bladder last month, he made an unusual request.
The Weekly Poll
EMMY CONTEST
The First Ever BadtotheboneBob's Emmy Contest!™
Well then, Poll-fans, here are the 21 categories and nominations. I would suggest a cut and paste action and then adding yer predictions... Best of luck be upon ya!
Drama
Drama Series
Breaking Bad AMC
Dexter Showtime
The Good Wife CBS
Lost ABC
Mad Men AMC
True Blood HBO
Lead Actor, Drama
Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad AMC
Michael C. Hall, Dexter Showtime
Kyle Chandler, Friday Night Lights NBC
Hugh Laurie, House FOX
Matthew Fox, Lost ABC
Jon Hamm, Mad Men AMC
Lead Actress, Drama
Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer TNT
Glenn Close, Damages FX Networks
Connie Britton, Friday Night Lights NBC
Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife CBS
Mariska Hargitay, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit NBC
January Jones, Mad Men AMC
Supporting Actor, Drama
Aaron Paul, Breaking Bad AMC
Martin Short, Damages FX Networks
Terry O'Quinn, Lost ABC
Michael Emerson, Lost ABC
John Slattery, Mad Men AMC
Andre Braugher, Men Of A Certain Age TNT
Supporting Actress, Drama
Sharon Gless, Burn Notice USA
Rose Byrne, Damages FX Networks
Archie Panjabi, The Good Wife CBS
Christine Baranski, The Good Wife CBS
Christina Hendricks, Mad Men AMC
Elisabeth Moss, Mad Men AMC
Comedy
Comedy Series
Curb Your Enthusiasm HBO
Glee FOX
Modern Family ABC
Nurse Jackie Showtime
The Office NBC
30 Rock NBC
Lead Actor, Comedy
Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory CBS
Larry David, Curb Your Enthusiasm HBO
Matthew Morrison, Glee FOX
Tony Shalhoub, Monk USA
Steve Carell, The Office NBC
Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock NBC
Lead Actress, Comedy
Lea Michele, Glee FOX
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, The New Adventures Of Old Christine CBS
Edie Falco, Nurse Jackie Showtime
Amy Poehler, Parks And Recreation NBC
Tina Fey, 30 Rock NBC
Toni Collette, United States Of Tara Showtime
Supporting Actor, Comedy
Chris Colfer, Glee FOX
Neil Patrick Harris, How I Met Your Mother CBS
Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Modern Family ABC
Eric Stonestreet, Modern Family ABC
Ty Burrell, Modern Family ABC
Jon Cryer, Two And A Half Men CBS
Supporting Actress, Comedy
Jane Lynch, Glee FOX
Julie Bowen, Modern Family ABC
Sofia Vergara, Modern Family ABC
Kristen Wiig, Saturday Night Live NBC
Jane Krakowski, 30 Rock NBC
Holland Taylor, Two And A Half Men CBS
Miniseries or Movie
Miniseries
The Pacific HBO
Return To Cranford (Masterpiece) PBS
Made-for-TV Movie
Endgame (Masterpiece) PBS
Georgia O'Keeffe Lifetime
Moonshot HISTORY
The Special Relationship HBO
Temple Grandin HBO
You Don't Know Jack HBO
Actor, Miniseries or Movie
Jeff Bridges, A Dog Year HBO
Ian McKellen, The Prisoner AMC
Michael Sheen, The Special Relationship HBO
Dennis Quaid, The Special Relationship HBO
Al Pacino, You Don't Know Jack HBO
Actress, Miniseries or Movie
Maggie Smith, Capturing Mary HBO
Joan Allen, Georgia O'Keeffe Lifetime
Dame Judi Dench, Return To Cranford (Masterpiece) PBS
Hope Davis, The Special Relationship HBO
Claire Danes, Temple Grandin HBO
Supporting Actor, Miniseries or Movie
Michael Gambon, Emma (Masterpiece) PBS
Patrick Stewart, Hamlet (Great Performances) PBS
Jonathan Pryce, Return To Cranford (Masterpiece) PBS
David Strathairn, Temple Grandin HBO
John Goodman, You Don't Know Jack HBO
Supporting Actress, Miniseries or Movie
Kathy Bates, Alice Syfy
Julia Ormond, Temple Grandin HBO
Catherine O'Hara, Temple Grandin HBO
Brenda Vaccaro, You Don't Know Jack HBO
Susan Sarandon, You Don't Know Jack HBO
Reality and Variety, Music or Comedy
Reality Program
Antiques Roadshow PBS
Dirty Jobs Discovery Channel
Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution ABC
Kathy Griffin: My Life On The D-List Bravo
MythBusters Discovery Channel
Undercover Boss CBS
Reality-Competition Program
The Amazing Race CBS
American Idol FOX
Dancing With The Stars ABC
Project Runway Lifetime
Top Chef Bravo
Host for a Reality or Reality-Competition Program
Phil Keoghan, The Amazing Race CBS
Ryan Seacrest, American Idol FOX
Tom Bergeron, Dancing With The Stars ABC
Heidi Klum, Project Runway Lifetime
Jeff Probst, Survivor CBS
Variety, Music or Comedy Series
The Colbert Report Comedy Central
The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Comedy Central
Real Time With Bill Maher HBO
Saturday Night Live NBC
The Tonight Show With Conan O'Brien NBC
Variety, Music or Comedy Special
Bill Maher "...But I'm Not Wrong" HBO
Hope For Haiti Now Tenth Planet Productions and MTV
The Kennedy Center Honors CBS
Robin Williams: Weapons Of Self Destruction HBO
The 25th Anniversary Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame Concert HBO
Wanda Sykes: I'ma Be Me HBO
Total correct predictions takes The Prize. Again, that would be a $50 VISA gift card mailed directly to you from 'yours truly'.
Also, again, ties will be resolved in a scientific manner involving the ever fabulous, Maddie Muffin (Future Nobel AND Pulitzer Prize winner, President of the United States AND General Secretary of the UN amongst other notable achievements to numerous to mention)...
"My Grampa is The Best!"
The 21 nominations/categories will run daily until August 28th.
Response cut-off time is 3pm EDT, Saturday, August 28th, and will be posted for all to see August 29th (Emmy Day).
The winner will be the one with the most correct predictions and will be announced Tuesday August 31st.
Oh, and please make it easy on me and don't wait until, like, the last minute and flood me with your predictions, eh? Good luck be on ya, Poll-fans!
Send your predictions to:
BadToTheBoneBob
Here's a complete list of all Emmy Nominations - 2010.
replied:
answered:
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Reader Comment
Problem SOLVED!
Hi Marty!!!
Instead of bailing out banks, why didn't the government just pay off everyone's mortgages? It still would mean money being payed to the banks but it also would mean all those "worthless" mortgages that were polluting the banking environment would become solvent, thus freeing up people's equity and prompting banks to give loans ON the newly "gooded" equity.
People would then have money to spend on home improvements and durable (and not so durable) consumer goods like American made Vedjicles ...It's a win-win-win situation in my estimation but then again I AM just a washed up former television personality (or LACK of personality as it were)
Vic in AK
Thanks, Vic!
It's sorta like the wars - instead of buying all those armaments, give the money to the citizens.
They'd all be better off, a whole lot of people wouldn't end up someone else's collateral damage, and it'd be cheaper in the long run.
Reader Suggestions
Michelle in AZ
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and hot.
50 Years Ago
The Beatles
The club where the Beatles played their first gig 50 years ago in the German city of Hamburg is hosting four anniversary concerts featuring a tribute band starting from Tuesday, the organisers said.
The Beatles -- at that time a not-so-fab five-piece grouping Liverpudlian teenagers John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Stuart Sutcliffe and Pete Best -- first took the stage at the Indra club on August 17, 1960.
Their Hamburg experiences were credited with creating the foundations for the talent that would later make them world-famous. It was also in the port city that the band first performed with their eventual drummer, Ringo Starr.
A new museum dedicated to the Beatles, called "Beatlemania", opened in Hamburg in May 2009, set in the same seedy Reeperbahn area where the Indra club is located.
The Beatles
Targets Palin And Her Mama Grizzlies
Emily's List
Emily's List, a group that works to elect pro-choice Democratic women, is going after Sarah Palin and her Mama Grizzlies. The group launched a new organizing effort today called "Sarah Doesn't Speak for Me" which will raise money to counter what they describe as Palin's "backward-looking agenda."
The effort includes a website that lists what the group describes as "extremist" positions held by Palin and the conservative female candidates she's endorsed. The site also solicits contributions, which the group says will go toward campaigns challenging Palin's roster of endorsed candidates, both men and women.
Democrats have been privately fretting about Palin's influence in the election, especially as polls show Republicans with serious momentum heading into the November midterms. One race Emily's List is especially focused on: the California Senate contest, which pits Democratic incumbent Barbara Boxer, a longtime Emily's List ally, with Carly Fiorina, whom Palin endorsed in the GOP primary.
But in this race, and others, it's still unclear what role, if any, Palin might play this fall. Nevertheless, Emily's List, like other Democratic groups, is seizing on Palin's unpopularity with Democrats to raise cash and stir up a voter base that has been less-than-enthusiastic about the 2010 campaign.
EMILY's List
Lost Her 1st Amendment Rights?
That Schlessinger Woman
Dr. Laura Schlessinger (R-Gollum), the talk show host who recently apologized for saying the N-word 11 times to a caller on the air, said Tuesday she plans to give up her radio show when her contract is up at the end of this year.
The mother-hating conservative advice maven made the announcement on CNN's "Larry King Live," saying she wants to "regain her First Amendment rights."
Schlessinger said she's not retiring or quitting. Instead, she said, she feels stronger and freer to say what she believes needs to be said.
"I want to be able to say what's on my mind and in my heart and what I think is helpful and useful without somebody getting angry - some special interest group deciding this is a time to silence a voice of dissent and attack affiliates and sponsors," she said.
That Schlessinger Woman
London Home Exhibition
Jimi Hendrix
Clothing, mementoes and handwritten lyrics belonging to Jimi Hendrix are going on display at his former London home to mark the 40th anniversary of his death.
The guitarist lived during the late 1960s in an apartment in the Mayfair area of London. He died in the city on Sept. 18, 1970.
Composer George Frideric Handel lived next door in the 18th century, and Hendrix's former home is now part of the Handel House Museum.
The exhibition opens Aug. 25 and runs to Nov. 7. For 12 days in September visitors will also be able to tour the rooms where Hendrix lived, which are not usually open to the public.
Jimi Hendrix
Not A Digital Book Fan
Ray Bradbury
Famed US author Ray Bradbury on Monday told the Los Angeles Times that this country needs a "revolution" and that he gets burned up by the idea of his works going digital.
Bradbury, author of "The Martian Chronicles" in which colonists from a devastated Earth encounter natives on Mars, lashed out at President Barack Obama for not backing development a moon base to be used to "fire off a rocket to Mars".
Bradbury also bridled at the spread of modern technology, saying: "We have too many cellphones. We've got too many Internets. We have got to get rid of those machines. We have too many machines now."
Bradbury is being celebrated in Los Angeles with a week dedicated to him to mark his 90th birthday on August 22.
Ray Bradbury
Brazil Honors
Vinicius de Moraes
Brazil has posthumously given the rank of ambassador to a poet and songwriter who penned the famous Bossa Nova anthem, "Girl from Ipanema."
The Foreign Ministry bestowed the honor on Vinicius de Moraes, a one-time diplomat who was the poetic force behind Bossa Nova in the 1960s.
Moraes was first posted to Los Angeles in 1946 as a vice consul. His other postings took him to Paris and Rome.
A gregarious character - he was married nine times - Moraes embodied the free-spirit of his native Rio de Janeiro.
It was that lifestyle that led Brazil's military dictatorship to expel him from the diplomatic corps in 1969.
Vinicius de Moraes
Lawsuit Settled
Nirvana
Court records show a management firm and Courtney Love have settled a $1 million lawsuit over the profits of the sale of Nirvana's publishing catalog.
Love is the widow of former Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain. London & Co. sued Love two years ago, claiming she failed to share the earnings of a deal in which sold a portion of Nirvana's catalog for nearly $20 million.
Court records show attorneys for London & Co. and Love told a judge last Wednesday that they had settled and the case was dismissed.
The Hole frontwoman has controlled many of the rights to Cobain and Nirvana's work since his suicide in Seattle in 1994.
Nirvana
Gets Fine, Probation
Erykah Badu
A city spokesman says singer Erykah Badu has paid a $500 fine and will serve six months of probation for stripping during a music video shoot at Dealey Plaza in Dallas, where President John F. Kennedy was fatally shot in 1963.
Badu performed a walking striptease March 13 for her "Window Seat" music video. The video ends with a nude Badu falling to the ground as if she has been shot.
Police in April cited her for disorderly conduct after a witness made a sworn complaint. A number of children were among the tourists and other random passers-by seen on the video.
Dallas city spokesman Frank Librio says Badu paid the fine Friday.
Erykah Badu
Not The Father
Bobby Fischer
A DNA test on former chess champion Bobby Fischer's corpse has shown that he was not the father of a Filipino girl, as claimed by his former lover, an Icelandic paper reported on Tuesday.
Fischer's lover had claimed that he fathered her daughter, Jinky Young, while living in the Philippines in 2001. Iceland's Supreme Court agreed in June to her demand that his remains be exhumed to obtain tissue samples and settle the paternity suit.
Among evidence produced during the court proceedings was a 2004 photo of Fischer with Jinky and her mother and a postcard to Jinky from Fischer, signed "Daddy."
The lawyer said that the dispute -- over who will inherit an estate estimated at around $2 million -- was now between Fischer's nephews and a Japanese woman who claims she was his wife.
Bobby Fischer
Targets Target
MoveOn
Liberal activists are taking to the airwaves to ask you not to shop at Target.
The boycott effort started about a month ago when it was revealed that the retailer donated $150,000 to Tom Emmer, a Republican gubernatorial candidate in Minnesota who opposes same-sex marriage.
But you wouldn't necessarily know any of that from viewing the ad, which does not mention same-sex marriage and instead focuses on corporate contributions. The commercial comes courtesy of MoveOn.org, which is still steaming from a January 21 Supreme Court decision, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, that allows for more corporate cash in elections.
MoveOn said it will run the ad nationally on MSNBC, where it will no doubt have a big supporter in the cable channel's Keith Olbermann, who complained on his show after the Supreme Court decision that "within ten years every politician in this country will be a prostitute."
MoveOn
Case Dismissed
Ice-T
Ice-T came out on top in a brush with real-life law and order Tuesday when prosecutors dropped unlicensed driving charges against the rapper-turned-TV detective.
"That's what I'm talking about - dismissed!" he called out in a Manhattan courtroom after a judge did just that to the misdemeanor case, which had prompted some choice words about police from the "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" actor.
Ice-T, 52, was arrested after a traffic stop of his 2009 Cadillac on Manhattan's West Side on July 20; he and his wife were on the road after taking their bulldog, Spartacus, to a vet for knee surgery. Police said they pulled the entertainer over for not wearing a seatbelt - which he contests - and a routine check showed his license was suspended.
Prosecutors said Tuesday that New York Department of Motor Vehicles records wrongly reflected that his license was suspended because of a lack of insurance, when his car is in fact insured and registered in New Jersey.
Ice-T
"California Gurls" On Safe Ground
Katy Perry
Rondor Music, which owns the copyright to the Beach Boys' "California Girls," has sent a letter to Capitol Records demanding that it grant writing credits and royalties for the Katy Perry summer hit "California Gurls" to Brian Wilson and Mike Love, the writers of the 1965 classic.
No one would mistake Perry's song -- which topped the Billboard Hot 100 for six straight weeks in June and July -- for "California Girls." But at the end of "Gurls," rapper Snoop Dogg says, "I really wish you all could be California girls" -- not far off from "I wish they all could be California girls" in the Beach Boys' refrain.
There isn't any indication that Universal Music Publishing Group-owned Rondor will sue. Indeed, Love and Wilson have said publicly that they like Perry's song. Capitol parent EMI Music doesn't seem to be too worried. "There's no merit to it," EMI spokesman Dylan Jones says.
Did Rondor have a legal basis to make its demand? Its blanket insistence that using snippets from others' works "is not appropriate under any circumstances" ignores various potential legal defenses. But, like so many things in the law, it's not an absolute slam-dunk. Underlying any consideration of the legal case is the venerable maxim "de minimis non curat lex": The law doesn't concern itself with trifles. In other words, judges don't waste their time over trivial matters, like copying tiny portions of others' works.
Katy Perry
Pleads No Contest
Ted Nugent
Rocker and celebrity hunter Ted Nugent will have to pay a $1,750 fine after pleading no contest in California to baiting a deer and not having a properly signed hunting tag.
California Department of Fish and Game spokesman Patrick Foy says game wardens saw Nugent kill an immature buck on a February episode of his Outdoor Channel TV show "Spirit of the Wild."
Investigators found that the deer had been eating bait called "C'mere Deer." Baiting wildlife is illegal in California.
Nugent originally faced 11 charges, including killing a deer too young to be hunted. In a deal with Yuba County prosecutors, Nugent's attorney on Friday entered no contest pleas to the two misdemeanors.
Ted Nugent
Just A "Neo-Fascist Gangster?"
James Bond
James Bond is nothing but a gangster who would ply his trade for any country that offered him a steady supply of girls and dry Martinis, says writer John le Carrι.
Agent 007 may be as popular as ever, but not with the creator of George Smiley.
Here is Le Carre on Bond in the 1960s: "I dislike Bond. I'm not sure that Bond is a spy. I think that it's a great mistake if one's talking about espionage literature to include Bond in this category at all," he said of rival novelist Ian Fleming's creation in a 1966 interview.
"These days I would be much kinder," Le Carrι told Radio Times magazine after watching a tape of the interview.
James Bond
Auctions-Offer Piece Of History
Hollywood
Marilyn Monroe's chest X-rays. Barbra Streisand's houndstooth cap from the film "What's Up, Doc?" Elvis Presley's empty prescription bottles. Alfred Hitchcock's driver's license.
Who wants all this stuff? And why would they pay thousands of dollars for it?
Hollywood memorabilia auctions have become big business around the globe, with a seemingly endless supply of celebrity relics - and celebrity collectors who will pay big bucks for them. In what's become almost routine around town, hundreds more items will be up for sale this weekend, when props and costumes from TV's "Lost" hit the auction block.
"This market is fun because it's probably the most accessible market that's sold at auction today," said appraiser Laura Woolley, president of The Collector's Lab. "You don't need to have a huge history of connoisseurship to get the visceral reaction to the ruby slippers, and you don't need to be told why they're important. These pieces just have an instant connection with people."
Hollywood
Fan Turns Autograph Into Tattoo
Paul McCartney
A Pennsylvania woman took a sign to Paul McCartney's show Sunday in Philadelphia requesting he autograph her back with a marker. McCartney called Rose Ann Belluso up on stage and obliged, and she decided to make the moment last forever.
She had McCartney's signature permanently etched onto her body at Extreme Ink Tattoo Parlor in West Chester. A tattoo artist went over the signature on Monday.
Belluso, of Downingtown, says the painful procedure was a no-brainer.
She says getting McCartney's autograph was the best experience of her life, behind only the birth of her two sons. It's also her first tattoo.
Paul McCartney
Lawsuits Dismissed
Bruce Willis
Court records show dueling lawsuits between Bruce Willis and three film companies over a failed film project have been dismissed.
The companies sued Willis for $4 million in March 2009, alleging he broke a contract to direct a film titled "Three Stories About Joan." Willis countersued for nearly $9 million a few days later, claiming the companies failed to show they had the money for the project on time.
Court filings in Los Angeles show the cases were dismissed Monday. No additional details were provided, and attorneys for Willis and the companies, Foresight Unlimited, Signature Entertainment Group and Three Stories Productions, did not immediately return phone messages seeking comment.
Bruce Willis
Kennywood Record
Vic Kleman
A 78-year-old man rode a Pittsburgh-area roller coaster 90 times in one day - bringing his lifetime total to 4,000 rides. Vic Kleman spent about five hours on the Jack Rabbit roller coaster at Kennywood Park in West Mifflin.
The wooden coaster is no spring chicken, either. It's celebrating its 90th anniversary - the number that prompted Kleman's marathon riding session on Sunday.
The Jack Rabbit has an 85-foot, double-dip drop. Kleman says he's been going on it since 1959, and usually rides it about 20 times a visit.
Kleman, who lives in nearby Knoxville, Pa., is a member of the American Coaster Enthusiasts.
Vic Kleman
Prime-Time Nielsens
Ratings
Prime-time viewership numbers compiled by the Nielsen Co. for Aug. 9-15. Listings include the week's ranking and viewership.
1. "America's Got Talent" (Wednesday), NBC, 10.67 million.
2. "America's Got Talent" (Tuesday), NBC, 10.48 million.
3. "NCIS," CBS, 8.74 million.
4. "Two and a Half Men," CBS, 8.69 million.
5. "The Big Bang Theory," CBS, 8.49 million.
6. "60 Minutes," CBS, 8.35 million.
7. "Wipeout" (Tuesday), ABC, 7.95 million.
8. "Big Brother 12" (Sunday), CBS, 7.46 million.
9. "NCIS: Los Angeles," CBS, 7.35 million.
10. "Hell's Kitchen," Fox, 7.24 million.
11. "Big Brother 12" (Thursday), CBS, 7.24 million.
12. "Big Brother 12" (Wednesday), CBS, 7.1 million.
13. "The Mentalist," CBS, 6.95 million.
14. "So You Think You Can Dance" (Thursday), Fox, 6.74 million.
15. "Criminal Minds," CBS, 6.54 million.
16. "Minute to Win It" (Wednesday), NBC, 6.48 million.
17. "Bachelor Pad" ABC, 6.37 million.
18. "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," CBS, 6.33 million.
19. "WipeOut" (Thursday), ABC, 6.15 million.
20. "So You Think I Can Dance" (Wednesday), Fox, 6.13 million.
Ratings
In Memory
Dr. Frank Ryan
Celebrity plastic surgeon Dr. Frank Ryan, who made headlines for performing multiple surgeries on reality TV star Heidi Montag earlier this year, has died. He was 50 years old.
The California Highway Patrol says Ryan's 1995 Jeep Wrangler went off the side of Pacific Coast Highway near Malibu and landed on its roof Monday afternoon.
Besides Montag, Ryan's celebrity clientele included musician Vince Neil, actor Lorenzo Lamas, reality stars Lisa Gastineau and Adrianne Curry and several models and beauty queens.
According to Ryan's website, he graduated from the University of Michigan in 1982 and from the Ohio State University College of Medicine four years later.
Ryan opened his private practice in 1994, the same year he established his namesake charitable foundation that provides free removal of gang-related tattoos and hosts day and overnight camps for children at Malibu's Bony Pony Ranch.
Dr. Frank Ryan
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