M Is FOR MASHUP - September 29th, 2010
CHILLAX Mashup Comp Is Red Hot!
(New Sound-Unsound Mashup Album)
By DJ Useo
Mashers love mashing,
they mash night & day.
Especially when new
s
tyles are coming their way.
2 discs of chill mashups,
beautiful & mellow.
Enough to tame even
the nastiest fellow.
With artists like Boston,
Springsteen & T-Rex,
the mashups had dancers
bobbing their necks.
With Spider & QUBIC
& The Reborn Identity,
you know the quality
was vast & plentity.
If you fancy a mash
that makes you sigh & blink,
Get ready to splash
& click on this link!
( markyboymashed.blogspot.com/2010/09/chillax-come-down.html )
or
( groovytimewithdjuseo.blogspot.com/2010/09/sound-unsounds-chillax-come-downfull.html )
Mix Of The Week
Look for my DJ Useo-Fast Versions vol.1 here -
( www.bmbx.org/2010/09/fast-versions-vol-1/ )
It's over an hour of popular tracks played as fast as hearing comfort allows.
Latest Useo Track
Here is the brilliance of The KLF's 'Build A Fire' set against the relentless Kissing The Pink's
'Big Man Restless'.
Write & let me know what you think.
( groovytimewithdjuseo.blogspot.com/2010/09/big-man-fire-klf-vs-kissing-pink.html )
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Matt Miller: What Obamanomics is missing: Disruptive innovation (The Washington Post)
With Larry Summers following Christina Romer and Peter Orszag out the door, President Obama has a chance for an economic policy reboot. Clearly he needs to try something different.
Thomas Steinbeck: John Steinbeck, Michael Moore, and the Burgeoning Role of Planetary Patriotism (huffingtonpost.com)
The Steinbeck Award points to examples of American patriots who have made an indelible impact on our culture. Mr. Moore aptly fulfills every required parameter designed to guide the choice of award recipients.
Andrew Tobias: "THE JOB CREATORS"
Answer me this, my billionaire friends: If tax cuts for the best off are so great for the economy, why did we create no new net jobs since enacting them? We've had these wonderfully low rates for a long time now. They don't seem to have created jobs.
Paul Krugman's Blog: What Structural Unemployment Looks Like
In a way, the key insight about America now is that it doesn't look at all like Thatcherite Britain. Legend aside, this is not mainly about displaced construction workers - and there are no other dying industries to point to. Lousy labor markets span the country, except in a handful of states with almost no people. It's a terrible job situation for college graduates as well as high-school graduates.
FactChecking 'The Pledge': Republicans' "Pledge to America" falls short on some of its facts. (factcheck.org)
The Republican "Pledge to America," released Sept. 23, contains some dubious factual claims: It declares that "the only parts of the economy expanding are government and our national debt." Not true. So far this year government employment has declined slightly, while private sector employment has increased by 763,000 jobs. …
Jim Hightower: A SPEAKER LOBBYISTS WOULD LOVE
John Boehner is known for his ties and his tan. … The tan is odd, both because it has an eerie orange hue to it, and because it never goes away. Even in the dead of winter, this GOP leader from sun-starved Ohio has such a perpetual glow that he's been nicknamed "Suntan Johnnie." How does he get the glow? By routinely flying on corporate jets to play golf with corporate lobbyists on various corporate tabs at such sun-drenched resorts as the Ritz-Carlton in Naples, Florida.
Elizabeth Day: "Damien Hirst: 'Art is childish and childlike'" (guardian.co.uk)
The provocative artist on the end of his feud with Charles Saatchi, and the sons following in his footsteps.
Irene Lacher: "The Sunday Conversation: Jason Alexander" (latimes.com)
The average person cannot spend $100 a ticket to go see a musical for an evening, and when you add travel and parking and food, you're almost at $150, $200 per person. That's untenable. All of us have to come up with a new way of doing these things where they can be done with integrity and artistry, but we're not making our audience elitist.
Scott Collins: Laughs flow from James Burrows' direction
Hits such as 'Cheers,' 'Friends' and 'Will & Grace' are on the resume of the sitcom master, whom CBS is entrusting with 'Mike & Molly.'
Roger Ebert: Review of "Wonder Boys" (An Overlooked DVD; Rated R; 4 stars)
My father was an electrician at the University of Illinois. He never taught me a thing about electricity. "Every time I walk through the English building," he said, "I see the professors in their offices with their feet up on the desk, reading books and smoking their pipes. Now that's the life for you."
Will Harris: A Chat with Chevy Chase, Co-star of "Community" (bullz-eye.com)
On the success of "Community": Has it (caught on)? I don't know. It's back, anyway. It was picked up. But I don't understand TV well enough to know what 'picked up' really means. It could just mean, 'We'll give it another shot.' I don't know.
Emma John: "This much I know: Tim Robbins" (guardian.co.uk)
The actor and musician, 51, on hatred, ice hockey, and winning an Oscar.
Hubert's Poetry Corner
"The Secret Torment of Private Abner Tiner"
The Weekly Poll
New Question
The 'Send in the Clowns... Don't bother, they're here' Edition...
The House's No. 2 Democratic leader said today that comedian Stephen Colbert's testimony last week on immigration was "inappropriate" and "an embarrassment." Democratic Rep. Zoe Lofgren of California invited Colbert to appear before the House Judiciary Committee. But other Democrats weren't happy about her decision... House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland told "Faux News Sunday" he thought the episode was more of an embarrassment to Colbert than to the House. But, he added, "I think it was inappropriate" that he testified...
House leader: Colbert was an 'embarrassment' - Politics - msnbc.com
Do you agree with Majority Leader Hoyer's assessment of Colbert's appearance?
1.) Yes... He made a mockery of the legislative process. What was Rep. Lofgren thinking?
2.) No... Congress, themselves, make a mockery of the legislative process, dagnabbit!
3.) More! More! Bring on Jon Stewart!
Send your response to
wrote:
said:
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Reader Suggestion
'Time Waster'
Here's a good 'time waster' from those fine folks at 'The Smoking Gun'.
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Not as hot but a lot more humid.
Meg Whitman is using her maiden name to run for governor - she's married to Dr. Griffith Rutherford Harsh, IV.
Does that make her Mrs. Harsh?
2010 'Genius Grants'
MacArthur Foundation
David Simon, creator of the HBO television series "The Wire," is among 23 recipients of this year's MacArthur Foundation "genius grants" - news that left him with what he described as "a vague sense of guilt."
The $500,000 grants were announced Tuesday by the Chicago-based John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. The money, paid quarterly over five years, comes with no strings, allowing winners unfettered freedom to pursue their creativity.
Simon's guilt stemmed from already being amply funded in an industry that's "a little bit recession-proof," he said. Still, the award's prestige will go far with network executives. While critically acclaimed, Simon's dissection of urban problems in "The Wire" and more recently "Treme" hasn't yet scored Emmys or high Nielsen ratings.
MacArthur winners don't need to tell anyone how they'll spend the grant money. There are no reporting requirements.
MacArthur Foundation
Latest Nominees
Rock Hall of Fame
It could be a blaze of glory for Bon Jovi at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
The Jersey boys are up for possible induction in the hallowed hall, along with first-timers Donovan, Dr. John, Alice Cooper and Neil Diamond.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame released its list of nominees Tuesday. There were some familiar names: Darlene Love, LL Cool J, Donna Summer and the Beastie Boys have been up for the prestigious honor before.
Other previous nominees include the J. Geils Band; Tom Waits; Chuck Willis; Chic and Joe Tex.
Rock Hall of Fame
Grant Program Honors
Stephen Sondheim
A new program in honor of Broadway composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim will reward outstanding teachers across the country with $10,000 grants, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts announced Tuesday.
Freddie Gershon, chairman of the theatrical licensing firm Music Theatre International, and his wife, Myrna, are funding the program as a gift to Sondheim. The size of the donation was not disclosed, but the program could run for 10 years or more.
The Kennedy Center-Stephen Sondheim Inspirational Teacher Awards will award an unspecified number of grants each year to U.S. teachers in any subject from kindergarten through college. Organizers said Sondheim is a committed mentor and credits teachers for his success. The Kennedy Center is seeking nominations by Dec. 15 for the first round of grants in 2011.
"Good teachers are touchstones to paths of achieving more than we might have otherwise accomplished, in directions we might not have gone," Sondheim said.
Stephen Sondheim
New Footage Of Moon Walk
Neil Armstrong
Long-lost footage of Neil Armstrong descending the ladder of the Apollo 11 lunar module will be screened in public for the first time in Sydney next week, a prominent astronomer told AFP.
The footage runs for a few minutes and is considered to be some of the best footage of the historic 1969 moonwalk, but the film was lost in archives for many years and was badly damaged when found, said John Sarkissian.
Telescopes in remote Australia played a key role in the Apollo 11 mission, including provision of the television signal, after Armstrong decided to attempt the moonwalk early, putting the United States just beyond the horizon.
Sarkissian -- historian and astronomer in charge of the Australian side of the recordings restoration project -- said the unseen minutes were the "best quality of Armstrong descending the ladder."
"NASA were using the Goldstone (California) station signal, which had its settings wrong, but in the signals being received by the Australian stations you can actually see Armstrong."
Neil Armstrong
Honored In NY
Richard Dreyfuss
Oscar winner Richard Dreyfuss is receiving the 2010 Empire State Archives and History Award for his efforts to improve civics education in America's schools.
According to the Archives Partnership Trust, the award ceremony was part of a public discussion with nationally prominent Lincoln scholar Harold Holzer scheduled for Tuesday night in Albany, N.Y.
Dreyfuss launched The Dreyfuss Initiative last year to spur interest in strengthening American democracy by promoting civics education. His films include "Jaws" and "The Goodbye Girl," for which he won an Academy Award for best actor.
Other recipients of the award include actor Sam Waterston and historians Doris Kearns Goodwin and Henry Louis Gates Jr.
Richard Dreyfuss
Yurns 20
IMDb
IMDb.com, the website you go to in order to find out who acted in what film, no matter how obscure, turns 20 next month. In addition to its extensive and unmatched database, the site was overhauled this week to emphasize video clips and help fans find what they'd like to see next.
The goal of the relaunch is to "help people make viewing decisions" and "emphasize the visual nature of film and TV," said Col Needham, the site's 43-year-old British founder and chief executive. Trailers and ticket information are now much more prominent.
The service started out quite differently. On Oct. 17, 1990, the Internet Movie Database was born as Needham posted what was literally a database program that people had to install on their computers. Users could sift through the published credits for all the movies he and a bunch of friends had seen. It was decidedly low-tech, and definitely not commercial.
Today, the site is one of the largest movie sites in the U.S., with 25.6 million unique visitors in August, according to comScore inc. That ranked it No.1 above Yahoo with 24.3 million and Fandango with 13.4 million. Needham said the site has 100 million monthly visitors worldwide. He still runs it from Bristol, England, but flies to Amazon's headquarters in Seattle once a month.
IMDb
Rocks On At 50
'The Flintstones'
A half century ago, Fred and Wilma Flintstone and neighbors Barney and Betty Rubble put the mythical town of Bedrock on the map when "The Flintstones" cartoon aired on US television for the first time.
The show, which parodied suburban life in the United States, was the longest running US animated sitcom to be aired during peak viewing hours on television until another cartoon family, the Simpsons, claimed the record in 1997.
The series aired weekday evenings for 30 minutes on prime time television on the ABC network from 1960-1966, and NBC showed reruns on Saturday mornings from 1967-1970.
On Thursday, it will be 50 years since the Flintstones and the Rubbles have dealt with the woes of the 20th century working class as they go about their daily lives in the town of Bedrock, around 10,000 BC.
'The Flintstones'
Axed After 2 Airings
`Lone Star'
Fox network says its prime-time soap "Lone Star" is being pulled off the air after just two airings.
Replacing the little-watched new show is the psychological crime drama, "Lie To Me," which begins its third season next Monday at 9 p.m. EDT.
Although Fox didn't officially cancel "Lone Star," its fate seemed sealed after Monday's episode, whose audience was even smaller than the 4.1 million viewers who had watched its premiere a week earlier.
With the dire news from Fox on Tuesday, "Lone Star" became the first casualty of the fall TV season, which is little more than a week old.
`Lone Star'
Census Finds Record Gap
Rich And Poor
The income gap between the richest and poorest Americans grew last year to its widest amount on record as young adults and children in particular struggled to stay afloat in the recession.
The top-earning 20 percent of Americans - those making more than $100,000 each year - received 49.4 percent of all income generated in the U.S., compared with the 3.4 percent earned by those below the poverty line, according to newly released census figures. That ratio of 14.5-to-1 was an increase from 13.6 in 2008 and nearly double a low of 7.69 in 1968.
A different measure, the international Gini index, found U.S. income inequality at its highest level since the Census Bureau began tracking household income in 1967. The U.S. also has the greatest disparity among Western industrialized nations.
At the top, the wealthiest 5 percent of Americans, who earn more than $180,000, added slightly to their annual incomes last year, census data show. Families at the $50,000 median level slipped lower.
Rich And Poor
Broadcasters Sue
Ivi
News Corp's Fox, Walt Disney Co's ABC, CBS and several other broadcasters on Tuesday sued tiny upstart online subscription service Ivi for offering TV shows on the Internet without permission.
Other broadcasters involved in the suit filed in a New York federal court include General Electric Co's NBC and the Public Broadcasting Service.
The networks' suit follows a pre-emptive strike by Ivi, which brought a lawsuit against broadcasters on Sept 20 -- one week after opening for business -- that sought a ruling it was not infringing copyrights.
Ivi, which received letters from various broadcasters, claims the U.S. Copyright Act authorizes secondary transmissions of copyrighted works embodied in primary transmissions and so its application that gives viewers access to more than 20 channels for just $4.99 a month is not infringing.
Ivi
Rapper Guilty
Kid Cudi
U.S. rapper Kid Cudi has pleaded guilty to drug possession, a spokeswoman for the Manhattan district attorney said on Tuesday.
Cudi, 26, whose real name is Scott Mescudi, pleaded guilty to the charge on Friday through his attorney. He was not present in court, the spokeswoman said.
The rapper from Cleveland was arrested on June 11 after a police officer said she found cocaine in the pocket of his pants.
Cudi was sentenced to two-days of community service. The misdemeanor charge will be dismissed if he stays out of trouble for six-months, the spokeswoman said.
Kid Cudi
Pleads Guilty
Jeffrey Jones
The actor who played the principal in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" will serve three years of probation after pleading guilty to failing to update his sex offender registry info.
Los Angeles District Attorney's spokeswoman Jane Robison says Jeffrey Jones entered the plea Tuesday to a felony charge of failing to update his registry information in June.
Jones' registration was required because he pleaded no contest in 2003 to employing a 14-year-old boy to pose for sexually explicit photos.
The 64-year-old actor is also required to perform 250 hours of community service.
Jeffrey Jones
Utah Police Investigate
"Sister Wives"
The family with four wives had hoped its participation on a TLC reality TV show would shed light on polygamy but is now the target of a bigamy investigation by Utah police.
"Sister Wives," which premiered Sunday, chronicles the life of 41-year-old advertising salesman Kody Brown, his four wives, 13 children and three stepchildren. The Browns, of Lehi, have said they hoped that the peek into their lives would help broaden the public's understanding of plural families.
Lehi police are investigating whether the family is violating bigamy laws in plain view on cable TV. Brown is only legally married to Meri but also calls three other women his spouses: Janelle, Christine and Robyn.
Most polygamist families practice in secret, but it has entered the national dialogue given its portrayal on the HBO scripted drama "Big Love." The modern Mormon church excommunicates members found engaged in the practice, which was disavowed by the church in 1890 as part of a push for Utah's statehood.
Across Utah and parts of the western U.S., an estimated 38,000 self-described fundamentalist Mormons continue to believe and/or practice polygamy, believing it brings exaltation in heaven.
"Sister Wives"
Getting It All
Big Fish
Small independent cable networks could be forced to sell themselves to larger media conglomerates in the next 12 months as their profits are squeezed by pay TV operators looking to cut programing costs.
The lifeblood of networks are the fees that cable, phone and satellite operators pay for the right to televise their programs. Such programing fees are often the largest costs to the operators.
Programing costs are expected to rise 7 percent this year due to pressure from large media groups that own broadcast networks. These media titans -- Walt Disney Co, News Corp, NBC Universal -- are demanding cash for the right to carry the big broadcast networks, ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC.
Standalone cable networks, such as Outdoor Channel, Hallmark Channel or even a mid-sized group like Scripps Networks, are likely to suffer because they lack the leverage of Walt Disney, which can negotiate higher fees for its cable networks in tandem with the threat that it will withhold its ABC network from an operator's subscribers.
Big Fish
Americans Don't Know Much
Religion
A new survey of Americans' knowledge of religion found that atheists, agnostics, Jews and Mormons outperformed Protestants and Roman Catholics in answering questions about major religions, while many respondents could not correctly give the most basic tenets of their own faiths.
The survey released Tuesday by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life aimed to test a broad range of religious knowledge, including understanding of the Bible, core teachings of different faiths and major figures in religious history. The U.S. is one of the most religious countries in the developed world, especially compared to largely secular Western Europe, but faith leaders and educators have long lamented that Americans still know relatively little about religion.
Atheists and agnostics scored highest, with an average of 21 correct answers, while Jews and Mormons followed with about 20 accurate responses. Protestants overall averaged 16 correct answers, while Catholics followed with a score of about 15.
Not surprisingly, those who said they attended worship at least once a week and considered religion important in their lives often performed better on the overall survey. However, level of education was the best predictor of religious knowledge. The top-performing groups on the survey still came out ahead even when controlling for how much schooling they had completed.
Religion
Sparks Debate
Stephen Colbert
There are congressional hearings and there are comedy shows, and the twain rarely meet.
So when a House panel on immigration combined them on purpose last week with testimony from Stephen Colbert and his "truthy" alter ego, debate broke out on the proper roles of the many celebrities - from Angelina Jolie to Bono to Elmo - who advocate in Washington.
In Colbert's appearance, there was profit to be made from the public, taxpayer-funded forum on one of the nation's weightiest issues, the plight of migrant workers. Immigrant advocates won national news coverage; Colbert helped generate material for his show; politicians scored live coverage of themselves during a brutal election year; and the media bagged a widely viewed story.
Celebrities frequently beat a path to Capitol Hill to raise awareness of issues and bills that otherwise stand little chance of news coverage. Lawmakers crowd into the shot when Jolie advocates for refugees. They hang out publicly with rock stars Bono and Jon Bon Jovi when they're in Washington on official business. Even Sesame Street's Elmo, a fuzzy red puppet, has received coverage for his "testimony" - in 2002 about the benefits of music education.
Likewise, this news story will be more widely read because it mentions the Twitter partnership between Lady Gaga and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on behalf of the effort to repeal the ban on gays serving openly in the military.
Stephen Colbert
Holiday Doll
Justin Bieber
Justin Bieber dolls are coming to a toy store near you this holiday season.
Merchandising company Bravado and The Bridge Direct, Inc. announced Tuesday that they've partnered to launch a line of collectible figures styled in the pop star's best-known looks.
Slated to hit mass retailers "on or around" December 4, the Bieber toy line will feature Justin Bieber Music Video Collection Singing Figures that play 30-second clips from his songs "Baby" and "One Less Lonely Girl."
The JB Style Collection will retail for $17.99, while the Music Video Collection will retail for $27.99.
Justin Bieber
Puts End To Palin "Boo-Gate"
"DWTS"
She didn't even dance, but TV viewers of "Dancing with the Stars" may have thought conservative politician Sarah Palin (R-Quitter) was booed off Monday's contest, sending producers scrambling to clarify the event.
On Tuesday's results program, producers aired an unedited video clip from Monday night in which studio audience members booed the judges for giving a low score to contestants Jennifer Grey and Derek Hough -- not to Palin.
The catcalls happened off camera when Grey and Hough were being interviewed only seconds before Palin spoke with host Tom Bergeron about her daughter Bristol, who is a contestant.
To TV viewers, it might have appeared as if the studio audience was booing Palin.
"DWTS"
100-Year Low Point
Northern Lights
The Northern Lights have petered out during the second half of this decade, becoming rarer than at any other time in more than a century, the Finnish Meteorological Institute said Tuesday.
The Northern Lights, or aurora borealis, generally follow an 11-year "solar cycle", in which the frequency of the phenomena rises to a maximum and then tapers off into a minimum and then repeats the cycle.
During the cycle's peak in 2003, the station on Norway's Svalbard island near the North Pole, showed that the Northern Lights were visible almost every single night of the auroral season, which excludes the nightless summer months.
That figure has fallen to less than 50y percent, while the southernmost station, situated in southern Finland, has been registering only two to five instances annually for the past few years.
Northern Lights
Big Oopsie
"Australia's Next Top Model"
The winner of "Australia's Next Top Model" gave a heartfelt acceptance speech in a live finale - before the host realized she had announced the wrong name.
Host Sarah Murdoch on Tuesday night named 19-year-old Kelsey Martinovich the winner of season six of the Fox Television reality show.
Minutes later, her hand over her face, Murdoch made an awkward apology. The actual winner, as voted by television viewers, was 18-year-old Amanda Ware.
Murdoch said the wrong name was fed to her earpiece.
"Australia's Next Top Model"
Prime-Time Nielsens
Ratings
Prime-time viewership numbers compiled by the Nielsen Co. for Sept. 20-26. Listings include the week's ranking and viewership.
1. "Dancing With the Stars," ABC, 21.29 million.
2. "NCIS," CBS, 19.41 million.
3. "Dancing With the Stars Results," ABC, 18.52 million.
4. NFL Football: N.Y. Jets vs. Miami, NBC, 18.15 million.
5. "NCIS: Los Angeles," CBS, 15.76 million.
6. "The Mentalist," CBS, 15.5 million.
7. "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," CBS, 14.69 million.
8. "Two and a Half Men," CBS, 14.63 million.
9. "60 Minutes," CBS, 14.41 million.
10. "Grey's Anatomy," ABC, 14.32 million.
11. "Hawaii Five-0," CBS, 14.2 million.
12. "Criminal Minds," CBS, 14.13 million.
13. "The Big Bang Theory," CBS, 14.04 million.
14. "Sunday Night NFL Pre-Kick," NBC, 13.86 million.
15. "NCIS: Los Angeles" (Tuesday, 10 p.m.), CBS, 13.6 million.
16. "Desperate Housewives," ABC, 13.06 million.
17. "Blue Bloods," CBS, 13.01 million.
18. "Modern Family," ABC, 12.67 million.
19. "Survivor: Nicaragua," CBS, 12.59 million.
20. "(Bleep) My Dad Says," CBS, 12.58 million.
Ratings
In Memory
Sally Menke
An award-winning film editor has died while hiking in the Hollywood Hills during a record Southern California heat wave.
Assistant coroner Ed Winter confirmed Tuesday that the body found along a Griffith Park trail is 56-year-old Sally Menke, who edited every Quentin Tarantino film from "Reservoir Dogs" in 1992 to "Inglourious Basterds" last year. Identification was first reported by the Los Angeles Times.
The body was found at 2:15 a.m. Tuesday along a remote Beachwood Canyon hiking trail. Her black Labrador retriever was nearby.
The cause of death hasn't been determined, but Winter says there is no sign of foul play. He wouldn't disclose details or speculate whether heat may factored in her death.
Menke had gone hiking Monday, when temperatures in Los Angeles peaked at 113 degrees.
Sally Menke
In Memory
Ralph Vicinanza
Ralph Vicinanza, a literary agent whose clients included Stephen King, Augusten Burroughs and the Dalai Lama, has died. He was 60.
Vicinanza died of a brain aneurysm Saturday night in Bronxville, his colleague Christopher Schelling said in a statement Tuesday on behalf of Vicinanza's agency, Ralph M. Vicinanza Ltd.
Vicinanza was in publishing for nearly 40 years and early on took a special interest in what he considered an undervalued field - international rights, working on overseas deals for King, Norman Mailer, Carl Sagan and Philip K. Dick, among others. Vicinanza founded his own agency in 1978 and signed up some of the world's top science fiction and fantasy writers, including Terry Pratchett, Robert Heinlein, Frank Herbert and George R.R. Martin.
King would credit Vicinanza with the idea for serializing "The Green Mile," his 1996 novel about a prison supervisor and death row inmate during the Great Depression. In the book's introduction, King wrote that he was having a difficult time because he had other projects going on and knew little about the story's setting. King knew he needed to do research but worried that research "might kill the fragile sense of wonder" he had developed.
So the author "pressed on, stacking words and hoping for a kindling, an epiphany, any sort of garden-variety miracle."
"The miracle came in a fax from Ralph Vicinanza, my foreign rights agent, who had been talking with a British publisher about the serial-novel form Charles Dickens had employed a century ago," King wrote. "Ralph asked - in the dismissive way of one who doesn't expect the idea to come to anything - if I might be interested in trying my hand at the form. Man, I leaped at it."
A native of New York City, Vicinanza graduated from City of College of New York and initially worked at the Scott Meredith Literary Agency. He is survived by his mother, Louise Manganiello; his sister, Louise Billie; and his partner, Terrance Rooney.
Ralph Vicinanza
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