M Is FOR MASHUP - October 20th, 2010
Tales From the Mashup!!!!
By DJ Useo
As the Halloween occasion night time holiday draws nearer, it seems the perfect date to regale you all with tales of horror & mashups. Plus not even one mashup has been posted lately! Either that or some mysterious creature has been slithering around eating them all before I see them. That would explain the trail of bones...
01 - Anyway, our first tale entails a mashup deejay named Renoir Steempy. He was convinced that his rival, Doctor Footpad, got all of his vast turntabling skills from a magic pendant. So he murdered Doc & stole the supposed charmed jewelry. Later that day, giant grasshoppers killed Renoir.
02 - Long out-of-work mixer, Street Bum, finally managed to get a regular engagement at the Hole-in-The-Basement, a club that had opened recently in the sewers of Street Bum's town. He decided to put up with the stench, & was already quite used to excessive dampness, so he took the job. To his horror Street Bum quickly found he was required to play top 40!
03 - Beloved west coast deejay Sammy Whammy discovered after snorting too much 'powder' before a show that he had an actual demon inside him. Apparently, the demon had all the talent, because after Sammy had it removed through expensive surgery he sucked at mixing.
04 - Despite making a ludacrous, I mean lucrative career performing in clubs worldwide as 'MC Drac', MC Drac still was attacked every time he appeared outside of club. Finally, driven to madness, he went into a blood-sucking frenzy,& actually went after an entire stadium of his own fans! After having drained every single audience member MC Drac burst like an overripe mosquito!
05 - For 10 years each Halloween DJ Likingthrope the 3rd had attempted to mash Warren Zevon's 'Werewolves of London'. Finally, he paired it up with 'The Monster Mash' by Bobby 'Boris' Pickett & The Crypt-Kickers, but the mashup turned him into a wolf-man, & he was fired by his boss!
06 - Despite attaining world success by selling their souls to the devil for fame at mashupping, the trio of deejays comprising 'Snobtown' lasted no more than a week, when the devil found a loophole in their contract that allowed him to take them to hell if they mashed any Lady Gaga!
Those stories are all true, or not, & are not copyrighted, so you can share them on twitter.
Halloween Mix Of The Week
Look for my all non-mashup halloween mix 'HALLOWEEN FEAR' here on B00mB0x
( www.bmbx.org/category/useo8/ )
Halloween Radio Show Of The Week
My newest QRADIPS SHOW W/ DJ USEO is another all-Halloween mashup show. An hour & a half do to demand & the awesome DJ Petrushka does some standup comedy about Dracula & his laundry! (lol)
( www.groovytimewithdjuseo.blogspot.com/ )
Mashup Tip : Two heads mash better than one. So have another added today!
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
LGBT YOUTH RESPOND TO THEIR PEERS AND LET THEM KNOW "IT GETS BETTER" (youtube.com)
Frank Rich: The Rage Won't End on Election Day (nytimes.com)
The radical right's anger is becoming less focused, more free-floating and more likely to claim minorities like gays, Latinos and Muslims as collateral damage.
Jim Hightower: NAME THOSE NUTS!
In a recent commentary, I noted that during the past three decades the Republican Party has been jerked from its historic position of mere conservatism... to right-wingism... to today's kooky crackpotism.
Bettany Hughes: Socrates - a man for our times (guardian.co.uk)
He was condemned to death for telling the ancient Greeks things they didn't want to hear, but his views on consumerism and trial by media are just as relevant today.
Farhad Manjoo: This Is Not a Blog Post (slate.com)
Blogs and Web magazines are looking more and more alike. What's the difference?
Scott Burns: "Take Your Pick: Low Cost or High Match?" (assetbuilder.com)
Texas Instruments changed its 401(k) plan a few years ago. What did TI do? They replaced a menu of managed funds with a new menu of low-cost index funds. In the process, the company joined a small but growing number of firms that are changing the retirement landscape. In that single step- cutting the cost of the plan- they increased the odds that TI employees would accumulate enough money to fund a good retirement.
Annalee Newitz: Mountain goats scramble up a near-vertical wall in Italy (io9.com)
Humans can erect walls hundreds of feet high, but they can't keep the Alpine ibex from climbing over. Check out these insane pictures of the mountain-dwelling creatures scaling the Cingino Dam, licking salty minerals off the rock faces.
Kristen Schaal: The toast of American comedy (guardian.co.uk)
She made her name as a crazed fan in 'Flight Of The Conchords.' Now she is the rising star of the Daily Show - and an unlikely sex guru to boot. John Patterson meets her.
Steve Carell: 'I don't care for mean humour' (guardian.co.uk)
Steve Carell's shtick of frazzled normality has made him into an American national treasure. Ryan Gilbey digs beneath The Office star's genial surface to find more geniality underneath.
Fred Shimizu: "Wide-Screen, Big Ideas: The Wide-Screen Cinema of Akira Kurosawa" (popmatters.com)
After eschewing innovations like color and wide-screen filmmaking, when Akira Kurosawa made the conversion to a wider screen, he did so by making six consecutive films in wide screen, with a degree of success that was as resounding as it was influential.
David Bruce: Wise Up! Children (athensnews.com)
Betsy Byars, the author of many books for children, has received many letters from her readers. One of her favorite letters says, "All of us have to write to a real live author. Please write and tell me you're alive, or I will have to write a poem." Another says, "I was reading THE BURNING QUESTIONS OF BINGO BROWN and I came to the word brassieres, and I didn't know what that was and I raised my hand and asked the teacher. You could have saved me a lot of embarrassment if you had just said bras."
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."
The Weekly Poll
New Question
The 'Call it as ya See it' Edition...
The 2010 Mid-term Elections. No media intro or links are needed, I'm thinkin'...
We all know what's at stake here... So, gaze into yer Crystal Ball, break out the Ouija board, shuffle the Tarot cards, read yer tea leaves or just take a wild-ass guess and make yer prediction on the outcome, if'n ya dare...
The Democrats will:
1.) Retain the majority in both the House and the Senate
2.) Lose the House, but retain the Senate
3.) Retain the House, but lose the Senate
4.) Worse case scenario... and you know what that is, dagnabbit!
Predictions will be posted the morning of November 2nd.
... and may The Force be with us!
Send your response to
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From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Reader Suggestions
Michelle in AZ
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Yowee! Thunder and lightning and lots of rain.
Getting Political
David Arquette
Actor David Arquette is lending his quirky star power to the campaign against a November ballot measure that would suspend California's greenhouse gas emissions law.
Arquette appeared in Sacramento on Tuesday in an American-flag-print karate uniform to promote a series of online videos opposing Proposition 23.
Producers say the spots are aimed at young voters who might not be won over by traditional campaign advertising.
In a video titled "Don't Mess With California," Arquette portrays California and proceeds to knock out a group of thugs representing Texas oil interests.
Oil companies have donated the bulk of the money to support Proposition 23. The measure would indefinitely suspend California's 2006 law mandating significant emissions reductions by 2020.
David Arquette
Back On Best-Seller Lists
Mark Twain
It's never too late: Mark Twain is back on the best-seller lists.
Pre-orders for the first of three planned volumes of his autobiography, released in full upon the centennial of Twain's death, have for the past few days placed the book in the top five of Barnes & Noble.com and Amazon.com. It is outpacing new works by Ken Follett, John Grisham and Jon Stewart.
"The Autobiography of Mark Twain, Volume 1" comes out Nov. 15 from the University of California Press, which already has increased the first printing from 50,000 copies to 75,000, the publisher said Tuesday. The book is a highly unusual hit, not only because it was written so long ago, but because the actual text is an assembly of remembrances, commentaries, newspaper clippings and journal entries. Twain had worked on his memoir for years and never finished it.
Excerpts have appeared over the past several decades, but Twain's strong opinions on current affairs and other matters were left out, at his request. He had said that it was best to wait 100 year after his death for the whole book to be released.
Mark Twain
Names Bandleader
Conan O'Brien
The house band on Conan O'Brien's new TBS show will be called The Basic Cable Band, and will be led by Jimmy Vivino, the network said Tuesday.
The guitarist replaces Max Weinberg, who led the band during O'Brien's NBC stints at "Late Night" and "The Tonight Show." Vivino, also a veteran of both shows, often filled in for Weinberg when the drummer toured with Bruce Springsteen.
O'Brien's new show, "Conan," debuts November 8.
Conan O'Brien
Signs CBS Comedy Deal
Demetri Martin
"Daily Show" veteran Demetri Martin has signed a deal with CBS to write, produce and star in his own comedy project.
The agreement is a blind script deal, so there's no word yet what the project will be about.
Martin's off-kilter sensibilities are in line with the current development focus at the traditionally older-skewing network, which has been mining fresh ideas from blogs and Twitter feeds.
Demetri Martin
Sues Over Release Of Film
Adrien Brody
Adrien Brody has sued the makers of a thriller film for more than $2 million, claiming he hasn't been fully paid for the project and the movie is being released in the United States without his permission.
The Academy Award winning actor sued the makers of "Giallo" in federal court in Los Angeles on Thursday, but an emergency petition to stop the film's DVD release was denied.
The judge ruled Brody can still seek an injunction against the film's sale, but must first notify the filmmakers.
Brody claims he is owed $640,000 for starring in the film and that its release is likely to cost him at least $2 million in damages.
Adrien Brody
Sues Former Employee
CIA
The CIA has sued a former officer who published a book highly critical of the agency without completing the CIA's lengthy review process.
The lawsuit accuses the officer of breaking his secrecy agreement with the U.S. The former CIA staffer worked under deep cover before publishing the book in July 2008 under the pseudonym "Ishmael Jones."
The CIA says his book, "The Human Factor: Inside the CIA's Dysfunctional Intelligence Culture," was submitted to the agency's publications review board under a secrecy agreement that covers books written by former CIA officials. Jones ultimately published the book without the CIA's official blessing.
The lawsuit, filed in July in federal court in Alexandria, Va., seeks an injunction against further violations of Jones' secrecy obligations and recovery of proceeds from unauthorized publication.
CIA
Prince Convicted
Saud Bin Abdulaziz Bin Nasir al Saud
A Saudi prince was found guilty by a London court Tuesday of murdering his servant in a London hotel after subjecting him to a "sadistic" campaign of violence and sexual abuse.
Saud Bin Abdulaziz Bin Nasir al Saud, 34, a grandson of Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah through his mother, was accused of beating and strangling Bandar Abdullah Abdulaziz to death on February 15.
The prince faces a possible life sentence when he is sentenced on Wednesday. The jury at London's Old Bailey, also known as the Central Criminal Court, deliberated for only 95 minutes before convicting him.
The prince had denied murder and a second charge of grievous bodily harm with intent in relation to an earlier alleged assault in a hotel lift that was captured on CCTV footage. He had admitted manslaughter.
Saud Bin Abdulaziz Bin Nasir al Saud
Actress Charged
Jill Quigg
An actress acclaimed for her tough-talking performance in the 2007 film "Gone Baby Gone" is facing charges after she and another man allegedly broke into a neighbor's apartment south of Boston and then tried to blame it on a black man, police said Tuesday.
Jill Quigg, 35, of Quincy, who played the role of Dottie in the movie directed by Ben Affleck, was arrested Friday after police were called about a break-in at a Quincy apartment, according to police.
Quincy Lt. Jack Sullivan said Quigg and Georgios Keskinidis, 28, of Lynn, were stopped near the apartment and told police that a black man had broken into it and was running off with a 32-inch flat screen television and a new computer printer.
Sullivan said the pair told police they chased the man as he dropped the items and got into a getaway vehicle. The pair also told police they kept the items in Quigg's apartment.
Jill Quigg
Fired For Not Being British
"The Biggest Loser"
A former producer of "The Biggest Loser" has sued the companies of the hit NBC show for discrimination, claiming she was fired because she's not British.
Amanda McFadden, a "challenge producer" on the reality weight-loss series, claims Reveille and 3Ball Prods. terminated her employment because an executive producer preferred that her job be filled by a fellow Brit.
"Loser," paradoxically one of the few hit U.S. broadcast reality series not based on a British format, was experiencing some turnover earlier this year. According to the complaint filed Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court, a supervising producer was fired and replaced, and McFadden was asked to re-interview for her job despite three years' experience managing various activities on the show. She says she was promised that the interview was just a formality and that she passed up another job opportunity to stay with "Loser" for $2,350 a week.
Shortly thereafter, McFadden says she was fired and told that it was because Reveille's Mark Koops wanted to change the entire challenge department. But according to the lawsuit, in reality, Koops, a U.K. citizen, wanted to replace her with someone British. McFadden claims other "Loser" producers were shocked that she was fired and one "confirmed to (her) that he had been undermined by Mark Koops who insisted on replacing her with someone he personally picked, even though the job had already been promised and offered to (McFadden)."
"The Biggest Loser"
Networks Struggle
10 p.m.
NBC may have been on to something in scheduling Jay Leno at 10 p.m. last year. But the network is finding out the hard way.
The Nielsen Co. said that NBC averaged 6 percent fewer viewers during the 10 p.m. hour each weekday last week than it did during the comparable week with Leno last season. Leno's prime-time show was canceled in midseason, widely regarded as one of TV's epic failures.
NBC's "Chase," "Parenthood" and "The Apprentice" all had fewer than five million viewers in that time slot last week.
If it's any consolation, NBC isn't alone in the trend. Both ABC and CBS were down 8 percent at that hour last week compared to the previous year.
10 p.m.
For Sale
Chelsea Hotel
The New York hotel that inspired creative talent from Sir Arthur Clarke to Sid Vicious is up for sale.
The Chelsea Hotel, controlled primarily by three families that have owned it for 65 years, will remain a haven for struggling artists despite changing hands, a hotel spokesman said on Tuesday.
A partial list of those who stayed there includes writers such as Clarke, O. Henry and Thomas Wolfe, playwright Arthur Miller, artist Andy Warhol and musicians Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison.
Punk rocker Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols killed his girlfriend Nancy Spungen there in 1978 in a drug-induced stupor, and the Chelsea Hotel is where Bob Dylan, according to his own lyrics, wrote "Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands."
Chelsea Hotel
30,000 Years Ago
Bread
Starch grains found on 30,000-year-old grinding stones suggest that prehistoric man may have dined on an early form of flat bread, contrary to his popular image as primarily a meat-eater.
The findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) journal on Monday, indicate that Palaeolithic Europeans ground down plant roots similar to potatoes to make flour, which was later whisked into dough.
The grinding stones, each of which fit comfortably into an adult's palm, were discovered at archaeological sites in Italy, Russia and the Czech Republic.
The researchers said their findings throw mankind's first known use of flour back some 10,000 years, the previously oldest evidence having been found in Israel on 20,000 year-old grinding stones.
Bread
Prime-Time Nielsens
Ratings
Prime-time viewership numbers compiled by the Nielsen Co. for Oct. 11-17. Listings include the week's ranking and viewership.
1. "Dancing With the Stars," ABC, 19.53 million.
2. "NCIS," CBS, 19.2 million.
3. NFL Football: Indianapolis at Washington, NBC, 19.12 million.
4. "Dancing With the Stars Results," ABC, 16.08 million.
5. "NCIS: Los Angeles," CBS, 16.05 million.
6. "The Mentalist," CBS, 15.13 million.
7. "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," CBS, 14.45 million.
8. "Sunday Night NFL Pre-Kick," NBC, 14.06 million.
9. "Criminal Minds," CBS, 14 million.
10. "Two and a Half Men," CBS, 13.47 million.
11. "60 Minutes," CBS, 12.83 million.
12. "Desperate Housewives," ABC, 12.67 million.
13. "The Big Bang Theory," CBS, 12.57 million.
14. "Undercover Boss," CBS, 12.41 million.
15. "Survivor: Nicaragua," CBS, 12.32 million.
16. "Grey's Anatomy," ABC, 12.11 million.
17. "The Good Wife," CBS, 11.82 million.
18. "Modern Family," ABC, 11.45 million.
19. "Glee," Fox, 11.36 million.
20. "The OT," Fox, 11.34 million.
Ratings
In Memory
Tom Bosley
Tom Bosley, whose long acting career was highlighted by his hugely popular role as the understanding father on television's nostalgic, top-rated 1970s comedy series "Happy Days," died Tuesday. He was 83.
TV Guide ranked Bosley's Happy Days character No. 9 on its list of the "50 Greatest TV Dads of All Time" in 2004. The show debuted in 1974 and ran for 11 seasons.
After "Happy Days" ended, Bosley went on to a recurring role in "Murder, She Wrote" as Sheriff Amos Tucker. He also was the crime-solving priest in television's "The Father Dowling Mysteries," which ran from 1989 to 1991.
Although "Happy Days" brought him his widest fame, Bosley had made his mark on Broadway 15 years before when he turned in a Tony Award-winning performance in the title role in "Fiorello!"
For two years, Bosley stopped the show every night when he sang in several languages, depicting La Guardia during the years the future mayor worked at New York's Ellis Island, aiding arriving immigrants.
The play won a Pulitzer Prize and Bosley received the Tony for best actor in a musical.
In Hollywood, the rotund character actor found steady work appearing in the occasional movie and as a regular on weekly TV shows starring Debbie Reynolds, Dean Martin, Sandy Duncan and others.
Bosley made only a handful of theatrical movies. Among them: "Love With the Proper Stranger," "Divorce American Style," "The Secret War of Harry Frigg," "Yours, Mine and Ours."
Born in Chicago in 1927, Bosley served in the Navy before returning to his hometown to study at De Paul University. Intrigued with acting, he enrolled at the Radio Institute of Chicago and began appearing in radio dramas. He made his theatrical debut in a production of "Golden Boy."
After moving to New York, he studied at the Actors Studio under Lee Strasberg.
Bosley married dancer Jean Eliot in 1962 and the couple had one child, Amy. Two years after his wife's death in 1978, Bosley married actress-producer Patricia Carr, who had three daughters from a previous marriage.
Tom Bosley
In Memory
Johnny Sheffield
Johnny Sheffield, who played the character Boy in the Tarzan movies of the 1930s and '40s, has died at age 79.
His wife, Patty Sheffield, told the Los Angeles Times that he died Friday of a heart attack at his home in the San Diego suburb of Chula Vista. She says he fell off a ladder while pruning a palm tree four hours earlier.
Johnny Sheffield beat out more than 300 other youngsters for the role of Boy in the 1939 movie "Tarzan Finds a Son!" and went on to co-star with Johnny Weissmuller in seven more Tarzan films.
He later played another jungle boy, Bomba, in a dozen movies but quit the business after the last one 1955.
Johnny Sheffield went on to earn a business degree and worked for various companies and in contracting and real estate.
Johnny Sheffield
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