M Is FOR MASHUP - October 31st, 2012 (The Year of the Mashup Album)
HALLOWEEN GOOOD!!!
By DJ Useo
Hi everybody. I'm busy playing Halloween mashups.
I didn't forget you, though.
Here's some great new Halloween comics to amuse you.
I'll be back next week if no one stakes me in the heart.
You all have a great seasonal time.
Make sure to ring the bell at 5434 Sigler Street.
They've got the best goodies!
Trick or treat!
PS. Here's a handy list where you can find new Halloween-themed mashups.
( soundcloud.com/tags/halloween-mashup )
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Lucas Gray: Why Obama Now (YouTube)
An animated short about the big choice in 2012's presidential election, by Simpsons / Family Guy animator Lucas Gray.
Paul Constant: Romney's Obama Mask Doesn't Fit (Stranger)
Romney looked inexperienced, sweaty, discombobulated, and even scared all night long. At times, he sounded like a pacifist. At other times, he presented himself as a George W. Bush-like warrior, skipping from conflict to conflict with the phony swagger that only money and a hearty sense of inflated self-importance can buy. Neither act was convincing.
Herbert Jack Rotfeld: Faculty Annual Report Guidelines (Irascible Professor)
The Irascible Professor comments: The IP would like to assure you that Professor Rotfeld's essay is a major exaggeration of what happens in academia. Unfortunately, he can't. While the good professor may have exaggerated a bit, his points strike perilously close to what actually happens.
Mary Beth Quirk: We Would Like To Shake The Hand Of The Man With A Credit Score Of 848 (Consumerist)
So how does he do it? He's got rules: 1. Never charge something without having something to show for it. 2. Never spend money without knowing when you can repay it. 3. Pay your bills on time. He and his wife do have debt, including a mortgage and a total of eight credit cards. But those cards are paid off in full each month and his wife can veto his "fun" purchases. "I don't like being called frugal," he said. "I like to spend money. I just do it wisely."
Scott Burns: "(Nearly) Free, at Last: A New Opportunity at Schwab" (Asset Builder)
Discount broker Charles Schwab has opened a new kind of office in Dripping Springs, Texas. Don't worry if you didn't hear about it. I only noticed because that's where we live.
Bryan Cranston: 'I had to take my character from Mr Chips to Scarface' (Guardian)
"I was also taking an elective theatre class at college and the girls in theatre class were far prettier than the ones in police science class. In my job as a young actor I was supposed to kiss this girl. That was my job. I've been trying to do this all my life and now you're telling me I'm supposed to do this? I love this. It's like you stepped into a fantasy. So at 19 years old this was the basis of my decision-making. No more police work, I'm going to be an actor."
Emine Saner: "Gillian Anderson: 'The X-Files fame was almost too much to take in'" (Guardian)
The former X-Files star talks to Emine Saner about her new film Sister, whether she believes in extraterrestrials - and if she'll ever get together with Mulder.
Alexander Khokhlov, photographer: "Weird Beauty" (behance.net)
The "Weird Beauty" project is made in collaboration with great make-up artist Valeriya Kutsan. In these series we decided to deny any color in our series except black and white to make more accent on forms and volume. The experiment should prove that usual simple forms, familiar things or characters can be a main part of wonderful beauty looks. Model faces in this project are not just canvases for the face-arts - they play their own role in each photo with different parts.
David Bruce's Amazon Author Page
David Bruce's Lulu Storefront
David Bruce's Smashwords Page
David Bruce's Blog
David Bruce has 42 Kindle books on Amazon.com with 250 anecdotes in each book. Each book is $1, so for $42 you can buy 10,500 anecdotes. Search for "Funniest People," "Coolest People, "Most Interesting People," "Kindest People," "Religious Anecdotes," "Maximum Cool," and "Resist Psychic Death."
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Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Team Coco
Conan
California Proposition 53 Must Cease To Exist!
Vote FOR the puppies and AGAINST armed roving street gangs.
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and seasonal.
Disney Buys
George Lucas
A decade since George Lucas said "Star Wars" was finished on the big screen, a new trilogy under new ownership is destined for theaters after The Walt Disney Co. announced Tuesday that it was buying Lucasfilm Ltd. from him for $4.05 billion.
The seventh movie, with a working title of "Episode 7," is set for release in 2015. Episodes 8 and 9 will follow. The trilogy will continue the story of Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and Princess Leia beyond "Return of the Jedi," the third film released and the sixth in the saga. After that, Disney plans a new "Star Wars" movie every two or three years. Lucas will serve as creative consultant in the new movies.
The blockbuster deal announced Tuesday will see Disney pay half the acquisition price in cash and half in newly issued stock. The company expects it to add to earnings in 2015. Along with the cash, Lucas will end up owning about 40 million Disney shares, which is about a 2.2 percent stake of the 1.83 billion shares that will be in circulation when the transaction closes.
The deal includes Lucasfilm's prized high-tech production companies, Industrial Light & Magic and Skywalker Sound, as well as rights to the "Indiana Jones" franchise.
George Lucas
Disruptions
Sandy
Broadway, Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center all remained dark Tuesday as Superstorm Sandy left the New York entertainment industry fighting to go on with the show - even if it meant performing for empty studios.
That was how David Letterman and Jimmy Fallon taped their late shows Monday night, leading to some remarkably quiet monologues. On Tuesday, as the city took account of the damage wrought by the storm, some late-night shows were moving back into full production, while the aftermath of Sandy continued to cause the cancellations of film premieres, film and TV production and even that most unshakable performer: Bruce Springsteen.
The Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band concert scheduled for Tuesday night at the Rochester Blue Cross Arena in upstate New York was postponed until Wednesday because of flight cancellations for Springsteen's band and ticket holders.
The city revoked film permits for a second day on Tuesday. The sets of "Smash," ''Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," ''30 Rock," ''Deception" and "Do No Harm" were closed, NBC said, and "Special Victims Unit" won't tape Wednesday. Other series temporarily knocked out of production included "666 Park," ''Gossip Girl" and "Person of Interest."
Films forced to stop shooting include Darren Aronofsky's "Noah" and Akiva Goldsman's "Winter's Tale," and the Tuesday premiere of Joe Wright's Tolstoy adaptation "Anna Karenina" was canceled.
Sandy
Record Low Television Rating
World Series
The San Francisco Giants' sweep of the Detroit Tigers set a record low for the World Series' television ratings.
The four games on Fox averaged a 7.6 rating and 12 share, Nielsen Media Research said Monday. The previous low was an 8.4 for the 2008 Phillies-Rays and 2010 Giants-Rangers series, which each went five games.
Last year's Cardinals-Rangers World Series went the full seven games and built momentum to average a 10.0/16.
San Francisco's 2-0 win in Game 3 on Saturday night earned a 6.1/11, down from a 6.6/12 for St. Louis' 16-7 win over Texas in the third game last year and matching the lowest for any World Series game. Philadelphia's 5-4 win in Game 3 in 2008 also had a 6.1 rating on a night a rain delay pushed the start after 10 p.m. on the East Coast and the game didn't end until 1:47 a.m.
San Francisco had the highest rating for Game 4 at 38.7/64. Detroit was at 37.9/53.
World Series
Wikipedia Reveals 'Skyfall' Spoilers
James Bond
James Bond fans beware - Wikipedia's entry for the latest 007 film "Skyfall" contains spoilers big enough to drive an Aston Martin through.
It's a posting that includes a full plot summary, which jeopardizes major twists involving the fate of one character and the future of MI6, the agency Bond calls home. Seriously, reading Wikipedia will have Bond devotees reaching for their vodka martinis.
How did that happen? "Skyfall's" secrets have remained closely guarded throughout its development and production, with the film's producers teasing out key details, such as the singer behind the film's theme song (it's Adele!) and the bizarre blonde appearance of chief villain Javier Bardem, until the last possible moment.
But all that intrigue went up in smoke after "Skyfall" opened overseas in countries like the United Kingdom and Russia two weeks before its U.S. debut. The good news for the film's backers is that new James Bond movie "Skyfall" is off to a roaring start, collecting $77.7 million in 25 markets last weekend. Featuring Daniel Craig in his third appearance as the skirt-chasing superspy, "Skyfall" opens stateside on November 9.
"Skyfall's" Wikipedia problem is instructive for Hollywood given that many major films, such as last summer's "Battleship," are choosing to open early overseas before hitting the domestic marketplace, leaving them open to spoilage.
James Bond
Arrested At LAX
Edward Furlong
Authorities say actor Edward Furlong has been arrested at Los Angeles International Airport on suspicion of domestic violence.
Airport police say the star of "Terminator 2" and "American History X" was arrested after officers responded to an arrival area late Monday.
He was booked on suspicion of felony domestic violence involving a spouse or girlfriend. Police did not identify the person who Furlong allegedly injured. The actor's divorce from estranged wife Rachael Kneeland is pending.
Jail records show the 35-year-old is being held on $50,000 bail.
Edward Furlong
Is GOP House Campaign Manager Source?
Storm Hoax
As Hurricane Sandy made landfall on Monday, the Twitter account "@ComfortablySmug" began issuing a series of false tweets about alleged incidents happening across New York City.
BuzzFeed has done some digging and claims that the proprietor of the ComfortablySmug account is 29-year-old Shashank Tripathi, a hedge fund analyst and campaign manager for Christopher R. Wight, the Republican candidate in New York's 12th congressional district.
The false claims made on the Twitter feed, which has more than 6,000 followers, include assertions that the New York Stock Exchange was flooding, that Gov. Andrew Cuomo was trapped in Manhattan and that all power in Manhattan was being shut off by Con Edison.
The account has been inactive for nearly 24 hours. The full BuzzFeed report has more details on Tripathi and his alleged connection to the Twitter account in question.
Storm Hoax
Five-Star Vatican't Blessing
James Bond
If anyone thinks the Vatican newspaper is still a staid broadsheet that publishes only religious news and harsh papal edicts, consider this: On Tuesday it ran not one but five articles about the new James Bond film.
"Skyfall" gets a rave review in l'Osservatore Romano, which calls it one of the best of the 23 James Bond films made over the past 50 years.
In the main article, titled "007 License to Cry," the newspaper says the latest incarnation of the world's most famous spy is a rather good one because it makes him less of a cliché, and "more human, capable of being moved and of crying: in a word, more real".
A second article compares the different actors who have played James Bond, from the original Sean Connery to the current Daniel Craig.
Another article explains why author Ian Fleming chose the name James Bond for his hero (Fleming wanted an ordinary sounding name), and the fifth article analyses the various soundtracks composed for the 23 films.
James Bond
"Jesus Was a Commie"
Matthew Modine
Matthew Modine is a card-carrying liberal. The actor actually carries around a card that says as much, with issues on the back that he cares about, such as racial equality and universal suffrage.
Modine is also certain Jesus was a Communist, capitalism is corrupted and Barack Obama is going to get reelected, which is a big reason his short, "Jesus Was a Commie," has outraged Glenn Beck, conservative radio hosts and religious conservatives across the country.
"I just did a radio interview with a guy from Colorado," he said. "The guy said actors were the scum of the earth. I wanted to say, 'Who do you think you are? You're a DJ from Colorado with a talk show; what does that make you? Do you even have a passport? Have you ever been out of the United States?' He was clearly a Christian really offended by the title, really angry. Whenever you say communism in America, people often think you're speaking of Stalin and Lenin."
"Jesus Was a Commie," which has won awards from a handful of film festivals, debuted Monday night on ShortsHD as part of a showcase of Modine's shorts and re-airs November 5 -- just in time for the election.
For the interview: Matthew Modine
Prime-Time Nielsens
Ratings
Prime-time viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen for Oct. 22-28. Listings include the week's ranking and viewership.
1. NFL Post-Game (New York at Dallas), Fox, 21.1 million.
2. "NCIS," CBS, 17.8 million.
3. NFL Sunday Night Football (New Orleans at Denver), NBC, 17.77 million.
4. "The OT," Fox, 17 million.
5. "NCIS: LA," CBS, 16.5 million.
6. "Big Bang Theory," CBS, 15.8 million.
7. World Series (Sunday), Fox, 15.5 million.
8. World Series (Sunday pre-game), Fox, 15.1 million.
9. "Person of Interest," CBS, 14 million.
10. "Dancing With the Stars," ABC, 13.3 million.
11. NFL Sunday Night Football Pre-Kick, NBC, 12.96 million.
12. "Two and a Half Men," CBS, 12.94 million.
13. "Dancing With the Stars (Tuesday)," ABC, 12.9 million.
14. "Modern Family," ABC, 12.5 million.
15. World Series (Thursday), Fox, 12.3 million.
16. World Series (Wednesday), Fox, 12.2 million.
17. "The Voice" (Monday), NBC, 12 million.
18. "Criminal Minds," CBS, 11.6 million.
19. "The Voice" (Tuesday), NBC, 11.22 million.
20. "60 Minutes," CBS, 11.16 million.
Ratings
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