M Is FOR MASHUP - November 19th, 2008
Lynch Party Mashups
By DJ Useo
The Weekly Poll
Results - Part 2
Current Question
Has there been a particular book or movie that you can say truly changed your life?
Hey there, Poll-fans! Well, here is part 2 and it's every bit as good as Part 1!
Joe, the retired Library para-professional opined...
No book or movie has truly changed my life. A couple of books made me sit up and take notice though. The first was Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand, but not the way you may think. In my youth I fell in with a bad crowd - right-wingers - who were attempting to steal my soul. After reading Atlas Shrugged I thought, "What a pile of shit," and I was able to walk away before sinking into the very pit of hell.
The other book I still read, probably every two years or so, the book is God is Red, by Vine DeLoria. The book helped me not to be ashamed of who I am.
So, the books were very helpful to me, especially God is Red, but what really changed my life was who, not what. People, very dear people, changed my life. Peace...
(Thanks, Joe! I read Atlas Shrugged, as well as The Fountainhead by Ms. Rand in the the early 70's while in the military. I thought they were great, sad to say, and I took her beliefs to heart. I have since had a change of heart and now look upon her as Scrooge personified. 'Tis the season! Peace back at ya! Oh, thanks for the pic! Which one are you?)
Next, Kurt with a great pick wrote...
The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark by Carl Sagan.
There have been others but this was the one that definitely jumped to mind when I read your question. It's a great book about science, critical thinking and reasoning and the scientific method, also how superstition and fear are great dangers to an open and free society and if you ask me very, very pertinent to our present society and culture. While at college we had a critical thinking course and had asked why is this not taught in grade school? I never received a complete or satisfying answer.
(Thanks, Kurt! This is definitely one I will personally check out! I miss Carl Sagan on TV and his "Billions and Billions", haha. Oh, and you're welcome)
"When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace." Jimi Hendrix (Thanks for the quote, Kurt. I miss Jimi, too)
mj had all this (good stuff!)
The first book(s) that affected me in a life long way were the Little Golden Books Bible stories and selected fairy tails. I remember being horrified by the Noah's Ark story. What did all those poor animals who weren't selected for the Ark do that was so bad that God had to kill them. What did that poor ram do to warrant being sacrificed in place of Isaac? Were the wolves so wrong to want to eat? At least the three bears came out on top. Those were the roots of my irreligious environmentalism. (excellent points!) As a teenager, I was moved by Michener's Hawaii. The movie was pretty good too, but not as inspirational as the book. I also had a bit of a take away form Tom Jones. For movies, Failsafe; Dr. Strangelove; Captain Newman, MD; and Seven Days in May all gave me a feeling of the horror of war and the importance of true patriotism. The effects of Bridge on the River Kwai were muted by seeing it as part of a double feature with Hey There, It's Yogi Bear. I still have trouble walking by open, sandy areas because of Invaders from Mars. You should have included TV. Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, and The Wonderful World of Disney had profound effects on my life.
(Thanks, mj! Michener is one of my all time Favs! I have read all of the 1088 pages of The Source 3 times and will probably read it again. I have read everything he has ever written, I think. Slim Pickens riding The Bomb down waving his cowboy hat yelling 'Waa hoo!' in Strangelove was truly bizarre, I'm tellin' ya. I saw 'Kwai' again just last week. Sir Alec Guinness shocked expression and his line, "What have I done?" as he fell dead upon the detonator that blew up the bridge was gripping. As well as the doctor crying out, "Madness! Madness!" at the end. Trivia question! What was the name of the tune the British soldiers whistled as they marched over the bridge?)
DanD, sighing, wrote...
One of the first books to really rock my world was the Bible ... but since that was force-fed to me like I was a Strasbourg Goose it really doesn't count. What did matter however was when -- during my senior year of high school -- I first came across an equally fictitious yet fundamentally antithetical text of (what I considered to be) biblical proportion, that being R.A. Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land. Just as Charles Manson had done, I also noticed that novel's quite uncommon critique of religious fantasy and alternative views about life in general, death more particularly, and murder as a specific. Fortunately for all the people I hung out with (and even more fortunate for those less popular -- with me, anyway -- jerks who I really didn't like) I interpreted this SF Master's information more as a metaphor of our fragile existence than as an instruction manual in how to mitigate that existence. Sharon Tate woulda' been safe with me, even while she was a bitchy pregnant woman. AS IT IS, this book also diverted me down a road of humanly impossible spiritual idealism that took me the next two and a half decades to cast off. Though vastly delayed, even now, I think I'm finally beginning to enter my Charles Manson stage, but as a much older and wiser Charles M. Then again, that had always been Charlie's problem, he just couldn't handle so many new ideas without flipping out ... of course, his imbibing of coke -- and later meth -- for breakfast, lunch, and dinner didn't help much either. Not to go off subject too much but, unfortunately for all of us somewhat more chemically balanced citizens of the world, George W. Bush became what Charlie still is, but without the judicial intervention. Then he got appointed pResident.
(Thanks, Dan! Heinlein is in the top 2 of my favorite Sci-fi writers. The other being Isaac Asimov. I particularly liked his Foundation trilogy having read it twice. I highly recommend it to anyone who has never tried Sci-fi and is thinking about giving it a go)
Vic in Alaska (just got back Wed) slid in just under the wire (and I am glad!) and sent this...
The book that changed my life was "Gray Seas Under" by Farley Mowat, I had read it a dozen times when by happen chance I ran into my father after not seeing him for years. As we were filling in the years he asked what I like for reading and I told him, he had a blank look on his face, reached into his back pocket and pulled out a tattered copy of Gray Seas Under, he was reading it for the dozenth time himself...I wrote a movie title on a piece of paper and asked what his favorite movie was, his reply "Das-Boot" I flipped the paper over and revealed another shocking similarity between my absentee father and myself. We both served as boiler techs on destroyers (he is a three war veteran) and both have a long string of failed relationships...When I was just back home my fathers older brother Skeezy died, when my father failed to come to the funeral we all discovered that he is in the end stages of Emphysema, his 80th birthday is in January and having done enough volunteer work in nursing homes I know that women wait for holidays to slip away and men wait for their birthdays.
Das Boot wasn't my life changing movie, it is "Beast from the Haunted Cave" The first movie I hosted as Chester the Woof for my old show the "Two Fat Ghouls"
(Another failed relationship)
(Thanks, Vic! I, too, read Gray Seas Under. I think it inspired me to go into the Coast Guard after 6 years in the Army Medical Corps and become a Coxswain of Search and Rescue Motor Lifeboats for 10 years. So, I guess it was life changing for me, too... Hey, my Dad was a career Navy BT! He was aboard a cruiser, USS Worcester, off the coast of Korea during that war when I was born! I tried watching Das Boot but couldn't finish. When I was a kid my family toured the restored U-boat, U-505, that resides at Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry. It was boarded and captured in 1944 by the US Navy after being depth charged to the surface. It was the first enemy ship to be boarded and captured by the US Navy since The War of 1812! I thought then, and still do, that go to down in a sub would be horrific.)
And now, saving for last, is the reply from the lady that suggested the question in the first place. Take a bow, Sally P!
Book: First "World History" book in college (title long forgotten). After 12 years of Parochial school, I was shocked to learn about that which was not in the Popefied world.
Film: Marjorie Morningstar (1958) with Natalie Wood and Gene Kelly. What a shock - to finally dawn on me that I too had been a "Big Fish in a Little Pond" in high school...
I love a lot of movies, but this one did change my life and was a big help in the adjustment to extreme Liberal college life.
PS Another shocker was the movie: The Mission (1986).
Up until then, I had admired the Jesuits...
(Thanks, Sally! You, too, are a great Pal!)
So, there it is Poll-fans! I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did! Sally did, indeed, suggest the question to me and I say here now that I'm ALWAYS open to suggestions from any of you. All will be carefully and sincerely regarded. Thanks to all again.
As I always say, "Yer the best!"
BadtotheboneBob
The New Question
Barack Obama - The Movie Edition
If you were to cast the lead for a movie about Obama's life, campaign and election who would have in the role?
A. Will Smith
B. Denzel Washington
C. Eddie Murphy
D. Samuel L. Jackson
E. Forest Whitaker
F. Other
Send your response, and a (short) reason why, to BadToTheBoneBob ( BCEpoll 'at' aol.com )
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Scott Burns: Silver Lining For A Decade of Miserable Investment Returns (assetbuilder.com)
This is a year for the record books. As we stand gaping at the incredible losses in the last three months -- or just the month of October -- we search for comparative measures of loss. The period I remember most vividly is 1973-1974. Large common stocks lost 14.7 percent in 1973 and another 26.5 percent in 1974. At the time, it was the worst decline since the Great Depression.
Harvey Fierstein: Historic for Some, Same Old S**t for the Rest of Us (huffingtonpost.com)
Let me give you a simple example that anyone can follow. John and Jim are registered as domestic partners and so, just like a married couple; Jim is covered by John's employee health care. That's really nice. BUT... since the IRS does not recognize civil unions or domestic partnership Jim has to pay income tax on the value of this coverage. So, unlike a married couple, John and Jim are penalized hundreds of dollars for not being married. That's not fair. That's not in the spirit of the civil union legislation. And that's just the tip of the iceberg of the inequality being offered.
"The Lost Diaries of Adrian Mole 1999-2001" by Sue Townsend: The "Sunday Times" review by Peter Parker
It is, I suppose, surprising that one could have reached the age of 54 ? without having read a single diary of Adrian Mole.
Wells Tower: Onion Nation (washingtonpost.com)
If its absurdist twists and wicked parodies of conventional journalism are just a joke, the country's leading satirical newspaper is having the last laugh
20 QUESTIONS: Roy Harper (popmatters.com)
Roy Harper is a consummate musician's musician, straight out of the British folk scene. He chats with PopMatters 20 Questions, sometimes with tear in eye, sometimes with tongue in cheek, about film, literature, and music.
Patrick MacDonald: Memories of Mitch Mitchell, drummer for the Jimi Hendrix Experience (The Seattle Times)
Hearing the news Wednesday about the death of Mitch Mitchell, I immediately remembered how ashen and frail he looked last Thursday at the Experience Hendrix Tour concert in Seattle.
Stephen Elliott: An interview with Kurt Cobain's Manager and Former President of Warner Bros. Records, Danny Goldberg (huffingtonpost.com)
Goldberg: "[Cobain] was really a comprehensive genius when it came to the art of rock and roll. As an artist he was the most talented and as a person he was the most tragic."
Andrew Winistorfer: Review of "Family Guy: Vol 6" (popmatters.com)
Family Guy has an enormous Simpsons problem. It's the more popular show, but for anyone over 20, it's perceived as inferior.
John Anderson: Hit or miss, 'Twilight' is actress Kristen Stewart's big break (Newsday)
The love-after-death movie "Twilight" is going to be so huge it would take a stake through the heart to stop it. And the reasons seem so obvious they make you say, "D'oh!": A heavily computer-generated, blood-flecked, teenage soap opera set in the hormonal chaos of high school. A ready-made fan base of rabid Gothic/chick-lit readers cultivated by Stephenie Meyer's four-book series. And a not-so-secret weapon named Kristen Stewart.
David Bruce: Wise Up! Education (athensnews.com)
Theatrical guru Danny Newman has been a fierce defender of human rights, including his own, throughout his long career. He started defending these rights early. At age 5, while he was in kindergarten, his teacher denied him his human right to go to the bathroom when he had to go. He stormed at her, "You don't own this school! The Board of Education does!" Then he stormed out of kindergarten and went home.
Charlie replied:
Sally said:
MAM 
responded:
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Not as hot.
New Art Work Raises Controversy
U.N.
A stunning work of art dubbed a 21st century Sistine Chapel donated to the United Nations is stirring a controversy over whether aid money should have been used to cover part of its cost.
The United Nations inaugurated a refurbished meeting room, the gift of Spain, at its European headquarters on Tuesday.
The floor and walls of the circular chamber are carpeted with champagne-coloured material.
But it is the ceiling that is really striking.
Miquel Barcelo, one of Spain's leading contemporary artists, has turned the dome of the chamber into a dazzling cave, complete with stalactites, in every imaginable colour.
U.N.
Italy Celebrates Half Century
'La Dolce Vita'
Federico Fellini's classic film "La Dolce Vita" is approaching the half-century mark and the director's hometown is pulling out the stops to give it a Felliniesque two-year-long international birthday bash.
The celebrations for the film, which Fellini conceived in 1958, shot in 1959 and premiered in early 1960, will extend to Los Angeles in 2009 in a fittingly drawn-out tribute to the man who liked to say "why use two words when 10 will do?"
As part of the 50th-anniversary initiatives, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which awards the Oscars, will hold an exhibition from January 24- Apr. 19 on Fellini's "Book of my Dreams" at its headquarters in Beverly Hills.
But Rimini kicked off the party last week with an international convention on "La Dolce Vita." It included speeches by critics, a sociologist, a psychoanalyst, a composer, an etymologist and even a priest.
'La Dolce Vita'
Bigger Than TV
'Wheel' & 'Jeopardy!'
You take trivia answers that call for rapid-fire questions. You take a jumbo roulette wheel and the letters of the alphabet. What you've got are "Jeopardy!" and "Wheel of Fortune," TV's reigning syndicated shows for a quarter-century.
But that's only for starters. "Wheel" has rallied 4.6 million of its daily 10.4 million viewers for the online Wheel Watchers Club, which gives members a crack at winning a prize from each day's telecast. There are versions of both "Wheel" and "Jeopardy!" for personal computers, with "Jeopardy!" available on the PlayStation online network. And you can play variations of both shows on your cell phone.
What's next? Come January, any cell phone owner can compete in real time against the daily trio of on-air "Jeopardy!" contestants (as well as against others from the audience of 9.5 million) while viewing the broadcast.
'Wheel' & 'Jeopardy!'
80 Years Old
Mickey Mouse
Eighty years ago, one of the world's most beloved stars was born as Mickey Mouse whistled his way onto the silver screen with the cinema debut of "Steamboat Willie" at the Colony Theater in New York.
That day, November 18, 1928, is widely considered the iconic mouse's official birthday. But months before, Walt Disney had dreamt up the cartoon character and featured it in the short animated film "Plane Crazy."
Mickey Mouse was created almost by accident: Oswald the Lucky Rabbit was Walt Disney's first cartoon character, but when Disney lost the rights to Oswald in 1927, he returned to the drawing board.
He came up with "Mortimer the Mouse." Popular legend has it that his wife preferred the name Mickey, and Walt Disney deferred to her choice.
Mickey Mouse
Vegas Charges
Marion "Suge" Knight
Marion "Suge" Knight is facing criminal charges in Las Vegas, stemming from an incident in which police found the hip hop mogul allegedly beating his girlfriend just off a busy thoroughfare.
Knight is charged with two counts of felony drug possession and one count of misdemeanor battery, according to a criminal complaint filed Tuesday in Las Vegas Justice Court.
The complaint filed by the Clark County district attorney's office accuses Knight of striking a woman identified as Melissa Isaac. Police say they arrested Knight in August after they saw the founder of bankrupt Death Row Records beating the woman while brandishing a knife in a parking lot near the Las Vegas Strip.
Authorities said the woman wasn't stabbed, but was treated at a hospital for injuries. The complaint says Knight was carrying Ecstasy and hydrocodone when they arrested him. Knight was later released after posting $19,000 bail.
Marion "Suge" Knight
Rats Return, No Sign Of Pied Piper
Hamelin
Just ahead of the 725th anniversary of the Pied Piper reputedly banishing a plague of rats from Hamelin, there has been an "explosion" in the German town's rodent population, officials said Tuesday.
The spokesman for the northern town, known as Hameln in German, said the sharp rise at an abandoned garden allotment site on the edge of the town was because the rats had a plentiful supply of food from an adjacent rubbish dump.
According to legend, a colourful or "pied" rat catcher lured all the rats out of town in 1284 by playing his pipe. When the townspeople refused to pay him, he did the same with Hamelin's children and they were never seen again.
Hamelin
21 More Kids Removed
Tony Alamo
State officials on Tuesday took into protective custody 21 children associated with an evangelical group whose founder faces federal child sex charges.
The children, all younger than 18 and part of the Tony Alamo Christian Ministries, were taken while custody hearings were being held for six girls seized during a September raid of Alamo's compound in Fouke, in southwest Arkansas. The court must decide whether the girls should be returned to their parents or remain in state care.
Authorities took three children into custody Tuesday at the courthouse in Texarkana, 130 miles southwest of Little Rock. Police seized the other 18 children from two vans during a traffic stop, said Julie Munsell, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Human Services. She said she didn't know why the children were in the vans or where they were headed, and she declined to elaborate on the court order, which cites allegations of neglect and physical abuse as the reason for the seizures.
On Monday, a 14-year-old girl taken by the state during the September raid testified that Alamo molested her, counted a number of young girls as his wives, and coached her and others to say they weren't touched improperly or beaten.
Tony Alamo
Cheney, Gonzales Indicted
Willacy County, Texas
Vice President Dick "Go Fuck Yourself" Cheney and former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales have been indicted on state charges involving federal prisons in a South Texas county that has been a source of bizarre legal and political battles under the outgoing prosecutor.
The indictment returned Monday has not yet been signed by the presiding judge, and no action can be taken until that happens.
The seven indictments made public in Willacy County on Tuesday included one naming state Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr. and some targeting public officials connected to District Attorney Juan Angel Guerra's own legal battles.
Regarding the indictments targeting the public officials, Guerra said, "the grand jury is the one that made those decisions, not me."
Willacy County, Texas
Prime-Time Nielsens
Ratings
Prime-Time viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen Media Research for Nov. 10-16. Listings include the week's ranking, with viewership for the week and season-to-date rankings in parentheses. An "X" in parentheses denotes a one-time-only presentation.
1. (10) "60 Minutes," CBS, 25.1 million viewers.
2. (6) "NBC Sunday Night Football: Dallas at Washington," NBC, 19.27 million viewers.
3. (1) "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," CBS, 19.05 million viewers.
4. (3) "NCIS," CBS, 18.74 million viewers.
5. (2) "Dancing With the Stars," ABC, 18.69 million viewers.
6. (5) "Desperate Housewives," ABC, 16.84 million viewers.
7. (8) "Dancing With the Stars Results," ABC, 16.52 million viewers.
8. (6) "The Mentalist," CBS, 16.52 million viewers.
9. (X) "Country Music Association Awards," ABC, 15.9 million viewers.
10. (4) "Grey's Anatomy," ABC, 14.9 million viewers.
11. (9) "Criminal Minds," CBS, 14.83 million viewers.
12. (11) "Two and a Half Men," CBS, 14.5 million viewers.
13. (11) "CSI: Miami," CBS, 13.82 million viewers.
14. (14) "House," Fox, 13.06 million viewers.
15. (15) "Survivor: Gabon," CBS, 12.89 million viewers.
16. (17) "Cold Case," CBS, 12.28 million viewers.
17. (16) "Without a Trace," CBS, 12.23 million viewers.
18. (22) "Amazing Race 13," CBS, 12.13 million viewers.
19. (19) "Sunday Night NFL Pre-Kick," NBC, 11.92 million viewers.
20. (17) "Eleventh Hour," CBS, 11.63 million viewers.
Ratings
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