Category Archives: Entertainment

Happy Birthday, Anna Kendrick!

She is only 26 years old today….

But she already has had an amazing career- with, hopefully, much more to come!

Surprisingly, this is one of my top rated and most viewed posts….so I’m going to re-post it again on this talented young lady’s birthday….

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I love it when I find new performers and then learn they are already seasoned veterans…

Anna Kendrick was nominated for an Oscar this year for “Up in the Air.” She’s also been in the “Twilight” movies. I knew she looked familiar and discovered a couple of clips of earlier musical performances I had seen. I thought I would share.

Her she is as a very small child,  singing a song from “Show Boat” at the “Leading Ladies” Broadway Benefit– with the “Cabaret” Kit Kat Club girls.  She had just been nominated for a Tony Award for “High Society” when she appeared in the show on Broadway:

And here is the scene I loved and remembered well from “Camp”.  I just didn’t realize it was her.  She comes in after about 25 seconds:

This young lady has a long and exciting career ahead of her.

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Filed under Broadway, Entertainment, New York, Social Commentary, Theatre

Sordid Lives: Sarah Palin and Her Family Trashed by Levi Johnston’s Sister in “Playboy”

This is just  about the trashiest, tackiest thing I’ve come across since I once stumbled across a “Jerry Springer Show” by accident…

The trash just keeps getting trashier…

These Alaska hillbillies are going to turn into the Hatfields and McCoys if this keeps up…

And this Palin person wants to be President?  And some people would actually vote for her?

From the NY Post:

Mercede Johnston, the opinionated sister of Bristol Palin’s baby daddy Levi Johnston, believes Sarah Palin would have had a “mental breakdown” if she were elected president — and says that Bristol told her brother, “I prayed you weren’t the father,” after she became pregnant.

Mercede posed nude for the September issue of Playboy and gave an equally revealing interview to George Gurley. Asked what kind of president Sarah Palin would be, she responded: “I think she’d have had a mental breakdown . . . As governor she quit on us. What does that say about her?” When Gurley asked what percentage of Wasilla residents “can’t stand Palin,” Mercede responded, “I would say 70 percent.”

Mercede also claims the Palins are so polarizing in the small Alaskan town that she can’t work. “It’s hard to get a job in this town because of the Palins,” she tells Playboy, adding, “People say, ‘Oh, Mercede Johnston, I don’t know if people are going to come in if she works here.’ ”

Regarding Bristol’s relationship with Levi, she claims Bristol sent a text message to Levi after she found out she was expecting son Tripp that read, “Ever since the moment I found out I was pregnant, I prayed to God you weren’t the father.”

Mercede — who had claimed on her blog that “Levi never liked [Bristol] to drink since it just made her more promiscuous” — also told Gurley that Bristol, who’s since become an advocate for teen abstinence, wanted to get pregnant: “Bristol’s pregnancy wasn’t . . . an accident. She and Levi planned it. They were trying to conceive for months.”

Mercede also tells Playboy that Track Palin, Sarah’s 22-year-old son who is an Army reservist, used drugs. She claims, “He did OxyContin and mostly cocaine. He didn’t choose to go into the Army; he went there because his mom made him, to get him out of the way so when she was at the convention they wouldn’t know he does drugs and would think he was a patriot.” A Palin family rep declined to comment.

via Mercede Johnston strips off, and sounds off on the Palins in Playboy interview – NYPOST.com.

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Filed under Elections, Entertainment, Politics, Uncategorized

The Gayest Work Out Video of All Time….

From the 1980’s of course….

It’s kind of like a Village People Workout- or something….

I guess not everyone was doing the Jane Fonda Videos….

I wouldn’t know anything about this…

My idea of a workout back in the 1980’s was mixing a drink and lighting a cigarette multiple times a night while trying not to fall off a bar stool…

And I looked marvelous!

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Martha Stewart’s Oversize Ironing Board

In honor of Martha Stewart’s 70th Birthday today, I thought I would share my favorite “how to” project from her TV show.

I saw her do this years ago and that’s when I realized she apparently lived in an alternative universe where they don’t have the $2.50 Cleaners to do your tablecloths and other large items….

And I wondered who the hell had a laundry room big enough for one of these…

If you had a laundry room that big, then you had to have a staff to iron your tablecloths for you and didn’t need one of these…

Still, I love her….and her staff.

The large ironing tables at D & F Workroom in New York City, where Martha recently had some upholstery done, inspired her to devise this oversize ironing board. You can make one to fit on a flat surface in your laundry room. Not only is this board a practical solution to working with unwieldy expanses of fabric such as large tablecloths and heavy curtains, but it is also firmer and tauter than the standard board, making clothes and linens easier to press. The secret to creating the right give in the surface is Bump, an extremely thick English table flannel commonly used as an interface for winter draperies or to buffer large tablecloths. When the top layer of the board, which is made of muslin, becomes discolored from ironing, simply tear it off and replace with a fresh piece.

Tools and Materials

Piece of 3/4-inch-thick high-grade plywood, 30 by 45 inches

2 pieces cotton or wool felt, 34 by 49 inches

1 piece Bump, 36 by 51 inches

1 piece medium-weight cotton muslin sheeting, 38 by 53 inches

Several feet of 1/2-inch cotton twill tape

Folding tool (a letter opener is ideal)

Fabric glue

Oversize Ironing Board How-To

1. Cover plywood with two layers of felt. Wrap one side to the back of the board, and staple midway along the side, 1 1/2 inches in from edge. Wrap fabric over opposite side; staple directly opposite first. Repeat on other two sides. Working out toward corners, continue adding staples in pairs on opposite sides of plywood. Miter corners by pinching felt together at each corner so it’s centered diagonally, letting excess fabric stick up. Secure each side with two staples. Press excess fabric straight down diagonally, and secure raw edges with staple. Use folding tool to smooth down corners as you work. Make sure corners are as neat as possible.

2. Cover the felt with a layer of Bump flannel. Use same stapling technique as for felt. Fold corners neatly and staple.

3. Iron muslin; wrap over Bump, and secure with staples, following steps listed above.

4. Trim fabric close to staples, then glue lengths of 1/2-inch cotton twill tape over staples and unfinished edges. Press down with folding tool. Wipe off excess glue.

via Oversize Ironing Board – Martha Stewart Home & Garden.

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Filed under Entertainment, Television

Happy Birthday, Gladys Ormphby! Ruth Buzzi is 75

I always loved  her on “Laugh In” when I was a kid…..

Here she is at her best….

She kind of reminds me of a friend of mine….

 

 

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Marilyn Monroe Sculpture Drawing Controversy On Mag Mile

I’ve always loved Chicago and now there’s another reason to do so!

A 26 foot Sculpture of Marilyn Monroe with her skirt blowing up as in “The Seven Year Itch.”

And people are freaking out….

I love it!

It’s so tacky I can’t believe it’s not being displayed somewhere in the South or California…

I guess it’s too risque for the South and too tame for California…

Like I said, I love Chicago!

 

 

From Chicago local News on Yahoo.com:

The long-awaited 26-foot sculpture of Marilyn Monroe was unveiled on the Magnificent Mile Friday morning, amid controversy about its risqué appearance.

The three-part piece sculpture by artist Seward Johnson was unveiled in Pioneer Court alongside Tribune Tower at 6:15 a.m. Friday.

It depicts Monroe as she appeared in an iconic scene in the 1955 movie “The Seven Year Itch,” where her dress goes flying up as she stands over a New York subway grate, leaving her underwear exposed.

The sculpture was built in a studio in New Jersey and brought to Chicago. Pioneer Court has previously hosted sculptures depicting Shakespeare’s “King Lear” Grant Wood’s “American Gothic.”

Melissa Farrell of Zeller Realty Group told WBBM Newsradio 780 earlier this week that the 26-foot sculpture will be quite the attraction.

“We are installing a large scale public artwork. It’s very visible to the public and it becomes a tourist attraction. People come to Chicago to see it,” Farrell said.

In his Perspective Thursday night, CBS 2’s Walter Jacobson said the sculpture will be a welcome addition to the Mag Mile.

“So we did not get the Olympics, but we have Ms. Monroe, keeping us on top of the outdoor world, and just when we need it, a smile on that mile,” he said.

But Chicago Tribune columnist Mary Schmich gave the sculpture a scathing review. She called it “as tawdry as a peep show,” and complained about the men walking by who were seen “shooting photos of her crotch while one stuck out his tongue to mime a lick.”

“The original image (from ‘The Seven Year Itch’) is coy,” Schmich wrote. “Marilyn on the Mag Mile is crude.”

CBS 2 viewers weighed in on the new sculpture on Susan Carlson’s Facebook page. Many said the problem lay not with the sculpture, but with people who chose to take prurient photos next to it.

“The statue is beautiful. Nothing like a bunch of idiots who would prefer to make it something that it’s not,” wrote Linda Findlay Love. “Too bad.”

“I think the statue of Marilyn Monroe is beautiful and is an iconic Hollywood scene that created a buzz around the world,” added Robbie Attebery. “People taking photos under the dress need to mature up. Quit being a pig.”

“That’s why it’s causing such a controversy. Men and their perverted thoughts,” wrote Joy L. Potthoff.

But fans and foes alike will have to get used to the sculpture. It will be towering over Michigan Avenue through next spring.

via Marilyn Monroe Sculpture Drawing Controversy On Mag Mile | The Chicago Local – Yahoo! News.

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Which One of You B@tches is My Mother?…..Happy Birthday Phoebe Cates!

Happy Birthday, Phoebe Cates.  She’s 48 today and got to say one of the most immortal lines from 1980’s television in “Lace”:

I also loved her in “Shag”

She made several more popular films in the 1980’s- early 1990’s ,”Gremlins” and “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” among them,  before becoming Mrs. Kevin Kline and putting her career on hold to raise a family.

Another of my favorite actresses from that era, Elizabeth McGovern, recently came back and made a big splash in “Downton Abbey”.

I hope the same will happen one day soon for Phoebe Cates.

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Sherwood Schwartz, Creator of ‘Gilligan’s Island’ and ‘Brady Bunch’ Dies at 94

A little piece of American Cultural History has passed on…

Sherwood Schwartz, creator of the TV Classics “Gilligan’s Island” and “The Brady Bunch” has passed away.

I can’t imagine what my childhood and youth would have been like without these shows!

And the folks in Washington today could learn some lessons from how the diverse cast characters of “Gilligan’s Island” managed to get along and work through their issues.

From the LA Times:

The Times wasn’t kind when it reviewed “Gilligan’s Island” in 1964, writing, “‘Gilligan’s Island’ is a television series that never should have reached the air this season, or any other season.” But the series defied critics and lasted for three seasons, eventually becoming a staple of syndication.

Its creator, Sherwood Schwartz, died of natural causes Tuesday morning in Los Angeles. He was 94.

Schwartz’s impact on pop culture will long survive. In addition to “Gilligan’s Island,” Schwartz created the family sitcom “The Brady Bunch.” Each series came affixed with its own memorably jolly theme song, with lyrics written by Schwartz.

In The Times’ obit, Dennis McLellan wrote:

Schwartz once said he created “Gilligan’s Island,” which aired on CBS from 1964 to 1967, as an escape from his seven years on “The Red Skelton Show,” for which he served as head writer and won an Emmy in 1961.

There was nothing quite as escapist as the wacky tale of seven people on a small charter boat, the SS Minnow, who set out on a “three-hour tour” and wound up shipwrecked on an uncharted South Pacific Island.

Starring Bob Denver in the title role of the boat’s bumbling crew member, “Gilligan’s Island” famously featured the exasperated skipper (Alan Hale Jr.), the millionaire and his wife (Jim Backus and Natalie Schafer), the professor (Russell Johnson), the naïve country girl (Dawn Wells) and the sexy movie star (Tina Louise).

Schwartz also wrote the lyrics for the show’s memorable theme song.

For all its crude sight gags, low-brow humor and pratfalls, Schwartz viewed “Gilligan’s Island” as something more: It is, he proclaimed, “my version of a social microcosm, where seven people from various backgrounds had to learn to live together.”

via Remembering ‘Gilligan’s Island,’ ‘Brady Bunch’ creator Sherwood Schwartz – latimes.com.

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American Gigolo

I need to see this movie again…

I still have Blondie’s song “Call Me”, from the film, on my iPod….

The most pornographic thing about the movie is the clothes.  It’s obscene for one man to have that great wardrobe…

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A Remake of 80s TV show ‘Dallas’ Gets Green Light

I can’t believe they are doing this…

It will be interesting to see how it turns out.

If it’s a hit, maybe they’ll re-launch my favorite 1980’s prime time soaper “Dynasty”!  Of course, it wouldn’t be the same now that John Forsythe is gone…

Anyway….

The US series – which ran from 1978 to 1991 and centered around the power struggles within a Texan oil dynasty – will return to screens in the summer of next year, with cable network TNT ordering 10 episodes of the explosive drama.

Jesse Metcalfe, Jordana Brewster, Brenda Strong, Josh Henderson and Julie Gonzalo will all star in the remake, alongside ‘Dallas’ veteran Larry Hagman – who played J.R. Ewing in the original series – as well as Linda Gray and Patrick Duffy.

Michael Wright, executive vice-president and head of programming for TNT, said: “TNT has explored the possibility of an updated version of ‘Dallas’ for several years, but it wasn’t until we read Cynthia Cidre’s outstanding pilot script that we knew we had the foundation for a great new series.”

The network will preview the new series of ‘Dallas’ – written and produced by Cynthia Cidre – on Monday night (11.07.11).

Michael M. Robin has helmed the pilot episode and will co executive produce alongside Cynthia.

via A Remake of 80s TV show ‘Dallas’ Gets Green Light – OMGWire.

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