On The Rocks*

What did I do last night?

I saw this guy:
In these things:

Do a routine to a song by this gal:

And then had free drinks.

My job? Sometimes not so dull.

*as opposed to "Straight Up." Get it?

That's (Hairy) Montgomery Clift, Honey!

God Bless you, Google Books. You complete me.

This Is Where I'm From, Too

This Is Where I'm From

My heritage. Data from this site, enjoy tickling around on it.

The Id(l)es Of March

Search Engine Review Time!

I've been a bit lazy at reporting on the analytics that bring folks here. Oh well.

In March 2010, 10 people found us on the web by googling some version of "Shamrock Shake Finder." Here's how to make your own until next March:

Another 22 people googled to find out the various different ways of pluralizing things, including the following terms:

• plural of egg [an evergreen, I'm not sure why]
  
• what is the plural of breakfast
  
• interesting plural
  
• kiwi plural
  
• plural amazing


• plural for doris
  
• plural of "child actor"?
  
• plural of fanny [I guess this makes sense, is it y or ie, but still I wonder if they're going to write about multiple American fannies or British ones? What would you do wtih more than one of either?]
• plural who


• town plural
  
• what is a plural for "amazing"?


• what is the plural of ice cream


• can my favourite thing be plural [confidential to this person: the answer is yes]
  

Another 15 people were googling "Sirotan." Here's something for you folks!:

Eight people googled "poo." I have nothing for you.

Six of you googled "Raquel Welch." In honor of this, I have ordered a copy of her new memoir, It's Not About The Cleavage, for Shorty to read & report back on.

Another four googled "Barb Jungr," I can tell you folks I'm excited to see her next month at the Metropolitan Room. Come along with me!

And then some other oddballs:

• christopher walken natalie wood
  
• sepia town
  
• obama curlicue signature
  
• japanese sitcom
  
• grace jones
  
• teaching montgomery clift how to throw a punch
  
• ides of march snacks [I guess someone was planning a fancy party]
  
• doris day birthday

I did a google on the Monty Clift one, I guess Howard Hawks taught him how to do that for Red River.

Anyway, that's March. Cheerio!

Tentacles! TENTACLES!

Seriously? No one EVER told me about this?



I am runningnotwalking to get this now.

A True, Great, White

Recently, someone said to me "So why do the kids like Betty White so much these days?" I assume this question was meant as, why is it that all of a sudden her star is shining so bright, rather than 'what is there to like about her?'

I first met Ms. White back in my early childhood, when I would go and stay with my Nana and Papa. The Mary Tyler Moore show was in reruns, and Nana and I would enjoy that together. Her Sue Ann Nivens was brilliant. White herself credits this improv bit with the kick to the oven as one of the ways in which she turned this one-time guest spot into a recurring role.

As they were creating the part of Sue Ann Nivens, Mary Tyler Moore said "we need someone who on air is sickeningly sweet, a real Betty White type." Zing! It sounds rather apocraphyl now, since I've heard that story before (in casting Dorothy Szbornak, they supposedly said "We need a real Bea Arthur type," but we'll get to the Golden Girls in a moment).

Where'd she get this reputation for niceness? Well, she started in television in the late 1940s, when most of our parents were just being borned. I like watching Life With Elizabeth, in which she plays a loveable housewife in a show that sometimes is a bit on the mysogenistic side, but often funny (who says we can't have both?).

Here's a clip from that:

Sometimes she'd even sing!

Anyway, of course we all remember her from The Golden Girls. From 1985-1992, every Saturday night I would babysit for my little sister while my parents went out. I would drink root beer from a wine glass, eat a whole bag of Doritos, and watch Golden Girls.

But then? That program eventually went off the air. White was busy with lots of guest appeareances, including this amusing one from The John Larroquette Show:



I think one of the things that kick-started her 'comeback' was her dirty-mouthed role in Lake Placid in 1999:

People liked that, and then she was on Boston Legal with William Shatner, and THEN she had that dirty mouthed bit on Bill Shatner's roast, which I blogged about at the time (it keeps getting taken down).

This lead to the bit in the Proposal, the superbowl ad, and all the other things I've blogged about.




Here's a lovely little clip that sorta sums it all up:

Anyway, that's my story of Betty White and I'm sticking to it. God Bless, Betty, White.

Candy Everybody Wants

Now, today is David's birthday, but it's also the birthday of Sir Iggy Pop. Happy 63rd, James Osterberg!

The greatest thing he ever did was not have it in his ear before, but rather his 1990 duet "Candy" with Kate Pierson. Ms. Pierson is one of our national treasures, and just simply doesn't get used enough.



Those jerks at Virgin/EMI disabled embedding, but you can watch the video here. Please do click through, turn up your volume, and enjoy.

Truly, it's up there with "Islands in the Stream" and "It's So Easy" from Pete's Dragon.

Thanks Iggy, for the memories.

The Lost Honor of CRD & DSB

Apparently, in The Past, David B. and I were members of the Baader-Meinhof Gang.



Happy Birthday, David!

Cats, Watermelons, Lakes

I have blogged before about my obsession with the internet's obsession with cats obsessions with watermelons.

Still, I'm always a little surprised:

Live Blogging! Shouldn't This Instruction Be Unnecessary?

Double iTendre

This is my favorite part of the Gizmodo story on the new iPhone:

That poor slob who left it behind in a bar. That's gotta be the WORST way to get fired.

Shorty Got A New Shirt-y

This was meant for the nephew. But it's maybe too cute?

Friendship, Unlikely Style

Sometimes this week we think about what it would be like if had never met some of our BFFs.

Here's some other BFFs, out in the wild. This is on top of the tale Amber told yesterday.

This one has a dummy foreign narrator (and a 5 second ad the beginning), but otherwise is cute, and allows me to use my Otters tag.



I love Orca!, starring Charlotte Rampling, in which the titular killer whale burns down a seaside town, that they forgot to bomb, bomb bomb. In other news, this Orca likes pooches.


I wonder if this only happens in Canada?

Here's one that doesn't have a happy ending (hee hee):


Right in the Peppercorns!

And For The Win? Here's Raquel Welch, star of Myra Breckinridge, & Miss Piggy covering Miss Peggy Lee. God Bless, America.

iBetty

I mean, this is almost a week old, but it's been a while since we've seen Betty White. And now, shilling for Apple!

Let Me In'a Your Window

This news burst was in the British papers: sales of Wuthering Heights have quadrupled in the past year.

After 150 years of steady sales, the romance between Heathcliff and Cathy has started flying off the shelves thanks to a generation of teenagers discovering the book through the Twilight saga – a trilogy of books by Stephanie Meyer, which have been turned into hugely popular films, staring Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart.


One publisher even released a Twilight'd up edition of the book:

This burst right here? In the business we call this "marketing' :

I dunno how I feel. It's still one of my favorite books, so I'm glad more people are reading it. Still, I discovered Wuthering Heights in high school through Kate Bush, as one should.


Those socks!

Somehow it seems the youths of today are being shortchanged. I mean, what if they never discover this?

It's like discovering Camus not by way of an explanatary burst on a Cure album, or learning about Buñuel not from the Pixies. We didn't even know how good we had it.

I Guess She Made It

The title makes me cringe just a wee bit, but anyway, imagine my surprise when I found out a certain publisher makes this book?

And here's something else I found when googlin' dixie. God Bless you, Bernice.

Light + Loo = Cancer? Pshaw

This isn't REAL science, is it? British people are so weird.

Simply turning on a light at night for a few seconds to go to the toilet can cause changes that might lead to cancer, scientists claim.

Researchers in the UK and Israel found that when a light is turned on at night, it triggers an 'over-expression' of cells linked to the formation of cancer.

The tests were carried out on mice at Leicester University by geneticist Professor Charalambos Kyriacou.

During the trial, a group of mice were exposed to a light for one hour. When compared with mice who had been kept in the dark, changes were found in cells in the brain responsible for the circadian clock which controls body function.

Dr Rachel Ben-Shlomo, of the University of Haifa, said in the journal Cancer Genetics and Cytogenetics that people waking at night would be best advised not to turn on the light.

She said: 'We believe that any turning on of artificial light in the night has an impact on the body clock. It's a very sensitive mechanism.

'If you want to get up to go to the toilet, you should avoid reaching for the light switch. There are some plug-in lights that just glow, that are safe and you could use them as an alternative.'

She added: 'These latest findings are preliminary research and we are now looking into this area in more detail.'

Here's the article.

I think girls who live with boys might prefer they guys get a little cancer to sitting on a seat with pee on it, but whatever. I like science about tickling better.

If That Mountain Crumbles To The Sea

Where'd the day go?

Anyway, here's something:

Sweet Georgia Dixie

One more, for Dixie. She'd want it that way.

Tonight The Lights Went Out In Georgia

Enjoy Heaven, Julia Sugarbaker. Thanks for making it more fun down here.

Live Blogging! Only $0.75 For Blech!

Laundry Saturday!

Shelley Says, There's A Line Here Somewhere

She really is the gift that keeps on giving, Ms. Winters.

She had a long affair with Burt Lancaster, and of course left Farley Granger for him. Lancaster even rented her an apartment for their rendezvous.

On her regret that they never got married themselves:

"He was already married, I didn't want to get in the way of that."

God Bless, Shelley.

Lemme Have A Tightrope, Not A Window Seat

Yeah yeah, the Erykah Badu video is getting all the attention, and it is real good, as is the song, but if you are wondering what video I like to watch, it's this one:



I think if I can learn Janelle's dance moves, and combine them with my Trololo singing, I could be a STAR.

(the Big Boi rap is kinda dull, but whatevs)

When It Happens, It Happens

Remember when I posted about this?

I really impressed myself with my post title.
Anyway, just in case you missed it, here's the original:


Honestly? This is my new shower singing song. I can't wait for Zach to come back so I can serenade him.

Thanks David for finding both version. However you have your Google Alerts calibrated, ur doin it rite.

Also? When Eduard Khil was reached for comment about his sudden fame, he had this to say:

"What is fame?" said Khil, a big star in his day. "[Russian poet Alexander] Pushkin said it's just a bright patch upon a shabby singer's rags. When it happens, it happens."

God Bless us all.

"Of All The Days To Wear Pink"

My favorite of Joan's cue cards. The old girl still has it.

Live Blogging! Joan's Cue Cards

One Last Joan Of The Day - Pee Wee Style

See ya tonight, Joanie!

Joans Are All Around

Here's another Joan doing the theme song to one of my favorite programs.



Kevin Connection? One time we went to see Mr. Letterman, on account of Stevie Nicks was the guest star. We saw Bill Murray too, but I didn't care as much about that.

Lady Pilot

Also in honor of seeing Joan Rivers tonight, here's another Joan, Joan Armatrading, doing maybe my favorite song of hers.



Who knew the video was so literal?

Lady JoanJoan

In honor of me going to see Joan Rivers tonight with tickets I won, here's another Joan - Ms. Crawford. Some buddy made a video to a Lady GaGa song by using old clips from Joan's movies. What a nice way to see Johnny Guitar, the movie I always see with Kevin and a guest, again.



Bang Bang!

I Really, Really Want To Know What He's Looking At

In The Family Way (Matrilineal Edition)

From my mom:

Grandpa is the little blonde boy front and center. The one in the dropped waist dress is Nellie, Grandpa's mother and a VERY stern woman); Helen (grandpa's sister) is the little girl with the necklace, next to her is George, Grandpa's father (a sweet, kind man who would sneak us candy when Nellie wasn't looking).


I was never terribly close with my Grandpa, but he was a good man, and I always enjoyed favored status as the first (of fourteen) grandchildren. The resemblance is kinda illuminating too:

This picture would be from sometime in the mid-1920s. Heritage.

Endless Dub

Maybe it's just that I had a stinky day?

But I can't stop smiling at this:

In Miami, Everything Is Illuminated

Live Blogging! Hotel Shelley Winters!

If only!

Celebrating A Birthday, Architecture Style

Today is a special day in that we celebrate Jonathan being borned.

His greatest quality is that he knows the importance of taking hygiene tips from kitty cats.



Many happy returns, Sir.

Heading South

So long, suckers. Happy Easter.

(Photo simulation from archival material)