Who2 Editorial Blog

Video of Thierry Henry and the "Hand of Gaul"

2009-11-20T07:46:00.000-08:00

That's the instantly-infamous "Hand of Gaul" goal by French captain Thierry Henry on Wednesday night. The extra-time goal put France into the 2010 World Cup over the heartbroken Irish side.

It also made Henry the object of international scorn -- not least in Ireland, of course, where some are calling it the "Hand of Frog."

Here's the original "Hand of God" goal by Diego Maradona, against England in the World Cup of 1986. Maradona described it after the match as "un poco con la cabeza de Maradona y otro poco con la mano de Dios" -- "a little with the head of Maradona and a little with the hand of God."

Only in San Francisco!

2009-11-20T05:51:00.000-08:00

Love this photo of San Francisco Giants greats Willie Mays (age 78) and Tim Lincecum (age 25).

Lincecum may look like a contestant on American Idol, but he won his second straight Cy Young Award yesterday as the National League's best pitcher.

(Photo by Michael Macor for The SF Chronicle)

Dear Andy Kaufman, I Hate Your Guts

2009-11-19T22:09:00.000-08:00

Soon to be released by Process Publishing is this collection of letters from not-so-appreciative fans of long-dead weirdo comedian Andy Kaufman, titled Dear Andy Kaufman, I Hate Your Guts.

It's due out next month.

Oprah's Out!

2009-11-19T17:45:00.000-08:00

Says she'll end her show in 2011.

Happy 50th Birthday, Allison Janney

2009-11-19T10:17:00.000-08:00

The West Wing star was born in Boston in 1959. Which gives us the chance to run this truly unflattering photo from the "Broadway Bares Strip-A-Thon" for charity last June.

More flattering photos here.

(Photo: Joseph Marzullo/WENN.)

Memphis Cancels Iverson

2009-11-17T12:33:00.001-08:00

NBA star Allen Iverson is no longer with the Memphis Grizzlies. The Grizzlies terminated his contract after he played only three games. It's possibly the end of Iverson's NBA career, a roller coaster of a ride that began in Philadelphia in 1996. He was called "The Answer" back then, but since 2006 the one-time league MVP has played for Denver, Detroit and Memphis.

The official site for the Grizzlies -- with their statement about Iverson -- is here.

No word since November 2nd on Iverson's Twitter account, and his official site requires registration... and I didn't think it was worth the effort.

From the NBA, here's an unintentionally amusing video called "Crossover," in which Iverson is shown getting the better of Michael Jordan.

Now it seems plain silly to compare Iverson to Jordan, but at one point in the video an Iverson believer says to imagine the skills of Jordan and then "speed it up a little -- put that 45 on 33 r.p.m.!" Except that if you put a 45 r.p.m. (that's a vinyl record, son) on 33 r.p.m. it will sound slower.

This compilation of ten "best moves" is better -- great ball-handling, incredible steals and crazy-fast motion.

The Family Circus = Mad Men?

2009-11-17T05:30:00.000-08:00

From an interview with artist Jeff Keane about a new collection from the early days of 'The Family Circus':

Q: When you look at the photos in the introduction, it’s a less flattering caricature in these initial strips than it is now.

A: (Laughter) When my dad started it, I’m not sure he wanted to identify himself necessarily with the cartoon or necessarily have it be identifiable as our family. In fact, in a couple of those, Dad is actually referred to as “Steve.” He had sort of the generic businessman look in those days: wearing a hat, a little bit heavy, drinking and smoking. Sort of Mad Men-like.

The book is The Family Circus Library, Volume 1, from IDW Publishing. Here's the cover:

So: Mad Men maybe yes, but Don Draper not so much.

(Hat tip: JoshReads.com)

William Blake's Heavenly Imagination

2009-11-16T21:34:00.000-08:00

Fans of poet-painter (and engraver) William Blake will appreciate all the detail in the long review of a new exhibit at New York's Morgan Gallery.

Goodbye to 'The Equalizer'

2009-11-16T15:03:00.000-08:00

British actor Edward Woodward has died in England of "various illnesses, including pneumonia." He was 79.

Overseas he was known as the ill-fated Sgt. Howie in the creepy 1973 horror film The Wicker Man, and for playing the (also ill-fated) titular soldier in the 1980 Australian film Breaker Morant.

In America, Woodward may be best remembered for the TV show The Equalizer, which ran from 1985-89. The series was by turns a bit silly and a bit over-violent, but Woodward was steely and stellar as Robert McCall, a retired secret agent who provided guidance (and muscle) to needy underdogs.

YouTube has the whole pilot online; here's the first segment. (Theme song by Stewart Copeland of The Police!) So long, Mr. Woodward, and thanks for the memories.

Book Review: 'Road Dogs' by Elmore Leonard

2009-11-16T12:36:00.000-08:00

Here's a funny moment from Road Dogs, the latest novel by veteran crime writer Elmore Leonard.

The setup: Road Dogs brings back Jack Foley, the charming bank robber from Leonard's 1996 book Out of Sight. This time Foley is on Venice Beach, hanging out in the mansion of a former prison buddy. Page 233:

In the morning Foley had his breakfast and at ten went over to the big house -- the way he thought of it -- to have a cup of coffee with Cundo. If he called it the White House he'd see President Obama cleaning up Bush's mess. He didn't see Cundo all day yesterday and missed talking to the little Cuban.

Zing! And this is no political novel. He just drops it in there.

Leonard is 84 now, godblesshim, old enough to take whatever shots he wants and successful enough to talk his editors into leaving them in.

Road Dogs has that same old tough-talking Leonard vigor, helped along immensely by the charm of Jack Foley and the lingering image of George Clooney playing Foley and romancing Jennifer Lopez in the 1998 movie Out of Sight. (Karen Sisco, the U.S. Marshall played by Lopez, appears only briefly, alas, in Road Dogs.)

Leonard acknowledged the Clooney angle in an interview with The LA Times in May, when he was a lad of 83:

Like his heroes, Leonard doesn't do small-talk. He sits at his table and discusses the origins of "Road Dogs."

"I like George Clooney," he says. "And I thought, well, hell, he'll want to do another one of these."

Leonard has always prospered by looking to Hollywood. Film money bankrolled his career for decades. It's said he always puts an actor's face on his characters when he's writing.

Leonard confirms this, firing up a Virginia Slim Light. "The one I visualize more often than anyone is Harry Dean Stanton. They say he never misses his mark, never ever forgets his lines and always knows what word to hit, which is more than you can say about movie stars."

Which is amusing for a few reasons. One is that the femme fatale in Road Dogs smokes Virginia Slims Lights, and Foley gets grief from a fellow tough guy for smoking one:

"Virginia Slims, Light, Menthol? This what you smoke?"
"What's wrong with Slims?" Foley said.
"I think is funny is all."

The amusing part about Harry Dean Stanton is that in the original book, Foley is actually likened to Stanton: "Not looks -- they didn't look anything alike -- but his manner: both real guys who seemed tired of who they were, but couldn't do anything about it." Foley's exact age is unstated, but a 50ish con tells Foley that they're about the same age.

In Road Dogs, written after Clooney played the role, Foley seems younger, handsomer and, well, more Clooney-esque. (Hat tip to What Alan's Watching for pointing that out.) Clooney was 37 years old when he played Foley in Out of Sight (he's 48 years old now). Of course, Foley also says in Road Dogs that he's been robbing banks for 25 years; do the math and draw your own conclusions.

As far as Leonard borrowing from his own life, The LA Times also points out that Bloomfield Hills, where Leonard's characters often commit mayhem (including Foley's home invasion in Out of Sight), is the same wealthy Detroit suburb where Leonard himself has lived for years.

(Cool aside: Leonard's researcher describes how Karen Sisco came to be.)

Road Dogs is a great read, and it's in the lighter Leonard vein (like, say, The Hot Kid) instead of his harsher vein. If you liked Out of Sight, book or movie, you'll enjoy catching up with Foley again here.

The Screenwriter Who Saved Christmas -- Again and Again

2009-11-15T08:46:00.000-08:00

Dig the filmography of Romeo Muller, the guy who wrote the now-classic holiday TV special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

From The Reluctant Dragon and Mr. Toad Show through Strawberry Shortcake in the Big Apple City and on to Puff and the Incredible Mr. Nobody.

Watta career. And he wrote all the rest of those crazy Rankin-Bass Christmas shows, too, as they tried to recapture the Rudolph lightning: The Little Drummer Boy (1968), Santa Claus is Comin' to Town (1970), Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July (1979), etc, etc.

Not to speak ill of the dead (Muller died in 1992), but Muller and certainly Rankin-Bass were badly served by the success of the original Rudolph. Yes, that show is charming and totally lovable. But it's also notable for how scattershot and plain WEIRD it is, especially everything that isn't connected to the original song: krazy trapper Yukon Cornelius and the island of misfit toys and the elf who wants to be a dentist and the Abominable Snowman putting the star atop the tree and the whole nine yards. Somehow the whole nutty mishmash works, party by sheer chance and partly because of the Rudolph-as-underdog story that we all know from the song.

But what Muller and Rankin-Bass took away from that success was, "Eureka! We're in the imagination business! Just make up the wackiest crackpot characters ever and throw them all together in some kind of insane backstory that 'explains' how Christmas or Easter or Hannukah came to be! With a celebrity narrator if possible!"

And that's what the rest of the Rankin-Bass specials are like, near as I can tell. I always found those shows, like Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town, unwatchable. (The creepy Fred Astaire simulacrum doesn't help.)

So props to Mr. Muller for finding his niche and making a career of it, yes. And props to him for leveraging his holiday successes into other animation jobs.

But he sure kept going back to that same obsessive Christmas kick right to the end. His last three stories were The Wish That Changed Christmas in 1991, Noel in 1992 ("The story of Noel, a cheerful Christmas ornament with a certain 'happiness' that rubs off on the families he lives with." Narrated by Charlton Heston!), and The Twelve Days of Christmas in 1993 ("Narrated by a partridge, this charming animated tale explains the lengthy and confusing Christmas carol of the same name").

Bah humbug.

The Beatles Rock Band Trailers

2009-11-14T22:24:00.000-08:00

These animated trailers for the Rock Band game that features The Beatles are great.

The Esquire Experiment

2009-11-10T15:16:00.000-08:00

I can't remember the last time I wanted to go out and buy a magazine, but this Esquire "starring" Robert Downey, Jr. is tempting:

Esquire's link to the software required is here.

Jan and Kjeld

2009-11-10T13:03:00.000-08:00

It sure is amusing.

James Bond Hates Foie Gras?

2009-11-09T19:15:00.001-08:00

It seems to me that I distinctly remember James Bond liking foie gras.

Nonetheless, here he was protesting it in Britain over the weekend.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

2009-11-06T09:51:00.000-08:00

Starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Sir Ben Kingsley.

Tim Burton at the MOMA

2009-11-05T13:49:00.000-08:00

Filmmaker Tim Burton will be the subject of a five-week exhibition at New York's Museum of Modern Art, beginning November 22nd.

Burton got into the movie business in the early 1980s as an animator for Walt Disney, doing drawings that never made it into The Black Cauldron. The MOMA show will highlight his drawings and paintings -- all in a style that moviegoers will recognize.

The link to MOMA is here. An Indiewire story with more details about the show is here.

Happy 404th Fail Day, Guy Fawkes!

2009-11-05T05:03:00.000-08:00

You should have tried to look less guilty.

Sesame Street Opens, Then and Now

2009-11-04T04:36:00.000-08:00

As Google notes today, the 40th anniversary season of Seasame Street is coming right up. The first show airs on November 10th.

Herewith, the colorful hi-tech show opener for season 40, followed by the decidedly low-tech opener for season 1 in 1969 -- where "special effects" means camera zooms at 0:19 and 0:42.

Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin to Host the Oscars

2009-11-03T16:50:00.000-08:00

Martin: "I am happy to co-host the Oscars with my enemy Alec Baldwin."

More from the LA Times and the Academy.

The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Creative Director

2009-11-03T05:56:00.001-08:00

If you've ever wondered what the minds behind Hello Kitty might look like, this is your lucky day.

Meet creative director Yuko Yamaguchi, shown at a book signing for 'Hello Kitty: Guide to Life' in London last week. Artistic copper-dyed hair? Check. Adult pigtails? Check. Knee-high Doc Martens? Check. If it doesn't work out in the toy world, she can always add a pair of crazy eyeglasses and build skyscrapers.

But not to descend into snark. It's Hello Kitty's 35th anniversary, which is the point of the hoopla, and I do admire the Sanrio Corporation's ability to keep HK kitschy, lovable and hip all at the same time, for decades at a time. It's quite a balancing act. Congratulations to Ms. Yamaguchi, however she needs to style herself to get the job done.

Not everyone is sending anniversary bouquets, of course. One anti-fan is actually giving away this amazing toaster.

(Image of Yuko Yamaguchi supplied by WENN. And! See still more photos of Hello Kitty fashion and such.)

Halloween With the Stars

2009-11-02T13:38:00.000-08:00

Three costumes from Halloween 2009...

Heidi Klum as a raven...

Pop singer Debbie Gibson as a devil...

LaToya Jackson as...???

(All photos supplied by WENN.)

Heath Ledger, Video Director

2009-10-29T14:52:00.000-07:00

From rapper N'fa (a.k.a. No Fixed Abode), comes a music video for his song "Cause An Effect," directed by the late Heath Ledger, the actor who made 2008's The Dark Knight worth watching (parts of).

Cause An Effect (remastered) - Directed by Heath Ledger

No Fixed Abode | MySpace Video

A link to N'fa's MySpace page is here. The Ledger-directed video is up front.

Also interesting is a short piece with N'fa talking about the making of the video.

'Colonel Sanders' Invades United Nations Building

2009-10-29T09:05:00.000-07:00

The tricky devil.

"The Loin In Winter"

2009-10-28T08:37:00.000-07:00

Headline of the day, from a NY Times article on the aging Hugh Hefner.

Comes with a slide show with shots of a young, intense-looking Hef.