We almost missed Jack Chick’s birthday — April 13th. He turned 86. Chick is the man behind Chick Publications, Christian comic tracts that have been around since 1970. The kind of little comic you might find at a bus station or in a laundromat, Chick’s publications are moral lessons meant to educate readers about the power of Jesus, and, more often than not, the terrors that await you if you don’t accept Jesus as your personal savior.
Mia Sara has been at the top of our search list the last two days, apparently due to a rush of online searches for “where is Mia Sara?” We can’t figure out the reason — she doesn’t seem to be in the news. It’s one of life’s mysteries.
A clerk remembers retiring Justice John Paul Stevens: During William Rehnquist’s tenure as chief justice, a lawyer was
arguing in the court for the first time. When asked a question by
Justice Anthony Kennedy, the nervous lawyer started her response with,
“Well, Judge –Chief Justice Rehnquist interrupted her. “That’s
Justice Kennedy,” he said.
TV By the Numbers likes Conan O’Brien’s move to TBS.Ken Tucker concurs, with a few jabs at Conan’s fan base.
“What a Wonderful World,” reimagined.
It was just a matter of time until someone wrote the Great American
Musical about credit default swaps. With a shove
from This American Life, we have the first song, penned by Robert Lopez
of Avenue Q: “Bet Against the American Dream.”
That’s right, the rumor that actress Elizabeth Taylor would marry for the umpteenth time has been deemed untrue.
Dame Liz herself said so, on her Twitter page.
Yes, Dame Elizabeth has a Twitter page. About her so-called engagement, she says the rumors “simply aren’t true.” She adds that her rumored betrothed, Jason Winters, is her “dearest friend.”
Here’s a photo of Liz with her fourth husband:
Tina Fey hosted Saturday Night Live this weekend and got better ratings than anything in prime time.Chalk it up as another victory for Sarah Palin if you like: people tune in just to see her parodied. The video clip’s below — Fey starts slow, but picks up steam. The ‘Wheel of Fortune’ moment is a good one.
Art Seder: “When we graduated in 1947, the Northwestern faculty had an understanding with Justice Wiley Rutledge of the Supreme Court that he would take one Northwestern student as a law clerk.”But the faculty, Seder says, didn’t want to pick between him and Stevens.Seder: “So they asked us to flip a coin to decide who would go down to Washington as law clerk.”Nice piece from CPR on retiring Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens.
The caption, as provided by our friends at WENN: “WWE champion John Cena faced former WWE champion Sheamus for the title
belt at The O2 arena and after long battle Cena won when Bret ‘The
Hitman’ Hart distracted the Irishman. But after Sheamus’ homecrowd booed
and jeered Cena he handed the belt to Sheamus to delight of the
Dubliner’s fans.”
Phil Mickelson has won the Masters for the third time. He shot a 16-under 272, beating Britain’s Lee Westwood by three strokes.Mickelson also won the Masters in 2004 and 2006. His wife has been battling breast cancer, making the win just a little more meaningful. It’s his 38th PGA Tour win and his fourth major win: he also won the 2005 PGA Championship.
He’s really most sincerely dead: Meinhardt Raabe, who played the singing Munchkin coroner in The Wizard of Oz, has died at age 94. He passed on in Florida, where he lived in a retirement community.Raabe was born in 1915, so he was about 22 when the film was shot. TV Guide says he used the money from the shoot to pay for college. Here’s his big moment:
Tiger Woods pulled his tee shot on the par-3 6th hole at The Masters today, and the boys in the CBS control booth didn’t cue up the phony bird sounds fast enough. Instead they caught Tiger’s reaction:
US magazine reports that screen legend Liz Taylor is planning to get married again, for the ninth time.
The lucky man is Jason Winters, “who recently became Janet Jackson’s manager.” Winters works for Sterling Winters Management and is 49 years old. Liz is 78.
Today is the birthday of Tom Lehrer, whose comic songs of yore include “The Vatican Rag,” “Pollution” and, performed here, “Poisoning Pigeons in the Park.”And, according to this YouTube channel loaded with Lehrer stuff, there’s a CD/DVD set due out next week.
Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens is your newest Supreme Court Retiree Of The United States.
Buzz Aldrin with partner Ashly DelGrosso-Costa on Dancing With the Stars. Photo: ABC
Astronaut and super-stud Buzz Aldrin got the boot from Dancing With the Stars last night.
Tiger Woods tees off in The Masters on Thursday at 1:42 pm Eastern time. That puts him in the next-to-last group of the day. (Coincidence, or are those crafty old hound dogs at Augusta National milking the drama?)
Inventor Dean Kamen’s talk at the TED conference was about a mechanical arm he devised for wounded veterans. It’s nearly 20 minutes long, but if you can spare the time and relax enough for Kamen’s steady, sincere delivery, this video is worth watching.
Today is the anniversary of Raphael’s birth. He would have been 517 years old today if he had lived. And had been a sorcerer. Or a descendant of Methuselah.
Raphael was one of the most influential Italian Renaissance painters, working in Florence and Rome in the early part of the 16th century. He died young, at the age of 37.
It’s also the anniversary of Raphael’s death. Yes, he died on his birthday, in 1520. Bummer.