Today is the birth date of Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, born in Virginia in 1824 (in Clarksburg, which is now part of West Virginia).A distinguished military tactician and veteran of the war between the United States and Mexico in the 1840s, he died in 1863, after losing his left arm as a result of friendly fire. His arm was amputated and went on to have a history all its own. Jackson died shortly after that.
Conan O’Brien will soon have more free time on his hands.
It was 25 years ago today that Ronald Reagan was sworn in as president — in a private ceremony — for his second term.Because January 20th, traditionally Inauguration Day, fell on a Sunday, public ceremonies were held off for a day.At this point in his presidency, Ronald Reagan had aggressively upped the ante in the Cold War, told America to “just say no” to drugs (the illegal kind), seen the worst of a “slight recession” and wrassled with the Democrat majority in congress over deficit spending and budget cuts.
“Scott Brown Wins Mass. Race, Giving GOP 41-59 Majority in the Senate”- The Village Voice
Buzz Aldrin — moon-walking hero and one of our favorite astronauts — was born on this day in New Jersey in 1930.A few birthday photos from his Apollo 11 days:
“What do you say about a 72 year-old man who died? That he was beautiful? Or brilliant?”Who knew Segal was a professor of classics at Oxford, or that he was the son of an Orthodox rabbi, or that he knew Ali McGraw from their days at Harvard and Wellesley?
From the portfolio of photographer Peter Ross, a gallery of photos of various items that belonged to the late writer William S. Burroughs.
Musical genius Quincy Jones likes to point while being photographed.
ABC News says that NBC and Conan are “on the cusp of an agreement.”And they add something new:
Movie Review: Stranded: I’ve Come from a Plane that Crashed in the MountainsViewed on: A late Saturday afternoon in Cincinnati, OhioPre-movie meal: Dewey’s Pizza (half ‘Bronx Bomber’ and half ‘Socrates’ Revenge’) and a pint of Dewey’s house aleWe saw ‘Avatar’ in 3-D at a 1:00 show at the local theater. Then, buzzed from the wild visuals, we came home and saw this DVD that’s at the other end of the movie-experience spectrum.
Werner Herzog interprets Curious George:
The network owns the intellectual property behind such popular O’Brien characters as Pimpbot 5000 and Conando, as well as recurring segments such as In the Year 3000 and Desk Driving. Sources involved in the settlement negotiations say NBC is keeping the copyrighted and trademarked elements of O’Brien’s shows as part of the deal. That means the bits and characters will likely never be seen after O’Brien’s “Tonight” ends its run January 22.
Earlier we noted Pat Robertson’s claim that the people had made a deal with the devil.Now Satan is having his say:”When I strike bargains with people, they first get something here on earth — glamour, beauty, talent, wealth, fame, glory, a golden fiddle. Those Haitians have nothing, and I mean nothing. And that was before the earthquake. Haven’t you seen ‘Crossroads’? Or ‘Damn Yankees?’
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Conan O’Brien seems close to a deal to leave The Tonight Show, paving the way for a return by Jay Leno.
January 10th is the anniversary of the very first Super Bowl, or, as it was cleverly called, Super Bowl I. The year was 1967, and the teams were the National Football League’s Green Bay Packers and the American Football League’s Kansas City Chiefs.The Packers were favorites to win, and they did, 35-10, behind the coaching of Vince Lombardi and the talents of quarterback Bart Starr.Here’s a recap from the Green Bay Packers.
Film reviewer and internet jockey Roger Ebert came out swinging today, in an open letter to Rush Limbaugh that starts with “You should be horse-whipped for the insult you have paid to the highest office of the nation.””You should be horse-whipped for the insult you have paid to the highest office of the nation.”
Here’s an update to our post about Two Gentlemen of Lebowski, that marvelous mash-up of the Coen brothers and William Shakespeare:DMTheatrics is staging what they say is the New York City premiere of Adam Bertocci’s play, which uses Shakespearean-style verse to retell the story of the movie The Big Lebowski (1998, starring Jeff Bridges).
Here’s a belated book review of my most frustrating read of 2009: Ted Sorensen’s book Counselor: A Life at the Edge of History.The book came out in 2008 and it’s billed as Ted Sorensen’s frank personal memoir of his 11 years as John Kennedy’s speechwriter and right-hand advisor.
Lady Gaga has signed on as the creative director at Polaroid. (Nope, the company’s not defunct yet.) That’s Gaga flashing her business card on Twitter. Her quote: “The Haus of …..