Saturday, June 18, 2011

"SPIDERMONSTER: THE MUSICAL"

The musical "Spiderman: Turn Off The Dark" opened this week (finally!) to rather tepid reviews, which I guess had to be expected.

Mark the birthday boy pointed out this video on his Facebook page, saying that it had him laughing until he fell out of his chair.

Mark is easily amused. (He'd have to be, to spend all that time with his boyfriend Michael......)

But I did find it funny myself that even 'Sesame Street' took notice of the musical's troubles.....


 
There is something creepy, though, about that blue "beard" of Grover's, sticking out from his Spidey costume....
 
BCnU!

GINGER ALERT!

Being a ginger m'self who had a bout of sun poisoning once as a kid, this PSA left me concerned.......



BCnU!

HOMETOWN HEADLINES

I don't watch Jay Leno, which is no slight against him as I don't watch any of the late night talk shows on a regular basis - only if there's going to be something special that I need to see.

So I didn't know about the latest entry in his "Headlines" routine until a few days later, thanks to a mention in the Facebook page for my hometown newspaper. It was their turn to get tweaked when Leno turned the spotlight on one of their own headlines.

It'll be the one about the advice given by an energy conservation expert.....


BCnU!

COMING THIS FALL TO "DOCTOR WHO"

The first half of the season has ended for 'Doctor Who', and I just figured that there would be a break in the coming attractions videos for the show until Autumn. But the good folks at the BBC have presented us with a bit of a teaser to whet our appetites. (As if the episode title for the return wasn't enough - "Let's Kill Hitler"!)



When it comes to stirring up the fanbase, ya gotta hand it to 'em!

Ba dum dum!

Alons-y!

BIRTHDAY (SUIT) BASH

I finally got around to watching the series premiere of 'Franklin & Bash' and found it better than I expected. I've got two more episodes in the queue and if they hold up as well, I may add it to my summertime queue.

About halfway through the episode, the character of Peter Bash brought back the glory days of 'NYPD Blue'.......


And I'm sending that out to my friend Mark Thompson on this, his birthday. I'm sure he won't mind that the gift was already unwrapped.....


BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: PAUL McCARTNEY

On this date in 1942, Paul McCartney was born.....



PAUL McCARTNEY

AS SEEN IN:
"Two Of Us"

AS PLAYED BY:
Aidan Quinn


 
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE (born 18 June 1942) is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles (1960–1970) and Wings (1971–1981), McCartney is the most commercially successful songwriter in the history of popular music, according to Guinness World Records.

McCartney gained worldwide fame as a member of The Beatles, alongside John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. McCartney and Lennon formed one of the most influential and successful songwriting partnerships and wrote some of the most popular songs in the history of rock music. After leaving The Beatles, McCartney launched a successful solo career and formed the band Wings with his first wife, Linda Eastman, and singer-songwriter Denny Laine. McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100 million singles in the UK.

In a 1980 interview, Lennon said that the last time he had seen McCartney was when they had watched the episode of 'Saturday Night Live' (May 1976) in which Lorne Michaels had made his $3,000 cash offer to get Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, and Starr to reunite on the show. McCartney and Lennon had seriously considered going to the studio, but were too tired. This event was fictionalised in the 2000 television film "Two of Us".
His last telephone call to Lennon, which was just before Lennon and Ono released Double Fantasy, was friendly. During the call, Lennon said (laughing) to McCartney, "This housewife wants a career!" which referred to Lennon's househusband years, while looking after Sean Lennon. In 1984, McCartney said this about the phone call: "Yes. That is a nice thing, a consoling factor for me, because I do feel it was sad that we never actually sat down and straightened our differences out. But fortunately for me, the last phone conversation I ever had with him was really great, and we didn't have any kind of blow-up." Linda McCartney, speaking in the same 1984 interview stated: "I know that Paul was desperate to write with John again. And I know John was desperate to write. Desperate. People thought, well, he's taking care of Sean, he's a househusband and all that, but he wasn't happy. He couldn't write and it drove him crazy. And Paul could have helped him... easily."

But more importantly about this date, it's the birthday of my friend Mark Thompson!

BCnU!
From Wikipedia:

Friday, June 17, 2011

FRIDAY MUG SHOT - JUNE 17th

Here's the Friday Mug-Shot.  This actor is seen in a turn of the 20th Century mystery in which he was a rather seedy corporate/industrial spy.  It will be a Toobworld theory of relateeveety that his grandson will restore honor to the family name by joining the police force, even serving after his retirement.

That should be enough of a clue.  Tell me the name of the actor, and what show he's best known for today.....

I'll let you know Monday and spell out the entire theory about his look-alike grandson.....

BCnU!

Addendum:
Turns out that I missed James Bolam's birthday by a day with this post.  Pure serendipiteevee that I chose him over a few other options I had.  Well, once again my brother is in good company for being born on the 16th of June.....

AS SEEN ON TV: OLIVER HARDY

Well, we featured Stan Laurel yesterday on my brother's birthday. And although it might seem more appropriate to wait until August 7th to run this, it didn't feel right to separate Stan in the lists from Babe.....

 
OLIVER HARDY

AS SEEN IN:
"Stan"

AS PLAYED BY:
Trevor Cooper

From Wikipedia:
Oliver Hardy (January 18, 1892 – August 7, 1957) was an American comic actor famous as one half of Laurel and Hardy, the classic double act that began in the era of silent films and lasted nearly 30 years, from 1927 to 1955.

In May 1954, Hardy suffered a mild heart attack. During 1956, Hardy began looking after his health for the first time in his life. He lost more than 150 pounds in a few months which completely changed his appearance. Letters written by Stan Laurel, however, mention that Hardy had terminal cancer, which has caused some to suspect that this was the real reason for Hardy’s rapid weight loss. Hardy was a heavy smoker, as was Stan Laurel. Hal Roach made the statement they were a couple of "freight train smoke stacks".
Hardy suffered a major stroke on September 14, which left him confined to bed and unable to speak for several months. He remained at home, in the care of his beloved Lucille. He suffered two more strokes in early August 1957, and slipped into a coma from which he never recovered. Oliver Hardy died on August 7, 1957, aged 65 years old. His remains are located in the Masonic Garden of Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery in North Hollywood.

Stan Laurel was too ill to go to his film partner and friend's funeral. He stated, "Babe would understand."

BCnU!

Thursday, June 16, 2011

ECHOES: STAN LAUREL - THE LIVING WAXWORK

Stan Laurel was born 121 years ago today......

The Wax Stan Laurel with Rimmer
"Red Dwarf"
The Wax Stan Laurel (and Oliver Hardy) with Maxwell Smart
"Get Smart"
BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: STAN LAUREL

Today, "Bloomsday" in the literary universe, is my brother Andrew's birthday here in the Trueniverse. I would happily embarrass him by proclaiming how old he is, were it not for the fact that I am twelve years his senior.

So in honor of my youngest brother, today's ASOTV Showcase features one of the greatest celebrities to share his birthday.....


STAN LAUREL

AS SEEN IN:
"Stan"

AS PLAYED BY:
Jim Norton

The one-hour teleplay, based on a radio drama, was about Stan's visit to "Babe" one last time after he suffered a massive stroke, with flashbacks to their past together.  (Not mentioned was the involvement of a certain Time Lord in one of their movies.)

From Wikipedia:
Arthur Stanley "Stan" Jefferson (16 June 1890 – 23 February 1965), better known as Stan Laurel, was an English comic actor, writer and film director, famous as the first half of the comedy team Laurel and Hardy. His film acting career stretched between 1917 and 1951 and included a starring role in the Academy Award winning film The Music Box (1932). In 1961, Laurel was given a Lifetime Achievement Academy Award for his pioneering work in comedy. He has a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7021 Hollywood Blvd.
In May 1954, Oliver Hardy had a heart attack and canceled the tour [of Europe]. In 1955, they were planning to do a television series, 'Laurel and Hardy's Fabulous Fables', based on children's stories, but the plans were delayed after Laurel suffered a stroke, from which he recovered. But as he was planning to get back to work, Oliver Hardy had a massive stroke on 15 September 1956.  Paralyzed and bedridden for several months, Hardy was unable to speak or move.

On 7 August 1957, Oliver Hardy died. Laurel did not attend his funeral, stating "Babe would understand". People who knew Laurel said he was absolutely devastated by Hardy's death and never fully recovered for the rest of his life.

In 1961, Stan Laurel was given a Lifetime Achievement Academy Award for his pioneering work in comedy. He had achieved his lifelong dream as a comedian and had been involved in nearly 190 films. He lived his final years in a small apartment in the Oceana Hotel in Santa Monica, California.

Always gracious to fans, he spent much time answering fan mail. His phone number was listed in the telephone directory, and fans were amazed that they could dial the number and speak to Stan Laurel. Dick Van Dyke told a similar story: When Van Dyke was just starting his career, he looked up Laurel's phone number, called him, and then visited him at his home.
Laurel was a heavy smoker until suddenly giving up when he was about seventy years of age. He died on 23 February 1965, aged 74, several days after suffering a heart attack. Just minutes away from death, Laurel told his nurse he would not mind going skiing right at that very moment. Somewhat taken aback, the nurse replied that she was not aware that he was a skier. "I'm not," said Laurel, "I'd rather be doing that than this!" A few minutes later the nurse looked in on him again and found that he had died quietly.

"If anyone cries at my funeral, I will never speak to him again."
Stan Laurel
BCnU!

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

THE ALICIA LINE: A THEORY OF RELATEEVEETY

The Toobworld concept is basically a fantasy universe with mythological overtones and many of the trappings of Fantasy. Wizards, dragons, quests, enchanted/enchanting maidens, and objects imbued with great power all have their counterparts in the TV Universe.

This post, while a theory of relateeveety, will take a look at one such fairy tale aspect - the evil stepmother and the absence of the princess' real mother.....

'Flying Blind' was a FOX sitcom that ran for only one season (1992-93) and will be chiefly remembered for bringing Tea Leoni to national prominence. (She certainly caught my attention!)
Leoni played a mysterious free spirit named Alicia caught up in an affair with a tightly-wound recent college graduate named Neil Barash, whose mannerisms suggested that he worshipped
at the altar of Woody Allen. (Not sure the Catholic imagery works in a Woody Allen analogy though....)

And by "mysterious", I mean we never learned very much about Alicia, not even her last name. We got to meet her father, a spy and adventurer who may have fathered children in the South Seas, but we never even learned his name at all; he was just "Daddy" to Alicia (and "Sir" to Neil).
Alicia would talk about her mother, but the woman sounded like a horrid witch, as bad as - if not worse than! - the mother of the 'Absolutely Fabulous' Patsy Stone.

Here's a good example - when Alicia finally came downstairs ready for her high school prom, she found that her mother had already seduced Alicia's prom date, and she was rolling a cocktail onion across his stomach with her tongue.

By the time 'Flying Blind' took place, Alicia's Dad must have divorced that harridan because he mentioned that he had a girl-friend when he showed up and Alicia didn't treat the news as though he was cheating on her mother.

For Toobworld's purposes, I don't think that woman was actually Alicia's mother; rather, she was Alicia's evil step-mother, who had been in Alicia's life for so long that it just made things simpler for Alicia to refer to her as "Mother" whenever she mentioned her.

She may not even have remembered her true mother, whom I believe passed away when Alicia was only a few years old. And I have a candidate for Alicia's birth mother, as well as a theory about her family tree that would bring in not only 'Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea' but also 'The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes' as well.

Here are two online descriptions of the episode from 'Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea' entitled "Escape From Venice":
ONE

A smiling, happy and relaxed Lee Crane, looking oh so dashing in a white tux, steps into a Venetian gondola with a very pretty girl. But romance is the last thing on the couple's mind. Crane has gone undercover in Venice to pick up a secret code from another agent -- the seemingly innocent girl in the white veil. However, unbeknownst to Crane and Alicia, the enemy is on to them. The girl is viciously murdered, Crane is severely wounded, framed for the murder, and is now a hunted man. Now the only person on earth who knows the code, Crane must stay alive long enough for Nelson to effect a rescue.

TWO
Crane and Alicia, a female agent, are in a gondola in Venice, Italy. She sings Crane a song with lots of LaLas. Then he sings it--it is a message which will decode Dr. Leonetti's tapes which explain a defense against the ultimate weapon. Leonetti, Crane calls Seaview and tells them, is dead. His body was fished out from under a canal--and they are calling it suicide. A young sandy haired man is in the radio shack aboard Seaview, not Sparks. If the song is put through the computer, sonically, it will decode the tapes. As Alicia begins to sing it over the radio to Seaview--the gondolier, an enemy agent, stabs her in the back through the curtain. She gives Crane the key and address to the safe house and dies. Crane fights the killer but falls overboard in the fight. The killer calls for help in Italian.
It will be my contention that the late and lovely spy named Alicia was the mother of Alicia from 'Flying Blind'.

'Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea' took place in the early 1970's, even though it was broadcast a decade earlier. If we do a bit of wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey juggling, Alicia would have been about five years old when her mother was murdered on that gondola.

Alicia's Dad in the late 1960's

I think Alicia's Dad met that agent named Alicia during the course of an undercover operation and they fell in love. Whether or not they got married, I don't know; but I'd like to think that their relationship resulted in the birth of a daughter which "Dad" insisted on naming after his wife (although it may have been that he was following a tradition from the maternal side of his wife's family).

After Alicia was murdered in Venice, a distraught "Dad" may have unwisely married a woman simply to give his baby daughter a maternal influence. He had no clue at the time that she would turn out to be the stereotypical evil stepmother.

Regarding the naming of Alicia after her mother, it's possible that this was a family tradition handed down through the generations along the maternal branch of her family tree. I don't know if they would all prove to be free spirits and adventuresses, but it just might be that one of them was singular enough back in the late 1800's to have a ship named after her:

"The cutter Alicia, which sailed one spring morning into a small patch of mist from where she never again emerged, nor was anything further ever heard of herself and her crew."
Dr. Watson mentioned this case of Sherlock Holmes in the "Thor Bridge" story, which had to have occurred before October 1899. (Although "The Problem Of Thor Bridge" was adapted for the series starring Jeremy Brett and Edward Hardwicke, we hear no mention of this case which never received a full report from Holmes' Boswell. Then again, it may still lay unread in a safe deposit box near Charing Cross.....)

As usual with my theories of relateeveety, I can't prove any of this. But as it's unlikely 'Flying Blind' will ever be revived (Forget about Brett's Holmes and 'Voyage'!), then it can't really be disproved either.

Since 'Flying Blind' was canceled after only one season, I have no idea if Neil and Alicia are still together twenty years later. But as with most fairy tales, I'd like to think they lived happily ever after........
BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: LORD BADEN-POWELL

On this date in 1916, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson signed a bill incorporating the Boy Scouts of America, making them the only American youth organization with a federal charter....


 
LORD BADEN-POWELL

AS SEEN IN:
'The Edwardians'

AS PLAYED BY:
Ron Moody

From Wikipedia:
Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, OM, GCMG, GCVO, KCB (22 February 1857 – 8 January 1941), also known as B-P or Lord Baden-Powell, was a lieutenant-general in the British Army, writer, and founder of the Scout Movement.


After having been educated at Charterhouse School, Baden-Powell served in the British Army from 1876 until 1910 in India and Africa. In 1899, during the Second Boer War in South Africa, Baden-Powell successfully defended the town in the Siege of Mafeking. Several of his military books, written for military reconnaissance and scout training in his African years, were also read by boys. Based on those earlier books, he wrote Scouting for Boys, published in 1908 by Pearson, for youth readership. During writing, he tested his ideas through a camping trip on Brownsea Island with the local Boys' Brigade and sons of his friends that began on 1 August 1907, which is now seen as the beginning of Scouting.


After his marriage to Olave St Clair Soames, Baden-Powell, his sister Agnes Baden-Powell and notably his wife actively gave guidance to the Scouting Movement and the Girl Guides Movement. Baden-Powell lived his last years in Nyeri, Kenya, where he died and was buried in 1941.

BCnU!

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

TOOBWORLD CELEBRATES FLAG DAY!

TOP: 'Jack Of All Trades' and 'The Tick'
BOTTOM: "The Dain Curse", 'Night Court', and 'Parks & Recreation'

AS SEEN ON TV: BENEDICT ARNOLD

Benedict Arnold, whose name came to personify a traitor, died on this date in 1801......


BENEDICT ARNOLD

AS SEEN IN:
"Benedict Arnold: A Question Of Honor"

AS PLAYED BY:
Aidan Quinn

TV DIMENSION:
Earth Prime-Time

From Wikipedia:
Benedict Arnold V (January 14, 1741 [O.S. January 3, 1740] – June 14, 1801) was a general during the American Revolutionary War. He began the war in the Continental Army but later defected to the British Army. While a general on the American side he obtained command of the fort at West Point, New York, and plotted to surrender it to the British forces. After the plot was exposed in September 1780, he was commissioned into the British Army as a brigadier general.

Born in Connecticut, Arnold was a merchant operating ships on the Atlantic Ocean when the war broke out in 1775. After joining the growing army outside Boston, he distinguished himself through acts of cunning and bravery. His actions included the Capture of Fort Ticonderoga in 1775, defensive and delaying tactics despite losing the Battle of Valcour Island on Lake Champlain in 1776, the Battle of Ridgefield, Connecticut (after which he was promoted to major general), operations in relief of the Siege of Fort Stanwix, and key actions during the pivotal Battles of Saratoga in 1777, in which he suffered leg injuries that ended his combat career for several years.

BENEDICT ARNOLD

AS SEEN IN:
'Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea'

AS PLAYED BY:
Barry Atwater

TV DIMENSION:
Earth Prime-Time, pre-temporal reboot
Also perhaps due to the wibbly-wobbly rigors of time travel

From Wikipedia:
In spite of successes, Arnold was passed over for promotion by the Continental Congress while other officers claimed credit for some of his accomplishments. Adversaries in military and political circles brought charges of corruption or other malfeasance, but he was acquitted in most formal inquiries. Congress investigated his accounts, and found that he owed it money after he had spent much of his own money on the war effort. Frustrated and bitter, Arnold decided to change sides in 1779, and opened secret negotiations with the British. In July 1780, he sought and obtained command of West Point in order to surrender it to the British. Arnold's scheme was exposed when American forces captured British Major John André carrying papers that revealed the plot. Upon learning of André's capture, Arnold fled down the Hudson River to the British sloop-of-war Vulture, narrowly avoiding capture by the forces of George Washington, who had been alerted to the plot.

Arnold received a commission as a brigadier general in the British Army, an annual pension of £360, and a lump sum of over £6,000. He led British forces on raids in Virginia, and against New London and Groton, Connecticut, before the war effectively ended with the American victory at Yorktown. In the winter of 1782, Arnold moved to London with his second wife, Margaret "Peggy" Shippen Arnold. He was well received by King George III and the Tories but frowned upon by the Whigs. In 1787, he entered into mercantile business with his sons Richard and Henry in Saint John, New Brunswick, but returned to London to settle permanently in 1791, where he died ten years later.

Because of the way he changed sides, his name quickly became a byword in the United States for treason or betrayal. His conflicting legacy is recalled in the ambiguous nature of some of the memorials that have been placed in his honor.

Not exactly a figure to admire from my home state.....

Two for Tuesday!

BCnU!

Monday, June 13, 2011

O'BSERVATIONS: WHO ALUMNI

Along with John Fraser as Dixon Druce in the "Madame Sara" episode of 'The Rivals Of Sherlock Holmes' were two major players in the 'Doctor Who' cast of characters.

Caroline Johns played the doomed Edith Dallas. She was probably the Doctor's most capable and efficient Companions during the course of the series, working with the Third Incarnation of the Gallifreyan Time Lord.

As Edith's much older half-brother, Roger Delgado may have had no choice but to exude that air of villainy. He was the first - and best! - incarnation of the Doctor's arch-nemesis, the Master. But by first, I mean he was the first that we met, but he was the last incarnation from the natural regenerations granted to a Time Lord (at that time). There should have been twelve more incarnations before him.
Funny thing was, Delgado's performance never made me think of the Master. However, because he was in a wheelchair, Davros came to mind....

BCnU!

TEETHING SPLAINS

A few months back, I wrote about how a murderer probably found inspiration from a book which detailed past investigations of Lt. 'Columbo'; but Patrick Jane, once famous as 'The Mentalist', used another one of Columbo's homicide cases to catch the culprit.

It wasn't the first time a Toobworld killer played copycat with another murder - three magicians attempting the same stunt over a period of three decades were all murdered in the same manner - shot dead inside a coffin in which they had been submerged at the bottom of a pool in front of witnesses. Two of those murders were investigated by the same detective (and the fact he didn't remember the details of the first case during the investigation of that third one was the basis for my argument that Captain Amos Burke was showing signs of Alzheimer's by the early 1990's.)
If a murderer was going to draw inspiration from the Past, it would be better to do so from a more O'Bscure case farther back in Time. Not that it would be successful as this next example will show, but it would at least provide a worthy, imaginative effort.

Dr. Wesley Corman, dentist to the stars, wanted to not only rid himself of his wife's lover, but make it look like she had committed the murder. And on top of all that, he wanted to use the crime to force his father-in-law into keeping him as a member of the very lucrative family practice.
Corman found the perfect means in a case investigated by Dixon Druce in turn-of-the-century London: a Brazilian heiress named Edith Dallas had been mysteriously poisoned and Druce eventually determined that the poison had been placed inside one of her teeth. All the murderer needed to do was wait for it to eventually be released once the filling wore away, which took only about a month. That deduction saved Miss Edith's sister, Beatrice Selby, who might have fallen victim to the same fate.
Although his origins are in some variation on the literary universe with stories by Mrs. L. T. Meade, "one of the most prolific of all writers of detective short stories in the 1890's" (according to W.O.G. Lofts and Derek Adley), Dixon Druce is also part of Toobworld because of an episode of 'The Rival Of Sherlock Holmes' - "Madame Sara", starring John Fraser as Druce. So for Dr. Corman to have learned about the case, it may have been written up as an historical curio for one of his dental periodicals like "Spit Sink Weekly".

Oh, wait. That's from the comic strip "Zits", so that's a different fictional universe.......

SHOWS CITED:
'The Rivals Of Sherlock Holmes' - "Madame Sara"

'Columbo' - "Uneasy Lies The Crown" & "Double Exposure" & "Prescription: Murder"

'Burke's Law' - "Who Killed Merlin The Great?"

'Burke's Law II' - Who Killed Alexander The Great?"

'Blacke's Magic' - "Breathing Room"

'The Mentalist' - "Every Rose Has Its Thorn"

BCnU!



AS SEEN ON TV: PHILIP II

PHILIP II OF SPAIN

AS SEEN IN:
'The Adventures Of Sir Francis Drake'

AS PLAYED BY:
Zia Mohyeddin

From Wikipedia:
'Philip II' (Spanish: Felipe II; Portuguese: Filipe I ; 21 May 1527 – 13 September 1598) was King of Spain, Portugal, Naples, Sicily, and, while married to Mary I, King of England and Ireland. He was lord of the Seventeen Provinces from 1556 until 1581, holding various titles for the individual territories such as Duke or Count.

Also known as 'Philip the Prudent', he ruled one of the world's largest empires which included territories in every continent then known to Europeans.

Philip was born in Valladolid, the son of Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire, and his consort, Isabella of Portugal. During his reign, Spain was the foremost Western European power. Under his rule, Spain reached the height of its influence and power, directing explorations all around the world and settling the colonization of territories in all the known continents.

He was described by the Venetian ambassador Paolo Fagolo in 1563 as "slight of stature and roundfaced, with pale blue eyes, somewhat prominent lip, and pink skin, but his overall appearance is very attractive." The Ambassador went on to say "He dresses very tastefully, and everything that he does is courteous and gracious."
Philip was an austere and intelligent statesman. He was given to suspicion of members of his court, and was something of a meddlesome manager; but he was not the cruel tyrant painted by his opponents and subsequent Anglophile histories. He took great care in administering his vast dominions, and was known to intervene personally on behalf of the humblest of his subjects.

BCnU!

Sunday, June 12, 2011

SKED ALERT - "GAME OF THRONES" (THE PENULTIMATE EPISODE)

I didn't get any notice this week from the PR people of HBO about clips and stills from Episode 9 of 'Game Of Thrones' which airs tonight on the premium network. I hope I didn't insult them in any way with my previous posts on the show. 'Game Of Thrones' is easily my favorite series of 2011 and it will figure heavily in the Toobits Awards at the end of the year.

It could be that my theories of how the land of Westeros called the planet Mondas home had something to do with that. Or more likely, the series is doing so well by now that they don't need to have bloggers like me trumpet its arrival.


No matter. HBO does have the preview video up on YouTube:





The episode is called "Baelor".......

Episode 9 of 'Game of Thrones' premieres tonight on HBO at 9 PM, EDT.

And if the show follows the HBO tradition, the first season finale will be pre-empted next week.....

BCnU!

COLONEL KLINK MEETS BATMAN

The scheduling is not lost on me......



I've written about the appearance by Colonel Klink in the 1960's only recently:

Klink showed up in the 1960's in a building which the dynamic duo was scaling. Since he looked no older than he did when he was incompetently in charge of a POW camp more than twenty years before, it's the Toobworld Central theory that he served as the guinea pig for the suspended animation process that was later used to freeze the Fuehrer (as seen in 'The Adventures of Fu Manchu' and 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.')

BCnU!

"FLYING BLIND" - IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE......

I've been watching my DVD collection of 'Flying Blind' (Shhhh!), a FOX sitcom from 1992-93 which starred Corey Parker and the delicious Tea Leoni, and it reintroduced me to a great song by David Byrne which was used as the show's theme song - "A Million Miles Away".

I went looking for those opening credits on YouTube to share them with you, but while the video has been left up, the audio track was stripped away with the following message:

"This video contains an audio track that has not been authorized by WMG. The audio has been disabled."

No problem. I'll just post that video with a video for David Byrne's song immediately following and then you can play them together. It won't perfectly match up, but you'll at least get a sense of how it played out during the broadcast.


Someday I hope you get a chance to enjoy this quirky, Woody-Allenesque sitcom......

BCnU!

THE HAT SQUAD: REMEMBERING ANDREW GOLD

Singer/songwriter Andrew Gold has passed away at the age of 59 from a heart attack.  He's best known for his 1977 hit "Lonely Boy", but for Toobworld purposes, perhaps his biggest achievement was penning this classic theme song:


But the case could also be made for this theme song as well:


Here's Andrew Gold on 'The Midnight Special' performing "Lonely Boy".  I always loved the repeated hook in this sad song......

Finally, as a member of the Idiot's Delight Digest, an online group celebrating deejay Vin Scelsa and free-form radio, for the last sixteen years at least, I've been introduced to a lot of music I might not otherwise have heard.

And I can thank Steve Cohen, of the lofty Cohen brothers for first turning me on (dead man) to this song, in which Andrew Gold and friends reveled in their love of the psychedelic era:



Rest in peace, Andrew Gold.  Good night and may God bless.......

TARDIS-BIRDS ARE GO!

You're free to watch the entire video if you'd like; 'The Thunderbirds' are still fun after all these years. But I want to direct your attention to a certain piece of equipment that takes center stage two minutes and ten seconds into the video....



Although there are living puppets on Earth Prime-Time, with many of them tucked away Yazoo, the Living Island - the puppets' reservation, in a way - I also think there may be an alternate TV dimension in which the dominant life form is represented in puppetry. This would be the world of Supermarionation, where most of the characters from Gerry Anderson's TV series could be found.

And if so, I don't know if the Professor could be the puppet version of the Doctor, but he's more than likely some Gallifreyan Time Lord, perhaps even the puppet Master......

Sorry about that, Chief.
"It's only a model....."

What do you think?  Let me know!

(My thanks to Team Toobworld member, Hugh Davis, for bringing this to my attention.....)

BCnU!

"ANNE FRANK: THE WHOLE STORY" (PART ONE)

If you're interested in seeing 'Anne Frank: The Whole Story', it appears that the mini-series is available in its entirety on YouTube, in at least fourteen parts.

Here's Part One, which should offer you the option to move on to the next segment directly.......


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AS SEEN ON TV: ANNE FRANK

On this date in 1942, Anne Frank received a diary for her thirteenth birthday.......

ANNE FRANK

AS SEEN IN:
'Anne Frank: The Whole Story'

AS PLAYED BY:
Hannah Taylor-Gordon


From Wikipedia:
Annelies Marie "Anne" Frank (12 June 1929 – early March 1945) is one of the most renowned and most discussed Jewish victims of the Holocaust. Acknowledged for the quality of her writing, her diary has become one of the world's most widely read books, and has been the basis for several plays and films.

Born in the city of Frankfurt am Main in Weimar Germany, she lived most of her life in or near Amsterdam, in the Netherlands. By nationality, she was officially considered a German until 1941, when she lost her nationality owing to the anti-Semitic policies of Nazi Germany (the Nuremberg Laws).

For her 13th birthday on 12 June 1942, Anne Frank received a book she had shown her father in a shop window a few days earlier. Although it was an autograph book, bound with red-and-white checkered cloth and with a small lock on the front, Frank decided she would use it as a diary, and began writing in it almost immediately. While many of her early entries relate the mundane aspects of her life, she also discusses some of the changes that had taken place in the Netherlands since the German occupation. In her entry dated 20 June 1942, she lists many of the restrictions that had been placed upon the lives of the Dutch Jewish population, and also notes her sorrow at the death of her grandmother earlier in the year.

She gained international fame posthumously following the publication of her diary, which documents her experiences hiding during the German occupation of the Netherlands in World War II.

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