GINGER SNIP

I was reading Les Crane's obituary in the New York Times while at work this morning. Les Crane was a TV talk show host who was one of the first to challenge Carson for the late night audience... and one of the first to fall before the Johnny Juggernaut.

And a detail in his personal life caught my eye since I live with one foot in the real world and one in Toobworld.

Later, when I was reading the Idiot's Delight Digest, I was pleased to see that I was not alone in the same observations.....

"Mr. Crane married five times. His fourth wife was the actress Tina Louise whom he met and married while she was at the height of her popularity as the glamorous sexpot on the 1960s sitcom "Gilligan's Island." They divorced in 1971 after a five-year marriage. Besides his daughter, a television writer who lives in Los Angeles, he is survived by his wife of 20 years, Ginger Crane."
And as Brother Iddiot RGordon remarked:

"How many Gingers can one man take?"

More than his fair share, I think!

BCnU!
Toby OB

THE HAT SQUAD: EVELYN KEYES

On July 4th, Evelyn Keyes passed away from cancer at the age of 91. She was one of the last surviving co-stars of "Gone With The Wind" and she counted John Huston and Artie Shaw among her husbands. According to her memoir, she was romantically involved with Anthony Quinn, David Niven, and Kirk Douglas.

In the links to the left, you'll find Ivan's "Thrilling Days Of Yesteryear" and Mercurie's "A Shroud Of Thoughts"; both of whom have excellent tributes to the actress. As I can't picture her in any of the movies among her credits, I'm not the right person to discuss her career.

However, here is a list of the characters she brought to life in the TV Universe:

"Murder, She Wrote"

- Dead to Rights (1993) TV episode .... Wanda Polaski

- Old Habits Die Hard (1987) TV episode .... Sister Emily

- Sticks and Stones (1985) TV episode .... Edna

"Amazing Stories"

- Boo! (1986) TV episode .... Ghost/Wife

"The Love Boat"

- Bricker's Boy/Lotions of Love/The Hustlers (1983) TV episode

"ITV Playhouse"

- A Matter of Diamonds (1968) TV episode .... Mrs. Panzack

"Climax!"
- Wild Stallion (1955) TV episode .... Laura Harris

"Lux Video Theatre"

- Wild Geese (1951) TV episode

As always, that Red Skelton rerun: "May God Bless......"

BCnU.....
Toby OB

TODAY'S TWD: TALES FROM THE TOONIVERSE

I'll say no more. Just go to the College Humor Video site and check out the episode.

And then look in on the Cereal Mascot therapy session. That's pretty twisted as well!

BCnU!

Toby OB

IN BRIGHTEST DAY, IN DARKEST NIGHT

I was complaining the other day that I needed a better moniker for my super-powered identity. (Still not sure whether I'm hero or villain.) "The Grand Toobah" just wasn't cutting it.

And then I remembered that I had created a good one at the website for the novel "Soon I Will Be Invincible" by Austin Grossman.

Let the joyous news be spread to those who are the darkest before dawn (or something like that).... For I am.....
BCnU!
Toby OB
aka
The Monitaur!

DR. HORRIBLE IS HERE!

At last, the day has arrived! "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog" has launched
at http://www.drhorrible.com/

I just watched Part One and as I anticipated, it could be a musical sibling to 'The Middleman'. Now that's a crossover I'd love to see!

While I was watching Neil Patrick Harris (Dr. Horrible) and Simon Helberg as the damp sidekick Moist, I was reminded of a book I read last year, "Soon I Will Be Invincible" by Austin Grossman. This was especially true with the mentions of the Evil League of Evil, the villainous Bad Horse, and Johnny Snow - references to other characters in a super-hero world we may never meet.

Click on the link above and check it out. There are three parts (Parts Two and Three come out Thursday and Saturday respectively) which will eventually add up to an hour and fifteen minutes of musical joy!

BCnU!
Toby OB

THE HAT SQUAD: TONY SNOW

For a year and a half, Tony Snow had been the Press Secretary for President George W. Bush and the White House. Before that he had been a conservative columnist and a commentator associated with FOX News. (His presence on that cable news network is part of his connection to this blog.)

After his stint at the White House, Snow had been hired to be the conservative voice at CNN, but his battle with colon cancer prevented him from contributing very much.

He finally lost that battle and died over the weekend at the age of 53.

[Tony Snow is shown here on 'Meet The Press' with Tim Russert, who himself passed away about a month ago at the age of 58 from a coronary.]

It's human nature to look at the passing of any individual in terms related to our own experience. In the case of Tony Snow, I couldn't relate to his beliefs and positions; I didn't like his bosses - at least not until he joined CNN. His death really didn't move me in the way that Tim Russert's did.

Except in a self-centered way.

For me, it was disturbing to see this on-air graphic:
And then learn that Snow was only five days older than I am.

I've reached that age where I'm going to see more and more obits beginning with "1955"......

Which is fine, so long as none of them are for me for awhile.

Like I said, self-centered. I admit it and I apologize, but it's something we all do.

My condolences to his family......

BCnU....
Toby OB

PREVIEW: "DR. HORRIBLE'S SING-ALONG BLOG"

ONE MORE DAY TO GO!

Tomorrow the latest creation of Joss Whedon, mastermind behind 'Buffy The Vampire Slayer', 'Angel', and 'Firefly', will be broadcast... online.

'Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog' is a musical about an evil villain (played by the great Neil Patrick Harris), the girl he loves, and the superhero who keeps getting in his way (played by Nathan Filion).

There are three parts to the story, and after Part One goes up on the 15th, Parts Two and Three will follow on July 17th and 19th, respectively.

If you're curious as to what this strangely-named hybrid get of Toobworld and Cyberspace is about, click to watch the trailer!

Make sure you catch this! The Grand Toobah has spoken!

I've gotta get me a better moniker....

BCnU!
Toby OB

TODAY'S TWD: THE GREAT STORM OF 1987

Wild boar in Great Britain was not the only topic of interest for further research in that episode of 'New Tricks'. "The Great Storm" of October, 1987 provided clues as to what happened to the mystery victim in their cold case.

The Great Storm of 1987 occurred on the night of October 15th to October 16th, 1987, when an unusually strong weather system caused winds to hit much of the south of England and some of Northern France. It was the worst storm to hit England since the Great Storm of 1703 (284 years earlier) and was responsible for the deaths of 23 people in England and France combined (19 in England, at least 4 in France).

The great storm of October 1987 was the worst to affect the south east of England since 1703. After the storm had passed the landscape was changed - some 15 million trees were felled and whole forests decimated. Buildings suffered severe damage and ships were driven on to shore. 16 people died as a direct result of the storm damage.

The storm developed rapidly - so much so that weather forecasters were unable to predict the track and ferocity of the storm. As it became apparent that this was an abnormal condition, severe warnings were flashed to emergency services.

However, the suddenly deeper depression veered north to track along the north coast of Cornwall and Devon, across central southern midlands to the Wash, catching the weather forecasters by surprise. The strongest winds were recorded in the south easterly quadrant of the storm, crossing the English side of the Channel and through Hampshire, Sussex, Surrey and Kent.

Fortunately, the stongest winds occurred in the early hours of the morning when few people where about. Had it occurred during a normal working day it is likely that the death toll of 16 would have been substantially higher. As it was, an estimated 15 million trees were uprooted [including one third of the famous Kew Gardens in London]. Roads and railways were blocked and most people found it impossible to travel to work the following day. A Sealink cross channel ferry was blown ashore at Folkestone.

Clearing up took much time and effort. Electricity supplies were gradually restored using crews brought in from the north of England that had escaped the severe damage. Some rural areas were still without mains power several days later. Insurance claims reached an all time record amount - and prompted an increase in premiums in 1988!

Although the storm was declared a rare event, expected only to happen on average every several hundred years, the Burns Day Storm hit the UK in January 1990, less than three years later and with comparable intensity.

(from several sources)

BCnU!

Toby OB

Facebookin'

I hit the magic number in friends on Facebook.....

But if my friends are Life, the Universe, and everything.....

I gotta find me a new Universe!

BCnU!
Toby OB

TODAY'S TWD: A TELEVISED BOAR

'Lost' isn't the only TV series that has dealt with wild boar....

Currently, I'm enjoying a detective series from the UK being shown on a local PBS station. It's called 'New Tricks'. Here's how it's described at Ryan's British TV Show Reviews:

"Amanda Redman (At Home With The Braithwaites) stars in this light-hearted BBC detective series as an up-and-coming Met officer whose career hits a bump when a kidnapping case goes awry. Her superiors reassign her to form a new unit of former detectives and re-examine open cases. What they really want is for her to whitewash cases so they'll go away. Teaming up with James Bolam they recruit a group of dodgy ex-coppers that, although unorthodox, get the job done, despite the displeasure of the higher-ups at the Metropolitan Police."

It's what I call "Comfy TV"; nothing challenging, just a pleasurable way to pass an hour when I get home from work in the morning.....

In the 'New Tricks' episode shown by Channel 21 this past week (untitled), their case involved an unidentified woman whose dismembered body was found in the woods back in October of 1987. They began looking into the cold case again because the original forensic pathologist was retiring soon and this was his only unsolved mystery.

One of the first clues they uncovered was that the teeth marks on the bones were not caused by foxes but instead by wild boar.
This type of info nugget is why I do the Tiddlywinkydinks; they give me a chance to further explore a particular topic. Even regular TV shows can be a teaching tool, not just the educational stuff for kids on PBS!

By the 13th Century, it was believed that wild boar were extinct in Great Britain. Attempts were made in the 17th Century to re-introduce them to forests of the "Sceptre'd Isle", but that experiment petered out. For the next two centuries, there were only a handful of captive wild boar imported from Europe and kept in zoos on exhibit.

Then in 1980, wild boar farming began in earnest. There were reports of a few of the farm boar escaping into local woods, even some from the 1970s who were kept in zoo enclosures. But it wasn't until October of 1987 when quite a few wild boar escaped to actually breed in the wild and re-introduce the population to the forests of the United Kingdom.
The reason for this is brought up in detail on the show - the Great Storm of 1987. During the devastation caused by the hurricane, two captive populations of boar escaped in Kent. According to a 1998 report, there are now two confirmed populations of wild boar in Britain. The larger one is in Kent and East Sussex, and the other is in Dorset. But there are three other populations on the rise - Herefordshire, Devon, and Gloucestershire in the Forest of Dean. (Some of those have crossed over into Wales.... Maybe they'll be invading 'Torchwood', 'Caerfydd', and 'Gavin & Stacey' plots soon enough!)

In that episode of 'New Tricks', it was mentioned that at least one of the farms breeding wild boar sells its own salami made of the meat. If a resident of Toobworld was interested in getting wild boar salami, perhaps the best bet would be to pick some up in Dorset. it sounds like it would make for a great lunch with some Dorset Blue Vinny!
BCnU!
Toby OB