AS SEEN ON TV: WALT DISNEY

WALT DISNEY

AS SEEN IN:
'Robot Chicken'

AS VOICED BY:
Kurtwood Smith

Myth-busting Walt Disney’s Frozen Head
by Jane McGrath
April 3, 2009

While rifling through all the fantastic suggestions in our fan mail, I found one that just begged for a blog post. Hearkening back to our fact-or-fiction roots, Mark asks whether Walt Disney’s head is really frozen in a lab somewhere. And if it’s fiction — how did the rumor get started?

It’s a great question. I’ve heard this Disney legend several times — but because it was always discussed facetiously, I never thought about it long enough to fully accept it or reject it. The rumor states that Walt Disney, the renowned animation genius and pioneer, had his dead body cryogenically frozen in hopes that future generations could revive him when they find a cure for his sickness. If this is true, perhaps this world hasn’t seen the end of his genius after all.

For more:
http://blogs.howstuffworks.com/2009/04/03/myth-busting-walt-disneys-frozen-head/

BCnU!

SKED ALERT: "GAME OF THRONES" (EPISODE 5)

We're already up to Episode Five of HBO's new series 'Games On Thrones'. Based on the series of fantasy novels by George R.R. Martin, it takes place in the Seven Kingdoms on the continent of Westeros (which for Toobworld purposes only is considered to be on the planet Mondas, Earth's orbital "twin").

Here's the preview trailer for the new episode, which airs tonight at 9 PM EDT.....

And here's an extended scene from the episode:

It's not too late to dive into 'Game Of Thrones'. You can catch earlier episodes on HBO On Demand.....

BCnU!

"RHAPSODY IN RED"

During the latest episode of 'The Mentalist', Patrick Jane and the CBI team investigated the murder of the first violinist for a symphony orchestra in northern California. The same piece of classical music was used throughout the episode and it was finally performed at the end by Jane (on cello) and some of the orchestra members in a smooth jazz version.

I knew the song only from its use in PDQ Bach's "Unbegun Symphony" but never knew the original source. So I turned to fellow Iddiot (Iddiette?) Ruth Singleton, no slouch in the symphony orchestra department to help me identify the piece.

And she came through quickly with the info I was looking for!





I'll never remember the name of the piece; I'll have to be satisfied with just remembering it was Tchaikovsky.....

As a thank you, I'd like to give Ruth's orchestra a little plug. She's a member of the New Amsterdam Symphony Orchestra and they'll be performing at Symphony Space in NYC on Thursday June 2 at 8 PM.

The Symphony Space is on Broadway at 95th Street. If you're interested in tickets ($20.00, $14.00 for seniors and students), the box office number is 212-864-5400. Or you can reach them online at http://www.symphonyspace.org/ .

This will be the NASO's 35th anniversary gala and here's the line-up for the upcoming show:

BRAHMS Symphony No. 3
GRIEG Peer Gynt Suite No. 2
GRIEG In the Hall of the Mountain King
BIZET Carmen Suite No. 2

I'm pretty sure I'll be there.....

Thank you, Ruth!

BCnU!

SPACE DUST

Thanks to Retroland for pointing out this weird blipvert from our hippy-trippy past....

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PAINTBALLIN' THE JACK (OR ABED. WHATEVER.)

Probably the best season finale I've seen so far this month of Sweeps was the two-part 'Community' - "A Fistful Of Paintballs" and "For A Few Paintballs More".

Here's a behind-the-scenes look at those shows......

Also thanks to Alan Sepinwall for pointing this out, but you can see Busy Phillips and Dan Byrd among the students during that big apocalyptic attack on the Pistol Patty's ice cream truck near the end of Part Two. This could mean that Laurie accompanied Travis to Greendale Community College so that he could check out another option for school. And they didn't have to fly from West Gulfhaven, Florida, but instead from the 'Cougar Town' season finale in Hawaii. In fact, the whole gang could conceivably be there on campus, but all we saw were Laurie and Trav. 

You know Jules would shoot down Greendale as an option after seeing the paintball carnage!

BCnU!

VW TIGUAN: "PINATA"

I predict a big future for the kid in this blipvert. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if he gets scooped up for a role in some family-oriented sitcom. He has enthusiasm and great facial reactions!

And I'm not just saying that because he's apparently related to the legendary Chuck McCann.....

BCnU!

E. NESBIT'S PSAMMEAD SINGS

Behind the scenes during filming of "Five Children And It"......

AS SEEN ON TV: E. NESBIT

E. NESBIT

AS SEEN IN:
'The Edwardians'

AS PLAYED BY:
Judy Parfitt

TV DIMENSION:
Earth Prime-Time

From Wikipedia:
Edith Nesbit (married name Edith Bland; 15 August 1858 – 4 May 1924) was an English author and poet whose children's works were published under the name of E. Nesbit. She wrote or collaborated on over 60 books of fiction for children, several of which have been adapted for film and television. She was also a political activist and co-founded the Fabian Society, a precursor to the modern Labour Party.

Nesbit published approximately 40 books for children, including novels, collections of stories and picture books. Collaborating with others, she published almost as many more.

According to her biographer Julia Briggs, Nesbit was "the first modern writer for children": "(Nesbit) helped to reverse the great tradition of children's literature inaugurated by [Lewis] Carroll, [George] MacDonald and Kenneth Grahame, in turning away from their secondary worlds to the tough truths to be won from encounters with things-as-they-are, previously the province of adult novels." Briggs also credits Nesbit with having invented the children's adventure story. Noël Coward was a great admirer of hers and, in a letter to an early biographer Noel Streatfeild, wrote "she had an economy of phrase, and an unparalleled talent for evoking hot summer days in the English countryside."

Among Nesbit's best-known books are The Story of the Treasure Seekers (1898) and The Wouldbegoods (1899), which both recount stories about the Bastables, a middle class family that has fallen on relatively hard times. Her children's writing also included numerous plays and collections of verse.

She created an innovative body of work that combined realistic, contemporary children in real-world settings with magical objects and adventures and sometimes travel to fantastic worlds. In doing so, she was a direct or indirect influence on many subsequent writers, including P. L. Travers (author of Mary Poppins), Edward Eager, Diana Wynne Jones and J. K. Rowling. C. S. Lewis wrote of her influence on his Narnia series and mentions the Bastable children in The Magician's Nephew. Michael Moorcock would go on to write a series of steampunk novels with an adult Oswald Bastable (of The Treasure Seekers) as the lead character.

Nesbit also wrote for adults, including eleven novels, short stories, and four collections of horror stories.

This is another case in which an author co-exists in Toobworld with the living embodiment of the characters she wrote about. Many of her works were adapted for television, including "The Railway Children", "The Treasure Seekers", "The Phoenix And The Carpet" and "Five Children And It".

BCnU!

SKED ALERT: "THE DOCTOR'S WIFE"

Here's a not-so-sneak preview of tonight's episode of 'Doctor Who':

It's called "The Doctor's Wife" and it's eagerly awaited by not only the fans of the show, but of writer Neil Gaiman as well!

BBC-America at 9 PM EDT.

BCnU!

"DOCTOR WHO" - "TODAY"

The 'Today' show visited the set of 'Doctor Who' this past week as they sent their various hosts to TV shows made in other countries. Meredith Viera got this assignment and the best I can say is - maybe it's a good thing she's leaving the show....

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

BCnU!