The return
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I started this blog as an unofficial vehicle for interesting statistical
information. When I retired, I let it lie fallow. I'm going to post here
period...
Gender Wage Gap By State - Census Bureau
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If you need a reason to start a business, the gender wage gap may be a
factor. The Census has created a new visualization of the disparity between
male ...
It takes a lot of practice
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A friend asked: “If you had the chance to ask three different people
(living or dead, famous or not) ONE question… who and what would you ask?”
The one req...
Faded road markings cause concern
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Q: Can someone at New York state tell me why the DOT doesn’t use a better
reflective paint when the lines are painted? It appears the paint used has
no ref...
Goodbye but NOT farewell
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Using the words which Roger used in his intro for the last post of round
20--- Z
*With joy, we'll dream away each sorrow, With love we'll live for each...
Alan Moore's Twilight Proposal
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Introduction by Alan David Doane:
Honestly I didn't intend the irony, but this week's FMF, looking at Alan
Moore's never-published Twilight proposal, also ...
The Best Films of 2023
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Martin Scorsese, left, Lily Gladstone, and Robert DeNiro all received Oscar
nods for *Killers of the Flower Moon*. Some say Leo DiCaprio, right, was
snubbe...
Getting Ready To Die
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Getting Ready To DieNo, as far as I know, it’s not imminent, but you never
know. An awful lot of people are checking out in the seventh decade that I
just ...
Petitioning season cut short
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Political "petitioning season" for U.S. Congress, NYS Assembly, NYS Senate,
and a host of other positions, was cut short. Like all the other things
that...
Eagle Scout Project
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Rutherford neighbor Krish Soni is getting started on his Eagle Scout
project on Saturday, October 26. He will be labeling storm drains in the
neighborhood ...
We’re Off On An Adventure!
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Just now, Marge and I are doing a bit of adventuring. The next adventure
will include a whole new online reality and presence for me and my work…
See you i...
It Changes
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Living with Lupus and Fibro and Asthma is often not so much 'one day at a
time.' It is much more like one fifteen minute segment of time - at at time.
This...
Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye…
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Well, kids, this is it. I’m leaving first thing tomorrow morning. My visits
home will be few and far between, and when they happen, they’ll be
exclusive...
Spring is here?
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As far as the pro peloton goes, it’s on! I watched the Tour of Flanders
today, and it was one of the best races I’ve ever seen. “Looking back, you
get a b...
Modern Types-Ronald Searle,Geoffrey Gorer
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With the recent attention given to Ronald Searle's 90th birthday and new
interview,I decided to look at one of his books.
The book is titled Modern Ty...
A week of health stuff not mentioned
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My week last week was filled with a lot of activity, most of which I talked
about on my personal Facebook, but not here. Many of those posts were
topics I...
Dragging them over the finish line
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Wow, this has been a loooong semester. It seems like forever ago in January
when 22 “graphic designers” stepped into my classroom for their capstone
projec...
AmeriNZ 414 – Circus clowns
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Today I start with a brief catch-up, but my main topic is about a new
opinion poll that has very bad news for the NZ’s 3-way coalition
government. I provid...
Our Blood – Not Theirs
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With the caveat that I’m intentionally being a bit provocative, I’d like to
say that… Regarding the well being of this country, violence might be
necessary...
Bedfordshire, the hay, and the sack
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Inspired by Anatoly Liberman's *Take My Word for It: A Dictionary of
English Idioms* (which I've reviewed for the *International Journal of
Lexicography*...
1, 2, 3, 4: You Can Count On It
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Up the stairs, count the steps1, 2, 3, 41, 2, 3, 41, 2, 3…Crap, it didn’t
come out even, it’s eleven But 1-2-3-4-1/ 2 /3-4-1-2-3 will have to do; the
middl...
Here we are at 21.
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Happy 21st birthday, Johnny Bacardi Show!
Probably won't begin writing here again anytime soon, but hey, if you like
my stuff I have a Substack now and...
Check me out!
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Over the years I have collected a range of recipes to help me lose weight.
I attend Slimming World and achieved my target weight in November 2022.
Read...
This is The End (a follow-up)
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I wrote yesterday about my possibly retiring this space in favor of
migrating all of my blogging to ForgottenStars.net, because of Reasons. I
am now pul...
18 and life, you got it
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It's the 18th of April, and that means it's the anniversary of Mia's
accident - 18 (!!!!) years ago today, we were in the crash that damaged her
brain ir...
Sunday Round-up
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Wash your mouth out
In these ultra-hygienic days, Russian artist Yulia Popova has come into her
own by making models of foodstuffs out of soap. What makes y...
I believe ..Religion
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Written by the Rev.Jeannette van der Veen-Bosgra
I believe in a world where all people can live in happiness,
and that I too have a duty to create such a wo...
Tough Day
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A few weeks ago, I turned 38, and I am still under the scrutiny of
strangers in public. One would think that once you're out of grade school,
middle school...
Change
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Group Reading “The only thing we have in this world that is utterly and
intrinsically ours is our integrity.” ~ Mira Grant One- to find the
universal eleme...
Retro Y'all!
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Still jumping. In place, mostly. Someone should do one of these rap battle
style brags about being a junker. Seriously. Big sale at the Peddlers Mall
today.
X is for XMAS
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*MERRY CHRISTMAS (XMAS) EVERYONE!*
I thought I'd put a link to the top 100 Xmas songs for 2017 so you could
click on it and play anything your heart d...
The Myth Memers
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One of those little questionnaires just to dip a toe back into blogging.
Took this from Chris Hull's Facebook.
1. Do you make your bed? No.
2. The first c...
Now available in paperback!
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*Sharp: A Memoir*. William Morrow & Co, 2012. Print.
We lost 4 members of the Guilford High School Class of 84: David Ciardello,
Richard Eaton, Ronnie Burn...
No parallel
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Get a good look at these: Whence they came: After seeing that incredible
glow-in-the-dark Zac Posen dress that Claire Danes wore at the 2016 Met
Gala, Lori...
ABC Wednesday: The Importance of Being Bored
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When I was growing up, you being bored was your problem that you were
responsible to rectify. As children we learned never to be bored- or at
least not t...
Monday PSA: The Pioneer of the Pole
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Click on the image for the full ad As promised, the second of two
Antarctica themed PSAs. Today: “Pioneer of the Pole.” Just like last week,
this is from D...
Final Act
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Dear Followers of Berowne's "Savage Reflections." I'm very sorry to have to
inform you that my father, John Savage, passed away on December 26, just a
week...
Friday Post - Your services are no longer needed
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Heads will roll
While the good news fairies of Wall Street would have you believe that
everything is just hunky dory the truth is it's not. In order to m...
Age is a State of Mind, Somewhere Near Nebraska
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What a year it has been! After surviving the odometer rolling over to 40, I
had a year of sabbatical. That gave me plenty of time to think about my mid-lif...
The End of a Long Day
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You know those days where all you really want to do is change into your
pajamas and curl up on the couch while you decide which comfort food would
mak...
#Freaking Out -AND!
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Calmly completely freaking out about my move. AND! I quit smoking. I feel
this qualifies me to have an opinion on how to do it.
So I am calmly completel...
Gaze Upon My Works and Snicker, Part 53.
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[image: DP700-F365028]
Another quickie sketch at work, because I wanted to draw Pandora A in a
white fuzzy hat (no, I don't know the name for them) and a b...
Superheroes I Love #10: Deathlok
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Every red-blooded boy loves cyborgs. Half-man, half-robot, what’s not to
love? The Marvel Comics character Deathlok is a bit on the obscure side,
but debut...
Questions to Ask When Choosing a Workplace Lawyer
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Choosing an Ontario workplace lawyer might seem like a difficult
undertaking. While there are many
The post Questions to Ask When Choosing a Workplace La...
Grandpa Knows Best
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“My grandpa and me. Cullera, Spain 2004.” (submitted by IG @tonigr99)
The post Grandpa Knows Best appeared first on AwkwardFamilyPhotos.com.
Episode 326: The WGA Strike
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One by one, Ken goes over the many issues the WGA is fighting for and why
they’re important. He also gives an overview of the situation and how it
might...
The dopamine jail of joke Twitter
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I’m home from vacation and the Planet Funny promotional engine is slowing
down. (There’s still one last signing at Powell’s City of Books in two
short week...
Rex Smith: Free speech, pulpit speech and tax laws
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Each school day when I was a little boy began with the Pledge of
Allegiance, followed by all the students bowing their heads to recite the
Lord’s Prayer. T...
Mixed Results for The Rules
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Well that was an “interesting” Emmy Awards. There were enough surprises to
make the alteration of the voting rules to a single round plurality rather
than ...
Mom Has Stacked Dinner Party Roster
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GOLDEN, CO—Their eyes widening in amazement as the 43-year-old rattled off
the names of heavy hitter after heavy hitter, impressed members of the
Dreesh...
Week 17 NFL Picks
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Last week’s 10 wins leaves me with 153 wins. Weak season. Sorry. Week 17
picks NFL Picks Away Home Chicago Detroit NY Jets Buffalo Tampa Bay Atlanta
Caroli...
Coverville Countdown 2012: Nominations Begin NOW!
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It’s that time of year again! Time for you to nominate and vote for your
favorite covers, and for me to spend the last few shows of the year to line
them...
Obama’s speech coverage on NPR
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What were the people at NPR thinking? The coverage of President Obama’s
speech on National Public Radio on Wednesday was just awful. I’ve never
minded anal...
Ellsberg’s “Desperate Proposal Pattern”
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by Thomas Reifer At the height of global demonstrations against Israel’s
radically disproportionate response to the horrific October 7, 2023
terrorist atta...
2PP132 – 16 May 2020
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This episode was delayed, yet again, because Arthur didn’t have enough
time. Anyway, here we are—were? Today’s chat was about the changes to New
Zealand’s ...
My New Venture: Top Flight Family
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You may have noticed that you haven’t heard much from me lately. That’s
because I’ve been quietly working on new passion of mine, a digital media
startup o...
First blog post
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This is your very first post. Click the Edit link to modify or delete it,
or start a new post. If you like, use this post to tell readers why you
started t...
10.29.15 GOOGLE UBER ALLES
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This article originally appeared in the 10.29.15 issue of Metroland.
You may have heard that the New York federal appeals court granted Google a
big win ...
This Is Not A Joke
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A new ball game - with tasers. Hat-tip : The Volokh Conspiracy According to
The Daily Caller, Eric Prum, one of the founders of Ultimate Tak Ball,
said, “I...
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Monday, March 06, 2006
78th Annual Academy Awards
"Hollywood is out of touch with mainstream America." That's what I was hearing all week, because of the five best-picture nominees were not big box office grossers. Again, on the Sunday morning news programs: Larry Elder, the black conservative talk show host, spouting the same rhetoric, on CBS Sunday Morning. George Will even did the "straw man" thing, noting that "Good Night, and Good Luck" was supposed to be "cutting edge", but that Joe McCarthy has been dead for 49 years, to which I say: 1) It was its cinematography and look which WAS cutting edge and 2) McCarthy may be dead, but McCarthyism lives on, as any early opponent of the Iraq war can tell you. In fact, I think the film is as much about McCartyhy as "M*A*S*H" was about Korea, which was not much.
The Oscars, supposedly, honor quality, not box office. There are People's Choice Awards for the most popular films. Moreover, there have been plenty of recent films that were both Oscar winners and big box office.
For the record, this is IMDB's top ten films in terms of domestic box office:
Many WERE nominated in the technical categories. I dare say that most of these films also cost more to make than the five Best Picture nominees, and that a movie needn't be big box office to be profitable.
Anyway, I watch the Oscar broadcast for those WOW! moments, the emotional or controversial speech, the really funny shtick. There was exactly one WOW! moment in the whole broadcast for me, the performance of "It's Out Here for a Pimp", followed by its selection as Best Original Song. I saw both of the other movies from which songs were nominated, "Transamerica" and "Crash", and I didn't remember the songs at all.
Oh, there were moments: *The video intro with former hosts turning down the gig, then Jon Stewart in bed with Halle Berry, then George Clooney *Clooney's acceptance speech, where he notes (correctly) that he won't be getting the directing Oscar, that his obit will read 1997 Sexiest Man Alive, and that he was happy not to be in the mainstream *The "invisible" Ben Stiller, mildly humorous *Meryl Streep and Lily Tomlin's somewhat lame attempts to be Altmanesque. The CBS film critic was hoping Altman would give 'em hell, but he was quite gracious *Carell and Farrell in bad makeup was a visual treat *The American Express commercial with M. Night Shymalan; I didn't know WHAT the heck was going on until the end *Lauren Bacall's trouble reading the intro for the "film noir" film clips, which was painful
I thought most of those movie film clips were unnecessary and just made the program longer. In fact, the one I would have kept is the socially relevant film clip, introed by Samuel L. Jackson. I did enjoy the "political" clips, though, the supposed slam ads for the best actress and sound editing categories.
By the time Resse Witherspoon predictably won, it was 11:03, and I just went to bed. Wish Felicity Huffman had won; she got so emotional in the red carpet pre-show when one of the hosts showed her a video clip of her four co-stars on "Desperate Housewives" wishing her well, it might have been more interesting television.
I got up at 5 to watch the remaining part of the show:
Glad about all the award winners, but annoyed that the original screenplay winners were cut off by the music.
I'll admit; when "Crash" won for Best Picture, I jumped out of my chair for joy, in part because I really liked the film, and in part because I actually picked it to win.
Duh: it suddenly occurred to me- Three 6 Mafia (which I had to look up, I'll admit) join Hattie, Sidney, Lou, Whoopi, Cuba, Denzel, Halle, and Morgan - am I forgetting anyone?) in the pantheon. Thus, the audience reaction.
*The question*: The top six awards at Sunday's Oscars went to six films. Reader Todd Schoenhaus asks: When was the last time that happened?
*The answer*: A half-century ago, in 1952 and 1956. In 1952, best picture was /The Greatest Show on Earth/; best actor was Gary Cooper (/High Noon/); best actress was Shirley Booth (/Come Back, Little Sheba/); supporting actor was Anthony Quinn (/Viva Zapata!/); supporting actress was Gloria Grahame (/The Bad and the Beautiful/); and director was John Ford (/The Quiet Man/).
In 1956, best picture was /Around the World in 80 Days/; actor was Yul Brynner (/The King and I/); actress was Ingrid Bergman (/Anastasia/); supporting actor was Anthony Quinn (/Lust for Life/); supporting actress was Dorothy Malone (/Written on the Wind/); and director was George Stevens (/Giant/).
3 comments:
Duh: it suddenly occurred to me- Three 6 Mafia (which I had to look up, I'll admit) join Hattie, Sidney, Lou, Whoopi, Cuba, Denzel, Halle, and Morgan - am I forgetting anyone?) in the pantheon.
Thus, the audience reaction.
But - but - but -- DOLLY! It was against DOLLY. *sigh*
Roger
this seems like the kind of factoid you'd enjoy!
Fred
*An Oscar Rarity*
*The question*: The top six awards at Sunday's Oscars went to six films.
Reader Todd Schoenhaus asks: When was the last time that happened?
*The answer*: A half-century ago, in 1952 and 1956. In 1952, best picture was /The Greatest Show on Earth/; best actor was Gary Cooper (/High Noon/); best actress was Shirley Booth (/Come Back, Little Sheba/); supporting actor was Anthony Quinn (/Viva Zapata!/); supporting actress was Gloria Grahame (/The Bad and the Beautiful/); and director was John Ford (/The Quiet Man/).
In 1956, best picture was /Around the World in 80 Days/; actor was Yul Brynner (/The King and I/); actress was Ingrid Bergman (/Anastasia/); supporting actor was Anthony Quinn (/Lust for Life/); supporting actress was Dorothy Malone (/Written on the Wind/); and director was George Stevens (/Giant/).
/- Carrie Rickey/
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