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via theoatmeal.com
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Marvel Comics icon to die (meaningless?) death one day earlier than previously announced. Yay. | Shelf Life
Marvel Comics created a media stir last month when the publisher announced that it would be killing off a member of the Fantastic Four in an upcoming issue of the super-group’s long-running comic book. According to Comic Book Resources, Marvel issued a notice yesterday to retailers giving them permission to make this story available for purchase one day earlier than planned. Fantastic Four #587 was supposed to go on sale Wednesday, Jan. 26; now you can buy it on Tuesday, Jan. 25. In an advisory to retailers obtained by CBR, Marvel explained:
“Due to the expected mass media attention scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 25th, Marvel is allowing retailers who have received copies of Fantastic Four #587 to make it available that day… This unexpected opportunity is a result of both the new earlier shipping schedule and worldwide mass media coverage. Marvel cannot guarantee the secured press placement will hit on 1/25 (as other breaking news may bump it), though if it does, retailers who have received the issue may sell their copies. For retailers who don’t receive early shipments, or have customers calling in advance of the shipment arrival, Marvel encourages them to take down customer information and inform them when copies do arrive.”
I really like the current writer on Fantastic Four, Jonathan Hickman, who is one of the brightest new talents on the comic book scene. I haven’t been reading his Fantastic Four run, but his non-superhero indie comics The Nightly News and Pax Romana were brilliant. My guess is that regardless of who’s getting snuffed — Mr. Fantastic? The Invisible Woman? The Thing? Torch? — I bet the story will be competently executed. But ick. And… whatever. Playing the death card to drive sales and generate mass media attention for the fringe medium of monthly comic book periodicals is not only cliché and sorta sickening, but it also can’t be trusted as a meaningful creative decision worthy of your emotional engagement. Why? Because the death never sticks. DC Comics killed Superman. Guess what? He’s back. Marvel killed Captain America. He’s back. Just like Jean Grey, Elektra, and many other rubbed out-and-resurrected comic book superheroes before them. I know Marvel execs have been out there promising that we can trust that this newest character assassination will “matter.” Sorry. Not buying it. Why should I? History tells me the death won’t stick, and common sense tells me that each member of the Fantastic Four is too valuable a piece of intellectual property for Marvel to retire for good. Truth is, publishers do this stuff to burnish said value. Death creates opportunity — for reminding consumers of their affection for a character, for creatively retinkering a property that needs a relevancy makeover, for selling a lot of comics with a resurrection story, for priming the market for a bigger franchise relaunch. Put another way: I fully expect Deathsploitation’s Latest Super-Victim to be revived within two years, most likely timed to the announcement or arrival of a new Fantastic Four movie.
Which reminds me: Did you know that Marvel is also allegedly killing Spider-Man this year, too? Don’t worry: It’s only the “Ultimate Universe” version of Spider-Man (though that’s not immediately apparent in the sensationalistic promo materials for this stunt), not the “official” Marvel Universe iteration of the character. So prepare to be yet again manipulated into feeling the grief of fake superhero death — and start wondering if it’s all preamble for a relaunch of Ultimate Spider-Man next year when Sony releases its rebooted Spider-Man franchise.
Okay, True Believers: Am I being too cynical? And if you think I’m being unfair because I haven’t been reading Hickman’s storyline — point taken. But can you at least not see from the outside looking in how contrived and phony these death stunts look? Debate.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Will David E. Kelley dumb down Wonder Woman?
Fox/DC Comics/SalonThe guy who killed feminism is reviving Wonder Woman. Well, that's just great.
To be fair, David E. Kelley didn't directly kill feminism. It was his most famous creation, Ally McBeal, that short-skirted, romantically challenged, possibly insane television lawyer who notoriously graced a 1998 Time magazine cover that pondered the death of the movement. And in the interest of further fairness, it should be noted that for Time magazine to place such a burden on a fictional character has generally come to be regarded as one of the dumbest things that happened in the '90s, right after the Starr report and the Macarena.
Yet when the news broke late Friday that the much-promised, oft-postponed reimagining of the ultimate female superhero was to become a TV series written and produced by the man who gave us a dramedy about female lawyers called "Girls Club," perfectly manicured eyebrows across the land raised in skeptical unison. Kelley? The guy who gave us "The Practice" and "Boston Legal"? Has anybody told the guy that the Justice League is not an eccentric New England law firm?
It's not that a man can't do a fantastic job delivering strong, memorable female television characters. Without J.J. Abrams, there would be no Felicity, no Sydney Bristow, no Kate Austen. Without Matthew Weiner, we wouldn't have Joan, Betty or Peggy. Could anyone do equal justice to the job Alan Ball has done with Sookie Stackhouse? For years, the name most closely associated with the Wonder Woman revamp was the world's most trusted purveyor of kickass babes, Joss Whedon. Nor has Kelley built a career strictly limiting himself to dragon lady stereotypes and flinty, bitter wedding planners. This is also the man who steered Christine Lahti to her Emmy-winning role of Kate Austin on "Chicago Hope" and gave us the complicated Ellenor Frutt on "The Practice."
But few other writers have built an empire creating characters who play so beautifully to male fantasies. Will Wonder Woman get a boyfriend who's yet another gleefully cake-and-eat-it-too alleged satire of sexists like the dogs of "Boston Legal"? Will she engage in pseudo lesbianism, client seducing, or late-night pining for an ooga chaka baby to ride shotgun in her invisible plane? The superheroine occasionally known as Diana Prince isn't just some lasso-twirling bimbo in an eagle-emblazoned bustier, dying to make some gimmicky speech to a judge somewhere, you know. She wears pants now and everything. Yes, David E. Kelley. I said pants. Can he provide a heroine like that, a woman whose strength and character and righteous left hook generations of girls have grown up idolizing?
Whether Kelley can deliver the goods and the golden bracelets remains to be seen. He currently still has his hands full with the NBC midseason series "Harry's Law." It's about a law firm -- and there's a leggy, designer shoe-loving blonde who wears short skirts. The veteran writer and producer sure knows his wheelhouse. And perhaps that's why when it comes to our superhero women, when Kelley's involved we've got to wonder.
via salon.com
Sundance 2011: Elmo talks about his butt [Video] | 24 Frames | Los Angeles Times
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Sundance 2011: Elmo talks about his butt [Video]
January 24, 2011 | 8:00 am
Of all the fur-swathed celebrities at the Sundance Film Festival this year, none holds a candle to Elmo, the lovable red denizen of "Sesame Street." The squeaky-voiced muppet moved fans to tears Sunday at the world premiere of "Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey," an uplifting documentary about how a poor black kid from the suburbs of Baltimore grew up to be the man who brought to life one of the most beloved children's characters in America.Kevin Clash came of age in the 1960s loving "The Wonderful World of Disney" and "Captain Kangaroo." But it was the debut of "Sesame Street" in 1969 that changed his life. "I was glued," he says in the film, because the TV show featured blacks and Latinos as well as whites. "It was more like my neighborhood."
His favorite character was Grover. "I thought, who is doing this?" Clash said. "Who is creating this?"
According to the film, directed by Constance Marks, Clash began watching TV specials on Jim Henson. One day, he spied his dad's trenchcoat in the closet and noticed it had a black fur lining. Almost in a trance, he grabbed the coat and cut it apart to sew his first puppet, a monkey. He set it on the dresser in his parents' bedroom, initially proud of his effort and then later petrified of his father's reaction.
He needn't have been.
"I was so thrilled," his mother recalls in the movie. "I thought, forget about the coat, Kevin's gonna make money. He can buy a new coat." His father helped him build a stage in the backyard, where he performed puppet shows for kids whom his mother babysat. He later staged shows around Baltimore at schools.In high school, Clash endured the teasing of classmates, who wondered why he was "playing with dolls" instead of playing sports. But he persisted and while performing at a local fair was spotted by Stu Kerr, the king of kids' television in Baltimore. Kerr invited Clash to audition for his children's program and hired him while he was still in high school. Clash's high school stature rose (and in his yearbook, he was named "most likely to become a millionaire").
One day, while watching television, Clash saw a program featuring Kermit Love, a puppeteer who designed and built muppets for Jim Henson. Clash's mother made some phone calls, tracked down Love, and a visit for the 17-year-old Clash to Love's New York City workshop was arranged. Love got Clash a gig animating Cookie Monster on "Sesame Street" float in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. At an after-party, he met his idol, Henson, who asked Clash to send him some tapes of his work.
Kerr, meanwhile, had told Bob Keeshan, a.k.a. Captain Kangaroo, about Clash, and the captain hired the kid immediately. At age 18, Clash moved to New York to take up his job on the show and then quickly also was hired for "The Great Space Coaster."
Henson invited Clash to work on his feature film "The Dark Crystal," but Clash demurred, unwilling to give up his work on the two TV programs. In short order, "Captain Kangaroo" was canceled, and "Great Space Coaster" also went off the air. But Henson came calling again, and Clash, at age 25, was hired to work on Henson's "Labyrinth."
He then moved to "Sesame Street" and animated several other puppets before taking up Elmo after another puppeteer grew frustrated with the character. Clash picked up the little red furry Muppet, changed his voice from baritone to falsetto and imbued him with a new childlike lovability inspired by the tots in his mother's day care.
Elmo became a sensation. And when the Tickle Me Elmo toy came out, Clash's world really changed. He began traveling widely, meeting all kinds of celebrities -- former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan as well as Oprah Winfrey. Meanwhile, though, his marriage and relationship with his own daughter were suffering even as he made countless appearances for other children.
"There I was, spending my time, playing with them. I felt I would rather be with Shannon, giving her that time," Clash says in the film. Though the documentary doesn't get specific, it's implied that Clash's devotion to Elmo cost him his marriage.
Clash, though, seems anything but bitter. He's become one of the most senior players at "Sesame Street." At the end of the film, the now-50-year-old meets a young African American boy who seems to be just as interested in puppeteering as Clash was at the same age. Clash invited the boy to his office and even invited him to Sundance.
The two appeared Sunday at a question-and-answer session after the movie's debut. Although no distributor has yet bought the film, we can't help but think that Winfrey's OWN Network might be highly interested -- after all, as the movie shows, she had Clash and Elmo on her talk show in the past.
At the Q&A, Clash teared up about the film, his parents and all things Muppet, his affection for Elmo plain as day. In the clip below, he talks about Elmo's evolution, as well as his anatomy.
-- Julie Makinen in Park City, Utah
Photo: Kevin Clash, animating Elmo on "Sesame Street." Credit: Richard Termine
Twitter: @latimesmoviesFacebook: L.A. Times Entertainment
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Sunday, January 23, 2011
Let me see. Are we ready?
Autographed Bears Football (Anthony Thomas & David Terrell), and HD TV?
Check!
Queso Steak Burrito from Qdoba?
Check!
Bears Jersey?
Check!
LETS GO BEARS!!!
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Bears-Packers: Four things to watch on Sunday - Chicago Breaking Sports
Bears-Packers: Four things to watch on Sunday
Aaron Rodgers and Jay Cutler after the Week 17 game -- the Packers won 10-3. (Matthew Stockman / Getty Images)
Put up time
Jay Cutler squares off versus Aaron Rodgers this week, guys who profess to be good friends a week after Rick Reilly wondered if the Bears quarterback had any in the NFL. Cutler and Rodgers are tight off the field and their games on the field are very similar. They both are athletic enough to avoid heat in the pocket and wiggle free to make big plays downfield. Neither is going to be an up-and-coming young gun any longer. They're too old. To make the jump to the league's elite, they need to do what the best do -- win a championship.
Test for RodgersAs explosive as the Packers are, they scored only 27 in two games against the Bears. There haven't been many better playoff performances than the one Rodgers had against the Falcons in Atlanta, but the Bears present a more formidable challenge, particularly if they can generate a pass rush with their front four. Rodgers has been excellent on third down and the key will be forcing him into third-and-longer. The Packers have found success running on the Cover-2, but the Bears have been better in that area with improved gap discipline. Stopping running back James Starks is the first step to knocking Rodgers off balance.
Ball control key
A rested Matt Forte had 29 touches versus the Seahawks, including the harebrained halfback pass, and the Packers can expect another big dose of him minus the gadget play. The Packers ranked eighth in the league in time of possession despite issues running the ball. The best defense against Rodgers will be long, sustained drives like the offense enjoyed against the Seahawks. Mike Martz called Forte the best back in the league, and while that's an exaggeration, he certainly fits what they're doing well now and the line deserves a good deal of credit.
This one matters
When you pause and think big picture about the ramifications of this game -- Packers and Bears for a chance to go to Super Bowl XLV -- you realize this is one that could be talked about for ages. In the storied history of the rivalry, the teams rarely have intersected in meaningful games for both clubs after Thanksgiving. They have reached the postseason in the same year only four times, a remarkable stat. So it's not farfetched to think the outcome of this game will have a significant impact on the very near futures of the franchises. Lovie Smith could earn himself a contract extension.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
A walk in the hood.
We got a little snow tonight, and instead of hitting the store looking for milk and bread (cause we here in St. Louis love to make French Toast when it snows) I took a little stroll in my neighborhood.
And this is what I did spy with my little eye .....
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
‘Dark Knight Rises’: Anne Hathaway will be Catwoman, Tom Hardy is Bane [Updated] | Hero Complex – Los Angeles Times
Anne Hathaway (Getty)
Anne Hathaway will play Selina Kyle, the slinky and savage outlaw who is known as Catwoman, in next year’s Christopher Nolan film “The Dark Knight Rises,” according to a press release from Warner Bros.
Tom Hardy, already announced as a cast member, will play Bane, the chemically created brute who first appeared in the comics in 1993 — making him a far “younger” villain for Nolan’s Batman mega-franchise, which has most prominently featured the Joker (who first appeared in 1940) , Two-Face (1942), Ras Al-Ghul (1971) and the Scarecrow (1941).
Catwoman — then just called “The Cat” – first appeared in 1940 as the creation of Bob Kane and Bill Finger, and she has brought leather-clad sexual tension to the Batman adventures both on the page and beyond; she was portrayed by Julie Newmar, Eartha Kitt and Lee Meriwether on the 1960s television series starring Adam West as the caped crusader, and Michelle Pfeiffer memorably cracked the whip in the role opposite of the masked Michael Keaton in Tim Burton’s 1992 film “Batman Returns.” In 2004, Halle Berry starred in the character’s own solo film, “Catwoman,” but the film became an infamous flop and was jeered by comic-book fans after director Pitof jettisoned years of comic-book lore and character touchstones.
Nolan, in the Warner press release, said: “I am thrilled to have the opportunity to work with Anne Hathaway, who will be a fantastic addition to our ensemble as we complete our story.” Of Hardy, who worked with Nolan on “Inception,” the director said: “I am delighted to be working with Tom again and excited to watch him bring to life our new interpretation of one of Batman’s most formidable enemies.”
Nolan will direct the film from a screenplay he wrote with his brother, Jonathan Nolan, from a story by Nolan and David S. Goyer. Nolan will also produce the film with his wife and longtime producing partner, Emma Thomas, and Charles Roven. “The Dark Knight Rises” hits theaters on July 20, 2012.
– Geoff Boucher
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‘X-Men:First Class’: Three exclusive photos and a report from the stressed-out set | Hero Complex – Los Angeles Times
"X-Men: First Class" cast (Fox)
The movie posters promise that “X-Men: First Class” will be released June 3, but on Tuesday cameras were still rolling on the Fox film’s set and director Matthew Vaughn, making his biggest major studio feature film to date, sounded like a man running out of time. “I’m at that stage where I feel like a boxer against the ropes,” the director said as his crew prepared for the next shot on a location set in Long Beach. “I’m just throwing punches and taking them as they come and making sure I don’t hit the canvas.”
In the pages of Marvel Comics, the X-Men have been the ultimate outsiders for decades — even other superheroes view the strange mutant crew with mistrust, prejudice and disdain. So it’s fitting that “First Class,” the fifth Hollywood adventure for the heroes, will arrive in theaters this summer with so much to prove and plenty of doubters. For the all-new cast (led by James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender), the challenge is to replace the familiar faces of the franchise; for producer Bryan Singer, the challenge is to recapture the affection of comic-book movie fans; and for Vaughn, the challenge is, well, to actually finish making the film.
“We’re filming at the moment, we’ve a lot to get done,” said a weary Vaughn, whose credits include memorable but modest-grossing indie fare like “Kick-Ass” and “Layer Cake.” “I’ve never worked under such time pressure. The good thing about the independent world is I never even knew if I was going to get distribution. I’m used to finishing a film and then crossing your fingers that someone is going to like it. This is totally doing it the other way around. We’ve definitely got a release date and we’ve got to make it.”
Vaughn is famous for firebrand candor and droll wit, and despite the hand-wringing right now among some Fox executives, the British filmmaker isn’t turning meek under the pressure. Asked if he’s concerned about the glut of superhero film competition this summer — with “Captain America: The First Avenger,” “Green Lantern” and ”Thor” – Vaughn said that, if anything, it’s the other guys who should be nervous. “With ‘Green Lantern,’ I don’t know about that one, I couldn’t get my head around the trailer, to be honest … look, I will say the following: X-Men as a brand is bigger than Captain America, Thor and the Green Lantern, all put together.”
And that is the X factor that Fox is counting on. The four mutant-hero movies to date have pulled in $1.53 billion in worldwide box office, and even when the hard-core fans of the comics grumbled about the quality of some of the movies (as they did with the Brett Ratner’s 2006 installment “X-Men: The Last Stand”), many of them still bought their tickets just so they could join in the intense Internet debates. The opposite of love isn’t hate, it’s apathy — and to date there has been no apathy when it comes to the X-Men characters that created a publishing bonanza for Marvel in the 1980s and 1990s.
“First Class” is being described as an origin story by the studio, and it is set in the 1960s, the same decade that artist Jack Kirby and writer Stan Lee introduced the uncanny X-Men into the cosmic melodrama of their expanding Marvel universe. McAvoy is taking on the role of young Charles Xavier, the leader of the X-Men, and Fassbender is Erik Lehnsherr, the man who will become the evil mastermind Magneto. McAvoy and Fassbender are taking over movie roles originated by Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen, respectively, two esteemed actors who are practically revered among sci-fi and fantasy fans for their respective work in the ”Star Trek” and”The Lord of the Rings“ universes.
McAvoy has flipped between roles of art-house acclaim (“Atonement,” “The Last King of Scotland“) and work in special-effects blockbusters (the first ”Chronicles of Narnia” film, “Wanted“) and he said that Stewart’s work as the aged, bald and wheelchair-bound Xavier is something he views as a counterpoint, not as competition.
James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender in "X-Men: First Class" (Fox)
“This isn’t a reboot, so I’m not replacing anyone, in which case you might want to try to be as different as possible and stay away from what had been done before,” McAvoy said on Monday during a break from a rescue scene that required water-tank work. “This is a prequel, so I’m the same character, just younger, but the challenge for me – and for Michael — is to show the same person in a different place in their life; to show someone before they’re this bad guy, before they’re this saint. Charles wasn’t always a … monk, this selfless, sexless monk that he becomes.”
The plot of this film is still under wraps, but it presents a world where superpowered mutants are living in secret and don’t face the public scrutiny and prejudice that are central themes in the earlier films, which are primarily set in the modern day. The friendship of future foes Xavier and Lehnsherr is the heart of the film — Singer says the two have a common cause and different approaches and he even used the life trajectories of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X as a sort of shorthand for their veering paths. Despite rumors to the contrary, Vaughn said the movie will be the first X-Men film without the most famous face of the franchise, Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine, and key characters such as Cyclops, Storm and Jean Grey give way to new screen arrivals such as Emma Frost (January Jones), Azazel (Jason Flemyng), Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon) and Havok (Lucas Till).
“It is an excellent cast,” Singer said. He added that no one is more aware of the high-bar set by McKellen and Stewart. “I’m very sensitive to it. Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy are two of the best actors working today and that was needed to fill those shoes. Short of digitally recreating Patrick and Ian in their 20s I cant think of anyone who would be more equipped for this than these two guys. The challenge of that is what attracted James, I’m sure of it. That’s why the guy who starred in ‘Atonement’ would want to play a comic-book character in the first place because it was a role established by a really fine actor.”
Singer directed the first two “X-Men” films — which many observers cite as the starting point of more sophisticated treatment of superheroes in cinema — and then left the franchise to direct “Superman Returns,” a movie that was, on paper, a commercial success but culturally and artistically failed to capture lightning in a bottle as the filmmaker had hoped. Now he’s returning as a producer for this “X-Men” installment and still hopes to direct another X-movie in the near future. He praised Vaughn’s vision and attention to detail and said the problems the production is now facing are merely intriguing challenges that will be overcome.
“The biggest challenge is introducing an audience to these characters in a different time – characters the audience is familiar with but now see played by younger actors and in a story taking place in a different time. We have to establish this universe. We had the challenge with the first ‘X-Men’ film, which came at a time when there were no comic-book movies [of this sort] and no template to launch from and yet you’ve got to do that. You have to put your characters out there and introduce them to a quizzical public that sort of recognizes them. But that very thing is the exciting part of it.”
– Geoff Boucher
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Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Wow, 7.7 Million viewers! ‘The Game’ on BET
“The Game,” a sitcom about pro football players’ relationships with women, puttered along in obscurity for three years on the CW network. The season it was canceled, it attracted only 1.9 million viewers an episode. Then it was resurrected with two new episodes last Tuesday on the cable channel BET, which picked up the program and resumed production as part of an effort to add scripted shows to its schedule. The response from BET viewers, Forbes said, was “jaw-dropping.” The first two episodes of the new season averaged 7.7 million viewers, making it the most-watched sitcom ever on cable television.
When the Nielsen ratings came in, there were hugs in the halls at BET. The 30-year-old channel had never had such high ratings for a series. “Just over the moon” is how Debra L. Lee, the chief executive and chairwoman of BET Networks, described her reaction. “It proves that cable is competitive,” she said.
How does a show quadruple its audience? Ms. Lee credits a smart marketing plan, fan bases on Facebook and Twitter, and frequent showings on BET of repeat episodes in the past year, which ginned up interest in the new episodes.
The channel’s target audience also mattered. Most of the stars of “The Game” are black, as are most of its viewers. In those ways, it differs from the other shows on the CW, which is best known for dramas like “Gossip Girl.” BET is programmed for black viewers.
“Folks know what to expect from BET all day long,” Ms. Lee said, praising the strength of the brand.
“The Game” had a higher rating on BET last Tuesday than it ever had on the CW even though, according to Nielsen, the CW normally has 60 percent more viewers in prime time, 1.9 million, than BET, 747,000.
In mid-2008, a viewer named Stacey Mattocks created a Facebook page for the show, and months later she became more active because of speculation that the CW might cancel “The Game.” She had been a fan of “Girlfriends,” the show that had spawned “The Game,” and had already been canceled. “I didn’t want to lose my other show,” Ms. Mattocks said.
But she did, briefly. With cancellation looming, an online campaign by the stars failed to persuade the CW to keep the program. Having tasted success with “Gossip Girl,” the network decided to stop showing sitcoms altogether. “The Game” ended in May of 2009.
Ms. Mattocks said she thought the CW had neglected the show, partly by moving it into less favorable time slots. The CW declined to comment.
In 2009, BET began playing old episodes of “The Game,” which was critical to its success later.
“A lot of fans had never heard of it until it was on cable,” Ms. Mattocks said. Her Facebook page continued to gain fans, so when BET ordered new episodes of the show last May, it embraced her page — with three million fans — instead of trying to create one from scratch. The channel now pays her to run the fan page part time, in addition to her job at an insurance company in Florida.
The show received traditional marketing, too. Teasers about the return of “The Game” started appearing on BET as early as last June, and later commercials depicted viewers celebrating its return. One such spot, filmed on the Georgia Tech campus, had the cast walking out of a stadium tunnel, surrounded by cheering fans.
“It helped to extend the message that we were doing this for them,” said Janet Rolle, BET’s chief marketing officer.
It almost certainly helped that BET had only one other scripted sitcom, “Let’s Stay Together,” to promote. The CW, like other broadcasters, has a fuller slate of shows. BET paired the two new sitcoms last Tuesday, and “Let’s Stay Together” averaged 4.4 million viewers.
“The Game” features the same stars as before. Keeping pace with the altered production, the story “picks up two years later,” Salim Akil, who is an executive producer alongside his wife, Mara Brock Akil, and Kelsey Grammer, told reporters this month. The time-shifting helps explain why the characters live in new homes now.
Ms. Lee, who took over BET in 2005, had predicted that “The Game” could be “a game-changer” for the channel, which she has steered toward scripted and higher-quality programming.
“This is really the top of the mountain, in terms of what I’ve been trying to accomplish, and what I knew BET could do,” she said on Friday. She says that at a presentation for advertisers in the spring, she plans to announce another new sitcom.
via nytimes.com
Monday, January 17, 2011
Today is Dr. Martin Luther King Day.
This is the last speech given by Dr. King. It's words ring as true today as they did in 1968.
It is still strange to have a holiday of someone who lived in my time. Most holidays as you know are for people that lived, "back then." I don't remember anything of Dr. King, my only recollection of that time is, when we were living in Chicago, being told by my parents to stay away from the windows because of riots in the streets. That may or may have been about Dr. King, but it has always been in my memory like that.
It's an interesting speech, he's in Memphis to come to the aid of workers looking for equal pay. That of course is not why the speech is remembered, it stands out because he seems to foreshadow his own demise.
Part 1
Part 2
Yes today is a Federal Holiday. Some people have the day off so some will march, give speeches, do some volunteer work, some will have to work, and some will not do a thing. Not sure where I am going with all this, I guess today I will share his final speech, and perhaps, hit the march downtown and give blood.
Today is a holiday of a man who lived and was murdered in my lifetime. It still seems strange.
"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Breakfast for dinner.
So I was thinking what to do for dinner, and @versadave was doing breakfast for dinner so I thought what the hell, that sounds killer.
I tried a new recipe which included:
1/2 chopped onion,
1/2 chopped red pepper
1 chopped jalapeño pepper
1 potato
4 strips of bacon
4 sausage links
1 cup cheddar cheese
2 tablespoons of Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon of 100% Pain hot sauce
Salt
Pepper
5 eggs
1/4 cup of milk
Then:
- fill a large pot with water & bring to boil, add a potato and boil for 15 minutes.
- in a large skillet fry up bacon, and then sausage, place on a paper towel to wipe off excess grease, chop into small pieces
- drain off most of the grease, then saute onion, red pepper, and jalapeño
- place veggies in a greased pie pan along with the chopped meats.
- cover with 1/2 cup of cheese, and add hot sauce
- take the boiled potato and slice it into chunks, and fry over a med-high heat until brown
- Preheat the oven to 375
- in a bowl add eggs, milk, salt & pepper, whip until frothy
- add to the potato chunks to the pie pan and cover Parmesan and the rest of the cheddar cheese
- take the egg mixture and pour over pie pan covering the entire area
- cook in oven uncovered for about 25 minutes until done
- let cool, and chow down
It came out good, but next time I would mix everything together before baking, add more cheese, and 1 less egg.
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