Every week my browser gets cluttered up with tabs for stuff that I stumble across and figure I might be able to use as a Question of the Day or a WTF Thought for the Day or grist for some other post. And inevitably, I end the week with most of that material unused. But there’s no reason to let this stuff go to waste: I can still share it with you, for your amusement, and start the new week with a clean slate.
Herewith this week’s leftover links, in no particular order:
Lost Epilogue With Hurley and Ben Revealed!
Dennis Hopper, American film actor and icon, dies at 74
‘Lord of the Rings’ prequel on hold
Gary Coleman Keeps His Address on ‘Avenue Q’
Meaty Roles: Actors who took it off–or packed it on–for the perfect part
Lingerie model to replace Fox in ‘Transformers 3’
Facebook CEO: “We’ve Made a Bunch of Mistakes”
After keeping us waiting for a century, Mark Twain will finally reveal all
New Media, Old Media: How Blogs and Social Media Agendas Relate and Differ from Traditional Press
The Scheme: A brutal eye-opener or ‘poverty porn’?
James McAvoy Playing Professor X in “X-Men” Film
A ‘Law & Order’ Farewell: These Were Their Stories
Horror film soundtracks mimic animal distress calls
Cinematic Change and the End of Film
Sex And The City 2: A Plot Analysis For Mere Mortals
Is ‘Sex And The City 3’ A Possibility? Kim Catrall Hopes So, Do You?
The piece about actors and weight loss/gains brings up all sorts of thoughts, like:
(1) The Venn diagram of “Actors” and “Crazy people” has a pretty large overlap in the middle. (I know lots of actors, it’s true.)
(2) I love that Hollywood logic finds it more reasonable to take a gorgeous size-four Hollywood starlet and put 30 pounds and “ugly” makeup on her than to find an actress who might already look closer to the desired role, and be able to play it as well or better.
(3) I have little sympathy for the weight struggles of people who can afford to hire personal trainers and dieticians – or have it written into the production budget.
It’s also noteworthy that it’s not considered noteworthy to mention the fact that many actresses go to extremes just on a regular basis in order to keep their weight down to where Hollywood wants it to be all the time.
. . . Not to mention the plastic surgery, Botox, breast implants, etc., that many have acquired to be more castable, only to have Hollywood turn around and say they want to cast women who haven’t had plastic surgery, Botox, breast implants, etc. . . .
“lingerie model relaces Megan Fox;”
Relace?
Perhaps she has come undone.
(And now I’m going to have a certain Guess Who song echoing in my head for the rest of the day. Thanks a lot, MaryAnn…)
From the Mark Twain article:
Heh. Sounds even more like a Great American to me.
I’m looking forward to getting this. It’s not every day that I get to say I bought a first-edition Mark Twain the year it was published. :-)
You said it.
What? The same man who wrote “Captain Stormfield’s Visit to Heaven,” “The Mysterious Stranger” and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court had doubts about God? Surely you jest–and no, I’m not calling Bluejay Shirley…
Seriously, Twain’s views on these subjects have been on record for years. Ever read The Innocents Abroad and note Twain’s less than reverent views towards both foreign-born Catholics and American Christians? It’s not like he kept these views a secret.
I can’t help but compare this to the fuss made back in the 1990s when people suddenly found out that Christopher Columbus really wasn’t all that respectable a fellow and the Crusaders–alas–weren’t always that noble. Geez, it’s not like all this historical information was tucked away in a jar next to the Dead Sea Scrolls; it’s been a matter of historical record for years. People just chose not to pay attention to it because it did not jibe with their ideological notions of history.
The one view of Twain”s that most liberals today would probably find most controversial would be the fact that he basically supported the South African side of the Boer War–but that was more due to Twain’s dislike of the way his fellow Americans tended to automatically side with our former enemies the British in that conflict than any love he might have had for the Afrikaners. And I’m sure he mentions that in one of the travel books he already has in print.