Denny Goes Airsurfing!

I've been looking for this online for years. It's an an unjustly obscure animated short I saw at a festival back in the early '90s, IIRC.

A message to the good people at Disney

Don't make me wait 30 years to see another Tron sequel.

Come to think of it, Elisha Cuthbert should also go on that list of actors whose leaving shows seemed like a mistake at the time, but proved otherwise

Hmmm...

Someone emailed my "Rob Lowe in West Wing, etc" post to somebody else. Until and unless I hear otherwise, I'm just going to assume it was sent to Julie Benz.

Oh no, wait...that's what he did

Newt Gets Choked Up Recalling Sick Mother

And then, he mentioned how appalling it would've been if his father had presented her with a divorce settlement while she was in the hospital struggling with her sickness.

Why do I want recognition of the fact that I thought Emmy Rossum was sweet and talented BEFORE she started really working the sexy?

Now that's what I call REALLY a wrong turn

Rare Asian bird takes "wrong turn," lands in Tennessee

And the winner of the 2011 "Rob Lowe in West Wing" memorial award is...

...Julie Benz!



This award is given to actors who leave series which seem perfectly fine to me at the time, and I think they must miss such a good gig. But within a season or two they (the actors) seem to me to have gotten out while the getting is good.

Granted, the situations are different--Lowe walked away of his own volition (as I understand it) while Benz's Dexter character was killed off by the showrunners. Still, this is my way of saying...this past season of Dexter was really, really, really, really, stupid.

It wasn't stupid because they'd killed her character off. I actually liked last season, the first in which she didn't appear (save for a cameo flashback in the first episode), as much as any in the series. I thought they dealt with Dexter's..."unique" grieving process very well.

But this season...well, did I mention it was stupid?

Now here's a headline/lead sentence combo someone may have wanted to rethink...

Bags that age with you

Hollywood actress Anne Hathaway, star of Get Smart...

And to think that Spring Break appearance was one reason why I've thought Mr. Mister was underrated*

All the same, I was surprised to read this in the book I Want My MTV: The Uncensored Story of the Music Video Revolution:

Mr. Mister played Spring Break, and their record company sent them a package via FedEx, which was mistakenly delivered to the room of an MTV executive, who saw it on his bed and ripped it open, thinking it was for him. He found...well, something meant to keep the band awake and happy for several days.

Well, now we know how they were able to take those broken wings and learn to fly again...

*I still think that. Don't tell anybody.

A hand for each hand was planned for the world. Why don't my fingers reach?

For the record, I'm not posting this because I'm feeling particularly sad, I'm not. It's true it's been a quiet night (and day) but tomorrow I get to play with the nephew, so...

I'm also not running it because I have a nostalgic feeling about Mr Magoo's "A Christmas Carol." It's one that I somehow missed growing up; I can only assume that's because it was always scheduled opposite A Charlie Brown Christmas or Little Drummer Boy (and 99% of anything Rankin/Bass ever made), which I do have nostalgic feelings for.

Why then, am I running it? I'm running it because I saw this today and I was genuinely impressed with the song, like, from a writer point of view.



Now that's an impressive lyric (take that, Sting!). It didn't surprise me to learn from a little searching that the songs were written by Jule Styne, who wrote the music for Gypsy, and Bob Merrill, who wrote music and lyrics for Carnival.

(They both wrote more than a few other things, too, I'm just saying the song has a pedigree.)

More grist for the mill of my Courtney Love identification

Courtney Love is allegedly getting booted from her West Village townhouse for missing her rent and “ruining” the designer decor by giving it a paint job, reports the New York Post.

Love claims not to be broke–she responded to eviction rumors by telling the NY Post “I haven’t fallen behind on the rent—I have been paying month to month as agreed. My rent is current, but the owner is now asking for the remaining two months’ upfront.

A bath of writhing flesh

A bath of writhing flesh, a photo by Michael of Scott on Flickr.

or, "Barbie Jonestown."

That's good to know, because virtually speaking I have loved her and loved her HARD.

Courtney Love was recently asked what she would put in a "virtual museum." She replied:

I haven’t even seen what a virtual museum is, but right now Kilian fragrances, three Academy Awards, a big virtual family because we all get along, my Fabergé martini shaker and lots and lots of love –– and sex.

Inelegant? Well la-de-dah, thank you for coming to tea, Lord Alec.

Y'know...if I needed another reason to resent 30 Rock--which of course I don't, since I already resent it for being saved over Studio 60 when even less of the country was watching it, and the over-hyping of Tina Fey...

But if I did, it would be this: That show has given Alec "father of the year" Baldwin a fucking fourth act. From self-important Actor (you know he'd insist on the capital) to political bloviator to Saturday Night Live host to bloated sitcom star.

And in all of these, he's proven himself in the top five (at least) of those who prove an old adage that I made up: Actors...shouldn't...talk.

Most recent case in point: You may have heard that Baldwin behaved like a jerk on an airplane recently. I always judge the masters on how they treat the servants, which is why I still think Christian Bale is a fucking nutball for screaming at a DP. But as if that weren't enough:

In "apologizing" for this bad behavior, Baldwin said,

"I believe carriers and airports have used [9/11] as an excuse to make the air travel experience as inelegant as possible."

Leaving out that what kind of jerk invokes 9/11 to justify their ill-manners...inelegant?

Sorry you didn't have the smooth and polished ride a man of your wealth must be used to, Mr. Baldwin. Some of us clumsy, crude peons just do the best we can.

Today's contestant on "Who's Searching For Me Now?"

...comes to us from the Shentel Service Company, Leon, Virginia.

They searched the blog URL; didn't stay long.

Here's a sentence to kill your soul.

"The victim testified that on at least one occasion he screamed for help, knowing that Sandusky's wife was upstairs, but no one ever came to help him," the grand jury report said.

Memorable M*A*S*H, Pt. 2

Harry Morgan, the actor best known for his role as Colonel Sherman T. Potter on M*A*S*H, has died at the incredible age of 96. As I did when Larry Gelbart left us, I'd like to take an entry to remember some of my favorite moments.

Counterintuitively, let's start with one of his last as his most famous character (last if you don't count AfterM*A*S*H, which nobody does). In the series finale, "Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen," Hawkeye and B.J. stop Col. Potter just before he leaves, and give him one of the only truly respectful salutes of the whole show (I think the only other ones were between Hawkeye and Radar).

Running back now to Morgan's first season with the show, we find "The Interview," one of the most special of very special episodes. When Morgan as Potter discusses the closeness he has come to feel with the men and women of M*A*S*H, and the pride he feels at being associated with them, well, that's not Morgan as Potter. That's Morgan as Morgan, giving his feelings not about the medical unit, but about the television show.

The affection that the rest of the cast felt for Morgan is evident many times throughout the series; one example is in the episode "Potter's Retirement" when Hawkeye, B.J. and Radar ask him not to do just that.

In his opening episode, "Change of Command," Potter/Morgan had first encounters with two characters the Col. would come to love like sons. First, Radar, who is sunning himself when Potter arrives in a jeep and honks the horn. Radar's first words to his new commanding officer? "Stick that horn in your ear!"

Then Klinger takes his first chance to "impress" the Col. with his lunacy. Unfortunately, it doesn't qo quite as he'd hoped:

Klinger: Colonel Potter, sir! Corporal Klinger. I'm section eight, head to toe. I'm wearing a Warner bra. I play with dolls. My last wish is to be buried in my mother's wedding gown. I'm nuts. I should be out.

Col. Potter: Horse-hockey.

Potter and his company clerk didn't get relaxed around each other until the episode "Dear Mildred," when Radar gives him a horse (that had been found wounded and nursed back to health) as an anniversary present. It's one of the more moving moments of the whole series, but they're careful to cut it when Potter walks behind the horse and slips on...something.

Maj. Frank Burns: That's disgusting!
Col. Sherman T. Potter: [With a big smile] Son, to me, that's a tip-toe through the tulips.

"Old Soldiers," I believe, is the episode for which Morgan won his Emmy. If it isn't it should be. This is the one in which Potter is called to the bedside of a sick friend, whose death leaves Sherman the only surviving member of their World War I unit, and in the end of the episode he toasts their memories with a bottle of wine that the group had saved since those days.

Incidentally, Morgan also directed more than half-a-dozen episodes of M*A*S*H, of which my favorite is "Blood Brothers," from 1981. In this episode Father Mulcahy lets himself get all too swellheaded about a visit from an important army cardinal. But as is the way of this show, the war brings him quickly back down to earth, and leads him to discuss his revelations about his own motivations in a parable which is at first thinly veiled, and then nakedly raw.

Even though his character (or at least, his character's rank) is in the title of "The Colonel's Horse," Morgan appears in maybe only a third of the episode, which is about the medical staff taking care of Sophie (the titular horse) while Potter is away. But he makes the most of the screen time he has, entering the changing room singing "Chinatown, My Chinatown" to celebrate the good fortune of his wife being able to join him in Tokyo, and in this dialogue with the two captains:

Captain B.J. Hunnicut: Can't you do something about Frank?
Col. Sherman T. Potter: Like sit him down and have a talk with him?
Capt. Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce: No, like stand him up and have him shot!
Col. Sherman T. Potter: Don't be absurd. There'd be an inquiry.

Finally, mentioning the oft-mentioned but seldom seen Mildred Potter reminds me of two episodes of M*A*S*H in which the Col. spends time with a couple of women within a decade of his own age for once.

In the one hour (two-parts in syndication) "That's Show Biz," Gwen Verdon as a stripper-turned USO performer makes it abundantly clear that she's taken a shine to him, but whether by design or naivete he manages to miss all her signals.

But in "Lil," Sherman spends so much time with the female Col. of the same name that Radar begins to fear for the Potters' marriage. He has little to worry about, in the end, but you will notice that "a little" is not the same as "nothing..."

You know, of all the things I've ever felt about or for Obama, that's not one of them

Republican strategists are urging party surrogates not to attack President Obama personally. Although that approach may be tempting given his low approval ratings they warn it could backfire because voters “feel sorry for him."

Sorry? No, never. Frustrated yes, that he's acting like a jackass yes, that I wish he'd lean into his leadership just a little bit harder yes, that I wish he'd BE the gun-banner, etc the far-hard right wants to make him out to be, envious of his marriage to the lovely and sexy Michelle definitely, fearful that he'll lose the next election...

But sorry? No. Never.

Must...kill...must...kill*

Here is Anne Hathaway, sitting with her...as I choke on the word...fiancee. His name is Adam Schulman, but here he will always be known as "The Unworthy Swine, mk II."

*No, of course not really.