Saturday, August 06, 2005

Joan Rivers... Where she at? Be the woman, hooking up the British:
In her new stand-up show, Broke And Alone In London, British audiences were shocked to hear Rivers making fun of widows, whose firefighting husbands were killed in the attacks on New York. An audience member says, "She said that they got paid $5 million each, and how disappointed they'd be if they were told, after all, that their husbands had been found alive." That may be funny outside the states.

Up close and personal, she takes on herself: I don't think I'm good in bed. My husband never said anything, but after we made love he'd take a piece of chalk and outline my body.

Private property is a serious issue: "If I found her floating in my pool, I'd punish my dog."--Joan Rivers on Yoko Ono

But what's her real name and where is she from?
AKA Joan Alexandra Molinsky

Born: 8-Jun-1933
Birthplace: New York City

Gender: Female
Religion: Jewish
Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Comic

Level of fame: Famous
Executive summary: "Can we talk?"

Joan Rivers is a comedian famous for her fast, self-mocking, bitchy patter, her raspy voice, and her borderline offensive material. Her parents were Jewish immigrants from Russia who settled in Brooklyn. Rivers was a jokemaker from before adolescence.

There's something about watching a movie made for the theaters on TV. It's very different from watching a movie made for TV. Part of it may have to do with the fact that the theatrical film is edited for TV due to time limitations but also because some of the material may be inappropriate for public broadcast.

But there is also something else. Back in the day when I watched a movie on TV it was quite "special." I knew there were lots of other people watching the film and I felt I was not alone--but part of a "collective." Then cable came along and that made films on TV feel very different. And I realized that part of it was the fact that there were no commercials and that films were not edited but shown as they were released on theaters. I found it fun to see what was omitted from the TV versions, though, how they could still keep the story going. But commercials really made them special. Today, given that everything is selling something, TV commercials are often better and more honest that the films--better films then the films. I remember watching King Kong(1976) on TV, that was cool. It bothered me that they edited the hell out of the ending though. Hmm... there's a 2005 version which will be released in December:

Director: Peter Jackson
Release Date: December 14th, 2005
Studio: Universal Pictures

Here's the link to its official website: kingkongmovie.com/

And Chinatown was cool too, although I did not get why it was such a great film then. Now I do. It's more like an acquired taste I guess. I saw it for a second time when I rented the Two Jakes. Oh, renting films is also another odd thing, because it is on DVD (or rather video in the mid-nineties), but one that I know other people have watched in the privacy of their own homes, and that makes that copy different for having been in this private spaces. Going to the store was always interesting. It was like something to do. I don't do it anymore, though; neither do I have cable.

Andy hanging out with Diana Ross. And Diana asking Frank Sinatra to do a song with her after he told her that he was going to do a song with Michael Jackson. A brief online hook-up follows.

Here's who they have in common: Quincy Jones is the epitome of the multi-talented musician. He’s worn the hats of composer, performer, arranger, conductor, and producer. [...] During the ’60s he led his own big band, headed the A&R staff at Mercury Records, produced Frank Sinatra and Count Basie, and still found the time to score dozens of movies and TV shows. [...] and he produced this song for MJ and Diana: Ease On Down The Road - Diana Ross & Michael Jackson

The shadow of big Q looms over Diana, MJ and Frankie:
Ease On Down The Road - (from "The Wiz", with Diana Ross/Michael Jackson)
Fly Me To The Moon (In Other Words) - (with Frank Sinatra/Count Basie & His Orchestra)

Top requested songs: MJ, Diana and Frankie:
LL OR NOTHING AT ALL - Frank Sinatra
BEAT IT - Michael Jackson
ENDLESS LOVE - Diana Ross

MJ and Diana sing Sinatra (motown style):
All The Things You Are - Michael Jackson
Strangers in the Night - Diana Ross & the Supremes
The Lady is a Tramp - Diana Ross & The Supremes

I couldn't find a duo link for Frankie and Diana, but I did find a cruise ship duo that sings their music:
Inspiration are an experienced and versatile duo whose biography
includes a number of years working abroad and on cruise ships.

Inspiration can be booked either self contained
or with a backing band
(The Motions)

And a side note, blue eyes was opinionated: Frank Sinatra once called Rock and Roll "The most brutal, ugly, degenerate, vicious form of expression it has been my displeasure to hear."

How could Jane Holzer be surprised that Andy was cool about Bob? Hey, like Andy said, at least he was saving money. Monetary gratification always helps when your feelings are hurt, I guess. Given that Andy was always worried of going broke, knowing that he was at least saving some cash was a great great compensation for him. Okay, meaningless comment, right...

Here are some goodies on Andy's obsession with money, a peculiar one that may be misquoting him (something Andy probably would not mind given that in the past he even help someone misquote his own quote of famous people and 15 minutes): Business is an art. This view was expressed by no less an authority than Andy Warhol, who painted images of soup cans and made a fortune. "Making money," Warhol said, "is art and . . . good business is the best art."

Here is a misquote of his 15 minutes (I think, or maybe he did say it, though I don't think so, yes, no. yes, anyways here is the quote, which I never heard before): To paraphrase Andy Warhol: In the future, everyone will get sued for fifteen minutes.

And let's not forget that Andy painted dollar signs, nice how much kitsch prints are going for (the best as fas as I am concerned):

Andy Warhol - $ Money Sign (C)
COMMERCIAL POSTER
Price = $8.99
Size = 24" x 36"

Making Money redux: Making money is art, and working is art and good business is the best art."

Andy's ego was hurt when Bob Colacello left him. If Andy did not give Bob the painting he wanted, that certainly did not stop Bob from acquiring a collection of Warhols: Bob Colacello, former editor of 'Interview' magazine, appeared in Manhattan at Phillips de Pury & Company on Thursday evening, to auction off some of his private Warhol collection. He gave a fascinating speech on the subject of his two biographies, 'Ronnie and Nancy: Their Path to the White House--1911 to 1980' and 'Holy Terror: Andy Warhol Close Up'. What may seem like a strange comparison, in Bob's world became sympathetic and amazingly similar parallel paths of two great American lives.

He was not only good at selling art as Andy explains but he also had a gift for interviewing people with very minimal questions. Here are the questions for Warholstar Viva without the answers (Click the link to read the answers):

BOB: What's your life like in California?

BOB: No. I'm just listening.

BOB: But...

BOB: Did you ever refer to videos for dialogue?

BOB: So that's why you called it a "Video Novel"?

BOB: What happened to your film career?

BOB: Which movie? The Agnes Varda...

BOB: This is "Lion's Love", right? And you did "Cleopatra" with Michel after?

BOB: You said on the talk show today that your baby Alexandra still breast feeds?

BOB: What did you do last night?

BOB: Who's on his way to India.

BOB: Do think it's harder to write in the third person?

BOB: What about your poetry?

BOB: Can you recite any of it from memory? The Diane Arbus poem?

BOB: Do "Wife".

BOB: Did you know her well?

What's the average weight in the United States today? Check the goods: The average weight for male adults in the United States is about 168 to 183 lb (76 to 83 kg). The average weight for male teenagers in the United States is about 99 to 141 lb (45 to 64 kg). For female adults the average weight is 120 to 140 lb (54 to 64 kg). For female teenagers the average weight is 100 to 126 lb (45 to 57 kg).

Andy weighed 126, which means that he was right on target with female teenagers. The site does not mention height though. It's an average, we can assume it corresponds with the average height. In any case, being that Andy was worrying about his weight, I should point out this particular argument about body weight during his time: Almost all "ideal body weight"  websites use obsolete formulas or tables created in 1979 or earlier.


Looking for averages, I ran into an odd site from which I must post. Here is some odd Trivia:

On average, right-handed people live 9 years longer than their left-handed counterparts.

The average American will eat 35,000 cookies in a lifetime.

The average duration of sexual intercourse for humans is 2 minutes.

The average home size in the United States is now 2,200 square feet, up from 1,400 square feet in 1970, according to the National Association of Home Builders.

The average lead pencil will draw a line 35 miles long or write approximately 50,000 English words.

The average person produces 25,000 quarts of spit in a lifetime, enough to fill two swimming pools.

Have no idea about the sources. Take it with a grain of salt, maybe two.

The first time I heard Auld Lang Syne I had to play it for a New Year's party at the top-floor of a fancy hotel in downtown Santa Monica, in Lalaland. I was working for a DJ company at the time and I remember the guy who scheduled my gigs telling me, "Here, make sure you play this song at midnight, right after the countdown." I asked him what it was and he said it was a traditional song people sang to every New Year's. That was it. Mick had a way of telling you just what you needed to know for each job. So midnight came and I played the song. People loved it, and then I recognized it from the movies I had seen. The education of the DJ is truly on the job, in a constant state of action.

Here's the history of the song: Burns' name is not affixed to this world-famous song, and yet there can be no doubt it is chiefly his own. He admitted to Johnson that the two verses beginning respectively, "We tae hae ran about the braes," and "We twa hae paidl'd in the burn," are his own, although in sending the song to Mrs. Dunlop in December, 1788, and also is writing about it to Thomson, in September, 1793, he speaks of it as ancient. "Light be the turf," he says, "on the breast of the heaven-inspired poet who composed this glorious fragment! There is more of the fire of native genius in it than half-a-dozen of modern English Bacchanalians." "Apropos, is not the Scotch phrase Auld Lang syne exceedingly expressive? This old song and tune has often thrilled through my soul." To Thomson he writes thus:- "The air is but mediocre; but the song of itself - the song of the olden times, and which has never been in print, nor even in manuscript, until I took it down from an old man's singing - is enough to recommend any air."

But the song has many faces, yep. It serves different purposes around the world: "Auld Lang Syne" is one of the best known songs in English-speaking countries. Yet, it is sometimes referred to jokingly as "the song that nobody knows," since many people can recall the melody easily but know only a fraction of the words. It is usually sung each year on New Year's Eve at midnight and signifies the start of a new year. It is also used as a graduation song and a funeral song in Taiwan, symbolizing an end or a goodbye. In Japan, many stores play it to usher customers out at the end of a business day. Before the composition of Aegukga, the lyrics of Korea's national anthem was sung to the tune of this song. Also, before 1972, it was the tune for the anthem of The Maldives (with the current words). The University of Virginia's fight song (The Good Old Song) also carries the same tune.

It has also been used on other occasions, mostly as a sign of saying farewell. One occasion that falls in this category was in October 2000, when the body of former Canadian prime minister Pierre Trudeau left Parliament Hill in Ottawa for the last time, going to Montreal for the state funeral.

It is disputed how it originially developed but the lyrics are credited to Robert Burns in the late seventeenth century: It is believed that the words and music 1st appeared together in published form in the Scots Musical Museum in 1796. The melody is also known as "The Miller's Wedding" and it was possibly in this form that Robert Burns 1st heard it. But it is a melody that is sometimes credited to composer William Shield, who used it, or something very similar to it, in his opera Rosina, presented at the London Covent Garden Opera House in 1783. It appeared in the overture to the opera and was played so that it imitated the sound of Scottish bagpipes.

Can't forget the lyrics:

Auld Lang Syne

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne?

Chorus:
For auld lang syne, my jo,
For auld lang syne,
We'll tak a cup o' kindness yet
For auld lang syne.

And surely you'll be your pint-stowp,
And surely I'll be mine,
And we'll tak a cup o' kindness yet
For auld lang syne!

Chorus

We twa hae ran about the braes,
And pu'd the gowans fine,
But we've wander'd monie a weary fit
Sin' auld lang syne.

Chorus

We twa hae paidl'd in the burn
Frae morning sun til dine,
But seas between us braid hae roar'd
Sin' auld lang syne.

Chorus

And there's a hand, my trusty fiere,
And gie's a hand o' thine,
And we'll tak a right guid-willie waught
For auld lang syne!

Chorus

Meaning of unusual words:
Auld lang syne = Former days and friends
jo = dear
stowp = tankard
gowans = daisies
braid = broad
Guid-willie waught = friendly draught