Bukowski Kicking Linda

 

Vestron Video

 

Vestron Video was the main subsidiary of Vestron, Inc., a home video company based in Stamford, Connecticut, that was active from 1981 to 1992, and is considered to have been a pioneer in the home video market. 

-Wikipedia

Literary Pick (**)

 Hard-Boiled Wonderland And The End Of The World

-Haruki Murakami

 

Cepillín

EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) — One of Latin-America’s most famous clowns has died.

Ricardo González Gutiérrez, who was best known as Cepillín, died Sunday, according to the Mexico City portal Milenio.

According to the website, Gonzalez died of complications from spine surgery, including cardiac complications and pneumonia.

His son confirmed his father’s death on social media, asking for prayers for his father.

Cepillín was a staple on Spanish television for decades. He had his own children’s television show — El Show de Cepillin — which combined education and comedy and had the occasional Hollywood star appear as a guest. Lou Ferrigno, star of the wildly popular “Hulk” TV series appeared on the show, which aired in 18 countries.

Cepillín also appeared in several films and is credited with giving singer Yuri and actress Salma Hayek a break early in their careers.

Cepillín was also a Grammy-nominated singer. He released 25 albums of children’s songs and sold millions of copies worldwide.

Before he became a TV sensation, Cepillín was a children’s dentist. In order to keep children from crying or getting scared, he painted his face like a clown. His stage name roughly translates to “tiny toothbrush.”

Cepillin was born in Monterrey, Mexico.

He was 75.

-Border Report

What Would They Say

 

What Would They Say

John Travolta

What would they say if we up and ran away
From the roaring crowd
And the worn out city faces
Would they carry on and on
When they found out we were gone
Or would they let us go
Would they tag along or would they just...

Leave us alone, we'd live in the country
Leave us alone, we'd make it just fine
Happy in a one-room shack
And we'd not look back
Now would we

What would they do if they found out we were through
With the little lies and the downtown aggravations
That we traded them away for a quiet country day
That we had hoped to share
Would they try to find out where we were, or...

What would they say if we up and ran away

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Paul H Williams

What Would They Say lyrics © Sunset Squid Music, American Broadcasting Music, Inc

 

Proust Questionnaire

The Proust Questionnaire has its origins in a parlor game popularized (though not devised) by Marcel Proust, the French essayist and novelist, who believed that, in answering these questions, an individual reveals his or her true nature. Here is the basic Proust Questionnaire.

__1.__What is your idea of perfect happiness?

__2.__What is your greatest fear?

__3.__What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?

__4.__What is the trait you most deplore in others?

__5.__Which living person do you most admire?

__6.__What is your greatest extravagance?

__7.__What is your current state of mind?

__8.__What do you consider the most overrated virtue?

__9.__On what occasion do you lie?

__10.__What do you most dislike about your appearance?

__11.__Which living person do you most despise?

__16.__When and where were you happiest?

__17.__Which talent would you most like to have?

__18.__If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

__19.__What do you consider your greatest achievement?

__20.__If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be?

__21.__Where would you most like to live?

__22.__What is your most treasured possession?

__23.__What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?

__24.__What is your favorite occupation?

__25.__What is your most marked characteristic?

__26.__What do you most value in your friends?

__27.__Who are your favorite writers?

__28.__Who is your hero of fiction?

__29.__Which historical figure do you most identify with?

__30.__Who are your heroes in real life?

__31.__What are your favorite names?

__32.__What is it that you most dislike?

__33.__What is your greatest regret?

__34.__How would you like to die?

__35.__What is your motto?

__12.__What is the quality you most like in a man?

__13.__What is the quality you most like in a woman?

__14.__Which words or phrases do you most overuse?

__15.__What or who is the greatest love of your life?

__16.__When and where were you happiest?

__17.__Which talent would you most like to have?

__18.__If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

__19.__What do you consider your greatest achievement?

__20.__If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be?

__21.__Where would you most like to live?

__22.__What is your most treasured possession?

__23.__What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?

__24.__What is your favorite occupation?

__25.__What is your most marked characteristic?

__26.__What do you most value in your friends?

__27.__Who are your favorite writers?

__28.__Who is your hero of fiction?

__29.__Which historical figure do you most identify with?

__30.__Who are your heroes in real life?

__31.__What are your favorite names?

__32.__What is it that you most dislike?

__33.__What is your greatest regret?

__34.__How would you like to die?

__35.__What is your motto?

 

-Vanity Fair

Literary Pick (****)

 Inside Out 

-Demi Moore

There should be a movie made about the relationship she had with her mother.

Heartburn

Manhattan food writer Rachel Samstat and Washington, D.C. political columnist Mark Forman meet at a mutual friend's wedding. Both have been married before and Mark has a reputation for being a serial womanizer. After a whirlwind courtship, the two marry, despite Rachel's reservations. They purchase a dilapidated Georgetown townhouse and Rachel struggles to adapt to being a wife in Washington's political high society. The ongoing renovations of their house create some stress in Mark and Rachel's marriage, but they are brought closer together when Rachel discovers she is pregnant. Rachel experiences a difficult labor in which the baby's life is briefly threatened, but she gives birth to a healthy baby girl named Annie.

Soon after, Rachel discovers evidence of Mark's extramarital affair with socialite Thelma Rice during her pregnancy with her second child. She leaves him and takes their daughter to New York, where she moves in with her father and gets her job back as a food writer. Although she insists that she has left him for good, Rachel is dismayed when he fails to call her after several days. She inadvertently leads a burglar to a group therapy session she is attending in her therapist's apartment; he robs the group and takes Rachel's wedding ring. Just after, Mark arrives and asks her to come back, insisting he will never see Thelma again.

Rachel gives birth to their second child, but struggles to fully forgive Mark. She spreads a nasty rumor about Thelma having an infection (possibly herpes) but is caught out by Mark. The New York police return Rachel's wedding ring after they catch the burglar. When she takes it to the jeweler's to get the stone tightened, she discovers that Mark has bought a very expensive necklace, which coincides with Thelma's birthday. Realizing that he has returned to the affair, Rachel sells her wedding ring and leaves with both her children for New York, this time for good.

-Wiki
 

Literary Pick (****)

 Apropos of Nothing

-Woody Allen

Husband and Wives

 

Literary Pick (****)

 Unsinkable a Memoir

-Debbie Reynolds

Cicely Tyson

Cicely Tyson, Trailblazing Hollywood Icon, Has Died at 96

Cicely Tyson, the iconic actress who starred in Sounder and The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman and served as a pioneer for Black actresses, has died at the age of 96. The news was announced on Thursday, January 27 by Tyson’s longtime manager, Larry Thompson, and comes just two days after the release of Tyson’s memoir, Just As I Am. “I have managed Miss Tyson’s career for over 40 years, and each year was a privilege and blessing,” Thompson said in a statement. “Cicely thought of her new memoir as a Christmas tree decorated with all the ornaments of her personal and professional life. Today she placed the last ornament, a Star, on top of the tree.”

The Emmy, Tony, and Honorary Oscar-winning actress blazed a trail for Black actresses over the course of her storied and historic career, which spanned over seven decades. Tyson was born in East Harlem, New York in 1924 to parents who immigrated from Nevis in the West Indies. She was discovered by a photographer for Ebony magazine and worked as a model appearing in Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar before transitioning to acting, landing her first role in the NBC television series Frontiers of Faith in 1951. Tyson made her film debut in 1957’s 12 Angry Men and would go on to carve out a career for herself marked by her commitment to playing strong, fully-realized characters, refusing to play roles that she thought were demeaning to Black women. After a brief hiatus from the film industry in the late 60s, Tyson returned to Hollywood in 1972 starring as Rebecca Morgan in the acclaimed film Sounder, earned Tyson an Oscar-nomination for Best Actress in 1973.

Tyson would go on to make history on the small screen, becoming the first Black actress to win a Primetime Emmy for her work in The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman in 1974. Over the course of her career, Tyson would earn 16 career Emmy nominations, including 5 in a row for her work as Ophelia Harkness in How To Get Away With Murder, with her most recent nomination coming in 2020. Tyson was also no stranger to the stage, appearing on Broadway throughout the late 60s during her Hollywood hiatus, and winning a Tony Award for her work in A Trip to Bountiful in 2013. In her later years, Tyson became the true embodiment of a living legend, often appearing dressed to the nines at events like Aretha Franklin’s funeral and the 2018 Academy Awards where she became the first Black actress to receive an Honorary Oscar. With grace and poise, Tyson served as a sterling example of the indomitable spirit and courageousness of the Black men and women who paved the way for younger generations. RIP.

 -Vulture

Literary Pick (****)

 Furious Love: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton and the Marriage of the Century

-Sam Kashner, Nancy Schoenberger

Larry King

Broadcasting Legend Larry King Is Dead at 87

Larry King, the legendary broadcaster known for his frank and approachable interviews, has died at the age of 87, according to a statement from his company, Ora Media. King died the morning of January 23 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, after being hospitalized for COVID-19 earlier this January. Born Lawrence Zeiger in Brooklyn, New York in 1933, King began his decades-long career in broadcast media at a Miami radio station in the 1950s, where he covered news, sports, and DJ’d. In the late 1970s, King graduated from the Miami market to a nationally syndicated nighttime radio show, which eventually led to his flagship interview series, Larry King Live on CNN. From 1985 to 2010, King interviewed everyone from sitting presidents and world leaders to tabloid-buzzy celebrities and UFO-sighting believers. King won two Peabody Awards, for his work in both radio and television. Throughout his career, he also poked fun at his persona with appearances as himself on shows like The Simpsons, 30 Rock, and Gravity Falls.

After departing from CNN in 2010, King founded Ora TV and continued conducting high-profile interviews on his new series, Larry King Now. In 2013, he also began airing a weekly politics-based interview series, Politicking With Larry King, both of which King worked on until his death. King is survived by his sons Larry Jr., Chance, and Cannon.

-Vulture.com

Literary Pick (*****)

Debbie: My Life 

-Debbie Reynolds

Cloris Leachman

Cloris Leachman, Oscar Winner and Sitcom Star, Dies at 94

The film and TV mainstay—who played memorable roles in classics like The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Young Frankenstein—had a career that spanned seven decades.

 Creative Until You Die, a series of Hollywood Reporter profiles of nonagenarians who were still creatively active. When asked if she ever thought of retiring, Leachman uttered a direct and defiant response: “Fuck you.”

Cloris Leachman, whose career spanned seven decades, has passed away at the age of 94, her longtime manager told Variety Wednesday. Her most celebrated role was Phyllis Lindstrom on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, for which she won two of her unprecedented eight Primetime Emmys. The imperious Phyllis was best summed up in one of Leachman’s Emmy-winning episodes, “The Lars Affair,” in which she considered the male bee: “Once the male bee . . . has serviced the queen, the male dies. All in all, not a bad system.”

As with the characters Lou Grant and Rhoda Morgenstern, Phyllis earned her own eponymous spin-off series that lasted two seasons.

But beyond Phyllis, Leachman is indelibly associated with numerous iconic series, classic episodes, and era-defining feature films. Most notably, she was little Timmy’s foster mother for a season of Lassie, she was the mother of a 6-year-old monster on “It’s a Good Life”—widely considered to be one of the 10 best Twilight Zone episodes—and she was Frau Blücher (insert horse whinny here) in Mel Brooks’s Young Frankenstein. In 1972, she earned an Academy Award for best supporting actress for her shattering portrayal of lonely high-school coach’s wife Ruth Popper in Peter Bogdanovich’s The Last Picture Show. She reprised her character in Texasville, which was released in 1990.

Though she was in her twilight years, the sun never set on Leachman’s career. She began in the golden age of live television in the late 1940s, and in 2017 at the age of 91, she had a pivotal role in the buzzworthy supernatural Starz series American Gods, playing Zorya Vechernyaya, a sassy Old God out of Slavic mythology.

She never considered quitting acting. As Leachman shared in her 2009 memoir, Cloris, which she co-wrote with George Englund—to whom she was married from 1953 to 1979; they had five children—her mother offered her some simple advice when she landed her first play with a community theater group: “If you like it, just keep doing it.”

Leachman was born on April 30, 1926, in Des Moines, Iowa. In a 1972 Playgirl magazine interview, she declared, “I knew from the very beginning that I didn’t belong in Iowa.” She studied piano, loved movies, and at the age of 15, earned a summer radio scholarship to Northwestern University in Illinois. She would attend the university to study drama, becoming close friends with fellow actors Charlotte Rae and Paul Lynde in the process.

Leachman was crowned Miss Chicago in 1946, her senior year, and went on to compete in the annual Miss America pageant. She was ranked in the top 16. Then she moved to New York. Early successes included understudying Mary Martin as Nellie Forbush during the original run of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific. In 1949, she chose to leave the Broadway-bound production of William Inge’s Come Back, Little Sheba, in which she costarred as a boarder who destabilizes a middle-aged couple’s household, to costar opposite Katharine Hepburn in William Shakespeare’s As You Like It. “I don’t think I could be successful as a sex symbol,” she wrote in her memoir. “I was first and foremost an actress.”

Leachman studied with the Actors Studio alongside Martin Balsam, Burgess Meredith, Julie Harris, and Anne Jackson. “I learned a lot,” she noted, “but I also made enemies . . . because I refused to take the ‘Method’ seriously.” She also fended off an ardent Marlon Brando. “I didn’t want to be one of the multitude,” she recalled. Instead, she introduced Brando to Englund and the two became lifelong friends.

Prolific would be one word to describe Leachman. IMDb lists 275 television and movie acting credits for her, beginning with the 1947 feature film Carnegie Hall. Among her most memorable are Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, in which she appears as Agnes, a prostitute briefly engaged with Paul Newman’s Butch, the Emmy-nominated made-for-TV movie The Migrants, in which she played the matriarch opposite Sissy Spacek and Ron Howard, and Jonathan Demme’s drive-in cult classic Crazy Mama.

Leachman played a lot of mamas, but never generically. “I’ve fought all my life against clichés,” she proclaimed in her Oscar acceptance speech. She was at various points mother to, among others, Shirley Temple (Shirley Temple Storybook); Meryl Streep (Music of the Heart); Diane Keaton, Meg Ryan and Lisa Kudrow (Hanging Up); Téa Leoni (Spanglish); and Ellen DeGeneres (The Ellen Show). She was housemother to the girls of Eastland School for two seasons on The Facts of Life, succeeding Charlotte Rae when she left that series.

She has also played grandmothers and great-great-grandmothers who were less likely to kiss boo-boos and more prone to stab their grandsons with a knitting needle (as in her Emmy-winning turn on Malcom in the Middle) or wander around topless (on Raising Hope).

Fearless would be another Leachman signifier. “If it’s funny,” she told Newsday in 2011, “I’ll do anything.”

She put this to the ultimate test in 2008 when, at 82, she became the oldest contestant ever on the reality series, Dancing with the Stars. She was eliminated in week six, but was all attitude when she joked to the judges, “I’m not leaving.”

Leachman described hers as a life with “some real bang and smash in it.” She had affairs with Gene Hackman, Andy Williams, and Bobby Darin, and never lost her ribald muse. In 2017, PETA honored her with a Lifetime Achievement Award. One of those who paid tribute was her American Gods director Bryan Fuller, who recalled the on-set celebration when she turned 90. “She blew out her candles and said, ‘Fuck me—I’m 90,’” he said. “And then she said, ‘Seriously—somebody get in here and fuck me! I want you to line up the crew outside of my trailer and get them in here!’”

-Vanity Fair

President Joe Biden's Inauguration

Joe Biden was sworn in as the United States' 46th president on Wednesday, and he pledged to be a president for all Americans — even those who did not support his campaign.

"Today, on this January day, my whole soul is in this: bringing America together, uniting our people, uniting our nation," he said in his inaugural address.

Biden spoke shortly after Kamala Harris made history by becoming the country's first female, first Black and first South Asian vice president. He said this Inauguration Day was a triumph for democracy.

"The will of the people has been heard, and the will of the people has been heeded," Biden said. "We've learned again that democracy is precious. Democracy is fragile. And at this hour, my friends, democracy has prevailed."

This was a scaled-down inauguration unlike any we've ever seen.

The celebrations were cut back because of the coronavirus pandemic, and Biden's inaugural committee — trying to keep crowds to a minimum — urged Americans not to travel to Washington, DC. The National Mall was also closed to the general public because of security concerns related to the January 6 storming of the US Capitol.

-CNN

Literary Pick (****)

 The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit

-Michael Finkel

 

 

 

Arlignton Library

Arlington Library

 203 Arlington Ave. at, Warwick St, Brooklyn, NY 11207

The Arlington Library was built in 1906 with funds donated by Andrew Carnegie. Apparently Penn Fulton Hall was a building which served many purposes, and at least part of the building was used for the library until this was built. The original name was the East Branch Public Library, and this name can still be seen carved across the top of the library. A review of development maps shows there were no permanent structures on this site prior to construction. In 1893 it was zoned for 8 residential lots but the land was eventually bought and rezoned as one lot for the library. Renovations were done in 1950 and 1986. 

The East New York Project

 

Literary Pick (***)

 Men Without Women

-Haruki Murakami

I Like Killing Flies (2004 Documentary)

 

Literary Pick (***)

 Pablo Escobar: My Father

-Juan Pablo Escobar

 

Days of our Lives Opening Theme

 

Literary Pick (***)

 Sea Glass

-Anita Shreve

 

Casey at the Bat

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

-by Ernest Lawrence Thayer

The Outlook wasn't brilliant for the Mudville nine that day:
The score stood four to two, with but one inning more to play.
And then when Cooney died at first, and Barrows did the same,
A sickly silence fell upon the patrons of the game.

A straggling few got up to go in deep despair. The rest
Clung to that hope which springs eternal in the human breast;
They thought, if only Casey could get but a whack at that -
We'd put up even money, now, with Casey at the bat.

But Flynn preceded Casey, as did also Jimmy Blake,
And the former was a lulu and the latter was a cake;
So upon that stricken multitude grim melancholy sat,
For there seemed but little chance of Casey's getting to the bat.

But Flynn let drive a single, to the wonderment of all,
And Blake, the much despis-ed, tore the cover off the ball;
And when the dust had lifted, and the men saw what had occurred,
There was Johnnie safe at second and Flynn a-hugging third.

Then from 5,000 throats and more there rose a lusty yell;
It rumbled through the valley, it rattled in the dell;
It knocked upon the mountain and recoiled upon the flat,
For Casey, mighty Casey, was advancing to the bat.

There was ease in Casey's manner as he stepped into his place;
There was pride in Casey's bearing and a smile on Casey's face.
And when, responding to the cheers, he lightly doffed his hat,
No stranger in the crowd could doubt 'twas Casey at the bat.

Ten thousand eyes were on him as he rubbed his hands with dirt;
Five thousand tongues applauded when he wiped them on his shirt.
Then while the writhing pitcher ground the ball into his hip,
Defiance gleamed in Casey's eye, a sneer curled Casey's lip.

And now the leather-covered sphere came hurtling through the air,
And Casey stood a-watching it in haughty grandeur there.
Close by the sturdy batsman the ball unheeded sped-
"That ain't my style," said Casey. "Strike one," the umpire said.

From the benches, black with people, there went up a muffled roar,
Like the beating of the storm-waves on a stern and distant shore.
"Kill him! Kill the umpire!" shouted someone on the stand;
And its likely they'd a-killed him had not Casey raised his hand.

With a smile of Christian charity great Casey's visage shone;
He stilled the rising tumult; he bade the game go on;
He signaled to the pitcher, and once more the spheroid flew;
But Casey still ignored it, and the umpire said, "Strike two."

"Fraud!" cried the maddened thousands, and echo answered fraud;
But one scornful look from Casey and the audience was awed.
They saw his face grow stern and cold, they saw his muscles strain,
And they knew that Casey wouldn't let that ball go by again.

The sneer is gone from Casey's lip, his teeth are clenched in hate;
He pounds with cruel violence his bat upon the plate.
And now the pitcher holds the ball, and now he lets it go,
And now the air is shattered by the force of Casey's blow.

Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright;
The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light,
And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout;
But there is no joy in Mudville - mighty Casey has struck out.

Literary Pick (***)

 Descent 

-Tim Johnston 

 

Get Smart Theme Song

 

Literary Pick (***)

 No Time Like The Future

-Michael J. Fox

David Lander, Squiggy in ‘Laverne & Shirley,’ Dies at 73

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Actor David Lander, best known as Squiggy on the ABC sitcom “Laverne & Shirley,” died Friday evening at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, his family confirmed to Variety. He was 73.

Lander died of complications related to multiple sclerosis, which he battled for 37 years. Since he went public with his diagnosis in 1999, Lander has worked closely with the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, speaking out about his experience at related conferences.

The actor played the role of Andrew “Squiggy” Squiggman on “Laverne & Shirley,” opposite actor Michael McKean’s Lenny Kosnowski. The characters were developed by the longtime friends and collaborators while they were students at Carnegie Mellon University.

On Saturday morning, McKean remembered the late actor by tweeting an old photo of him and Lander.

 

Born on June 22, 1947 in Brooklyn, N.Y., Lander had his eyes on acting from a young age, and attended the High School for the Performing Arts in New York City. After teaming up with McKean in college, Lander moved with him to Los Angeles, where the duo joined the comedy ensemble. The Credibility Gap.

The actors continued building their early career together, co-starring in Steven Spielberg’s comedy film “1941” and Kurt Russell’s “Used Cars.” Lander and McKean also voiced an animated TV series, “Oswald,” in which they played the animated penguins Henry and Louie, respectively. In 1979, they released an album together as Lenny and the Squigtones featuring Christopher Guest in guitar, who was credited as Nigel Tufnel – an alias that Guest later reused in the fictional band Spinal Tap.

Lander also made appearances in several TV shows, including “The Bob Newhart Show,” “Barney Miller,” “Happy Days,” “Viva Valdez,” “Twin Peaks” and “The Drew Carey Show,” and played smaller yet memorable parts in movies like “A League of Their Own” and “Say It Isn’t So.”

As a voice actor, Lander was the voice behind Smart Ass in the 1988 Disney movie “Who Framed Roger Rabbit,” and was credited as Stephen Lander in “Boo” and “Zino and the Snurks.” He also voiced Ch’p in the DC Comics animated movie, “Green Lantern: First Flight” in 2009.

Lander most recently voiced Rumpelstiltskin in Disney’s children’s show, “Goldie & Bear,” and Donnie the Shark in an episode of “SpongeBob Squarepants” in 2016.

Lander is survived by his wife, Kathy Fields Lander, and daughter, Natalie Lander.

-Vanity

Ruby Bridges: The 6-Year-Old Who Needed a Federal Marshal Escort to Attend First Grade

  

The moment has been immortalized in a Norman Rockwell painting with the apt title The Problem We All Live With: a little African American girl walks to school, surrounded by a team of U.S. Marshals, with racist graffiti and thrown garbage ornamenting the wall behind her. Ruby Bridges was only 6 years old in 1960 when the first grader arrived for her first day of school at  William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans — and was met by a vicious mob. The courageous girl would spend a year alone in the classroom, since other children had been removed by their parents due to her presence. But today, the 65-year-old Bridges says that those difficult days were worth it: "I now know that experience comes to us for a purpose, and if we follow the guidance of the spirit within us, we will probably find that the purpose is a good one."

Ruby, who was born on September 8, 1954, was one of only six black children who passed the tests that determined she could attend the previously all-white school; two families opted to keep their children at their old school, while three were transferred to McDonogh No. 19, leaving Ruby as the only student desegregating William Frantz. Ruby's father was hesitant to send his daughter, but her mother believed that it was important for the family to take that step — not just for Ruby herself, but for the children who would come after her. An order by Judge J. Skelly Wright dictated that New Orleans schools be integrated by November 14, 1960, so that would be Ruby's first day at school.

"That first morning I remember Mom saying as I got dressed in my new outfit, 'Now, I want you to behave yourself today, Ruby, and don't be afraid,'" Bridges recalled. "'There might be a lot of people outside this new school, but I'll be with you.' That conversation was the full extent of preparing me for what was to come." When Ruby arrived and saw the crowd, she had no idea that they were there to protest her presence. "Living in New Orleans, I actually thought it was Mardi Gras," she reflected. "There was a large crowd of people outside of the school. They were throwing things and shouting, and that sort of goes on in New Orleans at Mardi Gras. I really didn't realize until I got into the school that something else was going on."

 "The Problem We All Live With" by Norman Rockwell

 

One of the federal marshals, Charles Burks, who served on her escort team, later recalled Bridges' courage in the face of such hatred: "For a little girl six years old going into a strange school with four strange deputy marshals, a place she had never been before, she showed a lot of courage. She never cried. She didn't whimper. She just marched along like a little soldier. We were all very proud of her."

When Ruby entered the school, now devoid of other children, only one teacher, Barbara Henry, who had recently moved from Boston, Massachusetts, agreed to teach her. Although the boycott against the school was broken the next day when a white Methodist minister Lloyd Anderson Foreman walked his 5-year-old daughter through the mob into the school, and other parents followed within a few days, Ruby still spent the first year at the school alone in one classroom with Henry "as if she were teaching a whole class." Despite daily harassment, which required the federal marshals to continue escorting her to school for months, Ruby persisted in attending school.

As the year went on, Ruby's family suffered for their decision: her father lost his job as a gas station attendant and her sharecropping grandparents were turned off their land. Even the grocery store where the family shopped turned them away. But, when Ruby returned for second grade, more African American students were there to join her. The pioneering school integration effort was a success due to Ruby's inspiring courage, perseverance, and resilience.

As an adult, Ruby Bridges still lives in New Orleans. Since 1999, she has been the chair of the Ruby Bridges Foundation, whose mission is to promote " tolerance, respect, and appreciation of all differences." She believes that the key to ending prejudice lies in fostering these values among children. "Racism is a grown-up disease and we must stop using our children to spread it," she asserts. "Each and every one of us is born with a clean heart.... We owe it to our children to help them keep their clean start."

-A Mighty Girl

Alex Trebek, Longtime ‘Jeopardy!’ Host, Dead at 80

Television’s consummate quizmaster dies “peacefully” after lengthy battle with pancreatic cancer

 Alex Trebek, circa 1984. Michael Ochs Archive/Getty Images 

 Alex Trebek, television’s consummate quizmaster and the host of Jeopardy! for 35 years, died Sunday morning at the age of 80 following a lengthy battle with cancer.

“Jeopardy! is saddened to share that Alex Trebek passed away peacefully at home early this morning, surrounded by family and friends,” the show tweeted. “Thank you, Alex.”

Trebek revealed his pancreatic cancer diagnosis in March 2019. Despite the prognosis, Trebek vowed to continue working even as he fought the disease. “Truth told, I have to,” Trebek added, with a wink of humor. “Because under the terms of my contract, I have to host Jeopardy! for three more years! So help me. Keep the faith and we’ll win. We’ll get it done.”

As the host of Jeopardy!, Trebek came to embody a wholly unique kind of intellectualism. He stood behind a lectern, sported a professorial mustache for years and projected a mix of wisdom and trustworthiness — a not-quite know-it-all who had all the answers in front of him, but could still get away with a sly quip if a contestant flubbed an easy one.

During his Jeopardy! tenure, Trebek won six Daytime Emmys for Outstanding Game Show Host, while the organization also honored him with a lifetime achievement award in 2011. In 2012, he accepted a Peabody on Jeopardy!’s behalf, and in 2014, he broke the Guinness World Record for “the most game show episodes hosted by the same presenter (same program)” with a whopping 6,829 episodes. He has stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and Canada’s Walk of Fame, and in 2017 was named an Officer of the Order of Canada.

 

“Alex wasn’t just the best ever at what he did,” Ken Jennings, who won 75 games in a row and became a de facto ambassador for the show, wrote on Twitter. “He was also a lovely and deeply decent man, and I’m grateful for every minute I got to spend with him.”

Trebek’s cultural reach was vast. He appeared as himself in an array of television shows and movies, from Cheers and The X-Files to White Men Can’t Jump and RuPaul’s Drag Race. He even voiced a quiz-show host on episodes of celebrated kid’s shows Rugrats and Arthur. And of course, Will Ferrell played a famously beleaguered version of Trebek on Saturday Night Live’s “Celebrity Jeopardy!” skits, enduring years of verbal abuse from dimwitted stars like Sean Connery and Burt Reynolds.

Alex Trebek was born in Sudbury, Ontario, on July 22nd, 1940, and began working in broadcast television while still a college student in the early Sixties. For years, he was a jack-of-all-trades at the Canadian Broadcasting Corp., covering news and sports, and even hosting the music program Music Hop. In 1966, he hosted his first game show, Reach for the Top, and landed his second, Strategy, in 1969.

 

Game shows remained Trebek’s forte as he found more work in Hollywood in the early Seventies. The first program he hosted on American television was The Wizard of Odds, with subsequent gigs on High Rollers and The $128,000 Question. Later, Trebek even served as a game-show contestant: In 1976, he appeared on Celebrity Bowling, sporting a shirt that read “Alex Trebek, What the Heck!” and in 1980, he beat a crowded field of game-show hosts in a special tournament edition of Card Sharks.

Even after Jeopardy! took off, Trebek worked at a remarkable clip. For a brief period in 1991, he became the first person to host three American game shows at the same time (Jeopardy!, Classic Concentration, and To Tell the Truth). He also hosted the Pillsbury Bake-Off for several years, served as a spokesman for Colonial Penn Life Insurance and, one April Fools’ Day, even hosted Wheel of Fortune with co-hosts Pat Sajak and Vanna White as contestants. Arguably, Trebek’s least successful venture was the time he moderated a 2018 Pennsylvania governor’s debate, during which he monopolized the conversation, argued with one of the candidates, and even made an unprompted joke about sexual abuse within the Catholic Church (he later apologized).

A constant television presence for the better part of the past 40 years, Trebek remained an endearing fixture of American popular culture. Clips of him reading rap lyrics from clues or roasting unsuspecting contestants were viral manna, and the announcement of his cancer diagnosis was met with an outpouring of support from fans. But perhaps the most remarkable aspect of Trebek’s longevity is that, even after hosting countless episodes of Jeopardy! and its myriad offshoots, he never seemed to tire of the job.

“I have to work, but it’s work I enjoy and that still has challenges,” he told New York magazine in 2018. “I have at least two new players on each program and all new material that I’ve got to read properly. As I’ve gotten older I realize, as professional athletes do, that the difficult thing is not losing your physical skills. It’s losing your ability to concentrate. . . . We have a clue every 10, 12 seconds. I can’t dwell on the one I screwed up; I have to dwell on the next one.”

After his diagnosis, Trebek vowed to keep hosting Jeopardy! even as he began treatment (The show aired its 8,000th episode in October.) As he underwent chemotherapy, Trebek was always honest about his status and his state of mind. After proclaiming in May that his tumors had shrunk considerably and he was “near remission,” he revealed in September that his numbers had skyrocketed back to levels higher than his original diagnosis.

In an October interview with Canadian news network CTV, Trebek was blunt about where he stood, but also lucid and clear-eyed about the end of his life. “I’ve lived a good life, a full life, and I’m nearing the end of that life,” he said. “I know that. I’m not gonna delude myself. So if it happens, it happens. And why should I be afraid of it?”

In This Article: obit, Obituary

-Rolling Stones  

Congratulations!

 Joe Biden and Kamala Harris 2020

 

Endless Love Scene (1981 film)

 

Endless Love is a 1981 American romantic drama film directed by Franco Zeffirelli, starring Brooke Shields and Martin Hewitt. Tom Cruise makes his film debut, in a minor role.

Based on the 1979 Scott Spencer novel of the same name, the screenplay was written by Judith Rascoe. The original music score was composed by Jonathan Tunick.

Critics compared the film unfavorably to the novel, which showcased the dangers of obsessive love. Despite the poor reviews, its eponymous theme song, performed by Diana Ross and Lionel Richie, became a #1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. The song spent nine weeks at #1 and received Academy Award and Golden Globe Award nominations for "Best Original Song", along with five Grammy Award nominations.