I did not like Kathy Griffin until I saw the Kathy Griffin DVD of “My Life on The D-list” from Bravo.  Being in the entertainment industry and also not being one of the chosen – Kathy Griffin is more chosen than me – I relate to what Kathy Griffin does and her motivation for doing it.

 

Well, she’s done it again.  Kathy Griffin allegedly (and I say that because we may not see it) in her acceptance speech at the creative arts Emmys last Saturday, blasted none other then Jesus.  This is what Kathy Griffin allegedly said,

 

“A lot of people came up here to thank Jesus for this award. I want you to know that no one had less to do with this award than Jesus. This award is my God now!”

 

In all fairness, she had to do something.  I mean when she didn’t win she gave the winning shows’ producers the finger in mega and was removed from the premises.  If she didn’t do something outrageous, her fans would think she was a sell out whose views change because she won an award. 

 

I also remember seeing an interview with Kathy Griffin where she said this very thing when commenting on the Oscars.

 

Fox is planning to edit out the speech when it airs the show on Saturday.

 

I don’t know about you, but I had no these awards were  coming up and did not plan on watching it.  Fox should thank Kathy Griffin, me and I’m certain many other are going to watch it now.  Or TiVo it.

 

Who knows, maybe this will get her the Oscar hosting job?

 

Kathy Griffin tour dates in the near future.

DC

Kennedy Center Sep, 18, 2007

Constitution Hall Sep. 19^th 2007

Kennedy Center Sep. 20, 2007 (sold out)

 

New York

Turning Stone Sep. 21, 2007 8 & 10:30

 

Tennessee

TPAC Sep 22, 2007

 

For Kathy Griffin tickets contact the individual venues.

 

I remember sitting around the TV at my grandmothers watching re-runs of “Falcon Crest.”  Some good memories.

 

 

 

I can’t believe Angela Channing, Wyman’s character on Falcaon Crest is dead.  She just seemed like one of the people who just couldn’t die.

 

She did a lot though.

 

1948 won an Oscar for her portrayal of deaf-mute rape victim in “Johny Belinda.”  I remember this film, but don’t remember it being called that.  Maybe that’s why I can never find it on NetFlix

 

Married to Ronald Reagan from 1940 to 1948.  Isn’t it interesting that they list that as one of her accomplishments?  I wonder if it was listed as one Reagan’s?

 

1946 Oscar nom for the “The Yearling,” 1951 for “The Blue Veil,” 1954 for “Magnificent Obsession.”

 

For more details read the report on The Hollywood Reporter.

Please, no tears.  I know it’s hard, but, yes, the iPod Crank is a hoax.  Don’t worry, we will get past this.  To help, here is a run down of the real New iPods just announced by Apple at a private shin-dig in San Fran.

 

The iPod Touch.

This baby is an iPhone without the phone!  This is the one I was hoping for.  It has the cool touch screen you can’t stop playing with, Wi-Fi, and extraordinary web suffering capabilities.  Not to mention the super cool album scrolling thing that I loved about the iPhone.  I may throw away my computer!

 

iPhone Ringtones

The other big news is the company will start selling customizable 99-cent ringtones for the iPhone on a new version of iTunes.  Users will be able to make a ringtone by choosing a part of a song they already own or buy and syncing it to their iPhone.  I already know how to do this, but I’m certain this will be much, much easier.

 

Classic iPods

A new thinner version of the classic iPod with full metal design and 80 gigs of storage will retail for $249.  The 160 gig, (yes, 160) slightly thicker classic version will retail for $349.  Oh, but wait, the little all-in-one Mac with the 9-inch screen was dubbed the classic just before it disappeared; I think I see the writing on the wall.

 

New Nano
The new crankless Nano will have a bigger brighter screen and an interface similar to the iPhone.  How cool is that?  It’s available in black, red, silver, blue and green.  The 4 gig retailing for $149 and 8 gig for $199. 

 

Is it me, or did the classic iPod become cheaper and the Nano’s more expensive?  I’d never be caught dead with Nano anyway.

 

Oh, but I still feel sad. (Through tears.) “iPod Crank, we hardly new ya.”

 

 

They sure do love to walk on their bridges in Michigan.  I tried to see if this was a Labor Day thing in general, but is seems to be specific to Michigan.   Weird.  Must be all that fresh water.

MACKINAW CITY, Mich. (AP) — Daniel Geske was only 4 years old when he trudged across the newly constructed Mackinac Bridge nearly a half-century ago. On Monday, he was back — with lots more company than before.

About 57,000 people walked, jogged or wheeled over the 5-mile-long span linking Michigan's lower and upper peninsulas, while 50 others added a new twist to the Labor Day ritual by swimming across the straits below.

"I'm just proud to be here, and I anticipate being here for the 75th year, too," said Geske, now 53, who made the crossing with nearly a dozen family members.  Read more about this walk.

It seems this is a popular event for Larbor day weekend.

GRAND RAPIDS -- About 1,500 people turned out early Monday at Ab-Nab-Awen Park to say farewell to summer by crossing not one bridge, but seven.

Mayor George Heartwell led the second annual Grand Crossings bridge walk -- an alternative to the 50-year-old Labor Day Mackinac Bridge Walk -- to show locals how fair their city truly is.

"This walk gives me a beautiful view I don't usually get because I'm driving and have to watch the road," said Martin Penning, of Plainfield Township.  Read more of this story

 

CHEBOYGAN - Nearly 600 people stepped onto a sun-drenched State Street Bridge on Monday morning to take part in what has become a favorite annual community event.

While the numbers were down for 2007 - 581 participants as compared to 782 in 2006 - enthusiasm was at the same high level it is every year. Once across the one-block span, walkers collected a certificate attesting that they had braved the crossing. They then walked at least three times the distance of the bridge crossing to Washington Park, where they received hot dogs, chips, cookies and orange drink.

Many of the walkers wore shirts from previous State Street Bridge walks. The walk was begun some 20 years ago when four residents decided to thumb their nose at the Mackinac Bridge Walk and conduct one with local flavor. That walk ended at the Gold Front bar. After a while, the walk grew to include several hundred people, and ended at the now-defunct Snoopy's Bar at the west foot of the bridge.  Read more of this story.

HOUGHTON/HANCOCK — Walkers took in the Portage Lake Shipping Canal from both sides Monday during the Bridge Walk on Labor Day.

About 220 people participated in the walk, sponsored by Portage Health, which started at 9 a.m. at Kestner Waterfront Park in Houghton. They walked along the canal to the Portage Lake Lift Bridge, crossing the bridge and heading into Hancock.

After walking through Porvoo Park then under the bridge on the Hancock side, they crossed southward back to Houghton and walked down Shelden Avenue, returning by way of the lakefront to Kestner Waterfront Park.  Read more of this story.

In typical Apple HaHa-you-windows-people-we-now-dominate-the-market, fashion, they sent out a media invitation to an event on Wednesday in San Francisco with no explanation why.  But the words, “the beat goes on” accompanied by the white silhouette of a dancing iPod user isn’t really call for a lot of speculation.

 

All things look go for a New iPod Nano.  But thanks to the folks at CrazyAppleRumorsSite I got the skinny on the New iPod Nano.  I'm re-posting it here for your enjoyment with the picture of the “New iPod Crank.”

 

New iPod Nano Photo Leaked.

 

While other easily debunked photos have recently been seen on the web, Crazy Apple Rumors Site sources have forwarded the definitive photo of the actual iPod nano to be announced next Wednesday.

 

According to a source who claims to be within the iPod division, the new nano will feature several totally awesome features. Most notably, Apple has done away with the controversial non-user-replaceable battery in favor of crank-driven power and every eighth album in Coverflow will be a picture of Jennifer Fricking Connelly.

 

While most Apple followers hailed the new features to surely be announced next week, some were skeptical.

 

“What the f--- is that?” asked Bynkii.com’s John C. Welch.

 

“No, really, what the f--- is that? Because it sure as h---l isn’t a new fricking nano.

 

“Hey! Hey! Don’t walk away from me, b----!”

 

Daring Fireball’s John Gruber wondered “Why the f--- is there a first generation shuffle click wheel on it? And why’s it so much blurrier than the rest of the image? And what’s that crap around the handle of the crank? And…”

 

None of this skepticism, however, takes into account the super awesomeness of the features of the new iPod nano which will surely rawk several million sawks.

 

Apple declined to comment officially for this story, but was somewhat blurry and pixelated around where Infinite Loop meets the rest of Cupertino, as if it had hastily been pasted there.

 

This is so funny that I had to copy this text directly from Edmunds Inside Line.

"Why on God's green earth Dodge would choose a name like Journey for its 2009 people mover is beyond us. Maybe some company still holds rights to the name REO Speedwagon. The 2009 Dodge Foghat has a nice ring to it.

But a name is a funny thing. Predictably, the New Chrysler calls its 2009 Dodge Journey a crossover, or a right-size crossover, or whatever. The company says the Ford Escape, Honda CR-V and Toyota RAV4 are the Journey's primary competitors. But the truth is, the Journey is a mini-minivan, which we'll all see when this vehicle is officially unveiled at the 2007" Frankfurt Auto Show.

My guess is that anybody buying a Dodge Journey has no idea there was once a band called Journey.

Do you remember?  (I had big plans to post a Journey video here, but I seem to be unable to.  So, here's a picture.)

And their famous logo that just looks sooooo!  70s now.

Supposedly, US Marine Nicholas Popaditch; retired gunnery sergeant and tank commander from San Diego; was wounded by a rocket-propelled grenade in Fallujah, Iraq on his second tour of duty there.  He lost his right eye and it was replaced by a prosthetic eye with the Marine Corps’ emblem as the lens and pupil.

This has the feel of an urban legend to me because you do not find this story on any of the news services, but it is all the rage in blog slog.  The credit for the photo at the top of this post is Greg Sorber of the Albuquerque Journal.  I could not find this story or this picture in the Albuquerque Journal.  I Googled “Albuquerque Journal Greg Sorber Popaditch.”  Every link a clicked took me to a different story and none of them had anything to do with a Marine or a prosthetic eye.

This photo looks clearly doctored to me, what do you think?

 
Nick Popaditch is real enough, though, I feel safe in saying.  He is “The Cigar Marine.” 

I think I have found the source of the story on defendamerica.mil.   However, no glass eye with a Marine emblem in the center.  Sorry. 

 
The eye patch is cool though, don’t you think?

Australian born Errol Flynn, he was from Tasmania, was the Johnny Depp of his day starring in such swashbuckling films as Captain Blood and, of course, The Adventures of Robin Hood (recently released on DVD with lots of extras).

 
Flynn was an interesting character.  Check out the article, “Lindsay Lohan, scandalous? She’s got a lot to learn.”  About the great scandals of Hollywood’s past; it is one of the best Hollywood scandal round-ups I’ve seen.  I learned a few things.

 
My reason for talking about Errol Flynn today?  I read this odd article on filmstew.com about this guy from Ohio bringing such greats to Ohio as a Barrymore, a Danes a de Havilland and a Flynn.  He claims to have letters of intent from Olivia de Havilland and from Errol Flynn’s grandson.  Oh, his grandson.

 
Wait a minute, isn’t Olivia de Havilland dead?  I looked it up and she is alive, but is 91 and is the last surviving member of the cast of “Gone with the Wind.” The last film she made was “The Woman He Loved,” in 1988.

 
This Ohio guy also claims he’s going to be doing another film called, “In Like Flynn,” with Luke Flynn playing his grandfather.  Hmmm….

 

I don't see it.

Is this guy for real?  If any one has more info on this let me know.

 
For an interesting look at Hollywood and the sword read the article “Fencing has grand Hollywood tradition,"  by Richard Harrington of The Washington Post.

Master jazz drummer, Max Roach whose rhythmic innovations and improvisations defined bebop jazz is dead at 83.  His peers deemed him the greatest jazz drummer ever by the time he was 30. And after helping reinvent the genre, he became one of its loudest voices for civil rights.

He got his first musical break at age 16, filling in when Duke Ellington's drummer fell ill in 1940. Those three nights spawned a career that would make the self-taught Roach the first jazz musician ever honored with a MacArthur Fellowship, or "genius grant."

The master percussionist died late Wednesday in a Manhattan hospital after a long illness.

I don’t know, but I think 83 is good long run.  Give a listen to this late 50s early 60s kinescope with Max Roach and Abbey Lincoln.

(NOTE: This clip is in the public domain.)

Late 50s early 60s kinescope with Max Roach and Abbey Lincoln.

Courtney Love at the "Borat" premiere.

Courtney Love claims that her recent slim down is due to discipline and a routine that includes colonics.

Let’s face it; slimming down isn’t easy for any one.  And having to slim down because you’re going to do a cover shoot for Italian Vogue is enough to make want to hit the bonbons and not the gym.

In a way, I feel sympathy for Courtney because it probably did take a lot of discipline to slim down and all everyone’s interested is what she did at her other end.  And that includes me. 

But when you see the word colonic in a headline, you just have to read it.  Of course there could also be some air brushing going on here.

 

Courtney Love on the cover of Harper's Bazaar.

 

Many people in my generation know Carmen Miranda as an expression, "Who do you think you are, Carmen Miranda!" I can hear my mother saying.  Or maybe you remember when Willard Scott did the weather on the "Today" show dressed as Carmen Miranda? (I looked high and low for photograph, but could not find one.)   Or maybe you've gone out on Halloween as Carmen Miranda?  Or maybe, like me, you just dress as Carmen Miranda for fun. (It is fun.)

She is known as the Brazilian Bombshell and the Queen of Samba, but is not a native of Brazil where she has a cult following till this day.   One of six children of a barber father and seamstress mother, she was born Maria do Carmo Miranda da Cunha on Feb. 9, 1909, in a small town in Portugal; the family relocated to Rio when she was a toddler. Musically gifted, she practiced songs with the family goat as sole audience member. 

She was the first resident of the South American continent to leave impressions at Grauman’s Chinese Theater; she was very proud of this, saying at the time, “…the happiest moment of my life.”  The highest paid female entertainer in the United States; she earned over $200,000 in 1945.

Carmen Miranda died on August 5, 1955, but her name lives on.  She is definitely a hot trend of yesteryear and this video shows why.

Carmen Miranda with the legendary Benny Goodman, another hot trend for the ages.

To read more about the life of Carmen Miranda.

 

Carmen Miranda Museum,
Parque Do Flamengo,
across from 560 Avenida Rui Barbosa,
Rio de Janeiro-RJ, CEP 22250-020,
Brazil.

Hours: Tuesday-Friday, 11-5;
Saturday, Sunday, holidays, 2-5.
Admission: free.