The Who2 Blog

“Yes, Albany is a hotbed of furtive boom-chicka-boom.”The Washington Post, trying to get a handle on David Paterson’s first week as governor of New York.

“The new Dark Highland Green Bullitt… rides on five-spoke dark argent gray satin finished Euro-flange cast aluminum wheels featuring a polished machined lip that resemble early American-style mags. The special wheels are shod with ZR performance-rated rubber.”That’s The San Francisco Chronicle going all Euro-flange about a new replica of Steve McQueen’s Mustang from the 1968 movie Bullitt.

Scooter Libby has been disbarred due to his 2007 convictions for perjury and obstruction of justice.He can, however, apply for reinstatement in 2012.

Movie hound Nick Clooney on the making of Martin Scorsese’s 1976 film Taxi Driver:Scorsese recruited Bernard Herrmann to write the musical score, even though the extraordinary composer-conductor was then terminally ill. At sixty-four, Mr. Herrmann had made his mark in radio, the concert stage, opera, and most notably, motion pictures. After a long stint at CBS — where he met a young Orson Welles — he began his movie music career at the top.

Philip Roth has hit the three-quarter-century mark.The author of Portnoy’s Complaint was born in 1933 — same year as Willie Nelson and Yoko Ono.

Delightful reminiscence of actor Raymond Burr, sent in by reader Susan Brown-Barbour:”I met Raymond Burr in 1976 in Landers, California at Gublers’ Orchids. I worked there as a laborer/fill in lead person. He was very much into orchids at this time, and came to check out 2 large greenhouses for possible leasing from the owners.

Here’s the full text of Barack Obama’s speech on Tuesday in Philadelphia. Courtesy of The Chicago Tribune.

“The problem with reincarnation is that it’s hard to imagine what the storage medium for past lives would be. Not to mention the input-output device. I hesitate to rule it out completely, but I’d need pretty definite proof.”-Arthur C. Clarke, 1999

Anthony Minghella, the Oscar-winning director of The English Patient, has died at age 54.Early reports listed no cause of death. The BBC now says that he “suffered a fatal haemorrhage in London days after having surgery for cancer of the tonsils and neck.”