Louis Armstrong, Death Metal Artist
“What a Wonderful World,” reimagined.
The Who2 Blog
Broadway’s Perfectly Mortgageable Musical!
It was just a matter of time until someone wrote the Great American
Musical about credit default swaps. With a shove
from This American Life, we have the first song, penned by Robert Lopez
of Avenue Q: “Bet Against the American Dream.”
Wedding Biz Fizzle: Liz Says No Shizzle
That’s right, the rumor that actress Elizabeth Taylor would marry for the umpteenth time has been deemed untrue.
Dame Liz herself said so, on her Twitter page.
Yes, Dame Elizabeth has a Twitter page. About her so-called engagement, she says the rumors “simply aren’t true.” She adds that her rumored betrothed, Jason Winters, is her “dearest friend.”
Here’s a photo of Liz with her fourth husband:
Tina Fey, Better-Than-Prime-Time Player
Tina Fey hosted Saturday Night Live this weekend and got better ratings than anything in prime time.Chalk it up as another victory for Sarah Palin if you like: people tune in just to see her parodied. The video clip’s below — Fey starts slow, but picks up steam. The ‘Wheel of Fortune’ moment is a good one.
John Paul Stevens: The Coin Flip That Changed His Life
Art Seder: “When we graduated in 1947, the Northwestern faculty had an understanding with Justice Wiley Rutledge of the Supreme Court that he would take one Northwestern student as a law clerk.”But the faculty, Seder says, didn’t want to pick between him and Stevens.Seder: “So they asked us to flip a coin to decide who would go down to Washington as law clerk.”Nice piece from CPR on retiring Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens.
Pro Wrestling Photo of the Day
The caption, as provided by our friends at WENN: “WWE champion John Cena faced former WWE champion Sheamus for the title
belt at The O2 arena and after long battle Cena won when Bret ‘The
Hitman’ Hart distracted the Irishman. But after Sheamus’ homecrowd booed
and jeered Cena he handed the belt to Sheamus to delight of the
Dubliner’s fans.”
Phil Mickelson Wins the Masters… Again!
Phil Mickelson has won the Masters for the third time. He shot a 16-under 272, beating Britain’s Lee Westwood by three strokes.Mickelson also won the Masters in 2004 and 2006. His wife has been battling breast cancer, making the win just a little more meaningful. It’s his 38th PGA Tour win and his fourth major win: he also won the 2005 PGA Championship.
Munchkin Coroner: Peace Out
He’s really most sincerely dead: Meinhardt Raabe, who played the singing Munchkin coroner in The Wizard of Oz, has died at age 94. He passed on in Florida, where he lived in a retirement community.Raabe was born in 1915, so he was about 22 when the film was shot. TV Guide says he used the money from the shoot to pay for college. Here’s his big moment:
“Tiger Woods, You Suck!”
Tiger Woods pulled his tee shot on the par-3 6th hole at The Masters today, and the boys in the CBS control booth didn’t cue up the phony bird sounds fast enough. Instead they caught Tiger’s reaction:
Liz Taylor to Marry?
US magazine reports that screen legend Liz Taylor is planning to get married again, for the ninth time.
The lucky man is Jason Winters, “who recently became Janet Jackson’s manager.” Winters works for Sterling Winters Management and is 49 years old. Liz is 78.
Happy Birthday, Tom Lehrer
Today is the birthday of Tom Lehrer, whose comic songs of yore include “The Vatican Rag,” “Pollution” and, performed here, “Poisoning Pigeons in the Park.”And, according to this YouTube channel loaded with Lehrer stuff, there’s a CD/DVD set due out next week.
SCROTUS Update: John Paul Stevens
Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens is your newest Supreme Court Retiree Of The United States.
Where’s Buzz? Out On His Ear!
Buzz Aldrin with partner Ashly DelGrosso-Costa on Dancing With the Stars. Photo: ABC
Astronaut and super-stud Buzz Aldrin got the boot from Dancing With the Stars last night.
Tiger Woods Tee Time: 1:42 pm
Tiger Woods tees off in The Masters on Thursday at 1:42 pm Eastern time. That puts him in the next-to-last group of the day. (Coincidence, or are those crafty old hound dogs at Augusta National milking the drama?)
Dean Kamen’s TED Talk
Inventor Dean Kamen’s talk at the TED conference was about a mechanical arm he devised for wounded veterans. It’s nearly 20 minutes long, but if you can spare the time and relax enough for Kamen’s steady, sincere delivery, this video is worth watching.
Happy Birthday, Raphael
Today is the anniversary of Raphael’s birth. He would have been 517 years old today if he had lived. And had been a sorcerer. Or a descendant of Methuselah.
Raphael was one of the most influential Italian Renaissance painters, working in Florence and Rome in the early part of the 16th century. He died young, at the age of 37.
It’s also the anniversary of Raphael’s death. Yes, he died on his birthday, in 1520. Bummer.
Our Reliable Tabloids
ShowBizSpy, January 5: George Clooney ‘Ready to Marry Elisabetta Canalis’ShowBizSpy, April 6: George Clooney Dumps Elisabetta Canalis
Prince Rainier III + 5 Years
Prince Rainier III of Monaco died five years ago today. Prince Rainier ruled Monaco for just about 56 years, from 1949 until his death in 2005. “Ruling” is a funny term for running Monaco, the sunny tax-free playground for the rich. Not that it’s easy to do well, but it’s also not exactly like “ruling” a traditional country.
Tiger Woods’s ‘Masterclass in Evasion’
Tiger Woods held a press conference yesterday at Augusta National, and journalists weren’t too satisfied. John Hopkins of The Times called it “a master class in evasion.”
One Boring Shining Moment: Duke Wins Again
Coach Mike Krzyzewski won his fourth NCAA basketball championship as head coach of Duke University last night. Boring old powerhouse Duke beat plucky, lovable, far-more-deserving Butler 61-59.Thereby assuring that thousands of boring bracketeers who picked obvious choice Duke to win the tournament are now blandly and smugly satisfied.Not that we’re bitter.