Besides setting the literary community abuzz, Salinger’s decision to come out of seclusion has allowed scholars access to his massive archive of unpublished work for the first time. So far, critics have examined three never-before-seen novels, eight novellas, and more than two dozen short stories — all of which appear to be Terminator fan fiction.So reports The Onion.
Music legend Ray Charles died five years ago today. For your entertainment, here are a couple of Ray Charles videos:First, Ray joins Johnny Cash in a few song bits about being broke — including one of our favorites by Charles (Cash recorded it, too), “Busted”:
Wonderful images from last week’s Obama family trip to Egypt and Europe. All are official White House photos taken by Pete Souza.The family watches as Sasha Obama lights a candle at Notre Dame Cathedral on 6 June 2009.
First daughter Sasha Obama turns eight today. (She’s exactly 80 years younger than Britain’s Prince Philip.)Last year we analyzed the mystery of Sasha’s exact birthday.
Anvil is back. The obscure Canadian metal rockers from the 1980s will open for AC/DC at Giants Stadium in July.Comparisons to Spinal Tap are inevitable, thanks to the 2008 documentary about the band: Anvil! The Story of Anvil. (Trailer below.) But yes, they’re a real band.
Comedy Central star Stephen Colbert, while broadcasting from Iraq, gets his hair shorn by the order of President Barack Obama:
Las Vegas entertainer Danny Gans died of a toxic reaction to painkillers, plus high blood pressure, according to the Clark County coroner.Gans died in his sleep on the morning of 1 May 2009; his wife called 911 from their home to report that Gans was having trouble breathing. He was pronounced dead at the scene. It later came out that Gans was taking hydromorphone, an opiate more commonly known as Dilaudid.
Madonna has stunned the movie industry with plans to remake Casablanca — and this time set it in Iraq.So claimed The Daily Mail last year. But since then, sadly… nothing.
He bagged it today. Roger Federer is now tied with Pete Sampras for the all-time record with 14 major titles: 1 French, 3 Australian, 5 U.S., and 5 Wimbledon.(He won #14 despite a dopey fan, too.)Amazingly, Federer has reached the semifinals in 20 straight major tournaments.
Here’s the opening to “Kung Fu,” the pilot for the TV series that made David Carradine a star. Well made! If you haven’t got time for the full clip, hop to minute 7:00 for the famous “snatch the pebble from my hand” moment. As TV moments go, you can’t beat it. “When you can take the pebble from my hand, it will be time for you to leave.”
Actor David Carradine has died at age 72.Details are sketchy, but Carradine was apparently in Thailand to film his latest movie. The BBC reports that the former Kung Fu star “was found by a hotel maid sitting in a wardrobe with a cord around his neck and other parts of his body.”Here’s a shot from his salad days on Kung Fu.
I am grateful for your hospitality, and the hospitality of the people of Egypt. I am also proud to carry with me the goodwill of the American people, and a greeting of peace from Muslim communities in my country: assalaamu alaykum.President Barack Obama has given his much-anticipted speech at Cairo University on the relations between the U.S. and the Islamic world. (“Assalaamu alaykum” is a traditional greeting which means, roughly, “Peace be upon you.”)
During the height of the Depression, in March 1932, Herbert Hoover called a meeting with Rudy Vallee in the White House, at which Hoover told Vallee that if he could “write a song to drive away the Depression,” he would “rate a medal.” Vallee demurred, instead recording “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?”A history of “meltdown music.”
No gong from the Grim Reaper for Chuck Barris. The game show impresario is 80 today — born in 1929.Here’s a Barris photo from 2006. “Chuck Barris and guest at Christie’s 40th anniversary of Truman Capote’s Black and White Ball. New York, 3 March 2006” is the caption provided by our friends at WENN. (Nice guest, Chuck!)
RadarOnline.com has photos of Twilight star Robert Pattinson from when he was a toddler.They say it’s Pattinson, anyway, and they say he was just as adorable then as he is now. You be the judge. Here’s our favorite.
“He’ll probably play a couple of shows, then get a doctor’s sick note. Jackson’s not a well man. To do 50 concerts you need real strength, mentally and physically. He couldn’t even read the teleprompter at the press conference.”An in-depth look at Michael Jackson’s physical and financial health. 800,000 tickets have been sold for his upcoming 50-concert stand in London.
British talent show singer Susan Boyle has been sent to a London clinic after coming in second place on Britain’s Got Talent.
Elizabeth Gladys Dean died yesterday at a nursing home in Southampton at the age of 97. Known as Millvina, she was the last surviving passenger on the Titanic, the ocean liner that sank in 1912.She was only nine weeks old at the time, traveling with her parents and brother from Southampton, England to Wichita, Kansas. Her father didn’t survive, but her mother and brother did. Millvina didn’t find out until she was eight years old that she’d been a passenger on the ship.
It’s irresistible:
Released from prison at the end of 2007 after serving 32 years, would-be presidential assassin Sara Jane Moore was interviewed by Matt Lauer on TV this week.Moore was sent to jail for taking a shot at President Gerald Ford in 1975. She says she’s tired of being thought of as “a kook, a monster… an alien.”