Bill Cosby is Back in the Navy
Comedian Bill Cosby was made an honorary chief petty officer by the U.S. Navy this week.
The Who2 Blog
How Tall is Jacki Weaver?
Jacki Weaver is 4’9″ tall. We just did the research.The Australian actress and Oscar nominee is clearly a bit on the short side. In the gangster film Animal Kingdom she plays a crime boss so tiny she’s nicknamed “Smurf.”
Dale Earnardt, R.I.P.
Racing great Dale Earnhardt died ten years ago today, in the final lap of the Daytona 500.
“The Intimidator” had been racing at Daytona for a quarter of a century. In the race in 2001, Earnhardt was holding off challengers to his teammate, Michael Waltrip, who ended up winning the race.
Here’s a video that captures the moment:
Birthday Twins: Toni Morrison and Johnny Hart
Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Toni Morrison and Reuben Award-winning cartoonist Johnny Hart were born on this very same day in 1931.
Watson vs. Humans: How’d We Do?
How did we do with our predictions last week about the big Watson vs. Humans showdown on Jeopardy? Let’s look.
Paris Hilton Turns 30 Today
Happy birthday to one-time internet favorite Paris Hilton!
Paris Hilton is 30 years old today. Our little girl has grown up!
You know you’ll want to read USA Today’s “Paris Hilton Turns 30 With Animals and a Snazzy Car” — that headline really sucks in the reader.
Where’s Buzz? At the Berlin Film Festival!
Hero astronaut Buzz Aldrin and his wife, Lois Aldrin, pose with Alain Visser, a vice president for Opel, on Monday night. They were at the 61st Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale) – Cinema for Peace Gala, held at the Konzerthaus in Berlin, Germany.
J.D. Salinger, War Hero
Something I didn’t know about J.D. Salinger: It’s hard to think of an American writer who had more combat
experience. He landed on Utah Beach on D-Day. Slawenski reports that of
the 3,080 members of Salinger’s regiment who landed with him on June 6,
1944, only 1,130 survived three weeks later.
Mordecai Brown Had More Than Three Fingers
Baseball pitching legend Mordecai Brown died on this day in 1948. He was 71.
Wayne Rooney’s Unbelievable Goal
[ Update: original clean video now replaced with muddier video from YouTube. Registration is required to see video on the Man U. site, otherwise we’d send you there. ] Wayne …..
Richard Dreyfuss Does the Right Thing
Here’s something you don’t see every day: someone in the political arena admitting that what they said was wrong:
Hosni Mubarak Has Resigned
Protestors in Egypt have erupted in celebration: President Hosni Mubarak has stepped down.Here’s a live feed from Tahrir Square in Cairo:
Who Does Elena Kagan Look Like?
Earlier we proposed Burt Reynolds to star as Antonin Scalia in a TV movie about the tea party.That got us thinking about who would play the other justices. Now we see that the people at AboveTheLaw have already held a lookalike contest for Justice Elena Kagan.
Burt Reynolds Is 75 and Just the Right Age to Play Antonin Scalia
Seventies superstud Burt Reynolds turns 75 years old today. He was born in Lansing, Michigan on this day in 1936. (Exactly one month before the birth of Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia. Reynolds could play Scalia in a film about the rise of the Tea Party, couldn’t he? Maybe in Jack Horner mode?)
What’s Crispin Glover Up To Lately?
He’s makin’ movies and lookin’ strange, according to The Guardian:
Watson vs. Humans: A Jeopardy Champ’s View
As an olde-time Jeopardy champ, I have a few choice thoughts on next week’s big contest pitting IBM’s computer Watson against two humans, former champs Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter.I am also ready to predict the winner.Let’s get to the thoughts.
Happy 30th Deathday, Bill Haley!
Wow: It’s been 30 years since the death of Bill Haley, Mr. Rock-Around-the-Clock himself. Haley was only 55 when he died of a brain tumor (or a heart attack, depending on who’s talking) in 1981.
Happy Birthday, John Williams!
Today is the birthday of composer John Williams of movie soundtrack fame. He turns 79.
Millions of people — maybe billions of people — have heard the music of John Williams, whose first movie score was for 1960s Because They’re Young.
During the 1970s, we learned to love Williams for the music in big disaster movies such as The Towering Inferno, Earthquake and The Poseidon Adventure.
Killjoy Mayor to Detroit: ‘No Robocop Statue’
“If I were mayor of Detroit, my top priority would be a RoboCop statue.”So says one angry commenter, reacting to Mayor Dave Bing’s announcement that there will be no Robocop statue in Detroit. It’s probably a good thing that said commenter is not mayor of Detroit
Warren Beatty Really Likes His Beige Suit
Here’s Warren Beatty with his nominee wife, Annette Bening, at the Oscar lunch yesterday — she in a lovely black dress, he in a simple beige suit.