No, Jeff Goldblum did not fall off a cliff in New Zealand. No, Harrison Ford did not die in his yacht off St. Tropez.
Jackson Around The Net
New Republic's John McWhorter: Michelangelo said that when he sculpted the David statue, David was already inside the block of marble and his job was just to take away what was not David. Jackson worked against nature’s endowment just as diligently, but surely the pale wraith he became was not something that had been waiting to see the light of … Read More
Bad Day For Icons: RIP Michael Jackson
Unlike Farrah Fawcett, this was a total surprise. I'm not sure I can add to the testimonials and news coverage about his career. I only note that when I came home from the performance this evening (the Michael Jackson kick choreographed weeks ago into the curtain call took on a special poignancy, however brief), I turned to MTV, a cable … Read More
NC Senate Passes Film Incentives
Good news: The movie industry got a step closer to better tax treatment in North Carolina as the state Senate on Wednesday approved a bill on a party line vote 27-17 to increase tax credits for qualifying expenses to 25 percent. It still has to be approved by the House before it is implemented, though. Sweetening the incentive pot for … Read More
RIP Farrah Fawcett
We saw this coming. Very sad. She passed only moments ago, fighting her battle with cancer the best she could until the end. She was 62. The young model…. …turned iconic image of the 1970s… …turned respected actress… Even throughout her wildly successful Charlie's Angels phase (which only lasted one year with her), she was dismissed as an unserious blonde … Read More
Photos Found Show Air France Flight As It Broke Up
No, not really. But this Bolivian news station thought so. It aired photos which showed the plane breaking up and passengers being sucked out of the fuselage. Unfortunately, the "footage" shown was actually from "Lost".
NC Anti-Bullying Statute Debate [UPDATE: Passes!]
I'm listening to the feed from the NC House as they debate the School Violence Prevention Act (the so-called anti-bullying bill) — full text here — and some moron is up there saying that the problem with the bill is that it is centered around the victims, rather than the bullies. According to this idiot, anyone can be victims, so … Read More
NC GOP Leader Says Same-Sex Parents Are More Dangerous Than Second Hand Smoke
Nice, huh? But that's what House Minority Leader Paul "Skip" Stam (R-Wake) said. What's more, he said that in open public debate, in front of an audience which included the children of a lesbian congresswoman. Even more surprising, his comments were made in the course of debating the School Violence Prevention Act (Senate Bill 526). Now, the impetus behind that bill … Read More
Holocaust Museum Shooting
It's all unfolding now. Two people (perhaps 3) shot by a gunman in the Holocaust Musuem in D.C.. The gunman was also apparently shot and is in custody. Too early, of course, to determine the motive, but since it was at the Holocaust Museum, one can surmise that the shooter was anti-Jew. From there, it's not a far leap to suppose … Read More
Perdue Adminsitration Blows It
When a movie is shot in North Carolina, it brings in a lot of money, which we need. The new Miley Cyrus movie (she's a big thing, I'm told) was set to shoot in Wilmington, and it would have brought in an estimated $17.5 million in movie-related revenue, and provided 500 jobs. In fact… Wilmington was the preferred location for … Read More
Defections In The NY State Senate
The Democrats no longer control to NY state senate, because of the defection moments ago of two Democratic senators, reports the New York Times. A rift, apparently, in the Democartic party on the subject of gay marriage.
Ugly America
By now, you may have heard about the killing of Dr. George Tiller in Wichita, Kansas this morning. It took place in (of all places) a church. Dr. George Tiller has long been a target (literally and figuratively) of the religious right, Bill O'Reilly, Glenn Beck, and others because he performs late term abortions. As Amanda Marcotte wrote: [Tiller] is … Read More
Google Outage
Yeah, it's happening now, worldwide. World at a standstill. Are we relying on Google too much??? UPDATE: More than a few people on Twitter did what *I* did — i.e., tried to find out about Google outage by searching "google outage"…. except they searched on Google. Duh! It does pose an interesting dilemna: how do you find out about Google … Read More