AL Gore and MSNBC in a brawl

There is an LA Times report at the link below titled, Al Gore and MSNBC get in shoving match after Keith Olbermann's move to Current TV.

Al Gore, the Nobel laureate beloved by many liberals for his passionate espousal of environmental causes, has gotten into a dust-up with MSNBC, the cable-TV home of liberal opinion.

The fracas started Tuesday after Gore and other officials of Current TV, the network founded in 2005, announced they had nabbed former MSNBC host Keith Olbermann to lead a new nightly program starting later this spring. Olbermann will also become chief news officer of the low-rated Current, which has about 60 million subscribers in the U.S.

Hinting at the potential Current has despite its low viewership, the former vice president declared during a phone call with reporters, "We have more subscribers today than MSNBC had when Keith Olbermann began working for them" in 2003.

And so the mudslinging goes. Maybe we will pop some popcorn if this continues - the fight could get quite entertaining.

As one commenter wrote, get ready to be amused by the two biggest clowns in the 'news' industry -- the only thing missing is Chris Matthews and a dancing chimp on a rope.

It's coming down to IMSNBC and Al Gore fighting over what's left for them in the bottom of the barrel.

Link

Obama's Sputnik speech

In the President's 'spaced out' speech, he ignored the communist challenge, among other things, in his space-race analogy.

President Obama's announcement on Tuesday that “this is our generation’s Sputnik moment” came across as puzzling.

Had al Qaeda sent a suicide bomber into space?

But it turned out to be just a clumsy metaphor.

If you are younger than 57 years old you weren't even born when the first Sputnik was launched.

It is a now distant event that no longer arouses passion. It would be as if someone described the Watergate scandal as that generation’s Teapot Dome. Few would know what he was talking about.

Nothing has happened recently that could be roughly analogous to Sputnik. The launch drew its shock value from the context of the Cold War, when the Soviet Union was America’s bitter adversary.

What the President really needs is a less "spaced out" speech writer.

Link

Barrett-Jackson auto auctions

Once or twice a year I enjoy watching the Barrett-Jackson auto auctions on TV while catching up on some writing on my laptop while kicked back in a recliner.

It would be fun to attend one of the Barrett-Jackson auctions. However, even if I could qualify as a bidder, I would be nervous in the bidding area.

I would worry that a quick forehead scratch would make me the new owner of a 1926 Hupmobile.

Last night I had my Barrett-Jackson 'fix' so now I will be fine for the next few months.

Paramedics rescue boy after tongue stuck to pole

In a scene straight from the movie "A Christmas Story," an 8-year-old Oklahoma boy got his tongue stuck to a metal pole after he licked it on a dare.

Officials said when rescue crews arrived the boy was standing on his tiptoes trying get his tongue off the pole.

Paramedics were able to help the boy by pouring water on his tongue. Once free, the boy told officials he got stuck after his brother dared him to lick the pole.

The photo shows Flick putting his tongue on a frozen flagpole as Ralphie Parker watches in the movie A Christmas Story. Flick just had to do it - after all, he was triple-dog dared.

The incident brought back a vivid childhood memory of a winter day when I was in the first grade.

I tried to lick frost from the metal steering bar of a sled while playing in a farmyard near Hurley, South Dakota.

It's something a kid never does more than once.

Link

Easy Rider actor Peter Fonda finds dead body in car

Los Angeles police say actor Peter Fonda (pictured) discovered a dead body in a car and they are investigating the death.

Sgt. Carlton Cook at the West Los Angeles Community Police Station says the "Easy Rider" actor called 911 on Wednesday after he spotted a car parked on the side of Sunset Blvd.

Maybe some out-of-work screen writers will try to make a story out of this starring out-of-work actor Peter Fonda and try to get an out-of-work director/producer to convince a hungry movie studio to make a movie out of the story.

It will never top Easy Rider, but who knows. Besides, it was Fonda who found the dead guy.

Link

First full length movie shot with iPhone

A movie claimed to be the first ever cinema-standard film to be shot solely on the iPhone has been premiered by celebrated South Korean director Park Chan Wook.

The 30-minute film was shot using an iPhone.

It cost 150 million won ($133,000). Wonder why it cost so much? And Don't tell us it wads because of roaming charges.

More here.

Did Jessica Simpson change to a new poofy hairdo for 2011?

Jessica Simpson fans can relax, the answer is no. The wildly poofy hairdo was for a magazine photo shoot.

It's just that her publicist Lauren Auslander, had a little fun at her expense and tweeted the photo, saying jokingly, "Hey Jessica Simpson nice new 'do for 2011."

Oprah 18 minute answer leaves critics cranky

A report at the link below is titled, "TV Critics Reeling After Oprah Holds Them Hostage With 18 Minute Long Answer At Press Tour."

Actually, they must have trying to get even for her 18 minute answer with their sixteen word report title.

It must have been like a long-winded self-centered Obama press conference without a teleprompter.

Link

1919 Dodge from Jimmy Stewart Christmas movie has new Colorado owner

Keith and Marilyn Smith are are shown below driving down a ramp from the truck as they take delivery of the 1919 Dodge touring car that was delivered Friday to their Johnstown (near Loveland), Colorado home.


The Christmas Eve delivery of the 91-year-old car was very fitting.

The car was used in the filming of the classic Christmas movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

It's the car Jimmy Stewart was driving when he crashed into a tree in the movie.

More here.

Larry King takes his suspenders into retirement

For 25 years, night after night, Larry King Live has been a pillar of American culture, as comforting and dependable as Mickey Mouse and Hershey. But even cultural pillars can grow structurally unsound; in the case of King some would say that happened years ago.

King had announced this summer he would leave, ushered out by a struggling network.

Once the dominant voice in cable television news, King has faded in a sea of sharp talkers.

British talk-show host and "America's Got Talent" judge Piers Morgan takes over the 9 p.m. Eastern time slot in January.

Link here and here.

Darth Vader slogging through the snow

A street performer dressed as Darth Vader from the film 'Star Wars' slogs in the snow in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany.

Who will play the WikiLeaks guy in upcoming movies?

The story of WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange (pictured) seems to have almost originated from a Hollywood movie.

There will certainly be a WikiLeaks movie - it's just a matter of when it will be made. If it is filmed before the story ends - no problem. The rest of the story will be made into a sequel.

Who will play the roll of the presently jailed WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange?

The bigger question is how will Assange be portrayed. Will he be a hero, criminal, egotist, crusader, some combination of all those?

Link

Jay Leno quote…

"Obama received 12 stitches in his lip after being elbowed in the mouth during a basketball game. Out of habit, he blamed Bush" -- Jay Leno

New York Godfather movie house for sale for $2.9 Million

The New York mansion (pictured) used in the 1972 mobster epic, "The Godfather," is for sale.

The owners of the Staten Island home are asking $2.9 million. Maybe someone will make them an offer they can't refuse.

The movie starred Marlon Brando as the fictitious mobster Vito Corleone and turned actors Al Pacino and Robert Duall into household names.

The owner says his mother kept many artifacts from the movie, including Brando's cue cards.

The house features eight bedrooms, two fireplaces, a basement pub, a four-car garage and an in-ground pool.

Link

Colorado UFO House aka Sleeper House sold at foreclosure auction

Traveling on I-70 west of Denver near Genessee, Colorado you can see the "UFO" house a.k.a "Sleeper" house.

This futuristic house on Genessee Mountain was made famous by Woody Allen's 1973 sci-fi comedy movie Sleeper.


The lower photo shows the sitting room located below and behind the 'clam'.

It was designed & built by Architect Charles Deaton who also designed Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri.

It sold last week at a foreclosure auction for $1,529,401. The previous sale was for a reported $5.5 million.

Link

Actor Tony Curtis dies at 85

Tony Curtis, a dashingly handsome matinee idol of the 1950s and '60s, died at his home in Henderson, Nevada, of cardiopulmonary arrest according to a spokeswoman for the Clark County coroner. Curtis starred in over 140 major motion pictures.

Photos of Tony Curtis are show above.

"My father leaves behind a legacy of great performances in movies and in his paintings and assemblages," his daughter actress Jamie Lee Curtis said in a statement. "He leaves behind children and their families who loved him and respected him and a wife and in-laws who were devoted to him."

Link

Painted up for A Midsummer Night's Dream

Stage presence : Cast member Kim Ji-Youn, in the Korean theatre company Yohangza performance of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, prepares for the opening of their season in Melbourne, Australia.

AFP photo by William West

Piers Morgan to take over for Larry King on CNN

Piers Morgan, the well-known, though often caustic, judge on the popular America's Got Talent will replace Larry King on CNN on January 4.

Piers Morgan is shown above with Larry King.

Long rumored as the news network's front-runner, Morgan, 45, will likely bring a more confrontational interview style than the venerable King, whose 25-year-old Larry King Live has suffered a sharp drop in viewership and will end Dec. 16.

Link

Jerry Lewis Telethon raised $58,919,838

The 45th annual Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy Association telethon ran this weekend from the South Point Hotel in Las Vegas.

The event reached some 40 million viewers through 170 television stations and raised $58,919,838 for "Jerry's Kids."

The 84-year-old Lewis (shown above with one of his MDA kids) said, "I'm heartened by the unique ability of Americans to help others in need, when they themselves are likely struggling financially."

Link

Crocodile Dundee held hostage down under for fiddling the taxman

Actor Paul Hogan, star of the "Crocodile Dundee" movies, is trapped in Australia for non-payment of taxes.

The 70-year-old actor was served with a departure prohibition order while in Australia to attend his 101-year-old mother's funeral.

The departure prohibition order prevents him from leaving Australia and returning to Los Angeles where he lives with his wife and son.

The photo above shows Paul Hogan as he appeared in the movie Crocodile Dundee II.

Mr. Hogan told Australian television Nine Network's A Current Affair program, "I can't pay 10 percent of what they're asking."

The Australian Tax Office has refused to comment on reports they are seeking tax on $34 million of allegedly undeclared income from Hogan.

Link