Vivian Lee Smallwood (June 18, 1933 - July 22nd, 2017), known by her stage name Rappin' Granny, was an American grandmother who performed hip-hop music.
R.I.P. to June Foray, unquestionably the best and most influential voice actor of all time. Chuck Jones said, "June Foray is not the female Mel Blanc; Mel Blanc is the male June Foray." This is 100% accurate. She was 99.
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Cēterum cēnseō factiōnem Rēpūblicānam dēlendam esse īgnī ferrōque.
“All for ourselves, and nothing for other people, seems, in every age of the world, to have been the vile maxim of the masters of mankind.” -Adam Smith
One of the most important and influential early writers in the Off Broadway movement, Mr. Shepard captured and chronicled the darker sides of American family life in plays like “Buried Child,” which won the Pulitzer Prize for drama in 1979, and “Curse of the Starving Class” and “A Lie of the Mind.”
He was widely regarded as one of the most original voices of his generation, winning praise from critics for his searing portraits of spouses, siblings and lovers struggling with issues of identity, failure and the fleeting nature of the American dream. He was nominated for two other Pulitzers, for “True West” and “Fool for Love,” which both received Broadway productions.
Mr. Shepard was also an accomplished actor, nominated for an Academy Award for his supporting role in “The Right Stuff.” His most recent work was in the Netflix show “Bloodline,” where he appeared as the character of Robert Rayburn. He also appeared on New York stages, winning strong reviews for his performance in the Off Broadway production of Caryl Churchill’s “A Number” in 2004.
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Cēterum cēnseō factiōnem Rēpūblicānam dēlendam esse īgnī ferrōque.
“All for ourselves, and nothing for other people, seems, in every age of the world, to have been the vile maxim of the masters of mankind.” -Adam Smith
TIL he was a member of the famed group of studio musicians The Wrecking Crew and also a touring member of the Beach Boys in 1964-65. I also didn't know about his Alzheimer's advocacy. I suspect a lot of people rediscovered him after James Gunn used "Southern Nights" in Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol 2, and I suspect a lot will rediscover him now as well. R.I.P.
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Cēterum cēnseō factiōnem Rēpūblicānam dēlendam esse īgnī ferrōque.
“All for ourselves, and nothing for other people, seems, in every age of the world, to have been the vile maxim of the masters of mankind.” -Adam Smith
More than a comedian, Mr. Gregory was driven by an unwavering commitment to front-line activism. He marched in Selma, Ala., was jailed in Birmingham, Ala., was shot in the leg during the 1965 Watts riots in Los Angeles, and had counted the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Medgar Evers and Malcolm X — all slain campaigning for their cause — among his confidants. At one protest, Mr. Gregory said, his pregnant wife was kicked in the stomach by a white sheriff.
Mr. Gregory’s entertainment career increasingly took a back seat to his activism.
Protesting de facto school segregation, Mr. Gregory led a march in 1965 from Chicago’s City Hall to the home of Mayor Richard J. Daley. He and several dozen peaceful protesters were arrested for disorderly conduct — they had refused to obey police orders to disperse, and hundreds of hecklers began pelting them with rocks and eggs.
In 1969, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously reversed those convictions, saying there was no evidence they were responsible for the violence.
Amid that legal case, Mr. Gregory ran for mayor against Daley in 1967 and for U.S. president in 1968 as a write-in candidate with the left-wing Freedom and Peace Party, campaigning against what he saw as rampant political corruption in the two major parties.
Mr. Gregory said he was appalled that the Democratic Party would host its national convention that year in Chicago, a city where black demonstrators were regularly brutalized by the police. The convention drew a large contingent of white anti-Vietnam protesters, and the outbreak of violence that ensued prompted Mr. Gregory to take mordant glee in the melee.
“I was at home watching it on TV, and I fell on the floor and laughed,” he told GQ magazine in 2008. “My wife said, ‘What’s funny?’ And I said, ‘The whole world is gonna change. White folks are gonna see white folks beating white folks.’ ”
He may have become something of a crackpot in his older years, but that doesn't erase how crucial his civil rights activism during the '60s was or how influential his comedy once was.
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Cēterum cēnseō factiōnem Rēpūblicānam dēlendam esse īgnī ferrōque.
“All for ourselves, and nothing for other people, seems, in every age of the world, to have been the vile maxim of the masters of mankind.” -Adam Smith
Originally Posted in Wikipedia
Lewis kept a low political profile for many years, having taken advice given to him by his friend, President John F. Kennedy, who told him "Don't get into anything political. Don't do that because they will usurp your energy". [...] In a December 2015 interview on EWTN's World Over with Raymond Arroyo ... he criticized President Barack Obama for not being prepared for ISIS, while expressing support for Donald Trump, saying he would make a good president because he was a good "showman". He also added that he admired Ronald Reagan's presidency.
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... it's just an idea
Last edited by mickthinks; 08-20-2017 at 08:42 PM.
Lewis apparently gave The Day the Clown Cried to the Library of Congress a couple of years back, on condition that it stay under wraps until at least 2024.
Here, Patton Oswalt describes a live reading of the script that was supposed to take place at a Santa Monica, CA theater in 1997, featuring "not only Toby Huss but also David Cross, Bob Odenkirk, Paul F. Tompkins, Brian Posehn, Laura Milligan, Scott Aukerman, and Dave Foley from The Kids in the Hall." Oswalt received a cease-and-desist letter shortly before showtime, which led to the following:
Quote:
The lights went down and I stepped out onstage with the cease-and-desist letter in my hand. I explained to the audience what had happened. Boos. Groans. And then, piece by piece, we all improvised an evening around the fact that we’d been canceled. Bob and David improvised their interpretation of exactly what happened when the producer found out about the reading in L.A. Weekly (“How the fuck will anyone go see our movie in Kansas if eight people watch a script reading for free in Santa Monica?”). Paul F. Tompkins did a flawless phone call between the producer of the film and Peter O’Toole, trying to snake the role of the clown away from Jerry Lewis. Toby Huss played a concerned white supremacist who took issue with the screenplay’s “negative” depiction of the Third Reich. And then everyone did a massive, free-form, back-and-forth “interpretive dance/pantomime/ musical” version of the screenplay. Sloppy, hilarious, and impossible to sue. What else could you ask for in an evening of theater?
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"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." ~ Louis D. Brandeis
"Psychos do not explode when sunlight hits them, I don't give a fuck how crazy they are." ~ S. Gecko
R.I.P. to Steely Dan co-founder Walter Becker. Suspect I'll be going through their '70s & '80s works tonight. Those were some of the most perfectly produced albums ever made, and for my money "Deacon Blues" is as close to perfect as any pop song has ever been. The string of their first seven albums is pretty close to being flawless.
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Cēterum cēnseō factiōnem Rēpūblicānam dēlendam esse īgnī ferrōque.
“All for ourselves, and nothing for other people, seems, in every age of the world, to have been the vile maxim of the masters of mankind.” -Adam Smith
Say what you will about Steely Dan, but Walter Becker could fukken PLAY. Here's one of the best opening numbers of all time (the song starts at 2:35, but the intro from a spectacularly inebriated crew member is pretty good as well):
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"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." ~ Louis D. Brandeis
"Psychos do not explode when sunlight hits them, I don't give a fuck how crazy they are." ~ S. Gecko
Amongst other things, she was the plaintiff in the Supreme Court case that struck down DOMA and paved the way for Obergefell.
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Cēterum cēnseō factiōnem Rēpūblicānam dēlendam esse īgnī ferrōque.
“All for ourselves, and nothing for other people, seems, in every age of the world, to have been the vile maxim of the masters of mankind.” -Adam Smith
Well, this sucks. Alongside R.E.M., Hüsker Dü basically invented alternative rock, but they never got the fame they deserved. The string of albums from Zen Arcade to Warehouse can stack up favourably against the output of any other '80s act. I'd put Mould and Hart up there with other great songwriting duos like Lennon/McCartney, Jagger/Richards, John/Taupin, Fagen/Becker, and so on (although Mould and Hart usually didn't collaborate).
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Cēterum cēnseō factiōnem Rēpūblicānam dēlendam esse īgnī ferrōque.
“All for ourselves, and nothing for other people, seems, in every age of the world, to have been the vile maxim of the masters of mankind.” -Adam Smith
R.I.P. Harry Dean Stanton, age 91 (The Godfather Part II, Cool Hand Luke, Alien, Twin Peaks, Inland Empire, and so on). Quite an impressive and eclectic filmography, to say the least.
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Cēterum cēnseō factiōnem Rēpūblicānam dēlendam esse īgnī ferrōque.
“All for ourselves, and nothing for other people, seems, in every age of the world, to have been the vile maxim of the masters of mankind.” -Adam Smith