Thank you for being a goddess
I usually take pleasure in celebrity death, especially the unexpected ones. But it is with misty eyes and a sunken heart that I admit the following: Bea Arthur has died. I am still in disbelief. Yes, she was 86. Yet her passing still comes as a shock. Arthur is the second Golden Girl to die in the past year. Unlike Estelle Getty, whose demise was slow and relatively public, Arthur’s fatal battle with cancer was an amazingly well-contained secret. In retrospect, she did look alarmingly ill at her Television Hall of Fame induction this past December, as the below photos demonstrate.
Adventures in liveblogging: The 51st Annual Grammy Awards
So I’ve never done a live blog before, but having read those of blogs and publications with vastly wider audiences (including many real-time readers) than this one, it always looked like an enjoyable way to spice up special cultural events, specifically awards show. And so begins a grand experiment, one that will test my wits, my blog savvy and my blind typing skills. And hopefully produce a handful of worthwhile observations (and I’m sure a fair share of trite comments) in the process. At the very least, we’ll see how many of the previous post’s eight predictions come true.
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Mayeral election
I’ve been periodically viewing CNN’s pre-Inauguration coverage, and noticing that they keep cutting to commercial with John Mayer’s “Waiting on the World to Change.” Because the historic new administration will apparently still make room for bland, horrendous music that struggles to make some sort of “deep” statement.
Obama’s first order of business ought to be a binding resolution that this song is a. horrible and b. meaningless. Beyond meaning that ol’ John is looking to bang activist chicks, and will resort to the most blatant pandering to do so. But then again, anybody who heard the Grammy-winning (what the fuck?!?) “Daughters” knows that Mayer is hardly above pandering.
I’ll still watch his variety show. Dude’s cracked more funny jokes than written good songs. Perhaps his entire career will eventually be revealed to be one wise-ass satirical mindfuck. A guy can dream…
“Heads Up” on WBAL: anyone remember?
A current research project involves the evaporation of localized entertainment programming from the airwaves over the past three decades. Though this is a national problem, my focal point would be Baltimore, because that’s where I grew up and currently live. And I was hoping for the nexus of the article to be Heads Up, a quiz show featuring area elementary schools that aired Saturday mornings on WBAL for at least much of the ’80s. But I can find no information on it, save a mention on WBAL’s Wikipedia site (no sign on WBAL-TV’s own website), and I’m fearing the tapes have been lost. Here’s what I remember about it (forgive any inaccuracies—we are talking twenty year old recollections here): Read the rest of this entry »
