M Is FOR MASHUP - January 11th, 2012
No Mashups Today, New Comics Instead!
By DJ Useo
Hey Everybody, there just weren't any new mashups posted, so I went downtown to Austin Comics & bought a nice assortment of my favorite comic books. You never can rot your mind enough, I always say.
Be sure & hide these under your mattress with your copy of Playboy. You wouldn't want anyone finding these & thinking you're a juvenile delinquent!
Hopefully, some dj somewhere will do up some mashup I can review for next weeks' column.
In the meanwhile, thanks everyone who sent in the great answers for the TV quiz here on BARTCOP E this last week. Me & the missus lol'ed as hard at some of your humorous replies as if you were Mitch Hedburg himself!
Catch you later.
-Konrad Useo
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
BRIAN BEUTLER: The Rapid Economic Recovery Republicans Are Praying Against (Talking Points Memo)
Everything that's supposed to happen in politics this year, and everything that has happened for the last several months, has been premised on the tacit, but seemingly safe assumption: The economy will remain weak for years. … But what if that assumption is wrong?
Interview by Ian Tucker: "Thomas Hills: Why human intelligence isn't evolving faster" (Guardian)
Psychologist Thomas Hills explains the evolutionary trade-offs in increasing intelligence.
Josh Levin: NFL 2011 (Slate)
Why the Steelers lost to Tim Tebow.
Howard Jacobson: Charles Dickens has been ruined by the BBC (Guardian)
How Dickens was able to lower himself into these black depths of the soul and still make us laugh is one of literature's great wonders. He took us where no other novelist ever has. You don't have to like him, but you're impoverished if you don't.
Conan O'Brien: "Your Friend, Conan" (Letters of Note)
In 2003, with her prom fast approaching and a date as yet undecided, Ohio-based Nikki Simmons took a chance and sent an invite to her idol: a certain flame-haired talk show host. She says, "I asked Conan O'Brien to prom when I was in eleventh grade... so many many years ago... Although he turned me down, he was awesome enough to write back! I'll always be a Conan fan!"
Shahesta Shaitly: "This much I know: Emily Watson" (Guardian)
The actor, 44, on blaming Shakespeare, not knowing what makes a marriage work, and being like a goldfish.
Jason Solomons: "Steve McQueen: 'I could never make American movies - they like happy endings'" (Guardian)
Artist turned director Steve McQueen on New York, last year's riots and why sex addiction is the subject of his latest film.
Roger Ebert: Review of "My Man Godfrey" (A Great Movie)
This movie, and the actors in it, and its style of production, and the system that produced it, and the audiences that loved it, have all been replaced by pop culture of brainless vulgarity. But the movie survives, and to watch it is to be rescued from some people who don't care that it makes a difference ... to some people.
David Bruce's Lulu Store
25% off; Coupon Code: LULUBOOK305; Coupon expires January 31, 2012.
David Bruce: Wise Up! Gays and Lesbians (Athens News)
The American Family Association, whose major accomplishment is raising money, really, really doesn't like the word "gay." In fact, for a while in 2008 its website had an autobot that automatically "corrected" the word "gay" in any story that appeared on its site, changing it to the word "homosexual." Unfortunately, a lot of stories about American track star Tyson Gay suddenly became stories about American track star Tyson Homosexual.
David Bruce has 42 Kindle books on Amazon.com with 250 anecdotes in each book. Each book is $1, so for $42 you can buy 10,500 anecdotes. Search for "Funniest People," "Coolest People, "Most Interesting People," "Kindest People," "Religious Anecdotes," "Maximum Cool," and "Resist Psychic Death."
Bosko Suggests
Just One Person
Have a great day,
Bosko.
Thanks, Bosko!
If anyone at my Funeral has a long face,
wrote:
answered:
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Reader Suggestion
Xbox 360 Factory
working conditions at xbox factory
some guy
Thanks, Guy!
BadtotheboneBob
Charlie Sheen
Reader Suggestion
Japanese department store
Japanese department store
Sharon in Tejas
Thanks, Sharon!
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and seasonal.
The kid started a new semester. Yikes.
Theoretically Ahead Of Huntsman In South Carolina
Stephen Colbert
A new poll in which satirical talk-show host Stephen Colbert is theoretically pitted against the actual Republican presidential candidates finds Colbert ahead of Jon Huntsman in South Carolina.
That could be a foreboding sign for the former Utah governor, who joked that he would benefit from "The Colbert Bump" after guesting on "The Colbert Report" in October.
Five percent of GOP primary voters in South Carolina would pick Colbert, while only 4 percent would choose Huntsman, the new Public Policy Polling figures show.
Leading the pack in the poll, released Tuesday, is Mitt Romney with 27 percent, followed by Newt Gingrich (23 percent), Rick Santorum (18 percent), Ron Paul (8 percent) and Rick Perry (7 percent). Last is former Louisiana Governor Buddy Roemer, who also trails Colbert, with 1 percent.
Stephen Colbert
Denies Reports
Keith Olbermann
Keith Olbermann -- who's just getting over a spat with his Current TV bosses over Iowa caucus coverage -- was put on the defensive Tuesday after Gawker posted stories about Olbermann from an anonymous source who claimed to be a former employee.
Accusing Olbermann of "abusive behavior toward his staff," the source complained, "He doesn't have reasonable reactions to missteps, he gets angry and finds ways to take his anger out on people."
The source claimed to have worked at "Countdown" when it aired on MSNBC and said that the show had "a 75 percent staff turnover rate in the time I was there -- high even for the cable news business."
The source also got personal, saying Olbermann was a terrible dresser but that no one could address it because he was "traumatized" by a childhood shopping trip in which his mother made him try on wool suits in the summer.
Olbermann unsurprisingly took issue with the claims.
Keith Olbermann
Letter Shows Misery
Ludwig van Beethoven
A rare handwritten letter by German composer Ludwig van Beethoven complaining about illness and a lack of money has turned up at a northern German institute as part of a bequest, causing excitement among lovers of the musical genius.
The Brahms Institute in the northern city of Luebeck said the six-page letter bearing the composer's signature and original seal was, in essence, an attempt to sell his well-known "Missa solemnis" mass which he completed in 1823.
In the letter, Beethoven asks harpist and composer Franz Anton Stockhausen to help find advance buyers for the mass.
But most striking are details about his personal circumstances, such as his financial concerns, an eye disorder and an attempt to track down a music-loving dentist who wrote to him, said Stefan Weymar, music researcher at the institute.
At the end, he wrote "all letters to me need nothing more than "To L. v. Beethoven in Vienna," where I receive everything."
Ludwig van Beethoven
Wedding News
Sheppard - Ferry
Veteran British rocker Bryan Ferry married girlfriend Amanda Sheppard in the luxury Caribbean beach resort of Amanyara on the Turks and Caicos Islands on January 4, British media reported on Tuesday.
It is the "Let's Stick Together" and "Slave to Love" singer's second marriage. His first was to Lucy Helmore, with whom he had four sons, which lasted from 1982 until their divorce in 2003.
The debonair Roxy Music frontman, 66, also famously dated Jerry Hall before she left him for Mick Jagger.
Sheppard, who has worked in PR, is 29, according to the reports.
Sheppard - Ferry
Euphemisms Ahoy
U.S. Justices
Liberal Supreme Court justices on Tuesday questioned if the government inconsistently restricted profanity and nudity on broadcast television, opposing some shows but allowing it on famous movies like "Saving Private Ryan" and "Schindler's List."
Conservative justices, meanwhile, voiced support for the Federal Communications Commission's policy and said it may have symbolic value in preserving decency at a time when nudity and dirty words have proliferated on unregulated cable channels.
The court heard the dispute with only eight of its nine members. Liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor did not take part because she considered the dispute previously as a U.S. appeals court judge in New York.
All three lawyers who argued and the justices never used the expletives at the heart of the dispute, but instead referred to the "f-word" or the "s-word."
U.S. Justices
Iran Jamming Broadcasts
Al Jazeera
Iran is jamming broadcasts by Qatar-based news channel Al Jazeera, according to a document from satellite operator Arabsat obtained by Reuters on Tuesday, with the broadcaster saying it believed it was because of its coverage of Syria.
Interference is coming from two locations in Iran, one west of Tehran and the other near the northwestern city of Maraghen, the document showed.
The official said they believed other channels in the region had also been jammed.
Iran's regional ally Syria has mostly barred foreign media from the country and has criticized Al Jazeera's coverage of the upheaval there.
Al Jazeera
Nasty Divorce
Cal Worthington
Cal Worthington, best known for his prolific car sales commercials with his dog Spot who was never a dog, is in the middle of a real divorce drama.
The 91-year-old car sales tycoon is splitting up with his 42-year-old wife Anna after marrying her in April.
Worthington has banished her from his Beverly Hills mansion and even had her Bentley repossessed.
He says that, according to their prenuptial agreement, he's only required to give her $4,000 a month for six months after their divorce.
Anna says she deserves much more, including Worthington's $3 million mansion.
Cal Worthington
Secret Letter Discovered
Versailles
For 67 years, a message from Nazi-occupied France remained hidden in a secret drawer of a desk that belonged to France's 18th century King Louis XV.
Restorers at the Chateau of Versailles recently discovered the letter, written by a World War II-era colleague who last restored the bronze-coated bureau.
The letter, released Tuesday by the chateau, details restoration work on the desk during the war. The restorer says he wrote the note after he finished the work - just as Paris was being liberated from the Nazis in August 1944.
The letter was found in one of the desk's many small drawers, which can be opened only by a complex mechanical system of secret buttons and locks considered cutting-edge in its day.
Versailles
Casual Smoking Not Harmful to Lungs
Marijuana
It wouldn't have mattered if Bill Clinton inhaled, as far as his lungs are concerned. Smoking up to a joint per day doesn't seem to decrease lung function, according to a study published in Jan. 11 edition of Journal of the American Medical Association.
In fact, occasional marijuana use was associated with slight increases in lung airflow rates and increases in lung volume, the study found.
Far from a license to light up, the study eases the worry among some health professionals that daily use of marijuana for medical reasons could have negative, long-term implications on pulmonary health.
The data revealed nothing new about tobacco: As exposure to tobacco goes up, lung capacity in terms of the amount of air a smoker can exhale goes down. It's a linear relationship.
Not so with marijuana. More pot smoking was associated with increases in lung capacity up to a level equivalent to about one joint per day for seven years or one joint per week for up to 49 years. Only at levels of marijuana smoking higher than this did the researchers see a leveling off and then potential reversal of this relationship to improved lung capacity.
Marijuana
Mistaken For Bucket
Roman Helmet
A rare Roman cavalry helmet dating from Emperor Claudius' invasion of Britain nearly 2,000 years ago was unveiled on Tuesday after painstaking restoration lasting nearly a decade.
The so-called Hallaton Helmet was found 10 years ago during the excavation of an Iron Age shrine at Hallaton in Leicestershire, central England.
At the time, archaeologists used to finding more instantly recognizable gold and silver coins joked that they had unearthed a fairly modern "rusty bucket."
In fact what they had found was a treasure of considerable importance which experts said pointed to the close relationship between Roman invaders and some native Britons.
Roman Helmet
Prime-Time Nielsens
Ratings
Prime-time viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen for Jan. 2-8. Listings include week's ranking and viewership.
1. NFL Football: Detroit at New Orleans, NBC, 31.78 million.
2. "Sunday Night NFL Pre-Kick," NBC, 25.48 million.
3. "NCIS," CBS, 19.81 million.
4. "60 Minutes, CBS, 18.07 million.
5. "NCIS: Los Angeles," CBS, 17.08 million.
6. "Modern Family," ABC, 14.03 million.
7. "Two and a Half Men," CBS, 13.94 million.
8. "Grey's Anatomy," ABC, 12.12 million.
9. "2 Broke Girls," CBS, 12.10 million.
10. "Mike & Molly," CBS, 11.902 million.
11. "Hawaii Five-O," CBS, 11.896 million.
12. "Unforgettable," CBS, 11.88 million.
13. "The Big Bang Theory," CBS, 11.70 million.
14. "The Good Wife," CBS, 11.65 million.
15. "Blue Bloods," CBS, 11.34 million.
16. "CSI: NY," CBS, 10.56 million.
17. "CSI: Miami," CBS, 10.46 million.
18. "Once Upon a Time," ABC, 10.35 million.
19. "How I Met Your Mother," CBS, 10.14 million.
20. "The Middle," ABC, 10.00 million
Ratings
In Memory
Denise Darcel
Denise Darcel, the French-born actress known for vampy roles in such films as "Vera Cruz" and "Thunder in the Pines," has died. She was 87.
Darcel's son, Craig, said Monday that she died Dec. 23 at a Los Angeles hospital from complications from an emergency surgery to repair a ruptured aneurysm.
After coming to the U.S. in 1947, Darcel starred opposite several leading men in a string of films in the '50s, including "Battleground" with Van Johnson, "Tarzan and the Slave Girl" with Lex Barker, "Westward the Women" with Robert Taylor and "Young Man with Ideas" with Glenn Ford.
She most famously played a vivacious double-crossing countess in 1954's "Vera Cruz" opposite Burt Lancaster and Gary Cooper.
Darcel is also survived by another son, Chris.
Denise Darcel
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