If he can stay cool wearing a polyester blend he must be a better man than me - - if I am in hot weather wearing anything which is not 100% cotton, I might as well wear a plastic garbage bag. Any polyester blend and I will be a sweaty, sticky mess in a matter of minutes.
Great post as always, Eddie! I have never been a huge Jerry Lewis fan, but to this day, if I see "The Nutty Professor" on, I will sit down and watch it just to see his portrayal of alter-ego Buddy Love. Between that and what I consider a brilliant performance in "The King of Comedy" later in his career, I feel that he had the skills to be a truly great actor when he wasn't mugging for the camera and doing his usual awkward "shtick" which I always found unfunny at best and often annoying or even offensive. I know it was common and acceptable in the era when he became popular, but there is just something about pretending to be physically and/or mentally challenged as a form of comedy that I did not find at all funny even when I was a little kid.
I have read "The Stars My Destination" by Alfred Bester at least 30 (probably closer to 50) times. No particular reason as far as deep meaning or life-changing philosphy or anything - - I am just one of those people who "has to" have something to read, and this has always been my fall-back. Not sure why, as although is is a good book and is considered a classic science fiction novel, I do not think it could be considered great literature or anything. It is just the one book that I could read, put away, and then pick up again a month later to read again and be entertained and not at all bored by it for some reason. This is unusual for me, and I rarely re-read books.
Yay! Always cool to see something on Mental Floss relating to my home town. I grew up on Vashon Island - - my friends and I noticed this pond not long after they put it in. You can see it from the nearby road (the one the car is on toward the bottom of the picture above, as the road kind of goes up a hill) - - it is kind of foreshortened from that angle, but you can still make out what it is. Interesting note for Mental Floss/internet junkies - - this pond is walking distance (probably a couple of miles) from the internet-famous "bicycle tree" where the old baloon-tire bicycle is grown into the crotch of a tree. Go Vashon!
When they were doing their "search for a new Bond" that ended up with Daniel Craig (who I think is a great Bond, by the way), my friends and I were discussing who we thought would make a great James Bond and my suggestion at the time was Denzell Washington. Assuming, of course, that he could pull off a believable accent, I thought he would be the perfect combination of big, classy, sexy, and a little bit dangerous that a perfect Bond should have. See: Sean Connery, Daniel Craig (NOT Roger Moore or that awful Remington Steele guy...)
Have never been a fan of Barbies, but when my daughters were small, it was unavoidable that at some point they would get them as presents from friends or relatives so they did have a couple. One of my favorite memories of their childhood was when I walked into their room where they were playing and looked down and saw a barbie with no head laying on the floor. Readying in my head a lecture about taking care of their toys, I pointed at it and asked "What is this?" - Without missing a beat, my daughter answered "Oh, that's Zombie Barbie" I still laugh about it.
I remember that when they were celebrating the 100th anniversary of the statue, one of the local papers where I lived (Seattle) had an article talking about how Bartholdi had used his wife (or possibly his daughter?) as the model for the sculpture. They had a picture of his granddaughter or great-granddaughter who lived in the area - - the resemblance was striking! Wish I had time to try to find the article & picture to post a link - - was pretty amazing.
In answer to your question "was John Wayne a hypocrite?", the answer is yes. People like him (and Rush Limbaugh, Dick Cheney, etc.) who use their celebrity status to disparage anti-war protesters and people who make a moral choice not to support a war after doing everything they can to stay off of the battlefield themselves are the worst kind of hypocrite. I really think that in John Wayne's mind he was a war hero, but in my opinion pretending to be one on film so as to "inspire" others to risk their lives while he styed safe and comfortable at home does not really count.
(Mr. Carlson)
(Gratuitous Princess Bride reference)