More Golden State

Susan Boyle

In Case You Missed it Too: The Taco Bell Dog

ht/People
I can't believe it's been 10 years since those commercials that Taco Bell had with little dog. Okay, at first I found them annoying but the dog grew on you. I was sad to see them go for annoying people instead--in fact, I didn't go to Taco Bell for a year after rhe commercials stopped.

Anyway the dog who was the Taco Bell Dog died July 21 of a stroke. Her name was Giget and she was 15.

Silver Bells

From The Lemon Drop Kid (1951) the first time "Silver Bells" was heard.

Susan Boyle on "America's Got Talent"

From a few months ago:

The Dug Whisperer

I love this widget. In fact I used to collect the ones that Disney used to have for installation on personal computers. What is particularly cool about this widget is that if you play all of the collection of Dug sayings while using Explorer, those sayings remain on your computer as mp3s. Go to the control panel and internet options. Open browsing history settings then view files. After you get there just drag the Dug mp3s to the desktop, and there you go mp3s for your own use. Personally, I'm going to make some into ringtones using Audacity.

FIrst Barbie Commerical

Night of the Demon/Curse of the Demon

I found this little gem on YouTube:


This movie was Night of the Demon in the UK and premiered in 1957. It was retitled Curse of the Demon in the US and premiered in 1958 with 13 minutes edited out--those minutes have been added back into the DVD. The missing scenes are: "a visit to the Hobart family farm, a visit to Stonehenge, and snippets of the seance scenes and conversations between Karswell and his mother." Since the magic of this movie is the building sense of dread, each scene is crucial. For a 1950s movie (based on M. R. James' "The Casting of the Runes") this is a nice little spooky treat for Samhain. As the video says the director wanted the demon left up to the audience's imagination and the demon is the only cornball thing in the movie. Jacques Tourneur was a master of subtle horror.

Cross posted at Pax Parabellum

Where the Wild Things Are

Where The Wild Things Are - Trailer 2

Where the Wild Things Are | MySpace Videos

In Honor of that Visa Debt Commercial

Sorry, I haven't post much here lately--too much work with posting on the blog I share with my husband--PaxParabellum.com.

John Hughes, Writer/Director/Producer Dead at 59

John Hughes has died in NYC after a walk in the park. He was 59. He was the King of 80s movies. Some of the movies Hughes was part of: Home Alone, Dutch, Uncle Buck, The Great Outdoors, Planes, Trains and Automobiles, Some Kind of Wonderful, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Pretty in Pink, Weird Science, Vacation, The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, Mr. Mom, Drillbit Taylor as Edmond Dantes, Maid in Manhattan as Edmond Dantes, Beethoven.

Famous Cancers

Through the years, I have collected a lot of friends and acquaintances who were Cancers. Personally, I'm a Cancer with fire signs dominating--so I have a nasty temper, will defend a friend or relative to the death, but get weepy at a cartoon, worry what disease I have this week or month--a decided contradiction. And that is with a Leo rising, so love me or hate just don't ignore me. Yeah, yeah, I know with precession I wasn't really born a Cancer, but a Gemini. Well whatever--I was born clingy, stubborn, moon-faced, a little nutty--and as I have grown older, a great mimic (it's not good when I watch too much Glenn Beck or Robin Williams because I start to sound and act just like them). Anyway from my vast stores useless info, here are some Cancers through the ages (A few people have started showing up as Cancers--that I don't think are--the range I use is June 21-July 22).

 Hume Cronyn July 18 Actor/Kristen Bell July 18 Actress/Brian Van Holt July 6 Actor Cougar Town/Muse Watson July 20 Actor NCIS/Don Knotts July 21 Actor/John Simm July 10 Actor the original Life on Mars/Judy Greer July 20 Actress/Bobby Sherman July 22 Teen Idol 70s/Kay Starr July 21 Singer/Patty Smyth June 26 Singer/Robert Dudley June 24 Elizabeth I's favorite/Julius Caesar July 12/David Knights June 28 bassist Procol Harum/John Francis Daley July 20 "Bones" Sweets/Genevieve Bujold July 1/Owain Yeoman July 2 Rigsby "The Mentalist"/Brian Brown June 23 Aussie Actor/Bruce Johnston June 27 Beach Boys/ Bob Crane July 13 actor"Hogan's Heroes"/Glenn Shorrock June 30 singer songwriter Little River Band/Robinne Lee July 16 Actress/Terry-Thomas July 14 English actor/Gene Chandler July 6 singer/Bitty Shram July 17 Actress"Monk"/John Illsley June 24 bassist Dire Straits/Eve Myles July 8 Torchwood/Patrick Wilson July 3 Actor--The Watchmen/Peter Asher June 22 singer Peter and Gordon/Nancy Allen June 24 Robo Cop/Mick Tucker July 17 drummer Sweet/Frances McDormand June 23 actress Fargo/Dennis Minogue pseud. Terry Cashman July 5 Singer/Songwriter/Lauren Green June 30 Fox News Reporter/Don Henley July 22 the Eagles/George W. Bush July 5/Bobby Day July 1 singer "Rockin Robin"/Ed Bradley June 22/Lena Horne June 30/Ross Perot June 27/Satchel Paige July 7/Meredith Ann Pierce July 5 Sci-Fi writer/Bruce McGill July 11 Rizzoli &Isles/Chill Wills July 18 actor/Tom Price July 12 Torchwood Andy Davidson/Gretchen Carlson June 21 Fox News Host/Gilda Radner June 28/Fred Savage July 9/Lindsay Lohan July 2/Laura Branigan July 3 singer/O. J. Simpson July 9/Will Ferrell July 16/John Henry Carpenter June 24 infamous as perhaps killer of Hogan's Heroes star Bob Crane/Charlotte Perkins Gilman July 3 writer, activist/Olivia de Havilland July 1 actress Gone with the Wind/Michael Shaara June 23 Writer/Gerald Mitchell July 11 actor It's a Wonderful Life/Diane Kruger July 15 Troy/Andy Whitfield July 17 Spartacus: Blood and Sand/ Robert Davi June 26 actor/Barbara O'Neil July 17 actress All This and Heaven Too/Alisyn Camerota June 21 Fox News Host/George Sanders July 3 actor/Jaime Murray July 22 Actress Defiance/Ashley Tisdale July 2/Gloria Allred July 3/Diana Rigg (Mrs Peel--The Avengers)July 20 /Michelle Rodriguez July 12/Geoffrey Rush July 6/Natalie Wood July 20/Kris Kristofferson June 22/Kene Holliday June 25 "Matlock"/Carson Daly June 22 Talk Show Host /Donald Sutherland July 17/Veronica Guerin July 5 Irish Jounalist/Patrick Stewart July 13/Erich Maria Remarque June 22 writer All Quiet on the Western Front/Forest Whitaker July 16/Tom Cruise July 2/Danny Glover July 22/Lisa Rinna July 11/Michael Phelps June 30/Sarah Jones July 17 Alcatraz/Monica Potter June 30/Maria Conchita Alonso June 29 actress/Brock Peters July 2 actor/Leonard Whiting June 30 actor Romeo and Juliet/Rembrandt July 15/Yul Brynner July 11/Jack Dempsey June 24 Fighter/Jared Padalecki July 19 Supernatural/Elisabeth Kubler-Ross July 8 educator, physician/Isaac Bashevis Singer July 14 Writer/Jeff Beck June 24 Musician/Barbara Cartland July 9 English novelist/Camille Pissaro July 10 painter/Bill Cosby July 12/Toby Keith July 8 Country Singer/David Spade July 22/Scott Grimes July 9 actor Band of Brothers/Terry O'Quinn July 15 actor/Robin Williams July 21/Saul Bellow July 10, writer/Chris O'Donnell June 26 actor/Peter Lorre June 26 actor/Jerry Vale July 8 Singer/E. B. White July 11 writer Stuart Little/Della Reese July 6 actress/Brent Bozell July 14 writer, pundit/Shirley Knight July 6 As Good as It Gets/House/Billy Eckstine July 8 Jazz Singer/George Sand July 1 woman writer/Gutenberg June 23/Frank Kafka July 7 writer/Fred Gwynne July 10 writer/actor/Barbara Stanwyck July 16 actress/James Cagney July 17/Corbin Bernsen July 7 "Psych"/Eva Green July 5 Actress/Bon Scott July 9 ACDC/Jesse Deplantis July 9 Evangelist/Freddy Prinze June 22 actor/Andy Scott June 30 guitarist Sweet/Kevin Bacon July 8/Bruce Campbell June 22 actor/John Wyndham July 10 writer, Day of the Triffids/June Carter Cash June 23 singer/Kenneth Johnson July 13 actor "The Shield," "Saving Grace"/Billy Crudup July 8 actor/Chris Cornell July 20 singer/Willem Defoe July 22/Vin Disel July 18/Henry Cabot Lodge July 5 diplomat/A.B. Hammond July 22 Lumberman-built the Missoula Mercantile Co/Princess Diana July 1/Antoine de Saint Exupery June 29 French writer The Little Prince/Henry David Thoreau July 12/Herman Hesse July 2 writer/Pearl Buck June 26/Jesse Ventura July 15/Ruben Blades July 16 actor, Panamanian Politician/Jean Jacques Rousseau June 28/George Orwell June 25/Henry VIII July 7/Neil Simon July 4 /Jean Cocteau July 5 French poet, author, director/Nikola Tesla July 10 developed alternating current/Ginger Rogers July 16 actress /Susan Hayward June 30    actress/Ernest Hemingway July 21/Milton Berle July 12 comedian/Dave Barry July 3 humorist/Ambrose Bierce June 24 writer/Warren Entner July 7 guitarist The Grass Roots/Mel Brooks June 28 comedian /Steve Forbes July 18 Philanthropist/Richard Rodgers June 28 composer/Michael Flatley July 16 dancer The Lord of the Dance/Bob Fosse June 23 Choreographer/Diana Princess of Wales July 1/Karen Black July 1 actress/Pamela Anderson July 1 /Missy Elliot  July 1 /Alice Krige June 28 First Contact/Thurgood Marshall July 2/Ken Curtis July 2 actor Festus/John Dillinger June 22/ Nathaniel Hawthorne July 4/ Robert Heinlein July 7/Dean Koontz July 9 writer/Little Eva June 29, singer/Scott Foley July 15 actor The Unit/Gretchen Wilson June 26 Country Singer/Richard Branson July 18 /Selma Blair June 23 actress Hellboy/Matt LeBlanc June 25 "Friends"/Dave Thomas July 2 Wendy's/Richard Petty July 2 Race Car Driver/Polly Holiday July 2 actress Flo on Alice/Ali Landry July 21 Miss USA/Stokeley Carmichael June 29 activist/Paul Williams July 2 singer The Temptations/Fred Schneider July 1 singer B 52s/Kurtwood Smith July 3 actor That 70s Show/Colin Hay June 29 singer Men at Work/Stephen Foster July 4 composer/Abner Doubleday June 26/Iris Murdoch July 15 Irish writer/John Quincy Adams July 11/Clarence Thomas June 23/Calvin Coolidge July 4/Jeff Corwin July 11 TV Naturalist/Amy Brenneman June 22 actress/Dan Brown June 22 writer/K.T. Tunstall June 23 singer/Duffy June 23 singer/John Gardner July 21 writer Grendel/Peter Weller June 24 actor, professor/Sidney Lumet June 25 director/June Lockhart June 25 actress/Harold Melvin (and the Blue Notes)June 25/Jimmie Walker June 25/Ricky Gervais June 25/Mick Jones June 26 singer The Clash/Terri Nunn June 26 singer, actress Berlin/Jean-Paul Sartre June 21/John McIntire June 27 actor/Bob Keeshan June 27 Captain Kangroo/John Byner June 28 comedian/Bruce Davidson June 28 actor/Alice Krige June 28 actress/Iain Glen June 24 Actor "Game of Thrones"/John Elway June 28/Babe Didrikson June 26/John Cusack June 28/Mary Stuart Masterson June 28 actress/Gil Bellows June 28 actor Ally McBeal/Jane Lynch July 14 Actress/Alessandro Nivola June 28 actor /Farley Granger July 1 actor Strangers on a Train/Red Skelton July 18 actor, comedian/Mick Fleetwood June 24 musician/Jane Russell June 21 actress/Alan Ruck July 1 Spin City/Sidney Blackmer July 13 actor Rosemary's Baby/Albert Brooks July 22/A.J. Cronin July 19 novelist/George Cukor July 7 director/Joan Davis June 29 actress I Married Joan/Nelson Eddy June 29 singer, actor/Earle Stanley Gardner July 17 writer Perry Mason/Kim Carnes July 20 "Bette Davis Eyes"/Dave Garroway July 13 TV host/Rube Goldberg July 4 cartoonist/Phil Harris June 24 singer, actor/Jack White July 9 White Stripes/Judy Holliday June 21 actress/Tab Hunter July 11 actor/Alberta Vaughn June 27 Actress/Helen Keller June 27/Frances Parkinson Keyes July 21 writer/Dorothy Kilgallen July 3 journalist/Charles Laughton July 1/Billy Wilder June 22 director/William Wyler July 1 director/Jason Schwartzman June 26 actor/David Alan Grier June 30 comedian/Albert Lewis July 6 Leading Conservative Rabbi/Enrique Murciano July 9 actor Without a Trace/Alberto Castillo July 5 Pitcher/Marcel Proust July 10 writer/John Gilbert July 10 actor mostly silent films/Jean Kerr July 10 playwright and essayist Please Don't Eat the Daisies/Nick Adams July 10 actor No Time For Sergeants/Arthur Ash July 10 tennis player/Albert Popwell July 15 Cleopatra Jones/Ron Glass July 10 actor/Robert the Bruce July 11/Harold Bloom July 11 Literary Critic/Marty Feldman July 8 actor, comedian/Wolfgang Puck July 8  chef/Shoeless Joe Jackson July 16/Angelica Huston July 8 actress/Mariana Williamson July 8 writer/Joan Osborne July 8 singer/Michael Weatherly July 8 actor NCIS, Dark Angel/Percy Kilbride July 16 actor Pa Kettle/Ann Radcliffe July 9 English writer/Chris Cooper July 9 actor/Jimmy Smits July 9 actor/Janet Reno July 21/Tom Hanks July 9/Kelly McGillis July 9 actress/Tim Kring July 9 screenwriter and producer Crossing Jordan, Heroes/Edward Herrmann July 21 actor Lost Boys/Barnard Hughes July 16 actor Lost Boys/Corey Feldman July 16 Lost Boys/Billy Wirth June 23 Lost Boys/Jim Kerr July 9 singer Simple Minds/Jessica Simpson July 10/Matthew Fox July 14 "Lost"/Robbie Robertson July 5 singer,songwriter The Band/Edie Falco July 5/John Paul Jones July 6 Revolutionary War Hero/Sebastian Cabot July 6 actor/Pat Paulsen July 6 comedian/Gene Chandler July 6 singer/Tantoo Cardinal July 20 actress Dances with Wolves/Fred Dryer July 6 football player, actor/50 Cent July 6/Heather Nova July 6 singer/Billy Campbell July 7 actor/Joe Spano July 7 actor/Amy Carlson July 7 actress Third Watch/Cormac McCarthy July 20 writer No Country for Old Men/Jorga Fox July 7 CSI/Robin Weigert July 7 actress Deadwood, Life/Craig Stevens July 8 actor Peter Gunn/Alexander Pope June 21 poet/Sydney Pollack July 1 director/Andrae'Crouch July 1 singer/Carl Lewis July 1 runner/Andre Braugher July 1 actor/Rick Davies July 22 singer Supertramp/Thomas Gibson July 3 actor Criminal Minds/Connie Nielsen July 3 actress/Alfred Kinsey June 23 Kinsey Report /Shawnee Smith July 3 actress Becker/Louis B. Mayer July 4 director/Ian McEwan June 21 writer Atonement/Stephen Boyd July 4 actor Ben Hur/John Waite July 4 singer, songwriter, "Missing You"/Gary Trudeau July 21 "Doonesbury"/Milburn Stone July 5 actor Gunsmoke/Warren Oates July 5 actor/Angela Merkel July 17/J. Michael Stracznski July 17 writer, creator of Babylon 5/Thackeray July 18 writer/Molly Brown July 18 (unsinkable)/Machine Gun Kelly July 18/Jessamy West July 18 writer/Nelson Mandela July 18/ Screaming Jay Hawkins July 18/Hunter Thompson July 18 writer/Max Fleischer July 19 animator/Degas July 19/Samuel Colt July 19 Colt Revolver/Alexander the Great July 20/Petrarch July 20/Billy Mays July 20 Pitch man/Carlos Santana July 20/Omar Epps July 20/Paul Wellstone July 21 senator/A.J. Cook July 22 actress Criminal Minds/Kirtin Vangsness July 7 actress Criminal Minds/James Whale July 22 director/George Clinton July 22 singer/Tony Scott July 21 director/Colin Ferguson July 22 actor, Eureka/Cameron Crowe July 13 director, writer/Irving Stone July 14 writer/ William Hanna July 14 cartoons/Clive Cussler July 15 writer/Robert McCammon July 11 horror writer/Leon Spinks July 11 fighter/Peter Murphy July 11 singer musician/Suzanne Vega July 11 singer/George Washington Carver July 12/Oscar Hammerstein July 12/Andrew Wyeth July 12 painter/John Dee July 13 astrologer, mathematician, occultist/Tod Browning July 12 director/John Leguizamo July 22 actor/J.J. Abrams June 28 creator of Fringe, Alias/Vera Wang June 28 designer/Ray Harryhausen June 29 Special Effects/Oriana Fallaci June 29 journalist, writer/Winston Graham June 30 writer/Ray Davies June 21 singer, songwriter/Benazir Bhutto June 21/H. Rider Haggard June 22 writer/Graham Greene June 22 actor/Erin Brockovich June 22/Michael Vick June 26/Courtney Love July 9/Emily Saliers July 22 Indigo Girls/Linda Ronstadt July 15 Singer/

U2: Green for Iranian Protestors

ht/Gateway Pundit
Last in Barcelona.

Happy Birthday Vincent D'Onofrio

Today, Vincent is 50, whoo whoo.

D'Onofrio as Robert E. Howard

Julianne Nicholson's birthday is tomorrow, Kathryn Erbe's birthday is July 5 and Jamey Sheridan's (the former captain on Criminal Intent)birthday is July 12(Jeff Goldblum is on the cusp of Scorpio, Chris Noth is a Scorpio and Countney B. Vance is a Pisces so at times the set must have been boiling over with watery emotions).

Michael Jackson Dead June 25, 2009

Michael Jackson died of Cardiac Arrest about 1:30 Pacific Daylight Time.

NIce Song

Tattoos

There's this pet store I go to because it's close mostly, but lately I am hard pressed to buy anything there (I go there when I need something in a hurry). there are two reasons, one they follow me around like they think I'm going to steal something, and two the usual check out girl's tattoos bug me. She has a large tattoo on her chest, a large one on one arm and the other arm is covered with tattoos--other than that she looks like your typical cheerleader type. Mostly they bug me because I wonder how she is going to feel how them when she is 45 and they aren't so cool anymore--which leads me to want to shout or ask--are you in a band or something. I mean what else is there as a reason for so many? Well, there's Megan Fox's who says each new tattoo is a f u to anyone who told her not to get one. Her tattoos are particularly stupid at that, but then she proves her intelligence level every time she opens her mouth to criticize Middle America.

Tattoos used to be cool in moderation, but now everyone has one.

Susan Boyle Gets 2nd Place--but Still

Read the whole story at FoxNews.

Did people just not vote for her because they thought she had it in the bag? It seems to be a common theme in this type show--when the odds are really favoring an act--people just don't bother to vote. Too bad we can't have a do over.

Susan Boyle Makes it To the Finals

From the Telegraph, Susan Boyle won out against 7 other acts to make it to the Finals. If I understand the wording (UK English and mine aren't exactly the same) 10 finalists have been picked from 5 shows to compete in the Final show next week.

Susan sang "Memories" from Cats and her voice quivered just a bit a couple of times--but that is a hard song with it's high notes and low notes--it sounded like mostly nerves.


I'm nervous about what she will sing for the Final. Does she choose? I've barely ever watched American Idol, so I don't know how the Final show really works. Anyway, "Memories" didn't seem to work for her as well as "I Dreamed a Dream." Maybe she should try "On My Own" from "Les Miz" or maybe "Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again" form "Phantom."