WA2K Radio is now on the air

Good morning, WA2K listeners and contributors. The sun is barely visible over the horizon, and I toast it with a good cup of coffee. No tea for me this morning, folks.

dj, You always play the most unusual songs, Canada. I am always intrigued with the lyrics. Thanks, buddy. Your three songs brought to mind a quote from Sir Francis Bacon:

Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested: that is, some books are to be read only in parts, others to be read, but not curiously, and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention.
Sir Francis Bacon
English author, courtier, & philosopher (1561 - 1626)

So, I will have to digest your lyrics a bit, buddy. <smile>

Wow! Rex, those lyrics by Police seem to sum up the entire world. Thanks, Maine.

"Ballad Of The Sad Young Men"

Sing a song of sad young man
Glasses full of rye
All the news is bad again so
Kiss your dreams goodbye

All the sad young men
Sitting in the bars
Knowing neon nights
Missing all the stars

All the sad young men
Drifting through the town
Drinking up the night
Trying not to drown

All the sad young men
Singing in the cold
Trying to forget
That they're growing old

All the sad young men
Choking on their worth
Trying to be brave
Running from the truth

Autumm turns the leaves to gold
Slowly dies the heart
Sad young men are growing old
That's the cruelest part

All the sad young men
Seek a certain smile
Someone they can hold for a little while
Tired little girl does the best she can
Trying to be gay for her sad young man

While the grimy moon
Watches from above
All the sad young men
Play of making love

Misbegotten moon
Shine for sad young men
Let your gentle light
Guide them home tonight
All the sad young men.

Inspired by the news.

a wraith with an angel's body
a demon with a smile of gold.
you soul-sucker!
i won't become like you.

a killer with the perfect weapons:
crystal eyes and a heart of coal.
you soul-sucker!
i won't become like you.

look how pretty she is
when she falls down,
and there's no beauty in
bleeding mascara.
she's quivering
like a withering rose.
she's back again.

what exactly do you think love is?
it's much more than hope and feelings.
sucking me dry!
is my marrow that sweet?
all your lovers have left a trail of
broken hearts and misspent hopes.
sucking them dry!
did their marrow taste of sweetness?
sweetness - i hope you choke!

inspired by my ex-girlfriend, you understand why.

rockpie, Welcome to WA2K radio, Wales. We may have kindred spirits, dear.

Love your song, and often I feel just as you, but manage to contain it. <smile>

But pleasures are like poppies spread; You seize the flower, its bloom is shed. Or like the snow falls in the river, A moment white--then melts forever; or like the borealis race that flits ere you can point the place; or like the rainbow's lovely form evanescing amid the storm.
Author: Robert Burns
Source: Tam o' Shanter

Good morning, and when I say that…

Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood
Joe Cocker Lyrics

Baby do you understand me now
If sometimes I get a little mad
Don't you know no one alive
Can always be an angel
When things goes wrong
Your bound to see some bad

Oh but I'm just a soul who's intentions are good
Oh lord , please don't let me be misunderstood

You know sometimes, I'm so carefree
With a joy that's hard to hide
Then sometimes again it seems
All I have is worry
Then your bound to see the other side

Oh but I'm just a soul who's intentions are good
Oh lord , please don't let me be misunderstood

If I seem edgy I want you to know
I didn't mean to take it out on you
Life has it's problems and I've got my share
But thats one thing I never ment to do
Cause I love you

Now baby I'm just human
Got my faults like anyone else
But sometimes I find myself
All alone regreting
All the foolish things that I have done

Oh but I'm just a soul who's intentions are good
Oh lord , please don't let me be misunderstood

We understand you, Try, but things do change as time goes by.

You must remember this
A kiss is still a kiss, a sigh is just a sigh
The fundamental things apply
As time goes by
And when two lovers woo
They still say, "I love you"
On that you can rely
No matter what the future brings
As time goes by
Moonlight and love songs
Never out of date
Hearts full of passion
Jealousy and hate
Woman needs man
And man must have his mate
That no one can deny
it's still the same old story
A fight for love and glory
A case of do or die
The world will always welcome lovers
As time goes by

"Play it, Sam."

Good afternoon WA2K.

Now that Sam's through playing,

Authors Damon Runyan, Jackie Collins and Anne Rice were all born on this day. But I only take pictures of entertainment celebrities so:

Remembering


And wishing a Happy 60th to Susan Sarandon and 57th to Armand Assante.




Oh and it's Charlton Heston's 82nd birthday, but he wasn't available for a picture - something about putting the Red Sea back together.

Raggedy, you have a fantastic sense of humor, PA, and, of couse, an eye for the camera. Wonder if Charlton is still big into the NRA?

Well, we enjoy seeing Buster, Susan, and Armand. I do believe he(Armand) did a movie about Odysseus as well.

Speaking of body parts, here is someone with a nose for news:


Updated: 9:24 a.m. ET Oct 4, 2006
ATLANTA - A suburban county that sparked a public outcry when its libraries temporarily eliminated funding for Spanish-language fiction is now being asked to ban Harry Potter books from its schools.

Laura Mallory, a mother of four, told a hearing officer for the Gwinnett County Board of Education on Tuesday that the popular fiction series is an "evil" attempt to indoctrinate children in the Wicca religion.

Board of Education attorney Victoria Sweeny said that if schools were to remove all books containing reference to witches, they would have to ban "Macbeth" and "Cinderella."



Well, folks, we are an equal opportunity station, so let's do one for the Witches and Susan.

Artist: Frank Sinatra Lyrics
Song: Witchcraft Lyrics
Those fingers in my hair
That sly come hither stare
That strips my conscience bare
It's witchcraft

And I've got no defense for it
The heat is too intense for it
What good would common sense for it do

'cause it's witchcraft, wicked witchcraft
And although, I know, it's strictly taboo

When you arouse the need in me
My heart says yes indeed in me
Proceed with what your leading me to

It's such an ancient pitch
But one I wouldn't switch
'cause there's no nicer witch than you.

Thank you, Frank

Buster Keaton
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Born October 4, 1895
Piqua, Kansas, USA
Died February 1, 1966
Woodland Hills, California, USA

Joseph Frank Keaton Jr. (October 4, 1895 - February 1, 1966), known by his professional name as Buster Keaton, was a popular and influential American silent-film comic actor and filmmaker. His trademark was physical comedy with a stoic, deadpan expression on his face, earning him the nickname "The Great Stone Face". His work as a performer and director is widely regarded to be some of the most innovative and important work in the history of cinema.

A 2002 world-wide poll by Sight and Sound ranked Keaton's The General as the 15th best film of all time. Three other Keaton films received votes in the survey: Our Hospitality, Sherlock, Jr., and The Navigator. [1]

Biography

Early life in vaudeville

Keaton was born into the world of vaudeville. His father, Joseph Hallie Keaton, a native of Vigo County, Indiana, known in the show business world as Joe Keaton, and Harry Houdini owned a travelling show called the Mohawk Indian Medicine Company, which performed on stage and sold patent medicine on the side. Keaton was born in Piqua (PICK-way), Kansas, the small town where his mother, Myra Edith Cutler, happened to go into labor.

At the age of three, he began performing with his parents as The Three Keatons; the storyline of the act was how to raise a small child. Myra played the saxophone to one side while Joe and Buster performed on center stage. Buster would goad Joe by disobeying him, and Joe would respond by throwing Buster against the scenery, into the orchestra pit, or even into the audience. The act evolved as Buster learned to take trick falls safely. He was rarely injured or bruised on stage. Nevertheless, this knockabout style of comedy led to accusations of child abuse. Decades later, Keaton said that he was never abused by his father and that the falls and physical comedy were a matter of proper technical execution. In fact, Buster would have so much fun, he would begin laughing as his father threw him across the stage. This drew fewer laughs from the audience, so Buster adopted his famous dead-pan expression whenever he was working.

The act ran up against laws banning child performers in vaudeville. When one official saw Buster in full costume and make-up, he asked a stage-hand how old that performer was. The stage-hand shrugged and pointed to Buster's mother. "I don't know," he said, "ask his wife!" Despite tangles with the law and a disastrous tour of the English Music Halls, Buster was a rising star in the theater, so much so that even when Myra and Joe tried to introduce Buster's siblings into the act, Buster remained the central attraction.

By the time Buster was 21, Joe's alcoholism threatened the reputation of the family act, so Buster and Myra left Joe in Los Angeles. Myra returned to their summer home in Muskegon, Michigan while Buster travelled to New York, where his performing career moved from vaudeville to film.

Silent film era

In February 1917, Keaton met Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle at the Talmadge Studios in New York City, where Arbuckle was under contract to Joseph M. Schenck. He was hired as a co-star and gag-man. Keaton later claimed that he was soon Arbuckle's second director and his entire gag department. Keaton and Arbuckle became close friends, a bond that would never break, even after Arbuckle was embroiled in the scandal that cost him his career and his personal life.

After Keaton's successful work with Arbuckle, Schenck gave him his own production unit, The Keaton Studio. He made a series of two-reel comedies, including One Week (1920), Cops (1922), The Electric House (1922), and The Playhouse (1921). Based on the success of these shorts, he graduated to full-length features. These films made Keaton one of the most famous comedians in the world. At the time, he was perhaps the third most popular comedian in America behind Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd.

His most enduring feature-length films include Our Hospitality (1923), The Navigator (1924), Sherlock Jr. (1924), The Cameraman (1928), Steamboat Bill Jr. (1928), and The General (1927). The last film, set during the American Civil War, is considered his masterpiece, combining physical comedy with Keaton's love for trains. Unfortunately, many of his most acclaimed films performed poorly at the box office due to their sophistication?-audiences had a difficult time seeing Buster as a cinematic artist of considerable ambition.

However, his talents were always recognized by his peers. Years later, rival director Leo McCarey talked about the freewheeling days of making slapstick comedies: "All of us tried to steal each other's gagmen. But we had no luck with Keaton, because he thought up his best gags himself and we couldn't steal him!"

In addition, the technical side of filmmaking fascinated him and he was forward thinking enough to want to produce sound films when they began to become technically practical and popular. The fact that he had a good voice and years of stage experience promised an easier adjustment than Chaplin's silent Tramp character, who could not survive sound. Sadly, Keaton's loss of independence as a filmmaker coincided with the coming of sound films and mounting personal problems, and his full potential in the early sound era was never realized.

Marriages

In 1921, he married Natalie Talmadge, sister-in-law of his boss, Joe Schenck, and sister of actresses Norma Talmadge and Constance Talmadge. The couple had two sons, James and Robert, during the first three years of the marriage, but after the birth of Robert, the relationship began to suffer.

According to Keaton in his autobiography, Natalie turned him out of their bedroom and sent detectives to follow him to see who he was dating behind her back. She also spent enormous sums of money. During the 1920s, as per his autobiography, he dated actress Kathleen Key, and upon ending the affair, Key flew into a rage tearing up his dressing room. In 1932, Natalie bitterly divorced Keaton, taking his entire fortune and refusing to allow any contact between Keaton and his sons. Keaton was reunited with them about a decade later. The traumatic failure of his marriage, along with the loss of his independence as a filmmaker, led Keaton into a period of alcoholism.

In 1933, Buster married Mae Scriven - his nurse, during an alcoholic binge that he claimed to remember nothing about afterwards (Keaton himself later called that period an "alcoholic blackout"). When they divorced in 1936, she took half of everything they owned ?- half of their dining-room set, half of each table and chair set, half of their books - and Buster's favorite St. Bernard, Elmer.

In 1940, Buster married Eleanor Norris, who was 23 years his junior. She saved his life and helped to salvage his career. All of their friends advised them against marrying, but the marriage lasted until his death. Between 1947 and 1954, Buster and Eleanor appeared regularly in the Cirque Medrano in Paris, in a highly-regarded doubles act. Eleanor died in 1998.

Sound era and television

Keaton's filmmaking unit was acquired by MGM in 1928, a business decision that Keaton regretted ever afterwards. He was forced to enter the ranks of the studio system, working at the MGM studios in a more restrictive environment that he had previously worked in. He stopped directing, but continued to perform and made some of his most financially successful films for the studio, including Parlor, Bedroom and Bath (1931), and Speak Easily (1932). MGM tried teaming the laconic Keaton with the rambunctious Jimmy Durante in a series of movies including The Passionate Plumber, Speak Easily, and What! No Beer?, but the two comedians never quite meshed as a unit.

After his MGM star contract was terminated he was re-employed as a gag writer for various MGM films, particularly those of the Marx Brothers?-including At the Circus (1939), and Go West (1940); and various films of Red Skelton.

During this period Keaton also starred in two series of short films made for Educational Pictures and Columbia Pictures (the latter were directed and written by Del Lord), which received little attention at the time, and made a film in Paris entitled Le Roi des Champs-Élysées (1934).

He guest-starred in such films as Sunset Boulevard (1950), It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963), and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966), and appeared in Charles Chaplin's Limelight (1952), recalling the vaudeville of The Playhouse.

He had a successful series on Los Angeles television, The Buster Keaton Show (1950). An attempt to recreate the first series on film as Life With Buster Keaton (1951), which allowed it to be broadcast to the east coast, was less well received. However, Keaton said he cancelled the programs himself because he was unable to create enough fresh material to produce a new show each week.

One of Keaton's most memorable television appearances was on Ed Wynn's variety show. At the age of 55, he successfully recreated one of the stunts of his youth, in which he propped one foot onto a table, then swung the second foot up next to it, and held the awkward position in midair for a moment before crashing to the stage floor. I've Got a Secret host Garry Moore recalled, "I asked (Keaton) how he did all those falls, and he said, 'I'll show you.' He opened his jacket and he was all bruised. So that's how he did it-- it hurt-- but you had to care enough not to care." At the age of 70, Keaton suggested a piece of physical comedy for his appearance in the 1965 movie Sergeant Dead Head, in which he ran past the end of a firehose, into a six-foot-high flip and crash. When the director balked, expressing concerns for Keaton's health, Keaton said, "I won't hurt myself, Norm, I've done it for years!"

His classic silent films saw a revival in the late 1950s and early 1960s. In 1961 he starred in The Twilight Zone episode Once Upon a Time, which had both silent and sound scenes. Keaton also found steady work as an actor in TV commercials, including a popular series of silent ads for Simon Pure Beer in which he revisited some of his favorite sight gags from his silent film days.

Keaton starred in a short film called The Railrodder (1965) for the National Film Board of Canada. Wearing his traditional porkpie hat, he travelled from one end of Canada to the other on a motorized "hand-car", performing gags similar to those in films he made 50 years before. The film is also notable for being Keaton's last silent screen performance. The Railrodder was made in tandem with a documentary about Keaton's life, cinema style and the creation of The Railrodder called Buster Keaton Rides Again - also made for the National Film Board. He played the central role in Samuel Beckett's Film (1965), directed by Alan Schneider. Keaton's last film appearance was in the Roman musical farce A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966).

Keaton lived to see the rediscovery of his great silent films in his later years, and his recognition as one of the great geniuses of cinema. He died of lung cancer on 1 February 1966, at the age of 70.

Legacy and contribution

Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd are remembered as the great comic innovators of the silent era. Keaton was undoubtedly the most innovative filmmaker of the three, although Keaton never made such comparisons. He enjoyed Lloyd's films highly and often praised Chaplin for his genius.

Keaton has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame: 6619 Hollywood Boulevard (for motion pictures); and 6321 Hollywood Boulevard (for television). In 1994, he appeared on a United States postage stamp designed by caricaturist Al Hirschfeld.

Many actors and filmmakers were influenced by Keaton, including Alec Guinness, Peter Sellers, Orson Welles, Blake Edwards, Jackie Chan and Stephen Chow.

Trivia

During the railroad watertank scene in Sherlock Jr. Keaton broke his neck and did not realize it until years afterwards. [1]
As a toddler, Joseph Keaton received the nickname "Buster" after falling down a flight of stairs without apparent distress or injury. A "buster" was slang for a big fall. Keaton family friend Harry Houdini is typically credited with making the original "buster" observation.
In the Simpsons episode A Fish Called Selma, Buster Keaton's Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is removed and Troy McClure's is put in its place.

Charlton Heston
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Charlton Heston on the 1963 Civil Rights March in Washington, D.C
Born 4 October 1924
St. Helen, Michigan, USA

Charlton Heston (born October 4, 1924) is an Academy Award-winning American film actor noted for heroic roles and his long involvement in political issues.



Early career

Heston was born John Charles Carter in St. Helen, Michigan, USA to Lila Charlton and Russell Whitford Carter. When he was ten, his parents divorced. Shortly thereafter, his mother married Chester Heston. The new family moved to well-off Wilmette, Illinois, a northern suburb of Chicago, Illinois. Heston (his new surname) attended New Trier High School. He enrolled in the school's drama program, where he performed with such outstanding results that he earned a drama scholarship to Northwestern University from the Winnetka Community Theatre in which he was also active. While still in high school, he played in the silent 16 mm amateur film adaptation of Peer Gynt made by David Bradley. Several years later the same team produced Julius Caesar, in which Heston played Mark Antony.

In 1944, Heston left college and enlisted in the United States Army Air Corps. He served for two years as a B-25 radio operater/gunner stationed in the Alaskan Aleutian Islands with the Eleventh Air Force, rising to the rank of Staff Sergeant.

While in the service, he married fellow Northwestern student Lydia Marie Clarke in 1944. After the war, the two lived in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood, where they worked as models. Seeking a way to make it in theater, they decided in 1947 to manage a playhouse in Asheville, North Carolina. In 1948, they went back to New York where Heston was offered a supporting role in the Broadway play Antony and Cleopatra, starring the legendary Katherine Cornell, for which he earned acclaim. He also had success in television, playing a number of roles in CBS's Studio One, one of the most popular anthology dramas of the 1950s.

Film career

In 1950, he earned recognition for his appearance in his first professional movie, Dark City. His breakthrough came in 1952 with his role of a circus manager in The Greatest Show on Earth. But the muscular, 6 ft 3 in, square jawed Heston became an icon by portraying Moses in The Ten Commandments, a part he was chosen for reportedly because director Cecil B. DeMille thought that he bore an uncanny resemblance to the statue of Moses by Michelangelo. He has played leading roles in a number of fictional and historical epics?-such as Ben-Hur, El Cid, 55 Days at Peking and Khartoum?-during his long career. He once quipped, "They seem to think I have a Medieval face!" He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his 1959 performance in the title role of Ben-Hur, one of 11 earned by that film.

Heston also starred in various science fiction films and disaster films, some of which, like Planet of the Apes, The Omega Man, Soylent Green, and Earthquake, were hugely successful at the time of their release and have since become cult classics.

Heston fought at times for his artistic choices. In 1958, he maneuvered Universal International into allowing Orson Welles to direct him in Touch of Evil, and in 1965 he fought the studio in support of Sam Peckinpah, when an attempt was made to interfere with his direction of Major Dundee, despite the fact that Peckinpah was so temperamental that at one point the normally even-keeled Heston found himself threatening the diminutive director with his cavalry sabre when he felt that Peckinpah was mistreating his cast. Heston was also president of the Screen Actors Guild from 1966 to 1971.

In 1971 he made his directorial debut with Antony and Cleopatra, an adaptation of the William Shakespeare play that he had performed during his earlier theater career.

Starting with 1973's The Three Musketeers, Heston began playing an increasing number of supporting roles and cameos. Despite this, his immense popularity has never died, and he has seen a steady stream of film and television roles ever since. He starred in the prime-time soap, The Colbys from 1985 to 1987, his only stint on series television. Heston has an instantly recognizable voice, and was often heard as a narrator. Heston had cameos in the films "Tombstone" and "True Lies". With his son Fraser, he starred in and produced several made for cable movies, including remakes of "Treasure Island" and "A Man For All Seasons". Heston received great reviews for his 1992 series on the A&E cable network, "Charlton Heston Presents The Bible", which has achieved great success on video and DVD. In 1993, he appeared in a cameo role in Wayne's World 2, in a scene wherein main character Wayne Campbell (Mike Myers) requests that a small role be filled by a better actor than the performer currently filling it, and played a small part as a rancher in the Western Tombstone (1993). That same year, he hosted Saturday Night Live.

In 2001, Heston made a cameo appearance in Tim Burton's remake of Planet of the Apes. In the film, he plays an elderly, dying ape who introduces arms to his species by giving a rifle to another of the planet's inhabitants, perhaps as a nod to his then-current role in the National Rifle Association.

Off screen

Heston was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1998, and it went into remission the next year following a course of radiation treatment. In August 2002, Heston publicly announced that he was diagnosed as suffering from symptoms of Alzheimer's disease.[1] In July 2003, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian award, from President George W. Bush at the White House. In March 2005, various newspapers reported that family and friends of Heston were apparently shocked by the rapid progression of his illness, and that he is sometimes unable to get out of bed. In August 2005, a rumor circulated that Heston had been hospitalized with pneumonia at a Los Angeles hospital, but this was never confirmed by the family. In April 2006, various news sources reported that Heston's illness is at an advanced stage and his family are worried he may not survive the year.

Political beliefs

In his earlier years, Heston was a Democrat, campaigning for Presidential candidates Adlai Stevenson in 1956 and John F. Kennedy in 1960. A civil rights activist, he accompanied Martin Luther King Jr. during the civil rights march held in Washington, D.C. in 1963. In 1968, following the assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy, Heston appeared on The Joey Bishop Show and, along with fellow actors Gregory Peck, Kirk Douglas and James Stewart, called for gun controls to be introduced by Congress. In 1969 Heston was asked by some Democrats to run for the California State Senate, a move that would have likely had bipartisan support in the state.[citation needed] He declined because he wanted to continue acting.

He was also an opponent of McCarthyism and racial segregation, which he saw as only helping the cause of Communism worldwide. He was opposed to the Vietnam War and considered Richard Nixon a disaster for America.

In the 1980s, however, Heston began to support more conservative and libertarian positions on such issues as affirmative action and gun rights. He has campaigned for Republican candidates and Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush.


Heston giving his well-known speech, when responding to those in favor of gun control, he proclaimed they would have to "pry it from my cold, dead hands".He is an honorary life member of the National Rifle Association (NRA), and was its president and spokesman from 1998 until his resignation in 2003. As NRA president he is perhaps best known, while raising an antique Sharps Rifle over his head at the 2000 NRA convention, for saying that presidential candidate Al Gore would take away his Second Amendment rights "from my cold, dead hands". (In announcing his resignation in 2003, he would again raise a rifle over his head, this time repeating only the famous five words of his 2000 speech.)

Heston has been harshly criticized by advocates of gun control. Michael Moore interviewed Heston in his home in the 2002 documentary film Bowling for Columbine asking questions of him regarding an NRA meeting being held in Denver, Colorado in April 1999, shortly after the Columbine high school massacre in nearby Littleton and the very publicized shooting and death of 6-year-old Kayla Rolland in her first grade classroom near Flint, Michigan, Moore's home town. Showing Heston walking away and ignoring Moore's pleas, this scene in the movie is famous for Michael Moore presenting it in a way that implies that Charlton Heston, and indeed, the NRA are racist.[citation needed] Many pro-NRA groups have stated that Moore took advantage of Heston in his state of mind.[citation needed] Many of the festivities and activities of the convention in Denver were cancelled; an annual meeting was still held in compliance with NRA bylaws, as well as the applicable federal and New York state laws for a corporation such as the NRA. [2]

According to his autobiography In the Arena, Heston also recognised the freedom of speech of others and the First Amendment. In an address to students at Harvard Law School entitled Winning the Cultural War, Heston expressed his disdain for political correctness and its chilling effect on free speech, stating "If Americans believed in political correctness, we'd still be King George's boys - subjects bound to the British crown." [3]

He is also an opponent of abortion and gave the introduction to a pro-life documentary by Bernard Nathanson called "Eclipse of Reason" which focuses on late-term abortions. Heston also served on the Advisory Board of Accuracy in Media (AIM), a conservative media watchdog group founded by the late Reed Irvine.

He sees no contradiction in his civil rights activism from the 1960s and his lobbying for gun ownership rights in the 1990s, insisting that he is simply promoting "freedom in the truest sense." [4]

Agamemnon Films

Charlton Heston is the chairman and co-founder of Agamemnon Films.

Trivia

In Greece, his name is written as "Charlton Easton" because "Heston" has scatological connotations in Greek (χέσ'τον = "**** him").
He was unable to use his birth name, John Carter, as an actor because it bore too close a resemblance to the name of the hero in Edgar Rice Burroughs' first novel A Princess of Mars, which was in development at the time although the production fell through.
Heston's portrayal of Buffalo Bill in Pony Express, a western from early in his career, inspired the Bills, a Congolese youth cult who idolized Western movies.
He was reported to have been considered to play a Jedi Master in the Star Wars prequel films.
Heston's most frequently played roles on stage include the title role in Macbeth, Sir Thomas More in A Man For All Seasons, and Marc Antony in both Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra. He also cited Mister Roberts as one of his favorite roles, and tried unsuccessfully to revive the show in the early '90s.
He accepted the lead role in Ben-Hur after Burt Lancaster, another similarly tall, muscular, square jawed, blonde, blue eyed actor, turned it down. Lancaster, a self-described atheist, wanted nothing to do with the film because he considered it a "piece of religious crap". Many years later, Lancaster charged that if Heston became typecast in heroic roles it was his own fault, because "he accepted the limitation". However, Lancaster later took on the role of as Moses in a TV version of Moses' life, after Heston had played the part in the 1956 film version.
Heston's height as a young man was 6'3", although in later years he was somewhat shorter at 6'1".
Of all his films, Heston frequently cited Will Penny as his personal favorite.
He was a close friend of Patrick O'Brian, and O'Brian imagined Jack Aubrey, the protagonist of his Aubrey-Maturin series, being played by Heston. [5]

Anne Rice
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Anne Rice (born October 4, 1941) is a best-selling American author of horror/fantasy books. She was born Howard Allen O'Brien. Best known for her Vampire Chronicles, Rice has published a number of works with sado-masochistic themes. She was married to poet Stan Rice for 41 years until his death in 2002.

Biography

Early years

Rice was born and spent most of her early life in New Orleans, Louisiana, which forms the background against which most of her stories take place. She was the second daughter in a Catholic Irish-American family; Rice's sister, Alice Borchardt, also became a noted genre author.

About her unusual given name, Rice said: "My birth name is Howard Allen because apparently my mother thought it was a good idea to name me Howard. My father's name was Howard, she wanted to name me after Howard, and she thought it was a very interesting thing to do. She was a bit of a Bohemian, a bit of mad woman, a bit of a genius, and a great deal of a great teacher. And she had the idea that naming a woman Howard was going to give that woman an unusual advantage in the world."

Rice became "Anne" on her first day of school, when a nun asked her what her name was. She blurted out "Anne" immediately, and her mother, who was with her, let it go without correcting her, knowing how self-conscious her daughter was of her real name.

Writing career

Her father moved the family to north Texas, taking up residence in Richardson, in 1958, when Rice was 16, and she met Stan Rice, whom she would later marry, at Richardson High School. She began college at Texas Women's University in Denton, but relocated with Stan to California, where the couple put down roots in San Francisco. "I'm a totally conservative person," she later told the New York Times (November 7, 1988). "In the middle of Haight-Ashbury in the 1960s, I was typing away while everybody was dropping acid and smoking grass. I was known as my own square." She would not return to New Orleans until 1989.[1]

Rice and her husband had a daughter Michele, who was born on September 21, 1966 and died of leukemia on August 5, 1972. Rice has said that Claudia, the young girl in her vampire fiction, was inspired by her late daughter. Their son Christopher Rice, now a novelist, was born March 11, 1978.

She completed her first book, Interview with the Vampire, in 1973 and published it in 1976. This book would be the first in Rice's popular Vampire Chronicles series, which includes 1985's The Vampire Lestat and 1988's The Queen of the Damned. Rice has also published adult-oriented fiction under the pen name Anne Rampling, and has written explicit sado-masochistic erotica as A.N. Roquelaure.

Her fiction is often described as lush and descriptive, and her characters' sexuality is fluid, often displaying homoerotic feelings towards each other. Rice said that the bisexuality was what she was looking for in her characters; a love beyond gender. She also weaves philosophical and historic themes into the dense pattern of her books. To her admirers, Rice's books are among the best in modern popular fiction, possessing those elements that create a lasting presence in the literary canon. To her critics, her novels are baroque, "low-brow pulp" and redundant. A critical analysis of Rice's work can be found in S. T. Joshi's book The Modern Weird Tale (2001).

Return to Catholicism

In 1998, after spending most of her adult life as a self-described atheist, Rice returned to her Catholic faith, which she had not practiced since she was 18. In October of 2005, as she reaffirmed her Catholic faith, Rice announced in a Newsweek article that she would "write only for the Lord." She called Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt, her first novel in this genre, the beginning of a trilogy that will chronicle the life of Jesus.

In an interview with Christianity Today, headlined "Interview with a Penitent", Rice declared that she will never again write another vampire novel, saying; "I would never go back, not even if they say, 'You will be financially ruined; you've got to write another vampire book.' I would say no. I have no choice. I would be a fool for all eternity to turn my back on God like that."

Many of her fans reacted with shock to the news of her religious and literary conversion, admonishing her in magazine articles, internet weblogs and reader reviews found on the web. Rice responded in a post on Amazon.com (see below) that stated: "And yes, the Chronicles are no more! Thank God!"

Whether Rice would continue to be a supporter of liberal causes like gay rights (her son Christopher is openly gay) and a critic of George W. Bush was much debated; she has said that Christianity's stance on homosexuality was something she wrestled with as she considered converting. She remains a passionate supporter of the rights of Jewish and Christian gays and their right to participate in religious worship. Her pattern of political contributions since 1998 suggests that she continues to identify with the Democratic Party [2].

Leaving New Orleans

Rice discovered she had Type 1 diabetes when she went into a diabetic coma in December 1998. She is an advocate for people to get tested for diabetes.

In 2002, Stan Rice died after a long illness. In her subsequent depression, Rice's weight rose to 254 pounds (115 kg). In response to sleep apnea and other weight-related problems, Rice had gastric bypass surgery in 2003.

On January 30, 2004, having already put the largest of her three homes up for sale, Rice announced her plans to leave New Orleans. She cited living alone since the death of her husband and her son's moving out of state as the reasons. "Simplifying my life, not owning so much, that's the chief goal," said Rice. "I'll no longer be a citizen of New Orleans in the true sense." Her decision saved her and her property from the wrath of Hurricane Katrina which ravaged New Orleans in August of 2005.

Rice may also have wished for more privacy from the constant attentions of her fans, who were known to camp out in front of her house; up to 200 or more would gather to see her leave for church on Sundays.

In spring 2005 Anne Rice moved to La Jolla, California, to be nearer her son, Christopher. She moved less than a year later to Rancho Mirage for a warmer climate and a "simpler life."

Amazon.com incident

On September 6, 2004, Rice posted a reply to a number of negative reviews that had appeared on Amazon.com regarding Blood Canticle. She titled her reply, "From the Author to the Some of the Negative Voices Here." This post generated a great deal of publicity online - partly because authors rarely post or respond to reviews on Amazon, and partly because of the tone and nature of her text. Many previous reviews had criticized the quality of writing in Blood Canticle as lazy or shoddy; so when Rice replied by writing an article (of 1,200 words) wherein she proudly dismisses the utility of editors, the incident became fodder for weblogs and Internet sites.

Adaptations

Film

In 1994, Neil Jordan directed a relatively faithful motion picture adaptation of Interview with the Vampire, from Rice's own screenplay.

A second film adaptation of the Vampire Chronicles came out in 2002, combining incidents from the second and third books in the series but released under the title of the third book, The Queen of the Damned. The plot was substantially altered from that of the book, and the film was poorly received by fans and critics alike.

A 1994 film titled Exit to Eden, based loosely on the book Rice published as Anne Rampling, starred Rosie O'Donnell and Dan Aykroyd. The work transformed from a love story into a police comedy, possibly due to the explicit S&M themes of the book.

The Feast of All Saints was made into a miniseries in 2001 by director Peter Medak and renamed Feast of All Saints.

Theatre

On April 25, 2006, the musical Lestat, based on Rice's Vampire Chronicles books, opened at the Palace Theatre on Broadway after having its world premiere in San Francisco, California in December 2005. With music by Elton John and lyrics by Bernie Taupin, it was the inaugural production of the newly established Warner Brothers Theatre Ventures.

Despite Rice's own overwhelming approval and praise, the show received mostly poor reviews by critics and disappointing attendance. Lestat closed a month later on May 28, 2006, after just 33 previews and 39 regular performances.

Fan fiction

Rice has an adamant stance against fan fiction based on her work, releasing a statement on April 7, 2000 that prohibited all such efforts. This caused the removal of thousands of fanfics from the popular FanFiction.Net website.

Music appearances

Sting got the inspiration for his song "Moon over Bourbon Street" from Interview with the Vampire.

Alternative rock band Concrete Blonde's song "Bloodletting (the Vampire Song)," the title track from the Bloodletting CD, is based on Rice's The Vampire Lestat.

The Australian pop band Savage Garden found their name in The Vampire Lestat, in which Lestat describes the world as "the savage garden".

The Metalcore band Atreyu declares in the song "The Crimson", "I'm an Anne Rice novel come to life."

Susan Sarandon
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Susan Sarandon (born October 4, 1946) is an Academy Award-winning American actress.

Biography

Early life

She was born Susan Abigail Tomalin in New York City to Phillip Leslie Tomalin (who had Irish, Welsh - from Tondu - and English ancestry)[1] and Italian-born (Ragusa, Sicily) Lenora Marie Criscione. [2] She grew up in a large Catholic family of nine children . She graduated Edison High School in 1964, and then attended The Catholic University of America from 1964 to 1968 where she attained a BA in Drama. Campus legend has it that Susan Sarandon lost her virginity to future husband Chris Sarandon on the 5th floor. She is quoted as saying "I was a virgin till I was 19... and then I went and married the guy."[3]

Career

In 1969, Susan went to a casting call for the film Joe with her then husband Chris Sarandon; although he did not get a part, she received the major role of the disaffected teen who disappears into the seedy underworld (the film was released in 1970). Susan didn't follow up on the success of that movie, taking roles in lesser films such as Lovin' Molly; it was five more years before she appeared in The Rocky Horror Picture Show, a cult classic. That same year, she also played the female lead in The Great Waldo Pepper, opposite Robert Redford. Susan was nominated for an Oscar in 1980 for Atlantic City, but was still not a "household name" until the 1988 film Bull Durham.

Susan received four Academy Award nominations in the 1990s, finally winning in 1996 for Dead Man Walking. Her other movies include Stepmom (1998), Anywhere But Here (1999), Cradle Will Rock (1999) (portraying Mussolini's mistress), The Banger Sisters (2002), Shall We Dance (2004), Alfie (2004), Romance & Cigarettes (2005) and Elizabethtown (2005).

Susan will appear in an upcoming episode of The Simpsons as herself, which will air in spring 2006; she's appeared on the show once before as a ballet teacher. She has also made appearances on the shows Friends, Malcolm in the Middle, Mad TV, Chappelle's Show, and Rescue Me. She is also noted for frequently appearing in her movies dressed in off-shoulder garments.

Sarandon was attacked for speaking out against the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and has confirmed that she would not play "peace mom" Cindy Sheehan in an upcoming movie [4].

Personal life

While in college, Susan met and married fellow student Chris Sarandon; They divorced in 1979 and she retained her married name as her stage name. In the mid-1980s, she dated actor Franco Amurri, with whom she had a daughter, actress Eva Amurri (born 1985).

Since 1988, Sarandon has been in a relationship with actor Tim Robbins, whom she met while filming Bull Durham. The couple have two children: Jack Henry (born 1989) and Miles Guthrie (born 1992). She and Robbins are both involved in left-wing political causes.

In 2003, Susan appeared in a "Love is Love is Love" commercial, promoting the acceptance of gay, lesbian and transgender individuals.

In 2005, Susan hosted a section of the Live 8 concert in Edinburgh, Scotland. In 2006, she participated in the 2006 Winter Olympics opening ceremony by carrying the Olympic flag in Turin. In 2006 she also received the "Ragusani nel mondo" prize, since she had recently discovered her Sicilian roots.

Armand Assante
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Armand Assante (born October 4, 1949, New York City, New York) is an American actor.

Assante was born to an Italian American father and an Irish American mother. He is a character actor whose first major role was in 1974, in "The Lords of Flatbush". His sinister look has made him a popular choice for villains and mobsters in movies and TV. He appeared with Antonio Banderas in 1992's The Mambo Kings and with Sylvester Stallone in the film version of Judge Dredd.

He lives in upstate New York and has two daughters; he recently purchased a second home in Staten Island.

Subject: Grading Papers



Imagine yourself to be the nun that is sitting at her desk grading these papers all the while trying to keep a straight face and maintain your composure!

PAY SPECIAL ATTENTION TO THE WORDING AND SPELLING. IF YOU KNOW THE BIBLE EVEN A LITTLE, YOU'LL FIND THIS HILARIOUS! IT COMES FROM A CATHOLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TEST KIDS WERE ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. THE FOLLOWING STATEMENTS ABOUT THE BIBLE WERE WRITTEN BY CHILDREN. THEY HAVE NOT BEEN RETOUCHED OR CORRECTED. INCORRECT SPELLING HAS BEEN LEFT IN.


1. IN THE FIRST BOOK OF THE BIBLE, GUINESSIS. GOD GOT TIRED OF CREATING THE WORLD SO HE TOOK THE SABBATH OFF.

2. ADAM AND EVE WERE CREATED FROM AN APPLE TREE. NOAH'S WIFE WAS JOAN OF ARK. NOAH BUILT AND ARK AND THE ANIMALS CAME ON IN PEARS.

3. LOTS WIFE WAS A PILLAR OF SALT DURING THE DAY, BUT A BALL OF FIRE DURING THE NIGHT.

4. THE JEWS WERE A PROUD PEOPL E AND THRO UGHOUT HISTORY THEY HAD TROUBLE WITH UNSYMPATHETIC GENITALS.

5. SAMPSON WAS A STRONGMAN WHO LET HIMSELF BE LED ASTRAY BY A JEZEBEL LIKE DELILAH.

6. SAMSON SLAYED THE PHILISTINES WITH THE AXE OF THE APOSTLES.

7. MOSES LED THE JEWS TO THE RED SEA WHERE THEY MADE UNLEAVENED BREAD WHICH IS BREAD WITHOUT ANY INGREDIENTS.

8, THE EGYPTIANS WERE ALL DROWNED IN THE DESSERT. AFTERWARDS, MOSES WENT UP TO MOUNT CYANIDE TO GET THE TEN COMMANDMENTS.

9. THE FIRST COMMANDMENTS WAS WHEN EVE TOLD ADAM TO EAT THE APPLE.

10. THE SEVENTH COMMANDMENT IS THOU SHALT NOT ADMIT ADULTERY.

11. MOSES DIED BEFORE HE EVER REACHED CANADA . THEN JOSHUA LED THE HEBREWS IN THE BATTLE OF GERITOL.

12. THE GREATEST MIRICLE IN THE BIBLE IS WHEN JOSHUA TOLD HIS SON TO STAND STILL AND HE OBEYED HIM.

13. DAVID WAS A HEBREW KING WHO WAS SKILLED AT PLAYING THE LIAR. HE FOUGHT THE FINKELSTEINS, A RACE OF PEOPLE WHO LIVED IN BIBLICAL TIMES.

14. SOLOMON, ONE OF DAVIDS SONS, HAD 300 WIVES AND 700 PORCUPINES

15. WHEN MARY HEARD SHE WAS THE MOTHER OF JESUS, SHE SANG THE MAGNA CARTA.

16. WHEN THE THREE WISE GUYS FROM THE EAST SIDE ARRIVED THEY FOUND JESUS IN THE MANAGER.

17. JESUS WAS BORN BECAUSE MARY HAD AN IMMACULATE CONTRAPTION.

18. ST. JOHN THE BLACKSMITH DUMPED WATER ON HIS HEAD.

19. JESUS ENUNCIATED THE GOLDEN RULE, WHICH SAYS TO DO UNTO OTHERS BEFORE THEY DO ONE TO YOU. HE ALSO EXPLAINED A MAN DOTH NOT LIVE BY SWEAT ALONE.

20. IT WAS A MIRICLE WHEN JESUS ROSE FROM THE DEAD AND MANAGED TO GET THE TOMBSTONE OFF THE ENTRANCE.

21. THE PEOPLE WHO FOLLOWED THE LORD WERE CALLED THE 12 DECIBELS.

22. THE EPISTELS WERE THE WIVES OF THE APOSTLES.

23. ONE OF THE OPPOSSUMS WAS ST. MATTHEW WHO WAS ALSO A TAXIMAN.

24. ST. PAUL CAVORTED TO CHRISTIANITY, HE PREACHED HOLY ACRIMONY WHICH IS ANOTHER NAME FOR MARRAIGE.

25. CHRISTIANS HAVE ONLY ONE SPOUSE. THIS IS CALLED MONOTONY.

Well, folks, we know that the hawk has landed when he tells mixed up stories from kids about the Bible. Love it, buddy.

I was hoping, BostonBob, that you might favor us with a a shaggy dog story about elephants in honor of Gautam's birthday. (he'll always be Gautam, to me)



and here is one funny site, listeners:

http://homepage.eircom.net/~cronews/elep/elep.html

Hey, folks. Great news all over. Lord Ellpus is on the mend, and Gautam is having a birthday:


Three Dog Night
Celebrate

Slippin' away, sittin' on a pillow
Waitin' for night to fall
A girl and a dream, sittin' on a pillow
This is the night to go to the celebrity ball

Satin and lace, isn't it a pity
Didn't find time to call
Ready or not, gonna make it to the city
This is the night to go to the celebrity ball

Dress up tonight, why be lonely?
You'll stay at home and you'll be alone
So why be lonely?
Sittin' alone, sittin' on a pillow
Waitin' to climb the walls
Maybe tonight, depending how your dream goes
She'll open her eyes when he goes to the celebrity ball

Celebrate, celebrate, dance to the music
Celebrate, celebrate, dance to the music
Celebrate, celebrate, dance to the music

That's All Right, Mama
(Text och musik av Arthur Crudup)

Well, that's all right, mama
That's all right for you
That's all right mama, just anyway you do
Well, that's all right, that's all right.
That's all right now mama, anyway you do

Mama she done told me,
Papa done told me too
'Son, that gal your foolin' with,
She ain't no good for you'
But, that's all right, that's all right.
That's all right now mama, anyway you do

I'm leaving town, baby
I'm leaving town for sure
Well, then you won't be bothered with
Me hanging 'round your door
Well, that's all right, that's all right.
That's all right now mama, anyway you do


Elvis

That's good news, Letty.

Had a little trouble gettin' in to our studio, but here I am to listen to edgar's version of "That's All Right Mama, " by Elvis. Thanks, Texas.

Raggedy, it is good news.

Now another song to celebrate the day.

Fascinating rhythm,
You've got me on the go
Fascinating rhythm,
I'm all a-quiver

What a mess you're making
The neighbors want to know
Why I'm always shaking
Just like a flivver

Each morning, I wake up with the sun,
Start a-hopping, never stopping
To find at night no work has been done

I know that once it didn't matter
But now, you're doing wrong
When you start to patter,
I'm so unhappy

Won't you take a day off?
Decide to come along
Somewhere far away off
And make it snappy

Oh, how I long to be the girl I used to be
Fascinating rhythm
Fascinating rhythm
Fascinating rhythm
Fascinating rhythm,
Stop picking on me

Maureen McGovern

she seemed dressed in all of me.
stretched across my shame.
all the torment and the pain
leeked through and covered me.
i'd do anything to have her for myself...
just to have her for myself.
now i don't know what to do
and she makes me sad.
she is everything to me.
the unrequited dream.
the song that no one sings.
the unattainable.
she's a myth that i have to believe in.
all i need to make her real is one more reason.
and i don't know what to do
when she makes me sad.

Good morning, WA2K radio fans and contributors.

Hey, rockpie. Sad song, Wales. Is that an original?

Love this one by Johnny Mercer, folks:

Artist: Lyrics
Song: Crazy Rhythm Lyrics

Crazy rhythm, here's the doorway
I'll go my way, you'll go your way
Crazy rhythm, from now on
We're through.
Here is where we have a showdown
I'm too high-hat, you're too low-down
Crazy rhythm, here's goodbye to you!
They say that when a high-brow meets a low-brow
Walkin' along Broadway
Soon the high-brow
He has no brow
Ain't it a shame?
And you're to blame
What's the use of prohibition?
You produce the same condition
Crazy rhythm, from now on, we're through
Crazy rhythm, I've gone crazy