Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Dick Clark

Broadcast icon Dick Clark, the longtime host of the influential "American Bandstand," has died, publicist Paul Shefrin said. He was 82.

Clark suffered a heart attack while at St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica for an outpatient procedure, his publicist said Wednesday. "Attempts to resuscitate were unsuccessful."

The family has not yet decided whether there will be a public memorial service for the multifaceted Clark, although Shefrin said, "There will be no funeral."

Clark suffered what was then described as "a mild stroke" in December 2004, just months after announcing he had been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes.

That stroke forced Clark to cut back on his on-camera work, including giving up the hosting duties for the "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve" specials. He returned as a co-host with Ryan Seacrest on December 31, 2005.

Clark's "American Bandstand" work, which he began when it was a local TV show in Philadelphia in 1956, earned him the nickname "America's oldest living teenager." The dance show was picked up by ABC and broadcast nationally a year later.

"If you didn't go on 'American Bandstand,' you hadn't made it yet," singer Aretha Franklin told "AC360."

The savvy entrepreneur was a pioneer in introducing African-American and other performers to millions of young TV viewers. His audiences were integrated, among the first on television.

"Only God is responsible for making more stars than Dick Clark," said singer Tony Orlando, who was 16 when he first appeared on Clark's show in 1961.

Saturday, April 14, 2012

the Dalai Lama in Hawaii

Bearing gifts of wisdom and good humor, the Dalai Lama arrived Friday in Honolulu and wasted no time charming the Kamehameha Schools students and administrators on hand to welcome him.

The Tibetan spiritual leader is in Hawaii for this weekend's "Pillars of Peace Hawaii: Building Peace on a Foundation of Aloha," a community peace-building event sponsored by the Hawaii Community Foundation with funding from the Omidyar Ohana Fund.

In addition to private meetings with Native Hawaiian community leaders and others, the Dalai Lama will appear at today's "Educating the Heart," an event for students only, and Sunday's "Advancing Peace Through the Power of Aloha," which is open to the general public.

Born Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama escaped Tibet in 1959 following the Chinese suppression of an uprising in Lhasa. He has spent the last 53 years in exile in Dharamsala, India, the seat of the Tibetan government in exile. In that time, he has come to be regarded as a international symbol of peace and compassion as well as a gently outspoken champion of human rights and cultural preservation. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989 for his ongoing, nonviolent struggle to liberate Tibet.

The students, chastened by the heavy security presence outside and cautioned by school officials to be on their best behavior, said they found it difficult at first to reconcile the exalted reputation of the Dalai Lama with his disarmingly unaffected manner.

"I was intimidated at first because I didn't know what to expect," said Jacob Hookano. "But when he came through the door and was making jokes and everything, I relaxed. He was like a normal person, very friendly."

[8/24/12] What did the Dalai Lama visit Kailua High School?

Four Days With The Dalai Lama (by Don Chapman, MidWeek)

Clearing out the Lama Notebook

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

7 Steps to Happiness

Think less, feel more

Frown less, smile more

Talk less, listen more

Judge less, accept more

Watch less, do more

Complain less, appreciate more

Fear less, love more

-- from Roy

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

The Three Stooges movie

Weep not, for they live again.

Like ghosts from Saturday-morning TV marathons past, three familiar figures jump out from a row of bushes and materialize poolside in the steamy mid-July heat. One sports a distinctive bowl cut, another wears a corona of wild frizz, and the chubby fellow is as bald as a bikini-waxed peach.

Near a building that bears the sign Sisters of Mercy Orphanage & Spa, a ballistic ballet of comic bedlam unfolds: a face is slapped, a cranium is conked, clumps of hair are yanked by the fistful and the epithet "You idiot!" resounds throughout the movie set in suburban Atlanta.

Yes, Moe, Larry and Curly have returned to "woo, woo, woo" and "nyuk-nyuk-nyuk" another day in The Three Stooges: The Movie, opening Friday.

***

Maybe it was just a matter of time before Peter and Bobby Farrelly, the brothers who wrote and directed the comedy "Dumb & Dumber," made a movie about their original dimwitted inspiration, The Three Stooges. (Reuters)

The sound of “nyuk, nyuk, nyuk” will be heard across the land when The Three Stooges — the Farrelly brothers’ long-awaited tribute to the slapstick comedy legends — opens Friday, introducing the trio to a new generation of knuckleheads. (Newsday)

Monday, April 09, 2012

Mike Wallace

NEW YORK >> Within five months of each other, two of the men who helped make “60 Minutes” the most distinctive news show on television have died.

First it was Andy Rooney, the cantankerous commentator who died last November, a month after delivering the last of his show-closing essays. Late Saturday night, it was Mike Wallace, the hard-charging interviewer who frequently led “60 Minutes” and gave it journalistic heft with a showman’s flair.

Rooney made it to age 92. Wallace beat him by a year, although he spent the latter stage of his life in the New Canaan, Conn., care facility where he died.

“More than anyone else he was responsible for the continuing success of ‘60 Minutes,’ “veteran correspondent Morley Safer, a longtime colleague and frequent competitor of Wallace’s in chasing after big stories, said on Sunday’s show. “We are all in his debt.”

60 Minutes” plans an extended tribute to Wallace next Sunday.

Friday, April 06, 2012

Telebrands Bottle Top (a review)

Finally had the opportunity to try out the Telebrands Bottle Top that I got as a grab bag (actually it was somebody else's grab bag but they didn't want it).

The problem is that it didn't fit the can (a can of Sprite). It was too small and didn't snap on easily (or at all).

Comparing to this video, it looks like my bottle top is smaller than the one in the video and doesn't fit around the can.

Apparently they make em in different sizes (probably in China somewhere).

My experience was like this review. I put the can on the floor. Pushed down hard. Then the can collapsed, spilling soda on the kitchen rug :(

Thumbs down. Not worth the price I paid (which was free).

It might be an halfway-OK product if you get one that works. But evidently their quality control is really poor and none of my tops fit. At least I couldn't make it fit.