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No Good, Just Bad: ‘Ugly Betty’ canceled
01.27.2010
11:57 pm
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Although it may come as a surprise to some readers of this blog, I’m a huge Ugly Betty fan and have been from the beginning. It’s got one of the best casts of any TV show on any network today and I look forward to seeing all of them going on to new projects. America Ferrera is one of the most charismatic young actresses out there, I’ve enjoyed her performances immensely in everything I’ve seen her in and I hope the dynamic comedic pairing of real life best friends Michael Urie and Becki Newton lives on in future projects. (And if no one will pay them to do something together, they should do it themselves, like a talk show. All they need is a camera and someone to talk to and it will be great). Such memorable characters, all of them.

And Ugly Betty had some of the best writers, directors, stylists, art directors and set designers in the business. Each and every episode was a meticulously crafted, deeply moving gem. It was creative down to the transitions between scenes. It upped the ante for TV comedy in some many different ways. In its entire run there were very, very few “eh” episodes. Maybe only one.

ABC say that fans of the show will be satisfied at how the series is resolved—there will be eight more episodes—and I hope that’s true, but it was a sad day in our household when we heard that Ugly Betty would be no more.

Posted by Richard Metzger
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01.27.2010
11:57 pm
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Howard Zinn Dies
01.27.2010
11:23 pm
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Sad to hear this:

Howard Zinn, an author, teacher and political activist whose leftist “A People’s History of the United States” became a million-selling alternative to mainstream texts and a favourite of such celebrities as Bruce Springsteen and Ben Affleck, died Wednesday. He was 87.

Zinn died of a heart attack in Santa Monica, California, daughter Myla Kabat-Zinn said. The historian was a resident of Auburndale, Massachusetts.

Howard Zinn, author of ‘People’s History’ and left-wing historian, dies at 87 in California

Posted by Tara McGinley
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01.27.2010
11:23 pm
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Serial KIller on The Dating Game
01.27.2010
08:50 pm
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It’s difficult to happen upon a headline like “LA Weekly Found the Creepiest Thing Ever Put on the Internet” and decide to pass it by. I’m like you, I want to see the creepiest thing ever put on the Internet, right? That came into my inbox this afternoon courtesy of Tina Dupuy/Fishbowl LA and… you know, it is pretty fuckin’ creepy. What am I talking about? Try this on for size:

Rodney Alcala is a man stuck in a time warp, his flowing silver hair, granny glasses, beige blazer and jeans reminiscent of a creative-writing professor circa 1980, the year he began life behind bars. As he walked into an Orange County Superior Court room one recent day, news photographers snapped his lean, no-longer-handsome face. His handcuffs were removed, he picked up a pen with his left hand and waited for Orange County Superior Court Judge F.P. Briseno to bring in the 12 jurors who will decide if he should die or spend the rest of his life in prison or, though exceedingly unlikely, go free.

The once-dashing ladies’ man, UCLA fine-arts grad, former Los Angeles Times typesetter, amateur photographer and film student of Roman Polanski’s is believed to have used his smooth-talking charm and access to the creative communities in L.A. and Greenwich Village during the 1970s to entrap and murder seven women and girls, and to rape several others. So smooth was Alcala that he was selected to compete on the ABC prime-time show The Dating Game in 1978, where “bachelorette” Cheryl Bradshaw picked him as her date. Later, police say, she reportedly refused to go on the winning date, sensing that there was something creepy about Bachelor Number One.

Smart girl. A serial killer on The Dating Game! Here’s the footage. Yikes!


Rodney Alcala: The Fine Art of Killing by Christine Pelisek (LA Weekly)

Posted by Richard Metzger
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01.27.2010
08:50 pm
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Hasbro’s New Ouija Board For Girls
01.27.2010
04:21 pm
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Engaging demonic forces is no longer just a boy’s game!  Meet Hasbro’s new Ouija board.  It’s $19.99, targeted at girls between the ages of 8 and 12, and pink to better lure our daughters into making pacts with “Captain Howdy.”

From the ToysRUs product description:

It has always been mysterious.  It has always been mystifying.  And now the OUIJA Board is just for you, girl.  With 72 fun questions included, you’ll never run out of things to ask.  Who will call/text me next?  Will I be a famous actor someday?  Who wishes they could trade places with me?  Gather your friends around, draw a card, place your fingers on the planchette and ask your question. Concentrate very hard and watch as the answer is revealed in the message window.  Make up your own questions, and let the OUIJA Board satisfy your curiosity in virtually endless ways.  OUIJA Board will answer.  It’s just a game—or is it?

(via Geekologie)

Posted by Bradley Novicoff
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01.27.2010
04:21 pm
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What North Korean Children Sing About When They Sing About Us
01.27.2010
03:48 pm
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Three new books on North Korea were given a great round-up by Dwight Garner in today’s New York Times.  But I did find one detail in the review particularly compelling.  It was from Barbara Demick’s book (excellent, according to the NYT), Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea:

How are North Koreans taught to think about us?  Well, here?

Posted by Bradley Novicoff
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01.27.2010
03:48 pm
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Internacional by Paco Pomet
01.27.2010
01:42 am
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Spotted over at Today and Tomorrow.
 
Paco Pomet

Posted by Tara McGinley
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01.27.2010
01:42 am
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Handmade Morrissey Ouija Board
01.27.2010
01:20 am
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Peculiar handmade Ouija board by Etsy seller Maasproduction:

Comes with a heart shaped planchette which is also hand painted. Signed/dated on the back. Also makes a great objet d’art, Valentine’s Day or Birthday gift!

 
The price is $50.00.
 
(via Super Punch)

Posted by Tara McGinley
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01.27.2010
01:20 am
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Rise of the Tea Baggers
01.27.2010
12:03 am
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Fairly reported article on the brief history of the so-called Tea Party movement, from the New Yorker:

Consider our peculiar political situation at the end of this first decade of the new century. An African-American Democrat is elected President, following the collapse of the two great symbols of postwar prosperity, Detroit and Wall Street. Seizing on the erosion of public trust in ?ɬ

Posted by Richard Metzger
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01.27.2010
12:03 am
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Maxine Swaby: ‘Pardon Me’
01.26.2010
11:13 pm
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Posted by Richard Metzger
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01.26.2010
11:13 pm
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Genesis Breyer P-Orridge: Putting Your Money Where Your Mouth Is
01.26.2010
11:02 pm
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Genesis Breyer P-Orridge has a new show opening on January 31 Renwick Gallery in New York City. (Apologies for earlier post which misidentified show as being in Washington, D.C.)

Renwick Gallery is pleased to present Putting Your Money Where Your Mouth Is?

Posted by Jason Louv
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01.26.2010
11:02 pm
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