Warm Fuzzies And Wackadoodles: All The Good Or Strange News To Share

[Spartan Girl]

1 hour ago, BetterButter said:

 

I don’t care if they got permission from the estate, this is so wrong.

[Wiendish Fitch]

6 minutes ago, Spartan Girl said:

I don’t care if they got permission from the estate, this is so wrong.

I agree, it's just creepy. Natalie Cole (RIP) got a bit of grief back in the day recording "duets" with her late dad. Regardless of how one feels about it, at least they were genuine recordings of the man himself, and she wasn't playing God and trying to Black Mirror him back to life.

[Ohiopirate02]

1 hour ago, Spartan Girl said:

I don’t care if they got permission from the estate, this is so wrong.

I agree.  I'm getting "we're broke" and "I want to use my dead relative to cash in on this new tech" vibes from the estate.  

[MissAlmond]

3 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

I don’t care if they got permission from the estate, this is so wrong.

I'm not surprised. Back in 2019, I posted how The Estate of James Dean granted permission for the long dead Dean to be CGI/Deepfaked and "co-star" in a film named Finding Jack.  I don't know what happened since then. Some say the movie was delayed due to COVID. Others claim it was outright canceled. 

[BetterButter]

 

[Blergh]

In 1957, the 13-year-old performer Brenda Lee recorded 'Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree' (accompanied by excellent musicians including Boots Randolph on the sax). OK, it became a holiday standard within a few years and has remained so. However, this week (of December 4,2023), the 78-year-old performer has FINALLY  gotten to see that song be the Number One song in the Billboard Hot 100!  Better late than never, indeed!

[andromeda331]

2 minutes ago, Blergh said:

In 1957, the 13-year-old performer Brenda Lee recorded 'Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree' (accompanied by excellent musicians including Boots Randolph on the sax). OK, it became a holiday standard within a few years and has remained so. However, this week (of December 4,2023), the 78-year-old performer has FINALLY  gotten to see that song be the Number One song in the Billboard Hot 100!  Better late than never, indeed!

I'm surprised it was never number one before. 

[KWalkerInc]

It seems like many Christmas songs didn't usually make the chart at all until streaming came into the equation.  Maybe part of it was that back when many of the songs were released, they were only available by buying the whole album so they couldn't get the physical sales that were a heavy part of the chart for a long time.  I don't really know, but there are definitely tons of Christmas songs from prior years on the Hot 100 now, and many of them are charting higher than they ever had before.

[Blergh]

On 12/9/2023 at 4:27 AM, KWalkerInc said:

It seems like many Christmas songs didn't usually make the chart at all until streaming came into the equation.  Maybe part of it was that back when many of the songs were released, they were only available by buying the whole album so they couldn't get the physical sales that were a heavy part of the chart for a long time.  I don't really know, but there are definitely tons of Christmas songs from prior years on the Hot 100 now, and many of them are charting higher than they ever had before.

Perhaps, but one thing about Miss Brenda is the one can't say she ever had the most predictable career arc even for an entertainer.

She was born Brenda Mae Tarpley December 11,1944 to a struggling family in rural Georgia but she loved to sing as far back as could remember. Her father  Ruben died when she was just eight after a hammer fell on his head (?!) and she earnestly started singing for her family's supper! Thankfully, she has said that she never felt pressured or compelled to have done so but, instead WANTED to use her beloved singing to help out her struggling widowed mother Annie Grayce and her older siblings and felt proud to be able to do so.  Yes, the promoters insisted she only use the last syllable of her original surname. She'd never grow an inch taller than 4 foot 9 inches  but she proved to be a dynamo who'd tour the Americas, Europe and Asia from an early age and even had the Silver Beatles as her opening act before they hit it big and dropped the 'Silver'!  She has said that when she was sixteen, she asked Judy Garland for advice and has  never forgotten what her elder colleague told her- 'Don't ever let anyone take your childhood away!'

In 1963, she wed the 19-year-old 6 foot 3 inches tall  son of a Nashville city council member one Charles Ronald 'Ronnie' Shacklett  who's been   a successful construction contractor and they'd have two daughters (the elder born prematurely but saved by the neonatal pioneer physician Dr. Mildred Stahlman [born 1922 and still living] and have since had three grandchildren and a great-grandchild. .and even more amazingly have stayed married to each other sixty years despite the odds of teen marriage, tour separations,etc.

Yep, in the new video of her performing 'Rockin' Around the Christmas' tree with her in a floor-length red choir robe, she may resemble a hand puppet but she and the rest of the performers (including Tanya Tucker and Trisha Yearwood) in that video sure look as though they're having fun!

Edited December 13, 2023 by Blergh

[Blergh]

I had too busy a workweek so I apologize for not doing this on the actual day but Monday, December 11th both Brenda Lee   and Rita Moreno (born Rosa Dolores Alverio Marcano) had their respective 79th and 92nd birthdays!  They both started working in the entertainment profession from childhood onward  and would have worldwide fame despite both of them originating in areas considered somewhat off the beaten path. I can't help but think they'd have quite a few tales to trade and maybe might hit it off. I wonder if they've ever met?

Regardless, Happy Birthday to two of my fave entertainers !

[Jaded]

I thought some of you might enjoy this too...
 

 

[Blergh]

His first cinematic debut was in Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys (1959) starring Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, then he went onto play a neighbor kid called Barry on The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, Mr. Mooney's younger son in The Lucy Show before he became youngest son Chip's bestie then adopted kid brother Ernie in My Three Sons (1964-1972) [Chip having been played by the performer Stanley Livingston- this performer's RL sib]- and has had a steady television and stage career to the present day (e.g. The Conners and General Hospital)!

Yes, I'm talking Barry Livingston who was born on this day in 1953, has been married for 40 years to Karen Huntsman- his co-parent of their grown kids Spencer and Hailey! 

Yep, time sure flies and Happy 70th Birthday, Mr. Livingston!

[Vermicious Knid]

40 years later, Wham!'s Last Christmas reaches number 1 in the UK. 

[Bastet]

17 minutes ago, Vermicious Knid said:

40 years later, Wham!'s Last Christmas reaches number 1 in the UK. 

That's one of the few Christmas songs I like, and it finally hitting number one reminds me of an entertaining scene in the Wham! documentary -- a clip of George Michael good-naturedly expressing his conflicting emotions about "Do They Know It's Christmas?" being a smash hit; he was glad, proud to have been part of it, but, dammit, it kept his own Christmas song from the number one slot!

[Haleth]

6 hours ago, Vermicious Knid said:

40 years later, Wham!'s Last Christmas reaches number 1 in the UK. 

I'm sure this has something to do with Whamageddon, the game about trying to avoid hearing it.  

[ABay]

It seems to have caught a lot of people's attention this week; it's the 3rd time I've heard about it in a few days. I don't know how I hadn't heard about it before considering how much British media I consume.

[GHScorpiosRule]

11 hours ago, Vermicious Knid said:

40 years later, Wham!'s Last Christmas reaches number 1 in the UK. 

Huh. I thought it hit No. 1 in 2020 in the Wham! documentary I watched recently.

11 hours ago, Bastet said:

That's one of the few Christmas songs I like, and it finally hitting number one reminds me of an entertaining scene in the Wham! documentary -- a clip of George Michael good-naturedly expressing his conflicting emotions about "Do They Know It's Christmas?" being a smash hit; he was glad, proud to have been part of it, but, dammit, it kept his own Christmas song from the number one slot!

I know! Poor guy. He had written to Andy telling him that this song would mark their 4th No. 1 song and then Geldoff comes with “Do They Know it’s Christmas?” in 1984.

Maybe it hit No.1 in 2020 in the U.S.? It’s one of my favorites and I hate the cover that Taylor Swift(?) or whoever has done.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

Huh. I thought it hit No. 1 in 2020 in the Wham! documentary I watched recently.

It first hit number 1 in the UK the first week of 2021 and a few times since, including most of this December. This is the first time it is number 1 the week of Christmas. 

[Blergh]

If nothing else, Last Christmas's recent success has plucked the  surviving Wham! member Andrew Ridgeley out of obscurity!

[Affogato]

On 6/27/2023 at 8:03 PM, supposebly said:

Let me get this right. Someone's mother died, possibly fairly recently. They then put some of the ashes into a plastic baggie, proceed to go to a Pink concert, and throw it onto the stage?

What was the intention? Was the mother a Pink fan? What did they think would happen? Pink would hold a funeral?

People are very strange.

It may have been an accident? Funbling around in purse for something to throw, picked the wrong thing. 

[Blergh]

3 hours ago, Affogato said:

It may have been an accident? Funbling around in purse for something to throw, picked the wrong thing. 

Even if that HAD been the case, why would anyone throw ANYthing  at a concert other than perhaps confetti that a hypothetical performer would have previously expressly requested?!

 And it doesn't sound as though the 'thrower' attempted to pretend that throwing her late mother's bagged ashes had been an accident when called on it!

 I don't know who I more sorry for here: Pink, her daughter Willow Hart [who was also performing], the other concertgoers, her security team or. . .the thrower's deceased mother who I seriously doubt had expressed that as her last wish!

I hope Pink/ her security team,etc. saw to it that the 'thrower' got some therapy after that incident!

Edited December 31, 2023 by Blergh

[Affogato]

45 minutes ago, Blergh said:

Even if that HAD been the case, why would anyone throw ANYthing  at a concert other than perhaps confetti that a hypothetical performer would have previously expressly requested?!

 And it doesn't sound as though the 'thrower' attempted to pretend that throwing her late mother's bagged ashes had been an accident when called on it!

 I don't know who I more sorry for here: Pink, her daughter Willow Hart [who was also performing], the other concertgoers, her security team or. . .the thrower's deceased mother who I seriously doubt had expressed that as her last wish!

I hope Pink/ her security team,etc. saw to it that the 'thrower' got some therapy after that incident!

There obviously was more, is more, to the story. Maybe it was an ill conceived deliberate stunt and maybe an accident and she meant to throw something else. Which is not the best concert trend in general.
 

 Why is mom in a baggy? Why does pink immediately recognize a ziplock of human remains? Or was it the plastic bag with eceased identification?
 

i doubt anyone who didn’t know the deceaased was hurt emotionally, I think if Pink is more than wtf she would need therapy. Everyone there got a story to tell. 

[BetterButter]

AI-Generated George Carlin Drops Comedy Special That Daughter Speaks Out Against: ‘No Machine Will Ever Replace His Genius’

Quote

More than 15 years after his death, stand-up comedian George Carlin has been brought back to life in an artificial intelligence-generated special called “George Carlin: I’m Glad I’m Dead.”

 

[Wiendish Fitch]

1 hour ago, BetterButter said:

AI-Generated George Carlin Drops Comedy Special That Daughter Speaks Out Against: ‘No Machine Will Ever Replace His Genius’

 

Poor Kelly Carlin; it's bad enough people willfully misunderstand her dad or take his points out of context, but this is just gross. 

[Soapy Goddess]

16 hours ago, Wiendish Fitch said:

Poor Kelly Carlin; it's bad enough people willfully misunderstand her dad or take his points out of context, but this is just gross. 

And to add insult to injury, it's simply NOT funny at all. 

[Blergh]

Oh, the weather outside may be frightful

But the news 78 years ago proved delightful

Happy Birthday to Miss Dolly Rebecca Parton!

[Spartan Girl]

I knew it.

But that documentary about him that they WERE involved in sounds like a must-see.

[cleo]

I read Carlin's family are suing. I hope others follow suit bc this will only get worse and grosser. 

[Blergh]

I can't say I've liked Jay Leno for too many reasons to even summarize (and I don't  want to rehash them at this time) However, IMO the one saving grace he's had over the decades is that he appears to have always treated his wife of 43 years Mavis Nicholson Leno like fine china. Therefore, when the major news outlets reported that she has now been hobbled by dementia and he has filed for Conservatorship, I have to admit that I was touched that he would do that and heartbroken on his behalf. Of course, since they have no offspring (and he's 73) I can't help but hope he's got help with the caregiving since caregivers have been known to get wiped out (and even occasionally have  predeceased their afflicted loved ones).

No, this isn't a happy bit of news but I thought it was poignant enough to share (and it needs to be said that caregivers of  afflicted family members need to have all the emotional and practical support possible). 

Edited January 29 by Blergh

[Annber03]

Yeah, that's rough news to hear about his wife. I hope she's able to get all the care and support she needs and wants going forward, from Jay and anyone else who helps look after her. 

[Bastet]

Oh damn, that's too bad about Mavis Leno; I've talked with her a bit at several feminist events over the years, and she's a good woman.

[BetterButter]

'Groundhog Day' cast reunites in Chicago, city proclaims Feb. 2 as 'Harold Ramis Day'

[MissAlmond]

On 1/26/2024 at 9:14 PM, cleo said:

I read Carlin's family are suing. I hope others follow suit bc this will only get worse and grosser. 

The AI generated/deepfake porn of Taylor Swift that circulated on the Internet is further proof how correct you are. Good luck to the Carlin family. 

Edited February 8 by MissAlmond

[Blergh]

I'm not the biggest fan of his music nor did I agree with all his stances. However, I couldn't help but be moved by interview in the latest People magazine of Lenny Kravitz in which he reflected on his impending 60[?!] th birthday in May and how he and his onetime wife Lisa Bonet not only just truced things over to be civil for their daughter's sake after their split but now are a family that includes her younger children [who consider their elder half-sister's father to be an uncle] and even said children's father Jason Momoa who he says he has no judgement with but has been family and will remain family forever!  Yes, Mr. Kravitz admits in the article that it took work on everyone's parts [with no lawyers involved] but he's proud of how their daughter and entire family have turned out!

 MOST refreshing compared to all the many petty grudges, backbiting,etc. from split unions that often go on for decades [literally] regardless of any offspring in common!

[Haleth]

On 2/11/2024 at 8:05 PM, Blergh said:

Lenny Kravitz in which he reflected on his impending 60[?!] th birthday

I can't get past the fact Lenny is turning 60!

[AstridM]

On 2/11/2024 at 8:05 PM, Blergh said:

I'm not the biggest fan of his music nor did I agree with all his stances. However, I couldn't help but be moved by interview in the latest People magazine of Lenny Kravitz in which he reflected on his impending 60[?!] th birthday in May and how he and his onetime wife Lisa Bonet not only just truced things over to be civil for their daughter's sake after their split but now are a family that includes her younger children [who consider their elder half-sister's father to be an uncle] and even said children's father Jason Momoa who he says he has no judgement with but has been family and will remain family forever!  Yes, Mr. Kravitz admits in the article that it took work on everyone's parts [with no lawyers involved] but he's proud of how their daughter and entire family have turned out!

 MOST refreshing compared to all the many petty grudges, backbiting,etc. from split unions that often go on for decades [literally] regardless of any offspring in common!

I’ve always loved him and the man doesn’t seem to age - it’s not fair! 😄

[BetterButter]

Run-DMC DJ Jam Master Jay’s Killers Found Guilty of 2002 Murder

Quote

Karl Jordan Jr. and Ronald Washington were convicted of fatally shooting Jam Master Jay in his Queens recording studio on Oct. 30, 2002.

 

[Shannon L.]

This is so cute:  Hannah Waddingham carried the bag her 9 year old daughter made her to the SAG Awards.

[Anduin]

Ted DiBiase is a retired pro wrestler. His gimmick was the Million Dollar Man, way back in the 80s when that was a lot of money. Here's the full bit, but I just stumbled across a quote too good not to share.

Quote

Wrestling is show business. But when you’re inducted into the Hall of Fame, if you’re not being inducted because you had like a 60-0 record or whatever. Oh my gosh, if you tried to count up all the wrestling matches I had in my career? It’s like, there are 360 days in the year and I can assure you that I wrestled 300 of those days every year.

The so-called Million Dollar Man being bad with numbers. Love it.

[SVNBob]

2 hours ago, Anduin said:

Ted DiBiase is a retired pro wrestler. His gimmick was the Million Dollar Man, way back in the 80s when that was a lot of money. Here's the full bit, but I just stumbled across a quote too good not to share.

The so-called Million Dollar Man being bad with numbers. Love it.

TBF, those are small numbers.  Chump change, if you will.  He's better when dealing with numbers in at least the 6-figure range.

[Jaded]

👀👀👀

Why Elizabeth Hurley Felt "Safe" Filming Sex Scenes Directed By Her Son

[KWalkerInc]

The high school where Footloose was filmed is going to be demolished due to the construction of a new school, and Kevin Bacon has accepted the students' invitation to attend the final prom.

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/kevin-bacon-attend-prom-high-143327766.html

[Spartan Girl]

3 hours ago, KWalkerInc said:

The high school where Footloose was filmed is going to be demolished due to the construction of a new school, and Kevin Bacon has accepted the students' invitation to attend the final prom.

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/kevin-bacon-attend-prom-high-143327766.html

I cannot wait to see that!

[Shannon L.]

So simple, but so effective:

Steve From “Blue’s Clues” Just Checked In On “The Kids He Raised” After “Quiet On Set” Exposed A Dark Side To Their Childhoods, And People Are Seriously Emotional

In his new TikTok, Steve looks directly into the camera as though he is speaking to the viewer in real life and gently says, “Hey, I’m checking in. Tell me, what’s going on?”

He then sits in silence for almost a minute, seemingly giving his followers a safe space to off-load their feelings while he “listens” attentively. 

This mirrors how Steve hosted Blue’s Clues, as he always paused to give young viewers time to answer his questions.

Steve’s face is incredibly responsive in the TikTok, and he appears sympathetic as he nods along, with emotion visible in his eyes.

As the minute draws to a close, he simply says, “OK.” After another beat, he adds, “Alright, well, it’s good to hear from you. And you look great, by the way.”

[Mabinogia]

3 hours ago, Shannon L. said:

So simple, but so effective:

No kidding! Out of curiosity I just did it. Didn't say anything at first, was curious what it was, there was something about the way he looked in my eye (seemed to be) that just made me want to talk. I actually got slightly emotional and I wasn't even sharing anything big. 

What a great idea that was. 

[Shannon L.]

2 minutes ago, Mabinogia said:

No kidding! Out of curiosity I just did it. Didn't say anything at first, was curious what it was, there was something about the way he looked in my eye (seemed to be) that just made me want to talk. I actually got slightly emotional and I wasn't even sharing anything big. 

What a great idea that was. 

I got emotional, too. I even teared up.

[Annber03]

Yeah, that's a really cool move on his part. I hope it brought some comfort to the kids who saw it. 

[Blergh]

10 hours ago, Shannon L. said:

So simple, but so effective:

Steve From “Blue’s Clues” Just Checked In On “The Kids He Raised” After “Quiet On Set” Exposed A Dark Side To Their Childhoods, And People Are Seriously Emotional

 

 

I could imagine the late Fred Rogers would have made a show similar to that for the sake of those who'd been children at the time  were he still in this world.

[Annber03]

We could sure use Mr. Rogers now. For a whole host of reasons. 

[Spartan Girl]

10 hours ago, Annber03 said:

We could sure use Mr. Rogers now. For a whole host of reasons. 

Yeah, but part of me is glad that he isn’t around for certain people to attack him or twist his lessons out of proportion.