“This the way the ad endsThis is the way the ad endsThis is the way the ad endsNot with a bang, but a whimper.” -T.S. Ogilvy EliotThose weird Microsoft ads with Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld are suddenly kaput.
Doctor and poet William Carlos Williams was born on this day 125 years ago.
The Daily Mail has photos of Angelina Jolie at age 16. (“Before the tattoos and vials of blood,” as they put it. Those Brits!)It is kinda remarkable how much she looks like Jolie of today. Crazy lips and all.
Heh! What would your name be?[Update: Turns out the system is borrowed from the Captain Underpants book series. Tip o’ the cap to Cousin Mike!]
We noticed yesterday that the Katharine Hepburn’s profile at the Internet Movie Database has this URL: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000031.Naturally we wondered what lucky actor was #0000001. It must be the greatest or the most popular actor of all time, right? Surprise! Hey, we love him, but… you know.
By popular demand, we’re now profiling the individual Jonas Brothers to go along with our profile of the entire group.First up is the youngest member of the band, singer Nick Jonas, who turns 16 years old today.The fan site Nick J Online has a typical fan’s wish for Jonas: “A VERY PRETTY AWESOME, SUPER AWESOME, SUPER DUPER, SUPER SWEET SIXTEENTH BIRTHDAY!”
“Even before she died in 1971, Chanel had to witness her life turned into a Broadway musical. At first, she was thrilled that Hepburn would star in ‘Coco.’ When she learned it was Katharine and not Audrey, she was horrified.”Heh. We were wondering why Coco Chanel is so high on our Who Popular? list this weekend.
“Wallace is to literature what Robin Williams or perhaps Jim Carrey is to live comedy: a creator so maniacally energetic and amused with himself that he often follows his riffs out into the stratosphere, where he orbits all alone.”David Foster Wallace, author of Infinite Jest, apparently hanged himself on Friday night.
Tina Fey made an encore performance on Saturday Night Live last night, spoofing Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.The likeness was uncanny. The Chicago Tribune has details.
‘Gapper’ is our term for famous people whom we probably should have profiled long ago.Here’s a great one: John Maynard Keynes. Editor Paul Hehn, at the English economics desk, has just whipped up a nifty profile of Keynes, whose “notion that governments should intervene in times of market distress” seems awfully timely these days.
Boy, Bill and Jerry — we’re trying to go with the flow here, but we’re just not feeling it.Ballyhooed Microsoft ad number one had Gates and Seinfeld shopping at Shoe Circus alongside the “clowns” of the mall-going public.Now ad number two has them eating scalloped potatoes and sharing toothpaste with a working-class family who also seem to be clowns. Very unpleasant clowns at that.
“Dubbed the Walrus of Love, he enjoyed a virtual monopoly on pillow talk disco… His singularly deep voice caused his mother to scream with fright when it first broke at the age of 14.”So said the BBC about Barry White in its 2003 obituary. His voice was so seductive it could help sharks mate.
Cincinnati Bengal Chad Ocho Cinco may have a few old jerseys around soon.The NFL says that before the former Chad Johnson can wear a jersey with his new name, he has to buy out the entire nationwide stock of NFL-approved “C. Johnson” jerseys now in stores. At $48 each.
First there were reports of a stroke. Now the Associated Press says that Kim Jong-il may be paralyzed.
Speaking of James Bond… here’s the new longer trailer for Quantum of Solace, due out October 31st in the UK. (November 14th in the States.)
So we missed this back in May, on the 100th birthday of Ian Fleming.The Times (London-style) dished up a very slick feature called 100 Years of Bond. It mixes odd notes from Fleming’s life (f’rinstance, Winston Churchill wrote the Times obituary for Fleming’s dad in 1917) with his love affairs and then the release dates of the various James Bond novels and movies.
The Guardian speculates on the fate of Kim Jong-il.The operative question: “If he was dead, how could we tell?”
Good heavens. Colin Firth, also known as Mr. Darcy in the iconic 1995 BBC production of Pride and Prejudice, turns 48 today.Which gives us the chance to scratch our head publicly over one of the most famous moments from that film: the lake scene. We’ve heard many, many times about the moment in which Firth strips down to take a swim. The scene is supposed to have the power to make strong women go woozy, and make weaker women swoon outright.
And you thought American politics was getting a little weird.
Rock ‘n roll butterfly Pamela Des Barres turns 60 today.