Cammie King Conlon, the former child actress who portrayed the doomed daughter of Rhett Butler and Scarlett O’Hara in ‘Gone With the Wind,’ has died at the age of 76. She died of lung cancer Wednesday morning at her Fort Bragg home on California’s north coast, said friend Bruce Lewis. Her son, Matthew Ned Conlon, was by her side.

Conlon was picked to play the small but pivotal role of Bonnie Blue Butler in the 1939 Civil War epic at age 4. Her character’s death in a fall from a pony irrevocably damages Rhett and Scarlett’s tumultuous marriage.

Conlon also voiced the young doe Faline in Walt Disney’s ‘Bambi’ three years later. It would be her final film role.

“My mother decided she wanted me to have a normal childhood,” she wrote on her blog, which talked about her brief career and a memoir she published last year on her ‘Gone With the Wind’ experience. She often joked with interviewers that she had “peaked at 5.”

The Los Angeles native graduated from the University of Southern California with a degree in communications and spent two years editing California Pictorial magazine. She moved to Mendocino County 30 years ago, working as director of the Kelly House museum and as a publicist for the Mendocino Coast Chamber of Commerce and the Little River Inn.

Conlon stayed in touch with her ‘Gone With the Wind’ family. On Sunday night, she took a call from Olivia de Havilland, who played Scarlett’s sweet-hearted nemesis Melanie in the film, her son said.

“It’s amazing because she is so much more than Bonnie Blue Butler, but … that is what she is remembered for, and it’s a pretty great thing to be remembered for,” Matthew Conlon said. “Nobody told it better than mom — when you debut in ‘Gone with the Wind,’ it’s downhill.”

She told the Santa Rosa Press Democrat last year that she had few clear memories of her time on the studio lot that served as the set for the fictional plantation Tara.

One was watching her stunt double for the pony scene, a male dwarf, smoking a cigarette while dressed in a reproduction of her riding habit costume. Another was being scratched by Clark Gable’s mustache in the scene where Rhett Butler hugs and kisses his cherished daughter.

“As the years have gone by, I realize it’s an honor, and it’s so humbling,” she had said. “I had nothing to do with it. I was 5. They said ‘Stand here. Do this.’ And yet it’s resulted in this incredible experience.”

Conlon spent much her adult life gamely reprising her Bonnie Blue days for ‘Gone With the Wind’ enthusiasts. She appeared at parades, retrospectives, museum exhibits and anniversary celebrations for the film in both Georgia, where the movie was set, and in California.

Just last year, she donned her hoop skirt and petticoat again to visit a middle school that was studying the Civil War.

“It wasn’t her whole life, but she had a lot of fun with it,” Lewis said.

Conlon is survived by her son and a daughter, Katie Conlon Byrne. A memorial service is planned for next week in Fort Bragg. Another will be held in Los Angeles on Sept. 22 and a third at a later date in Marietta, Ga., home of the ‘Gone With the Wind’ Museum. -- Pop-Eater

MSNBC talk show screamer Ed Schultz had a meltdown in the network’s 30 Rock newsroom, shouting at staff, “I’m going to torch this [bleep]ing place.”

The hot-tempered anchor of “The Ed Show” lost it during a phone call in the packed studio and slammed down the phone before exploding.

As astonished MSNBC staff members fell silent, Schultz glared around the room and yelled, “[Bleep]ers!”

A witness told us, “Ed was furious the network was running election-night promos and he wasn’t in them. He’d been arguing on the phone with marketing, then he slammed down the phone and exploded. It was like Mel Gibson had entered the newsroom.”

Fuming Schultz was immediately dragged in for a meeting with NBC News President Steve Capus and MSNBC President Phil Griffin following his Aug. 12 meltdown.

Our source added, “Schultz was told: ‘If you do that again, you are fired.’ He broke down crying.”

Sources say the hothead was pushed over the edge by MSNBC’s catering to bullying fellow anchor Keith Olbermann and its focus on golden girl Rachel Maddow.

A second MSNBC source said, “Ed never gets any attention and love, and he finally snapped.”

Schultz, who’s fronted his 6 p.m. show on MSNBC for 16 months, also doesn’t hold back on his radio show. He once told White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, “You’re full of [bleep].” And after Fox News Channel’s Glenn Beck revealed a condition that may make him go blind, Schultz said, “It’s a travesty he’s not going to see the country he’s trying to destroy.”

A spokeswoman for Schultz and the network declined to comment on the incident but said, “The only thing that’s on fire are Ed’s ratings, and the only people crying are at CNN.” -- NY Post

Just for the hell of it, here are a couple of Eddy’s recent rantings about the Tea Party and the GZ mosque opposition:

GLENN: Oh, yes, welcome to NPR, where your tax dollars are spent and pent spent and spent. We spent a lot of money bringing you shows that no one ever watches like Upstairs, Downstairs, like Attic and Basement and Outside and Inside. Tonight we have a very special broadcast, Shakespearian theater. Patrick, what are we expecting in tonight’s performance?

PAT: Well, Glennard, we have a marvelous performance by Shakespearian Thespian extraordinaire.

GLENN: Now, many people have seen his performances when he first came on the stage but he hasn’t been seen by very many as of the last few years.

PAT: No, he is a rare gem indeed, Glennard, a rare gem indeed.

GLENN: What is the performance that we’ll be watching?

PAT: Tonight’s performance is Special Comment by Keith Olbermann.

OLBERMANN: The actual place that is the real equivalent right now of the paranoid dream contained in the phrase Ground Zero mosque has been up and running since before there was a World Trade Center and for the nine years since there has been a World Trade Center, running without controversy, without incident, without terrorism, without protest. Because this is America, damn it, and in America when somebody comes for your neighbor or his Bible or his

GLENN: Stop, stop, yes.

PAT: Just a second.

GLENN: Did you see the “It’s America, damn it”?

PAT: Damn it! Oh, it was

GLENN: It was expertly done.

PAT: I felt it through the screen, Glennard, through the screen.

OLBERMANN: Or his atheist manifesto or his Koran. You and I do what our fathers did and our grandmothers did and our founders did. You and I speak up.

GLENN: That’s right, damn it. We speak up, damn it.

PAT: Although, I don’t know that I’ve ever heard Shakespearian Thespian Keith Olbermann ever explain that someone’s Bible has been taken when it has, in fact, been taken; or, “Under God” been removed from the “Pledge of Allegiance” in nine western states. I don’t remember him ever saying “This is America, damn it!”

GLENN: It’s very interesting to me. Can we play this again because I think this is such a great clip. Listen to him.

OLBERMANN: The actual place that is the real life equivalent right now of the paranoid dream contained in the phrase Ground Zero mosque has been up and running since before there was a World Trade Center and for the nine years since there has been a World Trade Center, running, without controversy, without incident, without terrorism, without protest. Because this is America, damn it.

GLENN: Damn it!

OLBERMANN: And in America when somebody comes for your neighbor or his Bible or his Torah or his atheist manifesto or his Koran, you and I do what our fathers did and our grandmothers did and our founders did.

GLENN: Damn it!

OLBERMANN: You and I speak up.

GLENN: Damn it! Damn it! Oh, yeah! Let me ask you something, Keithy Weithy. Do you think you are going to speak up when people come for the Bible? Do you think you will? Do you think you’ll be the oh, I feel sorry for even asking this. You won’t be on the air. Because nobody’s watching you. “This is America, damn it!” This comes from a guy who has wanted me off the air forever. I celebrate this guy’s on the air. I support Keith Olbermann and his idiotic positions.

PAT: This is the only time anybody ever hears him is when we play him on the show.

GLENN: We’re helping him.

PAT: We’re helping him.

GLENN: We’re helping him.

PAT: Yeah.

GLENN: Look, we’ve thought about doing no, seriously we are helping him. I thought about doing a little, kind of a cool little program where we would ask a listener a day to watch the program, so we knew somebody was watching for Keith.

PAT: And it would double his ratings, if not triple.

GLENN: He doesn’t watch it. Who else?

PAT: No, his mom. His mom.

GLENN: His mom watches?

PAT: Mrs.

GLENN: I didn’t know that.

PAT: Mrs. Olbermann. She’s a saint.

GLENN: She is a saint. Sometimes our mothers are saints, and she’s a saint. She watches every night?

PAT: I no.

GLENN: No?

PAT: No.

GLENN: Okay, all right.

PAT: But when she gets a chance.

GLENN: I’m not really, I’m not really sure if she watches.

PAT: No, I don’t I don’t know. I was just assuming.

STU: But since he’s gone through the trouble of joining Insider Extreme to watch every episode of Beck University, I mean, the least we could do is supply one of our ten million listeners to watch one, it’s the least.

GLENN: You know what? You make a very good point. This is, after all, America, damn it!

PAT: Somebody should watch.

GLENN: All right. All right. We should redistribute the audience. He should just level the audience playing field and just force people to watch him so we could all be equal. See, we’re all created equal, Keith, but we don’t all have equal results. And you know that. You know that. Because your results in prime time, very, very unequal to mine at 5:00 p.m. In fact, your entire network, very unequal to mine at 5:00 p.m. It’s kind of a, kind of a tough place to be.

PAT: Yeah.

GLENN: But it’s hey, God just keeps kicking you in the head until you get it. So you can either start to get it, or list just keep getting kicked in the head

PAT: Get kicked in.

GLENN: Yeah.

PAT: You know.

GLENN: ‘Cause and I wouldn’t want to say that God is kicking your head in. Currently I am. So

STU: Imagine the ratings God would have. They would be really big.

GLENN: They would be really big. They would be really big. Those are big shoes. I’ve got my head kicked in by God before. Big shoes, big shoes. He packs quite a wallop. – GlennBeck.com

President Obama told a Hollywood fundraiser Monday night that he and congressional Democrats have passed the most progressive legislation in decades.

“We have been able to deliver the most progressive legislative agenda — one that helps working families — not just in one generation, maybe two, maybe three,” Obama said.

Obama was joined by a number of lawmakers and celebrities at an event for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) that raised $1 million.

Obama is hitting the campaign trail hard this week before he goes on vacation to Martha’s Vineyard, boasting of his administration’s accomplishments and accusing Republicans of trying to return to the policies of President George W. Bush.

“This is exactly when you want to be president,” Obama said. “This is why I ran, because we have the opportunity to shape history for the better.”

With polls showing Democrats in serious trouble during an anti-incumbent election year, Obama said that helping Democrats get elected in November is his “focus over the next several months.”

“I hope you understand why we’re here tonight,” Obama told the crowd at producer John Wells’s home. “It’s not to take a picture with the president. We’re here to make sure those who took the tough votes are rewarded.”

Judd Apatow and actor Taye Diggs joined DCCC Chairman Chris Van Hollen (Md.), House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and California Democratic Reps. Howard Berman, Brad Sherman, Barbara Lee, Joe Baca, Laura Richardson, Judy Chu and John Garamendi. – The Hill

Elton John didn’t mince words in slamming his fellow musicians for boycotting Arizona over the controversial SB 1070 immigration law. From the stage at his sold-out Tucson Arena concert Thursday night, John savored a few choice, not-so-family-friendly words:

“We are all very pleased to be playing in Arizona. I have read that some of the artists won’t come here. They are (expletive)wits! Let’s face it: I still play in California, and as a gay man I have no legal rights whatsoever. So what’s the (expletive) with these people?”

John has never been one to cave into political pressure from his musical colleagues. He ignored an artist boycott of Israel in June over the flotilla fiasco and played a show in Tel Aviv. He also played Rush Limbaugh’s latest wedding reception in early June, which drew the ire of gays and lesbians. Limbaugh is vehemently anti-gay marriage; John is married to his longtime partner David Furnish.

Yes, Olie, we so enjoyed YOUR context(s) of idiotic dictator Chavez, Pres. George W. Bush, the Vietnam War, Wall Street, cold-blooded murderers … etc., etc., etc. …

Director Oliver Stone belittled the Holocaust during a shocking interview with the Sunday Times today, claiming that America’s focus on the Jewish massacre was a product of the “Jewish domination of the media.”

The director also defended Hitler and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and railed against the “powerful lobby” of Jews in America.

Stone said that his upcoming Showtime documentary series for “Secret History of America,” seeks to put Hitler and Communist dictator Joseph Stalin “in context.”

“Hitler was a Frankenstein but there was also a Dr Frankenstein. German industrialists, the Americans and the British. He had a lot of support,” Stone told Sunday Times’ reporter Camilla Long.

Stone said that, “Hitler did far more damage to the Russians than the Jewish people, 25 or 30 [million killed].”

The Sunday Times interviewer then asked why there was such a focus on the Holocaust.

“The Jewish domination of the media,” responded Stone. “”There’s a major lobby in the United States. They are hard workers. They stay on top of every comment, the most powerful lobby in Washington. Israel has f***** up United States foreign policy for years.”

The director, who recently met with Iranian President Ahmadinejad, also slammed the U.S. policy toward Iran as “horrible.”

“Iran isn’t necessarily the good guy,” said Stone. “[B]ut we don’t know the full story!” CONTINUE @ Newsbusters

Sarah Palin Will Not Receive Speaking Fee For Glenn Beck ‘Restoring Honor’ Rally

Some critics of Glenn Beck’s 8/28 “Restoring Honor” rally (a group that includes me) have also wondered how much of the estimated $2 million cost of the event might be used to pay Sarah Palin’s speaking fee. While not the main focus of criticism of Beck’s rally, questions about funding for the event have been raised. As it turns out, Palin will not be paid a speaker’s fee, and the charity that’s partnering with Beck on the event does stand to benefit significantly from the event.

MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann and radio host Bill Press discussed the fundraising effort for the event several weeks ago, specifically noting that Beck is paying for the rally out of funds raised, ostensibly, for the Special Operations Warrior Foundation. In an arrangement that is quite commonplace for this kind of event, all donations made through Beck’s rally go to cover the rally’s cost first, and any money left over goes to the charity. To be clear, neither Press nor Olbermann implied that this arrangement was unusual.

Since Beck has ballparked the cost of the rally at $2 million, though, it is fair to ask if this charity’s name is being used on lavish overhead like former Governor Sarah Palin’s customary six-figure speaking fee, and whether the Special Operations Warrior Foundation will actually see a significant benefit from this event.

A source close to the event has verified to Mediaite that Sarah Palin will not be receiving a fee for her appearance at the rally, and that the funds raised will be used for basic overhead such as audio/video equipment, bathroom facilities, and the like. Beck won’t see any of the cash, and has even made a large personal donation, according to the charity.

In fact, the Special Operations Warrior Foundation says that the “Restoring Honor” rally has already netted the charity “just over $2 million,” which means they’ve more than covered the estimated cost of the rally, with a month and a half to spare.

Criticism of the “Restoring Honor” rally has centered around what is seen as Beck’s exploitation, and distortion, of Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech, which took place on the same date, 47 years ago. Many black leaders have denounced the event, organizing events of their own with “all Americans of good will.” – Tommy Christopher @ Mediaite

Ed Morrissey @ HotAir adds:

After the announcement that Sarah Palin would join Glenn Beck for his rally on the Mall in Washington next month, speculation apparently ran rampant among the Left as to how much of the money would go to Palin’s speaking fee. The rally will benefit the Special Operations Warrior Foundation, but will have to cover its own costs first, as these events are usually structured. [...] In fact, that kind of arrangement is SOP. While high-profile speakers don’t usually take fees for their charity work, these events require many vendors to put a stage show together, and those people expect to get paid for their work and materials. Fundraising costs money for that reason. [...] The charity has already cleared the cost threshold, which means that all future revenue will go directly to their foundation. That’s impressive, with seven weeks left to go before the actual event. It speaks to an efficient use of funds and good planning, which one might expect from a group founded by and for Special Operations personnel.
Too bad those who engaged in empty speculation about the finances of this event don’t pay more attention to the wasted trillions in government spending and failed stimulus programs. This event will actually produce resources for a deserving charity.

Remember they tried to do this to Sean Hannity and his Freedom Concerts charity events and funding, but were debunked …. not that they ever follow-up on the researched reports debunking them …

Response to CSPI
July 6, 2010

Michael F. Jacobson, Ph.D., Executive Director
Center for Science in the Public Interest
1875 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Suite 300
Washington, D.C. 20009

Dear Mr. Jacobson:

On behalf of McDonald’s franchisees and our 1.6 million employees around the world, I am writing to set the record straight regarding the misinformation that CSPI communicated about McDonald’s in your June 22nd press release. I am referring to CSPI’s threat to sue McDonald’s within 30 days if we continue to include a toy as part of the positive and popular Happy Meal customer experience we provide.

We have a long history of working with responsible NGOs who are interested in serious dialogue and meaningful engagement; and we are open to constructive feedback. You say you want a dialogue with McDonald’s, but your tactics and inflammatory rhetoric suggest otherwise. CSPI’s twisted characterization of McDonald’s as “the stranger in the playground handing out candy to children” is an insult to every one of our franchisees and employees around the world. When CSPI refers to America’s children as “an unpaid drone army,” you similarly denigrate parents and families, because they are fully capable of making their own decisions. You should apologize.

Here are several other things you should know.

First, the public does not support your lawsuit. Internet sites, blogs and network surveys suggest that public opinion is running overwhelmingly against your premise. Our customer websites and phone lines at McDonald’s are also busy, with more than nine out of ten customers disagreeing with your agenda. Parents, in particular, strongly believe they have the right and responsibility to decide what’s best for their children, not CSPI. It really is that simple.

At McDonald’s, we listen to what our customers tell us. For the past 30 years they have told us — again, overwhelmingly — that they approve of our Happy Meal program. Three decades provide a lot of listening time. That’s why we are confident that parents understand and appreciate that Happy Meals are a fun treat, with right-sized, quality food choices for their children.

On this point, it seems that you purposefully skewed your evaluation of our Happy Meals by putting them in the context of a highly conservative 1,300 calorie per day requirement. I’m sure you know this category generally applies to the youngest and most sedentary children.

Furthermore, your over-the-top rhetoric flies in the face of our 55-year track record of caring for kids, a core McDonald’s value. Ronald McDonald House Charities has donated more than $465 million to children’s causes since its founding. Additionally, every night more than 6,400 families with critically ill children stay in the 300 Ronald McDonald Houses close to hospitals in 52 countries around the world. Also, customers recognize that their local McDonald’s restaurants and the franchisees who proudly run them continue to be some of the strongest supporters of youth athletics and activities in the world. Ronald McDonald also serves as an ambassador for children’s well-being, promoting messages around physical activity and living a balanced, active lifestyle.

As Chief Executive Officer of McDonald’s, I want you to know we will vigorously defend our brand, our reputation, our food and our people. CSPI is wrong in its assertions, and frivolous in its legal threats. McDonald’s has proudly evolved both our menu and marketing practices and will continue to respond to our customers’ needs. We have more choice and variety than ever before in our Happy Meals and across our menu. Furthermore, McDonald’s makes available in-depth, comprehensive nutrition information about our food to give parents the support they need to make appropriate choices for their children.

Children’s well-being requires an ongoing effort and commitment to be a part of the solution. Going forward, we will continue to make more changes that are relevant to our customers and in their best interests, as we always have.

Sincerely,

Jim Skinner
Chief Executive Officer

- About McDonalds

The Elite Turn Against Obama

Even the Aspen Ideas Festival, an annual gathering of the country’s brightest lights, isn’t Obama country anymore. Lloyd Grove on the president’s waning support among the intelligentsia.

You’d think the well-heeled and enlightened eggheads at the Aspen Ideas Festival—which is running all week in this fashionable resort town with heady panel discussions and earnest disquisitions involving all manner of deep thinkers and do-gooders—would be receptive to an intellectually ambitious president with big ideas of his own.

In a way, the folks attending this cerebral conclave pairing the Aspen Institute think tank with the Atlantic Monthly magazine might even be seen as President Obama’s natural base.

Apparently not so much.

Obama’s top economic adviser, Larry Summers, and his departing budget director, Peter Orszag, can expect heavy weather when they land in Aspen later this week to make their case to this civic-minded clique of wealthy skeptics.

“If you’re asking if the United States is about to become a socialist state, I’d say it’s actually about to become a European state, with the expansiveness of the welfare system and the progressive tax system like what we’ve already experienced in Western Europe,” Harvard business and history professor Niall Ferguson declared during Monday’s kickoff session, offering a withering critique of Obama’s economic policies, which he claimed were encouraging laziness.

“The curse of longterm unemployment is that if you pay people to do nothing, they’ll find themselves doing nothing for very long periods of time,” Ferguson said. “Long-term unemployment is at an all-time high in the United States, and it is a direct consequence of a misconceived public policy.”

Ferguson was joined in his harsh attack by billionaire real estate mogul and New York Daily News owner Mort Zuckerman. Both lambasted Obama’s trillion-dollar deficit spending program—in the name of economic stimulus to cushion the impact of the 2008 financial meltdown—as fiscally ruinous, potentially turning America into a second-rate power.

“We are, without question, in a period of decline, particularly in the business world,” Zuckerman said. “The real problem we have…are some of the worst economic policies in place today that, in my judgment, go directly against the long-term interests of this country.”

Zuckerman added that he detects in the Obama White House “hostility to the very kinds of [business] culture that have made this the great country that it is and was. I think we have to find some way of dealing with that or else we will do great damage to this country with a public policy that could ruin everything.”

Ferguson added: “The critical point is if your policy says you’re going run a trillion-dollar deficit for the rest of time, you’re riding for a fall…Then it really is goodbye.” A dashing Brit, Ferguson added: “Can I say that, having grown up in a declining empire, I do not recommend it. It’s just not a lot of fun actually—decline.”

Ferguson called for what he called “radical” measures. “I can’t emphasize strongly enough the need for radical fiscal reform to restore the incentives for work and remove the incentives for idleness.” He praised “really radical reform of the sort that, for example, Paul Ryan [the ranking Republican on the House Budget Committee] has outlined in his wonderful ‘Roadmap’ for radical, root-and-branch reform not only of the tax system but of the entitlement system” and “unleash entrepreneurial innovation.” Otherwise, Ferguson warned: “Do you want to be a kind of implicit part of the European Union? I’d advise you against it.”

This was greeted by hearty applause from a crowd that included Barbra Streisand and her husband James Brolin. “Depressing, but fantastic,” Streisand told me afterward, rendering her verdict on the session. “So exciting. Wonderful!”

Brolin’s assessment: “Mind-blowing.”

In a session Tuesday morning, Silicon Valley guru Michael Splinter piled on. “From an industry standpoint, it’s below what a lot of people in industry have viewed as the solution to the jobs problem,” Splinter, president of the Applied Materials solar energy company, complained about Obama’s economic performance. He was speaking to an agreeable audience in an interview with Atlantic Media owner David Bradley. “When I talk to venture capitalists, their companies are starting to move their manufacturing operations out of the United States…Our corporate tax rate, on a worldwide competitive basis, is just not competitive. Taiwan is lowering their rate to 20 to 15 percent in order to stay competitive with Singapore. These countries have made it their job to attract industry. You don’t get that sense here in the United States.”

The consensus was similar in an afternoon panel discussion on the decline of the American middle class. “He said jobs were going to be his No. 1 priority—there’s a huge disconnect between Washington and what’s going on out in the country,” nominal Obama supporter Arianna Huffington said. “The president’s economic team kept talking about a ‘cyclical’ problem. Larry Summers said jobs were a lagging economic indicator. All these things are simply wrong. The president put all his trust in the wrong economic team—an economic team that didn’t understand what was happening.” – Lloyd Grove @ The Daily Beast

The Cast of ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’: Where Are They Now?

What’s Up With Matthew Broderick, Jeffrey Jones, Jennifer Grey and the Rest of the Cast

“Life moves pretty fast. You don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

It’s true, life has moved pretty fast for the cast of “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.” The stars of Jon Hughes’ 1986 hit movie have grown and changed — some for the better (Matthew Broderick, who uttered the iconic line above), others for the worse (Jeffrey Jones, sex offender) — since their whirlwind jaunt through Chicago 24 years ago.

Below, check out where the stars of “Ferris Bueller” are now.

Matthew Broderick

Matthew Broderick may have made his name as a character who plays hooky, but in his career, he hasn’t taken many days off. Broderick shot to fame at age 23 after portraying the school-skipping, happy-go-lucky Ferris Bueller, parlaying his part in the movie into well-received roles in 1989′s “Glory,” 1996′s “The Cable Guy” and 1999′s “Election.” He also provided the voice of Simba in 1994′s “The Lion King.”

While he won fans through film, Broderick’s background is Broadway, and he returned to the stage in the ’90s with a Tony-award winning run in “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.” He also scored a Tony nomination playing the mousy accountant Leo Bloom in Mel Brooks’ 2001 Broadway version of “The Producers,” and later reprised the role in the 2005 big screen adaptation. He teamed up again with his “Producers” co-star, Nathan Lane, for Broadway’s “The Odd Couple,” and appeared on stage last year as a college professor in “The Philanthropist.”

“Ferris Bueller” brought Broderick together with co-star Jennifer Grey, but their love didn’t last. He married fellow ’80s actor and “Sex and the City” star Sarah Jessica Parker in 1997; they have three kids together.

Jeffrey Jones

While Ferris has prospered, his principal, Edward R. Rooney, is in peril. Jeffrey Jones played the crotchety dean of students who was determined to bust Broderick’s character. He cemented his status as the most memorable crank of the ’80s with such lines as “I did not achieve this position in life by having some snot-nosed punk leave my cheese out in the wind.” Jones used his “Ferris” fame to score roles in a number of movies through the ’80s and ’90s, including “Beetlejuice,” “Ed Wood” and “Stuart Little.”

Jennifer Grey

Playing Ferris’ jealous older sister, Jeanie Bueller, Jennifer Grey spat spiteful insults intended to cut her victims to the core. In real life, Grey was one of the charmers of the ’80s. After “Ferris,” she landed the role of a lifetime opposite Patrick Swayze in “Dirty Dancing” — Frances “Baby” Houseman.

But in the ’90s, an extreme nose job that rendered Grey almost unrecognizable halted her career and required her to undergo a second procedure to fix the damage. A handful of movie and TV appearances followed — on an episode of “Friends,” she played Mindy, Rachel’s best friend who gets engaged to Barry, Rachel’s ex-fiance — but none bumped her back up to her ’80s level of stardom. Grey managed to meld family and career with the 2006 Lifetime movie, “Road to Christmas” — she co-starred in it with her husband, actor/director Clark Gregg. They married in 2001 and have a daughter together.

Charlie Sheen

Yep, that was Charlie Sheen in the police station next to Jennifer Grey, cracking his knuckles and looking oh-so-bad in a black leather jacket. Though his character never mentions his name (Garth Volbeck), he drops some of the movie’s choice lines, including, “You wear too much eye makeup. My sister wears too much. People think she’s a whore.”

Life imitated art as Sheen grew up and took on his “Bueller” bad boy role, seducing women and getting in trouble for drugs. (Sheen took things a bit further, though — he’s currently embroiled in a domestic abuse case after allegedly brandishing a knife at his wife, Brooke Mueller.)

Despite Sheen’s rocky relationship with women and addictive substances, his career remains in good health. He appeared in a handful of movies and TV series through the ’80s and ’90s before landing a starring role on the CBS sitcom “Two and a Half Men,” once again playing a loose version of himself — a guy who just can’t help loving lots of ladies. As the highest paid actor in prime time TV, Sheen will reportedly bank between $1.8 and $1.9 million per episode for the next two years.

Ben Stein

Ben Stein was pretty accomplished before “Bueller” — he cut his teeth in politics as a speechwriter for Presidents Nixon and Ford — and he maintained an impressive resume after. As Ferris’ economics teacher, when the school-skipping student doesn’t show up for class, Stein gets the most memorable line of the film: a monotone “Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?”

Hollywood loved his deadpan delivery; following “Ferris,” Stein enjoyed fame with wide and varied projects. Among them: hosting the Comedy Central game show “Win Ben Stein’s Money,” helming the VH1 reality competition, “America’s Most Smartest Model,” and serving as the spokesperson for Clear Eyes eyedrops (“The difference is clear…Clear Eyes”). He’s also written a veritable library of books dispensing financial and life advice. But “Bueller” remains a feather in his cap: in an interview featured in the “Bueller, Bueller” DVD edition of the movie, Stein reveals, “I’ve said to my wife repeatedly, I just want on my gravestone, ‘He loved dogs’ and ‘Bueller? Bueller?’”

Mia Sara

As Sloane Peterson, Ferris’ brunette beauty of a girlfriend, Mia Sara made hearts beat a little faster in the ’80s. But after “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” she all but fell off the face of the acting earth. Her most prominent role after 1986 was as Jean Claude Van Damme’s wife in 1994′s “Timecop.”

While she may not have lasted in the biz, Sara has a thing for the offspring of Hollywood’s rich and famous. She was married to Jason Connery, the son of actor Sean Connery , from 1996 to 2002, and has a son with him. Sara is currently dating Brian Henson , son of Muppet creator Jim Henson — they have a daughter.

In 1987, still glowing from her newfound “Ferris” fame, Sara told the Chicago Tribune, “This business makes you believe in fate … So many things happen that aren’t just coincidence, so you find that there are certain things you’re meant to do.” For Sara, perhaps remaining an ’80s vestige is one of them.

Alan Ruck

Alan Ruck played Cameron Frye, Ferris’ hypochondriac best friend and subject of the movie’s unforgettable, booming lyric, “When Cameron was in Egypt’s land, let my Cameron go!” Though he was 29 years old at the time, Ruck looked every bit the nervous, 17-year-old Cameron, paranoid about his father’s Ferrari and Ferris’ thirst for trouble.

Ruck has kept a steady acting career going since “Ferris Bueller,” appearing in such films as “Speed” (as the annoying tourist on the bus) and “Twister” (as a storm chaser). He’s also ventured into TV: from 1996 to 2002, he co-starred in the ABC sitcom “Spin City” alongside Michael J. Fox. He currently plays the lead character in the new NBC drama “Persons Unknown.”

In 2005, Ruck reprised his role as Broderick’s right-hand-man — sort of. He took on the role of Leo Bloom that Broderick launched in the Broadway version of “The Producers.” -- ABC News

Larry King to End Show After 25 Years

On Tuesday evening, TV broadcasting legend Larry King dropped a bombshell: after 25 years of hosting the ‘Larry King Live’ show on CNN, his nightly show will end this fall. King made the surprising announcement via his Twitter account right before he taped this evening’s show. “Announcing tonight: I’m ending my nightly show this fall but continuing at CNN,” King wrote.

In a full statement on CNN.com, the TV icon said, “Before I start the show tonight, I want to share some personal news with you. 25 years ago, I sat across this table from New York Governor Mario Cuomo for the first broadcast of Larry King Live. Now, decades later, I talked to the guys here at CNN and I told them I would like to end Larry King Live, the nightly show, this fall and CNN has graciously accepted, giving me more time for my wife and I to get to the kids’ little league games.

“I’m incredibly proud that we recently made the Guinness Book of World Records for having the longest running show with the same host in the same time slot. With this chapter closing I’m looking forward to the future and what my next chapter will bring, but for now it’s time to hang up my nightly suspenders.”

The journalist will still appear on CNN frequently, hosting topic-related specials. “I’ll still be a part of the CNN family, hosting several Larry King specials on major national and international subjects,” King confirmed in the statement.

The decision to leave the show comes after months of declining ratings and media speculation about the future of King’s career. The NY Times reported in March that the program was down about 50 percent in viewers and had seen its worst quarter ever at the start of the year.

King’s announcement also comes just a few weeks after his own personal life made headline news. In April, King and his wife, Shawn Southwick, filed for divorce after both accused the other of infidelity. A month later, the reconciled couple called off the divorce and moved back in together. Earlier this month, Southwick suffered a prescription pill overdose and has been recovering since.

Though he’s leaving amid low ratings, there’s no question it’s the end of an era. In 1985, CNN founder Ted Turner gave King the opportunity to host his own show on the network. He agreed to give it a try and left his nationally syndicated radio talk show. 25 years later, his show is still a must-visit for celebrities and politicians needing a place to break news or make an apology. Several major news events took place on the show including Ross Perot announcing his run for president in 1992 and O.J. Simpson calling in the night of his acquittal.

Over the course of his career, King has won two Peabody awards and an Emmy. He was also inducted into the National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 1992.

The departure of the suspenders-wearing broadcaster leaves quite a hole in CNN’s evening programming with many wondering who will step in to replace the icon. Some assume the network will pull from its already vast pool of journalists while others predict new blood would help the already-flailing network.

British star Piers Morgan, currently on ‘America’s Got Talent,’ was mentioned as a possible replacement for King earlier this month, though CNN swiftly dismissed that rumor. Their statement at the time said, “Not surprisingly, there is no shortage of people who would love to succeed Larry King if and when he moves on, but rumors that we are close to signing a deal for a Larry King replacement are untrue.”

Katie Couric has also been named a possible replacement. And the Associated Press reports King thinks Ryan Seacrest should take over the reins. – Pop Eater

Whether you’re Irish or not, St. Patrick’s Day brings about the festive spirit in just about everybody. We’ve rounded up the best bars, pubs and restaurants around the country where you can celebrate this merry holiday, or enjoy a pint and a plate of corned beef and cabbage any time of the year. Our picks range from a Florida pub with an on-site brewery and an 8,000-bottle wine cellar to a Philadelphia tavern that opened the year Lincoln was elected president. On March 17, even if you don’t get to quaff some green suds, don’t forget to don your green duds!

• Doyle’s Café (Jamaica Plain, Mass.)

This Jamaica Plain institution has been around since 1882. During their infamous Senate battle, John Kerry and William Weld shared a beer here, as has every major pol for decades on end. And why not? There are 29 drafts available. The food is of the square meal-pub grub genus, though a few things have been updated for the modern diet. Burgers come in beef, turkey, bison and veggie. Corned beef and cabbage is served on Thursdays. It hosts a good weekend brunch. Meanwhile, the dark wood booths, old pictures on the walls and regular clientele combine to maintain one of Old Boston’s last holdouts.

• Galway Hooker (New York City)

Galway Hooker

This place in the West Village at first screams generic Irish pub, not unlike its neighborhood brethren, Fiddlesticks. And while the clientele are not really of the local variety — for better or worse — the Galway Hooker (named for a ship, we hope) is actually as much (or more) of a restaurant than a place to slam a few pints of Guinness. The menu, as one would expect, is crammed with Irish pub grub, but that’s not a bad thing. The signature chicken dish, Hooker Chicken, is elevated with a sweet sherry sauce. The burger is thoughtfully topped with a fried egg. But if you want something lighter, the kitchen also does decent big salads, some of which are sprinkled with warm goat cheese and accented with arugula. It’s anything but run-of-the-mill.

• The Harp (Cleveland)

The Harp boasts a good-size bar, a two-level dining room and large patio. Billed as an Irish pub, it serves a reliably prepared rotation of shepherd’s pie, bourbon-glazed lamb chops and fish ‘n’ chips. Salads, sandwiches, and nightly specials round out the offerings. We recommend any of the boxty dishes. These enormous grilled potato pancakes have a creamy texture and may enfold fillings like sautéed vegetables and salmon. Live music is featured every Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. During the warmer months, patrons vie for a seat on the huge patio for views of the Lake Erie shore and Cleveland skyline. See more details.

• The Irish Bank Bar & Restaurant (San Francisco)

This Irish bar and restaurant is conveniently placed between Union Square and the Financial District. Tucked down its own little alleyway, the long, narrow venue features an eclectically decorated interior (rustic wooden booths and furnishings and typical pub sports and drink memorabilia with Irish flavor). The menu features some nice variety: homey basics such as stew with mash, fish ‘n’ chips and shepherd’s pie, plus choices a bit more upscale such as chicken curry. Outdoor alley tables might not be elegant, but they sure get lively as the night goes on. Be prepared for a big and raucous after-work crowd.

• The Irish Oak (Chicago)

Don your Cubbie blue and you’ll be in the majority at this near-Wrigley restaurant that features live music and a menu of Irish-inflected bar basics. Choices run from beer-battered onion rings to soup that comes with Irish soda bread, Galway beef and Guinness stew and burgers. More authentic fare includes the Irish breakfast, available all day, shepherd’s pie and fish ‘n’ chips. Of course, there are not-so-Irish options like chicken wings, mac ‘n’ cheese and sliders as well. Daily specials save tons of dough.

• Kelly’s Irish Times (Washington, D.C.)

Housed in a standalone brick building that is dwarfed by its surroundings, this quaint place offers an all-Irish experience in a boisterous setting — loads of charm, loads of brews. Although the menu offers primarily American eats, the specials board may be the real source of Irish fare: look for shepherd’s pie and corned beef and cabbage. Otherwise, you will join fellow patrons over a pint or two of stout or ale with a bowl of chili, maybe a chopped pork barbecue sandwich, and for bigger appetites, a Dublin broil flank steak.

• McGillin’s Olde Ale House (Philadelphia)

McGillin's Olde Ale House

The oldest operating tavern in Philadelphia — it opened the year Lincoln was elected president—this local haunt has a large selection of regional beers and house specialties. The menu is a bargain, from the $5 and $6.50 pitchers and $4.99 half-pound burger to the Cape May seafood stew over pasta. Dishes like a hot turkey sandwich with mashed potatoes, crab cakes, and a char-grilled rib-eye steak round out the menu. A friendly watering hole if there ever was one.

• McGuire’s Irish Pub (Pensacola, Fla.)

McGuire’s Irish Pub is what all those ain’t-we-got-fun casual dining chains wish they could be. Inside the 20,000-square-foot facility (the city’s historic circa-1927 firehouse), patrons dine in memorabilia-laden themed rooms. There’s the Notre Dame Room, the Irish Links Room, the Piper’s Den and the Ruprecht O’Tolf Wine Cellar. The atmosphere is New York Irish saloon on mega-steroids, with an on-site brewery and an 8,000-bottle wine cellar. If the trappings seem suited to a place for burgers and fish ‘n’ chips, well, those are available (there are 25 different burger variations; you can spend an ungodly sum on one, accompanied by caviar and Champagne—but why?). But McGuire’s actually offers Prime steaks, hand-cut and flash-seared, plus lobster tail and other classic steakhouse fare. Those hankerin’ for Irish verisimilitude will find a hearty lamb stew, corned beef and cabbage, steak-and-mushroom pie and shepherd’s pie. The “Irish Fisherman’s Bouillabaisse,” filled with fresh Gulf fish and shellfish, is always a good choice. Also located at 33 Harbor Blvd., Destin, 850-654-0567.

• O’Brien’s Irish Pub & Restaurant (Santa Monica, Calif.)

There’s a wee bit o’ the Irish at this jolly, noisy place, where you can get a pint of beer, cocktails and good pub grub. Try the traditional bangers and mash, Guinness pie, fish ‘n’ chips and shepherd’s pie or a Kobe-style burger or rare roast beef sandwich. Live music makes for a raucous scene every night, but you can escape to the nice patio if it gets too crowded.

• Rosie McCaffrey’s Irish Pub & Restaurant (Phoenix)

Rosie McCaffrey’s may have only opened its doors for the first time in 2002, but it has the ambience and rollicking spirit of an old-time Irish pub. The comfort food includes appetizers such as Aiden’s artichoke dip and Patrick’s Irish potato skins. Entrées include fish ‘n’ chips, shepherd’s pie, baby-back ribs, country fried chicken and a sirloin steak. A fully stocked bar includes a wide range of blended and single-malt whiskeys, and live music is featured Wednesday through Saturday.

[MSN.com]

Just a few months after plans were put on hold for the release of a controversial video game depicting Marines’ deadly 2004 fight for the Iraqi city of Fallujah, the developer’s sister company is preparing to release another game about the Corps.

And although the new game’s story line resembles current events, it is 100 percent fictional.

“Marines: Modern Urban Combat,” on sale Nov. 10, is a first-person military shooter for Nintendo’s Wii system. It was developed by Minnesota-based Destineer and is far removed from the realism that would be portrayed in “Six Days in Fallujah,” should that project ever move forward.

In “Modern Urban Combat,” players lead a four-man Marine rifle team as they attempt to stop a civil war in modern-day Beirut that is influenced by factions from the Syrian and Iranian governments. They can use the Wii remote or the Wii zapper, which can better simulate an M16, as they battle insurgents wielding AK47 assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades. The team leader is in charge of a gunner, assistant gunner and rifleman who have access to the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon and grenades.

"Marines: Modern Urban Combat" is a new game for Nintendo Wii produced by Destineer and slated for a Nov. 10, 2009, release. Photo by DESTINEER

Peter Tamte, president of Destineer and sister company Atomic Games, creator of “Six Days in Fallujah,” said “Modern Urban Combat” is based off a Marine Corps training system initially created by Destineer in 2005 as a PC-based, three-dimensional training tool for infantry fire teams. It was marketed commercially for Xbox, PC and Macintosh that same year as “Close Combat: First to Fight.”

The Corps did not consult with developers of the Wii version, but Marine officials were involved with the creation of the “Close Combat” series, which has the same storyline, in 2003, Tamte said.

In fact, the Corps gave Destineer access to about 40 combat-experienced Marines, many of them assigned to 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines, at Camp Pendleton, Calif., although some Marine consultants also were located at Camp Lejeune, N.C.; Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va.; and Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, Calif.

“One of our objectives with ‘First to Fight’ that also carried forward to this project is to celebrate the values of the Marine Corps — honor, courage and commitment,” Tamte said. “We view this more as an opportunity for the average consumer to understand more about Marines than they might get just by reading the newspaper.”

Although Tamte has never served in the Corps, there are several former Marines on the development team.

“I wish I could give people access to the one-on-one conversations with Marines as I’ve been able to have,” he said. “I think it changes and shapes people’s understanding of Marines and their values.”

Although “Modern Urban Combat” and “Six Days in Fallujah” are both first-person shooters, there are few other parallels.

“Modern Urban Combat” is fictional. It is a small-budget game that does not focus on fancy graphics. And it is one of only a few combat-oriented games for the interactive Wii system.

“Six Days in Fallujah,” on the other hand, is a big budget game, based on the real experiences of 3/1 Marines in Fallujah.

Tamte said the company can not disclose the budget for either game, but he said the difference is significant.

“Modern Urban Combat” is designed to be “family-friendly,” Tamte said. “Six Days in Fallujah” is “far more visceral, emotional and authentic,” he added.

[Read more...]

By Amy McCullough – Staff writer
October 18th, 2009

Psalm 2009

FIRST BOOK OF GOVERNMENT …

Obama is the shepherd I did not want.
He leadeth me beside the still factories.
He restoreth my faith in the Republican party.
He guideth me in the path of unemployment for his party’s sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the bread line,
I shall fear no hunger, for his bailouts are with me.
He has anointed my income with taxes,
My expenses runneth over.
Surely, poverty and hard living will follow me all the days of my life,
And I will live in a mortgaged home forever.
I am glad I am American,
I am glad that I am free.
But I wish I was a dog …
And Obama was a tree.

Brings a tear to your eye, doesn’t it?

(H/T Beverly Perlson from the Band of Mothers)

9:00 AM:
Crawl out of bed, go downstairs and hit the “on” switch for my Anger Manufacturing Plant, located conveniently in the basement — right next to my wine cellar.

9:10 AM
Sign a few 5 figure checks from the big drug and insurance companies and instruct Consuela to go deposit them in my bank account.

9:30 AM:
Go back to sleep with my life-sized Founding Fathers dolls, dream of freedom from the socialist Obama regime.

10:00 AM:
Wake up due to the noise created by the lawn crew with their jobs, and work on the astroturf. Smile and realize how much this must anger liberals.

10:05 AM:
Crawl over the 1,000 printed pages of the ObamaCare bill and yell at the lawn boys. Tell them to hurry because we will begin drilling for oil in the yard, any minute now.

12 PM:
Wake up again. The drilling has begun in my backyard. Consuela is crying because she found an oil coated baby seal beached by the koi pond.

12:05 PM:
Retrieve the baby seal for processing in the Anger Manufacturing Plant.

1:10 PM:
Prank call Princess Pelosi’s cellphone, suggesting new and innovative ways she might want to alter her face using “green technology” and stimulus dollars.

1:15 PM:
Let the shower run for a long time until the water is good and hot. Turn up the central air and open a few windows because it’s a bit too steamy in the bathroom.

1:45 PM:
Call other right wing extremists, find out if they want to be extreme today, (they do) and set up a meeting at the range.

2:05 PM:
My driver takes me to target practice in the Hummer. While cruising on the freeway, toss 500 Obama Joker posters out the window. Laugh maniacally.

3:29: PM:
Rifle through my closet and discover I mainly have clothing that would give me away as “well dressed” and therefore a highly paid lackey of the blogs, drug companies and insurance giants.

4:00 PM
Visit the local Goodwill store, to find sloppy clothing, such that a liberal might wear.

4:00-5:00 PM:
Spend time in the Moxtopia business office, boxing and preparing my manufactured anger for shipment to various extremist elements on the east coast.

5:15 PM:
Receive instructions from my contact at the drug company for tomorrow’s Town Hall Meeting.

5:18 PM:
Tell him I am doubling my rate and prefer to be paid in cash. Tax dollars kill babies through abortion, I remind him. And babies need drugs too.

5:50 PM:
Purchase a second Hummer using “Cash for Clunkers”. Just in case the first is out of gas.

6:00 PM:
Make a “Wise Latina” joke to Consuela, while snitching on myself to flag@whitehouse.gov, detailing my own “fishy” ideas about ObamaCare.

6:59 PM:
Recognize people all over the world are still suffering from socialism and communism.

7:01 PM:
Wonder if any in the Obama regime might be convinced — in the interest of fixing the fake global warming catastrophe – to melt down and recycle the iron fist of communism, because capitalism is a much more efficient manner of making sure everyone has money.

7:50 PM:
Realize the iron fist of communism will remain intact and sitting on the mantel in the flag@whitehouse.gov office.

By Moxie
August 7, 2009

(Humor Institute)

This week has been a rough week. With the death an Pop Icon Michael Jackson, legendary beauty Farrah Fawcett, America suffered another tremendous blow. Marine aviator and iconic announcer Ed McMahon was called up from inactive service by our Supreme Commander. Semper Fidelis, Marine McMahon.

Californians and the Military

Ed McMahon

Marine Corps Aviator

by M.L. Shettle, Jr.

Edward Peter Leo McMahon, Jr. was born in Detroit Michigan in 1923. McMahon led a somewhat unhappy and nomadic childhood. His father traveled all over the country pursuing various financial ventures including carnival jobs and bingo games. Nevertheless, McMahon had a good lineage. His great-great-great-grandfather, the Duke of Magenta, was a marshal and president of France. The Duke’s favorite sauce, named Macmahonaise in his honor, was later shortened to mayonnaise. McMahon’s grandmother was the cousin of Rose Fitzgerald, mother of John F. Kennedy. Many of McMahon’s summers were spent at his grandparent’s in Lowell Massachusetts. McMahon’s ambition was to be a radio announcer and had his first announcing job at the age of 15.

When the United States began gearing up for World War II, McMahon wanted to become a Marine fighter pilot. Since the Navy’s V-5 program required two years of college, he enrolled in Boston College. When the Navy relaxed the two-year requirement, McMahon dropped out of school and signed up. In early 1943, he first went to a civilian-run Wartime Training School in Texarkana where the Navy evaluated cadets’ potential by checking them out in a Piper Cub. Then came the three-month Preflight School at Athens, Georgia. McMahon received primary training at Dallas and intermediate training at Pensacola. McMahon received the single engine carrier syllabus and was assigned to the Marines. After receiving his commission and wings in early 1945, McMahon was sent to the Corsair Operational Training Unit at Lee Field, Green Cove Springs, Florida. Upon completion of training, he was “plowed back” and became an instructor in the same unit. On the day the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, McMahon received orders to join the Marine carrier program on the West Coast. His orders were cancelled and he returned to civilian life.

After McMahon graduated from Catholic University, he got a job in television in Philadelphia. In two years, he had become Philadelphia’s top TV personality. In 1952, McMahon got his big break when he was offered a job in New York with CBS; however, he was recalled into the Marine Corps due to the Korean War. After several months of training at Miami and El Toro, McMahon arrived in Korea in February 1953. He flew 85 artillery-spotting missions in the Cessna OE Bird Dog before returning home in September 1953. McMahon returned to television in Philadelphia for several years. In 1958, he was hired as the announcer for Johnny Carson’s Who Do You Trust? In 1962, Johnny Carson took over as host of The Tonight Show and took McMahon along as his announcer and sidekick. Carson and McMahon became an institution and remained on The Tonight Show for 6,583 programs over a 30-year period. Since retiring from The Tonight Show, McMahon has worked on several other TV shows and served as spokesman for various companies and charities. McMahon remained active in the Marine Reserves retiring as a full colonel in 1966.

Ed McMahon passed away at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center on 23 June 2009.

(Military Museum.org)

Farrah Fawcett, sex symbol and actress, dies

Thu June 25, 2009

(CNN) — Farrah Fawcett, the blonde-maned actress whose best-selling poster and “Charlie’s Angels” stardom made her one of the most famous faces in the world, died Thursday. She was 62.

Fawcett’s death was confirmed by Paul Bloch, one of her representatives at Rogers and Cowan, an entertainment public relations firm.

Fawcett, who checked into a hospital in early April, had been battling anal cancer on and off for three years.

Farrah on the set of Saturn 3 in 1979 (Camera Press/ TVA/ Retna Ltd.)

Bloch told CNN that Ryan O’Neal, Fawcett’s romantic partner since the mid-1980s, and her friend Alana Stewart were with Fawcett at Saint John’s Hospital in Santa Monica, California, when she died. Gallery: The life of Farrah Fawcett »

“Although this is an extremely difficult time for her family and friends, we take comfort in the beautiful times that we shared with Farrah over the years and the knowledge that her life brought joy to so many people around the world,” O’Neal said in a written statement. Read more tributes to Fawcett

O’Neal is the father of Fawcett’s son, Redmond O’Neal, born in 1985. Redmond O’Neal is in an intense rehabilitation program conducted in the Los Angeles county jail, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Steve Whitmore told CNN on Thursday.

Fawcett’s son was informed on Wednesday night by a grief counselor and a chaplain that his mother’s death was imminent, and a grief counselor and chaplain also told him when she died, Whitmore said.

The young man, who is currently with a chaplain, has spoken with his father, Whitmore said.

Ryan O’Neal had recently told People magazine that the sex symbol was declining.

“She stays in bed now. The doctors see that she is comfortable. Farrah is on IVs, but some of that is for nourishment. The treatment has pretty much ended,” he said in a story posted May 7. Photo See images of Fawcett through the years »

Fawcett’s cancer journey has been documented in a television special partly shot by the actress. Fawcett began shooting “Farrah’s Story,” by taking a camera to a doctor’s appointment. Eventually, the film expanded to include trips overseas in hopes of treating the cancer. Video Watch a clip from “Farrah’s Story” »

The documentary aired on NBC on May 15. Video Watch Ryan O’Neal talk about why she did the documentary »

Fawcett’s beauty — her gleaming smile was printed on millions of posters — initially made her famous. But she later established herself as a serious actress. She starred as a battered wife in the 1984 TV movie “The Burning Bed.” She appeared on stage as a woman who extracts vengeance from a would-be rapist in William Mastrosimone’s play “Extremities.” Video Watch Fawcett accept her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame »

She reprised the “Extremities” role on film in 1986. Other Fawcett films include “Logan’s Run” (1976), “Saturn 3″ (1980), “The Cannonball Run” (1981), “The Apostle” (1997) and the Robert Altman-directed “Dr. T and the Women” (2000).

To many, Fawcett will always be best known for her red-swimsuited image on the pinup poster, which sold a reputed 12 million copies after its release in 1976. iReport: Share your memories of Farrah Fawcett

Fawcett was a model best known for bit parts, commercials and as “Six Million Dollar Man” actor Lee Majors’ wife when she shot the poster in early 1976 at the behest of Pro Arts, a Cleveland, Ohio, company.

Photographer Bruce McBroom placed Fawcett — then known as Farrah Fawcett-Majors — in the Indian blanket-draped front seat of his 1937 Chevy and snapped away. Fawcett did her own hair — a long, tousled cascade of blonde locks — picked out the red bathing suit and chose the frame later used for the poster, according to a story in the Toronto Star.

The poster, with Fawcett’s million-dollar smile front and center, became a sensation.

Soon after the photo shoot, Fawcett was asked to join the cast of a new Aaron Spelling TV show, “Charlie’s Angels,” about a trio of female detectives who work for a mysterious man named Charlie, whose only appearance in the show was through his voice (supplied by John Forsythe). Video Watch Fawcett talk about why she left “Angels” »

Fawcett, who played Jill Munroe, was the last to be cast. Co-star Kate Jackson was the known name at the time, but thanks to her poster, Fawcett became the breakout star.

The highly rated TV series kicked off what came to be known as “jiggle TV,” series full of pretty actresses who appeared in bikinis at the drop of a hat.

“Denunciations of ‘massage parlor television’ and ‘voyeurism’ only brought more viewers to the screen, to see what the controversy was about,” wrote Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh about “Charlie’s Angels” in their indispensable reference, “The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows.”

ABC’s “Three’s Company” and CBS’s “The American Girls” were among the shows that immediately followed, and shows such as “Baywatch” owe “Charlie’s Angels” a debt.

But Fawcett didn’t stay with “Angels” long. At the end of the first season, unhappy with her contract, she left the show and was replaced by Cheryl Ladd.

Farrah in 1977 (Stillphoto/ Sunshine / Retna Ltd.)

Fawcett’s career stagnated for a time after “Charlie’s Angels.” She appeared in a handful of forgettable films and divorced Majors.

But her career received a major boost with her starring role in “The Burning Bed,” a 1984 TV movie co-starring Paul Le Mat. Fawcett played an abused wife who sets fire to her husband’s bed as he lies sleeping. Fawcett received an Emmy nomination for her performance.

Fawcett also became romantically involved with O’Neal around this time. The pair had a son, Redmond, in 1985.

In recent years, Fawcett has appeared sporadically in the public eye. She posed nude for Playboy in 1995. In 1997, she appeared on “The Late Show with David Letterman,” an interview that became notorious for Fawcett’s apparent incoherence. She later said she was just having fun with Letterman.

She reunited with her “Charlie’s Angels” co-stars, Jackson and Jaclyn Smith, for an awards show in 2006.

Fawcett was born in Corpus Christi, Texas, in 1947. She married Majors in 1973; they divorced nine years later.

She was diagnosed with cancer in 2006.

(CNN.com)

To The Point is excited to offer the ultimate adventure cruise along the pirate-infested coast of Somalia!

We board our luxury cruise ship in Djibouti on the Gulf of Aden near the entrance to the Red Sea, and disembark in Mombasa, Kenya seven adrenaline-charged days later.

Starting at $5,200 per-person (double occupancy, inside room) and $6,900 (veranda complete with bench rest), you’ll relax like never before.

That’s because you are welcome to bring your own arsenal with you. If you don’t have your own weapons, you can rent them from our onboard Master Gunsmith. Enjoy reloading parties every afternoon with skeet and marksmanship competitions every night!

But the best fun of all, of course, is Pirate Target Practice.

For the object of the cruise is to sail up and down the Somali Coast waiting to get hijacked by pirates. The weapons rental costs are as follows.

Rent a full auto M-16 for only $25/day with ammo attractively priced at $16 per 100 rounds of 5.56 armor-piercing:

On a budget? Rent a full-auto scope-mounted AK-47 for only $9/day with 7.62 ball ammo at $12 per 100 rounds:

Hello! Nothing gets a pirate’s attention like a Barrett M-107 .50-cal sniper rifle; only $59/day with 25 rounds of armor-piercing ammo affordably priced at only $29.95.

Need a spotter? Our professional crew members can double as spotters for only $30/hour (spotting scope included, but gratuities are not.)

Want to make a real impact? Rent an RPG for only $175/day with three fragmentation rounds included!

Also included: Free complimentary night vision equipment – and throughout the night, coffee, pastries and snacks are always available on the main deck from 7pm until 6am.

Our deluxe package comes complete with gourmet meals and all rooms offer a mini-bar.

But that’s not all! Twin mounted mini-guns are available for rental at only $450.00 per 30 seconds of sustained fire!

We guarantee that you will experience at least two hijacking attempts by pirates or you’ll receive an instant $1,000 refund upon arrival in Mombasa.

How can we make that guarantee? We operate at 5 knots just beyond 12 nautical miles off the coast of Somalia, thus in international waters where pirates have no rights whatever. In fact, we make three passes through the area’s most treacherous waters to ensure maximum visibility by Somali “mother ships”.

We repeat this for five days, making three complete passes past the entire Somali Coast. At night, the boat is fully lit and bottle rockets are shot every five minutes with loud disco music directionally beamed shore-side to attract maximum attention.

Testimonials from previous participants in the Somali Cruise:

“Six attacks in 4 days were more than I expected. I bagged three pirates, my wife nailed two, and my 12-year old son sank two boats with the mini-gun. This wonderful cruise was fun for the whole family” — Fred D., Cincinnati, OH

“Pirates 0, Passengers 32! Well worth the trip! Can’t recommend it highly enough!” — Ben L., Bethesda, MD

“I haven’t had this much fun since flying choppers in ‘Nam. Don’t worry about getting shot by pirates… they never even got close to the ship with the crap they shoot and their lousy aim… reminds me of a drunken juicer door-gunner we picked up from the motor pool in Phu Bai!” — Dan J. – Denver, CO

Come on board and bag your own clutch of genuine Somali pirates! But cabin space is limited so you need to respond quickly. Reserve your package before May 31st and get a great bonus – 100 rounds of free tracer ammo in the caliber of your choice. So sign up for the Ultimate Somali Coast Adventure Cruise now!

(To The Point News)

H/T to Shakey

Over the Memorial Day weekend, World War II Medal of Honor recipient, John Finn was able to get a good look at Metal of Honor, the customized Harley Davidson Crossbones he helped inspire. Metal of Honor bears John’s image from 1941 as well as engravings of his Medal of Honor (both front and back) along with numerous other images from that day that will live in infamy.

As a final seal of approval, John signed the tank next to his picture. Upon the bike’s return to Las Vegas, the marker signature will be painted over with a special paint and clear coated again by Dwight Purcellz of Purcellz Customz.

John, who has always loved motorcycles, was so excited to finally see the bike after many months of hearing about it. He seemed pretty tickled to see himself on the trailer, as well. He is pictured twice, once at a meeting with former President Bush and again with his caretaker Francis at the USS Arizona Memorial in Oahu during the Survivors 65th Anniversary visit to the island.

Author Dana Harbaugh, owner of Metal of Honor, pulled together an amazing team of artisans to make his vision of a “rolling history lesson” into reality.

Bike Dissassembly and Reassembly by the Raymond Fisher in the Attitude Custom Cycle shop at Arlen Ness
Hand Engraving by Sandy & Jason at Chrome Fusion
Hand Painting the engraved areas by Sandy’s wife, Joyce.
Hand tooled leather seat by Shirley of Bad Ass Seats
Painting by Dwight of Purcellz Customz
Trailer Wrap design by Krystal of Spark Creative
Trailer wrap printing & install by Mark and his team at Color Reflections
Flower Lei and Pearl art by Lori Anzalone

The bike will serve to hopefully draw people into the story of the Survivors of the attack on Pearl Harbor as told in Dana’s upcoming book: Pearls of Honor: Their Duty to Remember.

H/T to Dana with Pearls of Honor

If you have not visited the Somali Pirate Blog, you really should. There are a lot of great articles and musings by somali pirates. Somali Pirates are far more intelligent than I used to give them credit for. Thank God I found this blog.

This is one of my favorites from the last couple of weeks. Enjoy.

“Whilst browsing the web, I found this handy map of our recent exploits. I was personally involved in about a third of these attacks.”

Here was some of my favorite comments:

“mrmmarc 2009-05-14 09:33 pm (UTC)
Dear Pirates-

I was wondering- what’s the entry level qualification these days into piracy?

Yours,

Curious Potential Pirate!
(Pi-Curious?)

somalipirate
2009-05-14 10:38 pm (UTC)
Dear Potential Pirate,

In our experience, everyone is a little pi-curious at some point in their lives. Maybe they want to steal a candy bar. Or maybe they want to hold up a liquor store. Or maybe they have taken up carjacking. Maybe you just like leering at people when they open their wallets. It happens to everyone.

As an American, you can join in the fun of pirating by sending us a bio, including some information about how wealthy your family and friends are. We’ll also need their contact information, and some indication of how badly they’d want you back. Then come to Somalia and ask around for us.

That’s all there is to it!

Thanks for your question.

-Somali Pirates”