Friday, July 31, 2015
5 things you didn't know about Shelley Berman
In his 60+ year career Shelley Berman has put together a very impressive resume as a stand-up comic, actor, teacher, poet, lecturer, an philanthropist. He start his remarkable career in 1949 when he joined the woodstock acting group of Illinois. His career was sidetracked for a few years when he moved to New York in the mid 1950's but soon went back on track. Since that time he has done everything from working as lounge act to teaching comedy writing a USC where he still lectures.
There is much more to Shelley Berman than just his on stage comedy. The following are just 5 little known facts of his life:
He has been married for almost 7 decades
Mr. Berman meet the woman that he would marry when they were both students at the famed Goodman Theater in Chicago, in 1945. The story of how they meet sounds more likely to happen in a sitcom than in real life. Sarah Herman was to shy to approach Shelley Berman so she took a rather unique approach of stealing the pants he laid out for a date he had that evening. He was forced to run up and down the halls until she admitted that she took the pants and gave them back. They started dating soon after that incident and were married 2 years later.
He wrote sketches for Steve Allen
In the early 1950's when the Bermans moved to New York Mr. Berman was having a hard time finding work in acting. He took a variety of jobs ranging from driving taxi to being a dance instructor at the Arthur Murray studios. Eventually he was able to make it back into show business as a sketch writer for Steve Allen's Plymouth Show.
The Berman's had 2 adopted children
In the mid 1960's the Berman's adopted Joshua and Rachel. The Bremans were building a good life for their adopted children. Then, in 1977 tragedy struck when their son Joshua was found to have a brain tumor and died. Just before his death they were planning a traditional bar mitzvah to be held o his 13th birthday.
He has taught at USC for over 50 years
In 1962 Mr. Berman began teaching humor writing for the Master of Professional writing course at USC (University of Southern California). He ha since become a Lecturer Emeritus and is still giving lectures.
He accused Bob Newhart of plagiarism
Both Shelley Berman and Bob Newhart have made telephone conversations a big part of their stand-up routines. Mr. Berman started over a decade before Mr. Newhart and claims that Mr. Newhart stole the act from him. According to Mr. Newhart one-sided telephone conversations have been a long stand part of several comic routines dating back to vaudeville.
Saturday, July 25, 2015
Shakira's 10 best songs
At the 4-years-old, while growing up in
Columbia, Shakira was already showing signs of the international
superstar. It was at that age that she wrote her first poem “La
Rosa De Crystal” (“Crystal Rose”). It was also that same year
that she decided she wanted to be an entertainer after seeing a song
and dance show. She kept writing her poems along with singing and
dancing anytime she had a chance.
In 1990, at the age of 13, her dreams
started to come true when the Colombian branch of Sony signed her to
a recording contract. Then, early the following year they released
her first album “Magia” . It was not a big success and only sold
1,200 copies. The poor showing did not discourage either Sony or
Shakira
Now, 25 years after that humble
beginning and Shakira has become a multiple award winning recording
artist, songwriter, dancer, model and actress. She has sold almost 60
copies of her albums and her music has appeared just everywhere.
Chances are you have probably heard some her songs and even have some
favorites that you listen to over-and-over.
The following is a top 10 list:
- “Hips don't lie” is arguably one of Shakira's best songs. When you read the lyrics that talk about how it can affect a man to watch her and then see the video of her moving her hips it is hard not to be moved
- “Whenever, wherever” is a song that belongs on any best of list. The power of this song that talks about how if love is meant to be time and distance are no barrier.
- “Waka, waka” the words of this song are so inspirational in the way it talks about going on when the odds are against you.
- “Empire” has been acclaimed by critics as they have called it a “gorgeous ballad”. It is hard to argue with that after listening to this powerful song that such a strong love and devotion that it can move Empires and the Universe itself.
- “Can't remember to forget you” is a song that many of us can relate to when we fall for that person we know is not good for us but just can't seem to put out of our mind.
- “Ojos Asi” (Eyes like those) has passion in the lyrics as well as the music. When you listen to the song it fills you with a raw, animal passion. Then, when you watch the video and see the seductive veil dance Shakira preforms you almost fell yourself being lured in to her.
- “Te Aviso, Te Anuncio” (“I'm warning you, announcing you”) tells about a woman that feed with sharing a mans' affections with another woman. She makes her stances that if she can't have all of him then she is through with him. The one line in this that sums up her feelings is where she says “a tango isn't a threesome”.
- “Antologia” (“Anthology”) is a beautiful love song
- “Estoy aqui” (“I'm here”) is something that many of us can relate to in our past. That one love that we let go and have longed to have a second chance that was not come.
- “Underneath your clothes” is one of those sweet romantic songs that you just want to sway to while holding your loved one in your arms.
Thursday, July 23, 2015
5 things you didn't know about Jack Benny
For six and half decades Jack Benny,
real name Benjamin Kubelsky, was one of the biggest stars in
Vaudeville, radio, movies, and television. He always portrayed
himself as a miserly person that was a terrible violist. He would
often bring his friends on his shows where they would make jokes
about his stinginess and how they wouldn't invite him to parties
because he would always bring his violin. He made the persona so well
that most people really believed that he was actually that inept
skinflint. The truth though was that he was an excellent player and
very generous.
The small city of
Waukegan, Illinois honored their favorite by naming a middle after
him. The school is has been recognized for it high academic standards
by winning a silver level PBIS (positive behavioral intervention &
support) award. The school also incorporates one of Mr. Benny's long
running jokes of never aging past the age of 39 by naming their
sports team the 39ers.
Jack Benny spent
two years in the Navy during WWI. He spent his time entertaining the
troops by playing his violin for them. It was during this time that
he developed the comic routine of pretending to be one of the world's
worst violin players. He came up with the routine one night when his
violin playing, which is actually excellent, was booed. Instead of
leaving the stage in humiliation he ad-libbed jokes started his
playing off key style.
In keeping with
the miser image that Jack Benny created he would always refer to Mary
Livingstone, actual name Sadie Marks, to his girlfriend on his shows.
The gags was always that they never married because Jack was too
cheap to buy a ring. In reality the two had been happily married
since 1927 until Jack's death. His devotion to her didn't end when he
died though. He had arrange to have a rose delivered to her everyday.
Jack Benny once
appeared on the quiz show the “$64,000 question” where he
answered the first question, in the category violins. Sticky to his
stingy persona he took the $64 from that first right answer and left.
A few weeks after the show Mr. Benny had the host of the quiz show
make a guest appearance on his show. They did a comic version of the
“$64,000 question” where Mr. Benny turned the tables on him. The
results where hilarious.
Jack Benny hosted
the Academy Awards twice in the mid 1940”s. The first was in 1944
and then again 3 years later in 1947.
Monday, July 20, 2015
7 free sites for anyone looking to continue their education
In everyday life finding time and funds
to go to a brick-and-mortar school. Finding a good on-line
alternative isn't always easy to find and can be time consuming. You
surfing the Web to find courses can be a daunting that eats up
precious hours that most people just can't afford to waste. Many of
the largest Colleges, Universities, and technology companies offer
free courses.
The problem is that not many people
know about these resources. The following is a list of just a few of
these sites:
- Edx.org offers thousands of free courses offer by some of the top colleges and instructors. The sites offers over 500 courses from such big colleges as Harvard, Arizona State, Caltech, and Cornell just to name a few. The subject matter ranges from basic grammar to computer science so everyone should be able to find something to fit their needs.
- CourseA.org offer thousands of free course that you can take at your own pace. When you go to the site's courses page you can filter your search by categories like business & management, humanities, computer science, engineering, and more. You can also filter down courses by languages, such as, English, Chinese, Russian, and Arabic just to name a few.
- Ocw. Mit.edu as the name implies are free courses offered by MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). MIT started their opencourseware over a decade ago to make educational resources available to the masses. “OCW is here to serve our audience of independent learners, students, and educators.”
- pce.uw.edu offers hundreds of courses from the University of Washington. Just as with MIT the UW has been offer free resources for over a decade.
- Themuse.com has over 40 free course to choose from ranging from introductory to more advanced courses o help your career.
- Alison.com is a global site that offer thousands of free courses in a wide range of categories. On their site you will find courses by major college across the globe as well as by some of the biggest technology giants like Google and Microsoft.
- Canvas.net offers hundreds of free courses in areas like math, science, history, and writing among others. The courses are taught by some of the biggest Universities around the globe.
Monday, July 13, 2015
NASA's New Horizons to make historic flyby tomorrow
Many
of us on the west and east coasts will probably still be in bed when
NASA's New Horizons spacecraft goes soar past Pluto at 7:49 am EDT
(4:49 PDT). At that time the spacecraft will be approximately 7,767
miles of the dwarf planet and cruising by at 38,000 miles per hour.
The spacecraft will use it 7 sensors and cameras to collects
pictures and data that will be transmitted back to Earth.
"It
sounds like science fiction, but it's not," principal
investigator Alan Stern, of the Southwest Research Institute in
Boulder, Colorado said as he opened a news conference at mission
headquarters in Maryland.
"Tomorrow morning a United States spacecraft will fly by the
Pluto system and make history."
The
grand piano sized New Horizons spacecraft started its journey in
January of 2006. During its 9 ½ year journey it has done flybys and
photographed some of our other planets and their moons. As it came
closer to the dwarf planet the spacecraft experienced a glitch
that put the craft in “safe mode” and cutting off all data
transmissions to Earth. Luckily, they were able to quickly fix the
problem and restore contact with the spacecraft.
"I'm
pleased that our mission team quickly identified the problem and
assured the health of the spacecraft," said Jim Green, NASA's
Director of Planetary Science. "Now — with Pluto in our sights
— we're on the verge of returning to normal operations and going
for the gold."
Since
fixing that glitch the New Horizons spacecraft has revealed that the
dwarf planet is slightly larger than what we once thought. The
original estimates where that Pluto had a diameter of 1,430 miles
making Eris the largest object, at 1,445 miles across, in the Kuiper
Belt. We now know that Pluto is in fact larger at 1,473 miles across.
"This
settles the debate about the largest object in the Kuiper Belt,"
Stern said.
The
New Horizons also sent back information on 3 of Pluto's 5 moons. The
largest of these moons Charon is almost half the size of Pluto at 751
miles in diameter. The other 2 smaller moons, Nix and Hydra, come in
at a miniature 30 and 20 miles in diameter respectfully. Pluto's
other 2 moons Kkerberos and Styx were too small and distant but will
be measured as the spacecraft zooms past Pluto tomorrow.
Other
articles on this topic:
Wednesday, July 8, 2015
5 things you didn't know about George Wallace
For almost four decades George Wallace
has been a stand-up comic, writer and an actor. He start working the
comedy club circuit with other rising stars like Jerry Seinfeld,
Rodney Dangerfield, Roseanne Barr and Jay Leno. That is where he
developed his style of observational humor that keeps us all in
stitches and wanting more. Over the next three decades he worked his
way to Las Vegas were he has become one of the premiere headlining
acts.
Outside of all the success Mr. Wallace
ha enjoyed there have been several things most people don't know
about him. Here are five of those little known facts:
In
April of 2014 George Wallace was awarded $1.3 million dollars over an
injury he sustained at the Bellagio hotel & casino back in
December of 2007. The jury found that loose wires on the stage lead
to an Achilles tendon injury that Mr. Wallace suffered during a
stand-up routine he was performing. After he was granted the award,
Mr. Wallace said, “I’d
rather have a good foot than have the money.”
Even though the
injury has healed Mr. Wallace still has a limp.
In the fall of
2013 Mr. Wallace wrote a humorous and inspirational book about how we
all have struggles in life and the medicine Is too keep our sense of
humor and try to find something to laugh about. In his book “Laff
it off” he brings his style of looking at everyday situation to the
written page showing that the best way to keep from letting life make
us bitter is to find a glimmer of humor.
In 1999 George
Wallace stood up as the best man at the wedding of his long-time
friend Jerry Seinfeld. The two comedians became good friends in 1980
when they were both rising stand-ups on the club circuit. Over the
years since then their careers had taken then on different paths of
success. Where ever those paths took them they would stay in touch
and when Mr. Seinfeld decided to take the plunge he called up his
long-time friend to be by hi side at the wedding.
At almost a decade
into his career Mr. Wallace was asked to be a writer on “The Redd
Foxx Show”. He spent one season writing for the show before his
longing to be on the stage called him back to resume his stand up
routine.
Ever since he was
6 year-old George Wallace wanted to be a comedian. Different events
in his life would prevent him from achieving that dream for the next
19 years. One of those events was his mother dyeing when he 16
years-old. After that he moved halfway across the country where he
went work for Firestone. The next phase of his journey was to at an
ad agency. It was while working there a client invited him to his
comedy club where he was a hit.
Monday, July 6, 2015
New Horizon still on schedule despite Saturday's glitch
For
most of the country July 4th
means putting out our American Flags, getting our barbecues ready and
planning a fireworks display. For the people at Command Central at
Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel,
Maryland the day took on a whole new meaning when they lost
communication with the New Horizon spacecraft. The outage only lasted
1 hour and 21 minutes before communication was restored.
"I'm
pleased that our mission team quickly identified the problem and
assured the health of the spacecraft," said Jim Green, NASA's
Director of Planetary Science. "Now — with Pluto in our sights
— we're on the verge of returning to normal operations and going
for the gold."
Even though
communication have been restored there is still one problem. The
program glitch thatMe caused the communication breakdown also caused
the craft to go into “safe mode”. This means that just as with
your computer operating system when it goes into “safe mode” it
only runs the bare essentials to keep the system running. Meaning
that since the craft is only running what is needed for operation and
communication it is not running the external data collectors that
would normally be gathering the data NASA was hoping to collect.
"I'll
willingly admit that I freaked out, just a little bit, when I first
heard this news," The Planetary Society's Emily Lakdawalla
said. "But I have confidence that the team will handle it and
will return the mission to normal operations with no serious loss to
science.”
Just
how long it will take to fix this glitch to get the craft off of
“safe mode” is not exactly known. Since it will take almost 9
hours for any communications to make the roughly 3 billion miles to
the New Horizon spacecraft and back to Earth. Whether it will take
one such communication or more to solve the glitch could mean the
difference between one day or several days of lost data. Either way
the spacecraft will still make a flyby of the draft planet Pluto on
July 15.
Other
articles on this topic:
Thursday, July 2, 2015
5 things you didn't know about Fred Allen
Start in the in the mid 1910's Fred
Allen spent over four decades entertaining us in Vaudeville, radio,
television and movies. For eighteen of those years he had one of the
most popular shows on radio. During its run his
radio show went through several transformations that introduced
routines that are still influencing comedians today. His did news
segments that were forerunners to shows like “Laugh-In” and
“Saturday Night Live” among others. His “Allen's Alley”
segments have influenced several comedians such as Jay Leno and David
Letterman.
When Fred Allen,
real name John Florence Sullivan, was just three-years-old his mother
died from pneumonia. His father, James, took John and his infant
brother, Robert, to their aunt Lizzie. After years living with aunt
Lizzie John's father remarried. Robert moved out of their aunt's
house with their father and his new wife but John opted to stay with
aunt Lizzie.
When Fred Allen
was14-years-old he started work as a runner at the Boston Public
Library. His main duties were retrieving books for customers and
restocking shelves. His work there allowed him plenty of time to read
and one of the books that he would study was the history of comedy.
Whose idea thee
feud was isn't known but for most of the time that Fred Allen was on
the air he had a feud going with fellow radio show host jack Benny.
In reality the two were actually good friends, would do guest
appearance on each others shows and appeared in a couple of movies
together.
He wrote two memories
In his later years
Mr. Allen wrote two memories about his life and career. The first of
the two of these books was is 1954 autobiography, “Treadmill
to Oblivion” about his radio, movie and television years. His
second book, “Much
Ado about me”, was about his childhood and start in Vaudeville.
Sadly, while he was write the last chapter he suffer a heart-attack
and died before it was complete. The book was publish posthumously
with it still incomplete.
Fred Allen meet
Portland Hoffa in the early 1920's when they were both working on the
same radio show. After the shows short run the two of them went on
separate paths. 5 years after parting ways fate would have it that
take two found each other again and married in 1927. The two remained
a couple and worked together quite often until Fred Allen's death in
1956.
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