THE BEST OF THE INTERNET AND MEDIA - Life's curiosities - the things that make us smile; ponder; discuss and wonder about. Everything from political news to the arts, with lots of variety in between.
Nature is filled with numerous curiosities– take for example Dionaea
muscipula - the Venus Flytrap. This is a green plant that has almost “pet-like” qualities.
The Flytrap is one of 530 carnivorous species distributed worldwide.A horticultural oddity that was improperly classified around 1743; the flytrap was first discovered growing wild in the savanna plains of North and South Carolina.
Linnaeus was credited with giving the Venus Flytrap its common name, but it took Charles Darwin's fascination with this meat-eating plant to foster its popularity with the public, and eventually lead to its proper identification.
The Venus Flytrap is characterized by its shiny green stalk that ends with what looks like a "taco with teeth.”These little taco-shapes appear green when in the shade and red when exposed to full sun. The “tacos” are actually insect traps that emit a sweet nectar-like substance that lures insects to their capture, death and ultimate digestion as a food source for the plant.
Over the years, the Flytrap has become a sought after houseplant, not only as a helpful way to deal with unwanted bugs, but as a novelty because of their “pet-like” response to stimulation.
As a houseplant, the Venus Flytrap is quite easy to maintain when planted in live sphagnum moss that is kept in a consistently moist state through spring, summer and autumn. Watering is accomplished in much the same manner as that of an African violet - by placing the Flytrap’s pot in a shallow container filled with distilled water or collected rainwater.
The plant bears lovely white star-shaped flowers in May and June, and during winter, the plant goes into its "resting" stage – that’s when watering is cut back to a slightly damp basis and any dying-off black-colored traps are removed.
If you decide you do not want to keep your plant visible during this slightly ugly stage, just carefully remove the plant from its pot, place it in a plastic bag and pop it in the refrigerator.The Venus Flytrap can withstand winter time temperatures of between 34 and 54 degrees Fahrenheit.
About the only major pest problem for the plant are Aphids, and there is no need to supplement the Flytrap’s diet with commercial fertilizers as that, along with feeding it hamburger (a popular misconception) could cause it to die.
During the Flytrap’s “taco-producing stage,” a steady diet of everything from cockroaches to common houseflies will keep it happy and satiated.However, please realize, after four successive feedings per taco shaped trap, that particular trap will die off.
When feeding your Venus Flytrap use a pair of tweezers and gently place a live insect critter into the center of an open trap.Depending upon the amount of sun light available the trap should close within 1/30th of a second and re-open only after the insect has been fully digested, which is a thoughtful thing to do.
As the trap becomes older or as the ambient room temperature lowers, the trap's closure response speed diminishes.
Since there are about four to eight traps per plant, feeding is best-spaced one insect per week, per trap, which also allows you to enjoy these phenomena for the better part of a growing season.
What happens if you tease your Venus Flytrap just to see it close? The trap closes but does reopen within twenty-four hours.The closure is due to a so-called "double trigger mechanism" (located on the inside of the “taco shell”) where touching or stimulating one inner hair twice or two inner hairs once will trigger the trap's closure.
The Venus Flytrap is the perfect plant "pet" for those with curiosity as well as the "stomach" for the unusual.
With this week’s focus on the televised drama that accompanies the Scripps National Spelling Bee, children might just get bitten by the spelling bug, as oftentimes, positive peer examples offer the best motivation.
What are the tools that you can offer your child to help them become friends with spelling and literacy?
It's no secret that Webster’s Third New International Dictionary Unabridged is a definitive resource and can be used when a child gets older and deeply into the process of being a wordsmith, but before that time there are ways that will spark interest in learning new words and provide great entertainment as well.
First and foremost in promoting a love of language, is reading. When books are read to a child, they not only serve as an educational and entertaining process, but they foster quality one-on-one time, and it doesn’t matter if it’s an actual cover-to-cover book or something you share off your iPad.
In addition to books, there are television programs that are ideal for introducing children to reading such as PBS KIDS Super Why! , which is perfect for the preschool set.
Online sites, such as Reading Rockets is also an excellent resource as it offers adult strategies along with activities and even lessons to help children with spelling and reading.
Products such as, Spelling Bee: Thinkmap’s Visual Thesaurus is ideal and fun for older children, plus you might discover that the whole family will enjoy using this interesting approach to finding words.
Last, but certainly not least, one of the most unique and primarily word-of-mouth promoted games, Bananagrams has taken the country by storm, and now it’s gone global with international editions.
As a word formation game, it is slightly similar to Scrabble but it is fast-paced, portable and almost addictive as you can play in groups or solo. The game has simple rules and is very affordable.
The video embedded at the end of this post, provided by Mastermind Toys gives you a good idea how much fun the game is to play.
The origins of the term “spelling bee” predate the year 1825, and began with the use of Noah Webster’s spelling books in the classroom.
In 1925, the very first ‘National’ bee was organized by the Courier Journal in Louisville, Kentucky and brought together nine local spellers to compete. In 1941, the Scripps Howard News Service acquired sponsorship rights for the program, and today’s bee offers children from all 50 states, American protectorates and international countries, the opportunity to compete for over $40,000 worth of cash and prizes.
These 273 finalists all began their spelling journey months ago in their classrooms - from public, private, parochial, charter and home schools – an estimated 10 million competitors worldwide.
Each of those classroom winners then advanced to school-wide contests, followed by regional competitions, which then winnowed numbers down to the 273 national finalists, who yesterday competed in a computer generated written round and oral rounds two and three earlier today.
The competition, which provides high drama in the advancing stages, will be broadcast by ESPN from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on Friday, June 4, 2010. The last spellers remaining will then compete at 8:00 p.m. ET and be broadcast live by the ABC television network.
Over the years, this mega contest of words has provided great learning opportunities for children and has fostered excellent entertainment as found in the 2002 Academy Award nominated documentary, SPELLBOUND, and the 2006 feature film, AKEELAH AND THE BEE.
Included in Red is a humorous, first-person account, “Apiarian Days,” by violinist, Samantha Gillogly, who at the actual 2001 National Bee was ousted in the 6th round on a musical term. The essay captures much of what these children face during this week of nail-biting competition.
IMHO’s thanks to the vaughanski’s YouTube Channel for the marvelous piece of video footage from the 2008 Scripps National Spelling Bee that concludes this post.
Be sure to come back tomorrow for “Spelling bee fun: Ideas for playtime and literacy development.”
If it’s Tuesday, it’s a good day for an unmitigated rant. Frustration mounts as we watch another attempt by British Petroleum to fix the “Big Spill” in the Gulf of Mexico.
Attempts to plug the leak, now in day 42 and spewing out mega gallons of gooey oil into the ocean, have been unsuccessful, even after flushing the pipeline with mud and ramming it with junk shot.
Okay, let’s try something new. No guarantees yet, but some action is better than no action at all. Frankly, (IMHO) I don’t think they know what they are doing at this juncture – time will tell, I guess.
In the midst of the failed attempt and resulting public disappointment, BP CEO Tony Hayward let loose with yet another gaffe.
In reference to the size of the leak: “relatively tiny."
In reference to BP safety performance: "In the last four or five years we have made major improvements in safety performance. It has made the company much better … Four years ago it could have been very different."
In reference to early attempts to fix the leak: "It was a bit bumpy to get it going. We made a few little mistakes early on.”
Then this one from Sky News on 5/18/10:
In reference to the environmental impact of the Deepwater Horizon Spill: “I think the environmental impact of this disaster is likely to be very, very modest."
Now the crowning statement is captured by the Today Show and first surfacing on Think Progress: “There’s no one who wants this over more than I do. I would like my life back.”
In response Mr. Hayward, I ask you these questions:
“What of the 11 men who died in the drilling platform explosion; do you think they would like to have their lives back?”
“What of the families of the 11 men who died in the drilling platform explosion, do you think they would like to have their loved ones back?”
“What of the entire fishing industry on the Gulf coast, do you think the fisherman would like to have their lives return to normal and their livelihoods back?”
“What about all the mammals, birds, turtles, dolphins and fish, do you think they would like to have their habitat and their lives back?”
I say, “Suck it up Mr. Hayward, and JUST FIX THE LEAK!" And, while you're at it, get yourself a good PR spokesperson. On your salary of $4.5 million per year, I would expect both issues are doable.
Granted, Hayward does apologize for the “massive disruption,” but before you turn livid upon actually hearing how the massive disruption has disrupted his life in the video below, see my previous post, which includes the live video feed of the newest attempt to fix the leak.
Today is Memorial Day. There are many to remember. Let us pay homage to those who have given the ultimate sacrifice; honor those who have lived through the tumult of war and keep in our hearts those who remain unknown but whose valor is marked by the haunting tone of taps.
“You never lived to see What you gave to me One shining dream of hope and love Life and liberty With a host of brave unknown soldiers For your company you will live forever Here in our memory
In fields of sacrifice Heroes paid the price Young men who died for old men's wars Gone to paradise We are all one great band of brothers And one day you'll see we can live together When all the world is free
I wish you'd lived to see All you gave to me Your shining dream of hope and love Life and liberty We are all one great band of brothers And one day you'll see - we can live together When all the world is free”
At the time of this posting, it remains to be seen if the “Big Spill,” (now 40 disastrous days and counting) is actually being contained 5,000 feet under the sea in the Gulf of Mexico off Louisiana’s (now) ecologically fragile coastline.
After yesterday’s site visit by President Obama, and BP’s efforts at attempting to plug up the environmental nightmare using everything from a cache of 2.5 million gallons of drilling mud as a “top kill” and adding a “junk shot” mixture of golf balls and shredded rubber tires, it’s hard to say if success is in the cards based on the images from a live feed provided by PBS “Newshour.”
My understanding is - if you see “muddy brown” that’s a good sign; ” if you see “white” it’s gas and it’s not a good sign, and if you see a spewing black column it’s a big problem.
Maybe we will all have an answer sometime later this weekend. I hope it works.
It seems to be more than a sign of the times in the news business – frayed nerves, wondering where the next story will be aggregated from, or who is plagiarizing your work. Even worse, will the news company you write for be sold, go chapter 11, or simply demand more employee concessions?
It’s not news anymore as giants like the Tribune Company struggle with the possibility of a long and protracted legal battle with their creditors, and the New York Times is in the midst of developing a “paywall” for its online news site.
The video footage below, which was captured by the ProbablyBadNews.com YouTube channel (a site where “News FAILS Because Journalism Isn’t Dying Fast Enough”) speaks volumes, but maybe, just maybe it’s more an empathetic reaction of a reporter who witnessed a landlord tenant dispute in these hard times?
However, I would have expected this type of sideshow on FOX.
According to the U.S. and World Population Clock, as of May 27, 2010, at 20 hours and 15 minutes UTC, also known as Universal Time Coordinated - formerly known as Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) and Zulu Time (Z), the estimated world population figures reached well over 6 billion human inhabitants (6,823,606,120).
On December 31, 2009, Internet World Stats reported “Internet Users Data” to be 1,802,330,457, which upon their reflection is about 26.6 percent of the world population hooked up to and using computers.
Where are all these statistics headed? Read on.
On January 4, 2010, a young fellow, Jamie Bell (aka DispleasedEskimo - that’s his YouTube moniker) posted a video, which was actually a final piece he had created for an Advanced Subsidiary art class in the United Kingdom. (The grade level would be equivalent to 12 here in the United States.)
I consider myself to be a fairly average individual with very mainstream tastes, and over the years, I have had an uncanny ability to pick hits in music and the arts, always using my middle-of-the-road instincts. Well, when I ran across Bell’s video several months ago I was absolutely tickled by what he had created and thought to myself – this is going to go viral – and it did!
As of today, he’s had 2,431,978 hits, which tallies up to 17,006 online visitors per day.
Statistically speaking, if I were an advertiser, I would want to be buying space on his page.
In creating his video Bell used “flipbook” style drawings and gobbled up "50 jotter books in the process, illustrating them by utilizing only “biro pens” (ballpoints) - the entire animation was approximately “something like 2100 pages long,” he says.
According to Bell, the entire video with drawings represented roughly three weeks of “on and off” work.
His video incorporates the music of Jacques Offenbach, sound effects from Team Fortress 2, and a Christmas carol. It is a clever portrayal of “A Brief History of Pretty Much Everything” in three minutes and 12 seconds.
The video has become so popular it spawned an enterprising t-shirt site that will help keep young Bell in Ramen noodles during the new school term.
Bell’s teacher thought his work was pretty nifty too – he received “full marks” (equivalent to 4.0) – Enjoy!
Poetry - I’ve always been very fond of the art form - marveling at the fact that ordinary words, when put together ‘just so’ create extraordinary images that not only capture the minds eye but touch the soul – almost like taking vinegar and turning it into champagne – a rather mystical reverse process more or less.
Poetry is a very personal thing; you glean meaning on a singular level, much like when you view a painting or sculpture – poetry speaks only your language, it touches only your heart.
Although I am fond of many poems, over the years I have consistently been drawn to a handful of poets who reach out to me through time and space sharing their wisdom, their vision of the world and a glimpse of their soul through their immortal voice.
e.e. cummings (or if you prefer) E.E. Cummings and Emily Dickinson are two of my favorite poets – Cummings because he reinvented poetry with his avant- garde style that included breaking most linguistic rules and the coinage of new words, and Emily Dickinson… just because.
Dickinson’s voice (IMHO) resonates and has a rare ability to move backwards and forwards bridging generational gaps as well as educational and income levels. Case in point, take a look at the embedded video below, produced by Limey Films, Inc. for Poets House, the national poetry library and literature center based in Manhattan.
Filmed in May 2009, during the final construction phase of Poets House new headquarters, actor Bill Murray read poetry to the men responsible for building the magnificent new repository, and what was captured on the faces of the workers was very telling. Pay particular attention to the construction worker’s eyes when Murray reads Dickinson’s “I dwell in Possibility-- A fairer House than Prose,” and when he introduces each worker after the reading.
I’m sure Emily would have been very pleased that her words instilled the gift of pride that was so clearly visible.
“Monday Monday, can't trust that day, Monday Monday, sometimes it just turns out that way Oh Monday morning, you gave me no warning of what was to be Oh Monday Monday, how you could leave and not take me.”
Who hasn’t heard the lyrics to the above song “Monday, Monday” written by American singer/songwriter/guitarist “Papa John” (John Edmund Andrew Phillips) of the legendary music group The Mamas and the Papas?
That soul-searching single went on to chart a number one spot on Billboard’s Top 100 and subsequently garnered the iconic pop/folk/rock ensemble a Grammy in 1967 for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group.
Phillips certainly did capture the angst that most folks feel on Monday mornings; the start of a workweek; another daily commute and untold obstacles that pop up littering the day, oftentimes carrying over until Tuesday and beyond.
“Every other day, every other day, Every other day of the week is fine, yeah But whenever Monday comes, but whenever Monday comes You can find me cryin' all of the time”
Just in case your e-mail box has been beset with more tasks than you are able to accomplish today, my advice – TAKE A BRAIN BREAK and enjoy the very short video below that is part of a creative YouTube channel offered by sawith65.
It was sent to me by a friend this morning and made me smile. I hope it makes your day less of a "Monday, Monday".
In Parts 1 and 2 of this post we explored the benefits and the pitfalls of social networking, along with methods to correct (at least on Facebook) privacy blunders that might cause potential problems for your online image.
A very recent study published by Nielsen (the American marketing and research behemoth) that tracks marketplace dynamics along with consumer attitudes for a variety of media enterprises, which includes television, radio, books, music, videos and web sites, has come out with some interesting statistics for the “Top U.S. Web Sites and Brands for April 2010,” and guesses what? - Ranking # 3 for the “Top 10 Web Brands (U.S. Home and Work)” was Facebook, which lagged only behind Google and Yahoo but ratcheted up over 122 million visitors, who each spent and average of six hours, 43 minutes and 22 seconds of time per week with their social networking. Those figures were a reflection of a 3.8% downward trend. Could that portend marketplace unrest with privacy and security issues? Time will tell.
However, to end this post series on a funny note – I’ll leave the final words to the folks who produce entertainment, and hold a mirror up to our society reflecting the craze of social networking.
WARNING: If you are not a fan of South Park, the adult cartoon that oftentimes goes over the top in portraying current affairs, do not watch the first video below, even though the clip is far more tame than the usual fare that they produce.
The second clip also carries a WARNING – if you are offended by the use of certain slang words such as, %@&*, *(%# and #^*$ you probably will not appreciate the humor in David Ippolito, the Guitar Man of Central Park’s newly debuted song, “Facebook is a Stupid Idiot” (subtitled "What the $*&@ is Farmville!?") which was performed at the Leonard Nimoy Thalia Theater in New York City.
IMHO, I think both clips are way to laugh at the entire social networking dilemma and maybe, as Victor Borge once said, “ Laughter is the closest distance between two people.” Now, isn’t that what social networking is all about?
In the first installment of this series we took an overall look at social networking and media in the marketplace as it stands today – blossoming at a vigorous rate and bringing with it socialization benefits as well as potential downsides in reference to the dissemination of personal information in the public arena.
Specifically, new concerns have been posed as to the gathering and selling of your personal information by “data mining companies.”
Eye opening to say the least for many of us, but not to panic, there are options that can level the playing field.
The first thing we all have to understand is this: The GIGO Principle (also known as “Garbage in/Garbage out”) – remember this – whatever you feed into your computer and post on a social network or media site is controllable by only one person – YOU!
You have the option to not post sensitive information, inflammatory comments, and unflattering or compromising photographs with your identity attached – that is your choice, however some sites make it difficult to determine whether your personal information is essential versus non-essential. When in doubt don’t post or share.
Information that you offer up on sites such as Facebook can be controlled, but you need some basic information to get you through all the confusing options.
The video below, produced by SophosLabs (a computer security company) probably best explains how to navigate and make informed choices about privacy and security settings… at least on Facebook, which has taken the bulk of heat on this issue since making extensive changes to their site.
There is also another option for securing your Facebook privacy, but it has taken the form of a revolt that throws out the proverbial baby with the bathwater. Scheduled to take place on Monday, May 31, 2010 is Quit Facebook Day, and it is rapidly garnering followers.
Know your options, check them out and make the choices and changes you prefer, and be sure to come back for the third and final installment in this series, a humorous look at the lighter side of social networking.
Social networking is no longer a passing fad, it's a serious communication tool (rather addictive and somewhat time-consuming in nature) that provides a relatively easy (one-size-fits-all) means of staying in touch with each of your friends, most of your relatives, some of your acquaintances, many of your business associates, all of your fans, and even a smattering of strangers who share your common interests.
On Facebook alone, approximately “60 million individual status updates” are posted daily by users of the service.
If you think that’s a huge number, try swallowing this: “If Facebook were a country it would be the third largest in the world.”
Those figures are part of some rather staggering statistics about social networking and media, which were gathered from the video below that is based on the book “Socialnomics” written by Erik Qualman. Take a look for yourself.
In the past several days, quite a bit of controversy has been brewing over social networking sites, in particular Facebook and some ongoing privacy concerns.
It’s no secret that admissions departments in colleges and universities gather information about applicants from online social networking sites, and it’s been currently estimated in this competitive job market that 95 percent of all HR departments visit social network pages to round out a more complete profile from a job-seeking applicant.
Now comes some new information to add to the mix.
Investigative journalist, Charles Feldman for KNX 1070 (CBS Newsradio - Los Angles/Orange County/ Southern California) has raised some serious concerns regarding the use of personal information (about you) gleaned by trolling “data mining companies,” who ultimately sell your personal statistics and opinions and market that information to others as a “proprietary product.”
In Feldman’s four part series, “ Think Before You Friend!” which includes some additional raw audio footage, he takes listeners on an “Orwellian” adventure exposing how banks, lending institutions, real estate agents and even potential landlords are using information about you that they find online through social networks.
You can listen to Feldman’s excellent eye-opening report by following this link.
Now, does anyone care to hide under a rock?
Stay tuned, there are actions you can implement to take charge of your online image.
On Friday, April 28, 2010, just four days after I posted The iPad Challenge:Cat, Dog or Man? Apple’s nifty little device made its way into the hands of its one-millionth customer, and as of yesterday, 3G and Wi-Fi pre-orders began for international markets with the first round of shipping to begin on May 28 to Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom - with more international markets to follow in July.
In the Cat, Dog or Man challenge, you were asked to determine who would best benefit from using Apple’s iPad based on the viral videos that were being circulated around the Internet.
According to your comments, it appears the ‘Cat’ won paws down, with pianist Lang Lang coming in a close second.
However, since the last post, two more contenders have entered the competition and they might just alter your opinions.
Our first competitor is a toddler who is barely 2.5 years of age. According to her father and the Telstar Logistics’ YouTube account where the video appears, he shares the following information: “A fascinating UI experiment. My daughter likes playing with my iPhone, but this was her very first encounter with an iPad. As you'll see, she took right to it... although she too wonders why it doesn't have a camera!"
Our second contender, 99 year-old Virginia Campbell was filmed at the Mary Woods Retirement Community in Oregon. Virginia is the widow of former Lake Oswego Mayor C. Herald Cambell, and this was her very first encounter with the unit, plus she’s never owned a computer or even a Kindle, and to top it off Virginia suffers from glaucoma.
Time to cast your votes – this one’s a real tough choice.
In May 1907, Anna M. Jarvis, while attending a memorial service for her mother, vowed to create a day to honor and remember the most significant woman in our lives, and so today we celebrate Mother's Day.
Actually, over the years, I have come to realize this holiday as a celebration for all women – whose love, kindness, understanding, talents and friendship have nurtured and enriched our lives.
American author and essayist, Washington Irving probably summed up the term “mother” best when he said, “A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine desert us; when trouble thickens around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts."
It has been billed as “The Best way to see the web, email, photos and video – hands down.” It’s the Apple iPad and it has taken the country by storm because of its pocketbook-friendly price of $499, a multi-touch screen and the ability to run thousands of apps.
It won’t exactly replace the PC, but give it a few more generations and who knows?
Well, it didn’t take long for this “magical” device to find its way into the paws and hands of diverse users.
Over the last few days, “Iggy” the cat, “Chloe” the Corgi and classical concert pianist Lang Lang (during an encore at San Francisco’s Davies Symphony Hall) test-drove this little 1.5 pound highly advanced technology, and the results are as diverse as the users.
For a child, the death of a parent is perhaps one of life's most difficult passages to navigate, not only for themselves but for their entire family. On Wednesday evening, April 14, 2010, PBS and the Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit educational organization behind Sesame Street presents an hour-long special, When Families Grieve, hosted by Katie Couric and Kevin Clash as "Elmo" at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT.
Presented in high definition, When Families Grieve handles this daunting topic in an extremely sensitive and compassionate manner by including families’ personal stories about how they have coped with the loss of a parent and spouse. The program also utilizes the Sesame Street Muppets to aid in the communication between adults and children.
The show offers many insights and much hope by providing effective healing strategies that are child appropriate to help children as well as the surviving parent honor their grief and move ahead with their lives.
When Families Grieve is a continuation of Sesame Workshop’s award-winning Talk, Listen, Connect initiative, and because grieving is a family experience, over one million free outreach multimedia resource support kits will be available in English and Spanish after the program’s airing beginning April 15 at this link.
Military families and the general public can access either of the two customized versions of the When Families Grieve outreach kits - one designed to support the specific needs of military families and the other designed for the general public.
According to Sesame Workshop the free kits contain the following:
"A DVD featuring the Sesame Street Muppets and documentary footage of families who have experienced the death of a parent due to a variety of situations including illness, suicide, accidents, and other sudden or natural causes."
Print materials include:
"A guide for parents and caregivers providing tips, strategies, and activities to help comfort and reassure children through difficult times; a children’s storybook designed to comfort children as they cope with the death of a parent; and a facilitator’s guide with strategies for using the project’s components, as well as tips and activities to give to families with children coping with grief."
From statistics supplied by Sesame Workshop, it is “estimated 2.5% of children under age 18 have experienced the death of a parent (approximately 2.5 million children) and on March 10, 2010 TAPS (Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors) estimated that the 5,398 U.S. military deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan had left 3,779 children without a parent, while 2,669 spouses had been widowed.”
Couric (herself a widow), known to millions over the years from co-hosting duties on NBC Television’s Today Show and her present day anchor role for the CBS Evening News lost her own husband, Jay Monahan to cancer in 1998 when her two daughters were just six and two years old.
In a statement to the press Couric said, "Death and loss are a part of life, but they are very difficult for adults to discuss, much less children. I'm honored that Sesame Street, with its long history of tackling difficult issues with sensitivity, caring and warmth asked me to be a part of this important project. I hope that it will provide families with the tools to help them cope, begin the healing process, and ultimately adjust to their 'new normal' in the healthiest way possible."
The video below is a preview of this very important program, Sesame Street: When Families Grieve, please share it with those who are in need and those you hold dear. I thank you.
Every so often, Hollywood creates a film that becomes a blockbuster box office bonanza and such is the case of Walt Disney Pictures, Alice in Wonderland.
If you've been following my column on Examiner.com. (time for a little shameless self-promotion) you've been receiving updates and viewing a number of behind-the-scenes videos about the making of the film.
The last updated video that I posted in my "Popcorn Report," covering weekly movie releases, coincided with the film's nationwide opening on Friday, March 5, 2010. (If you happened to have missed it, just follow this link and press on the movie's title.)
In the weeks leading up to Alice's release, as I received more material about the film from Disney's marketing department, I began to realize just how big this film was going to be, and as of this afternoon, the box office figures are staggering - $116.3 million from 4,000 screens, and the weekend isn't even over.
This opening dollar figure puts Alice in a very rarefied category, which tops launch figures for every non- sequel film ever made, and surprisingly also beat out the opening figures for the last Harry Potter film, Half-Blood Prince.
Alice's success can probably best be attributed to the right combination of factors: Tim Burton's directing; Johnny Depp's acting as well as his fan base; outstanding computer generated graphics; 3-D imagery and the re-telling of one of the most beloved, all-time classic novels.
So, now that you will probably go out and see the film, and it is certain to be the topic of many conversations in the weeks to come, I'd like to share some entertaining FUN FACTS (bits of Alice trivia) courtesy of Walt Disney Pictures that are designed to go well while standing around the water cooler or at your next cocktail party.
And, once you finish the FACTS, take a look at the video below. It's the original Alice in Wonderland silent film made 107 years ago (just 37 years after Lewis Carroll penned his classic, and a mere eight years after the birth of the cinema.)
This antique Alice was directed by Cecil Hepworth and Percy Snow, and was in fact based on the original book illustrations by Sir John Tenniel.
There were no professional actors used in the 1903 film. The role of "Alice" was played by a studio secretary, Hepworth doubled as the "Frog Footman," while his wife took on the role of the "Red Queen" (deja vu Tim Burton and his wife Helena Bonham Carter) and the Hepworth's family pet became the Cheshire cat.
Resurrected and restored by the British Film Institute, the original Alice in Wonderland may not have been a box office wonder in its day, but it was considered quite magical at the time, just as today's Alice seems to our generation. I wonder what historians a century from now will say about Disney's blockbuster?
THE BIG PICTURE
* DIVINE DIGS– Director Tim Burton’s London office was once owned by Arthur Rackham, a famous English book illustrator who created the iconic color plates for the 1907 edition of “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.”
* THE QUESTION IS WHO ARE YOU? – Lewis Carroll is actually a pen name for Reverend Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, a lecturer in mathematics at Christchurch University in Oxford, England.
* WONDERLAND, NO UNDERLAND — Underland is the same fantastical land that Alice visited as a child, but—according to screenwriter Linda Woolverton—she misheard the word “Underland” and thought they said “Wonderland.” Woolverton says Underland is a part of the Earth, lying somewhere far beneath our world. It’s come upon hard times since the malevolent Red Queen took over the throne, but is a truly wonderful land, which might explain why the girl who mistook it for Wonderland has been called upon to help return it to its glory.
* ALMOST ALICE — “ALICE IN WONDERLAND” sparked two music CDs, including the motion-picture soundtrack, featuring an extraordinary score by composer Danny Elfman, and “Almost Alice,” a 16-song companion compilation featuring the film’s end credit track “Alice,” written and performed by Avril Lavigne, plus songs from artists who were inspired by the film, including All American Rejects, 3OH!3, The Cure’s Robert Smith, Franz Ferdinand and Shinedown. The album’s title, “Almost Alice,” comes from a line in the film. All of Underland has been awaiting Alice’s return since she first visited as a child, but when she does come back, nobody—including Alice—believes she’s the right Alice, the confident and feisty Alice they once knew. Eventually, the wise caterpillar tells her she’s Almost Alice.
CHARACTER-ISTICS
* DEPP’S DESIGNS — Actor Johnny Depp goes through ample preparation for each of his roles and preparing to play the Mad Hatter was no different. Long before production began, the actor began doing watercolor paintings of what the Mad Hatter might look like, discovering later that his vision was quite similar to director Tim Burton’s.
*MAD HATTER MOOD RING — The Mad Hatter suffers from mercury poisoning, a common and unfortunate condition of many hatters of the time who used the chemical regularly for their craft. Depp and Burton elevated this Hatter’s madness by literally showcasing the character’s many mad mood swings in his makeup and wardrobe, creating a virtual human mood ring.
* CHANGES — Mia Wasikowska who plays Alice is five feet four inches in real life but Alice changes size throughout the course of her adventures in Wonderland, ranging from six inches to two feet to eight-and-a-half feet, to a maximum of 20 feet tall. The production worked hard to use practical methods rather than special effects and often it was a case of putting Alice on an apple box to make her taller than everyone else.
* DRINK ME — The potion Alice drinks to shrink is called Pishsolver. The cake she eats to grow is called Upelkuchen.
* SWEET AND SOUR — Actress Anne Hathaway, who portrays the White Queen in “ALICE IN WONDERLAND,” decided that her representation of the character wouldn’t be completely vanilla. The White Queen comes from the same gene pool as the evil Red Queen, after all, so Hathaway envisioned a “punk rock vegan pacifist” and was inspired by Blondie, Greta Garbo, Dan Flavin and Norma Desmond.
* FUTTER-WHAT? — Futterwacken is the term used to describe the Underlanders’ dance of unbridled joy. Composer Danny Elfman was stumped when it came to creating the music for the dance. He wrote four different pieces for the director, each fun, unique and, as Elfman says, “pushing the bounds of what could be acceptable.”
* TWO TWEEDLES — Actor Matt Lucas was tapped to play both Tweedles, rotund twin brothers who constantly disagree with each other and whose confusing chatter makes little sense to anyone but themselves. Lucas, however, was unable to play Tweedledee and Tweedledum at the same time (for some reason). Actor Ethan Cohen was called on to portray Dum to Lucas’ Dee (or vice versa) during filming, but will never actually appear on screen.
* BANDERSNATCH? — This disgusting, drooling, foul-smelling creature has a big filthy body and the squashed, teeth-baring face of a rabid bulldog. The creature leaves Alice with a rather painful reminder of the Red Queen’s horrible reign.
BEHIND THE SCENES
* MEASURING UP — Costume designer Colleen Atwood had her work cut out for her when it came to creating the costumes for Mia Wasikowska’s ever-changing Alice. The character wears a variety of different garments, including one purportedly made from the Red Queen’s curtains and even armor. Atwood had to find fabric in different scales, and construct costumes for Mia that would help illustrate her size changes.
* ON WITH HIS HEAD — Crispin Glover portrays Stayne, the Knave of Hearts, in the film, but only his head appears on screen. The body of the character, who’s seven-and-a-half feet tall, is computer generated. On set, Glover wore a green suit and a pair of stilts to make him taller. His face was fully made up for the role (complete with an eye patch and scar). For the final film, Stayne’s entire costume, body and even his cape are CGI. Only his face is real.
* ON WITH HER FACE — Helena Bonham Carter endured three hours of makeup each morning to transform into the fiery Red Queen. With the help of makeup pro Vallie O’Reilly, the actress was decked out in white powder, lots of blue eye shadow, painted eyebrows and perfect, heart-shaped bow-mouth lips. The special effects team enlarged Bonham Carter’s head in post production, creating the final look for the big-headed Queen.
* SOLE SURPRISE — Costume designer Colleen Atwood added a red heart to the soles of the Red Queen’s shoes, visible when the pampered royal places her feet on a live pig-turned-footrest.
* STILT TROUBLE — After Crispin Glover, who spent much of his time on stilts during production, twisted his ankle filming one particular scene, he was often followed on set by stuntmen all dressed in green who were there solely to catch him in case he fell again.
* CARROT CAPPERS —Tim Burton wanted the animal characters in Wonderland to appear real rather than cartoony. So before creating the White Rabbit, animators spent a day at a rabbit shelter for abandoned rabbits, observing the animals and shooting photo reference footage to ensue they captured the nuances of rabbits chewing and wriggling their noses.
TECHNICAL TIDBITS
*2D to 3D — Director Tim Burton decided to shoot the film in 2D and convert it later to 3D. The director was so impressed with the results of the conversion of his film “The Nightmare Before Christmas” to 3D, he opted to go a similar route for “Alice.”
* SUPER SFX SUPERVISOR — Tim Burton turned to legendary special effects guru Ken Ralston and Sony Imageworks to create the wondrous world of Wonderland and its inhabitants. Ralston (whose credits include the original “Star Wars,” as well as “Forrest Gump” and “The Polar Express”) and his team completed more than 2,500 visual effects shots in total. While the team used a combination of live action, animation and a host of other effects techniques, motion capture technology was not tapped for the film.
* IN THE GREEN — To represent the digital characters on set, the production used either cardboard cut outs, full-size models or else resorted to men in green with eyes stuck to various parts of the anatomy to help the actors with their eyelines and to give them something real to react to.
* HAIR-RAISING — When the animators were looking at reference photography of real caterpillars, they noticed they had hair on them. So Absolem the Caterpillar was treated to his very own CG fuzz.
* THE REAL STUFF — Very few real sets were built for Wonderland. In fact, only three versions of the Round Hall (where Alice ends up after falling down the rabbit hole) and the Red Queen’s dungeon were practical sets. The rest were created digitally.
* EYES HAVE IT — The Mad Hatter’s eyes were slightly enlarged making them between 10 and 15 percent bigger than Johnny Depp’s own.
* HIT THE NET — When the animators began to design the Dodo, their first port of call for reference was Google Image Search, followed by London’s Natural History Museum.
* BIG HEAD — A special 4K hi-def camera called a Dulsa with 4000 lines of resolution was used to shoot Helena Bonham Carter’s Red Queen to enable her head to be blown up to twice its size in post-production without losing any image quality.
Music for the video below: 'Jill in the Box', composed and performed by Wendy Hiscocks.
While legions of folks have entered the ranks of the unemployed, there is another whole segment of the population that secretly wishes they could join those same ranks… believe it or not!
Yes, the grass can sometimes be greener on the other side of the unemployment line.
Well, for those folks in the latter group, there is a website dedicated just for you, PleaseFireMe.com.
Yep, that’s right, there’s now a place where you can go to voice and vent your frustrations of working in a dead end job, for an unappreciative boss and during a rotten economy. What more could you ask for?
The downtrodden are encouraged to visit the site and anonymously place their rant online (no real names though.)
Comments range from mild complaints such as, “My boss sends me emails, then immediately walks over to ask if I got them,” to a lot more rage, “My fantasies of punching my manager in the face, breaking his arms, throwing him out the window, and running him over with a car twice, are getting more and more vivid every day.”
This website is actually a much better place to tattle your tales than placing them on your Facebook page; having your boss discover it and making your dream come true.
Born and raised in Chicago, Paula began her career as an on-air announcer/reporter for classical radio, WEFM. An alumnus of NBC-TV’s Daytime Writers Program, she served as head of the Literary Department for the Savage Agency, Hollywood; developed programming for Blair Entertainment, New York and wrote for such diverse publications as: the Martha’s Vineyard Times; Cape Cod Life; Berkshire Eagle; and Scripps-Howard News Service. She is signatory to the Writers Guild of America; a member of SAG-AFTRA and AEA. Her acting credits include: "Starman;" “Hardcastle & McCormick;” “Remington Steele,” and “General Hospital;” commercials for clients such as Sears and McDonald’s and stage roles that included Lady Macbeth. She has administered blogs – Paula Slade: In My Humble Opinion and Paula Slade: National Children’s Entertainment as well as a contributing writer and co-administer for Sadie Sapiens: The Voice for Those Who Can’t Speak… At Least Not Yet! Today she is Vice President/Creative Director and audiobook narrator for ARTISTIC MEDIA ASSOCIATES, INC. She and her husband reside on the East coast along with their goofy and loveable cat and dog.
