samhexum

Oh, dear! So you won't be able to listen to Hair, Aquarias, & I got you, babe? ☹️😭

I was thinking they're Israeli or Irish.

Dino is a Junior, named after his grandfather. He has a twin named Rocco Jr, named after their dad. And they have a sister named Gina. Boy, you could never tell their backgrounds from their names, right? Here are the siblings:

TV will never be the same... 'Wendy Williams Show' to end, Sherri Shepherd talk show will take its place Daytime TV is undergoing some changes, as Sherri Shepherd is in full-time and Wendy Williams, host of the long-running The Wendy Williams Show, is out, at least for now. Shepherd, who's been filling in as a rotating guest host amid Williams's health issues, is set to launch her own daytime talk show, fittingly titled Sherri, in fall 2022. Sherri will move into the same time slots that are currently held by The Wendy Williams Show, with many production staffers moving over, including David Perler, Williams's longtime executive producer and showrunner. "Sherri is a natural who proved her hosting skills for many years as a panelist on The View, on FOX’s Dish Nation and again this season as a popular guest host of Wendy," Debmar-Mercury Co-Presidents Mort Marcus and Ira Bernstein said in a statement on Tuesday. "Like our viewers, we have been impressed by the unique comedic twist Sherri puts on our daily live 'Hot Topics' segment, her creativity and interactions with our guests. Her love for the content and daytime fans is obvious, and we are excited to partner with her to create another long-term talk franchise." They add, "This is also a bittersweet moment for us and our partners at FOX. We all have a great love and affinity for Wendy, who grew into a true icon during her 12 incredible seasons as the solo host of a live, daily talk show dishing on 'Hot Topics' and interviewing celebrities. Since Wendy is still not available to host the show as she continues on her road to recovery, we believe it is best for our fans, stations and advertising partners to start making this transition now. We hope to be able to work with Wendy again in the future, and continue to wish her a speedy and full recovery." Williams issued a statement through her spokesperson, Howard Bragman. "It's been a challenging time for Wendy as she deals with her health issues. She is incredibly grateful to Debmar-Mercury, to Sherri and everybody else who has supported the show through this time," Bragman said. "She, more than anyone, understands the reality of syndicated television — you can't go to the marketplace and sell a show that's the 'Maybe Wendy Show.' She understands why this decision was made from a business point of view, and she has been assured by Debmar-Mercury that should her health get to a point where she can host again and should her desire be that she hosts again that she would be back on TV at that time." Williams's well-being has sparked concern among fans. For one thing, the Emmy-nominated star suffers from the autoimmune disorder Graves' disease, which causes the overproduction of thyroid hormones and symptoms such as fatigue. She also struggled with COVID-19 last year. However, a source close to the situation told People earlier this month that many rumors swirling around Williams's condition were untrue. "Reports of a stroke, drugs or addiction issues or a dementia diagnosis are all false. Whether Wendy can return in the fall will depend on how her healing goes over the summer," the source said. "Her health is the most important thing." Just last week, Williams spoke out in a video shared on her new Instagram account. She says she's in Florida and talks about taking a break from the spotlight; however, fans don't believe it's a current video. Williams says she has family in Florida and mentions her mother, but she announced in 2020 that Shirley Williams had died. Also, Williams turned 57 in July 2021, but in the video, she repeatedly says she's 56. She has not posted in four days. https://www.aol.com/entertainment/wendy-williams-show-end-sherri-163744233.html I first got into Wendy when I was in rehab after back surgery in Feb, 2012. They put it on everyday in the main rehab room. Au revoir, mes ami !

Did you never watch DALLAS or DYNASTY? Blackmail, man, Blackmail!!!

I came onto the site a little while ago and noticed that the gallery showed 1999 visits, so I clicked on it to bring it to an even 2000 (although some spoil-sports have since ruined that). So what do I win for being the 2000th visitor?

Gee, and I thought I was technologically ignorant... You could probably fetch a pretty penny for your correspondence with Q & Miss Moneypenny.

I wanted to see more of Gheorghe; I had 2 choices... Ammonite, a film about a lesbian romance, written & directed by Francis Lee, who also did God's Own Country, and which also had Gemma Jones (Nan in GOC) in the cast, or Amulet, a horror film. I figured Amulet would be less scary than a film about lesbians. It was nothing special (though I'm not a horror buff), but... the first shot of the movie is a close up of his clean-shaven face while he's sleeping, then we quickly see him shaving, then dancing (with headphones on). He also has shorter hair than in GOC. Just as I was saying to myself that he looks better with facial hair, he wakes up from a dream with facial hair that appeared fuller & thicker than in GOC, which proves he WAS contouring out in the fields. So with a mere 2 minute investment, you can see him with different looks... it's available for free on HULU, as is GOC, and in each case all you get is a 90 second commercial break before the film starts, then no commercials during the film.

Alex Borstein thinks her “Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” character, Susie Myerson, is a “bit of a 40-year-old virgin.” The actress said that while a lot of people want Susie to be in the LGBTQIA community, she doesn’t prioritize her sexuality. “I feel like Susie doesn’t know,” Borstein told Page Six at the Season 4 premiere of the Amazon Prime show earlier this month. “I feel like Susie has never taken the time or had the luxury of figuring that part of her life out. I think she is a bit of a 40-year-old virgin.” The “Family Guy” star went on to explain that she believes there is a love story on the show and it’s between Susie and her client Midge Maisel (Rachel Brosnahan). “But it’s platonic,” she added. “She is in love with this woman, with her mind, with her talent, with her chutzpah but I also think she wouldn’t pass up a night with Lenny Bruce. I think Susie would sleep with talent whatever the package.” Borstein believes that Myerson isn’t closeted, it’s just that finding a romance isn’t “a priority.” “It’s a show about a time when people didn’t deal with that if they didn’t want to, aired in a time where everyone wants to talk about it,” she sagely noted, “so it’s interesting.” The “MADtv” alum also revealed that she was astonished by the response to her 2019 Emmy speech, in which she spoke of her Hungarian-born mother and grandmother. “They are immigrants — they are Holocaust survivors,” she during her speech. “My grandmother was in line to be shot into a pit. She said, ‘What happens if I step out of line?’ He said, ‘I don’t have the heart to shoot you, but somebody will,’ and she stepped out of line. For that, I am here and my children are here.” “So, step out of line, ladies,” she urged while applause swelled. “Step out of line!” “I had no idea what that was going to turn into it,” she exclaimed. “I’m so happy to talk about my grandmother and keep her alive for my mom. It started out for me and ended up affecting a large portion of the public which is kind of wonderful especially when we’re living in a time where we’re banning books like ‘Maus’ and people are denying the Holocaust and there’s a lot of anti-semitism. It’s nice to put something on the other side of the scale.” https://pagesix.com/2022/02/20/alex-borstein-on-her-marvelous-mrs-maisel-characters-sexuality/

Chris Paul To Miss At Least 6-8 Weeks w/ Thumb Fracture

Well, at least one...

I need to get around to getting the shingles vaccine.

Are you Jewish or Catholic? And should this answer go in the politics/religion section? I agree with this, though I'd add that there's eye candy in the US version. Trevor's quite handsome, Sass is cute, and Thorfinn has a hot body (see gifs below). The British military man is more attractive than Isaac, but I wouldn't call him eye candy. I'd rate Jay/Mike about equal. And some ghosts seem to be amalgams of 2 ghosts from across the pond... Trevor is the pantsless disgraced politician combined with the Shakesperean actor/writer who has the hots for the wife. Kitty is a black woman in 20s garb with Flower's sunny disposition, although from innocence/stupidity rather than drugs (she doesn't even know where babies come from). In the US version, Jay creates a hole in Hetty's bedroom wall, horrifying her because Flower's on the other side & won't shut up. In the Brit version, it's Kitty on the other side. Hetty is funnier than her British counterpart, as is Thorfinn, whose counterpart appears to be a caveman (I wonder if he ever winds up doing GEICO commercials). The headless one is used more in the Brit version (he's barely been seen in the US version, though supposedly he'll be seen again in the final episodes of the season). It's on HBOMax. I watched the first 3 episodes, and I prefer the US version. I like the wife (Allison) just fine, and the husband (Mike) hasn't really had much to do yet, but the US ghosts are just better characters, at least so far. I don't think I'll be continuing. The storyline with Pat's (Pete's) wife took up only a couple of minutes, not most of the episode as it did in the US version. I thought the US version of that storyline was much more enjoyable. THORFIN IN A WARMER CLIMATE: IT'S THE 2ND-MOST-WATCHED COMEDY ON NETWORK TV THIS SEASON, BEHIND YOUNG SHELDON. Since British TV does 6-episode seasons, the Brits haven't even opened their B&B yet after 3 seasons. The American version will open theirs by the end of the 1st season. I think Demi Moore & The Whoopster should be targeted guest stars.

So... no mention of this cheerful story yet? Eric Kay was found guilty Thursday on charges he provided the drugs that killed pitcher Tyler Skaggs. The Texas jury also found Kay guilty on one count of drug distribution resulting in death and one count of drug conspiracy. He faces up to life in prison. Skaggs was 27 when he was found dead on July 1, 2019, having choked to death on his own vomit, before the start of what was supposed to be a four-game series against the Texas Rangers. A coroner’s report found a toxic mix of alcohol, fentanyl, and oxycodone in his system. Kay, a public relations director for the Angels, was accused of providing the pitcher with counterfeit oxycodone pills that contained fentanyl. At the time, Kay had just rejoined the team on the road after a stint in rehab. The guilty verdict came down after less than three hours of deliberation. Skaggs’ widow and mother hugged after the verdict was announced. The trial included testimony from five major league baseball pitchers who all said they’d received oxycodone from Kay while they were part of the Angels’ bullpen. Among them, Matt Harvey, former Mets pitcher and All-Star, acknowledged receiving oxycodone pills from Kay. During the testimony, he also admitted to cocaine use while with the Mets. https://nypost.com/2022/02/17/ex-angels-employee-found-guilty-in-overdose-death-of-pitcher-tyler-skaggs/ With all the money and down time in sports, I'm surprised we haven't seen cases like this more often.

A wildlife hospital in Pennsylvania announced the results of a DNA test for an unusual-looking animal that it had been treating. While the animal had been brought in for treatment in January, it escaped from the facility and has not yet been relocated. Wildlife Works in Mount Pleasant posted the update to the story on its Facebook page. According to the post, it just received the results of the DNA test and confirmed that the animal was 100% coyote. This means that the sick animal is definitely not a missing pet. Wildlife Works specializes in treating deer, raccoons, mammals and other rabies vector species. The hospital previously posted about the coyote on Jan. 24, before the animal had been identified. In the post, Wildlife Works wrote, “We are still waiting for the results of the DNA sample to come in. He is doing much better now and is much more alert than when he came to us last week. He is still not showing extreme signs of aggression but is more on the defensive side.” The post also included a photo of the coyote, although its species is not clear from the picture. The animal was extremely malnourished and incredibly skinny, making it hard to tell whether it was a coyote or a dog. It was also missing much of its fur. The wile e coyote escaped the facility towards the end of January. It was able to chew through a window seal and screen before making its way to freedom, Fox 8 reports. A hospital worker found scratch marks and other damage in the area of the hospital where the animal was being housed. Before the coyote escaped, doctors were treating it for mange. Workers for the hospital set up traps in the area. They also left nearby barn doors open and provided plenty of hay, hoping that the coyote would take refuge from the cold. So far, it has not been spotted in the area again. https://nypost.com/2022/02/18/pennsylvania-animal-shelter-identifies-mystery-animal-as-a-coyote/

Gregory Giangrande has over 25 years of experience as a chief human resources executive. Hear Greg Weds. at 9:35 a.m. on iHeartRadio 710 WOR with Len Berman and Michael Riedel. E-mail: [email protected]. Follow: GoToGreg.com and on Twitter: @greggiangrande DEAR GREG: I’m a 64-year-old man, and I have been with my current employer for nine years. Due to life setbacks, I can’t retire yet. I’ve been in my industry for 15 years, so I’m knowledgeable and competent. I despise workplace drama, but I work with a group of women who have a lot of turmoil in their lives which spills over into the workplace. Their daily conduct is catty, juvenile, and with disregard for proper business modicum. Do I tough it out, or look for something hopefully better? This has the makings of a great sitcom. How about looking at this as an opportunity to play a leading role in this “Sex and the City” meets “The Office” situation? Seriously, it doesn’t sound as if you’re finding any of this funny. There’s no harm in trying to change jobs. I don’t know how strong the market is for your skillset but while you look, perhaps try to mentor this cast of characters, become the wise sage who helps keep them grounded. It sounds like they could use the coaching. That might give you new purpose so instead of “toughing it out” you can ride it out more positively. would claw your eyes out for injecting your old fashioned male chauvinist opinions into the situation, but go ahead anyway!

And now, a lockout special event... reliving a great moment in baseball history: ‘Homer at the Bat’ at 30: The landmark ‘Simpsons’ episode that pushed the show’s boundaries Wade Boggs did it all on the baseball diamond across nearly two decades in the bigs. Five-time batting champ. Twelve-time All-Star. A couple of Gold Gloves for the same hands that can flash a World Series ring. Yet when the Hall of Famer is in public, what often gets remembered is his mere 20 minutes one day in a Hollywood recording studio. “When I do an autograph show for baseball, I feel like I’m at a Comic-Con,” Boggs says last week by phone from Tampa, while recounting his guest appearance on a beloved episode of “The Simpsons,” titled “Homer at the Bat,” that first aired 30 years ago this month. He voiced a cartoon character named “Wade Boggs” who comes to barroom blows over the question: Who’s the best prime minister in British history? (Today, without pause, the real Boggs replies with winking conviction: “Pitt the Elder!”) While some autograph-seeking fans bring nostalgic photos of Boggs in a Red Sox, Yankees or Devil Rays uniform, many others ask him to sign images of his animated avatar wearing the jersey of the Springfield power plant’s company softball team — sometimes situated between befuddled teammate Homer Simpson and scheming manager C. Montgomery Burns. lf the pictures are of me being getting punched in a bar or a picture of us with Homer,” Boggs says of the autograph requests. “It’s all good — it’s one of those episodes for the ages, and one of the ones that sticks out in people’s minds.” As major league baseball endures a lockout and faces a possible delay to this season, it’s an apt occasion to remember another time when ballplayers and management didn’t see eye to eye. Enter Homer, Mr. Burns and the mighty lineup of imported pro ringers. “Homer at the Bat,” which featured the voices of nine active major leaguers and made its debut Feb. 20, 1992, was more than a quirky one-off in celebrity stunt casting. The 17th episode of Season 3 emboldened the minds behind “The Simpsons” to push the boundaries of what an animated half-hour series could do and show. And from a ratings standpoint, it was a bellwether for the surging show: “Homer at the Bat” marked the first time that a new “Simpsons” episode beat an original episode of “The Cosby Show,” long an NBC juggernaut; on that prime-time Thursday night, “Simpsons” softball also topped CBS’s Winter Olympic coverage from Albertville. “It was a huge deal” for the then-upstart Fox network, says “Simpsons” executive producer and showrunner Al Jean. “That was a changing of the guard in television.” Soon the show was asking itself “What can’t we do?” recalls David Silverman, who had recently been named the show’s supervising director. Celebrities wanted to guest on “our little cartoon show.” The idea to get real ballplayers for “Homer at the Bat” sprang from the mind of the late Sam Simon, who co-created the show with Matt Groening and James L. Brooks. “The Simpsons” had previously landed such guest voices as Dustin Hoffman and Michael Jackson, but they didn’t voice cartoon versions of themselves. Early on, the show focused on fleshing out its core characters. “Homer at the Bat” would center on how Burns backs his nuclear power plant’s company softball team. In a nod to the 1984 baseball film “The Natural,” the once-hapless squad begins winning thanks to surprise slugger Homer and his homemade Wonderbat. Once the team has a shot at a championship, though, Burns decides to bring in professional ringers — after handshaking on a $1 million bet with the owner of the rival power plant. Simon was convinced that the show could attract major league talent. Jean recalls telling him, “We’ll never get them all.” But Simon had a plan: Bring in the players one or two at a time, as they swung through town to play the region’s Dodgers and Angels. Acknowledges Jean: “He was pretty much right.” Barry Bonds passed on being in the episode. So did Ryne Sandberg and Nolan Ryan, Jean says. But almost everyone else said yes. “Everybody loved ‘The Simpsons,’ “ a then-rare adult animated show in prime time, Boggs says. He nabbed the chance to play third for this Springfield of Dreams. The show’s creatives draft-casted an entire starting nine: Mike Scioscia at catcher; Roger Clemens on the mound; Don Mattingly, Ozzie Smith and Steve Sax joining Boggs in the infield; plus Ken Griffey Jr., Jose Canseco and Darryl Strawberry roaming the outfield. (Strawberry replaced Homer in right field — a rivalry that became fertile turf for one-liners, tears and Simpson family heckling.) The “Simpsons” offices had their share of sports geeks, some of whom were in fantasy leagues. One was the episode’s director, Jim Reardon, a die-hard Red Sox fan who played APBA baseball board games while young. Co-creator Brooks has fond memories of attending Dodgers games at Ebbetts Field, and the episode’s writer, John Swartzwelder, lovingly tucked in references to such stars of yestercentury as Cap Anson and Jim Creighton. When Burns asks whether he can get such players as Creighton as ringers, he’s told the sport’s first true star has been dead since 1862. Says Silverman: “It was a breakout episode for Burns,” who “sometimes has one foot in the Dickensian universe.” A crucial unknown, though, was how the guest athletes would deliver as voice actors. This with a script that had “a checkered history,” says Jean, noting that the first table read — without any ballplayers around — elicited little laughter. “It was a bomb — you could hear a pin drop.” Jean can smile now about how he and Mike Reiss, his co-showrunner at the time, reacted: “We thought we were going to get fired.” Yet somehow, bringing in the athletes helped the episode find its energy. “You sense the fun of the ballplayers in it,” Brooks says. “That above everything makes the show special — because it was a risk for them, and it somehow translated.” Many recording sessions crackled with mutual admiration. Jean remembers Ozzie Smith being accompanied by a son who did an impression of Bart; and Reardon recalls Ken Griffey Sr., still an active player at the time, wanting to meet Homer. Dan Castellaneta, a Chicago Cubs fan, broke into his Homer voice upon meeting the veteran, as if calling a Griffey home run at Wrigley Field in the ‘70s. The “Simpsons” creatives vocally coached the players, such as when clearing up Griffey Jr.’s seeming confusion over his line while guzzling brain-and-nerve tonic: “Wow! It’s like there’s a party in my mouth and everyone’s invited.” “Their readings were fantastic — they’re all funny and they all got the jokes,” Silverman says. “And the natural, non-actorly flatness enhanced it.” “Homer at the Bat” presented another fresh challenge: how to caricature so many real people within the show’s visual aesthetic. This episode, Silverman says, confirmed that the show “could Simpson-ize celebrities" after an earlier guest appearance by Magic Johnson. In a similar vein, Reardon says his “biggest job was trying to pull off the baseball scenes as accurately as we could,” including the angle of a swing and the mechanics of a double play. “We did it fairly representatively,” the director says, to “make it as real as we could in a world of jawless yellow people." Sax, the former Dodgers and Yankees infielder, says he could envision how the caricatures would look, given the house style. “And they buffed me up a little bit,” Sax says of his Simpsons physique, “which I was thankful for.” The show also had fun with the design of Ozzie Smith’s character, who dresses like the ultimate tourist. “He’s known for being very stylish and fashionable,” Reardon says, “so basically Mike and Al said: ‘Put him in the tackiest Hawaiian shirts, black socks and sandals.’ ” Boggs found his character’s design to be amusing, but he scores one aspect as an error. “I guess they thought I was left-handed, because in the picture with all of us, I’m holding a glove in my right hand,” says the former third baseman. “That’s the blooper of the cartoon.” As the episode’s championship game approaches, Burns tempts the wrath of the softball gods by declaring there’s no way misfortune could simultaneously befall all his ringers. Cut to a series of ill events for eight of them, including Scioscia (radiation poisoning from working at the power plant), Smith (a tumble into another dimension), Griffey Jr. (cranial gigantism) and Sax (a police traffic stop gone wrong). “That’s the way it goes in cartoon land, right?” a laughing Sax says by phone from the Sacramento area — noting how his character, as a Yankee, is “held responsible for every unsolved murder in New York” and winds up behind bars. “I just thought it was hilarious.” (Sax liked the experience so much that he recently had Jean on his podcast, “Sax in the Morning.”) Boggs’s character doesn’t make the big game because of political fisticuffs at Moe’s Tavern; town drunk Barney Gumble throws blows while insisting that Boggs’s pick for best Brit prime minister, Pitt the Elder, could never govern as well as his man Lord Palmerston. “I kind of questioned getting punched out in a bar — it wasn’t one of those typecast kind of things,” Boggs says now. Boggs was more baffled, though, because his real-life nickname was “Chicken Man” — given his superstitious game-day routine of eating poultry — yet it was the hypnotized Clemens character who is sidelined when he starts behaving like livestock. “If anyone was going to cluck around like a chicken, that would have been me — that was another way they dropped the ball,” says an amused Boggs, adding: “But it worked out great.” The “Simpsons” creatives point out that only one player demanded a script change. The Canseco character was originally written as a Lothario — inspired by the 1988 film “Bull Durham” — before word came from the Canseco camp: “He called and said, ‘I’m not going to do it unless you change it.’ ” recounts Jean. They scrambled at the 11th hour to turn Canseco into a good Samaritan who performs an exhausting fire rescue. (Canseco did not respond to a request for comment.) Perhaps the oddest twist, though, was the fate of Mattingly. Burns kicks his character off the team because of Mattingly’s supposed long sideburns. Jean says that the bit was inspired by his own grandfather’s insistence that his young store workers “get a haircut.” The Mattingly character shaves off much of his hair but is still booted from the squad. Burns may not know quite what sideburns are, yet Mattingly’s character nails his exit line: “I still like him better than Steinbrenner.” Not long after Mattingly recorded his “Simpsons” session in 1991, Jean says, the ballplayer was fined and benched by Yankee management for refusing to cut his mullet, per team policy. By the time the episode aired, the showrunner says, many viewers presumed the Mattingly character’s arc was parodying the headlines, rather than foreseeing the fluffy kerfuffle. Says Jean now: “It was ‘The Simpsons’ ’ first prediction.” Capping the episode was a parody of the 1981 Terry Cashman hit, “Talkin’ Baseball (Willie, Mickey & the Duke)” — titled “Talkin’ Softball” with new lyrics by the show’s Jeff Martin and sung by Cashman — that summoned a sepia-toned “nostalgia for this ridiculous episode,” Jean says. Fan affection for the episode increased over the years, till upon its 25th anniversary, “Homer at the Bat” spawned a Fox Sports mockumentary, as well as a day of tribute at the Baseball Hall of Fame. Jean and Reardon were among the “Simpsons” contingent in Cooperstown, N.Y., that day — along with Boggs, Smith and Sax — as Homer was “inducted,” and the episode was featured in a “Simpsons” exhibit. “I know Wade Boggs is in the Hall of Fame,” Sax says wryly, “but now I can say I’m in the Hall of Fame, too.” So would a reunion episode ever be in the offing from “The Simpsons,” now in its record-breaking 33rd season? “I think it would be a novelty to have us all get back together and do one last episode,” Boggs says. “Homer’s getting up in age now — I don’t know if he can do the great things that he’s done — but we can carry Homer.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2022/02/19/homer-at-the-bat-simpsons-baseball/

Let's see, his agent is Scott Boras, so let me take a guess... Not until they've sucked every last penny out of fans' pockets, apparently When ARod was a free agent the first time, Boras asked for $252 million. The reason? Kevin Garnett had signed the most lucrative sports contract for $126 million and Boras wanted to double it. It's all about his ego.

Carnival Cruise Line to end mask mandates for guests https://nypost.com/2022/02/19/carnival-cruise-line-to-end-mask-mandates-for-guests/ Carnival Cruise Line plans to make masks optional for its guests from March 1 after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) eased its warnings for cruise ships, the company said in a statement late on Friday. The company said masks would be recommended but not required. “There may, however, be certain venues and events where masks will be required,” Carnival said in the statement. Carnival also said it plans to offer more flexibility in pre-cruise testing requirements. The cruise line, operated by Carnival Corp (CCL.N), said children under 5 will be allowed to sail without any need for vaccine or exemption. The easing of the mask mandate follows similar action from cruise operator Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd (NCLH.N) and theme park Disney World.

I've heard the same about cock "rings."

Could it be that's because she's been dead for 47+ years?