samhexum

I had the album. It disappeared. I bought the CD. This is the most romantic song ever recorded: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGjX2eYiuaw

A gay penguin couple has started a family after it was decided to let them have an egg to nurture. Sphen and Magic have become so inseparable, they have been allowed to start a nest with each other at Sea Life, in Sydney, Australia. The same-sex couple — collectively known as Sphengic — began forging an intense relationship with each other just before breeding season got underway. The Gento penguins could be seen waddling in tandem and swimming alongside one another and were so close, it was decided to let them adopt an egg. But before this, they were given prenatal classes. The flightless birds were given a dummy egg to allow them to practice incubating and develop their parenting skills. And by all accounts, they seem to be taking to the task like a penguin does to water. It appears that the pair are naturals, although the older and more mature Sphen is more focused on incubating while Magic has taken on the task of warding off other birds who try to steal the pebbles that make up their nest. Last month, a gay penguin couple in Denmark “kidnapped” a baby while its parents waddled off for a swim, a zookeeper claimed.

And they say the nicest things about you!

Tituss Burgess, who makes me want to vomit every time I see one of his commercials, enjoying small-screen fame as the struggling actor of Netflix’s “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,” is also the driving creative force behind “The Preacher’s Wife,” a new musical based on the 1996 movie starring Whitney Houston. Burgess has written a rousing gospel score to the show, which is generating strong industry buzz after a workshop last week for potential backers. Michael Arden is directing. Arden staged the terrific revival of “Once on This Island,” which snatched the Tony Award in June from two far bigger revivals, “My Fair Lady” and “Carousel.” Theater owners and top Broadway producers attended the workshop, and word is the La Jolla Playhouse is likely to produce a pre-Broadway engagement next year. Burgess and Arden put together a first-rate cast led by 12-time Grammy nominee Ledisi Young, Quentin Earl Darrington, the standout Agwe (God of Water) in “Once on This Island,” and Donald Webber Jr. (“Hamilton”). Loretta Devine, who appeared in the movie and was in the original Broadway company of “Dreamgirls,” had a scene-stealing turn as a sharp-tongued matriarch. A remake of the 1947 classic “The Bishop’s Wife,” “The Preacher’s Wife” tells the story of a pastor struggling to keep his small Baptist church from floundering in a poor New York neighborhood. He gets some help in the form of a suave angel, who falls in love with the pastor’s wife. Houston’s popularity, along with that of her co-stars Denzel Washington and Courtney B. Vance, helped the movie earn $48 million at the box office. The film’s soundtrack spent 26 weeks atop Billboard’s gospel chart. Burgess, who acquired the stage rights a couple of years ago, decided not to use any of the songs in the movie, opting instead to write his own music and lyrics. It appears to be a shrewd decision. My spies say his songs are catchy and powerful, and had audience members clapping along. “Kimmy Schmidt” writer Azie Dungey’s book for the show, a source says, is “funny and sweet in all the right places.” I tip my Broadway top hat to Burgess for recognizing its potential. By the way, “The Bishop’s Wife,” which stars Cary Grant, Loretta Young and David Niven, is a charming old movie. I checked it out the other day, and it’s definitely good stage material. I tip my Broadway top hat to Burgess for recognizing its potential. My colleague Johnny Oleksinski made the case the other day that director Michael Grandage’s revival of “The Lieutenant of Inishmore” should join the parade of London shows “Brexiting” to New York. We’ve already got a full slate that includes “The Nap,” “The Ferryman” and (coming soon) “The Inheritance” and “The Lehman Trilogy.” Let me put in a word for David Hare’s new play “I’m Not Running,” a meaty examination of the state of British politics today. It opened last week at the National Theatre to mixed reviews. Critics picked at dramatic flaws but said the play was smart and absorbing, with compelling characters. A new play by Hare is always an event. “Stuff Happens,” about the run-up to the war in Iraq, is one of my favorite plays from the 2000s. I hope Lincoln Center or the Manhattan Theatre Club give the play a proper look. As good as the recent revival of his “Skylight” was, we haven’t had a new Hare play in New York since “The Year of Magical Thinking” in 2007. https://nypost.com/2018/10/11/tituss-burgess-is-bringing-another-whitney-houston-movie-to-the-stage/

10/11/18-- Tyne was fine, I opine.

Not a regular, but I think there have been kids who have died on sitcoms, usually as part of a 'very special' episode, when a sick friend or neighbor passed away. I can only sort of think of one example, however: After VALERIE killed off the mother, the show became THE HOGAN FAMILY. Oldest son David had 2 best friends, one of whom was named Rich, who was played by Tom Hodges (of STEEL MAGNOLIAS fame). After Rich hadn't appeared in awhile, there was an episode late in the show's run in which David ran into Rich & found out he had AIDS. He later died. But he'd been a teen character, so not really a child.

Wendy Williams and her hubby were at a small charity event the other night. There were a few celebs milling about. Suddenly she saw Sir Ringo walking towards her. She told herself to play it cool, and said "Hi, Ringo. I'm Wendy." He answered: Hot Topics! (though he didn't speak in italics or boldface) HOWYOUDOIN'?

A man carrying dozens of losing lottery tickets set himself on fire at a Buddhist temple Thursday morning. The 52-year-old man was seen on CCTV walking into the grounds of the religious building in Pattaya, Thailand, before going to the crematorium building at 5 a.m. local time. After walking out of view of a CCTV camera, the Thai local set himself on fire — filling the area with a huge flash of light from the fireball. Shocked monks rushed out and saw the man’s body ablaze, and when fire crews arrived, they found him still covered in flames, slumped against the wall of the Buddhist crematorium. Officers extinguished the flames before recovering dozens of charred lottery tickets and bank documents from his pockets. Head monk Sanan Khuttawanyo, 73, said: “I woke up and was preparing to go to alms when I noticed the smoke was rising from the crematorium. I went to check.” He continued: “The fire was burning so I quickly called the police. The temple is locked every night and people are prohibited from coming inside. There was nothing unusual last night or when I woke up this morning.” Police identified the man from bank documents showing debts which he had kept in his pocket and survived the inferno. He was wearing black trousers, a white shirt and black shoes. Police Lt. Col. Romran Sri-kaipat from the Nong Prue Police Station is investigating the suicide at the Wat Sutthawat temple. He said: “Police were notified at 6 a.m. of the fire at the temple. The Sawang Boriboon Foundation attended and the man was found burned from flames. “We have gathered the pile of evidence from the scene and will investigate the death thoroughly. The dead body was sent to the autopsy and forensic police hospital to find the true cause of death.” “The cause is suicide and I will contact the relatives to clarify the full situation.”

Maybe he thinks it stands for Two Seat Administration?

So you and Caryn Johnson have something in common. The funeral home industry is being dragged kicking and screaming into the latest century — by a pair of Web sites that have begun to shed light on their prices. Funeralocity.com and Parting.com are two startups that enable the bereaved to shop for caskets, embalming and cremation services — and search for the cheapest option as they can when booking an airplane flight, a car or a hotel. Funeralocity, which has no business relationship with Travelocity, chose its name to “make people laugh,” founder Ed Michael Reggie said. He quickly confirmed, however, that undertakers aren’t laughing. “We have some homes that are not happy about being listed,” said Reggie, a former professor of entrepreneurship at Tulane University. “But the fact is every consumer wants the ability to compare prices online.” The funeral home business is notoriously murky when it comes to pricing. Some critics claim undertakers can take advantage of clients who are of no mind to bargain when grieving their loved ones, sources said. “Prices tend to stay higher when there is no transparency, and that describes the funeral industry,” said Josh Slocum of the Funeral Consumers Alliance told The Post. “There is no other retail sector that routinely hides its prices to get people to come into the sales office” so it can sell them a pricey package, Slocum said. Currently, just 25 percent of the 20,000 funeral homes in the US provide pricing information on their sites, according to FCA, a nonprofit, consumer watchdog group. “This is an industry that is 40 to 50 years out of date technologically and culturally,” Slocum added. When reached by The Post, undertakers said they didn’t want their prices online for a whole host of reasons, ranging from fears of being undercut by the competition to causing customer confusion. “If I put my prices online, the next guy can offer his services for less,” said Anthony Cassieri, who owns Brooklyn Funeral Home & Cremation Service in Brownsville and claims to the cheapest around. “I don’t think money should be at the forefront of a funeral,” Joseph Giordano Jr. of Curry & Giordano Funeral Home in Peekskill, NY told The Post before adding: “I don’t include my prices on my Web site because I want people to come in and see my facility.” Giordano and other funeral directors also said their price lists should not be shared online because they are too confusing for the average consumer to understand. “It’s an incredibly complicated price list,” insisted Nicholas Grillo of Levandoski & Grillo in Bloomfield, NJ. “There are third-party charges, including newspaper, organists and such that can add $4,000 to $5,000 to a tab.” By law, funeral homes have no choice but to share their prices when asked, which is how Funeralocity and Parting.com are able to exist. Funeralocity launched in April after testing its technology in Atlanta for two years and setting up call centers to collect its information on funeral homes. It allows grieving consumers to look at a detailed menu of prices along with photos of funeral homes and customer reviews. Both Web sites offer their listings for free to consumers and don’t charge funeral homes. They make money by promoting businesses that agree to pay a fee and meet certain qualifications to be listed as a top provider. Despite the benefit of the service for consumers, it’s not a surefire business model, according to Tyler Yamasaki, chief executive of Parting.com. The company has recently shifted its focus to selling funeral homes software “to help them digitize their business“ because the profits in the pricing aggregation business was shaky, Yamasaki said. While it still offers pricing information on some 15,000 funeral homes, Parting has stopped updating the pricing.

It's a miniature horse, which (unlike a pony) will remain this size and is more able to be a support animal.

Family-owned funeral homes in Queens are in decline, according to numerous local funeral directors across the “World’s Borough.” This year alone, several family-owned and -operated funeral homes in the borough have been acquired by bigger companies or sold for real estate. But John Golden, owner and operator of Martin A. Gleason Funeral Homes, says that the changing industry is not beneficial to the communities they serve. Golden has worked at Gleason since 1981 and bought the business from original owners John and Marty Gleason in 2000. “The phrase ‘family-owned and -operated’ evokes a warmth,” Golden said. “Typically, family-owned and -operated businesses had proprietors and employees who lived in the communities they served. They were accountable to the community and were integral to the fabric of what made a community function as such.” He said that the Gleasons had the opportunity to sell the funeral home to a big corporation, but declined due to their feelings that their business “is akin to a vocation” and should serve the community. Recently, Golden confirmed that he acquired Lloyd’s Funeral Home in Bayside, another family-owned business. He operates the funeral home under the same name and number from Gleason’s Bayside facility, which he said customers have appreciated. Golden shared that bigger companies may not provide the same personalized service as family-run operations. “Management is often removed from day-to-day operations,” said Golden, who added that corporate chains in Queens often outsource the work they do to companies out of state as opposed to offering in-house services like at Gleason. John Hoey, the owner of O’Shea-Hoey Funeral Home in Astoria echoes Golden’s sentiments. Hoey’s family has owned the funeral home, at 29-13 Ditmars Blvd., since 1967, when they purchased it from the O’Shea family. The owner said that the services they are able to provide to customers are more “personable” than services offered by bigger corporations. “We provide the same service and the same funeral for a fraction of the cost, with a personal touch that you, your family and loved ones deserve. We provide all services at our funeral home. We are not just a cremation service or some new internet website business. We are experienced funeral directors, who are here to help you plan a dignified funeral,” as noted on the O’Shea-Hoey Funeral Home website. Both Golden and Hoey attribute the decline in family-owned businesses to the rising property values in the area, making it more difficult to stay open. Hoey said that the smaller funeral homes have been closing down over the last four or five years. According to Golden, funeral homes all over the New York City and in Nassau County in Long Island have fallen prey to rising property values. “The costs make it more expensive to run. Real estate is a lot more money [now],” said Hoey. But Hoey said that the rise of corporation-owned funeral homes has also been pushing customers to patronize O’Shea-Hoey. “The advantage is that the prices for the bigger guys is higher, which is helping me,” he said. Despite the staying power of these two family-run businesses rising costs in the area make the future uncertain. “I think it’ll keep being a trend,” said Hoey. “I think a lot of people are gonna close down even more.” Golden said that the solution is to make people aware about which business are family-run and which are not in order for them to stay afloat in the upcoming years. “It is imperative that customers know what kind of business they are dealing with: a family-owned and -operated one or a corporation. They may make all the difference in their experience,” said Golden.

Tens of thousands of frogs and toads have taken over the North Carolina coast after months of record-setting weather, according to the Charlotte Observer. Locals have reported discovering the creatures in their homes, hopping on their faces and even falling from the sky. One area resident told the Outer Banks Voice that the little green guys “poop everywhere.” Another resident commented on the article, “(They’re) everywhere! I had one jump on my face laying in bed.” Both Hurricane Florence and rains from June and July are responsible for the sudden increase in populations, which experts are calling “explosive breeding.” Jeff Hall, a state biologist, told the Observer that the abnormally heavy summer rains led to a tadpole boom. The “explosively breeding” toads then found an ideal breeding ground in puddles that formed after Florence. “Making things even worse is the flooding,” Hall said. “All these frogs are in search of dry ground, which is why they’re showing up in places they don’t normally go … I’ve heard of people stepping outside and frogs falling on their shoulder, freaking them out. Frogs love tiny cracks, so they get in door seals.” Luckily, while the frogs may be annoying, Hall says they pose no threat.

I haven't watched the show in years. While Cam would have been my adult of choice, Lily would have been by far the most beneficial death they could've had, at least through season 5, or whenever it was I gave it up.

What a misleading headline. I was expecting: http://blog.trashness.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/green-jacket-blue-pants-men-style-bag-preppy.jpg

Celeste Yarnall, who wooed Elvis Presley on screen, captivated audiences on “Star Trek” and made pulses race as “the original flower child” in the 1968 cult classic “Eve,” has passed away at age 74, Fox News has learned Wednesday. Her husband, British artist Nazim Nazim, confirmed Yarnall died Sunday afternoon after “a long struggle” with ovarian cancer. “She was pure love and pure light,” Nazim told Fox News. “This was her essence. She was a source of good. She was always for the betterment of humanity, especially women. She was very much a trailblazer in women’s empowerment. She was a spectrum of things.” Nazim shared the couple married in 2010 and had been together for nine years. “It was the most glorious, ecstatic period of our lives,” he explained. “We found each other and it was a union of pure love. We were entwined. It’s so incredible to be blessed, to be able to serve a queen like her. She was magnificent in so many ways. She lit up the world with her kind heart and beauty. She was a wonderful mother. She took care of a fantastic daughter. She had a beautiful granddaughter and a wonderful son-in-law. Her family was very precious to her.” Nazim tearfully added, “I’m just so inconsolable. She was my everything.” Yarnall was previously diagnosed with Stage 3 ovarian cancer right before Thanksgiving 2014 and had turned to crowdsourcing site GoFundMe to help pay her medical expenses. The page shared Yarnall underwent an eight-hour surgery, which included blood transfusions, followed by six rounds of chemotherapy. As The Hollywood Reporter recalls, Yarnall was known by “Star Trek” fans for her role as Yeoman Martha Landon on the October 1967 episode of “The Apple,” where Chekov (Walter Koenig) falls head-over-heels for her. Yarnall became a regular at conventions over the years. She was originally discovered by Rock and Ozzie Nelson while she walked past their studio offices on the way to an audition. This resulted in a guest appearance on “The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet” in 1962. She then appeared alongside Jerry Lewis in “The Nutty Professor” and Jack Lemmon in “Under the Yum Yum Tree,” both released in 1963. Then in 1964, Yarnall became the 25th and last woman elected Miss Rheingold. She went out to model and film commercials for the brewer. According to the publication, a few years later Yarnall was spotted by producer Harry Alan Towers, who was in search of a pinup for “Eve” at the Cannes Film Festival in 1967. Yarnall said Towers yelled and pointed, “Stop that girl! That’s my Eve!” Yarnall starred as scantily clad Eve, the long-lost granddaughter of Christopher Lee’s character. In 1968, Yarnall starred opposite Presley in “Live a Little, Love a Little” as Ellen, who insists she can’t shack up with the star’s character because he’s a Sagittarius. He then tries to seduce her by singing “A Little Less Conversation.” Yarnall went on to lead a lasting career in television, including “Hogan’s Heroes,” “Bewitched,” and “It Takes a Thief,” just to name a few. She last participated in a “Star Trek” panel in August. [*]BTW, the NY Post's file name for the first pic was 'celeste yarnell'. The 2nd was called 'celeste yarnell old'. Klassy!

Everyone’s made crazy impulsive choices after they’ve had a few too many, but one couple got so drunk on their honeymoon that they purchased an entire hotel. Gina Lyons, 33 and Mark Lee, 35, from London, might’ve had a bit too much rum when they made the spontaneous decision to buy the small beach-front spot in Sri Lanka. During their three-week backpacking trip in December 2017, the couple hit it off with some of the staff members at the rustic location in Tangalle on their first night there. After drinking 12 glasses of rum, they found out the lease was almost up on the hotel, so they agreed to take it over for three more years, which cost around $39,576. “After finding out that it was [$13,200] a year, myself and Mark thought that it would be a brilliant idea to buy it, because we were so drunk,” Lyons told The Daily Mirror. The couple said they were buzzed for the remainder of the conversations regarding details of the purchase, which also took place in another language and they needed their friends to translate. “Because we didn’t understand most of the conversation, Mark and I just sat drinking more rum and slowly getting drunk again,” Lyons said. “After some bartering, we finally agreed that we would pay [$39,576] for the three year lease and pay [$19,788] in the first year and the other half by March 2019.” But after making this big financial decision, the couple panicked when they found out they were expecting a child. “Our friends and family think we’re idiots and shouldn’t have been doing it — we owed a lot of money from the wedding and only lived in a tiny flat and now we have a baby on the way. “I felt like I was already a bad mother because I felt guilty that I’d wasted all of this money buying a business that might not work. I was plagued with feeling irresponsible, but it was either sink or swim — so we decided we’d have to make it work,” Lyons said. The couple reopened the seven-bedroom bed-and-breakfast they named Lucky Beach Tangalle at the end of July after about $8,000 of renovations. Business is now booming and they’ve since seen a steady flow of customers. But they insist their next big decision will be made sober.

This reveler must feel awful after being filmed slumped on the back of a donkey wearing just a sailor’s hat and skimpy trunks. why would a donkey be wearing that outfit? The half-naked man — who appears to have passed out — was spotted being paraded up and down a busy seafront promenade in front of bemused tourists. He is hotly pursued by two tourist cops who are seen giggling as they try to ensure he doesn’t fall off his ride, in the Russian resort of Sochi. One female guard, who struggles to keep up with the donkey and its portly passenger, is then seen turning away and promptly bursting into a fit of laughter. The bizarre viral video has already attracted more than one million views on Facebook and has been shared tens of thousands of times on social media. After seeing the hilarious clip, one clearly amused Facebook user wrote: “Omg that was me in Benidorm…lol.” Another user added: “There is wasted and then there is this fella. A different dimension.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_7qED08Wi8

A passenger was booted from a Frontier Airlines plane in Orlando after she came aboard with a nutty companion — a squirrel that she insisted was her emotional support animal. The woman noted in her reservation that she was flying Tuesday night with an emotional support pet, but did not indicate that it was a squirrel, according to WKMG. She refused to get off the Cleveland-bound flight, so the crew summoned police, who told the rest of the passengers to deplane so they could deal with the woman, the airline said. “Police eventually escorted the passenger off the aircraft and took her to the main terminal,” according to Frontier, which added; “Rodents, including squirrels, are not allowed on Frontier flights.” It was not known if the unidentified woman would face charges. Footage shared on Twitter showed the woman being removed from the plane in a wheelchair — as she flashed a middle finger to jeers from other passengers. The flight took off for Cleveland after a two-hour delay. “The joke of the plane was hashtag squirrel so you’ll probably see it all over social media,” passenger Amber Calhoun told news5cleveoland.com. On its website, Frontier’s policy reads: “We do not accept unusual or exotic animals including but not limited to rodents, reptiles, insects, hedgehogs, rabbits, sugar gliders, non-household birds or improperly cleaned and/or animals with foul odor.” Airlines cracked down on what animals passengers could use for emotional support after images of several unique creatures went viral earlier this year. In January, a woman identified by NJ.com as a Brooklyn artist named Ventiko tried to bring her peacock Dexter aboard an LA-bound United flight in Newark. “This animal did not meet guidelines for a number of reasons, including its weight and size. We explained this to the customers on three separate occasions before they arrived at the airport,” according to a United statement. Several other airlines have updated their policies this year, including JetBlue and Delta, which also banned pit bulls, according to ABC News. Frontier also is changing its policy for support animals beginning Nov. 1. The airline will only accept cats or dogs, each passenger may only bring one animal, and notice must be provided 48 hours before departure, the network reported. According to a recent study, 61 percent of flight attendants say they have seen an emotional support animal cause a disturbance mid-flight within the last two years. The Association of Flight Attendants called on the Department of Transportation to regulate “rampant abuse” fostered by lax rules on emotional service animal designations — leading to a “safety, health and security issue.”

Prank calling has never been this cold-blooded. A veterinarian at a Hawaii marine animal hospital was perplexed by an onslaught of mystery phone calls, until she found the scaly fiend behind the nuisance calls — a gecko crawling across the touchscreen of an office phone. The first call to Dr. Claire Simeone, hospital director at the Ke Kai Ola monk seal care center, came while she was grabbing lunch on Oct. 4, according to a Twitter thread detailing the saga. “I thought maybe someone had a seal-related question. I picked up,” she wrote. “Silence.” But the calls kept right on coming. “NINE calls in 15 minutes,” Simeone wrote. “I start to panic a bit, and drive back to the hospital. Seal emergency? I am on it.” When Simeone got back to the hospital, she found that all was calm, and no one copped to calling her. Then came another call, listed to a familiar number. “It’s coming from INSIDE the hospital,” Simeone wrote. Adding to the confusion, the hospital then started receiving a slew of outside calls asking why they too were getting non-stop, inexplicable calls from the center. Befuddled, Simeone eventually called the phone company thinking that there must be an issue with their service. “He confirms that, yes, a bazillion calls are coming from one line,” she wrote. “He asks me to look around to find the problem line.” “I walk around the hospital. Not the fish kitchen. Not the office. Not the viewing room,” Simeone recalled. “I enter the laboratory. That’s the line! I approach the phone…” That’s where she caught the culprit cold-footed on the a phone’s touchscreen, “MAKING CALLS WITH HIS TINY GECKO FEET!!!” All told, the reptile called Simeone 15 times, as well as everyone on the hospital’s recent call list. “Well, I haven’t heard that one before,” the amused phone company worker said, according to Simeone. Simeone “immediately hired [the] gecko,” which she at least credits for opening up a new possible revenue stream for the marine mammal center. “@GEICO corporate sponsorships available,” she cracked.