Eclectic Ramblings and Bite-Sized Whimsy03/06/2013
» Michael Douglas blames oral sex for throat cancer
Sure, he drank and smoked, but it was all those moustache rides that really did the trick.
Link posted at 12:08
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20/10/2011
The face of Dr. Seuss’ Once-ler revealed!
For 40 years, fans of Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax have wondered about The Once-ler.
Exactly who – or what – is attached to those spindly green arms, seen in the 1971 storybook heedlessly chopping down the lush, candy-colored truffula forest? Until now, only the grouchy Lorax (who confronts him declaring, “I speak for the trees!”) could know for sure.
Though the good doctor never showed us The Once-ler’s face, a new Universal movie (out March 2) from the animation team whose credits include Despicable Me and Horton Hears a Who offers a surprising twist to a longtime pop-culture mystery.
Dr. Seuss fans, prepare to lay your eyes on The Once-ler.
Below is how we see him in the Illumination Entertainment movie, and the surprise is that the Once-ler is not some Grinch-esque monster after all.
Instead, he’s a misguided, fresh-faced young man (voiced by The Office’s Ed Helms), whose destructive actions warp not only his world, but eventually himself. Meanwhile, the smallish, brownish, bossy Lorax (voiced by Danny DeVito) pleads and scolds on behalf of Seuss’ curlicue fantasy woodlands, but this story is ultimately about two things: making bad choices, and making amends.(Read more at EW’s site, including other stills from the movie)
At first I didn’t like this idea. I mean, in the books, the Once-ler is a great mystery that Seuss never explains and leaves you wondering about.
But after reading this quote from the Producer, Christopher Meledandri, I sort of agree with him:
“The minute you make the Once-ler a monster, you allow the audience to interpret that the problem is caused by somebody who is different from me, and it ceases to be a story that is about all of us,” says Meledandri. “Then it’s a story about, ‘Oh I see, the person who led us into the predicament is not a person. It’s somebody very, very different.’ And so it takes you off the hook.”
Meledandri said the author wanted readers to feel that they could change things — both for better and for worse — based on their behavior. We could be The Lorax, we could be the boy, or …
“What I think Ted is saying is: there is a Once-ler in all of us,” Meledandri says.
The moral behind The Lorax doesn’t just end at “Do your part to take care of the environment or you’ll regret it, because who else will if not you?” but extends to making amends for past actions. I agree that there’s a little Once-ler in all of us, and depicting the Once-ler as a regular human being who is subject to the same temptations and foibles as the rest of us might be one of the best ways to illuminate that idea.
Photo posted at 16:24
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22/06/2011
Man flies US Airways in women’s underwear
Hrm, how much would you have to pay me to do this on my flight to Knoxville next month?
(Note: I have no problem with the crossdressing aspect, but wearing that on a public flight seems a bit over the top…)
Photo posted at 12:31
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17/06/2011
» Kissing riot couple identified
They can kiss their anonymity goodbye.
The couple photographed kissing on the ground in the midst of the chaos of Vancouver’s riot Wednesday night have been identified.
Media reports say the pair are 29-year-old Australian Scott Jones and his girlfriend Canadian Alex Thomas.
Thomas is reportedly a student at the University of Guelph in Ontario.
Jones’s father outted his son in a Facebook post.
“This is my Son,” Brett Jones wrote next to the now-famed photo of the pair, which was snapped by freelance photographer Rich Lam during the riot. “Hows (sic) that for making love not war!”
Scott Jones’ family told the Australian news website Ninemsn that her brother and Thomas had recently started dating.
“It is something he would do; that’s our boy,” mother Megan Jones told the site. “He has always lived in his own world. He’s special like that. He doesn’t always connect with what (is) going on around him.”
The family said Jones has been in Canada for six months, working as a bartender and performing a live standup show.
Link posted at 09:56
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12/05/2011
Americans have little knowledge of Canada: poll
A new survey shows that fewer than half of all Americans can name Canada’s capital and that close to two-thirds of our neighbours to the south admit they learned nothing about this country’s history in school.Umm….so whatever whatever Americans blah blah they think we live in igloos…but the important question here is OBVIOUSLY…wtf is going on in this picture? Really?!?
Wait, Canada is a country now? I thought…well, I thought:
Photo posted at 10:05
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04/05/2011
“We don’t need to spike the football.”—
President Obama told CBS News Wednesday that he has decided against releasing photos of Osama bin Laden’s body. MORE (via newshour)
Oh c’mon Obama. At least give us an Ickey Shuffle….
(Thanks comedyandpoetry for the inspiration for this comment.)
Text posted at 16:14
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10/03/2011
For all you Dark Tower fans. You’re welcome :)
I just came.
I have mixed emotions about this. This note smacks of the same selfish aggrandizement of George Lucas going back and editing the original Star Wars trilogy after it became the “property” of millions of fans and multiple generations.
I will reserve comment until I pick up a copy (which you know I will) and read it for myself.
Photo posted at 17:11
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25/10/2010
Generic formula for a newscast. Oddly lulling while incredibly funny.
Video posted at 07:44
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