Thursday, January 8, 2015

AND FROM THE LAMBDA/MU TEAM, DUDLEY DAWSON:  Curtis Armstrong discusses his past and present roles, only one of which involves prepping for a trig midterm while being chased by Guido, the Killer Pimp.
I'LL TAKE EUPHEMISMS FOR $400, ALEX:  The MPAA has given Fifty Shades of Grey an 'R' rating for "strong sexual content including dialogue, some unusual behavior and graphic nudity."  (Emphasis added; lack of Oxford comma's on them, not me.)

Related, from 2007: the ten oddest MPAA ratings justifications, including "a bawdy puppet show" (PG-13); "graphic, crude and sexual humor, violent images and strong language; all involving puppets" (NC-17); and "intense depiction of very bad weather" (PG-13).

Tuesday, January 6, 2015

WHAT I DO HAVE IS A PARTICULAR SET OF SKILLS:  After a number of Texas parents pulled their kids from a class tour of Europe, citing fears that their children would be kidnapped, Liam Neeson set them straight.
FOUR FOR COOPERSTOWN:  Randy Johnson (97.3%), Pedro Martinez (91.1%), John Smoltz (82.9%), and Craig Biggio (82.7%) have been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, with Mike Piazza (69.9%), Jeff  Bagwell (55.7%), and Tim Raines (55%) falling short. This is the first time since 1955 that four players were elected by the writers and it still wasn't enough, owing to the 10-vote limit.

Gary Sheffield, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, and Nomar Garciaparra all will live to see another day; Carlos Delgado is one-and-done. Changes from last year's ballot are below the fold.

[Our ballot had Johnson, Martinez, Biggio, and Bagwell in, and Smoltz one vote shy.]

Monday, January 5, 2015

AS A SPECIMEN, YES, I'M INTIMIDATING!  No one reels off push-ups against a WDW visitor like Gaston.