aquababie's world

i'm slammin' evil...eeeeeevvvvvviiiiillllllll!!!

some friends and i filled in for the regulars at the slam evil podcast.  if you want to check it out, here's the link.  the guys are fun to listen to as well :)  you should subscribe! 

slam evil! podcast---t & a edition

100,000

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2008/10/18/obama-rally-draws-100000-in-missouri/

Amy Chozick reports on the presidential race from St. Louis.

Barack Obama attracted 100,000 people at a Saturday rally here, his biggest crowd ever at a U.S. event.

The crowd assembled under the Gateway Arch on a sunny Saturday afternoon to hear Obama speak about taxes and slam the Republicans on economic issues.

Lt. Samuel Dotson of the St. Louis Police Department confirmed the number of attendees piled into the grassy lawn by the Mississippi River.

To be sure, big crowds don't always signal a big turnout on Election Day. But Obama's ability to draw his largest audience yet in a typically red state that just weeks ago looked out of reach, could signal a changing electoral map.

For months Missouri polls put Obama as much as ten percentage points behind Republican John McCain. It was widely believed that McCain's pick of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate would have won over the state's conservatives and boosted his chances there. So far, that hasn't happened.

A Rasmussen poll released on Friday shows Obama leading in Missouri 52% to 46% for McCain.

Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill had harsh words for Palin when she introduced Obama on Saturday. Referring to comments Palin made earlier this week in North Carolina about "pro-America" states, McCaskill said "We have reached a new low in America politics when a candidate dares to say that one part of America is pro-America and another part is anti-America."

She also took a dig at McCain for selecting a vice presidential nominee with limited experience. "One [candidate] picked one of the strongest candidates for vice president he could've picked in the United States and well, the other didn't."

Recognizing that big rallies don't always result in cast ballots, the Obama campaign has dispatched thousands of field organizers and volunteers to Missouri to knock on doors in a statewide get out the vote effort. (Photo: Associated Press)

oam review: whatever happened to mary jane?

i'm a sucker for old black and white classics.  one of my favorites is "whatever happened to baby jane?"  i can't recall the first time i saw it, but i loved it.  it stars two of my favorite classic drama queens:  bette davis and joan crawford. 

from tcm.com

What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?

A Hollywood gothic along the lines of other abrasive studies of the movie industry like Sunset Boulevard (1950), A Star is Born (1937) and The Bad and the Beautiful (1952), Robert Aldrich's What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) teamed two of the industry's most bitter rivals, Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, as a pair of disturbed (or is it disturbing?) sisters.

Two screen divas known for their outsized egos, mercurial temperaments and larger-than-life personalities, Bette Davis and Joan Crawford were icons of their day.What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? exploited those notorious personalities and the equally infamous tension between the two screen legends.

The pairing of Bette and Joan was, by most accounts suggested by Crawford, who had worked with Aldrich on Autumn Leaves (1956) and claimed she had always wanted to work with Davis. Aldrich saw the perfect vehicle for the two stars in Henry Farrell's novel. Farrell's bizarre tale was a chance to resuscitate both actresses' flagging careers with a novel, publicity-generating concept.

Aldrich's 1962 chiller stars Davis and Crawford as two aging sisters forced to finish out their days in claustrophobic intimacy living in a gloomy, decaying Hollywood mansion. Jane (Davis) is a former child star who built her reputation on her cloying, sugary songs for the vaudeville stage and Blanche (Crawford) is movie star royalty whose own cinematic stardom exceeded Baby Jane's, driving a wedge of jealousy and resentment between the two sisters. Years earlier in a suspicious "accident" Blanche was run over by Jane's car, and is now confined to a wheelchair, completely reliant on her sister for care. When Jane finds out Blanche intends to sell their home and commit her to a sanitarium, her already fragile mental state further erodes. She begins to badger and torture her sister, as her drinking increases, as well as entertain a perverse dream of reviving her Baby Jane act, complete with blonde curls, saccharine songs, and a childish on-stage demeanor.

Each actress played some version of her star persona in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?: Joan, the suffering stiff-upper-lipped martyr familiar from roles like Mildred Pierce (1945) and Bette, the willful, brash, brazen straight-shooter from Beyond the Forest (1949). And the tension between Blanche and Jane onscreen was by most accounts equaled by the rivalry between the two fading movie divas. Though in her autobiography The Lonely Life Davis claimed "Joan Crawford and I got along famously much to the huge disappointment of the Hollywood press," most eyewitness accounts tell a different story. Even before filming was underway, the stars reportedly bickered over salaries and who would receive top billing. A great deal of friction was apparently also generated mid-production by Joan and Bette's very different acting styles -- Davis played Baby Jane to the excessive, hysterical hilt, while Crawford tended to cower and remain passive and understated. But Davis's scenery chewing apparently paid off, as she, and not Crawford was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress (though the honor that year went to Anne Bancroft for The Miracle Worker). The film received a total of 5 Academy Award nominations, and a Best Costume Oscar for designer Norma Koch's imaginative garments which underscored the personalities of the players from the slatternly, frumpy get-ups Jane wears around the house, to the creepy little girl dresses she later wears when she pathetically attempts to revive her career as a child star.

Despite mixed reviews in the press, (The New York Times' Bosley Crowther called the stars "a couple of formidable freaks") What Ever Happened to Baby Jane was a box office hit, grossing $9 million and undoubtedly attracting audiences who relished the campy, extreme spectacle of two former screen giants, Davis and Crawford, chewing the scenery in this unforgettably bizarre, gothic horror production. And yes, that is Bette Davis' daughter, Barbara Davis (nicknamed "B.D."), in a small role as the teenage girl next door.

Producer/Director: Robert Aldrich
Screenplay: Lukas Heller
Set Design: George Sawley
Cinematography: Ernest Haller
Costume Design: Norma Koch
Film Editing: Michael Luciano
Original Music: Frank De Vol
Cast: Bette Davis (Jane Hudson); Joan Crawford (Blanche Hudson); Victor Buono (Edwin Flagg); Marjorie Bennett (Mrs. Dehlia Flagg); Anna Lee (Mrs. Bates)
BW-118m. Letterboxed.

by Felicia Feaster

i give "baby jane"  4 out of 5 stars.    you gotta love a movie where better davis parades around in a baby doll wig!  and here's a little clip...my favorite scene :)

i think i would be a little miffed...

i was listening to npr (like i do every morning) and heard a story that was close to my heart.  being the science nerd i am, i thought i would share it with yall.  

the folk who won the the nobel prize for chemistry owe their success to a man who even isn't in the field any more.  he's a hard luck story.  his funding had been cut at several agencies.  because of his generosity, they were able to do the work.  i hope folk hear his story and find him a job....hell they should share the money with him.  go here to take a listen.  

Gene's Discoverer Let Out of Nobel Prize

break it down donna....

that one...?

that comment showed such a lack of respect. it's borderline racist in my opinion. seeing the undercurrent that the other ticket has been floating around, it was very disheartening to see....but not totally unbelievable.

that one...? 

that one is a person who has performed the expectations of the other ones.  how can one like that one seem to grasp the things that are above his skill level...his knowledge. 

yall may call him that one, but i plan on calling him mr. president...

the throve in the grove... (i just need to rhyme!)

are ya watching???

 

biotchassness....part deux

so now it's spreading. why cancel the vp debate for next week? is she not ready? was all the postering today for this? this mess is starting to stink like five day old collards...you know that mess is funky!

biotchassness a.k.a. playing chicken with america

*postponing the debate makes you look like a chicken dude....real talk!

*if you really were serious about this, you COULD have suspended campaigning all this week, flew to washington, THEN come back here for the debate on friday.  that's why you have that tricked out plane.

*what can you do in two days that you can't do AFTER the debate?

*you're not president yet...how can you boss folk around?

*the american people NEED this debate.  hearing from you might provide people with some comfort (not me, but some folk might feel better)

my 1st anniversary...for the 2nd time :)

saturday was the first anniversary of my second set of locs.  i don't take as many pictures as i did with the first set...been there, done that, got the t-shirt :)  i've found that it was easier for me to be in the mindset of not worrying what my hair looked liked...what folk thought of me...why are people giving me the stink-eye.

here are two pics to show the growth over the first year :)

from this....

 

to this....

 

sidebar:  i generally smile, but i was at work....