Parenting Fails: It’s 8:00 in Portland. Do You Know Where Your Child is Making Mixed Media Collages?

Parenting Fails: It’s 8:00 in Portland. Do You Know Where Your Child is Making Mixed Media Collages?

A very clever series of advertisements for an art school in the United States.

Oh no wait, just kidding, it’s actually a warning about letting our children develop artistic skills.

Billy Joel: “Big Man On Mulberry Street” (Amazon Advent Calendar Day 4)

Billy Joel: "Big Man On Mulberry Street" (Amazon Advent Calendar Day 4)

Big Man On Mulberry Street

Billy Joel

The Bridge

Genre: Pop

Oh, why the hell not: I'm going to link today's song to yesterday's song, thematically. But don't expect me to make a habit out of this.

As with Kate Capshaw's performance of "Anything Goes," which kicked off "Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom," "Big Man On Mulberry Street" is a flashy, classic MGM-style musical number that showed up someplace where you wouldn't have expected it: an episode of "Moonlighting."

If, at any point during this show's original late-1980′s run, you were still struggling to transform gills into lungs and thus aren't familiar with the series, here's a quick primer. David Addison and Maddie Hayes are partners in a Los Angeles private detective agency. They initially hate each other, but soon realize that their just diverting their deep-seated mutual attraction into an emotion that each one knew how to deal with. The rest of the series played out as an endless game of "will they or won't they?"

Meanwhile, Bruce Willis and Cybill Shephard are actors on a hit primetime dramedy. They initially get along with each other, but soon realize that one is an up-and-coming action movie star who resents being forced to delay the next step in his career and the other is a past-her-prime movie actress who was assured that the whole show would be built around her character and that she wouldn't have to share the spotlight, and resents the fact that the TV show her agent talked her into launched her unknown co-star's film career instead of restarting her own. The rest of the series played out as an endless game of "When will their passive-aggressive hostility towards each other and the show cause the series to self-destruct?"

(Answer: barely five seasons…and even then, things got so out of hand that two minor second-banana characters had to be promoted to co-leads just to cover for the stars' absences.)

This clip comes from a Season Three episode. David has returned to his New York hometown for his brother's funeral. Maddie has learned that David was briefly married during his bartending days, and imagines what that relationship had been like.

"Anything Goes" was staged as a 1930′s MGM Busby Berkeley-style musical number. "Big Man On Mulberry Street" is a dead ringer for a 1950′s MGM Gene Kelly/Stanley Donen-style musical number. And for a good reason: like a 1950′s MGM Gene Kelly/Stanley Donen musical number, it was directed and cho...

O Tannenbaum

O Tannenbaum

Thursday night, we got to experience a little bit of Christmas in our own neighborhood - the Annual Downtown Tree Lighting Celebration in Culver City.
With a pretty big gathering, the party started with a few carols sung by the Culver City High School Chamber Singers:


Then, the highschoolers were outshined by the Linwood Howe Elementary School Choir, who kept complaining about the brightness of the lights:



I then learned that:
a. Culver City has it's own mayor, named O'Leary.
b. He's actually Irish.



What made this event great was the participation of the local businesses. The visit with Santa and the free snack table were donated by and staffed by nearby restaurants, shops, firehouse, even the optometrist. It's not very often you see a local community come together and organize an event so flawlessly. And in return, much of the crowd then patronized the businesses...
A small town feel in the big city.

'Sing-Off': Pentatonix say...

'Sing-Off': Pentatonix say...

Funky vocal quintet from Texas talk competition, their future album, and (of course) Nick Lachey's puns

Sexual Healing

Sexual Healing

If you didn’t know that sex is good for your health, you haven’t been paying attention. Depending on which headline you believe, sex has six or eight or 10 or 16 or 17 different health benefits. According to the scientific research touted in stories like these, sex can burn calories, cut stress, ease depression, relieve pain, reduce the risk of cancer and heart attacks, lessen your risk of dying, and even reduce the frequency of hot flashes in menopausal women.

Hollywood Studios Accused of Pushing Liberal Agenda Through Children's Films

Hollywood Studios Accused of Pushing Liberal Agenda Through Children's Films



Paul Bond
Conservatives are striking out against what they perceive as left-wing propaganda aimed at their kids, and a movie about adorable penguins isn't their only target.

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9 Nerdy Film Locations You Need to Visit in Your Lifetime

9 Nerdy Film Locations You Need to Visit in Your Lifetime

From Star Wars to Lord of the Rings, these geek destinations are some of the coolest movie locations on the planet. They're from films you've probably seen, but you'd have to be a well-traveled cinephile to have visited them all. Tell us how many you've been to, and submit your own must-visit cinematic hot spots.

Sex Doll or Porn Star? Try to Tell the Difference

Sex Doll or Porn Star? Try to Tell the Difference

Advances in materials science and plastic surgery are blurring the line between doll-like and actual dolls.

Keeping It Real in Sci-Fi

Keeping It Real in Sci-Fi

Science fiction’s reputation for appealing to the nerdy and anti-social has long suggested that it has more to do with escapism than the real world.

Andy Serkis on Who Sends Him Hate Mail; Why Oscar Should Rethink Animated Category (Q&A)

Andy Serkis on Who Sends Him Hate Mail; Why Oscar Should Rethink Animated Category (Q&A)



Tim Appelo
The "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" and "Adventures of Tintin" actor talks to THR about "The Hobbit" and whether motion-capture acting should have its own category at the Academy Awards.

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Why 'Tintin' and 'Rango' Stand Out Among This Year's Animated Awards Contenders (Opinion)

Why 'Tintin' and 'Rango' Stand Out Among This Year's Animated Awards Contenders (Opinion)



Todd McCarthy
THR chief film critic Todd McCarthy dissects 2011's good, bad, and downright excruciating toons.

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10 Animated Shorts Move On in Oscar Race

10 Animated Shorts Move On in Oscar Race

THR Staff
Pixar's "La Luna" and Warner Bros.' "I Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tat" are among the shortlisted selections.

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NBCUniversal Plans ‘Harry Potter’ Attraction at Second Theme Park

NBCUniversal Plans ‘Harry Potter’ Attraction at Second Theme Park



Georg Szalai
The Comcast-controlled company is planning to expand Universal Studios Hollywood with offers similar to “The Wizarding World of Harry Potter” at Universal Orlando.

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Nov. 30, 2004: Who Is Ken Jennings?

Nov. 30, 2004: Who Is Ken Jennings?

Just one of the most successful game show contestants ever. The software engineer wins 74 straight games on Jeopardy!, and walks off with $2.5 million.

Christmas Carols

Christmas Carols

For an image of the world to come, look to the children: Recently Justin Bieber, the Western world’s choirboy igni ferroque, released his first Christmas album, combining traditional carols—“Drummer Boy,” “Silent Night,” and the like, performed in his signature reedy contralto—with some festive canticles not previously loosed upon the Earth. (From one track: “I don’t want to miss out on the holiday/ But I can’t stop staring at your face.”) Bieber has said that his goal in recording this music, which has already hit No. 1 on the Billboard charts, was to “work with people who had great experiences with Christmas albums.” This may strike some listeners as a quixotic ambition. Christmas carols are, if anything, the visiting relatives of the musical world: They show up at the same time every year, stick around a little longer than one might prefer, and set the tone of virtually all family entertainment while they are in town. A December without them would be strange and slightly lonely, yet the prospect of their absence tends to be, by one week in, a reason in itself to look forward to the new year.

Occupy LA Raided By LAPD, About 200 Arrested

Occupy LA Raided By LAPD, About 200 Arrested [UPDATED]

The LAPD raided Occupy L.A. tonight. We've been liveblogging since 10:00pm. [ more › ]

Ringling Bros. Hit with Largest Fine in Circus History for Mistreatment of Animals

Ringling Bros. Hit with Largest Fine in Circus History for Mistreatment of Animals



Actress and comedian Olivia Munn recently took to the Huffington Post to decry the terrible treatment of animals at Ringling Bros. circus. She told the story of Sarah, a sick 54-year-old elephant who collapsed over the summer, but was forced to get back up and board a train rather than receiving medical care. [ more › ]

Problem Kids on the X-Men Family Tree

Problem Kids on the X-Men Family Tree

Marvel Girl, who in 1963 made her debut with the original X-Men, was the first of many problem children among Marvel's extended family of genetic anomalies.

Tracking the U.S. Government's Response to #Occupy on Twitter

Tracking the U.S. Government's Response to #Occupy on Twitter

While city officials have actively communicated their positions about the Occupy movements, the response from the federal government has been muted, at best. But maybe the situation's different online? Twitter is much more casual and conversational, and social media-savvy federal agencies often respond directly to queries and complaints from their followers. It's possible that federal employees are addressing questions and concerns about Occupy on Twitter instead. I decided to find out.

Microsoft Battles Google For the Love of Small Business

Microsoft Battles Google For the Love of Small Business

Steve Ballmer says Microsoft is "winning, winning, winning, winning, winning" in the fight with Google and other competitors to move businesses into the proverbial cloud. But the story is, well, more nuanced than that.

The Cognitive Benefits Of Chewing Gum

The Cognitive Benefits Of Chewing Gum

Chewing gum boosts mental focus, but the effect dies after about 20 minutes. Frontal Cortex blogger Jonah Lehrer explores the neuroscience behind this strange relationship.

Latest Stats Say We're Building a Fatter, Slower Web

Latest Stats Say We're Building a Fatter, Slower Web

Thanks to a diet of ever-richer JavaScript files and more sophisticated CSS, web pages are fatter than ever. If bandwidth speeds and browser improvements can't keep pace tomorrow's web may end up slower than today's.

iPhone 4 Explodes on Australian Flight

iPhone 4 Explodes on Australian Flight



Rebecca Ford
The phone started emitting smoke and a red glow, forcing a flight attendant to carry out “recovery actions” on the plane.

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"Mahna Mahna" Comes from Porn

How a ditty from a soft-core Italian movie became the Muppets’ catchiest tune.

http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2011/11/_mahna_mahna_how_a_ditty_from_a_soft_core_italian_movie_became_the_muppets_catchiest_tune_.html

The Inventor in Hollywood

The Inventor in Hollywood

Imagine that, on Sept. 12, 2001, an outraged Angelina Jolie had pulled out a pad of paper and some drafting tools and, all on her own, designed a sophisticated new missile system to attack al-Qaida. Now imagine that the design proved so innovative that it transcended weapons technology, and sparked a revolution in communications technology over the next half-century.

Recycling’s Where It’s At

WIN: Recycling’s Where It’s At