Blake Edwards dies at Age 88…

The great film director, writer, creator of the Pink Panther and husband of Julie Andrews died with his wife and children at his side.

From Yahoo:

Edwards, 88, died from complications of pneumonia Wednesday evening at St. John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, Calif., after being hospitalized for about two weeks. He had knee problems, had undergone unsuccessful procedures and was “pretty much confined to a wheelchair for the last year-and-a-half or two,” said publicist Gene Schwam, who knew him for 40 years.

At the time of his death, Edwards was working on two Broadway musicals, one based on the “Pink Panther” movies. The other, “Big Rosemary,” was to be an original comedy set during Prohibition, Schwam said.

The list of films he created, wrote and/or directed was an amazing collection of contemporary classics, including:
* My Sister Eileen (1955)
* Operation Petticoat (1959)
* Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961)
* Days of Wine and Roses (1962)
* The Pink Panther (1963)
* A Shot in the Dark (1964)
* The Great Race (1965)
* Darling Lili (1969)
* The Return of the Pink Panther (1975)
* The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976)
* Revenge of the Pink Panther (1978)
* 10 (1979)
* S.O.B. (1981)
* Trail of the Pink Panther (1982)
* Victor Victoria (1982)
* Curse of the Pink Panther (1983)
* A Fine Mess (1986)
* Son of the Pink Panther (1993)
… and many, many more.

Related Articles

• Director Blake Edwards dies in Southern California (omg.yahoo.com)
• Director Blake Edwards dies at 88 (bbc.co.uk)
• Pink Panther comic genius Blake Edwards dies at 88 (hollywood.com)

Staying out of the weather and watching the Congress…

It’s been snowing steadily since nine this morning and, while the dogs love walking around in it, I’m looking for reasons to stay inside today. One of those reasons is to watch the Senate debate the START treaty, which is not even close to the action in the tax cut extension debates earlier on, and flipping back to the House of Representatives who nearly completed debate on the rule for taxes when Rep. McGovern (D-MA) pulled the bill off the floor. Lawmakers are uncertain if they have enough votes to bring the tax bill to the floor.

Before the debate on the tax bill starts, the House first needs to pass the rule on how the debate and votes will go, with a simple majority vote. If the rule passes, the will be three hours of general debate and one amendment to change the inheritance tax provisions in the bill. For the last two hours, though, nothing has happened and the House is now out. The Democrats were supposed to go into a closed meeting, but the word from CSpan is that the Closed Meeting has been delayed. Whether or not they come back this evening, I don’t know.

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, which the House voted to end yesterday, went the to Senate and lost. The Senate has failed to get past a roadblock on a bill that would repeal the policy banning gay men and lesbians from serving openly in the military. The procedural vote failed, 57-40, and was mostly along party lines. Sixty votes were needed to move forward.

All in all, it has been pretty dismal in Congress today.

Related Articles

• Panic at the Disco?: Tax Bill Pulled From House Floor (nicedeb.wordpress.com)
• Democrats hold up tax bill consideration (dontmesswithtaxes.typepad.com)
• Tax cut deal hits “bump” in House (dailykos.com)
• Senate prepares to vote on tax-cut extension (abclocal.go.com)
• Kyl Still Trying to Kill Treaty (politicalwire.com)

Advertising in Pakistan: An incorporation of current events into physical protection…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I always find it highly moving when salesmanship can overthrow politics. This from KABOBfest.

A Zappadan Gift to my friend John Case…

John’s been looking for Zappa’s TROUBLE EVERY DAY. Here’s the version from the FREAKOUT album:

…and for everyone else, here’s a rare one: Frank’s commercial for Portland General Electric… (ignore the French):

Zappadan only has 6 days to go… enjoy it while you got it.

Congress as the Home of Religious Humor…

Senator DeMint

This from a longer article in Salon by Alex Pareene… I would just like to note that Republicans are willing to try just about anything to be assholes:

DeMint and Kyl are also the primary authors of my favorite new political argument of 2010: That holding votes near Christmas is insulting to the Baby Jesus. It’s “sacrilegious,” according to DeMint, to vote on things right before Christmas. Kyl made the interesting point that it’s insulting to Christians to go to work between Christmas and New Year‘s, a week during which most of the remaining Americans with full-time jobs are indeed expected to make an appearance at the office.

As far as I’m concerned, they can stay in session until the day the new Congress takes over in January.

Related Articles

• Kyl and DeMint Think Baby Jesus Doesn’t Want Them To Vote On START During Christmas (crooksandliars.com)
• I Don’t Think that Means What You Think it Means (DeMint, Sacrilege and Delays) (outsidethebeltway.com)
• What Jim DeMint considers ‘sacrilegious’ (washingtonmonthly.com)
• DeMint, Kyl and McConnell fight the War on Christmas (dailykos.com)
• Reid to DeMint and Kyl: Stop whining about having to work over the holidays (hotair.com)
• DeMint calls votes before Christmas ‘sacrilegious’ (politico.com)
• Sen. Reid: “I Don’t Need To Hear Sanctimonious Lectures” From GOP On The Meaning Of Christmas (mediaite.com)