mid March, 2006
- Bond bikini babe turns 70
By Faryal Mirza
(Swiss Radio International, March 18 2006)
Actress Ursula Andress, Switzerland's most illustrious export to Hollywood, and famous for "that" bikini scene in the first ever Bond film, turns 70 on Sunday. But the celebrations will have to wait until May: that's when the Swiss government is throwing "Ursi National" a party on a swanky yacht moored near the Scottish capital, Edinburgh.
... Bernese beginnings
Andress was born in 1936 in the Bern suburb of Ostermundigen, to which she still has close ties. ... In her late teens, Andress decided to spread her wings and leave her six siblings and conservative parents behind in Ostermundigen. At the age of 17, she fled with an actor lover to Italy but was soon persuaded to return to the parental fold. The film industry in Italy, Switzerland's southern neighbour, first cast the beauty in minor roles. But it wasn't until meeting Hollywood heavyweight Marlon Brando, who reportedly became her lover, that the golden gates to cinema heaven opened. She moved to the United States after signing a contract with Columbia Pictures but, before making a single film with them, she met and married a young actor named John Derek in 1957.
Making history
Five years later, Andress made cinema history as Honey Ryder by emerging from the waves in a cream-coloured bikini, a sheathed knife hanging from a belt below her hips.
The year was 1962. The film, Dr No, was the first part of the long-running Bond series revolving around the high jinks of author Ian Fleming's super smooth spy, James Bond.
Andress was the first Bond girl and, for many, the only. The scene frequently voted as one of the best cinematic moments in history is said to evoke Sandro Botticelli's painting, Birth of Venus, painted in the 15th century. This could explain its attraction, although many cinema-goers might not have had Renaissance painting in mind when they watched the bikini-clad siren rise from the waters. After that, Andress went on to have a Hollywood career, which peaked in the 1960s, acting alongside stars such as Elvis Presley, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra and Peter Sellers. ...
- Elvis stumbles in classic 'Love Me Tender' role
By John Douglas
(Grand Rapids Press, March 17 2006)
It's been 50 years since Elvis Presley hit the big screens for the first time in the film "Love Me Tender," a post-Civil War drama about the outlaw Reno Brothers. A new DVD of the film has been released, and the picture quality is beautiful.
Let's be frank -- "Love Me Tender" is not a good movie, and while I don't usually review bad movies in this column, I do make an exception for films I believe are interesting beyond their quality. "Love Me Tender" is a poorly written and sluggish story of outlaw brothers trying to go straight. It takes plenty of liberties with the truth. Elvis Presley plays Clint Reno, one of the brothers who was not an outlaw, and he presents a major problem for the film. He couldn't act for beans in those days, and the filmmakers insisted on putting him on stage a couple of times to do some rock 'n' roll numbers so he could shake his thing, which did not seem to bother the folks in the post-Civil War south.
One of the songs he sang in the film was a true Civil War era song called "Aura Lee," and, as most Elvis buffs know, the words to the song were changed, and it became "Love Me Tender." I remember seeing this film when it first came out, and I was excited, because I had been a big-time Presley fan since I saw him on the Dorsey Brothers television show.
The power of his very image gave the film something, but that has all but faded away over the past 50 years. It was truly exciting to see this man on the screen, and most didn't care if he looked out of place or if the film was stupid.
The commentary track on the DVD was provided by Jerry Schilling, a friend of Presley's. Unfortunately, he rarely makes commentary, choosing instead to ramble on about the life of Elvis. There are a couple of short documentaries on Presley and the credibility of the people interviewed, who are mostly experts on rock music.
Presley is given a game bunch of players to act with, including Richard Egan, Debra Paget, William Campbell, Mildred Dunnock, Robert Middleton and Neville Brand.
These folks knew how to make the best of a bad script, and Elvis sticks out like a sore thumb when emoting with them.
"Love Me Tender" isn't the worst film in the world, and it certainly isn't the worst of the Presley films. It is fun to watch. It is a film of historic note, because Presley was one of a kind.
- The Greatness of 'Sam Chu Lin, Reporting'
By Christopher Chow
(asianweek.com, March 17 2006)
Sam Chu Lin, who passed away at 67, on March 5, rose up from humble beginnings in the Mississippi Delta city of Greenville, to become ła true broadcast pioneer˛ based on sheer guts, determination and talent. What made Sam Chu Lin a good, even great, journalist? He was dogged and fearless. He focused on people, more than the event, was always curious and proud of his heritage. He gave his heart. A one-man Asian American news wire service, he cared about the community. He worked fast and was a consummate pro. He did it all in multidimensional media: print, radio, TV, documentaries. And he had the Voice. ... In 1956, Chu Lin went on the air for the first time as a radio disc jockey and announcer on WJPR in Greenville, Mississippi, while in high school. He grew up in a region that was the birthplace of the blues and Elvis Presley. But the South was still a segregated society. Just a year earlier, 1955, Rosa Parks had refused to give up her bus seat for a white man, galvanizing the modern civil rights movement. ...
- Locust research could tell us why Elvis preferred peanut butter sandwiches
Source: University of Oxford
(physorg.com, March 17 2006)
It's said that Elvis Presley's love of fried peanut butter sandwiches started during his impoverished childhood, and the fat-soaked snack remained a favourite dish for the rest of his life. L ocusts and Elvis could have something in common. In a study published in Science, Oxford researchers showed that the value given by locusts to a particular food depended on their condition at the time of eating it first.
The researchers set up trials to look at how organisms learn and on what basis they choose. They manipulated the preferences of the locusts: the insects met peppermint-flavoured grass when they were hungry and lemon-flavoured grass when they were not so hungry, and later behaved as if peppermint-flavoured grass was preferable. When they reversed the treatments, the locusts reversed their preference.
Professor Alex Kacelnik in Oxford's Zoology Department, one of the authors of the study alongside Spence Behmer and Lorena Pompilio, said: 'This is interesting because value depends on the condition of the organism at the time it learns, and thus what the animals learn depends on their condition and not only the properties of the food. We call this learning mechanism "state-dependent valuation".'
Humans may lose their objectivity and add value to things for the same reasons. The story goes that Elvis Presley's mother would make his sandwiches as a treat when he was young and living on a subsistence diet. When Elvis was at the height of his fame, he may have enjoyed a high-rolling lifestyle but instead of choosing expensive, luxury foods with higher nutritional value, the peanut butter sandwich remained a firm favourite. Scientists can speculate on whether, as in the case of the locusts, the memory of something casts a shadow on the value we give it. Professor Kacelnik said: 'Sometimes we give interpretations to human behaviour based on our perception of why we do certain things, and in fact maybe these interpretations are simple narratives we build ourselves to explain our behaviour, when in reality that behaviour is determined by very fundamental, biological processes which are inaccessible to our consciousness and are common in very distant organisms.'
Researchers from the Zoology department have already carried out studies that show birds do similar things and this effect may override the real quality of the rewards. For instance, starlings, which normally hate waiting for food, may prefer pecking at a blue key that makes them wait fifteen seconds for food to a red key that makes them wait only ten seconds, if the blue key had been previously encountered when the bird was particularly hungry. This happens even when the starling demonstrates precise knowledge of the delay to food in each case, so they choose what they 'know' is a worse option.
This latest research into locusts suggests the point at which this mechanism may have been acquired could go even further back in evolutionary terms. It also casts light on why organisms sometimes don't seem to behave in an optimal or adaptive way. Researchers speculate that such choices might be a sensible way of making decisions and we have not discovered why, or that it is really against the interest of the organisms and it's simply that evolution could not produce a better outcome. People often view the invertebrate brain as a simple, dedicated microchip that does few jobs, and yet this research suggests some of the basic processes of learning are well represented in those very simple brains, and some solutions found by the common ancestor of insects and humans are still around.
The department plans to carry out more research into all mechanisms of learning and decision-making by a variety of organisms, ranging from humans to insects.
- Little Chico loved Elvis: The flamboyant singer said he was mesmerised by the hip-wiggling rock 'n' roll legend from a young age
By Faryal Mirza
(ITV, March 17 2006)
X Factor phenomenon Chico has revealed he was Morocco's biggest Elvis fan when he came to the UK. The flamboyant singer said he was mesmerised by the hip-wiggling rock 'n' roll legend from a young age. He said: "When I was in Morocco, the only people I'd heard of were Bruce Lee, Mohammed Ali and Bob Marley. "But Elvis was my all time favourite. I just looked at him and thought 'Wow!', because he was so handsome." Chico said that when he came to the UK, he started getting into the music of Michael Jackson and that is who inspired his fancy stage moves. Chico kept Queen of Pop Madonna from the top spot with his single, It's Chico Time.
- A 15-foot couch and shag carpet
By Michael Davis
(Henry Daily Herald, March 15 2006)
It may not be advisable here in the South, but I'll admit it anyway: I've never been a tremendous Elvis fan. I have a great respect for his music, though his writing credits leave a little to be desired, and his style. His performances shook the foundations of American music and brought rock 'n' roll into the mainstream, but I have to profess I don't own any Elvis records and if I did, I probably wouldn't sit at home listening to them in the same way I listen to The Beatles, or The Doors.
To be sure, Elvis is an icon, but he just doesn't do it for me somehow. But recently I got to go to the place where the King lived. A former colleague got married last week in his new hometown of Memphis and I took a trip up to see the ceremony, and later, to see Graceland. At first I didn't know if I'd find it all that interesting given my near apathetic feelings about his music. I guess what sticks out in my mind most is his mid-70s jumpsuit-era performances in Hawaii in which he wore more rings than he had fingers. I never understood what was so cool about a sweaty singer wiping his forehead with your towel and then throwing it back to you. I guess those people framed it over a caption that read "Elvis sweated here" and hung it over their fireplace - I don't know.
Not withstanding a schlocky tour given over some headphones the nice people at Graceland provide to help you get around the mansion, it was kind of cool to see Elvis' 15-foot couch and his room that had shag carpet on the floor - and the ceiling. His kitchen was even carpeted. And from what the tour people said, there was always food coming out of it so I'll be they had to change it quite often.
They wouldn't let us up into the upstairs of the place. That's supposed to be kept off-limits to honor the King's wishes. They said that while he was alive, he never let guests up there. He always came downstairs to greet them, even if he wasn't all the way dressed.
Elvis also apparently liked to watch a lot of TV. When you go downstairs, the staircase with mirrors on the top and sides, you come to his TV room that's painted all yellow and blue and has a small bar. On the far end of the room, on the other side of a plush blue U-shaped couch, there are three circa 1970 TVs built into the wall. The tour people said he had them installed after he heard about some president that used to watch all three network news broadcasts at the same time.
For someone that always looked like he was working so hard, he must have had a lot of downtime.
One of the weirdest things about the place is that, according to the tour people, he bought the house in 1957 for $100,000 and some years later had a racquetball court built out back for $200,000.
Talk about twisted priorities. Come to find out, on the lower level of the racquetball building, there's a small lounge with an upright piano that's supposed to be the last place where he played music.
Inside what used to be the racquetball court is a collection of his silly white sequined jumpsuits and capes and a TV screen that constantly plays his performance from Hawaii that something like a billion people watched - more than watched the moon landing, they said. All in all, it was a neat old house with some neat stuff in it - like Elvis' personal office desk that had an eight-track player and a radio built into it and a round, white, fluffy bed with a canopy (which also had a radio built into it) that he had in his dressing room. I'm just wondering where they found a coffee table to go in front of that 15-foot couch.
- Collectors: Tonight Wiggle Greg Page shows us his vast collection of Elvis memorabilia
By Robin Oliver
(Sydney Morning Herald, March 15 2006)
One of the best of the ABC's mid-evening concoctions finds Greg Page (the yellow Wiggle) displaying his collection of Elvis memorabilia, some 200 items in all, half of which were owned by Presley, including the 1976 Cadillac in which he was photographed the day before he died. Page also acquired the remote control for opening the Gracelands gates. Page was not a great fan of Presley, but on visiting Gracelands he was struck by the aura of the place. Also on the program tonight is the prototype Holden, which was built in Detroit in 1948 and is now housed in the National Museum in Canberra.
- Alarming rise noted in hearing loss: Experts suspect portable devices to blame for growing early incidents in young
By FRANK JAMES
(Chicago Tribune, March 15 2006)
A disturbing number of high-school students and adults are reporting early signs of hearing loss, and hearing experts think they know the culprits: iPods and similar portable devices that allow people to funnel loud sounds into their ears for hours on end. More research is needed to conclusively establish the link between the white cords dangling from millions of ears and hearing difficulties. But scientists suspect the increasing prevalence of the devices is contributing to the rising number of people reporting some form of hearing loss.
Fears and debates about the loud music favored by youths have been around since the dawn of rock 'n' sroll, of course, from Elvis Presley to the Beatles, Black Sabbath to Nirvana. But the leaps in technology that are allowing commuters on a bus or kids walking to high school to feel like they're at a deafening concert are also channeling ever higher volumes of music more directly, and longer, onto people's eardrums. ...
- Art Lovers and Investors Spreading a Little Joy and Happiness
(Enquirer, March 15 2006)
William Verdult Founder;s Group is offering a select number of Gallery Proof limited edition canvases of William Verdult's newest series, "Joy and Happiness" to organizations as an auction item for charity events. Some collectors of Verdult;s work include: Frank Sinatra, Paul Newman, Elvis Presley, Jack Lord, Farrah Fawcett, Telly Savalas, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Lee Majors, Alfred Hitchcock, Tom Jones, Kim Novak, Robert Redford, and Clint Eastwood. ... William Verdult and Wealth Enterprises have helped raise thousands of dollars for charities, including the Make-A-Wish Foundation®, the Salvation Army, and Boys and Girls Club of America. Organizations not selected to receive a canvas will receive a print of similar value. ...
- Tell us what's greatest about Cincinnati
(Enquirer, March 14 2006)
What's the best roller-coaster ride in Greater Cincinnati? Who contributed more to local arts, Nikki Giovanni or Henry Farney? What was the best concert ever - Elvis at the Coliseum? Or the Beatles at the Gardens? These are just some of the burning questions The Enquirer is asking readers to answer as it prepares to celebrate its 165th birthday next month. We've compiled lists of many of the best, biggest and most memorable aspects of life in Cincinnati - who we are, how we work, how we play and how we cope. But we need you to join the discussion and complete those lists. We'll run the consensus best 165 people, places and things about this town in our special April 10 edition. Go to Cincinnati.Com, keyword: anniversary, and join the party.
- The delivery of your advertising message
By J.C. Smith
(accessnorthga.com, March 14 2006)
I, along with some friends, were watching television one afternoon when each of us got a strong dose of reality. An advertisement came on, and for whatever reason, there was not the involuntary response to grab the remote control. Instead, we all sat mesmerized and view a 60-second spot promoting a brand of blue jeans. After the advertisement was completed we all stared at each other. Let me point out here that when I refer to we I am saying that we are all Baby Boomers. To refresh your memory baby Boomers are all of us that were born between 1946 and 1964. Why did we all sit and stare at each other as though Elvis "The King" had just gyrated through the room? We were captivated because the television advertisement for the blue jeans made absolutely no sense to any of us. The advertisement focused on a group of hormonal-crazed teenagers at a rock concert. One of my friends posed the question of why the blue jean company would ever put such a senseless advertisement on television. A fellow Baby Boomer offered up the following explanation. He said, "Let's face it. They (the blue jean company) don't care about us." ...
- Legal riff ends - Web site hails Jewish rock 'n' rollers
By Nara Schoenberg
(Macon Telegraph / CHICAGO TRIBUNE, March 13 2006)
This has been a heady year for the Jews of rock 'n' roll. After three fans announced their intention to launch a Web site called the Jewish Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, the already well-established Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland sued for trademark infringement. Suddenly, a bevy of world-class lawyers was fighting over ... the right to tell the stories of Gene Simmons, Michael Bolton and four-fifths of the J. Geils Band. Then, a few weeks ago, the legal clouds lifted sufficiently to allow the three fans - New Yorker writer Jeffrey Goldberg, Washington Post reporter David Segal and radio executive Allen Goldberg (no relation to Jeffrey) - to launch their diplomatically renamed site, Jewsrock.org. So now, the world has a place to go if it wants to find out whether Paula Abdul is Jewish, how Alan "Moondog" Freed helped set rock 'n' roll in motion, who Nudie Cohn was and why David Lee Roth is a hero to his people. In honor of the occasion, we asked Jeffrey Goldberg about the Web site, the Jewish contribution to rock 'n' roll, and his own experience at the hands of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The following is an edited transcript:
... Q. You mentioned Bob Dylan - Bob Dylan is, I think, religiously best known for renouncing his Judaism.
A. Yeah, but then he came back.
Q. So it still counts?
A. It totally counts. I mean, we're not judging people and their commitment to Judaism, we're simply saying these are people who are Americans and Jews and have done something interesting in music. But the fact is, he came back. And that's what counts. And, in all seriousness, I'm surprised at the depth of the American Jewish contribution to rock 'n' roll, not only in terms of performers, but in terms of the people who define the canon in some way. I mean, Leiber and Stoller, two Jewish boys from Los Angeles, wrote Elvis Presley's biggest songs. That's kind of interesting and it's not well-known. ...
- SUNSHINE WEEK: Freedom of Information
Web sites -- for knowledge and fun
(mywebtimes.com, March 13 2006)
... Interesting FOIA Web sites:
* Mugs: The Smoking Gun features FOIA-obtained police records of celebrities -- including a large collection of mug shots. www.thesmokinggun.com/
... * Elvis: The National Security Archive is an independent non-governmental research institute and library located at The George Washington University in Washington, D.C. which collects and publishes declassified documents acquired through the federal FOIA. Included are photos and documents from the meeting between Elvis Presley and Richard Nixon. www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/index.html ...
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