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GO columnist Georgette Braun is curious about a lot of things. She’ll answer your questions, pose some of her own, and comment on everything from entertainment to life and death. |
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Add comment January 30th, 2009
The Beloit International Film Festival site is now accepting orders for tickets to see about 150 films Feb. 19-22.
Expected to sell out: “The Stoning of Soraya M.” and “Wings,” a silent movie with live performance by the Beloit Janesville Symphony.
Add comment January 30th, 2009
Mom lives with parents, has six other kids ages two to seven-ish, no mention of dad, family bankruptcy, fertility of some sort.
Where are the ethics? Check out this cbsnews.com story.
6 comments January 30th, 2009
What has caused more than 16,000 Web sites to link to it?
Don Ipock for The New York Times
The recipe for the Bacon Explosion, modestly called by its inventors “the BBQ Sausage Recipe of all Recipes,” according to this New York Times story. The instructions are for making this log of two pounds of bacon woven through and around two pounds of sausage and slathered in barbecue sauce. The recipe first appeared last month on the Web site of a team of Kansas City competition barbecuers.
Got any pet-rockish or other kind of crazy ideas you think we could turn into a blogging-dream-come-true that’s not too risque?
They say a diverse collection of well over 16,000 Web sites have linked to the recipe, celebrating, or sometimes scolding, its excessiveness. A fresh audience could be ready to discover it on Super Bowl Sunday.
Add comment January 30th, 2009
This morning, I’m not even sure what the correct spelling is of the first and only word I was asked to spell while participating on stage as a celebrity speller for “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” musical theater show at the Coronado Thursday night.
Was it “Babyrousa” or “Babirusa”? “Babyrousa” is a genus in the pig family. “Babirusa” is a pig-deer. The actor playing the assistant principal spelled it correctly after I misspelled it as b-a-b-a-r-o-o-s-a. For some reason, all I could visualize was the spelling of the name of Brad Roos, who is executive director of the Rockford-based Zion Development Corp.
All I could think of at the microphone was that I was embarrassed for not even spelling one word correctly as the assistant principal rang the bell and told me my spelling was wrong.
And I was distracted, wondering if I really looked like Liza Minelli. Earlier, I’d been introduced by one of the actors in the play as a Liza Minelli impersonator of sorts, and I guess I looked a bit like her with my shortish dark hair and boxy black blazer. I’ve been called worse.
photo by spiritartists.com
One of the three spelling bee participants chosen from the audience was called a boy-band member lookalike.
What words did they initially get to spell? “jihad,” “Mexicans,” “cow.” One of the guys, I’m sure to get out of being on stage, was asked to spell what initially sounded like “use.” When he asked for the definition and for its (what turned out to be hilarious) use in a sentence, it was clear the spelling should be “ewes.” But he non-sheepishly spelled “you-s.”
I was in my seat trying to write down even the phonetic spelling of the word that bounced the last guy standing from among the audience spellers. But I didn’t get it. It was something that sounded like “zero-thol-o-mology.”
The best part of the show, performed before a pretty full house? The spelling bee in slow motion for what seemed longer than the minute or two it probably took. The actors’ motions, the sounds of their voices, the music were perfectly timed and terrific.
Next up for the Broadway at the Coronado: “The Pajama Game.”
Add comment January 29th, 2009
Interesting story about Bruce Springsteen and why it took so long for him to perform at the Super Bowl, and where were you when ….?
AP photo
My favorite Super Bowl halftime entertainment was when ZZ Top performed. And it wasn’t their performance that was so memorable, though I really dig their music. It was that the exhaust from the Harleys that were driven on stage to accompany them mucked up the air in the dome.
Who was your favorite Super Bowl halftime entertainer?
3 comments January 27th, 2009
A story about a new baby-sitting service that matches parents with sitters in a speed-dating-type format will run in Thursday’s GO section.
Tell here in comments about your baby-sitting experiences (without naming names, please).
Add comment January 27th, 2009
I just picked up my free, 3D glasses at Logli’s on Charles Street to watch 2.5 straight minutes of commercials after the second quarter during Sunday’s Super Bowl.
There were just a few cardboard sheets with four pairs on each left. But you can get them at at other stores, including Hilander’s, Woodman’s and Dollar General. While they last, of course.
You’ll be able to watch a 90-second sneak preview of the DreamWorks animated feature “Monsters vs. Aliens” as well as a SoBe commercial featuring lizards right afterward in a 60-second spot. DreamWorks’ chief executive Jeffrey Katzenberg reportedly called the stunt “perhaps the biggest media-advertising event” in history. 3D telecasts are nothing new, but this is the first time for such a large audience.
And save the glasses to view a 3D episode of NBC’s sci-fi comedy “Chuck” at 7 p.m. Monday.
More than 125 million pairs are being distributed nationally by PepsiCo through the SoBe Lifewater brand via 25,000 retail displays.
I’ve only worn 3D glasses a few times before: Once was 15 years ago at DisneyWorld for a showing of “The Little Mermaid.” It really seemed like water was splashing all around me. The other was maybe five years ago when volunteers at On the Waterfront were distributing them to watch fireworks. The glasses did make the displays more brilliant.
Tell in comments here about your experiences with 3D glasses.
3 comments January 27th, 2009
Of those responding to a question at AOL.com about Obama picking an Arab network to air his first format TV interview, 52 percent said they were bothered by that vs. 36 percent who said it was fine by them.
3 comments January 26th, 2009
I can’t wait to see the yet-to-be-released “The Stoning of Soraya M.” next month at the Beloit International Film Festival, and I bet hundreds of women in local book clubs share my interest.
Understanding women and their lack of rights in the Middle East is a central theme for popular books area book clubs and their members have been reading, including “A Thousand Splendid Suns,” “Kabul Beauty School,” “Three Cups of Tea.”
And I think it will be intriguing listening to “Braveheart” and “The Passion of the Christ” producer Stephen McEveety talk at the festival about the making of “The Stoning of Soraya M.”
If you’ve read any of the above books or others about women in the Middle East, share your comments here.
At last week’s revealing of the 150 or so films that will be shown, Dr. Steve Fass tossed out a few of his favorites. He helped select the movies for the festival. Among his likes: “The Amatuers,” a comedy about down-on-their-luckers trying to produce an adult film; “Four Minutes,” about a German piano prodigy and murder; “The Violin,” about a peasant man who tutors and supports a guerilla movement; “El Bola,” about a young boy raised in a violent environment; “Waveriders,” about surfers in Ireland.
Add comment January 23rd, 2009
Beloit is using a new crime fighting system, ShotSpotter, which allows police to track where guns are fired from. WREX says “about 35 cities across the U.S. use Shot Spotter. The company that makes it says violent crime in those areas is down at least 30 percent.”
Before I tell you about what Rockford police have to say about the system, here’s a bit more about it:
According to World Micrographics Inc., the gunfire or weapon-event is displayed instantly on an aerial map of the city at dispatch with precise location, information regarding which sensors detected it, and, if there are multiple shots, which direction the shooter is traveling, if at all. The system can tell the difference between a gunshot, a firecracker and a car backfiring, and in most cases is accurate to within 10 to 20 feet of where the shot was fired.
Michael Booker, deputy chief of the Rockford police department, told me yesterday that he’s seen a few demonstrations on the technology and it’s something the department will look at “down the road. From what I’ve seen, it looks like good technology.” Of course, it all costs money. “The challenge will be in securing funding for it,” Booker said.
Now, the police department is focusing on getting 13 cameras in place in crime-ridden areas, including the Weed and Seed areas on the west side (Avon Street, Johnston Avenue, and School and West State streets) and the east side (bounded by the Rock River, 11th Street, 18th Avenue and East State Street.) Chief Deputy Theo Glover said he expects the cameras and monitoring equipment to be in place by the end of February.
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