Add Universal Studio Florida’s Bruce the shark to the ranks of the unemployed. In a sign of the passing of a generation of entertainment, Universal Studios Orlando will close the famous Jaws attraction as new blockbusters, news films with lots of buzz supplant a past blockbuster. Bruce will soon sleep with the fishes: Jaws, the classic Universal Studios Florida ride in which tour boats full of guests...

The late former President Harry S. Truman is constantly in the news. Whenever a President gets into serious trouble, people urge him to be “another Truman,” or run a “Truman like campaign.” And this has never been truer before than with President Barack Obama: his supporters want him to run like Truman, and some pundits say he’s planning a Truman like campaign. So exactly what is...

If Americans could pick someone for the White House next year from a Chinese menu, what do opinion polls tell us about what they want? The seesawing Republican race, along with Obama’s falling favorables, suggest that voters’ appetites are more jaded than they have been for decades. But if they could pick and choose traits, what kind of composite President would we get? Resistance to Romney clearly shows...

Times are sad and stressful for so many people. Watch this video and keep the words of this old song and the expressions of the singer — and the little girl — in your hears and minds. It’s kind of a mind vitamin:

I don’t know why but the news that Donald Trump (and his hair) will be moderating a Presidential debate (supposedly) attended by leading candidates of the Republican Party brings to mind the song below. Once upon a time, debates conjured up images of Lincoln-Douglas, the Kennedy-Nixon debates, debates hosted by news organizations such as Fox News, CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS. And the serious Gain-Gingrich debate. But...

Why don’t I just copy the phrase “and so the bar is lowered again on our politics” and repaste it? Because I have to say it again: and so the bar is lowered again on our politics: it now seems as if Republican candidates could show up to for a debate moderated by one of America’s most prominent birthers, Donald Trump. It’s hard to see how the Republicans want to seriously try and...

LEW TABACKIN If you’re not an aficionado of jazz, you’ll probably want to skip this post. But if you are, read on and groove to the sounds and sensations of Zoot Fest 2011. Zoot Fest is an annual do in honor of two of the all-time great sax players — John Haley “Zoot” Sims and Alvin Gilbert “Al” Cohn (photo, below left). Long story short, Cohn was among...

If you boil it down, here’s the song that with a slight bit of adaption is what conservatives are singing to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney:

One of my most prized possessions comes from the days when I did limited autograph collecting and wrote to famous movie stars, tv stars and performers who I loved all my life. One was the famous voice of cartoons and radio comedy genius Mel Blanc, who did the voice of Bugs Bunny and others. He wrote on the photo: “Ehh, what’s up, Joe?” There are host of actors who are seldom seen who do voices...

This time CNN gets it…

There are a bunch of classic songs that remind me of the race or the 2012 Republican nomination. There’s something about the songs where all they’d need is a change in lyrics and they’d fit. For instance, this one immediately comes to mind when I watch the debates: Each time they debate and the moderator introduces the candidates, each candidate comes out and instantly communicates his/her...

Must viewing. Politics is everywhere. Even at the Thanksgiving table with the Peatnuts cartoon crowd… Sheer genius. The only problem: the dubbed in dialogue is too childish to have ever really appeared on a Charlie Brown special. h/T Mediaite

The month is almost over, so here’s our Band of the Month.

In Thomas Pynchon’s Gravity’s Rainbow (a book that you’ve either read or will never read, so there’s no spoiler here) Yank Tyrone Slothrop turns out to have been the infamous (within psychological conditioning circles) Baby Tyrone. Young Baby (as opposed to Old Baby, which would be Toddler) Tyrone is conditioned to a Pavlovian response. And, when the scientists realize that the experiment...

While there were many things I didn’t like about Dr. Laura I did always enjoy the fact that every Thanksgiving she would have her corny joke episode. The last day before Thanksgiving was dedicated to everyone calling in with their corniest jokes. Since things on the net sometimes take longer to filter I thought I’d start us out earlier. So chime in with those corny jokes (and feel free to share your...

Forget the political song and dance. Just for a moment. Take a break. And enjoy a classic and soothing one:

It was November 29, 1981 and Hollywood star Natalie Wood had a few days off over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend from shooting Brainstorm. She and actor-husband Robert Wagner were doing what they often did on weekends, spending some time on their yacht Splendor, which was docked at Isthmus Cove on Catalina Island, drinking and drugging. Christopher Walken , who also was appeared in Brainstorm, was with them. The...

An impression of Bumble the Beadle is Newt Gingrich’s latest turn in a one-man show of Dickens impressions as he tells Harvard students that he wants to turn schools into workhouses by hiring poor kids as janitors: “You’re in a school that is failing with a teacher that is failing…Most of these schools ought to get rid of the unionized janitors, have one master janitor and pay local students...

I don’t often get to watch Jon Stewart, but last night as I sat in my hotel room here in Barboursvillle, West Virginia, I watched The Daily Show — and Stewart’s devastating take on Herman Cain’s brain freeze. Here it is: The Daily ShowGet More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook These kinds of segments hurt a candidate. Once they...

It’s February 2013. It’s 3 A.M. The phone rings in the President’s bedroom — it has an urgent ring. Finally the President picks up the phone. The voice of his National Security Advisor, John Bolton: “Mr. President, we have a serious situation developing in Asia.” The President: “Asia? Which Asia? Can’t you be more specific than that …” Bolton: “In China, Mr. President.” The...

Luojie, China Daily, China This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

This originally appeared on May 24, 2010, months BEFORE the “Tea Party” election. Let’s all see how prophetic* it was, or wasn’t, shall we? [* Certainly it was for NPR, which started a three part series on the Renaissance of Medievalist Ayn today. I had already reprinted this on MY blog Sunday. ] No. He wasn’t named after Ayn Rand, although he ought to have been. Suddenly, the...

Nate Beeler, The Washington Examiner This copyrighted story is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

When CNN anchor Don Lemon released his autobiography “Transparent” several months ago the big news “peg” was that in the book he noted that in the book he announced that he was gay. This was the fact that seemed at the center of many new and old media stories about him and his book at the time. And then there was the racial component added to it: his experience of being gay and black...

I normally DVR SNL, but last night my wife and I stayed up a tad bit later to watch the opening sketches. Andy Samberg’s new digital short sent us straight to bed. I have to rank last night’s “Wish It Would Rain” digital short as one of the worst things ever aired on SNL. It is not necessary to explain why it is such an awful piece of television history. The video exists, and that...