A coconut opening contest. Hawaii vs Trinidad (warning some adult language). TMV thanks Roger Gandelman for the tip.

Separated at birth? Roseanne Roseannadanna and Michele Bachmann? Here’s one: The other:

The Republican presidential hopefuls are having another debate again. If Texas Gov. Rick Perry has another “OOPS!” then this should become his campaign theme song:

Texas Gov. Rick Perry has done some very impressive by-the-book damage control to try and undo the damage from his classic will-be-shown-for-generations brain freeze during the recent Republican Presidential candidates debate. He has explained, in effect apologized to his followers and deftly used humor. Last night he used humor by doing a perfectly delivered Top 10 List on David Letterman. In a scripted bit...

Here it is. Back by popular demand (from two younger TMV readers): The famous Sy Si routine that Jack Benny did with Mel Blanc (who did the voices of Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig,Tweety, Daffy Duck, Yosemite Sam, Speedy Gonzales, Sylvester, Barney Rubble, Dino the Dino and a host of others): Benny loved this routine and did it again: And again: Even in his final years, he loved doing it. Here he is on Johnny Carson,...

Memo to Clint Eastwood: This admirer of your mature work is going to pass on the new Hoover movie. Even public monsters have inner lives, but some are beyond my capacity to care about, such as those of a man who built a self-glorifying empire by blackmail in Washington, ruining reputations, holding Presidents hostage in a personal police state and relentlessly hounding the century’s greatest exemplar of human...

Jon Huntsman is increasingly taking on the role of a guy who has no chance of becoming the Republican presidential nominee but is going to speak his mind about the clown car that the party has become as his wisp of a campaign flickers and dies out. But Huntsman outdid himself today in praising Don Van Vliet aka Captain Beefheart (attention TMV commenter Rudi), a stage shy and obscure-by-choice rocker and writer...

Many of rock ‘n’ roll’s legends get better with age. Guitar gods Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton are playing better than ever. Bonnie Raitt, too. Which bring us to vocalist-acoustic guitarist Jon Anderson and keyboard virtuoso Rick Wakeman, two members of the original Yes. Anderson and Wakeman aren’t Yes, of course, but like fine wine that has been down in the cellar for more years than...

Andy Rooney, a former war correspondent, CBS’s longtime icon, a favorite of viewers, and a role model to those who aspired to broadcast and/or print commentary — someone who could write his copy as well as read it and communicate to viewers — is dead at 92. He had just retired last month: (CBS News) Andy Rooney, the “60 Minutes” commentator known to generations for his wry, humorous...

RJ Matson, The St. Louis Post Dispatch Here’s a cross section of Herman Cain jokes done on TV by late night comedians (culled from various posts on the web): “Two women have accused Herman Cain of sexually suggestive behavior in the ’90s. He said no. He was just explaining to them his 69-9-9 plan.” –Jay Leno “Herman Cain is having to respond to charges he once sexually harassed...

Violet’s dad has passed away. This means Charlie’s mother is, I believe, the only parent still living. According to family he was often asked to quote his epic line “Violet you’re turning violet Violet” and did so with great pleasure. Of course the sad thing is that he had decades of service in the entertainment industry but is only remembered for this. However if we can all take...

It’s official. Kris Humphries wanted to live in his native Minnesota. Kim Kardashian wanted to live in LA. They never discussed it before the wedding vows and didn’t work it out after the marriage. So what choice did Kim have? Divorce was the only solution. You can learn more about this theory of reality-show-for-profit romance, marriage and separation at TMZ . Not to worry though. USA Today is confident...

this from the South Bend Trib. the only newspaper within a many mile area from my small hometown population 600. Harry Houdini was like a folk hero where I grew up… and every year on Halloween, people waited til near midnight to tell the story, not of his life… but of his life after. You decide. Houdini was never convinced in his lifetime that the dead could contact the living. But he vowed to continue...

Fox plans to revive “In Living Color,” one of the better SNL descendent shows. But can it make a comeback? Comebacks are not always givens in entertainment since they must match or surpass the originals to survive comparison. GO HERE for a roundup.

by Walter Brasch In a few days, millions of children will put on costumes, go door to door, and shout “trick or treat.” By Nov. 1, it’ll be over. But, it won’t be over for Americans who will face presidential candidates for the next year. The candidates will continue to try to mask their true selves, while luring us with treats that disguise tricks. Let’s see what each of the candidates might be wearing...

College Basketball: The New Plantation System? by Mark Nuckols Acclaimed civil-rights historian Taylor Branch has an article “The Shame of College Sports” in the month’s The Atlantic./ The article mostly addresses the big money stakes of modern college sports, involving huge revenue streams as well as the careers of both athletic and academic administrators, and the not-so-petty corruption...

Jon Huntsman’s daughters have spoofed the now famous — or infamous depending on how agitated you were about the ad (I personally can’t see what all the fuss and pundit time spent on it was all about) — Herman Cain “smoking man” ad featuring. His daughters wear fake mustaches for part of the take off on Cain campaign manager Mark Block’s talking head ad and instead of...

Hard times in the 1930s produced a golden age in Hollywood as Americans, helpless in real life, sought escape at neighborhood movie houses. Today, those Depression classics are being remade and brought into our living rooms to be sold as reality. The GOP is doing the horror films. Frankenstein has morphed into mad scientists working feverishly in the lab to animate a new Rick Perry from old political body parts...

At least a dozen demons answer to the name Anonymous. At one time these demons had names, but they’ve lurked so long under the cloak of anonymity that their names have simply been forgotten. They abide in just about every corner of the blogosphere. Mean spirited comments attached to meaningless user names. Wickedness with a handle. Sin with a disembodied avatar. In the internet age we know more than...

Second prize in the GOP presidential contest is a lucrative stint as a commentator for Fox News, and the Pizza Man has a lock on that, which makes it surprising that Karl Rove is the first to count him out as the nominee. Holding up a list of Cain flip-flops and walkbacks, his future colleague decrees that it “has created an image of him as not being up to this task. That’s really deadly.” But in...

Celebrities: Their Childhood Halloween Antics by Danny Tyree My seven-year-old son Gideon has a year-round obsession with Halloween, and I sometimes wonder how that will manifest itself in adulthood. Of course, there’s also the flip side. How did today’s movers and shakers behave back in their younger days when they were MOVING apples in a tub and SHAKING plastic skeletons? My well-placed spies tell...

Watching a superb miniseries: Backstairs at the White House The series is based on a book by Maggie Rogers-Clark. In 1909 her mother went to work as a maid at the Taft White House. Her mother kept working there until the late 1930′s and in the informal era often took Maggie to work with her. Eventually Maggie went to work there full time, remaining on duty until 1961. Her book is thus a first hand account...

News from Libya provokes reactions as weird as the man himself: “CBS: Qaddafi. ABC: Gadhafi. NBC: Khaddafy,” tweets a White House correspondent. A satellite radio reporter adds: “Gadhafi is dead–someone reach into his wallet and look at his driver’s license so we finally know how to spell his last name!” Along with death jokes, a tyrant’s last minutes are on prime-time in a cellphone...

I just witnessed the official premiere of Saving Aimee at Seattle’s 5th Avenue Theater. First breath requires I honor the spectacular radiance of Saving Aimee’s lead, Carolee Carmello. Her portrayal of Evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson is best categorized as anointed. It would be inappropriate to avoid religious imagery in relaying her gloriously captivating performance. Carmello anchors Saving...

Here’s then Godfather’s Pizza CEO singing “Imagine There’s No Pizza” in 1991 — beautifully. So now we have the answer as to whether Cain is qualified to be President. Once in office Presidents give voters a song and dance. He’s half way there.