Let me be straight from the get-go; I am no fan of Mariah Carey. I was horrified when she took to Nilsson’s seventies ballad ‘Without You’ and butchered it, in my opinion, with her vocal calisthenics.
But now there’s a third version that has set it all to rights. I really, really want you to hear it. I believe it’s s one of the best things ever to come out of Bulgaria.
More of that in a moment …
But first some classic movies painted in the style of ancient Turkish miniatures. See Jack Nicholson beating down a door with an axe in the two dimensional style of Ottoman portraiture. What’s not to like?
And now that you’ve had your share of culture, head over to Piper Bayard’s blog, and get yourself a mashed potato slurpee (yum!) and see how Star Trek SHOULD have ended.
And now, in case the mashed potato slurpee didn’t give you indigestion, something that will. Here’s Joe Konrath describing how Harlequin Press are ripping off their own authors. Not exactly a feel good story, is it? And if that wasn’t bad enough, here’s Indie Reader’s take on Penguin’s new business model. Makes you feel good to be a writer, doesn’t it?
On a brighter note, have a look at 9 UTTERLY BEWILDERING MOVIE TITLE TRANSLATIONS. I love that the Japanese changed ‘Twister’ to ‘Cloudzilla.’ It makes more sense than some of the others anyway.
And finally if you’re a fan of old movies, you may remember a guy called Robert Mitchum. With that busted-up face, he was the antithesis of the clean-cut American hero. He looked like he’d lived a little. And he had: Catie Rhodes gives us the low down on bad Bob’s life of crime before he hit the silver screen.
And so to Ken Lee. I can’t get the chorus out of my head, I’ve been singing it all day. And the great thing with this song - it’s impossible to get the words wrong.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQt-h753jHI&w=420&h=315]
POSTSCRIPT: The above is an excerpt from Bulgarian TV’s version of ‘Music Idol’ in 2008; the lady - Valentina Hasan - became an internet sensation and for a while was the second most viewed performer on YouTube.
Brilliant.
And as we’ve been talking about Ottoman miniatures, I’ll keep with the Turkish theme with a quick word from our sponsors:
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“A page-turner . . . This peek behind the walls of the seraglio will seduce lovers of large-scale historical fiction.” - Booklist
Thanks for plugging my blog here, Colin. That mashed potato slurpee on Piper’s blog made a fast sound like a good idea to me. Of course, as I said there, it be really good. If I could force myself to ingest it.
Pleasdure - I have always been a big fan of Robert Mitchum. As for the slurpee … it actually just looks like KFC mash potato to me and probably tastes about the same. What’s next - cheeseburger flavored ice cream??