Who2 Editorial Blog

Kraziest Romantic Rumor of the Day

2008-11-20T08:20:00.000-08:00

Paris Hilton and Prince William?

Fox News is on the case. But they're joking, right?

Voters Send Ted Stevens Into the Wild

2008-11-19T06:11:00.000-08:00

85-year-old Senator Ted Stevens is out, according to the Anchorage Daily News. Challenger Mark Begich has a lead of 3,724 votes with about 2,500 left to count.

Stevens still came within a whisker of being the first U.S. senator ever elected after being convicted of a felony. He's been a senator since 1968.

75 Years of Yak

2008-11-19T05:48:00.001-08:00

Talk show host Larry King was born 75 years ago today.

He was the first baby to be born with suspenders instead of an umbilical cord. His first words were, "How did it feel for you to give birth to me just now?"

Others born that same year: Johnny Unitas, Yoko Ono and King Kong.

LIFE by Google

2008-11-19T05:01:00.001-08:00

LIFE magazine and Google have teamed up to offer "millions of photographs from the LIFE archive" via Google search.

It's the first collection to show how much Queen Victoria and Louis Armstrong look alike.

But let's not be silly. The photos are full of wonderful surprises: Neil Armstrong lighting a cigar and looking like a flyboy instead of an icon, for instance.

A search for Harry Truman turns up photos of his brother, J. Vivian Truman. (Who knew?)

The photos go up through the 1970s, when LIFE stopped publishing as a weekly. What a run it was, and what a terrific resource it is.

Warm thanks to editor Paul Hehn for the tip-off on this swell new feature.

Happy 80th Birthday, Chairman Mouse!

2008-11-18T12:23:00.000-08:00

Mickey Mouse turns 80 today.

18 November 1928 is Mickey's official birthday, according to the Walt Disney Company. That's the date of the cheerful rodent's first public appearance in the cartoon short Steamboat Willie (below).

Nowadays, of course, he is Chairman Mouse, the icon and ambassador for all things Disney. You've come a long way, Mickey, thanks to grit, determination, and big ears. We look forward to celebrating your 100th in 2028.

(Side note for animation buffs: Mickey was born in the same month and year as Osamu Tezuka, the "Walt Disney of Japan." Tezuka, according to legend, saw Disney's Bambi 80 times before his death in 1989.)

New Yorkers, White Russians, and The Big Lebowski

2008-11-18T11:56:00.000-08:00

"The fest wrapped up with the awarding of trophies. The man in the iron lung -- who came as the incapacitated father of the brat who steals the Dude's car -- picked up his costume prize with a White Russian balanced on his apparatus, while the furthest-travelled award went to a Jesus from Croatia."

The Guardian on the just-completed Lebowski Fest 2008.

Trillin Talks Texas

2008-11-17T15:44:00.000-08:00

Reading that the best barbecue in Texas was at Snow's, in Lexington, I felt like a People subscriber who had picked up the "Sexiest Man Alive" issue and discovered that the sexiest man alive was Sheldon Ludnick, an insurance adjuster from Terre Haute, Indiana, with George Clooney as the runner-up.

I had warned the Texas Monthly crowd that if they were looking for confirmation of their ranking by an objective outlander, someone from Kansas City was not likely to provide it. A jazz fan taken to a rock concert might admire the musical technique, but he probably wouldn’t make an ecstatic rush to the stage... Still, what Burka had ordered was good enough to make me forget that we were eating a huge meal of barbecue at a time on Saturday morning when most people were starting to wonder what they might rustle up for breakfast once they bestirred themselves.

Calvin Trillin, three Texans, and a vegetarian visit Snow's barbecue.

OK, Daddy's President-Elect -- Now Go to School

2008-11-16T20:18:00.001-08:00

"Barack, you slept in. You know, so I think we were just back into the routine. Our hopes are to just to keep the girls moving. It's like okay, Daddy's president-elect, okay, we can get to school by 10."

Jovial interview by 60 Minutes with Barack and Michelle Obama. They sure come off as a fun, connected couple.

Also, news alert: The First Dog will not arrive until after January 20th.

Is Your TV Ready for Digital?

2008-11-14T09:29:00.000-08:00

Cruel, funny, probably true. February 17th is the Day of Confusion.

"I Think He Was Probably in 20 Homes That Day"

2008-11-14T07:25:00.001-08:00

William Ayers appeared on the chat show Good Morning America today, talking about the fairly hysterical accusations that Barack Obama "launched his political career" in the Ayers living room.

Campaign Boogeyman William Ayers Talks to GMA is how ABC News headlines its story, and it's hard to tell whether that's being ironical, aggressive, or just telling it like it is. Perhaps it's always hard to figure that these days.

The Chicago Tribune has actually better full quotes from the talk. Ayers defends quite firmly his violent opposition to the Vietnam War:

"I think the dishonest narrative is one to demonize me," he said. "Let's remember that what you call a violent past, that was at a time that thousands of people were being murdered by our government every month, and those of us who fought to end that war were actually on the right side. So if we want to replay that history, I would reject the whole notion that demonizing me or the Weather Underground is relevant."

And regarding that living room:

"I was asked by the state senator to have a coffee for Barack Obama when he first ran for office," Ayers said. "We had him in our home, and I think he was probably in 20 homes that day... It's not at all true that he sought me out to listen to my radical ideas, or that I sought him out."

An 8-minute-long video recap of his appearance is available with that ABC story.

Who's Cooler?

2008-11-13T21:34:00.000-08:00

Barack or Vlad? (Or Nic?)

Obama Praises 'Puppy Power'

2008-11-13T14:56:00.001-08:00

Best First Dog video so far:

(Nice shout-out to Scrappy-Doo at the end, too.)

'The Times' Is Gaga for James Bond

2008-11-13T07:50:00.000-08:00

The Times of London is way, way on the James Bond bandwagon.

Dig their giant 007 supersite.

The map of Bond haunts is especially terrific. Ditto the reader's guide to Bond and Ian Fleming.

"Suddenly he was off, writing in a fast, uninhibited manner and by lunch he had already typed 2,000 words... Fleming claimed he had even found the name of his hero by chance: A Field Guide to the Birds of the West Indies, by a certain James Bond, was sitting on his bookshelf."

The Quantum of Solace trailer, one final time before the film reaches American screens today.

Jean-Claude Van Damme, Thespian

2008-11-12T18:18:00.000-08:00

He's back!

'Peru Offers Bald Toothless Dog to Obama Family'

2008-11-12T07:09:00.001-08:00

Headline of the day on the First Dog watch.

Here's the photo.

Some of them have mohawks.

New Obama Code Names: Mustang and Malibu

2008-11-11T20:52:00.000-08:00

I'm still steaming over the nutty code names the Secret Service has given to Barack and Michelle Obama.

Renegade and Renaissance? Are you kidding me?

Since the Obamas are occupied elsewhere these days, I am taking up the issue on their behalf.

First off, as code names they're worse than clumsy -- they're not convincing. They sound like the krazy automobile names suggested to Ford by poet Marianne Moore back in the 1950s. Why not call Obama "Utopian Turtletop" and Michelle "Intelligent Whale" and be done with it?

How hard can it be to come up with short, punchy code names? There must be a whole branch of the CIA devoted to it. Couldn't the Secret Service borrow a few?

I could pull better code names from practically anywhere. Jump back to automobile names, for instance. How about, say, Charger and Chevelle? Pacer and Pinto? Mustang and Malibu?

Or try original NHL hockey franchises: Ranger and Redwing. Early ABA mascots: Colonel and Cougar. (Well, Ms. Obama might object to that one.) Fast food: Whopper and Wendy. Cigarette brands: Viceroy and Vantage!

Any legitimate Secret Service agent would blush to mutter into a walkie-talkie, "Renegade and Renaissance are now leaving the building." But "Mustang and Malibu"? That's pretty cool.

And what better way to show solidarity with the struggling auto industry?

Got a better suggestion? Post it below.

Happy Veteran's Day

2008-11-11T06:46:00.000-08:00

Here's a salute to the soldiers, sailors, generals, flyboys and even parachutists who got us to where we are today. Thanks, old friends.

Dopiest Secret Code Names Ever?

2008-11-10T21:47:00.000-08:00

Renegade. Renaissance. Radiance. Rosebud.

Those, says the Chicago Tribune, are the Secret Service code names for Barack Obama and (respectively) Michelle, Malia and Sasha Obama.

Presidential code names aren't used for security any more, says The Tribune, and the Secret Service can't seem to keep them secret anyway. Even so, don't Renegade and Renaissance seem just a little complicated? And similar? Why not something simple, like Rock and Ruby?

I prefer to think that the Secret Service really DOES have short, useful code names for the First Family, but they leak these flowery phony ones to distract us all from the real items.

That story lists other oddball nicknames from years past. Gerald Ford was Passkey? Ted Kennedy was Sunburn?

Maybe Renegade isn't so bad.

And I do wonder if the name is a sly twist on Maverick, the nickname of the guy Obama defeated to get here.

The First Brother-In-Law's New Gig

2008-11-09T05:50:00.000-08:00

Michelle Obama's big brother has a new job too.

Doris and Dorothy Day: Sisters in Confusion

2008-11-08T09:19:00.000-08:00

Actress Doris Day and activist Dorothy Day have little in common besides similar names -- and the challenges they pose to anyone trying to document the details of their early lives.

The trouble spots are Doris's name and age, and Dorothy's daughter's birthdate.

Doris first. A.E. Hotchner's Doris Day: Her Own Story (William and Morrow, 1975), written with Doris' cooperation, offers this testimony: "I was born Doris Kappelhoff" (p. 18). But Garry McGee's Doris Day -- Sentimental Journey (McFarland & Co., 2006) says she was named Doris Mary Anne von Kappelhoff: "The 'von' was eliminated...shortly after Doris's birth" (p. 6).

Philip Kaufman's giant 626-page biography, Doris Day: The Untold Story of the Girl Next Door (Virgin Books, 2008), gives her father's name as William Kappelhoff (no "von") and her name as simply Doris Kappelhoff. Kaufman also firmly states her birth year as 1922 -- two years before the more commonly-accepted year of 1924.

(As longtime Who2 readers know, when someone in the entertainment business has two possible birth years, we tend to give more weight to the older year. Actors and actresses in particular have plenty of incentive to make themselves seem younger than they are, and little incentive to seem older.)

Now on to Dorothy. Biographers, sainthood advocates and most Internet sites seem settled on 3 March 1927, as the birthdate of her daughter, Tamar. Until, that is, you consult the curator of the extensive Dorothy Day archives at Marquette University.

"There are numerous documents supporting 1926 as the year of Tamar's birth," archivist Phillip Runkel tells Who2. "Also, we know that Dorothy asked her to wait until she turned 18 before she got married, and that marriage occurred in April 1944. Dorothy refers many times in her diaries and appointment books to the 4th of March as Tamar's birthday." Dorothy's autobiography, The Long Loneliness (Harper & Row, 1952) isn't much help. She's vague on the year, the only clue being her mention of the 1927 execution of Sacco and Vanzetti happening after Tamar's birth, but it's hard to tell how long.

So for Dorothy Day we'll buck the Tamar tide, trust the guy with the primary sources at his fingertips, and cast our lot with 4 March 1926 as Tamar's birthdate.

As for Dorothy's name: We'll stick with her own testimony of Doris Kappelhoff for her name, but side with biographer Kaufman for her birth year of 1922.

(Thanks to Hollywood and Religion Desk editor Hans Holznagel for this post.)

New Profile: The First Dog

2008-11-08T05:26:00.000-08:00

By popular demand, we've profiled the as-yet-unknown First Dog of the Barack Obama administration.

Obama told his daughters Malia and Sasha in his election-night speech that they had "earned the new puppy that's coming with us to the White House."

This set off a public First Dog Frenzy, with a question about the dog even popping up at Obama's first press conference on Friday.

We don't normally profile figures who don't exist yet, but for the First Dog we'll make an exception. And we'll update our profile as the Obamas choose their pup.

'Trumpet-Lunged' Billy Graham is 90

2008-11-07T05:14:00.000-08:00

Evangelist Billy Graham turns 90 today.

"A blond, trumpet-lunged North Carolinian" Time called him in its 1949 article about his breakthrough "Christ for Greater Los Angeles" tent revival.

Graham is said to have preached to more souls than anyone in the history of the world. As our profile notes, Graham has "consulted and prayed with every U.S. president from Dwight Eisenhower to George Bush the younger."

Somehow Graham stayed (mostly) non-partisan in politics, and his 69-year ministry has been free of the scandals and peccadilloes that have bitten so many other ambitious national preachers.

Graham is now back in North Carolina for good. He's been in poor health the last few years and held his last crusade in 2005. Ruth, his wife of 63 years, died last year.

But he still likes corn dogs from Sonic drive-ins.

Happy birthday, Mr. Graham!

Obama Names Ballet-Dancing, Finger-Missing Chief of Staff

2008-11-06T20:43:00.000-08:00

Rahm Emanuel, just named as Barack Obama's chief of staff, is the newest member of Who2's most famous loop: Celebs Missing Fingers.

It's a proud group. Emanuel joins Russian hero Boris Yeltsin, actress Daryl Hannah, and outlaw Jesse James, all of whom are missing one full joint or more. (Rahm's story involves his right middle finger, an Arby's meat slicer, and a swim in Lake Michigan.)

Here's the proof:

But wait: Always the overachiever, Mr. Emanuel also turned down a scholarship with the prestigious Joffrey Ballet as a teenager. (No foolin'!) That lands him in a second Who2 loop, Ballet Castaways.

And thank heavens, because otherwise that loop is all actresses.

Good luck at the White House, Mr. Emanuel!

And How Did You Spend YOUR Day?

2008-11-06T19:02:00.001-08:00

"Obama spent part of Thursday in Chicago making calls to world leaders. Aides said his conversations were with Prime Minister Rudd of Australia, Prime Minister Harper of Canada, President Sarkozy of France, Chancellor Merkel of Germany, Prime Minister Olmert of Israel, Prime Minister Aso of Japan, President Calderon of Mexico, President Lee of South Korea and Prime Minister Brown of the United Kingdom."

-The Chicago Tribune describes Barack Obama's Thursday afternoon.

'A Disastrous Marriage Drove Emily Post to Etiquette'

2008-11-06T05:41:00.001-08:00

So says a new biography of politeness pro Emily Post.