R.I.P. Mr. Cool Hand Luke

One of my personal favorites passed away, legendary actor Paul Newman. His career needs no accolades, his movies and his life speak for themselves. I remember watching one of my favorite movies "Cool Hand Luke" in the tenth grade at school, I was so impressed with him then and always loved his work. This is a movie for the ages and I will honor him by watching it today (for the 50th time) and just marvel at the way he did his craft. A true legend, I know he will be missed by millions.

(Reuters) - Legendary film star and philanthropist Paul Newman, whose brilliant blue eyes, good looks and talent made him one of Hollywood's top actors over six decades, has died, a spokesman said on Saturday. He was 83 and had been battling cancer.

Following are some facts about Newman:

* Newman was nominated for Academy Awards for acting in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," "The Hustler," "Hud," "Cool Hand Luke," "Absence of Malice," "The Verdict," "Nobody's Fool" and "The Road to Perdition," as well best film for directing wife Joanne Woodward in "Rachel, Rachel." He won as best actor for "The Color of Money" in 1986.

* He started the Newman's Own food line in 1982 with salad dressing and later added popcorn, salsa, marinades, spaghetti sauce, lemonade, cereal and steak sauce. The products generated more than $200 million in donations to charities. Newman also founded camps for severely ill children and a foundation to fight drug abuse.

* Married since 1958 to a fellow Oscar winner, the actress Joanne Woodward, Newman had one of Hollywood's rare enduring marriages. Asked for the secret, Newman said he had no reason to roam: "I have steak at home. Why should I go out for a hamburger?"

* Newman's trademark blue eyes were color blind, which prevented him from pursuing his goal of becoming a Navy pilot in World War Two.

* A supporter of liberal Democratic presidential nominee Eugene McCarthy in 1968, Newman ended up on President Richard Nixon's "enemies list." He said it was "the highest single honor I've ever received."

* His starring role in "Winning" in 1969 inspired Newman to pursue auto racing. His first professional race was in 1972 and he continued competing into his 70s.

* Newman was so ashamed of his first movie role, the 1954 flop "The Silver Chalice," that he took out a newspaper ad in Los Angeles to apologize. Continued...

* His last major film acting role was playing a gangster opposite Tom Hanks in "Road to Perdition" in 2002. It earned him an Oscar nomination but in 2007 Newman told ABC TV that his acting career was essentially over. "I'm not able to work any more as an actor and still at the level I would want to ... so that's pretty much a closed book for me," he said.

* Newman had a reputation for practical jokes and reportedly once cut director George Roy Hill's desk in half with a chainsaw and put 300 chicks into director Robert Altman's trailer.

(Writing by Bill Trott; Editing by Patricia Zengerle)

SOURCE: http://www.reuters.com

===============================================



Memorable quotes for Cool Hand Luke (1967)


Dragline: He's a natural born world-shaker.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Boss: Sorry, Luke. I'm just doing my job. You gotta appreciate that.
Luke: Nah - calling it your job don't make it right, Boss.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Captain, Road Prison 36: What we've got here is... failure to communicate. Some men you just can't reach. So you get what we had here last week, which is the way he wants it... well, he gets it. I don't like it any more than you men.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Luke: I can eat fifty eggs.
Dragline: Nobody can eat fifty eggs.
Society Red: You just said he could eat anything.
Dragline: Did you ever eat fifty eggs?
Luke: Nobody ever eat fifty eggs.
Prisoner: Hey, Babalugats. We got a bet here.
Dragline: My boy says he can eat fifty eggs, he can eat fifty eggs.
Loudmouth Steve: Yeah, but in how long?
Luke: A hour.
Society Red: Well, I believe I'll take part of that wager.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dragline: Nothin'. A handful of nothin'. You stupid mullet head. He beat you with nothin'. Just like today when he kept comin' back at me - with nothin'.

Luke: Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dragline: He was smiling... That's right. You know, that, that Luke smile of his. He had it on his face right to the very end. Hell, if they didn't know it 'fore, they could tell right then that they weren't a-gonna beat him. That old Luke smile. Oh, Luke. He was some boy. Cool Hand Luke. Hell, he's a natural-born world-shaker.




Goodbye, Mr. Cool Hand Luke

CD sales continue to fall, vinyl sales push up

So what else is new? Here's an interesting article- Hail Vinyl !

The future of CD sales continues to look bleak as consumers turn to digital formats and other media devices, such as vinyl.

As the music industry reaches out into online markets, a dwindling CD audience has become the target of other media devices.

"There are lots of reasons that media device sales are down," said Stephanie Taylor, recording industry law professor at MTSU. "One reason is that games, movies and other devices like those directly compete with CD sales. Each company is thinking about the disposable income of its consumers."

Read the rest of the story here: http://tinyurl.com/3s3ao5

Can a Metallica album be too loud?

Even Heavy-Metal Fans Complain

That Today's Music Is Too Loud!!!

They Can't Hear the Details, Say Devotees of Metallica; Laying Blame on iPods

Can a Metallica album be too loud?

The very thought might seem heretical to fans of the legendary metal band, which has been splitting eardrums with unrivaled power since the early 1980s.

But even though Metallica's ninth studio release, "Death Magnetic," is No. 1 on the album chart, with 827,000 copies sold in two weeks, some fans are bitterly disappointed: not by the songs or the performance, but the volume. It's so loud, they say, you can't hear the details of the music.

Read the rest of the story here:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122228767729272339.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Classic Rock Videos

One of the all-time great doo wop groups

Album Cover Art

We're moving along on Gigwise's top 50 most controversial, weirdest, best and worst list of album covers.

Controversial


32. Ministry: 'Dark Side Of The Spoon' Don't you just love naked fat people-seems to be a theme of sorts. At least we didn't get the frontal view.

Dark Side of the Spoon is the seventh studio album by industrial metal band Ministry, released in 1999 through Warner Bros. Records. There are two theories behind the title, the first being a play on words, as it is easily noticed as a parody of The Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd. The second is a reference to the blackened or dark side of a spoon when heated to dissolve heroin, as the band suffered from addiction of said substance at the time. "Bad Blood" was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance at the Grammy Awards of 2000.

The album's cover generated some controversy when retailer K Mart refused to stock it in its stores. This from Rolling Stone Magazine:

""We took a look at it and said it's not something that we normally carry," says Kmart spokesperson Dennis Wigent. Kmart specifically objects to the naked overweight woman seen wearing a dunce cap on the album cover. The same woman, shown only from behind and always naked, reappears on the back cover and three times on the jacket sleeve.

"I thought that people would probably be offended by it, but not to the degree that it would be offensive," says Ministry bassist Paul Barker. "I think it's really beautifully composed. It's just how we want to have the band represented for this record and the social satire involved in it. It's a highly developed concept and I think it was perfectly realized."

On the cover, the naked woman stands in front of a blackboard where the words "I will be god" are written over and over again. Barker says the band has no intention of using an alternate cover of Dark Side of the Spoon -- perhaps one with a clothed woman -- to conform to Kmart's standards. "The corpulence of it is part and parcel to the whole concept," Barker says. "So if the person were clad, you wouldn't necessarily notice."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Weird

32. Peter Gabriel: ' III' Seems to me we have seen this one before, (logged in at # 34-best album cover). I guess it was so well liked that it was put up twice, one of the weirdest. Hmmm. makes me think we may see it again

-------------------------------------------




Worst


32. Bob Dylan – ‘Saved’ Saved is Bob Dylan's 20th studio album, released by Columbia Records in 1980. Amen brother.

Saved was Dylan's second album to follow his conversion to born-again Christianity, explored on the album's predecessor (1979's well-received Slow Train Coming). Every song on the album is about strong personal faith and features heavy gospel influences; unlike the previous record, many critics dismissed Saved for its dogmatic songs and bombastic arrangements. While it still made a healthy #3 in the UK, it only managed #24 during a brief chart stay in the US and never went gold.

The cover of Saved originally featured a painting by Tony Wright of God's hand reaching down to touch the hands of his believers. However, this cover was subsequently replaced by a painting of Dylan on stage performing during that time period in order to downplay the overtly religious nature of the original cover. It has since been changed back on some re-releases.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Best


32. The Stone Roses: ‘The Stone Roses’ Why this is among the 'best' covers is anyone's guess, I'm not overly impressed. I'm still thinking about the duck from yesterday to be impressed by this (plus I hate lemons).

The Stone Roses were an English alternative rock band formed in Manchester in 1984. They were one of the pioneering groups of the Madchester movement that was active during the late 1980s and early 1990s. The band's original lineup consisted of Ian Brown (vocals), John Squire (guitar), Andy Couzens (guitar), Pete Garner (bass) and Alan "Reni" Wren (drums). Couzens and Garner left in 1987. Couzens' position was left vacant and Garner was replaced by Gary "Mani" Mounfield in 1987, and this completed the band's most visible lineup. Reni would depart in 1995 and was replaced by Robbie Maddix, and a year later Squire departed and was replaced by Aziz Ibrahim. Nigel Ippinson joined the band in 1995.

Their 1989 debut album The Stone Roses quickly achieved the status of a classic in the UK, and topped NME's list of the Greatest British Albums of All Time.[1] The band decided to capitalise on their success by signing to a major label, but Silvertone would not let them out of their contract, which led to a long legal battle. The band signed with Geffen Records in 1991, but it wouldn't be until 1994 that they released another album, Second Coming. The album had a heavier sound to it, which was not well received by the press. After experiencing several lineup changes throughout the supporting tour, the band decided to disband after its completion and associated touring.