Monthly Archives: March 2020

When talking with the British tabloid Daily Star, the members of The Fizz say that their winning performance would be too politically incorrect in todays contest. They also have different views on if United Kingdom should take part in the contest or not.

As Bucks Fizz, the trio, Cheryl Baker, Jay Aston and Mike Nolan, along with former member Bobby G, won the Eurovision Song Contest 1981. Back in 2011, the group got into a legal conflict with Bobby G and later started performing under the name The Fizz.

At the interview, Mike Nolan reckons that the skirt-ripping routine would be too much for the contest today.

It would be too politically incorrect to rip the skirts off todaythe crap they come out with. I think the whole thing has got out of hand now. You cant even tell Englishman, Irishman, Scotsman jokes any more. Get a life! Get in the real world.

Jay Aston also feels some of the best British qualities are being ruined by the political correctness culture. She says that the British sense of humour is what makes this country great.

The three members of the group share different views on if United Kingdom should still take part in the contest. Mike says that the country should pull out of the contest.

Pull out it, it costs us a flaming fortune to enter to come down the bottom. Even if we have the best song, well never win because they just dont vote for you.

The two women of the group disagree and believe that the country should put on a good show to win the contest again. Jay says that instead of sending someone who stands there with a mic, they should do something very radical, put a show on.

Next year it has been 40 years since the group won the Eurovision Song Contest with the song Making Your Mind Up. Cheryl Baker says that they are planning some big things for the anniversary.

Next year is 40 years since we won so we are planning big things. We should go back to Eurovision as guests or to sing.

Would you like to see The Fizz back in the contest? Let us know below or on social media @ESCXTRA!

Excerpt from:
The Fizz think their 1981 performance would be "too politically incorrect" in 2020 - ESCXTRA.com

Educators do deserve better, and heres how

I am not an educator but my daughter earned two degrees in education and is a National Board Certified Teacher in elementary in Kentucky.

When educators lament their jobs are not from 7:30 to 2:30, they are absolutely right! They grade papers, prepare lesson plans, provide data for report cards, attend meetings and have professional development criteria that is required. These are AFTER school hours and sometimes in summer recess. Many times I tease my daughter about all the overtime/bonus pay she will earn. Sure, right!

Teaching can be rewarding but is also demanding, unsupported and stressful, more so than yesteryear. Many retire around age 55 and too many quit within five years. Others say Not for me after student teaching. When they want decent pay raises the taxpayers clamor. Their raises typically run from 0 to 2 percent, and too often 0 percent. The UAW won great concessions from their vehicle manufacturers. So who do you think pays for those? The buyer, of course these are buried in the vehicles costs. But folks pay and go on.

Besides teaching the mandated subjects, teachers bring much more to the classroom. They instill respect, politeness, patriotism, confidence, controlling behavior, compassion, dont give up, anything is possible, following rules/instructions and much, much more. These are worthy virtues that will follow one through life. These were not college courses, but values the teachers learned from their parents and teachers. Most teachers are parents, too, and want their students to also succeed.

Standardized tests: Too frequent and ever changing. Select one and use it several years to collect data and see the trends. The SAT/ACT tests have been around for decades and have masses of data. Refine if necessary, but not replace (If it aint broke, dont fix it!). When the line marker keeps moving, no one can ascertain good comparisons. And the tests should NOT be tied to educators performances. Too many variables. Kids are not equal in abilities or home environments. And not everyone is a good test taker. Tests can be mind-numbing with loss of concentration. Let teachers teach and NOT teach to tests.

Educators can find hidden abilities or talents which may make a difference in ones life. They fascinate, intrigue, and hone. I fondly remember my teachers and always respected them. One was an 8th grade science teacher who intrigued me in the science of chemistry. As a result, I earned a degree and had a 46 year career in chemical engineering.

Educators are due the respect of students, parents and the taxpayers. And those who control the purse strings need to loosen the strings more. A recent MSN online commentary by Gabrielle Olya is titled, Dont Waste Your Money on These 26 College degrees 7 of which are education related! [It is] based on mid-career salaries with 10+ years experience (extracted from PayScales College Salary Report).

My son and daughter were educated in the NAFCS. I was always pleased and had the utmost respect of their teachers. Both were well prepared for their studies at Purdue.

Teachers do make a difference and deserve better!

Robert Tylick

New Albany

I am as politically incorrect as anyone I know, to which this article will attest. The founding fathers clearly intended that service in the House or Senate be of a temporary nature; whereby an elected official would serve a term or two and then return to their private line of work. His or her time in office would be dedicated to ideas or bills that benefit the constituents back home, as well as the Nation as a whole.

Instead, our system has created a new occupation, that of a professional politician. Instead of serving a limited period of time and returning to private life, a person can at present spend 30, 35 or 40 years in government, preventing new people with new ideas from presenting them for that entire period.

Almost everyone I have contacted believes in term limits for both houses of Congress; even the president is limited to two terms, why should Congress be any different? Trying to get a bill through Congress in favor of a constitutional amendment would be hopeless, for obvious reasons; therefore the matter can only be solved by the people in an election. That is why I suggest the issue be put on the ballot in the form of a referendum in a national election. The terms could be worked out later if necessary. Failing this, and perhaps a better idea, is an amendment eliminating the retirement system for congressman, and putting them on Social Security, which would in effect ensure term limits, as most of them would want to go back to their professions in order to build up their earned retirement.

No other temporary job that I know of provides for ones retirement. Whoever heard of retiring from a temporary job.

John Kettler

Greenville

See the article here:
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR | Opinion - Evening News and Tribune

Bonner County Daily Bee - Entertainment, week roars with lots of great fun, entertainment '); $(this).addClass('expanded'); $(this).animate({ height: imgHeight + 'px' }); } } }); }); function closeExpand(element) { $(element).parent('.expand-ad').animate({ height: '30px' }, function () { $(element).parent('.expand-ad').removeClass('expanded'); $(element).remove(); }); } function runExpandableAd() { setTimeout(function() { $('.expand-ad').animate({ height: $('.expand-ad img').height() + 'px' }); }, 2000); setTimeout(function() { $('.expand-ad').animate({ height: '30px' }); }, 4000); } function customPencilSize(size) { var ratio = 960/size; var screenWidth = $('body').width(); if (screenWidth > 960) screenWidth = 960; $('.expand-ad__holder').parent('.ad').css('padding-bottom', (screenWidth / ratio) + 'px'); $('.expand-ad__holder').css({ height: (screenWidth / ratio) + 'px' }); $('.expand-ad').css({ height: (screenWidth / ratio) + 'px' }); $('.expand-ad img').css('height', 'auto'); $('.expand-ad embed').css('height', 'auto'); $('.expand-ad embed').css('width', '100%'); $('.expand-ad embed').css('max-width', '960px'); } function customSize(size, id) { var element = jQuery('script#' + id).siblings('a').children('img'); if (element.length 960) screenWidth = 960; element.css('height', (screenWidth / ratio) + 'px'); } (function () { window.addEventListener('message', function (event) { $(document).ready(function() { var expand = event.data.expand; if (expand == 'false') { $('.expand-ad__holder').removeClass('expand-ad__holder'); $('.expand-ad').removeClass('expand-ad'); } }); }, false); function loadIframe(size, id) { $('.ad').each(function () { var iframeId = $(this).children('ins').children('iframe').attr('name'); var element = $(this).children('ins').children('iframe'); if (element.length > 0) { var ratio = 960 / size; var screenWidth = $('body').width(); if (screenWidth > 960) screenWidth = 960; element.css('height', (screenWidth / ratio) + 'px'); } }); } })();

Read more here:
week roars with lots of great fun, entertainment - Bonner County Daily Bee

The problem with Jack London has always been that while he was a compelling storyteller with a vivid imagination, he was also a racist, or at least a writer who embraced racial ideas about the superiority of Anglo Saxons and the inferiority of African Americans, Asians and Latinos. Most of the racism thats embedded in The Call of the Wild, Londons 1903 best selling novel, has been expunged from the latest cinematic version starring Harrison Ford as John Thornton, the prospector in the Yukon who cares more for the wilderness and dogs than he does for gold.

Indeed, the 2020 film, which has a computer-generated canine hero, is as politically correct in its own way, as Londons story is politically incorrect at least by todays standards. Still, no criticism of the movie will prevent London fans from watching it and raving about it, flaws and all. To the faithful, London can do no wrong. He might have clay feet, but hes still their god.

I saw the movie in Sonoma, California, where London is a local hero and can do no wrong. Not many members of the audience had read The Call of the Wild. Also, they dont know much about London himself, but they think they know that he was a great writer.

This is not the first time that The Call of the Wild has been transposed from the page to the big screen. The 1935 version stars Clark Gable, Loretta Young and Jack Oakie. The 1973 remark features Charlton Heston. The 1996 version has a voice over by Richard Dreyfus and stars Rutger Hauer. Each movie carves out a territory of its own, and reflects the era in which it was made. None are true to Londons Weltanschauung, which he forged from his own rough-and-tumble life in Oakland and from his reading Nietzsche, Darwin and Marx.

The latest version offers a fairy-tale for our own era of global warming and environmental disaster. It describes a world with near pristine wilderness, the abundance of wild species, and little if any degradation of the natural world. Its unreal. In the Yukon in 1898, London witnessed the wanton destruction of the landscape by mining and miners digging, tearing and scouring the face of nature. At the same time, London argued that the Yukon offered unparalleled opportunities for capital and labor to work together to create wealth and jobs.

Screenwriter Michael Green and director Chris Sanders are two savvy moviemakers. While their version is a remake, its also a critique of The Call of the Wild.In the novel, Indians kill the prospector, John Thornton. In revenge, Buck kills some of Indianshes an Indian killerand enjoys the slaughter. Monsieur Perrault, the French Canadian mail courier, has been turned into a jolly African-American. His female companion on the trail looks like she might be a Native American, or at least a half-breed, as London would have called her.

In 50 books, London never created an African-American character, though an African-American ex-slave raised him and he called himself a white pickaninny. He was cheeky.

On screen, Harrison Ford looks and acts like an old explorer. Hes no longer a youthful voyager in outer space, nor an intrepid archeologist. As John Thornton, he plays everyones favorite uncle who spouts words of wisdom. Youre not my pet, he tells Buck. Do what your want.

Teddy Roosevelt, who was no fan of Londons work, would probably be bored out of his mind with the latest movie. More than a century ago, he accused London of faking it as a nature writer. London took the bait, rose to the occasion and defended the veracity of The Call of the Wild and White Fang.

I endeavored to make my stories in line with the facts of evolution, he insisted. I hewed them to the mark set by scientific research. While he staked his career to pseudo-science, he also touted empire and fumed about the savages of the colonial world. Mark Twain and William Dean Howells, formed The Anti-Imperialist League. London never joined. Others founded the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). London insisted that colored people had never advanced, that African Americans were closer to apes than humans. 1903, the year that saw the publication of The Call of the Wild, also saw the publication of The Souls of Black Folk in which the author, W.E.B. Du Bois, observed, The problem of the twentieth-century is the problem of the color-line.

Ironically, though London is best known for his embrace of the wild, he lived like a highly civilized country squire with servants and field workers on a vast estate he called Beauty Ranch where he ruled the roost paternalistically. In an essay titled The House Beautiful, he argued that he had to have servantsthey were a necessity but that their rooms would have light and fresh air and not be dens and holes. He added, It will be a happy houseor else Ill burn it down. It burned down, anyway, either by accident or arson. By the age of 40, London had burned himself up, but not before he made a fortune as a writer and became world famous on the back of the dog, Buck.

No twentieth-century American fiction writer poured out prose more beautiful than London, and no writer was more attached to the notion that someone had to be the top dog. No wonder that his own daughter, Joan, thought that if he had lived into the 1920s he would have become an admirer of Mussolini. The London faithful will have none of it.

Screenwriter Green and director Sanders have made a beautiful movie, and, though its not true to Londons political and social ideas, it does honor the spirit of adventure that pushed him to the Arctic and the South Seas. Moviegoers might enjoy the scenery and the special effects that make Buck look and sound like a real dog almost.

(Jonah Raskin is the editor of The Radical Jack London: Writings on War and Revolution, and of For The Hell of It: The Life and Times of Abbie Hoffman and American Scream: Allen Ginsbergs Howl and the Making of the Beat Generation.)

Read the rest here:
The Call of the Mild - Anderson Valley

The Fizz have insisted that their 1981 Eurovision routine would not go down well with today's audience.

The successful band insist that they would not be allowed to perform their risqu set today, due to the fact it would be too politically incorrect.

The British pop music group formed in 2004 as a spin-off from the original group, Bucks Fizz.

The core group members, Cheryl Baker, Mike Nolan and Jay Aston, put on one hell of a show at the 1981 Eurovision awards, and ended up coming back to the UK with the winning title.

With the hit 'Making Up Your Mind', the trio left audiences across the world with their jaws on the floor as their rather raunchy performance raised a few eyebrows.

In the middle of the set, Mike and Bobby tore off Cheryl and Jays maxi skirts to reveal much shorter and sexier versions underneath.

Speaking to The Daily Star, Mike admitted that whipping off a girls skirt on stage in today's society would be taken seriously.

"It would be too politically incorrect to rip the skirts off todaythe cr*p they come out with".

The singer insisted that 'things have gotten out of hand' in this day and age, and jokes are no longer tolerable as there's always one individual that takes offense.

"I think the whole thing has got out of hand now. You cant even tell Englishman, Irishman, Scotsman jokes any ore. Get a life! Get in the real world."

Jay also feels that people today take life way too seriously, and are simply waiting for a reason to be offended by something

She tells the publication: "People are scared to say things in case it offends someone. Its eroded our humour."

The line-up of the group has changed a number of times over the years, most famously when Jay Aston quit the group in 1985 and was replaced by Shelley Preston.

The Fizz - now perform under that name after a legal wrangle with original member Bobby G - are back with a whole new album Smoke & Mirrors which is out on Friday.

Today, two versions of the group exist: a version which includes original member Bobby G, and a version comprising the other three original members - Cheryl Baker, Mike Nolan and Jay Aston under the name The Fizz.

The group went on to have a successful career around the world, although they were commercially unsuccessful in the United States, but the UK remained their biggest market.

Bucks Fizz had three No.1 singles with Making Your Mind Up, The Land Of Make Believe and My Camera Never Dies.

They quickly became one of the top-selling groups of the 1980s.

They talented group also had UK Top 10 hits with Now Those Days Are Gone and When We Were Young.

Bucks Fizz have sold over 15 million records worldwide.

The group are eagerly awaiting this years UK performance in the Eurovision as James Newman heads on a quest to win the title with his track My Last Breath

The United Kingdom hasnt had much luck at Eurovision in recent years, with 2019s entry Michael Rice coming dead last with his song Bigger Than Us.

See the original post:
The Fizz insist their 1981 Eurovision routine would be too risqu for today's audience - Irish Mirror

Is it wrong, that for me, the Dodgers' last World Series Championship seems like yesterday? Well, it doesn't. I'm a Giants fan.

But, in 1988, I saw a film that couldn't have possibly been released 32-years ago. And maybe that's why most of my dental co-workers and youngster patients under fifty don't know what I'm talking about when I reference Hannah and Her Sisters. These days, I tend to minimize writer/director/actor Woody Allen because he's done some questionable stuff off the screen for the past three decades or so (although today, it wouldn't necessarily disqualify his hypothetical presidency.)

Anyway, in Hannah, Woody's hypochondriac character (Mickey) goes in for a routine medical exam, volunteers a history of occasional ringing in one ear, and winds up experiencing every conceivable clinical test short of exploratory surgery. Leading up to medical judgment day, Mickey's convinced he has a brain tumorbut the news is good. The favorable diagnosis leads to celebration, then a mortality accounting, and finally the pursuit of a religion with the best afterlife option.

The romantic comedy is complex; it deals with every combination and permutation of infidelity involving three sisters and their families during the span of consecutive Thanksgivings; the movie questions relationships and life itself. But when all is said and done, Mickey takes his favorite niece to the movies and a revival showing of the Marx Brothers in the farcical film, Duck Soup. Mickey has a breakthrough. While sharing the laughs and appreciating Groucho and his brothers, Mickey discovers the meaning of it all. Life is to be enjoyed, not understood.

And, what does all this Hannah stuff have to do with me? Everythingbut with no infidelity and only a few medical tests.

The past year has been a challenge. Still not Grand Marshall of the Camelia Parade; but there's more. I went to renegade USC. And I own a small business. Hear me whine. And it's confounding that even when you love your family and love serving people you see as family, life can still get in the way, cause distraction, and inspire reflection (for me, very hard work.)

Because my own family and aunts and uncles are no longer with me and even though my co-workers didn't apply for the job, my dental team is my family. Two of my family (who combine for about 40-adoption years) have been missing in action for around 70% of the time over the last 15-months; we've missed 'em.

And then there's the outside stuff and the usual suspects. Because of a lesson my dad taught me about saying something good or nothing at all, I won't identify our property manager. Underwriters regrettably remain part of my life. VP Pence is the new Epidemiologist in-Chief, but he believes in shock therapy, not science. And a viral plague is killing people, investments, and maybe even economies (btw, the masks are for sick people.) I've seen every recent movie except Little Women. Sometimes the stuff you can't control can get you a little down. Saturday morning, I took a call from my ace dental assistant; and on hello, she wondered if I was doing okay.

Does anyone else out there ever have an occasional It's a Wonderful Life George Bailey moment?

But, last night, an exceptional woman next door (no nieces) and I toured Downtown LA on foot, enjoyed a meal, and joined a full house that was roaring with laughter at the Ahmanson, watching the hilarious and totally politically incorrect Book of Mormon (coulda been Duck Soup.)

I've been an oral health care provider for a few decades; I do know a few things. I appreciate smiles are a gift and I realize laughter is powerful medicine. And our practice's purpose will always be making dentistry funno matter the usual suspects.

And yeah, life is meant to be enjoyed, not understood.

See the article here:
Saved by the Book - Patch.com