A man views a pub sign.

Pub signs: This gentleman likes them, but are they here to stay?

Reg Speller, Getty Images

It's Wednesday, so let's take a quick look around at what's flying by this week that we haven't talked about. (Other than the explosion of creativity that took place in the comments following yesterday's song-product-placement entry, that is. To the suggestions "Making Love Out Of Nut'n Honey At All" and my personal favorite, "House Of Verizon Sun," I tip my hat.)

• The Guardian notes the disappearance of painted pub signs as the hospitality industry goes corporate. My favorite tidbit: "In 1393 King Richard II passed a law making it compulsory for inns to have a sign in order to identify them to the official Ale Taster." I know a couple of people who would totally apply for the job of official Ale Taster.

• Tonight on Turner Classic Movies, the theme is American politics, and the films are All The King's Men, The Great McGinty, The Glass Key, The Boss, and Flamingo Road. Of course, if you use entertainment to escape what you hear about on a daily basis, this may be a slight misfire, given that you may have seen something in the news recently regarding an upcoming election.

• Are these the 50 Greatest Villains In Literature? The Telegraph thinks so. Where else can you find The Joker and Mrs. Danvers on the same list? Other than a hypothetical list of people not to invite to your wedding, that is.

Dancing and other diversions, after the jump...

• In odd occurrences you may have heard about, 82-year-old Oscar winner Cloris Leachman is putting on quite a show over at Dancing With The Stars. Her mambo from last night isn't available yet — which is perhaps okay, given its heavy reliance on untoward "coconut" references — but her opening foxtrot is right here.

• I haven't watched the new Michael Moore movie Slacker Uprising, but it's available free online. Leaving aside the question of whether this particular film is worthwhile or not, the distribution method is an interesting development.

• In case you don't keep up with gravity-based entertainment, "magician" David Blaine is currently hanging upside-down in Central Park as part of an endurance stunt. I have never understood what is "magic" about hanging upside-down (or about lying in a box, or about most of the things David Blaine does, other than remaining famous), but I find it particularly hilarious that he is taking ten-minute breaks every hour, causing discontentment among the gathered gawkers. We demand purity in our idiotic and potentially dangerous entertainment!

--Linda Holmes

categories: Roundups

10:15 - September 24, 2008

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