CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) - More than two dozen former astronauts assembled Saturday at the Kennedy Space Center to honor the Astronaut Hall of Fame's newest inductees also remembered Wally Schirra, one of the space program's legendary old-timers.
Schirra, who died Thursday at 84, was one of the original Mercury Seven astronauts and the fifth American in space. Colleagues recalled his steely nerves and jokester's sensibility.
Saturday marked the Hall's induction of space shuttle astronauts Michael Coats, Steven Hawley and Jeffrey Hoffman. But Schirra was the main honoree.
"Wally was a great gamester, a wonderful person ... He was a 'gotcha' guy," said former Apollo astronaut Al Worden. "Wally finally got the ultimate gotcha on us. He has a good excuse for not being here today."
...
"We had a line between where there was fun and where there was business," Gunter Wendt, a launch pad leader who helped Mercury, Gemini and Apollo astronauts get into their spacecraft, said Saturday. "We never crossed that line, but we had our 'gotchas.' We had our jokes."
I have thought for a long time that Tina Mason, from my symbolic and artificial memories, has a distinct resemblance to the actress Bette Davis. She had the same eyes. I think there is a song about her eyes. And it might not be a coincidence that my grandmother - from my artificial and symbolic memory - was named Bettie Davis. It might also not be a coincidence that my grandmother Bettie - in my symbolic and artificial memory - resembles Queen Elizabeth II. Tina's son was named Philip. We stood outside one time - in my artificial and symbolic memories - looking at a comet in the night sky.
Phoebe must be the woman I “remember” from my artificial and symbolic memory that grandma Betty told me she approved of. I have been thinking of that “memory” for a while.
Bette Davis (April 5, 1908 – October 6, 1989), born Ruth Elizabeth Davis, was a two-time Academy Award-winning American actress of film, television and theatre. Noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic characters, she was highly regarded for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional comedies, though her greatest successes were romantic dramas.
The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939) is a romantic drama film based on the relationship between Queen Elizabeth I (played by Bette Davis) and Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex (played by Errol Flynn).
From what I can tell by my research on the internet, there isn’t even a house where I “remember” living at Country Club Estates in South Carolina. The street address that I remember” seems to an empty, wooded lot. I do see the house I “remember” living in, but it is well down the street and at a very different street address. There is just no way I could not remember the correct address for that house. It is burned into my memory.
In my artificial and symbolic memory, I lived there when I worked for a company with the initials UFP. This all on the work history documents I got from the Social Security Administration so it is part of my official federal undercover identity. I think UFP was chosen to symbolize the “United Federation of Planets” from “Star Trek.” Before I worked for UFP, I worked for ISA-ISS in Memphis, Tennessee and I believe that is a similar work of symbolism. While I have never heard of an “International Space Agency,” the ISS could be a reference to the International Space Station.
At one point, sometime in 1995, I think, according to my artificial memories, UFP transferred me to Charlotte, NC, to work in a bank there and I lived in an apartment named Arrowood at corner of Arrowcreek and Royal Point. From there, I moved across town to an apartment on Dresden that was near Sheffield. Then I moved back across town to Whitehall Estates. That was the last place I lived in North Carolina, until I moved to Rock Hill, SC. I lived at Paces River apartments in Rock Hill before I left for Microsoft to begin my work there with my undercover identity. Lately, I have been wondering if that is some kind of symbolic reference to my wife, Phoebe Ray.
The Palace of Whitehall was the main residence of the English monarchs in London from 1530 until 1698 when all except Inigo Jones' 1622 Banqueting House was destroyed by fire. Before the fire it had grown to be the largest palace in Europe, with over 1,500 rooms (and was at one time the largest building in the world).
The palace gives its name — Whitehall — to the current administrative centre of the UK government.
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
Just call Dame Helen Mirren Your Majesty on-screen
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She plays the 16th-century queen in the two-part miniseries "Elizabeth I," premiering on HBO Saturday at 8 p.m. Later this year, she'll be seen as the current Elizabeth II in the feature film "The Queen," which takes place in the days following Princess Diana's death.
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Scripted by Nigel Williams, the miniseries uses many of the intellectual monarch's own words. England's Palace of Whitehall was re-created in Lithuania inside a Soviet-era concrete gymnasium.
"It was this amazing set, all in one piece so you could walk from one room to another," said Mirren, describing the juxtaposition of the private and the public -- the "almost erotic" atmosphere of the queen's bedroom being right next to the political council chamber.
She also has great praise for the costumes, designed by Mike O'Neill.
"The older she got, the more extreme they got and the lower cut. Funnily enough, there's a lot of talk about her baring her bosom," laughed Mirren, who has never shied away from playing nude scenes, but doesn't have to go that far this time.
Elizabeth II wasn't on duty when Mirren was dubbed a dame -- Prince Charles did the honors -- but Mirren once met the monarch briefly at a polo match.
"It was a great place to meet because she was in her element," the actress recalled. "She's very charming. Sparkling. People don't see that. ... She's just not interested in smiling when she doesn't have reason to smile."
Holly Brook, (born February 23, 1986) is a multi-instrumental singer and songwriter from Mazomanie, Wisconsin.
...
...Brook has also contributed to Brie Larson's debut album Finally Out Of P.E. and Mike Shinoda’s solo project, Fort Minor, and its 2005 album The Rising Tied, most notably on the album's third single "Where'd You Go"
"Where'd You Go" is the fourth single from Fort Minor's debut album The Rising Tied. Released in 2006, the song features Holly Brook and Jonah Matranga. The song is about the perspective of the person left behind in long-distance relationships, but mainly about the consequences of putting one's career before one's family.
The music video for "Where'd You Go" features interviews with a boy named Joey Bravo, who has divorced parents, the wife of a baseball player caring for their children, and the parents of a soldier killed in Iraq. At the end of the video, a brief note states: "'Where'd You Go' was filmed in the homes of three families who share the same sense of loneliness as this song. Thank you for sharing your homes and stories with us — Mike Shinoda, Fort Minor"
"Where'd You Go" is Fort Minor's most successful single. It has reached #4 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and reached #1 on MTV's TRL, where it was performed live with Holly Brook on May 1. It won the award for best ringtone in the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards.
In June through July of 2006, Mike Shinoda in association with MTV's Overdrive hosted a contest, where US residents of 18 years or older, could remix the video, using the censored version of the track, could submit the video, in hopes of winning prizes from Mike Shinoda and MTV.
On July 31, 2006, the winner was announced. The winning video was directed by David Ly, a graduate film student at Art Center College of Design, coincidentally Mike Shinoda's alma mater. His remake version of the video is about a person who lost touch with himself. He is full of life until he becomes a robot working a monotonous office job. One morning, he wakes up from a dream of a beautiful girl dressed in white on the beach. He leaves for work, and his buried alter egos emerge mysteriously. They are all dressed in white dress shirts, black slacks, and an assortment of colored ties and each holding a red and white rose. At work, his boss gives him a stack of paperwork, which he does mechanically. Meanwhile, at home, the alter egos are in a circle around his coffee table, throw the roses in the center, and leave. Back at work, he prepares to go home but is then given another stack of documents. His frustrations boil over, and he throws his tie at his boss. He runs home not knowing what he is running for, and at the moment that he walks in the door, the last of the alter egos exits. He finds a white box that replaced his coffee table and is intrigued. He unwraps the red and white ribbons and opens the box to find himself on the beach with the same girl in his dream and the roses on the water.
FORT MINOR LYRICS
"Where'd You Go?"
Where'd you go?
I miss you so,
Seems like it's been forever,
That you've been gone.
She said "Some days I feel like shit,
Some days I wanna quit, and just be normal for a bit,"
I don't understand why you have to always be gone,
I get along but the trips always feel so long,
And, I find myself trying to stay by the phone,
'Cause your voice always helps me to not feel so alone,
But I feel like an idiot, workin' my day around the call,
But when I pick up I don't have much to say,
So, I want you to know it's a little fucked up,
That I'm stuck here waitin', at times debatin',
Tellin' you that I've had it with you and your career,
Me and the rest of the family here singing "Where'd you go?"
I miss you so,
Seems like it's been forever,
That you've been gone.
Where'd you go?
I miss you so,
Seems like it's been forever,
That you've been gone,
Please come back home...
You know the place where you used to live,
Used to barbecue up burgers and ribs,
Used to have a little party every Halloween with candy by the pile,
But now, you only stop by every once and a while,
Shit, I find myself just fillin' my time,
With anything to keep the thought of you from my mind,
I'm doin' fine, I plan to keep it that way,
You can call me if you find that you have something to say,
And I'll tell you, I want you to know it's a little fucked up,
That I'm stuck here waitin', at times debatin',
Tellin' you that I've had it with you and your career,
Me and the rest of the family here singing "Where'd you go?"
I miss you so,
Seems like it's been forever,
That you've been gone.
Where'd you go?
I miss you so,
Seems like it's been forever,
That you've been gone,
Please come back home...
I want you to know it's a little fucked up,
That I'm stuck here waitin', no longer debatin',
Tired of sittin' and hatin' and makin' these excuses,
For why you're not around, and feeling so useless,
It seems one thing has been true all along,
You don't really know what you've got 'til it's gone,
I guess I've had it with you and your career,
When you come back I won't be here and you can sing it...
Where'd you go?
I miss you so,
Seems like it's been forever,
That you've been gone.
Where'd you go?
I miss you so,
Seems like it's been forever,
That you've been gone,
Please come back home...
Please come back home...
Please come back home...
Please come back home...
Please come back home...
