Wilmington, North Carolina was once a sleepy town until Frank Capra, Jr. showed up in 1983 looking for an antebellum house to burn down for his movie “Firestarter.” After looking at various Wilmington real estate, he found the perfect house. In fact, he loved the house so much, they decided not to burn it down, but built a replica instead on the property which was incinerated.
By the end of filming, Capra and his producer, Dino DeLaurentiis decided that this town was the perfect place for a movie studio which they built. Over the years the studio has changed hands several times, but it still survives. Wilmington residents claim that the film and the studio have made for a great arts environment. A local film, art and beer tasting event is held each year in May. Wilmington is also still a great place to shoot a film.
The name might not sound familiar, but you will probably recognize the face. Judith Barsi was born June 6, 1978 in Los Angeles, California. She was the daughter of Hungarian immigrants who fled the Soviet take over of Hungary. They later immigrated to the United States right before Judith was born.
She was supposedly discovered at a skating rink at the age of 5 and because of her small size, she was cast in roles for younger children. Unfortunately, her father, an unemployed plumber, suffered from paranoia and delusions. He would often emotional abuse Judith and her mother. The family often had no money and were on welfare for a time. By 1986, Judith was making over $100,000 a year and the family bought a small three bedroom home in California. Judith's father built a fence around the home that was locked and could only be opened from the inside.
Judith's father threatened to kill Judith and her mother numerous times and child protective services were called. The mother, however, refused to press charges and the threats were never followed up by the agency.
On July 27, 1988, firefighters were called to a fire at the Barsi home. Judith and her mother had been shot in the head and doused in gasoline and the house set on fire. Judith's father was found in the garage with a self-inflicted gun shot wound, also dead.
Judith was the original voice of Ducky in The Land Before Time (1988) and also appeared in Fatal Vision, Jaws, The Revenge and All Dogs Go to Heaven (voice of Anne-Marie). She also appeared in numerous television roles.
It is too bad that the movie studios are more interested in investor relations then they are in the well being of their actors.
Hewlett Packard made one of my all time favorite commercials. They actually did several of them. The commercial involved people holding frames up and then the frames becoming actual pictures. The idea was very clever and it certainly caught my eye. Here is one of them if you haven’t seen it:
When you are a young actor or actress living in New York you often dream of hiring a New York Moving Company and moving to Hollywood for your big break in the movie industry. Of course, those actors that have lived in Hollywood for a while find that they want to move back to the relative anonymity that New York gives them.
That’s why it is fun to go celebrity watching in New York. It is easier to spot celebrities in New York – there is less ground to travel. You just need to know where they hang out. If you want to find out where the celebrities hang, check out StarPulse.com and start stalking!
If ever I have wanted to buy a bus, it has been this one – The Patridge Family Bus! Wasn’t this the coolest thing?
The bus was obtained in the pilot issue, when 10 year old Danny gets the family’s song into the Top 40. Mom (played by Shirley Jones) agrees to go on tour with the kids. They buy an old school bus, jazz it up, and head off to Las Vegas for their first gig.
The bus was actually purchased by the studios from the Orange County, California School District. After the show was canceled in 1974, the bus was seen behind Lucy’s Tacos by USC. In 1987, the bus was sent off to the junk yard. The windows were broken and much of the bus had been painted white. The bus had seen its last days.
Remember the days when everyone did their jobs and the best performance metric was that your business was making a profit? If someone was not working out, they got fired. Years ago, the best resume was never needed. You usually stayed at one company until you retired.
Now, we have a new thing called corporate performance management. CPM helps organizations with business performance. It helps businesses analyze their business performance and then help them make the appropriate changes and cuts.
Does it really work? Not sure. But it is probably a lot more costly than the old paper and pencil methods!
Odd Ogg was a strange toy from the 1960s. It was made by the Ideal Toy Corporation in 1962. Odd Ogg was half frog and half turtle. The object of the toy was to roll plastic balls toward it. If you rolled a ball right under its belly, Odd Ogg would roll forward. If you rolled the ball off to one side, Odd Ogg would roll backwards, open its mouth and stick out his tongue.
If you have this toy somewhere in your closet, you can sell it for $250 – $500!
I just came across this bit of trivia – Albert Einstein wore a Patek Philippe watch. Patek Philippe & Co. make one of the most expensive watches in the world! In 1839, Antoni Patek started making pocket watches in Geneva. In 1845, he joined with Adrien Philippe, a French watchmaker and Patek Philippe was formed. They made their first wristwatch in 1868 and have also developed the perpetual calendar, split-seconds hand, chronograph and minute repeater in watches.
One of the Patek Philippe watches was auctioned off for $1.49 million in 2008. Some of the popular pieces today include the Patek Aquanaut, Gondolo and Nautilus. These watches are usually priced over $10,000 each!
Since I am on a food theme today, I am going to share the 10 worst snack foods that are on the market right now. These are foods that might induce you to have a liver cleanse after eating!
French Fries
Donuts
Chips (Potato and Corn)
Soda (including Diet)
Cupcakes and Snack Cakes
Candy Bars
Pork Rinds
Fat-Free Cookies
Crackers
Pretzels
Does this mean that chocolate is a GOOD snack food?
Do you remember those little chocolate candies that were actually diet pills in disguise? I can’t remember the name of them. I am sure that they weren’t the best weight loss pills, but they sure did taste good.
Now, with all the hype that dark chocolate can be good for you, I thought I would share this delicious recipe from Prevention Magazine.
Chocolate Pudding with Bananas and Graham Crackers
TIME: 20 minutes + chilling time
SERVINGS: 6
3 whole graham crackers, crushed
1 lg ripe banana, sliced
1â„2 c sugar
1â„4 c unsweetened cocoa powder
3 Tbsp cornstarch
1â„8 tsp salt
3 c 1% milk
1â„2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1â„2 c semisweet or dark chocolate chips (MUFA)
1. DIVIDE graham cracker crumbs evenly among 6 custard cups or ramekins. Press into bottom. Top with banana, reserving a few slices for garnish.
2. MIX sugar, cocoa, cornstarch, and salt in large saucepan. Stir in milk. Whisk over medium heat until pudding thickens and comes to a boil.
3. COOK 1 minute longer. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract. Pour into prepared custard cups. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least 2 hours. Top each serving with 1â„4 cup of the chocolate chips and garnish with reserved banana.
Nutritional Info Per Serving
391 cal, 7 g pro, 65 g carb, 4 g fiber, 15 g fat, 8.5 g sat fat, 6 mg chol, 150 mg sodium
