Gale Storm

Yet another obit. You may have to be a "little older" to remember Gale Storm. After a decade of tiny roles in tiny movies, she co-starred in a the TV sitcom that was a summer replacement for "I Love Lucy" in 1952. It was called "My Little Margie." It ran briefly on CBS, then moved to NBC TV and CBS Radio! She was also a singer and a dancer, appeared on Broadway, had several top 10 songs and was awarded three stars on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame. Gale died, last Saturday. She was 87.

As a little boy I was fascinated by "My Little Margie." Go figure...

Fred Travalena

Another obituary! Fred Travalena lost his battle with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, this past weekend. He was born 66 years ago in the Bronx. He was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in '05. He impersonations ranged from Kennedy to Obama, from Sinatra to Springsteen, from Brando to Cruise. Talented guy and very funny. Big in Vegas and for years on the late night talk shows. An Army vet, special forces, he also made the USO circuit. Fred will be missed.

Monday Foto - Josie Marie Sanchez

This is starting to look like an Obituary Listing instead of a blog. For this reason, I've decided to brighten things up with a Monday version of the famous Friday Foto. This is Josie Marie Sanchez. She's what I call a "ghost." I found her picture, but I have absolutely no information on her! I figure the least I can do is publish her picture. Perhaps someone will surf, here, and fill us in on this pretty lady....

Have a nice week!

Billy Mays Signs Off

It's been a tough week for celebrities! Ed McMahon and Farrah Fawcett both passed on. You may have heard that Michael Jackson is no longer with us. But in a bizarre sequence of events, TV pitchman Billy Mays died. He was said to be slightly injured in an airplane mishap. He seemed to be ok, but he never woke up, this morning. I liked Mays. He was very good at what he did. The case could be made that he could be irritating at times, but he "came across" as believing in the product. He had a no-nonsense, "This-Crap-Is-Great" approach. He seemed to enjoy his work. His coworkers say that he was kind and generous.

You know, I've never tried Oxy Clean. Maybe I should get Mrs. General Tom to run out and get some of the stuff.

Friday Foto - Jana Ina

Time, again, for the world famous Friday Foto! This week, it's Jana Ina. Jana is a Brazilian actress, former Miss Brazil and a former Miss Intercontinental beauty queen. She is very photogenic. Click on the picture and you'll see what I mean.

As always, have a nice weekend!

Quizno's Ad

I love advertising, especially when it's done right! Below, we see the evolution of the Hardee's/Carl's Jr. type of fast food restaurant commercial. It's for Quizno's and features Kari Nautique and Hiromi Oshima.

Michael Jackson

This comes as a bit of a shock. Michael Jackson died today, in LA. He was 50. Reports are sketchy (but aren't they always?) that Jackson was rushed to the hospital after having difficulty breathing, at his home in Los Angeles.

If you were alive in the 70's and especially the 80's, you are aware of why they called him the "King Of Pop." Not exactly my cup of tea, but it is sad. After all the success that he achieved, I don't think he had many friends, or that he was very happy. We got to see him as eccentric or downright weird in the last 20 years of his life - whatever. I think that part of it was weird, part publicity seeking and part showmanship. He was one of a kind and he'll be remembered.

Ed McMahon Passes

Ed McMahon, best known as Johnny Carson's Tonight Show sidekick, died today in LA, he was 86. I was reading some of the tributes to McMahon. His life was filled with many many projects. WW II & Korea combat Marine, a fighter pilot. I guess that after going through that, anything would be relatively easy. The staff at General Tom's blog remembers Ed! Join us in raising a glass of Budweiser in honor of this national television icon.

In the picture: Ed McMahon (left) with Johnny Carson as "Carnac The Magnificent"

Social Experiment

Washington DC Metro Station on a cold January morning in 2007: He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time approx 2 thousand people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.

After 3 minutes a middle aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried to meet his schedule.

4 mins later: The violinist received his first dollar. A woman threw the money in the till and, without stopping, continued to walk.

6 minutes after that: A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again.

10 minutes later: A 3 year old boy stopped but his mother tugged him along hurriedly, as the kid stopped to look at the violinist. Finally the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. Every parent, without exception, forced them to move on.

45 minutes later: The musician played.Only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while.About 20 gave him money but continued to walk their normal pace.

He collected $32.

1 hour later: He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the best musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before Joshua Bell sold out a theater in Bostonwhere the seats averaged $100.

This is a real story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people's priorities. The questions raised: in a common place environment at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?

One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be:

If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments ....
How many other things are we missing?

Friday Foto - Theresa Correa

This has not been a very busy week for the blog. I hope to make up for it, right now! This week's Friday Foto features Theresa Correa. I was drawn to this selection because she has a great smile! Don't you agree? I don't have any information on her, but I do have two real nifty pictures of her! As usual, click the pictures to get the full effect! If you have anything to add, try using the comment link, below.

Oh, and have a nice weekend!

Mel's Oksana Sings...

I find this fascinating! Mel Gibson splits from his wife after a couple dozen years and 7 kids and starts "playing house" with Oksana Grigorieva, Timothy Dalton's ex.

She's pregnant. I bet Mel didn't see that coming! Bingo! Instant commitment to one of Hollywood's wealthiest! Nice move, Oksana!

Well, Mel fixes Oksana up with a recording contract, on his record label. You can hear the first release by visiting Oksana.fm.

Not bad. Not great, but not bad.

Your thoughts?

July Fourth Safety Tip!

Independence Day will be here before you know it! Many of us celebrate with fireworks. I would like to take this time to caution all of my readers and subscribers to exercise caution. If you are enjoying adult beverages, you may want to stay away from fireworks.

Whatever you do, do not, ever, ignite a firecracker...

while it is......

inserted in your butt!




Dumb ass!

Friday Foto - Misa Campo

Misa Campo is an aspiring model from Quebec, living in California where she says that she's a bartender. Misa says that she likes to play cards. She claims to be good, especially when she cheats. Are you still reading this? Yeah - click the picture for the full effect and have a nice weekend.

D-TV Is Here!

Digital TV officially comes to the USA, today! It is estimated that only about 15% of American households are not connected to Cable TV or Satellite TV. Roughly 2 million people are not ready for the conversion. Would it be weird of me to suggest that maybe these two million people don't give a rat's rear end about TV!

My TV is about 5 years old. It's color, retailed for about $350 and is analog. We are hooked up to the satellite. I've noticed that watching the network on analog TV is far better picture quality than digital local picture quality. That is to say that good analog TV is better than shoddy digital TV.

It's like anything else: No matter how much technology you use and no matter how much money is thrown at any project: "Garbage in.............Garbage Out!"

Psst, government....the switch comes as many stations are struggling financially because of a drop in advertising, and 21 stations will simply go off the air after cutting their analog signals.

White Castle: It's A Record!

Hawking burgers for less than a week, the new White Castle in Terre Haute has set a record, selling 60,000 burgers in it's first two days. This is according to a local TV station which didn't bother to tell us what the old record was, where it was set or how many burgers a typical White Castle normally sells in an area the size of Terre Haute.

Good selling!
Mediocre reporting!

I stopped by on Wednesday night a picked up a half dozen slyders. They were done by the time I got home. This means I get about 3 miles per.

So, White Castle, congratulations on your record, especially considering that Dog 'n Suds and Sonic both went belly-up in the same location!

Bristol Zoo's Parking Attendent

This is supposed to be a true story. True or not, it'll make you feel good...

Outside the Bristol Zoo, in England, there is a parking lot for 150 cars and 8 coaches, or buses.

It was manned by a very pleasant attendant with a ticket machine charging cars £1 (about $1.40) and coaches £5 (about $7).

This parking attendant worked there solid for all of 25 years. Then, one day, he just didn't turn up for work.

"Oh well", said Bristol Zoo Management - "we'd better phone up the City Council and get them to send a new parking attendant..."

"Err ... no", said the Council, "that parking lot is your responsibility."
"Err ... no", said Bristol Zoo Management, "the attendant was employed by the City Council, wasn't he?"
"Err .... no!" insisted the Council.

Sitting in his villa somewhere on the coast of Spain (presumably), is a man who had
been taking the parking lot fees, estimated at £400 (about $560) per day at Bristol Zoo for the last 25 years. Assuming 7 days a week, this amounts to just over £3.6 million ($7 million -- or $280,000 every year for 25 years)!!

And no one even knows his name.

Thanks, Benny

Trump Bounces Prejean

This isn't much of a shocker! Donald Trump says, "You're Fired" to reigning Miss (USA) California, Carrie Prejean. You may remember that Carrie was on the hot seat recently after the reaction to her views against gay marriage. It should be pointed out that her views are identical to those of Barrack Obama.

Carrie was fired, today, because she was not doing her job. She blew off her obligations as Miss California. Boys and girls, it doesent matter if you are a beauty queen or a news anchor, whatever, it's not nice to blow off your friends or your employer or your responsibilities...no matter how pretty you may think that you are. (There's always someone, somewhere, who is prettier!)

So Miss Carrie learns what we working stiffs have known for years. When you have a job to do and you don't do it, you lose it.

Other results from this action: Trump gets free publicity, Gays feel a little better, Perez Hilton has something to write about and , of course, did I mention that Trump gets free publicity?

Wednesday Foto - Shay Laren

Wednesday and I was going to put this off until Friday, but why? Shay Laren is a model and actress. If you subscribe to Penthouse, you may have seen quite a bit of her.

Click the pic for the full effect.

This Ales Molson Retirees

Things are getting serious! Unemployment is climbing, property values are sinking, taxes are inching their way up and in Canada, Molson retirees are slowly losing their free beer allowance!

Molson, a division of Molson Coors, said it was looking to "standardize" its complimentary beer policy. There are 2,400 Molson retirees in Canada and their free beer costs the company about C$1 million ($900,000) a year, the Star said.

Molson retirees in the province of Newfoundland will see their monthly allotment of beer fall from six dozen a month to zero over the next five years.

Current workers will see their allotment drop from 72 dozen bottles a year to 52 dozen.

Disgraceful!

I suggest that all of these retirees make up the difference with LeBatts.

A Child's Prayer?

This is very touching!
It's a child's prayer:

Dear God,
Please send clothes for all those poor ladies in Dad's computer.


Amen

Thank you, Ruth.

The Economy (Not Love) Will Keep Us Together!

The British divorce rate is at a 26 year low! Experts say that low property values mean that it's getting more expensive to split up.

Meanwhile, for single people, in keeping with the theory that two can live as cheaply as one, (wrong!) more and more couples are moving in together without the benefit of marriage. You see, it costs money to get married! Take the money that you would have spent on a huge wedding reception (and the engagement ring) and make a down payment on an under valued house!

Monday Photo - Diora Baird

Here's a rare Monday Foto. It's raining and not much is going on, so it's the perfect chance to introduce you to Diora Baird, a 26 year old model and actress from Miami. She's been on the cover of Playboy Magazine and was featured on "Two And A Half Men" and in several less than serious movies. Looking at the picture, I realize that it's been too long since I've been on the golf course! Click on the picture for the full effect and have a good Monday!

White Castle Opens In T.H.

Finally! Terre Haute, Indiana in now the proud location of a brand new White Castle restaurant! Yes, we've finally made it! We've been waiting for this since...well, like....forever...

People actually camped out in the White Castle parking lot for a shot at getting 10 free burgers when the place opened yesterday morning!

For many years, we've had multiple McDonalds locations and several Hardee's, Burger King, Rally's and Rax restaurants, but for some reason, never a White Castle?

This seems odd. If I didn't know better, I'd say, "I smell a rat!"

Friday Foto - Lola Ponce

This Friday, Lola Ponce swims into our spotlight. Lola is a 26 year old singer and actress from Argentina. She's done well in a tv soap opera in Argentina and has a handful or albums that have also done well. The picture is from her Italian Calender. Is she wearing Italian burlap? Very chic!

General Tom's Center For Adult Education

Announcing: New Summer classes for women at the General Tom Center For Adult Education!

REGISTRATION MUST BE COMPLETED
by Tuesday, June 9, 2009

NOTE: DUE TO THE COMPLEXITY AND DIFFICULTY LEVEL OF THEIR CONTENTS, CLASS SIZES WILL BE LIMITED TO 8 PARTICIPANTS MAXIMUM.


Class 1
Up in Winter, Down in Summer - How to Adjust a Thermostat
Step by Step, with Slide Presentation.
Meets 4 wks, Monday and Wednesday for 2 hrs beginning at 7:00 PM...

Class 2
Which Takes More Energy - Putting the Toilet Seat Down, or Bitching About It for 3 Hours?
Round Table Discussion.
Meets 2 weeks, Saturday 12:00 for 2 hours.

Class 3
Is It Possible To Drive Past a Wal-Mart Without Stopping?--Group Debate.
Meets 4 weeks, Saturday 10:00 PM for 2 hours.

Class 4
Fundamental Differences Between a Purse and a Suitcase--Pictures and Explanatory Graphics.
Meets Saturdays at 2:00 PM for 3 weeks.

Class 5
Curling Irons--Can They Levitate and Fly Into The Bathroom Cabinet?
Examples on Video.
Meets 4 weeks, Tuesday and Thursday for 2 hours beginning
at 7:00 PM

Class 6
How to Ask Questions During Commercials and Be Quiet During the Sports Program.
Help Line Support and Support Groups.
Meets 4 Weeks, Friday and Sunday 7:00 PM

Class 7
Can a Bath Be Taken Without 14 Different Kinds of Soaps and Shampoos?
Open Forum.
Monday at 8:00 PM, 2 hours.

Class 8
Health Watch--They Make Medicines for PMS - USE IT!
Three nights; Monday, Wednesday, Friday at 7:00 PM for 2 hours.

Class 9
I Was Wrong and He Was Right!--Real Life Testimonials.
Tuesdays at 6:00 PM Location to be determined.

Class 10
How to Parallel Park In Less Than 20 Minutes Without an Insurance Claim.
Driving Simulations.
4 weeks, Saturday's noon, 2 hours.

Class 11
Learning to Live--How to Apply Brakes Without Throwing Passengers Through the Windshield.
Tuesdays at 7:00 PM, location to be determined

Class 12
How to Shop by Yourself.
Meets 4 wks, Tuesday and Thursday for 2 hours beginning at 7:00 PM.

Class 13
How to Fight Cerebral Atrophy--Remembering To Take a List To The Store, Avoiding Separate Trips for Each Item Needed, and Having The Checkbook Pre-Filled and Ready at The Checkout Counter.
Cerebral Shock Therapy Sessions and Full Lobotomies Offered.
Three nights; Monday, Wednesday, Friday at 7:00 PM for 2 hours.

Class 14
The Stove/Oven--What It Is and How It Is Used.
Live Demonstration.
Tuesdays at 6:00 PM, location to be determined.


Upon completion of any of the above courses, diplomas will be issued to the survivors.

Thanks, Benny!

Why Men Are Happier Than Women!

It may come as a surprise to you, but men are actually happier than women!

After an extensive amount of research, here's what we found:

Men Are Just Happier People--
Your last name stays put.
The garage is all yours.
Wedding plans take care of themselves.
Chocolate is just another snack.
You can never be pregnant.
Car mechanics tell you the truth.
The world is your urinal.
You never have to drive to another gas station restroom because this one is just too icky.
You don't have to stop and think of which way to turn a nut on a bolt.
Same work, more pay.
Wrinkles add character.
People never stare at your chest when you're talking to them.
New shoes don't cut, blister, or mangle your feet.
One mood all the time.
Phone conversations are done in 30 seconds flat.
You know stuff about tanks and engines.
A ten-day holiday requires only one suitcase.
You can open all your own jars.
You get extra credit for the slightest act of thoughtfulness.
Your underwear is 8.95 for a three-pack.
Three pairs of shoes are more than enough.
You never have strap problems in public.
You are unable to see wrinkles in your clothes.
Everything on your face stays its original colour.
The same hairstyle lasts for years, maybe decades.
You only have to shave your face and neck.
You can play with toys all your life.
One wallet and one pair of shoes -- one colour for all seasons.
You can wear shorts no matter how your legs look.
You can 'do' your nails with a pocket knife.
You have freedom of choice concerning growing a moustache.
You can do Christmas shopping for 25 relatives on December 24 in 25 minutes.

No wonder men are happier.
Thanks, Benny!

The Ultimate Father's Day Gift!

Finally, for the man who has everything! It's the perfect father's day gift! Thanks to General Tom's Chief European Correspondent, Benny Brown, we have the gas powered La-z-boy recliner.

This is also available in an electric powered version!

Wednesday Foto - Moran Atias

This is not meant to replace our famous Friday Foto, but it's the middle of the wek and it's raining...so...what the heck! Moran Atias is a 28 year old Israeli-born model, TV presenter, and actress. She hosts "Deal Or No Deal" in Isreal! Her official website is www.moranatias.info.

Click the pictures for the full effect....and get back to work!

Headlines

These are supposed to be actual headlines. You may have seen some of these already...

Man Kills Self Before Shooting Wife and Daughter
-0-
Something Went Wrong in Jet Crash, Expert Says
-0-
Police Begin Campaign to Run Down Jaywalkers
-0-
Panda Mating Fails; Veterinarian Takes Over
-0-
Miners Refuse to Work after Death
-0-
Juvenile Court to Try Shooting Defendant
-0-
War Dims Hope for Peace
-0-
If Strike Isn't Settled Quickly, It May Last Awhile
-0-
Cold Wave Linked to Temperatures
-0-
Enfield (London) Couple Slain; Police Suspect Homicide
-0-
Red Tape Holds Up New Bridges
-0-
Man Struck By Lightning: Faces Battery Charge
-0-
New Study of Obesity Looks for Larger Test Group
-0-
Astronaut Takes Blame for Gas in Spacecraft
-0-
Kids Make Nutritious Snacks
-0-
Local High School Dropouts Cut in Half
-0-
Hospitals are Sued by 7 Foot Doctors
Boy, are they tall!
-0-
And the winner is...
Typhoon Rips Through Cemetery; Hundreds Dead