worldwide pablo

I dreamed a dream in time gone by

Okay, so this has been all over Facebook and the interwebs today, but WWP cannot resist sharing it again. Watch it all the way through. If you're not the slightest bit choked up by the end, you might want to check to see if you still have a pulse.

Paging Queen Gertrude

Over the weekend, gay bloggers were quick to blast Amazon for appearing to blacklist gay/lesbian authors by removing the popular (and sales-inducing) ratings for GLBT titles on its site. Turns out the "glitch" was the work of a hacker. Makes all the misplaced and premature gay outrage seem a little silly now, thinks WWP.

Remembering food

WWP amigo David Jenkins has posted a compelling mini-memoir at the always interesting local food blog, Portland Food and Drink:

There is a power to our memories of food. November 22, 1963, I stayed home from school because I was sick. I liked school and did not make excuses to stay at home. At noon that November day my mother instructed me to fry a piece of baloney for a sandwich. I expressed frustration that the slice of baloney was making a bubble in the pan. My mother came and stood by my side and made a slit in the frying baloney from the edge to the center, “Now it will lay flat.” She returned to the living room to watch her soap opera, As the World Turns. From the kitchen I heard the earnest newscaster say, “We interrupt today’s program with a special news bulletin from Dallas, Texas…”

Read it here.

Why the word 'tragic' was invented

It seems doubtful that we'll ever be able to watch again "Brokeback Mountain" without crying as much as, if not more than, we did before.

Awful , awful news.

Simpsonize yourself

If you've ever dreamed of becoming a character on "The Simpsons," here's your chance. That's WWP above, by the way, the newest resident of Springfield [Oregon, thankyouverymuch], courtesy of SimpsonizeMe.com.

[The image above is based on this photo, gleaned from WWP's church directory, of all things.]

Not to be left out of the Harry Potter nonsense

WWP's seen all the movies [but read not one of the books], so he's far from being an expert on the Harry Potter phenom that is taking place at this very moment. Still, we can't help but venture a few guesses:

• Snape redeems himself, and dies, battling and probably killing Voldemort.
• Harry lives. [And if Snape doesn't kill Voldemort, Harry does, but indirectly.]
• Dumbledore does not come back.
• Ron and Hermione marry and have children. Harry also marries, probably to someone we know.
• The final scene: All of the survivors reunite years later. At Hogwarts. With the next generation.
• Tears [and future book/movie deals] ensue.

No guesses about the scar. Maybe Keith Olbermann has it right. We'll find out soon.

We now return to regular programming...

E-mail of the day

Quick! Identify this guy:

A) German ambassador to the United States?
B) Former rock and roll star?
C) Spokane, Wash., serial killer?
D) Announced presidential candidate in '08?
E) CEO of Halliburton?

Hey, hey, it's this guy.

How old does that make you feel?

Quote of the day

"I have absolutely no regrets about my acting career. Sometimes, I have doubts, but in balance I think it was certainly worthwhile for me to have temporarily left the real world and become an actor. I'm very proud of my work, because I did the best I could possibly do at the time. I always wanted to make one movie with a good acting role for me, but I never did. When I see actors today like William Hurt or Eric Roberts, I think they're such a gift to cinema. I wish I had the chance to do what they do. I knew that I could and many people have agreed with me, but it didn't work out that way. I still have great faith in the film business. The movies seem to be getting better all the time. Whatever direction the industry takes, I wish I were still a part of it. But I'm not going to get into the satin shirts and take a pill. I've made peace with my life."

--"B" film actor Kerwin Mathews
[From a 1987 interview, via IMDb.com.]

It was in the the very early 1960s, in the darkness of the John Danz Theatre in Bellevue, Wash., that WWP first cast eyes on Kerwin Mathews: handsome, blondish, virile – the sort of "guy's guy"  a guy wants to hang around with. [Keep in mind, WWP was only 7 at the time; go figure why it took so long to figure out the gay thing … but we digress].

The movie was "The 7th Voyage of Sinbad," a rather ridiculous but nevertheless engaging swashbuckler, the very kind of film the impossibly handsome Mathews would be called to act in time and time again, probably to the detriment of his career advancement. But in endless repeats at the Danz [which the young WWP watched again and again], and in the other cineplexes of the day, Kerwin Mathews persisted and became a Saturday matinee idol like no other -- occasionally great, more than often just unusually good, and nearly always better than his material.

Mathews had his start in the memorable early days of live television in the 1950s, but he staked out his acting claim by appearing afterward in those pirate movies -- long before Johnny Depp ever dared to offer an argh [or for that matter, would be born]. Of course, there were innumerable other clunkers and B-list movies along the way and especially later in his career. [Anyone remember "Jack the Giant Killer" or "Pirates of Blood River"? Thought not.] His last film appearance was in 1978 in the forgotten and forgettable "Prince of Blood."

The lack of limelight success seems not to have daunted Mathews. And from that, we take note. When pausing to wonder whether "it's all been worth it" or "have we done the right thing," we will choose hereafter to recall this rather unremarkable career, but remember more the importance, and the inspiration, of "keeping keeping on."

Kerwin Mathews died last week, at the age of 81. He is survived by his partner of 46 years, Tom Nicoll, and their two cats.

[Official Kerwin Mathews website, here.]

Same to you, Jack Valenti

The faux rating scheme you see above - -wherein blogs and websites like this can be evaluated and awarded an MPAA-like endorsement -- seems to be the blog meme of the day. So what the heck, we'll take the bait. Turns out, Worldwide Pablo gets a respectable PG-13 rating [which seems about right]. We'd have been rated PG but for the fact that we've used the word "death" three times recently, "fags" twice and "gay" once. [Only once?]

Apparently they have no problem with the F-bomb we dropped here yesterday [see below]. Maybe profanity on the Internet is like violence in the cineplex?

Whatever. But don't tell these folks.

Pearls before breakfast

An oblique subway station corner. A busy Friday morning. The usual commuter commotion and cacophony, replete with the usual degrees of self-involved distractedness.

Then, add one famous and world-class violinist.

Have you ever wondered what might happen when the ordinary might be introduced to the sublime? Here's a sad commentary about one such union of players -- a sorry statement about our times, we think.

[It's longish, but very much worth the read.]