In Memoriam : Eartha Kitt

The world lost a very distinctive voice and an most unique personality Dec 25th. Veteran actress, singer, dancer Eartha Kitt died at 81.

Through the 1950s and '60s, she performed on stage and television, in films and nightclubs.

Her best-known TV performance was as Catwoman on the '60s series Batman. Her distinctive purr was later featured in the animated film The Emperor's New Groove and the Disney Channel series The Emperor's New School, for which she won Emmy Awards in 2007 and 2008.

The biggest controversy of her career occurred in 1968, when she spoke out against the Vietnam War at a White House luncheon hosted by first lady Lady Bird Johnson.

She was investigated by the FBI and the CIA and subsequently worked almost exclusively overseas. She later returned and, in 1978, was the toast of Broadway performing in Timbuktu.

Just before she died I had downloaded several of her songs including "I Want to Be Evil" I also have a copy of her version of "Santa Baby" which was certified gold last month. Earth Kitt had one child, a daughter Kitt Shapiro from her marriage to John Barry Ryan. Kitt said this of her mother:

"I had the most amazing mother. She was not afraid of dying. She was in pain, but funny right to the end. One of the last things she said when I was talking loudly to her - like you do to a sick person - was: 'I'm dying. I'm not losing my hearing!'
"And she said, 'There won't be a burial. I'll be cremated. I don't want to take up space.'
"My mother had no regrets. She said: 'I have lived an amazing life. I did everything I ever dreamed of.' I was truly, truly blessed to have landed in her lap."

Eartha Kitt had to rise above an early life of abuse and her story is inspiring. I hope that at some point she was able to come to the saving Grace and Knowledge of Jesus. Please pray for her daughter and two grandchildren.



Eartha Kitt: A triple-threat talent for the ages - USATODAY.com

Cross Post: Photos from TT #81

Thursday Thirteen #81

13 Things About Dane Bramage
13 Photos Scott Emailed Me

I am taking a breather today. My friend Scott emailed me 13 pictures to post for a Thursday 13. This was a no brainer. If you like it then it was my idea and I accept your kudos. If you hate it it's Scott fault and I'll forward your hate mail and be blameless! Anyway here are some pictures of work done by an artist who uses nature as a media. The life sized bear is made from pine needles and the sculptures are carved from antlers.

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13. Scott's accomplishments include writing a newspaper column, authoring a book, and driving a truck from coast to coast. Unfortunately, counting is not among his accomplishments so rather than make this a Thursday 12, I am re-posting a shot of Scott's best side.
    
    

This pine cone guy could be the real deal or a hoax. The guy could be a great artist waiting to be discovered or somebody is yanking my chain. You decide. But the last paragraph in the email said, "I know the artist would love to hear from you. Just to know where his art is being seen around the world. He said he would reply to every email and print out every letter for his scrapbook. You can write him here at[email address removed]. His Name is Richard Carpenter." I removed the email address so if you want it email me.

I Just Can't Decide (cross post)

I have seen this image a couple of times in my inbox. I think it really captures the essence of Obama, McCain, and Clinton. The work is by David Dees who owns the copyright. The picture is used with permission.

The Empire wants You

While recruitment numbers in the real world are down, It seems that the Galactic Empire never seems to have problems getting the men they need to battle galactic scum.


What is their recruiting secret? The answer is below the fold.

THE EMPIRE WANTS YOU

Headlines Cross Post for Testing

Woman Wins Sears Tower Race for 6th Time
Tower says it will train harder. Hopes to actually move next year.

'Mr. Toilet' Builds Commode-Shaped House
No one wants to come over and sit in his pool

Homeless man uses church phone to call sex hot line
Bigger surprise is the nuns who answered the phone

UK Fat Patients Claim Discrimination
Despite snub Micheal Moore still claims it's better than US health care

Food makers pressured to cut sodium
Dairy producers pressured to cut cheese

Firemen told to abstain from sexual bribes
Asked to return to more traditional money only bribes



Stomach virus races through cruise ship passengers
It got really crowded on the poop deck

CBS news writers give OK for strike call
Now who's going to make up the news?

Experts promote the global warming diet

1. Eat nothing but beans for seven days
2. Seal yourself inside airtight plastic bubble
3. Produce greenhouse gases until you polar regions melt

5 Million Pizzas Recalled on E. coli Fears
Get it back to Dominos in 30 minutes or less or you have to keep it.

Giuliani Promotes Virtual Fence
Fence blocks 100% of illegal aliens from World of Warcraft. Mexicans still get in.




Alabama woman turns 100, gets her diploma
Says; "I had to take P.E. over 87 times but I finally got that last credit"

Burglar drives into store, snatches TVs
Gets home, realizes nothing is on because of the writer's strike, returns them all

Technorati tag: Humor   Headlines

Thursday Thirteen #59 Cross Post

Thursday Thirteen #59

13 Things About Dane Bramage
13 Photos Left in My Digital Camera

I picked up my camera last night and noticed I had not downloaded the 82 pictures in it. These pictures span two gaming conventions and two church events going back to July. So I decided to share 13 of them with you. I wish I had more time to play with my camera. I really want to get better at taking pictures. Clicking on the thumbnail will open a larger view in another window.

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   Hotel Room When I go out of town I pack only the essentials


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   War is Swell At least it is on the tabletop front. Terrain was a big feature at Origins 2007.


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   Battlestar Celebrity Richard Hatch was there. He has a Sci-Fi genre game company that is pushing a "game universe". He is the only actor to star in both Battlestar Galactica series.


4. 
   City of Ruin Here they are selling damaged building terrain for use in war miniatures. Don't those tanks notice the spider-like aliens on the other table waiting to swoop in and take over?


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   Expensive Village More terrain. Yes that price tag for one building is $74.95. A building behind it is $90.


6. 
   If you "Gotta Catch 'Em All" This is where the national Pokemon championships are held. This is the lovely yellow spokesmodel.


7. 
   Elevators Exposed The Hyatt in Downtown Indianapolis has these beautiful glass elevators. Kinda scary if your in one going to the top.(you have to look at the full view. This is too dark to see in the thumbnail.)


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   Tin Foil Hats One of the groups of gamers decided that their game called for special headgear.


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   Homage or Mockery? An adjoining table decided that the other table should be made fun of. So they put on paper headgear.


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    Western Sunday The adult Sunday school class files in on Western Sunday at my church.


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    Western Ushers The ushers had out lessons all dressed up for Western Sunday


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    Kid Corbin Here's the orneriest hombre west of Streetsboro


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    Davey the Kid Folks tell of the biggest bus rustling cow poke this side of the Tuscarawas.

Well that'll teach me to keep my camera cleaned out.

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Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Ah Fall In Ohio

It will be officially Autumn soon and the signs are everywhere. This morning at 8:00 I left to take the kids to school and had to run the heater/defrost in my car. At 9:00 I left for work and had to run the air conditioner.

I guess another sign of late summer early fall are these beauties which I captured with my camera phone.





These Hibiscus Syriacus have volunteered themselves into my yard. The Rose of Sharon as it is also called blooms in late summer with these large flowers. The plant depicted in the first picture was murdered by my neighbor. For no reason whatsoever she pulled it and trashed it one morning. She didn't say anything about it. I just notice it laying in my driveway amongst the weedy debris of her garden as I was going to work. I seem to be surrounded by nutjobs.

Thursday Thirteen #30

13 things about Dane Bramage

13 Thursday Thirteen Logos
NOTE: I have learned from the Thursday Thirteen Hub that this is the last T13. I didn't know that when I put this together on Monday but I think it is kind of appropriate. A review if you will.
The Thursday Thirteen will continue. This T13 was originally posted at Dane Bramage

When I started doing Thursday Thirteen I used some of the beautiful logos designed by other people that you can find at the Thursday 13 Hub. I still use a couple but I decided early on that I would prefer to use my own. Here are thirteen logos that I did and have used throughout my Thursday Thirteen Career.

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   The Church In The Barn I used a photo I took of my church for this logo. There is no 13 theme, just showing off the property.
   
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   Highway Thursday 13 I took a picture of some tabletop scenery constructed for miniatures games involving giant robot war machines, at Origins 2006. I altered it for T13.
   
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   13 Toes I found these normal feet on the web. I was looking for a pair that I could photochop into having 13 toes. This was one of the first photochopping exercises I did. If they're your feet I apologize.
   
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   Indianapolis 13 I took this picture from the window in my hotel room. I thought it looked cool and would make a nice logo.
   
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   13 Moves This chess game was on sale at the Origins 2006 Game Fair. Don't ask me how to play, I just thought it was an interesting shot.
   
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   Thursday 13 Services I created this logo at Church Sign Generator .COM They have a variety of denominations but I'm Baptist. You can go there and create a church sign with up to four lines of text. After you have it say whatever you want, you can save the image to your local machine.
   
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   13 Steps to Cardhalla This is a picture I took of Cardhalla. People build structures out of cards during the first three days of Gen Con. Then on Saturday night they hurl change at the buildings to destroy them. The change is gathered up and given to a charity selected at the start of the event.
   
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   Heritage 13 This car was painted up as a race car by our Bus Director at church for the Heritage 500 (our Vacation Bible School). I had to photochop some details out and add the big 13 on the side. You can see The Church in the Barn in the background.
   
9. 
   13 Foods This is the food court at the Columbus Convention center. This is during a break in the gaming action at Origins 2006. I'm not sure why I used it, I might have been in a hurry.
   
10. 
    13 Dirty Looks Here is a picture of my friend Dave. He is sitting next to a pile of dirty laundry. I photochopped the laundry out and in it's place I created Dave's evil twin. This was by far the hardest photochop job I did. The balding one is the real Dave.
    
11. 
    Size 13 I know who these feet belong to. They're Dave's. I photochopped the rest of him out of the picture and turned them into shoes. I did not apologize to him. Coincidentally they really are size 13. I have always been fond of them.
    
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    13 Explosions I took this picture from my hotel room in Columbus during Red, White and Boom. I was very pleased with the pictures I took of the fireworks that night.
    
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    Super 13 The drawing was done by my friend Eric. It is close to twenty years old which is scary. Each character is was played by one of my friends in a game. We did this on Friday Nights for almost a decade. The cool dude with gun and shades was my character. His name was, ironically enough, Dane. Anyway I used this logo for my comic book list. Thanks Eric!

Well there you have 14 logos (The castle logo at the top of this list is another one I created from a picture I took at Origins 2006). I have a couple more that I have used but no room for them this time. When I get another thirteen of them done I will create another list.

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1. Raggedy 2. KarenW 3. Christine 4. JHSiess 5. Susan Helene Gottfried 6. Wacky Mommy 7. Chelle Y. 8. chupieandjsmama 9. Christine d'Abo 10. Barbara H. 11. JAM

12. Thomma Lyn 13. Tink 14. Jude&Elise 15. jenny 16. qtpies7 17. Amy Ruttan 18. Heather Rae Scott 19. Norma 20. thebluestbutterfly 21. Friday's Child 22. bernie

23. Robin 24. carmen 25. DKRaymer 26. Marcia 27. Cindy Swanson 28. TopChamp 29. CoMeDy PoRtAl 30. Comic Stripper

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Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!
The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!


View More Thursday Thirteen Participants