London's Very Own Superhero

There's a fuzzy green man roaming the streets of England, and it isn't a hobo. Shrub Man is definitely a superhero for the modern age, attacking environmental bad guys by replacing weeds with pretty posies:

The self-styled Human Shrub, covered in green foliage, struck for the second time on Sunday when he replaced weeds with flowers to transform dormant plant containers in Colchester, eastern England.
The shrub, whose identity remains a secret, first emerged earlier this year when he protested in full plant regalia outside the town hall against Colchester council's plan to turf over rose beds to save money. He waved a banner urging people to "save his brothers the shrubs, and sisters the roses".
The council reversed its decision to tear out and grass over one in five roadside flower beds in Colchester following protests, in an affair dubbed "shrubgate" by opposition councillors.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/jul/08/human-shrub-colchester

I should be surprised, but London's had a serious overflow of superheroes lately, so I guess it's just par for the course...

Monty Python Together Again

Monty Python will celebrate its Ruby Jubilee (that's 40th anniversary to you and me) later this year on stage at London's infamous Royal Albert Hall, with the European premiere of Eric Idle and John Du Prez’s "Not The Messiah (He's a Very Naughty Boy)" on October 23.
Starring Idle (baritonish) with guest appearances from fellow Pythons Michael Palin, Terry Jones & Terry Gilliam and Carol Cleveland & Neil Innes, Not The Messiah (He’s a Very Naughty Boy), will feature William Ferguson (Brian) Shannon Mercer (Judith), Rosalind Plowright (Mandy), Christopher Purves (Reg) and the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, conducted by Prez.
Monty Python’s Flying Circus first aired on the BBC on October 5, 1969. The television series, originally broadcast from 1969 to 1974, was conceived, written and performed by Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin. After the immense popularity of the television series, Monty Python continued its global domination with three films, stage tours, numerous albums, books and a stage musical, launching the members to individual stardom.
Idle said: “It is rare you get to be silly on a mass scale. This work was commissioned by the Toronto Luminato Festival in 2007 where it was conducted by my cousin Peter Oundjian with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. It was performed later that year in Australia and New Zealand, including two sell-out nights at The Sydney Opera House, and last year at the Wolf Trap to 7,000 with the Washington Symphony, in Houston with the Houston Symphony, culminating in two nights at The Hollywood Bowl (to 19,000 people) with the LA Philharmonic and fireworks. It tells the tragic tale of Mandy, impregnated by a Roman soldier, giving birth to Brian, a reluctant revolutionary who falls in love with Judith, gets mistaken for a Messiah and is condemned to death. It ranges in reference from Handel, through a naughty Mozart duet, to the Festival of Nine Carols, Bob Dylan, and the classic finale Always Look On The Bright Side of Life.”
Visit www.PythOnline.com for updated information on all the 40th anniversary events.

Happy Python-ing!

Ron Needs Swine Flu Potion!

Just one day before the London premiere of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, Rupert Grint has been reported to be recuperating from Swine Flu! He was apparently diagnosed with the illness and had to take time off last week from filming the seventh installment of the series, Deathly Hallows.

This is very upsetting, not least of all because it might dampen my plans to attack the ginger-haired actor at the Leicester Square red carpet tomorrow.

Rupert's publicist said: "Rupert has now recovered and is looking forward to joining his fellow cast members at the premieres of Harry Potter and the HalfBlood Prince this week and will then return to filming directly afterwards."

Read the full story here.

Obama and the Mouse

You've just become the leader of the free world, what are you going to do next?

President Obama has finally been added to the Hall of Presidents attraction at Walt Disney World. It's an animatronic show that highlights every US president throughout history, using robotic figurines to tell the American story. Obama has made his debut, giving the closing speech for the educational attraction, and I can now rest easy that after eight years of Bush-in-wax, I can re-enter the site.

Here's a video of the process:


And here's the finished product:


Also, in honor of the 4th, one of my favorite poems, by Emma Lazarus, a Jewish immigrant who wrote the iconic prose "The New Colossus":

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of Exiles.
From her beacon-hand glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she with silent lips.
"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

YouTube and Me

Hi everyone! I am very excited to announce I've begun uploading videos on my own YouTube channel. It's something I've been meaning to do for a while, but I couldn't quite figure it out. Thanks to a very helpful friend I've now got it running, and you can visit by clicking here.
I'm really annoyed that I didn't have this figured out earlier, but I've gone back and added lots of videos throughout my blog posts...

Hope you enjoy them, and let me know if you all like the new look of the site! Happy 4th everyone!

Michael Jackson: The Musical

It may not be his comeback gig at the O2, but lucky Londoners can still catch a Michael Jackson spectacular. Thriller Live is a West End musical that's been running since February, but has had a reinvention since the passing of the King of Pop. I've seen the show twice and it's a lot of good fun, especially with a few cocktails. For anyone who will be in the London area, the Jewish News is giving away five free pairs of tickets. To win log onto http://www.totallyjewish.com/entertainment/competition/ and test your MJ trivia!

Scotland Yard

No. 12: Discover haunted Britain
No. 13: Find the Loch Ness Monster
No. 14: Play the bagpipes
No. 15: Get royal crest

...Our guide is speaking very seriously for a dude wearing stockings, pantaloons and a feathered cap, and brings us to a wax statue of a man in a black coat and a long beak-like mask.
“The foulis clenger,” our guide intones in a voice that should be accompanied by wiggling fingers, “the brave man who went in after the wretched plague had gripped its victim, sent in to ease their suffering and made to clean out the rotting corpses of the defiled area.”
I refrain from asking this man why, when someone is so horribly afflicted by disease, people would think it wise to send in to the poor soul someone dressed like the bad guy from I Know What You Did Last Summer...

To read the full column follow this link and turn to page 18: http://www.totallyjewish.com/the_jewish_news/view/c-12045/jewish-news-jn-592-20709/?no_login=1