Well,  Time  magazine was right.   The Trump-Putin summit fizzled, and ended earlier than expected .  Worse,  Putin won .  Their next session will be in Moscow.  When?  And, in case you were wondering, Putin is 5'7" and Trump 6'3". Way back in 2014,  Guinness World Records deemed the Got Talent franchise the most successful reality TV format worldwide.   At that time, there 58 countries showing their own version of the program.  The whole concept began with  Britain's Got Talent,  created by Simon Cowell.  However, disputes delayed their release, and the first to air was  America's Got Talent  in 2006.  They both run during the summer. The latest ranking  (13August2025) , however, shows the following: #    1  Idol franchise  3.2 billion, 23 years,  2002 to 2025, but did not air in 2017. #    2  Got Talent franchise  500 million in 190 markets, 20 ye...

Before Jackie Evancho, there was Charlotte Church, a Welsh singer who was born in 1986 and had a musical breakthrough at the age of 11 singing  Pie Jesu  over the telephone on a television show.  ( Watch her singing this song shortly thereafter .)  Two years later in 1999 she sang at  Rupert Murdoch 's third wedding, to Wendi Deng, when he was 68 and she 30.  I digress here, for the  following is kind of interesting. They were married for 14 years. His fourth was model Jerry hall when he was 85 and she 59.  Stayed together for six years. In 2023, at the age of 92, he got engaged to Ann Lesley Smith who was 56, but two weeks later called it off because of her infatuation to Fox News host Tucker Carlson.  Three weeks later, he fired Carlson. His fifth marriage occurred on June 2024, to retired Russian molecular biologist Elena Zhukova, whose daughter Dasha is the ex-wife of Roman Abramovich.  Who is he?  Worth  $14.5 billion, wit...

First, on the entertainment front, the favorites did well at the Screen Actors Guild Awards last night.   You did not miss it, for to watch, you had to stream Netflix.   Here, view the results .  Yes, the whole thing, beginning with that Red Carpet walk.  Meaning, 8 hours and 21 minutes.   Not being on network television, a lot of F words, and some winners came up drunk. The favorites all won, especially  Oppenheimer . Barbra Streisand won the Life Achievement award.   Just this , less than 10 minutes. As I don't feel particularly spiritual today, will skip on to something I recently saw on Music Choice, Elaine Paige.  Was the original Grizabella who sang  Memories  from  Cats .  It was 1981 in the West End.  In 1998 she played that role in the movie.  Mind you,  Rotten Tomatoes  reviewers gave it an embarrassing 20% rating.  On the other hand, the audience bestowed 80%, and I follow...

First, yesterday President Joe Biden gave a talk about democracy in Arizona.  This was his most blistering attack yet of Donald Trump and his MAGA extremists.  Did you know that  Joe introduced John to Cindy , his wife? And speaking of Trump: His civil fraud trial trial in New York could begin as soon as this coming Monday.   Also, his pool of funds to pay legal bills for his cronies is running out.   Trump won't bother to even seek a transfer of his case from Georgia to a federal court. Finally, that House quagmire about the government shutdown tomorrow.  Looks like Keven McCarthy lost his battle to pass anything only with Republicans.  Democrats in the House say that if only 5 Republicans vote with them, all this nonsense can be avoided.  But if McCarthy makes that move, he will lose his speakership.  So be prepared for at a short shutdown.  Will this be terrible?  Nah.   The USA has had 21 of them over the pas...