His career spanned eight decades.   He was known for American Bandstand which he hosted from its inception until it’s last episode in 1989,  and his New Years  Countdown as well as many game shows such as the $10,000 Pyramid.

Early Clip with Betty White

Mr. Clark was known for his youthful appearance.  After suffering a stroke in 2004 he battled back and again appeared on camera and was an inspiration for those who survive strokes.

This is Your Life Episode from 1959

Mr. Clark was replaced by American Idol host Ryan Seacrest in the popular New Year’s Eve countdown.

RIP 

Richard Wagstaff Clark 

November 30, 1929 to April 18, 2012

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Known for his tough, sometimes fierce interviews, he was the voice of his generation in many ways when it came to journalism.

Visiting the Writer’s Guild in NYC in the early 90′s I had the chance to bump into him.  Ok, he was trapped in an elevator with me; but he was gracious and friendly answering some questions candidly and openly.  He was wonderful and an inspiration in many ways for myself as a journalist.

The Massachusetts native started out in radio like many of his generation before jumping to television where he hosted some early game shows before moving to the talk show format.

Ayn Rand Interview

Aldous Huxley

Early Philip  Morris Plug!

But it was 60 Minutes that he will always be most remembered for.  For decades his voice was connected with some of the most amazing interviews ever on television.

Mike retired in 2006.   His son Chris is a news man in his own right.   I think the late and very great Andy Rooney summed up Mike’s career so well so I’ll let this clip of his end this piece.

What a wonderful life and career….

RIP Mike Wallace 

May 9, 1918 – April 7, 2012

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Born in 1919, James Lovelock is a globally respected environmental thinker and independent scientist. While his career has included work for NASA and MI5, he is best known for proposing the Gaia hypothesis. This ecological theory postulates that the biosphere and the physical components of the Earth form a complex self-regulating entity that maintains the climatic and biogeochemical conditions on Earth and keep it healthy.

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In this series of truly captivating recordings, Lovelock recounts what drew him to science and reminisces on how he invented his own electron capture detector in order to carry out his work ‘…it was rather special. It was the most sensitive capture device in existence.’
He reflects on his work in the 1960s with biologists in Houston to detect life on Mars, and his frustration at the experiments being carried out.

‘I voiced my doubts? and they got very annoyed? In fact, most of my encounters with biologists lead to them getting very annoyed with me.’ 

Lovelock also shares priceless memories of how he came to consider that life regulates the chemistry and the climate of the atmosphere ? the Gaia hypothesis, as well as how the hypothesis came to be named. He goes on to discuss how, in his view, science should never replace religion: ‘…people need to believe in things, and science can never offer them that.’

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All of Lovelock’s fascinating recordings can be watched as a number of short clips ranging in length between one and seven minutes. All Web of Stories videos are easy to share with friends and colleagues, and may be embedded into personal blogs and websites.

Click here  to find out more:  LINK

CFN

As a 47 year old former Montrealer whose grand-father was a Cantor I too myself may be a Neverbloomer.    As I watched the scenes roll by there was a stream of connection between the interview subjects, Ms Hyman, and myself.

And that to me is the charm of this feature length Documentary.

For a pleasant view and chance for you other Neverbloomers to ponder your grownuphood check out Neverbloomers on the CBC Documentary channel Monday night starting at 8PM EST.

For more about Sharon Hyman and her film visit her website HERE.

Sharon Hyman

I had the chance to connect with Sharon on Facebook and here is some of our chat:

CFN

So what is it about filmmaking that turns you on?

Sharon Hyman

but you said Goon is everything you love about Canada, I think you can say the same about Neverbloomers, it is so diverse and cool

CFN

• Neverbloomers was a trip for me – it was nice, familiar….my age group, my former home town, some of the same questions in life.  Maybe different sub characters….  I’m interviewing you via Facebook for the write up.   Did you see Goon?  And back to my question. What is it about filmmaking that turns you on?

  Sharon Hyman

  I just enjoy it, the immediacy in my case, since I do everything myself – grab a camera and film

  CFN

  Do you think you’ll Bloom one day?

Sharon Hyman

I think as Faith Nolan says in the film, we are always in a process of blooming and drooping, at the same time.

CFN

• In another review I think it was written that your film contrasted really nicely between your parents generation; I think they even compared it to “Mad Men’s” time frame. What do you think it the biggest difference between your Mom’s life and your own?  Is being a Neverbloomer a good thing?

  Sharon Hyman 

  I think it’s easy to romaticize our parents’ generation, they seemed to have actual social lives as opposed to us who have TV and Facebook. They had cocktail parties and community events and actually got out of the house!

  .
  On the other hand, my mother’s generation of women suffered from lack of options, thank God feminism came around and liberated both sexes! For even though she seemed like the uber grownup to me, as she says in the film, she just felt overwhelmed.
  CFN
  Do you like Cocktail parties? After the premier of Neverbloomers what’s next for Sharon?
   What’s your next project going to be about?
  .
  Sharon Hyman 
  I actually do not drink. But the idea is that people socilaised, not as isolated as our generation. I am in talks to work on a project with singer Luba to work on something about women in the music industry.
  CFN
  That’s amazing as I’m supposed to be interviewing her in a few weeks in Montreal!  A great voice.

  • How do you think the internet has changed the way we consume media and interact with each other? Especially for women?

  Sharon Hyman 
  In some ways it broadens our circles – you got to meet Luba and otherwise would not. On the other hand, nothing replaces true community and personal interaction, and the Internet does not offer that.
  
  
  CFN

  • Tangent: Was there a particular reason you entered Neverbloomers instead of just interviewing others?

    Was it just the introspective of searching, and did you find your answers much different than those of the people you filmed?  You can’t touch people online; physically – shake hands, hug, smells; at least not yet

  Sharon Hyman 

  I have been doing what I call “autodocumentaries” since I was a teenager so it was natural to be in the film. I like personal, first person films.
  Sometimes I think this is the era of the Neverbloomer.
  For starters, so many of the traditional “external trappings” of adulthood have changed – people marrying later, if at all (and then ending up divorced), the percentage of women who never have children has doubled in the last few decades, there are few cradle-to-grave jobs anymore, those sorts of things.And then there’s the lifestyle changes. I don’t know about you, but my dad was part of the Masonic temple and my parents had cocktail parties and belonged to the synagogue and actually went out of the house several nights a week! Our generation has TV and Facebook. Very isolating.As a result of these seismic shifts in social and economic roles, the ways that we as a society used to delineate between childhood and adulthood no longer exist. Which leaves many of us wondering how adulthood can be now be defined, when the traditional markers have all but disappeared.However, it is also possible that people always felt like neverbloomers and either did not realize it (before therapy and Oprah and, thank God, feminism came about) or never voiced their true feelings. My mother admits as much in the film, when I ask if she felt like a grownup – married with four kids by 27 – and she says “I just felt overwhelmed!”
  The main leasson that I learned is that everyone feels like a Neverbloomer, at least part of the time. We are always comparing our insides to other people’s outsides, and falling short in our eyes. But the truth is, almost everyone feels like an impostor grownup. Everyone feels like life is one big high school experience that just never ends. All those fears and insecurities, they never go away. But hopefully with inner work (and age) we can cope better with these feelings and gain more perspective and equanimity. As I say in the film, it’s not so much grownuphood as “awareuphood”!The other main lesson is that the “external trappings” of life are not necessarily the things that will make you feel like you have bloomed.
  .
  At first I felt like a Neverbloomer because I don’t have certain of those trappings that society tells us we need to be true adults – marriage, kids, a mortgage, a driver’s license! And then I realized, it really is about how you feel inside, and what is meaningful to you. Blooming is an internal process, not based on externals or how society says you “should” be.
  
  

  NEVERBLOOMERS: The Search For GrownUphood
  A new film by Sharon Hyman
  World broadcast premiere on
  CBC’s documentary channel
  February 27, 2012 | 8:00 PM ET/PT

  
  

It seems Mr. Bellmore has been building a You Tube Channel that has drawn over 1,000,000 million page views.

According to Mr. Bellmore the trouble started when his computer went on the fritz and he being burnt out took a mini sabbatical.

This resulted in queries and suggestions from he being “kidnapped” or arrested to simply running off with funds that his subscribers donated.

After a bit of searching we hooked up with Mr. Bellmore this afternoon at the Island Ink Jet Internet Cafe where we shot an interview and caught up with Cornwall’s other Million Man!

Joey is like a friendlier Canadian version of Alex Jones.   His messages focus more on health and food issues according to what we talked about as well as politics and some of the standard “truther” message.

I found it interesting how he and so many other young people have become so distrustful of the system; especially the political system that they’ve evolved into these myriad beliefs?

To me, my hope is that more people become involved in politics instead of American Idol and that they ask questions and make changes to the world.

Joey says he’ll be getting a new computer soon and has high hopes for his channel.  He wants to host his own radio and video show like Alex Jones and if energy alone can make it happen he’ll probably be back broadcasting before can say Stephen Harper is a big American sell out.

What do you think Truthers?  You can post your comments below.

]]> http://cornwallfreenews.com/2012/01/cornwall-ontarios-joey-bellmore-reaches-1-million-you-tube-views-video-interview-january-23-2012/feed/ 3 http://cornwallfreenews.com/2011/11/cbs-60-minutes-writer-andy-rooney-passes-away-at-92-a-writers-job-is-to-tell-the-truth-november-5-2011/ http://cornwallfreenews.com/2011/11/cbs-60-minutes-writer-andy-rooney-passes-away-at-92-a-writers-job-is-to-tell-the-truth-november-5-2011/#comments Sat, 05 Nov 2011 12:34:51 +0000 admin http://cornwallfreenews.com/?p=29507

Andy Rooney - Photo : Stephenson Brown

CFN -  It’s amazing how we can walk through life walking by amazing people.   Look at that picture above.  If you didn’t know it was Andy Rooney what would you think?  Yesterday I was at an event and a gentleman introduced himself to me.   I’d struck up a conversation with his brother and that led to him wanting to talk to me.

Over the course of that conversation I learned that this gentleman had a very interesting life.  A surprising one and as we sipped our beer my life was enriched by his experience.

Andy Rooney died; at the ripe old age of 92.   As he shared in the video below it was a great life; one in which he got to spend over seventy years doing what he wanted and that’s the greatest gift anyone can receive.

He also said that:

A writer’s job is to tell the truth.

Of course there are many truths.    I was at the Writer’s Guild in NY and discovered that it housed the same offices as the Sixty Minutes crew.   I met Mike Wallace which was a total rush and the late Ed Bradley.   I wish I’d had the chance to meet Andy.

I grew up with his snippets as have many of you.      I’m not going to writ his obit here. Many fine ones exist.   I want to thank Andy.   Thank you for all those years and all those words.

Andy Rooney Wiki

Andy’s last 60 Minutes clip

Her Hot Pot will survive, and the show will go on.   It’s been that kind of year as Maggie Hunt (Blanche) passed away and the show saw popular character Jack Duckworth (Bill Tarmey) join his Vera.

Betty’s Hot Pot Recipe

Three quarters of a kilogram each of neck of lamb and potatoes

A large onion

One and a half cups water

3 tablespoons of cooking oil

1 tablespoon of flour

1 bay leaf

Dash of Worcestershire Sauce

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1. Brown the meat in a pan of very hot oil then set aside

2. Chop and fry the onion until it begins to brown

3. Sprinkle flour into the pan with the onions and stir to soak up the fat

4. Turn off the heat and add the water slowly while stirring vigorously to prevent lumps forming

5. Add a dash of Worcestershire Sauce, salt and pepper to taste

6. Mix the onion, meat and stock together and stir in a bay leaf

7. Alternate layers of meat and onion mix with thinly sliced potato in an ovenproof dish. The top layer should be potato.

8. Cover and bake at 325 F for 2 hours

9. Remove cover and continue to bake until the top layer of potato browns

Speaking of Corrie, we here in Canada are catching up to the British time lines as CBC has doubled up episodes.    The Tram crash killed Ashley, Molly, and Charlotte, but some of the story lines need some improving.    Corrie always had a nimble balance of young and old characters.   A bit of off beat comedy, and of course their holiday explosions!

Now there seems to be a competition of who can get the bigger boob jobs, and the propensity of people sleeping with each other’s best friends seems to be on the rise.

What do you think Corrie fans?  You can post your comments below.

It’s was one of the greatest Corrie moments I think I’ve watched and a true tribute to the character of Jack Duckworth and Bill Tarmey who played Jack from 1979! I won’t give away the spoiler for those who haven’t seen it yet, but it was classic Coronation Street which for old timers like me has been sorely been lacking as the storylines keep getting younger and a bit less Corrie like.

Jack’s Final Episode on CBC 

Alan Halsall as Tyrone Dobbs did a great job too!

Coronation Street celebrates its 50th year on television and it’s been a long time hit for CBC here in Canada probably only second to Hockey Night in Canada in popularity.    I myself have been watching the show for over 30 years.    It used to be on at 3 in the afternoon here in Canada and for some reason if there was a holiday or if I was home from school there was nothing like watching Corrie.

Canadian fans you can post your comments and tributes to Jack below.

]]> http://cornwallfreenews.com/2011/09/last-episode-for-coronation-streets-jack-duckworth-here-in-canada-september-12-2011-cornwall-ontario/feed/ 0 http://cornwallfreenews.com/2011/08/a-morning-show-to-broadcast-from-cornwall-on-september-14-for-mayor-council-team-cornwall-charity-golf-tournament/ http://cornwallfreenews.com/2011/08/a-morning-show-to-broadcast-from-cornwall-on-september-14-for-mayor-council-team-cornwall-charity-golf-tournament/#comments Mon, 15 Aug 2011 20:53:41 +0000 admin http://cornwallfreenews.com/?p=27268 Cornwall ON - On Wednesday September 14, the cast and crew of the /A\ Morning Show will be leaving their Byward Market studios and broadcasting live from Cornwall Ontario. The show will be live on the air from 6 am to 10 am.

“We’re excited to get out on the road and connect directly with our viewers,” said Kurt Stoodley, Co-Host of the /A\ Morning Show. “As the largest municipality in our viewing area (besides Ottawa/Gatineau), it makes sense for us to return to Cornwall.”

“The broadcast offers a great opportunity for Team Cornwall members to showcase our community,” said Mayor Bob Kilger. “The /A\ Morning Show is the number one rated morning broadcast in the Ottawa area, and Kurt Stoodley and his team have become good friends to the City.”

Before the election UBB was and still is a very large issue.   There was a break, a delay if you will, a proroguing of the decision to allow the big media companies that ability to over charge for bandwidth.    In this case companies like Bell and Shaw can’t at the moment charge as much as $4.00 for a GB of bandwidth that can cost a little as less than one penny to deliver.

Now Sun TV or as it’s been called, Fox News North has been dropped by Bell Satellite services.   Apparently it’s over money, but I have a hunch the picture is a bit larger than that.

In the 50′s the Hollywood studio system was broken up by the US government as they essentially had a monopoly.  The studios made the movies, owned the distributors, AND the big theatre chains.

Block booking was the way things were done and the studios made money on the entire chain of  product.  This system also gave a small group of corporations and businesses virtual control over what the American public went to see in the days prior to the boom in television.

The break up of the old Hollywood system was also connected to the “Red Scare” of the Fifties where Americans were seeing Communists under ever bush and rock and were afraid of too much media control in the hands of too few.

Fast forward to 2011.    Bell owns its internet delivery system, ISP.  It owns CTV, IE a network, which in turn buys and creates programming, and it owns Bell’s Satellite service.   That’s a powerful grouping.   There are other groupings like Shaw and of course smaller players.    It’s not a fair playing table and the influence that ISP’s and companies like Bell and Shaw for example have is clearly evident in the UBB wranglings with the CRTC.

LINK

Lavoie said the issue may be taken to the CRTC on the basis of Bell (TSX:BCE) giving itself an unfair advantage, noting the telecom giant already owns three all-news channels — CTV news channel, Business News Network and CP24.

Another example is that I am a Netflix.ca client.  Love the service so far, but my Cogeco internet service is going to get dinged as my bandwidth will be higher.    While I’m contemplating moving over to a service like TeK Savvy if the CRTC allows UBB to go through essentially the big ISP’s will have won the day and really hurt Canadians ability to communicate.  WiFi in schools and hospitals would be prohibitively expensive and even medial service costs would grow as distance treatment by doctors is internet based.

These are issues facing us that need to be resolved.  Countries like Finland pass laws stating that High Speed Internet access is a right while we in Canada are trying new and unique ways to limit access for Canadians?

What do you think Canada?  You can post your comments below.