He was a minor director from the 50's, who directed an Oedipus Rex movie that's most notable today for the fact that Tom Lehrer wrote a comedy theme song for it. Shatner had a bit part in the chorus somewhere. (Don't feel bad, I hadn't heard of him either until she expressed this desire.)

The Serling question is cool, too. And Nightmare at 20,000 Feet was a pretty iconic role, so I'm surprised he doesn't get asked that more. Billy Mumy is most famous for Lost in Space, of course, but I once saw a print interview where someone asked him what it was like working for Hitchcock. He made some comments that I don't quite remember, to the effect that Hitchcock was a great director but not at all fun to work with.

Bill Mumy was Lennier in Babylon 5. I didn't make the Lost in Space connection till in a fit of nostalgia I watched an old episode. I checked on-line and yep, it was him.

I saw Bill Mumy in Babylon 5. I know this sounds weird, but as soon as I saw him I thought "Gee, that guy looks like Billy Mumy." Then I saw the name in the credits.

Good to see that he had a second career. It's tough when an actor or actress gets typecast.

There was a great production of Oedipus Rex with Diana Rigg as Jocasta. I haven't been able to get a copy of it. I wish I could so I could show it to my students. Plays are meant to be watched, not read.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090814/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iran

The reformers are exhausting their constitutional remedies. I wonder what will happen next.

Here is an article of "interest" from The Washington Times online: -- "U.S. no longer at war with 'terrorism.' "


Chess Fan

One of my favorite "MPM's", ("Main Political Men"), Mike Huckabee, is soon finishing up a trip to Israel.


Chess Fan

The President of Israel, Shimon Peres, certainly had some strong words to say
concerning the possibility of a nuclear-armed nation of Iran!


Chess Fan

A liberal blogger is gagging on the Glenn Beck boycott:

Glenn Beck Boycott: Censorship or Good Citizenship?

...And it's not hard to see why. Apparently, Beck called Obama a racist, and several advertisers pulled their sponsorship, calling that hate speech. It's not hard to see why a liberal blogger would object to that. If calling somebody a racist is hate speech, we've just indicted pretty much every Democrat Politician of the last 40 years, which is far too steep a price to pay just to cut a few bucks off Beck's profit margin.

I've only heard Beck once or twice, and he didn't make much of an impression on me. He seemed to rely too much on gestures and "Oh, brothers", and rolling the eyes and such. In fact, he reminds me a lot of Kalten's description the other day of Carol Jarecki and her over-use of argumentum oh pleasium. Still, that's just a first impression, because as I've said, I've only heard Beck once or twice and might have caught him on a couple of bad days. Even so, he still seems more substantive than Michael Savage, who I've caught saying something once or twice, but he still seems to specialize in saying nothing at all for hours on end.

It is curious that the Left is trying to boycott Beck, who does nothing but run his mouth, but they are never exercized by people like Michael Vick, who actually committed a crime.