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What ever happened to Steve on the TV show Blue Clues, who supposedly went off to college and handed off his dog Blue to his younger brother Joe? Steve Burns, who played the original host of the show, did not commit suicide or die of a heroin overdose as rumor had it. He just left to pursue a musical career, and because he did not want to go bald on a children’s show. In this video, Burns talks about how Blues Clues affected his life. This might make you feel really old, but it’s so interesting you’ll want to find a way to listen to all seventeen minutes. No profanity, but he mentions boobs. -via reddit
There are pictures we are all familiar with, but who are the people in the pictures? Some of the most famous images are those of people who had nothing to do with the photograph’s fame, and some weren’t even aware of them. Like Geraldine Doyle, who was well aware of the Rosie the Riveter poster seen everywhere during World War II, but had no clue that her face was the inspiration for it -until 1984!
Doyle, incredibly, had no idea of her connection to Rosie the Riveter. In fact, she didn’t even know about the original inspirational photo, which given her posture, lends an unsettling peeping-Tom vibe to the whole thing. At the time, she’d just graduated high school and, like many other women, had taken a job in a factory in order to support the war effort. American Broach & Machine Co. had her on a metal press in no time at all, probably after a vigorous and thorough safety-training program that only that decade could deliver.
Fearing an injury that could impact her ability to play the cello, Doyle quit after only two weeks on the job. She endured the potential hand crushing long enough for a photographer to snap the picture without her noticing. Someone who did notice, however, was J. Howard Miller, an artist commissioned by the government to draw up some motivating pieces of art.
Read the rest of her story, plus those of other famous faces, at Cracked. Link
Tyler Cowen, an economist and the blogger behind Marginal Revolution, was asked by a reader:
Who do you think will still be famous in 10,000 years? People from history or now. Shakespeare? Socrates? Hawking?
He answered (in part):
In that case, I’ll go with the major religious leaders (Jesus, Buddha, etc.), Einstein, Turing, Watson and Crick, Hitler, the major classical music composers, Adam Smith, and Neil Armstrong.[...]
My thinking is this. The major religions last for a long time and leave a real mark on history. Path-dependence is critical in that area.
Otherwise, an individual, to stay famous, will have to securely symbolize an entire area, and an area “with legs” at that. The theory of relativity still will be true and it may well become more important. The computer and DNA will not be irrelevant. Hitler will remain a stand-in symbol for pure evil; if he is topped we may not have a future at all. Beethoven and Mozart still will be splendid, but Shakespeare and other wordsmiths will require translation and thus will fade somewhat. The propensity to truck and barter will remain and Smith will keep his role as the symbol of economics.
Who do you think will be famous in 10,000 years?
Link | Photo by Flickr user jake.auzzie used under Creative Commons license
Who are the most popular people on the internet? Well, they are not popular just for being on the internet -it takes a presence in the real world. However, the internet can measure a celebrity’s popularity pretty well. And the most popular person, teen pop singer Justin Bieber, got his start on the internet.
In the past twelve months, more people have searched for the 16-year-old wonder on Google than have searched for “china,” “jesus,” or “boobs.”
Bieber also left other celebrities in the dust. The only person who came close was Lady Gaga.
Based on a rigorous analysis of Google Trends we’ve identified the most popular people on the Internet. Since Google provides only comparative data, we compared everyone we could think of to Bieber. Feel free to check the data and post a comment if we left anyone off the list.
Business Insider counts down the top 20, ranked in comparison with Bieber’s popularity. Link -Thanks, Adam!
Watching old episodes of Soul Train is always a good time. The outrageous outfits, the wonderful and wacky dance moves, the cool music acts and the sweet, soulful voice of Mr. Don Cornelius make up one excellent hour of television. If you start watching the reruns though, you may occasionally find yourself exclaiming “I recognize that person,” and you just might be right. A number of celebrities danced on the show before and after they made it big. Here are a few stars you might recognize if you keep your eyes peeled while watching.
After graduating high school, Rosie Perez moved to Los Angeles and started attending LA City College with hopes of becoming a marine biologist. She was a killer dancer though and soon found herself working on Soul Train in the late 80s. After a few seasons, she went on to perform at the club Funky Reggae, which is where she was spotted by Spike Lee who soon cast her in his film Do The Right Thing.
She continued working in the dance field and earned three Emmy nominations for her choreography on In Living Color and she choreographed music videos for Janet Jackson, Bobby Brown, Diana Ross and LL Cool J. Of course, Rosie is best know for her acting, starring in White Men Can’t Jump, Untamed Heart, Fearless and more. She’s even appeared on Broadway, where she was able to combine her dancing and acting talents.
These days, she focuses most of her energies on activism and President Obama even appointed her to the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS this year.
Sources: Star Pulse, Biography.com, Wikipedia
Born Tara Leigh Patrick, Carmen’s parents knew she was destined for fame and they enrolled her in creative and performing arts classes since she was a youngster. Before she was even 18, she had already moved to LA and started dancing on Soul Train in 1991. Her big break came when she snuck into a nightclub and was spotted by Prince, who asked her to audition for a new female singing group he was forming. While she failed that the audition, she soon met Prince a second time and he asked her to be a solo artist on his record label. He also asked her to change her name to something more exotic, suggesting Carmen Electra after Bizet’s opera, Carmen, and the Greek princess Electra.
Her music career failed, but she was able to land a job on Nickelodeon’s All That, and she soon posed in Playboy, which helped her land a role on Baywatch and in MTV’s Singled Out. Since then she’s starred in a number of TV shows and movies, although these days her biggest roles seem to be in parody films like Disaster Movie and Meet the Spartans.
Sources: Wikipedia, Hot Carmen Electra
Image via Rafael Amado Deras [Flickr]
Nick Cannon started young. He was only eight when he started doing comedy acts and at 11, he was performing his act on public access. At only 15, he moved to Hollywood and joined the cast of Soul Train while performing his comedy routine at night. Like Carmen Electra, he was also recruited for Nickelodeon’s All That and he served as the warm up stand up comedian before the sketches were underway. Soon enough, he was added to the cast and the writing crew, making him the youngest staff writer in the history of television at age 17.
In 2002, he starred alongside Will Smith in Men in Black II and was soon cast as the lead in Drumline. The same year, he also released his debut album. These days, while still working on movies, music and his marriage to Mariah Carey, he is also the host on America’s Got Talent.
more …
Imagine that you have the same name as a celebrity. Then imagine having the name of the hottest teen hearthrob of the year: Justin Bieber. The 35-year-old Justin Bieber of Jacksonville, Florida, suffers the consequences. He was kicked off Facebook, presumably for impersonating a celebrity, and he can’t get any sleep because of all the phone calls from fans.
He changed his phone number and put it in his wife’s name, but it still was put on a fan website. Now he gets even more calls – sometimes 50 messages in two hours. Usually, he just unplugs the phone.
He also tried to contact Facebook to get reinstated, but it’s hard. Bieber had an account for six months, when with no warning or email, his account was disabled.
“I guess their policy is ban first, ask questions never.” He was briefly kicked off another social network, Ping, which is affiliated with iTunes.
He also still gets anywhere from two to 10 fan letters a day.
Bieber says there’s an upside to the situation. For the first time in his life, everyone knows how to pronounce his name correctly! Link -via The Daily What
So you probably are well aware that chessmaster Bobby Fischer, born an American, died a citizen of Iceland, having renounced his citizenship in the US, and eventually having renounced everything else about the US.
But what about President John Tyler or W.E.B. DuBois? And would you be shocked to learn that Terry Gilliam of Monty Python was originally an American but became an expat and is now 100% British?
OK, this one is cheating just a bit. Former President John Tyler, by accepting a post as representative of the Confederacy, basically renounced his U.S. citizenship (and technically was the only President to die on “foreign” soil when he passed in 1862 in Virginia).
From the Upcoming 
ueue, submitted by nmiller.
Cary Grant was originally Archibald Leach and Elvis Costello was originally Declan MacManus, but both changed their names for obvious reasons. Michael Keaton was originally Michael Douglas and was forced to change his name since the latter was already a popular actor.
Of course, tons of celebrities change their names, but here’s fifteen interesting stories (including one about a comedian born ‘Albert Einstein’) of celebrities who have changed their names for one reason or another.
Funny, I always thought Whoopi Goldberg’s original name was Yahoo Rosenblatt.
We have to agree: Caryn Johnson just isn’t as catchy as Whoopi Goldberg. The actress decided to give up her birth name when she started acting, and instead chose to go by her nickname, “Whoopee Cushion” (we’ll let you imagine how she got that name). Her mother convinced her to change her last name to something more conventional, and suggested Goldberg.
Link – via mentalfloss
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by nmiller.
Being a depression sufferer myself, I find it interesting and inspiring to see people deal with their chronic depression. I love seeing what people can do with their lives, despite the agonizing pain they have had to cope with. While we probably all know about Heath Ledger and Kurt Cobain, there are plenty of surprising celebrities with depression, like Harrison Ford. A few others you may not have know about include the five stars below.
In an interview during 60 Minutes, Mr. Carrey revealed that the inspiration behind his funny-man antics was “desperation.” Like many famous comics, Carrey channeled his emotional pain and scarring into humor. The laughter and attention brought from audiences helps ease the depression comedians feel and soothes their pain.
Carrey’s attention getting antics started when he tried to entertain his sick mother. To get her spirits up, he’d do anything from impressions to rolling down the stairs. When he was young, he grasped on to an optimistic dream of making it big. In 1987, he wrote himself a check for ten million dollars “for acting services rendered.” As it turns out, the check was a massive underestimate of what he ended up making when he cashed the check 1995. As financial worries lessened, so did his depression symptoms. He has since learned to better cope with his sadness and he says the valleys and peaks have gradually smoothed out a bit. While he used to take Prozac to help stabilize his mood, he now focuses on treatment through spirituality and clean living.
Sources: one, two & three Photo by IBWK [Flickr]
“If a really good comedian isn’t depressed,” says Bob Saget, “something’s wrong.” Rodney Dangerfield is no exception to this rule. Around the end of his life, he attended regular therapy sessions with his psychiatrist and took around 137 prescription drugs a day, including anti-depressants and Valium.
Rodney’s father abandoned the family when he was a child and he was instead raised by a cold-hearted mother.
He found an outlet in writing jokes, and even remembers the first one. At age 4, Dangerfield finished dinner and whined, “I’m still hungry.”
“You’ve had sufficient,” replied his mom.
“But,” said Rodney, “I didn’t even have any fish.”
He has had wild mood swings throughout his career and tried to escape the pain and suffering in every way imaginable, including prostitutes and drugs. His wife helped pull him through to the end, but he still experienced these problems until the end of his days.
Source Photo by Breakfast For Dinner [Flickr]
J.K. Rowling will be the first to tell you about the hardships of being a single parent. In fact, in her darkest hour, she strongly contemplated suicide while suffering from a massive bout of depression. She missed her ex-husband and worried about finances, that’s when the dark thoughts started coming out. Fortunately, her daughter was there to inspire her to seek treatment:
“Mid-twenties life circumstances were poor and I really plummeted,” said Rowling. “The thing that made me go for help . . . was probably my daughter. She was something that earthed me, grounded me, and I thought, this isn’t right, this can’t be right, she cannot grow up with me in this state.”
Rowling opted too treat her depression with cognitive therapy rather than anti-depressants. This type of therapy seeks to cure the emotional problem, rather than treating it. The therapy involves a series of counseling sessions providing the sufferer with the mental tools to cope with their emotions. Rowling has been very forthright about her disorder in the hope she can help remove the stigma associated with mental illnesses.
Many people already know about Owen Wilson’s depression. After all, his attempted suicide took over all the tabloid headlines at their local grocery stores two years ago. But, you may still be wondering why.
The fact is, like millions of other Americans, Wilson is clinically depressed and will be throughout his lifetime. He has been battling depression by taking anti-depressants for years, however, breaking up with Kate Hudson pushed him beyond the effects of his medication and made him feel hopeless. While it has been debated whether Wilson was taking cocaine or heroin around this time, the fact is that either way, a major life change can dramatically endanger a depression sufferer.
Sources: one & two Photo by Smellmoregloves’ [Flickr]
Mrs. Shields is a perfect example of how beauty does not equal happiness. While not a lifelong depression sufferer, she has been very vocal about her experience with postpartum depression, an illness experienced by 13% of pregnant women and new mothers. Her book “Down Came The Rain” describes her experiences in detail.
Like many postpartum depression sufferers, she experienced a detachment from her baby daughter and self-destructive thoughts. At her lowest point, Brooke says she wanted to jump out of a window and throw the baby against a wall. Brooke began taking Paxil to cope with her emotions and eventually recovered. She now has a very close relationship with her daughter.
After being criticized by Tom Cruise for her use of anti-depressants, Brooke published an essay in the “New York Times” detailing the need for global recognition of postpartum depression and the use of anti-depressants for treatment.
Source Photo by WatchWithKristin [Flickr]
