Six Degrees of Separation (Entry 1 of 11)

Actor Peter Billingsley, who is a producer for the current Vince Vaughn/Reese Whitherspoon comedy "The Four Christmases," was the chubby star of "A Christmas Story" (1983), a delightful comedy which has stood the test of time.

He is also two degrees away from Kevin Bacon, according to The Oracle of Bacon (oracleofbacon.org):

Peter Billingsley was in "Iron Man" (2008) with Clark Gregg who was in "The Air That I Breathe" with Bacon.

If you have any ideas for the next entry in this series, feel free to leave a comment here!

Know Your Congressmen or Senator.....

This entry is from a series that we started on our sister blog "Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time."

Cong. Ilena Ros-Lehman (R-Fla) was the answer to the last quiz.

The aim of this series is to better inform you about the men and women from both parties and the work they do for all of on "The Hill."

Today we ask who the Republican senator pictured here is.

Here are three hints.......he is a good friend of vice president-elect Joe Biden, his birthdate is Sept. 18, 1933, and his middle name is Foster.

Is he:

A) Sen. Bob Bennett (R-Utah)

B) Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho).....yes, we all know who he is!

C) Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC)

D) Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.)

Hmm.......I'm afraid I made this too easy. Oh well!

Political Confusion Test (5 of 21)

So much for the hiatus. Simple Explanation: the lunch date cancelled. I suppose my mother will never have grandchildren.

At any rate, here is today's Political Confusion Test which could also qualify for the Sexual Confusion Test.

The question is:

Which celebrity would you rather have in your hot tub?

Sorry, but to in order to be a true partisan Republican, you must choose Chuck Norris!

If George F. Will happens to come across this, he has my permission to complain about this entry in his next column

Quote of the Week-Shakespeare

"In time we hate the things we fear," William Shakespeare.

A performance of "Hamlet" gets underway at the American Shakespeare Center in Staunton, Va., Dec. 26 @ 7:30 p.m.

Look for the presence of one John Pasha who was quite splendid in the troupe's production of "King Lear."

SIDEBAR: We're offering a quote from Charles Dickens on our sister blog Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time.

PERSONAL NOTE: I am going on hiatus (I hope!) until Dec. 9. Among other things I need to plan classes, write short plays and of course take care of all the holiday stuff. Email any entry ideas to tango74@aol.com

And, for those who are wondering, the man in this political cartoon is the son of George HW Bush, who was the subject of a recent quiz here. Along with Jimmy Carter, the elder Bush is 84 years old. Though we love to tease Dubya (when is that Greyhound leaving for Crawford, Tex.), we are glad Barbara Bush is recovering from a recent illness.

Lorretta Lynn @ 9:30 Club, Washington DC

Country singer Loretta Lynn, aka "The Coal Miner's Daughter" will be at the 9:30 Club in Washington, DC- of all places (this is a place where one would see a band like Cold War Kids) on Sat. And, the legendary singer has been known to perform at county fairs in places like Front Royal, Va., in recent years.

She will be performing with The Lynns and Justin Jones. Doors open @ 6:00 p.m. The show is $55. 202-393-0930.

Movie Theatre of the Week: The Grandin, Roanoke, Va.

Today we start a new series in which we will profile a historic cinema in the United States every week or so. I hope to profile at least one cinema from every state plus Washington, DC.

I begin with the Grandin Theatre in Roanoke, Va. The only reason I have not been going to movies there since the 1930s* when it initially opened is because I was not around in the 1930s.

The first movie I saw there was a revival of Alfred Hitchcock's "Vertigo" in 1984 when I was 14 years old, which means that Jason Garnett, the current manager of the Grandin and a good friend of mine, was 8 years old at the time!

On Dec. 20, The Grandin will screen John Waters' 1981 cult film "Polyester" in smell-o-vision. There will NOT be a seance to bring Waters' frequent star Divine back to life, but the first 200** folks who come in will get smell-o-vision cards.

The Grandin is also one of the six or seven reasons why my hometown is more socially progressive and hip than Provo, Utah, though I've heard arch conservatives Republicans go there just to eat the popcorn.

Perhaps, they will come by on Dec. 20 expecting to see "It's a Wonderful Life."

Hmmm.........in that case, a seance, even one for Jimmy Stewart, would be a very bad idea.

*-I believe that is the right decade the theatre opened

**-I believe 200 is the right number

See our entry about the North Theatre in Danville, Va. on our sister blog "Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time."

Facebook Friend of the Week: Rick Huddle

Initially, we were going to this series in alphabetical order, and this week, we were going to have someone whose name starts with the letter 'b.'

But, I abruptly decided to change that when I saw that my high school friend Rick Huddle, from Salem, Va., was on Facebook.

Rick is now a storyteller in Portland, Ore.

He will be performing Theater! Theatre! located on 3430 Belmont Ave. in Portland from Dec. 4-20. Ticket info is available at 503-720-0397.

This marks the second event we've promoted in Portland, which is about as close as Istanbul is given that we are in Greensboro, NC. The first event was an opera based on Shannon Wheeler's comic book "Too Much Coffee Man."

SIDEBAR: Kudos to my friend Haywood Graves of Danville, Va. He now has more than 2,000 friends on Facebook. I wonder how many he knows personally.