Probably not strictly speaking front page whedonesque material and if the mods want to take it down, no argument from me. But I found this amusing, who would have thought. Plus a little light reading for the weekend.

miranda | February 10, 11:24 CET

Uhhh I am not registered for the NY times... so whats the gist of the article?

kurya | February 10, 13:00 CET

The gist is basically that Joel Silver sort of invented Ultimate (frisbee). Which just sound crazy. Wiki confirms his involvement, but says that he learned the game from a guy at Amherst college, who invented it with his friends, and first came up with the name. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultimate_%28sport%29)
Interesting!

injust | February 10, 13:14 CET

Very much in line with such other odd Hollywood tidbits as forties writer-director Preston Sturges inventing kiss-proof lipstick and James Bond producer Albert "Cubby" Broccoli being related to the guy who invented...yes, broccoli.

bobster | February 10, 13:54 CET

Or Hedy lamarr and frequency hopping radio communications.

Saje | February 10, 14:05 CET

Now I gotta forward this on my all buddies on our Ultimate Frisbee listserv... Maybe under the headline "What do Al Gore and Joel Silver have in common?"

rockchalkwatcher | February 10, 14:07 CET

Saje --

How could I forget about Hedy! (And I don't mean "Hedley"!)

bobster | February 10, 14:25 CET

WHAT? Preston Sturges invented kiss-proof lipstick?? My world is rocked.

injust | February 10, 14:42 CET

Buzzy Hellring???!!!

Wha?

The Devil's Robot | February 10, 15:11 CET

Silver was interviewed about a month ago on the Jim Rome radio show (sports talk) about this interesting bit of history. The conversation ended with a "what are you up to these days" bit where Silver did mention that the "very talented Joss Whedon" was working on the screenplay and they expected it to be a knockout. Not big news, but it was cool to hear Joss discussed on a sportsyap show...maybe we have a new "King of All Media" on our hands, eh? ;)

[ edited by MrArg on 2006-02-10 22:41 ]

MrArg | February 10, 15:40 CET

How do you invent broccoli? ... It's a plant.

I'm just wonderin'.

VeryVeryCrowded | February 10, 22:10 CET

Miranda, you're quite correct in your hunch that this isn't front-page material. Joel Silver is somewhat involved with JW, of course, but on that basis news about every guy or gal Joss has ever worked with would qualify under the catch-all "cast and crew" - and I don't think I can handle too many front-page links about Kevin Costner and Keanu Reeves. A little more discrimination is probably required of us.

OTOH, this might just qualify as one of the daffiest subjects I've ever seen, so I'm going to let it stay. The other admins/mods may have other ideas, naturally . . . :)

SoddingNancyTribe | February 10, 22:35 CET

I think it's a fun link and it's well executed (i.e., not a cut and paste job). That counts too :-)

Caroline | February 11, 04:09 CET

Well, since it is staying, I'll answer the broccoli question. It was invented because it was modified from wild kale. You know how you can now get a cauliflower/broccoli mix? Same idea.
The things you learn from reading Whedonesque.......

Lioness | February 11, 09:42 CET

Oh, and in case of any of you were wondering just how it was that Preston Sturges came to invent kiss-proof lipstick, it seems his mom, Mary D'este, was a very successful cosmetics entrepreneur.

And, to give you all another fun tangent, Preston's mom led a life every bit as interesting, maybe more, then her son. Among other things, she spent a great deal of time following her best friend, modern dance pioneer Isadora Duncan, around Europe (with litle Preston in tow) and as very briefly mentioned in Colin Wilson's "The Occult," she is supposed to have practiced "sex magicks" with amoral mystic Alistair Crowley. Wilson's book, btw, makes no mention of her son.

[ edited by bobster on 2006-02-12 00:16 ]

bobster | February 11, 17:15 CET