Volodymyr Palahniuk

I always kinda liked Jack Palance, but when I found out his real name was Volodymyr (same as an uncle of mine) and he put out a album of country western music back in 1969 I gained a new appreciation for the boxer turned star turned b/cult movie staple. Also to my amazement, I learned that his easily recognized mug was not the product of his Ukrainian immigrant parents, and not from his years boxing under the name Jack Brazzo but from a botched military training flight over Arizona that forced young Walter (Volodymyr is Americanized to Walter) to bail from a burning Liberator Bomber. The military paid for his reconstructive plastic surgery that gave Palance his now famous rugged look.

Palance was nominated twice for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar in the early 50s and took the Emmy for "Best Single Performance by an Actor" home in 1956 for the Rod Serling led "Playhouse 90". He got a chance at finally playing the good guy in 1975 on the failed series "Bronk" playing Lt. Alex Bronkov ...



Finally winning the Oscar that long elluded him for his role as "Curly" in City Slickers (1992), Jack obviously felt it was time to take his career in yet another direction penning "The Forest of Love" where ...

Jack Palance takes us on an intimate, emotional ride through a dual love affair -- the love of a woman and the love of nature -- intertwined in a journey filled with exhilaration, passion, ecstasy, disappointment, remorse and, ultimately, rebirth.

Here's a funny story of Palance sticking it to the Russians for not recognizing that Ukraine is not Russia.

Jack died in 2006 of natural causes. Rock on Wally!

Recording and Jeans

You know those Levis commercials? Yeah, got into a conversation about whether or not that was actually Walt Whitman reading those poems. (The poems are written by Whitman) My sister said that it couldn't be because, you know, he's from the 19th century. Well, lo and behold, the "America" poem is likely Whitman, though the other one is read by Will Greer, who played the grandpa in the Waltons. It was likely recorded in the 20's or 30's.

Anyway, the first recording of the human voice was by a Phonautogram in 1860. (Check the audio clip on the right side.) If you don't feel like reading that, here's the gist: This thing recorded sound as a line on paper or wax so scientists could study the acoustics of the recording. However, they didn't realize that these recordings could be played back. The first time these early recordings were played back were in 2008.

PS Some say Whitman liked the little boys. I'd give a cite, but google popped up a NAMBLA cite, so I didn't want to click it. Do it yourself.

God bless The Onion