The kickoff for the ninth edition of the Indian Premier League – the Vivo Indian Premier League 2016 (IPL 9) is scheduled to start on Saturday, April 9, 2016, at 8:00 pm with champions Mumbai Indians taking on debutants Rising Pune Supergiants at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. (See my post, “Cricket: Vivo IPL 2015 (IPL 9) Tournament Schedule“)
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The Dome @ NSCI-SVP Stadium in Mumbai.
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The Vivo Indian Premier League 2016 (IPL 9) is all set to get off to a glamorous start at the Dome @ NSCI-SVP Stadium in Mumbai on the night of Friday, April 8, 2016.
At the opening ceremony of the games, the eight team captains participating in the Vivo IPL 9 games will take the MCC “Spirit of Cricket” pledge, to reaffirm Indian Premier League’s commitment to the Spirit Of Cricket.
Mumbai Indians winners of the Pepsi Indian Premier League 2015 (IPL 8) (Source: indianexpress.com)
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The Mumbai Indians team, without the services of the legendary Sachin Tendulkar, who retired after IPL 2013 season, were the winners of the Indian Premier League 2015 (IPL 8) under the captaincy of Rohit Sharma.
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IPL 2015 Trophy (Source: rediff.com)
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To signal the start of the IPL 2016 season, the Mumbai Indians will put the trophy back into play.
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IPL 2015 Opening Nite – Anushka Sharma performs on popular Bollywoood numbers (Copyright BCCI)
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Hitherto, Bollywood celebrities have been an integral part of the Indian Premier League and have always performed in the opening ceremony. This year, at the two-hour long opening ceremony, Bollywood celebrities like Katrina Kaif, Jacqueline Fernandes, Ranveer Singh, rapper Yo Yo Honey Singh, and other Bollywood cast are all set to dazzle the stage..
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American pop star Chris Brown (Source: rollingstone.com)
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American pop star Chris Brown will be joined by the American dancehall reggae trio Major Lazer, English rapper Fuse ODG and Jamaican-American recording artist Nailah Thorbourne and are expected to set the Dome on fire.
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American dancehall reggae trio Major Lazer (Source: melty.fr)
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English rapper Fuse ODG (Source: 3beat.co.uk)
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Jamaican-American recording artist Nailah Thorbourne
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The opening ceremony will start at 7:30 IST. The tickets are available online at Bookmyshow.com, the ticket booking portal. The rates start from ₹10,000 for Black Silver seats and ₹15,000 for Black Gold seats, plus internet handling charges.
LIVE TV Telecast: Set Max, Sony Six, Sony Six HD, Sony ESPN and Sony ESPN HD
Fergie Duhamel born Stacy Ann Ferguson, an American singer, songwriter, fashion designer, television host, and actress was born on March 27, 1975, in Whittier, California.
From 1984 to 1989, she starred on the TV show Kids Incorporated and was the longest running cast member. Of the total of nine seasons, she starred in the first six.
Renee Ilene Sandstrom, singer and actress is better known by her stage name, Renee Sands on the Kids Incorporated. She, along with Stefanie Jill Ridel, singer, songwriter, and actress formed the music group New Rhythm Generation or NRG (energy). Heather Holyoak and Stacy Ann Ferguson, who would later become known by her stage name Fergie, joined them.
During the years 1992–2003, they performed as the Wild Orchid. In 2001, Fergie left the group.
In 1992, Fergie teamed up with the hip-hop group The Black Eyed Peas as a female vocalist and achieved chart success worldwide.
Fergie’s debut solo album was “The Dutchess,” released in September 2006. It spawned six hits for Fergie: “London Bridge“, “Fergalicious“, “Glamorous“, “Big Girls Don’t Cry”, “Clumsy” and “Finally.”
On August 16, 2013, Fergie married to actor Josh Duhamel for almost five years officially changed her name from Stacy Ann Ferguson to Fergie Duhamel.
On September 30, 2014, Fergie released a new single titled “L.A. Love (La La).” This song evoked mixed reviews from music critics. In Time Magazine, Lauren Stampler wrote:
“It’s a pop song that lists off as many random city names it can in approximately three minutes time. A beloved but often unheralded genre, it’s long overdue for some recognition.”
“L.A. Love (La La)” debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at #97 for the week dated October 25, 2014.
In its second week, the song jumped to #81; third week, #63, where it remained for two more weeks. It then jumped to #41. A week later, it jumped into the top 40 at #36; later it peaked at #27.
On the Pop Songs chart “L.A. Love (La La)” debuted at #39 and also debuted at number 40 on the Rhythmic chart.
As of November 30, 2014, it has peaked at #16 on Rhythmic Songs, #8 on Hot Rap Songs, #24 on Digital Songs and #20 on the Pop Songs radio chart.
Here is a video of “L.A. Love (La La)” with lyrics in English and Spanish featuring American rapper Keenon Daequan Ray Jackson, better known by the stage name YG.
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Fergie’s “L.A. Love (La La)” lyrics
La la la la
La la la la
La la la la
La la la la
Mustard on the beat
Uh, tell ’em where I’m from
Finger on the pump make the sixth straight jump from SoCal
Hollywood to the slums
Chronic smoke get burnt by the California sun
On the west side east coast where you at
Just got to New York like a net on a jet
To London, to Brazil, to Quebec
Like the whole damn world took effect to Ferg
Tell ’em
Laid back, slow down
Better represent when we come to your town
So lay back, slow down
What you represent when we come to your town
Say
Get in with the business
I’ma be there in a minute
I just booked a Paris ticket
Thinking Russia need a visit
I’ma run it to the limit
And be on my way to Venice
L.A. got the people saying la la la la la
Brooklyn saying la la la la la
Hacienda saying la la la la la
Vegas saying la la la la la
Rio saying la la la la la
Tokyo saying la la la la la
Down under saying la la la la la
Miami saying la la la la la
Jamaica
Every city, every state, every country you know
All around the globe
Every city, every state, every country you know
This is how it goes
Uh tell em where I’m at
From the plaques to the uh uh
Everything phat
Got Mustard on a track
My girls all stack
When I roll down the window, let me know where you’re
Atlanta, North South Cac-ill-ac
Texas grill, Cadillacs through Miami then back
To London, Jamaica then France
The whole damn world took effect to Ferg, tell ’em
Laid back, slow down
Better represent when we come to your town
Laid back, slow down
What you represent when we come to your town
Say
Get em with the business
When I come from Kansas City
Hit manila ’til it’s Christmas
Out to India I’ll visit
Puerto Rico it’s exquisite
Then my people back to Venice
L.A got the people sayin’ la la la
Moscow sayin’, la la la
España, la la la
Kingston sayin’ la la la
San Diego sayin’ la la la
Chi-Town sayin’ la la la
Germany sayin’ la la la
La Puente sayin’ la la la
Ibiza
Every city, every state, every country you know
All around the globe
Every city, every state, every country you know
This is how it goes
Every city, every state, every country you know
All around the globe
Every city, every state, every country you know
This is how it goes
L.A got the people sayin’ la la la
Amsterdam, sayin’, la la la
Frisco sayin’, la la la
Switzerland sayin’, la la la
Sao Paulo sayin’, la la la
Joburg sayin’, la la la
Mexico sayin’, la la la
Stockholm sayin’, la la la
Jamaica
You on that Cali shit
Puff it, feel whatever
You like to like it
We legalizing it
Yes you can join us now
We like to love it
We like to love it
We like to love it
In England, theatrical portrayals of black characters by white actors date back to as early as 1604. Since Shakespeare’s days, the character of Othello was traditionally played by a white actor in black makeup.
In the United States, during the 19th century, “Blackface” was a form of theatrical makeup used by performers to represent a black person – a stereotyped caricature of black people – in minstrel shows, and later in vaudeville.
Reproduction of a 1900 William H. West minstrel show poster, originally published by the Strobridge Litho Co., shows the transformation from white to “black”. (Source: Library of Congress)
However, there is no consensus about the origin of blackface.
The Padlock is a two-act ‘afterpiece‘ opera created by Charles Dibdin. It debuted in 1768 at the Drury Lane Theatre in London, England, and was a success, largely due to Dibdin’s portrayal of Mungo, a blackface caricature of an inebriated black servant from the West Indies. The following year, the company took the production to the United States.
On May 29, 1769, Lewis Hallam, Jr., a white blackface actor of American Company fame, played the role of Mungo, in The Padlock, that premiered in New York City at the John Street Theatre with even greater accolades. In due course, the Mungo character attracted notice, and other performers adopted the style.
From the 1810s, blackface clowns were popular in the United States.
British actor Charles Mathews toured the United States in 1822–23, and as a result added a “black” characterization to his repertoire of British regional types for his next show, A Trip to America, which included Mathews singing “Possum up a Gum Tree,” a popular slave freedom song.
Edwin Forrest played a plantation black in 1823, and George Washington Dixon was already building his stage career around blackface in 1828.
The song “Old Zip Coon“
The song “Old Zip Coon” or “Zip Coon,” or was written sometime before 1827. At least four versions of the song were published between 1827 and 1834. Several folks have claimed to have written the song, but the true composer will probably never be known. Today, the tune itself is best known as “Turkey In The Straw.” The following video by Tom Roush portrays American life and music in the 19th century.
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The song “Jump Jim Crow“
Thomas Dartmouth “Daddy” Rice Playing Jim Crow in Blackface, New York City, 1833.
In 1828, Thomas Dartmouth “Daddy” Rice, a white New York comedian, performed his song and dance routine called “Jump Jim Crow” in blackface. Rice’s performance was supposedly inspired by the song and dance of a physically disabled black man he had seen in Cincinnati, Ohio, named Jim Cuff or Jim Crow.
The song “Jump Jim Crow” became a huge hit and Thomas Rice performed it across the country. By 1832, he scored stardom as “Daddy Jim Crow,” a caricature of a shabbily dressed Afro-American man.
Jim Crow as entertainment spread rapidly across the United States in the years prior to the Civil War and eventually spread its influence around the world. Because of this influence, in 1841, when John Lloyd Stephens, the United States’ special ambassador to Central America, arrived in Merida on Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, a local brass band played “Jump Jim Crow” inadvertently, because they thought it was the national anthem of the United States.
The popularity of Jump Jim Crow and the blackface form of entertainment also prompted many whites to refer to most black males routinely as Jim Crow.
Jim Crow contributed to the proliferation of stereotypes such as the “happy-go-lucky darky on the plantation” or the “dandified coon”.
The Minstrel Show
“Jump Jim Crow” initiated a new form of popular music and theatrical performances in the United States that focused their attention on the mockery of Afro-Americans. This new genre was called the minstrel show.
The minstrel show, or minstrelsy, was a form of American entertainment consisting of comic skits, variety acts, dancing, and music, performed by white people in blackface. By the late 18th century, blackface characters began appearing on the American stage, usually as servants to provide some element of comic relief. The black people were lampooned in the minstrel shows as musically oriented lazy, dim-witted, buffoonish, superstitious, and happy-go-lucky.
In the early 1830s, the blackface acts found a home in the taverns of New York’s less respectable precincts of Lower Broadway, the Bowery, and Chatham Street and in circuses.
It also appeared on more respectable stages, most often as brief burlesques and comic an entr’acte in New York theaters. Upper-class houses at first limited the number of such acts they would show, but beginning in 1841, much to the dismay of some patrons, blackface performers frequently took to the stage at even the classy Park Theatre.
In popularity, the blackface “Sambo” character superseded the “tall-tale-telling Yankee” and the “frontiersman” character-types.
White actors such as Charles Mathews, George Washington Dixon, and Edwin Forrest began to build reputations as blackface performers. Author Constance Rourke even claimed that Forrest’s impression was so good he could fool blacks when he mingled with them in the streets.
In the following decade, blackface minstrelsy transformed into a full-fledged distinctly American theatrical form. By 1848, blackface minstrel shows were an American national art form of the time that translated formal art such as the opera into popular terms for a general audience. After the Civil War (fought from 1861 to 1865), black people too got into the act in the minstrel shows.
In the 1830s and 1840s, blackface minstrelsy was at the core of the rise of an American music industry, and for several decades, it served as the spectacles through which white America viewed black America.
While the blackface minstrelsy had its strong racist aspects, it also afforded the white Americans to have a singular and broad awareness of the significant aspects of black-American culture.
The Panic of 1837 was a financial crisis in the United States that touched off a major recession that lasted until the mid-1840s. During this period, theater attendance suffered, and concerts were one of the few attractions that could still make money.
In 1843, four blackface performers led by Dan Emmett, calling themselves the Virginia Minstrels, staged a concert at the New York Bowery Amphitheatre. Thus, was born the minstrel show as a complete evening’s entertainment. The original lineup consisted of Emmett, Billy Whitlock, Dick Pelham, and Frank Brower.
The Virginia Minstrels show had little structure. The four sat in a semicircle, played songs, and traded wisecracks. One gave a stump speech in dialect, and they ended with a lively plantation song.
The term “minstrel” had previously been reserved for traveling white singing groups, but Emmett and his group made it synonymous with blackface performance, and by using it, signalled that they were reaching out to a new, middle-class audience.
On February 6, 1843, New York Herald, wrote that the production was “entirely exempt from the vulgarities and other objectionable features, which have hitherto characterized Negro extravaganzas.”
1844 sheet music cover for a collection of songs by the Christy’s Minstrels. George Christy appears in the circle at top. (Source: Boston Public Library)
In 1845, the Ethiopian Serenaders surpassed the Virginia Minstrels in popularity by purging out low humor from their show. Shortly thereafter, Edwin Pearce Christy formed Christy’s Minstrels, combining the refined singing of the Ethiopian Serenaders with the Virginia Minstrels’ bawdy act. Christy’s company established the three-act template into which minstrel shows would fall for the next few decades.
From then on, a typical minstrel performance followed a three-act structure. The troupe first danced onto stage, then exchanged wisecracks and sang songs. The second part featured a variety of entertainment, including the pun-filled stump speech. The final act consisted of a slapstick musical plantation skit or a send-up of a popular play.
The songs and sketches in the typical minstrel show featured several stock characters, most popularly the slave and the dandy. The characters were further divided into sub-archetypes such as the mammy, her counterpart the old darky, the provocative mulatto wench, and the black soldier.
Minstrels claimed that their songs and dances were authentically black, although the extent of the black influence remains debated.
In 1866, Sam Hague, a British blackface minstrel dancer was the first white owner of a minstrel troupe composed of black members called Sam Hague’s Slave Troupe of Georgia Minstrels. The troupe toured England for several years.
Hague’s overseas success lent black minstrelsy a new credence in the United States. However, at least one critic maintained their rise had damaged minstrelsy, and that white blackface minstrels were better at representing black Americans than black Americans were themselves.
Hague’s lead inspired many other white owners to purchase black companies. By the mid-1870s, white men owned the most successful American black troupes. Ironically, when Sam Hague’s Slave Troupe returned to the United States, Charles Callender purchased the company.
William H. West, known as the “Progressive Minstrel,” emulated Sam Hague and became one of the first white owners of a minstrel troupe composed of black performers in the United States. West often produced and played minstrel shows with George Primrose. They had a hit, and were known as “The Millionaires of Minstrelsy.”
Poster of William H. West’s Big Minstrel Jubilee rough riders.
In the 1870s, spirituals, also known as jubilees, entered the repertoire marking the first undeniably black music to be used in minstrelsy. William West became the sole producer “William H. West’s Big Minstrel Jubilee,” the supposedly richest and costliest minstrel organization in existence. The Big Minstrel Jubilee, featured some of the leading performers of the day. Their show always ended with the cast, in blackface, singing songs of the period.
The minstrel shows were extremely popular, enjoyed by whole families from all walks of life irrespective of the ethnic group they belonged to.
At the same time, they were also controversial. While the racial integrationists decried them as falsely showing happy slaves while at the same time making fun of them, the segregationists thought such shows were disrespectful of social norms as they portrayed runaway slaves with sympathy, and undermined the institution of the southerners.
The minstrel shows survived as professional entertainment until about 1910 when it lost popularity and was replaced for the most part by vaudeville. Blackface branched off from the minstrel show and became a form in its own right. Stereotypes embodied in the stock characters of blackface minstrels played a significant role in cementing and proliferating racist images, attitudes, and perceptions worldwide. At the same time, they popularized black culture.
Amateurs continued to perform blackface and the minstrel shows in high schools, and local theaters, until the 1960s. These performances too ended in the United States as the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s progressed and gained acceptance.
Actor Senthil, a popular cine comedian in the South Indian cine field particularly in Kollywood, Tamilnadu, India has acted in many popular movies with several leading actaors and comedians.
Senthil was born on March 23, 1951, in Ilanjambore, a small village near Mudukulathur, Ramanathapuram District, Tamilnadu. Since he was an unruly boy, he was constantly scolded by his father. At the age of 12, he ran away from home. He first worked in the shop of a cooking oil vendor. Later he worked as a bar attendant in a private wine shop. Interested in acting, he joined a drama troupe where he developed his acting skills. He received small roles in the Tamil film industry in Chennai.
The movie Malayoor Mambattiyan gave him the required exposure to propel him to stardom. He has about 185 Tamil movies to his credit. He has also acted in movies in Hindi, Malayalam etc.
He is notable for his comedy roles pairing with actor Goundamani in the vein of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy who were popular during the late 1920s to the mid-1940s
Senthil is one of the most-loved comedians in the South Indian film industry. His appearance on the screen enlivened the audience replete with claps and whistles; and, when he paired up with Goundamani, the cheering doubled.
Goundamani and Senthil ruled the comedy world of Tamil cinema for over two decades. They established a place for themselves in the heart of their audience by entertaining them with their perfectly timed dialogue delivery and unsurpassed body language, and witty, rib-tickling comedy.
Senthil opted to act in movies irrespective of their budget. Once he said: “I don’t believe in movies with small budgets are large budgets. There are only two types of movies – good and bad.”
During the 1940s and 1950s the American comedy duo William “Bud” Abbott and Lou Costello (born Louis Francis Cristillo), appeared in vaudeville and on stage, radio, film and television. This popular comedy team made everyone in the audience split their sides with laughter.
Their patter routine in “Who’s on First?” sets the framework for many of their best-known comedy bits. Many consider it as one of the greatest comedy routines of all time.
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In this following video clip titled “Crazy House” Bud Abbott and Lou Costello perform one of their most famous and widely copied burlesque and vaudeville interruption sketches. Known on the vaudeville circuit as the “Nut House,” this filmed sketch from the first season of their 1952 half-hour television show is probably one of the few surviving performances of this well-worn, and now largely forgotten, burlesque classic.
The sketch starts with Lou suffering from insomnia. Bud decides to check Lou into a “rest home.” More like a mental institution with patients in command, Lou subjected to a series of bizarre intrusions into his hospital room eventually sleeps. We get a chance to experience such classic schtick as spit takes, gun fire, and seltzer bottles.
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Wish you all a world surrounded by laughter and glee!
“One drink of vodka in a cheerful glass, in the company of good poetry and the scent of blossoms and earth might entice the most well intended to forgo promise of atonement until a worse time. I have at times been just less than amazed how one drink merges with the second, where at some unknown point a mental transformation sets in.” – Ronald Everett Capps, Off Magazine Street
The Vesper Martini of Ian Fleming’s James Bond
As connoisseurs say, Martini is a drink with many options. Every bartender knows how to prepare the classic Martini:
2 1/2 ounce gin
1/2 ounce dry vermouth
1 green olive or lemon twist for garnish
Orange or Angostura bitters (optional)
The bartender first fills a mixing glass with ice cubes, pours the ingredients over the ice and after stirring for half a minute, strains the mix into a chilled cocktail glass. If desired, he will add a dash of orange or Angostura bitters. Finally, he adds an olive or a lemon twist garnish.
There are many shades of the classic martini. Dry Martini uses a bit more dry vermouth. Bone Dry Martini also known as Desert Martini does not contain vermouth. Gibson Martini uses a cocktail onion for garnish. Perfect Marini has equal portions of dry and sweet vermouth. Dirty Martini contains a dash of olive brine. 50:50 Martinii uses equal parts of gin and dry vermouth. In Vodka Martini, vodka replaces gin.
I like this quote from Casino Royale where James Bond sent to play a high-stakes baccarat game against Le Chiffre orders a martini:
“A dry martini,” [Bond] said. “One. In a deep champagne goblet.”
“Oui, monsieur.”
“Just a moment. Three measures of Gordon’s, one of vodka, half a measure of Kina Lillet. Shake it very well until it’s ice-cold, then add a large thin slice of lemon peel. Got it?”
“Certainly, monsieur.” The barman seemed pleased with the idea.
“Gosh, that’s certainly a drink,” said Leiter.
Bond laughed. “When I’m…er…concentrating,” he explained, “I never have more than one drink before dinner. But I do like that one to be large and very strong and very cold and very well-made. I hate small portions of anything, particularly when they taste bad. This drink’s my own invention. I’m going to patent it when I can think of a good name.”
Later in the film James Bond names the Martini “Vesper” after Vesper Lynd the novel’s lead female character.
James Bond: I think I’ll call it a Vesper. Vesper Lynd: Because of the bitter aftertaste? James Bond: No, because once you’ve tasted it, that’s all you want to drink.
Vesper Martini uses both gin and vodka. However, it uses the delicate, golden-colored French aperitif Kina Lillet often referred to as “L’apéritif de Bordeaux” in lieu of the usual dry vermouth, and lemon peel instead of an olive for garnish.
Ingredients for Vesper Martini:
3 measures of Gordon’s Gin
1 measure of vodka
1/2 measure Kina Lillet
One large thin slice of lemon peel for garnish
Since the publication of the book Casino Royale in 1953, there has been much change. English Gordon’s gin now under 80 proof used to be 94 then. The brand of vodka though not specified in the novel or the film have a Bond connection in both 100 proof Stolichnaya and Smirnoff. Now, the Kina Lillet, can be found labeled as White or Blanc Lillet.
I found this recipe for a modern Vesper in Esquire.
Strain into a chilled cocktail glass and twist a large swatch of thin-cut lemon peel over the top. Shoot somebody evil.
Oh, and don’t worry about the champagne goblet. Cocktail glasses are bigger now. And that shaking business? All things being equal, a stirred martini will be colder and silkier. Just so you know.
In 1954, James H. Nicholson, and Samuel Z. Arkoff, an entertainment lawyer founded American Releasing Corporation (ARC). They released their first film “The Fast and the Furious” starring John Ireland and Dorothy Malone in 1955.
From ARC, Nicholson and Arkoff launched a film production company, American International Pictures (AIP) in April 1954. Perceiving that other filmmakers were overlooking the lucrative teenage drive-in sector, AIP focused on producing several low-budget, youth-oriented movies. They exploited the up and coming juvenile delinquent genre with movies like Daddy-O, High School Hellcats, Female Jungle, Reform School Girl, Runaway Daughters, and Girls in Prison. Additionally, they distributed independently produced low-budget films bundled as double features, particularly appealing to the teenagers of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s.
In a 1980s talk show, Samuel Z. Arkoff spelt out his tried-and-true “ARKOFF formula” for producing a successful low-budget movie.
Action (exciting, entertaining drama)
Revolution (novel or controversial themes and ideas)
Killing (a modicum of violence)
Oratory (notable dialogue and speeches)
Fantasy (acted-out fantasies common to the audience)
Fornication (sex appeal, for young adults)
Soon after, the AIP promotion division envisaged a strategy known as “The Peter Pan Syndrome”:
a) A younger child will watch anything an older child will watch.
b) An older child will not watch anything a younger child will watch.
c) A girl will watch anything a boy will watch.
d) A boy will not watch anything a girl will watch.
Consequently, to capture the largest audience they zeroed in on the 19-year old male.
Earlier this month, Damson Dene Hotel, in England’s Lake District, replaced in all 40 guest rooms, the ubiquitous bedside cabinet Gideon Bible with something a bit more modern, the soft-porn bestseller: “Fifty Shades of Grey” by E.L. James, a former TV executive, wife and mother of two based in West London.
The irony is that the Damson Dene Hotel, was purchased from a Methodist group 10 years ago. Its current owner, Jonathan Denby, apparently thought it inappropriate to distribute Bibles in today’s secular society and has explained his decision in a blog post:
“Tonight millions of women will be curling up in bed with a good book and you can bet your life it won’t be the Bible. More likely than not it will be Fifty Shades of Grey. I haven’t read the book yet – I’m not in the target audience – but I’m told it’s a ripping good yarn and everyone who’s in the target audience loves it. This made me wonder about the sense of providing a book, the Gideon Bible which no one reads, and many dislike, in the bedside cabinet of our hotel bedrooms, instead of a book which everyone wants to read, such as Fifty Shades of Grey.”
Denby said he did not do it for any philosophical reasons, and had considered substitutions for a long time. “I was thinking originally of putting in a book by Ayn Rand – Atlas Shrugged was my first thought,” Denby told NBC News.
Denby also said in his blog: “I’ll keep a couple behind the reception desk so that if any guest whose preferred bedtime reading happens to be the Bible finds that they have forgotten to pack their copy, they’ll be pleased to read in the guest handbook that they can borrow a copy from the receptionist.”
That hasn’t stopped the local vicar from publicly denouncing the change. Rev. Michael Woodcock, Local vicar and parish priest at St. Mary’s Church in Crosthwaite has publicly denounced the change. He told British media that the hotel’s decision is just a gimmick. “It is a shame that the Bible has been taken out,” he told the paper. “But I am sure it will be put back in the future. The more attention that is drawn to this the more bad publicity it gets.”
‘Fifty Shades of Grey‘ is all that people are talking about at the moment, but I know that some are too shy to buy it for themselves,” hotel manager Wayne Bartholomew told the Daily Mail. “I thought it would be a special treat for our guests to find it in their bedside cabinet and that includes the men too.”
“The Bible is a great read. It has stories which feature sex and violence, as well as comedy, tragedy, poetry, and prose. Its themes are eternal; they still speak directly into people’s lives centuries after it was written,” said a member of The Bible Society.
Impressions 