Mary Richards--Mary Tyler Moore House For Sale

So the Mary Richards house is for sale! Mary Richards...well, no relative of mine although we share the same last name...and actually not a real person. Mary Richards the television character played by Mary Tyler Moore in the 1970's was a pretty high rated sitcom. I have to say this for it seems to the younger generation the mention of some of these ole greats draws a blank. I was doing some work with a student a few days back and I happened to mention the name of 'Carol Burnett'. "Never heard of her," he replied.


 For people of the baby boomers generation I guess we're all becoming increasingly amazed at the names of ones we considered the SUPER GREATS don't  mean any thing much to ones of the new age. Back to Mary Tyler Moore....she stared in the award winning, 'The Dick Van Dyke Show' in the 60's and eventually launched out on her own a few years later with the Mary Tyler Moore show. To begin with it didn't score high in the ratings but with time, that's back in the time when networks would provide it MTM became a hit.

The beginning trailer of the show had Mary drive up to a house in Minneapolis which was meant to be the place she rented an apartment. For numbers of years the house served as a backdrop scene in many shots throughout the episodes as Mary's home residence. Seen below is the picture of the house.

 

As the story line went Mary's apartment was on the third floor behind the Palladian windows with the iron balcony. The opening trailer of the show had Mary Tyler Moore drive up to the house in a Ford Mustang. Seen below...

The top loft apartment which was supposed to be Mary's was created on a Hollywood set and you might remember it as the picture below,

My wife and I brought out some Mary Tyler Moore DVD's and watched a few shows.  Quite a small place for Mary really. There was a very small kitchen to the side appearing only about two feet wide and the back closet where she'd store all her millions of different type clothes but never did hear where the washroom was....STARS don't need them I guess.  There was no bedroom but merely a bed sofa in the living room...so it was kind of like a one bedroom apartment. 

There's news this week that the real 'Mary Tyler Home' from  Minneapolis  is up for sale. Here's a picture of the real  interior of what Mary's apartment truly looks like.

One wonders how much fun it would be to watch some of those MTM shows sitting in this room. Be kind of a strange feeling would it not? More trivial. Apparently so many fans of the show in the 70's would drive by and look at the place the then owners of the home put out a political sign stating "Impeach Richard Nixon". The producers of MTM then decided to have Mary Richards move to a high rise apartment building so as not to have the sign in future shots. I'd assume the home owner probably had an agreement at first but probably tired of the many fans. The house is listed for 2.9 million dollars. According to reports it has 7 bedrooms and 9 washrooms.
One would hope it has a kitchen bigger than Mary's though.  ;)

Should PSY "Gangnam Style" Popularity Take A Nose Dive?

                            

 

He played the game and if anyone asked him if he cared less eight years ago what Americans would think of him he'd probably have told them he couldn't care less. The story is about PSY of the famous "Gangnam Style" a utube dance sensation. News has come out that PSY held extremely strong and excessive views against Americans. This was largely due to a situation taking place eight years ago in the middle east where one South Korean missionary Sun-il  was beheaded in Iraq by militants.

 

I remember the incident in the news and felt a lot of sympathy for this Korean man they declared they were going to kill which they subsequently did. Many Koreans took it hard which they had every justifiable right in doing.  Instead of channelling his protest against middle eastern terrorist PSY directed it rather against America and it's citizens. In a rap song from 2004 it's reported that PSY sang the following,

 

"Kill those f---ing Yankees who have been torturing Iraqi captives/Kill those f---ing Yankees who ordered them to torture/Kill their daughters, mothers, daughters-in-law and fathers/Kill them all slowly and painfully."

 

This now coming out PSY has issued an apology. PSY stated, "While I'm grateful for the freedom to express one's self, I've learned there are limits to what language is appropriate and I'm deeply sorry for how these lyrics could be interpreted. I will forever be sorry for any pain I have caused by those words."

 

Sorry for how these lyrics could be interpreted? How else could they be other than he wanted to see Americans any Americans be treated in a brutal barbaric fashion...kill their mothers and daughters...slowly and painfully? Could the real truth be that this Mr PSY should offer up a second apology for thinking American people would be so stupid as to interpret his words to mean anything less than what he stated?  

 

 

 

 

PSY played the game...the game of saying whatever he wanted and as they say, not giving a damn concerning possible ramifications for isn't that what his opinion would have been in 04.  Fair enough but our actions many times has a cost or price we might have to pay and seeing his world-wide fame take a total and absolute nose dive might be that very thing. On another front, just when you wouldn't think this story couldn't get any stranger PSY is slated to perform with other music stars at a Christmas event in Washington on Dec 21 where U.S. President Barack Obama is slated to attend. 

 

The White House has confirmed the President is still going. One wonders if he doesn't appreciate the political hot potato this could become over the next 14 or so days before the event. How could one not imagine that there'll not be a growing public outrage insisting that PSY be removed from the event. Is it really something that should be deemed worth keeping on for the night of entertainment?   December 21st marks the day according to the Mayan calendar the world is supposed to end. I highly doubt it. It might be the day however in which common sense and understanding of what's the right thing to do takes a back seat as PSY will probably be applauded, given a smile and a pat on the back and told how much everyone enjoyed his performance.  If that's not a shame what exactly could be?