Facts and Trivia About Being A Lefty

By Maria Vultaggio
Aug. 13 is International Left Handers day, which means those 10 percent who always feel like they’re getting elbowed aside have a day to feel special. Continue reading to find out some fun facts and trivia about being a lefty.

--Even though the body in generally symmetrical, there are some aspects that leave it one-sided: like whether a person if a lefty or a righty for instance.

--Aug. 13 was designated as Left-Hander’s Day in 1996 to bring awareness to the difficulties of being a lefty in a right-handed world.

--Their hand gestures are perceived as more polite. As per the Telegraph: "Research this week suggested that right-handed politicians have a disadvantage in television debates because their hand gestures are interpreted more negatively by audiences."

--Left-handers are better swimmers. According to LeftHandersDay.com, "Left-handers adjust more readily to seeing underwater." Sorry, they offered no actual proof of this.

---The lot of left-handers are smarter than right-handers. Or their IQ is extremely low. ABCNews touts: "Tests conducted by Alan Searleman from St Lawrence University in New York found there were more left-handed people with IQs over 140 than right-handed people." Famous left-handed thinkers include Albert Einstein, Barack Obama and four of the five original designers of the Macintosh computer.

--Left-handers may be better fighters. "It has long been thought that, in the days when arguments were resolved by hand-to-hand combat, being left-handed gave people the benefit of surprise against a right-handed opponent," according to AnythingLeft-Handed.co.uk.

--They make their family smarter. "Stephen Christman and Ruth Propper at the University of Toledo, Ohio, claim that people with 'lefties' in the family have a larger corpus callosum—the connection between the brain hemispheres. This makes you better at certain memory tasks, but worse at others, they believe," according to AnythingLeft-Handed.co.uk. -Brynn Mannino, Assistant Editor


--Mothers who give birth over the age of 40 are 128 percent more likely to have a child with left-handedness than a woman who has a baby in her 20s.

--Lefties have been traced back to the caveman days. Archaeologists believe that some cave paintings were created by a left- handed artist.

--Lefties are more likely to be geniuses. 

--Throughout history, being left-handed was seen as a trait marking creativity and musical ability.

--Left-handedness runs in the family, the British royal family namely. The Queen Mother, Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Charles, and Prince William are or were all lefties.

--Lefties are more likely to loathe spiral notebooks.

--It’s not sure what makes a person become a lefty. Some scientists say it could be more testosterone in utero; others say it could be the hand babies prefer to have in their mouths.

--Some researchers believe lefties are better at handling stimuli, which means they’re naturally better at video games.

--Some scholars say lefties are the last unorganized minority in society because they don’t have a collective power or real sense of common identity.

--Lefties tend to be more susceptible to negative emotions like depression and anger because they engage in the right side of their brains more aggressively.

--Some scholars say lefties generally die nine years earlier than righties.

--Nearly 30 million people in the U.S. are left-handed.

Left-Handed U.S. Presidents
James A. Garfield  (1831-1881) 20th
Herbert Hoover  (1874-1964) 31st
Harry S. Truman  (1884-1972) 33rd
Gerald Ford  (1913-    ) 38th
Ronald Reagan  (1911 -    ) 40th
George H.W. Bush  (1924-    ) 41st
Bill Clinton  (1946-    ) 42nd
Barack Obama  (1961-    ) 44th

Left-Handed Actors
Don Adams
Dan Aykroyd 
Eddie Albert
Tim Allen
June Allyson
Harry Anderson
Robert Blake
Matthew Broderick
Carol Burnett
George Burns, comedian
Ruth Buzzi, comedienne
Keith Carradine
Charlie Chaplin 
George Gobel, comedian
Chuck Conners
Tom Cruise
Matt Dillon
Marty Engles, comedian
Olivia de Havilland
Robert DeNiro
Fran Drescher, comedian 
Richard Dreyfuss
W.C. Fields
Larry Fine (of the Three Stooges)
Peter Fonda
Greta Garbo 
Terri Garr
Paul Michael Glaser
Whoopie Goldberg
Betty Grable
Cary Grant
Peter Graves
Mark Hamill
Rex Harrison 
Goldie Hawn
Jim Henson, puppetteer
Kermit the Frog
Rock Hudson
Angelina Jolie
Shirley Jones
Gabe Kaplan
Danny Kaye
Diane Keaton
George Kennedy
Nicole Kidman 
Lisa Kudrow 
Michael Landon
Hope Lange
Joey Lawrence 
Peter Lawford
Cloris Leachman
Hal Linden
Shirley MacLaine
Kristy McNichol
Steve McQueen
Howie Mandel, comedian 
Marcel Marceau, mime 
Harpo Marx
Marsha Mason
Marilyn Monroe
Robert Morse
Anthony Newley
Kim Novak
Ryan O'Neal
Sarah Jessica Parker
Estelle Parsons
Anthony Perkins
Ron Perlman
Luke Perry
Bronson Pinchot
Joe Piscopo, comedian
Robert Preston
Michael J. Pollard
Richard Pryor, comedian
Robert Redford
Keanu Reeves
Don Rickles, comedian
Julia Roberts
Mickey Rourke
Eva Marie Saint
Telly Savalas
Jean Seberg
Jerry Seinfeld, comedian
Christian Slater
Dick Smothers, comedian
Slyvester Stallone 
Rod Steiger
Alan Thicke 
Terry Thomas, comedian
Emma Thompson 
Rip Torn
Peter Ustinov
Rudy Vallee
Dick Van Dyke
James Whitmore
Bruce Willis
William Windom
Oprah Winfrey
Joanne Woodward
Keenan Wynn
Stephanie Zimbalist

Left handed celebraties
Albert Einstein, really smart guy
Napoléon Bonaparte, French emperor
Prince Charles of England
Prince William of England
Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli prime-minister
Henry Ford, automobile manufacturer
David Rockefeller, banker
Helen Keller, advocate for the blind
Edwin Buzz Aldrin, astronaut
Wally Schirra, astronaut
Paul Prudhomme, chef
Cecil Beaton, photographer/costume designer
Lord Baden-Powell, founder of the Boy Scouts (ambidexterous)
Dave Barry, journalist
David Broder, journalist
Edward R. Murrow, correspondent
Ted Koppel, journalist
Forrest Sawyer, journalist
Ray Suarez, journalist
John F. Kennedy, Jr., lawyer/publisher
Caroline Kennedy, lawyer/author
Ron Reagan, son of Ronald Reagan
Vin Scully, sports broadcaster
David Letterman, host
Jay Leno, host
Lenny Bruce, comedian
Allen Ludden, host
Joel Hodgson, host of Mystery Science Theater 3000
Wink Martindale, game show host
Euell Gibbons, naturalist
General H. Norman Schwarzkopf
F. Lee Bailey, lawyer
Marcia Clark, lawyer
Alan Funt, television producer

Left handed artists
Michelangelo 
LeRoy Neiman
Raphael 
Leonardo da Vinci
Milt Caniff, cartoonist
Bill Mauldin, cartoonist
Cathy Guisevite, cartoonist
Matt Groening, cartoonist
Jean Plantureux (Plantu), political cartoonist
Pat Oliphand, political cartoonist Ronald Searle, cartoonist
Pat Robertson, evangelist/politician
John Dillinger, criminal/bank robber
Bart Simpson, cartoon character
Ray Tharaldson, artist, photographer & videographer

Left-Handed Musicians
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, composer 
David Byrne (Talking Heads) 
Glen Campbell
Vicki Carr
Natale Cole
Kurt Cobain (Nirvana)
Phil Collins (Genesis)
Billy Corgan (Smashing Pumpkins) 
Dick Dale (guitarist)
Don Everly (The Everly Brothers)
Phil Everly (The Everly Brothers)
Bela Fleck, jazz musician 
Glenn Frey (the Eagles)
Eric Gale, guitarist
Noel Gallagher (Oasis) 
Errol Garner, jazz pianist
Judy Garland
Crysal Gayle
Kevin Griffin, guitarist & lead singer (Better than Ezra)
Thomas Hedley, vocalist/musician 
Jimi Hendrix
Isaac Hayes
Tony Iommi, guitarist (Black Sabbath)
Albert King, guitarist
Melissa Manchester
Chuck Mangione, trumpet
Martina McBride, country music singer 
Paul McCartney (the Beatles; Wings)
Christie Marie Melonson (opera) 
George Michael (Wham!)
Peter Nero, conductor
Joe Perry (Aerosmith) 
Robert Plant (Led Zepplin)
Cole Porter, song-writer
Sergei Rachmaninoff , composer 
Maurice Ravel, composer
Lou Rawls
John Lydon a.k.a. Johnny Rotten (Sex Pistols / Public Image Ltd.) 
Rich Szabo, trumpeter
Seal 
Ringo Starr (the Beatles)
Paul Simon (Simon & Garfunkel)
Tiny Tim
Rudy Valee
Lenny White, drummer
Paul Williams, song-writer

Left-Handed Athletes
Francis X. Gorman (diving)
Greg Louganis (diving)
Mark Spitz (swimming)
Bruce Jenner (decathlon)
Dorothy Hamill (skating)
Phil Esposito (hockey)
Oscar de la Hoya (boxing)
Reggie Johnson (boxing)
Rafael "Bazooka" Limon (boxing)
Freddie Miller (boxing)
Jacker Patterson (boxing)
Pernell "Sweet Pea" Whitaker (boxing)  

Actor Bob Hoskins, known for 'Roger Rabbit,' dies at 71

By Todd Leopold

(CNN) -- Bob Hoskins, the pugnacious British actor known for playing gangsters, tough guys and working-class gentlemen in such films as "Who Framed Roger Rabbit," "The Long Good Friday" and "Mermaids," has died, publicist Clair Dobbs said Wednesday.

Hoskins was 71.

His passing comes nearly two years after he retired from acting following a diagnosis of Parkinson's disease.

Hoskins was perhaps best known for 1988's live-action and animation hybrid "Who Framed Roger Rabbit." In the comedy, he played detective Eddie Valiant, who hates "toons" -- cartoon figures who live in a separate showbiz world bordering Valiant's 1940s Los Angeles -- and takes up the task of proving the innocence of the cartoon title character, accused of murder. The film was the second-highest grossing movie of 1988, after "Rain Man."

He followed the turn with performances in a variety of films, including 1991's "Hook" in which he played Smee, the pirate assistant of Captain Hook; 1995's "Nixon" as FBI Director J. 

Edgar Hoover; and 2001's "Last Orders" as the gambler friend of protagonist Michael Caine, whose pals gather to spread his ashes after his death.

Hoskins was nominated for an Oscar for 1986's "Mona Lisa" as a cabdriver who establishes a relationship with a high-priced call girl. Caine was also in the film. Hoskins won both a BAFTA and Golden Globe for his performance.

Robert Hoskins was born on October 26, 1942, in Bury St. Edmunds, England, the only child of a bookkeeper and a cook. He dropped out of school at 15 and took jobs as a truck driver and window cleaner, among others, before falling into acting by accident: A friend was auditioning for a part and Hoskins, who was waiting nearby, was asked to try out. A natural, he got the role.

"I fit into this business like a sore foot into a soft shoe," he told the UK paper The Telegraph in 2009.

In Britain, he gained fame for his performance as a Depression-era song-plugger in Dennis Potter's miniseries "Pennies From Heaven," later turned into a 1980 movie starring Steve Martin.

Though he had a handful of recognizable roles in films after "Pennies" -- including 1980's "The Long Good Friday," 1982's "Pink Floyd the Wall" and 1985's "Brazil" (in which he played a gleefully malevolent repairman), it wasn't until "Roger Rabbit" that he broke through to mainstream American audiences.

That film drove him a bit nuts, he told The Telegraph.

"I think I went a bit mad while working on that. Lost my mind. The voice of the rabbit was there just behind the camera all the time," he recalled. "The trouble was, I had learnt how to hallucinate. My daughter had an invisible friend called Jeffrey and I played with her and this invisible friend until one day I actually saw the friend."

It was his daughter, however, who set him straight.

"My daughter, when I came back from filming in San Francisco, she said 'Dad, slow down, slow down. You're going barmy, mate.' And I was."

Always a steady and straightforward worker -- no "Method acting" for Hoskins -- he appeared in at least one production every year from 1972 until his retirement in 2012.

"There's two things I love about this business. One's acting and the other one's getting paid for it," he told the UK paper The Guardian in 2007. "The rest of it is a mystery to me."

In one of his last roles, he played the elf Muir in 2012's "Snow White and the Huntsman." In the 2011 TV miniseries and Peter Pan prequel "Neverland," he played Smee -- a character he had portrayed in "Hook."

But true to his working-class roots -- The Telegraph described his natural voice as "cockney as jellied eels" -- he hated to put on airs.

"I met a little old fella in Regent's Park when I was walking a character around. He said, 'You are who you are, ain't you?' and I said, 'Yeah, I am who I am.' And he said, 'That's good. I grow roses,' " Hoskins recalled. "And we sat talking about roses all afternoon. It was wonderful."

Hoskins is survived by his wife, Linda Banwell, and four children.

Mark Burnett and Roma Downey Joining MGM and Paramount's 'Ben-Hur'

by Hilary Lewis
UPDATED: The Christian couple produced the hit History miniseries "The Bible" and big-screen adaptation "Son of God," mobilizing faith-based audiences to flood theaters for the latter.

Mark Burnett and Roma Downey are bringing their experience with faith-based content to MGM and Paramount's Ben-Hur.
Burnett is joining as a producer while Downey joins as an executive producer.

The Paramount and MGM co-production is being directed by Wanted helmer Timur Bekmambetov.

The film is based on Lew Wallace's 1880 novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ about the nature of faith. The story focuses on a falsely accused nobleman who survives years of slavery to take vengeance on his best friend who betrayed him, but both have to choose between retribution and forgiveness.

Keith Clarke (The Way Back) wrote the screenplay with 12 Years a Slave screenwriter John Ridley revising the script.

"We are thrilled to have Mark and Roma join the production team to bring such an indelible classic story to the big screen," MGM CEO Gary Barber said in a statement. "Their unrivaled passion, creativity and success in the faith-based content space will be a huge asset to the film, and we look forward to working together."

Paramount vice chairman Rob Moore added: "A timeless film of this scale and scope requires an incredibly dedicated team of filmmakers, and the opportunity to have visionary talents like Mark and Roma be a part of the making of the film, and knowing their incredible dedication to their own faith, made them the ideal partners to help bring this story authentically to life."

STORY: How 'The Bible' Power Couple Mark Burnett and Roma Downey Work Together

Burnett and Downey co-produced History's hit miniseries The Bible, which also became the best-selling miniseries DVD of all time, and repackaged the parts about the life of Jesus for the 20th Century Fox-distributed film Son of God. With the latter, the pair reached out extensively to churches and religious groups, many of whom bought out entire theaters for showings of the film. Prior to the film's release, nearly half-a-million tickets had been purchased by churches and religious groups.

The two are currently producing A.D., a new drama series for NBC, and The Dovekeepers, a four-hour miniseries on the story of Masada for CBS, both set to air in 2015.

"What an honor it will be to help bring this epic film back to the big screen" said Burnett and Downey. "When Gary Barber allowed us to read John Ridley's amazing script, we immediately knew we had to join this team. We are thrilled to be able work with Timur, Sean, John and the entire MGM and Paramount teams. General Lew Wallace’s Ben-Hur is one of the most important Christian works of fiction ever written and this script is astounding. It will be the most anticipated movie release of 2016."

The movie is set for release on Feb. 26, 2016. Burnett joins producers Sean Daniel and Joni Levinand Downey joins Ridley, Clarke and Jason F. Brown as executive producers.

Paramount will distribute the film worldwide with MGM handling select international territories and all television distribution.

• MGM
• MARK BURNETT
• ROMA DOWNEY
• BEN-HUR
• THE BIBLE
• PARAMOUNT
• SON OF GOD

Fox Developing Event Series About Jesus’ Formative Years From Bob Cooper & EOne

By NELLIE ANDREEVA

With popularity of Bible-themed projects showing no signs of subsiding, Fox has put in development Nazareth, an event series written/executive produced by David Franzoni (Gladiator) and executive produced by Bob Cooper. Nazareth is the first project under an overall deal for event series that Fox has signed with Cooper’s Landscape Entertainment.

It follows the formative years of Jesus of Nazareth. There had been a lot of interest recently in Jesus’ so called “lost years,” a lesser known period in his life because there is very little written about him from the age of 13, following a pilgrimage to Jerusalem he took with his parents, to age 30, when he began his ministry and was baptized by John the Baptist.

Lifetime in February started development on The One, a TV movie from Hatfields & McCoysproducer Leslie Greif and writers Frank DeJohn and David Alton Hedges, which is described as a coming-of-age story exploring Jesus’ early life and formative years as he comes to learn he is the Son of God and is destined for greatness.

Another project, which was briefly in development at History, took a more unconventional approach to the same period in Jesus’ life, exploring a theory about his origins as an exorcist. Nazarethhails from FX Prods., which produces most of Fox’s event series, and Entertainment One, where Landscape has a first-look deal. Eleven Films’ Jamie Campbell and Joel Wilson executive produce with Franzoni and Cooper.

Franzoni was a co-writer and producer on 2000 hit Gladiator, sharing in the film’s best film Oscar win and a writing nomination. Landscape and eOne recently teamed withDimension Television, the TV arm of  The Weinstein Co., on a Death In The Modern Age series.

Nazareth is the latest biblical longform TV project set up following the blockbuster success of History’s The Bible miniseries and its feature offshoot Son Of God. ABible sequel is in the works at NBC, National Geographic Channel has mini Killing Jesus coming up and WGN America has greenlighted 10-part event series  Ten Commandments.

Supreme Court justices cautious about broadcasters' bid to shut Aereo

By David G. Savage

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court justices sounded uncertain and conflicted Tuesday in trying to decide whether a TV streaming service that allows users to receive their favorite programs through tiny, rented antennas violates the broadcasters' copyrights.

The case of ABC vs. Aereo has the potential to reshape the broadcast and cable industries if the Brooklyn-based upstart prevails in the high court. And that appeared possible after Tuesday’s argument.

An attorney for the broadcasting industry urged the court to shut down Aereo. It allows “tens of thousands of paying strangers” to watch the programs they wish, but without paying any copyright fees to broadcasters. If Aereo prevails, some experts think the cable and satellite companies may decide to stream their own signals in the same way Aereo does and refuse to pay licensing fees to the broadcasters.

Before Tuesday’s argument, most legal experts were convinced the justices would rule against Aereo's service as a violation of copyright laws. But that certainty faded during the hour-long argument. Several justices admitted they were struggling for the right answer.

The broadcast industry relies heavily on a provision in the copyright law that a television broadcast may not be aired “publicly” without the permission of the broadcaster. Cable and satellite companies pay fees to broadcast networks to transmit those signals to their subscribers, but Aereo does not.

The competing lawyers argued over whether a customer of Aereo’s service is receiving a “public” performance of a copyrighted broadcast or instead is watching a private show at home.

The attorney for Aereo said its service was like the videocassette recorders that became popular in the 1980s, which allowed homeowners to make copies of programs to be viewed at home.

Aereo “could rent DVRs in Brooklyn, and it would be the same situation,” said Washington attorney David Frederick. He added that Aereo’s tiny antennas “pick up over-the-air signals that are free to the public.”

But former Solicitor General Paul Clement, representing ABC and other broadcasters, said Aereo had devised “a gimmick” to make money by sending TV signals to thousands of paying customers. This large-scale streaming is clearly a “public performance,” he said, not a private one at home.

Justice Department attorney Malcolm Stewart said the government agreed with the broadcasters that Aereo was violating copyright laws by transmitting broadcast signals without a license.

Twice during the argument, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said Aereo had designed its system to “circumvent” the restrictions in the copyright law. But that did not necessarily mean it was illegal, he added.

The justices are expected to reach a decision by late June.

http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-supreme-court-aereo-20140422,0,879667.story#ixzz2zjvchgHI