Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Howard Mittelmark and Sandra Newman: Invaluable tips for would-be authors from the no-nonsense book How NOT to Write a Novel (timesonline.co.uk)
Plot: Not just a bunch of stuff that happens.
David Weinberger: "Pete Seeger: American Patriot" (huffingtonpost.com)
In my household, growing up, Pete Seeger was the example of what a patriot looks like. A man of the people. A hero who had stayed true to his ideals. A singer happiest in a small circle of like souls.
'I've felt famous my whole life' (guardian.co.uk)
Lady GaGa may be No 1 in the charts right now. But, as she tells Laura Barton her ambitions stretch way beyond being a one-hit wonder.
Tim Teeman: "Aretha Franklin: my respect for Barack Obama" (timesonline.co.uk)
She sang for Martin Luther King, now she is singing at Obama's inauguration. Aretha Franklin on the new president and her hopes for America .
DAMIEN HIRST: Lily ALLEN (interviewmagazine.com)
DAMIEN HIRST: What are some of the obstacles you've confronted as a woman?
Lily ALLEN: Putting on a bra is quite complicated.
Tom Gregory: "Hattie McDaniel: Equality 41 Years in the Mud" (huffingtonpost.com)
After the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in '68, no one would ever see Hattie McDaniel's academy award again. Howard University was the flashpoint of the national riot that followed the death of Dr. King. Furious, frustrated black students are rumored to have heaved the Oscar into the Potomac River in effigy of racial stereotyping. Like Hattie herself, it too is buried in the wrong place, a victim of rage and hate.
Acting up (guardian.co.uk)
As a new Barbican season celebrates film's male rebels, Leonie Cooper asks five women in cinema to name their favourite female renegades.
Mark Caro: The sound of great drama: An actor's voice can shape performance and, ultimately, career (Chicago Tribune)
Pierce Brosnan had the looks and the attitude, but as James Bond he always came up a bit lacking. The problem was his soft, whispery voice. His "Bond, James Bond" came out like a caress, not a punch.
JANE E. BRODY: New Thinking on How to Protect the Heart (nytimes.com)
And, you'll be happy to know, the new suggestions for both diet and exercise are less rigid. The food is tasty, easy to prepare and relatively inexpensive, and you don't have to sweat for an hour a day to reap the benefits of exercise.
Composition Project: Writing an On-the-Job-Writing Interview Report (lulu.com)
This free pdf download describes a composition assignment that I have used successfully during my years of teaching at Ohio University. Other teachers are welcome to download and read this pdf file and decide whether this assignment will work in their classes.
The Weekly Poll
New Question
The 'All Things To All People' Edition...
Barack Obama is inheriting a myriad of complex problems. Some affect us all. Some are more important than others to particular interest groups and individuals. While I would like to see him become the greatest president ever, he is human and therefore not omnipotent. That said, the question is...
Is there a particular problem that you think President Obama may not be able to solve to the nation's and/or your satisfaction?
BadToTheBoneBob ( BCEpoll 'at' aol.com )
Charlie wrote:
Sally said:
~ Tony In Philly replied:
responded:
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Overcast, but the predicted rain never showed up.
Here's a Complete List of Oscar Nominees - 2009
Taped Music
Inaugural Quartet
Millions of viewers heard a recording of the dulcet tones played by a celebrated quartet of musicians at President Barack Obama's inauguration rather than the notes the group actually played.
Carole Florman, a spokeswoman for the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, says the weather was too cold for the instruments to stay in tune. Cellist Yo-Yo Ma, violinist Izhak Perlman, pianist Gabriella Montero and clarinetist Anthony McGill made the decision on Inauguration Day Tuesday to use an audio tape of their performance that they had laid down two days earlier.
Florman says the musicians "very insistant on playing live until it became clear that it would be too cold," making it impossible for the instruments to hold tune. People sitting near them could hear the musicians play, but their instruments were not amplified.
Inaugural Quartet
Canadian Company Buys
Death Row Records
From the Wild, Wild West to the Great White North: a wealth of material from legendary rappers Tupac Shakur, Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg is now the property of a Canadian company.
Toronto-based WIDEawake Entertainment Group purchased infamous rap label Death Row from an L.A. auction for US$18 million last week.
Now, a company with fewer than 30 employees faces the monumental task of handling a staggering back catalogue that has already sold tens of millions of albums.
Indeed, the acquisition is huge - and surprising - for a relatively unknown company that was bidding against a group that reportedly included Warner Music Group.
Death Row Records
Museum Embraces Comics
Louvre
Comics, long a staple of the French literary diet, are moving to center stage.
From Asterix and Obelix to Tin Tin to the brooding comic book hero Largo Winch, the French public has long adored their cartoon heroes. Now the visual world of comics is being embraced for the first time by Paris' Louvre museum.
In the hazy lighting and hollow stone walls of the Louvre's Medieval hall, Bernar Yslaire brought the latest character from his comic strip "The Sky above the Louvre" - a tempestuous young revolutionary - to life.
The exhibition, "Small Design: The Louvre invites Comics" opened Thursday. Comic strips from five authors will be displayed, with Yslaire, who gave a display Wednesday, performing live again April 3.
Louvre
Unknown Fragment Has Debut Performance
Mozart
A fragment of music by the Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart had its first known public performance on Thursday in the western French city of Nantes, where it had lain for years in a municipal library.
The two pieces with a combined duration of under two minutes were played on the violin by Daniel Cuiller, artistic director of the baroque music ensemble Stradivaria before a small audience of journalists and friends.
The one-page score, which was a fragment from a mass, was donated to the Nantes library by a private collector at the end of the 19th century but had previously been thought to be a copy rather than an original.
It was authenticated in 2007 by Ulrich Leisinger, a specialist from the Mozarteum University in Salzburg, who estimated that it could have a value of up to 200,000 euros ($259,500) at auction.
Mozart
Town Makes Low-Budget Film
Kipling, Saskatchewan
It's almost like something out a of movie: A struggling, rural town decides to make a movie in order to turn around its fortunes.
But that's exactly what Kipling, Saskatchewan, population 1,100, is doing. The Canadian town's residents have banded together to form a company that will produce and finance an independent, faith-based film written by and starring Corbin Bernsen, the former "L.A. Law" star who now co-stars on USA Network's "Psych."
Things have been tough for prairie towns like Kipling, which is about two hours from the province's capital city of Regina. The economy is rough, opportunities are few, and anyone with means heads to the nearest big city.
Kipling hit the news once before: In 2006, a blogger spent a year bartering a red paper clip for a series of items of increasing value; in the end, he exchanged a movie role for a farmhouse in the town. The person who offered up the role was Bernsen, who trekked to the town -- which had collectively won the part -- to hold auditions.
Bernsen couldn't help but notice two things about Kipling: First, for a town that loved movies and wanted to be a part of the filmmaking process, it didn't have a movie theater. Second, it had six churches, a lot for a town of just more than 1,000 residents. Bernsen quickly realized that his movie -- the first word in the script was "c---sucker" -- probably wasn't suitable for the Canadian Bible Belt town, so he said he'd come back with another, more appropriate project.
Kipling, Saskatchewan
Engaged
Moss - Armisen
Less than a week after word got out that Mad Men's Elisabeth Moss was dating Saturday Night Live's Fred Armisen, the 26-year-old actress reveals that the two just got engaged.
"It happened just a few days ago," Moss just told usaweekend.com. "It's private, so I don't want to share the details of how it happened, but I will say it was perfect."
Moss and Armisen were spotted recently together at the Vanity Fair party for Mad Men, and also at her Broadway production, Speed-the-Plow. (Yes, that Speed-the-Plow. The one with William H. Macy.)
Moss - Armisen
Settlements Reached
Reality TV
Several major U.S. TV networks and the producers of such reality shows as "Trading Spouses" and "The Bachelor" have agreed to pay over $4 million to settle two lawsuits claiming violations of California wage rules.
The settlement will benefit more than 400 workers who were part of the 3-year-old class-action cases, and some of those individuals stand to reap tens of thousands of dollars, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, Emma Leheny, said on Wednesday.
In addition to "Trading Spouses" and "The Bachelor," the shows covered by the suits included "The Will," "Are You Hot?", "Joe Millionaire" and "My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance."
The suits claimed reality show employees routinely put in as much as 80 hours a week without overtime, were denied work breaks for meals and were forced to falsify their time cards, all in violation of state wage and hour laws.
Reality TV
Hayden's Dad Pleads No Contest
Alan Panettiere
Hayden Panettiere's father has received two years of informal probation after pleading no contest to hitting his wife.
Records show Alan Panettiere entered the plea on Tuesday in Beverly Hills. He was arrested in August on suspicion of hitting his wife, who is also the "Heroes" star's mother. He was later charged with misdemeanor spousal battery.
A judge ordered Panettiere to attend a yearlong domestic violence treatment program, pay a $400 fine and serve two years of summary probation, which does not require supervision by an officer.
Alan Panettiere
3 Years Probation
Jeb Corliss
A former television show host who tried to parachute off the Empire State Building was sentenced Thursday to probation and community service for the stunt.
State Supreme Court Justice Thomas Farber gave Jeb Corliss three years' probation and 100 hours of community service. He also said Corliss, of Malibu, Calif., could fulfill the probation and community service requirements in his home state.
Corliss was arrested when he tried to parachute from the 86th-floor observation deck of the 102-story Manhattan landmark in April 2006. Security guards thwarted his stunt when they grabbed him through the bars of a fence he had scaled.
In explaining the reasoning behind the sentence, Farber noted the offense was a misdemeanor, that Corliss had no criminal record and that the prosecution had offered a non-jail plea deal before trial.
Jeb Corliss
Spanish Police Confiscate Fake Art
Salvador Dali
Spanish police said Thursday they had confiscated dozens of suspected fake Dali artworks that were to be put on sale in the southern town of Estepona.
A total of 81 pieces were seized, 12 of which might be genuine pieces designed by Salvador Dali and are very similar to pieces listed on Interpol and Spanish police records as having been stolen in Belgium, France and the United States, a police statement says.
The art included sculptures, lithographs, bas-reliefs, cutlery and textile pieces.
Police said they would check with the Gala Salvador Dali Foundation, in Spain's Catalonia region, to see if any of the confiscated pieces are genuine.
Salvador Dali
Cable Nielsens
Ratings
Rankings for the top 15 programs on cable networks as compiled by Nielsen Media Research for the week of Jan. 12-18. Day and start time (EST) are in parentheses:
1. (tied) Resident George W. Bush's Farewell Address (Thursday, 8 p.m.), Fox News Channel, 3.53 million homes, 4.86 million viewers.
1. (tied) "WWE Raw" (Monday, 10 p.m.), USA, 3.53 million homes, 5.41 million viewers.
3. "Monk" (Friday, 9 p.m.), USA, 3.51 million homes, 4.94 million viewers.
4. "WWE Raw" (Monday, 9 p.m.), USA, 3.40 million homes, 5.09 million viewers.
5. Movie: "Another Cinderella Story" (Sunday, 8 p.m.), ABC Family, 3.28 million homes, 5.30 million viewers.
6. "iCarly" (Saturday, 8 p.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.21 million homes, 5.05 million viewers.
7. "NCIS" (Thursday, 7 p.m.), USA, 3.18 million homes, 4.21 million viewers.
8. "The O'Reilly Factor" (Thursday, 8:15 p.m.), Fox News Channel, 3.16 million homes, 4.24 million viewers.
9. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 12 noon), Nickelodeon, 3.08 million homes, 3.94 million viewers.
10. "NCIS" (Friday, 7 p.m.), USA, 3.03 million homes, 4.21 million viewers.
11. "NCIS" (Monday, 7 p.m.), USA, 3.009 million homes, 3.96 million viewers.
12. "NCIS" (Tuesday, 7 p.m.), USA, 3.007 million homes, 3.88 million viewers.
13. "Suite Life on Deck" (Friday, 8 p.m.), Disney, 2.95 million homes, 4.12 million viewers.
14. "Real Chance of Love" (Monday, 9 p.m.), VH1, 2.94 million homes, 4.19 million viewers.
15. "Back at the Barnyard" (Saturday, 10 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.93 million homes, 4.15 million viewers.
Ratings
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