Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Stop the Presses: How to Save Newspapers by Ted Rall (youtube.com)
Animation.
Tom Danehy: 'San Patricio' reminds listeners of the awesome power of music (tucsonweekly.com)
My father, may he rest in peace, was an industrial-strength Irishman. I don't know if he ever kissed the Blarney Stone, but he definitely had the gift of gab. He was a smooth talker, a teller of tales, and passionate about many things, including his strong union ties and his homeland. (How he spawned such a shrinking violet as I is beyond me.)
Kathy M. Kristof: Identity theft may be prelude to more serious crime (latimes.com)
Crooks are now using stolen personal information to commit offenses including child abuse and terrorism.
Garrison Keillor: 'Jihad Jane' Shatters Terror Stereotype (tmsfeatures.com)
Evil is not a color. It has no particular religion nor creed, nor style of dress, nor gender nor geographic home. One hopes we learn at least that much from the adventures of Jihad Jane.
Dan Franklin: 'I am a tart. I am deeply shallow' (guardian.co.uk)
He is the publishing colossus behind Britain's superstar authors. How does Dan Franklin stay ahead? He talks to Susanna Rustin about McEwan, Amis - and the death of the boozy lunch.
Sex in the city (montrealmirror.com)
Hiding from teachers, lesbian strip clubs, Simone de Beavers and hot curling irons: Sasha Van Bon Bon recalls her striptease days in her stage memoir 'Neon Nightz.'
"Abigail Adams" by Woody Holton: A review by Frank Shuffelton
In the Founding Fathers' race for enduring fame, John Adams had a secret resource. Her name was Abigail. Most of the Founders' wives offered silent support, usually in the form of affectionate encouragement and the management of household and family matters, but few contributed as much to their husbands' success as Abigail Adams.
Jack White: 'I knew we'd get into these places and stir things up' (guardian.co.uk)
The Stripes' frontman Jack White talks to Sarfraz Manzoor about President Obama, his wife's first album and doing a whole show on one note.
Interview by Laura Barnett: "Portrait of the artist: Don Warrington, actor" (guardian.co.uk)
'I was a bit embarrassed by 'Rising Damp.' I'd trained to go into theatre - doing a sitcom wasn't in the script.'
Verne Gay: Peter Graves was a great actor, and more (Newsday)
Peter Graves, one of TV's truly iconic actors who was simply known as "Jim Phelps" to one generation of viewers and the big screen's Capt. Clarence Oveur to another, died over the weekend at age 83.
Barry Koltnow: Fake celebrities are back in vogue (The Orange County Register)
Finally. The Olympic flame has been extinguished, and the last Oscar has been awarded. Can we please get back to normal? Can we please get back to a world where celebrities are famous for no apparent reason? Can we please get back to being a society where hard work, talent and courage have nothing to do with how many times one gets on a magazine cover?
Rick Bentley: America Ferrera says goodbye to 'Betty' (McClatchy Newspapers)
Should America Ferrera ever decided to stop acting, she'd make a great politician. The star is the picture of perfect tact when asked about the end of her TV series "Ugly Betty."
David Bruce: Nancy Garden's "Annie on My Mind": A Discussion Guide (lulu.com)
Free Download.
The Weekly Poll
New Question
The 'DNA Database Blues' Edition
"President Barack Obama is not the civil-liberties knight in shining armor many were expecting... The nation's chief executive extols the virtues of mandatory DNA testing of Americans upon arrest, even absent charges or a conviction. Obama said, "It's the right thing to do" to "tighten the grip around folks" who commit crime..."
Wired.com
Do you support mandatory DNA collection upon arrest?
A.) Yes
B.) No
C.) Depends on the crime
Send your response to
replied:
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
A Two-fer
RJ
Hi there
Two possible links for you today - thanks for taking a look!
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
And the heat wave goes on...
Replacing Judas
Christiane Amanpour
CNN's Christiane Amanpour is TV network ABC's choice to replace George Stephanopoulos as host of its Sunday morning political talk show "This Week."
It's not clear whether Amanpour's hiring signals a change in direction for "This Week," a show that's heavy on politics and domestic policy. Amanpour is best known for her reporting from war zones at CNN. She has lately been host of a daily show on CNN's International network; highlights are run Sunday on the domestic channel.
Stephanopoulos left the show in December to take over as co-host of "Good Morning America."
Amanpour will start in August, with Jake Tapper filling in until then.
Christiane Amanpour
Invites Public Comment On Comcast-NBC Merger
FCC
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) called on Thursday for public comment on the proposed merger between cable operator Comcast Corp and broadcaster NBC Universal.
The media industry regulator is seeking comments and petitions by a deadline of May 3 and expects to respond to comments by June 2. It has set a final date of June 17 to respond to any further responses or oppositions.
The FCC process is just one part of a comprehensive regulatory process for the $30 billion joint venture between the No 1 U.S. cable operator and NBC Universal, which as well as a national TV network also owns cable networks, including USA Network, CNBC and MSNBC.
The transaction, which has caused an uproar with consumer groups and smaller cable providers, is also being examined by the Justice Department's antitrust division.
FCC
In Talks With
Fox RupertConan O'Brien
The next few months could keep Conan O'Brien very busy.
For starters, he needs to keep posting those random tweets on his recently opened Twitter account.
Then in April, he hits the road for a cross-country comedy tour that's scheduled to last two months.
And by mid-May, he just might be anointed by Fox as its late-night leading man, when the network's program lineup for next season is officially unveiled.
Conan O'Brien
Open For Business
Universal Studios Singapore
The world's fourth Universal Studios welcomed its first visitors on Thursday with a lavish ceremony aimed at attracting luck, and repeat business, to the Singapore theme park which hopes to avoid the fate of loss-making Hong Kong Disneyland.
Doors were flung open to the public at precisely 08:28 a.m. after 18 Chinese lions blazed through the entrance at 08:08 a.m. The number 8 is considered by many in mostly ethnic Chinese Singapore as auspicious.
Actresses dressed up like Marilyn Monroe and Betty Boop paraded with the lion-dancing troupe along Hollywood Boulevard, one of the seven themed zones in the 20-hectare park that aims to attract 4.5 million visitors in its first year.
The 24 attractions at Universal Studios include the world's tallest dueling rollercoaster -- where two rollercoasters shoot off at the same time and loop around each other -- plus a 4-D cinema and rides based on Hollywood films such as "Madagascar" and "Jurassic Park."
Universal Studios Singapore
Town Planning Anniversary
Luddites
The people of Huddersfield are rising up again, but this time it's to celebrate the city's 19th century local weavers rather than smash modern technology.
The northern English town of Huddersfield was home nearly 200 hundred years ago to the secretive Luddites, weavers armed with muskets and hammers who roamed the countryside attacking the textile mills which threatened their livelihoods.
Once they were the scourge of northern England, murdering mill owners and smashing machinery, but a vow of silence and the industrial decline of the 21st century mean that finding any tangible remains of the movement -- whose name has become an English catchphrase -- has become a bit of a challenge.
Now Huddersfield member of parliament Barry Sheerman is meeting with historians, museums and locals to come up with ideas to celebrate the bicentenary of the Luddite movement.
Luddites
U.N. Genocide Court Rejects Appeal
Simon Bikindi
A U.N. court trying the masterminds of Rwanda's 1994 genocide on Thursday upheld a 2008 conviction of a musician sentenced to 15 years for using a public address system to incite the killing of ethnic Tutsis.
The appeals chamber of the Tanzania-based International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) rejected an appeal and reaffirmed the guilty verdict against Simon Bikindi, 56, for direct and public incitement to commit genocide.
Prosecutors said that toward the end of June 1994 in Gisenyi prefecture, Bikindi broadcast messages from a speaker on his car asking the majority Hutu to rise up and kill Tutsis.
On a second drive along the same road, he asked if people had been killing the "snakes".
Bikindi, who was a composer as well as singer of both traditional and modern Rwandan music, performed with the Irindiro Ballet band. He also had a post in the sports ministry.
Simon Bikindi
Lawyers Seek Inquiry Into Misconduct
Roman Polanski
Roman Polanski's attorneys have filed an appeal asking that a special counsel investigate alleged judicial misconduct in the director's 32-year-old sex case.
The appeal was filed Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court, citing new evidence that a prosecutor was aware of misconduct by the judge handling the case in the 1970s.
The lawyers say former Deputy District Attorney Roger Gunson gave secret testimony this year on the judge's conduct.
The attorneys asked the transcripts of his testimony be unsealed. They also asked that Polanski be sentenced to time served without requiring his presence in court. The director is under house arrest in Switzerland.
Roman Polanski
Producer Files $35M Suit
Lady Gaga
A songwriter and music producer who claims he helped launch pop star Lady Gaga says she squeezed him out of her lucrative career after he co-wrote some of her songs, came up with her stage name and helped get her record deal.
Rob Fusari filed a $35 million lawsuit against the Grammy Award-winning pop star, saying his protege and former girlfriend ditched him as her career soared.
Fusari had credits on such hits as Will Smith's "Wild, Wild West" and Destiny's Child's "Bootylicious" when a friend steered the piano-playing singer - then known by her real name, Stefani Germanotta - to him in March 2006, according to his lawsuit.
Though he initially dismissed her, he realized she had star potential after hearing her play in his Livingston, New Jersey, studio, the suit said. He spent the next several months working with her every day and "radically reshaping her approach," persuading her to drop rock riffs for dance beats, it said.
Lady Gaga
Pleads Guilty To $100M Swindle
Lawrence B. Salander
A New York City art dealer who catered to celebrities has admitted bilking nearly $100 million from his star-studded clientele through bogus art investment opportunities and sales of pieces he didn't own.
Lawrence B. Salander pleaded guilty Thursday to grand larceny and scheming to defraud in a case that swept up tennis star John McEnroe and the estate of actor Robert De Niro's father as victims.
The 60-year-old Salander has been promised a prison term that's a maximum of six to 18 years. He's due back in court for a pre-sentencing status update May 20.
The former art gallery owner admitted swindling McEnroe out of about $2 million and Robert De Niro Sr.'s estate out of more than $1 million. They're among many other victims.
Lawrence B. Salander
Worker Safety Probe
Porn
California's worker safety board voted Thursday to further study a proposal that would require porn actors to wear condoms during sex scenes.
The six-member California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board voted unanimously to assign an advisory committee to study the proposal from the AIDS Healthcare Foundation. The advocacy group filed a petition in December seeking to require the use of condoms in the porn industry.
By law, U.S. adult film actors must prove they have tested negative for HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases within 30 days of going to work on a film.
Pornographers, including Hustler publisher Larry Flynt and Vivid Entertainment head Steven Hirsch, have said mandatory testing for adult film actors has been an effective way to prevent the spread of disease. Flynt added that adult film viewers don't want to see people using condoms.
Porn
Binding Offers Are Due
MGM
In Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc.'s newest movie, "Hot Tub Time Machine," a main character looks around a leg-warmer-dotted ski slope and asks "Is there some kind of retro thing going on this weekend?"
There certainly is at the studio. MGM is dialing back to its past as it prepares to be sold yet again and is stressing the value of its film archive as a major asset.
Six companies made nonbinding bids in January for MGM, which owns the rights to 4,100 movies and TV shows and has a stake in future James Bond and "The Hobbit" films. Now MGM is preparing to receive binding acquisition offers Friday.
None are expected to be more than $2 billion. That would be bitter for about 140 lenders that financed the purchase of MGM for $5 billion in 2005 and now essentially control the company. Equity holders in MGM, such as Sony Corp. and Comcast Corp., have already written off their investments.
MGM
Book Makes New Claims
Anne Frank
A Holocaust survivor claims in a new book that Anne Frank distracted younger children from the horrors of a Nazi concentration camp by telling them fairy tales - an account disputed by at least one Frank authority and a childhood friend of the diarist.
The story by Berthe Meijer, now 71, of being a 6-year-old inmate of Bergen Belsen crafts a touching portrait of Anne in the final weeks of her life in the German camp, struggling to keep up her own spirits even as she tried to lift the morale of the smaller children.
That Anne had a gift for storytelling was evident from the diary she kept during two years in hiding with her family in Amsterdam. The scattered pages were collected and published after the war in what became the most widely read book to emerge from the Holocaust.
The memoir deals with Meijer's acquaintance with Anne Frank in only a few pages, but she said she titled it "Life After Anne Frank" because it continues the tale of Holocaust victims where the famous diary leaves off.
Anne Frank
2-Hour 'Glitch'
Playboy
Young viewers of children's television programs in North Carolina got a glimpse of something far more risque than their favorite cartoons, when a cable glitch broadcast two hours of the Playboy channel.
"Due to a technical malfunction, some adult programs had been diverted on children's networks," Time Warner Cable vice president of public relations Alex Dudley told AFP on Wednesday.
The equipment failure, which took place between 6:15 and 8:15 am on Tuesday, beamed previews of adult shows with scantily clad women striking suggestive poses and talking dirty into a portion of the Kids on Demand and Preschool on Demand channels, local media reported.
The cable operator reportedly learned of the glitch when worried parents alerted them to the problem.
Playboy
May Be World's Oldest Dog Breed
Dingo
Australia's iconic dingo may be the world's oldest breed of dog, according a major new DNA study that is likely to boost conservation efforts.
The international study has found the dingo and its close relation, the rare New Guinea singing dog, bear the closest genetic similarity to wolves of all breeds tested.
The research, published in science journal Nature, appears to confirm widely held theories about the dingo's history. It involved testing nearly 1,000 dogs of 85 different breeds as well as hundreds of wolves.
Dingoes and the singing dog, named for its distinctive multi-pitched howl, have developed in isolation from other breeds for thousands of years. Dingoes were introduced to Australia from Indonesia about 5,000 years ago.
Dingo
Cable Nielsens
Ratings
Rankings for the top 15 programs on cable networks as compiled by the Nielsen Co. for the week of March 8-14. Day and start time (EDT) are in parentheses:
1. "Hannah Montana" (Sunday, 7:30 p.m.), Disney, 4.43 million homes, 6.92 million viewers.
2. "Pawn Stars" (Monday, 10 p.m.), History, 4.03 million homes, 5.82 million viewers.
3. "Pawn Stars" (Monday, 10:30 p.m.), History, 3.885 million homes, 5.41 million viewers.
4. "Sonny With a Chance" (Sunday, 8 p.m.), Disney, 3.884 million homes, 5.92 million viewers.
5. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 9:30 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.56 million homes, 4.91 million viewers.
6. "WWE Raw" (Monday, 10 p.m.), USA, 3.47 million homes, 5.36 million viewers.
7. "WWE Raw" (Monday, 9 p.m.), USA, 3.22 million homes, 4.81 million viewers.
8. "American Pickers" (Monday, 9 p.m.), History, 3.15 million homes, 4.55 million viewers.
9. "Hannah Montana" (Sunday, 7 p.m.), Disney, 3.14 million homes, 4.53 million viewers.
10. "Penguins of Madagascar" (Saturday, 10 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.13 million homes, 4.28 million viewers.
11. "NCIS" (Monday, 8 p.m.), USA, 3.11 million homes, 4.27 million viewers.
12. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 9 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.09 million homes, 4.03 million viewers.
13. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 11:30 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.07 million homes, 4.53 million viewers.
14. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 11 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.96 million homes, 4.28 million viewers.
15. "The O'Reilly Factor" (Monday, 8 p.m.), Fox News Channel, 2.88 million homes, 3.86 million viewers.
Ratings
In Memory
Fess Parker
Fess Parker, a baby-boomer idol in the 1950s who launched a craze for coonskin caps as television's Davy Crockett, died Thursday of natural causes. He was 85.
Family spokeswoman Sao Anash said Parker, who was also TV's Daniel Boone and later a major California winemaker and developer, died at his Santa Ynez Valley home. His death comes on the 84th birthday of his wife of 50 years, Marcella.
The first installment of "Davy Crockett," with Buddy Ebsen as Crockett's sidekick, debuted in December 1954 as part of the "Disneyland" TV show.
The 6-foot, 6-inch Parker was quickly embraced by youngsters as the man in a coonskin cap who stood for the spirit of the American frontier. Boomers gripped by the Crockett craze scooped up Davy lunch boxes, toy Old Betsy rifles, buckskin shirts and trademark fur caps. "The Ballad of Davy Crockett" ("Born on a mountaintop in Tennessee...") was a No. 1 hit for singer Bill Hayes while Parker's own version reached No. 5.
The first three television episodes were turned into a theatrical film, "Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier," in 1955.
True to history, Disney killed off its hero in the third episode, "Davy Crockett at the Alamo," where the real-life Crockett died in 1836 at age 49. But spurred by popular demand, Disney brought back the Crockett character for some episodes in the 1955-56 season, including "Davy Crockett's Keelboat Race." In reporting this development, Hedda Hopper wrote: "Take off those black armbands, kids, and put on your coonskin caps, for Davy Crockett will hit the trail again."
Parker's career then leveled off before he made a TV comeback from 1964-1970 in the title role of the TV adventure series "Daniel Boone" - also based on a real-life American frontiersman. Actor-singer Ed Ames, formerly of the Ames Brothers, played Boone's Indian friend, Mingo.
After "Daniel Boone," Parker largely retired from show business, except for guest appearances, and went into real estate.
Parker had made his motion picture debut in "Springfield Rifle" in 1952. His other movies included "No Room for the Groom" (1952), "The Kid From Left Field" (1953), "Them!" (1954), "The Great Locomotive Chase" (1956), "Westward Ho, the Wagons!" (1956), "Old Yeller" (1957) and "The Light in the Forest" (1958).
It was Parker's scene as a terrified witness in the horror classic "Them!" that caught the attention of Walt Disney when he was looking for a "Davy Crockett" star. He chose Parker over another "Them!" actor, James Arness - who became a TV superstar in the long-running "Gunsmoke."
After departing Hollywood, Parker got into real estate with his wife, Marcella, whom he had married in 1960.
Parker was a longtime friend of Ronald Reagan, whose Western White House was not far from the Parker vineyards. Reagan sent Parker to Australia in 1985 to represent him during an event, and when Parker returned he was asked by White House aide Michael Deaver if he was interested in being ambassador to that country.
Fess Elisha Parker Jr. was born Aug. 16, 1924, in Fort Worth, Texas - Parker loved to point out Crockett's birthday was Aug. 17. He played football at Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene but was injured in a nearly fatal road-rage knifing in 1946.
Fess Parker
In Memory
Charlie Gillett
Charlie Gillett, a DJ and music historian who helped bring music from around the world to wider attention, has died at the age of 68, his employer, the British Broadcasting Corp., said Thursday.
The BBC said Gillett died in a London hospital on Wednesday. He had an autoimmune disease and last week suffered a heart attack.
Soft-spoken Gillett was a fixture of the BBC's domestic radio stations and its international World Service, where his show "Charlie Gillett's World of Music" offered a wildly eclectic mix of music from around the globe.
In contrast to the narrow formats of most Western radio stations, Gillett played everything from Cajun boogie to Nigerian soul to Portuguese fado, gaining a devoted international following.
Born in Morecambe, northwestern England, in 1942, Gillett studied at Cambridge University and at Columbia University in New York, where he wrote an MA thesis on the history of rock 'n' roll. He expanded it into the book "The Sound of the City," published in 1970 and regarded as one of the best accounts of the genre's early years.
In the 1970s Gillett co-founded the Oval record label, whose releases included the influential Cajun compilation "Another Saturday Night," and for a time managed pub-rock band Kilburn and the High Roads, whose lead singer, Ian Dury, went on to fame with The Blockheads.
Gillett is survived by wife Buffy and their children Suzy, Jody and Ivan. Funeral details were not immediately available.
Charlie Gillett
In Memory
Alex Chilton
Alex Chilton, the singer and guitarist who had a No. 1 hit as a gravel-voiced teen with "The Letter" and went on to influence a generation of musicians through his work with Big Star, died Wednesday in New Orleans. He was 59.
The Memphis, Tenn., native died at a hospital after experiencing what appeared to be heart problems, said his longtime friend John Fry.
Chilton had his first taste of fame with the Box Tops, the band he and his friends started in Memphis. He was 16 but sounded much older when "The Letter," which opens with the lines "Gimme a ticket for an aeroplane. Ain't got time to take a fast train ..." hit the top of the charts in 1967. Their other hits were "Soul Deep" and "Cry Like a Baby."
It was Chilton's work with a second Memphis band, Big Star, in the early 1970s that cemented his legacy as a pioneering voice for a generation of kids looking for something real in the glossy world of pop music. The band was never a commercial success, but R.E.M. counted Chilton as an influence, the Replacements name-checked him with their 1987 song "Alex Chilton," and his band still provides a template for musicians today.
Chilton's influence was widely felt in the 1980s and 1990s, when a generation of listeners looked to songs like "Thirteen," "I'm in Love With a Girl" and "In the Street" (widely known as the theme song for "That '70s Show") because they perfectly captured teen angst and relayed sometimes-dark emotions that were universal.
Big Star's three 1970s albums all earned spots on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest. In addition to sporadic solo work, Chilton reformed Big Star with members of The Posies in the 1990s to tour and released "In Space" under the Big Star name in 2005. A box set of the group's work was released last fall.
Chilton said in a 1987 interview with The Associated Press that he didn't mind flying under the radar with Big Star and later as a solo artist.
Chilton had been scheduled to perform with Big Star on Saturday at the South by Southwest music festival in Austin, Texas.
Alex Chilton
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