Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Garrison Keillor: A Toast to Your Hroth (tmsfeatures.com)
The mind glazes over at the sight of the words so let's just refer to it as hrothgar reform and congratulate the president and Mrs. Pelosi for pushing it through Congress, a rational reform that the stonewall opposition depicted as a flock of hooded vampires rising from the steaming swamps of Stalinism. That strategy fell a few votes short.
Tom Danehy: Meet Tom Danehy, a baby boomer from SoCal who has never tried pot (tucsonweekly.com)
Stoners of the world, rejoice! Actually, that should be: Stoners of the world, you suck! However, while you really, really do suck, there may also be something over which to rejoice: ...
Ian Jack: The photograph that defined the class divide (guardian.co.uk)
In 1937, five boys were famously snapped standing outside Lord's. But who were they, what were they doing there - and what happened to them? The answer is surprising ...
Roger Ebert: Obamacare is a victory I welcome (guardian.co.uk)
Barack Obama's healthcare triumph could destroy the Republican party which opposed it .
"1938: Hitler's Gamble" by Giles MacDonogh: A review by Doug Brown
While 1939 is the year World War II officially started in Europe, Hitler laid the groundwork in 1938. At the beginning of the year Germany still had its post-Versailles borders; by December Austria and half of Czechoslovakia were part of the Reich. In addition to valuable mineral resources for the war machine buildup, this expansion brought a lot of liquid money to debt-ridden Germany. And Hitler got it all without military conquest.
"Five to Rule Them All: The UN Security Council and the Making of the Modern World" by David L. Bosco: A review by Rahul Chandran
Hovering over Bosco's book is an abiding sense of the failure of the great powers to recognize change, combined with a quaintly desperate desire to preserve privileges and rights of a bygone era. Set against this is the remarkable success of the Security Council in preventing conflict among the great powers; its existence accounts, at least in part, for the fact that we have avoided another world war.
John Petric: Owing a debt to Minnie Pearl (theotherpaper.com)
If you're someone who likes to define things, you'd have to say it's more of a soul-blues night. But if you go digging even deeper for the truth, you'll find that somewhere in the DNA of soul-blues is something that may be a bit of a surprise: country music. As in Nashville, Tenn.
George Hall: Stuart Skelton: A life of Grimes (guardian.co.uk)
Stuart Skelton's Peter Grimes electrified audiences last year. Now he's back in London to bring another troubled soul to life.
Sheila McClear: Cherie Bomb (nypress.com)
The Runaways' Cherie Currie gave up rock 'n' roll to swing around a chainsaw.
ROGER EBERT: "It's Just That I Don't Like To Talk Very Much" (from 7 April 1974)
Charles Bronson is said to be the world's most popular movie star. Not America's. He will grant you Robert Redford in America. But in the world it is Charles Bronson. There is a sign in Japan, his publicist says, that displays Bronson's name a block long (one does not ask how high).
ROGER EBERT: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (148 minutes; 4 stars)
"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" is a compelling thriller to begin with, but it adds the rare quality of having a heroine more fascinating than the story. She's a 24-year-old goth girl named Lisbeth Salander, with body piercings and tattoos: thin, small, fierce, damaged, a genius computer hacker. She smokes to quiet her racing heart.
Paul Constant: "'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo': Swedes, American Style" (thestranger.com)
... the best part of Tattoo, the real reason to watch it, is Noomi Rapace's turn as Lisbeth Salander, a goth computer hacker who gets involved in the case against her own better judgment. Salander is a juicy character-damaged but strong, sexual and enigmatic-and Rapace's deft portrayal is a joy to watch. In the early swaths of the film where she doesn't appear, you miss her and things lag until she appears again.
David Bruce: William Shakespeare's "1 Henry IV": A Discussion Guide (lulu.com)
Download: FREE
The Weekly Poll
New Question
The 'Health Care Deformed: Winners and Losers...' Edition
The House of Representatives has passed a Health Care 'Reform' Bill... 'The Man' will sign it and it'll be a done deal... So be it... Now then, Poll-fans, I ask...
What will the President's proposal mean for you? An interactive guide.
Who do you see as the long term Winners and Losers in this imbroglio?
A.) The People
B.) The Democrats
C.) The Republicans
D.) The Insurance companies | Big Pharma | Wall Street vultures
E.) Everybody wins
F.) Everybody loses
G.) How in the hell should I know?
Pick and Choose! Mix and Match! Name names! Point fingers! Rant and Rave!
Praise or excoriate! Let it all out! Have some fun, it'll be therapeutic!
(We're all about fun and wellness here, dontcha know!)
Send your response to
wrote:
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Link from Claudia
5 Second Films
5 Second Films is a hilariously fast-paced, daily online video series that injects off-the-wall humor into micro-shorts.
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Still sunny, but about 15° cooler.
Moved Back For 2011
Oscars
The Academy Awards are moving back to February.
Awards organizers said Thursday next year's Oscar ceremony is scheduled for Sunday, Feb. 27. That's about a week earlier than this season's awards show, which was held March 7 to avoid conflicting with the Winter Olympics.
Though the show used to be held in late March, the Oscars have been staged in late February in most recent years to shorten the long Hollywood awards season.
Nominations for the 83rd annual Oscars will be announced Jan. 25.
Oscars
Three Weeks To Save
Hollywood Sign
A conservation group warned Wednesday they have just three weeks to raise three million dollars to save the iconic Hollywood sign from being razed by investors who want to build luxury houses on the site.
The group needs to raise three million dollars to reach the 12.5 million dollars needed to purchase the 138-acre (55-hectare) parcel of rugged land surrounding the sign from a Chicago-based consortium that has acquired rights to build four luxury mansions along the ridgeline.
The Hollywood sign itself, which was initially created as an advert for a real estate development called Hollywoodland in 1923, is owned by the city of Los Angeles.
One of the City of Angels' most beloved attractions, the sign had fallen into disrepair until it was restored in the 1970s after a campaign which saw nine donors pay 27,777 dollars to "adopt" one letter each.
Donations for the trust's campaign can be made through the website www.savehollywoodland.org
Hollywood Sign
Cast Reunites
`Patty Duke Show'
The cast of the 1960s TV comedy "The Patty Duke Show" reunited as seasoned citizens Tuesday to promote the Social Security Administration's service allowing baby boomers to apply online for retirement and Medicare benefits.
The agency has had versions of online applications since 2000. But applicants had to provide paper documents with their signatures and copies of birth certificates or W-2 forms.
Academy Award-winning actress Patty Duke became a spokeswoman for the Retire Online campaign last year.
In Hollywood style, Social Security commissioner Michael J. Astrue decided on a sequel in an online campaign adding Medicare applications to the mix. He enlisted 63-year-old Duke and "Patty Duke Show" co-stars William Schallert, Eddie Applegate and Paul O'Keefe this time around.
`Patty Duke Show'
Elton John To Commemorate
Ryan White
Singer Elton John will headline a celebration of the life of Indiana AIDS victim Ryan White in an event benefiting the Indianapolis Children's Museum and the singer's AIDS foundation.
Museum officials announced Thursday that John will perform during the April 28 benefit at Butler University.
White was diagnosed with AIDS at age 13 after receiving a tainted transfusion of a blood-clotting agent. He died April 8, 1990, at age 18.
He became the public face of AIDS education as he fought to be allowed to attend school. He forged friendships with celebrities including John, who performed at his funeral.
Ryan White
University of Wisconsin-Green Bay
Century Gothic
A Wisconsin college has found a new way to cut costs with e-mail - by changing the font.
The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay has switched the default font on its e-mail system from Arial to Century Gothic. It says that while the change sounds minor, it will save money on ink when students print e-mails in the new font.
Diane Blohowiak is the school's director of computing. She says the new font uses about 30 percent less ink than the previous one.
That could add up to real savings, since the cost of printer ink works out to about $10,000 per gallon.
Century Gothic
Film Festival Honors
Anjelica and Danny Huston
Anjelica Huston and Danny Huston will celebrate their family's film legacy at the TCM Classic Film Festival next month.
The two actors will present "Hollywood Dynasty: The Hustons" on April 24. The tribute will include screenings of three films and question-and-answer sessions. The festival, which is open to the public, will be held April 22-25 in Los Angeles.
Among the featured films is a recently restored version of 1948's "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre," which John Huston wrote and directed.
Huston said this is the first time that she and her brother Danny will have films in the same festival, and that having their work shown alongside their father's "makes us feel sort of dynastically active, so it's a lovely thing."
Anjelica and Danny Huston
Disney Dumps
"At the Movies"
This is the last season of "At the Movies," the long-running syndicated film-review show made into a hit in the 1980s by dueling Chicago critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert.
Distributor Disney-ABC Domestic TV said in a statement: "After 24 seasons with us in national syndication, the highly regarded movie review show 'At the Movies' (formerly known as "Siskel & Ebert" and "Ebert & Roeper") will air its last original broadcast the weekend of August 14, 2010.
Ebert tweeted: "RIP At the Movies."
"At the Movies"
New Movie Review Show
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert says he and his wife are going ahead with plans to produce a new movie review television program with the working title "Roger Ebert presents At the Movies."
The famous movie reviewer wrote Thursday on his Chicago Sun-Times blog that he can't give details, but they're "deeply involved" in talks. Ebert says they've held video tests with potential hosts and they know who they will use. He says the new show would have a strong presence online.
The Pulitzer Prize-winning reviewer writes that he would like to make "occasional appearances" on the air. Ebert lost his ability to speak after cancer surgery.
Ebert also writes: "the Thumbs will return," referring to the well-known "thumbs up" and "thumbs down" reviews.
Roger Ebert
American Delusion
The Anti-Christ
Americans have some extreme views of President Obama, with a new controversial survey suggesting that 40 percent of adults believe he is a socialist, and about a quarter of survey participants thinking the president is a racist, anti-American and even doing things Hitler did.
The whammy: 14 percent of Americans say President Barack Obama may be the Antichrist. When split by political party, 24 percent of Republicans and 6 percent of Democrats viewed the nation's leader in this way.
The results come from an online Harris Poll involving 2,320 adults who were surveyed online between March 1 and March 8 by Harris Interactive, a market research firm. Respondents were read each of 15 statements and asked whether they thought they were true or false. The sample of people was selected from among roughly 4 million people who agreed to participate in Harris Interactive surveys and are given "modest incentives," according to Harris. The results were then weighted to reflect the composition of the U.S. adult population.
When broken out by political party, results showed some stark differences. For instance, the majority of Republicans believed the president is a Muslim and a socialist, while around 40 percent believe he is a racist, someone who resents American heritage and "wants terrorists to win."
The Anti-Christ
Talk About A Good Ole Boys Club
Vatican't
The Vatican on Thursday strongly defended its decision not to defrock an American priest accused of molesting some 200 deaf boys in Wisconsin and denounced what it called a campaign to smear Pope Benedict XVI and his aides.
Church and Vatican documents showed that in the mid-1990s, two Wisconsin bishops urged the Vatican office led by then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger - now the pope - to let them hold a church trial against the Rev. Lawrence Murphy. The bishops admitted the trial was coming years after the alleged abuse, but argued that the deaf community in Milwaukee was demanding justice from the church.
Despite the extensive and grave allegations against Murphy, Ratzinger's deputy at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith ruled that the alleged molestation had occurred too long ago and that Murphy - then ailing and elderly - should instead repent and be restricted from celebrating Mass outside of his diocese.
The official, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone - now the Vatican's secretary of state - ordered the church trial halted after Murphy wrote Ratzinger a letter saying he was ill, infirm, and "simply want to live out the time that I have left in the dignity of my priesthood."
The Vatican issued a strong defense in its handling of the Murphy case. The Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano said there was no cover-up and denounced what it said was a "clear and despicable intention" to strike at Benedict "at any cost."
Vatican't
Looks Like Pauper
Prince
Prince looks like a pauper in a list of delinquent taxpayers in Minnesota.
Carver County tax records show the musician's PRN Music Corp. owes more than $227,000 for 2009 taxes to the state and other government bodies. The county is southwest of Minneapolis.
PRN Music houses Prince's Paisley Park Studios in Chanhassen. County records list several other properties under his full name, Prince R. Nelson, as delinquent.
County taxpayer services manager Laurie Engelen estimates PRN Music and Prince's other properties owe about $450,000 in taxes.
Prince
TLC Series
Alaska
Sarah Palin's travelogue series about Alaska has landed at the TLC network, and filming is set to begin this summer.
Network owner Discovery Communications announced Thursday that it had acquired rights to the eight-part series, produced by "Survivor" producer Mark Burnett. The deal lands "Sarah Palin's Alaska" on the network that also airs "Jon & Kate Plus 8," "Cake Boss" and "I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant."
The series tells stories of some of Alaska's unique features as seen through the eyes of its former governor.
Burnett and Palin had been pitching the series to various networks in recent weeks and had been asking for $1.2 million an episode, considered expensive in the world of nonfiction television. Discovery got the series for about $1 million an episode, according to two television executives familiar with the deal who spoke on condition of anonymity because their networks don't discuss such details publicly.
Alaska
Stolen Sculpture Found In Toronto
Henry Moore
A Henry Moore bronze sculpture stolen from a New York City gallery in 2001 has been recovered from a Toronto gallery.
The $80,000 abstract sculpture of a reclining figure was found Wednesday at Miriam Shiell Fine Art. The gallery's owner said the consignor brought it in last week, and she searched the Art Loss Register database to see if it had been reported stolen.
"When a piece doesn't have any history, anything that is verifiable, you need to do due diligence," said Shiell, who has owned the gallery for 30 years.
The recovery came days after a Paul Klee painting stolen in 1989 was found in a Montreal art gallery.
Henry Moore
Terrorize Russians
Killer Icicles
Walking along a Saint Petersburg Street immersed in music, Milana Kashtanova, became the latest victim of falling icicles and ice blocks that have killed five people and injured 147 in the city following Russia's coldest winter in 30 years.
Kashtanova, 21, has been in a coma since February when she was hit by the ice which was being cleared from a rooftop.
The toll has prompted residents and relatives of victims to demand action against those responsible for what they believe to be careless clearing of ice from rooftops.
The tragedy of Milana Kashtanova's accident is not uncommon. Thousands of street cleaners take to the rooftops of Russia's cities during the spring thaw, sweeping masses of snow and sharp-edged blocks of ice onto the pavements.
Killer Icicles
Cable Nielsens
Ratings
Rankings for the top 15 programs on cable networks as compiled by the Nielsen Co. for the week of March 15-21. Day and start time (EDT) are in parentheses:
1. "Life" (Sunday, 8 p.m.), Discovery, 3.82 million homes, 6.13 million viewers.
2. "WWE Raw" (Monday, 9 p.m.), USA, 3.7 million homes, 5.62 million viewers.
3. "WWE Raw" (Monday, 10 p.m.), USA, 3.65 million homes, 5.57 million viewers.
4. "Life" (Sunday, 9 p.m.), Discovery, 3.62 million homes, 5.88 million viewers.
5. "American Pickers" (Monday, 9 p.m.), History, 3.54 million homes, 5.06 million viewers.
6. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 9:30 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.42 million homes, 4.67 million viewers.
7. "NCIS" (Monday, 8 p.m.), USA, 3.22 million homes, 4.29 million viewers.
8. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 9 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.02 million homes, 3.94 million viewers.
9. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Sunday, 9:30 a.m.), 3 million homes, 3.84 million viewers.
10. "Justified" (Tuesday, 10 p.m.), FX, 2.95 million homes, 4.15 million viewers.
11. "Penguins of Madagascar" (Saturday, 10 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.93 million homes, 3.84 million viewers.
12. "NCIS" (Saturday, 9 p.m.), USA, 2.9 million homes, 3.83 million viewers.
13. "The O'Reilly Factor" (Monday, 8 p.m.), Fox News Channel, 2.89 million homes, 3.76 million viewers.
14. "NCIS" (Saturday, 8 p.m.), USA, 2.88 million homes, 3.88 million viewers.
15. "The O'Reilly Factor" (Thursday, 8 p.m.), 2.84 million homes, 3.61 million viewers.
Ratings
In Memory
Elinor Smith
Elinor Smith, who was considered one of the youngest and most daring pilots in the 1920s when she set a number of flying records, has died. She was 98.
Smith died Friday at a nursing home in Palo Alto, said her son, Patrick Sullivan of Santa Cruz.
She became a licensed pilot just after her 16th birthday, Sullivan said. At age 17, she became an instant celebrity when she flew under all four of New York's East River suspension bridges.
Sullivan said his mother set the women's solo flying endurance record in 1929 during a 13 1/2 hour flight. She set an even longer mark just three months later when she flew solo for 26 1/2 hours.
Smith also set a women's altitude record by flying at a height of 32,576 feet in 1931.
"She's not a household word, but she probably should be because she did some really significant flying," Dorothy Cochrane, a curator at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.
Smith took a long break from her flying career after marrying New York State Assemblyman Patrick Sullivan in 1933. She resumed flying after he died in 1956.
In April 2001, at the age of 89, Smith piloted her last flight when she flew an experimental C33 Raytheon AGATE, Beech Bonanza out of Langley Air Force Base in Virginia.
Smith is survived by four children, five grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
Elinor Smith
In Memory
Patricia Wrightson
Patricia Wrightson, the internationally acclaimed Australian children's author who attracted praise - and then criticism - for entwining Aboriginal mythology into her writing, has died at age 88.
In 1986, Wrightson was awarded the biennial Hans Christian Andersen Medal - the highest accolade for a writer of children's fiction - given by the Swiss-based International Board on Books for Young People for an author's body of work.
She died of natural causes on March 15 in northern New South Wales state several days after being hospitalized, her son Peter Wrightson said Thursday.
The two spent the last 32 years of her life living on a wooded property in nearby Bonalbo, a village 500 miles (800 kilometers) north of Sydney.
Peter Wrightson said his mother was always careful to avoid legends that were regarded by Aborigines as sacred or secret.
"Things have changed now, but at the time, a lot of Aboriginal leaders were saying keep doing it because she treated Aboriginal culture with respect," he said.
The four-time winner of Australia's top award for children's literature was born on a farm near the New South Wales town of Lismore in 1921. She moved to Sydney to work in a munitions factory during World War II.
She married in Sydney, but the marriage lasted only a few years and she moved to Bonalbo with her two children, Peter and Jenny, to live with her parents, her son said.
She wrote the first of her 27 books, "The Crooked Snake," by watching her children's reaction to pages read by her father as soon as they were typed.
She first found large audiences in the United States and Britain with her 1968 book "A Racecourse for Andy," which was published in Australia under the title "I Own the Racecourse!"
Patricia Wrightson
In Memory
Johnny Maestro
Singer Johnny Maestro, who performed the 1958 doo-wop hit "16 Candles" with The Crests and enjoyed a decades-long career with The Brooklyn Bridge, has died of cancer. He was 70.
Les Cauchi, a friend and original Brooklyn Bridge member, said Maestro - born John Mastrangelo - died late Wednesday in Florida. His last residence was in Cape Coral, Fla.
After beginning his career in the 1950s with The Crests - one of the first interracial singing groups - Maestro joined a local New York group, The Del-Satins. It merged with a Long Island band, The Rhythm Method, to form Johnny Maestro and The Brooklyn Bridge in 1968.
Hits by the rock 'n' roll and doo-wop group included "The Worst That Could Happen," which Cauchi said earned "gold record" status with a million sales.
The band got its name after a manager declared it would be "harder to sell than the Brooklyn Bridge," Maestro once said. He performed at arenas, amphitheaters and casinos throughout the U.S. and Europe.
Maestro's last performance was Jan. 17, when The Brooklyn Bridge was among groups appearing at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Connecticut. It was billed as "The Ultimate Doo-Wop Party."
Johnny Maestro
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