Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Tom Danehy: Ladies and gentlemen, your next Fiesta Bowl CEO (Tucson Weekly)
Anyway, you ate the Cotton Bowl's entrails, and suddenly you were one of the Big Four. Silly me (and just about everybody else): We thought you had done all that through shrewd business acumen and deft maneuvering. It turns out that you used strip clubs and golf outings. Jeez, you might as well be a lobbyist for a pharmaceutical company. And/or a friend of Dick Cheney's.
Robert Reich: Paul Ryan's Plan, the Coming Shutdown, and What's Really at Stake
House Budget Chair Paul Ryan unveiled a plan today that should make every American cringe. It would turn Medicare into vouchers whose benefits are funneled into the pockets of private insurers. It would make Medicaid and Food Stamps into block grants that allow states to ignore poor people altogether. It would drastically cut funding for schools, roads, and much else Americans need.
Paul Krugman's Blog: Memory Hole Alert (New York Times)
Yep - they took the offending number out. I mean, really, guys - this is all over the blogosphere; did you really think you could get away with pretending it was never there?
Andrew Tobias: Are You In?
Abandon the poor, squeeze the middle class, oppose the minimum wage, break the unions, bring back child labor, help the rich. If those are your priorities - along with crumbling infrastructure and unrestricted gun-show machine-gun sales - the G.O.P. has your name on it. My jaw drops at your world view, but all the best to you.
Susan Estrich: What's Wrong with President Obama? (Creators Syndicate)
The president inherited an economy on the brink of disaster. I'm not playing the blame game, which is always a loser. I'm trying to put his accomplishments in the proper perspective. Whoever gets the blame for the crisis, and surely there is plenty to go around, Obama gets credit for the fact that the economy did not collapse, the recession has actually ended and unemployment is going down.
Jim Hightower: THE PRICE OF GLOBALIZED PAINT
Such is the zen of CortprateWorld's delicate supply chain. Philosophy aside, Ford Motor Company recently announced that it cannot fill orders for black vehicles and must limit production of red ones. It's a case of three "becauses" - Ford can't deliver cars in these colors because it can't acquire the pigment to mix the paint, because Ford's pigments are made in Japan, which isn't making any now because of its nuclear disaster.
ELIZABETH BERNSTEIN: Do You Get an 'A' in Personality? (Wall Street Journal)
In the never-ending quest to help people co-exist peacefully with their spouses, children, siblings and in-laws, therapists are turning to tools used to assess the psychological stability of pilots, police officers and nuclear-power plant operators: personality tests.
Martin Amis: 'You have to be slightly innocent to be a novelist' (Guardian)
On babysitting duty, and itching to play pinball, Martin Amis tells Tom Lamont why he's leaving Britain for friends and family.
A Great Film's Sadly Timeless Message (Wall Street Journal)
David Mermelstein looks at what makes Stanley Kubrick's "Paths of Glory" (1957) a masterpiece.
Robert Lloyd: Ernie Kovacs and 'H.R. Pufnstuf' added surreal twist to TV (Los Angles Times)
The comic actor's shows and Sid and Marty Krofft's series, being released on video box sets this month, remind us that mad genius and wild creativity can work on TV.
Jeremy Stahl: The Greatest Musical Satirists of Their Generation (Slate)
The rude, hilarious, surprisingly sweet musical canon of Trey Parker and Matt Stone.
Tim Jonze: How Adele conquered the world (Guardian)
Adele has just smashed Madonna's record for longest spell at the top of the album chart for a female artist - and looks likely to beat Bob Marley's all-time record.
David Bruce has 41 Kindle books on Amazon.com with 250 anecdotes in each book. Each book is $1, so for $41 you can buy 10,250 anecdotes. Search for "Funniest People," "Coolest People, "Most Interesting People," "Kindest People," "Religious Anecdotes," and "Maximum Cool."
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From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Clear, cool and very windy.
Rapturous Reception In China
Bob Dylan
Counter-culture hero and 1960s protest singer Bob Dylan got a rapturous welcome from fans on Wednesday at his first gig in China, despite agreeing to sing an approved set so as not to offend political sensitivities.
Famous for his songs against injustice and for civil liberties and pacifism, Dylan struck a cautious line in Beijing and did not sing anything that might have overtly offended China's Communist rulers, like "The Times They Are A-Changin'."
On stage for almost two hours at the city's Worker's Gymnasium, Dylan brought the audience to a standing ovation with his penultimate song, "All Along the Watchtower," and came back for two encores. "Like a Rolling Stone" also proved popular.
He spoke only once directly to the crowd of some 5,000 people -- mostly young Chinese though with a strong foreign presence -- and that was to introduce his band.
Bob Dylan
Bun In The Oven
Tina Fey
Tina Fey is expecting her second child.
Her publicist confirms that the "30 Rock" star announced while taping an appearance of "The Oprah Winfrey Show" on Wednesday. Fey is about five months pregnant. Her "Oprah" appearance is scheduled to air next week.
Fey and her husband, composer Jeff Richmond, are also parents of a 5-year-old daughter, Alice.
The 40-year-old actress-writer is currently promoting a new memoir, "Bossypants."
Tina Fey
Astrophysicist Wins $1.6 Million Religion Prize
Martin Rees
A British astrophysicist known for his theories on the origin and the destiny of the universe has been honored with one of the world's leading religion prizes.
Martin Rees, a 68-year-old expert on the extreme physics of black holes and the Big Bang, is the recipient of the 2011 Templeton Prize, the John Templeton Foundation announced Wednesday. The 1 million pound ($1.6 million) award is among the world's most lucrative.
Dr. John M. Templeton, Jr. said that Rees - who professes no religious belief - was chosen because of the nature of his research, which he said invites everyone "to wrestle with the most fundamental questions of our nature and existence."
Rees tried to tackle many of those fundamental questions during his just-finished tenure at the head of Britain's Royal Society, which saw the 350-year-old body discuss issues ranging from the disputed origins of life on Earth to the possibility of eventually discovering life elsewhere.
Martin Rees
FX Nabs Rerun Rights
"How I Met Your Mother"
A month after being picked up for two additional seasons on CBS, "How I Met Your Mother" has found a new off-network home: FX.
Sources said reruns of the hit comedy will likely debut on the cable network in the fall. FX and distributor Twentieth TV, both owned by News Corp, declined comment.
The deal represents the second syndication cycle for "Mother." Women's cable channel Lifetime nabbed rerun rights in 2008 for about $725,000 an episode. The cable network started airing the show in September as part of its four-year deal.
FX currently airs repeats of "Two and a Half Men," which have done well for the cable channel. The network will likely pair "Mother" with "Men" as it looks to build its comedy arsenal. FX chief John Landgraf told The Hollywood Reporter last month that it had no plans to scale back airdates of the Charlie Sheen comedy in the wake of the actor's recent issues.
"How I Met Your Mother"
Art Removal Strikes Sensitive Nerve
Maine
It's big in its own right, a 36-foot-wide, 11-panel mural representing Maine's labor history. Even bigger is the nerve its removal has struck in politics, academia and the art world during the national debate over public workers' collective bargaining rights.
The state's new pro-business fascist governor ordered it removed from the Maine Department of Labor's lobby in late March, saying it didn't mesh with his policy goals. Since then, the maelstrom of reaction has only escalated, resonating all the way to Washington.
There's more at play than artistic freedom and speech issues, though, said Michele Bogart, a professor of American visual culture studies at Stony Brook University in New York.
"If a politician comes along and says, 'I don't like it,' even though he has no expertise in art, he is abusing his power," Bogart said. "People don't like politicians taking on the role of art critic."
Maine
French Rocker Sparks Outcry In Quebec
Bertrand Cantat
A Quebec theatre troupe's casting of a French rock star convicted of killing his girlfriend in 2003 provoked outrage on Canada's campaign trail Thursday, as a former minister vowed to deny him entry.
Bertrand Cantat, the former lead singer of the rock band Noir Désir, was sentenced to eight years in jail after he beat his girlfriend Marie Trintignant to death in a Lithuanian hotel room in 2003.
He was paroled in 2007.
Théâtre du Nouveau Monde defended its choice, saying Cantat paid for his crime.
Bertrand Cantat
'Baby Dangle' Statue Angers Fans
Michael Jackson
A statue of Michael Jackson dangling his baby son out of a hotel window has been erected in Britain, sparking anger Wednesday from die-hard fans of the late pop icon.
The life-sized sculpture, entitled "Madonna and Child", depicts the notorious incident when the singer held his youngest son Prince Michael II out of the window in Berlin in 2002 in front of hundreds of shocked fans.
Fans of Jackson, who died in June 2009, were swift to condemn the work by Swedish-born artist Maria von Kohler, which is mounted in a window at The Premises Studios, a music studio in east London.
But the studio's chief executive Viv Broughton defended the sculpture, which he said was a "thought-provoking statement about fame and fan worship."
Michael Jackson
Red Soles Are His Alone
Christian Louboutin
Paris-based designer Christian Louboutin, whose pumps have graced many fabulous and famous feet, on Thursday sued fashion rival Yves Saint Laurent over the use of the color red on shoe soles.
Since January, Louboutin said in the suit, he has asked luxury company Yves Saint Laurent America, a subsidiary of the Gucci Group, to stop selling red-soled shoes in the same select Manhattan stores as he does.
"Defendants' use of red footwear outsoles that are virtually identical to plaintiffs' Red Sole Mark is likely to cause and is causing confusion, mistake and deception among the relevant purchasing public," the suit said.
The suit asks for a judge to impose $1 million in damages and order YSL to stop manufacturing similar designs.
Christian Louboutin
Reorganizing YouTube Channels'
Google
US Internet giant Google is preparing a major overhaul of video sharing website YouTube by creating "channels" to compete with broadcast and cable TV, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.
Under a plan costing as much as $100 million, the YouTube homepage will highlight different channels focused on topics like arts and sports, the Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter.
About 20 of the channels will present several hours of original programming produced professionally each week, while other channels would use content already available on the site.
The launch will be phased over time, starting before the end of the year, and YouTube is hiring help to implement the initiatives.
Google
On Display In Moscow
Faberge Eggs
Six Faberge eggs crown an exhibit of gem and stone treasures covering 150 years of Russian history in an exhibit opening on Friday at the Kremlin, which aims to lure back interest in art from the motherland.
The 10-cm tall bejeweled eggs, some containing tiny gold ships, go on display beside a marble sausage made in the 1930s-40s, evoking the hungry years of the Soviet era.
"All of the works at this exhibit are historical, representing the lifestyles of certain periods in Russia," Tatiana Muntian, curator of the Faberge Collection, told reporters in a bell tower chamber within the Kremlin Museums.
Faberge-designed gem flowers that once adorned royal cloaks, mini sculptures of soldiers who served under 18th century Tsarina Catherine the Great and an ashtray in the shape of a hammer and sickle all feature at the exhibit, which has items from 17 Russian museums as well as private collectors.
Faberge Eggs
Cable Nielsens
Ratings
Rankings for the top 15 programs on cable networks as compiled by the Nielsen Co. for the week of March 28-April 3. Day and start time (EDT) are in parentheses:
1. "Pawn Stars" (Monday, 10:30 p.m.), History, 4.84 million homes, 6.39 million viewers.
2. "Pawn Stars" (Monday, 10 p.m.), History, 4.76 million homes, 6.67 million viewers.
3. "American Pickers" (Monday, 9 p.m.), History, 4.38 million homes, 6.02 million viewers.
4. "2011 Kids' Choice Awards" (Saturday, 8 p.m.), Nickelodeon, 4.19 million homes, 7.28 million viewers.
5. "WWE Raw" (Monday, 10 p.m.), USA, 4.07 million homes, 6.23 million viewers.
6. "'Teen Wolf' Trailer" (Tuesday, 11:17 p.m.), MTV, 4.04 million homes, 5.15 million viewers.
7. "Victorious" (Saturday, 9:30 p.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.72 million homes, 6.15 million viewers.
8. "Teen Mom II" (Tuesday, 10 p.m.), MTV, 3.6 million homes, 4.58 million viewers.
9. "WWE Raw" (Monday, 9 p.m.), USA, 3.57 million homes, 5.44 million viewers.
10. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 10:30 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.47 million homes, 4.92 million viewers.
11. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 10 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.46 million homes, 5.01 million viewers.
12. "Jersey Shore 2B: Reunion" (Thursday, 10 p.m.), MTV, 3.14 million homes, 4.26 million viewers.
13. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Sunday, 10 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.08 million homes, 4.19 million viewers.
14. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Sunday, 9:30 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.046 million homes, 4.27 million viewers.
15. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 9:30 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.04 million homes, 4.2 million viewers.
Ratings
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