Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Paul Krugman's Blog: Buffalo Buffalo Buffalo Buffalo Buffalo Buffalo Buffalo Buffalo. (New York Times)
It's now starting to look like a real possibility that we will have had three electoral waves in a row - a Democratic sweep in 2006-2008, a Republican countersweep in 2010, and a countercountersweep in 2012 as voters realize that the GOP is the same as it always was, only more so.
Connie Schultz: Humanity Unfolds, One Status Update at a Time (Creators Syndicate)
There's a lot of discussion these days over what Facebook can and cannot do.
Jim Hightower: FROM REGULATING COMCAST TO JOINING IT
The head of Free Press, a media reform group, calls Baker's lucrative merger with the very corporations she helped merge a blatant example of "a so-called public servant cashing in... No wonder the public is so nauseated by business as usual in Washington, where the complete capture of government by industry barely raises any eyebrows." Exactly.
Umberto Eco: 'I'm a writer not a reader' (Guardian)
Author Umberto Eco and script-writer Jean-Claude Carrière make some surprising revelations about the scope of their reading.
Tim Parks: The Moralist (New York Review of Books)
In 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,' the first volume of Swedish writer Stieg Larsson's trilogy 'Millennium,' a disgraced journalist, Mikael Blomkvist, retires to the remote, fictional island village of Hedeby, three hours north of Stockholm, where an octogenarian industrialist, Henrik Vanger, has invited him to solve the mystery of his great-niece, who disappeared forty years before, aged sixteen.
Maegan Carberry: "A Literary Sin: On Giving Away Books" (Huffington Post)
I am staring down a copy of "The Unbearable Lightness of Being."
Paul Giamatti: 'I don't see myself as a big worrier' (Guardian)
Paul Giamatti on wrestling in his new film, 'Win Win,' the perils of acting on your knees and why the US hates a loser. Interview by Tim Adams.
Elaine Lipworth: "Paul Giamatti: My family values" (Guardian)
The actor talks about his family.
Rosanna Greenstreet: "Jim Broadbent: the nation's favourite character actor" (Guardian)
It's been a long climb to the top, but character actor Jim Broadbent is now at the top of his game.
Tom Danehy: Tom re-lives his youth with the help of Earth, Wind and Fire (Tucson Weekly)
About a million years ago, I was the point guard for the Cochise College Apaches in Douglas.
David Bruce has 42 Kindle books on Amazon.com with 250 anecdotes in each book. Each book is $1, so for $42 you can buy 10,500 anecdotes. Search for "Funniest People," "Coolest People, "Most Interesting People," "Kindest People," "Religious Anecdotes," "Maximum Cool," and "Resist Psychic Death."
The (Occasional) Weekly Poll Presents...
New Question(s)
The "That Was The Week That Was' Edition...
This past week we had a number of marvelously eclectic stories to captivate one's attention and give us some distractions to our otherwise hum-drum lives (haha) ...
Which, if any, of these stories piqued your interest the most this past week?
1.) Ah-nuld's 'Living Loving Maid' and 'Love Child'... (Why am I not amazed?)
2.) The Oprah 'I'll Always Love You' Fan-Fest count-down to her last show...(OMG! What to do? What to watch?... p.s. is she really a 'closet' Scientologist?)
3.) Saturday's 'Apocalypse Now' fizzle... (Good excuse fer a party, though, I'm sayin'...)
4.) Lizzie does Dublin... (No Sex Pistols singin', 'God Save the Queen', more's the pity...)
5.) Obama lectures Israel (Israel sez, "Get real, Dude") Obama then sings, 'We are Family' to AIPAC...
6.) 'When the Levee Breaks'..or, the Great American Flood, as it were...(Gators and snakes and bears, Oh My!)
7.) The 'Helter Skelter' hilarity of GOP presidential candidates doin' the 'You're Hot and then You're Cold' shuffle (featuring 'Newt the Hoot', so much the better...)
8.) Your pick... (Give us a thrill, would ya now, maybe?)
Well, then, Poll-fans... Have at it!
Send your response to
wrote:
took another day off.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and a bit cooler than seasonal.
Next Time Call Her 'Sugar Tits'
Ed Schultz
Ed Schultz tried to make amends for calling Laura Ingraham a "right-wing slut" on his radio show Tuesday.
"I am deeply sorry, and I apologize," said Schultz, who was suspended from his "The Ed Show" by MSNBC for his off-color remarks. "It was wrong, uncalled for and I recognize the severity of what I said. I apologize to you, Laura, and ask for your forgiveness."
"This is the lowest of low for me," continued Schultz. "My wife is a wonderful woman. We have a wonderful family. And with six kids and eight grandkids, I try to set an example. In this moment, I have failed. And I want you to know that I talked to my sons especially about character and about dignity and about the truth.
In a statement released Wednesday, the cable channel said: "MSNBC management met with Ed Schultz this afternoon and accepted his offer to take one week of unpaid leave for the remarks he made yesterday on his radio program. Ed will address these remarks on his show tonight, and immediately following begin his leave. Remarks of this nature are unacceptable and will not be tolerated."
Ed Schultz
RI Dome Gets Restoration
Buckminster Fuller
A 24-foot-tall geodesic dome designed by architect and futurist R. Buckminster Fuller has been restored by a Rhode Island boat builder.
The Buckminster Fuller Institute says the Fly's Eye dome was unveiled in Bristol on Wednesday. Fuller patented the dome in 1965 and created two prototypes, one 24-feet tall and another just over twice that height. He wrote of the dome structure that it could serve as a house "that weighs and costs about as much as a good automobile."
Goetz Composites performed the restoration work in collaboration with the men who originally constructed the dome prototype with Fuller.
The dome was restored ahead of its installation in Miami in December during Art Basel Miami Beach, an annual art fair.
Buckminster Fuller
Union Files Complaint To Stop Move
NYC Opera
A union has filed a federal complaint against the troubled New York City Opera, saying the company's plans to move out of Lincoln Center after 45 years undermines the labor rights of the singers, dancers and stage crew members who work for the company.
The American Guild of Musical Artists says the opera's move to a smaller venue and a shorter schedule will mean less work for union members, who are usually guaranteed a certain number of work weeks per year. It filed a complaint on Thursday with the National Labor Relations Board saying the opera should have negotiated any move with the union.
The union represents about 200 workers at the opera, including about 50 choristers and 10 production workers.
The union's complaint says the planned move will have the effect of "chilling the union and its members in the exercise of their rights."
NYC Opera
Hosting Webby Awards
Lisa Kudrow
Lisa Kudrow will host the 15th annual Webby Awards.
Kudrow will oversee the June 13 ceremony at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City. One of her duties is to ensure that award winners stick to Webby protocol by limiting their acceptance speeches to just five words.
Kudrow is also a winner herself. Recipients were earlier announced by the Webbys, which honor Internet achievement.
She won the Webby for best individual performance in an online video for her performance in her series "Web Therapy." The show also won the award for best long-form comedy for the second year in a row.
Lisa Kudrow
Estate Sues Over Profits
Charles Bronson
The estate of actor Charles Bronson has sued Warner Bros. and MGM claiming the studios have failed to pay profits from two hit 1970's films.
Larry Martindale, trustee for the late actor's estate, claims in a lawsuit filed today in Los Angeles Superior Court that a 1975 Bronson deal for the Warner Bros. film "St. Ives" and a 1976 contract for the MGM production "Telefon" provided the actor with 10 to 15 percent of "gross receipts" and "gross film rentals." The suit says the Bronson estate recently conducted an audit of the films that revealed significant underreporting of revenue.
Specifically, the Bronson estate targets the studios' "not fairly allocating revenue generated from television sales and only reporting 20 percent of the gross receipts for home video and DVD sales."
The suit, filed by Nevile Johnson, Douglas Johnson and James Ryan of Beverly Hills' Johnson & Johnson, alleges causes of action for breach of contract, declaratory relief, accounting, unjust enrichment, money due on open book account, conversion, fraudulent misrepresentation, and unfair business practices. It seeks unspecified damages.
Charles Bronson
Begins Serving Sentence
Lindsay Lohan
Lindsay Lohan returned to a women's jail before dawn on Thursday and was released before rush hour to begin serving a four-month jail sentence at her home for a probation violation.
The actress left the lockup with an ankle monitor that she must wear for about 35 days, sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said.
The term is longer than the three weeks or less that Lohan would have spent in a solitary confinement unit at the jail, where she served 14 days last summer for another probation violation.
Whitmore said the "Mean Girls" star is paying for the costs of her monitoring.
Lindsay Lohan
Trial Moved Up To August
Golden Globes
Hollywood awards shows are notorious for being slow, but not so the lawsuit that will determine the future of the Golden Globes. Lawyers for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and Dick Clark Productions will be battling in court at trial on August 22.
Last November, the HFPA sued show producer DCP over allegations that it breached a contract by unilaterally reaching a new eight-year broadcast deal for the Globes in secret with NBC.
Originally, there was some concern that the dispute might put the 2012 show in jeopardy because if a new producer needed to be picked, it couldn't happen before a determination was made on HFPA's claims. At the time, a December trial date looked most likely, setting off alarms for an awards show that typically airs just one month later.
But U.S. District Court Judge Valerie Baker Fairbank and the parties have worked hard to make the litigation move extraordinarily quickly (no small feat in the clogged L.A. courthouse). The expected trial was put on a "rocket docket" for September, but now the trial has been moved up to late August.
Both sides are moving heaven and earth to wrap up the discovery pre-trial phase of the case. A number of depositions have taken place or will soon take place, including executives at NBC Universal.
Golden Globes
Pulls Bid To Trademark Term
Di$ney
Disney said it had withdrawn a bid to trademark the term "Seal Team 6" for a TV show, after the US Navy scrambled to claim the name of commandos who killed Osama bin Laden.
The US entertainment giant made the trademark application following the raid by the elite strike team that killed bin Laden on May 2 in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad.
In response, the US Navy registered two trademarks, "Navy SEALS" and "SEAL Team" according to media reports that said Disney had the right to "Seal Team 6" because it applied first.
But Disney said it had decided to withdraw its application. "In deference to the Navy's application for trademark, we have pulled our trademark application," Disney/ABC spokesman Kevin Brockman told AFP on Wednesday.
Di$ney
Tycoon's Will Forged?
Nina Wang
The ex-lover and feng shui master of late Hong Kong billionaire Nina Wang was formally charged by police on Thursday with forgery of a will he claimed entitled him to the heiress's huge estate.
The move further stacks the odds against Tony Chan's gritty and controversial bid to wrest control of one of Asia's largest private fortunes after a court ruled last year that a will bequeathing Wang's entire $4 billion estate to him was a forgery.
Instead, an earlier 2002 will, leaving Wang's wealth largely to charity, was deemed genuine.
Chan, a married father of three at the time of his affair with Wang, was escorted by police to court.
Nina Wang
Lawsuit Re$olved
Bishop Eddie Long
A lawsuit filed by four young men who accused a Georgia megachurch pastor of sexual misconduct has been resolved, attorneys for both sides said Thursday, bringing a quiet end to a blockbuster legal complaint that targeted one of the nation's most powerful church leaders.
The lawsuit against Bishop Eddie Long has been resolved, said plaintiffs' attorney B.J. Bernstein. New Birth Missionary Baptist Church attorney Barbara Marschalk said she anticipates the complaint will be dismissed by Friday. Long's spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment.
Long is a father of four who has been an outspoken opponent of gay marriage, and his church has counseled gay members to become straight. But the TV preacher's empire was threatened in September when the four men sued.
The trial was set to begin later this year if a settlement had not been reached. Bernstein had said that she didn't have much physical evidence backing up the complaints but that she planned to subpoena records from Long to show he traveled with the young men to New Zealand and elsewhere.
Bishop Eddie Long
Erotic Comedy To Screen In NAmerica
3D Sex and Zen
A hit Hong Kong 3-D erotic comedy that has wowed viewers in Asia has secured U.S. and Canadian distribution, as the pioneering film's international rollout gains momentum.
China Lion Film Distribution said in a statement Wednesday that it bought the North American rights to "3D Sex and Zen: Extreme Ecstasy" at the film market at the recently concluded Cannes Film Festival.
The company, a Chinese-New Zealand joint venture that specializes in releasing Chinese films in the U.S. and Canada, said it was still deciding on the date and size of the release.
"Sex and Zen," a remake of a 1991 Hong Kong movie by the same name, follows a sexually frustrated Chinese scholar who loses his way in the harem of a duke he befriends. The morality tale stars Japanese porn stars Hara Saori and Suo Yukiko and Hong Kong actress Vonnie Liu.
3D Sex and Zen
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