Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Tom Danehy: Tom follows Sarah Palin's lead and invents some brand-new words (tucsonweekly.com)
valadez v. To publicly speak (perhaps too) bluntly in response to a question from a reporter. Example: When asked why he voted against speed cameras on the highway, the state senator completely valadezed it by responding, "Our internal polling shows that bad drivers, who-no surprise!-constitute the majority, are more likely to vote for us if we publicly oppose something that is going to get them busted."
Susan Estrich: Watch Out for Haley Barbour (creators.com)
The Drudge Report headline declaring that "Murdoch Gives $1 Million to Haley Barbour" is not technically accurate. In fact, News Corporation (full disclosure: I'm a contributor to Fox News) gave $1 million to the Republican Governors Association, of which Barbour is the chair. But the headline caught my attention because if there's one Republican I'm worried about going into what is sure to be a tough re-election campaign in 2012, it is Haley Barbour.
Jim Hightower: A RISING TSUNAMI OF CORPORATE POLITICAL MONEY (jimhightower.com)
Here they come. The corporate front groups are moving fast - the ones that the Supreme Court unleashed on America's elections by decreeing that corporations are now free to spend unlimited sums of cash from their vast treasuries to elect or defeat anyone they want.
Bob Burnett: The Jobs Crisis: What Hit Us? (huffingtonpost.com)
The US is stuck in an economic quagmire featuring near ten percent unemployment. As politicians argue about the solution -- massive tax cuts or increases in Federal spending -- what's missing is a succinct analysis of the problem. Why has America lost 8 million jobs?
Steve Lopez: Squinting at the distant paradise (latimes.com)
Let the snowbound literati take potshots at L.A. We're crying all the way to the beach.
Sandy Banks: What effective teachers can do (latimes.com)
At Polytechnic High in Sun Valley, their dedication makes a difference. Someone should tell A.J. Duffy.
Tom Petruno: For markets, back to worrying about the worst-case scenario (latimes.com)
Epic financial collapses are supposed to be rare events. Once in a lifetime, we all hope.
"Stuff: Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things" by Randy Frost and Gail Steketee: A review by Darcy Courteau
On the entire spectrum of vice, compulsive hoarding registers toward the innocuous end. Who doesn't have a drawer full of faded T-shirts or old rubber bands? Still, in its most extreme forms the phenomenon is repulsive enough that it's a natural for reality TV.
Johann Hari: Jack London's Dark Side (slate.com)
A new biography confronts the good, bad, and repellent.
Erin Lyndal Martin: The Weight of Lightness: An Interview with Composer Olafur Arnalds (popmatters.com)
Still in his early 20s, the Icelandic contemporary classical composer Olafur Arnalds has already made quite a name for himself. He debuted with the brilliant Eulogy for Evolution, an album which crossbred romantic classical music with electronic sounds to create something that ruptured the boundaries of both genres.
Kirsten Akens: Falling into herself (csindy.com)
Songstress Norah Jones treads new waters.
Noreen Malone: "Cathy," 1976-2010 (slate.com)
There are still people buying Cathy mugs and collections ('Shoes: Chocolate for the Feet' or '$14 in the Bank and a $200 Face in My Purse,' for instance), so not everyone has ceased to find her charming. But like many (most?) comic-strip characters, she just hasn't managed to remain funny and culturally relevant for a mass audience.
David Bruce: "The Funniest People in Families: 250 Anecdotes"
A Kindle Book: $1.
Hubert's Poetry Corner
"Steroid Age Mutant Baseball Players"
"Roger Clemens - we hardly knew ye?" Potentially the tip of a much, much bigger political iceberg aand scandal?
The Weekly Poll
EMMY CONTEST
The First Ever BadtotheboneBob's Emmy Contest!™
Well then, Poll-fans, here are the 21 categories and nominations. I would suggest a cut and paste action and then adding yer predictions... Best of luck be upon ya!
Drama
Drama Series
Breaking Bad • AMC
Dexter • Showtime
The Good Wife • CBS
Lost • ABC
Mad Men • AMC
True Blood • HBO
Lead Actor, Drama
Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad • AMC
Michael C. Hall, Dexter • Showtime
Kyle Chandler, Friday Night Lights • NBC
Hugh Laurie, House • FOX
Matthew Fox, Lost • ABC
Jon Hamm, Mad Men • AMC
Lead Actress, Drama
Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer • TNT
Glenn Close, Damages • FX Networks
Connie Britton, Friday Night Lights • NBC
Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife • CBS
Mariska Hargitay, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit • NBC
January Jones, Mad Men • AMC
Supporting Actor, Drama
Aaron Paul, Breaking Bad • AMC
Martin Short, Damages • FX Networks
Terry O'Quinn, Lost • ABC
Michael Emerson, Lost • ABC
John Slattery, Mad Men • AMC
Andre Braugher, Men Of A Certain Age • TNT
Supporting Actress, Drama
Sharon Gless, Burn Notice • USA
Rose Byrne, Damages • FX Networks
Archie Panjabi, The Good Wife • CBS
Christine Baranski, The Good Wife • CBS
Christina Hendricks, Mad Men • AMC
Elisabeth Moss, Mad Men • AMC
Comedy
Comedy Series
Curb Your Enthusiasm • HBO
Glee • FOX
Modern Family • ABC
Nurse Jackie • Showtime
The Office • NBC
30 Rock • NBC
Lead Actor, Comedy
Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory • CBS
Larry David, Curb Your Enthusiasm • HBO
Matthew Morrison, Glee • FOX
Tony Shalhoub, Monk • USA
Steve Carell, The Office • NBC
Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock • NBC
Lead Actress, Comedy
Lea Michele, Glee • FOX
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, The New Adventures Of Old Christine • CBS
Edie Falco, Nurse Jackie • Showtime
Amy Poehler, Parks And Recreation • NBC
Tina Fey, 30 Rock • NBC
Toni Collette, United States Of Tara • Showtime
Supporting Actor, Comedy
Chris Colfer, Glee • FOX
Neil Patrick Harris, How I Met Your Mother • CBS
Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Modern Family • ABC
Eric Stonestreet, Modern Family • ABC
Ty Burrell, Modern Family • ABC
Jon Cryer, Two And A Half Men • CBS
Supporting Actress, Comedy
Jane Lynch, Glee • FOX
Julie Bowen, Modern Family • ABC
Sofia Vergara, Modern Family • ABC
Kristen Wiig, Saturday Night Live • NBC
Jane Krakowski, 30 Rock • NBC
Holland Taylor, Two And A Half Men • CBS
Miniseries or Movie
Miniseries
The Pacific • HBO
Return To Cranford (Masterpiece) • PBS
Made-for-TV Movie
Endgame (Masterpiece) • PBS
Georgia O'Keeffe • Lifetime
Moonshot • HISTORY
The Special Relationship • HBO
Temple Grandin • HBO
You Don't Know Jack • HBO
Actor, Miniseries or Movie
Jeff Bridges, A Dog Year • HBO
Ian McKellen, The Prisoner • AMC
Michael Sheen, The Special Relationship • HBO
Dennis Quaid, The Special Relationship • HBO
Al Pacino, You Don't Know Jack • HBO
Actress, Miniseries or Movie
Maggie Smith, Capturing Mary • HBO
Joan Allen, Georgia O'Keeffe • Lifetime
Dame Judi Dench, Return To Cranford (Masterpiece) • PBS
Hope Davis, The Special Relationship • HBO
Claire Danes, Temple Grandin • HBO
Supporting Actor, Miniseries or Movie
Michael Gambon, Emma (Masterpiece) • PBS
Patrick Stewart, Hamlet (Great Performances) • PBS
Jonathan Pryce, Return To Cranford (Masterpiece) • PBS
David Strathairn, Temple Grandin • HBO
John Goodman, You Don't Know Jack • HBO
Supporting Actress, Miniseries or Movie
Kathy Bates, Alice • Syfy
Julia Ormond, Temple Grandin • HBO
Catherine O'Hara, Temple Grandin • HBO
Brenda Vaccaro, You Don't Know Jack • HBO
Susan Sarandon, You Don't Know Jack • HBO
Reality and Variety, Music or Comedy
Reality Program
Antiques Roadshow • PBS
Dirty Jobs • Discovery Channel
Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution • ABC
Kathy Griffin: My Life On The D-List • Bravo
MythBusters • Discovery Channel
Undercover Boss • CBS
Reality-Competition Program
The Amazing Race • CBS
American Idol • FOX
Dancing With The Stars • ABC
Project Runway • Lifetime
Top Chef • Bravo
Host for a Reality or Reality-Competition Program
Phil Keoghan, The Amazing Race • CBS
Ryan Seacrest, American Idol • FOX
Tom Bergeron, Dancing With The Stars • ABC
Heidi Klum, Project Runway • Lifetime
Jeff Probst, Survivor • CBS
Variety, Music or Comedy Series
The Colbert Report • Comedy Central
The Daily Show With Jon Stewart • Comedy Central
Real Time With Bill Maher • HBO
Saturday Night Live • NBC
The Tonight Show With Conan O'Brien • NBC
Variety, Music or Comedy Special
Bill Maher "...But I'm Not Wrong" • HBO
Hope For Haiti Now • Tenth Planet Productions and MTV
The Kennedy Center Honors • CBS
Robin Williams: Weapons Of Self Destruction • HBO
The 25th Anniversary Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame Concert • HBO
Wanda Sykes: I'ma Be Me • HBO
Total correct predictions takes The Prize. Again, that would be a $50 VISA gift card mailed directly to you from 'yours truly'.
Also, again, ties will be resolved in a scientific manner involving the ever fabulous, Maddie Muffin (Future Nobel AND Pulitzer Prize winner, President of the United States AND General Secretary of the UN amongst other notable achievements to numerous to mention)...
"My Grampa is The Best!"
The 21 nominations/categories will run daily until August 28th.
Response cut-off time is 3pm EDT, Saturday, August 28th, and will be posted for all to see August 29th (Emmy Day).
The winner will be the one with the most correct predictions and will be announced Tuesday August 31st.
Oh, and please make it easy on me and don't wait until, like, the last minute and flood me with your predictions, eh? Good luck be on ya, Poll-fans!
Send your predictions to:
BadToTheBoneBob
Here's a complete list of all Emmy Nominations - 2010.
wrote:
answered:
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Link from RJ
Green Prison
Hi there
A possible link for you. This one really interested me - hope you like
it too!
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and hot.
Coverage Varies
Iraq Exit
Coverage of the last American combat brigade to leave Iraq put the difference between the cable news networks in stark display.
MSNBC devoted its entire prime-time coverage to the story Wednesday, with Richard Engel riding with the troops in a specially equipped vehicle. Host Rachel Maddow was stationed in Baghdad, while Keith Olbermann anchored it all from New York.
Meanwhile, Fox News Channel devoted just under 10 minutes to the story after 7 p.m. Wednesday, much of it in Shepard Smith's newscast. Instead, the network's lineup spent 45 minutes discussing construction of an Islamic center near ground zero.
CNN spent an hour on each story.
Iraq Exit
Most Dangerous
Cameron Diaz
She may be known for her playful giggles and killer looks, but now movie star Cameron Diaz has become the most dangerous celebrity on the Internet.
Diaz, 37, is top of the list of the most dangerous celebrities to search for online, above second-placed Julia Roberts, according to computer security company McAfee, Inc. Last year's most dangerous Web celebrity, Jessica Biel, fell to third.
One in ten websites featuring the "Knight and Day" star contain malicious software intended to infect computers and steal data from users, according to research released on Thursday by McAfee.
Creators of malicious software use celebrities as lures, baiting fans and followers to click on and download seemingly innocuous content containing programs designed to steal passwords and other private information for profit, said Dave Marcus, director of security research at McAfee Labs.
Cameron Diaz
Reject "Glee" Request
Kings of Leon
With everybody from Paul McCartney to Madonna clamoring to get their music on "Glee," at least one act is refusing to license its music to the TV show.
Kings of Leon frontman Caleb Followill told U.K. music newspaper NME that he's rejected the show's request to use his music, adding that he's never watched the series although "apparently everybody loves it."
Followill also said the band turned down "Ugly Betty."
Kings of Leon
Lame Duck Status
Friday Night
Friday night television -- long regarded as a lame duck slot for dying shows -- is making a comeback this fall, with U.S. networks investing in new scripted dramas with big stars, and advertisers looking for stay-at-home audiences.
Be it the poor economy, the rebound in the ad spending, or the quest for even small audiences in a fragmented TV market, three of the five leading networks are launching new primetime series in September on Friday nights.
ABC has medical/crime drama "Body of Proof", Tom Selleck stars in the CBS police family drama "Blue Bloods", while NBC is putting on its new Jimmy Smits lawyer show "Outlaw".
"Putting a show on Fridays had become the equivalent of opening a movie the week after Christmas. It was seen as the dumping ground," said Craig Tomashoff, executive editor of TV Guide Magazine.
Friday Night
Classical Music For The Masses
Daniel Barenboim
Israeli-Argentine conductor Daniel Barenboim called on classical musicians Thursday to take elitism out of their art and make it available to the masses, as he will be doing at the weekend with a free concert.
"It's very important to do mass events once in a while, to show that classical music is not elitist," Barenboim told reporters after receiving the Bicentennial Medal for outstanding contributions on the 200th anniversary of Argentina's independence.
On Saturday, Barenboim will direct his West-Eastern Divan orchestra -- which includes Arab and Israeli musicians -- in a free concert at the foot of Buenos Aires' famous central obelisk.
Also receiving a Bicentennial Medal was Mariam Said, whose late husband, Palestinian-American intellectual Edward Said, co-founded the West-Eastern Divan orchestra with Barenboim.
Daniel Barenboim
Taking Britney Spears' Twitter Crown
Lady Gaga
In a symbolic exchanging of the pop princess crown, Lady Gaga will soon become the world's top Twitter user by overtaking current champ Britney Spears' number of followers.
According to social media statistics service Famecount.com, Gaga recorded 5,635,460 followers earlier today, while Spears had 5,646,028.
With current growth rates, the "Bad Romance" singer should pass Spears' count on Thursday or Friday at the latest.
With Justin Bieber adding 800,000 new Twitter followers a month to his existing 4.5 million, the teen star could pass Gaga within six months.
Lady Gaga
Minneapolis PD Investigates Shot
Al Franken
Minneapolis police are investigating a hole apparently made by a pellet shot in the window of Sen. Al Franken's downtown condominium.
Police spokesman Sgt. Bill Palmer said Wednesday that Franken and his wife, Franni, recently found the hole upon returning to their condo after a few days away. Palmer says the hole appeared to have been made by a pellet.
Palmer says police don't know if the Franken residence was purposely targeted and "don't have much to go on."
Franken's office reported the incident to the U.S. Capitol Police, which spokesman Marc Kimball says is a standard move for members of Congress. Kimball wouldn't say whether the office had received any prior threats.
Al Franken
Not On Haiti Candidates List
Wyclef Jean
Haiti hip-hop star Wyclef Jean is not on the list of approved candidates who satisfy legal requirements to run in a November 28 presidential election, a member of the provisional electoral council said on Thursday.
"He is not on the list as I speak," the council official, who asked not to be named, told Reuters. He said the country's electoral disputes bureau had ruled that Jean's candidacy did not meet several legal requirements.
The provisional electoral council was due to formally publish the list of approved candidates on Friday.
Singer-songwriter Jean, 40, who is widely popular in his impoverished and earthquake-ravaged homeland, had filed documents with the council this month to run as a candidate for the November election. He was among 34 contenders for the presidency who filed initial candidacy bids.
Wyclef Jean
Smoking Scenes On The Decline
Movies
A new study shows that there's less smoking depicted in movies in recent years.
Tobacco use on the silver screen peaked in 2005 and has been on the decline ever since. Movies released last year showed about half the number of smoking incidents than films four years earlier.
The study released Thursday looked at tobacco use in popular films from 1991 to 2009.
Last year, about half of the 145 movies in the study didn't show any smoking at all. For films aimed at children or teens, the percentage was even higher at 61 percent. However, slightly more than half of the movies rated PG-13 did show tobacco use.
Movies
Another Urban Myth
"Cougars"
Madonna and Demi Moore may be fuelling talk of a growing trend for older women on the prowl for younger men but a study on Wednesday said the phenomenon of the "cougar" is a myth, confined to the world of celebrities.
The study of online dating, by the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff (UWIC), found men and women are still rather traditional when it comes to searching for their ideal partner.
Women generally seek an older and, therefore hopefully, wealthier man, according to the UWIC study.
Men, on the other hand, desire a young and attractive female, and often prefer a much younger partner as they themselves age.
"Cougars"
Archaeologists Find Confederate POW Camp
Georgia
Preserved for nearly 150 years, perhaps by its own obscurity, a short-lived Confederate prison camp began yielding treasures from the Civil War almost as soon as archeologists began searching for it in southeastern Georgia.
They found a corroded bronze buckle used to fasten tourniquets during amputations, a makeshift tobacco pipe with teeth marks in the stem, and a picture frame folded and kept after the daguerreotype it held was lost.
Georgia officials say the discoveries, announced Wednesday, were made by a 36-year-old graduate student at Georgia Southern University who set out to find Camp Lawton for his thesis project in archaeology.
He stunned experienced pros by not only pinpointing the site, but also unearthing rare artifacts from a prison camp known as little more than a historical footnote on the path of Gen. William T. Sherman's devasting march from Atlanta to Savannah.
Camp Lawton imprisoned more than 10,000 Union troops after it opened in October 1864 to replace the infamously hellish war prison at Andersonville. But it lasted barely six weeks before Sherman's army arrived in November and burned it.
Georgia
Meeting Fails To End Feud
Ohio
The leader of an Ohio church feuding with a nearby strip club says a meeting failed to bring a truce.
Pastor Bill Dunfee of New Beginnings Ministries says he and Fox Hole club owner Tommy George found no common ground during their roughly two-hour sit-down at a diner Wednesday night.
The pastor says church members will continue to gather outside the club on weekend nights, as they've done for years.
He says he expects George and women from the club will keep up the Sunday protests they began several weeks ago at the church in Warsaw, 60 miles northeast of Columbus.
Ohio
6 Works Vie
Trafalgar Square
A cake made from bricks and a big blue bird are among six artworks unveiled Thursday as finalists for a coveted place alongside Adm. Horatio Nelson in London's Trafalgar Square.
The square's "fourth plinth" is one of the city's major showcases for public art. Past works displayed there include Antony Gormley's "One & Other," which saw 2,400 members of the public stand atop the stone plinth for an hour at a time.
The current occupant is Yinka Shonibare's "Nelson's Ship in a Bottle," a replica of the naval hero's HMS Victory with multicolored sails of African cloth.
The fourth plinth was erected in 1841 for an equestrian statue that was never completed. It remained empty for a century and a half, and since 1999 has been occupied by artworks erected for about 18 months at a time.
Trafalgar Square
In Memory
Richard Lopez
Richard Lopez, an original member of the band Cannibal & the Headhunters which scored a 1965 hit with "Land of 1,000 Dances," has died. He was 65.
Gene Aguilera, the group's manager during a comeback a decade ago, says Lopez died of lung cancer July 30 at a convalescent hospital in Garden Grove, Calif.
Lopez and three other East Los Angeles high school students formed the band in the 1960s. Lopez was nicknamed "Scar," and "Cannibal" was Frank Garcia, who sings the iconic phrase "Naa na na na naa" on "Land of 1,000 Dances." It spent 14 weeks on Billboard's Top 100, reaching No. 30.
The group opened for The Beatles and other groups. Lopez left before the band broke up in 1967. It reunited in 1996.
Richard Lopez
In Memory
Kenny Edwards
Kenny Edwards, an original member of the Stone Poneys country-rock band and longtime collaborator with singer-songwriters Linda Ronstadt and Karla Bonoff, has died in California at age 64.
The Los Angeles Times reports Edwards was hospitalized earlier this month in Denver after collapsing while on tour with Bonoff. He was airlifted to a hospital near his home in Santa Barbara where he died.
After the Stone Poneys disbanded after their 1967 breakthrough hit "Different Drum," Edwards formed the folk-rock band Bryndle with singer-songwriter Wendy Waldman, Bonoff and Andrew Gold.
He also was a supporting guitarist and singer for Stevie Nicks, Don Henley, Brian Wilson, Art Garfunkel, Vince Gill and others.
Kenny Edwards
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