The Weekly Poll
Question
The current question:
What is the scariest movie you've ever seen?
Anecdotes are welcome...
Send your response to BadtotheBoneBob ( BCEpoll 'at' aol.com )
Due to a large response, results are postponed until Monday.
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
ERIC G. WILSON: In Praise of Melancholy (chronicle.com)
With no more melancholics, we would live in a world in which everyone simply accepted the status quo, in which everyone would simply be content with the given. This would constitute a nightmare worthy of Philip K. Dick, a police state of Pollyannas, a flatland that offers nothing new under the sun. Why are we pushing toward such a hellish condition?
Jonathan Rowe: "Jim Hightower, Raising Hell" (YES! Magazine; Posted on AlterNet.org)
The Texas populist's new book shows how ordinary Americans can in fact make a difference, and have.
Farhad Manjoo: "For Sale: Your Browser History" (slate.com)
BEHAVIORAL AD TARGETING, WEB COMPANIES' FAVORITE NEW WAY TO INVADE YOUR PRIVACY.
Edward Sozanski: What motivates big collectors to do what they do? (The Philadelphia Inquirer)
The Cone sisters of Baltimore, Claribel and Etta, might have seemed eccentric to some of their contemporaries, not only because they continued to dress like staid and proper Victorians well into the 20th century but also because they collected avant-garde art.
Russell Kane: Why Rhona Cameron would make a better Bill Hicks than Russell Crowe (guardian.co.uk)
Russell Crowe is reportedly to play late comedian Bill Hicks in a new biopic. An inspired piece of casting or a joke? One comedian gives his take.
Mark de la Vina: Dana Carvey back in the stand-up saddle (San Jose Mercury News)
For more than a decade, Dana Carvey, the man who saved "Saturday Night Live," the guy who was tagged to become the next great talk-show host, has cruised like a stealth bomber.
Owen Adams: Remembering Jerry Wexler, the godfather of soul (guardian.co.uk)
We have the Atlantic Records legend to thank for Aretha, Otis Redding and Led Zep - and the abolition of the 'race records' chart.
Everett True: I'm front-page news down under... but for all the wrong reasons ardian.co.uk)
Two weeks ago, in my first True tales, I bad-mouthed two Australian rock bands. No big deal, I thought. And then the calls came in...
Francesca Martin: The 'genius' of Celine Dion (guardian.co.uk)
Are Katie Melua, Celine Dion and Elton John the Mozart, Handel and Tchaikovsky of our generation?
Mike Farley: A Chat with KT Tunstall (bullz-eye.com)
"I remember doing all the promotion before the first album came out and doing seven countries in 10 days in Europe, and totally ruining myself. It was all very novel and exciting. I really don't think I can do that again. (laughs) I think the human body has the capacity to do that once and then you just basically die."
K.C. Johnson: Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor win second consecutive gold (Chicago Tribune; Posted on latimes.com)
They beat China's Tian Jia and Wang Jie in a soggy final, 21-18, 21-18.
FILIP BONDY: 107 wins and counting for finals-bound Misty May-Treanor, Kerri Walsh (nydailynews.com)
"You have to dive with your mouth closed," May-Treanor explained. "If you do, it saves on the dental work."
The book, 'Dire Predictions: Understanding Global Warming'
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Still sunny and cooler than seasonal.
Offers Free Music To Voters
Sheryl Crow
Sheryl Crow is giving away free music - a tactic she calls the "Tupperware" party approach to inspiring young people to vote.
The Grammy Award-winning singer announced a plan Wednesday to give a digital copy of her album "Detours" to the first 50,000 people who register three friends to vote.
"I hope people wake up and emotionally engage in issues," Crow told The Associated Press in a telephone interview during a visit to Los Angeles.
Crow's giveaway is a kickoff to Rock the Vote's voter registration drive. She is also offering a free download of her politically charged song "Gasoline" to anyone who logs onto the Rock the Vote Web site or anyone on the group's mailing list, said the organization's executive director Heather Smith.
Sheryl Crow
Added To RockWalk
The Germs
Hollywood has embraced the pioneers of LA's punk scene into its famous RockWalk.
The Germs have cemented their place in music history, after band members Pat Smears, Lorna Doom and Don Bolles left their imprints in the cement outside of the famous Guitar Center on Sunset Boulevard.
The band's on stage antics during the 70s left them banned from performing at most venues around the city. However they built up a fiercely loyal fan base in the States and - much like the Sex Pistols in the UK - embodied an entire generation of adolescent angst.
Not wanting to shake off their rebellious image, guitarist Pat Smear (who after splitting from the band joined Nirvana and now also plays with the Foo Fighters) placed his hand in concrete complete with the lit cigarette he'd been smoking, while Don Bolles opted to place a lobster claw in the cement before smearing concrete over his face.
The Germs
Tide Has Turned
Church & State
A slim majority of Americans, including more conservatives and Republicans than previously, want to keep religion out of politics, a survey released on Thursday found.
The results come as Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain actively vie pander for the support of religious voters among others ahead of the November 4 presidential election.
The survey by the Pew Research Center found that 52 percent of Americans thought that churches and other religious institutions should stay out of politics, an increase of eight percentage points since 2004, when the last U.S. presidential election was held.
A huge shift came from voters who described themselves as conservative, with 50 percent saying churches should stay out of politics compared to 30 percent in 2004.
Church & State
Housing United Artists/MGM Archives
Film Academy
MGM is presenting the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences with much of the storied archives of the United Artists/MGM film studio.
MGM chairman and CEO Harry Sloan said Wednesday that MGM will pass along to the Academy's Margaret Herrick Library reams of classic photos, publicity materials and other documents for a new MGM/UA Collection.
The restored photo collection, which will be the Herrick's most extensive, will be displayed and available to scholars at the 80-year-old library. Sloan and Academy president Sid Ganis held a signing ceremony cementing the arrangement.
UA's library contains almost 1,000 movies, including the James Bond franchise and such classic films as "The Apartment," "Annie Hall," "The African Queen," "Rocky," "A Hard Day's Night," "Some Like It Hot," "Raging Bull," "In the Heat of the Night" and "Midnight Cowboy."
Film Academy
Pitchman For Microsoft
Jerry Seinfeld
Junior Mints, Yoo-hoo, Drake's Coffee Cakes, puffy shirts: These are all things Jerry Seinfeld has endorsed - at least in his alter ego on his classic sitcom. Now, add Microsoft software.
Seinfeld will be a key pitchman in a planned $300 million fall advertising campaign for the software giant, a person familiar with the plans confirmed to The Associated Press on condition on anonymity because the deal has not been formally announced.
The Wall Street Journal first reported the plans. Citing people close to the situation, it reported the comedian will be paid $10 million for appearing in ads with Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates.
It's Microsoft's latest move to try to capture some of the cool quotient that rival Apple has appeared to win so effortlessly.
Jerry Seinfeld
Baby News
Zuma Nesta Rock Rossdale
It's Love, Angel, Music, Baby for Gwen Stefani, who's given birth to her second child, a boy.
Zuma Nesta Rock weighed 8 pounds and 5 ounces when he was born Thursday afternoon, according to publicist Dave Tomberlin.
The pop star and fashionista already has one son, Kingston, with her husband, rocker Gavin Rossdale. Rossdale also has a teenage daughter with fashion designer Pearl Lowe.
Zuma Nesta Rock Rossdale
Back On The Road, Again
Gary Glitter
Disgraced glam rocker Gary Glitter has left Bangkok for London, Britain's foreign ministry said on Thursday, after Thailand and Hong Kong barred his entry following his release from a Vietnam prison for child sex abuse.
Thai immigration police detained the 64-year-old Briton earlier in the day after his Thai Airways flight from Hong Kong landed at Bangkok's international airport, a Reuters witness said.
As well as Thailand and Hong Kong, he is officially blacklisted in Cambodia, where he spent several years in hiding before moving quietly to Vietnam.
He is best known for his bouffant 1970s hairstyle, high heels and hits such as "Rock and Roll (Parts 1 & 2)," "Do You Wanna Touch Me (Oh Yeah)" and "I'm the Leader of the Gang (I am)."
Gary Glitter
As Trustworthy As Karl Rove
Voting Machines
A major voting machine maker has cautioned its customers in 34 states to look out for a programming error that may cause votes to be dropped.
At least 1,000 total votes were dropped in nine Ohio counties over the course of a handful elections back to 2006, including the March presidential primary, though the error was in all cases discovered and corrected within several hours. Premier Election Solutions Inc. previously had said complications with antivirus software caused the problem, but on Tuesday the company said in a product advisory that the problem is with the machines themselves.
Allen, Texas-based Premier, a unit of North Canton-based Diebold Inc., supplies touch-screen voting systems as well as scanners for paper ballots. The problem is more likely to occur in touch-screen systems because they use more memory cards, one for every touch screen.
After Premier blamed the problem solely on antivirus software, officials in Ohio's Butler County kept testing the machines and claimed that there was a problem with the machines themselves. That was later verified by Premier's own testing. The company said the software can cause the error, but that the programming glitch can produce the error even when the software isn't used.
Voting Machines
Tree Cutting Sparks Dispute
Lily Tomlin
Police were called to a neighbor's dispute at Lily Tomlin's Sherman Oaks home over a pair of eucalyptus trees.
The comedienne apparently contracted with an arborist to chop down the trees over the objections of her neighbor. The two trees sit on an easement shared by both properties.
Officers stopped the tree cutting, but it resumed as soon as the officers left. City officials were also called on scene and questioned the tree cutters, who stopped because they lacked a license to cut the trees.
Tomlin had consulted an arborist, who told her the trees have some rot and were at risk, neighbor Corey Steel said. Steel hired another arborist, who disagreed with the first arborist's report.
Lily Tomlin
New Cracks In Ice
Greenland
In northern Greenland, a part of the Arctic that had seemed immune from global warming, new satellite images show a growing giant crack and an 11-square-mile chunk of ice hemorrhaging off a major glacier, scientists said Thursday.
And that's led the university professor who spotted the wounds in the massive Petermann glacier to predict disintegration of a major portion of the Northern Hemisphere's largest floating glacier within the year.
If it does worsen and other northern Greenland glaciers melt faster, then it could speed up sea level rise, already increasing because of melt in sourthern Greenland.
The crack is 7 miles long and about half a mile wide. It is about half the width of the 500 square mile floating part of the glacier. Other smaller fractures can be seen in images of the ice tongue, a long narrow sliver of the glacier.
Greenland
Record Catch
Barbie Fishing Rod
David Hayes' granddaughter just ask him to hold her Barbie rod and reel while she went to the bathroom. He did. And seconds later he landed the state record channel catfish at 21 pounds, 1 ounce.
Alyssa's father had bought the pink Barbie fishing rod for Christmas and she had caught a few bluegill before her grandfather hauled in the catfish.
The Winston-Salem Journal reported the catch Aug. 5 in eastern Wilkes County has been certified as a record by the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission.
Hayes said his granddaughter worried he would break her rod. He landed the 21-pound fish on a 6-pound test line. It was 32 inches long, 2 inches longer than the rod.
Barbie Fishing Rod
Cable Nielsens
Ratings
Rankings for the top 15 programs on cable networks as compiled by Nielsen Media Research for the week of Aug 11-17. Day and start time (EDT) are in parentheses:
1. "The Closer" (Monday, 9 p.m.), TNT, 4.84 million homes, 6.42 million viewers.
2. Auto Racing: NASCAR Sprint Cup (Sunday, 2 p.m.), ESPN, 3.74 million homes, 5.30 million viewers.
3. "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" (Sunday, 9 p.m.), USA, 3.58 million homes, 4.64 million viewers.
4. Auto Racing: NASCAR Sprint Cup - Post-race (Sunday, 5:15 p.m.), ESPN, 3.45 million homes, 5.04 million viewers.
5. "Monk" (Friday, 9 p.m.), USA, 3.32 million homes, 4.65 million viewers.
6. NFL exhibition football: Bengals vs. Packers (Monday, 8 p.m.), ESPN, 3.114 million homes, 4.14 million viewers.
7. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 11:30 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.109 million homes, 4.48 million viewers.
8. "In Plain Sight" (Sunday, 10 p.m.), USA, 3.103 million homes, 3.78 million viewers.
9. "Burn Notice" (Thursday, 10 p.m.), USA, 3.100 million homes, 3.88 million viewers.
10. "WWE Raw" (Monday, 10 p.m.), USA, 3.05 million homes, 4.81 million viewers.
11. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 12 noon), Nickelodeon, 2.93 million homes, 4.00 million viewers.
12. "Army Wives" (Sunday, 10 p.m.), Lifetime, 2.91 million homes, 3.49 million viewers.
13. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 11 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.86 million homes, 3.86 million viewers.
14. "WWE Raw" (Monday, 9 p.m.), USA, 2.86 million homes, 4.53 million viewers.
15. "Saving Grace" (Monday, 10 p.m.), TNT, 2.84 million homes, 3.54 million viewers.
Ratings
In Memory
Leopoldo Serran
Leopoldo Serran, the Brazilian screenwriter behind such 1970s art-house hits as "Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands," and "Bye Bye Brazil," has died from liver cancer, hospital officials said Thursday. He was 66.
A native of Rio de Janeiro, he got his start by adapting Joao Felicio dos Santos' novel "Ganga Zumba," along with screenwriter Rubem Rocha Filho and director Caca Diegues.
The 1963 film, which marked Diegues' directorial debut, is widely considered a classic of Brazil's Cinema Novo movement.
Serran also co-wrote the screenplay for the 1976 feature "Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands," adapted from the Jorge Amado novel of the same name. The film sold nearly 12 million tickets, making it Brazil's biggest box-office success ever.
Together with Diegues, Serran also wrote the 1979 feature "Bye Bye Brazil," one of the few Brazilian films to make a splash abroad in the 1970s.
In the 1990s, Serran co-wrote the script for "O Quatrilho," which was nominated for an Oscar in the best foreign film category in 1996.
His last screenplay was 2004's "Onde Anda Voce," or "Where You Walk," directed by Sergio Rezende.
Serran was born May 6, 1942, and is survived by two sons, Guilherme and Paulo, and two grandchildren, Maria Antonia and Julio. He was buried Wednesday at Rio's Sao Joao de Batista cemetery.
Leopoldo Serran
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