Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Tom Danehy: Tom has opinions on the Wildcats, hospitals, vaccines and a white dude who can really sing (tucsonweekly.com)
Some stuff I need to mention before we get into the holiday season:...
Garrison Keillor: No fount of wisdom for GOP (chicagotribune.com)
There are some things we will never understand. Death, for one. I overheard a woman in the drugstore say, "He went in to the hospital yesterday and he was eating his supper and then he fell asleep and then he died. I don't get it." She didn't seem grief-stricken, just uncomprehending. (Why did it have to happen now?)
"'Dancing in the Dark: A Cultural History of the Great Depression' by Morris Dickstein": A review by Jonah Raskin
The specter of communism haunted America in the 1930s, and would not fade away. By the 1940s, Communists and anti-Communists alike would be haunted by their deeds and misdeeds in the decade that began in 1929, when the Stock Market crashed, and ended in 1941, when the country went to war in Europe and Asia, and Orson Welles' 'Citizen Kane' -- the quintessential 1930s motion picture - arrived in movie theaters.
Kim Stanley Robinson: science fiction's realist (guardian.co.uk)
The novelist tells Alison Flood about time travel, Galileo and why SF writers aren't prophets any more.
Sonny Rollins: Confessions of a colossus (guardian.co.uk)
He jammed with Miles and went Zen with Coltrane. As Sonny Rollins heads to the UK, he tells John Fordham the secrets of his success.
Brain food: Brian Eno and Steven Johnson in conversation (guardian.co.uk)
The professor of pop and the technology writer talk about innovation.
EVAN SAWDEY: "The Gospel According to Butch: Part 1-The Producer" (popmatters.com)
Butch Walker talks with PopMatters about the music industry, the problems that young bands frequently succumb to in the studio, and why it's more important to write songs than design T-shirts.
Pop's performing pensioners (guardian.co.uk)
Today's stars now rock right past the retirement age. How do they do it? And shouldn't some of them stop, writes Dave Simpson.
Julie Hinds: Chatting with comic and new talk-show host George Lopez (Detroit Free Press)
George Lopez, who has starred in his own sitcom and comedy specials, is moving to the world of late-night television.
roger ebert's journal: The great American documentary
Today, fifteen years after I first saw it, I believe "Hoop Dreams" is the great American documentary. No other documentary has ever touched me more deeply.
Roger Ebert: A remake of "The Third Man?" Say it ain't so, Leonardo
Q. I need to share this blasphemous rumor with you; it is said Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire will co-star in a remake of "The Third Man." Can't we just all agree that some movies are sacred?--Hisham Teymour, Mount Prospect
Charlyn Fargo: Fiber Versus Whole Grains (creators.com)
There's some confusion concerning whole grains and fiber. Are they the same? Do you need both whole grains and fiber? In a word, yes.
Joe Weider: Just Nuts! (creators.com)
Tip of the Week: Walk, don't run.
The Weekly Poll
Current Question
The 'Two or Three and out' Edition
Washington (CNN) -- A handful of Republican senators have proposed a constitutional amendment to limit how long a person may serve in Congress.
Currently, there are no term limits for federal lawmakers, but Sen. Jim DeMint, R-South Carolina, and several of his colleagues are advocating that service in the Senate be limited to 12 years, while lawmakers would only be allowed to serve six years in the House
GOP senators push for term limits - CNN.com
Are you in favor of term limits for US representatives and senators?
Send your response to
Results Tuesday
wrote:
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Contributor Suggestion
BadtotheboneBob
First Lady Michelle Obama praised the courage and dedication of American service members yesterday during a Veterans Day speech that also championed a national campaign to partner community service organizations with groups focused on active-duty and reserve troops, their families and veterans.
First Lady Promotes Vet Service Groups
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Overcast and cool.
Nobel Laureates Honor
Annie Lennox
Scottish singer Annie Lennox has been presented with the 2009 "Woman of Peace" award at a summit of Nobel Peace Laureates in Berlin for her work raising awareness of HIV/AIDS.
Lennox was chosen on Wednesday for her work in raising awareness of the impact on women and children, especially in South Africa, with her SING campaign enlisting 23 female vocalists to record a song of the same name.
Since 2003, SING has raised two million dollars and through its partnership with the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) has helped to provide South Africans with treatment and testing, HIV education, and prevention programmes.
Lennox said she was inspired to act after witnessing former South African president Nelson Mandela describe the African HIV pandemic as a "genocide."
Annie Lennox
Current TV Lays Off 80
Al Gore
Current TV, the cable channel founded by former Vice President Al Gore, laid off about 20 percent of its work force Wednesday as part of an overhaul of its programing model.
The cuts affect 80 people, mostly at the channel's Los Angeles-based production and programing facilities. Pink slips were also handed out in Current's New York, San Francisco and London offices. In a statement, Current said the reorganization "was not the result of a need to cut costs."
Originally aiming to showcase short-form, user-generated content, Current is shifting toward a more traditional content strategy, with plans to run 30- and 60-minute programs, many of which will be acquisitions.
In April, Current canceled its $100 million IPO, citing unfavorable market conditions. In its final Securities Exchange Commission filing, Current reported it took in just $2.51 million in ad sales revenue in Q1 2008. Total revenue for the period was $14.5 million.
Al Gore
Replacing Lou Dobbs
John King
CNN reporter John King will replace controversial departing host Lou Dobbs (R-Birther Handjob) in a new weeknight political program on the 24-hour cable news network, CNN said on Thursday.
The appointment of King, currently the chief national political correspondent and host of Sunday political show "State of the Union," follows the abrupt resignation one day earlier of Dobbs before the end of his contract in 2011.
Dobbs had been criticized by Latino groups for using his show to promote his anti-immigration views. He was also seen as lending credence to the so-called "birther" movement, whose adherents believe that President Barack Obama's Hawaiian birth certificate was faked to hide a Kenyan birthplace, making the first black U.S. president ineligible for office.
King's new show will start early in 2010, Jonathan Klein, president of CNN/US said in a statement. CNN, a unit of Time Warner Inc, said Dobb's 7 p.m. slot would be renamed "CNN Tonight" in the interim and would be hosted by a rotating group of anchors.
John King
Birthplace To Be Restored
Robert Johnson
The mystery surrounding bluesman Robert Johnson's life and death feeds the lingering fascination with his work.
There's the myth he sold his soul to the devil to create his haunting guitar intonations. There's the dispute over where he died after his alleged poisoning by a jealous man in 1938. Three different markers claim to be the site of his demise.
His birthplace, however, has been verified. The seminal bluesman came into the world in 1911 in a well-crafted home built by his stepfather in the Mississippi town of Hazlehurst.
Now, 71 years after his death, local officials want to restore the home in hopes of drawing Johnson fans and their tourism dollars to Copiah County, about 100 miles from the Delta region that most bluesmen called home.
Robert Johnson
Planning Tour
James Taylor, Carole King
James Taylor and Carole King are going back to their roots.
The two singer-songwriters say they will go on a long concert tour together next year, recalling the first time they played at the Troubadour Club in Los Angeles in 1970.
They reunited two years ago with the band they used in 1970 for a celebration of the club's 50th anniversary. They enjoyed it so much they wanted to take it on the road.
The tour begins in Australia in March and hits Los Angeles in May. They've only announced seven dates, but promise more will come.
James Taylor, Carole King
Loses Appeal
Valerie Plame
A former CIA agent whose unmasking led to the conviction of former Vice President Dick Cheney's top aide lost an appeal on Thursday to declassify parts of her memoir.
Valerie Plame Wilson and her publisher Simon & Schuster sued the CIA in 2007 to overturn its efforts to black out the dates she worked for the agency prior to 2002 in her now published memoir "Fair Game."
The second circuit federal appeals court ruled on Thursday that the agency had "demonstrated good reason" for wanting Plame's dates of service to remain classified.
Cheney's chief of staff, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, was convicted of lying and obstruction of justice in an investigation of the leak. Former resident George W. Bush commuted Libby's 2 1/2-year prison sentence.
Valerie Plame
Extortion Attempt
Cindy Crawford
A German man was charged Thursday with trying to extort $100,000 from former supermodel Cindy Crawford and her entrepreneur husband Rande Gerber over a photo of their daughter bound to a chair and gagged, authorities said.
Edis Kayalar, 26, has not yet been arrested. He was recently deported to Germany and believed to be in Stuttgart, authorities said.
He was charged with one count of extortion. If convicted, he could face up to two years in prison. It was not clear if he has an attorney in the U.S.
The photo was purportedly taken by the couple's former nanny and shows the girl, then 7, bound to a chair wearing shorts and a T-shirt.
Cindy Crawford
LAX Incident
Mike Tyson
Former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson was arrested on Wednesday after brawling with a celebrity photographer at Los Angeles International Airport and injuring the man's head, police said.
The photographer, who was not immediately identified, also was arrested. He suffered a cut to his forehead and was taken to a hospital. It was not known if Tyson was hurt.
The Los Angeles Times, citing an unnamed source, said Tyson told police the photographer struck him in an attempt to provoke him, and the photographer claimed Tyson punched him in the face and tried to take film from his camera.
Mike Tyson
Twitter & MySpace Accounts Hacked
Britney Spears
Britney Spears' Twitter and MySpace accounts have apparently been hacked.
Messages on her Twitter profile Thursday purported to be from the 27-year-old pop star and claimed she worshipped the devil. The handful of unusual messages were deleted after Spears' management regained control of the account.
Her Twitter feed boasts more than 3.7 million followers and is updated by herself and her "team" of handlers. A message Thursday apologized for "any offense the hacker's messages caused."
Spears' MySpace account was taken over at about the same time.
Britney Spears
Dead Contestant
`Wipeout'
A contestant who was hospitalized after competing briefly on the game show "Wipeout" died two weeks later of a stroke apparently caused by a rare condition, his father said.
Tom Sparks, 33, was participating in the first segment of an obstacle course Oct. 19 when he complained of knee pain, according to Endemol, the company which produces "Wipeout" for ABC.
Producers had him stop, Endemol said Thursday. On-set medics examined Sparks, noticed he was short of breath and took him to a local hospital.
He was moved to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and underwent several brain surgeries. Sparks couldn't be saved because of the brain damage that had occurred, a Web site said, citing an e-mail to alumni from a faculty member at Sparks' alma mater.
Sparks, who was a runner and recently competed in a marathon, had just married and was competing on "Wipeout" with his wife, Kate, on a couples episode.
`Wipeout'
Can't Win For Losing
Christmas Parade
Officials in an Ohio town canceled their Christmas parade this year to avoid huge legal fees in defending the tradition from possible lawsuits by religious groups.
The legal hurdle surfaced when the private group that for 28 years had funded the parade in Amelia village recently announced it could no longer do so, prompting the village mayor to step in with public funds.
On a lawyer's advice, the mayor decided to change the name of the event from Christmas Parade to the more neutral "Holiday Parade" to avoid lawsuits and abide by constitutional rules about the separation of church and state.
However, the name change did not sit well with local church officials, who promptly threatened to boycott the event if it was no longer called "A Christmas Parade."
Christmas Parade
Top 20
Concert Tours
The Top 20 Concert Tours ranks artists by average box office gross per city and includes the average ticket price for shows in North America. The previous week's ranking is in parentheses. The list is based on data provided to the trade publication Pollstar by concert promoters and venue managers.
1. (1) U2; $7,689,626; $93.77.
2. (2) Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band; $3,485,661; $84.16.
3. (3) AC/DC; $1,950,931; $83.96.
4. (4) Jonas Brothers; $1,378,532; $67.84.
5. (New) Metallica; $1,372,098; $68.13.
6. (5) Kenny Chesney; $1,307,405; $66.43.
7. (7) Depeche Mode; $1,096,432 $63.71
8. (6) Dave Matthews Band; $1,096,240; $49.14.
9. (8) Britney Spears; $1,022,687; $66.58.
10. (9) Miley Cyrus; $959,000; $68.71.
11. (10) Keith Urban; $861,143; $64.15.
12. (11) Rascal Flatts; $812,936; $54.81.
13. (13) Nickelback; $717,233; $41.73.
14. (15) Taylor Swift; $623,743; $47.75.
15. (14) American Idols Live; $607,924; $62.25.
16. (16) Brad Paisley; $607,249; $40.07.
17. (17) Blink-182; $545,766; $33.17.
18. (18) Lil' Wayne; $541,235; $42.13.
19. (New) Maxwell; $509,002; $72.31.
20. (19) Kings Of Leon; $504,868; $41.81.
Top 20 Concert Tours
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