Recommended Reading
from Bruce
HENRY ROLLINS: SATIRE IN THE CROSSHAIRS (LA Weekly)
It is obvious that Charlie Hebdo will not be intimidated. Wouldn't it be great if not a single Muslim in the world acknowledged any of the cartoons and, if asked about them, answered only, "I pray for their authors," and smiled? That's how I would play it. Let them do their thing and I'll do mine.
Froma Harrop: Google Glass Joins the Failure Hall of Fame (Creators Syndicate)
Google Glass has entered the annals of spectacular product failures. Many bright ideas have foundered on the shoals of consumer rejection. The Product Failure Hall of Fame is too small to contain them all. But a few fall from such enormous heights of hype and hope that they deserve special recognition as awesome.
Froma Harrop: Stop Making Excuses for Nonvoting Millennials (Creators Syndicate)
The recent economic crisis hit the American middle class hard. But for the youngest adults trying to gain a foothold in the good life, it's been devastating. So why did so few millennials, the huge cohort of 18- to 29-year-olds, vote last November? Only 21 percent bothered.
ClaraDarko: Action Women Movie Montage (Vimeo)
My tribute to my favourite action women in cinema (61 films, no animation). MUSIC: "Derezzed" by Daft Punk, extracted from the soundtrack album of "Tron Legacy". I tried to avoid superpowered characters (Jean Grey, Storm, Elastigirl, Liz Sherman).
ClaraDarko: Sword Fights Movie Montage (Vimeo)
My tribute to my favourite duels in cinema (60 films). EDITED IN 2009. SONG: "Don't let me be misunderstood", performed by Santa Esmeralda, extracted from the soundtrack album of "Kill Bill".
Robert Evans, Amanda Mannen, Meredith, Emily, Salvatore, Layne, Laura, Zooey, Helen: "5 Things You Don't Know About Strippers (Until You Are One)" (Cracked)
If prostitution is the world's oldest profession, stripping may very well be the second oldest -- it all depends on exactly when the first uptight humans decided people shouldn't walk around with their most enticing bits flopping nakedly in the wind. As soon as clothing became the norm, taking that clothing off became a profitable gig for anyone willing to learn how to do it well.
Catwalk Acrobats (Sad and Useless)
Models in mid-fall.
Oscars 2015: they should have been contenders… (Guardian)
No nomination for Jake Gyllenhaal? And surely Selma deserved better… And why are genre pictures routinely ignored? Following this year's Academy Awards nominations, we asked actors, directors and producers for their pick of the year's films and performances that were unfairly overlooked.
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responded:
is under the weather, and we wish her a speedy recovery.
has returned to semi-retired status.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Sharon Suggests
Penn and Teller
Sharon in Tejas
Thanks, Sharon!
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
from Marc Perkel
BartCop
Hello Bartcop fans,
As you all know the untimely passing of Terry was unexpected, even by
him. We all knew he had cancer but we all thought he had some years
left. So some of us who have worked closely with him over the years are
scrambling around trying to figure out what to do. My job, among other
things, is to establish communications with the Bartcop community and
provide email lists and groups for those who might put something
together. Those who want to play an active roll in something coming from
this, or if you are one of Bart's pillars, should send an email to
active@bartcop.com.
Bart's final wish was to pay off the house mortgage for Mrs. Bart who is
overwhelmed and so very grateful for the support she has received.
Anyone wanting to make a donation can click on this the yellow donate
button on bartcop.com
But - I need you all to help keep this going. This note
isn't going to directly reach all of Bart's fans. So if you can repost
it on blogs and discussion boards so people can sign up then when we
figure out what's next we can let more people know. This list is just
over 600 but like to get it up to at least 10,000 pretty quick. So
here's the signup link for this email list.
( mailman.bartcop.com/listinfo/bartnews )
Marc Perkel
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
I'm not too good at the begging routine, but this page doesn't generate enough revenue for a high-speed connection, so I'm still on a crappy dial-up.
I'm grateful to my 3 pillars who faithfully send a monthly donation, but it's not enough to cover what the local cable monopoly charges ($59.99/mo) for a faster connection.
Many thanks to the 9 kind readers (Dale [twice], David, B2tbBob, John, Gary, David in AZ, Michelle, Kip, & John G) who have responded.
The cable monopoly will visit tomorrow, and as the kids at the beach used to say, "I'm stoked."
OTOH, it's been 1217 days in row. In a freaking row.
Seriously, my laptop is so old it has a floppy drive. Takes nearly an hour to warm up, and yes, it has only a dial-up modem.
Might be time to think about an upgrade.
'Birdman' Wins
Producers Guild
"Birdman" received a welcome lift on its flight to the Oscars after winning the Producers Guild of America's highest film award Saturday night at a ceremony in Los Angeles.
The win delivers needed momentum to Alejandro Inarritu's showbiz romp following its upset loss to "The Grand Budapest Hotel" in the Golden Globes' comedy category earlier this month. It's now neck and neck in the Oscar race with Richard Linklater's "Boyhood," which won in the Globes drama category.
Many of the PGA's 6,700 members are also Oscar voters and for the past seven years, the guild's choices for its top trophy went on to win the best-picture prize at the Academy Awards.
Other trophies presented Saturday night included "The Lego Movie" for animated feature, "Life Itself" for documentary film, "Fargo" for television movie or miniseries, "Breaking Bad" for TV drama series, "Orange is the New Black" for TV comedy series and "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee for digital series.
Producers Guild
Scott Walker: 'We Literally Hate You!'
Dropkick Murphys
Punk rock and politics may have always shared a common unification, but that doesn't mean bands like The Dropkick Murphys will allow their music to be used for just any political purpose, especially if that politician is Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker.
When Scott recently took to the stage at the Iowa Freedom Summit to speak in front of many key members of the Republican party, he did so to the tune of Dropkick Murphy's cover of the Woody Guthrie song ""I'm Shipping Up to Boston," reported conservative news source Twitchy. Walker apparently didn't realize that the Dropkick Murphys are assertively pro-union - an interest unlikely to find any common ground with the governor. Walker has become a national whipping boy for the anti-union cause, previously reported Inquisitr.
In 2012, the Dropkick Murphys had already made their dislike of Scott quite clear when the same song was used to introduce Wisconsin Republican Senate candidate, Jeff Fitzgerald, as he took the stage. Although Dropkick Murphys specifically called out Walker in their original message to Fitzgerald, it appears the Wisconsin governor did not get the message.
"The stupidity and irony of this is laughable. A Wisconsin Republican U.S. Senate candidate - and crony of anti-Union Governor Scott Walker - using a Dropkick Murphys song as an intro is like a white supremacist coming out to gangsta rap!… We stand beside our Union and Labor brothers and sisters and their families in Wisconsin and all over the U.S!"
Dropkick Murphys
Lock Of Hair Auctioned
Abraham Lincoln
A collection of Abraham Lincoln memorabilia that includes a lock of the slain president's hair has been sold for more than $800,000 at auction Saturday in Dallas.
The Donald P. Dow collection brought top bids totaling $803,889, doubling expectations, said Eric Bradley, spokesman for Dallas-based Heritage Auctions.
The lock of hair, taken by Surgeon General Joseph K. Barnes shortly after Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth, sold for $25,000.
An 1861 letter written by Booth to a friend boasting about his career and value as an actor sold for $30,000.
Abraham Lincoln
Balloons New Peace Symbol
Vatican
Balloons, not doves, were released as a gesture of peace Sunday in St. Peter's Square, a year after an attack by a seagull and a crow on the symbolic birds sparked protests by animal protection groups.
For years children, flanking the pope at a window of the papal studio overlooking the square, set free a pair of doves on the last Sunday in January. The Catholic Church traditionally dedicates January to peace themes.
Last year, the feel-good practice became a public relations disaster. After the children with Pope Francis tossed a pair of doves from the window, first a seagull and then a crow swept down and attacked the doves. Those doves' ultimate fate was unknown.
Gulls nest atop the colonnade of St. Peter's Square, not far from the Tiber River, and scavenge for garbage. One animal advocacy group likened freeing doves in Rome to issuing a death sentence.
The Vatican didn't mention last year's flap when it said in a statement Sunday that children would release balloons, including a hot-air balloon containing messages of peace. One of the children at the window read a speech about peace.
Vatican
Search On Remote Marshalls Atoll
Amelia Earhart
A search is under way on a remote atoll in the Marshall Islands aimed at solving the mysterious disappearance of aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart.
A group of researchers travelled Sunday to Mili Atoll where a small aluminium cover plate and part of a landing-gear wheel assembly, believed to be from Earhart's plane, were found last year.
"We brought more sophisticated equipment to find other parts," said Jon Jeffery, director of technology and business development at United States-based Parker Aerospace, which is sponsoring the search.
Marshall Islanders have long claimed Earhart crashed on an atoll and a group known as Amelia Research, Inc. found the aircraft parts last year.
A new line of investigation in the search for Earhart evidence in the Marshall Islands involves Jaluit Atoll near Mili. It was the headquarters for Japan's administration of the Marshall Islands from World War I to the end of World War II.
Marshall Islanders have claimed they saw Earhart's plane go down on a small island in Mili Atoll, and others reported seeing her in Jaluit.
Amelia Earhart
Millions Of GMO Insects
Florida Keys
Millions of genetically modified mosquitoes could be released in the Florida Keys if British researchers win approval to use the bugs against two extremely painful viral diseases.
Never before have insects with modified DNA come so close to being set loose in a residential U.S. neighborhood.
"This is essentially using a mosquito as a drug to cure disease," said Michael Doyle, executive director of the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District, which is waiting to hear if the Food and Drug Administration will allow the experiment.
Dengue and chikungunya are growing threats in the U.S., but some people are more frightened at the thought of being bitten by a genetically modified organism. More than 130,000 people signed a Change.org petition against the experiment.
Even potential boosters say those responsible must do more to show that benefits outweigh the risks of breeding modified insects that could bite people.
Florida Keys
Egypt Museum Admits Glued Beard
King Tut
The Egyptian Museum in Cairo acknowledged on Saturday that one of its greatest treasures, the mask of King Tutankhamun, had been crudely glued back together after being damaged, but insisted the item could be restored to its former glory.
The golden mask's beard was detached in August, something the museum had not made public until photographs surfaced on the Internet showing a line of glue around its chin, prompting speculation about the damage and questions over whether Egypt was able to care for its priceless artefacts.
The beard broke off when museum workers were changing the lights in its display case and accidentally touched the mask, the antiquities ministry said.
Christian Eckmann, a German conservator brought in to evaluate the damage, told reporters on Saturday that the seriousness of the damage had been exaggerated.
King Tut
Halts Arms Exports To Saudi Arabia
Germany
Germany has decided to stop arms exports to Saudi Arabia because of "instability in the region," German daily Bild reported on Sunday.
Weapons orders from Saudi Arabia have either been "rejected, pure and simple," or deferred for further consideration, the newspaper said, adding that the information has not been officially confirmed.
The decision was taken on Wednesday by the national security council, a government body that includes Chancellor Angela Merkel, Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel and seven other ministers, it said.
A survey carried out for Bild found that 78 percent of Germans believe Berlin should stop selling arms to Saudi Arabia -- and a further 60 percent want to break off trade ties all together -- due to human rights violations.
Germany
Weekend Box Office
'American Sniper'
"American Sniper" hit the mark with moviegoers again.
The military drama starring Bradley Cooper as Navy SEAL marksman Chris Kyle topped the box office for a second weekend in a row with $64.4 million in first place, according to studio estimates Sunday.
In a distant second place, the saucy Universal thriller "The Boy Next Door" featuring Jennifer Lopez as a teacher who engages in an affair with a younger man played by Ryan Guzman, debuted with $15 million.
The animated fantasy "Strange Magic" from Luscasfilm and Disney flopped in seventh place with $5.5 million.
Lionsgate's Johnny Depp dud "Mortdecai" tanked in ninth place with $4.1 million. The eccentric heist comedy, which also stars Gwyneth Paltrow, marks another box-office bomb for Depp, following the leading man's disappointing "Transcendence," ''The Lone Ranger," ''Dark Shadows" and "The Rum Diary."
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Rentrak. Where available, the latest international numbers are also included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.
1. "American Sniper," $64.4 million ($17.6 million international).
2. "The Boy Next Door," $15 million ($560,000 international).
3. "Paddington," $12.4 million ($4.3 million international).
4. "The Wedding Ringer," $11.6 million ($1.1 million international).
5. "Taken 3," $7.6 million ($26.3 million international).
6. "The Imitation Game," $7.1 million ($4.6 million international).
7. "Strange Magic" $5.5 million.
8. "Selma," $5.5 million.
9. "Mortdecai," $4.1 million ($5.2 million international).
10. "Into the Woods," $3.9 million ($5.1 million international).
'American Sniper'
In Memory
Joe Franklin
Pioneering radio and TV host Joe Franklin, who gave breaks to the likes of Al Pacino and Bill Cosby on his variety show long before they became famous and who boasted he never missed a broadcast in decades, has died at age 88.
He died Saturday of cancer, which he had had for a few years, longtime producer and friend Steven Garrin said.
Franklin often is credited with developing the standard TV talk show format, sitting behind a desk while interviewing wanna-be celebrities, minor celebrities and the occasional bona fide celebrity.
The host of "The Joe Franklin Show" started in TV in 1950. By the early 1990s, he often said, he had chatted with more than 300,000 guests, including Marilyn Monroe, Liza Minnelli and Madonna. But the notables often had to share air time on his low-budget show with a tap-dancing dentist or a man who whistled through his nose.
Garrin recalled how Franklin, who was parodied by Billy Crystal on "Saturday Night Live," hired a young Bette Midler as his studio singer and gave a chance on his show to every up-and-comer trying to make it big: Bruce Springsteen, Woody Allen and Dustin Hoffman among them.
Garrin said he remembered how Pacino, after he became a Hollywood movie star, told Franklin in a private meeting: "Joe, why don't you interview me now that I'm somebody? You interviewed me when I was nobody."
After Franklin's TV show ended in 1993, he worked on his late-night radio show. He continued to work even after he developed cancer, doing celebrity interviews on the Bloomberg Radio Network.
Tuesday was the first scheduled broadcast Franklin had missed in more than 60 years, said Garrin, who worked with him for 20 of those years, booking all his interviews and recording the shows in his studios in Times Square between 1991 and 2010.
Joe Franklin
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