Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Jim Hightower: THE KOCHS TAKE ONE ON THE CHIN
It's always good to see a corporate bully get popped right in the snout by those it's bullying - and what bully is more deserving of a comeuppance that Koch Industries?
Marc Dion: If I Don't Need It, You Don't Need It (Creators Syndicate)
It's always been a hard world, but until the last 20 years, Americans didn't want to make it tougher. And now we do. For the other guy.
Satire: Budget Mix-Up Provides Nation's Schools With Enough Money To Properly Educate Students (The Onion)
Sources in the Congressional Budget Office reported that as a result of a clerical error, $80 billion earmarked for national defense was accidentally sent to the Department of Education, furnishing schools with the necessary funds to buy new textbooks, offer more academic resources, hire better teachers, promote student achievement, and foster educational excellence-an oversight that apologetic officials called a "huge mistake."
Ali S. Khan: "Social Media: Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse" (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
There are all kinds of emergencies out there that we can prepare for. Take a zombie apocalypse for example. That's right, I said z-o-m-b-i-e a-p-o-c-a-l-y-p-s-e. You may laugh now, but when it happens you'll be happy you read this, and hey, maybe you'll even learn a thing or two about how to prepare for a real emergency.
Ryan J. Reilly: John Lithgow Performs Dramatic Reading of Gingrich Spokesman's Epic Poem (Talking Points Memo)
The Colbert Report had a bit of fun with the "genius" press release that Newt Gingrich's campaign released this week that took shots at the Washington "literati" and their "minions."
How to spot a psychopath (Guardian)
From Broadmoor to boardroom, they're everywhere, says Jon Ronson, in an exclusive extract from his new book.
Kenneth Turan: Woody Allen's 'Midnight in Paris' is his warmest, and funniest, in years (Los Angeles Times)
Here's a sentence I never thought I'd write again: Woody Allen has made a wonderful new picture.
Making a Panda Talk (Wall Street Journal)
In the Word Craft column, Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger on the art of writing family movies.
Roger Ebert: Review of "Out of the Blue" (R; An Overlooked DVD)
"Out of the Blue" is one of the unsung treasures of independent films, a showcase for the maverick talents of two movie rebels: veteran actor Dennis Hopper, of "Easy Rider" and "Rebel Without a Cause," and young, tough-talking Linda Manz, whose debut in "Days of Heaven" was so heartbreaking.
Write me a hit by teatime: the world of professional songwriters (Guardian)
They work in the shadows, knocking out tunes to order - sometimes in a matter of hours. The songwriters who work for Jay-Z, Adele, Florence and more tell Alexis Petridis how they do it - and why times are getting tough.
Henry Rollins: "Pop Goes the Henry: Henry's Favorite Pop Songs" (Los Angeles Weekly)
One of the nice things about a favorite pop song is that it's an unconditional truce on judgment and musical snobbery. You like the song because you just do and there need not be any further criticism.
George Varga: At Almost 70, Bob Dylan Doesn't Look Back (Creators Syndicate)
Bob Dylan, who sounded wise and world-weary at 21, remains forever young - at least in some key respects - even as he turns approaches his 70th birthday on May 24. Or as famed film director Martin Scorsese recently told AARP The Magazine: "Bob is ageless because he keeps turning new corners, beating down new paths, redefining himself and his art as he goes."
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."
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From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Kinda cloudy, but nice.
Malick's 'Tree of Life' Wins Top Honor
Cannes
American director Terrence Malick's expansive drama "The Tree of Life" won the top honor at the Cannes Film Festival on Sunday, while Kirsten Dunst took the best-actress prize for the apocalyptic saga "Melancholia."
The Palme d'Or prize was accepted Sunday by two "Tree of Life" producers, Dede Gardner and Bill Pohlad, for the notoriously press-shy Malick, who has skipped all public events at the glamorous Cannes festival.
"The Tree of Life," which opens Friday in the United States, stars Brad Pitt, Sean Penn and Jessica Chastain in a far-flung story of family life that plays out against a cosmic backdrop, including glorious visuals of the creation of the universe and the era of dinosaurs.
Dunst won for her role in the end-of-the-world tale "Melancholia," whose director, Denmark's Lars von Trier, was banned from the festival after sympathetic remarks for Adolf Hitler at a movie press conference.
Cannes
Oscars Dress Goes To Mich. Prom
Christina Ricci
Lots of teenage girls go all out for their prom, but few get to wear a $25,000 Versace Couture dress designed for actress Christina Ricci.
Ricci wore the sparkling, pale gray, floor-length dress to this year's Oscars.
Kayla Staskiewicz wore it to Waterford Mott High School's May 13 prom.
The Oakland Press of Pontiac reported Sunday that her father, Mike Staskiewicz, entered her name a WDIV-TV contest to win a chance to wear the size 0 dress.
Christina Ricci
Hat Sold On eBay
Princess Beatrice
Auction site eBay says a bidder has paid 81,100 pounds ($131,648) for the silk bow hat worn by Princess Beatrice to last month's royal wedding.
The 22-year-old granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth II put the Philip Treacy creation on sale to raise money for UNICEF and Children in Crisis.
The silk hat caused a stir at the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton on April 29.
Since then, it has been compared to antlers and a pretzel, and has been photoshopped into scores of unlikely scenarios on the Internet. Forty bidders vied for the prize, but eBay did not reveal the identity of the winner.
Princess Beatrice
Rehab
Oscar De La Hoya
Boxing legend turned promoter Oscar De La Hoya has entered a Californian rehabilitation clinic for unspecified treatment, TMZ reported on Saturday.
The American entertainment show TMZ said the 38-year-old De La Hoya went into the clinic some time within the past few weeks.
"After doing an honest evaluation of myself, I recognize that there are certain issues that I need to work on. Like everyone, I have my flaws, and I do not want to be one of those people that is afraid to admit and address those flaws," De La Hoya told TMZ.
Oscar De La Hoya
Deported From Japan
Russell Brand
Comic actor Russell Brand was expelled from Japan on Sunday, his US pop star wife Katy Perry wrote on microblogging site Twitter as she arrived for a series of concerts.
"So... my husband just got deported from Japan," Perry tweeted, saying that the reason for the action "was for priors from over 10 years ago!"
"I brought him all this way to show him my favorite place," she added, without giving further details.
The 35-year-old star of the remake of 1981 comedy "Arthur", who married Perry in October last year, has spoken openly in interviews and stand-up comedy shows about his prior drug use and promiscuity, and has had various run-ins with the law.
Russell Brand
"Housewives" Star Liable
Sonja Morgan
The United States Court of Appeals has upheld a $7 million judgment against "Real Housewife of New York" star Sonja Morgan made by Hannibal Pictures and its owner Richard Rionda del Castro, which alleges she is personally liable for fraudulent conduct when a movie she agreed to fund, "Fast Flash to Bang Time," was not made.
"With the confirmation by one of the highest Courts of our country, the masks are falling and there is no longer any doubt that we were defrauded and severely damaged. We are now going to collect to the fullest extent of the law," says Rionda del Castro in a statement.
Morgan filed for bankruptcy in November, claiming the movie was never made because its planned star, John Travolta, needed "various conditions" that her company, Sonja Productions, couldn't provide.
Hannibal Pictures distributes three to six motion pictures a year with budgets between $10 million and $30 million. The latest are "Casino Jack" starring Kevin Spacey, "Big Bang" starring Antonio Banderas, "Son of No One" starring Channing Tatum and Al Pacino and "Things Fall Apart" starring Curtis 50 cent Jackson and Mario Van Peebles.
Sonja Morgan
Union Seeks Unfair Labor Practice Charge
NYC Opera
A union representing workers at the financially troubled New York City Opera says it will file unfair labor practice charges after the board voted to move out of the Lincoln Center and cut staff.
National Executive Director Alan Gordon said Saturday that the American Guild of Musical Artists will also consider seeking an injunction preventing the production company from continuing to use the name New York City Opera.
On Friday, the board voted to leave the Lincoln Center, cut staff across the board and scale back its performance schedule. The opera's general manager, George Steel, says the changes are necessary to keep the opera afloat and build "a foundation for sustainable growth."
The 68-year-old organization is revered as a pillar of American culture. But in recent years, it has been struggling with a dwindling endowment and a multimillion-dollar deficit.
NYC Opera
Peronist Cafes
Buenos Aires
Dapper in a dinner jacket, a life-sized statue of Gen. Peron has a permanent table at "A Coffee with Peron," one of several theme cafes cashing in on nostalgia for the former president and his wife Evita.
Coffee and politics have long mingled in Buenos Aires' famous corner cafes, but the Peronist bars are drawing a new crowd of politicians, youth activists and curious tourists as the country gears up for a presidential election in October.
With the glamorous Evita by his side, Peron nationalized railroads and utilities and expanded worker benefits, earning him hero status among many working-class Argentines.
Peronism, the fragmented political movement that bears his name, remains Argentina's dominant force decades after his death, claiming the loyalty of politicians from the left and the right.
Buenos Aires
Superstition Problem
India
Eleven people stormed into a house in a central Indian village and assaulted a woman whom they accused of witchcraft, blinding her and her husband by stabbing them in the eyes with scissors, police said on Saturday.
The incident took place on Friday in the Raipur district of Chhattisgarh state. Police later arrested 10 suspects.
A family in Khaira village had been having money troubles and health problems, which they blamed on a 45-year-old woman, according to S.S. Baghel, a local police officer.
The brutalities related to witchcraft, mainly against women, are not new for the interior illiterate pockets of Chhattisgarh, where woman accused of witchcraft are often killed or paraded them naked.
India
Launches Online Gallery
Guy Oseary
This week, Untitled Entertainment partner Guy Oseary and Live Nation are going live with a joint web venture RockPaperPhoto.com, an online art gallery selling largely unpublished, hand-signed, limited-edition prints of more than 1,000 singers and acts ranging from B.B. King and James Brown to Green Day and Gwen Stefani.
The site features the work of 70 photographers including such recognized names as Baron Wolman, Ian Dickson, Deborah Feingold and Michael Putland. RockPaperPhoto museum-quality processes include silver gelatin, archival chromogenic, platinum print and archival print, with entry prices at $250 running to a top-tier of $10K.
The website is a bit of a passion project for Oseary, who manages the careers of Madonna and Alex Rodriguez among others and is also the exec producer of "Last Call with Carson Daly." He was the architect of Madonna's landmark 2007 deal with Live Nation.
Oseary first discussed the concept with Live Nation CEO/president Michael Rapino over dinner a few years ago. "We've been talking about it for a while and we finally said, 'Just go for it.' I really wanted to create a place where you could just sit back and be able to discover great photography instead of specifically going to a gallery to find one," says the manager.
Guy Oseary
Weekend Box Office
"Pirates of the Caribbean"
The reengineered "Pirates of the Caribbean" sequel "On Stranger Tides" found its smoothest sailing overseas, where it took in a record $256.3 million at the international box office, according to studio estimates Sunday.
Walt Disney co. said "On Stranger Tides," the fourth "Pirates" installment, earned $90.1 million domestically. Its combined worldwide total is $346.4 million, the fourth largest global opening ever.
Last week's top film at the box office, the comic book adaptation "Thor," from Paramount, slid to third place in its third week of release. It earned $15.5 million, bringing its cumulative total to $145.4 million.
Making its limited-release debut was Woody Allen's "Midnight in Paris," which has received some of the best reviews for Allen in years. The Sony Pictures Classics release opened in just six theaters, but drew an exceptional per-screen average of more than $96,000.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Final figures will be released Monday.
1. "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides," $90.1 million.
2. "Bridesmaids," $21 million.
3. "Thor," $15.5 million.
4. "Fast Five," $10.6 million.
5. "Rio," $4.7 million.
6. "Priest," $4.6 million.
7. "Jumping the Broom," $3.7 million.
8. "Something Borrowed," $3.4 million.
9. "Water For Elephants," $2.2 million.
10. "Tyler Perry's Madea's Big Happy Family," $990,000.
"Pirates of the Caribbean"
In Memory
Bill Rechin
Cartoonist Bill Rechin, known for the syndicated "Crock" strip that parodies life in a Foreign Legion desert outpost, has died at age 80.
Rechin's son-in-law, Bob Morgan, says the cartoonist died at home Saturday in Spotsylvania County of complications from esophageal cancer.
In 1975, Rechin, Don Wilder and Brant Parker created the "Crock" comic strip as a parody of the Foreign Legion classic "Beau Geste." The strip, which follows the adventures of Vermin P. Crock and an assortment of characters stationed at their grim desert outpost, is distributed by King Features Syndicate and appears in more than 200 newspapers in 19 countries.
Morgan says he and Rechin's son, Kevin Rechin, plan to continue producing the comic strip.
Bill Rechin
In Memory
Joseph Brooks
Joseph Brooks, the Academy Award-winning songwriter of "You Light Up My Life" who was awaiting trial for rape, was found dead Sunday of an apparent suicide in his Manhattan apartment, police said.
Brooks, 73, was discovered in his Upper East Side apartment around 12:30 p.m. by a friend with whom he had planned to have lunch, police spokesman Paul Browne said.
Brooks was found with a plastic dry-cleaning bag around his head and a towel wrapped around his neck, Browne said. A hose attached to a helium tank was hooked up to the bag, he said. It was not immediately clear how long Brooks had been there.
The medical examiner will perform an autopsy to determine the cause of death. Police said a suicide note was found but they didn't reveal its contents.
Brooks was awaiting trial on allegations that he molested women who were lured to his apartment for supposed acting auditions. He pleaded not guilty to rape and other charges.
Brooks won the Academy Award for best original song for the 1977 Debby Boone ballad "You Light Up My Life" and directed a related movie. He also won a Grammy for the song.
He pleaded not guilty in 2009 to rape, sexual abuse and other charges in the attacks on 13 women. His trial date had not been set.
Prosecutors say he lured most of the women to his apartment through an online ad offering auditions for a movie role, then sexually assaulted them after making them drink apparently drugged wine as part of an "acting exercise."
Joseph Brooks
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