Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Marc Dion: Last Act in the Play (Creators Syndicate)
A great majority of the homeless get to die in a hospital. American medical care is most affordable when the hospital knows you're not going to be around long enough to pay.
DEBORAH FRANKLIN: The Psychology Of The Honor System At The Farm Stand (NPR)
Swanton founder Jim Cochran says his stand has thrived for years on the honor payment system, a style of business he first admired as a college student at his favorite bakery in Santa Cruz decades ago. "I used to get there real early," he remembers, "and you'd see the owner in the back making donuts. You helped yourself to coffee and donuts, and he just left the drawer to the cash register open so customers could pay and make their own change."
CHARLIE JANE ANDERS: Are we living in the Golden Age of Trash Culture right now? (io9)
We often tend to think that the best era for trash culture was sometime in the middle of the Twentieth Century. An era where there were a lot of 25 cent paperbacks with gun-toting lesbians on their covers, plus drive-in movies, stag films, cheap comics and weird burlesque shows. And so on. But actually, the pinnacle of trash culture is right now. We're living in the best era for pulpy disposable culture right at this moment. Future generations will look back on the early 2010s with a caustic, adoring envy.
Dave Mistich: "Lucky That Way: An Interview with Joe Walsh" (PopMatters)
In the Coen brothers' classic 'The Big Lewbowski,' The Dude is thrown from a cab for expressing distaste for the driver's affinity for "Peaceful Easy Feeling".
Nathan Heller: The Secret Genius of 'Car Talk' (Slate)
The show holds a place in a broader nostalgic tradition, one that praises the local work of hands over the shady reach of corporate industry, the mechanical over the abstract. Craftsmanship is a dying skill, we sometimes hear, and in some sense 'Car Talk' was one of its last public defenders. To host a car show heard largely by people in their cars is to underscore the physical fruit of physical work; to talk about the failures of cheap recent models is to emphasize what's lost.
Nicolas Winding Refn: My obsession with Andy Milligan's cult horror movies (Guardian)
Why the notorious 'Drive' director paid £16,000 on eBay to buy up Milligan's films and bring them back to life.
Roger Ebert: Movies don't stream themselves
This will be the year that revenue from streaming passes revenue from DVD sales, according to a recent article in the 'Hollywood Reporter.'?How do we feel about this?
Lauren Davis: 'Brave' director Mark Andrews explains why Merida isn't your typical Disney princess (io9)
In less than two weeks, Pixar will introduce the world to its own version of the fantasy princess: the strong-willed redheaded archer Merida. But what makes Merida different from the Disney princesses that so many young girls regard as archetypes of femininity?
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."
wrote:
took the day off.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
In The Backyard
Butterflies
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and seasonal.
Saying Goodbye
Rock Bottom Remainders
It took 20 years but the group Bruce Springsteen once praised as being almost as good as a lousy garage band is finally calling it quits.
The Rock Bottom Remainders, a contingent that has made it clear with every performance that literary giants like Amy Tan, Stephen King and Scott Turow really did make the right decision when they set aside their musical ambitions to write books, is calling it a career after two Southern California shows later this month.
"We've gotten as good as we're ever going to get," says lead guitarist and best-selling humorist Dave Barry, explaining the band's decision. "You can't get any better," Barry continued. "Well, you actually can get a lot better. But we can't get any better. We're up to almost four chords now, and the Beatles quit at that point, I'm pretty sure."
Truth be told, the Rock Bottom Remainders were always a lot better than they gave themselves credit for. Especially for a band whose members' busy writing schedules prevented them from doing more than one or two gigs a year and who rarely had time to rehearse.
They've decided to wrap things up in part because of the death last month of the group's founder, book publicist and lead singer Kathi Goldmark. It was she who persuaded each one of them to join as she drove them around on book tours over the years.
Rock Bottom Remainders
Heavy Focus On News Shows
White House Race
"Tell President Obama: Stop the spending," screams an ad running during the broadcast of NBC's "Today" show in central Virginia. At a break during ABC's "The View," Mitt Romney is praised in a different spot for his "strong leadership."
In Tampa, Fla., a commercial in the middle of "Dateline NBC" shows a woman fretting about the national debt under President Barack Obama and saying: "He spent like our country's credit card had no limit." In an ad seen during evening newscasts, the Obama campaign trashes Romney for "the worst economic record in the country" when he was governor of Massachusetts.
The political pitches are coming early and often in Virginia, Florida and other hotly contested states that are expected to determine the outcome of the White House contest. So far they're mostly jammed around local newscasts and current affairs shows along with an occasional appearance on shows like "The Price is Right" on CBS and ABC's "General Hospital."
At this stage in the campaign, both Republicans and Democrats are focusing the bulk of their advertising on selling their campaign message to a select group of people - those who pay close attention to the news, seek to stay informed and influence those around them.
White House Race
Ernest F. Hollings Library
'Catch-22'
Students more accustomed to computer screens than manual typewriters are getting a chance to sit at author Joseph Heller's stained wooden desk and type on the battered Smith-Corona he used to compose his acclaimed novel "Catch-22."
A small exhibit at a University of South Carolina library displays the desk, typewriter and lamp used by Heller as he wrote many of his major works. The university library has one of the largest collections of his papers, manuscripts and other memorabilia available to researchers, library officials said.
"We acquired this with the expectation that students would type on the typewriter and experience sitting at his desk," said Elizabeth Suddeth, director of the Irvin Department of Rare Books and Special Collections at the Ernest F. Hollings Library on the Columbia campus, where the display is located.
The display is available for students and library visitors until late December, Suddeth said.
'Catch-22'
Circular Pipe Organ
Agnes Flanagan Chapel
The Agnes Flanagan Chapel is a 16-sided architectural marvel that seats 650 under stained glass windows depicting the book of Genesis.
In the early 1970s, it was also a big, conical quandary. Chapels aren't really chapels unless they have an organ, and the newly minted structure at Portland's Lewis & Clark College was in need.
But those 16 sides presented a hitch. How do you fit an ordinary pipe organ into a building that's anything but?
You don't. So the college went in search of an organ builder willing to try something different. Several, said organ curator Lee Garrett, backed away. But the world-renowned Larry Phelps took the challenge.
Phelps' solution was to build something to fit the chapel, and the idea for the world's only circular pipe organ was born. Unlike a traditional pipe organ - played by someone sitting in front of the instrument as the notes flow through the pipes into the audience - this organ is suspended from the ceiling, allowing the music to reflect off the floor and into the crowd.
Agnes Flanagan Chapel
NYC Club Closed
W.i.P
Police have shut down a New York City nightclub where singer Chris Brown and rapper Drake's entourage got into a bottle-throwing brawl.
A New York Police Department spokeswoman says the club W.i.P in the city's SoHo neighborhood was closed Saturday night because of code violations. The NYPD gave no details on the violations.
Chris Brown, his girlfriend and his bodyguard were among eight injured during the fight inside the club last week. Police say members of Drake's entourage stopped Brown as he was leaving. The fight escalated and bottles were thrown.
San Antonio Spurs star Tony Parker says he suffered a scratched retina during the brawl.
W.i.P
Former TV Writer Fatally Punches Dog
Ted Shuttleworth
Police say a former television screenwriter was arrested after punching his poodle in the face so hard that it died of a brain injury.
The New York Post reports Sunday that 51-year-old Ted Shuttleworth was arrested Saturday at his home in Queens. The Post says Shuttleworth punched his dog on May 29 because he was angry with the animal. The dog weighed about four pounds.
A spokesman for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals says the dog sustained a traumatic brain injury.
The newspaper reports Shuttleworth is a former TV writer who once worked for "NYPD Blue." He could face up to a year in prison.
Ted Shuttleworth
China Sends First Woman Into Space
Liu Yang
China launched its most ambitious space mission yet on Saturday, carrying its first female astronaut and two male colleagues in an attempt to dock with an orbiting module and work on board for more than a week.
The Shenzhou 9 capsule lifted off as scheduled at 6:37 p.m. (1037 GMT) from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on the edge of the Gobi Desert. All systems functioned normally and, just over 10 minutes later, it opened its solar panels and entered orbit.
The launch was declared a success by space program chief Chang Wanquan, a People's Liberation Army general who sits on the ruling Communist Party's powerful central military commission - underscoring the program's close military ties.
Female astronaut Liu Yang, 33, and two male crew members - mission commander and veteran astronaut Jing Haipeng, 45, and newcomer Liu Wang, 43 - are to dock the spacecraft with a prototype space lab launched last year in a key step toward building a permanent space station. All three are experienced pilots and officers in the Chinese air force.
Liu Yang
Bank On Olympic Games
British Pubs
British pubs and brewers are preparing for a bumper summer supplying pints for visitors to the London Olympics, desperately hoping the extra business will prove a pick-me-up for the ailing industry.
London-based SABMiller, the world's second-largest brewer, told AFP it expects the Games to boost sales, while Dutch giantHeineken is one of the Olympics' official sponsors.
That makes Heineken well-placed to take advantage of the influx of tourists -- it will be the only brand on sale at Games venues.
Eyebrows have been raised at the £4.20 ($6.50, 5.25 euro) price of a 33-centilitre bottle at the venues.
British Pubs
U.S. Deserter Steps Forward
Sweden
A U.S. Air Force deserter who has lived secretly in Sweden since 1984 has revealed his identity and contacted his family in the United States who were overwhelmed to hear he was still alive, a Swedish newspaper reported at the weekend.
Dagens Nyheter said David Hemler had deserted aged 21 while serving at a U.S. Air Force base in Germany, after getting involved with a pacifist church and becoming disillusioned with the policies of former President Ronald Reagan.
He hitchhiked via Denmark to Sweden where he settled down, living under an assumed name for the last 28 years and not revealing his true identity to anyone.
Now aged 49, he is married to a woman from Thailand, has three children and works for a Swedish government agency, but would not let the newspaper print his assumed name.
Sweden
Still Holds Allure
Route 66
Route 66 hasn't been a real highway for almost three decades.
The last section of the fabled U.S. route from Chicago to Santa Monica, California, was dropped as a federal highway in 1984. But its hold on travelers' imaginations has revived motels, diners, souvenir shops, gas stations and other buildings along the old route.
The enduring fascination, along with some federal grants, has helped Route 66 thrive, even as people old enough to remember its heyday die off.
"People are looking to see the real America, not Walt Disney's version," said Ron Hart, director and founder of the Route 66 Chamber of Commerce in Carthage, Missouri.
A Rutgers University study released in March estimated that people spend $132 million annually along old Route 66, which crosses eight states and is marked in some places by ceremonial signs.
Route 66
Weekend Box Office
"Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted"
Ben Stiller and his voice co-stars of "Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted" held on to the No. 1 spot again, with $35.5 million for the animated sequel's second weekend in domestic theaters.
Studio estimates Sunday put Ridley Scott's sci-fi adventure "Prometheus" at No. 2 again with $20.2 million.
"Madagascar 3" and "Prometheus" held off two under-achieving newcomers. The star-studded musical "Rock of Ages," whose cast includes Tom Cruise, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Alec Baldwin, flopped at No. 3 with $15.1 million.
Sandler's "That's My Boy" bombed with $13 million, the worst showing for one of his broad comedies since the mid-1990s. "That's My Boy" came in at No. 5, behind the $13.8 million for "Snow White & the Huntsman," a film that's been out for three weekends already.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Where available, latest international numbers are also included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.
1. "Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted," $35.5 million ($53 million international).
2. "Prometheus," $20.2 million ($25.5 million international).
3. "Rock of Ages," $15.1 million ($4.1 million international).
4. "Snow White & the Huntsman," $13.8 million.
5. "That's My Boy," $13 million.
6. "Men in Black 3," $10 million ($19.7 million international).
7. "The Avengers," $8.8 million ($3.9 million international).
8. "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel," $2.2 million.
9. "Moonrise Kingdom," $2.18 million.
10. "What to Expect When You're Expecting," $1.3 million.
"Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted"
In Memory
Rodney King
Rodney King, the black motorist whose 1991 videotaped beating by Los Angeles police officers was the touchstone for one of the most destructive race injustice riots in the nation's history, was found at the bottom of his swimming pool early Sunday and later pronounced dead. He was 47.
King's fiancée called 911 at 5:25 a.m. to report that she found him in the pool at their home in Rialto, Calif., police Lt. Dean Hardin said.
Officers arrived to find King in the deep end of the pool and pulled him out.
King was unresponsive, and officers began CPR until paramedics arrived. King was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 6:11 a.m., police said.
The 1992 riots, which were set off by the acquittals of the officers who beat King, lasted three days and left 55 people dead, more than 2,000 injured and swaths of Los Angeles on fire. At the height of the violence, King pleaded on television: "Can we all get along?"
King, a 25-year-old on parole from a robbery conviction, was stopped for speeding on a darkened street on March 3, 1991. He was on parole and had been drinking - he later said that led him to try to evade police.
Four Los Angeles police officers hit him more than 50 times with their batons, kicked him and shot him with stun guns.
A man who had quietly stepped outside his home to observe the commotion videotaped most of it and turned a copy over to a TV station. It was played over and over for the following year, inflaming racial tensions across the country.
It seemed that the videotape would be the key evidence to a guilty verdict against the officers, whose trial was moved to the predominantly white suburb of Simi Valley, Calif. Instead, on April 29, 1992, a jury with no black members acquitted three of the officers on state charges in the beating; a mistrial was declared for a fourth.
During the riots, a truck driver named Reginald Denny was pulled by several men from his cab and beaten almost to death. He required surgery to repair his shattered skull, reset his jaw and put one eye back into its socket.
King himself, in his recently published memoir, "The Riot Within: My Journey from Rebellion to Redemption," said FBI agents warned him a riot was expected if the officers were acquitted, and urged him to keep a low profile so as not to inflame passions.
The four officers who beat King - Stacey Koon, Theodore Briseno, Timothy Wind and Laurence Powell - were indicted in the summer of 1992 on federal civil rights charges. Koon and Powell were convicted and sentenced to two years in prison, and King was awarded $3.8 million in damages.
Rodney King
| CURRENT MOON lunar phases |
