Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Marc Dion: I Could See Mayberry From My Front Porch (Creators Syndicate)
When the wire services announced that actor Andy Griffith was dead, a woman I know tweeted that his Andy Taylor character was "the father she never had."
Mansur Gidfar: Everything You Need To Know About Mitt Romney In One Graphic (Upworthy)
Free advice for the Romney campaign: This is why some people have a hard time trusting you.
Jack Tapper and Mary Bruce: Obama Campaign Co-Chair in Ohio Slams Romney's Off-Shore Accounts (ABC News)
"Oh, what a contrast, my friends, between these two men who would be president!" [Ohio's Ted] Strickland said, standing outside the Wolcott House Museum. "President Obama is betting on America and American workers, and Mitt Romney is betting his resources in the Cayman Islands, in Bermuda, in Switzerland and God only knows where else he is putting his resources."
Lenore Skenazy: Overheated About Danger (Creators Syndicate)
Almost every summer, you hear a tragic story about a child who dies of overheating - hyperthermia - in a car. His parents left him there; he died. Lately, I've been hearing another story, too: A parent goes into the store to pick up a pizza or a prescription while the kids wait in the car. The parent pops back out, and there's a cop scowling. Almost half the states have some kind of law against leaving kids unattended in vehicles. But strangely, those two types of kids-in-car stories have nothing to do with each other.
Mark H. Shapiro: Wanted, a New Chancellor for the CSU (The Irascible Professor)
Finally, try to find a person with a reputation for bringing people together. All segments of the university as well as the governor and state legislators need to work together to help the system find its way through the difficult times ahead. And, it might not hurt if the person chosen can walk on water....
Henry Barnes: "Bobcat Goldthwait: 'I'm not going to make a film with Justin Bieber'" (Guardian)
The film-maker and actor talks about celebrity, why he loves guns, and his resentment towards youth.
Ben Walters: "Sweded movies: the end of Hollywood as we know it?" (Guardian)
Homemade tributes to Hollywood classics turn blockbusters into folk cinema. The studios can't decide whether they are terrified or charmed by the trend.
Michael Hann: "Black Flag's Keith Morris: why I formed Off!" (Guardian)
He was once the singer for California's toughest, angriest punk band, Black Flag. Now he's back to his old tricks with his hardcore supergroup.
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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Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and windy.
Russia Musicians Protest
"White Album"
Back in the U.S.S.R? Russian musicians have recorded their own "White Album" to show solidarity with opponents of President Vladimir Putin, a former KGB spy who has been president or prime minister of the country for the last 12 years.
Four decades after British rock group the Beatles released the record popularly called the "White Album", with tracks such as "Back in the U.S.S.R" and "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", 200 singers and groups from across Russia have launched an online collection of more than 350 tracks under the same title.
The album also takes its name from the white ribbons worn by demonstrators as a symbol of protest at opposition rallies over the last seven months, and is a diverse collection of music ranging from classical to rap, and jazz to rock.
The album is the latest form of protest by a movement that has found imaginative ways to skirt a ban on unsanctioned rallies. At times Putin's opponents have strolled around Moscow and held public discussions in parks to avoid arrest by police, who have cracked down on some rallies.
The album was conceived by Artemy Troitsky, an opposition activist who was the leading Soviet rock critic. Initially launched with 60 songs on the website www.publicpost.ru a month ago, it has grown steadily as new musicians added songs.
"White Album"
Anecdotal Lying
Voter ID
When Edward and Mary Weidenbener went to vote in Indiana's primary in May, they didn't realize that state law required them to bring government photo IDs such as a driver's license or passport.
The husband and wife, both approaching 90 years old, had to use a temporary ballot that would be verified later, even though they knew the people working the polling site that day. Unaware that Indiana law obligated them to follow up with the county election board, the Weidenbeners ultimately had their votes rejected - news to them until informed recently by an Associated Press reporter.
As more states put in place strict voter ID rules, an AP review of temporary ballots from Indiana and Georgia, which first adopted the most stringent standards, found that more than 1,200 such votes were tossed during the 2008 general election.
The numbers suggest that the legitimate votes rejected by the laws are far more numerous than are the cases of fraud that advocates of the rules say they are trying to prevent. Thousands more votes could be in jeopardy for this November, when more states with larger populations are looking to have similar rules in place.
Supporters of the laws cite anecdotal cases of fraud as a reason that states need to do more to secure elections, but fraud appears to be rare. As part of its effort to build support for voter ID laws, the Republican National Lawyers Association last year published a report that identified some 400 election fraud prosecutions over a decade across the entire country. That's not even one per state per year.
Voter ID
Big Upset
Cherry-Pit Spitting
Ronn Matt's wife encouraged him to enter the annual International Cherry Pit Spitting Championship in southwestern Michigan on Saturday.
The 46-year-old Chicagoan pulled a big upset, winning the contest in his initial try and becoming the first champion not named Krause or Lessard in 20 years.
Matt spit a pit 69 feet at Tree-Mendus Fruit Farm near Eau Claire, just north of the Indiana border.
Owner Herb Teichman launched the tournament on a lark nearly four decades ago. It now attracts competitors from the U.S. and beyond, and has six divisions, including dignitaries.
Brian "Young Gun" Krause of Dimondale holds the world-record spit - more than 93 feet - and had won the past two years. But the 34-year-old finished fifth Saturday with a spit of 52 feet, 10 inches.
Cherry-Pit Spitting
Historic Bridges Under Siege
Yosemite Valley
Perhaps no river crossing in Yosemite Valley has been more photographed than the historic Stoneman Bridge: a single, arching span faced with rough-hewn granite that provides a dramatic foreground to Half Dome, the park's most iconic natural marvel.
Yet the 205-foot bridge is slated for possible removal under proposed plans for restoring the natural flow of the Merced River. As a federally designated "Wild and Scenic River," some say its course should be shaped only by nature as it meanders through the valley - and bridge abutments alter that course.
The future of the roughly 80-year-old Stoneman and two other spandrel arch bridges has pitted environmentalists, who want the river to flow freely, against historic preservationists who say these early examples of the rustic park architectural style are too culturally important to destroy.
"We're talking about nationally significant resources in arguably the best-known national park in the world. What happens in Yosemite has echoes throughout the National Park System," said Anthony Veerkamp of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
It's why last month the trust placed the Stoneman and two other Yosemite Valley stone-arch bridges threatened with removal - the Ahwahnee Bridge and the Sugar Pine Bridge - on its 2012 most endangered historic places list.
Yosemite Valley
Gay Activists Arrested
Russia
Russian police have broken up attempts to hold two gay rights rallies in St. Petersburg, which this spring adopted a law against spreading "homosexual propaganda."
Three rally organizers were arrested Saturday at a park in Russia's second city, and five others were detained at a later rally attempt near the landmark Smolny complex, Russian news agencies reported.
Only six people showed up for the second rally, and the three arrested at the first attempt were the only participants.
Although homosexuality was decriminalized after the fall of the Soviet Union, disdain for gays remains strong in Russia. Some rally attempts provoke violence by opponents.
St. Petersburg passed a law in February calling for fines of up to 500,000 rubles ($15,000) for spreading "homosexual propaganda."
Russia
Onetime Attorney Loses License
Michael Jackson
Brian Oxman, who was once an attorney for Michael Jackson, will no longer be able to practice law in California.
The California Supreme Court has denied an appeal of a state bar ruling that found Oxman and his wife mixed clients' and personal funds to evade creditors. Oxman's wife is his law partner.
The state bar said Oxman was disciplined previously and that was among reasons for seeking revocation of his license.
The allegations against Oxman did not involve the late pop star or his family.
Michael Jackson
Plans New Law
Francois Hollande
French President Francois Hollande confirmed Saturday plans for a new law criminalising denial of the Armenian genocide with representatives of the Armenian community, the Elysee Palacesaid.
The historical question has long been a hot-button issue between Turkey and Armenia, a dispute that has also drawn in other countries and earlier this year sparked a diplomatic crisis between Paris and Ankara.
Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their forebears were killed in a 1915-16 genocide by Turkey's former Ottoman Empire. Turkey says 500,000 died and ascribes the toll to fighting and starvation during World War I.
Hollande's conservative predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy angered Ankara when he pushed ahead with a bill to criminalise denial of the Armenian genocide.
Francois Hollande
Mickey Mouse Takes The Stage
NKorea
Mickey Mouse and Winnie the Pooh took the stage in North Korea during a concert for new leader Kim Jong Un, in an unusual performance featuring Disney characters.
Performers dressed as Minnie Mouse, Tigger and others danced and pranced as footage from "Snow White," ''Dumbo," ''Beauty and the Beast" and other Disney movies played on a massive backdrop, according to still photos shown on state TV.
The inclusion of characters popular in the West - particularly from the United States, North Korea's wartime enemy - is a notable change in direction for performances in Pyongyang. Actors and actresses also showed off new wardrobes, including strapless gowns and little black dresses.
This appears to be the first time Disney characters have been included in a major performance, though Winnie the Pooh and Mickey Mouse have been popular among children for several years. Backpacks, pencil cases and pajamas imported from China often feature Disney characters, and stories such as "Dumbo" have been translated into Korean for North Korean schoolchildren. However, it is unusual to make such images a central part of a North Korean performance and to publicize it on state TV.
It was unclear whether the Disney characters were officially licensed. U.S. sanctions prohibit the import of North Korean goods to the United States, but do not ban the sales of American consumer products in North Korea unless they involve officials or companies on the U.S. Treasury Department's sanctions blacklist.
NKorea
Weekend Box Office
"The Amazing Spider-Man"
Your new friendly neighborhood Spider-Man has spun himself a $65 million opening weekend and $140 million in his first six days at U.S. theaters.
The previous weekend's No. 1 film, Universal's teddy-bear comedy "Ted," fell to second-place with $32.6 million, raising its domestic total to $120.2 million.
Among new releases, Oliver Stone's drug-war thriller "Savages" opened at No. 4 with a solid $16.2 million weekend, also for Universal. Paramount's concert film "Katy Perry: Part of Me" failed to pack in the pop star's fans, debuting a distant No. 8 with just $7.2 million.
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. "The Amazing Spider-Man," $65 million ($129.1 million international).
2. "Ted," $32.6 million ($15 million international).
3. "Brave," $20.2 million ($4.2 million international).
4. "Savages," $16.2 million.
5. "Magic Mike," $15.6 million.
6. "Tyler Perry's Madea's Witness Protection," $10.2 million.
7. "Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted," $7.7 million ($6.4 million international).
8. "Katy Perry: Part of Me," $7.2 million ($2.3 million international).
9. "Moonrise Kingdom," $4.6 million ($300,000 international).
10. "To Rome with Love," $3.5 million ($2.4 million international).
"The Amazing Spider-Man"
In Memory
Ernest Borgnine
Ernest Borgnine, the beefy screen star known for blustery, often villainous roles, but who won the best-actor Oscar for playing against type as a lovesick butcher in "Marty" in 1955, died Sunday. He was 95.
His longtime spokesman, Harry Flynn, told The Associated Press that Borgnine died of renal failure at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center with his wife and children at his side.
Borgnine, who endeared himself to a generation of Baby Boomers with the 1960s TV comedy "McHale's Navy," first attracted notice in the early 1950s in villain roles, notably as the vicious Fatso Judson, who beat Frank Sinatra to death in "From Here to Eternity."
Then came "Marty," a low-budget film based on a Paddy Chayefsky television play that starred Rod Steiger. Borgnine played a 34-year-old who fears he is so unattractive he will never find romance. Then, at a dance, he meets a girl with the same fear.
The realism of Chayefsky's prose and Delbert Mann's sensitive direction astonished audiences accustomed to happy Hollywood formulas. Borgnine won the Oscar and awards from the Cannes Film Festival, New York Critics and National Board of Review.
"The Oscar made me a star, and I'm grateful," Borgnine told an interviewer in 1966. "But I feel had I not won the Oscar I wouldn't have gotten into the messes I did in my personal life."
Those messes included four failed marriages, including one in 1964 to singer Ethel Merman that lasted less than six weeks.
But Borgnine's fifth marriage, in 1973 to Norwegian-born Tova Traesnaes, endured and brought with it an interesting business partnership. She manufactured and sold her own beauty products under the name of Tova and used her husband's rejuvenated face in her ads.
Although still not a marquee star until after "Marty," the roles of heavies started coming regularly after "From Here to Eternity." Among the films: "Bad Day at Black Rock," ''Johnny Guitar," ''Demetrius and the Gladiators," ''Vera Cruz."
He played a sensitive role opposite Bette Davis in another film based on a Chayefsky TV drama, "The Catered Affair," a film that was a personal favorite. It concerned a New York taxi driver and his wife who argued over the expense of their daughter's wedding.
But producers also continued casting Borgnine in action films such as "Three Brave Men," ''The Vikings," ''Torpedo Run," ''Barabbas," ''The Dirty Dozen" and "The Wild Bunch."
Then he successfully made the transition to TV comedy.
From 1962 to 1966, Borgnine - a Navy vet himself - starred in "McHale's Navy" as the commander of a World War II PT boat with a crew of misfits and malcontents. Obviously patterned after Phil Silvers' popular Sgt. Bilko, McHale was a con artist forever tricking his superior, Capt. Binghamton, played by the late Joe Flynn.
Borgnine's later films included "Ice Station Zebra," ''The Adventurers," ''Willard," ''The Poseidon Adventure," ''The Greatest" (as Muhammad Ali's manager), "Convoy," ''Ravagers," ''Escape from New York," ''Moving Target" and "The Devil's Rain."
More recently, Borgnine had a recurring role as the apartment house doorman-cum-chef in the NBC sitcom "The Single Guy." He had a small role in the unsuccessful 1997 movie version of "McHale's Navy." And he was the voice of Mermaid Man on "SpongeBob SquarePants" and Carface on "All Dogs Go to Heaven 2."
Ermes Efron Borgnino was born in Hamden, Conn., on Jan. 24, 1917, the son of Italian immigrant parents. The family lived in Milan when the boy was 2 to 7, then returned to Connecticut, where he attended school in New Haven.
Borgnine joined the Navy in 1935 and served on a destroyer during World War II. He weighed 135 pounds when he enlisted. He left the Navy 10 years later, weighing exactly 100 pounds more.
For a time he contemplated taking a job with an air conditioning company. But his mother persuaded him to enroll at the Randall School of Dramatic Arts in Hartford. He stayed four months, the only formal training he received.
He appeared in repertory at the Barter Theater in Virginia, toured as a hospital attendant in "Harvey" and played a villain on TV's "Captain Video."
After earning $2,300 in 1951, Borgnine almost accepted a position with an electrical company. But the job fell through, and he returned to acting, moving into a modest house in Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley.
His first marriage was to Rhoda Kenins, whom he met when she was a Navy pharmacist's mate and he was a patient. They had a daughter, but the marriage ended in divorce after his "Marty" stardom.
Borgnine married Mexican actress Katy Jurado in 1959, and their marriage resulted in headlined squabbles from Hollywood to Rome before it ended in 1964.
In 1963, he and Merman startled the show business world by announcing, after a month's acquaintance, that they would marry when his divorce from Jurado became final. The Broadway singing star and the movie tough guy seemed to have nothing in common, and their marriage ended in 38 days after a fierce battle.
Next came one-time child actress Donna Rancourt, with whom Borgnine had a daughter, and finally his happy union with Tova.
Ernest Borgnine
In Memory
Lionel Batiste
Lionel Batiste, the vocalist, bass drummer and assistant band leader of the Treme Brass Band - and the face of the Treme neighborhood's bicentennial - has died. He was 81.
Band leader Benny Jones Sr. says Batiste was ill about a month before his death on Sunday. He says funeral arrangements are incomplete.
Jones says Batiste had been with his band since it was formed in 1995, but had played bass drum since childhood.
Clarinetist Michael White says Batiste, known as "Uncle Lionel," used his drum to stay afloat in the floods after Hurricane Katrina.
The "Treme 2012" poster is a photograph of Batiste. Toni Rice of the Multicultural Tourism Network says the group is donating part of poster sales to help with Batiste's medical and funeral costs.
Lionel Batiste
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