Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Henry Rollins: The ISIS Quagmire (LA Weekly)
As I write this, American forces have just conducted airstrikes in Syria. Syria is a sovereign nation that has never struck at America. The country's president, Bashar Assad, is backed by Vladimir Putin's government. Assad and Putin will have to address this action.
Robert Evans: 7 Things You Learn Surviving an Atomic Blast (Cracked)
Pop culture is officially obsessed with the atomic bomb. Terminator 2, The Road, Dr. Strangelove, even more kid-friendly fare like Adventure Time all prominently feature it. But what is it like to actually live through an atomic blast? We sat down with Shigeko Sasamori, a resident of Hiroshima who was 13 years old when she survived the first nuclear weapon ever dropped on a city.
Scott Burns: "Life and Death: It's Complicated" (AssetBuilder)
Yes, Social Security is complex. But its complexity goes far beyond the taxes that support it and its thousands of rules. The complexities also go well beyond the nuances of benefit-taking decisions that armies of salesmen offering free dinners are eager to help us make. The real complexity works out in the ultimate currency, years of life.
Paul Constant: "Atlas Shrugged: Who Is John Galt?: The Terrible Trilogy Ends with the Worst Movie of Them All" (The Stranger)
Character, action, romance-how could you possibly screw that up? Let me tell you how you screw that up: You film the movie with an apparent shooting budget of $500 or less. The Atlas Shrugged trilogy has been plagued with low budgets from the very beginning, and since the first movie bombed, the scope of the films have fallen lower and lower.
Douglas Murray: "Clive James on his late flowering: 'I am in the slightly embarrassing position where I write poems saying I'm about to die and then don't'" (The Spectator)
Poetry, civilisation and the critical benefits of facing leukaemia.
Vanessa Thorpe: "James Spader: The era of classic films is doomed" (Observer)
The Blacklist star says changes in the way we watch movies mean their legacy has gone
Film has lost its status as a great, enduring art form superior to television, according to James Spader, the award-winning actor who has played a series of famous roles in independent cinema since the 1980s. "There is no legacy in film any more. [
] I am not so sure that even classic films really live on now - and that means ultimately that maybe film is really an entertainment, or a provocation, just for a specific time."
Jeff Chang: Of Course Tom and Jerry Was Racist. The Question Is What to Do About That. (Slate)
Is that cartoon cat racist? Amazon Prime and iTunes now feature a warning for Tom and Jerry cartoons from the 1940s and 1950s, which notes that they "may depict ethnic and racial prejudices that were once commonplace in American society."
Celia Bullwinkel: Sidewalk (Vimeo)
A woman walks through life, confronts her changing body, and learns to love herself. Directed, written and animated by Celia Bullwinkel.
David Bruce's Amazon Author Page
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David Bruce has approximately 50 Kindle books on Amazon.com.
wrote:
took the day off.
is semi-retired.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Harvey Awards
Carol Burnett
We had a fabulous time! We went to the Harvey Awards banquet Friday night. Carol Burnett was beautiful, gracious, and funny. We got to hear Jimmy Stewart's twin daughters speak briefly. We also got to hear Rich Little talk about Jimmy Stewart and about Carol.
There were clips from Carol's last show on which Jimmy Stewart was a surprise guest. We also got to see a clip from a Friars' Club roast of Jimmy at which Rich dressed up like Harvey and voiced him like a hacked off, angry Jimmy. Lots of laughs at both video bits.
As the banquet broke up, I was able to chat with Rich Little for several minutes. He was very kind. We were also interviewed by a local reporter, and he mentioned us in his story about the event (Saturday's Indiana Gazette).
Saturday we went to the Jimmy Stewart Museum. It fills the 3rd floor of the Indiana, PA, library. It's a little gem of a place with memorabilia, photos, a theater that shows a couple of short features, and once a day they show one of Jimmy's movies. I particularly loved the display of several year's of Christmas cards the family sent out. I quite liked the recreation of Jimmy's childhood bedroom and of the office he set up in Los Angeles as an adult.
One of the pictures from Jimmy's 80th birthday celebration showed Jimmy with Julie Andrews and an "unidentified person." Kathy correctly pegged the person as Blake Edwards. I'm going to call the museum Monday to let them know.
We spent the rest of the day driving over to Punxsutawney to check out the groundhog sites and lair. We had great fun there, but it had gotten so cold that we happily parted with some money to buy tacky but warm sweatshirts
Today, we stopped off in Altoona on the way home. We went to the railroad museum there and then went out to Horseshoe Curve and took the funicular up to catch the view of the Curve and the valley.
The museum was wonderful--we had never realized before the many jobs and responsibilities of the train engineer, fireman, brakeman, and conductor had. An interactive display had each man explain all that he did. And when we saw the mock up of the cab of a train engine, the dials and levers and things looked as complicated as any airplane cockpit. Astounding.
Linda >^..^<
We are all only temporarily able bodied.
Thanks, Linda!
Another local attraction worth visiting is up in Benezette, to look at the Elk. Can't hardly miss 'em just driving up to the visitor center.
A bit further north, and there's Kinzua.
Regardless, the food's always good in PA.
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
Bit cooler, but still way too toasty.
Historian To Donate Notes
Abraham Lincoln
It's one of the most famous Abraham Lincoln photographs, largely because no one knew the picture of the dead president lying in an open coffin existed for nearly a century until a 14-year-old boy found it.
On Tuesday, Ronald Rietveld - the boy who made the discovery and is now a retired historian - will donate his original notes about the picture to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield.
The photo marks one of the last chapters of a story that began in April 1865, just days after Lincoln was assassinated in Washington. On a stop in New York City, one of a number of places Lincoln's remains were displayed while being taken by train to Springfield for burial, a photographer was allowed to take a picture of the president in an open coffin.
Rietveld enters the story in the early 1950s when, as a teenager fascinated with Lincoln, he attended the dedication of a collection of Lincoln-related items at the University of Iowa.
Harry Pratt, the state historian of Illinois and a Lincoln scholar, was so impressed with Rietveld that he invited him to Springfield to see the 16th president's home and tomb. Pratt also let Rietveld look through papers of John Nicolay and John Hay, who were White House secretaries when Lincoln was president. Hay's daughter donated the papers to the Illinois State Historical Library in 1943.
Abraham Lincoln
Folsom Trail Unveiled
'Johnny Cash'
The city of Folsom has completed the first section of the "Johnny Cash Trail" that will pay tribute to the country music icon and his 1968 album "At Folsom Prison."
City officials unveiled the first section of the 2.5-mile trail on Saturday - a pedestrian and bike bridge designed to echo Folsom State Prison's east gate guard towers, according to the Sacramento Bee.
The trail will traverse prison property and link to area trails.
The newspaper reports that the city is planning a $3 million fundraising drive to pay for a 2-acre park next to the bridge and art installations along the trail - including a 40-foot steel statue of Cash.
'Johnny Cash'
Reopens In NYC
Rainbow Room
The Rainbow Room reopened Sunday in its historic perch atop 30 Rockefeller Plaza after a five-year absence from the New York City skyline.
"It's breathtaking," guest Jamie Greenwald, one of more than 200 brunch guests who took in the sweeping views outside and the significant improvements inside the 80-year-old establishment whose floors have been walked across by Cole Porter, Michael Jackson, Elizabeth Taylor, Al Pacino, Barbra Streisand and Muhammad Ali.
The sunny clear blue sky offered no chance for rainbows this day through windows that were enlarged by as much as 25 percent during an extensive renovation designed by Gabellini Sheppard Associates.
The architectural firm also created SixtyFive, a new cocktail lounge adjacent to Rainbow Room that for the first time next year when the weather warms will permit guests to order drinks on a previously vacant outdoor terrace.
Rainbow Room
Cancels Performances
BB King
Blues guitarist B.B. King has cancelled the remaining eight performances of his current tour after being diagnosed with dehydration and exhaustion.
King's official website says he fell ill Friday evening during a performance at the House of Blues in Chicago and was evaluated by a doctor.
The end of his tour was to include stops next week at his own B.B. King Blues Club and Grill in New York.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer is 89 and has released over 50 albums.
BB King
Lunar Eclipse On Wednesday
'Selenelion'
Observers of Wednesday morning's total lunar eclipse might be able to catch sight of an extremely rare cosmic sight.
On Oct. 8, Interested skywatchers should attempt to see the total eclipse of the moon and the rising sun simultaneously. The little-used name for this effect is called a "selenelion," a phenomenon that celestial geometry says cannot happen.
And indeed, during a lunar eclipse, the sun and moon are exactly 180 degrees apart in the sky. In a perfect alignment like this (called a "syzygy"), such an observation would seem impossible. But thanks to Earth's atmosphere, the images of both the sun and moon are apparently lifted above the horizon by atmospheric refraction. This allows people on Earth to see the sun for several extra minutes before it actually has risen and the moon for several extra minutes after it has actually set.
As a consequence of this atmospheric trick, for many localities east of the Mississippi River, watchers will have a chance to observe this unusual sight firsthand. Weather permitting, you could have a short window of roughly 2 to 9 minutes (depending on your location) with the possibility of simultaneously seeing the sun rising in the east while the eclipsed full moon is setting in the west.
'Selenelion'
Crime Lower
Oktoberfest
Tens of thousands of revellers who tried to steal beer mugs have set a new record for naughtiness at Oktoberfest, Germany's annual lager and lederhosen extravaganza, Bavarian police said Sunday.
While crime dropped at this year's festival in Munich, which ended Sunday, police said orderlies confiscated 112,000 of the traditional one-litre "Masskrug" beer mugs from "souvenir hunters" trying to smuggle them out of the fair grounds, up from 81,000 last year.
Munich police hailed as "very gratifying" an almost 40-percent drop in so-called "beer mug brawls" fuelled by the 6.5 million litres (1.7 million gallons) of beer that flowed during the 16-day festival.
That said, the total amount of the amber liquid consumed was slightly below last year's, amid cooler weather, but was still enough to fill over two and a half Olympic swimming pools.
Oktoberfest
Rescues Man Floating In Bubble
Coast Guard
A longtime endurance runner and peace activist whose latest goal was to reach Bermuda in a homemade floating "Hydro Pod" was rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard on Saturday after he began suffering from fatigue.
Coast Guard air crew were able to safely pick up Reza Baluchi and the bubble Saturday morning, Coast Guard spokeswoman Marilyn Fajardo said in a statement. He was transported to a nearby Coast Guard station and found to be uninjured, Fajardo said.
A statement on Baluchi's website said the Iranian exile had planned to make the 1,033-mile trip in his self-designed bubble to raise money "for children in need" and "to ... inspire those that have lost hope for a better future."
Baluchi has made headlines many times before with previous efforts to break long-distance running and cycling records , including one six-month journey in which he ran around the perimeter of the United States, and a seven-year bike trip that he said brought him across 55 countries on six continents. His self-professed mission is to promote world peace and unity. His perimeter run was to raise money for a children's hospital, according to his website.
Baluchi was granted asylum in the United States in 2003 after being arrested in Iran for so-called pro-Western and anti-Islamic activities, including eating during the holy month of Ramadan, according to his lawyer at the time, Suzannah Maclay. Baluchi served 1 1/2 years in jail for associating with "counterrevolutionaries" and was hung from a tree by handcuffs for carrying a prohibited movie, Maclay said. The Coast Guard described him as a U.S. Citizen.
Coast Guard
New Glass Floor
Eiffel Tower
A much-anticipated facelift of the Eiffel Tower will be unveiled Monday with a new glass floor to dizzy the millions of tourists who flock to Paris's best-known landmark every year.
Its owners hope the formerly dowdy and draughty first floor will become as big an attraction as the viewing platform on top of the 325-metre (1,070-foot) tower -- the most visited paying monument in the world.
Visitors will be able to look down through a solid glass floor to the 57 square metres below, with transparent and eco-friendly pavilions built around the tower's enormous central void.
To heighten the frisson of walking on air still further, the glass safety barriers around the edge have been inclined outwards.
The 30-million euro ($37.5-million) refit, which took two years, includes shops, restaurants and a museum where the history of the 125-year-old tower will be told on seven screens.
Eiffel Tower
Weekend Box Office
"Gone Girl"
"Annabelle" couldn't scare off "Gone Girl" at the weekend box office.
The Fox thriller starring Ben Affleck as a man whose wife goes missing overcame the Warner Bros. possessed doll horror with a $38 million debut, according to studio estimates Sunday.
Sony's "The Equalizer," last week's top performer, came in third place in its second weekend with $19 million, bringing its total domestic haul to $64.5 million. The revenge thriller starring Denzel Washington reteams him with director Antoine Fuqua, who helmed 2001's "Training Day," the film that earned Washington an Oscar for best actor.
"Left Behind," the weekend's other big debut, opened in sixth place with $6.8 million. The Rapture-set film starring Nicholas Cage is based on the novel of the same name.
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. "Gone Girl," $38 million.
2. "Annabelle," $37.2 million.
3. "The Equalizer," $19 million.
4. "The Boxtrolls," $12.4 million.
5. "The Maze Runner," $12 million
6. "Left Behind," $6.8 million.
7. "This Is Where I Leave You," $4 million.
8. "Dolphin Tale 2," $3.5 million.
9. "Guardians of the Galaxy," $3 million.
10. "No Good Deed," $2.5 million.
"Gone Girl"
In Memory
Paul Revere
Paul Revere, the organist and leader of the Raiders rock band, has died. He was 76.
Roger Hart, manager for Paul Revere and the Raiders, said he died Saturday at his home in Garden Valley, Idaho, from cancer. Revere was born in Harvard, Nebraska, Hart said.
"He'd been quiet about it for some time," Hart said. "Treated at the Mayo Clinic, Paul stayed on the road as long as he could, then retired recently back to Idaho, where he and his wife, Sydney, always kept a home."
Revere, born Paul Revere Dick, became known as "the madman of rock and roll" for his theatrical colonial wardrobe and infectious onstage persona with the band.
The group became popular in 1963 with its rendition of Richard Berry's "Louie, Louie" before releasing its own hits, such as "Kicks," ''Hungry" and "Good Thing." The band's biggest smash came in 1971 with "Indian Reservation."
Paul Revere and the Raiders served as the house band for the Dick Clark TV show "Where the Action Is" and made an appearance as themselves in the "Batman" TV series starring Adam West.
While the band's line-up changed over the past 50 years, Revere remained a constant presence with the group and he continued touring until earlier this year.
Paul Revere
In Memory
Kevin Metheny
Kevin Metheny, a longtime radio programmer and operations manager, has died. Metheny died Friday at the age of 60.
His death was first confirmed by allaccess.com and later reported by The Chicago Tribune. The Daily News reports he died of a heart attack.
Metheny was best known to Howard Stern fans as Pig Virus after their paths crossed at New York's WNBC. That was the moniker the radio personality referred to him as in his book Private Parts. A version of that character, Pig Vomit, later appeared in the movie version, played by Paul Giamatti.
"Of course, this isn't the way I'd prefer to be known," Metheny told the Daily News of the name. "You just have to roll with it. ... Howard is an entertainer and this was part of his material."
Metheny most recently worked at KGO-AM 810 and KSFO-AM 650 in San Francisco as the operations manager.
He is survived by his two daughters, Eleanor Mutheenee and Maeve Eilish.
Kevin Metheny
In Memory
Michael Goldberg
Michael Goldberg, writer, director and producer best known for his screenplay for "Cool Runnings," the comedy about the Jamaican Olympic bobsled team, died in Studio City, Calif., on October 2, following a battle with brain and sinus cancer that lasted more than a decade. He was 55.
Goldberg's writing credits include "Should've Been Romeo," with Paul Ben-Victor; "Little Giants," which starred Rick Moranis and Ed O'Neill; "Bushwhacked, with Daniel Stern; "Snow Dogs," with Cuba Gooding Jr.; "The Lovemaster," with comedian Craig Shoemaker, which he also directed; and the television series "Brutally Normal."
Goldberg also acted in and directed numerous Off Broadway plays and regional productions.
He received an MFA from the University of Michigan and then a BFA from Carnegie Mellon University.
Goldberg is survived by mother Dorothy Lean, father George, daughter Kayla, brother Mark and sister Randi, as well as former wife Karen Ray, and siblings Francine Lean, Jodi Whitten and Gary Lean.
Michael Goldberg
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