Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Deborah Orr: From Russell Brand to Nigel Farage, anti-politics is all the rage (Guardian)
Lord Freud's paltry valuation of disabled workers is emblematic of the incoherence that is pushing voters further from the political mainstream.
Deborah Orr: Taxpayers' money spent on childcare is not wasted - it's an investment (Guardian)
Fifteen hours of free childcare a week might not allow mothers to return to work immediately - but it lets them know that the state respects and supports their intention to do so in future.
Matt Soniak: That Time it Rained Flesh in Kentucky (Mental Floss)
A more probable explanation, suggested by the Crouchs and chemist Robert Peter and supported by Kastenbine, Edwards and Smith, was that meat shower was simply vomit produced by a passing flock of vultures "who had been feasting themselves more abundantly than wisely" on a carcass.
Henry Rollins: Not Keeping It Real (LA Weekly)
Last night, I went to Ian MacKaye's parents' house for dinner. I have been going in and out of this house for over 40 years. This is an example of common domesticity that, alien as I am, I truly enjoy. After dinner, Ian's niece, an energetic second-grader and one of my favorite people, wrote something on a piece of paper and affixed it to my back. I pulled it off and read it: "Kick me on the butt!"
Suzanne Moore: Reeva Steenkamp was a victim of male violence. That is the real story (Guardian)
When coverage of Steenkamp's death, at the hands of a famous athlete, ducks the male violence question, what hope for the less newsworthy women killed each year by men?
Joanna Blythman: No wonder superstores are dying - we're sick and tired of their culture (Guardian)
Britain's longstanding exclusive relationship with the supermarkets is in terminal decline.
Glenn Patterson: A photograph seen once, long ago, haunted me - and taught me to distrust memory (Guardian)
When I tracked down a Nazi soldier's snapshot of an execution, it reminded me how warily you must tread when you try to enlist the past, however good your intentions.
John G. Messerly: Transhumanism and Scientific Requirements to Hold Political Office (Humanity + Magazine)
Recently I have written multiple articles about the scientific illiteracy of American politicians. Even members of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology display an ignorance of science that should make a high school student blush.
Dana Stevens: Force Majeure (Slate)
Watch this brilliant and pitiless critique of marriage and masculinity with someone you love.
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wrote:
took the day off.
is semi-retired.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
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
Sunny and breezy.
Honored At The Apollo
Herbie Hancock
Herbie Hancock enjoyed "A Great Night in Harlem" with a look to the past and the future as the legendary jazz pianist received a lifetime achievement award from the Jazz Foundation of America at a benefit concert at the historic Apollo Theater.
Actor Bruce Willis, introducing Hancock at Friday night's concert, offered a glance at "the future of jazz" as he brought out 11-year-old Indonesian piano prodigy Joey Alexander to play a solo rendition of Thelonious Monk's "'Round Midnight."
After Alexander got a standing ovation, Hancock enthused, "Wasn't it amazing. ... He's taken my job away from me." Alexander will be releasing his debut recording for the Harlem-based indie Motema label next year.
The tribute also featured a historic reunion for the first time in decades of Hancock's groundbreaking jazz-fusion Mwandishi band from the early '7Os - with the pianist joining multi-reed player Benny Maupin, trombonist Julian Priester, trumpeter Eddie Henderson, drummer Billy Hart, and bassist Buster Williams to play his composition "Toys."
Herbie Hancock
Hall of Fame
Country Music
Ronnie Milsap, the blind country-soul singer and pianist, joined bluegrass vocalist Mac Wiseman and the late songwriter Hank Cochran as the newest members of the Country Music Hall of Fame.
At a ceremony in Nashville, Tennessee, country artists Vince Gill, Martina McBride and Hunter Hayes honoured the inductees Sunday with tribute performances at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.
Steeped in Appalachian music but classically trained, Milsap first began playing with Elvis Presley in Memphis before developing into a country singer with 40 No. 1 country hits and six Grammy Awards.
Wiseman, born in Crimora, Virginia, started off playing with bluegrass legends such as the Foggy Mountain Boys and Bill Monroe before becoming a solo artist. He also was a record label executive and a founder of the Country Music Association in 1958.
One of country's most successful songwriters, Cochran's standards include "I Fall To Pieces," made famous by Patsy Cline, "Make The World Go Away," recorded by Eddy Arnold, and "The Chair," performed by George Strait.
Country Music
Letter Sells For $28,000
John Lennon
A letter John Lennon wrote to New York-based television host Joe Franklin sold for more than $28,000 Thursday night at the Boston-based RR Auction. In the letter, written on Apple Records stationary in 1971 right after Yoko Ono released her album Fly, Lennon raves about his wife's musical talents and asks Franklin to give her latest LP a listen.
The Lennon letter to Franklin was just one of the many Beatles-related items that sold at the October 24 auction. A batch of stock transfer sheets from 1969 signed by each Beatle individually sold for over $16,000, since any documents bearing the Fab Four's signatures from 1969 are extremely rare.
Nearly 350 items of rock memorabilia were auctioned off, ranging from Beatles ticket stubs and a Crosby, Stills and Nash gold record to Led Zeppelin's autographed sheet music for "Stairway to Heaven" and a guitar owned and used by Journey's Neil Schon. But the biggest ticket item at the RR Auction: Dee Dee Ramone's stage-used Fender Precision bass guitar, which he played during the Ramones' mid-Eighties tours. Ramone's bass, which was also signed by the rocker, sold for just under $38,000.
Additionally, Joey Ramone's handwritten lyrics to his solo track "Maria Bartiromo," an ode to the business news anchor the late Ramones singer was crushing on, were purchased for $1,886 by Bartiromo herself. A pair of Ramone's amber-colored circular prescription glasses also sold for $12,400, his black leather pants for $7,100 and a leather jacket for $7,000.
John Lennon
Visits Alabama Church
Dalai Lama
The Dalai Lama, spiritual leader of Tibet, visited one of America's sacred sanctuaries on Saturday, touring the church where four African-American girls were killed in a 1963 bombing that galvanized the civil rights movement.
As more than 300 protesters and supporters chanted and beat drums outside, the Dalai Lama held hands with Birmingham Mayor William Bell inside the 16th Street Baptist Church and said he was overjoyed to stand at the site where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights leaders in the 1960s launched rallies for freedom for African-Americans.
"Human rights starts from within," the Dalai Lama said. "It does not come from skies. It does grow from earth."
He said: "Martin Luther King was important to the acceptance of civil rights. Now the American people, majority are white, accept the reality."
Dalai Lama
Women's Driving Campaign
Saudi Arabia
Activists pushing for women's right-to-drive in Saudi Arabia declared their online campaign a success Sunday, in the world's only country where women are not allowed to operate cars.
The campaign that began last year and revved up again since the beginning of the month encouraged women to post online images of themselves driving.
Dozens of women have driven and posted during the latest campaign, one activist said, although she knew of only two who hit the streets Saturday and Sunday as the campaign peaked.
The activist said she did not want to be named because the interior ministry has threatened her with arrest if she speaks publicly about the campaign.
Saudi Arabia
Caught Red Handed
Megyn
With less than two weeks away from the 2014 midterm elections, Republicans are expected to make gains in the Senate, possibly enough to put them in the majority. While most polls show this as the most likely outcome, one Fox News host has already laid out an excuse if the Republicans don't get their way.
The topic of voter fraud has become a very partisan issue in American politics. Republicans have introduced, and in some cases, signed into law questionable voter ID laws that they claim help curb potential voter fraud. Democrats don't see it that way, and instead criticize Republicans for engaging in voter suppression by holding down a large majority of voters who would normally vote for Democratic candidates. The topic of voter fraud, or voter suppression, is a mainstay on Fox News, especially during election season. This was the case earlier this week when a controversial report was made on the network.
It happened on Tuesday night on the October 21 edition of "The Kelly File" on Fox News. Host Megyn Kelly reported on an election law that the Democratic governor of Colorado had signed over a year ago. Kelly claimed that the law "literally allows residents to print ballots from their home computers, then encourages them to turn ballots over to 'collectors'" Kelly commented that it seemed that this was the Democrats way of doing away with traditional polling places, sarcastically saying "what could go wrong?"
The problem with Kelly's report is that it turned out to be false and misleading. This was called out on the October 24 edition of "The Rachel Maddow Show" on MSNBC. Host Rachel Maddow said that Kelly and Fox News simply"made it up." The local NBC affiliate was quick to fact check Fox News over their report and said that "Fox News host Megyn Kelly's program incorrectly told viewers that Colorado voters are now able to print ballots using their home computers and vote by turning them in." NBC News points out that the only people allowed to print ballots are Military members and overseas voters who can obtain a ballot by email, to which they can print it out and return it with a signed affidavit by traditional mail.
Megyn
Clown Terror Spreads
France
A wave of panic sparked by evil clowns stalking French towns has spread to the south of France where police on Saturday night arrested 14 teenagers dressed as the pranksters, carrying pistols, knives and baseball bats.
A police source said Sunday the group of teens were arrested in the parking lot of a high school in the Mediterranean port town of Agde, as several other complaints poured in about "armed clowns" in the region over the weekend.
In the nearby city of Montpellier a man disguised as a clown was arrested after beating up a pedestrian with an iron bar, while three motorists in different towns complained about "scary clowns" threatening them.
The phenomenon of dressing up as an evil clown and terrifying passers-by -- a trend which has also been seen in the United States and Britain -- cropped up in the north of France in early October.
France
Hall of Justice
LA
Relics of an era when famous felons occupied the old Los Angeles Hall of Justice have been exorcised in a dazzling restoration. But a single grim artifact has been preserved: the claustrophobic jail cell occupied by Charles Manson, Sirhan Sirhan and other celebrity defendants.
It's in the basement where the county coroner once performed autopsies on Marilyn Monroe and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy in the building that also saw the trials of Bugsy Siegel and movie stars Robert Mitchum and Charlie Chaplin.
The Hall of Justice opened in 1926 as an all-purpose justice center, providing 17 courtrooms, 750 jail cells, a morgue and offices for law enforcement officials. Its proximity to Hollywood made it a site of famous trials and fictional movie and TV shows, including "Dragnet" and "Get Smart." In 1949, movie star Robert Mitchum, convicted of marijuana possession, served his 60-day sentence there.
The 1994 Northridge earthquake caused significant damage to the building and it was declared unsafe. It remained shuttered for 20 years, deteriorating into a rat-infested shell of its former glory. The media used its parking lot as "Camp OJ" for broadcasts during the O.J. Simpson trial.
Architects specializing in historical restoration have already been visiting to see the careful blending of past and present in the 12-floor edifice restored at a cost of $231.8 million.
LA
Weekend Box Office
'Ouija'
The spirits moved "Ouija" to No. 1 at the box office, with the board-game adaption leading the weekend with a $20 million debut, according to studio estimates Sunday.
The horror movie release, timed to Halloween, attracted more moviegoers at the North America box office than the violent Keanu Reeves thriller "John Wick." The R-rated hit-man revenge tale from Lionsgate opened with $14.2 million in second place.
Last week's top film, the Brad Pitt World War II action film "Fury," slid to third with $13 million. In two weeks, the Sony Pictures release has made $46.1 million.
Laura Poitras' "Citizenfour" drew a $25,000 average opening in five theaters for the Weinstein Co.'s Radius unit. Expanding to 50 theaters in its second week, Fox Searchlight's "Birdman" took in an average of almost $29,000 per screen.
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. "Ouija," $20 million ($1.3 million international).
2. "John Wick," $14.2 million.
3. "Fury," $13 million ($11.2 million international).
4. "Gone Girl," $11.1 million ($18.4 million international).
5. "The Book of Life," $9.8 million ($7.8 million international).
6. "St. Vincent," $8.1 million.
7. "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day," $7 million ($2.5 million international).
8. "The Best of Me," $4.7 million.
9. "The Judge," $4.3 million ($6.9 million international).
10. "Dracula Untold," $4.3 million ($14.7 million international).
'Ouija'
In Memory
Marcia Strassman
Actress Marcia Strassman, who is known for her roles in such hits as "Welcome Back, Kotter" and "M*A*S*H," died on Friday after a long fight with breast cancer, her sister Julie Strassman confirmed. She was 66.
Along with her many TV credits, Strassman is also recognized for her roles opposite Rick Moranis in "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" and sequel "Honey I Blew Up the Kids." She was also a long-standing member on the national board of the Screen Actors Guild.
Strassman's first big TV credit came in 1964, when she appeared in "The Patty Duke Show." She would go on to play Nurse Margie Culter in several episodes of "M*A*S*H."
She's perhaps best known, however, as Julie Kotter, wife to the titular school teacher on "Welcome Back, Kotter." The series ran from 1975-1979.
Most recently, Strassman had a stint on "Third Watch" in 2004, appeared in the 2003 TV adaptation of the "Tremors" films and NBC's "Providence." Also included in her TV credits are "Booker" and "Noah Knows Best," and she did voice work for shows including "Aaaahh!!! Real Monsters."
Along with her role in the "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" films, she was also in 1985 film "The Aviator" with Christopher Reeve and Rosanna Arquette.
Ron "Horshack" Palillo and Robert "Epstein" Hegyes of the original "Welcome Back, Kotter" cast died in 2012. John Sylvester White, who played Mr. Woodman on the show, died in 1988.
Strassman is survived by her daughter, costume designer Elizabeth "Lizzie" Collector, along with her sister Julie and brother Steven Strassman. Julie Strassman added that she was a beloved aunt to a nephew named Jesse and to Julie's daughter, Halley.
Funeral services are pending. Julie Strassman requests that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to cancer organizations such as the American Cancer Society, in Marcia Strassman's name.
Marcia Strassman
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