Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Henry Rollins: Empowerment Through Libraries (LA Weekly)
Libraries and books are a big part of my life. Like a lot of inwardly drawn young people, I spent a lot of time in libraries. At my high school, I often spent my lunch breaks there. The books were an escape and the Ritalin that was pumping through my system killed my appetite. I also spent a lot of time in the library near my apartment. It was big and often quite empty. There were no parents there, no one I knew, and the solitude was a great relief.
Robert M. Sapolsky: Would you break the law for your family? (LA Times)
Lying to protect a relative is a strong impulse - except when it isn't. Consider the story of the boy of the Stalinist era who informed on his father.
Ronald C. White: "The Gettysburg Address: Much noted and long remembered" (LA Times)
150 years later, Lincoln's great speech is a testament to the power of choosing your words.
PATT MORRISON: Paul Rusesabagina, Rwanda's hotel hero (LA Times)
In April 1994, as general manager of the luxury hotel where he worked, he protected more than 1,000 people who had fled the killing rampage in the country. Now he lectures about human rights.
Batman Returns - Catwoman cosplay © R&R (YouTube)
Rei Doll dresses and performs as Michelle Pfeiffer's Catwoman from Batman Returns.
Team Rocket - "Double-Trouble" cosplay (YouTube)
Jessie - Ryoko
James - Rei
Sam3 New Mural In Blanca, Spain (StreetArtNews)
Boatman punting down the river.
Interview with Sam3 (UKAdapta)
Our society desperately needs new ways to face the dark and difficult near future. Art is the best way to reveal the hidden realities on the today's way of life. I have always been fascinated by the ideas of symbols, something that contains more than one meaning and that says more than only one thing. All my work is filled with this sort of dualism, like a search mirror, where I try to reach a public that is not specialised.
Breaking Bad Season 5 - Alternate Ending (YouTube)
David Bruce's Amazon Author Page
David Bruce's Smashwords Page
David Bruce's Blog
David Bruce's Lulu Storefront
David Bruce's Apple iBookstore
David Bruce has approximately 50 Kindle books on Amazon.com.
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Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Bosko Suggests
Towers
Have a great day,
Bosko.
Thanks, Bosko!
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Overcast morning, sunny afternoon.
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Governors Awards
Brad Pitt kissed Angelina Jolie after her grand entrance at the film academy's Governors Awards Saturday night.
Steve Martin pretended to take a seat at the wrong table a few times before finding the right one, while Angela Lansburybeamed as she entered the room.
The honorary Oscar winners, along with Italian costume designer Piero Tosi, were honored at a private dinner at the Hollywood & Highland Center.
Tosi wasn't able to attend, but scores of A-listers did, including Tom Hanks, Martin Short, Diane Keaton, Octavia Spencer, Mark Wahlberg, Kathryn Bigelow, Jennifer Garner, Harrison Ford and Alfre Woodard.
Jolie received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, while Martin, Lansbury and Tosi were given honorary Academy Awards for their distinguished careers.
Governors Awards
Egypt's Jon Stewart Breaks With Station
Bassem Youssef
The production company of Egypt's widely popular satire show said Sunday it has decided to leave the private station that took it off the air after it lampooned the military and the recent nationalist fervor gripping the country.
QSoft said in a statement that it failed to convince CBC to resume broadcasting Bassem Youssef's program, and will take legal action against the network over "financial and moral damages."
The dispute over Youssef's "ElBernameg", or The Program, in Arabic, started earlier this month when CBC took the show off the air after the new season's first episode, saying he violated "the journalist code of ethics" and had delivered fewer episodes than agreed upon.
Qsoft called CBC's reasons a "pretext" and said its decision reflected badly on freedom of expression in Egypt. It accused the station of waging a campaign against the satirist and the production company "to pressure them and impose restrictions on the program and its content."
The decision came minutes before airing the second episode of the season. It caused an uproar among Youssef's fans and some of the country's prominent politicians who accused the station of stifling criticism of the country's new interim rulers and the military.
Bassem Youssef
Vegas Residency Encore
McGraw, Hill
Tim McGraw and Faith Hill brushed off tabloid divorce rumors as they powered into an encore run of "Soul2Soul," a Las Vegas Strip residency that drew sellout crowds in its first season and is scheduled for 10 select weekends through April.
The country music royals sat close and bantered with each other before a doubleheader of shows Friday at the Venetian resort, telling reporters they've outlasted split rumors that started from the first weeks of their 17-year marriage.
The show, which squeezes the electricity of an arena production into a 1,800-seat theater with a live band, is a tag team of hits drawn from two decades of their separate, stellar careers. McGraw saunters across the stage with an electric guitar slung across his back, face half-hid in the shadow of a black cowboy hat as he drawls "Real Good Man."
Hill is the bad boy's angelic foil, luminous in white and gold as she's lifted from below the stage. A black costume she wears later in the show evokes both wings and a shroud as she moves between the sensuous "Breathe" and mournful "Like We Never Loved at All."
McGraw, Hill
Quebec Snowbirds Fear English-Language Law
Georgia
An email circulating in Quebec has snowbirds worried about a Georgia law requiring drivers to carry an English-language permit or face stiff fines.
The email warns Quebec drivers headed to Florida to watch out for roadblocks on highways in the southern U.S. state, saying police will issue $500 tickets to anyone with a French-language driver's license.
Representatives of the Canadian Automobile Association (CAA) - which has seen a flurry of requests to purchase international permits - say the email notice probably isn't real.
The law, however, does exist.
Since 2009, Georgia state law has required that all motorists holding a driver's licence written in a language other than English be in possession of an International Driving Permit (IDP). It is the only state in the U.S. with this requirement.
Georgia
Activists Mark Two Months In Detention
Greenpeace
Greenpeace organised protests in 263 cities around the world on Saturday to mark two months since 30 of its environmental activists were jailed in Russia over a demonstration against Arctic drilling.
The group said it hoped thousands of people would take part in the protests, which were taking place from London and Berlin to Delhi and Buenos Aires.
In a case that has sparked an international outcry, the crew-members of Greenpeace's Arctic Sunrise ship were detained on September 18 after several of them scaled an oil platform run by Russian state-owned energy giant Gazprom.
British supporters staged peaceful protests at some 70 petrol stations run by Anglo-Dutch energy company Shell, which has links to Gazprom, Greenpeace said.
Greenpeace
Trial To Decide Fate Of Warhol Portrait
Farrah Fawcett
Andy Warhol's artwork has always grabbed attention and sparked discussion, but one of his portraits of Farrah Fawcett is about to receive scrutiny of a different kind in a Los Angeles courtroom.
The case centers on a relatively simple question: does one of Warhol's depictions of Fawcett belong to her longtime lover, Ryan O'Neal, or should it join its twin at her alma mater, the University of Texas at Austin?
To decide the case, jurors will hear testimony and see evidence focused on Warhol and O'Neal's friendship, his relationship with Fawcett and the actress' final wishes. The panel will likely get insight into Warhol's creation of the Fawcett image, which was based on a Polaroid photo the artist took of the "Charlie's Angels" star in 1980.
Jury selection in the trial is expected to begin this week, with O'Neal and possibly Fawcett's "Charlie's Angels" co-star Jaclyn Smith taking the witness stand. The case resumes on Wednesday, when lawyers will argue what evidence will be admitted during the trial, which is expected to take two weeks.
Fawcett decreed in her will that all her artwork go to the school, yet O'Neal insists that Warhol gave him a copy of the portrait as a gift and it belongs to him.
Farrah Fawcett
Hidden Out Of 'Love'
German Art
The recluse German collector who kept a priceless trove of art, possibly including works stolen by the Nazis, hidden for half a century says he did so because he "loved" them and that he wants them back.
Cornelius Gurlitt told German magazine Der Spiegel in an interview published Sunday that he wanted to protect the collection built up by his late father Hildebrand, an art dealer commissioned by the Nazis to sell works that Adolf Hitler's regime wanted to get rid of. Bavarian authorities say they suspect the elder Gurlitt may have acquired pictures taken from Jews by the Nazis - and that this may lead to restitution claims by the original owners or their heirs.
In his first extensive interview since the case was revealed two weeks ago, Gurlitt told Der Spiegel that everybody needs something to love. "And I loved nothing more in life than my pictures," the magazine quoted him as saying.
The death of his parents and sister were less painful to him than the loss of the 1,406 paintings, prints and drawings by artists such as Pablo Picasso, Henry Matisse and Max Liebermann that authorities hauled out of his apartment last year, he told the magazine.
He told the magazine he kept his favorite pictures in a small suitcase. Each evening he would unpack it to admire them. The magazine said he also spoke to the pictures.
German Art
Rally For Climate Action
Australia
Thousands of people on Sunday rallied across Australia calling for stronger action on climate change, days after new conservative Prime Minister Tony Abbott moved to abolish a carbon tax.
Activist group GetUp, which organised the National Day of Climate Action, estimated that more than 60,000 people turned out at protests.
Australia has just experienced the hottest 12 months ever recorded, which coupled with massive bushfires in New South Wales state last month has inflamed debate about whether there is a link to climate change.
The rallies also followed Abbott last week introducing a bill into parliament to repeal a carbon tax designed to combat climate change as his first major economic reform since taking office.
Australia
Disses Sister
Liz Cheney
Wyoming Senate candidate Liz Cheney on Sunday was sharply condemned for her opposition to gay marriage by her own sister, Mary Cheney. Mary Cheney is gay. She and wife Heather Poe are raising two children.
"Liz - this isn't just an issue on which we disagree - you're just wrong - and on the wrong side of history," wrote Mary Cheney on her Facebook page.
This intra-family spat was sparked by a comment that older sister Liz, who's running for the GOP Senate nomination against incumbent Wyoming Sen. Mike Enzi, made earlier in the day on "Fox News Sunday".
Asked by host Chris Wallace if she'd flip-flopped on gay rights, Liz Cheney said she hadn't. While she supports equal benefits for same-sex partnerships, she thinks it's an issue best left to states to decide.
This is what did not sit well with little sister Mary and Mary's spouse Heather Poe, whose own Facebook comments were direct and personal.
Liz Cheney
Often Abandoned
Urban Hens
Five chickens live in artist Alicia Rheal's backyard in Madison, Wis., and when they age out of laying eggs, they may become chicken dinner.
"We get egg-layers and after a couple of years we put the older girls in the freezer and we get a newer batch," Rheal said.
Rheal is a pragmatic backyard chicken enthusiast who likes to know what's in her food. But others find the fun of bringing a slice of farm life into the city stops when the hens become infertile. Hesitant to kill, pluck and eat a chicken, some people abandon the animal in a park or rural area.
As a result, more old hens are showing up at animal shelters, where workers increasingly respond to reports of abandoned poultry.
"The numbers are exploding. We had hoped that the fad had peaked and maybe we were going to get a little bit of a break here, but we haven't," said Mary Britton Clouse, who operates Chicken Run Rescue in Minneapolis.
Urban Hens
Weekend Box Office
'Thor: The Dark World'
In an unlikely battle of sequels, "Thor: The Dark World" bested "The Best Man Holiday" at the box office.
Disney's "Thor: The Dark World" continued its box-office reign with $38.5 million in its second week of release, according to studio estimates Sunday. Opening 15 years after the original "The Best Man," Universal's "The Best Man Holiday" opened strongly with $30.6 million.
Drawing an overwhelmingly female and African-American audience, "The Best Man Holiday" was a surprise challenger for the mighty "Thor." The R-rated romantic comedy, with an ensemble cast including Morris Chestnut and Taye Diggs, debuted with more than three times the box office of 1999's "The Best Man." That film opened with $9 million.
Just as "Thor" approached the half-billion mark, Warner Bros.' space adventure "Gravity" crossed it in its seventh week of release.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theatres, according to Rentrak. Where available, latest international numbers for Friday through Sunday are also included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.
1. "Thor: The Dark World," $38.5 million ($52.5 million international).
2. "The Best Man Holiday," $30.6 million.
3. "Last Vegas," $8.9 million.
4. "Free Birds," $8.3 million.
5. "Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa," $7.7 million.
6. "Gravity," $6.3 million.
7. "Ender's Game," $6.2 million.
8. "12 Years a Slave," $4.7 million.
9. "Captain Phillips," $4.5 million.
10. "About Time," $3.5 million.
'Thor: The Dark World'
In Memory
Doris Lessing
Doris Lessing emerged from a black cab outside her home in London one day in 2007 and was confronted by a horde of reporters. When told she had won the Nobel Prize, she blinked and retorted "Oh Christ! ... I couldn't care less."
That was typical of the independent - and often irascible - author who died Sunday after a long career that included "The Golden Notebook," a 1962 novel than made her an icon of the women's movement. Lessing's books reflected her own improbable journey across the former British Empire, and later her vision of a future ravaged by atomic warfare.
The exact cause of Lessing's death at her home in London was not immediately disclosed, and her family requested privacy. She was 94.
Lessing explored topics ranging from colonial Africa to dystopian Britain, from the mystery of being female to the unknown worlds of science fiction. In winning the Nobel literature prize, the Swedish Academy praised Lessing for her "skepticism, fire and visionary power."
The often-polarizing Lessing never saved her fire for the page. The targets of her vocal ire in recent years included former resident George W. Bush - "a world calamity" - and modern women - "smug, self-righteous." She also raised hackles by deeming the 9-11 terrorist attacks on the United States "not that terrible."
Lessing was 88 when she won the Nobel literature prize, making her the oldest recipient of the award.
Born Doris May Tayler on Oct. 22, 1919, in Persia (now Iran), where her father was a bank manager, Lessing moved to Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) aged 5 and lived there until she was 29.
Strong-willed from the start, she read works by Charles Dickens and Rudyard Kipling by age 10 and lived by the motto, "I will not." Educated at a Roman Catholic girls school in Salisbury (now Harare), she left before finishing high school.
At 19, she married her first husband, Frank Wisdom, with whom she had a son and a daughter. She left that family in her early 20s and became drawn into the Left Book Club, a group of literary communists and socialists headed by Gottfried Lessing, the man who would become her second husband and father her third child.
But Lessing became disillusioned with the communist movement and in 1949, at 30, left her second husband to move to Britain. Along with her young son, Peter, she packed the manuscript of her first novel, "The Grass is Singing." The novel, which used the story of a woman trapped in a loveless marriage to portray poverty and racism in Southern Rhodesia, was published in 1950 to great success in Europe and the United States.
In the 1950s, Lessing became an honorary member of a writers' group known as the Angry Young Men who were seen as injecting a radical new energy into British culture. Her home in London became a centre not only for novelists, playwrights and critics but also for drifters and loners.
Lessing herself denied being a feminist and said she was not conscious of writing anything particularly inflammatory when she produced "The Golden Notebook."
Lessing's early novels decried the dispossession of black Africans by white colonials and criticized South Africa's apartheid system, prompting the governments of Southern Rhodesia and South Africa to bar her in 1956.
Later governments overturned that order. In June 1995, the same year that she received an honorary degree from Harvard University, she returned to South Africa to see her daughter and grandchildren.
In Britain, Lessing won the Somerset Maugham Award in 1954, and was made a Companion of Honor in 1999. That honour came after she turned down the chance to become a Dame of the British Empire - on the ground that there was no such thing as the British Empire at the time.
She is survived by her daughter Jean and granddaughters Anna and Susannah.
Doris Lessing
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