Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Christopher Hitchens on the Afterlife (YouTube)
Just a quick video of two ... Christopher Hitchens moments from his debate with Sam Harris, David Wolpe and Bradley Shavit Artson at the Whizin Center.
Marc Dion: The Catheterization of Christmas (Creators Syndicate)
But we are not that different. Lying in a bed, knee throbbing, missing your wife, taking a 15 minute break from your job cleaning the hallways, lobby and toilets of a big hospital, we are stunningly similar, looking for that easy-to- breathe moment between paychecks.
Terry Savage: Watch for New Bank Fees, and Safeguard Your Accounts and Cash (Creators Syndicate)
It's the holiday shopping season, a time when banks and pickpockets hope you're concentrating more on spending than on safeguarding your money.
Ruth Gogoll: Why I Write Lesbian Literature (Huffington Post)
I thought, "If there are no entertaining, happy-ending stories with lesbians, I have to write them myself. I don't want to read another book about an unhappy lesbian life." I wanted to create a world for lesbians that was better than the real world.
Steve Appleford: Roger Corman, chance-taker (LA Times)
Encouraging young talent. That's what he's most lauded for in a new documentary.
Roger Ebert: The Best Films of 2011
Making lists is not my favorite occupation. They inevitably inspire only reader complaints. Not once have I ever heard from a reader that my list was just fine, and they liked it. Yet an annual Best Ten list is apparently a statutory obligation for movie critics.
Eddie Deezen: A Few More Facts About The Simpsons
Matt Groening, the creator of 'The Simpsons,' said he made the characters yellow to grab the attention of channel surfers.
Roger Ebert: Getting Out of the Way
A story about a 12-year-old musical prodigy caught my eye today. His name is Jay Greenburg. He composes in his mind. It comes to him naturally. When we think of musical prodigies we imagine a child on a piano bench, or playing a violin. Not many compose. Greenburg has written five symphonies.
Henry Rollins: "The Beach Boys' 'SMiLE': Even Better than Advertised" (LA Weekly)
At this moment, I am sitting in front of my stereo as the Beach Boys' 'SMiLE' album wraps up with "Good Vibrations." Sonically, the album is one of the best things you are likely to hear in all of your life. There are moments on 'SMiLE' that are so astonishingly good you might find yourself just staring at your speakers in unguarded wonder, as I have.
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:
answered:
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 afternoon.
'We Are The 99 Percent'
Year's Top Quote
The growing scrutiny of the rich dominated this year's best quotes, according to a Yale University librarian who anointed the Occupy Wall Street protesters' slogan - "We are the 99 percent" - as the year's best.
Fred Shapiro, associate librarian at Yale Law School, has released his sixth annual list of the most notable quotations of the year.
Shapiro noted that the conservative tea party movement was prominent in last year's quotes.
"The tea party quotes are very strongly anti-government," Shapiro said. "The Occupy quotes and the other more liberal quotes that you see at the top of the list this year are directed more at Wall Street and the upper 1 percent economically of the country rather than focus squarely on government."
Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat running for Senate in Massachusetts, made the list with her remarks that the rich didn't do it on their own.
For the whole list - Year's Top Quote
90th Birthday Extravaganza
Betty White
"Hot in Cleveland" star Betty White will be all over NBC on January 16, with a 90-minute televised celebration, "Betty White's 90th Birthday: A Tribute to America's Golden Girl," followed by a preview of her hotly anticipated hidden-camera series, "Betty White's Off Their Rockers."
A sort of "Punk'd" for the Geritol set, "Off Their Rockers" will feature White leading "a fearless band of senior citizens to the streets to pull shockingly hilarious pranks on the younger generation," with the "Golden Girls" alum providing "saucy commentary" and sharing "engaging, comical pearls of wisdom." The series, based on the Belgian show "Benidorm Bastards," will be executive-produced by White.
The sneak preview will be preceded from 8 to 9:30 p.m. by "Betty White's 90th Birthday: A tribute to America's Golden Girl." (White's actual birthday is January 17, but she'll probably be otherwise occupied at Chippendales that night.)
Taped live at Los Angeles' Biltmore Hotel, the special will feature White's co-stars and other famous well-wishers feting the actress with musical performances, special appearances and comedy. Brad Lachman Productions and Universal Television are producing, with Brad Lachman, Jon Macks and Steve Ridgeway serving as executive producers.
Betty White
Nepal's 'Singing Nun'
Ani Choying Dolma
Wrapped in a maroon robe, her head shaven, Ani Choying Dolma treads gingerly into a Kathmandu hotel, exuding the composure and serenity one might expect from a Buddhist nun.
But this 40-year-old is no ordinary devotee, for Dolma -- better known by her moniker "The Singing Nun" -- is the most unlikely of music stars, touring the world to change the lives of thousands of poverty-hit Nepali girls.
She has recorded 12 albums, and for over a decade has been playing in festivals and concerts across Europe and the United States.
The money she makes through her soulful music, a contemporary take on traditional Tibetan sounds, goes almost entirely to projects promoting the education and welfare of Buddhist nuns.
Yet Dolma's story has a dark heart -- a childhood marked by brutality that she believes would have left her consumed with hatred if not for a teacher who recognised her talent and became her salvation.
Ani Choying Dolma
"Pawn Stars" Begets "Cajun Pawn Stars"
History Channel
Been wondering where you can hock that spare cow you have sitting around? Look no further than the Silver Dollar Pawn & Jewelry Center in Alexandria, La., the setting for the History Channel's spin-off of its most popular series, "Pawn Stars."
"Cajun Pawn Stars," which premieres on History on January 8, will revolve around Silver Dollar Pawn, a shop that, in addition to dealing in jewelry and collectibles, also trades in livestock. One transaction involves donkeys.
Silver Dollar is operated by Jimmie "Big Daddy" DeRamus, along with DeRamus' daughter Tammie and his younger brother Johnnie. The 20,000-square-foot store houses more than 100,000 items, and is an attraction for school and tourist bus tours. History Channel's release on the show notes that the shop's customers will include a daily stream of "quirky local characters."
DeRamus has been in the pawn business for nearly three decades, and is described as a "walking encyclopedia" of knowledge about valuable and historic collectibles. He likes to make bold moves in acquiring rare artifacts, and in the premiere episode, makes a $500,000 offer to obtain rare bank notes.
History Channel
Key Witness Excused
Bradley Manning
A key witness was excused from testifying in the case against Army intelligence analyst Bradley Manning on Sunday after he invoked his right against self-incrimination at a hearing about the largest leak of classified documents in U.S. history.
Sergeant First Class Paul Adkins invoked his right against self-incrimination as he began answering questions at a proceeding to determine whether there was sufficient evidence to court-martial the 24-year-old Manning on charges including aiding the enemy, which carries life imprisonment.
The defense has portrayed Adkins, at the time a master sergeant in charge of security at the facility where Manning worked, as someone who should have recognized the private's troubled emotional state and acted to revoke the security clearance that gave him access to classified U.S. documents.
A second intelligence analyst who worked with Manning, Warrant Officer 1 Kyle Balonek, also invoked his right against self-incrimination and was excused from testifying on Sunday. He was one of the most experienced analysts in the unit.
Bradley Manning
Faces Questions
Piers Morgan
CNN star Piers Morgan may be known to Americans as an empathetic English interviewer, but it's his past at the heart of Britain's troubled tabloid newspaper world that is being trotted out before the cameras this week.
The often colorful and sometimes controversial story of Morgan's rise to the top will be revisited Tuesday, when the former editor appears by videolink at a judge-led inquiry into the ethics and practices of Britain's scandal-tarred press.
His appearance has been widely anticipated - not least because of the 46-year-old's irreverent flippancy.
Morgan shot to national prominence when he was picked by Murdoch to run the News of the World at age 28. Under his tenure the tabloid exposed actor Hugh Grant's liaison with Hollywood prostitute Divine Brown and Princess Diana's late-night phone calls to married art dealer Oliver Hoare. It wasn't all down to good reporting: Morgan has acknowledged he kept his edge in part through bribes paid to informants on rival titles.
In 1995 Morgan left the News of the World for the Daily Mirror. His time there was marked by scoops and controversy, but his editorship ended in 2004 when he ran a faked photograph purporting to show a British soldier urinating on an Iraqi detainee.
Piers Morgan
Missouri State University
"Dixie"
Missouri State University is apologizing after its band performed "Dixie" at a site where three black men were lynched in 1906.
Interim President Clif Smart tells the Springfield News-Leader the song was an "unfortunate selection" and won't be played again in a public venue.
The Confederate anthem has come to represent the ideology of the Old South.
The school's Pride Band played "Dixie" at the Nov. 18 dedication of Park Central Square in Springfield, the southwest Missouri city where the university is located. A plaque identifies the square as the location where three black men were lynched more than a century ago.
Smart says the band director didn't understand the significance of the song.
"Dixie"
Oscar Academy Plans Outdoor Theater
Hollywood
The overseers of the Academy Awards are building an outdoor theater and event space on a piece of land in Hollywood that had been intended for a film museum.
The Los Angeles Times reported Sunday that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences plans to open the 17,000-square-foot amphitheater next May as a venue to show classic films.
The academy bought the land in 2005 with plans to build a world-class film museum there. Planners abandoned that idea after the economy went sour, making it impossible to raise the funds needed to build a whole new facility.
In October, the academy announced plans to lease a former May Co. department store now owned by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and put the movie museum there.
Hollywood
Israel Puts Mark On U.S. TV
"Who's Still Standing?"
NBC's new quiz show "Who's Still Standing?" has contestants dropping through the floor, and the burgeoning Israeli TV industry whooping with delight.
The fast-paced trivia game, which sends losers falling through trap doors, makes its U.S. debut in a week-long series of shows this coming Monday, December 19, as the first Israeli reality program to find its way to the United States.
Judging by the in-roads being made by Israeli producers and creators on television around the world, it won't be last.
Twenty years after Israeli television broke away from its one channel model of mostly news, and British or U.S. drama imports, young producers are making their mark internationally with original programming often made on shoestring budgets.
"Who's Still Standing?"
Aim Carefully
Crystal Toilet
Diamonds may be a girl's best friend, but crystals are clearly for asses.
That's what Japanese interior-fixtures maker Lixil believes, and it's proving it with this awesomely blinged-out toilet under its Inax brand.
The Satis loo is decked out in 72,000 Swarovski crystals and is valued at $130,000, according to Lixil. It's on display at the company's showroom just outside Tokyo's tony Ginza district.
Toilet engineering, however, reflects traditional beliefs in a "toilet god," a Shinto deity who lives around loos. Keeping the bathroom clean would not only please the god. It was said to promise beauty and easy childbirth for women.
It's an old wives' tale, but last year singer Kana Uemura shot to fame with a chart-topping ballad about it entitled "Toire no Kamisama." It's a long, tearjerker tribute to Uemura's grandmother, who reminded her to always keep the toilet clean; here's the subtitled video.
Crystal Toilet
Weekend Box Office
"Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows"
Sherlock Holmes is facing his worst enemy: declining crowds at theaters as this year's domestic movie attendance dips to the lowest in 16 years.
Robert Downey Jr.'s sequel "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows" debuted on top with a $40 million weekend, off 36 percent from the first installment's $62.3 million opening two years ago, according to studio estimates Sunday.
After two previous weekends that were Hollywood's worst of the year, overall business was down again, about 12 percent lower than the same weekend in 2010 as Hollywood struggles to interest audiences in its big year-end releases.
That would be the lowest attendance since 1995, when admissions totaled 1.26 billion. Domestic attendance in modern times peaked at 1.6 billion in 2002 and has been on a generally decline since.
The 20th Century Fox family sequel "Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked" did even worse than "Holmes." ''Chipwrecked" opened at No. 2 with $23.5 million, about half the business the first two "Chipmunks" movies did on their debut weekends.
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. "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows," $40 million ($14.7 million international).
2. "Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked," $23.5 million ($14.5 million international).
3. "Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol," $13 million ($68.2 million international).
4. "New Year's Eve," $7.4 million.
5. "The Sitter," $4.4 million.
6. "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1," $4.3 million.
7. "Young Adult," $3.7 million.
8. "Hugo," $3.63 million.
9. "Arthur Christmas," $3.6 million ($9.7 million international).
10. "The Muppets," $3.5 million ($600,000 international).
"Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows"
In Memory
Dan Frazer
Veteran film and television actor Dan Frazer, best known for his role as Captain Frank McNeil on the 1970s television series "Kojak," has died in New York. He was 90.
Frazer's daughter, Susanna Frazer, said Sunday her father died of cardiac arrest Dec. 16 at his home in Manhattan. She described him as a "very truthful, naturalistic actor."
Frazer started playing character roles in various television series and films in the 1950s. His films include "Cleopatra Jones," ''Take the Money and Run" ''Lord Love a Duck" and "Deconstructing Harry." Besides "Kojak," Frazer's television appearances include "Car 54, Where Are You," ''Route 66," ''Barney Miller" and "Law & Order."
He was a member of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and an adviser to The Workshop Theatre Co.
Dan Frazer
In Memory
Vaclav Havel
The end of Czechoslovakia's totalitarian regime was called the Velvet Revolution because of how smooth the transition seemed: Communism dead in a matter of weeks, without a shot fired. But for Vaclav Havel, it was a moment he helped pay for with decades of suffering and struggle.
The dissident playwright spent years in jail but never lost his defiance, or his eloquence, and the government's attempts to crush his will ended up expanding his influence. He became a source of inspiration to Czechs, and to all of Eastern Europe. He went from prisoner to president in 1989, the year the Berlin Wall fell and communism crumbled across the region.
Havel died Sunday morning at his weekend home in the northern Czech Republic. The 75-year-old former chain-smoker had a history of chronic respiratory problems dating back to his time in prison.
Shy and bookish, with a wispy mustache and unkempt hair, Havel helped draw the world's attention to the anger and frustration spilling over behind the Iron Curtain. While he was president, the Czech Republic split from Slovakia, but it also made dramatic gains in economic might.
Havel was his country's first democratically elected president, leading it through the early challenges of democracy and its peaceful 1993 breakup into the Czech Republic and Slovakia, though his image suffered as his people discovered the difficulties of transforming their society.
He was an avowed peacenik who was close friends with members of the Plastic People of the Universe, a nonconformist rock band banned by the communist regime, and whose heroes included rockers such as Frank Zappa. He never quite shed his flower-child past and often signed his name with a small heart as a flourish.
"Truth and love must prevail over lies and hatred," Havel famously said. It became his revolutionary motto, which he said he always strove to live by.
Havel first made a name for himself after the 1968 Soviet-led invasion that crushed the Prague Spring reforms of Alexander Dubcek and other liberally minded communists in what was then Czechoslovakia.
Havel's plays were banned as hard-liners installed by Moscow snuffed out every whiff of rebellion. But he continued to write, producing a series of underground essays that stand with the work of Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov as the most incisive and eloquent analyses of what communism did to society and the individual.
One of his best-known essays, "The Power of the Powerless," was written in 1978. It borrowed slyly from the opening line of the mid-19th century Communist Manifesto, writing: "A specter is haunting eastern Europe: the specter of what in the West is called 'dissent.'"
He was born Oct. 5, 1936, in Prague, the child of a wealthy family that lost extensive property to communist nationalization in 1948. Havel was denied a formal education, eventually earning a degree at night school and starting out in theater as a stagehand.
His political activism began in earnest in January 1977, when he co-authored the human rights manifesto Charter 77, and the cause drew widening attention in the West.
Havel was detained countless times and spent four years in communist jails. His letters from prison to his wife were among his best-known works. "Letters to Olga" blended deep philosophy with a stream of stern advice to the spouse he saw as his mentor and best friend, and who tolerated his reputed philandering and other foibles.
Havel's arrest in January 1989 at another street protest and his subsequent trial generated anger at home and abroad. Pressure for change was so strong that the communists released him in May.
That fall, communism began to collapse across Eastern Europe, and in November the Berlin Wall fell. Eight days later, police brutally broke up a demonstration by thousands of Prague students.
It was the signal that Havel and his countrymen had awaited. Within 48 hours, a broad new opposition movement was founded, and a day later, hundreds of thousands of Czechs and Slovaks took to the streets.
In three heady weeks, communist rule was broken. Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones arrived just as the Soviet army was leaving. Posters in Prague proclaimed: "The tanks are rolling out - the Stones are rolling in."
On Dec. 29, 1989, Havel was elected Czechoslovakia's president by the country's still-communist parliament. Three days later, he told the nation in a televised New Year's address: "Out of gifted and sovereign people, the regime made us little screws in a monstrously big, rattling and stinking machine."
Havel left office in 2003, months before the Czech Republic and Slovakia joined the European Union. He was credited with laying the groundwork that brought his country into the 27-nation bloc in 2004, and was president when it joined NATO in 1999 - a moment of pride for him.
In December 1996, just 11 months after his first wife, Olga Havlova, died of cancer, he lost a third of his right lung during surgery to remove a malignant tumor.
He gave up smoking and married Dagmar Veskrnova, a dashing actress almost 20 years his junior. She, and a nun who had been caring for him the last few months of his life, were by his side when he died, his assistant Sabina Tancevova said.
In recent years, Havel saw the global economic crisis as a warning not to abandon basic human values in the scramble to prosper.
Vaclav Havel
| CURRENT MOON lunar phases |
