Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Cubicleism
"Whiteboard artist Bill Taylor proves that a little time "wasted" at work can be a beautiful thing. He spends less than ten minutes a day, over up to six weeks time per piece, recreating classic artworks by Picasso, Lichtenstein, Banksy and Escher, among others." -- Neatorama
Paul Krugman: Romney Isn't Concerned (New York Times)
Mr. Romney's tax plan would actually raise taxes on many lower-income Americans, while sharply cutting taxes at the top end. More than 80 percent of the tax cuts would go to people making more than $200,000 a year, almost half to those making more than $1 million a year, with the average member of the million-plus club getting a $145,000 tax break. And these big tax breaks would create a big budget hole, increasing the deficit by $180 billion a year - and making those draconian cuts in safety-net programs necessary.
Froma Harrop: Immigration and 'Obamacare' Join as Issue (Creators Syndicate)
Two of the hottest topics on the political circuit are illegal immigration and "Obamacare." They can come together into a third steaming discussion: How the Democrats' Affordable Care Act of 2010 would hasten America's journey toward a more orderly immigration program.
Connie Schultz: Komen Caves, Women Pay (Creators Syndicate)
The Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation has severed its ties with Planned Parenthood. As a result, hundreds of thousands of dollars - nearly $700,000 last year alone - no longer will fund breast cancer screenings and other breast-related services for low-income and uninsured women at 19 Planned Parenthood affiliates across the country.
Matthew Iglesias: Help America: Get Divorced! (Slate)
The coming boom in failed marriages and why it's exactly what the economy needs.
Newt Gingrich gets a Rocky ride for campaign song (Guardian)
To the disquieting anomaly of watching a fat man in a suit take the stage to the words "Risin' up, back on the street/Did my time, took my chances", we can now add the embarrassing discovery that Survivor aren't at all happy about the juxtaposition. Gingrich is being sued for copyright infringement.
Who Needs Pesky Product Safety Regulations? (Political Irony)
A few days ago, Scotts Miracle-Gro (whose brands include Ortho, Scotts, Miracle-Gro, Roundup, Earthgro, Black Magic, Hyponex, Osmocote, Morning Song, Whitney Farms, Supersoil, Bovung, and Country Pride) agreed to plead guilty and pay $4.5 million in fines, …. The first incident involved selling wild birdseed that was coated with a pesticide that is toxic to birds. The company coated their birdseed so that it would not be eaten by insects while in storage, and continued to do so even after multiple warnings - including from their own employees - that it was "extremely toxic".
John Plunkett: L'Oréal advert featuring Rachel Weisz banned for being 'misleading' (Guardian)
Watchdog says digitally enhanced image of actor on anti-wrinkle cream advert exaggerated performance of product.
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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Michelle in AZ
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Another overcast morning followed by a nice, sunny afternoon.
Opens Film Festival At Smithsonian
Stephen Bogart
That famous movie line, "Here's looking at you, kid," will have time to echo in the halls of the Smithsonian this weekend as the son of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall opens the first film festival at the National Mall's new movie theater.
"Casablanca" will be the first film shown at the new Warner Bros. Theater at the National Museum of American History on Friday night, followed by free weekend screenings of "The Maltese Falcon," ''The Treasure of Sierra Madre" and "The Big Sleep." Bogart's suit worn in "Casablanca" also is on display, on loan from Warner Bros.
Stephen Bogart, 63, said he didn't really know his famous father because he died when his son was just 8 years old.
"All I knew him as was on celluloid," said Stephen Bogart, who is now a real estate agent in Naples, Fla. Still, he said his father would have been shocked to find himself featured at the Smithsonian.
"He was not full of himself. He was just an actor and hung around with writers and producers and film people," Stephen Bogart said. "Obviously, he would have been proud and would have been humbled, but he would have been shocked."
Stephen Bogart
Record Label Launches Bass Hunt
Decca
The Decca music label is looking for a singer who can go where no other singer is believed to have gone before -- a low "E," which is nearly three octaves below a middle "C" on the piano.
Paul Mealor, the composer behind the surprise British Christmas chart hit "Wherever You Are" sung by The Military Wives choir, has written a composition called "De Profundis (Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord.)"
It features a low E which is six semitones lower than the "B Flat" from Rachmaninov's "Vespers."
The search for the bass will be conducted through trade magazines on the Internet.
According to Guinness World Records, the lowest known note produced by a human voice is a low "F Sharp" achieved by American Roger Menees in 2010.
Decca
FX Renews For Two More Seasons
"Sons of Anarchy"
Good news, Samcro fanatics; "Sons of Anarchy" has been renewed for two seasons, guaranteeing a fifth and sixth season for FX's hit motorcycle-gang drama.
The renewal comes as part of a new overall deal for "Sons" creator Kurt Sutter. Under the three-year pact with 20th Century Fox TV and FX Productions, Sutter will remain in control of the show, and will develop programs for both cable and networks.
Though the renewal extends "Sons of Anarchy" to six seasons, the show is expected to run at least seven seasons.
FX's confidence in "Sons of Anarchy" and Sutter is well-founded; its fourth season was its highest-rated season to date, with an 18 percent boost in the adults 18-49 demographic and a 21 percent leap in total viewers over the previous season. Season 4's two-part finale, which aired in December, also grew 22 percent over the previous season's finale.
"Sons of Anarchy"
200th Anniversary
Charles Dickens
Queen Elizabeth is throwing a star-studded party for him at Buckingham Palace and in Buenos Aires, leading cultural figures will gather in an old orphanage to read from his works.
Charles Dickens may have died in 1870, but legions of fans around the world unite next Tuesday and beyond to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of a titan of English fiction.
The journey from childhood poverty which deeply influenced the work and thinking of Dickens to international renown for his novels bears comparison to that of J.K. Rowling, dubbed the world's first billionaire author.
Commercially, his books eclipse Harry Potter or any other modern-day publishing phenomenon -- some estimates say "A Tale of Two Cities" is the best-selling novel of all time at more than 200 million copies.
Charles Dickens
Occupy Activists To Protest
Super Bowl
Anti-Wall Street activists said on Friday they will march to protest Indiana's new anti-union "right-to-work (for less)" law in downtown Indianapolis this weekend, where the New England Patriots and New York Giants will face off in the Super Bowl on Sunday.
Organizers of the Occupy Wall Street movement said they expected activists from a number of different unions, including the National Football League Players Association, to participate in the protests.
Greg Lambert with Occupy Indianapolis said the protests would begin each day on the south lawn of the Indiana statehouse, which is located just blocks away from Lucas Oil Stadium, where the NFL championship game will be played Sunday evening.
On Wednesday, Indiana became the 23rd state to pass "right-to-work (for less)" legislation, a measure that hits labor unions in the pocketbook by allowing organized workers to opt out of paying dues.
Super Bowl
Publishes FBI Call
Anonymous
Internet activist group Anonymous published a recording on Friday of a confidential call between FBI agents and London detectives in which the law-enforcement agents discuss action they are taking against hacking.
British police said they were investigating reports of the illegally recorded call, and the FBI said a criminal investigation was under way into the incident.
Anonymous also published an email inviting participants to the call, with dial-in details, in which an FBI agent wrote that investigations relating to Anonymous, LulzSec, Antisec and associated splinter groups would be discussed on the call.
On the 16-minute-long call, one British detective is heard discussing an alleged 15-year-old hacker who they described as "a bit of an idiot" who was doing it for attention.
He also tells his U.S. counterpart hosting the call that "we cocked things up in the past" when he is thanked for the help they are providing.
Anonymous
May Be Witness
Mel "Sugar Tits" Gibson
Attorneys for a deputy who arrested Mel "Sugar Tits" Gibson on suspicion of drunken driving want to call the Oscar-winner as a witness during an upcoming trial to determine if the officer suffered discrimination because of the case.
The trial will focus on what happened to Deputy James Mee after he arrested the actor-director in 2006, and whether he endured discrimination because he is Jewish.
Mee's attorneys are hoping to show the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department moved to protect Gibson because the star had a close relationship with the department before his arrest.
The case is likely to focus heavily on Gibson's arrest, when the actor made anti-Semitic comments that Mee claims his superiors forced him to remove from a report.
Mee also alleges he was ostracized and his opportunities for promotion were blocked after he arrested Gibson.
Mel "Sugar Tits" Gibson
Gets 16 Months
Griffin O'Neal
A San Diego judge has sentenced the son of actor Ryan O'Neal to 16 months in prison for his involvement in a drug-fueled, head-on car crash last year that left another driver injured.
Griffin O'Neal had faced up to four years in state prison at his sentencing Friday.
O'Neal pleaded guilty to two felony charges of driving under the influence and possession of a firearm by a felon. He was on probation for a 2007 when the crash occurred in August. Prosecutors say he tested positive for several drugs at the time.
O'Neal missed his sentencing hearing last month. His lawyer Heather Boxeth has said O'Neal relapsed by drinking alcohol after five years of sobriety and was in rehab.
Griffin O'Neal
'Home Improvement' Actor Arrested
Taran Noah Smith
Taran Noah Smith, the actor who played Mark Taylor on the classic '90s TV series "Home Improvement," was arrested early on Wednesday morning under suspicion of driving under the influence.
Los Angeles County police officers pulled Smith over and found a large quantity of marijuana, TMZ reports.
He has has not acted since "Home Improvement" ended after eight seasons in 1999. Smith, played the youngest son of Tim Allen's character.
Taran Noah Smith
Visits Taj Mahal, Finds It Closed
$chwarzenegger
Arnold $chwarzenegger's dream of visiting the Taj Mahal has been dashed.
The former California governor traveled to the Indian city of Agra on Friday, the one day each week the monument is closed to tourists because of Muslim prayers at a nearby mosque.
His tour guide Nitin Singh said the movie star was disappointed and had to view the Taj Mahal from a nearby road.
$chwarzenegger took pictures with his cellphone and posed for photos with the Taj as the backdrop.
$chwarzenegger
Closes Legendary Oak Room
Algonquin Hotel
New York City's famous Algonquin Hotel has permanently shuttered the Oak Room, its fabled supper club that helped launch careers of many top-shelf jazz and cabaret stars.
Hotel General Manager Gary Budge says audiences are declining, and the Oak Room will be turned into a lounge for Marriott Reward Elite guests.
The hotel closed on Jan. 1 for renovations and will reopen in the spring.
Stars like Harry Connick, Jr., Diana Krall and Michael Feinstein got their start at the Oak Room.
Algonquin Hotel
In Memory
Patricia Disney
Patricia Disney, who was once married to Walt Disney's late nephew Roy E. Disney and was vice chairwoman of Roy's investment company, died Friday after a long struggle with Alzheimer's disease. She was 77.
Patricia Disney died in her Los Angeles home, surrounded by her four children, said family spokesman Clifford Miller.
An advocate for higher education, Patricia Disney served as a trustee of Occidental College in Los Angeles and a regent of St. Mary's College in Moraga, Calif. She also was a member of the board of the Peregrine Fund, a foundation that preserves birds of prey.
Her former husband, Roy Disney, was a longtime top executive at The Walt Disney Company, which was founded by his uncle. The couple divorced in 2007, and he died in 2009.
She is survived by her children, Roy Patrick Disney, Susan Disney Lord, Abigail Disney and Timothy Disney, and 17 grandchildren.
Patricia Disney
In Memory
Ben Gazzara
Ben Gazzara, whose powerful dramatic performances brought an intensity to a variety of roles and made him a memorable presence in such iconic productions over the decades as the original "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" on Broadway and the film "The Big Lebowski," has died at age 81.
Longtime family friend Suzanne Mados said Gazzara died Friday in Manhattan. Mados, who owned the Wyndham Hotel, where celebrities such as Peter Falk and Martin Sheen stayed, said he died after being placed in hospice care for cancer. She and her husband helped marry Gazzara and his wife, German-born Elke Krivat, at their hotel.
In 1955, he originated the role of Brick Pollitt, the disturbed alcoholic son and failed football star in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof." He left the show after only seven months to take on an equally challenging role, Johnny Pope, the drug addict in "A Hatful of Rain." It earned him his first of three Tony Award nominations.
In 1965, he moved on to TV stardom in "Run for Your Life," a drama about a workaholic lawyer who, diagnosed with a terminal illness, quits his job and embarks on a globe-trotting attempt to squeeze a lifetime of adventures into the one or two years he has left. He was twice nominated for Emmys during the show's three-year run.
Gazzara made his movie debut in 1957 in "The Strange One," Calder Willingham's bitter drama about brutality at a Southern military school. He had previously played the lead role of the psychopathic cadet, Jocko de Paris, on Broadway in Willingham's stage version of the story, "End of Man."
After "Run for Your Life" ended in 1968, Gazzara spent the rest of his career alternating between movies and the stage, although rarely with the critical acclaim he had enjoyed during his early years.
In the 1970s, he teamed with his friend director John Cassavetes for three films, "The Killing of a Chinese Bookie" and "Opening Night." In another Cassavetes film, he appeared with Falk, and the two became friends (it was Cassavetes who introduced them to the Wyndham Hotel, according to a 1982 article in New York magazine.)
Gena Rowlands appeared with Gazzara in "Opening Night," which also starred Cassavetes. Cassavetes and Rowlands were married; he died in 1989. Falk died last year.
Other Gazzara films included "The Bridge at Remagen," ''The Young Doctors," ''They All Laughed," ''The Thomas Crown Affair," ''If It's Tuesday, It Must Be Belgium," ''The Spanish Prisoner," ''Stag" and "Road House." He also made several films in Italy.
He appeared on Broadway in revivals of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf," ''Awake and Sing!" ''Strange Interlude" and several other plays.
Gazzara began acting in television in 1952 with roles on the series "Danger" and "Kraft Suspense Theatre." Before landing "Run for Your Life," he played a police detective in the series "Arrest and Trial," which lasted two seasons.
Born Biagio Anthony Gazzara in New York on Aug. 28, 1930, he grew up on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in a cold-water flat with a bathtub in the kitchen. His parents were immigrants from Sicily who met and married in New York, and his first language was Italian. Although he was baptized under his birth name, his parents always called him Ben or Benny.
He entered Erwin Piscator's Dramatic Workshop in 1948. Eighteen months later he auditioned for the Actors Studio run by Lee Strasberg and was accepted.
Gazzara's first two marriages, to actresses Louise Erikson and Janice Rule, ended in divorce.
While filming "Inchon" in Korea in 1981, he met Krivat. They married the following year, and the union endured.
"Elke saved my life," Gazzara said in 1999. "When I met her, I was drinking too much, fooling around too much, killing myself. She put romance and hope back in my life."
He adopted Krivat's daughter, Danja, as his own. She recalled on Friday that he was a "complex soul" and that his role as a father to her and his own daughter was challenging.
Besides Danja, Gazzara is survived by his wife, daughter Elizabeth and a brother.
Ben Gazzara
In Memory
Zalman King
Director Zalman King, best known for erotic film "9 1/2 Weeks" and television series "Red Shoe Diaries," died on Friday in Santa Monica, Calif., after a long battle with cancer. He was 69.
"Zalman was an extraordinary man and artist, more complex and humane than those who knew him only from afar could possibly imagine," said Allison Burnett, King's son-in-law.
Actor Charlie Sheen paid a tribute to the late director on his Facebook page, saying "the world lost a brilliant and noble soul today."
King started his career on screen in the 1960s, starring alongside James Caan and Walter Koenig in an episode of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents," before going on to play an attorney in television drama "The Young Lawyers" in the 70s.
He transitioned to working behind the cameras in the 1980s, using erotica as a central theme in his films. King wrote and produced "9 1/2 Weeks," starring Kim Basinger and Mickey Rourke as two lovers embroiled in a sexually charged relationship.
Burnett recalled that director Stanley Kubrick consulted King every night when filming "Eyes Wide Shut" because "he wanted to learn how to shoot eroticism."
King is survived by wife Patricia Louisianna Knop, a screenwriter, and daughters Chloe King and Gillian Lefkowitz.
Zalman King
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