Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Paul Krugman: The Austerity Delusion (New York Times)
Portugal's government has just fallen in a dispute over austerity proposals. Irish bond yields have topped 10 percent for the first time. And the British government has just marked its economic forecast down and its deficit forecast up. What do these events have in common? They're all evidence that slashing spending in the face of high unemployment is a mistake.
Froma Harrop: "Praise for (Some) Tea Partiers" (Creators Syndicate)
Both parties have long taken great pleasure in handing out pork. Happily, the tea party movement was able to scare both sides of the aisle into giving it up this year. To be specific, it forced two powerful pork-loving senators - Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada - to hoist the white flag on earmarks.
Paul Krugman's Blog: America's Superiority Complex (New York Times)
But what struck me about the whole piece was the assumption that modern medicine in general is something only we lucky free-market Americans have, while in Europe they're still using leeches or something.
Patrick Kingsley: From Tennis Girl to Twilight: the posters that have defined the decades (Guardian)
A photograph of a woman scratching her bum is one of the bestselling posters of all time. But what have been the other popular images to adorn our walls over the years?
Sam Jordison: Hard times ahead for publishers (Guardian)
The perception that selling ebooks by the agency model is unfair (consumers) and illegal (EU) is a big worry for publishing firms.
Patrick Kingsley: Could this new book kill the Kindle? (Guardian)
It's small, light and portable - and it doesn't need charging. So could the new 'flipback' book be the next big thing in publishing?
Farhad Manjoo: No Sharing Allowed?(Slate)
Amazon and book publishers' stupid attempts to curtail e-book lending.
ROBERT DARNTON: A Digital Library Better Than Google's (New York Times)
Don't let a for-profit company monopolize knowledge. Create a public - and free - online collection of our books.
MEL GUSSOW: A Lustrous Pinnacle of Hollywood Glamour (New York Times)
Elizabeth Taylor, the actress who dazzled generations of moviegoers with her stunning beauty and whose name was synonymous with Hollywood glamour, died on Wednesday in Los Angeles. She was 79.
Simon Doonan: The Bawdy and the Beautiful (Slate)
Elizabeth Taylor's delightful vulgarity.
Poly Styrene: The Spex factor (Guardian)
Poly Styrene, the punk upstart from X-Ray Spex, is promoting a new album - and fighting cancer, writes Dave Simpson.
George Varga: Corea, Burton Formed a Prolific Partnership (Creators Syndicate)
Between them, pianist Chick Corea and vibraphonist Gary Burton have 18 Grammy Awards, two of them for albums they performed on together.
David Bruce has 41 Kindle books on Amazon.com with 250 anecdotes in each book. Each book is $1, so for $41 you can buy 10,250 anecdotes. Search for "Funniest People," "Coolest People, "Most Interesting People," "Kindest People," "Religious Anecdotes," and "Maximum Cool."
The Weekly Poll
New Question
The 'Devil Spawns' Special Edition...
Hey, Poll-fans... Back for one that I couldn't resist...
Glenn Beck Contemplates Starting Own Channel
The possibility that Beck-elzebub will exit the Faux News Channel at the end of the year has prompted a big question in media circles: if he leaves, how will he bring his demonically possessed minions with him? Two of the options His Evilness has contemplated, according to people who have spoken about it with him, are a partial or wholesale takeover of a cable channel, or an expansion of his subscription video service on the Web...
Glenn Beck Contemplates Starting His Own Channel - NYTimes.com
What would be an appropriate name for a Beck-elzebub cable channel?
Results Tuesday, March 29... Cut-off 8pm EST Monday (03/28)...
Send your response to
wrote:
replied:
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Rainy morning, kinda sunny afternoon, a foggy, cold night and more rain on the way.
Throwing 1st Pitch At Cubs Opener
Robert Redford
Veteran film actor Robert Redford will throw out the first pitch at Wrigley Field to open the Chicago Cubs season on April 1.
The Cubs opening day program also includes the seventh-inning stretch singing of Ron Santo Jr., whose father was late Cubs announcer Ron Santo.
Redford starred in the famous baseball movie "The Natural."
The game against Pittsburgh starts at 1:20 p.m.
Robert Redford
German TV Editing For Nuke References
"The Simpsons"
German Television has put a moratorium on meltdowns in "The Simpsons."
Reacting to the real-life nuclear disaster unfolding in Japan, Pro7, the channel that airs "The Simpsons" in Germany, will be reviewing current and future episodes of the show and remove or replace any that feature a disaster at Mr. Burns' nuclear power plant.
Networks in Austria and Switzerland have reportedly followed suit.
So far neither Pro7 nor Swiss network SF have pulled any "Simpsons" episodes, but both channels say they are screening shows for "unsuitable" references to nuclear disaster.
"The Simpsons"
Fox Renews For Fourth Season
"Fringe"
Fox's cult drama "Fringe" has been renewed for a fourth season. The mindbender program -- which follows the adventures of a group of government agents investigating the supernatural side of science -- has been bounced around Fox's schedule for years. It launched on Tuesdays in September 2008, moving to Thursdays at 9 p.m. the following season.
I
n mid-January, Fox moved "Fringe" from the ultra-competitive Thursday night time period to the otherwise-dead Friday slot, with "Kitchen Nightmares" as its lead-in.
The 22-episode order comes after the show garnered a series-low 1.3 rating in the 18-49 demographic for its most recent episode, "Stowaway," down 13 percent from the previous week in which "Fringe" reached a low in viewership with 3.6 million tuning in.
Though ratings have slid since the first season, the show tacks on significant DVR numbers. Through February 20 "Fringe" has seen a 44 percent increase in its key demo rating, rising to a 2.6 (vs. a 1.4) when live-plus-7 numbers are factored in.
"Fringe"
Swiss Auction
Erotic Watches
Open-minded collectors seeking an unusual conversation piece may want to snap up one of a rare assortment of erotic watches coming under the hammer in Switzerland this weekend.
An important private collection of 33 watches from the 18th and 19th centuries featuring racy tableaux will be offered for sale Sunday at Antiquorum, a Geneva-based auction house specialising in fine timepieces.
Among the sale's highlights is an uncommon early 19th Century 18-carat watch by Genevan craftsman Henry Capt expected to fetch $70,000 (43,516 pounds) to $90,000 and featuring two automata -- one on the front of the watch depicting an idyll of doves and musicians and another hidden one showing a couple in an amorous embrace.
Buyers with about $20,000 to $30,000 to spare meanwhile could be tempted by a very rare heart-shaped gilt metal watch by London watchmaker James Cox around 1780. It has two concealed paintings on enamel that include a lady secretly spying two partially clothed lovers caught in an adventurous position.
The watches, mainly crafted in Switzerland, are part of a wider collection of more than 700 erotic artefacts painstakingly assembled over 25 years, including walking sticks, statues and ivory objects designed for autoerotic stimulation, Antiquorum Director Etienne Lemenager told Reuters.
Erotic Watches
Prevails In Dick Tracy Lawsuit
Warren Beatty
A California judge has ruled in favor of actor Warren Beatty in a legal dispute with Tribune Media Services over the right to make movies and TV shows using the comic book crime fighter Dick Tracy.
U.S. District Court Judge Dean D. Pregerson granted Beatty's request for a summary judgment on Thursday in the long-running dispute over the character Beatty portrayed in his 1990 film, "Dick Tracy," which earned more than $160 million at global box offices.
Beatty had sued Tribune Media, a unit of Tribune Co., back in 2008, claiming Tribune acted wrongly in trying to retrieve the character's rights, which it had assigned to Beatty.
In his written order, Judge Pregerson writes that "Beatty's commencement of principal photography of his television special on November 8, 2008 was sufficient for him to retain the Dick Tracy rights."
Warren Beatty
Sues Tony Awards
Bret Michaels
Bret Michaels has sued CBS and the organizers of the Tony Awards over a 2009 mishap that the rocker claims led to a life-threatening brain injury.
The Poison frontman is suing over being hit in the head by a set piece after performing at the awards show.
He claims show organizers never explained that the set would be changing after the band performed, "Nothin' But a Good Time." He also claims the show could have prevented the incident from airing, but chose not to.
Michaels was hospitalized in April 2010 and doctors found he had a brain hemorrhage and he later suffered a warning stroke, which the musician says nearly killed him.
Bret Michaels
Hands Affairs To Conservator
Mickey Rooney
A Los Angeles lawyer was given permanent control of 90-year-old actor Mickey Rooney's affairs on Friday after telling a judge that $400,000 of the Hollywood legend's money had gone from his bank accounts.
Rooney's stepson Christopher Aber also agreed to stay away from the actor and his home without the Los Angeles court extending a restraining order first obtained against him in February, Rooney's lawyer said after a hearing.
Aber, 52, the son of Rooney's eighth wife Jan, has denied any wrongdoing. Rooney had accused Aber and Aber's wife of bullying, intimidation and blocking information about his finances.
Attorney Michael Augustine said Rooney wanted the temporary conservatorship agreed in February to stay in place. In a sworn declaration to the court, Augustine said he went with Rooney to banks where the actor kept money, and found that $400,000 belonging to Rooney was missing.
Augustine said in court papers that Rooney is so financially strapped he frequently wears the same clothes and has only one pair of shoes. He stated that Rooney told him he was unable to buy his wife flowers on Valentine's Day because "I have no money."
Mickey Rooney
Group Ends Plans For School
Malawi
A charitable group backed by pop star Madonna has scrapped its plan to build a school for impoverished girls in Malawi due to mismanagement, the New York Times reported on Thursday.
The organization, Raising Malawi, has ousted its board of directors and replaced its members with a new set of officials that includes Madonna and her manager, the Times reported.
"A thoughtful decision has been made to discontinue plans for the Raising Malawi Academy for Girls, as it was originally conceived," Michael Berg, co-founder of Raising Malawi, said Thursday in an e-mail to the center's members who had contributed to the project, according to the Times.
Berg, a co-director of the spiritual and educational organization Kabbalah Center International in Los Angeles, could not be reached for comment on Thursday night.
The Times said the effort to build the Malawi school had collapsed after spending $3.8 million on the project and its executive director left in October amid criticism of his management style and cost overruns.
Malawi
Parts Ways With Publicist
Chris Brown
Chris Brown's independent publicist, Tammy Brook, has parted ways with the singer, Brook confirmed to Billboard.biz on Friday.
On Tuesday Brown reportedly smashed a window, tore off his shirt and stormed out of the "Good Morning America" studios after being asked repeatedly about his 2009 assault on Rihanna. He later apologized.
Brook did not directly reference the incident when discussing her departure from Brown's camp.
In a statement to TMZ on Friday Brook said: "I am an entertainment/music publicist and was hired as a publicist, as they often are, to work specifically on his music publicity for the term up to the release of Chris Brown's "F.A.M.E." album, which was released on Tuesday March 22 and is entering the Billboard and iTunes charts at number 1 this week. I love and support Chris and it has been an honor to be a part of this album and I look forward to the possibility of working with him again in the future."
Chris Brown
Liz Taylor Said...
James Dean
"Rebel Without a Cause" screen legend James Dean was molested by his childhood minister, according to an interview with Elizabeth Taylor published Friday.
Hollywood icon reports Taylor, who died this week aged 79, revealed Dean's secret in an interview given 14 years ago, but requested that it not be published until after her death.
"I loved Jimmy. I'm going to tell you something, but it's off the record until I die. OK?" best-selling author Kevin Sessums quoted Taylor as saying, in the interview published by the Daily Beast online.
"When Jimmy was 11 and his mother passed away, he began to be molested by his minister. I think that haunted him the rest of his life. In fact, I know it did. We talked about it a lot.
"During 'Giant' we'd stay up nights and talk and talk, and that was one of the things he confessed to me," she said, referring to the movie in which Taylor and Dean co-starred.
James Dean
Online Abbreviations MakeTthe OED
OMG!
OMG! The exclamatory online abbreviation has won the approval of the Oxford English Dictionary.
The term - short for "Oh my God" or "Oh my gosh" - is one of dozens of new entries in the authoritative reference book's latest online update.
Other Internet-inspired expressions given the stamp of approval include LOL, "laughing out loud"; IMHO, "in my humble opinion"; and BFF, "best friends forever."
Dictionary compilers said that although the terms are associated with modern electronic communications, some are surprisingly old. The first confirmed use of "OMG" was in a letter in 1917.
OMG!
| CURRENT MOON lunar phases |
