Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Mark Morford: Sex death apocalypse iPhone 4 (sfgate.com)
There I was, calmly ogling Steve Jobs' shinyperfect new baby like a junkie rabbit at a carrot factory in SaladTown, happily swooning over its graceful industrial design and everstunned at the tiny slab's explicit lickability and amazing capabilities.
DAVID BROOKS: History for Dollars (nytimes.com)
As the job market slides, it can be easy for college students picking their majors to forget why humans need the humanities.
Ted Rall: FIRST THEY CAME FOR THE CRANKY WHITE HOUSE COLUMNIST
Helen Thomas Learns That Free Speech is a Myth.
Garrison Keillor: Hanging out with the college crowd
A fine rainy day in Minnesota, and of course we should be discussing regulation of banking and the credit-default-swap market, but something in me wants to walk under a big black umbrella to the cafe for a skinny latte and eavesdrop on the college crowd, which, despite the lousy job market, seems as ebullient as ever.
Froma Harrop: Voter Unrest Could Also Help Democrats (creators.com)
It's hard to call the outcomes of recent primaries a "voter uprising." It looks more like democracy in action than a series of coup d'etats. Replacing party establishment favorites with others is only a revolution if one believes in the divine right of incumbents.
Susan Estrich: The Year of the Woman? (creators.com)
I've written this column so many times for so many years that it makes me nervous even to begin. More than 25 years after Geraldine Ferraro crashed the glass ceiling to be nominated for vice president, we should be long past "years of the woman." When men win, we call it Tuesday.
Before Ray Allen was beating the Lakers, he was acting the part to perfection (latimes.com)
It feels like Ray Allen has been sinking three-point shots since Andrew Bynum was in diapers.
Dahlia Lithwick: It's Complicated (slate.com)
David Souter finally tells Americans to grow up.
STEPHANIE SCHROEDER: Curve Gets Cozy with Lesbian Web Series Star Celia Freijeiro (curvemag.com)
Girl Seeks Girl's (Chica Busca Chica) Celia Freijerio talks playing a lesbian lotharia, following her passion and making her own opportunities.
Robert W. Butler: I long for the days when movie thrills were real, not CGI (McClatchy Newspapers)
At the risk of sounding like one of those grumpy old codgers who are always critically comparing their own idealized childhoods with those of modern kids, I have to say that I feel sorry for today's young moviegoers.
Will Harris: A Chat with Neil Jordan, Director of "Ondine" and "Interview with a Vampire" (bullz-eye.com)
I'd wanted to work with (Colin Farrell) for years, and when I finished the script for 'Ondine,' I sent it to him, and I was kind of unsure as to what I'd written. But he loved the character, and he just leapt on it and said, 'I want to do this.'
James DiGiovan: Animation With Style (tucsonweekly.com)
'The Secret of Kells' is an enchanting film that will similarly delight both children and adults
The Weekly Poll
New Question
The 'Falling on Her Sword' Edition
I don't believe an introduction is needed for this question...
Should Helen Thomas 'un-retire' and write for another news service such as The Nation or The Progressive?
Send your response to
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From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Links from RJ
Two-Fer
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Two possible links for you.... thanks for looking at them!
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Marine layer never burned off - very nice.
World Marks 100th Birthday
Jacques Cousteau
U.S. Congressional honors, sea-going missions and fundraising to restore the world's most famous marine exploration ship marked the 100th anniversary of French maritime pioneer Jacques Cousteau's birth.
Although Cousteau died in 1997 and it's been decades since most television audiences have heard his thick French accent describing life aboard his ship the Calypso, his son and wife marked his birth by reminding the world of the importance of maritime conservation at a time of crisis in the Gulf of Mexico.
Cousteau, who captured the earliest images of life deep beneath the waves, would have been 100 years old on Friday.
A former naval officer who became an explorer and environmental campaigner, Cousteau shot the film "The World of Silence," which won the Palme d'Or in Cannes in 1956, from his ex-minesweeper Calypso. The film was made with skin-diving gear co-invented by Cousteau in 1943, which freed divers from heavy helmets to float as if in space.
Jacques Cousteau
Honored In Paris
Jane Fonda
The mayor of the City of Light has honored actress Jane Fonda in a Paris ceremony.
Bertrand Delanoe bestowed the Great Medal of the City of Paris upon the Academy Award-winning actress Thursday.
Fonda, who was sporting a navy pantsuit for the occasion, said she loves being in France and considers the country "like a second home."
The ceremony took place during a news conference about the Paris Cinema festival, which will also count Indian-born director M. Night Shyamalan and French heartthrob Louis Garrel among its guest stars.
Jane Fonda
Catherine Zeta-Jones, CBE
Queen's Honors List
A flying banker and an owl-lover join celebrities including film star Catherine Zeta-Jones and Olympic gold medalist Amy Williams on the Queen's Birthday Honors list, the Cabinet Office said on Saturday.
A total of 975 people are on the annual list, which marks Queen Elizabeth's official birthday. Women represent 47 percent of the total, while 7.3 percent are people from ethnic minorities, making the list one of the most diverse to date.
Zeta-Jones, who won an Oscar in 2003 for her role in the musical "Chicago," can now add a CBE or Commander of the British Empire to her tally of awards. She is being honored for services to the film industry as well as charity work in Wales.
There are five classes of honors in the Order of the British Empire. The most common, in decreasing order of seniority, are CBE, OBE (Officer) and MBE (Member).
Queen's Honors List
Fox Rupert Renews"The Cleveland Show"
Fox is once again picking up a freshman comedy for a third season.
The broadcaster has given a third round to Seth MacFarlane's animated comedy "The Cleveland Show." The "Family Guy" spinoff was granted a second season early in its run.
Fox's animated shows have such a long lead time that additional seasons are frequently picked up early. The deal follows the renewal of fellow newbie "Glee" for a third season, though as a live-action series that move was more unusual.
"The Cleveland Show"
Loses Claims Against Former Label
Dr. Dre
Rapper Dr. Dre has been feuding with Death Row Records since his former record label was bought out of bankruptcy last year. The new entity, WIDEawake Death Row Records, put out a new version of his iconic album "The Chronic," as well as a greatest hits collection, without his permission.
Dr. Dre -- real name Andre Young -- sued in February.
On Monday, a California district court tossed his claims that Death Row's release of "The Chronic Re-Lit" violated his rights of trademark and publicity. However, the judge allowed another claim -- that he hasn't been paid royalties since splitting from Death Row in 1996 -- to be heard.
The nature of this dispute is informed by the casual way that Dr. Dre created "The Chronic" in the early 1990s. When he formed Death Row Records in 1991, he orally granted the label a non-exclusive license to release sound recordings. The following year, he made another oral agreement to the same effect over "The Chronic" in exchange for an 18 percent royalty rate.
Dr. Dre
Death, But No Taxes
One Billionaire
A Texas pipeline tycoon who died two months ago may become the first American billionaire allowed to pass his fortune to his children and grandchildren tax-free.
Dan L. Duncan, a soft-spoken farm boy who started with $10,000 and two propane trucks, and built a network of natural gas processing plants and pipelines that made him the richest person in Houston, died in late March of a brain hemorrhage at 77.
Had his life ended three months earlier, Mr. Duncan's riches - Forbes magazine estimated his worth at $9 billion, ranking him as the 74th wealthiest in the world - would have been subject to a federal tax of at least 45 percent. If he had lived past Jan. 1, 2011, the rate would be even higher - 55 percent.
Instead, because Congress allowed the tax to lapse for one year and gave all estates a free pass in 2010, Mr. Duncan's four children and four grandchildren stand to collect billions that in any other year would have gone to the Treasury.
Mr. Duncan's will designates a handful of nonprofit groups and charitable foundations that will receive donations, all of which would have been tax-exempt even in years when the estate tax was in effect. An avid big game hunter - Mr. Duncan has more than 500 entries in the Safari Club International record book for killing animals including polar bears, rhinoceroses, bighorn sheep, lions and elephants - he made a $1 million donation in his will to the Shikar Safari Club International Foundation.
One Billionaire
Clashes With Teen Photog
Jodie Foster
The family of a 17-year-old teenager has accused Oscar winner Jodie Foster of being rough with the boy after he snapped photographs of the Oscar-winning actress and her sons outside a movie theater.
Foster's spokeswoman fired back on Friday that the "young man was most definitely a professional paparazzo."
A report filed with Los Angeles police hours after the May 29 incident said Foster went up to the unidentified teen after he had snapped pictures of her, and that she poked him on the chest and grabbed his left arm.
The police report was obtained by RadarOnline.com on Friday. The teenager's father told the celebrity news website that claims he was a paparazzo were "ridiculous...He's just a kid who happens to have an nice camera."
Jodie Foster
Drill Baby, Drill
Louisiana
At the same time they are venting their fury on BP over the Gulf of Mexico spill and its calamitous environmental effects, Louisiana politicians are rushing to the defense of the oil-and-gas industry and pleading with Washington to bring back offshore drilling - now.
As angry as they are over the disaster, state officials warn that the Obama administration's temporary ban on drilling in the Gulf has sent Louisiana's most lucrative industry into a death spiral.
They contend that drilling is safe overall and that the moratorium is a knee-jerk reaction, akin to grounding every airplane in America because of a single crash. They worry, too, that the moratorium comes at a time when another major Louisiana industry - fishing - has been brought to a standstill by the mess in the Gulf.
Meanwhile, a government task force of scientists said that before BP cut and capped the blown-out well a week ago, it may have been spewing as much as 2.1 million gallons of oil per day - or twice as much as the government's previous worst-case estimate. The bigger number is just an estimate, and scientific teams are still coming up with more complete numbers.
Louisiana
Photos Flopped
Google
Google's home page has gone back to basics after users griped about a promotional stunt that wrapped colorful photos around the Internet's most popular search engine.
The complaints poured in Thursday when Google.com visitors were greeted with full-screen photos of sand dunes, flowers and other artistry instead of the website's familiar white background.
The imagery was meant to draw attention to a new tool that Google introduced last week to allow people to customize the page with their own photos. The decorations have worked well for Microsoft, whose Bing search engine features a new photo each day.
But Google's one-day gimmick upset a lot of people who thought the change might be permanent, prompting a switch back the site's Spartan look.
Google
Google blog post explaining the change
Scientists Use Cologne As Jaguar Lure
Calvin Klein
Biologists tracking jaguars in the Guatemalan jungle might smell nice but it's all in the name of science, with researchers finding the Calvin Klein cologne Obsession for Men attracts big cats.
Biologists Rony Garcia and Jose Moreira from the Wildlife Conservation Society's (WCS) Jaguar Conservation Program say they use hidden cameras as a primary source for observing and tracking jaguars in Guatemala's Maya Biosphere Reserve.
But they also rely on Obsession for Men, a cologne known for its complex scent, to help lure then research and hopefully ultimately preserve jaguars in the Central American country.
The discovery that Obsession for Men acted as a magnet for jaguars was the result of an experiment by the WCS's Bronx Zoo in New York.
Calvin Klein
Donates Colorama Collection
Kodak
Eastman Kodak Co. is turning over its archive of panoramic Colorama images to a hometown photography museum in upstate New York where its founder lived.
George Eastman House said Friday the collection includes original negatives and prints of all 565 gigantic Coloramas displayed in New York's Grand Central Terminal from 1950 to 1990.
Those backlit transparencies, promoted by Kodak as the "world's largest photographs," measured 60 feet long by 18 feet high. New elongated images were installed every three weeks, depicting landscapes, sporting events and family celebrations and vacations.
Eastman House is a landmark Colonial Revival mansion in Rochester that was home to film and photo pioneer George Eastman, Kodak's founder.
Kodak
In Memory
Tony Peluso
Tony Peluso, the lead guitarist with the Carpenters for 12 years and a successful Motown and Latin music producer, died June 5 of heart disease in Los Angeles. He was 60.
Peluso got his start as musical director for Bobby Sherman, played guitar for Paul Revere and the Raiders, produced records for the likes of Smokey Robinson and Michael Jackson, and collaborated with Gustavo Santaolalla on the soundtrack of the Oscar-winning "Brokeback Mountain."
Raised in a musical family, he teamed up with Richard and Karen Carpenter when he was 21. Perhaps his most memorable work with the siblings was on the 1972 power ballad "Goodbye to Love," where he conceived and played the masterful, melodic solo and outro.
After Karen Carpenter's death in 1983, Peluso partnered for a decade with the top talent scout at Motown Records and co-produced dozens of records for such artists as Robinson, Jackson, the Temptations, and the Four Tops.
He also produced and/or engineered for artists such as Kenny Loggins, Seals & Crofts, Apollonia, Player, Animotion, Stephanie Mills, the Fixx, Dave Koz and Boyz II Men.
Tony Peluso
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