Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Mark Morford: Spank me, then let's do lunch 9 sfgate.com)
How many hypocritical Republicans can dance on the head of a sex scandal?
Ted Rall: TO TRIGGER A SINGLE-PAYER PUBLIC OPTION
A poll says that 67 percent of Americans don't understand Obama's healthcare plan. I'm one of them.
JAMES PITKIN: "It's Not My Fault : What people will say to get out of a Portland parking ticket" (wweek.com)
They pile up each week on the desks of Multnomah County judges. Letters about dogs, diarrhea and dyslexia. Stories about autistic children and encounters with Sen. Ron Wyden.
Troy Wolverton: Jobs makes surprise appearance at Apple event; video camera for iPod nano (San Jose Mercury News)
Steve Jobs' appearance marked the only real surprise at Apple's press event Wednesday in San Francisco, an otherwise low-key affair in which the company announced some modest updates to its music products.
Christopher Beam: Service Job (slate.com)
How good does a tennis pro have to be to make a living?
Why Critics Matter (guardian.co.uk)
Michael Billington on whether the internet means a rebirth or a death knell for arts criticism.
"Selected Poems" by Wallace Stevens: A review by James Longenbach (powells.com)
In the fall of 1936, after a decade of not doing so, The Nation sponsored a poetry prize. Of the 1,800 poems submitted, said the editors of The Nation, "the overwhelming majority were concerned with contemporary social conflicts either at home or abroad."
The dirty little secrets of Nora Ephron (guardian.co.uk)
Everyone's a bitch, men own the internet and denial is good. Writer, director and straight-talker Nora Ephron lets rips to Catherine Shoard.
20 QUESTIONS: Terence Blanchard (popmatters.com)
The cerebral, soulful, three-time Grammy award winning trumpet player and composer Terence Blanchard tells PopMatters 20 Questions about how our turbulent, dynamic world inspires his beautiful music.
Hannah Pool: "Speech Debelle: 'I thought it was a brilliant album'" (guardian.co.uk)
After a troubled childhood and years living in hostels, Speech Debelle came out on top - with the Mercury music prize. She always knew she could do it.
Portrait of the artist: Richard O'Brien, actor (guardian.co.uk)
'Why is Rocky Horror a classic? Because it taps into the most primal story of western civilisation: the fall of man.'
David Bruce: Wise Up! Good Deeds (athensnews.com)
English actress Joanna Lumley is a goddess-literally.
The Weekly Poll
New Question
The 'So Says Michael' Edition
Capitalism is evil. That is the conclusion U.S. documentary maker Michael Moore comes to in his latest movie "Capitalism: A Love Story," which premiered at the Venice film festival Sunday.
Do you agree with his assessment? (No need to respond, SallyP(al), we KNOW what you think!... Well, OK, go ahead... But, try keeping it to no more than novella length, eh? LOL...)
Send your response to
wrote:
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Reader Reply
Re: "TAKING WOODSTOCK" BACK
We saw the movie and loved it - some scenes are corny but the acting is
really good
Ruth D.
Thanks, Ruth!
Detroit
BadtotheboneBob
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
It's not so much the heat as the humidity.
Honorary Oscar
Lauren Bacall
Lauren Bacall, whose sultry roles in film noir movies "To Have and Have Not," "The Big Sleep" and "Dark Passage" earned her Hollywood immortality, is to get an honorary Oscar.
The Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voted late on Thursday to honor Bacall with an honorary Oscar, along with other Hollywood figures.
The 84-year-old Bacall, who was married to screen legend Humphrey Bogart until his death in 1957, has never received an Oscar, although she was nominated for her supporting role in 1996 movie "The Mirror Has Two Faces."
The Board of Governors also voted to award honorary Oscars to producer and director Roger Corman and cinematographer Gordon Willis, and to give the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial award to producer and movie executive John Calley.
Lauren Bacall
Posthumous Apology
Alan Turing
Prime Minister Gordon Brown issued a posthumous apology Friday to World War II code-breaker Alan Turing, who committed suicide after he was tried and convicted of being homosexual.
Brown said Turing, who took his own life in 1954, had been treated "terribly", adding that the outcome of the conflict could have been quite different without the code-breaker's efforts.
Thousands have signed a petition calling for a formal apology from the government. However, such an apology is not possible as Turing has no known surviving family, The Daily Telegraph newspaper reported.
Writing in the broadsheet, Brown said: "On behalf of the British government, and all those who live freely thanks to Alan's work, I am very proud to say: we're sorry. You deserved so much better."
Alan Turing
Nirvana Members Dismayed
'Guitar Hero 5'
Kurt Cobain's appearance in the latest "Guitar Hero" video game is not hitting the right notes with the surviving members of Nirvana.
Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl said in a joint statement Thursday that they were "dismayed and very disappointed" that an avatar of the late Nirvana frontman could be used to play songs by other artists.
"While we were aware of Kurt's image being used with two Nirvana songs, we didn't know players have the ability to unlock the character," they said. "This feature allows the character to be used with any kind of song the player wants. We urge Activision to do the right thing in 're-locking' Kurt's character so that this won't continue in the future."
Cobain's widow, Courtney Love, had been lashing out on Twitter this week about her late husband's inclusion in the game, calling it vile and claiming she would sue Activision, the game's publisher. Love claimed she never approved Cobain's digital likeness, and that she thought the grunge rocker would despise the rhythm game "let alone this avatar."
'Guitar Hero 5'
Felling Trees A Threat To Happiness
Bhutan
Bhutan has warned its citizens over cutting down thousands of young trees every year to make prayer flags, a threat to the tiny kingdom's lush scenery and the government's duty to bring "Gross National Happiness."
Himalayan Buddhists put up prayer flags for good luck or to help the dead find the right path to their next life. The more flag poles put up for the departed the better, and Buddhist monks say fresh poles must be used each time.
Having failed to convince its citizens to switch from wood to steel for prayer flags, the government of the Himalayas' last Buddhist kingdom is growing bamboo, which it hopes will be an attractive alternative.
Bhutan's constitution, which emphasises the importance of Gross National Happiness over Gross Domestic Product, stipulates the country must have at least 60 percent forest cover.
Bhutan
Stars Arrested In Photo Stunt
'Vampire Diaries'
Several members of "The Vampire Diaries" TV series landed behind bars after a photo shoot on a bridge in Georgia prompted motorists to call police.
The drivers last month reported women dangling off the side of the bridge and flashing them in Forsyth, about 60 miles south of Atlanta.
Nina Dobrev, Sara Canning, Kayla Ewell and Candice Accola were charged with disorderly conduct on Aug. 22 and were released on bond.
Authorities say a man named Tyler Shields told them he was a photographer shooting pictures for the show, which premiered Thursday on the CW Network. He was also charged.
'Vampire Diaries'
Officers On Leave In Rihanna Probe
LAPD
A published report says two Los Angeles police officers are on leave as part of a probe into who leaked a photo of pop singer Rihanna's battered face after she was assaulted by her former boyfriend Chris Brown.
The Los Angeles Times, citing anonymous law enforcement sources, said Friday that nine-year veteran Rebecca M. Reyes and rookie officer Blanca Lopez had been assigned to home pending the outcome of the probe into how celebrity Web site TMZ.com got the photograph.
The police sources requested anonymity because the investigation was ongoing. The Los Angeles Police Department had no comment.
It is a misdemeanor for law enforcement officers or civilian employees of police agencies to profit by leaking confidential material.
LAPD
Paintings Stolen
Andy Warhol
A collection of Andy Warhol paintings valued in the millions of dollars has been stolen from the home of a Los Angeles businessman, police said on Friday.
Among them were boxing great Muhammad Ali, tennis champion Chris Evert, Los Angeles Lakers basketball star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Olympic skater Dorothy Hamill and former football star turned "Trial of the Century" defendant O.J. Simpson.
The paintings were commissioned by businessman and art collector Richard Weisman and were stolen from his West Los Angeles home, along with a Warhol portrait of Weisman, a Los Angeles Police spokeswoman said.
Weisman was not home at the time of the burglary and there was no sign of forced entry at the home, police said. Nothing else was taken by the thieves, who left behind several other Warhol paintings.
Andy Warhol
2 German Cargo Ships Pass Through
'Arctic Passage'
Two German merchant ships have traversed the fabled Northeast Passage after global warming and melting ice opened a route from South Korea along Russia's Arctic coast to Siberia.
Now the German-owned ships are poised to complete their journey through the cold waters where icebergs abound, heading for Rotterdam in the Netherlands with 3,500 tons of construction parts.
The merchant ships MV Beluga Fraternity and MV Beluga Foresight arrived this week in Yamburg, Siberia, their owner Beluga Shipping GmbH said Friday. They traveled from Ulsan, South Korea, in late July to Siberia by way of the Northeast Passage, a sea lane that, in years past, was avoided because of its heavy ice floes.
'Arctic Passage'
"Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement"
U.S. Media
Time Warner Inc, News Corp and a dozen other top media companies officially announced plans on Thursday to create a coalition to study new ways to measure television audiences.
The long-rumored effort, which will also include CBS Corp, Walt Disney Co and NBC Universal, majority-owned by General Electric Co, comes as TV broadcasters are trying to cope with major shifts in viewing habits, with audiences using the Web and digital video recorders (DVRs) to watch programs at their leisure.
Currently, U.S. audience measurement is dominated by Nielsen Co, which primarily uses a panel of households to estimate how big an audience a particular show or network draws. Those figures are then used to help set advertising rates.
But the consortium, called the Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement, intends to fund a series that will use set-top boxes from cable and satellite companies in hopes of creating a more detailed portrait of TV viewing patterns.
U.S. Media
Buys Back Photo Copyrights
Annie Leibovitz
Annie Leibovitz has won an extension on a $24 million loan in a financial dispute that threatened her rights to her famous images, the two sides said in a joint statement Friday.
Leibovitz and the company, Art Capital Group, said the 59-year-old photographer had been given more time to repay the loan. The loan's deadline passed on Tuesday, but both parties had continued to work to try to resolve the dispute. Neither party would specify the length of the extension.
Last year, Leibovitz put up as collateral three Manhattan townhouses, an upstate New York property and the copyright to every picture she has ever taken - or will take - to secure the loan.
Art Capital, a Manhattan-based company that issues loans against fine and decorative arts and real estate, had estimated the value of Leibovitz's portfolio at $40 million, and real estate brokers have said her New York properties were worth about $40 million.
Annie Leibovitz
In Memory
Larry Gelbart
Larry Gelbart, the award-winning writer whose sly, sardonic wit helped create such hits as Broadway's "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum," the films "Tootsie" and "Oh, God!" and television's "M-A-S-H," is dead. He was 81.
Carl Reiner, his longtime friend and colleague, called Gelbart "the Jonathan Swift of our day."
"M-A-S-H" debuted on CBS in 1972, when the nation was still embroiled in the Vietnam War, and some viewers were initially puzzled or offended by its depiction of the cynical, wisecracking physicians who worked frantically to save the lives of soldiers.
By its second season it had caught on, however, and it remained one of television's top-10 rated shows for a decade, until its final episode in 1983. Along the way, it won numerous awards including the Emmy for best comedy series.
"What attracted me to `M-A-S-H' was the theme song, `Suicide is Painless,'" Gelbart once remarked. "It was written in a very minor key and appealed to me emotionally."
Gelbart's father was a Los Angeles barber with a clientele of Hollywood notables, including Danny Thomas. While cutting Thomas' hair one day, he bragged of his 16-year-old son's writing ability and the comedian asked to see some of his work. Soon Thomas had hired Gelbart to write for his radio show.
He went on to write gags for Bob Hope, Jack Paar, Red Buttons, Jack Carson, Eddie Cantor and Joan Davis. In 1953 he accepted Sid Caesar's offer of $1,000 a week to work for "Caesar's Hour," joining a legendary writing team that included Reiner, Mel Brooks and Neil Simon.
After the Braodway success of "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum," Gelbart decided to move with his wife and five children to England, quipping that he wanted "to escape religious freedom in America."
They remained there for nine years, and his only notable work during that time was a script, written with Shevelove, for the 1966 black comedy, "The Wrong Box."
By the time he returned to Hollywood, however, he had a broader view of the world that he said helped him tackle "M-A-S-H."
Larry Simon Gelbart was born in Chicago, moving to Los Angeles while in high school.
He married singer and actress Pat Marshall in 1956 and they raised their two children, Becky and Adam, and her three by a previous marriage, Cathy, Gary and Paul. Cathy died of cancer at age 50.
Larry Gelbart
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