Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Paul Krugman: The Defining Moment (nytimes.com)
The health care legislation on the table isn't perfect, but it's as good as anyone could reasonably have expected. It is time for everyone to decide which side they're on.
BOB HERBERT: Changing the World (nytimes.com)
Americans need to shake off their passivity in confronting today's problems and believe that their actions can make a difference.
Daniel Gross: Paper Hangers (slate.com)
Newspapers aren't doing as badly as you think.
Stuart Jeffries: Why did Andre Agassi hate tennis? (guardian.co.uk)
He is not the only top athlete to claim to detest the sport that made him rich and famous.
20 QUESTIONS: Barb Johnson (popmatters.com)
From a balcony overlooking the flood of New Orleans to 'The Bubble' laundromat, where the city's characters come to wash it all out, award-winning author Barb Johnson talks with PopMatters 20 Questions.
Steve Johnson: Dick Gregory on Obama, longevity and comic geniuses (Chicago Tribune)
Dick Gregory did not think he would live to see an African-American president. "It caught everyone by surprise," said the 77-year-old comedian and civil rights activist. "If two white dudes were running in 2000, and one wins and the other one stole it, you almost think that would happen to a black."
Brian Logan on catchphrases in comedy (guardian.co.uk)
'Beware the catch in the catchphrase.'
Judith Mackrell: "Vanishing pointe: where are all the great female choreographers?" (guardian.co.uk)
The dance scene is booming right now. So why are male choreographers getting all the attention?
Walter Tunis: "Lyle Lovett: Texas is in his blood, always on his mind" (McClatchy Newspapers)
"People would ask, 'What would success mean for you?' The answer I always used to give was, 'Success would be the ability to continue doing something I love to do.'"
EVAN SAWDEY: "20 Questions: F**k Buttons" (popmatters.com)
Stealing penguins! A secret connection with Garfield! Dropping fruit pastille in the primordial ooze! Experimental UK noise duo F**k Buttons discuss this and more.
The Weekly Poll
Current Question
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Eenie Meenie, Chili Beanie, The Spirits are about to speak!
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From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and seasonal.
Non-Latin Based Characters OK
Internets
The nonprofit body that oversees Internet addresses approved Friday the use of Hebrew, Hindi, Korean and other scripts not based on Latin characters in a decision that could make the Web dramatically more inclusive.
The board of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers - or ICANN - voted to allow such scripts in so-called domain names at the conclusion of a weeklong meeting in Seoul, South Korea's capital.
The decision by the board's 15 voting members was unopposed and welcomed by applause and a standing ovation. It followed years of debate and testing.
The result clears the way for governments or their designees to submit requests for specific names, likely beginning Nov. 16. Internet users could start seeing them in use early next year, particularly in Arabic, Chinese and other scripts in which demand has been among the highest, ICANN officials say.
Internets
Knighted At Buckingham
Christopher Lee
British actor Christopher Lee was knighted on Friday at Buckingham Palace, a far cry from the dark and gloomy Hammer Horror film sets where he made his name playing Dracula in the 1950s.
Lee, 87, became famous for his blood-curdling performances as the thirsty count. He has also portrayed a succession of baddies from Scaramanga in the James Bond movie "The Man With The Golden Gun" to Saruman in "The Lord of the Rings."
He was knighted by Prince Charles for his services to drama and to charity spanning during a decades-long career that has seen him appear in more than 250 film and television productions.
"A whole new career opened up for me when I was in "Lord Of The Rings" and "Star Wars (Episode II: Attack of the Clones)"," Lee said.
Christopher Lee
Hollywood Walk O'Fame
Peter Graves
Peter Graves, known for his roles in the 1980 film spoof "Airplane!" and the TV series "Mission: Impossible," has been honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
The 83-year-old actor attended the Los Angeles ceremony Friday with his wife Joan, their children and grandchildren. He called the honor "a red letter day in my life."
Minneapolis-born Graves made his debut in films in the early 1950s, gaining fame as team leader Jim Phelps on the CBS TV series "Mission: Impossible" from 1967 to 1973.
His comedic turn as deep-voiced airplane pilot Captain Oveur in "Airplane!" cemented his celebrity status.
Peter Graves
N'fa Forster-Jones' Video
Heath Ledger
An Australian rapper who was a boyhood friend of Heath Ledger has released a music video the star directed shortly before his death.
N'fa Forster-Jones posted the 3 minute, 31 second-clip for his song "Cause An Effect" on his YouTube and MySpace pages on Thursday, along with a video in which he explains how the project came about.
Ledger, the celebrity-shy star of Batman blockbuster, "The Dark Night," and the posthumously released "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus," shot a handful of videos for low-profile artists he liked. Ledger died aged 28 in New York from an accidental drug overdose in January 2008.
Forster-Jones, who had been friends with Ledger since they were toddlers in the Australian city of Perth, said the video was shot in one day in the garage of Ledger's beachside apartment.
Heath Ledger
Crypt Doesn't Sell
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe isn't getting a new neighbor anytime soon.
The second auction of the marble mausoleum crypt above Monroe didn't fetch any bids, according to organizer Eric Gazin of AuctionCause.com . A previous $4.6 million bid for the space fell through in August when Elsie Poncher first attempted to sell off her late husband's crypt. The new eBay.com
Gazin says several people were preapproved to bid on the crypt at the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery, but no one did during the 10-day auction. He says the family is now "weighing their options." Other celebrities laid to rest at the cemetery include Farrah Fawcett, Rodney Dangerfield, Dean Martin, Jack Lemmon and Eva Gabor.
Marilyn Monroe
Shocking! Liar Lied!
GFY Cheney
Vice President Dick "Go Fuck Yourself" Cheney told the FBI he had no idea who leaked to the news media that Valerie Plame, wife of a Bush administration critic, worked for the CIA.
An FBI summary of Cheney's interview from 2004 reflects that the vice president had deep concern about Plame's husband, Joseph Wilson, a former U.S. ambassador in Africa who said the administration had twisted prewar intelligence on Iraq.
Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, was convicted of perjury, obstruction and lying to the FBI in the probe of who leaked Plame's identity to the news media. At the end of Libby's trial, prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald said that "there is a cloud over the vice president" in the leaking of Plame's identity.
Cheney's denials that he talked about Plame are among the few things in the lengthy interview with the FBI that Cheney appeared certain about. He repeatedly said he could not recall key events. Among them, he said he did not recall discussing Wilson's wife with Libby before her CIA employment was publicly revealed by conservative columnist Robert Novak in mid-July 2003.
GFY Cheney
3 To Trial
Anna Nicole Smith
Three key players in the troubled world of Playboy model Anna Nicole Smith were ordered Friday to stand trial after a hearing that plumbed the drug-fueled depths of her final years and the alleged roles of her boyfriend and two doctors in feeding her addiction to prescription drugs.
A judge who heard sometimes shocking testimony about the flood of drugs provided to Smith ruled there was sufficient evidence to try the defendants on charges of conspiring to give Smith sedatives and opiates.
Their lawyers had argued that lawyer Howard K. Stern, Dr. Sandeep Kapoor and psychiatrist Dr. Khristine Eroshevich tried desperately to save the doomed model in her waning years, including a period when she gave birth to a daughter and lost her grown son to a drug overdose.
Superior Court Judge Robert J. Perry stressed that his ruling required only minimal proof that would cause a reasonable person to suspect the defendants committed the crimes. He dropped one charge that Eroshevich gave Smith placebos, finding there was not sufficient evidence.
Anna Nicole Smith
Ski Town Push
Breckenridge
Voters in this Rocky Mountain resort town will decide next week whether to legalize pot for all adults at a time when the movement to allow medical marijuana is gaining steam around the country.
A measure before Breckenridge voters in Tuesday's municipal election would legalize possession of up to 1 ounce of marijuana along with bongs, pipes and other pot paraphernalia. Supporters of the measure say it would inch the whole state closer to full legalization.
Local ordinances to allow some recreational marijuana use have passed in Seattle, San Francisco and other cities, though in all those places the law is considered symbolic because it conflicts with state and federal laws. Alaska allows possession of up to 4 ounces of marijuana in one's home, and advocates in California want to ask voters in next year's election to legalize pot.
Advocates say the Breckenridge proposal goes further than others because it allows paraphernalia as well. "I don't think there's anywhere else in the country that has legalized paraphernalia," said Bruce Mirken, a spokesman for the Washington-based Marijuana Policy Project.
Breckenridge
Ban Lifted
Immigration
President Barack Obama said Friday the U.S. will overturn a 22-year-old travel and immigration ban against people with HIV early next year.
The order will be finalized on Monday, Obama said, completing a process begun during the Bush administration.
The U.S. has been among a dozen countries that bar entry to travelers with visas or anyone seeking a green card based on their HIV status.
The bill is named for Ryan White, an Indiana teenager who contracted AIDS through a blood transfusion at age 13. White went on to fight AIDS-related discrimination against him and others like him and help educate the country about the disease. He died in April 1990 at the age of 18.
Immigration
Bare Breast Demo
WJLA
The ABC affiliate here is airing a two-part series that takes a close - and unobscured - look at breast self-exams. The series is airing during the fall "sweeps" period critical for a TV station's ad revenue, prompting concern by a parental watchdog group. But WJLA insists it's not just a naked attempt to boost the ratings.
The two segments include clinical demonstrations of self-exams, and the breasts of the two volunteers are not blurred. They were to air during the 5 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts Thursday and Friday.
WJLA officials said the segments are providing an important service because many women don't know how to properly check their breasts.
"In talking to women, we found out there really weren't a lot of women who knew how to do self breast exams," station manager Bill Lord said.
WJLA
In Memory
Michelle Triola Marvin
Michelle Triola Marvin, who waged a landmark palimony case against former lover actor Lee Marvin of "The Dirty Dozen" fame, died Friday at age 76.
She underwent surgery for lung cancer last year and died at the Malibu home of actor Dick Van Dyke, her partner of 30 years, said family spokesman Bob Palmer.
Michelle Marvin's birth name was Triola and she met Lee Marvin - who died in 1987 - while working as an extra in his 1964 movie "Ship of Fools." They lived together for six years and she took his last name but never married. The relationship ended in 1970.
In 1979, after his support checks stopped, Marvin sued her former lover for half of the estimated $3.6 million he had earned during their relationship. She claimed he had promised her lifetime support.
Famed attorney Marvin Mitchelson represented her and dubbed the request "palimony," equating it to the alimony legally available to divorcing spouses.
Although Marvin came away with no money, the sensational case spurred similar trials and, through a state Supreme Court ruling, established in California law the right of unmarried partners to sue for joint property on grounds that their partners had violated a relationship contract.
Her relationship with Van Dyke began in the late 1970s and they moved to Malibu in 1986.
In addition to Van Dyke, Marvin is survived by her sister, Diane Triola Johnson of Los Angeles; a niece and a nephew.
Michelle Triola Marvin
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