Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Paul Krugman: Free to Lose (nytimes.com)
With long-term unemployment at its highest levels since the 1930s and on the rise, the U.S. should consider policies that address job growth directly.
Mark Morford: The Lethal Injection College Fund (sfgate.com)
Here's one billion dollars. Kill a few people, or help thousands?
Paul Giamatti: 'I'm clearly not Brad Pitt' (guardian.co.uk)
Paul Giamatti tends to play moody defeatists and rageful misanthropes. Which is just the way he likes it, he tells Oliver Burkeman.
Will Harris: A Chat with Talulah Riley, Co-star of "Pirate Radio" (bullz-eye.com)
On her nude scene with Nick Frost : He was incredibly sort of vibrant and outgoing, but then he suddenly got very, like, 'I'm engaged and I'm getting married!' And I was, 'Okay, that's good. I just won't be touching you, then!
Will Harris: A Chat with Tom Sturridge, Co-star of "Pirate Radio" (bullz-eye.com)
I knew Talulah (Riley) before, and I got cast before her, so I was always kind of nudging Richard, kind of, like, going, "Who's gonna be my girlfriend?" And once she was cast, there was a bit of, 'Oh, f**k. It's like my f**king sister's playing my girlfriend!'
Michael Ordoņa: Bill Nighy pretty much lived this role (latimes.com)
The new film, says Nighy, is really about "decency and friendship. Richard Curtis is a believer. When a movie is called 'searingly honest,' it's almost invariably grim and demonstrates how bad things can get. Richard likes to try to make a searingly honest movie that tells you how good things can be.
Roger Ebert: PIRATE RADIO (R; 3 stars)
Before we get to the movie, let's assume you're near a computer that has iTunes. Go to "radio," look under "alternative rock," and go down to Radio Caroline. I'll tell you why in a moment. Don't turn it up so loud that it drowns out my review.
Joss Whedon's 'Dollhouse' canceled (latimesblogs.latimes.com)
All 13 episodes will air, and the advance notice has given Whedon a chance to give the series a satisfying ending, according to a Fox...
Will Harris: A Chat with Michael Ironside, Co-star of "Hardwired" (bullz-eye.com)
"One of the young production assistants (on 'Terminator: Salvation') stepped over to me and said, 'Are you any relation to the Ironside who was in 'Top Gun'?' And I said, 'yes.' And she grinned and said, 'I knew it! Talent must run in your family!'"
The 'Wild' western (latimes.com)
Though some critics hated it when it was released in 1969, Sam Peckinpah's seminal western "The Wild Bunch" is today considered one of the most influential, poetic -- and yes, violent -- sagebrush sagas ever made.
Elbert Ventura: Shadows (slate.com)
John Cassavetes' startling directorial debut changed American movies forever.
Marisa Demarco: "Tristan Taormin: The Feminist Pornographer" (alibi.com)
Vivid Entertainment director in Albuquerque to talk pleasure positivity at the Pornotopia film festival.
The Weekly Poll
Current Question
The 'Two or Three and out' Edition
Washington (CNN) -- A handful of Republican senators have proposed a constitutional amendment to limit how long a person may serve in Congress.
Currently, there are no term limits for federal lawmakers, but Sen. Jim DeMint, R-South Carolina, and several of his colleagues are advocating that service in the Senate be limited to 12 years, while lawmakers would only be allowed to serve six years in the House
GOP senators push for term limits - CNN.com
Are you in favor of term limits for US representatives and senators?
Send your response to
Results Tuesday
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Link from RJ
The Manhattan Bridge
Hi there
A possible link for you perhaps? Thanks, as ever, for taking a look...
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Michelle in AZ
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Mostly sunny but cooler than seasonal.
Award Nominees Unveiled
International Documentary Association
The International Documentary Association on Thursday unveiled nominees for its widely-watched awards, putting its spotlight on non-fiction films that might also compete for Oscars early next year.
The key category of distinguished documentary achievement finds five nominees ranging from a film about four people competing in a television talent show in Afghanistan, "Afghan Star" to the story of a pair of faded rockers hoping for one last grasp at stardom, "Anvil! The Story of Anvil."
The three other nominees are "Food, Inc." about the U.S. food industry, "Diary of a Times Square Thief," which tells of a search for the writer of a diary that was sold on Ebay, and "Mugabe and the White African," the story of a white African farmer who defies the government of Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe.
Winners will be announced at a ceremony in Los Angeles on December 4.
International Documentary Association
Crikey steveirwini!
Steve Irwin
An Australian scientist has paid an unusual tribute to late conservation star Steve Irwin by naming a rare species of snail "crikey steveirwini".
Queensland Museum scientist John Stanisic said khaki colours on the stripy tree snail reminded him of the trademark shirt and shorts worn by Irwin, who died in a freak stingray incident in 2006.
"This is an extremely rare species of snail," Stanisic said Friday, describing it as "a colourful snail, with swirling bands of creamy yellow, orange-brown and chocolate giving the shell an overall khaki appearance".
Stanisic said crikey steveirwini's name and precarious habitat would also draw attention to the effects of climate change.
Steve Irwin
Helps Dad
Richard Gere
Actor Richard Gere has returned to his former upstate New York hometown to help his father and other volunteers for Meals on Wheels celebrate an anniversary.
Gere was on hand for Thursday night's event marking the fifth anniversary of the organization's new building in North Syracuse, just outside Syracuse.
Homer Gere still delivers food for Meals on Wheels, something his 60-year-old son called "pretty extraordinary."
Richard Gere graduated from high school in North Syracuse in 1967.
Richard Gere
3-D Is Next
'Saw 7'
There's still some life in the "Saw" horror franchise, despite the disappointing performance of the latest installment.
Indie Hollywood studio Lionsgate said on Thursday it was moving ahead with "Saw 7," which will be in 3-D.
"As long as we make money on it we'll keep doing this," Lionsgate vice chairman Michael Burns said at the Media and Money conference in New York, noting that such franchises tend to have a long shelf life across different platforms.
The franchise, a Halloween staple since 2004, peaked at $87 million with the first sequel and fell to $57 million last year.
"Saw 7"
Sentenced To 175 Years
Tony Alamo
Evangelist Tony Alamo used his stature as a self-proclaimed prophet to force underage girls into sham marriages with him, controlling his followers with their fears of eternal suffering.
But the judge who sentenced Alamo on Friday to 175 years in prison for child sexual abuse warned of another kind of justice awaiting the aging evangelist.
"Mr. Alamo, one day you will face a higher and a greater judge than me," U.S. District Judge Harry F. Barnes told the preacher. "May he have mercy on your soul."
Barnes leveled the maximum sentence against the 75-year-old, who preyed on followers' young daughters and took child "brides" as young as age 8. A jury convicted Alamo in July on a 10-count indictment accusing him of taking the girls across state lines for sex.
Alamo, who has made millions through his ministry, also must pay $250,000 in fines. He will return to court for a Jan. 13 hearing at which Barnes will determine if the five women who testified about their sexual abuse will be paid restitution. Federal prosecutors say an expert believes each one should get $2.7 million for the physical and mental abuse they endured.
Tony Alamo
Sues TLC
Jon Gosselin
Jon Gosselin has filed a counter lawsuit against the TLC network, claiming television producers violated Pennsylvania's child labor laws in filming the hit reality show "Jon & Kate Plus 8" and are preventing him from working.
The suit seeking more than $5 million in damages was filed Thursday in Maryland's Montgomery County Circuit Court in response to a network lawsuit alleging Gosselin failed to meet his obligations as an employee.
Gosselin's attorney Mark Jay Heller said the network had the family sign a complicated deal in 2005 without the advice of a lawyer.
Heller said the network also failed to obtain child work permits that would spell out what hours the children would work and how they would be paid. An anonymous complaint to Pennsylvania authorities over a clip that showed TV producers refusing water to one of the children prompted an ongoing investigation, according to Gosselin's court filing.
Jon Gosselin
German Charged With Extortion
Cindy Crawford
A German man has been charged with trying to extort $100,000 from former supermodel Cindy Crawford and her husband over a photo of their daughter gagged and bound to a chair, authorities said.
Edis Kayalar, the man at the center of the probe, was charged in federal court in Los Angeles on Thursday, but he was recently deported back to Germany and has not been arrested.
The photo was apparently snapped by the then 7-year-old's nanny as a private joke when she was playing "cops and robbers" with the girl, and it came into the hands of Kayalar, who was the nanny's friend, according to court documents.
This past summer, Kayalar contacted Crawford and her husband Rande Gerber, who did not know about the photo, and sought to use it to get money from them, saying tabloids would pay a lot, the court papers said.
Cindy Crawford
In Talks To Be Sold
Playboy
Playboy Enterprises Inc is in talks with Jim Griffiths, a former entertainment president at the company, and private equity firm Golden Gate Capital, to sell itself for about $300 million, a source familiar with the matter said Friday.
Playboy declined to comment. Golden Gate Capital, which is in joint talks with Griffiths, were not immediately available for comment.
The company is also in separate talks with Iconix Brand Group to sell itself, sources told Reuters on Thursday.
Iconix, which owns and licenses clothing brands such as Candies, Joe Boxer, and Rocawear, wants to bring in a publishing partner to buy Playboy magazine while it would keep the licensing part of the company, one of the sources said.
Playboy
Are Wealthy And Tolerant
Happiest States
Though you might not be able to run away from your problems, moving to another state could be good for the soul. New research suggests U.S. states with wealthier, better educated and more tolerant residents are also happier on average.
The reasoning is that wealthy states can provide infrastructure and so it's easier for residents to get their needs met. In addition, states with a greater proportion of artists and gays would also be places where residents can freely express themselves.
On average, well-being was highest in the Mountain states and West Coast states, followed by the Eastern Seaboard and then the Midwest and Southern states.
The researchers note that because a state scores high or low doesn't mean you could pluck out a resident and expect that person to be appropriately cheery or depressed. And not every state in the union sits exactly where you might expect on the list.
Happiest States
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