Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Susan Estrich: Clintonesque (Creators Syndicate)
Romney? The guy who wants you to understand that he should pay 15 percent while all of us poor slobs who work for a living pay more, because putting your money in the Cayman Islands or in a Swiss bank account is so much more productive. Sorry, guys. That doesn't play in Peoria. If ever there was a guy whom I can't imagine understanding the problems of working people, it is a governor's son who made millions and lives off the millions he gets for not working. He's going to connect with the pain of unemployment? Not.
Andrew Tobias: A Fundraising Anecdote
"I lost FIFTY million dollars," he shot back, "and I still have EIGHTY million, so I know it's completely nuts, it makes no rational sense - I really want to help, but I just can't right now."
Special Guest Blog #4 (Rall.com)
The Middle Class is now in the position the Indians were in 150 years ago. The end is coming for us, just as it came for the Indians. A small number of the Middle Class will survive, but the culture, all the things that made the Middle Class what it was will be swept away.
Henry Rollins: Masochism Has Its Benefits (LA Weekly)
There is a very powerful motivating force that keeps me out on the trail. This may sound odd, but I like to be in service and under obligation. Service is a strange word applied to being onstage, I know. I feel a great debt to the audience, because firstly they walked into the venue and secondly, they are trusting their night and the irretrievable time contained therein to me. I would rather lose a finger than let them down.
Happy Birthday, André the Giant … I wish you were alive
Happy Birthday, André. I never really knew that much about André the Giant. He was obviously a wrestler and he was my hero in "The Princess Bride", one of my favorite movies ever. [Good photos; Andre's birthday is May 19.]
David Kipen: Unhappy Camper (Humanities Magazine)
If you want your child to be a writer, go bankrupt.
Henry Adams: A Book at Last (Chronicle of Higher Education)
When I was in graduate school, I dreamed of turning my dissertation into a book. I suppose that all graduate students have such a dream, since the central message of advanced training in English is "publish, publish, publish to prove your worth as a human being."
Jim Phillips: OU prof's new book sparks nostalgia for short-story era (Athens News)
Once upon a time, short stories were a staple of America's reading diet - or at least more so than they are today. Good, big-name writers like Fitzgerald, Lardner, Parker and O'Hara cranked them out, and popular magazines carried them. These days, the short story has been largely consigned to a literary ghetto /boutique, to be savored by connoisseurs, and handled by publishers with the same respect and lack of promotion they give its fellow redheaded stepchild, poetry.
Roger Ebert: They Wuz Robbed
Of course, no nominee is really robbed of an Academy Award nomination. It's a gift; not a right.
David Bruce has 42 Kindle books on Amazon.com with 250 anecdotes in each book. Each book is $1, so for $42 you can buy 10,500 anecdotes. Search for "Funniest People," "Coolest People, "Most Interesting People," "Kindest People," "Religious Anecdotes," "Maximum Cool," and "Resist Psychic Death."
wrote:
took the day off.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and warm with a nice breeze.
Same As It Ever Was
Top Sitcoms
The unemployment rate for women characters on network sitcoms is staggering. In the five highest rated primetime sitcoms - The Big Bang Theory, Modern Family, Two Broke Girls, Two and a Half Men, and How I Met Your Mother - the majority of the male characters are professionally accomplished, while the female characters are almost all unemployed or financially struggling.
There is a difference between quirky, flawed characters and ones who are incapable of professional success. And when the latter is reliably female, it makes for sexist television. It also makes for unrealistic television.
Take a look: The female characters on Modern Family are stay-at-home moms; Robin, on How I Met Your Mother, is a struggling journalist (and Lily, the other female character, is a shopaholic nursery school teacher); Two Broke Girls is about model-pretty waitresses who can barely pay their rent; and in the dystopic world of Two and a Half Men, all of the female characters are stalkers, dimwits, cleaning ladies, vindictive ex-wives, or manipulative mothers.
The only accomplished women on any of these shows are on The Big Bang Theory. But like 30 Rock's Liz Lemon, the most successful one, Amy, is undatable, while Penny, the hot waitress, is the one the male characters lust after.
Just 1 in 6 writers on prime-time sitcoms, dramas, and reality TV shows are women, down from roughly 1 in 3 in the 2009-10 season. Without women involved in the writing, even the few female characters who do make it into the scripts may be less likely to come across as relatable.
Top Sitcoms
Votes To Approve Merger Plan
Screen Actors Guild
The Screen Actors Guild national board of directors has voted to approve a plan to merge with the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.
In a statement, SAG says the board voted 87 percent to 13 percent Friday for the proposed merger at its meeting in Los Angeles.
The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists' board is scheduled to meet Saturday for a vote on the package. If approved, a referendum will be sent out for a vote by members of both unions in the coming weeks.
The merger plan comes after two years of negotiations between the groups to join forces in a bid to gain more leverage in contract negotiations.
Screen Actors Guild
Academy Makes Credits Exception
'Tree of Life'
The Academy has made an unusual exception for "The Tree of Life," determining that the film has four true producers and should not be limited by an AMPAS rule that limits the number of producers on a Best Picture nominee to three.
Sarah Green, Bill Pohlad, Dede Gardner and Grant Hill all "functioned as genuine producers" on the Terrence Malick film, according to a ruling from the Academy's Producers Branch Executive Committee. Under Academy rules that went into effect after five producers won Oscar statuettes for "Shakespeare in Love" in 1999, more than three producers can be credited only in the case of a "rare and extraordinary circumstance."
Typically, the Academy allows the Producers Guild of America to determine which producers truly deserve credit. "The Tree of Life" did not receive a PGA nomination.
Last year, the Academy made an exception for "The Social Network," which earned Oscar nominations for four of its producers. The previous year they did the same for Best Picture winner "The Hurt Locker."
'Tree of Life'
Cat-Like Night Vision
Nong Yousui
If you're a comic book or superhero fan, you've probably dreamt of having special powers of some sort. Fanboy or not, it's safe to assume that at some point in our lives the majority of us have wished we could fly like a bird, possess super strength, or even read people's minds. Well, now it appears that one boy in China may exhibit some super powers of his own.
As reported by Dvice earlier, a story of a Chinese boy who may have cat-like night vision is circulating the internet. Allegedly, the young Chinese boy's, Nong Yousui's, eyes are similar to those of a cat, allowing him the uncanny ability to see in the dark.
According to Alien Disclosure Group, doctors were made aware of the boy's condition when he was two months old after his father inquired about the boy's unique blue eyes. At the time, doctors assured Nong Shihua, Yousui's father that there was no cause for concern and the boy would be fine when he got older.
As time progressed and Yousui got older, it became apparent that his eyes were displaying some "special" properties, which according to the video, troubles the young boy's vision during the day. His teachers began to notice when outside, Yousui would begin to squint and complain of difficulty seeing, while other the other children around him would not.
Despite his daytime difficulty, Yousui appears to display a superior ability to see at night - apparently he can catch crickets without the need of a flashlight - and when reporters from Heng County Television Station in Guangxi administered a test in which they gave him cards to fill out in a darkly lit room, he was able to do so without any problems. When reporters shined their light on the boy's eyes they seem to emit a blue-green light similar to a cat's.
Nong Yousui
UK Police Arrest Tabloid Staff
Rupert
British police arrested four current and former staff of Rupert Murdoch's best-selling Sun tabloid plus a policeman on Saturday as part of an investigation into suspected payments by journalists to officers, police and the newspaper's publisher said.
Police also searched the paper's London offices at publisher News International, News Corp's British arm, in a corruption probe linked to a continuing investigation into phone hacking at its now closed News of the World weekly tabloid.
News Corp's Management and Standards Committee, set up in the wake of the phone hacking scandal, said Saturday's operation was the result of information it had passed to police.
The arrests included The Sun's crime editor Mike Sullivan, its head of news Chris Pharo, and former deputy editor Fergus Shanahan, a source familiar with the situation told Reuters.
Also arrested was the paper's former managing editor Graham Dudman, now a columnist and media writer, the source said.
Rupert
Texas Pot Busts
Hudspeth County
Nestled among the few remaining businesses that dot a rundown highway in this dusty West Texas town stands what's become a surprise destination for marijuana-toting celebrities: the Hudspeth County Jail.
Willie Nelson, Snoop Dogg and actor Armie Hammer have been among the thousands of people busted for possession at a Border Patrol checkpoint outside town in recent years, bringing a bit of notoriety to one of Texas' most sparsely populated counties.
"Once I was in Arizona, and when I said where I was from, they said, 'That's where Willie Nelson was busted,'" said Louise Barantley, manager at the Coyote Sunset souvenir shop in Sierra Blanca.
Hudspeth County cameos aren't only for outlaws: Action movie star Steven Seagal, who's already deputized in Louisiana and Arizona for his reality show "Steven Seagal Lawman" on A&E, has signed on to become a county officer.
Hudspeth County
Arizona Candidate Appeals Court Decision
Alejandrina Cabrera
A woman barred from seeking elected office in an Arizona border town by a judge who ruled she did not have a sufficient grasp of English has decided to fight the controversial ruling, and filed an appeal on Friday, her lawyer said.
A Yuma County judge disqualified Alejandrina Cabrera, a U.S. citizen born in Yuma, from running for a seat on the city council in the town of San Luis this week for what he called a "large gap" between her English proficiency and that required to serve on the council.
The judge, in a move that sparked a debate over language in often bilingual U.S.-Mexican border communities, said Cabrera's English was not of the level needed to carry out the professional duties required of a representative of the public.
Brandon Kinsey, one of Cabrera's attorneys, said the vast majority of his own conversations with Cabrera have been conducted in English and that she meets the baseline requirement for reading, writing, and speaking in the language.
"Whether or not she is the best candidate is a decision left up to the voters," he said. "It should not be left up to a judge."
Alejandrina Cabrera
Closes Doors
Hull House
Hull House, the Chicago social services organization founded more than 120 years ago by the Nobel Peace Prize winner Jane Addams, closed Friday after running out of money.
The agency said the poor economy resulted in more demand for its services but also made it harder to raise money to cover its costs. Hull House has been providing child care, job training, housing assistance and other services for 60,000 people a year in the Chicago area.
The agency had announced plans to close in the spring, but Friday's shutdown was unexpected, striking some 300 employees with a devastating and unexpected blow. They received layoff notices and final paychecks and then spent the day packing their belongings and saying tearful good-byes. Many said they were startled to learn their insurance ended almost two weeks ago.
Founded in 1889, Hull House was the best known of the 400 settlement houses in the United States in the early 1900s. The settlements were designed to provide services to immigrants and the poor while uplifting them through culture, education and recreation. At its peak, Hull House served more than 9,000 people a week, offering medical help, an art gallery, citizenship classes, a gardening club and a gym with sports programs.
Hull House
Rare Mass Migration
Snowy Owls
Bird enthusiasts are reporting rising numbers of snowy owls from the Arctic winging into the lower 48 states this winter in a mass southern migration that a leading owl researcher called "unbelievable."
Thousands of the snow-white birds, which stand 2 feet tall with 5-foot wingspans, have been spotted from coast to coast, feeding in farmlands in Idaho, roosting on rooftops in Montana, gliding over golf courses in Missouri and soaring over shorelines in Massachusetts.
A certain number of the iconic owls fly south from their Arctic breeding grounds each winter but rarely do so many venture so far away even amid large-scale, periodic southern migrations known as irruptions.
"What we're seeing now -- it's unbelievable," said Denver Holt, head of the Owl Research Institute in Montana.
"This is the most significant wildlife event in decades," added Holt, who has studied snowy owls in their Arctic tundra ecosystem for two decades.
Snowy Owls
In Memory
Dimitra Arliss
Dimitra Arliss, who played a hired killer alongside Robert Redford and Paul Newman in the caper comedy "The Sting," has died in Los Angeles. She was 79.
Jaime Larkin, a spokesperson for the Motion Picture and Television Fund Hospital, says Arliss died Jan. 26 at the Woodland Hills facility of complications from a stroke.
The Ohio native began her acting career at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago. On Broadway, Arliss starred opposite Stacy Keach in "Indians" and with Kevin Kline and John Malkovich in "Arms and the Man."
After appearing as a "hit lady" in the 1973 hit "The Sting," she was seen in "Xanadu," starring Olivia Newton-John and Gene Kelly, and in Clint Eastwood's "Firefox."
Her numerous television credits include "Dallas," ''Quincy M.E.," and "Rich Man, Poor Man."
Arliss is survived by a sister.
Dimitra Arliss
In Memory
Clare Fischer
Clare Fischer, a Grammy-winning composer who wrote scores for television and movies and worked with legendary musicians like Dizzy Gillespie, has died. He was 83.
Fischer died Thursday at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank after suffering a heart attack two weeks ago, family spokeswoman Claris Sayadian-Dodge said.
An uncommonly versatile musician, Fischer worked as a composer, arranger, conductor and pianist for more than 60 years.
He is best known for his arrangements for Prince, Michael Jackson, Paul McCartney, Branford Marsalis, Raphael Saadiq, Usher and Brandy.
Nominated for a Grammy 11 times in the Best Instrumental Arrangement category, Fischer won in 1986 for his album "Free Fall" and in 1981 for "Salsa Picante plus 2+2."
Born in Durand, Michigan, Fischer got his start playing piano and writing jazz-inspired arrangements for the group The Hi-Lo's, an a cappella quartet popular in the 1950s.
Fischer recorded 51 albums over his lifetime with his son Brent Fischer. The music ranges in style from jazz to salsa to symphonies.
Clare Fischer is survived by his wife, Donna; sons Lee and Brent; daughter Tahlia; and three grandchildren.
Clare Fischer
In Memory
Ian Abercrombie
Ian Abercrombie, a busy character actor who gained recognition as Elaine Benes' (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) eccentric boss Mr. Pitt on NBC's Seinfeld, died Thursday in Hollywood. He was 77.
Abercrombie seemed to be always working, appearing in scores of films, TV shows and theater productions during his 50-year-plus career in show business. The British actor made his American stage debut in 1955 in a production of Stalag 17 opposite Jason Robards, played the Wise Man in Sam Raimi's comedy-horror film Army of Darkness (1992) and was 800-year-old wizard Professor Crumbs on Disney Channel hit Wizards of Waverly Place.
Abercrombie also had a recurring role as Palpatine/Darth Sidious on George Lucas' animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars, did voice work on animation hit Rango this year and, just before his death, completed his work on the latest episode of the Green Lantern animated series for Cartoon Network.
In seven episodes of Seinfeld, Abercrombie played Justin Pitt, Elaine's picky boss who eats his candy bars with a knife and fork and wears white knee socks. He fired Elaine after he became convinced she had tried to murder him using a deadly drug interaction, with Jerry (Jerry Seinfeld) as an accomplice.
Abercrombie's film credits start with Von Ryan's Express (1965) and include They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969), The Molly Maguires (1970), Young Frankenstein (1974), Puppet Master III (1991), The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997), Marilyn Hotchkiss' Ballroom Dancing and Charm School (2005) and Garfield: A Tale of Two Kitties (2006).
On television, he was a regular on the WB Network series Birds of Prey and also worked on such shows as Get Smart, Hunter, L.A. Law, Dynasty, Northern Exposure, NewsRadio, Murphy Brown, Desperate Housewives and dozens of others.
Born Sept. 11, 1934, in Grays, Essex, England, Abercrombie performed on stages in London, Holland, Ireland and Scotland before coming to America at age 17 in 1951. His other theatrical credits include Mary Stuart (with Marsha Mason), The Crucifer of Blood (with Charlton Heston as Sherlock Holmes), The Vortex (with Rupert Everett) and The Arcata Promise with Anthony Hopkins.
Abercrombie was a founding member and former board member of BAFTA-LA as well as a board member for the Actors Fund of America.
Survivors include his brothers Douglas, Donald and Alex.
Ian Abercrombie
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