Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Andrew Tobias: Everything Comes Clear
The thing is - having shifted sharply in the other direction for the last three decades - we need to shift the emphasis from personal consumption back a bit (just a bit) to public consumption for a decade or two. Bigger houses and more TV's are nice; faster power boats and granite counter tops are nice. But so are bridges and highways that work . . . waterways that are deep enough . . .
Rachel Maddow Show
"What you'll see (after a 15-second ad) are two gripping tales of almost unimaginable heroism (by government workers!) followed by the kind of eye-opening big-picture charts and logic that make everything come clear."-Andrew Tobias
Susan Estrich: Karl Rove's New Adventure (Creators Syndicate)
Unlike the DLC effort, which was led by elected officials themselves, the Victory Project is seen as solely a Washington money group. Unlike the DLC, which from the beginning had a policy arm and by the end was led by Bruce Reed, Clinton's top policy guy, the Victory Project is seen as solely poll-driven.
Marc Dion: Shots and Beers, Boxing and a Pope I Know (Creators Syndicate)
The Irish bookmaker Paddy Power, may his presence on the Internet grow stronger, has American Cardinal Sean O'Malley going off as a 33-1 shot to be the next pope. And I know the guy, which means there's a 33-1 shot I'll know the next pope.
"Husbands"
A commercial for Amazon Kindle that shows how far gays have come.
Cheerleader nets half-court forward flip basketball shot - video (Guardian)
Ashlee Arnau, a cheerleader at William Carey University in Mississippi, steals the show with an acrobatic half-court shot. Arnau runs to the ball on the half-court line and picks it up mid-flip. As she spins round, she lofts the ball high into the air and it goes in without even touching the backboard. This was no fluke - Arnau has attempted the shot at every home game since Christmas.
George Dvorsky: When a mountain casts its shadow upon the sky (io9)
During the autumn and winter months, Mount Rainier, a stratovolcano near Tacoma, Washington, blocks the first rays of the Sun as it rises. The effect is what you see here: An expanding shadow cast against clouds tinged in hues of orange and yellow.
Alyssa Rosenberg: "Romantic Comedies Aren't What They Used To Be. Then Again, Neither Is Love" (Slate)
If romantic comedies have gotten harder to do well, maybe it's actually not because so many barriers to finding love have fallen, but rather because modern love's gotten more difficult, and more difficult to capture.
Caitlin Flanagan: Inventing Marilyn (Atlantic)
Anyone who thinks the story of Marilyn Monroe doesn't warrant such attention doesn't know much about it.
David Bruce's Amazon Author Page
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David Bruce's Blog
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David Bruce has approximately 50 Kindle books on Amazon.com.
David E Suggests
Oscars Travel (Infographic)
Here is an infographic that shows how far each of the hopeful Oscar nominees
will have to travel to get to the awards
Thanks, David!
Rank Country/Region Plum production (tonnes) 1 People's Republic of China 5,372,899 2 Serbia 662,631 3 United States 561,366 4 Romania 533,691Source
wrote:
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Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Veljko Suggests
The 'Big Five'
Thanks, Veljko!
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny, clear and windy.
The Oscars are tonight (02/24), so how about a little contest to see who can predict the most winners?
Best Actor
Best Actress
Best Supporting Actor
Best Supporting Actress
Best Director
Best Picture
Best Documentary Feature
Here's a complete list of all the nominees
Bonus/Tie-Breaker Question:
The Oscars plan to honor the James Bond franchise. Rumor has it 5 of the 6 actors who portrayed the iconic character will be in attendance. Which actor will NOT be there?
Sean Connery
George Lazenby
Roger Moore
Timothy Dalton
Pierce Brosnan
Daniel Craig
No prizes - just bragging rights.
Oscar Predictions
Roy in TX said:
Marty,
This Sunday, while many of you will be watching The Oscars, I will be continuing my 16-year tradition of boycotting the program.
The Academy totally snubbed what has to be one of the finest examples of science fiction/comedy ever produced -...- the 1996 star-studded clasic, "Mars Attacks," which starred Jack Nicholson, Mike J. Fox, SJP, Pierce Brosnan, and Calista Gingrich as the alien broad who killed Martin Short's character. I think, therefore I protest! Damn the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Sciences indeed!
I think, therefore I protest!
***********************
Marian predicted:
Best Actor - Daniel Day Lewis
Best Actress - Jennifer Lawrence
Best Supporting Actor - Tommy Lee Jones
Best Supporting Actress - Anne Hathaway
Best Director - Spielberg
Best Picture - Argo
Best Documentary Feature - Searching for Sugar Man
Tie Breaker: Pierce Brosnan
***********************
Dale of the springs, cali wrote:
Best Picture - Argo
Actor - Daniel Day Lewis
Actress - Jennifer Lawrence
Supporting Actor - Robert De Niro
Supporting Actress - Anne Hathaway
Director - Ang Lee
Documentary - Searching for Sugarman
David Niven played Bond and the last time I can recall is that he's been dead for quite a while!!!
***********************
Jim from CA, retired to ID, responded:
Best picture - Argo
Director - Steven Spielberg
Actor - Daniel Day-Lewis (one of 2 locks)
Actress - Jennifer Lawrance
Supporting Actor - Tommy Lee Jones
Supporting Actress - Anne Hathaway (the other lock)
Documentary - Searching for Sugarman
***********************
My 2 cents:
Best Actor - Daniel Day-Lewis
Best Actress - Emmanuelle Riva
Best Supporting Actor - Robert De Niro
Best Supporting Actress - Anne Hathaway
Best Director - Ang Lee
Best Picture - "Argo"
Best Documentary Feature - "Searching for Sugar Man"
And, agreeing with Marian - Pierce Brosnan will be the no-show Bond-man.
Here's a Complete List of Razzie Award Winners
"Silver Linings" Wins Four
Independent Spirit Awards
Quirky comedy "Silver Linings Playbook" dominated the Independent Spirit Awards on the eve of Hollywood's Academy Awards ceremony, winning four prizes including for Best Feature.
Jennifer Lawrence, 22, who plays a feisty young widow in "Silver Linings Playbook," was named best actress and David O. Russell picked up the best directing honor on Saturday.
Austrian drama "Amour," about an elderly couple coping with the effects of the wife's debilitating stroke, won the Best Foreign Film award on Saturday, strengthening its march toward expected Oscar success on Sunday.
Helen Hunt was named Best Supporting Female for her role as a sex therapist in "The Sessions," while her co-star John Hawkes, who plays a paraplegic, took the Best Male Lead award.
Matthew McConaughey was a winner for his supporting role as a male stripper in comedy "Magic Mike." The actor, who has enjoyed the biggest critical success in his career for the film, accepted the trophy saying, "I had to take my pants off to win an award."
Independent Spirit Awards
List of winners at the Independent Spirit Awards
Put Bite On 'Twilight'
Razzies
"The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2" was picked as last year's worst picture Saturday by the Razzies, an Academy Awards spoof that hands out prizes for Hollywood's lousiest movies on the eve of the Oscars.
The finale to the blockbuster supernatural romance dominated the Razzies with seven awards, including worst actress for Kristen Stewart, supporting actor for Taylor Lautner, director for Bill Condon and worst screen couple for Lautner and child co-star Mackenzie Foy.
Adam Sandler was named worst actor for the raunchy comedy "That's My Boy," his second-straight win after 2011's "Jack and Jill," which swept all 10 Razzie categories a year ago. Pop singer Rihanna won worst supporting actress for the action dud "Battleship."
The "Twilight" finale also won for worst screen ensemble and worst remake, rip-off or sequel. For worst picture, it beat out "Battleship," ''That's My Boy," the family flick "The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure" and Eddie Murphy's comedy flop "A Thousand Words."
Stewart's worst-actress prize came for both "Twilight" and her fairy-tale update "Snow White and the Huntsman."
Razzies
Complete List of Razzie Award Winners
Auction House Withdraws Art
Banksy
The BBC is citing a Miami auction house as saying it has withdrawn from sale an artwork by secretive graffiti artist Banksy that was removed from the side of a north London store.
The stencil of a young boy sewing Union Jack bunting vanished earlier this month, upsetting art lovers in the gritty Turnpike Lane area. It reappeared on the website of the Miami auction house, Fine Art Auctions, due to be sold Saturday with an estimated price of between $500,000 and $700,000.
But the BBC reported that the auction house confirmed the piece had been withdrawn from sale. It reported the auction house would not give a reason.
Poundland, the store that occupies the building, had said it had nothing to do with the removal.
Banksy
Swag-Fueled
Oscars
Giant coffee table books, iPod Shuffles, signed letters from directors, even "Lincoln" turkey roasting pans. That's just some of the largesse doled out by the studios to voters for awards presented earlier this season - each with the potential to influence the outcome of Hollywood's most important awards, Sunday night's Oscars.
Such gifts are strictly forbidden by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. But for studios, the stakes are high, and they've been creative in working around the rules to give their movies the best spotlight possible. A best picture win can boost a film's commercial appeal and solidify relations with big-name actors and directors.
This year, top Oscar contenders "Argo" from Warner Bros. and "Lincoln" from Disney pitted two deep-pocketed rivals against each other in what some say was an unprecedented level of Oscar campaigning. There was even some targeted sniping about the films' bending of historical facts.
Part of what's behind the seemingly unrestrained lobbying is that this year, an unusually large number of best picture nominees are also doing well at the box office, giving the studios dry powder for their campaigns.
Six of the nine contenders for the top Oscar have reaped $100 million or more in ticket sales domestically, and collectively they've earned $309 million since the nominations Jan. 10, according to Hollywood.com. This record-setting "Oscar bump" dwarfs the $111 million the nine best picture nominees made between the nominations and the awards ceremony last year. It also trumps the season that 2009's megahit "Avatar" was in the running, when 10 nominees brought in $204 million in bump.
Oscars
Charged For Wisconsin Protest
James Cromwell
Actor James Cromwell has been charged with a civil ordinance violation for allegedly disrupting a university meeting in Madison to protest animal testing.
The 73-year-old and 27-year-old activist Jeremy Beckham were charged Friday with disorderly conduct for the Feb. 7 protest at a University of Wisconsin Board of Regents meeting.
The violations are not criminal charges but carry fines of up to $1,000.
The two held large signs showing a cat with metal implanted in its head at a UW-Madison lab, while shouting about the treatment of cats.
James Cromwell
'Not Bitter' About Arrest
MC Hammer
MC Hammer suggests he was a victim of racial profiling when he was stopped and arrested by police in the Northern California city of Dublin.
The '90s rap star tweeted on Saturday that an officer approached him in his car and asked "Are you on parole or probation?"
He says that as he handed over his ID, the officer reached inside the car and tried to pull him out.
Dublin police Lt. Herb Walters told the Oakland Tribune that Hammer, who was born Stanley Burrell, was arrested Thursday for investigation of obstructing an officer in the performance of their duties and resisting an officer.
Hammer tweeted that he wasn't bitter and considered what happened "a teachable moment."
MC Hammer
Estate Up For Sale
Wayne Newton
The Las Vegas estate of entertainer Wayne Newton is up for sale amid uncertainty over what potential buyers will get.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports for sale signs went up Friday at Newton's Casa de Shenandoah.
Under a procedure approved by U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Bruce Markell, prospective buyers must post a 5 percent cash deposit of their proposed price by May 15. An auction is scheduled May 31.
Newton has appealed the sale order. The three houses on the 38-acre property have leases and Newton's Arabian horses have a right to graze on the land.
Plans to convert the estate into a theme park celebrating Newton's career collapsed last year.
Wayne Newton
"Open Secret"
Patients
It's been called one of medicine's "open secrets" - allowing patients to refuse treatment by a doctor or nurse of another race.
In the latest example, a white man with a swastika tattoo insisted that black nurses not be allowed to touch his newborn. That led several black nurses to sue the Michigan hospital, claiming it bowed to his illegal demands, and a rapid settlement in one of their lawsuits.
The Michigan cases are among several lawsuits filed in recent years that highlight this seldom-discussed issue, which quietly persists almost 60 years after the start of the civil rights movement.
The American Medical Association's ethics code bars doctors from refusing to treat people based on race, gender and other criteria, but there are no specific policies for handling race-based requests from patients.
"In general, I don't think honoring prejudicial preferences ... is morally justifiable" for a health care organization, said Dr. Susan Goold, a University of Michigan professor of internal medicine and public health. "That said, you can't cure bigotry ... There may be times when grudgingly acceding to a patient's strongly held preferences is morally OK."
Those times could include patients who have been so traumatized - by rape or combat, for instance - that accommodating their request would be preferable to forcing on them a caregiver whose mere presence might aggravate the situation, she said.
Patients
New Home In Russian Province
Depardieu
French actor Gerard Depardieu has a new permanent address in Russia.
Depardieu had sought Russian citizenship as part of his battle against a proposed super tax on millionaires in France. President Vladimir Putin granted him a Russian passport last month, and on Saturday he got it stamped with his address in the provincial city of Saransk.
Saransk is a city of 300,000 about 640 kilometres (400 miles) east of Moscow, known for its 18th-century churches. Depardieu was registered in an apartment belonging to his friend's relatives.
Showing his knowledge of Russian history, Depardieu likened himself to Yemelyan Pugachev, the chief of a peasant rebellion of the 18th century, saying: "I am like Pugachev: I am a peasant, and I want to be tsar of Saransk," according to Russia Today television.
Depardieu
In Memory
Diane Lampert
Diane Charlotte Lampert, an accomplished songwriter of the 1950s and 1960s who wrote lyrics to title songs for more than 20 movies, has died.
Lampert's husband, Fred Stuart, said she died of heart failure Friday at a Manhattan hospital. She was 88.
Lampert worked on songs performed by Brenda Lee, Steve Lawrence, Red Foley, The Lettermen and others. She also was a writer on a Beatles song, "Nothin Shakin' (But The Leaves On The Trees)" that wasn't released until 1994 on "Live At The BBC."
Lampert helped provide music for movies starring Bob Hope, Cary Grant, Buster Keaton and others.
She is survived by Stuart, president of Rainbow Music Corp., her husband of 45 years.
Diane Lampert
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