Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Philadelphia Vampire Turns The Foreclosure Tables On Wells Fargo (disinfo.com)
An inspiring story from Philadelphia as a homeowner forecloses on (that's right, forecloses on) a sleazy big bank. Wells Fargo tried to force Patrick Rodgers into paying for an exorbitant home insurance policy, and then broke the law by ignoring Rodgers' written requests for a response. After the bank refused to pay resultant fines, a judge ordered a sheriff's sale on its downtown branch. Oh and also: our hero is A VAMPIRE.
Lynn Comella, Ph.D.: "Education Under Siege: A First-Hand Account From A UNLV Professor" (Las Vegas Weekly)
Should the Nevada System of Higher Education's Board of Regents declare a state of financial exigency as a way of dealing with Gov. Brian Sandoval's draconian cuts to higher education, I could be one of hundreds of professors at UNLV who would lose their jobs.
Mark Shields: Labor's Pains 2011 (Creators Syndicate)
During the showdown in Wisconsin, Republican Gov. Scott Walker's determination to repeal collective bargaining rights of state employees has led to open conflict with those employees and the unions that represent them.
Jim Hightower: OUT-OF-WHACK BUDGET WHACKERS
Washington's ferocious ax wielders are sparing assorted corporate subsidies. Take the Market Access Program - please! It hands $200 million a year to such huge processors and exporters of agricultural commodities as Sunkist and Welch's so they can advertise their products abroad. Hello - these "free enterprise" giants have plenty of money to do their own ads.
Timothy Egan: The Man Who Won't Be King (New York Times)
In a normal year, a well-made Hollywood product that is not a toy spinoff and actually says something about the human heart would be the odds-on favorite for Best Picture. But this year, "The King's Speech," concerning a monarch with a stammer, seems likely to win. And here's the surprise: the period drama with Brits born on third base is a more compelling story of class mobility than the tale of America's young elites inventing something that changed the world.
Andrew Tobias: Charles' Relationship to Money
Charles once gave a friend a pile of old magazines. A few weeks later, the friend came by to return a forgotten $5,000 that he had found tucked into one of them.
"The Terror of Living" by Urban Waite: A review by Katherine Dunn
If the phrase "literary thriller" makes some of us wince, it's from fear of what some wise guy called "more writin' than readin'." But in The Terror of Living, Urban Waite's strong debut novel, that label is no oxymoron. In this case "literary" means assured and skillful prose that explores more than a Looney Tunes view of good vs. evil, and primary characters far more nuanced than Popeye and Bluto, or Bond and Goldfinger.
Hermione Hoby: Allen Ginsberg, Howl and the voice of the Beats (Guardian)
It's more than half a century since Allen Ginsberg's poem 'Howl' landed like a bombshell in the staid world of 1950s America. But what was the poet really like? Friends and colleagues remember him.
Beth Shuster: "An appreciation: Len Lesser was much more than Uncle Leo" (Los Angeles Times)
To the children of Canterbury Avenue Elementary School in Arleta, he wasn't a signature 'Seinfeld' character - he was their acting coach.
Paul Constant: "'I Am Number Four': A Million Little Bullshit Clichés" (The Stranger)
Nothing has consequence. If it feels like a discarded TV pilot, that's for good reason: Four's script was cowritten by Smallville hacks Alfred Gough and Miles Millar. This feels less like going to a movie and more like going to the market-testing session for a movie. Ugh. Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit.
Michael Darpino: Q & A with Henry Rollins (welovedc.com)
MD: How do you feel about them renaming National Airport after Ronald Reagan?
HR: It is in fact, not Reagan National. It is DC National, it is every single time it comes out of my mouth, at least.
Michael Darpino: A Question Per Decade For Henry Rollins (Citysbest.com)
MD: What do you think it will take for Congress to finally grant DC statehood?
HR: It would be great for people there to be able to have some representation. I don't know what needs to be done -- perhaps a more creative look at the 10th and 14th Amendments.
David Bruce has 40 Kindle books on Amazon.com with 250 anecdotes in each book. Each book is $1, so for $40 you can buy 10,000 anecdotes. Search for "Funniest People," "Coolest People, "Most Interesting People," "Kindest People," "Religious Anecdotes," and "Maximum Cool."
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From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Purple Gene Reviews
"Just Go with It"
Just Go with It
Directed by Dennis Dugan
(written to that Mad Cat JD)
Ok...I went to see "Just Go With It" with with my 16 year old step daughter..Lorin today.....it was a predictable and and fairly pathetic picture.....BUT.......
Your girlfriend saved the movie from oblivion!
That's right...Nicole Kidman should get a bad "B" movie cameo oscar...she was hella hella funny and pretty good at the hula (Im sure they had a stunt double)
Thank god for your Nashville girlfriend to save me from such an annoying and assinine flick....Anniston bad....Sandler badder...and Kidman...cute and humorous.
(also Dave Matthews makes a cameo as kidmans gay hubby...pretty good too)
Purple Gene gives "Just Go With It" 15 phony unfunny faux pas out of a hundred...but Nicole gets 99 near hilarious kudo's out of 100 for saving me from a disaster I had to sit through with my teenager
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
BadtotheboneBob
Otzi
Pictures: Otzi the Iceman's New, Older Face Unveiled
Prematurely aged, with leathery, wrinkled skin, deep-set eyes, and a shaggy beard, this new reconstruction of "Ötzi" the Iceman is a far cry from past reconstructions that showed him as a strapping middle-aged man.
Notably, the new model, developed by Dutch artists Alfons and Adrie Kennis, has brown eyes based on recent research that showed the 5,000-year-old Iceman did not have blue eyes, as previously thought... (National Geographic)
Otzi the Iceman's New, Older Face Unveiled
He looks like some of the lobstermen I knew in Maine, haha!
BadtotheboneBob
Thanks, B2tbBob!
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Colder and more rain.
Bartcop Entertainment - Razzie Awards - 2011
`Black Swan' Wins Top Honor
Indie Spirit Awards
The ballet thriller "Black Swan" has won best picture at the Spirit Awards honoring independent film, along with awards for best actress for Natalie Portman and director for Darren Aronofsky.
James Franco was picked as best actor for the survival story "127 hours," while the Ozarks crime story "Winter's Bone" earned both supporting-acting prizes, for John Hawkes and Dale Dickey.
All three films are up for best picture at Sunday's Academy Awards, where Portman is considered the favorite to win the best-actress Oscar and Franco is a co-host.
The British monarch saga "The King's Speech," the best-picture front-runner at the Oscars, won the prize for best foreign film.
Indie Spirit Awards
"The Last Airbender"
Razzies
"The Last Airbender" led Saturday's Razzies with five awards, among them worst picture, worst director and worst screenplay for M. Night Shyamalan.
The movie also received Razzies for worst supporting actor (Jackson Rathbone, who was cited for both "The Last Airbender" and "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse") and for a special award, worst eye-gouging misuse of 3-D.
A spoof of the Academy Awards, the Razzies were announced the night before the Oscars, Hollywood's biggest party.
"Sex and the City 2" took three Razzies, including worst actress, a prize shared by co-stars Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon, worst screen couple or ensemble for its entire cast, and worst prequel, remake, rip-off or sequel.
Razzies
Complete List Of Razzie Winners
Lifetime Achievement Award
John Lasseter
John Lasseter's pair of Oscars have a new friend: a lifetime achievement trophy. The Pixar and Disney animation chief received the award Friday night for his dedication to the 40-minutes-or-less medium from Shorts International, an entertainment organization which promotes, distributes, broadcasts and produces short films.
"It feels fantastic because I love short films," said Lasseter. "I love the art form and what it did for me as a filmmaker. I learned so much from making short films. They're these little gems, these fantastic little ideas that are not meant to be a feature film. They're perfect unto themselves. A great short film leaves you smiling and thinking about it."
Lasseter won the animated short film Oscar in 1988 for "Tin Toy," as well as a special achievement award in 1995 for "Toy Story," the first feature-length computer-generated film. The lifetime achievement award from Shorts International may not be his only prize this weekend. He's nominated with the other "Toy Story 3" filmmakers for best adapted screenplay.
Other honorees Friday included director Kenneth Branagh and actresses June Foray and Melissa Leo, who commended short films for keeping her "going many a time when things were quite blue." This year's crop of live action, documentary and animated short film nominees were also recognized during the swanky affair at Soho House overlooking the Sunset Strip.
John Lasseter
Accepts Harvard Honor
Shakira
Grammy Award-winning singer and philanthropist Shakira has been honored by Harvard University.
The Harvard Foundation, the university's center for intercultural arts and science initiatives, gave Shakira its 2011 Artist of the Year award on Saturday.
After accepting the award, Shakira challenged Harvard students to do more to improve education in developing countries.
Shakira founded the Barefoot Foundation to provide education and nutrition to children in impoverished areas of her native Colombia. She is also a Unicef Goodwill Ambassador.
Shakira
Year After Oscar, Activists Shift Tactics
'The Cove'
In the fervor of the Academy Awards in Hollywood on Sunday, last year's winners will be a distant memory. Half a world away in the Japanese fishing village of Taiji, few will ever forget the film that won in 2010 for Best Documentary Feature.
A year after "The Cove" received an Oscar for its scathing portrayal of Taiji's dolphin hunting tradition, the tiny town is still under siege by foreign activists. That's created a deep deadlock with Taiji's fishermen, leading some activists to seek a different tact.
"I'm trying to get a grass-roots movement going in Japan. I've come to realize, you can't show up with a big stick and tell them what to do," said Ric O'Barry, the veteran dolphin activist who stars in "The Cove."
A smattering of foreign protesters has come for years to Taiji, but since the success of the movie the sleepy town of 3,500 has been inundated. The environmental group Sea Shepherd has started a "Cove Guardian" program that brings visitors, new groups such as "Taiji Action Group" and "Eyes on Taiji" have sprung up, and many people have come on their own.
The influx has had little effect. The town's two dozen dolphin hunters, most of whom are gruff ex-whalers, ignore the protesters as unwanted foreign pressure on their traditions, and have responded with elaborate tarp structures to hide the gorier aspects of their work. A rare public meeting between the two sides in November ended in confusion and discord, and town officials say the attention is largely a nuisance.
'The Cove'
Released From Vegas Jail
Vince Neil
Motley Crue singer Vince Neil has been released from jail after serving 10 days of a 15-day sentence for a drunken driving conviction.
The Las Vegas Sun reports the 50-year-old rocker got out of the Clark County Detention Center Friday.
Neil pleaded guilty in January to driving drunk last summer near the Las Vegas Strip. He was sentenced to 15 days in jail and 15 days on house arrest under a plea deal that spared him a trial. He was also fined $585.
Neil could have faced up to six months in jail if convicted.
Vince Neil
Paris Bar Brawl
John Galliano
Famed fashion designer John Galliano raged against a couple at a Paris cafe with threats, expletives and a remark referring to the man's alleged Asian background, a witness said Saturday.
Details and new video of the British-born designer moments after the cafe melee emerged a day after Christian Dior SA suspended him from his post as creative director at Dior fashion house.
The case puts a question mark over the one of fashion's biggest-name houses and the designer, who is widely regarded as one of the most brilliant of his generation and has brought youth and freshness to Dior.
Paris prosecutors said Friday that police questioned and released the designer after the couple accused him of making an anti-Semitic comment at them. Prosecutors and police said Galliano's blood alcohol levels were high.
Making anti-Semitic remarks is illegal in France, and can bring up to six months in prison. Some public figures have been convicted on such charges in the past, but are usually given only suspended sentences.
John Galliano
MPAA Okay's PG-13 Version
"The King's Speech"
The MPAA has given its blessing to an alternative version of "The King's Speech," granting the drama a key waiver that will allow distributor The Weinstein Co. to release the film with a PG-13 rating.
The Weinstein Co has agreed to withdraw the original R rated version of the costume drama to make way for the milder re-cut version. It is unclear when the original will disappear from theaters.
The original movie, a front runner for the February 27 Oscars, had been rated R for "some language," specifically a scene where the F-word is uttered 15 times.
The MPAA granted an exception to a rule requiring a film to be withdrawn from theaters for 90 days before being re-released: "The purpose of the 90-day withdrawal period is to avoid public confusion about the rating of a film when there is more than one version introduced theatrically. However, the ratings rules allow the film's distributor to show the MPAA and NATO that a period less than 90 days is sufficient to prevent confusion in light of circumstances related to the motion picture."
"The King's Speech"
'Monster' Erupts On the Sun
Solar Storm
'The sun unleashed a powerful flare Thursday (Feb.24) that - while not the strongest solar storm ever seen - let loose a massive wave of magnetic plasma in a dazzling display.
The solar flare kicked up a huge, twisting tendril of plasma that scientists call a solar prominence. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded the flare in an eye-catching video, with mission scientists calling the eruption a "monster prominence."
Thursday's solar flare was the latest in a series of strong sun storms this month. Scientists classified it as an M3.6 Class solar storm. NASA described the solar eruption as a "rather large-sized flare."
Scientists use a three-class system to measure the strength and intensity of solar flares. The most powerful sun storms are Class X - a Class X2.2 solar flare erupted on Feb. 14. Class M solar storms are medium strength but still powerful, according to a NASA description. The weakest types of solar flares are Class C storms.
Solar Storm
Breast Milk Ice Cream
Baby Gaga
A specialist ice cream parlor plans to serve up breast milk ice cream and says people should think of it as an organic, free-range treat.
The breast milk concoction, called the "Baby Gaga," will be available from Friday at the Icecreamists restaurant in London's Covent Garden.
Icecreamists founder Matt O'Connor was confident his take on the "miracle of motherhood" and priced at a hefty 14 pounds ($23) a serving will go down a treat with the paying public.
The breast milk was provided by mothers who answered an advertisement on online mothers' forum Mumsnet.
Baby Gaga
Letter Discovered In Small Kansas Town
Martha Washington
Nearly 209 years after her death, Martha Washington is all the talk in Concordia, Kansas.
People are flocking to a history museum in Concordia to see an apparently authentic Washington-written letter discovered in the bottom of a file cabinet drawer at the museum.
Concordia is a town of 5,700 people in north-central rural Kansas.
The letter, postmarked Philadelphia and dated January 27, 1793 during Washington's presidency, was found in a clear plastic folder by the other museum co-director, Marilyn Johnston, while cleaning out some old files. It is written to Fanny Bassett Washington, Martha's niece.
The letter had been in the possession of the estate of Mrs. Park Pulsifer, who before dying in 1948 asked a friend to hold onto it until it could go to a museum in Cloud County, Luecke said. Research is under way to find a connection between Pulsifer's relatives and the Bassett family.
Martha Washington
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