Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Sanford Pinsker: We Need the Liberal Arts Now More Than Ever (irascibleprofessor.com)
More years ago than I care to say, my parents were alarmed when I decided to major in English rather than become a pre-med student. "How will you earn a living?" they worried out loud, and then answered their own question by insisting that I "wouldn't." My aunt's reaction was even worse. As she liked to put it, "I have a nephew in business and another in law, and one that fell into stories and never came out." Not surprisingly, I was the last nephew, the one prepared to throw his life away on what my collective family regarded as "foolishness."
Scott Burns: Betting on Social Security Deferral (assetbuilder.com)
Readers had two questions about my recent column on taking my Social Security benefits. Most readers wanted to know why I had waited so long--- several months after my 68th birthday. After all, they argued, it would take years to recoup the benefits I had deferred.
Glenn Garvin: Conan wants to give 'em something to talk about on 'The Tonight Show' (McClatchy Newspapers)
Three in the morning and Conan O'Brien's eyes were wide open. Not that his zillion-dollar-a-night bed at the Mandarin Oriental was uncomfortable; but it's only three months - three months! - until he eases his lanky frame into that desk where Johnny and Jay sat and begins the first of what he hopes will be 5,000 or nights of anchoring "The Tonight Show." Twelve million eyeballs will be fixed on Conan, and what's he gonna do?
BEN HAMILTON: "'This Is Not the Culture I Signed Up For': Alan Moore and Hollywood" (popmatters.com)
Who will watch the Watchmen? Not their creator, Alan Moore. And while he seems to be alone in his condemnation with the latest adaptation of his work, Moore's steadfast position deserves some real attention.
Preston Jones: For 'Watchmen' fans, the long wait is over (McClatchy Newspapers)
Before the brooding, morally complex likes of "X-Men," "Superman Returns" and "The Dark Knight" flickered across multiplex screens, there was "Watchmen," a precursor of sorts to the current "golden age" of comic-based cinema.
Alex Remington: Where Did You Go, Mia Sara? (huffingtonpost.com)
Her fade into obscurity isn't a grand tragedy, just a quiet one: "it" girls have an awfully short shelf life, and once Julia Roberts and Meg Ryan took over the world, there wasn't a lot of room left in the A-list.
Will Harris: A Chat with Patrick Warburton (bullz-eye.com)
"I think the whole ('Rules of Engagement') cast has a really fun chemistry, and I think that's got to be one of the main elements of a half hour show. It's a primary element, and if you've got that, you can have something that's fun to watch."
The silent queen of British film (guardian.co.uk)
"Slumdog Millionaire" would never have happened without Tessa Ross. So why was the enigmatic boss of Film4 hidden in Row Z at the Oscars? Xan Brooks meets her.
Rick Bentley: Rom-com actress kicks (and bares) some tail in her action-film debut (McClatchy Newspapers)
Malin Akerman most often is in romantic comedies like "27 Dresses" and "The Heartbreak Kid." That's easy to understand. The blond, ultra blue-eyed Stockholm native has the kind of looks that steals hearts.
Rick Bentley: 'Watchmen' role had Billy Crudup turning blue in the face (and everywhere else) (McClatchy Newspapers)
To an outside observer, there is no rhyme or reason for the way Billy Crudup selects acting roles.
The Weekly Poll
New Question
The 'Can't Take a Joke' Edition
Clint Eastwood has slammed Political Correctness, saying "I think the PC madness is what's refreshing about playing this character. When I grew up there were a lot of people like this, and everybody didn't take themselves so seriously. People would kid themselves about everybody's... whatever race they were, whatever ethnic, religious groups they were. Everybody would joke about it and everybody got along just fine,"
He continues with "But then we've come to this now where everybody has to be walking on eggshells - kind of very... sensitive. And so it's become boring, kind of, and I think everybody would like to be Walt Kowalski for about 10 minutes."
A two-parter...
Do you agree with his take about Political Correctness stifling humor?
Is PC selective in its application?
Send your response, and a (short) reason why, to
Results Tuesday.
S M Tu W Th F S 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31Happy Saturday from a freaking 60o NYC - and remember, only last Monday we were having a single digit temp blizzard here! It's just bazaar!
responded:
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny but cool.
Road Trip
Code Pink
Pulitzer-prize winning author Alice Walker, who wrote "The Color Purple," is travelling to Gaza along with other female activists to highlight the devastation of the recent Israeli military offensive on Gaza's residents.
"I feel that what is happening in the Middle East is very important because the situation is so volatile," said Walker, speaking by telephone Saturday from the Rafah border crossing as her group waited to travel into Gaza.
"I love people, and I love children and I feel that the Palestinian child is just as precious as the African-American child, as the Jewish child."
Walker is part of a group of about 60 women going to Gaza to deliver aid and meet with NGOs and residents. The trip, organized by the U.S. antiwar group Code Pink, is intended to push both Israel and Egypt to open the borders into Gaza, said Medea Benjamin, co-founder of Code Pink who helped organize the trip.
Code Pink
Thank You, EU!
Microsoft
A single check box deep in the guts of the next version of Windows is giving Microsoft Corp. watchers a peek at how the software maker plans to keep European antitrust regulators from marring a crucial software launch.
Windows 7, the successor to the much-maligned Vista, isn't expected to reach consumers until next year, but more than a million people are already testing early versions. A pair of bloggers tinkering with settings stumbled upon one they hadn't seen before: The ability to "turn off" Microsoft's own Internet Explorer browser.
Microsoft lost a long-running battle with EU antitrust regulators in 2007 over the way it bundled media player software into the Windows operating system. The dust had barely settled when a similar claim was filed, this time over Internet Explorer's place inside Windows. Opera Software ASA, a Norwegian competitor, claimed the practice gives Microsoft's browser an unfair advantage.
In a preliminary decision in January, the EU agreed. Since then, makers of the open-source browser Firefox and Google Inc., which entered the browser market six months ago, have offered to provide more evidence that Microsoft is stifling competition.
Microsoft
Spending More Time With Family
D.L. Hughley
Comedian D.L. Hughley has quit his weekly show for news network CNN to spend more time with his family.
The actor has been travelling between New York, where he films D.L. Hughley Breaks The News, and Los Angeles, where his family is now located.
But he is tiring of the constant commute and has decided to step down from his comedy news show at the end of March. Instead, he will become a part-time contributor for the cable news outlet.
D.L. Hughley
Playing Isle of Wight
Neil Young
Neil Young has been confirmed as a headline act at this summer's Isle of Wight Festival.
The singer of Heart Of Gold and Rockin' In The Free World will take the coveted Sunday night slot at the event.
The 63-year-old Canadian will join other acts at the Newport festival, including The Prodigy, Basement Jaxx, the Ting Tings and Pendulum.
Isle of Wight Festival organiser John Giddings said: "I have tried every year since we restarted the event to book Neil Young.
Neil Young
8 Atavistic Societies
CEDAW
A global women's rights treaty completed 30 years ago has a better-than-ever chance for U.S. Senate ratification this year, yet the hunt for the needed 67 favorable votes is likely to incur the wrath of activists on both the left and right.
Known as CEDAW (SEE-daw), the treaty's formal name is the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.
Since its adoption by the U.N. General Assembly in 1979, all but eight of the 192 U.N. members have become a party to it - the United States is one of the holdouts, along with Sudan, Somalia, Qatar, Iran, Nauru, Palau and Tonga.
This year, with CEDAW-supporting Democrats holding power in Washington, Sen. Barbara Boxer plans a concerted effort to seek ratification as part of her agenda for a new Foreign Relations subcommittee chairmanship overseeing global women's issues.
CEDAW
Joins 2010 Olympics' On-Air Team
Al Michaels
Veteran broadcaster Al Michaels will host NBC's daytime Winter Olympics coverage from Vancouver in 2010, the network said Thursday.
The assignment will mark the 30th anniversary of Michaels' famed call at the Lake Placid Olympics -- "Do you believe in miracles? Yes!" -- during the USA men's hockey team's upset victory over the USSR. Sports Illustrated voted the moment as the greatest in 20th-century sports history.
This will be Michaels' first Olympic broadcast job in 22 years.
Al Michaels
Evidence Destroyed
CIA
The CIA destroyed a dozen videotapes of harsh interrogations of terror suspects, according to documents filed Friday in a lawsuit over the government's treatment of detainees. The 12 tapes were part of a larger collection of 92 videotapes of terror suspects that the CIA destroyed. The extent of the tape destruction was disclosed through a suit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union against the government.
Heavily redacted papers filed in the case indicate a dozen destroyed tapes show so-called "enhanced interrogation techniques."
The CIA's enhanced interrogation methods are secret, but they once included waterboarding, which simulates drowning.
The documents offered Friday were mostly redacted. A list of the tapes is almost completely blacked out.
CIA
Lying About Reading
Books
Two out of three Britons have lied about reading books they have not, and George Orwell's "1984" tops the literary fib list, according to a survey published on Thursday.
Commissioned by organisers of World Book Day, an annual celebration of reading in Britain, the study also shows that the author people really enjoy reading is J.K. Rowling, creator of the bestselling Harry Potter wizard series.
According to the survey, 65 percent of people have pretended to have read books, and of those, 42 percent singled out "1984." Next on the list came "War and Peace" by Leo Tolstoy and in third place was James Joyce's "Ulysses."
The Bible was in fourth position, and newly elected U.S. President Barack Obama's autobiography "Dreams from My Father" came ninth.
Books
Real-Life Malibu Dream House
Barbie
Barbie's Malibu Dream House is coming true.
On the eve of her 50th birthday, interior decorator Jonathan Adler has decked out a real-life 3,500-square-foot pad overlooking the Pacific Ocean to look like the blond doll's outrageous home.
Adler, who was commissioned by toy maker Mattel Inc. to decorate the house for Monday's party, said outfitting the sleek mansion (a property that's frequently rented for film and photography shoots) took six months of planning and a few weeks to install.
Adler lined Barbie's bedroom with wall-to-wall pink carpeting emblazoned with her initial. The closet is filled with 50 pairs of pink peep-toe heels while her kitchen is stocked with cupcake-making ingredients. An in-house museum features 25 vintage Barbie dolls on display. In the garage? A pink Volkswagen New Beetle with a motorized pop-up vanity in the trunk.
Barbie
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