Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Paul Krugman: Making Banking Boring (nytimes.com)
The regulated era of banking that followed the Great Depression was far less lucrative than the previous era, but one of spectacular economic progress. Perhaps the political winds need to shift again.
Roger Ebert: The leisure of the theory class
I have lived more than nine months of my life in Boulder, Colorado, one week at a time. Here I am again. Here more than anywhere else I have heard for the first time about more new things, met more fascinating people who have nothing to do with the movies, learned more about debate, and trained under fire to think on my feet. So please don't zone out on me because I use the zzzzz-inducing term "Conference on World Affairs."
Richard Roeper: Priests hypocritical to criticize Obama at ND (suntimes.com)
Ten Roman Catholic priests have signed an open letter asking the University of Notre Dame to reconsider its invitation to President Obama to speak at commencement ceremonies next month.
Alexander Chancellor: Persuading the living to pay their debts can be tough. It's much easier to wait until they die (guardian.co.uk)
There are ways of making money in a recession, but it's difficult to think of attractive ones.
Sorry, I'll be tied up all day (guardian.co.uk)
Disgruntled employees in France have been holding their bosses to ransom. Stuart Jeffries talks bossnapping.
Steve Knopper: Aretha Franklin still rules - here's why (Newsday)
If Aretha Franklin weren't so idiosyncratic - she doesn't like to leave her home in Detroit, she's afraid of flying and can't perform with air-conditioning - she'd probably be a concert attraction on par with Tina Turner or Paul McCartney. Instead, the Queen of Soul does such memorable one-off performances as President Barack Obama's Inauguration in Washington, D.C.
Jody Rosen: Kings of Rock (slate.com)
Run-DMC at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
STEVE HOROWITZ: "A Haunted Aura: An Interview with Marianne Faithfull" (popmatters.com)
"I consider myself an artist and suffering has nothing to do with it. Look, I know there are some terrible things happening in the world. That doesn't make the world a better place."
Timothy Finn: Colombian band Aterciopelados is serious about its message and its music (McClatchy Newspapers)
The duo of Andrea Echeverri and Hector Buitrago has been making records since 1994, blending traditional Colombian and Latin music with various blends of American rock. Many of their songs address social and political issues, especially the environment and violence.
Sweater Girl (bestofneworleans.com)
Leslie Hall is known for electro-dance pop beats and her large collection of gem sweaters.
Chris Riemenchneider: New Jersey rockers Gaslight Anthem won't be Bossed around (Star Tribune)
When you get a member of the Gaslight Anthem on the phone at a record store in their native New Jersey, one question immediately comes to mind: Which of the Boss' albums are you picking up? "Nope, no Springsteen," guitarist Alex Rosamilia said flatly, talking last month when the band had a rare week off.
Mark Stryker: Hungarian pianist reaches a distinguished musical goal (Detroit Free Press)
Finally, the summit. For two years, Hungarian pianist Andras Schiff has been climbing one of the highest peaks in classical music, performing all 32 Beethoven Piano Sonatas in chronological order.
The Weekly Poll
New Question
The 'Ban the Bomb' Edition
Barack Obama yesterday announced a radical drive aimed at ridding the world of nuclear weapons, as the focus of his European visit switched from financial to geopolitical security. "In Prague, I will lay out an agenda to seek the goal of a world without nuclear weapons," Obama said yesterday... "The spread of nuclear weapons or the theft of nuclear material could lead to the extermination of any city on the planet," he warned, adding that suspected rogue nuclear states, such as North Korea or Iran, may only be persuaded to abandon their quests if the big nuclear powers set an example...
Barack Obama's New Offensive Against Nuclear Weapons | CommonDreams.org
How successful do you think Obama will be in this endeavor?
A. Total nuclear disarmament and the dawning of the Age of Aquarius (Hoo Ha!)...
B. Significant arms reduction by the current nuclear powers, rigorous enforcement of the non-proliferation treaty re: Iran and North Korea etal and the Doomsday Clock rolls back a couple of hours (whew!)...
C. Are you kidding? Humanity is gonna, sooner or later, blow itself to smithereens, dagnabbit!
Send your response, and a (short) reason why, to
wrote:
Vic Sez:
Zombie Jesus
Us Ghouls call it ZOMBIE JESUS DAY!!!
Thanks, Vic!
Reader Suggestion
bladerunner model
Marty,
Saw the little article you had about the blaster used in BladeRunner going
up for auction. One of my favorite movies.
Thought your readers would be interested in
this
(http://media.bladezone.com/contents/fan/spinners/fan/ronkemp/kemp.php)
It's a paper model of the spinner police vehicle from the movie. Paper
models are a great hobby and are a lot cheaper than the plastic kits.
It's unbelievable what's available for free on the internets.
Mick
Thanks, Mick!
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny, but cooler than seasonal.
18th Ella Award
Alpert & Hall
American musician Herb Alpert and his singer wife Lani Hall are to be honoured for their charity work with an award named after Ella Fitzgerald.
The Society of Singers will honour the couple with the 18th Ella Award at the Beverly Hilton in California next month.
The couple will also perform at the event, which celebrates singers who have made significant contributions to charitable and humanitarian causes, reports Variety.
Alpert & Hall
Blaster Gun To Auction
"Blade Runner"
A blaster gun used by actor Harrison Ford to hunt down and kill futuristic humanoids in 1982 sci-fi film "Blade Runner" will be put on the auction block in an upcoming sale of Hollywood memorabilia.
Auctioneer Profiles in History expects about $3 million in total sales from the auction, which will include the collection of horror and science fiction promoter Forrest Ackerman and an animation puppet used in director Tim Burton's 2005 movie "Corpse Bride."
The "Blade Runner" blaster, with an estimated sales price of between $100,000 and $150,000, comes from Hollywood marketer and producer Jeff Walker, and Profiles in History called it the "holy grail" of sci-fi weapons.
Items to be sold from Ackerman's massive collection include a ring worn by actor Bela Lugosi when he played Count Dracula on screen, and a monocle that director Fritz Lang used when he made the 1927 science fiction movie "Metropolis."
"Blade Runner"
Over-Rated Automation
Good Friday
A Philadelphia cable network's early morning broadcast of a Good Friday service at the Vatican abruptly changed to something wildly different - a 30-second "Girls Gone Wild" ad.
Comcast spokesman Jeff Alexander says the 2 a.m. Friday programming glitch was due to a required test of the Emergency Alert System. He says such tests are usually done in the overnight hours.
The test automatically tunes viewers to a preselected channel that would provide information in the event of an emergency. But during tests, the channel airs regular programming, which in this case included a paid advertisement for the racy videos.
Alexander says the problem affected the network's entire local area, but only one person called to complain.
Good Friday
Band Cancels Canadian Tour
Billy Bob Thornton
Billy Bob Thornton's band has canceled the rest of its Canadian tour after the actor compared the country's fans to mashed potatoes with no gravy in a testy interview that caused a sensation online.
The Boxmasters opened for Willie Nelson on Thursday in Toronto, where they reportedly were booed and met with catcalls of "Here comes the gravy."
A note posted on Nelson's Web site Friday said the Boxmasters were canceling the rest of their Canadian dates "due to one band member and several of the crew having the flu."
"Canadian audiences seem to be very reserved," he told Ghomeshi. "We tend to play places where people throw things at each other. Here, they just sort of sit there. And it doesn't matter what you say to 'em. ... It's mashed potatoes but no gravy."
Billy Bob Thornton
Stung By Criticism
ASU
Stung by criticism of its decision not to award President Barack Obama an honorary degree when he makes a commencement address next month, Arizona State University announced Saturday it will rename a scholarship program for the president.
ASU President Michael Crow also issued an apology for the "confusion" surrounding the honorary degree decision.
Recent recipients of honorary degrees at ASU include J. Craig Venter, an internationally known scientist credited for developing high-volume genome sequencing, and Wu Qidi, vice minister of education of the People's Republic of China. The university said it had no plans to award any honorary degrees this year.
Obama will, however, receive an honorary doctor of laws degree from the University of Notre Dame when he delivers a commencement speech there on May 17.
ASU
Transparency Sought
Ticket Resale Market
The concert industry is awaiting further details about legislation that Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., plans to introduce that would impose a 48-hour waiting period after a concert on-sale before a ticket reseller can buy those tickets to put on the secondary market.
Schumer revealed his plans on the heels of an e-mail that Ticketmaster sent earlier this month to broker clients of its secondary ticket division, TicketsNow, advising them that the company had received subpoenas and requests for sworn information about its clients from the Department of Justice, Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the New Jersey attorney general's office and Canada's Competition Bureau.
Schumer's Senate bill wouldn't outlaw ticket reselling. When ticket buyers need to sell their own tickets, or they want to attend an event and are willing to pay more not to be part of the initial on-sale, reselling is acceptable, according to a statement from Schumer's office.
Rather, the aim of the bill is to make ticketing more transparent and give the public a fair shot at tickets. Schumer's legislation would require ticket resellers to register with the FTC and post their registration number on all brokerage Web sites, in an attempt to prevent fraudulent, anonymous sales. Venues may buy back tickets from ticket-holders without obtaining a registration number.
Ticket Resale Market
Federal Subpoena
Tribune Co
The U.S. Department of Labor subpoenaed Tribune Co over an employee stock plan crucial to real estate mogul Sam Zell's buyout of the media company, Tribune said in a bankruptcy court filing on Thursday.
The subpoena, which the Labor Department issued in March, asks for "an extensive range of documents" related to the newspaper publisher and broadcaster's employee stock ownership plan, or "ESOP," Tribune said in the filing.
The Labor Department's questions relate to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, a law designed to protect people who participate in employee retirement plans.
The filing did not say what kinds of documents the government was seeking or what it planned to do with them.
Tribune Co
Gets New Name
Hard Rock Park
There will be a music theme park on South Carolina's coast this summer, but it won't bear the Hard Rock name.
FPI MB Entertainment said Thursday that the 55-acre park it purchased out of bankruptcy earlier this year will reopen Memorial Day weekend as Freestyle Music Park.
FPI MBE bought the park out of bankruptcy for $25 million. Last month, a federal bankruptcy judge refused to finalize the sale, saying its original founders retain rights to some of the original creative touches.
The $400 million park opened last year and is the single largest tourism investment in South Carolina history. It closed in September when owner HRP Myrtle Beach Holdings filed for bankruptcy protection.
Hard Rock Park
South Park's Keepsake
Saddam Hussein
South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker still can't believe a signed photo of Saddam Hussein The U.S. Marines who sent them won't say it is for real - but they hope it is.
Legend has it the troops screened the duo's 1999 film South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut before the former Iraqi dictator was executed in 2006.
In the film, an animated Hussein is depicted as Satan's gay lover.
Stone says, "We're very proud of our signed Saddam picture and what it means... I have it on pretty good information from the Marines on detail in Iraq that they showed Saddam the movie over and over again, which is a pretty funny thought."
Saddam Hussein
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