Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Ted Rall: "WHY WE FIGHT: U.S. Troops Die For Rapists"
The defeat of the Taliban brought about the collapse of law and order, making life even more dangerous, especially for women. "Under the Taliban," a woman told me, "I watched rapists being executed. Now I see them in the government."
Farhad Manjoo: Your Search Returned 12 Million Books (slate.com)
Google's goal of a universal online library would be great for humanity. It can still be great for authors and publishers, too.
Glenn Gamboa: Chrisette Michele has an 'Epiphany' (Newsday)
Chrisette Michele laughs as she turns to her hit-making collaborator and confidant, Ne-Yo, who's seated nearby at Electric Lady Studios in the West Village.
Christian John Wikane: Brooklyn Dreams 2.0: A Conversation with Bruce Sudano and Joe "Bean" Esposito (popmatters.com)
Snoop Dogg and Donna Summer, doo-wop and disco. Brooklyn Dreams have had an anything but predictable career trajectory since their 1977 debut. Nearly 30 years after their last album, Bruce Sudano and Joe "Bean" Esposito remember the long, winding, and sometimes bumpy road from Flatbush to Hollywood.
Jonah Weiner: I Want To GOP to There (slate.com)
30 Rock's weird conservative streak.
Steven Rea: Alfre Woodard felt she must tell tale of injustice (The Philadelphia Inquirer)
"Americans, we're getting better," says Alfre Woodard, sounding, well, presidential. "But it's hard."
Arika Okrent: There's No Klingon Word for 'Hello' (slate.com)
A history of the gruff but surprisingly sophisticated invented language and the people who speak it.
Rick Bentley: Changing of the guard: Zachary Quinto takes over the role of Spock in 'Star Trek' (McClatchy Newspapers)
here was a time, not long after the original run of the television series "Star Trek," when Leonard Nimoy tried to distance himself from the show. He had played many roles before slapping on the pointy ears to portray Spock, but that character was the only role anyone seemed to remember.
'I never got Star Trek' (guardian.co.uk)
He wrote his first block-buster as a student, went on to make the cult show Lost - and now the new Star Trek film. How does JJ Abrams do it? Steve Rose finds out.
Robert W. Butler: Karl Urban fleshes out a younger Bones in 'Star Trek' (McClatchy Newspapers)
For several years now, New Zealand-born Karl Urban has been the guy filmmakers turned to if a character had to ride a horse, chuck a spear or run through the forest primeval in a breechcloth.
Bliss: Cartoons (popmatters.com)
The Weekly Poll
The 'Take Me out to the Ball Game' Edition
"For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land."
Ernie Harwell, radio and TV voice of the Detroit Tigers for 42 years and Baseball Hall of Fame member, would intone those words at the start of the first Spring Training game broadcast every year... Ah! Baseball's back! Batter Up!
Are you a baseball fan and, if so, who's yer team? (anecdotes welcome)
Send your response to
Results Tuesday
replied:
Alan J A-9 | L-9
Charlie A-8 | L-9
DC Madman A-1 | L-1
Gary G A-0 | L-1
Jim from CA A-2 | L-2
Joe S A-9 | L-9
Sally A-9 | L-9
MAM A-9 | L-9
Maria in Chicago A-6 | L-6
Marian the Teacher A-9 | L-9
Sandra in Maine A-0 | L-0
Tom B A-0 | L-0
Reader Observation
odd crap
Marty;
Oh! now I understand what it's really trying to say (well, maybe)!
Yesterday I observed:
"While the above establishes: 'For the mathematically challenged, Thursday's date, 5/7/09, is one of only six this century that will feature three consecutive odd numbers," I think it really means: "... that will feature three consecutive prime numbers.'"
Well, while I was looking at this observation that I sent you, I suddenly noticed my own mistake.
Odd Day is coming Thursday, 5/7/9. Three consecutive odd numbers make up the date only six times in a century. This day marks the half-way point in this parade of Odd Days which began with 1/3/5. The previous stretch of six dates like this started with 1/3/1905---13 months after the Wright Brothers' flight.
As I now interpret it, this means that three CONSECUTIVE odd numbers (between numbers 1 thru X9 inclusive?) SUCH AS 5 (not 6) and 7 (not 8) and 9 (9 is not prime as it is also divisible by 3 squared, which throws out the prime-number angle) as such consecutive odd numbers may be arranged throughout a calendar century happens just six times within any formally identified hundred-year time frame. Seemingly, this is a consistent mathmatical anomaly.
Anywho, this is the latest interpretation I have of this mind-numbing trivia (something still doesn't seem right ...).
DanD
Thanks, Dan
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Thick marine layer rolled in & kept it cool.
Yomiuri Giants vs. Chunichi Dragons
Tom Hanks
Hollywood star Tom Hanks was in a league of his own Friday when he threw out the ceremonial first pitch at a Japanese professional baseball game.
Hanks, who is in Tokyo with director Ron Howard to promote their film "Angels & Demons," took a few warm-up pitches in the bullpen before heading out to the mound to throw out the first pitch at a game between the Yomiuri Giants and the Chunichi Dragons at Tokyo Dome.
With Howard behind the plate and Yomiuri infielder Hayato Sakamoto in the batter's box, Hanks threw a pitch that bounced several feet in front of home plate before skidding past a diving Howard.
"Tons of practice and I bounced it in the dirt, I'm humiliated" Hanks said. "I went from the rush of being in the sacred spot to the humiliation of being mortal."
Tom Hanks
Secret Concert
David Gilmour
Pink Floyd guitar legend David Gilmour is headlining a secret gig to raise money for London's homeless.
The star will take to the stage at a mystery venue on 24 May alongside Afro-blues act Amadou & Mariam. Fans will only discover where the concert is taking place the day before, via text message.
All proceeds will go to the charity Crisis.
Gilmour says, "It was a wonderful surprise when (Amadou & Mariam) called recently, inviting me to collaborate with them on this special one-off occasion for Crisis. I'm looking forward to breaking down a few musical boundaries in the cause of helping the homeless".
David Gilmour
Seat In EU Parliament?
Swedish Pirate Party
Sweden's Pirate Party, which wants to reform copyright law, could ride a wave of discontent over tighter control of computer file-sharing all the way into the European Parliament in June.
The jail sentences handed out last month to the four Swedish men behind The Pirate Bay, one of the world's biggest free file-sharing Web sites, have given a boost to the namesake party among young voters in Sweden, a recent opinion poll showed.
"It is definitely something that has put the spotlight on our issues," Christian Engstrom, the party's top candidate for the European Parliament, told Reuters.
"And it has demonstrated why it is so important, because the legal machine, if it's allowed to continue, is going to crush the Internet, starting with the Pirate Bay and then continuing on to other enterprises."
Swedish Pirate Party
Advice For Wannabe Writers
John Cleese
Comedy legend John Cleese spoke after the first reunion of the Fawlty Towers cast - Cleese, Connie Booth, Andrew Sachs and Prunella Scales â€" in more than 30 years to promote two new documentaries about the series.
Cleese and his former wife Booth co-wrote the only series of Fawlty Towers, which was first shown in 1975 and regularly tops polls of the best-loved British sitcoms.
He said learning from the greats was the secret of good writing, adding: "Go and watch some sitcoms that you really admire, and the trick is to go on watching them after you've stopped laughing, because it's when you're no longer laughing that you begin to see how it's put together.
"In drama it's the same: you learn nothing when you're emotionally involved, so you have to get watch it until you're kind of bored with it."
John Cleese
Announces Opera Retirement
Jose Carreras
Spanish opera singer Jose Carreras, one of the famed "Three Tenors" along with Placido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti, announced his retirement from opera in a newspaper interview published on Friday.
Carreras, 62, who thrived as a performer after surviving leukemia, told the British newspaper The Times that he could no longer withstand the rigors of performing principal roles, unamplified, to opera houses.
"If I can do concert recitals, adapting the repertoire to my needs, then no problem, that's good enough," Carreras told The Times. "But with operas, unless the right circumstances come up, my career is done."
Jose Carreras
The Donald To Rule
Miss California USA
The Miss California USA pageant says its co-directors plan to address whether current title holder Carrie Prejean will hold onto her crown amid allegations of contract violations.
Keith Lewis said Friday that he and fellow co-director Shanna Moakler will make their case public Monday. He says they and Prejean's representatives are close to a resolution.
The state pageant is investigating whether the 21-year-old old violated her contract by making public appearances with groups opposed to same-sex marriage and by failing to reveal that she had posed in her underwear as a teenager.
Lewis says Miss USA contest owner Donald Trump will make the decision on whether to disqualify Prejean. She was named first runner-up in the Miss USA pageant on April 19.
Miss California USA
Where Bean Counters Rule
Disney/Pixar
To accommodate a growing slate of nonfeature projects, Disney and Pixar will launch an animation studio in the fall in Vancouver.
The focus will be on Pixar's established characters, including Buzz and Woody from the "Toy Story" films and Lightning McQueen and Mater from "Cars."
"The operation will be small in size and dedicated to producing short-form quality computer animation for theme parks, DVDs, television and theatrical exhibition ... for several different divisions of the Walt Disney Co.," Disney/Pixar president Ed Catmull said.
"Canada, and Vancouver specifically, has had terrific tax incentives for this type of work," Pixar general manager Jim Morris said. "I think they have a desire to grow this sort of business activity and get a critical mass. This will allow us to do more with the budgets that we have."
Disney/Pixar
Will Rebuild Lodge
Bruce Willis
Managers of a small ski operation owned by "Die Hard" actor Bruce Willis through his Idaho-based company, Valley Entertainment Group, say the main lodge at the Soldier Mountain Ski Resort will be rebuilt.
The ski lodge at the base of the resort in central Idaho was destroyed in a March 30 fire, which investigators determined was accidental and most likely started in the building's electrical wiring system.
Shelly Scott, office manager for Valley Entertainment in Hailey, says the new lodge will be slightly larger and the resort will open for the next ski season.
Bruce Willis
Officials Ordered To Smoke
China
Officials in a county in central China have been told to smoke nearly a quarter million packs of locally made cigarettes annually or risk being fined, state media reported.
The Gong'an county government in Hubei province has ordered its staff to puff their way through 230,000 packs of Hubei-produced cigarette brands a year, the Global Times said.
Departments that fail to meet their targets will be fined, according to the report.
More than half of all male doctors in China smoke, but the government is now trying harder to get them to kick the habit in order to set an example for others, state media reported recently.
China
Family Sues Caretaker
Mickey Carroll
The heirs of the late "Wizard of Oz" actor Mickey Carroll have sued his caretaker for control of his assets.
Carroll, one of the last surviving Munchkins from the beloved 1939 film, died in suburban St. Louis on Thursday at age 89.
Four months before he died, Carroll signed papers turning over control of his assets to caretaker Linda Dodge. Relatives estimate he left an estate of more than $1 million.
They claim Dodge and others took advantage of the actor in the throes of dementia and that he wasn't competent to sign the papers.
Mickey Carroll
In Memory
John Furia Jr.
Prolific screen and television writer John Furia Jr., who penned popular series including "Bonanza," "The Waltons," and "Hawaii Five-O" among many others, has died. He was 79.
Furia, a former president of the Writers Guild of America West, was a longtime advocate for Hollywood writers. He was also a founding chairman of University of Southern California's School of Cinema-Television Writing Division and was a full professor there teaching screen and television writing.
Born in 1929, Furia started his entertainment career singing with dance bands in New York City, but he soon discovered the fledgling television industry. He moved to California where he became one of Hollywood's most productive dramatists, working for both major studios and networks.
Furia's screen credits include "The Singing Nun" starring Debbie Reynolds and Greer Garson, in addition to executive producing films in Mexico, France, Canada, Spain, Croatia, and Kenya.
John Furia Jr.
In Memory
Chuck Daly
Chuck Daly, who coached the Dream Team to the Olympic gold medal in 1992 after winning back-to-back NBA championships with the Detroit Pistons, has died. He was 78.
Daly was renowned for creating harmony out of diverse personalities at all levels of the game, whether they were Ivy Leaguers at Pennsylvania, Dream Teamers Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley, or Pistons as dissimilar as Dennis Rodman and Joe Dumars.
Daly was voted one of the 10 greatest coaches of the NBA's first half-century in 1996, two years after being inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. He was the first coach to win both NBA and Olympic titles.
Born July 20, 1930, in St. Marys, Pa., Charles Jerome Daly played college ball at St. Bonaventure and Bloomsburg. After two years in the military, he coached for eight seasons at Punxsutawney (Pa.) High School and then spent six years as an assistant at Duke.
Succeeding Bob Cousy as coach at Boston College, Daly coached the Eagles to a 26-24 record over two seasons and then spent seven seasons at Penn, leading the Quakers to the Ivy League championship in 1972-75.
Daly joined the NBA coaching ranks in 1978 as an assistant under Billy Cunningham in Philadelphia. His first head coaching job was with Cleveland, but he was fired after the Cavaliers went 9-32 the first half of the 1981-82 season.
In 1983, Daly took over a Detroit team that had never had two straight winning seasons and led the Pistons to nine straight. He persuaded Rodman, Thomas, Dumars, Mahorn and Laimbeer to play as a unit and they responded with championships in 1989 and 1990.
Daly is survived by his wife, Terry, daughter Cydney and grandchildren Sebrina and Connor.
Chuck Daly
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