'Best of TBH Politoons'
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Ray Fisman: Hot for the Wrong Teachers (slate.com)
WHY ARE PUBLIC SCHOOLS SO BAD AT HIRING GOOD INSTRUCTORS?
Free Download: Outstanding! (lulu.com)
A collection of humorous autobiographical essays.
Roger Ebert: Interview with Werner Herzog
"Tell me about the iceberg, tell me about your dreams."
Steven Rea: Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker Alex Gibney goes 'Gonzo' (The Philadelphia Inquirer)
In February, Alex Gibney took home the Academy Award for best documentary feature for "Taxi to the Dark Side," his eerie investigation into charges of prisoner abuse by U.S. forces in Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Colin Covert: Director says 'The Wackness' is more about questions than answers (Star Tribune)
For director Jonathan Levine, the best moment of making his comedy/drama "The Wackness" came when Ben Kingsley agreed to play the central role of a drug-addled Manhattan psychiatrist. Levine, a young filmmaker with one unreleased teen horror film to his credit (the festival-circuit favorite "All the Boys Love Mandy Lane"), knew he had just stepped up to the major leagues.
Interview by Hannah Pool: Question time (guardian.co.uk)
Joanna Lumley on why she loves 'darling jumble', hates bad stage lighting and doesn't consider herself a feminist.
Thor Christensen: T-Bone Burnett calls his own shots these days, as artists flock to the Zen master of recording (The Dallas Morning News)
If you had to pick a turning point in T-Bone Burnett's remarkable 40-year-career, it was Feb. 27, 2002 - the night the 6-foot-6 producer ambled onstage at the Grammys to accept the trophy for "O Brother, Where Art Thou?," which had won for album of the year.
Bob Singleton: Barney the purple torturer? (latimes.com)
The arranger of 'I Love You' is skeptical of the song's interrogation value.
ZETH LUNDY: "Shadows No More: An Interview With Eddie Willis of the Funk Brothers" (popmatters.com)
Guitarist Eddie Willis takes us from the beginnings of Motown through the band's current activities, all with a sense of amazement that he's been part of something so big.
David Medsker: A Chat with Kerli (bullz-eye.com)
"I think me being stuck in this blonde 21-year-old body right now is kind of a joke. It's hard for people to see me for what I really am."
Will Harris: A Chat with Peter Hook (bullz-eye.com)
BE: When the movie "Control" was being made, did you go out drinking with Joe Anderson so that he could get a feel for what it's like to be Peter Hook?
PH: No, I've never met the guy. Never met him. It was quite funny, because when we did the screening, I went for a piss because the film was so long, and when I was pissing, I looked 'round and Ian from the film (Sam Riley) and Bernard (James Anthony Pearson) from the film were weeing at the same time. And I said to them, "Oh, where's the guy who plays me?" And they said, "Oh, he's in Hollywood." So I said to the guy who played Bernard, "There you go: you should've played me. Then you'd be in f**king Hollywood!" (laughs)
Food that doesn't do what it says on the tin (guardian.co.uk)
Zoe Williams on a website that compares the picture on the packet alongside how it should really look.
Contributor Suggestion
Paul Neave
HI MARTY.
HERE'S A SITE THAT YOU AND THE KID MIGHT ENJOY.
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Nice summer day here, but thunderstorms out in the desert.
Benefit For New England Farmers
Pete Seeger
Pete Seeger will headline a Sept. 13 New England Farm Relief Concert in Brattleboro to raise money for a new micro-loan program being developed by The Carrot Project and the organization that operates the town's annual Strolling of the Heifers.
Seeger, 89, a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, is known for hits including "Where Have All the Flowers Gone," "If I Had a Hammer" and "Turn, Turn, Turn."
The Carrot Project, a nonprofit based in Somerville, Mass., makes loans and guarantees available for small farms and people who use environmentally friendly practices. The Strolling of the Heifers is an annual event in Brattleboro in which flower-bedecked young cows are paraded down Main Street to celebrate Vermont's agricultural tradition.
Pete Seeger
Accused Of Spreading Malware
Homer Simpson
In a 2003 episode of The Simpsons, writers revealed that Homer's e-mail address was chunkylover53@aol.com. Prior to the episode's airing, the address was registered by one of the show's writers, who used it to answer hundreds of e-mails from Simpsons fans.
Years later, the chunkylover53 screen name has resurfaced, and it's now being used to distribute a trojan disguised as a Simpsons movie file.
According to FaceTime malware research director Chris Boyd, chunkylover53 is sending out auto-reply messages to users which promises a special exclusive episode of the show available for download. The link in the message leads to an executable file.
Boyd found that the malicious payload delivered by the trojan includes a rootkit and remote control software which logs the user in a botnet. The malware was traced back to Kimya, a Turkish botnet which has been infecting machines for the last four months.
Homer Simpson
PBS Keeps Nude Decision Under Wraps
'King Lear'
Ian McKellen's acclaimed performance in "King Lear" is coming to PBS, but a public TV executive was coy Saturday about whether his on-stage nude scene will be exposed on air.
PBS President and CEO Paula Kerger, who saw the play during its brief run in New York, said she was impressed by the production and recalled thinking, "This is the kind of thing people should have a chance to see."
When Kerger told a Television Critics Association meeting that the play had been filmed for PBS and would air next season, she was asked about McKellen's full-frontal nudity and whether it would be acceptable for public television.
"Let's talk about this in January," Kerger said, attempting to boot the issue to the next scheduled meeting of the critics' group.
'King Lear'
Not Dead Yet
Vinyl
It may have seemed like a fad at first, but the resurgence of vinyl is now turning into a nice niche business for the major labels. With EMI's announcement that it would reissue eight classic albums in the format, all four majors are now onboard the vinyl bandwagon.
EMI will release two Coldplay albums, four Radiohead titles and Steve Miller's "Greatest Hits" on August 19. Universal Music Enterprises will release 20 albums on vinyl this month and an additional 20 at the end of August, while Warner Music Group will issue 24 to 30 albums from its catalog and 10 to 12 new releases from September through the end of the year, according to executives at those companies.
In the independent camp, RED labels will have several hundred vinyl titles by the end of the year, half of which are new releases, RED vice president of indie sales/marketing Doug Wiley said. One of RED's labels, Metal Blade, is reissuing its classic Slayer catalog in deluxe versions, all on colored vinyl with hand-designed blood splatterings on it, Wiley said.
Indie retail started the party, but now some of the chains are carrying vinyl too. In addition to Fred Meyer and Borders, Best Buy has said publicly that it will experiment with carrying LPs.
Vinyl
New Stuff
Wolfgang's Vault
Vintage concert performances by such acts as Lynyrd Skynyrd and Bob Marley will soon join the nearly 500 recordings already available for download purchase at the music and memorabilia site Wolfgang's Vault.
The additions were made possible through a deal between Universal Music Group (UMG) and Wolfgang's Vault founder Bill Sagan. The recordings include live performances by UMG artists culled from thousands of concerts produced by late promoter Bill Graham, along with gems from other catalogs and archives dating back decades.
Sagan launched the Web site in 2003 after acquiring Graham's cache of memorabilia and concert recordings for $5 million. The downloadable content deal is for 10 years, with a streaming deal stretching "into perpetuity," Sagan said.
If the concert is longer than 30 minutes, a full download is priced at $9.98, with concerts of less than 30 minutes at $5.98. Some one- or two-song performances cost $3.98. The site will continue to offer free streaming.
Wolfgang's Vault
Televising Reconditioning
Brigitte Nielsen
Brigitte Nielsen is undergoing plastic surgery on a new German reality TV show.
The model/actress will have a facelift, breast surgery and liposuction in the four-part series called Aus Alt Mach Neu (Turning Old Into New).
The first episode aired on Sunday night, and was watched by 2.5 million viewers, who saw fat being sucked out of the 44 year old's hips.
Nielsen - the former wife of Sylvester Stallone - hopes to auction off the fat for charity, and after her surgery is complete, she plans to pose naked for Playboy magazine, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of her 1988 nude spread for the publication.
Brigitte Nielsen
Felony Drug Charge
Heidi Fleiss
Former "Hollywood Madam" Heidi Fleiss is facing felony drug use and possession charges stemming from a February traffic stop in the rural Nevada town where she lives.
The Nye County district attorney filed a two-count complaint Thursday accusing the 42-year-old Fleiss of unlawful use of methamphetamine and possession of the painkiller hydrocodone without a prescription.
Fleiss told the Las Vegas Review-Journal she has "a bit of a substance abuse problem" and said she intends to seek private treatment.
Prosecutors say it took almost five months to process Fleiss' blood test results after her arrest on a driving under the influence charge that prosecutors decided not to pursue.
Heidi Fleiss
Returns To CNN
Richard Quest
CNN reporter Richard Quest has returned to the cable news channel after a hiatus stemming from his drug arrest and court-ordered counseling, a spokesman for the Atlanta-based network said on Friday.
Quest, known for his boisterous and quirky reporting, returned to CNN International in late June and has been producing general news segments and working on the August edition of "CNN Business Traveler," the show he hosted before his arrest, said Nigel Pritchard, a spokesman for CNN.
Police stopped Quest, 46, in April for being in New York's Central Park past curfew, and they discovered a bag of methamphetamines on the British reporter.
A judge ordered him to undergo six months of counseling in exchange for having the case dismissed.
Richard Quest
Staying In Character
Stray Cat Bar
Actors Josh Brolin and Jeffrey Wright, along with members of a crew filming an Oliver Stone movie, were arrested during a bar fight Saturday morning, police said.
Shreveport police Sgt. Willie Lewis said Brolin, Wright and five others were arrested just after 2 a.m. at a club called the Stray Cat bar.
The Times of Shreveport reported that Brolin was booked and posted $334 cash bond to be released. Police could not say Saturday night whether he or the others had been released. The paper said they are part of the crew on an Oliver Stone film, "W," about resident George W. Bush.
"W" began filming in May in Shreveport. Brolin plays resident Bush and Wright plays former Secretary of State Colin Powell.
Stray Cat Bar
Martha's Vineyard Hoax
Great White Shark
A 60-year-old man was charged Friday with disorderly conduct for allegedly lying about seeing two great white sharks off a Martha Vineyard's beach, authorities said.
Edgartown police Chief Paul Condlin said Michael Lopenzo warned people to get out of the water at the Joseph Silva State Beach on Thursday. Lopenzo claimed he had seen two sharks about 22 feet long and 3,000 pounds each while he was working on a fishing boat.
Officials closed the beach, but Condlin said investigators later determined Lopenzo was lying.
The beaches were reopened Friday.
Pastor Coots
Illegal Snake Bust
Pastor Coots
The pastor of a Kentucky church that handles snakes in religious rites was among 10 people arrested by wildlife officers in a crackdown on the venomous snake trade.
More than 100 snakes, many of them deadly, were confiscated in the undercover sting after Thursday's arrests, said Col. Bob Milligan, director of law enforcement for Kentucky Fish and Wildlife.
Most were taken from the Middlesboro home of Gregory James Coots, including 42 copperheads, 11 timber rattlesnakes, three cottonmouth water moccasins, a western diamondback rattlesnake, two cobras and a puff adder.
Coots, 36, is pastor of the Full Gospel Tabernacle in Jesus Name in Middlesboro, where a Tennessee woman died after being bitten by a rattlesnake during a service in 1995. Her husband died three years later when he was bitten by a snake in northeastern Alabama.
Pastor Coots
Fort Scott, Kansas
Penny World Records
Hundreds of volunteers have proven pennies really can go a long way. Miles, in fact.
Three days after the first coin was placed on the ground Tuesday evening, the group had assembled a 40-mile-long chain of pennies Friday night in the parking lot of Fort Scott Middle School.
It's the longest line of pennies ever assembled, eclipsing the old mark by more than five miles, according to an official from the Guinness Book of World Records. The previous record was 34.57 miles, set in Malaysia in 1995.
It was the second record set in this town just west of the Missouri line. On Thursday night, volunteers and members of the Fort Scott Youth Activities Team put down a mile of pennies in a time of 2:23.01 - just 74 seconds faster than the previous record of 2:24.15, set in February by teachers and pupils in Rickmansworth, United Kingdom, Ishikawa said.
Penny World Records
Exhibit Showcases Artist's Legal Battles
Steven Kurtz
Artist Steven Kurtz has never been shy about challenging the establishment, using a blend of performance art and science with his Critical Art Ensemble to stir debate about such things as genetically modified crops and germ warfare.
A 2007 performance had CAE members launching, with some fanfare, a harmless strain of bacteria onto volunteers in Leipzig, Germany to recreate the U.S. military's secret 1950 mock anthrax test on San Francisco.
Kurtz's latest installation is another questioning of authority - with a personal twist. The show's subject is a four-year federal criminal prosecution of Kurtz that began when petri dishes in his Buffalo home set off bio-terror alarm bells for police.
The closely watched case was dismissed in April when U.S. District Judge Richard Arcara ruled that a 2004 mail and wire fraud indictment was "insufficient on its face."
Steven Kurtz
In Memory
Evelyn Keyes
Evelyn Keyes, who played Scarlett O'Hara's younger sister Suellen in "Gone With the Wind" and counted director John Huston and bandleader Artie Shaw among her famous husbands, has died. She was 91.
Keyes' personal life often overshadowed her acting career. Besides her often turbulent marriages to Shaw and directors Huston and Charles Vidor, she lived with the flamboyant producer Mike Todd for three years during his preparation and filming of "Around the World in 80 Days." She played a cameo role in the movie and helped on publicity.
Todd sent her to the premiere in Caracas, then called her abruptly from Paris with this message: "Listen, I have to tell you. I've fallen in love with Elizabeth (Taylor)."
Her first marriage, to a handsome Englishman and heavy drinker named Barton Bainbridge, ended in headlines when he fatally shot himself during a separation.
Vidor, a handsome Hungarian who directed her first Columbia film, "The Lady in Question," became romantically involved with Keyes, though both were married at the time. When her husband committed suicide and Vidor's wife, actress Karen Morley, divorced him, Vidor and Keyes married. The marriage ended two years later when she discovered he was unfaithful to her as well.
Husband No. 3 was Huston. She was impressed when they met at a Hollywood dinner party, and more impressed when he took her afterward to his Tarzana horse ranch and made no effort to seduce her.
Keyes' marriage to Shaw in 1957 seemed to follow the same pattern. He had given up his brilliant career as a clarinetist and bandleader and had been seeking intellectual challenges.
Shaw played Henry Higgins to her Eliza Doolittle, giving her a new name, Keri, introducing her to literature and leading her on his world travels. For a time they lived in Spain. After several years she tired of his dominance and they separated. They divorced in 1985.
Keyes was born in Port Arthur, Texas, in 1916, according to state birth records; some references give a later year. She grew up fatherless and poor in Atlanta. A glowing blond beauty with an alluring figure, she danced in nightclubs and at 17 set out for Hollywood. Cecil B. DeMille signed her to a seven-year contract and cast her in "The Buccaneer."
After a few minor roles at Paramount, she appeared in "Gone With the Wind" and then moved to Columbia, where her career blossomed.
After her film career and marriages ended, she turned author, producing an autobiographical novel, "I Am a Billboard," two memoirs, "Scarlett O'Hara's Younger Sister" and "I'll Think About It Tomorrow," film scripts and articles.
Evelyn Keyes
In Memory
Tony Snow
Tony Snow, a conservative writer and commentator who cheerfully sparred with reporters in the White House briefing room during a stint as resident Bush's press secretary liar-in-chief, has died of colon cancer, Fox News reported Saturday. Snow was 53 years old.
Snow, who served as the first host of the television news program "Fox News Sunday" from 1996 to 2003, would later say that in the Bush administration he was enjoying "the most exciting, intellectually aerobic job I'm ever going to have."
Robert Anthony Snow was born June 1, 1955, in Berea, Ky., and spent his childhood in the Cincinnati area. Survivors include his wife, Jill Ellen Walker, whom he married in 1987, and three children.
Tony Snow
| CURRENT MOON lunar phases |
