Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Susan Estrich: Family Secrets (creators.com)
I must have been 12 years old when my mother took me aside to tell me she had been married to another man before my father. I was stunned, shocked and, yes, ashamed.
Robert L. Borosage: Who Gets US Out of the Hole We Are In? (huffingtonpost.com)
The president would really like to campaign for credit for one of the most productive congressional sessions in decades. Against Republican obstruction, the White House and Democrats in Congress have passed the largest recovery act in history, the largest increase in student aid since the GI Bill, the most significant health care reform since Medicare, the greatest expansion of community service since Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s, the biggest investment in renewable energy ever.
Matt Miller: America's business ingrates (washingtonpost.com)
The executives assaulting Obama would rather you forget the disaster he helped avert.
NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF: Seduction, Slavery and Sex (nytimes.com)
A trio of best-selling Swedish novels, along with legislation, are shining a light on human trafficking and prostitution.
GEORGE LOEWENSTEIN and PETER UBEL: Economics Behaving Badly (nytimes.com)
IT seems that every week a new book or major newspaper article appears showing that irrational decision-making helped cause the housing bubble or the rise in health care costs.
"Between the Assassinations" by Aravind Adiga: A review by Anis Shivani
It is difficult to build on a book as successful as 'The White Tiger,' which won the 2008 Booker Prize, and is a substantial addition to the canon of Indian diasporic writing. The White Tiger is about a hyper-ambitious Indian driver who takes revenge on an unjust economic and political system. Set in the twenty-first century, it describes an India in the throes of globalization, amid the milieu of international call centers and falling bourgeois values.
"The Real History of the End of the World: Apocalyptic Predictions from Revelation and Nostradamus to Y2K and 2012" by Sharan Newman: A review by Katie Schneider
"Warning," the bumper sticker reads, "in case of rapture, this car will be unmanned."
Emma Brockes: Sloane Crosley's New York stories (guardian.co.uk)
The essayist Sloane Crosley has just published her second collection of witty, personal writing. And now HBO wants to make a TV series about her. So will she give up the day job now?
Robert Forster: me and my bridge (guardian.co.uk)
The Go-Betweens inspire cult devotion - which could explain why Australia has just named a bridge after them. Fan Alexis Petridis talks to the band's singer about pop, tattoos - and haircare.
Wiley's grime giveaway (guardian.co.uk)
Hip-hop pioneer Wiley delighted his fans - and shocked his label - when he gave away more than 200 new songs last week. What possessed him, asks Dan Hancox.
Roger Ebert: Review of "Brick" (3 stars; Rated R; from 2006)
What is unexpected, and daring, is that "Brick" transposes the attitudes and dialogue of classic detective fiction to a modern Southern California high school. These are contemporary characters who say things like, "I got all five senses and I slept last night. That puts me six up on the lot of you." Or, "Act smarter than you look, and drop it."
Roger Ebert: Review of "DESPICABLE ME" (PG; 3 stars)
"Despicable Me" begins with the truth that villains are often more fascinating than heroes and creates a villain named Gru, who freeze-dries the people ahead of him in line at Starbucks and pops children's balloons. Although he's inspired by many a James Bond bad guy, two things set him apart: (1) His vast mad scientist lair is located not in the desert or on the moon, but in the basement of his suburban home, and ...
The Weekly Poll
New Question
The 'Brother, Can You Spare a Dime' Edition
ST. PETERSBURG - Three homeless men bearing cardboard signs near Interstate 275 were not pleased when they read the newspaper Friday morning. That's how they learned the City Council, with the mayor's support, unanimously voted to ban street solicitation on St. Petersburg's busiest streets...
Panhandlers say St. Petersburg street solicitation ban will make things worse - St. Petersburg Times
Do you give money to panhandlers?
a.) Yes, always, there but for fate go I...
b.) No, never, they're just lazy bums and it only goes to their substance abuse...
c.) Sometimes, depends on the circumstances...
Send your response to
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From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Reader Comment
Monkey Marksmen
Marty it has come to my attention, through Faux News, that al-Qaeda or Taliban or somebody has Monkey Marksmen hired to kill Americans. (They work for bananas I hear.)
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
BadtotheboneBob
Mount Everest
Comparative photos of Mount Everest 'confirm ice loss'
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Bit too toasty to be pleasant.
Daughter Will Get Awards
Lucille Ball
An auction house selling Lucille Ball memorabilia says it is returning the actress' lifetime achievement awards to her daughter.
Heritage Auction Galleries says a deal reached Saturday will return the awards to Lucie Arnaz Luckinbill, Ball's daughter with first husband Desi Arnaz.
A sale of dozens of other Ball-related memorabilia will happen Saturday. Items up for bid include a Rolls Royce and love letters to second husband Gary Morton.
The deal announced Saturday ends a legal fight between Luckinbill and Susie Morton, who married Gary Morton after Ball's death in 1989.
Lucille Ball
Shows To Get Racier
Primetime TV
During a particularly unbridled episode of Fox's "American Dad" in January, Stan, well, gave "full release" to a racehorse.
That shenanigan was duly hit with a fine from the Federal Communications Commission. But five years ago, it wouldn't even have aired. Fade whatever is left of the family hour: It's about to get even racier out there.
Primetime TV this fall is going to be chock-a-block with even more blatant sexuality and raunchy language. It's a trend that's been a long time coming and is now accelerating. This week, the FCC's regulations on indecency were struck down by a federal appeals court that termed them "unconstitutionally vague," essentially loosening strictures against profane language on the small screen.
And it's not just about those fleeting expletives. The CW has been upping the quotient of sexy goings-on on "Gossip Girl" and its updated "90210"; CBS turned a blind eye, as it were, to a contestant caught topless on "Survivor" with the naughty parts blurred. And now we're bracing for couples doing it on "Friends With Benefits" on NBC; Kathy Bates smoking pot on "Harry's Law" (and she plays a lawyer!), also on the Peacock; and a CBS sitcom starring the irrepressible William Shatner titled "$#*! My Dad Says."
Primetime TV
New Playhouse Planned
Shakespeare
In the middle of London, a plot of earth is dug across with trenches and studded with old bricks. If the world of theater ever has hallowed ground, this is it.
It's the site of London's first theater, where William Shakespeare's plays were performed and where the Bard himself once trod the boards.
Archaeologists who have been digging here since 2008 have uncovered a section of outer wall and floor surface from the building, completed in 1576 and known simply as The Theatre - whose timbers were later used to build The Globe theater.
Now a London drama troupe plans to erect a new building on the site, bringing live performances back to the spot where Elizabethan drama flourished more than 400 years ago.
Shakespeare
Tour Hits Right Note
Taylor-King
When a James Taylor/Carole King co-headlining Troubadour Reunion tour was announced last winter, the concert industry reacted with the sort of laid-back reserve befitting the two mellow-rock icons. Few predicted that arenas full of smiling, dancing, sometimes weeping baby boomers -- and their kids and grandkids -- would blow up the box office in a summer that has seen its share of bad news for the touring business.
In an era of production bombast and fleeting popularity, a couple of sexagenarian singer-songwriters with classic songbooks put together a warm and intimate show and ended up with the surprise hit tour of the summer. Loyal fans wanted to be part of this one-time-only event, recession be damned. Not only has the tour grossed a remarkable $58 million, but the good vibes, in '70s parlance, created by the duo's pairing has provided Concord Records with a hit project in King and Taylor's "Live at the Troubadour" CD/DVD (from the 2007 club shows that ultimately spawned the tour), portions of which have become popular, pledge-inducing programing for PBS.
An unrepentant road dog who has, at this stage of his career, become a summer concert tradition for many, Taylor knows what draws fans, and he saw plenty of potential in a tour with King. "Essentially, a tour runs on hits and people's emotional connection with the material," Taylor says. "That's the lifeblood of this thing, how people are emotionally connected to the material that Carole and I are doing, what it means personally in their lives."
Though putting together Taylor, 62, and King, 68 -- artists whose careers have been intertwined but who had not played live together since the early '70s -- looks like a great idea on paper, so do a lot of tour concepts.
Taylor-King
Testimony In Hague Postponed
Naomi Campbell
British supermodel Naomi Campbell has requested a later date for her testimony in the trial of former Liberian President Charles Taylor, a spokesman for the Special Court for Sierra Leone said on Friday.
Prosecutors want Campbell to testify over a "blood diamond" they allege Taylor gave her. She was due to appear in court July 29 and the spokesman said the new date "is not expected to be more than a few days later."
In January, the prosecution said that during a visit to South Africa in 1997 Taylor gave Campbell a large rough cut diamond after a dinner hosted by Nelson Mandela.
On trial in The Hague, Taylor denies all 11 charges of instigating murder, rape, mutilation, sexual slavery and conscription of child soldiers during wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone in which more than 250,000 people were killed.
Naomi Campbell
Passport Dispute Raises Sovereignty Issue
Iroquois Lacrosse Team
An American Indian lacrosse team's refusal to travel on passports not issued by the Iroquois confederacy goes to the heart of one of the most sensitive issues in Indian Country - sovereignty.
The rights of Native nations to govern themselves independently has long been recognized by federal treaties, but the extent of that recognition beyond U.S borders is under challenge in a post-Sept. 11 world.
After initially refusing to accept Iroquois-issued passports because the documents lack security features, the State Department gave the team a one-time waiver.
The team maintained that traveling on anything other than an Iroquois-issued passport would be a strike against the players' identity. But the British government wouldn't budge in denying team members entry into England without U.S. or Canadian passports, keeping the Iroquois Nationals from competing at the World Lacrosse Championships in Manchester in the sport their ancestors helped create.
Iroquois Lacrosse Team
No Charges In Corsica
Paris Hilton
American socialite Paris Hilton was briefly held by police on the French island of Corsica after being caught with cannabis in her handbag, according to police sources.
Hilton was detained after arriving at the airport in Figari on a private jet from Paris on Friday.
Police found less than a gram of cannabis in her handbag, and released her soon afterwards without charge.
According to Corse-Matin newspaper, Hilton was travelling on the private jet with "people close to power in Malaysia", and was due to travel by yacht to the luxury resort of Porto Cervo in Sardinia, Italy.
Paris Hilton
Told To Change Direction
Indonesian Muslims
Indonesia's Muslims learned on Friday they have been praying in the wrong direction, after the country's highest Islamic authority said its directive on the direction of Mecca actually had people facing Africa.
Muslims are supposed to face the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia during prayer and the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) issued an edict in March stipulating westward was the correct direction from the world's most populous Muslim country.
"But it has been decided that actually the mosques are facing Somalia or Kenya, so we are now suggesting people shift the direction slightly to the north-west," the head of the MUI, Cholil Ridwan, told Reuters. "There's no need to knock down mosques, just shift your direction slightly during prayer."
Ridwan said Muslims need not fear that their prayers have been wasted because they were facing the wrong way.
Indonesian Muslims
French Scientists Crack Secrets
Mona Lisa
The enigmatic smile remains a mystery, but French scientists say they have cracked a few secrets of the "Mona Lisa." French researchers studied seven of the Louvre Museum's Leonardo da Vinci paintings, including the "Mona Lisa," to analyze the master's use of successive ultrathin layers of paint and glaze - a technique that gave his works their dreamy quality.
Specialists from the Center for Research and Restoration of the Museums of France found that da Vinci painted up to 30 layers of paint on his works to meet his standards of subtlety. Added up, all the layers are less than 40 micrometers, or about half the thickness of a human hair, researcher Philippe Walter said Friday.
The technique, called "sfumato," allowed da Vinci to give outlines and contours a hazy quality and create an illusion of depth and shadow. His use of the technique is well-known, but scientific study on it has been limited because tests often required samples from the paintings.
The French researchers used a noninvasive technique called X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy to study the paint layers and their chemical composition.
Mona Lisa
Roadside Attraction Burns
"Shoe Tree"
U.S. Forest Service officials in northern Idaho say the rubber-soled decorations that made the "shoe tree" a beloved Priest River landmark also helped fuel its demise.
Tourists and locals since the 1940s have dressed the tree with hundreds of pairs of shoes, nailing sneakers to its trunk and hanging work boots from its branches.
Firefighters found the tree engulfed in flames late Thursday, and the blaze was difficult to extinguish because the sizable cedar was covered in melted shoe rubber.
Officials have long discouraged people from adding shoes to the tree, which has become an eccentric roadside attraction featured on various travel websites.
"Shoe Tree"
Found In Baltic Wreck
Old Champagne
Divers have discovered what is thought to be the world's oldest drinkable champagne in a shipwreck in the Baltic Sea, one of the finders said Saturday. They tasted the one bottle they've brought up so far before they even got back to shore.
Diving instructor Christian Ekstrom said the bottles are believed to be from the 1780s and likely were part of a cargo destined for Russia. The nationality of the sunken ship has not yet been determined.
"We brought up the bottle to be able to establish how old the wreck was," he told The Associated Press. "We didn't know it would be champagne. We thought it was wine or something."
The divers discovered the shipwreck Tuesday near the Aland Islands, between Sweden and Finland. About 30 bottles are believed to be aboard the sunken vessel.
Old Champagne
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