Recommended Reading
from Bruce
IF YOU CAN TYPE,? YOU CAN MAKE MOVIES
iPhone4 vs HTC Evo (youtube.com)
Very bad language; very funny.
Susan Estrich: Chelsea's Wedding (creators.com)
"No, I wasn't invited. I shouldn't be. I'm a friend of her parents. They aren't getting married. She is. The rule that invited guests should have a personal relationship with the bride or the groom is only the latest example of how good the Clintons (and the Mezvinskys) have been at the most important job in the world: being parents."
Jim Hightower: WALL STREET'S "MOM & POP" BANKERS (jimhightower.com)
…slick operators like Dimon are wasting no time on tears. Instead, they're devising ways to slip out of the new regulatory reins. For example, the law limits the outrageous overdraft fees that banks have been sneaking onto our debit card accounts. No problem - the giants are quietly imposing new "maintenance fees" for basic checking accounts.
SCOTT FAINGOLD: Anatomy of an Advice Goddess (illinoistimes.com)
"An interview with columnist Amy Alkon on her career, methodology and the scourge of rude behavior."
"The Publisher: Henry Luce and His American Century" by Alan Brinkley: A review by Nicholas Fraser
"There are many ways of committing professional suicide, and in the 1970s mine consisted of attempting to work as a writer for an American newsmagazine. It probably didn't help that I was British and somewhat over-sure of my abilities. But failure comes to those who seek it earnestly."
David Teather: Penguin boss has no problem with ebooks (guardian.co.uk)
"John Makinson says that if people want to read using new technology, that's what publishers must give them."
Will Harris: A Chat with Neil Finn, Crowded House singer (bullz-eye.com)
"I think it's more important to make every show a unique experience rather than try and provide a greatest-hits experience to everybody. I think that the people who are coming along quite like to hear things that are a little bit less obvious."
Jon Boden's big singalong (guardian.co.uk)
"Folk singer Jon Boden plans to record a song a day for a year and post it online. But, as Colin Irwin finds out, his real aim is to get us all to sing out loud together - in tune or not."
Will Harris: A Chat with Jordana Spiro, Co-star of "My Boys" (bullz-eye.com)
"I keep waiting for just this big break, but for me, it seems that each of them so far has just been kind of a little stepping stone. I guess the one project to date that's really given me the most exposure is 'My Boys.'"
Roger Ebert: Review of "BEST WORST MOVIE" (UNRATED; 3 stars)
"I bought the DVD of 'Troll 2' because a friend advised me to see it. 'You're busy,' he told me. 'You don't have time to see every bad movie. So you might as well see the worst of all time.'"
The Weekly Poll
Current Question
Results - Tuesday
The 'Mad Mel' Edition...
Mel Gibson has been called a religiously insane, anti-Semitic, misogynistic, racist by a great many people. His actions and words certainly point to that as being the case. However, he has made movies that have been very popular and, in some instances, awarded and/or critically acclaimed...
So...
What is your view of Gibson as an actor and are there any of his movies that you have enjoyed?
Send your response to
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From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and cooler than seasonal.
Screens Oil Spill Film
Spike Lee
Spike Lee has screened his new four-hour documentary on the massive BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and says no one from the oil giant is speaking to him.
The director showed "If God Is Willing and Da Creek Don't Rise" at the National Association of Black Journalists convention in San Diego on Saturday. It airs in August on HBO.
When he was asked if BP cooperated he said, "Nobody was speaking to me from BP." A call to the BP press office wasn't immediately returned.
He also called on President Barack Obama to "bring the hammer" on BP and make the company pay.
Spike Lee
Governor Considers Pardon
Billy the Kid
The showdown between Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid has fascinated the American public for nearly 130 years with its classic, Old West storyline of the frontier lawman hunting down the notorious gunslinger.
The issue has resurfaced because Governor Bill Richardson asked a New Mexico columnist earlier this year to check with historians to measure their support for issuing a pardon. The governor plans to meet with Garrett family members next week to discuss the issue.
Garrett shot Billy the Kid down on July 14, 1881. Garrett tracked him after the outlaw escaped from the Lincoln County jail in a famous gunbattle that left two deputies dead.
The pardon dispute is the latest in a long-running fight over whether Garrett shot the real Kid or someone else and then lied about it. Some history buffs claim Billy the Kid didn't die in the shootout with Garrett and landed in Texas, where he went by "Brushy Bill" Roberts and died of a heart attack at age 90 in 1950.
Billy the Kid
Family Feud, Lebanese-Style
Fairouz
Across four decades, Fairouz's songs of freedom, justice and love transfixed Arab audiences, moved millions to tears and gave hope to the Lebanese during the darkest days of their 15-year civil war.
At 75, the Lebanese singer still performed, seemingly impervious to age - until now, when a fight over royalties within the Arab world's most famous musical family threatens to silence Lebanon's most beloved diva.
It is a familiar story the world over - heirs fighting over an inheritance - but in this case it involves a cultural icon whose songs changed the musical landscape of the Arab world.
Most of Fairouz's songs were penned by her late husband, Assi Rahbani, and his brother Mansour, together known as "The Rahbani Brothers," and now her nephews are accusing her of not asking their permission to sing that repertoire or paying them the necessary royalties.
Fairouz
Malaysia Talent Show
'Young Imam'
A 26-year-old scholar was late Friday named winner of a hugely popular Malaysian TV talent show search for a top young Islamic leader which has gained worldwide attention.
The "Young Imam" programme has seen 10 finalists hit the prime-time stage to recite verses from the Koran, wash corpses and slaughter sheep according to Islamic rules, and persuade youngsters away from sex and drugs.
Religious scholar Muhammad Asyraf Mohamad Ridzuan, 26, beat Hizbur Rahman Omar Zuhdi, a 27-year-old religious teacher in the finale, after the 10-week series which began in May saw eight other contestants eliminated.
The show, which is the first of its kind, follows the reality-TV formula of shows such as "American Idol" in the US and "The X Factor" in Britain, and has ignited new enthusiasm for Islam among Muslim youth.
'Young Imam'
Just A Memory
Privacy
Invasion of privacy in the Internet age. Expanding the reach of law enforcement to snoop on e-mail traffic or on Web surfing. Those are among the criticisms being aimed at the FBI as it tries to update a key surveillance law.
With its proposed amendment, is the Obama administration merely clarifying a statute or expanding it? Only time and a suddenly on guard Congress will tell.
Federal law requires communications providers to produce records in counterintelligence investigations to the FBI, which doesn't need a judge's approval and court order to get them.
They can be obtained merely with the signature of a special agent in charge of any FBI field office and there is no need even for a suspicion of wrongdoing, merely that the records would be relevant in a counterintelligence or counterterrorism investigation. The person whose records the government wants doesn't even need to be a suspect.
Privacy
Second Woman Sues
Casey Affleck
Another female worker on Casey Affleck's upcoming Joaquin Phoenix documentary is suing the filmmaker/actor, this time claiming Affleck climbed into bed with her and groped her as she slept.
In a $2.25 million lawsuit filed Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court, cinematographer Magdalena Gorka says Affleck engaged in a pattern of harassing behavior and refused to pay or credit her when the abuse forced her to leave the project. The allegations mirror a separate lawsuit filed July 23 by Amanda White, a producer who says she left the movie after witnessing shocking behavior and after refusing to sleep in a hotel room with Affleck.
According to the Gorka lawsuit, when production on "I'm Still Here: The Lost Year of Joaquin Phoenix" began in New York in mid-December, she was the only woman on the team. Phoenix and Affleck, who is married to Phoenix's sister, decided that the crew would stay at Phoenix's apartment instead of at a hotel. Phoenix allegedly told Gorka she could sleep in his bedroom and he would sleep on the couch.
"During the middle of the night, (Gorka) awoke to find Affleck lying in the bed next to her," the lawsuit alleges. "Unbeknownst to (Gorka), Affleck had entered the bedroom while she was asleep and crawled into the bed. When she woke up, Affleck was curled up next to her in the bed wearing only his underwear and a t-shirt. He had his arm around her, was caressing her back, his face was within inches of hers and his breath reeked of alcohol."
Gorka says she was shocked because she didn't know how long Affleck had been there or where she had been touched. She says she immediately told him to get out of bed. "Affleck responded by asking 'Why?,'" according to the lawsuit. "(Gorka) said, 'Because you are married and because you are my boss.' Affleck, undeterred, asked if (Gorka) 'was sure.' (Gorka) said she was sure and insisted that he leave the room. He left and slammed the door in anger."
Casey Affleck
Prosecutor Makes New Claim
Anna Nicole Smith
A prosecutor sprang a surprise claim Friday that Anna Nicole Smith was a co-conspirator in the actions that have brought her two doctors and lawyer-boyfriend to trial for over-prescribing and obtaining massive amounts of prescription drugs.
"I think it's obvious she was part of the conspiracy because she wanted this medication," Deputy District Attorney Renee Rose said during a pretrial hearing.
"It's a surprise to me," said Superior Court Judge Robert Perry. "It's a different situation if she's orchestrating it."
It was unclear how the claim of Smith's involvement could affect the case. Perry, however, said he was not going to dismiss any charges at this time against the defendants.
Anna Nicole Smith
Most Dangerous Things
National Parks
A fatal bear attack in a Montana campground near Yellowstone National Park prompted a flurry of concerned phone calls to the park this week, but bear attacks are far from the most common danger to park visitors.
In fact, there hasn't been a bear mauling in Yellowstone since 1986, said Yellowstone public affairs officer Linda Miller.
Motor vehicle accidents may be the most common way people are killed or injured in national parks, said Gerry Gaumer, deputy chief of public affairs for the National Park Service (NPS).
Indeed, medical problems rival car accidents as a cause of death in the parks. In Yellowstone, of the 61 fatalities that occurred in the park from 1998 to 2006, 23 were due to either heart attacks or diabetes.
National Parks
Lost Ship Recovered
HMS Investigator
Canadian archeologists have found a ship abandoned more than 150 years ago in the quest for the fabled Northwest Passage and which was lost in the search for the doomed expedition of Sir John Franklin, the head of the team said Wednesday.
Marc-Andre Bernier, Parks Canada's head of underwater archaeology, said the HMS Investigator, abandoned in the ice in 1853, was found in shallow water in Mercy Bay along the northern coast of Banks Island in Canada's western Arctic.
The Investigator was one of many American and British ships sent out to search for the HMS Erebus and the Terror, vessels commanded by Franklin in his ill-fated search for the Northwest Passage in 1845.
Captained by Robert McClure, the Investigator sailed in 1850. That year, McClure sailed the Investigator into the strait that now bears his name and realized that he was in the final leg of the Northwest Passage, the sea route across North America.
HMS Investigator
In Memory
Suso Cecchi D'Amico
Screenwriter Suso Cecchi D'Amico, who emerged from the male-dominated post-war Italian cinema to become a celebrated artist and contribute to such milestones as "Bicycle Thieves" and "The Leopard," died Saturday at age 96.
Cecchi D'Amico died in her hometown, Rome, the ANSA news agency said, citing her family. No cause of death was given.
Cecchi D'Amico worked with some of the most renowned Italian directors, including Franco Zeffirelli, Michelangelo Antonioni and Mario Monicelli, whose movie "Casanova 70" earned her an Oscar nomination.
She was equally successful at writing scripts for neo-realistic movies, art-house films and comedies such as "Big Deal on Madonna Street." Her work helped make the Italian post-war movie scene a vibrant and innovative one.
A long partnership with Luchino Visconti became a defining element in Cecchi D'Amico's career, spanning more than two decades and several movies. Among other titles, she contributed to "The Leopard," the sumptuous depiction of the decline of a Sicilian aristocratic family based on the book by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa and starring Burt Lancaster and Alain Delon.
Born Giovanna Cecchi in 1914 to a family of writers and intellectuals, she began working in cinema soon after the war. She quickly landed a high-profile job helping write the script for Vittorio De Sica's "Bicycle Thieves," which was released in 1948 and became a manifesto for neo-realism.
She went on to a long career during which she often adapted literary works, including "The Stranger," "The Taming of the Shrew" and books by Dostoevsky and Pirandello.
ANSA said she is survived by her three children. A funeral is scheduled for Monday in Rome.
Suso Cecchi D'Amico
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