The Weekly Poll
The current question:
Who would make the best Secretary of State when (not if) Obama takes the helm in January 2009?
A. Hillary Clinton
B. Zbigniew Brzezinski
C. Bill Richardson
D. Chris Dodd
E. Evan Bayh
F. Your choice
Send your response to BadtotheBoneBob ( BCEpoll 'at' aol.com )
Results Tuesday
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Nora Ephron: The Morning After (huffingtonpost.com)
I forget how white Republicans are, and mean-spirited, and thin-lipped. I watch them and I think, is anyone buying this? Does anyone think we're better off today? That we're "winning" the war? Does anyone really think that executive experience trumps wisdom and intellect?
Mark Morford: Greetings from "the angry left" (sfgate.com)
Hey, peeved hippie! Stop your hatin' and learn to love the (McCain) bomb!
Joel Stein: The devil, you say (latimes.com)
My parents have been calling me while I've been at the conventions for the last two weeks, asking if I have any "news." These people clearly don't read my columns like they say they do.
JAKE COYLE: Michael Moore To Release New Film For Free
Inspired by Neil Young and Radiohead, Michael Moore will release his new film online and for free.
Will Pavia: Don LaFontaine, voice of the Hollywood film trailer, dies (timesonline.co.uk)
He was a man blessed with a special power, a man who could transform even the most implausible of conceits into something that was terrifying, momentous and coming to cinemas "this summer".
Mike Kerwick: Novelist explores the dark-side of Manhattan private schools (The Record, Hackensack N.J.)
Anisha Lakhani rises from a chair in her Manhattan living room and walks to the window. She points to a building on the other side of this ninth-floor pane of glass. The red bricks and green pipes are a daily reminder of the life she kicked to the curb.
In it to win it (guardian.co.uk)
Britain did fantastically well in the 2000 and 2004 Paralympics. Now, on the eve of this year's games, a fresh squad of athletes is hoping to win yet another top-five place. Emine Saner asks some of them about their lives, their ambitions and the experiences that set them on the road to Beijing.
The editors of the Paris Review: Louis Armstrong, the artist (guardian.co.uk)
The legendary jazz trumpeter's talents stretched beyond music - as the collages decorating his many tape-boxes show.
C.J. Janovy: How the Quest for a Waylon Jennings T-shirt Ended with Owning the Legend's Tour Bus (pitch.com)
Fred Wickham has two types of friends: the ones who thought he was crazy around this time last year - and the ones who thought what he did was the coolest thing ever.
Miavhael Fortes: A Chat with Tom Araya, Slayer singer (bullz-eye.com)
On types of fans: "You know, it varies, kinda like it varies here in America. You got your loopy-loos, and then you got your thrashers, so for different reasons the fans are different..."
Max Blumenthal: My Interview With John Legend (huffingtonpost.com)
I first met Legend when he was a 16-year-old freshman at the University of Pennsylvania named John Stephens. I lived down the hall from him in Penn's massive dormitory complex.
MONTE WILLIAMS: "LOWBROW LITERATI: Galaxy Rangers: No Guts, No Glory, No Clue"
Having missed out on the show in its '80s heyday, a hapless Monte Williams shares his thoughts during his baffled first look at The Galaxy Rangers.
Reader Question
Re: Palin letter
Marty, I was distressed to see Anne Kilkenny's letter on your web page. I received a copy of it from a friend via email. There was a request from Ms. Kilkenny asking espicially not to post her letter on any web page. Did the copy you received omit that part?
Susan
Thanks, Susan!
I've read the Kilkenny letter in several places on the internets, but I have no memory of coding that letter.
I use a plain text editor, so every line is literally put in by hand.
But, this week has been horrifically hectic, and my memory sucks, so I started looking at past pages, and the only reference/link to
the Kilkenny letter is from Bruce's Suggested Readings on Saturday's page, and
it only uses the first few sentences of the letter, then refers readers to Andrew Tobias' site for the rest.
Anne Kilkenny: ABOUT SARAH PALIN (Scroll Down; andrewtobias.com)
I am a resident of Wasilla, Alaska. I have known Sarah since 1992. Everyone here knows Sarah, so it is nothing special to say we are on a first-name basis. Our children have attended the same schools. Her father was my child's favorite substitute teacher. I also am on a first name basis with her parents and mother-in-law. I attended more City Council meetings during her administration than about 99% of the residents of the city.
Didn't have the time to go back too far, so maybe if I did use it, somebody could point me to it?
Reader Comment On A Reader Question
Just a Question
Just a question.
Do you think
John McCain looks like Henry Potter, from Its A Wonderful Life?
Skyfrequency
Actually, I think John W. McCain more closely resembles Uncle Fester from the Addams Family.
Roy, the Chairman and CEO of Chipshot Grafix Inc.
Photo from Marsha
Butterfly & Bee
Hi Marty:
Just snapped this pic of the beautiful Brush Footed Buckeye Butterfly and
a Honey Bee in the back garden. We have been happy to see the Honey Bees
this year as they were almost decimated last year.
Reader Suggestion
Former Student
Marty,
This is a former student who is just a best. He played tenor sax for me. He was one of the mascots at Syracuse for the football games. He just left NBC for HGTV. The link should take you to his interview with Joan Rivers.
Willow
Thanks, Willow!
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Hot & humid. Ack.
Host Obama Fundraise
Jon & Dorothea Bon Jovi
Unlike his Republican opponent, Democrat Barack Obama is still raising money for his presidential campaign, and he turned Friday to rock legend Jon Bon Jovi for help.
Bon Jovi and his wife, Dorothea, hosted more than 100 people for dinner on their mansion lawn by the Navesink River in Middletown, N.J. The price was $30,800 a person, to be divided between the Obama campaign and the Democratic National Committee.
Obama spoke for about eight minutes before greeting guests individually. He vowed to fight Republican attacks on his character and background more fiercely than John Kerry did in his losing campaign four years ago.
Republican nominee John McCain can raise no more campaign money because he accepted about $84 million in public funding and the restrictions that go with it. Obama turned down the public funding, figuring he can raise and spend more on his own.
Jon & Dorothea Bon Jovi
Big Gains In Voter Registration
Democrats
Five days a week, Linda Graham trolls tattered neighborhoods of this once thriving steel city outside Pittsburgh for unregistered voters she can sign up as Democrats - one of thousands of unknown volunteers whose work outside the limelight has already altered the basic arithmetic of the November election.
The epic nomination battle between Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton helped put millions more Democrats on the voter rolls while Republican registration declined. Now Graham, 45, has taken three months of unpaid leave from her job at Pittsburgh's Central Blood Bank in the hope of adding to those gains before the presidential vote.
She's encouraged by the response here. "They're all feeling the crunch" of lost jobs and a sagging economy, Graham said. "But people are feeling empowered. They're feeling like, you know what, I hold a little bit of power in this."
Since the last federal election in 2006, volunteers like Graham combined with the enthusiasm generated by the Obama-Clinton struggle to add more than 2 million Democrats to voter rolls in the 28 states that register voters according to party affiliation. The Republicans have lost nearly 344,000 thousand voters in the same states.
Democrats
Backdrop Baffles
Walter Reed
Staff at a California school were scratching their heads on Friday after their facility mysteriously appeared as a backdrop during John McCain's Republican Convention speech.
A giant image of Walter Reed Middle School in the Los Angeles suburb of North Hollywood was one of several pictures projected onto a backdrop at the Republican Convention on Thursday as McCain addressed delegates.
However ABC and online reports have speculated McCain's campaign could have intended to show a picture of the prestigious Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington D.C. rather than a relatively obscure school in California.
A McCain campaign spokesman was not immediately available to comment on the reasons for the selection of the photo.
Walter Reed Middle School's principal Donna Tobin said in a statement that use of the school's image had come as a surprise.
Walter Reed
Achieves New Chart Record
B.B. King
With his 83rd birthday fast approaching, blues legend B.B. King has just scored the highest-debuting solo album of his career.
"One Kind Favor" debuted at No. 37 on the Billboard 200 this week. It also ranks as his highest-charting solo set since "Live in Cook County Jail" traveled to No. 25 in 1971.
"Favor" is King's 33rd chart entry. Although he has been recording since 1949, he didn't appear on the Billboard album chart until 1968, when "Lucille" became his first chart entry.
King's highest-ranked album is "Riding With the King," his collaboration with Eric Clapton, which peaked at No. 3 in 2000.
B.B. King
Back On Radio
Ron Reagan
Ron Reagan, the liberal son of the late president Ronald Reagan, is going back on the radio.
Starting Monday, "The Ron Reagan Show" is scheduled for live broadcast from Seattle's KPTK-AM, Monday through Friday, with national syndication through Air America Radio.
Reagan, 55, previously was host of a talk show on KIRO-AM in Seattle and was moderator of KPTK's Town Hall Forum, "We The People."
The Seattle resident also participated in Air America's coverage of the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn.
Ron Reagan
Files Lawsuit
Tommy Lee Jones
Tommy Lee Jones is suing the makers of "No Country for Old Men" for more than $10 million that the Oscar-winning actor claims he is owed for starring in the 2007 hit crime thriller.
The lawsuit against Paramount Pictures claims that Jones was promised "significant box-office bonuses" and other compensation depending on the success of the film, which went on to make more than $160 million.
The movie, which is set in Texas and based on a critically acclaimed Cormac McCarthy novel, garnered four Academy Awards, including "Best Picture."
Jones, who played Sheriff Ed Tom Bell in the film, claims he was not paid promised bonuses and had expenses wrongly deducted. The suit says Jones was paid a reduced upfront fee in joining the film, and that his contract had known errors not corrected before the movie was made.
Tommy Lee Jones
Church Promotes Converting Gays
Sister Sarah
Gov. Sarah Palin's church is promoting a conference that promises to convert gays into heterosexuals through the power of prayer.
"You'll be encouraged by the power of God's love and His desire to transform the lives of those impacted by homosexuality," according to the insert in the bulletin of the Wasilla Bible Church, where Palin has prayed for about six years.
Palin's conservative Christian views have energized that part of the GOP electorate, which was lukewarm to John McCain's candidacy before he named her as his vice presidential choice. She is staunchly anti-abortion, opposing exceptions for rape and incest, and opposes gay marriage and spousal rights for gay couples.
Focus on the Family, a national Christian fundamentalist organization, is conducting the "Love Won Out" Conference in Anchorage, about 30 miles from Wasilla.
Sister Sarah
Faces New Charges
Shelley Malil
Prosecutors have brought additional charges against Hollywood actor accused of stabbing his ex-girlfriend 20 times.
Shelley Malil, 43, who played a supporting role in "The 40-Year-Old Virgin," was charged Friday with residential burglary and assault with a deadly weapon for allegedly attacking a man who with Malil's ex-girlfriend, Kendra Beebe, on Aug. 10.
Prosecutors say that was the day Malil stabbed Beebe with two knives while chasing her in and around her San Marcos home as her two children slept.
A man with Beebe at the time grabbed one knife but Malil found another and continued the attack until a neighbor disarmed him, prosecutors said.
Shelley Malil
Post-Game Concerts
Baseball
Jessica Simpson probably won't be pitching for the majors anytime soon, but the singer is one of many artists stepping onto the field this year for free post-game concerts at Major League Baseball stadiums around the United States.
Teams like the Arizona Diamondbacks, Florida Marlins, Tampa Bay Rays and Pittsburgh Pirates have turned to live music as a way to increase fan attendance at home games and bolster ties to corporate sponsors.
MLB teams with "subpar attendance are looking for ways to augment their capacity at events, and (a post-game concert) is a way to do that," said Don Hinchey, vice president of communications at Bonham Group, a Denver-based sports and marketing firm.
Along with Simpson, other acts playing post-game baseball concerts -- which are free with the purchase of a ticket to the game -- include LL Cool J, Trace Adkins, Bret Michaels, Lynyrd Skynyrd, REO Speedwagon, Collective Soul, Gilberto Santa Rosa, Lou Gramm, Phil Vassar and Kool & the Gang.
Baseball
Pausing Production
"24"
Fox's "24" is stopping the production clock for 18 days to allow writers to work on upcoming scripts.
Filming on the real-time drama will be shut down September 15, after the completion of episode 18. It will resume October 9.
The idea for the unscheduled hiatus came from "24" executive producer/showrunner Howard Gordon who had been concerned about the quality of several scripts.
The start of production on the seventh season was delayed a couple of times last summer while the plot line was being redrawn. Filming was then shut down after the eighth episode in early December for almost five months because of the writers strike, which led to Fox's decision to hold back the entire season until 2009.
"24"
In Memory
Anita Page
Anita Page, a beautiful blond MGM actress who appeared in the films of Lon Chaney, Joan Crawford and
Buster Keaton during the transition from silent movies to talkies, has died. She was 98.
Her longtime friend and companion Randal Malone says Page died in her sleep of natural causes early Saturday morning at her home in Los Angeles.
The New York-born Page began her film career as an extra in 1924.
She had a major role - as the doomed bad girl - in "Our Dancing Daughters," a 1928 film that featured a wild Charleston by Crawford and propelled them both to stardom. It spawned two sequels, "Our Modern Maidens" and "Our Blushing Brides."
Anita Page
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