Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Roger Ebert's Journal: A Fall from Grace
I should have left the bloody book on the floor. It was past midnight, and I had finished a little light bedtime reading: A thriller by Barbara Vine, a chapter a night. I replaced the bookmark and reached over to put the book on the bedside table. It fell to the floor. That was no big deal.
Leo Babauta: Toss Productivity Out (Zen Habits)
Life where you work hard in bursts, with some breaks, is dreadful. Life where you're always doing something you love is art.
Brian Palmer: What Would Happen if Social Security Disappeared? (Slate)
An Explainer thought experiment.
Jim Hightower: "Tea party Congress: 'Power to the Corporations'"
Tea party House members have become the Koch brothers' plutocratic dream. They've voted to keep giving a $4-billion-a-year government subsidy to Big Oil, to privatize and slash Medicare, to let Wall Street banksters keep ripping off consumers and investors, and to put Social Security on the congressional killing floor. Is this what grassroots voters meant by "Power to the people?"
Jim Hightower: DuPont's herbicide goes rogue
In the tortured language of CorporateWorld, workers are no longer fired, they've just experienced an "employment adjustment." But the most twisted euphemism I'd heard in a long time comes from DuPont: "We are investigating the reports of these unfavorable tree symptoms," the pesticide maker recently stated.
The Night Circus's dazzling, high-wire debut (Guardian)
Alison Flood talks to young novelist Erin Morgenstern, whose fantastical book about a circus has been tipped as the next Harry Potter.
Kristin Tillotson, "It's been a very goon year for Jennifer Egan (Star Tribune, Minneapolis)
Jennifer Egan takes bold leaps all over the literary map. Her latest novel, "A Visit From the Goon Squad," has been called wildly ambitious, bravura, a virtuoso performance. "Is there anything Egan can't do?" crowed the New York Times Book Review.
Misha Berson: Author brings Wendy Wasserstein's complexities, gifts to light (The Seattle Times)
The late playwright Wendy Wasserstein was a woman of many facets - some even her closest friends weren't aware of before her death from cancer in 2006, at 55.
David Bruce has 42 Kindle books on Amazon.com with 250 anecdotes in each book. Each book is $1, so for $42 you can buy 10,500 anecdotes. Search for "Funniest People," "Coolest People, "Most Interesting People," "Kindest People," "Religious Anecdotes," "Maximum Cool," and "Resist Psychic Death."
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Michelle in AZ
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Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny, but cool.
Top Prize In Venice
"Faust"
Russian film "Faust," loosely based on Goethe's classic German text, won the Golden Lion for best picture at the Venice film festival on Saturday.
The movie, directed by the revered Alexander Sokurov, divided critics at the annual cinema showcase, but had been among the favourites to scoop the coveted top prize.
Faust, the fourth and final instalment in Sokurov's series about corrupting power, won praise for conjuring a 19th century world of squalour, stench and chaos in which Faust and a mad-cap Mephistopheles play out their destinies.
The big surprise on the night was that Roman Polanski's popular comedy of manners "Carnage" went away empty-handed.
"Faust"
'Game-Changer' In Evolution
South Africa
Two million-year-old bones belonging to a creature with both apelike and human traits provide the clearest evidence of evolution's first major step toward modern humans - findings some are calling a potential game-changer.
An analysis of the bones found in South Africa suggests Australopithecus sediba is the most likely candidate to be the ancestor of humans, said lead researcher Lee R. Berger of the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa.
The fossils, belonging to a male child and an adult female, show a novel combination of features, almost as though nature were experimenting. Some resemble pre-human creatures while others suggest the genus Homo, which includes Homo sapiens, modern people.
"It's as if evolution is caught in one vital moment, a stop-action snapshot of evolution in action," said Richard Potts, director of the human origins program at the Smithsonian Institution. He was not among the team, led by South African scientists, whose research was published online Thursday in the journal Science.
Scientists have long considered the Australopithecus family, which includes the famous fossil Lucy, to be a primitive candidate for a human ancestor. The new research establishes a creature that combines features of both groups.
South Africa
Arkansas Museum Showcase
"The Art of Living"
For decades, Mable Rose Jamison Vogel hauled trunks of art and documents -- bits and pieces of a remarkable chapter in American history -- around the country whenever she moved.
Created by Japanese Americans while they were held captive in Arkansas camps during World War II, the paintings, sculptures, carved wooden bird pins and even a belt made from an orange electrical cord told stories of daily life in a dark era in American history.
Vogel was one of their art teachers, encouraging them to decorate their dire surroundings. Her efforts helped preserve the tales of tens of thousands of Americans who were forced into camps by the U.S. government after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor.
This weekend, "The Art of Living" exhibit opens at the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies in Little Rock. with more than 100 artifacts from Vogel's collection and additional pieces by twin sisters Kazuko Tanaka and Yetsuko Saguchi, who were interned at Rohwer.
"The Art of Living"
Jack Slept There
Jack Nicholson
A blaze badly damaged a home in the Hollywood Hills that once was occupied by actor Jack Nicholson, injuring two firefighters.
Fire officials say the blaze broke out shortly before 8 p.m. Friday at a house perched on a slope in the Hollywood Hills. Matt Spence, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Fire Department, says nearly 90 firefighters were on scene with two being taken to a hospital for unknown injuries.
The fire was knocked down in about 1 ½ hours. The cause of the blaze is under investigation.
According to the Nexis service, Nicholson had lived in the house at one time. Afterhours phone messages left for two of Nicholson's representatives were not immediately returned.
Jack Nicholson
Yurors Get 30-Page Survey
Michael Jackson
Jury selection in the trial of Michael Jackson's doctor is moving forward with 145 prospective jurors cleared for further questioning after answering an in-depth questionnaire probing their views about the King of Pop and the criminal case against his doctor
Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor decided Friday that there were sufficient prospective jurors available to go on to the next phase - in-court questioning on Sept. 23.
The 30-page questionnaire, which seeks extensive personal information, challenged prospective jurors to share their feelings about the dead superstar and about the fact that his famous family members will be in court every day for testimony.
They were asked whether they have seen the posthumous Jackson concert movie, "This Is It," and whether they have bought Jackson CDs, DVDs or memorabilia.
"Have you ever considered yourself a fan of Michael Jackson or the Jackson family?" they were asked.
Michael Jackson
Reveals Escape Plan
Jermaine Jackson
Jermaine Jackson says his family had secretly arranged to fly Michael to Bahrain if the pop icon was found guilty of child molestation.
Jermaine was quoted as telling The Times magazine out Saturday that a private jet financed by a friend was on standby to whisk his late brother to the Gulf emirate if the 2005 court case ended with a conviction.
Bahrain does not have an extradition treaty with the U.S.
Jermaine says his brother did not know about the escape plan but Michael would have "done it in a heartbeat" because "why should he go to jail for something he didn't do?"
Jermaine Jackson
Expel Descendants Of Slaves From Tribe
Cherokee
One of the nation's largest American Indian tribes has sent letters to about 2,800 descendants of slaves once owned by its members, revoking their citizenship and cutting their medical care, food stipends, low-income homeowners' assistance and other services.
The Cherokee Nation acted this week after its Supreme Court upheld the results of a 2007 special vote to amend the Cherokee constitution and remove the slaves' descendants and other non-Indians from tribal rolls. The 300,000-member tribe is the biggest in Oklahoma, although many of its members live elsewhere.
The tribe never owned black slaves, but some individual members did. They were freed after the Civil War, in which the tribe allied with the Confederacy. An 1866 treaty between the tribe and the federal government gave the freedmen and their descendants "all the rights of native Cherokees."
But more than 76 percent of Cherokee voters approved the amendment stripping the descendants of their citizenship. Tribal leaders who backed the amendment, including then-Principal Chief Chad Smith, said the vote was about the fundamental right of every government to determine its citizens, not about racial exclusion.
Cherokee
Fashion Show Canceled
Uzbekistan
The producers of New York's Fashion Week have canceled a show scheduled for next week by the daughter of the president of Uzbekistan amid pressure from a human rights group and a planned protest over the use of child labor in her country.
"As a result of various concerns raised we have canceled the Guli show on September 15th," IMG spokesman Zach Eichman said in an email Friday.
He did not elaborate on the reasons, but Human Rights Watch had been in contact with organizers for about a week, raising objections to the planned show by Gulnara Karimova because of what it calls widespread human rights abuses in Uzbekistan.
Karimova is the eldest daughter of Uzbek leader Islam Karimov. She has held several positions in her country's government, including heading its diplomatic missions in Spain and at the United Nations office in Geneva, where she lives with her son and daughter.
Uzbekistan
Stadium Bill
NFL
A bill to assist a proposed stadium project aimed at bringing the National Football League back to Los Angeles was approved by California lawmakers on Friday and sent to Governor Jerry Brown.
The bill to allow speedy environmental regulation review for the project won bipartisan support in the state Senate on Friday after clearing the Assembly on Wednesday.
Lawmakers from both parties said they backed the bill as a way to spark job growth. Between 20,000 and 30,000 jobs are projected to be created if the stadium is built in Los Angeles.
The stadium bill also sparked a companion bill to provide other types of construction projects valued at $100 million or more with faster judicial review of court challenges based on environmental regulations.
NFL
In Memory
Cliff Robertson
Cliff Robertson, the handsome movie actor who played John F. Kennedy in "PT-109," won an Oscar for "Charly" and was famously victimized in a 1977 Hollywood forgery scandal, died Saturday. He was 88.
His secretary of 53 years, Evelyn Christel, said he died in Stony Brook of natural causes a day after his 88th birthday.
Robertson never elevated into the top ranks of leading men, but he remained a popular actor from the mid-1950s into the following century. His later roles included kindly Uncle Ben in the "Spider-Man" movies.
He also gained attention for his second marriage to actress and heiress Dina Merrill, daughter of financier E.F. Hutton and Marjorie Merriweather Post, heiress to the Post cereal fortune and one of the world's richest women.
"My father was a loving father, devoted friend, dedicated professional and honorable man," daughter Stephanie Saunders said in a statement. "He stood by his family, friends, and colleagues through good times and bad. He made a difference in all our lives and made our world a better place. We will all miss him terribly."
Robertson had created a string of impressive performances in television and on Broadway, but always saw his role played in films by bigger names. His TV performances in "Days of Wine and Roses" and "The Hustler," for example, were filmed with Jack Lemmon and Paul Newman, respectively. Robertson's role in Tennessee Williams' play "Orpheus Descending" was awarded to Marlon Brando in the movie.
Robertson first appeared in the "Charly" story in a TV version, "The Two Worlds of Charlie Gordon." Both were based on "Flowers for Algernon," a short story that author Daniel Keyes later revised into a novel. Robertson was determined that this time the big-screen role would not go to another actor.
"I bought the movie rights to the show, and I tried for eight years to persuade a studio to make it," he said in 1968. "Finally I found a new company, ABC Films. I owned 50 percent of the gross, but I gave half of it to Ralph Nelson to direct."
Another memorable movie role, portraying future President Kennedy in the World War II drama "PT-109," presented other challenges.
Released in 1963, it was the first movie to be made about a sitting president, and dozens of actors were considered. Kennedy himself favored Robertson, but he warned him he didn't want someone trying to imitate his distinctive New England accent.
In 1977 Robertson made the headlines again, this time by blowing the whistle on a Hollywood financial scandal.
He had discovered that David Begelman, president of Columbia Pictures, had forged his signature on a $10,000 salary check, and he called the FBI and the Burbank and Beverly Hills police departments. Hollywood insiders were not happy with the ugly publicity.
"I got phone calls from powerful people who said, 'You've been very fortunate in this business; I'm sure you wouldn't want all this to come to an end,'" Robertson recalled in 1984.
Begelman served time for embezzlement, but he returned to the film business. He committed suicide in 1995.
Robertson said neither the studios nor the networks would hire him for four years.
He supported himself as a spokesman for AT&T until the drought ended in 1981 when he was hired by MGM for "Brainstorm," Natalie Wood's final film.
Born Sept. 9, 1923, in La Jolla, California, Robertson was 2 when he was adopted by wealthy parents who named him Clifford Parker Robertson III. After his parents divorced and his mother died, he was reared by his maternal grandmother, whom he adored.
Robertson studied briefly at Antioch College, majoring in journalism, then returned to California and appeared in two small roles in Hollywood movies. Rejected by the services in World War II because of a weak eye, he served in the Merchant Marine.
He set his sights on New York theater, and like dozens of other future stars, profited from the advent of live television drama. His Broadway roles also attracted notice, and after avoiding Hollywood offers for several years, he accepted a contract at Columbia Pictures.
Robertson's first performance for Columbia, "Picnic," was impressive, even though his screen pal, William Holden, stole the girl, Kim Novak. He followed with a tearjerker, "Autumn Leaves," as Joan Crawford's young husband, then a musical, "The Girl Most Likely" with Jane Powell. In 1959 he endeared himself to "Gidget" fans as The Big Kahuna, the mature Malibu surf bum who takes Gidget under his wing.
Robertson had the most success in war movies. His strong presence made him ideal for such films as "The Naked and the Dead," ''Battle of the Coral Sea," ''633 Squadron," ''Up From the Beach," ''The Devil's Brigade," ''Too Late the Hero" and "Midway."
He had a passion for flying, and he poured his movie earnings into buying and restoring World War I and II planes. He even entered balloon races, including one in 1964 from the mainland to Catalina Island that ended with him being rescued from the Pacific Ocean.
In 1957, Robertson married Lemmon's ex-wife, Cynthia Stone, and they had a daughter, Stephanie, before splitting in 1960. In 1966, he married Merrill and they had a daughter, Heather. The couple divorced in 1989.
Robertson's funeral is set for Friday in East Hampton.
Cliff Robertson
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