Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Scott Burns: 'Vig' and the Mutual Fund Casino (assetbuilder.com)
Mutual fund expense ratios are similar to the house "vig" in a casino- the money taken by the casino. In a casino game the vig may be small, as in blackjack, or it may be large, as in slots.
Richard Roeper: Virgin Mary stain leaves mark on hearts (suntimes.com)
Against the wall in a dank and dark underpass, beneath the sounds of constant traffic, it's still there.
roger ebert's journal: The agony of the body artist
In 1975 an artist named Chris Burden announced that he would lie down on the floor beneath a large sheet of plate glass on the floor of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago. He did not say what he would do then.
"Why Poetry Matters" by Jay Parini: A review by Denis Donoghue
If you were to write a book called Why Poetry Matters, you would be wise to concede, as Jay Parini does, that "to most people" it doesn't.
PAUL CONSTANT: "Bertrand Russell: Funny-Book Star!" (thestranger.com)
When it's done properly, writing about mathematicians can be fantastic-consider the genuinely mind-altering beauty of a book like Gödel, Escher, Bach or David Foster Wallace's underrated Everything and More: A Compact History of Infinity. Logicomix, a new comic-book biography of mathematician and logician Bertrand Russell, isn't as fundamentally earth-shattering as either of those two books, but it's as close to it as comics have ever gotten.
PAUL CONSTANT: Great Expectations (thestranger.com)
Reading the Three Highest-Profile Books of 2009.
David Hiltbrand: Prolific novelist W.E.B. Griffin has a killer Philadelphia instinct (The Philadelphia Inquirer)
In the time it takes you to read this sentence, W.E.B. Griffin will have written another novel. Preposterous, you say? Perhaps. But only because of the physical limitations of typing.
"Manhood for Amateurs: The Pleasures and Regrets of a Husband, Father, and Son" by Michael Chabon: A review by Marc Covert
That may sound like a piffling, self-evident position for a writer of Chabon's stature and talent -- what serious novelist wouldn't hate the whole silly poo-flinging series? -- but in reality he's setting the stage for "Hypocritical Theory," easily the most scathing of the 39 personal essays collected in 'Manhood for Amateurs: The Pleasures and Regrets of a Husband, Father, and Son.'
Chris Riemenschneider: Ex-Hüsker Dü singer/drummer Grant Hart returns with first new album in a decade (Star Tribune)
The coincidental timing of his first album-release party in a decade wasn't lost on Grant Hart. He was scheduled to play the Minneapolis club 7th Street Entry on Thursday, two nights after his former Husker Du bandmate and ever-active sparring partner Bob Mould performed next door for probably 10 times the crowd at the larger venue First Avenue.
Garth Brooks is coming out of retirement (latimes.com)
Eight years after trading in his Stetson and pop music superstardom for domestic life, Garth Brooks has decided to dust off that hat and...
EVAN SAWDEY: "20 QUESTIONS: Anvil" (popmatters.com)
Still riding high off of the success of their acclaimed documentary (and likely Oscar-nominee), the founders of Canada's famed metal trailblazers Anvil sit down to answer 20 Questions about family, weed, and a surprising love of Star Trek ...
STEVE HOROWITZ: "You Only Live Once: An Interview With Nancy Sinatra" (popmatters.com)
"When I die, I already know what my obituary will be, 'Frank's daughter died with her boots on!' Ha."
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Current Question
The 'Nobel Peace Surprise' Edition...
WASHINGTON/OSLO (Reuters) - Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday in a stunning decision that honored the first-year U.S. president more for promise than achievement and drew praise... (U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said, "His commitment to work through the United Nations gives the world's people fresh hope and fresh prospects."... Former President Jimmy Carter says (it) is a "bold statement of international support for his vision and commitment.")
... and skepticism around the world...
War and Peace Prizes | CommonDreams.org
Comment: absurd decision on Obama makes a mockery of the Nobel peace prize - Times Online
Do you think awarding Obama the Peace Prize was appropriate?
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Cops Pic
This picture is from here in Tallahassee.
Joe S. didn't include the validating caption: "Now don't try anything funny!"
Doug from Tallahassee
Thanks, Doug!
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and cooler.
40th Anniversary
Monty Python
The Monty Python comedy team, the world-renowned British troupe celebrating its 40th anniversary, was honored with a special award on Thursday for its contribution to film and television.
"If you want to get a better view, this will be on eBay tomorrow," joked John Cleese as he accepted the award from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. Monty Python also included Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin and the late Graham Chapman.
The presentation was made at the official 40th anniversary Monty Python reunion event in New York co-hosted by the Independent Film Channel, and followed a screening of a new documentary, "Monty Python: Almost the Truth (The Lawyer's Cut)."
The five remaining members of Monty Python took questions from the audience at the event and reminisced. Cleese recalled his most embarrassing moment as "when the queen came down to watch and my trousers fell down."
Monty Python
Legend Revived
'Dracula: The Un-Dead'
Bram Stoker's own blood runs through the veins of a sequel to his 1897 novel "Dracula," which goes on worldwide release this month, in a work penned by his great-grandnephew who is hoping to revive the original vampire myth.
"Dracula: The Un-Dead", which runs to almost 500 pages, is the fruit of an unlikely six-year collaboration between Canadian Dacre Stoker and Ian Holt, a New York screenwriter enamoured of vampires.
"When people think of Dracula they think of handsome Bela Lugosi," said Holt, 39, wearing a T-shirt featuring the 1920s Hungarian actor who played him in the first Broadway production of Stoker's book, as well as in the 1931 movie.
"Dracula was nothing like that. He was old and hunched over, had hair on his palms, and bad breath," Holt told AFP.
'Dracula: The Un-Dead'
Cow Art Collection
Derrill Osborn
When it came to collecting, former Neiman Marcus fashion executive Derrill Osborn had a singular focus: cows.
From paintings featuring bovine roaming wide open spaces to small toy cows to Staffordshire ceramic figures of the animals, Osborn collected them all. And after about half a century of collecting, the 70-year-old has decided to part with his herd in an auction Wednesday evening featuring about 350 items.
"I decided I would just give it up and auction it off," he said.
His collection made for a dramatic interior in his two-bedroom town house. The home's walls lined with green billiard cloth and wood accents painted a red enamel, his paintings hung from floor to ceiling and his cow-related objects were spread throughout.
Derrill Osborn
Neighbors Thought Dead Man Was Decoration
Halloween
Residents of a Southern California apartment complex say they saw a lifeless body slumped on a neighbor's patio, but didn't call police because they thought it was part of a Halloween display.
Mostafa Mahmoud Zayed had apparently been dead since Monday.
Cameraman Austin Raishbrook, owner of RMG News, told the Los Angeles Times he was at the scene in Marina del Rey Thursday when authorities arrived. The 75-year-old Zayed was slumped over a chair on the third-floor balcony of his apartment with a single gunshot wound to the eye.
Raishbrook says neighbors told him they noticed the body Monday "but didn't bother calling authorities because it looked like a Halloween dummy."
Halloween
Admits Using Photo
Shepard Fairey
Shepard Fairey's claim that he had the right to use a news photo to create his famous Barack Obama "HOPE" poster became a widely watched court case about fair use that now appears to have nearly collapsed.
By Friday night, his attorneys - led by Anthony Falzone, executive director of the Fair Use Project at Stanford University - had withdrawn from the case and said the artist had misled them by fabricating information and destroying other material.
Fairey himself admitted that he didn't use The Associated Press photo of Obama seated next to actor George Clooney he originally said his work was based on - which he claimed would have been covered under "fair use," the legal claim that copyrighted work can be used without having to pay for it.
Instead he used a picture the news organization has claimed was his source - a solo picture of the future president seemingly closer to the iconic red, white and blue image of Obama, underlined with the caption "HOPE." Fairey said that he tried to cover up his error by submitting false images and deleting others.
Shepard Fairey
JP Sparks Outrage
Keith Bardwell
Louisiana's governor and a U.S. senator joined Friday in calling for the ouster of a local official who refused to marry an interracial couple, saying his actions clearly broke the law.
Keith Bardwell, a white justice of the peace in Tangipahoa Parish in the southeastern part of the state, refused to issue a marriage license earlier this month to Beth Humphrey, who is white, and Terence McKay, who is black. His refusal has prompted calls for an investigation or resignation from civil and constitutional rights groups and the state's Legislative Black Caucus.
Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal said in a statement a nine-member commission that reviews lawyers and judges in the state should investigate.
Bardwell has said he always asks if a couple is interracial and, if they are, refers them to another justice of the peace. Bardwell said no one had complained in the past and he doesn't marry the couples because he's worried about their children's futures.
"Perhaps he's worried the kids will grow up and be president," said Bill Quigley, director of the Center for Constitutional Rights and Justice, referring to President Barack Obama, the son of a black father from Kenya and a white mother from Kansas.
Keith Bardwell
WWE's VP Resigns
Shane McMahon
World Wrestling Entertainment said Friday that executive vice president of global media Shane McMahon, the son of chairman and CEO Vince McMahon, has tendered his resignation from the family business, effective January 1.
"It has been an incredible experience to help build WWE into a global phenomenon," the 40-year-old McMahon said. "However, having been associated with this organization for the majority of my life, I feel this is the opportune time in my career to pursue outside ventures."
His mother, Linda, recently gave up the CEO post to run for a U.S. Senate seat in Connecticut.
Shane McMahon
Broadway Stage Manager
Peeper
A stage manager on the Broadway production of "South Pacific" has been charged with secretly recording an actress in her dressing room.
Michael Brunner was arraigned late Friday in New York City on a charge of unlawful surveillance.
The New York Post reports that Brunner turned himself in for questioning after the actress found a camera phone recording her as she changed.
The 54-year-old Brunner had earned praise for his work on the classic World War II musical, now running at the Vivian Beaumont Theater.
Peeper
Seeking $500K In Lawsuit
Deborah Rowe
A Florida woman who told a television interviewer that Michael Jackson's ex-wife was only interested in getting money from the singer's family and wasn't interested in gaining custody of her two children is being sued.
In a filing last week, Deborah Rowe's attorneys said the mother of Jackson's two oldest children should be awarded $490,000 in general and punitive damages.
Rowe sued Rebecca White in July for White's comments to the television show "Extra." White hasn't responded to the lawsuit and Rowe is seeking a default judgment against the Key West, Fla. resident.
Rowe's defamation and invasion-of-privacy lawsuit sought to recoup any money that White may have been paid for the interview, which aired in July. Rowe's attorneys estimated those earnings at $100,000 on a court filing.
Deborah Rowe
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