Recommended Reading
from Bruce
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT OBAMA ON THE BUDGET (Posted on andrewtobias.com)
The fact is, 10 years ago, we had a budget surplus of more than $200 billion, with projected surpluses stretching out toward the horizon.
Mark Morford: Sex and death the Facebook way! (sfgate.com)
Behold, our beloved mechanisms of fear and desire, doom and delight! How they dance and sing in ways that make us giggle like obese children at the county fair, like drunken bears let loose at the campground. How they make us so very happy, horny, powerful like gods, and then turn right around and kill us dead. Ain't it a bitch?
Connie Schultz: A Husband's Worth (creators.com)
The week after my mother's funeral, my father started pestering me about her personal bank account.
Ashley Rindsberg: The Real Culture Wars: Big Music, Hollywood, and Silicon Valley (huffingtonpost.com)
Who are we kidding -- we have no culture. Don't get me wrong, there is a cultural force in America that produces painting, cinema, music, and literature. But in no sense is it ours.
Terry Pratchett: my case for a euthanasia tribunal (guardian.co.uk)
Should those with incurable illnesses be allowed to choose how and when they die? In his Richard Dimbleby lecture, author Terry Pratchett, who has Alzheimer's disease, makes a plea for a common-sense solution.
"Subway Art" by Martha Cooper and Henry Chalfant: A review by Christopher Luna
The oversized 25th Anniversary Edition of 'Subway Art,' an influential survey of 1970s and 1980s graffiti by photographers Martha Cooper and Henry Chalfant, offers a look at a New York City that no longer exists, as well as a sumptuous introduction to a style of painting that continues to inspire subsequent generations of graffiti writers, fine artists, and musicians.
Lillian Ross: BEARABLE (newyorker.com)
At one point during the more than half century of our friendship, J. D. Salinger told me he had an idea that someday, when "all the fiction had run out," he might try to do something straight, "really factual, formally distinguishing myself from the Glass boys and Holden Caulfield and the other first-person narrators I've used.
Martin Amis: 'I don't want to tread carefully' (guardian.co.uk)
As his 12th novel comes out, he tells Stephen Moss he fears his decline as a writer and is still wounded by the critics.
Ann Powers on the 2010 Grammy Awards: It's not all about the music (latimes.com)
These days, visuals, media saturation and listener interaction are as crucial as the notes.
Evan Sawdey: "20 Questions: Githead" (popmatters.com)
Githead have always been a bit of an anomaly in the pop music landscape, largely because most people would never guess that a group like this could ever exist.
Mick LaSalle: Academy Award Nominations 2010: 10 best make for good indicators (sfgate.com)
The nominations for the 82nd Annual Academy Awards, announced Tuesday morning, contained all the names Oscar watchers were expecting. The few surprises that slipped through were mild and mostly pleasant.
Seth Stevenson: Another Joss Whedon World Ends (slate.com)
The last ever episode of Dollhouse aired Friday night, with Fox shifting the finale from the show's customary time slot to make way for the season premiere of a reality series about a celebrity chef. And so another richly realized Joss Whedon universe comes to its end, not with a bang but with a whimper.
The Weekly Poll
Current Question
The 'Glow in the Dark' Edition
WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama is endorsing nuclear energy like never before, trying to win over Republicans and moderate Democrats on climate and energy legislation. Obama singled out nuclear power in his State of the Union address, and his spending plan for the next budget year is expected to include billions of more dollars in federal guarantees for new nuclear reactors... Obama's new climate card: nuclear power - Climate Change- msnbc.com
Do you support the increased use of nuclear power in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions?
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From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
Comedy Arts Festival
Traverse City
The inaugural Traverse City Comedy Arts Festival is scheduled for Feb. 19-21, organized by a couple of celebrities with local ties: filmmaker and political gadfly Michael Moore, and Emmy winner Jeff Garlin of HBO's "Curb Your Enthusiasm."
They conceived the festival to bring a few smiles to a state that's a poster child for the economic deep-freeze - and to create an offseason tourist magnet for Traverse City. The Lake Michigan community 250 miles northwest of Detroit draws thousands of visitors during its sun-splashed summers but is a much less popular destination the rest of the year.
Moore, a native of blue-collar Flint, moved to Traverse City seven years ago and started a summer film festival, at which Garlin has been a frequent guest.
Their humor series will feature acts ranging from A-list (Roseanne Barr) to up-and-comers (Whitney Cummings of "Live! Nude! Comedy!" and Mike Birbiglia of "This American Life").
Traverse City
Recalls Anne Bancroft
Mel Brooks
Mel Brooks has made audiences laugh for more than a half century, but it was his wife, the late Anne Bancroft, who made him smile.
It's been nearly five years since the actress passed away, but not a day goes by that Brooks doesn't think about her.
"I had 45 of the greatest years of my life," Brooks says.
During a recent interview, the 83-year old Brooks recalled their first meeting in 1961. It was on the set of "The Perry Como Show" in New York, where Bancroft was performing a song called "Married, I Could Always Get." After she finished, she was greeted by Brooks who proclaimed, "I'm Mel Brooks and I'm going to marry you."
Mel Brooks
Of All Time
Worst Movies
Hollywood star George Clooney's latest movie "Up In The Air" garnered five Oscar nominations on Tuesday but there is one film about which he may not be so proud -- "Batman and Robin."
The 1997 movie starring Clooney as the caped crusader with Chris O'Donnell as Robin and Alicia Silverstone as Batgirl came top in an online survey by film magazine Empire to find the most disastrous film ever made. Clooney has not been shy about belittling the film and his role in it.
The magazine said it did not just come top in voters' rankings but got almost three times as many votes as the next entry -- John Travolta's science-fiction "Battlefield Earth" which was a film adaptation of a novel by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard.
For the list - Worst Movies
Ownership Debate
Space Rock
An out-of-this world rock has become the center of a down-to-earth dispute over who its rightful owner should be.
The tennis ball-sized meteorite plummeted through the roof of a Virginia medical office just after dusk on Jan. 18, the same time as people reported seeing a fireball in the sky. It plunged through the ceiling of an examination room and landed near the spot where a doctor had been sitting a short while earlier.
Dr. Marc Gallini and fellow practitioner Dr. Frank Ciampi say their first thought was to give the rare find to the Smithsonian Institution, which offered $5,000 for it. Within days, it was sent to the National Museum of Natural History for safekeeping.
The doctors are worried, though, that their longtime landlords plan to stake their own claim to the space rock. The collectors market for meteorites can be lucrative.
Space Rock
Breaks Auction Record
Alberto Giacometti
A bronze statue by Swiss sculptor Alberto Giacometti broke the record for a work of art at auction on Wednesday, selling for 65 million pounds ($104.3 million) at Sotheby's in London.
The price, which includes buyer's premium, just eclipsed Picasso's "Garcon a la Pipe," which fetched $104.2 million in New York in 2004.
The life-size "L'homme qui marche I" (Walking Man I) was the first time a Giacometti figure of a walking man on such a large scale had come to auction in over 20 years, and its hammer price was around four times the auctioneer's pre-sale expectations.
In the same impressionist and modern art sale, a rare landscape by Gustav Klimt fetched 26.9 million pounds ($43.2 million), well above its pre-sale estimate of 12-18 million pounds.
Alberto Giacometti
Charged In Sweat Lodge Deaths
James Arthur Ray
Motivational speaker James Arthur Ray was arrested Wednesday afternoon on three counts of manslaughter for deaths that happened after a sweat lodge ceremony he led in northern Arizona last year.
Ray was taken into custody on an indictment at his attorney's office in Prescott, and was to be booked into the Yavapai County jail in Camp Verde, sheriff's officials said. His bond was set at $5 million.
Ray's attorneys said Wednesday he surrendered to authorities but that the charges were unjust and they were confident he would be exonerated in court.
The Oct. 8 sweat lodge ceremony was intended to be the highlight of Ray's five-day "Spiritual Warrior" event at a retreat he rented just outside Sedona. He told participants, who paid more than $9,000 each to attend, that it would be one of the most intense experiences of their lives.
James Arthur Ray
Arrested For Heroin Possession
Leif Garrett
Former teen idol Leif Garrett was released on bail on Wednesday, after being arrested and booked for heroin possession by police who saw him "shaking and sweating" on a subway platform, a law enforcement spokesman said.
Garrett, a 1970s child actor and pop star whose disco-era hits included "I Was Made for Dancing," was arrested on Monday when police approached him on a subway platform in Los Angeles because he was exhibiting "pronounced symptoms" of drug dependency, such as "shaking and sweating," said Steve Whitmore, a spokesman for the L.A. sheriff.
Officers searched Garrett and found he possessed heroin, Whitmore said. The actor is due in court on February 24 to face charges in the case.
Garrett, 48, has battled drug abuse for years, and in 2006 he was arrested for possession of heroin and sentenced to 90 days in jail after opting out of drug treatment.
Leif Garrett
Deal In Assault Case
Johnny Rotten
A woman who accused British punk rocker Johnny Rotten of assault has reached a deal with the former Sex Pistols frontman and will withdraw a legal complaint against him, a legal source said Wednesday.
Lawyers for Roxane Davis informed the Los Angeles Superior Court of the deal at the end of January, but details of the agreement have not yet been revealed.
Davis accused the singer, whose real name is John Lydon, of attacked her in January 2007 because he was unsatisfied with the hotel room she had reserved for him.
Davis was working as a production assistant on a reality television show starring the former singer, now 54.
Johnny Rotten
Files Bankruptcy
Movie Gallery
Movie Gallery Inc., owner of the Hollywood Video movie rental chain, has filed for Chapter 11 protection and plans to close 805 stores - about a third of its total.
Its the second trip through bankruptcy court in just three years for Movie Gallery. The company is struggling with competition as more people choose to stream videos online from Netflix Inc. and other services or pick up $1-per-night rentals at Redbox kiosks.
The company, which is based in Wilsonville, Ore., first landed in bankruptcy court in October 2007, unable to sustain the debt it took on in its $850 million acquisition of rival Hollywood Entertainment Corp. in 2005. Movie Gallery agreed to assume about $350 million of Hollywood Entertainment's borrowings as a part of the deal.
The acquisition made Movie Gallery the No. 2 rental chain in the country behind Blockbuster Inc. but it has been forced to close more than 2,400 of its stores in the past three years, leaving about 2,600 still open, according to court filings made Tuesday.
Movie Gallery
Cable Nielsens
Ratings
Rankings for the top 15 programs on cable networks as compiled by the Nielsen Co. for the week of Jan. 25-31. Day and start time (EST) are in parentheses:
1. NFL Football: Pro Bowl (Sunday, 7:22 p.m.), ESPN, 8.12 million homes, 12.29 million viewers.
2. "State of the Union Analysis" (Wednesday, 10:21 p.m.), Fox News Channel, 4.74 million homes, 6.61 million viewers.
3. "State of the Union Response" (Wednesday, 10:30 p.m.), Fox News Channel, 4.61 million homes, 6.38 million viewers.
4. "On the Record With Greta Van Susteren" (Wednesday, 10:43 p.m.), Fox News Channel, 4.22 million homes, 5.8 million viewers.
5. "State of the Union" (Wednesday, 9:11 p.m.), Fox News Channel, 4.08 million homes, 5.74 million viewers.
6. "NCIS" (Wednesday, 9 p.m.), USA, 4.07 million homes, 5.32 million viewers.
7. "NCIS" (Wednesday, 8 p.m.), USA, 3.94 million homes, 5.31 million viewers.
8. "Burn Notice" (Thursday, 10 p.m.), USA, 3.87 million homes, 5.3 million viewers.
9. "State of the Union Analysis" (Wednesday, 9 p.m.), Fox News Channel, 3.73 million homes, 5.07 million viewers.
10. "WWE Raw" (Monday, 10 p.m.), USA, 3.58 million homes, 5.2 million viewers.
11. "The O'Reilly Factor" (Thursday, 8 p.m.), 3.51 million homes, 4.79 million viewers.
12. "WWE Raw" (Monday, 9 p.m.), USA, 3.5 million homes, 5.06 million viewers.
13. "ICarly" (Friday, 8 p.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.49 million homes, 5.15 million viewers.
14. "NCIS" (Monday, 8 p.m.), USA, 3.39 million homes, 4.63 million viewers.
15. "NCIS" (Thursday, 7 p.m.), USA, 3.36 million homes, 4.37 million viewers.
Ratings
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