Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Mark Morford: The truth about your immense weirdness (sfgate.com)
"What are you doing?" she asked, watching closely as I moved about the kitchen all Zen-like and confident, sort of.
Froma Harrop: Americans Can Speak for Themselves on Health Care (creators.com)
Have you voted on any of the Democratic health care reform plans? Me neither.
No such vote was ever taken. But with coordination that the Rockettes would envy, Republicans insist that "the American people have spoken" on the matter, and they want the proposals killed.
Larissa MacFarquhar: The Deflationist (newyorker.com)
How Paul Krugman found politics.
Politifact (politifact.com)
79 campaign promises Obama has thus far kept. (Politifact is the Pulitzer Prize-winning fact-checking service of the 'St. Petersburg Times.')
NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF: Learning From the Sin of Sodom (nytimes.com)
In one striking passage, Mr. Stearns quotes the prophet Ezekiel as saying that the great sin of the people of Sodom wasn't so much that they were promiscuous or gay as that they were "arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy." (Ezekiel 16:49.) Hmm. Imagine if sodomy laws could be used to punish the stingy, unconcerned rich!
FRANK RICH: The Axis of the Obsessed and Deranged (nytimes.com)
Violent invective, once largely confined to blogs and talk radio, is now spreading among Republicans in public office or aspiring to it.
Scott Collins: Roger Ebert takes to Twitter to give tea party followers a thumb's down (latimes.com)
The film reviewer is aiming barbs at Sarah Palin and other conservatives.
JIM PHILLIPS: THE CURIOUS TALE OF 'PUNCHCARD PARK'S' MISSING LIGHTS (athensnews.com)
When renowned artist/sculptor Maya Lin's giant outdoor artwork titled "Input" was dedicated in Ohio University's Bicentennial Park six years ago, OU officials praised it lavishly. Others, though, have seemed rather less awed by the piece. A large earthwork installation based on the rectangular punch-hole pattern in an old computer-programming card, the sculpture installation has been dubbed "Punchcard Park" by the less reverent.
Yiddish theatre: 'This is me - this I can play' (guardian.co.uk)
It's fabulously melodramatic and full of great curses, in Yiddish theatre I've found my calling, says Tanya Gold.
Sharon Osbourne on politics, literature - and life with Ozzy (guardian.co.uk)
She doesn't want to be Charles Dickens, so she's modelling herself on Barbara Cartland, she tells Stuart Jeffries.
George Varga: Ozzy's Book Full of his Memories, Some of Them Untainted by Reality (creators.com)
The first thing Ozzy Osbourne does to set the record straight in his autobiography, the best-selling "I Am Ozzy," is to acknowledge that his recollections of the past may differ from those of, well anyone and everyone else.
Kevin Maher: Hellraiser? I'm raising Henry (timesonline.co.uk)
Colin Farrell, star of Neil Jordan's film 'Ondine,' explains how he calmed down, grew up - and became a different actor.
Portrait of the artist: Wes Anderson, film director (guardian.co.uk)
'What have I sacrificed? I'm 40 and I don't have children. Perhaps I would if I wasn't so involved in these movie.'
David Bruce: Homer's "Odyssey": A Discussion Guide (lulu.com)
Free Download.
The Weekly Poll
Current Question
The '1st Ever BadtotheboneBob Oscar Award Contest' Edition...
With a Prize! That's right, Poll-fans! A Prize! You like prizes, dontcha? I know I do!
I emptied my little change jar and I came up with $27.54 that I will gladly, gladly I say, donate to yer favorite charity. If that's you, OK, that's cool. If it's Marty and the page, so much the better, eh? All ya gotta do is correctly pick the winners of these Oscar categories... The closest one wins The Prize!... Ready? Set... Go !!!
Best Picture
Best Actor in a Leading Role
Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Best Actress in a Leading Role
Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Directing
List of nominees
Oscar night is Sunday, March 7th. Cut off for entries will be 8PM EST Saturday March 6th and will be posted Sunday morning. The winner will be officially announced Tuesday, March 9th, along with a new question.
Oh, ties will be resolved in a scientific manner involving my toddler grand-daughter, 'Maddie Muffin' and will be explained with the posted predictions... Good Luck!
Send your response to
Here's BadtotheboneBob's list of nominees
replied:
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Purple Gene Reviews
"How to Make Love Like a Porn Star"
Purple Gene's review of the Biography "How to Make Love Like a Porn Star: a Cautionary Tale" ….written about and by Porn Queen Jenna Jameson with help by Rock and Roll writer Neil Straus.
Sty In The Sky For Sale
Pigboy
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Cool, cloudy afternoon and another rainy night.
Web Video Summit
SNL 'Presidents'
The comedians who played presidents on "Saturday Night Live" have gathered for a comedic summit in a new Web video on FunnyOrDie.com
The video, posted Wednesday, stars Fred Armisen as President Barack Obama. During the night he is visited by the ghosts of presidents past, who urge him to push for financial reform.
Will Ferrell reprises his President George W. Bush, Darrell Hammond plays President Bill Clinton, Dana Carvey returns as President George H.W. Bush, Dan Aykroyd plays President Jimmy Carter and Chevy Chase returns as President Gerald Ford.
Jim Carrey, the lone comedian not a veteran of "SNL," appears as Ronald Reagan. The "SNL" player who typically played Reagan on the show was Phil Hartman, who died in 1998. (Maya Rudolph, another former "SNL" cast member, also plays Michelle Obama.)
SNL 'Presidents'
Hosting Spirit Awards
Eddie Izzard
Eddie Izzard has a cure to awards-season blues amid the seemingly endless string of ceremonies leading up to the Academy Awards. Izzard - the host of one of the season's final shows, Friday's Spirit Awards honoring independent film - suggests that Hollywood simply add more ceremonies.
Izzard said he had never seen the Spirit Awards, whose 25th anniversary show airs live on IFC from downtown Los Angeles. He also had not seen any of the nominated films, though he was hoping to fit in a marathon session and watch as many as he could before the show.
Izzard's standup routines are verbal explosions in which Izzard often has worn dresses. People often assume he is gay, which he says he is not. Izzard calls himself a "straight transvestite" or a "male lesbian," and he is quick to correct people who say he wears women's clothes.
"They're not women's clothes. They're my clothes, because I bought them," Izzard said. "This girly thing, I have that. Straight transvestite, I have that. I don't know why I have it, but I have it, and that's just genetically inbuilt. I have girlydom there. So I have all this boy stuff and extra girl stuff, and it's just a gift from God, who doesn't exist. So it's a genetic handout in the card game of life."
Eddie Izzard
Bomb Disposal Expert Wants Cut
'Hurt Locker'
A bomb disposal expert who served in the Iraq war plans to sue the makers of "The Hurt Locker," claiming the film's lead character is based on him and that they cheated him out of "financial participation in the film," his attorney said.
Attorney Geoffrey Fieger said at a news conference Wednesday that he plans to file the multimillion-dollar lawsuit in New Jersey court on behalf of Master Sgt. Jeffrey Sarver.
Sarver claims the film's screenwriter, Mark Boal, was embedded in Sarver's unit and that the information he gathered was used in the film, Fieger said in a news release. The film is nominated for nine Academy Awards, including best original screenplay.
Sarver says the main character, Will James, is based on him and that James' call signal, "Blaster One," was his during his tours of duty, Fieger said. Sarver also says he coined the phrase "The Hurt Locker."
'Hurt Locker'
Germany Protests Arrest of Iranian Filmmaker
Jafar Panahi
Germany's foreign minister called Wednesday for the release of acclaimed Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, who was arrested in Tehran this week.
Panahi, who has supported his country's opposition, was arrested Monday and accused of committing unspecified offenses.
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle condemned the arrest and appealed to Tehran "to do everything so that Mr. Panahi is freed without delay."
The Berlin film festival also protested Panahi's arrest. The filmmaker was denied permission to leave Iran last month to attend a panel discussion at this year's festival.
Jafar Panahi
Obama On
Fox Rupert TV`America's Most Wanted'
President Barack Obama is going to help TV's "America's Most Wanted" mark the milestone broadcast of its 1,000th episode.
Obama will be interviewed by the show's host, John Walsh, on the episode airing 9 p.m. EST Saturday on Fox Rupert TV.
Walsh, whose 6-year-old son Adam was abducted and killed in 1981, has been host of "America's Most Wanted" since its start. According to Fox, the show has helped capture more than 1,100 fugitives and reunited 43 missing children with their families.
`America's Most Wanted'
Enters Program
Bobby Rydell
Bobby Rydell, the 1960s teen pop idol, has resolved a Pennsylvania drunken-driving charge by entering a program for nonviolent first-time offenders.
Under the terms of the program, the 67-year-old Rydell will be on probation for a year and lose his license for two months. In a year, Rydell can apply to have the drunken-driving charge expunged.
Police say Rydell's 1969 Bentley jumped a curb and struck a wall in the Philadelphia suburb of Narberth in August. No injuries were reported. Prosecutors say Rydell's blood alcohol level was twice the legal limit at the time of the crash.
Bobby Rydell
Hospital News
Burt Reynolds
Burt Reynolds' manager says the actor has been released from a Florida hospital after a planned heart bypass operation.
Erik Kritzer said in a statement Wednesday that Reynolds had been scheduled for the operation for over a month.
Kritzer says the star of "Smokey and the Bandit," "Deliverance" and "Boogie Nights" told him that he has "a great motor with brand new pipes" and is "feeling great."
Burt Reynolds
No Charges
Naomi Campbell
A man hired to drive Naomi Campbell told police she assaulted him from the back seat of a luxury SUV on Tuesday before hopping out and running away, but the supermodel likely won't face criminal charges.
Police consulted with the Manhattan district attorney's office and issued a harassment report, which doesn't carry any penalty, because no officer witnessed what took place between the driver and Campbell, whose feisty temper has led to previous legal troubles. They said no arrests were anticipated.
The driver, who also drives Campbell's boyfriend, decided not to pursue the matter criminally. It's unclear if he would pursue it in civil court.
Earlier Tuesday, the man told police Campbell hit him from behind and his head struck the steering wheel of the black Cadillac Escalade, causing bruising under his right eye. He pulled over in midtown Manhattan and got out to speak to a traffic agent, who alerted police. Campbell was not at the scene when officers arrived, police said.
Naomi Campbell
Incident At Jackson Home
Stun Gun
An attorney for Michael Jackson's mother confirms that child services workers are investigating the presence of a stun gun at the Jackson family home, but he says the late singer's children were never exposed to the weapon.
Attorney Adam Streisand confirmed the investigation Tuesday but said the mail-order stun gun delivered to the home was confiscated before any harm was done.
Streisand represents Katherine Jackson, who has custody of her son's three young children, Prince Michael, Paris and Prince Michael II, also known as Blanket. Streisand said the weapon was ordered by the 13-year-old son of Jermaine Jackson, Jafar, and sent to the Jackson family home in the Encino neighborhood of Los Angeles.
Jermaine Jackson's children also live in the home.
Stun Gun
Economic Crisis Silences Rock Festival
B'estFest
Organisers on Tuesday cancelled this year's B'estFest, traditionally one of Eastern Europe's biggest rock festivals, blaming the economic crisis.
Santana, The Killers, Patrice, Moby, Motorhead, Ayo, Orbital, Franz Ferdinand and Gabriela Cilmi were among stars at last year's festival which has taken place for the last three years in the Romanian capital, Bucharest.
"Because of the recession still affecting many branches of global economy, B'estFest's organisers, Emagic, has made the decision to postpone this year's edition", Laura Coroianu, Emagic CEO, said in the statement.
Since it was launched in 2007, the festival has drawn more than 150,000 Romanian and foreign fans.
B'estFest
Wins Judgment
Debbie Rowe
A judge has granted Michael Jackson's ex-wife, Debbie Rowe, a $27,000 judgment against a woman who she says gave false information to reporters about her after the singer's death.
The amount includes $10,000 in damages for Rowe's emotional distress that she says she suffered after the interview aired on the television show "Extra."
Rowe sued Rebecca White of Key West, Fla. in July. The suit said the woman falsely claimed in interviews that Rowe was only interested in getting money from the singer's family and wasn't interested in gaining custody of her two children with Jackson.
White never answered the complaint. A Los Angeles Superior Court judge entered a default judgment against her Wednesday.
Debbie Rowe
Suspended
LA Teachers
Three Los Angeles school teachers have been suspended for giving children pictures of O.J. Simpson, Dennis Rodman and RuPaul to carry in a Black History Month parade.
Los Angeles school district spokeswoman Gayle Pollard-Terry said Wednesday the teachers were removed from their classrooms at Wadsworth Elementary School. She says the teachers, who are white, could have made a more appropriate choice, such as Oprah Winfrey.
She says the school held the parade Friday, with children from other classes carrying photos of black heroes such as Nelson Mandela, Harriet Tubman and President Barack Obama.
LA Teachers
Stalker Arrested
Sean "Diddy" Combs
A woman claiming to be the wife of Sean "Diddy" Combs has been arrested after making two visits to a Long Island house she erroneously believed was the home of the hip-hop superstar.
Cemelia Green has pleaded not guilty to criminal mischief and trespassing and has been freed on $5,000 bail.
Combs is not married. His spokeswoman did not immediately comment.
Sean "Diddy" Combs
Announces Retirement
Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger
Chesley Sullenberger, the US Airways pilot who safely landed a crippled airliner last year in the "Miracle on the Hudson" announced Wednesday he has retired.
"Sully," as the unflappable 59-year-old pilot is known to the public, said his three-decade career had been a "passion."
Sullenberger officially returned to work last October after the media frenzy over his accomplishment had died down. No reason was given for his departure.
But he sounded a bitter note in his retirement statement saying that pilots always hoped to "leave their profession better off than they found it. In spite of the best efforts of thousands of my colleagues, that is not the case today."
Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger
Scientists Catalog
Bacteria
The human gut is a virtual zoo, full of a wide variety of bacteria, a new study found. And scientists say that's a good thing.
The first results of an international effort to catalog the millions of non-human genes inside people found about 170 different bacteria species thriving in the average person's digestive tract. The study also found that people with inflammatory bowel disease had fewer distinct species inside the gut.
More than 99 percent of the different types of genes in our bodies are not in fact human, but come from microbes. So cataloging the genetics of bacteria inside of us will improve vastly on the mapping of the human genome, study co-author Jun Wang, a Chinese genomics researcher.
Bacteria "rule this planet, including our body," study co-author Jeroen Raes, a researcher at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Germany, said in an e-mail. "I think it's important that people realize that we are not really human - we are a walking colony of bacteria and they are crucial for our well being and health."
Bacteria
Cable Nielsens
Ratings
Rankings for the top 15 programs on cable networks as compiled by the Nielsen Co. for the week of Feb. 22-28. Day and start time (EST) are in parentheses:
1. "WWE Raw" (Monday, 10 p.m.), USA, 3.74 million homes, 5.57 million viewers.
2. "WWE Raw" (Monday, 9 p.m.), USA, 3.67 million homes, 5.45 million viewers.
3. "CNN Newsroom" (Saturday, 5 p.m.), CNN, 3.59 million homes, 4.89 million viewers.
4. "CNN Newsroom" (Saturday, 4 p.m.), CNN, 3.52 million homes, 4.69 million viewers.
5. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 9:30 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.37 million homes, 4.41 million viewers.
6. "Burn Notice" (Thursday, 10 p.m.), USA, 3.22 million homes, 4.50 million viewers.
7. "NCIS" (Monday, 8 p.m.), USA, 3.16 million homes, 4.17 million viewers.
8. "Penguins of Madagascar" (Saturday, 10 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.12 million homes, 4.29 million viewers.
9. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Sunday, 9:30 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.03 million homes, 4.09 million viewers.
10. "NCIS" (Wednesday, 9 p.m.), USA, 3.00 million homes, 3.84 million viewers.
11. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 9 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.97 million homes, 3.76 million viewers.
12. "NCIS" (Wednesday, 8 p.m.), USA, 2.88 million homes, 3.77 million viewers.
13. "America's News Headquarters" (Saturday, 4 p.m.), Fox News Channel, 2.87 million homes, 3.72 million viewers.
14. "Psych" (Wednesday, 10 p.m.), USA, 2.76 million homes, 3.57 million viewers.
15. "Penguins of Madagascar" (Sunday, 10 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.75 million homes, 3.82 million viewers.
Ratings
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