Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Froma Harrop: The Terrified American Shopper (creators.com)
Americans who shopped till they dropped have stopped. Per capita consumption is down for two straight years, according to Booz & Company's new study of U.S. spending behavior. That hasn't happened since the Great Depression.
Susan Estrich: My Toyota (creators.com)
It was a great car. A 1981 Toyota Corolla, white with blue interior, and no extras. Exactly $5,000 - $1,000 down, the rest financed. To be honest, I really wanted a Honda Accord. My mother had one, and what a dream that car was. But it was also $1,000 more, and while that might not sound like so much, believe me, it was. So I "settled" for the Toyota. After nine years behind the wheel of a 1972 yellow Ford Maverick, it seemed like a very significant step up.
Connie Schultz: Making Time for Women's Stories (creators.com)
Did you know that in addition to being a thank-you-God deliverance from February, March is also National Women's History Month?
Patrick Goldstein: "Variety lays an egg: Is firing its critics really 'economic reality'?" (latimes.com)
"I never saw this coming," McCarthy, who had been at Variety for 31 years, told me after the firing was announced.
Roger Ebert's Journal: Variety: This thumb's for you
I flew home from the Oscars to find half a dozen e-mails awaiting with the same unbelievable message: Variety had fired its chief film critic, Todd McCarthy. Its spokesman was hopeful Todd and its chief theater critic, David Rooney, who was also fired, could continue to review for the paper on a free lance basis. In other words, Variety was hopeful that without a regular pay check, McCarthy would put his life on hold to do a full-time job on a piecemeal basis.
Lucy Mangan: Bridget Jones is back? Please say it ain't so (guardian.co.uk)
For some men, and indeed some women, its success was proof that women were the marriage/baby/calorie-obsessed idiots they'd always suspected.
Judith Newmark: Actress prefers to be on, rather than looking at, a Broadway stage (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
With a frankness you don't often hear from actors, Estelle Parsons admits the truth: She doesn't much enjoy going to the theater.
Paul Gaita: "The Contender Q&A: 'The Cove' producer Fisher Stevens" (latimes.com)
His latest documentary effort has garnered both praise and controversy.
Robert W. Butler: Actor Ethan Hawke is enjoying New York City's 'Finest' (McClatchy Newspapers)
Ethan Hawke has been a professional actor for 25 of his 39 years. He has an Oscar nomination under his belt ("Training Day," 2001). But, he said, that's no guarantee of steady employment in the world of acting.
Rosanna Greenstreet: Q&A: Hayley Mills (guardian.co.uk)
The worst thing anyone's said to me? 'Your father has died.'
Simon Hattenstone: "Meet Matt Smith: Star of the new Doctor Who" (guardian.co.uk)
He's replacing the most popular Time Lord ever. So how will the new Doctor cope?
Emma John: "This much I know: Anthony Head, actor, of 'Buffy' fame" (guardian.co.uk)
The actor, 56, on enjoying the lines on his face and learning from animals.
David Bruce: Lloyd Alexander's "The Book of Three": A Discussion Guide (lulu.com)
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The Weekly Poll
New Question
The 'Moore of the same, or not?' Edition
Michael Moore wants President Obama to replace Chief-of-Staff, Rahm Emanual, with... Michael Moore... Moore has penned an open letter to 'The Man' writing...
"Dear President Obama, I understand you may be looking to replace Rahm Emanuel as your chief of staff. I would like to humbly offer myself, yours truly, as his replacement..." Welcome to MichaelMoore.com.
That begs the question...
How well do think Michael Moore would do as Obama's Chief-of-Staff?
A.) Better than Rahm...
B.) Worse than Rahm...
C.) It wouldn't make a whit of difference who it is, we're doomed - doomed I say, any way ya cut the cards, dagnabbit!
Send your response to
replied:
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
BadtotheboneBob
Detroit
Black Eyed Peas, Kid Rock turn Palace into nightclub
It's one thing to say you love Detroit, and the Black Eyed Peas certainly did that at the Palace of Auburn Hills Tuesday night. They name-checked everyone from the Supremes to Eminem to J Dilla, and stated and restated the city's importance as if they were running for mayor. But it's another thing to prove it, and they did that when they brought out the Son of Detroit himself, Kid Rock...
Black Eyed Peas, Kid Rock turn Palace into nightclub | detnews.com | The Detroit News
BadtotheboneBob
Pravda
Chinese Woman Grows Big Horn on Her Head
Chinese woman Zhang Ruifang, aged 101, has become a star in her Linlou village, Henan province. The elderly woman grew a horn on her forehead, above her left eye a year ago. Now the woman grows another horn - above the right eye, Express Gazeta wrote... Zhang says that she does not feel any discomfort about the horn. Her six children fear that their mother would eventually turn into a goat...
Chinese Woman Grows Big Horn on Her Head - Pravda.Ru
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny, but cold and very windy.
WASPs Honored - Finally
Female Aviators
Female WWII aviators honored with gold medal
WASHINGTON - A long-overlooked group of women who flew aircraft during World War II were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal on Wednesday. Known as Women Airforce Service Pilots, or WASPs, they were the first women to fly U.S. military planes.
About 200 of these women aviators, mostly in their late 80s and early 90s and some in wheelchairs, came to the Capitol to accept the medal, the highest civilian honor bestowed by Congress.
In accepting the award, WASP pilot Deanie Parrish said the women had volunteered to fly the planes without expectation that they would ever be thanked. Their mission was to fly noncombat missions to free up male pilots to fly overseas.
Thirty-eight WASPS were killed in service. But they were long considered civilians, not members of the military, and thus were not entitled to the pay and benefits given to the men. When their unit was disbanded in 1944, many even had to pay their own bus fare home from a Texas airfield.
Female Aviators
First Market Expects Approval
Film Futures
Media Derivatives Inc expects to be the first U.S. exchange to get regulatory approval to offer futures on film box office receipts, the privately owned company said Wednesday.
The new market, dubbed Trend Exchange and based in Scottsdale, Arizona, is slated to get the green light from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission approval on March 24, and plans to begin trading by midyear, CEO Robert Swagger said in an interview on the sidelines of the annual Futures Industry Association conference in Boca Raton, Florida.
It is the second exchange in the last month that has announced plans to launch futures tied to film box-office receipts this year.
But unlike Cantor Fitzgerald, the broker-dealer whose exchange is slated for regulatory approval next month, Trend Exchange will target institutional investors, including the banks and other financiers of the film industry, which generated nearly $30 billion of receipts worldwide last year.
Film Futures
Governor Counters State Attorney General
Virginia
Gov. Bob McDonnell directed state agencies not to discriminate against gay people in employment practices Wednesday, essentially overriding the Virginia attorney general's advice to public colleges.
The governor issued the written directive as about 200 gay-rights activists swarmed the Capitol to protest Attorney General Kenneth Cuccinelli's letter last week telling public colleges they cannot prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation without specific authorization from the General Assembly.
The Virginia Human Rights Act bars discrimination based on race, gender, disability and other factors, but the legislature has repeatedly refused to add sexual orientation to the law.
"Discrimination based on factors such as one's sexual orientation or parental status violates the Equal Protection Clause of the United States Constitution," he wrote. For that reason, "discrimination against any class of persons without a rational basis is prohibited."
Virginia
France Honours Japanese Film Maker
Takeshi Kitano
France awarded one of its highest artistic honours on Tuesday to the Japanese screen star and film maker Takeshi Kitano, director of bizarre and violent cult movies such as "Battle Royale".
Takeshi was made a Commander of Arts and Letters by French Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand at the Cartier Foundation, a top Paris contemporary art venue where paintings by Takeshi are on show until June.
Takeshi is a huge television personality in Japan and renowned worldwide for his films and cult gameshow "Takeshi's Castle", in which members of the public perform humiliating and spectacular stunts.
Takeshi Kitano
Lone Twitter Followee
Conan
Last week, Sarah Killen had three Twitter followers.
This week, she has 20,000 - as well as a new iMac computer and offers to help pay for a dress and drinks for her wedding.
The unsuspecting rural Michigan woman has one out-of-work late-night talk show host to thank for her newfound online popularity - Conan O'Brien.
O'Brien decided last week to pick Killen as the only person he would follow on Twitter, turning the 19-year-old's life upside down.
Conan
Music Hall of Fame
Alabama
Entertainers lined up for the Alabama Music Hall of Fame induction ceremony March 25 in Montgomery include Percy Sledge and the Blind Boys of Alabama.
Executive director David Johnson says those performing and being inducted also include Eddie Levert of the O'Jays, Mac Davis, Jamey Johnson, the Atlanta Rhythm Section and songwriter Mac McAnally.
Sledge is from Leighton. The Blind Boys of Alabama were formed in Talladega. Levert was born in Bessemer. Davis is a Texan who recorded his first hits in Muscle Shoals. Johnson is an Enterprise native who grew up near Montgomery. The Atlanta Rhythm Section was formed by Dothan native Buddy Buie. McAnally is from Red Bay and tours with Jimmy Buffett.
Alabama
Hospital News
Andy Whitfield
Starz's freshman drama "Spartacus: Blood and Sand" has halted series production due to star Andy Whitfield being diagnosed with cancer.
Whitfield, 38, plays the title role in the show and was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma and will begin treatment immediately.
Whitfield's cancer is described as "very treatable" and was detected in the early stages. The second season of "Spartacus" was scheduled to begin shooting soon in New Zealand.
Andy Whitfield
Barred From Elections
Aung San Suu Kyi
Myanmar Burma's military regime took yet another step to expunge Aung San Suu Kyi from the political scene Wednesday by effectively barring her from the first elections in 20 years and pressuring her opposition party to expel her from its ranks.
A new election law announced Wednesday prohibits anyone convicted of a crime - as Suu Kyi was in August - from being a member of a political party. That makes the detained democracy leader ineligible to become a candidate in historic elections scheduled for some time later this year.
The United States and Britain expressed disappointment and regret at the junta's latest move. Analysts called it a clear slap in the face for the international community, which has repeatedly said the elections would not be legitimate if the detained Nobel Peace Prize laureate is barred from running.
The 64-year-old Suu Kyi is the head of the opposition National League for Democracy, which won a landslide victory in the last Myanmar election in 1990. The junta ignored those results and has kept Suu Kyi jailed or under house arrest for 14 of the past 20 years.
Aung San Suu Ky
Church Abuse Scandal
Georg Ratzinger
Church abuse scandals in Germany have reached the older brother of Pope Benedict XVI and are creeping ever closer to the pontiff himself.
While there has been no suggestion of wrongdoing by Benedict, the launch of an inquiry by German Catholic officials after his brother admitted he slapped children years ago is stirring Vatican fears of a major crisis for the papacy.
Benedict, 82, was archbishop of Munich from 1977 to 1982 when he was brought to the Vatican to head the body responsible for investigating abuse cases. During that time, he came under criticism for decreeing that even the most serious abuse cases must first be investigated internally.
Separately, the Regensburg Diocese told AP it will investigate allegations of physical and sexual abuse that have swirled around a renowned choir led by the Benedict's brother, the Rev. Georg Ratzinger. So far, the sex abuse allegations predate Georg Ratzinger's term as choir director.
Georg Ratzinger
Served Whale Sushi
The Hump
Federal agents are investigating a high-end Santa Monica, Calif., sushi restaurant, following a video sting orchestrated by the producers of the Oscar-winning documentary "The Cove."
U.S. attorney's spokesman Thom Mrozek said Tuesday that Santa Monica's The Hump restaurant is under investigation for serving slices of the endangered Sei whale.
Film director Louie Psihoyos says two animal activists used a tiny video camera to record a $600 "omakase," or chef's choice, meal. They pocketed a sample and sent it to an Oregon State University professor who confirmed it was whale.
The team visited the restaurant three times since October, once sitting at the bar to observe preparation and once with federal agents.
The Hump
Pissing Match
TV Blackouts
The most recent showdown left millions of Cablevision Systems Corp. customers around New York without an ABC station at the start of the Academy Awards.
As advertising revenue has weakened, TV networks have begun to demand cash for their over-the-air programs rather than some of the advertising swaps that have been acceptable in the past.
Rising tensions between subscription TV providers and the networks have brought together rivals including Time Warner Cable Inc., Dish Network Corp., DirecTV Inc., Verizon Communications Inc. and even a consumer rights group often critical of the companies, Public Knowledge.
The group of 14 companies, consumer and trade groups sent a joint petition to the Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday, seeking a change in the way broadcasters give cable TV and other providers permission to carry local channels on their lineups.
One company was conspicuously absent from the petition. Comcast Corp., the nation's largest cable TV operator, would become a broadcaster if its plan to take control of NBC Universal is approved.
TV Blackouts
$150 Million Private Collection
Christie's
Christie's will offer a private art collection valued at more than $150 million (100.3 million pounds) in May, the auctioneer said on Wednesday, including a Picasso estimated to be worth $70-90 million. Skip related content
The collection, belonging to leading U.S. art patrons Frances and Sidney Brody, was described as "one of the most valuable ever offered at auction" and aims to tap strong demand at auction for rare works of art coming from private holdings.
The highlight of the New York sale on May 4 is Pablo Picasso's "Nude, Green Leaves, and Bust" from 1932 which is expected to fetch up to $90 million.
The Brodys acquired the depiction of the artist's mistress Marie-Therese Walter in the 1950s from Picasso's dealers, and a preview of the May auction will be the first time the work has been publicly displayed for 50 years.
Christie's
Open About Priorities
Disney
Walt Disney Co Chief Executive Bob Iger said on Wednesday the top U.S. media company is keeping its options open for dealing with TV network ABC and its struggling news division, including a spin-off.
At Disney's shareholders' meeting, Iger noted that ABC News, which cut 300 to 400 jobs as part of a drive to refocus and to recapture viewers lost to the Internet, is in a business undergoing significant challenges because of changes in the way people access and consume news.
Asked by a shareholder whether Disney intended to spin off ABC, Iger said he was comfortable with Disney's current mix of assets but added that the company was always reviewing the longer-term options for all its businesses.
Disney generated $36 billion in revenues in its most recent fiscal year and owns media properties including the Walt Disney Pictures movie studio, ABC Television Networks and cable sports network ESPN, plus part of online video website Hulu.
Disney
Divine Intervention
Most Americans
Most Americans believe God is involved in their everyday lives and concerned with their personal well-being, though the well-educated and higher earners are less likely than their counterparts to believe in such divine intervention, a new study suggests.
Scott Schieman, a sociology professor at the University of Toronto, examined data from two recent national surveys of Americans and their beliefs about God's involvement in their everyday lives.
The results, published in the March issue of the journal Sociology of Religion, suggest these beliefs differ across education and income levels. Past research has suggested other factors involved with our religious beliefs, with one study revealing teachers are more religious than other college grads, and another suggesting women are more likely than men to believe in God.
Overall, participants with more education and higher income were less likely to report beliefs in divine intervention. But among the well-educated and higher earners, those who were more involved in religious rituals reported similar levels of beliefs about divine intervention as their less-educated and less financially well-off peers.
Most Americans
Guerilla Crocheting
Midnight Knitter
Someone is spinning quite a yarn over one New Jersey shore town. An unknown person dubbed The Midnight Knitter by West Cape May residents is covering tree branches and lamp poles with little sweaters under cover of darkness.
Mayor Pam Kaithern says police are looking into the guerrilla crocheting, which technically is against the law because it is being done on public property without permission.
Resident Susan Longacre takes a walk each morning in Wilbraham Park, where several tree branches and light poles have gotten the treatment. She thinks it's great.
Even those who aren't thrilled admit the yarn is better than spray-painted graffiti.
Midnight Knitter
Royal Opera To Stage Story
Anna Nicole Smith
The Royal Opera will stage the world premiere next year of "Anna Nicole," a work about the life of former Playboy model, actress and tabloid favourite Anna Nicole Smith who died in 2007.
The new opera, by British composer Mark-Anthony Turnage and writer Richard Thomas, will be staged by renowned opera director Richard Jones, the company said in a statement on Wednesday.
Thomas was a co-creator of "Jerry Springer: The Opera," the controversial show that prompted thousands of complaints and street protests when it was aired on the BBC in 2005.
He has said the libretto for Anna Nicole would end with her death rather than focussing on the sensational court battle over the disposal of her remains and custody of her daughter Dannielynn.
Anna Nicole Smith
Colony Shows Immunity To Cancer
Tasmanian Devil
The discovery of a genetically distinct colony of Tasmanian devils may save the species from being wiped out by a contagious cancer that has decimated the population, Australian scientists said Wednesday.
So far, the colony in northwestern Tasmania state has proven immune to the face cancer that has ravaged the iconic animal - made famous worldwide by their Looney Tunes cartoon namesake, Taz.
The furry black animals spread a fast-killing cancer when they bite each other's faces. It causes grotesque facial tumors that eventually prevent them from feeding and can affect their internal organs.
Devil Facial Tumor Disease was discovered in 1996. Since then, the numbers of Tasmanian devils have plummeted by 70 percent. Last spring, Australia listed the devils as an endangered species and current estimates suggest the Tasmanian devil could be extinct within 25 years.
Tasmanian Devil
In Memory
Doris "Granny D" Haddock
Doris "Granny D" Haddock, a New Hampshire woman who walked across the country at age 89 to promote campaign finance reform and later waged a quixotic campaign for U.S. Senate, has died. She was 100.
Haddock died Tuesday night of chronic respiratory illness at her home in Dublin, N.H., said spokeswoman and family friend Maude Salinger. She was surrounded by her son, daughter-in-law, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.
In 2000, Haddock walked 3,200 miles to draw attention to campaign finance reform. In 2004, at age 94, she ran for U.S. Senate against Republican Judd Gregg. The subtitle of her autobiography, written with Dennis Burke, was "You're Never Too Old to Raise a Little Hell."
Haddock was born Jan. 24, 1910, in Laconia and attended Emerson College before marrying James Haddock. She later worked at a shoe company for 20 years.
After retiring in 1972, Haddock became more active in community affairs. She became interested in campaign finance reform after the defeat of the first attempt of Sens. John McCain and Russ Feingold to remove unregulated "soft" money from campaigns in 1995. Inspiration for her cross-country trek came from the Tuesday Morning Academy, a group of women in Dublin who met every Tuesday at 8 a.m. to do ballet exercises and discuss world affairs.
Covering about 10 miles a day, Haddock walked through more than 1,000 miles of desert, climbed the Appalachian Range in blizzard conditions and even skied 100 miles after snowfall made roadside walking impossible. She started in near-obscurity, but soon was discovered by local and national media.
In 2004, Haddock jumped into the Senate race on the last day to file after the presumptive Democratic nominee dropped out when his campaign manager was accused of financial fraud. A few months before the election, she officially changed her name to "Granny D," but stressed that the "D" stood for "Doris," not her party affiliation. She lost to Gregg 66 to 34 percent.
In recent years, she founded a group that pushed the state Legislature to create the Citizen Funded Election Task Force and attended the task force's weekly meetings. She was honored at a Statehouse ceremony in January to mark her 100th birthday.
Doris "Granny D" Haddock
In Memory
Juanita Goggins
When Juanita Goggins became the first black woman elected to the South Carolina Legislature in 1974, she was hailed as a trailblazer and twice visited the president at the White House.
Three decades later, she froze to death at age 75, a solitary figure living in a rented house four miles from the gleaming Statehouse dome.
Goggins, whose achievements included key legislation on school funding, kindergarten and class size, had become increasingly reclusive. She spent her final years turning down help from neighbors who knew little of her history-making past. Her body was not discovered for more than a week.
Goggins, the youngest of 10 children, grew up the daughter of a sharecropper in rural Anderson County, about 130 miles northwest of the capital. She was the only sibling to earn a four-year college degree. Her bachelor's in home economics from then-all-black South Carolina State College was followed by a master's degree.
She taught in the state's segregated schools, married a dentist and got into politics. In 1972, she became the first black woman to represent South Carolina as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention. Two years later, she became the first black woman appointed to the U.S. Civil Rights Commission.
She sat on the powerful House budget-writing committee and was responsible for funding sickle-cell anemia testing in county health departments.
The former teacher also helped pass the 1977 law that is still the basis for education funding in the state. Her proposals to expand kindergarten and to reduce student-teacher ratios in the primary grades were adopted after she left politics in 1980, citing health issues.
Several years after leaving the Legislature, Goggins divorced and then moved to Columbia in the early 1990s, renting the brick ranch house in a quiet neighborhood off North Main Street where she lived for 16 years.
Neighbors said she was always a private person. One neighbor said she would return her waves, but refused to let visitors in the door.
Last year, about the same time the Legislature voted to name part of a state highway after her, Goggins was mugged near her home. She changed the locks on her door and stopped taking walks, according her neighbors and landlord.
Police found Goggins' body March 3 - two weeks after she was last seen. Her landlord contacted police after a next-door neighbor realized he had not seen her lights on in some time.
Coroner Gary Watts said she died of hypothermia, probably about Feb. 20, and said he found indications of dementia. When she died, during a cold snap, Goggins was wearing several layers of clothing, yet her heat was working at the time.
She had money to pay her bills, but the utility company said it shut off the electricity for nonpayment Feb. 23. Watts said it appeared Goggins was using Sterno to cook, but her stove was still functioning when police climbed through a window and found her.
Why she withdrew remains a mystery even to her son, Horace Goggins Jr.. He attributes it to her illness, which was never fully diagnosed.
Juanita Goggins
In Memory
Corey Haim
Corey Haim, a 1980s teen heartthrob whose career was blighted by drug abuse, has died. He was 38.
Haim died early Wednesday at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, Los Angeles County coroner's Lt. Cheryl MacWillie said.
Haim, who gained attention for roles in "Lucas" and "The Lost Boys," had flulike symptoms before he died and was getting over-the-counter and prescription medications, police Sgt. William Mann said.
The Toronto-born actor got his start in television commercials at 10 and developed a good reputation for his work in such films as 1985's "Murphy's Romance" and his portrayal of Liza Minnelli's dying son in the 1985 television film "A Time to Live."
In later years, he made a few TV appearances and had several direct-to-video movies. He also had a handful of recent movies that have not yet been released.
In recent years, he appeared in the A&E reality TV show "The Two Coreys" with Corey Feldman. It was canceled in 2008 after two seasons. Feldman later said Haim's drug abuse strained their working and personal relationships.
Corey Haim
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