Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Mark Morford: Please Step Away from the Fear (SF Gate)
Recently did my fine and ever-loving and yet slightly overworried parents, still married and flirty and sort of amazing after something like 147 years together -- and no, I have no idea how the hell they did it, so don't even ask -- forward on a terrifying hunk of email to me, full of sound and fury and unchecked socioeconomic gloom, signifying nothing.
Froma Harrop: America Is Not a Third World Country ... Yet (Creators Syndicate)
What distinguishes poor from rich nations is that the latter invests in health care, education and transportation. They regulate what may go into the environment. These things don't come for free. They are paid for with taxes and, in some cases, higher prices.
Jim Hightower: PAUL RYAN'S ROCKY "PATH TO PROSPERITY"
But health care coverage is not all that Ryan's Republican "prosperity" plan cuts. The rich and corporations - poor babies - need another break, and the chairman delivers. Rather than paying a 35 percent tax rate on their fabulous incomes, Ryan generously cuts their rate to 25 percent - less than common working stiffs must pay.
Aditya Chakrabortty: The trouble with the economics of happiness (Guardian)
David Cameron and his advisers want to make us feel better, but they don't know how.
Susan King: James Caan wants you to know he is more than just a 'tough guy' (Los Angeles Times)
Since he vividly and viscerally brought to life the hot-tempered Sonny Corleone in Francis Ford Coppola's 1972 Oscar-winning classic "The Godfather," James Caan has always been thought of as being an authentic tough guy. In real life, he often came across as a toughie with his no-nonsense New York swagger and streetwise attitude.
JOE MORGENSTERN: "Animated 'Rio': A Witty Carnival of Brazil Nuts" (Wall Street Journal)
Motion multiplies emotion in "Rio," a 3-D animated feature from Blue Sky Studios, the company that gave us the "Ice Age" series. Seldom has a film been so endearingly besotted by the possibilities of flying-it's about birds-dancing the samba or hell-for-feather chasing around the skies, boulevards, back alleys and favelas of Rio de Janeiro.
Roger Ebert: Review of "Diary of a Country Priest" (1951; A Great Movie)
Bresson had a famous theory that actors were "models." He didn't require them to act, and indeed would repeat a shot time and time again to remove visible signs of "acting." The scenario, the visual strategy and the editing would encompass his story. The actor must not seem too proactive because his character is after all only a figure pushed here and there by life and fate. This sounds like a severe artistic discipline, but the result can be purifying. http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110413/REVIEWS08/110419993
Prince of the City :: rogerebert.com :: Reviews
"Prince of the City" is a very good movie and, like some of its characters, it wants to break your heart. Maybe it will. It is about the ways in which a corrupt modern city makes it almost impossible for a man to be true to the law, his ideals, and his friends, all at the same time. The movie has no answers. Only horrible alternatives.
Roger Ebert: Review of "Atlas Shrugged" (1 star; very bad movie)
Dagny and Hank ride blissfully in Taggart's new high-speed train, and then Hank suggests they take a trip to Wisconsin […]. They decide to drive there. That's when you'll enjoy the beautiful landscape photography of the deserts of Wisconsin. My advice to the filmmakers: If you want to use a desert, why not just refer to Wisconsin as "New Mexico"?
Heidi Waleson: Forty Years and Change (Wall Street Journal)
Recently resigned from the Boston Symphony and still recovering from back surgery, James Levine celebrates forty years as music director of the Metropolitan Opera and looks back at the wisdom-and frailties-of age.
David Bruce has 41 Kindle books on Amazon.com with 250 anecdotes in each book. Each book is $1, so for $41 you can buy 10,250 anecdotes. Search for "Funniest People," "Coolest People, "Most Interesting People," "Kindest People," "Religious Anecdotes," and "Maximum Cool."
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Selected Readings
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In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sun popped out for a couple of hours late in the afternoon.
Behind Art Auction For Haiti
Ben Stiller
Ben Stiller is getting some of the biggest names in contemporary art to help Haitian children affected by last year's earthquake.
The actor and comedian announced Wednesday that he is partnering with New York art dealer David Zwirner on a benefit auction called "Artists for Haiti," scheduled for Sept. 22 at Christie's auction house.
Some of the artists who have already donated works include Chuck Close, Paul McCarthy, Jasper Johns, Dan Flavin, Jeff Koons and Hiroshi Sugimoto.
"Over a year after the massive quake in Haiti, there remains a huge need to rebuild and help the country," Stiller said in a statement. "David and I are working to help raise funds so that the children of Haiti have an opportunity to receive the education they need to lead a better life and fulfill the potential of this vibrant and important culture."
Ben Stiller
Transferred To Fort Leavenworth
Bradley Manning
The Army private suspected of illegally passing U.S. government secrets to the WikiLeaks website was transferred Wednesday to an Army prison in Kansas from the Marine brig in Virginia where he has spent the past nine months.
Pfc. Bradley Manning, suspected of having obtained the classified documents while serving as an Army intelligence analyst in Iraq, is awaiting a determination by the Army on whether he is mentally competent to stand trial.
An Army spokesman at the Pentagon, Col. Tom Collins, said Manning arrived safely at the Joint Regional Correctional Facility at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., on Wednesday afternoon. Over the coming five to seven days he will undergo an in-depth physical and behavioral assessment by Leavenworth staff, Collins said.
The Pentagon said Manning would be returned to the Washington, D.C., area as needed for legal proceedings, since his case is under the jurisdiction of the Army's Military District of Washington. No trial date has been set.
Jeh Johnson, the Pentagon's top lawyer, said the transfer to Fort Leavenworth does not suggest that Manning's treatment at the Marine base at Quantico, Va., was inappropriate. But he acknowledged that the case received high-level Pentagon attention because of persistent criticism by human rights groups, some members of Congress and others of the conditions in which Manning had been held.
Bradley Manning
Discovered Worldwide
657 New Islands
Here's something you don't see every day - hundreds of new islands have been discovered around the world.
The Earth has 657 more barrier islands than previously thought, according to a new global survey by researchers from Duke University and Meredith College in Raleigh, N.C.
The researchers identified a total of 2,149 barrier islands worldwide using satellite images, topographical maps and navigational charts. The new total is significantly higher than the 1,492 islands identified in a 2001 survey conducted without the aid of publicly available satellite imagery.
Barrier islands often form as chains of long, low, narrow offshore deposits of sand and sediment, running parallel to a coast but separated from it by bays, estuaries or lagoons. Unlike stationary landforms, barrier islands build up, erode, migrate and rebuild over time in response to waves, tides, currents and other physical processes in the open ocean environment.
All told, the world's barrier islands measure about 13,000 miles (21,000 kilometers) in length. They are found along all continents except Antarctica and in all oceans, and they make up roughly 10 percent of the Earth's continental shorelines. The northern hemisphere is home to 74 percent of these islands.
657 New Islands
Detained Artist Offered Berlin University Post
Ai Weiwei
Detained Chinese artist and human rights activist Ai Weiwei has been offered a visiting teaching post at the Berlin University of the Arts, the university said on Wednesday. The prominent artist and critic of China's ruling Communist Party was stopped from boarding a flight to Hong Kong from Beijing on April 3 and detained by border police.
His detention has sparked criticism from Western governments over the treatment of rights activists.
Chinese police said the 53-year-old Ai was under investigation for "suspected economic crimes" and reports from government-controlled media alleged he avoided taxes.
The university's offer had been in the works since December. Last month the artist said he planned to open a studio in Berlin as his European base.
His work "Sunflower Seeds," an installation of millions of handmade porcelain seeds, is currently on show at Britain's Tate Modern museum. A 100 kg pile of the porcelain seeds fetched 349,250 pounds ($570,800) at auction in London in February.
Ai Weiwei
Hybrid Guitar Auction For Eye Disease
Jay Jay French
When his young daughter developed Uveitis, an eye disease that's the leading cause of blindness among American girls, Twisted Sister guitarist Jay Jay French decided he wasn't gonna take it.
The band is playing a benefit concert next week to raise money for research into Uveitis - though it's a one-of-a kind guitar auction that will generate the real funds for the project.
French got most of the world's leading guitar and amplifier manufacturers to make versions of their classic instruments - all in nuclear hot pink like his own guitar - to be sold to the highest bidders May 1 in Boston.
His daughter, Samantha, 17, has had the disease since she was 6 years old. It's an inflammation of the middle layer of the eye that can lead to blindness if left untreated.
Jay Jay French
Charity Pledges 'Full Transparency'
'Three Cups'
The family friend of Greg Mortenson who has stepped in to run the Central Asia Institute while the "Three Cups of Tea" co-author is hospitalized promised Wednesday "full transparency" into how the charity's finances are managed.
Mortenson has been hospitalized in Bozeman and is awaiting surgery next week for a hole in his aortic ventricular wall. He checked into the hospital in the aftermath of reports by "60 Minutes" and author Jon Krakauer that Mortenson lied about events in several parts of his best-selling book and may have financially benefited from the Central Asia Institute.
Anne Beyersdorfer, an independent public relations professional from Washington, D.C., has volunteered to run the Central Asia Institute's operations while Mortenson is hospitalized.
She said attorneys for the Central Asia Institute have spoken with Montana Attorney General Steve Bullock's office, which opened an inquiry into the charity after the reports surfaced questioning how its finances have been managed. She pledged cooperation with Bullock and his staff and said financial information going back years are posted on the charity's website.
'Three Cups'
Shocking! A Racist In OC!
Marilyn Davenport
A Southern California GOP official who sent an email depicting President Barack Obama as a chimpanzee said Wednesday she considered the email political satire and not racist.
Speaking publicly for the first time, Marilyn Davenport reiterated that she will not resign from her elected post on the Republican Party's Orange County Central Committee.
"I feel that it was inappropriate and I offended people," she told reporters outside her home. "I think it's only racist when the intent in my heart is to make it that way, and that was not the intent in my heart."
Davenport represents the 72nd Assembly District in Orange County on the committee, which is made up of volunteer officials elected for two-year terms. The group is tasked with fundraising, campaigning and debating policy for the Republican Party.
Davenport said constituents are asking her not to resign, and the feelings of those outside the 72nd Assembly District don't matter.
Marilyn Davenport
Extradition Hearing Delayed
Bruce Beresford-Redman
A federal judge has delayed an extradition hearing for a reality TV show producer charged in his wife's death in Mexico to allow his defense team more time to prepare.
An order signed Tuesday approved a request by attorneys for Bruce Beresford-Redman to delay the hearing from May 16 until June 27.
Mexican authorities want Beresford-Redman extradited so he can stand trial on an aggravated homicide charge filed after his wife, Monica, was killed at an upscale resort in Cancun last year.
Beresford-Redman worked on "Survivor" and is a co-creator of the show "Pimp My Ride."
Bruce Beresford-Redman
Noting To See Here
August Busch IV
Former Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc. CEO August Busch IV has agreed to pay $1.5 million to settle a wrongful death lawsuit over his girlfriend's accidental drug overdose death, Busch's lawyer said Wednesday.
Adrienne Martin, 27, a one-time aspiring model, died Dec. 19 at Busch's sprawling estate in suburban St. Louis. An autopsy concluded she overdosed on oxycodone and also had a significant amount of cocaine in her system.
Dr. Kevin Martin of Cape Girardeau, her ex-husband, filed the lawsuit last month on behalf of the couple's 8-year-old son, Blake Martin.
While attending the University of Arizona in 1983, Busch left a bar near Tucson, Ariz., with a 22-year-old woman. His black Corvette crashed, and the woman died. Busch, who was found hours later at his home, had suffered a fractured skull and claimed he had amnesia. After a seven-month investigation, authorities declined to press charges, citing a lack of evidence.
Two years later, Busch was acquitted by a St. Louis jury of assault charges resulting from a police chase that ended with an officer shooting out a tire on his Mercedes-Benz.
August Busch IV
Argentine Court Convicts Band In Nightclub Fire
Callejeros
Seven members of the Callejeros rock band were convicted Wednesday in the deaths of 194 people in a nightclub fire.
An appeals court reversed their previous innocent verdicts in a tragedy that became a symbol of government failures in Argentina.
The band members now face up to 11 years each in prison after being found responsible for bribery as well as involuntarily starting the fire at the Cromagnon Republic, an overcrowded working-class nightclub.
A concertgoer shot a flare into the club's flammable ceiling during a 2004 show, sending toxic smoke through the hall. Most of the victims were trapped and choked to death.
Most of the victims were young and lacked prospects in an economy then emerging from collapse. The Callejeros - "Street People" - sang an anthem, "The Invisible Ones," that stirred the same anger among marginalized people that Argentine first lady Eva Peron spoke of decades earlier in fiery anti-poverty speeches invoking "the shirtless ones."
Callejeros
Can Keep Paying Musicians
Philly Orchestra
The Philadelphia Orchestra can pay its musicians and critical vendors - including guest players and soloists - while it works to emerge from bankruptcy, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.
Bankruptcy Judge Eric Frank granted a series of motions that lawyers said will allow the world-renowned ensemble to operate smoothly and continue performing while restructuring its finances.
"This is no ordinary bankruptcy case," orchestra lawyer Lawrence McMichael told the judge. "These debtors were never designed to make money. They were designed to make music."
The 111-year-old musical institution, one of the nation's oldest, is facing a $14.5 million deficit this year, about one-third of its $46 million annual budget, according to court documents.
Philly Orchestra
Declassifies WWI-Era Secret Documents
CIA
The CIA lifted the lid on one corner of the cloak and dagger world of World War I, declassifying six of the oldest secret documents in the U.S. government archives, the agency announced Tuesday.
The documents show top techniques used by spies, generals and diplomats to send secret messages in a diplomatic war that raged long after the guns stopped. The records reveal how invisible ink was used to send word between allies, and spies learned to open letters to read each others' secrets without leaving a trace.
There's even a document written in French of the German's secret ink formula, showing the French had cracked the enemy's code.
Recent advances in the chemistry of secret ink, and the lighting methods used to detect it have made the secrets revealed Tuesday obsolete, explained CIA spokesperson Marie E. Harf.
CIA
Seeking Right To Smoke In Public
Cigar Smokers
As quests for freedom go, it's not exactly the fight against apartheid in South Africa. But cigar smokers around the country are fed up with smoking bans that prevent them from enjoying stogies in cigar bars with friends.
A rising number of states have moved to exempt cigars from indoor smoking bans, often by establishing cigar bars or smoking lounges inside cigar stores. Pro-cigar groups have sprung up nationally and in most states, spreading a message that their product is fundamentally different from cigarettes.
Cigar smokers are not interested in exposing the general public to their pungent fumes, said Joe Arundel, president of the Cigar Association of Washington. But they don't see why they can't smoke in the company of fellow enthusiasts - a gathering known as a "herf" in cigar circles - in businesses dedicated solely to the product.
"It's not like people walk into a cigar store by accident," Arundel, who operates Rain City Cigar in Seattle, said.
Washington used to have cigar bars and lounges. But a ban on all indoor smoking in 2005 put them out of business. A bill introduced in the state Legislature this year that would allow a limited number of cigar lounges and bars has languished in committee, after getting vehement opposition from the state Department of Health.
Cigar Smokers
3-D Erotic Comedy
"Sex and Zen"
A pioneering 3-D erotic comedy has taken the Hong Kong box office by storm, beating the first-day record set by "Avatar" and drawing viewers from mainland China as it eyes a global rollout.
The $3.5 million Cantonese-language production "3D Sex and Zen: Extreme Ecstasy" had earned 17 million Hong Kong dollars ($2.2 million) as of Tuesday since opening last week on 73 screens, according to figures provided by producer Stephen Shiu. That's nearly seven times the total take so far for Hollywood thriller "Scream 4," which has earned HK$2.5 million ($320,000).
"Sex and Zen" - a remake of a 1991 Hong Kong movie by the same name - features full nudity and camouflaged lovemaking scenes but does not show actual sexual intercourse, as is common in pornographic films. The movie, which stars Japanese porn stars Hara Saori and Suo Yukiko and Hong Kong actress Vonnie Liu, tells the story of a sexually frustrated scholar in ancient China who loses himself in the harem of a duke he befriends.
The film brought in HK$2.78 million ($360,000) on its opening day last Thursday, eclipsing the previous first-day record set by James Cameron's 2009 3-D sci-fi epic "Avatar," which earned HK$2.63 million ($340,000) on its first day.
"Sex and Zen"
In Memory
Tim Hetherington
Photojournalist Tim Hetherington, the co-director of Oscar-nominated war documentary "Restrepo," died in the besieged Libyan town of Misrata on Wednesday, doctors said.
Getty photographer Chris Hondros also died at the hospital where he was being treated. He had suffer brain injuries.
The photographers were among a group caught by mortar fire on Tripoli Street, the main thoroughfare leading into the center of Misrata, the only major rebel-held town in western Libya and besieged by Muammar Gaddafi's forces for more than seven weeks.
Hetherington, also a still photographer who won the 2007 World Press Photo of the Year award, co-directed with Sebastian Junger the 2010 Afghan war documentary "Restrepo," which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary.
Tim Hetherington
In Memory
Gerard Smith
The bass player with alternative rock band TV on the Radio died on Wednesday after a battle with lung cancer, the group said. Gerard Smith was 36.
Smith's illness was disclosed five weeks ago, with the band noting in an upbeat statement that given Smith's "legendarily willful disposition ... it might just be cancer that has the problem."
He was diagnosed with cancer after the band had finished recording its new album "Nine Types of Light," which coincidentally debuted at No. 12 on the U.S. pop chart Wednesday.
Smith joined the five-piece band in time to work on its previous album, 2008's "Dear Science." Away from the band, he and singer Tunde Adebimpe wrote and composed music for "The Lottery," a documentary that looks at public education through the eyes of Harlem's Success Academy annual intake lottery.
Gerard Smith
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