Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Mark Morford: Placebo effect beats God, Prozac (sfgate.com)
This is the story of three drugs. Except one is not really a drug at all and is merely an illusion, a nifty construct, an intense belief that it might be a drug, even though, as mentioned, it is very much not. We just think it is. Isn't that strange? Wonderful? Both?
Froma Harrop: Arizona May Prod Feds to Finally Act (creators.com)
President Obama is right that Arizona's tough immigration law is "misguided." And Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer is right that her state has been "more than patient waiting for Washington to act." The two are not unrelated.
Marty Kaplan: The End of Hollywood as We Know It (huffingtonpost.com)
Illegal file sharing and piracy hurt artists, workers, businesses and national economies. So why is it so pervasive? Did honest people become lawbreakers overnight because digital technology put a dangerous tool in their hands?
Michael Gorra: The Prime of Ms. Muriel Spark (slate.com)
She was as merciless in life as in her art.
"Alec: The Years Have Pants (a Life-Size Omnibus)" by Eddie Campbell: A review by John Pistelli
Cartoonist Eddie Campbell lacks the biographical advantages -- or disadvantages -- that make for a compelling memoir, graphic or otherwise. He is not a war correspondent, a survivor of a socially relevant calamity, or a defector from a repressive regime.
Lucy Bannerman: British writer Alan Sillitoe, the 'angry young man', dies in London aged 82 (timesonline.co.uk)
Alan Sillitoe, whose novels gave a voice to the disillusionment and restlessness of the English working-class, has died. He was 82.
Will Layman: It's Not Who You Know, It's What You Do with Who You Know (popmatters.com)
Bassist and composer Dave Holland has been making adventurous, melodic jazz for 40 years with the likes of Miles Davis, Chick Corea, Sam Rivers, Anthony Braxton, Stan Getz, Pat Metheny and many others.
John Lahr: MASTER OF REVELS (newyorker.com)
Neil Simon's comic empire.
Tim Teeman: David LaChapelle: The man who shot fame (timesonline.co.uk)
The celebrity snapper on his crazy life of sex drugs and celebrity - and why he won't talk to Madonna (but loves Mariah).
Susan King: Carol Burnett and Tim Conway: bonded through comedy (latimes.com)
The pair recall funny times from Burnett's show, Harvey Korman and laughter they couldn't control.
Richard Roeper: Hit Girl is rough, but not the end of civilization (suntimes.com)
Last Thursday night I was at a screening of "Kick-Ass," a movie generating a considerable amount of controversy, with Roger Ebert calling it "morally reprehensible" and Leonard Maltin jokingly telling the Trib the movie signals "the destruction of civilization as we know it."
Bryan Appleyard: Third dimension beyond 'Avatar' (timesonline.co.uk)
James Cameron says his Pandora epic is just the start. Soon 2-D movies will seem as old-fashioned as viewing in black and white.
David Bruce: Storefront
Lots of free downloads. Click on "Download for free" button when relevant.
The Weekly Poll
Current Question
The 'To Serve Man' Edition (Thanks, Rod)...
...aliens are out there and Earth had better watch out, at least according to Stephen Hawking. He has suggested that extraterrestrials are almost certain to exist - but that instead of seeking them out, humanity should be doing all it that can to avoid any contact... He suggests that aliens might simply raid Earth for its resources and then move on...
Don't talk to aliens, warns Stephen Hawking - Times Online
Despite that, should we seek out new life and new civilizations? (Thanks, Gene)
A.) Sure! ... Yoo Hoo! Here we are! Stop by for dinner! (haha).
B.) No way! ... Move along now, ALF, nothing to see here (especially cats).
C.) Que Sera Sera ... (sang Doris, sweetly)
Send your response to
wrote:
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Interview With Miss Arizona, Vanessa Rose Valero
Guanabee
Latino website Guanabee.com obtained an exclusive interview with Miss Arizona, Vanessa Rose Valero about the newly passed immigration law. The Hispanic beauty queen, who is a Republican, belongs to the NRA and is close with Arizona governor, Jan Brewer had this to say:
See, the thing is that it is a a sticky problem. The way it was before, it's almost like there is no restraint on illegal immigration at all. They (illegal immigrants) pour over the border constantly and it costs a lot of problems for the state. For one thing, since they are here with no documentation it becomes an issue of their access to our state programs like health care, schools, etc. not to mention their being no accountability if they commit a crime or get into trouble.
Read the whole article here: guanabee.com/2010/04/miss-arizona-vanessa-rose-valero-sb-1070-jan-brewer/
Reader Suggestion
Manistee
BadtotheboneBob sent me this article and suggested I send it to you to
show everyone the cool place I live in.
Manistee: Beaches, boutiques and
bumming around in this port city | - MLive.com It's true, I live where
everyone vacations.
There is also a nice little video presentation on
the
City of Manistee home page the web site I just happened to create and
maintain, incidentally.
Peace --
Joe S
Thanks, Joe!
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Windy day, windier night.
Credits Ryan White
Elton John
Elton John says he's been sober for 20 years, since shortly after the death of an Indiana teen with AIDS who the musician credits with inspiring him to turn his life around.
John was in Indianapolis on Wednesday to headline a benefit celebrating the life and legacy of Ryan White. The 18-year-old died on April 8, 1990, about five years after contracting HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, through a tainted blood transfusion to treat his hemophilia.
The singer befriended the boy during his public battle for acceptance after he was banned from a central Indiana school at age 13, bringing national attention to HIV/AIDS education and the plight of children with HIV in the 1980s. John was at Riley Children's Hospital when White died and was a pallbearer and performed at the funeral.
Proceeds from the event, which was being hosted by Phil Donahue, will benefit the Elton John AIDS Foundation and the Indianapolis Children's Museum's "Power of Children" exhibit, which features White.
Elton John
Free Care
LA Clinic
They began arriving before dawn on a cold, misty morning, people of all ages lining up by the hundreds, some in wheelchairs, others hobbling on crutches, many of them missing teeth, all of them seeking the same thing: free medical care.
It was a scene that could have been playing out in a Third World country or perhaps some place like post-hurricane New Orleans, except that it wasn't. It was unfolding in downtown Los Angeles on Tuesday, and the hundreds who showed up weren't refugees of a disaster or a civil war, just mainly working people without health insurance.
Outside in the cold, several hundred more people, some balancing toddlers on their hips, waited patiently for their turn to enter the Los Angeles Sports Arena, an aging building that once played host to basketball's NBA champion Lakers and that rocker Bruce Springsteen affectionately dubbed "the dump that jumps" during a concert last year.
On Tuesday it was jumping with the energy of hundreds of smiling volunteer doctors, dentists, acupuncturists, chiropractors and other professionals, all of them brought together by the Tennessee-based nonprofit group Remote Area Medical. This being opening day for the seven-day clinic, California first lady Maria Shriver and other officials also paid a visit, Shriver saying she was humbled by the scope of the volunteer effort.
RAM, which was founded in 1985 to bring medical care to remote regions of the world, is focusing more these days on urban centers like Los Angeles. It put on a similar clinic in nearby Inglewood last year and has others scheduled for Oklahoma City and Chicago this summer.
LA Clinic
Production Company Forms Record Label
David Letterman
David Letterman is getting into the music business.
His production company, Worldwide Pants Inc., has formed its own record label and it already has its first act.
Clear Entertainment/C.E. Music will release the debut album from the punk duo Runner Runner this summer. Their self-titled album is being released through a new partnership with Letterman's label, EMI Music's Capitol Records and MRV label.
The band, from Huntington Beach, Calif., will begin touring next month.
David Letterman
Hosting Golden Globes Again
Ricky Gervais
Ricky Gervais will be back again to host the Golden Globe Awards.
NBC and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced Wednesday that the British actor-writer-comic will make his encore appearance on the Jan. 16, 2011, live broadcast.
Gervais is perhaps best known as the co-creator and star of the British version of "The Office," which later was successfully adapted as an NBC comedy. He also co-created and starred in "Extras," a comedy series that aired on HBO. His current feature film is "Cemetery Junction."
Before Gervais, the Hollywood awards show had gone more than a decade without a host.
Ricky Gervais
Hawaii Expenses
`Lost'
The ABC series "Lost" spent $228 million filming in Hawaii in 2006-09, while employing an average of 973 people in each of the four years.
The state figures reported Wednesday by The Honolulu Advertiser were obtained by the newspaper in response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed Dec. 24.
The value of tax credits claimed by the producers of the TV show hasn't been released, but the newspaper estimated it likely exceeds $32 million.
Those who favor the credits say they are critical in attracting and keeping a TV series. Opponents argue the credits benefit one industry at the expense of others.
`Lost'
Tiny Horse
Einstein
A diminutive horse born in New Hampshire could lay claim to the world record for lightweight foal. The pinto stallion named Einstein weighed just 6 pounds and measured 14 inches tall when he was born Friday in Barnstead, N.H. Those proportions fit a human baby just about right but are downright tiny for horse, even a miniature breed like Einstein.
Dr. Rachel Wagner, Einstein's co-owner, says the Guinness Book of Records lists the smallest newborn horse as weighing in at 9 pounds.
Breeders say that unlike the current record holder, Thumbelina, Einstein shows no signs of dwarfism. He's just a tiny horse.
Einstein
Cleaners Paint Over Art
Banksy
An Australian council is rueing a decision to send street cleaners into a Melbourne lane after they painted over a priceless stencil of a rat by the celebrated British graffiti artist Banksy.
Melbourne Deputy Lord Mayor Susan Riley last week sent a clean-up team into Hosier Lane, renowned internationally for its colorful street art, to clean up garbage in the graffiti-lined passage after local residents complained.
But the request went awry when the cleaners painted over a Banksy stencil of a rat hanging underneath a parachute and adorning the wall of an old council building. "Unfortunately the contractors were not made aware by us that that was an important piece. It is the nature of graffiti art. It's very vulnerable to other people's work," Council chief executive Kathy Alexander told local radio.
The reclusive Banksy, who is regarded as one of the world's top street artists, painted several stencils in Melbourne during a 2003 visit. His satirical and distinctive art is often directed at anti-war, cultural and anti-capitalist themes.
Banksy
Puritanical Press
Goldman Hearings
Are the U.S. news media a bit more puritanical than the rest of English-language press?
That's certainly what the evidence suggests after Tuesday's epic Goldman Sachs hearings before the Senate Subcommittee on Investigations. Committee Chairman Carl Levin brandished an internal Goldman email describing the fortunes of a "sh***y deal" - yes, Yahoo! News also has a no-profanity policy - engineered by the investment bank. All told, Levin made a dozen references to that phrase as he questioned key Goldman executives. Although the Michigan senator was only quoting from the committee record, most major U.S. newspapers balked at printing his words verbatim.
It's unclear whether Levin deliberately calculated that the profanity would extend the halflife of the hearings in the news cycle - but that's certainly been the practical effect of all the repetition. Levin must feel anything but, well, down in the dumps, let's say, that the expression is now firmly linked with "Goldman Sachs" in the public mind.
The Wall Street Journal opted for "sh---," while a New York Times blog post all about the hearing's "few bad words" used phrases like "naughty words," a "vulgar term" and "common vulgar adjective" to describe what Levin said. The Times' Kate Phillips wrote that sites like Politico quoted Levin, but that "we can't link to that specific article, because they use the term deemed offensive" by the paper of record.
Goldman Hearings
Felony Charges Dropped
Randy Quaid
Randy Quaid won't have to worry about missing any more court appearances after prosecutors dropped felony charges Wednesday against the actor.
Quaid's wife Evi, however, will be on probation for three years after she pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor count of defrauding an innkeeper. She also will have to perform 240 hours of community service.
The couple had been charged with defrauding an innkeeper of more than $10,000 as well as conspiracy and burglary after an invalid credit card was used at San Ysidro Ranch in Montecito.
Prosecutors had a strong circumstantial case against Randy Quaid, but his wife was more involved with the transactions in question so charges were dropped against the actor, Tolks said.
Randy Quaid
Wins Round Two
Jessica Seinfeld
Jerry Seinfeld's wife did not copy a cookbook author when she released her own techniques for getting children to eat vegetables, a federal appeals court concluded Wednesday.
In a written ruling issued just two days after it heard oral arguments, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan sided with Jessica Seinfeld in her 3-year-old copyright and trademark dispute with Missy Chase Lapine, saying the books were "not confusingly similar."
Lapine, the author of "The Sneaky Chef: Simple Strategies for Hiding Healthy Foods in Kids' Favorite Meals," sued Jessica Seinfeld over her cookbook titled: "Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food." The Seinfeld book was published several months after Lapine's in 2007.
The fight reached a boil when Jerry Seinfeld made light of Lapine's claims during an appearance on CBS' "Late Show with David Letterman" in the fall of 2007, saying Lapine was accusing his wife of "vegetable plagiarism." Lapine's lawyers said Seinfeld, best known for the popular television comedy series "Seinfeld," used his Letterman appearance to launch a "malicious, premeditated and knowingly false and defamatory attack" on their client.
Jessica Seinfeld
Mojave Cross Case
Religious Symbols
The Supreme Court's conservative majority signaled a greater willingness to allow religious symbols on public land Wednesday, a stance that could have important implications for future church-state disputes.
By a 5-4 vote, the court refused to order the removal of a congressionally endorsed war memorial cross from its longtime home atop a remote rocky outcropping in California's Mohave Desert.
The court directed a federal judge to look again at Congress' plan to transfer the patch of U.S. land beneath the 7-foot-tall cross made of metal pipe to private ownership.
Federal courts had rejected the land transfer as insufficient to eliminate constitutional concern about a religious symbol on public land - in this case in the Mojave National Preserve.
Religious Symbols
Lays Off
ABC News
ABC News is laying off 22 employees but losing far more to buyouts.
The network said two months ago that it was would cut its 1,400-person staff by a quarter. The news division has been hammered by the economy and, unlike rival NBC, doesn't have a cable network for extra revenue.
ABC News President David Westin said in a memo to staff members Wednesday that more people than anticipated took buyouts, lessening the need for layoffs.
An executive who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the network doesn't discuss personnel issues says correspondents Lisa Fletcher, Laura Marquez, Brian Rooney and Betsy Stark are among the people leaving ABC News.
ABC News
Locked Up Indefinitely
Nushawn Williams
A sex offender who infected at least 13 women with the AIDS virus should be locked up indefinitely under a civil law meant to keep the most dangerous offenders out of communities even after they complete prison sentences, the state said Wednesday.
The attorney general's office described 33-year-old Nushawn Williams in court papers as a mentally disturbed, sex-obsessed drug user who was unruly and sometimes violent during his 12 years in prison and would likely infect more women if set free.
He pleaded guilty in 1998 to charges of statutory rape and reckless endangerment after his behavior set off a panic in the small western New York town of Jamestown, where the dreadlocked convict was known as "Face" to the young, sometimes drug-addicted women and girls he charmed for sex.
Under a 3-year-old statute, the state can lock up a sex offender indefinitely if it proves the person has a mental abnormality and is likely to offend again. Williams, whose criminal sentence ended April 13, would be held at a medium-security psychiatric facility, with his case reviewed yearly.
Nushawn Williams
Idaho Scientists Find
Giant Palouse Earthworm
They don't smell like lilies. They don't spit. And they ain't that big. But the discovery of the first living specimens of the giant Palouse earthworm in two decades is still big news.
"It's a good day for the worm," said University of Idaho soil scientist Jodi Johnson-Maynard in Moscow, Idaho, who has been leading the search for a creature that has achieved mythic status in the agricultural Palouse region on the Washington-Idaho border.
Scientists at Idaho, using bolts of electricity, captured two living specimens of the worm on March 27. The adult was killed and sent to University of Kansas earthworm expert Sam James, who identified it as a GPE on April 16.
Most earthworms found in the Northwest originated in Europe, arriving on plants or in soil shipped to the New World. The giant Palouse earthworm is one of the few native species.
Giant Palouse Earthworm
Gas Prices Jump
McGrath, Alaska
Most Americans are paying about $3 a gallon for gas. The residents of McGrath, Alaska, saw their gas prices jump by that amount in one night. The price at the only pump in the remote town 415 miles northwest of Anchorage went from $6 a gallon Friday to $9.20 the next day.
Crowley Petroleum Distribution says it was forced to raise the price because the winter nearly drained the town's supply, and the only option was to fly in more fuel.
The cost increase is the difference between flying the gasoline and shipping it on a barge. Crowley says it won't be able to send a barge until June at the earliest.
Some of McGrath's estimated 400 residents have formed an anti-Crowley Facebook page and are trying to boycott the company while city officials look for ways to get cheaper fuel.
McGrath, Alaska
Cable Nielsens
Ratings
Rankings for the top 15 programs on cable networks as compiled by the Nielsen Co. for the week of April 19-25. Day and start time (EDT) are in parentheses:
1. NFL Draft, Round One (Thursday, 7:30 p.m.), ESPN, 5.27 million homes, 7.29 million viewers.
2. "America The Story of Us" (Sunday, 9 p.m.), History, 3.89 million homes, 5.67 million viewers.
3. "Pawn Stars" (Sunday, 8:30 p.m.), History, 3.81 million homes, 5.35 million viewers.
4. "NCIS" (Wednesday, 9 p.m.), USA, 3.317 million homes, 4.46 million viewers.
5. "Pawn Star" (Sunday, 8 p.m.), History, 3.311 million homes, 4.54 million viewers.
6. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 9:30 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.299 million homes, 4.51 million viewers.
7. "NCIS" (Wednesday, 8 p.m.), USA, 3.298 million homes, 4.3 million viewers.
8. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Thursday, 8 p.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.23 million homes, 4.75 million viewers.
9. "Pawn Stars" (Monday, 10 p.m.), History, 3.15 million homes, 4.28 million viewers.
10. NBA Playoffs: L.A. Lakers vs. Oklahoma City (Saturday, 9:35 p.m.), 3.1 million homes, 4.16 million viewers.
11. "WWE Raw" (Monday, 10 p.m.), USA, 3.09 million homes, 4.19 million viewers.
12. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 9 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.05 million homes, 4.31 million viewers.
13. "Project Runway" (Thursday, 10 p.m.), Lifetime, 3.03 million homes, 3.8 million viewers.
14. "WWE Raw" (Monday, 9 p.m.), USA, 3.1 million homes, 4.83 million viewers.
15. NBA Playoffs: Chicago vs. Cleveland (Monday, 8:05 p.m.), TNT, 2.93 million homes, 3.9 million viewers.
Ratings
In Memory
Furio Scarpelli
The Oscar-nominated screenwriter Furio Scarpelli, who co-wrote some of the best Italian comedies of the post-war period and who ventured into the spaghetti-western genre with the "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly," had died, his family said Wednesday. He was 90.
Scarpelli died in his house in Rome shortly after midnight, his son, Matteo Scarpelli, told The Associated Press. He had long suffered heart problems.
During a decades-long, prolific partnership with Age, Scarpelli co-wrote some of Italy's finest postwar movies, including the iconic comedy "Big Deal on Madonna Street."
The pair also wrote "Il Buono, Il Brutto, Il Cattivo" ("The Good, the Bad and the Ugly"), the spaghetti-western classic directed by Sergio Leone and starring Clint Eastwood.
But it was the comedies that mostly made their name. Their sense of humor and an unforgiving display of the vices of Italian people became the pair's trademark, and made for memorable roles and lines for actors such as Marcello Mastroianni and Vittorio Gassman.
Scarpelli was hailed Wednesday as one of the fathers of Italian cinema. Paolo Virzi, a director who worked with him in recent years, said Scarpelli had the ability to see through people and praised his talent for vivid dialogue.
Age, whose real name was Agenore Incrocci, died in 2005.
Age and Scarpelli received two Oscar nominations for best screenwriting in the 1960s. Scarpelli also received another nomination for "Il Postino" ("The Postman") in 1996.
Scarpelli is survived by his wife and two sons. A funeral will be held Friday in Rome, his son said.
Furio Scarpelli
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