Recommended Reading
from Bruce
E. D. Hirsch Jr.: How to Save the Schools (ybooks.com)
Diane Ravitch is without rival as a historian of modern American schooling.
Nathan Heller: Nathanael West's Secret (slate.com)
He knew there was something worse than selling out.
PAUL CONSTANT: "Living in a Sci-Fi Novel: What Do We Do Now, Cory Doctorow?" (thestranger.com)
Setting aside the embarrassing lack of jetpacks, there can be no doubt that we live in a science-fiction future. It's become almost a cliché to say that, but just because a truth is universally accepted doesn't make it any less true.
Jacob Weisberg: Apple's Way (slate.com)
Why publishers should beware the App Store.
Mark Morford: All kneel before the devil horns (sfgate.com)
Ronnie James Dio died the other day, quietly succumbed to a relatively sudden onset of stomach cancer and up and left the planet in a blaze of stage fire, dragonsmoke and general metal awesomeness. Maybe you heard.
Rosanna Greenstreet: "Q&A: Alison Goldfrapp" (guardian.co.uk)
'If I could change my past, I'd edit out all the times I smoked a cigarette.'
Andrew Gilbert: Sonny Rollins, nearly 80, looks to the future (latimes.com)
In the mid-1950s, through the sheer gale force of his surging theme-and-variation solos, Sonny Rollins turned the tenor saxophone into jazz's iconic horn.
Karen Elson: from supermodel to rock star (guardian.co.uk)
Karen Elson tells Elizabeth Day about coming out from the musical shadow of husband Jack White and her schooldays in Oldham.
Laura Barnett: "Portrait of the artist: Douglas Gordon, artist" (guardian.co.uk)
'People who buy art should buy it like they buy veg. They should do it every day, and should love what they buy.'
Roger Ebert: "Cannes #3: Greed may still be good
The way Michael Douglas and Oliver Stone explained it to me, modern Hollywood is doing the same thing modern Wall Street is: Trading for its own benefit, and not for the good of its customers.
Roger Ebert: "Cannes #4: A good film, a bad film, and a friend"
Mike Leigh has long been a great director, but now he is surely at the top of his form. "Another Year" has premiered here and is the film everyone I talk with loves the most. It is so beautifully sure and perceptive in its record of one year in the life of a couple happily married, and their relatives and friends, not so happy. After "Vera Drake" (2004) and "Happy-Go-Lucky" (2008), Leigh cannot seem to step wrong.
Kenneth Turan: "Cannes Film Festival: There will never be another Mike Leigh" (latimes.com)
'I practice a craft that can't be copied,' says the director of 'Another Year.'
The Coolest People in Comedy (Lulu.com)
Free download at http://stores.lulu.com/bruceb. This book contains 250 anecdotes about comedians.
Damone: Outta My Way (youtube.com)
The Weekly Poll
New Question
The 'Petitioning for Polanski' Edition
CANNES -- To sign or not to sign is the big question at this year's Festival de Cannes, and there's not a deal memo in sight. But then a petition in support of director Roman Polanski, who is under house arrest in Switzerland in connection with a 33-year-old sex scandal, is always going to set tongues wagging... The petition, posted on a website overseen by French philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy, asks for "justice" from the Swiss authorities...
Roman Polanski petition circulating at Cannes
What manner of "justice" do you think would be appropriate for Roman Polanski?
Send your response to
wrote:
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
BadtotheboneBob
Sea Lions & Dolphin
Sea Lions & Dolphin Join Terror Exercises
SAN FRANCISCO -- A Navy seal -- actually a sea lion -- took less than a minute to find a fake mine under a pier near AT&T Park.
A dolphin quickly located a terrorist lurking in the black water before another sea lion, using a device carried in its mouth, cuffed the pretend saboteur's ankle so authorities could reel him in.
The specially trained Navy Marine Mammals, based in San Diego, stole the show in a day of anti-terrorism training exercises held at ports throughout California...
Sea Lions, Dolphin Join Terror Exercises
Yeah, OK, but they damn sure better get VA benefits is what I'm sayin'...
BadtotheboneBob
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Back to sunny and warm.
Gold Investigation
Glenn Beck
Fox Rupert "News" host and conservative talker beloved Republican propagandist Glenn Beck is firing back after New York Democratic Rep. Anthony Weiner issued a report critical of Goldline International, a gold retailer and one sponsor of Beck's cable show. Goldline is among several gold concerns that advertise with Beck while Beck offers testimonials about gold - an arrangement that's sparked some conflict-of-interest complaints about the pundit.
For the past two days, Beck has hit back at the congressman, claiming on the air that Weiner's tactics evoke the late red-baiting Sen. Joe McCarthy. "Now we have a congressman actually trying on the shoes of McCarthy," Beck said Wednesday morning. On Tuesday he railed that "we are in full-fledged McCarthy Land now." Beck requested Wednesday that his radio listeners submit photos showing Weiner with "his nose as a weiner," possibly to prepare for a segment devoted to the congressman's charges on a Fox television broadcast later Wednesday.
The congressman is returning Beck's rhetorical fire. "It is not surprising that Glenn Beck is attempting to deflect from his behavior in promoting Goldline," Weiner told Yahoo! News in a statement. "But the facts are clear. Goldline rips off consumers and Glenn Beck helps."
The report says the gold retailer has entered "an unholy alliance with conservative pundits" - among them Beck, Fred Thompson, Dennis Miller, Mark Levin and Laura Ingraham - to "promote Goldline by playing off the fear of inflation."
Glenn Beck
Urges UMore Help For Haiti
Sean Penn
Oscar-winning actor turned activist Sean Penn, who has been working on Haiti aid after the massive January 12 earthquake, urged US lawmakers Wednesday to help reopen Haitian hospitals that have shut down for lack of funds.
"The hospitals that do exist have got to be staffed, supplied, administrated to," said the actor, who set up the J/P Haiti Relief Organization after the disaster. He was at a refugee camp in Port-au-Prince for four months, and is headed back later this month.
"In this city of ruins, five fully functional hospitals have been allowed to close despite these emergent disasters due to financial under-support and the inertia of 'protective' over-scrutiny," Penn argued before the Senate foreign affairs committee.
He was joined in the push for more aid funding by USAID coordinator Christopher Milligan who said the United States role should include helping "rebuild public health care" in Haiti.
Sean Penn
'Troubles' Wins 'Lost' Booker Prize
J.G. Farrell
A tragicomic historical novel about the relationship between Britain and Ireland won literature's prestigious Booker Prize on Wednesday, four decades after missing out because of a scheduling quirk.
J.G. Farrell's "Troubles" was awarded the "lost" Booker Prize for works published in 1970, a year when no prize was handed out. Set in 1919, the novel is about an English army officer ensconced in a crumbling Irish hotel, scarcely aware of the war for independence breaking out around him.
Farrell was chosen over five other finalists: Patrick White's "The Vivisector," Mary Renault's "Fire From Heaven," Nina Bawden's "The Birds on the Trees," Shirley Hazzard's "The Bay of Noon" and Muriel Spark's "The Driver's Seat."
Farrell, who drowned while fishing on the Irish coast in 1979, also won the Booker in 1973 for "The Siege of Krishnapur." Those two novels - along with a later book, "The Singapore Grip" - form a trilogy exploring the end of the British Empire.
J.G. Farrell
Plays High Schoolers' Compositions
NY Philharmonic
Two subway-inspired compositions written by New York City high school students are being performed at Lincoln Center.
Maestro Alan Gilbert is leading the New York Philharmonic at Avery Fisher Hall on Wednesday as it performs "Brooklyn-Bound F Train" by Ethan D'Ver and "Sixty-Sixth Center" by Stella Fiorenzoli.
The 16-year-olds are both juniors from Fiorello LaGuardia High School of Performing Arts.
D'Ver's piece captures the sounds of the F train rumbling through three boroughs. Fiorenzoli's was inspired by the No. 1 train at 66th Street.
NY Philharmonic
Bun In The Oven
Travoltas
John Travolta and Kelly Preston are having a baby. The couple released a statement on their websites Tuesday saying that they "are expecting a new addition to our family."
Travolta's publicist, Paul Bloch, confirmed Wednesday that Preston is pregnant.
The 47-year-old actress and 56-year-old actor have a daughter, Ella, who is 10. The couple's son, Jett, died last year at age 16. The family's two dogs were killed Thursday in an accident at Maine's Bangor
Travoltas
Detroit Death Raises Issues
Reality TV
When police burst into a home in search of a murder suspect, a reality TV crew documented the raid - and may have recorded the death of a 7-year-old girl accidentally killed by an officer.
Detroit homicide investigators are featured regularly on A&E's "The First 48," which tracks murder investigations during the first two days after a slaying. On Sunday, a crew from the show was filming when police raided Aiyana's house in search of a suspect in the killing of a 17-year-old outside a convenience store.
A spokesman for "The First 48" would not say if the raid was recorded, but police confirmed that the crew was present and that they are reviewing footage from that night.
Having a reality camera crew along on a police raid contributes to a culture that reduces everything to mere entertainment, said Hal Niedzviecki, author of "The Peep Diaries: How We're Learning to Love Watching Ourselves and Our Neighbors."
Reality TV
Won't Make The Date
Lindsay Lohan
Lindsay Lohan had her passport stolen in France and is unlikely to make it back to Los Angeles in time for a crucial probation hearing on Thursday that could result in jail time, her mother said.
Dina Lohan told celebrity website RadarOnline.com in an interview on Wednesday that the actress is trying desperately to resolve the problem in France.
She also denied media reports that the passport issue is an excuse for the "Mean Girls" actress to skip court following reports that Lohan has missed some alcohol education classes imposed for a 2007 drunken driving case.
Beverly Hills Superior Court judge Marsha Revel has ordered Lohan, who flew to Cannes at the weekend for the annual film festival, to attend Thursday's hearing in person.
Lindsay Lohan
Prints Stolen
Banksy
Police on Wednesday released a CCTV image of a man and a woman who snatched two prints by the street artist Banksy worth more than 16,000 pounds in a smash-and-grab raid at an art gallery in central London.
Detectives said the duo probably used a street sign to break the shop window and steal the limited edition prints, both signed by the artist, at Art Republic in Soho in the early hours of May 1.
Images showed the man entering the shop and grabbing the two prints that measured 3ft by 4ft and were mounted in glass frames. The woman acted as a look-out.
Both suspects are described as white and aged between 30 and 40.
Banksy
Pakistan Blocks
Facebook
Pakistan's government ordered Internet service providers to block Facebook on Wednesday amid anger over a page that encourages users to post images of Islam's Prophet Muhammad.
The page on the social networking site has generated criticism in Pakistan and elsewhere because Islam prohibits any images of the prophet. The government took action after a group of Islamic lawyers won a court order Wednesday requiring officials to block Facebook until May 31.
By Wednesday evening, access to the site was sporadic, apparently because Internet providers were implementing the order.
The Facebook page at the center of the dispute - "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day!" - encourages users to post images of the prophet on May 20 to protest threats made by a radical Muslim group against the creators of "South Park" for depicting Muhammad in a bear suit during an episode earlier this year.
Facebook
Detained Director Starts Hunger Strike
Jafar Panahi
Iranian film director Jafar Panahi has started a hunger strike in prison, his wife told an opposition website on Tuesday.
Panahi, winner of many international awards and a supporter of opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi in last year's disputed presidential election, was arrested in early March along with his wife and daughter.
His family was later released and he was taken to Tehran's Evin prison.
Panahi won the Camera d'Or prize at the Cannes film festival, for his 1995 movie, "White Balloon".
Jafar Panahi
Donor Surprises Museum
Georgia O'Keeffe
An anonymous donor has surprised a Florida museum with a valuable gift: a Georgia O'Keeffe painting.
"Grey Hills Painted Red, New Mexico" was hung on a gallery wall at the Museum of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg on Tuesday.
Museum director John Schloder told the St. Petersburg Times a woman called and asked if the museum wanted to see her O'Keeffe painting, and things progressed from there.
The donor doesn't want to be named, but she told Schloder she loves visiting the museum and wanted it to have her O'Keefe.
Georgia O'Keeffe
Church Joins Endangered List
Frederick Douglass
When chunks of plaster began falling from the ceiling of the national cathedral of African Methodism last year, one of Washington's oldest black congregations nearly had to abandon its sanctuary.
Instead, the people of Metropolitan A.M.E. Church - where member Frederick Douglass gave his last speech in 1894 and where a pew bears his name - have begun emergency repairs. They brought in scaffolding to block falling debris, and now they worship under yellow construction lights.
On Wednesday, the church that also hosted Rosa Parks' funeral was among the sites named America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places because it needs $11 million in critical but unaffordable repairs. Also, for the first time, one of the spots on the list was reserved for all state parks
Metropolitan A.M.E., an 1886 red brick Victorian Gothic-style church, deteriorated over time. Once among the largest integrated meeting halls in the segregated nation's capital, it suffered cracks and water damage as its residential neighborhood a few blocks from the White House was swallowed by downtown development.
Frederick Douglass
20th-Century Photographs Auction
Christie's
Christie's is set to auction a series of mostly black and white photographs - including one from Mario Testino's Vanity Fair shoot of Princess Diana.
The striking black and white 1997 Testino image shows the princess of Wales reclinng on a sofa, her chin resting on folded hands. It is valued at 18,000 pounds-22,000 pounds ($26,000-32,000) and was taken only months before her death.
Also included in the sale are images by Andy Warhol of the Rolling Stones, including an image of Mick Jagger that was later used for the cover of the "Love you Live" album.
The 107 lots to be auctioned Friday also include images from Richard Avedon, Robert Mapplethorpe and Ansel Adams.
Christie's
Warmest On Record
April
The planet's average temperature for April was 58.1 degrees Fahrenheit (14.5 Celsius), the hottest for any April on record, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Monday.
Indeed, the world's average temperature was the highest on record for the January-April period, according to NOAA's National Climatic Data Center.
Areas particularly warmer than average included Canada, Alaska, the eastern United States, Australia, South Asia, northern Africa and northern Russia.
Cooler-than-normal places included Mongolia, Argentina, far eastern Russia, the western contiguous United States and most of China.
April
Sex Shop Give Away
"Pope Condoms"
A Dutch sex shop will be giving away 2,000 "Pope condoms" this weekend in a dig at the Roman Catholic Church.
De Condoomfabriek (The Condom Factory) said it wanted to make a point about sexually transmitted diseases, unwanted pregnancies and the Vatican's opposition to contraceptives.
The condom wrapper carries the image of a papal figure with an unmistakable general likeness to Pope Benedict, though the figure's face is removed. It bears the words "I SAID NO! We say YES!" framing the papal image.
The suggestion of a "pope condom" caused a diplomatic row last month when Britain's Foreign Office was forced to apologize for a memorandum by a civil servant that suggested Benedict launch a papal-brand condom on his pending visit to the UK.
"Pope Condoms"
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