Recommended Reading
from Bruce
The Grand Rapids LipDub (YouTube)
The international sensation that Roger Ebert calls "The Greatest Music Video Ever Made."
Jeffrey Kaczmarczyk: Rob Bliss' Grand Rapids Lip Dub Video goes up on YouTube (Grand Rapids Press)
The project, filmed Sunday in downtown Grand Rapids, featured familiar faces, including entertainers, political figures, media celebrities surrounded by hundreds of football players, musicians, cheerleaders, police and firefighters, swing dancers, kayakers and more.
Roger Ebert calls Rob Bliss' Grand Rapids lip dub video 'the greatest music video ever made' (Grand Rapids Press)
Plenty of naysayers have called Rob Bliss' Grand Rapids Lip Dub video of Don McLean's "American Pie" lame, boring and hardly worth the time or effort. Roger Ebert, film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times, isn't one of them. The 2011 Pulitzer Prize winner is calling it "The greatest music video ever made."
Roger Ebert's Journal: The greatest music video ever made
All done in one single uninterrupted shot in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Mark Morford: May you now live in sin forevermore (SF Gate)
Here now, a hot factoid of curious news that will stupefy your parents and confound any extant grandparents and make many fundamentalists and most Mormons clutch their dogmas to their quivering breasts in mild but surefire panic.
Paul Krugman's Blog: Shoulda Coulda Woulda (New York Times)
… on the Obama issue, I still think that the administration has made four serious misjudgments.
Jim Hightower: THREE WRONGS DON'T MAKE BIG OIL RIGHT
Reaping extravagant profits from $4-a-gallon gasoline, Big Oil has been pumping out the company line in an effort to deflect public anger from itself: "We don't set prices at the pump," the executives lecture to us. "The price of gasoline is determined by the cost of crude oil, and that price is set by the free market." Wrong, wrong, and wrong.
Richard Alleyne: Moderate drinking in old protects against dementia (Telegraph)
Elderly people who enjoy a drink are less likely to develop dementia, according to a new study.
'I didn't want any wobbling': how to dance naked (Guardian)
What's it like to dance naked on stage? And how does it feel if the audience walk out? Seasoned nude performers talk to Judith Mackrell.
David Bruce: Wise Up! Activism (Athens News)
Riot Grrrl Suzy Corrigan was bullied in high school in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Fortunately, some punk girls came to her rescue by telling the bully, "If you have a problem with her, then we have a problem with you." Many of the girls in her high school were annoyed when a man started passing out anti-abortion propaganda just outside of school grounds. A few girls asked him why he was creeping around schoolgirls who were way too young for him. Many girls discovered that the propaganda could be chewed up into spitballs, which they launched at him with McDonald's straws.
David Bruce has 42 Kindle books on Amazon.com with 250 anecdotes in each book. Each book is $1, so for $42 you can buy 10,500 anecdotes. Search for "Funniest People," "Coolest People, "Most Interesting People," "Kindest People," "Religious Anecdotes," "Maximum Cool," and "Resist Psychic Death."
wrote:
answered:
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
BadtotheboneBob
Biofuels Boom
BadtotheboneBob
'Geordie Shore'
BadtotheboneBob
Manal Al-Sharif
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Mostly sunny.
Prince of Asturias Award
Leonard Cohen
Singer Leonard Cohen has won one of Spain's prestigious Prince of Asturias awards for his poetic gifts and thought-provoking songs.
The prize foundation said Wednesday it was awarding the Canadian its Letters prize, praising him as one of the most influential authors of modern times.
The foundations said "his poems and songs explore with depth and beauty the major questions concerning humanity."
The award is one of eight the foundation gives each year. They range from the arts and humanities to scientific research.
Leonard Cohen
CBS News Job
Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger
Retired pilot Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger expects a lot more from his new job at CBS News than waiting for a plane to crash so he can be a "talking head."
Sullenberger, who became a national hero two years ago when he landed a crippled U.S. Airways jet in the Hudson River and saved 155 lives, is the network's on-air aviation and safety expert. He wants to keep a close eye on the industry where he worked for decades.
Sullenberger made his debut Tuesday on the "CBS Evening News," talking with anchor Harry Smith about the crash into the Atlantic Ocean two years ago of an Air France flight from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to Paris. Over the past week, teams have pulled 75 bodies from the 2009 crash site.
Since retiring as an active pilot last year, Sullenberger has kept busy with public speaking, consulting and writing. He's working on his second book, on leadership; his first, a memoir titled "Highest Duty: My Search for What Really Matters," came out last year.
Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger
Box-office Revenue And Attendance Jump
Broadway
Box-office revenue and attendance both jumped this season on Broadway.
The Broadway League said Tuesday that grosses from May 2010 to May 2011 went up 5.9 percent from last season and attendance was up 5.4 percent from the 2009-2010 season.
The 42 shows that opened this season earned $1.08 billion and attendance reached 12.5 million. Last season, the gross was $1.02 billion and the number of theatergoers was 11.89 million.
The statistics have an asterisk next to them: To account for variances in the calendar year, a 53rd week is added every seven years and this season is one of them.
Broadway
Musical Returns From Dead
'Carrie'
The story of "Carrie," that weird high school girl who exacts revenge on bullies with her telekinetic powers, is coming back to a New York stage.
MCC Theater said Tuesday that it will remount the musical based on the 1974 Stephen King novel in January. It will be the first time the show has been professionally produced since its 1988 Broadway flop.
The title role will be played by Molly Ranson, who's on Broadway in "Jerusalem." Marin Mazzie from "Next to Normal" will play her nasty mother.
MCC says the show's original authors - music by Michael Gore, lyrics by Dean Pitchford and a story by Lawrence D. Cohen - will take another stab at forming the musical. They'll have a new director in Stafford Arima.
'Carrie'
Wants Apology From '60 Minutes'
Lance Armstrong
Attorneys for Lance Armstrong have demanded an on-air apology from "60 Minutes" after the head of Switzerland's anti-doping laboratory denied allegations the seven-time Tour de France winner tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs at the 2001 Tour de Suisse.
In a letter sent Wednesday to CBS News Chairman and "60 Minutes" executive producer Jeff Fager, lawyer Elliot Peters said the May 22 segment about Armstrong was built on a series of falsehoods, and he accused the reputable CBS show of sloppy journalism.
CBS News spokesman Kevin Tedesco said Wednesday he couldn't immediately comment on the letter, but added: "We consider this the most thorough investigation into doping in the sport of cycling ever done."
Former teammate Tyler Hamilton alleged in the piece that Armstrong talked about using the banned blood-booster EPO to prepare for his third Tour de France in 2001 and cycling's governing body, the International Cycling Union, helped him hide a positive test at the Swiss event.
Lance Armstrong
Grants Building License For Amazon Dam
Brazil
The massive Belo Monte hydroelectric dam in the heart of the Amazon rain forest won approval from Brazil's environmental protection agency on Wednesday, clearing the way for construction of a project fiercely opposed by environmentalists, indigenous activists and celebrities including film director James Cameron and rock star Sting.
The dam would be the world's third largest, behind China's Three Gorges dam and the Itaipu, which straddles the border of Brazil and Paraguay.
The consortium building Belo Monte still must obtain an operating license before producing energy, but Wednesday's decision allows for full-scale construction of an $11-billion project designed to produce 11,000 megawatts of electricity, more than 6 percent of Brazil's energy needs.
The government says the project is essential to help Brazil maintain torrid economic growth that can help lift millions out of poverty. It says it is designed to minimize environmental damage.
Environmentalists fear the project will lead to more dams in the Amazon, creating development that will mean faster deforestation of the Amazon region, a rain forest that scientists say is one of nature's best defenses against global warming, a massive absorber of carbon dioxide.
Brazil
Passes Web Entertainment Theft Bill
Tennessee
State lawmakers in country music's capital have passed a groundbreaking measure that would make it a crime to use a friend's login - even with permission - to listen to songs or watch movies from services such as Netflix or Rhapsody.
The bill, now awaiting the governor's signature, was pushed by recording industry officials to try to stop the loss of billions of dollars to illegal music sharing. They hope other states will follow.
The legislation was aimed at hackers and thieves who sell passwords in bulk, but its sponsors acknowledge it could be employed against people who use a friend's or relative's subscription.
While those who share their subscriptions with a spouse or other family members under the same roof almost certainly have nothing to fear, blatant offenders - say, college students who give their logins to everyone on their dormitory floor - could get in trouble.
Tennessee
Billy Bob Thornton's Daughter Guilty
Amanda Brumfield
The estranged daughter of actor Billy Bob Thornton has been found guilty of aggravated manslaughter of a child in Orlando.
Prosecutors say 32-year-old Amanda Brumfield was convicted Friday. She is expected to be sentenced in July.
Authorities say Brumfield killed her best friend's daughter during an overnight stay in October 2008.
Brumfield says 1-year-old Olivia Madison Garcia was trying to climb out of a playpen and hit her head. The defense suggested the fall may have aggravated a previous injury, causing her death.
Amanda Brumfield
100-Yard Limo Ride
Chris Christie
Criticism came in like fastballs Wednesday over New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's use of a state helicopter to fly him and his wife to his son's high school baseball game.
Christie, a former federal prosecutor who has been courted to run for president because of his get-tough approach to state spending, and wife Mary Pat arrived just before the game between Delbarton High School and St. Joseph's of Montvale in Montvale on Tuesday night.
The pair stepped off the helicopter and into a car waiting nearby, which drove them 100 yards to the baseball field.
Flanked by state police troopers, the Christies watched the game from the stands until the fifth inning. Play was stopped briefly while the helicopter took off.
Chris Christie
Secret Report Suggests Murder
Salvador Allende
Chile's state television channel has reported that long-secret documents support the theory that President Salvador Allende may have been assassinated and did not commit suicide during the 1973 coup.
TVN's "Special Report" based its report late Monday on a copy of a 300-page military review of Allende's death long thought to be lost.
Chile's military announced during the Sept. 11, 1973 coup that the socialist president had killed himself with an AK-47 given to him by Cuban leader Fidel Castro. Allende was later buried in a closed casket in a secretive nighttime ceremony with only his widow present.
The comprehensive military review reportedly describes ballistics and fingerprint evidence and includes photos and witness testimony as well as the original autopsy report, which was made public years ago. Two forensics experts who analyzed the more complete set of documents told TVN they believe more than ever that Allende was shot first through the face with a small-caliber weapon, and that an AK-47 blast blew out the top of his skull after he was already dead.
Salvador Allende
Italian Police Revoke License
Snooki
Italian police say they have revoked the international driver's license of Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi after the "Jersey Shore" star was in a fender-bender with a police car.
Florence road safety coordinator Mario Rondinelli told The Associated Press on Wednesday that two policemen were slightly injured but not hospitalized after the minor traffic accident Monday.
The police car was escorting the Jersey Shore vehicle. Rondinelli says no alcohol was involved.
He says Snooki's international license was revoked because there were injured parties involved. By law, she must wait a minium of 15 days to get it back.
Snooki
Hollywood-Style Sign On Hold
New Zealand
Wellington Airport on Wednesday said it had put plans for a giant "Wellywood" sign on hold amid a public backlash against the idea in the New Zealand capital.
The eight-metre-high (26-foot-high) sign across a hillside owned by the airport was designed as a Hollywood-style tribute to Wellington's film industry, which has created blockbusters such as "The Lord of the Rings".
But the plan generated a storm of protest when it was announced last month, with critics labelling the sign a derivative "try-hard" copy of the original.
More than 26,000 people joined a Facebook page opposed to the sign, the city council passed a resolution condemning it and even Prime Minister John Key said he thought the airport had got it wrong.
I
n response, the airport said Wednesday that work on the "Wellywood" letters had been stopped and it would form a community consultation panel to look at alternatives.
New Zealand
Prime-Time Nielsens
Ratings
Prime-time viewership numbers compiled by the Nielsen Co. for May 23-29. Listings include the week's ranking and viewership.
1. "American Idol" (Wednesday), Fox, 29.29 million.
2. "Dancing With the Stars," ABC, 22.86 million.
3. "Dancing With the Stars Results," ABC, 21.42 million.
4. "American Idol" (Tuesday), Fox, 20.57 million.
5. "Glee," Fox, 11.8 million.
6. "Dancing With the Stars" (Tuesday, 8 p.m.), ABC, 10.36 million.
7. "Modern Family," ABC, 10.31 million.
8. "NCIS," CBS, 9.83 million.
9. "So You Think You Can Dance" (Thursday), Fox, 9.46 million.
10. "The Mentalist," CBS, 9.26 million.
11. "House," Fox, 9.11 million.
12. "The Bachelorette," ABC, 9.02 million.
13. "NCIS: Los Angeles," CBS, 8.67 million.
14. "The Voice," NBC, 8.49 million.
15. "The Big Bang Theory," CBS, 8.28 million.
16. "The Biggest Loser 11," NBC, 8.2 million.
17. Auto Racing: NASCAR Sprint Cup, Fox, 8.13 million.
18. "Two and a Half Men," CBS, 8.03 million.
19. "NCIS" (Tuesday, 10 p.m.), CBS, 7.91 million.
20. "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," CBS, 7.74 million.
Ratings
In Memory
Clarice Taylor
Clarice Taylor, an actress best known for portraying the self-possessed Grandmother Huxtable on the hit television sitcom "The Cosby Show," died Monday. She was 93.
Bill Cosby said she was "perfect" as the mother of his character, Cliff Huxtable, on the NBC series that aired from 1984 to 1992 except she looked "young enough to play my sister."
After appearing in the original Broadway production of "The Wiz" in the late 1970s, Taylor toured with the show and roomed with Phylicia Rashad, who would play Cosby's wife on the TV series.
Taylor first auditioned to play Rashad's mother but eventually was cast as Cosby's.
Both Taylor and Earle Hyman, who played her husband, received Emmy nominations in 1986 for their roles as Anna and Russell Huxtable.
Born Sept. 20, 1917, in Buckingham County, Va., Taylor grew up in Harlem.
She started out acting with Harlem's American Negro Theatre, and in the late 1960s was one of the original members of the New York-based Negro Ensemble Company.
In the movies, she played the ill-fated housekeeper Birdie in Clint Eastwood's "Play Misty for Me" (1971) and starred in "Five on the Black Hand Side" (1973).
Her other long-running TV role was on "Sesame Street." From the late 1970s to 1990, she played Harriet, who occasionally left her farm to visit her grandson David in the city.
Taylor's late 1980s one-woman show about Moms Mabley, called "Moms," led to a national tour and a complicated legal dispute over the provenance of the play.
The show was originally billed as "based on a concept by Clarice Taylor" but it was written by Alice Childress, who successfully sued when Taylor produced another version of "Moms" that did not credit Childress.
"I really became obsessed with this play," Taylor had told the Washington Post. "It was like Moms was pushing me from the grave, saying, 'Keep my name alive.' "
Taylor is survived by two sons, James and William, and five grandchildren.
Clarice Taylor
In Memory
Faye Treadwell
Fayrene "Faye" Treadwell, who as The Drifters' manager was one of the first African-American female managers in show business, died last week in Burbank, Calif. She was 84.
Treadwell's daughter, Tina, said in a statement that Treadwell died after a long illness. No other details were provided.
After the 1967 death of her musician-manager husband, George Treadwell, she gained control and managed The Drifters, the R&B group best known for such hits as "This Magic Moment," "Under the Boardwalk" and "Save the Last Dance for Me."
Treadwell is survived by her daughter, stepdaughter, mother and two sisters.
Faye Treadwell
In Memory
Adolfas Mekas
Adolfas Mekas, a member of the avant-garde New American Cinema movement of the 1960s and longtime professor of film at New York's Bard College, died Tuesday at age 85.
Mekas came to the U.S. in 1949 after time spent in a Nazi concentration camp and later in displaced-persons camps in Germany, where he was able to study theater arts and literature.
He served as a still photographer in the U.S. Army Signal Corps from 1951 to 1953. Mekas and his brother Jonas founded the journal Film Culture in 1954 and the Filmmakers' Cooperative, an independent cinema distribution house owned by artists.
Mekas was associated with the neo-Dadaist Fluxus movement and participated in the first Fluxus performance in 1961. He made several short films and then the comedy feature "Hallelujah the Hills," which played at the Cannes Film festival in 1963.
Another feature, 1971's "Going Home," and his brother's 1972 feature "Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania," chronicled their first trip to their Lithuanian hometown since the end of World War II.
Mekas founded the film program at Bard in 1971 and directed it until 1994. He retired from active teaching in 2004 and was a professor emeritus. He lived in Rhinebeck.
Adolfas Mekas
| CURRENT MOON lunar phases |
