Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Mark Morford: 2050, the year we all eat each other (SF Gate)
Make room. Scoot over. Squeeze in. Get your elbow out of my ribs. Get your toe out of my eye. Get your finger out of my ... well, OK, you can keep it in there if you like, but in some countries that means we're now engaged. Or perhaps Mormon.
Froma Harrop: The People Want Higher Taxes (Creators Syndicate)
Poll after poll shows that the American people want higher taxes. That's not the same as liking higher taxes. The people have simply concluded that higher taxes are preferable to the alternative - so vividly portrayed in the Republican plan to do away with government guarantees in Medicare.
Stanley Fish: What Does the First Amendment Protect? (New York Times)
In the two First Amendment cases handed down last week - one about limiting sales of violent video games to children, the other about Arizona's attempt to make public financing more attractive to candidates - the dissenting justices contend that the protection of speech is not really the issue at all.
Jim Hightower: MASSEY ENERGY'S MURDEROUS LIES
In March of last year, Massey Energy Corporation's official record book for reporting unsafe conditions in its Upper Big Branch coal mine said flatly: "none observed." It turns out that this was a flat-out lie, and a few days later Upper Big Branch exploded, killing 29 miners.
SHIRLEY S. WANG: Programming a Fetus for a Healthier Life (Wall Street Journal)
Early intervention is among the most effective ways to reduce the risk of chronic diseases like obesity and diabetes, scientists believe. A study is taking that to a new extreme: targeting fetuses still developing in the womb.
CAITLIN FLANAGAN: Stewardesses and Bunnies of Yore (Wall Street Journal)
Why is TV focusing on women of the prefeminist past?
Roger Ebert's Journal: On the Origin of Transformers
They're arguably the least interesting aliens in the history of science fiction, but how much can you expect from an intelligent race that began as a line of Hasbro toys? They have come a long way given their meager beginnings.
Roger Ebert: Review of "Bad Santa" (R; 3 ½ stars)
The kid gives Santa a carved wooden pickle as a Christmas present. "How come it's brown?" Santa asks. "Why didn't you paint it green?" "It isn't painted," the kid says. "That's blood from when I cut my hand while I was making it for you."
Kira Cochrane: Ricky Martin: 'I hated it when people tried to force me to come out' (Guardian)
The Puerto Rican singer talks about his struggle with his sexuality, his happiness at having finally come out and the 'very erotic' show he is bringing to London.
David Bruce: Wise Up! Husbands and Wives (Athens News)
Chico Marx's wife, Betty, once had to go into a hospital for an operation, and she criticized the slovenly way he was dressed when he and their daughter, Maxine, visited her. Therefore, after the visit, he asked Maxine to wear her prettiest dress the next day when they visited her mother again. This time, Betty did not criticize Chico he was wearing a top hat, white tie, and tails. Maxine writes in "Growing Up with Chico," "I had never seen my mother so much in love with him before."
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."
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Michelle in AZ
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Hotter, more humid. Ack.
Profits Über Alles
Rupert
Britain's phone hacking scandal intensified Wednesday as the scope of tabloid intrusion into private voice mails became clearer: Murder victims. Terror victims. Film stars. Sports figures. Politicians. The royal family's entourage.
The focal point is the News of the World - now facing a spreading advertising boycott - and the top executives of its parent companies: Rebekah Brooks, chief executive of News International, and her boss, media potentate Rupert Murdoch.
In his first comment since the latest details emerged, Murdoch said in a statement Wednesday that Brooks would continue to lead his British newspaper operation despite calls for her resignation.
The scandal, which has already touched the office of Prime Minister David Cameron, widened as the Metropolitan Police confirmed they were investigating evidence from News International that the tabloid made illegal payments to police officers in its quest for information.
Cameron called for inquiries into the News of the World's behavior as well as into the failure of the original police inquiry to uncover the extent of the hacking. Potential victims have cited the tabloid's payoffs to police as the reason the allegations did not surface earlier.
Rupert
To Teach Gay History
California
A bill to require California public schools to teach the historical accomplishments of gay men and lesbians passed the state Legislature on Tuesday in what supporters call a first for the nation.
Governor Jerry Brown, a Democrat, has not said publicly whether he supports the bill, which he has 12 days to sign or veto once it reaches his desk later this month. If he takes no action, the measure would become law automatically.
The bill gained final passage from the state Assembly on a vote of 49-25, without a single Republican supporting it. The measure cleared the state Senate in April.
California already requires public schools to teach the contributions made to society by women and by racial and ethnic groups that were historically discriminated against, such as blacks, Latinos and Native Americans.
California
Highest Paid Actress
Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie and Sarah Jessica Parker, with estimated annual earnings of $30 million each, are the highest paid actresses in Hollywood, according to the Forbes.com annual list.
Jolie topped the Forbes.com list thanks to the worldwide success of her action film "Salt," which brought in $300 million, and "The Tourist," which also featured Johnny Depp and earned $280 million at the worldwide box office.
Much of Parker's hefty earnings comes from reruns of the hit television show "Sex and the City", which she starred in and produced, and earnings from the second movie which generated $290 million at the global box office.
Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon were not far behind in the rankings with each actress bringing home $28 million.
Angelina Jolie
CNN Cuts
Eliot Spitzer
CNN is shaking up its primetime lineup, and one of its evening hosts didn't make the cut.
The network unveiled a new fall lineup Wednesday that will move 10 p.m. anchor Anderson Cooper into the 8 p.m. slot that former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer has manned since last October. "John King USA" and Wolf Blitzer's "Situation Room," meanwhile, each have been bumped back an hour to make room at 7 p.m. for a new general news program hosted by CNBC alumnus Erin Burnett . Piers Morgan will sit tight at 9 p.m. and "Anderson Cooper 360" will re-air at 10. The changes take effect on Aug. 8.
The re-tooled schedule is something of an embarrassment for Spitzer, who'd seized his platform at CNN as a way to re-establish credibility following the prostitution scandal that cost him his job as New York's top politician back in 2008.
CNN brought the so-called "Love Guv" on board last summer in an attempt to bolster the network's third-place primetime ratings, but Spitzer failed to build up an audience, even after he ditched co-host Kathleen Parker and re-branded the nightly opinion hour as "In the Arena" with an expanded cast earlier this year. For instance, when Keith Olbermann's new show premiered on the little-watched Current TV several weeks ago, he managed to pull in more than double the viewers in the key 25- to 54-year-old demographic than tuned in to Spitzer during the same hour--even though the CNN's audience trumps Current's overall.
Eliot Spitzer
Full-Time For 'The Office'
James Spader
NBC has signed James Spader as a full-time cast member of "The Office."
The network announced Wednesday that Spader will reprise his guest role as manipulative salesman Robert California when the comedy returns this fall.
California will have been hired over the summer as the new manager of the Scranton office of Dunder Mifflin paper company. But within hours, he wangled a promotion to CEO of Sabre, the parent corporation of Dunder Mifflin.
This leaves the branch manager's position vacant again. An actor to replace departed series star Steve Carell is yet to be announced by NBC.
James Spader
Turns Porn Star For "Sons of Anarchy"
David Hasselhoff
Is the world ready for David Hasselhoff, porn star?
The former "Baywatch" star will have a guest-starring turn on the upcoming season of the hit biker series "Sons of Anarchy," a representative for the actor confirms to TheWrap. The Hoff's role? He'll be playing Dondo, a former XXX actor who's segued into producing skin flicks.
Hasselhoff, who vacated his judge's chair on "America's Got Talent" early last year, has been keeping busy of late with a reprisal of his role as Dr. William "Snapper" Foster on "The Young and the Restless."
There's also the star-studded, sure-to-be-epic horror film "Piranha 3DD," which is slated for release on November 23 and will see Hasselhoff share the screen with such talents as Gary Busey, Christopher Lloyd and Katrina Bowden.
David Hasselhoff
10 More Years At Berlin Opera
Daniel Barenboim
Renowned conductor Daniel Barenboim signed a new contract Wednesday to remain musical director of the city's Staatsoper opera house for another decade, Berlin Mayor Klaus Wowereit said.
The Israeli-Argentinian conductor has been in the role since 1992.
Wowereit said the city's new contract for the 68-year-old would take effect when his current one expires at the end of the month.
The famous opera's 19th-century home on Unter den Linden boulevard in what used to be East Berlin is currently under construction and will reopen at the beginning of the 2014-2015 season.
Daniel Barenboim
Judge Looking For Publicity
Willie Nelson
A judge has rejected a plea deal that would have resolved Willie Nelson's marijuana possession case in West Texas with a fine, saying the country singer shouldn't get what she considers special treatment.
Nelson was arrested in November after a Border Patrol agent said 6 ounces of marijuana were found on Nelson's tour bus.
Hudspeth County Judge Becky Dean-Walker told The Associated Press on Wednesday that she rejected prosecutor Kit Bramblett's suggestion that Nelson resolve the case by pleading guilty and paying a $500 fine for possession of drug paraphernalia.
The judge says Nelson should be charged with the misdemeanor marijuana possession, which carries up to a year in jail.
Willie Nelson
Woman Drops Lawsuit
'Three Cups'
An Illinois woman has dropped her lawsuit against "Three Cups of Tea" author Greg Mortenson.
That leaves just one suit by a Montana woman and man claiming damages from alleged fabrications in the book by the Bozeman resident.
Mortenson's publisher, Penguin Group, had asked the federal Judicial Panel of Multidistrict Litigation to consolidate the two cases and move them to New York City.
But the attorney for Illinois plaintiff Deborah Netter said in a letter to the panel that the request is moot after Netter dropped her case Friday.
'Three Cups'
Suit Moved To NY
Bret Michaels
Bret Michaels' lawsuit over an accident at the 2009 Tony Awards that the singer claims nearly killed him should be heard in New York where the accident happened, a federal judge in Los Angeles has ruled.
It makes more sense for the case - which stems from Michaels being hit in the head by a set piece after performing at Radio City Music Hall - to be handled by a federal court in Manhattan, U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee wrote in a ruling Tuesday.
The Poison frontman sued CBS Broadcasting and Tony organizers in March in Los Angeles, claiming the accident contributed to a brain hemorrhage that nearly killed him. His attorneys argued the case should be heard on the West Coast since Michaels lives in Los Angeles and Arizona, as do some witnesses, including his manager and other workers.
Michaels is seeking unspecified damages on claims that show organizers never explained that the set would be changing after the band performed "Nothin' But a Good Time" during the 2009 Tony Awards. The accident broke his nose, and he contends it led to the hemorrhage that later left him hospitalized and forced him to cancel several concerts.
Bret Michaels
Canceled Over LA Sex Show Competition
Adultcons
Organizers of the Adultcon porn convention are pulling two of their shows from the Los Angeles Convention Center.
The Los Angeles Times says it's because the center refused to bar other sex-themed gatherings within three months of the event.
About 30,000 people are expected to attend three Adultcons this year, but there will be only one next year.
The Convention Center also booked the Exxxotica show - which like Adultcon charges an entrance fee to meet porn stars - and the Everything to Do With Sex Show, which offers speakers, seminars and sex toys.
Adultcons
Won't Skin Rabbits In New York
"As You Like It"
The Royal Shakespeare Company has skipped the idea of skinning a rabbit on stage in New York.
The troupe back in Britain had an actor skin a dead rabbit as part of a dinner scene in "As You Like It," but won't do it in New York following an outcry from animal rights activists.
The company says that while the rabbits used in England were sourced responsibly and killed humanely, it wasn't able to find animals that fulfilled those requirements in New York.
The company's Facebook page attracted a heated discussion on the issue, with critics deploring the rabbits' exploitation. But the company says it is "part of a scene illustrating the contrast between court and countryside."
"As You Like It"
"Anger Management"
Charlie Sheen
Charlie Sheen hopes to return to TV in a show based on the 2003 Adam Sandler-Jack Nicholson comedy "Anger Management" in which he would play a variation of Nicholson's character, TheWrap has confirmed.
Joe Roth's Revolution Studios, which produced the film, is in negotiations with Lionsgate Television on the project, a person close to the talks told TheWrap. No talks are yet underway with prospective networks or producers.
Sheen would play a counselor who helps patients deal with anger management in potentially infuriating ways.
He told TMZ, which first reported details of the project, "I'm gonna be involved in every aspect of it." He also divulged Roth's involvement and that the show would be an adaptation of a Roth-produced film with the initials "A.M."
Charlie Sheen
Ratings Slide
TV Networks
All five major television networks lost viewers, Super Bowl ratings set another record, "Two and a Half Men" remained the most-watched comedy on television, and the two biggest new shows debuted in mid-season.
That is the 2010-11 TV season at a glance, according to a report released on Tuesday by top media-buying firm Horizon Media. The company summarized the past season in a report looking at the 2011-12 slate of new programing.
A few of the trends it noted for 2010-11 included ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC and The CW all being down in total viewers and in the key 18-49 age group.
Fox, powered by resurgent singing competition "American Idol," was the highest-rated network among viewers 18-49 years-old for the seventh consecutive year, while CBS had the most total viewers for the eight time in the last nine seasons.
TV Networks
Movie Loses Ratings Appeal
"Dream House"
"Dream House," a thriller starring real-life newlyweds Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz, has lost a bid to have its "R" rating softened.
The appeals board of the Motion Picture Assn. of America said Wednesday that the movie merited the rating -- which requires U.S. viewers under 17 to be accompanied by an adult -- because of "some violence."
The film's producer still believes it will ultimately receive a PG-13 rating.
"They gave us a list of several things in the movie that they thought should be cut," Greg Mielcarz, Morgan Creek's executive VP of marketing, told TheWrap. "We're going to ... work with them together to ensure that we receive a PG-13."
"Dream House"
Big Calif. Nugget Actually Aussie
Gold
A 6.2-pound hunk of gold was auctioned for nearly half a million dollars in March after a man claimed he found it on his Sierra Nevada property, but it turns out it was actually dug up decades earlier in Australia.
After Jim Sanders' "find" on his property near Nevada City in California's Gold Country made news last year, Australian prospector Murray Cox compared pictures of Sanders' "Washington Nugget" with "The Orange Roughie" he unearthed near Melbourne in 1987, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
They were an exact match, except the Washington Nugget sold for $460,000 in March and Cox originally sold it for $50,000.
Cox contacted Don Kagin, a coin dealer, and mining geologist Fred Holabird, who together auctioned the nugget for Sanders. The two investigated Cox's claims and determined he was right.
The unusual gold chunk fetched $460,000 at auction because it was believed to be the largest California nugget left in existence.
Gold
Weekend Box Office
Ratings
Prime-time viewership numbers compiled by the Nielsen Co. for June 27-July 3. Listings include the week's ranking and viewership.
1. "America's Got Talent" (Wednesday, 9 p.m. EDT), NBC, 13.71 million.
2. "The Voice," NBC, 12.7 million.
3. "America's Got Talent" (Tuesday, 8 p.m. EDT), NBC, 12.46 million.
4. "The Voice Results Show," NBC, 11.05 million.
5. "NCIS," CBS, 8.35 million.
6. "The Bachelorette," ABC, 8.27 million.
7. "NCIS: Los Angeles," CBS, 8.1 million.
8. "The Mentalist," CBS, 7.78 million.
9. "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" (Wednesday, 10 p.m. EDT), CBS, 7.46 million.
10. "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" (Thursday, 9 p.m. EDT), CBS, 6.81 million.
11. "The Big Bang Theory," CBS, 6.73 million.
12. "Wipeout" (Thursday, 8 p.m. EDT), ABC
Ratings
In Memory
Barry Bremen
Barry Bremen, a Detroit-area businessman whose fun-loving, gate-crashing stunts led him to shoot layups before NBA All-Star games, accept an Emmy Award for best supporting actress and flee from veteran baseball manager Tommy LaSorda, died of cancer at age 64.
Sometimes called the "Great Impostor," Bremen became known to millions during the 1980s for sneaking onto professional courts and fields donning chicken suits as well as player and umpire uniforms - capers that required such accomplices as baseball player George Brett and golfer Jack Nicklaus.
He died June 30 in Scottsdale, Ariz., where he lived with his wife, Margo. A memorial service was held for family and friends Tuesday in Southfield, following a funeral and burial in Phoenix.
Some of his more famous exploits included being chased off the field by LaSorda - then the Los Angeles Dodgers manager - during 1986 during All-Star game warm-ups and slipping onto the stage to accept an Emmy award in 1985 for Betty Thomas of "Hill Street Blues" before she could make her way to the microphone.
Bremen was a father of three and an enthusiastic amateur athlete who ran a successful merchandising business in the Detroit suburb of Bloomfield Hills. Friends say he began his career as the Great Impostor in 1978 while attending a Detroit Pistons game. He casually made his way toward the visiting Kansas City Kings bench and grabbed the warm-up suit of a Kings benchwarmer, getting some floor time in the final minutes of his team's rout of the lowly Pistons.
The get-up reappeared a few months later - on Bremen's 6-foot-3-inch frame - in the NBA All-Star game. After an air ball and a couple clunkers, players started feeding him the ball. His hard work, love of the game and charm endeared himself to many professional players.
Bremen's list of stunts included shagging flies in a New York Yankees uniform before the 1979 All-Star game in Seattle; showing up at home plate dressed as an umpire before a 1980 World Series game in Philadelphia between the Phillies and Royals; and playing a practice round with Fred Couples and Curtis Strange at the 1985 U.S. Open at Oakland Hills, Mich.
He found his way - by invitation - onto the late night sets of Johnny Carson and David Letterman and became a subject of a "Jeopardy" question.
Bremen told the AP he "retired" from gate-crashing in because he didn't want to be mistaken for the real nuts, who run onto sports fields for attention or worse. The knife attack on tennis star Monica Seles in Germany in 1993 was a game-changer for security breaches.
Family and friends say the gate-crashing was just an outward display of Bremen's insatiable love for life. Kolton called him both a "peacemaker" and a "prankster."
Barry Bremen
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