Recommended Reading
from Bruce
David Bruce: Wise Up! Problem-Solving
Alexander the Great was a marvelous leader and a marvelous problem-solver. When he was in the city of Gorgium (now in modern Turkey), he undertook to solve the problem of the Gordian knot, which many, many people had tried and failed to untangle. Alexander solved the problem by simply drawing his sword and cutting the knot in half. Both he and his troops knew the myth that anyone who could solve the problem of the Gordian knot was destined to rule Asia.
Mark Morford: The world's most perfect product (sfgate.com)
Recently over in the sweltering, surreal wasteland that is Las Vegas did I participate in a curious and fascinating event, one that did not at all involve strippers, donkeys or hallucinogenic unicorns on the moon. Well, mostly.
Connie Schultz: America's Children Are Listening (creators.com)
There is a special acre of Hell on Earth when you get lumped with people who claim to be just like you but then say things that never would come out of your mouth.
Froma Harrop: Republicans Overboard on Yachtsman Kerry (creators.com)
I voted for the guy to be president in 2004, but I never much cared for Sen. John Kerry. So to my conservative friends now mocking the Massachusetts liberal for having saved $500,000 in taxes by docking his $7 million yacht in Rhode Island, I say, "Have fun."
Daniel Gross: Is Any Job Better Than No Job??(slate.com)
Employers shouldn't be surprised that Americans won't take their crummy, low-wage jobs. ?
Raymond J. Learsy: Decline of the Middle Class as Metaphor for the Decline of America (huffingtonpost.com)
'Disproportionate' is the freighted word that shackles our society: over the past few years some two-thirds of the gain in national income has gone to the top one percent of Americans.
Scott Burns: What Investors Wish Most (assetbuilder.com)
No reader will want to hear this, but in more than 40 years of investing, "buy and hold" is the only strategy I've seen that appears to work. It's painful. It fills us with fear. But if you hang in long enough, it works. If the drops are too scary, there's only one thing to do: change your long term asset allocation to include more fixed income and less in equities- and then hold that.
Jim Hightower: YET ANOTHER BP OUTRAGE
With BP's well capped and CEO Tony Hayward exiled to Russia, perhaps you thought that the BP horror story is coming to a close, that surely there will be no additional revelations to enrage you. But now comes this: Prison labor.
Jon Henley: "Tories: mess with milk at your peril" (guardian.co.uk)
If Conservative ministers don't understand, here's what's so wrong about getting rid of milk for the under-fives.
Anne Applebaum: The ADHD-ventures of Tom Sawyer ?(slate.com)
The strange comforts of reading Mark Twain in the age of oppositional defiant disorder.
"The American Stage: Writing on Theater from Washington Irving to Tony Kushner" (Library of America #203) by Laurence Senelick: A review by Justin Maxwell
A well-jeweled crown of an anthology, Laurence Senelick's The American Stage covers a wide expanse of historical and cultural territory; thanks to the book's scope and smart selection, we see the nation's theatrical scene and cultural psyche as they develop (or fail to develop) over time. The unspoken thesis of these writings when they are viewed as a whole is that in America, our problems become our idiom. Instead of leading to solutions over time, our problems become how we do things. Consequently, this anthology does exactly what good theater does: it reveals us to ourselves.
"Made in America: A Social History of American Culture and Character" by Claude S. Fischer: A review by Daniel Walker Howe
The book describes a culture of abundance that took its start from the exploitation of a vast, rich continent whose previous occupants had just been (all too conveniently) decimated by unfamiliar diseases introduced by the settlers. Americans have always been a "people of plenty," as the great historian David Potter characterized them in his 1954 book of that name: eager for material possessions and lucky enough to have them widely available.
The Weekly Poll
Update
I'll be back August 17th with a two week long Emmy Contest with a prize! Yes! A nice one, too! Details will be posted beforehand to whet yer interest, so stay tuned! Until then, thanks to all... Yer the Best!
BadToTheBoneBob
wrote:
answered:
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Reader Comment
Peas
Inhaled pea sprouts in man's lung
and i love raw peas straight from the garden
gary in pa
Thanks, Gary!
I'm not a real big pea fan, but there's always a bag of them in the freezer - mostly for when the kid sprains something.
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Still sunny and pleasant.
Upgraded Website
Johnny Carson
For three decades, Johnny Carson tucked his audience into bed while welcoming thousands of guests to "The Tonight Show."
Now the full Carson canon has been restored, digitized, annotated and transcribed.
One result of this huge archiving effort will be an upgraded website for fans containing dozens of clips for ready viewing.
Yes, there will be a boosted product line of "Tonight" DVD sets for purchasing through the website.
"But it will also become more of an entertainment site," said Jeff Sotzing, president of Carson Entertainment Group, a former "Tonight" producer and Carson's nephew. "There will be 40 to 50 clips, which we will change on a regular basis."
Johnny Carson
Confirmed To Host "SNL"
Jane Lynch
"Glee" star Jane Lynch will host NBC's "Saturday Night Live" in October, her boss said on Tuesday.
"I notified her by accident," "Glee" creator Ryan Murphy told The Hollywood Reporter at the New York premiere of "Eat Pray Love," which he directed. "'Saturday Night Live' called to say, 'Would you give us Jane for a week in October?' We just don't do that, but for (SNL creator) Lorne Michaels, I said yes."
Murphy notified Lynch of her hosting gig via text. "I said, Lady, you're doing 'Saturday Night Live,'" Murphy said. "And she literally wrote back, 'What are you talking about?'"
Jane Lynch
Winfrey, Seacrest, Sheen, Laurie
Top TV Salaries
Hugh Laurie, Charlie Sheen, Matt Lauer, Ryan Seacrest and Oprah Winfrey are among TV's highest-paid performers in various categories, according to a newly released breakdown of star salaries from TV Guide.
Drama actors (per episode): Hugh Laurie (House) $400,000+ Christopher Meloni & Mariska Hargitay (Law & Order: SVU) $395,000 (each) David Caruso (CSI: Miami) $375,000 Marg Helgenberger (CSI) $375,000 Laurence Fishburne (CSI) $350,000 Jeffrey Donovan (Burn Notice) $200,000 Nathan Fillion (Castle) $100,000 Jon Hamm (Mad Men) $100,000 Alex O'Loughlin (Hawaii Five-0) $100,000
Talk show hosts (per year): Oprah Winfrey $315 million Judge Judy Sheindlin $45 million David Letterman (The Late Show) $28 million Jay Leno (The Tonight Show) $25 million Conan O'Brien (The Conan O'Brien Show) $10 million
Reality TV (per year): Ryan Seacrest (American Idol) $15 million Joel McHale (The Soup) $2 million Piers Morgan (America's Got Talent) $2 million Kate Gosselin (Kate Plus Eight) $250,000 per episode Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi (Jersey Shore) $30,000 per episode
Comedy actors (per episode): Charlie Sheen (Two and a Half Men) $1.25 million Jon Cryer (Two and a Half Men) $550,000 Dan Castellaneta and Julie Kavner (The Simpsons) $400,000 Tina Fey (30 Rock) $350,000 Jeremy Piven (Entourage) $350,000 Steve Carell (The Office) $297,000 Ed O'Neill (Modern Family) $100,000 Betty White (Hot in Cleveland) $75,000
News (per year): Matt Lauer (Today) $16 million+ Katie Couric (CBS) $15 million Bill O'Reilly (Fox News) $10 million Keith Olbermann (MSNBC) $7 million Wolf Blitzer (CNN) $3 million
Top TV Salaries
Honors Hurley
Weezer
"Lost" may have just ended its six-season run, but one of the TV show's stars is now immortalized on the new album by rock band Weezer.
A headshot of Jorge Garcia, the larger-than-life comic actor who played Hugo "Hurley" Reyes on the castaway series, adorns the cover of the band's upcoming eighth album. The band went one step further, and called the album "Hurley."
"The important thing was that we wanted that picture of Jorge Garcia face on the cover with no words," frontman Rivers Cuomo said in an email to Reuters. "So we just figured that everyone was going to call it Hurley, so that's how it came to be called Hurley."
The album, due in stores on September 14, marks the band's debut for Los Angeles indie punk label Epitaph Records after a 16-year stint on Universal Music Group's Geffen Records label when it enjoyed such hits as "Buddy Holly," "Beverly Hills" and "We Are all on Drugs."
Weezer
Follows In Wake Of `Pawn Stars'
`Hardcore Pawn'
Even in television, where good ideas are routinely imitated, the debut of "Hardcore Pawn" on TruTV next week is enough to make you marvel.
Just like one of the year's breakout hits, History's "Pawn Stars," it's a reality series about a family run pawn shop. Both are effectively comedies, drawing on the everyday absurdities of the workplace. Both play on the similarity of "pawn" to "porn" for their titles.
And both are in the same time slot: Monday nights at 10 p.m. Eastern.
Coincidence?
`Hardcore Pawn'
Sues Concert Bootleggers Before They Bootleg
AEG Live
Just because the Mile High Music Festival this weekend in Denver hasn't happened yet, and just because the bootleggers haven't yet set up shop, doesn't mean that hundreds of individuals haven't already been sued.
Concert promoter AEG Live has jumped on a growing legal trend in the concert world by filing a trademark infringement claim against hundreds of John Does and Jane Does. According to AEG's new complaint, "only the plaintiff has the right to sell merchandise bearing the Festival Trademarks at and near the Festival."
AEG is asking a federal court in Colorado to order the U.S. Marshal, local and state police, off-duty officers, and AEG agents to seize and impound bootlegged merchandise. The lineup for the two-day event includes Jack Johnson, the Dave Matthews Band and Weezer.
The complaint follows a similar lawsuit filed earlier this summer by Universal Music Group's merchandising division, Bravado International Group, in anticipation of a series of concerts by Lady Gaga at New York's Madison Square Garden. That action opened some eyes in the concert industry, showing other outfits how to use the once-rare John Doe trademark lawsuit to get law enforcement involved.
AEG Live
Attacker Pleads Not Guilty
Leonardo DiCaprio
Aretha Wilson, 40, is expected to return to court August 23 for a preliminary hearing. Wilson, who fled to Canada and was extradited to the United States to face the charge, remains in a California jail.
DiCaprio, star of current hit movie "Inception," suffered "great bodily injury'" when Wilson attacked him with a broken beer bottle, according to an arrest warrant.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Hilleri G. Merritt previously issued a protective order requiring Wilson to stay at least 500 yards away from the actor and two witnesses to the alleged attack.
Leonardo DiCaprio
Sued By Former Business Associate
Teri Hatcher
Months after former "Desperate Housewives" co-star Nicollette Sheridan sued ABC Studios and creator Marc Cherry for assault and discrimination, now co-star Teri Hatcher, ABC and the Walt Disney Co. have been targeted by a woman who helped run Hatcher's production company and claims that she was pushed aside and denied a promised 50% cut of revenue from the venture.
Jennifer Glassman, an industry marketing vet who has worked for the Paradigm talent agency, New Line Cinema and her own branding/PR shingle, alleges in the lawsuit that she went into business with Hatcher in 2006 to run her shingle, ISBE Prods., in exchange for 50% of the profits generated. But after pouring her heart into the venture, Hatcher and ABC have worked to "intentionally exclude and eliminate (her) from the picture in terms of revenue sharing just prior to the successful launch of a prominent website supported by Disney," according to the lawsuit.
Glassman says she played a big role at Hatcher's ABC-based company, selling projects like "Burned Toast" to Lifetime and two scripts, "Fried" and "Mercury Rising," to ABC. Disney also recently launched a Hatcher-branded site called gethatched.com through its family.com website. During the run-up to the launch of the site, Glassman says Hatcher abruptly soured on her and sent a mass email in February alerting business contacts that Glassman was no longer working with her. Disney-owned Touchstone TV then allegedly followed up and terminated her.
She also claims she handled duties above and beyond the usual, including running errands and handling Hatcher's "mood swings and unusual requests."
Teri Hatcher
Denied Probation
Rip Torn
Rip Torn's request for a probation program was rejected Wednesday by a judge who kept criminal charges in place against the Emmy-winning actor accused of breaking into a bank while drunk and armed in January.
Torn has pleaded not guilty to trespassing, carrying a weapon while intoxicated, carrying a weapon without a permit and criminal mischief.
Litchfield Superior Court Judge James Ginocchio ruled the charges are too serious to qualify for a program called accelerated rehabilitation, especially since Torn was still in a court-ordered alcohol education program from a drunken driving charge - later dismissed - at the time of the alleged bank break-in.
Torn had a blood-alcohol content of 0.203 two hours after being taken into custody, according to court records. That's about 2 1/2 times the legal limit for drivers in Connecticut.
Rip Torn
Lohan Judge Removes Herself From Case
Marsha Revel
The judge who sent Lindsay Lohan to jail has removed herself from the case after a prosecutor complained she improperly contacted experts or participants in the case privately, including a rehabilitation facility, officials said Wednesday.
Superior Court Judge Marsha Revel recused herself Friday, court spokesman Allan Parachini and district attorney's office spokeswoman Jane Robison said.
In one instance, the judge contacted the Morningside Recovery rehab facility, which was not on a list provided by her court-appointed experts. She then selected Morningside as a place to send Lohan.
Lohan attorney Shawn Chapman Holley eventually persuaded the judge to send Lohan to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center.
Marsha Revel
Activists Plan Anti-War Rally At Poodle's Booksigning
Tony Blair
Anti-war activists say they plan to hold a protest when Tony Blair arrives to sign copies of his autobiography, "A Journey," in central London next month.
Stop The War Coalition says they will picket the event and warn that activists will try to arrest the former prime minister for alleged war crimes.
Security is expected to be tight at Waterstone's in Piccadilly, the six-floor bookstore that is one of the largest in Europe. Customers have been told they cannot take their mobile phones into the venue and no one is allowed to take photographs of Blair.
Blair remains a controversial figure in Britain, where many remain angry at his decision to take the country into Iraq and what some said was a too-close relationship with former U.S. resident George W. Bush.
Tony Blair
Cable Nielsens
Ratings
Rankings for the top 15 programs on cable networks as compiled by the Nielsen Co. for the week of Aug. 2-8. Day and start time (EDT) are in parentheses:
1. "The Closer" (Monday, 9 p.m.), TNT, 5.2 million homes, 6.94 million viewers.
2. "Rizzoli & Isles" (Monday, 10 p.m.), TNT, 4.99 million homes, 6.61 million viewers.
3. "Burn Notice" (Thursday, 9 p.m.), USA, 4.06 million homes, 5.68 million viewers.
4. "Royal Pains" (Thursday, 10 p.m.), USA, 3.94 million homes, 5.52 million viewers.
5. "Covert Affairs" (Tuesday, 10 p.m.), USA, 3.9 million homes, 5.32 million viewers.
6. Auto Racing: NASCAR Sprint Cup (Sunday, 1 p.m.), ESPN, 3.62 million homes, 4.93 million viewers.
7. "Jersey Shore 2" (Thursday, 10 p.m.), MTV, 3.55 million homes, 5.02 million viewers.
8. "WWE Raw" (Monday, 10 p.m.), USA, 3.36 million homes, 4.8 million viewers.
9. "True Blood" (Sunday, 9:02 p.m.), HBO, 3.33 million homes, 5.09 million viewers.
10. "Hannah Montana Forever" (Sunday, 8 p.m.), Disney, 3.21 million homes, 4.73 million viewers.
11. "WWE Raw" (Monday, 9 p.m.), USA, 3.14 million homes, 4.52 million viewers.
12. "NCIS" (Thursday, 8 p.m.), USA, 3.114 million homes, 4.04 million viewers.
13. Movie: "SpongeBob: The Movie" (Monday, 10 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.110 million homes, 4.35 million viewers.
14. "American Pickers" (Monday, 9 p.m.), History, 3.07 million homes, 4.31 million viewers.
15. "White Collar" (Tuesday, 9 p.m.), USA, 3.04 million homes, 4.09 million viewers.
Ratings
In Memory
David Wolper
David L. Wolper, whose landmark 1977 miniseries "Roots" engrossed the nation with its saga of an American family descended from an African slave, has died. He was 82.
Wolper died peacefully in his Beverly Hills home Tuesday evening while watching television with his wife Gloria, said spokesman Dale Olson. Wolper died of congestive heart disease and complications of Parkinson's disease, Olson said.
During his lengthy career, Wolper produced the children's classic "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" and demonstrated his showman instincts with New York's 1986 extravaganza celebrating the Statue of Liberty centennial and the 1984 Olympic Games ceremonies in Los Angeles.
Wolper also produced several other miniseries, including the 1979 sequel "Roots: The Next Generations," "The Thorn Birds" and "North and South."
Before becoming a titan in the miniseries genre, Wolper had a series of highly successful TV documentaries, including the Emmy-winning "The Making of the President 1960."
He also produced the National Geographic special "The World of Jacques-Yves Cousteau," which opened up the ocean depths for television viewers. He recalled Cousteau as "exactly as he appeared to be on the screen, a brave man who believed, passionately, in what he was doing and loved the oceans of the Earth."
Always game for something new, Wolper branched out into docudramas such as "Lincoln," sitcom hits "Welcome Back, Kotter" and "Chico and the Man," and films including the Academy Award-winning "L.A. Confidential."
Wolper's producer roots go back to the 1950s, when he turned footage of the Soviet space program - which he bought out from under the TV networks' noses - into "The Race for Space." The film was a hit in syndication and an Oscar nominee.
Before that, he first entered the entertainment industry by selling old movies to TV stations.
David Wolper
In Memory
Phelps "Catfish" Collins
R&B guitarist Phelps "Catfish" Collins, a veteran of James Brown's J.B.'s, Parliament-Funkadelic and his younger brother William "Bootsy" Collins' Rubber Band, died of cancer last Friday at his home in Cincinnati. He as 66.
Bootsy Collins said in a statement that "my world will never be the same ... Be happy for him, he certainly is now and always has been the happiest young fellow I ever met on this planet."
Bootsy's wife, Patti Collins, told the Cincinnati Enquirer that Catfish "was a father figure to my husband. He's the reason why Bootsy is who he is."
Catfish, eight years Bootsy's senior, suggested his brother put bass strings on an old guitar. After being recruited by James Brown, they played on such classics as "Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine," "Give It Up or Turnit a Loose," "Super Bad" and "Soul Power."
By 1971 they had left Brown's employ, going on to form the House Guests and then joining Funkadelic in 1972 for albums such as "America Eats Its Young" and "Cosmic Slop." Catfish remained with the group -- which also lost guitarist Garry Shider to cancer in June -- until the mid-'80s.
"(Catfish) was a hell of a musician," keyboardist Bernie Worrell, who played with the guitarist in Funkadelic, told the Enquirer. "People seem to forget that the rhythm guitar behind James Brown was Catfish's creative genius, and that was the rhythm besides Bootsy's bass."
Phelps "Catfish" Collins
| CURRENT MOON lunar phases |
