Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Mark Morford: Damn You Muslims, Get Off My Yard (sfgate.com)
This much we know: America needs its demons. We need our enemies, our menacing and dark-eyed nemesis, that foreign and terrifying thing we do not understand and against which we must rally and wail, push and pule, fight and destroy.
MATT GOURAS: Buffett, Ballmer Predict Bright Economic Future (huffingtonpost.com)
Some of the biggest names in business said Monday that they see a bright future for the economy, with famed investor Warren Buffett declaring the country and world will not fall back into the grips of the recession.
Froma Harrop: 'Art' Fights Nature in Colorado
Colorado's Arkansas River is a masterpiece. Crafted by the Creator, it is a natural work of art that needs no improvement. That a ludicrous proposal to cover 42 miles of it with 120-foot-wide fabric has gotten as far as it has speaks to the marketing genius of showman-artist "Christo."
Interview by Laura Barnett: "Portrait of the artist: Isy Suttie, comedian" (guardian.co.uk)
'I called a geeky-looking guy up on stage and he grabbed my left breast. It was horrible, but I carried on.'
Roger Ebert: "Toronto Report #2:The hereafter, Casino Jack and vengeance"
Clint Eastwood's "Hereafter" considers the possibility of an afterlife with tenderness, beauty and a gentle tact. I was surprised how enthralling I found it.
Roger Ebert: "Toronto Report #3: Werner & Errol & the images in their caves"
Werner Herzog and Errol Morris have been friends for a very long time, from the days in the 1970s when Morris saw Herzog's first films at the Univ. of Wisconsin and decided to become a filmmaker. Errol told Herzog of a film he wanted to shoot, but kept delaying. Herzog told him he needed more self-discipline. He added: "If you make this film, I'll eat my shoe."
Sharon Osbourne is a charmer in a mad, mad world (guardian.co.uk)
Lucy Mangan can't help liking Sharon Osbourne - she's surrounded by possibly the most revolting group of people outside a war crimes tribunal.
Richard Roeper: As a knife-wielding outlaw, Trejo triumphs in ultimate B-movie
He was born in a trailer. A movie trailer. They call him Machete, because that's his name and that's his weapon of choice. (Good thing his last name isn't Water Pistol or Throw Pillow.) Danny Trejo is ... Machete!
Roger Ebert: Review of FLIPPED (PG-13; 3 ½ stars0)
There are moments in adolescence when your feelings about romance turn on a dime.
Geoff Boucher: With 'Hereafter,' Clint Eastwood contemplates what's next (Los Angeles Times)
The director's 32nd feature film, which will screen at the Toronto film fest, looks at people who have touched the other side of death.
Steven Zeitchik: "Toronto 2010: IFC feels 'Super'" (latimes.com)
The movie stars [Rainn] Wilson as a depressive cook who creates an alternate superhero persona named the Crimson Bolt -- essentially a vigilante personality -- in the interest of jazzing up his life. He then picks up a sidekick (Ellen Page) as he goes about exacting his own brand of justice, often to raunchy, hard-R effect.
20 Questions: David Michôd, Director of 'Animal Kingdom' (popmatters.com)
'Animal Kingdom' is the critically acclaimed feature debut of young Australian director, David Michôd, who has helmed many short films that have made the festival circuit.
Hubert's Poetry Corner
"Zhivago Effect and the New World Order"
Delaware on the mind!
The Weekly Poll
Current Question
The 'Cleaning House' Edition
Flint (MI) public housing authority, in an effort to fight crime in the projects, is considering a requirement for all current and prospective residents to take a drug test to keep their federally subsidized apartments.... Housing Commission Executive Rodney Slaughter said he wants a drug-testing program modeled after the city of Indianapolis, where public housing residents are required to take annual drug tests. If a resident tests positive, they would have 30 days to test negative or seek help...
Flint eyes drug tests for public housing | detnews.com | The Detroit News
Would you support such a policy in your community?
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From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
A little marine layer, followed by a lot of sun.
Backs US Child Labor Laws Reform
Eva Longoria
No child should have to choose between putting food on the table and getting a proper education, actress Eva Longoria said Wednesday calling for more rights for the youngest US farm workers.
"Every time you eat a salad, every time you eat a vegetable, you have to think that this might have been picked by a child," Longoria, who grew up on a farm in Texas, told a press conference campaigning for a reform of child labor laws.
"The children who feed the most well-fed nation in the world go to bed hungry," added the star of ABC television's "Desperate Housewives."
She was introducing a documentary which said more than a quarter of all the fruits and vegetables consumed in the United States are picked by as many as 400,000 migrant child workers, many of them US citizens or legal residents.
"The United States is a Third World country where agriculture is concerned," said director Robin Romano, who followed five families over two years across the United States for his documentary "The Harvest/La Cosecha."
Eva Longoria
Hollywood Walk O'Fame Star
Bill Maher
Political satirist Bill Maher has been immortalized in Hollywood.
With Larry King and "Family Guy" producer Seth MacFarlane standing nearby, HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher" talk show host unveiled his Walk of Fame star Tuesday outside the W Hotel at the corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street.
Maher, who once hosted the late-night talk show "Politically Incorrect," said he wanted to thank "George Bush, Sarah Palin and the pope."
It was the 2,417th star dedicated on the famous sidewalk.
Bill Maher
Jury Duty Keeps Director From Film Fest
John Carpenter
Horror director John Carpenter's first movie in nine years, "The Ward," just made its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.
The beautiful cast, which includes Amber Heard, Danielle Panabaker, Lyndsy Fonseca and Mika Boorem, was there. The producers were there. The financiers were there.
But Carpenter was not. The director couldn't come to the bash because he was, and remains, stuck in Los Angeles doing jury duty.
Carpenter had apparently put off jury duty as much as is legally allowed but was called last week. He was also told to report to court Monday for duty. The filmmaker's camp and producers of "The Ward" tried to make some deal but to no avail.
John Carpenter
Honors Announced
National Book Foundation
For at least one night, Tom Wolfe will share billing with one of the founders of "Sesame Street."
The National Book Foundation announced Wednesday that the author of such best-sellers as "The Right Stuff" and "The Bonfire of the Vanities" will receive an honorary National Book Award for lifetime achievement.
The foundation said a special prize for outstanding service to the American literary community also will be given to Joan Ganz Cooney. Cooney's research on television and education helped inspire the beloved children's program "Sesame Street."
The awards ceremony takes place Nov. 17. Humorist Andy Borowitz will be the host.
National Book Foundation
Joins Theatre Trust
Stephen Fry
Stephen Fry has replaced showbiz veteran Lord Attenborough as chairman of a charity trust set up to protect a historic theatre.
The comic said he could not "be more proud and pleased" to join the Criterion Theatre Trust which runs the venue in central London.
The trust was set up in 1992 to oversee the refurbishment of the venue in Piccadilly, which first opened in 1874.
Stephen Fry
Backlash Over Bill For Trip Down Under
Oprah
Oprah Winfrey has another shock in store for the 300 fans she surprised earlier this week with tickets for an all-inclusive trip to Australia - she's not paying for the vacation.
The billionaire TV titan sent audience members into a frenzy on Monday when she announced she would be jetting all of them Down Under to celebrate her 25th and final season of the Oprah show.
All 300 members of the crowd will be flown over to Sydney in December for a free trip while Winfrey shoots several episodes of her talkshow at the city's famed Opera House.
But Winfrey hasn't been as generous as fans think - the state of New South Wales and Australia's tourism department will be paying the staggering £1.8 million bill for the jaunt.
Oprah
Sues Concert Promoter
Katherine Jackson
Michael Jackson's mother on Wednesday sued the promoter of what were intended to be the pop star's comeback concerts for fraud and other claims related to the singer's death.
The complaint accused AEG Live of failing to honor its agreement to provide the doctor charged in the singer's death with lifesaving equipment.
The suit says AEG Live was liable for the actions of Dr. Conrad Murray, who has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter in Jackson's death at age 50. Police say Murray gave Jackson an overdose of the anesthetic propofol.
Murray was acting as Jackson's personal physician and was to be paid by AEG during preparation for the concerts. However, Jackson died before signing the agreement. As a result, AEG has said the agreement was not binding.
Katherine Jackson, who is the guardian of the singer's three children, also sued on their behalf.
Katherine Jackson
Pay Increase
"Big Bang Theory"
The stars of "The Big Bang Theory" are getting a big salary increase as CBS moves the show to the starter-block position on Thursday nights in an attempt to launch a new comedy block.
Emmy-winning star Jim Parsons, Johnny Galecki and Kaley Cuoco will each earn $200,000 an episode for the show's upcoming fourth season, sources confirmed. That's up more than 200 percent from their previous $60,000 per episode.
Their salaries will climb by another $50,000 each year for the next three (presumed) seasons of the show. That's still a far cry from the nearly $2 million per episode earned by Charlie Sheen on CBS' veteran "Two and a Half Men," whose ratings were surpassed by "Big Bang" last season.
"Big Bang Theory"
Get SC Monument
Hootie & The Blowfish
Hootie & The Blowfish is getting a monument in South Carolina's capital city.
The State newspaper reported that a large steel and black granite art piece will be unveiled Oct. 21 in Columbia's Five Points neighborhood, blocks from the University of South Carolina.
The newspaper reported the monument is expected to be about 20 feet long, 10 feet wide and at least 12 feet tall.
The Southern rockers sold more than 16 million copies of their debut album, "Cracked Rear View," released in 1994.
Hootie & The Blowfish
Launching Companion Website
'60 Minutes'
"60 Minutes" is launching a companion website that will offer additional details from its correspondents each week about stories that appear on the CBS broadcast.
The site is 60minutesovertime.com and will appear on Sept. 26, the night the broadcast begins its 43rd season on the air. Each week new content will appear online at the same time the broadcast airs.
The site is a separate entity from the current "60 Minutes" website, where people can click on video of stories that have aired.
Besides the look behind the scenes at each week's episode, producers say they will draw from archival material to add context to current news stories. For instance, 60minutesovertime.com would have posted excerpts from Mike Wallace's interview with Roger Clemens about steroids on the day the former pitcher was indicted recently, Fager said.
'60 Minutes'
Ads 90 Percent Sold
Super Bowl
Fox Broadcasting has sold more than 90 percent of its Super Bowl advertising time, with prices running at an average of about $3 million for a 30-second spot, a source familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.
Strong, early sales for the 2011 National Football League championship game suggest that advertisers are as willing as ever to pay up for the chance to reach a U.S. television of more than 100 million viewers, despite worries about the economy and budget constraints.
Super Bowl XLV will be played on February 6 in Texas.
Fox is a division of Rupert News Corp..
Super Bowl
Celebrates 'The Misfits'
Dayton, NV
Toni Westbrook-VanCleave was only 6 at the time, but she still remembers Marilyn Monroe strapping on a toy gun belt and playing cowboys and Indians with her young brother during a break in filming of "The Misfits."
Like other residents of the small northern Nevada town of Dayton, she had no clue of the demons that drove Monroe to be consistently late on the set, causing frustrating delays for director John Huston and co-stars Clark Gable and Montgomery Clift.
"She was gorgeous, very sweet, naive," recalled VanCleave, who was a $10-a-day extra during a rodeo scene. "She wasn't snobby. She seemed real down to earth and friendly."
In testimony to the public's enduring fascination with Monroe, VanCleave and other locals will gather Saturday and Sunday in Dayton, about 40 miles southeast of Reno, to mark the 50th anniversary of filming for the last complete movie for both Monroe and Gable.
Dayton, NV
In Memory
Edwin Newman
Edwin Newman, who brought literacy, wit and energy to NBC newscasts for more than three decades, and battled linguistic pretense and clutter in his best sellers "Strictly Speaking" and "A Civil Tongue," has died. He was 91.
Newman died on Aug. 13 of pneumonia in Oxford, England. He had moved there with his wife in 2007 to live closer to their daughter, said his lawyer Rupert Mead. He said the family delayed announcing Newman's death so they could spend some time privately grieving.
At NBC from 1952 until his retirement in 1984, Newman did political reporting, foreign reporting, anchoring of news specials, "Meet the Press," "Today," "Nightly News," midday news and a variety of radio spots. He announced the death of President Kennedy on radio, and anchored on TV when President Reagan was shot.
He also narrated and helped write documentaries, back when they were an influential staple of network programming. They included "Who Shall Live?" - a 1965 study of the difficulties of deciding which kidney disease should receive lifesaving dialysis - and "Politics: The Outer Fringe," a 1966 look at extremism.
Newman, with his rumpled, squinting delivery, impressed his audience not so much with how he looked as with the likelihood that what he'd say would be worth hearing. And his occasional witty turn of phrase might be accompanied by a mischievous smile. The New York Times wrote in 1966 that Newman "is one of broadcasting's rarities. ... NBC's instant renaissance man speaks with the distinctive growl of a rusted muffler. He makes no concessions to the charm boy school of commentator."
In his series "Speaking Freely," he had hourlong, uninterrupted conversations with notables in many fields.
His contributions to the radio show "Emphasis" won him a 1966 Peabody Award; judges cited "his wit and depth of understanding, both conspicuous rarities to be cherished and honored."
He turned to writing books in the 1970s, taking on the linguistic excesses of Watergate, sportscasters, academics, bureaucrats and other assorted creators of gobbledygook with wit and indignation. Both "Strictly Speaking" and "A Civil Tongue" were best sellers.
Chapter titles of "A Civil Tongue" give an idea of his targets: "A Fatal Slaying of the Very Worst Kind," "A Real Super Player with Good Compassion," "Paradigm Lost" and "Myself Will Be Back After This Message."
For a time, he was also a theater reviewer for NBC's New York station, drawing upon all his skills to sum up productions in one minute flat. Of one show, he wrote, "As with so many recent musicals, none of the principals can really sing."
In another, he wrote that "`Illya Darling' rests on the premise that Melina Mercouri is irresistible. ... This highly unlikely premise . ..." He raised a ruckus when a producer quoted him in an ad as saying "Melina is irresistible."
After retiring in January 1984, Newman enjoyed being on "Saturday Night Live" skits and in several situation comedies, where, he said, "I've always had the demanding job of playing myself." (In one SNL sketch, he mans a suicide hot line and keeps correcting the desperate caller's grammar.)
He narrated some public television programs, including the 1988 PBS series "Television."
Newman was born in New York City in 1919, and got his first taste of reporting on his high school paper. A brother, M.W. Newman, became an award-winning reporter for the Chicago Daily News and the Chicago Sun-Times. He died in 2001.
After studying at the University of Wisconsin and Louisiana State, Newman began his journalism career in the Washington bureau of the International News Service. He took dictation from reporters for 12 hours when Pearl Harbor was attacked on Dec. 7, 1941.
After serving in the Navy during World War II, he held various journalism jobs, including a stint in the CBS Washington bureau, before joining NBC in 1952 in London.
He rose to NBC bureau chief in London, then Rome, then Paris before returning to the United States permanently in 1961, covering a variety of assignments for NBC.
He and his wife, Rigel, had one daughter, Nancy.
Edwin Newman
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