Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Mark Morford: Your angry God will not save you now (San Francisco Gate)
This much we know: Increasingly it is being proven that sexual orientation in general and homosexuality in particular are largely biological adventures, hardwired and pre-set in your genetic code by sly and well-groomed angels way, way in advance, back when you were but a twinkle in the eye of the moan.
Michael Moore: Let's Pass Some Laws Before the Republicans Head Into Town (after all, that's what they'd do)
… Dems -- here's something I don't understand: Why do you look all sullen and depressed? Clearly you're not aware of one very important fact: YOU ARE STILL COMPLETELY, TOTALLY, LEGALLY IN CHARGE! When (and if, mostly if) you wake up to the reality that you can do whatever you want for the next seven weeks, you will realize that you have two clear options: …
Clarence Page: Fighting a legal mirage (Chicago Tribune)
I was happy to see President Barack Obama continue his outreach to the world's Muslims during his Asia trip last week. It's important for Muslims overseas to hear that Americans are waging war against terrorists, not Muslims, even though some Americans have a hard time telling the difference.
Froma Harrop: Liberals Have Much to Like in Deficit Plan (Creators Syndicate)
Many liberals went bananas over the new plan to reduce deficits. The ideas put forth by the chairmen of President Obama's bipartisan deficit commission ignore their priorities, they lament.
STANLEY FISH: There Is No College Cost Crisis (The New York Times)
College may be expensive, but don't blame the schools and their administrators, says a new book.
Megan Driscoll: Strong New Films Go After the Much Hyped "Waiting For Superman" and Its Simplistic Educational Analysis (Alternet)
New documentaries take strong steps to undermine the "Blame the Teachers" mentality of Davis Guggenheim's superficial take on education system ills.
CHRIS MARTINS: R.I.P. Ari Up (L.A. WEEKLY)
Reggae-punk icon Ari Up has died, according to John Lydon. The Slits singer, born Ariane Forster, was 48 years old.
Local Natives: clockwork from Orange County (The Guardian)
After years of honing their tight harmonies, southern Californians Local Natives are breaking out. But they've suffered a few comparisons too many, writes Andrew Purcell.
George Varga: Chart-Topping Pop-Classical Crossover Groban Goes in a New Direction With Producer Rick Rubin (Creators Syndicate)
Pop music has created numerous unlikely pairing over the decades, be it James Brown duetting with Luciano Pavarotti, Liza Minnelli guesting with the guyliner rock band My Chemical Romance, or Tom Waits making an entire album with country-pop songstress Crystal Gayle.
Justin Bieber: One day with the most Googled name on the planet (The Guardian)
Three years ago, Justin Bieber was busking for money to go to DisneyWorld. Then he appeared on YouTube, and now he's the biggest pop sensation since Michael Jackson. Jon Ronson asks him about the bad days, girls and whether it's true he doesn't know what a German is.
Reed Johnson: A judgmental Randy Newman likes what he sees (Los Anegles Times)
'Harps and Angels,' a revue of his songs, is having its world premiere at the Mark Taper Forum and he's 'happy on the inside.'
MIA: 'People forgot what it's like to be punk' (The Guardian)
The controversial musician talks to Decca Aitkenhead about how her new record reflects her 'contradictory and weird and insane' life.
David Bruce has 39 Kindle books on Amazon.com with 250 anecdotes in each book. Each book is $1, so for $39 you can buy 9,750 anecdotes. Search for "Funniest People," "Coolest People, "Most Interesting People," "Kindest People," "Religious Anecdotes," and "Maximum Cool."
The Weekly Poll
New Question
The 'Oh, Come all Ye Shoppers...' Edition
In case you haven't noticed (haha), the 'Holiday Season' onslaught has begun. (Actually, it did the day after Halloween, but no matter). The economic hopes and dreams of countless retailers, wholesalers, grocers, catalog companies, Internet discounters, hotels, motels, airlines, bus lines, restaurants, bars, credit card loan-sharks and the Salvation Army are depending on YOU for their very survival... Or, so they say... In addition, as always, elbowing their way in like a bunch of 'Red-haired Step-Children" demanding attention are those, too, who push the whole 'Peace on Earth, Good Will Towards Men... Reason for the Season' agenda despite the overwhelming evidence that those sentiments might actually happen for only, like, two seconds... If'n we're lucky... So.. Looking at 'The Big Picture'...
What is your overall attitude regarding the upcoming festivities?
A.) Joy to the World! It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!
B.) Is it over yet?
C.) Sigh... It is, what it is... I'll make it through... somehow... I think...
Send your response to
wrote:
responded:
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and a bit cooler.
Hosting Spirit Awards
Joel McHale
TV sitcom star Joel McHale is joining the independent-film community.
McHale, who stars in NBC's "Community," is scheduled to host the Spirit Awards that honor indie films on Feb. 26, the day before the Academy Awards.
A relaxed and freewheeling party compared to many Hollywood black-tie gatherings, the Spirit Awards will be presented in an afternoon ceremony in a tent along the beach in Santa Monica, just west of Los Angeles. Nominations are due out Nov. 30.
Dawn Hudson is the executive director of Film Independent, which puts on the Spirit Awards. Hudson says McHale's "quick wit, talent and charm makes him a perfect fit" for the awards show's audience.
Joel McHale
Crist's Quest
Jim Morrison
The time to hesitate is through, no time to wallow in the mire: Florida's outgoing governor wants to posthumously pardon rock 'n' roll wild man Jim Morrison, the lead singer of The Doors who was famously convicted of exposing himself at an anarchic 1969 concert in Miami.
Gov. Charlie Crist, a 54-year-old baby boomer and Morrison fan whose favorite Doors song is "Light My Fire," said that the evidence that Morrison unzipped his pants was flimsy and that prosecutors were trying to make an example of the singer, whose on-stage excesses and appetite for sex and drugs were legendary.
"There's some troubling aspects to it as to whether there was a valid conviction. The more I learn about it, the more I'm convinced a wrong may have been done here. My heart just bleeds for his legacy and his family," said Crist, who leaves office in January and figures "it's sort of now or never."
The governor said he plans to ask Florida Cabinet members to support a pardon the next time they meet as the Clemency Board. Crist needs at least two of the three Cabinet members to vote with him.
Jim Morrison
Stars Raise Money For Striking Crew
"Biggest Loser"
"The Biggest Loser" stars Jillian Michaels, Bob Harper and Alison Sweeney are holding an eBay auction to raise money for their striking crew.
Michaels and Harper are accepting bids for 1-hour personal one-on-one personal training sessions. Sweeney is auctioning off three private luncheons. Proceeds will be donated to the BL Strike Relief Fund.
As of Wednesday morning, Michaels had received 34 bids up to $9,300; Harper got 15 bids up to $2,000, and Sweeney's lunch was bid up to $1,125 by five people.
The fund was created to assist the crew members, many of whom have worked on the show for all of its 10 seasons. They are currently on strike to go under contract with IATSE to receive health and pension benefits.
"Biggest Loser"
People Says Sexiest Man
Ryan Reynolds
Can life get much better for Ryan Reynolds? After all, he's married to Scarlett Johansson.
Oh, yes it can. People magazine has bestowed its "sexiest man alive" title on the 34-year-old actor.
Reynolds is about to star on-screen as the Green Lantern. The Canadian native told People: "The sexiest thing about Canadians is that there's an inherent ability to be self-deprecating. That has served me well in my career and personal life."
It's the 25th anniversary of People's first sexiest man - Mel "Sugar Tits" Gibson. Others given the title include John F. Kennedy Jr., Harrison Ford and Richard Gere. George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Johnny Depp have won it twice.
Ryan Reynolds is
Unscheduled Break
Bill Nye
Bill Nye, host of the Emmy-winning 1990s television show "Bill Nye the Science Guy," collapsed during a California speech, then got up and continued his presentation.
The Los Angeles Times says the 54-year-old Nye apparently fainted on stage Tuesday evening in front of hundreds of people gathered at the University of Southern California.
USC senior Tristan Camacho says Nye collapsed in mid-sentence at the podium. About 10 seconds later, she says he was conscious and asked the audience how long he was out.
Nye told the audience a similar thing happened to him earlier in the day.
Bill Nye
Zeitgeist Visit
Steven Cowan
A rural Wisconsin man blasted his television set with a shotgun after watching Bristol Palin's "Dancing with the Stars" routine Monday night, saying he was fed up with politics and Palin wasn't a very good dancer, according to court documents.
Steven Cowan, 67, of the town of Vermont, about 15 miles west of Madison, then pointed the gun at his wife, 66-year-old Janice Cowan, who escaped and called police, authorities said. A SWAT team surrounded the couple's farmhouse, and officers were able to talk Cowan out Tuesday morning after an all-night standoff.
Janice Cowan said her husband drank a bottle of beer during dinner and they settled down to watch "Dancing with the Stars."
When Palin, the daughter of former vice presidential candidate-turned-GOP celebrity Sarah Palin, began her routine, Cowan jumped up and began swearing, saying something like "The (expletive) politics." His wife said he was upset that a political figure's daughter was dancing on TV even though he felt she didn't have talent.
Steven Cowan
Sues Dick Clark Productions
Golden Globes
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which puts on the annual Golden Globe Awards, is suing Dick Clark Productions and its parent company for alleged trademark infringement and breach of contract.
Dick Clark Productions produces the Golden Globes show.
In court papers filed Wednesday, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association claims Dick Clark Productions made a deal with NBC to broadcast the Golden Globes through 2018 without its consent.
The association owns the Globes and its intellectual property and contract rights. It first hired Dick Clark Productions to produce the Golden Globes in 1983. The two organizations have an agreement that expires in 2011.
Golden Globes
Denies Hijacking U.S. Web Traffic
China Telecom
China Telecom denied on Wednesday that it had "hijacked" U.S. Internet traffic in April, after a U.S. congressional advisory group said the company had sent incorrect routing information.
The incident resulted in Internet traffic to major corporate websites and U.S. military and government sites being sent through China for 18 minutes, according to the report, a draft copy of which was obtained by Reuters.
A report from the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission said the Web traffic, much of which originated in the United States and was directed toward U.S. corporate and government websites, should have travelled by the shortest available route, and not through China.
Some of the traffic was headed to sites owned by the U.S. Senate, the office of the Secretary of Defense, NASA and the Commerce Department, the draft said.
China Telecom
Files For Bankruptcy
National Enquirer
American Media Inc, publisher of the National Enquirer and Star supermarket tabloids, as well as body-toning magazines such as Men's Fitness, filed on Wednesday for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
The "prepackaged" bankruptcy is designed to allow American Media to restructure quickly and emerge from bankruptcy protection within 60 days.
American Media said it won support for its restructuring plan from holders of more than 75 percent of its bond debt and more than 70 percent of its bank debt.
The company and 16 affiliates sought protection from creditors with the U.S. bankruptcy court in Manhattan, court records show. Its operating unit American Media Operations Inc has more than $1 billion of liabilities, court records show.
National Enquirer
Cuts Back Bosnia Filming
Angelina Jolie
Hollywood star Angelina Jolie has cut back on filming plans in Bosnia for her directorial debut after problems with permits, a local producer said on Wednesday.
The film crew had begun shooting exterior shots at a former military barracks in Sarajevo on Wednesday, but Jolie and the film's actors were absent, Edin Sarkic of the Scout Film production told Reuters.
"The American producers have decided that scenes at 12 locations planned in Sarajevo should be shot in Budapest after the permit had been canceled and then reinstated," Sarkic said.
A Bosnian minister in mid-October canceled the filming permit, citing incomplete paperwork after he met with female victims of the Bosnian war, who objected to what they said were details of the plot for the untitled film.
Angelina Jolie
Body-Builder's Paradise
Maricopa County
An Arizona sheriff has sworn in 56 members of a new volunteer sheriff's posse, including actor-bodybuilder Lou Ferrigno.
The citizens' group will aid Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's deputies in efforts to crack down on illegal immigration.
Ferrigno, best known for his starring role in "The Incredible Hulk" television series, lives in California. He says the Arizona posse volunteers can help protect the country against drug and immigrant smugglers.
The sheriff said action-film star Steven Seagal and actor Peter Lupus of TV's "Mission: Impossible" fame also are members of the posse group, though they weren't sworn in at the ceremony.
Maricopa County
Wants To Open House
Wayne Newton
Wayne Newton's Las Vegas estate is a lavish wonderland complete with South African penguins, sweeping crystal staircases and a memorabilia collection to make a celebrity junkie salivate: a Frank Sinatra champagne glass, Nat King Cole's watch, Steve McQueen's Rolls-Royce and a Johnny Cash guitar.
Newton said the estate is so resplendent that he wants to open his home to the public and turn it into a tourist attraction, in a project some have dubbed Graceland West.
But Newton's neighbors are fighting the effort. They are disturbed by the idea of noisy tour buses, unyielding traffic and inane gift shops flooding their affluent neighborhood of ranches and mansions just six miles from the Las Vegas Strip.
In Newton's vision, visitors to Casa de Shenandoah would tour select parts of his 10,000-square-foot home amid the plush white carpets, gold-trimmed doors, impressionist paintings by Pierre-Auguste Renoir and 17th-century antiques collected from European castles.
Wayne Newton
Not An 'American Idol' Fan
Pride O'Wasilla
Sarah Palin isn't done with Levi Johnston. And she isn't crazy about "American Idol," either.
T
he former Alaska governor and GOP vice presidential candidate writes in her new book that it was "disgusting" to watch Johnston, the estranged father of her grandson, exploit his sudden fame after she was chosen as U.S. Sen. John McCain's running mate in the 2008 election. She alleges that he was absent when her daughter Bristol Palin gave birth to Tripp and that he disgraced himself by repeatedly criticizing the Palins.
"Of course, we all had to bite our tongues - more than once - as Tripp's father went on a media tour through Hollywood and New York, spreading untruths and exaggerated rhetoric," Palin writes. "It was disgusting to watch as his fifteen minutes of fame were exploited by supposed adults taking advantage of a lost kid."
Bristol Palin has been featured on ABC's "Dancing With the Stars," but Sarah Palin has a few words for Fox's "American Idol." She refers to "talent-deprived" contestants who suffer from "the cult of self-esteem."
Pride O'Wasilla
Loses Fizz But Not Flavor
200-Year-Old Champagne
Lime blossom, coffee, chanterelles. That's what sommeliers detected sampling two centuries-old Champagne salvaged from the wreckage of a schooner at the bottom of the Baltic Sea. The flavors that came to my mind were yeast, honey and - I dare say - a hint of manure.
The antique bubbly was barely bubbly after its long sleep in the cold and murky Nordic waters. But I couldn't help feeling a thrill as I took a swill of history captured in that cloudy, golden liquid.
Connoisseurs haven't been able to exactly date the 168 bottles raised from a shipwreck near the Aland islands, a windswept archipelago between Sweden and Finland. All they can say is they are from the early 19th century and astonishingly well-preserved.
I was among 20 people invited to the tasting in Mariehamn, the capital of the island group. We were given a choice between two bottles: a Veuve Clicquot or a Juglar, a now defunct champagne house.
200-Year-Old Champagne
Gets Mexico Conservation Center
Monarch Butterfly
Mexico's celebrated winter visitor, the Monarch butterfly, has a new conservation center aimed at boosting its dwindling numbers.
Environmentalists say that last winter, only about one-fourth as many butterflies migrated to Mexico from the U.S. and Canada as in the previous year.
President Felipe Calderon said Wednesday that logging is a major threat to the butterflies, which are a big tourist draw and a boon for the local economy.
He spoke at a ceremony inaugurating the center in Angangueo, which will provide visitors with information and seek to raise awareness about destruction of the Monarchs' habitat.
Monarch Butterfly
Cable Nielsens
Ratings
Rankings for the top 15 programs on cable networks as compiled by the Nielsen Co. for the week of Nov. 8-14. Day and start time (EST) are in parentheses:
1. NFL Football: Pittsburgh vs. Cincinnati (Monday, 8:29 p.m.), ESPN, 10.61 million homes, 15.01 million viewers.
2. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Thursday, 8 p.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.93 million homes, 6.1 million viewers.
3. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 9:30 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.64 million homes, 5.13 million viewers.
4. NFL Football: Baltimore vs. Atlanta (Thursday, 8:31 p.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.62 million homes, 5 million viewers.
5. "Sarah Palin's Alaska" (Sunday, 9 p.m.), TLC, 3.44 million homes, 4.95 million viewers.
6. "Walking Dead" (Sunday, 10 p.m.), AMC, 3.39 million homes, 5.07 million viewers.
7. "Sportscenter" (Monday, 11:47 p.m.), ESPN, 3.34 million homes, 4.16 million viewers.
8. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 9 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.24 million homes, 4.45 million viewers.
9. "WWE Entertainment" (Monday, 10 p.m.), USA, 3.17 million homes, 4.63 million viewers.
10. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Thursday, 6 p.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.13 million homes, 4.34 million viewers.
11. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 8:30 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.09 million homes, 4.02 million viewers.
12. NBA Basketball (Thursday, 8:17 p.m.), TNT, 3.07 million homes, 4.23 million viewers.
13. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Thursday, 6:30 p.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.05 million homes, 4.24 million viewers.
14. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Thursday, 7 p.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.026 million homes, 4.36 million viewers.
15. "Planet Sheen" (Saturday, 10 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.023 million homes, 4.28 million viewers.
Ratings
| CURRENT MOON lunar phases |
