Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Mark Morford: Hello, Poetic Justice (sfgate.com)
O.J. goes to prison, CEOs beg and mope, Hummers as STDs. Where are we?
Nicholas A. Christakis & James H. Fowler: "SOCIAL NETWORKS AND HAPPINESS" (edge.org)
We found that social networks have clusters of happy and unhappy people within them that reach out to three degrees of separation. A person's happiness is related to the happiness of their friends, their friends' friends, and their friends' friends' friends-that is, to people well beyond their social horizon. We found that happy people tend to be located in the center of their social networks and to be located in large clusters of other happy people. And we found that each additional happy friend increases a person's probability of being happy by about 9%.
Michele Hanson: I can sew, make stews, do apostrophes and recite poems, but I can't name certain body parts out loud (guardian.co.uk)
It's not so much a stiff upper lip for me, but some hangover from the last century about what is or isn't rude, naughty and meant to be hidden away.
Popbitch: The Top 10 Animal Stories (timesonline.co.uk)
There's a lot more to the scurrilous newsletter than pop star mishaps, as a new book (and this list of strange animal tales) reveals.
Tom Jones on lust, love and Linda (timesonline.co.uk)
Tom Jones is off sex but is finally ready to recognise his love child. 'I was tricked,' he tells Rosie Milla.
Dan Deluca: John Legend talks about the new direction of his music and a lot of other things (The Philadelphia Inquirer)
Things haven't been going too badly for John Legend since he graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1999.
Walter Tunis: Juliana Hatfield's book and music triumph over fame, anorexia (McClatchy Newspapers)
One of the more desperately humorous turns in Juliana Hatfield's recently published memoir, "When I Grow Up," deals with fame - or, more exactly, the quickest available exit from it.
Chris Riemenschneider: Noel Gallagher talks Oasis, past and present (Star Tribune)
Of all the excuses Oasis has doled out for canceling gigs, at least the one that made headlines in September can be easily verified.
Rob Harvilla: Eminem's Tragedy is Our Comedy in The Way I Am (villagevoice.com)
Back in the closet with his new memoir.
The 100 greatest singers of all time (timesonline.co.uk)
Since Elvis transformed polite pop music into rock 50-odd years ago, thousands of vocalists have entertained, moved and inspired us. To identify the best, Rolling Stone magazine polled nearly 200 musicians and pundits. Here are the results, alongside tributes from their famous fans.
Andrew Winistorfer: Review of "'I Am Legend': Ultimate Collector's Edition [Blu-ray]"
As the presence of countless album and DVD (and now Blu-Ray) re-issues prove, people will buy things they like over and over again, choosing the comfort of purchasing a shined-up version of something they know they like instead of venturing into the unknown bin of pop cultural refuse. I've purchased the original three Star Wars movies three times, essentially once every seven years of my life.
Nancy Garden's "Annie on My Mind": A Discussion Guide, by David Bruce (lulu.com)
Free download.
Hubert's Poetry Corner
Dick$ter Christmas Party Gone Wild
Does the zEN mAN have pictures?
The Weekly Poll
New Question
The Obama 'So far' Edition
Are you satisfied with the cabinet picks and policy statements that our President-elect has made to date?
A.) Yes! They are all spot on!
B.) Kinda, sorta... I like__________, but am not entirely happy about__________..
C.) No! I am not a happy camper and here's why__________...
Send your response, and a (short) reason why, to BadToTheBoneBob ( BCEpoll 'at' aol.com )
replied:
4 prizes in all - 3 first-prizes:
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Getting caught up - last weekend's pages are now archived. Some are stil missing artwork, but that won't be for long.
Maybe I spoke too soon. Encountered some difficulties getting this page uploaded. The artwork's coming. Ack.
Don't know if the problem is with the computer, the ftp, or the freaking virus-protection software.
But whatever it is makes the CPU peg at 100. And even I know that's not good.
Anyway, this page has been ready to rock for 18 hours. Argh.
Stops Sotheby's MLK Auction
Harry Belafonte
Sotheby's has withdrawn from auction three important papers related to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. after the King estate objected, claiming the documents being offered for sale by singer-actor Harry Belafonte were actually the property of the estate.
Belafonte himself asked that the papers be withdrawn from Thursday's sale, said Lauren Gioia, a Sotheby's spokeswoman. The auction house did not comment further.
The documents, including a handwritten draft of King's first anti-Vietnam war speech in 1967, had a collective pre-sale estimate of US$750,000 to $1.3 million.
"The King estate believes the documents being offered in Thursday's auction are a part of the wrongly acquired collection," Isaac Farris, CEO of the King Center in Atlanta, said Wednesday. "The King estate is currently in conversations with Sotheby's to establish the truth."
Harry Belafonte
Seeks Strike Authority
Screen Actors Guild
Escalating Hollywood labor jitters, the Screen Actors Guild said on Wednesday it would hold a long-threatened strike authorization vote next month in a final bid to squeeze a better contract from major studios.
The union, which represents about 120,000 performers, said a "yes" vote by 75 percent of those returning ballots would give its governing board permission to call a strike "if and when the board determines it is necessary."
Ballots will be mailed on January 2 and counted on January 23.
The announcement came 2-1/2 weeks after a federal mediator failed to break months of stalemate in talks over SAG's main contract for film and television work.
Screen Actors Guild
3D Weekend
NBA
The National Basketball Association is teaming up with Turner Sports and a digital hardware and software provider to broadcast a night of events associated with the U.S. sports league's all-star game in 3D in February.
Events before the all-star game, such as the slam dunk and three-point shooting contests, which will be shown live on February 14 in 80 movie theaters in 35 states equipped with gear provided by Cinedigm Digital Cinema Corp, mark the first time NBA events will be shown in 3D to a paying public across the country, the companies said on Tuesday. The all-star game on February 15 will not be shown in 3D.
Financial details of the agreement were not disclosed.
The NBA 3D telecast follows a similar event by the National Football League last week, which broadcast a game in a test for media and other guests between the Oakland Raiders and San Diego Chargers in three cities.
NBA
Furor After TV Cuts In Italy
'Brokeback Mountain'
talian state television cut a gay sex scene from Ang Lee's "Brokeback Mountain," as well as a sequence showing the lead characters kissing when it aired the movie, drawing allegations of censorship from gay rights groups on Wednesday.
Activists protested that RAI TV would never have dropped similar scenes had they involved a heterosexual couple, and politicians called for the incident to be discussed in parliament. RAI said it had aired the cut version by mistake.
RAI's second channel aired the film late Monday. Gay groups and Italian media said the movie was missing a passionate sex scene in a tent as well as a sequence showing a kiss between the lead characters, played by the late Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal.
In overwhelmingly Roman Catholic Italy, skimpily dressed women are a fixture on many TV programs, while scenes of sex and violence in movies are generally left untouched.
'Brokeback Mountain'
Hollywood's Walk O'Fame
Kiefer Sutherland
Award-winning actor Kiefer Sutherland became the 2,377th star to be honored on Hollywood's "Walk of Fame," completing a rollercoaster 12 months that saw him begin the year in a prison cell.
Sutherland, best known as crime-fighting special agent Jack Bauer in the blockbuster television series "24," attended a morning ceremony on Hollywood Boulevard to see his sidewalk star unveiled.
The ceremony to honor the 41-year-old Canadian actor was watched by his actor father Donald Sutherland and film-maker Joel Schumacher, who directed Sutherland in four films.
Sutherland made his acting debut in the 1983 flick "Max Dugan Returns" and went on to appear in a string of hits over the next decade including "Stand By Me," "The Lost Boys" and "Flatliners."
Kiefer Sutherland
German Youth Word Of Year
Gammelfleischparty
German is famous for its long words - and today's youth are just as adept at creating new ones as their predecessors, to judge by a poll released Wednesday by the publishers of Langenscheidt dictionaries.
Judges chose "gammelfleischparty", or "spoiled meat party," - an unflattering term for a gathering of people over 30 - as the "youth word of the year 2008." The word "gammelfleisch" was in the news frequently during the year when it was discovered that meat packers had been regularly supplying some kebab restaurants with past-due products.
"Bildschirmbraeune" or "screen tan" - referring to the complexion of someone who spends too much time at a computer - came second, while "unterhopft," meaning "underhopped," or in need of a beer, took third.
Gammelfleischparty
Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award
Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis has never been nominated for an Oscar, but he's going to get one anyway. The 82-year-old will receive the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the Oscar ceremony in February.
The governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced their selection Wednesday. The Hersholt Award - an actual Oscar statuette - recognizes humanitarian efforts that have brought credit to the film industry.
The Oscars will be presented Feb. 22.
Jerry Lewis
What FDA?
Big Pharma
The drug industry is taking more steps to make its consumer marketing more straightforward, including making it clear when actors are used in commercials and other advertisements.
The top lobbying group for the industry, under fire from some lawmakers and consumer groups for aggressive marketing practices, also said on Wednesday that advertisements unsuitable for children should run during television programs or in publications that target adults.
Ads for impotency drugs such as Pfizer Inc's Viagra have drawn the ire of lawmakers and others for their suggestive content. Ads for the company's top-selling cholesterol drug Lipitor featuring artificial heart inventor Dr. Robert Jarvik also came under fire for using an actor in some scenes.
The United States is the only country besides New Zealand that allows drugmakers to target consumers, although some European regulators have weighed whether to lift such bans.
Big Pharma
April Auction
Michael Jackson
The gates of Michael Jackson's famed Neverland Ranch and one of the white gloves first unveiled in his 1983 "Billie Jean" video are going up for auction in a 2,000-item sale organized by the self-styled King of Pop.
Auctioneer Darren Julien said Wednesday that Jackson was sorting through thousands of personal items and his vast art collection from the abandoned Neverland Ranch and other places.
He said the five-day auction in Beverly Hills, scheduled for April 21-25, will be the first organized by Jackson, who has been living as a virtual recluse since his acquittal in 2005 on child sex abuse charges.
The auction catalog alone will sell for $100 with a limited signed edition available for $500. A portion of the auction proceeds will go to the charity Musicares.
Michael Jackson
Record Price
Wittelsbach Diamond
A rare blue diamond handed down through generations of German royalty sold for a record-breaking $24.3 million US at auction Wednesday in London, Christie's said.
The Wittelsbach Diamond, a 35.56-carat cushion-shaped gem, has often had its colour and clarity compared to the famed Hope Diamond, now on display at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington.
The rare gem was snapped up by billionaire diamond-dealer Laurence Graff, Christie's spokeswoman Alexandra Kindermann said.
Kindermann said the price - nearly double its pre-sale estimate - was the most ever paid for a diamond at auction, beating the $16.5 million commanded by a 100-carat diamond at a Swiss auction in 1995.
Wittelsbach Diamond
Rip NBC's Leno Move
TV Producers
NBC's decision to keep Jay Leno at the network by giving him a weeknight 10 p.m. talk show generated some scathing commentary from some of Hollywood's top TV producers on Tuesday.
"I'm wondering if NBC is publicly transforming itself into AM radio," said James Duff, creator/executive producer of TNT's "The Closer." "I thought they were in a coma, so it's a good sign ... They're actively participating in their own demise."
Duff was among the participants at the Hollywood Radio and Television Society's "Hitmakers" luncheon panel at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel.
"As entertaining as Jay is, I think it's too bad that NBC is making choices primarily from a financial consideration vs. putting on the best possible work," said panel moderator Peter Tolan, co-creator/executive producer of FX's "Rescue Me."
TV Producers
Peculiar Values
Cardinal Jorge Medina
Madonna is causing "crazy enthusiasm" and "impure thoughts" on her first concert visit to Chile, a prominent retired cardinal complained on Wednesday, as he paused in a tribute to a late dictator to denounce the pop star.
Roman Catholic Cardinal Jorge Medina criticized the flamboyant singer during his homily at a Mass in honor of the late dictator Augusto Pinochet, who oversaw the deaths of some 3,200 dissidents during his 1973-1990 rule.
"This woman comes here and in an incredibly shameless manner, she provokes a crazy enthusiasm, an enthusiasm of lust, lustful thoughts, impure thoughts," said Medina, the cardinal who was chosen to announce the election of Pope Benedict XVI.
Cardinal Jorge Medina
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