Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Mark Morford: Five things that change everything (San Francisco Gate)
This is what they say. This is the breathless abandon that accompanies each tale of discovery and terror, pain and glory across the vast and troubled worlds of science and tech, politics and warfare, love and sex and death, oh my.
Michael Moore: Why I'm Posting Bail Money for Julian Assange
For those of you who think it's wrong to support Julian Assange because of the sexual assault allegations he's being held for, all I ask is that you not be naive about how the government works when it decides to go after its prey. Please -- never, ever believe the "official story."
Coleen Rowley and Bogdan Dzakovic: "WikiLeaks and 9/11: What if?" (Los Angeles Times; from October 15)
Frustrated investigators might have chosen to leak information that their superiors bottled up, perhaps averting the terrorism attacks.
GAIL COLLINS: My Favorite War (New York Times)
In Oklahoma, a parade has gone secular, and this year's war on Christmas, while muted, is under way.
Jim Hightower: CONCERNED AND CONSCIENTIOUS WALL STREET BANKERS
… their lobbyists and Republican lackeys in congress got Obama to cave in to their greed and extend millionaire's tax break for another two years. Such unsurpassed avarice is why most people reflexively feel the need to barf anytime they hear the phrase, Wall Street banker.
Andrew Tobias: Daily Comment
"Businesses spend more when tax rates are higher! As a small-business tax preparer, I can tell you they look at the after-tax cost of an investment." -- Glenn Justice
Elmore Leonard's Rules of Writing (kabedford.com)
In keeping with recent posts featuring prominent authors' tips for writers, here's Elmore Leonard's famous Ten Rules of Writing. Leonard is a crime writer, and quite possibly among my top three favourite writers ever. Looking over these rules, I can see I've got a lot of trimming to do in my own work. Too much "hooptedoodle", it would appear.
John O'Connell: "This much I know: Elmore Leonard" (Guardian)
The author, 85, on Dizzy Gillespie, not being frightened, and being a good guy.
Lykke Li: 'I'm intense, and I get psychopathic, too' (Guardian)
Sweden's Lykke Li appears on the Twilight soundtrack, sang with Kanye West and is the toast of the music blogs. So why the long face, asks Rebecca Nicholson.
Ben Walters: "Burlesque: the daily grind" (Guardian)
A new breed of performers has transformed burlesque - is it now performance art?
Germaine Greer: Picasso was just a big show-off. Most of his work is inherently trivial (Guardian)
Picasso's gift of millions of euros' worth of paintings to an electrician may add up to one last tilt at art's windmill.
Bill Dwyre: Documentary captures force of nature that was Vince Lombardi (Los Angeles Times)
For much of the 1960s in the state of Wisconsin, there was a shared deity. There was the incumbent and there was Vince Lombardi.
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(s)
New Question
The 'Holiday Season A/V Attractions and Distractions' Edition...
There's a bazillion (at least) movies, songs and commercials connected to the 'Holiday Season' that are streamed non-stop out over the ether this time of year celebrating all manner of things spiritual, secular and avaricious... Yes, I know that you are not shocked at that statement, so don't write and say that you are (haha)... Ahem... Moving right along... All righty then...
Share with us, if'n ya please, yer favorites as well as the ones that make ya want to get yer Scrooge on... I'll tell ya mine, if'n you tell me yours...
1.) Movies
2.) Music
3.) Commercials
Send your response to
wrote:
answered:
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Reader Suggestions
Michelle in AZ
Reader Suggestion
"Santa Claws"
Marty
For all the cat-lovers out there, British animator-director Simon Tofield is celebrating the holidays with
a new Simon's Cat film, "Santa Claws."
Reader Suggestion
Dirty Hippies
Marty,
A video suggestion for BCE.
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Mostly gray with a light rain.
Reteams With Anderson Cooper For New Year's Eve
Kathy Griffin
"My Life on the D-List" star Kathy Griffin and news anchor Anderson Cooper have been paired up again for CNN's New Year's Eve coverage.
Griffin is something of a wild card on air: last year she said the "F"-word during the broadcast and in 2008, she cursed at a heckler.
Acknowledging these past incidents, Cooper said in a statement: "Once again, I'm terrified to be co-hosting CNN's New Year's Eve show with Kathy Griffin. It's often bitterly cold, and yet after being with her for a few minutes on live television, I find myself drenched in sweat."
The duo's coverage begins December 31 at 11:00 p.m.
Kathy Griffin
Voted Most Irritating Word
"Whatever"
Whatever you think about using grating words, at the end of the day it's actually better not to say whatever, if you know what I mean.
For the second consecutive year "whatever' topped a Marist poll as the most annoying word or phrase in the English language.
Nearly 39 percent of 1,020 Americans questioned in the survey deemed it the most irritating word, followed by "like" with 28 percent and the phrase "you know what I mean' at 15 percent.
The phrase "to tell you the truth" and "actually" were also unnerving to many people. But for younger Americans, aged 18 to 29, "like" was the word that annoyed them most.
"Whatever"
Top Places For Spotting
Celebrities
Fans looking to run into a few celebrities would be wise to hang out at Los Angeles International Airport and the Grove, an outdoor mall adjacent to L.A.'s famed Farmers Market.
That's the advice from JustSpotted.com, a Web site that launched in October to some controversy because its goal -- deemed a bit Orewellian by some -- is to track the geographical whereabouts of famous people.
The site uses the public Twitter feed and other information from various social networks to keep tabs on celebrities when they are out in public, and it starts this week to use a new technology that will make for more precise tracking. More on that in a bit.
Rounding out the top 5 hottest places for spotting celebrities in the past eight weeks were Katsuya restaurant on Hollywood Boulevard in L.A. (Will Ferrell, Janet Jackson), the Dorchester hotel in London (Taylor Swift, Justin Timberlake), Madeo restaurant in L.A. (Avril Lavigne, Sofia Vergara) and La Esquina restaurant in New York (Jay-Z, Christina Aguilera).
Celebrities
Wedding News
McDaniel - Hogan
Hulk Hogan has tied the knot for a second time.
His attorney told The Associated Press Wednesday that the celebrity wrestler and Jennifer McDaniel were married at Hogan's Clearwater Beach home Tuesday during a small, private ceremony. Hogan's children from his previous marriage, Brooke and Nick, were both there.
Attorney David Houston says the couple wanted to keep the ceremony as quiet as possible after filing for a marriage license in Pinellas County in November. Houston says the couple has no immediate honeymoon plans.
McDaniel - Hogan
Mixed Up Rabbis
Jimmy Kimmel
ABC late night host Jimmy Kimmel is being sued by an orthodox Jewish rabbi who claims his image was used without consent in a video segment on the show that poked fun at basketball superstar LeBron James' free agency hunt last summer.
The plaintiff in the case is Rabbi Dovid Sondik, also known as the "Flying Rabbi," who has become a YouTube star thanks to his somewhat manic personality.
According to a complaint filed in New York Supreme Court on December 10, Kimmel in August was trying to make a joke about reports that LeBron James had met with Rabbi Yishayahu Yosef Pinto for business advice. Kimmel claimed that he himself had met with Rabbi Pinto for advice and showed the audience a video of the exchange.
The rabbi shown speaking to Kimmel appears to be Rabbi Sondik, not Rabbi Pinto.
Jimmy Kimmel
Robber Got $1.5M In Chips
The Bellagio
Some compare a helmeted motorcyclist's $1.5 million casino chip armed robbery at the posh Bellagio resort with a Hollywood movie script. Others see it more like a liquor store smash-and grab.
Either way, the man who made off in a matter of minutes with chips in attention-getting denominations from $100 to $25,000 might be staring now at colorful but worthless loot.
"If you can't cash them, they're not worth anything," David Schwartz, director of the Center for Gaming Research at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, said Wednesday. "This has definitely gotten a lot of attention."
But chips aren't cash, and Schwartz said they could be hard to redeem in an era of anti-terrorism currency exchange laws.
"If you even transact one $25,000 chip, you're over a $10,000 federal currency reporting limit, and you have to provide identification," he said. "And if you try to structure a transaction to avoid reporting, that'll alert the feds anyway."
The Bellagio
Named In Copyright Infringement Lawsuit
50 Cent
Rapper 50 Cent made a hit song out of talking about how he gets money. Now another rapper wants to get some too - from 50 Cent.
Lawyers for Tyrone Simmons, an Atlanta rapper who goes by "Caliber," filed a copyright infringement lawsuit Wednesday in federal court in Brooklyn.
The lawsuit names 50 Cent, along with the producer who created the instrumental beat for the 2007 hit song, "I Get Money," and a host of music industry companies.
The lawsuit seeks damages and says Simmons had bought exclusive rights to the instrumental track, and that 50 Cent and others infringed on his rights by using it.
50 Cent
TV Meteorologist Faked Assault Claim
Heidi Jones
A meteorologist on ABC's local New York station was suspended Wednesday after police said she made up claims she was assaulted in Central Park.
Heidi Jones of WABC-TV told police Nov. 24 that a man had tried to rape her a month earlier as she ran in Central Park. She said the same person harassed her outside her apartment Nov. 21 at 7:50 a.m.
Police investigated, speaking to possible witnesses and canvassing the area for a person matching description she gave of her alleged attacker. Police said Jones admitted fabricating the story when investigators went back to her to discuss the case.
She was given a desk appearance ticket for false reporting, which is akin to a traffic violation and does not require the suspect be taken into custody. The charge is a misdemeanor and she was scheduled to appear in court Jan. 15. If convicted, she could face a year in prison and fines.
Jones also fills in on "Good Morning America." WABC said Wednesday that Jones has been suspended pending an internal investigation. She worked previously in Billings, Mont., and Houston and has been with WABC for about five years.
Heidi Jones
Setback For Creators In Profits Lawsuit
Smallville
Writers and producers of "Smallville" have lost a round in their heated lawsuit against Warner Bros. over tens of millions of dollars in revenue generated by the CW's hit Superman series.
Los Angeles judge Michael Johnson on Monday granted a motion to dismiss key claims against the studio, ruling that the studio does not owe a fiduciary duty to series co-creators Miles Millar and Alfred Gough and production company Tollin/Robbins Prods. While the case for breach of contract and breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing will continue, knocking out the fiduciary duty claim is a victory for the studio because such claims can give rise to significantly higher damages in profit participation cases.
The "Smallville" creative team last March filed a breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty complaint in Los Angeles Superior Court against Time Warner and its divisions -- WBTV, Warner Bros. Domestic TV Distribution, the now-defunct WB network, where the show started -- and the CW, a co-venture with CBS. The suit alleged that WBTV made sweetheart license fee deals with corporate siblings the WB and the CW that "were not arms-length," shortchanging the writers and producers by tens of millions of dollars.
Warners, in fighting the suit, employed a common studio tactic in profit participation cases, arguing that it doesn't owe any fiduciary duties -- and thus couldn't have breached them -- because the profit-sharing relationship for writers and producers on a TV show doesn't amount to a partnership or joint venture (or something "akin" to a joint venture), as required by law. Warners argued that the "Smallville" creative team wasn't contractually required to share losses on the project, only profits (plus fixed compensation), and the studio had the right to fire them at any time (albeit with a hefty financial penalty), meaning there was no joint venture.
Judge Johnson, in his Monday ruling, accepted Warners' theory, despite evidence showing the relationship was "akin" to a joint venture (whatever that means....courts have never clarified) and that Tollin/Robbins' deal with WBTV was labeled a "venture agreement."
Smallville
Restricts Manga And Anime
Tokyo Assembly
Japan's capital city on Wednesday restricted the sale of manga comics and anime films with extreme depictions of rape, incest and other sex crimes, despite industry charges of censorship.
An amended ordinance passed by the Tokyo metropolitan assembly says that under-18-year-olds must not be able to buy or rent materials that depict such sexual acts in "unjustifiably glorified or exaggerated ways".
The bill, proposed by conservative Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara, demands that the industry self-regulate to enforce the restriction.
Publishers and retailers who breach the rules and ignore warnings from authorities could be fined up to 300,000 yen (about 3,600 dollars).
Tokyo Assembly
'Sends Soldiers To Hospital'
Russia's Military Uniforms
Russia's sharp new military uniforms, created by a top fashion designer, have landed hundreds in the hospital after proving too thin to withstand ferocious winter cold, a state daily said Wednesday.
Rossiyskaya Gazeta reported that between 60 and 250 servicemen have been laid up with everything from flu to pneumonia as Arctic chills sweep through the country's northern reaches.
The government daily said defence officials have admitted not receiving complaints about the uniforms in time to do anything ahead of the winter season.
Introduced in 2008, the parade uniforms designed by fashion celebrity Valentin Yudashkin are threaded with gold and more shapely and chic, in a throwback to the uniforms of the imperial Tsarist army.
Russia's Military Uniforms
Embalmed Head Found
King Henri IV
A team of scientists say they have positively identified an embalmed head, presumed lost in the chaos of the French Revolution, as that of King Henri IV of France who was assassinated in 1610.
The head was apparently lost after revolutionaries desecrated the graves of French kings in the royal basilica of Saint-Denis near Paris in 1793.
Few remains of those bodies have ever been found and positively identified since.
But a team of experts using advanced scientific techniques say they have conclusively identified the head, passed down over the centuries by private collectors, as that of the monarch.
King Henri IV
Cable Nielsens
Ratings
Rankings for the top 15 programs on cable networks as compiled by the Nielsen Co. for the week of Dec. 6-12. Day and start time (EST) are in parentheses:
1. NFL Football: N.Y. Jets vs. New England (Monday, 8:29 p.m.), ESPN, 11.59 million homes, 16.53 million viewers.
2. "The Closer" (Monday, 9 p.m.), TNT, 4.38 million homes, 5.81 million viewers.
3. NFL Football: Indianapolis vs. Tennessee (Thursday, 8:30 p.m.), NFL Network, 3.85 million homes, 5.39 million viewers.
4. "Pawn Stars" (Monday, 10 p.m.), History, 3.37 million homes, 4.8 million viewers.
5. "WWE Entertainment" (Monday, 10 p.m.), USA, 3.29 million homes, 4.99 million viewers.
6. Movie: "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" (Sunday, 9 p.m.), USA, 3.28 million homes, 4.69 million viewers.
7. "Sportscenter" (Monday, 11:38 p.m.), ESPN, 3.25 million homes, 4.16 million viewers.
8. Movie: "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" (Thursday, 7:22 p.m.), USA, 3.23 million homes, 4.51 million viewers.
9. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 10 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.14 million homes, 4.54 million viewers.
10. "Monday Night Countdown" (Monday, 7 p.m.), ESPN, 3.06 million homes, 4.12 million viewers.
11. "Burn Notice" (Thursday, 10 p.m.), USA, 3.049 million homes, 4.34 million viewers.
12. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 10:30 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.046 million homes, 4.54 million viewers.
13. "American Pickers" (Monday, 9 p.m.), History, 3.02 million homes, 4.37 million viewers.
14. "WWE Entertainment" (Monday, 9 p.m.), USA, 2.99 million homes, 4.59 million viewers.
15. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 11 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.93 million homes, 4.39 million viewers.
Ratings
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