Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Paul Krugman: Degrees and Dollars (New York Times)
The hollow promise of good jobs for highly educated workers.
Michael Moore: America is not broke (michaelmoore.com)
By trying to destroy us corporate America has given birth to a movement -- a movement that is becoming a massive, nonviolent revolt across the country.
Michael Moore: How I Got to Madison, Wisconsin (michaelmoore.com)
Early yesterday morning, around 1:00 AM, I had finished work for the day on my current "project" (top secret for now -- sorry, no spoiler alerts!). Someone had sent me a link to a discussion Bill O'Reilly had had with Sarah Palin a few hours earlier about my belief that the money the 21st Century rich have absconded with really isn't theirs -- and that a vast chunk of it should be taken away from them.
Jim Hightower: "SMOKERS: PERSONA NON HIREABLE"
Okay, here I go. With all of the giant problems on our small globe, I shouldn't ricochet off on the issue of smoking bans, but my libertarian leprechaun is tugging at me.
Paper or Plastic? Wine by the Box, Keg and Can (Wall Street Journal)
Today's wine-packaging breakthroughs include metal barrels, plastic bottles, cardboard boxes, aluminum cans and even test tubes. Lettie Teague on whether any of them beat the good old glass bottle.
Weighty issues (Guardian)
Can a diet plan double as a new life plan, asks Oliver Burkeman.
VIRGINIA HEFFERNAN: Living Singles (New York Times Magazine)
Long-form journalism is the only homegrown American literary form. I'm talking about the kind of journalism that, in an effort by writers to conceal how radically they're blurring the fact-fiction line, is innocently labeled "narrative nonfiction" in journalism schools and M.F.A. programs.
"It Is Right to Draw Their Fur: Animal Renderings" by Dave Eggers: A review by Kevin Carollo
"I have no particular excuse for why so many of them are addressing God. It seems that when animals are alone on a page, the white space around them invites the presence of their creator, and when you put an animal and God together, it seems likely that pointed conversation would ensue."-- Dave Eggers
Robert Moore: Why Cast a Spotlight on Joss Whedon? (Popmatters)
PopMatters will, over the next five weeks, publish almost 60 essays and/or interviews on pop cultural icon Joss Whedon. So just what has he done that is worthy of such attention, and why should we care?
Laura Berger: "Joss Whedon 101: 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer': The Movie" (Popmatters)
The 1997 television series 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' is often cited as an "unlikely" critical darling. The title didn't exactly inspire confidence, nor did the fact that the cast was led by former soap star Sarah Michelle Gellar. Perhaps most damning was the show's affiliation with a poorly received film released five years prior-a film of the same name and premise.
John Jurgensen: After 30 Years, R.E.M.'s 'Collapse Into Now' (Wall Street Journal)
For a band with a 30-year history, the new CD comes at a critical time.
George Varga: The Evolution of Linkin Park (Creators Syndicate)
Tampering with a winning formula can often be commercial suicide, especially in the intensely competitive world of pop music. But when Linkin Park recorded its latest album, 2010's "A Thousand Suns," the members of this top Los Angeles rap-rock band did more than just consider deviating from their winning musical approach of the past - they all but abandoned it.
David Bruce has 41 Kindle books on Amazon.com with 250 anecdotes in each book. Each book is $1, so for $41 you can buy 10,250 anecdotes. Search for "Funniest People," "Coolest People, "Most Interesting People," "Kindest People," "Religious Anecdotes," and "Maximum Cool."
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From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Reader Suggestions
Michelle in AZ
Reader Recommendation
"Shroedinger's Cat"
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and very windy. Very, very windy.
Hosting Peabody Awards
Larry King
Larry King will host this year's Peabody Awards ceremony.
King will announce the awards at the George Foster Peabody Awards at a May 23 ceremony in New York.
The award, which recognizes excellence in electronic media, was established in 1940 and is administered by the University of Georgia's Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication.
There are no categories for entry and no nominations. Entries are judged by a 16-member board, which includes television critics, industry practitioners, scholars and experts in culture and fine arts.
Larry King
Cheers Stuck Travelers
Cyndi Lauper
Don't think being stranded in an airport can't be fun.
Singer Cyndi Lauper wants travelers to know that breaking out into song can raise one's spirits even when flights are canceled and passengers are peeved.
The pop star helped cheer stranded crowds at Buenos Aires' Jorge Newbery Airport recently by grabbing a public-address microphone and singing her 1983 hit song "Girls Just Want to Have Fun," as nearby travelers and airport workers sang along. A video of the spontaneous performance was recorded Friday, and has attracted thousands of views since it was posted to the Internet.
Lauper is currently on tour. She was traveling from Argentina to Santiago, Chile, when several flights were delayed due to an extended holiday weekend.
Cyndi Lauper
Renewed
`How I Met Your Mother'
CBS has renewed the comedy "How I Met Your Mother" for two more years, bringing a degree of certainty to at least one show in its Monday-night lineup.
The deal announced Monday between CBS and producer Twentieth Century Fox Television keeps the show on through the 2012-2013 season. The five central actors - Josh Radnor, Jason Segel, Alyson Hannigan, Neil Patrick Harris and Cobie Smulders - are each signed for two more years.
If the current troubles between CBS and Charlie Sheen cannot be solved, the show is a candidate to move into the "Two and a Half Men" time slot.
Six years in, there's still no word from producers on when they'll introduce the future wife of Radnor's character.
`How I Met Your Mother'
Future Uncertain
'Detroit 1-8-7'
With three episodes left to air and its future uncertain, the principals behind the ABC crime drama "Detroit 1-8-7" are fighting for a second season - even if that means trying to follow other network cast-offs to basic cable.
The made-in-Motown show returns from a break Tuesday night with the first of its initial season's final three episodes. The series, which stars Michael Imperioli of "Sopranos" fame and veteran actor James McDaniel, has been well received by critics and has done reasonably well with viewers, averaging 7.6 million viewers and placing second in its time spot behind CBS's "The Good Wife," but ahead of NBC's "Parenthood."
While it's rare for cable networks to pick up shows canceled by networks, McDaniel and executive producer David Zabel said they'd be open to such a switch.
"I hope the network has the integrity and courage to stick by a show that they know is good," Zabel said. "If not, then I hope the studio is diligent and crafty enough to find a way to allow us to continue on elsewhere."
'Detroit 1-8-7'
Goes To Britain's Supreme Court
Stormtrooper Fight
George Lucas' movie empire is striking back in Britain's Supreme Court against a prop designer over the iconic stormtrooper helmets from the "Star Wars" films.
So far Lucasfilm Ltd. has failed in attempts to stop Andrew Ainsworth from selling replica costumes over the Internet. Ainsworth sculpted the galactic warriors' white helmets for the original "Star Wars" film in 1977.
The High Court ruled in 2008 that the costumes were not works of art and not covered by British copyright law.
The Court of Appeal upheld that decision the following year.
Now Lucasfilm is asking the Supreme Court to rule on whether U.S. copyrights on "three-dimensional works" can be enforced in England.
Stormtrooper Fight
Case Headed To Trial
Golden Globes
A federal judge has refused to dismiss a lawsuit by the organizers of the Golden Globe Awards, setting up a trial later this year to decide who will broadcast the star-studded show from now on.
U.S. District Judge Valerie Baker Fairbank issued a tentative ruling Monday denying a bid by show producer Dick Clark Productions to dismiss the case.
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which organizes the show, sued DCP and its new owners last year, claiming they sold broadcast rights to NBC through 2018 without proper permission.
The judge will decide who owns the broadcast rights during a trial scheduled to begin on Sept. 6 in Los Angeles.
Golden Globes
Financial Aide
Duchess of York
Prince Andrew and his ex-wife Sarah were in the spotlight Monday for their ties to a wealthy U.S. sex offender - he for being pictured with an underage masseuse at the man's home and she for accepting money from the American to help pay off her massive debts.
Andrew's ex-wife, Sarah, Duchess of York, confirmed in an interview Monday in the Evening Standard newspaper that she did receive financial help from convicted U.S. sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. But she claimed to have known nothing about his background and vowed to repay the 15,000 pounds ($24,500) he advanced to settle a debt to her former personal assistant, Johnny O'Sullivan.
"I am just so contrite I cannot say," the duchess was quoted as saying. "Whenever I can I will repay the money and will have nothing ever to do with Jeffrey Epstein ever again."
The payment was handled through Andrew's office, the duchess said, and she wasn't directly involved. There was no immediate comment from Andrew's office.
Duchess of York
Cash Cow Canned
Charlie Sheen
Charlie Sheen was fired Monday from "Two and a Half Men" by Warner Bros. Television following the hard-living actor's bouts of wild partying, repeated hospitalizations and a bitter media campaign against his studio bosses.
The action was taken after "careful consideration" and was effective immediately, the studio said in a statement. No decision has been made on the show's future without its star, Warner spokesman Paul McGuire said.
Sheen, 45, who has used TV, radio and social media to create a big megaphone for himself, was not silent for long.
In a text to The Associated Press, he responded by referring to his bosses with the F-word and, "They lose," followed by the word "Trolls." Asked if he planned to sue, Sheen texted back, "Big." As for his next move, Sheen texted, "A big one."
Charlie Sheen
Video Aired
Lindsay Lohan
Lindsay Lohan is shown in surveillance video broadcast Monday texting and trying on multiple pieces of jewelry in front of a clerk in a Southern California store that has accused her of stealing a $2,500 necklace.
Snippets of the footage taken by four cameras in the Venice store of Kamofie & Co. was aired by "Entertainment Tonight" along with analysis by attorneys not handling the case.
Lohan returns to court on Thursday, when her attorney will tell a judge whether the "Mean Girls" actress will accept a plea deal in the felony grand theft case that guarantees a jail sentence.
The video was sold by a representative of Kamofie to a commercial images unit of The Associated Press, which then licensed it to "Entertainment Tonight."
Lindsay Lohan
Agricultural Tax Breaks
Colorado
Celebrities, pols benefit from Colo. ag tax
DENVER - Goldie Hawn, Tom Cruise and media mogul Charlie Ergen are among the people benefiting from a legal property tax break because their Colorado homes and estates are categorized as agricultural land.
People can qualify for the agricultural tax rate simply by cutting hay or allowing livestock to graze on their land, even if they don't have very much to do with food production, The Denver Post reported Monday.
Cruise allows sheep to graze for brief periods each year on the land he owns near Telluride. The newspaper says the actor pays about $400 in taxes on the 248 acres he bought for nearly $18 million.
The Post said Republican state treasurer Walker Stapleton, who has worked as a real estate investor, and a family member pay $116 in taxes on 180 acres near Castle Rock.
Colorado
On Display At British Museum
Ancient Iraqi Ivories
The British Museum announced Monday it has acquired 6,000 ancient carved ivories that were excavated in Iraq with the help of mystery maven Agatha Christie.
The pieces were found at the site of the Assyrian capital of Nimrud between 1949 and 1963 during an expedition led by British archaeologist Max Mallowan. His wife, Christie, was part of the team and helped clean and preserve the objects when not working on thrillers including "They Came to Baghdad."
The pieces, which are almost 3,000 years old, once decorated furniture, horse trappings, chariots and containers and would have been adorned with gold and precious stones.
Originally imported as booty from cities along Mediterranean, they were discovered in a royal arsenal within a palace at Nimrud, just south of the modern city of Mosul in northern Iraq.
Ancient Iraqi Ivories
In Memory
Ulysses S. Grant V
The last surviving great-grandson of Ulysses S. Grant has died in a southwest Missouri home brimming with artifacts from the nation's 18th president and commander of the Union forces in the Civil War.
Ulysses S. Grant VI says his grandfather Ulysses S. Grant V died Wednesday at age 90 at his home near the town of Battlefield, named for its proximity to a Civil War clash. Grant V had previously suffered a stroke.
Grant V spent part of his youth in the home of his grandfather, Jesse Grant, the late president's youngest son. Jesse Grant's wife is credited with helping to save the artifacts.
As an adult, Grant V became a custodian to the items, including the late president's letters and will. Some items have been sold in recent years.
Ulysses S. Grant V
In Memory
Johnny Preston
Johnny Preston, who had a No. 1 hit with the song "Running Bear" in 1960, died in Beaumont, Tex., on Friday (Mar. 4). He was 71.
His death was confirmed by his son, Scott, who said Mr. Preston had bypass surgery late last year and suffered from lingering health problems.
Born Johnny Preston Courville in 1939, Mr. Preston spent most of his life in Port Arthur, Tex. He first performed in a group called the Shades at Lamar University, in Beaumont, in 1957 and was brought to the attention of Mercury Records by the disc jockey and singer J. P. Richardson, better known as the Big Bopper.
Mr. Richardson wrote "Running Bear," which told the story of an ill-fated romance between Running Bear, an "Indian brave," and Little White Dove, an "Indian maid." It spent three weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and became a million-seller for Mr. Preston the year after Mr. Richardson died in the plane crash that also killed Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens. Mr. Preston's follow-up single, "Cradle of Love," reached No. 7 on the Billboard chart.
In addition to his son Scott, Mr. Preston is survived by his wife, Sharon; another son, Michael; two daughters, Leslie and Lisa; and a number of grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Johnny Preston
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