'Best of TBH Politoons'
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Paul Krugman: A Return of That '70s Show? (nytimes.com)
There's no sign this time around of the wage-price spiral that, in the 1970s, turned a temporary shock from higher oil prices into a persistently high rate of inflation.
FROMA HARROP: Teens Belong in Summer Jobs (creators.com)
Put disadvantaged teens into summer jobs. Hook them into the world of work. They'll come home with new skills, discipline, contacts and, yes, money. Seems pretty obvious - but apparently not in Washington, which in 2000 gutted the Summer Youth Employment Program. The program had been helping 600,000 mostly low-income young people find jobs.
Beth Quinn: Readers react - Let kids walk to school (recordonline.com)
I got e-mail saying things like, "I think you're a retard and a communist, but you're 100 percent right about fat kids and school buses." Far out!
Stephanie Schoeder, Laurie K. Schenden, Lily-Rygh Glen: Saving Our Herstory (curvemag.com)
The Lesbian Herstory Archives (LHA), Brooklyn, N.Y.; The June L. Mazer Archives, West Hollywood, Calif.; Pacific Northwest Lesbian Archives
Mike Diamond: Ho, No, She Didn't (advocate.com)
Wendy Ho's raunchy and over-the-top mix of music and comedy has made her a name to know in the New York City performance and club circuit
Jason Thompson: A Chat with Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim (bullz-eye.com)
"Comedy's a tricky beast! You gotta have a romantic comedy with a Judd Apatow in it. That's how it works, I guess."
'I don't make things easy' (guardian.co.uk)
Some think she's the greatest singer-songwriter of her generation. So why haven't more people heard of Thea Gilmore? Stephanie Merritt reports.
David Medsker: Interview with Adam McGill, guitarist and vocalist for the insanely melodic Republic Tigers (bullz-eye.com)
Rene Rodriguez: 'Sex and the City': The girls are back - and for the cast, the wait has been worth it (McClatchy Newspapers)
There are no Wookies in the "Sex and the City" movie-no Vulcans with pointy ears or hobbits with oversize feet or aging archaeologists fond of bullwhips and fedoras. Heck, there probably isn't a single computer-generated special effect in it, although it's a safe bet its overwhelmingly female target audience will be oohing and aahing through it anyway.
Roger Ebert: My Man Godfrey (A Great Movie)
When Carole Lombard and the family maid discuss the newly hired butler, we can read her mind when she says, "I'd like to sew his buttons on sometime, when they come off." In 1936, when elegant men's formalwear didn't use zippers, audiences must have had an even better idea of what she was thinking.
A: FCC's Newton Minow
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and cooler than seasonal (and I'm not complaining).
Fire Sparked By Blow Torch
Universal Studios
A fire that burned through a large swath of the Universal Studios Hollywood back lot during the weekend was accidentally sparked by workers using heating tools on a film set, fire officials said on Monday.
The blaze erupted before dawn on Sunday in a portion of the lot containing exteriors used to resemble a New York City streetscape. It reduced a two-city-block area of the lot to ashes and burned through much of the adjacent Courthouse Square set that has appeared in such films as "Back to the Future" and "To Kill a Mockingbird."
Also destroyed was the popular "King Kong" attraction featured in the Universal Studios Theme Park tram tour of the back lot, and a warehouse where thousands of copies of archived TV shows and films were stored. Studio officials said all of the material lost in the video vault could be replaced.
Only one current TV show, the CBS series "The Ghost Whisperer," was staged on the portion of the lot damaged by the fire. That series is on summer hiatus and not scheduled to resume production until June 11, a studio spokeswoman said.
Universal Studios
Key Discovered
Optical Illusions
Humans can see into the future, says a cognitive scientist. It's nothing like the alleged predictive powers of Nostradamus, but we do get a glimpse of events one-tenth of a second before they occur.
And the mechanism behind that can also explain why we are tricked by optical illusions.
Researcher Mark Changizi of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York says it starts with a neural lag that most everyone experiences while awake. When light hits your retina, about one-tenth of a second goes by before the brain translates the signal into a visual perception of the world.
Scientists already knew about the lag, yet they have debated over exactly how we compensate, with one school of thought proposing our motor system somehow modifies our movements to offset the delay.
Changizi now says it's our visual system that has evolved to compensate for neural delays, generating images of what will occur one-tenth of a second into the future. That foresight keeps our view of the world in the present. It gives you enough heads up to catch a fly ball (instead of getting socked in the face) and maneuver smoothly through a crowd. His research on this topic is detailed in the May/June issue of the journal Cognitive Science,
Optical Illusions
Loses Legal Bid Against NeoCons
Yoko Ono
Yoko Ono lost her legal bid Monday to stop the playing of a 15-second excerpt of John Lennon's song "Imagine" in a film challenging the theory of evolution.
Lennon's widow had sued the makers of "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed," saying they used the ex-Beatle's anthem without her permission.
Ono, who had sought a preliminary injunction before the movie gets a wider release, said she would appeal. The other plaintiffs were Lennon's sons, Sean and Julian.
The film features Ben Stein, a former speechwriter for Presidents Nixon and Ford, defending intelligent design.
Yoko Ono
Launches Web Site
Peter Gabriel
While the Internet may be a great place for entertainment, not everyone has the tech savvy - or the patience - to search seemingly infinite Web sites to discover something new.
But rocker Peter Gabriel thinks he's found a way to help with his site, appropriately titled The Filter, debuting on Tuesday.
The site, which will provide users with daily recommendations, was founded by Gabriel and Martin Hopkins, a huge jazz fan. Hopkins first came up with the notion of filtering content to discover new or forgotten music according to one's individual mood.
Users who visit The Filter will initially be asked to fill out basic information and rate different genres of music and film, and also different acts and movies as well. The filter uses that information to figure out what kind of suggestions to make, and the more a fan uses the site, the more accurate the recommendations, according to the site's developers.
Peter Gabriel
MTV Provided The bag Of 'Fake Weed'
Rogen & Franco
Like the stoners they play in the upcoming "Pineapple Express," Seth Rogen and James Franco stumbled unkowingly into trouble Sunday at the MTV Movie Awards.
Early on in the show, Rogen and Franco took the podium to present the award for best summer movie so far, joking that MTV chose them because only "two potheads like us" would be willing to announce such a strange category. Then they pulled out a bag of "fake weed" and a "huge fatty joint" - and proceeded to light it.
But before TV audiences could see the "contraband," the cameras pulled to an extremely wide angle, and stayed that way until Rogen and Franco left the stage. The awkward moment made some in the audience laugh, but left Robert Downey Jr. - who accepted the award on behalf of "Iron Man" alongside director John Favreau - with a puzzled look.
Backstage, Franco told The Associated Press that MTV put them up to the joke, even supplying the script, the fake marijuana and the fake joint - then had a last-second change of heart about the bit.
"MTV wrote it! ... Then backstage there was this big commotion: 'You guys can't say that,'" Franco said. "It says right in the script: 'Lights fake joint.'"
Rogen & Franco
Hospital News
Kelsey Grammer
A spokesman for Kelsey Grammer says the "Frasier" star is recovering in a Hawaii hospital after a mild heart attack this weekend.
Stan Rosenfield says Grammer is "resting comfortably" in an undisclosed hospital after being stricken Saturday. Rosenfield says the 53-year-old actor will be released early this week.
Rosenfield says Grammer - the star of "Cheers," "Frasier" and the recently canceled Fox sitcom "Back to You" - was paddle-boarding with his wife, Camille, when he experienced symptoms.
Rosenfield says Grammer was immediately taken to an area hospital where it was determined that he had suffered a "mild heart attack." The spokesman says he is unaware of any history of heart trouble for Grammer.
Kelsey Grammer
Stalker Gets Probation
Uma Thurman
A Manhattan judge has sentenced a former mental patient to three years of probation for stalking and harassing actress Uma Thurman.
Jack Jordan of Gaithersburg, Md., will serve the probation in his home state, with the condition that he receive outpatient psychiatric treatment. The prosecutor had sought a year in jail.
State Supreme Court Justice Gregory Carro also imposed a five-year order of protection. If Jordan violates any of the court's terms, the judge says he'll be jailed.
An out-of-work lifeguard and pool cleaner, Jordan was convicted on May 6. Testimony showed he subjected the "Pulp Fiction" star with a barrage of frightening advances.
Uma Thurman
Released After Drug Arrest
Tatum O'Neal
Tatum O'Neal, who has publicly battled drug addiction, was released without bail Monday after her cocaine-possession arrest in downtown Manhattan.
The Oscar-winning actress, 44, looked tired but said nothing as she was arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court on a misdemeanor charge of possession of a controlled substance. She entered no plea.
Police found two bags of cocaine in her right front pants pocket when she was arrested around 7:30 p.m. Sunday on the Lower East Side, according to a court complaint. Officers saw O'Neal accept the drug from a man during a routine drug sweep, police said.
Prosecutors are recommending drug treatment for O'Neal, who detailed her dependency on heroin and cocaine in her 2004 memoir, "A Paper Life." She has since said she is sober.
Tatum O'Neal
$1M Giveaway
Vince McMahon
Wrestling fans eager to get their hands on Vince McMahon's money will have to jump through a few hoops first.
The World Wrestling Entertainment chairman announced during last week's "Monday Night Raw" that he would give away $1 million of his own wealth to viewers, but he didn't specify when or how it would be distributed.
The cash will be given away as part of a lengthy promotional sweepstakes, McMahon and the WWE told The Associated Press.
For a chance to win a part - but not all - of the $1 million, viewers must pre-register on WWE.com and then watch the beginning of "Raw" each week to receive a special code, which viewers must tell McMahon if he calls them during the live broadcast.
Vince McMahon
Hidden Treasure Found
Dan Deming
Dan Deming had heard the rumors about the buried treasure on his central Wisconsin farm. At first he made some halfhearted attempts to find it, and then searched in earnest for two or three years after receiving a metal detector for his birthday.
The mystery ended recently while Deming was tearing down a 100-year-old shed on his property. A rusted box tumbled from the rubble and wads of currency dating back to the Depression spilled on the ground.
The bills were so deteriorated that it was hard to count the money. But the box also contained scraps of newspaper with dollar amounts written on them, a possible tally of the loot.
Deming briefly considered selling the bills to collectors, but the money was in poor condition. Instead, he turned it over to the U.S. Treasury's Bureau of Engraving and Printing, which redeems mutilated currency for face value.
Dan Deming
In Memory
Fredric J. Baur
The man who designed the Pringles potato crisp packaging system was so proud of his accomplishment that a portion of his ashes has been buried in one of the iconic cans.
Fredric J. Baur, of Cincinnati, died May 4 at Vitas Hospice in Cincinnati, his family said. He was 89.
Baur's children said they honored his request to bury him in one of the cans by placing part of his cremated remains in a Pringles container in his grave in suburban Springfield Township. The rest of his remains were placed in an urn buried along with the can, with some placed in another urn and given to a grandson, said Baur's daughter, Linda Baur of Diamondhead, Miss.
Baur filed for a patent for the tubular Pringles container and for the method of packaging the curved, stacked chips in the container in 1966, and it was granted in 1970, P&G archivist Ed Rider said.
Fredric J. Baur
In Memory
Paul Sills
Paul Sills, one of the founders of the improvisational comedy group "The Second City," which has turned out some of America's best-known comedians, died Monday. He was 80.
Sills died at his home in Baileys Harbor, Wis., of complications from pneumonia, said his daughter, Aretha Amelia Sills.
Sills helped found the comedy institution in 1959, along with its precursor "The Compass Players." Second City helped launch the careers of John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Gilda Radner, and John Candy.
Sills was inspired by his late mother, Viola Spolin, who created hundreds of improvisational games used to train generations of actors. Sills followed in her footsteps and was known as a guru of improvisation.
He also created the New Actors Workshop in New York in 1987 along with director Mike Nichols and colleague George Morrison.
Sills also is known for creating the popular Story Theatre format in the late 1960s and early 1970s, which focused on characters narrating their own stories. His play, "Story Theatre," was nominated for a Tony Award in 1971 and he published a book in 2000, "Paul Sills' Story Theater: Four Shows."
Paul Sills
In Memory
Bo Diddley
Bo Diddley, a founding father of rock 'n' roll whose distinctive "shave and a haircut, two bits" rhythm and innovative guitar effects inspired legions of other musicians, died Monday after months of ill health. He was 79.
Diddley died of heart failure at his home in Archer, Fla., spokeswoman Susan Clary said. He had suffered a heart attack in August, three months after suffering a stroke while touring in Iowa. Doctors said the stroke affected his ability to speak, and he had returned to Florida to continue rehabilitation.
The legendary singer and performer, known for his homemade square guitar, dark glasses and black hat, was an inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, had a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame, and received a lifetime achievement award in 1999 at the Grammy Awards. In recent years he also played for the elder President Bush and President Clinton.
Diddley was also one of the pioneers of the electric guitar, adding reverb and tremelo effects. He even rigged some of his guitars himself.
Despite his success, Diddley only received a small portion of the money he made during his career. Partly as a result, he continued to tour and record music until his stroke. Between tours, he made his home near Gainesville in north Florida.
Diddley, like other artists of his generations, was paid a flat fee for his recordings and said he received no royalty payments on record sales. He also said he was never paid for many of his performances.
"I am owed. I've never got paid," he said. "A dude with a pencil is worse than a cat with a machine gun."
Born as Ellas Bates on Dec. 30, 1928, in McComb, Miss., Diddley was later adopted by his mother's cousin and took on the name Ellis McDaniel, which his wife always called him.
Bo Diddley
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