Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Andy Borowitz: U.S. SEEMINGLY UNAWARE OF IRONY IN ACCUSING SNOWDEN OF SPYING
The United States government charged former intelligence analyst Edward Snowden with spying on Friday, apparently unaware that in doing so it had created a situation dripping with irony.
Ted Rall: Get Pissed Off and Break Things
There's a reason "Keep Calm and Carry On" is everywhere. When people lose everything - their economic aspirations, their freedom, their privacy - when there's nothing they can do to restore what they've lost - all they have left is dignity.
Patton Oswalt: Thievery, Heckling, and Rape Jokes (Slate)
Reconsidering three arguments about stand-up comedy.
Lily Rothman: Patton Oswalt on the Unsavory Business of Joke Theft (Time)
The comedian takes on the misconception that comedy belongs to no one.
Interview by Tim Lewis: "Kristen Wiig: 'I'm getting more sleep since I left Saturday Night Live!'" (Guardian)
The Bridesmaids actor/writer on her unseen cartoon co-stars from Despicable Me 2, finding her dark side, and the benefits of leaving SNL.
Jon Ronson: "Amanda Palmer: visionary or egotist?" (Guardian)
It is early May in the bar of Philadelphia railway station. The singer Amanda Palmer is quite loudly telling me that she's the sort of person who - when the fancy takes her - pulls out her tampon and flings it across the room at a party.
Joshua Clover: AMANDA PALMER'S ACCIDENTAL EXPERIMENT WITH REAL COMMUNISM (New Yorker)
Amanda Palmer, the singer who raised a spectacular sum on Kickstarter to fund her new solo album and then asked for volunteers to play with her for no pay when she went on tour with her band, Grand Theft Orchestra, a few months later, is the Internet's villain of the month.
Henry Rollins: The Raw Power of The Stooges (LA Weekly)
A few minutes later, when the band is fiercely attacking "1970" from Fun House, I realize how physically hard the band is playing, and it hits me that the band makes music that is strong enough to withstand five maniacs trying to tear it to pieces and that it could also do the very same to them. I conclude that The Stooges are at war with music itself. This is so cool.
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From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and seasonal.
'Kick-Ass 2'
Jim Carrey
Jim Carrey says that he cannot support the violence of his upcoming superhero action flick "Kick-Ass 2" in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary massacre.
The actor shot the film last year before the mass shooting in Connecticut that killed 20 children and six adults. He tweeted Sunday that "now, in good conscience, I cannot support that level of violence." Carrey adds that he wasn't ashamed of the film "but recent events have caused a change in my heart."
"Kick-Ass 2" is a sequel to the 2010 movie whose breakout star was the 11-year-old vigilante Hit-Girl, played by Chloe Grace Moretz. She reprises the role in the sequel, which Universal Pictures will release Aug. 16. Carrey plays a vigilante named Colonel Stars and Stripes.
A spokesman says Universal declined to comment.
Jim Carrey
"The Battle of the Sexes"
Billie Jean King
As Wimbledon gets under way, former U.S. tennis champion Billie Jean King is telling the tale of how she struck one of the most famous blows for female equality in a new documentary film.
"The Battle of the Sexes" recounts King's journey from an amateur player to a feminist sports idol whose 1973 defeat of self-confessed "chauvinist pig" Bobby Riggs set women's rights and tennis on the road to a modern game where Serena Williams can enjoy equal status and prize money with Novak Djokovic.
At the film's premiere in the Scottish capital this weekend, the 69-year old six time Wimbledon champion told Reuters that these days, top players like Williams have come a long way from 1970s, when the documentary says women needed approval from their husbands to arrange their own finances.
The year she beat Riggs, King also won Wimbledon to earn 3,000 pounds. The 1973 men's champion, Jan Kodes, earned 5,000 pounds. This year the men's and ladies' singles champions will each take home 1.6 million pounds ($2.46 million).
Billie Jean King
Wedding News
Hobson - Lucas
It's marriage, episode II for George Lucas.
A Lucasfilm spokeswoman confirms the "Star Wars" creator married longtime girlfriend Mellody Hobson in a weekend ceremony at Skywalker Ranch north of San Francisco.
It's the second wedding for the 69-year-old Lucas, who was married to film editor Marcia Lucas from 1969 to 1983.
It's the first marriage for Hobson, 44, an investment firm president and contributor to ABC's "Good Morning America." The two have dated since 2006. Former U.S. Sen. Bill Bradley walked her down the aisle.
The Saturday afternoon ceremony was performed by journalist Bill Moyers, who was once a Baptist minister.
Hobson - Lucas
Renovations Complete
Pearl S. Buck
An 8-year, $2.8 million renovation project is now complete at the Pearl S. Buck House in a Philadelphia suburb.
The Intelligencer of Doylestown reports that Pearl S. Buck International is holding a grand reopening event Wednesday. It will celebrate the completion of the renovations and what would have been the 121st birthday of Buck, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of "The Good Earth."
The renovations included repairing water-damaged plaster, wood trim and cabinetry, and upgrading systems at the home.
Buck raised seven adopted children and wrote many later works at her farm in suburban Bucks County, where she's buried and where her namesake nonprofit is based.
Pearl S. Buck
Addresses UN Security Council
Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie made her debut before the U.N.'s most powerful body as a special envoy for refugees Monday and urged the world's nations to make the fight against rape in war a top priority.
The actress told the Security Council that "hundreds of thousands - if not millions - of women, children and men have been raped in conflicts in our lifetimes."
Jolie, a goodwill ambassador for the U.N. high commissioner for refugees, said the Security Council has witnessed 67 years of wars and conflict since it was established "but the world has yet to take up warzone rape as a serious priority."
British Foreign Secretary William Hague, who presided over the meeting, stressed that "in conflicts in nearly every corner of the globe, rape is used systematically and ruthlessly, in the almost certain knowledge that there will be no consequences for the perpetrators."
Soon after Jolie spoke, the council adopted a legally-binding resolution demanding the complete and immediate cessation of all acts of sexual violence by all parties to armed conflict. It noted that sexual violence can constitute a crime against humanity and a contributing act to genocide, called for improved monitoring of sexual violence in conflict, and urged the U.N. and donors to assist survivors.
Angelina Jolie
EchoLight Studios
Santorum
Former U.S. Senator and GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum is bringing Christian films to the big screen.
EchoLight Studios said Monday that Santorum, known for his socially conservative views, has been named CEO of the Dallas-based Christian film production company.
Santorum says he has always had an interest in shaping cultural messages and joined the company's board a year ago. He believes EchoLight has the opportunity to transform the movie industry by tapping into the demand for high-quality films with a focus on "inspirational and uplifting" Christian messages.
The company is funded mostly by three investors from the Dallas-Fort Worth area, whose names Santorum would not disclose. There are also a few small investors in EchoLight, including Santorum.
Santorum
Rapper Sentenced
'Fat Joe'
The former chart-topping rap star known as "Fat Joe" was sentenced to four months in prison Monday over his earlier admission that he failed to file federal income taxes for two years.
The platinum-selling artist, whose real name is Joseph Cartagena, apologized to his family and supporters during his sentencing Monday in federal court in Newark, N.J.
The 42-year-old resident of Miami Beach, Fla., and Tenafly, N.J., pleaded guilty in December to failing to pay taxes on more than $1 million of income in 2007 and in 2008.
In a courtroom packed with family members and supporters, Cartagena looked fit and considerably slimmer than the size that had earned him his rap moniker. He has been very public about his efforts to shed weight after fellow rap stars died from obesity-related issues, and has spoken to schoolchildren, in New Jersey and elsewhere about the importance of health and fitness.
'Fat Joe'
Convicted In Sex-For-Hire Trial
Oh, Silvio
Silvio Berlusconi, Italy's flamboyant former premier, was sentenced to seven years in prison and banned from politics for life Monday for paying an underage prostitute for sex during infamous "bunga bunga" parties and forcing public officials to cover it up.
It was the most damaging setback yet for the 76-year-old Berlusconi, who has been tried numerous times for his business dealings but never before for his personal conduct.
Berlusconi's defense described the dinner parties as elegant soirees; prosecutors said they were sex-fueled gatherings that women were paid to attend. The woman at the center of the scandal, Karima el-Mahroug, better known as Ruby, has described aspiring showgirls stripping provocatively for the then-Italian leader.
Neither Berlusconi nor el-Mahroug testified in this trial. El-Mahroug was called by the defense but failed to show, delaying the trial, and Berlusconi's team eventually dropped her from the witness list.
El-Mahroug, however, did testify in the separate trial of three Berlusconi aides charged with procuring prostitutes for the parties. She told that court that Berlusconi's disco featured aspiring showgirls dressed as sexy nuns and nurses performing striptease acts, and that one woman even dressed up as President Barack Obama.
Oh, Silvio
Ousted Chairman Quits Board
Men's Wearhouse
Ousted Men's Wearhouse founder George Zimmer has quit the company's board.
Zimmer was fired as the company's executive chairman last week. On Monday he submitted a letter resigning from the board.
Zimmer says in the letter that it's clear from his firing that the board is determined to avoid addressing his growing concerns with recent board decisions and the company's direction.
Zimmer, 64, built Men's Wearhouse Inc. from one small Texas store using a cigar box as a cash register to one of North America's largest men's clothing sellers with 1,143 locations.
Men's Wearhouse
Stuns Cardinals
Frankie
A last-minute no-show by Pope Francis at a concert where he was to have been the guest of honor has sent another clear signal that he is going to do things his way and does not like the Vatican high life.
The gala classical concert on Saturday was scheduled before his election in March. But the white papal armchair set up in the presumption that he would be there remained empty.
Minutes before the concert was due to start, an archbishop told the crowd of cardinals and Italian dignitaries that an "urgent commitment that cannot be postponed" would prevent Francis from attending.
The prelates, assured that health was not the reason for the no-show, looked disoriented, realizing that the message he wanted to send was that, with the Church in crisis, he - and perhaps they - had too much pastoral work to do to attend social events.
The day before the concert, Francis said bishops should be "close to the people" and not have "the mentality of a prince".
Frankie
Independent Comic Publisher
BOOM! Studios
A comic book publisher says it has acquired another firm in a move that creates one of the largest stables of characters and titles of any independent publisher.
BOOM! Studios said Monday that it acquired Archaia Entertainment, whose titles include "Mouse Guard" and "Fraggle Rock." BOOM! will continue publishing its comics and graphic novels under Archaia's own imprint as it expands its roster of titles and graphic novels.
BOOM! did not reveal the price paid for Archaia's intellectual property but says the deal gives a push to Archaia's titles because of BOOM!'s extensive marketing operations and outreach.
Ross Richie, who founded BOOM! and is its CEO, says plans are also in the works to reissue some Archaia works.
BOOM! Studios
In Memory
Richard Matheson
Richard Matheson, the prolific sci-fi and fantasy writer whose "I Am Legend" and "The Shrinking Man" were transformed into films, has died. He was 87.
A spokesman for the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films said Matheson died Sunday in Los Angeles. No other details were provided.
With a career spanning more than 60 years, Matheson crafted stories that deftly transitioned from the page to both the big and small screens. Several of his works were adapted into films, including 1953's "Hell House," 1956's "The Shrinking Man," 1958's "A Stir of Echoes" and 1978's "What Dreams May Come."
Matheson's 1954 sci-fi vampire novel "I Am Legend" inspired three different film adaptations: 1964's "The Last Man on Earth" starring Vincent Price, 1971's "Omega Man" starring Charlton Heston and 2007's "I Am Legend" starring Will Smith.
Matheson was also responsible for writing several episodes of "The Twilight Zone," as well as editions of "The Alfred Hitchcock Hour," ''Rod Serling's Night Gallery," ''The Martian Chronicles" and "Amazing Stories." His "Twilight Zone" installments included "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet," which featured William Shatner as an airplane passenger who spots a creature on a plane's wing, as well as "Steel," which inspired the 2011 film "Real Steel" starring Hugh Jackman.
Matheson influenced several generations of storytellers. Among them were Stephen King, who dedicated his 2006 novel "Cell" to Matheson, and Steven Spielberg, whose first feature-length film was the made-for-TV movie "Duel," based on the Matheson short story of the same name.
He was scheduled to receive the visionary award at the Academy of Science Fiction, Horror and Fantasy Films' Saturn Awards on Wednesday. The organization said the award will be presented posthumously and the 39th annual ceremony would be dedicated to Matheson.
Matheson is survived by his wife and four children.
Richard Matheson
In Memory
Bobby 'Blue' Bland
Bobby "Blue" Bland, a distinguished singer who blended Southern blues and soul in songs such as "Turn on Your Love Light" and "Further On Up the Road," died Sunday. He was 83.
Rodd Bland said his father died due to complications from an ongoing illness at his Memphis, Tenn., home. He was surrounded by relatives.
Bland was known as the "the Sinatra of the blues" and was heavily influenced by Nat King Cole, often recording with lavish arrangements to accompany his smooth vocals. He even openly imitated Frank Sinatra on the "Two Steps From the Blues" album cover, standing in front of a building with a coat thrown over his shoulder.
Bland was a contemporary of B.B. King's, serving as the blues great's valet and chauffer at one point, and was one of the last of the living connections to the roots of the genre. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992 and was an influence on scores of young rock 'n' rollers.
Born in Rosemark, Tenn., he moved to nearby Memphis as a teenager and became a founding member of the Beale Streeters, a group that also included King and Johnny Ace. Upon his induction, the Rock Hall of Fame noted Bland was "second in stature only to B.B. King as a product of Memphis' Beale Street blues scene."
After a stint in the Army, he recorded with producer Sam Phillips, who helped launch the careers of Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash, in the early 1950s with little to show for it. It wasn't until later that decade Bland began to find success.
He scored his first No. 1 on the R&B charts with "Further On Up the Road" in 1957 and it was around this time he got his nickname, taken from his song "Little Boy Blue" because his repertoire focused so closely on lovelorn subject matter. Beginning with "I'll Take Care of You" in early 1960, Bland released a dozen R&B hits in a row. That string included "Turn On Your Love Light" in 1961.
Some of his best-known songs included "Call on Me" and "That's the Way Love Is," both released in 1963, and "Ain't Nothing You Can Do" in 1964.
Bland wasn't as well known as some of his contemporaries, but was no less an influential figure for early rock 'n' roll stars. Many of his songs, especially "Further On Up the Road" and "I Pity the Fool," were recorded by young rockers, including David Bowie and Eric Clapton.
"He's always been the type of guy that if he could help you in any way, form or fashion, he would," Rodd Bland said.
Bobby 'Blue' Bland
In Memory
Gary David Goldberg
Gary David Goldberg, who created the 1980s sitcom hit "Family Ties" and expanded into feature films, has died.
Goldberg died of brain cancer in Montecito, Calif., on Saturday, days before his 69th birthday, The New York Times reported.
Goldberg's TV successes also included the ABC comedy "Spin City," which in 1996 reunited him with "Family Ties" breakout star Michael J. Fox as the deputy mayor of New York City.
A more modest hit for Goldberg yet much-acclaimed, CBS' "Brooklyn Bridge" (1991-93) was a tender comedy based on his experiences growing up in Brooklyn, N.Y. Marion Ross starred as a character inspired by his grandmother.
Goldberg's films included "Dad" (1989), starring Jack Lemmon and Ted Danson, as well as "Bye Bye Love" (1995) and "Must Love Dogs" (2005), which he wrote as well as directed.
His own dog, Ubu, contributed the name of his production company and was widely known from the onscreen credit where viewers heard the command, "Sit, Ubu, sit," then a bark.
Goldberg began his TV career in the 1970s as a writer for series including "The Bob Newhart Show," and was a producer of "Lou Grant."
During his career, Goldberg won two Emmy awards, two Golden Globes and a Peabody award.
Gary David Goldberg
In Memory
Michael Baigent
Writer Michael Baigent, who gained attention for launching a lawsuit contending that "The Da Vinci Code" stole ideas from his own book, has died of a brain hemorrhage at age 65, his literary agent said Monday.
Baigent is best-known for writing the 1982 nonfiction book "The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail," which explores theories that Jesus married Mary Magdalene, the couple had a child and the bloodline survives. In 2006 Baigent and co-author Richard Leigh made international headlines when they sued Dan Brown's publisher for copyright infringement, claiming that Brown "appropriated the architecture" of their book in a high-profile London court case they eventually lost.
Baigent's family said the author, who was from New Zealand, died on Jun. 17 in Brighton in southern England.
The 2006 copyright case saw Brown flying to London to be cross-examined by lawyers. While acknowledging that he read "Holy Blood" during research for "Da Vinci," Brown said he also used many other resources and that Baigent and Leigh's work was not crucial to the novel.
Though Baigent lost the case, it boosted publicity for his work and sales of "Holy Blood" - his first book - jumped as a result.
The author penned about a dozen other nonfiction books and a novel, specializing in topics including secret sects and historical mysteries. "The Messianic Legacy" was a sequel to "Holy Blood"; "The Temple and The Lodge" explored the origins of Freemasonry. He also wrote about the Inquisition, ancient astrology, and the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Michael Feran Baigent was born in Nelson, New Zealand, in 1948. After graduating with a degree in psychology he worked as a photographer and a magazine editor in Australia, New Zealand and Spain, before taking up research for a documentary called "The Shadow of the Templars."
From 1998 he lectured on and led tours of the temples and tombs in Egypt, and from 2001 he was editor of the magazine "Freemasonry Today."
He is survived by his wife, Jane, their two daughters, a stepdaughter and a stepson.
Michael Baigent
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