Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Farhad Manjoo: Crapware Won't Crap Out (Slate)
For a few years now, I've been expecting to write an obituary for crapware. Or not an obit, exactly-I was hoping to dance on its grave. Crapware is the annoying software that worms into your computer without your knowledge.
Emily Bazelon: Fighting Back Against Revenge Porn (Slate)
Revenge porn is a vile creature lurking in the basements of the Internet. Also called involuntary porn, it's the practice of posting sexually compromising photos of people (often exes, one imagines) in order to humiliate them.
Mark Morford: Four More Years, Oh Thank God (SF Gate)
Seekers! Heathens! Darlings of the new constituency! It's Inauguration Week! You know what that means, right? That's right: ridiculous, bordering on gratuitous, hell let's just say it outright: fawning unfettered gaspingly unhinged heaps of unbridled, open-throated gratitude. That's right, gratitude. For what? For Obama, of course.
Connie Schultz: Hillary Schools Congress and Teaches Girls (Creators Syndicate)
Secretary of State Clinton showed up to answer tough and sometimes ridiculous questions regarding the deadly September 2012 attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya. In the process, she offered a tutorial for today's young women.
Laura Barnett: Tom Piper, theatre designer - portrait of the artist (Guardian)
'It's an appallingly badly paid profession - you need a partner with a proper job.'
Carl Andre: 'I'm a hopeless drawer - and a terrible painter' (Guardian)
He is a titan of modern American art. As a Carl Andre show prepares to open at the Turner Contemporary in Britain, Emma Brockes talks to the artist about metal, meaninglessness - and life after being charged in the 1980s with the murder of his wife.
Annalee Newitz: Where Memes Really Come From (io9)
Though history will probably remember Richard Dawkins as the activist who spearheaded a new atheist movement, there is something far more famous and important that he invented - and few people know it. He is the guy who first popularized the idea of the meme, way back in the 1970s.
Charlie Jane Anders: 10 Best Gonzo Science Fiction Movies in the Whole Crazy Universe (io9)
The coolest science fiction movies are often ones which unscrew your head and then screw it back on, slightly askew. But a select few movies go even further, pouring some rainbow soup into your head while it's still semi-detached.
Jesus Diaz: How Keys Work Explained In One Perfect Animated GIF (Gizmodo)
If this is not one of the best animated GIFs I've ever seen, I don't know what is.
Dad's Hobby
"A fairly new redditor shared some images her father created about twenty years ago that she recently came across. They are funny, some are even punny, and look like a lot of fun to create! It turns out her dad is actor and voiceover artist Dan Gilvezan, known as the voice of Spider-Man, which a quick search confirmed. There's no Photoshop or computer imagery involved (except for the hearts on the snake picture); the scenes were painstakingly created from toys and other household objects."--Neatorama
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Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Correction
M Is FOR MASHUP - January 23rd, 2013
DJ Useo has corrected a link from
Wednesday's page.
02- Gybo's Greatest Volume 1
Get Your Bootleg On'
was a ground-breaking mashup forum
that closed after years of fine service.
Mr Fab was a very popular member of GYBO.
He put together this fantastic tribute collection
of some of his favorite GYBO posts.
Hear what started a scene that thrives to this day.
link here
( musicformaniacs.blogspot.com/2012/08/farwell-to-gybo-cbgbs-of-internet.html )
The archived page has been corrected.
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Cloudy day, rainy night.
Funniest U.S. Showbiz Person: Rolling Stone
Louis C.K.
Stand-up comedian-turned U.S. cable television star Louis C.K. was named the funniest person currently working in show business, according to a list released by Rolling Stone magazine on Thursday.
The Emmy-winning comedian, whose given name is Louis Szekely, is the star, writer and executive producer of the comedy-drama "Louie" on cable network FX.
C.K. bested Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert, who plays a conservative political pundit on his satirical show "The Colbert Report" for the top spot on the list ranking the 50 funniest comedians working in the United States.
Tina Fey, the creator and co-star of NBC series "30 Rock" placed third and Jon Stewart, the host of Comedy Central's news show "The Daily Show," took fourth.
Trey Parker and Matt Stone - the duo behind "South Park," Comedy Central's animated series of foul-mouthed school kids, and the Tony-winning Broadway musical "The Book of Mormon" - were fifth.
Louis C.K.
Paris Opera Ballet
Benjamin Millepied
Benjamin Millepied, the "Black Swan" choreographer who helped transform Natalie Portman into an obsessed, paranoid ballerina for the film and later married the actress, was named director of the Paris Opera Ballet on Thursday.
Millepied, 35, is a former principal dancer with the New York City Ballet who left in 2011 to create his own dance company in Los Angeles, L.A. Dance Project. He'll start at the Paris company in October 2014, when the current dance director, Brigitte Lefevre, retires.
Portman and Millepied, who have a son, met during the making of "Black Swan," Darren Aronofsky's psychological thriller that stars Portman as a ballet dancer. Portman won the best actress Academy Award for her performance in the movie.
Millepied is known for his innovative work outside classical ballet, and his latest project in Los Angeles has its roots in contemporary dance. In the ballet world, the appointment of Millepied - who has no formal ties to the Paris Opera Ballet - is considered something of a coup.
The Paris Opera Ballet, founded in the days of Louis XIV, is the oldest ballet company in the world and known for its respect, bordering on reverence, for traditional repertory.
Benjamin Millepied
Ian McKellen & Patrick Stewart
Broadway
Serious theater fans have a reason to suddenly freak out: Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart will team up on Broadway this fall in two of the most iconic plays of the 20th century.
Producers announced Thursday that Stewart and McKellen will star in Harold Pinter's "No Man's Land" and Samuel Beckett's "Waiting for Godot" which will play in repertoire under the direction of Sean Mathias.
The Broadway theater, performance dates, the two supporting actors and the schedule of performances will be announced later.
Now a thorny question: Who gets top billing on Broadway - McKellen or Stewart? After all, both actors have gotten knighthoods for their services to drama and the performing arts.
"For me there's no question," Stewart said. "Ian was a star actor while I was still working in regional theater. To be absolutely frank, I was in awe of him and his work long before I knew him."
Broadway
Chief Recovering
Bolshoi
The Bolshoi Ballet's artistic director will recover enough eyesight to return to work after a masked assailant threw acid in his face, a doctor said on Thursday.
Sergei Filin, 42, one of the most talked about figures in Russia as head of the ballet for nearly two years, was attacked outside his house on his way home from the prestigious theatre on January 18.
Russia's top eye doctor played down fears the talent director would be blinded and never be able to work again, assessing his condition as moderately severe.
"He has acid burns in both eyes: more severe burns in the right eye, lighter on the left side," said Vladimir Neroyev, who took part in some of Filin's four eye operations - two on each eye - since the attack.
Neroyev said it was too early to say how bad the damage would be but that the former ballet dancer would retain at least some eyesight in each eye.
Bolshoi
Speeding In Maine
Don McLean
"American Pie" singer Don McLean has been fined $400 for driving his Chrysler too fast through a school zone in Maine and has paid the levy.
McLean had contested the charge in September, saying school zone warning lights weren't flashing. He had requested a trial.
Police said during a 40-minute proceeding in Rockland District Court on Thursday the warning lights were flashing.
Judge Patricia Worth found McLean had been speeding in a school zone in Rockport. But she lowered what would be a $515 fine if uncontested to $400.
McLean lives in nearby Camden, along Maine's coast. He burst into popularity in 1971 with his hit "American Pie," about the deaths of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper in a plane crash on Feb. 3, 1959 - The Day the Music Died.
Don McLean
Pulled From Fox Schedule
'Ben and Kate'
Fox has pulled its freshman comedy "Ben and Kate" from its schedule, effective immediately, the network said Wednesday.
The series, which has aired 13 episodes so far and aired Tuesdays at 8:30 p.m., will return at a later date to be determined, the network added.
For the time being, one-hour installments of "Raising Hope" will run Tuesdays at 8 p.m. to cover the programming hole through the February sweeps (except for February 19, when a "New Girl" repeat will air at 8:30).
The season premiere of "Hell's Kitchen" will air Tuesday, March 12 at 8 p.m. The Gordon Ramsay reality hit will occupy the Tuesdays at 8-9 p.m. slot from there on in, preceding "New Girl" and "The Mindy Project."
'Ben and Kate'
China Cuts 38 Minutes
"Cloud Atlas"
Nearly 40 minutes have been chopped from the Hollywood film "Cloud Atlas" for Chinese audiences, deleting both gay and straight love scenes to satisfy local censors despite a movie-going public that increasingly chafes at censorship.
It premiered Tuesday in Beijing in a red-carpet ceremony with actor Hugo Weaving and China's own Zhou Xun, but won't start running in Chinese theaters until next Thursday. The filmmaker's Chinese partners have slashed that version from the U.S. runtime of 172 minutes to a pared-down 134 to expunge the "passionate" episodes.
Chinese citizens have recently become more outspoken, especially on social media, with complaints about censorship of imported films as well as the home-grown movie industry and news media, much of it imposed over elements that might make China look bad. Awkward cuts by the censors to the most recent James Bond offering "Skyfall," which opened here Monday, prompted calls for a review of the film censorship system.
The "Cloud Atlas" filmmakers say they are confident their movie will retain its "integrity" despite being 38 minutes lighter.
"Cloud Atlas"
Small Steps On Colorado Project
Christo
Construction of the proposed "Over the River" project in Colorado is on hold pending legal challenges, but artist Christo said Wednesday his team is doing other work so he can one day suspend nearly six miles worth of silvery fabric in sections over the Arkansas River.
Railroad tracks are being cleared along the project route that traces U.S. 50 between Canon City and Salida, and work is beginning to mitigate impacts to bighorn sheep.
Christo is also preparing for his upcoming exhibit in Oberhausen in Germany of "Big Air Package," a 295-foot air-filled fabric bubble that will help raise funds for Over the River, which has cost $13 million so far.
As envisioned by Christo and his late wife, Jeanne-Claude, Over the River would be displayed for two weeks in late summer. The earliest it could be displayed is August 2016, but even that timeline may be unlikely.
During the work on Over the River, he also is actively working on The Mastaba, a giant sculpture of 410,000 barrels planned for Abu Dhabi that he conceived in 1977. Because he is 77, Christo said he is trying to complete both projects simultaneously rather than focusing on one at a time.
Christo
Top 20
Concert Tours
The Top 20 Concert Tours ranks artists by average box office gross per city and includes the average ticket price for shows in North America. The previous week's ranking is in parentheses. The list is based on data provided to the trade publication Pollstar by concert promoters and venue managers.
1. (2) Madonna; $3,465,640; $160.64.
2. (3) Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band; $1,362,627; $93.95.
3. (4) Justin Bieber; $1,177,615; $74.59.
4. (5) Dave Matthews Band; $967,758; $73.76.
5. (6) Neil Young & Crazy Horse; $943,026; $94.00.
6. (7) The Who; $845,015; $85.86.
7. (8) Rush; $831,978; $82.21.
8. (9) Leonard Cohen; $804,309; $100.16.
9. (10) Red Hot Chili Peppers; $716,382; $60.53.
10. (11) Zac Brown Band; $624,017; $56.97.
11. (12) Trans-Siberian Orchestra; $568,771; $51.47.
12. (13) Carrie Underwood; $535,017; $58.50.
13. (14) Bob Dylan; $467,504; $77.77.
14. (15) Eric Church; $309,161; $40.27.
15. (17) Jeff Dunham; $308,952; $58.16.
16. (20) Tobymac; $163,114; $27.40.
17. (18) The Moody Blues; $160,360; $68.27.
18. (19) Wiz Khalifa; $156,077; $41.83.
19. (New) Bassnectar; $144,666; $39.03.
20. (New) "So You Think You Can Dance"; $135,972; $56.66.
Concert Tours
In Memory
Linda Pugach
Linda Pugach, who was blinded in 1959 when her lover hired hit men to throw lye in her face - and became a media sensation after later marrying him - has died, her husband said Thursday. She was 75.
The infamous New York City crime was detailed in the 2007 documentary "Crazy Love."
Pugach, who hid behind dark glasses for the rest of her life, died Tuesday at the Long Island Jewish Hospital in Queens. The cause was heart failure, said her husband, Burton Pugach, who spent 14 years in prison for hiring the thugs to attack his then-girlfriend Linda Riss after she spurned him. He was married at the time, and the heinous attack became an instant tabloid sensation.
After his release, Pugach divorced his first wife and convinced Riss to marry him in 1974. He proposed to her on live television.
After the release of "Crazy Love," Pugach praised filmmaker Dan Klores for revealing a story that for the first time "has colors - it was no longer black and white."
Two decades after his release from prison, Pugach was accused in another case with chilling similarities but acquitted of the charges in 1997. He had been accused of threatening and harassing another lover after she tried to end their five-year affair. That woman testified that he threatened to make it "1959 all over again."
Linda Pugach testified at that trial, describing her husband as a good man. Under cross-examination by Pugach, a disbarred lawyer who defended himself, she said couldn't have sex with him after undergoing heart surgery in 1990.
"He was a naughty little boy and he was caught," she said as she left the courtroom on his arm. She said he was an adulterer, not a criminal.
Pugach said his wife went into the hospital on Dec. 26, 2012, two days before they had scheduled a trip to Florida to buy a property in Boca Raton.
Linda Pugach was being laid to rest in a crypt in Paramus, N.J. on Thursday.
Linda Pugach
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