Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Tom Danehy: The drunk driver, not the road design, is responsible for the death of José Rincon Jr. (tucsonweekly.com)
On the afternoon of June 28, 1914, Gavrilo Princip sat at a café in Sarajevo, eating a sandwich and bemoaning his bad luck.
Froma Harrop: Republican Talk of the 'Sensible Middle' Makes No Sense (creators.com)
We keep hearing that "Obama should move to the center." A variation on this theme is that the president should find the "sensible middle" on policy.
THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN: The Fat Lady Has Sung (nytimes.com)
A small news item from Tracy, Calif., caught my eye last week. Local station CBS 13 reported: "Tracy residents will now have to pay every time they call 911 for a medical emergency. ..."
David Alpaugh: The New Math of Poetry (chronicle.com)
It's hard to figure out how much poetry is being published in America. When I suggested to Michael Neff, founder of Web del Sol, that anyone can start an online journal for $100, he pointed out that anyone can start one via a blog for nothing. If current trends persist, the sheer amount of poetry "published" is likely to double, quadruple, "ten-tuple" in the decades ahead.
Ten rules for writing fiction (guardian.co.uk)
Get an accountant, abstain from sex and similes, cut, rewrite, then cut and rewrite again - if all else fails, pray. Inspired by Elmore Leonard's 10 Rules of Writing, we asked authors for their personal dos and don'ts.
Ten rules for writing fiction (part two) (guardian.co.uk)
Inspired by Elmore Leonard's 10 Rules of Writing, our survey of established authors' tips for successful authorship continues.
Laura Barton: "Fionn Regan: My way or the highway" (guardian.co.uk)
His debut album was nominated for the Mercury prize - then his label locked away the followup. For his third album, Fionn Regan is going it alone.
Todd Martens: Devo and the focus-grouped comeback album (latimes.com)
With the release of the new album, longtime fans may find some changes shocking.
Christopher Goodwin: Hugh Laurie finds happiness in LA (timesonline.co.uk)
After six years in the US, the actor is at home, although he's still English enough to be bemused by being a sex-object.
Christopher Goodwin: Sarah Palin takes on Hollywood (timesonline.co.uk)
Fans of the politician are flocking to Sandra Bullock's homespun film 'The Blind Side,' and it's heading for Oscar success
David Bruce: Wise Up! Authors (athensnews.com)
For children's author Jane Yolen, writing and books can be magical. She was writing one book when a group of elves appeared in her mind. She told them, "No elves in this book. Go away." They replied, "We're here." She says, "I was blocked for three weeks until I figured out why they were there." A nurse once sent her a letter to say that she had read one of Ms. Yolen's stories to a young, dying girl. She wrote that "the story had eased the little girl through her final pain." Ms. Yolen says, "The story did that - not me. But if I can continue to write with as much honesty and love as I can muster, I will truly have touched magic - and passed it on."
David Bruce: "Dante's 'Paradise': A Discussion Guide" (lulu.com)
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The Weekly Poll
Current Question
The '1st Ever BadtotheboneBob Oscar Award Contest' Edition...
With a Prize! That's right, Poll-fans! A Prize! You like prizes, dontcha? I know I do!
I emptied my little change jar and I came up with $27.54 that I will gladly, gladly I say, donate to yer favorite charity. If that's you, OK, that's cool. If it's Marty and the page, so much the better, eh? All ya gotta do is correctly pick the winners of these Oscar categories... The closest one wins The Prize!... Ready? Set... Go !!!
Best Picture
Best Actor in a Leading Role
Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Best Actress in a Leading Role
Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Directing
...
Oscar night is Sunday, March 7th. Cut off for entries will be 8PM EST Saturday March 6th and will be posted Sunday morning. The winner will posted Tuesday, March 9th with a new question.
Oh, ties will be resolved in a scientific manner involving my toddler grand-daughter, 'Maddie Muffin' and will be explained with the posted predictions... Good Luck!
BadtotheboneBob
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From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Reader Suggestion
The Jennifer Lopez Era
With the news that Sony/Epic fired Jennifer Lopez from their label this month, we're taking a look back at the time that was The Jennifer Lopez Era.
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and warm, but more rain is on the way.
Big thanks to Alex, Sally, and Marianne for snagging the guest list for Bill Maher's show tonight!
Have Free Speech Rights
'Zombies'
They're said to utter little more than an occasional groan, but zombies -- the blood-drenched monsters of Hollywood "B" movies -- still have a right to free speech, a US court ruled this week.
An appeals court in the northern US city of Minneapolis, Minnesota on Wednesday allowed a group of zombies -- or rather, several protesters costumed as such -- to press ahead with their lawsuit against police who arrested them for disorderly conduct.
The appeals court overturned a lower court in finding that the group of seven "zombies" had been wrongfully detained during a 2006 shopping mall protest against consumerism.
The three-judge panel, by a two-to-one vote, ruled that Minneapolis police lacked probable cause to arrest the demonstrators for disorderly conduct.
'Zombies'
Viewership Skewing Older
Olympics
The Winter Olympics may be attracting mega-ratings, but their demo profile isn't the most attractive.
The Vancouver Games are skewing disproportionately to older viewers, a Nielsen study found. Viewership among those aged 55 or older has been 82% higher than the national average. But unlike primetime entertainment, the Olympics are sold to advertisers based on how many households tune in, not specific demos. Advertisers pay a premium to reach younger viewers.
Meantime, the Olympics also have drawn more female viewers than males, at 56%. That's typical of Olympic telecasts, and NBC courts female viewers by emphasizing skating events in primetime. Winter Games ratings among minorities have been considerably lower than for other programing. Hispanic and African-American ratings are each 74% below the national average. Also, ratings have been highest on the West Coast and lowest in the Southwest U.S.
Olympics
Rejoins Aerosmith
Steven Tyler
After turmoil that included public squabbling, threats of a lineup change and a rehab stint, Aerosmith is back and ready to rock.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Famers have announced their "Cocked, Locked and Ready to Rock" European summer tour - with Steven Tyler.
The band made the announcement Thursday. It also posted a video on its Web site in which Tyler, sitting with the rest of the band, jokes: "I just auditioned and I got the gig."
Steven Tyler
Fetches $1.075 Million
Batman Comic
Superman and Batman's first appearances in comic books have each set auction sales records and broken the $1 million barrier, in an age when traditional investments have fared badly and superheroes look attractive.
A 1939 comic with the first ever appearance of masked crime fighter Batman sold at auction in Dallas on Thursday for a record $1.075 million, said Heritage Auction Galleries.
Three days earlier, a buyer paid $1 million for Superman's world debut in Action Comics #1, more than tripling the previous comic book sales record set last year.
Batman Comic
Sells For £20,000 At Auction
Dalek
A battered 25-year-old Dalek figure with missing parts has fetched more than £20,000 at auction.
The black and gold Imperial Mk 1 Dalek, which originally featured in 1985 story Revelation Of The Daleks, drew the highest price at the sale of Doctor Who props at Bonhams.
Kylie Minogue's waitress outfit and knee-length boots, when she played Astrid Peth in the Voyage Of The Damned Christmas special in 2007, drew £3,120.
A further white Dalek went for £15,600, with both going for more than double the estimated £7,000.
Dalek
Denied Bail
Cameron Douglas
Michael Douglas' troubled son was denied bail and a chance for outpatient addiction treatment Thursday as he awaits sentencing in a federal drug-dealing case.
Wearing dark-blue federal prison garb, the screen scion said nothing during the hearing at a Manhattan federal court. He briefly greeted his mother, Diandra, and other supporters as he was taken back to jail. His father did not attend the hearing.
Douglas, 31, pleaded guilty in January to selling large amounts of methamphetamine and cocaine out of a trendy Manhattan hotel. He faces a minimum 10-year prison term at his sentencing, set for April 14.
Douglas pleaded guilty to a charge that generally requires defendants to be held without bail until sentencing, and prosecutors said he shouldn't get special consideration. U.S. District Judge Richard A. Berman agreed Thursday.
Cameron Douglas
EMI Appeals Ruling
Men at Work
Record company EMI lodged an appeal Thursday against a court ruling that the Australian band Men at Work copied a flute melody from a children's campfire song in their 1980s hit "Down Under."
EMI filed papers with the Federal Court in Sydney listing 14 grounds for appeal and saying that songwriters Colin Hay and Ron Strykert did not breach copyright in the song.
EMI said similarities to two bars of the song "Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree" might be noticed by "the highly sensitized or educated musical ear" but were unlikely to be noticed by the ordinary listener.
The company said the inclusion of the melody was at most a form of tribute to the tune written more than 70 years ago by Australian teacher Marion Sinclair for a Girl Guides competition.
Men at Work
Odeon Agrees To Show
"Alice In Wonderland"
A top European theater chain said on Thursday it will show Walt Disney Co's "Alice In Wonderland," after threatening to boycott it in some countries to protest Disney's plans to release the DVD early.
Odeon's reversal on Thursday in signing a deal with Disney came the same day the chain hosted a London premiere for the movie at its Leicester Square theater.
Odeon said in a statement it reached an "enduring agreement" with Disney "encompassing all the different aspects of both companies' commercial relationship."
The statement did not offer details on the agreement. A Disney spokesman also declined to give specifics.
"Alice In Wonderland"
Debt Collectors Turned Away
Wayne Newton
Police say sheriff's deputies were turned away from Wayne Newton's sprawling Las Vegas home while trying to collect a $500,000 court judgment.
Las Vegas police said Thursday that guards at Newton's house refused to accept documents, and moving vans and Clark County sheriff's civil division deputies left after less than 45 minutes.
Police say the case now returns to Clark County District Court, where a judge last June ruled that Newton owed his former pilot more than $400,000 in back pay.
A lawyer for pilot Monty Ward told the Las Vegas Sun the amount due topped $501,388 last month and is growing at more than $125 per day.
Wayne Newton
Beverly Hills Disowns Contestant
Miss California
Less than a year after dethroned Miss California USA Carrie Prejean stirred up controversy with her remarks against gay marriage, a similar war of words is brewing in Beverly Hills.
Beverly Hills Mayor Nancy Krasne said Wednesday she is outraged over a Miss California USA contestant who is claiming to represent the city in the upcoming pageant and who spoke out against same-sex marriage in recent media interviews.
Krasne said in a statement that 23-year-old Lauren Ashley does not live in Beverly Hills or represent the city in any capacity. Krasne said she was shocked to see statements made by a beauty pageant contestant under the name of Beverly Hills, "which has a long history of tolerance and respect."
Keith Lewis, a K2 Productions stage director for the Miss California USA pageant, told the Los Angeles Times that contestants choose the area they represent and Ashley chose to compete as Miss Beverly Hills in November 2010.
Miss California
Seinfeld Parking Placard
NYPD
The New York Police Department is investigating why a Bronx police placard was displayed in comedian Jerry Seinfeld's car.
Seinfeld spokeswoman Elizabeth Clark Zoia on Wednesday said the performer wasn't aware of the parking placard, which belonged to Seinfeld's longtime driver, a retired police officer.
She says the driver became concerned for Seinfeld's safety when he arrived with the comedian to the studio where his new show is being filmed and found a crowd outside. She says the driver apparently posted the placard briefly so he could escort Seinfeld inside.
The spokeswoman says now that it's been brought to their attention it won't be used again.
NYPD
Aquarium Leak
Dubai Mall
The aquarium at Dubai Mall, one of the world's largest and a symbol of Dubai's grandeur, is leaking and part of the mall has been evacuated, a police official said on Thursday.
"There was a small problem, a simple crack, and the water leaked," the official said, declining to be identified.
One of the largest tanks in the world, the aquarium features the world's largest viewing panel at 32.8 metres (107 ft 7 in) wide and 8.3 metres high.
Dubai Aquarium has been planned to have more than 33,000 living animals, representing more than 85 species including over 400 sharks and rays combined, according to Dubai Mall's website.
Dubai Mall
10 Billionth Song
iTunes
Apple's iTunes has sold its 10 billionth tune.
Apple said Thursday that its online music store crossed the threshold Wednesday when 71-year-old Louie Sulcer of Woodstock, Ga., bought "Guess Things Happen That Way" by Johnny Cash.
iTunes had promoted the 10 billion mark and celebrated the milestone by giving Sulcer a $10,000 iTunes gift card.
Introduced in 2003, iTunes became the top overall music retailer in the U.S. in 2008.
iTunes
Beauty Pageant
Camels
Ten golden-colored camels adorned with sparkling ornaments line up for the finale of a beauty contest in one of the UAE's northern emirates, awaiting the selection of two proud winners.
Gulf Arabs from across the region gather in a large sandy plot in Ajman to sit in for a four-hour competition, which will see the selection of the best out of 150 camels every day.
The three-day spectacle should end with the top two finalists bagging luxury cars, while a remaining eight win cash.
In an effort to preserve the Gulf Arab country's cultural legacy, the government encourages camel rearing through funding and festivals where the desert animal is paraded for beauty, and sold in auctions.
Camels
In Memory
Caroline McWilliams
Caroline McWilliams, an actress and director best known to television audiences for her work on the series "Benson" and "Soap," has died. She was 64.
McWilliams died Feb. 11 at her home in Los Angeles from complications of multiple myeloma, her family said.
Caroline Margaret McWilliams was born April 4, 1945, in Seattle but grew up in Barrington, R.I. She graduated in 1966 with a bachelor's degree from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.
Her first break on television was on "Guiding Light," a longtime CBS soap opera in which she appeared for several years beginning in 1969. While in New York, she also started to build her stage career.
She also appeared on the soap opera "Another World" in 1975.
In 1978 and '79, she played Sally on the ABC comedy "Soap," and from 1979 to '81 played Marcy Hill on the series "Benson," a spinoff from "Soap" starring Robert Guillaume.
Other TV appearances included starring in the 1989 series "Nearly Departed" with Eric Idle, "Beverly Hills, 90210" and "Judging Amy."
Her movie roles included "Mermaids" in 1990.
McWilliams is survived by her son, Sean Douglas, and sisters Kelly-Jo Dvareckas, Norma Liedtke and Patti McWilliams. She was divorced from actor Michael Keaton.
Caroline McWilliams
In Memory
Andrew Koenig
Vancouver police say "Growing Pains" actor Andrew Koenig has been found dead.
At a press conference in the downtown park where his body was found, police said foul play was not suspected, but would not release a cause of death because the coroner is still investigating.
The actor's father, Walter Koenig, said his son "took his own life."
Koenig, 41, was visiting friends in Vancouver when he went missing more than a week ago.
The Venice, California, native had a recurring role on the 1980s sitcom as Boner, a pal of star Kirk Cameron's character, Mike.
Andrew Koenig
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