'Best of TBH Politoons'
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Annalee Newitz: How the Web Has Changed Writing (San Francisco Bay Guardian)
Back in the 1990s, I taught writing using books and movies -- there was only one possible kind of output: linear narratives written on sheets of paper. When I recently returned to teaching writing, I couldn't imagine teaching writing using books and linear narratives. I taught writing by showing my students how different software applications could help them structure their writing.
Ted Rall: How Did America Get So Mean? (Maui Time Weekly)
From wounded vets to exonerated prisoners, America is treating its citizens like dirt.
Jim Hightower: THE CORPORATE MCCAIN (jimhightower.com)
Who is John McCain? His spin-meisters paint a picture of him as a straight talker, Washington outsider, maverick reformer, determined foe of the special interests, champion of the average Joe.
Mark Morford: How to sing like a planet (sfgate.com)
Scientists say the Earth is humming. Not just noise, but a deep, astonishing music. Can you hear it?
Mark Kurlansky: Turn the other cheek, or pop him on the nose? (latimes.com)
Even if we are violent by nature, following 'the law of love' can also win the day.
Hannah Fletcher: Train drivers fail to see funny side of suicides (entertainment.timesonline.co.uk)
Members of train drivers' union stage protest at the premiere of a comedy film about London Underground suicides.
Erik Bader: Getting Geeky with Brian Michael Bendis (Willamette Week)
Bendis, winner of five Eisner Awards (the comics equivalent of a Pulitzer), became one of the prime architects of the Marvel Comics' Ultimate line and perhaps the most celebrated Daredevil writer since Frank Miller.
Martin Bandyke: 5 questions for eclectic British singer-songwriter Joe Jackson (Detroit Free Press)
Joe Jackson decided to strip his music down to the bone on his latest studio album, "Rain," recorded in his newly adopted hometown of Berlin.
Stratton Lawrence: Steve Earle Settling Down; Keeping it Honest (Charleston City Paper)
Steve Earle talks about life married to Allison Moorer, his solo tour, New York, country music, and of course, politics.
Robert Kahn: A fast chat with stage and TV star Linda Lavin (Newsday)
"Massapequa? That sounds like a wonderful old Indian name. What does it mean in English?" a character asks Linda Lavin partway through "The New Century," a new comedy at Lincoln Center. Comes Lavin's deadpan reply: "It means `Don't touch my hair.'"
Glenn Gamboa: Despite TV and movie success, Wanda Sykes is still a stand-up gal (Newsday)
Wanda Sykes doesn't have to do stand-up comedy tours anymore.
CBB Exclusive: Penn and Emily Jillette on Moxie CrimeFighter, Zolten, and their unconditional love
I thought I understood how much they [my parents] loved me, but I didn't until I felt the love I have for Mox and Z [my kids]. Hey, all I have for them is complete love and they'll have that forever. Everything else is up in the air.
Some like it very hot (film.guardian.co.uk)
Tony Curtis had his hands full as the most handsome man in 1950s Hollywood. And he also managed to fit in some great films. Tony Curtis, the Hollywood legend talks to John Patterson.
The Democratic Party: Our First National TV Ad of the Cycle (Video)
Commentoon: Pope Benedict in NYC
Sylvia, by Nicole Hollander
Reader Review
Elton John: Tallahassee, FL
Elton John played Tallahassee, Florida Wednesday night, one of three Florida dates he plays this week (Gainesville and Pensacola are the others).
With very little talk between songs he did about two-and-a-half hours and ripped through his many hits, boom boom boom. The old boy is still in pretty fine voice at age 61, but I noted he didn't even try any high notes or falsetto, which makes songs like "Bennie and the Jets" and "Rocket Man" sound slightly not right. His 5-piece band can really bring it, and guitarist David Johnstone - a longtime band member along with drummer Nigel Olsson - gave a solid performance. On a couple of songs Johnstone played one of the two cool double-neck Gibson reissue EDS-1275s, one in red and the other in white. The crowd of 12,000 or so sure loved the show and definitely got their money's worth.
John's performance struck me as somewhat methodical, almost mechanical. He'd finish a song, stand up, point to the crowd, smile, walk to the other side of the stage, point to the crowd, smile, walk back to the piano, sit down and play another song. Repeat process until 10:45 p.m. But hey, if you've been doing, say, 50-100 dates a year for almost 40 years, I guess a lot of your spontaneity would be gone by now too. At least he spared us a Bush-is-worse-than-Hitler tirade.
The only bad thing was again having to listen to the off-key singing of my fellow concertgoers. What is with these concerts? When did they become giant karaoke bars? I paid $100 to hear him sing, lady, not you, so shut the hell up. And put down that stupid "I Love You, Elton" sign. He can't see it and it ain't your kind of lovin' he's interested in anyway, at least the last time I looked.
EJ2E
Thanks, Ed!
Reader Observation
are violinists that stupid?
Marty, m'dear…
So. What is it with violinists losing multi-million dollar instruments? Leaving them in cabs or on the subways and buses. And violins are also apparently a hot item to steal. Is it because they are small and easy to carry? Is it because if you see someone with a violin, normally you wouldn't think it was stolen? I went looking for how many violins have been left behind in cabs and on trains and found this interesting website.
Perhaps some of your readers can help in the recovery of some of these instruments.
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny with a nice breeze
Conan's 'Late Night' Replacement
Jimmy Fallon
Jimmy Fallon appears to be inching closer to Conan O'Brien's "Late Night" chair. For months, Fallon has been widely considered the top choice to succeed O'Brien when he steps down next year. On Thursday, published reports said Fallon has signed, or soon will sign, a deal with NBC.
NBC had no comment Thursday on the stories by The Hollywood Reporter and Variety. The network had been expected to announce its choice of host within the next few weeks, possibly at its May 12 presentation for advertisers.
A former regular on "Saturday Night Live," Fallon, 33, would take over sometime next year as host of the 12:30 a.m. talk show. O'Brien is to replace Jay Leno on NBC's "Tonight" show, aired at 11:30 p.m. each weeknight.
Jimmy Fallon
Directing 'The Hobbit'
Guillermo del Toro
Guillermo del Toro is directing "The Hobbit" and its sequel, which will span the 60 years between the first book and the beginning of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy.
New Line Cinema announced Thursday that the 43-year-old filmmaker, who wrote and directed "Pan's Labyrinth," will move to New Zealand for four years to work with executive producer Peter Jackson and his production teams.
Del Toro will direct the two films back-to-back. The first tells the story of how Bilbo Baggins came to possess the Ring of Doom, while the second will center on the time between it and "The Fellowship of the Ring."
Guillermo del Toro
Subway Station Tile Mural Worth $15 Million
Pittsburgh
A mural in a subway station is worth $15 million, more than the cash-strapped transit agency expected, raising questions about how it should be cared for once it is removed before the station is demolished.
"We did not expect it to be that much," Port Authority of Allegheny County spokeswoman Judi McNeil said Thursday. "We don't have the wherewithal to be a caretaker of such a valuable piece."
It would cost the agency more than $100,000 a year to insure the 60-foot-by-13-foot tile mural by Romare Bearden, McNeil said. Bearden was paid $90,000 for the mural, titled "Pittsburgh Recollections." It was installed in 1984.
The subway station that is home to the mural is being demolished as part of a $435 million plan to extend the subway. The authority didn't know what it was going to do with the mural but wanted to know its value before taking it down, McNeil said.
Pittsburgh
Parallels To China
1936 Berlin Olympics
Does participating in the Olympics risk lending legitimacy to a repressive regime? That was the debate ahead of the 1936 Berlin games but parallels to the recent controversy over China are hard to ignore.
"The Nazi Olympics: Berlin 1936," a timely look at the issue, opens Friday at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.
The decision to hold the 1936 games in Germany also was not particularly controversial. In 1931, when that decision was made, Adolf Hitler had not yet come to power, and the games were considered an opportunity to welcome Germany back into the Olympic community. The country was supposed to host the 1916 games, but they were cancelled because of World War I.
As 1936 approached, however, the direction Germany was heading was becoming clear. Concentration camps had been established for political opponents of the regime, and signs everywhere proclaimed Jews were not welcome.
1936 Berlin Olympics
Mailer's Mistress Sells Papers To Harvard
Carole Mallory
An actress and writer who said she was Norman Mailer's former longtime mistress has sold papers that include lengthy accounts of their sex life and hand-edited drafts of her writing to Harvard University, Mailer's alma mater.
Carole Mallory saved seven boxes of material she said she collected during Mailer's weekly visits between 1983 to 1992, while Mailer was married to his sixth and last wife, Norris Church.
"We'd have a writing lesson, we'd make love and then go to lunch in whatever order that would be, and I saved all the writing lessons," said Mallory, 66. "I wanted him to teach me to be a writer. He was one of our greatest writers in America."
The collection includes photos, transcripts of interviews with Mailer, handwritten edits of Mallory's work and scraps from writing lessons he gave. Mallory still recalls the principles Mailer emphasized, such as: keep the dialogue punchy; stay away from adverbs; don't lecture the reader.
Carole Mallory
Secret London Visit
Elvis Presley
Rock'n'Roll legend Elvis Presley did in fact visit Britain, it was revealed on Tuesday, with a secret visit to London accompanied by another rocker.
Theatre producer Bill Kenwright revealed in a radio interview that Presley, then 23, managed to go sightseeing in London with Cockney singer Tommy Steele.
The pair's trip, understood to have taken place in 1958, included visits to the Houses of Parliament and Buckingham Palace, Kenwright said. Presley did not perform.
Kenwright, who has known Steele for decades, inadvertently revealed the secret trip in a pre-recorded Radio 2 interview on Ken Bruce's show Tracks Of My Years.
Elvis Presley
'Get Over It'
Fat Tony
Justice Antonin Scalia, in an interview to be shown on Sunday, defended the U.S. Supreme Court ruling's that gave George W. Bush the presidency and said he was not trying to impose his personal views on abortion.
Scalia was interviewed for the CBS News show "60 Minutes," an appearance timed to coincide with the publication on Monday of the book he coauthored, "Making Your Case: The Art of Persuading Judges."
Scalia repeated his earlier statement that people should "get over" the court's ruling in 2000 that halted Florida's vote recount, giving the presidential election to Republican Bush over Democrat Al Gore.
"I say nonsense," Scalia said, when asked about critics who say the 5-4 ruling was based on politics and not justice. "Get over it. It's so old by now."
Fat Tony
Hired Hacker
News Corp
A computer hacker testified on Wednesday that a News Corp unit hired him to develop pirating software, but denied using it to penetrate the security system of a rival satellite television service.
Christopher Tarnovsky -- who said his first payment was $20,000 in cash hidden in electronic devices mailed from Canada -- testified in a corporate-spying lawsuit brought against News Corp's NDS Group by DISH Network Corp.
NDS, which provides security technology to a global satellite network that includes satellite TV service DirecTV, denies the claims, saying it was only engaged in reverse engineering -- looking at a technology product to determine how it works, a standard in the electronics industry.
News Corp
3 Years For Tax Charges
Wesley Snipes
Wesley Snipes was sentenced to three years in prison on tax charges Thursday, a victory for prosecutors who sought to make an example of the action star by aggressively pursuing the maximum penalty.
Snipes' lawyers had spent much of the day in court offering dozens of letters from family members, friends - even fellow actors Woody Harrelson and Denzel Washington - attesting to the good character of the "Blade" star and asking for leniency. They argued he should get only probation because his three convictions were all misdemeanors and the actor had no previous criminal record.
But U.S. District Judge William Terrell Hodges said Snipes exhibited a "history of contempt over a period of time" for U.S. tax laws, and granted prosecutors the three year sentence they requested - one year for each of Snipes' convictions of willfully failing to file a tax return.
Snipes was acquitted in February of five additional charges, including felony tax fraud and conspiracy. Snipes' co-defendants, Douglas P. Rosile and Eddie Ray Kahn, were convicted on both those counts. Kahn, who refused to defend himself in court, was sentenced to 10 years, while Rosile received 54 months. Both will serve three years of supervised release. Snipes will serve one year of supervised release.
Wesley Snipes
British Court Rejects Visa Ban
Snoop Dogg
A British court has overruled the government's decision to deny Snoop Dogg a visa after he was involved in an airport lounge brawl in 2006.
The Guardian newspaper says a panel of immigration judges has rejected an attempt by Britain's Home Office to keep the 36-year-old U.S. rapper out of the country.
The judges say Snoop cooperated with police and didn't retaliate when pushed.
The government has a week to appeal.
Snoop Dogg
Sex Trap Claimed
2 Cantors
A rivalry between two of Israel's most famous cantors has spilled over from the exalted world of prayer into allegations of a sexual entrapment plot that includes hidden cameras, a police inquiry and a female private detective hired by one of the men to seduce his adversary.
The saga pits Naftali Herstik, a revered and influential cantor, against his former student, Israel Rand, an up-and-coming talent in the exclusive community of Jewish liturgical singers.
Prosecutors believe Rand hired the detective to pose as a musicology student, lure Herstik to a hotel and photograph intimacies. Rand allegedly sent pictures to the Great Synagogue of Jerusalem, where Herstik is the longtime cantor, to get him fired.
2 Cantors
Esquire Covers Exhibit
George Lois
Muhammad Ali, shirtless in white satin boxing shorts and pierced with six arrows, poses as St. Sebastian, a martyr to his faith. The April 1968 Esquire magazine cover was one of the most iconic images of the decade, tying together the incendiary issues of the Vietnam War, race and religion.
The photo is so powerful that some people of a certain age remember where they were when they saw it for the first time - thanks to George Lois.
Now his work is showcased in an exhibit, "George Lois: The Esquire Covers," that opens at the Museum of Modern Art on Friday. Organized by curatorial assistant Christian Larsen, the show features 32 of the most remembered and memorable of the 92 covers Lois created for Esquire from 1962 to 1972.
There were no tricks in the covers. Harold Hayes, who was Lois' good friend and Esquire's editor, would give Lois a quick run-down of the issue and Lois would come back with an image. It was that simple. No committees, no editing, no discussion. Just the trust of an experienced editor and the gut instinct of an artist.
George Lois
Site Hiring; Spelling Skillz Optional
Lolcat
"I can haz dream Job? My rezumez! let me showz u thm"
That's the subject line of a cover letter sent by a job applicant to I Can Has Cheezburger, one of the premier sites for so-called Lolcat pictures.
Apparently, looking at Lolcats all day is an appealing job. Ben Huh, founder of the site and chief executive of Seattle-based Pet Holdings Inc., has received 250 applications since the job was posted on Monday under the headline "Kittehs Want Moar Workerhumans."
Lolcat
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