Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Bettany Hughes: Why we need to make history cool again (guardian.co.uk)
The grassroots success of such movies as Spartan gore-fest 300 demonstrates the young's appetite for the subject.
Garrison Keillor: A tale of 2 cities, and only a train ride away
Memorial Day in Washington, and geese swimming in the great reflecting pool that reflects the Washington Monument or the Lincoln Memorial, depending on where you are standing, and busloads of tourists pulled up to the curbs. Heroic architecture everywhere, bas-relief sculptures of heroes, men on pedestals, monuments to Fidelity and Sacrifice and Devotion, and a milling crowd of people, many of whom are Hot and Irritable and Dazed with Tedium.
Julia Keller: Inside the world of Neil Gaiman: 'Coraline' author living his dream life (Chicago Tribune)
You are inside Neil Gaiman's mind. (Hands and feet must stay within the car at all times. Management not responsible, etc.) Please note - now coming into view on your left - a highly unusual conglomeration. The phrase "a jumbled, jammed-together mess" might be an apt way to describe it, as would the adjective "higgledy-piggledy."
Joseph Carver: "The Hungry Bird Gets the Worm: An Interview with Eef Barzelay of Clem Snide" (popmatters.com)
After a rash of solo albums, film scores, and an infamous incident doing the theme to a noted TV show, Clem Snide frontman Eef Barzelay is back, his band in tow, and unafraid to face his future.
Dan Deluca: Folk-rocker and novelist John Wesley Harding brings his storytelling to Philadelphia (The Philadelphia Inquirer)
There's an Englishman who's moving to Philadelphia from Brooklyn sitting at a cafe here, explaining the ways in which his two artistic callings are extremely different from each other, yet still very much the same.
Walter Tunis: Lil' Ed's blues will send you soaring; irrepressible slide guitarist gets people smiling and dancing (McClatchy Newspapers)
There is probably no happier a bluesman on the planet than Lil' Ed Williams.
Mike Farley: A Chat with Kevin Griffin, Better Than Ezra singer/songwriter/guitarist (bullz-eye.com)
You're never above writing a song that just does not resonate even though you think it does. That's the curse of most songwriters. Even the worst songwriters think their songs are amazing.
Bill Gibron: Review of "Harlan Ellison: Dreams with Sharp Teeth (2008)"
Harlan Ellison makes me feel guilty for being a writer - or at the very least, for calling myself one.
Roger Moore: Horror beckons Sam Raimi home (The Orlando Sentinel)
"Sam Raimi works exclusively in the horror genre," Richard Skorman wrote in an appreciation of "Evil Dead II" in the 1989 reference guide Off Hollywood Movies. And so it seemed at the time.
Julie Hinds: Earlier time slot means Conan O'Brien must aim his offbeat humor at a more mainstream audience (Detroit Free Press)
The first episode of "Late Night With Conan O'Brien" in 1993 opened with a skit where the relatively unknown host strolls to work as people he encounters keep reminding him "Better be good!" and "Lot of pressure!"
"Luke" - Pride Agenda's TV ad calling for equal treatment for all New York families (youtube.com)
Pass the Marriage Equality bill.
David Bruce: Wise Up! Problem-Solving (athensnews.com)
Jacques Offenbach, a composer noted for his overtures, sometimes forgot to button the fly of his pants. This happened so often in public places that his wife devised a code to let him know secretly that he had done it again. Whenever she began to talk about "Monsieur Durand," Mr. Offenbach would excuse himself, leave the room and button his fly.
The Weekly Poll
The 'Guilty TV Pleasures' Edition...
Are there any TV programs that you secretly feel sheepish about watching regularly, but do so anyway because you REALLY like them? C'mon now, fess up! I will!
I double-dog dare ya, haha!
Send your response to
"From out of the clear blue of the Western sky . . .comes Sky King!"
Sky King was a 1940s and 1950s American radio and television adventure series. The title character was Arizona rancher and aircraft pilot Schuyler (or Skyler) "Sky" King.
said:
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Overcast til lunchtime and a sunny afternoon.
Talk-Show Marathon
Hugo Chavez
Venezuela's garrulous President Hugo Chavez on Thursday began a marathon four-day edition of his trademark television show to mark 10 years since the influential and widely watched program first hit the airwaves.
Chavez is a tireless talker who uses frequent television appearances to make policy announcements, berate opponents and even sing during rambling speeches often delivered in the florid vernacular of working class Venezuelans.
Normally transmitted on Sundays from a different corner of the South American oil exporting nation each week, 'Alo Presidente' is the boisterous socialist's favorite forum, with the program once running to eight hours.
Venezuela's media reflect its polarized society, with government stations strongly supporting Chavez and private newspapers and Globovision TV relentlessly critical of the president and his policies.
Hugo Chavez
Miami To Demolish HQ?
'Burn Notice'
Commissioners in Miami might delay the demolition of a waterfront expo center to accommodate the producers of the cable television series "Burn Notice."
Last year, Miami commissioners approved a proposal that included plans to demolish the decaying expo center.
But producers say the show might leave Miami if the facility is torn down. The expo center has served as the headquarters to the production of the Fox Television series, which airs on the USA Network.
"Burn Notice" stars Jeffrey Donovan, who plays a spy fired by the Central Intelligence Agency who uses his training to help others in trouble. The new season premieres June 4.
'Burn Notice'
3 Wolf Moon
T-Shirt
Until recently, it was just a T-shirt with a colorful design of three wolves howling at the moon.
Now, it's a viral sensation with its own Facebook page, videos and an exploding following that has swamped a tiny New Hampshire company. All because a customer posted a tongue-in-cheek comment on Amazon.com saying the "Three Wolf Moon" helped make him a babe magnet.
While images of the shirt and comments about its powers sweep the Internet, employees at The Mountain in Keene are caught up in a storm, and working overtime to make the best of it.
The T-shirt, designed by Florida artist Antonia Neshev, has taken over the production line in the basement of a 200-year-old mill building, though it took a while for the rumbling to reach The Mountain.
T-Shirt
New Postage Stamp
Bob Hope
Bob Hope is making one more appearance with the troops.
The comedian famed for his tireless travel to entertain American servicemen and women around the world is being honored with a 44-cent postage stamp Friday in ceremonies aboard the USS Midway in San Diego.
Hope made two appearances aboard the Midway in a career launched in the 1930s and including military shows from World War II to the Persian Gulf. He died in 2003 at age 100. His widow, Dolores Hope, celebrated her 100th birthday Wednesday night in Los Angeles.
The post office has printed 100 million stamps featuring Hope and they are on sale nationwide.
Bob Hope
Arrested On Drug Warrant
Tom Sizemore
Troubled actor Tom Sizemore, who is attempting a career comeback by appearing on TV cop shows, was arrested early on Thursday on an outstanding narcotics warrant, Los Angeles police said.
Sizemore, best known for his battle-hardened film roles in "Saving Private Ryan" and "Black Hawk Down," was taken into custody by police responding to a report of gunshots fired in the Mount Olympus area of the Hollywood Hills, police said.
He was booked on $25,000 bail after officers discovered he had an outstanding narcotics warrant from the central California town of Bakersfield, but Los Angeles police said they had no further information on the warrant.
He recently made a guest appearance as a drug-using Hollywood figure on the new NBC police drama "Southland." He also played a detective on the cable TV series "Crash," a spin-off of the Oscar-winning movie of the same name.
Tom Sizemore
Something Sucks
Gawker Media
It's something Gawker's snarky arbiters of culture would normally find irresistible: An advertisement for a TV program in the form of a blog that's embedded within a popular Web site and made to look just like it.
It might, if the fake vampire blog paid for by HBO to promote its series "True Blood" wasn't on Gawker itself.
Gawker Media added a short disclaimer at the bottom of the "Bloodcopy" blog to distinguish itself from editorial copy shortly after it was initially posted on Wednesday, and a Gawker editor objected to the blurring line between editorial and ad copy.
The fake site uses the same format and breezy style of all the blogs - and is purportedly written by a vampire named Andrew. "I'll be the Virgil to your Dante, the Tyra Banks to your Jade, the Jeff Probst to your Gervase," he writes by way of introduction.
Gawker Media
It's New & It's Lethal
Lujo Virus
Scientists have identified a lethal new virus in Africa that causes bleeding like the dreaded Ebola virus. The so-called "Lujo" virus infected five people in Zambia and South Africa last fall. Four of them died, but a fifth survived, perhaps helped by a medicine recommended by the scientists.
It's not clear how the first person became infected, but the bug comes from a family of viruses found in rodents, said Dr. Ian Lipkin, a Columbia University epidemiologist involved in the discovery.
The outbreak started in September, when a female travel agent who lives on the outskirts of Lusaka, Zambia, became ill with a fever-like illness that quickly grew much worse.
Investigators believe the virus spread from person to person through contact with infected body fluids.
Lujo Virus
Everglades Swamped
Burmese Pythons
The population of Burmese pythons in Florida's Everglades may have grown to as many as 150,000 as the non-native snakes make a home and breed in the fragile wetlands, officials said Thursday.
Wildlife biologists say the troublesome invaders -- dumped in the Everglades by pet owners who no longer want them -- have become a pest and pose a significant threat to endangered species like the wood stork and Key Largo woodrat.
"They eat things that we care about," said Skip Snow, an Everglades National Park biologist, as he showed a captured, 15-foot (4.6-meter) Burmese python to U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, who was on his first fact-finding mission to the Everglades since the Obama administration took office.
Everglades biologists have been grappling with the growing python problem for a decade. The snakes are one of the largest species in the world and natives of Southeast Asia, but they found a home to their liking in the Everglades when pet owners started using the wetland as a convenient dumping ground.
Burmese Pythons
Swiss Cleaning Bug
Engelberg
A Swiss holiday resort is offering mountain-cleaning courses after an April fools spoof caught the imagination of a nation known for its cleanliness, the tourism board said Thursday.
Authorities in Engelberg, an idyllic ski resort where tens of thousands of skiers come annually, said the April fools joke had such global impact that they were now using it as a marketing tool to attract holidaymakers.
"We are offering four weekend courses after which participants can call themselves qualified mountain cleaners," Modeste Jossen, Engelberg cable car services director, said. Participants are awarded a special 'mountain-cleaner badge'.
The video was translated into six languages and more than 30,000 people completed the spoof application to become a mountain cleaner in the first 24 hours of it being posted.
Engelberg
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