Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Paul Krugman: Taking On China (nytimes.com)
Diplomacy on China's currency has gone nowhere. Paving the way for possible sanctions is a step in the right direction.
Meghan Daum: Cathy on the couch (latimes.com)
This weekend marks the end of an era for American women. Cathy, the weight-obsessed, chocolate-loving, shopaholic comic strip heroine who has appeared in newspapers … for more than three decades, will make her final appearance on Sunday.
Alexandra Zavis and Carla Rivera: Hundreds celebrate life of L.A. teacher who killed himself (latimes.com)
Relatives, colleagues and students remember Rigoberto Ruelas, a fifth-grade teacher at Miramonte Elementary School, as a dedicated educator who made a difference in many lives.
Adam Cohen: Justice Scalia Mouths Off on Sex Discrimination (time.com)
Leave it to Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia to argue that the Constitution does not, in fact, bar sex discrimination.
Jim Hightower: THE REAL POWER IN WASHINGTON
The teabag forces are out front in today's politics, noisily trying to oust Democrats and install a new Congress that they think will end business-as-usual in Washington. But behind the scenes, another force is moving quietly and assuredly to make certain that a Republican Congress will deliver business-MORE-THAN-usual.
Froma Harrop: Yes, the Swedish Model (creators.com)
Swedish voters have re-elected their center-right prime minister, and that has caused rejoicing among my right-wing colleagues. "Sweden votes for tax cuts, privatization and deregulation," a Wall Street Journal editorial proclaims. "It's time the world started imitating the Scandinavian - or at least the Swedish - economic model."
James Ledbetter: Kindlerotica ( slate.com)
The strange but inevitable rise of e-reader pornography.
Ellen Hopkins: Banned Books Week 2010: An Anti-Censorship Manifesto
Some call my books edgy; others say they're dark. They do explore tough subject matter -- addiction, abuse, thoughts of suicide, teen prostitution. ... I don't sugarcoat, but neither is the content gratuitous. Something would-be censors could only know if they'd actually read the books rather than skimming for dirty words or sexual content.
PATRICK GOLDSTEIN: "Arthur Penn: With 'Bonnie and Clyde,' he changed movies forever" (latimes.com)
It's hard to think of a director who changed the course of Hollywood films as much with one movie as Arthur Penn.
Claudia Luther:Actor Tony Curtis dies at 85 (latimes.com)
Best known for his role in 'Some Like it Hot,' he appeared in more than 100 films and was nominated for an Oscar for 'The Defiant Ones.'
Interview by Laura Barnett: "Portrait of the artist: Juliet Stevenson" (guardian.co.uk)
'I'm in a rage about the stupidity and short-sightedness of the planned arts cuts.'
Lucy Mangan: Let's hear it for Joan Rivers (guardian.co.uk)
At 77 and with two new TV series under way, the comedy veteran is simply magnificent.
The Weekly Poll
Current Question
The 'Send in the Clowns... Don't bother, they're here' Edition...
The House's No. 2 Democratic leader said today that comedian Stephen Colbert's testimony last week on immigration was "inappropriate" and "an embarrassment." Democratic Rep. Zoe Lofgren of California invited Colbert to appear before the House Judiciary Committee. But other Democrats weren't happy about her decision... House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland told "Faux News Sunday" he thought the episode was more of an embarrassment to Colbert than to the House. But, he added, "I think it was inappropriate" that he testified...
House leader: Colbert was an 'embarrassment' - Politics - msnbc.com
Do you agree with Majority Leader Hoyer's assessment of Colbert's appearance?
1.) Yes... He made a mockery of the legislative process. What was Rep. Lofgren thinking?
2.) No... Congress, themselves, make a mockery of the legislative process, dagnabbit!
3.) More! More! Bring on Jon Stewart!
Send your response to
took another day off.
wrote:
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Reader Comment
DST
Joe S. wrote:
We lived on the top of a very large hill overlooking Lake Michigan and had very good Wisconsin reception. In summer Wisconsin would go on Daylight savings time and Michigan wouldn't, so we would have the same time
At one time Michigan was not on daylight savings time, so they were an hour behind Ohio. So, one could,(hypothetically speaking), watch Jeopardy on an Ohio station, and then go to a bar in Michigan, and bet on the answers. Not that anyone did that.
Uncle Sky
Thanks, Uncle Sky!
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Hot. Humid. Cranky.
Cleans House
CNN
CNN says that anchor Rick Sanchez has been fired, a day after he called Jon Stewart a bigot while on a radio show.
Sanchez said on a satellite radio program Thursday that Stewart is bigoted toward "everybody else that's not like him." The Comedy Central "Daily Show" host has frequently poked fun at Sanchez on the air.
Also in the interview, Sanchez had mocked a suggestion that Jews are a minority. Stewart is Jewish.
The statement from CNN says Sanchez "is no longer with the company." In it, the network also thanks Sanchez "for his years of service" and wishes him well.
CNN
Staying In San Diego
Comic-Con
Comic-Con, the annual gathering of tens of thousands of fanboys, will be staying in San Diego for the foreseeable future.
After months of hand-wringing and poring over the proposals from the cities of San Diego, Anaheim and Los Angeles, Comic-Con decided to stick to the place where it all began in 1970.
Comic-Con struck a three-year deal with San Diego, which will keep the pop culture event in the coastal city through 2015. A press conference is expected to take place Friday, with mayor Jerry Sanders making an official announcement.
The decision regarding the future of Comic-Con's home was a sword of Damocles hanging over its head this summer. A decision was initially expected in June but kept getting postponed.
Comic-Con
Classical Music
Gramophone Awards
A recording of William Byrd's Renaissance liturgical music by the British group The Cardinall's Musick won recording of the year on Friday at a Gramophone magazine awards ceremony that covered the landscape of classical music, from medieval times to the present.
A CD by American mezzo soprano Joyce DiDonato "Colbran, the Muse", exploring music that Rossini wrote to be performed by his wife Isabella Colbran, was named best recital while British composer Thomas Ades's 21st-century opera adaptation of Shakespeare's "The Tempest" was chosen best in the contemporary category.
A documentary about the late Leonard Bernstein, which filmmaker Peter Rosen said caught the American composer and conductor at a poignant moment while his wife was dying, and which was aired on television but then lingered in vaults for decades, was chosen best DVD documentary.
Pianist Alfred Brendel, who has retired from giving live recitals after a career spanning more than half a century, was given a lifetime achievement award.
Gramophone Awards
Honorees Announced
Environmental Media Awards
Green is always in fashion in Hollywood, and two American entrepreneurs are being honored for their ecological contributions.
The Environmental Media Association says Jane Fonda and Natalie Portman will present Ted Turner and Jeff Skoll with Environmental Media Awards at a private ceremony next month.
Skoll's namesake foundation has funded organizations such as the Amazon Conversation Team, the American Council on Renewable Energy and Global Footprint Network.
Turner, who founded CNN, supports wildlife habitat preservation, promotes sustainable energy and furthers other environmental causes through his Turner Foundation.
Environmental Media Awards
New TV Series
'The Little Prince'
Where Walt Disney and others failed, the heirs of Antoine de Saint-Exupery have finally succeeded in bringing the French aviator's world-famous blonde Little Prince to the small screen.
The 52-episode animated series of the best-selling ever French book, first published in English in 1943 and in French only three years later, is to be shown in 80 countries, with a first taste on French television at Christmas.
"Send me word that he has come back," which takes its name from the final words of Saint-Exupery's space-odyssey, sees the diminutive hero travel around 24 planets in a bid to save the universe from a snake.
The series will be shown around the world, from Australia to Japan, where a Little Prince museum receives 400,000 visitors a year.
'The Little Prince'
Museum Opens
Ray Charles
Youngsters in Los Angeles will soon have Ray Charles on their mind now that a museum has opened in the music legend's inner-city office building.
The Ray Charles Memorial Library, officially launched on the 80th anniversary of his birth on September 23, is initially open to school groups by appointment only. The general public is expected to be admitted next year.
The museum is run by a nonprofit foundation that Charles established in 1986 to focus on needy and underprivileged children, especially those with hearing difficulties. Charles, who was blind, considered deafness a greater handicap.
Seeking to fill a void left by the decline of arts and music programs in public schools, the museum's curators hope the exhibits will open up a world of possibilities to youngsters after they see how the soul icon transcended socioeconomic, musical and racial boundaries during a career spanning more than 50 years.
Ray Charles
Hollywood Bookkeeping
Matt Dillon
Is "Crash" the most-litigated movie in Hollywood history? Actor Matt Dillon has become the latest participant to sue over profits from the 2006 best picture Oscar winner.
In a lawsuit filed Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court, Dillon claims he was cheated out of at least $100,000 in profits from the drama by executive producer Bob Yari and others.
Dillon says that in 2006 his company Matthias Prods. performed an audit and found that he was owed a big chunk of money from the film, which was made for under $8 million but grossed about $98 million worldwide.
But when he presented the audit to Yari and his execs Dennis Brown and William Immerman, they "deliberately authorized (the production entity) to apply an incorrect formula for the calculation of (Dillon's) contingent compensation," according to the complaint.
Matt Dillon
Russia Backs Down
Louvre
Russia has agreed to loan to the Louvre in Paris paintings by a controversial artist which attack Prime Minister Vladimir Putin having initially refused to export them, the French museum said Friday.
The exhibition will take place "with all the artists and works that we were proposing to invite to this event," the Louvre said in a statement following talks with Russian authorities.
Russia's deputy culture minister Andrei Busygin said on Wednesday that the abstract works by artist Avdei Ter-Oganyan "could be seen as calls for a coup d'etat, or inciting national or religious hatred."
Several major artists due to take part in the exhibition announced a boycott last week in support of Ter-Oganyan.
"Counterpoint: Russian Contemporary Art" is to open at the Louvre on October 14 and run through to January 31, 2011. It is organised by two Moscow galleries, including the state-owned National Centre for Contemporary Art.
Louvre
Rupert Raises Rates
Dish Network
Satellite TV operator Dish Network Corp. said Friday that News Corp.'s Fox television unit cut its access to 19 regional sports networks, FX and the National Geographic Channel after Dish refused to pay for a rate increase of more than 50 percent.
In a related development, Dish also stopped carrying MSG and MSG Plus, affecting New York-area sports fans, saying it refused to accept a "double digit" percentage rate hike proposal linked to carrying MSG sister channel Fuse, which it called a "low-rated music video channel."
Dish, controlled by billionaire Charlie Ergen, called Fox's rate hike demand "unprecedented" and said it was driven by what Fox has paid for the right to exclusive TV coverage of sports in local markets. Their multiyear deal expired at midnight Thursday.
While the standoff continues, Dish said it will make the NFL Network, NBA TV, ESPN Classic and other pay channels available at no extra charge to those affected by the blackout.
Dish Network
Tuskegee, Part 2
Guatemala
The United States apologized on Friday for an experiment conducted in the 1940s in which U.S. government researchers deliberately infected Guatemalan prison inmates, women and mental patients with syphilis.
In the experiment, aimed at testing the then-new drug penicillin, inmates were infected by prostitutes and later treated with the antibiotic.
The experiment, which echoed the infamous 1960s Tuskegee study in which black American men were deliberately left untreated for syphilis, was revealed by Susan Reverby, professor of women's studies at Wellesley College in Massachusetts.
Her findings, to be published in January in the Journal of Policy History, link the Tuskegee and Guatemala studies.
"In 1946-48, Dr. John C. Cutler, a Public Health Service physician who would later be part of the Syphilis Study in Alabama in the 1960s and continue to defend it two decades after it ended in the 1990s, was running a syphilis inoculation project in Guatemala, co-sponsored by the PHS, the National Institutes of Health, the Pan American Health Sanitary Bureau (now the Pan American Health Organization), and the Guatemalan government," she wrote.
Guatemala
2012 3D Release
"Titanic"
Early 2012 suddenly is shaping up as a major launch pad for classic blockbusters bowing in 3D.
Hollywood studios Paramount Pictures, 20th Century Fox and Lightstorm Entertainment are mulling the 3D re-release of James Cameron's "Titanic" in April of that year.
That could put "Titanic" in theaters mere weeks after the 3D reissue of George Lucas' "Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace" from Fox and Lucasfilm.
April 15, 2012, marks the 100th anniversary of Titanic slipping into the icy Atlantic, and Paramount marks its own centennial the same month. But it's possible that "Titanic" could be released as early as that year's oft-lucrative Valentine's Day weekend.
"Titanic"
In Memory
Stephen J. Cannell
Stephen J. Cannell, the voracious writer-producer of dozens of series that included TV favorites "The Rockford Files," "The A-Team" and "The Commish," has died at age 69.
Cannell passed away at his home in Pasadena, Calif., on Thursday night from complications associated with melanoma, his family said in a statement on Friday.
During three decades as an independent producer, he distinguished himself as a rangy, outgoing chap with a trim beard who was generally identified with action dramas full of squealing tires and tough guys trading punches.
But his range was greater than for which he was given credit. "Tenspeed and Brown Shoe" was a clever detective drama starring Ben Vereen and a then-unknown Jeff Goldblum in 1980. "Profit" was a shocking saga of a psycho businessman that was unforgettable to the few viewers who saw it: Fox pulled the plug after just four episodes in 1996. With "Wiseguy" (1987-90), Cannell chilled viewers with a film-noir descent into the underworld that predated "The Sopranos" by more than a decade.
"The Rockford Files," of course, became an Emmy-winning TV classic following the misadventures of its hapless ex-con private eye played by James Garner.
During his TV heyday, Cannell became familiar to viewers from the ID that followed each of his shows: He was seen in his office typing on his Selectric before blithely ripping a sheet of paper from the typewriter carriage, whereupon it morphed into the C-shaped logo of Cannell Entertainment Inc.
That was all the idea of his wife, Marcia, he said, and it "appealed to my sense of hooey. ... I'm a ham."
He was also an occasional actor, most recently with a recurring role on ABC-TV's series, "Castle."
A third-generation Californian, Cannell (rhymes with "channel") got into television writing scripts for "It Takes a Thief," "Ironside" and "Adam-12." It was a remarkable career choice for someone who had suffered since childhood from severe dyslexia (he became an advocate for children and adults with learning disabilities).
Cannell is survived by Marcia, his wife of 46 years, their three children, and three grandchildren.
Stephen J. Cannell
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