Recommended Reading
from Bruce
PAULA SCHWARTZ: Jane Lynch and Lara Embry (nytimes.com)
Jane Lynch and Lara Embry were married Monday at the Blue Heron Restaurant in Sunderland, Mass. Jeannie Elias, a friend who became a Universal Life minister for the event, officiated.
Patt Morrison: "Roy Ashburn: Out and about" (latimes.com)
The state senator discusses California politics, his anti-gay legislative record before being outed and more.
This column will change your life: Small pleasures (guardian.co.uk)
Learn to appreciate those little, everyday sources of happiness, says Oliver Burkeman.
Felicity Cloake: How to bake wholemeal bread (guardian.co.uk)
Do you bake your own bread? What's the flour of the hour and the rule of thumb for crumb? And are breadmakers a godsend, a convenient compromise, or an utter waste of money and space?
Marilynn Preston: In the Playground of Life, Balance Beats Bullying (creators.com)
This month, I am enjoying life on a small Greek island, and around the corner from me is a new playground for children. Not exactly new - before the latest equipment arrived, it was a field starving for attention, overgrown with weeds, with a few pieces of battered junk that no self-respecting 8-year-old wanted to play on.
Charlyn Fargo: Posting Calories (creators.com)
Will knowing calorie counts help us lose weight? New calorie postings will certainly allow consumers to make educated choices about the foods they choose in a restaurant. Take TGI Friday's Honey Pecan Salmon versus its Shrimp Key West. Both sound healthy. The calorie count differs by 430. Which is higher? The Honey Pecan Salmon at 800 calories compared to the shrimp at 370 calories. A big difference, but without calories being posted, most consumers wouldn't know the calorie count.
Emine Saner: "Pixie Lott: 'I want this to last for ever'" (guardian.co.uk)
A platinum album, two No 1 singles, two MTV awards - and she's still only 19. And now Pixie Lott is going to be the new X Factor judge.
Carla Meyer: Country music outlaw Billy Joe Shaver uses music as his therapy (McClatchy Newspapers)
"To me [music] is the cheapest psychiatrist there is," Shaver said. "Most of my songs are written trying to get back in the house, or trying to stay alive - one or the other."
Lee: Canadian rapper Drake looks to seize the moment, then make it last (Los Angeles Times)
Drake fits into a continuum of rap debutantes that includes West and Queens hardcore MC 50 Cent who similarly generated a deafening hive of buzz before either of their debut albums came out.
ROGER EBERT: Review of "Forbidden Games" (1952; A Great Movie)
We must turn to the past for a film as innocent as "Forbidden Games" (1952), because our own time is too cynical to support it. Here is a film about children using their powers of fantasy and denial to deal with death in wartime. A modern film would back away from the horror and soften and sentimentalize it. It would become a "children's film." But in all times children have survived experiences that no child should have to endure.
Roger Ebert: Review of "JOAN RIVERS: A PIECE OF WORK" (R; 3 1/2 stars)
No one is ever too old. You may have that idea about Joan Rivers, who is 75 in this film and never tires of reminding us of that fact. Is that too old? It's older than she would prefer, but what are you gonna do? She remains one of the funniest, dirtiest, most daring and transgressive of stand-up comics, and she hasn't missed a beat.
ROGER EBERT: Review of "The Third Man" (1949; A Great Movie)
Has there ever been a film where the music more perfectly suited the action than in Carol Reed's "The Third Man"? The score was performed on a zither by Anton Karas, who was playing in a Vienna beerhouse one night when Reed heard him. The sound is jaunty but without joy, like whistling in the dark. It sets the tone; the action begins like an undergraduate lark and then reveals vicious undertones.
The Weekly Poll
New Question
The 'Gettin' Yer Buzz On' Edition...
America's Prohibition laws were meant to cut crime and boost morality - they failed on both fronts. So how can the 'War on Drugs' ever succeed?
How Can America's 'War on Drugs' Succeed When Prohibition Laws Failed? | CommonDreams.org
What is your position on 'illegal' drugs?
1.) Legalize them all
2.) Legalize only ______
3.) Keep the status quo. They're bad, bad, bad...
Send your response to
Reader Suggestion
Map of Interst
Map: Where Americans Are Moving
More than 10 million Americans moved from one county to another during
2008. This map visualizes those moves. Click on any county to see
comings and goings: black lines indicate net inward movement, red lines net
outward movement.
MAM 
Thanks, Marianne!
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From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and pleasant.
Visits Troops In Iraq
America Ferrera
Newly-engaged America Ferrera has visited US troops serving in the Middle East as part of a morale-boosting charity trip.
The former Ugly Betty actress and her fiance Ryan Piers William jetted out to Iraq earlier this month to spend time with soldiers stationed there.
The star signed autographs and posed for pictures with the service men and women in conjunction with The United Service Organizations (USO) before flying straight to Scotland this week for the Edinburgh International Film Festival.
And Ferrera admits the experience was made more poignant because of her role in new movie The Dry Land, in which she plays the wife of a soldier who has recently come home from war.
America Ferrera
Low-Profile Visit To Haiti
Angelina Jolie
Actress Angelina Jolie has quietly returned to Haiti for meetings with Haitian and U.N. officials.
The weekend visit by the "goodwill ambassador" for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees was not announced to keep it low-profile.
Jolie has visited Haiti several times. In February she met with orphans and other earthquake victims.
The actress has also visited Iraq, Thailand, Pakistan and other countries on behalf of the U.N. refugee agency.
Angelina Jolie
Kuwaiti Ruler Urged To Free Blogger
Mohammad Abdul-Kader al-Jassem
A global press freedom watchdog called on the Emir of Kuwait Saturday to intervene for the release of a blogger who is on trial, accused of insulting the ruler and inciting against the government. Skip related content
One-Woman Show
Rona Barrett
She spent a career getting close to showbiz legends - then became one herself.
Entertainment-reporting veteran Rona Barrett is sharing that story with live-theater audiences in the one-woman show "Nothing But the Truth," which debuted this weekend at the Paley Center for Media in Beverly Hills, Calif., and offers a look back at the work and life of one of the media's pioneering women.
Long before there was Oprah, Barrett had her own multimedia empire: newspaper and magazine columns, her own magazine, TV specials. "There was a real difference between that which we saw on the screen and that which existed inside a person," Barrett said. "I used to say, 'I have to know who the r-e-a-l is, because I know who the r-e-e-l is."
Barrett, 73, has been out of the showbiz-reporting game for nearly two decades -- in 1991 moving to Santa Barbara County and forming the Rona Barrett Lavender Co., a small producer of lavender bath, beauty, food and aromatherapy products. She now works full time on the Rona Barrett Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the aid and support of senior citizens in need.
Rona Barrett
2nd Mistrial Declared
Matthew McConaughey
A judge has declared a mistrial for a second time in a misdemeanor battery case against two surfers accused of attacking a photographer who tried to photograph actor Matthew McConaughey on a Malibu beach.
Jurors deadlocked Friday in the case against Skylar Peak and Philip Hildebrand.
Malibu Superior Court Judge Lawrence Mira ordered both sides to return to court July 2 when the prosecution is expected to announce whether it plans to retry the case.
The judge declared the first mistrial March 29 after being told that Peak's mother was seriously injured in a car crash.
Matthew McConaughey
Criticises Anti-Whaling Protesters
Dalai Lama
The Dalai Lama on Saturday criticised wildlife activists for staging what he said were violent protests over Japan's hunting of whales.
The rebuke came as the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader visited Japan for an 11-day lecture tour.
At a news conference, he said he had told the US-based Sea Shepherd Conservation Society to stop its violent harassment of Japan's whaling fleet.
The Dalai Lama said he supported Sea Shepherd's goal of preventing whalers from harming the giant sea mammals but added that "their (activities) should be non-violent".
Dalai Lama
Ruffles Feathers In New Mexico
Val Kilmer
No words were minced when the character Ed Bailey jumped out of his seat in one of the early scenes of "Tombstone" and told the slick gambler and gunslinger Doc Holliday - played by actor Val Kilmer - to scram after their poker game went sour.
"Take your money and get out 'cause I'm tired of listening to your mouth," Bailey yelled.
Well, some of Kilmer's real-life northern New Mexico neighbors share Bailey's sentiments. They're upset with him, saying he made disparaging comments about San Miguel County and for chasing away people fishing on the Pecos River at his ranch.
The bitter feelings that have been brewing over the last several years have reached a boiling point. But unlike Holliday, Kilmer won't be able to settle this with a knife or a pair of six-shooters.
Val Kilmer
Company Man
Unflattering Portrait
I've said many times that Cardinal Roger Mahony should stop resisting the release of church documents in the sex abuse scandal. But after a Mahony deposition in a molestation case was made public by the courts last week at the request of The Times, I can see why the cardinal has fought to keep things under wraps.
The deposition involved former priest Michael Baker, who is now serving a 10-year sentence for molestation. After he confessed to Mahony in 1986 that he had molested two boys, Mahony sent him to one of the drive-through "treatment" centers used by the church back then. After that, the archdiocese shuffled Baker around to different parishes - some with elementary schools.
Despite reports that Baker continued to have contact with minors in violation of church orders, the archdiocese did nothing to stop the priest, who went on to molest other kids. You can see why this one troubles Mahony. But is he troubled about the suffering of the victims or the reflection on him?
Consider this exchange between the cardinal and attorney John Manly, who was representing one of Baker's many victims:
Unflattering Portrait
Media Boycott
Swedish Royal Wedding
The world's biggest international news agencies declined to cover the wedding of Sweden's crown princess and her fitness trainer Saturday after a dispute over the release of television images of the event.
The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters argued that restrictions by Sweden's national broadcaster would mean many viewers in Europe and North America would not see video images of the wedding until many hours - for some an entire day - after Princess Victoria and Daniel Westling took their vows.
The three agencies jointly issued a protest to the royal household and broadcaster SVT, calling the access restrictions unreasonable. When no resolution was reached on the video issue, the three agencies decided to withdraw coverage altogether.
The Swedish news agency TT quoted SVT's Director of Communications Helga Baagoes as saying, "They've got a nerve." Baagoes could not be reached for further comment.
Swedish Royal Wedding
In Memory
Ronald Neame
Ronald Neame, who produced and co-wrote acclaimed British films like "Great Expectations," saw Hollywood success as director of "The Poseidon Adventure" and was nominated for three Oscars, has died. He was 99.
Neame's wife Donna told The Associated Press on Friday that her husband died in a Los Angeles hospital Wednesday, about six weeks after being injured in a fall.
Neame began his career of more than 60 years in 1929 when he worked as a cameraman for Alfred Hitchcock on the first British sound film, 1929's "Blackmail."
He was nominated for Oscars with director David Lean as co-writer of 1945's "Brief Encounter" and 1946's "Great Expectations."
He went on to direct the acclaimed 1969 film "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" and the critically panned 1972 box office hit "The Poseidon Adventure."
Ronald Neame
In Memory
Manute Bol
Manute Bol, a lithe 7-foot-7 shot-blocker from Sudan who spent 10 seasons in the NBA and was dedicated to humanitarian work in Africa, died Saturday. He was 47.
Bol died at the University of Virginia Hospital in Charlottesville, where he was being treated for severe kidney trouble and a painful skin condition, Tom Prichard, executive director of the group Sudan Sunrise, said in an e-mail.
Bol played in the NBA with Washington, Golden State, Philadelphia and Miami, averaging 2.6 points, 4.2 rebounds and 3.3 blocks for his career. He led the league in blocks in 1985-86 with Washington (5.0 per game) and in 1988-89 with Golden State (4.3 a game).
Bol joined the NBA with Washington in 1985 and played three seasons there. He returned to the team briefly toward the end of his career. The Wizards lauded him as a "true humanitarian and an ambassador for the sport of basketball."
After the NBA, Bol worked closely as an advisory board member of Sudan Sunrise, which promotes reconciliation in Sudan. .
Bol was hospitalized in mid-May during a stopover in Washington after returning to the United States from Sudan. Prichard said then that Bol was in Sudan to help build a school in conjunction with Sudan Sunrise but stayed longer than anticipated after the president of southern Sudan asked him to make election appearances and use his influence to counter corruption in the county.
He said Bol had undergone three dialysis treatments and developed Stevens-Johnson Syndrome, a condition that caused him to lose patches of skin. Prichard said the skin around Bol's mouth was so sore he went 11 days without eating and could barely talk.
Prichard said it's believed Bol contracted the skin disease as a reaction to kidney medication he took while in Africa.
Janis Ricker, operations manager of Sudan Sunrise, said Saturday the organization will continue its work building the school in Bol's home village in southern Sudan. She said Bol's goal was to build 41 schools throughout Sudan.
Manute Bol
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