Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Kathryn Schulz: Diane Ravitch on Being Wrong (slate.com)
"We are in the grips of a kind of national madness," Diane Ravitch told me, "closing schools, firing teachers, shutting down public education." What makes this statement interesting is that, for many years, Ravitch was a powerful voice within the national education reform movement she now rejects as faddish, empirically unfounded, and bad for America's kids.
Mark Morford: Your tar balls are in my junk shot (sfgate.com)
Here's something I bet you never thought you'd hear coming out of your own luscious mouth in this or any other of your million slippery existential lifetimes, more or less...
Froma Harrop: Blaming Obama for Not Being a God (creators.com)
Gulf Coast residents are supposedly mad at President Obama for not keeping the oil from threatening their beaches and marshes. We hear this in stereo - from political opposition on the right and liberal pundits bored by the president's cerebral approach to problem-solving.
Gareth Grundy: "This much I know: Al Green" (guardian.co.uk)
The pastor and musician, 64, on love, life in the fast lane, and being born again.
20 Questions: Alex Cuba (popmatters.com)
Alex Cuba is a storyteller. Ask him a question and he'll thread together different stories to illustrate his answer. He gives a completely honest point of view and offers more insight about his life than your childhood friend probably would about theirs.
Glenn Gamboa: Lady Gaga's tour inspires Monster-size summer pop concerts (Newsday)
Call it the Gaga Effect. It wasn't until Lady Gaga unveiled her wildly ambitious Monster Ball Tour that her fame reached monstrous levels.
"Happy: A Memoir" by Alex Lemon: A review by Jenny Dunning
Nicknamed "Happy" by his college friends and teammates, the Alex Lemon revealed in his memoir Happy is anything but -- either emotionally or physically. The book details, often graphically, Lemon's struggle with a series of brain aneurisms and risky brain surgery during his student years at Macalester College, years he was caught up in a life of heavy partying and lots of sex.
'Anthill': a six-legged adventure from science to fiction (guardian.co.uk)
Top biologist EO Wilson has turned his passion for insects into a best-selling novel, writes Tim Adams.
Dahlia Lithwick: Should It Be Legal to Fire the Unattractive? (slate.com)
A review of Deborah Rhode's 'The Beauty Bias.'
Interview by Laura Barnett: Russell Kane, comedian (guardian.co.uk)
'The biggest myth about comedy? That it's rock'n'roll. We're a lot of tea-drinking, driving-at-the-speed-limit bores.'
Roy Williams: Confessions of an uncool kid (guardian.co.uk)
Roy Williams was rubbish at sport, shy with girls and a Bergerac obsessive. As his new play opens, he tells Simon Hattenstone why it made him the writer he is today.
Kathryn Schulz: On Air and On Error: This American Life's Ira Glass on Being Wrong (slate.com)
Every episode of the radio show 'This American Life' has, host Ira Glass suggests, "a crypto-theme." There's whatever the story appears to be about-the financial crisis, evangelical Christianity, cryogenics-and then there's what it's actually about. And what it's actually about is, as often as not, wrongness.
The Weekly Poll
New Question
The 'Falling on Her Sword' Edition
I don't believe an introduction is needed for this question...
Should Helen Thomas 'un-retire' and write for another news service such as The Nation or The Progressive?
Send your response to
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Reader Suggestion
Portable Rotary Phone
Here's another variation on the Weird Cellphone theme that's apparently
real.
Portable Rotary Phone
Video
Walt
Thanks, Walt!
I think it's wonderful!
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Marine layer burned off a bit early, but still quite nice.
Obama Writing Foreword
Nelson Mandela
From one Nobel winner to another: President Barack Obama is writing a foreword to Nelson Mandela's new book.
Publisher Farrar, Straus and Giroux announced Wednesday that Obama will contribute to Mandela's "Conversations With Myself." It is a collection of diaries, journals and other personal materials of the former South African president and apartheid foe.
The book comes out Oct. 12.
Nelson Mandela
Wins Spain's Prince of Asturias Award
Amin Maalouf
French-Lebanese writer Amin Maalouf, whose books seek to build bridges between East and West, has been awarded Spain's prestigious Prince of Asturias literature award, organisers said Wednesday.
Maalouf, 61, edged out 26 other contenders including British spy novelist John Le Carre, Portugal's Nobel-winning author Jose Saramago and Canadian author Alice Munro to take the 50,000-euro (60,000-dollar) prize.
"His work, which has been translated into more than 20 languages, proves him as one of the contemporary writers who has most deeply explored Mediterranean culture, represented as a symbolic space of coexistence and tolerance," the prize jury said in a statement.
Amin Maalouf
Trip A Dream
John Oliver
John Oliver's job on "The Daily Show" is giving him an English soccer fan's dream: the chance to attend the World Cup - and perhaps more important - taunt the Americans before they take on his national team.
Oliver and producer Tim Greenberg left for South Africa earlier this week to file reports for Jon Stewart's Comedy Central show. Oliver, a soccer fanatic from Birmingham, England, left behind one earlier-filmed report, where he visited the American soccer team before their World Cup opening match with England this weekend. Oliver's report airs Thursday.
The South African visit is the show's fourth international trip in four summers. Rob Riggle went to Iraq in 2007 and to China for the 2008 Olympics, and Jason Jones went to Iran last year. This year's trip was encouraged by Stewart, a former college soccer player.
John Oliver
Stolen Letter Returned
Rene Descartes
A stolen letter written by 17th-century thinker Descartes and found in the United States was returned to France on Tuesday, ending a detective tale featuring a Google search and a thieving Italian count.
"I am, of course, a bit amazed at what a simple search at home from your home computer late at night can bring about," Erik-Jan Bos, a Dutch Descartes scholar who found the letter through the web, said before a handover ceremony.
The letter written by French philosopher Rene Descartes in 1641 went missing more than 150 years ago, one of a vast collection of documents stolen by an Italian count, Guglielmo Libri.
Descartes' letter eventually wound up in a collection at Haverford College in the US state of Pennsylvania, and the school's administration was not aware of its theft generations earlier when Bos informed them of it.
Rene Descartes
Comic Book Hero
David Beckham
British soccer star David Beckham will get a new look in a comic book recounting his life, from dreaming of the game as a kid to finding major success both on and off the field, publisher Bluewater productions said on Wednesday.
Titled "Fame: David Beckham," the book will be published this September and is the latest comic in a Bluewater series that has detailed the lives of political figures including Hillary Clinton and entertainers such as Ellen DeGeneres.
Beckham, 35, who gained stardom for his athletic prowess and his marriage to Spice Girl Victoria Beckham, is the first sports figure to be featured in the publisher's "fame" series, which also has included singers Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift.
The comic will depict Beckham dreaming of playing for English club Manchester United right through to his days playing as a Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder. It will sell for $3.99.
David Beckham
Adding Elvis Version
Mr. Potato Head
The Elvis Presley estate has signed a deal for Hasbro Inc. and PPW Toys to release an Elvis version of Mr. Potato Head.
Kevin Kern, a spokesman for Presley's Graceland estate, told The Commercial Appeal the new toy is one of 15,000 Elvis-licensed products and is one the company is excited about.
The first of the Elvis potato heads will be released for Elvis Tribute Week in August. The toy will be in a jumpsuit. A second version - with the likeness dressed in black leather - will be on the market for Christmas.
PPW Toys spokesman Dean Gorby said the Elvis Mr. Potato Head will broaden the audience from young fans to adult toy collectors.
Mr. Potato Head
Exxon Valdez Lawyer Offers Warning
Louisiana
Brian O'Neill, an attorney with the enormous law firm Faegre & Benson who represented numerous Alaskans after the Exxon Valdez spill in 1989, spoke to the Huffington Post's Sam Stein about the prospects for Gulf Coast fisherman and other would-be plaintiffs harmed by the colossal BP oil spill in the region. He didn't exactly mince words.
"If you were affected in Louisiana, to use a legal term, you are just f*cked," he said.
"These big oil companies, they have a different view of time and politics than we do," he said. "Exxon sure weathered it really well. The market went up the next day for Exxon stock [after the settlement]. They just thrived despite treating an entire state poorly. And there is a lesson there for BP, and that is: it really doesn't matter whether you treat these people nicely or not. The only difference is if you extract oil."
And even if Gulf plaintiffs are able to collect reasonably substantial rewards, O'Neill cautions they'll have to wait a long time before checks are actually cut. "At some point in time, the administration and the states will resolve all their dealings and it will leave fisherman and the tourist industry to resolve their differences in the courts," he said. "It could be another 20 years till then because BP [is] going to defend this like Exxon did."
Louisiana
Apologizes For Link
Israel
The Israeli government has apologized for sending the press a link to an online video parodying last week's deadly commando raid on a flotilla of pro-Gaza activists.The video, which promptly went viral, has stirred up further outrage about the fallout from the raid, with some calling for the video's apparent creator, a Jerusalem Post columnist, to be fired for spoofing the circumstances of an attack claiming nine fatalities.
The video shows people dressed up as Gaza activists, some in Arab-looking attire, singing "We Con the World" to the tune of the Michael Jackson hit "We Are the World" - with the "we" being the activists seeking to break Israel's blockade of Gaza. Waving knives and batons, the faux-activists sing: "We'll make the world abandon reason / We'll make them believe that the Hamas is Momma Teresa," and, "As Allah has shown us / For facts there's no demand."
The link had been "sent for our perusal" and "was not intended for general release," Israel's Government Press Office announced in its apology statement. "The contents of the video in no way represent the official policy of either the Government Press Office or of the State of Israel."
The music video may have been released inadvertently, but it has since become a viral hit online, clocking nearly 2 million hits on YouTube. CNN reports that the parody was the work of Jerusalem Post columnist Caroline Glick, who served in the Israel Defense Forces.
Israel
Arizona Drops Charges
Warren Jeffs
A Mohave County judge on Wednesday dismissed all Arizona charges against polygamist leader Warren Jeffs after a prosecutor said continuing with the charges would be "impractical."
Judge Steven Conn granted Mohave County Attorney Matt Smith's motion to dismiss the four charges of sexual misconduct with a minor with prejudice, meaning they cannot be refiled on the same set of facts.
Smith said the two alleged victims in the cases no longer want to proceed with prosecution in Arizona.
In his motion filed earlier Wednesday, he said Jeffs has already served more time in Arizona than he would receive upon conviction, more serious charges are pending against Jeffs in Texas, and Jeffs has had significant medical problems while jailed in Kingman.
Warren Jeffs
Cambodia Bans Film
Chea Vichea
The Cambodian government has banned a documentary about the unsolved 2004 assassination of influential trade union leader Chea Vichea, according to the film's U.S. director Bradley Cox.
Cox said the government has blocked any screenings of "Who Killed Chea Vichea?" over the past month -- the first banning of a politically charged film since the 1980s in Cambodia which is widely criticized for restrictions on political freedoms.
The movie had its European premiere at the Cannes independent film festival last month and has been put by Amnesty International's on its list of the Top Ten Movies That Matter.
"This is what governments do when they don't want their own people to know the facts and when they can't afford to show weakness, even for an instant," said Rich Garella, one of the producers of the Loud Mouth Film movie, and a former managing editor of The Cambodia Daily.
Chea Vichea
Promotes Papist Propaganda In Poland
Newt Gingrich
Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Philanderer) - a recent convert to Catholicism - is in Poland promoting a documentary he co-produced on Pope John Paul II's role in defeating communism.
Gingrich, a Republican, is preaching to the converted: the Polish-born pope is revered, and Poles credit him with inspiring the struggle that eventually helped bring down the Soviet-backed communists in eastern Europe.
Gingrich said Wednesday that his film, "Nine Days that Changed the World," is still needed to remind young Poles, secular historians and people worldwide of John Paul's anti-totalitarian convictions. The film, which will be screened at American universities this fall, is also being translated into Chinese and Spanish in hopes it will inspire people in Cuba and elsewhere, Gingrich said.
Gingrich, a Georgia congressman, said he converted to Catholicism last year. Previously he was a Baptist, but started growing closer to Catholicism after marrying Callista -- a lifelong Roman Catholic-- 10 years ago. He was also inspired by seeing Pope Benedict XVI during his 2008 visit to the United States.
Newt Gingrich
Fox 5 Atlanta 'Reporter' Jailed
George Franco
George Franco, a reporter with Fox affiliate WAGA-TV in Atlanta, was charged with battery after an alleged altercation with a BP cleanup worker.
Citing an Escambia County sheriff's report, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes that Joshua Mitchell, the manager of a Gulf cleanup site, asked Franco to leave the site's staging area.
But instead of leaving, says the sheriff's spokeswoman, "Franco argued with the contractor, shoved the contractor and started grabbing him."
Franco was released on a $500 bond Monday afternoon, but hasn't yet blogged his own news. Even though he had to wear handcuffs, the reporter may have a scoop on his hands, or at least a YouTube-worthy moment. The Fox film crew taped the incident.
George Franco
Warhol Portrait Leads Christie's Sale
Elizabeth Taylor
A rare portrait of Elizabeth Taylor by Andy Warhol is expected to be the top lot at Christie's auction of post-war and contemporary art on June 30 in London.
"Silver Liz," dated 1963 and unseen in public for more than 20 years, is estimated to be worth 6-8 million pounds ($9-12 million), and two auctions that make up the series are expected to fetch 54-77 million pounds in total.
Last year, three series of post-war and contemporary sales held in February, June and October raised 55 million pounds, underlining the strength of the recovery in fine art prices in recent months that has seen world auction records tumble.
Elizabeth Taylor
Australian Legend
'Red Dog'
The heart-warming tale of a friendly, flatulent and hitch-hiking dog has seen major mining firms branch out into new territory, as they support an Australian film about the legendary "Red Dog".
"Red Dog" is based on the life of a russett-coloured kelpie (Australian sheep dog) who became a key figure in Dampier as the community grew up around the expanding mining industry.
Producer Nelson Woss said the dog, owned by none but cared for by all, provided company to many of those stranded in the remote area by their work -- whether they were carrying out the hardest manual work or middle-managers sitting in the air-conditioned site office. He also interacted with local Aborigines.
The canine was also known for its flatulence. "I think what happened was everybody fed him," Woss said. "And they weren't too worried about what they fed him. And as a result, I think at times he had digestion issues."
'Red Dog'
Cable Nielsens
Ratings
Rankings for the top 15 programs on cable networks as compiled by the Nielsen Co. for the week of May 31-June 6. Day and start time (EDT) are in parentheses:
1. Movie: "ICarly Movie: IPsycho" (Friday, 8 p.m.), Nickelodeon, 4.98 million homes, 7.51 million viewers.
2. "Burn Notice" (Thursday, 9 p.m.), USA, 4.65 million homes, 6.61 million viewers.
3. "Royal Pains" (Thursday, 10 p.m.), USA, 4.11 million homes, 5.83 million viewers.
4. "Victorious" (Friday, 9 p.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.94 million homes, 5.95 million viewers.
5. Auto Racing: "Sprint Cup/Poconos" (Sunday, 1 p.m.), TNT, 3.61 million homes, 5.09 million viewers.
6. Movie: "ICarly Movie: IPsycho" (Saturday, 8 p.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.43 million homes, 5.241 million viewers.
7. "Big Time Rush" (Friday, 9:30 p.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.309 million homes, 4.71 million viewers.
8. "WWE Raw" (Monday, 10 p.m.), USA, 3.305 million homes, 4.69 million viewers.
9. "2010 MTV Movie Awards" (Sunday, 9 p.m.), MTV, 3.27 million homes, 4.61 million viewers.
10. Movie: "ICarly Movie: IPsycho" (Sunday, 7 p.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.2 million homes, 4.77 million viewers.
11. "NCIS" (Monday, 8 p.m.), USA, 3.18 million homes, 4.14 million viewers.
12. "NCIS" (Wednesday, 8 p.m.), USA, 3.13 million homes, 4.12 million viewers.
13. "ICarly" (Friday, 7:30 p.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.12 million homes, 4.34 million viewers.
14. "WWE Raw" (Monday, 9 p.m.), USA, 3.09 million homes, 4.37 million viewers.
15. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 9:30 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.04 million homes, 4.25 million viewers.
Ratings
In Memory
Marina Semyonova
Marina Semyonova, one of the first great Soviet prima ballerinas who made her debut in the 1920s, has died aged 102, Moscow's Bolshoi Theatre said on Wednesday.
After her training with Agrippina Vaganova, Semyonova began her career at the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg where she immediately landed the top roles in classic ballets like the Sleeping Beauty and La Bayadere.
She then moved to the Bolshoi in 1930 -- reportedly on the personal invitation of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin -- where she danced until 1952 and wowed the public with her strength and flexibility.
In a highly unusual move for the time, she made guest appearances at the Paris Opera in France in 1935-1936 after being invited by chief of its ballet troupe Serge Lifar.
Tributes to her were led by current Russian ballet star Nikolai Tsikaridze, who was her final pupil.
Other dance legends who were taught by Semyonova were the great Soviet ballerinas Maya Plisetskaya and Natalya Bessmertnova as well as modern-day star Galina Stepanenko.
Marina Semyonova
In Memory
Stephen Rivers
Hollywood publicist and political activist Stephen M. Rivers, who worked with Jane Fonda, Arnold $chwarzenegger, Maria Shriver, Oliver Stone and Kevin Costner, has died in Los Angeles. He was 55.
Rivers died Tuesday after a lengthy bout with prostate cancer, it was reported Wednesday.
He started working for the United Farm Workers union organizing grape boycotts and became assistant to the late UFW president Cesar Chavez. He later worked for the powerhouse Creative Artists Agency before launching his own public relations firm in 1994.
Besides his stable of Hollywood celebrities, including Michael Moore and Richard Dreyfuss, Rivers helped organize events for Seeds for Peace, the Magic Johnson Foundation and the Rock the Vote initiative.
Stephen Rivers
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