Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Mark Morford: Sympathy for the Wretched Politician (sfgate.com)
In my calmer moments of euphoric benevolence, when the wine has opened nicely and the light is streaming in just so, I sometimes find myself awash in unexpected feelings of kindness and generosity aimed in a very unexpected direction.
Anne Applebaum: Start Poor. Work Hard. Do Well. Be Hated Anyway. (slate.com)
Why do Americans resent upward mobility?
Froma Harrop: Real Patriots Demand Clean Energy (creators.com)
Those orange fireballs you see in the news are NATO oil tankers exploding along the Khyber Pass. Afghani insurgents regard convoys bringing fuel to American fighters as easy marks. The trucks go slow and, once hit, blow up.
Jim Hightower: THE FRAUD OF AFGHAN "DEMOCRACY"
"What the hell are we doing in Afghanistan," you ask?
Andrew Tobias: VERIZON SUCKS
I have three reasons for saying this. First, it feels good to vent. Second, if you have experienced similar frustrations, my venting may make you feel good, too. Third, if you are not yet a Verizon customer, it could be fair warning.
MARIO VARGAS LLOSA: A Languid Sort of Suicide (nytimes.com; from the year 2000)
The novelist and Nobel laureate Mario Vargas Llosa on his life with cigarettes, and without.
Howard Reich: Cuban pianist Chucho Valdes makes a rare U.S. tour (Chicago Tribune)
Why has Valdes - a pianist revered around the world for his monumental technique and profound mastery of Afro-Cuban idioms - been absent for so long? The reason, of course, is the decades-long U.S. embargo of Cuba - and the severity with which some American administrations have chosen to enforce it. "The reason I haven't come is because I didn't get visas," says Valdes, 69, speaking by phone from his home in Havana.
Randy Lewis: Leon Russell on Elton John, crystal radio sets, and playing piano for Phil Spector (Los Angeles Times)
When Leon Russell was in the midst of what possibly was the busiest period in his life, he was often referred to by the musicians he worked with as "the master of space and time" for his otherworldly ability to fit into any musical situation.
George Varga: Frankly Speaking: The Pixies' Frank Black Looks Back and Forward (creators.com)
Frank Black is, as was once said of both Iggy Pop and Joe Walsh, an interesting bunch of fellows.
When Antony met Marina (guardian.co.uk)
Legendary performance artist Marina Abramovi´c and cult pop star Antony Hegarty are cooking up an opera. They talk to Eleanor Morgan about art, suffering - and the power of a hot bath.
20 Questions: Brendan James
Singer-songerwriter and pianist Brendan James has had the sweet experience of recording "Let the River Run", the Oscar-winning song with Carly Simon herself for the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize ceremony. Now he's touring for his latest CD, "Brendan James" …
Will Harris: A Chat with Darius Rucker, Singer/songwriter, Hootie and the Blowfish singer (bullz-eye.com)
We started this band (Hootie and the Blowfish) to get drunk and meet girls, you know? We got lucky, we had some success, and we decided that we were going to be good guys, do the right thing, and help people when we can.
David Bruce has 39 Kindle books on Amazon.com with 250 anecdotes in each book. Each book is $1, so for $39 you can buy 9,750 anecdotes. Search for "Funniest People," "Coolest People, "Most Interesting People," "Kindest People," and "Maximum Cool."
The Weekly Poll
As you read this, I'll either be on the way to, already at, or returning from the VAMC in Dee-troit (right on the Wayne State University campus) gettin' a pre-admission work up for my surgery next week. As such, there'll be a Poll hiatus whilst said procedure is done and recovery endured. I hope to have one up on the 26th asking yer predictions concerning the election on November 2nd. Those will be posted that morning (the 2nd) and we shall see later that evening who's got it right. At least that's the plan... Until then, TTFN...
wrote:
said:
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Reader Comment
Amen, sister!
"Jerry Brown's minion was wrong to call Meg Whitman a whore. More accurately, he should have used a noun that rhymes with bunt."
ROTFLMAO!
Couldn't resist,
Sally :)
Thanks, Sally!
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and warmer.
Visits Obama
George Clooney
President Barack Obama met with activist-actor George Clooney at the White House on Tuesday to discuss U.S. involvement in Sudan ahead of a critical election early next year in Africa's largest nation.
Clooney recently returned from Sudan, and is asking the U.S. and world community to use international pressure and robust diplomacy to prevent violence ahead of the Jan. 9 election. The election is an independence referendum on south Sudan that is likely to split the country in two, and there are fears that the vote could lead to a new outbreak of north-south civil war.
"At a time that is one of the most politicized times ever, this is something that everyone agrees on: If there's some way to get ahead of this and stop it before it happens, we better," Clooney said following his meeting with the president.
Obama and Clooney were joined in their talks by activist John Prendergast, cofounder of the Enough Project, an initiative to end genocide. Prendergast said U.S. involvement in containing violence before the election could be a "game-changer" for the Sudanese people.
George Clooney
Broadcasting Rallies
Comedy Central
Comedy Central said Wednesday that it will provide live broadcasts of Jon Stewart's October 30 Rally to Restore Sanity in Washington and Stephen Colbert's concurrent March to Keep Fear Alive.
The gatherings led by the network's late-night hosts will air live on Comedy Central and will be streamed live online.
Comedy Central
Tapped For TBS Pilot
Undercover Karaoke
A Funny Or Die viral video is getting a chance for a television crossover.
The comedy website announced Wednesday that a pilot for "Undercover Karaoke" has been ordered by TBS. Funny Or Die will produce the potential series, and co-founders Will Ferrell and Adam McKay will contribute to it.
The show will be based on a video in which the singer-songwriter Jewel donned a disguise of a prosthetic nose, wig, glasses and butt padding, and sang under an alias at a Los Angeles karaoke joint. She astonished the crowd, only to later reveal her identity.
Created by Eric Appel, the video has been watched more than 3.3 million times.
Undercover Karaoke
Tonawanda's Lost Pieta
Michelangelo
Could a painting of Mary holding the body of Jesus that hung for years in an upstate New York family's home really be a 16th century Michelangelo?
An Italian art historian thinks so after undertaking years of research, which he documents in a new book, "The Lost Pieta."
Now the painting's owner, Martin Kober, is encouraging the rest of the art world to take a close look with the hope the work will be universally accepted as a Michelangelo, restored and displayed.
This isn't a story of some wildly lucky garage sale find; Kober can trace the painting's ownership history back to 16th century Rome. Nor is it a case of someone not knowing what they had; it was displayed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in the 1880s.
Michelangelo
Courtroom Sketches
Library of Congress
Marilyn Church didn't even have to ask Bernard Madoff, Martha Stewart, Woody Allen and John Gotti to sit for their portraits. She simply found a good seat in court and pulled out her pad - then got paid.
Soon, the New York courtroom artist's 3,500 sketches could be heading to the Library of Congress, which said Wednesday that it planned to acquire them and is finalizing agreements with Church.
Church has done sketches for various news organizations over the years, beginning as a freelancer for WABC-TV in 1973 and later including the AP and The New York Times.
Church made her offer of a "combined purchase and gift" to the Library of Congress, said Sara Duke, curator of popular and applied graphic art. All her drawings will come out of copyright upon her death, at which time her work will be accessible via computer, Duke said.
Library of Congress
Selling Olympic Medal
Tommie Smith
Tommie Smith, one of the two US athletes famed for their black-gloved protest at the 1968 Olympics, is selling the gold medal he won at the Mexico City Games.
The bidding starts at 250,000 dollars, and the sale is scheduled to close November 4, according to the terms for the phone and internet auction posted on the firm's Moments In Time website.
Smith won the 200 meters in world-record time, ahead of Australian Peter Norman and fellow American John Carlos.
On the victory podium, Smith and Carlos bowed their heads during the US national anthem and raised their black-gloved fists in a "Black Power" salute.
Their protest has since come to be seen as an iconic gesture of solidarity, and a statue commemorating the moment has been erected at California's San Jose State University, where Smith and Carlos were students.
Tommie Smith
Bosnian Minister Cancels Filming Permit
Angelina Jolie
A Bosnian minister canceled on Wednesday a permit for Hollywood star Angelina Jolie to shoot parts of her debut feature film in Bosnia, citing incomplete paperwork.
The Oscar-winning actress has begun shooting the film in Budapest and her production company said it was a love story between a Serbian man and a Bosnian woman who meet on the eve of the Bosnian war, which killed 100,000 people between 1992 and 1995.
Jolie has said the film would not meddle in politics, but an association of female victims from the Bosnian war has already objected to what it says are details of the plot.
"In the film, a victim is really falling in love with her torturer," Bakira Hasecic, president of the Women Victims of War association, was quoted as saying in Wednesday's Oslobodjenje daily newspaper.
Angelina Jolie
Dane Cook's Half-Brother
Darryl McCauley
The half-brother of comedian Dane Cook has been sentenced to five to six years in prison by a Massachusetts judge after pleading guilty to stealing millions from the entertainer.
The Middlesex District Attorney's office says 45-year-old Darryl McCauley of Wilmington pleaded guilty Wednesday to charges of larceny, forgery and embezzlement. A judge also ordered him to make restitution.
McCauley, who worked as Cook's business manager, was arrested in December 2008. He was accused of writing checks to himself from Cooks's company, Great Dane Enterprises, and transferring the funds to personal bank accounts.
Darryl McCauley
Trial Ends
Marion True
A Rome judge declared an end Wednesday to the trial of a former J. Paul Getty Museum antiquities curator accused of knowingly acquiring looted art from Italy, citing the expiration of the statute of limitations, defense lawyers said.
The 6-year-old case against Marion True was followed with concern by museums worldwide and involved about 35 artifacts acquired by the Los Angeles museum between 1986 and the late 1990s - including bronze Etruscan pieces, frescoes and painted Greek vessels.
"I spoke to Mrs. True on her cell phone and she was glad that finally after 10 years the case is closed," said one of her lawyers, Francesco Isolabella. "The alleged crime is now wiped off the books."
Alessandro Vannucci, a defense attorney for the other defendant in the case, American art dealer Robert Hecht, said the ruling by Judge Gustavo Barbalinardo was expected because the legal time limit ran out in July. Wednesday's hearing in a Rome courthouse was the first session in the trial since a summer recess.
Marion True
Causes Traffic Jam On The 101
Imperial Stars
A rock band will have to face the music after blocking a Los Angeles freeway and performing atop its trailer. California Highway Patrol spokesman Rick Quintero said a big box van decorated with Imperial Stars' logo stopped on the southbound U.S. 101 near Sunset Boulevard at about 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, blocking four of the five lanes.
The driver took the keys and fled in another car, then three musicians climbed on top of the van and began to perform.
Quintero said they were arrested and the truck was finally towed away around noon after causing a mile-long traffic jam.
The group, whose credits include "Traffic Jam 101," said on its website it is dedicated to helping homeless children.
Imperial Stars
No Fines In Accident
'Transformers 3'
Indiana officials say they won't fine Paramount Pictures or production crews over an accident during filming of "Transformers 3" that left a woman with brain damage.
Gabriela Cedillo was working as an extra when she was hit in the head by a piece of flying metal during the filming of a stunt sequence in Hammond, Ind.
Indiana Occupational Safety and Health Administration spokesman Marc Lotter says an investigation found the Sept. 1 accident occurred due to the failure of a weld connecting a car to a tow cable. He says the weld was made by a certified welder and all necessary safety precautions were in place.
Lotter says the mishap was "an unfortunate and unforeseeable accident."
'Transformers 3'
Lose Latest Round
Steinbeck Family
A U.S. appeals court on Wednesday dismissed claims by John Steinbeck's descendants for control of copyright and royalties to the works of the American novelist.
In the latest round of a long-running and bitter family feud over Steinbeck's estate, a New York appeals court upheld a lower court ruling that granted complete authority over the author's work to the estate of his third wife, Elaine.
Steinbeck's son Thomas and granddaughter Blake Smyle had sued the family of Elaine Steinbeck over control after she died in 2003 and left most of her estate to her children from a previous marriage.
The appeal court judges ruled on Wednesday that Elaine Steinbeck's estate had not breached its financial obligations to Steinbeck's descendants. They also dismissed a claim of unjust enrichment against Elaine Steinbeck.
Steinbeck Family
Positive Test Halts Production
Porn
More than half a dozen pornographers in California's multibillion-dollar adult entertainment industry have halted production after an actor tested positive for HIV - and more shutdowns were expected.
Vivid Entertainment Group and Wicked Pictures were among the companies that announced production halts as a precaution.
Actors in movies by Wicked Pictures use condoms. Still, company president Steve Orenstein said two shoots were on hold and production depends on further HIV test results from a clinic that serves the industry.
PinkVisual Productions is also slated to halt production for at least a few weeks. Adult Video News reported additional shutdowns at Hustler Video, Digital Playground, Jennaration X Studios, Girlfriends Films and Kick Ass Pictures.
Porn
Judge Attempted To Land TV Deal
San Diego
Judge Judy makes $45 million a year. Who can blame other jurists for wanting the same? The Commission on Judicial Performance, for one.
The agency is investigating whether San Diego Superior Court Judge DeAnn Salcido acted improperly in her eagerness to get on television. The commission has just released testimony gathered from its probe of the judge that suggests how far some magistrates are willing to go to deliver TV justice.
According to Judge Salcido's testimony, on January 26, 2009, she had the husband of her courtroom bailiff videotape her on the bench presiding over a variety of matters. The hour-long tape was then passed onto an unnamed entertainment lawyer, who showed it to a TV producer.
Unfortunately, Judge Salcido didn't let any of the litigants involved in her proceedings that day know that they were being taped.
Her full snarkiness is detailed in 75 pages of testimony. It seems likely that Judge Salcido was trying to be as much like Judge Judy as she possibly could that day.
San Diego
CBS Dance Show
Paula Abdul
CBS has announced the host and judges for Paula Abdul's new talent competition series, "Live to Dance."
The network said Wednesday that choreographer Travis Payne, who worked on Michael Jackson's "This Is It," and former Pussycat Dolls singer-dancer Kimberly Wyatt will join Abdul as the show's trio of experts.
The host of "Live to Dance" will be Andrew Gunsberg. He previously served as co-host of "Australian Idol" and host of the syndicated countdown show, "Take 40 Australia."
Abdul is an executive producer of "Live to Dance." She served as a judge on "American Idol" until leaving the Fox talent show last year.
Paula Abdul
Cable Nielsens
Ratings
Rankings for the top 15 programs on cable networks as compiled by the Nielsen Co. for the week of Oct. 4-10. Day and start time (EDT) are in parentheses:
1. NFL Football: New England vs. Miami (Monday, 8:30 p.m.), ESPN, 10.40 million homes, 13.97 million viewers.
2. MLB Division Series: Yankees-Twins 1, (Wednesday, 8:30 p.m.), TBS, 4.98 million homes, 6.91 million viewers.
3. MLB Division Series: Yankees-Twins 2, (Thursday, 6 p.m.), TBS, 4.11 million homes, 5.34 million viewers.
4. "Jersey Shore 2" (Thursday, 10 p.m.), MTV, 3.89 million homes, 5.35 million viewers.
5. MLB Division Series: Braves-Giants 1 (Thursday, 9:30 p.m.), TBS, 3.66 million homes, 4.89 million viewers
6. College Football: LSU vs. Florida (Saturday, 7:30 p.m.), ESPN, 3.64 million homes, 5.32 million viewers.
7. MLB Division Series: Reds-Phillies 2 (Friday, 6 p.m.), TBS, 3.63 million homes, 5.02 million viewers.
8. MLB Division Series: Twins-Yankees 3 (Saturday, 8:47 p.m.), TBS, 3.44 million homes, 4.81 million viewers.
9. MLB Division Series: Braves-Giants 2 (Friday, 9:51 p.m.), TBS, 3.43 million homes, 4.77 million viewers.
10. "WWE Raw" (Monday, 10 p.m.), USA, 3.40 million homes, 4.88 million viewers.
11. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 9:30 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.30 million homes, 4.58 million viewers.
12. "WWE Raw" (Monday, 9 p.m.), USA, 3.27 million homes, 4.67 million viewers.
13. MLB Division Series: Phillies-Reds 3 (Sunday, 8:06 p.m.), TBS, 3.26 million homes, 4.65 million viewers.
14. MLB Game Break (Thursday, 9:17 p.m.), TBS, 3.17 million homes, 3.91 million viewers.
15. MLB Division Series: Rays-Rangers 3 (Wednesday, 5 p.m.), TBS, 3.13 million homes, 4.21 million viewers.
Ratings
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