Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Polly Toynbee: "Johnny Rotten and I agree: neither of us wants Russell Brand's 'revolution'" (Guardian)
Politics isn't cool, but former Sex Pistol John Lydon has a message for floaters and non-voters: get smart.
John Lydon on Russell Brand's call for revolution: 'The most idiotic thing I've ever heard' - video (Guardian)
Former Sex Pistol John Lydon, aka Johnny Rotten, tells Polly Toynbee that comedian Russell Brand's call for people not to vote is ignorant, flippant and liable to 'make you all homeless'. Lydon also explains why he'd never vote Conservative, labels Ukip 'morons' and calls anarchy a 'mind game for the middle classes.'
Mark Morford: The 7 hottest rumors about the iPhone 7 (SF Gate)
I know! It's like the fairy dust around the iPhone 6 has barely settled, and already reports are surfacing about what Tim, Jony and God himself have in mind for re-exploding your consciousness with the next iteration of Apple's purest tech heroin.
Andrew Tobias: You Got Married? Congratulations!!! You're Fired.
"I wish everyone could have seen the reaction of my 16-year-old daughter late yesterday morning when I told her North Carolina's anti-gay marriage amendment was in essence struck down." - Brent Childers
Anonymous, Amanda Mannen: 6 Ways You See the World Differently When You Can Hear Color (Cracked)
Cracked has previously talked about synesthesia, which is a neurological condition where the wires from your nerves to your brain get all crossed and you end up with senses, like sight and sound, getting linked together. Have you ever gotten so high you could hear the lava lamp? It's like that, but always. While it has unfortunately never gotten me laid, there are plenty of other aspects you should probably know about.
Eddie Deezen: 12 Things You Might Not Know About Dean Martin (Neatorama)
But this was a very unique contract: since Dean hated rehearsing, he would not have to show up all week to rehearse the show. A stand-in took over Dean's role at rehearsals, while Dean played golf Monday through Thursday. He'd look over his lines during the week, but mostly he'd golf. Then on Friday, he would show up and tape the show.
Tuck Me In (YouTube)
"This eerie film short called "Tuck Me In" by Ignacio F. Rodó is this year's winner of the international one-minute film festival, Filminute. The competition and festival features the winners, each having been selected by jury. Much like writing contests in which all entries must be 100 (or similarly few) words, entrants are challenged to make every film second (or word) meaningful in terms of creating atmosphere or furthering the story." Neatorama
Top 10 Slow-mo Moments of All Time (YouTube)
"CineFix selects their picks for the best slow-motion movie shots of all time. As they count down, they offer explanations and background stories of how iconic clips were made, such as Tarantino's oft-imitated shot of the characters walking toward the camera in Reservoir Dogs. Which is your favorite? Do you think they left anything out that deserved to be there?" Neatorama
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wrote:
took the day off.
is semi-retired.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
David E Suggests
David
Thanks, Dave!
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
from Marc Perkel
BartCop
Hello Bartcop fans,
As you all know the untimely passing of Terry was unexpected, even by
him. We all knew he had cancer but we all thought he had some years
left. So some of us who have worked closely with him over the years are
scrambling around trying to figure out what to do. My job, among other
things, is to establish communications with the Bartcop community and
provide email lists and groups for those who might put something
together. Those who want to play an active roll in something coming from
this, or if you are one of Bart's pillars, should send an email to
active@bartcop.com.
Bart's final wish was to pay off the house mortgage for Mrs. Bart who is
overwhelmed and so very grateful for the support she has received.
Anyone wanting to make a donation can click on this the yellow donate
button on bartcop.com
But - I need you all to help keep this going. This note
isn't going to directly reach all of Bart's fans. So if you can repost
it on blogs and discussion boards so people can sign up then when we
figure out what's next we can let more people know. This list is just
over 600 but like to get it up to at least 10,000 pretty quick. So
here's the signup link for this email list.
( mailman.bartcop.com/listinfo/bartnews )
Marc Perkel
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Tony Jo White sat in with Foo Fighters on Letterman. The very first big-city concert I ever attended was in late 1971 (or maybe early 72) at the Forum, with Tony Jo White, Tower of Power, and CCR.
The next concert was a few months later, with the New Riders of The Purple Sage and the Grateful Dead at the Hollywood Bowl.
I remember one of those concerts a whole lot better than the other.
Hosting 2015 Oscars
Neil Patrick Harris
Actor Neil Patrick Harris will host next year's Academy Awards ceremony, the organizers of Hollywood's biggest night said on Wednesday.
Harris, 41, best known as Barney Stinson on the CBS sitcom "How I Met Your Mother," has also hosted TV's Emmy Awards. He also won three Emmy awards for hosting the television presentation of theater's Tony Awards.
The 87th Oscars, handed out by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, will be presented in a televised ceremony from Los Angeles on Feb. 22 on the ABC television network, owned by Walt Disney Co.
Harris most recently co-starred in dark thriller and early Oscar contender "Gone Girl."
Neil Patrick Harris
Former ACLU Lawyer
Justice Department
A former lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union will assume a top civil rights post at the U.S. Justice Department, taking control of a unit that is deep into investigations into the Ferguson, Missouri police department and battles over voting rights.
Vanita Gupta, who was the deputy legal director of the ACLU, will become the acting assistant attorney general for the DOJ's civil division, the Justice Department said on Wednesday. The White House is also expected to nominate her to formally lead the unit, a person familiar with the discussions said.
The division has been without a confirmed head for more than a year, after the former top official, Thomas Perez, was approved to become Labor secretary.
Gupta comes to the department as the No. 2 official in the civil rights division but will also fill the top role because current acting head Molly Moran was promoted. The move allows the department to essentially bring in a new head from the outside, which it usually does not do for acting appointments.
Justice Department
"Free Music in a Capitalist Society"
Iggy Pop
He doesn't look like any lecturer you had in college, but yesterday Iggy Pop turned teacher, delivering the annual John Peel Lecture for BBC Music. As befitting a visiting professor from the School of Punk Rock Hard Knocks, Pop eschewed traditional academic garb in favor of a shirt open to the navel - but he did don some suitably bookish spectacles for a portion of the hour-long talk at the Lowry theater in Salford, Manchester.
Speaking on the subject of "Free Music in a Capitalist Society," Pop didn't hold back as he addressed piracy, new digital music business models and some of his fellow artists.
Notably, he was critical of Apple and U2 over the giveaway of the band's latest album, Songs of Innocence, as a free download for iTunes account holders. "The people who don't want the free U2 download are trying to say, 'Don't try to force me,'" he said. "And they've got a point. Part of the process when you buy something from an artist, it's kind of an anointing, you are giving people love. It's your choice to give or withhold. You felt like they were robbed of that chance and they have a point." Although he did concede that this "is not the only point - these are not bad guys."
The 67-year-old punk was more understanding of Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke's decision to sell his new solo album, Tomorrow's Modern Boxes, via BitTorrent.
Broadcasting live on BBC 6 Music, the modern rock station where he's now employed as a DJ, Pop praised early bootleggers for being "creative," but warned modern piracy was a different game. "We are now talking about Megaupload, Kim Dotcom, big money, political power and varying definitions of theft that are legally way over my head. But I know a con man when I see one."
Iggy Pop
Recommencing At 80
Leonard Cohen
Canadian singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen announced that when he turned 80 this fall he planned to once again take up smoking.
"It's the right age to recommence," Cohen explained to Jason Karkawish of the New York Times.
Karkawish wrote Cohen's plan presents a provocative question: When should we set aside a life lived for the future and, instead, embrace the pleasures of the present?
"Today, 3.6 per cent of the population is over 80, and life is heavily prescribed not only with the behaviours we should avoid, but the medications we ought to take," stated the op-ed piece.
Leonard Cohen
Contents Of 1901 Time Capsule Revealed
Boston
A Boston time capsule dating to 1901 contained letters, photographs, newspaper clippings, political campaign buttons and a presidential message on U.S. foreign relations, archivists said Wednesday.
The shoebox-sized capsule was removed last week from the head of lion statue that has long stood guard over the Old State House. The Bostonian Society, which oversees the historic building, released an inventory of the items Wednesday and said they would go on public display in the near future.
The existence of the time capsule had only recently been confirmed. The box was opened Oct. 9 but the items inside were not initially removed because of concerns they might be damaged if not properly handled.
Elizabeth Roscio, archivist for the Bostonian Society, judged the materials that were tightly packed into the box to be in remarkably good overall condition, which she credited to the capsule being tightly sealed to prevent any deterioration or water damage.
Boston
Highest-Earning Dead Celebrity
Michael Jackson
Five years after his death, singer Michael Jackson is generating a fortune and is the top-earning dead celebrity, raking in an estimated $140 million in the past year for his estate, Forbes said on Wednesday.
He earned more than twice as much as singer Elvis Presley, who died in 1977 and came in second with $55 million, and three times more than cartoonist and Peanuts comic strip creator Charles Schulz, who took third place with $40 million.
It is Jackson's second straight year atop the list. He regained the title in 2013, a year after being pushed into second place by actress Elizabeth Taylor.
Taylor, who died in 2011, came in at No. 4 with $25 million and reggae singer Bob Marley completed the top five with $20 million in earnings in the year to October 2014. Marley died of cancer at the age of 36 in 1981.
Michael Jackson
UN's Ban Urges Probe
Gaza
UN chief Ban Ki-moon demanded Tuesday an independent probe into Israel's deadly shelling of a school during the Gaza conflict, expressing shock at the devastation during a visit to the Palestinian enclave.
Two days after donor states pledged $5.4 billion (4.3 billion euros) to rebuild Gaza, Ban toured some of the areas worst hit during the July-August war between Israel and the territory's Hamas rulers.
"No amount of (UN) Security Council sessions, reports or briefings could have prepared me for what I witnessed today," he said after being driven through the ruins of Gaza City's Shejaiya district and the nearby Jabaliya refugee camp.
"The shelling of the United Nations school is absolutely unacceptable. These actions must be fully and independently investigated," he said.
Gaza
Entertainment Unit Disbanded
CNN, HLN Layoffs
Turner Broadcasting layoffs hit CNN and HLN on Tuesday, with HLN host Jane Velez-Mitchell as the first talent casualty, multiple individuals with knowledge of the situation confirmed to TheWrap. Mitchell's self-titled show has been canceled and her entire staff is also out.
Among other major losses, CNN's entertainment unit - which covers red carpet events and awards shows on both coasts -is being completely disbanded, insiders confirmed. So far, a senior entertainment producer and an entertainment producer in Los Angeles were let go. The producer who runs CNN Entertainment in New York City is also out. Additionally, Northeast bureau chief Darius Walker were cut Tuesday. Walker had been with CNN for 18 years, and an insider described his exit as a "gut-wrenching" loss.
These latest layoffs follow widespread CNN cuts last Wednesday in Atlanta that took place at the CNN Center and the Turner Broadcasting Techwood Campus. In that round of job losses, most of the affected employees were believed to be from the Sales Departments at CNN and HLN, as well as some workers from TNT.
Turner Broadcasting plans to lay off 1,475 employees over the next two weeks - a 10 percent reduction in staff. Approximately 900 employees from all of Turner in Atlanta will be let go, while CNN Worldwide will lose a total of 170.
CNN also cut Christiane Amanpour's entire staff, according to Mashable. Amanpour, the cable news channel's chief international correspondent and anchor of a nightly foreign affairs program, will still produce international news segments for CNN.
CNN, HLN Layoffs
Flip Floppers
'Czars'
Republican Senator Jerry Moran of Kansas was one of the first lawmakers to call on the Obama administration to appoint a czar to help coordinate the U.S. response to the Ebola crisis in Africa, along with a cluster of cases at home.
The problem? Almost five years earlier to the day, Moran introduced legislation urging Obama to cease the practice of appointing czars. Moran, who was then a congressman running for the U.S. Senate, also sponsored a bill that would prohibit the federal government from using taxpayer money to pay the salaries of such unconfirmed administration officials - which would have effectively ended the practice of appointing them.
"The Obama Administration's excessive czar appointments exemplify the ever-expanding federal bureaucracy and big government that Kansans and Americans have grown tired of," Moran said then, according to a cache of the release posted on Project Vote Smart. "The increasing use of unconfirmed government officials is irresponsible - it is time Congress stops the executive branch from abusing this flawed appointment process. I have introduced this resolution to condemn the increased use of unconfirmed government officials and heads of agencies."
Accusations of presidential overreach are still a central part of the Republicans' political message to counter Obama and the Democrats.
'Czars'
Subsidiary Of Dow
EPA
U.S. regulatory approval on Wednesday for a Dow AgroSciences herbicide to be used with new genetically modified crops outraged critics, who say the approval violates environmental law and will create a host of problems for people and animals.
The Environmental Protection Agency gave final approval to Dow's Enlist Duo herbicide developed to be used with Dow's Enlist GMO corn and soybeans. The herbicide is approved immediately for use in six states, and the EPA is evaluating expansion to additional states.
The agency said it had thoroughly evaluated the risks that come with what is expected to be a large increase in the use of 2,4-D, an active ingredient of Enlist Duo.
But EarthJustice, and other pesticide, farm and consumer groups said the approval falls short of requirements under at least two federal laws, including the Endangered Species Act, and could face a legal challenge.
The herbicide was developed by Dow, a unit of Dow Chemical, to help fight weed problems hurting U.S. crop production. Many weeds have grown resistant to glyphosate-based Roundup herbicide, developed by Monsanto Co. and used widely by cotton, corn and soybean farmers.
EPA
Election Goes Forward
Navajo
A finalist to head the largest U.S. Native American tribe will remain on the ballot despite a ruling last week that he should be disqualified for refusing to prove his fluency in the Navajo language, an election official said on Tuesday.
The Navajo Nation's Elections Board of Supervisors allowed the election to go ahead without the change, meaning members of the tribe will be able to vote for presidential candidate Chris Deschene in the Nov. 4 general election.
Deschene is vying against former tribal president Joe Shirley Jr. for leadership of the 300,000-member Nation.
A hearing officer ruled against Deschene on Thursday after the candidate refused to answer in Navajo questions proposed to him during proceedings at the Nation's Office of Hearings and Appeals.
Tribal law requires that all presidential hopefuls be fluent in Navajo, which U.S. Census estimates show is spoken by a dwindling number of people.
Navajo
Pasadena City College
Dustin Lance Black
A California community college agreed to pay Oscar-winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black $26,050 for rescinding a commencement speaking offer after a stolen sex video emerged online of the "Milk" writer.
Officials at Pasadena City College withdrew the invitation because of concerns about the school's image but invited Black back after he wrote a letter in the student newspaper hinting at legal action. Black ultimately delivered the May 9 address at his alma mater.
The day before the speech, then-President Mark W. Rocha signed an agreement to pay Black $26,050, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday.
The deal was never announced publicly and both sides agreed not to discuss it extensively, according to the settlement obtained by the Times through a Public Records Act request.
Black received a $3,000 honorarium for speaking. He also won a $100,000 judgment against the person who sold the sex tape that was posted online.
Dustin Lance Black
In Memory
Elizabeth Peña
"La Bamba" and "Lone Star" actress Elizabeth Peña has died. She was 55.
Peña's manager, Gina Rugolo, says the actress died Tuesday in Los Angeles of natural causes after a brief illness. No other details were provided.
Peña's career spanned four decades and included roles in films like "Rush Hour," ''Jacob's Ladder" and "Free Willy 2." She also appeared on such TV shows as "L.A. Law," ''Dream On," ''Resurrection Blvd." and "Modern Family," where she played the mother of Sofia Vergara's character, Gloria.
She also provided her voice to "The Incredibles," the "Justice League" cartoon series and "American Dad."
Peña recently played the mother of the title character on the El Rey Network drama "Matador."
She is survived by her husband, two children, mother and sister.
Elizabeth Peña
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