‘You’re telling me this isn’t fruit?’

“Cap’n Crunch with Crunchberries” is a breakfast cereal. On the front of the packet, the beaming Cap’n is depicted thrusting a spoonful of colourful little balls of cereal at the shopper. But Janine Sugawara recently organised a mutiny. In a putative class action, she sued the manufacturer for $5 billion for fraud, misrepresentation, and breach of warranty when she discovered the cereal balls were not fruity.

Sugawara had eaten the brightly coloured, sweetened corn and oat cereal for four years but argued that this was only because she had been deceived by the manufacturer into believing that the product contained fruit.

The District Court for the Eastern District of California ruled that “there is no such fruit growing in the wild or occurring naturally in any part of the world” and so no reasonable consumer would be deceived into believing that the cereal contained “a fruit that does not exist”.

The court also noted that Sugawara didn’t allege that anything on the packet was false so there could be no finding of fraud. It held that for the claim to proceed the court would have to “ignore all concepts of personal responsibility and common sense” and it wasn’t going to let that happen.

Sugawara’s failed action for fraudulent advertising compares with other curious cases in which the litigant took an advert too literally. Richard Overton from Michigan sued Anheuser-Busch, the manufacturers of Budweiser, for $10,000 for its beer adverts. One particular objection of his was the television advert for Bud Light involving two men, a beer truck and fantasies of “tropical settings, beautiful women and men engaged in endless and unrestricted merriment”. He complained the advert promoted “impossible manifestations”. In 1994, the Michigan Court of Appeals ruled that the fantasies represented in such adverts are not expected to stand up to the rational analysis of the courtroom. His claim was soberly rejected by the judges.

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Decision: http://kevinunderhill.typepad.com/Documents/Opinions/Crunchberries.pdf

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Professor Gary Slapper is Director of the Centre for Law at the Open University.

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Full article: http://timesonline.typepad.com/law/2009/06/weird-cases-you-mean-this-isnt-fruit.html

Photo: http://kevinunderhill.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451bd4469e201156fc3c286970c-120wi

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Anne Frank’s diaries return home

A picture of Anne Frank taken in 1942. Her posthumously published diary made her a symbol of all Jews killed in World War II.

All the original diaries and writings of Anne Frank will be on display in the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam from now on, The Dutch Institute for War Documentation (NIOD), the Royal Academy of Arts and Sciences and the ministry of education announced on Thursday.

The material will return to the place where it was written, Anne Frank’s safehouse on the Prinsengracht in Amsterdam.

The deal in which the NIOD permanently loans the writings to the museum comes one day before Anne Frank’s 80th birthday. Education minister Ronald Plasterk told reporters: “Anne Frank is world famous, and it is wonderful that the Dutch nation and visitors from all over the globe can now see the original versions of her complete work. I hope and expect that this will further increase interest in her history and in our history. The Netherlands underestimates the international reputation of Anne Frank. In South Korea, she is better known than the Netherlands itself.”

Anne Frank was born in Germany on June 12, 1929, but moved to Amsterdam in 1934. She and her family went into hiding in 1942. Anne died in the Bergen-Belsen concentration at age 15, not long before the end of World War II in Europe. Her father, the only one in the Frank family who survived the war, left the diaries to the NIOD, which has kept them since his death in 1980. They have been on display at the museum before, but now that location will become permanent. “In this way, justice is done to the great significance of Anne’s writings as part of the Dutch cultural heritage,” the official statement reads.

Not only the famous red-checked diary will feature in the new exhibition to open in November, but also the second and third diaries, the Tales from the Secret Annexe (Verhaaltjesboek) and the Favorite Quotes Notebook (Mooie Zinnenboek). Forty of the several hundred, brittle, loose sheets of paper on which Anne rewrote her diary will alternately be on display.

Also on Thursday, the memorial centre of the transit camp Westerbork announced that it will re-instate the shed in which Anne and her sister Margot worked after they were captured in 1944 and before they were deported to Bergen-Belsen. The sisters had to remove carbon from old batteries in a shed that was sold and relocated after the war. After a dispute between the owner and the municipality was solved, the shack will now be taken apart and rebuilt in its original location.

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Full article and photo: http://www.nrc.nl/international/article2268729.ece/Anne_Franks_diaries_return_home

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See also:

The Diary of Anne Frank

“I hope I will be able to tell you everything, that is something which I have never been able to tell anyone, and I hope that you will provide me with great support.”

Such were the words of a young girl, written in a red, orange and grey checked poetry album. There was nothing at the time to reveal that this would one day be one of the world’s most famous diaries. Nor was there an indication that it would be translated into over 55 languages and that its author would become a symbolic figure of the Holocaust.

Anne Frank was born in Frankfurt in 1929, the daughter of Jewish merchant Otto Frank. She emigrated to Amsterdam in 1933 and died in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1945.

Anne received the diary for her 13th birthday. Two days later, on June 14, 1942, she began to write, first about everyday life in the occupied Netherlands as it became more and more intolerable for Jews. Then, only a few weeks later, about her life in hiding, in the rear offices of her father’s company, in the Prinsengraacht 263.

The Franks, together with their daughters Anne and Margot, the Van Pel family, with their son Peter, and the dentist Fritz Pfeffer hoped that here, they would manage to survive the war and Jewish persecution. Anne describes the life of the eight people who spent 25 months together. They lived in cramped conditions, with fear as their constant companion.

She explained her feelings in her diary: “Without God, I would have broken down long ago. I know that I am not safe. I am afraid of cells and concentration camps, but I feel that I have become braver and that I rest in the arms of God.”

Over 40 years later, Miep Gies, the most important accomplice during their life in hiding remembered: “When I had the chance, I would often go up to see them around lunchtime. I went just to cheer them up, because they had to remain sitting quietly all day long. Just reading with no shoes on, not allowed to move or use the bathroom. I used to go up and talk to them very quietly. I wanted to tell them what was going on outside, because they were very curious, almost hungry for information.”

Under these circumstances, Anne’s diary became her most important companion. She invented a girl’s name as the intended reader. “Dear Kitty” is how the entries begin. They reveal great talent as a writer and are nothing like the usual outpourings of a teenager.

“When I went up to speak to Anne, something would sometimes creep into the conversation that made me feel that I was speaking to an older, more experienced person, with an adult, rather than a child,” Gies said.

This is reflected by the tone and style of her diary. “Imagine how interesting it would be if I published a novel about life in the annex. The title alone would make people think it was probably a detective novel. But seriously, ten years after the war ends, it will probably appear strange when people are told how Jews here lived, ate and spoke together,” Anne wrote.

Indeed, Anne wanted to become a writer or a journalist. And while still making her daily entries in 1944, she had already begun to edit her old diary, for use as a basis for her intended future novel, which she wanted to call “The Annex.”

“Oh, I don’t want to have lived for nothing, like most people. I want to bring some happiness and be of use to the people around me, who don’t really know me yet. And I want to live on after my death.”

No one in the hiding place knew of this more grown-up Anne. No one knew about the content of her diaries. Even Gies, who saved Anne’s writings from the Gestapo, passed them on unread to Anne’s father, Otto Frank, after the war. He was the only family member to have survived the war and later became the editor of the now famous “Diary of Anne Frank.”

The reader is able to discern from the diary that Anne’s father was her best friend. She told him a great deal, but after the war, when he had read his daughter’s diaries, Frank revealed: “Her innermost thoughts were a secret even to me.”

Anne’s wish for fame was fulfilled, but she herself did not live to see it. On August 4, 1944, the eight members of the group were arrested and taken from Holland to Auschwitz, in the last deportation, and later to Bergen-Belsen.

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Full article: http://www.todayinhistory.de/index.php?tag=14&monat=6&dayisset=1&year=2009&lang=en

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Entertainment – June 12

Aldrin Marks Moon Trip Anniversary With the Pops

Buzz Aldrin, Apollo 11 astronaut, foreground, narrates as conductor Keith Lockhart, right, looks away at Boston Symphony Hall, Thursday, June 11, 2009, in Boston. As part of a special celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, Apollo 11 astronaut Aldrin joined Lockhart and the Boston Pops to narrate a special rendition of Gustav Holst’s The Planets.

Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon 40 years ago. Now he’s celebrating with some moon tunes performed by the Boston Pops.The 79-year-old retired astronaut is narrating a Thursday night performance of Gustav Holst’s ”The Planets.” It accompanies a video suite by Emmy-nominated astronomer and visual artist Jose Francisco Salgado.

The show incorporates footage from NASA, the European Space Agency and historical illustrations from Chicago’s Adler Planetarium collection.

The celebration includes singalongs of the standards ”Blue Moon,” ”It’s Only a Paper Moon,” ”Moon River” and ”Fly Me to the Moon.”

Aldrin was the second man to walk on the moon, following Neil Armstrong after their Apollo 11 lunar module landed on July 20, 1969.

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Full article: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/06/11/arts/AP-US-People-Aldrin-Pops.html

Photo: http://www.idahostatesman.com/apentertainment/story/799477.html

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Letterman Hunts for Jokes in Palin Feud

David Letterman joked Thursday that he things are now fine now between him and Sarah Palin because the Alaska governor called and offered to take him hunting.She’d done nothing of the sort, of course, continuing a feud with the CBS late-night host that may wind up being well-timed for Letterman in the second week of his new competition with Conan O’Brien on NBC’s ”Tonight” show.

”I’m Dave Letterman, making friends wherever I go,” Letterman said at the opening of Thursday’s show, a day after he apologized for wisecracks aimed at Palin and one of her teenage daughter — even as he milked the situation for more laughs. His lengthy discourse on Wednesday blended flashes of contrition with more pokes at Palin and her family.

Letterman invited Palin to come on his show, which her spokeswoman declined with a shot of her own.

Letterman had made several jokes on Monday’s monologue about the Palin family’s visit to New York.

His Top Ten list featured ”Highlights of Sarah Palin’s Trip,” and included: ”Bought makeup at Bloomingdale’s to update her ‘slutty flight attendant’ look.”

But the diciest joke centered on the family attending a Yankees baseball game.

Letterman said ”an awkward moment” occurred for Palin when, ”during the seventh inning, her daughter was knocked up by (Yankee third baseman) Alex Rodriguez.”

Without naming her, the joke seemed to refer to Palin’s 18-year-old daughter Bristol, an unwed mother.

But it was 14-year-old daughter Willow, not Bristol, who had been at the game.

Todd Palin issued a statement that said ”any ‘jokes’ about raping my 14-year-old are despicable.”

And Sarah Palin charged Letterman with ”sexually perverted comments made by a 62-year-old male celebrity.”

”I am not a celebrity,” said a deadpan Letterman, interrupting himself as he read the statements aloud on Wednesday’s show. ”I’m 62 years old, but I’m not a celebrity.”

He denied the joke was meant to be about Willow Palin.

”I would never, never make jokes about raping or having sex of any description with a 14-year-old girl,” he said, dropping his signature sarcasm. ”I don’t think it’s funny. I would never think it was funny.”

”I’m not necessarily proud of these jokes,” he said in a more ironically self-deprecating moment. ”We do stuff all the time and our objective here is to get a laugh, and thank God we don’t have to go to the Hague and the World Court to defend them. It’s a joke and that’s all it’s supposed to be.”

Before he was done, he tried to boil down the situation into two key points, which he stated with playful precision:

”Am I guilty of poor taste? Yes.

”Did I suggest that it was OK for her 14-year-old daughter to be having promiscuous sex? No.”

He also invited Palin to be a guest on his show, saying, ”I think we could put these differences behind us.” But the offer, extended to both Palin and her husband (”or leave Todd at home,” Letterman suggested), was turned down on Thursday.

”The Palins have no intention of providing a ratings boost for David Letterman by appearing on his show,” said Palin spokeswoman Meghan Stapleton. ”Plus, it would be wise to keep Willow away from David Letterman.”

While the incident keeps Palin in the public eye in a manner likely to draw sympathy from supporters, it puts Letterman in the news in an extremely fortuitous time. It’s the second week of his battle for eyeballs with O’Brien and it couldn’t be closer.

In an overnight measurement of the nation’s biggest media markets, O’Brien beat Letterman by one-tenth of a ratings point on Wednesday, according to Nielsen Media Research. It was the same slim margin on Monday, and with Julia Roberts as a guest on Tuesday, Letterman beat O’Brien — the first night CBS has beaten NBC since last October.

In Nielsen’s metered markets, Letterman hasn’t beaten the ”Tonight” show for a week since November 2005.

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Full article: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/06/11/arts/AP-US-TV-Palin-Letterman.html

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Chastity Bono Announces Sex Change

Chastity Bono is having a sex change to become a man. A spokesman for Bono, born a girl to Sonny and Cher, says he ”has made the courageous decision to honor his true identity” and began the sex-change process earlier this year. Publicist Howard Bragman said Bono is proud of his decision and hopes ”that his choice to transition will open the hearts and minds of the public regarding this issue.”The 40-year-old writer, activist and reality-TV star came out as gay 20 years ago, Bragman said.

In the book ”Family Outing: A Guide to the Coming-Out Process for Gays, Lesbians, & Their Families,” Bono describes the realization of being ”somehow different — specifically different from who my mom expected me to be.”

A message left with Cher’s representatives was not immediately returned Thursday.

Bono’s second book, ”The End of Innocence: A Memoir,” details how relationships with Joan, a lover, and Sonny and Cher changed after coming out.

In 1995, Bono posed for the cover of the gay magazine The Advocate and began working for the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD).

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Full article: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/06/11/arts/AP-US-People-Chastity-Bono.html

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Property Owners Forgive Alba Plastering Posters

Jessica Alba on the red carpet for the 12th Annual EIF Revlon RunWalk For Women at Times Square on May 2, 2009 in New York City.

The owners of property plastered with great white shark posters said Thursday they have little interest in pursuing criminal vandalism charges against actress Jessica Alba, who already has apologized for her role in the stunt.Oklahoma City police are continuing to investigate the allegations, but haven’t interviewed the 28-year-old co-star of the ”Fantastic Four” movies, ”Sin City” and ”Good Luck Chuck.” Investigators first plan to meet with the property owners to see if they are willing to prosecute, said police Sgt. Gary Knight.

”That’s typical for how we handle all investigations of this nature,” Knight said. ”You want to make sure you have a victim that’s willing to prosecute.

”Typically in cases like this if people don’t want to prosecute, often times the case is closed.”

Police found the posters — aimed at raising awareness about the sharks’ declining numbers — glued to a downtown bridge, utility boxes and a billboard for the United Way charity.

Earlier this week, photographs surfaced on a Web site that apparently show Alba hanging some of the posters and posing before the defaced billboard. Alba is in Oklahoma filming ”The Killer Inside Me,” which co-stars Casey Affleck and Kate Hudson.

All the property owners contacted by The Associated Press Thursday say they don’t want to see Alba prosecuted.

”It’s not our intent to pursue any type of charges,” said Brian Alford, a spokesman for electric utility Oklahoma Gas & Electric. ”I think if we have a cost associated with the removal we would hope to be compensated for that cost, but at this point it’s a lesson learned and we just want to put it behind us.”

Telephone and e-mail messages left Thursday seeking comment from Alba’s publicist about whether she plans to reimburse the property owners or United Way were not returned.

An official with Oklahoma City’s Parks and Recreation Department filed the initial police report, but a city spokeswoman said Thursday they aren’t interested in pursuing criminal charges.

”The apology that she made through her publicist, I think, was enough for us,” said spokeswoman Kristy Yager.

The United Way advertisement, which was donated to the charity by a billboard company, has since been removed.

”Even if we had been paying for the ad, I doubt we would have filed a complaint with the police department,” said Erin Brewer, a spokeswoman for United Way of Central Oklahoma. ”I think it would be very generous of her, and certainly we would be honored if she chose to make a contribution.”

Lamar Advertising, which owns the billboard, also said the company doesn’t plan to pursue charges, said Bill Condon, general manager and vice president of the company’s Oklahoma City office.

”I think her comment and what she released seemed pretty sincere,” Condon said.

Under Oklahoma law, maliciously defacing property can be a felony punishable by prison time if the value of the damage exceeds $1,000 or more. City officials placed a preliminary value of the damage at between $500 and $700, and Condon said the damage to the billboard would not exceed $500.

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Full article: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/06/11/arts/AP-US-Alba-Investigation.html

Photo: http://www.accesshollywood.com/property-owners-forgive-jessica-alba-over-shark-poster-stunt_article_19141

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No Carradine Suicide, Expert Says

The forensics expert hired by David Carradine’s family has concluded that the ”Kung Fu” actor did not commit suicide, but said that more information was needed from Thai investigators before the cause of death could be determined.Carradine’s brothers, Keith and Robert Carradine, each read part of a prepared statement to reporters from The Associated Press at a Los Angeles hotel Thursday morning. In their first appearance since their older brother was found hanging in a Bangkok hotel room closet last week, they thanked supporters and asked for privacy.

”This is a devastating loss for our family and we greatly appreciate the compassion pouring in from all over the world,” Keith Carradine said.

They also released a statement by Dr. Michael Baden of New York that indicated a second autopsy determined Carradine didn’t kill himself.

”However, to reach a final determination as to the cause and the manner of death we must wait for further information from Thailand as to the scene findings and the completion of the crime laboratory and toxicology studies that are still being performed,” Baden’s statement said.

Reached by phone after the morning briefing, Baden said he expects to receive more information from Thai authorities in a week or two and stressed that the information at hand was incomplete. Baden didn’t elaborate on how suicide was ruled out

”The autopsy is only part of the analysis,” he said.

In the meantime, Robert Carradine asked the public and press for patience and time to allow the family to grieve.

”Until we have all of the pending results of the investigation we respectfully ask … that we be allowed to lay our beloved brother, husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather to rest in peace and with dignity,” Robert Carradine said.

Rampant speculation about the actor’s death has swirled since a chambermaid at the luxury Swissotel Nai Lert Park Hotel in Bangkok discovered his body hanging in the closet of his room June 4. A Thai newspaper published a graphic photo of the death scene that police have said appears to be a leaked forensics image.

Thai police initially said they suspected Carradine’s death was a suicide, but later conceded it could have been accidental. Their description — that the actor’s body was found nude, with ropes around his neck, wrist and genitals — fueled speculation that he was killed while engaging in a dangerous sex practice called auto-erotic asphyxiation.

Thai authorities said on June 5 that it would take about three weeks for the results of their autopsy to be released.

Medical examiners in the United States and Canada generally classify auto-erotic asphyxiation deaths as accidental.

Keith Carradine last week asked the FBI to take a role, and Thai authorities later said they would allow FBI agents to observe their investigation, but not take an active role. FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said earlier this week that the agency would not make any more comments about its role in the Carradine investigation, but that agents stationed in Thailand have a good relationship with local authorities.

Agents typically only get involved in the deaths of U.S. citizens abroad when foul play is involved, she said.

Others who knew the 72-year-old actor have said they suspect foul play was involved. Keith and Robert Carradine on Thursday urged everyone to wait until the investigation has concluded.

”Once the investigation is fully completed and definitive conclusions have been reached, we will address the findings with the public,” Robert Carradine said.

Both Keith and Robert Carradine shared the screen with their brother, a prolific TV and film actor. David Carradine rose to prominence for his role on the ”Kung Fu” series in the 1970s and experienced a resurgence in popularity after his role in Quentin Tarantino’s ”Kill Bill” movies earlier this decade.

The family’s statement did not indicate the location of his body, or offer any information about funeral arrangements. They did not take questions Thursday after reading the statements.

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Full article: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/06/11/arts/AP-US-Carradine-Death.html

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Sit! 13 New ‘Marley’ Books Coming

Jennifer Aniston in “Marley and Me”

Call it the luck of Marley.The late Labrador retriever made famous by ”Marley and Me” will be the hero of 13 children’s books by ”Marley” author John Grogan. The first of the series comes out this summer, HarperCollins Children’s Books announced Thursday.

Grogan’s ”Marley & Me,” published in 2005, is a million-selling memoir and the basis for the hit movie of the same name, starring Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston.

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Full article: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/06/11/arts/AP-US-Books-More-Marley.html

Photo: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4677163n

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Bob Hope’s Spirit, but No Cheesecake

Bob Hope, at left, in Vietnam in 1969. At right, Stephen Colbert this week in Iraq.

The first comedy show entirely taped, edited and broadcast in a war zone didn’t look like your average U.S.O. tour. Except when it did. In Baghdad this past week the host of “The Colbert Report” was so imbued with the spirit of Bob Hope that he actually twirled a golf club — a Hope trademark — as he told jokes to troops in a former palace of Saddam Hussein. Stephen Colbert, the host, described Iraq as “so nice, we invaded it twice.” Even a sketch on Tuesday, in which Mr. Colbert debated himself on the issue of gay soldiers, wasn’t much of a departure from Hope’s old stand-up routines in places like Long Binh and Cam Ranh Bay.

“Miniskirts are bigger than ever, even some of the fellas are wearing them,” Hope told troops in Da Nang in 1967. A beat. “Don’t laugh,” he added. “If you’d have thought of it, you wouldn’t be here.”

Mr. Colbert’s four-day “Operation Iraqi Stephen: Going Commando,” sponsored by the U.S.O., was unexpectedly charming. His interviews with generals and even an Iraqi deputy prime minister were pleasant, not barbed, and his stand-up routines proved as easygoing and good-natured as many a Bob Hope performance. Mr. Colbert sometimes let his comic persona as an monomaniacal chicken hawk to the right of Bill O’Reilly slip a little, but mostly he stayed in character, and even that matched up with Hope’s self-caricature as someone egotistical and cowardly.

The difference wasn’t in the humor, or even the technology; it was in the intended audience. Hope’s U.S.O. tours were star-studded morale boosters for isolated troops who felt out of touch and forgotten. Mr. Colbert seemed eager to energize viewers who are out of touch with overseas news and have all but forgotten that 130,000 troops remain in Iraq.

“I thought the whole Iraq thing was over,” Mr. Colbert told the troops on Monday night in Baghdad. “I haven’t seen any news stories about it in months.”

When Hope went on the road, and his trips to military bases spanned World War II and Operation Desert Storm, his audiences were young, overwhelmingly male and cut off from home. Even in Vietnam servicemen relied on letters and the occasional scratchy phone call. Hope’s lighthearted cracks about the military, war and women were tailored to amuse and comfort the men on the ground.

Mr. Colbert’s skits and stunts — a mock stint in basic training, a haircut administered by Gen. Ray Odierno (ordered, jokingly, by President Obama via a pretaped message) — were designed to hold the attention of easily distracted audiences back home.

Today’s troops are hardly starved for entertainment; they have laptops, video cameras, satellite phones and every iteration of the Internet, including Skype, Facebook and Gchats. They stay tuned to television, even Comedy Central. Mr. Colbert’s show is broadcast at 6:30 and 11:30 p.m. Central European time on the American Forces Network. He worked in references to “The Real Housewives of New Jersey” and even the bickering stars of “Jon & Kate Plus 8.”

Hope, ever mindful of the mood of men deprived of female company, always brought some cheesecake with him: Rita Hayworth and Betty Grable during World War II; Jayne Mansfield in Korea; Joey Heatherton, Ann-Margret and Raquel Welch in Vietnam.

There were no torch songs or Golddiggers in white go-go boots on “The Colbert Report.” The closest thing to Ms. Welch was Tom Hanks, who played himself in a taped sketch about U.S.O. care packages. Today’s military is coed and in no mood to joke about it. Mr. Colbert asked Sgt. Robin Balcom, how, since women are not supposed to be in front-line positions, she won a combat badge. Sergeant Balcom, a military police officer, bristled at the word won, as opposed to earn. “I didn’t really win,” she said. “I was awarded.” Mr. Colbert quickly apologized.

There’s another difference. When NBC broadcast Hope’s Vietnam Christmas specials in the early 1970s (he performed on Christmas Day, but the fully produced shows were not televised until January), they drew 60 percent of the viewing audience. No conflict has ever been as instantly and closely covered as the Iraq War, but access spurs complacency. In the fractured universe of cable and the Internet, the entertaining of troops doesn’t get a lot of attention. World Wrestling Entertainment produces the annual tribute to the troops; Kellie Pickler, a former “American Idol” contestant who went to Iraq on last year’s U.S.O. holiday tour, made a video diary of her tour that was shown on GAC, the Great American Country cable network.

Mr. Colbert’s audience on Comedy Central isn’t very large (a little over a million on a good day), but he has cachet with young and would-be hip viewers who get most of their news from iPhone applications, blogs and comedy shows.

And that’s one reason Mr. Obama and former presidents humored Comedy Central by taping tongue-in-cheek messages to the troops: they seized the opportunity to participate in a government-sanctioned tribute alongside a comedian popular with people who despise conventional politics and government-sanctioned entertainment.

Normally celebrities go to combat zones with the U.S.O. In this case Mr. Colbert took the U.S.O. on a trip with Comedy Central.

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Full article and photos: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/12/arts/television/12watch.html?hpw

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Williams Talks About New CD,’ Ugly Betty’

On May 20, 2009, actress Vanessa Williams attends the Logo network’s second annual “NewNowNext” awards in New York.

Madonna isn’t the only master when it comes to reinvention.In her two decades-plus career, Vanessa Williams has been the beauty queen, the hit-making singer, Broadway star and marquee film actress, and in the last few years, she’s captivated fans yet again with her Emmy-nominated comedic turn as the power-grabbing Wilhelmina Slater on ABC’s ”Ugly Betty.”

This month, the 45-year-old returns to one of her past roles with the release of a new album, ”The Real Thing.”

In a recent interview, Williams talked about her music, the TV role that defines her for many of her fans, and how they relate to her as a result.

AP: What’s the key to your success over the decades?

Williams: Besides talent and being prepared for whatever, you have to stay open, you have to be flexible and think about your options and not get stuck in a rut and do the same thing, if this works, well, I’ve gotta do it 10 different times, always be willing to explore and reach beyond your comfort zone.

AP: How do your fans relate to you?

Williams: Younger kids know me from ”Hannah Montana,” 8 and younger … and I would say (those in their) 20s know me from ”Ugly Betty,” and then anyone over mid-30s, 40s know me from my music. And above that, it’s probably Miss America.

AP: Were you worried about taking a four-year break between albums?

Williams: I’m happy that I’ve been able not to depend on one genre to make a living. The recording industry has changed immensely. … I always hope that my fan base will follow me from project to project and I’m in a position where I have a whole new audience that doesn’t even know me as a singer, which is fascinating.

AP: Are you planning to tour with this album?

Williams: Not right now. … I have to go back to work the second week in July. So I only have eight weeks off. I’m already exhausted.

AP: What do fans think of your role as Wilhelmina?

Williams: People who know me from my recording career always get a kick out of it and say, ”I love watching you be so bad,” and the people who haven’t seen me before, the younger audience, are a little bit intimidated, sometimes afraid to approach me, which I think is hilarious. … To play such a role is very freeing as an actress because you get the chance to really be as broad and loose as you want and kind of be a brat and get away with murder.

AP: How would you describe your music to those who only know you as Wilhelmina?

Williams: I would have to let whoever is discovering me for the first time see a much softer side than what they see on a weekly basis. That’s the funny thing about playing such a terrorized role on TV; my real self is different, so I think a lot of people, if they don’t know me, will see, definitely, a side of me they don’t see on a weekly basis.

AP: There’s talk of upcoming changes on ”Ugly Betty.” Your thoughts?

Williams: I do think there is a definite ”Betty” style which is unique and I wouldn’t want it to become just another show which looks like all the other shows. I hope it will stay unique.

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Full article: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/06/11/arts/AP-US-Music-QA-Vanessa-Williams.html

Photo: http://www.boston.com/ae/music/articles/2009/06/11/qa_williams_talks_about_new_cd_ugly_betty/

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Graffiti Star Banksy In Secret Art Launch

The figure of a Guantanamo Bay detainee wearing a hood and shackles was placed inside the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad ride at Disneyland.

Anonymous graffiti artist Banksy, who enjoys a cult following around the world, has returned to his home town of Bristol in western England to launch his biggest exhibition to date.Typically for a man who keeps his identity secret, the whole project has been shrouded in mystery, with media, local councilors and even staff at the museum only finding out about the project on Friday, the day before it was due to open.

It has over 100 exhibits, including 70 new works. One of the pieces is a sculpture designed to convey a mother bird and two chicks in a nest but using three CCTV cameras instead to symbolize Britain’s surveillance society.

“This is the first show I’ve ever done where taxpayers’ money is being used to hang my pictures up rather than scrape them off,” Banksy was quoted by the BBC as saying. “This show is my vision of the future.”

Many of Banksy’s works are hidden amongst the art museum’s more traditional paintings, mimicking a 2003 stunt when he smuggled a work into the Tate Britain gallery in London and stuck it to the wall. It went undiscovered for hours.

Banksy became famous through illegal outdoor graffiti, including painting on the West Bank barrier and leaving a life-size figure of a Guantanamo Bay detainee at the California theme park Disneyland.

Simon Cook, deputy leader of Bristol council who has responsibility for arts, said he was thrilled Banksy was back, despite his controversial nature.

“Everybody assumed it (his new exhibition) would be in Los Angeles, in New York, in London, but he insisted it came to Bristol… and it’s just him coming home,” Cook said.

A PR company representing Banksy released a statement, which it said came directly from the artist, explaining why he was staging the show in Bristol.

“Banksy, who is rumored to hail from the Bristol area, but has never revealed his full identity due to ongoing legal complications, is mounting the show as a salute to the city, which supported his early street career,” it read.

From small time graffiti artist to global star, Banksy’s work has become so valuable that several of his street works have been salvaged and sold, including a painting on a wall in London that fetched 208,100 pounds ($340,000) in an online sale in 2008.

One of the highest sums paid for a Banksy at auction was 288,000 pounds for “Space Girl and Bird.”

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Full article: http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2009/06/12/arts/entertainment-us-britain-banksy.html

Photo: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/5335400.stm

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Court Rules That Madonna May Adopt Malawi Girl

The highest court in Malawi ruled that Madonna may adopt a 3-year-old girl there, overturning a decision by a lower court that said the pop star had not lived in the African nation long enough.Chief Justice Lovemore Munlo of Malawi’s Supreme Court of Appeal read the three-judge panel’s ruling on Friday, saying that Madonna’s work with disadvantaged children and her creation of a charity, Raising Malawi, for Malawi children with AIDS, had contributed to its decision to allow the singer to adopt the girl, Chifundo “Mercy” James.

In April, Malawi’s High Court denied Madonna’s adoption request, saying that she had not lived in Malawi for the last 18 months, as the nation’s adoption law requires. In a ruling at that time, Judge Esme Chombo wrote, “By removing the very safeguard that is supposed to protect our children, the courts by their pronouncements could actually facilitate trafficking of children by some unscrupulous individuals.”

Malawi’s courts waived a similar rule in allowing Madonna’s adoption of a boy, David Banda, now 3, whose adoption was finalized in 2008.

Alan Chinula, a lawyer for Madonna, told The A.P. he had informed her about the ruling.

“It’s the wee hours of morning in New York but she is excited at the news,” Mr. Chinula said, according to The A.P. “As her lawyer I am happy that this has settled this contentious issue.”

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Full article: http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/12/court-rules-that-madonna-may-adopt-malawi-girl/?ref=global-home

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Madame Tussauds Ready For Hollywood Close – Up

Clint Eastwood has holed up on Hollywood Boulevard waiting for John Wayne and busloads of visitors to join him, as Madame Tussauds prepares to open its latest wax museum in the tourist mecca this summer.The $55 million complex, featuring more than 100 celebrity waxworks spread across three floors, is the biggest attraction to join the teeming thoroughfare in years.

It also represents the latest attempt to restore some glamour to the faded area, whose 10 million annual visitors make it one of the world’s busiest tourist attractions.

While Hollywood conjures up images of beautiful movie stars and fabulous wealth, the neighborhood itself offers an awkward mix of must-see sites like the Walk of Fame and Grauman’s Chinese Theater juxtaposed with tawdry souvenir stores and costumed characters hustling tourists for money.

A decade ago, the area was much worse and gang-related crime was rampant. But since 2000, $700 million of public money has been poured into the area, which in turn has attracted $5.5 billion of private investment, according to Los Angeles city officials.

“To be very blunt, it was a rough area … Hollywood has come back as a really viable and competitive tourist destination,” said Jack Kyser, chief economist at the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation.

Key to the comeback has been the Hollywood & Highland shopping mall, which opened in 2001. It houses the Kodak Theater where the Oscars are handed out.

Madame Tussauds will attempt to depict Hollywood’s glamorous side when it opens on August 1 on the site of a former parking lot adjacent to Grauman’s, the movie theater famed for the imprints of stars’ hands and feet on its concrete tiles.

A red carpet, flashing cameras and Joan Rivers’ gravity-defying likeness — complete with microphone in hand — will greet visitors.

They can join an A-list party with stars like Jennifer Lopez, pose with old Hollywood icons like Charlie Chaplin and even give an awards speech, projected on a screen, in front of Oscar-winner Meryl Streep.

“It’s all about immersing yourself, getting into the scene with the figure and feeling like you’ve met them,” said Paul Williams, creative director of Madame Tussaud’s U.S. locations.

Rachel and Scott Brown, newlyweds from Houston, echoed that sentiment as they took a picture with Arnold Schwarzenegger’s hand- and footprints on Thursday. “You just feel a closeness to them because they’ve been here,” Rachel Brown said.

Madame Tussauds’ flagship museum has been one of London’s top tourist draws since the 19th century, thrilling visitors with such exhibits as the Chamber of Horrors even as guide books like Lonely Planet decreed it “unbelievably kitsch and terribly overpriced.”

Madame Tussauds branched out to the United States in 1999 with a museum in Las Vegas, and there are also sites in New York City and Washington D.C. as well as in Amsterdam, Berlin, Hong Kong and Shanghai.

The Hollywood museum has been in the works for eight years, said Adrian Jones, a general manager at Midway Attractions, a division of Merlin Entertainments Group, the closely held parent of Madame Tussauds as well as other themed attractions.

Even as the project opens during hard economic times, he expects that it will eventually outdraw its Las Vegas location, which brings in almost 600,000 visitors a year.

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Full article: http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2009/06/12/arts/entertainment-us-hollywood-museum.html

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Hollywood, Bollywood Meet Bradford: “City Of Film”

Bradford, an industrial city in the north of England, has been named the world’s first “City of Film” by the United Nations, ahead of more immediately famous movie capitals such as Hollywood or Cannes.UNESCO, the United Nations’ cultural arm, said it was awarding Bradford the title on the basis of its historic links to the production and distribution of films, its media and film museum and its “cinematographic legacy.”

The honor may be a surprise to many as Bradford, previously known as the “wool capital of the world,” is probably best known as a city of around 500,000 people that was once a center of the industrial revolution.

“Becoming the world’s first City of Film is the ultimate celebration of Bradford’s established and dynamic history in film and media,” said Colin Philpott, director of Bradford’s highly regarded National Media Museum.

“With the UNESCO City of Film designation, Bradford will now go on to achieve inspirational projects in film.”

While not as glamorous as Los Angeles or the French Riviera, Bradford does have a strong tie to cinema and film.

It has been the location for several movies including “Yanks,” starring Richard Gere, and “The Railway Children,” a 1970s classic about the tribulations of Victorian children whose father goes missing.

Monty Python’s ground-breaking “The Meaning of Life” and the controversial hit “Rita, Sue and Bob Too,” about a married man who cannot choose between two teenage lovers, were also filmed in the city.

And in recent years Bradford has developed a close relationship with Bollywood too, hosting the International Indian Film Festival awards in 2007.

Simon Beaufoy, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of “Slumdog Millionaire” who originally hails from Bradford, said the city had played a crucial role in the story of cinema and deserved to be recognized.

“This is superb news for Bradford and is testimony to the city’s dedication to the film and media industry,” he said.

Bradford’s seven floor National Media Museum has 3D cinemas and a ‘Magic Factory’, which explains the basic principles behind photography, television and animation.

The museum attracted more than 700,000 visitors in 2007, making it one of the most popular museums in Britain outside London.

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Full article: http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2009/06/12/arts/entertainment-us-title-bradford.html

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Today in History – June 12

Today is Friday, June 12, the 163rd day of 2009. There are 202 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History

On June 12, 1963, civil rights leader Medgar Evers, 37, was fatally shot in front of his home in Jackson, Miss. (In 1994, Byron De La Beckwith was convicted of murdering Evers and sentenced to life in prison; he died in 2001.)

On this date:

In 1665, England installed a municipal government in New York, formerly the Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam.

In 1776, Virginia’s colonial legislature became the first to adopt a Bill of Rights.

In 1806, John A. Roebling, civil engineer and designer of the Brooklyn Bridge, was born in Muehlhausen, Prussia. The Brooklyn Bridge, Roebling’s greatest achievement, spans the East River to connect Manhattan with Brooklyn. For nearly a decade after its completion, the bridge, with a main span of 1595 feet, was the longest suspension bridge in the world. Steel wire cable, invented and manufactured by Roebling, made the structure possible.

In 1838, the Iowa Territory was organized.

In 1880, Lee Richmond of the Worcester Ruby Legs pitched the first perfect game in major league history in a 1-0 victory over the Cleveland Blues.

In 1897, Anthony Eden, the British statesman, was born.

In 1898, Philippine nationalists declared independence from Spain.

In 1909, New York’s Queensboro Bridge was formally dedicated, more than two months after it had opened to the public.

In 1929, Holocaust diarist Anne Frank was born in Frankfurt.

In 1937, the Soviet Union under Josef Stalin executed eight army leaders during a purge.

In 1939, the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum was dedicated in Cooperstown, N.Y.

In 1964, Nelson Mandela jailed for life.

In 1967, the Supreme Court, in Loving v. Virginia, struck down state laws prohibiting interracial marriages.

In 1971, President Richard M. Nixon’s daughter Tricia and Edward F. Cox were married in the White House Rose Garden.

In 1975, Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi is barred from holding office for six years after she being found guilty of electoral corruption.

In 1978, David Berkowitz was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for each of the six “Son of Sam” .44-caliber killings that had terrified New Yorkers.

In 1979, 26-year-old cyclist Bryan Allen flew the manpowered Gossamer Albatross across the English Channel.

In 1981, Major league baseball players began a 49-day strike over the issue of free-agent compensation.

In 1987, President Ronald Reagan, during a visit to a divided Berlin, publicly challenged Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev to “tear down this wall.”

In 1991, Boris Yeltzin elected in Russia.

In 1994, Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman were slashed to death outside her Los Angeles home. (O.J. Simpson was later acquitted of the killings in a criminal trial, but was eventually held liable in a civil action.)

In 1997, the Treasury Department unveiled a new $50 bill meant to be more counterfeit-resistant.

In 1999, ten years ago: Thousands of NATO peacekeeping troops poured into Kosovo by air and by land; but in a surprising move, a Russian armored column entered Pristina before dawn to a heroes’ welcome from Serb residents.

In 2003, Actor Gregory Peck died at age 87.

In 2004, five years ago: Gunmen firing from a car killed Iraqi deputy foreign minister Bassam Salih Kubba. Suspected militants killed an American in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Former President Ronald Reagan’s body was sealed inside a tomb at his presidential library in Simi Valley, Calif., following a week of mourning and remembrance by world leaders and regular Americans.

In 2008, one year ago: In a stinging rebuke to President George W. Bush’s anti-terror policies, a deeply divided Supreme Court ruled that foreign detainees held for years at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba had the right to appeal to U.S. civilian courts to challenge their indefinite imprisonment without charges. Three heavily armed robbers stole two Pablo Picasso prints, “The Painter and the Model” and “Minotaur, Drinker and Women,” from a museum in Sao Paulo, Brazil. (The prints were later recovered.) Taiwan and China agreed to set up permanent offices in each other’s territory for the first time in nearly six decades.

Today’s Birthdays

Banker/philanthropist David Rockefeller is 94. Former President George H.W. Bush is 85. Singer Vic Damone is 81. Songwriter Richard Sherman is 81. Actor-singer Jim Nabors is 79. Jazz musician Chick Corea is 68. Sportscaster Marv Albert is 68. Singer Roy Harper is 68. Rock singer Reg Presley (The Troggs) is 68. Pop singer Len Barry is 67. Rock singer-musician John Wetton (Asia, King Crimson) is 60. Rock musician Bun E. Carlos (Cheap Trick) is 58. Country singer-musician Junior Brown is 57. Singer-songwriter Rocky Burnette is 56. Actor Timothy Busfield is 52. Singer Meredith Brooks is 51. Actress Jenilee Harrison is 51. Rock musician John Linnell (They Might Be Giants) is 50. Rapper Grandmaster Dee (Whodini) is 47. Actress Paula Marshall is 45. Actress Frances O’Connor is 42. Blues musician Kenny Wayne Shepherd is 32. Actor Wil Horneff is 30. Singer Robyn is 30. Country singer Chris Young is 24. Actor Ryan Malgarini is 17.

Historic Birthdays

Cosimo I
6/12/1519 – 4/21/1574
Italian duke of Florence and Tuscany

Harriet Martineau
6/12/1802 – 6/27/1876
English essayist and novelist

Charles Kingsley
6/12/1819 – 1/23/1875
English Anglican clergyman, teacher and writer

Sir Oliver Lodge
6/12/1851 – 8/22/1940
English physicist and parapsychologist

Thomas Walsh
6/12/1859 – 3/2/1933
American politician; U.S. senator from Montana (1913-33)

Anthony Eden
6/12/1897 – 1/14/1977
British foreign secretary (1935-8, 1940-5 and 1951-5) and prime minister (1955-7)

Fritz Lipmann
6/12/1899 – 7/24/1986
German-born American biochemist

Bill Naughton
6/12/1910 – 1/9/1992
Irish-born English playwright

Milovan Djilas
6/12/1911 – 4/20/1995
Yugoslav political writer

Anne Frank
6/12/1929 – 3/?/1945
German Jewish girl killed in Holocaust; famous diarist

Thought for Today

“Whoever wants to know the heart and mind of America had better learn baseball, the rules and realities of the game.” — Jacques Barzun, French-born American author.

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Full article: http://www.boston.com/news/history/articles/2009/06/12/today_in_history___june_12/

http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/index.html

http://www.todayinhistory.de/index.php?tag=12&monat=6&dayisset=1&year=2009&lang=en

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/default.stm

http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/today/today.html

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