Saturday, September 26, 2009

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Charles D. Ellison: Eulogy for Mom ... Top
Legendary American writer James Baldwin once wrote a rather simple, yet complex maxim on the issue of life. "Trust life," he said "and it will teach you, in joy and in sorrow, all you need to know." "Joy" and "sorrow" appear as two essential elements in Baldwin writings. Every Baldwin character has a special mix of his or her own issues, but the constant is joy and sorrow. I mention this because of Mom's appreciation for great literature and great characters. She often observed that the more complicated the characters, the much deeper the storyline. It wasn't that she felt sudden urges to probe into the lives and problems of other people. It was gratitude for the authors investing energy into the lives created, taking time to mold, shape, reshape, remix and guide them. She felt that showed care and a profound sense of empathy. And she appreciated that since she related to many of those characters in a very intense and intimate way. Whenever I've thought about Baldwin's take on life, I've always - for varied reasons - thought about my mother and the joy and sorrow that defined her life. That sentence is synonymous with the late Patricia J. Ellison, and in it we understand everything about her. Her life was an enduring, ceaseless quest for solitude, peace and simplicity. Amid the complexities, the turmoil, the hustle, the fast pace and conflict that typically devour every routine, Mom managed to maintain a very refreshing and simple philosophy: distinction between good and evil; treating people well; submitting one's self to the common good; finding joy and love in shared experience; the expression of sympathy and finding a conscience when much is needed. By that measure, my mother was a GOOD person. Not just in words, but in practice. Sometimes, her extreme kindness actually over-extended itself and she would do this at great sacrifice. She spread love large - we witnessed it in the way she loved her children. The way she toiled over, spoiled and loved her grandchildren. The way she treated her friends like more than just friends. Her passing is beyond an obligatory eulogy, a rain-soaked funeral or an obituary stuck in the corner of a city daily. It is the extension of her spiritual classroom. We draw significant, critical lessons from the life of "Omi" - in her joy and in her sorrow. Special lessons about humanity and amity. Important lessons during these times of uncertainty, anxiety, cynicism and anger. Mom showed us all that in the final analysis it's not what you make, who you know, where you live, what you do or what you drive. It's about who you are and the compassion shown for others. The size of your heart. That's all that matters. We will often remark that, in her passing, Mom is now resting in a better place. But, what I worry about is this world faring in her absence. Can we be the better world she fought all her life to realize? Can we, in joy and in sorrow, carry that torch she left for us and make it shine brighter than before? Patricia Jane Ellison (a.k.a. "Omifunke") b. July 18, 1948 d. September 10, 2009
 
Fed Held Back As Evidence Mounted On Subprime Loan Abuses Top
Under a policy quietly formalized in 1998, the Fed refused to police lenders' compliance with federal laws protecting borrowers, despite repeated urging by consumer advocates across the country and even by other government agencies. The hands-off policy, which the Fed reversed earlier this month, created a double standard. Banks and their subprime affiliates made loans under the same laws, but only the banks faced regular federal scrutiny. Under the policy, the Fed did not even investigate consumer complaints against the affiliates. More on Banks
 
Dust Storms Spread Deadly Diseases Worldwide, But May Ease Effects Of Climate Change: Researchers Top
Huge dust storms, like the ones that blanketed Sydney twice last week, hit Queensland yesterday and turned the air red across much of eastern Australia, are spreading lethal epidemics around the world. However, they can also absorb climate change emissions, say researchers studying the little understood but growing phenomenon. More on Australia
 
Waylon Lewis: Cell Phones in Yoga Class? Top
This is What Effective Advertising Looks Like: Lululemon ...on Yoga & our All-American Busy-ness . [9th in a Series ] Yoga apparel fave Lululemon's latest ad is spot-on when it comes to yoga practice circa 2009. I'm at the amazing, Valhalla-like Yoga Journal Conference right now, and we allll seem to have our cell phones in our classes. Many of us turn 'em off, many of us mute them (so you can still hear still vibrating phones from time to time, and the subtle radiation from phones is everywhere ), and some of us, like yours truly, have given up the notebook and pen and started taking notes on our iPhone's "Notes" program. But what happened to the "retreat" part of yoga retreats? Can we still manage to put aside a few hours, or days, to practice and develop our openness, compassion, and ability to come back to the present moment? Or is yoga but a bump in the road of our workaholic, distractable, hypersocial daily lives? How many of us have texted from a yoga class, while the teacher is talking? That said, I'd love to see Lululemon continue to add more eco options (they do have more and more) to their stylish, super-popular lineup. After all, if our intention isn't to live and play in harmony with our environment, our environment will support a healthy, happy lifestyle less and less. More on Blackberry
 
Glynnis MacNicol: Celebrate Saturday Night Live's 35th Season With 35 Great SNL News Spoofs Top
Long before The Daily Show , long before The Colbert Report , Saturday Night Live was making fun of the news in a way that no one had ever seen before. Suddenly, establishment journalists like Barbara Walters were fair game. Jane Curtin and Dan Aykroyd riffed on the seething hostility between co-anchors. Heck, they even took on the 70s trend of sign language interpreters popping up in newscasts . Oprah , Dateline , Geraldo Rivera ... SNL 's had distinctive takes on almost every major media presence over the years. And SNL 's news spoofs aren't just entertainment: it's arguable that more Americans made up their minds about Sarah Palin based on SNL 's Katie Couric /Sarah Palin interview than on the original interview itself. Stephen Colbert and John Stewart have done a lot in the news satire biz, but they still have some catching up to do. In honor of the premiere of season 35 of SNL , we've pulled together 35 of SNL 's choicest news anchor spoofs and Weekend Updates, spanning all seasons. We're seriously counting on a good Glenn Beck skit... Baba Wawa Turning Barbara Walters into Elmer Fudd may have been one of the most dastardly stunts that SNL ever pulled off, but it was a game-changer for the show and for Walters. At one point, Walters personally confronted Gilda Radner and made her do the impression to her face. Presumably, the meeting involved wevewations, wapport, and wepartee. Gerald Ford was Eaten by Wolves Carvey's Tom Brokaw wants to vacation in Barbados for the winter, so he's got to prerecord every possible way Gerald Ford could die, including gunshot, wolf attack, convenience store mountain lions, and Zimbabwean invasion. It's funny cause it's true? A Day in the Life of Brian Williams In this SNL Digital Short, BriWi himself shows what a good sport he is by taking us on a tour through the life of a nightly newsman, which involves hallucinating encouraging words from Bono . He's so confident, he doesn't even mind if you call him Stone Philips by mistake! >>>CONTINUED: "Jane, you ignorant slut," Wolf Blitzer, Joe Wilson, Kanye, and more. ** This was originally posted on Mediaite.com and written by Robert Quigley . You can find the full Top 35 list here . More on Kristen Wiig
 
Time Inc Spinoff: Time Warner To Sell Magazine Unit, Says Shareholder Top
Time Warner Inc will eventually sell the Time Inc magazine unit and could buy holdings in its core entertainment category, Gordon Crawford, managing director of its largest shareholder, said during a presentation this week. More on Magazines
 
Job Seekers Exceed Openings By Record Ratio: 6:1 Top
Job seekers now outnumber openings six to one, the worst ratio since the government began tracking open positions in 2000. According to the Labor Department's latest numbers, from July, only 2.4 million full-time permanent jobs were open, with 14.5 million people officially unemployed. More on Banks
 
Harry Reid Becomes GOP Target In Nevada Top
Mr. Reid, 69 years old, is facing mounting criticism in his home state and is trailing in the polls against two Republican challengers for his Senate seat: former University of Nevada at Las Vegas basketball star Danny Tarkanian and Nevada Republican Party Chairwoman Sue Lowden. According to an independent Mason-Dixon poll Aug. 23, Mr. Reid lagged behind Mr. Tarkanian by 49% to 38% and 45% to 40% against Ms. Lowden. More on GOP
 
Brad Pitt And Maddox Leave New York Top
Brad Pitt and his beard left New York last night with little Maddox in tow, after a fun time at Dave and Busters. While Maddox looks as reliably adorable as ever, the jury is certainly still out on Brad's beige outfit. More on Celebrity Kids
 
Rachel Sklar: Megan Fox on SNL: 35 Years of Hope On Her Shapely, Er, Shoulders Top
In its 34th season last year, SNL went mainstream — super mainstream. Thanks to Tina Fey 's uncanny resemblance to Sarah Palin — a Vice-Presidential candidate who revealed herself to be a headline machine in one of the most riveting election seasons in U.S. history — SNL hit its stride with viral video after viral video, which skyrocketed it out of the realm of late-night ratings and onto daytime computer screens across the nation (and newscasts, and 24-hour cable shows, and The View , etc. etc. etc.) Finally figuring out how to make videos embeddable and loosening the next-day pickup sphincter helped, too. At long last, the choruses of "SNL sucks! I never watch it" were quelled. Fast forward a year. Tonight SNL premieres its 35th season (well, if you don't count the last two Thursdays). Times are tougher than ever for network television — Tivo is king, appointment television is scarcer than ever, Jay Leno has brought comedy to 10 pm. Okay, maybe not that last thing. The point is, SNL is premiering tonight in a non-election year — and expectations are high. How can it possibly meet them? Two words: Megan Fox . Actually, I'm not really joking. SNL's bread and butter is in buzz — picking great hosts and bands to encourage people to tune in. See above re: appointment television. In the Internet Age, they now also have to worry about next-day pickup. So who better to kick off the season than the Internet's favorite pin-up girl ? She's already making the video rounds with her appearance on Jimmy Fallon , her SNL promos and Thursday Update cameo , and her recent headline-grabbing comments about her vagina . (This girl is a media superstar for a reason.) She already showed herself to be game and a good sport on Thursday, and it made next-day news — whatever happens with the ratings tonight, SNL only needs one or two knockout skits to burn up the internet the next day. But it does need them. It needs them because it its 35th year, SNL has never had more competition horning in on their beat. There's Jon Stewart (who just beat them for an Emmy!) and Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel ("F**ing Matt Damon," anyone?) and Jimmy Fallon (darling of the Internerds) and even Leno (he's got five days a week to come up with something ). So SNL needs to be memorable and fresh and funny (think: the Ahmedinejad " Iran So Far " spoof or Amy Poehler 's pregnant Palin Rap ). Note that neither of these skits mentioned featured a guest host — the blockbusters often don't, and that's as it should be. The SNL regulars and writers are there because they're damned talented, and it's their job to create memorable, hilarious moments to make the whole show good (or at least until Update ). Jason Sudeikis ' send-up of Glenn Beck is already a hit , and strong supporting characters like Bill Hader 's impression of James Carville or really anything by Kristen Wiig will keep the chattering online classes buzzing the next day (we all need something to post, right? Thanks for the traffic, SNL!). But the guest hosts are there to create that spark of excitement, that unique OMG moment that will instantly set Twitter ablaze. SNL needs that. It's the catalyst for everything else. Because fundamentally SNL is not just about comedy, it's about Zeitgeist. So they'd damn well better tap into it. Megan Fox, you're on. Related in SNL: 35 Years of SNL News Spoofs "Glenn Beck" Makes SNL Debut 'I Can See Russia From My House': A Year of Sarah Palin, The Video Highlights The 13 Funniest SNL Digital Shorts Of All Time SNL@ UCB: Live From New York, A Show By Family, For Family Related in Megan Fox: What Megan Fox Has In Common With Barack Obama A Day Without Megan Fox About 800 Pairs of Megan Fox's Boobs More on Kristen Wiig
 
Andy Plesser: Video: Huffington Post CEO: Revenue Must Match Site's Traffic Top
On Monday, veteran media executive Greg Coleman will get to work at the Huffington Post as President and Chief Revenue Officer.  His joining is part of an expansion the site's business operation, Eric Hippeau, CEO,  told me earlier this week. In this interview, he said that the plan is to put in place a business structure which will  match revenue with the site's enormous traffic, which he says is up to 24 million unique monthly visitors. While traffic is surging at the HuffPo, Hippeau told an audience at the OMMA conference earlier this week that rates for CPM-based advertising are nearing "zero."    He said the company is expanding its sale and research staffs.   Mobile is an increasingly important platform and this week the company is launching a service for the Adroid phones, said in this interview. Andy Plesser, Executive Producer You can find this post up on Beet.TV
 
Who Has The Best Chest In Hollywood? (PHOTOS, POLL) Top
Whether they're real or not, many of these breasts are spectacular. You've already voted on men's chests (Daniel Craig, Christian Bale and Will Smith took the top spots) --now weigh in on which celebrity woman has the best chest. PHOTOS: Get HuffPost Entertainment On Facebook and Twitter! More on Celebrity Skin
 
Ariane de Bonvoisin: The Quality of Life Project Top
My friend Kit Cooper is a successful entrepreneur who started a wonderful movement called The Quality of Life Project . His mission is to help us all see our lives through the lens not of money or success but of contentedness, happiness, being more conscious of our day-to-day lives. He interviews incredible people who are often very successful but have managed to find a true balance and retain a quality of life. They are healthy. They have authentic relationships. They often have a spiritual path and nearly all of them find great joy in giving, serving, contributing to others in some way. He is very quickly becoming a library of incredible wisdom and best practices for really having and enjoying a quality-filled, balanced life. He's interviewed people from Richard Branson--who kissed me many years ago, but that's a whole other story--to Jacqueline Novogratz, the founder of the incredible Acumen Fund that helps with micro financing around the world, to Gary Vanderchuck, the legendary social-media expert. Kit gave me the honor of being interviewed for his project a few weeks ago when I was in L. A. He just posted clips from our interview together. As you will see from the taping, his questions are terrific in getting things out of people. He asked me things like -What are my daily practices? -How do I find joy/balance? -How do I take care of my health and energy? -What's my diet? -What have I learned about relationships?! -How do I deal with tough times? -How do I manage my time? and then other questions about my various perspectives on life. You will learn the one thing I have next to me at home/work no matter what, what you'd notice if you shadowed me for a day, what I do before every meeting and some tips that really help me never get sick. I hope you enjoy this. Let me know anything you found interesting, surprising, unexpected. And do check out the other amazing interviews he's done .
 
Mary-Louise Parker Has A New Boyfriend Top
TV's hottest mom has a cute new boyfriend. Mary-Louise Parker, 45, has been dating musician Charlie Mars, 35, since early June, sources tell PEOPLE. Parker and the Mississippi-born singer and songwriter were all but inseparable last weekend when the Emmy-nominated Weeds star was in Los Angles to attend the awards.
 
5 Awesome Cases of The Internet Owning The MSM Top
In case you haven't seen the ads framing Cracked.com these past few day, Family Guy starts back up tomorrow. Which is kind of strange when you consider that Fox canceled it almost 10 years ago. It's still on the air because the unwashed masses demanded it. In fact, the little guy has been increasingly making huge media companies his prison-wife thanks to the two most dangerous things in existence: incredible amounts of spare time and knowing how to use the Internet. More on Dan Rather
 
3 Guantanamo Bay Prisoners Transferred To Ireland, Yemen Top
WASHINGTON — With the closing of the Guantanamo Bay prison by a January deadline in doubt, the Justice Department Saturday announced the transfer of three detainees to the governments of Yemen and Ireland. Alla Ali Bin Ali Ahmed, a Yemen native, was returned to his homeland after being imprisoned for seven years. A federal court in May ruled that Ahmed – who was detained in Pakistan in 2002 – could no longer be held at the military detention facility in Cuba and ordered him released. The Yemen Embassy, in a statement released Saturday, said it welcomed Ahmed's release. It also praised President Barack Obama's decision to shutter Guantanamo Bay. The two other detainees, whose names were not disclosed for security reasons, have been sent to Ireland. In July, the Irish government agreed to accept the two Uzbek prisoners, one of at least four European nations that have said they would take detainees. The transfers are part of a larger plan pushed by President Obama since his first days in office to close the detention facility in Cuba by Jan. 22. Administration officials now say that they may not be able to meet that deadline, in part because of the difficulty in finding host countries for those who can be released after their cases are reviewed. Including the transfers announced Saturday, 17 prisoners have been relocated to other countries, a Justice Department spokesman said. But more than 220 detainees are still being held at Guantanamo Bay. The U.S. military prison was created by former President George W. Bush after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks as a landing spot for suspected al-Qaida, Taliban and foreign fighters captured in Afghanistan and elsewhere. ___ On the Net: Department of Justice: http://www.usdoj.gov More on Yemen
 
Dust Storm Video: Dust Storm Turns Sky Black In Broken Hill, Australia (VIDEO) Top
For the second time this week, Sydney, Australia was hit by a huge dust storm Saturday, causing the city to glow red. Reuters reported that the first storm on Wednesday, Sept. 23, carried 23 million tons of dust into the eastern Australian city. While the dust storm photos are stunning, perhaps the most striking images come from video shot by a woman in Broken Hill, Australia, a small, central western mining town about 15 hours from Sydney. Within seconds, the dust storm totally obscures the sunlight, turning the frame pitch black, and worrying the woman behind the camcorder. Agence-France Presse reports that Broken Hill was in "the eye of the storm" on Wednesday. Below are photos from Wednesday's dust storm in Sydney. More on Australia
 
Jacob Heilbrunn: Obama's Shrewd Iran Policy Top
The good news is that President Obama has a brilliant strategy for dealing with Iran. The bad news is that brilliance may not be enough. In a few months he could face the most severe foreign policy crisis a young president has faced since John F. Kennedy stumbled into the Bay of Pigs. Obama has taken several steps in the past few weeks that show he is thinking strategically about how to defang Iran's nuclear threat. For one thing, Obama is trying to bring Russia on board. By announcing that he has no intention of stationing a nuclear defense system in Eastern Europe, Obama removed a significant impediment to smoother relations with Moscow. In return, he needs Moscow's cooperation in confronting Iran. He already has the support of Britain and Germany. Constructing an alliance capable of implementing tough sanctions against Tehran is the kind of multilateral diplomacy that the Bush administration scorned. Obama doesn't. Obama's call for a nuclear-free world is also a big plus, one that, among other things, further helps refurbish America's battered image in Europe. At an election rally in Germany, the head of the liberal party, Guido Westerwelle, announced Obama's call for a nuclear-free world almost as soon as he had made it. Obama's focus on the dangers posed by nuclear weapons further exposes Tehran as an anomalous, retrograde power. The regime is on the wrong side of history. It isn't a progressive power, but a backward one that is pursuing a dangerous course that will further isolate it. Obama, after all, wants to strip the mullahs of their moolah by pushing for punitive sanctions. But if the hardline clerics are intent on obtaining the bomb--as opposed to the knowledge of how to construct one--then sanctions won't be enough. Then Obama will be confronted with an Israeli government determined to attack Iranian nuclear sites. And he'll be urged to do it himself by both liberal hawks and neocons back home. Will Obama be able to carve out some face-saving deal with Iran? Or is he heading into a major crisis? Iraq and Afghanistan may turn out to be sideshows as Obama focuses on the threat from Tehran. But so far, Obama has handled Iran perfectly with a mixture of threats and promises of cooperation.
 

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