Good Vibrations today, in music news, Nobel news...

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Health care reform, the Taliban, the Afghan war, the daily Nobel update, and so many items popped up on my radar today.  As usual, I visited the NY TIMES site, several others including the LA TIMES, and “Holy Bat $hit!” I see that Beach Boy Brian Wilson is making news.  This one is too big for me to ignore because it is just so off the wall and potentially either AMAZING or possibly a BUST.

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It should not be boring.  Gershwin and Wilson just yells to this aging music listener that it is groundbreaking.  So, we wait.  And hope.  If you loved the Beach Boys this is a very cool bit of news.  And Gershwin was Brian’s first musical memory, and who doesn’t have some Gershwin tunes stored in their head?

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While clicking around the LA TIMES site I found a story that is interesting because it may be too late.  California and particularly Hollywood, has been ignoring the fact that other countries have been “paying” productions to work in their countries.  Hell, other states have nearly stripped California of millions and millions of bucks in film and TV production monies.  Friends tell me that Hollywood is nearly shut down, so if the LA City Council does get more “inviting” to productions, maybe it will come back to life.

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A Nobel a day...makes for a productive US of A, right?  Well, more Nobel news today!  Like I’ve said before, we may not get the Olympic Games, but we are still an f-in giant in research and development.  Join me in being proud, OK?

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If you read far enough, you’ll think to yourself, “The plane! The plane!” and perhaps get a laugh or two. 

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XCon

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Brian Wilson to finish some George Gershwin songs

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Wilson plans to finish and record at least two songs on an album of Gershwin music that could be released next year.

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In a surprise union of two quintessentially American composers from different eras, one the 1960s mastermind of "Good Vibrations," the other the Jazz Age creator of "Rhapsody in Blue," former Beach Boy Brian Wilson has been authorized by the estate of George Gershwin to complete unfinished songs Gershwin left behind when he died in 1937.

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He plans to finish and record at least two such pieces on an album of Gershwin music he hopes to release next year.

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The Gershwin-Wilson project may strike some as an odd coupling: one New York musician famous for sophisticated 1920s and '30s pop songs including " 'S Wonderful" and "Someone to Watch Over Me" as well as such expansive, classically minded compositions as "Rhapsody"; the other the driving force behind Southern California beach culture hits such as "Surfin' U.S.A.," "I Get Around" and "California Girls."

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Read the rest of the WILSON/GERSHWIN story!

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Los Angeles boosts perks to filmmakers

The City Council adopts some incentives and will consider others to try to stem an outflow of TV and film production work.

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Can free parking in Los Angeles help to stem the migration of TV and film production to other cities and states?

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Probably not. But that most coveted of Los Angeles benefits was one of a series of recommendations adopted Wednesday by the L.A. City Council aimed at making it easier for producers to film locally and discouraging them from taking their business elsewhere.

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Among the recommendations are to consider a tax credit for building owners who make their properties available for filming and a refund of sales tax paid by production companies when at least 75% of the filming is done within the city.

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READ the rest of the story from the LA TIMES.

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New jobless claims fall to 521K, lowest since Jan.

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WASHINGTON – The number of newly laid-off workers filing first-time claims for jobless benefits fell to the lowest level since early January, as layoffs eased a bit amid a fledgling economic recovery.

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The fourth drop in new claims in five weeks is a sign the labor market is slowly healing. But employers are reluctant to hire new workers and the unemployment rate is expected to keep climbing well into next year.

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Separately, the nation's retailers saw modest signs of life from consumers in September, resulting in the first sales gain since July 2008 and fueling some hope for the holiday shopping season.

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The Labor Department said Thursday that new claims for unemployment insurance dropped last week to a seasonally adjusted 521,000, better than analysts expected and down from 554,000 the previous week.

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The four-week average, which smooths fluctuations, fell to 539,750, the lowest since Jan. 17. The number of people continuing to claim benefits declined by 72,000 to 6.04 million. Analysts expected continuing claims to rise slightly.

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Read the rest of the jobless story!  CLICK HERE.

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3 win Nobel for mapping atoms in cell's factories

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STOCKHOLM – Two Americans and an Israeli scientist won the 2009 Nobel Prize in chemistry on Wednesday for atom-by-atom mapping of the protein-making factories within cells — a feat that has spurred the development of antibiotics.

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The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, Thomas Steitz and Israeli Ada Yonath's work on ribosomes has been fundamental to the scientific understanding of life. They will split the 10 million (US$1.4 million award).

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Yonath, 70, is the fourth woman to win the Nobel chemistry prize and the first since 1964, when Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin of Britain received the award.

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"I'm really, really happy," Yonath said. "I thought it was wonderful when the discovery came. It was a series of discoveries ... We still don't know every, everything, but we progressed a lot."

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Ribosomes are crucial to life because they produce the proteins that control the chemistry of plants, animals and humans. Working separately, the three laureates used a method called X-ray crystallography to pinpoint the positions of the hundreds of thousands of atoms that make up the ribosome.

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CLICK HERE for the Nobel News of the day.

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David Dawson, from the Queens borough of New York, left, gestures as he asks a question during a training session regarding health care reform given by Organizing for America, Thursday Sept. 24, 2009, in New York. The gathering provided participants with information to dispel common myths surrounding health care reform.

(AP Photo/Tina Fineberg)

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Fired up? The grass-roots health care battle

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NEW YORK – Fired up? Ready to go? You might not know it from the way President Barack Obama's grass-roots supporters have been largely drowned out in the raucous debate over his health care plan.

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Yes, they're behind him, officials say — volunteering in their communities and contacting lawmakers in Congress. But some Obama organizers are calling their forces a "silent majority," embracing Republican terminology of long ago. And if the final legislation doesn't include a government run plan to compete with private insurers, they may be invisible, too.

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While opponents of the health care revamp have largely controlled the image war with rowdy town halls and a huge march on Washington last month, Obama supporters have been mobilizing across the country as well, tapping into the unprecedented network his presidential campaign built last year.

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"We're building a long-term organization with leaders in the community who are trained. It was successful in the election and it will be successful again," says Jeremy Bird, deputy director of Organizing for America.

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CLICK HERE to read the rest of the story.

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Dems let Rockefeller ponder vote

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By Alexander Bolton  

Democrats are tiptoeing around Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) these days.

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Ever since President Barack Obama twice pressed him to support Sen. Max Baucus’s (D-Mont.)  healthcare bill, Rockefeller’s fellow Senate Democrats have avoided the subject.

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They talk to him, but not about the subject that must be foremost in their minds and his — namely, whether he will vote for or against a bill he has publicly excoriated.

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Baucus himself keeps saying Rockefeller will vote for the bill, but hasn’t talked with him. Obama has urged him to, both in person and on the phone, and now the West Virginian’s colleagues seem to be giving him space to let the president’s words sink in.

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Read more – CLICK HERE to read the complete story.

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National Review’s Derbyshire Says Women’s Suffrage Is ‘Bad For Conservatism’ And Therefore ‘Bad For Society’

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Last month, radio host Alan Colmes asked National Review columnist John Derbyshire about a chapter in his new book, called “The Case Against Women’s Suffrage.” After Colmes repeatedly pressed him about his views on womens’ suffrage, Derbyshire admitted that while he thinks women should be allowed to vote, we’d “probably” be a “better country” if they didn’t...

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READ THE FULL STORY.  Click Here.

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Exclusive: Videos show gun-show vendors flouting the law

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Earlier … we [Crooks&Liars] reported on a set of videos being released today by the office of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg that reveal vendors at gun shows selling weapons to people who tell them flat-out that they couldn't pass a background check -- something that is in fact against the law.

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The videos are now available for public viewing. We've provided a couple of them here at C&L, but so see the full set of them -- along with the accompanying report -- visit the NYC.gov website Gun Show Undercover.

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There seems to be some confusion, at least among our readers, whether they're watching something illegal. They are. As the mayor's office explained in its press release:

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Even though private unlicensed sellers are not required to run background checks using the FBI National Instant Criminal Background Check system, it is a federal felony for them to sell guns to people they have reason to believe are prohibited purchasers (such as felons or the mentally ill). In purchases attempted on 30 private sellers, the undercover investigator showed interest in buying a gun by asking about stopping power or by dry-firing the weapon. After agreeing on a price, the undercover would indicate that he probably couldn’t pass a background check. At that point, the seller is required by law to refuse the sale – but only 11 out of 30 sellers did so. Investigators found private dealers who failed these integrity tests at every show, including two sellers who failed at multiple shows. In total, 19 of the 30 private sellers approached failed the integrity test...   (CLICK HERE TO READ IT ALL!)

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Dear Mom, Beck has history of sexist comments

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Recently, Glenn Beck has claimed that his audience has seen an increase in its proportion of women and has promoted the website AsAMom.org -- a "Network of principled mothers, grandmothers, daughters, & guardians of our nation's children dedicated to" the 9 Principles & 12 Values Beck established -- and hosted its members on his Fox News show. However, Beck has a history of outrageous sexist comments including calling then-Sen. Hillary Clinton a "stereotypical bitch," telling a CNN Headline News colleague that she was "looking hot in leather" on the air, and reportedly once calling a rival radio host's wife and ridiculing her on the air for having a miscarriage.  (READ MORE Beck-Bull from MEDIAMATTERS – Click here.)

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Alan Grayson's New Pitch: 'The Invention of Truth-Telling'

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Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) has rolled out a funny picture in a campaign fundraising e-mail, seemingly made for viral campaign tactics -- that his presence in Washington is "The Invention of Truth-Telling."

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The poster is a takeoff on the new movie The Invention of Lying set in an alternate reality where people only tell the truth, and one man discovered how to lie and uses it for his personal benefit. Grayson, then, would view himself as living in a world where people only lie, and he is the one man who has discovered honesty -- and yes, he is using it for his personal benefit.     (READ TALKING POINTS MEMO for more.)

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Sean Hannity, Michael Moore Debate Mortgage Fraud

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During an interview with Sean Hannity, Michael Moore laments the mortgage fraud that's been caused by banks and lenders, and suggesting Hannity is blaming victims of the mortgage crisis for not knowing any better, Moore says it's "like asking a woman how short was your shirt after you've been raped."  More at RealClearPolitics.

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CLICK HERE for the YouTube video.

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Has Gay Television Finally Grown Up?

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***Warning*** This article reveals the identity of the gay character on SyFy's upcoming series Caprica. 

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The portrayal of gay male characters on scripted television this fall is so good that AfterElton.com no longer has anything to complain about.

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Just kidding!

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I suspect there will always be something to get our writers and readers at least a little worked up. (Brothers & Sisters alone will keep us in business for at least another three years!)

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And – ahem! – part of what we do is praise great gay characterizations, not just criticize bad ones.

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If that’s the case, we’ve got our work cut out for us this fall, because gay TV characters are suddenly richer and more diverse than ever before.

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Don’t believe me?

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Right now, we’re watching the unfolding of a gay love triangle on the ABC soap opera One Life to Live, Oliver looking on jealously as his college ex, Kyle, moves on to date a guy named Nick.

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READ THE FULL STORY from AfterElton.com.

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Media Cos Could Benefit More From Break-Ups Than Mergers

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NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Media companies should pursue break-ups, where they've had more success, than marriages, given the industry's poor track record on big deals.

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That's the opinion of some long-time industry observers as talk of media consolidation intensifies following Walt Disney Co.'s (DIS) agreement in August to buy Marvel Entertainment Inc. (MVL) for $4 billion, and reports of talks between Comcast Corp. (CMCSA) and General Electric Co. (GE) for NBC Universal.

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Big media companies may be tempted to get even bigger as they face revenue and audience declines amid the rise of digital media. High cash piles, low valuations and an easier credit market make deals possible, but heartbroken shareholders are less willing to commit.

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"There will be other deals, but don't look for the swashbuckling era of the 1990s to come back to the media industry anytime soon," said Harold Vogel, who was a senior entertainment industry analyst for Merrill Lynch for more than 17 years and now runs Vogel Capital Management.

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"The mergers and acquisitions that defined this business for so long haven't proven to be terribly productive, and there's a lot of extra caution about it now," Vogel added.

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Since news of Comcast's potential deal for NBCU emerged last week, shares of the nation's largest cable provider have shed almost 11% amid a burst of skepticism from analysts and investors.

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"Comcast does not need content since it has excellent growth prospects with other initiatives such as digital voice, its new commercial offering and high-speed Internet," Gimme Credit analyst David Novosel said.

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READ THE FUL STORY at the Wall Street Journal.  CLICK HERE.

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Sony, Burnett to visit 'Fantasy Island'

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Duo to turn classic show into reality series

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Smiles, everyone, smiles: Sony Pictures TV and Mark Burnett are partnering to turn “Fantasy Island” into a reality series.

Sony and Burnett announced the show Monday at the Mipcom confab in Cannes.

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The producers are in talks now with several different resorts in locales across the globe in order to find a setting for the show. Selection of the home base for the new “Fantasy Island” will depend on which tie-in deal can ultimately be struck.

 

The original, iconic late 1970s/early ‘80s series starred Ricardo Montalban as the mystical Mr. Roarke -- who made island visitors’ dreams come true. The new reality version will follow 12 contestants as they compete to become the real-life Mr. or Ms. Roarke.

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To do so, the players will be tasked with making others’ dreams come true as guests arrive on a weekly basis. As on the fictional “Fantasy Island,” the guests will come to the show with emotion-driven fantasies -- such as a dream wedding or a chance at reuniting with a lost love.

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READ MORE – De plane!  De plane! – CLICK HERE.

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NBC Pressures Leno to Have Affair

Network Seeks Scandal for Ratings-starved Host

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With its primetime and late night lineups in free fall, NBC is reportedly putting pressure on talk show host Jay Leno to have a scandalous affair, a network source confirmed today.

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"[NBC chairman] Jeff Zucker is adamant about this," one network source said.  "He wants Jay to be up to his neck in sexual monkey business by sweeps."

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READ the full story at BOROWITZ REPORT. Click here.

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The Hannity Gallery

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Is OPEN for FUN.

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Ain’t These Intranets Such Fun?

 

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