#5 NYT #3
Dangling from 370 helium-filled balloons
PICTURE OF THE DAY
Aviator Jonathan Trappe set off on a world first crossing of the Atlantic Ocean dangling from 370 helium-filled balloons, but had to abort after 12 hours. Five others have died making similar attempts.
Ray Dolby Gone
from The San Francisco Chronicle
Ray Dolby, pioneering sound engineer, dies at 80
Sam Whiting
Ray Dolby, the inventor who took the hiss out of the soundtrack of our lives, died Thursday at his home in San Francisco. He was 80 and had been living with Alzheimer’s disease, compounded by a diagnosis of leukemia in July.
The name Dolby first became common decades ago when the sound wizard developed a system for eliminating the static noise on cassette tapes used for copying music from vinyl albums. The “Dolby” button on a cassette deck was a requirement for every college stereo. His influence also extended to film, where he helped bring “Star Wars” to life and created an entire industry devoted to the sound experience.
Now the imprint “Dolby” or “In Dolby” – or most recently “Dolby Atmos” – on a movie screen is a guarantee of sound quality known worldwide, and Dolby Laboratories, the San Francisco company he founded, has won just about every award there is, including the Oscar, the Emmy and the Grammy. The Dolby Theatre, the Hollywood home of the Academy Awards, is named for his company.
Y.M.C.A. Returned to Rightful Owner
Village People Singer Regains ‘Y.M.C.A.’ Right After Landmark Legal Fight
Golden years may get more golden for songwriters with hit records
The retirement outlook for musicians and songwriters just got a whole lot better. In 1978, a legal change allowed songwriters to take their share of a song’s copyright back from labels and publishers after 35 years. Well, 2013 was the first year the provision went into effect. And on September 13, the former lead singer of the Village People will become what’s thought to be the first hit artist to invoke so-called “termination rights.”
Victor Willis told the New York Times he’s not sure yet how he’ll try to capitalize on his newfound control over 33 songs, including “Y.M.C.A.” and “In the Navy.” But he noted that he’s considering blocking the Village People from performing his songs in the United States. The disco group still tours, though mostly without its early members. “I learned over the years that there are some awesome powers associated with copyright ownership,” Willis told theTimes. “You can stop somebody from performing your music if you want to, and I might object to some usages.”
Willis, who wore a police costume in the Village People’s prime, actually won his court case in May 2012, when a federal court judge dismissed a lawsuit filed against him by two music publishing companies. The publishers, Scorpio Music and Can’t Stop Production, had argued that Willis couldn’t reclaim his share of the songs without the approval of everybody else who co-wrote them. U.S. District Court Judge Barry Moskowitz in California disagreed.
The publishers also originally contended that Willis couldn’t use his termination rights because the songs were “works for hire” — essentially, because he was just an employee. The court’s decision didn’t rule on that argument, because the publishers’ lawyers eventually dropped it. Still, as the Times suggests, if publishers didn’t feel they could make a successful “work for hire” argument with the Village People, they’re going to have an even tougher time with more autonomous artists such as Bruce Springsteen and Parliament-Funkadelic.
BABOOM
Kim Dotcom Teases New Music Service… BABOOM
Earlier this week Kim Dotcom resigned as Mega director to focus on other projects, including his upcoming music service. TorrentFreak can now confirm that the new service will be called Baboom. While the official release is still a few months away Dotcom was kind enough to share an early teaser with us. “Artists never had more freedom, transparency and control,” he says.
December 2011, a month before the criminal proceeding against Megaupload became public, Kim Dotcom first revealed his plans to launch a new service to transform the music business.
At the time the project was called Megabox and the similarly named .com domain was seized by the U.S. Government. However, despite all the legal troubles, Dotcom continued development on the music platform.
It’s currently being prepared for a public launch, albeit under a different brand. Dotcom had decided initially decided to keep the new name a secret for a while, but after he resigned from Mega earlier this week there were several signs suggesting that it could be “Baboom.”
Faux Van Gogh Made Real
Vincent Van Gogh painting Sunset at Montmajour discovered in attic unveiled in Amsterdam
A Vincent Van Gogh painting that was discovered in a Norwegian attic has been unveiled in Amsterdam in what is the first discovery of a full-sized canvas by the Dutch master since 1928.
By Barney Henderson, and agencies
Sunset at Montmajour, a landscape of trees and sky in the south of France in Van Gogh’s familiar thick brush strokes was painted in 1888 but has been lying in the attic of a Norwegian collector who bought the painting in 1908 but dismissed it as a fake.
The painting was unveiled at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam on Monday, with Axel Rueger. the director, describing it as a “once in a lifetime experience”.
The painting was authenticated based on comparisons with Van Gogh’s techniques and a letter he wrote in which he described the painting.
It can be dated to the exact day it was painted because Vincent described it in a letter to his brother, Theo, and said he painted it the previous day – July 4, 1888.
He said the painting was done “on a stony heath where small twisted oaks grow”.
Researcher Teio Meedendorp said he and other researchers “have found answers to all the key questions, which is remarkable for a painting that has been lost for more than 100 years”.
The painting was listed among Theo van Gogh’s collection as number 180, and that number can still be seen on the back of the canvas. The work was sold in 1901.
Car Hackers Cool
from The San Jose Mercury News
Car hackers slam on brakes at freeway speeds
By Tom Krisher/Associated Press
DETROIT — As cars become more like PCs on wheels, what’s to stop a hacker from taking over yours?
In recent demonstrations, hackers have shown they can slam a car’s brakes at freeway speeds, jerk the steering wheel and even shut down the engine — all from their laptop computers.
The hackers are publicizing their work to reveal vulnerabilities present in a growing number of car computers. All cars and trucks contain 20 to 70 computers. They control everything from the brakes to acceleration to the windows, and are connected to an internal network. A few hackers have recently managed to find their way into these intricate networks.
In one case, a pair of hackers manipulated two cars by plugging a laptop into a port beneath the dashboard where mechanics connect their computers to search for problems. Scarier yet, another group took control of a car’s computers through cellular telephone and Bluetooth connections, the compact disc player and even the tire pressure monitoring system.
Uncle Funny Gone
Murray Gershenz, Record Store Owner and Character Actor, Dies at 91
Damian Dovarganes/Associated Press
For more than 50 years, Murray Gershenz ran a used record store in Los Angeles that was much more than a store. It was an international archive of more than 300,000 records that he loved, or that he hoped one day to hear and was convinced that someone else out there did, too.
“He told me, ‘If I could listen to every one of these records I would,’ ” his son Irving said.
But some people in Los Angeles take day jobs to finance secret dreams, and Music Man Murray, as both he and his store were called, was one of them. In 1938, when he was 16 and living in New York, he helped form the Bronx Playgrounds Operetta Club. They sang at the 1939 World’s Fair. When he was nearly 80, he started taking comedy classes in Los Angeles.
His much younger classmates wondered how he made it all look so easy. The dry delivery. The exasperated face. One evening a casting director spotted him, and soon enough there he was on “Will & Grace,” playing a character named Uncle Funny.
FALL OF FIVE Dominance
‘Fall of Five’ Dominates August
The fourth novel in the I am Number Four series by Pittacus Lore (a pseudonym for James Frey),The Fall of Five, dominated social media chatter in August, according to the social media tracking service CoverCake.
Speaking of The Fall of Five, which was published by HarperCollins on Aug. 27, Jeff Costello, v-p of CoverCake, said, “This book just kept picking up momentum all month as the release date approached. It had more than twice as many comments as its nearest competitor in the last week of the month.”
Costello also noticed a large percentage of people who referenced both The Fall of Five and Rick Riordan’s upcoming book, House of Hades, in the same comment. “We’ve never seen that happen before with two different authors and book series,” he added.
Kenneth Cole Cool #Footwear
‘Boots on the ground, let’s not forget sandals, pumps and loafers’: Designer Kenneth Cole faces backlash for tweeting ‘sick’ joke about US troops in Syria
Kenneth Cole has been accused of ‘mocking war to sell fashion’ after the designer posted a tweet making light of the U.S. government’s decision to take military action in Syria.
‘”Boots on the ground” or not, let’s not forget about sandals, pumps and loafers. #Footwear,’ the designer tweeted this afternoon.
The phrase ‘boots on the ground’ is used by President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry in regards to the controversial deployment of American troops on Syrian soil.
Hundreds of Twitter users angered by the designer’s statement are taking are no-holds-barred approach with their recriminations, labeling the tweet ‘awful’ and ‘insensitive’.
#5 WSJ #1
WALL STREET JOURNAL BEST-SELLERS
By The Associated Press
FICTION
1. “The Fall of Five” by Pittacus Lore (HarperCollins)
2. “The Cuckoo’s Calling” by Robert Galbraith (J.K. Rowling)
3. “How the Light Gets In” by Louise Penny (Minotaur Books)
4. “Mistress” by James Patterson, David Ellis (Little, Brown)
5. “Inferno” by Dan Brown (Doubleday)
6. “The Fault in Our Stars” by John Green (Dutton Books)
7. “Wonder” by R.J. Palacio (Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers)
8. “And the Mountain Echoed” by Khaled Hosseini (Riverhead)
9. “The Surprise Attack of Jabba the Puppett” by Tom Angleberger (Amulet Books)
10. “Insurgent” by Veronica Roth (Katherine Tegen Books)
Secret Fore-Edges
Secret Fore-Edge Paintings Revealed in Early 19th Century Books at the University of Iowa
Summer by Robert Mudie / Special Collections & University Archives at the University of Iowa
A few days ago Colleen Theisen who helps with outreach and instruction at the Special Collections & University Archives at the University of Iowa shared an amazing gif she made that demonstrates something called fore-edge painting on the edge of a 1837 book called Autumn by Robert Mudie. Fore-edge painting, which is believed to date back as early as the 1650s, is a way of hiding a painting on the edge of a book so that it can only be seen when the pages are fanned out. There are even books that have double fore-edge paintings, where a different image can be seen by flipping the book over and fanning the pages in the opposite direction.
A Typical Day In The Life of Pittacus Lore
Sir David Frost Gone
Veteran broadcaster David Frost dies
LONDON – David Frost may be best remembered for his post-Watergate interviews with former President Richard Nixon, but the veteran British broadcaster was equally at ease as a satirist, game show host and serious political journalist.
In a television career that spanned half a century across both sides of the Atlantic, Frost interviewed a long list of the world’s most powerful and famous, including virtually every British prime minister and U.S. president of his time. He also was a gifted entertainer, a born TV host, and his amiable and charming personality was often described as the key to his success as interviewer.
Edmund de Waal @ Gagosian
Poetry Written in Porcelain
By CAROL VOGEL
Andrew Testa for The New York Times
LONDON — In England, Edmund de Waal is a celebrated potter, known for installations of impeccably made vessels in soft shades of celadon or white, many of them permanently displayed in places like the Victoria and Albert Museum here. But in the United States Mr. de Waal is known primarily as a writer whose 2010 family memoir “The Hare With Amber Eyes” became a surprise best seller. Despite countless rejections from publishers, it ended up selling more than 1.5 million copies, has been translated into 26 languages and was recently optioned for a movie.
Chronicling the journey of 264 Japanese netsuke — wood and ivory carvings of animals, plants and people, none larger than the palm of a hand — that Mr. de Waal inherited from his great-uncle Iggie, “The Hare With Amber Eyes” is a sweeping story that begins in Paris in 1871 and progresses through five generations of the Ephrussi family, whose collection of netsuke made its way to Vienna, where it was thought to have been confiscated by the Nazis, and decades later ended up in London. “My making and my writing is one thing,” Mr. de Waal explained, adding, “Pots turn into words, and words turn into pots.”
Like the netsuke, Mr. de Waal’s own work is three-dimensional, tactile and painstakingly fashioned, but in his own Minimalist and modern language. He produces objects like wafer-thin cylinders, plates and pitchers, carefully arranged to tell a story. While collectors like the cosmetics heir Ronald S. Lauder and Sotheby’s vice chairman Charles Moffett have purchased examples of Mr. de Waal’s porcelain, there has never been an exhibition of his work in the United States. But after the dealer Larry Gagosian read the memoir, he was curious to see Mr. de Waal’s art. “They’re really poetic installations,” Mr. Gagosian said of his decision to present a major show of Mr. de Waal’s porcelain at his Madison Avenue gallery, opening on Sept. 12.
We’re All Martians Now
Life On Earth Started On Mars, Say Scientists
There is growing evidence we are really Martians and that “life started on Mars and came to Earth on a rock”.
Images from NASA’s Curiosity rover on Mars
Life on Earth may have started millions of miles away on Mars, according to scientists.
An element believed to be crucial to the origin of life would only have been available on the surface of the Red Planet.
These “seeds” of life probably arrived on Earth in meteorites blasted off Mars by impacts or volcanic eruptions, Geochemist Professor Steven Benner claims.
Prof Benner, from The Westheimer Institute for Science and Technology in the US, said: “The evidence seems to be building that we are actually all Martians; that life started on Mars and came to Earth on a rock.”
Chimp The Artist
US chimp Brent wins Humane Society art competition
Brent, 37, created a delicate, vibrantly coloured work featuring daubs of violet, blue and yellow on paper.
The entries were judged by noted primate researcher and conservationist, Jane Goodall.
The prize in the contest, sponsored by the Humane Society of the US will benefit Chimp Haven, Brent’s sanctuary in the US state of Louisiana.
Cheetah and Ripley won second and third prizes in the competition that garnered 27,000 votes.
Brent is a retired laboratory animal, and the Humane Society says he is protective of an elder companion, named Grandma, and “loves to laugh and play”.
Pickled People-meter
The Pickle Index
IMAGE: Two heads of whole zha cai with chilli paste; photograph by Sjschen via Wikipedia.
Chinese officials, charged with moving 250 million rural farmers into cities over the next decade under the central government’s sweeping “National Plan for Promoting Healthy Urbanization (2011-20),” have developed a “pickle index” for measuring the movement of migrant workers.
According to the South China Morning Post, the country’s National Development and Reform Commission has found that sales of zha cai, a pickled mustard tuber, provide a better guide to population flows than often unreliable provincial statistical data. As an unnamed planner explained to the Economic Observer:
Under normal circumstances, urban consumption levels of convenience foods such as instant noodles and pickled mustard is essentially constant. Therefore, we can assume that volume changes are mainly caused by a city’s floating population.
Citi Bikes Encouraging Prublic Dunkeness
Riding Away From a Bar Crawl With Citi Bikes
By SHEILA MARIKAR
A couple of cocktails at the Wythe Hotel led to beers at Mable’s Smokehouse and a nightcap at Post Office, a dive-like whiskey bar. After four or five drinks, they undocked a pair of blue bikes and rode home over the Williamsburg Bridge.
As usual, Shawn sped ahead, and as they ascended over the East River, he turned around to see where his girlfriend was. That’s when he lost his balance, kicked his foot into a bridge railing and broke his toe.
“I really wasn’t that drunk,” said Shawn, 30, who uses the bike-share program about 20 times a week. (Shawn, like many of the people interviewed, asked that his full name not be used; drinking and cycling is not really something to toot your bike horn about.) “I’ve never blackout Citi Biked.”
John Lennon To Be Cloned From Rotted Tooth
Dentist Who Bought John Lennon’s Molar at Auction Wants to Use the Tooth to Clone the Late Singer
BY NICK PETRILLO
It looks like the plot has thickened in the never-ending tale of John Lennon’s decayed tooth. In an interview with The Sun, Canadian dentist Michael Zuk announced his intentions to extract and sequence the late Beatle’s DNA from his molar, a tooth that has become the most, erm, sought-after dental relic in rock music.
You may recall a peculiar enough story from a couple years ago, in which the dentist and avid tooth collector paid over $30,000 at auction for Lennon’s molar. The fabled tooth had been passed along for decades prior to Mr. Zuk’s purchase, first as a memento in the hands of Lennon’s housekeeper and later as an artifact resigned to the dreary existence of making publicity appearances at charity events. The tooth is currently in the possession of Kirsten Zuk, the dentist’s wife, who displays it alongside her art projects to raise awareness for cleft-palate surgery.
Dr. Zuk has even gone so far as to issue a press release on the matter, in which he declares that his ambitious dream might just be one of the “best decisions of his life.” More information on Dr. Zuk’s noble pursuit can be found on his new website, the eloquently titled and SEO-friendly johnlennontooth.com.
America’s bespectacled caricature of male chauvinism and The Mob.
The Match Maker
Bobby Riggs, The Mafia and The Battle of the Sexes
by Don Van Natta Jr.
Carlos Marcello, Santo Trafficante Jr. and Frank Ragano, left to right, were among a group of mobsters and attorneys who dined at La Stella Restaurant in New York after appearing before a grand jury in the 1970s. Paul Demaria/NY Daily News/Getty Images
“HELLO AGAIN EVERYONE, I’m Howard Cosell. We’re delighted to be able to bring you this very, very quaint, unique event.”
On Thursday night, Sept. 20, 1973, 50 million Americans, fatigued by Vietnam and Watergate, tuned in to see whether a woman could defeat a man on a tennis court. Dubbed “The Battle of the Sexes,” the match pitted Billie Jean King, the 29-year-old champion of that summer’s Wimbledon and a crusader for the women’s liberation movement, against Bobby Riggs, the 55-year-old gambler, hustler and long-ago tennis champ who had willingly become America’s bespectacled caricature of male chauvinism.
Before 30,472 at the Houston Astrodome, still the largest crowd to watch tennis in the United States, the spectacle felt like a cross between a heavyweight championship bout and an old-time tent revival. Flanked by young women, Riggs, in a canary yellow Sugar Daddy warm-up jacket, was imperiously carted into the Astrodome aboard a gilded rickshaw. Not to be outdone, King, wearing a blue-and-white sequined tennis dress, sat like Cleopatra in a chariot delivered courtside by bare-chested, muscle-ripped young men. Moments before the first serve, King presented Riggs with a squealing, squirming piglet. “Look at that male chauvinist pig,” Cosell told viewers. “That symbolizes what Bobby Riggs is holding up. …”
TRAILER: THE FALL OF FIVE
See the trailer for the next ‘I Am Number Four Novel’, ‘The Fall of Five’ — EXCLUSIVE
By Stephan Lee
The countdown is ending … The Fall of Five is coming on Tuesday, and Pittacus Lore has beamed over a new trailer for fans. It’s told from the point of view of Sam’s father Malcolm, and recaps the last three novels and gives a few clues as to what’s going to happen in The Fall of Five. See it below:
In the newest installment, the Garde have always believed in strength in numbers, but after facing off with Mogadorian ruler Setrákus Ra, they realize they are hopelessly outgunned. So it’s back to Nine’s penthouse to perfect their legacies and emerge stronger than ever before. And when they find a crop circle in the shape of a Loric symbol, they think that might have found Number Five… unless it’s a trap.
STAR WARS DR. STRANGELOVE Cinematographer Gilbert Taylor Gone
‘Star Wars’ cinematographer Gilbert Taylor dies at 99
“Star Wars” cinematographer Gilbert Taylor died Friday at the age of 99, leaving behind a rich cinematic legacy.
Over the course of an impressive, decades-long career, Taylor amassed a lengthy résumé that included a number of landmark films, including Roman Polanski’s “Repulsion,” Stanley Kubrick’s “Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb” and Alfred Hitchcock’s “Frenzy.”
He also served as the cinematographer on the Beatles’ film “A Hard Day’s Night,” Richard Donner’s horror film “The Omen” and 1979′s “Dracula” starring Frank Langella and Laurence Olivier, in addition to working with George Lucas on the original “Star Wars” film.
– Gina McIntyre
Too Many Friends
Queen’s Mute Swan Barbecued In Act Of Treason
Queen’s swan found barbecued near Windsor Castle riverbank
WARNING: Graphic image. The bird was butchered and cooked before its remains were dumped close to the river
By Barrie White
One of the Queen’s swans has been found killed and barbecued on the riverbank near to Windsor Castle.
The cooked swan’s carcass was dumped near Baths Water, and was discovered by Wendy Hermon, 46, a volunteer for charity Swan Lifeline, which cares for sick and injured birds.
She described the scene as ‘sickening’, and admitted she would have been distraught if her young son was with her when she made the grisly discovery after being called out by a council warden last Sunday.
“We could see that whoever did this had taken the breast out.
“It was done neatly, presumably to get at the meat. We have no idea how it was killed, it could have been shot or beaten.”
It is considered an offence to kill a wild mute swan as it is believed they are the property of the Crown, though centuries ago, their meat was considered a delicacy.
The birds are now protected under under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and killing or injuring a swan used to be classed as treason under a law dating back to the 12th century.
Elmore Leonard Gone
Elmore Leonard Dies at 87
by Hilary Lewis, Andy Lewis, Duane Byrge
Elmore Leonard, considered by many to be the greatest crime writer of modern times, has died due to complications of a stroke. He was 87.
He wrote 45 novels, many of which were adapted for movies or TV over the years.
His most recent TV hit was the FX series Justified, starring Timothy Olyphant as Raylan Givens, which was based on his short story “Fire in the Hole.”
Films based on his work included Hombre, 52 Pick-Up, Out of Sight, Get Shorty and Jackie Brown.
The film version of Leonard’s The Switch, starring Jennifer Aniston, Mos Def, Tim Robbins and Isla Fisher, will premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September. At the time of his death, he was at work on another novel, which was set in the world of competitive bull riding.
Hic Sunt Dracones.
Oldest globe to depict the New World may have been discovered
By Meeri Kim
An Austrian collector has found what may be the oldest globe, dated 1504, to depict the New World, engraved with immaculate detail on two conjoined halves of ostrich eggs.
The globe, about the size of a grapefruit, is labeled in Latin and includes what were considered exotic territories such as Japan, Brazil and Arabia. North America is depicted as a group of scattered islands. The globe’s lone sentence, above the coast of Southeast Asia, is “Hic Sunt Dracones.”
“ ‘Here be dragons,’ a very interesting sentence,” said Thomas Sander, editor of the Portolan, the journal of the Washington Map Society. The journal published a comprehensive analysis of the globe Monday by collector Stefaan Missinne. “In early maps, you would see images of sea monsters; it was a way to say there’s bad stuff out there.”
News Corp. Peddling In VICE
Fox Paid $70M For 5% Stake In Vice Media
By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Financial Editor
The deal just came to light although it was made before the end of June when News Corp split into separate entertainment and publishing companies. But it gives 21st Century Fox a foothold in a trendy digital media, TV, and publishing company that has captured the imaginations and financial support of former MTV chief Tom Freston, WME’s Ari Emanuel, WPP, and The Raine Group as well as comedian Bill Maher. Vice plans to use the cash and connections with Fox to expand overseas, especially India. “We get to make all the content we want? With the best platforms in the world? Grow our brand exponentially? Become the next global media brand? And all the while own the vast majority of the company and vote 95% of the board? Where-do-we-fucking-sign?!” Vice founder and CEO Shane Smith says.
Sharks Make Movies Better
New Petzval
A Legendary 19th Century Lens. Reinvented For Use With All Nikon F & Canon EF Mount Analog & Digital SLR Cameras.
In the 19th Century, the vast majority of photos were shot with the extremely popular Petzval lens. The lens was invented by Joseph Petzval in Vienna in 1840 and had a huge impact on the development of photography. Photos shot with a Petzval lens are immediately recognizable for their sharpness and crispness, strong color saturation, wonderful swirly bokeh effect, artful vignettes and narrow depth of field. The totally distinctive look of Petzval photos is all about the fantastic lens design that gives you the satisfaction of the instant optic experience that goes far beyond using photo editing software and filters.
For this Kickstarter project, we are reinventing the Petzval Lens for 21st century photographers and videographers. It doesn’t matter whether you shoot analog or digital; the brand new Lomography Petzval Portrait Lens is designed to work withCanon EF and Nikon F mount cameras. So, for the first time, you can easily get the fantastic Petzval photographic look with 35mm analog cameras and DSLR cameras too. This will bring with it a whole new world of possibilities; from shooting Petzval photos with your 35mm SLR or DSLR, to creating amazing DSLR movies with the lens!