Newmark's Door

How you know the Scripps National Spelling Bee has made the big time

Today's championship will be reported by the iconic Erin Andrews.

"Presidential romantics"

Other Americans--not me--expect way too much from our presidents.

The last presidential candidate to talk sense about the office was fictional. In an episode of NBC's "The West Wing," the Republican candidate, who was not the hero, was asked, "How many jobs will you create?" "None," he replied, adding: "Entrepreneurs create jobs. Business creates jobs. The president's job is to get out of the way."

You're so mean

Selected snarks from the LA Times review of what women were wearing at Cannes.

--Julianne Moore got rave reviews for her performance in "Blindness," the festival's opening film. But not for her Christian Lacroix couture gown with crazed feathered ravens perched on her shoulders.

--If only she'd worn clothes like this on "Lipstick Jungle," it might not have flopped so fast.

--Talk about an "X-Files" mystery. Why is Gillian Anderson wearing a wrinkled bedsheet to the "Blindness" opening night party?

--Director Steven Spielberg sticks close to his wife, Kate Capshaw, who wears an unfortunate blond Katie Holmes-like bob and a silvery blue satin gown. Sadly, Kate's film career was done in by "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom."

--Because I know you just can't get enough of Star Jones, here's the final shot of her at Cannes, wearing a blue floral print halter gown and pretending to be a celebrity. 

"Seeking shoppers in Westwood Village"

I spent five years at UCLA so I was a bit sorry to read that Westwood fell on relatively hard times after I left.

But the article says there's prospects of a comeback.

A lot of truth here

"How to Tell You're an Aging Gamer".

End-of-the-week videos

The Bangles, live: "Hero Takes a Fall".

New Welsh sensation, Duffy, live: "Mercy".

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, live: "American Girl".

Sugarland: "All I Want to Do".

We knew this, but it's confirmed

"Bureaucrats have no sense of humor".

Link via Instapundit.

Universal Music goes crazy

"This saga is why Big 5 Music Label executives are among the most hated businessmen in America.  Last June, Universal Music Group sued to have a video clip of a 13-month old toddler dancing to Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy” removed from YouTube. Universal argued that the author – the child’s mother, Stephanie Lenz – violated the copyright of the song, which plays in the background of the video.

"At first YouTube complied, but Lenz argued back, saying that the song was an obvious case of fair use. YouTube agreed and re-posted the song. This is when the story gets fun."

Universal should heed a gentleman quoted by the New York Times: "You subjugate these rebels [pirates] with the tools of free enterprise. Piracy is just another business model, and the pirates will lose and go away when you come up with a better model."

Adding science to literature

College English teacher argues vigorously that "Literary studies should become more like the sciences." 

"I caught my first tube today . . . Sir"

A sequel to Point Break is in the works.

The article says Keanu may not return, but regardless, I'm probably in.