#44 A Fantastic Four film exists that is so terrible it will never reach a screen. In 1992 the production company Constantin Film was in danger of losing the film rights to the Fantastic Four unless it started production on the movie by the end of the year. Lacking the $40 million it needed to make a full-budget film, it turned to low-budget movie ( Read more... )

From The Times Online:

The President of Honduras was ousted in a military coup today when troops arrested him in his pyjamas and sent him into exile in neighbouring Costa Rica ( Read more... )

The Times Online:  Burma's junta leader has agreed to allow access to all foreign aid workers to help with the relief operation after Cyclone Nargis, UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon has said.
Mr Ban made the announcement after more than two hours of talks with Senior General Than Shwe, the reclusive leader of the country’s military regime, whose ( Read more... )

The Times estimates the death toll at 50,000 and millions made homeless. The Telegraph has disturbing news that the Junta executed prisoners after the cyclone hit. The Guardian reports Bush has pledged $3 million to Burma, and asks the Burmese authorities to allow foreign aid in. The LA Times reports on the desperate situation within the country ( Read more... )

From The Times Online: I would like to raise a toast this week to Barney, a blue and gold parrot at a wildlife sanctuary in Nuneaton, who during an important civic visit told the local mayoress to “f*** off”. Not content with mortifying his keepers with merely one outburst, he then turned to two police officers and a vicar and added: “You can f ( Read more... )

I like shopping just fine, but X Almighty... I do not want to repeat today's experience, EVER. Going through as many shops as it takes to snag a bargain may be a fantastic sport for some, but it just makes me grumpy. And because it's going into the hotter part of Spring, the long-sleeved dress shirts were nowhere to be seen. Instead, the fancier ( Read more... )

From The Times Online: Book piracy on the internet will ultimately drive authors to stop writing unless radical methods are devised to compensate them for lost sales. This is the bleak forecast of the Society of Authors, which represents more than 8,500 professional writers in the UK and believes that the havoc caused to the music business by ( Read more... )

In case you've missed it, there were several rather good pieces in the opinion section of the Los Angeles Times:

MODERN SLAVERY
Slavery's Staying Power - E. Benjamin Skinner

HOMELESSNESS AND MEDICINE
Street Medicine's Hard Choices - Susan Partovi

COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS AND JOURNALISM
Read It And Weep - Dennis McDougal

TIBET AND CHINA (Olympics)
Volcano In ( Read more... )