Posted: 26 Apr 2010 09:17 AM PDT

Maybe a little pleasure this week in the life of Michael Douglas. Yes terday afternoon beginning 3:30, his two children with Catherine Zeta-Jones had a party and in vited 30 kids over. It was at the LQ. Daughter Carys' birthday was last week. She's now 7. With Catherine doing a matinee of "A Little Night Music," the nanny was in charge and the mommy had begged the party planner to please extend the time frame. The party went until 7 p.m.

Excuse me, I mean, excuse me -- but I was the first -- the very first -- to tell you a vacancy was due to come due on the Supreme Court. Do not tell me you can't remember. Go back and look in the clips. I now tell you -- and that frazzled gaggle in Washington who sit around mostly monitoring one another -- that yet another vacancy looms. It will come front and center next year.

I have something else to tell you. Appeals Court Judge Merrick Garland is the name floating around as today's current leading nominee for the next associate justice. He pleasures the Obama appetite. He's from Harvard. He's from Chicago. This is to tell you -- and His Honor -- he ain't getting it. Not that I think he isn't. I know he isn't.

I AM Gummered out. I know Meryl Streep's married name is Gummer. I know she has a daughter who's been in movies and plays. So I'm asked, Would I be interested in talking with Miss Gummer, who's just made the movie 'Meskada' that just showed at Tribeca?

I said, Sure. I've met Mamie. I know Mamie.

Not Mamie. This one's Grace.

"I'm the second one. The truth is," said Grace when we got to talk, "Mamie and I look alike. In competition, we're each other's biggest fans. And love one another no matter which way it goes.

"I never took an acting class. I went to Vassar, then actually worked in fashion. But, for now, I'm still on my sister's Web page."

Yeah, OK, I got it, so, this movie . . .

"It's a murder drama. We filmed in the Catskills upstate. I play the murderer's girlfriend, and I don't know if he's really done what he's done.

"I really only know right now I'm very happy in my life. My parents live in the East, and I used to live home, but now I live in LA because I'm going to be in a teen dramedy called 'Gigantic.' Nickleodeon will give us the go date in July. And I'm auditioning for a role at the Mark Taper Playhouse in LA for their revival of 'The Lieutenant of Inishmore.' So I'm making a living. I'm working.

"And I've met a great guy. And he makes me happy. And I'm in love."

For a kid who's a hot 19 and already did a scene in something which I forget but was so explicit and exotic it showed everything but her passport, she's not doing badly.

TAKASHIMAYA to close its doors sooner than you can say sayonara . . . Robin Bronk, executive director of the Creative Coalition since 1998, was named its CEO. She has personally grown this organization, now the premiere nonprofit, nonpartisan public advocacy program of the arts community, to where, on Thursday, at the Library of Congress it hosts the House, Senate and celebrities in presenting "Art and Soul: A Celebration of the American Spirit" . . . FYI: I mentioned recently what a jerk, a dope, a zero one of those vacuumheads now running for gov is. Know what a jerk, a dope, a zero he is? He just wrote me giving me all his personal numbers "so we can always be in touch." To say what? "You're an ass"? Makes you want to re-elect Paterson.

Last year something named Susan Friedman, some hyped-up, hopped-up blonde, wouldn't sit near me at an event. I didn't even know who this was, although I stared straight at her while she flounced around wanting her seat changed. "The New York Post always wants to write about me. Everyone always wants to write about me," she kept bleating. I knew I didn't want to write about her because I didn't even know who she is.

Or was.

I now know. She's the wife of the No. 2 man at Goldman Sachs, Richard Friedman.

What a difference a year makes.

This homeless guy lives in an Upper East Side shelter. I know this dude. Always hustling his same corner. Once, when residents in the area saw another panhandler in his usual place, they were told, "He's vacationing in Florida. Meanwhile. he rented me his spot."

One couple threw him 10 grand at Christmas. He has an account in a bank where he cashes his disability and Social Security checks. "I'm told the bank is solvent," he says. "And my money's in a vault."

Asked why he doesn't do something constructive, he says: "I am. I'm saving for my retirement."

Last Friday, 4 p.m., he said: "I just got out here. I'm late. I partied last night in the Meatpacking District. On the sidewalk drinking beer outside a hot club where Puffy and Jay Z go. The money is big there. A good night when the celebs are out, I can collect 1,500 bills in three hours."

Only in New York, kids, only in New York.

Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Family fun: Studying Beethoven - Tulsa World

Posted: 26 Apr 2010 05:00 AM PDT

Two win statewide contest

Two fifth-grade students at Tulsa's Grimes Elementary School were named winners in a statewide contest centered on the life and music of Ludwig van Beethoven.

Charley Lanzieri and Grace Rountree took the top honors from the more than 50 entries. Lanzieri and Rountree, along with their teacher Janet Henderson, won tickets for the Saturday concert by the Tulsa Symphony Orchestra.

Students studied the life and music of Beethoven, then were asked to write a letter — either to Beethoven or by Beethoven — that would demonstrate what they had learned about the man who composed the "Eroica" Symphony and the "Emperor" Concerto for piano.

Winners in various categories were selected by a panel of judges that include members of the Tulsa Symphony.

Project partners included Oklahoma A+ Schools, Keeping Score Oklahoma, Oklahoma City Philharmonic, Tulsa Symphony Orchestra, KCSC Radio, and KWTU Radio.

Keeping Score Oklahoma is part of an national education program created around the San Francisco Symphony's "Keeping Score" multimedia project, using TV shows, Web sites and educational initiatives to help deepen people's appreciation and enjoyment of great music.

It is a program that fits into the philosophy of Oklahoma A+ Schools, a statewide network of elementary and secondary schools that works to integrate the arts and creativity into all aspects of its curriculum.

The winners' knowledge of Beethoven, however, won't be of much

use when they attend the Tulsa Symphony's concert Saturday. That performance will be devoted to music by Latin American and Spanish composers.

Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Family fun: Going places - Tulsa World

Posted: 26 Apr 2010 05:00 AM PDT

Newspaper View

Comment

RSS Bookmark

If you want to bookmark this article on your profile page you need to Login to your tulsaworld.com account.

Family fun: Going places

By JAMES D. WATTS JR. World Scene Writer
Published: 4/26/2010 2:21 AM
Last Modified: 4/26/2010 6:58 AM

Dr. Seuss classic re-issued

The final book Theodor Geisel published under his world-famous pen name Dr. Seuss was "Oh, the Places You'll Go."

In the 20 years that followed, this paean to the potential for greatness and happiness within us all has become one of the good "Doctor's" most successful titles, selling nearly 9 million copies.

To mark that 20th anniversary, Random House is issuing two new editions of the book.

One, called the "Party Edition" ($17.99), is simply the original book with a new dust jacket — this one embedded with glittery bits.

More impressive — and more expensive, at $28.99 — is a new pop-up version of the story. Created with the help of master pop-up book designer David A. Carter, this binder-sized edition opens up into some truly dazzling tableaux.

Of course, if you've already been to places where you have earned for yourself a lot of money, you can spring for the limited edition of the pop-up book ($250).

Newspaper View

Comment

RSS Bookmark

If you want to bookmark this article on your profile page you need to Login to your tulsaworld.com account.

Reader Comments

Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.