[gallery]
Industrial hopper on the grounds of the Harley-Davidson museum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

The 20 acre Harley Museum campus sits on what once was the Lakeshore Sand Company and Morton Salt. This hopper was used by those companies and existed on the site when construction began. The architects decided to keep it, moving it to its current location next to the rivet walls. There is a similar hopper on the site - both were originally this "harley orange" color and have not been painted.

Harley-Davidson Museum

Canon EOS 5D
Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L USM

A random assortment of fun:

Castle and Sun

Three Musicians

M-Maybe, c.1965

The Gustav Klimt room.
First, my treasure:
The Tree of Life
Surrounded by:
Musique

Acqua Mossa

We'll put Botero in the bathroom,

Bath

The Horse, and we'll all feel better about ourselves.

Hopper to add some loneliness (they wouldn't let me use "Gas" OR "New York Movie" --a damn shame):

Second Story Sunlight

Dali to get the blood going.

Reflechis en Elephants

Sans Titre 1948

A room of Rousseau (Henri, that is) and Rene Magritte, my favorites:

Sleeping Gypsy, 1897

Struggle between Tiger and Bull in a Tropical Forest

Tiger in a Tropical Storm

L'Empire des Lumieres

La Chateau des Pyrenees

Golconde, 1953

And...

Vendedora de Alcatraces

Take a step back from the subject matter, from the skyscrapers and boxing matches, from the futurist bridges and the Jungian blobs of ink, and be bedazzled by the richness of the collection itself. While modern art galleries around the world, particular those without generous philanthropists, struggle to develop meaningful collections, the British Museum restricts itself to prints, and has developed a staggering treasure trove from which to a story of twentieth-century American art can unfold. Sometimes less is more.

And even though the British Museum has *restricted* itself to prints, what one gleans from this exhibition is the enormous range of possibilities the print provides. Perhaps for the the uninitiated all the artworks are all flat black and white images of similar dimensions, but the media (and the plural is used advisedly) exposed in this exhibition inspire an array of different textures and surfaces - grizzled, controlled, velvety, precise, stylised, electric - from which American artists explored and recorded their accelerating country. While the subject matter may focus the spectator's attention elsewhere, one can also marvel at the at the ingenious techniques by which these artists exploited the medium.

The American Scene starts in the early 1900s and finishes in the 1960s (an era broader than the Hopper and Pollock boundary posts in the exhibition's subtitle). Much of the focus of the exhibition is documentary in nature; the modernist tendency towards abstraction is certainly tangible but never as intrinsic as it was to European avant-garde. These prints are not statements of aesthetics, but tools for both a laid-back and acute observation of the the country that is flourishing around their creators.

So we witness, for instance, the architectural explosion, the rise of the skyscraper, engineering's clean lines, its squares and grids, its vertigo inducing beams of steel. Prints like Walter Drewes' Hell Gate Bridge or Charles Sheeler's Delmonico Building are typical in this respect. Electric light and logos are common elements. Prints allowed huge areas of dark backgrounds, allowing for creating night-time cityscapes with company's names attached to office towers and illuminated by shards of proud electricity.

Martin Lewis, Little Penthouse, 1931

Not that it was all soaring Manhattan skylines. Many of the prints, particularly the earlier ones, draw on the traditions of French nineteenth-century realism. There is a Dickensian relish in the dirtiness of everyday life in some of Ashcan school prints. Some are faintly comic, and almost gentle in tone, but then George Bellow also depicts the trauma of electrocution, the victim blindfolded whist all bustle around him, in a print that prefigures Warhol's printed silkscreens later in the century.

George Bellows, Electrocution

Equally, the agricultural landscape is re-imagined and the rural condition becomes more dreamy, tinged by an innocent, naive surrealism. Good examples are Wanda Gag's Whodunnit or the bizarre sight of Doris Lee's Helicopter, where the mechanical object floats above the farmer's landscape as if it been pasted in by accident.

When, at the tail of the exhibition, the great American modernists (the Pollocks, the de Koonings etc.) home into view, the effect is somewhat disorientating; the sudden change of thematic focus makes it appear as if the stories, motifs and myths built up the earlier artists have been dismantled and abruptly jettisoned. Within the context of this exhibition, it feels as if something has been discarded without a good explanation. The immersion in abstraction, whilst powerful, neglects decades worth of artistic engagement with the growth of America the country. Maybe in becoming truly international artists, US artists had to shed something of their national identity. In today's international picture gallery this evolution towards American modernism seems a natural, progressive thing, but here where it is the etching knife and copperplate rather than oil and canvas that is doing the recounting, a different story of America's visual history is told.

Another excruciatingly long summer is over. Actual hockey games are on the horizon. Because this is the 265th most widely read hockey blog on the internets, MYFO felt a deep obligation to our dozens of readers to prepare this series of previews telling you about every single team in the NHL. By "prepare" we mean, we found other people to write many of them for us. We were looking for people who (unlike us) might have an actual clue about these teams, but were also eager/willing/dumb/not self-respecting enough to work for free. Within those constraints, we think we did an admirable job.

Today's preview of Dan Hopper, Contributor to MYFO and Associate Editor of Best Week Ever.

Coping With Cup Finals Grief

For the sake of perfectly applicable argument, let's say you randomly find yourself fighting in the death tournament from the game Mortal Kombat, and after easily beating down an alcoholic one-legged Canadian man, you end up squaring off against the guy at your job who you've always openly hated ever since he got promoted over you even though he's asinine and incompetent and stole your girlfriend, and you end up ripping his head off, spinal cord still attached. Then in the next round, you face the kid who bullied you from Kindergarten all the way through your senior year of college before marrying and knocking up the prom queen you've always had a crush on, and you beat the crap out of him too, then turn into a dragon and bite him in half. Then in the Finals, you lose to the Detroit Red Wings. Who are, I don't know, Johnny Cage.

Honestly - would you NOT consider that tournament a success?

In case you didn't catch the subtlety, the tournament was actually the NHL Playoffs, your arch rivals were the Rangers and the Flyers, and the one-legged alcoholic was this homeless dude the Penguins beat to death for luck before they opened the series against Ottawa.

OFFSEASON: Marian WHO?? Oh wait, Marian 'Hossa.' Obviously. He was good.

It's a fine time to be a Penguins fan; long gone are the days of "maybe this Surovy / Fata / Koltsov power play will start to click," replaced by the era of "which of our 21-year-old children do you think will get to 60 goals first?" Sure, the Pens lost Marian Hossa and Ryan Malone in the offseason, but so what? Hossa only played 12 regular season games for Pittsburgh in '07-'08, plus that Crosby fellow missed 29, Marc-Andre Fleury only played 35, and Mark Recchi was still receiving financial compensation from the Penguins in exchange for playing the game of hockey. For comedy's sake, the Penguins added Miroslav Satan and Ruslan Fedotenko (guess they got outbid for Brad Isbister?), thus ripping the heart out of the powerhouse Islanders and providing Pittsburgh with endless cross-promotional opportunities with Charmin Ultra-Soft.

Good People

Before I shed a tear over the Pens' supporting cast of wingers (that other tear was laughter, from those couple Pittsburgh columnists who uninronically mentioned Satan's "40-goal potential"), let's take a moment to remind ourselves that Mr. Evgeni Malkin scored 47 fucking goals last year, and played without Crosby on his line, and just turned twenty-two in July, and he's 6'3" and looks like this with his shirt off. Can you imagine what he's gonna be like when he puts on muscle? He'll basically be Joe Thornton only better at finishing, younger, and more mobile without the North American hockey press dragging from his sack.

He disappeared in the Red Wings series, but 1) So did everyone but Crosby, 2) He likely got injured against Philly and couldn't convey the English of "I am in only painfulness," and 3) The Red Wings are the aliens from "Space Jam" who steal peoples' talent with ray guns. That's not a wacky cultural reference - I seriously believe this.

Atlantic Division : Eastern Conference :: Heart, Brain, and Lungs : Guy In Eastern Conference T-Shirt

A lot of disgruntled NY and Philly friends of mine claimed that the playoffs last year were biased for Crosby and the Pens, and I can't disagree; after all, the league clearly wouldn't want the city with 20 million motherfucking people in it to have their team in the Cup Finals, as they'd much rather promote the dude whose Reebok commercial aired at 6 am once on MTV Desi and is therefore certain to draw hordes of casual fans to Versus (Channel negative 871e on Time Warner)

Expect the Pens, Rangers, Flyers, and Devils to all make the playoffs again with ease (barring an 85 goal, 300 point year from Mark Streit), with the Eastern Finals coming down to Pittsburgh and New York.

Bottom Penguin (Couldn't think of a pun for "Bottom Line")

Healthy, Legal-Drinking-Age Crosby & Malkin + Staal moving to wing, 45-55 G between him and Sykora + Depth on D for the first time in team history, even with Whitney out + Anything from Satan / Fedotenko / Janne Pesonen + Matt Cooke, Max Talbot, Tyler Kennedy third lineyness + Fleury Competence = Favorites in the Eastern Conference. They're short on grit, and ultra thin behind Fleury, but even with my usual devil's-advocating, grizzled-fan pessimism, I can't view this team any other way at the moment.

Or, no, maybe I can. Maybe we all can. And will forever...

Boks 1:

Navn: Kiki

Alder: 6

Race: Fjordhest

Temperament: Fint

Avlsgodkendt: Ja

Mor: Ukendt

Far: Ukendt

Føl: Ingen

Ifolet med: Ingen...

Bruges til: Avl/Stævner

Berider: Disse

Boks 2:

Boks 3:

Boks 4:

Boks 5:

For more ABC’s of the Word on the letter H head over to Pam’s at Grey Like Snuffie

Heute grabe ich die Idee "Schubladendenken" aus.

In meinem Stammforum kamen in letzter Zeit häufiger Diskussionen zu dem Thema "Schubladendenken" auf. Daher wollte ich auch meinen Bloglesern meine Meinung zu dem Thema nicht vorenthalten. Zur Veranschaulichung werde ich mehrere Beispiele geben. Diese haben immer die Selbe Ausgangssituation:

Eine Person mit sehr großer Hose, großen Schuhen, Kopftuch und Basecap an einer Straße lang. Es kommt jemand mit Hemd, Krawatte und Aktenkoffer kommt auf ihn zu und fragt ihn, wo denn die örtliche Bank zu finden ist.

1. Beispiel:

A: Entschuldigen Sie, wo finde ich die örtliche Bank?

B: Alta, was willst du inner Bank? Wenn du Geld weggeben willst, kannst du das auch mir geben, alta.

2. Beispiel:

A: Entschuldigen Sie, wo finde ich die örtliche Bank?

B: Da gehen Sie einfach die Straße runter und dann links, die Bank können Sie nicht verfehlen.

Beide Beispiele können irgendwo so mal passiert sein. Jetzt seit mal ganz ehrlich zu euch: mit welchem Beispiel habt ihr gerechnet? Wohl eher mit dem ersten.

Was ich mit diesem Text sagen will, ist, dass man einen Menschen nicht nach seinem Auftreten, seiner Lieblingsmusik oder ähnlichem beurteilen sollte, sondern nach dem, was er macht, was er kann und wie er sich verhält. Ich selbst habe immer einen bunten Freundeskreis gehabt. Man muss sich nur mal umschauen, wenn ich irgendwo mit meinen Freunden bin: Hopper, Geeks, Techofreaks, Rocker etc. Ich komme mit allen klar, so lange sie sich korrekt verhalten. Es mag vieleicht schwer sein, sich entsprechend zu verhalten, aber es lohnt sich es zu versuchen. Ich kann euch zwar nicht dazu zwingen, aber ich möchte euch ans Herz legen, mal über diese Sichtweise der Dinge nachzudenken.

Ein weiterer Punkt heute ist der LHC. Der Large Hadron Collider ist der größte Teilchenbeschleuniger, den es gibt, er steht am CERN. Dieser wird morgen in Betrieb genommen. Es gab viele Proteste rund um den LHC, da die Entstehung von schwarzen Löchern befürchtet wurde. Ich bin allerdings, seit ich das erste mal vom LHC gehört habe ein beführworter dieser Forschung, weil ich auch das damit zusammenhängende Thema sehr interessant finde, daher geht es mit im Moment wie dem Kollegen TheMayhem. Ich bin bei Wikipedia gefangen. Ich bin ein gefangener zwischen Quarks, Higgs-Teilchen und Masse. Ich jedenfalls finde diese Materie (Ha, in dem Zusammenhang schon fast Wortwitz) sehr interessant und werde mich wohl noch den Rest des abends damit beschäftigen.

Also the new stuff was completely unexpected to me!  Here are two pics:

 (Click to ENLARGE)

 (Click to ENLARGE)

Now on to the Pin:

And last but not least, the Penguin Stadium.  The Ice Rink has been transformed into a soccer stadium called Penguin Stadium.  Here's a pic:

 (Click to ENLARGE)

That's all for now!

                - Sevyn ; )

I never wanted to be the type of person that was considered a church hopper. But as I get older I know more of what I'm looking for, and I'm glad I hopped around until I found the right place to worship.

I have learned so much in just two church services because the pastor soberly preaches through the Bible, and doesn't skip over the more difficult passages like marriage and marital submission. I wish I had attended this church when I was growing up, my foundation would have been a lot stronger because I had a lot of questions that went unanswered.

    In other news the red and blue face paint was released today, the blue face paint at the Pizza Parlor:

And the red face paint in the Coffee Shop:

Also the 150th issue of the Penguin Times will be released Thursday the 28th of August.

I'll have more updates as the games continue!

                - Sevyn

Ok, as some of you may know Rock Hopper did depart today but the coolest thing happened with his visit! The Scavenger Hunt, and the plans that Club Penguin found for the new Ship Igloo! If you haven't checked out the new igloo, you can get it in the new "Igloo Upgrades catalog!"  The team would love to know how you've decorated it! There is also a gym as a new igloo to.

Oh and this Friday, the Penguin Games begin, it's a party filled with all kinds of sports stuff and Club Penguin thinks you're going to love it. You should be expecting a lot of cool things and a few surprises. There will be awesome stuff. So don't miss it!

(Click to Enlarge)

Here are the cheats for the new Igloo Catalog:

Secret Stone Igloo:

Secret Deluxe Stone Igloo:

Also, the new Sports Catalog was released today, here is the only cheat:

Orange Football Helmet:

And last but not least, the pin:

(Stage)

Oh, and now when you throw a snowball at the Stage, not only is it a dodgeball, it bounces when it hits the ground.

(Click to Enlarge)

Tomarrow I will have all of the cheats and tomarrow the new ship igloo is released.

When you try and play the game, It doesn't come up that it's a game. The game's really fun! I hope they fix this thing, Before rock hopper has to go. Now, Here's something that I didn't see at first, It's on the bulletin board on rock hopper's boat.

On his notice board there’s his to-do list, which if you look from a distance says The word "Avast" It's kind of weird.

That's his list. The ‘To-do List’ is not new, but It mentions a possible design for a new igloo. Well, I think there will be a new igloo, I'm thinking it's going to be some sort of ship. Do you guys Think the igloo design Could be a ship?

Well that's all for today, If you haven't noticed yet, I am adding effects to my new pictures. I think they look cool! Do you? Well until later, Waddle on.

Here's an update, I found out the date on when the game will work again. The game will be up and running again on Friday. So We'll be able to play it before they leave again! The igloo that I was talking about it going to be out sometime soon, At the earliest It could be done is this week. The latest it could be done is next month. I'm not sure how this will look, I'll be looking for a picture soon. I'll post once I get more information on this. Well that's all for now, Waddle on.

The game in the Captain's Quaters is exactly the same.  But look at the To do List, "Visit Rory and see ye ship igloo".

Here's a pic of the new play at the Stage:

(Click to enlarge)

Here are the locations of all of the paper boats for the Scavenger Hunt:

Mine:

Pet Shop:

Cove:

Beach:

Coffee Shop:

Dock:

Pool:

Iceburg:

Here are the answers to the puzzle:

 (Click to enlarge)

You get a free background for finding all of the paper boats then putting them together:

That's all for now!

                - Sevyn

The game in the captains quaters is exactly the same.

The news is that I will no longer use Mr K98 for this site.  Mr K98 was not my penguin, I shared with someone but I lied about my password.  Since and passwords were reset, I can't get on Mr K98 anymore.  When I got his password I didn't write those kinds of things down.  Now I always write down anything important.  I will probably go back to my other site (www.sevyn.wordpress.com) because that would make more sense than using this one.

                -Sevyn

Here's a pic of the Upcoming Events page:

Tomarrow I will have Rockhopper's item list posted and will post a pic of the play.   I was wondering why they don't have the play in the Upcoming Events.

    Until then,

                Mr K98/Sevyn

After six weeks of freedom the guilt pangs have finally reached critical mass at not doing much constructive with my time off - that is unless you consider watching movies and full TV seasons ('Carnivale', 'The US Office', 'Homicide' Season 3 & 4) as constructive. Well, gentle reader even I can get bored of such distractions so I have recently made a concerted effort to exploit some of the facilities that bless my fair city. Last week I visited this exhibition at the British Museum in Holborn which was good, I was prompted to make the effort due to the inclusion of prints by my favourite artist, Edward Hopper. It wasn't a huge exhibition and in fact only contained about three Hopper prints but the quality of some of others made up for any shortfall. I also popped up to the permanent Japanese exhibition on the top floor of the museum which I also recommend if you are in the area.

Yesterday I made a real day out of it. I had an appointment at Waterloo in the morning with a consultant regarding my CV which went well (she called me back with a job interview an hour after I left her which is encouraging) and since I was already in town as it were and had an evening event planned at the NFT I thought I'd see what I could cram in - more fun than going home and twiddling my thumbs until 6pm. Having seen this documentary the night before I thought I'd pop over to the National History Museum and have a look at some of the dinosaurs - not great timing as it's school holidays season thus the place was infested with hordes of those annoying mini-adults but worth the journey nonetheless. I am really, genuinely interested to hear the creationists excuses/rationales are for dinosaurs given the overwhelming, heck, you know physical fucking evidence from around the world that seems to somewhat deflate their dark age reasoning. Such musing always bring this routine to mind....

I wandered up to the Serpentine Gallery to have a look at the Frank Gehry exhibit that has recently been installed, quite interesting although given that it was a drizzily day it didn't offer much protection from the elements. Hey, just call me pragmatic OK? Cutting across Hyde Park to Piccadilly I arrived in time to catch this movie at the Apollo. Why this? Well, pickings have been slim this pick for cinema visits but this was a) only 70 minutes long, b) was a comedy and quite easy going and c) I've had a bit of a crush on Sarah Silverman ever since she cropped up on the Larry Sanders show in the 90's. The film is a live concert performance interspersed with some sketches and songs so it passed the time easily enough with a few big laughs. Her humor is certainly too scatological for my taste but some of her (cliche alert) risky or edgy material on race, religion, ethnicity, the holocaust, HIV and well just about everything else vaguely offensive can be superb. If you don't find the following quote funny then you probably should avoid her - 'So, I was raped by a doctor when I was a teenager....which.....which as a Jewish girl is very bittersweet....' just remember it's an act, she's not being serious, they're jokes and she's having a pop at that PC mentality which at heart can be pretty damn insulting, inhibiting and damaging.

So, then it was off to the NFT for this event, talk about nerdsville. Actually, that's not fair - as expected it was mostly populated by young guys of my generation but <gasp, shock, horror> there were even girls in attendance. Sorry, I mean women.  The real reason I went was to see the great Pat Mills in action as he has always been one of my favourite comic writers and whilst I was a big fan of 2000AD back in my youth I haven't actually read it for years and years, a wise choice as I'm told it sucks these days. During the discussion it emerged that rather than tailor the weekly to kids they now in fact only market the title to the people who grew up with the publication, a demographic which is responsible for 85-90% of sales. That just seems an absurdly short sighted and parochial attitude considering the fertile atmosphere that currently exists for fantasy, SF and horror material these days. 

The event was part of the BFI's Comic  film season and the purpose of the discussion was to enquire how and why hasn't the last remaining and longest surviving comic in the UK exploited its talents and 30 years of material, of characters and stories to other media be it cinema, anime, TV or even straight to DVD. Once again an astonishing lack of ambition was expressed, quite rightly during the Q&A someone asked about the BBC to which the response was 'well, yes we'd welcome them to come and talk to us'. What? Hello, you're the editor in chief - you go and talk to them you twat, it's your publication with, as I said, 30 bloody years of material and dozens of great characters - is this truly the attitude of the mighty Tharg? I think not, talk about a lack of thrill power <a-hem, composes self..> OK, I concede that the absolutely terrible, terrible Judge Dredd film no doubt put them back a few years but I'd argue its ripe for a big screen rethink a la, 'Batman Begins' and 'The Dark Knight'. Given that the BBC's 'Torchwood' and 'Dr Who' are the biggest exports to America ever, I'd say there is a fertile audience there. Oh well, quite an enjoyable discussion on the history of the comic occurred anyway which was fun with some entertaining insights and tales from the institutions history. Something different.

Via: www.mentalfloss.com written by Andréa Fernades

In honor of artist, Edward Hopper's 126th birthday, and via Metal Floss' “Feel Art Again” written by Andréa Fernandes' Circa71 features my favorite American artist, Edward Hopper and his 1929 painting “Chop Suey,” one of his many scenes of city life.

Though he’s known for city scenes like “Chop Suey” and the famous “Nighthawks,” Edward Hopper’s first big break was with a watercolor of a seaside home. “The Mansard Roof” was painted in 1923, during his first summer in Gloucester, MA, and was bought for the Brooklyn Museum’s permanent collection for $100—a decent amount at the time. Although he continued to vacation by the sea, Hopper’s watercolor production had slowed by 1946; he explained his lack of watercolor production by saying, “I think it’s because the watercolors are done from nature and I don’t work from nature anymore.”

Thanks to commercial artwork—which he loathed—Hopper was able to afford three trips to Europe, all of which centered around Paris. Unlike other artists who visited Paris, though, Hopper didn’t get in with the “it” crowd. He remarked: “Whom did I meet? Nobody. I’d heard of Gertrude Stein, but I don’t remember having heard of Picasso at all… Paris had no great or immediate impact on me.” While there, though, he did develop an affinity for the work of Edgar Degas and Édouard Manet and a dislike for Paul Cézanne’s work.

The two types of scenes that comprise the bulk of Hopper’s oeuvre—seaside houses and city nights—don’t seem to have much in common. They’re tied together, though, by Hopper’s emphasis on light and shadows. Hopper once said of his fascination with light, “Maybe I am slightly inhuman… all I ever wanted to do was to paint sunlight on the side of a house.”

As one of America’s most well-known artists, Hopper’s work has had a strong impact on pop culture. The house in Alfred Hitchcock’s Pscyho was heavily influenced by Hopper’s “House by the Railroad,” which was the first painting in the permanent collection of New York’s Museum of Modern Art. Turner Class Movies sometimes runs animated clips based on Hopper paintings prior to films, including “The Sunny Side of Life,” inspired by “Chop Suey.” According to Sister Wendy, “there was a period when every college dormitory in the country had on its walls a poster of Hopper’s ‘Nighthawks.’” And Madonna named her 1993 world tour after Hopper’s 1941 painting “Girlie Show,” even incorporating aspects of the painting into the performance.

Many scholars find “Chop Suey” particularly interesting because they believe the painting depicts a woman facing her doppelganger. Either way, the subjects of “Chop Suey” are less isolated and lonely than in most of Hopper’s other city scenes.

A larger version of “Chop Suey” is available here.

Fans of Edward Hopper should check out the exhibit guides from the NGA, the Tate Modern, and the MFA; Gordon Theisen’s Staying Up Much Too Late; the Edward Hopper Scrapbook; this YouTube video of Hopper paintings; Slate’s slideshow on Hopper architecture; the Smithsonian’s interview of Hopper; the ARC’s Hopper gallery; and the Edward Hopper House Art Center.

The second-season premiere Thursday of USA's "Burn Notice" attracted 5.39 million viewers overall -- a 35% increase over its series debut one year ago, according to Nielsen. The show also performed well with the 18-to-49-year-old demographic group: It scored a 1.8 rating/6 share in the advertiser-friendly demo. (Variety 7/13)

Just five weeks into the second season of its "Army Wives," Lifetime has announced a third season of the popular series. At the Television Critics Association press tour, Lifetime President and CEO Andrea Wong explained the early renewal: "Since premiering last year, 'Army Wives' has become a game-changer for Lifetime." (Yahoo!/E! Online 7/11)

Crash, the original drama series based on the Oscar winning movie of 2006, is set to debut on Starz on Friday, October 17 at 10p.  Co-produced by Lionsgate and Starz Entertainment, the series stars Dennis Hopper. Starz has ordered 13 episodes. (Cynopsis 7/14)

Richard Parsons, CEO of Time Warner, says he is "much more bullish" on the media industry than investors. "People will continue to consume more and more of what entertainment companies produce," he insists. Parsons adds that companies can't create value by merely breaking them up. (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aOi7d6Jog9WY 7/11)

Scripps Network Interactive, which houses cable nets such as HGTV, Food Network and DIY, remains at the center of speculation about an acquisition by NBC Universal. Such a deal, according to this article, could fetch more than SNI's $6.5 billion market capitalization. (Multichannel News 7/13)

NBC Universal says its profit rose just 1% in the second quarter, as revenue growth at cable networks USA, Bravo and Sci-Fi were partially offset by declines at the NBC broadcast network and its owned-and-operated TV stations. NBC primetime ratings are down about 10%. (http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/nbc-universal-profit-inches-higher/story.aspx?guid=%7B52515315%2D51C3%2D4E48%2D88D0%2D0A8E3F2AF990%7D 7/11)

John Malone has spent about $95 million on 3.8 million shares of Liberty Capital Group, one of the tracking stocks connected to his Liberty Media firm, according to this report. Assets in Liberty Capital include the Atlanta Braves as well as minority positions in Time Warner and Sprint Nextel. (Multichannel News 7/14)

A survey by the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation reported that FX, HBO and Showtime offer the most responsible coverage of gay and lesbian characters on cable TV. HBO also was singled out for having the most ethnically diverse characters. (Reuters/The Hollywood Reporter 7/14)

In a statement issued early Friday evening, SAG leaders said they still want to negotiate the final offer given to them from the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers nearly two weeks ago. The AMPTP said their offer was indeed the last and best offer available, calling it a "take-it-or-leave-it proposition" which will not be enhanced further. (Cynopsis 7/14)