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When I read for pleasure, I tend to favor fiction. Maybe it's because, contrary to popular opinion, journalists aren't typically allowed to make stuff up. The exceptions include fictional characters known as Dennis Rodman and Kim Jong Un, both inventions of an entertainment-starved media.
My preference for novels isn't shared by Uxbridge Selectman Peter Baghdasarian. Known as a "character" and town provocateur, the 75-year-old official once sued his fellow board members. An anti-government conservative, he vehemently opposed the building of a new high school even though the old one was falling apart. Last year, after a judge booted Baghdasarian from his new home because he failed to obtain the proper permits, he replied, "You live in a house whenever you're ready. But the government gets involved with everything."
The elder Baghdasarian has served this Blackstone Valley town for decades in various capacities, including selectman, school committeeman, Board of Health member, Ye Old Towne Ale Taster and, I believe, Bartleby the Scrivener.
"They drive me out periodically and then they throw me back in," he said cheerfully. "I somehow attract controversy."
Most recently, on Monday night, Baghdasarian managed to blindside the town's new librarian, who clearly didn't know what she was in for when she showed up at the selectmen's meeting to introduce herself. Talk turned to capital budget priorities, and the town's finance director mentioned the need for $75,000 to build a fire escape on the library's third floor.
This prompted Baghdasarian to unleash an odd rant about how libraries were intended for education, but now they're filled with entertainment and fiction, if you can believe it, and back in the day there was a rule that you had to check out two nonfiction books for every novel, and speaking of fiction, I'm pretty sure he made that up.
So, if I can summarize Baghdasarian's argument, why does the library need an escape route when kids are wasting their time with the likes of Dickens and Shakespeare? In case of fire, who needs to save them? (The kids, not Dickens and Shakespeare, who are already dead.) OK, maybe lots of kids are forgoing "The Taming of the Shrew" for the Pretty Little Liars series, but still. At least they're reading, right? To listen to Baghdasarian, you'd think kids go to public libraries mainly to download porn.
After the meeting, the selectman told me that free public libraries were invented by Benjamin Franklin to help educate the populace, and that purpose seems to have fallen by the wayside. (I didn't mention that the catalogue program was invented in 1876 by Melvil Dewey Decimal System, because I figured he already knew.)
"Over time, things change," he said. "Now, books are well within the means of most people to buy. We keep libraries out of nostalgia." He added, "I'm not against nostalgia, mind you."
Neither am I. In fact, I remember when young people were exposed to fictional classics for the joy and edification of great literature. I remember receiving my first library card as a child and thrilling to books about talking bears, which I imagine were made up. And I distinctly remember it was Ezra Pound who observed that literature is "news that stays news," because I just looked it up yesterday.
Call me controversial, but I hardly think that impoverished little Uxbridge bookworms should burn to death at the town library simply because they can't afford store-bought biographies of real people. Speaking of which, I can now reveal that the media also invented Toronto Mayor Rob Ford.
Contact Dianne Williamson at firstname.lastname@example.com


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Kinotrailer Neue Kinofilme
Show Dogs
Starring Will Arnett, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, Natasha Lyonne, Jordin Sparks, Gabriel Iglesias, Shaquille O'Neal, Alan Cumming, and Stanley Tucci, SHOWDOGS is a family comedy about the unlikely pairing of a human detective (Arnett) and his canine partner (voice of Chris "Ludacris" Bridges), who has to go undercover at the world's most exclusive dog show to solve his biggest case yet.'
First Reformed
Reverend Ernst Toller (Ethan Hawke) is a solitary, middle-aged parish pastor at a small Dutch Reform church in upstate New York on the cusp of celebrating its 250th anniversary. Once a stop on the Underground Railroad, the church is now a tourist attraction catering to a dwindling congregation, eclipsed by its nearby parent church, Abundant Life, with its state-of-the-art facilities and 5,000-strong flock. When a pregnant parishioner (Amanda Seyfried) asks Reverend Toller to counsel her husband, a radical environmentalist, the clergyman finds himself plunged into his own tormented past, and equally despairing future, until he finds redemption in an act of grandiose violence. From writer-director Paul Schrader (Taxi Driver; American Gigolo; Affliction) comes a gripping thriller about a crisis of faith that is at once personal, political, and planetary.'
On Chesil Beach
Adapted by Ian McEwan from his bestselling novel, the drama centers on a young couple of drastically different backgrounds in the summer of 1962. Following the pair through their idyllic courtship, the film explores sex and the societal pressure that can accompany physical intimacy, leading to an awkward and fateful wedding night. The film stars Saoirse Ronan, Billy Howle, Anne-Marie Duff, Adrian Scarborough, Emily Watson, and Samuel West.'
That Summer
Welcome to Grey Gardens...as you've never seen it before. Three years before the Maysles' landmark documentary introduced the world to Edith and Edie Beale - the unforgettable mother-daughter (and Jackie O. relatives) living in a daycare dream world on Long Island - renowned photographer Peter Beard chronicled life at their crumbling estate during one summer in 1972. For the first time ever, director Goran Olsson (The black Power Mixtape 1967 - 1975) assembles this long-lost footage - featuring glimpses of luminaries like Andy Warhol, Mick Jagger, and Truman Capote - into a one-of-a-kind family portrait bursting with the loving squabbles, quotable bon mots, and impromptu musical numbers that would make Big and Little Edie beloved cultural icons.'
Pope Francis - A Man Of His Word
Pope Francis - A Man of His Word is intended to be a personal journey with Pope Francis, rather than a biographical documentary about him. The pope's ideas and his message are central to this documentary, which sets out to present his work of reform and his answers to today's global questions. '
Book Club
Diane (Diane Keaton) is recently widowed after 40 years of marriage. Vivian (Jane Fonda) enjoys her men with no strings attached. Sharon (Candice Bergen) is still working through a decades-old divorce. Carol's (Mary Steenburgen) marriage is in a slump after 35 years. Four lifelong friends' lives are turned upside down to hilarious ends when their book club tackles the infamous Fifty Shades of Grey. From discovering new romance to rekindling old flames, they inspire each other to make their next chapter the best chapter.'
Deadpool 2
After surviving a near fatal bovine attack, a disfigured cafeteria chef (Wade Wilson) struggles to fulfill his dream of becoming Mayberry's hottest bartender while also learning to cope with his lost sense of taste. Searching to regain his spice for life, as well as a flux capacitor, Wade must battle ninjas, the yakuza, and a pack of sexually aggressive canines, as he journeys around the world to discover the importance of family, friendship, and flavor - finding a new taste for adventure and earning the coveted coffee mug title of World's Best Lover. '
Life of the Party
When her husband suddenly dumps her, longtime dedicated housewife Deanna (Melissa McCarthy) turns regret into re-set by going back to college…landing in the same class and school as her daughter, who's not entirely sold on the idea. Plunging headlong into the campus experience, the increasingly outspoken Deanna—now Dee Rock—embraces freedom, fun and frat boys on her own terms, finding her true self in a senior year no one ever expected. '

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Wuppertal is the biggest city in the Bergisches Land and is the region's main centre for business, education, industry and the arts. It is above all known as the city with the suspended monorail – as Wuppertal's official slogan proudly proclaims. From the windows of the monorail, visitors look out onto a confident, historically aware city, with an amazing amount to offer.
The name Wuppertal is actually a relatively modern designation that first appeared on maps only 80 years ago. But its various constituent towns had been there long before that, and in 1929 Elberfeld, Barmen, Ronsdorf, Cronenberg and Vohwinkel were merged to form Barmen-Elberfeld. In 1930, the name was changed to Wuppertal after a referendum – a fitting choice that describes the city's location in the Wupper valley. Wuppertal's most famous landmark, the unique suspended monorail, follows the course of the river for a few miles through the city centre. Every day, over 80,000 passengers use it as a reliable means of transport and a sure-fire way of beating the traffic jams. The monorail opened in 1901. Since 1997, its supporting structures have been undergoing a programme of renewal in keeping with the original design. The stations are also being modernised. Like the suspended monorail, the city's dance company Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch has also established a global reputation. The acclaimed choreographer Pina Bausch was the ensemble's artistic director for 36 years. She reinvented and redefined dance during her tenure, combining drama, modern dance and musical theatre to create a new form of expression. Performances take place at its current home, the opera house in Wuppertal, although tickets need to be booked well in advance as the ensemble is often on tour. But an evening of culture can also be enjoyed in the historical Stadthalle Wuppertal, one of the loveliest concert and conference venues in Europe.
While there is no doubt that the Stadthalle, built in Wilhelminian style, is magnificent, it is also surrounded by a number of other striking edifices. Despite being bombed in the Second World War, Wuppertal has around 4,500 architectural monuments – the second highest concentration of historical buildings in North Rhine-Westphalia. Architecture of the 19th century is particularly well represented, with a whole host of remarkable buildings. The Briller Viertel, for example, is one of the largest and most architecturally consistent of Germany's exclusive mansion suburbs. Also of interest are the trade exhibition buildings from Germany's industrial heyday, found near the centre of the Elberfeld district. Elberfeld is also home to Wuppertal's most significant art gallery, the Von der Heydt Museum, which presents an impressive collection of paintings, sculptures, prints and photographs from the 17th century to the present day. The exhibitions focus on French 19th-century painting and Modernism, including works by major artists such as Paula Modersohn-Becker, Max Slevogt, Lovis Corinth, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Erich Heckel, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Wassily Kandinsky, Otto Mueller, Emil Nolde, Franz Marc, August Macke, Alexej von Jawlensky and Max Beckmann. Since opening in the 1950s, the clock museum in Elberfeld has built up one of the most comprehensive collections related to the history of timekeeping – and is even interesting for visitors who have all the time in the world. Some people would certainly wish this was the case so that they can devote some time to Wuppertal's extensive shopping areas, where malls, arcades and boutiques have something to suit all tastes. You can discover the delights of the local cuisine either in sophisticated restaurants, or just as easily in the quaint, welcoming pubs on almost every street corner. Those in search of a good night out won't be disappointed by Wuppertal's many clubs and bars. There are also plenty of places to relax and recover from the night before. About half of the city's area is given over to farmland, gardens, woodland and parks – including one of the most beautiful zoos in Germany and Tony Cragg's sculpture park, where you can admire contemporary works of art as you stroll around.
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SUZUKA, Japan - Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel claimed pole position for the Formula One Japanese Grand Prix, qualifying ahead of teammate Mark Webber on Saturday.
Vettel, a two-time winner in Japan, secured his fourth consecutive pole at Suzuka and will be in a good position in Sunday's race to further erode the championship lead of Ferrari's Fernando Alonso.
"We had a very smooth qualifying session, nearly perfect," Vettel said. "The car felt perfect from the start. We didn't have a great result yesterday so I'm very happy with today's session."
Vettel won the previous race in Singapore and is just 29 points behind Alonso in the standings with six races left. The German has always performed well at Suzuka, winning here in 2009 and 2010 and taking third place last year to wrap up his second consecutive drivers' championship.
Alonso qualified seventh, and all of Red Bull's championship rivals will start the race several places back after a yellow caution flag in the final moments of qualifying prevented them getting in a last flying lap.
Lotus driver Kimi Raikkonen, third in the standings, caused the yellow flag when he spun at the edge of the track, and qualified eighth, while McLaren's Lewis Hamilton obeyed the flags and slowed, qualifying ninth.
"I spun. I was on a good lap and I was pushing — maybe a little too hard — and lost the rear," Raikkonen said. "It's a shame as the car feels the best it has all weekend. If the car's good tomorrow we should be able to move forward. Let's see what happens."
Hamilton's McLaren teammate Jenson Button qualified third but will start eighth due to a penalty for replacing the gearbox in his car.
"It's going to be tough tomorrow," Button said. "Never say never, and we will have a good car for the race tomorrow."
Hamilton, who is fourth in the standings and needs a good result in Sunday's race to avoid losing ground, said he was unhappy with Saturday's qualifying.
"Today's qualifying session was one of the most disappointing of my year," Hamilton said. "To be honest, I went the wrong way with the set-up and ended up with too much understeer. Until qualifying, the car had felt great all weekend, but I just couldn't make it turn this afternoon, and as a result I just couldn't extract the best from it."
Mercedes driver Michael Schumacher — who announced Thursday he will retire at the end of the season — qualified 13th but has a 10-place penalty for causing a crash in the Singapore Grand Prix so will start on the back row.
Sauber driver Kamui Kobayashi gave the local fans a thrill by qualifying fourth, ahead of Lotus' Romain Grosjean.
Sauber's Sergio Perez, who will switch to McLaren next season to replace the Mercedes-bound Hamilton, was sixth while Force India's Nico Hulkenberg was 10th but will drop five places for changing a gearbox in the pre-qualifying practice session.


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We split the typical semester system in half, creating four mini-semesters per academic year.
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Olympics expert discusses Sochi Games, sport history, Super Bowl and society
Olympics expert discusses Sochi Games, sport history, Super Bowl and society
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Mark Dyreson, Penn State professor of kinesiology, is an expert on the history and role of sport in the modern world. His studies of the Olympic Games and other sports events, including the Super Bowl, focuses on the role of sport in the creation of modern societies. He offers his thoughts on the past, present and future of the Olympic Games, and the role and spectacle of sport in a global society.
Since the modern Olympic Games began, they have been seen as cultural milestones that have elevated medalists in particular to celebrity status, from Jesse Owens to Sonja Henie to Michael Phelps and others in America alone. Can you point to a handful of standouts who haven't received the attention they deserved, and why?
Mark Dyreson: We might have in 2014 forgotten older Olympic heroes and heroines, from Jim Thorpe, Duke Kahanamoku and Johnny Weissmuller, to Peggy Fleming, Jean-Claude Killy and "Spider" Sabich, but they were celebrities in their era. I will point to a few who probably should have gotten more attention but did not — because they did not win enough, or in a grand enough fashion.
First, when Jesse Owens won four gold medals at Berlin in 1936, he overshadowed the sterling performances of what the Nazi press labeled America's "black auxiliaries," the other African-American athletes who competed in Berlin in spite of racism and segregation both abroad and at home. Owens' fellow African-Americans — David Albritton, Cornelius Johnson, James LuValle, Ralph Metcalfe, Fritz Pollard Jr., Mack Robinson, Archie Williams and John Woodruff — won four golds, three silvers and two bronzes. In addition, they went on to stellar careers in academia, business, the military, politics and other fields after the Berlin Olympics.
One in particular among that group stands out. Ralph Metcalfe finished second by milliseconds to Owens in the 100 meters in Berlin, as he had to fellow African-American Eddie Tolan four years earlier at the Los Angeles Olympics. Had Metcalfe been just a few milliseconds faster he would have been the "world's fastest man" in two straight Olympics — and we would remember him and not Jesse Owens as the African-American hero who challenged both Nazi and U.S. ideologies of white racial supremacy. We forget Metcalfe even though he had quite a post-athletic career, including as leader in the civil rights movement in Chicago, his victories in four elections to the U.S. Congress from Illinois, and his role in helping to lead the early incarnation of the Congressional Black Caucus.
Also in the overshadowed category was the silver medalist behind Owens in the 200 meters, Mack Robinson from Pasadena, Calif. Not only would Mack Robinson be overshadowed by Jesse Owens in Berlin but in his own family by his younger brother Jackie who would go on to fame as the man who broke the color line in baseball. A few milliseconds can make all the difference in the world. Ralph Metcalfe and Mack Robinson were mainly ignored because they finished a close second behind an American icon.
Another silver medalist who has never gotten the attention he deserved is Bill Koch. In 1976 at Innsbruck Koch won a silver medal in the 30 kilometer Nordic race. Nordic skiing, or cross-country skiing as it's often called in the U.S., has never been a major sport in the United States. When Koch won his medal he was the first American to ever make a splash in athletic contests that reigns as a significant national pastime in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia, but is a sport Americans mainly ignore. Interestingly, over the last decade the U.S. has developed a strong Nordic ski team that won medals in Vancouver and might well again earn some medals in Sochi — but Bill Koch's silver remains one of the biggest surprises in Olympic history.
Let me finish addressing this question with a Penn State story.
During the 1940s the best U.S. sprinter and long jumper in the world, a man who many track and field experts predicted might match Jesse Owens' record of four gold medals in the 100 meters, 200 meters, long jump and 4x100 meters relay, wore Nittany Lion blue and white when he competed. Norbert "Barney" Ewell was a stellar collegian at Penn State and touted as the "next Jesse Owens" as the 1940 Olympics, slated for Tokyo, approached. World War II scuttled the 1940 and 1944 Olympics, however.
Ewell left Penn State to join the U.S. Army during the war and then returned afterward to complete his degree. In 1948, running at the relatively advanced age for a sprinter of 30, Ewell finished just milliseconds from gold in the 100 meters and 200 meters — he earned silver medals in both events — before finally capturing the elusive top prize as a member of the U.S. 4x100 relay team that was initially disqualified and after a long review of the film of the race finally reinstated and declared the victor. Based on his performances at Penn State and in the military during World War II, it is quite likely that Ewell might have not only matched Owens' feats but done it twice and earned eight golds in the two Olympics that never were.
You recently returned from a conference that examined the 30th anniversary of the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympics. How do you believe the 1984 Games influenced the Olympics, and in what ways have the Games, both summer and winter, changed in the last three decades?
As strange as it seems from a contemporary perspective, when Los Angeles bid for the 1984 Olympics many observers were predicting that the Olympic movement was about to crumble into the dustbin of history.
From the 1968 Mexico City Olympics forward, boycotts and other political controversies had enveloped the games and threatened future prospects. Looking at the economics of Mexico City, Munich and Montreal, the Olympics appeared to be a financial "white elephant" that propelled cities, regions and nations toward bankruptcy. Not only Cold War political controversies and a series of powerful boycotts but terrorism, in Tlatelolco Plaza in Mexico City and in the Olympic Village in Munich, had become a tragic Olympic reality.
In the early 1970s a fascinating political coalition of anti-tax libertarians and environmentalists in Colorado persuaded voters to boot the 1976 Winter Games out of Denver. The Olympics were in real trouble. No major cities bid for the 1984 Olympics except for Teheran and Los Angeles. Teheran's attempt quickly perished as the Islamic Revolution began in that nation.
Power brokers in Los Angeles loved the Olympics. The city hosted the games in 1932 and then bid, unsuccessfully, for every games from 1952 until they were the last city standing in 1984. International and national critics predicted the 1984 Olympics would be a disaster given both the city's many problems and the Olympic movement's seemingly insoluble dilemmas. Even Angeleños were suspicious — city voters pushed for a promise that no public funds would be used to stage the Olympics.
While many thought that the lack of public funding would derail the LA organizers it actually freed them to build a much more commercial version of the Olympics that turned a profit, advertised Southern California as a land where dreams come true, and re-energized the Olympics as a global economic and cultural product.
"Part of the global appeal of the Olympics is that they are exotic and rare; they are not hyper-familiar and overexposed like many other elements of global popular culture."
— Mark Dyreson, professor of kinesiology
Love it or hate it, commercialization has become the lifeblood of the Olympic movement and propelled it into a new international significance. You can credit, or blame, L.A. for that. Love it or hate it, the Olympics are a prized commodity that cities around the world spend millions of dollars to acquire and billions of dollars to stage, and you can blame L.A. for that as well.
The other major trend that the 1984 L.A. Games started are what I call the "Californization" of the Olympics through the increasing inclusion of "lifestyle" and "entertainment" sports such as snowboarding and freestyle skiing, mountain biking and BMX cycling, beach volleyball and triathlon. These sports look great on television, provide enormous markets of young consumers with lots of disposable income for advertisers, bring the U.S.A. lots of medals and make the Olympics "California cool." Historically, these new sports were all incubated in California.
The debut of windsurfing and synchronized swimming at Los Angeles in 1984 begins this growing trend toward featuring "lifestyle" sports with California connections at the Olympics. If you love the "Flying Tomato" — snowboarder Shaun White — or think he's a symbol of the corruption of Olympic purity, credit or blame L.A. '84 for him and the rest of this new breed of Olympic celebrities.
With the news of Lindsey Vonn's injury sidelining her at the Sochi Games and changes made to the Sochi luge track, following the tragic death of Nodar Kumaritashvili while practicing at the 2010 Vancouver Games — aside from concussion risks to professional football players — has becoming an premier athlete become more of a risk than a reward? In what ways might we see changes to top-tier sports and athlete regulations, for safety and other reasons?
What if I were to tell you that a career as a world-class athlete is bad for your health, that a multitude of studies of mortality indicate elite performers die at significantly younger ages than the general population? You'd probably tell me I was crazy, and cling to your belief that high-level sporting performance builds bodies that are healthier and will last longer than those of couch potatoes. Well, studies show that a career training as an elite athlete actually means a shorter life — but the public does not seem interested in that dismal demography at all. Athletes remain our paragons of health and fitness.
But if we don't care about those factoids, do we care about the prospect of really-shortened lifespans, of sudden deaths in a competition while the whole world watches?
The International Olympic Committee has been adding new sports that carry greater risks than traditional ones, such as "slopestyle" skiing and snowboarding as well as the half-pipe events, and new forms of "freestyle" skiing as well. Horrible injuries as well as deaths are, unfortunately, not unknown in training and competition in these events.
Criticisms of the dangers of some of these "extreme" events have begun to mount. The prospect of any competitor, particularly a star, perishing in front of billions of television viewers is, tragically, not an unrealistic prospect. Short of catastrophic death or injury, concussions and other head injuries are not uncommon in a wide variety of winter sports.
When a broad spectrum of people, particularly parents, begin to wonder whether or not they should let their children take up these sports, as it now appears is beginning to happen in football, then major changes might occur. Until then, however, the danger is part of the allure of these new endeavors.
You're also an expert on the culture of the Super Bowl, having co-authored an essay on "Super Bowl Sunday: A New American Holiday," in a collection of essays on the history of national holidays. While the Super Bowl is an American tradition celebrating professional football, it also gets worldwide attention like the Olympic Games. From your perspective, how is the Super Bowl similar to and different from the Olympics?
The Super Bowl makes the world voyeurs to a uniquely American spectacle. The Olympics makes the world, including Americans, voyeurs to a wide variety of sports that are embedded in a global spectacle.
The world watches the Super Bowl like most Americans watch the biathlon: from our vantage it seems curious and amusing to watch people try to ski and shoot and it raises questions about why Norwegians or Russians or Swedes would be so passionate about what, from American perspectives, seems such a strange activity. Americans would not watch a steady diet of biathlon but once every four years we'll tune in out of curiosity.
Part of the global appeal of the Olympics is that they are exotic and rare; they are not hyper-familiar and overexposed like many other elements of global popular culture. That has been the perfect market niche for the Olympics for more than a century. The Olympics, across its summer and winter productions, has something for just about every nation or culture to get excited about, be it badminton or bobsled, field hockey or ice hockey. Nations and cultures that are not so interested in these sports get excited to see what other cultures love, which is also the appeal of watching the Super Bowl in many other parts of the world where large audiences do not regularly tune in to the NFL.
"The genius of the Olympics, and the central paradox, is that they are simultaneously both tribal and universal. We watch in some ways to celebrate our own nation and measure it against other nations. We also watch for those transcendent moments where our common humanity seems to be thrust into startling relief."
— Mark Dyreson
Although we are in the midst of the Sochi Games, the world is already looking to the Rio Summer Games in 2016. What are you most looking forward to, and what emerging trends or predictions are you watching for both the Games in Sochi, Rio and future host cities?
I love watching the Olympics for the narratives they create about nations and the globe, stories that develop and grow in so many unexpected and startling ways. You never know what's going to happen.
The genius of the Olympics, and the central paradox, is that they are simultaneously both tribal and universal. We watch in some ways to celebrate our own nation and measure it against other nations. We also watch for those transcendent moments where our common humanity seems to be thrust into startling relief. I watch, as I suspect many around the world do, to see both what my own tribe can accomplish and how the human species will push at its own boundaries. The Super Bowl represents the largest shared common experience in contemporary U.S. culture. The Olympics represent, alongside the World Cup (which more than eight decades ago sprouted out of the Olympics), the largest shared common experience in contemporary global cultures.
My fear for Sochi is that it might become a stage for global terrorism. It could happen at any world event, but given Sochi's location at this moment in world history, nervousness seems warranted. My hope for Sochi is that nothing terrible happens. My hope for Rio is that Brazil demonstrates to the world that it is an emerging and dynamic power that can overcome a myriad of social and economic problems to stage a dazzling event. My fear for Rio is that it fumbles its chance and the prospects for the Olympics moving beyond the wealthiest neighborhoods on the globe diminishes for decades — keeping Latin America, Africa and much of Asia outside of the orbit of potential Olympic hosts.