• Second act for the stars of ‘Once’: The lead actors of musical film “Once” were friends who fell in love as they made the movie. Their romance has since faded, but their artistic union is flourishing. (Wall Street Journal)
• Meet Moscow’s punk priest, the Rev. Sergei Rybko: A Russian Orthodox priest is trying to help young rockers find God (ABC)
• Washington attracts the young and rich (Washington Times)
• Cemeteries feel recession’s chill (USA Today)
• The mystery of music: What about it has such power over human beings? By Terry Teachout (Wall Street Journal)
• Lots more planets found outside solar system (USA Today)
• The reality moment by David Brooks (NY Times)
  
• Rethinking the older woman-younger man relationship (NY Times)
  
• There is no new frontier: We are a nation fully settled by government. The terrain ahead is both crowded and costly by Peggy Noonan (Wall Street Journal)
  
• A review of As We Forgive by Fredrica Mathewes-Green
• In praise of The Crack-Up: A novelist peers through darkness to find glittering gems in writing and art. The collision of creativity and mental instability is so marked that the tortured artist has become a cliché. But with depression rising fast right across the population—and twice as fast among women as men—it is worth trying to separate the cliché from the truth it masks, and to ask whether the connection between creativity and depression can help us think again about the bigger picture by Jeanette Winterson (Wall Street Journal)
• One million protest abortion liberalisation in Madrid (France24)
  
• Big anti-abortion rally in Spain (BBC)
• A crash course in American coarseness: How did we get here? It began not with our politicians but with our stand-up comics by Tim Rutten (LA Times)
• Low U.S. troop morale in Afghanistan reflects doubts about mission by S.T. Karnick (The American Culture)
• Tea party in aisle 5: Whole Foods is getting both boycotted and ‘buycotted’ over health care by Meghan Daum (Post Gazette)
• Exploring the spirituality of Coen brothers’ films: Ken Lowery interviews Cathleen Falsani, author of The Dude Abides: The Gospel According to the Coen Brothers (UM Portal)
• The Inglourious Dilemma, Volume Two: But in spite of the film’s marketing pitch—Come to the hyperviolent hootenanny!—Tarantino has something better than vengeance on his mind. The film subverts its much-anticipated finale so that viewers’ vengeful impulses are challenged. Tarantino has never told a story of white hats versus black hats; he knows that Nazis can have moments of nobility, just as righteous Allied warriors can exercise craven bloodlust. There’s a lot here worth discussing. I’ve come to appreciate that this really is a brilliant film by Jeffrey Overstreet (Image)
• ‘NCIS’ rides a wave of popularity: The quirky crime procedural keeps building on its loyal fan base and now its spinoff, ‘NCIS: Los Angeles,’ looks to be basking in the ratings love. (LA Times)
• Gen Y forces retailers to keep up with technology, new stuff (USA Today)
• Glittering year, golden anniversary for jazz by Tom Nolan (Wall Street Journal)
• Obama and human rights? Human rights “interfere” with President Obama’s campaign against climate change by Bret Stephens (Wall Street Journal)
• Alex Cohen is ready to jam, block and report: The KPCC host, L.A. Derby Doll and trainer taught Ellen Page, Drew Barrymore and their ‘Whip It’ cast mates how to roll with the punches on the roller derby film. (LA Times)
• Picking through the past: Bluegrass master Ralph Stanley recalls his hardscrabble upbringing and a life in music in the memoir, “Man of Constant Sorrow." “Now some might say the gospel and liquor don’t go together,” he writes, “but they can work fine if you know the proper amounts.” He insists that while he was behind the wheel on long nighttime drives, singing hymns while slowly sipping Jack Daniels helped keep him awake “and probably saved us from many a car wreck.” Sage advice perhaps, though likely to get him on the MADD watch list.” By Dave Shiflet (Wall Street Journal)
• The danger of overconfidence by Malcolm Gladwell (Catalyst)
• Catholic Church welcomes disgruntled Anglicans: Extends a hand to those unhappy with gay bishops, ordained women (Newser)
• The growing move to put a muzzle on Twitter (Globe and Mail)
• For social networks, it’s game on: Quick, simple fun booms on Facebook, MySpace (USA Today)
• From altar wine to beer pong, flu fears curb life’s rituals (NY Times)
  
• Shepard Fairey admits to wrongdoing in Associated Press lawsuit (LA Times)
  
• A thorny history with the cactus: In the early 1900s, gardeners took a shine to the prickly plants, and ‘cactus rustling’ was born. (LA Times)
• Who you gonna call? The ghost-hunting Aykroyds (USA Today)
• The reward of the Tenth Commandment by Rob Bell (Catalyst)
• Artist Shepard Fairey admits using other photo for ‘Hope’ poster (NY Times)
  
• A believer in heroism, to Jews’ lasting gratitude (NY Times)
  
• Parents burning to write it all down (NY Times)
  
• Fashion sellers turn shopping into an event: Retailers large and small are bringing in customers with in-store events: cocktail nights, art shows and movie screenings. (LA Times)
• Entrepreneurs turn to small business centers for free help (USA Today)
• ‘Imagine something more’ to end malaria, bishop says (UM News Service)
• Where home is, the heart isn’t: In small-town America, fulfilling one’s promise too often means leaving—and heading for the big city by Bill Kauffman (Wall Street Journal)
• 10 horror movies for conservatives to watch this Halloween by John Hawkins (Townhall)
• Jack Johnson includes Eddie Vedder, Ben Harper collaborations on ‘En Concert’ (Billboard)
• Feed the world: The situation looks grave. There are 6.7bn people on earth; by 2050 there will be a further 2.5bn mouths to feed, on current growth trends. Nearly 1bn people are already malnourished. Aquifers and rivers have been sucked dry to irrigate parts of the world parched by global warming, and the rich show no sign of relinquishing gastronomic luxuries to alleviate the hunger of others. Rather, as the world’s affluent grow in number, particularly in China, desire for more meat and dairy products has diverted cereals to feed animals, further straining food supply. Volatile oil prices afflict farmers’ bottom lines; and now, with the advent of subsidised biofuels, when oil prices rise, food becomes more attractive as an alternative fuel, leaving less to nourish the poor. (Financial Times)
• Getting real: Australian academics and activists collaborate in a new book to challenge the sexualization of girls. (Mercator)
• ‘Grow your own body parts’ could herald in the age of the active centenarian: Scientific advances including techniques allowing patients to grow new joints inside their own bodies will allow the elderly to remain active well beyond their 100th birthday’s, researchers claim. (Telegraph)