Samplers of the world rejoice: in my own mind, recognition is the key to the sampling issue. I’m very glad to hear a judge agrees: A federal judge in Nashville has issued the first major ruling in a massive lawsuit over royalties related to rap artists’ sampling of music recorded …

The freaking Dutch government collapses: The Dutch government collapsed Wednesday as the fledgling party of murdered anti-immigration populist Pim Fortuyn imploded less than 100 days after storming into a center-right coalition. The three-way government of Christian Democrats (CDA), VVD Liberals and the Pim Fortuyn List (LPF) crumbled after a bitter …

Well, sort of.

Sir, just how badly do you want to see the World Series? Since the 14,000 tickets set aside by the ball club are expected to sell out in a matter of minutes this morning, fans who aren’t so lucky will have to turn to alternative sources for seats. Buyers and …

Do not mess with George Lucas, or he will fry your ass: A 30-year-old former employee of “Star Wars” creator George Lucas’ northern California facility has been arrested for allegedly stealing images, storyboards and video files from “Star Wars: Episode II — Attack of the Clones,” including, according to the …

For this year’s National Book Awards nominations and bios, please see here and here. The Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters this year will go to Philip Roth, one of America’s most acclaimed and inventive authors, whose prolific publishing history over six decades has achieved both best-seller status and …

See here for National Book Awards finalists announcement and bios of the Young People’s and Nonfiction authors. Here are the Poetry and Fiction bios: FINALISTS FOR THE 2002 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR POETRY Harryette Mullen, Sleeping with the Dictionary (University of California Press) Inspired by acrostics, anagrams, and puns; a …

The National Book Foundation announced the finalists for the National Book Awards today: THE 2002 NATIONAL BOOK AWARDS FINALISTS YOUNG PEOPLE’S LITERATURE M.T. Anderson, Feed (Candlewick Press) Nancy Farmer, The House of the Scorpion (A Richard Jackson Book/Atheneum Books for Young Readers) Naomi Shihab Nye, 19 Varieties of Gazelle: Poems …

EarthLink to sell blogging tools: EarthLink plans to sell Trellix Corp. site-creation software and newly developed weblogging (aka blogging) tools. Companies can use the tools to create blog pages that include news, facts, lots of opinion, and links to related resources. EarthLink hasn’t disclosed pricing, but Trellix marketing director Matthew …

The sordid, bifurcated life of Bob Crane comes to the big screen. I loved Hogan’s Heroes as a kid: I didn’t much care that a comedy about prisoners of war in WWll was in preposterous bad taste. The fantasy that the prisoners were actually empowered by their situation was the …