Philip Glass will compose an opera based on the last few months of the life of Walt Disney, Variety says.

The piece, which is commissioned by the New York City Opera, will be performed in collaboration with Britain's Improbable Theater Group.

As is typical with Glass with films like "Koyaanisqatsi," it will take an offbeat approach to the Disney life, telling it though the eyes of a fictional Austrian cartoonist who worked for him. It will be based on Peter Stephan Jungk's German-language novel "The Perfect American."

Hard to say whether Mickey will be making an appearance.

LA Weekly's Patrick Range McDonald brings us this story of Clippers owner Donald T. Sterling's ad in the LA Times (print edition) for a 'hostess'.

From their LA Daily blog:

"I think it was also my resume," Sam said. "I have a lot of business experience. They probably don't like that."

But he does like juries that think chicks that file sexual harassment suits are vindictive bimbos.

Yeah, so there's that.

We know we have readers. We know people come to this site on a regular basis. Lots of 'em actually. But in the past couple of months that Mediabistro has enabled comments, we here at FBLA haven't gotten too many. We have lurkers - not comment leavers. We're fine with that.

That's what tipped us off to the following comments about Mayrav's Joe Francis post this morning. Reader 2567 left this:

The Truth

Francis was sold out

Doesn't make Francis a good guy. Fact: He's a dick.

We shouldn't put dicks in federal prison for being a dick

I know the accountant who punked him. He had a plan, took Joe's shit, and stuck it to him where it hurts.

Joe, you don't deserve this

Really? Joe is a victim? Accountants are known from being vicious. That's why their pockets are often protected.

And Lakeshor left this:

The IRS Gone Wild on Joe Francis The latest high profile victim in the governments war against tax deniers and others that don't pay their fair share. Its is getting tiresome watching the government, using ringleaders (lawyers and accountants) to abuse their clients by giving bad advice and then selling them out for a percentage of the gravy. Of course, do they ever indict the ringleaders?

Really two 'readers' fervently defending a guy who's fellow pornographers think is a scumbag? Serious? Of all the injustices in the world - of all the victims of circumstance - of all the mistreated and exploited - Joe Francis having IRS issues is not one of them. And no fake comments are going to change that fact.

In fact that may make our new gold standard for being a super douche: Get shills to plea your case on the internet.

Bernhoft Law attorneys will make a statement this morning after Girls Gone Wild founder Joe Francis is arraigned in his felony tax evasion case. Robert Bernhoft, the law firm's press release reminds us, "previously obtained acquittals on all felony counts for former IRS investigator Joe Bannister (a trial memorialized in Pulitzer Prize-winning David Cay Johnston's Perfectly Legal).

Though you'll have to wait for mid-morning to get the live statement, you can enjoy the written statements here ... particularly our favorite:

"The truth will reveal that the case against Francis is 'about an accountant who thinks he should be rewarded for his own mistakes, mistakes that will cost Joe millions of dollars. The IRS says the accountant should get millions and Joe prison for mistakes the accountant made and never told Joe he made. That's outrageous.'"

Riiight. Of all the issues about, of and relating to Joe Francis, that's the thing that's outrageous.

continued...

We all knew Ted Haggard was schtuping dudes. He spent WAY TOO much time denouncing the practice. Wendy McCaw, is saying her free speech has been interfered with. Same creepy bait and switch.

She sent this letter to fellow newspaper owners.

Re: Unions Attempting to Take Away Your First Amendment Right to Control the Content of Your Paper

Dear Mr. (Publisher)

As owner and publisher of a small town newspaper (the Santa Barbara News-Press, circulation 35,000), I wish someone had alerted me to the tactics employed by unions as they attempt to organize newsrooms.

One of the tactics employed is to promise your employees that they will enjoy some measure of controlling the content of your paper as long as they join the union. The union promises that content control is a "term and condition of employment" and, therefore, is subject to bargaining. The union never bothers to tell the unsuspecting employees that this promise is empty or that the First Amendment guarantees that the owners/publishers are solely vested with the right to control content. I'd like to share with you what happened at the Santa Barbara News-Press so you can avoid a similar situation at your newspaper.

continued...

Our favorite rich twit to the north is still at it. Yes, Wendy McCaw(ful) has got her lawyers together.

From Barney Brantingham's column at the Santa Barbara Independent:

In spite of two "cease and desist" letters from Santa Barbara News-Press owner Wendy McCaw, producers of the Citizen McCaw documentary say they plan more screenings.

"We are now actively moving forward with plans to show Citizen McCaw again, several times in local theaters in October, after which we will release the film to television," co-producer Sam Tyler said today, June 16.

We prefer our documentaries to be peppered in legal drama and suspense. Can't wait!

Our previous coverage is here, here, here, here and here. And here. And here.

But neither is Disneyland, Universal Studios, Six Flags, Knott's Berry Farm or most of the beach...

Billionaire developer Ed Roski has revealed his plan to lure a team to LA (cough) County with a stadium in the City of Industry. You can look at the plans at his site.

When asked if there is a date for the ground breaking, spokesperson Laura Braden said,"Not yet."

Ahem. Developing...

If you thought you smelled a noxious mix of sulfur and roofies on the breeze last night, that's because Girls Gone Wild CEO Joe Francis returned home from jail.

One of his first acts of bizniz? He called TMZ.

Via Dave Markland, a Hollywood type wants to dress as the 2007 Writer's Strike for Halloween. The handful of suggestions miss the obvious one:

Paradigm has also cut overtime for assistants. Who else is scaling back, thanks to the WGA strike? Got a tip, a story, a rant? Send it to us at fishbowlla@mediabistro.com.