I feel sorry for Ron Howard.

He's just trying to make a movie. He had to secretly send in folks from the crew pretending to be tourists to get pictures of the Sistine Chapel so he could make a set; those mean controlling closed-minded Vatican officials wouldn't let him film within its walls! You'd think there really is a conspiracy they're trying to hide!

After all, there are no books of photographs of Rome. Or the artwork in the Vatican, and they're more protective than the Amish when it comes to images of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. And the skyline of Rome is more closely guarded film than the Zapruder. For sure, there are no websites his staff could have checked. Instead they had to rely on grainy unfocused pictures clandestinely taken with camera phones or the like.

Hm. I guess they didn't have Internet classes in Mayberry.

Is this a first?

Madonna is told "no."

Let me state that I admire the judge's courage. It takes stones to deny the kind of money Madonna has, her legions of aging devotees, etc. But he did it. Good on him.

On the other hand, I don't wish deprivation of any kind on any child in the world, whether from Malawi, Sudan, Vietnam, China or the United States. But if Madonna feels the need to adopt a four-year-old child with troubles, there are thousands--literally THOUSANDS-- here in the United States (hundreds in the Material Girl's home state alone) that won't involve passports and international flights. They would benefit even more from the best therapy money can buy, which she could put at their disposal.
If mere mortals--not million dollar celebrities--have the generosity to do this, why can't she find it in her fifty-year-old soul?

I knew there was some reason I liked Cyndi Lauper better, even 20 years ago.