Academy Award-winning director Steven Soderbergh's latest film, Contagion, opened recently to rave reviews and even placed second in box office earnings over the past weekend. The film follows the response to a mysterious pandemic as it rapidly spreads across the United States.

While the movie references recent federal emergency failures like Hurricane Katrina and the H1N1 flu scare, federal scientists and bureaucrats are the heroes of the film. The Homeland Security Department (including the Federal Emergency Management Agency), the Defense Department and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention all are featured significantly in the film. Instead of private industry, the aforementioned agencies -- CDC in particular -- do the research and development to defeat the disease. Indeed, by using one of main antagonists of the film as a journalist (Jude Law) trying to sell his own false homeopathic cure to the pandemic, Soderbergh paints the absolute free market approach in a less-than-flattering light.

Much of the film's drama centers around the hard work and devotion to service taken by Dr. Erin Mears (Kate Winslet) and Dr. Ally Hextall (Jennifer Ehle). Mears, a CDC Epidemic Intelligence Service official, travels around the country briefing state and local authorities, as well as helping coordinate quarantines and response. Hextall, a CDC research scientist, is the scientist featured most prominently in the film and is a major heroine in her efforts to develop a vaccine.

Without giving away any major plot points, the film features devoted federal scientists fighting against a hysterically unnerved public, complicated interagency logistics and a mysterious illness. In the current political climate, it isn't often that popular culture lauds the feds as much as Contagion does.

It seems like everybody has been taking shots at "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark," the $65 million extravaganza that is headed for Broadway later this month. Critics have savaged the production, calling it everything from "really, truly horrendously and unfixably bad down to its bones" to "a shrill, insipid mess."

Now who's stepping in to kick the Spider-Man while he's down? The Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The New York Times reports that on Friday, OSHA regulators cited the production for three serious workplace safety violations, proposing a fine of $12,000. They said show employees had been "exposed to the hazards of falls or being struck during flying routines because of improperly adjusted or unsecured safety harnesses." In four separate instances, cast members have been hurt in connection with the flying stunts.

Today, President Obama signed an executive order creating the White House Council for Community Solutions, with the aim of "providing advice to the president on solving specific community needs." The panel, according to the White House, has "three key functions: enlisting leaders in the non-profit, private, and philanthropic sectors to make progress on key policy goals; providing strategic input and recommendations to help the federal government promote greater innovation and cross-sector collaboration; and honoring and highlighting those making a significant impact in their own communities."

The 25-member council includes a wide array of accomplished individuals. But the Washington Post's Ed O'Keefe reports that one name stands out: rocker Jon Bon Jovi. "Looks like all those years of performing for Democratic candidates has paid off," O'Keefe writes.

Of course, who better than the author of such 80s classics as "Livin' on a Prayer," "You Give Love a Bad Name," and "Wanted Dead or Alive" to advise the president on community initiatives? And as for "cross-sector collaboration," this is a guy, after all, who worked together with country star Jennifer Nettles on the crossover hit, "Who Says You Can't Go Home."

Hefty fines levied on professional athletes for various infractions are so routine these days that they almost seem like part of the cost of doing business. In fact, Los Angeles Lakers star forward Lamar Odom thinks that's exactly what they are: legitimate, tax-deductible business expenses. Forbes.com's William P. Barrett reports that Odom is challenging the IRS in federal court over its decision to deny his attempt to deduct $12,000 in fines levied by the NBA from his tax bill for 2007.

Odom also wants to deduct $178,000 he says he spent on efforts to get himself in shape to play basketball.

In a U.S. Tax Court filing, Odom declared that fines imposed on athletes "commonly assessed," "work-related" and "not imposed for the violation of any government law." Therefore, he argued, they are an "ordinary and necessary employee business expense." As for deducting the training expenses, Odom said that was legitimate because his NBA contract requires him to be in top physical condition.

So far, the IRS isn't buying. In a bill sent to Odom after he filed his initial tax return, the agency said, "We have disallowed some of the expenses you claimed as business expenses because it was determined they were personal expenses and not deductible."

Odom may be fighting his tax bill on principle, but he probably doesn't exactly need the money. His court filing puts his gross income in 2007 at $9.3 million.

(Hat tip: ESPN Los Angeles)

Betty White has a lot of different roles these days: movie star, "Saturday Night Live" host and Snickers pitchwoman.

Now she has a new title: Honorary Forest Ranger. In a ceremony at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on Tuesday, Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell bestowed the distinction on her, saying she had "made marvelous contributions to our agency and to the cause of conservation across the United States."

The 88-year-old White, a longtime supporter of wilderness preservation, said she wanted to be a ranger as a girl, but at the time such jobs were closed to women.

"Wilderness is getting harder and harder to find these days on our beautiful planet and we're abusing our planet to the point of almost no return," White said. "In my heart I've been a forest ranger all my life, but now I'm official."

Then she asked if she could wear her new ranger hat to a Kennedy Center event this evening to honor Tina Fey recipient of this year's Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.

Some federal intelligence agents and law enforcement officers are going back to school -- to study paintings. CIA and FBI agents, along with Secret Service officers, are among those who have taken a course called "The Art of Perception" at the Metropolitan Musuem of Art, the Telegraph reports.

Amy Herman, an art historian who teaches the course, says it's valuable to investigators because it "refreshes their sense of inquiry" and improves their ability to characterize what they see.

"Amy taught us that to be successful, you have to think outside the box," says Bill Reiner, an FBI special agent. "Don't just look at a picture and see a picture. See what's happening."

Now this is a government contest: NASA is holding a competition for songwriters to submit original songs to be used as wakeup music for the astronauts on the last two space shuttle missions.

The space agency has a tradition, you see, of playing tunes to rouse astronauts to start their daily work. Usually, friends and family of crew members get to make the selections. There have been some great ones over the years: U2's "Beautiful Day," Rush's "Countdown," and Bruce Springsteen's "Rendezvous." Others are a little on the obvious side: Elton John's "Rocket Man" and the themes from "Star Trek" and "Star Wars." And some, like Metallica's "Enter Sandman," are just head-scratchers. (I guess still others didn't make the list at all because they might have raised some eyebrows--say, David Bowie's "Space Oddity" or the Byrds' "Eight Miles High.")

Of course, you may have different opinions. If so, you're in luck: NASA also is conducting a poll to pick the best songs played on the shuttle over the years. Cast your votes here.

There's a strong case to be made for the spy classic, "If I told you, then I'd have to kill you":

The producers of Transformers 3 may not have received permission from the National Park Service to do stuff like race cars on the gravel paths along the Mall in Washington, but they apparently are coming to do some filming in the city anyway.

The Washington Post reports that the D.C. Office of Motion Picture and Television Development announced Friday that the makers of the film are looking for extras for filming late this summer. No word on exactly where or when.

One question on the application form stands out: "Have you done precision driving?"

National Geographic has a slide show up of vintage National Park Service posters funded by the Works Progress Administration in the 1930s. It includes some real beauties.

Here's my personal favorite (although I may be biased by the fact that I'm a big fan of Montana):

(Hat tip: BoingBoing)