'Best of TBH Politoons'
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
J.B. Powell: Politics as Cryptography (San Francisco Bay Guardian)
"There's nothing like growing up, going off to college, and discovering that you're of draft age and your government wants to kill you. Not to mention being exposed to ideas beyond what I had learned up to that point, [like] the core concepts of the Enlightenment." - Thom Hartmann
Norman Solomon: Channeling Suze Orman
Sometimes it helps to get some advice on messaging from a pro.
Annalee Newitz: Technology in Wartime
In a time of war you can't enjoy a party game without thinking about your game console being used to kill people.
Jim Hightower: TAKING CARE OF THE SMITHSONIAN (jimhightower.com)
Our national attic is caving in. "America's attic" is the unofficial name of the venerable Smithsonian Institution.
Interview with Jerry Springer (guardian.co.uk)
Q: You're supporting Hillary Clinton for the presidency.
A: She's very ready to be president. It would be a dramatic and positive shift away from Bush. It would do wonders for America's psyche, as well as the world's perception of us, to go from Texas macho to a woman. All that negative reaction we've got for trying to beat up on the world would be dispensed with overnight by a woman president. It would do away with America's glass ceiling.
'If you're going to despair, stop writing' (guardian.co.uk)
He was one of Britain's most shocking, uncompromising playwrights. Then he fell out of favour. But now Edward Bond is back. He grants Michael Billington a rare interview
Rick Press: Years after 'Lebowski', The Dude abides (McClatchy Newspapers; Posted on Popmatters.com)
Unlike a lot of Hollywood actors, my father really encouraged his kids to go into acting because he enjoyed all the aspects of it," Bridges says. "And like most kids, I rebelled against my parents. But he'd say, `Well, you get to get out of school . . `
Luaine Lee: TV adaptations of the classics? No one does it better than Davies (McClatchy-Tribune; Posted on Popmatters.com)
As a teacher, Andrew Davies used to lecture on English literature. Not exactly your bodice-ripping, sword-flashing, adrenalin-pumping subject. But Davies managed to parlay that dry subject into glorious drama with his myriad adaptations of classic novels.
Mikita Brottman: Review of "Sleaze Artists" by Jeffrey Sconce (popmatters.com)
It must surely be daunting for any young film scholar with an interest in trash to come face to face with the volume of academic work that's been done on once-disreputable movies.
Simon Garfield: From student rag to literary riches (guardian.co.uk)
Launched in 1979 under the inspired 'lunacy' of Bill Buford, Granta magazine became the home of vital new writing and launched the careers of some of our greatest novelists. As it celebrates its 100th issue, we ask editors past and present how a tiny Cambridge journal rose to conquer the literary world.
observed:
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Overcast and cool, but no rain - yet.
Scoleded By WGA
Jay Leno
The striking writers union told member Jay Leno on Thursday that he violated its rules by penning and delivering punch lines in his first "Tonight" show monologue in two months on NBC the night before.
The union did not immediately say what, if anything, it intended to do about it.
Meanwhile, viewers thirsting for laughs welcomed their favorites back in their first shows since the strike took them off the air Nov. 5. Late-night leader Leno's "Tonight" show on NBC was seen by 7.2 million viewers while David Letterman had 5.5 million people watch the "Late Show" on CBS. For Letterman, the audience was 45 percent more than his pre-strike average this season; for Leno, it was a 43 percent bump and his biggest audience in two years, Nielsen Media Research said.
At least on opening night, viewers were more intrigued by O'Brien's attempt to navigate without writers than Ferguson's work with his full staff. O'Brien's "Late Night" had 2.8 million viewers, up 37 percent from his pre-strike average, Nielsen said. Ferguson was seen by 2.2 million people, up 28 percent.
Jay Leno
Cannes Film Festival Jurist
Sean Penn
American actor and director Sean Penn will head the awards jury at the Cannes Film Festival this year, organizers announced Thursday.
The festival's 61st edition is scheduled for May 14-25.
"The Cannes Film Festival has long been the epicenter in the discovery of those new waves of filmmakers from all over the world. I very much look forward to participating in this year's festival as president of the jury," Penn said.
Sean Penn
Breaks Chappelle's Record
Dane Cook
Dane Cook broke a Laugh Factory endurance record set less than a month ago by Dave Chappelle.
In what is becoming a heated battle between the two comedians, Cook told jokes at the Sunset Strip comedy club for 7 hours, beating the record Chappelle, 34, set at 6 hours and 12 minutes in December.
Cook went on stage Tuesday and continued until nearly 7 a.m. Wednesday, and at one point even sent out for food to keep the audience fed and happy.
Last April, Cook set a record with an act lasting 3 hours and 50 minutes, breaking a mark set by Richard Pryor in 1980 of 2 hours and 41 minutes. Chappelle broke the record later that month, then broke his own record in December.
Dane Cook
Up For Sale
Weather Channel
The Weather Channel is up for sale by its privately held parent, which is seeking more than $5 billion for the U.S. cable television channel and its Web site, The New York Times said on Thursday.
Media companies such as NBC, a unit of General Electric Co., News Corp, and Comcast Corp are interested in The Weather Channel and its popular Web site, Weather.com, the report said, citing people briefed on the auction.
The report quoted sources as saying the sale was part of a break-up of parent Landmark Communications, a privately held media company based in Norfolk, Virginia. Landmark was not immediately available for comment.
Weather Channel
Donates `Harry Potter' Eyeglasses
Daniel Radcliffe
Daniel Radcliffe, who has captivated moviegoers as the bespectacled schoolboy wizard in the Harry Potter films, has donated the first pair of glasses he wore as a child to an exhibition marking the horrors of the Holocaust.
The British actor joins Yoko Ono, talk show host Jerry Springer, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and other celebrities and members of the public whose spectacles will be linked together in the shape of a railway track - recalling the trains that carried many of the Nazis' victims to concentration camps throughout Europe. An estimated 6 million Jews died.
The exhibition in Liverpool will open Jan. 21. The port city in northwest England will host Britain's Holocaust Day commemorative service on Jan. 27, the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.
The 18-year-old Radcliffe, whose mother is Jewish, sent the oval, gray metal-framed pair of glasses he wore as a 6-year-old.
Daniel Radcliffe
Decade With Priceline
William Shatner
They don't often compete for parts, but William Shatner beat out Bill Cosby for his longest-running role.
Ten years ago, online travel company Priceline.com Inc. narrowed its list of potential spokesmen to Shatner and Cosby. The former Captain Kirk won out because he was more "futuristic," and because "anyone holding a credit card aged 18 to 95 had heard of William Shatner and knew who he was," said Brett Keller, the company's chief marketing officer.
It has been a happy union.
William Shatner
Milwaukee Symphony Music Director
Edo de Waart
Edo de Waart, chief conductor and artistic director of the Hong Kong Philharmonic, was named Thursday as the next music director of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra.
De Waart is to serve as music director designate during the 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 seasons, making his Milwaukee Symphony subscription concert debut in April. He will conduct a minimum of 12 weeks each season starting with 2009-2010 and will have responsibility for the orchestra's artistic profile.
The Hong Kong Philharmonic recently extended de Waart's contract through 2012. He has also been named chief conductor of the Santa Fe Opera.
Edo de Waart
Sues Over Tour
Ne-Yo
Ne-Yo claims he was fired as an opening act for R. Kelly because the audience and critics liked him better.
Ne-Yo, whose real name is Shaffer Smith, and Compound Touring Inc., sued the promoter of R. Kelly's tour, Georgia-based Rowe Entertainment Inc., on Monday in Superior Court. The lawsuit, which alleges breach of contract and violation of the right of publicity, seeks unspecified damages.
According to the lawsuit, Compound Touring and Ne-Yo claim he was to be paid $785,000 for 25 shows and is still owed $735,000. Ne-Yo was scheduled to be the opening act for Kelly's "Double-Up Tour" that began Nov. 14. He was fired after two shows, the lawsuit claims.
Ne-Yo
No Waiver
Golden Globes
The Golden Globe Awards were thrust into deeper jeopardy Wednesday when the striking writers guild refused to negotiate with Globe organizers about staging a picket-free ceremony.
The actors union then said it would advise celebrity nominees and presenters to boycott the show, which is scheduled to be televised Jan. 13 on NBC. That would rob the boozy, informal affair of the star power that makes the Globes the official kickoff to Hollywood's awards season.
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which stages the Globes, had hoped last-minute negotiations with the Writers Guild of America would allow the show to go on. But the guild said Wednesday afternoon that striking writers still intend to picket.
Golden Globes
Gun-Loving Ex-Beauty Queen Law Student
Kumari Fulbright
A law school student and former beauty queen who has posed for a racy calendar while brandishing a weapon has been accused of kidnapping, biting and threatening a former boyfriend with a handgun.
Kumari Fulbright, 25, who is midway through her second year in law school, faces a long prison term if convicted of kidnapping, armed robbery, aggravated robbery and two counts of aggravated assault.
Fulbright, who competed for the Miss Arizona title in 2005 and 2006, recently completed a semester-long unpaid stint clerking for a federal judge, U.S. District Judge Raner Collins, his office said. She also poses wearing a shiny black bikini in a 2008 calendar that features women holding guns.
In the Dec. 18 indictment, Fulbright is accused of holding and torturing her 24-year-old ex-boyfriend in early December with the help of three other men, including another man she had previously dated.
Kumari Fulbright
Guns & Foosball
Steve Holy
Police want the district attorney's office to prosecute two officers accused of holding country music singer Steve Holy and a friend at gunpoint during a game of foosball.
Investigators asked the prosecutor to file misdemeanour deadly conduct charges against officers Randy Anderson, 25, and Paul Loughridge, 48, who were off-duty at the time. Prosecutor Terri Moore said the Dec. 27 confrontation is being reviewed to determine whether more serious charges should be filed.
According to police reports, the four were drinking and playing foosball at about 5:30 a.m. when Anderson began questioning the identity of Holy, whose songs include "Brand New Girlfriend."
Holy and his friend told police that Anderson and Loughridge pointed their guns at them and told them to get on the ground. Before the off-duty officers left, the report says Anderson told Holy that he'd kill him if he said anything.
Steve Holy
Plans For Long Strike
Faux
Fox has tweaked its strike-affected midseason schedule, giving two troubled series, "New Amsterdam" and "The Return of Jezebel James," coveted previews behind ratings juggernaut "American Idol," which returns January 15.
Fox was the first network to rejigger its midseason lineup on November 7, the third day of the Hollywood writers strike, and has made the most dramatic strike-related scheduling move, keeping the incomplete season of "24" on the shelf until next season. Now that the work stoppage is shaping up to be a long one, Fox executives have taken another look at their lineup.
"As we have new information on our needs, we thought it was time to adjust the schedule," said scheduling chief Preston Beckman. "We want to make sure we give all new shows every opportunity to find an audience because we may need them."
Faux
Three Main Musems Post Record Attendance
Madrid
The Spanish capital's three main museums -- the Prado, Reina Sofia and Thyssen-Bornemisza -- received a record number of visitors in 2007 as special exhibits and building extensions drew crowds, figures published Thursday showed.
The Prado museum, which houses works from some of Spain's most important artists such as Velazquez and Goya, said it received 2.65 million visitors last year, a 23 percent increase over 2006.
The Thyssen-Bornemisza museum saw attendance jump 33 percent last year to 978,000 visitors, mostly due to an exhibit dedicated to the works created by Vincent van Gogh in the two months before he committed suicide.
Attendance at the Reina Sofia modern art museum, home to Pablo Picasso's masterpiece "Guernica" representing the destruction of the Basque town in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War, rose 10 percent over 2006 to 1.57 million.
Madrid
Prime Time Nielsens
Ratings
Prime-Time viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen Media Research for Dec. 24-30. Listings include the week's ranking, with viewership for the week and season-to-date rankings in parentheses. An "X" in parentheses denotes a one-time-only presentation.
1. (8) "NBC Sunday Night Football: Tennessee at Indianapolis," NBC, 15.8 million viewers.
2. (X) "NFL Football: New England at N.Y. Giants," CBS, 15.68 million viewers.
3. (X) "NFL Football: New England at N.Y. Giants," NBC, 13.23 million viewers.
4. (13) "60 Minutes," CBS, 12.39 million viewers.
5. (2) "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," CBS, 10.69 million viewers.
6. (12) "Without a Trace," CBS, 10.54 million viewers.
7. (28) "Sunday Night NFL Pre-Kick," NBC, 10.38 million viewers.
8. (X) "Deal Or No Deal," (Tuesday) NBC, 9.78 million viewers.
9. (22) "Amazing Race 12," CBS, 9.69 million viewers.
10. (X) "CSI: NY," (Thursday) CBS, 9.49 million viewers.
11. (X) "Criminal Minds" (Wednesday, 8 p.m.) CBS, 8.97 million viewers.
12. (28) "The OT," Fox, 8.79 million viewers.
13. (X) "Law & Order: Special Victim's Unit," (Wednesday) NBC, 8.69 million viewers.
14. (X) "NBC NFL Pre-Kick" (Saturday) NBC, 7.98 million viewers.
15. (47) "Football Night in America," NBC, 7.72 million viewers.
16. (X) "ABC Sunday Movie Of Week: The Sound of Music," ABC, 7.65 million viewers.
17. (X) "Law & Order: Special Victim's Unit," (Tuesday) NBC, 7.6 million viewers.
18. (18) "Cold Case," CBS, 7.55 million viewers.
19. (X) "Law & Order: Special Victim's Unit," (Wednesday) NBC, 7.53 million viewers.
20. (X) "Fox Movie Special: Christmas With the Kranks," (Wednesday) Fox, 7.24 million viewers.
Ratings
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