'TBH Politoons'
Thanks, again, Tim!
Reader Recommended Site
from Baron Dave
Here is a fun site that masquerades as a real hospital:
www.rythospital.com
From the first human male pregnancy to the first successful medical
application of nanotechnology, RYT Hospital-Dwayne Medical Center has
dramatically advanced the art, science, and technology of medicine.
TTFN,
Baron Dave
--
////
"With or without religion, you would have good people doing good
things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do
evil things, that takes religion." -- Steven Weinberg, The New York
Times, April 20, 1999.
Thanks, Baron Dave!
The Wall Street Poet
A Call For More Political Poetry
On Americaıs Op Ed Pages
By Michael Silverstein
Why isnıt there more poetry on the Op Ed and opinion pages of this countryıs newspapers?
The answer to this question might seem obvious. Poetry isnıt viewed by newspaper editors (nor by most American poets) as a primary medium of popular political and economic expression. Itıs seen as a way to express personal feelings, and best-suited for the pages of small literary journals. Except for snippets of verse that appear when a new poet laureate is named, and perhaps a cutsie rhyme or two to herald the first day of Spring, opinion pages are poetry deserts.
There is nothing natural about this absence, however. Indeed, from an historical perspective, itıs a fluke.
The first recognized political commentators, the first political talking heads, the first true Op Ed professionals, were bards. Before there was even writing, members of ruling elites never really knew where they stood until the old blind guy with the lyre posted the insiders scorecard in rhyme.
Many of the worldıs greatest poets since that time have turned their talents to verse that would certainly have belonged on Op Ed pages had such structures existed when they wrote. It takes no great effort to list poets whose workin terms of content, contemporary sensibilities and lengthwould have fit perfectly in an Op Ed setting. Percy Shelley, whose ³England in 1819² is a marvelous example of such a work, spoke of poets as being the legislators of the world. In truth, they have far more often functioned as the Op Ed writers of the world.
Until recently, poetry was a standard feature in American newspapers. Some papers even had in-house poets. The most famous was probably Edgar Guest who wrote a daily poem for the Detroit Free Press well into the 1950ıs, and was also widely syndicated. Today, many smaller newspaper and even some national ones (such as the New York Times) still have sections that occasionally run verse.
Poetry on Op Ed pages, however, poetry that regularly speaks about political, economic and social issues of immediate interest to a wide audience, is nowhere to be found. And this is a serious loss to the public. Robert Frost described poetry as ³the best possible way of saying anything.² No one could argue against the need for ³the best possible way of saying anything² on Op Ed pages, where public policies that affect us all are debated and shaped.
To make this possible, two sets of attitudes have to change: poets have to refocus their energies; and Op Ed editors have to view poetry in a different way.
On the poetsı side, we need a lot less of the post-modern, endlessly introspective, culture for the cognoscenti, self-consciously unstructured work that is geared to winning sinecures, juried prizes, and praise from a tight circle of learned professionals. Whatıs needed, in other words, is less Percy Dovetonsils and more Percy Shelley. Whatıs needed is a regular flow of poems about Social Security, the occupation of Iraq, changing tax laws, the current state of political parties, campaign finance reform, pay-to-play government contractingthe gut issues that bring fourth the institutional policies that order public life. We need poetry that enriches national debate, changes points of views, and provides better ways of understanding and altering contemporary political, economic and social realities.
Are there poets in our midst who know enough about such standard Op Ed subjects to discuss them intelligently in verse? Of course there are. Many of the worldıs greatest poets have always had other work lives in government, banks, and even insurance companies where these subjects are day-day-fare. There are also a fair number of people who today write Op Ed pieces in prose who have the ability to write comparable pieces in versepieces that might well be far better because the added discipline of finding the perfect word or phrase to encapsulate a thought within a poetic framework sharpens images and creates more lasting effects on readers. Poetry is inherently more memorable than prose. Thatıs why early professional story teller-commentators worked in verse. Wouldnıt it be nice if some of todayıs Op Ed writers presented their audience with thinking packaged in ways that encouraged verbatim retention for yearsor for always?
On the Op Ed side of things, we need editors who recognize poetry as a real world way to look at the issues covered in their pages. Not something that belongs in what used to be patronizing termed ³the womenıs pages.² Not something that gets slotted in a little Poetıs Cornerı box that gives an occasional nod to the culturally elevated. But as a ongoing flow of pertinent, powerful, incisive, punchy, memorable, timely commentary in verse about nitty-gritty political, economic and social realities of interest to the widest possible audience.
In his poem, ³England in 1819.² Shelley wrote of
from Mark
Another Bumpersticker
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Still much nicer than the seasonal average.
The niece is putting me through my paces. She wanted to go shopping, so putting aside my intense dislike of the sport, we went to the first mall.
Didn't make it through the 2nd mall when it closed - and she wants to go back in the morning.
I'd rather have multiple root canals without drugs, but will probably give in.
Someone who seemed to be seriously under the influence crashed their car out front of the house tonight. He was trying to hang a U-ee in the intersection, but went way too wide & hit a light pole, and then went kitty-corner into a street sign & tree.
The guy was walking in the street, loudly talking & laughing into his cellphone about how he just wrecked his car.
The car was unable to be driven - and in a bit, 4 cop cars showed up. That's when the guy stopped laughing, although he seemed to enjoy the flashing lights.
Tonight, Friday, CBS begins the night with a FRESH 'Joan Of Arcadia', followed by a FRESH 'JAG', then a
FRESH 'The Handler'.
Scheduled on a FRESH Dave are Christina Aguilera and Gary Muledeer.
Scheduled on a FRESH Craiggers are Eliza Dushku and the Bacon Brothers.
NBC opens the night with 'Dateline', followed by a FRESH 'Ed' (starts 1 minute before the top of the hour), then a FRESH
'Third Watch' (starts 1 minute before the top of the hour).
Scheduled on a FRESH Jay is Charlize Theron.
Scheduled on a FRESH Conan are Nathan Lane and Susie Essman.
Scheduled on a FRESH Carson Daly are Mandy Moore, Anthony Anderson, Robert Kelly, Gavin DeGraw, and the Bacon Brothers.
ABC starts the night with a RERUN 'George Lopez', followed by a RERUN 'Married To The Kellys' then a RERUN
'Hope & Faith', followed by a RERUN 'Bonnie', then '20/20'.
Scheduled on a FRESH Jimmy Kimmel are 5-year-old elephant trainer Alexandrea Terranora, with this week's guest co-host Enrique Iglesias.
The WB offers a FRESH 'Reba', followed by a FRESH 'Married To The Kellys', then a FRESH
'Grounded For Life', followed by a FRESH 'Like Family'.
Faux has 'Totally Outrageous Behavior', followed by 'World's Craziest Videos', then a FRESH 'Boston Pubic'.
UPN has the movie 'Gossip'.
Check local PBS for 'NOW With Bill Moyers' - the BEST show on over-the-air TV.
A&E has 'American Justice', 'Poirot', and 'Between The Lines'.
AMC offers the movie 'El Dorado', followed by the movie 'Jaws 2', then the movie 'Prophecy'.
BBC -
[6pm] 'BBC World News';
[6:30pm] 'Cash in the Attic' - Finch;
[7pm] 'House Invaders' - Alvechurch;
[7:30pm] 'Changing Rooms' - Bolton;
[8pm] 'The Thin Blue Line' - The Queen's Birthday Present;
[8:40pm] 'Blackadder' - The Foretelling;
[9:20pm] 'The Office' - Episode 1;
[10pm] 'At Home With The Braithwaites' - Episode 8;
[11pm] 'So Graham Norton' - Dixie Chicks/Ashton Kutcher;
[11:30pm] 'So Graham Norton' - James Van Der Beek;
[12am] 'The Thin Blue Line' - The Queen's Birthday Present;
[12:40am] 'Blackadder' - The Foretelling;
[1:20am] 'The Office' - Episode 1;
[2am] 'At Home With The Braithwaites' - Episode 8;
[3am] 'The Thin Blue Line' - The Queen's Birthday Present;
[3:40am] 'Blackadder' - The Foretelling;
[4:20am] 'The Office' - Episode 1;
[5am] 'At Home With The Braithwaites' - Episode 8; and
[6am] 'BBC World News'. (ALL TIMES EST)
Bravo has 'Inside The Actors Studio' (Kevin Costner), followed by the movie 'No Way Out', and then the movie 'No Way Out', again.
Comedy Central has 'MAD TV', 'Comedy Central Presents', 'Comedy Central Present's, 'Comedy Central Presents', 'Premium Blend', and 'Premium Blend'.
HBO has the 2nd Season Premiere of 'Real Time With Bill Maher' - the live show is at 8pm (est) and replays at 11:30pm (est).
History has 'Modern Marvels', 'Dead Men's Secrets', 'Modern Marvels', and another 'Modern Marvels'.
SciFi has 'Tremors: The Series', another 'Tremors: The Series', 'Stargate SG-1', and 'Code Name: Eternity'.
TCM:
[6am] 'Rasputin And The Empress' (1932) [NOTE: The only film that all three Barrymores {John, Ethel & Lionel} appeared in together] ;
[8:15am] 'Men Must Fight' (1933);
[9:30am] 'Let's Try Again' (1934);
[10:45am] 'Where Sinners Meet' (1934);
[12pm] 'Gaslight' (1940);
[1:30pm] 'The Prime Minister' (1941);
[3:30pm] 'Julius Caesar' (1953);
[6pm] 'The Barretts Of Wimpole Street' (1957);
[8pm] 'The Spiral Staircase' (1945);
[9:30pm] 'The Last Outpost' (1951) [WARNING: stars Ronald Reagan] ;
[11pm] 'Gun Glory' (1957);
[12:30am] 'The Killer Is Loose' (1956);
[2am] 'Grand Illusion' (1937);
[4am] 'So Young, So Bad' (1950). (ALL TIMES EST)
Former President Bill Clinton, gestures while speaking at a news conference regarding the work of the Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2004 in New York.
Photo by Frank Franklin II
The Information One-Stop
Moose & Squirrel
Prepares to Do His GOP Masters' Work
Dennis Miller
Dennis Miller, the liberal-turned-conservative
comedian and defender of President Bush and the war in Iraq, is less
than two weeks away from being the host of a new talk show on CNBC. For
him it can't come soon enough.
His new hourlong show, "Dennis Miller," at 9 p.m. weeknights (with a
repeat of one show on Sunday), will have its premiere on Jan. 26. It
will include his usual venting on current issues, as well as interviews
with political figures, journalists and others, and a nightly
"right-left" debate among figures at different points on the political
spectrum.
For more (if you have a strong stomach) - Dennis Miller
Thanks, Jim K!
Researchers aboard the R/V New Horizon lower a device called a transducer in this undated photo. The device is used to identify the presence and location of whales through the use of low-power, high-frequency active sonar. A federal judge on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2004, ruled to permit continued testing of the experimental sonar system, rejecting a request to ban the research by environmentalists who claimed it harmed marine mammals.
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Supports Clark
Michael Moore
US filmmaker Michael Moore, an outspoken opponent of US resident George W. Bush, has declared his official support for Democratic presidential hopeful Wesley Clark.
"He is clearly the absolute best hope we have of defeating George W. Bush," Moore said on his website in an article entitled "I'll Be Voting for Wesley Clark/Good-Bye Mr. Bush".
"That's right, a peacenik is voting for a general. What a country!" Moore quipped, insisting that Clark would put an end to the war in Iraq, protect the interests of minorities and the working class and ensure that the rich pay their fair share of taxes.
Michael Moore
CBS Refuses Commercials
Super Bowl Ads
U.S. football fans will not see ads featuring scantily clad vegetarians or a political attack on resident Bush during February's Super Bowl after CBS said on Thursday that advocacy advertisements were out of bounds on professional football's biggest day.
The network, over the years, has rejected dozens of advertising proposals by advocacy groups, who argue that the network only airs controversial messages that it agrees with.
Liberal group Moveon.org, known for its Internet funding power, told members this week that it hoped to have the first political Super Bowl ad.
But its hopes were dashed when CBS said the spot, which asks "Guess who's going to pay off resident Bush's $1 trillion deficit?" was an issue piece and could not run.
Super Bowl Ads
UPDATED FOR 2004!
In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends
8 Laurence Olivier Awards Nominations
Jerry Springer
A foul-mouthed opera about Jerry Springer's lurid talk show landed eight nominations Thursday for the Laurence Olivier Awards, Britain's top theater accolades.
"Jerry Springer-The Opera" by British composer Richard Thomas is a profanity-laden show which the real-life Springer has given his full support.
But the show could face tough competition at the awards ceremony on February 22 from two other musicals that have proved box office hits in London: "Ragtime" and "Thoroughly Modern Millie."
Jerry Springer
Fear of mad cow disease hasn't kept customers from eating the deep-fried cow brain sandwiches served Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2004, at the Hilltop Inn in Evansville, Ind. The delicacy is traced back to a time when southern Indiana newcomers from Germany and Holland wasted little. Some families have their own recipes passed down over the generations.
Photo by Daniel R. Patmore
ABC Says Time for Return
Primetime Game Shows
Television network ABC is counting on a primetime quiz show and family-friendly dramas still in development to help lift it from the ratings doldrums, executives said on Thursday.
This spring ABC plans to launch "Deal or no Deal," in which the winning contestant in a quiz bargains for a briefcase that could hold millions of dollars -- or nothing at all -- without knowing what is inside.
The network also will try to lure viewers with shorter runs of shows and fewer repeats. In March it will launch four-episode runs of "Karen Cisco," which was shelved early this year, and a new series "The D.A."
ABC plans to introduce "Stephen King's Kingdom Hospital," a drama about a haunted hospital, in a straight run starting March 3, and it may spawn a returning series this fall when it debuts "Empire" a mini-series about ancient Rome.
Primetime Game Shows
Formerly 'The Vidiot'
Turns 75
Popeye
Popeye the cartoon sailorman who gets his superior punching power by guzzling spinach from a tin can is celebrating his 75th anniversary Saturday.
King Features Syndicate, which owns the rights to Popeye, is planning a yearlong series of events to relaunch interest in the pipe-tooting mariner with the outsized forearms, including a new 3-D animated TV special written by "Mad About You" comedian Paul Reiser.
This weekend in New York City, the Empire State Building plans to shine its tower lights green from sundown to midnight "in honor of Popeye's enormous love of spinach," according to King Features.
Popeye began life in 1929 in the popular "Thimble Theatre" comic strip as a limited story line guest. He graduated to movie shorts, many by the renowned animator Max Fleischer.
Popeye
Claudia Magalhaes, a teacher's assistant at the Federal University, arranges a model of the Amazonsaurs maranhensis dinosaur in Rio de Janeiro, January 15, 2004. Federal University researchers said they found 110 million-year-old remains of a new genus and species of dinosaurs in the Amazon forest, in northern Brazil. The fossils show that the herbivorous Amazonsaurus was about 10 meters long and weighed about 10 tons, making him one of the smallest sauropods, as well as the oldest found in Brazil.
Photo by Bruno Domingos
Court Rules In Internet Dispute
Playboy
A U.S. appeals court ruled on Wednesday that Playboy Enterprises Inc.'s trademark terms "playboy" and "playmate" should be protected even in Internet searches that prompt pop-up advertisements.
In 1999, Playboy sued Excite Inc. and Netscape, which used Excite technology, claiming the Internet companies had infringed the trademark on "playboy" and "playmate."
Playboy objected to the inclusion of those two terms in a list of 400 words, many of them explicit sexual expressions, that would trigger sex-oriented banner ads unrelated to Playboy but not identified as sponsored by others.
In its decision, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals -- which first heard the case on Sept. 11, 2001 -- found that a lower court wrongly decided the case against Playboy and sent it back for reconsideration.
"The above evidence suggests, at a minimum, that defendants do nothing to alleviate confusion, even when asked to do so by their advertisers, and that they profit from confusion," Thomas Nelson wrote for the three-judge panel.
For a lot more, Playboy
In Memory
Molly Kelly
Molly Kelly, who as a child trekked 1,000 miles across the Australian desert to return to her Aboriginal mother in a journey that inspired the 2002 movie "Rabbit-Proof Fence," has died. She was thought to be 87.
Kelly was about 13 when she, her little sister and a cousin made the nine-week journey with little food and water. When her story came out decades later, she became a symbol of Aborigine resilience in the face of mistreatment by Australia's European settlers.
Kelly died Tuesday in the western Australian town of Jigalong while taking an afternoon nap, news reports said Thursday. Her death was confirmed by relatives.
In 1931, Kelly was taken from her mother and sent to a government institution to be trained as a domestic servant along with her sister and cousin.
Thousands of such forced separations created what are now known as Australia's "stolen generations." The policy aimed at assimilating Aborigines into mainstream society began in 1905 and continued until 1971.
The three girls immediately fled the institution. Kelly decided that since Jigalong was on a rabbit-proof fence intended to stop the spread of the imported animals they could follow the fence north to their home.
They crossed a flooded river, sand dunes, a desert and a salt lake. They slept in hollowed-out rabbit burrows and ate sweet potatoes and wild bananas. Nine weeks after they began, they made it home.
"She was a person that was utterly willful, who decided she would not be dictated to, took on the whole state apparatus and managed to win," said Christine Olsen, the screenwriter of the film.
Kelly's daughter, Doris Pilkington Garimara, learned of the story and wrote it down only after she was reunited with her mother more than 20 years after she also was taken away by authorities.
"She was so very strong, so determined, a no-nonsense kind of person. Everybody in the community respected her for that," Garimara told the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper. "Mum's legacy is the calming influence and quiet dignity of the desert women, and the stolen generations story. She looked you straight in the eye."
While many members of the "stolen generations" have reunited with their families, some will never know their real relatives. The Australian government has refused to formally apologize for the policy, fearing lawsuits.
Philip Noyce, the film's director, plans to return to Jigalong, on the edge of the Gibson desert, to pay his respects, the Australian Associated Press reported Thursday.
Funeral arrangements for Kelly were not immediately released.
Molly Kelly
In Memory
Uta Hagen
Uta Hagen, the actress whose brutal, braying performance of Martha in the original production of Edward Albee's "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" galvanized Broadway in the 1960s, has died. She was 84.
Hagen died Wednesday at her Manhattan home, said Barnetta Carter, managing director of the HB Studio, an acting school the actress helped found. She had been in poor health since suffering a stroke in 2001.
The actress was a versatile performer, at home not only in Shakespeare, Chekhov and Shaw, but in plays by Albee, Clifford Odets and Tennessee Williams. Hagen also was a dedicated acting teacher, writing a well-regarded acting textbook and operating the HB Studio for decades with her husband, Herbert Berghof.
Hagen made few movies, the best known being "The Other" (1972), "The Boys From Brazil" (1978) and "Reversal of Fortune" (1990), and when "Virginia Woolf" was filmed, the roles of Martha and George went to Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burto. Her real passion was the stage.
Hagen was known say exactly what she thought, sparing no one, including herself.
She knew she wanted to be an actor at the age of 9 when she saw "Saint Joan," a role she later played.
Hagen's first Broadway production was "The Seagull" in 1938 with Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne.
Hagen met her first husband, Jose Ferrer, while acting opposite him in "The Latitude of Love" in Ridgefield, Conn. She later appeared with him on Broadway in "Othello," with Paul Robeson as the title character, Ferrer as Iago and Hagen as Desdemona.
They were married for a decade and had a daughter, Leticia Ferrer. They were divorced in 1948.
After World War II, the politically outspoken Hagen was blacklisted and acting jobs became scarcer.
Hagen taught at HB Studio, a performing arts training school, from 1947 until her health began failing. She married cofounder Berghof in 1951; he died in 1990. Among the studio's alumni are Geraldine Page and Fritz Weaver.
In addition to her daughter, Hagen is survived by a granddaughter and a great-granddaughter.
Uta Hagen
A statue of a moose decorated with a clip of movie film and sunglasses to greet visitors to the 2004 Sundance Film Festival, Janaury 15, 2004 in Park City, Utah. The festival opens January 15 with a gala screening of the film 'Riding Giants' by director Stacey Peralta about big wave riding surfers. The festival is backed by actor Robert Redford and his Sundance Institute for film studies.
Photo by Fred Prouser
'The Osbournes'
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