'TBH Politoons'
Thanks, again, Tim!
Reader Link
'Vixen Love'
A couple of computer programmers wrote a 'bot' that runs on AOL's IM
messaging program. They then record and post the logs of guys trying to have
cyber sex with the bot. You just gotta see it.
Bob W
from Mark
Another Bumpersticker
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny & breezy.
Every time there's a new virus on the loose, my mailboxes get clogged, so if you send something & it bounces, try again in a while.
Put up a page with the Oscar Nominations a couple of days back but kept forgetting to mention it.
The grocery strike/lock out is now in its 4th month, with no end in sight and it sucks. General grocery shopping has become a 3rd world experience - you never know what will be in the (non-locked out) stores, and most of the time, what you wanted isn't there.
Tonight, Friday, CBS opens the night with a RERUN 'Joan Of Arcadia', followed by a RERUN 'JAG', then
a RERUN 'The Handler'.
On a RERUN Dave are Nathan Lane and Ruben Studdard.
Scheduled on a FRESH Craiggers are Jeff Probst, Donna D'Errico, and Travis.
NBC starts the night with 'Dateline', followed by a FRESH 'Ed' (starts 1 minute before the top of the hour), then a RERUN
'Third Watch' (starts 1 minute before the top of the hour).
Scheduled on a FRESH Jay are Sofia Coppola, Arsenio Hall, and Kelly Clarkson.
On a RERUN Conan are Zach Braff, Billy Connolly, and the Brian Setzer Orchestra. (R)
Scheduled on a FRESH Carson Daly are Ben Affleck, Bonnie Hunt, Amazing Kreskin, Mitch Hedberg, Juvenile, and Fun Lovin' Criminals.
ABC begins the night with a RERUN 'George Lopez', followed by a FRESH 'Married To The Kellys', then a
RERUN 'Hope & Faith', followed by a FRESH 'Bonnie', then '20/20'.
Scheduled on a FRESH Jimmy Kimmel are Nick Lachey, Warren Sapp, and Shelby Lynne, with this week's guest co-host Fred Willard.
The WB offers a FRESH 'Reba', followed by a FRESH 'What I Like About You', 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 'The Cell'.
Check local PBS listings for 'NOW With Bill Moyers', the BEST show on over-the-air TV.
A&E has 'American Justice', followed by the made-for-tv-movie 'Columbo: Butterfly In Shades Of Grey', then 'Between The Lines'.
AMC offers the movie 'Nevada Smith', followed by the movie 'Thunderball', then the movie 'American Werewolf In Paris'.
BBC -
[6pm] 'BBC World News';
[6:30pm] 'Cash in the Attic' - McCann;
[7pm] 'House Invaders' - Crosby;
[7:30pm] 'Changing Rooms' - St. Leonards;
[8pm] 'The Thin Blue Line' - Honey Trap;
[8:40pm] 'Blackadder' - The Archbishop;
[9:20pm] 'The Office' - Episode 3;
[10pm] 'At Home With The Braithwaites' - Episode 2;
[11pm] 'So Graham Norton' - Liza Minelli;
[11:30pm] 'So Graham Norton' - Kelly Osbourne;
[12am] 'The Thin Blue Line' - Honey Trap;
[12:40am] 'Blackadder' - The Archbishop;
[1:20am] 'The Office' - Episode 3;
[2am] 'At Home With The Braithwaites' - Episode 2;
[3am] 'The Thin Blue Line' - Honey Trap;
[3:40am] 'Blackadder' - The Archbishop;
[4:20am] 'The Office' - Episode 3;
[5am] 'At Home With The Braithwaites' - Episode 2; and
[6am] 'BBC World News'. (ALL TIMES EST)
Bravo has 'Inside The Actors Studio' (Gene Hackman), followed by the movie 'Good Will Hunting', then the movie
'Good Will Hunting', again.
Comedy Central has 'MAD TV', 'Comedy Central Presents' (Don 'D.C' Curry), 'Comedy Central Presents' (Patrice O'Neal), 'Comedy Central Presents' (Carlos Mencia),
'Comedy Central Presents', 'Comedy Central Presents', and 'Comedy Central Presents'.
History has 'Modern Marvels', 'Dead Men's Secrets', 'Tiger Attack!', and 'Modern Marvels'.
SciFi has 'Tremors: The Series', another 'Tremors: The Series', 'Stargate SG-1', and 'Code Name: Eternity'.
TCM:
[6am] 'Mystery Street' (1950);
[8am] 'Westward The Women' (1951);
[10am] 'The Merry Widow' (1952);
[12pm] 'Sombrero' (1953);
[2pm] 'The Student Prince' (1954);
[4pm] 'Trial' (1955);
[6pm] 'The Swan' (1956);
[8pm] 'The Rag Man' (1925) SILENT ;
[9:15pm] 'Misty' (1961);
[11pm] 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang' (1968);
[2am] 'Rocco and His Brothers' (1960) [ AKA: Rocco e i suoi fratelli ];
[5am] 'Screenings: Anthony Quinn' (1999). (ALL TIMES EST)
Actress Selma Hayek examines an exhibit titled 'Beyond Graffiti', Thursday, Jan. 29, 2004, at an art space called 'Headquarters' in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles. The exhibit is in honor of the disappeared and murdered women of Juarez Mexico.
Photo by Ric Francis
The Information One-Stop
Moose & Squirrel
Big-Screen Adaptation
'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'
Hip-hop artist/actor Mos Def, Zooey Deschanel and Martin Freeman ("The Office") are thumbing a ride with "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," a big-screen adaptation of the cult hit novel by Douglas Adams.
Mos Def will play Ford Prefect, an alien disguising himself as an out-of-work actor who sets out on an intergalactic journey with his best friend, mild-mannered earthling Arthur Dent (Freeman). The duo hitch a ride through space with the two-headed president of the galaxy, the beautiful and brilliant scientist Trillion (Deschanel) and a depressed robot while on a quest to discover the meaning of life.
The Disney/Spyglass project begins shooting in April in London under director Garth Jennings. Adams, who died in 2001, adapted his novel for the screen. After his death, Karey Kirkpatrick came aboard for a rewrite. The cult hit "Hitchhiker's Guide" began as a radio series and launched a book series, television series and video game.
'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'
Hosting Scientific & Technical Awards Oscars
Jennifer Garner
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced Thursday that "Alias" spy-babe Jennifer Garner will host the Scientific and Technical Awards on Feb. 14 at the Ritz Carlton Huntington Hotel in Pasadena.
The Valentine's Day event takes precedes the overall Oscar ceremony on Feb. 29. Garner will appear on the ABC telecast two weeks later to introduce a run-down of the sci-tech honorees.
Scientific and Technical Awards are presented by the Academy for devices, methods, formulas, discoveries or inventions of special and outstanding value to the arts and sciences of motion pictures.
Jennifer Garner
Ian Anderson, the frontman of Jethro Tull plays flute during his concert in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Thursday Jan. 29, 2004.
Photo by Kamran Jebreili
'CtrlAltDelete' Inventor
David Bradley
David Bradley spent five minutes writing the computer code that has bailed out the world's PC users for decades.
The result was one of the most well-known key combinations around: CtrlAltDelete. It forces obstinate computers to restart when they will no longer follow other commands.
Bradley, 55, is getting a new start of his own. He's retiring Friday after 28 1/2 years with IBM.
Bradley, whose name was once mentioned as a clue in the final round of the TV game show "Jeopardy," will continue teaching at N.C. State University after retirement.
"After having been the answer on final 'Jeopardy,' if I can be a clue in 'The New York Times' Sunday crossword puzzle, I will have met all my life's goals," Bradley said.
David Bradley
Increase Twice as Fast as Inflation
Cable Rates
Cable rates have risen more than twice as fast as the rate of inflation during the past decade despite competition from direct-broadcast satellite services, the FCC said Wednesday.
According to the Federal Communications Commission's 10th annual competition report, cable rates increased about 53.1% from 1993-2003, while the consumer price index rose 25.5%. Between June 2002-June 2003, cable prices rose 5.1% compared with a 2.1% increase in the overall CPI, the report said.
While cable costs have risen, the number of video channels and other services that cable operators offer also has increased, the FCC said. Cable operators claim that the rate increases are necessary to cover programming and labor costs.
Cable Rates
In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends
Quits Disney Talks
Pixar
Pixar Animation Studios Inc.said on Thursday it ended talks with Walt Disney Co to renew a lucrative movie distribution deal that has resulted in such blockbusters as "Toy Story" and "Finding Nemo."
Pixar, the computer animation pioneer founded by Apple Computer Inc.'s Steve Jobs, said it would look for another studio partner to distribute its films starting in 2006, when its current deal with Disney expires.
The move was an unexpected blow to Disney, which reaped a financial bonanza and critical acclaim from the partnership and has struggled with its own strategy for animation.
Many observers had expected Pixar and Disney, headed by Chief Executive Michael Eisner, to keep talking at least until the middle of this year and to eventually reach a deal since both had gained so much from their partnership.
Pixar
Chef Wolfgang Puck applies a gold dusting to the special dessert he has created for the Governor's Ball following the 76th annual Academy Awards, during a press preview of the ball's menu and decor in Hollywood January 29, 2004. The dessert features spun sugar, chocolate cake topped with a gold dusted chocolate oscar shaped cookie. The Academy Awards will be presented in Hollywood February 29.
Photo by Fred Prouser
Recuperating From Pneumonia
Tony Randall
Tony Randall is recuperating from pneumonia following bypass surgery in December, his publicist said Thursday.
Randall, 83, best known as Felix Unger of the 1970s sitcom "The Odd Couple" with Jack Klugman, underwent bypass surgery at an undisclosed hospital shortly before Christmas, said his spokesman, Gary Springer.
"It was extremely successful. Doctors were very, very pleased," he said. "But then he developed pneumonia, and he's still recuperating."
Doctors decided it would be better for Randall to recover at the hospital than at home, where he has two children, ages 4 and 6, said Springer.
Randall is working from his hospital bed, said Springer, planning for the National Actors Theatre's annual benefit on April 19. He is the theater's founder and artistic director.
Tony Randall
National Actors Theatre
Statue Stolen
Yoda
Someone lifted a 170-pound bronze statue of Yoda, the "Star Wars" Jedi master.
The theft from a flatbed truck was reported to police last weekend and artist Lawrence Noble, 55, of Crestline has offered a $1,000 reward for its return. The limited-edition bronze is worth up to $20,000.
The statues were being transported from Artworks Foundry in Berkeley to DKE Enterprises in Los Angeles to be sold, Noble said. Lucasfilm Ltd. commissioned the statues, a part of a planned series featuring other "Star Wars" characters.
Yoda
Actor Sued By Studios
Carmine Caridi
Two major movie studios sued an actor and longtime member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences who allegedly leaked "screener" copies of movies that were then reproduced and distributed on the Internet.
Columbia Pictures Industries and Warner Bros. filed the lawsuits against Carmine Caridi, a 20-year Academy member who has appeared in The Godfather: Part II and NYPD Blue.
Caridi, 70, has told investigators he sent VHS copies of about 60 movies he received each year to his Illinois friend, 51-year-old Russell Sprague, who used a software program to convert the VHS tape into DVD format and then sent the original tapes back to Caridi, authorities said.
Warner Bros. seeks damages of a minimum of $150,000 for each infringing use of its releases The Last Samurai and Mystic River. In a separate complaint, Columbia is asking for its choice between actual damages or $150,000 for each infringing use of Something's Gotta Give and Big Fish.
Carmine Caridi
Formerly 'The Vidiot'
Released From Prison
James Brown
James Brown was released from jail Thursday on a domestic violence charge and was told not to contact the wife he's accused of pushing to the floor.
The 70-year-old Godfather of Soul, who had been arrested the previous day at the couple's Beech Island home, denied the charge at a brief hearing.
Brown's attorney Jim Huff said the charges won't affect the state pardon the singer received in May. The pardon was for a 1988 drug and assault conviction, for which he spent 2 1/2 years in jail, and a second drug-related offense in 1998.
Last month, Brown was honored at the Kennedy Center as "one of the most influential musicians of the past 50 years."
James Brown
A researcher sticks a protest note which reads 'No research, No future' on an advertising board with the image of scientist Albert Einstein, during a protest march in Marseille, January 29, 2004. More than 5,300 leading French scientists have threatened to resign unless the government increases the country's research budget, unblocks frozen funds and reverses big cuts in jobs available to postgraduates.
Photo by Jean-Paul Pelissier
Another Conservative, Another Show
Larry Elder
Radio veteran Larry Elder's long-in-the-works syndicated TV talk show will premiere in September, executives behind the project said Wednesday.
The show has been licensed to the Viacom Television Stations Group, which comprises the CBS and UPN outlets.
Elder, who is described as a conservative libertarian, hosts a four-hour talk radio block on KABC-AM in Los Angeles. His TV show will be a focus on "relatable topics in a responsible, compelling manner," according to an announcement.
Larry Elder
Typeface Non Grata
Courier New 12
In a sign that no matter is too small to affect international diplomacy, the US State Department has issued an edict banning its longtime standard typeface from all official correspondence and replacing it with a "more modern" font.
In an internal memorandum distributed on Wednesday, the department declared "Courier New 12" -- the font and size decreed for US diplomatic documents for years -- to be obsolete and unacceptable after February 1.
"In response to many requests and with a view to making our written work easier to read, we are moving to a new standard font: 'Times New Roman 14'," said the memorandum.
There are only three exceptions to the draconian new typographical rules: telegrams, treaty materials prepared by the State Department's legal affairs office and documents drawn up for the president's signature, it said.
The memorandum offered no explanation for the exceptions, leaving foreign service officers to speculate as to whether the White House, US treaty partners and telegram readers are not yet able to handle the change.
Courier New 12
Hit Pedestrian
Robin Givens
Actress Robin Givens struck and critically injured an 89-year-old pedestrian in a crosswalk, police said Thursday.
Givens, a star of the 1980s TV comedy "Head of the Class" and the ex-wife of boxer Mike Tyson, struck Maria Antonia Alcover with her sport utility vehicle Wednesday as the elderly woman was crossing a busy intersection during rush hour, police spokesman Delrish Moss said. Police have ruled it an accident.
Givens, 39, of New York, was issued a traffic summons for failing to use due care when a pedestrian is in the crosswalk. Police said she was traveling with two boys, ages 4 and 10.
Robin Givens
Explodes on Street
Decomposing Whale
The decomposing remains of a 60-tonsperm whale exploded on a busy Taiwan street, showering nearby cars and shops with blood and organs and stopping traffic for hours, local newspapers said.
The 56-foot dead whale had been on a truck headed for an autopsy at a university earlier this week, when gases from internal decay caused its entrails to explode in the southern city of Tainan.
The whale had died after it was beached on the southwestern coast of the island.
Decomposing Whale
There are pictures - maybe tomorrow...
Top 15 Programs
Basic Cable Networks
Rankings for the top 15 programs on basic cable networks as compiled by Nielsen Media Research for the week of Jan. 19-25. Each ratings point represents 1,084,000 households. Day and start time (EST) are in parentheses.
1. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Monday, 8 p.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.8, 4.07 million homes.
2. "Monk" (Friday, 10 p.m.), USA, 3.6, 3.93 million homes.
3. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Monday, 7:30 p.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.2, 3.45 million homes.
4. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Monday, 7 p.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.2, 3.44 million homes.
5. "State of the Union Analysis" (Tuesday, 10:05 p.m.), Fox News Channel, 3.2, 3.44 million homes.
6. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Monday, 6:30 p.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.2, 3.43 million homes.
7. (tie) "State of the Union 2004" (Tuesday, 9 p.m.), Fox News Channel, 3.1, 3.34 million homes.
7. (tie) "WWE Raw Zone" (Monday, 10 p.m.), Spike, 3.1, 3.34 million homes.
9. "Newlyweds: Nick & Jessica" (Wednesday, 10 p.m.), MTV, 3.1, 3.33 million homes.
10. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Monday, 8:30 p.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.0, 3.3 million homes.
11. "Fairly Odd Parents" (Sunday, 10:30 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.0, 3.26 million homes.
12. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 9:30 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.0, 3.23 million homes.
13. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Monday, 6 p.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.0, 3.2 million homes.
14. "Real World XIV" (Tuesday, 10 p.m.), MTV, 2.9, 3.18 million homes.
15. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Monday, 5:30 p.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.9, 3.18 million homes.
Basic Cable Networks
Old Hollywood
Ann Miller Funeral
Stars of 1930s and 1940s Hollywood rose for a standing ovation after a funeral Mass for actress and fast-tapping dancer Ann Miller, who died last week of lung cancer.
Anne Jeffries, Esther Williams, Ann Rutherford and others said they would remember Miller's charm, glamour and flamboyance. Actor Morgan Woodward noted Miller's collection of dozens of fur coats.
"She dressed like a star. She lived like a star," longtime Paramount producer A.C. Lyles said in a eulogy Wednesday at St. Mel Catholic Church in Woodland Hills, which was decorated with red and yellow roses.
"She could move like a gazelle, could dance faster than a dervish," Woodward added. "All with a gorgeous figure and the best-looking legs."
Monsignor Padraic Loftus, who baptized Miller shortly before she died, said, "What a way to spend a life — bringing joy and happiness to millions of people."
Ann Miller Funeral
In Memory
Eddie Clontz
Eddie Clontz, who for 20 years was considered king of the supermarket tabloids as editor of the Weekly World News, died Monday of diabetes, according to the Florida Cremation Society. He was 56.
Clontz left the Lantana-based tabloid three years ago.
As editor of the Weekly World News, Clontz announced that Elvis was still alive, reported that a dozen U.S. senators were from another planet, found the lost continent of Atlantis near Buffalo, N.Y., and uncovered a "bat boy" living in a West Virginia cave.
Clontz remade the Weekly World News into what he called "the last true tabloid in America," with dubious tales like: "BLIND MAN REGAINS SIGHT AND DUMPS UGLY WIFE!"
Clontz's impact on pop culture showed up in television shows like "X-Files" and movies like "Men in Black," which both suggested that the News' wildest tabloid tales were real. The tale of Bat Boy became a popular Off-Broadway musical.
Eddie Clontz
A camel sits on a pickup truck with sheep and a girl before leaving Samawa, southern Iraq, for the desert January 29, 2004. The nomads will spend several months in search of better grass for the sheep.
Photo by Kimimasa Mayama
'The Osbournes'
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