It Was 20 Years Ago Today...
David Letterman
If it wasn't for the presence of Regis Philbin, you might not realize that Friday's show marks a milestone for David Letterman.
It will be 20 years to the day since Letterman made his late-night debut, as host of ``Late Night'' on NBC. He moved to CBS in 1993.
Letterman, who rarely gives interviews, will probably mention it only briefly Friday. There will be no prime-time anniversary special.
Yet he can't hide Philbin - who has become something of a milestone man on Letterman's ``Late Show.'' When Letterman
announced he had to undergo heart surgery two years ago, it was on the air to Philbin, and he was also there for Letterman's
first day back following his recovery.
Philbin was also the first person Letterman traded jokes with during his first show after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
It will be Philbin's 61st appearance on ``Late Show,'' second only to Tony Randall's 70.
Although he's won four straight Emmy Awards, Letterman is still second banana to NBC's Jay Leno in the late-night ratings.
Leno averages 6 million viewers this season on the ``Tonight'' show, down from 6.3 million a year ago,
according to Nielsen Media Research.
His contract with CBS expires this summer, and a spokesman said Letterman is in discussion with the network on another deal.
David Letterman
Silly Link
How To Diaper A Monkey (Really)
How to diaper a monkey
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Watched part of 'Friends' and part of 'Bob Barker'. I remember Bob Barker from the old, old
'Truth or Consequences' (with Buelah, the Buzzer), and also as a contestant (with his late wife Dorothy Jo)
on the late Bert Convey's 'Tattletales'. Barker was whipped! Dorothy Jo only ever called him 'Barker'.
Saw some of 'Just Shoot Me'...why is Ray Liotta shooting his career in the foot?
Caught the end of 'Rose Red'....ewwwwww.
Tonight, Friday, CBS starts the evening with a retrospective of old Super Bowl commercials, then
'First Monday', and then a 'Friday Night Super Bowl Bash'...lot of hoopla for the channel that ain't
carrying the big game. Also....tonight is 'Dave's' 20th Anniversary.
NBC has a fresh night with 'Providence', 'Dateline' & 'Law & Order: Special Victim Unit'.
ABC has a rerun of 'Funniest Home Videos', then more 'funny' commercials, followed by '20/20'.
The WB has a fresh night with 'Sabrina', 'Raising Dad', 'Reba', and 'Maybe It's Me'.
Faux has 'The Chamber' listed, and then a fresh 'Dark Angel'.
UPN has a movie - 'Under Siege'.
Anyone have any opinions?
Or reviews?
(See below for addresses)
#47 Watch?
Chelsea Clinton
Chelsea Clinton has found love and happiness at Oxford University - thanks to a fellow American student who is star of
the University's soccer team.
The ex-president's daughter has fallen for Ian Klause, 22, a Rhodes scholar like her father. They have become inseparable
over the past few weeks, walking the streets arm in arm and kissing and giggling together in student bars.
She met Klause last semester through a group of U.S. students who began hanging out after Sept. 11 because they felt
victimized by British students who did not support the U.S. war on terrorism.
Klause, who is pursuing a history degree at Jesus College, lives a short walk from Chelsea's room at the historic
University College, which her dad attended 33 years ago.
Chelsea took Klause to meet her parents at a Red Cross ball in London in December.
Chelsea Clinton
Freshly Updated!
Watergate v. Enron!
The official BartCop Astrologer, Geneva, always has something interesting to read!
Mr. Cottage Cheese
Russell Crowe
Russell Crowe, likely to earn a third straight Oscar nomination as best actor, also will make his third appearance as
a presenter at this year's Academy Awards.
Last year, Crowe won the best-actor Oscar for ``Gladiator.'' The year before, the 37-year-old actor was nominated for
``The Insider.''
He probably will be nominated again for ``A Beautiful Mind,'' in which he stars as Nobel Prize-winning mathematician
John Nash, who struggled with schizophrenia. The role earned Crowe a Golden Globe this month.
Russell Crowe
On Comedy Central & TVLand
``Heroes of Black Comedy''
Comedy should be funny. That's something everyone can agree on.
But where does the funny come from? Ah, that's a tougher nut to crack, even for the ``Heroes of Black Comedy'' profiled
by Comedy Central in its five-part tribute.
Verdict: Comedy, especially when it comes from the mouths and experiences of a put-upon minority, can be instructive,
painful, angry, conciliatory, shocking, redemptive, empowering. (Or, as Freud might have said, sometimes a joke is just a joke.)
Pegged to Black History Month, Comedy Central's docu-series ably examines the role of humor in framing black life for
black audiences as well as outsiders.
Along the way, it pays homage to some influential black comics, beginning Monday at 10 p.m. EST with Chris Rock,
then continuing with the self-billed ``Original Kings of Comedy,'' who consist of Hughley as well as Steve Harvey,
Bernie Mac and Cedric the Entertainer (Feb. 11); Whoopi Goldberg (Feb. 18); Hip Hop Comedy (Feb. 25); and the
incomparable Richard Pryor (March 4).
Also this month, TV Land is airing its own tribute to black performers. ``African Americans in Television'' focuses
on variety Friday at 9 p.m., then drama on Feb. 15 and comedy on Feb. 22.
``Heroes of Black Comedy''
Singing National Anthem At Super Bowl
Mariah Carey
Singer Mariah Carey holds a football at a news conference featuring the pre-game entertainers for Super Bowl XXXVI
in New Orleans January 31, 2002. Carey will sing the national anthem before the game.
Photo by Joe Skipper
Portraying Morton Downey, Jr?
Steve Buscemi
Hey, Steve Buscemi - how would you like to play Morton Downey Jr.?
Buscemi - the goggle-eyed actor seen in such movies as "Fargo," "Armageddon" and "Trees Lounge" - is one of several
names "being thrown around" to play Downey in a new made-for-TV movie, says the movie's producer, Chip Miller.
Other actors whom the producers would like to contact for the role are Bill Paxton, star of "Twister" and "A Simple
Plan"; Dylan McDermott of "The Practice"; CBS sitcom star Ray Romano; and Will Ferrell of "Saturday Night Live."
Titled "Loudmouth," the movie will begin in 1980 with the funeral of Downey's famous father, Irish tenor Morton
Downey Sr., although most of the telemovie will focus on Downey Jr.'s short but incendiary reign as the nation's
most-talked-about TV personality. His infamous talk show, originating from WWOR/Ch. 9 in Secaucus, ran from late
1987 until early 1989.
The movie is being produced by Fox Television, a unit of Twentieth Century Fox that produces made-for-TV movies,
under the supervision of the unit's top exec, David Madden.
Steve Buscemi
Returning To Waycross
Ossie Davis
Actor, director and screenwriter Ossie Davis is returning home to Waycross to see a stage performance of ``Purlie
Victorious,'' a play he wrote and directed in 1961 about the civil rights movement in south Georgia.
The 84-year-old is scheduled to attend the Waycross Area Community Theater's performance of ``Purlie Victorious''
on Feb. 14, following a reception at the Waycross Rail Depot downtown.
The play, which is Davis' most critically acclaimed dramatic work, is dedicated to his father, Kince Davis, and to
his father's longtime friend, Ananias Fluker, who was active in the civil rights movement and the Waycross business community.
Davis was born in Cogdell, a former turpentine camp west of Waycross and north of Homerville. But his grandparents
raised him in Waycross.
Ossie Davis
BC Entertainment Favorite Link
Woman With A Real Goal?
Pamela Anderson
Former ``Baywatch'' beauty Pamela Anderson said on Thursday she would like to retire from acting within two years
and maybe perform as a stripper on boyfriend Kid Rock's concert tours.
Anderson, 34, who has been dating the Detroit rocker, 31, since last April, made the comments on syndicated TV news
magazine Extra, which will air the two-part interview on Friday and Monday.
``Within a couple of years, I am just going to bow out,'' Anderson said. ``I have a stripper pole in my bedroom. I was
thinking that I would just take pole dancing lessons and go on the road with Kid Rock.''
Anderson said that Kid Rock, whose real name is Bob Ritchie, ``is the best person I have ever met. He's got the whole
thing. He's the rock star, father, lover, sweetheart.''
Pamela Anderson
Must Be Close To Groundhog Day
Al Gore
Al Gore is coming out of the wilderness. The man who lost to George W. Bush in 2000 looks like he might want to try
again in 2004.
The former veep has formed a political action committee — Leadership 2002 — to raise money and campaign for Democratic
candidates this year.
He's also due to poke his head into the political sunshine on Saturday, Groundhog Day, when he speaks to Tennessee
Democrats in his first major address since his campaign concession.
Although he won more popular votes than Bush, many still hold him responsible for blowing it last time.
Al Gore
The Village Idiot?
Mike Medavoy
Mike Medavoy is taking credit for what may be the single stupidest decision in Hollywood history. In his new
memoir, "You're Only as Good as Your Next One," the former chairman of Sony's TriStar Pictures recalls
his early career as an agent.
He dumped Steven Spielberg as a client.
Before Spielberg began his success streak, Medavoy told the young director, "Your career is doomed, and I can't
represent anyone whose career is going to be over before it gets started. I'm giving you to someone else in the agency."
"No, wait," Spielberg protested, "you can't do that. How would you like that done to you?"
And with that, Medavoy deposited the baffled Spielberg in front of fellow agent Dick Shepherd's office ... and
has been regretting it ever since.
Mike Medavoy
Fun Link
Lego 'Lord Of The Rings'
Lord Of The Rings In Legos
Honorable Daughter
Freddie Fender
Musician Freddy Fender has been released from a San Antonio hospital following kidney transplant surgery a week ago.
Fender, the 64-year-old two-time Grammy Award winner, underwent the two-hour surgery at University Hospital Jan. 24.
He was released on Wednesday.
Marla Huerta Garcia of Jacksonville, Fla., Fender's 21-year-old daughter, donated one of her kidneys for her father. She
was released from the hospital on Sunday.
Fender, whose real name is Baldemar Huerta, is known for the 1970s hits ``Before the Next Teardrop Falls'' and ``Wasted
Days and Wasted Nights.''
Freddie Fender
Fuller's Earth & 'Planet Of The Apes'
Jeffrey Clark
A background actor from last summer's "Planet of the Apes" movie accused the filmmakers of harming him and hundreds
of others with dust used in a climactic desert fight scene.
Jeffrey Clark seeks unspecified damages from studio Fox Entertainment Group for alleged fraud, battery, conspiracy
and negligence, according to the proposed class-action lawsuit filed Tuesday.
About 80,000 pounds of Fuller's Earth, a sedimentary clay used for absorbing chemicals and oils, were tossed into the
air with giant wind machines during the production, the lawsuit said.
Extras involved in the scene - a battle between human slaves and their ape rulers - were exposed to the dust for
hours at a time without breathing masks, according to the lawsuit.
Limited exposure to the clay is not dangerous except for those with chronic asthma or other respiratory ailments. Fuller's Earth
is also used in some cat litter and oily skin health treatments, and the dust is not toxic unless previously used to soak up a poison.
Clark alleges he was exposed to the dust for 10 to 12 days at six or eight hours at a time. He and other extras were paid about $8 an hour.
Fuller's Earth
Updated (Nearly) Daily!
BartCop TV!
Left $50 Million For Kids!
Herb Block, Philanthropist
Herb Block, the famous editorial cartoonist for The Washington Post, left $50 million to create a philanthropic foundation
when he died in October, according to the group's new president.
The size of the endowment shocked and surprised some of Block's friends who weren't aware he was that wealthy. His money was
largely from Washington Post stock.
The foundation will focus on helping children get a quality education, improving Washington communities and encouraging
young editorial cartoonists.
Herb Block, Philanthropist
Watch Your Vocabulary!
Penis Is A Bad Word?
The Federal Communications Commission has slapped KNDD-FM with a $14,000 fine for "willfully and repeatedly broadcasting
indecent language" last spring on the Seattle station's morning show hosted by Andy Savage.
The commission, acting on a listener complaint, cited broadcasts on May 30 and June 1, 2001, in which Savage and
others on the show discussed whether a male sex organ "could be used to lift or pull objects." The morning show
staff then decided to give away concert tickets to listeners who agreed to appear in the studio and pull objects in such a manner.
Steve Oshin, Seattle vice president and market manager for Entercom Communications Corp., which owns and operates
KNDD-FM, said the company is discussing the matter with its lawyers; Entercom has the option of appealing the fine.
Oshin said this is the first such FCC "notice of apparent liability" in Entercom's history.
The FCC said the material meets the tests of being explicit and patently offensive, meant to titillate or shock
and broadcast at a time there was a reasonable risk that children might have been listening.
The case also comes as the FCC is asking stations to voluntarily keep tapes, or airchecks, of its shows. But one
radio industry analyst wonders how willing stations will be to do so, given that such tapes do little to help and,
given this case, could be used against them; listener complaints without tapes or transcripts are much more difficult to verify.
Penis Is A Bad Word?
From BartCop & Scrodd
The Bush Rap (Sheet)
The Bush Rap (Sheet)
$65,000 Per Day!
Katie Couric
The perky "Today" host called in sick Tuesday morning, forcing producers to have Ann Curry fill in.
But what a difference a few hours makes. On Tuesday night, Katie seemed in fine form as she joined boyfriend Tom
Werner in Boston for a party honoring the new owners of the Red Sox.
Smashingly dressed in a sleeveless black cocktail dress and ruby-colored pumps, she mingled among 800 guests, posed
for pictures and appeared to be having a grand old time.
With Katie earning about $65,000 a day under her new contract, her sick days are very expensive for the network.
"Today" spokeswoman Alison Gollust said Katie - who worked Monday, skipped Tuesday, then returned to the airwaves
yesterday - has been sick with the flu for several days.
But she decided to attend the party after "feeling better" following more than a day of rest, Gollust said.
Katie Couric
Waste & Mismanagement
The Louvre
The artworks may be beautiful, but what happens behind the scenes at the Louvre Museum is something of a mess, according
to a report issued Thursday by France's state auditors.
Waste and mismanagement are disrupting the show for some of the millions of visitors to the famed museum in Paris, the
report by the Cour des Comptes suggests. The report was part of a more than 800-page study of the entire public sector.
The report said the world's biggest museum doesn't know how many works of art is has, how many people work there or how
much time employees spend on the job. Some workers habitually take extra days off or go on coffee breaks that last
for hours, according to the report.
The Louvre's director admitted there were problems, saying they stemmed from the museum's complicated management and
financial structure, which he said is being reformed.
The Louvre
From France
Elephant Wedding
Mariage D'elephants En Thailande
Cérémonie de mariage entre deux éléphants dans un parc animalier de la province d'Ayutthaya, en Thaïlande. Un éléphant
du zoo privé d'Ayutthaya se mariera deux fois et s'accouplera trois fois dans deux zoos différents lors de la prochaine
Saint Valentin.
Photo by Sukreee Sukplang
Elephant Wedding
The Ever-Fabulous Cindy Adams
401 K's & Enron
The disenfranchised 401(k)'s who bet it all on Enron and lost it all isn't even the tip of the iceberg. Billions more
were totted up in one 60-page brief filed yesterday.
For instance, the state of Georgia's pension funds include $127 million worth of Enron investment. Ohio, $114 million.
Washington $42 million. Alabama $47 million. The University of California fund which invests monies for retired teachers
has a $144 million loss. Labor unions - as for example, the Teamsters - over $100 million. California's Public Employee
Retirement Fund (Calpers) estimates its loss at $100 mil.
Florida, $300 million. A group of three states collectively - $330 mil. Other losses like private asset management
funds, mutual funds owned by the public including the Alliance Group, number in the tens of millions.
New York City pension funds, which feather the futures of retired public employees - firemen, policemen,
uniformed services - out $110 million.
Per one lawyer involved, "So far we know it's well over $1 billion in losses."
The Ever-Fabulous Cindy Adams
Another Barrymore
Michael Barrymore
Troubled television comedian Michael Barrymore will return to British TV screens in February for the first time
since a drowning death at his home shattered his personal life, an ITV spokeswoman said Thursday.
Barrymore, who was treated at a rehabilitation clinic in Arizona last year following the man's death in his swimming
pool, will star in a new quiz program, ``My Kind of Music,'' beginning Feb. 10, the spokeswoman told Reuters.
He has won numerous television awards, but tabloids pounced after he admitted his homosexuality in a 1995 interview.
Barrymore later divorced his wife and then ``married'' a man in Hawaii in 1999.
Another Barrymore
Moonlighting As A Musician, Again
Bruce Willis
Like the ordinary guy in extraordinary circumstances he plays on film, Bruce Willis fronted a crackerjack band of bluesmen at B.B. King's Tuesday.
Moonlighting again as a musician, the 46-year-old actor looked biker chic in leather, Ray-Bans and a longshoreman's cap.
During the show, he changed hats like a millinery Madonna, and when his shaved noggin was lidless, he often
scratched his head like an ancient James Dean as he griped that love stinks and getting old is a bummer. Basically, the guy had
the blues, but that made sense, considering it was a blues show.
Willis is not a singer by any account. "I know I can't f - - - ing sing," he sputtered to cheers near the close of the show.
Instead, he wailed in a back-of-the-throat shouting style that works best on raw, simple Delta blues. When he sang, he put
on the ugly face that meant, "Don't bother me now, I'm singing."
As the evening played on, his voice flagged, getting weaker and more off-key. The cavalry rode to the rescue in the form of opening
act Ivan Neville, who plays a mean organ and has a voice similar to his dad Aaron's but with a little more grit, which allowed
it to dovetail nicely with Willis'.
Bruce Willis
Long time ago, I had a couple of engcounters with Mr. Willis, and his then-unseemly behavior. Let's just say
the johnny-mop in my bathroom is still called 'Mr. Willis'.
'Bob Woodward vs. John Belushi and Me'
Michael Dare
Michael Dare - 'The Life and Death of Captain Preemo'
Deja Vu All Over Again?
Stephen King Retiring?
Is Stephen King REALLY going to retire?
The author recently stated that he had five more books to write and then, ``That's it. I'm done.''
``You get to a point where you get to the edges of a room, and you can go back and go where you've been and basically
recycle stuff,'' said King, whose many best sellers include ``Bag of Bones,'' ``Dreamcatcher'' and ``Hearts in Atlantis.''
``You can either continue to go on, or say I left when I was still on (the) top of my game. I left when I was still
holding the ball, instead of it holding me.''
His comments appeared in Sunday's Los Angeles Times.
But King, 54, has said he'd quit before and since 1997 has included a message on his official Web site. Under a link
for ``The Rumors,'' King addresses the question, ``Is it true that he has retired?''
``That hasn't happened yet,'' he responds. ``There are still books coming out through both Scribner and Pocket Books
and plans to complete The Dark Tower series, so there will be new books for several more years to come.''
Stephen King Retiring?
Official Stephen King Web site
Engagement News
Mary J. Blige
Mary J. Blige told The Associated Press on Wednesday that she got engaged to her boyfriend, whom she prefers to
keep out of the spotlight, over the holidays.
She hasn't set a wedding date, but said that when she does, it will be ``no big wedding. It will be a small
wedding with just real friends and family. The industry is not going to know about it, the press is not going
to know about it.'' The marriage will be the first for the 31-year-old.
Blige will perform at the Super Bowl on Sunday, then heads out on tour.
Mary J. Blige
Fun Link
Death & Legos
Death & Legos
Great Ring!
Shoshanna Lonstein
Shoshanna Lonstein has found happiness after Jerry Seinfeld. The funnyman's former girlfriend said yes when
boyfriend Joshua Gruss proposed last weekend in Vermont.
Gruss, 28, should keep her very comfortable. Besides being an investment banker, he's the son of financier Martin
Gruss. (Martin's wife, Audrey Gruss, another social lion, is a Lincoln Center board member.)
Lonstein, 26, was sporting an eye-catching sparkler yesterday during her regular style segment on the "Today" show.
P.S.: "Seinfeld" obsessives should check the profile of Larry David, who helped create the show, in the March issue
of Esquire. David, the neurotic's neurotic, recalls that he was so "emotionally ill-equipped to handle" the sitcom's
success that he prayed every season that either NBC or Seinfeld would put an end to the series.
Shoshanna Lonstein
In Barcelona
Rodney Mack
Spanish police on Thursday said they exchanged blows with a prominent American trumpet player who they mistakenly thought was a con man.
Police said they thought Rodney Mack, the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra's lead trumpet player and a cousin of celebrated jazz
musician Wynton Marsalis, fit the description of was a suspect they were looking for because of his height and his race. Mack is black.
Mack told the New York Times he was so badly beaten in the incident two weeks ago that he will not be able to play with the
orchestra at Carnegie Hall Friday night.
Mack said he received blows to the legs, buttocks and back. He was quoted in Thursday's Times as saying he also received a
mouth injury that prevented him from participating in the orchestra's world tour. He plans to sue police for assault and wrongful arrest.
Barcelona police spokeswoman Vanesa Garcia said the officers confused Mack with the con man. Mack had rented a Mercedes
from the same rental car agency as the wanted man. ``Logically, the police thought Mack was the criminal,'' Garcia said.
Mack, 34, told the Times he thought he was being mugged and had shouted, ``Take my wallet! Take my wallet!'' in Spanish
and English during the attack Jan. 15. He said the plainclothes police officers did not identify themselves or speak
as they approached him that night.
Rodney Mack
A Very Special Bonus
From BartCop
Special Bonus From BartCop
Face Tightening
Greta Van Susteren
Greta Van Susteren is taking no chances now that she's going up against her old colleagues at CNN. The new star
of Fox News has had an eyelift, a Fox spokesman confirms.
The anchor, 47, has been wearing sunglasses since having the operation a few weeks ago, but she's due to appear
on Fox on Monday, as planned. Trouble is, Fox took promotional photos of her before the procedure,
so she may have to pose again.
Greta Van Susteren
Fun Link
Lego Bible Stories
Lego Bible Stories
Wedding News
Elle Macpherson
Australian supermodel Elle Macpherson is set to marry for the second time after becoming engaged to her partner of six
years, French-Swiss banker Arpad Busson, Australian media reported on Friday.
Macpherson, 37, known as ``The Body,'' was photographed at an exhibition opening at London's National Portrait Gallery this
week wearing a large engagement ring.
Her manager, Stewart Cameron, confirmed to The Daily Telegraph that the couple became engaged during a holiday in the Bahamas
on January 9. No wedding date has yet been set.
Macpherson, born Eleanor Gow, was married previously to photographer Gilles Bensimon, who was 20 years her senior. They
married when she was 20 but split up after three years.
Australia's best-known model, who once enrolled to study law in Sydney, has built a successful business out of her fame,
launching her own lingerie range, fitness videos and range of other merchandise.
Elle Macpherson
In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends
'Rhoda' Vs. 'Short Stuff', Part 2
SAG Re-Elections
With less than two weeks before ballots go out for the Screen Actors Guild's (SAG) election rerun, the mudslinging
has resumed between presidential candidates Melissa Gilbert and Valerie Harper.
The union's elections committee earlier this month tossed out the results of November's ballot, which Gilbert won,
due to rule violations by SAG staff and polling administrator Sequoia Voting Systems.
Gilbert had challenged the decision, even though she is allowed to remain interim president, but the union's national
board on Monday let it stand.
``Valerie Harper cannot accept that she lost, and her friends wanted to give her a second chance,'' proclaimed
the http://www.Unitedscreenactors.com site.
Harper's http://Actorsmovingforward.org site stresses that the two other members of her slate -- secretary Elliott
Gould and treasurer Kent McCord -- joined her in challenging the election results despite their wins in the invalidated
election because of ``serious'' mistakes in the process.
The Harper site message concludes with a reference to Gilbert's 1989 violation of SAG's ban on non-union work
and refers to her ``interim'' status.
``The past union history of this interim president suggests that her dedication to the principles of unionism
may be far from ideal for these dangerous times,'' it said.
SAG Re-Elections
''Bong Hits 4 Jesus''?
Juneau, AK
Two students have been suspended from Juneau-Douglas High School after being in a group that unfurled a banner
reading "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" as the Olympic torch passed the school last week.
One of the suspended students says his free speech rights were violated when school administrators confiscated the
banner and disciplined him. School officials say the banner was displayed during a school activity, thus falling under school control.
Last Thursday, as the torch passed the high school on Glacier Avenue, senior Joseph Frederick and a group of about
20 other students and nonstudents standing across the street from JDHS unfurled a 15-by-3-foot white paper banner
with their message emblazoned in duct tape.
High school officials took the banner down and took disciplinary action against some members of the group. Frederick
said he and one other student in the group received suspensions; Frederick's was for 10 days.
Frederick said the group displayed the banner - whose content was gleaned from stickers seen on cars and
snowboards - to see how people would react and as a test of their First Amendment rights.
Frederick said the group specifically went off school grounds to display the banner. In addition, Frederick said
that given the composition of the group and the fact that he had not been in school that morning due to car trouble
in the snow, he did not consider the group to be part of a school activity.
JDHS Principal Deb Morse said even though the banner was displayed off school grounds, it was removed and the students
disciplined because watching the torch relay "was a school activity. It was sanctioned by the school that students
could be out (to watch the torch pass)."
''Bong Hits 4 Jesus''?
Brazilian Fashion Show
Huh?
A model wears this creation as part of Sommers' 2002 Autumn-Winter high fashion collection at Sao Paulo Fashion
Week, January 31, 2002. Brazil's largest annual fashion show runs until February 1.
Photo by Paulo Whitaker
Don't Mount Them!
Freeze-Dried Pets
In the back corner of Mac's Taxidermy shop, Christine Pinkowicz-Craig's pet pug, Pogo, sits frozen inside a machine that looks like a refrigerator.
"He's coming along nicely," said Mike "Mac" McCullough, the shop's proprietor and one of few taxidermists in the country willing
to freeze-dry people's expired pets. "They're coming back to get him in a couple of weeks," McCullough said over
the slow drip and hum of the machine.
For pet lovers like Pinkowicz-Craig, freeze-drying has become an attractive option for preserving their departed pets and being
able to keep them around the house.
The procedure entails freezing an animal, carefully posing it and slowly vacuuming away the moisture in a climate-controlled
machine. It differs from conventional taxidermy, in which a trophy kill is skinned, gutted and boned and the hide
stretched over an artificial form.
The freeze-dried pet remains intact and stays its original size but weighs about 80 percent less than it once did. It
requires little maintenance, other than an occasional fluff and spritz of cedar residue to maintain gloss and deter bugs.
The work is less labor-intensive than traditional taxidermy, but many taxidermists dislike the idea of freeze-drying pets,
in part because it is seen as a departure from the purer traditions of the craft. It's also more expensive.
McCullough started experimenting with freeze-drying about five years ago when a friend asked if he could do something
with her poodle. Now he says his three freeze-driers are almost always full even though he turns away thousands of
dollars in business each week from bereaved pet owners across the country.
"I have to mount five deer heads to make the same amount of profit I make off one pet," said McCullough, who does most
of his freeze-drying work on cats and dogs - although one person brought in a cockatiel.
Freeze-Dried Pets
Mac's Taxidermy
National Taxidermists Association
Barbeque Out Of Control
Cat?
More than 400 Cambodians were left homeless when a roasted cat caught fire,
sending flames shooting through a village of wooden shacks, police said Thursday.
The fire, which destroyed 62 houses, was started by a young man who tried
to cook a dead cat in central Kompong Chhnang province Tuesday afternoon.
No one was killed or injured, said provincial police official So Sam An.
``Witnesses said a young man killed a cat and put it on a fire to roast. A few minutes later a blaze erupted
inside the house,'' So Sam An told Reuters by telephone.
``The suspect liked to eat cat meat while drinking wine with his friends.''
A Roast Cat?
In Memory
Harold Russell
Harold Russell, who received two Academy Awards for his sensitive portrayal of a wounded veteran in ``The Best
Years of Our Lives'' after losing his hands in World War II, has died. He was 88.
Russell, who rarely acted again but used his celebrity to push for the rights of the disabled, died of a heart attack Tuesday at a
nursing home in Needham, Mass., his family said Thursday.
Russell joined the U.S. Army on Dec. 8, 1941, the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor, as an instructor in the parachute corps.
He was working as an explosives expert in 1944 when a defective fuse exploded a charge of TNT he was holding as he instructed a
demolition squad at Camp Mackall, N.C. Both hands were amputated.
Russell, who had hooks to replace his hands, was featured in an Army documentary, ``Diary of a Sergeant,'' on the rehabilitation of an amputee.
Though Russell didn't say a word in the film, producer Sam Goldwyn saw it and wanted Russell to play Homer Parrish in ``The Best Years of Our Lives.''
The 1946 film won seven Academy Awards, including best picture, best director for William Wyler and best actor for Fredric
March. It also starred Myrna Loy. The film depicted how WWII veterans coped with the aftermath of the war and their return
to changed families and community.
Russell actually received two Oscars for the film: one as best supporting actor, and a second, special Oscar for ``bringing
aid and comfort to disabled veterans through the medium of motion pictures.''
``It is not what you have lost but what you have left that counts,'' he wrote in his 1949 autobiography, ``Victory in My
Hands.'' It told of his struggle to recover physically and psychologically from his wounds, and to use the hooks that
replaced his hands. He became so adept in their use that he liked to joke he could do anything but pick up a dinner check.
Russell made few other movie appearances. His first role after ``The Best Years of Our Lives'' was 1980's ``Inside Moves.''
He also appeared in the Vietnam War television series ``China Beach.'' His last film role was in 1997's ``Dogtown.''
In August 1992, Russell sold his supporting-actor Oscar, saying he needed the money to pay his wife's medical bills and
other expenses. An anonymous buyer paid $60,500, including a 10 percent commission for the auctioneer, an autograph dealer.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences opposed the sale and offered to loan money to Russell.
Then-Academy president Karl Malden said the statuettes ``should not become objects of mere commerce.''
Russell responded: ``I don't know why anybody would be critical. My wife's health is much more important than sentimental
reasons.'' He was paid $10,000 for his role in the movie and received no residuals.
``The movie will be here, even if Oscar isn't,'' he said.
Russell was born in 1914 in Nova Scotia, Canada, and the family later moved to Cambridge, Mass. He got a business
degree from Boston University after the war.
His survivors include his daughter; a son, Gerald Russell; four grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
Harold Russell
Previous Issue
BartCop Entertainment Archive
Home
Return to BartCop
"Management reserves the right to edit, yada yada."
''You send it to me, it's mine.''
