'Best of TBH Politoons'
Thanks, again, Tim!
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Still sunny, breezy & a bit brisk (for these parts).
Went to the farmer's market, then stopped by Reptiles Unlimited to pick up fresh crickets for Jo, the (remaining) lizard.
We're officially into 'science project' season.
Tonight, Friday, CBS opens the night with a FRESH 'Joan Of Arcadia', followed by a FRESH 'JAG', then a
FRESH 'The Handler'.
Scheduled on a FRESH Dave are Hilary Swank, classical piano prodigy Chloe Pang, and Todd Barry.
Scheduled on a FRESH Craiggers Elvis Costello, Scott Stapp, Five for Fighting.
NBC starts the night with 'Dateline', followed by the Season (Series?) Finale of 'Ed' (starts 1 minute before the top of the hour), then a FRESH
'Third Watch'.
Scheduled on a FRESH Jay are Naomi Watts and Annie Lennox.
Scheduled on a FRESH Conan are Drew Barrymore, Paul Rudd, and the Walkmen.
Scheduled on a FRESH Carson Daly are Jeff Garlin, Sara Foster, Jonatha Brooke, Living Colour, Demetri Martin.
ABC begins the evening with a FRESH 'George Lopez', followed by a RERUN 'George Lopez', then a
FRESH 'Hope & Faith', followed by a RERUN 'Hope & Faith', then '20/20'.
Scheduled on a FRESH Jimmy Kimmel is Kenny Chesney, with this week's guest co-host Kathie Lee Gifford.
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', 'World's Craziest Videos', and 'That's Just Wrong'.
UPN has the movie 'The Astronaut's Wife'.
Check local PBS listings for 'NOW With Bill Moyers'.
A&E has 'American Justice', 'Cats!', and 'Between The Lines'.
AMC offers the movie 'Prophecy', followed by the movie 'Beneath The Planet Of The Apes', then the movie 'Escape From The Planet Of The Apes'.
BBC -
[6pm] 'BBC World News';
[6:30pm] 'Cash in the Attic' - Hayes: Barbour;
[7pm] 'Parkinson' - Sting, Sarah Ferguson, and Eddie Izzard;
[8pm] 'The Thin Blue Line' - Rag Week;
[8:40pm] 'Blackadder' - The Queen of Spain's Beard;
[9:20pm] 'The Office' - Episode 4;
[10pm] 'At Home With The Braithwaites' - Episode 3;
[11pm] 'So Graham Norton' - Johnny Knoxville;
[11:30pm] 'So Graham Norton' - Natasha McElhone;
[12am] 'The Thin Blue Line' - Rag Week;
[12:40am] 'Blackadder' - The Queen of Spain's Beard;
[1:20am] 'The Office' - Episode 4;
[2am] 'At Home With The Braithwaites' - Episode 3;
[3am] 'The Thin Blue Line' - Rag Week;
[3:40am] 'Blackadder' - The Queen of Spain's Beard;
[4:20am] 'The Office' - Episode 4;
[5am] 'At Home With The Braithwaites' - Episode 3; and
[6am] 'BBC World News'. (ALL TIMES EST)
Bravo has 'Inside The Actors Studio' (Drew Barrymore), followed by the movie 'To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything', then the movie 'The Rocky Horror Picture Show'.
Comedy Central has 'MAD TV', 'Ray Romano', 'Comedy Central Presents' (Gregg Rogell), 'Comedy Central Presents' (Eddie Brill), 'Comedy Central Presents' (D.C. Benny',
and 'Comedy Central Presents' (Frank Caliendo).
HBO has 'Real Time With Bill Maher' Live at 8pm (est), and a RERUN at 11:30pm (est).
History has 'Modern Marvels', 'Dead Men's Secrets', 'Heavy Metal', and 'Modern Marvels'.
SciFi has 'Tremors: The Series', another 'Tremors: The Series', 'Stargate SG-1', and 'Code Name: Eternity'.
TCM - Day 6 of '31 Days of Oscar™', where every movie is either an Oscar™ winner or nominee.
[6am] 'Bachelor Mother' (1939);
[7:30am] 'The Narrow Margin' (1952);
[8:45am] 'Monsieur Verdoux' (1947);
[11am] 'Citizen Kane' (1941);
[1pm] 'Man Of A Thousand Faces' (1957);
[3:15pm] 'Action In The North Atlantic' (1943);
[5:30pm] 'Destination Tokyo' (1943);
[8pm] 'Sleepless in Seattle' (1993);
[10pm] 'Splash' (1984);
[12am] 'Operation Petticoat' (1959);
[2:15am] 'The Lady Eve' (1941);
[4am] 'Rebel Without a Cause' (1955). (ALL TIMES EST)
Former heavyweight boxing legend Muhammad Ali and his daughter IBA super middleweight champion Laila Ali, wave to the crowd below after they unveiled a new giant three-paneled wallscape in Harlem neighborhood of New York, Thursday, Feb. 5, 2004.
Photo by Ed Bailey
The Information One-Stop
Moose & Squirrel
'Friend of the U.N.'
Drew Barrymore
Actress Drew Barrymore became on Thursday the first person to be named "A Friend of the U.N." by a new organization called "Artists for the U.N."
Artists for the U.N., a partnership between the United Nations and Global Vision for Peace, hopes to encourage artists "to support the ideals, vision and mandate of the United Nations" in seeking global solutions to world problems, according to its organizers.
As part of its program, 30 to 40 actors and entertainment executives will be wearing a "Dove of Peace" pin to the Feb. 29 telecast of this year's Academy Awards, organizers said.
Drew Barrymore
Stage Protests at Hutton Report
BBC Staff
BBC employees took to the streets on Thursday to vent their anger over a damning judicial report that forced the resignation of the broadcaster's two top officials.
Bearing banners saying: "Hands off the BBC" and "No Political Influence," staffers at BBC offices throughout Britain rallied in support of former Director General Greg Dyke and urged the broadcaster to resist pressure from government.
Cars driving by honked their horns in support.
"These are protests, not strikes -- we're not in conflict with BBC management," said Jeremy Dear, general secretary of the National Union of Journalists, which helped to organize the protests.
"But we will be loud and vocal. We want the BBC's governors and senior management to join with us in defense of the BBC in the face of government attack."
The Hutton report's exoneration of government and excoriation of the BBC has prompted a backlash in the UK, with many supporters of the BBC complaining of a whitewash.
BBC Staff
Snowboarder Hurt During Letterman Stunt
Tara Dakides
A snowboarder performing a stunt for David Letterman's late-night TV show veered off a ramp on a Manhattan street and fell 25 feet to the ground Thursday, witnesses said.
The 30-year-old woman was hospitalized in stable condition, a fire department spokesman said.
Witnesses said the woman, whose name was not immediately released, made two successful jumps on the U-shaped ramp, set up outside the Ed Sullivan Theater, and then fell off the ramp after landing a third time.
Tara Dakides
Visitors are dwarfed by a huge snow sculpture of New York Yankees' slugger Hideki Matsui sitting in a New York scenery including the Miss Liberty at the Sapporo Snow Festival in Sapporo, northern Japan, Thursday, Feb. 5, 2004. With the security measures tightened up this year because of the dispatch of Japanese troops to Iraq mostly from this northernmost island, millions of visitors are expected to show up to the annual festival.
Photo by Kazuyuki Matsumura
Quits Reality TV Show to Avoid Winning
John 'Johnny Rotten' Lydon
British punk rock icon John Lydon -- Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols -- quit in the middle of a reality TV show on Thursday, saying it was the only way he could save himself from the anarchist's worst nightmare: winning.
Lydon, 47, who helped launch the punk movement in the 1970s by singing he was the anti-Christ, walked off the set of "I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here," where he was the most colorful of a group of C-list celebrities stuck in the Australian jungle.
"Lets face it, I won this thing on the first day," he said. "That's not what I came here for, I said that right from the start.
An ITV spokeswoman said Lydon had been "fantastic entertainment on the show" and said viewers and fellow celebrities had found him to be an endearing, eccentric and sensitive character.
John 'Johnny Rotten' Lydon
Gives His Top 10
John Edwards
Democratic presidential contender Sen. John Edwards followed up his victory in Tuesday's South Carolina primary and close second-place showing in Oklahoma by going national and delivering a Top 10 list on CBS' "Late Show with David Letterman," on Wednesday.
The North Carolina senator, who is trying to close the gap behind front-running Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, presented a list of "Things Never Before Said by a Presidential Candidate."
Edwards' list included No. 7 - "I'd give you my plan for economic recovery if I wasn't rip stinkin' drunk," No. 4 - "I have tons of experience from being president of the Burt Reynolds Fan Club," and No. 1 - "Read my lips: no new wardrobe malfunctions."
John Edwards
Cuba Says U.S. Denied Visas
Grammy Nominees
Cuban officials complained on Thursday that the Bush Administration has denied visas to Cuban Grammy nominees for Sunday's awards ceremony and wondered how aging musicians could be considered security threats.
All five nominees for best traditional tropical Latin album are Cubans who live on the island. They include 77-year-old singer Ibrahim Ferrer of Buena Vista Social Club fame and salsa pianist Guillermo Rubalcaba, aged 75.
"I am not a terrorist. I couldn't be one. I am a musician and have always been well received by American audiences," said Ferrer, one of the veteran musicians who were rediscovered and shot to world fame by the Buena Vista project.
A U.S. diplomat in Havana said the decision was taken under a presidential proclamation that allows the administration to suspend entry of persons "detrimental to the interest of the United States."
Grammy Nominees
In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends
Stars Out After Next Season
'That '70s Show'
One more season of "That '70s Show" and Topher Grace is outta there.
Grace told reporters in Los Angeles recently that he and co-star Ashton Kutcher had planned to quit after this season, but decided to stay on the Fox sitcom one more year, AP Radio reported recently.
"This year was going to be my last year, and Ashton and I both signed on for an extra year," the 25-year-old actor said.
'That '70s Show'
Family Offended by Super Bowl
Justin Timberlake
Justin Timberlake said Wednesday that his own family was offended by his racy Super Bowl halftime duet with Janet Jackson, but he insisted he thought only her bustier would be revealed when he pulled on her costume, not her breast.
Uproar over what Timberlake memorably described as a "wardrobe malfunction" is showing no sign of letting up. A publicist for Jackson said she's probably pulling out of a scheduled appearance at Sunday's Grammy Awards, which will be broadcast on a delay system to avoid any similar incidents.
Timberlake, in an interview with KCBS-TV outside the Staples Center, where he was rehearsing for the Grammys, said he understood "how unfortunate this is."
He also said he was frustrated that his character was being questioned.
Justin Timberlake
Former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura is shown while being introduced Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2004, at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., where he spoke at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government. Ventura is joining Harvard's Institute of Politics, part of the Kennedy School of Government, as a visiting fellow for part of the spring semester, according to a university spokesperson.
Photo by Anne S. Day
Broadway's No. 2 Longest Show
'The Phantom of the Opera'
"The Phantom of the Opera" is now No. 2 — Broadway's second-longest running show.
The Andrew Lloyd Webber musical passed "Les Miserables" at its Wednesday evening performance — notching performance No. 6,681 at the Majestic Theatre. Only "Cats," another Lloyd Webber show, has run longer, lasting 18 years and 7,485 performances. "Les Miserables" closed on Broadway in May 2003 after 6,680 performances.
Worldwide, the show has grossed more than $3.2 billion, having played 110 cities in 20 countries. Besides New York, companies of "Phantom" are still running in London; Madrid; Budapest, Hungary; Stuttgart, Germany; Fukuoka, Japan; and an American company touring the United States.
'The Phantom of the Opera'
Albums Set for Reissue
David Bowie
David Bowie's last three studio albums of the 1990s will be reissued March 23 by Columbia, Billboard.com has learned.
"Outside" (1995), "Earthling" (1997) and "Hours" (1999) were originally released by Virgin, but reverted to Columbia in 2002 when Bowie signed a new deal with the label. All three titles have been remastered and bolstered with rare tracks.
David Bowie
Opens New Calif. Restaurant
Joseph Jackson
Michael and Janet Jackson's father had a gala opening for his new restaurant Wednesday night, but the two pop stars were absent.
The restaurant, which showcases Southern cooking such as collard greens and catfish, was started by Joseph Jackson and named Katherine's after the Jackson family matriarch.
Joseph Jackson declined to talk about his daughter Janet.
He said his wife Katherine would not attend because she was "relaxing."
Joseph Jackson
Formerly 'The Vidiot'
Going to Rehab
Faith Evans
R&B singer Faith Evans and her husband agreed Wednesday to enroll in a rehabilitation program for drug possession charges made against them last month, Fulton County prosecutors said.
If they successfully complete the 13-week program, the charges will be dropped, said Erik Friedly, spokesman for the Fulton County District Attorney's office.
Faith Evans
The American Falls are bathed in red spot-lights in honor of the American Heart Association as seen from Prospect Point in the New York State Park in Niagara Falls, N.Y., Thursday, Feb. 5, 2004.
Photo by Don Heupel
Never Wore 'Fonzie's' Jacket
Scott Baio
Scott Baio played Chachi Arcola on the '50s nostalgic comedy "Happy Days," co-starring with Henry Winkler, the supercool, leather-jacketed Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli.
In an interview in the Feb. 6 issue of Entertainment Weekly, the 42-year-old Baio said it "was taboo" to try on Fonzie's jacket.
He added: "There were different ones. I hate to dispel the myth."
"There was one that he would wear if he was on the motorcycle. There was one that he wore on the set. And it changed. First there was that Jimmy Dean red jacket. Then it became another leather jacket, which is a little more realistic. Then there was the third jacket, which was, in my opinion, a little wimpy. It had elastic armbands and it wasn't black, it was brown — and that was sad."
Scott Baio
Drops James Brown's Name
Garden City Music Festival
A music festival no longer wants the Godfather of Soul to grace its name. The once-dubbed James Brown Music Festival will drop its affiliation with Brown because of the public backlash after his arrest on a domestic violence charge.
The annual May event will still be held downtown, but it will revert to its original name, the Garden City Music Festival, the Greater Augusta Arts Council decided Wednesday.
Whether Brown will still perform at the festival is uncertain.
Garden City Music Festival
Sues Delaware Restaurant
Jimmy Buffett
Singer Jimmy Buffett has filed a federal lawsuit seeking to prohibit a Hockessin restaurant from calling its outdoor bar "Margaritaville," the name of his 1970s' ode to the frozen tequila drink.
In a lawsuit filed Monday, Buffet claims the outdoor bar at Samantha's Cafe violates a trademark he holds on the Margaritaville name, which is used at Buffet-approved nightclubs in Jamaica, Mexico, Las Vegas, New Orleans, and Key West and Orlando, Fla.
Restaurant owner Mark Chew, 41, said he would not fight the world-famous singer in court and is changing the bar name to Samantha's Patio.
Jimmy Buffett
Saxon Treasures From 7th-Century England
Prince of Prittlewell
Archeologists showed off a hoard of glass and copper jugs, ceremonial crosses and other Saxon artifacts Thursday, giving the public a first look at a rare find of a seventh century royal tomb.
Nothing remains of the king who was buried in the wood-walled grave discovered beneath the streets of Prittlewell, in the English Channel port of Southend, 55 kilometres east of London.
The treasures buried with the Prince of Prittlewell, as the archeologists call him, were in remarkably good condition and included a ceremonial sword and glass jugs.
Prince of Prittlewell
Museum of London
Basic Cable Networks
Rankings
Rankings for the top 15 programs on basic cable networks as compiled by Nielsen Media Research for the week of Jan. 26-Feb. 1. Each ratings point represents 1,084,000 households. Day and start time (EST) are in parentheses.
1. "Monk" (Friday, 10 p.m.), USA, 3.8, 4.12 million homes.
2. "Real World XIV" (Tuesday, 10 p.m.), MTV, 3.4, 3.65 million homes.
3. "WWE Raw Zone" (Monday, 10 p.m.), Spike, 3.3, 3.62 million homes.
4. "WWE Raw" (Monday, 9 p.m.), Spike, 3.1, 3.31 million homes.
5. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 9:30 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.0, 3.22 million homes.
6. "Fairly Odd Parents" (Saturday, 10 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.9, 3.11 million homes.
7. "Fairly Odd Parents" (Sunday, 10:30 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.8, 3.08 million homes.
8. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 6 p.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.8, 3.07 million homes.
9. "American Chopper" (Monday, 10 p.m.), Discovery, 2.8, 3.03 million homes.
10. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 7 p.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.8, 3.02 million homes.
11. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 6:30 p.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.8, 2.99 million homes.
12. "Law & Order" (Wednesday, 9 p.m.), TNT, 2.8, 2.99 million homes.
13. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 3:30 p.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.7, 2.94 million homes.
14. "Fairly Odd Parents" (Saturday, 10:30 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.7, 2.93 million homes.
15. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 4 p.m.), Nickelodoen, 2.7, 2.91 million homes.
Rankings
In Memory
John Hench
John Hench, longtime Disney
artist whose designs were found in both animated features and theme parks and
who was the official portrait artist of Mickey Mouse, died Thursday morning,
February 5. He was 95 and lived in Toluca Lake with his wife of 65 years,
Lowry. Hench died of heart failure after a brief illness and hospitalization
at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank.
Hench began his career with Disney in May 1939 in Disney's old Hyperion
Studio in Los Angeles as a sketch artist on "Fantasia." He worked in story
editing, layout, background, effects animation and special effects on such
legendary Disney films as "Dumbo," "The Three Caballeros," "Peter Pan" and
"Cinderella." In his unprecedented 64 years with the Walt Disney Company, he
was instrumental in the design of Disney theme parks and resorts and was the
official portrait artist of Mickey Mouse. Hench painted likenesses of Disney's
famous mouse for the character's 25th, 50th, 60th and 70th birthdays. Until
two weeks ago, Hench came to work every day at Walt Disney Imagineering in
Glendale, where he was actively involved in the design of Disney's latest
theme park in Hong Kong.
Hench was born June 29, 1908, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and grew up in
Southern California. He attended the Art Students' League in New York City
and received a scholarship to the Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles. Hench
also studied at the California School of Fine Arts in San Francisco and the
Chouinard Institute in Los Angeles.
After completing his art training, Hench researched motion picture color
processes at the Vitacolor Studios in Hollywood and then worked in special
effects at Republic Studios. He also created seasonal themes for window
displays and newspaper advertisements for the Broadway department stores.
After "Fantasia," Hench worked as a background painter on "Dumbo" (1941),
a layout artist on "The Three Caballeros" (1945) and "Fun & Fancy Free"
(1947), an art supervisor on "Make Mine Music" (1946) and on coloring and
styling for "The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad" (1949), "Cinderella"
(1950), "Alice in Wonderland" (1951) and "Peter Pan" (1953). He developed the
cartoon art treatment for the combination live action and animated feature,
"So Dear to My Heart" (1949) and the animation effects for the True-Life
Adventure "The Living Desert" (1953). Hench received the lead title special
effects credits on "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea," which won the Academy
Award(R) in 1954 for special effects.
In the early 1940s, Hench was paired with artist Salvador Dali to create
storyboard sketches for a proposed, but not completed, film called "Destino."
Walt Disney Feature Animation recently used the original artwork as
inspiration for a short film of the same name, which was just nominated for an
Academy Award(R).
In 1954 Walt Disney asked Hench to leave the world of motion pictures and
join a small team of artists and designers working on Disney's idea for a new
kind of themed amusement park. The group was WED Enterprises which later
became Walt Disney Imagineering, the creative arm of Disney theme parks and
resorts worldwide.
Hench worked first on the creation of Tomorrowland at
Disneyland and in the process discovered a new career as a Disney park
designer. After Walt Disney's death in 1966, Hench became one of
Imagineering's chief designers and played a key role in the creation of every
one of Disney's 10 existing theme parks, as well as Hong Kong Disneyland, now
under construction. He oversaw the creation of Walt Disney World in Florida
in 1971 and the addition of Epcot in 1982. He helped supervise the design of
Disney's first overseas park, Tokyo Disneyland, which opened in 1983 in Japan.
Hench's talents were applied to other Disney projects, including the
Olympics and the 1964 World's Fair. In 1960 Hench and his team of Disney
artists and designers created the backdrop for the VIII Winter Olympic Games
at Squaw Valley, Idaho, staged the opening and closing ceremonies and oversaw
production of "snow statues" and other elements seen throughout the Olympic
village. Hench also helped develop the four Disney shows that debuted at the
1964 New York World's Fair: "Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln," "Carousel of
Progress," "it's a small world" and "Magic Skyway."
Hench continued to work with and inspire a new generation of Disney
designers in the creation of Disney-MGM Studios in Florida (1989), Disneyland
Paris (1992), Disney's Animal Kingdom in Florida (1998), Disney's California
Adventure (2001), Tokyo DisneySea (2001) and Walt Disney Studios in France
(2002).
In 1990 Hench was named a Disney Legend, an honor awarded to individuals
who have made major contributions to the company. In 1998 he was presented a
Lifetime Achievement Award by the Themed Entertainment Association, an
industry trade group. This month, John was honored with The Winsor McCay
award from the International Animated Film Society in recognition of lifetime
career contributions to the art of animation.
Hench's recently published book, "Designing Disney: Imagineering and The
Art of the Show," is already in its second printing. The book chronicles the
years John spent working side-by-side with Walt Disney and the lessons he
learned.
Hench is survived by his wife, Lowry
John Hench
A pal sent the obit with this note:
Disney Legend is not enough to begin to describe John. For those who may not know, John worked with Walt Disney on a great many projects, including Disneyland.
Because of his age, his passing was not surprising, yet still a great sadness. This loss is rather ironic, given what has been going on at "Eisnerland" lately. The legacy of Walt Disney gets further and further pushed back into forgotten (corporate) history.
A barred owl sits perched on a snow-covered telephone line in Calais, Vt., Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2004.
Photo by Toby Talbot
'The Osbournes'
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