'Best of TBH Politoons'
Thanks, again, Tim!
Reader Comment
Re: Alistair Cooke
Thanks for the note on Alistair Cooke.
It's very hard to imagine the Beeb without "Letter From America." I had
not been paying attention, lately, so your notation is doubly valuable
to me.
I met Mr. Cooke back in St. Louis during my radio days. He was in town
to see Jonathan Miller's production of "Don Giovanni" at Opera Theatre
of St. Louis. He was charming, generous, and very easy to speak with. I
hate to think his time with us may be more limited than not . . .
I was at Costco last night, briefly. Didn't see the F-14, but I did see
a remarkable yellow-green sunset.
Regards,
Tom B
Thanks, Tom!
Everytime there's an interesting colored sunset, we always look toward Vandy to see if there are any trails.
from Mark
Another Bumpersticker
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny & much warmer.
The yard is starting to bloom. The kafir lilies are out, the boxwood is flowering, still a few camellias, the rose shrub is in full glory, and the calla lilies are up.
Hit the farmer's market, then stopped off at Reptiles Unlimited to pick up some fresh crickets for Jo, the (remaining) lizard and Shelob, the tarantula.
Dear old Dad & the Babe are in Florida, and enjoying the non-PA weather.
Tonight, Friday, CBS begins the night with a RERUN 'Joan Of Arcadia', followed by a RERUN 'JAG', then
'48 Hours'.
Scheduled on a FRESH Dave are Charles Grodin and Jim Gaffigan. (RERUNs all next week)
Scheduled on a FRESH Craiggers are Carmen Electra, Ty Pennington, and Diane Schuur. (RERUNs all next week)
NBC opens the night with 'Dateline', followed by another 'Dateline', then a FRESH 'Third Watch'.
Scheduled on a FRESH Jay are the latest fired "Apprentice" and Tom Arnold.
Scheduled on a FRESH Conan are Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, and Cee-Lo.
Scheduled on a FRESH Carson Daly are Vincent Pastore, Drea De Matteo, Mitch Fatel, Nelly Furtado, and Big Head Todd & The Monsters.
ABC starts the night with a RERUN 'George Lopez', followed by a FRESH 'Married To The Kellys', then a
FRESH 'Hope & Faith', followed by a FRESH 'Bonnie', then '20/20'.
Scheduled on a FRESH Jimmy Kimmel are Bo Jackson, Jerry O'Connell, and Rooney, with this week's guest co-host Tracy Morgan.
The WB offers a RERUN 'Reba', followed by another RERUN 'Reba', then a RERUN
'Grounded For Life', followed by the Series Premiere of 'The Help'.
Faux has 'Test The Nation 2'.
UPN has the movie 'Operation Condor'.
PLEASE check local PBS listings for the best show on over-the-air-TV, 'NOW With Bill Moyers (and David Brancaccio)'.
A&E has 'American Justice', follwoed by the movie 'Escape From Alcatraz', then 'Airline'.
AMC offers the movie 'Angel & The Badman', followed by the movie 'History Of The World, Part I', then the movie 'Darkman II: The Return Of Durant'.
BBC -
[6pm] 'BBC World News';
[6:30pm] 'Cash in the Attic' - Farr;
[7pm] 'House Invaders' - Warrington A;
[7:30pm] 'Changing Rooms' - Leicester;
[8pm] 'The Bounty';
[10pm] 'At Home With The Braithwaites' - Episode 7;
[11pm] 'The Bounty';
[1am] 'At Home With The Braithwaites' - Episode 7;
[2am] 'House Invaders' - Warrington A;
[2:30am] 'Changing Rooms' - Leicester;
[3am] 'The Bounty';
[5am] 'At Home With The Braithwaites' - Episode 7; and
[6am] 'BBC World News'. (ALL TIMES EST)
Bravo has 'Inside The Actors Studio' (Johnny Depp), 'Queer Eye', followed by the movie 'High Fidelity', then the movie 'White Men Can't Jump'.
Comedy Central has 'MAD TV', 'Comic Remix', 'World Comedy Tour', 'Comedy Central Presents' (Doug Benson), and 'Comedy Central Presents' (Mike Birbiglia).
History has 'Modern Marvels', 'Dead Men's Secrets', 'Battle Stations' (M1 Abrams), and more 'Modern Marvels'.
SciFi has the Series Premiere of 'Tripping The Rift', then a whole lot of 'Stargate SG-1'.
TCM spends the day celebrating one of the survivors,
the fabulous Dean Stockwell (today is his 68th birthday).
Must have been (around) 10 the first time I saw 'The Boy With Green Hair' (1948), and it's remained a favorite ever since. A movie I love.
[6am] 'The Green Years' (1946);
[8:15am] 'The Mighty Mcgurk' (1946);
[9:45am] 'The Romance Of Rosy Ridge' (1947);
[11:30am] 'Song Of The Thin Man' (1947);
[1pm] 'The Boy With Green Hair' (1948);
[2:30pm] 'The Happy Years' (1950);
[4:30pm] 'Kim' (1950);
[6:30pm] 'Stars In My Crown' (1950);
[8pm] 'Tora! Tora! Tora!' (1970);
[10:30pm] 'The Last Run' (1971);
[12:15am] 'Mr. Majestyk' (1974);
[2am] 'The Count of The Old Town' (1934) [AKA: 'Munkbrogreven' ];
[3:30am] 'The Paradine Case' (1947). (ALL TIMES EST)
Studs Terkel, a Pulitzer Prize-winning oral historian, arrives at the National Book Critics Circle awards ceremony in New York on Thursday, March 4, 2004. Terkel received the NBCC Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award.
Photo by Dean Cox
The Information One-Stop
Moose & Squirrel
Thrown Off the Air Over Obscenity
Sandra Tsing Loh
A popular Asian-American radio commentator has been thrown off a Los Angeles public radio station for using a four-letter word, becoming the latest casualty in the cultural war over obscenity on the airwaves.
Commentator Sandra Tsing Loh said her use of the f-word in a prerecorded segment was an editing error but what KCRW-FM's general manager Ruth Seymour said on Thursday was that Loh made calculated use of obscenity in a politically charged time.
Loh, 42, learned on Monday from Seymour that her six-year run on KCRW-FM had abruptly ended a day after the station aired her three-minute riff on a Bette Midler concert she attended and in which her musician husband played.
Loh will remain an occasional commentator on Minnesota Public Radio's Marketplace, syndicated to about 300 U.S. stations, and as a reviewer for Atlantic Monthly.
Sandra Tsing Loh
Returns to Publishing Convention
Politics
Politics returns to this year's annual publishing convention, BookExpo America, with liberals Janeane Garofalo and Donna Brazile and conservatives P.J. O'Rourke and Linda Chavez among the scheduled speakers.
Other guests announced Thursday by convention planners include author-journalist Tom Wolfe, TV host Jon Stewart and novelists Amy Tan, Scott Turow and Gish Jen. The book industry meets June 3-6 in Chicago.
The 2003 gathering was marked by so nasty an exchange between liberal Al Franken and conservative Bill O'Reilly that many believe O'Reilly was the force behind Fox News Channel's ill-fated lawsuit against Franken.
Politics
Hosting 'Saturday Night Live'
Janet Jackson
She may not be ready for prime time just yet, but Janet Jackson has been booked on NBC's "Saturday Night Live" next month, her first planned network TV performance since baring her breast at the Super Bowl.
NBC said on Thursday that the 37-year-old pop diva will host and perform on the April 10 edition of the show, which is broadcast live on the East Coast from New York City. Jackson previously appeared on "SNL" as a musical guest in 1994.
Janet Jackson
Hugh Hefner, center, greets jazz legends Gerald Wilson, left, and Herbie Hancock, Wednesday, March 3, 2004, at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles, to announce the artist line-up for the upcoming 26th Annual Playboy Jazz Festival to be held June 19th and 20th at the Hollywood Bowl. The Playboy Jazz Festival will be the very first event to be held in the newly renovated Hollywood Bowl.
Photo by Leroy Hamilton
Hosting Tony Awards Again
Hugh Jackman
For the second year in a row, Hugh Jackman will preside over ceremonies celebrating the best of the Broadway season, Keith Sherman, a spokesman for the Tonys, said Thursday. The three-hour show, to be televised by CBS, will be held June 6 from Radio City Music Hall.
Tony nominations for the 2004 awards will be announced May 10.
Hugh Jackman
Coming to Stage
'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang'
"Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" — complete with flying car — will land on Broadway next season.
A lavish stage version of the 1968 movie musical, which starred Dick Van Dyke and Sally Ann Howes, will open at the Ford Center for the Performing Arts April 28, 2005. Preview performances begin March 29, 2005.
The show has been a big success at London's Palladium, where it has been playing to capacity business for the last two years.
'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang'
Criticizes Bush Space Plan
John Glenn
U.S. space pioneer John Glenn said on Thursday that resident Bush's space exploration plan "pulls the rug out from under our scientists" and might waste too much money to ever put astronauts on Mars.
Glenn, a retired Democratic senator from Ohio and the first U.S. astronaut to orbit the Earth, said NASA should not abandon research on the International Space Station and questioned the advisability of using the moon as a stepping stone to Mars.
His stinging rebuke of the Bush plan came in testimony before the presidential commission charged with developing a strategy for building a permanent base on the moon, then sending astronauts on to Mars. The commission met at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Glenn's home state of Ohio.
The octogenarian space pioneer's most cutting comments were reserved for NASA's plans to gut the International Space Station of a once-ambitious research agenda, limiting science only to studies applicable to the moon and Mars program.
For more, John Glenn
Foils Florida Carjacking
Beyonce's Band
Singer Beyonce's band came to the aid of a 91-year-old driver, chasing and holding down a suspected carjacker.
Police said Reynold Caleen, a great-grandfather of nine, tried to fight off a knife-wielding suspect when he grabbed the elderly man's wallet in the parking lot of a Walgreen's store Tuesday — knocking the suspect's knife out of his hands and kicking him several times as the pair wrestled to the ground.
Lead guitarist Shaun Carrington, bass guitarist Kern Brantley and drummer Nisan Stewart, in town to rehearse for a tour with the singer, pulled in front of the suspected carjacker as he tried to drive the elderly man's car out of the parking lot — and chased him on foot when he got out and ran.
A Walgreen's employee tackled the suspect; the bandmates held him down until police arrived. "Gotta protect society as much as we can, you know?" Stewart told WSVN-TV.
Beyonce's Band
In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends
Copenhagen to Stage Musical
'The Little Mermaid'
Copenhagen will stage a musical based on Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Mermaid" next year, with 650 amateurs dancing and singing in a huge floating theater, organizers said Wednesday.
The musical, Denmark's biggest theatrical event ever, will mark the 200th anniversary of the fairy tale writer's birth. Denmark will celebrate Andersen, who died in 1875, with hundreds of events, parties and festivals.
The musical will be performed on a stage floating in the Copenhagen harbor. About 2,500 people will be able to watch from the quay at each of the eight performances in late July 2005.
'The Little Mermaid'
A 'Hawaii collector's edition' Spam can with a picture of a hula doll on both sides of the can and three pieces of 'spam misubi' is shown as part of a 6-foot high display at a grocery store in Kailua, Hawaii, Thursday, March 3, 2004. Spam, made by Austin, Minn.-based Hormel Foods Corp., has been Hawaii's undisputed king of canned luncheon meat since it first introduced to the islands during World War II. Now a rival brand Tulip from Denmark is trying to unseat Spam.
Photo by Lucy Pemoni
Chump Change Indecency Fine
Clear Channel
Radio giant Clear Channel Communications Inc. on Thursday said it would pay a $755,000 fine for airing indecent material by one of its former radio personalities, Bubba the Love Sponge.
The Federal Communications Commission in January proposed the fine because of sexual material broadcast on four Florida radio stations owned by Clear Channel, part of a crackdown by federal regulators against indecent broadcasts.
Clear Channel
Resolve Child Custody
Baldwin & Basinger
Alec Baldwin and ex-wife Kim Basinger have resolved their custody battle over their 8-year-old daughter, Ireland, Baldwin's attorney said.
Baldwin, who lives in New York, was seeking an "equal share" of parenting with Basinger, who lives in California.
A Superior Court judge ruled in favor of Baldwin, the television program "Celebrity Justice" reported.
Baldwin & Basinger
Role in Chrysler Ads to Be Reduced
Celine Dion
DaimlerChrysler AG says it's reducing Celine Dion's role in the advertising for its Chrysler unit.
The singer has a three-year, $14 million contract with Chrysler. She appeared in a widely used ad campaign last year.
Dion will appear in a new series of Chrysler public service ads aimed at promoting child safety. Shooting began Monday for the ads, which will debut March 25 with the joint sponsorship of the National Safety Council. They won't mention Chrysler by name.
Celine Dion
Formerly 'The Vidiot'
NBC Files Suit Vs. 'Will & Grace' Duo
Kohan & Mutchnick
NBC fired back at the creators of "Will & Grace" Wednesday, almost three months after they accused the network of short-changing them when it came time to renewing the hit sitcom.
The network filed a counterclaim to David Kohan and Max Mutchnick's lawsuit, accusing the duo of being "duplicitous" in their dealings at the negotiation table.
NBC's cross-complaint maintains that Kohan and Mutchnick and their "handlers" had always planned to sue the network over the license-fee deal struck in 2002 for "Will & Grace." The NBC complaint details lengthy steps that the network took to involve the creators and their attorneys and agents in the license-fee renegotiations that took place in late 2001 and early 2002.
Kohan & Mutchnick
Nakamura Kankuro V, the heir to a 400-year-old theater dynasty in Japan, is seen performing in this undated photo. Nakamura Kankuro V is to perform under an authentic Kabuki tent at New York's Lincoln Center in Damrosch Park this summer, with his famed Heisei Nakamura-za company when it makes it's North American debut July 17-25, 2004.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sold
Jackson Collection
A mammoth collection of stage costumes, photographs, documents and props belonging to Michael Jackson and his famous family was loaded into shipping containers Wednesday after spending 18 months under wraps.
The collection, whose seller contends it is the largest accumulation of Jackson memorabilia in the world, is to be shipped to a European buyer. Henry V. Vaccaro Sr. declined to name the buyer or the price he paid, but said the man intended to display the collection in Europe and Japan.
Vaccaro ultimately acquired the collection after paying off a storage and shipping bill owed by the Jackson family to an Oxnard, Calif., warehouse, he said.
Jackson Collection
www.jacksonvault.com
Bosses Wear Workers' Shoes
Reality Check
Never having cleaned a bathroom in his life, Jonathan Tisch was down on his knees, scrubbing with great effort but little interest, under the watchful eye of his supervisor.
Tisch, the chief executive officer of Loews Hotels, a unit of Loews Corp., was one of several CEOs to get down and dirty for a week's worth of labor in the new reality-based show "Now Who's Boss?" airing March 8 on cable's The Learning Channel.
Representing industries from hospitality to cosmetics, the executives were trained by the flight attendants, housekeeping staff and restaurant busers, whose jobs they performed.
For more, Reality Check
Race for Texas Governor
Kinky Friedman
Kinky Friedman, best-selling author, country music singer, humorist, friend of stray dogs and salsa merchant, is running for governor of Texas in 2006 as an independent. Friedman is the man behind the song "Get Your Biscuits in the Oven and Your Buns in the Bed" and author of the book "Kill Two Birds and Get Stoned."
For all of those wondering why the front man for the country music group 'The Texas Jewboys' wants to run the Lone Star State, Kinky will put down his cigar and say from under his 10-gallon hat: "Why the hell not?"
Friedman, whose first name is Richard but is known by Kinky and a few other names that are not publishable, does not have a campaign platform -- mostly out of fear there may be a trapdoor somewhere underneath that will spring open and leave him swinging.
For a lot more, Kinky Friedman
Commanders Lecture Cadets Over 'Passion'
Air Force Academy
Air Force Academy commanders admonished cadets for using academy e-mail to tout Mel Gibson's movie about the Crucifixion of Jesus.
In an e-mail obtained by The Associated Press, Superintendent Lt. Gen. John Rosa said the cadets' use of an academy e-mail distribution list to encourage people to see "The Passion of the Christ" was inappropriate.
He also admonished cadets for displaying fliers for the movie in the cafeteria, according to the e-mail sent Wednesday.
At least one academy graduate complained to Rosa that the students' e-mail was insensitive to cadets who are not Christians, Academy spokesman Johnny Whitaker said. He added that the action violated rules against product endorsements.
Air Force Academy
A Problem With Semantics
LA Times
A Los Angeles Times music critic who wrote that a Richard Strauss opera was "pro-life" -- meaning a celebration of life -- was stunned to pick up the paper and find his review changed by a literal-minded copy editor to read "anti-abortion."
Music critic Mark Swed said the copy editor was adhering to a strict Times policy banning the phrase "pro-life" as offensive to people who support abortion, and didn't seem to realize that the epic Strauss opera "Die Frau Ohne Schatten" had nothing to do with that politically charged issue.
The Times ran a correction the following day, Feb. 25, irking Swed further because it suggested that the mistake was his. The paper then issued a second correction making clear that he was not responsible.
But the second note violated another Times policy -- this one against identifying the person at fault -- which prompted a memo from Jamie Gold, the paper's readers representative. That memo, which first surfaced on the L.A. Observed Web site, admonished reporters: "Corrections will not assign blame"
LA Times
Filmmaker Tests McDonald's Fare
Morgan Spurlock
A U.S. filmmaker was so intrigued by McDonald's claim its food was nutritious that he ate all his meals at the fast-food giant for a month.
The result? Twenty-five extra pounds, higher cholesterol and an award-winning documentary of his fast-food journey, "Super Size Me: A Film of Epic Portions."
Morgan Spurlock hit the morning TV shows on Thursday to promote his film on surviving on a McDonald's diet, little more than a day after the company said it would end oversized portions by the end of the year.
"I felt terrible. You eat this food and you feel great immediately, but right after you get the McStomach aches, the McHeadaches -- you get depressed," the New York-based director said on NBC's "Today" show.
For the rest, Morgan Spurlock
Daytime Emmys
Nominees
Nominees for major Daytime Emmys announced Thursday:
Drama series: "The Young and the Restless," CBS; "As the World Turns," CBS; "The Bold and the Beautiful," CBS; "General Hospital," ABC; "Guiding Light," CBS.
Game or audience participation show: "Jeopardy!" syndicated; "The Price is Right," CBS; "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," syndicated.
Talk show: "Dr. Phil," syndicated; "Live With Regis & Kelly," syndicated; "The View," ABC; "The Wayne Brady Show," syndicated; "The Ellen DeGeneres Show," syndicated.
Lead actress in a drama series: Nancy Lee Grahn, "General Hospital," ABC; Kim Zimmer, "Guiding Light," CBS; Michelle Stafford, "The Young and the Restless," CBS; Maura West, "As the World Turns," CBS; Tamara Braun, "General Hospital," ABC.
Lead actor in a drama series: Maurice Benard, "General Hospital," ABC; Anthony Geary, "General Hospital," ABC; Grant Aleksander, "Guiding Light," CBS; Thorsten Kaye, "Port Charles," ABC; Roger Howarth, "As the World Turns," CBS; Eric Braeden, "The Young and the Restless," CBS.
Supporting actress in a drama series: Cady McClain, "As the World Turns," CBS; Ilene Kristen, "One Life to Live," ABC; Kathy Brier, "One Life to Live," ABC; Sharon Case, "The Young and the Restless," CBS; Heather Tom, "The Young and the Restless," CBS.
Supporting actor in a drama series: Ron Raines, "Guiding Light," CBS; Christian Jules LeBlanc, "The Young and the Restless," CBS; William Devry, "All My Children," ABC; James Reynolds, "Days of Our Lives," NBC; Rick Hearst, "General Hospital," ABC.
Younger actress in a drama series: Jennifer Finnigan, "The Bold and the Beautiful," CBS; Alicia Leigh Willis, "General Hospital," ABC; Eden Riegel, "All My Children," ABC; Lauren Woodland, "The Young and the Restless," CBS; Christel Khalil, "The Young and the Restless," CBS.
Younger actor in a drama series: Chad Brannon, "General Hospital," ABC; David Lago, "The Young and the Restless," CBS; Agim Kaba, "As the World Turns," CBS; Scott Clifton, "General Hospital," ABC; Brian Presley, "Port Charles," ABC.
Game show host: Alex Trebek, "Jeopardy!" syndicated; Bob Barker, "The Price is Right," CBS; Meredith Vieira, "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," syndicated.
Talk show host: Dr. Phil McGraw, "Dr. Phil," syndicated; Regis Philbin, Kelly Ripa, "Live with Regis & Kelly," syndicated; Barbara Walters, Star Jones, Meredith Vieira, Joy Behar, "The View," ABC; Wayne Brady, "The Wayne Brady Show," syndicated; Ellen DeGeneres, "The Ellen DeGeneres Show," syndicated.
Service show: "Essence of Emeril," Food Network; "Great Hotels," Travel Channel; "Martha Stewart Living," syndicated; "Suze Orman: The Laws of Money, the Lessons of Life," PBS; "This Old House," PBS.
Service show host: Bobby Flay, "Boy Meets Grill," Food Network; Emeril LaGasse," "Essence of Emeril," Food Network; Martha Stewart, "Martha Stewart Living," syndicated; Suze Orman, "Suze Orman: The Laws of Money, the Lessons of Life," PBS; Kevin O'Connor, "This Old House," PBS.
Children's animated series: "Arthur," PBS; "Dora the Explorer," Nickelodeon; "Rugrats," Nickelodeon; "Disney's Kim Possible," Disney Channel; "Little Bill," Nick Jr.
Children's series: "Assignment Discovery," Discovery Channel; "Between the Lions," PBS; "Zoom," PBS; "Jeff Corwin Unleashed," NBC; "Operation Junkyard," NBC; "Scout's Safari," NBC.
Pre-school children's series: "Bear in the Big Blue House," Disney Channel; "Blue's Clues," Nickelodeon; "Sesame Street," PBS.
Nominees
In Memory
Cecily Adams
Cecily Adams, an actress, casting director and the daughter of "Get Smart" television star Don Adams, died Wednesday of lung cancer, her agent said Thursday. She was 39.
Adams appeared in the 1990s syndicated series "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine," playing the mother of Ferengi bar owner Quark. She had guest roles in TV shows including "Just Shoot Me," "Murphy Brown" and "Party of Five."
She concentrated on casting in recent years and was working on Fox's "That '70s Show" at the time of her death.
Cecily Adams
In Memory
Julius Dixon
Julius Dixon, an early rock n' roll songwriter whose hits included the pop tune "Lollipop," died Jan. 30, according to family. He was 90.
He wrote for several groups including Ronald and Ruby, for whom he penned the song. It reached No. 20 in 1958. It was recorded later that year by the Chordettes and went to No. 2.
Dixon first hit the charts at No. 11 in 1955 with the Bill Haley song "Dim, Dim the Lights (I Want Some Atmosphere), a follow up to Haley's "Shake, Rattle and Roll."
Other songs Dixon is credited with writing or co-writing include "It Hurts To Be in Love," for Annie Laurie, "Begging, Begging" for James Brown, and "Three Ways (to Love You)" for Kitty Wells.
Julius Dixon
A Santa Cruz Island fox bred in captivity is held by Tom Coonan, wildlife biologist for the National Park Service, on Santa Cruz Island in the Channel Islands National Park, Thursday, March 4, 2004. Four subspecies of the Channel Islands fox were added to the federal endangered species list Thursday, because of predation from non-native golden eagles and a sickness spread by dogs, the Park Service announced. The number of foxes found only on the Channel Islands has dropped to about 1,650 from about 6,000 six years ago
Photo by Reed Saxon
'The Osbournes'
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