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From 'TBH Politoons'
Great Site!
Thanks, again, Tim!
Get Your Fresh Hot Asticles
Asticles
Great Site
'Uncommon Sense'
The always-entertaining Jeff Crook sent along the 'toon (above).
I like it!
Thanks, Jeff!
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Dropped the phone the other night. Seems the ringer-thing broke. Thought I'd gotten lucky & all of a sudden real estate agents,
window installers & everybody else lost the phone number. The big clue was the number of messages on the answering machine kept (mysteriously)
increasing. Rather enjoyed the days with no bell, but, will rectify in the morning, and buy a new phone.
Had a problem with yahoo/geochitties...they stopped providing statistics at 9am (pdt) Thursday. Spent over half an hour on the phone, mostly on hold, listening to
bad 'soft jazz', and getting more annoyed as every minute (that I was paying for because it wasn't a 'toll-free' number) ticked by, only to be told, by a very young person (who gave new definition
to the term 'air head') 'Wow, I have no idea.' Then she hung up. Wow. Guess they've been taking 'customer satisfaction' lessons from aol.
Tried to watch 'Friends' - bet the script was written by a non-breeder. No swollen ankles? No heartburn? The ability to bend over? Puh-leeze.
'Will & Grace' wasn't much better.
Tonight, Friday, CBS starts feeding reruns...starts with a rerun of 'CSI: Crime Scene Investigation', then an hours-worth (2 episodes) of reruns of 'Raymond', followed by '48 Hours'.
Scheduled on a fresh Dave are Gillian Anderson and Jonathan Katz.
Scheduled on a fresh Craiggers are Tom Cavanaugh and Remy Shade.
It's all fresh on NBC with 'Providence', 'Law & Order: Criminal Intent' and 'Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'.
Scheduled on a fresh Jay, well...all week long the website has been saying that Hayden Christensen (Anakin Skywalker) was the guest, but, that listing disappeared mid-day Thursday. Will update if I find out anything.
Scheduled on a fresh Conan is John C. McGinley.
ABC starts the night with another so-called 'Funniest Home Videos', follows with a 'Barbara Walters Special' rerun on adoption, and follows it all up with '20/20', where John Stossel interviews 'The Osbournes'.
Scheduled on a fresh Bill Maher are Actress Nia Vardalos; Model Molly Sims; Actress Megyn Price; Comedian Super Dave Osborne
The WB is all fresh, but rife with 'season finales'. First up, it's the season finale for 'Sabrina', followed by the season finale to 'Raising Dad', then, 'Reba', and wraps with the season finale of 'Reba'.
Faux has 'The Search For A Playboy Centerfold: Girl Next Door' (yeah, if you live next door to Heidi Fleiss).
UPN has the movie 'Lethal Weapon 3'.
Anyone have any opinions?
Or reviews?
(See below for addresses)
Reader Contribution
President Bartlet To Stump For Reno
From Sharon in TX
No word yet on whether President
Bill Clinton will come to Florida to stump for his former
Attorney General, but Janet Reno may have found
the next best thing: a t.v. President.
Martin Sheen, who plays President Josiah Bartlet on
NBC's hit drama The West Wing, is coming to Florida
in early June to raise money and rally votes for the real former U.S.
Attorney General's bid to unseat Republican
Gov. Jeb Bush, Janet Reno's campaign announced Tuesday.
Jeb Bush, of course, has already gotten millions of dollars
worth of help from his brother.
''If you don't mind, I'll just refer to him as President Bartlet,''
joked Janet Reno campaign spokeswoman Nicole Harburger,
when asked for details of Martin Sheen's visit.
For the rest, President Bartlet To Stump For Reno
Thanks, Sharon.
Big Dog Watch Continues
Bill Clinton At Tribeca Film Festival
Former U.S. President Bill Clinton waves to the audience as he stands behind members of a choir at the end of an event at New York's City Hall, May 8, 2002,
to launch the First Annual Tribeca Film Festival. The festival, which will showcase world premiere and independent films, was co-founded by Robert DeNiro and
Jane Rosenthall and will open with the premiere of the film "About a Boy" staring Hugh Grant. The festival runs May 8 through May 12.
Photo by Mike Segar
$3 Million Book Deal
The Osbournes
Dyslexic rocker Ozzy Osbourne and his colorful clan, the stars of MTV's hit reality series "The Osbournes," are now making waves in the publishing world.
In a deal worth more than $3 million, the ratings-smashing first family of metal has sold world rights to two books to Pocket Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.
The deal, signed on the floor of last weekend's publishing trade convention, Book Expo America, is for a trade paperback tie-in to their MTV show and a hardcover family memoir. The
tie-in will be published in November, and the memoir, to be narrated by each member of the Osbourne family, including the heretofore-unseen fifth Osbourne, Aimee, will appear the following spring.
Simon & Schuster and MTV are both units of Viacom Inc.
The Osbournes
From 'The Smoking Gun'
John Stossel
John Stossel, the veteran correspondent for ABC's "20/20" newsmagazine, is an exacting guy. Here's a memo he hands out to underlings describing his "work habits." John
is a busy guy whose life is "often scheduled to the minute," so "waiting-around time" is a no-no. As for his in-depth reporting, it may take place during Stossel's plane
ride to the interview. And while he doesn't need producers to draft interview questions for him, Stossel would like a list of sound bites "you would like me to elicit." Geez,
if TSG didn't know better, we'd think Stossel's pieces were plotted out before the interviews even occurred. (1 page)
John Stossel
Today On NPR
Tavis Smiley Talks With Big Dog
Did NBC executives pitch former President Bill Clinton on the idea of a daily talk show and offer him $50 million in the first year?
Or did Clinton approach the network with the idea and demand $50 million to even consider it?
It depends on whom you ask, but you can bet there's a lot of curiosity about it. After all, no former president has hosted a TV talk show, and
it's unclear whether any one of them has ever been asked or would have had the slightest interest in it.
Tavis Smiley, who hosts a daily talk show on National Public Radio, plans to put that very question to Clinton today in an interview that will air
Friday on his nationally distributed show.
For even more, Tavis Smiley Talks With Big Dog
BartCop TV!
To Receive Heritage Award Fom ASCAP
Earth, Wind & Fire
Earth, Wind & Fire will receive a heritage award at the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers' (ASCAP) 15th annual Rhythm & Soul Music Awards at the
Beverly Hilton on June 17.
The group has won six Grammy Awards, sold more than 30 million albums and is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The award will be given out at ceremonies that
also honor the songwriters and publishers of the top ASCAP songs on the 2001 R&B/hip-hop, dance, rap and reggae charts.
"Maurice White, Philip Bailey, Verdine White and company have created a lasting body of work that transcends category," said ASCAP president Marilyn Bergman. "The music
of Earth, Wind & Fire is memorable, joyous and endlessly inventive."
Earth, Wind & Fire
Prolonged Ad Slump Puts Media In Mood to Pander
Playboy Bumps Miss June
On an early March episode of her talk show, Rosie O'Donnell chatted about her new diet and the "great different salads" available at Wendy's fast-food restaurants. A
sample sat on the table in front of her.
Suddenly, Ms. O'Donnell received an urgent instruction from off stage: eat the salad. "Any reason you want me to taste the salad?" Ms. O'Donnell asked, on air. Just do
it, came the response. Shrugging, Ms. O'Donnell shoveled a fork-full of lettuce into her mouth, and declared, "Mmmm, that's good."
This is what it takes to get advertising these days. When Wendy's International Inc. committed to spend more than $23 million on ads with AOL Time Warner Inc.'s media
outlets, the burger chain asked for -- and received -- a host of extra goodies. The media giant, which produces "The Rosie O'Donnell Show" through its Warner Bros. unit,
agreed to have the host eat a "Garden Sensations" salad on air. The salad also made an appearance on TBS Superstation's "Dinner & a Movie." And this month, AOL Time Warner
magazines such as Sports Illustrated and InStyle inserted a Wendy's promotion personalized with each subscriber's name.
Media companies have long sold ads simply by touting the size of their audiences or the quality of the product. They'd herd advertisers into neatly prescribed areas of real
estate -- a 30-second TV spot, a half-page print ad. Now, on the heels of the worst advertising slump since World War II, advertisers are getting a startling array of services
that have turned publishers and TV channels into full-service marketing companies. On behalf of their advertising clients, media companies stage and pay for parties and corporate
events, develop elaborate promotions and mailings and agree to unusual product placements.
For instance, in a move that gives new meaning to the term "autoeroticism," Playboy magazine will replace its June centerfold with a fold-out picture of Bayerische Motoren Werke AG's
new Mini car, bumping the real Miss June to another section. BMW paid the equivalent of six ad pages to the Playboy Enterprises Inc. publication. On the May 1 episode of soap opera "Days
of our Lives," meanwhile, a box of Kleenex tissue got unusually prominent display in a scene between two weepy characters forced to give up their baby. Kimberly-Clark Corp. got the plug
as part of an elaborate advertising deal with General Electric Co.'s NBC.
For the rest, Playboy Bumps Miss June
First Amendment Case Upholds Parody
''The Wind Done Gone''
The estate of "Gone With the Wind" author Margaret Mitchell and a U.S. publisher have settled a lawsuit over a black writer's parody of the best-selling
Civil War-era novel, the two sides said on Thursday.
Under the agreement, Alice Randall's "The Wind Done Gone," which a court ruled enjoys constitutional free speech protection even though it appropriates
characters from the classic novel, will continue to be published with the label "An Unauthorized Parody."
The confidential settlement between Boston-based Houghton Mifflin Co. and the Mitchell Trusts ends litigation that began more than a year ago but preserves
future adaptation rights for the two sides, a statement from the parties said.
In May 2001, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta overturned the lower court's publication ban. The appellate court ruled that parody is protected by the First
Amendment but also said the estate could be entitled to monetary damages for injury from a "putative infringement of its copyright."
The settlement also required that a financial contribution be made to Morehouse College, a historically black college in Georgia where slain civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr. earned his bachelor's degree.
''The Wind Done Gone''
Episode I Made Her Cry
Natalie Portman
Look closely at Natalie Portman's face in "Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace" and you'll see her eyes are often red.
Portman told Premiere magazine that's because she cried so much during filming. At 16, she said she was overwhelmed working 15-hour days for the "Star
Wars" prequel, whose second installment will be released next week.
During the "Phantom" shoot, Portman said there was no one her age on the set and she needed a friend. She said she was miserable and thinks her performance
as Queen Amidala suffered as a result.
The shoot for "Episode II — Attack of the Clones" was a different story.
Natalie Portman
Suit Filed For Song Rights
'Experience Hendrix'
The family of Jimi Hendrix is suing a recording company over the rights to recordings the late rock guitarist made before he became famous.
Experience Hendrix, the family firm that controls the rights to all Hendrix's work except some early recordings, is suing PPX Enterprises over
recordings Hendrix made with a group called Curtis Knight and The Squires in PPX's New York studios.
In the action, launched at the High Court in London on Wednesday, Experience Hendrix claims that PPX and its chairman, Edward Chalpin, breached
a 1973 agreement with the English administrator of Hendrix's estate.
The hearing, which continues Friday, is expected to last eight days.
'Experience Hendrix'
Auction News
World's First Press Photos
Historic pictures of the Paris uprising of 1848, the first photographic images to be used in a news story, sold for $265,000 on Thursday, auction house Sotheby's said.
The two daguerreotypes -- images on metal plates -- were taken by a pioneering French photographer named Thibault during the tumultuous June revolt in which
more than 3,000 Parisians were killed.
The plates were turned into engravings which appeared in the newspaper "L'Illustration Journal Universel" alongside a story about the uprising.
Thibault's first photograph of the rue St. Maur on June 25 shows a deserted cobbled street piled high with debris to form barricades. The second image,
taken the following day, is of the same street, this time filled with inhabitants and soldiers with cannons.
World's First Press Photos
Likes Ozzy Osbourne Show
Dan Quayle
A decade after criticizing television's Murphy Brown, former Vice President Dan Quayle has found a sitcom star whose family values he can applaud: Ozzy Osbourne.
"You have to get beyond the sort of dysfunctional aspect," Quayle said Thursday in praising the MTV show built around the profanity-filled and bizarre home life
of heavy metal rocker Osbourne, his wife and two children.
Noting that the offensive words are bleeped and the show features two "loving parents," Quayle said, "I think there are some very good lessons there that are being
transmitted, of not doing drugs, of not doing alcohol"
For the rest, Dan Quayle
Law Suit Over Spider-Man Artwork
Marvel Sues Buena Vista
Marvel Enterprises Inc., the comic book giant that owns rights to superhero Spider-Man, is suing Walt Disney Co.'s Buena Vista home entertainment unit, saying Buena Vista
used its artwork without permission to promote a Spider-Man cartoon series unrelated to the current hit film.
The suit, filed in Manhattan federal court late on Wednesday, seeks an immediate injunction against Buena Vista to stop it using the artwork. It also wants the court to
order Buena Vista to retrieve and destroy all copies of the artwork already in circulation.
Marvel said Buena Vista had sought its permission to release the cartoon series but had not been given authorization to use the company's Spider-Man artwork for use in its
advertising and promotion materials. It said advertisements appeared in such newspapers as The Daily News and Newsday in New York City and in Toys 'R Us and Wal-Mart stores
in different parts of the United States.
It said the artwork was "virtually identical" to Marvel's Spider-Man image, including the positions of the character's legs, arms, hands and fingers.
Marvel Sues Buena Vista
Clean Bill Of Health
Eddie Van Halen
Rocker Eddie Van Halen says he's gotten a clean bill of health from his doctors, after a two-year battle with tongue cancer.
In a statement on his band's official Web site, , he said, "I wanted to let you all know that I've just gotten a 100 percent
clean bill of health — from head to toe. I wanted to share the good news with you immediately. And of course, I thank you all for all your good wishes and prayers along the
way. Now it's time to really get back to the music and fun.....so party on and you'll be hearing from us very soon."
Van Halen announced in April 2001 that he was battling cancer, after a year of rumors about the 47-year-old guitarist's health.
Eddie Van Halen
In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends
ABC Site Yanks Doll From 'One Life To Live'
'Todd Manning'
A doll likened after a soap opera character with an unsavory past has been pulled from ABC's online store.
The doll, modeled after "One Life To Live" character "Todd Manning," came with a menacing scar on his right cheek, which the character received after
trying to rape a woman for the second time. The $19.95 doll was removed Tuesday from the site.
"We didn't exercise proper sensitivity to the history of the character of Todd," said Sally Schoneboom, ABC vice president of media and talent relations.
"We have reevaluated and decided not to sell the doll."
Manning, played by Roger Howarth, was originally cast as an unlikable character who stood trial for raping a girl at a fraternity party and who tried
to kill a man who slept with his wife. In recent years, Manning has become more popular, running a local newspaper and settling into family life.
'Todd Manning'
Soon To Be A Movie
''Picasso at the Lapin Agile''
Ryan Phillippe, Kevin Kline, Steve Martin and Juliette Binoche will co-star in "Picasso at the Lapin Agile," a feature based on Martin's play of the same title.
The independently financed picture will begin shooting next February with Fred Schepisi ("The Last Orders") directing from his own adaptation.
Winner of the 1996 New York Outer Critics' Circle Awards for best play and best playwright, "Picasso" is a comedy set in a bar in 1904 Paris. Twentysomethings Pablo Picasso
and Albert Einstein, both on the verge of greatness, argue about life, art, science and lust. Rupturing the space/time continuum, young Elvis joins them and the three experience
the magic of forever altering the future.
''Picasso at the Lapin Agile''
Reading WHAT?
Lingam Gnosis
Lingam Gnosis
He's B-a-a-a-a-a-c-c-c-k
'Kato' Kaelin
Brian "Kato" Kaelin has shot a pilot episode for a television series, "House Guest," aimed at capitalizing on his fame as O.J. Simpson's former live-in friend.
"It's a show where I go across America, I knock on doors of the unsuspecting and invite myself in to spend a weekend with the family," Kaelin told Barbara
Walters on ABC's "20/20" Wednesday.
Kaelin, who described "House Guest" as "an absolute ball," said it will be on the air soon but offered no details about where. He does have his own place,
a townhouse, Kaelin assured Walters.
'Kato' Kaelin
Irregularity At Auction
Original 1897 Manuscript Of 'Dracula'
John McLaughlin was hoping someone buy the original 1897 manuscript of Bram Stoker's "Dracula" at a recent auction but no one bit.
The 60-year-old book store owner was excited about the prospects of selling the manuscript through Christie's auction house. One auctioneer estimated the item could
be purchased for as much as $2 million, according to one London newspaper.
But at the end of the April 17 auction, not one person bid on the manuscript. McLaughlin expected to get his prized possession back. He was stunned to learn that CNN
had reported his manuscript had sold.
McLaughlin called Christie's and was told that the manuscript was sold under an obscure clause that allows them to sell items after the auction.
The handwritten title page and 20 other pages signed off by Stoker made it an authentic discovery.
Original 1897 Manuscript Of 'Dracula'
Sydney, Australia
Fashion Show
A model wears a garment during Australian Fashion Week in Sydney, May 9, 2002, that was NOT by Sydney designer Chloe Fitzjames. Fashion week,
which runs from May 6-10, showcases over 70 Australian and international designers.
Photo by Mark Baker
Real Life Singapore Soap Opera
Andrea & Pierre
A real life-and-death drama between two television stars has enthralled Singapore as a young actor saved his dying girlfriend by donating part of his liver.
Andrea De Cruz, the bubbly host of a lifestyle show, was stricken with acute liver failure at the age of 27 and needed an urgent transplant to survive the week.
Pierre Png, a heartthrob who works for the same TV station, offered almost half of his liver to save her life in a complex operation which ended on Wednesday.
Local newspapers have dedicated pages to the intricacies of the procedure, alongside tales of Png's devotion to De Cruz.
According to the Straits Times, Png's first words on waking after surgery were to ask how his girlfriend was.
Both were reported to be in stable condition.
Andrea & Pierre
Artist Makes Bogus Freeway Sign To Help L.A. Motorists
Richard Ankrom
A frustrated artist upset over a confusing freeway sign took matters into his own hands by scaling the sign and adding directions.
No one really noticed 46-year-old Richard Ankrom work on his ambitious project, although it was done during the day as thousands of motorists passed. Ankrom
wore a hard hat and an orange reflective vest to avoid raising suspicion from transportation crews and police.
Ankrom built and installed the directions to help motorists make a smooth transition from the Harbor Freeway to northbound Interstate 5, located near downtown.
By plastering the "North 5" moniker on the existing sign, Ankrom not only followed state specifications but also showed that art can make a difference.
Ankrom came up with the plan in 1999 after he repeatedly had problems finding the offramp to Interstate 5. Some motorists know the left-lane exit is at the end of a series of four tunnels, but
a sign indicating Interstate 5 can easily be missed.
The entire process was captured on video and Ankrom hopes Caltrans officials will either return his work or keep it intact.
Richard Ankrom
The LA Times Version
Fifteen Fans Hurt On Speeding Escalator
More Disney Magic
Fifteen baseball fans were hurt when an Edison Field escalator suddenly sped up to about three times its normal speed and hurled them into a football-style
pileup after an Anaheim Angels game.
None of the Tuesday night injuries on the Gate 4 terrace-level escalator was serious. Three people were taken to University of California, Irvine, Medical Center
where the most serious injury was a broken leg or ankle, Angels spokesman Tim Mead said.
The injured fans had just watched the Detroit Tigers shut out the Angels 3-0.
More Disney Magic
Is Kafka In Charge?
Johnnie Thomas
If you happened to take the US Airways shuttle from Logan to LaGuardia on March 23rd, you might have been stuck for a good while behind Johnnie Thomas, a seventy-year-old
African-American woman at the head of the check-in line. The ticket agent disappeared with Thomas's passport, and did not return for half an hour. When she did, she told
Thomas that she was cleared to fly, but that, from now on, each time she checked in US Airways would be required to call the state police, who would call the F.B.I., who
would run a check on the date and place of her birth.
"It's not your fault," she told Thomas. "It's just that your name is on the master terrorist list."
Eight days earlier, at LaGuardia, the same thing had happened, and Thomas had laughed it off. (The agent had told her, "You seem like a real nice lady, but please don't
come to me the next time you're at LaGuardia.") The second time, though, Thomas was not amused. She had just spent a fine week on Martha's Vineyard with her grandchildren,
and was in no mood to argue that she wasn't a terrorist.
March 23rd was a Saturday. On Monday morning, at home in Wayne, New Jersey, Thomas got busy on the telephone, making notes on each call.
Get your blood pressure up, and read the rest - Johnnie Thomas
Aaron McGruder's
The Boondocks
Warning!
Scheduled Yahoo! GeoCities Maintenance
Friday 5/17/02 9PM PST (GMT-7)
GeoCities will be performing scheduled maintenance starting
Friday, May 17th, 2002 at 9:00 pm PST (GMT-7). Service will
be restored the morning of Sunday, May 19th, 2002.
Still Seeking Volunteers
'The Osbournes'
Recently updated.
Put up a page devoted to 'The Osbournes'
C'mon....send your thoughts, your impressions, your views, your favorite quotes...
Scroll down for lots of addys to pick from (or 'from which to pick', for the truly anal retentive).
