Thanks for the thousand bucks. Here's what it bought so far.
When you're stuck up a dirt road in the desert with a landlord and sheriff locking you out of your home, the first thing you need is a car. Enterprise has a weekend special and says they'll pick you up, but not from the house in the middle of nowhere, so I hitchhiked to Palm Springs and used $250 of my son's tax refund check as a deposit on a rental. Hey, wait a minute, that wasn't your money, that was Buster's. Oh yeah, the bank put a hold on his check and I had to use up my overdraft protection, which may or may not end up being covered by you. Forget I mentioned it.
It must have been the next day, Monday, May 22, your direct deposit came through and our uncontrolled panic turned to controlled panic. First to Banning to pick up court papers, then to Indio to legal aid to see if there was any way to just postpone the whole thing. Filed papers but the clerk fucked up the dates, which would have meant two more trips to Banning when I should have been packing, not to mention the futility of trying to reverse a decision after we'd already been thrown out. I gave up on fighting to stay and headed to Angelview, a used everything store where the proceeds go to those less fortunate, which at this point is a rapidly shrinking number. A miracle, four pieces of solid luggage, an actual piece of good luck. Bought all four for $20 of yours and a wise move it was.
The sheriff evicted me but not my kids, so I continued to Palm Springs for a cat carrying case ($15), litterbox ($10) and boxes galore, some milk cartons from the back of Kmart, some empties not yet crushed from the back of Vons, and actual office boxes from Office Depot ($40). Two cell phones without a "plan" other than buying extra minutes ($100). Did laundry ($10). Called Buster. Landlord still there. Couldn't return. Paul Krassner and Nancy Cain graciously let me hang at their place in Desert Hot Springs till Buster called and declared it safe. Dinner. At a table. With adults and cloth napkins. What a trip.
Snuck back in the middle of the night and packed, getting out in the morning right before the landlord arrived. Next, a storage facility across the street from a Uhaul, rented a locker for $115 a month, then across the street for a truck and the next $100. Went back to the desert and packed the truck with all our belongings, and headed back to Desert Hot Springs, parking the truck in front of the Family Resource Center next to Kmart (clothes, another $80). Pointed out the window at all our stuff and told them we had nowhere to go. Mr. Gonzales provided us with a two day voucher at the Palm Grove Hotel in Palm Springs. We left the truck in the lot and drove there. Empty and only partially dilapidated, run by an Indian family, incense filling the living quarters behind the sign-up desk, a little kid who played catch with Max after he jumped in the freezing pool.
Thursday, Buster was exhausted from having done most of the heavy lifting loading the truck. We couldn't possibly unload it all ourselves, so I paid two guys to help, one Buster's friend, Brian, the other, Terry, who hung around the storage place looking to help. ($20 each) In another place and time, Terry would have been known as the village idiot. Gangly, frizzed out hair, simple, very simple, happy to help, obviously told by somebody to always ask for money or he would have done it all for something shiny. Returned to Palm Grove and relaxed.
Life at the Palm Grove, tacky as it was ("What's the word?...Oh, yes. Disgusting." - Review of the Palm Grove Hotel on tripadvisor.com), was an improvement over our old digs due to one thing, running water. Long showers, what a luxury. With no city water, a holding tank, and a busted pump, here's how we used to get water, five gallons at a time...
Friday our vouchers were up and Palm Grove wanted $89.00 a day, which would be a serious overspendage for staying in that shithole. Did I mention it was Memorial Day Weekend? Did I mention this was Palm Springs? Some devout Christian must explain to me why God would require me to try to find a cheap hotel room in Palm Springs on Memorial Day weekend. Vouchers, must have vouchers, promising but elusive, a frantic runaround, everyone sending me somewhere else, Gonzalez said Jewish Family Services who sent me to Michael Bell at SOS, then to Bridges of Hope, and finally to the county who gave me a once in a lifetime opportunity to get 16 days worth of hotel vouchers as long as I signed a paper saying I'd never used this service before and I'd never use it again. Fine, anything, vouchers, must have vouchers. Got 'em. Picked up Buster hanging outside the Palm Grove with all our belongings and on to the Musicland, a much nicer hotel with a kitchen up the road.
Of course at this point I hadn't returned the car that was due back on Monday, and if I didn't return it on Friday, which I didn't, I'd have to keep it till Tuesday at $40 a day that you may or may not end up paying for.
Buster's been a problem, not as a person, he's been magnificent, but as a legal entity. Scrounging for shelter has been made easier by my son Max, who is 13, and of serious concern to all social agencies. But Buster's 19, officially an adult and not a dependent. All aid has been for two beds, and I've been sleeping with Max, waking up every night with at least one elbow in the face.
His mom lives in Phoenix and has a sofa, so it's $40 for Buster's bus to Phoenix, a hell better than fate, plus $100 cash to send him on his way. Buster snuck Shelly, our tortoise, in a duffel bag and it survived the trip to Phoenix, but I have yet to discover the secret of not arriving wherever we go in a bus with a dead cat. Dropped off the car at Enterprise, who surely don't know the Captain of the Enterprise also played me, and took the bus back to Musicland.
Might I mention what a fucking disaster it is at this very moment to have a desktop computer instead of a laptop? My son's laptop picked up WIFI in a snap, but I had to actually drive to a Target to pick up one of those ubiquitous AOL disks to take advantage of their free offer to use the only dial-up number that will work from Musicland. Now I'm plugged in but we've got three pieces of luggage already, not including kitchen supplies, food, the two big boxes the computer fits in, and a cat carrying case for the cat Greyhound won't let on the bus.
Let's see, we rented DVDs ($3) to watch on the computer, there was five bucks on a new pair of truckstop sunglasses, and at least $50 on fast food plus $15 for cigarettes, $100 on gas, and a $5 deposit to use the hotel phone or I wouldn't be online right now.
The government voucher allowing me to stay in this hotel is your money, your tax money, so thanks for that too.
And that's about it. Got about $300 left, just enough to take a bus somewhere. So far there are two offers, a Buddhist retreat in Amherst, MA, but the heads of the Ashram who have to approve are in Japan and won't be back for two weeks. Our vouchers end in one week. The other offer is a fishing trawler docked in Ilwaco, WA, on the coast at the Oregon/Washington border. How do we get there with the cat? Posted a note looking for a ride on Craigs List. Got a week to save the Siamese. Slack, blessed slack, I'm actually feeling good and looking forward to an aquatic future.
How am I ever going to pay you back? How about a book called "Dear Anonymous" with the sub-head "You don't have to be a genius to go from Beverly Hills to homeless, but it helps." Other potential titles: "Who Cares?", "Autobiography of a Nobody", and "How to Cope When Absolutely Everything Goes Wrong in Your Life." My disastrous tale would make others feel good about their lives, which must look like heaven next to mine. Presuming there's no interstate contact between social agencies, I could pull this same homeless trick in every state, staying for two weeks wherever the vouchers take me. Call it "Two Years at the Taxpayer's Expense." All I need is a car, a book deal, and a laptop. Already got the golden ticket, a kid. I'd end up in jail for welfare fraud but I smell a best seller.
Can I assume you're rich? I think so, not just because of your philanthropy towards me, but because my personal definition of rich has gone through some major adjustment. Anybody who owns stock? Rich. When my son and I sit on a hilltop and look down at the city full of houses and apartments with swimming pools, we're looking at the rich people. When we sit on a bus stop waiting for a ride to our hotel room provided by you and the county and see hundreds of cars go by, we're looking at rich people, and the same for everyone at Starbucks laying out the same amount for one single cup of coffee that I just spent on a pound and a Melitta filter. Those couples walking by in clothes less than a couple years old? Rich bastards. Anyone with a store-bought haircut? Vain rich bastards.
Okay, I admit, your money bought us one single normal moment. I decided my kids deserved to feel like human beings for a fleeting wisp of time. Thursday night the main strip in Palm Springs is blocked off for a street fair, rock climbing, musicians, kettle corn, soap and incense makers, knickknack magicians and spray-paint somnambulists, art, lots of art, paintings and sculpture, lamps and bouncy houses, a vast selection of unique-abilia for the constant parade of rich people to buy. At the center, location, location, location, is a Starbucks with a giant outdoor patio right on the corner, the perfect, the only place to sit and watch it all go by, so I splurged, forgive me, let my kids pick anything they wanted from the menu, and we sat like normal people. Too normal. I had made the decision this would happen before we arrived and made a stop at a liquor store. In my pocket was a ghastly pint of some generic Bailey's Irish Cream that I added to the coffee. It was only a buck thirty, so you see, I was being thrifty with your cash even while blowing it on booze.
Is this a plea for more money? Sure, why not? Divest all your stocks and invest in me.
Just kidding. No particular crunch at this very moment. Homelessness infests your ability to plan with a case of reckless insecurity. Planning a year ahead? Yeah, right. Planning a month ahead? Gimme a break. Planning a week ahead can be done, but only with a lot of concentration. Planning a day ahead happens on its own. Here's my tomorrow.
I got a speeding ticket rushing Buster to the bus station through a deserted stretch of road where a cop was hiding. They got my drivers license and asked if that was my current address. Talk about a loaded question. "Nope, it was our address yesterday but not now, now we're homeless and broke in a rented car trying to get out of town before the last bus at three, and we have no possible way of paying this ticket which will go to warrant and fuck up our lives even further when I end up in jail and the state has to pick up the bill of sending my son to a foster home, all because I was doing something both of us know was perfectly safe. Do you really think my life deserves to be ruined even further because of this minor infraction or are you so seriously devoted to bringing in your quota that you're drained of all human compassion and decency?"
If I were rich or even normal, I'd just pay the damn thing and forget about it, but instead it's a potentially life altering crisis. I'm down to three hundred bucks, barely enough for our bus to the fishing boat. I should spend it on a moving violation or go to jail? I hate shit like this. Just what I need.
I have to take the 111 bus to Cathedral city tomorrow to re-up our vouchers for the weekend. It's a hassle to keep going back to the county office but one understands why they don't just hand out 16 day vouchers all at once. We could end up leaving before the time is up and then there's this wasted empty room. After the county office, I'm continuing east on 111 to the Indio courthouse to fight the ticket because if not now, when? The date on the ticket I'm supposed to appear is in June. Who knows where I'll be in June. I've prepared the following speech...
"Your honor, the address on that ticket is incorrect. I haven't owned a car in five years and I'm currently homeless. I rented a car to move all my belongings into storage. It was the first time I'd driven in more than a year so I was a bit rusty, but I believe I was driving at a safe speed consistent with the rest of the traffic. I have no money and no way to attend driving school or do community service. I'm currently living at a hotel with my kids with a voucher from the county (show the voucher). I have no forwarding address and have no idea where we will be next week, but it will certainly be out of this county and probably out of this state. If we can't settle this now, it will go to warrant. I ask that you dismiss this now so I can start a new life and eventually come back to my home state without fear of being arrested due to one stupid mistake."
I've decided the look I should go for is disheveled but clean, needing a haircut, worn clothes, plucky but humble, as if I have a choice.
So there's your update. We're alive and I've actually got time to write.
Hey, here's an investment tip. Buy $100,000 worth of those new "forever" postage stamps. Their worth can only go up, probably appreciating at about 5% a year, and you can leave them to your kids without any inheritance or gift taxes.
There, I just made you your thousand bucks back.
MD
"Never go anywhere without your molecules."
- Wacko, Yacko, and Dot -
"It's only when the tide goes out you learn who's been swimming naked."
- Warren Buffett -
"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him to use the internet and he won't bother you for weeks."
- Xarvon, alien investigator -
Message to future residents of Musicland room 109: I see you found our lost python. His name is Monty. Sorry about that.
Barbara Ehrenreich: CEOs vs. Slaves (AlterNet.org)
Recent findings shed new light on the increasingly unequal terrain of American society. The new "top" involves pay in the hundreds of millions, a private jet and a few acres of Nantucket. The new bottom is slavery.
A BUZZFLASH INTERVIEW: Randi Rhodes of Air America, No Holds Barred (buzzflash.com)
As you will see in the interview, we don't think Randi is a flaming liberal at all. She's a gal from Brooklyn who just applies common sense and the facts to what she sees. And applying common sense to the blinded, destructive zealotry of the Bush cabal can infuriate a person. You get the feeling that if George Bush had to spend five minutes alone in a room with Randi Rhodes, he'd end up wimpering in the corner and crying out for mercy.
Jim Hightower: THE STENCH OF CORPORATE WELFARE (jimhightower.com)
Big corporations seems to be doing awfully well these days, scooping up record profits, getting massive tax breaks from the federal government, and cutting back on their employees. They're wallowing in wealth!
Roger Holland: Veronica Mars: Series Finale (popmatters.com)
In the first episode of "Veronica Mars," the schoolgirl detective summarised Epistle One of Pope's "An Essay On Man" as "Life's a bitch until you die." Her teacher may have been unimpressed with her interpretation, but as a prediction for the next three years, it was on the money.
Todd R. Ramlow: "I killed Tara": Desire and Death on Buffy (popmatters.com)
Tara is dead. Few things have saddened me more on network television than the callous murder of the infinitely patient and caring Tara (Amber Benson) right in front of her lover's eyes (Willow Rosenberg, played by Alyson Hannigan).
Andrew Gilstrap: Death and the Single Girl: Buffy Grows Up (popmatters.com)
"Buffy the Vampire Slayer" is about death. It is about losing loved ones and struggling to carry on. It is about finding happiness, or some semblance of it, and having it snatched from you. That might seem pretty obvious. After all, this is a show where vampires, demons, and other assorted bugaboos kill and are killed on a weekly basis. Its body count is unparalleled on TV (unless you count its spin-off, "Angel").
Enjoyed the last day of May Gray - looking forward to the 'June Gloom'.
Tonight, Friday:
CBS begins the night with a RERUN'Ghost Whisperer', followed by a RERUN'Close To Home', then a RERUN'NUMB3RS'.
On a RERUNDave (from 5/1/07) are Tobey Maguire, John Byner, and Modest Mouse.
On a RERUNCraig (from 5/11/07) are Larry the Cable Guy, Maureen McCormick, and Montgomery Gentry.
NBC starts the night with a RERUN'1 Vs. 100', followed by a RERUN'Law & Order: Criminal Intent', then a RERUN'Law & Order'.
On a RERUNLeno (from 4/19/07) are Jack Black, Sanjaya Malakar, and OK Go.
On a RERUNConan (from 3/22/07) are Adam Sandler, Sarah Thyre, and Lindsey Buckingham.
On a RERUNCarson Daly (from 3/23/07) are Piper Perabo and Unwritten Law.
ABC opens the night with a RERUN'America's So-Called Funniest Home Videos', followed by a FRESH'National Bingo Night', then '20/20'.
On a RERUNJimmy Kimmel (from 5/16/07) are Sarah Silverman, Jerry Ferrara, and Avril Lavigne.
The CW fills the night with a FRESH'WWE Friday Night SmackDown!'.
Faux has a FRESH'TV's Funniest Moments'.
MY fills the night with the movie 'Love Is All There Is'.
PLEASE check local PBS listings for a FRESH'Bill Moyers Journal', and a FRESH'NOW With Bill Moyers David Brancaccio'.
A&E has 'Cold Case Files', 'CSI: The 2nd One', another 'CSI: The 2nd One', followed by a FRESH'Intervention'.
AMC offers the movie 'Braveheart', followed by the movie 'Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story', then the movie 'Magic'.
BBC -
[12:00 PM] Gordon Ramsay's F Word - Episode 9;
[1:00 PM] What Not To Wear - Season 6 - Ep 5 Widows and Widowers;
[2:00 PM] The Weakest Link - Episode 2;
[3:00 PM] How Clean Is Your House? - Episode 9;
[3:30 PM] How Clean Is Your House? - Episode 1;
[4:00 PM] Changing Rooms - Episode 15;
[4:30 PM] Changing Rooms - Episode 16;
[5:00 PM] Whose Line Is It Anyway? - Episode 2;
[5:30 PM] Whose Line Is It Anyway? - Episode 3;
[6:00 PM] The Weakest Link - Episode 3;
[7:00 PM] BBC World News - BBC World News;
[7:30 PM] How Clean Is Your House? - Episode 2;
[8:00 PM] Absolutely Fabulous - Ep.5 Small Opening;
[8:40 PM] Coupling - Ep. 5 Jane and the Truth Snake;
[9:20 PM] Coupling - Ep. 6 Gotcha;
[10:00 PM] Footballers Wive$ - Episode 9;
[11:00 PM] Absolutely Fabulous - Ep.5 Small Opening;
[11:40 PM] Coupling - Ep. 5 Jane and the Truth Snake;
[12:20 AM] Coupling - Ep. 6 Gotcha;
[1:00 AM] Footballers Wive$ - Episode 9;
[2:00 AM] The Weakest Link - Episode 3;
[3:00 AM] Look Around You - Ep 1 Music;
[3:30 AM] Look Around You - Ep 2 Health;
[4:00 AM] Look Around You - Ep 3 Sport;
[4:30 AM] Look Around You - Ep 4 Food;
[5:00 AM] Look Around You - Ep 5 Computers;
[5:30 AM] Look Around You - Ep 6 Live Final;
[6:00 AM] BBC World News - BBC World News. (ALL TIMES EDT)
Bravo has 'Inside The Actors Studio', followed by the movie 'The Godfather'.
Comedy Central has 'Scrubs', another 'Scrubs', an old 'Jon Stewart', an old 'Colbert Report', 'Reno 911!', 'Comedy Central Presents', another 'Comedy Central Presents', and still another 'Comedy Central Presents'.
History has 'Modern Marvels', another 'Modern Marvels', and 'Jonestown Paradise Lost'.
IFC -
[06:10 AM] The Brothers McMullen;
[07:50 AM] IFC Short Film Showcase;
[08:50 AM] Bus 174;
[10:50 AM] Strictly Ballroom;
[12:30 PM] The Brothers McMullen;
[02:15 PM] Bus 174;
[04:20 PM] Strictly Ballroom;
[06:00 PM] The Brothers McMullen;
[07:45 PM] Suckers;
[09:15 PM] Super Troopers;
[11:00 PM] The Henry Rollins Show #308: William Shatner/Peeping Tom;
[11:30 PM] Basilisk #22;
[12:00 AM] Creepshow;
[02:15 AM] The Henry Rollins Show #308: William Shatner/Peeping Tom;
[02:45 AM] Basilisk #22;
[03:15 AM] Creepshow;
[05:30 AM] Bus 174. (ALL TIMES EDT)
SciFi has 'Level 9', followed by a FRESH'Stargate SG-1', then a FRESH'Stargate Atlantis', and a FRESH'Painkiller Jane'.
Pierce Brosnan and his wife Keely have donated $100,000 to help replace an unsafe playground at an elementary school on Kauai, where they own a home.
The money was donated to Hawaii 3R's (Repair, Remodel and Restore Hawaii's public schools), a nonprofit organization that kicked in $47,800 for the project at Hanalei Elementary School.
"We were disheartened that the playground equipment was condemned for so long, and we wanted to find a way to help," the former James Bond actor said Wednesday in a news release. "We believe that play activities enhance children's educational experiences, and these children were missing out."
Jon Lovitz announced Wednesday that he has signed a contract to appear at the Sunset Strip Laugh Factory every Wednesday night for the rest of his life.
"Or, if he's in New York to do a movie or something, he can appear at the Laugh Factory there. But he's committed to every Wednesday night," club owner Jamie Masada said.
As part of the deal, the 49-year-old "Saturday Night Live" alum will also write a Laugh Factory blog giving advice to up-and-coming comedians.
CSI star William Petersen throws out the first pitch before a Chicago Cubs against Florida Marlins baseball game Wednesday, May 30, 2007 in Chicago.
Photo by M. Spencer Green
Universal Orlando Resort is opening a Harry Potter theme park that will let fans visit many of the iconic locations in the books and movies that endeared the boy magician to millions.
"The Wizarding World of Harry Potter" is set to open at Universal's Islands of Adventure theme park in late 2009, complete with the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the Forbidden Forest and Hogsmeade village.
"The plans I've seen look incredibly exciting, and I don't think fans of the books or films will be disappointed," said author J.K. Rowling, who has been working with a creative team to make sure the park resembles the books and films.
Colombian novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez returned for the first time in more than 20 years on Wednesday to the home town that inspired him to create his most famous novel, "100 years of Solitude."
Thousands packed the town's streets to greet the 80-year-old patron of Latin America's magic-realism style, with cheers, shouts and applause for the man known fondly as Gabo on a visit 40 years after his most famous novel was published.
Dressed impeccably in white, the 1982 winner of the Nobel prize for literature stepped out of the tourist train that brought him to Aracataca as people screamed out "Long live Gabo," and "Gabo, welcome home."
An ex-spy whose unmasking led to the conviction of Vice President Dick 'Go Fuck Yourself' Cheney's top aide is suing the Central Intelligence Agency, accusing it of unconstitutionally interfering with publication of her memoir.
Valerie Plame Wilson and her publisher, Simon & Schuster, filed a suit in the U.S. District Court in New York on Thursday against J. Michael McConnell, the CIA director of national intelligence, and CIA Director Michael Hayden.
The suit said although the CIA had released Plame's dates of service in an unclassified document, "the CIA now purports to classify or reclassify Ms. Wilson's pre-2002 federal service dates" so it cannot be published in her memoir "Fair Game."
The CIA had also demanded "significant portions" of Wilson's manuscript be "excised or rendered 'fiction"' to protect the secrecy of Wilson's service before 2002, it said.
She's as much an emblem, and a tourist draw, as tartan, bagpipes, and shortbread. And now Nessie's back. An amateur scientist has captured what Loch Ness Monster watchers say is among the finest footage ever taken of the elusive mythical creature reputed to swim beneath the waters of Scotland's most mysterious lake.
"I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw this jet black thing, about 45-feet long, moving fairly fast in the water," said Gordon Holmes, the 55-year-old a lab technician from Shipley, Yorkshire, who took the video this past Saturday.
Nessie watcher and marine biologist Adrian Shine of the Loch Ness 2000 center in Drumnadrochit, on the shores of the lake, viewed the video and hopes to properly analyze it in the coming months.
Donna Karan arrives at the 35th Annual FIFI Awards of the Fragrance Foundation in New York on Thursday, May, 31, 2007. Her dress is by designer David Meister.
Photo by Rick Maiman
The daughter of Brunei's wealthy Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah will wed in June, a government website announced Thursday.
The royal wedding of Princess Hajah Majeedah Nuurul Bulqiah and Khairul Khalil is scheduled for June 10, with the wedding banquet to take place the following day, the information department's website said.
In line with royal tradition, the official wedding ceremony will take place over two weeks, starting Friday with several royal ceremonies scheduled in the lead-up to the wedding day.
A London performance of the "Lord of the Rings" musical ended abruptly with actors dressed as Hobbits, elves and dwarfs rushing to help a screaming cast member whose leg was trapped in set machinery.
The producers of the stage adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy saga said in a statement they had cancelled preview shows scheduled for Thursday and Friday to modify the set to prevent further accidents.
"Due to an incident which occurred during last night's performance of 'The Lord of the Rings,' resulting in Adam Salter (playing a Ranger) injuring his leg, the creative team are today and tomorrow looking at modifying the staging," the statement said.
A former "Dateline" producer alleges that she was let go from NBC News after she complained of ethical lapses on the show's pedophile-sting series "To Catch a Predator."
Marsha Bartel of Lincolnshire, Ill., has filed suit in U.S. District Court in Chicago asking for at least $1 million in damages. She alleges that the network breached her contract by failing to pay her through the end of the contract on December 20, 2009.
Bartel was terminated from NBC News in December under what it said was a companywide cutback plan after she had signed a contract to be the sole producer on the "Predator" series the previous March.
Bartel contends that she was fired after raising several issues about the conduct of Perverted Justice, the organization that is paid by NBC News to carry out the sting operations, and NBC. The lawsuit calls it a "shadowy vigilante organization." She said she was rebuffed in her concerns and said she couldn't produce "Predator."
Former President Bill Clinton, center, is joined by former New York mayor David Dinkins, right, and singer Paul Simon as he speaks at the Children's Health Fund's 20th Anniversary Gala, Wednesday, May 30, 2007 in New York. Clinton received a Humanitarian Award from the Children's Health Fund.
Photo by Dima Gavrysh
Right-wing pundit Rachel Marsden, best known in Canada for a couple of high-profile sexual harassment controversies, was escorted out of Fox News Channel's New York offices by security guards earlier this week and removed from the show "Red Eye."
The New York Post reported Thursday that Fox's reasons for dismissing Marsden might not have simply been about changing direction, quoting an insider as saying she was removed due to erratic behaviour.
In an e-mail exchange, Marsden denied the Post claim, and said it was standard procedure to be escorted from the building when given a pink slip at Fox News.
"They are always concerned that someone will take a laptop or a computer or something," Marsden said in the e-mail. "Truth be told, the show started off being newsy and political, but the content had changed drastically from its inception."
The Spanish government said Thursday it has filed a lawsuit in a U.S. federal court against an American firm over a shipwreck the company has found laden with a colonial-era treasure.
If the vessel was Spanish or was removed from Spanish waters, any treasure would belong to Spain, Spain says.
Odyssey announced two weeks ago that it had discovered a shipwreck containing 500,000 gold and silver coins somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean. The Florida-based company said the site was outside any country's territorial waters but would not give the exact location or name of the ship.
MyNetworkTV has ditched its low-rated English-language telenovelas in favor of a reality-heavy lineup.
Its fall schedule will include a pair of new series -- the prison-set "Jail" and relationship-centric "Divorce Wars" -- along with a couple of familiar titles: the dating show "Meet My Folks," which previously ran on NBC, and the unscripted series "The Academy," which debuted Thursday on sister cable channel Fox Reality.
The network, which launched last fall with the stations left out when UPN and WB merged to form the CW, also is bringing back mixed martial arts-themed "IFL Battleground" on Mondays as well as the Thursday and Friday night "My Movie" blocks.
"Meet My Folks," which originally aired on NBC during the 2002/03 season, centers on parents deciding who dates their children by putting the potential suitors through a series of secret interviews, tasks and a lie detector. MyNet will initially air reruns, with hopes of producing new episodes later in the year.
A traditional Bolivian mask is displayed in the National Ethnography and Folklore Museum in La Paz, May 31, 2007. Sixty masks are on display for the first time in the exhibition titled "Masks, the different faces of the soul."
Photo by Jose Luis Quintana
The first panda bred in captivity and released into the wild has died in China after less than a year - the apparent victim of a fall. Chinese officials said the body bore injuries inflicted by wild pandas, and the animal may have died trying to escape.
The body of the 5-year-old panda, Xiang Xiang, was found Feb. 19 on snow-covered ground in the forests of Sichuan province in China's southwest, the Xinhua News Agency said. He survived less than a year despite nearly three years of training on surviving in the wild.
"Xiang Xiang died of serious internal injuries in the left side of his chest and stomach by falling from a high place," Heng Yi, an official from the Wolong Giant Panda Research Center in Sichuan, said in a telephone interview Thursday.
He said the announcement of the death was delayed because of the need for an investigation.
Pop diva Chaka Khan doesn't have a lot of regrets -- and little wonder with eight Grammy Awards on her mantle.
The 54-year-old singer, who has a wide-ranging catalog of recordings to her credit, including her smash hit "I'm Every Woman," is releasing a new album this fall with the tentative title "I-Khan Funk."
But when the Chicago native spoke to Reuters recently she acknowledged she does regret her appearance at the 2000 Republican convention, where she sang what was described as "a rousing finale" after George Bush captured the party's presidential nomination:
Jackson family memorabilia brought in about half a million dollars on the first of a two-day auction at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, auctioneer Guernsey's said Thursday. The auction, which wraps up late Thursday, displayed more than 1,100 lots, mostly costumes, documents, awards and other memorabilia.
One of the priciest items to sell was a black, military-style coat with an "M" crest that belonged to Michael Jackson. It fetched $24,000, said Guernsey's president Arlan Ettinger.
Several awards sold for similar amounts, including gold and platinum albums presented to the Jacksons for sales of "We Are the World," recorded by a group of artists known as USA for Africa. The set sold for $20,000.
Jenna Bush, left, first lady Laura Bush, center, and Barbara Bush pose for a picture with Elmo at the Sesame Workshop Fifth Annual Benefit Dinner in New York, Wednesday, May 30, 2007. The first lady was being honored for her commitment to literacy and education.
Photo by Seth Wenig
David Hasselhoff's former wife, Pamela Bach, has pleaded not guilty to a misdemeanor hit-and-run charge stemming from a fender-bender in North Hollywood.
Her attorney Peter Knecht said a "civil compromise" was being worked out, and he expected the charge to be dismissed.
He said Bach backed into a car Jan. 22, and after inspecting both cars, left when she didn't see any damage. An onlooker took down her license plate number.
A pink cocktail dress worn by Audrey Hepburn in "Breakfast at Tiffany's" was auctioned Wednesday for nearly $200,000 - more than six times what the auctioneers expected.
The sleeveless dress, worn for the scene in which Holly Golightly discovers her brother has died, sold for $192,000 to a private European buyer at Christie's sale of film and entertainment memorabilia. The iconic black dress she also wore in the film sold for more than $800,000 last year at London auction.
Christie's said it had expected the pink dress to sell for as much as $30,000.
Rankings for the top 15 programs on cable networks as compiled by Nielsen Media Research for the week of May 21-27. Day and start time (EDT) are in parentheses.
1. "WWE Raw" (Monday, 10 p.m.), USA, 3.71 million homes, 5.53 million viewers.
2. NBA Playoffs: Detroit vs. Cleveland (Sunday, 8:30 p.m.), TNT, 3.274 million homes, 4.37 million viewers.
3. NBA Playoffs: Cleveland vs. Detroit (Thursday, 8:19 p.m.), TNT, 3.272 million homes, 4.25 million viewers.
4. "WWE Raw" (Monday, 9 p.m.), USA, 3.17 million homes, 4.72 million viewers.
5. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 10 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.13 million homes, 4.15 million viewers.
6. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 10:30 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.1 million homes, 4.12 million viewers.
7. NBA Playoffs: Cleveland vs. Detroit (Monday, 8:18 p.m.), 3.05 million homes, 3.91 million viewers.
8. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 9:30 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.01 million homes, 3.79 million viewers.
9. NBA Playoffs: Utah vs. San Antonio (Tuesday, 9 p.m.), ESPN, 2.66 million homes, 3.42 million viewers.
10. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 9 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.63 million homes, 3.35 million viewers.
11. "House" (Saturday, 11 p.m.), USA, 2.42 million homes, 3.32 million viewers.
12. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Friday, 5 p.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.41 million homes, 3.33 million viewers.
13. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Friday, 4:30 p.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.39 million homes, 3.05 million viewers.
14. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Friday, 4 p.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.386 million homes, 3.08 million viewers.
15. "El Tigre" (Saturday, 11 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.385 million homes, 3.01 million viewers.
Tributes poured in Thursday for the much-loved French actor and filmmaker Jean-Claude Brialy, one of the stars of New Wave cinema in the 1950s and 1960s, following his death aged 74.
With a career spanning four decades, Brialy worked with some of the best directors of his generation, including the New Wave pioneers Francois Truffaut, Louis Malle and Jean-Luc Godard.
Born in Algeria in March 1933, the son of a French colonel, Brialy discovered cinema during his military service when he worked in an army film unit.
Training as a stage actor, he headed to Paris in 1954 where he quickly fell in with the young French film crowd, including Jacques Rivette who gave him his first role in the 1956 short movie, "Fool's Mate".
A household name in French film whose close friends included the late actress Romy Schneider, Brialy had owned a popular Paris theatre, "Les Bouffes du Nord" since 1986 and was a regular guest on radio and television.
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