'TBH Politoons'
Thanks, again, Tim!
Deemed More Truthful Than Bush
Eminem
Rap superstar EMINEM has been deemed "more truthful" than American
President GEORGE W BUSH by a new survey.
The poll quizzed 1,016 Americans on issues of trust and gossip
amongst other topics. And 53 per cent of those asked found the LOSE
YOURSELF hitmaker's rhymes more credible and believable than Bush's
speeches.
Almost two thirds of those polled in the 18-24 age bracket preferred
SLIM SHADY to Bush, and even 55 per cent of 35-44 year-olds thought
the same.
The survey was conducted by advertising agency EURO RSCG.
Eminem More Truthful Than Bush
Thanks, Baron Dave!
Reader Suggestion
Re: Eric Blumlich
Another piercing animation from Eric Blumlich
As usual, Eric has produced an animation that pierces direct to the heart
of the matter. If the Democrats had any sense they'd pay to run this one
as an advert (why they won't do that is another story and would be
upsetting
to those who think that the Democrats are actually a real alternative to
the
Republicans and not part of a "good cop/bad cop" act used by a very small
elite to pump the economy to their US advantage and return the world to
a feudal society where there a handful of obscenely rich and a multitude
of obscenely poor).
www.bushflash.com/occupied.html
Even though I'm certain that many of the Democratic presidential candidates
are just as much tools of the power elite as Bush, at least they'd have to
wear a semi-human face. We'd all be better off if one of them replaced
Bush
even though the only cure is to stop the Rockefellers and Rothschilds of
this world from controlling politicians of both parties.
BTW, you can tell that Dubya has outlived his usefulness because
"Democrat" Jay Rockefeller is dissing him. It's getting time to pump
the economy in the other direction so that the shares the Rockefellers
could buy on the cheap after Dubya wrecked the economy recover.
Damn, it's rare that I'm feeling this cynical - almost as rare as
Dubya telling lies...
Thanks, B dF!
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Still humid, still cranky.
Thanks for the mail Re: Films with WTC. Hope to have the page up later today.
Tomorrow (Saturday) this page will be 2 years old. Woo hoo!
Tonight, Friday, CBS starts the night with a FRESH 'Big Brother 4', followed by a
RERUN 'JAG', then '48 Hours'.
Scheduled on a FRESH Dave are Denis Leary and Brett Butler.
Scheduled on a FRESH Craiggers are Luke Wilson, Gabrielle Union, and Guster.
NBC begins the evening with a 2-hour 'Dateline', followed by a RERUN 'Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'.
Scheduled on a FRESH Jay is Tom Green.
Scheduled on a FRESH Conan are Stallone, Bill Bellamy, and Train. (RERUNs all next week)
Scheduled on a FRESH Carson Daly are Joe Pantoliano, Ron Livingston, Ryan Pinkston, and Blur.
ABC opens the night with a RERUN 'America's Funniest Home Videos', followed by a FRESH 'Whose Line?',
then another FRESH 'Whose Line?', followed by '20/20'.
Scheduled on a FRESH Jimmy Kimmel are L.A. Laker Karl Malone, Vanessa Ferlito, and Boyd Tinsley, with this week's guest co-host Lil' Max$o.
The WB offers a RERUN 'Reba', followed by a RERUN 'What I Like About You', then another RERUN 'Reba', followed by
a RERUN 'Grounded For Life'.
Faux has a RERUN 'Bernie Mac', followed by another RERUN 'Bernie Mac', then a RERUN 'Boston Pubic'.
UPN here has Rupert's Doggers visiting the Diamondbacks.
A&E has 'Biography' (Hank Williams), then 'A Touch Of Frost'.
AMC offers the movie 'Earthquake', followed by the movie 'King Kong' (the Jessica Lange version), then the movie 'Fright Night'.
BBC -
[7pm] 'Ground Force' - Kirby Hill;
[7:30pm] 'Changing Rooms' - Doncaster;
[8pm] 'Parkinson' - Hugh Jackman and Matthew Perry;
[9pm] 'The Office' - Episode 1;
[9:40pm] 'Manchild' - Episode 6;
[10:20pm] 'The League of Gentlemen' - Beauty and The Beast (or Come Into My Parlour);
[11pm] 'So Graham Norton' - Liza Minelli;
[11:30pm] 'So Graham Norton' - Larry Hagman;
[12am] 'The Office' - Episode 1;
[12:40am] 'Manchild' - Episode 6;
[1:20am] 'The League of Gentlemen' - Beauty and The Beast (or Come Into My Parlour);
[2am] 'Parkinson' - Hugh Jackman and Matthew Perry;
[3am] 'So Graham Norton' - Liza Minelli; and
[3am] 'So Graham Norton' - Larry Hagman. (ALL TIMES EDT)
Bravo fills the night with the movie 'Apocalypse Now Redux'.
HBO - 'Real Time With Bill Maher' is back.
History has 'Modern Marvels, 'Greatest Raids', 'Heavy Metal', and more 'Modern Marvels'.
SciFi has 'Tremors: The Series', 'Stargate SG-1', and a couple of 'Scare Tactic''s.
TCM celebrates prisons, reform schools, a horse & 7 Samurai -
[6am] '20,000 Years In Sing Sing' (1933);
[7:30am] 'Castle On The Hudson' (1940);
[9am] 'The Mayor Of Hell' (1933);
[10:30am] 'Crime School' (1938);
[12pm] 'You Can't Get Away With Murder' (1939);
[1:30pm] 'Invisible Stripes' (1939);
[3pm] 'San Quentin' (1937);
[4:15pm] 'Each Dawn I Die' (1939);
[6pm] 'The Roaring Twenties' (1939);
[8pm] 'The Horse Soldiers' (1959);
[10:15pm] 'The Story Of Seabiscuit' (1949);
[12am] 'Gallant Bess' (1946);
[2am] 'The Seven Samurai' ['Shichinin no samurai'] (1954) (directed by
Akira Kurosawa - also, it's in Japanese with subtitles!); and
[5:30am] 'Festival of Shorts #19' (1999). (ALL TIMES EDT)
Anyone have any opinions?
Or reviews?
(See below for addresses)
Former U.S. President Bill Clinton greets people at a gathering of young professionals in support of the former president's Library and Foundation in New York City, July 23, 2003. The Clinton Library will be the repository for the President's papers, and the Foundation will help Clinton continue his work on issues such as racial reconciliation, economic empowerment, and citizen service.
Photo by Jeff Christensen
The Information One-Stop
Moose & Squirrel
Returns with New Writing Team
'West Wing'
NBC's White House drama "The West Wing" returns for a fifth term of office this fall with executive producer John Wells replacing series creator Aaron Sorkin as commander-in-chief of the Emmy-winning show.
But NBC Entertainment President Jeff Zucker promised Tuesday that the transition from Sorkin to Wells and his new writing team would be seamless, with viewers noticing little difference in the show except for perhaps less of the dialogue "banter" that was a hallmark of Sorkin's writing style.
"West Wing" seems set for a riveting start. The season finale in May ended with President "Jed" Bartlet (Martin Sheen) temporarily handing over the reins of power to a political rival played by John Goodman in the midst of a crisis sparked in part by the apparent kidnapping of Bartlet's daughter.
Sorkin and a second executive producer of the show, Thomas Schlamme, stepped down from the series in May to pursue other projects.
'West Wing'
Reader Contribution
Streisand & Lane
Diane Lane and Josh Brolin, the son of Streisand's husband, actor James
Brolin, became engaged over the July 4 weekend--following a courtship
that began in early 2002.
Not only did La Barbra introduce the couple, the music and movie
megastar and Lane reportedly share a number of interests. ''When it
comes to politics they are on the same page,'' says the Lane friend.
''When it comes to talking issues, they can practically finish each
other's sentences.'' But politics is not a major passion of Lane's
fiance--despite his recent tour of duty playing a U.S. senator.
Beyond politics, Lane and Streisand reportedly are both passionate
about their homes--from the architecture to interiors to the gardens,
''but most important they have a powerful affection and mutual respect
for each other as strong, creative women,'' the Lane insider adds.
Streisand & Lane
Thanks, Tim H!
The Heritage Lottery Fund has offered 11.5 million pounds to keep Raphael's famous "The Madonna of the Pinks" in Britain.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
How to Avoid Net Trouble
Tips for Music Fans
_It's almost impossible to check whether you already are targeted for a lawsuit if you have copied music, but some Internet providers are notifying subscribers who are subjects of a subpoena. The San Francisco-based Electronic Frontier Foundation plans to publish — at
www.eff.org — information from subpoenas to help computer users determine if they have been targeted.
_If you are targeted, music lawyers may ignore you, send a stern warning or file a civil suit. The recording industry wants to deter downloaders and expects to file several hundred suits in the next eight weeks, but lawyers say they are willing to negotiate settlements.
_The music industry is targeting Internet users sharing "substantial" collections of songs; it has not said how many might qualify for a suit but the minimum number appears to be a few hundred songs.
_Once you download a copyright song, file-sharing software automatically makes it available for other Internet users to download, too. It is possible to reconfigure the software to allow downloads and prevent sharing files, although this undermines the concept of public file-sharing networks.
_The Recording Industry Association of America has said it currently is targeting only Internet users in the United States.
Tips for Music Fans
Instructions for reconfiguring file-sharing software
or
EFF.org - how to not get sued
Tune Blasts Media Coverage
Merle Haggard
A new Merle Haggard song that's critical of the media's coverage of the war in Iraq is garnering so much attention that it's being rushed to thousands of radio stations around the country, a spokesman for the country singer said Thursday.
"It's another one of Merle Haggard's social commentaries," said Tom Thacker, vice president of Hag Records. "This time it's kind of opposed to the tone of 'The Fightin' Side of Me.'"
The new song chides the media for focusing on celebrity news and the death of Laci Peterson and her unborn child while fighting continues in Iraq.
Haggard sings, "Suddenly it's over, the war is finally done/Soldiers in the desert sand still clinging to a gun/No one is the winner and everyone must lose/Suddenly the war's over, that's the news."
The song ends with the lines, "Politicians do all the talking, soldiers pay the dues/Suddenly the war is over, that's the news."
In an essay on Haggard's Web site, the singer writes, "I don't even know the Dixie Chicks, but I find it an insult for all men and women who fought and died in past wars when almost the majority of America jumped down their throats for voicing an opinion. It was like a verbal witch-hunt and lynching."
Merle Haggard
www.merlehaggard.com
In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends
Joins PETA Campaign Against KFC
Paul McCartney
Singer Paul McCartney has joined an animal rights campaign against fast food chain KFC, urging the company to ensure better treatment for chickens in a U.S. newspaper advertisement on Thursday.
"If KFC suppliers treated dogs or cats the way they treat chickens, they could be charged with the crime of cruelty to animals," said a letter signed by McCartney on behalf of the group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).
The letter appeared in the Louisville Courier-Journal, a newspaper in the hometown of KFC and its parent company, Yum Brands Inc.. It was addressed to Yum Chief Executive David Novak.
Paul McCartney
Singer Shania Twain warms up to throw out the ceremonial first pitch of the Chicago Cubs-Philadelphia Phillies game at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Thursday, July 24, 2003
Photo by Anne Ryan
Personal Effects To Be Auctioned
Stuart Sutcliffe
More than 500 personal possessions of the musician who was once the fifth member of the Beatles are to be auctioned in London later this month, more than 40 years after his death.
They belonged to Stuart Sutcliffe, who left the group in 1961 before it achieved worldwide fame and died the following year from a brain haemorrhage. Among them are letters, notebooks, photographs and poems.
Sutcliffe met John Lennon in 1957 while they were both studying art in Liverpool in northwest England. It was under Lennon's influence that he bought a bass guitar with the money earned from the sale of one of his pictures.
He joined the then-unknown group which called itself the Silver Beatles, and was a member when, as the Beatles, the group had its first successes in Hamburg in 1960. He is credited with introducing the Beatles "look" with its characteristic hair style, leather jackets and jeans.
Stuart Sutcliffe
'1000 Corpses' Masks For Halloween
Rob Zombie
Can't figure out what to be for this Halloween? How 'bout dressing up as one of the characters in Rob Zombie's horror flick, House Of 1000 Corpses? The new masks, which will arrive in stores in time for Halloween, will include those for Dr. Satan, Captain Spaulding, and Tiny.
The Dr. Satan mask was unveiled at the Comic Convention in San Diego this past Friday (July 18), where several members of the film's cast also made appearances.
Zombie has signed on to write and direct a sequel to House Of 1000 Corpses, which has already grossed an impressive $11 million. Beau Flynn of Zombie's management company, The Firm, will produce the sequel, and the duo hope to start work on the project this fall. Zombie says he's hoping to have the sequel released in April of 2004 to coincide with the one-year anniversary of the original. No title for the sequel has been announced.
Rob Zombie
Driver Recovers Works
Salvador Dali
A Barcelona waiter who left works by celebrated artist Salvador Dali in a taxi in the Catalan capital a week ago was breathing more easily after his alert driver rescued and handed them over.
Sebastia Verdaguer left behind a unique Dali-illustrated version of Alice in Wonderland dating from 1969 as well as a series of engravings worth an estimated 18,000 euros, La Vanguardia daily reported.
The driver advertised in the press to find the works' owner and was finally able to hand them back to a grateful Verdaguer.
There exist just four known copies of the engravings worldwide.
Salvador Dali
'Joey' Spin-Off
Matt LeBlanc
Television network NBC said on Thursday that Matt LeBlanc, star of NBC's top-rated comedy "Friends," will return in his own spin-off series when the 10-year-old show ends its run on NBC next year.
The new program, to be called "Joey" and starring LeBlanc in his popular character Joey Tribbiani, is scheduled to begin airing in the fall of 2004, on the same night, Thursday, as "Friends."
"NBC's wonderful relationship with such a once-in-a-decade series as 'Friends' will continue," NBC programming head Jeff Zucker said in a statement.
Matt LeBlanc
Formerly 'The Vidiot'
Probe Ongoing (Uh-Huh)
Clear Channel
A Justice Department official told Congress on Thursday that the department is still pursuing two separate antitrust investigations in response to complaints against Clear Channel Communications Inc.
The department's antitrust chief, Hewitt Pate, told a House Judiciary Committee panel that attorneys have conducted "a number of interviews" as part of the probes into the largest radio broadcaster and concert promoter in the United States, and has "undertaken significant efforts to find additional evidence."
Pate's comments came in response to complaints by Rep. Howard Berman, a Democrat from California, who said attorneys at the department had failed to follow up on antitrust complaints he referred to them more than a year ago.
Berman formally asked the Justice Department and Federal Communications Commission in January 2002 to look into allegations that Clear Channel had abused its market position in a bid to shut out competitors.
Clear Channel
This is a digitized copy of pages of the Book of Judges in the Gutenberg Bible owned by the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas in Austin, Texas. The university has put its entire two-volume Gutenberg Bible on the Internet, making it easier for scholars and the public to browse one of the world's most valuable books.
The public is now able to view all pages of it online at http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/gutenberg.
Kicked Out of Army
'Millionaire' Cheat
The British army major convicted of fraud after he cheated his way to the jackpot prize on worldwide hit TV quiz show "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" was kicked out of the military on Thursday.
Major Charles Ingram, who was found guilty in April of using an elaborate coughing con to win the $1.6 million prize, was told to leave the army by August 20, the Ministry of Defense (MoD) said.
Ingram's elation at winning the jackpot in September, 2001 turned to despair when staff on the show became suspicious at repeated coughing in the audience. They withheld payment of the million pounds and handed the matter over to police.
'Millionaire' Cheat
Disney Cheaper Than Ever
Mickey Mouse
"It's Mickey's 75th year in show business. We've got a lot of stuff to sell," comedian Drew Carey joked at a Disney presentation of Mickey apparel, movies and theme park attractions that the company will roll out over the next year.
Though known worldwide, Mickey only recently got a regular daily cable television program, "House of Mouse" and will only make his digital debut in a computer-animated feature late next year, in a straight-to-video feature, "Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas."
He also stars with Donald Duck and Goofy in a separate straight-to-video movie, "The Three Musketeers," due next summer. Although Mickey has been in feature films before, perhaps most notably "Fantasia," Disney calls the "Musketeers" his first starring role.
Disney decided it did not want to take the financial risk of a theatrical release, however.
That would require a level of animation far beyond that required for home video or DVD, Chief* Operating Officer and President Bob Iger told reporters. "Walk before you run," he told reporters.
Mickey Mouse
* Shouldn't that be Cheap Operating Officer?
92nd Richard Wagner Festival
Bayreuth
Thousands of opera-lovers are set to converge on this small, sleepy little town in southern Germany this weekend as the prestigious Bayreuth Festival opens its doors for its annual month-long binge of works by German composer Richard Wagner (1813-1883).
The 92nd edition of the festival is scheduled to open on Friday with a gala performance of an eagerly-awaited new production of "Der fliegende Hollaender" (The Flying Dutchman), directed by Claus Guth and conducted by Marc Albrecht.
Wagner's mammoth four-opera "Ring" will follow, with "Rheingold" on Sunday, "Die Walkuere" on Monday, "Siegfried" on Wednesday and "Goetterdaemmerung" on Friday, in the four-year-old staging by Juergen Flimm, conducted by Hungarian Adam Fischer.
And bringing up the rear will be Keith Warner's production of "Lohengrin" on Saturday, being staged for the fifth and last time, with British conductor Sir Andrew Davis in the pit.
During the course of the next four weeks, the "Dutchman" will be performed seven times, "Tannhaeuser" and "Lohengrin" will each be performed five times and the complete "Ring" will be performed three times.
Bayreuth
Diana's Love Letters
'Confessions of a Cad'
Intimate letters sent by Britain's late Princess Diana to her former lover James Hewitt will be read out in a British television documentary Thursday night.
The program, "Confessions of a Cad," will show former military officer Hewitt boasting about his affair with the princess, which began in the late 1980s.
He will also be seen trying to sell the love letters he received from her for 10 million pounds.
"I'm a complete s---," Hewitt, 45, says in the documentary, confirming his status as a leading hate figure for Britain's tabloid newspapers.
'Confessions of a Cad'
Cartoonist on Secret Service Visit
Michael Ramirez
What does Michael Ramirez think about doing an editorial cartoon supporting resident Bush and then being visited by a Secret Service agent?
"It makes you wonder about our so-called 'intelligence' services," the Los Angeles Times staffer replied with a laugh. "You have to be a little bit intelligent to 'get' the cartoon. The majority of readers 'got' it."
Ramirez's July 20 cartoon, a takeoff on the famous photo of a Viet Cong member being shot at point-blank range, showed a man labeled "politics" aiming a gun at a caricatured version of Bush.
The next day, Ramirez received a call from Secret Service agent Peter Damos asking if he could visit. The conservative cartoonist jokingly agreed, because "I just assumed it was a hoax." When Damos showed up at the Times, he was turned away after speaking with an attorney for the paper.
"The cartoon was obviously not meant to encourage violence," continued the Pulitzer Prize winner, explaining he was showing that, "metaphorically, there are people currently engaged in the political assassination of our president."
Ramirez has received "hundreds" of responses to the cartoon, with reaction split about 50/50. One person supporting Ramirez is Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Calif.), who said July 22 that the Secret Service used "profoundly bad judgment" and owed Ramirez an apology.
Michael Ramirez
In Memory
Carol Matthau
Carol Matthau, an actress and writer who had two failed marriages with author and playwright William Saroyan and a successful four-decade union with actor Walter Matthau, died on Sunday of a brain aneurysm. She was 78.
Matthau was the author of 1992's "Among the Porcupines: A Memoir." In the book, she claimed she was the muse for the Truman Capote character Holly Golightly in his
Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961).
She had begun an acting career before her marriages and also published a novella about her own childhood under the pen name Carol Grace, "The Secret in the Daisy," in 1955.
She noted in her memoir that Saroyan, the Pulitzer Prize laureate, dated her when she was still in her teens, and they were married in 1943.
They had a son, Aram, and a daughter, Lucy, who died earlier this year. The union with Saroyan, who was known for his difficult personality, was far from happy. After the second divorce, they parted company for good.
She told The New York Times in an interview: "I married Saroyan the second time because I couldn't believe how terrible it was the first time."
She met Matthau and studied Method acting with Sanford Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse. The couple were married in 1959, and remained together until his death in 2000.
Carol Matthau
A tiny 'tea cup poodle,' under 150 grams (0.3 pounds) in weight, sits in a mug cup at a Tokyo pet shop, July 24, 2003. The shop/breeder crossed small-sized toy poodles to breed the little dogs for the booming Japanese pet market, for sale from 650,000 yen ($5,473).
Photo by Eriko Sugita
'Ark of Darkness'
"The Ark of Darkness", a Political/Science-Fiction work, in tidy, weekly installments (and updated every Friday).
Our explorers try a dangerous shortcut as Lilith and Nathaniel battle at the edge of doom.
'The Osbournes'
'The Osbournes' ~ Page 5
'The Osbournes' ~ Page 4
'The Osbournes' ~ Page 3
'The Osbournes' ~ Page 2
'The Osbournes' ~ Page 1
