'TBH Politoons'
Thanks, again, Tim!
Reader Question
from Kip
Reader TV Review
Willie Nelson Special On PBS
I happened on to a Willie Nelson Special last night on WGBH PBS while
channel surfing and
It reminded me of those Willie Nelson Picnic's in Austin Texas and my
experiences there. Going for water on a sweltering day and losing my ride
in the crowd but finding some people who were driving through Dallas where I
was living at the time and could give me a ride.
I decided to watch it hoping it wasn't the usual fake made up story full of
innuendo and testaments from casual acquaintances. I was pleasantly
surprised and watched it all the way through. I never knew that Willie's
older sister plays the keyboard in his band and that he has all the same
members that started out with him even the people who make up his crew. It
really is one big family. Their grandparents in Luck Texas raised Willie
and his sister. Their grandmother taught them music and Willie was saying
he looked up from picking cotton beside the highway one day and saw a big
black air-conditioned car go by. That was when he realized he was not doing
something right and started concentrating on his music hoping it would get
him out of there. Funny enough, he later bought his grandparents farm where
he grew up along with 70 acres. I felt such a kinship to them watching the
two of them walk around pointing out to his daughters the place where the
farmhouse used to be.
In the special they talked about Willie's type of music being different then
the country music of the time and not having a place that really fit in. He
was a good songwriter but wanted to perform his own music. Waylon Jennings
had said that he seemed to be playing backward and then into the note and
that he wasn't sure Willie would make it in time but he always hit that note
just right. Truly a unique style of singing and playing guitar. Willie
said he knew he wasn't a singer and wasn't a guitar player and that he just
did what came out at the time. His rhythm is different but that's what I
like about his music and his voice. His guitar is signed by all sorts of
famous singers he has worked with and he has worn a hole just below the
strings where his fingers stroke down on the keys. He still uses that
guitar and said it has its own soul and its own music. He is really very
spiritual and I was surprised to hear him say out loud what I have believed
myself for so long. He said the earth is a sort of classroom and we keep
coming back here until we reach a certain level of perfection as a human
being. He said he thinks that when we reach that level, we don't have to
come back any more unless we choose to.
I had forgotten that he wrote "Crazy" Patsy Clines hit, and one of my
favorite country songs, "Hello Walls". He had about given up on Nashville
by the early 70's and started playing different venues around Austin Texas
thinking that if he had to do this the rest of his career it would be OK.
After awhile they noticed more hippies coming in until there was a fair
mixture of cowboy hats and long hairs in the same audience. That's when he
called Waylon, and told him to get back to Austin that something new was
happening there.
At the end of the special Willie was talking to some musicians about getting
a place in Austin where they could all play and wouldn't have to travel so
much but members of his band said they didn't believe he could ever give up
the road and that he is a true Gypsy.
~~ Carol M
Thanks, Carol! Long time ago I saw Willie at a benefit concert for the family of
STEVE GOODMAN, who wrote (among other things)
'City of New Orleans'. Quite a night, as I remember!
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Farmer's Market was visited, as usual for a Thursday. Grapes went up $.25 (when did the 'cents' sign disappear from the keyboard?), but, fresh corn is still 3 ears for a buck.
OK, so back to BartFest.....The first room, with Bart & Patricia at the table also had the bar. This was the most crowded room. The next room had the food, and a guy in a hotel-uniform to make sure no container went empty.
There were a lot of familiar screen names that needed faces and real names attached. Had 3 cameras with me, and took no pictures.
The suite of rooms went on a-ways, and each room held groups of people who made me go 'sheee-it' -- I recognize that name!
Much like Cinderella, knew my time was limited, tried to make as many memories as possible, and still realized that I'd missed talking to a whole groups of people. The most wonderful part was there wasn't a shithead in the lot - and that
says a LOT!
As an off-note, the suite had 2 fire-sprinklers mounted near the ceiling on the load bearing walls - under these sprinklers was a plastic sign with
the image of a coat hanger and a red circle with line drawn through it....figured it could represent an hommage to Joan Crawford if I used my imagination...
After about (how about exactly) 2 hours, the kid & his keeper showed up telling me it was time to leave.
Will have a page of links of the Bartfest Attendees on tomorrow's (Saturday's) page. And what else I remember... ; )
Tonight, Friday, CBS starts with a fresh '48 Hours Investigates', then a fresh 'Hack', and a fresh 'Robbery Homicide Division'.
Scheduled on a fresh Dave are David Arquette and comic Todd Lynn.
Scheduled on a fresh Craiggers are Joey Pantoliano and Xzibit.
NBC opens with the season premiere 'Providence', then 'Dateline', then a fresh 'Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'.
Scheduled on a fresh Jay are Ralph Fiennes, Brad Garrett, and LeAnn Rimes.
Scheduled on a fresh Conan are Martin Sheen, Donnie Wahlberg, and Good Charlotte.
Scheduled on a fresh Carson Daly are Jill Hennessey, Susan Sarandon, Ted Alexandro, and Sonic Youth.
ABC has a 'fresh' 'America's Funniest Videos', a fresh 'That Was Then', and then '20/20'.
The WB starts with a fresh 'What I Like About You', a fresh 'Sabrina', then a fresh 'Reba', and a fresh 'Greetings From Tucson'.
Faux has a fresh 'Firefly' and a fresh 'John Doe'.
UPN has the movie 'Blown Away'.
Check local PBS listings for 'NOW With Bill Moyers'.
Anyone have any opinions?
Or reviews?
(See below for addresses)
Big Dog Watch Continues - Bill's Busy Day (pt. 1)
Bill Clinton In Paris
Former President Bill Clinton, left, and French President Jacques Chirac shake hands prior to their informal meeting about the Iraq situation in Paris Thursday, Oct. 3, 2002.
Photo by Michel Spingler
#22
'Don't Give Up'
The Most Powerful Man in Music
Bono
U2 front man Bono is rated as the most powerful man in music and not just because of his soaring vocals, according to a poll of top music industry executives.
Irishman Bono tops the list, to be published in British music magazine "Q" next week, because of his high profile pronouncements on political issues ranging from Third World debt to
the enlargement of the European Union.
The singer, usually seen with his trademark wraparound blue sunglasses, not only makes a success of lobbying politicians but his band continues to enjoy worldwide hits 25-years after it was formed.
Runner-up in the poll was Doug Morris, 64, head of the world's largest record company Universal.
Third was controversial rapper Eminem -- seen as influential for his challenging song lyrics -- while at number four is L Lowry Mays the founder of U.S entertainment giant Clear Channel.
Also in the top ten are the late Kurt Cobain who was seen to have taken underground rock into the mainstream, Sir Paul McCartney and Yoko Ono and Simon Fuller -- creator of the Spice Girls.
For a lot more, Bono
Season Premiere This Saturday
'Saturday Night Live'
Performers Fred Armisen and Will Forte will join "Saturday Night Live" as featured players when the comedy-variety series makes its season premiere Saturday.
Matt Damon will host the season opener, with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band appearing as the musical guest.
Armisen has brought his comedy and cast of characters to "Late Night With Conan O'Brien," the Chicago Comedy Festival and programs on British television. He also has
appeared on HBO's music show "Reverb" and in his own eponymous interstitial series on "HBO Zone."
Forte comes to "SNL" from L.A.'s improv-sketch theater the Groundlings, where current cast members Chris Kattan, Chris Parnell and Maya Rudolph got their start.
Forte's experience has been predominantly behind the camera -- serving as producer on "That '70s Show"; story editor for "3rd Rock From the Sun" and "Action"; and
writer for "Late Show with David Letterman" and the MTV Movie Awards.
'Saturday Night Live'
Big Dog Watch Continues - Bill's Busy Day (pt. 2)
Bill Clinton At The Brandenburg Gate
Former U.S. President Bill Clinton, left, waves to a cheering crowd as German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, right, and his wife Doris Schroeder-Koepf, center, look on as Berlin's landmark the Brandenburg Gate is unveiled on the 12th anniversary of the German reunification,
Thursday, Oct. 3, 2002. After nightfall, Germany's most famous landmark was unveiled after a two-years, 3.9 million euro (US$3.8 million) makeover that stripped decades of grime from its sandstone pillars and mantle.
Photo by JockelFinck
TV Coverage Wins Casey Journalism Award
Nick's Crusade
The Casey Journalism Center on Children and Families is a non-partisan national resource for professional journalists who cover the lives of children and families in the United States, particularly the disadvantaged. CJC is a program of the
Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland and is funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation and The David and Lucile Packard Foundation.
The winner in ''Television: Short Form'' is Bruce Mildwurf, WPMI-TV/Mobile, Ala ('NBC 15')., for ''Nick's Crusade.''
Judges' comments included: An original, moving piece of journalism that explored a little-known policy quirk with a major impact: Alabama's Medicaid coverage requires disabled youths to move into out-of-home nursing care once they reach 21. Refusing
to succumb to television's chronic memory lapses, Mildwurf continued to follow the battle of Nick Dupree for months, to the state capital and even to Washington, D.C. He captured the larger picture without ever losing the drama of Dupree's plight.
To read the whole story, Bruce Mildwurf, WPMI-TV/Mobile, Ala
Better yet, check out Nick's Crusade!
Organized Harrison Tribute Concert
Eric Clapton
Rock veteran Eric Clapton has organized an all-star tribute concert for his late friend and fellow guitarist, George Harrison, with the former Beatle's two surviving bandmates slated to perform.
The benefit concert, planned with the help of Harrison's wife, Olivia, is scheduled to be held at London's Royal Albert Hall on Nov. 29, the first anniversary of Harrison's death, organizers said in a statement
issued on Thursday in Los Angeles.
Joining Clapton on the bill will be former Beatles Sir Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and two other recording stars who performed with Harrison in the 1980s supergroup The Traveling Wilburys -- Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne.
Others on the lineup include sitar master Ravi Shankar, drummer Jim Keltner, storied rock session musician Leon Russell and British keyboardist Jools Holland, whose latest album included one of the last songs
recorded by Harrison before he died, "Horse to Water." Various members of the comedy troupe Monty Python's Flying Circus also will appear.
Proceeds from the concert will be donated to the Material World Charitable Foundation, established by Harrison in 1973 to support arts, music, education and people with special needs.
Eric Clapton
To Countersue Gruner+Jahr
Rosie O'Donnell
Former talk show host Rosie O'Donnell is filing a countersuit against Gruner+Jahr, saying the publisher's breach of contract forced her to walk away from her eponymous magazine.
G+J is a unit of the German media giant Bertelsmann AG. Rosie magazine rose from the ashes of McCall's magazine 18 months ago and was a moderate success, until O'Donnell announced in September
that she was severing all ties with the publisher.
O'Donnell's attorney Mary Jo White said in a statement on Thursday: "When all the facts come out in the course of litigation, we're confident that a court will find that Rosie's decision
to terminate the agreement with G+J was justified by G+J's misconduct, and that the court will award her significant monetary relief."
Rosie O'Donnell
Playing Davy Crockett?
Billy Bob Thornton
Disney is ready to renew its battle cry for "The Alamo." The studio has begun negotiations with Billy Bob Thornton to play the role of Davy Crockett.
The $75 million period drama will begin shooting in January with John Lee Hancock ("The Rookie") directing. The studio hopes to have it in theaters for the 2003 holidays.
Hancock was hired in late July to replace Ron Howard, who quit the project earlier that month over a difference of opinion about budget and rating. Howard, hot off his Oscar-winning turn with "A
Beautiful Mind," wanted to make a gritty picture that could have gotten an R rating and would have cost $125 million or more.
Once casting and script are squared away, locations will be a snap because the studio already has constructed the entire "Alamo" set. It's waiting in Austin, Texas.
Billy Bob Thornton
In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends
He's 5' 11", Not 6'
'Journeys with George'
Does resident Bush exaggerate his height? Official statements have always listed Bush as a 6-footer - a claim doubted by those who have stood next to him over the years, but hard to challenge.
Now the truth is out. In the new HBO flick "Journeys with George," which finally premiered in D.C. at the Library of Congress this week, George W. makes the stunning admission that he's only 5-foot-11.
Asked by NBC producer and filmmaker Alexandria Pelosi if he'll ever stand up for "the little guy," Bush replies, "I am the litle guy." He adds that his brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, is 6-foot-3.
'Journeys with George'
Symbolizes Triumph Of Good Over Evil
Durga Puja festival
Indian sculptor Amar Nath Ghosh applies the finishing touches to an idol of the Hindu goddess Durga in Calcutta October 3, 2002. The annual Durga Puja festival, which starts on October 12, is one of the most popular festivals for Hindus. In
Hindu mythology, Durga symbolizes power and the triumph of good over evil.
Photo by Sucheta Das
To Be Honored In Dearborn
Smokey Robinson
Smokey Robinson, the Motown singer-songwriter behind a string of 1960s pop hits, will receive an award from a Michigan arts organization.
The man who performed "The Tracks of My Tears" and "I Second That Emotion" will be recognized for his lifetime international achievement in music at the 17th annual
Governors' Awards for Arts & Culture.
The ceremony is set for Nov. 19 at the Ford Community Performing Arts Center in Dearborn.
Smokey Robinson
ArtServe Michigan Web site
It's 'Official'
The World's Funniest Joke
In a project described as the largest-ever scientific study into humor, the British Association for the Advancement of Science asked Internet users around the world to submit their favorite jokes and rate the funniness of other people's offerings.
More than 40,000 jokes from 70 countries and two million critiques later, this is it:
"Two hunters are out in the woods when one of them collapses. He doesn't seem to be breathing and his eyes are glazed. The other man pulls out his phone and calls emergency services.
He gasps to the operator: "My friend is dead! What can I do?" The operator in a calm, soothing voice replies: "Take it easy. I can help. First, let's make sure he's dead."
There is a silence, then a shot is heard.
Back on the phone, the hunter says, "Ok, now what?"
Researchers found significant differences between nations in the types of jokes they found funny.
People from the UK, the Republic of Ireland, Australia and New Zealand preferred gags involving word play, such as:
Americans and Canadians favored jokes where people were made to look stupid.
Meanwhile, many Europeans liked gags that were surreal or made light of serious subjects such as illness, death and marriage:
Marriage-mocking also featured in the top American joke:
Death earned big laughs in Scotland:
And animals figured prominently.
The findings can be read at www.laughlab.co.uk
For the version with all the jokes, The World's Funniest Joke
BartCop TV!
To Adapt 'Kill Bill' for Video Game
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino has signed a deal with Vivendi Universal's Black Label Games to collaborate on an action video game based on the director's upcoming "Kill Bill" feature.
Under a side co-marketing deal with Miramax, which is releasing the long-awaited Tarantino picture next year, Black Label will target release of the game day-and-date with the homevideo and DVD version
of the picture and the two companies will cross-promote each other's products.
Tarantino will serve as the game's creative consultant, providing exclusive film footage from the picture about female assassins. Black Label, which handles games targeting mature players, will
produce and distribute at least one title based on the movie. The first title will be an actioner, set for now to appear on Sony's PlayStation 2 and Microsoft's XBox consoles, though the license covers other game platforms, too.
Quentin Tarantino
Petitioning To Copy Work
Vigeland Monolith
A businesswoman and a film director, both from China, are in Oslo petitioning for permission to build a copy of one of Oslo's most famous landmarks near the Olympic Village in Beijing.
The Monolith is the centerpiece of Oslo's famous Gustav Vigeland Sculpture Park in Frogner. It stands 14.12 meters (46 feet) high and is carved out of a single block of stone. Three
stone carvers worked from 1929-1943 completing the column made up of 121 figures climbing upwards.
Businesswoman Yan Wang and film director Bai Yu met with the Vigeland Museum and Bono, which administers Vigeland's works, in Oslo this week. They hope to build a copy of the Monolith
in a private theme park near Beijing's Olympic Village, newspaper VG reports.
"I have seen a lot of wonderful art, but nothing can measure up to the Monolith and its symbolism of life," said Yan Wang.
Vigeland Monolith
Live Concert Via Satellite
Tom Petty Concert
Tom Petty will be live in concert at a theater near you but he won't necessarily be there.
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers will perform a concert on Oct. 15 in Los Angeles. They'll perform their new album, "The Last DJ," in its entirety with an orchestra. The show will be broadcast live via satellite to movie theaters in 36 cities nationwide.
According to tompetty.com, a 30-minute TV show of behind-the-scenes studio footage of performances as well as documentary footage from "The Last DJ" recording sessions will also be broadcast at various times
on different stations around the country this month.
To find out which cities and theaters are participating, log on to tompetty.com.
"The Last DJ" will be released Oct. 8. The band will start touring on Oct. 27.
Tom Petty Concert
Opens in Rome
Borgias Exhibit
A new exhibit in Rome examines the Borgias, the notorious Renaissance family known as much for its treachery as its contribution to Italy's artistic treasures.
"The Borgia: The Art of Power" will be on display at Palazzo Ruspoli through Feb. 23. Curators gathered paintings, other works of art and even suits of armor from around Europe to give
a glimpse into the lives of the Borgia dynasty and the cultural, political and religious world in which it thrived.
The Borgias were a brilliant and ruthless family of Spanish origin who lived during the height of the Renaissance, in the late 15th and early 16th centuries.
The family produced two popes, among them Pope Alexander VI, considered the most notorious pontiff in history, whose reputation for greed, murder and avarice was equaled only by his two children, Cesare and Lucrezia.
Borgias Exhibit
Sex Museum in NYC
'MoSex'
The director of the newest museum in this culture-packed city is surveying the prizes of his permanent collection — leather straps, condom boxes, video porn playing on large screens.
He stops and points at a 1940s Wonder Woman comic book cover. "Just look at her," Daniel Gluck says. "The cinched waist, the high heels, the rope. ... She's always tying people up."
Wonder Woman is among the tamer attractions at the Museum of Sex, which opens this weekend in Manhattan and aims to catalog American sexuality, from 19th-century brothels to turn-of-the-millennium sex parties.
In a city that has affectionately shortened the names of its culture hubs — MoMA, the Met — the new museum has already been dubbed MoSex. And it has stirred opposition from those who say it is merely a celebration of smut.
The museum pays considerable attention to police activities, such as raids on gay bathhouses and former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's push to rid Times Square of triple-X adult shops.
Museum officials said they give fair treatment to all aspects of sex, presenting facts and not taking sides on sexual debates. One display recounts the explosion of AIDS in the 1980s, and another shows crude, early abortion tools.
'MoSex'
Museum of Sex
Basic Cable Networks
Rankings
Rankings for the top 15 programs on basic cable networks as compiled by Nielsen Media Research for the week of Sept. 23-29. Each ratings point represents 1,067,000
households. Day and start time (EDT) are in parentheses.
1. NFL Football: Minnesota vs. Seattle (Sunday, 8:28 p.m.), ESPN, 6.2, 6.59 million homes.
2. "NFL Prime Time" (Sunday, 7:30 p.m.), ESPN, 3.8, 4.07 million homes.
3. "WWE Raw" (Monday, 9 p.m.), TNN, 2.9, 3.11 million homes.
4. "WWE Raw Zone" (Monday, 10 p.m.), TNN, 2.9, 3.1 million homes.
5. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Sunday, 9:30 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.9, 3.08 million homes.
6. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Thursday, 5:30 p.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.8, 2.99 million homes.
6. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 9:30 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.8, 2.99 million homes.
8. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Thursday, 5 p.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.7, 2.92 million homes.
9. "Fairly Odd Parents" (Sunday, 10 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.7, 2.92 million homes.
10. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Sunday, 9 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.6, 2.81 million homes.
11. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 9 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.6, 2.79 million homes.
12. "Trading Spaces" (Saturday, 9 p.m.), TLC, 2.6, 2.78 million homes.
13. "Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius" (Saturday, 10:30 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.7, 2.91 million homes.
14. "Fairly Odd Parents" (Saturday, 10 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.6, 2.76 million homes.
15. College Football: Florida St. vs. Louisville (Thursday, 7:30 p.m.), ESPN, 2.6, 2.76 million homes.
Basic Cable Networks
Founder Of Opus Dei To Be Sainted
Josemaria Escriva
Pilgrims pray in front of the coffin of Spanish priest Josemaria Escriva in a Rome church on October 3, 2002. Escriva, founder of the Catholic group named Opus Dei, was declared a blessed in 1992 and will be make a saint by Pope John Paul II during a canonization
ceremony in St. Peter's square on October 6, 2002.
Photo by Paolo Cocco
Famous members of Opus Dei include Antonin Scalia, Louis Freeh & convicted spy Robert Hanssen.
With that in mind, here is Opus Dei - U. S. A. - home page, and here are some that are a bit more critical of the organization -
Opus Dei Awareness Network,
Opus Dei, and
Suck.com: Secret History.
'The Osbournes'
Updated! 'The Osbournes' ~ Page 3
'The Osbournes' ~ Page 2
'The Osbournes' ~ Page 1
#19
