'TBH Politoons'
Thanks, again, Tim!
They Talks Good
Clear Channel
Are Clear Channel Stoopid?
(RW) was driving home at about 9:52 last night. "I was flipping around the dial while almost every station was running their stop set simultaneously [but that's another rant].
KBIG was hyping the big $1,000 per hour nationwide phone contest in a slickly produced promo. The last line made me cringe: '25 people like you is going to win $1,000..."
from Radio Fred (courtesy of LA Radio)
Thanks, Fred! Reminds me of my last foray into Crown Books where the clerk responded 'We don't got that book.' (sigh)
Freshly Updated
Komix
New Komix - Nutsac, Indeed!
by Rob
Turtle rescue, rehab and rehoming
Thanks, Rob
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Woke up to heavy fog. Really wet, thick fog - the kind that reminds me of an episode of the (original) 'Outer Limits'.
Sun broke through around lunchtime, and Jo the (remaining) lizard was able to get in some nice sun-time.
The grandmother'll be visiting from Sunday night til Friday. Had 4 root canals done in one day, once. This is sort of in the same vein, only then I had good drugs.
Tonight, Friday, CBS opens the night with the nominally renamed '48 Hours Investigates', then a fresh 'Hack' and a fresh 'Robbery Homicide Division'.
Scheduled on a fresh Dave are Al Gore and Pearl Jam (night 2).
Scheduled on a fresh Craiggers are Carmen Electra and Papa Roach.
NBC starts the evening with a fresh 'Providence', then 'Dateline', and cap the night with a fresh 'Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'.
Scheduled on a fresh Jay are Heidi Klum and 3 Doors Down.
Scheduled on a fresh Conan are Jeri Ryan, Zach Braff, and Bill Bailey.
Scheduled on a fresh Carson Daly are Maggie Gyllenhaal, Mike Britt, Jay-Z, Spoon, and Ben Stein.
ABC begins with 'America's Funniest Home Videos', then a fresh 'Drew Carey' followed by a fresh 'Whose Line?', and wraps the night with '20/20'.
The WB has a fresh 'What I Like About You', a fresh 'Sabrina', a fresh 'Reba', and tops it off with a fresh 'Greetings From Tucson'.
Faux offers a fresh 'Firefly' and a fresh 'John Doe'.
UPN has the movie 'The Mask'.
Check local PBS listings for 'NOW With Bill Moyers'!
TCM has 'What's Up, Tiger Lily? (1966)', one of
Woody Allen's funniest movies.
Next up is 'Alice's Restaurant (1969)' - while not a 'great' movie, the cast
Arlo Guthrie,
James Broderick (Matthew's dad), and the incredible
Pete Seeger are great fun, as is the song that inspired it all. How appropriate with Thanksgiving just around the bend.
And after that, one of the greatest anti-war films of all time - the 1930 version of
All Quiet on the Western Front (1930),
book & screenplay by
Erich Maria Remarque,
and starring
Lew Ayres, whose career suffered for his efforts.
Anyone have any opinions?
Or reviews?
(See below for addresses)
Hollywood Rockwalk Induction
The Funk Brothers
Surviving members of the Funk Brothers, from left, Bob Babbit, Joe Hunter, Joe Messina, Uriel Jones, Jack Ashford, and Eddie 'Chank' Willis joke after setting their hands in
wet cement Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2002, at Hollywood's Rockwalk in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles. 'Standing in the Shadows of Motown,' a documentary about the the studio
musicians who shaped the Motown sound, opens Friday.
Photo by Damian Dovarganes
#3
To Be Honored By Producer's Union
George Lucas
George Lucas, whose latest "Star Wars" flick was the first big-budget film shot entirely in digital format, will be honored by the Producers Guild of America for his technological advances.
Lucas will receive the group's Vanguard Award, given for achievement in new media and technology, the guild announced Wednesday. The director shunned traditional film and shot "Star
Wars: Episode II — Attack of the Clones" using digital cameras.
At its awards ceremony Jan. 16, the guild also will present its Milestone Award to Jack Valenti, head of the Motion Picture Association of America, Hollywood's main trade group. The
award is given to entertainment leaders for historical contributions to the industry.
George Lucas
Hot Ticket In Marin
Bill Clinton
Officials at the Marin Speaker Series are fielding dozens of calls from people seeking tickets to the sold-out appearance of former President Bill Clinton at
the Veterans Memorial Auditorium tonight.
"I've suddenly got more best friends than anybody," said Bruce Vogel, the event organizer.
Two thousand subscribers to the series presumably will fill every seat for Clinton's 8 p.m. speech on a subject not yet announced. Seventy-five others will pay
$75 to have their pictures taken with him, and 40 more, who have paid $275, will spend 30 minutes at a pre-speech reception in the auditorium's Green Room.
Money from the pre-lecture events will go to Marin charities chosen by Vogel; part of it may go directly to the Marin Center to upgrade the facility.
"You would be surprised how much of (Clinton's) time is devoted to charities," Vogel said. "It's magnanimous of him to do it."
The press is barred from backstage events at Clinton's behest, Vogel said.
"If he lets in one member of the press," Vogel said, "he feels obligated to admit them all."
Bill Clinton
2,208th Star On Hollywood Walk Of Fame
Kermit the Frog
For once, it was easy being green for Kermit the Frog.
The Jim Henson-created puppet, who has lamented his verdant color in the song "It's Not Easy Being Green," was honored Thursday with the 2,208th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Puppeteer Steve Whitmire, who has worked with the Muppets since 1978, manipulated and voiced Kermit from beneath a Hollywood Boulevard stage constructed for the
ceremony, which attracted scores of onlookers.
Among the celebrity guests was actor David Arquette, who appears in the upcoming NBC special "It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie." Jane Henson, widow of
the late Jim Henson, and members of her family also attended.
Henson, who died in 1990, brought his puppets to the big screen in 1979 with "The Muppet Movie," followed by "The Great Muppet Caper" in 1981 and 1984's "The
Muppets Take Manhattan," which ended with the marriage of Kermit and longtime paramour Miss Piggy.
Kermit was also the star of the 1976-1981 "The Muppet Show." A miniature version of his character appeared in the cartoon show "Muppet Babies" (1984-1991.)
Kermit the Frog
USC School of Cinema-Television Honor
Frank Sinatra
To honor Frank Sinatra's contributions to film and music, the USC School of Cinema-Television has dedicated an auditorium in the late crooner's name.
Official dedication ceremony of the Frank Sinatra Hall, located in the school's Eileen L. Norris Cinema Theater Complex, is set for Monday.
Memorabilia from the Sinatra Collection, on loan from his daughters Tina and Nancy Sinatra, will be on display in the foyer during the private ceremony.
Frank Sinatra
Registered At Target
Ari Fleischer
White House press secretary Ari Fleischer, 41, and his new bride, Office of Management and Budget staffer Rebecca Davis, 26, are one cost-conscious couple. Before their wedding
last Saturday in Washington, they registered at Target, where they requested such frugal items as a "Forrest Gump" DVD and the board game Scattergories, reports the Jewish Forward.
Peter Sagal, host of the National Public Radio quiz show "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me," logged onto the Target Web site and bought the happy couple a $9.99 bundt cake pan. "Any time
a bald Jewish guy - and I'm one myself - manages to get a nice girl, it's cause for celebration," Flesicher quipped.
Ari Fleischer
To Receive Cecil B. DeMille Award At Golden Globes
Gene Hackman
Gene Hackman will be honored with the Cecil B. DeMille Award at this year's Golden Globe Awards.
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which hosts the ceremony, announced Thursday that the star of "The Conversation" and "Crimson Tide" will receive the honorary award for his career of nearly 80 films.
Hackman, 72, won a supporting actor Academy Award for 1992's "Unforgiven" and a best lead actor Oscar for 1971's "The French Connection." He also has Golden Globe
awards for those films and a comedic actor honor for last year's "The Royal Tenenbaums."
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association also announced that actor Andy Garcia's daughter, Dominik Garcia-Lorido, and Lorenzo Lamas' son, A.J. Lamas, will escort winners off-stage
at this year's ceremony as Miss and Mr. Golden Globe, respectively.
Offspring of well-known performers are traditionally chosen for the roles, and past escorts have included Melanie Griffith, Laura Dern, Joely Fisher, and Freddie Prinze Jr.
Gene Hackman
Backs 'Pumping Iron' Re-Release
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Schwarzenegger encouraged the director of "Pumping Iron," the documentary that launched him in Hollywood 25 years ago, to re-release it unedited — including a marijuana-smoking scene.
"I would refuse to wipe out that record or change it or alter it because of image's sake," Schwarzenegger said this week. "That would not be true to the filmmaker."
George Butler's critically acclaimed 1977 documentary follows Schwarzenegger as he prepares to defend his Mr. Olympia title against fellow bodybuilders including Lou Ferrigno.
"Pumping Iron" follows the then-massively muscled Schwarzenegger working out or trying to psych out his opponents. He comes across as a merry prankster, telling a reporter in one scene that he
advised an aspiring bodybuilder to scream, loudly, during poses.
Schwarzenegger may have been putting that reporter on. His claim in the film that he missed his father's funeral because it would have affected a competition was untrue, he says.
It was part of the "docudrama" approach needed to sell a movie about the little-appreciated sport of bodybuilding in 1977, he said in an interview this week.
Each bodybuilder had a part to play in the film and he was the calculating and cocky winner, Schwarzenegger said. "The way to get headlines, to promote the sport, was to make outrageous statements."
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Getting Breast Implants
Marge Simpson
Marge Simpson, previously known for her overly large column of blue hair, receives her amplified bosom because of a surgery mix-up in the Nov. 24 episode of the comedy.
The episode, titled "Large Marge," satirizes plastic surgery and images of beauty in popular culture.
In the story, Marge intends to get liposuction surgery to impress her portly husband Homer, but she gets switched with another patient at the hospital and ends up with implants.
Marge Simpson
Plans Laser Eye Surgery
Elton John
Singer Elton John, who claims to own some 4,000 pairs of eyeglasses, says he plans to have laser surgery so that he won't need corrective lenses.
"I'm so fed up with `Where are they?' I can't see anything, so why wait?" John said in a televised interview Wednesday.
The 55-year-old said he plans to have the procedure in February.
Elton John Plans Surgery
Elton John
In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends
Job Opportunity
Elvis Impersonators
As part of a new agreement with the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority Board of Directors, stand-ins for Elvis Presley will receive
$650 per daily appearance, up from $350. The new figure is nearly double the amount that model showgirls are paid for similar four-hour gigs.
Nonetheless, the talent agencies that book "meet and greet" Elvis impersonators for trade shows, marketing events and such feel they are getting a good deal.
"We rely on Elvis impersonators to generate foot traffic into our booth and to generate excitement," said board spokesman Terry Jicinsky.
Elvis Impersonators
Hollywood Rockwalk Induction
Jackie & Sabrina Wilson
Sabrina Wilson, daughter of the late Jackie Wilson, smiles as he is posthumously inducted into Hollywood's Rockwalk, Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2002, in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles.
Photo by Damian Dovarganes
Book To Be Re-Issued
'The Love You Make'
"The Love You Make," the 1983 best-seller about The Beatles, is being republished by Penguin, casting new light on Peter Brown - the Paul Burrell of the Fab Four. Brown, who met future
Beatles manager Brian Epstein in the early '60s working in Epstein's Liverpool record store, eventually became chief executive of the group's Apple Corp. But after John Lennon's murder,
Brown, who had moved here to work for producer Robert Stigwood, gave up their secrets to writer Steven Gaines. The book - which alleged an affair between Lennon and Epstein, and George
Harrison's affair with Ringo's wife Maureen - was on the best-seller list for five months.
'The Love You Make'
In London Restaurant Brawl
Russell Crowe
Hollywood star Russell Crowe was quizzed by police after a brawl in a fashionable London restaurant on Wednesday, police and newspapers said.
The Sun newspaper said the feisty New Zealand-born actor, who won an Academy Award for best actor in "Gladiator" in 2001, clashed with New Zealand entrepreneur Eric Watson.
Asked about the incident, a Scotland Yard spokesman said: "Officers were called at 00:42 (2042 EST, Tuesday) to the Zuma restaurant to reports of an altercation between
two men believed to be in their thirties."
The Sun quoted onlookers as saying Watson, one of New Zealand's richest men, gained the upper hand at one point.
"One of Crowe's minders rushed in after hearing shouting and found Crowe lying on the ground with the other guy on top of him," one onlooker was quoted as saying.
Russell Crowe
Records Set At NY Sale
Roy Lichtenstein
A record was set for pop artist Roy Lichtenstein at Christie's Wednesday when "Happy Tears" sold for $7,159,500 at the auction house's sale of post-war and contemporary art.
The 1964 work, depicting a smiling, red-haired woman with tears running from her eyes and rendered in the artist's trademark "comic book" style, was bought by an anonymous bidder
and broke the record for a Lichtenstein of $6,050,000 that had been held by "Kiss ii" since 1990.
The work was not the sale's top lot. That honor went to Jasper Johns' "O through 9," a 1961 oil on canvas from the artist's seminal series that fetched $9,909,500 including
Christie's commission, easily beating the high estimate of $8 million.
In all, records were broken for six artists Wednesday, including Barnett Newman, whose "White Fire I" sold for $3,859,500, shy of the low estimate of $4 million but beating the old
mark of $3,027,500; David Hockney, whose "Portrait of Nick Wilder" from his seminal "swimming pool" works fetched $2,869,500 (estimate $2.5 million to $3.5 million) to top the
old $2.2 million record; and Morris Lewis, whose untitled work sold for $1,659,500, above the high estimate of $900,000.
Works by artists Dan Flavin and Laura Owens also set records. Other highlights included two works by Andy Warhol, the third- and sixth-highest priced lots of the night.
For more, Roy Lichtenstein
BartCop TV!
Nigeria Leader Cancels Meeting
Miss World
Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo has canceled plans to receive contestants for this year's Miss World pageant in Abuja in an effort to avoid offending Muslims, organizers said on Wednesday.
The event has already been overshadowed by fears of a mass boycott over stoning death sentences passed by Islamic courts on Nigerian women convicted of adultery.
Muslim groups in Nigeria have called the pageant "a parade of nudity" and threatened to disrupt the contest.
More than 80 contestants who have been in Abuja since Monday were flown on Wednesday to the southeastern city of Calabar for a program of pre-pageant video shoots. The main
contest will be held in Abuja on December 7.
All engagements ahead of the main event have been set in the predominantly Christian southeast and the oil-producing Niger Delta. Abuja, the inland capital, is close to Nigeria's Muslim heartland in the north.
The government sees the staging of the Miss World pageant in Nigeria as a potential boost to tourism in Nigeria, which is trying to diversify its foreign earnings from crude oil exports.
Miss World
Hollywood Boulevard
Audrey Hepburn
Artists create a chalk art sketch of the late actress Audrey Hepburn on Hollywood Boulevard November 14, 2002 in Hollywood. The 160 by 60 foot sketch, commissioned by the
Longines Watch company, will take twenty four hours to complete and replicates a photograph of Hepburn with children.
Photo by Fred Prouser
Missed Morning Court Session
Michael Jackson
Superstar Michael Jackson turned up hours late for court on Thursday after his lawyer objected to a photographer whose pictures set the Internet buzzing over the reclusive singer's bizarre appearance.
No explanation was given for his morning no-show. But the pool photographer said he had been summoned to the judge's chambers because of objections by Jackson's lawyers to the courtroom pictures on the
grounds they were distracting. The photographer was not however barred from the court.
Photos of Jackson on the stand on Wednesday showed him with a Band-Aid-type plaster on his scarred nose, pink lipstick, heavily black-penciled eyebrows and the beginning of a goatee-styled beard all framed by a long black mane of hair.
When the self-styled King of Pop finally returned to the courthouse at Santa Maria -- the central California town nearest to his Neverland Valley ranch -- he appeared drowsy. His eyes drooped and
he had to be prompted to answer by lawyers as testimony proceeded at a snail's pace.
Jackson was called as a hostile witness in a breach-of-contract lawsuit brought by international concert promoter Marcel Avram over two canceled millennium concerts.
Michael Jackson
Label, Homes Raided
Marion 'Suge' Knight
Authorities on Thursday raided the record label and homes of rap mogul Marion "Suge" Knight, a figure in an East Coast-West Coast rap feud that some believe led to the killings of two major stars.
A sheriff's spokesman said Knight is not considered a suspect in the case that led to the raids and three other arrests: the June gang-related murder of a man in Compton.
Theodore Peter Kelly, 29, was arrested at the offices of Tha Row Records, formerly known as Death Row Records. Arrested elsewhere were Michael Leroy Payne, 25, and Kordell Depree
Knox, 37. All were being held without bail on suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder.
Knox is a former sheriff's deputy who was fired Nov. 1 because of his suspected involvement in an assault with a deadly weapon, Los Angeles County sheriff's Deputy Alba Yates said.
A total of 16 search warrants were served at Knight's homes and at other homes and sites in the Los Angeles and Las Vegas areas.
Marion 'Suge' Knight
Have They Peaked?
Manufactured Bands
Manufactured bands may have peaked in an industry increasingly swamped by instant pop idols, according to a top MTV executive.
"I think people will get sick of identikit bands," said Brent Hansen, President and Chief Executive of MTV Networks Europe, as he put the finishing touches to the music channel's annual award show Thursday night.
"The proliferation of them will, I think, turn the public against that style of band for a little while," he said.
That will certainly be sweet music to the ears of pop superstars like Elton John, George Michael and Bono who have complained bitterly about the flood of instant acts.
Bono, lead singer of the Irish supergroup U2, has argued: "People are sick to the teeth of processed and hyped pop bands. It is crap."
Manufactured Bands
Fake Phone Psychic Settles Fraud Charges
Miss Cleo
The largest psychic hotline operation in the United States has agreed to unplug its phones and pay $5 million to settle charges that it misled customers looking for a supposedly free
glimpse into their future, the Federal Trade Commission said on Thursday.
The two companies behind husky-voiced psychic Miss Cleo also agreed to forgive an estimated $500 million in uncollected bills, and send back uncashed checks to customers who were charged
an average of $60 for the supposedly free calls, the FTC said.
In a series of widely broadcast infomercials, Miss Cleo -- born Youree Dell Harris in Los Angeles -- promised free insight on careers, love prospects and other personal matters through psychic readings or Tarot cards.
Psychics were pressured to keep callers on the line for as long as possible or face termination by the companies, the FTC said.
The companies, run by cousins Steven Feder and Peter Stolz, took in roughly $1 billion over the years and inspired thousands of consumer complaints, Beales said.
Miss Cleo
Lawsuit Settled
The Platters
The Platters have settled a lawsuit against a former lead singer they said tried to use the venerable group's name with his new band.
Attorney Richard Fannan, who represented defendant Monroe Powell, confirmed the out-of-court settlement Wednesday but declined to disclose terms. Michael Machat, a
lawyer for the group, did not return a phone call.
Herb Reed founded The Platters in 1953 and has gone to court several times over the years to keep control of the name.
According to court filings, the original members and their manager, Buck Ram, formed Five Platters Inc. in 1956 and agreed the corporation would own the group's trademarked name.
Powell, who joined the group in 1970, signed a contract saying he wasn't entitled to use the name or a Platters-related name upon termination of the contract, the lawsuit said.
Powell left the group in 1995 and began calling his new group The Platters, the lawsuit said. He argued in a counter-complaint that The Platters had abandoned the name
and therefore forfeited the trademark.
The Platters
Army Dismisses Gay Translators
Cunning Linguists
Nine Army linguists, including six trained to speak Arabic, have been dismissed from the military because they are gay.
The soldiers' dismissals come at a time when the military is facing a critical shortage of translators and interpreters for the war on terrorism.
Seven of the soldiers were discharged after telling superiors they are gay, and the two others got in trouble when they were caught together after curfew, said Steve Ralls,
spokesman for the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, a group that defends homosexuals in the military.
Six were specializing in Arabic, two were studying Korean and one was studying Mandarin Chinese. All were at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, the military's primary language training center.
Harvey Perritt, spokesman for the Army Training and Doctrine Command at Fort Monroe in Tidewater, Va., confirmed the dismissals occurred between October 2001 and September 2002,
but declined to comment further on the cases.
For more, Cunning Linguists
Defense Language Institute
Servicemembers Legal Defense Network
Greedy Bastards
Congressional Pay Raises
The Senate has used one of the first votes of its lame-duck session to accept a pay raise for the fourth consecutive year.
The Senate, without debate, used its second vote on Wednesday to reject 58-36 a measure by Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., that would have denied the congressional pay raise.
With the slumping economy and financial markets, job layoffs and federal budget deficits, "this is the wrong time for Congress to give itself a pay hike," Feingold said in a statement.
The House cleared the way for the raise in July.
With the 3.1 percent pay raise, senators and representatives will make $154,700 next year instead of the $150,000 earned this year. Lawmakers' salaries have gone up $18,000 since the end of 1999.
The 3.1 percent pay raise, which would go into effect in January, would also apply to more than 1,000 top executive branch officials, including the vice president and members of the congressional leadership.
Congressional Pay Raises
History of congressional salary raises
Nachamani, Kenya
Camels
A man from Kenya's Turkana tribe waters camels at a well in a dried-out river bed near the remote village of Nachamani, November 14, 2002. Many Turkana, traditional herders who depend on goats and camels, say they will
back President Daniel arap Mo's choice of successor in elections due on December 27.
Photo by Antony Njuguna
'The Osbournes'
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