'TBH Politoons'
Thanks, again, Tim!
Reader Review
'Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers'
by David Lindsay
Tell me that when J.R.R. Tolkien wrote of the battle for Middle-Earth, that it was'nt a metaphor for the battle against totalitarianism. This movie, like the first one, seems to have some coincidental parallels with our own world.
The movie is about turning the tide in a massive struggle. The original Fellowship of the Ring is split up, travelling in opposite directions from each other across Middle-Earth. "The Two Towers" introduces us to new characters and creatures of Middle-Earth.
There is the oily lackey of Sauruman, Grima Wormtongue (Brad Dourf) who has hypnotized and betrayed old King Theodin. Grima reminds me of Sean Hannity broadcasting lies to my elderly mother, but without the tan. There is Treebeard the Ent, a giant treelike being
whose cadence is remarkably slow. There are a variety of exotic creatures that are beasts of burden, ridden by friend and foe. But the one character/creature who steals the show is Gollum, the former owner of the one ring.
Gollum is both pitiable and repulsive. Gollum is a deranged schizophrenic who has an argument with himself in the movie's funniest scene.
Gimli the Dwarf is the comic relief to the other part of the Fellowship that has split up. The movie's many battle scenes are fierce and fantastic. In one scene, Legolas the Elf mounts the back of a running horse that would have made Roy Roger's jaw drop.
The audience burst into spontaeneous applause when that happened.
The audience I saw the movie with was a story to itself. Folks were wearing capes, hip-boots and hats and toting swords and walking staffs. Wall to wall geek at a midnight showing. The perfect audience to see a movie with. I was surprised to see that it was 3:15a.m. when the movie let out.
The movie is not all sword play either, taking time to poetically explore the lives of mortals and immortals bonded by love. Tolkien wrote "The Lord of the Rings" shortly after World War II and I have to think he was strongly influenced by the ideology of those times. The main character, Frodo,
is at his core, a bleeding heart liberal, whose compassion and pity spares Gollum's life. He is also quite aware that treacherous Gollum is redeemable after Gollum saves his life.
This movie is like a good Rembrandt painting, chock full of details and worth a second look. Peter Jackson, the director, knows his stuff.
~~ David Lindsay
Thanks, David!
''UP AT THE WHITE HOUSE''
Tribute To Turd Blossom
'Making fun of a moron was a dumb move!' - Karl Rove
MIDI
UP AT THE WHITE HOUSE
{Sung to 'Up On The Rooftop'}
{intro}
Up at the White House they rejoice
Dubya, Dick and Condi Rice
They all are waiting up there because
They've got a party for Rove
Go! Karl! Go!... Oh, what a show!
Go! Karl! Go!... Oh, what a show!
And they will cheer the whole night long:
'That Karl Rove is boy genius!'
The whole yearlong Rove worked away
Dubya's brain in everything
'Karl,' they all cry - 'Hip, hip, hooray!'
Guide George W. through war
Go! Karl! Go!... Oh, what a show!
Go! Karl! Go!... Oh, what a show!
And they will cheer the whole night long:
'That Karl Rove is my hero!'...
Happy Holidays!
Alvin D
Thanks, Alvin!
Reader Review
'Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers'
by Gordon Guano
Wow. Peter Jackson is just so effin' brilliant. Two Towers is great if
you've read the books, and if you've been dragged along by a boyfriend,
you'll still think it's OK. I've decided that Viggo Mortenson has the best
job in the world: not only does he get paid, but his job description
includes getting paid to smooch Liv Tyler. She might have been second banana
to Alicia Silverstone in those Aerosmith videos, but she is second-to-none
when it comes to Middle-Earth babes. Galadriel and Eowyn definitely take the
back burner.
Managed to sneak some vodka into the theater, but really, all the swords
and sorcery would have just as much impact to a sober person. When Frodo
looks at Gollum and sees himself, or when Faramir resists temptation where
his brother Boromir crumbles, you have to breathe a sigh of relief.
Jackson's genius lies in making the people who have read the books say, "So
THAT'S why it happened that way!". Meanwhile, people who haven't (read
girlfriends) can say,"Check out the action sequences and outfits".
If nothing else, seeing how Elrond disapproves of his daughter Arwen,
dating the scruffy human Aragorn will endear this movie to any guy :) And
for everyone else, just think: you could be wasting your time watching Star
Trek.
~~ Gordon Guano
Thanks, Gordon!
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Rather nice day - clear enough to see out to Catalina from Signal Hill, and with a storm coming in, the lighting was amazing.
Could some one who has seen 'LOTR: The 2 Towers' please tip me as to whether Shelob appears?
Attended the 4th grade Christmas party. While the music varied from traditional Christmas songs to limbo rock to rap - surprisingly (at least to me), the boys were the better dancers. Had a few words with the teacher, too (also figured out what he's getting for
his end-of-the-year present).
Did the Farmer's Market/CostCo loop, and threw in a side-trip to a grocery store for a $.49/lb ham. Going to get another one for the freezer.
Tonight, Friday, CBS opens the evening with a 'special' - 'A Home For The Holidays', then a fresh 'Hack', followed by a RERUN 'CSI: Miami'.
Scheduled on a fresh Dave are Liv Tyler, Jay Thomas, and Darlene Love.
Scheduled on a fresh Craiggers is Johnny Rzeznik.
NBC starts the night with a 2-hour season finale of 'Providence' followed by a RERUN 'Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'.
Scheduled on a fresh Jay are Cameron Diaz, Harland Williams, and Kylie Minogue.
Scheduled on a fresh Conan are Hugh Grant, Lauren Graham, and Bill Baily.
Scheduled on a fresh Carson Daly are Anna Paquin, Derek Jeter, John Mayer, and Rob Schneider.
Early in the day on ABC, a fresh 'The View' has Robin Williams visiting. Prime time starts with a RERUN 'America's Funniest Home Videos', followed by a fresh 'Whose Line', then a fresh 'Drew Carey', and wraps the night with '20/20'.
The WB offers nothing fresh - RERUN 'What I Like About You', RERUN 'Sabrina', RERUN 'Reba', and a RERUN 'Greetings From Tucson'.
Faux has a 2-hour fresh episode of 'Firefly'.
UPN has the movie 'Star Trek V: The Final Frontier'.
Check local PBS listings for 'NOW With Bill Moyers'!
TCM has 'The Last Waltz'.
Anyone have any opinions?
Or reviews?
(See below for addresses)
Madison Square Garden
Minnelli & Charles
Liza Minnelli and Ray Charles perform on stage during 'The Miracle on 34th Street' concert in New York's Madison Square Garden, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2002. The concert was billed as a tribute to Ray Charles.
Photo by Anders Krusberg
Song to Highlight AIDS Benefit Concert
Nelson Mandela
South Africa's Nelson Mandela will be just another prison number again when he hosts an HIV/AIDS benefit concert on Robben Island, where he spent 18 of his 27 years in apartheid jails.
The February 2 concert -- featuring artists such as U2's Bono, Shaggy, Queen, and Macy Gray -- will be held within the walls of the island prison, which is now a World Heritage site.
Organizers say the 84-year-old Mandela will walk onto the stage to the tune of a new song "48864," the number he wore as a prisoner during his time on the island.
"It's a great way to close...to chant this number and get Nelson Mandela to walk onto the stage and be able to speak to the world about HIV/AIDS and the number," Dave Stewart, one half
of The Eurythmics and music coordinator for "Mandela SOS," told reporters on a conference call.
Stewart said the song was penned by himself, Bono, and Joe Strummer of The Clash, and will be on a "Mandela SOS" album.
The concert will televised globally with all funds raised going to The Nelson Mandela Foundation, the United Nations' program UNAIDS, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the Robben Island Museum.
Other artists confirmed for the concert include Nelly Furtado, Jimmy Cliff, Coldplay, Angelique Kidjo, Femi Kuti, Yusuf Islam, Ludacris, Lamya and Deborah Cox.
Several South African musicians -- including Hugh Masekela, Johnny Clegg and Yvonne Chaka Chaka -- will perform as well.
Nelson Mandela
Schools as Peace Training Ground
Colman McCarthy
Colman McCarthy loves the long-shot. Good thing, too, because the journalist-turned-peace activist is betting that warlike humanity will some day evolve into enlightened creatures guided by love and harmony.
For years now, the bespectacled 64-year-old has been trying to get American educators to see violence as learned behavior that can be overcome by adding comprehensive peace studies programs
to the curriculum at the nation's 80,000 elementary schools, 26,000 high schools and 3,100 colleges.
Statistics on the sheer toll of violence are commonplace: 10,000 people murdered with handguns each year in the United States, and domestic abuse the leading cause of injury among U.S. women, he says.
But McCarthy doesn't expect to be embraced by modern academia any time soon, despite the rash of peer mediation classes that has sprouted among U.S. schools since the 1999 massacre at Colorado's Columbine High School.
He not only advocates peer mediation but says kids need to study closely the history of the peace movement, starting with the lives and ideas of Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King,
Dorothy Day, the Berrigan brothers and other radicals.
And he wants to teach kids that American violence goes hand-in-hand with widely accepted conventionalities such as economic competition, conspicuous consumption, tax cuts, U.S. foreign policy and gigantic Pentagon budgets.
Take, for example, his introduction to Martin Luther King -- not the parent-approved civil rights leader proclaiming the dream of racial harmony who is known to most schoolchildren.
McCarthy's King is the unbowed nonviolent agitator who spoke out early against the Vietnam War, criticized the U.S. government as the world's "greatest purveyor of violence" and predicted
"spiritual doom" for a nation determined to spend more on weapons programs than on social programs.
For the rest of an interesting read, Colman McCarthy
Centerfolds Are Less Curvaceous
Playboy
The curves of Playboy centerfold models have gradually flattened out over the last 50 years, giving way to a more androgynous look, European researchers suggest.
Analyzing every Playboy centerfold since the first one in 1953, they found the models' weight hadn't changed much over time, but busts and hips had diminished, while waists had become less tapered.
The study, published this week in the traditionally lighthearted Christmas edition of the British Medical Journal, does not offer much interpretation of the trend and experts warn against jumping to conclusions.
Does it mean the male idea of female attractiveness has changed over time — that men now prefer a less curvaceous woman, despite their protests that "heroin chic" is not sexy?
Or were the evolutionary scientists who theorized that curves symbolized fertility and that the most reproductively successful females were those who were able to store surplus energy in their curves wrong?
Or have humans now evolved beyond such primitive judgments as the ability to make it through famine?
Or is it simply that Playboy is now out of touch with what men find attractive?
For the rest, Playboy
British Medical Journal
People Magazine
Intriguing People
In this year of continuing fear for our safety, resident Bush, Nobel Peace Prize winner Jimmy Carter and Montgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose are among People magazine's "25 Most Intriguing People of 2002."
The list, released Thursday, also includes actress-singer Jennifer Lopez; The Osbournes; former TV host Rosie O'Donnell; film stars Halle Berry, Winona Ryder, George Clooney and Julia Roberts; TV
stars Jennifer Aniston and Sarah Jessica Parker; rapper Eminem and singer Britney Spears; and Martha Stewart.
Nia Vardalos, creator and star of "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," says she can't believe her movie has grossed more than $200 million.
Intriguing People
In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends
Snubs NZ Film Officials
Peter Jackson
Director Peter Jackson banned two New Zealand movie industry officials from Wednesday's Australasian premiere of "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers," labeling the pair "self-serving bureaucrats."
Jackson blames the government- and lottery-funded New Zealand Film Commission, the only local provider of development financing, for not preventing the March collapse of Kahukura Prods.,
which had four films in post-production.
He claims the commission had plenty of warning about Kahukura's financial difficulties, yet refused to take responsibility. As a result, the funder has lost its investment and the
filmmakers' work is stuck in bankruptcy proceedings.
On the eve of the premiere in the capital of Wellington, local distributor Roadshow "uninvited" commission chairman Barrie Everard and chief executive Ruth Harley at Jackson's request.
Jackson has been a longtime critic of the commission, which has not given him any support since his 1994 feature "Heavenly Creatures."
Peter Jackson
Phnom Penh, Cambodia
the Buddha
Lined by Buddhist monks and followed by hundreds of thousands of Cambodian worshippers, a flotilla carrying an urn said to contain some remains of the Buddha makes its way through the streets of Phnom Penh Thursday Dec. 19, 2002.
The urn was being taken to the ancient Cambodian capital of Oudong 45 kilometers (28 miles) north of Phnom Penh, where King Norodom Sihanouk will put it into a new stupa.
Photo by Andy Eames
Tent Collapses
Oprah Event
High winds toppled a tent at a Christmas charity event attended by TV talk show host Oprah Winfrey in South Africa's Eastern Cape, injuring 10 people. Winfrey escaped injury.
Winfrey was outside the tent when it collapsed, a spokesman for the Oprah Winfrey Foundation told the South African Press Association.
The foundation had been distributing Christmas gifts in the tent Tuesday to schoolchildren.
Winfrey, who publishes a version of her magazine O in South Africa, has been traveling in the country this month doing charity work.
Oprah Event
Crew Member Injured
Geraldo's Yacht
The Coast Guard rescued a British woman who suffered a deep cut on her right hand while aboard Fox News Channel correspondent Geraldo Rivera's yacht.
Juliet Episilda, 32, was working as a crew member on Rivera's 70-foot vessel, Voyager, when she suffered the cut. The circumstances were not known, Coast Guard officials said.
A mayday call was placed from the Voyager to the Coast Guard Wednesday morning, officials said. A Coast Guard cutter was dispatched to the area, 300 miles east
of Jacksonville, then flew the woman to Halifax Medical Center in Daytona Beach, officials said.
It was unknown early Thursday whether Rivera was aboard the yacht at the time.
Geraldo's Yacht
Formerly 'The Vidiot'
Can Keep 'Glow' Perfume, For Now
Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lopez can keep the name of her signature scent until a federal judge rules whether the perfume "Glow by J. Lo" has the odor of trademark infringement, court documents said.
Glow Industries, which sells scented products, alleged in a lawsuit that Lopez' new line will be confused with its own Glow perfume.
The company filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against Lopez and partner Coty Inc. in August, several weeks before the new perfume's debut. Glow Industries
also asked for a preliminary injunction to immediately stop them from using the name.
In a ruling issued Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Margaret Morrow denied that request.
Jennifer Lopez
World's Fastest Supercomputer
Earth Simulator
A part of the Earth Simulator, the fastest supercomputer in the world, is seen in Yokohama, southwest of Tokyo, Friday, Nov. 29, 2002. Running 35.6 trillion calculations per second, the Earth Simulator is the fastest supercomputer in the world, almost five times faster than the next best one and as fast as the top 20 U.S. supercomputers combined.
Photo by Chiaki Tsukumo
DVDs Are To Blame?
Blockbuster
Investors trounced Blockbuster Inc. Wednesday after the video retailer slashed its fourth-quarter and full-year financial forecasts, citing a sudden and surprising slump in video rentals in the three weeks since Thanksgiving.
Consumers, it seems, were busy shopping for DVDs instead, and they weren't buying them at Blockbuster, whose stock plunged 32% to a 52-week low of $13.13. The video-on-demand bogeyman that was supposed to crush video rental
has been usurped by a more immediate challenge -- DVD sell-through.
Blockbuster, which is about as big as it can be in the rental business, says it needs to sell DVDs to grow. Yet it can't compete profitably now with retailers such as Wal-Mart and Target and electronics giants like Best Buy
and Circuit City -- chains that deeply discount DVDs in order to encourage other purchases.
Blockbuster holds a commanding 45% market share in the video rental biz.
Blockbuster
Wonder if any of the bean counters took into consideration what a vile, time-burning experience it is to visit Blockbuster? Even the lines at Bank of America are shorter.
Rounded Up in California
Immigrants
Hundreds of Iranian and other Middle East citizens were in southern California jails on Wednesday after coming forward to comply with a new rule to register with immigration
authorities only to wind up handcuffed and behind bars.
Shocked and frustrated Islamic and immigrant groups estimate that more than 500 people have been arrested in Los Angeles, neighboring Orange County and San Diego in the past three
days under a new nationwide anti-terrorism program. Some unconfirmed reports put the figure as high as 1,000.
A spokesman for the Immigration and Naturalization Service said no numbers of people arrested would be made public. A Justice Department spokesman could not be reached for comment.
One activist said local jails were so overcrowded that the immigrants could be sent to Arizona, where they could face weeks or months in prisons awaiting hearings before immigration judges or deportation.
The arrests were part of a post Sept. 11 program that requires all males over 16 from a list of 20 Arab or Middle East countries, who do not have permanent resident
status in the United States, to register with U.S. immigration authorities.
Monday was the deadline for men from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Libya and Sudan. News of the mass arrests came first in southern California, which is home to more than
600,000 Iranian exiles and their families.
The Iranian protesters said many of those detained were victims of official delays in processing visa and green card requests.
One Syrian man said he went to register in Orange County with a dozen friends. He was the only one to come out of the INS office. "All my friends are
inside right now," M.M. Trapici, 45, told reporters. "I have to visit the family for each one today. Most of them have small kids."
Immigrants
"First them came for the socialist, and I did not speak out because I was
not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionist, and I did not speak
out because I was not a trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews and I
did not speak out because I was not a Jew.
And then they came for me and
there was no one left to speak for me."
~~ Pastor Martin Niemoller (1892-1984).
German Protestant minister who was interned in Nazi concentration
camps from 1938-1945.
The Complete List
Golden Globe Nominees
Complete list of nominees for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association's Golden Globe Awards, to be presented Jan. 19:
Motion pictures:
Picture, Drama: "About Schmidt," "Gangs of New York," "The Hours," "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers," "The Pianist."
Actress, Drama: Salma Hayek, "Frida"; Nicole Kidman, "The Hours"; Diane Lane, "Unfaithful"; Julianne Moore, "Far From Heaven"; Meryl Streep, "The Hours."
Actor, Drama: Adrien Brody, "The Pianist"; Michael Caine, "The Quiet American"; Daniel Day-Lewis, "Gangs of New York"; Leonardo DiCaprio, "Catch Me If You Can"; Jack Nicholson, "About Schmidt."
Picture, Musical or Comedy: "About a Boy," "Adaptation," "Chicago," "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," "Nicholas Nickleby."
Actress, Musical or Comedy: Maggie Gyllenhaal, "Secretary"; Goldie Hawn, "The Banger Sisters"; Nia Vardalos, "My Big Fat Greek Wedding"; Renee Zellweger, "Chicago"; Catherine Zeta-Jones, "Chicago."
Actor, Musical or Comedy: Nicolas Cage, "Adaptation"; Kieran Culkin, "Igby Goes Down"; Richard Gere, "Chicago"; Hugh Grant, "About a Boy"; Adam Sandler, "Punch-Drunk Love."
Foreign Language: "Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress," France; "City Of God," Brazil; "The Crime of Father Amaro ("El Crimen del Padre Amaro"), Mexico; "Hero," China; "Nowhere in Africa," Germany; "Talk to Her," Spain.
Supporting Actress: Kathy Bates, "About Schmidt"; Cameron Diaz, "Gangs of New York"; Queen Latifah, "Chicago"; Susan Sarandon, "Igby Goes Down"; Meryl Streep, "Adaptation."
Supporting Actor: Chris Cooper, "Adaptation"; Ed Harris, "The Hours"; Paul Newman, "Road to Perdition"; Dennis Quaid, "Far From Heaven"; John C. Reilly, "Chicago."
Director: Stephen Daldry, "The Hours"; Peter Jackson, "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers"; Spike Jonze, "Adaptation"; Rob Marshall, "Chicago"; Alexander Payne, "About Schmidt"; Martin Scorsese, "Gangs of New York."
Screenplay: Bill Condon, "Chicago"; David Hare, "The Hours"; Todd Haynes, "Far From Heaven"; Charlie Kaufman and Donald Kaufman, "Adaptation"; Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, "About Schmidt."
Original Score: Elmer Bernstein, "Far From Heaven"; Terence Blanchard, "25th Hour"; Peter Gabriel, "Rabbit-Proof Fence"; Philip Glass, "The Hours"; Elliot Goldenthal, "Frida."
Original Song: "Die Another Day" from "Die Another Day" by Madonna; "Father and Daughter" from "The Wild Thornberrys Movie" by Paul Simon; "The Hands That Built America" from "Gangs of New York" by U2; "Here I Am" from "Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron" by Hans Zimmer, Bryan Adams and Gretchen Peters; "Lose Yourself" from "8 Mile," by Eminem.
Television:
Drama Series: "24," Fox; "The Shield," FX; "Six Feet Under," HBO; The Sopranos," HBO; "The West Wing," NBC.
Actress, Drama: Edie Falco, "The Sopranos"; Jennifer Garner, "Alias"; Rachel Griffiths, "Six Feet Under"; Marg Helgenberger, "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation"; Allison Janney, "The West Wing."
Actor, Drama: Michael Chiklis "The Shield;" James Gandolfini, "The Sopranos"; Peter Krause, "Six Feet Under"; Martin Sheen, "The West Wing"; Kiefer Sutherland, "24."
Musical or Comedy Series: "Curb Your Enthusiasm," HBO; "Friends," NBC; "Sex and the City," HBO; "The Simpsons," Fox; "Will & Grace," NBC.
Actress, Musical or Comedy Series: Jennifer Aniston, "Friends"; Bonnie Hunt, "Life With Bonnie"; Jane Kaczmarek, "Malcolm in the Middle"; Debra Messing, "Will & Grace"; Sarah Jessica Parker, "Sex and the City."
Actor, Musical or Comedy Series: Larry David, "Curb Your Enthusiasm"; Matt LeBlanc, "Friends"; Bernie Mac, "The Bernie Mac Show"; Eric McCormack, "Will & Grace"; Tony Shalhoub, "Monk."
Miniseries or Movie Made for Television: "The Gathering Storm," HBO; "Live From Baghdad," HBO; "Path to War," HBO; "Shackleton," A&E; "Steven Spielberg Presents: Taken," Sci Fi.
Actress, Miniseries or Movie Made for Television: Helena Bonham Carter, "Live From Baghdad"; Shirley MacLaine, "Hell on Heels: The Battle of Mary Kay"; Helen Mirren, "Door to Door"; Vanessa Redgrave, "The Gathering Storm"; Uma Thurman, "Hysterical Blindness."
Actor, Miniseries or Movie Made for Television: Albert Finney, "The Gathering Storm"; Michael Gambon, "Path to War"; Michael Keaton, "Live From Baghdad"; William H. Macy, "Door to Door"; Linus Roache, "RFK."
Supporting Actress, Series, Miniseries or Movie Made for Television: Kim Cattrall, "Sex and the City"; Megan Mullally, "Will & Grace"; Cynthia Nixon, "Sex and the City"; Parker Posey, "Hell on Heels: The Battle of Mary Kay"; Gena Rowlands, "Hysterical Blindness."
Supporting Actor, Series, Miniseries or Movie Made for Television: Alec Baldwin, "Path to War"; Jim Broadbent, "The Gathering Storm"; Bryan Cranston, "Malcolm in the Middle"; Sean Hayes, "Will & Grace"; Dennis Haysbert, "24"; Michael Imperioli, "The Sopranos"; John Spencer, "The West Wing"; Donald Sutherland, "Path to War"; Bradley Whitford, "The West Wing."
Golden Globe Nominees
Kansas State Capitol Dome
'Ad Astra'
The bronze sclupture of 'Ad Astra' a Kansa Indian, perched atop the Kansas State Capitol dome is silouhetted against the rising full moon Thursday, Dec. 19, 2002 in Topeka, Kan.
The statue, by Salina sculptor Dick Bergen, weighs 4,100 pounds and stands 22 feet tall.
Photo by Charlie Riedel
'The Osbournes'
'The Osbournes' ~ Page 4
'The Osbournes' ~ Page 3
'The Osbournes' ~ Page 2
'The Osbournes' ~ Page 1
