'Best of TBH Politoons'
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Kurt Vonnegut: American Christmas Card 2004
I met a man in Nigeria years ago, an Ibo, who said he had three hundred relatives he knew by name. His wife had just had a baby. They were going to take it on foot to be welcomed and marveled at by as many of those relatives as they could find, even though there was a war going on.
J.R. Moehringer: Ho! Ho! Is More Like Uh-Oh
Some days, the fat man just wants the fat lady to sing. He wishes the holiday season would end already. His back aches, his red suit feels like a spacesuit, his cheeks have gone numb from smiling for 12 hours - and still the kids keep coming and coming, like ants at a picnic.
Maureen Dowd: 'Christmas Eve of destruction'
President Bush has finally acknowledged that the Iraqis can't hack it as far as securing their own country, which means, of course, that America has no exit strategy for its troops, who will soon number 150,000. News organizations led with the story, even though the president was only saying something that everybody has known to be true for a year. The White House's policy on Iraq has gone from a total charade to a limited modified hangout. Mr. Bush is conceding the obvious, that the Iraqi security forces aren't perfect, so he doesn't have to concede the truth: that Iraq is now so dire no one knows how or when we can get out.
Jennifer Barnett Reed: Getting personal about the political hijacking of religion
There's only one thing on my Christmas list this year: I want my faith back.
Kevin Drum: Political Animal (Dec. 22)
HO HO HO....Let's see. George Bush has reduced Pell grants for low-income college students, cut food aid for global charities, and virtually halted the presidential pardon process. This is called "compassionate conservatism." Merry Christmas.
Howard Zinn: Harness That Anger
In the days after the election, it seemed that all my friends were either depressed or angry, frustrated or indignant, or simply disgusted. Neighbors who had never said more than hi to me stopped me on the street and delivered passionate little speeches that made me think they had just listened to a re-broadcast of H. G. Wells's The War of the Worlds, in which powerful creatures arrive on Earth to take it over.
Purple Gene Reviews
'The Story of the Weeping Camel'
Purple Genes' review of the movie "The Story of the Weeping Camel" (2003) [AKA: 'Die Geschichte vom weinenden Kamel'] Directed by Byambasuren Davaa and Luigi Falorni:
I saw this movie a while back when my brother JD came out to Berkeley from Nashville for a visit. We wanted to experience a little "Ethnic Escape" so we hunkered down in a dingey theater on Shattuck Avenue and got swept away............
It is a cool clear spring night on a high plain in the Gobi desert of South Mongolia....and a great event is about to happen......A young Camel is going to give birth to her first baby....the dramatic terrain is stark and stunning and still....soon punctured by the painful cries of delivery.
The mother, Ingen, is pushing hard but the calf is quite large and the family has to help her. With great pulling and prodding a magnificent white calf comes out into this isolated place. But for some reason the mother rejects her new calf and refuses to nurse..........the pure, pristine evening silence is shattered by the cries of Botok the now starving and rejected offspring......
The Family tries everything to get Ingen to nurse Botok (they even try bottle feeding) - but to no avail......Each newborn is important to the Family since Camels are their sustanence and trade. As a last resort, the Family sends their two sons, Dude and Ugna, to the nearest town (50 kilometers away), via camels, to contact and bring back a violin player who can perform a trditional song that might persuade Ingen to nurse Botok......and save her life! Well the boys mount up and make the trip to the Outpost. They ask around, watch a little television, play a little soccer, ride bikes and finally find the musician......and he agrees to return with them........
So the stage is set for a camel serenade. The scenery is simple and so unique that you feel fully involved in the whole drama........the violinist starts playing as four generations of camel herders listen and watch..... the age old song has a hauntingly simple melody that is repeated over and over....and soon the mother and child are united and nursing and an amazing thing happens.........Ingen, the mother camel, is weeping as Botok the baby is being born again with mothers milk.....and there is a little tearing in the eyes of the Family as well.............Life goes on!
This kind of movie, like the Inuit tale "Fast Runner" [AKA: 'Atanarjuat'] and the Maori epic "Whale Rider", left me feeling honored to be allowed "IN" to these rare and precious cultures!
Purple Gene give "The Story of the Weeping Camel" 10 cups of hot yak butter tea out of 10 for being so simple and sweet
Purple Gene
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny, cool & windy.
Krewe of Bacchus
Sean Astin
Sean Astin, who starred in "The Lord of the Rings" films, will play the role of a king in a Carnival parade on Feb. 6.
Astin, 33, will serve as king of Bacchus, one of the larger parades that roll during the city's six-week Carnival season.
He will ride in one of 38 floats along with his "Lord of the Rings" co-star Elijah Wood, who was king of Bacchus last year.
Sean Astin
No More Paris Hilton
Lloyd Grove
Gossip columnist Lloyd Grove is so over Paris Hilton. Grove devoted his full column in Thursday's New York Daily News to Hilton - and why she won't appear there ever again.
Even as he acknowledged being one of her "enablers" by "encouraging and even celebrating her silly ways through countless boldface mentions," Grove made an early New Year's resolution: No more Paris.
What's his beef? Grove quoted the British actor and author Stephen Fry, who said that being her "takes a startling vanity, an enormous lack of self-knowledge and a huge amount of greed and desire."
Grove laid out some objections of his own to the ultra-rich heiress, who became famous after appearing in a sex video with her boyfriend: A tendency toward racial epithets; bad manners, including cutting to the front of a long line at a hip Manhattan night spot; bad tipper; and poor taste in men. She also claims to have never heard of The Wall Street Journal, even though her book appeared on its best-seller list.
Lloyd Grove
New York Hawks Back Home
Pale Male & Lola
Two of New York's most-famous birds will be home for Christmas after all.
Red-tailed hawks Pale Male and Lola, whose nest atop a ritzy Fifth Avenue apartment building was removed on December 7 by order of the tenants' board, were welcomed back on Thursday.
An architect-designed stainless-steel cradle complete with spikes to support a new nest was being installed for the hawks on the landmark building, bringing a happy ending to a saga that spawned angry protests from bird lovers.
Pale Male & Lola
Shares Space With Fla. Nativity
'Festivus'
When a church group put a nativity scene on public property, officials warned it might open the door to other religious - and not-so-religious - displays. They were right.
Since the nativity was erected in Polk County, displays have gone up honoring Zoroastrianism and the fake holiday Festivus, featured on the TV show "Seinfeld."
The Polk County Commission voted 4-1 Wednesday to permit the nativity scene to remain across the street from the courthouse, as well as to make that area a "public forum" open to any type of display.
But the commission insisted that unless someone claims a particular display and submits a written request asking it remain, it would be removed. By Wednesday evening, no one had claimed the Festivus display, and the commission said it would come down; a woman claimed the Zoroastrianism display, which was to stay.
'Festivus'
Top German Comedian Back
Harald Schmidt
Germany's most revered comedian Harald Schmidt made a spectacular return to late night television on Thursday, exactly a year after his abrupt departure from a rival network sent its share price plunging.
The irreverent late-night entertainer was sporting a new beard and was 12 pounds heavier than when he quit Sat-1 and disappeared from Germany for a year, traveling the world on a "creativity break."
But the undisputed king of Germany's late-night television was otherwise his usual droll self even though he appeared at times to be oblivious to everything that had happened in his home country during the last year.
"I just got back from a 52-week vacation and we ought to celebrate that," Schmidt said, mocking Germans for having more days off than in any other country. "I feel well rested."
Harald Schmidt
Entercom In The News
'Naked Twister'
Federal regulators on Wednesday proposed a $220,000 indecency fine against the owner of two Kansas radio stations for broadcasting a "Naked Twister" game with local strippers and graphic interviews with porn stars.
The Federal Communications Commission said the material, which aired during the "Dare and Murphy Show," was indecent and clearly intended to "pander to and titillate the audience."
The commission cited four broadcasts during April and May of 2002. They aired on stations KQRC-FM in Westwood, Kan., and KFH-AM in Wichita, Kan. - owned by Entercom Communications Corp., based in Bala Cynwyd, Pa.
The agency proposed a $27,500 fine - the maximum allowed at the time - for each of the four broadcasts by the two stations for a total penalty of $220,000.
At KFH-AM in Wichita, program manager Tony Duesing declined to comment on the fine but said the station has not aired the show for the past six months, dropping it after it became too cost prohibitive. The show had already been replaced when the station learned about the FCC investigation a month or two ago, he said.
'Naked Twister'
Sues Over Using Image on Slots
Debbie Watson Taylor
The actress who played Marilyn Munster in the 1966 movie "Munster Go Home" is suing slot machine maker International Game Technology and others for using her image and voice without permission.
The actress, Debbie Watson Taylor, is seeking damages and attorney's fees as well as profits from sales related to the gaming machines. The lawsuit also names as defendants Universal Studios and Monaco Entertainment.
A similar lawsuit was filed in Nevada by three actors from the "The Munsters" television series: Al Lewis (Grandpa Munster), Patrick Alan Lilley, whose stage name was Butch Patrick (Eddie), and Pat Priest, who also played Marilyn. It was settled out of court last year.
Debbie Watson Taylor
Fan Club Leaders Forced Out
Chely Wright
Accusations by a member of country singer Chely Wright's fan club that she and other fans were urged to pose as members of the military or their families to promote Wright's latest single, "The Bumper of My SUV," has led to the resignation of the club's president and vice president.
A spokeswoman for the singer said club president Chuck Walter and vice president Sharon Constantine had been "relieved of their duties."
Complaints about the promotional campaign were made by Stephanie Hoffpauir, a 31-year-old music teacher from Lafayette, La., and a member of the team that Wright mentioned in her statement.
Hoffpauir said Monday that she was directed by Walter and Constantine to call and e-mail targeted radio stations requesting the song, which Wright released earlier this year without a record label.
"They were telling us that this song was a reaction record, and they needed reaction, that it wasn't enough to say, 'Play this song.' ... They said tell them you are in the Marines or tell them you have someone in the military and this their song. The emotion was a big thing."
Chely Wright
Dutch Discover Studio in Delft Garden
Johannes Vermeer
An art restorer says he has solved a centuries-old mystery with the discovery of the studio of the 17th-century Dutch master Johannes Vermeer.
Ironically, Daan Hartmann had been working in the same studio for over two decades before he made the Vermeer link.
The second best-known Dutch painter of the period after Rembrandt, Vermeer lived in Delft until his death in 1675. He painted some 35 to 40 works, most of which are now in museums around the word, and he lived modestly from art dealing.
Vermeer is best known for his meticulously realistic paintings of simple domestic scenes such as "The Milkmaid." He painted them in a studio and not at home where he and his wife had 15 children.
Johannes Vermeer
