'Best of TBH Politoons'
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Bruce Handy: The Muckraker's Progress (vanityfair.com)
For decades, Hustler publisher Larry Flynt has been working to catch "family values" politicians in bed with the wrong people, offering up to a million dollars for each hypocrite exposed. He's eyeing some juicy targets this election cycle.
Jim Hightower: GIVING AWAY APPALACHIA (jimhightower.com)
Boy, things are hectic inside the Bush regime these days! The clock is ticking, and Corporate America is rushing to get all the favors it can before Bush & Company closes down in 2009. Sure enough, the Bushites are delivering.
Will Durst: The Funniest Stories of 2007
What's the difference between Paris Hilton and Scooter Libby? Twenty-three days.
Carol Sarler: The precious gift of parental neglect (timesonline.co.uk)
Those who seek by constant presence to control childhood are stealing it from its rightful owners
Ted Rall: The Unfunny Pages: Artsy Comics Are Alienating Readers
The New York Times' flirtation with art comix is dying with a whimper. Meanwhile, mainstream acceptance of the genre is more elusive than ever.
Colin Covert: Lightning strikes Francis Ford Coppola again (Star Tribune [Minneapolis]; Posted on Popmatters.com)
Francis Ford Coppola, director of classics, blockbusters, oddities and misfires, has returned to the screen with a metaphysical mystery. Weary of the cumbersome machinery of American feature films, Coppola shot "Youth Without Youth" as if it were a student project.
ANDY KLEIN: Serious Song and Dance Man (lacitybeat.com)
Director John Turturro mingles drama and musical comedy in 'Romance & Cigarettes.'
Carla Meyer: John C. Reilly walks a new path as `Dewey Cox' (McClatchy Newspapers; Posted on Popmatters.com)
Dozens of films. Oscar and Tony nominations. A reputation as one of the finest supporting actors in the business. All of it led 42-year-old John C. Reilly to "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story," a mock biopic in which he plays Dewey-tall drink of water, hard walker, bigamist and devourer of every illicit substance that can be bought or bartered for.
Rick Bentley: `P.S. I Love You' star Hilary Swank is still in fighting trim (McClatchy Newspapers; Posted on Popmatters.com)
Back in 1981 when two-time Oscar winner Hilary Swank was a 7-year-old living in Bellingham, Wash., she got her first kiss. That's an event, when you speak of romance, that usually ranks as one of the most important in a person's life. Not so with Swank.
Like one of Rudolf Nureyev's powerful leaps, the tale builds (philly.com)
Although he liked to cite his mobile birth as the genesis of his "vagabond soul," Nureyev grew up poor and stationary in Ufa, a provincial town in the Asian Russian republic of Bashkiria, so kopeckless that his mother carried him to school because he lacked shoes. "Six people and a dog," the dancer later recalled, "all in one room." The Nureyevs shared a communal kitchen and an outhouse with eight other families.
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PURPLE GENE'S QUICKIE REVIEW
JUNO
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny, clear and cold for these parts.
Tops Celebrity Do-Gooder Poll
Angelina Jolie
From tattooed wild woman to humanitarian heroine -- what a difference a few years has made for Angelina Jolie, who topped a Reuters poll released Thursday of the leading celebrity humanitarians of 2007.
But the poll by humanitarian Web site Reuters AlertNet found not all stars fared so well, with fellow adoptive mother Madonna voted the least respected celebrity altruist of 2007 despite raising millions for orphans in the southern African nation of Malawi, and Bob Geldof struggling for support.
The online poll of 606 people conducted from Dec. 7 to 19 put 32-year-old Jolie ahead of U2 singer Bono, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Microsoft founder Bill Gates -- all of whom have helped put African suffering on the global agenda.
After Madonna, U.S. socialite Paris Hilton gave the worst name to celebrity humanitarianism in 2007, the poll found, after announcing she planned to swap partying for philanthropy with a trip to Rwanda. The trip was later postponed.
Angelina Jolie
Headed For Banner Year At Box Office
Hollywood
Hollywood is poised to end the year with a record $9.7 billion in domestic movie receipts, up 4 percent from 2006, but the gain will be fueled largely by higher ticket prices, box office tracking service Media By Numbers said on Thursday.
A handful of holiday season hits, led by Will Smith's sci-fi thriller "I Am Legend," propelled the movie business out of its autumn slump and set the stage for 2007's theatrical film revenues to surpass the 2004 benchmark of $9.45 billion.
Through Christmas Day, total U.S.-Canadian ticket sales stood at about $9.3 billion, already matching the year-end tally for 2006, when revenues grew by 3.8 percent.
But analysts said much of the increase was a function of ticket price inflation that offset a lack of growth in film attendance. Media by Numbers said ticket prices were up about 4 percent from last year.
Hollywood
National Film Registry Additions
Library of Congress
From "The Naked City" to "In a Lonely Place" and "Oklahoma!" the Library of Congress is adding 25 more classic American films to its national registry.
The 25 chosen this year bring the registry total to 475.
• "The Naked City," (1948)
• "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" (1977)
• "In a Lonely Place" (1950)
• "Oklahoma!" (1955)
• "Back to the Future" (1985)
• "12 Angry Men" (1957)
• "The Strong Man" (1926)
• "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" (1962)
• "Bullitt" (1968)
• "Dance, Girl, Dance" (1940)
• "Dances With Wolves" (1990)
• "Days of Heaven" (1978)
• "Glimpse of the Garden" (1957)
• "Grand Hotel" (1932)
• "The House I Live In" (1945)
• "Mighty Like a Moose" (1926)
• "Now, Voyager" (1942)
• "Our Day" (1938)
• "Peege" (1972)
• "The Sex Life of the Polyp" (1928)
• "Three Little Pigs" (1933)
• "Tol'able David" (1921)
• "Tom, Tom the Piper's Son" (1969-71)
• "The Women" (1939)
• "Wuthering Heights" (1939)
Library of Congress
Top Videos For 2007
The YouTubes
Videos by a self-styled Obama Girl, a fan's tearful defence of Britney Spears and an attack by a herd of buffaloes on a pride of lions, were among the most popular clips on YouTube.com in 2007.
The rankings, released by YouTube on Thursday, took into account the most shared, most discussed, top rated and general popularity of clips to determine which ones people were thinking and talking about most.
Other popular videos included performances by up and coming singers in their bedrooms, including Esmee Denters from the Netherlands, singing Justin Timberlake's "What Goes Around" or Tay Zonday singing an original composition "Chocolate Rain."
A piano playing cat named Nora and otters holding hands also were among the favourites on YouTube, which is owned by search engine company Google Inc.
The YouTubes
2008 Postage Stamp
Bette Davis
A face that will tease you, and please you and perhaps unease you is coming to the post office next year, it's those Bette Davis eyes.
On the 100th anniversary of her birth the great actress will be honored on a commemorative stamp, the 14th in the Legends of Hollywood Series.
And speaking of centennials, the same year Davis was born, actor Jack Norworth wrote "Take Me Out to the Ball Game," the song still famed in the seventh inning stretch. Postal officials hope buyers will root, root, root for a stamp based on a 19th-century baseball card recalling that special melody next year.
Also in 2008 the post office will launch a new multiyear Flags of Our Nation series, a 60-stamp set scheduled to include the Stars and Stripes as well as the flags of each state, the District of Columbia and territories.
Bette Davis
Most Literate U.S. Cities
Minneapolis & Seattle
Residents of Minneapolis and Seattle are the most bookish and well-read, according to results from a new survey released today of the most literate American cities.
The survey focused on 69 U.S. cities with populations of 250,000 or above. Jack Miller of Central Connecticut State University chose six key indicators to rank literacy. These included newspaper circulation, number of bookstores, library resources, periodical publishing resources, educational attainment and Internet resources.
Minneapolis, Seattle, Pittsburgh, Denver and Washington, D.C., have made the top 10 every year since 2003, when the survey first launched.
Minneapolis & Seattle
Friends Scatter Ashes Worldwide
Patricia Renick
Friends of an artist were handed envelopes containing her ashes at her memorial service and given a task: Spread the ashes wherever they felt appropriate.
Sculptor Patricia Renick's ashes ended up all over the world, her friends said, from a courtyard at the Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City, Mo., to the side of a Tibetan mountain covered with Buddhist prayer flags.
The 75-year-old Renick, who died in May, was a University of Cincinnati professor emeritus of fine art.
Her longtime companion Laura Chapman came up with the idea to distribute the ashes. She said the idea grew out of a conversation the two had about memorials, cemetery art and traditions for dealing with death.
Patricia Renick
NFL Simulcast
CBS & NBC
Saturday's potentially historic football game between the New England Patriots and the New York Giants will be simulcast on both NBC and CBS under an unusual deal hammered out by the NFL Network.
But Saturday's game could have been unseen in large swathes of the country. The NFL Network is available in less than 40 percent of TV homes, and league officials have been feuding with cable operators over carriage terms. Political pressure has been applied to the league to make the game more widely available.
The full NFL Network telecast will be shown on both networks, which will pick up the production work, halftime show and booth calls of NFL Network broadcasters Cris Collinsworth and Bryant Gumbel.
CBS & NBC
Arrested In W. Hollywood
Mischa Barton
Mischa Barton was arrested Thursday for investigation of driving under the influence after sheriff's deputies saw her car straddling two lanes of traffic.
The 21-year-old actress, who starred on Fox's teen drama "The O.C.," was driving on La Cienaga Boulevard in West Hollywood when she was stopped at about 2:45 a.m., authorities said.
Deputies saw her vehicle straddling the lanes and failing to signal for a turn, according to a sheriff's press statement.
The 21-year-old actress was held at a West Hollywood jail on $10,000 bail. She was booked for investigation of misdemeanor driving under the influence and driving without a license.
Mischa Barton
Charged With DUI
Rebecca De Mornay
Actress Rebecca De Mornay was charged Thursday with misdemeanor drunken driving stemming from her arrest two months ago.
A Los Angeles District Attorney's spokeswoman said De Mornay was charged with one count of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, and one count of driving with a blood alcohol level above the legal limit of .08.
De Mornay, 48, was arrested Oct. 30 for a traffic violation in Beverly Hills when officers smelled alcohol on her breath. She is scheduled to be arraigned Monday.
Rebecca De Mornay
Legal Dispute
Sean Connery
In court papers, Burton Sultan calls his neighbor Connery, 77, the antithesis of the suave secret agent he played in numerous James Bond films, branding him "a bully who ignores norms of neighborliness and decency" in the town house they share.
Connery and his wife claim the Sultan family's complaints have delayed needed repairs to the roof, imperiling the Connerys and raising the repair costs.
In a decision made public Wednesday, State Supreme Court Justice Marcy Friedman tossed out many of the Sultans' claims but slammed the Connerys for what she called their "blunderbuss" legal salvos.
She barred both sides from filing any more lawsuits without her permission, saying they "have engaged in a 'slash and burn' litigation strategy."
Sean Connery
Found In Central Mexico City
Ancient Pyramid
Archeologists have discovered the ruins of an 800-year-old Aztec pyramid in the heart of the Mexican capital that could show the ancient city is at least a century older than previously thought.
Mexican archeologists found the ruins, which are about 36 feet high, in the central Tlatelolco area, once a major religious and political center for the Aztec elite.
Since the discovery of another pyramid at the site 15 years ago, historians have thought Tlatelolco was founded by the Aztecs in 1325, the same year as the twin city of Tenochtitlan nearby, the capital of the Aztec empire, which the Spanish razed in 1521 to found Mexico City, conquering the Aztecs.
The pyramid, found last month as part of an investigation begun in August, could have been built in 1100 or 1200, signaling the Aztecs began to develop their civilization in the mountains of central Mexico earlier than believed.
Ancient Pyramid
Mountain Mascot Retires In N.H.
Nin
Neither strong wind nor high flames bothered Nin the cat during a dozen years patrolling the Northeast's highest peak as mascot of the Mount Washington Observatory.
The regal ex-stray with a bright white coat and black splotches was carried off the mountain Wednesday for the last time and will live with some park rangers in the valley below due to old age and a recent infection claiming the last of his teeth.
"He's 17 or 18 years old, so he's getting up there. We wanted to do the most humane thing for him," said Scot Henley, executive director of the nonprofit weather observatory.
Nin was never fazed by the gusty wind and bad weather. He trotted down the peak with the rest of the crew during a fire in February 2003, going straight back to work when the time came. He was a welcome pal to legions of meteorologists and scientists passing through during weekly stints taking weather measurements in hurricane-force wind and heavy fog.
Nin
Revised Costume
Hollywood Santa
A man in a Santa hat was arrested Sunday night for investigation of drunken driving after he was spotted outside Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood wearing a wig, a red lace camisole and a purple G-string, police said.
The suspect was booked into jail after his blood-alcohol level measured just above the state's legal limit of .08, police said. He was later released on $5,000 bail.
The man, who is 6 feet 4 inches tall and weighs 280 pounds, also wore black leg warmers and black shoes. His car was towed to an impound yard, police said.
Hollywood Santa
In Memory
Joe Dolan
Joe Dolan, one of Ireland's first pop music stars who entertained audiences for decades with Vegas-style showmanship, has died from a brain hemorrhage, his family announced. He was 68.
He was the most celebrated - and fondly caricatured - survivor of Ireland's bygone "showband" era of the 1960s and 1970s, when homegrown rock 'n' roll acts toured the country playing cover versions of international hits.
His biggest hit in 1969, "Make Me an Island," reached No. 3 in Britain and No. 1 in 14 other countries. Other hits that climbed the European charts included "You're Such a Good-Looking Woman" in 1970, "Lady in Blue" in 1975 and "I Need You" in 1977.
His last Irish No. 1 came in 1997, when he re-recorded "Good-Looking Woman" with a popular fictional TV comedian, a puppet named Dustin the Turkey.
He had an irreverent sense of humor, most recently demonstrated when he underwent a hip replacement operation in 2005 - and had his original hip bone sold for charity on eBay.
Dolan, a lifelong bachelor, was survived by his brother Ben - who performed with him in his original 1960s showband, The Drifters - his other brothers Paddy and Vincent, and his sisters Dympna and Imelda.
Joe Dolan
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