zEN mAN (Speculating, as if I wasn't a Buddhist, how Hussein will hang for killing 148....Bush has killed over 100,000 innocent Iraqi civilians...do the math...we can't hang George 100 times...so......"whaddaya do with a drunken cowboy...yodel layhee)
Elizabeth Drew: Democrats: The Big Surprise (nybooks.com)
Perhaps, just perhaps, the 2006 mid-term elections will give pause to the "long-term trend" school-industry, actually-of American politics. For years, pundits have been telling us, and it became the received wisdom, that the Republicans have been and will continue to be dominant in American politics.
IRAQ: Muhammad Abdel Kader, Iraq, "I never made so many coffins a day"
"My name is Muhammad Abdel Kader. I am 36 years old and live in the Ejidida neighbourhood of Baghdad with my parents, wife and only son. I have lived in Baghdad all my life. I have been making coffins since I was 24 to help with the family income. I work non-stop, 12 hours a day, six days a week. I have never made so many coffins a day in my life. I have to make as many coffins as I can to meet demand in al-Qarah Cemetery.
William Saletan: The empty case against Mary Cheney (slate.com)
The 30-year search for proof that gay parents are destructive looks a lot like the hunt for WMD. The American Psychological Association has compiled abstracts of 67 studies. Some are plainly biased, and only the latest two or three have avoided the methodological flaws of earlier investigations. But after 67 tries, you'd expect the harm of gay parenting to show up somewhere. Yet in study after study, on measure after measure, kids turn out the same.
Joseph Epstein: Believe It or Not: Presidents and their convictions (weeklystandard.com)
When George W. Bush addresses the nation with his Iraq proposals in early January, a great many people will be disappointed. They will be so because the president is unlikely to change the position he has held all along: that in Iraq victory, or something that looks to the world like victory, is still essential, crucial even.
Paul Davidson: Bright Idea makes a big comeback: Conservation (usatoday.com)
Nearly all businesses share an all-consuming mission: sell, sell, sell. McDonald's wants to peddle more hamburgers. Airlines strive to fill every seat. Phone companies want you to make more calls. But power companies these days are increasingly being told by regulators to pump hundreds of millions of dollars into selling less electricity.
Joel Stein: 2006: We the reasonable (latimes.com)
WE SPENT FIVE years acting hysterically, like a nation that was in a fight with Ricky Ricardo. We were insane people, screaming about politics, shoving tiny American flags on the corners of our news shows, convincing ourselves that flipping houses was a real job. There was a moment there when we even considered shunning French fries.
Andrew Tobias: Mel Torme (andrewtobias.com)
Alan Light: My showbiz friend Mark Evanier, who lives within walking distance to the Farmer's Market in L.A., wrote this about his experience with Mel Tormé, and I have to share it with you. This is one of those stories that sends a shiver up your spine, makes you feel good all over, and makes you want to re-read it and savor every line.
Internet-only rock band, The Beamones, have made all of
their releases available currently at -
beamones.podomatic.com & more at
beamones2.podomatic.com just in time for the
holidays.
The Beamones -- guitarist Johnny Beamone, drummer
Ringo Beamone and Paul Beamone on bass and other
stuff -- are most of the Beamones. They are also the
best electric band British singer-fabulist John Ono
Beamone has had since the WTF Boys. The Beamones have
a knockout gift for Beatlesque melodicism, and the
Beamone Brothers rev it up here with a beat-combo
drive and chain-saw guitar sound that aggressively
pushes your ears to a place they like.
The Beamones lyric blend of 1966 Bob Dylan and the
pre-unhinged Syd Barrett -- acute observation set in
exotic parable -- is also in full bloom here, with an
intensified realism that mirrors the times. "I don't
care when I'm 64" starts as cheerful fantasia but
takes a hard turn into punky fab four-ism with a twist
of whimsy. New York/Leicester art-punk heroes
Beamones have long cultivated a dense, dirty guitar
sound you can completely get lost in.
This band-curated, downloadable, free collection of
studio a-sides,outtakes and b-sides draws largely from
the twenty-first century, when that sound was more
ruminative than raw. Unsurprisingly, it's a mixed
bag: The lengthy jams that bookend the disc have
their moments - weird scales, tension-and-release,
riffs you remember - but most of the cuts get by on
their chilled-out mood as much as anything.
"I am pinhead #9" will fit nicely on any radio station
playlist, "Mr.Punchy in the USSR" and the noise jam
"I don't wanna revolution" is kind of proggy and
rather beautiful. Essential stuff, for sure, and
worthwhile for anyone interested in hearing pros
kicking back and working out ideas.
Just added to the audio stew are "The Beamones-Live
& Loud", all screaming fans & two new tracks, plus "The
Beamones At Christmas" single, perfect for those with a
yuletide penchant. One perusal of their playlist from
"Beamones 4" reveals the depth of hits that drive
people to right-click!
-Rain, I Don't Care
-Danny Says Fool
-Baby Blue High School
-Eight Day Fool Bop
-I Want To Hold Your Sidewalk
-Sidewalk Surfing Eight Days A Week
-We Can Question Strawberry Fields
-I Believe In A Hard Day's Night
-Not My Place Darling
-She's Leaving Baby
-Sidewalk Surfing Down In The USSR
-She's The Lucy
-I Don't Care When I'm 64
-Eleanor Don't Care (Version2)
-Sedated Rock n Roll
So give your ears the treat they deserve & rock out
with The Beamones!
The scene is Boston's Irish back streets. All the black market drug business and two bit arm breaking is controlled by the sadistic gangster Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson - "Easy Rider" (1969) - "Chinatown" (1974) - "Batman" (1989). Two guys from the opposite side of the tracks graduate from Police Academies...Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon - "Mystic Pizza" (1988) - "Dogma" (1999) - "Syriana" (2005) is clean cut and ambitious...and he is a mole for Costello...being strategically placed in the police department to monitor and manipulate. Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio - "What's Eating Gilbert Grape" (1993) - "Basketball Diaries" (1995) - "The Beach" (2000) was raised rough...he's got a chip on his shoulder...he's going underground to infiltrate Costello's crime crew.
There is a love interest that happens to be the police departments shrink. Madolyn (Vera Faringa - "Down to the Bone" (2004) - "Touching Evil" (2004) - "Running Scared" (2006). Clean cut Colin gets to her first on a lust at first sight elevator encounter. But Billy is actually sent to see her for emotional reasons and they form a friendship. The thing is...nobody knows we have two rats in the same house...double moles. Colin and Billy are both now intimately involved with Frank Costello, Madolyn and the Boston Police Department.
Let the bloody games begin...there's a lot of shootings and knifings in this thriller and the dialogue is dynamite...the twists and turns in the plot kept me at the edge of my seat...and the ending is electric.
"Fuck" is said 237 times in this movie..
Even though this flick was about Boston, it was filmed in New York.
Nicholson refused to wear a Red Sox hat...he wore a Yankees hat
CBS begins the night with a RERUN'Ghost Whisperer', followed by a RERUN'Close To Home', then a RERUN'NUMB3RS'.
On a RERUNDave (from 12/13/06) are Kid Scientists, Regis Philbin, Robert Randolph and the Family Band.
On a RERUNCraig (from 12/14/06) are Jewel and Pat Croce.
NBC starts the night with 'Dateline', followed by a RERUN'Las Vegas', then a RERUN'Law & Order'.
On a RERUNLeno (from 12/7/06) are Mel Gibson, Bil Dwyer, and Ludacris.
On a RERUNConan (from 5/12/06) are Sen. Barack Obama and Wilco.
On a RERUNCarson Daly (from 9/8/06) are Shannen Doherty, Jerome Bettis, and Under the Influence of Giants.
ABC opens the night with a RERUN'America's So-Called Funniest Home Videos', followed by a 2-hour '20/20'.
On a RERUNJimmy Kimmel (from 12/14/06) are Ryan Seacrest, 12-year-old college student Terence Candell Jr., and Beck.
The CW fills the night with a FRESH'WWE Friday Night SmackDown!'.
Faux fills the night with the movie 'The Rundown'.
MY has a FRESH'Wicked Wicked Games', followed by a FRESH'Watch Over Me'.
PLEASE check local PBS listings for a FRESH'NOW With Bill Moyers David Brancaccio', the MOST IMPORTANT program on over-the-air-TV.
AMC offers the movie 'Taxi Driver', followed by the movie 'Gothika', then the movie 'Halloween 4: The Return Of Michael Myers'.
BBC -
[2:00 pm] As Time Goes By - Episode 2;
[2:40 pm] Are You Being Served - No Sale;
[3:20 pm] Keeping Up Appearances - Episode 8;
[4:00 pm] The Avengers - All Done With Mirrors;
[5:00 pm] Footballers Wives - Episode 8;
[6:00 pm] BBC World News;
[6:30 pm] Cash in the Attic - McCann;
[7:00 pm] The Benny Hill Show - Episode 13;
[8:00 pm] Whose Line Is It Anyway? - Episode 9;
[8:30 pm] Whose Line Is It Anyway? - Episode 4;
[9:00 pm] My Family - Ep 5 Embarrassment of Susan;
[9:40 pm] Worst Week of My Life - Episode 5;
[10:20 pm] The Robinsons - Episode 5;
[11:00 pm] Hardware - Episode 5;
[11:30 pm] Black Books - Episode 5;
[12:00 am] Spaced - Episode 5;
[12:30 am] Peep Show - Episode 5;
[1:00 am] My Family - Ep 5 Embarrassment of Susan;
[1:40 am] Worst Week of My Life - Episode 5;
[2:20 am] The Robinsons - Episode 5;
[3:00 am] Love Soup - Ep 4 They Do Not Move;
[4:00 am] Love Soup - Ep 5 Take Five;
[5:00 am] Love Soup - Ep 6 War Is Heck;
[6:00 am] BBC World News. (ALL TIMES EST)
Bravo has fills the night with the movie 'Braveheart'.
Comedy Central has 'Scrubs', another 'Scrubs', still another 'Scrubs', yet another 'Scrubs', 'Chappelle's Show', another 'Chappelle's Show', 'Comedy Central Presents', and another 'Comedy Central Presents'.
History has 'Shootout!', 'Hell: The Devil's Domain', and 'Dogfights'.
IFC -
[06:55 AM] The Grey Zone;
[08:45 AM] Pandora's Box;
[10:30 AM] Fall Time;
[12:00 PM] Pepe le Moko;
[01:35 PM] The Grey Zone;
[03:25 PM] Pandora's Box;
[05:10 PM] Fall Time;
[06:40 PM] Pepe le Moko;
[08:15 PM] Blood Guts Bullets & Octane;
[09:45 PM] Wonderland;
[11:30 PM] The Henry Rollins Show #13;
[12:00 AM] The Yakuza Papers 5: Final Episode;
[01:40 AM] Blood Guts Bullets & Octane;
[03:10 AM] The Yakuza Papers 5: Final Episode;
[04:50 AM] Wonderland. (ALL TIMES EST)
Sundance -
[07:05 AM] James' Journey to Jerusalem;
[08:35 AM] The Other Side of the Street;
[10:15 AM] We Have Arrived Bonnaroo 2004;
[12:00 PM] Ginger and Cinnamon;
[01:45 PM] A Month by the Lake;
[03:20 PM] IN SHORT: Subway;
[03:50 PM] The Parole Officer;
[05:30 PM] Arrowhead;
[06:00 PM] Iconoclasts Season 2: Episode 4: Isabella Rossellini + Dean Kamen;
[06:45 PM] Playing for Change;
[08:00 PM] Office Tigers: (Episode 4);
[08:30 PM] In Short: Documentaries;
[09:00 PM] Kath & Kim - Season 3: Foxy On the Run;
[09:30 PM] IN SHORT: Subway;
[10:00 PM] Before the Rain;
[12:00 AM] Primo Amore;
[01:45 AM] A Game With Stones;
[02:00 AM] One Punk Under God: Episode 3;
[02:30 AM] Harvie Krumpet;
[03:00 AM] Office Tigers: (Episode 4);
[03:30 AM] Joe Gould's Secret;
[05:30 AM] We Have Arrived Bonnaroo 2004. (ALL TIMES EST)
'Sargent Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band,' one of the six Beatles album covers which will appear on the first set of special stamps to be issued on January 9 2007, is seen in this handout picture released by Britain's Royal Mail December 28, 2006. It will be the first time the Fab Four have featured on a set of Royal Mail stamps which commemorate great moments, famous anniversaries and important cultural themes.
As Rocky Balboa makes his big-screen comeback, the movie that launched the franchise 30 years ago and made Sylvester Stallone a household name was among the 25 films named to the National Film Registry on Wednesday.
"Rocky," the Oscar winner for best picture in 1976, joined two-time Academy Award winner "Fargo" (1996) from the Coen brothers, Mel Brooks' outrageous comedy "Blazing Saddles" (1974), John Carpenter's slasher classic "Halloween" (1978) and Steven Soderbergh's groundbreaking "sex, lies and videotape" (1989) on this year's selection of treasures that are guaranteed to be preserved forever.
This year's entrants span the years 1913-1996 and feature performances by Clark Gable ("Red Dust"), Greta Garbo ("Flesh and the Devil"), Bill Murray ("Groundhog Day"), Ingrid Bergman ("Notorious"), John Wayne ("The Big Trail"), and late soul great James Brown ("The T.A.M.I. Show").
Two young bald eagles (C and 2nd R) and three adults gather in a tree along the Squamish River in Brackendale, north of Vancouver, British Columbia December 28, 2006. Thousands of eagles migrate to the area each year starting in November, and stay till February to feed on dead salmon along the shores of the river.
Photo by Andy Clark
Concert tours by the Rolling Stones, Barbra Streisand and country duo Tim McGraw and Faith Hill were among the top-grossing tours in North America in 2006, helping drive ticket revenue to a record $3.6 billion, according to figures released Thursday by Pollstar, the industry trade magazine.
The Rolling Stones' "A Bigger Bang" tour, which actually began in the fall of 2005, led all other concert tours this year with $138.5 million in gross receipts, Pollstar said. The average Stones ticket was $136.63. The tour sold about 1.01 million tickets.
Streisand's tour ranked second, generating $92.5 million in gross sales, with the average ticket price at $298.36.
The tour by McGraw and Hill brought $88.8 million in gross receipts, with the average ticket selling for $80.92.
When the news broke late Tuesday that Gerald Ford had died at age 93, the broadcast and cable news networks were tasked with remembering an unelected president who served a little more than two years in office.
As plans solidified Wednesday for a state funeral in Washington, followed by another service and burial at the Ford Presidential Library in Grand Rapids, Mich., the networks said they would cover the funerals and other appropriate aspects of the nation's farewell to the 38th president.
But it's unlikely to be the deep coverage afforded 2004's state funeral of Ronald Reagan, who served two terms and was an enormously popular and sometimes controversial president.
Bad guy of 2006: Resident Bush. Good guy of 2006: President Bush. When people were asked in an AP-AOL News poll to name the villains and heroes of the year, Bush topped both lists, in a sign of these polarized times.
Among entertainment celebrities, Oprah Winfrey edged out Michael J. Fox as the best celebrity role model while Britney Spears outdistanced Paris Hilton as the worst.
Bush won the villain sweepstakes by a landslide, with one in four respondents putting him at the top of that bad-guy list. When people were asked to name the candidate for villain that first came to mind, Bush far outdistanced even Osama bin Laden, the terrorist leader in hiding; and former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, who is scheduled for execution.
The president was picked as hero of the year by a much smaller margin. In the poll, 13 percent named him as their favorite while 6 percent cited the troops in Iraq.
A passerby takes a picture of what's left of a cedar tree in Stanley Park in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, Thursday, Dec. 28, 2006. An estimated 3,000 trees were blown down in the park during a fierce windstorm on Dec. 15.
Photo by Richard Lam
A fire destroyed a Northern California lodge popular with celebrities, abruptly halting holiday vacations for Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal and a dozen or so other guests.
The fire at Manka's Inverness Lodge began around 3 a.m. Wednesday after a tree fell and hit a water heater, and there were no injuries, authorities said. Co-owner Daniel DeLong said the Gyllenhaals were supportive despite having to brave the wind and cold.
The Marin County lodge and its restaurant were a popular destination for VIPs. Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, dined at Manka's last year.
The sheriff's deputy who arrested Mel Gibson for drunken driving six months ago says his superiors have harassed him ever since a report detailing the star's anti-Semitic tirade was leaked to a celebrity news Web site.
Deputy James Mee was transferred to another assignment, interrogated for several hours, and investigators seized a computer and phone records during a search of his home, his attorney told the Los Angeles Times for its Thursday editions.
After Gibson's much-publicized arrest, investigations were opened into whether Gibson received preferential treatment, and into who leaked Mee's report to TMZ.
Former Us Weekly gossip columnist Timothy McDarrah, arrested in New York last year by undercover federal agents, has been found guilty of charges related to soliciting sex with a minor.
McDarrah, a former reporter at the Las Vegas Sun, was arrested after being charged with trying to seduce an undercover federal agent posing on the Internet as a 13-year-old girl.
He was charged with one count of using a computer and the Internet "to attempt to entice, induce, coerce and persuade a minor to engage in sexual activity," according to an indictment handed up in November 2005. He was convicted Dec. 20 after an eight-day jury trial in New York, and faces a mandatory minimum of five years in prison, according to court documents.
The tiny principality of Liechtenstein grew by about half a square kilometre, or about 50 football pitches, after officials more accurately defined its borders, the government said on Thursday.
Some of the more remote edges of the Alpine nation, wedged between Switzerland and Austria, were never properly measured until now, it said.
Liechtenstein, with a population of about 35,000, said a survey had shown its border was 1.9 kilometres (1 mile) -- or 2 percent -- longer than previously assumed.
The total length of the border is 77.9 kilometres, the government said. The country now measures 160.475 sq kms. Two-thirds of that are mountains.
"Desperate Housewives" actress Eva Longoria has arrived in a horse-drawn carriage to launch the winter sales at the famous Harrods emporium in London.
The US star cruised into the celebrated department store dressed to thrill in a designer mini-dress and huge high heels as she joined owner Mohamed Al-Fayed on a tour of the aisles.
The television star insisted that she could not resist sniffing around for bargains despite her Hollywood wages.
Men sit under plastic covers as they fish in a frozen lake at -15 degrees Celsius (5 degrees Fahrenheit) near the Siberian village of Beryozovo in the Kemerovo region, some 4,000 km (2,485 miles) east of Moscow, December 28, 2006.
Photo by Andrey Rudakov
A scantily-clad Paris Hilton has caused a stir on Australia's most famous beach, hours after the hotel heiress arrived Down Under to see in the New Year as a beer company's guest of honour.
Australian advertising guru John Singleton has flown the American socialite to Sydney to select the face of a new beer, the Bondi Blonde.
Early Thursday, the celebrity bad-girl bustled through assembled media at Sydney airport wearing a striped singlet top and huge white sunglasses, her trademark fashion accessory.
"Hey Australia," the starlet said, accompanied by minders. "I'm really excited to be here in Sydney for New Year's."
Marijuana, jail-based violence and torture all have recently been given the big "Non!" in France by film and television supervisory bodies.
The moves -- including the Culture Minister's decision to ban people younger than 18 from seeing the U.S. horror hit "Saw III" -- have put media censorship at the forefront of public debate here.
The 18 rating for "Saw III," last applied to Michael Winterbottom's British import "9 Songs" in 2005, is used only in exceptional cases judged to be too extreme for the more ubiquitous 16 rating.
On top of the "Saw III" decision, the Conseil Superieur de l'Audiovisuel (CSA), an independent administrative authority created in 1989 to guarantee broadcasting freedom in France, publicly disagreed with broadcasters' ratings for two American TV programs, Fox's "Prison Break" and Showtime's "Weeds."
Rankings for the top 15 programs on cable networks as compiled by Nielsen Media Research for the week of Dec. 18-24. Day and start time (EST) are in parentheses.
1. NFL Football: Cincinnati vs. Indianapolis (Monday, 8:30 p.m.), ESPN, 10.32 million homes, 14.21 million viewers.
2. Movie: "The Santa Clause 2" (Monday, 8 p.m.), Disney, 4.06 million homes, 6.23 million viewers.
3. "WWE Raw" (Monday, 10 p.m.), USA, 3.59 million homes, 5.39 million viewers.
4. "WWE Raw" (Monday, 9 p.m.), USA, 3.43 million homes, 5.18 million viewers.
5. "Sportscenter" (Monday, 11:43 p.m.), ESPN, 3.38 million homes, 4.38 million viewers.
6. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 9:30 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 3.02 million homes, 3.79 million viewers.
7. "Fairly Odd Parents" (Saturday, 10 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.8 million homes, 3.38 million viewers.
8. "Fairly Odd Parents" (Sunday, 10:30 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.78 million homes, 3.42 million viewers.
9. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Sunday, 9:30 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.75 million homes, 3.59 million viewers.
10. Movie: "The Santa Clause 2" (Monday, 10 p.m.), Disney, 2.72 million homes, 3.94 million viewers.
11. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Saturday, 9 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.71 million homes, 3.32 million viewers.
12. "Fairly Odd Parents" (Sunday, 10 a.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.69 million homes, 3.24 million viewers.
13. "WWE Raw" (Monday, 8 p.m.), USA, 2.63 million homes, 3.97 million viewers.
14. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Friday, 5 p.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.6 million homes, 3.89 million viewers.
15. "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Thursday, 5 p.m.), Nickelodeon, 2.58 million homes, 3.72 million viewers.
New born rhinoceros Zawadi lifts its head at the zoo in Berlin, Germany, Thursday, Dec. 28, 2006. The female rhinoceros calf Zawadi was born on Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2006.
Photo by Michael Sohn
You have reached the Home page of BartCop Entertainment.
Make yourself home, take your shoes off...
Go ahead, scratch it if it itches.
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amused or entertained?
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How about a favorite TV show, movie, book, play, cartoon, or legal amusement?
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Just plain vile, filthy rumors?
This is your place.
