Playboy Playmate Petra To The Rescue
High School Fantasy?
A high school senior turned heads Saturday with his winter formal date: Playboy Playmate Petra Verkiak.
The 35-year-old pinup, who was Miss December 1989, offered to accompany Toby Hocking after she read his college entrance
essay. The straight-A clarinet player who sometimes fences wrote about how he felt like an outcast before deciding that
it was up to him to seek out friends and make the most of his years at Foothill High School.
"I thought it was really deep," said Verkiak, who had received the essay from a mutual friend who had received it from
Hocking's mother. "And I related to it."
Verkiak offered to go with Hocking to the girl-asks-guy winter formal if no one asked him out. "At first I thought, 'Go
to the dance with a 35-year-old?' Hocking said. "But then I realized, she's really hot."
The day before the dance, Foothill Principal Al Marzilli made sure Verkiak knew the dress code: Nothing sheer or strapless.
"I'm so excited," Verkiak said, clutching Hocking's arm and wearing a black Del Rosario gown as the couple emerged
from a black limousine to attend the formal. "This is like a fairy tale."
Playboy Playmate Petra
Reader Contribution
If Men Designed Bras
Thanks, Deb in PA!
'Bob Woodward vs. John Belushi and Me'
Michael Dare
Michael Dare - 'The Life and Death of Captain Preemo'
Reader Suggestion
Informative Link
www.straightgoods.ca/
'' Conspiracy theorists are everywhere
And they might just be right...!
Plus auto addiction, ethics and govt, medicalizing home care, end of pregnancy?, Warlords misdirecting US air strikes, genders
for English nouns, and lots more scary stuff... ''
Big thanks to Jim at Hilton Sound
Reader Contribution
Fun Link
Pulling Strings
Thanks to Dr. Bob in Olympia!
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
The day started with football, and watched the 2 Pennsylvania teams go down in flames. Oh well, not like it was
unexpected.
Caught most of '60 Minutes', and delighted in Andy Rooney for once.
The kid insisted on 'The Simpsons', so we all watched - find it prevents him from trying 'new' words out in
school the next day. After he went to bed, I stuck around for the 'X-Files' once I saw that it was directed
by Kim Manners.
Checked out the last hour of 'Rose Red'. At least the sets are pretty.
Tonight, Monday, on CBS, 'The King Of Queens' is a rerun. The rest of the night ('Yes, Dear',
'Raymond', 'Becker' and '48 Hours') is fresh.
NBC is all fresh with 'Fear Factor', 'Third Watch' and 'Crossing Jordan'.
ABC is also all fresh, with 'Regis' (with 'real people' again) & part 2 (of 3) of 'Rose Red'.
The WB has reruns of '7th Heaven' and 'Angel'.
Faux has a fresh 'Boston Public', and then reruns of 'That 70's Show' and 'Malcolm In The Middle'.
UPN is all reruns - 'The Hughleys', 'One On One', 'The Parkers', and 'Girlfriends'.
AMC has 2 classic movies - 'African Queen', with Bogart & Katharine Hepburn beating up on nazi's in the Congo,
and 'Young Frankenstein' (Woo-Hoo....Peter Boyle is playing against Peter Boyle tonight!).
Anyone have any opinions?
Or reviews?
(See below for addresses)
The 'Make-Over' Pictures
Chelsea
Gallery of Chelsea Make-Over Photos
The official BartCop Astrologer, Geneva, always has something interesting to read!
Not A Party Animal
Jennifer Garner
Golden Globe winner Jennifer Garner says she just isn't comfortable among the glitz and glamor of Hollywood parties.
Garner, who won an award last week for her role as a double agent on the new TV series ``Alias,'' didn't stick around
for the fanfare after the ceremony, she told Time magazine for a story in Monday's issue.
``We were out of there so fast,'' she said. ``When we got to the party, people started coming up to me, and I felt,
'I just don't belong here.'''
She and husband Scott Foley skipped out and were in their sweats, eating pizza in front of the TV before the show
finished airing on the West Coast.
``We felt like we had gotten away with something big,'' she said.
Jennifer Garner
Debbie Harry's New Film
'The Fluffer'
The New York Times, which is very squeamish about the ads it accepts, may have a problem with Debbie Harry's movie
"The Fluffer." Debbie was at the premiere party for Selma Blair's "Storytelling" the other night and got talking
with Webster Hall art curator Baird Jones, one of the few outside the porn movie industry who knows what a fluffer
is. "I'd hate to be the one responsible for bringing the word into our linguistic mainstream," the normally fearless
Harry said. "But now I guess it's going to happen." (If you must know, a fluffer is the woman on set who sees to
it that the male porn stars are up to the occasion.)
'The Fluffer'
Fun Link
'Pretzel Boy'
Pretzel Boy
New Web Site
The 'A List'
The latest Web site all the agents in Hollywood are checking daily is the "A List," which has a large register of
celebrities and their quirks. Compiled by "someone who knows all," the list, found at
www.ratmmjess.com, includes: Jennifer Aniston ("has jealousy issues"), Stephen Baldwin
("so enamored of himself he probably holds up a mirror while he [bleeps]"), Antonio Banderas ("not the brightest bulb
in the lamp"), Matt Damon ("cracking under pressure of fame, the little punk"), Rose McGowan ("exhibitionist"), Tim
Robbins ("boy toy of Susan Sarandon") and Harvey Weinstein ("hard to work for"). The site details who has hygiene
problems and who is a "friend of Dorothy," an archaic euphemism for gay. Also listed are movie types who tend to get
into feuds, topped by Sarah Michelle Gellar and Spike Lee. But it's not all negative. Dolly Parton, Rob Zombie, Henry
Winkler and George Clooney are all described as "very nice people."
The 'A List'
Arrested On Suspicion Of DUI
Kim Delaney
Television actress Kim Delaney, a former star of ABC's ``NYPD Blue'' and currently in the network's drama ``Philly,''
was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving near Los Angeles, a sheriff's official said on Sunday.
Delaney, 40, was arrested about 7:50 p.m. on Saturday night outside her home in Malibu, a suburb of Los Angeles, said
Los Angeles County sheriff's Sgt. Peter Charbonneau.
He said the sheriff's department had received a call from a motorist who noticed another motorist driving erratically in the Malibu area.
``He followed her to the house,'' Charbonneau said. ``He was on the phone with us. Deputies arrived at the house.
She ultimately came out, and the citizen identified her as the person who was driving.''
She was cited, promised to appear at a March 27 court hearing in Malibu and then released about 1 a.m. on Sunday.
Kim Delaney
BC Entertainment Favorite Link
'Bras d'Honneur'
Sign Language?
These days, celebrities are letting their fingers do the talking when expressing themselves in public — in
particular, their middle fingers.
Justin Timberlake recently flipped a double bird at paparazzi. Gwyneth Paltrow treated Parisian lensmen to a vulgar
gesture known in France as the bras d'honneur.
But fashion folk are wondering what celeb photog Mario Testino did to earn a one-finger salute from Madonna last week
in Paris. Testino, who shot portraits of Madge and her daughter, Lourdes, for Vanity Fair, was stunned when the singer
gave him the sign at Jean-Paul Gaultier's show, according to London's Mirror.
Bras d'Honneur
International Beauty Pageant
Miss Chinese International
Miss Chinese International winner Shirley Zhou Xue from Vancouver (C) poses with first runner-up Angela Christie
Bartram from Toronto (L) and 2nd runner-up Sue Ee Angela Foo from Kuala Lumpur (R) at the Miss Chinese International
pageant in Guangzhou January 27, 2002. Nineteen Chinese nationals from around the world participated in the beauty contest.
Photo by Kin Cheung
Office Personnel Changes
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Just as she seems to be settling nicely into Capitol Hill, Sen. Hillary Clinton is losing several of her top aides.
It's not a housecleaning — just time for seasoned operatives to move on, sources say.
Ramon Martinez, who was one of Clinton's aides during the campaign and became a key community liaison in New York,
has already left. Martinez will manage Jane Steiner Hoffman's campaign for lieutenant governor, reports The News' Joel Siegel.
Word is that Gigi Georges — another of Hil's campaign staffers, who helped oversee the New York office — may
leave to do foundation work.
And if those who toil in politics claim to do so out of service to their country, Clinton's spokesman Peter Kauffmann
is about to prove it: He's leaving to join Naval Intelligence officer training school. A source says the 26-year-old
was motivated to make the move by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Hillary Rodham Clinton
New Book Opens Doors
Rosie O'Donnell
Get ready for the real Rosie. If there's anybody left in America who's still in the dark about Rosie O'Donnell's sexual
preference, the talk show queen flicks on all the lights in her forthcoming memoir, "Find Me," according to
people who've peeked at the book.
"She talks about her relationships with women and having a girl breaking her heart in college and other relationships
with women," one source tells us.
"She comes out," says another reader, "but she's very matter-of-fact about it. She may be thinking that if she doesn't
make a big deal out of it, she minimizes the backlash from gay activists who might say, 'Where the hell have you been?'"
O'Donnell's book shuttles between her own anguished Long Island childhood, which includes estrangement from her father
and the death of her mother on her 11th birthday, and her crusade to find loving parents for children who need them.
Rosie O'Donnell
Not Much Of A Tipper
John Malkovich
Being John Malkovich apparently means kindness to fans, but not necessarily generosity toward the help.
The versatile actor, who has appeared in such movies as ``Dangerous Liaisons'' and ``Being John Malkovich,'' was
in Nebraska's capital city this weekend visiting his sister, Melissa Malkovich.
After dining at a downtown restaurant Friday night, he and a friend went to the Marz Intergalactic Shrimp and
Martini Bar. It took all of 15 minutes for the bar to fill with fans waiting to meet him.
Cocktail waiter Brett Liddington said not only did Malkovich sit at the bar's worst table, he spent the rest
of the evening placating fans.
The combination must have left Malkovich in a less-than-generous mood - Liddington said the actor did not leave a tip.
John Malkovich
In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends
Covers That Won't Be
Talk Magazine
By now most media mavens know that Courtney Love and daughter Frances Bean were slated to be on Talk magazine's
March cover. But what about April? Tom Cruise's toothy grin was to grace the cover of the "Innovators and Navigators"
issue. Slated profiles included AOL's Steve Case, Vivendi's Jean-Marie Messier and Oracle's Larry Ellison. There
was also supposed to be a group portrait of "highly successful authors" Rick Moody, J.T. Leroy, Steven L. Carter
and Laura Zigman. Alas, the authors photo shoot, scheduled for last week, never took place.
Talk Magazine - Covers That Won't Be
Counter-Programming The Super Bowl
Fear Factor With Bunnies!
Playboy Playmates (L-R) Lauren Hill, Stacy Sanches, Priscilla Taylor and Angel Boris pose in this undated publicity
photograph promoting the reality series "Fear Factor" in which they compete as contestants in a special episode "Escape
Ice" on Sunday February 3, 2002, airing during the SuperBowl half-time.
''Sweet Smell of Success''
John Lithgow
After a little tweaking (which is what out-of-town runs are for), the Broadway-bound musical "Sweet Smell of Success"
is driving Chicago audiences wild. Star John Lithgow is said to be brilliant, and one person who's rooting for him
is seasoned producer lsobel Robins Konecky. She gave Lithgow his first big role on Broadway in her production of
"The Changing Room" back in 1972. That part got him - bloodied nose and all - on the cover of Sports Illustrated.
His new portrayal of an evil gossip columnist would get him on the cover of the Police Gazette, if that august
magazine were still around.
John Lithgow
''Last Call with Carson Daly''
5-Finger Discount?
Rap supergroup Wu-Tang Clan has sold millions of records, but they're holding firm to their thuggish roots. A spy says
that when the Clan appeared on "Last Call with Carson Daly" Thursday night, one member tried to swipe a Sony Playstation
2 from the green room. "As they were all leaving after the show, somebody saw that the Playstation was under one of the
guy's arms," says a setsider. "He said, 'Oh we thought it was for us,' and gave it back." No word on which Wu-Tanger has
sticky-fingers, though prison-prone Ol' Dirty Bastard is an odds-on favorite.
5-Finger Discount?
A Very Special Bonus
From BartCop
Special Bonus From BartCop
Bankruptcy Interrupts High-Speed Internet Access
Top US Hotel Chains
Some of the nation's top hotel chains hit a speed bump on the information superhighway in recent weeks, after losing service from their bankrupt
high-speed Internet access provider, hotel representatives said on Friday.
As a result of problems that left some properties without service for as much as a month, hotel operators Hilton Hotels Corp., John Q.
Hammons Hotels LP and Cendant Corp. said they are all looking for replacements for Ardent Communications Inc., now in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
Officials from the three companies could not quantify how much business they lost due to the problems, but some damage occurred, said James
Lingle, director of information technology for Hammons, which owns 52 hotels under the Embassy Suites, Holiday Inn and Hampton Inn names.
The problems at Ardent and suspension of service have provided a time-out for hotel operators to reevaluate their plans for
providing in-room high-speed access -- once considered a must-have during the dot-com boom.
Hotel Chains Lose High-Speed Access
A 'Cars' Documentary
Ric Ocasek
Ric Ocasek plans to take a couple months off from producing to begin work on a Cars documentary. He will edit the documentary
himself and then shop it around, with hopes of getting it released as soon as the end of this year.
"There's a lot of videos that sometimes we did on our own, that we didn't release as videos," says Ocasek, the Cars' former
frontman. "I have a ton of backstage footage and a ton of stuff from all the years we were a band. There's a lot of live stuff
and a ton of general fooling around, which I think might be pretty interesting. There's quite a lot of stuff that would be pretty
fun for people to see what the band was really like."
Formed in 1976 in Boston, the Cars helped to define the New Wave sound through their keyboard-driven hits like "Just What
I Needed," "Let's Go" and "You Might Think," before they split in 1988. The members have remained in touch, but any
possibility of a true reunion ended in 2000 with the death of bassist/co-lead vocalist Ben Orr.
In other Cars news, the twenty-track Complete Greatest Hits will be released February 19th on Rhino Records.
Ric Ocasek
Off His Medication?
James Woods
Actor James Woods is coming under fire from Arab groups for calling terrorists "diaper-heads".
Woods angered Arab groups with comments he made on KTLA-TV in Los Angeles on Thursday while promoting his upcoming movie "John Q."
"If I had any evidence that any single country was supporting one ounce of terrorism, I would say wipe them off the face of the earth.
And it's blatantly obvious to the most casual observer.
"But these other guys want to negotiate and placate and appease . . . There's only one thing you get from eating a bowl of [bleep],
and that's a bigger bowl of it the second time around, okay?"
Woods went on: "Eventually, one of these terrorist diaper-heads is gonna come around and do something more horrible . . . There's
only one thing these people understand - abject, unbelievable, horrifying, terrifying fear . . . There's only one way to stop a
terrorist: cut his head off."
"I think Mr. Woods is off his medication," Jean Abinader, managing director for the Arab-American Institute in Washington, told
Zap2it.com. "Only a lunatic would speak like this. He needs to start dealing with reality." Abinader says his group is considering
issuing a formal "Action Alert" over Woods' words.
James Woods
Wonder if he's overheard any more terra-ists at the airport? Or hit any more women?
Updated (Nearly) Daily!
BartCop TV!
Growing Feud
MGM & Universal
MGM is playing fast and loose with its advertising for its upcoming "Rollerball," and that's making Universal furious.
And, on another front, MGM, in turn, is furious with New Line, suggesting that that studio's title for its third Austin Powers
movie, "Austin Powers in Goldmember," is a major Dr. No-no.
The growing feud between Universal and MGM -- two studios who have partnered in the recent past on such movies as "Hannibal" and
"Josie and the Pussycats" -- is threatening to erupt into a law suit over ad copy being used to promote MGM's "Rollerball,"
which hits theaters Feb. 8.
"Rollerball," which has gained a reputation as a troubled pic, represents a major marketing challenge for MGM. Last June,
McTiernan invited Ain't-It-Cool-News webmaster Harry Knowles to view a rough cut, which Knowles panned at great length as
"the worst conceived series of nonsensical action I've ever seen."
On a separate front, MGM is involved in a dispute with New Line over the third "Austin Powers" comedy, scheduled for
release July 26, which has been billed as "Austin Powers in Goldmember," a play on the 1964 Bond title "Goldfinger."
On Thursday, at an arbitration hearing at the MPAA, New Line was ordered to stop using the title, pending an appeal,
since the studio hadn't complied with all the necessary MPAA rules in obtaining a title clearance.
Although the hearing involved procedural issues, rather than the question of the use of the title itself, in commenting
on the development, MGM cast the issue in such a way as to suggest that use of "Goldmember" as a title infringed
on its own Bond franchise.
MGM & UNiversal
Suing For Breach Of Contract
Lyle Stuart
Author William Pierce, whose "The Turner Diaries" diatribe may have inspired Timothy McVeigh to commit the Oklahoma
City bombing, is going to have to deal with the court system he abhors.
Maverick publisher Lyle Stuart says he's suing Pierce for breach of contract and is withholding royalties that
could amount to $100,000.
"Pierce came to me after self-publishing 'The Turner Diaries' and pleaded with me to give him proper distribution,"
Stuart says. "I hated the book and its evil message, but I agreed to publish it with my own condemnatory
introduction. He agreed."
Stuart's Barricade Books has sold close to 60,000 copies of the hate-filled tome, but Pierce has now started putting
out another self-published edition.
Lyle Stuart
Nothing Succeeds Like Excess
Boy George
Boy George is living proof nothing succeeds like excess. Now he sees his weird and wonderful life flashing before him every night.
The gay pop idol of the 1980s has written the music and lyrics for ``Taboo,'' a musical based on his own life, which has its
world premiere on Tuesday at a new theater in the heart of London's West End.
In it, he creates a snapshot of a time when flamboyant cross-dressers reigned supreme on the London club scene and his pop group,
Culture Club, topped charts around the world.
Boy George
First An Ear, Now A Thigh
Lennox Lewis
Wednesday night, Lewis and a date stopped by Le Bar Bat on W. 57th St. The champ couldn't have been friendlier until
club manager Pete Fogel said there had been speculation that Tuesday's melee was a hoax.
"Yeah?" said Lewis. "Mother------- [that would be Tyson] bit me!"
Lewis then dropped his trousers. Besides revealing black briefs, Lewis showed "a raw pink bite mark the size of a
half-dollar," Fogel tells us. "The skin was ripped off."
Tyson's early trainer Teddy Atlas believes he knows the reason for those teeth marks.
"I don't think he really wants to fight Lennox Lewis," Atlas tells New York magazine. "Mike has no idea who he is.
He hates himself. He wins fights by intimidating the other guy, but I think he suspects he can't intimidate Lewis."
Lennox Lewis
In Memory
Pete Bardens
Pete Bardens, a keyboardist who played alongside such pop stars as Mick Fleetwood, Ray Davies, Rod Stewart and Van
Morrison, has died of lung cancer. He was 57.
He was known for his progressive and New Age rock style on synthesizer, electric piano and organ.
In the 1960s, the London-born Bardens played in the Blues Messengers with Davies, who later went on to form The Kinks;
Shotgun Express with Stewart; Them with Morrison; and the group Cheynes with Fleetwood and Peter Green, who went
on to form Fleetwood Mac.
In 1972, Bardens formed the progressive rock band Camel and stayed with it through the late 1970s.
In 1978, he began a successful solo career, releasing several well-received records, including "Speed of Light," and
also played on Morrison's album "Wavelength" and accompanied him on a world tour. He moved to the United States in 1987.
Bardens continued to compose, produce and perform music through the 1990s, appearing in Europe with his group Mirage.
He is survived by a daughter, Tallulah, and sons Ben and Sam, according to the Camel Web site.
Pete Bardens
Pete Bardens home page
Camel Productions
In Memory
Thomas 'Ski' Demski
Thomas "Ski" Demski, who owned the world's largest U.S. flag, was remembered at a quirky funeral Saturday centered on
a see-through coffin and ending with a sing-along of "God Bless America."
Several hundred people, ranging from war veterans to homeless people, attended the service at St. Anthony Roman Catholic
Church and a wake a few blocks away in Demski's flag-draped garage.
Pallbearers in jeans and flag T-shirts carried the clear Plexiglas coffin, which was mirrored to display the shirtless
Demski's chest and back adorned with tattoos of flags, eagles and Santa Claus.
Two years ago, Demski held what he called a "fake wake" at his home, hiring a hypnotist to help him stay still inside
the coffin while guests dined. The Nanticoke, Pa. native was a disabled coal miner and construction worker, but
his real fame came from his flag company.
His "Super Flag," as he called it, weighed 3,000 pounds, measured 255 feet by 505 feet and cost $80,000. The flag
has been displayed at the Washington Monument and Hoover Dam. It was the world's largest American flag, according
to the Guinness Book of World Records.
His giant flags gained renewed popularity across the country after the Sept. 11 attacks. His flags were used to cover
the fields at Dodger Stadium and the Rose Bowl for UCLA's first home game after the terrorist attacks. In October, Demski
went to New York to fly one of his flags from a construction crane at the World Trade Center site.
Demski also was a perennial mayoral and City Council candidate and appeared as Santa Claus during Christmas Eve
midnight church services.
Ski Demski
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