'Best of TBH Politoons'
Baron Dave Romm
By Baron Dave Romm
Shockwave Radio Theater
podcasts
Note: I recently updated the directory
structure, so links to individual podcasts may not work
but all
the podcasts are still available.
Avoid iWeb '08!
The component of Apple's
iLife '08 is seriously broken. It generates code that does not work.
iWeb has broken html as well as iTunes. Do not use!
If you're
having problems with Shockwave podcasts, and didn't get the latest
one, with Paul and Storm, let me
know.
The Capitol Steps
The Capitol Steps have been poking fun at politicians for a long time, and try to be very timely. The advantage of seeing them live is that they'll grab the most recent headlines and wrestle them to the ground. The disadvantage of listening to their recorded music is that some of the funniest bits are already hopelessly dated. Their latest CD came out this week, so I better review it now.
I highly recommend that you go to The Capitol Steps site and download songs as they get posted. The ephemeral humor should be appreciated while still fresh. For longer-lasting joy, they have CDs.
Campaign and Suffering
Campaign and Suffering is their 28th album, just out in April '08, tackling the presidential campaign head on. The live concerts from "late 2007 and early 2008" include audience reactions to their on-stage mugging. They are supremely talented wordsmiths and excellent singers. Sometimes you can just let the songs wash over you. That is, if you can stop chuckling.
Some of the songs from four month ago just don't work anymore. 76 Unknowns about all the people vying for president, or their songs about Romney and Thompson, were fun when televised debates in both parties had a dozen or more people on stage. Now that it's down to Obama, Clinton and McCain, the talk of Huckabee or Kucinich is just so pre-Super Tuesday.
Still, when they hit a universal truth, or
at least one that will continue beyond the attention span of the
conservative news media, they hit hard. Buy, Buy American Pie
(to the tune of American Pie) is about the outsourcing of jobs
to China complete with the lack of government regulations that makes
their food and toys less than safe.
Now when you Buy, Buy An American Pie
You're grandma didn't bake it, it was made in Shanghai
Where they engineered the apples to be juicy not dry
But the crust is made of cardboard and lye
Don't feed it to your dog he might die.
Ten Pills and You're Fine (to the tune of The Circles of Your Mind) takes on the ever-popular topic of our over-medicated society.
And, of course, Lirty Dies, the people in the news told in spoonerisms. Most of their albums/live performances have one. Perhaps the later examples aren't as wildly funny as the earlier ones; I suspect all the obvious "flips" were used, and Mark Tilford hates to repeat himself. Still, the antics of Rill o"Bielly (who works on Box as a Fruadcaster), Harris Pilton (who is fich and ramous for crashing her flotch at everyone), and the Spale of Eliot Titzer (who was hangin' the bookers).
I have several Capitol Steps tapes/CDs, and even the offerings from the 80s are funny if you have a good memory. Campaign and Punishment is highly recommended, at least for a while.
Earth Day
Earth Day 2008 is April 22nd, and you can join in one of their Worldwide Events. Some of them have already happened, and more will be happening over the long term. Protecting the planet transcends politics or religion, and we should all get on this pro-life platform.
ClimateProgress.org, my brother's blog, will spend all week focusing on The Solutions To Global Warming.
Joe's Top 10 global Warming stories of 2007. Already a bit dated.
A few quick Earth Day links
Consensus on Global Warming. When anyone tries to claim "There is no consensus on global warming", they are lying. Point them to this site.
Climate alarm: Disasters increase as climate change bites. And the flip side to the deniers, those who don't live in the world that god made, are the ever-growing number of alarmists, now that we have much more data. This PDF claims, "Disasters increase as climate change bites". A new study by Oxfam Nov. 2007 includes this summary (p. 2):
At the same time as climate hazards are growing in number, more people are being affected by them because of poverty, powerlessness, population growth, and the movement and displacement of people to marginal areas. The total number of natural disasters has quadrupled in the last two decades -- most of them floods, cyclones, and storms. Over the same period the number of people affected by disasters has increased from around 174 million to an average of over 250 million a year. Small- and medium-scale disasters are occurring more frequently than the kind of large-scale disasters that hit the headlines.
On-line petitions may not do a lot, but large numbers might make a few fence-sitters make up their mind, so sign The Sky Belongs To All Of Us.
Conservative "Morals of Convenience"
I'm not going to go into the long list of literally dirty stories about conservatives screwing up the environment in the name of "morality". That will come later. I just want to point out that their "objective" reality is rather "relative", and they pick and choose which moral standards to hold, and have you conform to a completely different standard. Sad, really.
Take a look at The World's Worst Polluted Places, a PDF from The Blacksmith Institute issued Sept. 2007. None of the places are in the US. They are in places like Sumgayit Azerbaijan, and the pollution was caused by ""Dated technologies, a lack of pollution controls and improper disposal of industrial waste" and Linfen China, where "Expanding and unregulated industry based on local coal and other resources has resulted in the worst air quality in China". In other words, the Republican insistence on deregulation and misuse of "personal accountability" is the cause of disasters, not their solution.
On this Earth Day, let's pull together to show the radicals that the adults are in charge again.
Baron Dave Romm is a conceptual artist and a noble of Ladonia who produces Shockwave Radio Theater, writes in a Live Journal demi-blog, plays with a very weird CD collection and an ever growing list of political links. Dave Romm reviews things at random for obscure web sites. You can read all his music recommendations from Bartcop-E. Podcasts of Shockwave Radio Theater. Permanent archive. More radio programs, interviews and science fiction humor plays can be accessed on the Shockwave Radio audio page.
Thanks to everyone who has sent me music to play on the air.
--////
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Carolyn Foster Segal: Color Me Ishmael (irascibleprofessor.com)
Color me annoyed. Color me exasperated. Or despairing. Or frustrated. Just don't -- even though it would be the most precise description--color me blue.
Jim Hightower: BUSH'S "STRATEGIC VICTORY" (jimhightower.com)
Message to George W: Contact Earth if your spaceship ever comes near our planet. We've known for quite a while that the president is way, way, out there in his own happy orbit, drifting far beyond the gravitational pull of reality. But, good grief, his recent declamation on the "Great and Glorious Success of America's Excellent Adventure in Iraq" took the meaning of delusional to new heights.
FROMA HARROP: The Young and the Departed (creators.com)
In South Korea, companies sell mock funerals for college students. The young people write their wills, put on the traditional Korean burial clothes and have themselves nailed into a coffin - temporarily, of course. The point is to have them imagine their death, and in so doing, reorder their priorities in life.
SUSAN ESTRICH: Trying to be Safe (creators.com)
Every time I leave for a trip, my son makes me promise to come back safely. I try to hedge because I know it's not within my control, but even three-quarters asleep, as he usually is when I leave, he is never mollified. "Say you'll be safe," he says to me, and I usually do.
Which is to say, I put my trust in the FAA and the airlines.
SUSAN ESTRICH: Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea (creators.com)
It was in the 90s and sunny all weekend here in Southern California. With the start of the workweek, it's cooled down a bit, to the comfortable 60s and 70s. Still sunny. No rain. And, oh, yes, there's a 99 percent chance of a major earthquake in the Š
RICHARD ROEPER: Decaffeinated Big Z could be all zzzzzzzz's (suntimes.com)
I've been drinking coffee since I was 16. Some claim I've been drinking coffee NON-STOP since then, but I have only about two coffees every day. True, they're coffees the size of R2D2, but nevertheless.
Charlotte Higgin: Profile of Fiona Shaw (arts.guardian.co.uk)
'She has a deep understanding of what it takes to release performances from people: what she can do is dazzling.'
Cary Darling: 'Harold & Kumar' make an encore appearance, at... Guantanamo Bay (McClatchy Newspapers)
John Cho and Kal Penn, who portray the troublemaking twosome at the heart of the 2004 cult hit "Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle," admit they were just a little jumpy about the sequel. The new film, "Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay" (opening April 25), in which our boys run afoul of Homeland Security and air marshals all while befriending President Bush, tosses political topicality into the original movie's mix of sex, drugs and sliders.
Dominick A. Miserandino: Interview with Peter Sinclair - creator of Alex's Restaurant
... Alex's is the cartoon voice of the cultural wave that is sweeping over the planet, the one that says we have to grow up as a species. It's the reason people are waking up to their own health, and how to take care of it, and why that relates to the health of the earth. It's the reason we are listening to other cultures besides our own, and finding out about herbalism, acupuncture, ayurveda, yoga, tai chi, world music, literature, and the wisdom of indigenous people.
Catherine Tate assists the Doctor (entertainment.timesonline.co.uk)
As Doctor Who fights the alien hordes, can a middle-aged comedienne be any help? Actually, yes, says Caitlin Moran.
Benedict Nightingale: The Bard - as they like it (entertainment.timesonline.co.uk)
Plenty of kids dread doing Shakespeare - but there are new and exciting ways of learning to love his plays.
"Scream Queen" Hazel Court Dies At 82
Hazel Court, an English actress who co-starred with the likes of Boris Karloff and Vincent Price in popular horror movies of the 1950s and '60s, has died. She was 82.
Classical Comics (classicalcomics.com)
Free Downloads
Hubert's Poetry Corner
American Flag Pin and Spin
Lapel pin patriots or simple specious compatriots?
Reader Contribution
Praying Mantis
Marty:
A Praying Mantis Egg Sac opened this weekend. Here's a pic of the little
ones who are left.
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny but cool.
Cable's Crunched Signals
HD Enthusiasts
As cable TV companies pack ever more HD channels into limited bandwidth, some owners of pricey plasma, projector and LCD TVs are complaining that they're not getting the high-def quality they paid for. They blame the increased signal compression being used to squeeze three digital HD signals into the bandwidth of one analog station.
The problem is viewers want more HD channels at a time when many cable and satellite providers are at the limits of their capacity, said Jim Willcox, a technology editor for Consumer Reports magazine.
Compressing the signal is cheaper than costly infrastructure upgrades to increase capacity. Satellite TV providers - including DirecTV Group Inc. and Dish Network Corp. - also have the option of launching satellites to boost the number of HD channels on their systems.
HD Enthusiasts
European Politics In Future?
Eddie Izzard
British comedian Eddie Izzard, whose acting career is taking off, is eyeing yet another possible career - politician.
Izzard, who plays Wayne Morrow in FX's "The Riches" and who just finished shooting "Valkyrie," starring Tom Cruise, told Newsweek he sees himself getting into European politics at some point.
"We've got to make it work in Europe," the cross-dressing comedian, 46, told the magazine for its issue hitting newsstands Monday. "People are very worried about sovereignty and the loss of sovereignty. I think the stakes are if we don't make the European Union work, then the world is screwed. End of story."
Eddie Izzard
Revived in Cartoon
Bob & Doug Mackenzie
Global Television has acquired a cartoon based on the beer-addled Second City Television characters Bob and Doug Mackenzie, played by Dave Thomas and Rick Moranis. It will debut next year.
The Bob and Doug characters launched as a two-minute skit on the Canadian Broadcasting Corp's sketch-comedy series SCTV in 1980, in part to mock federal government rules that require the public broadcaster to air identifiably "Canadian content" in its homegrown TV shows.
The "hoser" characters grew a cult following as they went on to star in TV commercials and the 1983 dumb buddy feature film "The Adventures of Bob & Doug McKenzie: Strange Brew."
Bob & Doug Mackenzie
Aston Martin Takes A Dip
James Bond
The car being used in the latest James Bond film plunged into a lake in northern Italy while being driven to the set.
Producers say the driver of the Aston Martin was taken to a hospital with minor injuries. They say James Bond's iconic car was being delivered to the filming unit in heavy rain on Saturday morning when it went off the road and plunged into Lake Garda.
Italian state TV has shown footage of the smashed, black car being hoisted out of the water.
James Bond
Las Vegas Strip Show Closing
'Spamalot'
The list of Broadway hits on the Las Vegas Strip is about to get shorter.
After a 15-month run, "Monty Python's Spamalot" at the Wynn Las Vegas resort will close in July, the casino announced Thursday.
Longtime Las Vegas staple Danny Gans, an impressionist and comedian, will replace the Tony Award-winning musical in a newly renamed Encore theater.
'Spamalot'
Toronto Exhibit
War Rugs
The rugs from Afghanistan featured in a new exhibition at the Textile Museum of Canada reflect the strife that country has endured over the last three decades.
Mixed in with traditional images of flowers and birds are depictions of helicopters, AK-47 assault rifles, armoured personnel carriers and landmines.
"As a cultural document, the rugs are unprecedented," said Max Allen, curator of "Battleground: War Rugs From Afghanistan," opening Wednesday.
All were made since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, said Allen, a longtime CBC radio producer who co-founded the museum almost 35 years ago.
War Rugs
More here,
here, and
here.
Protesters Rally
CNN
Chinese-Americans rallied outside CNN's Hollywood office on Saturday to demand the firing of commentator Jack Cafferty for calling China's goods "junk" and its leaders a "bunch of goons and thugs."
"We understand free speech," Lake Wang, 39, told the Los Angeles Times. "But what if Cafferty said this about other racial groups? I think he would be fired. I think he's jealous of China."
A crowd estimated by police at 2,000 to 5,000 gathered, chanting and holding signs that read "Fire Cafferty" and "CNN: Chinese Negative News." The crowd was peaceful, and no arrests were made, police Sgt. David Torres said.
CNN
U.S. TV Series
Cuba
Cuba will air the award winning U.S. television drama the Sopranos and ongoing series Grey's Anatomy beginning this week, the Communist youth newspaper, Juventud Rebelde, said on Sunday.
Despite Communist Cuba's 50 year ideological confrontation with the United States, its nemeses's movies, music and television programs remain wildly popular and U.S. movies dominate the television and theater offer.
The Sopranos, which concluded in 2007, and Grey's Anatomy are not the first U.S. television series to be picked up on DVDS, brought to Cuba and broadcast.
House, Friends, and Everybody Loves Raymond have entered Cubans' living rooms, and the forensic series CSI is a huge hit on the Caribbean island where programming is weighted heavily toward educational, variety and children's programming, propaganda, Latin American and Cuban soap operas and sports.
Cuba
Children & Ex-Manager Battle
Ray Charles
Ray Charles' children are accusing his longtime manager of mismanaging his estate and trusts and tarnishing his legacy by releasing two posthumous CDs the late singer never would have approved, according to a published report.
In allegations outlined Sunday in the Los Angeles Times, several of Charles' 12 children accused Joe Adams of holding too much power over Ray Charles Enterprises and the Ray Charles Foundation and excluding them from business dealings.
They're seeking a formal investigation and audit looking into their father's estate, trusts and foundation for possible wrongdoing. They have complained to the California attorney general, the Los Angeles County prosecutor's office and the FBI.
Ray Charles
Unleashes Spin Campaign
Polygamites
Before authorities raided their west Texas retreat, members of a secretive polygamous church spent decades holding as tightly to their intense privacy as the Scriptures guiding their way of life.
Contact with outsiders was limited. Media inquiries were rejected with either stone-faced silence or a polite "no comment."
But after Texas officials removed 416 children belonging to members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the sect fired up the public relations machine.
From newspaper stories to appearances on morning network television, "Larry King Live" and "Oprah," FLDS women are speaking publicly about the heartbreak of being separated from their children and sharing some details of their life.
Polygamites
Engulfed in Smoke Cloud for 5th Day
Buenos Aires
A thick cloud of smoke covered Buenos Aires for a fifth day on Saturday, the fallout from field burning by ranchers that has forced the closure of highways, flight delays and traffic congestion.
The smoke started to appear over the Argentine capital more than a week ago, but visibility deteriorated considerably in the city on Friday and Saturday, with an acrid smell pervading homes and causing watery eyes and sore throats among residents.
Visibility downtown was barely 500 yards (meters), and residents' tempers began to fray.
Buenos Aires
Try To Save Cyprus Donkeys
Cypriots
It's the butt of jokes and the source of choice curses, but the donkey is an integral part of Mediterranean culture, and friends on Cyprus are working to protect one of the world's last wild colonies from extinction.
Using a Facebook group and email, hundreds of young Turkish Cypriots and a handful of Greek Cypriots have mobilised to "Save the Cyprus Donkey" after 10 of the rare brown animals were found shot dead at the end of March.
"The enemy of nature is the enemy of humans," read a banner unfurled by a small group of demonstrators at a sandy beach near Rizokarpaso village on the panhandle of Cyprus that has for decades been a donkey sanctuary.
Cypriots
Weekend Box Office
'Forbidden Kingdom'
A martial arts dream team - Jackie Chan and Jet Li - won the weekend as their movie matchup "The Forbidden Kingdom" debuted at No. 1 with $20.9 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday.
Universal's romantic comedy "Forgetting Sarah Marshall," starring Jason Segel as a nice guy who's dumped by his glamorous girlfriend (Kristen Bell), opened in second place with $17.3 million. It's the latest from producer Judd Apatow ("Knocked Up").
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Media By Numbers LLC. Final figures will be released Monday.
1. "The Forbidden Kingdom," $20.9 million.
2. "Forgetting Sarah Marshall," $17.3 million.
3. "Prom Night," $9.1 million.
4. "88 Minutes," $6.8 million.
5. "Nim's Island," $5.7 million.
6. "21," $5.5 million.
7. "Street Kings," $4 million.
8. "Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!", $3.5 million.
9. "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed," $3.1 million.
10. "Leatherheads," $3 million.
'Forbidden Kingdom'
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