The latest comic book to make
it to the big screen is Iron
Man. The movie is very good when it could
have been very bad. I haven't read an Iron Man
comic in decades, but caught most of the sly
references (I think). The 60s comic careens off
Vietnam without mentioning communism; the 00's
movie careens off Afghanistan without mentioning
terrorism. And it works splendidly.
Now
that I've had a day or so to mull over the
strengths and weaknesses, I'd say the producers
did a very good job steamrolling over the
technobabble and cartoon violence to give you a
ride with strong characters, nifty technology,
and good action sequences. On the Shockwave
Radio scale of 9 to 23, where 9 is bad and 23 is
good, I'd give Iron Man about a 20 or 21,
depending on mood.
And yes, stay until
after the credits.
A
Refreshing Strike
We've now had
several weeks of post-strike tv
shows.
Maybe it's just me, but the new
shows seem better than the ones earlier in the
season. Several shows were in the doldrums or
just coasting (House, Criminal Minds, Bones, even
Boston Legal and 30 Rock to name a few) and seem
much fresher with an infusion of interesting plot
twists and new takes on the characters. Clearly,
the writers were doing more than just picketing
and letting facial hair grow.
I'm
perfectly willing to give credit to the actors,
producers, set designers and everyone involved as
well. Perhaps everyone needed a break.
Whatever.
"You go into
some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and
like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the
jobs have been gone now for 25 years and
nothing's replaced them. And they fell through
the Clinton administration, and the Bush
administration, and each successive
administration has said that somehow these
communities are going to regenerate and they have
not. So it's not surprising, then, that they get
bitter, they cling to guns or religion or
antipathy to people who aren't like them or
anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment
as a way to explain their
frustrations."
He was, of course,
entirely correct. He was pilloried by people who
deliberately added the word "all" to his
characterization of some people in desperate
circumstances.
I don't know the lead time
on tv programs, but Numb3ers, airing on CBS on
May 2, had this exchange between Seeker of Truth
Dr. Larry Feinhardt (Peter MacNicol) and Father
Figure Alan Eppes (Judd Hirsch):
People
in a cult have been murdered, and the wife of the
founding minister is a zealot who associates all
science with Hitler. Larry has words with her,
and regrets it.
Larry: "I
believe in peace and compassion and tolerance,
but still. This woman, she triggers such outrage
in me."
Alan: "I think people like that,
like this woman, they're just looking for
something -- they're just looking for answers,
and maybe even of the same answers you are, but
just by different means."
Larry: "You
cannot begin to justify this woman's spewing of
her venom."
Alan: "No no no I'm not, I'm
not. It's just that not everyone has the
emotional and intellectual resource to search for
God in a supercollider. People look for answers
in what's available to them. And when they're
particularly desperate they latch on to the
closest answer that's available . I mean, it may
make them wrong, but not necessarily
evil."
And this is much
closer to what Obama should have said. When
people are desperate, they latch on to the
closest answer that's available, whether guns or
religion or people who aren't like them. The
sincerity of their faith is not in question, but
the answers they come up with are sometimes very
wrong.
From the inside, "faith" is
indistinguishable from "misplaced faith". Let's
hope President Obama can provide a much needed
reality check for those gone astray.
The Conservative News Media and
the Lack of Personal
Accountability
This is an important
story, and the conservative news media has, for
the most part, buried it's head in the sand. The
shame of being a conservative has never been
greater.
Glenn Greenwald has written
several columns on the subject going back to
April 20, Major revelation:
U.S. media deceitfully disseminates government
propaganda (requires salon.com Premium
membership, but you can usually click through the
ads). As he points out, the basic facts of the
scandal -- that "objective" military analysts
used regularly on news programs are part of a
propaganda campaign by the Pentagon, and remain
on the Pentagon payroll -- have been around since
2003. Five years later, the New York Times
publishes this blockbuster (April 20, 2008CE) Behind
TV Analysts, Pentagon's Hidden
Hand:
In the summer of 2005,
the Bush administration confronted a fresh wave
of criticism over Guantánamo Bay. The detention
center had just been branded "the gulag of our
times" by Amnesty International, there were new
allegations of abuse from United Nations human
rights experts and calls were mounting for its
closure.
The administration's
communications experts responded swiftly. Early
one Friday morning, they put a group of retired
military officers on one of the jets normally
used by Vice President Dick Cheney and flew them
to Cuba for a carefully orchestrated tour of
Guantánamo.
To the public, these men are
members of a familiar fraternity, presented tens
of thousands of times on television and radio as
"military analysts" whose long service has
equipped them to give authoritative and
unfettered judgments about the most pressing
issues of the post-Sept. 11 world.
Hidden
behind that appearance of objectivity, though, is
a Pentagon information apparatus that has used
those analysts in a campaign to generate
favorable news coverage of the administration's
wartime performance, an examination by The New
York Times has found.
The effort, which
began with the buildup to the Iraq war and
continues to this day, has sought to exploit
ideological and military allegiances, and also a
powerful financial dynamic: Most of the analysts
have ties to military contractors vested in the
very war policies they are asked to assess on
air.
Howard Kurtz comments the
next day in his column The
Military-Media Complex, "But the degree of
behind-the-scenes manipulation--including regular
briefings by then-Defense secretary Donald
Rumsfeld and other officials -- is striking, as
is the lack of disclosure by the networks of some
of these government and business
connections."
Will the conservative news
media show some backbone? Or will they continue
to give Republicans a free pass while blowing up
minor details into mind-numbing 24 hour coverage
for Democrats? Bets?
A final
observation
It strikes me that there
is an entire generation who would not find the
phrase "gag me with a spoon" funny. This is very
much in their favor.
Thanks to
everyone who has sent me music to play on the
air.
--////
"Look. I'm black, so I like Obama. I'm a woman, so I like Hillary.
And I'm grumpy, so I like John McCain." -- Donna Brazile, The Colbert Report 4/30/08
Roger Ebert: STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE (R; 4 stars)
Errol Morris' "Standard Operating Procedure," based on the infamous prison torture photographs from Abu Ghraib, is completely unlike anything I was expecting from such a film -- more disturbing, analytical and morose. This is not a "political" film nor yet another screed about the Bush administration or the war in Iraq. It is driven simply, powerfully, by the desire to understand those photographs.
Amy Goodman: The Worst Food Crisis in 45 Years
If our government and large food and energy interests don't change direction, the food riots in distant lands will soon be coming to their doors.
Susan Estrich: How John McCain Will Lose This Election (creators.com)
"John McCain understands that those without prior group coverage and those with pre-existing conditions have the most difficulty on the individual market, and we need to make sure they get the high-quality coverage they need." That's what it says on his website: www.johnmccain.com. So what is he going to do for those millions of people? Nothing.
Froma Harrop: Codependent Addicts: States and Casinos (creators.com)
So after taxing the daylights out of the working class's cigarettes, states can go for a second helping from the quarters the little people dump into the slot machines. This raises revenues that, in the old days, their better-heeled residents might have had to pay. And the fleeced masses don't know to complain. Bingo, as they say.
Roger Ebert: Ten Greatest Films of All Time (1991)
If I must make a list of the Ten Greatest Films of All Time, my first vow is to make the list for myself, not for anybody else. I am sure than Eisenstein's "Battleship Potemkin" is a great film, but it's not going on my list simply so I can impress people. Nor will I avoid "Casablanca" simply because it's so popular: I love it all the same.
The kids on this TV show attended James Buchanan High.
A: Beverly Hills, 90210
B: Happy Days
C: Room 222
D: Saved By The Bell
E: Welcome Back, Kotter
Source
mj was first, and correct, with
I think those were the Sweathogs
Which would be E
Charlie answered:
A show my friends forced me to watch (sort of), it was
E: Welcome Back, Kotter
Alan J responded:
Welcome Back, Kotter
Vic in AK replied:
Yo Yo Mister Kottair..... E: Welcome Back, Kotter
Too bad no one from that show ever went anywheres career wise.....And I meant Travolta too.
Marian the Teacher said:
The Sweathogs on Welcome Back Kotter attended James Buchanan High School.
Sally answered:
The cast of Welcome Back, Kotter (E) were supposed to be attending James Buchanan High in Brooklyn, NY. I hope this is to what you were referring, as I have no idea who were even in the other series mentioned - much less where each attended high school...
Though Kotter was a bit past my teen days (in fact, by 1975 I was a new Mom). But, who could ever forget that gorgeous John Travolta as the swaggering Vinnie Barbarino on that television series? He was SO New York - and I was homesick and living in Colorado back then...
PS Thanks for your post script to my James Buchanan quandary, Marty. Did I nail it or what?? :)
Vic: Good call moving to, "Los Anchorage." I know that you have some medical issues, and you need the advantages provided by an actual city. PLUS (and more importantly) it makes ME feel better knowing that you haven't frozen to death, while computerless, living in your down-home trailer in the wilderness... :)
Walt responded:
James Buchanan High rings a bell... Since the only sitcom choices that I've
actually watched were Welcome Back Kotter and Happy Days it must be one of
the two. I'll go with the one of the five that I watched religiously - B. Happy
Days.
CBS starts the night with a FRESH'Big Bang Theory', followed by a FRESH'How I Met Your Mother', then a FRESH'2½ Men', followed by a FRESH'Rules Of Engagement', then a FRESH'CSI: The 2nd One'.
Scheduled on a FRESHDave are Jimmy Kimmel, Lance Burton, and Jimmy Eat World.
Scheduled on a FRESHCraig are Hugh Laurie and Michael Starr.
NBC opens the night with a FRESH 2-hour 'Deal Or No Deal', followed by a FRESH'Medium'.
Scheduled on a FRESHLeno are Robert Downey Jr., Carlos Mencia, and Rascal Flatts.
Scheduled on a FRESHConan are Patricia Heaton, Katt Williams, and Thrice.
Scheduled on a FRESHCarson 'The Scab' Daly is Bear Grylls.
ABC begins the night with a FRESH'Dancing With The Stars', followed by a FRESH'Samantha Who?', then a FRESH'The Bachelor'.
On a RERUNJimmy Kimmel (from 4/15/08) are America Ferrera, "Dancing with the Stars" castoff Priscilla Presley, amd Motley Crue.
The CW offers a FRESH'Gossip Girl', followed by a FRESH'One Tree Hill'.
Faux has a FRESH'Bones', followed by a FRESH'House'.
MY has 'Celebrity Expose', followed by a FRESH'Paradise Ho-Tell'.
A&E has 'CSI: The 2nd One', 'Intervention', another 'Intervention', and 'The First 48'.
AMC offers the movie 'Wall Street', followed by the movie 'Die Hard', then the movie 'Death Wish'.
BBC -
[12:00 PM] How Clean Is Your House? - Episode 10
[12:30 PM] How Clean Is Your House? - Episode 11
[1:00 PM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares - Ep 2 The Fenwick Arms
[2:00 PM] Cash in the Attic - Ep 7 Casino (Brain)
[3:00 PM] Bargain Hunt - Ep. 33 Carmarthen 29
[3:30 PM] Bargain Hunt - Ep. 34 Wetherby 21
[4:00 PM] You Are What You Eat - Episode 6
[4:30 PM] You Are What You Eat - Episode 7
[5:00 PM] How Clean Is Your House? - Episode 12
[5:30 PM] How Clean Is Your House? - Episode 13
[6:00 PM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares - Ep 5 Sandgate
[7:00 PM] BBC World News America
[8:00 PM] Top Gear - Episode 1
[9:00 PM] Top Gear - Episode 10
[10:00 PM] BBC World News America
[11:00 PM] Top Gear - Episode 1
[12:00 AM] Top Gear - Episode 10
[1:00 AM] Top Gear - Episode 3
[2:00 AM] Top Gear - Episode 4
[3:00 AM] Changing Rooms - Ep.9 Manchester
[3:30 AM] Changing Rooms - Ep.10 Dover
[4:00 AM] Bargain Hunt - Ep. 33 Carmarthen 29
[4:30 AM] Bargain Hunt - Ep. 34 Wetherby 21
[5:00 AM] Cash in the Attic - Episode 11
[5:30 AM] Cash in the Attic - Episode 12
[6:00 AM] BBC World News (ALL TIMES EDT)
Bravo has 'Inside The Actors Studio' (Cameron Diaz), followed by the movie 'Cold Mountain'.
Comedy Central has 'Scrubs', another 'Scrubs', an old 'Jon Stewart', an old 'Colbert Report', 'Futurama', 'South Park', another 'Futurama', and another 'Scrubs'.
Scheduled on a FRESHJon Stewart is Sen. Harry Reid.
Scheduled on a FRESHColbert Report is Carl Hiaasen.
FX has the movie 'Mr. & Mrs. Smith', followed by the movie 'Elektra', then the movie 'The Crow Salvation'.
History has 'Modern Marvels', another 'Modern Marvels', 'Cities Of The Underworld', and 'Ancient Discoveries'.
IFC -
[07:30 AM] Does Your Soul Have A Cold?
[08:55 AM] IFC News Reports From the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival
[09:00 AM] Requiem
[10:30 AM] Reefer Madness
[11:40 AM] IFC News Reports From the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival
[11:45 AM] Solaris
[02:35 PM] Does Your Soul Have A Cold?
[04:00 PM] Requiem
[05:35 PM] Reefer Madness
[06:45 PM] Manic
[08:30 PM] Speed Grapher #9
[09:00 PM] Lockdown, USA
[10:25 PM] IFC News Reports From the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival
[10:30 PM] The Assassination of Richard Nixon
[12:15 AM] IFC In Theaters
[12:30 AM] Speed Grapher #9
[01:00 AM] Lockdown, USA
[02:30 AM] The Assassination of Richard Nixon
[04:15 AM] Manic (ALL TIMES EST)
Sundance -
[05:30 AM] 37 Uses for a Dead Sheep
[07:00 AM] Travellers & Magicians
[09:00 AM] Episode 6
[09:30 AM] Episode 6
[10:00 AM] Be Here to Love Me: A Film About Townes Van Zandt
[12:00 PM] The Human Behavior Experiments
[01:00 PM] Shakespeare Behind Bars
[02:40 PM] Be Quiet
[03:00 PM] Project Grizzly
[04:00 PM] Commune
[05:30 PM] 37 Uses for a Dead Sheep
[07:00 PM] Guerrilla Girl
[08:45 PM] Positive Voices: Matthew Cusick
[09:00 PM] Part 1
[10:00 PM] Part 2
[11:00 PM] Episode 2
[11:30 PM] Episode 2
[12:00 AM] Tom Ford on Jeff Koons
[01:00 AM] Kika
[03:00 AM] Chuck D's Musicians Studio
[04:00 AM] Episode 3
[05:00 AM] Everything's Cool (ALL TIMES EST)
Dr. Maya Angelou is interviewed on the red carpet during her 80th Birthday celebration at the Woodruff Performing Arts Center/Atlanta Symphony Hall with the proceeds from the event going to the Andrew & Walter Young Family YMCA on Sunday May 4, 2008 in Atlanta.
Photo by Stanley Leary
Rolling Stones keyboardist Chuck Leavell entertained Central Michigan University graduates and joked about rock musicians during an appearance at commencement ceremonies.
Leavell also was presented with an honorary Doctor of Music degree during Saturday's event.
He offered life lessons for graduating students, including the importance of integrity, desire and determination.
"The pursuit of excellence can take you to the Super Bowl or the Hollywood Bowl, if you're committed," Leavell said. "If you keep these principles in life, no matter what you've chosen to do, you will be successful."
Actor Jack Nicholson reacts to the basketball action between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Utah Jazz during Game 1 of their second round basketball playoff series on Sunday, May 4, 2008 in Los Angeles . The Lakers won 109-98.
Photo by Mark J. Terrill
Legendary actor Sidney Poitier only starred in movies his father would approve of, even long after his dad died.
The Oscar winner stuck true to the family values his parents instilled in him, even when it meant persuading movie bosses to alter a scene in 1967 film In the Heat of the Night - so when his character is slapped, he slaps his attacker back.
The 81-year-old says, "(The scene) almost was not there. I said, 'I'll tell you what, I'll make this movie for you if you give me your absolute guarantee when he slaps me I slap him right back and you guarantee that it will play in every version of this movie.'
"And they thought about it and they said, 'Yes, we'll guarantee that.'
"I try not to do things that are against nature. I stayed away from films that didn't speak well of my values. I could only say yes to films if I passed it by my dad.
Who is buried in Friedrich Schiller's tomb? Several people, apparently, but none of them the famous poet and playwright, according to new research.
After two years of painstaking DNA research, experts have determined that none of the remains billed as those of Schiller belong to the German writer, who died in Weimar in 1805, Germany's MDR television reported. The study, dubbed the Friedrich-Schiller Code, was undertaken by the television station, the Foundation of Weimar Classics and an international team of scientists.
The DNA results add another chapter to a mystery that dates back to 1826, just 21 years after Schiller died, when it was decided that he needed a new resting place.
Schiller's remains had been interred in a mausoleum in Weimar's Jacobs cemetery that the state kept for distinguished citizens. But the remains were mixed with others, and when a total of 23 skulls were found, the city's mayor, Carl Leberecht Schwabe - a Schiller fan - declared that the biggest must have been that of the philosophic writer.
Amtrak is hoping live entertainment, exhibits and a national TV personality will lure people who don't normally take the train into its stations - and then inspire them to return to ride the rails another day.
Dubbed "National Train Day," the May 10 effort includes a performance by singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles in Washington's Union Station. Al Roker, of NBC's "Today" show, is serving as the official spokesman and will host the Washington events.
Elsewhere, the Harlem Globetrotters will perform in New York City's Penn Station. Amtrak also is sponsoring events in Chicago and Los Angeles, and other groups are organizing smaller-scale festivities around the country.
Amtrak chose May 10 for National Train Day because it is the anniversary of the first transcontinental railroad at Promontory Point, Utah, in 1869.
The fevered response to the latest loopy Paula Abdul episode, where she judged a phantom performance, just goes to show how "American Idol" continues to dominate television in its seventh season.
Audience declines for "American Idol" are steepest among youthful viewers, the people who set the pop culture agenda and are most likely to buy music made by the show's winners. These are not the people you want to turn off.
The show is averaging 28.7 million viewers this year, according to Nielsen Media Research. That's down 7 percent from the nearly 31 million viewers who watched last year. It's also typical - maybe better than typical: in this writers strike-marred season, "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" has shed 19 percent of its viewers, "Grey's Anatomy" is down 20 percent and "Survivor" is off 9 percent from last spring's edition.
Among women aged 18 to 34, the "American Idol" audience has slipped 18 percent this year. Isolate teenagers 12-to-17, and the drop is 12 percent.
And - horror of horrors - viewership is actually UP this season among people aged 50 and over. Those are the folks many television tastemakers pretend don't exist.
Nancy Sinatra speaks with NJN News on the red carpet outside the inaugural induction ceremony of the New Jersey Hall of Fame at the NJPAC Sunday, May 4, 2008 in Newark, N.J. Her father Frank was one of the inductees.
Photo by Cie Stroud
CMT is getting in the wrestling ring with Hulk Hogan. The country music cable network has ordered eight episodes of the competition series "Hulk Hogan's Celebrity Championship Wrestling" for a fall debut.
The series will feature 10 celebrities competing for the title of "Celebrity All-Star Wrestling Champion" through challenges and elimination matches. Two former pro wrestlers will train the contestants, with Hogan and former World Championship Wrestling president Eric Bischoff serving as judges. A third judge along with the competitors and trainers will be announced later.
Hogan, who is credited as a creator and executive producer of the series, said he was looking "to shake things up" in terms of sports entertainment with "something different and more contemporary."
Marine scientists studying the carcass of a rare colossal squid said they had measured its eye at about 11 inches across - bigger than a dinner plate - making it the largest animal eye on Earth.
One of the squid's two eyes, with a lens as big as an orange, was found intact as the scientists examined the creature while it was slowly defrosted at New Zealand's national museum, Te Papa Tongarewa. It has been preserved there since being caught in the Ross Sea off Antarctica's northern coast last year.
"This is the only intact eye (of a colossal squid) that's ever been found. It's spectacular," said Auckland University of Technology squid specialist Kat Bolstad, one of a team of international scientists brought in to examine the creature.
The squid is the biggest specimen ever caught of the rare and mysterious deep-water species Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni, or colossal squid. When caught, it measured 26 feet long and weighed about 1,000 pounds, but scientists believe the species may grow as long as 46 feet.
The Arctic will remain on thinning ice, and climate warming is expected to begin affecting the Antarctic also, scientists said Friday.
Last summer sea ice in the North shrank to a record low, a change many attribute to global warming.
But while solar radiation and amounts of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are similar at the poles, to date the regions have responded differently, with little change in the South, explained oceanographer James Overland of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
What researchers have concluded was happening, was that in the North, global warming and natural variability of climate were reinforcing one another, sending the Arctic into a new state with much less sea ice than in the past.
The Marvel Comics adaptation, 'Iron Man,' starring Robert Downey Jr. as the guy in the metal suit, hauled in $100.7 million during its opening weekend and $104.2 million since debuting Thursday night, the second-best premiere ever for a nonsequel, according to studio estimates Sunday.
Debuting in second place with $15.5 million was Sony's romantic comedy "Made of Honor," starring "Grey's Anatomy" heartthrob Patrick Dempsey as a man who tries to woo his best pal after she asks him to be "maid of honor" at her wedding.
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.
A Hamadryas Baboon (Papio hamadryas) cools off near a waterfall inside its enclosure during a hot day at the Singapore Zoo May 4, 2008.
Photo by Tim Chong
You have reached the Home page of BartCop Entertainment.
Make yourself home, take your shoes off...
Go ahead, scratch it if it itches.
The idea is to have fun.
Do you have something to say?
Anything that increased your blood pressure, or, even better,
amused or entertained?
Do you have a great album no one's heard?
How about a favorite TV show, movie, book, play, cartoon, or legal amusement?
A popular artist that just plain pisses you off?
A box set the whole world should own?
Vile, filthy rumors about Republican musicians?
Just plain vile, filthy rumors?
This is your place.
