'TBH Politoons'
Thanks, again, Tim!
Baron Dave Romm
Suggested Olympic Events
By Baron Dave Romm
After she left Athens, cyclist Erin Mirabella was awarded a Bronze Medal. The Columbian medalist tested positive for a prohibited stimulant, bumping the American from fourth to third. Go USA!
Since the medals and records are still in play, this gives me a chance to print the suggestions we made on Shockwave Radio. New events are constantly being added to the Olympics, and we felt that some were not given their proper consideration. We have a tradition of Shockwave Top 11 lists. Some other guy has a Top 10 list, but our lists go all the way to 11! And so I herein present,
Other suggestions for which preparation was inadequate for inclusion in this list.
Still available: Shockwave Silver, the 25th Commemorative CD featuring more than 12 hours of Shockwave Radio Theater in mp3 format (plus commentary and pictures). Get yours today!
Put out those lawn signs, wear your buttons, get your Bush-B-Gone aerosol can labels!
Baron Dave Romm is a conceptual artist and a noble of Ladonia with a radio show, a very weird CD collection and an ever growing list of political links. He reviews things at random for obscure web sites. You can read all his music recommendations from Bartcop-E here, you can order Shockwave Radio Theater CDs, and you can hear the last two Shockwave broadcasts in Real Audio here (scroll down to Shockwave). Thanks to everyone who has sent me music to play on the air, and I'm continuing to collect extra-weird stuff.
--////
Link from Bruce
John Nichols
An excerpt:
"It should also be noted that Cheney was not just good for
Halliburton. As Secretary of Defense, he laid the groundwork for
privatizing vast areas of the military. That was a terrible move, as
it dramatically increased the number of private-sector firms that
recognize that it is in their interest for this country to be
constantly at war. We now have the most muscular pro-war lobby in the
history of the country; they are not just pushing for a particular
war, they are for war in general. Halliburton is just the worst
example of a far greater crisis."
Reader Comment
Re: Bill O'LIE-ly
I couldn't help but think "Gee, are my HORNS showing?" when I looked at the photo.
Terry C
NJ
Thanks, Terry!
The picture reminded me of Miss Sally on Romper Room...
from Mark
Another Bumpersticker
Reader Suggestion
Labor Day Movies
Hey Marty!
I've got a list of Labor Day movies I wish were showing on TMC or AMC:
Funny. For Memorial Day, AMC, TCM and every other classic movie channel
goes war movies 24/7. The History Channel goes into full WWII mode. That's
great. That's what Memorial Day is for. But Labor Day doesn't arouse the
same enthusiasm among the corporate media. What a surprise.
But if you've got Netflix
Start out with:
Strachka!: A masterpiece by
Sergei Eisenstein. If you aren't familiar with Eisenstein, you should be.
His masterpiece is Battleship Potemkin, but Strike! is a damn fine silent film depicting the bloody
results of a strike in Czarist Russia. It's a great piece of work by one of
histories greatest directors.
Metropolis: Another classic
silent film, Metropolis is a brilliant piece of work. I'll let you decide
whether it is Christian-Socialist or Communist, but workers rise up and
destroy the machinery that binds them to their poverty, only to find that
management was provoking a revolution to lead them to their doom. Pure
genius.
Komeradshaft: The final of
the silent films, Komeradshaft is a plea for internationalism. Filmed in
the wake of WWI, Komeradshaft depicts coal miners on the French-German
border. When a French coal mine collapses, German workers defy management
and border guards to come to their rescue.
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town: A
lot of Capra's movies have a socialist undertone, and this one is probably
the best example. When Deeds inherits a massive fortune, he immediately
embarks on a campaign to help the poor of New York City. His lawyers are
horrified, and make a case to have him committed. One of Gary Cooper's
finest performances, Deeds is class warfare at its funniest.
Grapes of Wrath: Steinbeck's
great tale of the Great Depression. A well-told story from John Ford, who
told the House Un-American Activities Committee to go Cheney themselves.
Matewan: In the Appalachan
Mountains in the late 1800's, a union organizer (brilliantly played by Chris
Cooper) shows up and prepares for to organize. Waves of replacement
strikers can't break the union, including Italians and Blacks (which prompts
the classic line--"There are two types of folks, them that work and them
that don't.") John Sayles' best movie.
Norma Rae: Sally, I don't
like you. But this movie is a real classic. A single mother organizes a
union, despite all the dangers.
Spartacus: A slave leads a
revolt against Rome and when it is crushed, the slaves refuse to betray
their leader and return to slavery. Stanley Kubrik directs and the
University of Colorado's own Dalton Trumbo spins a great story. "I AM
SPARTACUS!"
Do the Right Thing: Spike
Lee's greatest accomplishment and probably my favorite movie of all time.
What does it have to do with labor? Mookie works for Sal's Pizza. Is Sal a
racist or an oppressive boss--with a sidebar of sexual tension between Sal
an Mookie's sister? In the end, Mookie has to make a decision about his
identity and where his true loyalties lie.
Roger and Me: This is the
quasi-documentary that launched Michael Moore's movie career. It is a well
spun story about his attempts to meet with GM Chairman Roger Smith and the
tragedy of the unraveling of Detroit's auto industry. Who knew that the
host of the Newlywed Game was a bigot?
I'm sure there are lots of others, and feel free to add yours in the
comments. But here's to a day when Labor Day gets a little play on some of
the classic movie channels and the History channel. Brave men and women
struggled for the workplace freedoms we enjoy today. When you hoist a cold
beer, hoist it to the men and women who built this country and did not pull
the ladder up after they made it!
- Tim H
Thanks, Tim!
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Over 100°. Ack.
The local Faux outlet, KTTV, is pitching their morning show, 'Good Day, LA' with the catch phrase "Because people love monkeys".
U.S. actress Gena Rowlands (3R), poses with her husband Robert Forrest (2R), her son Nick Cassavetes (3L), her daughters Alexandra (2L) and Zoe (R), and her grand-daughter Gena (L), daughter of Nick, during a Photo call for their film 'The notebook', presented out of competition at the American Film Festival of Deauville September 5, 2004.
Photo by Vincent Kessler
Muzzling Dissent
Media Conglomerates
Dissent is not being stomached very well in America these days, and you didn't have to be watching the Republican National Convention last week to pick up the vibe of intolerance.
Not only were hundreds of thousands of demonstrators in New York dismissed or downplayed last week by the media (despite the fact that more than a few were billy-clubbed and 1,800 were arrested), but the parent companies of the media are becoming increasingly reluctant to go out on a limb about anything controversial.
The corporate agendas of these mini nation states have become so complex and politically sensitized that anything perceived as out of the mainstream is automatically viewed by top brass with suspicion.
Just imagine: Lawyers and lobbyists perennially on the qui vive to determine if any marketing gimmick, any news item, any movie, any loudmouth talkshow host could cause trouble in D.C., jeopardize a deal in China or hurt cooperation between moguls. Such a scenario of congloms second-guessing themselves at every turn is not so far-fetched.
For the rest, Media Conglomerates
U.S. Politics in Spotlight
Venice Film Festival
This year's Venice Film Festival has been hailed as Hollywood on the Lido, but American stars have had to share the stage with U.S. politics as movies like Tim Robbins' "Embedded-Live" hit the screen.
Tom Hanks, whose film "The Terminal" kicked off festivities, told Reuters in an interview that the November presidential race was "the most important election of my lifetime."
"It's going to be a fist fight, it's going to be very, very dirty and it's going to be very, very, very important," he said.
Jonathan Demme's thriller "The Manchurian Candidate," starring Denzel Washington and Meryl Streep, was critical of the culture of fear used to create the passive, unquestioning society portrayed in the film.
Pressed by journalists to talk about parallels between the movie and present-day America, Demme said: "Speaking as an American, I feel like our country is in a lot of trouble now, that our leaders have taken us in a really bad direction."
In the wake of Michael Moore's anti-Bush documentary "Fahrenheit 9/ll," Hollywood personalities have been increasingly vocal about politics.
"People are trying to have an influence. Bush has Fox news," said director and Venice juror Spike Lee.
Venice Film Festival
U.S. director Bill Plympton poses during a Photocall for his animated film 'Hair High', presented out of competition at the American Film Festival of Deauville September 5, 2004. Plympton is holding a sketch depicting Rod, who is one of the characters in the animated gothic high-school comedy.
Photo by Vincent Kessler
French Legion of Honor
Steven Spielberg
President Jacques Chirac made U.S. film director Steven Spielberg a knight in the French Legion of Honor on Sunday, hailing him as a great filmmaker committed to fighting hatred and intolerance.
Chirac praised Spielberg's ability to touch people and said films such as "Schindler's List" ensured the world did not forget about acts of heroism in dark periods of history.
Accepting France's top award, Spielberg hailed France's efforts to fight anti-Semitism. The country has witnessed a wave of attacks against Jews and Muslims and their property in recent months.
Steven Spielberg
Returns To 'Jeopardy' Tonight
Ken Jennings
The summer's favorite egghead, "Jeopardy!" master Ken Jennings, returns to try to extend his winning streak Monday.
The Salt Lake City software engineer became an unlikely TV star this summer when he began mowing down opponents on the quiz show. He won 38 straight games, for a total of $1,321,660, before the show went on hiatus in late July.
"Jeopardy!" will hold two more weeks of original episodes, which began taping in August, before leaving on another hiatus for a special tournament.
Ken Jennings
Brings Radio Show to State Fair
Garrison Keillor
Garrison Keillor brought his radio show "A Prairie Home Companion" to the Minnesota State Fair for the first time in 18 years over the weekend.
Saturday's show included references to state fair hallmarks, such as busts sculpted out of butter. It drew more than 11,000 people to the fair's grandstand.
"I love the idea of doing a frankly Minnesotan show," Keillor said. He suspected that many Minnesota exiles listening on the radio "will be able to imagine themselves at the fair."
Garrison Keillor
Dancers Robert Tannion (L) and Desiree Kongerod perform on stage in Austrian composer Klaus Obermaier's performance 'Apparition' at the Ars Electronica digital art festival in Linz in Austria September 4, 2004. The annual digital art festival Ars Electronica takes place from September 2 to September 7. Picture taken September 4, 2004.
Photo by Rubra
Most Popular Screen Scientists
Dr Bunsen Honeydew & Beaker
Muppets Dr Bunsen Honeydew and his assistant Beaker defeated Dr Strangelove, Dana Scully of "X Files" fame and Star Trek's Mr Spock to be voted Britain's favorite screen scientists on Monday.
Spock came in a distance second with 15 percent followed by The Doctor, from Dr Who, who garnered 13 percent. Scully, the only woman in the poll, came in sixth.
The poll, sponsored by the BA and the BBC cult television Web Site (www.bbc.co.uk/cult), gave the public five weeks to choose their favorite scientist from a shortlist of 10 that included Dr Evil from the film "Austin Powers," Dr Frankenstein, Frank N Furter, of the "Rocky Horror Show Picture Show," Dr Emmett Brown, of the film "Back to the Future" and Q of James Bond fame.
Dr Bunsen Honeydew & Beaker
Widow Donates Memorabilia
Red Skelton
The widow of comedian Red Skelton donated more than 200 boxes of memorabilia, including costumes and Emmy awards, to a university in Skelton's hometown.
Vincennes University also bought the home where Skelton was born in 1913, which could be used as part of an effort to build a museum in his honour, said Phillip Summers, former university president. Skelton died in 1997.
Volunteers have begun organizing and cataloguing items stored in unused university classrooms since last spring. An appraiser will estimate the collection's value in October.
Red Skelton
Sees Iger as 'Preferred' Successor
Michael Eisner
Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Michael Eisner said company President Robert Iger is his "preferred choice" to succeed him in running the entertainment conglomerate, according to an interview in Sunday's Los Angeles Times.
The question of who will succeed Eisner became an increasingly pressing issue earlier this year after Eisner's leadership came under attack from dissident shareholders.
Iger, a former TV weatherman and reporter, joined Disney when the company acquired Capital Cities/ABC in 1996.
Michael Eisner
A Mercury-Redstone rocket that once stood upright at the credentialing center at the Kennedy Space Center in Titusville, Fla. lies on the grass after being blown down by Hurricane Frances Saturday, Sept. 5, 2004. A rocket similar to this was used to launch Alan Shepard on the first unmanned suborbital mission.
Photo by Peter Cosgrove
Has Record Summer
Hollywood
Summer at movie theaters was a true underdog story for Michael Moore and a gang of dodgeball dimwits, who helped propel Hollywood to another season of record revenue, though the number of moviegoers fell slightly.
Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" became the first documentary to top the $100 million mark, while Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn's goofy comedy "Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story" was another surprise $100 million hit.
Teamed with such familiar favorites as "Shrek," "Spider-Man" and "Harry Potter" sequels, "Fahrenheit 9/11" and "Dodgeball" helped lift the industry to an all-time summer haul of just under $4 billion from the first weekend in May through Labor Day, according to box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations.
Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" was unlike any other summer hit. Its $118 million domestic total was six times that of the previous record holder among feature-length documentaries, Moore's "Bowling for Columbine."
Hollywood
Swazi King Picks 12th Wife
King Mswati III
Swazi King Mswati III, Africa's last absolute monarch, has picked a 16-year-old girl as his new wife, bringing to 12 the number of official spouses, sources in the royal household said.
A source confirmed a report in the Times newspaper that said the teenager was a Miss Teen Swaziland finalist who took part in the annual reed dance last week when bare-breasted young women, who are supposed to be virgins, dance for the king.
The source said that the 16-year-old girl underwent blood tests to determine whether she was HIV positive and that she was expected to receive the royal blessing of the queen mother before being unveiled as the king's new bride at the weekend.
Swaziland has the world's highest per capita rate of HIV infection at 38.8 percent in the kingdom of 1.1 million people, according to UN estimates.
King Mswati III
Venice's citizens dressed in historical dress glide down the Grand Canal in a gondola which runs past a postcard rack of sites from the Doge's Palace to the Rialto bridge September 5, 2004. On the first Sunday of every September, hundreds of Venetians pile into the long boats that have plied the city's canals for centuries for the Historical Regatta, a celebration of the Venetian Republic's success at home and at war.
Photo by Silvestri Crosera
Takes Anti-Bush Satire to Venice
Tim Robbins
US actor Tim Robbins took the film version of his ribald anti-Bush play "Embedded/Live" to the Venice film festival, while audiences delighted in Indian director Mira Nair's colourful adaptation of Thackeray's classic novel "Vanity Fair".
"Embedded" was born as a play in a 30-seat theatre in Los Angeles in July 2003 and has been playing to audiences for the past year in LA and New York.
The movie is the film of an actual performance of the play, in places intercut with scenes of the destruction of war and its casualties.
The major news organisations are bitterly attacked in the play for slavishly following the US military's official line in their reports from correspondents embedded with soldiers in Iraq.
Tim Robbins
National Guard File Missing Records
Fortunate Son
Documents that should have been written to explain gaps in resident Bush's Texas Air National Guard service are missing from the military records released about his service in 1972 and 1973, according to regulations and outside experts.
For example, Air National Guard regulations at the time required commanders to write an investigative report for the Air Force when Bush missed his annual medical exam in 1972. The regulations also required commanders to confirm in writing that Bush received counseling after missing five months of drills.
Challenging the government's declaration that no more documents exist, the AP identified five categories of records that should have been generated after Bush skipped his pilot's physical and missed five months of training.
The AP talked to experts unaffiliated with either campaign who have reviewed Bush's files for missing documents. They said it was not unusual for guard commanders to ignore deficiencies by junior officers such as Bush. But they said missing a physical exam, which caused him to be grounded, was not common.
"It's sort of like a code of honor that you didn't go DNF (duty not including flying)," said retired Air Force Col. Leonard Walls, who flew 181 combat missions over Vietnam. "There was a lot of pride in keeping combat-ready status."
For a lot more, Fortunate Son
Record Crowds Attend Festival
Burning Man
As jugglers danced with hoops and spirals of fire, vehicles belched flames and hypnotic drums echoed through the night, more than 35,000 costumed revelers ritually burned a 40-foot neon-and-wooden icon of a man deep in the Nevada desert.
The 19th annual Burning Man festival, a bizarre counterculture event in one of the most remote places in America, was back, this year with record crowds.
Saturday night's burn, 120 miles north of Reno, was relatively uneventful after a series of tragedies a year ago. Bureau of Land Management spokesman Jamie Thompson said the event ran smoothly with no major accidents. Drug arrests and citations were also down, preliminary reports showed.
The annual fantasy event grew out of San Francisco's bohemian street theater nearly 20 years ago, when a group of artists and spectators spontaneously burned an 8-foot wooden figure on a Bay Area beach. The event has been growing ever since.
Burning Man
Tater Tots, a two-year-old Pomeranian stares into the camera at the Windward Hawaiian Dog Fanciers Association dog show in Honolulu, Hawaii September 4, 2004. Tater Tots is owned by Shari Fukuyama of Mililani.
Photo by Lucy Pemoni
'The Osbournes'
'The Osbournes' ~ Page 5
'The Osbournes' ~ Page 4
'The Osbournes' ~ Page 3
'The Osbournes' ~ Page 2
'The Osbournes' ~ Page 1
