'TBH Politoons'
Thanks, again, Tim!
Baron Dave Romm
New TV Season As It Develops
By Baron Dave Romm
Perhaps it's still early, and baseball playoffs are wrcking havok with schedules, but I've had a chance to see several episodes of many shows.
Boomtown, my favorite new show from last year, hasn't recovered from being unheralded. The producers tried to tinker with a successful formula to make the show more accessible, and all they've done is make the show less interesting. Vanessa Williams did an okay acting job but slipping her into the cast was clunky and twisted the show away from it's nifty overlapping viewpoint gimmick. I hope the episodes broadcast before it went on hiatus aren't indicative of the rest of the season.
Rating after two new shows: B-, with trepitation.
Rob Lowe can whine all he wants about leaving The West Wing, but he's not carrying The Lyon's Den either. I'd really like to give this show a chance to flesh out the numerous storylines, but so far they've mainly set up sub-plots and story arcs without actually doing anything with them.
Rating after two or three shows (they all sort of blend together): C, but I'll give it another chance if I can tape it and fast forward through the boring parts.
Speaking of The West Wing: Well, after quickly getting over (and furtively ignoring) last season's cliffhanger (once again), it's on an upswing. The cast is getting comfortable getting paid more than their actual government counterparts. John Wells' writing is more action/adventure oriented than the politically savvy and cerebral Aaron Sorkin, but he's very good at what he does.
Rating of new shows: B+, with a bullet.
Enterprise has taken the juiciest parts of the first season and compressed them. Less character development (but some), more action, more titilating Vulcan nudity, more aliens. We get to see the galactic politics and watch an angry captain.
Rating after several new shows: B, where it will probably stay.
Still too early to comment on Cold Case, since it keeps getting bumped by football and I haven't been able to tape a complete episode for weeks. Still, it has promise and I hope it gels soon.
Joan of Arcadia, or My So-Called Sainthood. Last time, I gave it a B, and they still haven't done an A show. The problem with a program that involves personal growth each episode is that the characters, of necessity, change. At some point, Joan (or any of the people she affects) will grow up, or at least not need Joan's help anymore. I hope it continues to swing closer to The Wonder Years and away from Touched By An Angel. The writing and acting are first-rate. Let's see if they can keep it up.
Rating after several shows: Again B, with optimism.
By moving away from Joan of Arcadia, I finally got a chance to see Miss Match. After one show: Ick.
Whoopi is coming into its own pretty quickly. The first few shows were only okay, but it had the funniest show on tv so far this season. George W. Bush makes an emergency stop to use the rest room in her hotel. Whoopi gets some great lines in, arguing with her conservative brother, while the whole episode is fair and balanced as other points of view are presented. More importantly, the contrasting viewpoints were funny. The humor derives from the situations more than witty dialog, which is a major plus. Also a plus: Some of the show seems to have derived from my mother's experience waiting on line to meet Nixon.
Rating after several shows: B+, and now I'm optimistic.
Happy Family has had one (1) good episode. Larroquette and Baranski were out on the town, dealing with the horrid reputation generated by their horrid family. The kids didn't even make an appearance until late. When they did, the show went downhill. The next show was more typically bad. I might leave the tv on following Whoopi, but this show has already fallen from grace.
Rating after several shows: I give up. Rerun fodder.
Threat Matrix seems like it was micromanaged by Karl Rove, and it hurts. No good shows, and everytime something interesting happens they pull back and give it some spin away from any accountability from the right.
Rating after several shows: C-, and going down.
Both Ellen DeGeneres' talk show and Sharon Osborne's talk show were better than I expected, which was a pleasant surprise. Probably worth watching a couple of shows to see if I develope a taste for them, but that's a low priority.
Notice that I haven't given any show an A. I'm glad I have Netflix.
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, 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 collecting extra-weird stuff for a possible CD compilation.
from Mark
Another Bumpersticker
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Nearly summer-like afternoon.
Didn't make it out to the Valley after all - if it was bucking 90° here, it'd be even hotter there.
Still looking for a home for the 3 new kittens - although we've altered their names - they're now 'Wynken', Blynken', and 'Naughty'.
Tonight, Monday, CBS starts the night with a FRESH 'Yes, Dear', followed by a FRESH 'Still Standing', then a
FRESH 'Raymond', followed by a FRESH '2½ Men', then a FRESH 'CSI: Miami'.
On a RERUN Dave are Sharon Stone and the Raveonettes. (RERUNs all week)
On a RERUN Craiggers are Danny DeVito, Michael Vartan, and Jet. (RERUNs all week)
NBC opens the evening with a FRESH 'Fear Factor', followed by a FRESH 'Las Vegas', then a FRESH
'Third Watch'.
On a RERUN Jay are Drew Barrymore, 11-year-old pianist Harris Wang, and Shelby Lynne. (RERUNs all week)
On a RERUN Conan are John Leguizamo, Anna Paquin, and Louis CK. (RERUNs all week)
On a RERUN Carson Daly are Vanessa Marcil, Jack and Kelly Osbourne, Michelle Branch. (RERUNs all week)
ABC has 'MNF' - so on the east coast, it's a FRESH 'Threat Matrix', followed by the game. On the left coast, it's the game followed by 'Threat Matrix'.
Scheduled on a FRESH Jimmy Kimmel are Denise Richards, Trey Parker & Matt Stone, and Saves the Day, with this week's guest co-host Anthony Anderson.
The WB offers a FRESH '7th Heaven', followed by a FRESH 'Everwood'.
Faux has the Series Premiere of 'The Next Joe Millionaire: An International Affair', followed by the Series Premier of 'Skin'.
UPN has a FRESH 'The Parkers', followed by a FRESH 'Eve', then a FRESH 'Girlfriends', followed by a FRESH 'Half & Half'.
A&E has 'Biography' (Siegfried & Roy), and a 2-hour 'City Confidential'.
AMC offers the movie 'The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly', followed by the movie 'Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story', then the movie 'Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey'.
BBC -
[6pm] 'BBC World News';
[6:30pm] 'Cash in the Attic' - Eaton;
[7pm] 'Ground Force' - Yorkshire;
[7:30pm] 'Changing Rooms' - Inverness;
[8pm] 'Murder in Mind' - Mercy;
[9pm] 'The Vice' - Dabbling;
[11pm] 'So Graham Norton' - Rachel Griffiths
[11:30pm] 'So Graham Norton' - Stephen Fry;
[12am] 'The Vice' - Dabbling;
[2am] 'Murder in Mind' - Mercy;
[3am] 'So Graham Norton' - Rachel Griffiths;
[3:30am] 'So Graham Norton' - Stephen Fry;
[4am] 'The Vice' - Dabbling and
[6am] 'BBC World News'. (ALL TIMES EDT)
Bravo has 'West Wing', followed by the movie 'Under Suspicion', then 'West Wing', again.
Scheduled on a FRESH Jon Stewart is Dr. Henry Kissinger.
History has 'The Real Spartacus', 'The Real Attila The Hun', and then the movie 'Attila'.
SciFi is all 'Stargate SG-1', all night.
TCM -
[6am] 'Lady Of The Tropics' (1939);
[8am] 'On Borrowed Time' (1939);
[10am] 'Another Thin Man' (1939);
[12pm] 'I Love You Again' (1940)
[2pm] 'Third Finger, Left Hand' (1940);
[4pm] 'Three Cheers for the Irish' (1940);
[6pm] 'Larceny, Inc.' (1942);
[8pm] 'High Society' (1956);
[10pm] 'Funny Girl' (1968);
[1am] 'The V.I.P.S' (1963);
[3am] 'Dinner At Eight' (1933); and
[5am] 'Hollywood Without Make-Up' (1966) (one of Ken Murray's fabulous 'home movies'). (ALL TIMES EDT)
New York Yankees manager Joe Torre, left, chats with comedians Billy Crystal, right, and Robin Williams before the start of Game 2 of the World Series in New York Sunday, Oct. 19, 2003.
Photo by Al Behrman
The Information One-Stop
Moose & Squirrel
Six Decades Later
Pete Seeger
He's been composing and performing for well over six decades, but for American folk singer Pete Seeger, the fight for justice, peace and equality has only just gotten started.
"Take It From Dr. King" is a tribute to the murdered civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr, in which he leads an exuberant children's choir to "Don't say it can't be done, the battle's just begun, take it from Dr. King, you too can learn to sing, so drop the gun!"
"I've found it's a fun chorus and I've never failed to get an audience to sing it," the 84-year-old Seeger said as he plucked some chords on his banjo, on a blustery fall afternoon at his Hudson River valley home in upstate New York.
"It was a great refrain, but it took me eight months to come up with verses that weren't too teachy-preachy," he said in an interview. "That's a failing of all people who want to write songs to try and save the world. They get too serious."
And so on his new album "Seeds, the Songs of Pete Seeger," a call to bring the soldiers back from Iraq - "Bring Them Home" - rubs shoulders with the light-hearted "Maple Syrup Time," "English is Cuh-ray-zee" and "A Little a This 'n' That," a song about cooking.
There's no question though that politics is still front and center for Seeger, who refused to discuss his political beliefs when he testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee during the anti-communist witch hunt in 1955, a refusal that got him black-listed in the industry.
For a lot more, Pete Seeger
Not Teaching Writing Over Internet - For Now
Stephen King
Best-selling writer Stephen King has backed out of a plan to teach writing to middle school students over the Internet, at least for now.
King said last November that he would like to teach an interactive class for Maine seventh- and eighth-graders as part of a program that puts a laptop into the hands of all 36,000 public middle school students.
But the master of the horror story is too busy to teach for another year or more, said his personal assistant, Marsha DeFilippo.
King is currently in the middle of final production for "Stephen King's Kingdom Hospital," a 15-hour TV drama series that will premiere on ABC in February. He is also writing a monthly column for Entertainment Weekly and is editing his final book in the Dark Tower series.
Stephen King
John Lennon's handwritten lyrics for the Beatles 1965 song Nowhere Man. Christie's price estimate for the manuscript is between 80,000 and 100,000 USD.
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Get A Rear View
Argentines
Perky ones, fat ones, hairy ones. Even tattooed ones. For every person, there is a bottom. And at the Recoleta Cultural Centre in Buenos Aires, they've all been on show, in all their glory.
The proud purveyor of all these posteriors is Chilean visual artist Catalina Riutort. She says the exhibition is one of "common, everyday people, represented by barcodes, which correspond to their identity card".
The "Carne de Identidad" (a play on the Spanish words for "identity card" - "carnet de identidad" and "flesh of identity" - "carne de identidad") exhibition has been drawing in the crowds in Buenos Aires. Its next stop is Chile and then, if the civil unrest there dies down, Bolivia.
For the rest, Argentines
Thanks, Marian!
Cancel Awards Over 'Screener' Ban
LA Film Critics
A group of about 50 Los Angeles area film critics has canceled its annual film awards over the contentious Oscar "screener" ban instituted by Hollywood's major studios, the group said on Sunday.
Each December, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association picks its favorite movies, actors and actresses of the year. Along with other critics groups, its winners list can help sway others during Hollywood's annual awards season that ends at the U.S. top film honors, the Academy Awards, in February.
"Unless there is a timely rescinding of the ban on screeners, LAFCA, with great reluctance, is compelled to cancel this year's voting on awards," the group said in a statement.
The ban creates an unlevel playing field because the major studios have the money to rent theaters that show only their movies. Whereas, the low-budget filmmakers do not, so screeners fill the gap and give voters greater access to their movies.
LA Film Critics
No Room On NBC Schedule
'Boomtown'
NBC's latest scheduling moves are raising doubts about the future of the sophomore crime drama "Boomtown."
The network said Friday that the cops-and-paramedics drama "Third Watch" will switch to the 10 p.m. Friday slot starting Oct. 31. In "Boomtown's" old 10 p.m. Monday period, NBC will debut "Average Joe," a new reality romance hosted by Kathy Griffin, for at least six episodes starting Nov. 3.
Preceding "Third Watch" on the Friday schedule will be "Dateline" followed by the slow-starting Alicia Silverstone dramedy "Miss Match."
That leaves "Boomtown" without a perch. The most recent episode aired Oct. 3, when it ranked third in the ratings behind CBS' "The Handler" and ABC's "20/20." The "Boomtown" cast includes Donnie Wahlberg, Mykelti Williamson and new arrival Vanessa Williams.
'Boomtown'
In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends
Photo To Become Canadian Stamp
Bryan Adams
A photograph of Queen Elizabeth II taken by Bryan Adams will be used for a Canadian stamp. Canadian postal service spokesperson Cindy Daoust told the Canadian Press that Adams "was looking to capture the mother and the grandmother in her, and I think he did that." Adams took the picture while attending the Queen's Golden Jubilee celebrations in the summer of 2002.
More than 10 million copies of Adams's Queen stamp will be produced in the first run, which will be issued on December 19.
Adams, who is a native of Canada, was paid a "small honorarium" from the postal service for using his photograph.
Bryan Adams
A group of Thai activists march in a downtown Bangkok street with a cutout of U.S. resident George W. Bush caricature Sunday, Oct. 19, 2003. As leaders of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum gather for its annual summit, the Thai government has warned demonstrators not to be disruptive, and there have only been a handful of peaceful protests.
Photo by Sakchai Lalit
Wedding News
Brown & Burns
Documentary filmmaker Ken Burns has married his girlfriend Julie Deborah Brown, the founder of a nonprofit organization, in a civil ceremony in New Hampshire.
The couple was married by a justice of the peace Saturday at their Walpole, N.H., home.
Brown & Burns
Gives Away Downloads
Pepsi
Pepsi has a new affiliation with a hot, rising music star. But this time, Apple Computer's iTunes is shoving aside the likes of Britney Spears and Beyonce.
The soft-drink giant plans to give away 100 million downloads from iTunes next year and plug the service in a Super Bowl commercial.
The offer kicks off Feb. 1 with the Super Bowl ad, and it will run until March 31. Apple famously introduced its Macintosh computer with a Super Bowl ad in 1984.
Pepsi
Formerly 'The Vidiot'
India Film Festival Examines
Homophobia
One film focused on the life of a lesbian truck driver. Another showed two older men lovingly feeding each other.
In a country where homosexuality is a crime, and where gays rarely gather publicly, India's first gay film festival was more about coming out than it was about filmmaking.
Organizers had a hard time finding a venue for the three-day event, which ended Sunday. In the end the audience squeezed into a college auditorum on the outskirts of Bombay.
For more, Homophobia
Manute Bol, left, holds the bridle of Alpena Magic before the start of the first race at Hoosier Park in Anderson, Ind., Saturday, Oct. 18, 2003. The 7-foot-7 former NBA center, who has used publicity from ventures into boxing and hockey to raise money for refugees in his native Sudan, is now the tallest jockey ever licensed by the Indiana Horse Racing Commission. Bol is not scheduled to compete in any of the 13 races Saturday night because of arthritis in his creaky joints. But after watching a few races from the sideline, he will be invited to the winner's circle.
Photo by Tom Strattman
Accused of Stealing Composition
Enrique Iglesias
Enrique Iglesias and his producer are being accused of stealing a songwriter's composition for the title track for the 2001 album "Escape."
Henry Lorenzo Haynes claimed in a federal lawsuit filed last week that Iglesias' producer Steve Morales recruited him for compositions in early 2001 and accepted a song titled "Remind Me" in the middle of the year. Haynes claims that song turned up, without any credit to him, on the album.
Haynes said he registered his composition for a copyright on July 16, 2001, and Iglesias registered his Dec. 5, 2001.
Enrique Iglesias
Misused Police Celeb Files
Kelly Chrisman
A disciplinary panel is recommending that an officer be fired for using police databases to review the personal files of celebrities such as Halle Berry, Kobe Bryant, Sean Penn and Sharon Stone.
The Los Angeles Police Department's Board of Rights on Friday found that Kelly Chrisman had misused department computers.
Investigators said Chrisman used the databases between 1994 and 2000. The computer files contain information such as addresses, Social Security numbers, criminal histories, and in some cases, unlisted phone numbers.
Kelly Chrisman
Chimp Stumbles Over Name Twice
Aung San Suu Kyi
Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has irritated Myanmar's military government for years but it was her polysyllabic name, not her outspoken political views, that flummoxed US resident George W. Bush here.
The resident, known for his malaprops, mispronunciations and use of questionable syntax, tripped twice in the same sentence Sunday over the detained opposition leader's name as he repeated Washington's demands for the junta to release her.
"We care deeply about Aung Suu San Kyi and the status of Aung Suu San Kyi," he said, transposing the pro-democracy advocate's second and third names in comments to reporters after meeting Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
The inadvertent flub drew chuckles from reporters in the White House filing center and one veteran correspondent was overheard to say: "At least he got all four syllables in."
The slip-up did not make it onto the official transcript which was issued later by the White House with the name set out correctly.
Aung San Suu Kyi
California Man Wins
Monopoly Championship
A rolling Monopoly game that started on a chartered train dubbed the "Reading Railroad" ended Saturday with a victorious national champion.
Matt McNally, of Irvine, Calif., took the top prize, walking away with $15,140 in real money — equal to the amount of funny money in a Monopoly game.
Besides taking home the money, McNally will represent the United States in the 2004 World Monopoly Championship in Hong Kong.
Monopoly Championship
Celebrates 40th Anniversary
Lava Lamp
Since it tends to be associated with the shaga-delic 1970s, it is hard to believe the lava lamp is celebrating its 40th birthday. But although it seems somewhat younger, the ultimate retro "light entertainment" gadget has lived life at the sharp end - first as a mass-market pop icon, then as a tired old has-been, and later as a modern classic (a designation bestowed on it by the British Design Council in July 2000).
Today there is a lava lamp on a permanent exhibit in the Smithsonian museum, Washington, D.C., as well as a growing trade in vintage lamps as demonstrated by America's online fanzine, Oozing Goo. "I'm looking for an Aztec with Sun Gold lava," writes one subscriber. "I have 64 lamps - including 31 Midnights and 16 Centurys," boasts another. Still, life for the cosmic kitsch object was not always thus.
Originally called the Astro Lamp and fathered by Edward Craven-Walker, a naturist and inventor from Dorset, the creation of colored globs of oozing wax suspended in water (mixed with a cocktail of "secret ingredients") and encased in an illuminated glass tube was launched in 1963 and became an instant hit; sales ran into the millions.
For a lot more, Lava Lamp
Mark Hines of Kailua plays with his son Ka'io Hines, 1, during sunrise at Kailua Beach in Kailua, Hawaii, October 19, 2003 in Kailua on the island of Oahu. Hines, a teacher in Honolulu said he wanted to let his wife sleep while his younger son woke up at before dawn. Hines recently moved to Kailua from Honolulu and this was his first sunrise since the Hines family moved to his new home within walking distance to the shoreline.
Photo by Lucy Pemoni
'The Osbournes'
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