Reader Film Review
Harry Potter
Bill Satyr
After two days of nagging by an eleven year old Potterholic daughter, I girded my loins and
gathered a mob of youthful critics to view the Warners Brother's treatment of JK Rowling's
novel. The porta-johns lined up beside the local Conglomoplex were no longer needed by Sunday
lunchtime, the tide of viewers having apparently ebbed somewhat with the use of 6 screens
reducing each show to about 55% capacity.
This was the most exact book-to-film adaption of a text I have ever seen. It will work well for
recruiting young readers to the joy of words but the movie never manages to generate tension.
My upstairs neighbors in an apartment complex once owned a programable keyboard. They could type
in the pitch and duration of each note in any given score. The machine would play back this "tune"
but the feeling was lifeless; it lacked the tonal coloring of a human hand. Christopher Columbus
has managed to program a movie from the words of Rowling, in just the same way, it lacks inflection.
The kids loved it, "It was just like I imagined it." assured one eight year old expert. I didn't love
it: it was a spectacular series of special effects fronted by young actors that will please elderly
perverts (both homo and hetero-sexual) no end, and a cast of magnificent adult thespians.
See it on a big screen for the fun of Quidditch (a hybrid of Cricket and Rugby played on broomsticks)
and Cerebus as 'fluffy' the three headed dog. Take the kids who have read the book, it will satisfy
them that they had worked their way through a 'real' book without missing anything. Take the kids
who are starting to read, it may give them the interest to tackle the Potter series. If you're just
curious what the fuss is all about, read the books or wait for the video. That way, you won't have
to wait in line so long that you need to use the porta-johns.
~~ Bill Satyr
Thanks, Bill. Thankfully, the resident 9 year old isn't that excited about Harry Potter. Now,
'Lord Of The Rings' is something else in his opinion. Guess that's when our turn in line will happen.
But, gotta figure Warner Bros. had to have some clue as to the movie's 'legs'. It was scheduled on over
8,000 screens - yes, to set a one-day opening record (if not also seting a record for the most number of screens being
used for one film in one opening), but also, it displays corporate doubt of an ability to
still be playing in 6 weeks.
'The Elevation Tour'
U2 & Bono
U2 singer Bono rolls around on a catwalk as he sings during a sold-out stop of the band's Elevation
Tour at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas November 18, 2001. The band is touring to support
the album "All That You Can't Leave Behind."
Photo by Ethan Miller/Las Vegas Sun
Sunday Afternoon In Pasadena
25th Annual Doo Dah Parade
Members of the Men of Leisure Marching Team apper to take a nap on each other as they walk through
the streets of Pasadena, Calif., during the 25th Annual Doo Dah Parade, Sunday, Nov. 18, 2001.
Thousands of people line the streets to watch the countercultural parody of the Pasadena Rose Parade, with
an anything-goes attitude, no rules and no marching order.
Photo by Rene Macura
In The Chaos Household
Last Night's TV
Started with '60 Minutes' which has become fairly formulaic. When I worked at
KTVA - channel 11 in Anchorage, AK. '60 Minutes' was a big deal, and
was the one feed you didn't want to blow.
Watched a couple of hours on faux, then local news.
Statistically, Sunday night is the most viewed night in TV. These days I'd be hard
pressed to agree.
Tonight, CBS has its usual 2 hours of sitcoms ('King of Queens', 'Yes, Dear',
'Everybody Likes Raymond', 'Becker'), then 'Family Law'.
NBC has 'Weakest Link', with a comedic spin, 'Third Watch', where Doc has a
pity-party, and 'Crossing Jordan' which finds another former 'Law & Order' actor Chris Noth in a 2-parter.
ABC MNF has the Giants at the Vikings, and a 'Regis', 'Supermodel Edition'...
WB has '7th Heaven' and 'Angel'. Faux has 'Boston Public' & 'Ally McBeal'.
Anyone have any opinions?
Or reviews?
(See below for addresses)
Final, Unfinished Hitch Hiker's Guide By Douglas Adams
``A Salmon of a Doubt''
The final unfinished novel by cult British author Douglas Adams is to be published next year
on the anniversary of his death, his agent says.
``A Salmon of a Doubt,'' the final and sixth part of his classic ``The ``Hitch Hiker's Guide
to the Galaxy,'' has been edited from files found on Adams's computer after he died suddenly
in May, Ed Victor told the Sunday Telegraph.
``We have pored over Douglas's hard drive. There were so many different versions of the novel.
He would take it and then revise it repeatedly so there were many files,'' said Victor.
``As soon as he wrote anything he would say, 'Oh God, that's terrible'. He was a very, very
self-critical author,'' he added.
Adams died from a heart attack at his California home aged 49.
His ``Hitch Hiker's Guide,'' about a group of galactic travelers who survive the demolition of
Earth to build a space bypass, began life as a 1978 BBC Radio series.
It was turned into a best-selling novel, a TV series, record album, computer game and adapted for
stage. It made Adams a household name on both sides of the Atlantic.
``A Salmon of a Doubt'' will be published next May in a compendium of Adam's final works, including a
film screenplay for the Hitch Hiker's Guide, Victor said.
Final Douglas Adam's Hitch Hiker Guide
At The Peace Walk In Cincinnati
Harry Belafonte
Harry Belafonte smiled at calls of ``Day-O'' as he participated in a peace walk through
an inner-city Cincinnati neighborhood marred by rioting in April.
The 74-year-old singer, actor and activist known for his 1957 ``Banana Boat Song,'' along
with 25 others promoted the message of peace in the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood, where a
police officer shot an unarmed black man on April 7, starting a three-day riot.
``I hope that this walk becomes a tradition,'' he said Saturday as some of the group stopped
to buy fruit from a sidewalk vendor. ``We want people to feel that they have been a part
of the process of peace.''
Belafonte, active in the civil rights movement to end segregation and build racial equality
in the 1950s and 1960s, said watching the violence and rioting on television bothered him.
``I was surprised,'' he said. ``I thought things were a little more together here.''
Belafonte was in Cincinnati as part of a two-day Urban Peace & Freedom Summit, sponsored by
the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center.
Harry Belafonte In Cincinnati
Updated!
BartCop TV!
Visit the site at BC TV
The 'Vidiot' never seems to rest - and doesn't let little things like laundry or
housekeeping get in the way!
Damn near every show on TV must is listed - days & days worth of great reading.
For an amazing variety of information on an awesome array of tv programs check out
BC TV!
Sunday Morning
Leonids
Several Leonids meteors are seen streaking through the sky over Joshua Tree National Park, Calif.,
looking to the south in the Southern California desert in this approximately 25-minute time exposure
ending at 3:45 a.m. PST (11:45 UT) Sunday, Nov. 18, 2001. Two are visable at center, one partly
hidden behind a Joshua tree branch. Two more faint meteors are just above the scrub brush at lower
right, and two other faint meteors appear at top and center left.. The Leonid shower occurs each
November, whenthe Earth's orbit takes it through a trail of dust particles left by the Comet
Tempel-Tuttle, which swings around the sun once every 33 years. The horizontal streaks are
stars and or planets.
Photo by Reed Saxon
And On The Other Side Of The Planet
Leonids In Thailand
Meteors shower across the night sky over Prachinburi province, 95 kilometers (59 miles) east of Bangkok
early Monday, Nov. 19, 2001.
The Leonid meteor shower was the biggest seen in Asia for decades. People all over Thailand, except in
the cloudy southern part of the country, were able to see the rare phenomenon.
Photo by Sakchai Lalit
And More Leonids
Muju County, South Korea
Leonids meteors are seen streaking through the sky in Muju county, 300 kilometers, southwest of
Seoul, South Korea Monday, Nov. 19, 2001.
Photo by Yonhap
eBay Auction News
Madonna's Childhood Home
The Material Girl's childhood home went to the highest bidder in just 12 minutes.
Sam Michael, representing an Ohio real estate group, bought Madonna's former Oakland
County home and a few items of rock memorabilia with a bid of $331,000 Saturday afternoon.
``I had no idea this was going to happen,'' Michael told The Detroit News for a Sunday
story. ``It was very exhilarating.''
Michael said he hopes to profit by reselling the 1.3-acre wooded property.
About 15 people walked through the four-bedroom house and 10 registered to bid by posting
$25,000 deposits. The auction drew online participants from as far as Nevada and Florida - some
of whom wanted to turn the home into a shrine. Others, carrying cameras instead of checkbooks,
simply came to see where Madonna spent her teen years. Posters, pictures and an encyclopedia
on Madonna were arranged on an outside table. Some of her hits played over a loudspeaker.
The singer lived at the residence with her father, stepmother and seven siblings from the age
of 12 until she left for the University of Michigan. Her father and stepmother stayed there
until July, when the house was sold for $270,000.
Saturday marked the second try at selling the home after an Internet auction on the Web site
eBay attracted pranksters who bid as high as $99 million.
Madonna's Childhood Home Auctioned
She Who Brings Shame To The Name 'Martha'
That Stewart Woman
Martha Stewart has her employees muttering "Bah, humbug!" over her parsimonious plan to
save money on the company Christmas party.
The home economics guru e-mailed 65 staffers at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia requesting
that instead of one big bash, they host holiday bashes in their own homes, each for 10
co-workers. To make it even more awkward, they don't get to pick their guests.
"Since the objective of these dinners is to get to know people from Martha Stewart Living
Omnimedia, guests will be chosen at random," Stewart dictated, Women's Wear Daily reports.
She offered each "volunteer" $300 "to help defray some of the costs of hosting" - costing
Stewart a measly $19,500 instead of the $100,000 or more a real party would have cost.
Unsurprisingly, "volunteers" were slow to come forward and invite a pot-luck crowd,
despite the fact that Martha herself said she'd do the same. Sensing their reluctance,
Stewart e-mailed another edict, laying a guilt trip on her underlings and even accusing
them of cowering before Osama bin Laden's terror crew.
"This is a very, very special year, not just for MSO, but for every company and
person affected by the events of Sept. 11," Stewart wrote. "To me, the terrorists
have certainly succeeded if so few of you participate in a company-wide effort to 'get together.' "
This goaded a few more people into participating, sources say, but many others are still balking.
A rep for Stewart insists no one's being forced into compliance and notes, "We're
still considering a number of options" - all no doubt designed to cost Martha as little as possible.
She Who Brings Shame To The Name 'Martha'
New!
In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends
To check out 'Train Station Chicken', and more (like 'Cranberry Autumn Tea'),
In The Kitchen With BartCop
At Memorial Service For AA Flight 587
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) talks with mourners during a memorial service for the victims
of American Airlines Flight 587, at Jacob Riis Park in the Rockaways, approximately two miles from
the crash site, November 18, 2001.
The airliner, which was bound for the Dominican Republic, crashed November 12 in Belle Harbor in
the Rockaways just a few minutes after taking off from Kennedy Airport, killing 260 on board and five on the ground.
Photo by Craig T. Warga
Liberal Radio !
Erin Hart
Liberal radio online - what a concept! Listen from 1 am to 5 am (pst) Tuesday and Thursday from
noon to 3 pm (pst)
at www.710kiro.com
There's even a chatroom!
We generally have a pretty good time...
More Digital Alterations From CBS
Whitney Houston
After noticing how deathly thin Whitney Houston looked during Michael Jackson's "comeback" concert
at Madison Square Garden, CBS - which bought rights to air the show for $4 million - was considering
cutting out her performance altogether. Instead, her image was digitally altered. According to Splash
News, which took photos of the concert, CBS beefed Houston up and smoothed her skin to erase the
bones that gave her a skeletal look.
CBS Digitally Altering, Again
More From The El Rey Theatre
Mick Jagger
Blink. We all missed Mick Jagger's tour.
That is, unless you were in L.A. Thursday night with Jack Nicholson, Meg Ryan, Billy Crudup,
Heath Ledger and others as Jurassic Jagger performed tunes from his new album, "Goddess in
the Doorway," at the tiny El Rey Theater.
"This is the world tour for this album," said the fit-at-58 rocker. "You can say you were at every gig."
Fear not: The Jaggernaut will still roll our way. On Thursday, ABC will air "Being Mick," a
documentary that reveals a more open and reflective star than we've seen before. Ditto a profile
in Rolling Stone magazine, in which Jagger confides that he has written many sensitive ballads
over the years — songs that bandmate Keith Richards has vetoed. "More fast numbers, that's
the dictum from Keith," Jagger lets on.
But the kinder, gentler Jagger comes out on the album, in duets with Bono, Lenny Kravitz,
Wyclef Jean, Pete Townshend and others. He even reveals his spirituality in "Joy," about
"the joy of creation, inspiring you to a love of God," Jagger told writer David Fricke.
He has become more resolute since Sept. 11, he says: "It's a difficult time. But
we're living in this together."
Perhaps his approaching 60th birthday, coupled with the 40th anniversary of the Rolling
Stones, is cause for reflection. The singer allows in the documentary that he's disappointed
he has never been dubbed Sir Mick. Paul McCartney, Elton John, Bob Geldof — heck, even Cliff
Richard — all have been knighted. Clues to why Mick hasn't can be found in "Old Gods Almost
Dead," Stephen Davis' new book on the Stones, which details (shock!) Jagger's arrest for
possession of speed and (gasp!) his illegitimate children.
More Mick Jagger At The El Rey
Audio Files From BC
Bonus Page Link
Looking for some 'Garbage'?
Here are some MP3 files from BC
2001 Diversity Awards
Angie & Ving
Actor Ving Rhames and model Angie Everhart pose with the 2001 Diversity Award that he received during the
9th annual Diversity Awards at the Hollywood and Highland Ballroom in Los Angeles November 17, 2001. The
black-tie gala presented awards for creative accomplishments and contributions to diversity in television and film.
Photo by Jim Ruymen
She Says She's On The Verge Of Womanhood (!)
Britney Spears
Just days from her 20th birthday, pop star Britney Spears says her new ballad, ``I'm
Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman,'' is her favorite song because it captures her state of mind.
In the song on her new album, ``Britney,'' Spears sings of being at an age where she feels
she's ``caught in the middle.''
``It's really where I'm at right now,'' Spears said in Sunday's edition of the Los Angeles
Daily News. ``Yes, I'm on the verge of being a woman. I need my own identity. I need
to grow and do things on my own.''
Spears, who leaves her teen-age years behind on Dec. 2, is on tour through late December.
She's Only On The Verge?
Let's see...she lives with her boyfriend, but isn't old enough to legally drink....yeah, she's
on the verge...LOLOL
New! Updated!
(6 Nov, 2001)
The official BartCop Astrologer, Geneva, has provided another eye-opening set of charts!
A brief excerpt: " "The influence of the opposition across the 3rd/9th axis may indicate
we have more to fear from domestic terrorism than a foreign entity. Sagittarius on the cusp
of the foreign 9th house, with ruler Jupiter in Cancer, the sign most closely associated with
home and country, in the home 4th, shows the source of anthrax and other bio-chemical threats
are more likely from within our own borders; by a home grown group of domestic terrorists. The
recent wave of breast beating, chest thumping, and flag waving can be attributed to the most
excessive planet (Jupiter) transiting the most exorbitantly patriotic and jingoistic sign (Cancer).
Jupiter also has jurisdiction over religion, so the source of these dreadful bio-terrorist attacks
could very well be a group with a strongly opinionated religious axe to grind. "
Very interesting reading!
'Waterproofing' Rocco Ritchie
An 'Aqua Tot'
Madonna's baby is going on his own Drowned World tour.
Rocco Ritchie has joined a group called Aqua Tots, which teaches that babies can hold their
breath and swim naturally if thrown into the water, the London's Sunday Express reports.
The Material Mom's 1-year-old son will get private lessons - part of a three-month course
that can end with him qualifying as a "Whale."
"Rocco took well to the water and enjoyed himself," said instructor Evy Bentzon.
Many parents with children in the group are angry that Madonna opted to give her son private lessons.
Madonna's personal assistant rented the entire 10th floor of the London facility and made
sure it was sealed off to other swimmers.
"We were looking forward to seeing Rocco joining," said Mary McMullan, 27, who takes her son
to the group lessons. "We were disappointed that even as a 1-year-old he's too grand for the rest of us."
Rocco & Swimming Lessons
Wednesday, On 'The Tonight Show'
Rodney Gets Respect & U2 !
Rodney Dangerfield is getting some respect from ``The Tonight Show'' for his 80th birthday.
Dangerfield will be saluted by ``Tonight'' host Jay Leno and in taped birthday
greetings from actors and fellow comics on the NBC late-night show Wednesday.
Dangerfield, whose long-running gag is that he gets no respect, turns 80 on Thanksgiving. He has
appeared in movies including ``Caddyshack'' and ``Little Nicky.''
For the holiday, the ``Tonight'' show will feature a first-time appearance by U2. The rock band
will be part of a special Thanksgiving Day telecast going live to U.S. troops worldwide on Armed
Forces Radio and Television Service.
The show will be seen on tape during its regularly scheduled time, 11:35 p.m. EST, on NBC.
Rodney Dangerfield Turns 80!
I thought the best perfomance in a film by Rodney was 'Natural Born Killers'...really
creeped me out, wonder why that one isn't mentioned?
2001 Diversity Award
Cuba & Nichelle
Actress Nichelle Nichols gives actor Cuba Gooding Jr. a hug during the 9th annual Diversity
Awards at the Hollywood and Highland Ballroom in Los Angeles November 17, 2001. Gooding was
the recipient of a 2001 Diversity Award. The black-tie gala presented awards for creative
accomplishments and contributions to diversity in television and film.
Photo by Jim Ruymen
Scarred Heartthrob
Brad Pitt
Hollywood heartthrob Brad Pitt admits he has only been dumped by a woman once, but says
the experience scarred him forever.
In an interview published in the Sunday Express, Pitt said the life-altering experience happened
in Budapest in May 1989. His fiancee of three months, actress Jill Schoelen, told him she had
fallen in love with another man.
``It was one of my worst moments,'' Pitt said.
``You don't forget something like that and maybe I've never quite got over the feeling of humiliation.
``It may have affected the way I've conducted some relationships since.''
Now married to ``Friends'' star Jennifer Aniston, the man twice named People magazine's
``Sexiest Man Alive'' previously loved and left some of Tinsel Town's most beautiful
women, notably actress Gwyneth Paltrow.
His return to Budapest to film his latest movie, ``Spy Game,'' co-starring Robert Redford and
directed by Tony Scott, brought back memories of that first love disaster.
``I'm superstitious about such things,'' he said. ``I didn't want Jennifer to visit me on set.''
Pitt recently said in another interview he was bored with films and did not see his Hollywood
career extending past the next seven years.
Pitt also admitted to undergoing therapy to deal with his fame.
Brad Pitt
Another Ugly Duckling Story?
Gwyneth Paltrow
It wasn't always easy being Gwyneth Paltrow, especially during those awkward high-school
years. "I was skinny and had braces and had a bad haircut," she tells YM magazine of her
days at Spence, the posh Park Avenue girls' school.
"My mother would always tell me how beautiful I was, but I wasn't. I was gawky and boys
didn't like me." Paltrow says she was tormented by a more popular classmate who "used
to get other classmates to call me and tell me the popular boys from other schools
wanted to date me. But it was all a lie."
Another Ugly Duckling Tale
BC Entertainment Favorite Link
Moose & Squirrel Information One-Stop
http://geocities.com/mooseandsquirrel1
What a great site! Information and reference materials of the first order!
Between 'Moose & Squirrel' and 'Google', who needs 'refdesk'!
Longtime Bodyguard, Aspiring Author
Another OJ Book
O.J. Simpson's longtime and loyal bodyguard has turned to fiction to tell his version of the truth.
Tom Gleason, an aspiring actor and writer, probably missed his big payday by keeping quiet for years.
But now, he's pinned his writing ambitions on a novel called "Closer to the Truth."
The story is told through the eyes of bodyguard "Michael T. Page" (whose initials make a pun for
"empty page") and chronicles the daily life of former football hero "J.D. Sutton," the most
hated man in America because it's believed he killed his ex-wife and her friend.
Sutton beats the rap in criminal court before losing a civil trial. Sound familiar?
"It's a fictional story, really. This is not a Simpson book," a laughing Gleason told The Post last week.
In this fictional account, Gleason didn't drop any major Simpson bombshells. But he does
offer a few fictional morsels that could tickle the imagination. They include:
* In a ghoulish experiment, Sutton's criminal defense lawyers draw blood from their private
investigator and splash it on a leather glove.
The clear implication is that Simpson's defense was desperate to knock down evidence that O.J.
might have dropped a bloody glove.
* In the book, a cash-strapped Sutton pushes hard to do a nationally televised lie-detector test
before nervous civil lawyers talked him out of it.
A key moment in the real-life civil trial came when plaintiffs showed that Simpson miserably
failed a polygraph test.
Another Book About OJ
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Still Really Like This One....
"Boondocks" (9 Oct 01)
Gonna let it ride for awhile.
Still MISSING
Marc Chagall's "Study for 'Over Vitebsk'"
