'TBH Politoons'
Thanks, again, Tim!
Baron Dave Romm
Desperation X-Mas
By Baron Dave Romm
It looks like the conservative news media is lying again, claiming the economy is looking up. The best indicator of how things are going is, and has been for a couple of decades, when Christmas begins. During boom years, we don't get pummeled by beer-swilling Santas selling tampons until after Thanksgiving. When times are bad... *whew* it seems like they start at Labor Day and really get rolling right after Halloween. This year, some ads started after July 4th. I've never seen retailers this desperate before.
Aside: When did Halloween become a major holiday? When I was a lad, stores would have a few pumpkins and maybe a skeleton or two as decoration. And lots and lots of candy, even little candies to drop in bags. Now, orange is everywhere. Makes everything look like the insides of a McDonalds. Then we skip Veteran's Day and slip right into X-Mas Overdrive. Now you know why Santa's Workshop in in the North Pole. Elves would flee the constant muzak and forced cheer if there was anywhere to go.
Let's start with some good Bartcop-E cheer. Send a nice letter to Marty, maybe with a review or printable comment! Subscribe to Bartcop and buy books through his link to booksellers. Buy a unique and collectable Disinfotainment Today mug (or just send Dare some money, it will make you feel good). Support the advertisers, send nice notes about contributions, tell your friends, etc.
Annoy the Taliban wing of the GOP. Send a gift subscription to the Utne Reader or The New Republic or The New Yorker. Donate to The Democratic Underground or get neat stuff from the DU Store. Say nice things about Media Whores Online (I'd send them a buck or two if I could figure out how to do it), trw, subscribe to Salon.com or if you're already a Premium member give a gift subscription. Support Buzzflash AND get any one of their premiums.
Annoy Halliburton and the BFEE by subscribing to Consumer Reports.
He's dead, but lives on. Support Pat Paulsen for President! Click on the Collectables link for t-shirts, DVDs, Best TV bits etc etc. Amaze your friends, confuse your enemies.
Need some wrapping paper for your favorite geek? Print out pi to ten thousand places. Use colored paper or download into a text file and change to font color. Adds panache to any present and doesn't cost much. Personalize the wrapping paper.
Television viewing is down, especially among younger male viewers who are gullible enough to buy things they see in commercials. TV networks haven't come to grips with the reason: TV is not worth watching. Good shows get dropped, mediocre shows get promoted, broadcast networks lie about their schedules and change things at the last minute, show start times are variable, commercial breaks are longer and longer and longer and shows are shorter and shorter. One solution: Get a life. Another solution: Subscribe to Netflix. Use one of their promo codes (ask me or another subscriber) to get a couple of weeks free.
Give a unique gift and come to Marscon, March 5-7 2004. Join Richard Biggs, Dr. Demento, the Great Luke Ski, Baron Dave Romm and many more at a medium-sized science fiction/media convention in Minneapolis. Preregistration ends in January. Join for yourself, your family and your friends. You know you want to be here for this.
Well, that's enough for now. Anyone have suggestions they'd like me to pass on? Anything you'd like me to research? An obscure song or album for me to track down? Write me with requests/suggestions/comments/ego-building compliments. No guarantee, alas, but after eating all that Thanksgiving food, a prolonged period of sitting down is called for. I've heard the Google uses up calories when you visit a site it finds...
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.
He's B-a-a-a-a-a-c-c-c-k!
The Worried Shrimp
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Not as sunny or warm, but still quite pleasant.
Starting Monday, 'NOW With Bill Moyers' is available, in its entirety, for your online viewing pleasure.
The kid's teacher has been out on a pregnancy leave - he's had a sub since the first day of school this year. He's hoping she doesn't assign as much homework.
Tonight, Monday, CBS begins the evening with a RERUN 'Yes, Dear', followed by a RERUN 'Still Standing', then a
RERUN 'Raymond', followed by a RERUN '2½ Men', then a RERUN 'CSI: Miami'.
On a RERUN Dave are Howard Stern, Iggy Pop, and Sum 41.
On a RERUN Craiggers are Joe Pantoliano, Elizabeth Rohm, and the Ataris.
NBC opens the night with a FRESH 'Fear Factor', followed by a FRESH 'Las Vegas', then a FRESH 'Average Joe'.
Schedueled on a FRESH Jay are Tom Cruise, Keisha Castle-Hughes, and Tori Amos.
On a traditional Monday night RERUN Conan are Denis Leary, Rocco Dispirito, and the Black Keys.
Schedueled on a FRESH Carson Daly are Danny Aiello, Drea de Matteo, and Anthrax.
ABC has 'MNF' and 'Primetime Monday'. East coast gets 'Primetime', then the game. Left coast gets the game first.
Schedueled on a FRESH Jimmy Kimmel are Wayne Gretzky and Dwayne Kennedy, with this week's guest co-host Lenny Clarke.
The WB offers a RERUN '7th Heaven', followed by a RERUN 'Everwood'.
Faux has the movie 'The Wedding Singer'.
UPN has a RERUN 'The Parkers', followed by a RERUN 'Eve', then a RERUN
'Girlfriends', followed by a RERUN 'Half & Half'.
A&E has 'American Justice', 'Biography' (Will Smith), 'Cold Case Files', and 'City Confidential'.
AMC offers the movie 'Scent Of A Woman', followed by the 'special' - 'Nicole Kidman: An American Cinematheque Tribute', then the movie 'The Horse Whisperer'.
BBC -
[6pm] 'BBC World News';
[6:30pm ] 'Cash in the Attic' - Johnson;
[7pm] 'House Invaders' - Maerdy;
[7:30pm] 'Changing Rooms' - Ealing;
[8pm] 'Murder in Mind' - Echoes;
[9pm] 'Waking the Dead' - Multi-Story;
[11pm] 'Murder in Mind' - Echoes;
[12:00 am] 'Waking the Dead' - Multi-Story;
[2am] 'Murder in Mind' - Echoes;
[3am] 'Waking the Dead' - Multi-Story;
[5am] 'Murder in Mind' - Echoes; and
[6am] 'BBC World News'. (ALL TIMES EST)
Bravo has 'West Wing', the movie 'Silence Of The Lambs', 'Queer Eye', and 'West Wing'.
Schedueled on a FRESH Jon Stewart is Adam Goldberg.
History has 'Modern Marvels', 'Mail Call', 'Guts & bolts', 'Car Tech Of The Future', and 'UFOs: Then & Now'.
MTV offers the '46664' concert to mark World AIDs Day.
SciFi is all 'Stargate SG-1' all night.
TCM -
[6am] 'The Student Prince In Old Heidelberg' (1927) SILENT - directed by
Ernst Lubitsch ;
[8am] 'The King And The Chorus Girl' (1937);
[10am] 'Her Highness And The Bellboy' (1945);
[12pm] 'Princess O'Rourke' (1943);
[2pm] 'Pat And Mike' (1952);
[4pm] 'Georgy Girl' (1966);
[6pm] 'The Talk Of The Town' (1942);
[8pm] 'Pillow Talk' (1959);
[10pm] 'Adam's Rib' (1949);
[12am] 'The Shop Around The Corner' (1940);
[2am] 'I Was A Male War Bride' (1949); and
[4am] 'The Bride Came C.O.D.' (1941). (ALL TIMES EST)
A fan holds a large look-a-like head of Joey Ramone while hundreds of people gathered at the corner of Second Street and the Bowery in New York City, November 30, 2003 as the street was officially named 'Joey Ramone Place.' Ramone's corner is on the north side of the block that houses CBGB, the legendary club where the Ramones helped usher in punk rock in the United States. Ramone died from cancer in April 2001.
Photo by Jeff Christensen
The Information One-Stop
Moose & Squirrel
Resigns From Disney Co. Board
Roy Disney
Disney vice chairman Roy E. Disney has resigned from the media giant's board of directors, reportedly calling on chairman Michael Eisner to resign also.
Disney's resignation may be a pre-emptive move to avoid being forced off the board of The Walt Disney Co. The board's governance and nominating committee has decided not to recommend Disney for another term because he is over the mandated retirement age of 72, sources close to the company said Sunday.
The full board is scheduled to meet Monday and Tuesday in New York; board membership is on the meeting agenda.
Roy Disney
Panda Shuan Shuan eats bamboo at Mexico City's Chapultepec Zoo on Sunday, Nov. 30, 2003. Shuan Shuan will leave Mexico City to engage in a breeding mission with the only resident giant panda, Ling Ling, at Tokyo's Ueno Zoo.
Photo by Eduardo Verdugo
Helps Wildfire Victims
John Amos
Actor John Amos had to do something when he heard about a man driven out of his home so quickly by last month's wildfires that he didn't have time to grab his shoes.
Dan Knight, his fiancee Tracy Barker and her 17-year-old son lost their home to the fire that burned across San Bernardino County. Flames raced down on them so quickly on Oct. 24 that they barely got out with the clothes on their backs.
Amos has given them $500 for food and gas, sent them clothes and sent a limousine to take them to a taping of television's "All About the Andersons" in which he co-stars.
He has offered more help, but Knight, a 50-year-old carpenter, is reluctant to take it.
John Amos
Denies U.S. Charges
Al Arabiya TV
Arab television station Al Arabiya denied on Sunday U.S. allegations that it was linked to insurgents in Iraq and asked American officials to prove the accusations or retract them.
"Al Arabiya news channel has never aired any footage of an attack against coalition forces. Its reporters have never been in close proximity to such attacks. Nor have they cooperated with any persons with a view to filming such an attack," an Al Arabiya statement said.
Iraqi police shut down Al Arabiya's Baghdad office last week after the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council said it would take legal action against the channel for inciting violence by airing an audio tape purportedly from ousted president Saddam Hussein.
Al Arabiya TV
In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends
Returned To Egypt
Two Mummies
Switzerland returned more than 200 ancient artifacts, including two mummies, to Egypt on Friday, three months after they were discovered in a customs warehouse.
The mummies as well as sarcophagi, statues and masks were seized in August during an investigation of the illegal excavation and export of the objects, the Swiss Justice Ministry said in a statement.
Switzerland is a major hub in the international art and antiquities trade.
Two Mummies
A Myanmar pro-democracy activist puts an Aung San Suu Kyi pin on his lapel during a protest. Democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi marked six months in detention with Myanmar's military rulers showing no hint of when she may be freed.
Photo by Kim Jae-Hwan
Sexually Abused as Child
Ozzy Osbourne
British heavy metal singer Ozzy Osbourne said in a newspaper interview on Monday that he was sexually abused as a child.
The former Black Sabbath frontman, who won a new generation of fans with a fly-on-the-wall TV series set in his Beverly Hills home, said the abuse took place when he was a schoolboy in central England.
He said he was too scared to tell his parents and that he needed counseling later in life to come to terms with it.
"When I was a kid, people did not talk about these things like they do know," he said. "I worked it out with a therapist."
Ozzy Osbourne
Alaska Controversy Heats Up
Ice Hotel
The state fire marshal has put a freeze on construction of an ice hotel near Fairbanks, but the man behind the subarctic architecture is still chipping away.
The Alaska Fire Marshal's office on Nov. 21 ordered a halt to construction of the planned Aurora Ice Hotel at Chena Hot Springs Resort, citing unspecified building code and public safety concerns.
The 30-foot-high, seven-room Gothic palace was intended to be a tourist draw similar to ice hotels in Scandinavia and Quebec. Creator Bernie Karl had planned to charge guests $878 for a two-person, two-night stay that included Arctic-grade sleeping bags and other survival gear.
Karl is continuing work with champion ice carver Steve Brice, but now says what he's building isn't a hotel, but one of Alaska's largest works of art.
Ice Hotel
Formerly 'The Vidiot'
Returns After Six Years
Missing Dog
Jeanie Flores did a double-take when she glanced out the window of her Wichita home this week. The brindle-colored Lab and chow mix outside looked like Bear, the family pet who disappeared in November 1997.
"Oh my God. I think that's my dog!" she thought to herself.
She called the dog's name. When he responded, she started bawling.
The dog's whereabouts for the past six years and his surprise return two days before Thanksgiving remain a mystery.
For more, Missing Dog
Actress Jane Fonda rise her arm after a meeting with women activists in Guatemala City Sunday Nov. 30, 2003. Fonda will meet with Human Right Activist and both presidential candidates.
Photo by Moises Castillo
Arrested
Joey Lauren Adams
Actress Joey Lauren Adams, who appeared in "Chasing Amy" and "Big Daddy," was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving, police said.
Adams, 38, was later released on her own recognizance, the San Diego Union Tribune reported.
Police said she was arrested early Friday after an officer saw her pull into a gas station and stop after hitting the curb a few times.
Joey Lauren Adams
Concedes Defeat In Hong Kong
Australian Crocodile Hunter
An Australian hunter who once boasted he would just "walk in and grab" a stray crocodile in Hong Kong walked away empty-handed Thursday after giving up the chase.
"All crocodiles are catchable - some take longer than others," John Lever told reporters as he called it quits. He failed for four nights straight to even spot Hong Kong's wily 1.2-metre crocodile.
The croc farmer from Queensland state said he expects the Australian media to give him a major ribbing when he flies home over the weekend, but he said he's thick-skinned enough to take it.
Australian Crocodile Hunter
In Memory
Gertrude Ederle
Gertrude Ederle, who was the toast of America and Europe in 1926 when she became the first woman to swim the English Channel, died Sunday. She was 97.
Ederle had spent the last several years living at the Christian Health Care Center in Wyckoff, N.J., about 25 miles northwest of New York City, said Martin Ward, whose wife is one of Ederle's 10 surviving nieces and nephews.
In a roaring decade where Americans cheered daredevils, few were as celebrated as Ederle, who was 19 when she made her historic swim on Aug. 6, 1926.
"People said women couldn't swim the channel," Ederle told The Associated Press in a 2001 interview marking the 75th anniversary of her feat. "I proved they could."
When she returned to her native land, there were celebrations, receptions and a roaring ticker-tape parade for her in New York, her hometown. She met President Calvin Coolidge, was paid thousands to tour in vaudeville, played herself in a movie ("Swim, Girl, Swim") and had a song and a dance step named for her.
Only five men had succeeded in swimming the channel before her, and she beat the record by more than two hours.
Ederle (pronounced ED-er-lee) swam the choppy, treacherous stretch under the most adverse conditions, battling rip tides, cross currents, driving rain and mountainous seas, as well as a constant threat of floating debris, poisonous jellyfish and sharks. She left Cape Griz-Nez, France, at 7:05 a.m. and stumbled ashore at Kingsdown, England, 14 hours and 30 minutes later.
Because of the stormy weather, she had swum 35 miles in crossing the 21-mile-wide channel. Yet her time for the crossing stood for 24 years before it was broken in 1950 by Florence Chadwick, who negotiated 23 miles in 13 hours and 20 minutes.
Gertrude Ederle
In Memory
Edmund L. Hartmann
Screenwriter Edmund L. Hartmann, who wrote zany comedies for Bob Hope, Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis and the Three Stooges, died at his home in Santa Fe. He was 92.
Hartmann, who died Friday, also wrote comedies for Abbott and Costello and Lucille Ball, and penned film noir mysteries in a career that spanned more than 60 years.
His Bob Hope scripts were for "Paleface" (1948), "Sorrowful Jones" (1949), "Fancy Pants" (1950) and "The Lemon Drop Kid" (1951). He wrote "The Caddy" in 1953 for Martin and Lewis.
His other titles include Sherlock Holmes thrillers "The Scarlet Claw" and "Sherlock Holmes in Washington."
Hartmann also worked in television, and was the producer of "My Three Sons" for several seasons. He also worked on "A Family Affair," "The Eve Arden Show" and one of Henry Fonda's rare TV series, "The Smith Family."
Hartmann worked at several Hollywood studios but considered his Paramount years the best.
He moved to Santa Fe in 1988 and was awarded the Golden Chili Award for Lifetime Achievement in 1999 by the Santa Fe Film Critics Circle.
Edmund L. Hartmann
A monkey eats watermelon on a round table 10 meters (33 feet) in diameter in Lopburi Province, north of Bangkok, Thailand, on Sunday, Nov. 30, 2003 during the annual monkey festival which has been hosted since 1989 by a local businessman who believes the monkeys were behind his family's good fortune. A total of 2,000 kilograms (4,400 pounds) of fruits were offered to the monkeys roaming the area.
Photo by Sakchai Lalit
'The Osbournes'
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