'TBH Politoons'
Thanks, again, Tim!
Baron Dave Romm
Nifty Gifts II
By Baron Dave Romm
Thanksgiving at my brother's was a chance to see family, as usual. This year, I also got to read my cousin's new book and see some of my brother's as yet unpublished manuscripts. The holidays are a family time, for coming together and to brag.
As a kid, my mother had stacks of underground newspapers all over
the house, and later had piles of children's books on the dining room
table and in every conceivable bookshelf cranny. Ethel Grodzins
Romm's book on underground newspapers in the 1960's, The
Open Conspiracy, is still available (with hundreds of comics and
cartoons from them), as is one as her books on helping children to
learn to read, Strategies
in Reading (amazon.com says it's available, anyway).
They're out of the radon detection business so the company name
doesn't make any sense anymore, but if you want lead testing and XRF
analysis, Niton Corp. is the
place to go. She ran the company for several years, while cousin Hal is current President.
If you see her at any of the industry trade shows (and she's hard to
miss), say hello.
While my brother Joe's book(s) on Shakespeare and Hamlet aren't published yet, his energy efficiency book is: Cool Companies: How the Best Businesses Boost Profits and Productivity by Cutting Greenhouse Gas Emissions remains one of the blueprints on the subject. Joe knows the field from the inside, and writes seriously using real business examples on a subject many more would profit from understanding. He frequently speaks on the energy efficiency and pops up on tv news shows now and again. Watch for him.
My uncle's family grew up in Lexington, within walking distance of
The
Shot Heard 'Round the World. At the sight of the battle is a statue of Capt. John
Parker, leader of the band of
Minutemen. My cousin's interest in Capt. Parker led to his
interest in Parker's grandson, Rev.
Theodore Parker, perhaps the most influential American of whom
you've never heard.
Rev. Parker was a New England minister and friend to such people as
Ralph Waldo Emerson, and his religious thinking evolved through
Transcendentalism to Unitarianism. He was a famous speaker and his
sermons were widely published. He died relatively young at the
beginning of the Civil War, and that event and longer-living people
overshadowed his efforts. Dean
Grodzin's PhD Thesis has now evolved into American
Heretic: Theodore Parker and Transcendentalism about the
reverend's early life. Dean's writing is clear and lucid, and bring
Parker's early life and religious struggles close to home. The
reader can smell the seminary dorm rooms and hear the rustle of
parishioner's linen as they feel the pain of Parker's personal
tragedies and read his changing thoughts on the Bible. A must for
those interested in US history leading to the Civil War as well as
for those wondering how colonial Puritans became modern Unitarians.
My aunt Anne Lipow took her experience working with the library at the Univerisity of California at Berkeley to develop Library Solutions for reference librarians and anyone who wants to make a library easier to use. She was one of the earliest proponents of adding the net to a library's arsenal of reference tools as well as one of the people who understood the power of the Web in helping people find information. Her Rethinking Reference section contains a lot of hints and links to other articles on the subject. She's a great speaker (and a wonderful aunt!) and if she holds a presentation or seminar in your area, be sure to drop by and chat.
Okay, so they're second cousins (more or less) and I haven't seen them in a while, but the Slesins took me to my first sushi bar and it's about time I reciprocated.
Think your cell phone is safe to use? Maybe, maybe not, but whenever Louis Slesin's Microwave News comes out with a report, a whole bunch of people who are vested in the status quo spend a lot of time putting the report down, even the UK government. Even the Pentagon is developing microwave weapons. Here's a transcript of him on Lou Dobb's Moneyline.
Aviva Slesin is an Oscar winning producer (for The Ten Year Lunch, The Wit and Legend of the Algonquin Round Table; list here, at the bottom. She's been around for a while and was Editor of The Rutles, the parody of the Beatles by Eric Idle and co. In Voices In Celebration, she explores the many ways in which art can move, amuse, challenge, and enrich. Watch for her other works!
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 Another Fresh One!
The Worried Shrimp
Reader Link
from Ms Ducks
Bonus Komix
from Rob C
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
A bit overcast but the sun broke through in the afternoon.
Still no Ginger.
Tonight, Monday, CBS starts the night with a RERUN 'King Of Queens' then a RERUN 'Yes, Dear', followed by a fresh 'Raymond', then a fresh 'Still Standing', and cap it all with a RERUN 'CSI: Miami'.
Scheduled on a fresh Dave are Jennifer Lopez and Sum 41.
Scheduled on a fresh Craiggers are Tia Carrere and the Flaming Lips.
NBC has a fresh 'Fear Factor', then a fresh 'Third Watch' followed by a fresh 'Crossing Jordan'.
Scheduled on a fresh Jay are George Clooney, Julianna Margulies, and the Vines.
On a RERUN Conan are Caroline Rhea, Tracy Morgan, and the Strokes. (R)
On a RERUN Carson Daly (from 9/26/02), are Joe Rogan and Jimmy Fallon.
ABC has 'MNF', where the Bears visit in Miami. Depending on your time zone, a fresh 'Monk' is scheduled either before or after the game.
The WB has a RERUN '7th Heaven' and a RERUN 'Everwood'.
Faux has 'The 2002 Billboard Music Awards', hosted by Cedric the Entertainer.
UPN has a RERUN 'The Parkers', a RERUN 'One On One', a RERUN 'Girlfriends', and a RERUN 'Half & Half'.
A&E announces the 'Biography Of The Year 2002'.
Anyone have any opinions?
Or reviews?
(See below for addresses)
James, Elizabeth, Paul, Chita & James
Kennedy Center Honors
Washington's political elite mingled with Hollywood celebrities, musicians and Broadway stars Sunday as the nation's capitol paid tribute to five artistic icons.
Actress Elizabeth Taylor, actor James Earl Jones, singer-songwriter Paul Simon, Broadway musical star Chita Rivera and conductor James Levine were feted at this
year's 25th anniversary Kennedy Center Honors.
Simon, who rose to fame in the duo Simon and Garfunkel, known for such anthems as "Bridge Over Troubled Waters" before scoring multiple hits as a solo artist, replaced
former Beatle Paul McCartney, who pulled out of the award ceremony this summer because it clashed with a family wedding.
Those honored left even Secretary of State Colin Powell a bit starry-eyed when he admitted he was looking forward to meeting "the magnificent" Elizabeth Taylor.
Kennedy Center Honors
Urges Peace on Anniversary
Yoko Ono
Yoko Ono called for peace and global solidarity Sunday, the anniversary of the murder of her husband, the Beatle John Lennon, in New York 22 years ago.
"Even little children sing the song 'Imagine,' which shows John's spirit is living all around the world even 22 years later," Ono, 69, who is in Japan to take
part in a concert honoring Lennon, told Kyodo news agency in an interview.
Ono spent previous anniversaries of Lennon's death at their old New York apartment, but this year the Tokyo native will participate in Monday's concert in Saitama,
north of the capital.
Yoko Ono
Get Your War On Guy
David Rees
by Marion Delgado
Hey Bartcoppendales
Yo I just an hour ago came back from a gathering
at our local house club where three indy media guys
were giving cool raconteurish presentations. One was
David Rees who does 'Get Your War On'.
He's real tall kinda actor looking -- a ben
affleck type. Glad he's married. Be fun to follow him
around looking for turned-away groupies.
When it got to be his turn he read his strips out
loud for an hour ... most people had only seen one or
two i think. Many came for the other two people -- one
from Adbusters after all, and they're like gods in the
Eugene counterculture.
The adbusters guy is like a not-too-fat michael
moore - he writes sci fi novels, he left harper
collins cause of murdoch and now self publishes. he
tries to invoice companies if he mentions their
products and he showed videos of him doing that at
starbucks, the gap, and so on and read from his
letters to the companies ...
http://www.nomediakings.com.
A punk rock guy Andy who is a successful zine
seller ("My Name Is Johnny And I Do Not Give a Fuck")
told us punk group house and counterculture media frat
stories -- since they were punks (IE stupid) of course
the end is always heroin stories.
It was coolness itself though overall -- Rees's
in NYC downtown so between talking about that and his
Afghanistan mine thing we pretty much hit all the
highs of get your war on. He said some liberals wrote
him when they thought he was getting off message. He
said well I actually do these for me really -- the
message is how I happen to be feeling at any given
instant. Also since I just use clip art, well, I mean,
DRAW YOUR OWN FUCKING STRIP, GET IT?
The book is not just for him -- its royalties go
to a demining fund in Afghanistan. They figure to make
around 30,000 and 20,000 at the least. He said he'd
really like to make 50,000 and get one of those big
photo op checks and have it say "fifty thousand
fucking dollars!!!!!!!!" on it. To put it in context,
he said the total cost for a demining crew for a month
there is 15k.
He DID mention karate Snoopy, so the whole
evening was NOT a total loss.
Since it was just this informal thing with people
in chairs and on the floor we could sit and rap with
Rees and the others for quite a while. And the place,
this house two guys live in they call "My House"
(www.notmyhouse.com) is sweet. They gave us soup and
bread and some local guy who works at a bakery likes
'Get Your War On' so he sent over all the pastry that
did not sell and moreover it was one of the two guys
birthdays so they had three cakes. Christ, now I sound
like a hobbit.
=====
~~ Marion Delgado
Thanks, Marion! (Ain't no way you'd ever sound like a hobbit!)
Bartcop Entertainment - Saturday, 24 August, 2002 - Excerpted David Rees' story
The Independent Weekly: Chapel Hellion - David Rees Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Comedy Central Show This Thursday
Colin Quinn
Fasten that seat belt in your recliner: Colin Quinn aims to rock your viewing experience.
The gravelly voiced comic and manic social critic is previewing a new talk show on Comedy Central. For it, he will gather with a few of his comedian cronies to discuss the news of the day — and he promises no one is going to mince words.
"Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn" gets an eight-segment tryout Monday through Thursday this week and next at 11:30 p.m. EST, following "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart."
"I'm going to read the paper and say, `THIS is what I want to talk about tonight,'" Quinn says. "There'll be no democracy on my show. But there'll be lots of political
insights and personal backstabbing."
And if "Tough Crowd" clicks, he could be back making trouble on a regular basis as soon as March.
Colin Quinn
In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends
Recalled Recommendation
Amazon & Robertson
In a incident that highlights the pitfalls of online recommendation systems, Amazon.com on Friday removed a link to a sex manual that appeared next to a listing for a spiritual guide by
well-known Christian televangelist Pat Robertson.
The two titles were temporarily linked as a result of technology that tracks and displays lists of merchandise perused and purchased by Amazon visitors. Such promotions appear below the
main description for products under the title, "Customers who shopped for this item also shopped for these items."
Amazon removed the link to the sex manual earlier Friday after being notified of the listing. A section that shows direct suggestions by other customers still contained links to the book as of late Friday.
Amazon & Robertson
'Attack of the Clones'
from JD
from that madcat, JD...
Pays Record Sum for Vineyard
Francis Ford Coppola
Film director Francis Ford Coppola has agreed to pay $31.5 million — a wine industry record — for the Cohn Vineyard in Napa Valley.
The deal brings an end to a bidding war between Coppola and Robert Mondavi. The maker of "Apocalypse Now" and the "The Godfather" series will pay an
estimated $350,000 per acre for the prized vineyard, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
Coppola is a veteran vintner with more than 30 years experience in Napa Valley.
The Cohn Vineyard is renowned as one of the best locations to grow cabernet in Napa Valley, if not the world, said Mike Fisher, a vineyard expert with the
St. Helena consulting firm of Motto Kryla & Fisher.
Francis Ford Coppola
It's Tough Being Immortal
Liv Tyler
"It must be such a drag being 3,000 years old. What a burden -- the aching bones," she said, reflecting on her role as the elf princess Arwen who lives forever in the latest "Lord of the Rings" movie.
"It was hard as an actor to get your head around these characters who are so perfect and wise," she said of her part in the fantasy saga "The Lord of the Rings: The Two
Towers" that is released worldwide on December 18.
"It was hard to be an elf and to be in Tolkien's world." she told journalists on a promotional tour to Paris for the film's European premiere.
Traveling the world to give the film a publicity boost has offered Tyler some intriguing contrasts. "New York audiences participate and cheer in the exciting bits. They get
involved. In England, they are silent. Nobody talks."
For Tyler, it is now time to move on and she confessed she would love to make a musical.
Liv Tyler
Teen Hacker on Trial
Jon Lech Johansen
Jon Lech Johansen was only 15 when he wrote and distributed on the Internet for free a program that unlocked copy-protected DVDs, giving Hollywood nightmares and making him a folk hero among hackers.
Three years later, he's going on trial in an important test case for Norway's strict laws against computer piracy and hacking.
The proceedings begin Monday in Oslo District Court and are expected to last five days, with Johansen taking the stand. But whatever the trial's outcome, the digital copycat is well out of the bag.
The short program Johansen wrote is only one of many easily available programs that can break DVD security codes. One is included in a software package, sold by a U.S.
company, that even burns DVDs after cracking the copy protection.
Johansen, now 19 and known in Norway as "DVD Jon", became a rallying point for hackers, some of whom even marched in his support when witnessed at a New York trial
against others who had linked to his DeCSS program.
Jon Lech Johansen
Formerly 'The Vidiot'
More Than One!
Comedies In Development
Comedy development at the networks is starting to kick into high gear with word of a Whoopi Goldberg comedy at NBC and a heavyweight collaboration between "Drew Carey Show" creator
Bruce Helford and "Charlie's Angels" director McG at ABC.
Neither network was talking Thursday, but industry insiders said indie producer Carsey-Werner-Mandabach has sealed a deal with Goldberg to star in a half-hour comedy project for the NBC.
While Goldberg was a regular on the syndicated quizzer "Hollywood Squares" until this fall, she hasn't been a series regular since the short-lived CBS comedy "Bagdad Cafe" in 1990; she
also had a recurring role on "Star Trek: The Next Generation" around the same time.
Carsey-Werner-Mandabach, the company behind the resurgent "That '70s Show," is also developing major projects with Steve Martin, Tim Allen and "Survivor" executive producer Mark Burnett.
Meanwhile, ABC has made a high-six-figure commitment to a half-hour comedy starring Dan Finnerty of Hollywood cult fave the Dan Band. The project will be loosely based on Finnerty's own
blue-collar life. McG and Helford will executive produce with Deborah Oppenheimer.
Comedies In Development
Write Your Own Caption
resident Bush blows his breath in the cold air before departing the White House for Camp David Saturday, Dec. 7, 2002. Bush expects to quickly fill the vacancies
created with the resignations Friday of Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill and Larry Lindsey, the director of his NationalEconomic Council.
Photo by Rick Bowmer
Pitching Drugs
Celebrities
George Brett was a pioneer nearly 20 years ago when the Hall of Famer missed some Kansas City Royals games with hemorrhoids and ended up with a lucrative contract to endorse
Preparation H. Now both Rafael Palmeiro, first baseman for the Texas Rangers, and Brazilian soccer legend Pele are in ads for Viagra. Forbes.com, in a feature on "celebrity
drug pushers," reports TV "Wonder Woman" Lynda Carter hawks Zelnorm, a drug for irritable-bowel syndrome, from which her mother suffered for 30 years. Ice skater Dorothy Hamill
touts the benefits of Vioxx, a medicine from Merck for osteoarthritis. Football's Ricky Williams touts Paxil (GlaxoSmithKline) to relieve his social anxiety. Debbie Reynolds
pushes Detrol LA (Pharmacia) to relieve her overactive bladder. Kathleen Turner plugs Embrel (Amgel) for her rheumatoid arthritis. And Rob Lowe promotes Neutasta (Amgen),
which might have prevented his father from getting an infection during chemotherapy.
Celebrities
'Rings' Director Looks Like Hobbit?
Peter Jackson
Film director Peter Jackson has lived every minute of "The Lord of the Rings" for seven years and now increasingly resembles one of his hobbit heroes.
But the bearded New Zealander is dreading the day when he will have to say goodbye to one of the biggest projects in the history of cinema: the film trilogy he made that majestically
captures the fantasy world of J.R.R. Tolkien's classic saga.
Now Jackson is back on the global promotion trail for "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers," which opens on December 18.
The renewed pressure does not stop him adopting a laid-back approach to the media, as show business reporters interview him before the film's European premiere in Paris.
The tousle-haired and dishevelled director strode into the conference room of an elegant Paris hotel barefoot and dressed in shorts. A diminutive and burly figure, Jackson is a dead
ringer for one of the hobbits he put so memorably on the screen.
Peter Jackson
2002 Turner Prize
Keith Tyson
Keith Tyson, who found fame with a Kentucky Fried Chicken menu encased in lead, on Sunday won the 2002 Turner Prize with his version of Rodin's "The Thinker."
Tyson confirmed the bookies' faith in making him hot favorite to take one of the world's most controversial arts awards, derided by critics as a farce and condemned by Britain's Culture
Minister Kim Howells as "conceptual bullshit."
Tyson beat second favorite Catherine Yass with her vertiginous short films "Descent" and "Flight" as well as outsider Fiona Banner whose offering was the plot of porn movie "Arsewoman
in Wonderland" written on a giant canvas.
The prize invariably grabs the headlines and, despite the critical scorn, the annual exhibition of the shortlisted works attracts up to 70,000 visitors.
Keith Tyson
Blasts Upset Neighbors
Cheney Residence
Neighbors of Vice President Dick Cheney are being shaken and rattled at least once a day by mysterious blasts at the U.S. Naval Observatory where Cheney lives.
The Navy says the explosions are part of a construction project that has been going on for several months now, but won't say more because the project is classified.
Navy spokeswoman Cate Mueller described the work as an "infrastructure improvement, a utility upgrade."
She said they have tried to reassure the neighborhood, which includes the Washington residence of former President Bill and Sen. Hillary Clinton, that the blasts will not
damage their homes. She said most understand that, because of national security concerns, they can't reveal details or confine the construction to a 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. schedule.
Mueller acknowledged that they were "not as aggressive up front in warning" neighbors about the project.
She said the construction is expected to last another eight months, and for the time being there will be one or two blasts a day, each lasting about three to five seconds.
Cheney Residence
Vice president's residence
U.S. Naval Observatory
Pochomill, Nicaragua
Sunset
A woman rides on a horse with her daughter at the beach in Pochomill, Nicaragua, some 60 kilometers (37 miles) west of Managua on Saturday Dec. 7, 2002. This weekend Nicaraguans celebrate a festival to honor the Virgin Mary
called 'La Griteria', in which altars are set up outside homes, churches and stores throughout neighborhoods. Children walk from house to house singing songs and shouting traditional phrases and receiving candy in return.
Photo by Mario Lopez
'The Osbournes'
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