'TBH Politoons'
Baron Dave Romm
Quick Thoughts
By Baron Dave Romm
What's with Mars, anyway? We Earthlings keep sending stuff to the fourth planet and almost never hear back. The orbiters are okay, but the landers just disappear. In the meantime, we've discovered a bunch of meteorites that made it from Mars to Earth. True, that was a while ago. Still, if rocks can make the journey, why can't our advanced technology? The latest missing spacecraft is the Beagle 2. Like the wise man bearing myrrh, the Beagle 2 was due to land on Christmas Day bearing gifts. The orbiting craft Odyssey didn't get a signal. Several observatories have reported possible contact, but as of this writing (12/28) nothing is sure. We need a manned mission.
When Bush lies, it makes a difference. The unprecedented worldwide hatred of George W. Bush and the Taliban wing of the GOP has economic consequences. The US finds one (1) cow with Mad Cow Disease and we lose 90% of our beef exports. Simply put, no one trusts Bush. I don't. No one in the world is willing to accept our assurances that the cow came from Canada. Bush's lies and incompetence have cost American jobs and seriously damaged a major industry. Do you really feel safer now that Saddam Hussein is out of his rabbit hole?
The Bush economy has been so bad the past few years that retail sales people are starting to figure out that a lot of people spend money right after the holidays as people search for bargains. Indeed, gift certificates were a big gift this year. Even the military is warning soldiers about going into debt. The economic "news" keeps being mixed. The politically correct newspapers are full of rosy predictions and positive reports from the stores. Other stories suggest that this year may be a bit better than the terrible season last year, but not by much if at all. My basic take (made without statistical backing) is that the amount per purchase has gone up but the overall number of gifts has gone down. The rich are buying bigger toys, but Tiny Tim gets a plastic crutch.
TV programs are being microedited, taking duplicate frames out of shows, adding up to 30 seconds of commercial time in a 30 minute slot. Former Program Directors are starting to complain. The world is becoming like A.I., where moving advertising is everywhere. Programs are being ordered at a shorter length. An hour in front of the boob tube might only reveal 40 minutes of actual entertainment. A half hour show might only have 19 minutes of content. And this is in prime time. Reruns are worse, since they have to cut out huge chunks of the show you remember to fit all those extra commercials. Fox News is lying to you. Regular scheduling doesn't exist anymore. TV just isn't worth watching anymore.
Having said that, I'll admit that I tape several shows. By taping, I ensure that a) if the show isn't on I haven't missed anything and b) I can zip through the commercials. I try to catch Joan of Arcadia, Two and a Half Men, Whoopie, Boomtown and even Faith and Hope is growing on me. The West Wing is still good but hasn't been great since Sorkin left. The various CSIs are okay. Law and Order is still good, but the other two aren't and SVU is awful. The Simpsons continues to be great, but it's never on when they say and I've seen precious few of them this year.
I'm annoyed when people review DVDs and only talk about the movie. The extras on the disk are the difference between a good DVD and a tape. Sure, I want to know if the movie is good, but I also want to know whether the DVD is worth it.
Which came first, the chicken or the egg? The answer, of course, is the rooster. The modern chicken is the result of careful genetic breeding. Henry Saglio is known as "the father of the poultry industry" for taking the "spring chicken" which was scrawny and mostly dark meat, and breeding chickens with white feathers (instead of red, which looked bad when a few tail feathers were left at the butchers) and increasing the size and white meat of the birds. He was a director of Perdue Industries. He slashed production costs by breeding a meatier bird that matured more quickly and laid more eggs. Concerned about the use of antibiotics, he founded Pureline Genetics to breed antibiotic-free chickens. Next time you find the wishbone, make a wish for Henry.
Reminder: Be sure to go to Bushin30seconds.org and see some of the commercials submitted. You'll need a fast connection for the movies. Registration is required, but free. Shockwave's own Brian Westley helped with two of them. Your chance to vote ends 12/31.
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. Dave Romm reviews things at random for obscure web sites. You can read all his music recommendations from Bartcop-E , and you can hear the last two Shockwave broadcasts in Real Audio (scroll down to Shockwave). Thanks to everyone who has sent me music to play on the air.
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
from Mark
Another Bumpersticker
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny but cold day - winter by LA standards.
Today the kid was convinced he has Mad Cow. Last week it was SARS.
He really likes the 'Futurama' DVD Santa brought him. He also liked his 'Hover-Disc', but before he had a chance to use it, one of the cats seems have attacked it. Killed it pretty good, too.
Happy birthday to Tim!
Tonight, Monday, CBS opens the night with a RERUN 'Still Standing', followed by a RERUN 'Yes, Dear', then a RERUN
'Raymond', followed by a RERUN '2½ Men', then a RERUN 'CSI: Miami'.
On a RERUN Dave are Julia Roberts and Alkaline Trio.
On a RERUN Craiggers are Jon Favreau, Natasha Henstridge, and Godsmack.
NBC begins the evening with a RERUN 'Fear Factor', followed by a RERUN 'Las Vegas', then it's 'Celebrity Poker Showdown' (part 1 of 6), which is a
RERUN if you've already seen it on 'BRAVO' - otherwise, it's FRESH.
Scheduled on a FRESH Jay are Ben Affleck, Cheryl Hines, and the Ataris.
On a RERUN Conan are Lisa Kudrow, Jeremy Piven, and Grandaddy.
On a RERUN Carson Daly are Brendan Fraser, Kathy Griffin, and P.O.D.
ABC starts the night with a FRESH 'special' - 'Life Of Luxury', followed by the FRESH made-for-tv-movie 'DreamKeeper' (part 2 of 2).
On a RERUN Jimmy Kimmel (from 11/5/03) are Kathie Lee Gifford, Michael Vartan, and Dom Irrera, with guest co-host Andy Dick.
The WB offers a RERUN '7th Heaven', followed by a RERUN 'Everwood'.
Faux has a night of 'Malcolm' RERUNs - 4 episodes, back-to-back.
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' (the Osmonds), and a 2-hour 'City Confidential'.
AMC offers the movie 'The Shawshank Redemption', followed by the movie 'Mystic Pizza', then the movie 'Legal Eagles'.
BBC -
[6pm] 'BBC World News';
[6:30pm] 'Cash in the Attic' - Holmes;
[7pm] 'House Invaders' - Newark;
[7:30pm] 'Changing Rooms' - Kent;
[8pm] 'Murder in Mind' - Contract;
[9pm] 'Wire in the Blood' - The Mermaids Singing;
[11pm] 'Murder in Mind' - Contract;
[12am] 'Wire in the Blood' - The Mermaids Singing;
[2am] 'Murder in Mind' - Contract;
[3am] 'Wire in the Blood' - The Mermaids Singing;
[5am] 'Murder in Mind' - Contract; and
[6am] 'BBC World News'. (ALL TIMES EST)
Bravo is all 'Boy Meets Boy' all night.
Comedy Central has the movie 'The Blues Brothers', 'South Park', another 'South Park', and 'Jay Mohr'.
On a RERUN Jon Stewart it's TBA.
History has the FRESH 'Doomsday Clock', followed by the FRESH
'Numbers Racket'.
SciFi is all 'Stargate SG-1' all night.
TCM:
[6am] 'I Like Your Nerve' (1931);
[7:30am] 'Girl Shy' (1924) SILENT ;
[9am] 'When Ladies Meet' (1941);
[11am] 'Honeymoon For Three' (1941);
[12:30pm] 'Front Page Woman' (1935);
[2:30pm] 'Nothing Sacred' (1937);
[4pm] 'Dream Wife' (1953);
[6pm] 'The Grass Is Greener' (1960);
[8pm] 'Sense and Sensibility' (1995);
[10:30pm] 'Sleepless in Seattle' (1993);
[12:30am] 'Holiday' (1938);
[2:30am] 'Forsaking All Others' (1934);
[4am] 'Double Wedding' (1937). (ALL TIMES EST)
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY), top center, former President Bill Clinton and their daughter Chelsea, second from right, pose with cast members of the Broadway musical 'Avenue Q,' Saturday, Dec. 27, 2003 in New York.
Photo by Diane Bondareff
The Information One-Stop
Moose & Squirrel
Set for Annual Vienna New Year's
Walter Cronkite
If there was ever a time to grant Walter Cronkite a pass on his annual New Year's trip to Vienna, this would be it. Less than a week before he was due to board a plane to prepare for the Vienna Philharmonic's New Year's Day concert, the 87-year-old broadcasting legend is in a New York hospital bed recovering from foot surgery.
No matter. Cronkite even uses his recovery time to invite a visitor into his hospital room to talk about the PBS broadcast.
This will mark the 20th year that Cronkite, a classical music enthusiast who grew up "conducting" to records played on the Victrola in his room, has hosted the American broadcast of the concert. Check local listings for broadcast times.
Cronkite has become as much a New Year's tradition as Dick Clark and the late bandleader Guy Lombardo.
The program, in the Austrian capital's Musikverein concert hall, is a light concert of mostly waltzes and polkas composed by Johann or Joseph Strauss. Riccardo Muti of Milan is this week's guest conductor.
It's a big tradition in Europe, where families plan parties around it, Cronkite said. For several years it was the most-seen TV broadcast in the world, losing that distinction because it is no longer shown in China.
For a lot more, Walter Cronkite
www.pbs.org
thirteen.org
U.S. singer song writer Stevie Wonder sings a tune 'Golden Lady' during his live concert in Saitama, north of Tokyo, Japan, Saturday, Dec 27, 2003. Stevie Wonder kicks off his two-week Japan tour for the first time in seven years, which covers four cities and six concerts.
Photo by Koji Sasahara
'Bibleman' No More
Willie Aames
A California pastor will replace "Eight Is Enough" television actor Willie Aames as the next "Bibleman," a comic book-style action hero who quotes Scripture to children in a touring ministry.
Aames is stepping down after eight years in the role to spend more time with his family.
Robert T. Schlipp will assume the role next spring. He'll be joined by his wife, Anayansi Schlipp, who will portray Biblegirl.
Willie Aames
Bibleman
In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends
Mulled Suicide
Pete Townshend
British rock legend Pete Townshend contemplated suicide during a police inquiry into his use of child pornography, he said in an interview published on Sunday.
The 58-year-old guitarist from the Who was arrested in January during a high-profile crackdown on Internet child porn and was formally cautioned in May after a four-month investigation.
"If I had had a gun, I would have shot myself," he told Britain's Observer newspaper. "And if I had shot myself, it would have been awful because it would have confirmed what everybody thought."
Pete Townshend
Actor Joe Pesci, left, gives jockey Mike Smith a kiss after Smith rode Pesci's 3-year-old filly, named Pesci, to victory Sunday, Dec. 28, 2003, in the seventh race at Santa Anita in Arcadia, Calif.
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PBS New Year's Special
Mister Rogers
Take a quiet interlude on the first evening of 2004 to remember Fred Rogers — that's Mister Rogers, to us — and the integrity he brought to children's television.
"Fred Rogers: America's Favorite Neighbor," airing 9:30 p.m. EST Thursday on PBS, celebrates the gentle host of "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" who died last February at 74.
The documentary, parts of which aired previously, details Rogers' early years in Latrobe, Pa., his start in television with NBC in New York and his work in founding WQED in Pittsburgh, the first community-owned TV station.
"We all have only one life to live on Earth," Rogers once said. "And through television we have the choice of encouraging others to demean this life or to cherish it in creative, imaginative ways."
Mister Rogers
Formerly 'The Vidiot'
Royal Corgi Killer
Dotty
Princess Anne's English bull terrier Dotty should probably be put down after it savaged one of Queen Elizabeth II's corgis just before Christmas, Britain's biggest animal welfare charity said.
"We are not involved in this case, and we don't know the full circumstances," a spokeswoman for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) said.
"But if we were involved in the case, putting the animal down would be a seriously considered option."
Dotty fatally mauled Pharos, one of Queen Elizabeth's corgis, last Monday as Anne was arriving at Sandringham palace, Norfolk, to join the rest of the British royal family for Christmas.
Dotty
First lady Laura Bush, left, speaks as Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg, the daughter of the 35th president John F. Kennedy, listens during the taping of NBC's 'Meet the Press' Monday, Dec. 22, 2003, in Washington that was broadcasted Sunday, Dec. 28, 2003. Bush and Kennedy Schlossberg talked about caring, teaching, volunteerism and patriotism.
Photo by Alex Wong
Tortuous Route To Publication
'The Gulag Archipelago'
It was in the same small flat on Moscow's central Tverskaya street where she still lives today that Yelena Chukovskaya began to type in the utmost secrecy Alexander Solzhenitsyn's famed "Gulag Archipelago".
"The Gulag Archipelago" was Solzhenitsyn's masterpiece, a work based on eyewitness accounts of more than 220 people who passed through the Soviet labor camps and offered a window into the hell that was the Gulag.
"He always thought that the Archipelago wasn't simply his book, but also the memory of those who had not survived it and had confided him with their stories," Chukovskaya said.
Seated in a living room of the three-room flat at six Tverskaya street, Chukovskaya, today a fragile, lively, smiling 72-year-old, recounted the details of those dangerous days.
She began typing the manuscript -- Solzhenitsyn's notes and handwritten pages handed secretly to her -- in the beginning of 1968 at the flat.
For a great read, 'The Gulag Archipelago'
In Memory
Alan Bates
Alan Bates, a Tony Award-winning actor who first gained fame on the London stage and then starred in a string of successful 1960s movies including "Zorba the Greek," has died, his agent said Sunday. He was 69.
Bates died of cancer Saturday night in a London hospital, said his agent, Rosalind Chatto.
Bates' first important film role was opposite Laurence Olivier in 1960's "The Entertainer." In 1964, he played Basil in "Zorba the Greek" then two years later acted in "Georgy Girl" with Lynn Redgrave.
Bates was nominated for a best actor Oscar award for 1969's "The Fixer" and played Rupert Birkin in "Women In Love," based on the D.H. Lawrence novel, the same year.
He won a best actor Tony Award in 2002 for his portrayal on Broadway of an impoverished nobleman in "Fortune's Fool," Ivan Turgenev's dissection of mid-19th century Russian country life.
Bates, who was born in Derbyshire, central England, studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London and made his stage debut in 1955.
He first gained attention for his role as a resentful young working-class man in John Osborne's "Look Back in Anger" and starred in playwright Harold Pinter's "The Caretaker" on stage and film.
More recently, Bates played the butler Mr. Jennings in Robert Altman's 2001 aristocratic murder mystery "Gosford Park" and also had a role in 2002's "The Sum of All Fears," which starred Ben Affleck.
Bates was made a Commander of the British Empire in 1995 and knighted last year.
Bates' son, Tristan, 19, died of an asthma attack in 1990 and his wife, actress Victoria Ford, died in 1992. He is survived by two brothers, son Benedick and a granddaughter, Chatto said.
Alan Bates
In Memory
Harold von Braunhut
Harold von Braunhut, the creator of Sea Monkeys, X-Ray Spex and other quirky novelties marketed to children via advertisements in comic books, has died. He was 77.
Von Braunhut, whose reported involvement with white supremacist groups in recent years tarnished his reputation as a noted contributor to pop culture, died of unknown causes Nov. 28 at his home in Indian Head, Md., after a fall.
The holder of 195 patents, Von Braunhut had an uncanny flair for dreaming up inexpensive products aimed at the youth market. And the former manager of novelty acts was a master of advertising hyperbole.
He was the man behind Amazing Hair-Raising Monsters — cards depicting monsters whose bald heads grew "hair" when water was added — and Invisible Goldfish, which came with a glass bowl, invisible goldfish food and a guarantee that their owners would never see them.
Von Braunhut also marketed Crazy Crabs (pet hermit crabs) and the "blushingly funny" X-Ray Spex, which were said to enable the wearer to "see through skin! See though clothing!"
But his best-known creation was Amazing Live Sea Monkeys, which he billed as "a true Miracle of nature."
Illustrations depicted the Sea Monkeys as grinning creatures wearing crowns and bathing suits and happily swimming next to an undersea castle.
But what arrived in the mail were actually hybrid brine shrimp eggs that came to life when immersed in water.
Included were a "Deluxe Micro-View Ocean Zoo" plastic aquarium, "Banana Treat," a supply of " 'dessert' for our aquatic pals" and "Cupid's Arrow," a "mating powder" for "shy Sea Monkeys afraid of 'marriage.' "
For those tiny, translucent "instant pets" that got sick, there was even "Sea Monkey Medicine," which was "almost as good as having a team of Sea Monkey doctors standing by in the E.R."
Introduced in 1960 as "Instant-Life," Von Braunhut's hybrid brine shrimp eggs failed to catch on. But sales soared after they were re-christened Sea Monkeys in 1962.
Billions of Sea Monkeys have been sold, and 400 million accompanied John Glenn into space in 1998. They also spawned a children's Sea Monkeys TV show that ran on CBS for two years in the early 1990s, and there are websites for Sea Monkeys fans and a Sea Monkeys video game in which players care for a "virtual" Sea Monkeys colony.
But in 1988, the Washington Post revealed there was more to the inventor of Sea Monkeys than previously reported: According to the Post, Von Braunhut was an active supporter of the Aryan Nations, an anti-Semitic, white supremacist group.
The Post reported that he had pledged part of the proceeds of one of his inventions — a spring-loaded, whip-like self-defense weapon known as Kiyoga Agent M5 — to the legal defense of Aryan Nations leader Richard G. Butler, who was later acquitted of sedition charges.
He is survived by his second wife, Yolanda; a son, Jonathan; a daughter, Jeanette LaMothe; and a brother, Gene.
Harold von Braunhut
Australian super maxi yacht Skandia leads her main competition Zana of New Zealand just after the start of the Sydney-Hobart race on December 26, 2003. The 57-strong fleet of competitors in the 59th annual ocean race will sail 630 nautical miles down the east coast of Australia from Sydney to Hobart, Tasmania.
Photo by Tim Wimborne
'The Osbournes'
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