NICHOLAS COLLIAS: Red State, Meet Police State (boiseweekly.com)
A federal employee gets hassled by Homeland Security for antiwar stickers on his car. Is it a mistake, a new rule, or the part of a trend of the First Amendment being bullied out of existence? Read the transcript, read the rules and decide for yourself
PAUL KRUGMAN: Osama, Saddam and the Ports (The New York Times)
The Bush administration clearly made no serious effort to ensure that the deal didn't endanger national security. But that's nothing new - the administration has spent the past four and a half years refusing to do anything serious about protecting the nation's ports.
Ebert's Oscar predictions
Best Picture: The likely winner of this year's best picture award is "Crash," a film that was all but written off last September, when Oscar season kicked off at the Toronto Film Festival.
This really is a "Black and White" movie. "Imitation of Life" almost never got made or released way back in the censored and censured cinematic era of the '30's. Because of the incredible racist climate at the time ("colored's" were being strung up in the south) the company bosses were afraid that this movie, with its racial overtones, might stir up violence.
Delilah makes some delicious pancakes and she and Bea start a business out of selling the Flour mix (with Delilah's picture on it) …an 80% - 20% split (Bea 80%) and they hit the big business bell and live together and raise their daughters. Jesse and Peola go to a white school together and things seem just fine until one day Delilah comes to the school to pick up Peola and her daughter is embarrassed to admit she has a black mom and she hides from Delilah. This double life is actually the main theme of the movie and for 1934, I was impressed that Hollywood even touched the subject.
Things come to a head when Peola announces to her mother that she must disown her and go off to a white college. Delilah is devastated and falls ill from a broken heart. Bea thinks this is curable and consoles Delilah and tries to cheer her up. But it looks grim. At the same time, Bea finds out that Jesse has developed a crush on the 37 year old Ichthyologist (he looks 60) named Steve (Warren William) that Bea is planning to marry.
Let the violins begin………..
Spoiler Alert
The scenes of Delilah in bed and dying as she holds Bea's hand are truly remarkable and maudlin. Delilah wants a big fancy funeral with a choir and horses and Bea says OK. After Delilah passes away, Bea realizes how important her daughter is to her and tells Steve that she can't marry him now. She doesn't want to crush Jesse's crush on Steve and put a wedge between mother and daughter.
Oh and the funeral is so grand and elegant (more black extras than I've ever seen in any old movie) with a beautiful ceremony in the cathedral and they carry her casket out to the hearse and load it….and over in the throng of onlookers is Peola who has come back to tell everyone that she's sorry about what she did to her mother and rushes to the back of the hearse and cries over the casket…..the love of a daughter for her mother!
This film could have had a more elegant denouement……we have Bea alone with Jesse remembering her favorite childhood phrase …"I want my Quack Quack"! The things that go through a mothers head when she's happy!
Purple Gene gives "Imitation of Life" 9 tragic and poignant tears out of 10 for dealing with such powerful issues over 70 years ago!
P.S. In 1934 there was no Oscar award for Best Supporting Actress…..if there was, I'm sure that Louise Beavers would have won.
You'll notice that all 4 movies mentioned starring Claudette Colbert were from 1934….the year that she won the Oscar for "It Happened One Night".
And Fredi Washington never made it big but she had more acting ability in her left eyebrow than Halle Berry has in her whole face!
CBS opens the night with a RERUN'NUMB3RS', followed by a RERUN'Cold Case', then '48 Hours'.
NBC fills the night with more FRESH (but pre-taped & edited) 'The XX Winter Olympics: Only America Matters Version'.
Once again, no 'SNL'.
ABC fills the night with the movie 'Forrest Gump'.
The WB offers a FRESH'What I Like About You', followed by a FRESH'Living With Fran', then a FRESH'Reba', followed by a FRESH'Twins'.
Faux has the traditional 'Cops', 'Cops', and 'America's Most Wanted'.
MAD TV is FRESH, with Christopher Meloni.
UPN has an old 'Alias', followed by an old 'Fear Factor'.
A&E has 'City Confidential', 'Cold Case Files', folllowed by a FRESH'Cold Case Files', and 'American Justice'.
AMC offers the movie 'Instinct', followed by the movie 'Colors', then a FRESH'Hustle', followed by the movie 'Narc'.
BBC -
[2pm] 'Just For Laughs' - Episode 6;
[2:30pm] 'Father Ted' - The Ep. 6 Plague;
[3pm] 'The Benny Hill Show' - Episode 53;
[6pm] 'Absolutely Fabulous' - Fashion;
[6:40pm] 'Absolutely Fabulous' - Fat;
[7:20pm] 'Absolutely Fabulous' - Week in Provence;
[8pm] 'Absolutely Fabulous' - Iso Tank;
[8:40pm] 'Absolutely Fabulous' - Magazine;
[9:20pm] 'Absolutely Fabulous' - Birthday;
[10pm] 'Friends and Crocodiles';
[12:20am] 'Absolutely Fabulous';
[1am] 'Footballers Wives';
[2am] 'Footballers Wives' - Fashion;
[3am] 'Friends and Crocodiles';
[5:20am] 'Absolutely Fabulous' - Week in Provence;
[6am] 'BBC World News'. (ALL TIMES EST)
Bravo has 'Project Runway', another 'Project Runway', 'Law & Order: Criminal Intent', and another 'Law & Order: Criminal Intent'.
Comedy Central has the movie 'The Original Kings Of Comedy', 'Chappelle's Show', another 'Chappelle's Show', and 'Laffapalooza'.
History has 'Modern Marvels', followed by the movie 'Jaws'.
IFC -
[6AM] Amongst Friends (1993);
[7:30AM] At The IFC Center (2006);
[8AM] Blind Swordsman #8: Fight, Zatoichi, Fight (1964);
[9:30AM] Invincible (2001);
[11:45AM] The Last Waltz (1978);
[1:45PM] Blind Swordsman #8: Fight, Zatoichi, Fight (1964);
[3:15PM] Joe Gould's Secret (2000);
[5:15PM] Our Song (2000);
[7PM] Film School #1 (2004);
[7:30PM] Dinner For Five #49 (2005);
[8:05PM] Scream 2 (1997);
[10:15PM] Reservoir Dogs (1992);
[12AM] Fulltime Killer (2001);
[2AM] Scream 2 (1997);
[4:15AM] Reservoir Dogs (1992). (ALL TIMES EST)
SciFi has the movie 'Dante's Peak', followed by the movie 'Disaster Zone: Volcano In New York'.
Sundance -
[7:30AM] Hanna K.;
[9:30AM] Within a Play;
[11AM] In Short: In Short: Jan Svankmajer;
[12PM] Alice's Restaurant;
[2PM] Iconoclasts: Grazer on Redstone;
[2:45PM] Reconstruction;
[4:15PM] Village of Idiots;
[4:30PM] Hanna K.;
[6:30PM] Commandments;
[8PM] Hairspray;
[9:35PM] Basilisk Stare;
[10PM] Dirty Filthy Love;
[11:35PM] Guy;
[1:15AM] Something Wild;
[3:15AM] What Becomes of the Broken Hearted?;
[5AM] Commandments. (ALL TIMES EST)
Cast member Harry Dean Stanton smiles at the premiere of 'Big Love' at the Grauman's Chinese theatre in Hollywood February 23, 2006. The television series tells the story of polygamist Bill Henrickson played by Bill Paxton, who deals with three wives, all whom he is married to and his successful home improvement business. The series premieres on HBO on March 12.
Photo by Mario Anzuoni
Elizabeth Taylor will ring in her 74th birthday Monday with a gift worth several hundred thousand dollars. Only it isn't for her.
The two-time Oscar winner will commemorate her birthday by donating a mobile medical unit to the New Orleans AIDS Task Force, her publicist, Dick Guttman, announced Thursday.
The medical unit is "like a large recreational vehicle, about 40 feet long, with two examination rooms and x-ray facilities," said Martin Delaney, founding director of Project Inform, a national AIDS organization that helped facilitate Taylor's gift.
The vehicle, manufactured in Ohio, is already in New Orleans, Delaney said. It will be staffed by doctors who worked in AIDS clinics shuttered by Hurricane Katrina.
The ABC network, flush from its blockbuster Super Bowl telecast, is reaping yet another bonanza from its upcoming Oscar show, traditionally one of the most watched events of the year on U.S. television.
The Walt Disney Co.-owned network has sold its entire advertising inventory for the March 5 Academy Awards broadcast for an average of $1.7 million per 30-second spot, up from $1.6 million last year, an ABC source said on Friday.
With an allotment of about 48 commercial spots during the Oscar show, that would come to nearly $82 million for the entire 3-hour telecast.
Gerald Arpino, who co-founded the Joffrey Ballet with Robert Joffrey in 1956, sits at the company's studios Feb. 25, 2006, in Chicago. The Joffrey started as a six-member company 50 years ago in New York and moved to Chicago in 1995. Arpino became the company's artistic director after Joffrey's death in 1988.
Photo by M. Spencer Green
For years, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame didn't deem the Sex Pistols, the revolutionary punk rock band, worthy of inclusion into its ranks. Now that the Sex Pistols have gained entry into the club, they've decided the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame isn't worthy of their presence.
The group was finally inducted into the hall late last year, along with Black Sabbath, Miles Davis, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Blondie, and induction ceremonies are scheduled March 13 in New York City.
However, in a crude letter posted on its Web site Friday morning, the group made it clear that they would not be attending.
Comparing the rock hall to "urine in wine," the handwritten letter said: "Were (sic) not coming. Were (sic) not your monkeys and so what?
Time Warner Inc. on Friday said Ted Turner will leave the board after its upcoming annual meeting, exiting a media empire he helped create, sometimes criticized and, more recently, played a diminished role in directing.
Turner, 67, gave no reason for his decision to step down, which comes a week after Time Warner ended a potentially bruising battle with dissident shareholder Carl Icahn.
Time Warner Chief Executive Parsons, who just finished the very public battle with Icahn, described Turner as a "visionary leader" in a brief statement.
If an Ohio lawmaker's proposal becomes state law, Republicans would be barred from being adoptive parents.
State Sen. Robert Hagan sent out e-mails to fellow lawmakers late Wednesday night, stating that he intends to "introduce legislation in the near future that would ban households with one or more Republican voters from adopting children or acting as foster parents." The e-mail ended with a request for co-sponsorship.
Hagan said his "tongue was planted firmly in cheek" when he drafted the proposed legislation. However, Hagan said that the point he is trying to make is nonetheless very serious.
Hagan said his legislation was written in response to a bill introduced in the Ohio House this month by state Rep. Ron Hood, R-Ashville, that is aimed at prohibiting gay adoption.
An expert in the work of abstract artist Jackson Pollock said 32 previously unknown paintings appear to be authentic, taking issue with a recent computer analysis suggesting they are fakes.
"If evidence does turn out to indicate that Pollock did not paint these works after all, I would be inclined to judge them the most amazing fakes in modern art history," Ellen Landau, a professor of art history at the Cleveland Museum of Art/Case Western University, told a conference on Thursday in Boston.
Landau's conclusion was completely different from that reached by Professor Richard Taylor of the University of Oregon's Department of Physics, who had been hired to analyze the paintings by the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, set up under the will of Pollock's widow, painter Lee Krasner.
U.S. actor Steve Martin poses for photographers during a photocall in Berlin Friday, Feb. 24, 2006 on occasion of the introduction of the remake of the movie 'The Pink Panther'.
Photo by Fritz Reiss
Sheryl Crow had surgery for breast cancer earlier this week and the prognosis for a full recovery is excellent, her publicist reported Friday.
The singer-songwriter had the surgery in Los Angeles on Wednesday and is recovering without complications, said Dave Tomberlin, her publicist. "Her doctors think her prognosis is excellent," said Tomberlin.
In a statement posted on her website, Crow said she would have to postpone a North American concert tour that was scheduled to begin in March. She said she hopes to reschedule the dates as soon as possible.
A free Carlos Santana concert planned as part of centennial commemorations of the earthquake that razed much of San Francisco was postponed because organizers couldn't raise enough money.
Santana was going to play for free at the April 22 concert, but other costs drove the price tag above $1.5 million.
The concert was part of several events planned for the anniversary of the April 18, 1906 quake, including historical exhibits on the quake and exhibits on disaster preparedness sponsored by the San Francisco Fire Department Historical Society.
Arbitrators awarded $860,000 to two former Thomas Kinkade gallery owners who accused the artist and his company of hiding business risks and using Christian themes to win their trust.
Ruling 2-1, the arbitration panel Thursday found that Kinkade's Media Arts Group and one of its executives, Richard F. Barnett, "failed to disclose material information" that would have dissuaded Karen Hazlewood and Jeffrey Spinello from investing $122,000 to open the first of their two Thomas Kinkade Signature Galleries in Virginia in 1999.
The American Arbitration Association ruling said Kinkade and other company officials frequently used terms such as "partner," "trust," "Christian" and "God" to convey a sense of "higher calling" to the couple.
Bill Reich, left, of Proctorville, Ohio, holds an anti-resident Bush sign for passing traffic Thursday, Feb. 23, 2006, outside the Charleston Civic Center in Charleston, W.Va., prior to the Kanawha County Lincoln Day Dinner featuring keynote speaker Karl 'Turdblossom' Rove (R-Propagandist), resident Bush's senior advisor.
Photo by Jeff Gentner
Hollywood director Rob Reiner denied any wrongdoing Thursday in response to recent scrutiny about the potential misuse of taxpayer funds for a June ballot initiative he is spearheading.
Reiner heads - and helped create - the state's First 5 California Children and Families Commission, an advocacy group.
He also is leading a campaign for a ballot initiative that would establish a state constitutional right to preschool for all 4-year-olds and raise income taxes for wealthier households to fund preschool programs.
A Los Angeles Times story earlier this week detailed how the Children and Families commission spent $23 million in state funds on ads that promoted the benefits of preschool. The television ads aired this winter, coinciding with the campaign for Reiner's "Preschool for All" initiative, Proposition 82.
The world record for a musical instrument sold at auction could come under threat in May, when Christie's offers a rare Stradivari violin for sale in New York.
The violin, known as "The Hammer" after the 19th century Swedish collector Christian Hammer, has been given a pre-sale estimate of between 1.5 million and 2.5 million dollars.
The existing record price for any musical instrument at auction is the 2.03 million dollars paid for another Stradivari violin, "The Lady Tennant" -- sold at Christie's in New York in April last year.
Former "Saturday Night Live" regular Tracy Morgan was given three years' probation after pleading no contest to drunken driving, authorities said Friday.
The 37-year-old comedian was arrested shortly before 2:30 a.m. on Dec. 2 in Hollywood after police stopped him for speeding, city attorney's spokesman Frank Mateljan said.
On Feb. 17, he pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of drunken driving and was sentenced to 36 months' probation, fined $390 and ordered to attend an alcohol education program, Mateljan said.
Inside the flagship lab of the National Center for Atmospheric Research, a dozen home-schooled children and their parents walk past the offices of scientists grappling with topics from global warming and microphysics to solar storms and the electrical fields of lightning.
They are trailing Rusty Carter, a guide with Biblically Correct Tours.
At a large, colorful panel along a wall, Carter reads aloud from a passage describing the disappearance of dinosaurs from the Earth about 65 million years ago. He and some of the older students exchange knowing smiles at the timeline, which contradicts their interpretation of the Bible suggesting a 6,000-year-old planet.
"Did man and dinosaurs live together?" Carter asks.
Britain has agreed to pay compensation to three servicemen given the mind-altering drug LSD during tests in the 1950s, the government said on Friday.
The UK's Secret Intelligence Service, better known as MI6, commissioned the experiments fearing that the Soviet Union was developing a secret substance to brainwash its enemies and force prisoners to make confessions with a truth drug.
The men who took part in the tests claimed they were duped into taking the LSD, thinking they were taking part in research to find a cure for colds.
Some of more than 10,000 mobile homes, parked end to end, cover the ground and closed runways at the Hope, Ark., airport Friday, Feb. 24, 2006. Mobile home parks in Louisiana are the destination for about 400 of the FEMA trailers being moved from the Hope Municipal Airport, where the homes have sat empty and unused since Hurricane Katrina struck six months ago.
Photo by Danny Johnston
A small-town judge with three wives was ordered removed from the bench by the Utah Supreme Court on Friday. The court unanimously agreed with the findings of the state's Judicial Conduct Commission, which recommended the removal of Judge Walter Steed for violating the state's bigamy law.
Steed has served for 25 years on the Justice Court in the polygamist community of Hildale in southern Utah, where he ruled on misdemeanor crimes such as drunken driving and domestic violence cases.
Steed legally married his first wife in 1965, according to court documents. The second and third wives were married - or "sealed" as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints refers to it - to him in religious ceremonies in 1975 and 1985.
He has 32 children by the three women, who are sisters, court documents said.
Farfrompoopen Road, the only road to Constipation Ridge, lost to Divorce Court and Psycho Path, which placed No. 1 in an online poll of the nation's wildest, weirdest and wackiest street names.
Mitsubishi Motors sponsored the poll on the Web and more than 2,500 voters cast their ballots during a week of voting that ended this month. Winners were announced Friday.
The list included:
4. The intersection of Lonesome and Hardup in Albany, Ga.
3. Farfrompoopen Road in Tennessee (the only road up to Constipation Ridge)
2. Divorce Court in Heather Highlands, Pa.
1. Psycho Path in Traverse City, Mich.
An icicle hanging from a roof is melting in the sun in Sauze d'Oulx, Italy, Monday, Feb. 20, 2006 after heavy snowfalls the night before caused massive transporation problems.
Photo by Michael Probst
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