'TBH Politoons'
Thanks, again, Tim!
Reader Question
Re: My Big Fat Greek....
Marty,
On hearing the huge word-of-mouth buzz about "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," I was excited to see the TV spinoff "My Big Fat Greek Life."
What a mistake! Now I'm not so sure I even want to see the movie. How can one be so good (allegedly) and the other be so-so?
~~ Lar
Lar -
We watched the first 2 episodes. Mid-way through the 2nd show, the kid started predicting the next line with amazing accuracy.
The writing is dreadful. Formula scripts at their worst (characters last, punchlines don't).
The supporting cast, with Lainie Kazan, Michael Constantine (remember him as the principal on 'Room 222'?), and the incredibly versatile
Andrea Martin (the one & only Edith Prickley from 'SCTV'), is one of the best currently on TV, but they are stuck portraying cartoonish stereotypes.
Nia Vardalos may be a wonderfully multi-talented woman, but she should contemplate more acting-for-TV lessons. She seems stuck in theater mode, and
her gestures are too broad & busy.
It also has the loudest, pushiest laugh-track on network tv (which says to me someone has noticed how weak the show really is).
On the other hand, this show is a big hit, ratings-wise. No, really!
He's Been Busy - Again!
The Worried Shrimp
Reader Question
Re: Bush 'Speech'
Last nights speech left me with three questions:
1. Where was Helen Thomas?
2. Where were any questions about the economy?
3. Were there ANY jounalists there?
Thanks,
~ Bill R
Thanks, Bill. Good questions, too, but the only one I can answer is about Helen Thomas. Helen was there - 2nd row, no less.
Came across this today -
Ari Admits He Selected Reporters for Bush to "Call On" over at
BuzzFlash.
Even sadder, the only so-called mainstream media who noted this was the Moonie - er - Washington Times.
Reader Link
from Van
Hey Marty,
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Beautiful sunny day.
Did the weekly grocery shopping & picked up this weeks supply of fresh crickets from
Reptiles Unlimited.
The kid took his placement test for next year - not that we had any warning. Jeez, this is the major science project weekend, and looks like time is going to be scarce.
KCET, 'my' PBS station pre-empted 'NOW With Bill Moyers', totally, and they're planning on moving this wonderful show around for the next couple of weeks. They finally have a
show for fundraising (I keep reading how liberal Hollywood is), yet, KCET prefers to hide it, or move it, during fund raising season.
'Real Time With Bill Maher' was worth the price of HBO, again. A repeating Ted Rall is much more palatable than a repeating Larry Miller. And, the tag-teaming of Ted Rall and
D. L. Hughley was a joy to behold. It was also noted that Helen Thomas intimidates the 'tough guy'.
And that 'codeine-based smirk inhibitor' sounds like it has a real future.
Tonight, Saturday, CBS starts the evening with a RERUN 'Touched By An Angle', followed by a RERUN
'The District', and then a RERUN 'The Agency'.
NBC offers a RERUN 'Law & Order', followed by a RERUN 'Law & Order: Criminal Intent', followed by a
RERUN 'Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'.
Strangely, 'SNL' is FRESH with Queen Latifah hosting, and Ms. Dynamite as musical guest.
ABC has the movie 'Con Air'.
The WB has the taped-last-weekend '17th Annual Soul Train Music Awards'.
Faux offers the usual FRESH 'Cops', followed by the RERUN 'Cops', and then
'America's Most Wanted'.
UPN has the movie 'The Odd Couple' - yep, the original with Jack Lemmon & Walter Matthau(!).
Anyone have any opinions?
Or reviews?
(See below for addresses)
Musician Ben Herrington walks a picket line in New York's Times Square, March 7, 2003. Herrington plays in the orchestra for the musical 'Urinetown' and has joined fellow musicians
who are on strike against Broadway producers over the minimum size of the orchestras for each play.
Photo by Jeff Christensen
Cut From TV Performance
Anti-War T-Shirts
The British Broadcasting Corp. on Friday said shots of George Michael's backing musicians wearing anti-war T-shirts will likely be cut from a television show.
Michael performed a cover of Don McLean's anti-war song "The Grave" on BBC's music show "Top of the Pops" on Thursday. His cellists wore T-shirts with the logo "No war, Blair out" — referring to Prime Minister Tony Blair.
A BBC official said shots of the cellists' T-shirts violate the broadcaster's policy of impartiality and suggested they would probably be edited out of the show when it is aired Friday.
Anti-War T-Shirts
British Broadcasting Corp.
Finally Playing Budokan
Rolling Stones
Thirty years after their first attempt to perform in Japan was scuttled by Japanese immigration officials, the Rolling Stones are set to "lick" Tokyo's Budokan, which was to be the venue for that ill-fated appearance.
"This time we'll play at the Budokan, which is smaller and a favorite venue for people," flamboyant lead singer Jagger said.
"We never played there before so we are looking forward to (it)," Jagger added.
In 1973, the Rolling Stones were scheduled to play five shows at the Budokan, but the band had to cancel after Jagger was forbidden entry to the country because of a previous drug possession charge outside Japan.
The Budokan concert on Monday will kick off the Asian leg of the band's "Licks" world tour that will also take the group to China and India for the first time.
Rolling Stones
Presses Congress on Violence Issue
Michael Bolton
Michael Bolton is pushing members of Congress for more funding to help domestic violence victims.
The issue is of such importance to Bolton, he's working to get the message out that men should care as much as women.
He says legislators should listen to anyone who has an informed opinion on a given subject. "You shouldn't be penalized because you're an artist or athlete or celebrity."
Michael Bolton
The Information One-Stop
Moose & Squirrel
Sci-Fi, Fantasy & Horror Pic Awards
Saturn Awards
"The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" and "Minority Report" topped the list of sci-fi, fantasy and horror pic nominees for the 28th annual Saturn Awards, announced by Cinescape and the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films.
With 10 nominations each, the leaders were followed closely by "Star Wars: Episode II -- Attack of the Clones" (six nominations), "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" (five) and 2002 box office leader "Spider-Man" (five).
On the television side, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," which last week officially announced that the current season is its last, was tied for the most nominations, five, with WB sensation "Smallville." The two heroic shows will spar for
network TV honors with "Alias," "Angel," "Enterprise" and "The Twilight Zone."
Steven Spielberg's "Minority Report" will compete against "Men in Black 2," "Signs," "Solaris," "Star Trek: Nemesis" and "Attack of the Clones" for the science fiction film trophy. Peter Jackson's second movie in the J.R.R.
Tolkien "Rings" trilogy, "Two Towers," will cross swords with "The Scorpion King," "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets," "Reign of Fire," "The Santa Clause 2" and "Spider-Man" for fantasy film.
Lifetime career nods will be handed out to producers Sid and Marty Krofft and thesp Kurt Russell. James Cameron, Bill Paxton and Bob and Harvey Weinstein also drew special recognition.
The Saturn Awards, which hand out a golden statuette of the planet Saturn surrounded by a ring of 35mm film, will be presented in June in Los Angeles. No date has been set.
Saturn Awards
Sues HBO in 'Sopranos' Contract Dispute
James Gandolfini
Fans of HBO's popular drama "The Sopranos" may have to "fuhgeddabout" another season after James Gandolfini, the actor who plays the family patriarch, filed a lawsuit seeking a release from his contract.
But viewers shouldn't count out "The Sopranos" just yet. A source close to Gandolfini said the actor believes he is underpaid relative to other small-screen stars, and that he would like to return for a fifth season if a deal can be reached.
Gandolfini, a two-time Emmy award winner for his portrayal of conflicted mob boss Tony Soprano, alleged in a suit filed in California that HBO violated a clause in his contract when it failed to notify him of a $20 million deal it struck with David Chase, the show's creator.
Gandolfini receives about $400,000 an episode under a deal renegotiated after the first season of "The Sopranos," according to Variety, roughly in line with stars like Martin Sheen of NBC's "The West Wing" but far below the $1.6 million per episode paid to Kelsey Grammer for NBC's "Frasier."
James Gandolfini
A woman (C) burns paper effigies under a flyover in Hong Kong on March 6, 2003 as part of the age-old 'beating the small men' ritual to rid herself of misfortune. Plagued with all sorts of
money woes from pay cuts and retrenchment to higher taxes, many Hong Kong residents are turning to superstition in a desperate bid to remove their bad luck. Picture taken March 6.
Photo by Bobby Yip
Reluctant to Join Iraq Debate
Hollywood's Right
Where is Arnold Schwarzenegger when resident Bush needs him?
The movie action hero and committed Republican is so far absent in the "star wars" debate over an impending war against Iraq, reflecting what celebrity pundits say is a curious silence on the part of many Hollywood conservatives.
While Tinseltown liberals have come out in force to denounce any war against Iraq, only a handful of household names have so far spoken up in support of resident Bush's Iraq policy.
Bruce Willis, 47, promoting a new war movie this month in which he plays a Navy special operations commander, told reporters he had thought about signing up for the real action, but friends told him he was too old.
But "Terminator" star Schwarzenegger, who has toyed with running for California governor as a Republican, has taken no part in the celebrity debate over Iraq that has infuriated middle Americans and prompted talk of boycotts and blacklists.
Clint Eastwood, a former mayor of the California seaside city of Carmel, has also been reluctant to publicly side with Bush.
Harrison Ford this week dissociated himself from media reports that he was backing Bush, saying he was "appalled by the idea" that anyone might think he supports war.
Tom Cruise appeared to support Bush's Iraq policy six months ago but has said nothing since. And director Steven Spielberg has said nothing since a remark in September that expressed tentative confidence in Bush's stance.
Citizens United president David Bossie said there had been an overwhelming public response to his campaign and the ad fronted by Fred Thompson.
"If other actors or celebrities or sports figures wanted to shoot a message to the American people, we would welcome it and encourage it," he said. Bossie said he had been contacted by other Hollywood figures but added; "I'm not going to name names."
Hollywood's Right
Won't Attend NAACP Awards
Rosa Parks
Civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks will not attend Saturday's NAACP Image Awards because the event's host, Cedric the Entertainer, made jokes about her in the film "Barbershop" that she considered offensive.
In a letter dated Thursday, Elaine Steele, a co-founder of the Rosa & Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development, said the invitation was appreciated but that jokes by Cedric's character in "Barbershop" represent "a sensitive area to us."
In the film, Cedric's character says other blacks had refused to give up their seats to whites in the segregated South but that Parks got the credit because she was connected to the NAACP.
Kweisi Mfume, president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said he was disappointed that Parks wouldn't attend, in part because "The Rosa Parks Story" is nominated in the category
for outstanding TV movie, miniseries or dramatic special.
The NAACP has nominated "Barbershop" for outstanding motion picture and Cedric the Entertainer for best supporting actor.
Rosa Parks
Rosa & Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development Web site
NAACP Image Awards Web site
Word Experts Vindicate
Fred Durst
The experts are in agreeance. Rocker Fred Durst was right after all.
Durst, lead singer of the rap-metal band Limp Bizkit, was widely mocked after he deviated from the script at the Grammy Awards to offer an anti-war sentiment that grated on the ears of grammarians: "I just
really hope we're all in agreeance that this war should go away as soon as possible."
Barry Koltnow of the Orange County Register called him "illiterate." The Atlanta Journal Constitution said its copy desk was "in agreement that 'agreeance' isn't a word."
The Weekly Standard called the performer "Fred Dunce" and as far away as Sydney, Australia, the Sunday Telegraph newspaper called it a "fact" that agreeance is not a word.
But it turns out that Durst has some heavy linguistic hitters on his side. The North American editor of the Oxford English Dictionary told the New York Observer newspaper that "agreeance" is, in fact, a word.
"It's in the OED," editor Jesse Sheindler told the paper. "He did use it correctly.
And Hagit Borer, chairwoman of the University of Southern California's linguistics department, also defended Durst, calling his word choice "innovative" and noting that the English language was malleable.
Fred Durst
Turd Blossom To Perform!
Gridiron Club
The world may be on the brink of war, but those wacky journos at the Gridiron Club will be up to their old antics tonight when the establishment holds its 118th annual dinner of satire and song at the
Capitol Hilton in Washington, D.C. Highlights will include Providence Journal bureau chief John Mulligan as top presidential aide Karl Rove singing a version of "The Gambler" that goes,
"I got to let Laura mold him,
let Condi scold him/
Let Cheney rant but never let him on TV."
Buffalo News D.C. chief Doug Turner will sing about Press Secretary Ari Fleischer to the tune of "Razzle Dazzle" from "Chicago" -
"Give 'em some patronizing blather/
Smile back at them."
Gridiron Club
CNN Cancels, Finally
'Talkback Live'
CNN has canceled its long-running afternoon show, "Talkback Live," that has originated from the Atlanta mall outside of the CNN offices.
The show will be replaced by an expanded, three-hour edition of "Live From," which currently airs from 1 to 3 p.m. EST. The news show will feature hosts Kyra Phillips and Miles O'Brien reporting from the scene of the day's big story.
Its final show was Friday, though Arthel Neville is expected to stay at CNN.
'Talkback Live'
Shut Down Due to Strike
Broadway Musicals
Virtually every musical on Broadway shut down Friday as musicians went on strike, and actors and stagehands said they wouldn't cross their picket lines.
All weekend performances were canceled, too.
Shortly before the shutdown, the actors and stagehands expressed their solidarity with the musicians.
"Our members have made it clear: We do not want to perform to virtual orchestras," said Patrick Quinn, Actors' Equity president.
Plays on Broadway — such as "Take Me Out" and "Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune" — were being performed as usual, as were all off-Broadway productions. "Cabaret" was the only Broadway musical unaffected because it's covered by a special contract.
Broadway Musicals
In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends
Overlooked & Underappreciated
Roger Ebert's Overlooked Film Festival
Film critic Roger Ebert's Overlooked Film Festival has "The Right Stuff" -- literally. For the fifth annual edition of the Champaign, Ill.-set feast of movies ripe for a fairer shake or a closer look,
Ebert is unspooling Philip Kaufman's 1983 film about the original Mercury astronauts that, he says, was a "puzzling flop" at the box office.
The event, which runs April 23-27 in Ebert's hometown, will close with "Singin' in the Rain," Ebert's choice for the greatest movie musical of all time.
In the silent film department, a top-flight Japanese benshi (or live narrator) embellishing 1932's "I Was Born, But..." and the 1926 shot-in-color Douglas Fairbanks romp "The Black Pirate," accompanied by
the Alloy Orchestra, are live-performance highlights.
More recent films slated are "13 Conversations About One Thing" (U.S., 2002), "Blood and Wine" (U.S., 1997), "Charlotte Sometimes" (U.S., 2002), "L.627" (France, 1992), "Medium Cool" (U.S., 1969), "Stone
Reader" (U. S., 2002), "Shall We Dance" (Japan, 1996), "Your Friends and Neighbors" (U.S., 1998) and "What's Cooking?" (U.S., 2000).
Tickets are available by calling the theater box office, (217) 356-9053, or through the fest's Web site,
www.ebertfest.com.
Roger Ebert's Overlooked Film Festival
Manchita, the jaguar, cleans her newborn cub at the national zoo in Managua, Nicaragua on Friday, March 7, 2003. The zoo is at high risk of losing their food due to lack of government funding.
Photo by Esteban Felix
Auctioning a Day on the Set
Ron Howard
Oscar-winning director Ron Howard has offered a day on the set of his new movie to the highest bidder.
The star-powered trip is one of hundreds of items on the block at the annual Greenwich High School PTA fund-raising auction Friday.
The winning bidder will be invited to the New Mexico set of "The Missing," starring Tommy Lee Jones and Cate Blanchett, the Greenwich Time reported.
Ron Howard
Faux Is Tweaking
'American Idol'
Fox isn't taking any chances with the high numbers for "American Idol." Starting next week, "to mix things up a bit," the show will feature a different celebrity judge every week, in addition to
Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson. In other efforts to juice ratings, there will be "theme" segments - where the contestants will sing songs by Stevie Wonder, Paul McCartney and Barry
Manilow.
'American Idol'
Bankrolled Scottish Independence Party
Sean Connery
The original Hollywood James Bond, Sir Sean Connery, was so keen on independence for his native Scotland that he bankrolled the radical Scottish National Party (SNP) for six years.
The star said he deposited about $1.20 million in a Bank of Scotland offshore account in 1995 and donated the monthly interest -- about $8,000 pounds -- to the party.
"I have never told anyone before about the 750,000 ($1.20 million) deposit," the 72-year-old actor told Glasgow's Herald newspaper.
Connery, who is domiciled in the Bahamas, continued to transfer the interest to the SNP until legislation in 2001 stopped parties accepting money from people not on Britain's electoral register.
Connery's relations have been strained with the mainstream Scottish press, which have scathingly queried how someone who lives in the Bahamas can be such an ardent nationalist.
Sean Connery
Formerly 'The Vidiot'
International Rights Sold
Michael Jackson
Banking on the assumption that the rest of the world is as obsessed with Michael Jackson's lifestyle as folks are Stateside, distributor Alfred Haber has snapped up rights to "The Michael Jackson Interview: The Footage You Were Never Meant to See."
The show includes unused footage from the now infamous Martin Bashir documentary about the pop singer.
New Jersey-based Haber is one of the world's largest distributors of specials produced for U.S. broadcast networks.
Michael Jackson
Scientists who opened this pocketwatch from the Civil War submarine Hunley found a cloudy crystal and corroded hands but the information within the ornate timepiece will take them closer to solving riddles about the hand-cranked sub, researchers said on March 7, 2003. The new information may give scholars an answer to the question of how long the Hunley survived after she torpedoed the USS Housatonic at about 8:45 p.m. on February 17, 1864, researchers said at a news conference in Charleston.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Buying Muppets?
Disney
Walt Disney Co. is in talks to buy Kermit the Frog and other Muppet characters from Germany's EM.TV & Merchandising AG, sources familiar with the situation said on Friday.
One source said a deal could be announced as early as next week. Disney would pay $70 million for EM.TV subsidiary Jim Henson Co.'s rights to the Muppet movie catalog and characters but not
Henson's special-effects workshop, the Creature Shop, the source said.
Another source said that talks between the two were on but that a deal was not close and other contenders were still talking with EM.TV. The German media company said earlier on Friday it
had called off talks with a group of investors led by media executive Dean Valentine.
Disney
Pleads Innocent
Tom Sizemore
Actor Tom Sizemore, who starred on the canceled CBS police drama "Robbery Homicide Division," pleaded innocent on Friday to punching a woman in the face and throwing her to the ground.
Sizemore, also known for playing a gruff sergeant in the movie "Saving Private Ryan," entered not guilty pleas to misdemeanor charges of domestic violence, battery, violating a restraining order, making criminal threats and dissuading a witness.
Sizemore has said that he does not know the woman who filed charges against him and predicted that he would ultimately be exonerated.
Tom Sizemore
To Mark Anniversary With Concert
Steinway & Sons
Steinway & Sons, whose pianos are played by top musicians, is marking its 150th anniversary with a Carnegie Hall lineup that includes Herbie Hancock, Art Garfunkel and 19-year-old Peter Cincotti.
The concerts are scheduled for June 5-7.
Henry Z. Steinway, the 87-year-old great-grandson of company founder Henry Englehard Steinway, was at the company's New York showroom on West 57th Street, opposite Carnegie Hall, for a ceremony Tuesday kicking off the anniversary.
"In our history, we have created more than 560,000 Steinway pianos, fashioned very much in the same way and spirit," he said.
Steinway & Sons
Carnegie Hall Web site
Steinway & Sons Web site
To Play Thailand Concert
Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones will perform April 8 for a capacity crowd at the 11,500-seat Impact Arena on the outskirts of Bangkok, Neil Thompson, a promoter at BEC-Tero Entertainment, told The Associated Press Wednesday.
"The Bangkok venue is the biggest venue in Asia," he said. "They're bringing everything in, sound and lights." The Stones have not played in Thailand before.
With prices ranging from $35 to $188, tickets are expensive by Thai standards, but cheaper than those for some of the band's other Asian dates — front-row seats in Beijing go for $750.
Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones Web site
It's Coming Back
'The Gong Show'
Who wants to be executive producer of "The Gong Show" for the WB? Michael Davies does.
The force behind "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" has signed on to produce the new take on Chuck Barris' classic format. Davies' Diplomatic banner is coming on board to produce the pilot in association with Sony Pictures Television.
The WB made a commitment to develop a pilot earlier this year.
While staying true to the spirit of the original series, the show will be updated for the WB's core audience of viewers 12-34.
Sony also shot a Tom Arnold-hosted pilot for a new syndicated "Gong Show" two years ago.
'The Gong Show'
Records Two Anti-War Songs
Cat Stevens
Yusuf Islam, formerly known as pop singer Cat Stevens, has recorded two songs to express his opposition to a U.S.-led war on Iraq.
One song is a rerecording of his '70s hit "Peace Train." The other, "Angel of War," reworks his melancholy love song "Lady D'Arbanville."
"As a member of humanity and as a Muslim, this is my contribution to the call for a peaceful solution to the dangerous path some world leaders today seem to be taking," he said in a statement posted on his Web site.
"Peace Train" and "Angel of War" have been shipped to radio stations around the world and will be available from the singer's Web site, his record label, Universal, said Thursday.
Cat Stevens
Cat Stevens Web site
Jinxed Rocks
Uluru
Tourists who have taken home chunks of rock from Uluru, Australia's most sacred Aboriginal site, are sending them back because they believe the souvenirs have brought them bad luck, park rangers said on Friday.
The Uluru Kata-Tjuta National Park, which oversees the huge red monolith -- previously known as Ayer's Rock -- in the desert of central Australia, said some of the pieces returned by post weighed as much as 16.5 pounds.
It is illegal to take away a piece of Uluru, which stands 260 miles from the outback town of Alice Springs and is famed for the palate of deep reds that tinges its 1,130-foot flanks in the setting sun.
Many end up being destroyed because of Australia's tough quarantine laws covering the import of soil and rocks.
Uluru
Court Jails Heavy Metal Fans
'Satanists'
A court in Casablanca on Thursday handed out prison sentences ranging from one month to one year to 14 heavy metal music enthusiasts, the official MAP news agency reported.
The trial followed articles in some newspapers which described the accused as "Satanists" who recruited for an international cult of devil-worship.
The 14 men aged between 22 and 35 years were found guilty of "possessing objects which infringe morals" and of "acts capable of undermining the faith of a Muslim."
Morocco's penal code allows a maximum sentence of three years for attempting to convert a Muslim to another faith.
Nine of those sentenced are musicians in three Moroccan heavy metal groups: Nekros, Infected Brain and Reborn.
The French-language weekly magazine TelQuel had ridiculed the judge's remarks during the trial that "Normal people go to concerts in a suit and tie," rather than in a black T-shirt with heavy-metal symbols which was shown to the court.
For some of Morocco's francophone middle classes, the case set alarm bells ringing, against a background of rising electoral support for Morocco's Islamist Justice and Development Party (PJD).
'Satanists'
Final Weekend
'Horns and Halos'
Cinema Village
22 E. 12th St.
NYC
The pygmy rabbit has been designated as an endangered species. Officials say there are probably fewer than 30 left — and possibly only a dozen in the wild. This undated photo shows
two juvenile Columbia Basin pygmy rabbits, born in captivity at Washington State University in Pullman, Wash.
Photo by Rod Sayler
'The Osbournes'
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