'TBH Politoons'
Thanks, again, Tim!
Selected Saturday Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Overcast day gave way to rain by nightfall.
Funny thing about life in LA - no matter what is happening, rain will always lead the local newscasts.
Won't be taking a day off this weekend, after all. I'm bummed, on several levels - oh well.
Tonight, Saturday, CBS is supposed to open the evening with a FRESH 'special' - 'The Price Is Right Million Dollar Spectacular' followed by a FRESH 'The District', then
a FRESH 'The Agency'.
NBC is supposed to start the night with a FRESH 'Hunter', followed by a RERUN 'Law & Order', then a RERUN 'Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'.
'SNL' is FRESH, with Ashton Kutcher hosting & music by 50 Cent.
ABC is supposed to fill the night with the movie 'Gladiator'.
The WB offers the movie 'Crimson Tide'.
Faux has the usual - 2 'Cops', followed by 'America's Most Wanted'.
UPN here has baseball - the Pittsburgh Pirates visit Rupert's Doggers (as we used to say 'Beat 'em, Bucs!', while shaking our green weenies).
Anyone have any opinions?
Or reviews?
(See below for addresses)
French sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon crossed the Atlantic, stayed for two weeks at Mount Vernon, and put a plaster mold over the face of George Washington for 20 minutes to better obtain a likeness for the sculpture done in the late 1780s. The first large international show by the artist, titled 'Jean-Antoine Houdon (1741-1828): Sculptor of the Enlightenment', opens Sunday, May 4, 2003, at the National Gallery of Art in Washington.
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The Information One-Stop
Moose & Squirrel
Engagement News
Diana Krall & Elvis Costello
Canadian jazz singer Diana Krall and British rocker Elvis Costello plan to marry, her father said in an interview published.
Krall's "Live in Paris" won a Grammy award in February for best jazz vocal album. She met Costello at last year's Grammy awards ceremony, the National Post said.
"They are engaged. But where the marriage is going to be, I don't have any idea," Diana's father Jim Krall told the newspaper.
He said he had no further details about the wedding, but said he was "very happy" about the news.
Diana Krall & Elvis Costello
Supportive of Robbins, Sarandon
Kevin Costner
Kevin Costner says no one — including the Baseball Hall of Fame — should single out "Bull Durham" co-stars Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon for their anti-war views.
Costner, who also starred in the film, said Robbins and Sarandon shouldn't be viewed as targets by those supporting the war in Iraq.
"He's a good man and she's a really good woman; she's a thoughtful woman," Costner said Thursday. "We don't need to be separating them from us. We need Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon."
Costner said he doesn't agree with all that Robbins and Sarandon say, but they have a right to their opinion like everyone in the United States.
Robbins and Sarandon aren't divisive and they don't intend to make others uncomfortable, Costner said. "They're just really voicing that right that we fought a long time ago for."
Kevin Costner
Former world number three Cory Lopez of Florida, U.S. rides a massive tube at Teahupoo in Tahiti, April 30, 2003, during a warm up for the upcoming Billabong Pro surfing competition.
Photo by Steve Robertson
Late Cinematographer Gets Star
Conrad Hall
Cinematographer Conrad Hall, who won Oscars for "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" and "American Beauty," was honored posthumously with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Hall died in January at age 76. He won his third Oscar two months later for last year's "Road to Perdition."
Born and raised in Tahiti, he was the son of James Norman Hall, co-author of the novels "Mutiny on the Bounty" and "The Hurricane."
Writer-directors Robert Towne, who worked with Hall on the 1988 film "Tequila Sunrise," and Steve Zaillian, who worked with Hall on 1993's "Searching For Bobby Fisher" and 1998's "A Civil Action," attended Thursday's dedication.
Hall's star, the 2,224th on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, is near the star of his friend and fellow cinematographer Haskell Wexler.
Conrad Hall
Promotes Alternate-Fuel Vehicles
Dennis Weaver
Actor Dennis Weaver and a caravan of alternate-fuel vehicles stopped at Fresno City Hall on Thursday, as part of a cross-country trip to advocate higher federal mileage standards and conversions to hydrogen-powered engines.
The cross-country drive will end in Washington, D.C., where Weaver will present resident Bush and Congress with a petition seeking what he calls a "declaration of independence" for U.S. energy.
Weaver's "Drive to Survive" began Wednesday in Santa Monica, and will stop in numerous cities on the way to Washington.
Weaver urged the public to pressure elected representatives.
"We are in a tremendous transition now," he said, describing a move away from the internal combustion engine. "The energy we choose to fuel our economy is the No. 1 issue now."
Dennis Weaver
Mister Rogers' Honor
Mister Rogers
Mister Rogers now has an asteroid named in his honor.
"Misterrogers," formerly known as No. 26858, honors Fred Rogers, creator and host of public television's "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood." Rogers died Feb. 27 at age 74.
"I doubt that there are many who have not been touched in some way by the life and work of Fred Rogers," said John G. Radzilowicz, director of the Henry Buhl Jr. Planetarium & Observatory at the Carnegie Science Center, which made the announcement Thursday.
The science center worked with Family Communications Inc., the production company Rogers founded, to produce a planetarium show for preschoolers called "The Sky Above Mister Rogers' Neighborhood." The show now plays at 15 planetariums across the country.
"Misterrogers" can be found between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, and is about 218 million miles from the sun, which it takes about 3 1/2 years to orbit. It was discovered in 1993 by E.F. Helin at the Palomar Observatory in California.
The International Astronomical Union names comets, asteroids and surface features such as moon craters after individuals. The honors cannot be bought, and they are based on merits judged by the astronomers.
Mister Rogers
International Astronomical Union
Takes Out Ads for Bassist
Courtney Love
Courtney Love is in search of a few good goddesses. Love has taken out full-page ads in New York's Village Voice and the LA Weekly to recruit a bassist or guitarist for her band.
Love says applicants must really play, look like a goddess, and like stuff ranging from "Performance" the movie to Patty Schemel's drumming. The ad notes, "We love Flea but don't want you to play like him." Perhaps most importantly, the ad says, "NO BOYS." The ad includes an address and phone number for interested parties.
The phone number listed is 212-802-7269. Audition videotapes may be sent to P.O. Box C238, New York, New York 10011.
Courtney Love
In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends
Visited Hometown
Jennifer Garner
"Alias" star Jennifer Garner didn't start her acting career to find fame — she just wanted to emulate the Charleston Light Opera Guild's director.
Nina Denton Pasinetti was an early mentor for Garner, who grew up in Charleston and performed as a child in local guild productions.
"I didn't get into this to be famous," the 31-year-old actress said this week during a visit to her hometown. "I wanted to be Miss Denton."
She visited her alma mater, George Washington High School, on Thursday but left when television crews showed up.
"I didn't want anybody to know about it," she said. "I just wanted to be there for the kids and to see my school. I did it from my heart; it wasn't a publicity stunt."
Jennifer Garner
Sculptors Jimm Scannell (L) and Jim Victor put finishing touches on a life-size replica of the number 5 Kellogg's/got milk? race car, carved from 3,500 pounds of yellow Cheddar cheese, provided by Cabot Creamery May 2, 2003 at Richmond International Speedway in Richmond, Virginia. The American Dairy Association commissioned the cheese carving as a promotional event ahead of the Pontiac Excitement 400, which will be held inRichmond on May 3.
Photo by Don Grassman
Sold Out in Dublin
Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones' first Irish shows since 1982 have sold out in six minutes, Ticketmaster Ireland said Friday.
The veteran rockers will play The Point, a 7,500-capacity venue in Dublin, Sept. 9 and Sept. 11. The latter date was added to the schedule shortly before tickets for both shows went on sale Friday.
The Stones, who begin the European leg of their Licks world tour in Munich June 4, also added a second Glasgow date. They will play the Scottish city's SECC Arena Sept. 1 and Sept. 3. All told, they will perform 10 shows in the U.K. and Ireland.
Separately, Austria Post will release a set of four Rolling Stones stamps June 18, the day the band plays in Vienna. According to fan web site It's Only Rock'n Roll (
www.iorr.org/news.htm), Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts and Ron Wood will each get his own stamp. A band spokeswoman confirmed the issue, but had no additional information.
Rolling Stones
'Cheap Date'
Madonna
Pop star Madonna revealed on Friday that her British film director husband has turned her on to that most English of pastimes -- drinking too much ale in the pub with her mates.
"I didn't start drinking until I met Guy Ritchie -- he's been a wonderful influence on me," joked Madonna of her husband, the director of violent British gangster films like "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels."
"I get drunk with him. I become one of those English drunken girls. All it takes is a half of a pint. I'm a cheap date, yeah," she told Britain's BBC television.
Madonna, whose move to London has instantly made her one of Britain's most high profile celebrities, said it took her some time to grow fond of her new homeland.
"Then I just fell in love with it. I figured out how to drive on the wrong side of the road and I learned to love ale."
Madonna
Formerly 'The Vidiot'
Told to Clean Up Mess From Fire
Aretha Franklin
After a six-month investigation into the cause of a fire at her Oakland County mansion, Aretha Franklin now has 10 days to clean up the mess.
"The investigation is complete, and now it is time to clean up the property," Kaye Chartier, Bloomfield Township's code and ordinance director, told The Oakland Press for Thursday's editions.
Investigators earlier this year ruled the Oct. 25 fire at the Bloomfield Township mansion was arson. No charges have been filed.
Aretha Franklin
U.S. National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice is seen as she waits for resident George W. Bush to land on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, as the ship steamed toward San Diego, California, May 1, 2003. Rice and other White House staff flew out to the ship on a C-2 Greyhound (COD) aircraft.
Photo by Kevin Lamarque
Digital Technology Used On Works
Leonardo da Vinci
They look as alive as the day Leonardo da Vinci painted them: tasty cherries, ripe, red, ready to eat; crackle-fresh peas popping from their pods; a raspberry, so simple, so enticing.
Turn a page in the 500-year-old manuscript and marvel as da Vinci rushes on. Here, he draws plans for a stairwell, there fearsome-looking swords. The sketches are so immediate you can almost picture the master artist at work, his mind, hands and soul racing to capture, understand and peel the layers of his world.
Using digital technology, the Louvre Museum in Paris, is making da Vinci accessible as never before, photographing 12 of his notebooks — which have not been exhibited together for 50 years — so visitors can flip through them with the click of a mouse.
Notebooks were da Vinci's companions in life, carried around in his pockets and whipped out to sketch what he saw and to jot down his thoughts, said organizers of the exhibition that opens next Friday and runs to July 14.
Just 28 of da Vinci's notebooks survive today, out of at least 50 that his pupil Francesco Melzi is thought to have put together. The 12 in France were stolen by soldiers in 1796. Labeled A through L, they were last exhibited together in 1952 at the Louvre and are kept in a vault at the Bank of France, the central bank.
Da Vinci wrote in Italian, in a peculiar back-to-front style, from right to left across the page. Some authors suggest da Vinci did so to keep his writings secret. But scholar Carmen Bambach says it was because he was a southpaw: Reverse-writing allowed his left hand to stay ahead of his writing and not smear the ink. The easiest way to decipher da Vinci's spidery script is to read it in a mirror.
Some notebooks are pocket-sized, barely bigger than a cigarette packet. Others are larger, roughly magazine size. Notebook A is bound in white leather and held shut with blue string.
Previously, the only way to see copies of all 12 manuscripts was in a book by a Florence, Italy, publishing house. It costs about $11,000 and is generally found only in specialized libraries.
Leonardo da Vinci
Exhibit Showcases Anti-War Movement Art
'Times of War/Signs of Peace'
In the days before and during the U.S. military action in Iraq, millions of people throughout the world demonstrated against it, carrying posters and banners with slogans showing their opposition.
New York City was the staging ground for some of the largest anti-war rallies, with more than 100,000 people turning out for each of two separate events.
Now, a union-organized exhibit showcases the creativity and imagination of those people in a collection of materials used in the protests. "Times of War/Signs of Peace" opened Thursday at the gallery in the 1199 Martin Luther King Jr. Labor Center, and will run through May 10.
The exhibit, housed in a single room, features photographs, posters, T-shirts, buttons, banners and signs used at rallies. The centerpiece is a huge red and black poster featuring resident Bush, with the slogan, "Elect a madman, you get madness."
Organizers hoped the exhibit would show people that those who spoke out against the war were not isolated voices, but a movement exercising the right of dissent.
The project was put together by the Bread & Roses Cultural Project, the nonprofit cultural arm of 1199/SEIU. The Service Employees International Union represents more than 200,000 health care and human services workers.
'Times of War/Signs of Peace'
Bread and Roses Cultural Project
In Memory
Elizabeth A. 'Miss Elizabeth' Hulette
Elizabeth A. Hulette, a wrestling personality who was known to fans as "Miss Elizabeth," died Thursday. She was 42. Cobb County authorities planned an autopsy to determine the cause.
Emergency personnel responding to a 911 call found Hulette at the home of former pro wrestler Lawrence Pfohl, also known as "Lex Luger." Hulette had been living with Pfohl.
Pfohl was taken into custody on unrelated drug charges and was released on bond early Friday.
Hulette was married to former wrestler Randy "The Macho Man" Savage, and was his manager before they divorced in 1992. She and Savage became popular personalities in the World Wrestling Federation, which they entered in 1985.
Hulette also had managed pro wrestler Hulk Hogan and Pfohl.
Last month, police responded to a domestic violence call at Pfohl's house and arrested him. Pfohl was accused of punching Hulette in the face and was charged with battery.
Elizabeth A. 'Miss Elizabeth' Hulette
Die im Zoo von San Diego geborene Panda-Bärin Hua Mei kann wegen SARS vorerst nicht nach China gebracht werden.
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'Ark of Darkness'
"The Ark of Darkness", a Political/Science-Fiction work, in tidy, weekly installments (and updated every Friday).
'The Osbournes'
'The Osbournes' ~ Page 4
'The Osbournes' ~ Page 3
'The Osbournes' ~ Page 2
'The Osbournes' ~ Page 1
