'TBH Politoons'
Thanks, again, Tim!
Reader Link
'Scary Movie 3'
Selected Saturday Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Still hot, still humid, still cranky.
Thanks to Tim of TBH Politoons for all the great visuals.
My mouse is acting strangely - it wants to double click everything. Will pull it apart later.
Still working on the WTC page.
Tonight, Saturday, CBS starts the night with '48 Hours', followed by a RERUN 'Hack', then a RERUN 'The District'.
NBC opens the evening with a FRESH 'Just Shoot Me', followed by another FRESH 'Just Shoot Me', then the movie 'Antz'.
Of course, 'SNL' is a RERUN.
ABC begins the evening with the movie 'Mighty Joe Young', followed by a RERUN 'Dragnet'.
The WB offers the movie 'Air America'.
Faux has a RERUN 'Cops', followed by another RERUN 'Cops', then 'America's Most Wanted'.
UPN has a RERUN 'The Parkers', followed by a RERUN 'One On One', then a RERUN 'Girlfriends',
followed by a RERUN 'Half & Half'.
A&E has 'American Justice', 'Cold Case Files', and a RERUN 'Crossing Jordan'.
AMC offers the movie 'Fist Of Fury', followed by the movie 'Way Of The Dragon', then the movie 'The Big Boss'.
BBC -
[6pm] 'Keeping Up Appearances' - Episode 3;
[6:40pm] 'My Hero' - Episode 2;
[7:20pm] 'Keeping Up Appearances' - Episode 4;
[8pm] 'Red Cap' - Espirit De Corps;
[9pm] 'Red Cap' - Crush;
[10pm] 'Jonathan Creek' - The Reconstituted Corpse;
[11pm] 'So Graham Norton' - Kelly Osbourne;
[11:30pm] So Graham Norton' - John Waters/ Edie Falco;
[12am] 'Jonathan Creek' - The Reconstituted Corpse;
[1am] 'Red Cap' - Espirit De Corps;
[2am] 'Red Cap' - Crush; and
[3am] 'Peter's Friends'. (ALL TIMES EDT)
Bravo has the movie 'Bugsy', then the movie 'House Of The Spirits'.
History has 'History Undercover', 'UFO's: Then & Now', and 'Deep Sea Detectives'.
SciFi has the movie 'Riverworld', followed by the movie 'Momentum', then the movie 'Black Mask 2'.
TCM -
[6am} 'Mary of Scotland' (1936);
[8:30am] 'Becky Sharp' (1935);
[10am] 'Mildred Pierce' (1945);
[12pm] 'The Three Godfathers' (1948);
[2pm] 'Gidget' (1959);
[4pm] 'The Story Of Seabiscuit' (1949);
[6pm] 'Challenge To Lassie' (1949);
[7:30pm] 'Festival of Shorts #19' (1999);
[8pm] 'Wuthering Heights' (1939);
[10pm] 'The Women' (1939);
[12:30am] 'Goodbye Mr. Chips' (1939);
[2:30am] 'Babes in Arms' (1939); and
[4:15am] 'Golden Boy' (1939). (ALL TIMES EDT)
Anyone have any opinions?
Or reviews?
(See below for addresses)
US film actor Danny Glover gestures during a press conference at the UN office in Quito, July 25, 2003. Glover is in Ecuador as ambassador of the Good Will Development Program of the United Nations.
Photo by Guillermo Granja
The Information One-Stop
Moose & Squirrel
More Offended by Violence Than Sex
TV Viewers
More television viewers are offended by violence than by nudity or sexually charged language, a study commissioned by TV Guide magazine has found.
The survey of 1,015 adults nationwide, details of which were released on Friday, also found that 71 percent have changed channels to avoid seeing material they consider offensive, though 91 percent indicated they have never actually called a network to complain about such content.
About 17 percent of those polled said "graphic violence and gore" were the most offensive things on TV, compared to 9 percent for "bodily functions," 8 percent for "foul language" and 6 percent for "nudity or sexual innuendo."
A report on the study will appear in next week's issue of the magazine, which also noted that NBC did not receive a single complaint last year when U2 lead singer Bono swore on the air during the live broadcast of the Golden Globes award show.
TV Viewers
Film Sold For $54,000
John Lennon
Two reels of never-before-seen 16mm film footage depicting John Lennon walking around New York City sold for 53,775 dollars at a Christie's auction of showbiz memorabilia.
Several lots related to the former Beatle were the highlights of the auction, which also saw a childhood photo of Marilyn Monroe go under the hammer for more than 31,000 dollars.
The footage was taken by a young filmmaker who approached Lennon and asked to film him with a new camera.
John Lennon
Artist Andy DelGallo of Falls Church, VA, engraves a commemoration to civil rights leader Martin Luther King on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., July 25, 2003. King's famous words 'I Have a Dream' are inscribed large, under which reads 'Martin Luther King, Jr. The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom August 28, 1963.'
Photo by David Snyder
New UCLA Theater
Billy Wilder
The Hammer Museum at the University of California, Los Angeles will name a new theater after late filmmaker Billy Wilder.
Audrey Wilder made a $5 million donation in honor of her late husband to create the Billy Wilder Theater, the museum said in a statement Thursday. Construction will begin next year on the project, which also will be used for screenings by the UCLA Film and Television Archive.
Wilder died last year at 95. The influential Austrian-born writer-director's films included "Sunset Boulevard," "Some Like It Hot" and "The Seven Year Itch."
Billy Wilder
Plays Aging Rocker in 'Masked and Anonymous'
Bob Dylan
In some circles, Bob Dylan's legendary mumbling may make him a questionable choice for a leading film role.
But director Larry Charles said Dylan's speech was just fine when he shot the indie film, "Masked and Anonymous."
Charles said Dylan "can be as understood as he wants to be." When Dylan "doesn't want to be understood, that's deliberate."
Charles pointed out the different singing styles Dylan uses in his songs: Some you can understand, some you can't. Dylan is the same way when you talk to him, Charles said.
For more, Bob Dylan
Ending After 4 Seasons
'Futurama'
A prediction: Viewers eons from now will give "Futurama" the credit it deserves today.
For now, however, we ancients of the 21st century who love it will continue to celebrate "Futurama" as unbeatable satire — even as its prime-time cycle nears an end.
Fortunately, "Futurama" reruns air on Cartoon Network at 11 p.m. EDT Sundays through Thursdays as part of that network's "Adult Swim" program block. Next month, the second "Futurama" season will be released on DVD by Fox Home Entertainment.
And on the Fox network, the final three new "Futurama" episodes can be seen Sundays at 7 p.m. through Aug. 10.
For a lot more, 'Futurama'
Cartoon Network
Fan Site
In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends
E-Mail Hoax
Jamie Oliver
An hoax e-mail was circulating around the Internet on Friday purporting to be a new cookery book from British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver dishing up recipes from sushi rolls to fish and chips.
Penguin Books, the UK publisher for Oliver's books, said it was trying to track down the e-mail's author. It contained a 121-page Microsoft Word document attachment replete with color photos, scores of recipes and a fictitious title, "The Naked Chef 2."
It appears to be a type of pirated version of his many cook books," said Jess Ward, publicity director for Penguin Books in London. "Obviously, this is an infringement of Jamie's copyright so Penguin is pursuing it with authorities."
"There's nothing original in the e-mail. It appears to come from a collection of his previous books," said Ward. "We're not concerned about the commercial impact."
Jamie Oliver
Swimming piglet : A miniature Potbelly pig keeps his snout out of the water during his swimming race at the DuPage County Fairgrounds in Wheaton, IL.
Photo by Jeff Haynes
Baby News
Winslet & Mendes
Actress Kate Winslet and her husband, director Sam Mendes, are expecting their first baby, his publicist confirmed Friday.
Winslet, who has a 3-year-old daughter, Mia, from her previous marriage to Jim Threapleton, is due to give birth in January.
Winslet, 27, was nominated for Academy Awards for her roles in "Titanic," "Sense and Sensibility" and "Iris." Mendes, 37, won the best-director Oscar for his first film, 1999's "American Beauty."
Winslet & Mendes
Unexpected Convergence
'Flash Mobs'
New Yorkers often become part of unexpected mob scenes -- huge crowds on subway platforms, at clothing sales, or at free concerts in places like Central Park. Now they are doing it on purpose, for fun.
"Flash mobs," in which people show up at an assigned place at a certain time, perform some brief acts, and then leave, have descended on stores, a hotel and even a piece of a park in New York.
In the latest occurrence, about 200 people converged on a Central Park ridge across from the Museum of Natural History on Thursday. Once in place, the mob tweeted like birds and crowed like roosters, chanted "Na-ture," and then dispersed.
If you're wondering what's the point, there isn't one. The gathering was the fifth instalment of the New York-based Mob Project, which started in June with a guy named Bill who sent an e-mail to some friends, who forwarded it to their friends, and so on.
Among the New York sites that have been mobbed are a Hyatt Hotel, where members spontaneously began clapping. In Macy's, they pretended to shop for a "love rug" for their joint home. And at a high-end shoe store in Soho, they acted like tourists from Maryland.
'Flash Mobs'
Formerly 'The Vidiot'
Trying Out Guests for Permanent Spot
'The View'
Barbara Walters will unveil plans on Friday for the ABC daytime show "The View" to try out guest hosts this fall to fill the chair held by former host Lisa Ling.
ABC on Thursday issued an advisory saying Walters would "make a special announcement" about the co-host, and earlier this week the show's executive producer Bill Geddie detailed the try-out routine.
"From the day after Labor Day to some undisclosed date in November when we actually make the announcement, we're seeing no one but people who interest us," said Geddie, who co-created the Emmy award-winning hour-long chatfest with Walters.
Geddie will bring in 10 to 20 hopefuls who will be allotted a "couple of days" to determine their fate starting with former MTV "Real World" star Rachel Campos, who was a contender for Ling's slot. He said that he and Walters will make the final decision, though they expect "The View's" co-hosts, staff and ABC to offer their opinions.
'The View'
Die Mainzelmännchen: (oben l-r) Conni, Det, Berti, (unten l-r) Anton, Edi und Fritzchen.
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Safari Was a Hoax
'Hunting Bambi'
A promoter who offered to take men on "Hunting for Bambi" safaris in which they could hunt down naked young women with paintball guns admitted that it was a hoax designed to sell videos, the mayor says.
Michael Burdick found himself in the crosshairs of women's groups after he told a Las Vegas TV station that he was selling reservations to men willing to pay $5,000 to $10,000 for the safari experience.
Las Vegas officials investigated and found that the purported safaris were nothing but a hoax to promote the "Hunting for Bambi" videos that Burdick sells. The videos show nude women being hunted by men.
The footage in the videos "was all staged," Mayor Oscar Goodman said Thursday. "There were actors and actresses and there wasn't even the real shooting of paint balls."
'Hunting Bambi'
Denies Blaming Lennon For Death
Pauline Sutcliffe
The sister of original Beatles bassist Stuart Sutcliffe denies ever saying that John Lennon was responsible for her brother's death. A prior report in England's Independent newspaper said Pauline Sutcliffe claimed a kick by Lennon to her brother's head had ultimately caused his death in April of 1962 from a brain hemorrhage.
The BBC reported on Thursday (July 24) that Sutcliffe said, "I did not say what was quoted in the papers and I am shocked by it. I'm distressed for John Lennon's family and for my own family and for millions of Beatles fans worldwide who would be deeply offended by it."
Sutcliffe did say that a fight between Lennon and her brother weeks before his death "could not have been helpful." She spoke while unveiling a collection of her brother's memorabilia that will be auctioned off in London on Tuesday (July 29). The items include a sketch book, birth certificate, documents from his school days, poetry and song lyrics, photographs, and other personal effects, cards, and letters.
Pauline Sutcliffe
Legendary Dog-Eating Catfish Dies
Kuno the Killer
A giant catfish that ate a dog and terrorized a German lake for years has washed up dead, but the legend of "Kuno the Killer" lives on.
A gardener discovered the carcass of a five-foot-long catfish weighing 77 pounds this week, a spokesman for the western city of Moenchengladbach said on Friday.
Kuno became a local celebrity in 2001 when he sprang from the waters of the Volksgarten park lake to swallow a Dachshund puppy whole. He evaded repeated attempts to capture him.
Low water levels and a summer heat wave probably killed the catfish, among the biggest found in Germany. The northern city of Bremen plans to stuff it and put in a museum.
Kuno the Killer
Thanks, Tim H!
In Memory
Matt Jeffries
Matt Jeffries, a film and television art director who created the original "Star Trek" starship Enterprise, has died at age 82.
Jeffries had been ailing and died of a heart attack Monday at Sherman Oaks Hospital, said his brother, John Jeffries.
Jeffries worked as a set designer for films in the late 1950s including "Bombers B-52" starring Natalie Wood and Efrem Zimbalist Jr. He served as art director for TV shows such as "The Untouchables," "Little House on the Prairie" and "Dallas."
"Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry had Jeffries design the Enterprise before the series debuted in 1966, and Jeffries remained with the iconic science-fiction show for many years.
Jeffries earned the Bronze Star as a flight engineer and co-pilot on B-17 bombers during World War II. He had a lifelong interest in aviation and spent holidays and weekends at an apartment he built in a hangar at the small Santa Paula Airport.
A memorial and Mass was scheduled for Aug. 2 in North Hollywood.
Matt Jeffries
In Memory
Bobby Thomson
Bobby Thomson, 50, Ozzy Osbourne's tour manager, was found around 4:30 p.m. Thursday in his bed at the Townsend Hotel in a Detroit suburb.
Thomson had battled throat cancer for 18 months, Ozzfest publicist Lisa Vega told the Detroit Free Press. It appeared he had died in his sleep.
"We are devastated by the loss of our dear friend Bobby," Osbourne said in a statement. "He has been a part of our family for 23 years and loved very much. He will be greatly missed by all of us. Our sincerest sympathies go out to the Thomson family."
Born in Wallyford, Scotland, Thomson lived in Saugus, Calif., north of Los Angeles. He is survived by his wife, Terri, and two sons, ages 19 and 10.
Bobby Thomson
In Memory
Jack Crouch
Jack Crouch, the founder of one of Boulder's cultural crown jewels, the Colorado Shakespeare Festival, died in his sleep Wednesday night at his home in Boulder.
Jack Crouch was the festival's first executive director, founding the summertime event in 1958. He was 84.
Crouch moved to Boulder in 1946 when he was hired as an English professor at the University of Colorado. He oversaw the Shakespeare Festival through the 1963 season and taught in the CU English department until 1990.
Through the years, Crouch returned to the Colorado festival many times as a director and actor. In 1975, he directed a production of "Cymbeline," which gave the festival the distinction of being the first American Shakespeare festival to stage all of the playwright's works.
In the mid-1990s, Crouch co-founded the Shakespeare Oratorio Society in Boulder, and he performed in the role of Jacques in "As You Like It" in 2000.
He made an impact on academic and professional theater across the country, as many of his students went on to distinguished professional and academic theater careers, including artistic directorships at the Virginia Shakespeare Festival and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.
Crouch, who was born in Idaho and grew up in Los Angeles, was also an avid baseball fan. Each spring, he and his wife, Linda, traveled to Arizona and followed the Colorado Rockies during spring training.
Crouch is survived by his wife, three children and four grandchildren. No funeral services are planned at this time.
Jack Crouch
Thanks, Tim H!
In Memory
John Schlesinger
John Schlesinger, director of the Oscar-winning
Midnight Cowboy (1969) and thrillers like "The Falcon and the Snowman" explored lonely underdogs in modern society, died Friday. He was 77.
The British-born filmmaker had a debilitating stroke in December 2000, and his condition deteriorated significantly in recent weeks. He was taken off life support at Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs on Thursday and died early Friday, hospital spokeswoman Eva Saltonstall said.
Schlesinger broke ground with 1969's "Midnight Cowboy," which starred Jon Voight as a naive Texan who turns to prostitution to survive in New York and Dustin Hoffman as the scuzzy, ailing vagrant Ratso Rizzo.
The film's homosexual theme was regarded as scandalous, but the tale of underdogs trying to survive in a merciless metropolis was embraced by critics and Hollywood despite its shocking sequences.
Based on a novel by James Leo Herlihy, "Midnight Cowboy" was nominated for seven Academy Awards and won three — best director, best picture and best adapted screenplay. It was the only X-rated film ever to win the Oscar for best picture; reflecting changing standards, the rating was later lowered to an "R."
The stocky, baldheaded filmmaker — who was gay — said in 1970: "I'm only interested in one thing — that is tolerance. I'm terribly concerned about people and the limitation of freedom. It's important to get people to care a little for someone else. That's why I'm more interested in the failures of this world than the successes."
After "Midnight Cowboy" he explored homosexuality again in his next project with 1971's "Sunday Bloody Sunday," which starred Peter Finch and Glenda Jackson as acquaintances who each reluctantly share a love for the same young man. The director received another Oscar nomination for the film.
The characters in Schlesinger's films often struggled with their place in the world, and he depicted them as lonely, disenchanted and sometimes forgotten. In 1975, he directed an adaptation of the Nathanael West novel "The Day of the Locust," about young wannabe-stars who find only disappointment in Hollywood.
But he wasn't above directing commercial films, like his 1975 thriller "Marathon Man." That teamed him again with Hoffman, who played an innocent man tortured for information by Laurence Olivier, a hiding Nazi war criminal with a penchant for drilling teeth.
That turned Schlesinger toward more thrillers, including the 1985 tale of true-life spy skullduggery "The Falcon and the Snowman," starring Sean Penn and Timothy Hutton as two young Americans convicted of spying for the Soviet Union.
Schlesinger said he thought the movie was in some ways "a black farce about American security."
Schlesinger established himself as one of England's most promising young directors in 1962 with "A Kind of Loving," which starred Alan Bates as a man who marries his pregnant lover only to find himself ill-prepared for commitments.
He followed that with 1963's "Billy Liar," about a lazy young man who hides from responsibility by daydreaming — one of his dreams is about a young woman played by then-newcomer Julie Christie.
Christie worked with Schlesinger again on his next film, "Darling," which won her an Academy Award for best actress in 1965 for her role as a ruthless model who bullies her way to success. Schlesinger was nominated for best director.
His other films included 1987's "The Believers," starring Martin Sheen as a psychiatrist fighting a voodoo cult, and 1988's "Madame Sousatzka," which featured Shirley MacLaine as an eccentric piano teacher who befriends a 15-year-old student but clashes with him over whether he should try to earn money from his talent.
He started the 1990s with a story about how little neighbors can know about each other — "Pacific Heights," with Michael Keaton playing a malicious tenant who starts out charming but begins to terrorize his landlords, Matthew Modine and Melanie Griffith.
Other notable films included 1995's "Cold Comfort Farm," about an orphan who moves in with her eccentric, agrarian distant-relatives, and 1996's "Eye for an Eye," in which Sally Field played a mother-turned-vigilante who hunts down the rapist killer of her young daughter, who was freed from prison on a legal technicality.
"It's more human to be frightened," Schlesinger said about his characters in 1994. "I've always had more sympathy for the struggler, the underdog, the person who isn't so much glamorous as on the fringe of everything."
His last film was the 2000 comedy "The Next Best Thing" — about a straight woman (Madonna) who decides to have a child with her gay friend (Rupert Everett).
Born in London in 1926, Schlesinger started out as a character actor for stage, film and television and also made documentaries such as 1961's "Terminus," about a day in the life of a train station.
The director lived in Palm Springs with photographer Michael Childers, his companion of 30 years.
John Schlesinger
The Bunny School, just one of the items from Mr. Potter's Museum of Curiosities, in Bolventor, England, in this picture made available Friday July 25, 2003. The Bunny School, stuffed kittens, a two-headed lamb and a four-legged duck are part of a bizarre collection which is going under the hammer at auction. On Sept. 23 and 24 auctioneers Bonhams will sell the collection of around 10,000 items at the museum site in Bolventor, southwest England. Jon Baddeley of Bonhams said it took him and two assistants a month to sort out the collection, which he expects to raise around 250,000 pounds (US$400,000).
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'Ark of Darkness'
"The Ark of Darkness", a Political/Science-Fiction work, in tidy, weekly installments (and updated every Friday).
Our explorers try a dangerous shortcut as Lilith and Nathaniel battle at the edge of doom.
'The Osbournes'
'The Osbournes' ~ Page 5
'The Osbournes' ~ Page 4
'The Osbournes' ~ Page 3
'The Osbournes' ~ Page 2
'The Osbournes' ~ Page 1
