'TBH Politoons'
Thanks, again, Tim!
Reader Review
Watergate +30
You're absolutely right about the program, "Watergate+30." It was the first documentary that had anything new to say about that event in some time. We can always count on PBS--the LAST non-whore American television media outlet--to produce something of truth and quality.
This is worth taping or buying, folks, and it's also one of the reasons so many libs support their local PBS station. This particular documentary was PBS all the way, from the melodious voice of the narrator (I wish I could remember his name--you'd recognize his voice in a second) to getting interviews with the real players from the event to thought provoking, hard-hitting questions to actual footage that is chilling in it's subtlety. No softballs in this documentary.
The very end gives us something new, something never before revealed. I won't quote it or tell you because I don't want to ruin this two-hour television treat for you.
Like Marty said, it was "deja vu all over again"...the paranoia of an autocratic dictatorship of crackpots on the fringe, who feel in their deep, dark souls that they really are above the law of the land. It's a refresher that reminds us how close we were to a "Constitutional Crisis." That's not a vague term--as they said in the program, what if Nixon had refused to leave office? Do you arrest him? He's the Commander in Chief--he has the army at his disposal. When I think now what this current administration, with it's unbridled hubris, would do if they were "evicted" from the White House chills me. The concept of "Fort Bush Under Siege" isn't far fetched. The Bush Administration is the Nixon Administration but without detente, without opening relations with China, without Title IX, etc. This current administration, unlike Nixon's, has done nothing that history will look kindly upon.
We can watch "Watergate+30" and feel a little bit sorry for "The Trickster," whose only goal in life was to be accepted by his peers and Washington and loved by young people. Hence his paranoia. The Trust Fund Baby in Chief can make no such claim. There is no excuse for his administration.
Fr. Mushroom
Oh, but I was so much older then,
I'm younger than that now.
--Bob Dylan, "My Back Pages"
Thanks, Father.
Tried to check out the future air dates for 'Watergate+30' on PBS, just to be helpful, but, this is the message at KCET -
"This program is either not distributed by PBS or has no web site on PBS Online. Please contact KCET, your local station, for more information.
Watergate Plus 30: Shadow of History:
This program explores what America learned from Watergate and the relevance of these lessons to the way American democracy operates. This compelling documentary examines the history of Watergate through interviews with Americans who lived through it and were shaped by it, from investigators like Sam Dash to co-conspirators like John Dean, from reporters like Bob Woodward, who unraveled the story, to ordinary American citizens who remember it. One of history's greatest detective stories, it is a nearly unbelievable tale of ordinary men corrupted by power and the desire to retain it by any means.
Recent and upcoming airings: 7/30 8:00pm"
Cripes, that means there isn't even a rerun scheduled!
Boo. Hiss.
Reader Comment
Queer Eye VS. Nip/Tuck
I have seen stuff from both of you on queer eye (which I will admit is a funny show, watched two back to back last night), but not a word about Nip/Tuck. This show IS FX's next Shield and the "best show on TV you are not watching !" (When did the FX network start getting good writers?)
Anyway it's about 2 plastic surgeons in Miami. One is the Married guy with troubles the other is the Single Player. The Pilot is a must see. Great music, characters, plot and of course some required T&A (come on we are talking plastic surgery in Miami!).
Give it a spin you won't be disappointed. Next new episode airs Wednesday and I am sure there is some repeats to be shown between then.
Denver Dude
GOV. GEORGE W. BUSH (R-TX), RESIDENT-ELECT:
"I told all four that there were going to be some times where we don't agree with each other. But that's OK. If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator."
Thanks, DD!
Reader Link
Panther Film Fest
Selected Saturday Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
As the humidity decreases, so does my crankiness.
Did the grocery shopping and also stopped by Reptiles Unlimited for some fresh crickets for Jo, the (remaining) lizard & Shelob, the tarantula.
If anyone in the so. CA area can give a litter-box-friendly kitten a good home, please let me know. He's mostly black with white tuxedo, milk moustache & boots. He also has 6 toes on his front paws, a wonderful disposition and smart enough that if he learns to use that extra toe as a thumb and pick up a hammer, we're all in trouble.
He was dumped at the shore.
Tonight, Saturday, CBS starts the night with '48 Hours', followed by a RERUN 'Hack', then a RERUN 'The District'.
NBC begins the evening with either a RERUN of 'Faith Hill: When The Lights Go Down', or, less likely, a FRESH 'Just Shoot Me', followed by another
FRESH 'Just Shoot Me'. Regardless, an hour into primetime, it's a RERUN made-for-tv-movie 'Behind The Camera: The Unauthorized Story Of Three's Company'.
Of course, 'SNL' is a RERUN.
ABC opens the night with a RERUN made-for-tv-movie 'The Three Stooges', followed by a RERUN 'Dragnet'.
The WB offers the movie 'Rambo: First Blood Part II'.
Faux has the usual RERUN 'Cops', followed by a RERUN 'Cops', then 'America's Most Wanted'.
UPN has the movie 'Up Close And Personal'.
A&E has 'American Justice', followed by 'Cold Case Files', then a RERUN 'Crossing Jordan'.
AMC offers the movie 'Family Business', followed by the movie 'The Graduate', and then the movie 'Foul Play'.
BBC -
[6:00 pm] 'Keeping Up Appearances' - Episode 5;
[6:40pm] 'My Hero' - Episode 3;
[7:20pm] 'Keeping Up Appearances' - Episode 6;
[8pm] 'Red Cap' - Cover Story;
[9pm] 'Red Cap' - Espirit De Corps;
[10pm] 'Jonathan Creek' - No Trace of Tracy;
[11pm] 'So Graham Norton' - Liza Minelli;
[11:30pm] 'So Graham Norton' - Kim Catrall;
[12am] 'Jonathan Creek' - No Trace of Tracy;
[1am] 'Red Cap' - Cover Story;
[2am] 'Red Cap' - Espirit De Corps; and
[3am] 'Hear My Song'. (ALL TIMES EDT)
Bravo has the movie 'Twister', followed by the movie 'Twister'.
History has 'Conquest', 'Mail Call', then the movie 'Heartbreak Ridge'.
SciFi has the movie 'Primal Force', followed by the movie 'Code Red: The Bubicon Conspiracy', then the movie '13th Warrior'.
TCM has 24-hours of Clint Eastwood, featuring a heaping serving of spaghetti-westerns. Mangia, mang'.
[6am] 'Eastwood on Eastwood' (1997);
[7:30am] 'Hang 'Em High' (1968);
[9:30am] 'Fistful Of Dollars' (1964) [Per un pugno di dollari];
[11:15am] 'For a Few Dollars More' (1966) [Per qualche dollaro in più];
[1:30pm] 'The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly' (1966) [Il Buono, il brutto, il cattivo];
[4:15pm] 'Eastwood on Eastwood' (1997);
[5:30pm] 'Kelly's Heroes' (1970);
[8pm] 'Where Eagles Dare' (1969);
[11pm] 'Escape From Alcatraz' (1979);
[1am] 'The Outlaw Josey Wales' (1976);
[3:30am] 'In the Line of Fire' (1993). (ALL TIMES EDT)
Anyone have any opinions?
Or reviews?
(See below for addresses)
A young woman wearing a bikini walks along the beach with a friend dressed in traditional clothes, at the Palm Beach Club in Algiers, July 25, 2003. It is the summer of 2003 and the scars from a decade of Islamist extremist-linked violence that left between 100,000 and 150,000 people dead in the oil-rich north African country are almost no longer visible. Temperatures soar above 40 degrees Celsius and people are back on Algeria's beaches escaping the town's heat and having fun.
Photo by Zohra Bensemra
The Information One-Stop
Moose & Squirrel
To Auction Off Song's Secret
Carly Simon
If you really want to know who Carly Simon was thinking about when she wrote "You're So Vain," prepare to get out your checkbook.
Simon, 58, tells People magazine in its Aug. 4 issue that she plans to auction off the answer.
But there's a catch: The winner has to sign an agreement never to tell anyone.
The song, which was a No. 1 hit in January 1973, has been rumored to be about Mick Jagger, Warren Beatty, Cat Stevens, Kris Kristofferson and James Taylor. But Simon has steadfastly refused to reveal the identity of the song's subject until now.
Carly Simon
Carly Simon.com
Martha's Vineyard Community Services
Keeping 'Alias' Until '08
Jennifer Garner
Actress Jennifer Garner is preparing to stay on the spy-fi TV beat for a long time to come. Sources said the actress is finalizing a new deal that will keep her on the ABC drama "Alias" through the 2007-08 season.
Garner, fresh from her second straight Emmy nomination for her role as undercover agent Sydney Bristow, is expected to receive a substantial salary bump under the new deal, which extends her commitment to the Touchstone Television show by an additional year, through its seventh season.
Under the new pact, Garner -- who is said to have started on the show in 2001 with about $40,000 an episode -- will be paid about $150,000 an episode, sources said.
Jennifer Garner
Publicity Stunt
Arnold
In a made-for-TV political moment straight from Hollywood, actor Arnold Schwarzenegger plans to announce whether he will run for governor of California moments before appearing on Jay Leno's late-night NBC/GE show next week.
Although the former Mr. Universe has not made up his mind whether to run in the Oct. 7 recall ballot, he is leaning against challenging Democratic Gov. Gray Davis because of family considerations, said a political advisor who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Schwarzenegger, 56, has been a frequent guest on Leno's late-night show and the two are close friends. The actor last appeared on the NBC program in late June to promote the release of his new movie, "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines."
Arnold
Shocking Discovery
TV, Radio Newsrooms Lack Diversity
America is becoming a more diverse nation every year, but you can't tell that by the makeup of its local television and radio newsroom staffs, according to a new study.
In television, minorities declined from 20.6 percent of the workforce last year to 18.1 percent in 2003, according to the Radio-Television News Directors Assn./Ball State University survey released on Thursday.
While the aggregate number of minorities working in TV and radio has actually risen, their proportionate representation has failed to keep pace with the overall rise in newsroom jobs at local stations.
Minority representation plunged in management jobs as well, with the percentage of television news directors falling to 4.1 percent at non-Hispanic stations compared to 6.7 percent in 2002 and 5.3 percent in 2001.
Outside of news, the study found minorities make up 3.6 percent of TV general managers, down from 5.2 percent a year ago with most of the managers at Hispanic stations. The number of minority GMs has dropped steadily over the past four years while women make up 13.9 percent of the managers, a level that has remained stable.
For more, TV, Radio Newsrooms Lack Diversity
In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends
Songwriter Royalty Deal for Radio Reached
Broadcast Music Inc
Broadcast Music Inc. and a group representing U.S. commercial radio stations have agreed to terms on a multiyear deal worth more than $1 billion to cover royalty fees due to songwriters whose songs are played on the air.
The agreement, pending approval by a federal judge in New York, covers most U.S. commercial radio stations through 2006 and comes nearly four years after rate negotiations between BMI and the Radio Music License Committee first broke down.
For the radio industry, the deal represents a significant step toward a long-sought goal: Ending the practice of using a percentage of a radio station's revenues to calculate how much they owe in royalty fees. The new deal sets a flat fee for the radio industry of more than $1 billion for the life of the agreement.
The fee agreement includes radio and Internet simulcast rights. It covers all commercial radio stations that are not represented by the National Religious Broadcasters Music License Committee.
Broadcast Music Inc
Court reporter Mark Kislingbury records dictation on a stenotype machine at the National Court Reporters Association conference in Sparks, Nev., Friday, Aug. 1, 2003. Taking dictation at speeds rivaling an auctioneer's chant, Kislingbury attempted on Friday to beat an 81-year-old stenographic record by putting more than 350 words on paper in a minute.
Photo by Debra Reid
Wooden Elephant Turns to Soul Legends
Lucy the Elephant
The operators of Lucy the Elephant are trying to raise more than $375,000 to bring the historic landmark (Margate, NJ) into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
On Saturday, James Brown, the Godfather of Soul and R&B diva Patti LaBelle will headline a benefit concert for Lucy the Elephant.
The elephant, which overlooks the beach in this tony residential community, was built in 1881 by land speculator James V. Lafferty, who hoped it would help lure real estate buyers to what was then South Atlantic City.
In the early 1900s, the 90-ton structure operated as a home and later a rooming house before being converted into a tourist attraction. Kept afloat through the years by admission fees, the occasional generous donation (last year, a Cornwall, Pa., woman left $139,103 in her will for Lucy) and government grants, the building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
For a lot more, Lucy the Elephant
www.lucytheelephant.org
Clothing Line
Michael Jackson
A Japanese clothing company has signed an agreement to sell suits and other attire inspired by Michael Jackson.
A spokesman for the Wakita company says the outfits won't be as wild as those Jackson wears on stage because they have to sell to "regular people." He adds, "No glove either." The suits and jackets, to be sold across Japan, will carry the Michael Jackson brand. Photos of the singer also will be used in marketing the brand.
The spokesman says the suits will sell for about $480 each. Each suit will be approved by Jackson's agent and will be released in spring.
Michael Jackson
Formerly 'The Vidiot'
Rome Pulls Plug on Pope TV
Telepace
The city has pulled the plug on the tiny private Italian broadcaster that covers all of Pope John Paul II's public activities over concerns about electromagnetic waves from transmission towers on a Roman hillside.
Telepace went off the air Thursday after the city took down the transmission tower on Monte Mario, a Roman hillside, following a court order. Parents of children who attend schools on Monte Mario had battled for years to have the hillside's transmission towers removed because they fear that the electromagnetic waves could harm children's health. A regional administrative court ruled in favor of the parents.
Other small, local broadcasters use transmission towers on Monte Mario that have been taken down or are slated for removal. The hillside also serves two TV networks in Premier Silvio Berlusconi's private media empire, but the networks have other towers in the city.
Telepace
Lighting strikes the Sears Tower and another building in downtown Chicago, Friday, Aug. 1, 2003, during a severe thunderstorm. Storms blanketed much of northern Illinois on Friday, bringing tornado warnings and reports of hail, floods and power outages. The severe weather also locked up evening rush-hour traffic and delayed flights in and out of Chicago.
Photo by Stephen J. Carrera
Sold At Auction
Superman's Cape
A nearly 50-year-old costume emblazoned with a giant "S" on the chest worn by television's original Superman has been sold for 129,800 dollars, auctioneers said.
The red and blue wool and polyester outfit was worn by actor George Reeves who played the "man of steel" in the first small-screen version of Superman that ran in the United States from 1952 to 1957.
Other movie memorabilia that went on the block at Thursday's sale included Mel Brooks' handwritten lyrics for the song, "Springtime for Hitler," from his 1968 comedy "The Producers," which went for 26,550 dollars.
Jim Carrey's costume as the "Riddler" in 1995's "Batman Forever" sold for 10,620 dollars.
Superman's Cape
Spur Senate Inquiry
RIAA Subpoenas
The decision by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) to seek out individuals who illegally trade music on peer-to-peer networks sparked a congressional inquiry Thursday.
Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., asked the recording industry trade group to turn over copies of the subpoenas it issued to Internet providers under the controversial Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
"The industry seems to have adopted a 'shotgun' approach that could potentially cause injury and harm to innocent people who may have simply been victims of circumstance or possessing a lack of knowledge of the rules related to digital sharing of files," he said.
The RIAA has issued about 900 federal subpoenas against computer users suspected of illegally sharing music files on the Internet, with about 75 new subpoenas being approved each day, court officials say. The RIAA said it will comply with Coleman's request.
For more, RIAA Subpoenas
Autopsy Results
Elizabeth 'Miss Elizabeth' Hulette
The death of the wrestling personality known as "Miss Elizabeth" was a result of an accidental overdose of pills and alcohol, Cobb County officials said.
Elizabeth Hulette, 42, had a blood alcohol level of 0.29 and a mix of painkillers, nausea medication and tranquilizers in her system when she died April 30, coroner's officials said Thursday.
Hulette shared a home with wrestler Lex Luger, whose real name is Lawrence Pfohl. Pfohl was arrested and charged with 13 counts of possession of a controlled substance and a count of distribution of dangerous drugs the day of Hulette's death.
Hulette had been 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, as well as Pfohl.
Elizabeth 'Miss Elizabeth' Hulette
In Memory
Howard "Louie Bluie" Armstrong
Howard "Louie Bluie" Armstrong, a string-band fiddler who took his act across the country, mastering genres from bluegrass to jazz, has died. He was 94.
Armstrong died Wednesday from complications after a heart attack in March.
Armstrong taught himself to play at the age of 9 on a fiddle that his father, a blast furnace operator, made for him in their hometown of LaFollette, Tenn. Over his lifetime, Armstrong took up 20 instruments — including the mandolin, violin, viola and banjo.
A composer, instrumentalist and singer, Armstrong performed across the country. Two PBS documentary films, Terry Swigoff's "Louie Bluie Armstrong" in 1985 and Leah Mahan's "Sweet Old Song" in 2002, chronicled parts of his life and work.
William Howard Taft Armstrong lived in Boston and was married to Barbara Ward Armstrong, a soft-sculpture and fabric artist. Armstrong kept his age secret from his wife, having told her he was 55 when they met 20 years ago. Until his death, she did not know she was 30 years younger than he, she told The Boston Globe.
The couple met when he was playing in Boston in 1983, and made Boston their permanent home in 1996. He was a regular at Club Passim in Cambridge, making his last appearance there on April 19, 2002. He also played at First Night Providence on New Year's Eve.
Armstrong played in several bands with his brothers, touring to anyplace where people would listen to them, including "bars... coal fields, at juke joints, dances, and at medicine shows," he told the Globe in 1999.
Armstrong's recordings, released by Vocalion Records, included "Vine Street Drag" and "Knox County Stomp."
He was active until his heart attack, which occurred shortly after the Armstrongs traveled to Nashville, Tenn., to accept the Governor's Awards in the Arts. Dolly Parton was another recipient this year.
Armstrong also is survived by three sons from a previous marriage — Ralphe, Will and Robert — all in Detroit, and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Howard "Louie Bluie" Armstrong
In Memory
Marie Trintignant
French actress Marie Trintignant, part of one of the country's pre-eminent film families, died of a cerebral edema, succumbing to severe head injuries sustained nearly a week ago during a fight with her rock star lover at a Lithuanian hotel. She was 41.
The actress had been in a coma since Sunday, when she was taken to hospital in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius after a late-night argument with boyfriend Bertrand Cantat, lead singer for the French rock group Noir Desir.
Trintignant was transported back to France on Thursday, but had already been declared brain-dead. She died Friday in a Paris area hospital of a cerebral edema, or swelling of the brain, neurosurgeon Stephane Delajoux told reporters.
The 39-year-old Cantat, whom investigators suspect may have beaten Trintignant during the fateful row, has been placed in preventive detention in Lithuania until August 14.
French President Jacques Chirac hailed the actress, saying she had "served her art with beauty, sensitivity and intelligence, earning -- both in film and on television -- the love of the public."
She was the daughter of veteran French actor Jean-Louis Trintignant, known to audiences around the world for his star turn in Claude Lelouch's "A Man and a Woman" opposite Anouk Aimee in the 1960s.
After making her debut at the tender age of four, the actress starred in more than 30 French-language films and enjoyed a healthy career on the French stage, earning five Cesar nominations but never winning one of France's Oscars.
Trintignant, the mother of four sons, had been in Vilnius to shoot a French television mini-series about French writer Colette, for which she co-wrote the screenplay with her mother Nadine, the film's director.
Marie Trintignant
A record size hailstone that fell during a storm in Aurora, Neb. June 22, 2003, is displayed in Hastings, Neb. in this recent photo. The hailstone, seven inches in diameter, was measured by the National Weather Service forecast office in Hastings , verified by a team of weather forecasters and determined to better the previous record-holder--which had a diameter of 5.7 inches-- as the largest hailstone.
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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 Group finally comes face-to-face with Satan, himself.
'The Osbournes'
'The Osbournes' ~ Page 5
'The Osbournes' ~ Page 4
'The Osbournes' ~ Page 3
'The Osbournes' ~ Page 2
'The Osbournes' ~ Page 1
![United States Ambassador to the United Nations, John Negroponte arrives at Security Council consultations regarding a multinational force in Liberia at United Nations headquarters Friday, Aug. 1, 2003. Photo by David Karp [ironic background?]](negroponte-guernica_080103.jpg)
