'Best of TBH Politoons'
from David Dvorkin
The SBOBU Economic Index
I just invented it, and already it's telling us more than economists
are willing to!
The SBOBU Economic Index
David Dvorkin
Dvorkin.com
Business Secrets From the Stars (a novel)
Why I'm Glad I Had Breast Cancer (by Leonore Dvorkin)
Reader Comment
Re: problems with the site
Hi Marty,
I have the exact same problem as Jeff ...
Ed
Thanks, Ed!
My knowledge of html is limited, so I use a template.
It's part of my Sunday afternoon routine, and, while handy, mistakes still happen.
Someone, who wishes to remain anonymous, pointed out a piece of bad html near the bottom of the page.
Did some tweaking, so see if today loads any better.
I'm curious, does it also happen on the archived pages?
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
PAUL KRUGMAN: The Big Disconnect (The New York Times)
There are still some pundits out there lecturing people about how great the economy is. But most analysts seem to finally realize that Americans have good reasons to be unhappy with the state of the economy: although G.D.P. growth has been pretty good for the last few years, most workers have seen their wages lag behind inflation and their benefits deteriorate.
David Corn: The Bush-Is-An-Idiot Camp Grows (TomPaine.com. Posted on AlterNet.org)
It is getting harder for conservatives to ignore the president's intellectual shallowness.
Rob Lanham: The Sinner's Guide to the Evangelical Right (AlterNet.org)
A hilarious new book provides instructions on how to argue the big issues with ultra-conservative fundamentalists.
The legacy of Jane Longhurst (guardian.co.uk)
It has long been argued that watching violent porn can lead to rape and murder, but only now has a bill to outlaw it been announced. Is this common sense or censorship?
Joel Stein: Here's Your $42,000, Loser (latimes.com)
On Emmy night, even those who didn't get a statue went home with good booty.
'I make lemons into lemonade' (guardian.co.uk)
He has been the star of two of the most popular TV shows of all time, taken Germany by storm as a pop singer and, in his 50s, become a global kitsch icon. Indeed, David Hasselhoff is one of the most famous men alive. But why? He talks to Laura Barton.
Rogert Ebert: Playtime (1967; A Great Movie)
Jacques Tati's "Playtime," like "2001: A Space Odyssey" or "The Blair Witch Project" or "Russian Ark," is one of a kind, complete in itself, a species already extinct at the moment of its birth.
Daniel Gross: Marbury vs. Madison Avenue (slate.com)
Can Stephon Marbury's $15 sneaker revolutionize the sports-shoe business?
Felice Prager: Dispensing With the Indispensable, aka Weeding Books (irascibleprofessor.com)
Finally, I grew bored of looking through proof that I was an airhead 30 years ago.
Attend Rio Grande Community College in Rio Grande, Ohio? Borrow Bruce's Books
Perform a search for "Funniest People." By the way, did you know that you can request that your public library buy a book that you would like to read? (Hint, hint.)
The Oldest Profession
Avery Ant
Reader Comment
Re: purple gene
i doubt that i'm the only one out here that would love to rip gene a new one over his dylan review. it really needs a comment link. he's a bit ahead of himself on this one. side by side, one of em aint fit to lick the shit off the other guys boots.
kitchenrat
Thanks, kitchenrat!
So far, you're the only one to take the time to register displeasure regarding Purp's review of Bob Dylan's video.
OTOH, I'd get bored if no one ever disagreed.
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
No new flags.
Directors With Opinions
Venice Film Festival
Top directors used the Venice Film Festival on Friday to excoriate the Bush administration, the war in Iraq and Hollywood itself, and presented three starkly different movies to express their views.
Oliver Stone, in the canal city for the European promotion of "World Trade Center," said he was worried about when, if ever, the "war on terror" would end.
Spike Lee, also in town to publicize a film in Europe, was typically outspoken about resident Bush.
"It's a country for the rich," said the director of "When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts" about Hurricane Katrina and the government's response to the emergency.
"Bush doesn't care about poor or white people either. If you're poor ... he doesn't care about you period. You've got to have a certain amount of money in your bank account, then you matter."
He referred to the president and his most senior representatives as "terrible human beings."
Venice Film Festival
Affiliates Balk At "9/11" Documentary
CBS
Dozens of CBS television affiliates are balking at network plans to rebroadcast the acclaimed documentary "9/11" for fear that coarse language by firefighters in the film may incur stiff new fines for indecency.
About 12 CBS affiliates have opted to skip the documentary altogether and run other programming in its place, while a dozen others plan to air the film later at night when fewer children are watching and more mature content is generally allowed, network sources said on Friday.
They said two dozen additional affiliate stations were still undecided about whether to preempt or delay the documentary, set to air on the eve of the fifth anniversary of the September 11 attacks on America by suicide hijackers.
The two-hour film, produced by French filmmakers Gedeon and Jules Naudet and retired firefighter James Hanlon, was aired twice before by CBS in 2002 without regulatory consequences.
CBS
Launches Photo, Video Search Engine
Pixsy
Gossip and entertainment news junkies have a new way to get their fix. Pixsy Corp. is set to launch Friday www.StarHabit.com, a photo and video search engine that gives priority to the freshest celebrity content on the Internet.
Although he intends for it to be successful in its own right, Pixsy CEO Chase Norlin also hopes that the venture will demonstrate how powerful and flexible his company's technology can be for all sizes of online publishers.
Pixsy combs hundreds of Really Simple Syndication feeds, which typically contain summaries of content newly added to Web sites with descriptive tags and links to the full versions.
Pixsy
Enrolls At Irish University
Martin Sheen
Martin Sheen, star of the TV drama series "The West Wing" and dozens of Hollywood films, began a new career Friday - as a full-time student.
Sheen, 66, who recently finished seven seasons playing President Josiah Bartlett on the Emmy-winning TV series, registered at National University Galway in western Ireland, where he plans to study philosophy, English literature and oceanography as part of a bachelor of arts degree.
Sheen, who previously said he did not want to be a distraction for the 15,000 students at the Galway university, declined to comment and told university officials he wanted his arrival to be as private as possible.
Martin Sheen
Pursuing EMI For Alleged Fraud
Beatles
The Beatles are to take legal action against EMI/Capitol after receiving the go ahead from a New York judge, accusing the British label of fraud and not paying royalties owed to the Fab Four.
"We're delighted," said New York lawyer Paul LiCalsi, representing Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, John Lennon's widow Yoko Ono, the estate of George Harrison, and their own label Apple, after the decision was made public.
"We'll have an opportunity to prove that EMI-Capitol acted fraudulently in handling the sales and reporting of the Beatles' records," he added.
The plaintiffs have put their estimated losses at at least 25 million dollars and are also trying to win back the rights to Beatles' recordings.
Beatles
Sony Sponsors Video Podcasts
CNN
Sony Pictures has signed to sponsor CNN video podcasts, making it the first major studio to do so.
Sony's initial campaign, beginning Monday, is a weeklong promotion for the upcoming football drama "Gridiron Gang," starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. Sony will support its message on the CNN Entertainment site with banner ads featuring the film.
The spots run as brief preroll on all CNN video podcasts, including the upcoming health issues series hosted by Sanjay Gupta and "Reliable Sources," which is based on the successful CNN show of the same name.
CNN
Widow Protects Legacy
Otis Redding
On a recent hot summer afternoon, Zelma Redding was keeping busy at Dreams, a boutique she and her daughter Karla operate just off Macon's main drag. The mother-daughter team also owns Karla's Shoes, one block away.
"I gotta do something," Zelma says, shaking her head. "I'm sure as hell not just gonna sit on my ass."
Zelma is Otis Redding's widow. In 2007, it will be 40 years since the world lost this man of pure soul and his band in a tragic plane crash.
Otis Redding
Oldest Manuscripts Found
Johann Sebastian Bach
The oldest known manuscripts of Johann Sebastian Bach - handwritten copies of works by two other composers - have been discovered in a library that was heavily damaged in a fire two years ago, researchers said Thursday.
The two manuscripts date from around 1700 and contain copies Bach made of organ music composed by Dietrich Buxtehude and Johann Adam Reinken, said Hellmut Seemann, president of the Foundation of Weimar Classics.
Researchers found the documents in the archives of the Duchess Anna Amalia library in Weimar, where a previously unknown aria by Bach was discovered last year.
The library, housed in a 16th century palace, was badly damaged by a fire in September 2004. While some 50,000 books were lost, the Bach manuscripts survived because they had been stored in the vault.
Johann Sebastian Bach
Last of the Ziegfeld Follies Girls
Doris Eaton Travis
After more than 90 years as a hoofer, dancing comes easy to Doris Eaton Travis who was a chorus girl in the Ziegfeld Follies that enchanted Broadway from 1907 into the 1930s.
"I'm the last of the Ziegfeld Follies girls now," she says. "It's an honour in a way. I certainly didn't think that would happen."
She is 102, with a few wrinkles and white curly hair that frames her blue eyes. She credits her longevity to her ongoing love affair with dancing and other lifestyle choices - "I didn't drink or smoke. I didn't abuse myself physically," she says.
Not only has Travis survived physically and mentally, but professionally as well, with annual appearances on Broadway, a small role in a Jim Carrey movie and her recent memoir, The Days We Danced: The Story of My Theatrical Family From Florenz Ziegfeld to Arthur Murray and Beyond.
Doris Eaton Travis
Venice Film Festival
'The U.S. vs. John Lennon'
U.S. conservatives were outraged when country music band the Dixie Chicks criticized resident George W. Bush.
But a new documentary about John Lennon and his run-in with the Nixon administration over the Vietnam war suggests Bush got off lightly.
David Leaf's "The U.S. vs. John Lennon," screened at the Venice Film Festival earlier this week, uses footage not seen before and news clips aired for the first time in decades.
Lennon's widow Yoko Ono allowed Leaf and co-director John Scheinfeld to use her library of images and the former Beatle's music in a 100-minute documentary that portrays a turbulent United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
'The U.S. vs. John Lennon'
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