'Best of TBH Politoons'
Weekly Link
Humor Gazette
Here is a humorous look at the president-studded grand opening of the Clinton Presidential Library:
Recommended Reading
Roger Ebert
"Who's gonna get me a beer?"
An interview with Lee Marvin
An Excerpt:
The door flew open from inside, revealing Lee Marvin in a torrid embrace, bent over Michelle Triola, a fond hand on her rump. "Love!" he said. "It's all love in this house. Nothing but love. All you need is love . . ."
Miche
lle smiled as if to say, well . . .
Links from Bruce
Some Fun
Paul Berenson
Another Side of the News
Ahhhnuld's running for President after 1 year as Governor of California. What has he done for us?
After cutting $4 billion in VLF revenue he replaced it with bonds and borrowing. We've had huge cut education, to the point of thousands of qualified freshmen being turned away from UC for the first time in 40 years.
According to the Legislative Analyst when we start paying off the bonds in mid 2006, we will spend more repaying Ahhnuld's borrowing than we currently spend on the entire UC system!
We may also talk about Bush's new Cabinet. Not many dissenting voices there!
Tune in to "Another Side of the News" with Paul Berenson, Saturdays 9am-10am (PDT) on KCSB-FM 91.9 or listen on our webcast
Your local phone calls are welcome at:
893-2424
893-2425
Outside of the Santa Barbara (CA) area:
1-805-893-2426
1-805-893-3757
If you're tired of the Limbaugh's, Fox News, Corporate Media, etc. and want to hear a Democrat with attitude, this is for you!
Join listeners and callers on the South Coast and across the nation listening on our webcast.
Give Paul a listen - he's smart & funny - and has an opinion!
Recommended Reading
Viva La Resistance Diet
By Stett Holbrook, Metro Silicon Valley
An Excerpt:
"Even before Bush won Florida, I felt sick to my stomach. On election
night, my wife and I had Indian food delivered to herald the end of
four years of darkness, but the food just didn't sit right. My
3-week-old son felt sick, too. He had painful gas and wailed for
hours. I blamed Bush."
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny, but cooler.
Turkeys are cheap here this year - $5 up to 16 lbs, $7 for more than 16 lbs.
Suspended for Showing 'F 9/11'
Davis March
A community college instructor who was suspended for showing "Fahrenheit 9/11" in class the week before the presidential election is offering no apologies and says he was unfairly punished.
Davis March showed the Michael Moore documentary critical of resident Bush to his film class. Administrators pulled the plug on the movie with about 20 minutes left when March tried to show it to English composition students.
"This story is now about academic freedom ... the movie is ancient history," said March, who served a four-day suspension and returned Nov. 2 to Rowan-Cabarrus Community College, about 45 miles northeast of Charlotte.
School officials said March disobeyed orders by refusing to meet with administrators before showing the film, but March said no edict to seek permission had been issued.
Davis March
PBS Station Rejects Promo Spot for 'Kinsey'
WNET
The New York television station WNET has rejected a promotion for "Kinsey," a film that has triggered protests among some conservative groups, because it is too provocative, the station said on Friday.
Fox Searchlight Pictures, which is distributing the movie on pioneering sex researcher Alfred Kinsey, called the decision "shocking" and said no other station in the country has rejected commercials for it.
"New York is the most sophisticated city in the country," said Nancy Utley, marketing chief for Fox Searchlight. "It would never occur to me that a censorship issue would come up in New York."
WNET is a commercial-free PBS station, but does run "enhanced underwriting spots" featuring films, said station spokeswoman Stella Giammasi. Fox Searchlight says the spots essentially are commercials, but don't include blurbs from critics or information on how to find out where the movie is playing.
WNET
How deliciously ironic - Faux experiencing the results of intolerance and ignorance. OTOH, how appalling the rejection comes from a PBS station.
Puffy Shirt Joins Smithsonian
Seinfeld
Move over, ruby slippers. That puffy shirt's moving in.
The outlandishly unfashionable shirt worn by Jerry Seinfeld on his hit TV show went on display Friday at the Smithsonian, alongside Kermit the Frog, Archie Bunker's chair and Dorothy's magic slippers from "The Wizard of Oz."
At the end of its nine-season run, "Seinfeld" - the "show about nothing" - left lots of well-loved lines but few tangible relics suitable for enshrinement in the National Museum of American History.
Thus, The Puffy Shirt, which appeared briefly in a single episode. What makes that bit of wardrobe so memorable is that it serves as an icon, not only of "Seinfeld" but American popular culture.
Seinfeld
Dropped by WashingtonPost.com
Ted Rall
WashingtonPost.com is no longer running the cartoons of hard-hitting liberal Ted Rall.
Rall said he thinks the site dropped his work because of a Nov. 4 cartoon he did showing a drooling, mentally handicapped student taking over a classroom. "The idea was to draw an analogy to the electorate -- in essence, the idiots are now running the country," he told E&P.
"That cartoon certainly drew a significant amount of negative comment from our users," said WashingtonPost.com Executive Editor Doug Feaver when contacted by E&P. But he added that the decision to drop Rall was a "cumulative" one that had been building for a while.
Rall was dropped effective Nov. 15, according to Feaver.
Ted Rall
No Oscar Ads
Mel Gibson
Mel Gibson has sworn off using paid advertisements to seek Oscars for his blockbuster, "The Passion of the Christ," and instead is putting his faith in the merits of the work as it vies for the film industry's top honors.
Breaking with a growing Hollywood practice of heavy-handed pre-Oscar marketing, Gibson and his Icon Productions partner Bruce Davey have vowed not to spend a cent on television, radio or print ads hawking "Passion" for Academy Award consideration, a spokesman said on Friday.
However, Icon is presenting promotional screenings of "The Passion" and plans to send out thousands of DVD copies to members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and other industry groups that present year-end film awards.
Mel Gibson
First Exhibition to Open in Seattle
Bob Dylan
Fans of Bob Dylan, the songwriter who has been called the conscience of the 1960s generation, will be able to see items from the artist's early career and listen to rare recordings at an exhibit opening in Seattle this weekend.
Dylan's handwritten lyrics for "Blowin' in the Wind" and "Like a Rolling Stone," as well a 24-minute recording of Dylan's first concert in New York, which was never commercially released, are featured in "Bob Dylan's American Journey 1956-1966" at the Experience Music Project.
The collection is the first comprehensive exhibit of Dylan's work, according to Jasen Emmons, the curator at the Frank Gehry-designed museum built by billionaire Microsoft Corp. co-founder Paul Allen.
Bob Dylan
Out of Hospital
Vincent D'Onofrio
"Law & Order: Criminal Intent" star Vincent D'Onofrio was released from a New York hospital Friday after a diagnosis of exhaustion, a spokeswoman said.
D'Onofrio, 45, who stars in the NBC drama as police Detective Robert Goren, had fainted on two occasions this month.
He was resting at home in New York and was expected to return to work next week, series spokeswoman Pam Ruben Golum said.
Vincent D'Onofrio
Switches Brands
Uh-Oh! SpaghettiOs
"Uh-oh, SpaghettiOs!" The iconic kids pasta that has made mealtime easier for countless American families for four decades is getting a face-lift, and its once-popular Franco-American brand is being consigned to history.
"The neat round spaghetti you can eat with a spoon," as the old jingle goes, now will be sold under the better-known name of Campbell Soup Co., which owns the Franco-American line and created the first spoonable spaghetti for kids in 1965.
Uh-Oh! SpaghettiOs
Hollywood Walk O'Fame Star #2270
Tim Allen
Actor Tim Allen received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Friday and declared it just the beginning of major neighborhood improvements. "Stop traffic! All these buildings will be named after me!" the former "Home Improvement" star joked during a ceremony marking the honor.
Hundreds of people gathered to see the unveiling of Allen's star, the 2,270th on the Walk of Fame. It is next to the El Capitan Theatre at the corner of Hollywood and Highland.
Patricia Richardson, who played Allen's wife in the ABC comedy "Home Improvement," and Jamie Lee Curtis, Allen's spouse in the new movie "Christmas with the Kranks," were on hand.
Tim Allen
Breaks Off Negotiations With BCS
ABC
ABC has pulled its contract offer to the Bowl Championship Series, a move that could result in three of college football's biggest games moving to another network.
Earlier this month, the BCS opened up the bidding for the broadcast rights to the Orange, Sugar and Fiesta bowls after being unable to come to an agreement with ABC during the exclusive negotiating period.
ABC has been paying about $25 million per year for the rights to the Fiesta, Sugar and Orange bowls. The current deal runs through the 2005 season.
ABC
Offers To Help Stem Shady Government Practices
Amazing Kreskin
The Amazing Kreskin, who bills himself as "the world's foremost mentalist," wants to help his home state of New Jersey stem the tide of shady practices in government, a problem U.S. attorney Christopher Christie has called widespread.
Kreskin sent a letter to acting Gov. Richard J. Codey offering his non-partisan services to help ferret out those who come to government with ulterior motives.
Kreskin, who lives in northern New Jersey, said he would monitor government meetings with a mind's eye toward keeping things above board.
Amazing Kreskin
Sotheby's to Auction Christmas Poem
'Visit From St. Nicholas'
An autographed copy of the classic poem that begins with the familiar line "'Twas the night before Christmas" will be auctioned at Sotheby's this holiday season.
The handwritten manuscript, signed by author Clement Clarke Moore, is one of just four known autographed copies, according to Sotheby's. It is expected to sell for between $200,000 and $300,000 when auctioned in New York on Dec. 3.
Moore, also the author of the two-volume "Compendious Lexicon of the Hebrew Language," is believed to have thought the poem was too light for his reputation as a Hebrew scholar. But it was the Christmas poem that made him famous, Weigman said.
'Visit From St. Nicholas'
Newly Discovered Arias to Be Re-Premiered
Antonio Vivaldi
A British audience will be the first in nearly 300 years Friday to hear a series of arias by Italian composer Antonio Vivaldi, which were recently found at a castle in western England.
The pieces, discovered in a bound volume of music written around 1717 and earlier, will be performed by a period orchestra and singers in the medieval castle's Great Hall.
Michael Talbot, senior fellow at Liverpool University and expert on 18th century Italian music, identified the works, which included eight Vivaldi arias.
He said the six were all that remained of the opera "The Triumph of Constancy over Loves and Hatreds," a Vivaldi work set in ancient Persia with the standard elements of trysts, treachery and eventual happy ending.
Antonio Vivaldi
'Gone With the Wind' Survivor
Olivia de Havilland
Rhett, Scarlett, Mammy, Ashley, Prissy ...
The actors who played these iconic characters from "Gone With the Wind" have all long gone.
But the stories behind the making of the 1939 Civil War epic remain eternal: Hattie McDaniel's surprise first Oscar victory for a black actress; Clark Gable's fear of crying on camera; three directors chewed up by the film, and the beloved producer - David O. Selznick - who risked his health to hold things together by fueling his marathon workdays with the stimulant Benzedrine.
Sixty-five years later, the lone survivor from the main cast is Olivia de Havilland, who played the doomed Southern belle Melanie.
For a fun interview - Olivia de Havilland
Man of the People or Royal Snob?
Prince Charles
Britain's Prince Charles always prides himself on being a man of the people.
But with one gruff memo about not all men being equal, the heir to the throne has tarnished his populist credentials.
In a battle of aristocracy versus meritocracy, the "philosopher prince" is being pilloried as a bastion of outdated privilege by a Labor government whose Holy Grail is equal opportunity.
In the true blue corner stands Charles, exasperated by a suggestion from one of his personal assistants that she and people like her should be trained for more senior positions in his household.
"What is wrong with everyone nowadays? Why do they all seem to think they are qualified to do things beyond their capabilities," he asked in the memo read out as evidence at an employment tribunal.
Prince Charles
Thanks, Marian!
Secret Underground Complex - Titos Tunnels
Belgrade
A probe into the mysterious shooting of two soldiers has revealed the existence beneath the Serbian capital of a secret communist-era network of tunnels and bunkers that could have served as recent hideouts for some of the world's most-wanted war crimes suspects.
The 2-square-mile complex - dubbed a "concrete underground city" by the local media - was built deep inside a rocky hill in a residential area of Belgrade in the 1960s on the orders of communist strongman Josip Broz Tito. Until recently its existence was known only to senior military commanders and politicians.
According to media reports citing unnamed military sources, a 185-foot-deep elevator shaft leads down to a six-story underground complex dug into rock and reinforced by 10-foot-thick concrete walls.
Tunnels stretching for hundreds of yards link palaces, bunkers and safe houses. Rooms are separated by steel vault doors 10 feet high and a foot thick. The complex has its own power supply and ventilation.
Belgrade
Rigged Study Screws Consumers
FCC
Federal regulators rejected on Friday the idea that allowing cable TV subscribers to pay only for channels they want would lower high cable bills. Consumer groups said the analysis was flawed.
In a report to Congress, the Federal Communications Commission said cable bills would increase under a system that would let people pay for individual channels instead of the bundled packages they currently are offered.
The analysis by FCC staff found the average cable household watches about 17 channels, including over-the-air broadcast stations. If a subscriber purchased that many channels under a pick-and-choose system, he probably would face a rate increase of at least 14 percent and as much as 30 percent, the analysis said.
"The study was rigged against consumers in favor of large cable companies, giant broadcasters and other media behemoths," said Gene Kimmelman, senior director for public policy and advocacy at Consumers Union, which publishes Consumer Reports.
FCC
In Memory
Gregory Mitchell
An actor died a week after suffering a heart attack on stage while playing a winged angel in a drama with Mikhail Baryshnikov.
Gregory Mitchell, 52, died Thursday at Washington Hospital Center, said Christina Sterner of the Baryshnikov Dance Foundation. Mitchell collapsed Nov. 11 during a Kennedy Center performance of a fantasy drama, "Forbidden Christmas or the Doctor and the Patient."
Mitchell, a veteran actor and dancer, appeared in numerous musicals in New York as well as in films, commercials and daytime dramas on television.
Mitchell performed in the original productions of "Kiss of the Spider Woman," "Victor/Victoria" and "Steel Pier" and in revivals of "Chicago" and "Man of La Mancha." His film appearances included the Oscar-winning "Chicago."
Mitchell, a native of Brooklyn, N.Y., graduated from the Juilliard School. Survivors include two sons.
Gregory Mitchell
In Memory
Cy Coleman
Cy Coleman, composer of the Broadway musicals "Sweet Charity" and "City of Angels" as well as such pop standards as "Witchcraft" and "The Best Is Yet to Come," has died of heart failure. He was 75.
Coleman died Thursday night after attending the opening night performance and party for Michael Frayn's "Democracy" on Broadway. He left the party and went to New York Hospital where he collapsed and died, John Barlow, a spokesman for Coleman, said Friday.
Coleman, an accomplished jazz pianist, was known for his rhythmic, up-tempo style. His pop songs, which also included "Firefly" and "I'm Gonna Laugh You Right Out of My Life," were recorded by such singers as Tony Bennett, Peggy Lee and Nat "King" Cole.
For more than five decades, Coleman wrote music for Broadway shows, starting with material for the 1953 revue "John Murray Anderson's Almanac."
In 1960, he composed his first full score, "Wildcat," with lyricist Carolyn Leigh. The show, which was a vehicle for Lucille Ball, contained the hit song "Hey Look Me Over."
The two then collaborated on "Little Me" (1962), starring television comedian Sid Caesar, playing seven roles. The show, adapted by Neil Simon from the Patrick Dennis novel, contained such songs as "I've Got Your Number" and "Real Live Girl."
Coleman worked again with Simon on his third Broadway musical, "Sweet Charity" (1966), based on Federico Fellini's film, "Nights of Cabiria." Gwen Verdon starred in the show as taxi dancer Charity Hope Valentine. With lyrics by Dorothy Fields, the musical was later made into a film starring Shirley MacLaine.
Fields and Coleman also collaborated on "Seesaw" (1973), starring Michele Lee, Ken Howard and Tommy Tune. The musical was based on William Gibson's play, "Two for the Seesaw."
"I Love My Wife" (1977), a tale of wife-swapping, was his next Broadway musical. Although dismissed by some critics, it ran for nearly two years.
For "On the Twentieth Century" (1978), a score he wrote with Betty Comden and Green, Coleman received his first Tony Award - one of three for best score. Based on the classic farce by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, it featured John Cullum as an egomaniacal producer and Madeline Kahn as his tempestuous star.
He followed that with the music for "Barnum" (1980), based on the life of circus great Phineas T. Barnum, starring Jim Dale.
In 1989, Coleman composed the jazz-flecked music for "City of Angels," which many consider his best score. It won his second best-score Tony. A detective film-noir spoof, with lyrics by David Zippel, "City of Angels," also received the Tony Award for best musical in 1990.
The following year, Coleman (along with Comden and Green) received another best-score Tony, this time for "The Will Rogers Follies," a lavish look at the famous Oklahoma rope-spinner and storyteller, starring Keith Carradine.
Among his other Broadway musicals were the short-lived "Welcome to the Club" (1989) and "The Life" (1997), a tale of New York hookers. It was his last Broadway show.
Coleman also wrote two other musicals: "Like Jazz," which was done at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles in the 2003-2004 season; and "The Great Ostrovsky," which premiered at the Prince Musical Theatre in Philadelphia earlier this year.
He wrote film scores for such movies as "Father Goose," "The Art of Love," "The Heartbreak Kid," "Garbo Talks" and "Family Business." He also won three Emmys, two Grammy Awards and he received an Academy Award nomination for the film version of "Sweet Charity."
At the time of his death, Coleman was working on several projects, including a musical version of "Pamela's First Musical," based on Wendy Wasserstein's children's book.
Coleman was born Seymour Kaufman, June 14, 1929, in New York. He was a classically trained child prodigy who made his Carnegie Hall debut at the age of 7. By the time Coleman was in his teens, he was playing in society cafes and later formed his own jazz trio while starting to write songs.
Coleman is survived by his wife, Shelby, and daughter, Lily Cye, and two sisters.
Funeral arrangements were incomplete, although the lights of Broadway theaters were to be dimmed Friday before the 8 p.m. curtain in honor of Coleman.
Cy Coleman
