Paul Krugman: Reform or Else (nytimes.com)
Those concerned with fiscal responsibility should be worried about what will happen if proposed health care legislation doesn't pass.
Tina Daunt: Colin Firth, Feeling 'Single' - The Envelope (LA Times)
Colin Firth first came to international attention as Mr. Darcy, the thinking woman's sex object in "Pride & Prejudice," and then as Bridget Jones' slightly dazed consort, conspicuously named Mark Darcy. But the role of his life may be as George Falconer, the main character in Tom Ford's adaptation of the 1964 novel "A Single Man" by Christopher Isherwood.
Will Harris: A Chat with Stephen Lang, Co-star of "Avatar" (bullz-eye.com)
I remember looking at pieces of ('Avatar') over two years ago, just sort of animation templates, and even that stuff was exciting to me. You could just imagine what it was going to be like, and to watch the metamorphosis has been totally cool.
Joe Weider: It Takes Time to Build a Healthy Habit (creators.com)
Tip of the Week: How are you doing with your New Year's resolution? If you're like most people, it was related to your health - lose weight, become more active, tone your body, and get healthier. Yet most people also forgo their resolutions by the time February rolls around. But you're not most people, are you?
The two people without invitations that crashed President Obama's first White House state dinner, Tareq and Michaele Salahi, polo-playing socialites from northern Virginia, are now offering to talk to broadcast networks about it - providing they're well paid. The Virginia couple was looking for a payment in the mid-six figures range - about half a million dollars...
Are you interested enough in what they have to say about their exploit to watch an interview of them?
Meanwhile, two senators, Evan Bayh (D-Indiana) and Jon Kyl (R- Arizona), have called for criminal charges be brought against the couple...
Do you feel that the party crashing couple should be prosecuted?
Marian the Teacher was first, but wrong, with:
New Guinea?
Alan J responded:
Costa Rica
Charlie replied:
Though up-to-date statistics on this aren't that easy to find, the winner seems to be Costa Rica.
~ Tony In Philly answered:
Thailand?
Ken responded:
Without googling it, I think it's the Philippines . Last time I was in Hawaii , I was told that all of the pineapples grown in Hawaii are for local consumption and the tourist trade. They no longer could compete with cheap labor in the Philippines for commercial production. Lanai used to be called "the pineapple isle" because Dole Pineapple owned it and grew nothing but pineapples there. Now it's all resorts.
Sally said:
Well, looks like The primary exporter of fresh pineapples in 2001 was Costa Rica, and due to my limited eyesight, can't seem to find any more recent info on the subject of the day.
I visited the Dole Pineapple Plantation when visiting the island of Oahu a few years ago. It is now a tourist trap, but there is some good info and history found there. While we did get to see actual pineapple fields and watch some harvested, most of the pineapples for exportation are now grown on other islands or in South America. The old Dole factory is now a shopping mall...
I eat a lot of canned pineapple, and find it excellent for digestion because the enzymes eat up the extra acid for me. (TMI?) Hahaha.
Sally P ;) (Only one eye available for now.)
And, MAM answered:
Costa Rica is the primary exporter of fresh pineapples.
AMC offers the movie 'Two Mules For Sister Sara', followed by the movie 'White Christmas', then the movie 'White Christmas', again.
BBC -
[12:00 PM] You Are What You Eat - Episode 5
[1:00 PM] You Are What You Eat - Episode 2
[1:30 PM] You Are What You Eat - Episode 3
[2:00 PM] Gordon Ramsay's F Word - Episode 3
[3:00 PM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares - Ep 6 The Granary
[4:00 PM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares - Ep 1 The Runaway Girl
[5:00 PM] Top Gear - Episode 6
[6:00 PM] Top Gear - Episode 5
[7:00 PM] Doctor Who - Ep 12 The Stolen Earth
[8:00 PM] Robin Hood - Ep 12 Something Worth Fighting For (Part 1)
[9:00 PM] Robin Hood - Ep 13 Something Worth Fighting For (Part 2)
[10:00 PM] The Graham Norton Show - Ep 9 Stephen Fry, Bill Bailey, Annie Lennox, David Gray, Cesar Millan
[11:00 PM] Robin Hood - Ep 12 Something Worth Fighting For (Part 1)
[12:00 AM] Robin Hood - Ep 13 Something Worth Fighting For (Part 2)
[1:00 AM] The Graham Norton Show - Ep 9 Stephen Fry, Bill Bailey, Annie Lennox, David Gray, Cesar Millan
[2:00 AM] Robin Hood - Ep 12 Something Worth Fighting For (Part 1)
[3:00 AM] Robin Hood - Ep 13 Something Worth Fighting For (Part 2)
[4:00 AM] The Graham Norton Show - Ep 9 Stephen Fry, Bill Bailey, Annie Lennox, David Gray, Cesar Millan (ALL TIMES EST)
Bravo has 'Launch My Line', 'Real Housewives Of OC'< followed by the movie 'The Fugitive'.
Comedy Central has the movie 'Accepted', 'Futurama', another 'Futurama', still another "Futurama', yet another 'Futurama', followed by the movie 'Hot Fuzz'.
FX has the movie 'Christmas With The Kranks', followed by the movie 'Deck The Halls'.
History has 'Modern Marvels', 'Pawn Stars', another 'Pawn Stars', followed by the FRESH'Cowboys & Outlaws: Frontier Hitman'.
IFC -
[6:25 AM] The Invisible Circus
[8:00 AM] The 47 Ronin, Part I
[9:55 AM] Manhattan
[11:35 AM] She's the One
[1:15 PM] A Slipping-Down Life
[3:05 PM] Manhattan
[4:45 PM] She's the One
[6:30 PM] Dinner With the Band
[7:00 PM] The Jon Dore Television Show
[7:30 PM] Arrested Development
[8:00 PM] Office Space
[9:30 PM] Employee of the Month
[11:15 PM] Garden State
[1:00 AM] Office Space
[2:30 AM] Employee of the Month
[4:15 AM] Garden State (ALL TIMES EST)
Sundance -
[05:45 AM] Slingshot Hip Hop
[07:15 AM] The Yacoubian Building
[11:00 AM] Live From Abbey Road - 312
[12:00 PM] Spectacle: Elton John
[01:00 PM] Spectacle: Bill Clinton
[02:00 PM] Spectacle: Tony Bennett
[03:00 PM] Spectacle: The Police
[04:00 PM] Spectacle: Kris Kristofferson, Rosanne Cash, Norah Jones & John Mellencamp
[05:00 PM] The Home Song Stories
[06:45 PM] The Saviour
[07:15 PM] Caramel
[09:00 PM] Iconoclasts - Season 3: Alicia Keys + Ruby Dee
[10:00 PM] Adaptation
[12:00 AM] The Saddest Music In The World
[01:40 AM] Man Shops Globe: Man Shops Globe - 101
[02:10 AM] Dopamine
[03:35 AM] Adaptation
[05:30 AM] Iconoclasts - Season 3: Alicia Keys + Ruby Dee (ALL TIMES EST)
SyFy has the movie 'Men In Black II', followed by the movie 'National Treasure'.
A letter by George Washington has sold for $3,218,500 at auction in New York City, setting a world record for a letter by America's first president, according to Christie's.
The letter's rarity was the reason it commanded well over its pre-sale estimate of $1.5 million to $2.5 million at the auction Friday at Rockefeller Center, said an auction house spokeswoman.
The previous record for a Washington letter was $834,500. It was set at a Christie's auction in 2002.
A volume of poetry and a partial poem handwritten by Edgar Allan Poe also set world records during an earlier auction Friday, Christie's said.
A bidding war over the poem was won by an American collector who bid $830,500, a world record for a 19th-century literary manuscript, Christie's said. The eight verses of the 16-verse poem "For Annie" was estimated to sell for $50,000 to $70,000.
A rare first edition of Poe's first book, "Tamerlane and Other Poems," sold for $662,500 at the same auction, the highest price ever paid for a 19th-century book of poetry.
A former school that is been being used as a movie house will host a new film festival next year that organizers hope will build on growing enthusiasm for the movie industry in Michigan.
The Detroit Independent Film Festival is seeking short films to be screened March 3-7. The state has been drawing more moviemakers since last year, when tax incentives that are among the nation's most generous took effect.
As part of the event, organizers plan to recognize actors, directors and others at the Michigan Film Awards on March 6 - the day before the Academy Awards.
The festival will be at the Burton Theatre, which opened this fall in the Cass Corridor neighborhood north of downtown. It's in the old Burton International School building, which closed in 2003 when the school moved to a new location.
Nicolas Cage has won a U.N. award night for his humanitarian work and has been appointed a goodwill ambassador for the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon presented the actor and filmmaker with the U.N. Correspondents Association's Global Citizen of the Year award for humanitarian endeavors.
The Amnesty International advocate has donated $2 million to establish a fund to help former child soldiers and led a campaign around his film, "Lord of War," to raise awareness about international arms control.
The secretary-general also presented a Global Citizen of the Year award to William Roedy, chairman of MTV Networks International, for his work to combat HIV and AIDS.
Stephen Colbert has been called what his mock pundit character would deem a traitorous insult: Canadian.
The host of "The Colbert Report" is - gasp! - a Canuck, or at least has a Canadian heritage, says the genealogy Web site Ancestry.com. Colbert's great-great-grandfather and his great-great-grandmother immigrated from Ireland to Canada, according to the site.
Recently, the Colbert Nation became the official sponsor of the U.S. speedskating team. On the show, he has joined complaints that Vancouver Olympic officials have been limiting international athletes' access to facilities for the 2010 Winter Games.
He's called Canadians "syrup-suckers" and has a petition on his show's Web site urging the Vancouver Organizing Committee not to be "an ice-hole."
Just one year after opening, the New York City annex to Cleveland's Rock & Roll Hall of Fame will close its doors on January 3, according to one of the corporate partners in the venture.
The offshoot to the main museum in Ohio opened to fanfare in November 2008 with Mayor Michael Bloomberg hailing it as another cultural destination for the roughly 46 million visitors to New York City every year.
The annex housed hundreds of artifacts, from Bruce Springsteen's 1957 Chevrolet to the wooden phone box from CBGB, the popular music venue that launched New York's punk scene in the 1970s and established the careers of bands such as The Ramones, Talking Heads and Blondie.
Moviegoers know Jody Trautwein as the smiling Alabama pastor who tries to talk Sacha Baron Cohen's character out of being gay in the hit movie "Bruno." Trautwein is now auditioning for another role: Mayor of Birmingham.
Trautwein is among 14 candidates in next week's election to replace Larry Langford, who was booted from office in October after being convicted on 60 felony counts in a bribery scheme.
While the minister's scene drew laughter in theaters, he's running a serious campaign. He has a Web site, fliers, volunteers and a platform that includes fighting crime, improving city schools, economic expansion and restoring integrity to City Hall.
"I haven't seen the movie," Trautwein, 39, said in an interview. "From what I understand it's about an hour and a half of darkness and perversion with about three minutes of light."
The truth - and the UFOs - may be out there, but nobody in the British military is listening anymore.
The Defense Ministry has quietly shut down its UFO hot line as a cost-cutting measure and will no longer investigate any sightings. Veterans of such investigations more worthy of "The X-Files" say it will end work on one of the biggest mysteries of all time.
No longer will Britons who think they've seen flying saucers be able to enlist the services of Her Majesty's armed forces.
This week's closing of the ministry's hot line and its e-mail account, as well as its statement that it "will no longer respond to reported UFO sightings or investigate them," has angered many Britons who believe such research is vital.
You have reached the Home page of BartCop Entertainment.
Make yourself home, take your shoes off...
Go ahead, scratch it if it itches.
The idea is to have fun.
Do you have something to say?
Anything that increased your blood pressure, or, even better,
amused or entertained?
Do you have a great album no one's heard?
How about a favorite TV show, movie, book, play, cartoon, or legal amusement?
A popular artist that just plain pisses you off?
A box set the whole world should own?
Vile, filthy rumors about Republican musicians?
Just plain vile, filthy rumors?
This is your place.
answered:
