'Best of TBH Politoons'
Thanks, again, Tim!
Top 20 of 2003
Conservative Idiots
from Mark
Another Bumpersticker
He's Back!
RB Ham
Selected Saturday Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Mostly sunny day.
The kid was home sick again today. It's the flu, not a cold - poor kid drove the porcelain bus after every meal - thankfully, the fever broke tonight.
Reformatted the TCM listings - comments?
Steve, one of my old Disney-pals, sent a copy of Roy Disney's letter of resignation - my favorite part:
4. The perception by all of our stakeholders-consumers, investors,
employees, distributors and suppliers-that the company is rapacious,
soul-less, and always looking for the "quick buck" rather than long-term
value which is leading to a loss of public trust.
I think Roy soft-pedaled a bit, but it's a start.
Sorry there are no links - the day was just too full. Weekend links will return on the Sunday page.
Tonight, Saturday, CBS fills the night with College Football on the east coast & local filler crap on the left coast.
NBC has an hour-long 'Ironman Triathalon' (taped 10/18/03), followed by the movie 'It's A Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie'.
SNL is FRESH with the Rev. Al Sharpton hosting, music by Pink (not available in Iowa).
ABC fills the night with College Football on the east coast & the left coast gets the movie 'Another 48 Hrs'.
The WB offers the movie 'A Christmas Carol' - the George C. Scott version.
Faux has the usual 'Cops', 'Cops', and 'America's Most Wanted'.
'MadTV' is FRESH.
UPN has the movie 'Eddie'.
A&E has 'City Confidential', 'American Justice', 'Cold Case Files', and another 'American Justice'.
AMC offers the movie 'Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story', followed by the movie 'Crocodile Dundee', then the movie '48 HRS'.
BBC -
[6pm] 'Keeping Up Appearances' - Episode 1;
[6:40pm] 'My Hero' - Girlfriend;
[7:20pm] 'Keeping Up Appearances' - Episode 2;
[8pm] 'Circus';
[10pm] Cambridge Spies' - Episode 2;
[11pm] 'Dead Ringers' - Episode 5;
[11:30pm] 'Dead Ringers' - Episode 4;
[12am] 'Circus';
[2am] 'Cambridge Spies' - Episode 2;
[3am] 'Dead Ringers' - Episode 5;
[3:30am] 'Dead Ringers' - Episode 4;
[4am] 'Circus'; and
[6am] 'BBC World News'. (ALL TIMES EST)
Bravo has 'Queer Eye', followed by the movie 'Apocalypse Now Redux'.
History has 'Motorcycles', 'Battlefield Detectives', 'Tora, Tora, Tora: The Real Story Of Pearl Harbor', and 'SS'.
SciFi has the movie 'Stargate SG-1', followed by the movie 'Termiantor 2: Judgment Day'.
TCM offers 'Wonderful Country' (1959)
this morning, noteworthy for the appearance of Leroy 'Satchel' Paige, then spends the whole night
celebrating the ever-debonair David Niven.
[6am] 'Vigil In The Night' (1940);
[8am] 'Armored Car Robbery' (1950);
[9:30am] 'MGM Parade Show #15' (1955);
[10am] 'Wonderful Country' (1959);
[12pm] 'The Big Country' (1958);
[3pm] '2001: A Space Odyssey' (1968);
[5:30pm] 'Inherit The Wind' (1960);
[8pm] 'Around The World In 80 Days' (1956);
[11pm] 'The Prisoner Of Zenda' (1937);
[1am] 'Where The Spies Are' (1966);
[3am] 'The Charge Of The Light Brigade' (1936);
[5am] 'The Toast Of New Orleans' (1950). (ALL TIMES EST)
The cast and creative crew of the television series 'Angel' celebrate the series 100th episode on the Angel set at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles December 4, 2003. Shown (L-R) are actors Charisma Carpenter, James Marsters, Amy Acker, Alexis Denisof, Joss Whedon, creator and executive producer, actor David Boreanaz who plays 'Angel', Andy Hallett, and J. August Richards.
Photo by Justin Lubin
The Information One-Stop
Moose & Squirrel
Series Cancelled
'Wanda at Large'
Fox Broadcasting Co. has pulled the plug on "Wanda at Large," a sitcom starring Wanda Sykes as a comic who lands a gig as an outspoken commentator on a local TV show in Washington.
The series had a promising start as a midseason entry in March in the Wednesday 9:30 p.m. slot behind "The Bernie Mac Show." But it hit a ratings wall after a moving to 8 p.m. Fridays this fall. In its last airing on Nov. 7, "Wanda" averaged a mere 3.8 million viewers.
'Wanda at Large'
They Just Don't Get It
Young Republicans
The Penn State Black Caucus demanded that the chairman of the university's College Republicans resign after finding on his personal Web site a photo of a white man in blackface and another with a Ku Klux Klan reference.
Black Caucus President Tiffanie Lewis yesterday said the pictures were inappropriate for the leader of a student organization and urged the resignation of Brian Battaglia, chair of the College Republicans, and anyone else involved in posting the pictures. "It's not an isolated incident. We believe that it's part of the contentious racial climate at Penn State," Lewis said.
Battaglia, of Brockton, Mass., said he was familiar with the pictures on his Web site, but would not say whether he posted them, nor identify the man in blackface. He removed the Halloween photos from his Web site yesterday afternoon, shortly after speaking with The Associated Press.
But he said last night that he did not remove them because of the Black Caucus' request and that he might post them again. "The bedrock principals [sic] of the conservative movement generally and the College Republicans in particular, are personal liberty and freedom of expression," Battaglia said in a written statement.
Young Republicans
FOLLOW UP:
Jason Covener told Penn State's student newspaper, The Daily Collegian, on Thursday that he was the person in blackface in photographs that were posted on the personal Web site of Brian Battaglia, the chairman of the Penn State College Republicans.
"I dressed up as Takkeem Morgan. I don't really feel compelled, though, to defend or explain how I dress at a private Halloween party," said Covener, a member of the College Republicans.
Young Republican
Thanks, heydee!
Hey - maybe somebody should attend Brian Battaglia's next party dressed as an old-school organ-grinder, or maybe the more modern Philly model, shirt open to the navel, or maybe a tank top showing epaulets of fur on the shoulders, too many gold chains, socks stuffed in the crotchal-area, and hair so greasy Cheney wants to stake a claim, all while humming the 'Tarantelle'.
Donating to High School Band
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen and other musicians performing three benefit shows at Convention Hall this weekend will donate some of the proceeds to the Asbury Park High School band. The money will go toward buying uniforms and instruments for the band, which was resurrected two years ago with seven members and now boasts a lineup of 25 musicians.
The band also has been told that Springsteen — who earned his reputation playing clubs in Asbury Park — will donate 30 instruments. That has band members excited because the instruments they now play are in constant need of repair, the Asbury Park Press of Neptune reported Friday.
Besides the band, another beneficiary of the concerts will be the Asbury Park Blue Bishops Junior Pee Wee football team. They are raising money to play in a national championship tournament in Florida next week and team members, who range in age from 8 to 11, will be able to collect donations at the shows.
Bruce Springsteen
Cuban musician and songwriter Carlos Varela (L) kisses the hand of his U.S. colleague Jackson Browne (C) as actor Benicio del Toro looks on in Havana, December 4, 2003. The three artists met at a rundown former ballet school to stage a private gig, playing music and reading the lyrics of Browne's songs until late night.
Photo by Claudia Daut
Getting Better
Stephen King
The pneumonia that kept Stephen King hospitalized for 10 days has "pretty much resolved itself," his spokesman said.
But King's Bangor lawyer, Warren Silver, said Wednesday that "since he's in the hospital, the doctors want to work on his general health and leg issues to see if they can alleviate some of the pain that he's had."
King, 56, continues to experience pain in his right leg after being hit by a van as he walked along the shoulder of a road in North Lovell in 1999.
The best-selling author was diagnosed with pneumonia before his trip last month to New York to receive the National Book Foundation's 2003 Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters.
Stephen King
www.stephenking.com/
Hosting SNL - Except In Iowa
Al Sharpton
Democratic presidential candidate Al Sharpton will host this weekend's broadcast of "Saturday Night Live," but viewers in Iowa won't see it.
All four NBC television affiliates in the state announced they won't carry the show because Sharpton is one of nine candidates seeking the Democratic nomination. The selection process begins with the Iowa caucuses Jan. 19.
WHO and two other stations instead will air a previous episode of the 90-minute show. KWWL viewers in the Waterloo, Iowa, area will get to watch three infomercials pitching the Miracle Blade, Total Trolley and something titled "Attacking Anxiety."
Al Sharpton
'Family Christmas Special'
The Osbournes
MTV will give viewers a glimpse into the holiday season at the home of Ozzy Osbourne and his family with "The Osbourne Family Christmas Special," airing Dec. 11 on the cable network.
A wide range of celebrity guests joined in on the festivities, including Jessica Simpson, who duets with Ozzy on "Winter Wonderland," and newlyweds Dave Navarro and Carmen Electra, who are shown baking holiday cookies. "Loveline" host Adam Carolla teams with Jack Osbourne to whip up cranberry sauce, while Kelly Osbourne serenades the guests with "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas."
The show-stopper will be group reading of "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" featuring matriarch Sharon Osbourne, OutKast's Big Boi, 'N Sync's JC Chasez, Eddie Griffin, Tracy Morgan, Anthony Anderson, Eva Mendes and Electra, to be followed by "a climactic caroling sing along."
The Osbournes
In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends
All Out Of Love?
Air Supply
The duet Air Supply was detained in the border city of Nuevo Laredo by Mexican migration officials after failing to provide documents to legally work in Mexico, officials said Friday.
Air Supply had just finished a Thursday night concert as part of the city's annual carnival when eight agents from the National Migration Institute asked to see their work visas.
The agents, who were present throughout the group's appearance, escorted the 13 members of the Air Supply staff, including the vocalists Graham Russell and Russell Hitchcock, to the Migration Institute offices. The musicians were released and allowed to return to their hotel after leaving their passports as guarantee.
Air Supply
Little Butch is a restored Monocoupe 110 Special that was used as a test plane for aerobatic training and is now housed in the National Air and Space Museum's new Udvar-Hazy Center seen Friday, Dec. 5, 2003 in Chantilly, Va. The center will open Dec. 15, 2003 as a celebration of the 100th anniversary of the first powered flights by the Wright brothers who acturally flew on Dec. 17, 1903.
Photo by Adele Starr
NBC Stations Renew
Ellen DeGeneres
Ellen DeGeneres has talked her way into a second season on the NBC-owned stations that carry her syndicated chat show.
The 14 NBC outlets represent coverage of more than 30% of the country, according to NBC Television Stations president Jay Ireland. In all, the talker has been sold in more than 50 markets, including 19 of the top 20, representing more than 60% of the country.
Ellen DeGeneres
Eyes Comeback
Gordon Lightfoot
After surviving a near-fatal illness, Gordon Lightfoot -- Canada's most successful songwriter -- says he will return to the concert stage in 2005.
Lightfoot, best known for such songs as "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald," "If You Could Read My Mind" and "Early Morning Rain," was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame Wednesday night.
He said he was just lucky to attend the black-tie affair after suffering an abdominal hemorrhage earlier this year. He spent three months in hospital and faces another round of surgery in the spring.
Gordon Lightfoot
Theatrical Spoof Mocking Berlusconi
'The Two-Headed Anomaly'
Sold-out audiences at a Dario Fo spoof are being entertained with this question: what would happen if half of Russian President Vladimir Putin's brain was used to replace half of Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi's brain?
Fo, who won the Nobel Literature Prize in 1997, has written a comedy with a zany plot that mocks the Italian conservative leader, who enjoys a real-life friendship with the Russian president.
The three-hour show at Teatro Olimpico is staged against a real life backdrop of growing concerns in Italy over censorship of political satire. Last month, RAI state TV suspended a program by another leftist comedian, Sabina Guzzanti.
Fo, 77, has written more than 70 plays. His open opposition to the Italian establishment and associations with left-wing groups often have caused officials to ban his works from state-run theatres in Italy. In 1980, Fo and his wife were refused entry visas into the United States because of his support for left-wing activities in Italy.
'The Two-Headed Anomaly'
Formerly 'The Vidiot'
Accepts Award
Michael Eisner
Michael Eisner, Walt Disney Co. chairman and CEO, was lauded for his executive and creative abilities, just days after two Disney board members called on him to resign.
Eisner received the Pioneer of the Year award presented by the Will Rogers Motion Picture Pioneers Foundation on Thursday night.
The evening was expected to raise $1 million for the Motion Picture Pioneers Assistance Fund, which provides financial assistance to film industry veterans in need of help.
Michael Eisner
Playboy magazine founder Hugh Hefner joins actress Pamela Anderson, right, and a group of Playboy playmates and bunnies for a celebration on stage at a Manhattan armory during the 50th anniversary of Playboy magazine in New York, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2003.
Photo by Jennifer Graylock
Judge Allows Copies to Voters
'Screeners'
U.S. District Judge Michael B. Mukasey lifted a rule imposed by the Motion Picture Association of America that blocked studios from sending the videotape copies, or "screeners," to voters.
The MPAA had argued that the ban, issued in September, was a means of slowing the explosion of movie piracy. Digital copies of many films turn up on the Internet long before they're released to video stores.
But independent film producers, who lack the huge advertising budgets of major studios, said screeners dramatically raised their chances of receiving critical buzz, winning awards — and making more money.
Mukasey decided the independent film producers had shown sufficient evidence that withholding screeners violates antitrust law and hurts competition.
'Screeners'
Auctioned for $2M
Beethoven Manuscript
An original manuscript of a movement from one of Ludwig van Beethoven's last compositions sold Friday for more than $2 million.
The manuscript from the scherzo movement of his Opus 127 string quartet was purchased by a private buyer who bid by telephone and asked not to be identified, Sotheby's auction house said.
Beethoven composed the quartet in the last three years of his life, after he had finished the epic Ninth Symphony. Sotheby's said single pages written by Beethoven appear fairly often at auction, but that no manuscript of this size had been offered for more than a decade.
Beethoven Manuscript
Sotheby's catalogue
Replaced In 'Rose's Dilemma'
Mary Tyler Moore
Patricia Hodges, Mary Tyler Moore's understudy in "Rose's Dilemma," will permanently replace the star who walked out of the off-Broadway show Wednesday after receiving a note from playwright Neil Simon criticizing her performance.
Moore reportedly stormed out of the theater Wednesday after receiving a letter, delivered by Simon's wife, actress Elaine Joyce. The New York Post reported Friday that in the note, Simon told Moore "to learn her lines 'or get out of my play.'"
Refunds will be honored for "Rose's Dilemma," which runs through Feb. 1, Byk said.
Mary Tyler Moore
Makes First U.S. Trip
Opera Comique
The Opera Comique is making the first U.S. appearance in its 289 years with a bit of frou-frou from Paris in the time of Emperor Napoleon III. It's Jacques Offenbach's hit of 1866: "La Vie Parisienne," an ancestor of the 21st century musical.
Seven performances are scheduled in February during a "Festival of France" at the Kennedy Center.
The festival starts Jan. 8 with a program of French jazz. A week later the National Symphony Orchestra will do a concert performance of "The Child and the Magic Spells," a two-scene opera by Maurice Ravel, text by Colette — the author of "Gigi." There will be eight more symphony concerts in January featuring French music. The festival continues into April with a series of jazz, theater and dance groups.
Opera Comique
Kennedy Center
Swimmer With A Large Penis
Colymbosathon Ecplecticos
A fossil crustacean whose scientific name is "swimmer with a large penis" is the earliest clear example of a male animal, British researchers reported.
The 425 million-year-old ancestor of modern water fleas, found in rocks in Britain, is unusually well-preserved, allowing scientists to see it had gills and an advanced circulatory system.
It shows that ostracodes -- extremely common water-dwelling creatures -- have evolved little in hundreds of millions of years, said David Siveter of the University of Leicester.
He and colleagues named it Colymbosathon ecplecticos, which means "swimmer with a large penis."
Colymbosathon Ecplecticos
Thanks, Tim H!
Biggest Overhaul Since 1885
Rijksmuseum
The Rijksmuseum, home to many art treasures of the Dutch Golden Age including Rembrandt's masterpiece The Nightwatch, opens its doors for free this weekend before undergoing its biggest overhaul since 1885.
The main building, a 19th-century edifice with a richly decorated exterior by architect Pierre Cuypers, will close until 2008. A collection of 400 works will remain on display in the Philips wing, just behind the main building.
While construction is under way, a large part of the collection will be on view in other museums in the Netherlands, Germany and Antwerp. The rest will be put in storage in vaults in Lelystad.
Rijksmuseum
Things You Must Believe
Republicans
Being a drug addict is a moral failing and a crime, unless you're a conservative radio host. Then it's an illness and you need our prayers for your recovery.
The United States should get out of the United Nations, and our highest national priority is enforcing U.N. resolutions against Iraq.
Government should relax regulation of Big Business and Big Money but crack down on individuals who use marijuana to relieve the pain of illness.
"Standing Tall for America" means firing your workers and moving their jobs to India.
A woman can't be trusted with decisions about her own body, but multi-national corporations can make decisions affecting all mankind without regulation.
Jesus loves you, and shares your hatred of homosexuals and Hillary Clinton.
The best way to improve military morale is to praise the troops in speeches while slashing veterans' benefits and combat pay.
Group sex and drug use are degenerate sins unless you someday run for governor of California as a Republican.
If condoms are kept out of schools, adolescents won't have sex.
A good way to fight terrorism is to belittle our long-time allies, then demand their cooperation and money.
HMOs and insurance companies have the interest of the public at heart.
Providing health care to all Iraqis is sound policy. Providing health care to all Americans is socialism.
Global warming and tobacco's link to cancer are junk science, but creationism should be taught in schools.
Saddam was a good guy when Reagan armed him, a bad guy when Bush's daddy made war on him, a good guy when Cheney did business with him and a bad guy when Bush needed a "we can't find Bin Laden" diversion.
A president lying about an extramarital affair is an impeachable offense. A president lying to enlist support for a war in which thousands die is solid defense policy.
Government should limit itself to the powers named in the Constitution, which include banning gay marriages and censoring the Internet.
The public has a right to know about Hillary's cattle trades, but George Bush's driving record is none of our business.
You support states' rights, which means Attorney General John Ashcroft can tell states what local voter initiatives they have a right to adopt.
What Bill Clinton did in the 1960s is of vital national interest, but what Bush did in the '80s is irrelevant.
Trade with Cuba is wrong because the country is communist, but trade with China and Vietnam is vital to a spirit of international harmony.
Thanks, Sharon!
An Amish buggy waits in the falling snow to cross a roadway in Middlefield, Ohio, Friday, Dec. 5, 2003. Northeast Ohio joined much of the Midwest and Northeast in receiving substantial snowfall amounts on Friday.
Photo by Amy Sancetta
'The Osbournes'
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