'TBH Politoons'
Thanks, again, Tim!
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Another nice, clear day, so it's another cold, clear night.
Splurged on take-out from the neighborhood Mexican food establishment, Super Taco. The food's so good the kid prefers it to McDonald's!
Still no Ginger.
Tonight, Saturday, college football is expected to clip at least an hour of primetime, so expect about an hour of local filler and then
a RERUN 'The District' and a fresh 'Robbery Homicide Division'.
NBC rolls out 'It's A Wonderful Life' again, and that's OK. Some movies are seasonally appropriate, and at least this one introduces 'Burt & Ernie'. ; )
'SNL' is fresh, with Robert DeNiro hosting & Norah Jones as the musical act.
ABC also has some college football intruding on prime time, so expect some local filler. Here, we get the movie 'Love Letters'.
The WB has the movie 'The Program'.
Faux has the usual fresh 'Cops', RERUN 'Cops', fresh 'America's Most Wanted'.
UPN serves up the movie 'A Very Brady Christmas' (with the most of the original tv cast).
Anyone have any opinions?
Or reviews?
(See below for addresses)
30 Years Ago Today
'Blue Marble'
Saturday,December 7, 2002, is the 30th anniversary of this image, known as the 'Blue Marble,' taken by the Apollo 17 mission which launched 30 years ago on Dec. 7. The mission's astronauts had the first chance to get the perfect shot of Earth , when hours after lift-off, the spacecraft aligned with the Earth and Sun, allowing the crew to photograph Earth in full light for the first time. It was also the first time in an Apollo photo that the Antarctic continent was visible. Earth photography was an important mission for the Apollo 17 crew, with their images revealing weather and terrain analysis and even higher atmosphere studies. Their shot of the full-disc Earth saw an important role in society as the centerpiece of the Earth Flag, symbol of Earth Day; stamps and posters,according to NASA. NASA says that even today it is the single-most requested image in their archives.
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Ceremony Protested
Letterman Alley
Television talk show host David Letterman wasn't even there to see his college town name an alley for him — and he was still upstaged.
City leaders were displaying a sign Thursday night dubbing one of the city's busiest alleys, "Dave's Alley — Open 24 hours," when fans of Garfield, the cartoon cat,
showed up to protest.
Cartoonist Jim Davis, who created Garfield, is a Delaware County resident; Letterman only lived there while he attended Ball State University.
The two protesters, costumed as Garfield and dog Odie, held picket signs saying "Dave Bites," "Cats Rule, Dave Drools" and "Alleys are for cats."
Apparently, all Letterman gets is the alley, though officials plan to install a 24-hour Internet camera.
Letterman Alley
Hosting Benefit Concert 2 February, 2003
Nelson Mandela
Former South African President Nelson Mandela said Friday he would host an HIV/AIDS benefit concert next year on Robben Island, where he spent 18 of his 27 years behind bars.
The concert, which will feature top rock and pop artists, will be held on February 2 within the walls of the island prison, which is now a World Heritage site.
Mandela, South Africa's first post-apartheid president, told a gala dinner on HIV/AIDS awareness that artists such us U2's Bono, Macy Gray and Shaggy had confirmed their participation.
"The concert will be led by Bono and held on Robben Island on February 2, 2003. The concert will focus on the growing impact HIV/AIDS has on human rights, not only in South Africa but around the world," he said.
The concert will be televised globally with all funds raised going to the Nelson Mandela Foundation, UNAIDS and Robben Island Museum.
Nelson Mandela
Just Liked The Title
'Arsewoman in Wonderland'
A visitor looks at a selection of art including 'Arsewoman in Wonderland' by Turner Prize 2002 nominee Fiona Banner at the press preview of the shortlisted entries
for the prestigious prize, October 29, 2002. The creator of a Kentucky Fried Chicken menu encased in lead is hot favorite to land the Turner prize, one of the art
world's most controversial awards. Bookmakers made Keith Tyson 6-4 favorite to land Sunday's prize, derided by critics as a farce and condemned by Britain's Culture
Minister Kim Howells as 'conceptual bullshit.'
Photo by Stephen Hird
''Seinfeld'' Auction
The 'Puffy Shirt'
Bidding on the notorious "puffy shirt" worn by Jerry Seinfeld has hit $10,000 - not that there's anything wrong with that.
The hideous bit of attire is part of a collection of more than 170 cherished costumes, props and scripts from the beloved sitcom that are being auctioned off at Sothebys.com.
But of all the items up for grabs in the 10-day "Seinfeld" auction that ends tomorrow night, the puffy shirt has garnered the highest bid.
Other crazy costumes on the block include the turquoise jacket Kramer wears on the hilarious "Merv Griffin Show" episode, as well as a host of his
trademark shirts from various episodes.
A bathrobe worn by Kramer has received a bid of $1,115.
Bidding on a signed original script from the episode "The Finale" has soared above $1,900.
Other scripts on the block include "The Soup Nazi," "The Smelly Car," "The Shower Head," "The Nose Job" and Seinfeld's personal script from "The Nap."
The 'Puffy Shirt'
Fresh Komix
from Rob C
'The 2 Paul Tour'
Bono Comments On O'Neill
They were the odd couple, two guys in funny hats -- straitlaced U.S. Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill and Irish rocker Bono on tour in Africa last May to highlight the need for effective development.
For nearly two weeks, the unlikely duo traveled through Africa exploring the desperate needs of the region and helping bring attention to the havoc wreaked there by the HIV /AIDS epidemic.
By the end of it, the two had formed a bond, forged of concern about Africa, that Bono recalled on Friday in the wake of O'Neill's resignation at the White House's request.
"I saw the AIDS emergency in Africa with Paul O'Neill. I saw his convictions," said Bono, who was in Cincinnati on a seven-state tour to boost awareness of Africa's AIDS plight.
"We will miss him but this administration is committed to continuing this fight," Bono said, adding that his own campaign will continue as usual. The lead singer for the U2 rock band was hitting churches,
truck stops and universities to urge Americans to pay attention to Africa's woes and to help.
'The 2 Paul Tour'
In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends
The Pickford Center for Motion Picture Study
Mary Pickford
The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences has dedicated a building to "America's Sweetheart" to hold its archival materials.
The Pickford Center for Motion Picture Study, named for actress Mary Pickford, was dedicated Wednesday night.
Pickford started as a child actress in theater and worked in silent films by D.W. Griffith and Charlie Chaplin before moving into "talkies."
At 26, she teamed with Griffith, Chaplin and her second husband, Douglas Fairbanks, to co-found United Artists in 1919.
The building named after her will be home to the Academy Film Archive and the Academy Players Directory. The academy's research and preservation center in Beverly Hills is named for Fairbanks.
Mary Pickford
'The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers' Premiere
Yoko, Sean & Bijou
Yoko Ono (L) and her son Sean Lennon and Bijou Phillips arrive at the world premiere of the film 'The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers' in New York City, December 5, 2002. The film
opens December 18th in the United States.
Photo by Jeff Christensen
Memorial to be Large Oval Fountain
Princess Diana
A large oval fountain commemorating Princess Diana will reflect the highs and lows of her troubled life and show her "inclusiveness and accessibility," its designer said Friday as officials released detailed plans.
"On one side the water bubbles and effervesces down a gentle slope, whereas on the other side it tumbles down, cascades, then 'rocks and rolls' from side to side in a joyous way, before turning over on itself,
perhaps representing the turmoil in her life," said Kathryn Gustafson, the American landscape artist charged with creating the $4.7million memorial in London's Hyde Park.
"Both sides finally flow into a tranquil, peaceful, calm pool."
Work on the 165-by-260-foot stone ring, which has been likened to a giant necklace, is due to begin next year and be completed by the summer of 2004, seven years after Diana's death in a Paris car crash.
It has taken years to agree on building a fountain and set an eight-member Diana Memorial Committee to choose a design out of more than 60 entries. But the project became mired in controversy as the
panelists disagreed over which design to choose.
Princess Diana
Royal Parks
Culture Department
$10 Million For South African Girls' School
Oprah Winfrey
Knowing Nelson Mandela's reputation for getting charitable donations out of the rich and famous, American talkshow queen Oprah Winfrey stumped up without being asked.
It cost her $10 million but it meant she kept on the right side of the man she calls her greatest living mentor.
With 84-year-old Mandela at her side, the African-American celebrity with a net worth edging toward the $1 billion mark broke the ground for what
will be the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls.
"We are looking for strong, brave girls with heart. I believe girls are going to take over the world. Men have been in control long enough
but, don't worry, we're prepared to share power," the petite presenter said at the ceremony on the 22-acre wooded site, 25 miles south of Johannesburg.
There will be 450 girls aged between 12 and 18 boarding at the academy. All will be "focused learners" with a strong bent for math
and science. Backers say most will be picked from disadvantaged communities.
Oprah Winfrey
$140 Million Turkey
'Treasure Planet'
The Walt Disney Co. has taken a $140 million gamble on an epic cartoon and lost -- raising questions over whether the studio that once was "The Lion King" among animators has strength left to roar.
The box office failure of "Treasure Planet" has raised questions about the future direction of Disney's fabled animation unit amid reports that its chief, Thomas Schumacher, was already
considering leaving the division.
"Treasure Planet," an interplanetary version of Robert Louis Stevenson's "Treasure Island," cost a reported $140 million to make but brought in only a paltry $16.5 million in
the United States and Canada over the long Thanksgiving weekend, causing Disney to restate and lower its fiscal fourth quarter profits by $74 million before taxes.
Studio Chairman Richard Cook, who declined to be interviewed, told analysts recently that the company was now more than ever making creative decisions with a look at the bottom line.
He pointed to animated feature "Lilo and Stitch," made for a reported $80 million, as a template. The protagonist of that movie, Lilo, wore a dress that in early drafts had a
rich -- and expensive -- pattern. Cook said Disney reaped substantial savings by giving the dress a simple print.
'Treasure Planet'
Formerly 'The Vidiot'
Misses Court, Medical Exam Ordered
Michael Jackson
A Santa Maria judge on Thursday ordered pop star Michael Jackson to undergo a medical examination after the pop star failed to show up for court because of a spider bite.
Jackson was scheduled to face further cross-examination in a $21 million lawsuit over canceled millennium concerts, but instead was absent from the courthouse in Santa Maria, about
170 miles north of Los Angeles in central California.
Superior Court Judge Zel Canter, after meeting with attorneys in his chambers, said Jackson -- who is being sued by German concert promoter Marcel Avram for breach of contract -- had
offered what appeared to be a legitimate medical issue.
Jackson denies pulling out of the millennium shows and claims Avram canceled them because "the government" would not allow them to fly across the international dateline on New Year's Eve.
The singer has said he did not remember which government objected to the flight.
Michael Jackson
Cambodia
Angkor Wat
The 12th century temples of Angkor Wat in northern Cambodia are illuminated during a charity concert by Spanish tenor Jose Carreras late December 6, 2002. Carreras sang in a sold-out
gala for an audience of 1,000 in an extravaganza featuring operatic arias, a cast of 800 dancers, and the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. Tickets for the event were priced from US $500 to $1,500.
Photo by Chor Sokunthea
Movie Recommendation
'The Trials of Henry Kissinger'
Featuring: Henry Kissinger, Alexander Haig, William Safire, Seymour Hersh, Anna Chennault and Barbara Howar.
First Run Features presents a documentary directed by Eugene Jarecki. Written by Alex Gibney, based on the book by Christopher Hitchens. Narrated by Brian Cox. Running time: 80 minutes. No MPAA rating.
BY ROGER EBERT
The odds are excellent that President Bush did not see this film before appointing Henry Kissinger as the head of a special commission to examine shortcomings of U.S. Intelligence in the period before 9/11.
'The Trials of Henry Kissinger' charges Kissinger himself with authorizing illegal terrorist acts on behalf of the United States. Did Bush put the fox in charge of the hen house?
Yes, the film is told from a hostile point of view: It's based on a book by the New Left author Christopher Hitchens, who has made Kissinger-bashing a second career. But many of the facts in it are matters
of public record. And it is widely believed, and not just on the left, that Kissinger directly or indirectly brought about the death of the democratically elected Chilean president Salvador Allende. And he
is currently the defendant, as Hitchens pointed out recently on Slate.com, in a civil suit filed in Washington, D.C., charging that Kissinger gave the order for the assassination of the Chilean general Rene
Schneider, who would not support the U.S. call for a military coup. "Every single document in the prosecution case," Hitchens notes, "is a U.S.-government declassified paper."
For the rest - 'The Trials of Henry Kissinger'
from ~~ Tim H
Thanks Tim H!
Whitney's Dad Makes TV Plea
John Houston
Pop diva Whitney Houston's ailing father, who is suing her for $100 million, called for his daughter to settle the case in a televised plea Thursday, urging her from his hospital bed to "pay me the money that you owe me."
John Houston, 82, made his unusual public appeal on the syndicated television show "Celebrity Justice," a day after his daughter said in her own ABC interview that her father's suit was hurtful and
motivated by someone who "has put fear in his heart."
The elder Houston recently filed a breach-of-contract suit against the 39-year-old singer alleging that his daughter hired him and his business partner to help her with various financial difficulties
and to negotiate her contract with Arista Records. But the suit says his company was never paid.
"I never thought about suing my daughter," he told "Celebrity Justice." "I thought about suing the corporation that belongs to Whitney and she happened to be right in the middle of it." The nature of Houston's illness was not disclosed.
John Houston
Major Renaissance Masterpiece To Auction
Andrea Mantegna
One of the greatest Renaissance masterpieces still in private hands goes under the hammer in New York next month with a price tag of over $20 million.
Italian Old Master Andrea Mantegna's Descent into Limbo, a tempura and gold picture on wood panel, was painted in 1492 toward the end of the prolific career of one of the
era's greatest artists.
The talent of Mantegna, born in 1431, was recognized at the age of 10 by Padua art teacher Francesco Squarcione and within seven years he had established such a reputation that he
was able to break away and set up his own studio.
Descent into Limbo, which went on pre-auction show in London on Friday, is one of a series of Old Masters that go on sale in New York on January 23.
Included in the sale are Peter Paul Rubens The Holy Family with the infant Saint John -- priced at over $4.0 million -- and Sandro Botticelli's Profile Portrait of a Woman,
expected to fetch more than $3.0 million.
Andrea Mantegna
''The Liberal Media?''
'The Rightward Press'
You hear the conventional wisdom all the time from shrewd conservative commentators who understand that political pressure, relentlessly applied, usually achieves its purposes. They have sold the view that
the media are dominated by liberals and that the news is skewed against conservatives.
This belief fueled the construction of a large network of conservative institutions -- especially on radio and cable television -- that provides conservative viewpoints close to 24 hours a day. Conservatives
argued that hopelessly left-wing establishment news sources needed to be balanced by brave, relentless voices from the right.
But the continuing attacks on mainstream journalists have another effect. Because the drumbeat of conservative press criticism has been so steady, the establishment press has internalized it. Editors and
network executives are far more likely to hear complaints from the right than from the left.
For the rest - The Rightward Press
In Memory
Ray L. Wallace
The man who used 16-inch feet-shaped carvings to create tracks that ignited the "Bigfoot" legend has died. He was 84.
Ray L. Wallace's family admitted his role in the creature myth after his death Nov. 26 from heart failure.
"The reality is, Bigfoot just died," his son, Michael, said.
In August 1958, a bulldozer operator who worked for Wallace's construction company in Humboldt County, Calif., found huge footprints circling and then leading away from his rig.
The Humboldt Times in Eureka, Calif., coined the term "Bigfoot" in a front-page story about the phenomenon.
Family members said Wallace asked a friend to carve the wooden 16-inch-long feet that he and his brother Wilbur wore to create the tracks.
The nation - fascinated by tales of the Himalayan Abominable Snowman - quickly bought into the notion of a homegrown version.
"The fact is there was no Bigfoot in popular consciousness before 1958. America got its own monster, its own Abominable Snowman, thanks to Ray Wallace," Mark Chorvinsky, editor of Strange magazine, told The Seattle Times.
Wallace cut a record of supposed Bigfoot sounds, printed posters of a Bigfoot sitting with other animals and provided films and photos that purported to show the creature eating elk and frogs, Chorvinsky said.
Chorvinsky believes the family's admission raises serious doubts about key "proof" of Bigfoot's existence: the so-called Patterson film, with its grainy images of an erect apelike creature striding away from the camera operated by rodeo rider Roger Patterson in 1967.
Wallace said he told Patterson where to spot a Bigfoot near Bluff Creek, Calif., Chorvinsky recalled. "Ray told me that the Patterson film was a hoax, and he knew who was in the suit."
Michael Wallace said his father called the Patterson film "a fake" but claimed he'd had nothing to do with it. But he said his mother admitted she had been photographed in a Bigfoot suit, and that his father "had several people he used in his movies."
The disclosure is not fazing others who study such creatures.
Jeff Meldrum, an associate professor of anatomy and anthropology at Idaho State University, says he has casts of 40 to 50 footprints he believes were made by authentic unknown primates.
"To suggest all these are explained by simple carved feet strapped to boots just doesn't wash," Meldrum said, noting 19th century accounts of such a creature.
Chorvinsky says those early reports were mistakes, myths or hoaxes.
Ray L. Wallace
West Hollywood, California
Anna Nicole
Anna Nicole Smith attends Motorola's annual Holiday Party December 5, 2002 at The Lot in West Hollywood, California. Each guest attending was asked to bring one unwrapped toy that
will be donated to Toys for Tots for Christmas.
Photo by Robert Galbraith
'The Osbournes'
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