Bartcop Entertainment - Saturday, 29 December, 2001

(BartCop Entertainment)

Saturday

29 December, 2001

big hammer - bigger hammer

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Reader Review

''Lord Of The Rings''

Q&A for the Tolkien-Uninformed

(and a spoiler warning)

I promised, way back when, to write a review of Lord of the Rings when it came out. But after seeing the movie, I was so overwhelmed that I was finding it difficult to put words to my experience.

(Sorry BC, I am a Tolkien and a LedZepp fan, but I have no wisdom to offer about the connection other than the obvious.)

''Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring'' is an awesome movie. I went into it expecting, not to be disappointed, but to be heart-broken. The exact opposite happened. Let me point out here and now that I am something of a Tolkien scholar. I'm not one of the elvish language scholars you will sometimes hear about; I cannot converse in Sindarin or recite the tale of Beren and Luthien by heart. I've read Lord of the Rings a few times (I stopped counting at 12), the Silmarillion 5 times, plus all the Lost Tales. From these, I can tell you that the Lord of the Rings book trilogy is not long enough. There is a richness and a depth to this tale that should be appreciated.

That's why I decided not to write a review of the movie. But from the point of view of this Tolkien scholar, the movie is almost perfectly realized. The vision of the movie is extraordinary. The characterization is nearly perfect. (Bizarro moment of the movie HAS to be the choice of Hugo Weaving - bad guy in The Matrix - to play Elrond.) The parts cut from the book do not seem to distract from the movie, perhaps for the first time in moviemaking history. I only have a few complaints, and they are almost too minor to bother with. I might mention them later.

Instead, I was inspired, after a discussion last night, to write a question-and-answer column about the movie. I spent a couple of hours last night discussing the movie with someone who had never read the books, trying to answer his questions, and it occured to me that there actually are people in the world who might enter the movie in similar circumstances. So allow me to try to answer a few of your questions.

Why does Arwen have her own Burger King cup when she only appears in the movie for a few minutes?

I suspect that Liv Tyler was brought in to appeal to younger males in the audience (although I cannot imagine why: Galadriel is painfully beautiful, too beautiful even for a wet dream). This theory of hormone appeal is proved by Arwen's Burger King cup. The character of Arwen is a minor one in the books. Mostly, all she does is look pretty. Peter Jackson wouldn't have so altered her character without a good reason, and that reason isn't apparent in the first movie.

I suspect that she will reappear at the beginning of the third movie. In chapter 2 of The Return of the King, the sons of Elrond and a company of rangers from the north ride south from Rivendell to find Aragorn and join him in his quest to defeat Sauron. Don't be surprised if Mr. Jackson replaces the sons of Elrond with Arwen, or simply adds her to the group. If he does, this should make for some nice tension between Arwen and Eowyn, who falls in love with Aragorn (actually, falls in love with the idea of Aragorn) in the second book/movie.

What's up with Gollum, Sauron, and the Black Riders' search for the ring? If it is so important and the riders are so powerful, why not go after it 30 years ago?

This was something the movie didn't do a very good job of explaining. At the beginning of the movie, we see Isildur cut the ring from Sauron's hand. Isildur takes the ring, but is ambushed by orcs and killed, the ring drops to the bottom of a river, and there Gollum finds it. Gollum then goes under the Misty Mountains, where he drops the ring and Bilbo finds it.

The reason Gollum lost the ring is because Sauron was taking shape again. The ring sensed its master's presense in the world and knew that as long as it remained with Gollum, it would never return to its master. So the ring abandoned Gollum, hoping to be found by goblins living near Gollum's cave.

The reason Bilbo found it was because he, Gandalf, and a group of dwarves were crossing the mountains (the reason isn't important here). They were captured by the goblins, but escaped. During the escape, Bilbo got lost and ended up putting his hand on the ring in the dark. He then encountered Gollum and made the mistake of telling him his name (Baggins) and where he was from (the Shire). When Bilbo escaped from Gollum, Gollum knew that he had his ring, but didn't have the nerve to follow him. But after many years, he couldn't stand it any longer, he had to find the ring. So he went out and was eventually captured nosing around Mordor (the home of Sauron). Sauron tortured him, learning the name of Baggins and the Shire and that the ring had been found.

That's why the Nine Riders were only searching for the ring then. Before Sauron captured Gollum, he thought the ring had been destroyed or lost. In any case, he only learns where the Shire is just before Frodo leaves it.

Anyway, after learning this, Sauron released Gollum so that he could continue his search, but he allowed Gollum to believe that he had escaped all on his own. This bit becomes important in the Two Towers, which is the next movie. Still, Sauron makes the critical error of believing Gollum has been subdued to his will. He hasn't. His lust for the ring is greater than his fear of Sauron, and he has no intention of giving it up.

This movie really should have done a better job with Gollum, all-in-all.

What are Pippin and Merry doing in the movie? Are they just there for comic relief?

Not at all. Both Pippin and Merry play pivotal roles in the next two movies. But I won't ruin that part for you.

Gandalf is supposed to come back in the next movie, but I thought he was dead - so how can that happen?

Gandalf falls in Moria while battling a Balrog. But it is important to understand that Gandalf and the Balrog are essentially the same kinds of creatures - both are spirits of fire (sort of - it's technical, so don't split hairs). The Balrogs were spirits who were corrupted by Morgoth during the First Age of the world. Gandalf is a spirit who was given physical form early in the Third (current) Age. He is actually one of five sent into Middle Earth to prepare for the battle with Sauron. Saruman was the most powerful of the five, but as you see in the movie, he has been corrupted. Two others traveled to the east and disappeared. The fifth, Radagast, doesn't appear in the movie at all. He is a minor wizard, and Peter Jackson managed to replace his role in the story with a moth.

When the dwarves delved Moria, they uncovered a Balrog that had been hiding deep in the earth since the end of the First Age. That's the Balrog Gandalf fights, and when he says "Back, flame of Udun. I am a servant of the secret fire" he is letting the Balrog know that he is more than he appears, that they are in fact brothers of a kind.

(WARNING - READ NO FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT A SPOILER)

Of course, Gandalf falls into the shadow during the battle. But the fall kills neither he nor the Balrog, and they continue their battle all the way up through the mines and out onto the peak of the mountain, where he finally slays the Balrog. But he is slain himself in the process - sort of. He isn't really. He is reclothed in flesh and given new power, because his battle with Sauron is not finished.

That's why, when the group encounters Galadriel, she doesn't say Gandalf is dead. She says that Gandalf fell into the shadow. She knows that Gandalf is not dead, because she and Gandalf are connected through their rings. (Did you see her ring? She wears one of the three given to the elves. Gandalf wears another, and Elrond wears the third.) But saying so would reveal the fact that she has one of the rings, which she is forbidden to do.

Last Question - Are the Black Riders dead? Did they die in the river?

No. They were unhorsed and exposed only, forced to return to Mordor to rehouse their spirits and pick up new (more dangerous) mounts. In the second movie, they should reappear briefly, and in the third movie return in full force.

Well, that's enough for now. I'll try to answer more questions next week, if Marty agrees.

If you have questions about the movie, write to me, Jeff

Marty more than agrees! : )

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Reader Response

Re: Anna K

''You Want a Killer Anna Kournikova Picture?''

Thanks to Larry@aol.com, there is a new Anna K. picture...since it's Saturday, decided to milk it for all it's worth....

Scroll down.....LOL

And, thanks, Larry!

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Reader Recommendation

''The Josh Joplin Group''

I strongly urge you to check out the Josh Joplin Group....they're pop, but they don't suck.....and the lead singer sounds like Michael Stipe.

www.joshjoplingroup.com, I think....their cd's called Useful Music.

Camera One is a great song.....so's Trailways.....it's great Greyhound trip music.

TEd

Visit TEd's webpage, all he asks is that you treat him like a friend....and walk him through the shards of all of your lies - ' Nerissa's "Love In China" '

The little town I grew up in was so small that Greyhound never stopped...we were a 'Continental Trailways' kind-of-town.

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Book Recommendation

''Bored Of The Rings''

''Bored of the Rings : A Parody of J.R.R. Tolkien's the Lord of the Rings'' was written back in 1969 by the Harvard Lampoon Staff, under the domination of ever-fabulous Henry N. Beard and Douglas C. Kenney.

This book goes back to my high school days...thought then, and after re-reading, still think it's one of the funniest, dead-on parodies of the last half of the 20th century.

Found a couple of copies to give as Christmas presents, and then got to thinking, maybe others would also appreciate it...

So, go back to the Bartcop Home Page, and scroll down to the Amazon link.... click, then in the 'Search' box, type in '' Bored of the Rings ''.

It's less than $12 & funnier than tits on a fundamentalist.

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In The Chaos Household

Last Night

Trying to get a Lego system to work...missed lots of TV tonight. Oh well, it was fun, but frustrating.

Saw some of ABC and the Domino show...it was disappointing, to say the least.

Dave is on in the background, currently.

Tonight, Saturday, CBS has nothing but reruns - 'Touched By An Angel', 'The District', and more of 'The District'.

NBC has 'Midnight In The Garden Of Good & Evil', and the rerun of 'SNL' with Drew Barrymore as host.

ABC has 'MNF On Saturday Night', with the Ravens visiting the Buccaneers.

AMC has one of the great All-Time-Cheesiest movies - 'Can't Stop The Music'...jeez, it was directed by Nancy Walker (Rhoda's mom & the late Queen of 'Brawny' Paper Towels), a pseudo-history of 'The Village People', with Valerie Perrine, and Bruce Jenner.
Here's a link to the 'imdb.com' page of 'Can't Stop The Music'.

TCM is featuring musicals...everything from 'Gypsy', to 'Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum', to 'West Side Story'.

Anyone have any opinions?

Or reviews?

(See below for addresses)

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Survivor: Africa - Weekly Update

Buh-Bye 'Little' Kim

After a failed attempt to unite the ladies of Moto Maji against Lex van den Berghe, Kim Powers, the 29-year-old freelance marketer from Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, was booted from Survivor: Africa Thursday, as viewers once again endured the show's patented "greetings from home" tearjerker episode.

As an original member of the Samburu tribe, Powers--known to her tribe mates as "Little Kim" (and no, it has nothing to do with her rapping skills)--was an endangered species, but Thursday night's torch-snuffing was light on the vitriol, with the 4-2 vote against Kim based mainly on strategy.

As it turned out, Teresa and Lil' Kim failed to convince Kim Johnson to team up and turn against Lex, with the intentions of getting goat herder Tom to ditch Lex and switch his allegiance. Ultimately, the older Kim didn't think it would work and stuck with Lex's voting bloc.

Meanwhile, this week's episode featured the all too familiar weepy videograms-from-home segment. And in a reward challenge testing how well tribe members knew their loved ones, Lex answered the most questions right and scored himself (and a buddy...Tom, natch) a safari and hot-air balloon ride.

And, as if on cue, the "Nutty Tom Comment of the Night" came during his reward trip with Lex to some luxurious accommodations that included a real, working toilet. "Our own pooper!" he exclaimed. And that was before he got into the bourbon. (That Tom! What a wacky redneck!)

Ratings-wise, CBS scored a first-place victory Thursday night thanks to Survivor and a repeat of C.S.I., which topped NBC's latest batch of comedy reruns, according to preliminary ratings numbers. At 8 p.m., Survivor: Africa notched a 10.9 rating/18 share in households, besting both Friends (10.1 rating/17 share) and the dearly departing Inside Schwartz (6.9 rating/11 share).

Meanwhile, C.S.I. topped reruns of Will & Grace and Just Shoot Me, while NBC and ABC tied at 10 p.m. with episodes of ER and Primetime Thursday, respectively.

Survivor: Africa - 'Buh-Bye ''Little'' Kim'

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New Names For Afghanistan Cities

From 'Aunt Sue'

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Updated!

BartCop TV!

BC TV

Visit the site at BC TV

The 'Vidiot' never seems to rest - and doesn't let little things like laundry or housekeeping get in the way!

Damn near every show on TV must is listed - days & days worth of great reading.

If you have any questions about nearly any tv program, check out BC TV!

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``Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune''

Edie Falco

A Broadway play featuring ``Sopranos'' co-star Edie Falco will bow three months later than expected because of scheduling conflicts with the hit HBO mob drama.

``Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune,'' a Terrence McNally play about two greasy-spoon lovers, will premiere next August instead of May, said Michael Rego, one of the show's producers. Stanley Tucci remains on board as Falco's co-star.

``We thought we would be able to adapt Edie Falco's 'Sopranos' schedule to eight shows on Broadway this season, but it did not work out,'' said Rego. The production will now go into rehearsals in July.

Circling Gotham with no theater attached at present are the country musical ``Lone Star Love''; a West End revival of ``Private Lives,'' with Alan Rickman and Lindsay Duncan; and ``Paper Doll,'' a new play based on the life of trash novelist Jacqueline Susann, starring Marlo Thomas and F. Murray Abraham.

``Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune''

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The Amazing Psychic Kitty

Marisa Tomei

Actress Marisa Tomei claims her kitty has amazing psychic powers - awakening her just in time to hear her name read out as a Golden Globe nominee for "In the Bedroom."

The sexy star, fast asleep when the nominations were announced, adds that the cat not only got her up, but also led her straight to her television.

The cat "was telling me to get up and turn on the TV," she said.

Marisa Tomei

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Entourage So Huge He Needed 28 Rooms

Tom Cruise

Tom Cruise is epitomizing Hollywood excess while promoting his latest flick, "Vanilla Sky." The undersized actor stunned studio reps when he arrived at a Hong Kong publicity stop with an entourage so huge he needed 28 rooms at the Far Eastern Plaza Hotel for them, reports the South China Morning Post. Maybe he needed all the underlings to comfort him after The Post's erudite critic Jonathan Foreman labeled the flick "surprisingly vulgar," "convoluted," "saggy" and "irritating."

Tom Cruise

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From The Realm Of 'Who'd A Thunk?'

Howdy Doody & Boeing Corp

Allison Oldfin of Pasadena, California applies cut straw flowers for the freckles on the Howdy Doody character on the Boeing Corp. float December 28, 2001 in Pasadena. The charcter is part of the float which will be featured in the Tournament of Roses parade on New Year's Day 2002 in Pasadena.
Photo by Fred Prouser

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Advertising Sales For The Winter Olympic Games

NBC Is Bragging

Advertising sales for the Winter Olympic Games are heating up, the NBC television network said on Friday.

With about six weeks to go before the world's top bobsledders, figure skaters and skiers face off in Salt Lake City, NBC has sold 94 percent of its commercial slots.

``It's been extremely healthy,'' said spokesman Kevin Sullivan, adding that the numbers were on pace with prior Olympics covered by NBC.

The Salt Lake City Olympics start a mere five days after the National Football League's Super Bowl, which is airing this year on Fox, a unit of News Corp. The proximity of the events has spurred a battle for advertisers between the two networks, and Sullivan said NBC has had some key wins.

``EDS and Volkswagen took their money out of the Super Bowl and put it into the Olympics,'' he said.

Olympics Advertising Selling Well

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New!

In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends

In The Kitchen With BartCop

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The New 'Truman' Show

Truman Capote

Needed: one short actor with a bitchy demeanor and not a lot of hair. George Plimpton's biography of "Breakfast at Tiffany's" author Truman Capote is coming to the screen. "Emma" screenwriter Douglas McGrath wants to write and direct the movie, which will focus on Capote's 1959 New Yorker magazine-assigned trip to Kansas to research the murders that later became his best-selling "In Cold Blood."

The role of short-statured Capote, who spoke with a high-pitched voice once described by Tennessee Williams as a sound that could only be picked up by bats, has yet to be cast.

New 'Truman' Show

One of my favorite books is 'To Kill A Mockingbird'. The 'real-life' Truman Capote is one of the characters in the story.....Seriously.

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More Fire In New South Wales

Sydney

An airplane passes in front of the setting sun which glows bright red due to the bush fire haze above Sydney, December 28, 2001. More than 100 summer bush fires continue to burn out of control on Sydney's southern and western outskirts as thousands of weary firefighters across New South Wales battle blazes for a third day.
Photo by David Gray

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Returning To His Long Island Roots

Howard Stern

Howard Stern appears ready to return to his Long Island roots. The infamous shock jock, who grew up in Roosevelt and later married and reared a family in Old Westbury, apparently has decided it's time to head back to the Island following the recent marriage of his ex-wife, Alison, to garmento David Simon.

Stern bought a West Side condo in 1998 because he didn't want to commute each day from Old Westbury to Manhattan, where he does his radio show.

For a time, this back-and-forth, two-home arrangement seemed to be working. But Stern began spending more time at his $5.9 million apartment in the Millennium Tower on W. 67th St. than at home with his wife and three daughters, and soon his 21-year marriage to Alison failed.

Stern checked out a $3.5 million home in Old Westbury just a couple of weeks ago. He seemed to like it, said a source, but he ultimately decided he wanted something "closer to the water."

Howard Stern

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America's Perennial Teenager

Dick Clark

Dick Clark, America's perennial teenager, says staying young is a snap."It's easy," the 72-year-old told The Post. "I've been a part of the American music scene for more than 50 years. When you grow up with music like I did, and all the people around you are young, you maintain the attitude."

For Clark, who lives in California with his wife of more than 20 years, Kari, rock 'n' roll is the fountain of youth.

"See, what usually happens is, as you get older, your musical taste atrophies," he explains. "Then everything else hardens up, too.

"I've always had to keep an open mind when it came to music and what's going on out there, and although I've been out of my age bracket as I got older, I kept my youth because the music has given me a youthful approach to everything."

That includes work. When asked about rumors of retirement, Clark scoffed, "No way. If I stay healthy, I'll keep working until I get called to leave this life."

He means it. He continues to produce the long-running American Music Awards (airing this year on Jan. 7), as well as the Daytime Emmys, the Golden Globe Awards and the Academy of Country Music Awards.

He also has a daily TV talk show called "The Other Half" (the answer to the estrogen-powered "The View") and he still oversees the rock 'n' roll archive known as "American Bandstand," which aired from 1957 through 1987.

Still, Clark says, one of his proudest achievements is being New Year's Eve countdown king - and Monday marks his 30th consecutive year broadcasting from Times Square.

Dick Clark

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An Erotic Icon

Farrah Fawcett

Farrah Fawcett is so hot for her new sculptor boyfriend, she let the hands-on hunk mold a naughty nude sculpture of her.

Foxy Fawcett, 54, is gaga for New Yorker Keith Edmier, 34, who admits to having had a crush on the "Charlie's Angels" charmer since he was a teenager. Art world sources say the couple is crafting a series of eye-popping nudes of each other to debut in a planned 2002 exhibition.

Their red-hot romance is celebrated in a jointly created work currently on display at the Quadrennial of Contemporary Art in Ghent, Belgium. The piece consists of Fawcett's footprints in an oversized, sand-filled shell - a reference to the shell in Botticelli's famous painting of Venus, with Fawcett filling in for the goddess of love.

Edmier says Fawcett has been an erotic icon to him since he pined over her as a hot-and-bothered teen. His 1997 sculpture "Jill Peters," completed before the couple met, is a lifesize wax and polyvinyl statue of a girl with Farrah's famous flick-ups in real human hair. More recently, his New York dealer, Friedrich Petzel, exhibited a limited edition photo of the couple at the 2001 Armory Show.

Romance blossomed after the couple began working together in August 2000, following a bumpy period in Fawcett's personal life. After splitting with longtime boyfriend Ryan O'Neal in 1997, she fell into a physically abusive relationship with Hollywood director James Orr.

Farrah Fawcett

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New! Updated!

(10 Dec., 2001)

BartCop Astrology

The official BartCop Astrologer, Geneva, has done good, again!

Currently, look at the charts of George Harrison.

Very interesting reading!

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Walt Disney Co.'s 'ABC Family Channel'

EchoStar Communications

A bitter legal dispute between EchoStar Communications Corp. and Walt Disney Co. escalated on Friday -- with EchoStar saying it was determined to drop the ABC Family channel and Disney filing new court papers to stop the move.

On Friday, however, EchoStar said it was in talks to continue airing the various Fox networks and Disney's ESPN Classic, but still planned to drop ABC Family on Dec. 31.

Because of what it contends are spectrum capacity constraints, EchoStar has told consumers it would drop channels to comply with federal ``must-carry'' rules requiring satellite companies to carry programming from all local broadcast stations in areas where they carry at least one station.

Those rules take effect Jan. 1. In an effort to comply, EchoStar on Thursday said it would carry all the local stations in the 36 markets it serves with select local channels as of Jan. 1. The company charges $5.99 per month for that package.

Disney filed suit in Los Angeles federal court last week alleging EchoStar is prohibited from dropping the family channel under a 1995 affiliate agreement expiring in August 2005.

Disney asked the court for a temporary restraining order preventing EchoStar from dropping the channels on Dec. 31.

Go EchoStar, Go!

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EchoStar Communications

Fox Sports Stays, For Now

No. 2 U.S. satellite broadcaster EchoStar Communications Corp. expects to continue carrying Fox's regional sports channels while it negotiates a deal with Fox, an EchoStar spokesman said Friday, rather than dropping the channels on Dec. 31 as it had planned.

EchoStar had said it would drop the regional Fox sports channels at midnight on Dec. 31 in order to free up spectrum and comply with federal ``must-carry'' rules that require to broadcast all local channels in any market where it broadcasts at least one local station.

The Fox sports channels are a unit of News Corp.'s Fox Entertainment division.

EchoStar - FoxSports To Stay, For Now

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BC Entertainment Favorite Link

''Welcome to the Sideshow''

A weblog by Avedon Carol.

Welcome to the Sideshow by Avedon Carol

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Liberal Radio !

Erin Hart

Liberal radio - what a concept!

Join Erin Hart and celebrate the New Year and Year in Review Dec 29th and 30th, at nearly regulation times (9 pm to 1 am [pst] Sat & 10 pm to 1 am [pst] Sun ) at www.710kiro.com or www.kiro710.com (It's a browser thing).

And don't forget about the chatroom!

For more details, visit Erin's homepage, http://www.erinistas.com/.

Say 'Hi' to Brian, the Webmaster, and, while you're there, check out his computer tips!

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Snarky Gossip

Chelsea

When the Clintons moved to New York, we at PAGE SIX fantasized about regular sightings of Bill at Scores and Hillary at Meow Mix. Sadly, Bill and Hill have (mostly) behaved themselves, but daughter Chelsea is showing promise as a salacious source of gossip.

Even before she flew back to New York for the holidays, the 21-year-old Oxford University student caused quite a stir across the pond when she openly swapped spit with her handsome new boyfriend, 22-year-old fellow Oxfordian Ian Klause, at a bar in Edinburgh, Scotland. "They couldn't keep their hands off each other," bartender Allie Gray told the weekly tabloid Globe. "They were drinking and kissing for an hour."

A few nights later, Chelsea was photographed staggering into London's Groucho Club with a passel of pals. Then, back in Manhattan on Saturday night, Chelsea slugged "saketinis" with friends on the roof deck of Sushi Samba 7, and later hit champagne-soaked hotspots Eugene and Suite 16.

Snarky Chelsea Gossip

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Not ''Basket Of Puppies''

Anthrax, The Band

Anthrax, the band, wants to make sure that no one mistakes them for the eponymous bacteria.

So they've set up a link on their official Web site, www.anthrax.com, to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to offer people health information.

The metal band from New York, which formed in the early '80s, was thrust into the spotlight in October when anthrax began showing up in the mailrooms of government offices and news organizations as a weapon of bioterrorism.

After the bacteria began appearing, the guys in the group joked that they were changing their name to 'Basket Full of Puppies'.

At a sold-out metal benefit concert in New York last month, the five members of Anthrax wore shirts that spelled out the words, ``We're not changing our name.'' Money raised at the show went to relatives of the police officers and firefighters who died in the Sept. 11 World Trade Center attack.

Anthrax, The Band

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The 'Lord' Of Elvish

David Salo

David Salo is an expert in languages that exist only in the imaginary world of hobbits and elves.

He has immersed himself in Quenya and Sindarin, languages created by author J.R.R. Tolkien for the inhabitants of Middle-earth and featured in his ``The Lord of the Rings'' trilogy.

So when filmmakers adapting the fantasy epic wanted to translate parts of their script from English into the two Elvish languages, they turned to Salo, a graduate student in linguistics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

In the seven years between his undergraduate studies at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minn., where he studied Latin and Greek, and graduate school in Madison, Salo learned everything he could about Tolkien's Elvish languages.

Before the film began shooting in New Zealand, Salo worked with set and costume designers, writing short verses that could be inscribed on swords and other props.

Tolkien created many languages, but the two most important were Quenya and Sindarin, which Salo said are related to each other in much the same way English and German are.

Quenya mostly resembles an ancient form of Greek, while Sindarin is modeled on Welsh, Salo said. But Tolkien took ``bits and pieces from all over,'' including Latin, Finnish and Hebrew.

Some sample words: In Sindarin, the word for hobbit is periain (pronounced peri'-ain), ang is iron, duath means darkness; hir means lord. In Quenya, parma means book, anga is iron, heru is lord, lumbule is darkness.

Translating the dialogue took some educated guesses on Salo's part, since Tolkien never published a guide.

The filmmakers relied on Salo throughout the 15-month shoot, which included making parts two and three, due in theaters in 2002 and 2003.

``They would suddenly call me up at midnight ... and say, 'We need you to write us a line of dialogue for the shooting tomorrow,''' Salo said.

He said it wouldn't take him long to comply. ``When you've been working with this for awhile, it becomes like a second language.''

The 'Lord' Of Elvish - David Salo

Elvish Linguistic Fellowship

``The Lord of the Rings'' Web site

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BC Entertainment Favorite Link

Moose & Squirrel Information One-Stop

http://geocities.com/mooseandsquirrel1

What a great site! Information and reference materials of the first order!

Between 'Moose & Squirrel' and 'Google', who needs 'refdesk'!

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Frodo's Pal, Sam

Sean Astin

Sean Astin learned something during his latest film project: It isn't easy being a hobbit.

Playing Frodo's sidekick, Sam, in ``The Lord of the Rings'' movies, the actor said he had a hard time with the big, hairy prosthetic feet that the actors playing hobbits had to wear. While filming in New Zealand, Astin said a pony stepped on his fake feet one day and ripped off three of the toes.

He's also having trouble losing the weight he put on the for the role.

``It's really hard, especially that I'm 30 years old now,'' he said. ``I mean, I did great right when we finished filming. I lost about 25 pounds. I was running on the treadmill every day, but over the last year I've kind of gone back up. I'm about halfway down now.''

Sean Astin - Frodo's Sidekick Sam

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Robert Altman's ''Gosford Park''

Ryan Phillippe

Ryan Phillippe admits he was a little nervous being one of the few Americans among the distinguished British actors in ``Gosford Park.''

The ensemble crime comedy from director Robert Altman features Maggie Smith, Helen Mirren, Jeremy Northam and Kristin Scott Thomas.

``Half of them have titles. Half of them are dames and knights,'' the 27-year-old actor said. ``I was intimidated but excited and challenged by the prospect.''

``Gosford Park'' opened Wednesday in New York and Los Angeles and expands to wider release on Jan. 4.

Ryan Phillippe

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Busy Legal Calendar

Marilyn Manson

Despite prosecutors' claims that the devil-loving singer has been a very naughty boy this year--allegedly sexually assaulting a security guard during a local concert--Clarkston District Court Judge Gerald McNally on Friday dropped charges against Manson that could have sent the shock rocker to jail.

Manson had been charged with criminal sexual misconduct--a fourth-degree felony that carries a maximum penalty of two years in prison--as well as a misdemeanor count of assault and battery for his concert antics during the July 30 stop of Ozzfest at the DTE Energy Music Theater in suburban Detroit.

The 32-year-old singer (real name: Brian Warner) appeared in court swathed in black, complete with matching eyeliner, and signed autographs for some similarly dressed fans.

The always-controverial rocker is due back in court March 18 for more pretrial wrangling.

In the meantime, his lawyers are battling similar accusations in civil court. David Diaz of Anoka County, Minnesota, filed a lawsuit against Manson earlier this month seeking damages for battery and emotional distress. The suit, filed in Minneapolis federal court, claims Diaz "endured ridicule and shame" after finding himself the unwitting magnet of Manson's groin on October 27, 2000, during a concert at the Historic Orpheum Theater in Minneapolis.

Marilyn Manson

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Defenders of Cockfighting

AZ, MO & OK

Defenders of cockfighting in Oklahoma, one of the last three U.S. states to allow the blood sport, have asked the state Supreme Court to reconsider a decision enabling opponents to put a proposed ban up for a statewide vote, court officials said.

The challenge comes after the Oklahoma high court in November ruled that a petition circulated by cockfighting opponents had enough valid signatures for the prohibition to be put on the ballot.

Game fowl breeders have countered that cockfighting is a rural Oklahoma tradition and fuels an export industry that supplies specially trained roosters and breeding hens to parts of the world where cockfighting is a major event, including Mexico and much of Southeast Asia.

Besides Oklahoma, the only U.S. states that permit cockfighting are Louisiana and New Mexico. Many states banned the practice in the 19th century, while Missouri and Arizona acted as recently as 1998.

Protecting Cultural Heritage?

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The Promised 'Killer' Anna Kournikova Picture

Courtesy Of Larry

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Rose Parade Float

Madalenna Lai

Madalenna Lai (R), a Vietnamese immigrant who sold her home in Fontana, California to pay for a float in the Rose Parade on New Year's Day 2002, poses with her daugther Tiffany Nyguen on the float as it is being decorated December 27, 2001 in Pasadena. Lai undertook the float project to thank America for taking her in as a refugee a quarter century ago. Lai said she and others in the southern California Vietnamese community have been trying for eight years to get their first float in the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena which is telecast to a worldwide audience.
Photo by Fred Prouser

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"Boondocks" (9 Oct 01)

Boondocks: The Best Comic Strip Today

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Still MISSING

Marc Chagall's "Study for 'Over Vitebsk'"

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Is It Just Me, Or Does Big Boy Look Like Tom Ridge?

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