'TBH Politoons'
Thanks, again, Tim!
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
We're having a bit of a heat wave, so changed Jo (the remaining) lizard's terrarium.
Since my hands were already pruney, decided to clean the fish bowls, too. The kid has 2 Siamese Fighting Fish (Betas). Started out with 6 (all in separate bowls), close to 3 years ago.
Computer pal came by & got Gladys the computer stablized enough to start extracting stuff. Should have everything back to what passes for normal in a couple of weeks.
Tonight, Sunday, as is tradition, CBS opens the evening with '60 Minutes', then a fresh 'Becker', followed by a RERUN 'King Of Queens' (wonder if CBS is going to throw away this time period all year?), then a fresh made-for-tv movie 'The Crooked E: The Unshredded Truth About Enron' (it's not a good sign that the network is 'dumping' this movie between ratings periods).
NBC starts the night with 'Dateline', then a fresh 'American Dreams', followed by a fresh 'Law & Order: Criminal Intent', and then caps the night with a fresh 'Boomtown'.
ABC begins the evening with a RERUN of 'Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory', then a fresh 'Alias', followed by a RERUN 'The Practice'.
The WB offers the weekly RERUN 'Gilmore Girls', then a fresh 'Charmed' followed by the series premiere of 'High School Reunion'.
Faux opens with a RERUN 'Futurama', followed by a RERUN 'King Of The Hill', then a fresh 'Simpsons', a fresh 'King Of The Hill', a fresh 'Malcolm', and a fresh 'Andy Richter'.
UPN has nothing fresh tonight - RERUN 'Buffy', RERUN 'Enterprise', and 'Stargate SG-1'.
HBO has the first episode for the last season of 'Oz'.
Anyone have any opinions?
Or reviews?
(See below for addresses)
Mariners' Museum, Newport News, VA
USS Monitor
Silverware recovered from the turret of the USS Monitor is seen Nov. 2002 at the Mariners' Museum in Newport News, Va. Nearly 30 pieces of silver-and nickel-plated dinnerware were
recovered in the ship's turret. The pieces which include forks with crushed tines, knife handles, serving spoons and napkin rings. Once covered in muck, they have been cleaned,
polished and lacquered to prevent tarnishing.
Photo by Gregg L. Vicik
HOT New Page!
from Michael Dare
Senators Play Confederates
'Gods and Generals'
Two U.S. senators and one who recently retired have a few seconds of face time as Confederate officers in a Civil War movie that opens next month.
Sen. George Allen, R-Va.; Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va.; and former Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas, are cast in
"Gods and Generals."
The movie is set amid the battles of Fredericksburg and the Wilderness campaign and focuses on Confederate Gens. Robert E. Lee and Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson and Union
commanders Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain and Winfield Scott Hancock. Robert Duvall plays Lee and Jeff Daniels has the Chamberlain role.
The senators are largely unrecognizable in period costume and makeup. Allen wears a fake mustache, said spokeswoman Carrie Cantrell.
"Actually, he's cast doing something he does well — spitting tobacco," said Julie Rautio, a former Allen staffer.
'Gods and Generals'
Sydney, Australia
Streaker
A streaker jumps over the stumps on the second day of the fifth cricket test match between Australia and England in Sydney, Friday, Jan. 3, 2003. Australia are 5 for 237 with Waugh 102 not out at stumps chasing England's first innings of 362.
Photo by Dan Peled
Priest Parody Nixed
Mummers Parade
They've poked fun at presidential sex and O.J. Simpson, but after outcries from the city's mayor and Roman Catholic cardinal a comic group scrapped its parody of the priest sex-abuse scandal during Saturday's 102nd Mummers Parade.
"We're all good Catholic boys," said George Hirsch Jr., captain of the Slick Duck Comic Brigade, a small club known for outrageous spoofs of current events.
Their parade car still boasted the theme "The Devil Made Me Do It," but the group's dozen or so performers offered no sex or religion — just rock 'n' roll — as they strutted to Elvis Presley's "Jailhouse Rock."
The parade is a New Year's Day tradition but was rained out and rescheduled for Saturday.
On Friday, Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua had called the group's planned sketch — which included the pope, priests being chased by police officers and nuns in a go-go cage — an "attack on the Catholic faith."
The parade is best known for its string bands and the elaborate sequined and feathered costumes that clubs spend much of the year making.
Mummers Parade
Renewed Vows
Ozzy & Sharon Osbourne
MTV cameras rolled on New Year's Eve as Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne renewed their 20-year-old wedding vows at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Guests at the Oz-fest included Robbie Williams,
Marilyn Manson, Chris Rock, Jon Lovitz, Britt Ekland and rock groupie Pamela Des Barres, reports The Post's Mary Huhn. Sharon's father, Don Arden, walked her down the aisle. Kelly
Osbourne was flower girl. Son Jack spoke and even shy daughter Amy was there. The Village People performed. Justin Timberlake was the only celebrity to bring a bodyguard.
Ozzy & Sharon Osbourne
Admitted to Hospital
Alexander Solzhenitsyn
Nobel Prize-winning author Alexander Solzhenitsyn has been admitted to a Moscow hospital after suffering a stroke, Russian news agencies reported on Saturday.
Solzhenitsyn's Russian Social Fund confirmed he was in hospital, but did not elaborate on his condition. "He is feeling comfortable and works when he can," the fund's spokeswoman told Reuters.
She said Solzhenitsyn, author of the acclaimed "One day in the life of Ivan Denisovich," became ill at the end of December.
Solzhenitsyn, 84, returned to Russia in 1994 after 20 years in forced exile. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1970.
Alexander Solzhenitsyn
Vacationing With 'P. Diddy'
Sammy Sosa
Rapper Sean "P. Diddy" Combs was vacationing this weekend on the south coast of this Caribbean country with Chicago Cubs slugger Sammy Sosa, according to Sosa's brother.
Combs arrived with three others on a private plane late Friday at La Romana, a resort town about 70 miles east of the Dominican capital, Santo Domingo, according to Jose Antonio Sosa.
He refused to say how long the rapper was staying or who he was with. Combs, once know as "Puff Daddy" would not speak to reporters.
Sammy Sosa
Promotes Alternative Fuels
Dennis Weaver
Dennis Weaver who starred in the television series "McCloud" and "Gunsmoke," is promoting alternative fuel sources and his nonprofit environmental group.
Weaver and his wife, Gerry, created the Institute of Ecolonomics a decade ago to study ways to reconcile the needs of the economy and the environment.
I want people to become aware of the importance of relating to the Earth, to become aware of what were doing to it now," he said in a speech Friday. "Scientists are telling us in no
uncertain terms that we are now in the process of destroying what we have. But we have the technology to make a veritable Garden of Eden in this place we live."
Dennis Weaver
In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends
Donated $1M for Welcome Center
Bob & Dolores Hope
Bob Hope and his wife, Dolores, have donated $1 million for a welcome center and auditorium at an Air Force Enlisted Foundation's housing complex named for the comedian.
Groundbreaking is set Monday at Bob Hope Village in this Florida Panhandle town next to Eglin Air Force Base. The housing complex is for widows of Air Force enlisted men.
The 6,000-square-foot building will be named for retired Air Force Col. Bob Gates, 83, of nearby Fort Walton Beach. He flew Hope around the world as the comedian entertained troops during World War II.
The Bob Gates Welcome Center-Auditorium will include a stage and seating for 170 people. It's intended mainly to serve Bob Hope Village's 400 residents, but also will include conference rooms for
seminars and business meetings, said Dick Young, the foundation's deputy chief executive officer.
Bob & Dolores Hope
Off The Coast of Italy
Stromboli
Plumes of white smoke rise as hot lava enters the water following an eruption in the Italian southern volcano island of Stromboli, Italy, Saturday, Jan. 4, 2003. Authorities continue to monitor volcanic activity after a major eruption
on Dec. 30, 2002 which left the island town evacuated.
Photo by Fabrizio Villa
Back in PA, 'Stomboli' meant 'pizza bread', and some damn fine eating was ahead!
The Chirpy News Network?
CNN
CNN's ratings are in the toilet, but the cable network's on-air talents are looking a lot chirpier these days. According to ticked-off insiders, Teya Ryan - boss Walter Isaacson's number two - has
handed down an edict in hope of regaining some ground against front-running Fox News Channel. "She let it be known to all on-air personalities in no uncertain terms that they are to be happy. Everyone
has to be happy and chirpy all the time - that's what she thinks viewers want. Kyra Phillips was on the other day and mentioned the doctors killed in Yemen and she looked like she was saying 'Happy [bleeping] New
Year!' " No wonder on-air talents like Garrick Utley, Brooks Jackson, James Hattori, Allan Dodds Frank and Mark Potter were not so broken up when they were handed pink slips yesterday.
CNN
Discusses Second Movie Project
Rob Zombie
Rob Zombie just finished work co-producing We're A Happy Family, the Ramones tribute album that's slated for a February 11 release, and now he's in movie mode. Zombie's first movie,
House Of 1000 Corpses, is slated for a March release through Lion's Gate Films.
Although House Of 1000 Corpses was dropped by Universal and delayed countless times, Zombie told LAUNCH he's excited to move on to his next movie project. The horror-rocker was asked about his future film projects.
Meanwhile, Zombie will have up to four new tunes on the soundtrack to House Of 1000 Corpses, which is set to arrive in stores a few weeks before the movie's release.
Rob Zombie
Baby News
Brooke Shields
Former "Suddenly Susan" star Brooke Shields is suddenly pregnant.
The beauty revealed she and hunky writer hubby Chris Henchy are expecting their first child in early May - after desperately trying for months to conceive.
Now that she's expecting, "there is no preference for a boy or girl, we just want a healthy baby," said Shields, 37, who added she and Chris are choosing not to learn the child's sex before the birth.
Shields - who just finished filming "Rent a Husband" with "Il Postino" star Maria Grazia Cucinotta - said she plans to take time off from her grueling work schedule to prepare for the
baby's arrival, including looking for a New York pad.
Still looking trim, she said she keeps in shape by doing yoga and walking each day - while still eating what she wants.
Brooke Shields
Formerly 'The Vidiot'
By Some Accounts
Internet's 'Birthday'
Happy birthday?, Internet. By some accounts, Wednesday marked the 20th anniversary of the online medium.
It was on Jan. 1, 1983, that the 400 or so computers hooked to what was then called ARPANET had to switch to a communications protocol called TCP/IP, said Vint Cerf, the protocol's co-inventor.
It was TCP/IP that allowed multiple networks to coexist and permitted applications like the World Wide Web to develop and thrive. In other words, it made the Internet what it is today.
"This is a major milestone," Cerf said. "I consider the January 1983 date to be the real rollout of (the) Internet."
Some, however, consider the Internet's age to be a more mature 33.
On Sept. 2, 1969, two computers at the University of California, Los Angeles, linked by a 15-foot cable, sent data back and forth, showing that the Internet could work.
Internet's 'Birthday'
Shaolin Monks
'Lying On Spears'
World-famous Shaolin monk warrior group from central China's Songshan Shaolin Temple perform Hard Qi kungfu named 'Lying On Spears' during the Shaolin Charity Tour in Kuala Lumpur Saturday, Jan. 4, 2003. The Hard Qi kungfu is one of the Shaolin external kungfu
works by directing the inner Qi to a certain part of the body to make this part produce extreme power.
Photo by Teh Eng Koon
CNN Cancels Show
Willow Bay
As part of an overhaul of its weekend business news coverage, CNN recently shut down Bay's show, "Pinnacle," a CNN spokesperson confirmed. Four staffers were let go.
Bay, a former model who is married to Robert Iger, the chief operating officer of Disney, is expected to stay on at the network, a spokesperson said.
Disney has been in talks with CNN about merging its ABC News operation with the cable news network.
Willow Bay
Another Fresh One!
The Worried Shrimp
Engaged
Leah Remini
Actress Leah Remini, who stars on the popular CBS sitcom "The King of Queens," is engaged to marry her longtime boyfriend, singer-actor Angelo Pagan, her publicist said this week.
Pagan surprised Remini on Christmas Eve by proposing to the 32-year-old actress by candlelight at a Los Angeles restaurant, publicist Samantha Hill said on Friday.
Leah Remini
Future in Question
Voter News Service
After two elections in which their system failed, six major news organizations are considering revamping or scrapping the organization they built to count votes and conduct voter surveys.
Representatives from ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox News Channel and The Associated Press are scheduled to meet Monday to talk about the future of Voter News Service.
In a much-publicized failure during Election Night 2000, VNS provided information that twice led television networks to incorrectly declare a winner in Florida, the key to the presidential election. The results there weren't determined until weeks later.
VNS built a new system for 2002, but on election night was unable to provide its members — and others who paid for the service — with results from exit poll surveys. Nearly two months later, those results still haven't been delivered.
The surveys supplement the raw vote count with details on why people voted as they did.
Members of the consortium, unhappy that a multi-million-dollar upgrade bore so little fruit, are considering several options.
Those include keeping VNS in some form to count votes, or starting an entirely different vote-counting operation. An outside organization or academic institution could be hired to conduct voter surveys.
The Associated Press, which runs an independent vote count, may be called upon by the members to build a more extensive system that would allow members to doublecheck its count.
CNN, which started its own vote count last year at key election precincts, could also be asked to expand its system.
The options were described by a network executive who spoke on condition of anonymity; all of the consortium members have been asked not to speak publicly about their deliberations.
It's considered unlikely that the normally competitive news organizations would abandon their consortium to work independently. That would be prohibitively expensive at a time networks are looking to cut costs.
Voter News Service
In Memory
Ian MacNaughton
Ian MacNaughton, a television director who helped bring the anarchic "Monty Python's Flying Circus" to the screen, has died at the age of 76.
MacNaughton died Dec. 10 in Munich, Germany as a result of injuries sustained in a 2001 car accident, Monty Python member Terry Jones said.
MacNaughton directed all but the first four episodes of "Monty Python," which ran on BBC television between 1969 and 1974. In an obituary published in The Guardian newspaper, Jones said the series began with "a certain amount of friction" between the director and the strong-willed comedians. But MacNaughton soon became a valued member of the Monty Python team, credited with helping give shape to the troupe's unruly talents — and defending the show to skeptical BBC executives.
"He appreciated the spirit of Python: the subversiveness and a touch of anarchy struck a chord with him, and being a bit of a wild Scotsman, he loved the fact that we were trying something new," troupe member Michael Palin told The Times newspaper.
MacNaughton also directed the first Python feature film, "And Now For Something Completely Different," in 1971, and a German version of the series, "Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus," in 1971-72.
Born in Glasgow, Scotland, MacNaughton spent spells in medical school and the Royal Marines before becoming an actor, appearing on television and in minor roles in films including "Lawrence of Arabia."
In the 1960s he moved into directing and carved out a niche in comedy. MacNaughton was highly regarded by comedians; he also worked with volatile comic genius Spike Milligan on the television series "Q5" through "Q9" and collaborated on the classic 1970s sitcom "Rising Damp."
MacNaughton spent his final years in Germany, homeland of his second wife, Ike Ott. He directed the popular English-language series "Follow Me!" for German television and mounted theater and opera productions around the world.
He is survived by his wife and ex-wife and by two children.
Ian MacNaughton
'The Little Versailles of the Lorraine'
Luneville Castle
A fire truck is seen at the Luneville castle, in northeast France, Friday Jan. 3, 2003. The 18th century castle, known as the 'The little Versailles of the Lorraine', was partially destroyed by fire. It took more
than four hours for firefighters to bring the fire under control. The origin of the fire is under investigation.
Photo by Philippe Gisselbrecht
'The Osbournes'
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Free Rolling Stones Concert In LA
Stop Global Warming
