'TBH Politoons'
Thanks, again, Tim!
He's Been Busy Again!
The Worried Shrimp
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Another day too nice for the season.
Larry is attending the big game down in San Diego (Sandy Eggo) today. At least he doesn't have to travel far.
Poor Toeser, the 6-toed cat. She was happily playing with a plastic-like grocery bag when it got it hung up on her right rear leg. That frightened her, and she took off through the house like a cat being chased by demons. Her speed made the bag
flap & expand like a small parachute coming out of a car at the Bonneville Salt Flats. Finally trapped her in the bathroom, where she cowered & let me perform a bag-ectomy.
Tonight, Sunday, as usual, CBS opens the evening with '60 Minutes', and follows with a RERUN 'Becker', then a RERUN 'King Of Queens', and then a RERUN
movie, 'The Deep End Of The Ocean'.
NBC is planning on airing a short-version 'SNL' during the half-time of the game on ABC. The rest of the evening contains 2 RERUNs of 'Fear Factor', a 'Dateline', and a RERUN
'Law & Order: Criminal Intent'.
ABC has the 'Super Bowl'. After the game is a FRESH 'Alias', followed by the DEBUT of 'Jimmy Kimmel', who stands out from other talk show hosts by being white, male, and specializing in low-brow antics favored by adolescent males.
The WB opens with a RERUN 'High School Reunion', then another RERUN 'High School Reunion', and then still another RERUN 'High School Reunion'.
Faux RERUNs the movie 'Independence Day'.
UPN has the weekly RERUN of 'Enterprise', then 'Stargate SG-1'.
Anyone have any opinions?
Or reviews?
(See below for addresses)
A reproduction of Emanuel Leutze's 1851 famous oil painting Washington Crossing the Delaware' is shown in this undated handout photograph was vandalized at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, on Saturday, Jan. 18, 2003, in New York. Allegedly Robert Gray, 41, of Manhattan, a former museum employee, glued on the oil painting a computer image depicting a fake view the World Trade Center attack.
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Broken Down By Quarters
Super Bowl Commercials
New DVD Set This Summer
Vintage 'Pryor'
It had a five-episode run on NBC in September-October 1977, but even a musical variety show starring the country's hottest comic couldn't dethrone the then-reigning kings of Tuesday night, ABC's "Happy Days" and "Laverne & Shirley."
But 26 years later, thanks to the DVD explosion, those long-unseen episodes of NBC's "The Richard Pryor Show" will be dusted off and buffed up with all sorts of bonus features for a DVD package due out in the summer from Image Entertainment and Paul Brownstein Prods.
In the home video realm, Brownstein notes that the top-selling retro-vision releases in recent years have been the Johnny Carson "Tonight Show" collections and the "Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts" -- success stories driven by incessant
direct-response TV advertising, which Image is strongly considering for the marketing campaigns for the "Richard Pryor" and "Dick Van Dyke" sets.
Brownstein spent nearly seven years laying the groundwork for the "Richard Pryor" package with Pryor; his wife, Jennifer Lee Pryor; and original series executive producer Burt Sugarman. Brownstein got to know Sugarman some years ago when
he assembled highlight episodes of another Sugarman-produced series, "Midnight Special," for VH1.
Brownstein went after the Pryor project because he knew it had a marketable star and ensemble cast, which included a youthful Sandra Bernhard, a pre-"Mork & Mindy" Robin Williams, Tim Reid, Paul Mooney, Argus Hamilton and Marsha Warfield.
He also remembered the show as being notorious for its battles with NBC censors during its short life. Now Brownstein promises that the DVD will feature uncut versions of the series for the first time, plus another two hours of outtakes
and rare material, including footage of Pryor having an impromptu conversation with the studio audience one night to fill time.
"We found some amazing stuff, and Richard said we could use every frame of it," Brownstein said. "He could not believe that people could have a chance to see this stuff again, as it was meant to be seen."
Vintage 'Pryor'
The Information One-Stop
Moose & Squirrel
Receiving Honorary Oscar
Peter O'Toole
Peter O'Toole, nominated seven times for an Oscar for his work in films as diverse as the historical epic "Lawrence of Arabia" and the nostalgic comedy "My Favorite Year," will receive an honorary Academy Award at this year's Oscar ceremonies.
"O'Toole's performances have ignited the screen for more than four decades," Frank Pierson, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, said Friday in announcing the award.
It will be presented during the 75th annual Academy Awards ceremony March 23 at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood. Its citation will read: "Peter O'Toole — whose remarkable talents have provided cinema history with some of its most memorable characters."
O'Toole, 70, made his stage debut at 17 before attending the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. He made his film debut 10 years later with a bit part in the 1959 film "The Savage Innocents."
"He has appeared in some of the most unforgettable roles in the history of the medium," said Pierson. "He's seven times been nominated as best actor, which puts him in extremely rarified air for a performer. The Board of Governors felt it was time for him to hold his own Oscar in his hands."
Peter O'Toole
'The Bagpiper', a special hot air balloon, takes off in the skiing resort of Chateau d'Oex, in the Swiss Alps, Saturday, Jan. 25, 2003, at the 25th International Hot Air Balloon week. More than 100 balloons
from 19 countries take part in the event.
Photo by Martial Trezzini
Egg Boy's Version Denied, Again
Smoking Stones
Mayor Bloomberg can't get no satisfaction when it comes to the Rolling Stones. On his weekly radio show yesterday, the mayor said he was mystified by Matt Drudge's report that he tried to have the rock legends
cited for smoking on stage at their HBO concert at Madison Square Garden - where puffing isn't allowed. "I can't for the life of me understand where this Drudge gets this kind of stuff. The annoying thing is
that people take it for gospel," said Bloomberg. The mayor, who pushed through the law that will ban smoking in bars, restaurants and just about everywhere else, said he wasn't even aware of the gig. "Mick Jagger
is my generation. Mick Jagger is older than I am. I would have loved to watch it." Actually, Jagger turns 60 on July 26. Bloomberg's 61st birthday is on Valentine's Day, Feb. 14.
Smoking Stones
Playing 3 Songs At Super Bowl
Carlos Santana
Carlos Santana is set to play three songs at the Super Bowl. The guitarist and his band will be featured as part of the pregame festivities, where they'll do "Oye Como Va" with actress and Destiny's Child leader Beyonce Knowles, as well as the
Shaman songs "The Game Of Love" (with Michelle Branch) and "Foo Foo." Santana will also be interviewed before the game.
This year's Super Bowl, pitting the Tampa Bay Buccaneers against the Oakland Raiders, takes place Sunday (January 26) at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego. Along with Santana and company, performers include Bonnie Raitt, Shania Twain, Bon Jovi, No Doubt, the Dixie Chicks, and Celine Dion.
Carlos Santana
In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends
Deep Purple?
Zach Galligan
The star of the 1980s hit movie "Gremlins" got busted yesterday for stealing a CD from a Tower Records store in Los Angeles. Zach Galligan was handcuffed by security guards in the Sunset Boulevard store's parking
lot after he allegedly walked out with a Deep Purple CD concealed "somewhere on his person," L.A. county sheriff's Sgt. Bruce Thomas said. "We had no idea who he was until after the fact," said Jay Smith, the store's general manager. Galligan, 36, told an arresting officer, "This is the stupidest thing I've ever done," reports ananova.com.
Zach Galligan
At ten days old, Asha, left, an Indian rhino, sticks close to her mom at the San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park Friday, Jan. 24, 2003, in San Diego. Both baby rhino and mom are spending quality time together in an isolated area called a maternity boma. The youngster weighs about 180-pounds and will be with her mom for several weeks in order for them to bond. Asha marks the 40th birth of this species at the Wild Animal Park.
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Battle With Drugs
Yasmine Bleeth
Two years ago, Yasmine Bleeth's drug habit was so bad, she didn't sleep for days at a time. She looked like death and on Sept. 12, 2001, she nearly drove herself into an early grave after losing control of her car on a Michigan road and careening into a median while high.
She spent a night in jail and, after a plea bargain, was sentenced to two years' probation and 100 hours of community service.
"For three years, people had been telling me that drugs would kill me," says Yasmine, 34, who was in the car with boyfriend Paul Cerrito, whom she married last August. "And this was my proof."
Bleeth says cocaine crept into her world so slowly, so easily, she didn't realize it until she was hooked.
At first Yasmine just snorted the stuff socially on weekends with people she knew. Three months later, she made her first call to a dealer.
"It was like ordering Chinese food," she says. "I made one phone call and they delivered it to my front door."
By the end of 1999, her ghastly appearance started scaring her friends and family.
"I'm a fleshy girl, very curvy and round, but I lost my softness," she says. "I looked like an alien. My eyes were bulging out of my face. I was 110 pounds and a size 0. I looked dead."
"I had an infection that had completely eaten out the inside of my nose," she tells Glamour magazine. "Essentially, I had gangrene in my nose."
For the rest, Yasmine Bleeth
Formerly 'The Vidiot'
New NBC Comedy
Tracy Morgan
Tracy Morgan may soon be the next "Saturday Night Live" player ready for primetime.
NBC is developing a laffer starring Morgan, who would star as a blue-collar business owner and father of two kids.
"The magic of Tracy is he is who he is; the comedy just comes right out of him," said David M. Israel, who will write the script and executive produce with Jim O'Doherty. "He's a guy with humble beginnings from the streets of New York."
"SNL" kingpin Lorne Michaels is also involved as an executive producer.
Tracy Morgan
Princess Prerna, 24, the only daughter of Nepal's King Gyanendra, is carried on a palanquin before leaving the Narayanhiti Royal Palace in Katmandu, Nepal, Thursday Jan. 23, 2003. The princess and her husband, Raj
Bahadur Singh, 29, left for their new home in Katmandu, a gift from the king.
Photo by Binod Joshi
Papers Boost Coverage
Antiwar Movement
Under scrutiny from both antiwar advocates and media-watchdog groups, most major U.S. newspapers took seriously the sentiment percolating from large rallies Jan. 18 in Washington, San Francisco, and a host of smaller cities.
The Washington Post ran a lengthy Page One story the following day with the deck, "Chill Doesn't Cool Fury Over U.S. Stand on Iraq." In the Windy City, where there was no major protest, the Chicago Tribune ran a front-page story (below the fold), and even its generally apolitical youth
tab, RedEye, produced an Iraq-related cover report. The Chicago Sun-Times published its protest story on A3.
Earlier in the week, the Los Angeles Times enraged some readers with a Page One photo caption that referred to "the usual anarchists" and socialists among the crowd at a big local protest on Jan. 11. The paper's coverage on Jan. 19, however, spotlighted the diversity of those attending,
including military veterans. Its story that day even referred to march organizer Ramsey Clark's representation of "high-profile criminal defendants," without mentioning that one of them is Slobodan Milosevic, Yugoslavia's ex-president and an accused war criminal.
Criticized for underplaying October's antiwar protests and their turnouts, The New York Times on Jan. 19 ran a photo of the Washington march on the front page and a thorough story inside, with an editorial sympathetic to the protesters appearing the next day. This time, the Times
identified the crowd as consisting of "tens of thousands of protesters representing a diverse coalition of peace."
While Peter Hart of Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) praised newspaper coverage of the march as a significant improvement over October, he criticized the oft-used phrase "tens of thousands," labeling it needlessly vague in this case. Some police estimates of the crowd in Washington clocked in at around 200,000.
FAIR's Hart praised newspapers' focus on diversity. "The implications are that now people know that the antiwar movement is more diverse than first thought," he said. "Some organizations are certainly on the far-left but the rank-and-file protesters were a varied group of people."
Antiwar Movement
In Memory
Tommy Thompson
Tommy Thompson, a co-founder of the eclectic string band the Red Clay Ramblers, died Friday of complications from dementia. He was 65.
Thompson, Bill Hicks and Jim Wann formed the Red Clay Ramblers in 1972, playing a combination of bluegrass, folk, blues and jazz.
The Ramblers' fame spread beyond North Carolina to Garrison Keillor's "A Prairie Home Companion" and the theater.
The band appeared on Broadway and enjoyed a long association with writer/director Sam Shepard, who cast the Ramblers as a medicine-show band in his 1993 film "Silent Tongue."
Dementia forced Thompson to retire from the group in 1994
Tommy Thompson
In Memory
Norman Panama
Screenwriter Norman Panama, who with his colleague
Melvin Frank wrote classic Hollywood films such as
"White Christmas" and the hit Broadway musical "Li'l Abner," has died at age 88, family members said on Saturday.
Panama specialized in comedies and got his start along with his partner writing for comedian Bob Hope in the late 1930s.
The team received three Oscar nominations for "Road to Utopia" starring Hope and Bing Crosby, "Knock on Wood" featuring Danny Kaye and "The Facts of Life" with Hope and Lucille Ball.
One of their best-known films was "Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House," a 1948 adaptation of a novel starring Cary Grant and Myrna Loy.
The pair also co-produced and co-directed many of their movies.
His daughter, Kathleen Panama, said her father, who died on Jan. 13 of complications from Parkinson's disease, was as funny in real life as the characters he created and was an accomplished piano player.
"You can't summarize a rich life in one sound bite," Panama told Reuters. "He was a wonderful raconteur and joke teller."
Born in Chicago in 1914, Panama was a student at the University of Chicago when he met classmate Frank and embarked on a partnership that spanned nearly 30 years. The two parted amicably in 1966. Frank died in 1988.
While most of their movies were comedies, they also wrote the drama "Above and Beyond" about the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. They produced and co-wrote the Broadway and film versions based on the Al Capp comic strip "Li'l Abner."
Norman Panama
Norman Panama and Melvin Frank also
wrote The Court Jester (1956), with one of my favorite bits:
Hawkins: I've got it! I've got it! The pellet with the poison's in the vessel with the pestle; the chalice from the palace has
the brew that is true! Right?
Griselda: Right. But there's been a change: they broke the chalice from the palace!
Hawkins: They *broke* the chalice from the palace?
Griselda: And replaced it with a flagon.
Hawkins: A flagon...?
Griselda: With the figure of a dragon.
Hawkins: Flagon with a dragon.
Griselda: Right.
Hawkins: But did you put the pellet with the poison in the vessel with the pestle?
Griselda: No! The pellet with the poison's in the flagon with the dragon! The vessel with the pestle has the brew that is true!
Hawkins: The pellet with the poison's in the flagon with the dragon; the vessel with the pestle has the brew that is true.
Griselda: Just remember that.
Memorable Quotes from The Court Jester
Des canards se promènent en liberté au pied de la Tour Eiffel. Le maire socialiste de Paris, Bertrand Delanoë, veut faire souffler "l'esprit village" sur la capitale à l'horizon 2020 par le biais d'un coeur de ville piéton,
le développement des transports en commun et la multiplication des espaces verts.
Photo by Philippe Wojazer
'The Osbournes'
'The Osbournes' ~ Page 4
'The Osbournes' ~ Page 3
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'The Osbournes' ~ Page 1
Critical Date Approaches
Nick's Crusade
