'Best of TBH Politoons'
Thanks, again, Tim!
Official Beer of Groundhog Day
Groundhog Brew
Reader Contribution
More Bartcop Stickers
Selected Sunday Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
from Mark
Presidential Radio Address PowerPoint
5 Point Plan for Health Care
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny, clear & blustery day, followed by a windy, cold night.
The kid's pal, Jeff, had a birthday party today - he turned 11. The idea had been to entertain the kids in the house & the adults in the backyard.
Jeff's Mom is from El Salvador, so the party had a fabulous Latin air, and the food ran the gamut from pizza to pupusas to shaved ice.
The party also ran a few hours longer than anticipated, so I was late in getting to 'work.'
I'm sitting at my keyboard, tastebuds happy & perking along with 'SNL' in the background, when an hour in the show rolls credits.
WTF?
Next thing I know, there's a freaking infomercial for Joe (Joe-mentum) Lieberman replacing the last half-hour of 'SNL.'
About 3 minutes later, the 'NBC tones' (technically "G" - "E" - "C" on your piano - General Electric Company) forewarned a 'crawl' that said to the effect that 'this piece of shit is airing pursuant to federal mandate' - WTF?
I don't know what kind of horseshit is trying to be pulled, but there is NO freaking federal mandate to scrub a half hour of network programming for infomercials.
It only sealed my mantra - 'ABB (OL)' - Anybody But Bush (Or Lieberman).
Tonight, Sunday, CBS, the 'Tiffany' network, has the Super Bowl, and regularly scheduled programming be damned! For maybe the 2nd time, ever, NO '60 Minutes', but, in an effort to take advantage of the Super Bowl audience stupor, they have scheduled
the Series Premiere of 'Survivor: All Stars', followed, on the left coast by a RERUN 'Cold Case', then a RERUN 'CSI: Miami'.
NBC starts the night with 'Dateline', followed by 3 episodes of 'Queer Eye', in sort of an effort at counter-programming.
ABC rolls out a RERUN 'America's Funniest Home Videos', followed by the movie 'Notting Hill'.
The WB offers 3 RERUN episodes of 'Surreal Life'.
Faux fills the night with the movie 'Independence Day'.
UPN has the weekly RERUN 'Enterprise', followed by 'Stargate SG-1'.
A&E has 'City Confidential', 'American Justice', 'Cold Case Files', and 'City Confidential'.
AMC offers the movie 'The Amityville Horror', followed by the movie 'Amityville II: The Possession', then the movie 'Amityville 3-D'.
BBC -
[6pm] 'Monarch of the Glen' - Episode 5;
[7pm] '3 Non-Blondes' - Episode 1;
[7:40pm] '3 Non-Blondes' - Episode 2;
[8:20pm] '3 Non-Blondes' - Episode 3;
[9pm] '3 Non-Blondes' - Episode 4;
[9:40pm] '3 Non-Blondes' - Episode 1;
[10:20pm] '3 Non-Blondes' - Episode 2;
[11pm] '3 Non-Blondes' - Episode 3;
[11:40pm] '3 Non-Blondes' - Episode 4;
[12:20am] '3 Non-Blondes' - Episode 1;
[1am] '3 Non-Blondes' - Episode 2;
[1:40am] '3 Non-Blondes' - Episode 3;
[2:20am] '3 Non-Blondes' - Episode 4;
[3am] '3 Non-Blondes' - Episode 1;
[3:40am] '3 Non-Blondes' - Episode 2;
[4:20am] '3 Non-Blondes' - Episode 3;
[5am] '3 Non-Blondes' - Episode 4;
[5:40am] 'Ground Force America' - Behind the Scenes; and
[6am] 'BBC World News'. (ALL TIMES EST)
Bravo has 'Queer Eye', then 6 episodes of 'Gay Wedding'.
Comedy Central has the movie 'Say It Isn't So', followed by the movie 'Saving Silverman', then 'Chappelle's Show', followed by another 'Chappelle's Show'.
History has 'Biblical Disasters', followed by 'Who Wrote The Bible?'.
SciFi has the movie 'The Prophecy II', followed by the movie 'The Prophecy 3: The Ascent'.
TCM - Day 2 of '31 Days of Oscar™', where every movie is either an Oscar™ winner or nominee.
[6am] 'Oklahoma!' (1955);
[8:30am] 'Captains Of The Clouds' (1942);
[10:30am] 'Dive Bomber' (1941);
[1pm] 'Hatari!' (1962);
[3:45pm] 'Northwest Passage' (1940);
[6pm] 'Psycho' (1960);
[8pm] 'Close Encounters Of The Third Kind' (1977);
[10:30pm] 'She Wore A Yellow Ribbon' (1949);
[12:15am] 'Stagecoach' (1939);
[2am] 'Legends of the Fall' (1994);
[4:15am] 'The Blue Lagoon' (1980). (ALL TIMES EST)
Actor Paul Newman, left, talks with fellow driver and Gunnar Racing teammate Kyle Petty, right, in the team pit tent during the Rolex 24 at Daytona, Saturday, Jan. 31, 2004, at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla.
Photo by David Adame
The Information One-Stop
Moose & Squirrel
Super Bowl Halftime
Mystery Act
Janet Jackson, Sean "P. Diddy" Combs, Kid Rock and Nelly apparently weren't enough for the 12 1/2-minute Super Bowl halftime show.
Another act is poised to join the MTV-produced extravaganza. Who that is will remain a mystery until the program, producers said Thursday.
The halftime production will require 350 local volunteers to haul and assemble 70 pieces of the stage, which spans 120 feet. Then about 2,500 youngsters from area schools will pour onto the field to create a festival concert atmosphere.
Mystery Act
Honored in Thailand
Oliver Stone
Oscar-winning Hollywood director Oliver Stone, in Thailand shooting a movie about Alexander the Great, received a career achievement award Saturday at an international film festival.
Stone was presented with a Golden Kinnaree at a ceremony closing the 2004 Bangkok International Film Festival.
A kinnaree is a revered figure in Thai mythology that combines the attributes of a woman and a bird and is believed to come from heaven.
Oliver Stone
British rock band Jethro Tull's flutist Ian Anderson displays his flute while speaking at a media gathering in Bombay January 31, 2004. Anderson will perform alongside Indian flute maestro Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia during concerts on Saturday and Sunday in Bombay.
Photo by Punit Paranjpe
Wrecked A Truck
Alex Trebek
"Jeopardy!" host Alex Trebek escaped injury when he apparently fell asleep at the wheel of his pickup truck, sideswiped a string of mailboxes and sailed over an embankment into a ditch, authorities said.
Trebek, 63, was driving alone on a rural road Friday and his truck was airborne for about 40 feet, California Highway Patrol Officer Scott Koolman said.
Trebek owns and manages Creston Farms, a horse breeding and training farm about 10 miles southeast of Templeton on the central coast.
Alex Trebek
TV Duds Rate as Studs
DVD Market
Just as under-performing theatrical films are proving profitable as DVD releases, canceled TV shows are generating loads of cash when they become available in the format.
In some cases, the interest is so strong that the DVDs are generating new projects for the once-declared dead brands.
The trend has been spurred on by the success of "Family Guy," an animated series created by Seth MacFarlane that debuted in 1999 and was canceled after three seasons. According to Video Store magazine, the first DVD volume ($49.98, Fox), which covers the first two seasons, was the No. 1-selling TV DVD in 2003. The April release was followed by "Family Guy -- Vol. 2" ($49.98, Fox) in September, which was the No. 5-top-selling TV DVD last year.
Other popular TV duds/DVD studs have been "The Ben Stiller Show," a 1992 sketch comedy show canceled after 12 episodes; "Firefly," crafted by "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" creator Joss Whedon and canceled after 11 episodes in 2002; and "The Tick," an animated show based on the comic book that was canceled after less than two seasons in 1996. Each of these programs aired on Fox.
DVD Market
In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends
Rallies Nations Hit by Bird Flu
Jackie Chan
Action film legend Jackie Chan on Saturday came out in support of Asian nations hit by bird flu, saying he would be traveling to Thailand, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan in the next few days as there was nothing to fear.
"I don't mind going (to these countries) even though there is bird flu," said Chan, who was in Singapore as the star of a parade celebrating the lunar new year.
"Definitely chicken rice," was Chan's answer when he was asked what he would eat in Singapore. The dish, served with roasted or steamed fowl, is promoted as one of the city-state's most popular dishes but sales have dropped since the avian influenza outbreak.
Singapore has so far remained free of bird flu.
Jackie Chan
The new poseable figure of Australian pop princess Kylie Minogue, with changeable outfits designed by Dolce and Gabbana, is being shown at the Toy Fair 2004, at the Excel Center in London, Thursday, Jan. 29 2004. The dolls are available from Jakks Pacific toys.
Photo by Ian West
Cancel Super Bowl Parties
Vegas Casinos
Casinos are canceling Super Bowl parties and handing out refunds to thousands of people after the NFL threatened legal action against some of the biggest hotels in Las Vegas.
Several hotels received letters this week informing them that their parties were "unauthorized use of NFL intellectual property." NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said the league recently became aware of these large-scale parties planned in Las Vegas and other locations around the country.
"These establishments were attempting to charge admission for something we are offering for free, and we believe that's a violation of a long-standing NFL policy that specifically prohibits mass out-of-home broadcasts," McCarthy said.
Vegas Casinos
Former Jethro Tull Rocker
Dee 'David' Palmer
David Palmer, a former member of the British seventies rock band Jethro Tull, has had a sex-change operation and is now recording music as a woman called "Dee", the former keyboard player said.
Palmer, a 66-year-old former soldier in the Royal Horse Guards, has swapped his trademark beard for long blonde hair and make-up after feeling urges to be a woman since the age of three.
"I want to be judged on my musical ability alone, and nothing else," Palmer told the Daily Mirror newspaper.
Ian Anderson, the band's lead singer, released a statement, saying he hoped fans would accept Dee as a woman.
"Like many other people who have known David for three decades as a bearded, pipe-smoking man's man, I found it difficult to understand at first," Anderson said.
"But I fully support his decision to undertake a new life as a woman," he said.
"The moment when the new Palmer identity was revealed to me was when the then, still David, phoned me to say 'Ian, there's something I need to get off my increasingly ample chest'," his statement added.
Dee 'David' Palmer
Formerly 'The Vidiot'
Retitled For Greece
'The Schizophrenic Murderer with the Chainsaw'
The remake of the 1974 cult horror movie "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" opened Friday in Greece with an introduction demanded by psychiatrists: Schizophrenics aren't always violent.
The distributor of the film — with the Greek title "The Schizophrenic Murderer with the Chainsaw" — said it added the preface prepared by the Research Institute for Psychological Health.
The distributor took the action after Greek psychiatrists demanded that the Greek title be changed because it insulted schizophrenics and stigmatized people with psychological disorders.
'The Schizophrenic Murderer with the Chainsaw'
Calvert Marine Museum Curator of Paleontology, Dr. Stephen Godfrey shows the remains of an eight million year old Baline Whale fossil at the Calvert Marine Museum in Solomons, Md. Thursday, Jan. 29, 2004. The bones were discovered in September after Hurricane Isabel eroded the coastline along the St. Mary's River in St.Mary's County, Md.
Photo by Matt Houston
Marvel Sues Sony Over Royalties
'Men in Black'
Comic book publisher Marvel Enterprises Inc. has filed a lawsuit against the movie arm of Sony Corp., claiming Sony used deceptive accounting tactics to deny Marvel royalties on merchandising related to the "Men in Black" series of films.
Marvel, which filed two suits against Sony divisions last year over the merchandising of the "Spider-Man" franchise, filed the new suit on Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court against Sony Pictures Entertainment and Columbia Pictures.
The suit claims that Sony has breached a licensing agreement by failing to properly report revenue, especially for merchandising, showing in statements that the two "Men in Black" films have lost money despite hundreds of millions of dollars in box-office and ancillary sales.
'Men in Black'
Howls His Way Into History
Dinky The Dingo
A howling success in outback Australia, Dinky, a singing and piano-playing dingo, is about to be immortalized in a board game.
The three-year-old native wild dog has won a nationwide competition to identify the Australian with the most trivial feat, to star in a question in a 20th anniversary edition of the local version of the board game Trivial Pursuit.
The dingo was saved from a wild dog culling program as a six-week-old pup by Jim Cotterill, the owner of a roadhouse in central Australia, who soon discovered his new pet had talent.
Dinky began impromptu performances whenever Jim's two daughters played the piano and, with a little encouragement, would also strut across the keyboard.
His act has become a tourist attraction at Jim's Place Roadhouse at Stuart's Well, 61 miles south of Alice Springs in the red center of Australia.
Dinky The Dingo
Augusta Honors on Hold
James Brown
The city of Augusta doesn't feel good about James Brown.
Plans to build a statue of the Godfather of Soul and to rename an annual music festival for him are on hold after Brown's arrest on a domestic violence charge Wednesday.
Mayor Bob Young said he is awaiting the outcome of the case before deciding whether to erect the statue of Brown, who grew up in Augusta.
James Brown
Cow's Diet
Diamonds
A diamond trader in India's western state of Gujarat has been feeding up a cow for the last 17 days -- not to get more milk but to retrieve the 1,722 diamonds the animal swallowed by mistake.
Sifting daily through the cow's dung, Mohabbatsinh Gohil said that so far he had recovered only 555 of his precious stones.
Gohils packet of diamonds, worth about 45,000 rupees (about 1,000 dollars) was munched up by the cow after he accidently dropped it in the street.
The cow has become a centre of attraction for people in Limdi, who flock around it every day waiting for it to drop its offerings to the waiting Gohil.
For every diamond he finds, the crowd breaks into a cheer.
Diamonds
Music Downloader
Super Bowl Ad
Downloading music online from rogue file-sharing networks got 14-year-old Annie Leith sued for thousands of dollars. Now it has landed her a leading spot on a national ad that will debut during the Super Bowl.
Leith and her 17-year-old sister downloaded 960 songs over a three-year period using the popular Kazaa program. But the free music binge got Leith ensnared in the legal dragnet cast by the Recording Industry Association of America in September.
The lawsuit was ultimately settled for $3,000. But Leith couldn't pass up a chance to appear in a nationally televised commercial that put a twist on her costly experience.
The ad promotes a digital music giveaway offer from Pepsi-Cola and Apple Computer Co.'s iTunes Music Store. Beginning Feb. 1, 100 million bottle caps on a variety of Pepsi soft drinks will include a code for a free song download on iTunes.
In the ad, Leith proudly says she was among hundreds of music fans sued for downloading songs without paying for them, then vows to continue doing so — on iTunes.
Super Bowl Ad
Fish Tale
Dory The Betta
A smoke alarm summoned firefighters to a school in the middle of the night, but when they arrived the flames already had been put out. Dory took care of it.
Dory is a fish, a Betta kept in a vase on a desk in a third-grade classroom at Trinity Lone Oak Lutheran School.
A forgotten candle started a small fire on the desk on Jan. 24, setting off the smoke alarm and shattering the fish bowl, spilling enough water to put out the flames.
Firefighters found a few embers still glowing on the desk — and Dory still alive in a puddle.
Firefighters put Dory in a new container, and now the children in the class are excited about their little hero, said teacher Linda Krienke.
Dory The Betta
China's first heterogeneous cloned Asian antelope, right, stays with the goat giving birth to it in northwest China's Xinjiang region Friday, Jan. 30, 2004. The antelope, born on Jan. 21, was reported in stable condition. Different from the homogenous reproduction of the world's first cloned sheep 'Dolly,' the newly born antelope is developed by combining an Asian antelope's body cell with a goat's egg cell, the Xinhua news agency reported.
Photo by Sha Dati)
'The Osbournes'
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