'Best of TBH Politoons'
Mr. Hawk
Video Basics For Dr Who
A friend asked me recently to suggest some past Dr Who episodes that should
be viewed by someone who has never seen Dr Who. I sat down with the episode
guides and thought this would provide the basics about the Doctor in advance
of the 10th Dr Coming to Sci-Fi. It's not a best of list but just a good
sampler of the past.
1st Dr
Dr Who and the Daleks (The one that saved the series from cancelation)
2nd Dr
The War Games (long but it moves)
3rd Dr
Doctor Who and the Silurians
The Three Doctors(10th anversery show)
The Daemons (got to love those cheesey effects)
4th Dr
Robot (his first and america's first look)
Genesis of the Daleks
Pyramids of Mars (very cheesy special effects and plot holes to beat the band, but this one rocks)
The Masque of Mandragora
The Talons of Weng Chiang (great overacting by the bad guy)
The Invasion of Time
City of Death
The Visitation
The Five Doctors(20th anversery special)
5th Dr
The Two Doctors (very good but rather gruesome plot)
7th Dr
Time and the Rani
8th Dr
The TV Movie (also called the americanized dr)
~ Mr. Hawk
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Reader Comment
Re: 'L.H.O.O.Q'
Marcel Duchamp, L.H.O.O.Q., 1919, rectified readymade, pencil on a reproduction - a chromolithograph, 7 3/4 x 4 7/8 inches, private collection, Paris. As if the addition of mustache and beard weren't enough of a poke at this most famous of paintings, the letters Duchamp penciled " L.H.O.O.Q. " at the bottom of his altered image are meaningless in themselves, but when read aloud in French, make the sound of "Elle a chaud au cul," meaning, "She has a hot ass." 
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Andrew Tobias: This Will Probably Just Annoy You, But I Can't Help Myself (andrewtobias.com)
Dan Flikkema: "Mary Matalin, adviser and spokesperson for the Vice President, said he felt 'bad, obviously. On the other hand, he was not careless or incautious or violated any of the rules. He didn't do anything he wasn't supposed to do.' See, now I would have thought shooting someone in your hunting party would fall into the category of 'things you aren't supposed to do.' If there is no 'rule' against shooting your fellow hunters I politely suggest we make it one."
Katherine Mangu-Ward: The Age of Corporate Environmentalism (reason.com)
Surprise?-big business has learned that it's pretty easy being green.
Bill Maher: Let's Have a Mexican Land Sale! (huffingtonpost.com)
... there's a certain breed of American who, during a cross-country plane trip, looks out the window at that vast expanse of forests and meadows passing below and thinks, What a fuckin' waste. And it 's not that they have any plans for the land -- how many Wal-Marts can mankind sustain, anyway? -- it just rankles them that the land even exists, unless it's got good huntin' or fishin' on it.
Steve Schneider: FANG VERSUS FICTION
As if owning and operating a basement laboratory weren't peculiar enough, the Feb. 3, 2006, death of beloved Munsters star and leftist rabble-rouser "Grandpa" Al Lewis cemented his standing as one mysterious individual - especially if you took the time to cross-reference the many inconsistencies in his printed and posted obituaries. Just who was Al Lewis, anyway? Even the simplest factoid seems up for debate.
Emily Bazelon: The Electric Company-the glory days of kids' TV (slate.com)
Remember The Electric Company? In the 1970s, Bill Cosby and Spider-Man helped teach me and a lot of other kids how to read. Now the EC is coming out on DVD. The show and its history embody the old, hard-core aspirations of educational television-and illustrate why, for the most part, they're probably gone for good.
Chris Suellent: Scooby-Doo: Hey, dog! How do you do the voodoo that you do so well? (slate.com)
Maybe Scooby's appeal makes sense when you compare it to the rest of kids' TV. The most ham-handed of children's shows try to stuff a moral message down the audience's throat. But the moral code of Scooby-Doo permeates the entire enterprise without you ever noticing it. The Washington Post's Hank Stuever concisely elucidated the "Scooby worldview" when the first live-action movie came out: "Kids should meddle, dogs are sweet, life is groovy, and if something scares you, you should confront it." What needs to be explained about that?
Austan Goolsbee: The Benefits of Bozo: Proof that TV doesn't harm kids (slate.com)
According to most experts, TV for kids is basically a no-no.
Media Matters: If It's Sunday, It's Conservative: An analysis of the Sunday talk show guests on ABC, CBS, and NBC, 1997 - 2005
Jeff Crook
Vintage Rudeness
Purple Gene Reviews
'Transamerica'
Purple Gene's review of the movie "Transamerica" (2005) [view trailer]
Directed by Duncan Tucker:
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Mostly overcast with intermittent rain.
No new flags.
Plays For Injured Troops
Willie Nelson
Willie Nelson warmed up for a concert by playing a long freebie gig for soldiers injured in Iraq.
For the second straight year, Nelson squeezed in a show at Brooke Army Medical Center on Friday while he and his band were in San Antonio to play at the city's annual rodeo.
"I have a lot of respect for the military," said Nelson, 72, an Air Force veteran. "I like to show them that I support them every chance I get. ... We get as much out of it as (the soldiers)."
A year ago, the singer wore out his voice singing 11 songs at the Army hospital and had to cancel his performance at the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo.
He opened, as usual, with "Whiskey River." After more than an hour and 22 numbers - including standbys like "On the Road Again" and "Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys" - he finally set down his well-worn acoustic guitar and was mobbed by fans.
Willie Nelson
Links US To Orwell Over Guantanamo
Archbishop of York
The second most senior cleric in the Church of England has lashed out at the United States, saying its Guantanamo Bay detention centre reflected "a society that is heading towards George Orwell's 'Animal Farm'."
John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York, urged the UN Human Rights Commission to seek a writ of habeas corpus -- either through US courts or the International Court of Justice in The Hague -- compelling Washington to either put Guantanamo detainees on trial or free them.
"The American government is breaking international law," Sentamu told The Independent newspaper in a front-page interview.
"The main building block of a democratic society is that everyone is equal before the law, innocent until proved otherwise, and has the right to legal representation," he said.
Archbishop of York
'Batman' Costume For Sale
George Clooney
This is so much George Clooney's year that a seller of Hollywood memorabilia thinks he can earn up to $100,000 by auctioning off the costume the Oscar-nominated actor wore in one of his biggest flops -- the much maligned "Batman and Robin."
Joe Maddalena of the auction house Profiles in History says he plans to sell off Clooney's costume from the 1997 movie that some fans list as among the worst ever made in an auction on March 31 along with several other costumes from the film.
Maddalena said the latex body suit contains all sorts of extras -- nipples, a cape and a cowl, gloves, bat ears and a utility belt.
But the auctioneer said that the costume would probably have sold for about $30,000 two or three years ago when Clooney was less of a star than he is now.
George Clooney
Austria Celebrates With Chocolate
Mozart
It's a symphony of sweets, a cantata of chocolates, a fugue of fantastic desserts on display at Vienna's ornate Hofburg Palace.
The scrumptious spectacle, the city's fourth annual "Austrian Chocolate Master" competition, focused on the boy-wonder turned immortal this year - a given considering the thousands of events revolving around Amadeus.
Each team could use up to 88 pounds of Belgian chocolate to come up with a concoction linked to the composer. To spice things up, they had to work in a cake made with Grand Marnier liqueur. Non-chocolate props and artificial ingredients were banned.
Mozart
Disney Theme Park Designer to Leave
Marty Sklar
One of Walt Disney's top theme park designers is stepping down after three decades with the company, signaling the end of an era for the Magic Kingdom.
Marty Sklar is one of the last remaining employees who once worked closely with the company's co-founder, Walt Disney.
The 72-year-old said he would leave his executive job at Walt Disney Imageering to serve as its "ambassador," according to a memo to colleagues Thursday.
He helped to design such park attractions as "The Enchanted Tiki Room," "It's a Small World" and "Space Mountain."
Marty Sklar
Fake TV Show
"DHS"
A former Los Angeles resident has been indicted in connection with a scheme to scam investors by getting them to fund a nonexistent television series about the Department of Homeland Security, prosecutors said.
Alison Heruth was arrested Friday at her home in Minnesota on suspicion of lying to authorities about her knowledge of the scam run by her longtime associate, Joseph Medawar, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles said. Heruth is accused of pretending to be the lead actress in the show, "DHS."
The more than $5.5 million raised from investors allegedly was diverted to Medawar, Heruth and others to pay for personal expenses such as home rentals, jewelry, child care, food and entertainment and automobile leases.
"DHS"
Archaeologists Unearth Wall
Alexander the Great
Greek archaeologists excavating an ancient Macedonian city in the foothills of Mount Olympus have uncovered a 2,600-metre defensive wall whose design was "inspired by the glories of Alexander the Great," the site supervisor said Thursday.
Built into the wall were dozens of fragments from statues honouring ancient Greek gods, including Zeus, Hephaestus and possibly Dionysus, archaeologist Dimitrios Pantermalis told a conference in the northern port city of Salonika, according to the Athens News Agency.
Bronze coins from the period of Theodosius, the 4th-century AD Byzantine Emperor who abolished the ancient Olympic Games, were also found hidden inside the wall.
Alexander the Great
Believed Made by Edison
Light Bulb
It was hidden in a shoe box inside a drawer, but the burglar who stumbled upon it must have thought the ancient-looking light bulb was worth something.
The light bulb's owner said it was probably made by Thomas Edison, who is credited with developing a long-burning filament that made the incandescent light bulb marketable.
Helena Grimes, owner of the Waldeck Mansion that was burglarized this week, said the light bulb had belonged to her great-great-uncle. Grimes said she was told by a Smithsonian Institution expert that there are likely only 12 others like it.
Light Bulb
New Wax Figures
George Washington
In a former box factory on an old Brooklyn street named for him, half a mile from where his defeated army escaped by night to fight another day, George Washington has all but come back to life.
Not just one George Washington, but three - the 19-year-old wilderness surveyor, the 45-year-old Revolutionary War general and the 57-year-old president on his inauguration day in 1789.
The trio of life-size wax figures, created by British-born artists Stuart Williamson and Sue Day, is destined for a new $95 million permanent exhibit at Washington's estate in Mount Vernon, Va. "The Real George Washington" will open to the public next October.
None of the wax versions resemble the tightlipped face on the dollar bill, but they do reflect the changes caused by progressive tooth loss that began at age 22 and in later life distorted the shape of his jaw and required him to wear dentures made of human and animal teeth. Washington was born Feb. 22, 1732, and died at the age of 67.
George Washington
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