'Best of TBH Politoons'
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Nat Hentoff: The Cartoons Conspiracy (villagevoice.com)
The story behind the story of the furor over the Muhammad cartoons
Michael Kinsley: The Republican War on Grandparents (slate.com)
Who believes any of these numbers? Do you? I will bet anyone a month's supply of Lipitor, collectible in 2016, that the 10-year bill will be more than $678 billion. Any takers?
Gareth Cook: Thought for thinkers (boston.com)
Scientists have some remarkable new advice for anyone who is struggling to make a difficult decision: Stop thinking about it.
Savage Love by Dan Savage (villagevoice.com)
Confidential to everybody: "Pearl necklace" is out. "Cheney" is in. Pass it on.
Theodore Dalrymple: A Prophetic and Violent Masterpiece (city-journal.org)
When, as a medical student, I emerged from the cinema having watched Stanley Kubrick's controversial film of A Clockwork Orange, I was astonished and horrified to see a group of young men outside dressed up as droogs, the story's adolescent thugs who delighted in what they called "ultra-violence."
Sutton Impact: What's Up, Dick?
Commentoon: Bush Budget
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Mostly sunny and breezy.
My niece dropped by - she moved from the PA backwoods last month and can finally be considered settled in.
No new flags.
Stretch of Bakersfield Road Honors
Korn
A small stretch of road near the Bakersfield's Rabobank Arena was renamed to honor hometown Grammy-winning rock group, Korn.
An access road to the arena - not an official city street - features a road sign with the name "Korn Row." The "R" in Korn is flipped backward, mimicking the rock group's logo. Arena workers put up the sign Tuesday.
The group was scheduled to kick off its "See You on the Other Side" world tour in Bakersfield on Friday.
Korn
World Ice Art Championships
John Leguizamo
John Leguizamo will arrive by dog sled at an ice-carving festival in Fairbanks to open a park with characters from the upcoming sequel to his film "Ice Age," officials said.
"How often does Fairbanks, Alaska, have a Hollywood star coming here - in wintertime?" said Dick Brickley, chairman of Ice Alaska, sponsor of the annual World Ice Art Championships kicking off Tuesday.
Leguizamo will arrive at an ice stage March 12, officials said Friday. The actor will then help Gov. Frank Murkowski cut through an ice ribbon with blow torches.
The Hollywood visit means more attention to the yearly ice art festival, considered a world-class competition. The event matches teams racing to create intricate carvings than can be as tall as 30 feet and weigh more than 22 tons.
John Leguizamo
RiverRun Film Fest to Honor
Ned Beatty
The RiverRun International Film Festival next month will honor Ned Beatty, star of 1972's adventure-thriller "Deliverance."
Beatty will receive the Master of Cinema Award, festival officials announced Wednesday. The 68-year-old actor has appeared in more than 100 movies, including "Nashville," "Silver Streak" and "Network."
The festival, which will include 25 feature films and 44 short films, takes place March 16-19 in Winston-Salem.
Ned Beatty
Not Cheezey Enough
Graceland
The billionaire media mogul who holds an 85-per-cent stake in Elvis Presley Enterprises wants Graceland to become an international tourist attraction on par with Disneyland or Universal theme parks.
Meeting with Memphis government and business officials Thursday, Robert Sillerman said he plans to spruce up the area around the Memphis mansion where Presley died in 1977 and double the 600,000 annual visitors.
Sillerman, who also owns the hit TV show American Idol, paid $114 million US for his share of Elvis Presley Enterprises last year and made it part of his publicly traded company CKX Inc. Under EPE's management of tourism and licensing, Presley earned $45 million last year and topped Forbes magazine's list of top-earning dead celebrities.
The company is working with Orlando, Fla.-based Bob Weis Design Island Associates to improve the tourist area around Graceland, while keeping intact the home owned by the singer's daughter, Lisa Marie Presley.
Graceland
Takes Leave From Commission
Rob Reiner
Hollywood director Rob Reiner stepped down temporarily as chairman of a state early education commission amid scrutiny about the potential misuse of taxpayer funds for a June ballot initiative he is spearheading.
In a letter Friday to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Reiner said his leave from the First 5 California Children and Families Commission will end June 7, the day after voters cast ballots on Proposition 82. That bill would establish a state constitutional right to preschool for 4-year-olds.
Reiner helped create the Children and Families commission, a state agency that uses tobacco taxes for early childhood development programs. State law prohibits the use of public funds for campaign activities.
But a Los Angeles Times story earlier this week detailed how the Children and Families commission spent $23 million in state funds on ads that promoted the benefits of preschool.
Rob Reiner
Thieves Steal Masterpieces
Chacara do Ceu Museum
Gunmen overpowered security guards and stole paintings by Picasso, Dali, Matisse and Monet from a Rio museum Friday, using the cover of a Carnival crowd to make their getaway, Brazilian authorities said.
The thieves entered the Chacara do Ceu museum as a samba band performed on the street outside and stole Pablo Picasso's The Dance, Salvador Dali's The Two Balconies, Henri Matisse's Luxemburg Garden and Claude Monet's Marine.
The four thieves were reported to have used grenades to threaten security guards and people inside the museum, which was open at the time of the heist.
The gunmen forced the guards to shut down the museum's security cameras, then fled while taking advantage of the huge crowd that was following the Carnival band.
Chacara do Ceu Museum
'Where the bloody hell are you?' Campaign
Australia
Australia launched a new A$180 million ($133 million) advertising campaign Thursday which seeks to attract international tourists by swearing at them.
"Where the bloody hell are you?" asks the new campaign launched by Australian Tourism Minister Fran Bailey.
Bailey said the campaign will target potential tourists in China, Japan, India, the United States, Germany and Britain and would be rolled out in the next few weeks.
The new campaign, which can be seen on Tourism Australia's Web site (www.wherethebloodyhellareyou.com), features a series of Australian backdrops.
Australia
Explorers Discover Cave In Venezuela
'Cueva del Fantasma'
A cave so huge helicopters can fly into it has just been discovered deep in the hills of a South American jungle paradise.
Actually, "Cueva del Fantasma"-Spanish for "Cave of the Ghost"-is so vast that two helicopters can comfortably fly into it and land next to a towering waterfall.
It was found in the slopes of Aprada tepui in southern Venezuela, one of the most inaccessible and unexplored regions of the world. The area, known as the Venezuelan Guayana, is one of the most biologically rich, geologically ancient and unspoiled parts of the world.
This is the first geographic report and photographic evidence of such an immense cave. However, researchers say, it isn't really a cave, but a huge, collapsed, steep gorge.
'Cueva del Fantasma'
In Memory
Darren McGavin
Darren McGavin, the husky, tough-talking actor who starred in several TV series, played a grouchy dad in the holiday classic "A Christmas Story" and had other strong roles in such films as "The Man with the Golden Arm" and "The Natural," died Saturday. He was 83.
McGavin made his film debut in 1945 when he switched from painter of movie sets to bit actor in "A Song to Remember." After a decade of learning his craft in New York, he returned to Hollywood and became one of the busiest actors in television and films.
He starred in five series, including "Mike Hammer" and cult favorite "Kolchak: The Night Stalker," and became a prolific actor in TV movies. Among his memorable portrayals was Gen. George Patton in the 1979 TV biography "Ike."
Despite his busy career in television, McGavin was awarded only one Emmy: in 1990 for an appearance as Candice Bergen's opinionated father in an episode of "Murphy Brown."
Born in Spokane, Wash., McGavin was sketchy in interviews about his childhood. He told TV Guide in 1973 that he was a constant runaway at 10 and 11, and as a teen lived in warehouses in Tacoma, Wash., and dodged the police and welfare workers. His parents disappeared, he said.
He spent a year at College of the Pacific in Stockton, Calif., taking part in dramatics, then landed in Los Angeles. He washed dishes and was hired to paint sets at Columbia studio. He was working on "A Song to Remember" when an agent told him of an opening for a small role.
He is survived by his four children York, Megan, Bridget and Bogart.
Darren McGavin
In Memory
Don Knotts
Don Knotts, who kept generations of TV audiences laughing as bumbling Deputy Barney Fife on "The Andy Griffith Show" and would-be swinger landlord Ralph Furley on "Three's Company," has died. He was 81.
The West Virginia-born actor's half-century career included seven TV series and more than 25 films, but it was the Griffith show that brought him TV immortality and five Emmys.
Early in his TV career, he was one of the original cast members of "The Steve Allen Show," the comedy-variety show that ran from 1956-61. He was one of a group of memorable comics backing Allen that included Louis Nye, Tom Poston and Bill "Jose Jimenez" Dana
.
He was among an army of comedians from Buster Keaton to Jonathan Winters to liven up the 1963 megacomedy "It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World." Other films include "The Ghost and Mr. Chicken" (1966); "The Shakiest Gun in the West" (1968); and a few Disney films such as "The Apple Dumpling Gang" (1974); "Gus" (1976); and "Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo" (1977).
Knotts began his show biz career even before he graduated from high school, performing as a ventriloquist at local clubs and churches. He majored in speech at West Virginia University, then took off for the big city.
Within six months, Knotts had taken a job on a radio Western called "Bobby Benson and the B-Bar-B Riders," playing a wisecracking, know-it-all handyman. He stayed with it for five years, then came his series TV debut on "The Steve Allen Show."
He married Kay Metz in 1948, the year he graduated from college. The couple had two children, Karen and Thomas, before divorcing in 1969. Knotts later married, then divorced Lara Lee Szuchna.
Don Knotts
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