'Best of TBH Politoons'
Reader Question
Re: everything ok?
hey, marty....
it's Saturday and no page and while I know these things in the past have been system-related, since you had that odd observance about heliocopters and cops in your neighborhood, I just wanted to see if things are ok.
so....ARE things ok?
hope so!
ducks
Thanks, ducks!
Guess the server burped.
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Dean as party chairman--still the no-holds-barred progressive? (The Advocate)
A year ago, an activist group from the Seattle area gave Howard Dean a thin golden statue of a backbone.
Paul Krugman: Kansas on My Mind
(Click on "Columns," then on "Kansas on My Mind."
Call it "What's the Matter With Kansas - The Cartoon Version."
Danny Schechter, "Weapons of Mass Deception" Filmmaker, Declares War on the War Propaganda Machine (A BUZZFLASH INTERVIEW)
The war was a testing ground, not only for new weapons systems and techniques, but also for new communications strategies.
Trudy Ring: Behind the red curtain (The Advocate)
A dishy new books reveals everything you ever wanted to know about backstage goings-on at the Academy Awards but were afraid E! would never ask
Bruce's Video Recommendation: Jackie Brown (Review by Roger Ebert)
Reader Comment
Re: BC Entertainment
Marty
WAH WAH !
Where's my Saturday BC Entertainment ?????
WAH WAH !
Gene
Thanks, Gene!
Here's the Saturday page.
Reader Suggestion
Bald Eagle Web Cam
Reader Question
Re: Are you ok?
Hey, Marty!
Are you ok? You said something last night about police action in your neighborhood, and then there's no new page for today. You didn't say anything about being out of town that I remember.
I hope you're ok!!!
Linda >^..^<
Thanks, Linda!
Never did get to find out what that police action was all about, but we're fine.
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny for the most part.
There was a page for yesterday - find it here.
Pretty classy of Halle Berry to show up for the Razzie Awards.
And, things should be back to what passes for normal. Really.
Road Show Cancelled
Tommy Chong
Tommy Chong's play has gone up in smoke.
The Marijuana-Logues has cancelled its spring tour after its star, Tommy Chong, was barred from performing in it because audience members were frequently lighting up during the show. Chong, one-half of the comedy team Cheech & Chong, was in danger of violating his probation, which bars him from being around people using or selling illegal substances. He served nine months in prison last year for conspiring to sell drug paraphernalia.
"The (parole) officer was compelled to revoke his ability to continue on the shows," said Phil Lobel, a publicist for the play.
The Marijuana-Logues was on the second night of a North America tour. It has played for nearly a year off-Broadway. Chong had a special two-week run in New York City and then went on the road with the show. Following a kickoff performance Feb. 18 in Vancouver, a Seattle show the following day was especially smoky.
The play expects to resume touring this summer, when Chong's parole ends.
Tommy Chong
Opens Las Vegas Show
Barry Manilow
Barry Manilow has opened his new Las Vegas Hilton show to the public, crooning favorites such as "Mandy," "Copacabana" and "It's a Miracle."
Elton John and Steve Wynn were among those in the full-house audience of 1,700 Thursday as Manilow belted out familiar tunes and a new offering, called "Here's to Las Vegas."
"Manilow: Music and Passion" is booked for 24 weeks. Including breaks, it is due to run into 2006.
Barry Manilow
Wingnuts Prevail On Broadway
'Jerry Springer - The Opera'
A Broadway run of the musical Jerry Springer - The Opera has been scrapped in the fallout from a Christian fundamentalist group's campaign against the award-winning show.
It is the latest twist in an extraordinary few days, which has seen Christian Voice - believed to be little more than a "one-man band" led by Stephen Green - pressure a cancer charity into rejecting proceeds from a gala performance of the show in London. A question mark now hangs over a UK tour of Jerry Springerdue to take place in the autumn, with one theatre having withdrawn and at least one other considering its position.
Jon Thoday, the show's producer, said the financial backer of the New York run had pulled out as a result of developments in the UK. "At the moment it's off ... because of the furore."
'Jerry Springer - The Opera'
Name Substitutes for Obscenity
'Ashcroft'
You're an Ashcroft! No, you're the Ashcroft!
Imagine hearing that exchange in a movie - you'd think that Hollywood had come up with a crazy new insult. Well, it turns out that some airline passengers watching the Oscar-nominated film "Sideways" on foreign flights are, in fact, hearing "Ashcroft" as a substitute for a certain seven-letter epithet commonly used to denote a human orifice.
The Post's Monte Reel, based in Buenos Aires, tells us he heard the former attorney general's name substituted at least twice in "Sideways" dialogue when he watched the film earlier this week on an Aerolineas Argentinas flight to Lima, Peru. The movie was shown in English and the dubbing was done "in the actual voices of the actors," Reel reports. Star Thomas Haden Church utters the A-word.
Profanity is typically cut from in-flight movies to make them suitable for general audiences.
'Ashcroft'
Top Brit Film-Legend List
Sean Connery & Judi Dench
Sean Connery and Judi Dench top a survey of British film legends by Sky television to mark the 77th Academy Awards, to be presented Sunday in Hollywood. More than 2,000 people were interviewed for the survey by the satellite broadcaster. The results were released Friday.
The list of actors: Connery, Anthony Hopkins, Alec Guinness, Michael Caine, Laurence Olivier, Richard Burton, Cary Grant, John Mills, Richard Attenborough and Peter Sellers.
The list of actresses: Dench, Julie Walters, Elizabeth Taylor, Helen Mirren, Julie Andrews, Maggie Smith, Thora Hird, Vanessa Redgrave, Kate Winslet and Emma Thompson.
Sean Connery & Judi Dench
Baby News
Holly Robinson Peete
Actress Holly Robinson Peete, pregnant with her fourth child, was partying at a pre-Oscar bash when she went into labor.
"One minute she's grooving, the next minute her water breaks," said Michael Lewittes, a producer for "Access Hollywood" who was covering Thursday's party.
The 40-year-old actress gave birth to a boy early Friday and was doing "great," said her publicist, Patti Webster.
Holly Robinson Peete
Celebs Attend Event
'Rock the Earth'
Salma Hayek and Penelope Cruz kicked off the Oscar weekend party scene at the "Rock the Earth" event organized by Global Green USA.
Oscar presenters Hayek and Cruz are among the celebrities who planned to support Global Green USA by arriving at the Academy Awards in hybrid cars.
The event was also attended by Oscar presenter Orlando Bloom, nominee Julie Delphy, actress Kate Bosworth and Chris Mihm of the Los Angeles Lakers.
Tim Robbins, last year's supporting actor Oscar winner for "Mystic River," played a short set at the party as "Bob Roberts," the corrupt right wing folk singer he portrayed in the similarly titled 1992 film.
'Rock the Earth'
'No Regrets' on Steroid Use
Ahnold
California Gov. Arnold '2 Passports' Schwarzenegger (R-Philanderer) says he has no regrets having used steroids to pump up his bodybuilding career.
"I have no regrets about it," the seven-time Mr. Olympia told ABC News in an interview to be broadcast on Sunday. "Because at the time, it was something new that came on the market, and we went to the doctor and did it under doctors' supervision."
Schwarzenegger, who once boasted biceps as big as many men's thighs, has long admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs. In 1996 he said steroids were something he "had to do to compete."
Ahnold
Takes 'A Ride with Bob'
Asleep at the Wheel
Ray Benson and Asleep at the Wheel's debt to Western swing king Bob Wills comes to the fore once again with a new stage production.
Benson and the band star in "A Ride With Bob: From Austin to Tulsa," a two-act musical drama that Benson wrote with Anne Rapp, the screenwriter of "Dr. T & the Women" and "Cookie's Fortune."
The production will have a limited engagement March 3-6 at the State Theater in Austin, Texas. The last day coincides with what would have been the 100th birthday of Wills, who died in 1975.
Benson recalls the band's near-miss meeting with Wills.
"We'd had a lot of success with (the Wills standard) 'Take Me Back to Tulsa' and went to meet Bob in Dallas in 1973 when he was recording his last album, 'For the Last Time,"' Benson says. "They wheeled him out in a wheelchair and said he was really tired and that we should come back the next day. That night he had a stroke, went into a coma and died two years later. So we never did get to talk to him."
Asleep at the Wheel
The Somerville Gates
Tiny 'Gates'
"The Gates," a public design project in New York's Central Park by artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude, is giant, "saffron colored" and cost $20 million.
"The Somerville Gates," by financial adviser Geoff Hargadon, is tiny, orange and cost $3.50.
Hargadon - "Hargo," as he's now known - had to shut down his Web site featuring photos of his gates after it received 5.5 million hits in one week.
Hargadon, 50, lives in Somerville, just north of Boston. His creation consists of 13 3 1/2-inch plastic gates spread across his loft, often tracing the path of his cat, Edie. The "Feeding Gates," for example, go to Edie's bowl.
Hargadon said his project wasn't intended to mock the Central Park installation, which he visited last week and enjoyed. His target was the hype that's surrounded "The Gates" - a collection of 7,500 pieces of fabric attached to 16-foot frames spread across 23 miles of Central Park footpaths.
Tiny 'Gates'
The Somerville Gates
Complete List of Winners
Independent Spirit Awards
At the Independent Spirit Awards this afternoon in Santa Monica, CA, the Independent Feature Project presented 18 awards honoring the best of independent film for the past year.
"Sideways" was the days big winner, nabbing six awards. The film won the best feature trophy, the best director award for Alexander Payne, and the film was singled out for its acting this year. Paul Giamatti won the prize for best male, Thomas Haden Church accepted the award for best supporting actor, and Virginia Madsen was recognized as best supporting actress.
COMPLETE LIST OF WINNERS:
BEST FEATURE (Award given to the Producer)
"Sideways," Producer: Michael London
BEST DIRECTOR
Alexander Payne, "Sideways"
BEST SCREENPLAY
"Sideways," Writers: Alexander Payne & Jim Taylor
BEST FIRST FEATURE
"Garden State," Director: Zach Braff
Producers: Pamela Abdy, Gary Gilbert, Dan Halsted, and Richard Klubeck
BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
"Maria Full of Grace," Writer: Joshua Marston
JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD (Given to the best feature made for $500,000)
"Mean Creek," Writer/Director: Jacob Aaron Estes
Producers: Susan Johnson, Rick Rosenthal, Hagai Shaham
BEST DEBUT PERFORMANCE (Actors in their first significant role in a feature film)
Rodrigo de la Serna, "The Motorcycle Diaries"
BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE
Virginia Madsen, "Sideways"
BEST SUPPORTING MALE
Thomas Haden Church, "Sideways"
BEST FEMALE LEAD
Catalina Sandino Moreno, "Maria Full of Grace"
BEST MALE LEAD
Paul Giamatti, "Sideways"
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
"The Motorcycle Diaries," Eric Gautier
BEST FOREIGN FILM (Award given to the Director)
"The Sea Inside" (Spain) Director: Alejandro Amenábar
BEST DOCUMENTARY (Award given to the Director)
"Metallica: Some Kind of Monster," Directors: Joe Berlinger & Bruce Sinofsky
SPECIAL DISTINCTION
Ensemble Cast: "Mean Creek"
Rory Culkin, Ryan Kelley, Scott Mechlowicz, Trevor Morgan, Josh Peck, Carly Schroeder
Turning Leaf Someone to Watch Award
Jem Cohen, director of "Chain"
DIRECTV/IFC Truer Than Fiction Award
Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman for "Born Into Brothels"
Bravo/American Express Producers Award
Gina Kwon, producer of "The Good Girl" and "Me and You and Everyone We Know"
Independent Spirit Awards
In Memory
Peter Benenson
Peter Benenson, the founder of Amnesty International, the organization that placed human rights in the global consciousness, has died at the age of 83, the group said.
He was inspired to start the organization in 1961 after having read an article about two students arrested and imprisoned for drinking a toast to liberty in a Lisbon, Portugal, then under a dictatorship.
What began as a one-year campaign to press for the release of six prisoners of conscience has today turned into the world's largest human rights group, with more than 1.8 million members and supporters.
In the first few years of Amnesty's existence, the London-born Benenson supplied much of the funding for the movement, went on research missions and was involved in all aspects of the organization's affairs.
At its 25th anniversary, he lit what has become Amnesty's symbol -- a candle entwined in barbed wire -- and said that it burned "for all those whom we failed to rescue from prison, who were shot on the way to prison, who were tortured, who were kidnapped, who disappeared. This is what the candle is for."
Born on July 31, 1921 the son of a Jewish banker with Russian roots, he was brought up by his widowed mother, and studied law at Oxford University.
Other activities that Benenson was involved in during his lifetime included adopting orphans from the Spanish Civil War, bringing Jews who had fled Hitler's Germany to Britain, observing trials as a member of the Society of Labour Lawyers, helping to set up the organisation "Justice" and establishing a society for people with coeliac disease.
In 1966 he distanced himself from the movement. Converting to Catholicism, he devoted himself to prayer and literature.
Peter Benenson
