'Best of TBH Politoons'
Been Bizzy
Izzy
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Eric Boehlert: UPDATE: Scholastic Responds To ABC's "Path to 9/11? Controversy (Huffington Post; Posted on makethemaccountable.com)
In a statement released late this afternoon, education publishing giant Scholastic announced it is permanently withdrawing the materials it originally created for classroom use in conjunction with "The Path to 9/11." Materials that Media Matters for America first noted, was "rife with conservative misinformation."
Robert Jensen: The High Cost of Manliness (AlterNet.org)
Society's toxic view of masculinity isn't just harmful to men. Everyone pays the price.
Margaret M. Gullette: What's the Matter With Nora Ephron's Neck? (womensenews.org)
Nora Ephron's sour dislike of what she considers women's bodily aging, one subject of her new bestseller, took up an hour on NPR last month. Margaret Morganroth Gullette responds from what she calls "the feminist country of later life."
Editor's Note: The following is a commentary. The opinions expressed are those of the author and not necessarily the views of Women's eNews.
Sunlight, beaches and boys (guardian.co.uk)
What was it that so attracted David Hockney to LA? Quite simply, the place was sexy - a world of palm trees and pleasure. And he was the artist with the daring and talent to capture it, says Edmund White.
Elizabeth Zimmer: Listening to Dancing (villagevoice.com)
Several anecdotes touch on what happens when a sophisticated dance world figure finds him or herself in remote territory. Tommy Tune was present when Martha Graham announced to a Texas college crowd, "All great dance stems from the lonely place." Asked by a young student where that was, Graham replied, "Between your thighs. Next question."
Justine Nicholas: In WNBA Coaching Bounces to the Guys (womensenews.org)
As a 13-year-old basketball fan watching the Cleveland Rockers from the stands, Barbara Turner used to do the "Lake Shake," imitating the torso shimmy that guard Merlakia Jones would make after scoring baskets.
J. Hoberman: Detective Comics (villagevoice.com)
Showbiz noir investigates TV Superman's real-life tragedy
Rachel Kramer Bussel: Coochie on Lock (villagevoice.com)
I'm saying no until I feel good about saying yes.
Commentoon: Katie Credibility (womensenews.org)
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny but cooler.
No new flags.
Borat At Toronto Festival
Sacha Baron Cohen
It was the kind of scenario that comedian Sacha Baron Cohen himself might have scripted, although the setting would have been a fictional run-down Kazakh movie theater, and not a posh 1,000-seat auditorium on the opening night of the Toronto film festival.
The midnight screening Cohen's film, "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan," had been getting raucous screams of laughter before the projector suddenly cut out 20 minutes into the film, turning merriment into dismay and prompting Cohen to do some quick improvising.
"I will apology on behalf of Kazakhstan for this little mistake," Cohen told the crowd in the voice of his alter ego, Borat Sagdiyev, the satirical Kazakh journalist who is the subject of the film.
Cohen stole the show, wringing every last laugh from the character he developed as part of his TV hit "Da Ali G Show." The comedian has ruffled more than a few feathers this year with Borat, a naive journalist he unleashes upon unsuspecting real-life subjects unprepared for the character's overt sexism and anti-Semitism.
Sacha Baron Cohen
Prizes Awarded
Venice Film Festival
The Chinese movie "Still Life," a surprise entry set against the backdrop of China's gigantic Three Gorges Dam project, on Saturday won this year's Golden Lion - the top award at the Venice Film Festival. Helen Mirren and Ben Affleck took the top acting awards.
Mirren was named best actress for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II in Stephen Frears' "The Queen." Affleck won best actor for his role in Allen Coulter's "Hollywoodland," which dramatizes an investigation into the death of George Reeves, star of the 1950s TV show "Adventures of Superman."
The Silver Lion for directing went to Alain Resnais for his film "Private Fears in Public Places." Resnais returned to the Venice Film Festival 45 years after his film "Last year at Marienbad" won the Golden Lion.
The movie "Nuovomondo" ("Golden Door") won the Silver Lion for revelation, an award that the jury does not have to hand out. The movie follows the voyage of a Sicilian family in the early 1990s from their homeland to America.
Venice Film Festival
More On The Take
Journalists
Ten South Florida journalists, including three with The Miami Herald's Spanish-language sister paper, received thousands of dollars from the federal government for their work on radio and TV programming aimed at undermining Fidel Castro's communist regime, the Herald reported Friday.
Pablo Alfonso, who reports on Cuba and wrote an opinion column for El Nuevo Herald, was paid almost $175,000 since 2001 to host shows on Radio and TV Marti, U.S. government programs that promote democracy in Cuba, according to government documents obtained by The Miami Herald.
Olga Connor, a freelance reporter who wrote about Cuban culture for El Nuevo Herald, received about $71,000 from the U.S. Office of Cuba Broadcasting, and staff reporter Wilfredo Cancio Isla, who covered the Cuban exile community and politics, was paid almost $15,000 in the last five years, the Herald said.
Jesus Diaz Jr., president of the Miami Herald Media Co. and publisher of both newspapers, said the individuals violated a "sacred trust" between journalists and the public.
Journalists
Author Faces Trial
Elif Shafak
Elif Shafak, one of Turkey's leading authors, is about to have a baby - and go on trial.
The reason for this strange conjunction of joy and foreboding is her new novel, which has exposed her to a charge of "insulting Turkishness" because it touches on one of the most disputed episodes of her country's history - the massacres of Armenians during the final years of the Ottoman Empire.
A University of Arizona literature professor, the 35-year-old Shafak divides her time between Tucson and Istanbul. She sought a postponement of her trial, set for Sept. 21, until after her first child is born but was refused.
The case has broad ramifications, highlighting a rising wave of Turkish nationalism and the whole question of whether Turkey, a Western ally and NATO member, should be admitted to the liberal, democratic European Union - something the Bush administration supports.
Elif Shafak
Speaks Out
Michael Moore
Maverick U.S. filmmaker Michael Moore steered the Toronto International Film Festival firmly toward politics with a scathing denunciation of the Iraq war and a preview of his next film, "Sicko," which slams a patchwork U.S. health care system.
Moore, who won an Oscar for his 2002 anti-gun film "Bowling for Columbine" and set a box office record for another documentary, "Fahrenheit 9/11, about America after the 2001 attacks, highlighted his views on Iraq to loud applause from a clearly sympathetic audience.
"Here we are 3 1/2 years (into the war) and we are not able to secure the road from the airport to downtown Baghdad. It's absolutely fucking ridiculous," he said, describing the war as a distraction to keep Americans scared.
"We don't want to secure that road, because we don't want that war to end yet because we want to bring a sense of fear to Americans... It's so sad and so pathetic."
Michael Moore
National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson
Andy Warhol
Most art lovers agree that no artist captures the grandeur of the American West and its wildlife better than ... Andy Warhol?
The National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson, Wyoming, is revealing an unknown side to the most famous of pop artists -- screenprints of species from mountain sheep and butterflies to gorillas to America's national symbol, the bald eagle.
In fact, "Silent Spring: Andy Warhol's Endangered Species and Vanishing Animals" has been wowing crowds all season. Most visitors, familiar with Warhol's iconic work and enduring celebrity, say the images were a complete surprise.
Andy Warhol
Faith-Based War-Whoring
'Left Behind'
This isn't your run-of-the-mill video game: "Left Behind: Eternal Forces" is based on the best-selling "Left Behind" book series about the apocalypse. But it's the apocalypse without dismemberment or graphic bloodshed, though the game has an element of violence that some Christians argue is counter to teachings of the Bible.
"What we've decided to do is embed our message in a game so that it's not overt but it is in the game," Left Behind Games President Jeffrey Frichner said. "We're not ashamed of it. There are Scriptures in the game and we're faithful to those Scriptures."
Players recruit people to battle evil forces while taking control of buildings for medical clinics and housing. They can send people into battle but lose points by killing evil soldiers or by failing to meet the spiritual needs of the troops. Want to ward off evil? Hit the prayer button.
Left Behind
Who Would Jesus Shoot?
Gunpoint Prayer Session
A woman and two roommates are accused of holding her brother at gunpoint as she prayed for his repentance, even firing a shot into the ceiling to keep his attention.
Randy Doss, 46, of Athens said he fled the house when his captors got distracted and later went to police, who were skeptical at first because his story was so bizarre. But police said it checked out, including the bullet hole in the ceiling.
Police said the sister, Tammie Lee Doss, 43, Donna Leigh Bianca, 37, and Ronald David Richie, 45, who live at the Athens house, were charged with unlawful imprisonment, a misdemeanor. The two women were also charged with menacing, a misdemeanor. All were released on bond.
Harris said Randy Doss went to the house about 7 p.m. on Labor Day and at some point got in an argument with the two women about religion. When they prayed for him, he laughed.
Gunpoint Prayer Session
Profanity Bad - Lies OK
CBS
CBS Corp. said on Saturday it would broadcast the documentary "9/11" on the Internet as well as the airwaves after several affiliates said they would delay or forgo the award-winning film because it includes profanity.
The documentary was produced by French filmmakers Gedeon and Jules Naudet and retired New York firefighter James Hanlon and has aired twice without incurring fines by U.S. regulators charged with enforcing broadcast decency standards.
CBS said affiliates that cover about 10 percent of the United States had decided not broadcast the program or would show it late at night, citing concerns they could be fined for airing profanity, primarily by firefighters during the crisis, before 10 p.m.
The American Family Association, which describes itself as a Christian organization promoting traditional values, has called on CBS stations to forgo or delay the "9/11" broadcast.
CBS
Wants Prenup Dismissed
David Gest
David Gest, the estranged husband of Liza Minnelli, asked a judge to set aside his prenuptial agreement with the star, the latest development in their lengthy divorce battle.
Gest's lawyers told State Supreme Court Judge Harold B. Beeler on Friday that Minnelli hid the fact that she was infected with herpes, was an alcoholic and prone to violence. Had Gest known, the lawyers argued, he never would have entered into the prenuptial agreement.
Minnelli's lawyer, Israel Rubin, refused to comment on specific allegations. "This whole thing is ridiculous," he said.
David Gest
Memorabilia Collectors Trade Wares
Beer
Beer cans of all shapes and sizes, signs from long-defunct brands and even business cards from microbreweries were among the items collectors sought as they gathered this week for an event dubbed the CANvention.
John Ahrens recalls when he was sucked into beer-can collecting. The 63-year-old suburban Philadelphia man, who was among the more than 800 people attending the 36th annual convention of the Brewery Collectibles Club of America, was a student at Yale University when his classmates began lining a ledge with cans. The CANvention started Wednesday and goes through Saturday.
By graduation, Ahrens had 250 cans, and he kept adding to them. The collection eventually grew to include about 30,000 cans - winning him a spot for about 15 years in "The Guinness Book of World Records."
The group started in St. Louis in 1970, when about six people began meeting to discuss their collections. The first convention was held a year later in a suburb of St. Louis.
Beer
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