'TBH Politoons'
Thanks, again, Tim!
Reader Commentary
Re: 'All Quiet On The Western Front'
Caveat entered that I've never seen "All Quiet on the Western Front", I feel an urge to put two cents in for "Das Boot" as the quintessential of the genre.
From the opening, drunken "farewell" scenes at the Homeland bar, where even veteran U-boat captains are toasting the demise of the new, teenaged recruits, to the enormous irony of the final scene; -- the film is infused w/ the silliness of war, along with the complete waste of human effort in its' pursuit.
German U-boats were coffins, and tens of thousands of German youth were "sentenced" to serve and die in them. That isn't the point of the movie, 'tho.
They were set adrift with vague orders to attack Allied shipping w/ no contact for weeks w/ their command structure; -- simply sent out to wander and die.
A seminal moment was captured when our gallant teens-in-a-tube caught a listen to UK radio transmission, and sang along to " It's a Long Way to Tipperary", and we all knew they were doomed to wonder who/ what was the enemy.
If one can catch the directors' cut of Wolfgang Petersen's masterpiece, ( AKA "The Boat" in English ), one will be almost seduced by the artistry and symmetry of camera work, along with technical wizardry to tell the tale of youth condemned to die for the folly of old men at the chess-boards.
"Das Boot" is not in any way propagandistic, only expositional; -- a cautionary tale.
My fave for keeping our kids from war...
Michelle V
PS...
... after "Grand Illusion" , of course...
Thanks, Michelle
Reader Question
Re: Peter Brown
From Friday's BartCop Entertainment -
" . . .Peter Brown - the Paul Burrell of the Fab Four . . ."
Is that the same Peter Brown who sang the disco hit "Dance With Me" ?
-fh
Good question, Fred. I don't know. Anybody out there have the answer?
He's B-a-a-a-a-a-a-c-k!
The Worried Shrimp
Reader Observation
from Michelle
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Another day that seemed too warm for the season, but I'm not complaining. If it keeps up, though, will have to put the fans back in the windows.
The kid will get to spend the week on the couch in the living room while his grandmother, Rosemary, visits. Picking her up at John Wayne in the morning.
Loved the 'Dr. Phil' bit on 'Mad TV', where Oprah 'blowed him up - real good!'
Tonight, Sunday, as is tradtion, CBS opens the night with '60 Minutes', then a fresh 'Becker', followed by a
RERUN 'Raymond', and then part 2 of the tv-movie 'Master Spy: The Robert Hanssen Story'.
NBC begins the evening with 'Dateline', then a fresh 'American Dreams', followed by a fresh 'Law & Order: Criminal Intents' and a fresh 'Boomtown'.
ABC starts the night with a fresh made-for-tv-movie 'Mr. St. Nick', then offers a fresh 'Alias' and a fresh 'The Practice'.
The WB opens with the weekly RERUN of 'Gilmore Girls', then has a fresh 'Charmed' and a fresh 'Angel'.
Faux starts with a fresh 'Futurama' (even though the show is no longer in production), then a RERUN 'Simpsons', followed by a fresh 'Simpsons', then a fresh
'King Of The Hill', a fresh 'Malcolm', followed by a RERUN 'Malcolm'.
UPN has a fresh 'Buffy', then the weekly RERUN of 'Enterprise', and wraps the night with 'Stargate SG-1'.
Weekly rerun of 'The Osbournes' on MTV.
Anyone have any opinions?
Or reviews?
(See below for addresses)
'The Late Show with David Letterman'
Al & Dave
Former Vice President Al Gore shares a laugh with host David Letterman on the set of 'The Late Show with David Letterman,' Thursday, Nov. 14, 2002, in New York.
Photo by Jeffrey R. Staab
#4
'Terrible Lie'
Speech Could Be His Last
Kurt Vonnegut
Kurt Vonnegut is spending a few hours in a building his grandfather designed, an event some say could be the last public appearance by one of American literature's most revered writers.
Over the past several years, other speeches by the iconic author have been billed as grand finales, but Vonnegut continues to make occasional appearances. And at his age, the
80-year-old says any of them could be the last.
"It's certainly a practical announcement to make," Vonnegut said with a well-worn laugh. "But public speaking has been a large part of my living."
Vonnegut was back in Indianapolis to speak at an event Saturday at the Athenaeum, the downtown building Bernard Vonnegut designed more than a century ago. It now houses a German restaurant, a theater and a YMCA.
Born in Indianapolis in 1922, Vonnegut is best known for his 1969 novel "Slaughterhouse Five," which he based on experiences as a prisoner in Europe during World War II. Other novels
include "Breakfast of Champions" and "Player Piano."
Saturday's $100-a-plate fund-raiser, held by the foundation that preserves the Athenaeum, will include a question-and-answer session with Vonnegut on his memories of childhood and his Indiana roots.
Kurt Vonnegut
Archeologists Look For UFO At Famed Site
Roswell
In trying to unravel a mystery that may involve the war of the worlds, cable TV's SCI FI Channel has turned to a group of educated men and women with shovels and set them loose on the southern New Mexico desert.
In an effort to verify once and for all whether a UFO crash-landed in New Mexico more than 50 years ago, the cable TV channel sent a team of archeologists to conduct an in-depth study of the legendary crash site.
And just like the alleged government conspiracy by those who say aliens landed near Roswell, New Mexico, the results of the scientific study are top secret. That is until Nov. 22, when
SCI FI airs "The Roswell Crash: Startling New Evidence," which will include what network representatives are calling a "smoking gun."
Until then believers and debunkers will just have to wait, said Bill Doleman, the principal investigator with the University of New Mexico archeology team.
"We weren't out there to bunk or debunk. We were just scientists using scientific methods," he said.
Roswell
Big Dog Watch Continues
Bill Clinton, Dana Point, CA
Former President Bill Clinton talks with golf pro Peter Jacobsen during the Hyundai Team Matches golf tournament at Monarch Beach Golf Links in Dana Point, California, November 15, 2002.
Photo by John Hayes
Get Ready For The Spin-Meisters
Bob Woodward's ''Bush at War''
Karl Rove and other members of George W. Bush's administration will have to go into heavy spin control when Bob Woodward's muckraking "Bush at War" hits the stores next week.
The Washington Post reporter was given unheard-of access to top White House aides for the upcoming Simon & Schuster tome, but loose-lipped insiders may soon regret their
candor. Excerpts contain some of Woodward's revelations.
"The president emerged wearing a . . . Fire Dept. windbreaker," Woodward writes. "He raised his arm and gave a thumbs-up to the crowd on the third base side of the field.
Probably 15,000 fans threw their arms in the air imitating the motion.
"He then threw a strike from the rubber, and the stadium erupted. Watching from owner George Steinbrenner's box, Karl Rove thought, it's like being at a Nazi rally."
Rove also thought Secretary of State Colin Powell had too much power. "Rove . . . felt Powell was beyond political control and operating out of a sense of entitlement,"
Woodward charges. Rove said privately, "It's constantly, you know, 'I'm in charge, and this is all politics and I'm going to win the internecine political game.' "
Powell was also "uncomfortable" with some of Bush's Texan ways: "Bush might order, Go get the guns! Get my horses! - all the Texas, Alamo macho that made Powell uncomfortable.
But he believed and hoped the president knew better, that he would see the go-it-alone approach did not stand further analysis."
Powell, however, didn't have such high hopes for Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney, Woodward claims. "The ghosts in the machine were Rumsfeld and Cheney in Powell's view. Too
often they went for the guns and the horses."
Woodward goes on to depict Cheney as obsessed with Saddam Hussein: "Cheney was beyond hell-bent for action against Saddam. It was as if nothing else existed."
Bob Woodward's ''Bush at War''
Picked Up For Full Season
Cedric the Entertainer
The Fox network picked up a full season of rookie comedy "Cedric the Entertainer Presents" on Thursday, while UPN has found a home for midseason comedy "Abby."
"Cedric," a sketch comedy showcase led by the comedian known as Cedric "the Entertainer," has become the No. 1 series in African-American homes and adults 18-49 viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research.
"Cedric" has held on to 100% of its "Bernie Mac" lead-in among adults 18-49, averaging a 3.8 rating/10 share after five original episodes. The series has attracted
8.3 million viewers overall on Wednesday nights.
The "Cedric" pickup came two days after Fox gave the thumbs up to fellow fall newbies "Fastlane" and "John Doe." Network executives were still determining the fate of Friday drama "Firefly."
Cedric the Entertainer
In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends
Stop Using My Name
Bill Wyman To Bill Wyman
Bill Wyman is getting sued for being himself.
Wyman, a music writer for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, was recently notified of legal action against him for having the same name as a former Rolling Stones bassist.
"I must ask that you immediately cease and desist from authorizing or permitting any such use of our client's name," an attorney for Wyman, who left the band in 1993, said in a letter.
The legal threat came after Wyman wrote about some old Rolling Stones' albums for the newspaper as part of its coverage of the band's tour.
Wyman has been a pop music writer for more than 20 years. He says he wrote his first review of a Rolling Stones concert in 1981, and went on to cover the band's tours in 1989, 1994 and 1997.
The letter said Wyman could continue using his name if he added a disclaimer to everything he wrote in the future, "clearly indicating that (you are) not the same Bill Wyman
who was a member of the Rolling Stones."
Bill Wyman To Bill Wyman
Arizona
Side-Blotched Lizard
This is an undated handout photo of a male side-blotched lizard provided by the Arizona Game and Fish Department. In the eternal war between the sexes,
the female side-blotched lizard wins it all: she selects her many mates, decides where they'll live and even determines if they will have sons or daughters.
Photo by George Andrejko
Sells At Auction For $225,000
JFK Car
The Lincoln Continental that U.S. President John F. Kennedy rode in the night before he was assassinated in Dallas in 1963 sold for $225,000 at an auction in New York on Saturday.
The Lincoln, which is now in Connecticut, has been partially restored although its interior remains entirely original, said Arlan Ettinger, president of Guernsey's auction house.
Kennedy rode in the car the night before his assassination and the next morning, a representative for the auction house said.
Other items related to America's 35th president also sold for substantial sums, such as a wooden rocking chair he received as a gift that sold for $80,000 and a watercolor he
painted two years before his death that went for $30,000.
JFK Car
Sells for Over $100,000
Elvis Hair
A wad of Presley's jet black locks, about the size of a baseball, sold at auction Saturday for $115,120. The bidder was anonymous.
MastroNet Inc., a suburban Oak Brook Internet auction house, listed the hair in a sale that began last month and ended about 3:30 a.m. Saturday.
The Elvis locks were collected by the king of rock 'n' roll's former hairstylist, Homer "Mr. Gill" Gilleland, said Brian Marren, MastroNet vice president of
acquisitions. Gilleland, now deceased, gave the hair to friend Tom Morgan, who sold it through the auction house.
The clippings, which Gilleland had in a plastic bag, are now kept in a jar with a vacuum seal.
Elvis Hair
BartCop TV!
Nazi-Looted Art Seized From Vienna Museum
'Aryanisation'
Austrian authorities have requisitioned a painting from a Viennese museum after claims it had been extorted from its Jewish owner in the Nazi period and never returned, Der Standard newspaper reported on Saturday.
The seizure of the oil painting "Wayside Shrine, Houses and Trees" by Austrian expressionist Egon Schiele marks the first time that "aryanised" art has been requisitioned within Austria, the newspaper added.
Aryanisation refers to the expropriation of Jewish property under Nazi law, suffered by Austrian Jews after Germany annexed Austria in March 1938. Under an Austrian law of 1998, such
art objects must be returned to the heirs of their former owners.
The painting was supposed to be auctioned on November 27 by the Dorotheum museum, for an expected price of up to about 60,000 dollars, said Der Standard, adding it had been removed
from the auction list but remained in the museum while its provenance was investigated.
The work was acknowledged by the museum as having originally belonged to Heinrich Rieger, a Viennese dentist and avid art collector who died in the Theresienstadt concentration camp in 1942.
Rieger's heirs claim his collection was plundered by gallery owner Friedrich Welz in 1938, and failed to be reinstated after the war during a U.S.-led "Property Control" action
aiming to restore rightful ownership of seized properties.
'Aryanisation'
8th International Dragon Festival
Snake Dragon Puppet
The Kim Loong Wushu dance group performs with a snake dragon puppet during the 8th International Dragon Festival at the Victoria and Alfred Waterfont in Cape Town, South Africa, Saturday, Nov. 16, 2002.
Photo by Obed Zilwa
Not Happy With A&E 'Biography'
Angela Bowie
David Bowie's first wife, Angela Bowie, is furious about a new A&E "Biography" about her ex-hubby that calls her "insane" and "incompetent."
Angela, the wild party girl who was married to the rocker from 1970 to '80, is trashed by Bowie and his buddies in the show that first aired last week.
"The narrator called me insane," Angela fumed. "He said that David Bowie and his friends all thought I was insane. That offended me. They also said I was incompetent as a manager.
"I was never some high-powered Sharon Osbourne manager. I promoted. My job was the look, the stage, the musicians . . . When I heard I was incompetent, I nearly had a heart attack."
Angela gained infamy in 1990 when she went on Joan Rivers' talk show and said she had caught the formerly bisexual Bowie naked in bed with Mick Jagger.
Angela later downplayed the salacious sighting in her 1993 tell-all "Backstage Passes," saying the two rockers had merely passed out together.
Although she hasn't spoken to Bowie in more than 20 years, Angie says the "Biography" special nonetheless hit a nerve. "I can't allow them to say these
things," she declares. "The only thing I can do is make a fuss. What would make me happy was before they showed it again they could add a credit for my
Web site, angiebowie.com. If you're gonna trash me, at least let people know what I'm up to now."
Angela Bowie
Resumes Smoking After 13-Year Break
James Bond
After 13 years without a smoke, world famous secret agent James Bond has started puffing again, Britain's Sunday Times newspaper reported.
It published an image from the latest Bond film, "Die Another Day," in which Bond actor Pierce Brosnan is smoking a cigar.
The decision to feature cigars in the film, which premieres in London Monday, has outraged the anti-smoking lobby.
When Brosnan took over the role in the mid-1990s he adopted a strong anti-smoking stance but agreed to smoke cigars in the latest movie because it is set in Cuba, the paper reported.
James Bond
Reader Contribution
Thanks, Carbon!
Waukesha County To Honor
Les Paul
Waukesha County's historical society has gotten the go-ahead to turn an old courthouse into an exhibit dedicated to electric guitar pioneer Les Paul.
The Waukesha County Board has approved selling the old courthouse to the Waukesha County Historical Society and Museum for $1.
Paul, a native of Waukesha who now lives in New Jersey, has waited for an agreement before donating some items, Baker said.
The county's agreement also provides $5.6 million to renovate and operate the exhibit during the next decade.
Les Paul
Waukesha County Historical Society and Museum
Returning To Union Job
Fred Thompson
Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson isn't all that different from Arthur Branch, the character he plays on television's "Law & Order." Both are conservative, no-nonsense Southerners
who like to take care of business quickly.
That's not a problem for Branch, a district attorney in the fast-paced NBC drama. But for Thompson, the Senate's pace has often been frustrating which is partly why he is
leaving after eight years to return to acting.
He says too much time is spent on unimportant matters and partisan bickering.
But he says he does not plan to devote his entire post-Senate career to acting. He is planning to hit the lecture circuit and may teach part time.
Fred Thompson
To Be Honored for Stage Work
Carol Channing
Carol Channing, known for her starring roles in "Hello, Dolly!" and "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes," will be honored next month for her work as a stage performer.
Channing is the recipient of the second annual Sarah Applebaum Nederlander Award for Excellence in Professional Theatre. The award will be presented Dec. 4 at the Fisher Theatre.
The Apple Award is named for Sarah Applebaum Nederlander, or "Apple" as she was known, to honor her dedication to the Nederlander family and the performing arts.
The award is given in partnership with Wayne State University. Proceeds from the awards presentation will help build an endowment for the school's theater department.
Carol Channing
Wayne State University Web site
Pushkar, India
Camel Bazaar
Camels are set out for sale in the centuries-old Pushkar camel bazaar in Rajasthan state in the desert town of Pushkar, 325 kilometers (200 miles) southwest of New Delhi, India,
Saturday, Nov. 16, 2002. The U.S. and British embassies said the annual fair, that has become a popular tourist attraction, is assessed as being a potential target of terrorist activity.
Photo by Elizabeth Dalziel
'The Osbournes'
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