'Best of TBH Politoons'
Reader Recommendations
from Bruce
"As I write this, the city of Fallujah has been turned into rubble by a ferocious bombing campaign. Photos are beginning to appear (though not yet in the major media, so cowardly are they) of children with limbs gone, an infant lying on a cot, one leg missing. It is the classic story of a military power possessing the latest, most deadly of weapons, trying to subdue the hostile population of a small, weak country by sheer cruelty, which only increases the resistance. The war in Fallujah cannot be won. It should not be won."
Reader Contribution
Things to do Before the Inauguration
1. Get that abortion you've always wanted.
2. Drink a nice clean glass of water.
3. Cash your Social Security check.
4. See a doctor of your own choosing.
5. Spend quality time with your draft-age child.
6. Visit Syria, or any foreign country for that matter.
7. Get that gas mask you've been putting off buying.
8. Hoard gasoline.
9. Borrow books from library before they're banned - Constitutional law books, Catcher in the Rye, Harry Potter, Tropic of Cancer, etc.
10. If you have an idea for an art piece involving a crucifix - do it now.
11. Come out - then go back in - HURRY!
12. Jam in all the Alzheimer's stem cell research you can.
13. Stay out late before the curfews start.
14. Go see Bruce Springsteen before he has his "accident".
15. Go see Mount Rushmore before the Reagan addition.
16. Use the phrase - "you can't do that - this is America".
17. If you're white, marry a black person; if you're black, marry a white person.
18. Take a walk in Yosemite, without being hit by a snowmobile or a base-jumper.
19. Enroll your kid in an accelerated art or music class.
20. Start your school day without a prayer.
21. Pass on the secrets of evolution to future generations.
22. Learn French.
23. Attend a commitment ceremony with your gay friends.
24. Take a factory tour anywhere in the US.
25. Try to take photographs of animals on the endangered species list.
26. Visit Florida before the polar ice caps melt.
27. Visit Nevada before it becomes radioactive.
28. Visit Alaska before "The Big Spill".
29. Visit Massachusetts while it is still a state.
Thanks, Alex!
Purple Gene Reviews
"Half Breed" Movie Night
Purple Gene reviews of "Half Breed" Movie Night in Oakland:
So the whole thing started with STARZ west.....
They were playing "The Missing" (2003) directed by Ron Howard, and starring Cate Blanchett as Maggie, a woman trying to raise her two daughters as a frontier doctor in the 1850s ....well her HALF BREED dad, Samuel (Tommy Lee Jones) shows up just in time to help his estranged daughter find HER teen age daughter who has been captured by the Apache (of which Samuel happens to be HALF)........
Then I switched over to the WESTERN west......
Oh my god...it was Elvis Presley as a HALF BREED Kiowa - Pacer Burton in "Flaming Star" (1960) directed by Don Siegel.......Pacer is torn between texas ranchers and the fierce Kiowas of whom his mother (Dolores del Rio) is one......and this is not a Colonel Parker Musical!!!!!!!
Then.....Somewhere in my comcast cable consternation.......
I ran into the "The Searchers" (1956) directed by John Ford and starring John Wayne as Ethan Edwards - a civil war veteran searching for his neice who was captured by indians. He is joined by his nephew Martin Pawley (Jeffrey Hunter) in the search....but there is one problem...Martin is a HALF BREED..... He's got Comanche in his BLOOD!.....and Ethan Edwards HATES indians..........
I used to watch the Westerns on Saturday when I was a kid and I used to do war dances in the back yard in the summer in my Loin Cloth....my parents were so embarrassed....I was just "Tom Mix"ed up and "Crazy Horse" headed....but I just loved the COWBOYS and the INDIANS.... now all we have left of those great cultural genres are slick Country & Western Singers (with Cowboy hats on) and "Native American" Bingo Parlors....But.....I still love HALF BREEDS.....
Well Tommy Lee helps Cate find her captured daughter in "The Missing" (great performance by Jenna Boyd as "Dot" the spunky younger sister)........
Elvis opts to live with the indians in "Flaming Star" until he has to save his indian mother from the whites (the lead role was originally written for Marlon Brando).....
John Wayne and his nephew in the "The Searchers", find the niece, after five years of looking, but she has become a Comanche......
It was a great night out on the old frontier...I got to feel like my old HALF BREED self......playin' Cowboys and Indians" again.................
Purple Gene gives Half Breed Movie Night a big nostalgic 9 !!! (I think I'll go watch "Last of the Dogmen" (1995) on TMC !!)
Purple Gene
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Mostly rainy & cold.
Kept seeing blue sky during the UCLA/USC game and wondered why it wasn't that color here.
The kid DVRd 'Metropolis' (1927) the other morning & spent this afternoon watching it over & over & over.
First Christmas card of the season was in the mail today.
More Dumbing Of America
'Merchant of Venice'
US distributors of the film Merchant of Venice, which premiered in London this week, have asked the director to cut out a background fresco by a Venetian old master so it is fit for American television viewers.
Director Michael Radford had already anticipated one request by shooting extra scenes for television in which bare-breasted prostitutes are fully clothed.
He was also asked to remove scenes of male kissing, a brief female kissing scene - and simulated slaughtering of goats.
Finally, according to Mr Radford, there was "a very curious request which said 'Could you please paint-box out the wallpaper?'. I said wallpaper, what wallpaper? This is the 16th century, people didn't have wall-paper."
When he examined the scenes, he realised the letter was referring to frescoes by Paolo Veronese, the acclaimed Venetian 16th-century artist, which, when examined closely, showed a naked cupid.
"A billion dollars worth of Veronese great master's frescoes they want paint-boxed out because of this cupid's willy. It is absolutely absurd," he said.
'Merchant of Venice'
No Michael Powell Factor
The BBC
The BBC is set to risk a barrage of complaints when it screens the most expletive-riddled programme in television history. More than 8,000 obscenities will be broadcast when BBC2 shows a screen version of the musical Jerry Springer - The Opera in January.The current swear word record is held by Channel 4 when it screened Reservoir Dogs last year.
BBC2 station controller Roly Keating said "It will be filmed as it is on stage. There will be warnings but we don't intend to cut it. Our audience will expect it to be broadcast uncut."
The show, starring Starskey & Hutch star David Soul, contains 3,168 mentions of the f-word and 297 of the c-word and will be shown after the 9pm watershed.
The BBC
Gets Hollywood Star
Kevin Kline
"The Big Chill" star Kevin Kline got a warm reception on Hollywood Boulevard on Friday as he received a star on the walk of fame to mark the DVD release of his Cole Porter biography "De-Lovely."
The marker was placed in front of the historic Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel adjacent to the Chinese Theatre.
Kevin Kline
IFC Bows Film-Appreciation Series
Henry Rollins
Let it be known that Henry Rollins does not want to be the next Roger Ebert.
Musician/writer/actor Rollins, former frontman of punk band Black Flag, says that his new monthly Independent Film Channel TV series, "Henry's Film Corner," operates on the premise that "everybody's a critic." The half-hour show, which debuts at midnight ET/9 p.m. PT on Saturday (Dec. 4), will air the first Saturday of each month.
"Henry's Film Corner" will feature Rollins reviewing films and interviewing guests. There is also a regular segment called "Typecast" in which working professionals critique how their jobs are portrayed in the movies. In the premiere episode, real firefighters discuss "Ladder 49."
Rollins, expressing his opinions with trademark bluntness, says that what appealed to him about the show was that there are no restrictions on which movies he chooses to discuss.
Henry Rollins
Hockey Legends in Buffalo
Michael J. Fox
It was difficult to tell who was more excited: Michael J. Fox for playing alongside former Buffalo Sabres star Gilbert Perreault, or the other way around.
Hollywood met Hockey Legends in Buffalo as part of former Sabres captain Pat LaFontaine's Champions in Courage charity game to raise money for Buffalo Women and Children's Hospital.
The event, which included a corporate game and banquet on Friday, raised more than $200,000 for LaFontaine's goal of building a computer playroom for children at the hospital the NHL Hall-of-Famer regularly visited while playing for the Sabres in the 1990s.
Michael J. Fox
The Michael J. Fox Foundation
In The News
Les Moonves
VIACOM co-president Les Moonves wants out of his 25-year marriage to estranged wife Nancy - now! On Wednesday, Moonves filed papers in L.A. Superior Court asking a judge to grant him an immediate divorce - despite the fact that they have yet to work out alimony, child support, and property division settlements. Moonves - who, some say, wants to clear the way to marry his longtime girlfriend, "The Early Show" anchor Julie Chen - stated in papers acquired by thesmokinggun.com: "I wish to go forward with my life, both emotionally and financially. For instance, the status of my marriage should not affect investments I wish to make, nor should it affect my taxes or business dealings." Anticipating a possible "lengthy trial," Moonves argued that an expedited divorce decree would alleviate "emotional strain, and would help to promote settlement of the reserved issues" with Nancy. Moonves is probably right - Nancy is said to be so bitter about the divorce and Moonves' shenanigans with Chen, she won't let her children watch CBS or eat Chinese food. A hearing on his "desire to return to the status of being single" is scheduled for Dec. 10.
Les Moonves
The most powerful man in television, CBS boss Leslie Moonves, wants a divorce. And he wants it NOW!!!!
Story at TheSmokingGun.com
Technology Helps Singers Hit Right Note
Auto-Tune
The Nov. 8 broadcast of NPR's "Morning Edition" featured two of the recording industry's top engineer/producers and one controversial piece of technology.
New York-based Pat Dillett (David Byrne, Mary J. Blige, They Might Be Giants) and Los Angeles-based Ed Cherney (the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Bonnie Raitt) were featured on the broadcast, which is part of a "Morning Edition" series on science and art. The subject: pitch-correcting software, particularly Auto-Tune, made by Antares Audio Technologies.
Introduced in 1997, Auto-Tune was created by Dr. Andy Hildebrand. The research that led to its creation was far from the music business, however. The algorithm used in Auto-Tune was first developed by Hildebrand, then working as a geophysicist, to analyze seismic data for locating oil under the earth's surface.
Auto-Tune
Buying More Advertising
Uncle Sam
Between the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and a wave of retirements set to begin in just three years, ad spending on federal job recruitment is on the rise and Uncle Sam, like other marketers, is employing increasingly sophisticated tactics.
Take the U.S. Army, which uses a promotional online video game, "America's Army," as a recruitment tool. In the game, the combatant takes on a black-garbed enemy and, at times, other online players dressed as U.S. soldiers, preparing players for the risks of what appears to be friendly fire.
This approach is just one way in which the Department of Defense has marshaled its growing marketing budget in its effort to attract new recruits. Under George W. Bush, the Pentagon so far has spent more than $700 million on advertising, per TNS Media Intelligence/CMR, versus $650 million during Clinton's second term.
This increase reflects a general trend within the federal government, whose total ad spend jumped from $160 million in 1993 to a projected $600 million this year. In fact, Uncle Sam is now a larger marketer than Unilever and, as the No. 34 U.S. advertiser in 2003, just behind McDonald's. Federal ad spending peaked at $680 million in the boom year of 2000, but underwent a recessionary decline in 2001. So far this year, concern about a ballooning deficit hasn't stemmed the flow.
For a lot more, Uncle Sam
Biography Retracted
Henry Kissinger
A new biography of former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger has been pulled off the shelves following criticism that its author, Danish television journalist Frank Esmann, plagiarized long passages in the book.
After nearly two months of trying to keep Esmann's widely criticized 413-page book "Kissinger" out of the furnace, publisher Aschehoug has decided to retract the biography, Danish daily Berlingske Tidende reported Saturday.
Esmann has been accused of having copied at least 20 passages of the biography from a book written by American Walter Isaacson on the same subject.
Henry Kissinger
Cancels Overseas Trips
Mormon Tabernacle Choir
The Mormon Tabernacle Choir has canceled its planned tour of northern Europe next year because of concerns about terrorism, and the choir will instead tour the Northwest.
The 360-voice choir was scheduled to make a summer tour by ship of Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland.
However, Gordon B. Hinckley, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, decided the trip would make the group an easy target for terrorists.
The tour was first changed to England, Scotland and Wales, with a stopover in Paris. But that, too, was deemed too dangerous and now the choir will visit cities in northern California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada and Idaho.
Mormon Tabernacle Choir
Retirement Home For Gays
Berlin
Berlin, not only the political capital city of Germany but its gay capital as well, plans to open what its project manager says is the city's first retirement home for homosexuals.
The city with a gay mayor and the largest gay community in Germany will open the 150-apartment retirement home for homosexuals in early 2006 in the Schoeneberg district, Berlin's gay quarter.
Berlin
Have Own Language
Prairie Dogs
Prairie dogs, those little pups popping in and out of holes on vacant lots and rural rangeland, are talking up a storm. They have different "words" for tall human in yellow shirt, short human in green shirt, coyote, deer, red-tailed hawk and many other creatures.
They can even coin new terms for things they've never seen before, independently coming up with the same calls or words, according to Con Slobodchikoff, a Northern Arizona University biology professor and prairie dog linguist.
Slobodchikoff has spent the last two decades studying prairie dogs and their calls, mostly in Arizona, but also in New Mexico and Colorado.
Prairie Dogs
CBS Wins; ABC Gains Momentum
Final November Sweep Ratings
In a milestone victory for CBS, not only did the Eye net win the November sweeps in households, total viewers and adults 25-54, it was No. 1 among adults 18-49 for the first time in 24 years! The last time CBS won November in all four categories was also in 1980. Comparably, CBS has now finished first in viewers for the seventh consecutive sweep period. Also of note for the smiling Eye network was its first Thursday victory among adults 18-49 since 1984 when The Cosby Show joined NBC's line-up.
Also riding a wave of momentum was ABC, with across-the-board increases over last November, its highest adult 18-49 rating during any major sweep period since Feb. 2003, and most competitive finish in the demo since Nov. 2002. ABC, which tied a declining NBC for No. 1 among adults 18-34, was also the only network to deliver more viewers.
Without Friends, and with a slew of aging -- and declining -- series, NBC has sprung a leak, dropping year-to-year by margins of 6 to 11 percent in the below five categories. Also on the downside were Fox, which still finished No. 1 in teens (2.6/ 9, -2 percent) and persons 12-34 (3.1/10, - 2 percent), UPN and the WB. As for UPN versus the WB, the frog net continues to hold a slight advantage.
For the numbers - Final November Sweep Ratings
