'TBH Politoons'
Thanks, again, Tim!
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
A rainy day!
Don't know if this is a sign of anything, but had to run to Target for wrapping paper this afternoon. Figured it would be crowded, and lots of lines to stand in. Hell, there's always a line at Target. Well, there wasn't one today! And, the parking lot had lots of empty spaces, too. Trip was completed in under half an hour - record time.
Monday's page may be late, or thin - or both. Going to meet up with some pals in Pasadena - our annual holiday nosh.
KOCE, PBS for behind the Orange Curtain, ran an 'Ed Sullivan' Christmas Show (with Johnny Mathis, David Frye, Brook Benton, Mahalia Jackson, the Supremes & Connie Francis), followed by a Red Skelton Christmas Special (with Imogene Coca & Vincent Price), followed by a 'Peter, Paul & Mary' Christmas Special.
Tonight, Sunday, as is tradition, CBS starts the evening with '60 Minutes', and then a RERUN 'Becker' followed by another RERUN 'Becker'. Next, a RERUN tv-movie 'A Town Without Christmas'.
NBC opens the night with a fresh 'special' - 'Sarah Hughes: A Life In Balance', followed by a RERUN 'American Dreams', then a RERUN 'Law & Order: Criminal Intent', followed by a RERUN 'Boomtown'.
ABC has nothing fresh - first up, a RERUN Jonathan Taylor Thomas movie - 'I'll Be Home For Christmas', followed by a RERUN 'Alias', and then a RERUN 'The Practice'.
The WB RERUNs (again) 'Scooby-Doo Christmas', then the creepy movie 'Jack Frost'.
Faux starts with a fresh 'Futurama', followed by a RERUN 'King Of The Hill', a RERUN 'Simpsons', a RERUN 'King Of The Hill', a RERUN 'Malcolm', and then a fresh 'Andy Richter'.
Nothing fresh on UPN, either. First, the weekly RERUN of 'Buffy', followed by the weekly RERUN 'Enterprise', and then 'Stargate SG-1'.
E! announces the 'E! True Hollywood Story Of The Year'.
Anyone have any opinions?
Or reviews?
(See below for addresses)
Umtata, South Africa
Oprah Winfrey
American talk-show host, Oprah Winfrey, right, hands a Christmas gift to a boy, known only as Diong, while on a visit to an orphanage in Umtata, South Africa,
in the Eastern Cape province, Wednesday Dec. 18, 2002. Winfrey is in the country to support various charities to which she has donated millions of dollars.
Photo by Benny Gool
World's Top Song
'A Nation Once Again'
The Irish republican rallying cry "A Nation Once Again" was named on Friday as the world's favorite song ever, after a global poll by the BBC.
The ballad performed by the staunchly republican group The Wolfe Tones, was among a minority of Western songs in the list and only narrowly triumphed over Indian patriotic song "Vande Mataram," the BBC said in a statement.
The poll of BBC World Service listeners attracted 150,000 votes from 153 countries and revealed the diversity of the world's musical tastes.
Among the rest of the top ten was a Bollywood movie song, a love song from Nepal, a Tamil Tiger film song and a pop song from Hollywood singer/actress Cher.
"A Nation Once Again" was written by 19th century Anglo-Irish army surgeon Thomas Osbourne Davis to support the fight for an end to British rule. It includes
the refrain "And Ireland, long a province, be a nation once again."
The BBC said some artists suffered in the voting stakes because so many of their songs were nominated, splitting the vote. The Beatles had
55 songs nominated and Iranian artist Googoosh had 40. Reggae legend Bob Marley had 29 songs nominated, with "No Woman No Cry" topping the list.
Europe's favorite song was "Wind of Change" by the Scorpions, a song many associate with the fall of the Berlin Wall. The United States went
for "Girl from Ipanema" by Antonio Carlos Jobim while Latin Americans voted for "Solo le pido a Dios" from Argentine singer Leon Geico.
Swahili classic "Malaika" was Africa's number one while Australians and New Zealanders voted for both Crowded House's "Don't Dream it's Over" and "Highway to Hell" by AC/DC.
The final top ten list is:
1. A Nation Once Again -- The Wolfe Tones.
2. Vande Mataram -- various artists.
3. Dil Dil Pakistan -- Vital Signs.
4. Rakkamma Kaiya Thattu -- Ilayaraja.
5. Poovum Nadakkuthu Pinchum Nadakkuthu -- Thirumala Chandran
6. Ana wa Laila -- Kazem El Saher.
7. Reetu Haruma Timi -- Arun Thapa.
8. Believe -- Cher.
9. Chaiyya Chaiyya -- A R Rahman.
10. Bohemian Rhapsody -- Queen.
World's Top Song
Tops Music Magazine's 'Genius' List
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan has been labeled a Judas and a Jokerman. Now he can add another title: Genius.
Music magazine Blender has put the 61-year-old folk-rock icon Dylan atop its list of the 50 rock geniuses of all time.
"He's the civil rights anthem writer who abandoned the cause, the electric poet turned born-again traditionalist, the free-spirit visionary who found God,
the bittersweet love lyricist with a side order of surreal sarcasm, the hermit who can't quit the stage," Blender's editors said in the magazine's January/February issue, which hits newsstands on Dec. 24.
Former Beatle John Lennon was No. 2 on the list, followed by rock 'n' roll pioneer Chuck Berry, rapper Eminem and late reggae icon Bob Marley.
Bob Dylan
Ho Ho Ho, Part 1
Barbara & Jenna
President Bush's twin daughters, Barbara, left, and Jenna, walk past reporters before departing the White House for Camp David, where they will spend Christmas Saturday, 21, 2002.
Photo by Rick Bowmer
Staying Another Season
'Friends'
NBC's six "Friends" aren't breaking up yet. The network announced a surprise agreement Saturday to keep the top-rated comedy on the air for another season.
No details of the agreement between the network, Warner Brothers Productions, Bright/Kauffman/Crane Productions and the six lead actors were released. But NBC spokeswoman
Rebecca Marks confirmed the deal had been sealed early Saturday morning.
When NBC announced in February that "Friends" would be back this fall, it was said then that this would be the final year.
But in the months to follow, NBC Entertainment President Jeff Zucker made certain the door remained open to a return. He consistently refused, in speaking publicly, to rule out the chance it would return.
The series is generally the highest-rated comedy this year, although the CBS drama, "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," has supplanted it as television's most popular show.
'Friends'
Publicizes AIDS Crisis in Africa
Oprah Winfrey
American television host Oprah Winfrey cuddled South African children whose parents died from AIDS and promised to use her name to help humanize the pandemic that has ravaged sub-Saharan Africa.
Winfrey, who has been traveling in South Africa for the last three weeks, said in an interview published in the Saturday Star that she feels a "higher calling" to raise
international awareness of the plight of the children who are losing parents and dying of the disease themselves.
In a photograph on the front page of the Saturday Star, a visibly moved Winfrey stands with her hand covering her face at the bedside of a woman dying of AIDS,
who was attended by her young daughter.
Anti-AIDS drugs are not available in South African public hospitals, and Winfrey said she was taken aback that the woman did not have access to treatment.
"I felt angry that this mother has to suffer, that this little girl will not have a mother," she said.
Winfrey's foundation distributed $7 million worth of Christmas gifts to some 50,000 South African children during her visit.
Oprah Winfrey
Visits Palestinian Refugee Camp
Jane Fonda
Actress Jane Fonda visited a refugee camp and a hospital in the West Bank on Saturday, capping a three-day visit aimed at promoting peace.
Fonda, who was observing her 65th birthday, passed through a West Bank crossing point of Qalqiliya, trudging through mud and clutching a bouquet of red roses given to her by a Palestinian women's group.
She toured West Bank villages and nearby Jewish settlements and was led through a Palestinian refugee camp near Ramallah in a daylong tour by the Jerusalem Center for Women.
It was the final visit of a trip organized by a global movement to stop violence against women. The movement, called V-Day, was inspired by the off-Broadway
hit "The Vagina Monologues" and its playwright, Eve Ensler. Ensler accompanied Fonda and led discussions with Palestinian women.
Jane Fonda
In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends
Starts Management Company
Patti LaBelle
Patti LaBelle kicked off her new management company, Pattionium, on a high note — with a swanky penthouse party at the home of friend Denise Rich.
LaBelle was joined by guests such as Joan Collins, Star Jones, music producer Rodney Jerkins and others at the event, held Thursday at the songwriter's Manhattan apartment.
Even the food was a celebrity event — Janice Combs, the mother of Sean "P. Diddy" Combs, catered the event.
"Actually, we share a son — Puffy is my son," LaBelle joked.
LaBelle, 58, says she got into the management business in part because she was so impressed by her backup singer, Mary Griffin, who is now one of her artists.
"The girl is amazing — you haven't heard anything," LaBelle said afterward.
Patti LaBelle
By Thomas Gainsborough
Madame Baccelli Dancer
Handout photo of Madame Baccelli Dancer by Thomas Gainsborough, one of the paintings stolen from the Beit Collection at Russborough House Co. Wicklow Ireland in June 2001. Two paintings, including Madame Baccelli Dancer, worth some euro 4 million (US $ 3.9 million) were recovered Friday by the Gardai and are now being inspected by conservationists in the National Museum of Ireland, Dublin.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Found in Ireland
Stolen Paintings
Detectives found the hidden artworks Friday night, nearly three months after they disappeared from Russborough House, the home of the late English art collector and philanthropist Sir Alfred Beit. It was the fourth time thieves
had targeted the house south of Dublin, which is open to the public.
Police found the paintings — minus their frames — when they raided a house in the Clondalkin section of Dublin and said they were in excellent condition.
Assistant Commissioner Joe Egan said those arrested — two women and a man, all in their thirties — had not been charged, but added that he expected more arrests. He did not release the suspects' names.
The stolen works were "Portrait of a Dominican Monk" and "Venus Supplicating Jupiter," both by Rubens, Wilem van der Veld the Younger's "Calm Sea," Adrien van Osade's "Adoration of the Shepherds" and Jacob van Ruisdael's "The Cornfield."
Stolen Paintings
Keeping Dad On Ice
Ted Williams
A bitter family feud over the body of baseball legend Ted Williams has been resolved five months after his death, with his children agreeing it should be preserved frozen, a spokesman for the estate said yesterday.
Barbara "Bobby Jo" Ferrell, Williams' eldest daughter, ended her court battle to remove her father's body from a cryonic freezing process begun by her two half-siblings, John Henry and Claudia Williams.
She had argued her father had wanted to be cremated.
Williams, known as the "Splendid Splinter" and "Teddy Ballgame," was considered one of the greatest baseball players in history and was the last major leaguer to bat over .400 in a season.
Ted Williams
Formerly 'The Vidiot'
Cowboy Hall of Fame To Induct
George Strait
George Strait is known more for singing than roping skills, but he will be inducted into the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame on Jan. 10 in Fort Worth.
Strait, 50, is to be honored for starting the George Strait Team Roping Classic, which handed out nearly $300,000 in cash and prizes at the 20th annual competition this year
in San Antonio, and for elevating the image of the cowboy around the world through his music.
The George Strait Team Roping Classic is scheduled for March 14-15 at the San Antonio Rose Palace. Strait, his brother Buddy and their wives started the roping event in 1982,
said Ashley Allison, assistant to the director of the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame.
George Strait
Ho Ho Ho, Part 2
Barbara & Jenna
Daughters of resident Bush, Jenna (R) and Barbara (L), walk out to Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, December 21, 2002. resident George W. Bush
will spend the Christmas holiday in Camp David, Maryland.
Photo by William Philpott
Snarky Gossip
Joan Rivers
Cops say "Can we talk?" to Joan Rivers after the caustic comedian threw a hissy fit - and a marking pen - that struck a clerk in the eye at an East
Side car rental agency yesterday, police said.
The incident, in which she allegedly tossed a curse as well as a yellow marker, happened at the Dollar Rent A Car at Lexington Avenue and 84th Street
where Rivers has a car-leasing plan, a police source said.
The 69-year-old fashion critic, known for her acidic red-carpet commentary on E!, went to Dollar with her driver at 2:20 p.m., the source said.
His name is on the lease plan and Rivers wanted to add her own, the source said.
Her driver walked in without her and stood on line. There were two people in front of him and he got tired of waiting and walked out, the source said.
Then Rivers came storming in to the office and went up the female clerk behind the counter.
"Don't you know who the f- - - I am?" Rivers asked her, the police source told The Post.
"How could you let me wait on line? You stupid . . . bitch!" the police source quoted Rivers as saying.
She then allegedly threw the marker at the woman and left.
The incident was captured on the store's security videotape, police said.
For a bit more, Joan Rivers
Selling The NBA
Frank Sinatra
Late singer Frank Sinatra is being revived for a National Basketball Assn. promotion that will kick off on Christmas Day.
A spot depicting a digitally enhanced Sinatra singing "I've Got You Under My Skin" at a hoops match will debut on ABC during a doubleheader featuring the Boston Celtics vs.
the New Jersey Nets and the Los Angeles Lakers vs. the Sacramento Kings, the NBA said.
Video images of Sinatra will be interspersed with footage from NBA games. Sinatra's rendition of the Cole Porter-penned classic comes from the 1966 live album "Sinatra at the
Sands (with Count Basie and his Orchestra), an NBA spokeswoman said on Friday.
The Sinatra spot is part of the NBA's "Love it Live" promotion, which launched last season with the likes of Elton John and Lenny Kravitz. This season, the NBA has teamed up
with the Rolling Stones and Carlos Santana with Michelle Branch.
Frank Sinatra
Tiptoes North with China Pact
Rupert Murdoch
Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. is poised to expand its tiny footprint in China by forging the first strategic partnership between a foreign company and a domestic broadcaster, company executives said on Friday.
News Corp.'s Star Group Ltd. signed a pact with Hunan Broadcasting Group on Thursday to co-produce and broadcast television programs for the world's largest audience and fastest growing -- though insular -- media market.
Billed by state newspapers and company officials as the first pact of its kind, the deal could eventually see Star TV expand its viewership into its partner's territory in central China.
Australia-based News Corp. has long coveted China's media market, expected to boom alongside steadily rising incomes.
It is now confined to broadcasting Star's Xingkong Weishi Mandarin-language channel via cable into Guangdong province in the south, the country's test-bed for foreign programming.
Rupert Murdoch
A Call To Arms
Bill Mauldin
It began with a call to arms from one soldier to others - help one of their own fight Alzheimer's by writing of memories from another great battle.
The letters came by the thousands, from soldiers who survived World War II and the widows of those who did not. They came from children who had never seen war and
soldiers embroiled in today's fight against terrorism.
Some were personal notes, sharing stories of survival and redemption with a man they never met. Others offered thanks to a man who brought laughter in dark times.
The letters were to cartoonist Bill Mauldin, who became the voice of the World War II infantry soldier with his characters Willie and Joe.
Today, Mauldin, who is 80, no longer remembers his family, his career, even his two Pulitzer prizes. But he remembers the war, and those who fought in it are helping him
keep those memories alive with their letters.
It started with 77-year-old Jay Gruenfeld, who spent years wondering what happened to the man who had made him laugh in a foxhole under fire.
More than five decades later, Gruenfeld self-published his memories of the war, in which he mentioned Mauldin's uplifting cartoons.
He tried twice to send his book to Mauldin. Twice it was returned. The last thing he remembered hearing about Mauldin was that he retired to New Mexico. He called a friend
there and asked him to check a telephone book and see if any Mauldins were listed.
He found the cartoonist's son, Dave Mauldin. "When he called," the younger Mauldin said, "I had to tell him Dad was not doing well."
His father was suffering from Alzheimer's, he said. The family does not want to disclose Mauldin's specific location, but says he is living in a care home in Orange County, Calif.
"I heard that and said, 'Well, I have to go see him,'" said Gruenfeld, who days later made the four-hour drive from his home in Lompoc, along California's Central Coast.
Gruenfeld returned home from that trip last spring with an idea: Get other veterans to write letters and visit.
He wrote to veterans organizations and contacted newspaper columnists. The word spread. Soon Mauldin was receiving hundreds of letters a day.
Letters, cards and drawings cover the walls and ceiling of Bill Mauldin's room at the convalescent home. For months, son Nat Mauldin has been
reading letters to his father, standing at his bedside.
For a great read, here's the rest - Bill Mauldin
NOTE - Correspondence to Bill Mauldin can be sent to 10061 Riverside Dr., Box 1014, Toluca Lake, CA 91602.
Some other links:
Bill Mauldin WWII's Greatest Cartoonist
Audie Murphy & Bill Mauldin
Bill Mauldin
Bill Mauldin
San Salvador, El Salvador
Patanga & Cub
A one-week-old baby lion is carried by its mother Patanga in San Salvador, El Salvador Saturday, Dec. 14, 2002. Patanga is one of two lionesses in captivity at the zoological park.
Photo by Victor Ruiz Caballero
'The Osbournes'
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