Cenk Uygur: Where Were the Mass Graves? (huffingtonpost.com)
As I watched nonstop coverage of Saddam's Death Watch, I was told over and over that this was a heinous mass murderer. There were mass graves. That up to 300,000 people were killed during his reign. Then they told us what he was actually convicted for -- 148 dead in Dujail. That's a terrible crime.
Melinda Henneberger: Everybody Wants to Be Your Friend Once You're Dead (huffingtonpost.com)
So many people fondly remember voting for Gerald Ford, it's a wonder Jimmy Carter was ever elected. Then again, as Vanessa Redgrave gets to say in Roger Michell's new movie Venus, on the occasion of her husband's funeral, "Everybody wants to be your friend once you're dead.'' (Or in Ford's case, everybody except Bob Novak.)
PAUL KRUGMAN: A Failed Revolution (The New York Times)
After first attempting to deny the scale of last month's defeat, the apologists have settled on a story line that sounds just like Marxist explanations for the failure of the Soviet Union. What happened, you see, was that the noble ideals of the Republican revolution of 1994 were undermined by Washington's corrupting ways. And the recent defeat was a good thing, because it will force a return to the true conservative path.
IT'S BEEN A CRUMMY YEAR FOR FILM BUT A FEW STANDOUT AND STAND UP TO THE CRAP THE SUITS WANT TO FEED US. THIS YEAR WAS "NOT SO BAD." BUT AS THE The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934) SAID: "THERE IS NOTHING QUITE SO BAD AS SOMETHING THAT IS NOT SO BAD." SO I LOOK FOR A SILVER LINING BUT AS THE CHIMP SAID: "IT'S HARD WORK." SO HERE GOES:
1. Little Miss Sunshine THIS IS THE BEST FILM EXPERIENCE I HAD THIS YEAR. IT MAD ME LAUGH, IT MADE ME CRY, IT MADE BELIEVE IN CINEMA.
2. Half Nelson ANOTHER SMALL FILM THAT CAPTURES THE BELIEF THAT THE HUMAN CONNECTION IS WORTH MORE THAN ALL THE FUCKING POLITICS IN THE WORLD!
3. Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan OK, WHERE DO I START. THIS ONE IS LIKE TAKING A REALLY GREAT SHIT BUT IT'S NOT SOMETHING YOU WANT TO DISCUSS WITH ANYBODY. REMINDS ME OF THE MIRRORS THE HIPPIES WOULD HOLD UP TO THE TOURISTS BUSES IN SAN FRANCISCO IN THE SIXTIES. DO YOU HAVE A LIFE OR DO YOU JUST HAVE SOME MONEY?
4. Cars I AM SUCKER FOR ANIMATION AND THIS ONE WINS THE CONTEST THIS YEAR. I ALWAYS GO TO THESE FILMS AT THE SUNDAY MATINEE TO BE TRANSPORTED BACK TO MY CHILDHOOD. THE KIDS RATE THIS ONE AS THEIR FAVORITE.
5. Casino Royale (2006) FINALLY THE HOLLYWOOD ASSHOLES GET IT RIGHT. THIS IS A REALLY GOOD WHORE THAT KNOWS HOW TO FUCK AND SUCK AND LEAVE YOU WANTING MORE. WHO SAID YOU CAN'T GET NO SATISFACTION? I'M NOT GOING TO LEAVE ON A LOW NOTE SO I WILL GO TO MY MAJOR DISAPPOINTMENT BEFORE I GIVE YOU MY
#6 .
Dreamgirls THIS IS A FILM THAT WANTS TO BE Chicago BUT ENDS UP BEING LODI GOD I WANTED THIS ONE TO WORK! THE ACTORS BUSTED THEIR BUTTS TO MAKE THIS ONE WORK BUT THE MUSIC LET THEM DOWN. THE MUSIC SUCKS!!! THESE GUYS COULD HAVE GIVEN YOU A MONSTER! WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU THINKING??? I STILL SAY GIVE IT A LOOK FOR ALL THE ACTORS THAT PUT THEIR HEARTS ON THEIR SLEEVE FOR THIS ONE. FINALLY
6. (I COULDN'T COME UP WITH TEN BECAUSE IT'S REALLY HARD WORK SO CUT ME SOME FUCKING SLACK.) Sweet Land I LOVED THIS TWO HONKYS FALL IN LOVE FILM. DAMN THIS ONE IS GOOD. FUCK BUSH! FUCK POLITICS! FUCK EVERYTHING! TWO PEOPLE FALL IN LOVE!!! NUFF SAID!
CBS starts the night with '60 Minutes', followed by a RERUN'Shark', then a RERUN'Cold Case', followed by a RERUN'Without A Trace'.
CBS offers no special New Year's Eve programming.
NBC fills the night with LIVE'Sunday Night Football', and pads the left coast with local crap and maybe a 'Dateline'.
NBC offers the LIVE on the East Coast, taped for the Left Coast 'New Year's Eve With Carson Daly'.
ABC begins the ngiht with a RERUN'America's So-Called Funniest Home Videos', followed by a RERUN'Extreme Makeover: Home Edition', then a RERUN'Desperate Housewives', followed by the LIVE on the East Coast, taped for the Left Coast 'Dick Clark's Primetime New Year's Rockin' Eve 2007'.
ABC offers more LIVE on the East Coast, tape for the Left Coast 'Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve' after local news.
The CW offers a RERUN'reba', followed by another RERUN'reba', then a RERUN'7th Heaven', followed by a RERUN'Keith Barry: Extraordinary'.
Faux has a RERUN'Nanny 911', followed by a RERUN'Simpsons', then a RERUN'American Dad', followed by a RERUN'Family Guy', then another RERUN'American Dad'.
faux offers the LIVE on the East Coast, tape for the Left Coast, creatively titled 'New Year's Eve Special'.
MY has the movie 'Nicholas Nickleby', followed by the movie 'Alice Through The Looking Glass'.
A&E has 'Cold Case Files', 'The First 48', 'Dog The Bounty Hunter', and another 'Dog The Bounty Hunter'.
AMC offers the movie 'High Plains Drifter', followed by the movie 'Pale Rider', then the movie 'For A Few Dollars More'.
BBC -
[2:00 pm] Absolutely Fabulous - New Best Friend;
[2:40 pm] Absolutely Fabulous - Poor;
[3:20 pm] Absolutely Fabulous - Birth;
[4:00 pm] Absolutely Fabulous - Door Handle;
[4:40 pm] Absolutely Fabulous - Sex;
[5:20 pm] Absolutely Fabulous - Jealous;
[6:00 pm] Absolutely Fabulous - Fear;
[6:40 pm] Absolutely Fabulous - The End;
[7:20 pm] Absolutely Fabulous - Parralox;
[8:00 pm] Absolutely Fabulous - Fish Farm;
[8:40 pm] Absolutely Fabulous - Paris;
[9:20 pm] Absolutely Fabulous - Donkey;
[10:00 pm] Absolutely Fabulous - Small Opening;
[10:40 pm] Absolutely Fabulous - Menopause;
[11:20 pm] Absolutely Fabulous - Happy New Year;
[12:00 am] Circle;
[1:45 am] Dress To Kill;
[3:00 am] Circle;
[4:45 am] Dress To Kill;
[6:00 am] Cash in the Attic - Episode 1. (ALL TIMES EST)
Bravo has all 'Law & Order: Criminal Intent' all night.
Comedy Central has the movie 'Friday', followed by the movie 'Ghostbusters'. then a night-long 'South Park' marathon.
History has 'Time Machine', 'Hooked: Illegal Drugs And How They Got That Way', 'History Of Sex', and another 'History Of Sex'.
IFC -
[07:00 AM] Dinner For Five #34;
[07:30 AM] People I Know;
[09:15 AM] Never Get Outta the Boat;
[11:10 AM] Ashes and Diamonds;
[01:00 PM] Side Streets;
[03:00 PM] People I Know;
[04:40 PM] Dancer in the Dark;
[07:05 PM] Intacto;
[09:00 PM] Shallow Grave;
[10:35 PM] Jesus' Son;
[12:25 AM] Crawlspace;
[01:50 AM] Intacto;
[03:40 AM] Shallow Grave;
[05:15 AM] Jesus' Son. (ALL TIMES EST)
Sundance -
[07:30 AM] It's All Gone Pete Tong;
[09:05 AM] Jesus Christ Superstar;
[11:00 AM] Iconoclasts Season 2: Episode 4: Isabella Rossellini + Dean Kamen;
[11:45 AM] The Tree Officer;
[12:00 PM] Janis;
[01:45 PM] A Game With Stones;
[02:00 PM] One Punk Under God: Episode 3;
[02:30 PM] Milo 55160;
[03:00 PM] Kath & Kim - Season 3: Foxy On the Run;
[03:30 PM] Hermitage-niks: A Passion for the Hermitage: Episode 5 - The Remains of an Era;
[04:00 PM] Leaving Normal;
[06:00 PM] The Tree Officer;
[06:15 PM] Primer;
[07:45 PM] It's All Gone Pete Tong;
[09:30 PM] Kath & Kim - Season 3: Foxy On the Run;
[10:00 PM] Jesus Christ Superstar;
[12:00 AM] H;
[02:00 AM] Kings & Queen;
[03:00 AM] Primer;
[04:30 AM] The Love Crimes of Gillian Guess. (ALL TIMES EST)
Masks representing Ecuadorean politicians, to be burned on New Year's Eve, are seen on display for sale in Quito Saturday Dec. 30, 2006. Ecuadorians traditionally burn in New Year's Eve effigies representing people that have been in the news during the year. Among others are President-elect Rafel Correa, bottom, and presidential candidate Alvaro Novoa, left.
Photo by Santiago Armas
George Lucas, the mastermind behind the "Star Wars" and "Indiana Jones" sagas, can add another credit to his illustrious resume: Rose Parade grand marshal.
For a man accustomed to working behind the camera lens, Lucas embraces his latest challenge as the public face of the 118th annual Tournament of Roses on New Year's Day.
It seems fitting for Lucas to serve as the ambassador of the 2007 Rose Parade that will feature the three-piece "Star Wars Spectacular," which commemorates the 1977 release of "Star Wars," the first film in the sci-fi six-pack. The procession will include two floats depicting the moon of Endor seen in the "Return of the Jedi" and the garden planet of Naboo. Darth Vader will lead a group of 200 stormtroopers, assembled from around the world, who belong to a fan club called the 501st Legion.
The Swedish ship Gotheborg, a replica of an 18th century Swedish vessel of the same name, sails past the Merlion on Sentosa Island as it arrives in Singapore December 30, 2006. The Gotheborg docked in Singapore as part of a world tour which has included visitss to Spain, Brazil, South Africa, China, Australia and Indonesia.
Photo by Vivek Prakash
Pink Floyd has been all over the Billboard charts since making its debut in 1965, but this week the veteran U.K. band stakes a claim on some new territory, showing up on Hot Dance Airplay for the first time.
The track that sends Pink Floyd into a new orbit is "Proper Education (The Wall)," credited to "Eric Prydz vs. Pink Floyd."
While this is Pink Floyd's first turn on Hot Dance Airplay, the group did register on the Hot Dance Club Play chart in 1980 when the original "Another Brick in the Wall," along with "The Wall" tracks "Run Like Hell" and "Don't Leave Me Now," peaked at No. 57.
Some 37 years after the world's most famous pop group broke up, the Royal Mail will release a set of six stamps on January 9 depicting iconic Beatles' album covers.
The stamps "celebrate the Beatles' extraordinary cultural contribution to Britain," the Royal Mail said.
The featured album covers range from "With the Beatles" and "Help!", through the groundbreaking 1966 album "Revolver", "Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", "Abbey Road" -- with its famous photograph of the band walking across the street -- and "Let it Be", released in 1970 after the group disbanded.
In a city that lost several beloved institutions in 2006, the sound coming out of Chicago's jazz scene is providing a year-end coda no one wants to hear.
The Jazz Showcase, this jazz-drenched city's oldest club dedicated to the musical form and the second-oldest U.S. jazz venue after New York's Village Vanguard, is closing its doors this weekend after 59 years.
A New Year's Eve "last blast" featuring saxophonist David "Fathead" Newman and Henry Johnson's Organ Express will be the final show at the club, which for six decades presented artists like Charlie Parker and others working out of the tradition associated with legendary players like John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins.
This fall, the club lost its lease and despite help from the city of Chicago, its owner and founder, 80-year-old Joe Segal, still has found no new digs.
Indian sand artist Sudarshan Patnaik (top L) makes a sand sculpture of executed former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in Puri, the eastern coast of the Indian state of Orissa, December 30, 2006.
Photo by Sanjib Mukherjee
Comedian Jay Mohr exchanged wedding vows with "Las Vegas" actress Nikki Cox in a ceremony here, People magazine reported.
The couple was married Friday night, according to the magazine.
This is the first marriage for Cox, 28, who was previously engaged to comic Bob Goldthwait. Mohr, 36, was married to model-turned-actress Nicole Chamberlain from 1998 to 2004. They have a son together.
In California, a mysterious "Taxpayer X" has just come
clean about his income and handed over $200 million in unpaid taxes -
almost single-handedly eliminating the revenue shortfall of the state.
The tax payment is so large that it would pay the annual budget of
California's National Guard three times over. And it will close the gap
between the state's projected and actual revenues from $250 million to
$47 million. This will put the finances of Arnold Schwarzenegger, the
State Governor, back on track - a New Year gift to compensate perhaps
for the leg that he broke while skiing during the holidays.
The authorities have at least confirmed that Taxpayer X is not a
corporation. "This was a personal income tax matter," Patrick Hill, a
spokesman for the Franchise Tax Board, said.
In this photo released by China's Xinhua news agency, a cleaner sweeps snow on a street in Jinan, capital of east China's Shandong province, on Saturday December 30, 2006. A snowfall hit the city on Saturday.
Photo by Zhu Zheng
Marion True, former J. Paul Getty Museum curator, says the institution is letting her take the fall in a looted art case that has resulted in agreements to return 30 contested antiquities to both Greece and Italy, according to a published report.
True wrote in a letter to the J. Paul Getty Trust that her superiors were aware of the risks of buying antiquities and had approved the acquisitions. The Dec. 18 letter was obtained by the Los Angeles Times.
The Getty is paying for True's defence in Italy and Greece, which also brought charges against her, and has said that True is being unfairly singled out by foreign prosecutors.
True was the Getty antiquities curator from 1986 to 2005, when she was asked to retire. She was responsible for recommending what objects the museum should buy from private dealers and at public auctions. Approval of her recommendations rested with the museum director, the Getty Trust's chief executive and members of the board of trustees.
An alert tabby cat saved an Australian family of four from a house fire by clawing at its owner's face, emergency officials said on Friday.
Timmy the tabby sprang into action by waking his unidentified owner when a mattress caught fire as the family slept early on Friday in Cairns in Australia's tropical north.
The man was then able to wake his family and call for help.
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