'TBH Politoons'
Thanks, again, Tim!
An Interesting Read
'Are Hummer Owners Idiots?'
from that Mad Cat, JD
Are Hummer Owners Idiots?
More delightful proof positive that most SUVs are, in fact, morally repugnant. Go, America!
Just in time for America's latest murderous war for oil, just in time to be reminded of exactly why our foreign policy is so horribly mangled and debilitating and Saudi enslaved and terrorist ready ...
Just in time to crush a few thousand smaller cars and kill a bunch of pedestrians and poison the environment and still be able to traverse six feet of standing floodwater in order to make it in time for Timmy's soccer game, it's the rollout of the new Hummer H2, the biggest joke of the entire SUV world, representing, well, just exactly everything that's wrong with America's view of the world.
For the rest, Are Hummer Owners Idiots?
Gotta get my head out of the gutter - I read the word 'Hummer', and an SUV is not what I'm thinking of..... ; )
Another Fresh One!
The Worried Shrimp
Interesting Reading
'Conspiracy Planet'
Hmmm, looks like that Conspiracy Planet/Connections website finally updated. Interesting stuff this week,
like:
The Great Fallacy
"If the US military truly wishes to maintain its
status as the dominant military on the planet, it
cannot continue to rely entirely on a steady supply of
petroleum to power its machines of war and the
industries that build those machines. It must develop
alternative energy sources not dependent on the
limited natural resources of any nation or planet, and
it must develop them now. The sooner the US military
is able to bring this technology online on a massive
scale, using it to power its aircraft, sea and land
vehicles, the sooner the country as a whole can free
itself from the dangerous strategic vulnerability of
heavy reliance on petroleum products."
and
The Christmas Truce
"Christmas Day, 1915. British, French and German
soldiers enjoy a spontaneous truce. Enemies meet in
the no-man's land between the trenches to exchange
small gifts, sing Christmas carols, play football and
bury their dead.
"Naturally, their commanders were aghast. The generals
knew that such fraternizing among men whose job it was
to kill one another could seriously hamper their
future ability to kill one another. Such men might
decide that it isn't the men in the other trench who
are their enemy, rather the men situated miles behind
the lines, drinking cognac and schnapps while they
suck trench water through their coat sleeves. Or the
men even further away, engaging in the great world
banking bukkake."
Check it out at http://connections.20m.com!
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Another foggy morning, but cleared nicely. The humidity is dropping & my ears are itching - the Santa Anas must be kicking up again.
Gotta watch the size of the page for a couple of days - it's a Virgo thing. Well, and a Yahoo-thing, too. LOL
Still have some great LOTR responses, but I'm bumping it to Saturday and/or Sunday.
Damn - Alex sent me some stuff for today's page, but, forgot to include. Will have on Friday.
Tonight, Thursday, CBS opens with a fresh 'Star Search', then a fresh 'CSI: Crime Scene Investigation', and a fresh 'Without A Trace'.
Scheduled on a fresh Dave are George Clooney and Soundtrack of Our Lives.
Scheduled on a fresh Craiggers are Julia Stiles and Joseph Arthur.
NBC has a fresh 'Friends', a fresh 'Scrubs', a fresh 'Will & Grace', a fresh 'Good Morning, Miami', and a fresh 'ER'.
Scheduled on a fresh Jay are Catherine Zeta-Jones, Josh Brolin, and the Doors.
Scheduled on a fresh Conan are Tom Selleck, Big Show, and Sue Johanson.
Scheduled on a fresh Carson Daly are Ray Liotta and Vivian Green.
ABC has a 2-hour 'special' - 'The Disco Ball', followed by 'PrimeTime Thursday'.
The WB opens with a RERUN 'High School Reunion', then a fresh 'Jamie Kennedy', and a fresh 'Surreal Life'.
Faux has the movie 'Scream'.
UPN kills the night with 'WWE Smackdown!'.
Anyone have any opinions?
Or reviews?
(See below for addresses)
Big Dog Watch Continues
Bill Clinton
Former U.S. President Bill Clinton speaks at the Second Annual William Jefferson Clinton Presidential Foundation Forum held at New York University on January 14, 2003. The forum
consists of panel discussions focusing on Globalization in the Twenty First Century.
Photo by Chip East
Love That Dancing Rummy!
Brokers Gift for NYC Schools
Caroline Kennedy
The History Channel will donate $1 million worth of scholarships, materials and staff hours to city schools in a partnership brokered by the school system's chief fund-raiser, Caroline Kennedy.
"It was really through reading history that my father got interested in politics and became the president that he was," Kennedy said Tuesday at a news conference.
Under the four-year partnership, the History Channel will provide training sessions for middle and high school history teachers, award $1,000 scholarships to outstanding students and teachers, supply
tapes of some of its own documentaries, produce public service announcements and help develop history curriculum.
The arrangement is the first of its kind to be announced since Kennedy, daughter of President John F. Kennedy, was appointed chief executive of the Office of Strategic Partnerships by Schools Chancellor Joel Klein last fall.
"This is especially meaningful to me because history was really such a big part of my life in my childhood," she said. "In our family, history was not just names and dates but really the stories of men and
women who built our country and the kind of challenges they faced and the dreams that they dreamed."
Caroline Kennedy
NYC Department of Education Web site
History Channel Web site
Gloria Vanderbilt Is His Mom
Anderson Cooper
Anderson Cooper has a sly sense of humor. From time to time, the smooth CNN anchor refers to "my mom," without ever disclosing that she is the legendary Gloria Vanderbilt. In Avenue magazine,
columnist Richard Turley writes, "Cooper recently brought her on camera to be interviewed about a Chevy Camaro she once owned, and she was identifed in the chyron [on-screen nameline] only as 'Anderson's Mom.'
Anderson Cooper
The Information One-Stop
Moose & Squirrel
Rescued From Fire
David Brinkley
Retired television news veteran David Brinkley was rescued from his burning town house by a persistent sheriff's deputy who broke into the home through a window, authorities said Wednesday
Teton County Sheriff's Deputy Chad Sachse said he helped put the bedridden Brinkley in a wheelchair and pushed him to safety early Tuesday. Brinkley, 82, and his caregiver escaped injury.
Sachse had gone to check a security guard's report of a fire at the town house complex in this northwest Wyoming town and found flames shooting out of the roof near the chimney.
The security guard had not believed the residence was occupied, but Sachse said he pounded on the door and looked in windows anyway.
When Sachse saw a television set on, he broke a screen and entered through a kitchen window. He shouted, waking the caregiver from a couch in front of the fireplace.
"I'm a pretty loud person," Sachse said Wednesday. "I'm sure I scared the bejesus out of her because she was sound asleep."
Sachse went into a bedroom and woke Brinkley. Wilson Fire Chief Steven Moomey arrived soon after and he and Sachse put Brinkley into a wheelchair and pushed him to Sachse's patrol car.
He said Brinkley was taken to a bed in an unoccupied, furnished town house nearby. Brinkley's wife, Susan, was at the couple's home in Houston, Texas, at the time, according to Sachse.
The town house is in Teton Pines, an ultra-exclusive resort community where Vice President Dick Cheney also has a home.
David Brinkley
Thomas Jefferson's secret letter to Congress, written on January 18, 1803, which marked the official beginning of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, is shown while being unveiled for photographers at the National
Archives in Washington January 15, 2003. In the message, Jefferson instructed Congress to conceal the funding for the expedition in a general line-item appropriation 'for the purpose of extending the external
commerce of the United States.'
Photo by Molly Riley
Wins $10 Million in Gay Lawsuit
Tom Cruise
Tom Cruise has won a $10 million judgment in a 2001 lawsuit against a gay porn star who claimed he had a homosexual encounter with the "Mission: Impossible" actor, Cruise's attorney said on Wednesday.
A Los Angeles judge entered the default judgment in late December after defendant Chad Slater admitted that his story was false and said he would not actively defend himself against the
lawsuit, said Cruise's attorney Ricardo Cestero.
The judgment marks the second time Cruise has prevailed in lawsuits he filed to quash rumors that he is gay.
In 2001, the 40-year-old actor sued Michael Davis, the Los Angeles publisher of "Bold Magazine," for $100 million after Davis claimed to have a videotape of Cruise engaged in homosexual acts.
The actor dropped the suit later that year after Davis retracted his claim and agreed to a stipulation that Cruise "is not, and never has been, homosexual and has never had a homosexual affair."
Cestero said Cruise has not decided whether to press Slater, also known as Kyle Bradford, to pay the latest judgment.
Cestero said Cruise intends to file defamation actions against anyone who spreads false rumors about him.
Tom Cruise
Sold Rights To Her Life
Heidi Fleiss
Former "Hollywood Madam" Heidi Fleiss is turning her life story into a movie that will be developed as a potential vehicle for Nicole Kidman.
"This should be like 'Pretty Woman,' but with the visual energy and excess of 'Scarface,"' said Fleiss, who has made a deal for her life rights to be used as the basis for Paramount Pictures' "Pay the Girl."
"All of the madam movies have been like B-level porn or they've been boring. The world I was living in was not boring," she added.
The daughter of a pediatrician, Fleiss quickly ingratiated herself into the power set in her late teens. Her ticket was a relationship with the woman then considered the town's top madam.
"I (then) cornered the market and stayed on top for two and a half years," Fleiss said. "I ran my business dealing with the top 1% of the richest people in the entire world, people who run countries
and whose actions change economies. It was very intoxicating and the money was huge. Then I went to prison. I went in like Barbie and came out like G.I. Joe. I learned a lot of survival instincts."
Fleiss's burgeoning profile led her to become the focus of a sting operation by federal and local authorities. Her arrest made her a media sensation, prompting her high-profile clients to shun her even as she kept their identities secret.
Heidi Fleiss
In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends
WB Plans to Revive
'The Gong Show'
"The Gong Show," the 1970s television game show that featured bizarre and often unbearable amateur talent, is getting a new lease on life.
The WB network said on Wednesday it plans to broadcast a new version of the show to be produced by Sony Corp.'s Sony Pictures Television, which owns the rights to the show. A WB
spokesman said the new show is close to signing a host and is looking for producers.
The series has drawn renewed interest due to the new film "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind," which chronicles the show and the life of its co-creator and host, Chuck Barris.
Barris, who sold his production company years ago, will not be involved in the new show, the WB spokesman said.
The original "Gong Show" aired for two years on NBC Television from June 1976 to July 1978. A syndicated nighttime version was added in the fall of 1976 and ran until 1980. The
show came back briefly, from 1988 to 1989, with Don Bleu as host.
'The Gong Show'
A model displays Japanese toymaker Takara Co's 'Bowlingual' device, which the company says 'translates' dog emotions, in Tokyo January 15, 2003. The toy analyzes a dog's voice with a wireless microphone
attached to its collar, then displays expressions such as happiness and sadness.
Photo by Yuriko Nakao
Devout, Not Paranoid
Mel Gibson
Mel Gibson, a devout Catholic, is expecting the establishment media to come after him now that he's producing "The Passion," which chronicles the last 12 hours of Jesus Christ's life. Gibson, on location in Rome,
told Bill O'Reilly yesterday on Fox News Channel a "hit piece" is being prepared. "Since I've been in Rome here there have been some people sent from reputable publications who, you know, go about . . . they start
digging into your private life . . . and getting into your banking affairs . . . and any charities you might be involved in and then they start bothering your friends, and your business associates, and harassing your
family, including my 85-year-old father . . . and I find it's a little spooky . . . Say what you like about me - I'm a public person . . . You can pick on me, but when you start picking on my family when I'm out of
town, you know, get ready." While Gibson didn't name the "reputable papers," spies say the New York Times is leading the Gibson investigation.
Mel Gibson
TV Station to Air ShopNBC
ValueVision
ValueVision Media, owner of 24-hour home-shopping programmer ShopNBC, said on Wednesday it would buy a Boston television station to avoid losing viewers in that market.
Minneapolis-based ValueVision did not disclose the financial terms of the deal with WWDP TV-46, which reaches 1.8 million homes with cable.
ShopNBC, which trails industry leaders QVC and Home Shopping Network, currently broadcasts on WNEU TV-60 in Boston, but NBC recently bought that station and plans to broadcast Spanish-language Telemundo on it starting in April 2003.
ValueVision expects the deal to close in the first quarter after once it gets approval from the Federal Communications Commission.
ValueVision
Drunken-Driving Charges Dropped
Queen Latifah
A plea of no contest to reckless driving was entered on behalf of actress and Grammy-winning rapper Queen Latifah, and in exchange, prosecutors dropped two misdemeanor drunken-driving counts.
The charges came from the 32-year-old performer's 3:15 a.m. arrest on Nov. 20 in the Universal City area. A California Highway Patrol officer stopped her on the Hollywood Freeway for allegedly making an unsafe lane change.
She failed a field sobriety test and was booked for investigation of driving under the influence of alcohol, said CHP Officer Alex Delgadillo.
A Superior Court judge sentenced her to three years probation. She also must pay a $300 fine and participate in a 12-hour alcohol education program, said city attorney's spokesman Frank Mateljan.
Latifah also was stopped in 1996 for speeding on the Santa Monica Freeway by officers who said they found a loaded gun and marijuana in her car. Her attorney at the time entered guilty pleas to one count of carrying a
loaded firearm in a vehicle and one count of driving without a valid license. She was ordered to pay $3,310 and was placed on two years probation.
Queen Latifah
Picture At Link
Men With Tits
Want to keep abreast of the latest in male fashion? Well, the message from Milan is to say goodbye to Mr Macho and hello to Mr Androgyny.
The provocative direction – featuring male models with fake breasts under figure-hugging knitwear – was sent down the catwalk by outrageous British designer Vivienne Westwood in the mens' autumn winter 2003 shows held this week.
Ms Westwood put punk clothing on the map, featuring safety pins, slashed T-shirts, chains and dog collars in the '70s.
But this time around the Westwood catwalk also featured plenty of cues from womens' wear.
Jumpers came in tones of soft camel and rose, featured blouson sleeves and ruffled cuffs, and were teamed with fetching slim-hipped pants and cute peek-a-boo bonnet-style scarves.
Even the catwalk pose took on a feminine trait – gone was the tough guy stance.
It was replaced by a coy swivel of the hips contrived to give the model the slimmest silhouette possible.
For the rest, and the picture, Men With Tits
Sent in by Tim H
Thanks (I think), Tim! ; )
Upholds Sonny Bono Copyright Extention
SCOTUS
Mickey Mouse and The Walt Disney Co. scored a big victory Wednesday as the Supreme Court upheld longer copyright protections for cartoon characters, songs, books and other creations worth billions of dollars.
Companies like Disney breathed a collective sigh of relief with the 7-2 court ruling giving Congress permission to repeatedly extend copyright protection.
Hundreds of thousands of books, movies and songs were close to being released into the public domain when Congress extended the copyright by 20 years in 1998.
Justices said the copyright extension, named for the late Rep. Sonny Bono, R-Calif., was neither unconstitutional overreaching by Congress, nor a violation of free-speech rights.
In two lengthy dissents, Justices John Paul Stevens and Stephen Breyer said the court was making a mistake.
"The serious public harm and the virtually nonexistent public benefit could not be more clear," Breyer wrote.
Copyright holders stand to collect about $400 million more a year from older creations under the extension, he said. The limit on the use of information "threatens to interfere with efforts to preserve our nation's historical
and cultural heritage" and to educate children, Breyer added. Stevens said the court was "failing to protect the public interest in free access to the products of inventive and artistic genius."
A contrary ruling would have caused huge losses for entertainment giants like Disney and AOL Time Warner Inc. AOL Time Warner had said that would threaten copyrights for such movies as "Casablanca," "The Wizard of Oz" and "Gone With the Wind."
The Constitution allows Congress to give authors and inventors the exclusive right to their works for a "limited" time.
Congress has repeatedly lengthened the terms of copyrights over the years. Copyrights lasted only 14 years in 1790. With the challenged 1998 extension, the period is now 70 years after the death of the
creator. Works owned by corporations are now protected for 95 years.
Congress passed the latest copyright extension after heavy lobbying from companies with lucrative copyrights.
SCOTUS
Formerly 'The Vidiot'
Sales Near $1 Billion
Ring-Tones
Ring tones, those ubiquitous, monophonic song recordings programmed into seemingly every teenager's mobile phone, are quietly becoming a money-maker for the music industry.
A new study released Wednesday by London-based Informa Media Group said that authors' collection societies collected $71 million in royalties from ring-tone sales in 2002, up 58 percent from the previous year.
Informa's senior analyst Simon Dyson said the royalties figure -- which is typically 10 percent to 15 percent of the total sales from ring tones -- would suggest that the overall market is over $700 million annually, and quite possibly as high as $1 billion.
The proceeds are divided between operators, labels and the artists.
Ring tones started off as a promotional gimmick, with labels offering up decidedly low-fidelity renditions of new singles to Web sites and mobile phone operators as a way to keep fans humming along to their favorite artists.
Despite the poor sound quality, the practice of customizing one's mobile phone with a favorite song grew with surprising speed.
Now record labels regularly grant rights to mobile operators and Web sites to sell ring tones.
Ring-Tones
Brent Moffatt broke the world record for most piercings by sticking hundreds of surgical needles thru his legs and torso in Winnipeg, January 15, 2003. Moffatt broke the previous Guiness record of 200 piercings in about one and
one-half hours and planned to stop at 1000 piercings.
Photo by Fred Greenslade
No Charges Filed
Joan Rivers
Joan Rivers will not face criminal charges for her temper tantrum in an Upper East Side car-rental agency - despite allegedly nailing a clerk in the eye with a tossed marker.
Sources said cops were notified Monday by the Manhattan district attorney that Rivers will not be arrested or charged for the Dec. 20 pen-pitching incident at the Dollar Rent A Car on 157 E. 84th St., where Griselda Santana, 38, suffered an eyelid contusion.
Rivers, 69, allegedly cursed at Santana for making her wait for service, saying: "Don't you know who the f- - - I am? How could you let me wait on line? You stupid . . . bitch!"
The only applicable charge would have been harassment, but that requires a cop witnessing the incident, sources said.
Rivers' spokesman, Richard Grant, said his client is currently making the rounds of awards shows and had no comment on the alleged attack, which he said "was not an incident."
Joan Rivers
More Disney 'Family' Values
ABC to Air 'Sexiest' Reality Show
Third-ranked ABC Television hopes that a search for the sexiest people in America plus a show putting minor celebrities in peril will re-energize its turnaround as network executives on Wednesday showcased midseason and summer shows for critics.
By the time fall rolls around, ABC plans to have aired a dozen reality-based shows, including ones featuring a hunt for sexpots, a prime time beauty contest and plastic surgery make-overs, but executives promised to maintain
standards at the network known for family entertainment.
"It is a very nice way to heat up a cold time period," Susan Lyne, president of ABC Entertainment Television, told critics as she outlined the network's midseason strategy.
Would-be hunks and babes open competition in "Are You Hot: The Search for America's Sexiest People," from the producers of "The Bachelor" on Thursday, Feb. 13.
"This is a contest where intelligence, achievement have absolutely no bearing, but it will be a very entertaining show," Lyne said with a laugh.
Reality shows -- relatively cheap to produce and easy to promote -- are like crack cocaine for networks, Lyne said. But she and ABC Entertainment Chairman Lloyd Braun said they had avoided mean-spirited shows to maintain
quality and would not overdose on the genre.
ABC to Air 'Sexiest' Reality Show
Anyone else see in irony in 1.) Before 'family-oriented' Disney bought ABC, the network had a history of 'family' shows, but now, with Disney ownership, is stooping to crap Faux won't touch (but claim their shows are better because they aren't 'mean-spirited')? and 2.) Did you ever think you'd hear any president of Disney/ABC TV admit that reality shows were cheap
to produce and then compare the format to crack cocaine for networks? Jeez
CBS Backing Away
'Beverly Hillbillies' Revival
Under pressure, CBS is dampening expectations for "The Real Beverly Hillbillies," a reality series in the works that borrows its premise from the hit 1960s sitcom. This time,
the network planned to use a real family instead of a fictional one.
An advocacy group, the Center for Rural Strategies, placed a second round of newspaper ads protesting the series in newspapers on Wednesday.
There is still no schedule for when, or if, the series will get on the air, CBS President Leslie Moonves said.
Many residents of rural states have complained that the show will perpetuate a stereotype of them as hicks; the advocacy groups claims thousands of e-mails in support. Casting
is being conducted in West Virginia, Kentucky, Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia.
For more, 'Beverly Hillbillies' Revival
Vendors clip mandarin oranges trees as they wait for customers at a shopping mall in Kuala Lumpur Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2003. The pronunciation of 'mandarin oranges' in the Chinese Language rhymes with the Chinese
term for 'good fortune.' So, on visiting relatives, people bring along at least a pair of oranges to bring good fortune into their homes. Chinese around the globe will celebrate the Lunar New Year, the Year of the Sheep, on February 1.
Photo by Teh Eng Koon
'The Osbournes'
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