'TBH Politoons'
Thanks, again, Tim!
Reader Comment
Re: James Brown's Pardon, Part 1
Dear Marty:
I'm happy that James Brown received a pardon. However, I'm afraid this is yet another example of the utter inequality and unfairness that pervades our entire so-called criminal justice system. To put it succinctly, there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that Brown received a pardon solely, and I emphasis solely, because he had the connections and resources to pursue one. As far as I'm aware, this is exclusively how pardons work.
Conversely, if you lack the pull and money, you are not allowed to participate at all in the pardon game.
To put it another way, there are no doubt thousands of individuals across the country who committed crimes less serious than Brown who will never receive a pardon. Why? To put it simply, they aren't James Brown.
Jim
Thanks, Jim! You weren't alone in that sentiment...
Reader Comment
Re: James Brown's Pardon, Part 2
Papa's Got a Brand New Bag
It's more like "Papa's Got a Brand New Bagman." Obtaining such a pardon usually comes at considerable expense to the pardon-seeker in the form of a substantial campaign contribution.
Mr2E
I'm shocked! Absolutely shocked (snicker).
The Price Of Consolidation
from 'Ed'
Got this note from an old family friend...
The shoe has dropped, the job is over and NBC has become NB See Ya. On
May 2 NBC took over control of the two Spanish language television
stations that I was working at and moved them into their hub. There are
some guys that left with a huge ($100K) severance, others that gave up
the pension to take a pay cut and continue in a production position, some
left with hopes that the FCC won't allow NBC to keep 3 stations in this
market, and then there is me.
I am "blissfully unemployed". For the
last six months I have been working a minimum 50 hours a week and socking
it away, knowing the raining day was coming. Now I can contend with some
of the household projects, training programs in digital, and some kicking
back if my ego will allow.
I did go into Fox Sports today for an interview - so that I could make as
much as I did 10 years ago, and at a job that 6 years ago the interviewer
said I should be his boss due to my experience. But if the job becomes
mine, I will have to take it especially permanent. We need the benefits.
ed
'Ed' has over 20 years experience in broadcasting, proficient beyond belief, veteran, father of 2, and all-round honorable man. He has been living the hell that is 'consolidation'.
The media has yet to cover how many jobs have been lost with 'consolidation'.
Academy of Country Music Awards
'Same Dress'
Caught by Tim
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In The Chaos Household
Last Night
More 'June Gloom' - but it 'burned off' early, so temperatures were a bit above normal (or what passes for normal).
The Long Beach school system cuts the kids loose a little after 1pm on Wednesdays, so it seemed like a perfect day to toodle down to Seal Beach for a late lunch at
Ruby's - located at the end of the pier, a quarter mile offshore.
Bought some cool little glass fish. Think they may become Christmas presents. And, as my hometown weekly, The Johnsonburg Press would phrase it, "a good time was had by all."
My computer went nuts tonight. This is my 3rd attempt at a page - all of a sudden, the mouse was wild, all the programs were flashing by - the only way out was a '3 finger salute'. And the audio sounds like it's in a tunnel. Argh.
Tonight, Thursday, CBS opens the evening with a RERUN 'CSI: Miami', followed by a RERUN 'CSI: Crime Scene Investigation', and then a RERUN 'Without A Trace'.
Scheduled on a FRESH Dave are Antonio Banderas, Heidi Klum, and Liam Lynch. ( RERUNS NEXT WEEK )
Scheduled on a FRESH Craiggers are Lindsay Sloane and burlesque star Dita Von Teese. ( RERUNS NEXT WEEK )
NBC starts the night with a RERUN 'Friends', followed by a RERUN 'Will & Grace', then another RERUN 'Will & Gace', followed by a RERUN 'Frasier', and then
a RERUN 'ER'.
Scheduled on a FRESH Jay are Geraldo Rivera, The winner of "American Idol", and Frankie J. ( RERUNS NEXT WEEK )
Scheduled on a FRESH Conan is Regena Thomashauer. ( RERUNS NEXT WEEK )
Scheduled on a FRESH Carson Daly are Brooke Burns, Steve Francis, and the Sounds. ( RERUNS NEXT WEEK )
ABC has basketball scheduled, so the West Coast will be left to fill primetime with local crap.
Scheduled on a FRESH Jimmy Kimmel are Catherine Bell and Toby Keith, with this week's guest co-host Ed McMahon. ( RERUNS NEXT WEEK )
The WB offers a RERUN 'Sabrina', followed by Series Premiere of 'The O'Keefe's', followed by a
RERUN 'Jamie Kennedy', and then another RERUN 'Jamie Kennedy'.
Faux has a 'special' - 'Summer Music Mania 2003'.
UPN kills the night with more desperation from 'WWE Smackdown!'.
Anyone have any opinions?
Or reviews?
(See below for addresses)
A wax figure of entertainer Jennifer Lopez is displayed at Madame Tussaud's museum in New York on May 21, 2003. As part of ceremonies marking the unveiling the museum hosted a 'booty call' contest where entrants were supposed to compare their backsides with that of 'J Lo.'
Photo by Peter Morgan
Visited Kuwait
Conan O'Brien
The Middle East has seen plenty of tall, pale men since the American infidels set their sights on Saddam Hussein, but perhaps no one as tall or as pale as Conan O'Brien. Sources at Late Night with Conan O'Brien and the U.S.O. told The Transom that Mr. O'Brien, along with the executive producer of his NBC talk show, Jeff Ross, and the program's head writer, Mike Sweeney, quietly ventured to Kuwait on May 14 for what U.S.O. spokeswoman Sharon Fletcher called a "handshake tour" of American bases that was jointly arranged by the U.S.O. and the Department of Defense's Office of Armed Forces Entertainment (A.F.E.).
After arriving in Kuwait on the evening of May 15, the trio spent most of the following day visiting U.S. Army, Air Force and Marine encampments just outside the Iraqi border via Blackhawk helicopter. One source said that, at each stop, Mr. O'Brien told a few jokes and then spent the rest of his ground time meeting and taking photos with the troops, many of whom had just come from Baghdad. A Late Night source added that a majority of the soldiers—"a lot of them women"—were between the ages of 19 and 24 years old, which pretty much constitutes the core demographic of Mr. O'Brien's TV audience.
On May 18, Mr. O'Brien and his posse flew to a naval air base in Bahrain, where they donned flight helmets and survival vests and strapped themselves into what the Late Night source described as a "twin-engine turbo-prop" transport plane that made a wire landing on the deck of the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Nimitz. Mr. O'Brien's cohort was documenting the trip—footage is slated to run on Late Night on May 22—and let's hope there's a shot of Mr. O'Brien in his military gear in case he decides to run for President one of these days.
For more, Conan O'Brien
The Information One-Stop
Moose & Squirrel
Defends Outspoken Artists
Elvis Costello
British singer-songwriter Elvis Costello on Tuesday defended musicians who speak their minds in these "fairly dangerous times" and warned Americans to guard against "any attempts by people who swindle their way into office."
Addressing a music industry dinner in Beverly Hills, California, Costello also criticized the British political system, which he described as "privileged people handing wigs to one another making the laws of the land."
Costello drew loud cheers from the black-tie audience, which included songwriters Stevie Wonder, Rick James, Burt Bacharach, Solomon Burke and Nelly.
"We all live in fairly dangerous times in terms of freedom of speech and freedom of expression," Costello said.
"A lot of the songwriters that I've admired and learned from ... are people who spoke in matters of conscience as well as matters of the heart. I think that it's essential that we defend that right."
Elvis Costello
A visitor looks at Bob Hope's joke vault at the Library of Congress in Washington, May 21, 2003. Hope collected over 85,000 gags in his fireproof 'joke vault' and donated them to the Library of Congress. The Library of Congress is celebrating Bob Hope's 100th birthday, which is May 29.
Photo by William Philpott
Wants to Finish Book
Pete Townshend
Rock guitarist and Who co-founder Pete Townshend has decided to hurry up with his autobiography so people get a better idea of his life.
Rolling Stone has published an e-mail it received from Townshend, one of the few times he's spoken since he was cleared on child porn charges in Britain this month. Townshend says he meant to put his autobiography aside for a while, but now he wants to finish it before the end of the year.
Townshend says he wants to formalize his charity and the way he works with "survivors" so his work is better known.
The guitarist also says he wants to shake hands with everyone who's supported him and praises Who singer Roger Daltrey as "a rock."
The musician acknowledged using his credit card to enter a Web site advertising child pornography but said he was doing research for his autobiography. He denied being a pedophile and said he had campaigned against child pornography.
Pete Townshend
Van Morrison, Patti LaBelle & Little Richard
Songwriters Hall Of Fame
Van Morrison, Patti LaBelle, and Little Richard will be honored by the Songwriters Hall Of Fame at their 34th Annual induction and awards dinner on June 12 in New York City. Morrison and Little Richard are among this year's inductees while LaBelle will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the organization.
Other special honors include the presentation of the first "Towering Performance Award" to Tony Bennett for his 1962 classic, "I Left My Heart In San Francisco." Songwriter Jimmy Webb will receive the Johnny Mercer Award for his body of work, which includes Glen Campbell's "By The Time I Get To Phoenix" and "Wichita Lineman," the 5th Dimension's "Up, Up And Away," and "MacArthur Park" by the late Richard Harris.
Songwriters Hall Of Fame
ABC Reality TV
Roseanne Barr
Roseanne Barr returns to ABC in July with a 13-episode reality show that follows the former situation comedy star as she creates a cooking show, the network said on Wednesday.
The prime time show which does not have a title yet will begin airing in late July and follow Roseanne at home and work as she puts together a cooking show.
The cooking series actually will be shown on cable network ABC Family, said a spokeswoman for ABC, which is owned by Walt Disney Co. .
Roseanne Barr
L.A. TV Study
'Duopolies'
A study released on Wednesday by advocacy group Children Now shows the amount of kids' television programs in Los Angeles fell sharply when a media company owned more than one of the city's TV stations.
The research from Oakland, California-based Children Now showed that from 1998 to 2003, the amount of kids' programs on local station KCAL fell by 89 percent from 26 hours a week to three hours per week, while sister station KCBS maintained its lineup of three hours per week in both years.
Stations are only required to carry three hours per week of children's programs under current FCC rules.
Both KCAL and KCBS are owned by media conglomerate Viacom Inc., which also runs the CBS and UPN TV networks, cable TV's Nickelodeon and MTV, among its media properties. Viacom bought KCAL just last year.
Likewise, News Corp. Ltd. acquired local station KCOP-TV in 2001. KCOP aired 14 children's series in 1998, but only four in 2003, according to the study. News Corp. also owns KTTV-TV in Los Angeles, and runs the Fox broadcast network.
Duopoly proponents, however, argue that the ever-expanding number of cable TV channels offer viewers a wider variety than ever of diverse programs.
While the study only covers Los Angeles, Miller noted the city is the second-largest TV market in the country.
'Duopolies'
Living in LA, it's not just kid's progamming that's taken a major hit in the shorts.
For example, KCAL does live news at noon, 2pm & 3pm. KCBS continues at 4pm, 5pm, & 6pm. Dan Rather at 7pm. Then KCAL starts news again at 8pm, 9pm, and 10pm. KCBS does half an hour at 11pm.
One would be led to believe this is a news junkie heaven - but, one would be way-wrong. Back when both stations were independent operations they each had their own news crews - everything from the talking heads to writers to producers to directors to engineers to camera people to ENG people to editors...get the idea?
Now, both stations 'share' a news team, and the news has become a sort of top 10 countdown, endlessly rerun, with only re-read opens by different talking heads.
Or how KCBS reruns most of their syndicated material on KCAL - at one time they would never have shared 'Judge Judy' (for example).
Ever notice how often the proponents of consolidation bring up cable? Like cable is owned by different corporate masters?
Consolidation bites - if it sucked, a purpose would be served!
In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends
Montreal Comedy Festival
'Just for Laughs'
Bill Cosby, Brad Garrett, Tina Fey, Kelly Ripa and members of the "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" cast will take the stage at this summer's Just for Laughs comedy fete in Montreal, organizers said Tuesday.
Garrett, Fey, Ripa, Carl Reiner and Canada's best-known television comedian, Rick Mercer, will host gala performances. As hosts, they will open the galas with a seven-minute spiel and introduce all the acts of the evening. Cosby will perform his own show, which is expected to last two hours.
The 10-day festival, running July 10-20, features more than 290 different shows in both French and English, with a record 72 English-language club acts, Hills noted. "We've added another dozen shows this year including several tailor-made for the industry in attendance. We've got quite a star-studded lineup."
For the rest, 'Just for Laughs'
Catherine Chalmers poses by a piece in her 'American Cockroach' exhibition at the RARE Gallery in New York May 15, 2003.
Photo by Shannon Stapleton
Snarky Gossip
Larry Wachowski
Larry Wachowski, who with brother Andy hatched and helmed The Matrix trilogy, as well as the 1996 noir flick Bound, has had his paychecks tied up in an exacting divorce battle.
In a restraining order issued hours before the Wachowskis' Matrix Reloaded unloaded last week in sneak-peak late-night screenings, the brothers' production companies were barred from providing Larry Wachowski with "anything of value," including, yup, money.
The order and 14 pages of related documents were posted Wednesday on the Smoking Gun.
The pages paint a picture of an estranged wife, Thea Bloom, who accuses her estranged husband, Larry Wachowski, of being "extremely dishonest with me in our personal life."
Bloom and Larry Wachowski, college sweethearts who wed in 1993, separated in July 2002. According to Bloom's court document, the split was "based on very intimate circumstances, concerning which I do not elaborate at this time for reasons of his personal privacy."
Larry Wachowski, 37, got the attention of the British tabloids for stepping out with a lady friend at last week's Matrix Reloaded premiere at the Cannes Film Festival.
In London's Sunday Mail, Jake Miller, estranged husband of Larry Wachowski's lady friend, Karin Winslow, 36, accused the Matrix man of stealing his wife, and, for good measure, cross-dressing.
"When Larry walked down the red carpet with my wife, he was probably wearing a bra and panties under his suit," Miller told the paper. He also told the paper he was a transsexual.
For more, Larry Wachowski
In Cannes
Nicole Kidman
Anti-tobacco groups were fuming with Oscar-winning Australian actress Nicole Kidman after she publicly lit up during a press conference at the Cannes film festival.
Kidman shared a cigarette with her Dogville co-star Stellan Skarsgaard while promoting her new movie at the European festival.
Anti-smoking groups said the image of Kidman smoking was a free advertisement for the tobacco industry and glamourised the habit.
Nicole Kidman
Plans Thanksgiving Wedding
Wynonna
Wynonna plans to walk down the aisle with her fiance and longtime bodyguard D.R. Roach over the Thanksgiving holiday this year. The singer will tie the knot in Nashville, with her famous Judd family members--mother Naomi and sister Ashley--participating in the wedding, according to Access Hollywood.
Wynonna said that she has found her soul mate in a man she never imagined wanting to date, much less marry. "After eight years of being on the bus together and seeing each other as the brother and sister we never wanted, he's the one," Wynonna said. "It is pretty awesome, actually--sort of, like, no pressure. He's already seen the best and worst of me."
Wynonna
New Unreleased Compilation Album
'Gimme Skelter'
Weezer, Iggy Pop, Sonic Youth, Mudhoney, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are among the artists that will contribute previously unreleased material to "Gimme Skelter," a compilation album due in September from Buddyhead Records.
Wryly described by Buddyhead co-founder Travis Keller as "a benefit compilation -- benefiting the state of music," the project will be distributed through Nettwerk in North America and Parlophone in Europe.
"With the exception of the Weezer rarity, it's all new stuff," adds Keller, who calls the Rivers Cuomo-fronted band's inclusion, "a B-side recorded around the time of 'Pinkerton' that's never been put out." Iggy Pop will provide a spoken word introduction, while Sonic Youth will contribute a yet-to-be-named track.
Keller confirms Mudhoney has offered up the tune "Hard on for War," which he describes as "a rather topical number." Elsewhere, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs donate "Shot Down," while Cave In provides "Harmless, Armless" and Rocket From The Crypt-offshoot band Beehive and the Barracudas lend "Up in Flames." Buddyhead's own the Icarus Line, which features Keller's business partner Aaron North on guitar, will lend the track "Losing Touch With My Mind."
"What's also cool about the project is that each band will be given their own page in the CD booklet to contribute whatever artwork they want," says Keller. The compilation will also include the participation of acts like Le Tigre, Burning Brides, Dead Meadow, Radio Vago, Nardwuar, Your Enemies Friends, and Pleasure Forever.
'Gimme Skelter'
First Live TV Broadcast From Mt. Everest
China
Chinese climbers broadcast the first live television pictures from the summit of Everest on Wednesday, 50 years after the first ascent of the world's highest mountain.
The broadcast from the Chinese team, which started its ascent up the north slope of the 29,040-foot peak on May 11, beat a U.S. cable station hoping to become the first to beam images live from the summit on Thursday.
The pictures on state-run China Central Television (CCTV), which reaches hundreds of millions of people, showed a group of jubilant but exhausted climbers resting at the summit in yellow, red and purple parkas, some wearing oxygen masks and goggles.
The Americans had hoped to be the ones to make history.
As part of its reality adventure show "Global Extreme Challenge," which made its debut earlier this year, the Outdoor Life Network planned to chronicle the eight-hour final ascent of a team of American climbers.
China
Formerly 'The Vidiot'
Ex-Schoolmate Sues Over Song
Eminem
A former schoolmate of Eminem, who's suing the rapper for $1 million, is scheduled to have his case go to trial this month, despite the withdrawal of the plaintiff's attorney.
DeAngelo Bailey of Roseville sued Eminem, whose real name is Marshall Mathers III, in 2001. He claimed Eminem's song "Brain Damage," which named Bailey as an abusive bully, damaged his reputation and his own ability to launch a music career.
Bailey's attorney, John Chupa, asked Monday to be removed from the case, apparently because of a breakdown in communications with his client, the Detroit Free Press reported.
Eminem
A pice if ice falls from the Perito Moreno Glacier into the Argentino Lake at the Los Glaciares National Park on the Patagonia region of Southern Argentina on May 17, 2003. The front of the glacier is more than 4 km (2,5 miles) long and its more than 60 meters (200 feet) high.
Photo by Dario Lopez-Mills
Now A Movie Villain
Jerry Springer
First a talk show, then an opera, Jerry Springer is now about to re-invent himself as a movie villain.
The host of one of America's most lurid shows flew into the Cannes Film festival to launch "Citizen Verdict" which satirizes the excesses of reality television.
Summarizing the plot, he told Reuters: "It's a movie about televising a criminal trial where the viewers get to vote guilty or innocent. It takes reality television one step further.
The producer carves out a deal with the governor of Florida, played by Roy Scheider of "Jaws" fame, to telecast trials. The public votes the accused guilty or not guilty and then can watch the execution on pay TV.
Springer said: "It is the first time I have been in a movie where I am not playing myself or someone like me. In other words, I am supposed to act in this one."
Jerry Springer
Free Toronto Concert Plan Draws Fire
Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones' plans to perform a free concert for Toronto this summer is generating some controversy. The group has agreed "in principle" to play a free show in late July at the city's Downsview Centre to help promote a positive image of Toronto after this spring's outbreak of SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) cases. But the Toronto Sun reports that organizations such as the Canadian Taxpayers Federation and the Canadian Alliance are critical of the plan, saying the $10 million in public funds that would be spent to stage the concert could be better used in other areas. The Stones have given Toronto officials until Tuesday (May 20) to book the show.
Barenaked Ladies, the Tragically Hip, and Diana Krall have reportedly signed on to be part of the event as well.
Toronto's tourism industry has been hit hard since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the city a SARS hot zone, although the warnings have since been lifted. Twenty-four people have died from SARS in the Toronto area. Elton John and Billy Joel, Styx, Hall & Oates, Kelly Clarkson, Lisa Marie Presley, and others have canceled concert dates there due to SARS.
Rolling Stones
Archaeologists Unearth More Bodies
Stonehenge
Archaeologists who last year unearthed the remains of a Bronze Age archer at Stonehenge said Wednesday they have found six more bodies near the mysterious ring of ancient monoliths.
The remains of four adults and two children were found about half a mile from that of the archer, dubbed "The King of Stonehenge" by Britain's tabloid press. Archaeologists said he came from Switzerland and may have been involved in building the monument.
Radiocarbon tests will be done to find out more precise dates for the burials but the group is believed to have lived around 2300 B.C., during the building of Stonehenge at Amesbury, 75 miles southwest of London, said Wessex Archaeology, which excavated the site.
The grave contained four pots belonging to the Beaker Culture that flourished in the Swiss Alps during the Bronze Age, some flint tools, one flint arrowhead and a bone toggle for fastening clothing, Wessex Archaeology said.
The large number of bodies placed in this grave is something more commonly found in the Stone Age, but the Beaker style pottery is characteristic of Bronze Age burials.
Stonehenge
Wessex Archaeology
Keeping LAX Safe
6 French Journalists
On the weekend of May 10 and 11, six French television journalists visiting Los Angeles to cover the massive E3 video-game expo were stopped for questioning by LAX border guards, barred from entering the country, and sent back to Europe. "These journalists were treated like criminals—subjected to several body searches, handcuffed, locked up and fingerprinted," Reporters Without Borders Secretary-General Robert Ménard complained in a letter to the American ambassador to France.
Their offense? Trying to enter the U.S. the same way European journalists have been coming for the last 17 years: on the Visa Waiver program, which allows the citizens of 27 friendly countries (from Andorra to Switzerland) to visit the States up to 90 days without a visa, as long as the trip is for "business or pleasure." Journalism, according to American consular writ, does not qualify as either.
Those loose cannons who commit unauthorized acts of reporting "have defrauded the government," said Chris Bentley, spokesman for the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (BCIS). To be in compliance, foreign hacks need a special "I-visa," which costs $100 to apply for, and requires a "comprehensive letter from the journalist's employer on the employer's letterhead identifying the journalist and describing in detail the nature and function of the journalist's position." Not exactly tailor-made for scrappy freelancers or globe-trotting ambulance-chasers.
This regulation and a host of others like it were in place long before Congressional fries were liberated from the Vichy regime; what's new is the enforcement. Since late last fall, when the Department of Homeland Security installed a comprehensive immigration database (the jauntily named Consular Lookout and Support System, or CLASS), yesterday's minor visa transgression is today's "no-entry" stamp.
For the rest, 6 French Journalists
US biologist Carrie Hunt trains bears to avoid contact with humans so they can avoid being killed.
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'Ark of Darkness'
"The Ark of Darkness", a Political/Science-Fiction work, in tidy, weekly installments (and updated every Friday).
'The Osbournes'
'The Osbournes' ~ Page 4
'The Osbournes' ~ Page 3
'The Osbournes' ~ Page 2
'The Osbournes' ~ Page 1
