'TBH Politoons'
Thanks, again, Tim!
Classic Quote
Re: Katharine Hepburn
Many years ago, during a Barbara Walters special, La Kate was clearly
irritated when La Barbara asked her what kind of tree she would like to be.
As a followup question, Walters asked, "Kate, you always wear pants. Do
you even own a skirt?"
Hepburn shot back with a classic zinger: "I have one, Miss Walters. I'll
wear it to your funeral."
Thanks, Tim H!
Reader Question
Re: Dennis Miller
Why did Dennis Miller Sell Out?
I'm still trying to figure out why Dennis Miller has turned into a right winger.
He was always a contrarian, and seemed both smart enough to see through
the administrations BS and conceited enough to speak bluntly about it.
Now he's Bush's bitch. What happened?
Somehow his current shtick does not seem to ring true. He seems to be
mouthing lines without the old attitude--detached somehow. And it's not
just the material.
Could it be that he is doing this because he has to? Could somebody have
enough leverage over him to make him change his tune? He was a rather
visible target due to HBO and MNF. Maybe some VIP was displeased.
Just a thought.
Cheers.
Charles W
Good question, Charley - I think BartCop had the perfect quote yesterday -
from Barry Crimmins - essentially ''Dennis no longer has an agent. He has a pimp.''
Pretty much sums it up.
Reader Link/Site
Re: Iggy + The Stooges
Reader Recommendation
12 Stones
There's a new band called 12 Stones. You may have heard the song "Bring Me To Life" by Evanescence, sung by Amy Lee and featuring Paul McMcoy. Paul is the lead singer of 12 Stones.
I decided to buy the band's album and check them out. Man, I was blown away.
The CD is more than worth the money. I'd describe this music as a combo of hard rock and real soul. I especially like the song "The Way I Feel".
Seriously, Marty, check out 12 Stones, I don't think you'll be dissapointed.
Megan
Thanks, Megan. Will do!
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny & hot, but not as bad as yesterday.
CostCo was fairly crowded - figured it'd only be worse Thursday.
Still haven't answered the potato salad/macaroni salad question. None of my eyetalian relatives ever refer to 'pasta' as 'pasta'. To them it's 'macaroni' (or when they're talking fast, 'the macarone').
The Alaskan grandmother announced she'd be in Sacramento next month & we'd better make an appearance. Ah, Sacramento in August - sorta like visiting hell, but with lots more humidity.
Tonight, , CBS begins the evening with a FRESH 'Amazing Race 4', followed by a RERUN 'CSI: Crime Scene Investigation',
then a RERUN 'Without A Trace'.
On a RERUN Dave are Sean Hayes, Eric Ripert, and Avril Lavigne.
On a RERUN Craiggers are Tom Arnold, Krista Allen, and Weird Al Yankovic.
NBC starts the night with a RERUN 'Friends', followed by a RERUN 'Scrubs', then a RERUN 'Will & Grace', followed by
a RERUN 'Frasier', then a RERUN 'ER'.
On a RERUN Jay are Lisa Marie Presley and Jarod Miller with animals.
On a RERUN Conan are Brendan Fraser, Tiffani Thiessen, and Aimee Mann.
On a seemingly FRESH Carson Daly are Harland Williams, Tyra Banks, and Blue Man Group.
ABC opens the evening with the RERUN made-for-tv movie, 'The Love Letter', followed by 'PrimeTime Thursday'.
On a RERUN Jimmy Kimmel (from 4/22/03), are Goldberg and Maroon 5, with guest co-host Jamie Kennedy.
The WB offers the movie 'Air Bud: Seventh Inning Fetch'.
Faux has the movie 'The Hurricane'.
UPN fills the night with 'WWE Smackdown!'.
A&E has 'Biography' (Jimmy Stewart), then 'Columbo Hits The Jackpot'.
AMC has the movie 'Rio Grande', followed by the movie 'Rooster Cogburn', then the movie 'Gunfight At OK Corral'.
BBC -
[7pm] 'Ground Force' - South Wales;
[7:30pm] 'Changing Rooms' - Chester;
[8pm] 'House Invaders' - Episode 30;
[8:30pm] 'House Invaders' - Rutland;
[9pm] 'Faking It' - Painter Turns Conceptual Artist;
[10pm] 'Parkinson' - Rowan Atkinson and Pierce Brosnan;
[11pm] 'So Graham Norton' - Rod Stewart/ Rosanna Arquette;
[11:30pm] 'So Graham Norton' - Andie MacDowell;
[12am] 'Faking It' - Painter Turns Conceptual Artist;
[1am] 'Parkinson' - Rowan Atkinson and Pierce Brosnan;
[2am] 'House Invaders' - Episode 30;
[2:30am] 'House Invaders' - Rutland;
[3am] 'So Graham Norton' - Rod Stewart/ Rosanna Arquette; and
[3:30am] 'So Graham Norton' - Andie MacDowell. (ALL TIMES EDT)
Bravo has the movie 'The Untouchables', followed by the movie 'The Untouchables'.
On a RERUN Jon Stewart, it's TBA.
History has 'Modern Marvels', followed by 'Inside The Playboy Mansion', then another 'Modern Marvels'.
Starting bright & early, SciFi offers a 2-day 'Twilight Zone' marathon.
TCM celebrates kids & their animals by day, then men & testosterone by night.
[6am] 'A Dog Of Flanders' (1935);
[8am] 'National Velvet' (1944);
[10:30am] 'Zebra In The Kitchen' (1965);
[12:30 pm] 'Flipper' (1963);
[2pm] 'Lassie Come Home' (1943);
[3:30pm] 'The Black Stallion' (1979);
[5:30pm] 'The Yearling' (1946);
[8pm] 'Test Pilot' (1938);
[10:15pm] 'Top Gun' (1986);
[12:15am] 'The Right Stuff' (1983);
[3:30am] 'Air Force' (1943). (ALL TIMES EDT)
Anyone have any opinions?
Or reviews?
(See below for addresses)
Members of the cast and production team of the former television comedy, 'Rowan and Martin's Laugh In,' gather for a group photograph prior to signing copies of their newly released DVD of the program's highlights, in Los Angeles July 1, 2003. From left are Alan Sues, Dick Martin, Ruth Buzzi, Gary Owens, creator and producer George Schlatter and writer John Rappaport.
Photo by Robert Galbraith
The Information One-Stop
Moose & Squirrel
Donation To Environment Group
Cate Blanchett
Cate Blanchett has given a "substantial" donation to a Santa Fe-based environmental group, Forest Guardians.
Blanchett, who was in New Mexico recently filming Ron Howard's "The Missing," said the donation was made on behalf of the cast and crew "to help preserve the state's natural splendor for generations to come."
Forest Guardians development director Dustin Garrick said Monday the group hopes the donation will fuel its campaign to safeguard at least 25 preserves in the Four Corners region, where the boundaries of New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado and Utah meet.
Cate Blanchett
www.fguardians.org/
British Prime Minister Tony Blair, left, and former US President Bill Clinton applaud as former South African President Nelson Mandela, right, prepares to address a gala night to mark the centenary of the Rhodes Trust and the establishment of the Mandela Rhodes Foundation, at Westminster Hall, London Wednesday July 2, 2003.
Photo by Chris Young
Actors Vote Against Merger Plan
SAG/AFTRA
In a stunning blow to the leaders of Hollywood's two biggest actors' unions, rank-and-file members on Tuesday narrowly voted down a controversial merger plan for the second time in four years.
Although most members of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) voted for the merger, their numbers were not enough to reach the required 60 percent level for both unions. The new union would have been called the Alliance of International Media Artists.
The contentious campaign pitted such household names as Melissa Gilbert, Oscar-winner Richard Dreyfuss, "7th Heaven" father Stephen Collins and Mike Farrell of "MASH" against the likes of former Ed Asner ("Lou Grant"), Valerie Harper ("Rhoda") and SAG official Elliott Gould ("Friends").
Opponents complained that SAG officials spent $3 million on the campaign, but could not tell them how their pension and health plans would be affected by the merger.
SAG/AFTRA
Right Name, Wrong Face
Howard Dean
Explains Rehab Decision
Jack Osbourne
Jack Osbourne took a close look at his friends and realized he didn't want to turn out like them — and that's when he checked himself into rehab.
The 17-year-old son of rocker Ozzy Osbourne returned home June 18 after two months of treatment for alcohol and drug abuse. He entered a Pasadena, Calif., hospital after an epiphany he had while partying with pals.
"I took myself out of the picture for a second and I looked around at every single person in the room — at who they were, how old they were and what they had going on in their lives," Osbourne told MTV News. "A lot of them were near 30, unemployed, living off their parents. There were heroin addicts; there were the world's biggest couch potatoes. And it was like, I don't want to be like that. I don't want my life to be controlled by a drug."
The entire Osbourne interview is scheduled to air on MTV at 11 p.m. Tuesday. It also will be available at MTVNews.com.
Jack Osbourne
Just Like 'Rudy' - Made In Canada
'The Reagans'
Much has been made of the loss of U.S. filmmaking to
Canada, but it does seem especially ironic that the upcoming CBS
four-hour miniseries "The Reagans" is going to be made in ... Montreal!
Production is set to start in August, and while the role of Ronald
Reagan has not been set yet, we do know who will portray Nancy Reagan.
The former first lady will be played by acclaimed and award-winning
actress Judy Davis.
Not only was ex-prez Reagan a huge booster of American filmmaking while
governor of California, he also was an advocate during his earlier
tenure as Screen Actors Guild president.
(Ironic? It's appropriate for the president that exported millions of
American Jobs!)
'The Reagans'
Thanks, Tim H!
Issues New Media Ownership Rules
FCC
The Federal Communications Commission on Wednesday issued controversial new rules that would allow media companies to grow larger, regulations that probably will go into effect in August but could be challenged in court.
The rules -- allowing television networks to buy more local television stations and permit a company to own a newspaper, television station and several radio outlets in a market -- will go into effect 30 days after being published in the Federal Register, which can take up to three weeks.
The Republican-controlled FCC voted 3-2 to ease the ownership limits one month ago. Media companies had pushed the agency to loosen the regulations even further while consumer and political groups sought to tighten the rules.
Lawmakers in both the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate have promised to push a bill to roll back the FCC's new rules as well as a resolution that would veto the agency's action, though some House Republican leaders are opposed to undoing the agency's action.
FCC
In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends
Working For KFC
Annika Sorenstam
Top female golfer Annika Sorenstam has long loved sinking birdies and eagles. Now she will be hawking chicken wings.
Sorenstam will appear in two television commercials for KFC set to run from July 7 through August 10, in which the Swede takes a tongue-in-cheek look at her unprecedented decision to compete in the all-male PGA Tour's Colonial tournament in May.
Last month, KFC decided not to extend its work with actor Jason Alexander of "Seinfeld" fame after he finishes a two-year campaign, though he does appear in an ad with Sorenstam. Warschauer said KFC sought a new creative idea for its advertising, which is slated for launch in August.
Animal rights activists contend that Alexander was dropped after he facilitated contacts between People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and KFC's management over alleged cruelty to chickens. KFC said Alexander's involvement with PETA had nothing to do with not renewing its relationship with the actor.
Annika Sorenstam
A visitor to Sydney's Museum of Contemporary Art July 2, 2003 looks closely at a colored, circular artwork by Swiss artist Ugo Rondinone, who is famous for using painting, video, sculpture and photography to create emotional and psychological environments. The work plays with the viewer's inability to focus on any of the 'fuzzy' colored circles, resulting in many people feeling dizzy and some even becoming lightheaded.
Photo by David Gray
To Honor Katharine Hepburn
Venice Film Festival
The Venice Film Festival will honor Katharine Hepburn by showing a restored copy of 1955's "Summertime," organizers said Wednesday.
In the film, directed by David Lean and set in the lagoon city, Hepburn plays a lonely American woman who falls in love with an Italian, played by Rossano Brazzi.
This year's edition of the Venice Film Festival runs Aug. 27-Sept. 6. Organizers said they haven't decided yet on what day "Summertime" would be shown.
In 1934, she also won best actress at the Venice Film Festival for playing Jo in George Cukor's "Little Women."
Venice Film Festival
New Campaign Rules
Oscar Voters
Academy Awards voters could be kicked out under new rules intended to tone down aggressive Oscar campaigning.
The new penalty — expulsion or suspension from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences — is aimed mainly at studio executives and staff who oversee efforts to position their films for Oscar contention. But it also could apply to nominees themselves, including actors, directors and writers.
Previously called "guidelines," the code of conduct now comes under the tougher heading of "regulations."
The academy also added a rule prohibiting quotes from academy members in movie ads. Distributor Miramax vexed competitors before this year's Oscars by running newspaper ads that reprinted an opinion column by Oscar-winning director Robert Wise that praised nominee Martin Scorsese for "Gangs of New York."
Oscar Voters
Formerly 'The Vidiot'
Launches Free Magazine
Clear Channel
Radio giant and concert promoter Clear Channel Communications Inc. has launched a free magazine that it plans to distribute at music venues in more than 30 markets this summer.
The company plans to print 1.5 million to 2 million copies of Music Guide Live! in editions dated June and August. If the format is successful, company officials said they may publish more editions in the fall and winter.
The magazine marks one of San Antonio-based Clear Channel's few attempts to break into print media. The company launched a sports magazine in several markets around the country about 18 months ago. In San Antonio, the magazine is called Ticket and is co-produced with WOAI radio, a Clear Channel-owned station.
Clear Channel
Chilean scientists are baffled by a huge, gelatinous sea creature found washed up on the southern Pacific coast and were seeking international help identifying the mystery specimen. The dead creature was mistaken for a beached whale when first reported about a week ago, but experts who went to see it said the 40-foot-long mass of decomposing lumpy gray flesh apparently was an invertebrate. Chilean scientists look at the creature near Puerto Montt, July 1, 2003. Scientists said on Wednesday that the huge mass may be a rare type of giant octopus or just discarded whale blubber.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Withdraws Divorce Petition
Rachel Hunter
Actress and model Rachel Hunter has withdrawn her request for divorce from singer Rod Stewart.
Hunter, 33, and the veteran British rocker were married in 1990, but split four years ago.
She filed for divorce on June 16 and sent her withdrawal three days later. She didn't specify a reason, and Hunter's attorney wouldn't comment Wednesday. Stewart's spokesman, Arnold Stiefel, said he was unsure why Hunter withdrew her petition but added that the two have not reconciled.
Rachel Hunter
Creatures Discovered
Tasman Sea
Hundreds of new underwater species, including sharks and a giant sea spider the size of a dinner plate, have been discovered by scientists in the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand.
One creature, the fangtooth, has teeth longer than its head. To avoid piercing the fish's brain when it shuts its mouth, the teeth fit into opposing eye sockets.
Then there's a wonky-eyed jewel squid – its left eye is much larger than the right. Researchers believe the big eye looks out for food, while the small one watches for predators.
In total, 500 species of fish and 1,300 types of invertebrates were discovered, including deep-sea sponges and a prickly shark.
For more, Tasman Sea
Splitting With Husband
Brandy
Brandy is confirming reports that she's split from her husband, Robert Smith, the father of her 1-year-old daughter.
A statement released Tuesday by her record company, Atlantic Records, said: "Brandy and her husband are splitting. They will remain friends and raise their daughter jointly."
The 24-year-old singer-actress announced in February 2002 that she had been secretly wed to Smith, a music producer, for several months. Four months later, she gave birth to her first child, daughter Sy'rai. MTV documented the preparations for the birth with the reality series "Brandy-Special Delivery."
Brandy
Stonehenge-Age Aboriginal Art Found
Australia
More than 200 Aboriginal cave drawings, some as old as the Egyptian pyramids, have been found in a cave in rugged woodland not far from Sydney, Australian museum officials said on Wednesday.
Some of the 203 wildlife drawings and stencils found in the Wollemi National Park northwest of Sydney, Australia's largest city, are up to 4,000 years old, Australian Museum spokeswoman Samantha Mattila said.
The drawings depict birds, lizards and marsupials, while there are also stencils of human hands and arms and of boomerangs and other tools. There is also a drawing of a wombat, rarely seen in Aboriginal rock art.
Australian Museum anthropologist Paul Tacon said the artwork is in 12 layers, the most recent dating to the 1800s.
Australia
In Memory
Rod Amateau
Rod Amateau, a television director whose credits include "Mister Ed," "The Patty Duke Show" and "The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show," died Sunday of a cerebral hemorrhage. He was 79.
Amateau not only directed, but also wrote and produced films and TV shows. He even worked as a stunt double for James Dean on "Rebel Without a Cause" and for Humphrey Bogart.
But off-camera is where Amateau did his best work. After serving stateside in the Army during World War II, he started his career as a staff writer for CBS Radio.
He was then hired as a junior writer at 20th Century Fox, where he climbed the company's ladder. Among his jobs at the studio were dialogue coach and screen test director, handling Marilyn Monroe's screen test.
Amateau made his directorial debut with "The Bushwackers," a 1952 Civil War movie that he wrote with Tom Gries. The same year, Amateau directed "Monsoon."
He also took part in some of TV's earliest sitcoms. He served as producer, director and writer on "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis," which ran on CBS from 1959 to 1963.
Among his many other television credits are "Private Secretary," "The Bob Cummings Show," "The New Phil Silvers Show," and "The Dukes of Hazzard." He also directed the pilot for "Gilligan's Island."
In addition to sitcoms, Amateau directed three episodes of "General Electric Theater," starring Joan Crawford, Ronald Reagan and Lee Marvin.
He returned to feature films in the late 1960s, writing the screenplay for director George Marshall's 1969 comedy, "Hook, Line & Sinker," starring Jerry Lewis, and directing "The Statue," starring David Niven.
Amateau was married four times, to actress Coleen Gray; Broadway musical comedy actress Joan Andre; Sandra Burns, daughter of Burns and Allen; and his wife of 42 years, Charlene, a movie wardrobe supervisor, who survives him, along with four children, Todd, J.P., Susan, and Chloe Shapero; and four grandchildren.
Rod Amateau
In Memory
Herbie Mann
Herbie Mann, the versatile jazz flutist who combined a variety of musical styles and deeply influenced genres such as world music and fusion, has died. He was 73.
Mann, who had battled prostate cancer since 1997, died late Tuesday, according to a friend, Sy Johnson. A funeral home in Santa Fe said it was making arrangements with Mann's family.
Mann had moved to Santa Fe in the late 1980s after spending most of his life in his native New York City.
Mann always performed different styles, then combined them. He did bebop and cool jazz, and toured Africa, Brazil and Japan listening for new music.
"I just think he was a wonderful Pied Piper of jazz, drawing our attention to what's happening around the world and the country," said Johnson, a New York City composer who had known Mann for some 40 years. He called Mann "a guy who loved music of all kinds an and eager to explore it all."
Family of Mann, formed in 1973, played world music before it was called that. Mann's best-selling "Memphis Underground" was a founding recording of fusion.
If a genie offered Mann anything he wanted, he said in a 1995 Associated Press interview, he would choose a big band including three rhythm sections for straight-ahead jazz, Brazilian music and soul.
When he left Atlantic Records in 1979 he started producing his own records, and later he launched his own label, Kokopelli. In all, he made more than 100 albums as leader.
Touring, he said, was "a killer, the hours and food. I always thought if you made good records your records could do the traveling for you."
Album titles reflect Mann's versatility: "At the Village Gate" (1962); "African Suite" (1959); "Brasil, Bossa Nova & Blues" (1962); "Latin Mann" 1965; "Memphis Two Step" (1971); and "Eastern European Roots" (2000).
Born Herbert Solomon in Brooklyn in 1930, he started his career when he was 15, playing in groups at Catskill Mountain resorts for the summer. He studied saxophone but preferred flute. In the 1950s, after three years in the Army playing with the Army Band in Trieste, Italy, Mann toured France and Scandinavia.
He credited visits to Africa and Brazil in the early 1960s with changing his musical outlook.
At 70, he put out a CD called "Eastern European Roots."
"I've played Cuban music, but I'm not Cuban," he told the Rocky Mountain News. "I've played Brazilian music, but I'm not Brazilian. I've played jazz, but I'm not African-American. What I am is an Eastern European Jew. I love all the music I've played, but I wanted something that is mine. ... I had been writing this music for years, but I never thought there was a place for me to play it."
His last live gig was May 3 at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, where "he got a standing ovation for five minutes," Johnson said.
"He had a lot of plans," Johnson said. "His time may have been limited and he knew it, but he was a man of energy and an active life that would constantly churn up things," Johnson said.
Mann is survived by his wife, Susan Janeal Arison; sons Paul Mann of San Francisco and Geoff Mann of New York City; daughters Claudia Mann-Basler of Espanola, N.M., and Laura Mann of New York City; his mother, Ruth Solomon of Hallandale, Fla.; and a sister, Judi Burnstein of Niceville, Fla.
Herbie Mann
Herbie Mann Music.com
A three-inch long baby green sea turtle dives down after taking a breath in its aquarium at Sea World in San Diego, July 2, 2003. For the first time in Sea World San Diego's 39-year history aquarists have successfully incubated and hatched green sea turtles. Six of the surviving 21 hatchlings born less than a month ago are on display to the public at the Park. The turtles are an endangered/threatened species world wide, can grow to weight up to 150kg and enjoy a life span of up to 80 years.
Photo by Mike Blake
'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
