'TBH Politoons'
Thanks, again, Tim!
Mad As Hell!
Jeff Crook
Thoughts on the Portland protest, with pictures and
commentary.
Hey, if you can't laugh at
totalitarianism, what can you laugh at?
Jeff Crook
Reader Question
Re: The Gap Ads
Can you tell me who the adorable young man is who is currently strutting his stuff in Gap ads for stretchable jeans? I can't see that commercial too often because he is wonderful to watch!
Linda >^..^<
Good question, Linda....let's see if anybody has an answer
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Did you read between the lines of BartCop today? Yowee!
The cooler weather is still holding, and I'm not complaining.
Today we got confirmation from the state of CA that the kid is a bit above average. There's a state-mandated test that is supposed to measure both teachers & kids. If that's the case, I want him to have last years teacher again!
The city's tree-trimmers left a big branch hanging on the phone wire into the house. Wasn't able to find one of the tree-trimmer guys to ask them to remove it. I'm afraid if I crawl on top of the car to reach it, & try pulling down, I'll lose all
phone service, and dislodge the wire, too. Guess phone-tag will begin in the morning...argh.
Tonight, Thursday, CBS starts the night with more 'NFL Preseason', with the AZ Cardinals visiting the Raiders. On the left coast, we will then be treated to a rerun of 'CSI: Crime Scene Investigation' and a previously taped, but unaired 'Big Brother 3'.
Scheduled on a fresh Dave is Jake Gyllenhaal.
On a rerun Craiggers, the scheduled guests are Mary Steenburgen, Mario Lopez, and Guided by Voices.
NBC has reruns of 'Friends', 'Scrubs', the 2 reruns 'Will & Grace', followed by a rerun of 'ER'.
On a rerun Jay, the scheduled guests are Mike Myers and Jewel.
On a rerun Conan, the scheduled guests are Kirsten Dunst, Zach Braff, and Greg Giraldo.
On a rerun Carson Daly (from 5/09/02), the scheduled guests are Matthew Lillard and Papa Roach.
ABC has the movie 'Object Of My Affection' and then 'PrimeTime Thursday'
The WB starts with a rerun of 'Reba', then 2 reruns of 'Jamie Kennedy', and then a rerun of 'Off Centre'.
Faux has a fresh 'Beyond Belief: Fact Or Fiction', then 'The Pulse'.
UPN has 'WWE Smackdown!'.
Tonight, MTV has the '2002 Video Music Awards' hosted by Jimmy Fallon.
Anyone have any opinions?
Or reviews?
(See below for addresses)
Another Reason To Visit Vegas!
Faberge Eggs & The Bellagio
Russian Czar Alexander III commissioned Faberge to design and construct the first of dozens of eggs in 1885 as an Easter gift for his wife, Maria.
Starting Friday, the skill and master craftsmanship of the Russian artist will be on display at the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art through late January.
Some of the nearly 200 objects on view in the exhibit "Faberge: Treasures From the Kremlin" have never left Russia; others are on loan from three private collectors. Many are in the United States for the first time.
The Russian treasures entered the country as if true royalty. They were flown into Los Angeles on private climate-controlled planes, then escorted by police and Bellagio security into
Nevada. Three representatives from the Kremlin Armoury Museum in Moscow accompanied the treasures.
Czar Nicholas II continued the Faberge egg tradition after his father's death and had two eggs made each year — one for his wife and another for his mother. Fifty-two Imperial eggs are
known to exist worldwide. The Kremlin, with 10 eggs, owns one of the largest collections.
Besides the three Imperial eggs, Faberge cigarette cases, jewelry, brushes, clocks and desk sets are also on show.
Faberge Eggs & The Bellagio
Bellagio hotel-casino
Getting Ready For The Big 'Buh-Bye' (AMF)
Dennis Miller
Dennis Miller's next rant will be his last.
Miller ends a nine-year run on HBO on Friday night. But unlike most shows that have been on the air that long, the final episode of "Dennis Miller Live" will look pretty much
like all the rest. There will be no Johnny Carson-style send-off, no favorite clips from the past and no weepy singers.
The audience will be made up of everyday people who wrote in and asked for tickets, just like all the other shows. No VIPs, no invitation-only sections.
It was the second blow in a matter of months for Miller, who was bumped from his side gig as a color analyst for "Monday Night Football" earlier this summer
when ABC hired NFL broadcasting legend John Madden.
Aside from a few jokes on the air, his only comments came when a reporter from People cornered him at a recent benefit in Los Angeles.
"It was a good run," he said. "You don't get nine years in show business, 215 shows. I'm thankful to HBO - they bought my family's house for us. They treated me great."
His last show airs live at 11:30 p.m. on Friday - with guest Vince Vaughn - and he's not expected to be back on HBO until the network airs his new comedy special next year.
Dennis Miller
$50G Uniform
Tim Hagen
Actress Kate Mulgrew's "Star Trek: Voyager" uniform brought $50,000 at a weekend auction to benefit husband Tim Hagan's Democratic campaign for governor.
However, all but $2,500 of that might as well be caught in a time warp. That's the limit for candidate contributions in Ohio.
The auction was part of a fund-raiser Saturday that netted $150,000 for Hagan's campaign against Republican incumbent Bob Taft. Most of the "Voyager" cast
and William Shatner, who portrayed Capt. James Kirk on the original "Star Trek," turned up to help Hagan's cause.
Taft has $8.2 million available for the Nov. 5 election, compared with $375,000 for Hagan, according to finance reports filed this month.
Tim Hagen
Tim Hagan For Governor
San Francisco Bay
Tall Ships
A tall ships enters San Francisco Bay with high winds, dense fog and cold temperatures marring the parade in which only one ship at a time was visible of thirty ships that participated on August 28, 2002.
Photo by Susan Ragan
38,000 Grasshoppers
Elton John
A concert by pop star Elton John had music fans hopping in Canada's farming heartland as they braved a plague of grasshoppers in an unusual quest to win a pair of tickets.
"All I kept thinking is, is this enough?" Brandy Elliott told Reuters on Wednesday after winning a radio contest for the prized tickets by capturing 38,000 grasshoppers.
Elliott was one of more than 100 Saskatchewan residents to respond to the contest launched by a popular Regina radio show.
The rules were simple: whoever collected the most grasshoppers over a two-day period, would win the two highly coveted tickets to see Elton John at a sold-out concert.
"When we first thought of this contest we thought, oh you know, we might get a few hundred, maybe even a thousand grasshoppers from people. She (Brandy) showed up with
38,000 grasshoppers which blew us away," said Buzz Elliot, a morning show host on Z99, the station that launched the bug-gathering gimmick.
Elton John
Visits Ancestral Bolivia
Raquel Welch
Film star Raquel Welch, who has said she regrets not showcasing her Hispanic heritage until later in life, made her first visit on Wednesday to her ancestral homeland of Bolivia.
The 61-year-old sex symbol born Jo-Raquel Tejada in Chicago to a Bolivian father and American mother, arrived in this poor, landlocked South American nation under heavy security and
was to meet in private with the family of her father, an architect who moved to the United States in the 1930s.
The actress was to receive an award from the Ibero-American Film Festival in the tropical town of Santa Cruz at the foot of the Andean mountain range.
Welch has starred recently in a U.S. television show about a Mexican-American family in East Los Angeles. She said recently her acknowledgment of her heritage was "long overdue" but that
she had feared being typecast earlier in her career.
Welch has also been taking Spanish lessons.
Raquel Welch
Newest Talk Show Host
Kirstie Alley
Buena Vista Prods. -- the Mouse House division that develops and produces TV projects for daytime, cable and syndication -- has ordered a pilot for a daytime talker headlined by the
former "Cheers" star. If picked up, the show would likely be aimed at a fall 2003 debut in broadcast syndication.
Alley has been most visible recently in a series of commercials for the Pier 1 imports stores.
Kirstie Alley
In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends
New 'Reality' Series
'The Beverly Hillbillies'
CBS is resurrecting "The Beverly Hillbillies" as a reality series.
The network will soon begin casting for a weekly half-hour series that will follow the adventures of a rural, lower-middle class family -- yes, there will be a granny -- as they are transplanted from
their humble digs to a Beverly Hills mansion. The project is tentatively titled "Real Beverly Hillbillies."
During their one-year stay in California, they'll be afforded a wide variety of luxuries they'd normally be unable to afford, from maid service to personal assistants. They'll also have a chance to earn
a substantial income each week, either via a stipend or through some other means.
Cameras will watch their every move as the rural clan attempts to fit in with folks who eat at the Grill rather than use a grill, or who shop at Harry Winston instead of Wal-Mart. And while the series
will focus on a group of five or six, it's expected their extended family will also stop by for a visit sometime during their stay in the mansion.
While the family will be afforded numerous luxuries, they won't truly live like millionaires.
For more vile, demeaning details, 'The Beverly Hillbillies'
Lima, Peru
Potatoes
A biologist displays different varieties of potatoes inside the boxes at the International Potato Center in Lima, June 28, 2002. The potato, the agricultural jewel of the Peruvian Andes, was a worshiped for
thousands of years as a gift from the gods. Later, it was spread around the globe as a weapon against world hunger.
Photo by Pilar Olivares/Reuters
Snarky Rumor
Sharon Osbourne
The fight against cancer may not be going so well for Sharon Osbourne. Ozzy's wife/manager was rushed to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles Aug. 23. A source told US weekly
that Sharon, 49, who has been undergoing chemotherapy for colon cancer, "lost about 20 pounds in two weeks and is white as a sheet." When Ozzy saw Sharon that day, he called an
ambulance. At the hospital, Sharon was given an intravenous drip because she was suffering from "severe dehydration. Unfortunately, they've had to do this more than once," says the
source. Sharon returned to the hospital Monday.
Sharon Osbourne
'Law & Order' Man
Fred Thompson
It's official. Retiring Republican Senator Fred Thompson is returning to acting this fall, playing a conservative district attorney on NBC's long-running series "Law & Order," producers said on Tuesday.
Thompson, 60, who announced earlier this year that he will leave the Senate when his term expires in January, will become the first member of Congress to appear as a TV show regular while still in office.
The 13th season of "Law & Order," currently the longest- running show on TV, premieres Oct. 2, with Thompson joining the cast as the newly elected New York City district attorney.
Thompson's character replaces interim D.A. Nora Lewin, played for two seasons by Dianne Wiest, who will not return to the show. She took over for Steven Hill, who had portrayed D.A. Adam Schiff since
the series debut in 1990 and was the last original cast member to leave the series.
The election of Thompson's character is "definitely a reaction to 9/11," said Michael Chernuchin, an executive producer of the series. "His political leanings are a little more to the right than
former D.A.s on the show. He is a 'strict constructionist.' That is, for him, the Constitution is what it says and it is nothing more."
Thompson, who once said life in Washington made him "long for the sincerity and realism of Hollywood," announced in March he would not seek re-election this year because he "simply did not have
the heart for another six-year term."
Fred Thompson
May Be Liable for $1 Billion Pooh Case
Walt Disney Co
A law firm suing the Walt Disney Co. alleging the underpayment of royalties for a Winnie the Pooh licensing deal in North America believes its claims could be worth $1 billion or more, an attorney
for the firm said on Tuesday.
Stephen Slesinger Inc. sued the Burbank, California-based entertainment giant more than a decade ago, in a case that has now been split into two parts.
In one of those two parts, Slesinger claims Disney owes it $200 million or more for underpayment of licensing fees it was owed for various sales of Pooh merchandise.
In the second part, Slesinger claims Disney must pay for use of Pooh for other purposes that Disney counters were not covered by the agreement. The disputed areas include rights for newer products
like videos and DVDs, as well as non-merchandise rights for the presence of Pooh in Disney theme parks.
In a filing earlier this month with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Disney said that in the first part of the suit, "If each of the plaintiff's claims were to be confirmed in a final
judgement, damages could total as much as several hundred million dollars."
Disney did not comment on the potential impact of the second part of the case.
Walt Disney Co
Club Cancels American-Palestinian Comic
Ray Hanania
A comedian scheduled to open for comic Jackie Mason was told hours before the show he couldn't perform because he is Palestinian, Mason's manager said.
Ray Hanania was supposed to open for Mason on Tuesday night at Zanie's comedy club in Chicago, but the club phoned him a few hours before to tell him his act was canceled.
Mason has been an outspoken member of the Jewish community. His manager cited recent Israeli-Palestinian violence and delayed peace talks in explaining the decision.
"It's not exactly like he's just an Arab-American. This guy's a Palestinian," said Jyll Rosenfeld, Mason's manager. "Jackie does not feel comfortable having a Palestinian open for him.
Right now it's a very sensitive thing, it's just not a good idea."
"Nothing personal against this fellow," Rosenfeld said. "Jackie doesn't even know him."
"Don't turn this into a racist issue, because it's not," Rosenfeld said. "We just felt this is not a good idea at this time."
Zanie's General Manager Linda Moses said Hanania's inexperience contributed to the cancellation. She said Hanania was replaced by a comic who has opened for Mason several times in the past.
"It's just the fact that he is an unknown," Moses said. "(Mason) is just not comfortable with having an unknown act. It's understandable."
In cases like this, the club must defer to Mason's wishes, Moses said.
Hanania, a Vietnam War veteran and former reporter, said he believes the decision should be based on how funny and entertaining he is. He said that if the decision was simply
that he is a "lousy comedian," then he would be satisfied.
Ray Hanania
BartCop TV!
Hosting Lifetime's Women Rock! Event
Jennifer Love Hewitt
Lifetime Television and Marie Claire magazine have set plans for the third annual "Women Rock! Girls & Guitars" concert, which will air Oct. 25 with
Jennifer Love Hewitt hosting.
Ken Ehrlich Prods. ("The Grammy Awards," VH1's "Divas"), which produced the first two specials, will do the work for this one as well. The two-hour show will be taped
at the Kodak Theater on Oct. 10.
The event will feature a musical performance by Hewitt ("Party of Five," "Heartbreakers"), whose fourth album will be released in September, as well as several other femme
musicians who are in the process of being confirmed.
"Women Rock!" is part of Lifetime's public awareness campaign "Stop Breast Cancer for Life." The concert will feature messages about the disease and its prevention and benefit
the National Alliance of Breast Cancer Organizations, the National Breast Cancer Coalition and other nonprofit groups.
Jennifer Love Hewitt
Hospital News
Cyrinda Fox Tyler Waa
The ailing ex-wife of Aerosmith singer Steven Tyler is getting married today in a private bedside ceremony at the Gramercy Park Hotel. Cyrinda Fox, mother of
model Mia Tyler, exchanges vows with musician Keith Waa in the same hospice-like hotel room where she has battled terminal brain cancer for the past year. "She's
very sick, and we wanted to do it before it was too late," says Waa, who added that Steven Tyler has paid all of Cyrinda's medical expenses. "Steven has been
very generous and good to us," Waa said. "He's our angel from above. He's totally paid for me to be here with and care for my dear Cyrinda. I feed her and clean
her and hug her and kiss her and let her know she's loved." Officiating will be Cyrinda's "meditation counselor" Kathy Freston, wife of MTV president Tom
Freston. "Kathy is a spiritual healer," says Waa. "She has led sessions where all of Kathy's friends come and give Cyrinda love." Guests will include Mia Tyler,
actress Patti D'Arbanville, rock photog Bob Gruen, Warhol star Jane Holzer and publicist Liz Derringer.
Cyrinda Fox Tyler Waa
Guerrero
Mexico
A Mexican soldier prepares a bonfire for incineration of marijuana during the destruction of a poppy plantation in the village of San Vicente Chilpancingo in Mexico's
southwestern state of Guerrero, August 27, 2002. Mexican President Vicente Fox has declared the war on drugs as one of his government's priorities, as he prepares to
make his second state of the nation address before Congress on September 1.
Photo by Daniel Aguilar
Bans Indian Films, Foreign Soaps & Women Singing
Kabul TV
Authorities in Kabul have banned Indian films from state television and women singing from the radio, Afghan officials said on Wednesday, in a continuing struggle for influence between Islamists and moderates.
"A letter has been issued to officials to drop Indian movies as well as foreign TV series from the TV and also women's songs from the radio," one television official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
Engineer Mohammad Ishaq, the head of Kabul TV and Radio, made the decision without any prior warning, the official added.
Ishaq is a senior member of the Northern Alliance, which dominates President Hamid Karzai's government and helped the United States oust the fundamentalist Taliban regime last year.
Ishaq was not immediately available for comment.
Ironically, Indian films -- and images of women singing -- are regularly shown on state television in Kandahar, the deeply conservative former stronghold of the Taliban. Both
also appear on television in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif.
Kabul TV
Stars Not Appearing
Earth Summit
The sun may have shone on the Earth Summit but the stars have definitely not come out in Johannesburg.
"Where have all the big names gone?" is the protest lament in South Africa as not only resident Bush but also the green stars of the entertainment world who
graced the event in Rio de Janeiro 10 years ago have been conspicuous by their absence.
Sting, John Denver and the Beach Boys serenaded delegates who flocked to Brazil and the delights of Copacabana beach for the first Earth Summit in 1992. It is hard to find one A-list music industry celeb in Johannesburg.
Irish rock third world warriors Bono and Bob Geldof are not here, despite a long record of raising money and publicity for Africa's debt problem and famines.
South Africa's aging "White Zulu" Johnny Clegg is top of the bill at summit music venues. West Africans Salif Keita and Femi Kuti played at a summit concert last week.
For a lot more, Earth Summit
It should be obvious why John Denver isn't in attendance...jeez
Hospital News
Ronnie Hawkins
Singer Ronnie Hawkins, whose backup band went on to join Bob Dylan and then gain prominence as the Band, has been diagnosed with cancer, family members said Wednesday.
Hawkins, 67, underwent surgery Aug. 13 to remove part of a tumor that was found to be cancerous. Doctors said there was no sign the cancer had
spread, and no immediate plans for Hawkins to undergo chemotherapy.
"I'm feeling good," he said in a statement. "Few more weeks and I'll be ready to rock."
A new album by Hawkins titled "Still Cruisin' " was scheduled for release on Sept. 11.
Ronnie Hawkins
With Cable TV Shows
Summer Success
In ground-breaking moves, earlier this summer both NBC and ABC announced deals to rebroadcast popular cable shows on prime network TV. NBC took "Forensic Files" and ABC grabbed "Monk."
The practice of U.S. cable channels re-airing popular broadcast programs -- known in the industry as repurposing -- has grown in popularity in recent years, as program makers look for new outlets in an effort to recoup more of their costs.
But the reverse, where a broadcast network buys a program from a cable channel, has been relatively rare especially for repurposing programs to air in prime time.
In NBC's case, the network announced plans last month to air four episodes of "Forensic Files," a popular series on cable network Court TV, including two original episodes and two rebroadcasts of shows that debuted on cable.
In a similar deal, ABC said earlier this month it would rebroadcast four episodes of the popular USA Network series "Monk," a show about a neurotic detective.
Since then, ABC has aired three episodes of "Monk," while NBC has aired one episode of "Forensic Files," all with strong results.
Summer Success
I'm so old I can remember other (successful) summer replacement series like - like 'The Prisoner', and back when the term network meant something,
the 'Glen Campbell Good Time Hour' as a sub for the 'Smothers Brothers'.
Ruling Delayed Until Saturday
Pakistan Gang Rape
A Pakistani court has delayed until Saturday a verdict in the high-profile trial of 14 men facing the death penalty over an alleged gang rape.
Four men have been on trial for rape and 10 members of a traditional village jury are also being tried on charges of authorising their alleged acts on June 22 in Meerawali, a small village near in the central province of Punjab.
The case caused an outcry when it was publicised in national newspapers to highlight the plight of women in rural areas, where feudal codes of behavior still rule.
Muktaran Mai, a 30-year-old divorcee, says she was repeatedly raped after approaching the Meerawali tribal council to settle a dispute between her family and the more wealthy Mastoi clan.
Village councils are often convened in rural areas to settle local disputes and women often end up as pawns of village elders.
Mai said she went to the council after her young brother Abdul Shakoor was kidnapped by a rival family and accused of raping one of its members. Mai's Gujar family
said Shakoor was sodomised by Mastoi men as a punishment.
The council ruled that to save the honor of the Mastoi clan, Shakoor should marry the woman with whom he was linked, while Mai was to be given away in marriage to a Mastoi man.
The prosecution said that when she rejected the decision she was gang raped by four Mastoi men and made to walk home semi-naked in front of hundreds of people.
For more details, Pakistan Gang Rape
Bunol, Spain
'Tomatina' Festival
The world's biggest food fight painted the Spanish town of Bunol red on Wednesday as 35,000 revelers pelted each other with 120 tons of ripe plum tomatoes in the annual "Tomatina" festival.
In an hour-long frenzy, the small town's central street was transformed into a blur of flying fruit as Spaniards and visitors from around the globe hurled tomatoes and cavorted
in the shin-deep pools of puree which give the "Tomatina" its name. "This is probably the craziest place on earth right now," gasped Paul Vandergraaf, a 21-year-old American student
from St. Louis, Missouri, as ketchup dripped from his dreadlocks. "I promised myself I would come here once. It's been amazing!"
On the stroke of noon, a rocket gives the signal for a procession of six dump trucks each bearing 20 tons of tomatoes to inch through the adrenaline- and alcohol-fueled crowds.
For many Spaniards, the Tomatina was a welcome break from tensions surrounding the recent banning of Basque political party Batasuna. While a handful of the crowd chanted slogans against
Basque separatism, many more sang invitations for blonde-haired female visitors to remove their clothing.
Shortly after a rocket signaled the end of the hour-long battle, cleaning teams with high-power water hoses doused the tomato-splattered walls of the main street, washing torrents of red
sludge into the sewers. Within hours the village returned to normal and its thousands of visitors moved on.
'Tomatina' Festival
'The Osbournes'
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