Extra Special Bonus
Disinfotainment Today
By Michael Dare
Dear Mr. Krassner:
Responding to your inquiry of July 7th, the United States Supreme Court has held that Title 18 U.S.C., Section 871, prohibits only "true" threats. It is one thing to say that "I (or we) will kill Richard Nixon" when you are the leader of an organization which advocates killing people and overthrowing the Government; it is quite another to utter the words which are attributed to Mr. Marx, an alleged comedian. It was the opinion of both myself and the United States Attorney in Los Angeles (where Marx's words were alleged to have been uttered) that the latter utterance did not constitute a "true" threat.
Very truly yours,
James L. Browning, Jr.
United States Attorney
'TBH Politoons'
Thanks, again, Tim!
The Artful Dodger
THE HOLLYWOOD HUSTLE
Here are some recent screenplay deals that might make it through development hell and show up on your local movie screens in a few years.
Latifah Rising
Queen Latifah will star in "Last Holiday," a comedy about a soon-to-die woman who splurges with a visit to a wealthy resort.
Prediction: With a script by Seaman and Price, this movie should have plenty of great set pieces and an abundance of pathos designed to wring every last drop of empathy from the audience. If the producers don't succumb to the maudlin instinct to go Ali McGraw/Love Story on us, this one should be a superb addition to Latifah's bona fides as a genuine movie star. Should open in the top four but won't stay there.
*****
Zorro redux
Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta-Jones will reprise their original roles in a big-screen sequel to "The Mask of Zorro."
Prediction: This one's been a long time coming and there isn't exactly a public groundswell, demanding yet another entry in the sword-fighting genre. Still, Banderas knows how to capture that lovable rogue panache and Zeta-Jones is certainly no slouch in the eye candy department. So look for an opening weekend upwards of 15 million with a total domestic box office take of 80 plus.
*****
Hurt me
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is in yet another movie. This time it's the big-screen version of "Johnny Bravo," the Cartoon Network toon that was a big cult hit several years ago.
Prediction: Hard to imagine why they waited so long to put this deal together, now that the bloom is so obviously off the Johnny Bravo rose. Maybe they can come up with a way to crank up interest...just a guess but somehow it's easy to envision non-stop commercials on Cartoon Network for nine months to get the little kiddies slap-happy with cinematic desire. At any rate, this one sounds like another misguided entry in the toon-to-film sweepstakes, along the lines of the painful "Rocky and Bullwinkle."
*****
Bruckheimer takes on college hoops
"Glory Road" tells the story of a college basketball coach in the 1960's who takes an all-black team to the national championships, where they beat an all-white team. Stars Ben Affleck.
Prediction: Rugged, edgy, in-your-face sports action mingled with highly-charged racial undertones will make for a powerful film and a monster at the box office on opening weekend. This one will play solidly for a full month and will kill as a rental too. Lots of Affleck face time means ladies will like it too.
*****
Dance with me
"Dance Lessons," a possible Jennifer Lopez starrer, is a comedy described as "Footloose" meets "The Full Monty."
Prediction: J-Lo doesn't seem to be very good at picking her own material and she's slated to produce this one so its chances seem iffy right out of the box. We haven't seen much of her sultry dance moves on the big screen so this might be a chance to position Lopez as the 21st century's answer to those leggy dancin' dames of yesteryear. Whatever the case, it seems likely that this will be a niche movie that won't generate more than 40 million, no matter how good the soundtrack is.
*****
A real man
Tim Allen will star in "In The Pink," a comedy about an unemployed guy who sells beauty products door to door.
Prediction: Sure to have some predictable but funny spots: the awkward male in a female world, learning the rules of door-to-door sales, etc. but this one will nevertheless have a tough road to hoe. Just a personal opinion, but Allen's recent plastic surgery gives him an odd look that looks even odder on the big screen. Maybe by the time cameras roll he'll regain some hint of facial naturalness. Still, a weird face ain't exactly the greatest asset in a movie about beauty products.
*****
Spaz robotics
Jim Carrey will star in "The Six Million Dollar Man," a big-screen version of the dimwitted TV series.
Prediction: They're swinging for the bleachers with this one, hoping for a lucrative franchise. But here's the question: what comic schtick could Carrey possibly bring to this moribund concept that he hasn't employed countless times before? They'll use high-tech gimmicks and a few cool special effects but the movie's juice will still have to come from our enjoyment of seeing Jim deal with his dilemma. They'll probably settle for sheer spectacle, bashing our brains in with relentless TV spots and hope for a big first weekend. It'll work, but it won't be pretty.
~ The Artful Dodger
Vote Bush Out!
Support the troops
Hi Marty,
Looks like the Navy and
the Air Force weren't impressed by that carrier landing either. That a G.O.P. commander in chief can't get the support of the troops is pretty telling. Its nice to know that the military is on our side.
Chris
Thanks, Chris!
from Mark
Another Bumpersticker
Reader Suggestion
Festival in SF
There is a Green Festival
(as in ecological) in San Francisco this Sat and
Sun with great speakers including Jim Hightower, Alice Walker, Eleanor
Smeal, Dennis Kucinich, Arianna Huffington, & Greg Palast.
Mike P.
Thanks, Mike!
from Mark
Don't Blame Me
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Clear, cool & breezy.
Did the CostCo run today. Lots of food ladies, nice variety of samples.
Picked up some snacks & beverages for the strikers over at the neighborhood Albertson's.
Tonight, Thursday, CBS begins the night with a FRESH 'Survivor: Pearl Islands', followed by a FRESH
'CSI: Crime Scene Investigation', then a FRESH 'Without A Trace'.
Scheduled on a FRESH Dave are Howard Stern, Iggy Pop and Sum 41.
Scheduled on a FRESH Craiggers are Joe Pantoliano, Elizabeth Rohm, and the Ataris.
NBC opens the evening with a FRESH 'Friends', followed by a RERUN 'Friends', then a
FRESH 'Will & Grace', followed by a FRESH 'Scrubs', then a FRESH 'ER'.
Scheduled on a FRESH Jay are Russell Crowe, Steve Irwin, and ZZ Top.
Scheduled on a FRESH Conan are Will Ferrell, Chloe Sevigny, and Sarah Vowell.
Scheduled on a FRESH Carson Daly are Deion Sanders, Nate Gebhard and Michael W. Marriner.
ABC starts the night with a FRESH 'Threat Matrix', followed by a FRESH 'Extreme Makeover', then 'Primetime Thursday'.
Scheduled on a FRESH Jimmy Kimmel are Joe Montana and Tenacious D (Jack Black & Kyle Gass), with this week's guest co-host Andy Dick.
The WB offers a FRESH 'Steve Harvey's Big Time', followed by a FRESH 'Jamie Kennedy', then a FRESH
'What I Like About You', followed by a FRESH 'Run Of The House'.
Faux has a FRESH 'Tru Calling', and a FRESH 'Skin' is scheduled, but don't know if they're going to dump the remaining episodes now or later.
UPN fills the night 'WWE Smackdown!'.
A&E has 'American Justice', 'Biography' (Tom Selleck), then the movie 'Pacific Heights'.
AMC offers the movie 'The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly', followed by the movie 'The Shawshank Redemption', then the movie 'Hombre'.
BBC -
[6pm] 'BBC World News';
[6:30pm] 'Cash in the Attic' - Morris;
[7pm] 'Ground Force' - Great Harwood, Lancashire;
[7:30pm] 'Changing Rooms' - Southampton;
[8pm] 'House Invaders' - Droylsden;
[8:30pm] 'House Invaders' - Royton, Oldham;
[9pm] 'Faking It' - Painter Turns Conceptual Artist;
[10pm] 'Coupling' - The Cupboard of Patrick's Love;
[10:40pm] 'Behind the Screen' - Coupling;
[11pm] 'So Graham Norton' - Christian Slater;
[11:30pm] 'So Graham Norton' - Donny Osmond, Jacqueline Bisset;
[12am] 'Faking It' - Painter Turns Conceptual Artist;
[1am] 'Coupling' - The Cupboard of Patrick's Love;
[1:40am] 'Behind the Screen' - Coupling;
[2am] 'House Invaders' - Droylsden;
[2:30am] 'House Invaders' - Royton, Oldham;
[3am] 'So Graham Norton' - Christian Slater;
[3:30am] 'So Graham Norton' - Donny Osmond, Jacqueline Bisset;
[4am] 'Faking It' - Painter Turns Conceptual Artist;
[5am] 'Coupling' - The Cupboard of Patrick's Love;
[5:40am] 'Behind the Screen' - Coupling; and
[6am] 'BBC World News'. (ALL TIMES EST)
Bravo has 'West Wing', followed by the movie 'The Producers', then 'Queer Eye', and another 'West Wing'.
Scheduled on a FRESH Jon Stewart is Colin Firth.
History has 'Modern Marvels', followed by 'When Cowboys Were King', then another 'Modern Marvels'.
SciFi offers 'Stephen King's The Shining' (part 1 of 3), followed by 'Stephen King's The Shining' (part 2 of 3), then
'Stephen King's The Shining' (part 3 of 3). (red rum)
TCM spends most of the day celebrating the always fabulous
Shelley Winters.
[6am] 'Marriage Is a Private Affair' (1944);
[8am] 'Two Smart People' (1946);
[10am] 'Behave Yourself' (1951);
[11:30am] 'My Man And I' (1952);
[1:15pm] 'Executive Suite' (1954);
[3pm] 'Tennessee Champ' (1954);
[4:15pm] 'The Treasure Of Pancho Villa' (1955);
[6pm] 'A Patch Of Blue' (1965);
[8pm] 'They Died With Their Boots On' (1941);
[10:30pm] 'The Barefoot Contessa' (1954);
[1am] 'Trapeze' (1956);
[3am] 'Sweet Smell Of Success' (1957); and
[4:45am] 'Love Is A Racket' (1932). (ALL TIMES EST)
Sir Ian McKellen, who plays Gandalf in the Lord of The Rings Trilogy, unveils a new Royal Mint coin at the Odeon Leicester Square in London Wednesday Nov. 5, 2003. The Royal Mint in conjunction with official licensee, New Zealand Post launched the first of the New Zealand The Lord of The Rings collector coins.
Photo by Tim Whitby
The Information One-Stop
Moose & Squirrel
'Rum Diary' to Hit Big Screen
Hunter S. Thompson
It was 1959. Fired for kicking in a candy machine at a small-town newspaper, Hunter S. Thompson fled to Puerto Rico, where his vagrant journalist lifestyle inspired his first novel, "The Rum Diary."
Thompson's boozy year marked by cockfights, bowling alleys and pursuit of the governor's daughter is now being made into a movie, starring Johnny Depp, who first portrayed the legendary cult writer in "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas".
"I didn't know Johnny Depp could act until he played me," said Thompson, 66, during a telephone interview from his home in Woody Creek, Colo.
For the rest, Hunter S. Thompson
Burbank Airport To Be Renamed
Bob Hope
Bob Hope could soon become one of a handful of celebrities to have an airport named after him, after the Los Angeles suburb of Burbank moved to rename its airport for the late comedian.
The company that oversees the use of Hope's name agreed with local officials on Monday to the decision to honor the man who died at age 100 on July 27.
Only a handful of celebrities have airports named after them. The airport in nearby Orange County is named for John Wayne, one in Washington for former president Ronald Reagan, and one in New York for former president John F. Kennedy.
Bob Hope
Vanna White, left, and Pat Sajak display 'The Wheel of Fortune' cake, in celebration of its 4,000th show, in this undated publicity photo. Consistently the top-rated series in syndication, 'Wheel' marks its 4,000th show Monday, Nov. 10, 2003 with a special half-hour of highlights from its 20-year run.
Photo by Steve Crise
To Host Special on Wine
John Cleese
John Cleese is ready to start wining. The "Monty Python" star has agreed to host a Food Network special aimed at "debunking the myths and fussiness that make wine intimidating to the average person," according to an announcement Wednesday by the cable channel.
The hour-long program, titled "John Cleese On Wine for the Confused," will be filmed on the actor's Santa Barbara ranch, with plans to broadcast it in Fall 2004.
John Cleese
Fined For Paraphernalia
Montel Williams
Television talk show host Montel Williams was fined $100 after authorities at Detroit Metropolitan Airport found him with marijuana paraphernalia.
Williams, who has multiple sclerosis, has been prescribed medicinal marijuana to treat the disease, The Detroit News reported. The 47-year-old paid the fine Monday night, boarded a flight and left Michigan.
"He has prescriptions for many different medications for MS," a statement on his behalf read. "One of the medications he has been prescribed to alleviate his chronic pain is medical marijuana."
Montel Williams
In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends
Newspapers Change Reporting
Iraq Deaths
In an about-face, leading U.S. newspapers on Monday reported the number of total U.S. military deaths in Iraq, not just those the Pentagon attributes to combat or hostile action.
On Monday, USA Today, The New York Times, and The Washington Post all cited the number of total U.S. deaths in Iraq -- 378 or 379 as of Monday, in addition to the killed-in-action number.
"Since the war began March 19, 378 U.S. service members have died: 251 from hostile actions and 127 from accidents and non-combat-related incidents," USA Today reported.
The New York Daily News did not provide the total number of deaths since the war began but it published a chart breaking down both the combat deaths (141) and non-hostile deaths (102) since May 1.
On Sunday, The New York Times, which did not mention the total number of injured troops, did say that "For every soldier killed, Pentagon officials estimate, another seven are wounded."
Iraq Deaths
Jimmy Buffett, left, and Alan Jackson perform their duet 'It's Five O'Clock Somewhere' during the 37th annual Country Music Association Awards show in Nashville, Tenn. on Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2003. Buffett and Jackson won the award for vocal event of the year for the song.
Photo by M. Spencer Green
Visit UK Parliament in Anti-Gun Show
Sister Sledge
U.S. disco queens Sister Sledge visited Britain's parliament on Wednesday as part of a campaign to combat rising gun crime.
Joni and Debbie Sledge added their voices to the Disarm Trust campaign at the House of Commons on the day a parliamentary report into gun crime was published.
Although Sister Sledge are better known for such dance floor favorites as "We Are Family," "Lost In Music" and "He's The Greatest Dancer," Joni and Debbie Sledge are also fervent campaigners against gun crime.
Sister Sledge
Says She's Not an Addict
Courtney Love
Courtney Love has admitted to using heroin in the past, but says she doesn't have a problem now, despite being charged recently with drug possession.
"I want to make one thing clear right now. I do not take narcotics," Love tells Us Weekly magazine for its Nov. 17 issue. "I have taken prescription pills, and I went to rehab once. I take Xanax that is prescribed to me, but practically everybody does that nowadays. But I do not take street narcotics."
On Oct. 28, Love was charged with felony counts of possessing hydrocodone and OxyContin in connection with the overdose.
Courtney Love
Sues Fox Over Sitcom Title
Arrested Development
Atlanta hip-hop group Arrested Development has filed a trademark infringement suit against Fox, Imagine Films Entertainment Inc. and New World Communications of Atlanta Inc. over the use of the band's name as the title of a new Fox-TV series.
The suit, filed Oct. 16 in Dekalb County Superior Court, alleges that Fox's use of the phrase will dilute the meaning of the band's name in the eyes of its fans.
"Fox has no more right to use 'Arrested Development' for its show than a band would have to name itself after one of Fox's sitcoms," said frontman Todd "Speech" Thomas in a statement. "Arrested Development" airs Sunday at 9:30 p.m. ET on the network and stars Jeffrey Tambor, Jason Bateman and Portia de Rossi.
Arrested Development
Formerly 'The Vidiot'
Record Sales
'Finding Nemo'
'Finding Nemo' sold a record 8 million DVD and VHS copies in its first day Tuesday, breaking the previous high of 7 million set last year by "Spider-Man," according to "Finding Nemo" partners Disney and Pixar Animation.
The studio shipped 25 million copies but already has ordered more, figuring some stores might run out as early as this weekend, said Bob Chapek, president of Disney home entertainment.
DVDs accounted for about 90 percent of sales. Total sales for "Finding Nemo" could rival the 32 million VHS copies that Disney's "The Lion King" sold in its initial video release in the 1990s, Chapek said.
'Finding Nemo'
National Park Service worker uses a pressurized sprayer to wash down the five-ton bronze statue of Thomas Jefferson, America's third president, during its annual cleaning at the Jefferson Memorial on the Tidal Basin in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2003. The likeness of the founding father who drafted the Declaration of Independence is 19 feet tall.
Photo by J. Scott Applewhite
Singers File Protection Orders Against Each Other
Morgan & Kershaw
Country singers Lorrie Morgan and Sammy Kershaw have each filed for orders of protection against each other.
A judge will decide the matter at a hearing within 15 days. The two were married in 2001.
Morgan filed for an order Monday and Kershaw asked for his Tuesday, saying she put her chest against him, pushed him back and "tried to provoke me."
Morgan & Kershaw
Religiously Insane Abort Capitalism
Texas Planned Parenthood
One of the state's largest construction companies backed out of a project to build a clinic where abortions would be provided, after concrete suppliers boycotted the job.
Browning Construction Co. of San Antonio pulled out Tuesday, about six weeks after the start of the boycott.
Danielle Tierney, spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood of the Texas Capital Region, which is building the clinic, called the boycott a "campaign of harassment and intimidation" and said the project would be completed.
The Austin Area Pro-Life Concrete Contractors and Suppliers Association announced the boycott shortly before the project began. Chairman Chris Danze, owner of Maldonado and Danze Inc., said every concrete supplier within 60 miles of Austin had agreed not to supply materials.
Danze called Planned Parenthood "a social movement that promotes sexual chaos, especially of our youth."
Texas Planned Parenthood
In Memory
Bobby Hatfield
Bobby Hatfield, who with partner Bill Medley pioneered "blue-eyed soul" as the Righteous Brothers with hits like "Unchained Melody" and "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling," died Wednesday night of undetermined causes at a hotel, his manager said. He was 63.
Hatfield's body was discovered in his bed at 7 p.m. EST, a half-hour before the duo was to perform at Miller Auditorium on the Western Michigan University campus, manager David Cohen said.
"It's a shock, a real shock," Cohen said during a telephone interview. Medley, who teamed with Hatfield 42 years ago, was "broken up. He's not even coherent," Cohen said.
The Righteous Brothers were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame earlier this year.
Their signature 1964 single, "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling," has been cited by numerous sources as the most-programmed song in radio history. Later 1960s hits included "Soul and Inspiration" and "Unchained Melody."
Robert Lee Hatfield was born Aug. 10, 1940 in Beaver Dam, Wis. His family moved to Anaheim, Calif., when he was 4.
An avid athlete, Hatfield considered a career in professional baseball, but found his true calling in music — a love he pursued while attending Long Beach State University, where he formed a band and performed at bars and proms.
Hatfield teamed up with Medley in 1962 as part of a five-piece group called The Paramours. According to the Righteous Brothers Web site, a black Marine called out during one of their performances, "That was righteous, brothers!" They renamed themselves the Righteous Brothers before the release of their first album in 1963.
After splitting up in 1968, they reunited in 1974 and returned to the top of the charts with "Rock and Roll Heaven."
Bobby Hatfield
www.righteousbrothers.com
Snow covers a burned tree destroyed by a wildfire near Lake Arrowhead in San Bernadino, Calif., Monday, Nov. 3, 2003. The fire was one of a handful of huge blazes that have killed 20 people, destroyed more than 3,570 homes and scorched more than 743,000 acres since igniting around Southern California nearly two weeks ago.
Photo by Nick Ut
'The Osbournes'
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