'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.
A family matter
Kyra Sedgwick will star in "Loverboy," a drama directed by her husband, actor Kevin Bacon. Story concerns a mom who makes up for her own rotten childhood by dominating her son. Also stars Marisa Tomei, Matt Dylan and Blair Brown.
Prediction: Sounds kind of heavy but Bacon only pursues projects that greatly interest him so this movie will at least have the benefit of a solid intellectual foundation. No way to gauge the public's interest in a smothering mother tale but if the story avoids melodramatic histrionics and focuses on the mom's journey of understanding, they might have something here.
*****
The snow must go on
Olympic ice skater Katarina Witt will star in "The Snow Queen," Hans Christian Andersen's fantasy about a young girl who seeks to help her kidnapped friend.
Prediction: If they pony up and spend enough cash on special effects they might break even with a holiday release. Otherwise, Katarina Witt has been out of the spotlight for too long to create much of a stir, even though she did that notorious Playboy pictorial a few years ago to drum up interest in her again. This one looks iffy on all counts.
*****
Show 'em if ya got 'em
"X-Girls" will star Cameron Diaz as one of three Playboy centerfolds who compete in a grueling reality TV show.
Prediction: Life imitates art imitates life imitates art...Now big screen movies are giving us larger than life versions of reality shows plus Cameron Diaz's breasts to boot! Presumably we'll learn how the girls realize halfway through the competition that there's more at stake than a prize – self-worth, rising above, etc. Then the body shots will give way to close-ups of determined eyes and firm jaws. They are women, hear them roar! If the jiggle factor is high (and you know it will be) they'll pull in at least 75 million.
*****
Freeze frame
Adrien Brody will star in "Capa," about the famed World War II era photographer. Taking the role as Capa's love interest will be Natalie Portman.
Prediction: This will be written and possibly directed by Menno Meyjes, the writer known for bringing heart and soul to some of Spielberg's bests movies from the 80's. So we can look forward to a powerful, compelling movie with phenomenal performances. And box office prospects are solid; this one will easily pull in the September – November flick-with-gravitas prize.
~ The Artful Dodger
Reader Suggestion
On A Rock
Very interesting large painted rock on a Iowa farm
Give it a moment to load, lots of photos
Reader Question
Re: Errors on Page
For the last few days your page has been coming out white, rather than
tan, and some of the graphics are just a red X and maybe a title. The
archives look that way, too. Bartcop proper looks normal.
Has anyone else
said anything about this or is it just me?
Thanks.
Perry
Thanks, Perry - you're the first to mention it.
Any suggestions out there?
Reader Suggestion
Matrix Ping Pong
You've got to check this out...
from Mark
The Post-literate Presidency
Selected Reading
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny & warm.
Did the CostCo run - picked up enough so there'll be no need to visit next week. I'm allergic to long lines & crowds.
The remaining kitten was altered earlier today & is sleeping off her meds.
It appears local TV is going to cover Michael Jackson at the expense of EVERYTHING else (so what else is new).
Tonight, Thursday, CBS starts 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 Gen. Wesley Clark and Paul Walker.
Scheduled on a FRESH Craiggers are Maria Sharapova and Elvis Costello.
NBC begins the night 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 Mike Myers, Al Green, Paul and Mike Teutel.
Scheduled on a FRESH Conan are Billy Bob Thornton, Nick Lachey, and Rob Krueger.
Scheduled on a FRESH Carson Daly are Kid Rock, Jenna Elfman, and Robert Bradley.
ABC opens the night with a FRESH 'special' - 'The Bachelor: After The Final Rose', followed by another FRESH 'special' -
'Peter Jennings Reporting', where they 'validate' the Warren Commission Report.
Scheduled on a FRESH Jimmy Kimmel has this week's guest co-host Jon Favreau.
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', followed by a RERUN 'The O.C.' (the same episode that aired last night - Thanksgiving behind the Orange Curtain).
UPN fills the night with 'WWE Smackdown!'.
A&E has 'American Justice', 'Biography' (Clint Eastwood), then the movie 'China Moon'.
AMC offers the movie 'Rosemary's Baby', followed by the movie 'Fatal Attraction', then the movie 'Mary Reilly'.
BBC -
[6pm] 'BBC World News';
[6:30pm] 'Cash in the Attic' - Tredwen;
[7pm] 'Ground Force' - Blackhurst Hill;
[7:30pm] 'Changing Rooms' - Camberwell;
[8pm] 'House Invaders' - Rugby/ Cawston;
[8:30pm] 'House Invaders' - Newbold on Avon;
[9pm] 'Faking It' - Faking It Changed My Life;
[10pm] 'Coupling' - My Dinner In Hell;
[10:40pm] 'Behind the Screen' - Coupling;
[11pm] 'So Graham Norton' - Stephen Fry;
[11:30pm] 'So Graham Norton' - Dixie Chicks/Ashton Kutcher;
[12am] 'Faking It' - Faking It Changed My Life;
[1am] 'Coupling' - My Dinner In Hell;
[1:40am] 'Behind the Screen' - Coupling;
[2am] 'House Invaders' - Rugby/ Cawston;
[2:30am] 'House Invaders' - Newbold on Avon;
[3am] 'So Graham Norton' - Stephen Fry;
[3:30am] 'So Graham Norton' - Dixie Chicks/Ashton Kutcher;
[4am] 'Faking It' - Faking It Changed My Life;
[5am] 'Coupling' - My Dinner In Hell;
[5:40am] 'Behind the Screen' - Coupling; and
[6am] 'BBC World News'. (ALL TIMES EST)
Bravo has 'West Wing', then the movie 'Risky Business', 'Queer Eye', and 'West Wing', again.
Scheduled on a FRESH Jon Stewart is Billy Bob Thornton.
History has 'Modern Marvels', 'Dead Men's Secrets', and 'Kennedys: The Curse Of Power'.
SciFi has a 4-hour version of 'Peter Benchley's Creature'.
TCM celebrates the always impressive
Robert Mitchum all day, and later features 2 lesser-seen films -
'The Hatchet Man' (1932), where Edward G. Robinson, J. Carroll Naish &
Loretta Young are Chinese (it's much better than it sounds), and 'The Great Dictator' (1940),
where Charlie Chaplin is Adenoid Hynkel (the dictator of Tomania) vs. Jack Oakie as Napaloni (dictator of Bacteria).
[6am] 'Girl Rush' (1944);
[7:30am] 'Undercurrent' (1946);
[9:30am] 'Blood On The Moon' (1949);
[11am] 'Where Danger Lives' (1950);
[12:30pm] 'Holiday Affair' (1950);
[2pm] 'Angel Face' (1953);
[4pm] 'She Couldn't Say No' (1954);
[5:30pm] 'Home From The Hill' (1960);
[8pm] 'The Hatchet Man' (1932);
[9:15pm] 'The Hitch-Hiker' (1953);
[11pm] 'The Great Dictator' (1940);
[1:15am] 'Dancing Lady' (1933);
[3am] 'Green Dolphin Street' (1947); and
[5:30am] MGM Parade Show #20 (1955). (ALL TIMES EST)
Former U.S. President Bill Clinton, right, shows an honorary doctorate conferred for his dedication to the world peace by Aichi Gakuin University Rector Tadataka Koide at the university n Nisshin, central Japan, commemorating the 50th annivesary of the Japanese university's founding Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2003. After the speech, Clinton met the parents of Japanese exchange student Yoshihiro Hattori who was shot to death in Louisiana, a crime Clinton cited in pushing for stricter gun laws when he was in office. It was their first meeting since November 1993, when Mieko and Masaichi Hattori had handed the ex-president a petition with 1.7 million Japanese signatures asking for stricter gun control in the United States. Shortly after the Hattori's visit, hesigned the Brady gun control bill requiring background checks on gun purchasers.
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The Information One-Stop
Moose & Squirrel
Talks Pop Fiction in Speech
Stephen King
Horror writer Stephen King, lauded by readers but panned by many critics, called for support of other popular fiction authors as he received the 2003 Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters from the National Book Foundation.
The foundation held its 54th Annual National Book Awards in Manhattan Wednesday night.
During the awards ceremony, which was attended by 900 guests including 125 authors, King spoke at length about the person to whom he credits his success, his wife Tabitha.
"When I gave up on 'Carrie' it was Tabby who rescued the first few pages of single-spaced manuscript from the wastebasket," he said.
King said that while he worked as a teacher during the early 1970s, the couple struggled to make ends meet. But he said Tabitha never once thought of telling him to give up writing to make more money with a second job.
King said he had no patience "for those who make a point of pride in saying they have never read anything by John Grisham, Tom Clancy, Mary Higgins Clark or any other popular writer."
"What do you think?" King asked. "You get social academic brownie points for deliberately staying out of touch with your own culture?"
Stephen King
Warm Welcome On German Tour
Michael Moore
US filmmaker and author Michael Moore began his German tour in Berlin this week to promote the German-language version of "Dude, Where's My Country."
In two sold out appearances, 3,000 adoring German fans got exactly what they came for: a hissing diatribe against the US government.
"Welcome old Europe, thank God for old Europe," Moore began at the Columbiahalle Sunday, referring to an unpopular term coined by the US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
"I live in a country in which it is almost a matter of national policy to keep people stupid. I am almost embarrassed to talk about it but I feel you are owed an explanation."
For a lot more, Michael Moore
Nelly Rios of San Juan, Puerto Rico, looks at a set of Mexican dolls given to Caroline Kennedy in 1962 by the first lady of Mexico, during a visit to the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum in Boston, Thursday, Nov. 13, 2003. The dolls are part of the museum's newest exhibit, 'From the World to the White House: Caroline Kennedy's Doll Collection (1961-63).'
Photo by Julia Malakie
CBS Postpones Special
Michael Jackson
The CBS television network on Wednesday said it was indefinitely postponing a prime-time Michael Jackson special that had been scheduled to air next week, due to criminal charges pending against the entertainer.
CBS is a unit of media conglomerate Viacom Inc.
Michael Jackson
Agree to Tighten TV Cap for a Year
Lawmakers
U.S. House and Senate negotiators agreed on Wednesday to tighten for a year the limit on how many local television stations a network can own, defying a veto threat by the White House.
Lawmakers putting together a massive end-of-year spending bill included a provision that would bar the Federal Communications Commission from allowing television networks to buy local stations that collectively reach more than 35 percent of the national audience.
The FCC lifted the cap to 45 percent in June, sparking an outcry from lawmakers and consumer groups who said permitting the networks to own more local stations would cut the number of viewpoints in a community and reduce local reporting.
The lawmakers were meeting to try to wrap up the annual spending budgets for several government agencies and while the FCC provision was included, the future of the omnibus bill was still a bit in flux because of disputes over other issues.
Lawmakers
In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends
USA Network Eyeing Miniseries
'Scarface'
Say hello to more little friends of Tony Montana's: USA Network is developing a "Scarface" miniseries based on the 1983 gangster drama.
Details are still sketchy as the cable channel has just begun its efforts to lure top-notch talent to fill the shoes of star Al Pacino and director Brian De Palma. The project could resurrect the characters from the film or explore other story lines set in the same Miami-based crime world.
Universal Pictures, which retains the rights to the "Scarface" characters, undoubtedly saw further potential for the film as a younger generation discovers it on DVD, where the recently released two-disc "Anniversary Edition" drew advance orders for more than 2 million units. A four-hour edition of the film provided a ratings bonanza for USA last month -- the Oct. 12 airing drew 3.6 million total viewers, making it the highest-rated movie on basic cable that week.
'Scarface'
On the second day of US resident George W. Bush's state visit to London, Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2003, anti-war demonstrators invoke one of Britain's more gruesome traditions and call for the head of a traitor on a spike. In the the background is London's Millenium Eye.
Photo by John D McHugh
Received Marian Anderson Award
Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey has received the Marian Anderson Award for her efforts helping minority students and families.
The award honoring artists and performers for their humanitarian efforts was presented Tuesday by Mayor John Street and musician Quincy Jones, a 2001 winner. Winfrey, 49, said she hopes to "light up the world."
Winfrey said she stands on the shoulders of people such as Anderson, an opera singer from Philadelphia who fought discrimination to become the first black singer to perform with the Metropolitan Opera in New York.
Oprah Winfrey
Radio DJ Spins Comedy Show to Fox
Big Boy
Popular Los Angeles morning radio host Big Boy is set to star in a Fox sitcom that won't take him too far from his broadcasting roots.
He will play the owner and on-air personality at an independent L.A. radio station, where he presides over a dysfunctional surrogate family that includes his blue-blooded former college roommate and a teenage intern who believes he's going to be the next P. Diddy.
Big Boy has teamed on the as-yet-untitled project with feature screenwriter Darryl Quarles ("Big Momma's House"), while "Charlie's Angels" director McG will executive produce. The network has committed to a script.
Big Boy
Formerly 'The Vidiot'
TV Documentary Called Smear
History Channel
A television documentary claiming the late U.S. president Lyndon Johnson helped plot the assassination of his predecessor, John Kennedy, was condemned as an absurd smear by Johnson's family and former staff members.
A History Channel film that aired Monday alleges Johnson, who was Kennedy's vice-president, and members of his staff were responsible for Kennedy's 1963 killing. LBJ Foundation chairman Tom Johnson, no relation to the late president, said in an interview Tuesday: "I do not know of a greater injustice to the reputation of a former president - especially to be on the History Channel."
He and Jack Valenti, a former Johnson staff member and current president of the Motion Picture Association of America, issued a joint statement on behalf of the Johnson family and others.
Another former LBJ aide, journalist Bill Moyers, hadn't seen the program but called its premise "absurd." Liz Carpenter, who was press secretary to Johnson's wife, Lady Bird Johnson, called the program "outrageous."
For a lot more, History Channel
Researcher for Japan's electronics giant Seiko Epson Osamu Miyazawa displays the world's smallest and lightest helicopter "Micro Flying Robot", 7cm in height, 13cm in diameter of rotors and weighing only 8.9g, equipped with four micro actuators to drive two rotors and stabilizing units at the International Robot Exhibition in Tokyo.
Photo by Yoshikazu Tsuno
Pilot Had Cocaine in System
Aaliyah
An autopsy found drugs and alcohol in the body of the pilot of the plane that crashed in the Bahamas killing the singer Aaliyah and eight other people in 2001, a doctor testified during a coroner's inquest.
Pilot Luis Antonio Morales had cocaine and traces of alcohol in his system, pathologist Dr. Giovander Raju testified Tuesday at the inquest on Abaco Island, where the crash occurred.
The autopsy findings of cocaine and alcohol were disclosed in July by the Bahamas Department of Civil Aviation.
Aaliyah
To Be Tried for DUI
Robert Conrad
A judge on Tuesday ordered former television tough guy Robert Conrad to stand trial on charges of driving under the influence of alcohol.
Conrad, best known for his roles in the TV shows "Baa Baa Black Sheep" — later renamed "Black Sheep Squadron" — and "The Wild Wild West," pleaded innocent to two felony counts.
Conrad crashed head on into another vehicle March 31 near his rural Calaveras County home, injuring the other driver. Police testified Tuesday that his blood-alcohol level was 0.22 percent — nearly three times the legal limit.
The actor turned up two hours late for Tuesday's preliminary hearing, later telling The Associated Press that he had been at home doing physical therapy for injuries he sustained in the crash.
When he didn't show for the scheduled start, prosecutors said that if he was well enough to attend a CBS anniversary show on Nov. 2, he should be able to come to the hearing. The judge then ordered Conrad's lawyer to find his client.
Robert Conrad
Father of Danish Painting
Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg
Just a century and a half after his death in 1853 Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg, called the "father of Danish painting," is getting his first one-man show outside his homeland at the National Gallery of Art in Washington.
Philip Conisbee, the gallery's senior curator of European art, calls Eckersberg "one of the most original painters of the early 19th century." He said Eckersberg, almost unknown outside Denmark, will have a more important place when the history of European art is rewritten.
The 52 paintings will be on display from Sunday through Feb. 29. Admission is free.
Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg
National Gallery of Art
Putting the Yo! Back
Yodeling
The Swiss do it, cowboys do it, even educated rappers do it. Let's all do it, let's yodel-ay-ee-ooo.
From opera to hip-hop, there's barely a musical genre that hasn't turned to yodeling now and then. So why can't yodelers get a little more respect?
So asks writer and radio DJ Bart Plantenga in his book "The Secret History of Yodeling Around the World," which will be published early next month. It's the first all-embracing look at the oft-derided art, which echoes through cultures as diverse as the Bollywood soundtrack and the Pygmies of Central Africa.
"I couldn't believe no one has ever written a comprehensive book about this before," Plantenga said.
For the rest, Yodeling
In Memory
Gene Ray
Gene Ray, an actor and dancer best known for his roles in the 1980 movie "Fame" and its spin-off television series, died Friday in Manhattan. He was 41.
Ray died of complications from a stroke he had in June and was also HIV positive, said his mother, Jean Ray.
Like Leroy, the rebellious character he played in "Fame," Ray attended New York's High School of the Performing Arts. Ray dropped out after a year.
Ray returned to the role of Leroy for the "Fame" television series, which ran from 1982 to 1987. He went on to appear in the films "Out of Sync" (1995) and "Eddie" (1996), starring Whoopi Goldberg.
Ray appears in a "Fame" reunion documentary which was taped in April 2003 for the BBC but has not yet aired.
Gene Ray
Australian crocodile expert John Lever, right, and an official of the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department are silhouetted against reflection of light as they sit in a boat in search of a rogue crocodile in a river in Hong Kong's New Territories town of Yuen long, early Thursday morning, Nov. 20, 2003. in spite of hopes to finally nab a wily crocodile that's evaded capture for two weeks, the 1.2-meter (4-foot) reptile which has attained celebrity status by thwarting attempts to catch it continued to elude capture. According to Lever the main obstacle to catching the crocodiles is the amount of light at the site. Lever said this is proving to be the most difficult situation he had ever encountered when trying to catch a crocodile. He willresume his search on Sunday, night, Nov. 23.
Photo by Anat Givon
'The Osbournes'
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