'Best of TBH Politoons'
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
David Moberg: The Republican Crack-Up (inthesetimes.com)
Bush's bad year has created a political vacuum. Who will fill it?
Sanford Gottlieb: Why have many Americans turned against the war in Iraq so quickly? (Pacific News Service)
President Bush's public relations offensive against his anti-war critics is uphill work. Within two years, polls show, Americans soured on the Iraq War -- far more quickly than they did during Vietnam. Why?
Bill McKibben: The Coming Meltdown (nybooks.com)
The year 2005 has been the hottest year on record for the planet, hotter than 1998, 2002, 2004, and 2003. More importantly, perhaps, this has been the autumn when the planet has shown more clearly than before just what that extra heat means. Consider just a few of the findings published in the major scientific journals during the last three months....
Emily Yoffe: Naked and the Dread (slate.com)
I pose nude for students. Will the art world ever be the same?
Seth Stevenson: When Tush Comes to Dove (slate.com)
Real women. Real curves. Really smart ad campaign.
David Bruce: Wise Up! Money (athensnews.com)
The very successful and very rich pianist Liberace was not bothered by criticism. In 1954, he told a critic who had written a bad review of one of his performances, "I cried all the way to the bank." In 1974, he told the same critic, who still disliked his performances, "You remember that bank that I cried all the way to? I bought it."
Corporate Jesus: Cartoon
Come Blog with All Hat No Cattle
Hubert's Poetry Corner
SPEECH LESSON AT THE VAN ZANT HOTEL
THE BIRD IS THE WORD, OR THE WORD IS THE BIRD?
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Mostly overcast & dreary.
No new flags.
Hidden Film History Unearthed
'Baby Face'
When Mike Mashon, head of the Library of Congress' moving image section, sent for a print of the 1933 Barbara Stanwyck movie "Baby Face" for an exhibition abroad, he was expecting the original release, kept at the library's Dayton, Ohio, facility.
The film has become famous in the past few years, with historians hailing it as a superior example of a studio movie made before the imposition of the Hays Production Code, which clamped down on smut. It showed, it was argued, that before the code was established, Hollywood was making adult-themed movies with an edge. When the code was instituted in 1934 after a public outcry about the frank nature of many films, the studios turned to tamer fare.
"Baby Face" is about a woman who climbs to the top of the heap using her "womanly wiles."
The movie was banned by New York state's censorship board. And if it wasn't going to be shown in the Big Apple, Warner Bros. had little hope of making any money. The studio recalled the film and cut a few minutes so that it would pass the censors.
"The uncut version was seen as a lost film," Mashon said.
That was about to change thanks to the sharp eyes of George Willeman, who oversees the nitrate vaults the library maintains on Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton. The library actually had two negatives, Willeman discovered. This was because "somebody, somewhere had kept a fine-grain, master positive," Mashon learned later.
'Baby Face'
Officials Backtrack on Plane Mishap
Oprah Winfrey
Officials now say that it was wear and tear, and not a collision with a bird, that damaged the windshield of Oprah Winfrey's private jet and forced it to return to the city airport.
"There was no bird involved, but the pilot did tell my captain that he felt it was a fatigue thing with the glass," Battalion Chief John Ahlman, a Santa Barbara City Fire Department spokesman, said Tuesday.
Winfrey, host of "The Oprah Winfrey Show," and her boyfriend, Stedman Graham, weren't hurt in Monday's incident, which occurred just after the jet had taken off from Santa Barbara Municipal Airport.
Oprah Winfrey
Gets 1st Makover in 117 Years
Rose Parade
With CBS having quietly decided after 45 years to drop its coverage, Rose Parade organizers, hoping to keep TV viewers and the remaining broadcasting outlets happy, have ratcheted up the rolling flowerfest's entertainment quotient.
So, the annual Tournament of Roses on Monday - a day later than usual because of a "never on Sunday" policy - will kick off with a splashy performance by Grammy-winning singer LeAnn Rimes - complete with dancers and aerial performers.
The extravaganza will be jazzed up further by mid-parade performances - yes, the whole parade will roll to a pause - by singer Toni Braxton and magician Lance Burton.
The fans along the parade route, however, aren't likely to see the entertaining new additions, which have been designed primarily for the TV audience.
Rose Parade
Japanese Honor Kabuki Acting Great
Kotaro Hayashi
A beloved Kabuki actor who is considered a Japanese national treasure paraded through the streets of Tokyo on Wednesday, flanked by geishas in black kimonos and men singing traditional songs to the cheers of hundreds of admirers.
The parade honored Kotaro Hayashi as one of the greatest performers in the 400-year-old Japanese drama.
Hayashi, 73, recently became the first actor in more than 200 years to adopt the prestigious stage name "Tojuro Sakata," after a 17th-century performer who developed Kabuki's wagoto or "soft" style, known for sensitive and romantic characters.
Hayashi, born into a family of Kabuki actors and known for his flamboyant performance style, is only the third performer to adopt it. The actor, who smiled and waved to his fans in a purple and black hakama kimono, said he had fulfilled a dream.
Kotaro Hayashi
Made Honorary Pa. Deputy
Mira Sorvino
Mira Sorvino is a second-generation honorary deputy sheriff.
Her father, actor Paul Sorvino, is a longtime friend of Lackawanna County Sheriff John Szymanski, who had sworn in the elder Sorvino as an honorary deputy years ago.
On Tuesday, Szymanski administered the oath to Sorvino, who was there with her husband, Chris Backus; their 1-year-old daughter, Mattea Angel; and other family members.
Mira Sorvino
Paid Money to Accusers' Families
Gary Glitter
Former rock star Gary Glitter paid $4,000 to the families of Vietnamese girls he is accused of sexually abusing in exchange for their cooperation, his lawyer said Wednesday.
Glitter, who won fame as a flamboyant glam rocker in the 1970s, gave $2,000 each to the families of two girls, ages 11 and 12, after they agreed to write letters to the court asking that the case be dropped, said lawyer Le Thanh Kinh.
Prosecutors said the money paid would have no bearing on whether the case goes to trial. However, Nguyen Van Xung, deputy provincial chief prosecutor, said the court would consider the $4,000 paid as a form of compensation during the sentencing phase.
Gary Glitter
Christmas Tree Blaze
Disneyland Hotel
A 35-foot Christmas tree caught fire early Wednesday in the lobby of the Disneyland Grand Californian Hotel, forcing the evacuation of more than 2,000 guests, officials said.
The sprinkler system kept the 3 a.m. blaze in the artificial tree in check, and firefighters were able to quickly put it out, said Maria Sabol, a spokeswoman for the Anaheim Fire Department.
The 745-room hotel in the center of the Disneyland Resort was at full capacity with about 2,300 guests, said Rob Doughty, the resort's vice president of communications. They were evacuated but were back in their rooms by 7 a.m., Sabol said.
Disneyland Hotel
Featured in Exhibit
Evolution of the Banjo
Consider the evolution of the humble banjo. It morphed from a hollow gourd, strummed by African slaves, into an elegant toy for Victorian society ladies. Later, it grew into one of the mainstays of bluegrass music.
This story is told in a new exhibit at the Corcoran Gallery of Art. "Picturing the Banjo" brings together 72 works of art with a sampling of actual instruments.
Among the artists are Mary Cassatt, Thomas Eakins, Thomas Hart Benton and William Wegman. Some of the instruments are themselves elaborate works of art, adorned with inlaid designs and carvings of gargoyles, Masonic emblems and discreet nudes.
The exhibit can be seen in Washington through March 5. Admission is $8 for adults, $5 for seniors and U.S. military and $4 for students. It will travel to the Palmer Museum in Philadelphia March 30-June 25, and to the Boston Athenaeum July 26-Oct. 21.
Evolution of the Banjo
Settles Lawsuit Over Book's Cover
Hershey
The Hershey Co. has settled a trademark-violation lawsuit against Simon & Schuster Inc. over a new book with a dust jacket that includes the familiar image of a Hershey chocolate bar.
Under the settlement, the New York-based publisher agreed to add an image in the upper left corner of the dust jacket's front cover stating that the book - Hershey: Milton S. Hershey's Extraordinary Life of Wealth, Empire and Utopian Dreams - is "neither authorized nor sponsored by The Hershey Company."
Hershey filed a U.S. federal lawsuit nearly two weeks ago seeking an injunction to bar Simon & Schuster from using Hershey-owned images to market the book, which is slated to be released in January.
Hershey
Killed Daughters to Save 'Honor'
Nazir Ahmed
Nazir Ahmed appears calm and unrepentant as he recounts how he slit the throats of his three young daughters and their 25-year old stepsister to salvage his family's "honor" - a crime that shocked Pakistan.
Ahmed's killing spree - witnessed by his wife Rehmat Bibi as she cradled their 3 month-old baby son - happened Friday night at their home in the cotton-growing village of Gago Mandi in eastern Punjab province.
Bibi recounted how she was woken by a shriek as Ahmed put his hand to the mouth of his stepdaughter Muqadas and cut her throat with a machete. Bibi looked helplessly on from the corner of the room as he then killed the three girls - Bano, 8, Sumaira, 7, and Humaira, 4 - pausing between the slayings to brandish the bloodstained knife at his wife, warning her not to intervene or raise alarm.
Muqadas was Bibi's daughter by her first marriage to Ahmed's brother, who died 14 years ago. Ahmed married his brother's widow, as is customary under Islamic tradition.
Nazir Ahmed
Owen & Mzee Mark Year Together
Hippo & Tortoise
The unlikely couple of a baby hippo and a 130-year-old tortoise were still together, a year after the hippo was separated from its family by a tsunami.
The relationship between Owen, the two-year-old hippopotamus, and Mzee, the giant tortoise, surprised conservation workers and made international headlines.
Owen was living with his family on the Sabaki River when massive waves from the Indian Ocean tsunami reached the East African coast. He was washed into the ocean and stranded on a reef.
Residents of Malindi, a small coastal town, used fishing nets to catch him. He was then taken to the Haller Park sanctuary, where he met Mzee and adopted him as a surrogate parent. Owen may have been attracted by Mzee's round shape and gray color that are somewhat similar to that of an adult hippopotamus.
Hippo & Tortoise
Prime-Time Nielsen
Ratings
Prime-time television viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen Media Research for Dec. 19-25. Top 20 listings include the week's ranking, with viewership for the week and season-to-date rankings in parentheses. An "X" in parentheses denotes a one-time-only presentation.
1. (4) "CSI: Miami," CBS, 20.3 million viewers.
2. (1) "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," CBS, 18.9 million viewers.
3. (11) "Two and a Half Men," CBS, 17.7 million viewers.
4. (21) "Out Of Practice," CBS, 15.0 million viewers.
5. (3) "Without a Trace," CBS, 14.4 million viewers.
6. (X) "Deal Or No Deal" (Wednesday), NBC, 14.1 million viewers.
7. (X) "Barbara Walters Presents: Heaven: Where Is It? How Do We Get There?" ABC, 13.8 million viewers.
8. (X) "Deal Or No Deal" (Thursday), NBC, 13.5 million viewers.
9. (14) "CSI: NY," CBS, 12.7 million viewers.
10. (X) "Deal Or No Deal" (Tuesday), NBC, 12.6 million viewers.
11. (18) "Criminal Minds," CBS, 12.4 million viewers.
12. (7) "NFL Monday Night Football: Green Bay at Baltimore," ABC, 12.0 million viewers.
13. (X) "Deal Or No Deal" (Friday), NBC, 11.6 million viewers.
14. (X) "Deal Or No Deal" (Monday), NBC, 11.6 million viewers.
15. (19) "NFL Monday Showcase," ABC, 11.4 million viewers.
16. (34) "King Of Queens," CBS, 11.3 million viewers.
17. (8) "NCIS," CBS, 10.7 million viewers.
18. (36) "How I Met Your Mother," CBS, 10.4 million viewers.
19. (X) "NFL Sunday Postgame Show," Fox, 10.3 million viewers.
20. (26) "My Name Is Earl," NBC, 10.2 million viewers.
Ratings
In Memory
Stevenson J. Palfi
Filmmaker Stevenson J. Palfi, 53, whose documentary "Piano Players Rarely Ever Play Together" chronicled the lives of three New Orleans jazzmen, shot himself to death, his family said. He had been severely depressed after Hurricane Katrina damaged most of his property and possessions, they said.
He had been living with his former wife and co-producer, Polly Waring, whose home was one of the few still habitable in the Mid-City area where both lived.
The 1982 documentary for which he was best known features three generations of New Orleans pianists: Isidore "Tuts" Washington, Henry Roeland "Professor Longhair" Byrd and Allen Toussaint, composer of such hits as "Workin' in a Coal Mine," "Mother-in-Law" and "Southern Nights." The film is still in distribution.
At the time of his death, Palfi was in the final stages of production on a feature-length program about Toussaint titled "Songwriter, Unknown." He had been working on the film for more than 15 years.
Palfi received grants, fellowships and awards from, among others, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Channel Four Network of Britain, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the National Endowments for the Arts and the Humanities.
Stevenson J. Palfi
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