'Best of TBH Politoons'
Cory!! Strode On Graphic Novels
Elektra
Weekly Link
Sick Of This Crap!
Inauguration Week is behind us. Now we just cruise through the Iraq elections and everything will be hunky dory.
This week's issue includes:
* Bush - Turd of the Week, too bad all the lessons of history were kept blocks away from the motorcade
* Ballots and Bombs - get ready for the fireworks in the Iraq election
* Fuzzy Math with Social Security - a handy pocket guide for comparing the Iraq and Social Security crises.
Join us won't you join us? We're just a click away....
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Scott Horton: A Nuremberg Lesson : Torture scandal began far above 'rotten apples.' (LA Times; Scott Horton is a New York attorney and a lecturer in international humanitarian law at Columbia University.)
"This so-called ill treatment and torture in detention centers, stories of which were spread everywhere among the people, and later by the prisoners who were freed Š were not, as some assumed, inflicted methodically, but were excesses committed by individual prison guards, their deputies, and men who laid violent hands on the detainees."
Roger Ebert: In memory of Johnny Carson
The first time Siskel and I were invited to appear on the Tonight Show, the evening began badly. "We do not belong here," Gene told me in the dressing room, as we heard Doc Severnson and the orchestra playing the show's theme. "We are Midwest boys from Chicago and we belong in Chicago right now, this very moment, watching this show on television." A writer popped his head into the dressing room with a last-minute thought: "Johnny might ask you about some of your favorite films this year." The writer left. Siskel and I looked at each other in horror. We were terrified. Our minds went blank. At that moment I could not think of a single title. "Name a film," Gene said. "'Gone With the Wind'," I said. "Me, too," Gene said. He called our office in Chicago and said, "Quick, tell me the names of some movies we like."
Stuart Thornton: Deep Royal Blood: Bonnie "Prince" Billy, aka Will Oldham, brings his strange folk genius to Fernwood (Monterey County Weekly)
Since releasing the single "Ohio River Boat Song" in 1992, Will Oldham has been one of the most interesting and enigmatic artists in contemporary music. For the past 13 years, Oldham has been releasing beautiful folk, rock and country music paired with unexpected lyrical turns under various names, including Palace, Palace Music, Palace Songs and, most recently, Bonnie "Prince" Billy. In a rare interview last week, Oldham spoke with the Weekly about 2004's Bonnie "Prince" Billy Sings Greatest Palace Music, and his newest work, a brilliant collaboration with Matt Sweeney titled Superwolf, with the same sort of rambling ruminations that mark his music.
How Not To Clean Your Laptop
Nick Anderson Cartoons (Washington Post)
But Untrue
Strangely Believable
According to his resume, Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz has a masters degree in cultural geology from the
~Jeff Crook
Jeff Crook is the Ceci Connolly of the Left. ~ J. Howard Tuft
Strangely Believable but Untrue is now available online at the Untrue Fact of the Day web calendar. Help spread disinformation and misunderstanding by sharing this with your friends and enemies.
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Overcast day, very foggy night.
From James 'The Amazing' Randi - A Good Friend Has Left Us
Wheelie Willy visited the kid's school again today.
FCC Denies
36 Indecency Complaints
Federal regulators on Monday denied 36 complaints of broadcast indecency in connection with popular TV shows like "Friends," "The Simpsons," and "Gilmore Girls."
The complaints to the Federal Communications Commission were all filed by the Parents Television Council, a conservative watchdog group which frequently complains about sex and violence on television.
"None of the segments were patently offensive under contemporary community standards for the broadcast medium, and thus not indecent," the agency said in a statement.
There were multiple complaints about a November 2003 episode of "Gilmore Girls." In one scene, a character's grandfather reminisces about college pranks involving nudity. In another, two college students discuss an incident in which a male student who was nude spent the night in a dorm hallway.
36 Indecency Complaints
First Choice for Commercial
John Madden
ABC's first choice for the infamous "Monday Night Football" dropped towel episode wasn't Terrell Owens - it was announcer John Madden.
For reasons that are unclear, Madden couldn't find the time to perform for the skit. Owens, the Philadelphia Eagles receiver, filled in for him in the steamy sketch that drew viewer protests and a network apology, ABC entertainment President Stephen McPherson said Sunday.
ABC initially thought it would be funny to have the, uh, less attractive Madden as the subject of Sheridan's ardor, McPherson said.
The towel-dropping was another last-minute addition to the script that plainly backfired, said Marc Cherry, executive producer of "Desperate Housewives," who helped write it.
John Madden
Pair Up For Super Bowl
Gretchen Wilson & Charlie Daniels
Gretchen Wilson and Charlie Daniels will team up for a performance during the Super Bowl pregame show next month. The NFL is pairing young icons and timeless legends from a variety of music genres to link fans of all ages in what's being called the "Bridging Generations" Super Bowl XXXIX (39) pregame show. Other pairings include the Black Eyed Peas with Earth, Wind & Fire, and Kelly Clarkson with John Fogerty. Alicia Keys will perform "America The Beautiful" in a special tribute to the late Ray Charles.
The Ameriquest Mortgage Super Bowl XXXIX Halftime Show will feature a performance by Paul McCartney.
In addition, the NFL will honor current and former members of the military with a special salute and performance of the national anthem. Details will be announced shortly.
Gretchen Wilson & Charlie Daniels
Hey - that reminds me of a fabulous bit from BartCop...
Tops Poll of Best Oscar Losers
Alfred Hitchcock
British director Alfred Hitchcock is the best film-maker never to have been handed an Oscar, according to a poll of British movie viewers released a day before the 2005 nominations come out.
In a poll of deserving non-Oscar winning directors by British viewers of cable film channel Turner Classic Movies, Hitchcock edged out Martin Scorsese and the late Stanley Kubrick.
The top 10 in each category was:
Most deserving directors never to have won an Oscar:
1. Alfred Hitchcock
2. Martin Scorsese
3. Stanley Kubrick
4. Ridley Scott
5. Tim Burton
6. Ingmar Bergman
7. Spike Lee
8. Mike Leigh
9. Howard Hawks
10. Roberto Rossellini
Most deserving actor never to have won an Oscar:
1. Samuel L Jackson
2. Steve McQueen
3. Richard Burton
4. Tom Cruise
5. Brad Pitt
6. Bruce Willis
7. John Travolta
8. Cary Grant
9. Hugh Grant
10. Kirk Douglas
Most deserving actress never to have won an Oscar:
1. Demi Moore
2. Sharon Stone
3. Meg Ryan
4. Marilyn Monroe
5. Michelle Pfeiffer
6. Drew Barrymore
7. Lauren Bacall
8. Glenn Close
9. Cate Blanchett
10. Ava Gardner
Alfred Hitchcock
Escapes Knife Attack in London
Christian Slater
American actor Christian Slater has escaped a knife attack after a performance of his show in London's West End.
Slater, 35, has been starring in a stage version of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" at the Gielgud Theater, which ended a three month season Saturday.
Media reports said Slater's bodyguard took the brunt of the knife attack, which occurred outside the theater.
Christian Slater
Baby News
J.K. Rowling
"Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling has given birth to a baby girl, a Scottish hospital said. The 39-year-old British author, who shot to fame with the publication of the popular boy-wizard fantasy book series, gave birth to her third child at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary on Sunday, a hospital spokesman said. The baby girl hasn't been named.
Rowling and her husband, Neil Murray, have a 22-month-old son, David. The author also has an 11-year-old daughter, Jessica, from a previous marriage.
J.K. Rowling
Documentary Tells of Human Toll
'Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room'
There were many times when director Alex Gibney said he was urged to rush his documentary "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room" to theaters last year and be the next "Fahrenheit 9/11," but he resisted, not wanting to get involved in a political brawl.
The movie touches on links between resident Bush and Enron Corp., but more closely explores the Houston-based company's massive financial collapse and the human toll on those involved in what was the largest U.S. bankruptcy in history.
The documentary debuted over the weekend at the Sundance Film Festival to packed houses, and left audiences shaking their heads and wondering how the Enron debacle could have happened.
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
NY Radio Station Apologizes
WQHT
A New York radio station apologized on Monday for repeatedly airing a joke song that ridiculed victims of the recent tsunami in South Asia and used racial slurs, saying the piece was in poor taste.
New York FM radio station WQHT, or HOT 97, ran the segment on its "Miss Jones in the Morning" show. The piece used racial slurs to describe people swept away in the disaster, made jokes about child slavery and people watching their mothers die.
The hip-hop and R&B station, known for its "shock jocks," apologized on its Web site, saying it, "regrets the airing of material that made light of a serious and tragic event. We apologize to our listeners and anyone who was offended."
WQHT's program director and deejay Tarsha Nicole Jones, who uses the on-air name Miss Jones, apologized on the program and said the segment should not have been broadcast.
WQHT
To Head Virgin's Urban Division
Jermaine Dupri
In the latest example of a musician moving into a label's executive suite, Jermaine Dupri will take over as president of Virgin Records' new Urban Music division.
Under the deal, Dupri's So So Def label will join the Virgin stable, and he will also record as a solo act for Virgin and produce acts on Virgin and other EMI labels.
Dupri will be based in Atlanta and New York and report to Virgin chairman/CEO Matt Serletic and COO/GM Larry Mestel.
Jermaine Dupri
Fallen Porn King Rebuilds with Bagels
Al Goldstein
He spent a lifetime peddling smut and once had an $11 million fortune, but after losing everything and becoming just another homeless New Yorker, Al Goldstein is now happy pushing bagels instead of porn.
Goldstein, a founding father of America's porn industry, now hustles bagels and white fish at a New York-based deli and catering establishment.
The former owner of Milky Way Productions, home of Screw magazine and the now defunct X-rated cult show "Midnight Blue," went bankrupt over a year ago after amassing an $11 million fortune. Screw once sold over 140,000 copies weekly and was a cash cow thanks to ads for call girls and prostitutes before it fell victim to Internet porn and sagging circulation.
He now lives in a Staten Island apartment after magician Penn Jillette, of the duo Penn and Teller, helped him out financially to get him back on his feet.
For a lot more, Al Goldstein
