'Best of TBH Politoons'
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Beth Quinn: A thank-you note to George W. Bush (recordonline.com)
Thank you for making such a thorough mess of your presidency that the citizens of this country want a change so vast, so enormous that we are willing to elect either a black man or a woman to the White House.
Jim Hightower: HOME-LOAN HUCKSTERING KEEPS COMING (jimhightower.com)
You might have noticed that something called the subprime mortgage industry has cratered. Millions of people are losing their houses in foreclosures, big-name lenders are eating billions of dollars in losses, and America's whole system of home financing is teetering. But if you see the ads of home-loan hucksters, you'd think nothing has happened.
Jo Revill: How depression makes you stronger (guardian.co.uk)
According to Keedwell, the strongest argument for depression's usefulness 'lies in its ability to force us to take stock of ourselves and ask: "Why have I allowed myself to become so frustrated for so long?" If depression did not encourage us to reassess things, we would merely return later to the same battle.'
Heather A. O'Neill: "Across the Page: The Classics" (afterellen.com)
Books that revolutionized the genre of lesbian fiction.
LeeAnn Kriegh: And the Oscar Goes to... (afterellen.com)
Marlee Matlin, Kristanna Loken, Gabrielle Christian, Mandana Jones and more talk about their favorite films and performances.
James Hillis: Interview with "Brothers & Sisters" creator Jon Robin Baitz (afterelton.com)
The openly gay writer/creator gives us his first interview since leaving his hit show.
Diane Anderson-Minshall: Laurel Holloman Gets Personal About Tina (curvemag.com)
In person, there is something savagely sweet about actor Laurel Holloman. It's been there since her 1995 debut as Randy Dean in The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love. Thirteen years later, Holloman is one of the most talked about actors on The L Word.
Diane Anderson-Minshall: All Bettes Are Off for Jennifer Beals (curvemag.com)
It's easy to imagine Jennifer Beals driving through the Hollywood Hills on her way to The L Word set and I almost forget I'm trying to the get her to divulge something new. And when Beals says something like, "Oh, it's my pleasure," well, I swoon.
Dana Stevens: Diary of the Dead (slate.com)
George Romero's bleakest zombie movie yet.
Jim Emerson: DIARY OF THE DEAD (R; 3 stars)
Bloodthirsty corpses have run amok in the streets, and the Homeland Security Alert system has been temporarily raised to orange. It's up to citizen-journalist bloggers and amateur videographers to capture and disseminate the raw, unfiltered story of what's really going on, to show you the horrific truth they won't put on TV. Does this scenario remind you of anything? "Diary" presents a world of post-9/11, post-Iraq-invasion paranoia and distrust of the "official story."
Commentoon: Hillary's Hats (womensenews.org; Cartoon)
"Sylvia" by Nicole Hollander (womensenews.org; Cartoon)
McCain & Lobbyists (Video)
McCain & an Easy War in Iraq (Video)
nailed it with:
Marty's New Computer Fund Update
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Purple Gene Comments
'Once'
Purple Gene says:
And the Academy Award winner For "Best Original Song goes to Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova for........"Falling Slowly"
sooooooooooooo beautiful...so simple !
see the movie "Once" (shot in Dublin, Ireland in 3 weeks for $100,000.00)....you will be re-inspired about the power of music!
listen to their live version!
Purple Gene's review of 'Once' -
BartCop Entertainment Archives - Sunday, 24 June, 2007
Reader Comment
Re: Project Pterosaur
I don't know Marty, I think you're missing the
obvious. Skipping all the the biology crap, just look
at the name: Dr. Paley
And what is Paleontology? The study of ancient life
forms.
I vote hoax.
Tab
Thanks, Tab!
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and warmer.
Iraq Campaign 2008
John Edwards
Anti-war groups launched a nationwide drive Monday to unseat Republican members of Congress by linking the multi-billion-dollar costs of the Iraq conflict to the flagging US economy.
Former Democratic presidential contender John Edwards said that Americans felt "great concern and anxiety" about their economic security, including worries about gasoline prices, healthcare, college costs and mortgages.
"All of these things are made much worse by concern about what's happening in Iraq," he said on a media conference call launching the campaign by groups including MoveOn.org, VoteVets.org and Americans United for Change.
"People don't understand why we're spending 500 billion dollars and counting in Iraq at the same time that we've got 40 million plus Americans who don't have any healthcare coverage, 37 million living in poverty, people terrified about being able to pay their bills," Edwards said.
As the war enters its sixth year, the "Iraq Campaign 2008" said it would spend more than 20 million dollars on advertising the conflict's costs and highlighting their impact on communities across the United States.
John Edwards
Pakistan Causes Worldwide Outage
The YouTubes
Most of the world's Internet users lost access to YouTube for several hours Sunday after an attempt by Pakistan's government to block access domestically affected other countries.
An Internet expert explained that Sunday's problems arose when a Pakistani telecommunications company accidentally identified itself to Internet computers as the world's fastest route to YouTube. But instead of serving up videos of skateboarding dogs, it sent the traffic into oblivion.
On Friday, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority ordered 70 Internet service providers to block access to YouTube.com, because of anti-Islamic movies on the video-sharing site, which is owned by Google Inc.
The block was intended to cover only Pakistan, but extended to about two-thirds of the global Internet population, starting at 1:47 p.m. EST Sunday, according to Renesys Corp., a Manchester, N.H., firm that keeps track of the pathways of the Internet for telecommunications companies and other clients.
The YouTubes
Picture For Posterity
Anne Frank'
The face of Peter Schiff, described as "my one true love" by Anne Frank in her Nazi-era diary, is to be shown to the public for the first time by the museum dedicated to her life in Amsterdam, the Anne Frank Foundation said Monday.
A picture of the boy, 13 when his adolescent romance began with the 11-year-old Frank, was handed over by childhood friend Ernst Michaelis, who visited the Anne Frank museum with his children and grandchildren last month.
It is signed "your friend Lutz Peter Schiff" and dates from 1939.
Like Frank, Schiff -- who would pick her up after classes in the summer of 1940 -- later died in a concentration camp, at Auschwitz.
Anne Frank'
Worst. Ratings. Ever.
Oscars
The Oscars are a ratings dud. Nielsen Media Research says preliminary ratings for the 80th annual Academy Awards telecast are 14 percent lower than the least-watched ceremony ever.
Nielsen said Monday that overnight ratings are also 21 percent lower than last year, when "The Departed" was named best picture.
The least-watched Oscars ceremony ever was in 2003, when there were 33 million viewers.
Oscars
Newly Discovered Drawings
Snow White
The director of a Norwegian museum claimed yesterday to have discovered cartoons drawn by Adolf Hitler during the Second World War. William Hakvaag, the director of a war museum in northern Norway, said he found the drawings hidden in a painting signed "A. Hitler" that he bought at an auction in Germany.
He found coloured cartoons of the characters Bashful and Doc from the 1937 Disney film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which were signed A.H., and an unsigned sketch of Pinocchio as he appeared in the 1940 Disney film.
Hitler tried to make a living as an artist before his rise to power. While there was no independent confirmation yesterday that the drawings were the work of the Nazi leader, Hitler is known to have owned a copy of Snow White, the classic animated adaptation of a German fairy tale, and to have viewed it in his private cinema.
Mr Hakvaag, who said he had performed tests on the paintings which suggested that they dated from 1940, said: "I am 100 per cent sure that these are drawings by Hitler. If one wanted to make a forgery, one would never hide it in the back of a picture, where it might never be discovered."
Snow White
Excluded From Oscar Tribute
Brad Renfro
Blogs were buzzing Monday with discussion of why Brad Renfro was left out of the Academy Awards tribute to Hollywood figures who died in the past year.
The troubled 25-year-old actor died Jan. 15 of a heroin and morphine overdose. Heath Ledger, killed by an overdose of prescription drugs one week later, appeared in a scene from "Brokeback Mountain" at the conclusion of the three-minute video tribute at Sunday night's Oscar ceremony.
"Unfortunately we cannot include everyone," said Leslie Unger, spokeswoman for the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. "Our goal is to honor individuals who worked in the many professions and trades of the motion picture industry, not just actors."
Hilary Swank introduced the Oscar segment, which featured 43 people including makeup artists, a stuntman and several Hollywood agents. Unger said it was not required that those honored be members of the Academy or past Oscar nominees.
Brad Renfro
Archeologists Find 5,500-Year-Old Plaza
Peru
A ceremonial plaza built 5,500 years ago has been discovered in Peru, and archeologists involved in the dig said on Monday carbon dating shows it is one of the oldest structures ever found in the Americas.
A team of Peruvian and German archeologists uncovered the circular plaza, which was hidden beneath another piece of architecture at the ruins known as Sechin Bajo, in Casma, 229 miles north of Lima, the capital. Friezes depicting a warrior with a knife and trophies were found near the plaza.
Prior to the discovery at Sechin Bajo, archeologists considered the ancient Peruvian citadel of Caral to be one of the oldest in the Western Hemisphere, at about 5,000 years.
Scientists say Caral, located a few hours drive from Sechin Bajo, was one of six places in the world -- along with Mesopotamia, Egypt, China, India and Mesoamerica -- where humans started living in cities about 5,000 years ago.
Peru
The Svalbard Global Seed Vault
`Doomsday' Vault
It's been dubbed a Noah's Ark for plant life and built to withstand an earthquake or a nuclear attack.
Dug deep into the permafrost of a remote Arctic mountain, the "doomsday" vault is designed by Norway to protect the world's seeds from global catastrophe.
The Svalbard Global Seed Vault, a backup to the world's 1,400 other seed banks, was to be officially inaugurated in a ceremony Tuesday on the northern rim of civilization attended by about 150 guests from 33 countries.
The frozen vault has the capacity to store 4.5 million seed samples from around the globe, shielding them from climate change, war, natural disasters and other threats.
`Doomsday' Vault
Co-Founder Suspends Support
Quill Awards
A corporate co-founder of the Quills, people's choice book awards that were started three years and aimed to combine "populist sensibility" with "Hollywood-style glitz," announced Monday that it will "suspend" support.
Reed Business Information gave no reason for the decision, and a company statement did not make it clear whether the awards had been placed on hiatus or ended permanently. A spokeswoman for Reed, which operates such publications as Variety and Publishers Weekly, declined to give The Associated Press any further details.
The Reed announcement, posted on the Web site of Publishers Weekly, said the plan was to "suspend" backing of the Quills, but also referred to the "dissolution" of the awards. Money raised for the Quills Literacy Foundation will be distributed to two nonprofit organizations - First Book and Literacy Partners.
A spokeswoman for NBC Universal Television Stations, the Quills' other founder, referred questions to Reed Business Information, which was recently put up for sale by its parent company, Reed Elsevier.
Quill Awards
Lipitor Commercials Pulled
Dr. Robert Jarvik
Pfizer Inc said on Monday it was pulling television advertisements for its Lipitor cholesterol drug featuring Dr. Robert Jarvik, inventor of the Jarvik artificial heart, because they created "misimpressions."
The ads involving Jarvik had come under scrutiny from a U.S. House of Representative committee as part of an investigation into celebrity endorsements of prescription medicines.
Democratic lawmakers had voiced concern that Jarvik's qualifications were misrepresented in widely seen TV commercials touting the blockbuster drug. They said Jarvik seemed to be dispensing medical advice even though he is not a practicing physician.
The commercials, which portray Jarvik in various outdoor activities, also raised eyebrows after news reports that a stunt double was used in a scene with a man rowing across a lake.
Dr. Robert Jarvik
It's The Water
Los Angeles
The 18th Annual Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting was held Saturday, with more than 120 waters competing for top honors.
Sparkling, tap and bottled water from 19 states and 9 foreign countries, including New Zealand, Romania, Macedonia and the Philippines, were judged by 10 journalists and food critics.
Judges based their rankings on taste, odor, mouth feel, aftertaste - and checked to make sure nothing was floating in the water.
The title for Best Municipal Water in 2008 is shared by Clearbrook, British Columbia, and the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which serves Los Angeles.
Los Angeles
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