Issue #145
Disinfotainment Today
By Michael Dare
'Best of TBH Politoons'
Freshly Updated
Humor Gazette
U.S. counter-terrorism officials would neither confirm nor deny that the Easter Bunny is being held for questioning about a clandestine overnight operation that exposed the nation's children to countless tons of teeth-rotting weapons of mass confection on Sunday.
But sources close to the floppy-eared holiday icon claim he is being interrogated in a cramped mesh-bottom cage in Guantanamo Bay. The charges: periodontal terrorism and 52 million counts of contributing to the obesity of a minor.
The alleged incarceration of the Easter Bunny (aka Peter Cotton-Tail) has already become politicized. Critics charge that the Bush administration was slow to guard against the threat that gut-busting quantities of chocolate might be deployed, on a sacred religious holiday no less, despite a March 6 Presidential Daily Briefing (PDB) entitled "Easter Bunny determined to strike in U.S."
For the rest:
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Jim Hightower: It Ain't Broke! (Hightower Lowdown)
Last year's Big Lie was a grab for oil; this year's is for our Social Security trillions.
Annalee Newitz: Aggregate! Iterate! Reciprocate! (AlterNet)
ETech was like hanging out with cyber-librarians on acid - really, really good acid that makes you want to change the world.
Willie Davis: 'This I Believe' Returns to Radio (Louisville Eccentric Observer)
A brand new version of "This I Believe" hits National Public Radio's airwaves on April 4.
NPR: "This I Believe"
Vincent Williams: Mike in Five (City Paper)
I've been thinking about Michael Jackson. Of course, we've all been thinking about Michael Jackson lately.
Bruce's Video Recommendation: Starman (REVIEW BY ROGER EBERT)
STARMAN contains the potential to be a very silly movie, but the two actors have so much sympathy for their characters that the movie, advertised as space fiction, turns into one of 1984's more touching love stories.
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny but very windy.
Tripped over one of the damn cats and ended up with bruised knees, rug-burned elbows and a stiff left wrist. Ack.
Punks Town in 'Invasion Iowa'
William Shatner
William Shatner, how could you! The artist mostly known as Capt. James T. Kirk plays con artist to unsuspecting townsfolk in Spike TV's "Invasion Iowa." The first episode of the four-part "reality miniseries" from the makers of "The Joe Schmo Show" premieres Tuesday at 8 p.m. EST and ends, appropriately enough, on April Fool's Day.
"This is my picture of what America is," Shatner tells the Iowans in the first episode, "and I'm Canadian."
Here's the setup: Shatner and his kooky entourage, played by unknown actors, beam down to Riverside, Iowa - which dubbed itself the future birthplace of Kirk back in 1985 - to shoot a sci-fi film starring Shatner and some locals. The film is a front, and Shatner's gags are seemingly obvious. Apparently this small town doesn't have cable because if anybody had seen one episode of "Project Greenlight," they'd know this is not how movies - low budget or otherwise - get made.
In the first episode, at least, everyone plays along. During a welcome dinner with the new cast, Shatner introduces an item from his phony fashion line: mood hats dubbed "shats," a set of three colored berets. Green means the wearer is in a good mood, yellow means proceed with caution and red means stay away. The cast willingly place the silly accouterments atop their noggins.
William Shatner
Also see:
William Shatner - Holds Auditions for Film - BartCop Entertainment Archives - Thursday, 23 September, 2004
and
William Shatner - 'Punks' Iowa Town - BartCop Entertainment Archives - Thursday, 30 September, 2004
Comes To DVD
The Lone Gunmen
The Lone Gunmen, the Complete Series (Fox)
Back in 2001, when The X-Files was breathing its last prime-time gasp, this oddball spinoff series hit the airwaves for 13 episodes. The three unlikely conspiracy investigators built their own little cult following with the show, still shot in Vancouver after the original fled to sunny California.
The Lone Gunmen had provided comic relief for Scully and Mulder since season 1 and got their own X-Files episode in 1998, when the stars were tied up with the X-Files big-screen movie.
The most remarkable episode in the short-lived series aired just a few months before 9/11 with an incredibly prescient plot about terrorists hijacking an airliner and threatening to crash it into the World Trade Center. Except, in this plot, the terrorists were a cabal within the U.S. government itself.
After the series was cancelled, the boys were given a Jump the Shark episode back on The X-Files in which they were killed off as heroes and were buried in Arlington cemetery. (Or were they? Hmmm.)
The Lone Gunmen
Tackles Comedy
Rain Pryor
Richard Pryor's daughter is offering a peek at what it was like to grow up with her famous father.
In her show "Fried Chicken and Latkes," Rain Pryor discusses seeing cocaine, prostitutes and affluence while visiting her dad. She narrates her story, acts out the parts of other people and sings a few songs.
"My dad has always been one to put his life right out there for you to look at. I took that approach because I saw how well audiences respond to it. I try to make you laugh at life," she told the Philadelphia Inquirer in Sunday's editions.
Rain Pryor
Alters Reality
CBS
One show reconnects long-lost family members. Another offers participants a glimpse at how their lives might have changed under different circumstances. And another lets viewers peak behind the scenes of a Midwestern restaurant.
They're all part of the latest crop of reality concepts under development at CBS, and they mark a new direction in unscripted programing at the network.
Hosted by Melissa Gilbert, "Reunion" chronicles the journeys of people trying to track down family members with whom they have lost contact.
"Crossroads" explores the "what ifs" of life, enlisting experts to place participants in an "alternative reality" by giving them a chance to face what their lives would have been like if a different choice had been made by them or for them earlier on.
"Shenanigans" chronicles the daily goings-on at a restaurant of the Shenanigans chain, where some of the employees are improv actors.
CBS
Disbanding Two Regional Networks
NFL
NFL owners have voted to disband regional networks run by the Dallas Cowboys and Atlanta Falcons.
In return, the teams will get items for local use from the networks, which conducts shows that includes all 32 coaches.
The decision was made at last week's meetings in Maui, Sports Business Journal reported Monday. It was approved by a vote of 30-1 with one abstention.
NFL
Wedding News
Jerry Brown
IFormer California governor and three-time presidential candidate Jerry Brown has long shunned convention, but the lifelong bachelor said on Monday that he would wed within the next month or two.
Now mayor of Oakland, Brown, 67, plans to tie the knot with long-time companion Anne Gust, 47, an executive vice president at clothing maker Gap Inc, although no date has been set.
The mayor said he and his fiance like to read, jog and go out to dinner. Sen. Dianne Feinstein is expected to officiate at their wedding.
Jerry Brown
Carved in Stone
Reagans' Romance
The way President Reagan and his wife, Nancy, would carry on about their love for each other, one might have gotten the impression their romance was carved in stone - and it turns out it was.
A part-time estate liquidation consultant who was looking for anything the Reagans might have left behind at a Pacific Palisades home they lived in 50 years ago recently uncovered a slab of concrete. Carved into it was a heart and the initials ND (for Mrs. Reagan's maiden name, Nancy Davis) and RR.
Instead of rushing to eBay with his treasure, he decided to turn it over to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation. The former first lady, whose husband died last year, couldn't be happier.
The slab is expected to go on display at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley this fall.
Reagans' Romance
'Resigns' From Southern Baptist Church
Judge George Greer
A Southern Baptist leader said the Florida judge who ordered the removal of Schiavo's feeding tube has resigned his membership in a Southern Baptist church.
The Rev. Richard Land said that Judge George Greer and the Baptist church he attended in Clearwater came "to a mutual agreement that he resigned his membership."
The St. Petersburg Times said the pastor of Calvary Baptist Church wrote Greer a letter warning that, quote: "In all likelihood it is this case which will define your career and this case that you will remember in the waning days of life."
Judge George Greer
Replacing Davis in 'La Cage'
Robert Goulet
The furs, spangles and boas apparently have been flying at the Broadway revival of "La Cage aux Folles." Daniel Davis, who plays the role of Georges in the Jerry Herman musical, has abruptly left the show and will be replaced by Robert Goulet.
Until Goulet joins the show, probably in mid to late April, according to Hartman, the lead role of Georges will be played by Davis' understudy, John Hillner.
On the record, no one was saying what happened, but there have been reports online and in gossip columns of friction between Davis and other members of the production, which also stars Gary Beach as Albin, Georges' lover.
Robert Goulet
Shrouded in Mystery
Antarctic Painting
As art restorers in London inspected a 230-year-old painting by master landscape artist Thomas Hodges, they noticed the canvas was thicker in some areas than others.
Using an X-ray machine, they peered behind the lush greens of New Zealand and discovered the oldest known painting of Antarctica.
"In the history of art, there's nothing comparable," said Angus Trumble, curator at the Yale Center for British Art, where the Hodges painting and the accompanying X-ray are on temporary display for their only U.S. appearance.
The discovery ignited a discussion over why Hodges endured frigid temperatures, fog and wind to capture the first image of the frozen continent, only to paint over it months later.
Antarctic Painting
