Issue #48
Disinfotainment Today
By Michael Dare
'TBH Politoons'
Thanks, again, Tim!
Reader Question
I've been wondering about French kissing - do we tell them it's Freedom kissing or what?
~~ she
Good question, she. It'd be my guess that the people who are so intent on renaming food don't see a lot of action - well, unless you count typing with one-hand, and a towel in the other.
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Another too-warm-for-the-season day.
The kid's teacher finally took a sick day. Happy bunch of campers today.
Running late, again.
Tonight, Tuesday, CBS is supposed to offer a FRESH 'JAG', followed by a
FRESH 'The Guardian', then a FRESH 'Judging Amy'.
Scheduled on a FRESH Dave are Colin Farrell and Roseanne Cash.
Scheduled on a FRESH Craiggers are Joey Fatone and Zach Galifianakis.
NBC is supposed to have a 'special' - '3 Stooges 75th Anniversary Special', followed by a RERUN 'Frasier',
then the Season Finale of 'AUSA', and finally 'Dateline'.
Scheduled on a FRESH Jay are Marisa Tomei, Rob Zombie, and Lionel Richie.
Scheduled on a FRESH Conan are Eddie Griffin and Dar Williams.
Scheduled on a FRESH Carson Daly are Connie Nelson and Ringo Starr.
ABC is supposed to open with either a RERUN '8 Simple Rules', followed by a FRESH 'Jim',
or a 'special' 'Tim Allen Presents: A User's Guide To Home Improvement'. Then, it's a FRESH 'Jim', followed by the
Series Premiere 'Lost At Home', and then an hour of 'Iraq War Coverage'.
Scheduled on a FRESH Jimmy Kimmel are Shannen Doherty, with this week's guest co-host Mike Tyson.
The WB has a RERUN 'Gilmore Girls', followed by a RERUN 'Smallville'.
Faux has a FRESH 'American Idol', followed by a FRESH '24'.
UPN offers a FRESH 'Buffy', followed by a FRESH 'Girlfriends', then a
FRESH 'Half & Half'.
FX has the Series Finale of 'The Shield'.
RERUN
FRESH
Anyone have any opinions?
Or reviews?
(See below for addresses)
Villagers watch as the world's biggest three-dimensional self-portrait - a hot air balloon of Van Gogh, is floated March 30, 2003 above Zundert, the hometown of the world-renowned Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh to mark the 150th anniversary of his birth.
Photo by Guido Benschop
Blasts Bush
Robin Williams
Funnyman Robin Williams has launched a scathing attack on President George W. Bush and his decision to go ahead with war on Iraq.
The "One Hour Photo" actor also criticizes what he sees as his country's mixed messages when it comes to national security.
He says, "America is broke, basically, but Bush wants to wage a war that costs pretty much a billion dollars a month.
"We have a president for whom English is a second language. He's like 'We have to get rid of dictators,' but he's pretty much one himself.
"In America, we have orange alert, but what the hell does that mean? We're supposed to be afraid of Krishna? Of orange sorbet? Then it's like, 'You can't go out and shop, it's too dangerous out there,' but if that happens then the economy falls.
"The message is so mixed: 'Be afraid, but not too afraid.'"
Robin Williams
Confusion Over Status
Geraldo Rivera
Veteran reporter and former talk show host Geraldo Rivera, a correspondent for Fox News, was asked to be removed from Iraq by the U.S. military for reporting Western troop movements in the war, the Pentagon said on Monday.
But in a report from Iraq where he was about 60 miles from Baghdad with the 101st Airborne Division, Rivera, known for his provocative on-screen style, said all was well and suggested he wasn't being ejected from the country by the U.S. military for coverage of the war.
Defense Department spokesman Bryan Whitman later told Reuters, however, that Fox News itself had agreed to remove Rivera after the military commander where Rivera was reporting felt that he had "compromised operational security."
Rivera said in his televised report that he did not know where the reports about the alleged security violations came from but accused colleagues, including former employer NBC, of perhaps "spreading some lies about me." He suggested all was well between him and the military.
"I would say that he is going to be leaving Iraq," added Whitman. "Fox has talked to us and they have indicated to us that they are going to remove him from the area of operations."
Whitman, who had earlier said the military was ejecting Rivera, later amended that to Fox agreeing to withdraw the correspondent.
Geraldo Rivera
The Information One-Stop
Moose & Squirrel
No Michael Jackson Fan
Cher
Cher is no longer a Michael Jackson fan.
"I don't really care what he does to his face. He could just erase it as far as I'm concerned," Cher told TV Guide for its April 5 issue. "But I don't like him anymore. And it's because of his children. I cannot imagine putting my children through what he put his children through," Cher says.
Though she once considered Jackson a "great artist," she said she has been turned off by all of the negative publicity about him. She said she was also disappointed by his behavior last year at American Bandstand's 50th anniversary show, in which she also appeared.
"He had this child rolled up in a blanket, and I was thinking, 'What kind of life is this?'" she said.
"Then I saw the recent documentary on him, and I thought, 'This guy is nuts. He shouldn't have these children,'" Cher says. "As an artist, I can't fault his art because he was brilliant ... I wouldn't buy anything now."
Cher
Threatened with expulsion from Rome's Coliseum where they have traditionally turned a buck dressed up as ancient Romans for tourist cameras, 12 latter-day centurions demonstrated for justice.
Photo by Gabriel Bouys
Joins Daily Mirror
Peter Arnett
Award-winning news correspondent Peter Arnett, sacked by the American TV network NBC after suggesting on Iraqi television that the US war plan had failed, has joined the Daily Mirror -- the British newspaper most opposed to the conflict.
"Fired by America for telling the truth... Hired by Daily Mirror to carry on telling it," read the headline on the tabloid's front page Tuesday.
Famed for his coverage of the Vietnam War and the first Gulf war, Arnett was sacked by NBC on Monday, and later also let go by National Geographic.
Arnett had initially said he had no immediate plans for his future, quipping "There's a small island in the South Pacific, uninhabited, which I will try to swim to."
Peter Arnett
Obscenity Charges Dropped
Stephen "Steve-O" Glover
Obscenity charges have been dropped in a Louisiana court against Stephen "Steve-O" Glover of MTV's "Jackass" fame. In July, Glover was charged with exposing himself while stapling his scrotum to his thigh. Prosecutors conceded that the act could be a "form of artistic expression protected under the First Amendment." Glover is permanently banned from any performances in Terrebone Parrish, La., and he received one year of unsupervised probation, while agreeing to not commit a criminal offense during that time. The settlement coincides with the DVD release of Glover's "Don't Try This at Home Vol. II: The Tour."
Stephen "Steve-O" Glover
Stresses Education
Bill Cosby
Bill Cosby told a group of about 200 children that education is the key to success.
Children from the Sisseton-Wahpeton Indian Reservation gathered in the convention center of the Dakota Magic Casino on Sunday, an hour before Cosby performed the first of two shows. He agreed to speak to the children after a request by tribal leaders.
Cosby, who met with local school officials before talking to the children, joked that he had "cut a deal" with the teachers.
"I have been talking to the people who have been running the school system here, and they are going to bear down even harder on you," Cosby said. "And guess what? The harder you work, the longer the recess."
Bill Cosby
Chris Rock's Mom
Rose Rock
Rose Rock, mother of comedian Chris Rock, is back on the radio, taking calls and giving advice.
Rock, a Georgetown resident, resumed her show on WWXM-FM Sunday after taking time off to recover from triple bypass surgery.
"The Mom Show" mixes music from the station's regular Top 40 rotation with Rock taking phone calls. Rock eventually hopes to make it all-talk. "I'd like to get to the point where we don't need music," she said.
The former preschool teacher also owns a day-care center in Georgetown. She said her experience as a mother of seven gives her the credentials to dole out advice.
Rose Rock
In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends
Says He's No Icon
Paul Newman
Paul Newman says he doesn't consider himself an icon.
"Brando, Lee J. Cobb, Olivier are. I'm not," Newman said in an interview with TV Guide in its April 5 issue. "I really should not have mentioned just those three because there are too many people I admire."
He said he doesn't believe "Road to Perdition" will be his swan song. "No, it's probably closer to a vulture than a swan song. I don't seem to be able to retire."
Paul Newman
Pilot Jack Mehlhopt taxis down the runway in a replica of Richard Pearse's plane after wet weather cancelled a re-enactment of Pearse's first flight 100 years ago today in Waitohi, on New Zealand's South Island, March 31, 2003. Pearse is believed to have flown his home-made craft for a distance of 100 metres (330 feet) before crashing into a hedge near his South Island property in March, 1903 - nine months before the Wright brothers made what is widely recognised as the world's first powered flight.
Photo by Simon Baker
Carries A Message
TV/Radio War Music
Like quick-firing subliminal messengers, special music is telling TV viewers and radio listeners what to think and how to feel about the war on Iraq even before they hear the news.
Some news outfits, most notably NPR, are augmenting reporting with music that telegraphs the idea that something important is about to be said, without being especially militaristic, patriotic or mournful.
But others, such as CNN, CBS and Fox News, are producing a soundtrack to news that yells, "We're at war!"
CBS ordered up a package of music options from composer Peter Fish "to try to take into account as many situations as possible," said Eric Shapiro, director of the CBS Evening News and CBS News special events. Fish sketched out several music "proposals," which Shapiro and other CBS executives listened to. "We told him two things: to convey some idea of mood, and also to write something to sync up with particular animation or graphics."
Shapiro could not say exactly which emotions he wanted to convey. But CBS's music is the most overtly warlike, a surging electronic wall of sound that seems to use the beating rotors of attack helicopters as its rhythmic inspiration.
An NBC spokeswoman said special music had been chosen for all of the news shows on NBC, MSNBC and CNBC.
Thursday, ABC News ended its coverage of the Camp David news conference of President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair with a sweeping, dignified horn solo.
No such musical impartiality from Fox News. Hard-rock instrumentals blare as fighter jets, one of which morphs into an audibly screeching eagle, cross the screen, and the curiously misleading words War on Terror come up large.
CNN's lead-in music - purchased from a commercial music service and chosen by senior CNN managers - is no pushover, either. It is a throbbing, bellicose buildup of sounds, and makes an odd counterpoint to anchor Paula Zahn's irrepressible grin.
National Public Radio has special theme music for its wall-to-wall war coverage, as well as for shows aired as part of its normal broadcast schedule.
TV/Radio War Music
Woman With An Opinion
Kelly Osbourne
Kelly Osbourne has launched an attack on the hand that feeds her, MTV.
Kelly, daughter of Ozzy Osbourne, is reportedly incensed that the music channel refused to play the video for her new song, "Come Dig Me Out."
Kelly told the website Antimusic.com: "MTV makes me sick to my stomach. When you're hot, you're hot. When you're not, you're not.
"Now, if you're not in a rap group, if you're not talking about 'I f****** the cutest girl in school' or if you're not singing about skateboarding, you can't get played," she said.
Kelly Osbourne
Pulls Out Of Tartan Week
Sean Connery
Tartan Week celebrations in North America suffered a setback on their first day yesterday, when it emerged that the world's most famous living Scot, Sir Sean Connery, will not attend this year's main parade.
The internationally renowned actor had been asked to head a band of 2,000 people as they marched along New York's Sixth Avenue for the finale of the celebrations on Saturday.
But the former James Bond star has decided to pull out amid claims that he was used as a "political football" when he attended last year's event.
Sean Connery
'King Kong' Is Next
Peter Jackson
"Lord of the Rings" film director Peter Jackson is switching his focus from hobbits to giant apes after signing on to remake the classic monkey movie "King Kong," sources said.
The New Zealander responsible for the "Rings" films, the last volume of which is to be released late this year, has finally been contracted to make the new picture for Universal studios after nearly a decade of trying.
"No film has captivated my imagination more than King Kong," Jackson was quoted as saying by Daily Variety in a report. The contents of the story were confirmed by Universal sources.
Peter Jackson
Formerly 'The Vidiot'
'Operation Playmate'
Playboy
Playboy is joining the US-led war in Iraq with plans to use its famous Playmate centrefolds to boost troop morale on the battlefield, the publication said.
"Operation Playmate," the brainchild of Playboy's colourful founder Hugh Hefner, won't be sending the boys any nude pictures, spokesman Bill Farley told AFP.
"The boys will be able to send an e-mail to their favourite Playmate and she'll send them a head shot of themselves or of them wearing shirts and T-shirts," he said.
"We don't want to send any nude images that would be offensive to our Arab allies in the Middle East, but we wanted to give the guys something else to think about to get the imagination going."
The Playmates will personally sign their photographs and reply "as expeditiously as possible" to the requests, the magazine said.
Playboy
Afghans on horseback battle for a headless goat carcass during a game of 'buzkashi' at a stadium in Kabul March 31, 2003. 'Buzkashi', which means goat grabbing, is the national sport of Afghanistan. The objective of the game is to gain control of the goat and bring it to a chalked or marked area.
Photo by Jayanta Shaw
Refused Gateway Ad
CBS
The CBS television network has told computer maker Gateway Inc. that it won't air a new Gateway commercial about using computers to make digital music recordings. The decision stemmed from objections not to the images or words in the commercial but to an Internet address flashed on the screen, the network said.
''We don't accept advocacy advertising and this particular ad fell under that umbrella,'' CBS spokesman Dana McClintock said Friday. He added that the Web address shown during the ad leads to a site that urges consumers to oppose federal legislation that would limit the ability to copy digital music on their computers.
On the surface, the 30-second spot doesn't seem particularly controversial. It features rapid-fire images of computer users repeating digital media buzzwords like ''bit rate,'' ''peer-to-peer,'' and ''rip.'' Then an announcer offers viewers digital music downloads over the Internet, a set of blank CDs, and some other goodies for an extra dollar when they purchase a new Gateway PC. ''Rip. Burn. Respect. Gateway,'' the announcer says.
But as he speaks, the screen displays the Internet address www.ripburnrespect.com. The site, owned by Gateway, contains information about legal and illegal forms of digital music recording. For instance, it tells consumers they have a right to make copies of their own CDs for personal use, but they aren't entitled to make copies to pass out to friends.
The part of the site that crossed the line for CBS features an attack on proposed federal legislation that would force computer makers to build anticopying features into their product. Senator Ernest Hollings, Democrat of South Carolina, proposed such legislation last year, but the bill went nowhere and has not been revived.
CBS
Records for Iraq Children
Cat Stevens
Former pop star Cat Stevens, a convert to Islam, has recorded his first song in 25 years to raise money for children affected by the U.S.-led war in Iraq.
Stevens, who now uses the name Yusuf Islam, re-recorded his 1971 hit song "Peace Train" at studios in Johannesburg, South Africa.
It is among tracks on "Hope," an album produced for the War Child charity that helps children in war torn countries. Other contributors include former Beatle Paul McCartney, David Bowie and George Michael.
"Hope" will be released April 21.
Cat Stevens
Cat Stevens Web site
Honoured For Everest Conquest 50 Years Ago
Sir Edmund Hillary
Sir Edmund Hillary, the first man on top of Mount Everest, was hailed as a national hero in the first of events marking the 50th anniversary of the achievement with nobody here forgetting the man who made it possible -- late Nepalese Sherpa, Tenzing Norgay.
Hillary and Norgay, part of John Hunt's British expedition, reached the summit on May 29, 1953, the first to conquer the 8,848-metre (29,198-feet) summit.
"I like to think that I am a very ordinary New Zealander, not terribly bright perhaps but determined and practical in what I do," Hillary Monday, now 83, told a gathering at parliament led by Prime Minister Helen Clark.
Hillary and his wife June were driven to parliament's front door in an open-top black sports car after a parade through parts of downtown Wellington.
The pair arrived at Parliament Buildings behind a brass band and accompanied by Indians, Sikhs, Nepalese and mountaineers wearing helmets and harnesses.
For more, Sir Edmund Hillary
Wants to Settle Down
Hugh Grant
After years as a bachelor, Hugh Grant said he wants to take some time off from making movies to concentrate on his romantic life.
"I'm ready, baby," he tells Vanity Fair for its May issue. "I need to get married and have children. Put it this way: If I went to a party tonight and bumped into a fantastic girl — whereas three years ago it might have led to a short-term relationship, now I definitely keep my thoughts open to the idea of settling down and breeding. Definitely."
He said he also wants to take a break from acting because it's something he's never loved, even though it's made him famous and wealthy.
"I kind of hate it. In fact, I hate it quite a lot — all acting, but especially movie acting," said Grant, whose latest romantic comedy, "Love Actually," comes out this fall.
Hugh Grant
In Memory
Nick Enright
Australian playwright Nick Enright, who was nominated for an Oscar in 1993 for his screenplay for "Lorenzo's Oil," has died of cancer, a spokeswoman for Australia's top drama academy said Monday. He was 52.
Andrea Moller of the National Institute of Dramatic Art, or NIDA, said Enright died Sunday. "He had been sick for a long time," she said.
The Australian and Sydney Morning Herald daily newspapers reported that he was diagnosed with skin cancer about 12 months ago.
He underwent radio and chemotherapy and traveled to Los Angeles for natural therapy, on the advice of Australian-raised actor Mel Gibson, The Australian reported.
Enright, along with director George Miller, was nominated for the best original screenplay Academy Award for "Lorenzo's Oil." The pair were beaten by Neil Jordan for "The Crying Game."
Enright was also well known in Australia for his stage scripts, including the popular adaptation of Tim Winton's novel "Cloudstreet."
Enright was head of drama at NIDA in Sydney from 1982-1984. He taught at other Australian institutions and was passionate about bringing drama to young people.
In 2000, he spent a week teaching acting in the remote Outback town of Alice Springs as part of a project with the Australian Theater for Young People.
He is survived by his mother, three brothers and a sister, Moller said. The family was planning a private funeral and cremation to be followed by a public memorial service, Moller added.
Nick Enright
Cherry blossoms are in full bloom along the banks of Tai Lake in Wuxi city, Jiangsu province, March 29, 2003. Since 1986, Japan has been sending thousands of cherry trees to China as a contribution to a cultural exchange project called 'China-Japan Friendship Cherry Ganden'. Every year more than ten thousand tourists from all over the country come to Tai Lake to view the spring blooms.
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