'TBH Politoons'
Thanks, again, Tim!
National Aboriginal Achievement Award
Canadian TV
Tonight, I took a war break and watched the National Aboriginal Achievement Award on Channel 9, the Windsor CBC affiliate. The show was absolutely spectacular, with scenery and costumes that would knock your socks off!
The best part was when Robbie Robertson got a Lifetime Achievement Award.
National Aboriginal Achievement Award
~ Mad Dog
Thanks, Mad Dog! Sure do miss Canadian TV!
Damn, where's Quirk? This show would make her smile!
Reader Suggested Reading
from that Mad Cat, JD
Dear Mr. Cellucci
Thanks, again, JD!
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Overcast morning, followed by a sunny, breezy afternoon.
Jo, the (remaining) lizard, ran out of crickets, so had to make an extra run to Reptiles Unlimited for another $'s worth.
Been expecting a missive from Michael Dare with
Disinfotainment Today, but, it's gotten too late & I'm too tired (bet this means he's off on another great adventure!).
Tonight, Tuesday, CBS is supposed to open with a RERUN 'JAG', followed by a RERUN 'The Guardian', and a
RERUN 'Judging Amy'.
Scheduled on a FRESH Dave are Adam Sandler and the Folksmen.
Scheduled on a FRESH Craiggers are Wendie Malick and Simple Plan.
NBC is supposed to have a 1-hour RERUN 'Will & Grace', followed by a 'special' - 'Cher: The Farewell Tour'.
Scheduled on a FRESH Jay are Michael Douglas and Godsmack.
Scheduled on a FRESH Conan is The Mooney Suzuki.
Scheduled on a FRESH Carson Daly are Anthony Anderson and Evan Dando.
ABC is supposed to start the evening with a FRESH '8 Simple Rules', followed by a RERUN 'Jim', then a
FRESH 'Jim', followed by a FRESH 'Lost At Home', and then a FRESH 'NYPD Blue'.
Scheduled on a FRESH Jimmy Kimmel are Rory Culkin, Demetri Martin, and this week's guest co-host David Alan Grier.
The WB has a RERUN 'Gilmore Girls', and a RERUN 'Smallville'.
Faux offers a FRESH 'American Idol', followed by a FRESH '24' (Day 2: 1am - 2am).
UPN has a RERUN 'Buffy', followed by a RERUN 'Girlfriends', then a RERUN 'Half & Half'.
RERUN
FRESH
Anyone have any opinions?
Or reviews?
(See below for addresses)
Actor, director and producer Beau Bridges holds a replica of his new star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles, Monday, April 7, 2003. Bridges was honored with the 2,221st star on the famous tourist attraction.
Photo by Nick Ut
Completed Community Service
Winona Ryder
Actress Winona Ryder wants to hold a charity auction to sell the $5,500 worth of clothes and accessories that she stole from a posh department store but a judge on Monday was reluctant to buy into the plan.
Beverly Hills Superior Court Judge Elden Fox praised the 31-year-old actress for completing the community service part of her three-year probation ahead of schedule but sparred with her lawyer, Mark Geragos, over whether she could dispose of the merchandise by holding a charity auction.
Fox said he was not keen on the idea of a celebrity auction to dispose of the merchandise because as he told Geragos, "Your client should not benefit" from her crime. But he postponed making a final ruling.
Geragos told the judge it was "ironic" that the court would turn down such a money-making opportunity in the face of the county court system's steep budget problems. "It seems awful silly to take thousands of dollars of merchandise and burn it in a bonfire," Geragos said.
Judge Fox praised Ryder, who stood silently beside her attorney during the half-hour hearing, for completing all 480 hours of community service that he ordered -- an amount that translated into 60 eight-hour days.
She read to children and helped out in the offices of the children's ward of City of Hope, a nationally renowned cancer treatment center in Duarte, northeast of Los Angeles.
Ryder has not worked in films since her sentencing and instead has concentrated on completing her community service and going to a court-ordered therapist.
Winona Ryder
The Information One-Stop
Moose & Squirrel
Detractors & Defenders
Activist Actors
Gone are the days of the Great Wars I and II when actors and celebrities united to help a nation sell war bonds. Vietnam really tore the flag held by actors who both opposed and supported the war effort. But the pro-and-con division never has been more visible than in today's celebrity-conscious society.
The New York Post has even jumped into the fray, with gossip columnist Richard Johnson -- along with his cohorts Paula Froelich and Chris Wilson -- using their "Page Six" column to parade a lineup of stars and call for boycotting their productions.
The column went on to list 13 performers, including 10 actors, and where they're appearing. Referring to the gallery as "appeasement-loving celebs," Johnson noted that the film "Mystic River" "boasts the mother of all appeasement casts, with Tim Robbins, Sean Penn and Laurence Fishburn." He also listed Samuel L. Jackso, calling him a "Hollywood drone," and citing his film "Basic."
He went on to cite Susan Sarandon, saying she "can currently be boycotted" on the Sci-Fi Channel; then Alfre Woodard and her film "The Core," Danny Glover and "Good Fences," Martin Sheen and "The West Wing," as well as James Whitmore on NBC's "Mr. Sterling."
On the other hand, four days later, Newsday carried Linda Winer's article headlined, "A Blacklist? It's Out There." She paid particular attention to a Web Site called Celiberal, and its 37 names on a celebrity blacklist. Besides the names listed in the Post gossip column, the Web Site includes Alec Baldwin, Edward Norton, Julia Roberts, and Jennifer Aniston. It also lists actors on the "right" including Arnold Schwarzenegger, John Malkovich, James Earl Jones, and Kelsey Grammer.
The intensity of reaction from both sides to the Bush administration and the Iraqi war led the Screen Actors Guild to get involved. Wary of a return to the McCarthy-era days of blacklisting artists, SAG in early March denounced calls it was hearing for firing performers and other creatives who oppose a U.S. war with Iraq.
The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees immediately released a statement the same day supporting SAG's stance.
Robert J. Dowling, editor-in-chief and publisher of The Hollywood Reporter, put the issue in perspective on March 12 when he wrote of outspoken celebrities, "As Americans and as citizens, they are entitled -- as we all are -- to their opinions. And they have earned the right to exploit their notoriety on behalf of what they believe."
Activist Actors
Alison Falkenhagen stands outside the Minnesota House chamber in a clown costume Monday, April 7, 2003, in St. Paul, Minn., as she and other abortion rights supporters protested House efforts to attach an abortion bill to a state circus laws bill.
Photo by Jim Mone
Go on Auction Block
John Lennon Tapes
Ever hear the John Lennon song "The Radiant World of Natural"?
Probably not. It's a song Lennon made up to amuse five-year-old Kyoko Cox in 1969 in Denmark.
On the tapes, Lennon starts making up a song he was going to call "The Teapot Song," but Cox says no and instead calls it "The Radiant World of Natural." Lennon then sings about birds and bees and cheese and wax, before pretending to cry and say, "Oh, what a sad one!"
The tapes also captured Ono saying, "Dinner's ready!" with Lennon commenting, "Said the queen."
Originally there were six tapes, most of which have previously been sold for as much as six figures. The auction is being held through MastroNet and will end on April 23rd.
John Lennon Tapes
University of Texas at Austin
Watergate Papers
The Watergate papers of Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein will be housed and made available for study at the University of Texas at Austin in a $5 million deal announced Monday.
The school said it is paying Woodward and Bernstein to archive the documents, enough to fill about 75 file boxes, at its Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center.
The center will preserve the papers, including notebooks, assorted pieces of paper and photographs. The vast majority will be available to the public within a year, said Thomas Staley, director of the Ransom center.
But documents naming "Deep Throat" will be kept secure at an undisclosed location in Washington until the source's death; the identities of possibly several dozen other sources will also remain confidential until their deaths.
Woodward and Bernstein will split the money, being donated by several foundations and individuals. "We're pleased, we're honored. This is a great institution," Bernstein said.
Watergate Papers
UT libraries
Correspondence Donated
Hemingway & Dietrich
A collection of intimate letters written by Ernest Hemingway to actress Marlene Dietrich has been donated to the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum.
The collection includes 30 letters, telegrams and a Christmas card that were written between 1949 and 1959, as well as early drafts of several Hemingway poems and stories. Under the terms of the gift, donated by Dietrich's daughter, Maria Riva, the correspondence can't be opened to the public until 2007.
They had a "devoted friendship" that produced "some truly wonderful memorabilia," Riva said in a statement, calling the Kennedy Library a "sanctuary ... that would guard them and treat them with the respect they so richly deserve."
The Kennedy Library is home to most of Hemingway's papers, including 95 percent of his manuscripts and correspondence. Kennedy was an admirer of Hemingway, though the two never met, and Hemingway's wife, Mary, saw the Kennedy Library as a fitting place for the writer's papers.
For more, Hemingway & Dietrich
In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends
Reporting for Taiwan TV
Peter Arnett
Fired NBC correspondent Peter Arnett began reporting from Iraq on Monday as a special Baghdad correspondent for Taiwan's TVBS cable news.
Arnett appeared live for about 30 minutes on TVBS's evening newscast, taking questions about the war from Taiwanese anchors who spoke in English. Arnett's answers were simultaneously translated into Mandarin.
Since he was fired by NBC, Arnett has also been reporting for pan-Arab satellite channel Al-Arabiya, based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. He has also been hired by the private Belgian TV network VTM, the state-run Greek television channel NET, and The Daily Mirror of London, a tabloid vehemently opposed to the war.
Peter Arnett
A Jordanian boy wearing a paper headband adorned with a dove participates in a march against the U.S.-led war in Iraq, in the Jordanian capital of Amman, Monday, April 7, 2003. Several dozen Jordanians rallied peacefully outside a mosque and a church in a march organized by Muslim/Christian Solidarity for Peace to express support for peace and demand an immediate ceasefire and withdrawal of all coalition forces from Iraq.
Photo by Lefteris Pitarakis
Seeks Recognition For Bhoti Language
Dalai Lama
Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, called for the inclusion of the Bhoti language spoken by Himalayan people as one of India's official languages.
Speaking at a seminar on "Himalayan Culture, Bhoti language and tribal education," he said culture was not about the way people dress and look, but about the state of the mind.
The four-day seminar, attended by over 70 scholars, passed a resolution seeking official Indian recognition for the Bhoti language which is spoken by the Himalayan people as well as several minority groups in India.
The resolution also called for the setting up of a central university in the Himalayan region and the formation of a Trans-Himalayan Development Authority.
Dalai Lama
Quote
Rack Jite
"Rather than speaking out only against the war at the Academy Awards,
Leftist Michael Moore made it personal by speaking out against
the President, in a time of war. That was unfair and improper.
When Bill Clinton was president, Rightists' were only impeaching
the President in a time of war."
Rack Jite
Joins Death Penalty Protest
Bianca Jagger
Model-turned-activist Bianca Jagger joined several hundred people in downtown Pittsburgh for a march and candlelight vigil against capital punishment.
"The death penalty is a barbaric act of state-sanctioned murder," the longtime Amnesty International activist said from her hotel room. "What is most disturbing is the fallibility of humans. We cannot risk executing those who are innocent."
Jagger was one of several speakers during the vigil Saturday at The Andy Warhol Museum.
Bianca Jagger
Formerly 'The Vidiot'
Faces Clearance Problems
'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire'
Disney is looking for some final answers to pressing clearance problems facing its hit syndicated quiz show "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire."
The company's Buena Vista Television unit is out in the marketplace actively renewing the show for the 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons on stations nationwide. Despite its hot ratings, the strip faces obstacles in the renewal process.
The biggest headache comes in the country's top two markets, New York and Los Angeles, where "Millionaire" is being ousted from its key time slots next year.
"Millionaire" is cleared on the CBS station group through 2004. But the CBS-owned stations did a deal in January with Paramount Domestic Television to carry its new magazine strip "The Insider" in 2004. Paramount TV and CBS are Viacom companies.
Industry analysts note that Buena Vista TV cannot just turn to corporate sister station group ABC and lock in key slots. The ABC station group has a deal to run "Wheel of Fortune" and "Jeopardy!" through the 2008 season. The game shows are syndicated by King World -- also a Viacom company.
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire
Thousands of peace protesters march on the Iraqi war summit being held at Hillsborough Castle, outside Belfast, Northern Ireland
Photo by Stefan Rousseau
'I Should Have Been More Careful'
Geraldo Rivera
Fox News reporter Geraldo Rivera apologized Sunday for breaking military rules last week when he revealed U.S. troop movements in Iraq.
In an interview Sunday on Fox, Rivera said he "should have been more careful."
"The review showed that I did indeed break one of the rules related to embedment. I'm sorry that it happened and I assure you that it was inadvertent. Nobody was hurt by what I said. No mission was compromised."
Geraldo Rivera
Show Cancelled
Tina Brown
Tina Brown, whose CNBC show was canceled when the war began, has lashed out at resident Bush. Comparing him unfavorably to Brititsh PM Tony Blair, whom she terms a "saint," Bush "has the damped down anger of the dry drunk," Brown writes in her
Times of London column. "There is something dense and taciturn about Bush even when he's being charming . . . When he's not scripted, his bald answers seem to be covering up ulterior motives. . . . Bush seems as occluded as a second-rate actor."
Meanwhile, Brown says she's thankful that at least she didn't go down like Peter Arnett. "Being pre-emptively struck off the air is a more honorable way to go than the bum's rush administered to other cable-news types such as poor Peter Arnett
or the world-class swaggerer Geraldo Rivera." Comparing her plight to that of Phil Donahue and Connie Chung, Brown writes, "Perhaps canceling shows before they start will be the wave of the future. As usual, I'm there."
Tina Brown
Advice For Liberals
Rack Jite
Excerpt:
"I have seen so many liberals miss the retort for the argument that
those in Hollywood should keep their yaps shut regarding political
issues. When they start in with the Dixie Chicks or some actor
speaking out, it's a no-brainer. You get up out of your seat, walk
over to whatever moron is pushing that crap, lean down, get an inch
from their face and shout:
"Charlton Heston you bonehead." Then return to your seat.
If that doesn't shut their yaps, RUN right back over there, move in
even closer, tuck your index finger under your thumb and repeatedly
snap them in the nose as you say:
"Ronald Reagan you f**king moron!
Ronald Reagan you f**king moron!"
Over and over and over again until your finger gets sore.
Am I clear on this?
Rack Jite
'My Beautiful Mind'
Barbara Bush
Quote from a transcript of Barbara Bush on the ABC-TV morning show. She was asked if she and her husband, the former president, watch television.
"He sits and listens and I read books because I know perfectly well that - don't take offense - that 90 percent of what I hear on television is supposition, when we're talking about the news. And he's not, not as understanding of my pettiness about that.
But why should we hear about body bags and deaths and how many, what day it's going to happen, and how many this or what do you suppose? Oh, I mean, it's not relevant. So why should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that? And watch him suffer."
Barbara Bush
Stars Of The Baghdad Small Screen
Stallone, Snipes & Seagal
Their city besieged by coalition troops, Baghdadis lucky enough to have power pass the time watching movies. One of their favorites is about a militiaman who reluctantly takes up arms for his country after seeing brutality by British forces.
The film is "The Patriot," and Mel Gibson is fighting for America's independence.
Even though Baghdadis can look out the window every day and watch US bombs and missiles raining down, ironically their top choices on the small screen are war films -- Hollywood war films.
The best-selling movies for merchant Abu Abbas are "The Patriot" and "Ticker," the 2001 thriller in which cop Steven Seagal searches frantically for a bomb planted in San Francisco.
"During an evening of airstrikes, provided there's electricity, customers want to wind down and be taken in by a story in which the good triumph over the evil, like us against the Americans," said Hassan, 46.
Seagal is an especially popular actor in Baghdad. For people who have been through decades of war and economic sanctions, there is something attractive about a muscular special agent who can always save the day through his impeccable fighting and exceptional audacity.
Besides Seagal, favorite actors include American action hero Wesley Snipes, Chinese martial-arts master Jet Li and James Bond, the smooth spy in service of Britain -- whose forces are part of the war aimed at toppling Saddam Hussein.
Other popular films in Iraq include Jean-Claude Van Damme's 1996 action drama "Maximum Risk" and just about anything starring Sylvester Stallone.
Stallone, Snipes & Seagal
Frescoes Stolen In Pompeii
'House of the Chaste Lovers'
A pair of 2,000-year-old frescoes were stolen from the "House of the Chaste Lovers", a villa in the ancient Roman city of Pompeii, and others damaged by thieves who broke in over the weekend, officials say.
The thieves made off with a circular fresco depicting a cherub and another with fruit and a rooster pecking at an apple, after hacking them from the walls of the villa. They also knocked bits off neighbouring frescoes, the superintendent's office said.
The city of Pompeii was buried in volcanic ash when Mount Vesuvius erupted in the year 79. Hundreds of temples, villas, baths and even fleeing Romans were trapped in the fiery deluge. Pompeii is now one of the world's most-visited tourist sites.
The House of the Chaste Lovers, named after another fresco with two fully clothed lovers, was only discovered in 1987 and had never been opened to the public as excavations were ongoing.
The frescoes date from the year 45 to 79. The villa was being redecorated when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 so many of the frescoes adorning its walls were unfinished.
'House of the Chaste Lovers'
British troops from 2 Platoon 1 Parachute Regiment, part of 16 Air Assault Brigade, take a break from patrolling the front line near Basra to cool down and freshen up by means of an improvised shower unit in Iraq April 7, 2003. British troops guarded by tanks and helicopter gunships walked unopposed into the centre of the city Basra on Monday, meeting a warm reception in the narrow streets of the old quarter.
Photo by Giles Penfold
'The Osbournes'
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