Issue #51
Disinfotainment Today
By Michael Dare
'TBH Politoons'
Thanks, again, Tim!
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny morning, overcast afternoon - no rain.
Around 7pm (pst) Monday night, this page disappeared. Don't know what happened - business must be GREAT at Yahoo - they seemingly believe their service is so superior (they charge enough!) that they need not provide anything close to customer service. Guess it's time to look into moving - can anyone recommend an ISP worth supporting?
Thankfully, Marian, the exemplary educator, sent me a couple of e-mails, otherwise, I would have been blindsided when I tried to upload this page. Thanks, Marian!
Not a very happy camper at the moment - somewhere between 'downright pissy' and 'righteously indignant' (wonder if I'll get to make use of some of the 'skills' I was taught at Disney?).
Tonight, Tuesday, CBS is supposed to start the evening with a FRESH 'JAG', followed by a FRESH 'The Guardian', then
a FRESH 'Judging Amy'.
Scheduled on a FRESH Dave are Ellen DeGeneres and John Malkovich.
Scheduled on a FRESH Craiggers are Oscar de la Hoya, Kelly Hu, and Gary Gullman.
NBC is supposed to open the night with a blooper special, followed by a FRESH 'Frasier', then a FRESH 'Watching Ellie', followed by 'Dateline'.
Scheduled on a FRESH Jay are Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, Nigella Lawson, and Celine Dion.
Scheduled on a FRESH Conan are Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Donal Logue, and Peter Cincotti.
Scheduled on a FRESH Carson Daly are Steven Van Zandt And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead.
ABC is suppose to begin the evening with a FRESH '8 Simple Rules', followed by a RERUN 'Jim', then a
FRESH 'Jim', and then a FRESH 'NYPD Blue'.
Scheduled on a FRESH Jimmy Kimmel are Polyphonic Spree, and this week's guest co-host John Edward.
The WB offers a FRESH 'Gilmore Girls' then a FRESH 'Smallville'.
Faux has a FRESH 'American Idol' followed by a FRESH '24'.
UPN has a FRESH 'Buffy', and then a FRESH 'Platinum'.
Anyone have any opinions?
Or reviews?
(See below for addresses)
Patissier Daisuke Nogami holds a handful of white chocolate he used to create the life-size chocolate sculpture of the Venus of Milo on display at Food Art Museum, in Tokyo April 28, 2003. Chefs have re-created famous pieces of art using sweets and food ingredients at the Akasaka Prince Hotel. The Venus sculpture is 206 centimeters (6.7 feet) tall, and was made with 250 kilograms (550 pounds) of white chocolate in one month of craftsmanship.
Photo by Eriko Sugita
Lashes Out At Network News
Ashleigh Banfield
NBC News correspondent Ashleigh Banfield has ripped television news networks, including her own, for their "glorious" coverage of the Iraqi war and a lack of focus on international news overall.
In a speech Thursday at Kansas State University, she also attacked NBC News for hiring right-wing radio talk-show host Michael Savage to do a show on MSNBC. Savage recently called Banfield a "slut" after her reports portraying the radical Arab point of view.
Banfield, who won her first notoriety for her coverage from the World Trade Center on 9/11, might be in some trouble for her comments. In a statement issued on Friday, NBC News said, "Ms. Banfield does not speak for NBC News. We are deeply disappointed and troubled by her remarks, and will review her comments with her. In the meantime, we want to emphasize how proud we are of the journalism produced by NBC News and of the men and women who worked around the clock, even risking their lives, to bring this story to the American public."
Her comments, coincidentally, came on the same day that Greg Dyke, director general of the BBC, ripped American radio and TV networks for their "shocking," and "gung-ho" coverage of the Iraqi war, according to British newspaper reports.
Banfield criticized the networks for showing a bloodless war that gave a skewed picture which glossed over the horrors of battle. She did not report from Iraq during the war, but has been stationed overseas in the past.
"It was a glorious and wonderful picture that had a lot of people watching and a lot of advertisers excited about cable news," she said at the college's annual Landon Lecture in Manhattan. "But it wasn't journalism because I'm not so sure we in America are hesitant to do this again, to fight another war ... because it looked like a glorious and courageous and so successfully terrific endeavor."
What was wrong with the coverage?
"You did not see where those bullets landed. You didn't see what happened when the mortars landed. A puff of smoke is not what a mortar looks like when it explodes, believe me," Banfield said.
For the rest, Ashleigh Banfield
The Information One-Stop
Moose & Squirrel
Charity Fund Raiser
Rock Bottom Remainders
The Rock Bottom Remainders is one of the richest rock groups without a hit song — but the bandmates have sold plenty of books.
The group is made up of successful authors who get together for one week each year to raise money for charity. Their motto is: "We play as good as Metallica writes novels."
Steve Martin moderated a discussion Friday with members of the band at UCLA's Royce Hall. Members include Amy Tan, Mitch Albom, Dave Barry, Kathi Kamen Goldmark, Scott Turow, Ridley Pearson, Roger Iles and Matt Groening.
Byrds co-founder Roger McGuinn is a special guest performer on this year's tour, which plays San Francisco, Los Angeles and Seattle.
Rock Bottom Remainders
Don't Quit Your Day Job" Records Group
www.rockbottomremainders.com
Model Nicola Churchwood models a pair of ruby and platinum slippers in the shoe department at London's Harrods store, Monday April 28, 2003. The world's most expensive shoes, by designer Stuart Weitzman, go on sale at Harrods Monday with a price tag of 1 million pounds ($1,594,505). The shoes are woven from platinum thread and set with 642 round and oval rubies, totalling over 120 carats.
Photo by Matthew Fearn
Memoirs to Hit Stores
Hillary Clinton
After laying out a seven-figure advance for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's memoirs, her publishers are counting on seven-figure sales.
The account of her years in the White House will have a first printing of 1 million copies, her lawyer told The Associated Press. The 576-page book, entitled "Living History," is scheduled for release June 9. An audio version, read by Clinton, will be released the same day.
The book, which took two years to write, will be billed as a "complete and candid" accounting of her years in the White House, from the health care debate to impeachment to the launching of her own political campaign in 2000.
Hillary Clinton
Chewie, C-3PO and R2-D2 Are Back!
'Star Wars'
George Lucas is bringing back the classic characters Chewbacca the Wookie, C-3PO and R2-D2 for the upcoming "Star Wars Episode III."
The director has already hired actors Peter Mayhew, Anthony Daniel and Kenny Baker to reprise their respective roles as sprightlier versions of their characters for the prequel in preproduction.
The film, whose full title has not yet been disclosed, is scheduled for a May 25, 2005 release.
'Star Wars'
Taking on Bush With CD-DVD
Public Enemy
Hip-hop pioneers Public Enemy are still fighting the powers that be.
The group, known for anthems including "Don't Believe the Hype" and "Fight The Power," will take on resident Bush with their new CD-DVD, "Son of a Bush," scheduled for May 6 release.
The title track, which first appeared on last year's "Revolverlution," criticizes both the current resident and his father.
Among the lyrics: "Have you forgotten/
I been through the first term of rotten/
The father, the son/
and the holy Bush...
I told y'all when the first Bush was tappin' my phone...
Can't truss 'em."
Public Enemy
Public Enemy.com
In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends
Picasso, van Gogh & Gauguin
Stolen Art Found
Three stolen paintings by Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso and Paul Gauguin may have been recovered near the art gallery where the theft occurred, police said Monday.
Acting on an anonymous tip, officers discovered three paintings rolled in a tube near a public toilet close to Whitworth Art Gallery in Manchester, northern England.
Police said they could have been taken any time after 9 p.m. on Saturday. They named the works as Van Gogh's "The Fortifications of Paris with Houses," painted in 1878, Picasso's "Poverty," painted in 1903 and Gauguin's "Tahitian Landscape," painted between 1891 and 1893.
Stolen Art Found
Whitworth Art Gallery
A sugar sculpture of the golden mask of Tutankhamen is on display at Food Art Museum, where famous pieces of art have been re-created using sweets and food ingredients by the hotel chain's patissiers and chefs at Akasaka Prince Hotel in Tokyo April 28, 2003. The sculpture is 50 centimeters (1.6 feet) tall, and was made with 51 kilograms (112 pounds) of granulated sugar and three kilograms (6.6 pounds) of icing sugar.
Photo by Eriko Sugita
Performing at Free N.Y. Show
Norah Jones
Norah Jones and The Roots are among the performers lined up for "100% NYC: A Concert Celebrating the Tribeca Film Festival."
The free show is planned for May 9 in lower Manhattan's Battery Park. MTV and VH1 are sponsoring the concert, and will broadcast it on May 17. Other scheduled musicians and comedians will be announced later.
This year's film festival runs from May 3-11 and includes some 200 features, documentaries and shorts.
Norah Jones
Tribeca Film Festival
Shut In Asbestos Scare
Rijksmuseum
The Netherlands' most famous museum, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, was set to shut for an indefinite period after asbestos was discovered in the building, museum officials announced.
Asbestos, a dangerous substance once used in insulation, was detected during an inspection by the national buildings service.
The Rijksmuseum contains one of the largest collections of paintings from the Golden Age of Dutch Art, including the famous "The Nightwatch" by Rembrandt.
The closure will disappoint many visitors to Amsterdam for whom the Rijksmuseum is a firm fixture on the tourist trail. It receives more than one million visitors every year, making it the country's most popular museum.
Rijksmuseum
Dylan, Dead, Petty, Matthews Lead Lineup
Bonnaroo Festival
Bob Dylan, the Dead, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, and Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds lead the lineup for the Bonnaroo NE festival, Billboard.com has learned.
The list of performers for the event, set for Aug. 8-10 at a 2,000-acre site in Enterprise Park at Calverton in Riverhead, N.Y., will be officially announced later on Monday. Tickets will go on sale May 7 via Bonnaroo.com (http://www.bonnaroo.com).
The inaugural "NE" edition of the festival, which debuted last year in Tennessee, will boast two nights of performances by the Dead, along with sets by Dylan, Petty, Matthews & Reynolds, Medeski Martin & Wood, String Cheese Incident, Gov't Mule, Ween, Yonder Mountain String Band, moe., Soulive, Rusted Root, Les Claypool's Frog Brigade, Disco Biscuits, X-ecutioners, Yo La Tengo, Kings Of Leon, Los Amigos Invisibles, Cut Chemist, Grandaddy, and others to be announced.
The second annual Bonnaroo Festival is set for June 13-15 on a 600-acre farm near rural Manchester, Tenn. That event sold out in 17 days, moving all 80,000 available tickets strictly via the festival's Web site. The gross is estimated to be $11 million from tickets priced at $119.50, $134.50, and $149.50. On that bill are the Dead, Widespread Panic, Emmylou Harris, Neil Young & Crazy Horse, James Brown, Alison Krauss & Union Station, the Flaming Lips, the Allman Brothers Band, Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals, moe., the Roots, and many more.
Bonnaroo Festival
Formerly 'The Vidiot'
Launching New Music Store Service
Apple
Two years after angering the recording industry with its "Rip. Mix. Burn" ad campaign, Apple Computer Inc. has won its cooperation in creating the Internet's least restrictive commercial music service yet.
The iTunes Music Store announced by Apple CEO Steve Jobs on Monday draws from all five major labels in offering more than 200,000 songs at 99 cents a download — and includes some big name artists who previously shunned online distribution.
Apple lets customers keep songs indefinitely, share them on as many as three Macintosh computers and transfer them to any number of iPod portable music players. No subscriptions are necessary and buyers can burn unlimited copies of the songs onto CDs.
Initially, Music Store only works on Macintosh computers, but by year's end, Apple plans to make it compatible with devices using the nearly ubiquitous Microsoft Windows platform — as it did for they iPod. Then, the service could have mass appeal.
All Music Store songs are encoded in the AAC audio format, which allows for faster downloads and higher sound quality than MP3 files of the same size. The format was developed by Dolby to provide the sound for industry-standard MPEG-4 video files.
Apple
A worker on a mobile stage hangs colorful lanterns at the Chogye temple in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, April 26, 2003 in preparation for Buddha's birthday celebrations on May 8.
Photo by Lee Jin-man
Separated
Luke Perry
Former "Beverly Hills, 90210" star Luke Perry and his wife, Minnie, have decided to separate, his publicist said Monday.
The couple have been married since November 1993 and have two children, 5-year-old Jack and 2-year-old Sophie.
The parents said they plan to share custody of the children, Perry publicist Arnold Robinson said.
Luke Perry
Channel Planned for 2004
All-Reality TV
The audience appetite for reality television could be tested by a planned cable channel that will offer a diet of all reality, all the time.
Reality Central, scheduled to debut in early 2004, is being developed by Larry Namer, co-founder of E! Entertainment Television, and Blake Mycoskie, a businessman who was a reality show contestant.
Namer and Mycoskie contend that reality TV has proved its staying power and can attract and hold enough viewers for a niche channel.
Reruns of domestic and imported series will represent half of Reality Central's programming. The rest will be behind-the-scenes looks at the shows and contestants, "all those things that feed the fan appetite," Namer said.
All-Reality TV
Hospital Update
Luther Vandross
Soulful balladeer Luther Vandross, described as barely conscious 13 days after suffering a stroke, has undergone a tracheotomy to fight off pneumonia, his business manager said in a statement on Monday.
The procedure was done in a way that did not affect the vocal chords of the Grammy-winning singer, who remains in intensive care at Weill Cornell Medical Center of New York-Presbyterian Hospital, according to business manager Carmen Romano.
Romano said in a statement that doctors reported Vandross was minimally responsive and "we're waiting for him to regain full consciousness. I am told that this may take some time."
Romano said the family and friends of Vandross appreciated the "tremendous outpouring of well wishes and prayers" received from his fans.
Luther Vandross
Casts New Light Over Munch's 'Scream'
Stenersen Museum
A new light is being cast on the works of Norwegian painter Edvard Munch at a museum in Oslo, where visitors can view pictures such as "The Scream" in the dark with a flashlight.
The faint light from flashlights create a mysterious atmosphere at the Stenersen Museum in the center of Oslo as visitors wander among some 60 prints by the Norwegian artist, Director Oystein Ustvedt said on Monday.
The rare prints are made on such poor-quality paper that normal lighting would ruin them, he said.
In addition to a print of "The Scream," the exhibition includes popular works such as "Madonna," "Vampire," "The Sick Child" and "The Day After," he said. It opened last Friday and will be on display for the rest of the year.
Munch, who lived from 1863 to 1944, was a pioneer of modern expressionism.
Stenersen Museum
In Memory
Elaine Steinbeck
Elaine Steinbeck, the former actress who married John Steinbeck and became a self-described ambassador of the Nobel laureate's legacy, has died. She was 88.
She died Sunday at New York Hospital following a long illness, said Samuel Pinkus, a literary agent for McIntosh and Otis, which represents John Steinbeck's work.
In 1998, the Bay Street Theatre in Sag Harbor dedicated its stage in her honor. There to honor her were "chums" Edward Albee, Terrence McNally, E.L. Doctorow, Bruce Springsteen and Julie Andrews.
John Steinbeck, author of such classics as "The Grapes of Wrath" and "Of Mice and Men," died in 1968, six years after he won the Nobel prize. Some critics thought the award should have gone to a more contemporary figure, dismaying the author.
Over the past 35 years, Elaine Steinbeck was her husband's greatest supporter, editing volumes of his work, proudly showing off his Nobel medal to visiting reporters and speaking tirelessly on his behalf.
"I travel all over the world, literally all over the world, in the name of John Steinbeck," she once told The Associated Press.
Born in Austin, Texas, in 1914, Elaine Steinbeck was the daughter of well-to-do parents in the oil business. She studied drama at the University of Texas, where she met Zachary Scott, another aspiring actor. They married and had a daughter, Waverly.
After moving to New York in 1939, Scott quickly got roles in plays, but success for his wife was not as swift. She learned all she could about stage production, and she was later hired to be stage manager for the 1943 production of "Oklahoma."
Through the remainder of the 1940s, she was stage manager for a variety of shows, including Paul Robeson's "Othello." Her marriage to Scott disintegrated after he went to Hollywood.
They divorced in 1950, the same year she married Steinbeck.
"I had two good marriages; I was very lucky," she Steinbeck said.
The Bay Street Theatre board of trustees issued a statement saying that its stage "will forever be a tribute to her spirit and love of theater and the arts."
In addition to her daughter, Steinbeck is survived by a stepson, Thomas Steinbeck, four grandchildren and two sisters.
Elaine Steinbeck
Visitors feed pelicans as they celebrate Shem el-Nessim, marking the beginning of spring at Giza Zoo in Cairo, Egypt Monday, April 28, 2003. Egyptians have been celebrating Sham El-Nessim for more than 4500 years. Ancient Egyptians celebrated by eating salted fish, onions and greens, and coloring eggs _ all symbols of fertility and the cycle of life. Many modern Egyptians keep the same traditions.
Photo by Amr Nabil
'Ark of Darkness'
"The Ark of Darkness", a Political/Science-Fiction work, in tidy, weekly installments (and updated every Friday).
'The Osbournes'
'The Osbournes' ~ Page 4
'The Osbournes' ~ Page 3
'The Osbournes' ~ Page 2
'The Osbournes' ~ Page 1
