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From 'TBH Politoons'
Great Site!
Thanks, again, Tim!
Reader Suggestion
Re: 'Peggy Nooner'
From Jeff Crook
Did you read Peggy's latest? Oh my! If you didn't (or even if you did), check it out at Uncommon Sense.com
Thanks, Jeff!
And, we can now add - 'As featured on buzzflash.com!'
Reader Query
RE: Dionne Warwick
From Steve B
Marty,
Don't you think it's time for the entertainment community to start lobbying
for realistic drug laws? This crap is soooo Reagan=OLD....I thought we
would have progressed.
Peace,
Steve B.
Steve - Yes!
Jimmy Kimmel Lands Latenight Yak Slot at ABC
Buh-Bye Bill Maher?
ABC has inked comic Jimmy Kimmel ("The Man Show") to host a new post-"Nightline" latenight talker -- effectively killing the Bill Maher-hosted "Politically Incorrect."
The half-hour show will bow in January, most likely in conjunction with ABC's broadcast of the Super Bowl. Kimmel will be on hand Wednesday when ABC unveils its
2002-03 lineup to advertisers in New York.
Details of Kimmel's as-yet untitled talker are still sketchy, though it's expected to be heavy on comedy with some celeb guests. Jackhole Industries, the production banner
Kimmel runs with "Man Show" co-host Adam Carolla and Daniel Kellison, will likely be involved.
Maher's contract expires in the fall. It's unclear when the final "PI" will air or how ABC may fill any gap between the demise of "PI" and the premiere of Kimmel's new series.
Jimmy Kimmel/Bill Maher
Holy crap! Like there isn't already a glut of testosterone-driven, self-absorbent-white-boy-angst-TV! The boys at Disney never cease to amaze me. Boo. Hiss.
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Was a bit too warm here, Monday. The weather was more appropriate to August than May.
Tried to get the Kid to watch 'Dinotopia' again tonight, but, he said he'd rather take a bath, again. Coincidentally, spoke with a pal who has a resident 7-year old dinosaur fiend who also could not enticed into watching 'Dinotopia'. Wonder
what group this thing tested for positively.
The TV Guide says that 'Raymond' was the 2nd part of 2, but, the end credits said it was 2 of 3. Poor Robert.
Hate to admit it, but I rather enjoyed the 'Mary Tyler Moore' Reunion Show. Way back when I was working in Alaska at KTVA in Anchorage, it also aired in syndication, on film. Mary's hat toss was the 5-second cue to roll the commercial.
Tonight, Tuesday, it's all fresh on CBS with 'JAG', 'The Guardian', and 'Judging Amy'.
Scheduled on a fresh Dave are Kid Scientists, Allison Janney (The West Wing), and (the Rev.) Al Green.
Scheduled on a fresh Craiggers are Dennis Hopper and Government Mule.
It's 'kinda-sorta' fresh on NBC, starting with their version of a blooper show, creatively titled, 'NBC's Funniest Outtakes', followed by fresh episodes of 'Frasier', 'Scrubs' and 'ER'.
Scheduled on a fresh Jay are Arsenio Hall, Elena Spera (World's Best Pizza Maker), and the Dave Matthews Band.
Conan - well, who knows...the website has the guests for 5/20....poor Conan has the worst of the late night websites Guess he's in reruns this week.
Scheduled on a fresh Carson Daly are Michael Rappaport and Alien Ant Farm.
ABC wraps 'Dinotopia', and I'll best it's most festive. Any show with a character named after a lighter made in Bradford, PA can't be all bad (try telling that to the Kid). It is followed by a fresh episode of 'NYPD Blue'.
Scheduled on a fresh Bill Maher are Actor Christopher Titus, Actress Juliette Lewis, Newsweek Reporter Ana Figueroa, and TV Personality Daisy Fuentes
The WB has fresh episodes of 'Gilmore Girls' and 'Smallville'.
Faux has a fresh episode of 'That 70's Show', then a rerun 'That 70's Show', followed by a fresh '24' (10pm - 11pm).
UPN has a fresh episode of 'Buffy' and follows with a fresh (and season ending) episode of 'Roswell'.
Over on AMC, there's 'The Fall of the House of Usher' (1960). Directed by the always inspiring Roger Corman, and written by
Richard Matheson (who wrote 16 episodes of "Twilight Zone, The" (1959)! It's followed by
Silver Streak (1976), directed by Arthur Hiller and written by
Colin Higgins (I), who also wrote Harold and Maude (1971) (as a college class assignment), and stars
Gene Wilder and
Richard Pryor!
TCM has the Judy Garland - James Mason version of A Star is Born (1954), directed by
George Cukor, and follows it with
Bank Dick, The (1940) starring W.C. Fields.
Anyone have any opinions?
Or reviews?
(See below for addresses)
Fresh
Celestial Sass
By Gare Galbraith
Astrocast for Libra for 5/13 - 6/20 2002
Libra 9/22 - 10/23 Sweetie! Dahling! You've made it thru that challenging Aries time and just when you thought you were regaining your balance, Mercury goes Retro on 5/15 and a fat one sits on your seesaw and you have to refigure your equilibrium. If only they (and i mean everyone) would just do it your way! It would be so much better for you! I mean you have charm. You have grace, but you can be... well, you know how the brilliant Lily Tomlin's Edith Ann puts it? "I am not bossy... my ideas are just better." Well, if you insist on your way, do it from 7:19pm(EST) 5/21 - 6:39pm 5/23. And even then double check all your info. We don't want you socially or careerily embarrassed. Lay real low 6/4 thru 7:07pm 6/6. I mean it... go along with what others want, even if it's rough hewn and not a credit card buster.
You have excellent clearheaded days for initiating on 6/18 and 6/19. Figure out in your everworking head what you would like to start that would have lasting value. Also, turn on your oh-so renowned diplomatic charms to those who've been somewhat adversarial then.... it might pay off in more money to buy nice things.
1st Decan Libra 9/23 - 10/2 The Retro hits you in issues of international communication, sports activities and pet ownership. I wouldn't be buying a
Lhasa Apso from Terkhestan on my wireless at a rugby match if i were you. The ambition-energy you got last month is augmented from 5/21 - 6/15. By making others feel good you will look good. And isn't that what it's all about?
2nd Libra 10/3 - 10/12 If you have taken on a nurturing mode in the last 3 weeks, it has worked nicely for you as far as your public standing... or maybe you need to mother yourself and realize you don't have to be everywhere allthetime making contact chitchat. Either get strength from your mom, or substitute therein, or restore yourself by (LibraHorror!) staying home by yourself for a night or 2.
3rd Libra 10/13 - 10/23 You might be tempted to dramatic childish fits after 6/3. Just make sure it's for an audience that finds such charming, not fodder for institutionalization. You will begin to reassess what gets you attention and if you haven't already, learn the ohso valuable difference between negative attention and positive attention. Breathe deeply, keep a journal and realize that when mistakes are made, either it's a time to laugh or to send an expensive bottle of wine.
Thanks, Gare!
On The Road
Bono & Paul
Talk about odd couples — Paul O'Neill, the ramrod straight, silver-haired Republican Treasury Secretary and Bono, the shaggy-haired, Irish rock star,
with the wraparound sunglasses.
They are pairing up, not for the summer concert circuit, but a 10-day tour of some of the most destitute countries in the world in sub-Saharan Africa.
The idea for the tour, which will make stops in Ghana, Uganda, South Africa and Ethiopia, was hatched after an initial meeting in O'Neill's office a
year ago, a discussion O'Neill says he was first very reluctant to have.
"I said, 'He just wants to use me and I don't have time for this,'" O'Neill recounted recently. He relented and agreed to a 30-minute meeting which expanded
into a 90-minute brainstorming session with O'Neill coming away impressed at the depth of Bono's knowledge and commitment.
"He understood economic theory and he understood the impact of colonialism. He knew what it was like to go into an HIV-AIDS clinic and see three people in a bed
all dying together and care about it and know it doesn't have to be that way," O'Neill said.
On The Road
Performing For The Queen's Jubilee
Ozzy Osbourne
Heavy metal rock legend Ozzy Osbourne, famous for biting the head off a bat in his younger days, will play for Queen Elizabeth at a concert for the 50th anniversary
of her accession, Buckingham Palace said on Monday.
Osbourne and Latin pop idol Ricky Martin are the latest stars to join the June 3 pop concert in the gardens of Buckingham Palace which is part of the culmination of
the Queen's Jubilee celebrations, royal spokesmen said.
Ozzy Osbourne
Therapeutic Link
Warp A Celeb
Warp A Celeb
Uh-Oh...
John Rowland
If Connecticut's Gov. John Rowland expects the help of fellow Republican President George Bush in his re-election fight this year, he'd better veto a bill that's heading for his desk. The bill requires
the state to erect prominent signs pointing to Dubya's New Haven birthplace - a slight embarrassment for someone who's eschewed his preppie roots and likes to be thought of as a Texas rancher. As the
Washington Times notes, the president's official biography omits his place of birth and states only that he grew up in Houston and Midland, Texas.
John Rowland
BartCop TV!
Got Distinct 'Jedi' Sabre
Samuel L. Jackson
Samuel L. Jackson likes to stand out in a crowd, even when it's a gang of Jedi knights battling computer-generated creatures.
Amid the more ordinary blue and green light sabers in "Star Wars: Episode II — Attack of the Clones," Jackson's character, Jedi leader Mace Windu, gets
to mix it up with a flashy purple sword of light.
Jackson said he asked "Star Wars" creator George Lucas to let Mace fight with a purple light saber. Why?
"I'd like to say, you know, because Mace is kind of an advanced Jedi, high up in the order, has more powers," Jackson, 53, said in an interview last week
at Lucas' Skywalker Ranch. "He needed something that was very special.
"But the real reason is because I realized we had these big battle scenes I was sure they were going to shoot from a long distance. I wanted to be able to
find myself in the middle of it."
Samuel L. Jackson
People Magazine Cover Girl
Nicole Kidman
Once you've got Nicole Kidman, there's no need to ruin the fun by tossing in her downer of an ex-husband. Editors at People magazine were so taken with
Kidman when she posed for the cover of their "50 Most Beautiful People" issue and gave the mag an exclusive interview, they decided there was no room on
the list for robotic pretty boy Tom Cruise, a source close to the magazine says. And despite the undeniable beauty of Cruise's alleged galpal, Penelope
Cruz, People blackballed the Spanish scorcher as well. Rumor has it you won't see Cruz or Cruise in next year's issue either.
Nicole Kidman
Many Actors Not Acting
SAG Report
Internal Screen Actors Guild (SAG) documents show that 23% of union members did not work during 1996-2000 and that 36% have worked less than five days in those five years.
The confidential statistics, prepared by SAG's longtime outside counsel Geffner & Bush, also show that only three branches -- Hollywood, Minneapolis and New York -- saw over
40% of members log at least 30 days work during the 1996-2000 period. At many regional offices, such as those in Honolulu, Houston, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Portland and
Washington, D.C., less than 25% of the members topped the 30-day mark.
Hollywood branch stats showed 26,331 of 63,745 members (41.3%) worked at least 30 days in 1996-2000, while 2,217 (3.5%) had qualified for 10 years of pension and health benefits
and 2,011 (3.2%) had worked 10 or more days in 2000. Stats for all 117,135 SAG members showed 38.7% had worked 30 days, while 3.4% qualified for 10 years of pension and health
and 2.9% had worked 10 days in 2000.
The document was distributed to national board members last month in order to revisit an issue that has prompted significant resistance among SAG's elected officers in recent years:
should national officers (president, secretary-treasurer, board members, alternates) be working actors who have had a substantial career?
Many Actors Not Acting
Another Therapeutic Link
Punch A Celebrity
Punch A Celebrity
The First 60 Years
Blind Boys Of Alabama
They have been performing together since before Mick Jagger was born -- but the Blind Boys of Alabama still bring their old-time gospel harmonies to new generations with verve and pride.
Since forming in 1939, the Grammy-winning band has been traveling the world with its spiritual message and spine-tingling tunes, sung with a passion that fans say is infectious.
The group was born at Alabama's Talladega Institute for the Deaf and Blind, where Fountain and fellow students put together a band.
Strictly sticking to their roots, the Boys have shunned the glitzy, sequined world of modern gospel that has seen the likes of Mary, Mary storm the charts and even rapper
Sean "P.Diddy" Combs augment some of his performances with a gospel choir.
They won a Grammy this year for "Spirit of the Century," an adventurous mix of gospel, blues and pop influences that includes cover versions of songs by the Rolling
Stones, Tom Waits and Ben Harper.
One way of achieving broader appeal was to go to Broadway with Morgan Freeman in the musical "The Gospel at Colonus" and recording with artists such as k.d. lang, Bonnie
Raitt, Peter Gabriel and Lou Reed.
Blind Boys Of Alabama
Wants To Walk On Moon
Michael & Uri
Hoping to beat 'N Sync singer Lance Bass and Aerosmith rocker Steven Tyler into space, Michael Jackson has turned for advice to pal Uri Gellar.
The spoon-bending psychic says that when Jackson heard Bass wanted to join a Russian Soyuz mission, he decided to aim even higher.
Gellar says he consulted Apollo 14 moonwalker Edgar Mitchell, who suggested Jackson start by talking to the Russians about buying a $20 million seat
aboard a rocket to the International Space Station.
Coming up with that much money could keep Jacko anchored to Earth, if you believe reports about Jackson's cash-flow problems. But Gellar says Jackson is already preparing.
"We are training Michael now to have that certain mind power to be able to complete such a task," says Gellar. "We do visualizations, affirmations, contemplations" — whatever that means.
"I told him he would have to do it all the way," adds Gellar. "He said, 'Yes, yes, let's do it.' … He is a very powerful person, and athletic. His heartbeat at rest is like a runner's — 42 beats per minute."
For more, Michael & Uri
Interesting Link
Slang Dictionary
Wizard's GAY SLANG DICTIONARY
Only 5 New Shows For Fall Schedule
NBC
Playing it safe as America's No. 1 network, NBC said on Monday it plans to add just five new series this fall to a powerhouse roster of hits like "Friends" and "ER,"
keeping most of its prime-time schedule intact for the coming season.
ABC and the WB will announce their new slates of shows on Tuesday, followed by CBS, Fox and UPN later in the week.
Three new comedies are joining NBC's line-up this fall -- the domestic sitcom "In-Laws," starring Dennis Farina and Jean Smart; "Hidden Hills," an off-beat suburban
comedy starring Kristin Bauer ("That's Life") as a sexy mom with an Internet following; and "Good Morning Miami," from the creators of NBC's Emmy-winning hit "Will & Grace."
Veteran actress Suzanne Pleshette ("The Bob Newhart Show") co-stars on "Good Morning Miami" as the mother of a young TV producer who moves to Miami to revamp
the lowest-rated morning show in the country.
On the dramatic front, NBC will debut the nostalgic family series "American Dreams," set against the backdrop of 1960s Philadelphia, and the ensemble crime series "Boomtown,"
set in contemporary Los Angeles.
Two NBC comedies are moving to different berths, with the freshman hospital comedy "Scrubs" promoted to Thursdays -- NBC's biggest night -- and the veteran fashion magazine
sitcom "Just Shoot Me" bumped to Tuesdays.
NBC's Fall Schedule
Ouch!
Alberto Ramirez
Bullfighter Alberto Ramirez is butted by a bull he was fighting during a corrida in Oviedo, northern Spain Sunday May 12, 2002. Ramirez escaped injury in the incident.
Photo by Alberto Morante
Premieres Raise Cash for Charity
'Star Wars'
The premise of the latest Star Wars film doesn't surprise Andy Mecca, president of the California Mentor Foundation.
He has his own theory about why young Anakin Skywalker eventually becomes the evil Darth Vader: His mentor disappears.
Debuting as a charity fund-raiser Sunday, "Star Wars: Episode II — Attack of the Clones," will rake in $400,000 for Mecca's foundation and thousands more for
charities that help children in 11 cities nationwide, including Boston, Chicago and Dallas.
At the San Francisco event, nearly 800 people paid $500 a ticket to see the movie days before its opening Thursday.
'Star Wars'
Star Wars Web Site
California Mentor Foundation
In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends
On Other Side of Thursday Battle
Warren Littlefield
The man who helped shape NBC's Thursday night comedy dominance is now looking to take a bite out of that very same juggernaut.
In a Hollywood twist, the first series from former NBC Entertainment president Warren Littlefield's Paramount-based production banner -- the family comedy "Do
Over" -- has been slotted on the WB Thursday nights at 8:30. So after years of rooting for strong NBC Thursday Nielsens, Littlefield will now be hoping to
put a little dent in the Peacock.
The ex-NBC programmer isn't expecting his first at-bat to bring down whatever comedy NBC ends ups scheduling at 8:30 (likely "Scrubs"). Instead, both he and his
new WB partners are simply looking to get a little traction in a notoriously tough slot.
After not having much luck while based at NBC, the Littlefield Co. is poised to have a very good first season at Paramount. "Do Over" is now on the grids, and later
this week, Littlefield could also get a pickup for the other pilot he produced this year: the buzz-heavy Fox actioner "Keen Eddie."
Unlike the old days, Littlefield will just have to wait to find out the answer.
Warren Littlefield
Last Night On CBS
Liza & Dave
Liza Minnelli gets a kiss from CBS's "Late Show" host David Letterman during the taping of the show, Monday, May 13, 2002, in New York.
Photo by John Filo
Karaoke Crooners Keep Career Alive
Englebert Humperdinck
Off-key imitation and out of tune torture to most, to Englebert Humperdinck karaoke is a lifeline connecting him to his millions of fans around the world.
"My career is kept alive by the karaoke machine. A lot of people sing my songs on karaoke and I consider that a flattering situation," Humperdinck
told Reuters in an interview here in one of Asia's karaoke capitals ahead of two sell-out concerts.
Born Arnold George Dorsey in 1936, he's proud of a global career that has taken him from the working men's clubs of Leicester, the British Midlands city where
he grew up and was discovered, to the bright lights of the Las Vegas hotel circuit where he made his multi-million dollar fortune.
Changing his name was the crucial factor in his success.
"I tried it with my own name and nothing happened. Choosing the name Englebert Humperdinck was putting the icing on the cake to make it more attractive. Although it
was a difficult name to pronounce at the time, it did make a great impact around the world," he said.
For more, Englebert Humperdinck
Adult Content - Big Time
The Kama Sutra
KamaSutraFree.com - A Free Illustrated Guide To The Kama Sutra
Liked This One
'O'Really's Tragic Flaw'
< snip> "Bill O'Reilly's hissy fit on the air with Don Imus has done more damage to the O'Reilly package than 50 Matt Drudges.
Bill could have ignored the Drudge stories, manufactured plausible deniability for whatever the marketing suits at Westwood/Viacom were doing to clear
the radio show, and focused on what he does best.
Like an unfaithful spouse caught in the act, he could have denied it, denied it, denied it. Eventually those who love him would believe him because they want to.
Drudge's announcement that WOR in New York was being paid $300,000 to carry the show was and is shocking. The KABC kiss of $250,000 in outdoor advertising from
VIACOM was a tad less egregious but equally embarrassing. The fact they couldn't even get any station in D.C. to carry the show – even for $200,000 – adds insult to injury.
However O'Reilly could have detached himself from the questionable conduct of the executives trying to place his show and taken the high road. "I do the talk show; other
people do the business stuff" should have been his line. Instead he had apparent brain flatulence and went ballistic on the air with Don Imus and mimicked Alec Baldwin
calling for Henry Hyde to be stoned to death. "There is no other cure than to kill Matt Drudge," O'Reilly charged on the "Imus in the Morning" radio show on Wednesday...."
For the rest, 'O'Really's Tragic Flaw'
Supreme Court Allows Disbarment
F. Lee Bailey
The U.S. Supreme Court let stand on Monday the disbarment of lawyer F. Lee Bailey, known for defending O.J. Simpson and the Boston Strangler, for mishandling $6
million worth of stock for a client serving a life sentence for drug smuggling.
The justices rejected without any comment an appeal by Bailey's lawyer, Richard Sprague, arguing the Florida Supreme Court ruling that disbarred
Bailey violated his constitutional rights by misinterpreting established state law.
The Florida Supreme Court ruled last year that Bailey lied to officials, disobeyed federal court orders, compromised his client and misappropriated funds.
Bailey had claimed he was the victim of a confusing arrangement with federal officials when they transferred $6 million in stock to Bailey during the trial of
client Claude Duboc, who was later imprisoned for life for drug smuggling.
F. Lee Bailey
In Memory
Joseph Lowenbach Steiner
Joseph Lowenbach Steiner, co-founder of toymaker Kenner Products Co., which established playroom favorites with Play-Doh, Easy-Bake Oven, and later Star Wars toys and Care Bears dolls, died Saturday in suburban Kenwood. He was 95 and suffered a heart attack Thursday.
Kenner was founded in Cincinnati in 1947 by Steiner with his two brothers, Albert and Philip. In 1949, the toy company's first bestseller, the Bubble Rocket, sold over a million units.
Kenner, which was one of the first sponsors of the Captain Kangaroo Show, was advertising on national television by 1958. The following year, Kenner introduced the Give-A-Show projector, which would sell successfully for the next two decades.
Throughout the 1960s, Kenner rolled out an array of hit toys including the Easy-Bake Oven in 1963, the psychedelic Spirograph in 1966 and 1967's Close'n Play phonograph, which brought music to the ears of younger listeners. Not quite as memorable was 1964's Gun that Shoots Around the Corner.
Kenner was acquired by General Mills in 1967. Rainbow Crafts merged with Kenner in 1970, and with it came the Play-Doh line of craft dough.
In 1973 Kenner introduced Baby Alive, which became the number one baby doll of the year. Kenner Products broke the $100 million sales mark in 1975, while its Six Million Dollar Man action figures became the toy industry's first modern successful television license.
Kenner also produced the lucrative "Star Wars" toy line, which would help break the $200 million sales mark in 1978. In 1983, while enjoying continued expansion with "Star Wars: Return of the Jedi" products, Kenner also introduced plush Care Bears dolls.
In 1985, Kenner Parker Toys Inc., the country's fourth largest toy manufacturer, spun off from General Mills. Tonka Corp. acquired Kenner Parker in 1987. In 1991, Tonka was bought by Hasbro Inc., making Kenner a division of the world's largest toy company.
Joseph Lowenbach Steiner
Warning!
Scheduled Yahoo! GeoCities Maintenance
Friday 5/17/02 9PM PST (GMT-7)
GeoCities will be performing scheduled maintenance starting
Friday, May 17th, 2002 at 9:00 pm PST (GMT-7). Service will
be restored the morning of Sunday, May 19th, 2002.
Still Seeking Volunteers
'The Osbournes'
Recently updated.
Put up a page devoted to 'The Osbournes'
And - Here's 'The Osbournes' - Page 2
C'mon....send your thoughts, your impressions, your views, your favorite quotes...
Scroll down for lots of addys to pick from (or 'from which to pick', for the truly anal retentive).