Jim Hightower: THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING BUSH (jimhightower.com)
Yoo-hoo, George... You're a politician! Everyone knows that you and your neo-con political cohorts designed every aspect of this war - against the best advice of the commanders. You chose to go there, you fumbled the planning, you bumbled the occupation, you got America's military stuck in Iraq's vicious civil war - and now you want to dump responsibility for this mess on the military commanders?
Beth Quinn: The Doodlebops rock, and other announcelets (recordonline.com)
Time now to reach down into the Opinion Bin and pull out a few assertions. You might want to argue about it but ... It's unfair that drunks get to use their bad habit as an excuse for poor behavior, but fat people and smokers are simply regarded as having character flaws. I wonder how it would fly if a fat person made an anti-Semitic remark, then checked himself into a spa saying he bad-mouthed the Jews because he's a problem eater, but now he's getting the help he needs.
Matt Wray: The long and ugly history of 'trash' talk (nsrc.sfsu.edu)
White Trash. For many, the name evokes images of trailer parks, homegrown meth labs, and beat up Camaros, rural poor whites with too many kids and not enough government cheese. It's a putdown for the down and out and white. White trash is the name given to those whites who don't make it, either because they're too lazy or too stupid. Or maybe because something's wrong with their inbred genes. Whatever the reason, it's their own damn fault they live like that. They've got nobody to blame but themselves.
Roger Ebert: Happy 95th, Studs!
And Ida. Studs married her in 1939, and they were inseparable until her death during heart surgery on Dec. 23, 1999. In the introduction to his book about death and dying, Will the Circle Be Unbroken? (2001), Studs remembered her last words to him, as they wheeled her toward the operating room: "Louis, what have you gotten me into now?" "The funny thing was," Studs said, "when they unsealed the FBI files about so-called un-American activities, Ida's was thicker than mine. She liked to bring that up to me." He recalled that in her 80s, his wife was advised to use a cane, but refused, saying, "I fall over so gracefully."
Roger Ebert: Ogre and ogre again (2 1/2 stars; Thumbs Down)
"Shrek the Third" is a damped-down return to the Kingdom of Far Far Away, lacking the comic energy of the first brilliant film and not measuring up to the second. From the thrills of dragon-slaying and damsel-rescuing, Shrek's challenges have been reduced to a career decision: Should he become the king?
zEN mAN (observing the mother "Delta" and the calf "Dawn" trying to make their way back out to sea under the Golden Gate bridge after straying 90 miles up into the port of Sacramento.......and thinking about Captain Ahab and Tanya Tucker)
Purple Gene's review of the movie "Away from Her" (2007).
Directed by Sarah Polley. From the short story "The Bear Came Over the Mountain" by Alice Munro:
Sometimes a movie can manage to Anger me, make me laugh, Inspire me or in the case of "Away from Her" cause me to cry like a blubbering baby…..
My four brothers, my father and I found out back in the mid 90's that our magnificent, mischievous and sometimes saintly mother had Alzheimer's Disease. I found out abruptly one night with my wife Sharon, when my mom answered her front door and innocently asked who "I" was (not recognizing me). It was like a shot through my heart….a pain that I've held inside forever….She had in some sense died and gone away…except for her body.
A friend of ours, Deborah Hoffman, had just completed an Academy Award nominated Documentary called "Complaints of a Dutiful Daughter" about her dear mother Doris and her slow descent into dementia. At that point, this amazing movie saved my life….in fact my mother Mary and Doris both wound up at "Oak Creek" facility for full time care. Going there was like visiting a place out of the "Twilight Zone". Well Doris died and Mary died and they were both loved immensely until their last moments. But I still had a huge cavity left in my heart.
Last night I went over to the Piedmont Theater to see "Away from Her". This is the first feature film directorial effort by Canadian actress Sarah Polley ("Exotica" (1994) - "eXistenZ" (1999) - "Dawn of the Dead" (2004) and I settled into my seat, turned off my cell phone, sipped my soda and munched my over salted popcorn…..after the Previews of coming attractions were through, a stark Bergmanesque and barren expanse of blue snow covered tundra appeared on the screen with a man and a women cross country skiing in a couple of familiar, well worn ruts….
We follow the pair back to their cabin where we meet the scholarly looking salt and pepper bearded Grant (Gordon Pinsent - "Friday the 13th" (1989) - "Kung Fu: the Legend Continues" (1994) - "The Shipping News" (2001) - "Puppets Who Kill" (2005) and the wispy white haired and whimsically charming Fiona (Julie Christie - "Darling" (1965) - "Dr. Zhivago" (1965) - "McCabe and Mrs. Miller" (1971) - "Shampoo" (1975). They've been married for 44 years and seemed to have settled into their golden years with grace and affection….but we notice that after drying the frying pan, Fiona puts it away…in the freezer…..she has labels on all the kitchen drawers…and her sentences are starting to drift off.
Grant, from the very beginning, has a difficult time believing his beloved wife has Alzheimer's Disease….but Fiona knows….at a dinner party with another couple, she says…."I think I'm starting to disappear"! She actually finds a facility to move to and has Grant sign her up. When Grant goes to tour the "MeadowLake" Home, he is told by "Nurse Ratched" that when he drops Fiona off, after the holidays, that he must stay "Away from Her" for 30 days….to allow Fiona to adjust to her new life….but what about Grant?
Grant remains skeptical and when he drives Fiona to her new home, carries her luggage up and enters her room, he wants to stay there with her….but Fiona senses what is going on and says to Grant…"please make love to me….and then go"…..this is where I started to fall apart watching this movie…the perplexed look on Grants face…the frightened yet resolute look on Fiona's face was just heartbreaking…I could barely see the screen through my dripping eyes for the rest of the film!
30 days later Grant comes to visit and finds that Fiona has adapted quite well….in fact she has made a new friend named Aubrey (Michael Murphey) who is a muted man in a wheel chair…he and Fiona are holding hands….Grant is crushed and confused. But after many visits, he realizes that Fiona doesn't know him anymore and this Aubrey fellow and Fiona are really helping each other cope. Then one day when Grant comes to visit, he is told that Aubrey is no longer there and that Fiona has been staying in her room sleeping.
Well Grant finds out that Aubrey's wife Marian (Olympia Dukakis) has brought her husband back home because she can't afford to pay "MeadowLake" anymore. At this point the story goes to another level and we see Grant undertake a truly unusual, unselfish and ultimately loving plan to give his wife a sweet storybook ending…Alzheimer's style!
With K.D. Lang singing Neil Young's "Helpless, Helpless, Helpless" over the credits, I left the theater, crawled into my car and cried for 20 minutes…..that huge cavity in my heart from my mother had been filled with sweet understanding and the reminder of the strength of selfless love!
Purple Gene gives "Away from Her" 10 tender tear filled epiphanies out of 10 for saving a part of my soul with cinematic insight…..and Julie Christie's 1st Oscar winning performance since "Darling"
I noticed a lot of folks in the theater were weepy eyed and I wondered how many of them had a loved one with Alzheimer's who they were suffering through this disease with?
And the continuing support of the always fabulous
Marc Perkel, and the Big Guy,
BartCop.
If anyone would like to express appreciation, donations are gratefully accepted at my PayPal account (see below), or buy a copy of
'Ark Of Darkness' (see above).
Tonight, Tuesday:
CBS begins the night with the SEASON FINALE'NCIS', followed by the FRESH made-for-TV-movie 'Jesse Stone: Sea Change'.
Scheduled on a FRESHDave are Charles Barkley, Seth Rogen, and Michael Martin Murphey.
Scheduled on a FRESHCraig are Carrie Fisher, Naomie Harris, and Nathan Gibson.
NBC starts the night with 'Dateline', followed by a RERUN'Law & Order: Criminal Intent', then a RERUN'Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'.
Scheduled on a FRESHLeno are Demi Moore, Judd Apatow, and Angelique Kidjo with Ziggy Marley.
Scheduled on a FRESHConan are Amy Sedaris and Loudon Wainwright III.
Scheduled on a FRESHCarson Daly are John Salley and Emily Haines.
ABC opens the night with the 2-hour SEASON FINALE'Dancing With The Stars', followed by the SEASON FINALE'Boston Legal'.
Scheduled on a FRESHJimmy Kimmel are Ozzy Osbourne, Jorge Garcia, and the winner of "Dancing With the Stars".
The CW offers the 2-hour SERIES FINALE'Veronica Mars'.
Faux has the SEASON FINALE'American Idol', followed by a FRESH'On The Lot'.
MY has the FRESH'Night Of A Million Laughs: Comics Unleashed', followed by the FRESH'25th Anniversary Of Eddie Murphy's 'Delirious'.
A&E has 'CSI: The 2nd One', another 'CSI: The 2nd One', 'Dog The Bounty Hunter', 'Criss Angel', and another 'Criss Angel'.
AMC offers the movie 'Death Hunt', followed by the move 'Papillon', then the movie 'Escape From Alcatraz'.
BBC -
[12:00 PM] Gordon Ramsay's F Word - Episode 2;
[1:00 PM] What Not To Wear - Ep. 3 Julie Nicholson;
[1:30 PM] What Not To Wear - Ep. 4 Jane Anderson;
[2:00 PM] The Weakest Link - Episode 16;
[3:00 PM] How Clean Is Your House? - Episode 6;
[3:30 PM] How Clean Is Your House? - Episode 7;
[4:00 PM] Changing Rooms - Ep. 14 Bournemouth;
[4:30 PM] Changing Rooms - Ep. 15 Basingstoke;
[5:00 PM] Whose Line Is It Anyway? - TBA;
[5:30 PM] Whose Line Is It Anyway? - TBA;
[6:00 PM] The Weakest Link - Episode 17;
[7:00 PM] BBC World News - BBC World News;
[7:30 PM] How Clean Is Your House? - Episode 9;
[8:00 PM] Robin Hood - Ep 11 Dead Man Walking;
[9:00 PM] Robin Hood - Ep 12 The Return Of The King;
[10:00 PM] Footballers Wive$ - Episode 1;
[11:00 PM] Robin Hood - Ep 11 Dead Man Walking;
[12:00 AM] Robin Hood - Ep 12 The Return Of The King;
[1:00 AM] Footballers Wive$ - Episode 1;
[2:00 AM] The Weakest Link - Episode 17;
[3:00 AM] The Best Man - Episode 1;
[4:30 AM] The Best Man - Episode 2;
[6:00 AM] BBC World News - BBC World News. (ALL TIMES EDT)
Bravo has 'The Biggest Loser', another 'The Biggest Loser', and 'Kathy Griffin'.
Comedy Central has 'Scrubs', another 'Scrubs', last night's 'Jon Stewart', last night's 'Colbert Report', 'Reno 911!', 'South Park', and 'Live At Gotham'.
Scheduled on a FRESHJon Stewart is Margaret Spellings.
Scheduled on a FRESHColbert Report is John Amaechi.
FX has the movie 'Man On Fire', followed by a FRESH'The Shield'.
History has 'Modern Marvels', 'Hooked: Illegal Drugs', another 'Hooked: Illegal Drugs', and still another 'Hooked: Illegal Drugs'.
IFC -
[06:05 AM] Stevie;
[08:35 AM] The Prime Gig;
[10:20 AM] Red Bull Ride to the Hills;
[10:50 AM] Ed Wood;
[01:00 PM] Seven And a Match;
[02:45 PM] Stevie;
[05:15 PM] The Prime Gig;
[06:55 PM] Media Lab Results;
[07:05 PM] Trust;
[09:00 PM] Lovers on the Bridge;
[11:10 PM] The Trouble with Men and Women;
[12:30 AM] Hamlet;
[02:30 AM] Lovers on the Bridge;
[04:40 AM] Red Bull Ride to the Hills;
[05:10 AM] The Trouble with Men and Women. (ALL TIMES EDT)
SciFi has 'Special Unit 2', another 'Special Unit 2', still another 'Special Unit 2', and 'ECW'.
Sundance -
[05:00 AM] The Tesseract;
[06:00 AM] Um Filme Falado;
[08:00 AM] The Syrian Bride;
[10:00 AM] Mardi Gras: Made in China;
[11:00 AM] The Galindez File;
[01:00 PM] El Cielito;
[02:00 PM] The Hero;
[04:00 PM] Mutual Appreciation;
[06:00 PM] Episode 6;
[07:00 PM] Chrystal;
[09:00 PM] Drive;
[09:00 PM] The Forest for the Trees;
[10:00 PM] Drive;
[11:00 PM] The Syrian Bride;
[12:00 AM] Stars by Helmut Newton;
[01:00 AM] The Youth In Us;
[02:00 AM] Episode 6;
[02:00 AM] Episode 2: Didn't Mean To;
[03:00 AM] Father and Son;
[04:00 AM] Gridlock'd. (ALL TIMES EDT)
Mariane Pearl (L), her son Adam Pearl, U.S. actress Angelina Jolie and producer Brad Pitt (R) arrive for a gala screening of British director Michael Winterbottom's film "A Mighty Heart" at the 60th Cannes Film Festival May 21, 2007.
Photo by Jean-Paul Pelissier
The BBC said on Monday that combined audience figures for its international news outlets rose to a record 233 million in 2006-07.
Between BBC World Service radio, the commercially-funded BBC World television channel and the BBC's international news website, that represented a rise of 23 million from the previous year.
The broadcaster said its weekly radio audience rose 20 million to 183 million, while BBC World attracted 76 million viewers a week. Some 38.5 million unique online users globally meanwhile visited its international news website.
Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa, who brought their daytime talk show to New Orleans this weekend, helped assemble playground equipment Monday at an elementary school damaged by Hurricane Katrina.
Their syndicated show, "Live With Regis and Kelly," will be in New Orleans through Wednesday. Over the weekend, they taped segments spotlighting the city's food, music and culture.
Volunteers who helped with the effort are affiliated with KaBOOM! a national nonprofit group dedicated to creating play spaces for children. The only play space previously at the school was an area of buckling asphalt with the remnants of two basketball backboards.
In this photo released by the Urban Zen Initiative, musician Lou Reed takes part in a panel discussion on the practical benefits of Eastern medicine at fashion designer Donna Karan's Urban Zen Initiative, a wellness forum aimed at merging Eastern and Western medicine in order to improve patient care, in New York City, Monday, May 21, 2007.
Photo by Andy Kropa
Former chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix, who opposed the US-led invasion of Iraq, was named Monday as the winner of the 2007 Sydney Peace Prize.
The citation for the 50,000 Australian dollar (41,000 US) award noted his "principled and courageous opposition to proponents of war in Iraq," his life-long advocacy of non-violence and his leadership of disarmament programs.
Blix, a Swede, said he heard the news of his award with "surprise, gratitude and pride." He will travel to Australia in November to receive the prize.
At age 76, tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins is one of the world's most acclaimed jazz musicians. But he still thinks he has work left undone.
"These days I go back to things I've never finished to finish it," Rollins told reporters Monday before receiving the 2007 Polar Music Prize, a prestigious award he shared with composer Steve Reich. Each receive $143,000.
The award is typically split between pop artists and classical musicians. Previous winners include Paul McCartney, Isaac Stern, Bruce Springsteen, Pierre Boulez and Led Zeppelin.
Dolly Parton told thousands of fans at a benefit concert that she wasn't as important as her cause - a new hospital for her native Sevier County.
Tickets for the Sunday show at Smokies Park ranged from $33 to $150. The estimated $500,000 raised will go to a new Fort Sanders Sevier Medical Center, cancer center and medical office.
Parton's Dollywood theme park and Dixie Stampede dinner theater also pledged $250,000 each to the $110 million project, which broke ground Monday. It is expected to open in late 2009.
Actor Padma Lakshmi, right, and Alan Cumming arrive for the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity Award Dinner, Sunday, May 20, 2007, in New York. 'The Humanitarian Award' was presented at the gala to Oprah Winfrey.
Photo by Louis Lanzano
A fire has gutted the historic auditorium of the East Los Angeles high school that inspired the movie "Stand and Deliver."
School officials canceled Monday classes for 3,500 students at Garfield High School as crews cleaned up from the fire, which also damaged some classrooms.
The school was the setting for 1988's "Stand and Deliver," which chronicled the accomplishments of students taught by Jaime Escalante. The role of the inspirational calculus teacher earned Edward James Olmos an Academy Award nomination.
Built in 1925, the auditorium was known for its grand stage, vintage glass chandeliers and ornate plasterwork.
A rift between organizers of Calaveras County's famous frog jumping contest did not keep away thousands of frog wranglers Sunday inspired by Mark Twain's tall tale.
About 4,000 contestants entered the Calaveras County Fair's annual Jumping Frog Jubilee this year, twice as many as last year, according to the event's organizers.
The jumping frogs drew extra attention this year after a quarrel with the fair's organizers led the club that has traditionally overseen the competition to start its own jump.
Former "Prison Break" actor Lane Garrison pleaded guilty Monday to vehicular manslaughter and drunken driving in a crash last year that killed a teenage passenger.
Garrison, 26, faces up to six years and eight months in prison when he is sentenced in August. He remains free on $100,000 bail.
He was driving a 2001 Land Rover on Dec. 2 when he lost control and rammed a tree. The crash killed Vahagn Setian, 17, a Beverly Hills High School student. Two other passengers, both 15-year-old girls, survived.
Garrison had a blood-alcohol content of .20 percent, more than twice the legal limit for driving, and was under the influence of cocaine, according to police.
Sidney Poitier and his wife Joanna Shimkus arrive for the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity Award Dinner, Sunday, May 20, 2007, in New York. 'The Humanitarian Award' was presented at the gala to Oprah Winfrey,
Photo by Louis Lanzano
A judge has restored David Hasselhoff's right to visit his two teenage daughters after that access was suspended over a videotape showing the recovering alcoholic apparently intoxicated, an attorney for the actor said Monday.
Lawyer Melvin Goldsman made the disclosure before the start of a closed-door court hearing concerning the videotape and related issues.
Hasselhoff, 54, and his former wife, Pamela Bach, 43, both attended the hearing but neither provided details after it ended.
The Smithsonian Institution toned down an exhibit on climate change in the Arctic for fear of angering Congress and the Bush administration, says a former administrator at the museum.
Among other things, the script, or official text, of last year's exhibit was rewritten to minimize and inject more uncertainty into the relationship between global warming and humans, said Robert Sullivan, who was associate director in charge of exhibitions at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History.
Also, officials omitted scientists' interpretation of some research and let visitors draw their own conclusions from the data, he said. In addition, graphs were altered "to show that global warming could go either way," Sullivan said.
Sullivan said that to his knowledge, no one in the Bush administration pressured the Smithsonian, whose $1.1 billion budget is mostly taxpayer-funded.
Rather, he said, Smithsonian leaders acted on their own. "The obsession with getting the next allocation and appropriation was so intense that anything that might upset the Congress or the White House was being looked at very carefully," he said.
Technology, rot and now fire have caught up with the Cutty Sark, the graceful clipper ship built in the 19th century to speed fresh tea from China to Britain's tables.
After a quick look at the charred hull, custodians of the world's only surviving tea clipper said Monday it could still be made as good as new - by adding millions more to a restoration project already costing $50 million.
Firefighters battled the blaze for more than two hours after responding to a 4:45 a.m. alarm at the ship's dry dock next to the National Maritime Museum. The cause of the blaze was under investigation.
The bow and stern were intact. Most the teak wood had been removed to give restorers access to the ship's iron frame. The iron held its shape in the fire, and in the lower decks, the few timbers that had not been removed were charred but suffered mostly superficial damage.
Clay figures showing activities of daily life dating back to 2,100 B.C. have been found by a Belgian excavation team working in the Barsha Monastery, 124 miles south of Cairo, as seen in this picture made available by the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities May 20, 2007.
Hong Kong's media regulator has rejected calls to reclassify the Bible as an indecent publication following more than 2,000 complaints about its sexual and violent content, including rape and incest.
"The Bible is a religious text which is part of civilization. It has been passed from generation to generation," Hong Kong's Television and Licensing Authority (TELA) said in a statement issued late Thursday.
It said it would not submit the Bible to the Obscene Articles Tribunal for classification.
Hundreds of people have flocked to a remote village in eastern Nepal to see a "sweating" idol of a Hindu god, a sign of impending turmoil or natural disaster for the devoutly religious nation.
Witnesses said that sweat seeped out of the idol of the Bhimeshwor god at a temple in Dolakha, a few hours drive from Kathmandu, during evening prayers at the weekend.
Sweating was seen on the idol in 2001, media reported, months before a palace massacre when King Birendra and eight other members of the royal family were shot dead in a drug-and-drink fuelled shooting spree by the then crown prince, who later turned the gun on himself.
A charge against former Creed frontman Scott Stapp stemming from an apparent confrontation with his wife was reduced to a misdemeanor Monday.
Stapp had been charged with aggravated assault with intent to commit a felony after he was arrested at his home Sunday. No one was injured, Palm Beach County sheriff's officials said.
Judge Cory J. Ciklin reduced the charge "because the allegation is that Stapp threw a bottle of Orangina at his wife, at her head, and missed and the bottle broke," sheriff's spokesman Paul Miller said.
Unknown offenders put a Muslim dress and head scarf on the famed Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen early Sunday May 20 2007, police said. After receiving a telephone call, a police car was dispatched to the site and she was undressed, Copenhagen police spokesman Jorgen Thomsen said. The Little Mermaid was created by Danish sculptor Edvard Eriksen in tribute to Danish storyteller Hans Christian Andersen. Sitting on a rock at the entrance of the Copenhagen harbor since 1913, she draws an estimated 1 million visitors a year, and is occasionally targeted by vandals.
Photo by Andrius Karolis
A New Zealand city dubbed the "suicide capital" by John Cleese has responded by naming a rubbish heap at the local dump after the British comedian.
Proving that revenge is a dish best served cold, the sign for Mt Cleese has been erected more than a year after Cleese revealed he had a "thoroughly bloody miserable time" in Palmerston North, about 150 kilometres north of the capital Wellington.
The star of television comedies 'Monty Python's Flying Circus', 'Fawlty Towers' and films including 'The Life of Brian' and 'A Fish called Wanda' brought his theatre show to Palmerston North in late 2005.
Later on his website, the lanky performer referred to the city as the "suicide capital of New Zealand."
A pair of gay flamingos have adopted an abandoned chick, becoming parents after being together for six years, a British conservation organisation said Monday.
Carlos and Fernando had been desperate to start a family, even chasing other flamingos from their nests to take over their eggs at the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT) in Slimbridge near Bristol.
But their egg-sitting prowess made them the top choice for taking an unhatched egg under their wings when one of the Greater Flamingo nests was abandoned.
The couple can feed chicks by producing milk in their throats.
It was a big enough bummer for Kenneth Affolter when he was sentenced to more than five years in prison for making pot-laced treats and soft drinks. Now he faces the wrath of a candy giant.
The Hershey Co. has sued Affolter, 40, for giving his marijuana goodies names like Stoney Rancher, Rasta Reese's and Keef Kat. Each came in packaging similar to Hershey's Jolly Rancher, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and Kit Kat candies, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Hershey's suit, filed earlier this month in U.S. District Court in San Jose, accuses Affolter of trademark infringement, trademark dilution and unfair competition. The company is seeking $100,000 in damages.
One of the nine new born Testudo Kleinmanni, also known as 'Egyptian tortoise,' lies next to an adult at Rome's Zoo in Italy, Thursday, May 17, 2007. Nine baby tortoises were recently born in Rome's Zoo after their parents were confiscated with some 300 others tortoises discovered in luggage arriving from Libya by Italian park guards during an inspection at an Italian airport in 2005.
Photo by Pier Paolo Cito
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