THE ESCAPE ARTIST: JOHN BANVILLE ON GEORGES SIMENON (laweekly.com)
These romans durs - other NYRB reissues include the insouciantly gruesome The Man Who Watched Trains Go By, another tale of a husband on the run; Tropic Moon, a frightening study of lust and violence in the Belgian Congo; and Red Lights, a subversively straightforward story of American life involving alcoholism, marital disharmony and violent rape - are superb and polished works of art masquerading as pulp fiction.
Mark Goodman: 'NOTHING IN MODERATION' (nytimes.com)
''Well, bless my shoelaces!' exclaimed the kindly old professor, with a twinkle in his eye and a vampire in his brain, which he removed with no small degree of difficulty.'' Ernie Kovacs, wrapped in an absurd muffler, reading his own lunar version of Tom Swift with a dead-straight face, is one of the images from my boyhood I will carry unto comic eternity.
John Updike: 'The Clarity of Things' (nybooks.com)
The National Endowment for the Humanities, together with the American Library Association, has launched in 2008 a program that will supply classrooms and public libraries with reproductions of significant American art, one example on each side of twenty high-quality posters, forty examples in all, under the overall title Picturing America.
Mike Farley: A Chat with Carly Simon (bullz-eye.com)
I won an Oscar, which is pretty amazing. Just the fact that I won an Oscar is very amazing to me and the Grammys and the Golden Globe. But awards don't mean as much to me. I know this is very weird to say, but I'm fine with being remembered posthumously. Isn't that weird?
Roger Ebert: KUNG FU PANDA (PG; 3 stars)
"Kung Fu Panda" is a story that almost tells itself in its title. It is so hard to imagine a big, fuzzy panda performing martial-arts encounters that you intuit (and you will be right) that the panda stars in an against-all-odds formula, which dooms him to succeed.
HBOs excellent miniseries 'John Adams' hits the stores this coming Tuesday (the 10th).
They sent me a free copy FOUR(!) free copies, so starting last Friday, and continuing through today, the trivia question of the day will be a contest and all the questions skewed to John Adams (in some way).
On Wednesday (the 11th - tomorrow) somebody 4 readers will win a copy of 'John Adams' (retail price $60).
It's a very nice set - 3 discs; the entire 7-part miniseries; two featurettes: The Making Of John Adams and David McCullough: Painting With Words; and an onscreen viewers guide.
If it hadn't been for HBOs Robert Wuhl: Assume The Position going to video we wouldn't have a trivia question of the day.
Trivia Question from Yesterday
Which actor never portrayed John Adams in film or on TV?
A: Joseph Cotten
B: William Daniels
C: David McCallum
D: William Shatner
E: Martin Sheen
David McCallum played John Adams in an episode of
"Profiles in Courage" back in 1964.
William Shatner played
John Adams in
Swing Out, Sweet Land
(AKA: John Wayne's Tribute to America), back in 1970.
Martin Sheen played John Adams
in Independence, which was an
episode of Freedom: A History of Us in 2003.
William Daniels is Hollywood's king of playing John Adams with 3 portrayals.
First, in
1776 in 1972; then in
The Rebels in 1979, and again in
The American Revolution in 1994.
Joseph Cotten played
John Adams in the movie
Vom Himmel gefallen
(AKA: Special Delivery) in 1955.
There's no movie description at
IMDb, but a quick visit to
Google provides this
Vom Himmel Gefallen Synopsis - Moviefone Vom Himmel Gefallen is better known by its American title, Special Delivery. Joseph Cotten plays John Adams, a functionary at the U.S. embassy in a fictional Iron Curtain country. A baby is left on the doorstep of the embassy, sparking an international incident when a high-ranking communist official demands that the child be turned over to him. Much of the humor arises from the efforts of the male embassy staff to care for the scene-stealing youngster. Fortunately for the kid (and, as it turns out, for John Adams), pretty refugee nurse Sonja (Eva Bartok) arrives on the scene.
Joseph Cotten just played a guy named 'John Adams', not president John Adams.
Remember, these questions are about John Adams, the president , and by extension,
HBO's miniseries, 'John Adams'.
Sally answered:
I am going to guess here, and say that William Shatner (D) never portrayed John Adams in film or on TV.
Yesterday, at 10 AM (92o heat) I took the precious g/kids into NYC for the Puerto Rican Day Parade. My daughter was STILL sleeping when I arrived to pick them up (the SIL drove us into the city) and mumbled something like "if you die from the heat, I'm burying you in the culture of whatever event you are attending..." (Could I have dragged my own kids to too may ethnic events in their childhood?) (Good thing it wasn't any event from the Hindu culture, because Hindus do not bury their dead but burn them on a pyre - and it was definitely too hot for that!)
Anyway, the parade was fabulous, the people had great energy, lots of good food being sold - but it was just too damn hot. Having brought lots of bottled water with us, the kids soon learned the popular Spanish phrase, "Donde esta el bano?" (Imagine using port-a-potties in the heat of NYC...)
In any case, we lasted about 2 1/2 hours and then jumped on the train back to Riverdale (the Bronx) in time to see Jordan Sparks (Last year's "American Idol" winner) in TV! (The kids had wanted to see her at the parade...) My daughter was still in bed, but the p/g/kids did get some of the parade flavor dejour...
PS: Anyone know how hot it has to get before the heat fry's your brain?
Tony In Philly replied:
My Guess: D: William Shatner
Charlie was the only one with the correct answer, writing:
This seems to be a sneaky one. "John Adams" was played by
William Daniels - in The American Revolution (1994)
David McCallum - in Profiles in Courage (1964)
William Shatner - Swing Out, Sweet Land (1970)
Martin Sheen - Freedom - A History of Us (2003)
Joseph Cotten played a "Jonathan Adams" in 1955's Von Himmel Gefallen
a.k.a. "Special Delivery," but that wasn't the President. So I'm going with
A: Joseph Cotten
Adam in NoHo said:
William Shatner did not play John Adams, but a quick spin through the
IMDB shows that he did play Paul Revere so, you know, he got close.
(But as a Canadian, he still pledges allegiance to The Queen of England,
so what does he know...)
Marian the Teacher replied:
William Shatner
And, PURPLE GENE responded:
THE ANSWER IS "NONE OF THE ABOVE" SHAME ON YOU...TRICKSTER
I WANT THAT BOX SET....
SHAME ON YOU FOR TRYING TO TRICK US ALL.......
JOSEPH COTTON PORTRAYED "JOHN ADAMS" IN "VON HIMMEL GEFALLEN" (1955)
WILLIAM DANIELS PORTRAYED "JOHN ADAMS" IN HALLMARK HALL OF FAME" (1952)
DAVID MCCALLUM PORTRAYED "JOHN ADAMS" IN "PROFILES IN COURAGE" (1964)
WILLIAM SHATNER PORTRAYED "JOHN ADAMS" IN "SWING OUT SWEET LAND" (1970)
MARTIN SHEEN PORTRAYED "JOHN ADAMS" IN "FREEDOM: A HISTORY OF US....INDEPENDENCE" (2003)
THE ANSWER IS "NONE OF THE ABOVE"
BTW....I HAD TO RESEARCH A THROUGH E....EACH NAME...EVERY MOVIE THEY EVER MADE...EVERY ROLE THEY EVER PLAYED....I HAD A BLAST...PARTICULARLY WITH WILLIAM SHATNER.....BESIDES PLAYING (JOHN ADAMS) CAPTAIN KIRK AND T.J. HOOKER, BILL HAS PORTRAYED SANTA CLAUS, RANGER BOB ON "HOWDY DOODY", JULIUS CAESAR AND PAUL REVERE !!!!!! WOW WHAT A MAN !
CBS begins the night with a RERUN'NCIS', followed by '48 Hours', then a RERUNWithout A Trace'.
Scheduled on a FRESHDave are Mark Wahlberg, UFO expert Jeff Peckman, and Alanis Morissette.
Scheduled on a FRESHCraig are Carl Reiner, Rachel Dratch, and Augustana.
NBC starts the night with a FRESH'Most Outrageous Moments', followed by a RERUN'Outrageous Moments', then a RERUN'Law & Order: Special Victims Unit', followed by another RERUN'Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'.
Scheduled on a FRESHLeno are Justin Timberlake, Karen Allen, and Sheryl Crow.
Scheduled on a FRESHConan are Jeff Corwin and Jamie Lidell.
Scheduled on a FRESHCarson 'The Scab' Daly are Maria Menounos and Local H.
ABC fills the night with LIVE'NBA Basketball', followed by a FRESH'Jimmy Kimmel' with David Beckham, then pads the left coast with local crap.
Scheduled on a FRESHJimmy Kimmel are Seann William Scott, Emmanuelle Chriqui, N.E.R.D.
The CW offers a RERUN'Beauty & The Beast', followed by a RERUN'Reaper'.
Faux has a FRESH'Moment Of Truth', followed by a FRESH'Hell's Kitchen'.
MY has 'Street Patrol', another 'Street Patrol', 'Jail', and another 'Jail'.
A&E has 'CSI: The 2nd One', 'The First 48', another 'The First 48', and another 'CSI: The 2nd One'.
AMC offers the movie 'Murder By Numbers', followed by the movie 'Hope Floats', then the movie 'Raising Helen'.
BBC -
[12:00 PM] How Clean Is Your House? - Episode 11
[12:30 PM] How Clean Is Your House? - Episode 12
[1:00 PM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares - Ep 1 Lanterna
[2:00 PM] Cash in the Attic - Episode 3
[3:00 PM] Bargain Hunt - Ep. 23 Newark 36
[3:30 PM] Bargain Hunt - Ep. 24 Ardingly 24
[4:00 PM] You Are What You Eat - Episode 5
[4:30 PM] You Are What You Eat - Episode 6
[5:00 PM] How Clean Is Your House? - Episode 13
[5:30 PM] How Clean Is Your House? - Episode 14
[6:00 PM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares - Ep. 2 Glass House
[7:00 PM] BBC World News America
[8:00 PM] Coupling - Ep. 3 Sex, Death and Nudity
[8:40 PM] Not Going Out - Episode 4
[9:20 PM] Absolutely Fabulous - Ep. 4 Iso Tank
[10:00 PM] BBC World News America
[11:00 PM] Coupling - Ep. 3 Sex, Death and Nudity
[11:40 PM] Not Going Out - Episode 4
[12:20 AM] Absolutely Fabulous - Ep. 4 Iso Tank
[1:00 AM] Coupling - Ep. 3 Sex, Death and Nudity
[1:40 AM] Not Going Out - Episode 4
[2:20 AM] Absolutely Fabulous - Ep. 4 Iso Tank
[3:00 AM] Changing Rooms - Episode 2
[3:30 AM] Changing Rooms - Episode 3
[4:00 AM] Bargain Hunt - Ep. 23 Newark 36
[4:30 AM] Bargain Hunt - Ep. 24 Ardingly 24
[5:00 AM] Cash in the Attic - Ep. 29 McKellin
[5:30 AM] Cash in the Attic - Ep. 30 Stewart
[6:00 AM] BBC World News (ALL TIMES EDT)
Comedy Central has 'Scrubs', another 'Scrubs', last night's 'Jon Stewart', last night's 'Colbert Report', 'Futurama', 'South Park', and 'Ralphie May: Girth of a Nation'.
Scheduled on a FRESHJon Stewart is Ralph Reed.
Scheduled on a FRESHColbert Report is Alan Rabinowitz.
FX has the movie 'Batman Begins', followed by a FRESH'30 Days'.
History has 'Modern Marvels', 'The Universe', 'Ancient Discoveries', and 'Mega Disasters'.
IFC -
[06:25 AM] A Decade Under The Influence: Part 2
[07:25 AM] Johnny Stecchino
[09:15 AM] Strictly Ballroom
[10:50 AM] Media Lab Shorts Uploaded
[11:05 AM] Mondays in the Sun
[01:05 PM] Johnny Stecchino
[02:50 PM] Strictly Ballroom
[04:30 PM] Mondays in the Sun
[06:30 PM] Bread and Roses
[08:30 PM] IFC News Special: 2008 Elections
[09:00 PM] Death and the Maiden
[10:50 PM] IFC In Theaters
[11:00 PM] L'Auberge Espagnole
[01:05 AM] Russian Dolls
[03:20 AM] IFC News: 2008, Uncut
[03:30 AM] Death and the Maiden
[05:15 AM] L'Auberge Espagnole (ALL TIMES EST)
SciFi has 'Star Trek: Enterprise', another 'Star Trek: Enterprise', still another 'Star Trek: Enerprise', and 'ECW'.
[05:00 AM] Help!
[06:45 AM] Hammer & Tickle
[08:15 AM] Binta and the Great Idea
[09:00 AM] Episode 3
[09:30 AM] Sports
[10:00 AM] I Am Trying to Break Your Heart
[11:35 AM] Patch
[12:00 PM] Evil
[02:00 PM] Loggerheads
[04:00 PM] Donnie Darko
[06:00 PM] Ray LaMontagne, The Zutons, Shawn Colvin & Nerina Pallot
[07:00 PM] Up At the Villa
[09:00 PM] Business
[09:35 PM] Crude Impact
[11:20 PM] Episode 4
[12:00 AM] Only Human
[01:45 AM] Session 9
[03:30 AM] Binta and the Great Idea
[04:00 AM] Episode 7
[05:00 AM] Donnie Darko (ALL TIMES EST)
Jonathan Winters, right, Kathy Griffin, center, and Robin Williams are seen backstage at the TV Land Awards on Sunday June 8, 2008 in Santa Monica, Calif.
Photo by Matt Sayles
Republican candidate John McCain may have used his song in the U.S. presidential campaign, but veteran rock 'n' roller Chuck Berry has no doubt whom he wants to see in the White House next year.
"America has finally come to this point where you can pick a man of color and that not be a drawback," the legendary 81-year-old guitarist said of Barack Obama, who clinched the Democratic presidential nomination last week and would become the country's first black president if he wins in November.
"It's no question, myself being a man of color ... I mean, you have to feel good about it," Berry, himself a black pioneer in the 1950s music scene, told Reuters by phone from New York ahead of a Brazil tour that starts next week.
McCain, now preparing to take on Obama in the November presidential election, used Berry's hit "Johnny B. Goode" as an early campaign theme, although he has since switched to Abba's "Take a Chance On Me."
Rep. Dennis Kucinich, a former Democratic presidential contender, said Monday he wants the House to consider a resolution to impeach resident Bush.
Kucinich, D-Ohio, read his proposed impeachment language in a floor speech. He contended Bush deceived the nation and violated his oath of office in leading the country into the Iraq war.
Kucinich introduced a resolution last year to impeach Vice President Dick 'Go Fuck Yourself' Cheney (R-Five Deferments). That resolution was killed, but only after Republicans initially voted in favor of taking up the measure to force a debate.
Kucinich won 50 percent of the vote in a five-way House Democratic primary in March, beating back critics who said he ignored business at home to travel the country in his quest to be president.
From left: Actors Henry Winkler, Penny Marshall,Garry Marshall, Cindy Williams and Dick Van Dyke backstage at the TV Land Awards on Sunday June 8, 2008 in Santa Monica, Calif.
Photo by Matt Sayles
Here's a big part of why broadcast ratings are down: The number of television channels that the average U.S. home receives has hit a record high of 119.
That's according to a new Nielsen study that showed the five broadcast networks are continuing to face greater numbers of cable channels.
At the same time, viewers routinely are sampling an increasing number of those 119 channels. In 2007, the average household went up to 16 channels for at least 10 minutes per week.
61% of homes have wired cable hookups, down from a high of 68% in 2000, and 27% have satellite or specialized antenna systems to receive signals, up from 19% in 2005.
The producers of the gentle CBC sitcom "Little Mosque on the Prairie" have announced a deal with Twentieth Century Fox Studios which aims to get an Americanized version of the show on the Fox network, known for pushing the envelope with programs like "The Family Guy" and "Mad TV."
"It's taken a long time to get here, some due to the writers' strike and some due to just making sure that we had the right collaborator," Mary Darling, head of Westwind Pictures, said after announcing the "Little Mosque" deal Monday at the Banff World Television Festival.
The CBC show, about a community of devout Muslims living in a small prairie town, won't be changed drastically for an American audience, Darling added.
How often does a network cancel its highest-rated show?
Fearful poker fans are betting cable channel GSN (formerly known as Game Show Network) is running out of time to renew two of its most popular series, "High Stakes Poker" and "World Poker Tour."
Typically by this time of year, the shows would be in production on their next seasons. But since the exit of president and CEO Rich Cronin last year and installation of former Universal Television group head David Goldhill, more than a dozen GSN staffers have left the channel and some speculate that the poker shows may be next to get the axe.
The renewal delay has caused poker publications and blogs in recent weeks to declare "High Stakes" dead and "WPT" in jeopardy since both are near the end of their pickup windows. In March, GSN reportedly canceled game show "Lingo," its fourth highest-rated show in the coveted adults 18 to 49 demo.
Roseanne Barr, center, and the cast of Roseanne, accept the innovation award at the TV Land Awards on Sunday June 8, 2008 in Santa Monica, Calif.
Photo by Kevork Djansezian
Jessica Alba and her husband Cash Warren are new parents. The 27-year-old actress gave birth to a healthy baby girl, Honor Marie Warren, on Saturday, her publicist Brad Cafarelli said Monday in an e-mail to The Associated Press. Cafarelli didn't provide further details.
Alba and Warren wed last month after becoming engaged in December. They met on the set of the 2005 film "The Fantastic Four," which costarred Alba. Warren was a director's assistant.
The bad blood between Hollywood's leading actors unions is boiling.
As the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) enters its 25th day of negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers (AMPTP), the union will hold a rally Monday morning at its Los Angeles headquarters for members.
While SAG bills the event as a "solidarity" rally, some members are expected to use the gathering to speak out against the new primetime/TV contract that its sister union the American Federation of Telvision and Radio Artists (AFTRA) will be sending to members for ratification.
In the meantime, AFTRA president Roberta Reardon plans to meet with AFL-CIO leader John Sweeney to discuss the clash between the two actor unions, which intensified Friday when SAG's national executive board voted 13-10 to spend $75,000 on educating members about the AFTRA deal.
Actor Harrison Ford, a board member of Conservation International, center, meets Peyton Lackis, 5, left, and Emma Skogland, 5, right, both from Rockville, Md., who are participating in tiger conservation craft making, Monday, June 9, 2008, at the National Zoo in Washington after a news conference announcing new programs by conservation groups to promote the preservation of wild tigers.
Photo by Charles Dharapak
Pamela Anderson may have a need for speed, but her favorite charity has a need for funds.
That's why the former "Baywatch" babe is selling her prized Dodge Viper and donating the proceeds to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
The 40-year-old actress recently held a private estate sale to benefit the animal organization, and she's planning to personally oversee the sale of her 2000 Viper, which she customized herself with white racing stripes. The car plays a prominent role in Anderson's forthcoming E! series, "Pam: Girl on the Loose," but she admitted it was dangerous for her to own such a high-performance vehicle.
The car will be among the offerings at Julien's Auctions' Summer Entertainment Sale of Hollywood memorabilia, to be held June 21 and 22 at the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. Other items available include Alfred Hitchcock's driver's license, personal snapshots of Marilyn Monroe and Sammy Davis Jr. and an original "Ben Hur" script signed by Charlton Heston. The sale will be broadcast live on Auction Network.
A meteorite resembling Michigan's Lower Peninsula has been sold at auction, but bidders weren't quite as smitten with the mitten as the seller expected.
The 75-pound nickel-and-iron meteorite sold for $20,000 Sunday at Heritage Auction Galleries in Dallas. It had been expected to sell for $32,500 to $40,000.
Michigan native Darryl Pitt, the meteorite's owner, says he is disappointed by the low price. He says he thinks the space rock is worth $50,000.
American actress and former supermodel Jerry Hall stands next to the wedding dress that she wore for her 1990 marriage to Rolling Stone front man Mick Jagger, during a photocall to launch the 'Passion For Fashion & Fine Textiles' auction, in London Monday June 9, 2008. The auction at Sotheby's London, is to raise funds for a homeless charity, and will include the Jerry Hall collection, with the lace wedding dress by designer Antony Price, and at left is an embroidered Japanese wedding kimono which was given by Mick to Jerry as a wedding gift in 1990.
Photo by Alastair Grant
One of the last shipments to a U.S. research base in Antarctica before the onset of winter darkness was a year's supply of condoms, a New Zealand newspaper reported on Monday.
Bill Henriksen, the manager of the McMurdo base station, said nearly 16,500 condoms were delivered last month and would be made available, free of charge, to staff throughout the year to avoid the potential embarrassment of having to buy them.
"Since everybody knows everyone, it becomes a little bit uncomfortable," Henriksen told the Southland Times newspaper.
An ailing, retired farmer who refused to give up his outhouse after authorities declared it to be a public nuisance finally got a new one.
Elbert "Lew" Preston, 79, stood his ground long enough for a nonprofit group to come to his aid and build him a sturdy new outhouse with a waste tank underneath.
The wooden outhouse, complete with a crescent moon on its door, replaces a 1960s-built version that had run afoul of public health officials in Clermont County, east of Cincinnati. While the old one was over a hole in the ground, this one sits atop a concrete base and a 1,000-gallon tank.
"It's too nice and complicated to be an outhouse," Preston said. "I call it a privy."
A cloud formation moves over Oconomowoc, Wis., Sunday, June 8, 2008, as the state contends with heavy rains, wind damage and areas of flooding. In Wisconsin, more than a dozen homes near the swollen Kickapoo River in La Farge were evacuated.
Photo by John Hart
Frank Gallagher spent 37 years as a mailroom supervisor at a natural science museum - so long that he used to wisecrack that he should be part of the collection.
Rhinodoras gallagheri is a new species of catfish named by scientist Mark Sabaj Perez at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia.
Sabaj Perez, who manages the museum's collection of 1.3 million fish, said he was impressed by Gallagher's dedication, love for fellow employees and keen interest in science.
"I simply thought, 'Here is a guy who should be honored with his own catfish,'" Sabaj Perez said in a statement.
University of Utah geneticist Mario Capecchi got a bonus after winning the Nobel Prize for medicine last fall: He learned he has a younger sister.
Capecchi, 70, and half-sister Marlene Bonelli, 69, met last month in northern Italy. It was technically a reunion, but really more of an introduction; they were too young to remember when they were separated in the early days of World War II.
Bonelli had long believed that Capecchi and their mother had died in the war, he told The Salt Lake Tribune.
Capecchi's mother gave birth to Bonelli in 1939, when her son was a toddler. Lucy Ramberg, a left-leaning American artist who was imprisoned for much of the war, handed over the baby girl to friends living in Austria, where Bonelli still lives.
An eight day old zebra baby is seen with its mother in Hanover, Germany, Wednesday, June 4, 2008. The female foal does not have a name yet.
Photo by Kai-Uwe Knoth
You have reached the Home page of BartCop Entertainment.
Make yourself home, take your shoes off...
Go ahead, scratch it if it itches.
The idea is to have fun.
Do you have something to say?
Anything that increased your blood pressure, or, even better,
amused or entertained?
Do you have a great album no one's heard?
How about a favorite TV show, movie, book, play, cartoon, or legal amusement?
A popular artist that just plain pisses you off?
A box set the whole world should own?
Vile, filthy rumors about Republican musicians?
Just plain vile, filthy rumors?
This is your place.
HBOs excellent miniseries 'John Adams' hits the stores this coming Tuesday (the 10th).
