'Best of TBH Politoons'
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Barbara Ehrenreich: The High Cost of Being Poor AlterNet.org)
From food prices to auto insurance, when did poverty get so expensive?
Daniel Smith: Back to Baghdad (newhavenadvocate.com)
Each time I've gone to Baghdad, it's been much worse than the time.
Cassidy Hartmann: Shirt Happens (philadelphiaweekly.com)
Kenneth Cole makes a war message you can wear.
Cenk Uygur: 'We were right' (The Huffington Post; Posted on smirkingchimp.com)
To my dying day, one of the things I will always be most proud of is that I did not stay with my party, right or wrong. I put the interests of my country above those of my political party. I had enough sense to see the country was headed the wrong way and I tried to make a difference. I am not alone. And to all of us who were right, we ought to be proud.
Filth and fury (arts.guardian.co.uk)
For Peaches, the famously X-rated rapper, the personal has just got political. Caroline Sullivan hears about her beef with Bush.
Karl Sabbagh: The girl who named a planet over breakfast
'You don't just go around telling people that you named Pluto," says Venetia Phair, nee Burney, 87, a retired teacher in Epsom in Surrey. At least - it seems to me - not unless you did. If I was the only living person who had named one of the solar system's nine planets, I would probably mention it on every possible occasion. "Two pounds of apples, please. Oh, and by the way, I named Pluto."
Sushil Cheema: BURLESQUE [CONFIDENTIAL] (nypress.com)
Everyday women steal the stage as the queens of the new burlesque.
Kevin Maher: What Generation X did (entertainment.timesonline.co.uk)
Clerks II is not just some haphazard retreat from failure. It is, instead, a bold and essential move for Smith's career. Other Gen X tyros such as Linklater and Tarantino have diversified wildly. Yet Smith has always been defiant about staying true to his own slacker roots. Clerks II is thus the purest expression of this defiance so far. It's popular, yes, because it is truthful. And it is truthful because it is a return to the source of Smith's own legend. It is a return, in short, in the paraphrased words of W. B. Yeats, to the soft "d*** and fart jokes" of the heart.
Mark Jenkins" Boys Will Do Boys (altweeklies.com)
Kevin Smith's 1994 debut, Clerks, didn't pretend to be anything but autobiographical. Its universe of New Jersey slackerdom was Smith's own. So were its fixations: McJobs, hockey, Star Wars, sex. It's no great surprise that the new Clerks II is equally self-centered, even if Smith has moved on in several significant ways.
The book that shocked Hollywood (entertainment.timesonline.co.uk)
A book about the director M Night Shyamalan has shocked Hollywood. Could it pull his career apart, asks Christopher Goodwin.
Annalee Newitz: Microconspiracies Galore (AlterNet.org)
Welcome to a world of conspiracy, spies, and political intrigue -- it's Harry Potter fandom on the internet.
Graphic Photos: What War Looks Like (correntewire.com)
The Wall St. Poet
Condi Goes Forth
Purple Gene Reviews
'Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man'
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Unpleasantly hot & humid.
No new flags.
Headlining Canada AIDS Benefit
Alicia Keys
A star-studded lineup that includes Richard Gere, Alicia Keys and the Barenaked Ladies will kick off the opening ceremonies for next month's International AIDS Conference in Toronto.
Other performers who will take to the Rogers Centre stage on Aug. 13 to help open the conference will include Blue Man Group and Canadian artists Our Lady Peace, Amanda Marshall and Chantal Kreviazuk
Other major participants slated to attend the Aug. 13-18 conference include former U.S. president Bill Clinton and Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway, who is a UNAIDS special representative.
Alicia Keys
Sunday Night Awards
Television Critics Association
Carol Burnett, whose long-running variety show became a TV classic, has received a career achievement award from the Television Critics Association.
Also honored Sunday were actors Hugh Laurie of Fox's "House" and Steve Carell of NBC's "The Office," who received awards for individual achievement in drama and comedy, respectively.
The group, which includes more than 200 reporters and columnists working in U.S. and Canadian print media, voted a heritage award to "The West Wing."
For more - Television Critics Association
Writer-Producers On Strike
'America's Next Top Model'
Joined by dozens of supporters, the 12 writer-producers on the hit reality series "America's Next Top Model" have gone on strike to protest the refusal by the show's executive producer to let them unionize.
Wearing red T-shirts with the Writers Guild of America logo, they carried signs with such slogans as "Top Model means top $. Top Model writers don't have health care," "Reality needs a rewrite" and "Tyra is union. Why not me?"
The "Top Model" staffers are seeking writing credits (they're currently credited as show producers), better pay, health insurance, residuals and pension benefits.
'America's Next Top Model'
Judge Says Book Must Stay
'A Visit to Cuba'
A federal judge Monday temporarily barred the Miami-Dade County School District from removing a children's book on Cuba from school libraries.
U.S. District Judge Alan S. Gold ruled in favor of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, which is seeking to keep the book, "Vamos a Cuba" ("A Visit to Cuba"), in schools. Gold's decision would keep the book on the shelves until the case goes to trial.
In a strongly worded decision, the judge gave the school system until the end of the day to restore any books removed from the shelves.
Gold noted that the dispute did not involve classroom required reading.
'A Visit to Cuba'
Guest Voices
'The Simpsons'
Natalie Portman, Kiefer Sutherland, the White Stripes and Dr. Phil McGraw will be among the guest voices on the upcoming season of "The Simpsons."
Joe Mantegna will reprise his role as Springfield's infamous mob boss Fat Tony when the animated Fox show begins its 18th season Sept. 10. Joe Pantoliano and Michael Imperioli guest-star as Fat Tony's main thugs, the network announced Monday.
Also paying a visit to Springfield will be authors Tom Wolfe, Gore Vidal, Michael Chabon and Jonathan Franzen.
'The Simpsons'
Finally, The Final Frontier
James Doohan
The remains of actor James Doohan, who played the starship Enterprise's chief engineer "Scotty" on "Star Trek," will be blasted into space in October, the company organizing the flight said on Monday.
Space Services spokeswoman Susan Schonfeld said the new launch date was set for October. Doohan's ashes will be blasted up along with the remains of around 100 other people, including astronaut Gordon Cooper, who first went to space in 1963.
The company previously blasted the remains of "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry into space in 1997.
James Doohan
PBS Kids' Show Host Fired
Melanie Martinez
The PBS Kids Sprout network has fired Melanie Martinez, host of "The Good Night Show" after learning she had appeared in videos called "Technical Virgin."
"PBS Kids Sprout has determined that the dialogue in this video is inappropriate for her role as a preschool program host and may undermine her character's credibility with our audience," said Sandy Wax, network president.
Airing for three hours each evening, "The Good Night Show" airs soothing stories and cartoons designed to get an audience of 2-to-5-year-olds ready for bed. Each night, Martinez guides a puppet character into dreamland. Martinez is a stage actress and mother of a toddler.
In the two "Technical Virgin" videos - made before she landed the children's show job - she spoofs PSAs about how young women can keep their virginity.
Melanie Martinez
'...may undermine her character's credibility with our audience.'
WTF does Sandy Wax think America's children are watching?
Since we're returning to the 1950s, will TV married couples be back in twin beds again?
...credibility with our audience my ass.
Sent To Prison
Richard Hatch
Richard Hatch has been sent to a federal prison in Oklahoma as he serves a 51-month sentence for failing to pay taxes on the $1 million he won on the debut season of "Survivor."
Hatch, 45, of Newport, arrived last week at the Federal Transfer Center in Oklahoma City. It wasn't immediately clear why Hatch was moved or whether he will serve out his prison sentence at the facility, which is a hub for prisoners transferring through the federal system.
Hatch became known on the CBS show as the "fat naked guy" for refusing to wear clothes.
Richard Hatch
None Revoked Over Plame
Security Clearances
No one in the Bush administration has been stripped of security clearances over the leak of former CIA officer Valerie Plame's identity to reporters three years ago.
In a letter to Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., the CIA said it had no record of anyone in the administration who is no longer privy to the nation's most sensitive secrets because of the Plame leak.
The CIA also revealed it has not yet completed a formal assessment of the damage to national security that may have been caused by Plame's outing in 2003.
The assessment won't be completed until a criminal investigation of the leak has been concluded, Christopher J. Walker, the CIA's director of congressional affairs, said in the July 19 letter to Lautenberg.
Security Clearances
`I don't drink anymore'
David Hasselhoff
David 'The Hoff' Hasselhoff says he sliced four tendons and an artery in his right arm last month in an accident in London. He was shaving when he hit his head on a lamp and it broke.
"I guess the hotel was built for short people," he says. "I lifted my head, and broke the lamp. One piece sliced my hand like beef. So I went into Mitch Buchannon rescue mode, `What's the number for 911 in London?'"
He was also the subject of another London snafu. Earlier this month, there were press reports that an intoxicated Hasselhoff had to be removed from the All England Club, which presents the Wimbledon tennis championships.
"The tabloids make so much stuff up," he says. "I was at Wimbledon, and they said I was escorted out drunk. ... Absolutely not. I don't drink anymore."
David Hasselhoff:
Cancels Italy Shows
Bob Geldof
Bob Geldof canceled two concerts in Italy this weekend after too few people bought tickets, Italian news reports said. The 51-year-old Irish rocker, known for his anti-poverty efforts, had been set to perform in Milan on Friday night and in Rome on Saturday. Fewer than 50 people turned up in Milan and the show was canceled, La Stampa daily reported.
The Rome concert was subsequently canceled, said La Stampa and other reports. La Stampa said Geldof promised to give a free concert for Italian fans in September.
Bob Geldof
Wins Internet Dispute
Tom Cruise
Tom Cruise on Monday won an off-screen combat -- against a cyber-pirate who was using his name for advertising.
The U..N. intellectual property agency WIPO said an Internet dispute body it runs had ruled for Cruise -- who in recent roles has battled Martian invaders and ancient Japanese warlords -- in a cyber-squatting case.
The pirate, identified only as Network Operations Center/Alberta Hot Rods, was ordered to hand over the Internet domain name tomcruise.com to the actor, WIPO said.
Tom Cruise
Switches Cash Notes For Debit Cards
British Monopoly
Property board game Monopoly is swapping its iconic bank notes for debit cards and replacing the dog and iron playing counters with a burger and a mobile phone in a bid to catch up with the times.
A spokeswoman said Monday the changes have been rolled out in a new British version of the game, which also includes an increase in property prices and a change in the London addresses printed around the board.
The new version of the game, called "Monopoly Here and Now Electronic Banking", comes with a little machine that transfers money from one player's bank card to another.
British Monopoly
Call Him Hannibal
Vin Diesel
Vin Diesel will take on the Roman Empire in a new BET Networks cartoon series about military leader Hannibal.
Diesel will voice the noted general, and his One Race Prods. company is producing the show, titled "Hannibal the Conqueror."
The half-hour series will span the life of Hannibal, from his tutelage as a warrior under his father, Hamilcar Barca, to his scaling of the Alps with an army of elephants, and his invasion of Italy.
Vin Diesel
Limits Proposed
Digital TV Converter Coupons
An estimated 21 million U.S. households, those that rely solely on over-the-air television broadcasts, would be eligible to get coupons to buy digital converter boxes, according to a Commerce Department agency proposal released on Monday.
Coupons would not be offered to a majority of U.S. households because they already have an alternative. The Government Accountability Office estimates about 85 million households watch television using cable or satellite services.
U.S. television stations are required to switch to airing only digital broadcasts in February 2009. However, millions of Americans have yet to buy new televisions that receive the higher-quality broadcast signals.
Digital TV Converter Coupons
Golden Years
Silver Belles
Marion Coles and Elaine Ellis are the type of older ladies you would (or should) offer your seats to on the subway - never mind that they can probably dance circles around you - pacemaker, strokes and all.
Members of the Silver Belles, a tap ensemble made up of 1930s showgirls, they are two of the five cantankerous, charming stars of "Been Rich All My Life," a new documentary by Heather Lyn MacDonald.
At a time when Manhattan seems ever blander and more homogenized, it's a thrill to think that these women, ages 84 to 96, are still around, rehearsing at the Cotton Club and performing at the Apollo Theater, two landmarks of a vanished Harlem that existed at a time when, as one of the Belles says of New York, there really was "no other place in the world."
Silver Belles
Growing Business
Counterfeit Cannabis
Joseph White's home office is like a modern-day hippie hangout. Books on Buddhism and yoga mingle with business planners and a laptop computer. An acoustic guitar rests next to a shuffle of sheet music for "Mr. Tambourine Man," just across the room from a fax machine.
And then there are the marijuana stalks. Towering six-footers. Pint-sized plants for personal medical use. He even has a few ripe buds kicking around on a desk, not far from his cell phone.
His stash is for sale, but it won't get you stoned. These lifelike botanicals are made of silk and wood.
During the past two years, White - a trim 51-year-old with thinning hair and a small stud in his left earlobe - has rolled his pro-pot activism and business savvy into New Image Plants, a startup company that sells the make-believe marijuana online.
His early customers were people looking for gag gifts, party planners in search of unique decorations and law enforcement agencies needing replicas for training missions.
Counterfeit Cannabis
Knows Her Knives
Winifred Whelan
With Australian outback hero Crocodile Dundee as her inspiration, an 80-year-old British pensioner foiled a knife-wielding burglar with an even bigger blade of her own.
When woken by a masked man holding a knife, Winifred Whelan screamed and ran downstairs to the kitchen.
Recalling the incident on the day the burglars were jailed for the break-in, Whelan told The Liverpool Echo: "I said to the robber 'You call that a knife?' His was around 10 inches long and I had a carving knife measuring around 14 inches.
Winifred Whelan
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