'Best of TBH Politoons'
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Doug Ireland: U.S. BARS ROBERT FISK FROM ENTERING COUNTRY (zmag.org)
The internationally renowned correspodent for The Independent -- the great British journalist Robert Fisk -- has been banned from entering the United States. Fisk has been covering war zones for decades, but is above all known for his incisive reporting from the Middle East for more than 20 years. His critical coverage of the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq, and the continuing occupation that has followed it, has repeatedly exposed U.S. and British government disinformation campaigns. He also has exposed how the bulk of the press reports from Iraq have been "hotel journalism" -- a phrase Fisk coined.
George Lakoff: The Post-Katrina Era (AlterNet)
Katrina's tragic consequences were not just due to incompetence, natural disaster, or Bush policies (though he is accountable). This is a failure of moral and political philosophy.
CHRIS DAHLEN: Gaming the system: The brave new world of the latest propaganda tool (bostonphoenix.com)
Forget cable news, the Drudge Report, or those MassPIRG kids who hover outside your T stop: some of the most powerful political messages can now be found in video games. From Israelis debating the Gaza Strip pullout in Wild West Bank to Americans running a political campaign or gunning down Osama bin Laden in a liquor store, the Web is filling up with virtual activities that push a variety of agendas.
Sidebar to "Gaming the system ": Confronting teenage homelessness
You are a homeless girl living on the streets of Melbourne, Australia. You start the game next to a dumpster in an alley. The city looks as lonely as a nightmare: pedestrians tell you to piss off, the rain's soaking your clothes, and the only person who offers any help is the drug dealer.
ANDY GREENE AND AUSTIN SCAGGS: New York Goes New Orleans (rollingstone.com)
"I wish New Orleans was dry and Washington was underwater," said Tom Waits. Bette Midler had even stronger words: "I got a letter from the Republican Party the other day. I wrote back, 'Go fuck yourself.'" She then added, "George Bush is a fan of mine -- he came to see me in the Seventies. His coke dealer brought him."
ROGER EBERT: Plowing Field's won't grow business
I met J. C. Penney once. The old man visited the Penney's store on Main Street in Urbana. He shook my hand, gave me a penny, and said if I took care of my pennies and nickels, my dimes and dollars would take care of themselves. At the end of a week, I had 10 cents, which I used to see a movie at the Princess Theater. The movie was 9 cents. The extra penny went for an all-day sucker.
ROGER EBERT: Tim Burton's Corpse Bride
"Tim Burton's Corpse Bride" is not the macabre horror story the title suggests, but a sweet and visually lovely tale of love lost. In an era when most animated films look relentlessly bright and colorful, "Corpse Bride" creates two palettes, and not the ones we expect.
RICHARD ROEPER: Macy's is here to stay -- and we'll get used to it (suntimes.com)
A store is changing its name! That's never happened! Ever! Well. Except for all the times when it has happened.
RICHARD ROEPER: Bottled water hardly worth all the fuss we make of it (suntimes.com)
Faithful readers might recall my wine-related advice to single guys getting their own apartments for the first time ...
The Wall Street Poet
Stagflation Redeux?
©2005
**********
For more economic and political verse
www.wallstreetpoet.com
Goodbye to Bag End
'Hey! Come, my hearties!'
September 26 - After spending but one night in his new house in Crickhollor, Frodo sets out for Bree with Sam, Merry and Pippin. They avoid the road and head into the Old Forest, and soon find themselves down by the Withywindle. They fall under the spell of Old Man Willow, and Merry and Pippin are breifly consumed. Tom Bombadil happens along and saves the book from an early and disappointing end. They spend the night at Bombadil's, while Fatty Bolger keeps up the appearance that Frodo is still at Crickhollow.
'Hey! Come, my hearties!'
Jeff Crook
Hubert's Poetry Corner
Hot, Wet and Wanting More
A must NOT read for Attorney-General Alberto Gonzales and his vitally important 'Porn Squad'!
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Cool & sunny with a chance of rain.
Shelaub the Tarantula has a newly cleaned terrarium. She's a lot more active than usual exploring the new terrain.
She should be molting soon.
The kid keeps the last shedding in an old mayo jar - it's pretty cool. Looks like there's a whole other spider in there.
Mary Werbelow Finally Speaks
Jim Morrison
Reruns Already
'Lost'
ABC will postpone Wednesday's scheduled premieres of 8-9 p.m. comedies "George Lopez" and "Freddie" for one week to make room for a rerun of the season premiere of "Lost," which will lead into the drama thriller's second episode at 9 p.m.
Coming on the heels of its Emmy win for best drama, "Lost" opened its second season last week with an all-time high of 23.4 million viewers. ABC said it decided to repeat the "Lost" season opener after receiving calls from viewers who missed part of the episode because of hurricane-related news pre-emptions.
'Lost'
UPN Premieres On Google Video
'Everybody Hates Chris'
Google Inc. said on Monday its streaming video site will run a four-day exclusive screening of the premiere of UPN's new comedy "Everybody Hates Chris" -- a first for Google and the upstart network.
The entire pilot of the new sitcom, which is based on the childhood of comedian Chris Rock, is available via Google Video at video.google.com/chris beginning on Monday, the companies said.
'Everybody Hates Chris'
Joining 'The Shield'
Forest Whitaker
Forest Whitaker has joined the cast of "The Shield" as a regular for the FX police drama's upcoming fifth season, set to bow in January.
Whitaker will play Detective Jon Kavanaugh, an ambitious newcomer to the Los Angeles Police Department's Internal Affairs division who is tasked with investigating rogue cop Mackey, played by series star Michael Chiklis, and the strike force he leads.
"Shield" wrapped a strong fourth season in June that was highlighted by the addition of Glenn Close in an Emmy-nominated turn as Mackey's boss, Capt. Monica Rawlings. Ryan said that the character of Kavanaugh "will present the biggest danger to Vic and his team in the history of the series so far."
Forest Whitaker
Musical to Open on Broadway
'Lestat'
"Lestat" sings on Broadway next April. The Elton John-Bernie Taupin musical featuring novelist Anne Rice's seductive vampire hero will open on Broadway April 13 at the Palace Theatre. Preview performances begin March 11.
The musical will have its world premiere in San Francisco Dec. 17-Jan. 29 before moving to New York.
Hugh Panero, Broadway's most recent "Phantom of the Opera," will portray the title character in the show, which has music by John, lyrics by Taupin and a book by Linda Woolverton. The director is Robert Jess Roth.
'Lestat'
Bringing 'Color Purple' to Broadway
Oprah Winfrey
"The Color Purple," a musical based on Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, will have Oprah Winfrey as a producer and investor when it opens on Broadway in December.
In Winfrey's first Broadway venture, she will contribute more than $1 million of the musical's $10 million production cost, The New York Times reported Sunday on its Web site.
The musical, which has been revised since receiving mixed reviews when it opened in Atlanta last year, will be called "Oprah Winfrey Presents: 'The Color Purple.'"
Oprah Winfrey
Wins Irish Literary Award
Li Yiyun
Chinese writer Li Yiyun, now based in the United States, has won Ireland's inaugural 50,000-euro (60,000-dollar) Frank O'Connor short story award.
Li, a mother of two who grew up in Beijing and moved to the US in 1996, won the prize for her debut collection, "A Thousand Years of Good Prayers."
The award, claimed as the world's biggest single award for short story writing, forms part of the literary programme of the Irish city of Cork's current tenure as European Capital of Culture.
Li Yiyun
Defends Kate Moss
Naomi Campbell
Naomi Campbell has spoken out in support of Kate Moss, who has lost three modeling contracts and is being investigated by London police on allegations that she used cocaine.
"Kate Moss is my friend ... I think it's like everybody is being bad to her," the 35-year-old supermodel told a news conference Sunday in the Colombian capital where she was judging a modeling competition.
Campbell said it was wrong to blame the modeling industry for drug abuse and eating disorders among young women.
Naomi Campbell
Bought From Suspected Looters
J. Paul Getty Museum
Lawyers for the J. Paul Getty Museum have determined that half the masterpieces in its antiquities collection were bought from dealers suspected of selling artifacts embezzled from Italy, according to a report published Sunday.
Getty officials knew as early as 1985 that several of their suppliers were selling artworks that probably had been looted, but the museum continued the acquisitions, according to hundreds of documents obtained by the Los Angeles Times.
Italian authorities are demanding the return of 42 objects in the Getty collection they believe were stolen, including ancient urns, vases and a 5-foot marble statue of the Greek god Apollo.
Getty's attorneys found that the museum had bought 82 artworks from dealers and galleries under investigation by Italian officials, including 54 of the 104 ancient artworks that the Getty identified as masterpieces, the Times reported.
J. Paul Getty Museum
Pleading Guilty
Vincent Pastore
Vincent Pastore, who played gangster Salvatore "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero on HBO's "The Sopranos," has agreed to plead guilty to a charge that he attempted to assault a former girlfriend last spring.
The plea bargain, which has yet to receive final approval from a judge, calls for Pastore to perform 10 days of community service and attend a counseling program for batterers, lawyers involved in the case told a judge Monday.
Pastore was originally charged with two counts of assault, attempted assault and harassment for allegedly attacking Lisa Regina, 44, in April.
Vincent Pastore
Mama Africa's Farewell Tour
Miriam Makeba
After a career of more than 50 years, South Africa's legendary singer and anti-apartheid activist Miriam Makeba has decided she will end her performing days with a farewell international tour which starts here Monday.
"I don't want to travel as much as I have been. But as long as I'll have my voice, I'll keep on recording," said the singer who won a Grammy award in 1966 for best folk recording with Harry Belafonte for the album "An Evening with Belafonte and Makeba" and performed with Paul Simon on his Graceland tour in the mid-1980s.
"After, I will stay at home and be the great-grandmother that I am."
Miriam Makeba
Taurus World Stunt Awards
Stuntmen
"The Bourne Supremacy" and "Kill Bill: Vol. 2" each picked up two trophies at the Taurus World Stunt Awards, held Sunday at Paramount Pictures.
Honorary awards were also presented to "Kill Bill's" Quentin Tarantino, hailed as action movie director; Vic Armstrong, who received a lifetime achievement award for a career that included doubling for Harrison Ford in the "Indiana Jones" series; and Sylvester Stallone, who was feted as action movie star.
The show, hosted by Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, will air on the E! cable channel on October 13.
Stuntmen
A 'Secret' Search
Anchors
Executives at ABC and CBS News can be relieved this week that, unlike with Hurricane Katrina, their Rita coverage didn't appear seriously affected by voids at the chief anchor position left by the late Peter Jennings and Dan Rather.
Industry experts consider it virtually certain someone now at ABC News will get the job. Gibson and Elizabeth Vargas have largely traded off as substitutes since Jennings left the air, with Gibson most frequently anchoring special news reports.
Chances are ABC will have its successor in place before CBS News, which has been searching since at least November when Rather announced he was stepping down. Bob Schieffer has been interim anchor since March.
The "CBS Evening News" runs a distant third in the ratings, and the gap is widening. That gives CBS a particular impetus to try something new.
Anchors
Philadelphia Rapper Cleared
Beanie Sigel
Rapper Beanie Sigel was acquitted Monday on charges he shot and nearly killed a man two years ago on a crowded city street.
The rapper, whose attempted murder trial began only a few weeks after his release from federal prison on an unrelated charge, was cleared by a jury of shooting Terrance Speller repeatedly during a dispute outside a strip club in July 2003.
Beanie Sigel
In Memory
Don Adams
Don Adams, the wry-voiced comedian who starred as the fumbling secret agent Maxwell Smart in the 1960s TV spoof of James Bond movies, "Get Smart," has died. He was 82.
As the inept Agent 86 of the super-secret federal agency CONTROL, Adams captured TV viewers with his antics in combatting the evil agents of KAOS. When his explanations failed to convince the villains or his boss, he tried another tack:
Smart was also prone to spilling things on the desk or person of his boss - the Chief (actor Edward Platt). Smart's apologetic "Sorry about that, chief" also entered the American lexicon.
Smart's beautiful partner, Agent 99, played by Barbara Feldon, was as brainy as he was dense, and a plot romance led to marriage and the birth of twins later in the series.
Adams, who had been under contract to NBC, was lukewarm about doing a spy spoof. When he learned that Mel Brooks and Buck Henry had written the pilot script, he accepted immediately. "Get Smart" debuted on NBC in September 1965 and scored No. 12 among the season's most-watched series and No. 22 in its second season.
"Get Smart" twice won the Emmy for best comedy series with three Emmys for Adams as comedy actor.
He was born Donald James Yarmy in New York City on April 13, 1923, Tufeld said, although some sources say 1926 or '27. The actor's father was a Hungarian Jew who ran a few small restaurants in the Bronx.
In 1941, he dropped out of school to join the Marines. In Guadalcanal he survived the deadly blackwater fever and was returned to the States to become a drill instructor, acquiring the clipped delivery that served him well as a comedian.
After the war he worked in New York as a commercial artist by day, doing standup comedy in clubs at night, taking the surname of his first wife, Adelaide Adams. His following grew, and soon he was appearing on the Ed Sullivan and late-night TV shows. Bill Dana, who had helped him develop comedy routines, cast him as his sidekick on Dana's show. That led to the NBC contract and "Get Smart."
Adams, who married and divorced three times and had seven children, served as the voice for the popular cartoon series, "Inspector Gadget" as well as the voice of Tennessee Tuxedo. In 1980, he appeared as Maxwell Smart in a feature film, "The Nude Bomb," about a madman whose bomb destroyed people's clothing.
Don Adams
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