PAUL CONSTANT: Celebrating Christmas, Texas-style (thestranger.com)
It's become a Christmas tradition ("Christmas tradition," of course, is just a venerable name we use to describe "clichés that get regurgitated every December") to complain about the commercialization of Christmas.
Rahul Parikh: Doc Hollywood (slate.com)
If celebrities insist on using their fame to bring awareness to health problems, they should follow these guidelines.
"Juliet, Naked" by Nick Hornby: A review by Mark Lindquist
Back in the mid-1990s I was a big fan of Nick Hornby's 'High Fidelity,' a novel about a young man's devotion to music. My girlfriend questioned my enthusiasm for this book, which she considered "middlebrow" at best, and our disagreement over the quality of the writing resulted in a drawn-out argument.
zEN mAN (observing the latest lewd dirty laundry for Tiger "in the hole" Woods....an alleged mistress, Porn Star Holly Sampson is working on a new movie.....this all gives a new meaning to "getting Wood"!)
Charlie was first, and correct, with:
I think it is one, Maine, but I could be missing something.
Baron Dave ("Why did you resign?" |
"To drink beer." -- The Prisoner (2009)) wrote:
I'm going to have to go with one (Maine), unless you're really drunk when you try to say "Texas".
mj responded:
It's early
And my mental map is still blurry and pulsing, but I'm pretty sure only Maine is the monosyllabic sobriquet of our amalgam of political subdivisions.
Alan J answered:
1, Maine
~ Tony In Philly said:
1 - Maine
Jim from CA, retired to ID, responded:
One.....Maine
John in HI replied:
One, Maine.
Tom C answered:
One - Maine
Sally said:
My son and his gf will be here tomorrow night, so I am racing around like the proverbial chicken with it's head cut off (and afraid JoeS will then cook me, hahaha). But, as far as I can tell by going over the States in my head, Maine is the only one-syllable state name.
And, MAM wrote:
Only 1 state has a one syllable name - Maine.
Maine Quarter
Pemaquid Point Light and Windjammer
"Precious" is about a poor fat black 15 year old girl (Gabby Sidibe) who gets beaten and berated on a daily basis by her mother (Mo'Nique). She is pregnant (for a 2nd time) after being raped by her mother's boyfriend and she is ridiculed regularly at school and on the way to and from. Can anyone have a worse life? Can this girl really want to keep living, not become a drug addict and ever make in her wicked and woeful world?
She can barely Write!
Precious is not doing well in school. She is having to steal food (greasy fried chicken), has morning sickness and gets made fun of in class. She gets expelled and put in an "alternative school" run by Ms. Rain (Paula Patton). Ms. Rain tells Precious that no matter how bad things get, she must keep trying to write ….don't give up…just write it down. This proves to be the catalyst for her salvation.
Evil Mom!
Mary, Precious's mom, sits around watching TV all day waiting for the next welfare check….She is a chain smoking, abusive mean piece of shit…she blames Precious for everything …including stealing her boyfriend by getting raped by him…..I could not recognize Mo'Nique ("Soul Plane" (2004) - "Phat Girlz" (2006) in this role….knappy, grungy and gross looking….this is one ugly bitch…I expect that Mo'Nique will win an Oscar for this impressive piece of work. In a scene straight from hell, Mary goes on a rampage against Precious…beating her, hitting her in the head with a cast iron frying pan and pushing her down a flight of stairs…finally Precious fights back…she pushes her mom away, smashes her TV set ….and leaves…forever.
The Male Nurse!
In the midst of all the turmoil, Precious goes into labor. Ms. Rain and all the alternative school classmates come to the hospital to be with Precious. There is a male nurse assigned to assist Precious, named John (Lenny Kravitz). He was really kind and attentive and made all the classmates swoon and get a little jealous…I didn't recognize him at first but it was Lenny Kravitz (Rock Star - "I want to Fly"). He was incredibly capable in a supporting role and ended up helping Precious with her delivery.
Welfare Worker!
Well, poor Precious does see her mother one more time…down at the Welfare Department. She needs Precious to vouch for her so she can keep getting her checks. The Caseworker, Mrs Weiss (Mariah Carey - "Glitter") is a very plain looking female who forces Mary to admit to the horrific treatment of her daughter…this scene was truly heartbreaking…the performances by Gabby, Mariah and Mo'Nique were brilliant…everyone in the theater was sobbing…they were crying on screen…I still tear up!
Happy Ending?
How can such a bleak human tragedy have any kind of hope? No matter how awful anyone's life situation is, it could in no way ever be worse than this unfortunate child's. I couldn't comprehend how there could be any salvation in this story…..Suffice it to say…without a flashing spoiler alert, You will leave the theater a changed person!
Purple Gene gives "Precious" 10 truly tearful and terrific tada's out of 10 for a beautiful new rendition of "Beauty and the Beast"!
CBS begins the night with a FRESH'NCIS', followed by a FRESH'NCIS: The 2nd One', then a FRESH'The Good Wife'.
Scheduled on a FRESHDave are Sarah Jessica Parker and Leona Lewis.
Scheduled on a FRESHCraig are Craig's 1000th Show with host Wavy the puppet, Kristen Bell, Maria Bello, Jason Schwartzman, Jason Segel & his puppet Dracula, and the Broken West.
NBC starts the night with a FRESH'The Sing-Off', followed by a FRESH'Leno' (Christina Applegate and Nick Lachey).
Scheduled on a FRESHConan is Norah Jones.
Scheduled on a FRESHJimmy Fallon are Jason Reitman and Anne Burrell.
Scheduled on a FRESHCarson 'The Scab' Daly are Dita Von Teese, Tanith Belbin & Ben Agosto, and Ben Gleib.
ABC opens the night with the chestnut 'A Charlie Brown Christmas'< followed by a FRESH'Scrubs', then a FRESH'Better Off Ted', followed by a RERUN'the forgotten'.
Scheduled on a FRESHJimmy Kimmel are Zach Braff, Nigel Lythgoe, and Michael McDonald.
The CW offers a RERUN'The Vampire Diaries', followed by another RERUN'The Vampire Diaries'.
Faux has a FRESH'So You Think You Can Dance', followed by the FRESH'Gordon Ramsey's Cookalong Live'.
MY recycles an old 'Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?', another old "Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?', an old 'Deal Or No Deal', and another old 'Deal Or No Deal'.
A&E has 'Criminal Minds', another 'Criminal Minds', followed by the FRESH"Psychic Kids: Children Of The Paranormal', then a FRESH'Paranormal State'.
AMC offers the movie 'Ocean's Twelve', followed by the movie 'The Green Mile'.
BBC -
[12:00 PM] Cash in the Attic - Episode 5
[1:00 PM] Cash in the Attic - Episode 8
[2:00 PM] Antiques Roadshow - Episode 15
[3:00 PM] Antiques Roadshow - Episode 3
[4:00 PM] Antiques Roadshow - Episode 16
[5:00 PM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares - Ep 8 Peter's
[6:00 PM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares Revisited - Ep 3 Moore Place
[7:00 PM] BBC World News America
[8:00 PM] My Secret Female Body
[9:00 PM] Britain's Missing Top Model - Episode 3
[10:00 PM] BBC World News America - Episode 12
[11:00 PM] My Secret Female Body
[12:00 AM] Britain's Missing Top Model - Episode 3
[1:00 AM] My Secret Female Body
[2:00 AM] Britain's Missing Top Model - Episode 3
[3:00 AM] Friday Night with Jonathan Ross - Ep 8 Michael Sheen, Lionel Richie, Vin Diesel, Sparks
[4:00 AM] How Clean Is Your House? US - Episode 12
[4:30 AM] How Clean Is Your House? - Episode 3
[5:00 AM] BBC World News
[6:00 AM] BBC World News (ALL TIMES EST)
Bravo has 'Tabatha's Salon Takeover', another 'Tabatha's Salon Takeover', still another 'Tabatha's Salon Takeover', followed by a FRESH'Tabatha's Salon Takeover'.
Comedy Central has last night's 'Jon Stewart', last night's 'Colbert Report', 'Scrubs', another 'Scrubs', 'South Park', another 'South Park', still another 'South Park', and yet another 'South Park'.
Scheduled on a FRESHJon Stewart is Ray LaHood.
Scheduled on a FRESHColbert Report is Alicia Keys.
FX has the movie 'The Devil Wears Prada', followed by the movie 'Night At The Museum', then the movie 'Just Married'.
History has 'How The Earth Was Made', another 'How The Earth Was Made', followed by a FRESH'How The Earth Was Made', and another 'How The Earth Was Made'.
IFC -
[6:45 AM] The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai
[8:30 AM] Close to Home
[10:15 AM] Renaissance
[12:05 PM] The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai
[1:50 PM] Close to Home
[3:35 PM] Renaissance
[5:30 PM] The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai
[7:15 PM] Crimes and Misdemeanors
[9:00 PM] Arrested Development
[9:30 PM] Arrested Development
[10:00 PM] The Jon Dore Television Show
[10:30 PM] Modern Toss
[11:00 PM] Dinner With the Band
[11:30 PM] Basilisk
[12:00 AM] Alien Visitor
[1:35 AM] Arrested Development
[2:00 AM] Arrested Development
[2:30 AM] The Jon Dore Television Show
[3:00 AM] Modern Toss
[3:30 AM] Dinner With the Band
[4:00 AM] Basilisk
[4:30 AM] Alien Visitor (ALL TIMES EST)
Sundance -
[04:30 AM] Ten Canoes
[06:10 AM] Caramel
[07:50 AM] songbird
[08:00 AM] Confessions Of A Superhero
[09:35 AM] The Home Song Stories
[11:15 AM] Caramel
[01:00 PM] Zebraman
[03:00 PM] The Home Song Stories
[04:45 PM] The Yacoubian Building
[07:30 PM] Man Shops Globe: Man Shops Globe - 103
[08:00 PM] E2: Design I - 106
[08:30 PM] Carbon Cops: Episode 6
[09:00 PM] How To Cook Your Life
[10:35 PM] Drama/mex
[12:15 AM] Fido
[01:50 AM] songbird
[02:00 AM] E2: Design I - 106
[02:30 AM] Carbon Cops: Episode 6
[03:00 AM] How To Cook Your Life
[04:35 AM] Drama/mex (ALL TIMES EST)
SyFy has the movie 'Casino Royale', 'Scare Tactics', another 'Scare Tactics', still another 'Scare Tactics', yet another 'Scare Tactics', and 'ECW'.
TBS:
Scheduled on a FRESHLopez Tonight are Constance Marie, Belita Moreno, Valente Rodriguez, Luis Armand Garcia, Masiela Lusha, and Aimee Garcia.
A Bonham's employee displays a document relating to US performer Jimi Hendrix's arrest in Sweden in 1968, at the auction house in London, Monday, Dec. 14, 2009. The document signed by Hendrix for his arrest in wrecking his hotel room, is to be auctioned in a 'Entertainment Memorabilia' sale on Dec. 16 with an estimated price of 4,000 to 5,000 pounds ($6,499 to 8,123 or euro4,437 to 5,546).
Photo by Sang Tan
Stephen Colbert (kohl-BEHR') has joined the legions of athletes and swimsuit models to grace the cover of Sports Illustrated.
The host of Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report" appears on the front of the magazine's latest issue wearing an Olympic speedskating uniform. The issue is devoted to sports media. It's on newsstands Wednesday.
In November, devoted Colbert fans known as the Colbert Nation became the official primary sponsor of U.S. Speedskating. The team's largest annual cash sponsor, DSB Bank NV, left the team in the lurch after it declared bankruptcy in October.
With contributions from fans, more than $250,000 has been raised.
New computer modeling suggests the Arctic Ocean may be nearly ice-free in the summertime as early as 2014, Al Gore said Monday at the U.N. climate conference. This new projection, following several years of dramatic retreat by polar sea ice, suggests that the ice cap may nearly vanish in the summer much sooner than the year 2030, as was forecast by a U.S. government agency eight months ago.
One U.S. government scientist Monday questioned the new prediction as too severe, but other researchers previously have projected a quicker end than 2030 to the Arctic summer ice cap.
"It is hard to capture the astonishment that the experts in the science of ice felt when they saw this," said former U.S. Vice President Gore, who joined Scandinavian officials and scientists to brief journalists and delegates. It was Gore's first appearance at the two-week conference.
The group presented two new reports updating fast-moving developments in Antarctica, the autonomous Danish territory of Greenland, and the rest of the Arctic.
Cable channel Syfy is expanding its commitments to "Stargate Universe" and "Sanctuary," granting both series another season.
"Universe" recently aired its freshman midseason finale. The show's hiatus will extend until April, and Season 2 will debut in the fall along with a third season of "Sanctuary."
The Friday-night shows have started production on their next seasons in Vancouver and have received 20-episode orders. "Sanctuary" has averaged 2.2 million viewers in the fall when seven-day DVR data are included. "Universe" has averaged 2.6 million.
Actors Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen attend the premiere of 'Did You Hear About The Morgans' at the Ziegfeld Theater on Monday, Dec. 14, 2009 in New York.
Photo by Evan Agostini
French rock legend Johnny Hallyday awoke from an induced coma and was talking to family and friends, his spokesman said.
The veteran rocker was placed in a coma over the weekend to help his recovery from emergency back operations.
Doctors put him in a drug-induced coma on Friday to help him recover more peacefully from two surgeries to deal with an infection, allegedly stemming from an earlier Paris operation to repair a slipped disc.
Over the weekend Hallyday's son David said his father's life was "out of danger."
The only daughter of Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love has been placed in a temporary guardianship, court records show.
A Los Angeles Superior Court commissioner granted control over 17-year-old Frances Bean Cobain to Kurt Cobain's mother Wendy O'Connor and his sister Kimberly Dawn Cobain.
The court filing does not mention Love or give a reason for the guardianship.
A three-page order issued Friday was all that is publicly available on the guardianship.
A Bonham's employee displays the original album cover artwork by Ray Lowry for 'London Calling' by British group The Clash, at the auction house in London, Monday, Dec. 14, 2009. The artwork is to be auctioned in a 'Entertainment Memorabilia' sale on Dec. 16 with an estimated price of 50,000 to 70,000 pounds ($81,235 to 113,729 or euro55,459 to 77,643).
Photo by Sang Tan
Computer technicians have found 22 million missing White House e-mails from the administration of President George W. Bush and the Obama administration is searching for dozens more days' worth of potentially lost e-mail from the Bush years, according to two groups that filed suit over the failure by the Bush White House to install an electronic record keeping system.
The two private groups - Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington and the National Security Archive - said Monday they were settling the lawsuits they filed against the Executive Office of the President in 2007.
It will be years before the public sees any of the recovered e-mails because they will now go through the National Archives' process for releasing presidential and agency records. Presidential records of the Bush administration won't be available until 2014 at the earliest.
Records released as a result of the lawsuits reveal that the Bush White House was aware during the president's first term in office that the e-mail system had serious archiving problems, which didn't become publicly known until 2006, when federal prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald disclosed them during his criminal investigation of the outing of CIA operative Valerie Plame.
A nativity scene featuring a dark-skinned Jesus, Mary and Joseph that has gone on display in a Verona courthouse has created heated debate in a city with strong links to Italy's anti-immigration Northern League party.
The nativity's appearance coincides with the League's controversial operation "White Christmas," a two-month sweep ending on Christmas Day to ferret out foreigners without proper permits in Coccaglio, a small League-led town east of Milan.
The Christmas scene -- featuring a dark-skinned baby Jesus dressed in a red shirt and lying in a manger -- was the idea of Mario Giulio Schinaia, the chief Public Prosecutor in Verona.
The Northern League, an ally of conservative Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi with key cabinet posts including the interior ministry, has used its growing political clout to secure tough new laws including making illegal immigration a crime.
A 6-day-old sheep relaxes with its mother 'Mana' at the Saitama Children's Zoo in Higashi-Matsuyama, near Tokyo, Japan, Sunday, Dec. 13, 2009.
Photo by Itsuo Inouye
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.
wrote:
