'Best of TBH Politoons'
M Is FOR MASHUP - Jan 30, 2008
DJ Hoax-True or False?
By DJ Useo
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
PAUL B. FARRELL: 'Supercapitalism,' 'Richistan' & mere millionaires (marketwatch.com)
Greed and the Faustian bargain made by millions of Americans.
PAUL KRUGMAN: Lessons of 1992 (nytimes.com)
Has everyone forgotten what happened after the 1992 election?
Jim Hightower: GRASSROOTS ECONOMIC REALITY (jimhightower.com)
Economists have this to say to those of you who see your family's economic fortunes on the decline: "Don't be so glum, chum!"
Beth Quinn: Yikes! The dog's eardo is a big doodad! (recordonline.com)
I'm thinking of starting a new word - fluxier.
John Anderson: Supporting actress nomination raises Amy Ryan's profile (Newsday; Posted on popmatters.com)
She chalks it up to coincidence, but whatever the cause, actress Amy Ryan is everywhere. As the drug-abusing mother in Ben Affleck's "Gone Baby Gone" or Ethan Hawke's vindictive ex in "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead" to what she admits is a very minor role in "Dan in Real Life," her presence is being felt, especially at that happy time of the year known in Hollywood as the awards season.
Ellen Gray: A patient Gabriel Bryne gets the `Treatment' from HBO (Philadelphia Daily News; Posted on popmatters.com)
It takes a special kind of person to sit, day after day, listening to other people's problems.
A story told in the blink of an eye (film.guardian.co.uk)
After a massive stroke left him with the use of just one eyelid, Jean-Dominique Bauby began to 'dictate' a book. It was an instant bestseller. As the film of his final years opens, Elizabeth Day meets the woman who helped him - and who became part of his extraordinary story.
Matthew Collings: 'Banksy's ideas have the value of a joke' (timesonline.co.uk)
The respect given to 'street art' is a measure of how puerile and idiotic contemporary art has become.
David Bruce: Wise Up! Husbands and Wives (athensnews.com)
Fred "Sonic" Smith taught his wife, punk poet Patti Smith, how to play the guitar at night while their children slept; unfortunately, Patti learned slowly. Fred and Patti did a lot of affectionate joking during the lessons. After playing a song badly, Patti would sometimes tell her husband, "I can't wait to tell people that my teacher is Fred 'Sonic' Smith," and he would reply, "Don't do that, Patricia."
David Bruce: "The Funniest People in Music, Volume 2: 250 Anecdotes" (lulu.com)
Early in the 20th century, the Belgian violinist Cesar Thomson played a concert at Oberlin College near Cleveland, Ohio. After the concert, the Oberlin accompanist, W.K. Breckenridge, accompanied him in a two-horse wagon to the train station. The wagon passed by a lonely scene-snow on the ground, a few trees, and a stream-and suddenly Mr. Thomson grabbed Mr. Breckenridge's arm and asked, seriously, "Are there any wolves?" Mr. Breckenridge assured him that there were not.
David Bruce: A Short Introduction to Dante's "Inferno" (lulu.com)
This book is a short introduction to Dante's "Inferno," the first volume of his great trilogy "The Divine Comedy." This book provides background information and an interpretation of the poem and is meant to be a guide for new readers of the "Inferno."
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Mostly sunny and cool.
The kid brought home a cold that's now taken up residence in my upper respiratory system.
Interim Deal With Writers
Grammy Awards
The Grammy Awards will be in full voice next month, with the striking writers guild agreeing Monday to allow its members to work on the show.
The Writers Guild of America gave its blessing last week to a picket-free Grammys. Now that the guild's board of directors has decided to sign an interim agreement for the Feb. 10 ceremony, the Grammys will escape the fate that befell this month's Golden Globes.
The agreement allowing guild-covered writing for the Grammys is in support of union musicians and also will help advance writers' own quest for "a fair contract," the guild said in a statement.
The writers guild has agreed to allow next month's NAACP Image Awards to proceed with guild support, a courtesy also granted to Sunday night's Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Grammy Awards
Booked On Letterman
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton will yuk it up on CBS' "Late Show With David Letterman," a day before the Feb. 5 Super Tuesday contests.
It will be the former first lady's ninth visit to the show. She first appeared in 1994 from the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, where she was interviewed by Letterman's mother.
Letterman's show has been a popular destination for the presidential hopefuls. Democrats Barack Obama and John Edwards have both appeared twice since entering the race - Obama as recently as last Thursday, where he read the nightly Top 10 list.
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Approve WGA Contract
CBS News Staffers
Unionized CBS News staffers who are members of the Writers Guild of America have overwhelmingly ratified a new contract with the network.
The contract - which received a 98 percent approval vote - covers 500 employees who work in New York, Los Angeles, Washington and Chicago, in both TV and radio. Positions covered by the contract range from desk assistant to producer, with average base salary between $20,000 and $70,000.
The preliminary deal struck between CBS and the Writers Guilds of America, East and West, will give the union staff raises of 3.5 percent annually plus a $3,700 contract bonus. The contract, effective immediately, runs through April 1, 2010.
The staffers had been working under an expired contract for nearly three years.
CBS News Staffers
No Apology For Snub
Beatles
More than 40 years after it barred the iconic British band from playing there, Israel said it wants the surviving members of the Beatles to participate in a concert celebrating the country's 60th birthday.
But the Israeli embassy in London denied a report that the Jewish state had apologized for its original refusal to let the Beatles perform in the country. The band had been booked to appear in 1965, but the government refused to grant the necessary permits on the ground that its music might corrupt the country's morals.
"Israel missed a chance to learn from the most influential musicians of the decade, and the Beatles missed an opportunity to reach out to one of the most passionate audiences in the world," Israeli ambassador Ron Prosor said in a letter addressed to Sir Paul McCartney. "On our 60th anniversary, we would like to take the opportunity to offer you a second chance to play in Israel."
Beatles
Frugal Librarian Amassed Art Trove
Jean Preston
From the outside it's an ordinary, red-brick house in a terraced row, not unlike tens of thousands of others scattered across Britain. But on the inside, Jean Preston's spartan Oxford home contained works of art of international significance, carefully acquired over a lifetime and haphazardly displayed.
Preston, a thrifty 77-year-old spinster who rode the bus and ate frozen meals, died in 2006. But art experts and auctioneers have now completed the sale of the exceptional works hoarded in her modest home.
Among the treasures were two paintings by Fra Angelico, the 15th century Italian Renaissance master, that were the missing pieces of an eight-part altar decoration.
Hanging in the kitchen was a 19th century watercolor by pre-Raphaelite artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and in the sitting room, above an electric fire, a work by Sir Edward Burne-Jones.
Jean Preston
Rehab After DGA Outburst
Sean Young
Sean Young has entered rehabilitation for alcohol abuse following a weekend outburst in which she was heckling from the audience at the Directors Guild of America awards.
The 48-year-old actress was escorted from the ballroom at the Hyatt Regency in Century City Saturday night after sparring with Julian Schnabel, who was nominated for "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly."
At the DGAs, all of the film nominees get a chance to say a few words before the top prize is announced. Schnabel, in his trademark yellow-tinted glasses, was a bit slow to start, looking down at the podium and running his hands through his wild, curly hair.
That's when Young could be heard throughout the room urging him to get on with it. Apparently rattled, Schnabel scanned the room and asked who said that, then spotted Young and suggested that she "have another cocktail."
Then he suggested that she should finish his speech for him and started walking off the stage. Music began playing for his exit, but the audience urged him to stay and keep speaking, and he did. Young, meanwhile, was removed from the ballroom.
Sean Young
Hospital News
Mike Wallace
Mike Wallace was recovering from triple heart bypass surgery that was performed last week, CBS News said Tuesday.
Wallace, who turns 90 this spring, is already walking following the surgery Friday to bypass blockages near his heart. Doctors are calling the operation "a great success," the network said.
Recovery from heart bypass surgery generally runs about six weeks.
Mike Wallace
NBC Looks For 'Law & Order'
Dick Wolf
NBC Universal has taken Dick Wolf, the executive producer of its "Law & Order" series of dramas, to court in a dispute over how much he is being paid.
The lawsuit, filed late last week in Los Angeles Superior Court, asks the court to clarify a contract signed by the network and its top producer of scripted shows. Besides the original "Law & Order" series, Wolf has made "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" and "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" for NBC.
Wolf has argued that the contract essentially guarantees him a kill fee, or money for producing 48 extra episodes of "Law & Order" even after NBC has determined it doesn't want the show anymore. NBC says in the court papers that it has made no such promise.
"NBC Universal is trying to rewrite an existing contract," Pam Ruben Golum, a spokeswoman for Wolf, said Monday.
Dick Wolf
L.A. Coroner Probes Death
Christian Brando
The Los Angeles County coroner has opened an investigation into the death of Hollywood legend Marlon Brando's eldest son, acting at the request of family members, a spokesman for the medical examiner said on Tuesday.
Medical examiners took custody of Christian Brando's body on Monday and performed an autopsy on Tuesday, but a finding on the cause of death will await toxicology tests that take six to eight weeks to complete, said Ed Winter, assistant chief of the coroner's office.
Winter said relatives were "concerned about his prior history, both medical and drug history, but I'm not going to go any further into it until we have a chance to look at it and do our investigation."
Christian Brando
Multi-Season Renewal
'Survivor'
CBS has renewed "Survivor," ordering 17th and 18th installments of the long-running reality series.
Additionally, Jeff Probst has signed a new deal to continue as host.
The most recent installment, "Survivor: China," averaged 15.2 million viewers and a 5.1 rating/14 share among adults 18-49. While the franchise has been trekking downward in the ratings since its early heyday, it still dominates its time period, anchoring CBS' Thursday lineup.
'Survivor'
Drops Restraining Order
Garrison Keillor
Garrison Keillor, host of public radio's "A Prairie Home Companion," has dropped a restraining order he had obtained against a fan after she agreed not to contact him again.
Keillor had accused Andrea Campbell, 43, of Hawkinsville, Ga., of stalking him by making unwanted visits and sending him bizarre gifts, including a petrified alligator's foot, dead beetles and poems.
A hearing on Campbell's appeal of the restraining order was canceled. It had been set for Monday.
Garrison Keillor
New Multi-Year Contract
'Judge Judy'
Court show queen Judge Judy Sheindlin has inked a new multiyear deal with CBS Television Distribution to continue with her strip, "Judge Judy," and the CBS Television Stations group has renewed the top-rated court show for another two seasons, taking it through 2012.
The "Judge Judy" renewal was among a flurry of NATPE-related announcements made Monday, a day before the National Association of Television Program Executives' annual Conference & Exhibition officially kicks off at the Mandalay Bay Resort here.
"Judge Judy" first went on the air in 1996.
'Judge Judy'
Plans Retirement
Bob Schieffer
Veteran CBS Washington handjob Bob Schieffer (R-Connected), who has anchored "Face the Nation" since 1991, said Tuesday he plans to step down from the Sunday morning political talk show with the inauguration of a new president.
The start of a new administration next January provides a natural transition, he said.
Schieffer said he hoped to keep an office at CBS and contribute occasionally, the way Tom Brokaw has at NBC News with documentaries and some primary night commentary.
Bob Schieffer
Upping The Fear Factor
Spy Satellite
The U.S. military is developing contingency plans to deal with the possibility that a large spy satellite expected to fall to Earth in late February or early March could hit North America.
Air Force Gen. Gene Renuart, who heads of U.S. Northern Command, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the size of the satellite suggests that some number of pieces will not burn up as it re-enters the Earth's atmosphere and will hit the ground.
Military agencies, he said, are doing an analysis to determine which pieces would most likely survive re-entry. But he cautioned that officials won't have much detail on where or when it will crash until it begins to move through the atmosphere and break up.
Spy Satellite
Station Fire
91.7 FM KOOP
A volunteer at a community radio station set fire to the station because he was upset that his song selections for an overnight Internet broadcast were changed, police said.
Paul Webster Feinstein, 24, has been charged with second-degree felony arson for the Jan. 5 fire that caused $300,000 damage to the studios of 91.7 FM KOOP. He faces from two to 20 years in prison and a $10,000 fine if convicted.
Feinstein, who had volunteered at the station for about a year, quit a week before the fire, saying he was going to do other things, station president Andrew Dickens said.
The fire was the third the station has dealt with in the past two years. The first was ruled accidental. The second was caused by a malfunction in a heating and air-conditioning unit of a nearby business and forced the station to move.
91.7 FM KOOP
Need Midwest Adoptions
Donkeys
Instead of finding homes for abandoned dogs or cats, one animal rescue group is asking Minnesotans to adopt donkeys. Peaceful Valley Donkey Rescue has more than 1,000 donkeys, including abused and neglected domestic donkeys and wild burros.
Most of the organization's adopted donkeys are kept at sanctuaries in western states such as California. But Peaceful Valley would like to find Midwest landowners willing to serve as satellite adoption centers, meaning they would agree to foster six donkeys at a time and find adoptive homes for them, said Vice President Rachael Komulainen, a Bemidji native.
The landowners provide fencing, shelter and care for the animals and are reimbursed for hay, vaccinations and other costs.
Donkeys are gentle, intelligent, social animals and don't deserve their reputation for stubbornness, she said.
Donkeys
Heralds Valentine's Day
Chocolate Room
An all-chocolate room was unveiled in Manhattan on Tuesday - a pre-Valentine's Day creation complete with furniture and artwork made of the sweet stuff.
"It's the perfect bit of sin," said Ali Larter, star of TV's "Heroes," of the Godiva chocolate "pearls" that are her private daily indulgence.
Larter is the celebrity face hired by the Belgian chocolatier for its annual Valentine's Day promotion contest. This year, anyone who buys the winning box of chocolates - for $23 and up - may win the chocolate room. It is to be re-created in a suite of Manhattan's Bryant Park Hotel for a pampered getaway weekend for two in May.
The winning box - sold only in North America - will contain a note informing the buyer of his or her good luck.
Chocolate Room
In Memory
Margaret Truman Daniel
Margaret Truman Daniel, the only child of former president and famously proud father Harry Truman who became a author of popular murder mysteries, died on Tuesday at age 83, the Truman Library said.
Margaret Truman did not let being the president's daughter keep her from pursuing first a singing career and then one as a mystery writer that took off after her father's death in 1972.
Margaret Truman was born February 17, 1924, in Independence, Missouri, and moved to Washington a decade later when her father was elected to the Senate.
In 1956, she married Clifton Daniel, who in the 1960s would become managing editor of The New York Times. He died in 2000, the same year their son William was killed in a New York traffic accident -- dealing her a double blow, Devine said.
She was an avid supporter of presidential libraries, including her father's, in partnership with other children of former presidents.
She is survived by three sons and five grandchildren.
Margaret Truman Daniel
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