'TBH Politoons'
Thanks, again, Tim!
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
from Mark
Another Bumpersticker
Reader Suggestion
'Blow-Up'
February 17th, another classic is coming to DVD -
Blow-Up (1966).
Directed by Michelangelo Antonioni, it stars
Vanessa Redgrave as Jane,
Sarah Miles as Patricia, and
David Hemmings as Thomas.
Thanks, SusanNY!
The Wall Street Poet
© 2004
**********
For more political verse:
http://www.beltwaybard.com
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Beautiful, sunny, breezy, but dry.
Around 7:30am this morning, KNBC went to a station logo slide. They sat on that slide til around 8:07am. 2nd largest TV market in the nation & they sat on a slide. No Katie. No Matt.
No Al Roker. Just a slide. In TVlandia, this is the most egregious of all on-air-sins.
Guess gutting technical operations, installing buggy automation, and turning what used to be professions into McJobs does have a price.
There was no explanation - they probably figure if they don't mention it we'll all question our lying eyes.
Yeah, consolidation is good! Black is white. War is peace. Do not close cover before striking.
During the end break of 'Will & Grace', NBC had a promo for the Daytona 500 this weekend. The voice-over stated "(p)Resident Bush might be there!" - with a 'punch' on 'might.'
Well, hell. The WH announced last week that chimpy would be there, trying for the 'NASCAR dad' vote.
Talked to dear old Dad tonight. He was mortified at chimpy's work on Timmy Russert's show.
Chimpy's performance was also noted by the Alaskan Grandmother tonight, too. She said it convinced her to not vote for chimpy again. Finally, something we can agree on!
Tonight, Wednesday, CBS begins the evening with '60 Minutes II', followed by a FRESH 'King Of Queens', then another
FRESH 'King Of Queens' (guest-starring Janeane Garofalo), followed by '48 Hours'.
Scheduled on a FRESH Dave are Adam Sandler and Eve.
Scheduled on a FRESH Craiggers are Bryan Cranston, Jolene Blalock, and Ben Bailey.
NBC starts the night with a RERUN of last week's 'Trump Atrocity', followed by a FRESH 'West Wing' (starts 1 minute before the top of the hour),
then a FRESH 'Law & Order' (starts 1 minute before the top of the hour).
Scheduled on a FRESH Jay are Meg Ryan and Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue cover model.
Scheduled on a FRESH Conan are Michael J. Fox, Ken Capling, and Nickelback.
Scheduled on a FRESH Carson Daly are Kelsey Grammer, John Larroquette, and Default.
ABC opens the night with a FRESH 'My Wife & Kids', followed by a FRESH 'It's All Relative', then a
FRESH 'Bachelorette', followed by a FRESH 'Celebrity Mole: Yucatan'.
Scheduled on a FRESH Jimmy Kimmel are Sandra Bernhard and Joe Walsh, with this week's guest co-host Warren Sapp.
The WB offers a FRESH 'Smallville', followed by a FRESH 'Angel'.
Faux has a FRESH 'That 70s Show', followed by a FRESH 'American Idol', then a FRESH
'The O.C.'.
UPN has a FRESH 'Enterprise', followed by a RERUN of last night's 'America's Top Model'.
A&E has 'American Justice', 'Biography' (Sharon Tate), 'American Justice', and 'Journey - LOTR'.
AMC offers the movie 'Amityville II: The Possession', followed by the movie 'Joe Kidd', then the movie 'Gunfight At The O.K. Corral'.
BBC -
[6pm] 'BBC World News';
[6:30pm] 'Cash in the Attic' - Sharples;
[7pm] 'House Invaders' - Kidderminster;
[7:30pm] 'Changing Rooms' - Stourbridge;
[8pm] 'The Life Laundry' - Chester;
[8:30pm] 'House Doctor' - Episode 5;
[9pm] 'My Hero' - Pregnant;
[9:40pm] 'Keeping Up Appearances' - Episode 5;
[10:20pm] 'Keeping Up Appearances' - Episode 6;
[11pm] 'The Life Laundry' - Chester;
[11:30pm] 'House Doctor' - Episode 5;
[12am] 'My Hero' - Pregnant;
[12:40am] 'Keeping Up Appearances' - Episode 5;
[1:20am] 'Keeping Up Appearances' - Episode 6;
[2am] 'House Invaders' - Kidderminster;
[2:30am] 'Changing Rooms' - Stourbridge;
[3am] 'My Hero' - Pregnant;
[3:40am] 'Keeping Up Appearances' - Episode 5;
[4:20am] 'Keeping Up Appearances' - Episode 6;
[5am] 'The Life Laundry' - Chester;
[5:30am] 'House Doctor' - Episode 5; and
[6am] 'BBC World News'. (ALL TIMES EST)
Bravo has 'The West Wing', followed by the movie 'The Dead Zone', then 'Queer Eye'.
Comedy Central has 'Trigger Happy TV', 'Insomniac', 'South Park', another 'South Park', and
then 'Chappelle's Show'.
Scheduled on a FRESH Jon Stewart is Paul Rudd.
History has 'Modern Marvels', 'Earth Movers', another 'Earth Movers', and 'Modern Marvels'.
SciFi has the movie 'The Stigmata', followed by the movie 'The Ninth Gate'.
TCM - Day 11 of '31 Days of Oscar™', where every movie is either an Oscar™ winner or nominee.
[6am] 'Somebody Up There Likes Me' (1956);
[8am] 'The Adventures of Mark Twain' (1944);
[10:30am] 'Pride And Prejudice' (1940);
[12:30pm] 'Picnic' (1955);
[2:30pm] 'The Great Ziegfeld' (1936);
[5:30pm] 'Cimarron' (1960);
[8pm] 'The Shootist' (1976);
[10pm] 'The Greatest Story Ever Told' (1965);
[1:30am] 'Beaches' (1988);
[3:45am] 'The Wonderful World Of The Brothers Grimm' (1962). (ALL TIMES EST)
British actor Christopher Lee speaks at the gala 'Cinema for Peace' in Berlin on Monday evening, Feb. 9, 2004. The gala within the 54th Berlinale international film festival in the German capital was held to raise funds for UNICEF and AIDS research programs.
Photo by Jens Kalaene
The Information One-Stop
Moose & Squirrel
History Channel Documentary Under Probe
'The Men Who Killed Kennedy'
The History Channel has assembled a panel of historians to "examine the credibility" of suggestions made in a recent documentary that Lyndon B. Johnson was involved in the assassination of President Kennedy.
An episode of "The Men Who Killed Kennedy" series that ran on the History Channel last year examined the theory that Johnson had a role in the assassination plot.
The channel said Monday that Johnson biographer Robert Dallek, University of Wisconsin professor Stanley Kutler and University of Pennsylvania professor Thomas Sugrue will study the claims and appear in a History Channel special this year to discuss their conclusions.
'The Men Who Killed Kennedy'
The History Channel is so concerned they're running the series again this Saturday...
Won't Deter Political Remarks
Oscar Tape Delay #1
The producer and director of the upcoming Oscar telecast said the ABC's 5-second delay will be used to shield viewers from any unlikely profanity or nudity — but will not interfere with any political statements winners may make.
The safeguard measure for the Academy Awards is the latest fallout from the uproar over Janet Jackson's breast-baring Super Bowl performance, which has provoked an investigation by the Federal Communications Commission.
"At the nominees luncheon yesterday, I spoke with the nominees and just said that, when they come up, they're all under this microscope, unfortunately, because of these events a couple weeks ago," Oscar telecast producer Joe Roth told reporters Tuesday.
Asked if the delay could be used to block political statements — like documentary filmmaker Michael Moore's scathing criticism last year of resident Bush, which drew both cheers and boos from the theater audience — Roth responded: "No, it applies to the use of profanity."
Oscar Tape Delay #1
Angers Academy
Oscar Tape Delay #2
Five seconds might not amount to a lot of time considering that ABC's Academy Awards broadcast is expected to run 3-1/2 hours on Feb. 29.
But the network's insistence on using a five-second tape delay has angered Frank Pierson, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. In a letter to the Academy's membership, he warned that a delay, which has not been used before on an Oscar show, could be the first step on a slippery slope that "introduces a form of censorship."
Although the Academy's board of governors refused last week to endorse ABC's request to use a tape delay, the Academy admits that the decision ultimately rests in ABC's hands. And, in the wake of the fallout that followed Janet Jackson's breast-baring on CBS' broadcast of the Super Bowl, ABC intends to use a tape delay for the Oscar show.
So while the Academy will bill the show as live -- which carries promotional value since it promises suspense and unexpected developments -- ABC will ensure that it is live but for a five-second delay.
Oscar Tape Delay #2
Former Sports Illustrated swimsuit models Cheryl Tiegs, left, and Christie Brinkley at an event to promote the magazine's 2004 swimsuit issues Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2004.
Photo by Mike Appleton
American Society of Cinematographers
'Seabiscuit'
"Seabiscuit," the movie about the Depression era race horse with the reputation for come-from-behind victories, surprised Hollywood late on Sunday by winning the top award from the American Society of Cinematographers.
"Seabiscuit" cinematographer John Schwartzman took the prize for the year's best camera work over rivals that included the "Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" and "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World" for which it will compete for the year's top U.S. film prize, the Oscar, later this month.
The award for Schwartzman splits this weekend's top two film awards heading toward the Feb. 29 Oscars. On Saturday, director Peter Jackson of "The Lord of the Rings" took home the award for best directing from the Directors Guild of America.
"Oh my god," said a surprised Schwartzman on accepting the award. He called the race horse movie, "the ride of a lifetime."
'Seabiscuit'
Now Skeptical About Bush
O'Really
Conservative television news anchor Bill O'Reilly said on Tuesday he was now skeptical about the Bush administration and apologized to viewers for supporting prewar claims that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.
The anchor of his own show on Fox News said he was sorry he gave the U.S. government the benefit of the doubt that former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's weapons program poised an imminent threat, the main reason cited for going to war.
"I was wrong. I am not pleased about it at all and I think all Americans should be concerned about this," O'Reilly said in an interview with ABC's "Good Morning America."
O'Reilly said he was "much more skeptical about the Bush administration now" since former weapons inspector David Kay said he did not think Saddam had any weapons of mass destruction.
O'Really
Heir Is One of 'Rings' Biggest Fans
Royd Tolkien
If there is one happy hobbit in the real world shire, it is Royd Tolkien, great grandson of J.R.R. Tolkien, whose books are the basis for the smash hit "Lord of the Rings" movies.
Tolkien, who lives in north Wales, freely admits that when he first heard a Hollywood movie studio wanted to adapt great granddad's fantasy books onto film he was worried.
But with the final installment "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" racking up more than $940 million in global ticket sales and leading the pack in the race for Oscars -- the U.S. film industry's top honor -- Royd is breathing a huge sigh of relief.
"When they were first being made, I thought, 'Oh god, a Hollywood film. There will be too much crammed into one movie, so many things will be left out," Tolkien said in a recent telephone interview.
"But since seeing the films, I've had a complete reversal. It's been like a breath of fresh air, and I've watched them seven times," he added.
For the rest, Royd Tolkien
In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends
Replacing Harvey Fierstein in 'Hairspray'
Michael McKean
Michael McKean will be Broadway's new Edna Turnblad in "Hairspray."
McKean joins the cast of the hit musical on May 4, replacing Harvey Fierstein as the full-figured Edna.
The 56-year-old actor, who won a Grammy Sunday for co-writing the title song from the film "A Mighty Wind," also is up for an Oscar later this month. He's nominated for best original song, written with his wife Annette O'Toole, for another tune from "A Mighty Wind," titled "A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow."
McKean is best known for playing the role of Leonard "Lenny" Kosnowski on television's "Laverne and Shirley." He also was a regular on "Saturday Night Live," and his films include "This is Spinal Tap" and "Best in Show."
Michael McKean
A combination photograph shows a historic image taken in 1928 (top) of the Upsala Glacier in Patagonia, Argentina contrasted with a 2004 photograph (bottom) of the same view of the Upsala Glacier. The pictures illustrate the extent to which climate change has caused the ice to melt away this century. In both (1928 and 2004) the composition is made from three separate viewpoints to form a panoramic image.
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MGM Recalls Erroneous DVDs
Ingmar Bergman
MGM has recalled its special DVD editions of Ingmar Bergman's "Hour of the Wolf" and "Shame," which had been set for release Tuesday, because of incorrect aspect ratios.
MGM will release both films on April 20 in a 1.37:1 aspect ratio (i.e. 1.33 times as wide as it is tall), the standard formula for most classic movies.
The recalled discs were cropped into 1.66:1, a relatively rare ratio.
Ingmar Bergman DVDs
Canned By Clear Channel
Rick Dees
Disc jockey Rick Dees said Tuesday his 22-year run as the host of a popular morning radio program had ended.
"It has been decided that I will no longer be doing the daily morning radio show on KIIS-FM," Dees said on air during his last broadcast. "To my morning team and the entire KIIS staff over the years, I owe an enormous debt of gratitude."
Dees didn't elaborate on why he was leaving the show he had hosted since 1982.
Clear Channel Communications, which owns the station, referred inquiries to Dees' own statement.
"American Idol" host Ryan Seacrest was reportedly being wooed to replace Dees at KIIS.
Rick Dees
Rick Dees Web
KIIS-FM
Formerly 'The Vidiot'
Suit Withdrawn
Janet J
A Tennessee woman has withdrawn a suit against singer Janet Jackson and others involved in her breast-baring Super Bowl show until she sees if broadcasters and regulators are able to clean up television themselves, court papers showed on Tuesday.
The suit filed last week in Knoxville, Tennessee, by Terri Carlin, had sought class action status and damages for millions of viewers who might have been exposed to what she said was lewd and inappropriate conduct by Jackson and others at the halftime event.
The withdrawal notice filed in federal court on Monday said Carlin retains the right to refile the suit if self-policing by broadcasters and fines by regulators do not accomplish what she was after.
The notice said Carlin's law firm, Ritchie, Fels and Dillard, which was handling the case for free, was flooded with calls and mail from parents in nearly every state.
Janet J
Oliver Widmaier Picasso, grandson of painter Pablo Ruiz Picasso, stands in front of the famous Guernica painting of his grandfather during the presentation of his new book called, 'Picasso, Retratos de Familia' (Picasso, Portraits of Family) in the Queen Sofia Museum in Madrid Tuesday Feb. 10. 2004.
Photo by J.L. Pino
Planning for Eisner Succession
Disney
In response to criticism that Walt Disney Co. chief Michael Eisner has too much sway over Disney's board, the presiding director on Tuesday said he and his colleagues were actively considering who might succeed Eisner and other top executives.
In an open letter, Disney board member and former U.S. Senator George Mitchell said the company's board of directors had met in January to consider a succession plan for Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Eisner and planned to devote more time to the issue in April.
The letter, which was included with a proxy filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, marked the latest salvo in an increasingly hostile battle between Disney and former directors Roy Disney and Stanley Gold, who have mounted a campaign to unseat Eisner.
Disney
Major Exhibition Opens in London
El Greco
Opening with a small icon and ending with a towering altarpiece, a major exhibition of the works of seminal painter El Greco opens in London Wednesday featuring several pieces never before seen together.
Domenikos Theotokopoulos, who signed himself simply El Greco (the Greek), may have painted in the 16th and early 17th centuries but his works inspired modern masters like Pablo Picasso and Jackson Pollock.
The exhibition traces El Greco's artistic development from the 1560s tempura and gold on wood icon, The Dormition of the Virgin, to the oil on canvas Virgin of the Immaculate Conception completed a year before his death in 1614.
The paintings are drawn from collections across Europe and the United States, and some have never traveled from Spain -- El Greco's adopted home.
Two-thirds of the 62 pictures and sketches in the show that runs to May 23 are of a religious nature, with the rest lesser known portraits from a scowling, scarlet-robed Grand Inquisitor to his own smiling son.
El Greco
In Memory
Jason Raize
Jason Raize, who played the older Simba in the original Broadway company of "The Lion King," died Feb. 3, according to Chris Boneau, a spokesman for the Disney musical. He was 28. The cause was suicide.
Raize was chosen for the role of Simba after a series of grueling auditions for "Lion King" director Julie Taymor and choreographer Garth Fagan.
The musical, based on Disney's successful animated film, opened at the New Amsterdam Theatre in November 1997 and is still running in New York and around the world. Raize played the part for nearly three years.
In 2003, Raize was the voice of an Ice Age boy in the Disney animated movie "Brother Bear."
Raize, worked there while in high school at the Orpheus Theater, a semiprofessional troupe. Raize performed in a variety of shows including a "Jesus Christ Superstar" tour with Ted Neeley and later a "King and I" tour starring Hayley Mills.
Jason Raize
In Memory
Larry Elikann
Television director Larry Elikann, whose directed popular series such as "Dallas" and TV movies including 1994's "Menendez: A Killing in Beverly Hills," has died at age 80.
Though Elikann directed hit TV shows including "Barnaby Jones," "Falcon Crest" and "Hill Street Blues," he became known for an innovative approach to miniseries and movies based on news events.
Elikann cast a number of AIDS patients in background roles for the 1995 cable movie "A Mother's Prayer," starring Linda Hamilton.
In 1989, Elikann directed the two-part NBC movie "I Know My First Name is Steven," based on the abduction of 7-year-old Steven Stayner, who was held by his kidnapper for seven years.
Elikann served in the Army Signal Corps during World War II. He worked as technical director for NBC starting in 1948, directed commercials for several years, and began directing TV shows in 1968.
Larry Elikann
Kalina, an 18-year-old killer whale, swims with her newborn calf at SeaWorld Orlando Monday, Feb. 9, 2004, in Orlando, Fla. Kalina gave birth to the 7-foot-long, 350-pound calf in Shamu Stadium's main pool following a seven-hour labor.
Photo by Chris Gotshall
'The Osbournes'
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