Alex's Entertainment Report
Alex
Weekly Review
from Harper's Magazine
HARPER'S WEEKLY REVIEW - 19 February, 2002
Secretary of State Colin Powell told the Senate that President Bush
had decided to overthrow Iraq's Saddam Hussein but had not yet settled
on a strategy and was considering his options. The administration was
reportedly planning to create an "inspection crisis" by demanding that
Iraq admit arms inspectors and then using the expected refusal to
justify an attack. "I do not think I am at a point where a decision
has been made about where to go next, leave alone the precision of how
we will be going about doing this," said General Tommy Franks, who
would be leading any such attack. Former vice president Al Gore said
that Iraq was a "virulent threat" and called for a "final reckoning."
A new study estimated that 19.5 percent of Americans suffered from
some form of mental illness, contradicting previous estimates that put
the figure at 30 to 50 percent.
Slobodan Milosevic opened his defense
in his genocide and war-crimes trial. "It is all lies," he said. "The
real crime was the killing of Yugoslavia and crucifying me here."
Merck & Company announced that an unknown number of people in 27
countries had been given worthless hepatitis A vaccinations.
President Bush told reporters in Japan that he and Prime Minister Koizumi had
discussed "non-performing loans, the devaluation issue, and regulatory
reform." After the yen dropped sharply against the dollar, a White
House spokesman explained that Bush meant to say "deflation," not
"devaluation."
A new study suggested that Alzheimer's disease could be
caused by eating too much meat.
( continued at Weekly Review )
--Roger D. Hodge
More From 'TBH Politoons'
Great Site!
Thanks, again, Tim!
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Started the evening on PBS because they had a 'Nova' about Colditz Schloss.
Also watched '24'....got hung up on a geographical discrepancy (ain't no way that 'east of the 5, between
Tampa & Reseda' could exist...the 5 is east of the 405, which is east of Tampa [the further west] and Reseda. Granted, the 5 & the 405
join, but, it's the north, north Valley. I figure if it's past 'The Odyssey', it's past the Valley fringe).
The acting was competent, and the script nice & tight. But, I just didn't give a rat's ass about any of the characters,
except for the 2 being bullied back at the office. Will watch again next week. (Thanks, Larry).
Watched some of 'The Grapes Of Wrath'. Jeez, Rose-of-Sharon gets me everytime!
Tonight, Wednesday, counter-programming the Olympics still is a foreign concept, and CBS has '60 Minutes II' and
then regurgitates the Kurt Russell movie, 'Breakdown'
The programming geniuses at ABC have decided to show their utter contempt for their audience by presenting the same line-up
for the rest of the week, all reruns, of course. Wednesday, Thursday & Friday nights, it's 'My Wife & Kids', 'Jim', 'Drew
Carey', and 'Whose Line'. Tonight this celebration of crap is followed by '20/20 Downtown'.
The WB has a fresh night with 'Dawson's Creek' and 'Glory Days'.
Faux also has a fresh night with 'That 80's Show', 'Grounded For Life', 'Bernie Mac', and 'Titus'.
The UPN has 2 rerun episodes of 'Enterprise'.
AMC has both 'The Invisible Man' (with Claude Rains), and 'The Wolf Man' with Lon Chaney, Jr.
Anyone have any opinions?
Or reviews?
(See below for addresses)
Was Connie Chung Right?
Barbara & Diane
ABC News stars Barbara Walters and Diane Sawyer on Tuesday denied any rift between them over an interview in which talk-show host
Rosie O'Donnell is expected to discuss her homosexuality for the first time publicly.
Walters said, however, that she should have been more sensitive to any public perception that she was trying to undermine Sawyer.
Sawyer landed the much-sought interview with O'Donnell, which is to air on ABC's "Primetime Thursday" on March 14. O'Donnell will
reportedly talk about her sexuality in the context of opposing a Florida law restricting the adoption of children by gay couples.
Last Thursday — the day Sawyer taped her interview with O'Donnell — Walters and her co-hosts on ABC's "The View" talked briefly about
the case. In doing so, they publicly asserted that O'Donnell was a lesbian.
The timing of Sawyers' interview and Walters' discussion on "The View" revived stories about competition between the two. The
New York Times, in a story last week, said ABC News President David Westin had to sit the "ferocious" rivals down in fall 2000
and strike a truce after they competed over interviews with Yasser Arafat.
Barbara & Diane
2002 Sports Illustrated Cover Model
Yamila Diaz-Rahi
Model Yamila Diaz-Rahi poses with the cover of the 2002 Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition at a promotional event in
New York, February 19, 2002. Diaz-Rahi, a native of Argentina, posed for the cover photograph in Cruz de Loreto, Mexico.
The issue will appear on newsstands on February 20, 2002.
Directorial Debut With 'Tishomingo Blues'
Don Cheadle
Actor Don Cheadle ("Ocean's Eleven") will make his directorial debut on "Tishomingo Blues," an adaptation of the new Elmore Leonard
bestseller. He might play the flashiest character in the book, as well.
Cheadle previously starred in "Out of Sight," which was shot by "Ocean's" director Steven Soderbergh.
"Tishomingo Blues" is currently out to writers, with plans to be in production before the year is out. Leonard will serve as
a producer. The film is being financed by Britain's Film Four, which enjoyed success last year with "Sexy Beast."
Film Four chief executive Paul Webster said Cheadle seemed Taylor-made to play that villain role. Now, Webster said, Cheadle
will have to decide whether he also wants to star in the film he'll definitely be directing.
Don Cheadle
Warren Beatty Is A Real Fan
Halle Berry
In his time, Warren Beatty has beaten the drums for many enthusiasms - "Reds," "Bugsy," "American Beauty," "Bulworth." But
Hollywood is agog about his latest unrelenting rave. Warren is really driving home the reasons why Halle Berry must win the
Best Actress Oscar. He cites her nominated movie this year - "Monster's Ball" and then asks, "Have you seen her in 'Bulworth'?
Have you seen her in the Dorothy Dandridge film?"
Garbo had Stiller, Dietrich had von Sternberg. Berry has Beatty. He has certainly taken the gorgeous actress, who co-starred
with him in "Bulworth," under his considerable wing. "I don't like to show partiality to one film over another. But I want
to come out in support of Halle. I'm terribly fond of her. She's an incredible actress. Halle is such a beautiful woman and,
at the same time, has such a sense of humility that people have trouble adjusting to it."
Nice to have Warren Beatty in your corner. And it's nice to note he will receive the
Akira Kurosawa Lifetime Achievement award for 40 years in film at the San Francisco International Festival on April 25.
Halle Berry
Interesting Link
Get Your Voltr On
Get Your Voltr On
To Shoot Entirely In LA
''T3: Rise of the Machines''
On Friday, the producers of Arnold Schwarzenegger's "T3: Rise of the Machines," now in pre-production, announced that the
mega-budget project will shoot entirely in Los Angeles, with interiors shot at L.A. Center Studios and exteriors shot
in various locations throughout the city.
The approximately 100-day shoot for "T3" was originally divided between Vancouver and Los Angeles, with 60% in Canada. But
producers cringed at the idea of having to split his time between countries for the demanding shoot -- not to mention
facing the attendant continuity headaches.
Budget cuts were made to make the American dollar stretch almost as far as Canada's lagging Loonie.
"T3" is set for worldwide release in summer 2003. The film is reportedly budgeted at between $165 million and $180 million,
with Schwarzenegger's fee accounting for $30 million.
''T3: Rise of the Machines''
Steve Buscemi & Don Knotts
John Waters
He made bad-taste history with pictures like 1972's "Pink Flamingos," and now director John Waters is musing about filming
his life story. The Baltimore-bred king of kitsch told an L.A. cabaret audience he wants to be portrayed by "Steve Buscemi
in my youth, and Don Knotts in my autumn." Waters, 56, who broke into the mainstream with the 1988 Ricki Lake vehicle "Hairspray" - now
being made into a Broadway show - said he was ashamed of the quirky family flick at first. "I remember the day I got a PG rating,"
he said. "I held my head in shame."
John Waters
Cup O'Kitty
''cc:''
The world's first-ever cloned cat, called "cc:" is pictured in this recent file photo. The kitten is the first successful
product of a program aimed at letting people clone their pets at Texas A&M University in College Station. "cc:" joins a
growing list of animals that have been cloned from adult cells, starting with Dolly the sheep and now including pigs, goats,
cattle, mice and an oxlike creature called a gaur.
Photo by Richard Olsenius
Coming Up Next....
Disney
Disney is quietly preparing "The Jungle Book II" and "Piglet's Big Movie" for theatrical release next year, but you won't find them
on the production schedule at Walt Disney Pictures.
Like last weekend's second biggest theatrical release, "Return to Never Land," they are being produced by Walt Disney Television
Animation, the most prolific and one of the most profitable production units at the company in recent years.
The division has more than a dozen animated movie projects for theatrical and video release in various stages of development, almost
all of them sequels or spin-offs of animated movies and characters created from scratch by the studio's film division.
They range from adaptations of classic library titles like "Dumbo II" and "101 Dalmatians the Animated Sequel" to recent blockbusters
like "Tarzan II" and "The Lion King III," as well as "Mulan II" and "Mulan III."
With relatively tiny budgets, the TV animation movies are solid profit centers for Disney, whether they get a theatrical or
video premiere. For instance, while sources estimate a budget range from about $8 million-$15 million for each Disney TV production
that takes about 2-1/2 years, "The Tigger Movie" generated $46 million in domestic box office receipts and nearly double
that worldwide before it even went to video.
By comparison, Disney's full-scale animated films take twice as long to produce and have budgets of $75 million-$100 million or
more since characters and background designs are created from scratch. The last two releases, "The Emperor's New Groove" and
"Atlantis: The Lost Empire," have generated less than $90 million each at U.S. theaters.
Profit Centers For Disney
Suing Ken Starr (No, Not That One)
Sylvester Stallone
Just days after Sylvester Stallone launched his $17.3 million lawsuit against his former business manager, claiming he urged
the actor to hold onto Planet Hollywood stock while the company plummeted into bankruptcy, the counterattack has begun.
"I call him Stallone the suer," said Bert Fields, who represents well-known business manager Kenneth Starr (no relation to the
special prosecutor in the Lewinsky scandal). "He's been involved in more than 30 lawsuits in the recent past. He even sued
his own stepfather, who used to be his business manager."
Starr spokesman Dan Klores added, "Stallone has sued or been sued by everyone ranging from his stepfather to his landscapers,
architects, car dealers, art dealers, nannies, production companies, producers, publishing houses and wives."
Stallone sued last week in L.A. Superior Court, claiming that Starr, a business manager whose celebrity clients are believed
to include Warren Beatty, Al Pacino and Mike Nichols, cost him more than $10 million when the share price of his 3.9 million
shares of Planet Hollywood Intl. stock plummeted.
The suit also alleges that Stallone gave instructions to invest only in conservative, liquid investments but he lost
$7.3 million when Starr put him in three high-risk funds.
Sylvester Stallone
''Tea at Five''
Kate Mulgrew
Kate Mulgrew is going where no actress has gone before in the world premiere of a play about Katharine Hepburn at the Hartford Stage Company.
Mulgrew, who as Capt. Kathryn Janeway led a crew through the far reaches of the galaxy in the "Star Trek: Voyager" series
for several years, stars in the one person biographical play "Tea at Five."
The play is set in the Hepburn family's summer home in the Fenwick section of Old Saybrook. The script is heavy with
personal remembrances from the suicide of Hepburn's brother, professional disappointments with Hollywood and talk about
her well-known affairs with John Ford and Spencer Tracy.
Kate Mulgrew
Fun Link
Philip K. Dick By R. Crumb
The Religious Experience of Philip K. Dick by R. Crumb
Check out The Crumb Museum, the art of Robert (R.) Crumb
Galecki, Platt, Bibb and Morse
Fall TV Pilots
The network casting party is in full swing, with Johnny Galecki, Oliver Platt, Leslie Bibb and David Morse landing
leading roles in TV pilots for fall 2002.
= Former "Roseanne" regular Galecki, whose recent feature turns include roles in "Vanilla Sky" and "Bounce," has been tapped as the
lead in Fox's still untitled comedy about a neurotic slacker who attempts to change his life after his childhood sweetheart returns home.
= Oliver Platt, who starred in last season's short-lived "Deadline," is the first to join the cast of CBS drama "Queens Supreme."
He'll play Judge Jack Moran, one of four principal judges in the ensemble that Tim Robbins is directing. The other three in the
Queens, N.Y.-set pilot are still being cast.
= Leslie Bibb ("Popular") has been cast in the lead role of Paige, a young congressional staffer in her first year working on
Capitol Hill, in ABC's untitled drama pilot. Creator Rod Lurie said Bibb beat out more than 400 actresses for the part.
= David Morse ("St. Elsewhere") will play the lead in "Hack," a CBS drama pilot about an ex-cop who works as a taxi driver and
helps the little guys solve crimes. The pilot is being shot in Philadelphia.
Galecki, Platt, Bibb and Morse
Mystery Knee Injury
Pierce Brosnan
Actor Pierce Brosnan, usually invincible in the role of secret agent James Bond, has been laid low by a mystery knee injury
while filming the latest 007 epic, the movie's production company said Tuesday.
It said Brosnan would be out of action for two weeks but the film, with the working title "Bond 20," would still hit
screens in November as planned.
The company has shrouded the film -- Brosnan's fourth in the role -- in extreme secrecy, although it is known that Madonna
will sing but not appear, and that it opens with an assault on a beach in North Korea currently being filmed in Cornwall.
Pierce Brosnan
Indian Author Bares All in Juicy Autobiography
Khushwant Singh
His friends call him the grand old man of Indian literature. Critics dismiss him as just a dirty old man.
Khushwant Singh, one of India's best known columnists, says he doesn't give a damn.
"Grand old man sounds too grand. And dirty old man is too much of a cliche," the 87-year-old enfant terrible of Indian writing told Reuters.
Singh's candid account of his life as a lawyer, bureaucrat, editor, academic, scholar and lawmaker has outraged many of the people he has
written about including a number of the high and mighty.
"This autobiography is the child of aging loins," he wrote. "Do not expect too much from it: some gossip, some titillation, some tearing up of
reputations, some amusement -- that is the best I can offer," he writes.
For the rest, Khushwant Singh
Not A Harasser, Just A Bad Boss
James Brown
The jury in a $1 million lawsuit against James Brown ruled Tuesday that the singer did not sexually harass a former employee
but that his company wrongfully fired her.
The Superior Court jury was expected to begin deciding in the afternoon how much to award Lisa Ross Agbalaya in damages.
The 36-year-old mother of three claimed that the soul singer grabbed her by the hips and pulled her toward him when she
visited his Georgia home in 1999. At the time, she was president of the West Coast office of James Brown Enterprises. The
seven-year employee said she was fired after rebuffing Brown's advances.
Brown was not in court for the verdict, but his lawyer Debra Opri notified him by phone at his South Carolina home.
"Godfather, congratulations sir," the attorney told him. "God bless you, sir. You were right." The lawyer then told
reporters: "He is overcome with emotion."
James Brown
Screen Actors Guild
'Great Debate'
The long-awaited Great Debate between Screen Actors Guild (SAG) presidential candidates Melissa Gilbert and Valerie Harper took
place Sunday as the TV actresses participated by phone in a raucous 45-minute discussion on a Los Angeles radio talk show.
The development came as something of a surprise since incumbent president Gilbert had declared several weeks ago that she would
largely spurn campaigning in the rerun election due to the press of SAG business. Harper had refused Gilbert's challenge to debate
in the fall election, and then called for Gilbert to debate during the rerun campaign.
The candidates continued their role reversal from the fall election, with Harper significantly more combative on Brian Whitman's
KABC-AM show than in the previous campaign as Gilbert touted her accomplishments in her three-month tenure as president.
Harper focused on Gilbert's support for easing SAG's regulations governing talent agencies and Gilbert's 1989 violation of SAG
rules for working on a non-union film; Gilbert criticized the rerun decision as politically motivated and pointed to her work
supporting wage-based tax-credit legislation for film producers. They also sparred over the question of poll rerun costs.
SAG's 'Great Debate'
Chinese Chewing Gum
Ben Laden
Des Chewing-Gums "Ben Laden" Vendus En Chine
Un habitant de Guangzhou, dans le sud de la Chine, brandit un paquet de chewing-gum arborant la marque "ben Laden". Ces
paquets circulent illégalement depuis quelques jours.
Placating The Shareholders
(More) Disney
The Walt Disney Co.'s top executives, under pressure from a weak stock price, on Tuesday sought to restore some luster to The Magic
Kingdom, telling shareholders tough times may be over at theme parks.
Walt Disney World in Florida and Disneyland in southern California have seen attendance fall sharply since the Sept. 11 attacks, and Disney's
ABC broadcast television network has been hammered by the worst advertising market since World War II.
The two factors have stifled earnings growth and while executives, including Chief Executive Michael Eisner, could not provide shareholders
with insight as to advertising's future at Disney's annual meeting here, they did say recent economic indicators gave them
hope that tourism was looking up.
With little new financial information to share, the meeting was long on showbiz dazzle, including a charismatic introduction by ESPN
anchor Chris Berman of Disney's CEO as Michael "More-Than-Meets-The" Eisner.
Disney Eyes Improving Theme Parks Business
It now costs over $130 for a family of 3 to go to Disneyland for a day, including parking, but NOT food, beverages, or souvenirs. They've been
cutting back on staff & services there for so long it's grungy, understaffed and no where near the 'Happiest Place On Earth'.
When I moved west (6/71),
Disneyland paid the best of all the tourist places....more than double the minimum wage! Back then, Disneyland steam-cleaned all the streets nightly, and
replaced every lightbulb in the park - it was supposed to a 'perfect' place. They also had live musicians. Hundreds of union musicians. Last visit, I counted
5 - a brass quartet & the piano-guy at Carnation Plaza. The rest of the music is canned - tinny, over-driven and all synthesized.
Used to spend a lot of time
there - now, once a year is more than enough, and only for visitors that I really like, 'cause life is too short to be taken for so much money with so little in return.
Media Monopolies On The Horizon
'Free Speech'
Ownership limits on television broadcasters narrowly survived a court challenge on Tuesday as a federal appeals court ordered regulators
to strengthen their arguments for retaining the restrictions.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ordered the Federal Communications Commission to decide whether to modify or
retain a limit that prevents broadcasters from owning television stations that combined reach more than 35 percent of the national television audience.
The FCC, in a split decision in May 2000, agreed to retain the cap to preserve competition as well as diversity in local media markets,
provoking the nation's television networks to challenge the rules in court.
Viacom Inc., which owns the CBS and UPN networks, and News Corp.'s Fox Television are both above the limit. With General Electric's NBC,
they protested the FCC's review process and argued that the rules violate free speech rights under the U.S. Constitution.
The order requiring the FCC to review the broadcast limit will likely set the stage for a battle between media conglomerates and consumer
advocates over just how much of the television industry one company can reach.
If the rule is weakened or scrapped, it could spark a wave of mergers. The agency has already established a working group to review media
ownership rules and analysts have said the FCC will likely scale them back.
"One media company will be able to control several TV and radio stations, the cable system and a newspaper in a community,"
said Jeffrey Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy. "The elimination of the rule will usher in more
local "media monopolies."
Monopolies Ahoy!
Yeah, monopolies are real good for competition. But, remember, corporations have 'free speech rights' (see
paragraph #4 above), because they can bribe - er, I mean lobby for it. And, we all know corporate America is looking out for our
best interests...
Why I Watched Letterman
dick & jay
Vice President Dick Cheney said on Tuesday that the collapse of Enron Corp. showed that either "somebody broke the law" or
"there's something wrong with the rules and regulations."
Asked by Leno whether he thought someone would end up going to jail over the Enron scandal, Cheney said, "I'm reluctant to pass
judgement until we know all the facts (but) based on what I've seen so far, I think obviously somebody needs to pay a very heavy price."
Cheney again defended his decision to refuse to turn over to Congress a list of the individuals who he met with in shaping
the administration's energy policy.
"What's at stake here is whether a member of Congress can demand that I give him notes of all my meetings and a list of
everybody I met with," Cheney told Leno. "We don't think that he has that authority."
dick on jay
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