'Best of TBH Politoons'
Thanks, again, Tim!
Reader Comment
Koko
Must admit, the title of the August 6th memo was pretty vague.
Thanks, Michael B!
from Mark
Another Bumpersticker
The Wall Street Poet
Political Ads Naseum
There's still almost seven months to go before the next presidential election, but already the two candidates have spent $60 million on television ads. And we still have to endure the endless reruns....
Political Ads Naseum
There once was a tradition
When some good sense still held sway,
That political commercials
Didn't start 'til Labor day.
We set aside the springtime
For romance and outdoor sports,
And spent the early summer
Raising hell at beach resorts.
But now before the parties
Even make their nominations,
We're bombarded by a slew of
Half-baked truths and accusations.
TV's always been a wasteland
Where the dumb succumb to dumber;
Fill this wasteland with fool sound bites
Minds grow numb-er. What a bummer!
© 2004
**********
For more political verse:
http://www.beltwaybard.com
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny & warm.
This week is the kid's spring break.
I finally crawled under the table where the computer resides, started playing with the wires & managed to get the sound working.
Tonight, Wednesday, CBS starts the night with '60 Minutes II', followed by a RERUN 'King Of Queens', then another RERUN
'King Of Queens', followed by '48 Hours'.
Scheduled on a FRESH Dave are Sen. John McCain and Damien Rice.
Scheduled on a FRESH Craiggers are Jerry O'Connell and Jim Florentine.
NBC opens the night with the weekly RERUN of 'Trump's Adventure In Avarice', followed by 'Dateline' (which is scheduled to fellate the Donald), then a
FRESH 'Law & Order'.
Scheduled on a FRESH Leno are Jennifer Garner, Emeril Lagasse, and Tom Papa.
Scheduled on a FRESH Conan are Quentin Tarantino, Rhona Mitra, and Ben Kweller.
Scheduled on a FRESH Carson Daly are Vivica A. Fox, Donald Trump, and TV on the Radio.
ABC begins the night with a FRESH 'My Wife & Kids', followed by a FRESH 'The Big House', then a FRESH
'Bachelor', followed by a FRESH 'Extreme Makeover'.
Scheduled on a FRESH Jimmy Kimmel are Cedric the Entertainer, Natasha Henstridge, and Evan & Jaron.
The WB offers a FRESH 'Smallville' (Christopher Reeve guests), followed by a FRESH 'Angel'.
Faux has a FRESH 'That 70s Show', followed by the pre-taped, but FRESH 'American Idol', then a
FRESH 'The O.C.'.
UPN has another RERUN 'Enterprise', followed by the Series Premiere of 'I'm Still Alive'.
A&E has 'American Justice', 'Biography' (Chris Farley), 'American Justice', and 'City Confidential'.
AMC offers the movie 'Navy SEALS', followed by the movie 'Cop Land', then the movie 'Atlantic City'.
BBC -
[6pm] 'BBC World News;
[6:30pm] 'Cash in the Attic' - Grey;
[7pm] 'My Hero' - Pet Rescue;
[7:40pm] Absolutely Fabulous' - Week in Provence;
[8:20pm] 'Keeping Up Appearances' - Episode 6;
[9pm] 'My Family' - Droit De Seigneur Ben;
[9:40pm] 'Absolutely Fabulous' - Iso Tank;
[10:20pm] 'Keeping Up Appearances' - Episode 7;
[11pm] 'My Family '- Droit De Seigneur Ben;
[11:40pm] 'Absolutely Fabulous' - Iso Tank;
[12:20am] 'Keeping Up Appearances' - Episode 7;
[1am] 'My Hero' - Pet Rescue;
[1:40am] 'Absolutely Fabulous' - Week in Provence;
[2:20am] 'Keeping Up Appearances' - Episode 6;
[3am] 'My Family' - Droit De Seigneur Ben;
[3:40am] 'Absolutely Fabulous' - Iso Tank;
[4:20am] 'Keeping Up Appearances' - Episode 7;
[5am] 'The Office' - Episode 2;
[5:40am] 'Dead Ringers' - Episode 2;
[6am] 'BBC World News. (ALL TIMES EDT)
Bravo has 'West Wing', 'Queer Eye', 'Keen Eddie', and another 'Keen Eddie'.
Comedy Central has 'MAD TV', '100 Stand-Ups', another '100 Stand-Ups', 'South Park', and 'Chappelle's Show'.
Jon Stewart is a RERUN.
History has 'Modern Marvels', 'Modern Marvels', 'Band Of Brothers', and another 'Modern Marvels'.
IFC -
[6AM] 'The Prime Gig' (2000);
[7:45AM] 'At The Angelika 83' (2003);
[8:15AM] 'IFC Short Film Showcase';
[9:15AM] 'An Angel At My Table' (1990);
[12PM] 'The Closer You Get' (2000);
[1:45PM] Short: 'Surrender' (2000);
[2PM] 'Me You Them' (2000);
[4PM] 'Passing Stones' (2001);
[5:45PM] 'IFC In Theaters';
[6PM] 'Running With The Bulls' (2002);
[7:15PM] 'The Closer You Get' (2000);
[9PM] 'Magnolia' (1999);
[12:15AM] 'Crying Game' (1992);
[2:15AM] 'Magnolia' (1999);
[5:30AM] Short: 'Charnel House'. (ALL TIMES EDT)
SciFi has the movie 'Creature', followed by the movie 'Fangs'.
Sundance -
[4:45AM] 'No Such Thing' (Feature);
[6:30AM] 'Ghost Actress' (aka Don't Look Up) (World Cinema);
[7:45AM] 'Mt. Head' (Short);
[8AM] 'Hofmann's Potion' (Documentary);
[9AM] 'Nicholas Nickleby' (Feature);
[11:15AM] 'Tulip' (Short);
[11:30AM] 'Pumpkin' (Feature);
[1:30PM] 'Honey For Oshun' (Miel para Oshun) (Feature);
[3:35PM] ']The Swell Life' (Documentary);
[4PM] 'Borstal Boy' (Feature);
[5:35PM 'Hofmann's Potion' (Documentary);
[6:35PM] 'Nicholas Nickleby' (Feature);
[9PM] 'The Hired Hand' (Feature);
[10:30 PM] 'Pumpkin' (Feature);
[12:30AM] 'Borstal Boy' (Feature);
[2:05AM] 'Chain Camera' (Documentary);
[3:30AM] 'Princesa' (Feature);
[5AM] 'Honey For Oshun' (Miel para Oshun) (Feature). (ALL TIMES EDT)
TCM:
[6am] 'Private Screenings: Esther Williams' (1996);
[7am] 'Private Screenings: Mitchum/Russell' (1996);
[8am] 'Private Screenings: Ann Miller' (1997);
[9am] 'Private Screenings: Mickey Rooney' (1997);
[10am] 'Private Screenings: Charlton Heston' (1998);
[11am] 'Private Screenings: June Allyson' (1998);
[12pm] 'Private Screenings: Lemmon/Matthau' (1998);
[1pm] 'Private Screenings: Anthony Quinn' (1999);
[2pm] 'Private Screenings: Leslie Caron' (1999);
[3pm] 'Private Screenings: Tony Curtis' (1999);
[4pm] 'Private Screenings: Betty Hutton' (2000);
[5pm] 'Private Screenings: Rod Steiger' (2000);
[6pm] 'Private Screenings: James Garner' (2001);
[7pm] 'Private Screenings: Debbie Reynolds' (2002);
[8pm] 'Gone With the Wind' (1939);
[12am] 'The Making of a Legend: Gone With the Wind' (1988);
[2:15am] 'Raintree County' (1957);
[5:30am] 'Green Dolphin Street' (1947). (ALL TIMES EDT)
Actress June Lockhart, of old 'Lost in Space' television series, places a 'Lost in Space' lunch box into a display at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History in Washington, Tuesday, April 13, 2004, The exhibit: 'Taking America to Lunch,' which opens today, features numerous items coming from the Trom the Thermos collection, which celebrates it's 100th anniversary this year.
Photo by John Harrington
The Information One-Stop
Moose & Squirrel
Marks 10th Anniversary
Turner Classic Movies
Turner Classic Movies spent eight years "trying to scream a little louder than the other guy in the classic movie genre," said Tom Karsch, general manager of the cable channel.
Now that "the other guy" - AMC - has opted out of the arena, TCM is marking its 10th anniversary Wednesday as the go-to outlet for such films.
TCM owns some 3,500 old movies, a collection that includes the pre-1948 Warner Bros. library, pre-1986 MGM films and the complete RKO collection. Recently, it bought 89 Universal movies, including "Coal Miner's Daughter" and "Out of Africa," and 57 from Columbia, "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" and "From Here to Eternity" among them.
TCM remains commercial-free, relying on license fees from cable operators - estimated at $155.5 million this year, up from $138.4 million in 2003. TCM has some 68 million U.S. subscribers and expects to surpass 70 million in the next few months.
Turner Classic Movies
Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression
'Muzzle' Awards
CBS Television, which passed on the miniseries "The Reagans" amid conservative pressure, and the Martha Stewart trial judge are among this year's winners of the dubious Jefferson Muzzle awards for suppression of free speech.
CBS was cited "for acts of self-censorship demonstrating both hypocrisy and an unwillingness to stand up to public and political pressure," the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression said in a statement.
CBS also refused to air a 30-second commercial from Moveon.org, a group critical of the Bush administration, during the Super Bowl, while it allowed erectile dysfunction commercials and the halftime show featuring Janet Jackson's bared breast, it said.
Other muzzles recipients announced in the 13th annual edition of the awards include Baseball Hall of Fame President Dale Petroskey, who canceled a 15th anniversary showing of "Bull Durham" because of opposition to the Iraq war by its stars, Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins.
'Muzzle' Awards
Kathleen Russo thanks friends who turned out to honor her late husband, actor and monologuist Spalding Gray, as their seven year old son Theo Gray looks on, at a public memorial held at the Vivian Beaumont Theater at the Lincoln Center in New York, Tuesday, April 13, 2004.
Photo by Stuart Ramson
Composer Honored With Stamp
Henry Mancini
A postage stamp honoring composer Henry Mancini premiered Tuesday. Mancini wrote the music for the movie "The Pink Panther," and the brightly colored feline lurks in a corner of the stamp, which carries an image of Mancini conducting.
Formal first day of issue ceremonies for the 37-cent stamp were held in Los Angeles. The stamp will be available nationwide Wednesday.
Mancini is known for his television theme songs and movie scores. He composed "Moon River" for the film "Breakfast at Tiffany's," as well as the themes for "Peter Gunn" and "Days of Wine and Roses."
Other scores by Mancini included Orson Welles' "Touch of Evil," "The Great Race" and "10." He also wrote themes for "Mr. Lucky," "Newhart," "Remington Steele," "Hotel" and other TV series.
Henry Mancini
ABC Taps For May Sweeps
'Harry Potter'
ABC hopes to make ratings magic with a night of television built around the network debut of "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" - and a sneak peek at the third Warner Bros. film in the franchise.
The 2001 movie, starring Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint and directed by Chris Columbus, will air on Sunday, May 9, (7 p.m. EDT), in an extended, high-definition version that includes previously unseen footage, the network announced this week.
It will be followed by a 10-minute look at "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban," directed by Alfonso Cuaron, which opens in theaters on June 4.
'Harry Potter'
In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends
Writing World War II Memoir
Bob Dole
Former Sen. Bob Dole is writing a memoir about his military service during World War II. "A Veteran Remembers" will be published by HarperCollins in 2005, the 60th anniversary of the war's end.
"For years, friends and family members have asked me to consider writing a book about my World War II experiences. And for years, I told them that I was not quite ready," the 80-year-old Dole said in a statement Tuesday.
"Last year, my sister discovered all of my World War II letters to my family and their responses. With these first-person accounts, I think now may be the right time to do such a project."
Bob Dole
Actor Richard Gere, right, speaks to Tibetan hunger striker Sonam Wangdu, third from left, as fellow strikers Gyatso, left, and Dolma Choephel second from left, look on during a hunger strike near the United Nations headquarters in New York Tuesday, April 13, 2004. Gere showed support for the three Tibetans as they entered their 12th day of a hunger strike to call attention to the fight for independence in Tibet.
Photo by Gregory Bull
'Living Legend'
Dolly Parton
Dolly Parton will receive "The Living Legend" award Wednesday from the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., a spokeswoman for the entertainer said.
Parton, 58, will perform at the ceremony for a taped special that will air in May on the cable channel "Great American Country," publicist Kim Fowler said.
Among the past recipients are musicians Johnny Cash and Ray Charles; filmmakers Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese; comedian Bob Hope; and baseball player Cal Ripkin Jr.
Dolly Parton
Global Motorcycle Trip
Ewan McGregor
Scottish actor Ewan McGregor said Tuesday he undertook survival skills training and medical emergency lessons for his next big project -- a round-the-world trip by motorcycle.
The 33-year-old film star will embark on a three-month journey later this week to New York by way of Eastern Europe and the hostile terrain of Mongolia, Siberia and Alaska.
Accompanying him on the 20,000-mile trip to be filmed for a documentary will be his friend Charley Boorman, an actor who is the son of film director John Boorman.
Ewan McGregor
Lose Bid to Suppress New Album
O'Jays
Three decades after they sang that money was "the root of all evil," The O'Jays lost a bid to block their former record label from cashing in on songs the soul group recorded, but didn't think were good enough to release.
A federal judge lifted an injunction that had briefly stopped Philadelphia International Records from distributing "Together We Are One," a new album of unreleased tracks recorded by the O'Jays in the early 1980s.
O'Jays founding members Eddie Levert and Walter Williams had argued in a suit filed in Philadelphia on April 2 that the songs were "stale and artistically inferior," and that releasing them now would hurt their legacy and their ability to tour.
U.S. District Judge R. Barclay Surrick disagreed, saying in an opinion signed on April 9 that a contract signed by the group in 1979 appeared to give Philadelphia International Records unlimited rights to release the songs.
O'Jays
Formerly 'The Vidiot'
Betting to Re-Open Wednesday
Bellagio
The Bellagio casino in Las Vegas expects to reopen on Wednesday after a power outage shut the resort on Easter Sunday, a spokesman for owner MGM Mirage said.
A power system failed at the Bellagio around 2 a.m. PT (5 a.m. ET) on Sunday morning. The resort switched to back-up power but had to evacuate guests and shut down all systems to make repairs.
Guests were moved to other hotels owned by MGM as well as rivals.
Bellagio guests will start checking in on Wednesday after noon, if all goes according to plan, although the resort will probably not be completely back to normal until Friday..
Bellagio
The last Concorde owned by British Airways is raised from a barge to be displayed outside the Houses of Parliament in London, as it travels en route to Scotland, April 13, 2004. The supersonic jet is being transported on the barge from London on a route taking it along Britain's east coast before arriving at Scotland's national Museum of Flight.
Photo by Kieran Doherty
Rare Edition To Be Auctioned
'Hamlet'
A rare edition of William Shakespeare's "Hamlet" could fetch well over $1 million when it is auctioned at Christie's in New York.
The nearly 400-year-old book is one of 19 copies of the 1611 printing of known to exist, and is the only one remaining in private hands. It was owned by Mary Hyde, Viscountess Eccles, a reknowned New Jersey book collector and English literature scholar best known for her extensive Samuel Johnson collection, now at the Houghton Library at Harvard University.
While other rare finds from Lady Eccles' collection are also being auctioned Wednesday, early editions of "King Lear," "Richard II" and "Macbeth" among them, the "Hamlet," because of its condition and rarity, is expected to attract the most attention. Christie's has estimated its worth between $1.5 and $2 million.
'Hamlet'
$325 Million Facelift
Lincoln Center
New York's Lincoln Center unveiled plans on Tuesday for a $325 million face-lift aimed at reconnecting the arts complex to its neighborhood.
The new plan for Lincoln Center, home to world-renowned opera and ballet companies and the famed Juilliard School of Music, focuses almost entirely on the northern section of the 6.3 acre site.
Construction is slated to begin in 2006 and expected to take three years to complete. The project could be the first in a series of big improvements.
Lincoln Center
Jewellery To Be Auctioned
Imelda Marcos
Jewellery once owned by former Philippine first lady Imelda Marcos is to be auctioned, an agency hunting billions of dollars stolen by ex-dictator Ferdinand Marcos and his widow said.
Marcos, his flamboyant wife and their cronies stole between five and 10 billion dollars during his 20-year-rule before he was deposed in 1986, according to Yorac.
Imelda Marcos, now in her early 70s, faces several graft cases linked to her stint in government as housing minister and government administrator of metropolitan Manila.
Imelda Marcos
Female tiger Dima (L) rests on male lion Kaser at Jordan's Zoo near Amman April 13, 2004. The Amman Zoo director said on Tuesday that after more than a year in one cage Dima still refused to mate with Kaser.
Photo by Ali Jarekji
'The Osbournes'
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