'Best of TBH Politoons'
M Is FOR MASHUP - April 16th, 2008
By DJ Useo
Due to technical difficulties, DJ Useo's column will be late this week.
Please check back tomorrow.
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR.: The Next President's First Task [A Manifesto] (vanityfair.com)
Last November, Lord (David) Puttnam debated before Parliament an important bill to tackle global warming. Addressing industry and government warnings that we must proceed slowly to avoid economic ruin, Lord Puttnam recalled that precisely 200 years ago Parliament heard identical caveats during the debate over abolition of the slave trade. At that time slave commerce represented one-fourth of Britain's G.D.P. and provided its primary source of cheap, abundant energy. Vested interests warned that financial apocalypse would succeed its prohibition.
Paul Krugman: Crisis of Confidence (nytimes.com)
Most Americans are doing considerably worse than the usual economic measures let on.
TA-NEHISI COATES: 'This Is How We Lost to the White Man' (theatlantic.com)
The audacity of Bill Cosby's black conservatism.
Dan Deluca: Acerbic star of 'The Colbert Report' to put his stamp on Pennsylvania's primary (The Philadelphia Inquirer)
Why is Stephen Colbert coming to Philadelphia? Because he must.
Beth Quinn: Hats off to the dog-poop industry (recordonline.com)
There's an entire, thriving industry in America based on dog poop.
In the unlikely event that dogs suddenly stopped pooping, thousands of Americans would be out of a job.
20 QUESTIONS: David Baldacci (popmatters.com)
Best selling author David Baldacci talks with PopMatters 20 Questions about the importance of hallucinogens, hit men, and Herman Munster -- and yeah, other important things, too.
Chris Herrington: Underrated Country Star Gary Allan Turn Pain into Art (The Memphis Flyer)
He's underrated within the world of mainstream country, where he plays small theaters or opens for lesser artists like Rascal Flatts, despite being one of the handful of the best record-makers that genre's seen in the last half-decade or so.
Walter Tunis: Russ Barenberg is a guitarist in the bluegrass progressive tradition (McClatchy Newspapers)
Russ Barenberg doesn't buy into terms like traditional and progressive when they relate to string music.
Linda Ray: Fierceness of Exposure (Tucson Weekly)
Scott H. Biram wails, hollers and stomps through his often scary, always emotional shows.
Jarrett Berman: Review of "Juno" (popmatters.com)
Teens have their precious catchphrases and secret languages, but they're nervous, fumbling creatures. They don't come equipped with Chaucer-like witticisms, or razor-sharp retorts.
How many X-rated films have won a Best Picture Oscar?
answered:
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and back to seasonal temperatures.
Newest Members
American Academy of Arts and Letters
Historian Robert Caro, humorist Calvin Trillin and poet Paul Muldoon will be among the eight new members inducted next month into the elite American Academy of Arts and Letters, the academy announced Tuesday.
Caro, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, is known for his biography of Robert Moses, "The Power Broker," and for his multivolume series on Lyndon Johnson. Trillin is a longtime staff writer for The New Yorker who writes often about food and last year released a best-selling memoir about his late wife, Alice Trillin.
Other inductees include fiction writer-essayist Joy Williams, artists Ursula von Rydingsvard and John Baldessari, African scholar Kwame Anthony Appiah and Shakespeare scholar Stephen Greenblatt. Gold medals for lifetime achievement will be presented to historian Edmund S. Morgan and architect Richard Meier.
American Academy of Arts and Letters
Woman With An Opinion
Erica Jong
Italian prime minister-elect Silvio Berlusconi is "a clown like George W. Bush," US author Erica Jong was quoted as saying during a visit to Rome on Tuesday.
"Both of our countries have governments led by people who are incompetent," said Jong, a New York-born author best known for her best-selling first novel, "Fear of Flying."
"They don't know anything about foreign politics, they don't understand people's problems, or seriously deal with the issue of security," she said. "People could elect Tom Cruise or Paris Hilton -- it would be the same."
The success of people like Berlusconi and Bush, she added, was because people feared intellectuals.
Erica Jong
Urge "Do Not Track" Registry
Consumer Groups
Two consumer groups asked the Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday to create a "do not track list" that would allow computer users to bar advertisers from collecting information about them.
The Consumer Federation of America and the Consumers Union also urged the FTC to bar collection of health information and other sensitive data by companies that do business on the Internet unless a consumer consents.
The call echoed those of other privacy advocates who filed statements with the FTC on Internet companies' use of "behavioral advertising." That is the practice of tracking a computer user's activities online, including Web searches and sites visited, to target advertisements to the individual consumer.
Consumer Groups
Medical Research
Ghostwriters
Two new reports involving the painkiller Vioxx raise fresh concerns about how drug companies influence the interpretation and publication of medical research.
The reports claim Merck & Co. frequently paid academic scientists to take credit for research articles prepared by company-hired medical writers, a practice called ghostwriting. They also contend Merck tried to minimize deaths in two studies that showed that the now withdrawn Vioxx didn't work at treating or preventing Alzheimer's disease.
While Merck is singled out, the practices are not uncommon, according to JAMA's editors. In an editorial, they urge strict reforms, including a ghostwriting crackdown and requiring all authors to spell out their specific roles.
Ghostwriters
Revives Live TV Commercials
Jimmy Kimmel
ABC is set to announce shortly that "Jimmy Kimmel Live" will integrate live commercials into each episode of the late-night program subject to interest on the part of advertisers. The first live commercials are expected to begin in May.
The technique is a throwback to the early days of TV, when programs were produced live and advertisers often sponsored shows in their entirety. The practice went out of vogue in the 1970s, when most programs were taped and had multiple advertisers.
But live spots are now seen as a way to stand out, just as the official yardstick for measuring ads on network TV has shifted to commercial ratings. Advertisers also believe live ads may be one way to beat the DVR by integrating the product into the content of the show. Last May, car navigation system manufacturer Garmin aired the first live commercial on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" in 14 years.
Jimmy Kimmel
Santa Monica Pier
Ferris Wheel
It won't come with the ocean views, but you can still catch some thrills from riding your very own Ferris wheel, straight off the Santa Monica Pier.
The nine-story wheel that's been at Pacific Park since 1996 was put up for sale Tuesday on eBay.
The wheel overlooking the Pacific has 20 gondolas and is outlined in 5,392 light bulbs. It has provided some 3 million rides and has been seen in movies, on television and in numerous photos.
The wheel cost $800,000 when it was built. It was modified in 1998 to become the world's first solar-powered Ferris wheel.
Ferris Wheel
Judge Rejects Mistrial Motion
Anthony Pellicano
A federal judge rejected a defense motion Tuesday for a mistrial in the racketeering trial of Hollywood private eye Anthony Pellicano and four co-defendants.
U.S. District Judge Dale Fischer said in her ruling that prosecutors didn't attempt to reveal to jurors that one of the defendants, former Los Angeles police Sgt. Mark Arneson, had been investigated by the department's internal affairs.
She also found evidence that discovery rules weren't violated, and it was likely an oversight that prosecutors did not provide the evidence to the defense before the trial.
Fischer excused the jury for the day and convened an emergency hearing to determine whether Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Saunders had improperly questioned Arneson during his testimony last Friday.
Anthony Pellicano
On Trial
Brigitte Bardot
French former film star Brigitte Bardot went on trial on Tuesday for insulting Muslims, the fifth time she has faced the charge of "inciting racial hatred" over her controversial remarks about Islam and its followers.
Prosecutors asked that the Paris court hand the 73-year-old former sex symbol a two-month suspended prison sentence and fine her 15,000 euros ($23,760) for saying the Muslim community was "destroying our country and imposing its acts."
Since retiring from the film industry in the 1970s, Bardot has become a prominent animal rights activist but she has also courted controversy by denouncing Muslim traditions and immigration from predominantly Muslim countries.
She has been fined four times for inciting racial hatred since 1997, at first 1,500 euros and most recently 5,000.
Brigitte Bardot
Celeb Embezzling
Sharon M. Walker
Los Angeles police have arrested an account manager on charges of embezzling more than $725,000 from the accounts of Charlton Heston and producer Stephen Cannell.
Deputy District Attorney Marisa Zarate says Sharon M. Walker is charged with grand theft, forgery and filing false tax returns and was to be arraigned Tuesday. Zarate declined to name the business firm where Walker had worked.
Zarate says Walker is accused of stealing more than $157,000 from Heston, the Oscar-winning actor who died April 5, and more than $567,000 from Cannell, an Emmy-winning writer and producer.
Sharon M. Walker
Nanny Trouble
Rob Lowe
One of three former employees being sued by Rob Lowe says the actor sexually abused her for years but she continued to work for him and his wife because she loved their two boys and needed the job.
In legal papers filed in Santa Barbara, Jessica Gibson says Lowe touched her inappropriately several times between September 2005 and January 2008.
Gibson worked for Rob and Sheryl Lowe on and off for seven years before quitting on Feb. 24.
Last week, Lowe sued three former employees, including Gibson. He said she demanded $1.5 million to remain silent about the abuse allegation, which his attorney dismissed as "outrageous" and "untrue." In that suit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, Lowe also accused another nanny of spreading lies about him.
Rob Lowe
Culling Monkeys
Gibraltar
A pack of at least 25 of Gibraltar's famous monkeys are being culled because they are a nuisance and a threat to health in some of the Rock's tourist areas.
Two of the monkeys, a national symbol for the British colony at the foot of Spain, have already been given lethal injections, Gibraltar Tourist Minister Ernest Britto said on Tuesday.
Gibraltar's residents have long lived alongside the macaque monkeys, but Britto said the behaviour of one pack had got out of hand in the tourist areas of Catalan Bay and Sandy Bay:
However, the International Primate Protection League said it was considering calling on tourists to boycott Gibraltar if it did not stop the cull.
Gibraltar
Breeders Try To Save
Marsh Tacky Horses
During centuries of isolation on the Carolina sea islands, the short-legged, sway-backed marsh tacky horses became perfectly suited for toiling long hours in the swamps and oppressive humidity.
But their wild looks and workhorse reputation - their name comes from the old English word meaning "common" - didn't exactly make them prized among horse lovers. Today, only about 150 of them remain.
Now, breeders are coming together to save the tacky, whose ancestors were left by colonial Spanish explorers.
Intelligent and superbly adapted to the Southern humidity and coastal marshes, tackies can be broken quickly and prove docile for even the youngest riders. They can survive on marsh grass and forage other horses won't eat - farmers and owners simply kept them tied up in their yards over the years.
Marsh Tacky Horses
Prime-Time Nielsens
Ratings
Prime-time viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen Media Research for April 7-13. Listings include the week's ranking, with viewership for the week and season-to-date rankings in parentheses. An "X" in parentheses denotes a one-time-only presentation.
1. (1) "American Idol" (Tuesday), Fox, 24.67 million viewers.
2. (X) "American Idol" (Thursday)," Fox, 20.13 million viewers.
3. (9) "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," CBS, 20.09 million viewers.
4. (4) "Dancing With The Stars" (Monday), ABC, 19.68 million viewers.
5. (X) "NCAA Basketball Championship: Kansas vs. Memphis," CBS, 19.5 million viewers.
6. (X) "Idol Gives Back," Fox, 17.75 million viewers.
7. (8) "Dancing With The Stars" (Tuesday), ABC, 17.02 million viewers.
8. (6) "Desperate Housewives," ABC, 16.37 million viewers.
9. (20) "Without a Trace," CBS, 14.49 million viewers.
10. (14) "NCIS," CBS, 14.05 million viewers.
11. (23) "Criminal Minds," CBS, 13.32 million viewers.
12. (27) "CSI: NY," CBS, 12.38 million viewers.
13. (20) "60 Minutes," CBS, 12.17 million viewers.
14. (X) "Prelude to a Championship," CBS, 12.04 million viewers.
15. (16) "Survivor: Micronesia," CBS, 11.59 million viewers.
16. (27) "Hell's Kitchen," Fox, 11.21 million viewers.
17. (68) "Don't Forget The Lyrics," Fox, 10.9 million viewers.
18. (44) "Medium," NBC, 10.86 million viewers.
19. (23) "Samantha Who?," ABC, 10.42 million viewers.
20. (23) "Deal Or No Deal" (Monday), NBC, 10.22 million viewers.
Ratings
In Memory
Ollie Johnston
Ollie Johnston, the last of the "Nine Old Men" who animated "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," "Fantasia," "Bambi" and other classic Walt Disney films has died. He was 95.
Walt Disney lightheartedly dubbed his team of crack animators his "Nine Old Men," borrowing the phrase from President Franklin D. Roosevelt's description of the U.S. Supreme Court's members, who had angered the president by quashing many of his Depression-era New Deal programs.
Although most of Disney's men were in their 20s at the time, the name stuck with them for the rest of their lives.
Perhaps the two most accomplished of the nine were Johnston and his close friend Frank Thomas, who died in 2004 at age 92. The pair, who met as art students at Stanford University in the 1930s, were hired by Disney for $17 a week at a time when he was expanding the studio to produce full-length feature films. Both worked on the first of those features, 1937's "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs."
Johnston worked as an assistant animator on "Snow White," became an animation supervisor on "Fantasia" and "Bambi" and animator on "Pinocchio."
Johnston's other credits included "Cinderella," "Alice in Wonderland," "Peter Pan" "Lady and the Tramp," "Sleeping Beauty," "101 Dalmatians," "Mary Poppins," "The Jungle Book," "The Aristocats," "Robin Hood" and "The Rescuers."
Oliver Martin Johnston Jr. was born on Oct. 31, 1912, in Palo Alto, Calif., where his father was a professor at Stanford. He once noted that he and Thomas "were bound to be thrown together" at the university, as they were two of only six students in its art department at the time. When not in class, they painted landscapes and sold them at a local speakeasy for meal money.
He was also a major train enthusiast. The backyard of his Flintridge home boasted a hand-built miniature railroad, and Johnston restored and ran a full-size antique locomotive at a former vacation home in Julian, Calif.
Johnston's wife of 63 years, Marie Worthey, died in 2005. Johnston is survived by sons Ken and Rick and daughters-in-law Carolyn Johnston and Teya Priest Johnston. The Walt Disney Studios is planning a life celebration for Johnston. Funeral services will be private.
Ollie Johnston
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