'Best of TBH Politoons'
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Jim Hightower: WHO'LL REPRESENT REALITY (jimhightower.com)
Here's a statistic that George W, most presidential candidates, and the majority of Congress critters are not aware of, much less dealing with, even though this statistic affects millions of American families: $4 a gallon.
That's not for gasoline. That's what a gallon of milk is expected to cost by year's end.
Annalee Newitz: Carbon Offsets: The New Cure for Enviroguilt
Carbon offset fees may be new, but the underlying notion goes back to the Middle Ages, when the Catholic Church sold wealthy people indulgences to offset the spiritual cost of their sins.
RICHARD ROEPER: Anchor has nothing to fear from 'SNL' gig (suntimes.com)
How funny is it that some critics questioned the propriety of NBC's Brian Williams hosting "Saturday Night Live" -- but we're not hearing any negativity about a presidential candidate making a comedic cameo on the very same show.
Bryan Appleyard: Patrick Stewart: Keep on trekkin' (entertainment.timesonline.co.uk)
From the USS Enterprise to the London stage, Patrick Stewart has had a brilliant career. So how come he left the rave reviews till last?
Interview by Laura Barnett: Portrait of the artist: Herbie Hancock, jazz pianist (guardian.co.uk)
After two years spent studying engineering, I said: 'Who are you trying to kid?'
Jonathan Takiff: A 'Revival' for Creedence Clearwater's John Fogerty (popmatters.com)
How telling is it that John Fogerty has named his splendid new album "Revival" and is re-working some of his trademarked swampadelic licks in fresh yet familiar ways?
Rick Bentley: Redford says 'Lions for Lambs' isn't just another Iraq war movie (popmatters.com)
Actor and political activist Robert Redford learned a lifelong lesson when he was a teenager. "At 18, I went to the University of Colorado. I was asked to leave after a year. I went to Europe to study art," Redford says during an interview at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel. "I was living a very Bohemian life with a lot of other students. They would talk about politics all the time. And I had nothing to say. That's when I became determined to really read up about my country so I would have an answer for their questions."
Roger Ebert: "Blade Runner: The Final Cut" (4 stars)
In an earlier review of "Blade Runner," I wrote; "It looks fabulous, it uses special effects to create a new world of its own, but it is thin in its human story." This seems a strange complaint, given that so much of the movie concerns who is, and is not, human, and what it means to be human anyway.
Michele Hanson: Let's all follow the Queen's example: dress how you like and avoid needles, scalpels and elastic (guardian.co.uk)
Dress your own body up however you like and keep away from needles, scalpels and elastic. And next time I give advice, please pay attention.
David Bruce's Newest Free Download: The Funniest People in Families, Volume 4: 250 Anecdotes
Print: $8.20; Download: FREE. This book contains 250 anecdotes about friends and family, including this anecdote: When Ohio University student Kate Krushinski was in middle school, she had a German teacher whose last name was "Ball." Of course, in middle school many students call their male teachers "Mister" and address them by their last name. However, the German word for "Mister" is "Herr," and the German teacher made his students address him by his first name because he did not want them to call him "Herr Ball."
Reader Suggestion
Train Surfing
A real adrenal rush, terrifying and liberating at the same time
High Speed Train Surfing
Vic
(not quite in Alaska)
Thanks, Vic!
Reader Contribution
Re: Katzenklavier
Another picture:
Reader Comment
The Boss
Hey Marty... I sure wish I coulda been there! 'Born to Run' was my anthem for a LONG time back in 'The Day'...
The Boss rocks Dee-troit
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Mostly overcast and downright brisk for these parts.
OTOH, poor, dear old Dad had the first snowfall of the season to contend with.
"Stand Up for Heroes"
Bob Woodruff
In the darkest days, when ABC's Bob Woodruff was just beginning to recover from the Iraq roadside bombing that tore off part of his skull, drove shrapnel into his head and almost killed him, his wife says they told each other jokes to keep from falling apart.
Now the couple is using humor as a healing force again, this time in a high-profile benefit for wounded U.S. troops - a cause that has become a passion for Woodruff and his family. Conan O'Brien, Robin Williams and Lewis Black are just a few of the personalities scheduled to appear at the Wednesday night benefit for the Bob Woodruff Family Fund. And none other than Bruce Springsteen will provide musical entertainment.
"Stand Up for Heroes," a partnership with the New York Comedy Festival, is expected to net upwards of $2.5 million, organizers say, for a cause the family embraced just less than two years ago, when their world was shattered by that roadside bomb.
A major coup was getting Springsteen to perform. The singer took an early interest in Woodruff's plight, and sent a note of support while he was in his coma. Lee Woodruff decided to embellish on the note, telling her unresponsive husband - a huge Springsteen fan - that the Boss had promised to come perform for him and the troops when he awoke.
Bob Woodruff
Production Halted On 7 Shows
Writers Strike
Production of the hit show "Desperate Housewives" and at least six sitcoms filmed before live audiences will be halted as a result of the writers strike - developments that raised the stakes Tuesday in the walkout targeting movie studios and TV networks.
Producer Alexandra Cunningham said "Desperate Housewives" will stop production on Wednesday after running out of scripts. Shows that have already been completed won't last until Christmas, she said.
Sitcoms that will stop the cameras include "Back to You," starring Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton, which will not return from a planned hiatus, said Chris Alexander, a spokesman for 20th Century Fox Television.
Star Julia Louis-Dreyfus said production also stopped on her CBS show, "The New Adventures of Old Christine."
In addition, "Til Death," which airs on Fox, and "Rules of Engagement," "Two and a Half Men" and "The Big Bang Theory," all on CBS, will also end filming, according to people familiar with production of the shows who were not authorized to be quoted and requested anonymity.
Writers Strike
Author Wins U.S. Medal
Harper Lee
Resident George W. Bush awarded the highest U.S. civilian honor on Monday to two figures in the push for racial equality: former NAACP leader Benjamin Hooks and "To Kill a Mockingbird" author Harper Lee.
Hooks and Lee received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in a White House ceremony that also honored Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf and Cuban dissident Oscar Elias Biscet.
Other recipients included Nobel Prize-winning economist Gary Becker; Brian Lamb, co-founder of the C-SPAN public affairs cable network; former Illinois Republican Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Home-Wrecker); and Francis Collins, who led the Human Genome Project, the U.S.-led effort to map the human genome.
Harper Lee
MSGOP Talk Show
Rosie O'Donnell
Rosie O'Donnell, who famously clashed with a co-host on "The View," is close to being her own boss again.
The acid-tongued talk-show host whose dispute with Elisabeth Hasselbeck hastened her departure from ABC's daytime gabfest is reportedly in negotiations to host a prime-time talk show on MSNBC five days a week.
An NBC executive familiar with the discussions confirmed the two sides had talked, but cautioned that "we're far from a done deal." The executive spoke on condition of anonymity because the negotiations were ongoing.
The reports, which first surfaced in the New York Times, suggested O'Donnell would take over the 9 p.m. slot currently occupied by "Live with Dan Abrams." That would put her show in competition with CNN's "Larry King Live" and Fox News Channel's "Hannity & Colmes."
Rosie O'Donnell
Most Fans Paid $0 For Album
Radiohead
Radiohead let its fans decide how much to pay for a digital copy of the band's latest release, "In Rainbows," and more than half of those who downloaded the album chose to pay nothing, according to a study by a consumer research firm.
Some 62 percent of the people who downloaded "In Rainbows" in a four-week period last month opted not to pay the British alt-rockers a cent. But the remaining 38 percent voluntarily paid an average of $6, according to the study by comScore Inc.
Between Oct. 1 and Oct. 29, about 1.2 million people visited the Web site the band set up for fans to download the album, comScore said Monday. The research firm did not say how many people in its study actually bought the album.
Radiohead
Honored On Vegas Marquees
Robert Goulet
Robert Goulet's name appeared for years on the marquees of the Las Vegas Strip and will be there again the day of his funeral.
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority has asked hotel-casinos to honor the late singer and actor by featuring his name on their marquees Friday.
Services will be held at The Shrine of the Most Holy Redeemer in Las Vegas. Among those invited are Steve Lawrence, Eydie Gorme, Michael and Kirk Douglas, Suzanne Somers, Barry Manilow, Celine Dion and Wayne Newton. The public is also invited.
Robert Goulet
Disputed Book Pulled From Web Site
Oprah
Oprah Winfrey has pulled a discredited children's book, Forrest Carter's "The Education of Little Tree," from a list of recommended titles on her Web site, blaming an archival "error" for including a work considered the literary hoax of a white supremacist.
First published in 1976, "The Education of Little Tree" was supposedly the real-life story of an orphaned boy raised by his Cherokee grandparents; the book became a million seller and sentimental favorite. In 1991, the American Booksellers Association gave "Little Tree" its first ever ABBY award, established "to honor the `hidden treasures' that ABA bookstore members most enjoyed recommending."
But suspicions about Carter, who died in 1979, began in his lifetime, and were raised significantly in the early 1990s, not long after the book won the ABBY. Carter was identified as Asa Earl Carter, a member of the Ku Klux Klan and speechwriter for former Alabama governor George Wallace who wrote Wallace's infamous vow: "Segregation today! Segregation tomorrow! Segregation forever!"
Winfrey had long been aware of the book's background and has acknowledged she once was a fan. She discussed "Little Tree" on her TV show in 1994, recalling a "loving story about a boy growing up with his grandfather and learning about nature and speaking to the trees. And it's very spiritual."
When Winfrey learned the truth about Carter, she felt she "had to take the book off my shelf."
Oprah
Returning To Sports TV
Dennis Miller
Dennis Miller recalled Internet polls during his stint on "Monday Night Football" in which half the respondents loved him and the other half hated him.
The comedian is venturing back into sports television, a pairing that evokes memories of his much-talked-about two-year run in the football broadcast booth. "Sports Unfiltered with Dennis Miller," a talk show on Versus, which was to debut Tuesday night.
The new program will in many ways be a sports version of his old HBO talk show, "Dennis Miller Live," which aired from 1994-2002. A typical one-hour episode will include a monologue, two guests and some phone calls from viewers. Miller also will take a page from "The Daily Show" and use a field reporter.
Dennis Miller
Paparazzo Sues
Keanu Reeves
A photographer sued Keanu Reeves, accusing the actor of hitting him with his Porsche in a not-so-excellent encounter in March. The lawsuit said Reeves struck Alison Silva on March 19 and alleges that Silva suffered shock and serious injuries. The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, seeks unspecified damages.
According to reports at the time of the accident, Reeves was leaving a parking space in a residential area near Los Verdes County Golf Course, about 30 miles south of downtown Los Angeles.
An attorney for Reeves said then that Silva was blocking Reeves' way and that if there was a collision, it was not hard enough to injure him.
Keanu Reeves
Finds Woolly Mammoth Tooth
Kaleb Kidd
Gary Kidd had a pretty good idea that what his 3-year-old grandson had found was no rock, but the tooth of a woolly mammoth. That's because he had found one himself nine years ago. Kaleb Kidd was chasing squirrels Monday at a family friend's property near La Crosse when he spotted what looked like an unusual rock.
Next stop was the Mississippi Valley Archaeology Center at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, which confirmed that it was, indeed, the tooth of a mammoth.
Connie Arzigian, the center's lab director, said it could be 10,000 to 30,000 years old. It weighs 2 pounds and measures 6 inches long and 3 inches wide.
"When we dropped it down at the art gallery, he was crying. He didn't want to let it go," his granddad said. "At first he thought it was just a rock. Now he's all excited."
Kaleb Kidd
Reportedly Arrested
Rebecca De Mornay
Rebecca De Mornay was arrested the night before Halloween for investigation of driving under the influence of alcohol, People magazine reported Tuesday.
The "Risky Business" actress was stopped for a traffic violation in Beverly Hills when officers smelled booze on her breath, according to People. Authorities told the magazine her blood alcohol level was .09 percent, above the legal limit of .08.
"She was very cooperative during the arrest," Lt. Tony Lee, a police spokesman, told the magazine.
Rebecca De Mornay
Prime Time Nielsens
Ratings
Prime-time viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen Media Research for Oct. 29-Nov. 4. 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. (2) "Dancing with the Stars" (Monday), ABC, 21.43 million viewers.
2. (3) "Grey's Anatomy," ABC, 19.31 million viewers.
3. (16) "60 Minutes," CBS, 19.24 million viewers.
4. (1) "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," CBS, 19.06 million viewers.
5. (6) "Dancing with the Stars" (Tuesday), ABC, 18.86 million viewers.
6. (4) "Desperate Housewives," ABC, 18.58 million viewers.
7. (5) "House," Fox, 17.30 million viewers.
8. (8) NFL Football (Dallas Cowboys at Philadelphia Eagles), NBC, 16.45 million viewers.
9. (7) "NCIS," CBS, 16.33 million viewers.
10. (10) "Criminal Minds," CBS, 14.94 million viewers.
11. (8) "CSI: Miami," CBS, 14.85 million viewers.
12. (11) "Without a Trace," CBS, 14.58 million viewers.
13. (11) "Survivor: China," CBS, 14.44 million viewers.
14. (13) "Samantha Who?" ABC, 14.18 million viewers.
15. (18) "Cold Case," CBS, 13.89 million viewers.
16. (14) "Two And a Half Men," CBS, 13.73 million viewers.
17. (16) "Amazing Race 12," CBS, 13.72 million viewers.
18. (14) "CSI: NY," CBS, 13.40 million viewers.
19. (18) "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," ABC, 13.04 million viewers.
20. (27) "Sunday Night NFL Pre-Kick," NBC, 12.31 million viewers.
Ratings
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