'TBH Politoons'
Reader Contribution
Recommended Readings
Reader Comment
Funny/Scary
This guy needs to move back to the middle east where some church-run
government will protect him from all those mean scary ol' women. Be sure
and read the forum. Some of these guys didn't pay attention in English
class.
Kip
********
"All national institutions of churches appear to me no other than human
inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and
profit." - Thomas Paine
Reader Comment
PBS Listings
Thanks for keeping this site so cool. I always enjoy reading it.
Only one suggestion, how about adding the PBS listings.
Thanks.
John
Thanks, John!
There is a complication in trying to include PBS listings - each station is programmed individually - there is no 'master-listing' for their schedule.
For example, here we get 4 PBS stations -
KVCR (24, San Berdo), KCET (28, Los Angeles), KOCE (50, Orange County), and KLCS (58, Los Angeles) 'over-the-air'.
Tonight they offer:
KVCR - 'Alone In The Wilderness', followed by 'Nature'
KCET - 'National Geographic', followed by 'Great Performances'
KOCE - 'Secrets of the Pharoahs', followed by more 'Secrets of the Pharoahs'
KLCS - 'Globe Trekker', followed by 'Touching The Void'
Or, another example would be several weeks back PBS had a 'special' about Saudi Arabia.
This program was completely blacked-out in here on all 4 stations. Not even mentioned in the local TV Guide.
Anyway, I'll try to puzzle out some way to list some of their offered highlights.
Reader Suggestions
Fun Sites
Purple Gene Reviews
'Man on Fire'
Purple Genes' review of the semi summer smash movie "Man on Fire" (2004):
My brother, JD, used to admonish me not to see a movie without first reading the REVIEWS! He would say, "There's a lot of Shit out there - don't waste your time on a TURKEY"! Well, needless to say, I have found that it is my lot in life to willfully walk into the Cinema - purposefully avoiding the better judgement of the Pundits - and to expose myself to the nihilism of the UNKNOWN ...however horrible....with that in mind, I - without pause - Sat down in my "Home Theater" - popcorn in hand - and pushed the Pay per View button on my Comcast Cable Remote and for $3.99.........Denzel Washington in "Man On Fire".
From the opening scenes of "Man on Fire" (directed by Tony Scott) - I felt a gritty grainy technicolor caper coming - the camera angles were good but the editing was immediately tedious and annoying....kind of like Fincher's "Se7en" with "Traffic" over tones!!!!
Enter the shoulder slumping, tight lipped and depressed lookin Denzel - he the bible reading, alcoholic, former counter insurgant guild ridden "B' rated bodyguard...coming to Mexico to try to get his suicidal ass back to work watching over the young daughter (Dakota Fanning) of a rich mexican industrialist (Marc Anthony).
Establishing the relationship between the young girl and Denzel took two allegorical items.......Linda Ronstadt and a 9mm pistol......let me explain......Creasy (Denzel) drives Pita (Dakota Fanning ) to private school ...along the way she peppers him with question after question ......being the scowling loner who doesn't want to talk - he puts her in the back seat....she tells her mom Lisa (Radha Mitchell) and she gets mad at Creasy....That night....Creasy gets drunk and keeps hearing Linda Ronstadt singing "Blue Bayou" and puts a 9mm pistol to his head to end it all...well the bullet mis- fires and Creasy gets a new attitude and becomes Pitas' swimming coach......and starts to like her and protect her and then the whole movie goes ....STEVEN SEAGAL!
Pita gets kidnapped while Creasy is waiting for her at a piano lesson........he takes out 2 bad guys trying to save her and he gets shot up........when the 10 million dollars hostage trade for the girl goes wrong...peta is assumed to be DEAD.......Here I rename the movie "Out for Justice - Above the Law".......Creasy becomes a one man deathsquad, revenge robot, criminal mexican cop sniffing, fingers get cut off, cars blow up with bad guys in them - maniac..... we've got rocket launchers and granades and multi-clip AKs (where did he get all this shit) ....Creasy walking into plazas and taking out Hombres...and the people just watch (Giancarlo Giannini, Christopher Walken and Mickey Rourke had roles in this movie).....well all this carnage has to come to a CLIMAX.....It turns out that almost every Mexican (including Pitas' dad) is in on the conspiracy and it comes down to Creasy finding the Head of the BAD GUYS - "The Voice"........Creasy finds out that Pita is still alive and so he manages to find the "Voices' " brother and arranges a trade .......Little Girl for Big Bad Guy!
Of course Creasy, because he has had such a miserable life, has to die the hero in the hands of the Mexican Mafia only after he forces them to give Pita back to her Mom.......mortally wounded, mission completed - he slumps over and dies to strains of Blue Bayou...."I'm goin' back someday, come what may, to Blue Bayou...................."
Purple Gene gives "Man on Fire" 5 bullet casings out of 10 for a mildly amusing and extremely well armed movie!!
Purple Gene
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny, clear & cold.
Was watching the BBC News on KCET (PBS for LA) tonight when about 19 minutes in Katty Kay handed off to the guy back in London. We hear 2 words out of his mouth when a promo for later programs dropped in with a 2 minute counter visible.
The promo ended & there was a BBC bumper & a return to Katty. WTF?
Gotta wonder what they were censoring - what were we not allowed to see? And who's decision was it?
Damn liberal media.
Enlists Literati to Fight AIDS
Nadine Gordimer
Novelist Nadine Gordimer decided that if rock stars could stage "huge gigs" for worthy causes, writers could do the same and she launched on Tuesday a book of stories by 21 of the world's most distinguished authors in support of AIDS victims.
The 81-year old Gordimer contacted 20 colleagues around the world and no one refused to contribute a short story to the anthology, "Telling Tales," a first, to raise funds for AIDS sufferers in her native South Africa.
Flanked by fellow Nobel laureates John Updike and Salman Rushdie, Gordimer led a signing ceremony at the United Nations to launch the tales from Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Susan Sontag, Guenter Grass, Margaret Atwood, Woody Allen and Arthur Miller.
Other writers are Chinua Achebe, Hanif Kureishi, Claudio Magris, Esa Achebe, Hanif Kureishi, Claudio Magris, Es'kia Mphahlele, Njabulo Ndebele, Kenzaburo Oe, Amos Oz, Jose Saramago, Ingo Schulze, Paul Theroux, Michel Tournier and Christa Wolf as well as Gordimer, Updike and Rushdie.
Gordimer, who serves as a goodwill ambassador for the U.N. Development Program, said particularly shocking statistics were the number of AIDS orphans in South Africa -- one in every five children by next year and a total of 18 million by 2010.
Nadine Gordimer
Wedding News
Zolten - Jillette
Magician Penn Jillette married his longtime girlfriend during an impromptu ceremony at a Las Vegas wedding chapel, his spokesman said Monday.
Jillette, 49, the speaking half of the Penn & Teller duo, tied the knot with Emily Zolten, 38, a television producer on Nov. 23, according to the marriage license.
Zolten - Jillette
Watch the wedding (look in the far right column, near the bottom)
Ex-Nanny Sues Imus
Nichole C. Mallette
A former nanny who worked for Don Imus has sued the radio and television personality, claiming he wrongfully fired her, chased her off his New Mexico ranch in the middle of the night, and then trashed her on his radio show.
Nichole C. Mallette, 24, says in court papers that Imus apparently became upset about a small knife that she carried in a sheath on her belt, and about a cap pistol she had brought to the ranch for his 6-year-old son.
Mallette is seeking unspecified damages, saying she was wrongfully terminated, defamed and subjected to intentional emotional distress. Her lawsuit names Imus, his wife, NBC, MSNBC and Westwood One.
Nichole C. Mallette
Nanny Sues Imus Over Ranch Wrangle @ TheSmokingGun.com
Ends 74-Game Win Streak
Ken Jennings
"Jeopardy" whiz Ken Jennings finally met his match after a 74-game run as a pop culture icon who made brainiacs cool, beaten by a woman whose own 8-year-old daughter asked for his autograph when they first met.
As someone who always has prepared his own tax returns, Jennings was tripped up in Final Jeopardy by this answer: Most of this firm's 70,000 seasonal white-collar employees work only four months a year.
The correct reply: "What is H&R Block?" But Jennings guessed Federal Express, ending his remarkable run as the biggest winner in TV game show history with a haul of $2,520,700.
Having an accountant-friend who's nearly impossible to reach at tax time paid off big-time for his conqueror, California real estate agent Nancy Zerg, who ousted the baby-faced killer competitor in the episode airing Tuesday.
Ken Jennings
Star on Hollywood Walk of Fame
Godzilla
Fifty years after he first lumbered from the sea to breathe fire, trample cities and thrill generations of filmgoers, Japan's most famous movie monster, Godzilla, was honored on Monday with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Accepting the honor on behalf of the self-proclaimed "King of the Monsters" was the 5-foot-4-inch-tall Japanese actor who plays Godzilla on screen, Tsutomo Kitagawa. The actor donned the fearsome rubber suit he wears in his latest picture, "Godzilla Final Wars," which opens on Dec. 4 in Japan.
Godzilla
To Go on the Block Next Year
Kennedy Knickknacks
Lovers of Kennedy lore will get a rare chance at owning some common possessions of late President John F. Kennedy and his family in an auction of art, furniture and other effects from their homes.
Family photos, chairs, tables, toys and glassware as well as artwork from Kennedy homes in Hyannis Port and Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts; Peapack, New Jersey; Middleburg, Virginia; New York City and from their years in the White House are included in the Feb. 15-17 sale at Sotheby's.
The property was consigned by Caroline Kennedy, who will donate a portion of the proceeds from more than 600 lots to the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation.
Kennedy Knickknacks
Hosts Health Care Fundraiser
Patty Duke
Patty Duke was expecting a nice party when she appeared as honorary chairwoman of the Thanksgiving weekend fund-raiser for the Kootenai Medical Center, where she had successful heart bypass surgery just three weeks earlier.
The gala raised $167,000 to enhance health care services in the county.
Duke, 57, lives in the area with her husband, Mike Pearce.
Patty Duke
Official Patty Duke Website
Joining 'Boston Legal'
Candice Bergen
In her first series regular role since her Emmy-winning turn on CBS' "Murphy Brown," Candice Bergen has joined the cast of ABC's freshman drama "Boston Legal."
The David E. Kelley Prods. series centers on the workings of Crane, Poole & Schmidt, a high-end civil law firm.
Bergen will play the company's name partner Shirley Schmidt. William Shatner stars as Denny Crane, while Larry Miller recurs as Edwin Poole.
Candice Bergen
Still Kicking
Tina Turner
Tina Turner, who has just celebrated her 65th birthday, is enjoying her quiet life in Switzerland but reportedly has no plans to retire from performing.
The rock diva, who four years ago completed her final world tour, still gives live performances in Switzerland, her latest last Saturday night the day after turning 65, the Swiss weekly Schweizer Illustrierte said Tuesday. She reportedly has no plans to leave her adopted homeland in the Alps.
Tina Turner
Bahraini Royal Ends Made-For-TV Marriage
'The Princess and the Marine'
The five-year marriage is over between a former Marine and a young Bahraini royal whose story provided the basis for a made-for-television movie, "The Princess and the Marine."
"It was what she wanted," Jason Johnson told the Las Vegas Review-Journal of the divorce he and Meriam Al-Khalifa filed for Nov. 17, the day after their fifth wedding anniversary. It calls them "incompatible in marriage."
Johnson, who had sneaked his beloved into the United States and was court-martialed over the relationship, cast the tale as a "Romeo and Juliet" love affair that disintegrated amid Las Vegas nightlife, opposition by his wife's family, and at least one death threat.
'The Princess and the Marine'
Ex-Navy Diver Acquitted of Stalking
Sheryl Crow
A former Navy diver who says he drinks 2 gallons (7.5 liters) of water a day so he can communicate telepathically with Sheryl Crow was acquitted on Tuesday of stalking the Grammy Award winner.
After deliberating less than three hours, the jury rejected the prosecution's contention that Ambrose Kappos, 38, had a dangerous obsession with Crow. Jurors found him not guilty of stalking her when he broke into a ballroom where the singer was rehearsing for a benefit last year.
Crow's sister testified that she received phone calls from Kappos at her home and office in Tennessee starting in June 2002. She said Kappos asked her to arrange a meeting with her famous sibling.
The performer's father, Wendell, also testified that Kappos showed up at his Missouri home and said he "was the soulmate for my daughter, Sheryl, and wanted to make contact with her."
Kappos, who was discharged from the Navy for medical reasons in June 2003 after 16 years of service, testified on Monday that despite an expired order by the Navy to stay away from Crow, he said he felt he had "to do anything I could to send a message" to Crow "telepathically about the way I felt about her."
Sheryl Crow
Russia's Buddhists Trudge Through Snow
Dalai Lama
Several thousand Buddhists in southern Russia braved heavy snowfalls and freezing temperatures to see the Dalai Lama on the second day of a long-awaited visit, as China slammed Moscow's decision to allow the trip.
The revered 69-year-old had arrived in the sleepy province in the northwest border of the Caspian Sea on Monday, the first time in eight years that Russia had allowed him on its territory.
The Dalai Lama blessed this monastery outside Elista, known locally as Khurul and built on a site that he blessed on a visit to 1991, as he began the first of at least two sessions on Buddhist teachings.
Dalai Lama
Kills Man In Washington
Lava Lamp
A 24-year-old man who placed a lava lamp on a hot stovetop was killed when it exploded and sent a shard of glass into his heart, police said.
"Why on earth he was heating a lava lamp on the stove, we don't know," Kent Police spokesman Paul Petersen said Monday.
After the lamp exploded, Quinn apparently stumbled into his bedroom, where he died, Petersen said.
Police found no evidence of drug or alcohol use.
Lava Lamp
Adds Creedence with Fantasy Records Buy
Concord Records
Jazz label Concord Records, riding high with Ray Charles' last release, has sealed its acquisition of Fantasy Records, whose extensive holdings include the Creedence Clearwater Revival catalog.
Details of the purchase -- which includes Berkeley, Calif.-based Fantasy's huge library of masters, its studios and its publishing interests -- were not divulged. Sources say Beverly Hills-based Concord, which is owned by Act III Communications, a firm headed by TV producer Norman Lear and his partner Hal Gaba, outbid other suitors for Fantasy with an offer of more than $80 million.
Fantasy, which was co-owned by film producer Saul Zaentz, boasts one of the last available storehouses of valuable independently held masters. Over the years it purchased the holdings of such top jazz, R&B and folk labels as Prestige, Milestone, Riverside, Contemporary, Debut, Pablo, Specialty, Stax, Takoma and Kicking Mule.
Concord Records
Officials Stumped
Whale Beachings
Scientists and wildlife officials continued to search Tuesday for what may have caused a series of mass strandings which left 169 whales and dolphins dead on Australian and New Zealand beaches in the past three days.
By Tuesday, 96 long-finned pilot whales and bottle-nosed dolphins had died after the first beaching Sunday at King Island, midway between the Australian mainland and the southern island d and the southern island state of Tasmania.
Tasmanian wildlife officer Shane Hunniford said another 19 long-finned pilot whales had died in a separate beaching on Monday on Maria Island, 37 miles east of the Tasmanian capital Hobart.
For the rest, Whale Beachings
Cries "Con"
Bill Maher
Bill Maher has taken to the courts to say he's the victim of politically incorrect behavior, not the other way around.
The HBO funnyman, who was slapped with a palimony lawsuit earlier this month by an ex-girlfriend, claims he is the patsy of a seasoned extortionist and not an abusive jerk.
In papers filed Nov. 23 in Los Angeles Superior Court, Maher says via his lawyers that the accusations are bogus. He describes himself as a "confirmed bachelor" who "never promised to marry [Johnsen] or to have children with her."
Maher also says he is just the latest in a string of victims who have been pegged by Johnsen as easy-money marks. He cited one "unscrupulous scheme" in which his ex falsely accused a former fling in Miami of rape and kidnapping in 1997 in hopes of scoring big cash.
For the rest, Bill Maher
Death of Rare Bird Leaves Future Uncertain
Po'ouli
One of the rarest birds on Earth came closer to being wiped out - if not already extinct - with the death of one of the last three believed to exist, officials said.
The male po'ouli bird died in captivity late Friday, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Tuesday.
The rare Hawaiian honeycreeper had been kept at the Maui Bird Conservation Center in Olinda since it was captured for breeding on Sept. 9. Biologists failed to capture a mate for the aging bird, which was found in the Hanawi Natural Area Reserve.
The remaining two po'ouli, believed to be a male and a female, haven't been seen for nearly a year. They might have died, moved to another area or missed by wildlife officials.
For more, Po'ouli
IFP Independent Spirit Awards
Nominees
Winners will be announced at the IFP Independent Spirit Awards ceremony on Saturday, Feb. 26 in Santa Monica. Kudocast will air live on IFC.
List of nominees:
FEATURE FILM
"Baadasssss!" Mario Van Peebles, producer "Kinsey," Gail Mutrux, producer "Maria Full of Grace," Paul S. Mezey, producer "Primer," Shane Carruth, producer "Sideways," Michael London, producer
ACTOR
Kevin Bacon, "The Woodsman" Jeff Bridges, "The Door in the Floor" Jamie Foxx, "Redemption" Paul Giamatti, "Sideways" Liam Neeson, "Kinsey"
ACTRESS
Kimberly Elise, "Woman Thou Art Loosed" Vera Farmiga, "Down to the Bone" Judy Marte, "On the Outs" Catalina Sandino Moreno, "Maria Full of Grace" Kyra Sedgwick, "Cavedweller"
FIRST SCREENPLAY
Zach Braff, "Garden State" Shane Carruth, "Primer" Rodney Evans, "Brother to Brother" Joshua Marston, "Maria Full of Grace" Mario F. de la Vega, "Robbing Peter"
Nominees
Prime-Time Nielsen
Ratings
Prime-time viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen Media Research for Nov. 22 to Nov. 28. Top 20 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) "Desperate Housewives," ABC, 27.2 million viewers.
2. (X) "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Thanksgiving," CBS, 24.4 million viewers.
3. (3) "CSI: Miami," CBS, 22.1 million viewers.
4. (X) "Without a Trace Thanksgiving," CBS, 19.8 million viewers.
5. (9) "Two and a Half Men," CBS, 18.9 million viewers.
6. (7) "Everybody Loves Raymond," CBS, 18.5 million viewers.
7. (16) "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," ABC, 18.2 million viewers.
8. (13) "60 Minutes," CBS, 17.7 million viewers.
9. (11) "Cold Case," CBS, 17.5 million viewers.
10. (X) "Survivor: Vanuatu Thanksgiving," CBS, 16.5 million viewers.
11. (8) "NFL Monday Night Football: New England at Kansas City ," ABC, 15.6 million viewers.
12. (15) "Law & Order: SVU," NBC, 15.2 million viewers.
13. (16) "NCIS," CBS, 14.7 million viewers.
14. (X) "The Seinfeld Story," NBC, 14.1 million viewers.
15. (X) "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" Friday, CBS, 13.7 million viewers.
16. (26) "CBS Sunday Movie: When Angels Come to Town," CBS, 13.7 million viewers.
17. (27) "Boston Legal," ABC, 13.6 million viewers.
18. (12) "CSI: NY," CBS, 13.5 million viewers.
19. (X) "The Apprentice," NBC, 12.9 million viewers.
20. (18) "Law & Order," NBC, 12.6 million viewers.
Ratings
In Memory
David Bailey
David Bailey, a star of the NBC soap opera "Passions," died in an accidental drowning, the show's producers said Tuesday. He was 71.
Bailey died Nov. 25, the show said in a statement.
The veteran actor played ruthless Alistair Crane, who was in the "Passions" story since its debut in 1999 but was only heard and never seen until Bailey took the role and gave it a face in September.
Bailey is survived by his wife, Yvonne Bailey of Philadelphia, and a son, Xander Bailey, of Los Angeles.
David Bailey
