'Best of TBH Politoons'
M Is FOR MASHUP - December 5th 2007
Chemical Bastards=Two New Comps!
By DJ Useo
December is turning out to be a lucrative month for you bootleg lovers. Many incredible collections have popped up, with even more lurking in the wings.
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Thomas Casten: Bill Weak Without Energy Recycling Provision (abqjournal.com)
Energy recycling works by using energy that would normally be wasted. For instance, when manufacturers create energy-intensive products like metals and glass, they emit loads of waste heat, resulting in smokestack after smokestack of untapped power. Converting that heat into clean electricity or steam- that is, recycling it- would dramatically improve efficiency, simultaneously reducing our country's energy prices and carbon footprint.
Jim Hightower: CASHIERING CHARLIE PRINCE (jimhightower.com)
We're told by the Powers That Be that CEO's of major corporations are the best of the best in America's economy - studly geniuses who are worth every measly million of their princely paychecks. It's...
Richard Roeper: New trend in charity: giving winnings back (suntimes.com)
It's always a feel-good moment when somebody wins the Jumbo Grand Prize at a charity raffle -- and then gives the prize right back to the worthy cause.
Play that funky glockenspiel (guardian.co.uk)
He gets his lyrics from science books, loves a good whistle and took up music at the age of just four. Laura Barton enters the weird world of Andrew Bird.
Led Zeppelin: Were they the greatest band of all time? (telegraph.co.uk)
The year: 1971. The scene: the front room of a house in a suburb of Birmingham, heartland of heavy rock. Two adolescent boys are alone in the house, and they're doing what comes naturally to adolescent boys when they are left alone together: they're playing records. In particular, they are playing the newly released album, Led Zeppelin IV.
Chris Riemenschneider: Either punk's latest sellout or rock's next big political band (Star Tribune [Minneapolis]; Posted on Popmatters.com)
You'd have to be incredibly cynical about rock's potential to change the world-as cynical as John Lydon about the Sex Pistols, or an Exxon exec about Al Gore-not to buy into the urgency and passion that kicks off the new Against Me! album...
STEVE YOUNG: Need a Modern Day Bob Hope? Try Al Franken (huffingtonpost.com)
Last week Bill O'Reilly went to Afghanistan last week and came back decrying that "the USO has sent very few famous people to visit the troops in Afghanistan." ... But if you're one of the Folks who gets all your news from Fox and The Factor, it might come as a surprise that many of those Bill despises have laid the groundwork for his visit to Afghanistan.
Andy Fogle: Review of "Undead TV: Essays on Buffy the Vampire Slayer" by Elana Levine, Lisa Parks (popmatters.com)
Intellectual, scholarly, and academic to a fault, the language here is often impenetrably fluffed (a truly frustrating paradox), and the ideas generally unfocused.
David Bruce: Wise Up! Good Deeds (athensnews.com)
After the death of her husband, Fred "Sonic" Smith, punk rocker Patti Smith was understandably devastated. One person who helped her to move on was Beat poet Allen Ginsberg, who telephoned her and advised, "Let go of the spirit of the departed and continue your life's celebration." He felt that performing would be good for her and invited her to go with him to Ann Arbor to read their poetry at a benefit to raise money for the Jewel Heart, a Tibetan Buddhist organization. Before extending the invitation to Ms. Smith, Mr. Ginsberg had already sold out all 4,000 seats available, so he wasn't inviting Ms. Smith to perform so he could get a big audience; instead, his invitation was one of compassion and generosity.
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and much warmer than seasonal.
Goes To The Holy Land
Banksy
Graffiti artist Banksy is trying to bring cheer and boost tourism in Bethlehem this Christmas with a series of subversive murals in the town revered as Jesus' birthplace.
The elusive street artist has painted six provocative new images -- including a dove of peace strapped with a bulletproof vest and a young girl with pigtails frisking an Israeli soldier -- on buildings around the West Bank town.
Banksy, who has achieved cult status for his edgy satirical images, has also converted a fast food shop opposite Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity into an art gallery showing work by artists from the Palestinian territories and abroad.
Bethlehem residents say military checkpoints and Israel's West Bank barrier, which cuts into Palestinian land, is stifling tourism and damaging Bethlehem's economy.
Banksy
Breaks His Standup Record
Dave Chappelle
Dave Chappelle has broken his own Laugh Factory endurance record.
The 34-year-old comedian topped his record of six hours and seven minutes, set in mid-April, by taking to the stage Sunday and telling jokes for six hours and 12 minutes.
"Dave was determined to keep his record because he recently heard that Dane Cook was planning on trying to break (his) record," club owner Jamie Masada said Monday.
Masada said Cook held a record of three hours and 50 minutes in early April. The mark had stood at two hours and 41 minutes, set by Richard Pryor in 1980.
Dave Chappelle
Rescued Boy
Manuel Jesus Cordova Soberanes
An illegal immigrant who rescued a 9-year-old after the boy's mother died in a car accident in the southern Arizona desert was honored Tuesday by U.S. and Mexican officials at a border crossing.
Manuel Jesus Cordova Soberanes, 26, stood by shyly with his mother and stepfather as officials talked about his efforts to save Christopher Buchleitner of Rimrock, Ariz., on Thanksgiving.
Cordova was two days into his journey to Arizona from Mexico when he spotted the boy, alone and injured in the desert. His leg was scraped up, he was dressed in shorts despite the desert cold and his mother had just been killed when their van went over a cliff. The boy crawled out and went looking for help.
Cordova gave the boy his sweater, fed him chocolate and cookies and built a bonfire. As the boy slept, Cordova kept watch and tended the fire.
Manuel Jesus Cordova Soberanes
Honored In New Mexico
Shirley MacLaine
Shirley MacLaine has dozens of awards to her name, including an Oscar, but she says an honor at the Santa Fe Film Festival topped them all.
"Of all the awards I've gotten all over the world - and I have been in this business a long time - this means more to me because I'm being awarded this in a place that I seriously and deeply love," she told an audience of about 400 on Saturday night
MacLaine's honor was bestowed by New Mexico Women in Film, which cited her career achievement and commitment to advancing the role of women in the industry.
Shirley MacLaine
Takes Up La Scala Baton
Daniel Barenboim
Twice blocked by striking musicians and stagehands, Daniel Barenboim makes his debut as La Scala's principal visiting conductor Friday night with a gala premiere of "Tristan und Isolde."
Opening the season with Wagner on Verdi turf might seem a provocation. But Barenboim's six-season arrangement with La Scala will be an exercise in cross-fertilizing Italian and German operatic traditions as he wings between Milan and Berlin, where he is the Staatsoper's music director.
This season, Barenboim will conduct "Tristan" and Prokofiev's treatment of Dostoevsky's "The Gambler," as well perform the Beethoven sonatas for piano. The mixing of styles will reach a peak when La Scala and the Staatsoper execute a major co-production of Wagner's Ring Cycle in 2010-11.
Daniel Barenboim
Gives Smashed Guitar To Smithsonian
Garth Brooks
Garth Brooks donated a smashed guitar to the Smithsonian Institution on Tuesday, but the country-music superstar turned into a wide-eyed tourist when he saw the company he would be keeping.
Wearing his signature black cowboy hat, the singer eyed a pink outfit worn by Patsy Cline and Judy Garland's ruby red slippers from "The Wizard of Oz" before signing over his patched-up guitar, a Stetson hat and a gold record to the Smithsonian's Museum of American History.
"I always thought that when this happened you'd feel like Elvis, and I don't," said Brooks, who has largely retired from performing. "It's funny being the person that's in here, because never, ever do you think you can measure up to the people who are already in here."
Garth Brooks
Denies Driving Under Influence
Scott Weiland
Scott Weiland was arrested for driving under the influence of a drug after he crashed his car, but his publicist says it was a minor accident and denies the allegations.
The Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver singer, who has a history of drug problems, was driving on a state highway Nov. 21 when he had the accident.
The singer was arrested after an officer noticed he showed "signs of impairment" and failed field sobriety tests, according to a police report obtained by the celebrity site TMZ.com.
Weiland, 40, was taken to the Van Nuys Jail where he refused to take a blood or urine test, according to the police report. He was booked and released on $40,000 bail. His next court appearance was set for Dec. 13.
Scott Weiland
Sue Drug Maker
Quaids
Dennis Quaid and his wife sued the makers of heparin Tuesday after their newborn twins were inadvertently given massive doses of the blood thinner at a hospital.
The product liability lawsuit, filed in Chicago, seeks more than $50,000 in damages. It claims that Baxter Healthcare Corp., based in Deerfield, Ill., was negligent in packaging different doses of the product in similar vials with blue backgrounds. The lawsuit also says the company should have recalled the large-dosage vials after overdoses killed three children at an Indianapolis hospital last year.
The Quaids didn't sue Cedars-Sinai, which acknowledged after the news broke that a "preventable error" had resulted in three patients receiving vials containing 10,000 units per milliliter of heparin instead of vials with a concentration of 10 units per milliliter.
The heparin was "unreasonably dangerous" as it was packaged and sold because both the small and large dosage vials had labels with blue backgrounds when the vials "should have been completely distinguishable (by) size and shape," the lawsuit argued.
Quaids
Sets Two New Records
Rolls-Royce
The world's oldest surviving Rolls-Royce revved up two new records on Monday when a private British collector paid 3.5 million pounds ($7.22 million) for it at auction.
The price makes the veteran vehicle not only the most ever paid for a pre-1905 car but also the most for a Rolls-Royce.
The previous record for a veteran car was the 1.76 million pounds paid for an 1884 De Dion Bouton, while that for a Rolls-Royce was the 1.48 million pounds paid for a 1912 Silver Ghost Double Pullman Limousine
Built in 1904, car 20154, a small 10 horsepower open-topped two-seater, is only the fourth vehicle produced by the landmark cooperation between Charles Rolls and Henry Royce and the oldest one still running.
Rolls-Royce
Returns To Wednesday
`Law & Order'
"Law & Order" is settling back into its longtime Wednesday home next month, paired with sister series "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," NBC announced Monday.
A two-hour episode will kick off the 9 p.m. EST Jan. 2 midseason return of "Law & Order," which will move to 10 p.m. EST the following week when spin-off "Criminal Intent" joins the schedule in the 9 p.m. EST slot.
`Law & Order'
Another Unwitting Cast Member Files Lawsuit
"Borat"
The creators of the hit film "Borat" were sued again on Tuesday, this time by a driving instructor seen in the comedy admonishing the fake Kazakh reporter for yelling insults at other drivers.
Michael Psenicska was duped into participating in the film after it was described to him as a "documentary about the integration of foreign people into the American way of life," he said in a lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court.
Psenicska said he was paid $500 in cash to give Borat a driving lesson. He described the experience as "surreal," saying Cohen drove erratically down residential streets, drank alcohol and yelled to a female pedestrian he would pay her $10 for "sexy time."
The lawsuit seeks $400,000 in actual damages and additional punitive damages for misleading Psenicska and for emotional harm he continues to suffer. Psenicska said if he had known the true nature of the film, he never would have participated.
"Borat"
Remains Found
Arctic Reptile
Remains of a bus-sized prehistoric "monster" reptile found on a remote Arctic island may be a new species never before recorded by science, researchers said Tuesday.
Initial excavation of a site on the Svalbard islands in August yielded the remains, teeth, skull fragments and vertebrae of a reptile estimated to measure nearly 40 feet long, said Joern Harald Hurum of the University of Oslo.
The reptile appears be the same species as another sea predator whose remains were found nearby on Svalbard last year. His team described those 150-million-year-old remains as belonging to a short-necked plesiosaur measuring more than 30 feet - "as long as a bus ... with teeth larger than cucumbers."
The short-necked plesiosaur was a voracious reptile often compared to the Tyrannosaurus rex of the oceans.
Arctic Reptile
Manuscript Page Sets Record
Mozart
A leaf from Mozart's sketch for the Sinfonia Concertante in E flat sold Tuesday for a record price of $228,484 for a single page in the master's hand.
Maggs Bros. Ltd. of London bought the manuscript for an unidentified private client, auctioneer Sotheby's said.
The previous record was $184,000 for a sheet bearing the notes for the opening Rondo K.386 in A major, sold at Sotheby's in 1998.
One page of the leaf contains a 27-bar sketch for the cadenza for the first movement, notated in brown ink on four two-stave systems. The other contains two autograph horn parts for unidentified instrument works.
Mozart
Grows $1 Million A Minute
National Debt
Like a ticking time bomb, the national debt is an explosion waiting to happen. It's expanding by about $1.4 billion a day - or nearly $1 million a minute.
It means almost $30,000 in debt for each man, woman, child and infant in the United States.
Even if you've escaped the recent housing and credit crunches and are coping with rising fuel prices, you may still be headed for economic misery, along with the rest of the country. That's because the government is fast straining resources needed to meet interest payments on the national debt, which stands at a mind-numbing $9.13 trillion.
The national debt - the total accumulation of annual budget deficits - is up from $5.7 trillion when resident Bush took office in January 2001 and it will top $10 trillion sometime right before or right after he leaves in January 2009.
National Debt
Treasury site listing share of national debt held by foreigners
The national debt to the penny
Greek Mystery Solved
Holy Smoke
A Greek Orthodox nunnery was turned into a marijuana plantation by two men posing as gardeners for elderly nuns, police said on Tuesday.
Acting on a tip-off, officers raided the nunnery in the village of Filiro, near the northern port city of Thessaloniki, and found more than 30 large cannabis plants in the enclosed garden.
"Two unknown men had told the two elderly nuns in the nunnery they would like to help them with the garden and then proceeded to plant the cannabis," a police official told Reuters.
"The nuns did not know what they were and assumed they were large decorative plants," he said.
Holy Smoke
Prime Time Nielsens
Ratings
Prime-time viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen Media Research for Nov. 26-Dec. 2. 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. (5) "Dancing with the Stars" (Tuesday), ABC, 24.88 million viewers.
2. (1) "Dancing with the Stars" (Monday), ABC, 24.23 million viewers.
3. (X) "Shrek the Halls," ABC, 20.83 million viewers.
4. (4) "Desperate Housewives," ABC, 20.65 million viewers.
5. (X) "How the Grinch Stole Christmas," ABC, 18.53 million viewers.
6. (7) "NCIS," CBS, 17.04 million viewers.
7. (6) "House," Fox, 16.97 million viewers.
8. (10) "Criminal Minds," CBS, 16.23 million viewers.
9. (9) "CSI: Miami," CBS, 15.58 million viewers.
10. (13) "Two and a Half Men," CBS, 15.26 million viewers.
11. (15) "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," ABC, 14.40 million viewers.
12. (8) NBC Sunday Night Football: Cincinnati at Pittsburgh, NBC, 14.38 million viewers
13. (14) "CSI: NY," CBS, 14.19 million viewers.
14. (12) "Survivor: China," CBS, 13.57 million viewers.
15. (X) "Charlie Brown Christmas," ABC, 13.55 million viewers.
16. (31) "The OT," Fox, 13.32 million viewers.
17. (15) "60 Minutes," CBS, 13.24 million viewers.
18. (19) "Brothers and Sisters," ABC, 12.56 million viewers.
19. (2) "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," CBS, 12.33 million viewers.
20. (22) "Law & Order: SVU," NBC, 12.29 million viewers.
Ratings
| CURRENT MOON lunar phases |
