'TBH Politoons'
Thanks, again, Tim!
Weekly Review
HARPER'S WEEKLY REVIEW
December 30, 2003
Mad cow disease was discovered in the United States for the first time, in a Holstein cow that was too sick to walk but was nonetheless slaughtered and sold for meat. The mad Holstein's brain and spinal column were sent to a rendering plant somewhere, possibly to be turned into dog or chicken food; there was no word on whether the cow's blood was processed to be fed to young calves as a milk supplement.
Secretary of Agriculture Ann Venemen, a former lobbyist for the beef industry, insisted that even meat from a mad cow is safe to eat, and she promised to feed beef to her family for Christmas.
Continued at www.harpers.org/weekly-review
--Roger D. Hodge
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
International Man of Terror
Henry Kissinger
The Wall Street Poet
Best Political Verse of 2003
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Overcast & cold, but no rain.
Visited CostCo - the place was hopping. All out of dry cat food, but at least they finally had sour cream.
Couldn't find sauerkraut there, and later came to the conclusion it's not an easy find during a grocery strike (finally found some).
Check out the link below...
Snow falls around a statue of Caesar in front of Caesars Palace as a rare storm hits The Strip in Las Vegas, Nevada, early December 30, 2003
Photo by Ethan Miller
The Information One-Stop
Moose & Squirrel
Royal Honors in U.K.
Eric Clapton & Ray Davies
Could Queen Elizabeth II be a rock 'n roll fan? Legendary guitarist Eric Clapton and Kinks founder Ray Davies received royal honors Wednesday, becoming Commanders of the Order of the British Empire just weeks after Rolling Stone Mick Jagger picked up his knighthood at Buckingham Palace.
Clapton, 58, a member of the 1960s R&B band the Yardbirds and a founder of the rock trio Cream, has won more than 15 Grammy awards and gained greatest renown for his solo career, with songs like "Layla," "After Midnight" and "Tears in Heaven."
Davies, 59, founded the Kinks with his brother Dave. Their hard-edged, guitar-driven music drew a huge following in the '60s and beyond with hits like "You Really Got Me," "All Day and All of the Night" and "Lola."
For the rest, Eric Clapton & Ray Davies
Lane & Broderick Return to 'The Producers'
Bialystock & Bloom
Bialystock and Bloom are back. Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick, the original stars of "The Producers," returned Tuesday night to the Mel Brooks musical as the audience at Broadway's St. James Theatre roared its approval.
As soon as Lane, who plays charlatan producer Max Bialystock in the show, stepped out on stage, theatergoers started cheering. Moments later, they did the same for Broderick, who portrays Leopold Bloom, Bialystock's nebbish accomplice.
Both stars appeared relaxed and expansive, embellishing their performances with new bits of vocal and physical business. Lane got one of the biggest laughs of the evening when he warned the neophyte Bloom, "Never put your own money in a show. That's taboo." It was an inside-theater reference to the $10 million and more Rosie O'Donnell has put up as producer of the Boy George musical "Taboo."
For more, Bialystock & Bloom
Walt Disney Company Chairman and CEO Michael Eisner and volunteer Jennifer Yuen, 13 of Rosemead, California help to prepare flowers for Disney's Tournament of Roses Twilight Zone Tower of Terror float in Pasadena, California, December 30, 2003. The float will be in the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, California January 1, 2004. The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror will be the newest attraction to open at Disney's California Adventure in 2004.
Photo by Adrienne Helitzer
Visited Sudanese Refugees in Egypt
Angelina Jolie
Hollywood star Angelina Jolie visited a Sudanese refugee camp on the outskirts of the Egyptian capital Monday, distributing winter clothes, blankets and toys.
The Oscar-winning actress, who was in Egypt as a goodwill ambassador for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, toured the Kilo Arbaa We Nus camp outside Cairo with Egyptian film star and fellow goodwill ambassador Adel Imam, the UNHCR said in a statement.
Jolie also donated US$20,000 to build a community health center in the crowded camp, which houses tens of thousands of African refugees, mostly from war-torn Sudan, the statement said.
Angelina Jolie
Competing For Best Picture Oscar
254 Films
Some 254 films from around the world will compete for the top prize in this year's Oscar awards, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced.
Nominated films will be announced on January 27.
The ceremony to award the Academy's famous golden statuettes takes place at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles on February 29.
254 Films
In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends
Compilaton For Charity
'Hot Stove, Cool Music'
Pearl Jam, Paul Westerberg, Dropkick Murphys, Letters To Cleo's Kay Hanley, American Hi-Fi and the Allman Brothers Band are among the artists who have donated tracks to "Hot Stove, Cool Music," an album that will raise money for cancer research.
The compilation is due Jan. 20 via Fenway Recordings.
Proceeds from the album and show will benefit the Jimmy Fund, which supports cancer research at Boston's Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
The album sports a live version of Pearl Jam's "Bu$hleaguer" from the group's April 1 Riot Act tour opener in Denver, Westerberg's previously unreleased "Outta My System" and Hanley guesting with the Dropkick Murphys on the latter's "The Dirty Glass." The Hot Stove All Stars, featuring Janovitz, Peter Wolf, Mighty Mighty Bosstones frontman Dicky Barrett and members of the Boston Red Sox, turn in a cover of Gary Glitter's "Rock and Roll (Part 2)."
'Hot Stove, Cool Music'
How does he do that? : Sixty-five year-old Leonid does a split as he prepares to swim in the lake in Serebryany Bor Moscow's district as part of the launch of the winter swimming season.
Photo by Yuri Kadobnov
Cash-Strapped States Cut
Arts Funding
Cash-strapped state governments have slashed funding for theaters, museums and performance groups by nearly one quarter, while federal spending on the arts has edged up slightly.
Congress increased funding for the National Endowment for the Arts to $122.5 million, up from $115.7 million, for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1.
At the same time, however, state arts spending plummeted from $354.5 million to $272.4 million, a drop of 23 percent.
In some states the decline was even more precipitous: California cut spending by 90 percent and Missouri eliminated appropriations for the arts.
For more, Arts Funding
Trading Insults
Britney & Christina
In the December issue of Blender magazine, Aguilera said of Spears, "She seemed very distant, even during rehearsals. Every time I tried to start a conversation with her well, let's just say she seemed nervous the whole time. ... She seems to me like a lost little girl, someone who desperately needs guidance."
Spears responds in the magazine's January issue, "I can't believe Christina said that about me."
Then she relates a story about seeing Aguilera, her former friend and fellow Mouseketeer, for the first time in two years: "She comes up to me in a club in front of all these people and tries to put her tongue down my throat!
"I say, 'It's good to see you,' and she goes, 'Well, you're not being real with me.' I was like, 'Well, Christina, what's your definition of real? Going up to girls and kissing them after you haven't seen them for two years?'
"A lost girl?" Spears says. "I think it's probably the other way around."
Britney & Christina
Formerly 'The Vidiot'
'Don't Bee' Swipes Magic Mirror
'Romper Room'
A beloved artifact of children's television history was stolen this month when thieves attacked former "Romper Room" host Mary Ann King in the parking lot of a Hometown Buffet in the City of Industry and sped off with the hand mirror.
King, 70, of Hacienda Heights suffered a broken arm, rib and punctured lung in the fray, which occurred Dec. 17. According to police, King was walking to her car after attending a Chamber of Commerce holiday mixer when she heard the roar of a car accelerating behind her.
She told police she had just opened her car door and was about to put her purse and a second black taffeta bag inside when a maroon Honda sped up behind her. A young man with a shaved head was leaning out of the passenger seat and ripped the bags from her grasp. King was hurled to the asphalt as the car sped off.
King, who is president of the Puente Hills Area Chamber of Commerce and works as the public relations director for the La Puente Valley Regional Occupational Program, said she still cannot believe the mirror frame is gone.
'Romper Room'
Contortionist Wang Ling from the Chinese State Circus performs her act at the Royal Festival Hall in London, December 29, 2003. The sell out show includes a lion dance, chair balancing, plate spinning and kung-fu.
Photo by Russell Boyce
Cleared Of Attack On Corgi
Dottie
The dog accused of attacking one of the Queen's beloved corgis was a victim of mistaken identity, a royal source says.
Buckingham Palace said Dottie, an English bull terrier owned by Princess Anne, had been wrongly blamed for savaging Pharos, who had to be put down.
"It wasn't Dottie," a palace spokesman said on Tuesday. "It was another dog, Florence."
Bull terrier Florence, also owned by Princess Anne, attacked Pharos last week as the royals gathered to celebrate Christmas at their Sandringham estate in eastern England.
Dottie
In Memory
Dick St. John
Dick St. John, half of the Dick & Dee Dee duo, whose 1961 hit, "The Mountain's High," made No. 2 on the Billboard pop singles chart, died Saturday. He was 63.
Dick & Dee Dee's biggest hit was "The Mountain's High", but they also cracked the Top 25 pop singles chart in 1963 with "Young and In Love" and 1965's "Thou Shalt Not Steal."
St. John, born Richard Gosting, began performing with his friend Mary Sperling in junior high. With St. John as the chief songwriter, the two soon attracted the attention of Liberty Records in Los Angeles.
St. John and Sperling, who was renamed "Dee Dee" by the label, combined elements of doo-wop, soul and R&B in their sound. They toured with the Beach Boys and the Rolling Stones.
Dick St. John
In Memory
Charles Berlitz
Charles Berlitz, a noted linguist and author whose books, including "The Bermuda Triangle," explored the paranormal, has died at age 90.
Berlitz, whose grandfather founded the language schools that bear the family name, died Dec. 18 at University Hospital in Tamarac, relatives said.
Berlitz spoke numerous languages and worked as head of publications for the Berlitz Co. in New York, where he wrote language curriculum for schools around the world.
Berlitz was internationally known for his 1974 best seller on the Bermuda Triangle, but he also wrote other books on paranormal phenomena, including "Without a Trace," "The Philadelphia Experiment-Project Invisibility," "The Roswell Incident" and "The Dragon's Triangle."
He also spent 26 years in the Army, serving as an intelligence officer.
Besides his wife, he is survived by a daughter and two grandchildren.
Charles Berlitz
In Memory
Earl Hindman
Actor Earl Hindman, best known for playing a neighbor whose face was forever obscured by a fence on the television show "Home Improvement," died of lung cancer Monday. He was 61.
As Wilson, the neighbor of Tim Allen's character on the long-running sitcom, Hindman dispensed folksy advice from behind a white picket fence, with only his eyes and forehead visible to audiences.
"Earl had a very deep voice. It was very rich, very warm and very recognizable," his wife, the Rev. Molly McGreevy of St. Francis Episcopal Church in Stamford, told The Advocate of Stamford. "He was the funniest human being I ever met. Even after 27 years of marriage, he could always crack me up."
Despite his fame, Hindman remained a modest man who enjoyed stamp and coin collecting, listening to country music and playing poker with his friends.
Before appearing on the show, he played Detective Lt. Bob Reid for 16 years on the daytime drama "Ryan's Hope."
Earl Hindman
In Memory
Gerald Gutierrez
Tony Award-winning director Gerald Gutierrez has died of respiratory complications from the flu. He was 53.
Gutierrez began his New York theater career as an actor, but flourished as a director. He won back-to-back Tony Awards in 1995 and 1996 for his direction of revivals of "The Heiress" and "A Delicate Balance."
Gutierrez was a mainstay at Lincoln Center Theater where he also directed last season's lavish revival of "Dinner at Eight" by George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber. His other Lincoln Center productions included revivals of "Abe Lincoln in Illinois" in 1994; a 1997 revival of Chekhov's "Ivanov" starring Kevin Kline; and the Jean Anouilh comedy "Ring Round the Moon" in 1999.
Gutierrez also had extensive off-Broadway directing credits. He is best-known for having directed Wendy Wasserstein's comedy "Isn't It Romantic?" in 1983.
A New York City native, Gutierrez graduated from the Juilliard Drama Division and was a member of the Acting Company, appearing in its productions of "Edward II," "The Time of Your Life," "`Three Sisters" and "The Cradle Will Rock."
Gerald Gutierrez
In Memory
Anita Mui
Hong Kong are mourning the death of Canto-pop diva Anita Mui after the singer known as "the Madonna of Asia" lost her battle against cervical cancer.
Friends of the 40-year-old singer, including movie star Jackie Chan, had flocked to her bedside after she was admitted to the Hong Kong Sanatorium and Hospital late Monday.
At the age of five she was singing Chinese opera and pop songs in theatres but her big break came in 1982 when she saw off 3,000 contestants to win the New Talent Singing Competition.
Mui went on to carve out a reputation as "the Madonna of Asia" with her outrageous costumes, raunchy stage performances and a stream of hits which netted her numerous awards and helped transcend the image of Chinese female singers.
Mui's uniquely deep voice was used for the theme songs in dozens of films and shows and she remained phenomenally popular across Asia right up to her death.
Anita Mui
In Memory
Patricia Roc
Patricia Roc, one of Britain's top movie stars in the 1940s and 1950s, has died in Switzerland, a family friend said. She was 88.
For 10 consecutive years from 1943, she was one of Britain's top 10 box-office stars, packing cinemas worldwide in classic films such as "Millions Like Us," "The Wicked Lady," "The Brothers" and "When the Bough Breaks."
In 1946, Roc was the first homegrown British star to go to Hollywood under a "lend-lease" deal between Rank and Universal Studios. She costarred in the western "Canyon Passage" that year, alongside Susan Hayward, who said after filming that "that Limey glamour girl is a helluva dame."
Roc She married three times. Among her lovers was the future President Ronald Reagan, who romanced her while she was shooting "Canyon Passage."
Roc's son, Michael Thomas, was born in 1952.
Patricia Roc
Daniela sells masks on the America Ave in Quito, Ecuador Tuesday, Dec 30, 2003. On New Year's eve Ecuadoreans traditionally burn effigies on New Year's Eve to kill off bad luck from the outgoing year.
Photo by Dolores Ochoa
'The Osbournes'
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