'TBH Politoons'
Thanks, again, Tim!
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Overcast & gray, with temperatures in the 60's. What passes for winter in these parts.
Did the CostCo trip today. Lots of sample ladies - even had one passing out asparagus. As I picked up a sample, the kid asked if he could have some asparagus, too. An older woman nearly
dislocated her neck when the kid asked for the asparagus. She said she'd never heard a kid ask for 'that' before. To be honest, I don't know why he likes vegetables, but
I do know that he thinks of broccoli as little trees he can eat (just like a dinosaur - as he used to say).
Really got a kick out of Merv Griffin & Jack Sheldon on Craiggers on Wednesday night. A pal used to work on Merv's show, and whenever I had relatives/visitors he would always
get them front row seats at TAV. Years later, the Disney Channel used to edit their promotional packages at TAV, which was less than half a block away from their TOC,
then located in the Sunset/Vine Tower, with the restaurant 'Simply Blue's' on the top floor.
Tonight, Friday, CBS opens the evening with a FRESH 'Presidio Med', then a RERUN
'Hack', followed by a FRESH 'Queens Supreme'.
Scheduled on a FRESH Dave are Bonnie Hunt and John Witherspoon.
Scheduled on a FRESH Craiggers are Adrien Brody and Wondermints
NBC begins with a FRESH 'Mr. Sterling', then 'Dateline', and a FRESH 'Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'.
Scheduled on a FRESH Jay are Renee Zellweger, Kevin Smith, Kid Rock, and Sheryl Crow.
Scheduled on a FRESH Conan are Alan Cumming, Maya Rudolph, and Morcheeba.
Scheduled on a FRESH Carson Daly are Sam Rockwell, Snoop Dogg, Robert Kelly, and Interpol.
ABC opens with a FRESH 'America's Funniest Home Videos', then a FRESH 'Whose Line', followed by a FRESH 'Drew Carey', and finally,
'20/20'.
The WB has a FRESH 'What I Like About You', a FRESH 'Sabrina', a FRESH 'Reba', and then a FRESH
'Greetings From Tucson'.
Faux has a FRESH 'Fastlane', and a RERUN 'John Doe'.
UPN has the movie 'Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls'.
TCM celebrates 'Sons' - Son of Frankenstein (1939)
which stars Basil Rathbone,
Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, and
Lionel Atwill [!]),
The Son of Kong, (1933) , then
Son of Sinbad (1955) with
Dale Robertson (as Sinbad),
Vincent Price (as Omar Khayyam), and
famed Ecdysiast of the 1940's, Lili St. Cyr, as Nerissa.
Finishing off the theme is Son of a Sailor (1933) , with the always fablulous
Joe E. Brown [who was also in
Some Like It Hot (1959)].
In the middle of the night, AMC has Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) .
Anyone have any opinions?
Or reviews?
(See below for addresses)
Sting, Twain, No Doubt
Super Bowl Halftime
The Super Bowl halftime show will be a little bit country and a little bit rock n' roll.
Canadian singer Shania Twain and Southern California band No Doubt are headlining halftime entertainment for Sunday's game.
Sting also will appear.
Twain will perform two songs: "Man! I Feel Like a Woman" from her blockbuster album "Come on Over," and the title song of her latest album, "Up."
"'Cause that's where the ball is going," Twain said.
She's looking forward to the game, but she wouldn't say for whom she's rooting.
No Doubt drummer Adrian Young was more forthcoming.
"Buccaneers 20, Oakland 14," he said, drawing applause from the crowd. "And I'm taking wagers after the press conference."
No Doubt said they were honored to be on center stage at halftime. Last year, they were part of the long lineup of entertainers before the game.
Producers Jimmy Iovine, chairman of Interscope Geffen A&M Records, and Joel Gallen, director-producer of Tenth Planet Productions, said the show would focus on music rather than special effects, with live performances.
Last year, most of the musical performers prerecorded their performances to reduce the possibility of technical problems. U2 performed live, though.
Super Bowl Halftime
To Sing at London Fund Raiser
Kevin Spacey
Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey will show off his vocal talents alongside Sir Elton John at a fund-raiser for a historic London theater, organizers announced Thursday.
The pair will perform a duet on some of John's hit songs at a Feb. 5 benefit for the Old Vic. John is chairman of the Old Vic Theater Trust, which bought the 185-year-old theater in 1998 when it was in danger of closing.
Built in 1818, the Old Vic was for generations the proving ground of British actors, and is the former home of Laurence Olivier's National Theater company. But the venue has struggled to forge an identity for
itself since the trust took it over from Canadian owners Ed and David Mirvish five years ago.
The benefit will also feature Sinead O'Connor, rising British star Ms. Dynamite, Sharleen Spiteri from Scottish band Texas, Lulu, Canadian jazz star Diana Krall and her new partner, Elvis Costello. All will perform hits by Elton John.
Tickets cost between 250 pounds (US$400) and 1,000 pounds
Kevin Spacey
The Information One-Stop
Moose & Squirrel
Museum to Open in Rimini, Italy
Federico Fellini
Fans of Federico Fellini will soon have another reason to travel to the resort city of Rimini, the filmmaker's hometown and the setting of his 1973 film, "Amarcord."
A cultural organization dedicated to the director's memory plans to open a five-room museum on the ground floor of the Fellini family home to display his storyboards and sketches.
Organizers hope to open the museum in time for the Oct. 31 anniversary of the director's death in 1993, Catia Donini, a spokeswoman for the Federico Fellini Foundation, said Wednesday. Born in 1920, Fellini
was a major figure in postwar Italian cinema, famous for movies such as "La Dolce Vita" and "8 1/2."
Federico Fellini
A herd of hippos swim in a muddy lake at the abandoned country home of former drug kingpin Pablo Escobar in Puerto Triunfo in central Colombia December 10, 2002. The ten Nile hippos are all that remains of Escobar's private zoo.
In his heyday in the 1980s, Escobar imported elephants, rhinoceroses, lions, giraffes and other exotic beasts to his lavish Hacienda Napoles ranch as a testament to his fabulous wealth.
Photo by Albeiro Lopera
Are TV Fans Tired?
The Osbournes
There's some bleepin' bad news for the Osbourne family: Television viewers may be getting sick of them.
Ratings for MTV's hit reality sitcom have been tumbling in its second season, from a high of 6.6 million viewers for its Nov. 26 premiere, to 3.5 million on Jan. 14. This week's episode climbed back to 3.8 million.
Ozzy, Sharon, Kelly and Jack Osbourne were also hosts of last week's American Music Awards, which suffered its worst ratings ever.
The show's tone is different this second season because the family's life is different. Instead of showing the eccentric home life of a marginal celebrity and his family, the latest episodes depict them coping with sudden fame, as well as Sharon's bout with cancer.
Although the show may not be as popular as it was last spring, MTV says it's still doing well among the 12-to-34-year-old viewership. Executives also privately say MTV's business model relies on quick sensations that burn out fast.
After the current 10-episode season ends, another set of shows are planned for this summer. After that, who knows?
The Osbournes
Not What It Seemed?
'Project Greenlight'
"Project Greenlight" contestants are furious at HBO, Miramax, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, claiming this year's contest was rigged. " 'Project Greenlight' rules clearly stated that only amateurs were allowed to participate," writes one miffed contestant. "If someone had been paid more than $100 as a writer, they were considered a pro and ineligible, according to the rules. If a director contestant had produced or directed any work that received national distribution via movie houses or television, that contestant was not eligible . . .
Project Greenlight picked as its winners a writer [Erica Beeney] who had professional paid experience writing for a national TV series and was, in fact, an employee of 'Project Greenlight' parent company Disney and the two directors [Kyle Rankin and Efram Potelle] had a paid national distribution deal with the Sci-Fi Channel." Several contestants want their $30 entry fees back, but they shouldn't hold their breath. A rep for Miramax said, "We did a thorough background check on all the finalists. All three of the winners have met the requirements for 'Project Greenlight.' "
'Project Greenlight'
...A grocery clerk,sent by errand boys...
Thanks, Rob!
Premieres Sunday on ABC
Jimmy Kimmel
"Jimmy Kimmel Live" premieres with a special post-Super Bowl telecast Sunday night, then continues Mondays through Fridays in the time slot right after "Nightline," which in no way it resembles. (For starters, "Nightline"
isn't always live and anchorman Ted Koppel doesn't fancy flannel shirts.)
"Jimmy Kimmel Live" will air from Hollywood's El Capitan Theater as "the first live nightly talk show in over 40 years," according to ABC publicity. (Which maybe it is, if you don't count Joan Rivers on Fox 16 years ago, for all of six months.)
The late-night failure rate is high. Think of Chevy Chase, canned after six miserable weeks in 1993.
For the rest, Jimmy Kimmel
Considers Run for U.S. Senate
Jerry Springer
Talk show host Jerry Springer has a secret of his own to share: He's considering running for the U.S. Senate next year.
Springer, a Democrat, said he'll decide by summer whether to challenge George Voinovich, a Republican who has said he'll run for a second term in 2004.
"There are pluses and minuses," Springer said. "The plus is that I'm known by everybody. The minus is that I'm known by everybody."
Springer figures it would take $20 million to beat Voinovich and as much as $5 million to win a Democratic primary.
"I have the resources," the 59-year-old millionaire said Wednesday night before speaking at the winter meeting of the Ohio Democratic Party Chairs Association.
"I want to be helpful in rebuilding the party," he said. "Whether I have to be a candidate is a totally separate issue. ... I don't need a job."
Jerry Springer
In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends
Dubliners Raise Their Glasses to Brewing Genius
Arthur Guinness
Two hundred years ago, the city of Dublin came to a standstill and thousands of mourners lined its cobbled streets to say goodbye to a brewing genius.
The bicentenary of the death of Arthur Guinness on Thursday was a less somber occasion, with Dubliners only too happy to raise a glass or two in his memory.
"It's a happy day tinged with sadness. I call Arthur my favorite uncle," said John Mullins, aged 59, who worked at the St James's Gate Dublin brewery for 40 years.
"He was a truly remarkable man. With a legacy of 100 pounds he built an empire of unbelievable stature, which has become Ireland's best-known brand," Mullins told Reuters.
Ten million glasses of the distinctive black stout, with its creamy head, are served every day in over 150 countries from Finland to China.
For the rest, Arthur Guinness
A baby Japanese monkey huddles under its mother at a hot spring at a Japan Monkey Park located in a valley in Shigakogen, central Japan January 23, 2003. There are about 300 monkeys in the park. An official at the park said on Thursday the
park is the only place in the world where monkeys bathe in hot springs. Picture taken January 23, 2003.
Photo by Kimimasa Mayama
'Walking Tall'
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is ready to swing the two-by-four in the MGM remake of "Walking Tall," a film that will likely go into production in early summer.
The 1973 film's premise of a Southern sheriff's mission to remove corruption from his county has been contemporized. In the new version, The Rock's character returns home from serving his country and finds
his small town infected by drugs, violence and general menace. Like the original character of Buford Pusser, who was played by Joe Don Baker, the protagonist still settles disputes with the very persuasive assist of a well-swung two-by-four.
The Rock has sparked to David Klass's script and his participation is subject to the studio signing him quickly. A deal is expected to be made quickly and a director hired right away.
MGM's courtship of the Rock will have to be quick if the studio wants to tie up his next slot. The Rock followed "The Scorpion King" with the Peter Berg-directed "Helldorado" for Universal, and studios all
over town are developing vehicles for him, including Universal's "Spy Hunter," "Johnny Bravo" at Warner Bros., "Walk Like a Dragon" at Paramount, and "Skip Tracer" and "King Kamehameha" at Sony.
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson
Coming This Year to a Station Near You
eBay TV
Internet auction giant eBay Inc. and Sony Pictures Television plan to pipe an eBay-inspired TV show into U.S. living rooms in the second half of this year, an eBay spokesman said on Thursday.
Silicon Valley-based eBay and its partner -- a unit of Japan's Sony Corp -- have come up with an hour-long program that they will syndicate to local stations, a Sony Pictures Television spokesman told Reuters.
EBay-TV will have a magazine-style format that's a cocktail of existing shows such as "Entertainment Tonight," "Ripley's Believe it or Not" and "Antiques Roadshow." Live auctions are not seen as part of the programming.
Stations that pick up the show are expected to earn a commission on all items sold through Web sites designed for the stations by eBay. The Web auctioneer will also pay $6 for every person who joins eBay via a television station Web site.
eBay TV
Draws Record Ratings
'American Idol'
The first TV battle between Simon and Trista was no contest.
Fox's "American Idol" continues to be a sensation, drawing just under 25 million viewers for the second night of its second season on Wednesday. The night before, it had a record-setting 26.5 million.
The reality series starring insult-snapping Simon Cowell went head-to-head with ABC's hit, "The Bachelorette," in twin 90-minute episodes.
Bachelorette Trista Rehn drew 13.4 million viewers on ABC Wednesday. While still respectable, that was 4 million less than watched last week, according to Nielsen Media Research.
'American Idol'
Playing Four Dates in America
Luciano Pavarotti
The tenor Luciano Pavarotti has announced four new concert dates in the United States, his spokeswoman said Thursday.
Pavarotti, 67, is scheduled to perform March 11 in Los Angeles; March 14 in Portland, Oregon; March 19 in San Antonio, Texas; and March 23 in Reno, Nevada, said Terri Robson, the singer's London representative.
She said he would play further dates in the United States in the autumn, but she did not know where or how many.
Pavarotti has said he intends to retire on Oct. 12, 2005, his 70th birthday.
Luciano Pavarotti
Pavarotti Web site
Formerly 'The Vidiot'
Sue Cosmetics Chain
Broderick & Parker
Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker have filed a $15 million lawsuit against the Sephora USA cosmetics chain for allegedly using their images in an advertising campaign without their consent.
The lawsuit, filed Jan. 10 in Los Angeles Superior Court, follows a similar claim filed against the company in September by divorced couple Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman.
Both pairs were pictured in advertisements for the "L'eau down on celebrity sweethearts," which was used to promote Valentine's Day gifts at Sephora stores.
The ad lists products sold by Sephora that supposedly match the stars' individual personalities.
Sephora representatives did not immediately return calls for comment.
Broderick & Parker
Ashley Epis, 8, of Chico Calif., who is pictured on a series of billboards advocating medical marijuana, poses before one of the signs on Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2003, in Oakland, Calif. Epis' father, Bryan Epis, is currently serving a 10-year
prison sentence for conspiracy to grow marijuana. The Third-grader said she agreed to be on the billboard. 'I want everybody to know that my dad is not a criminal,' she said.
Photo by Noah Berger
Beatles Cigarette Airbrushed In US
Abbey Road
United States poster companies have airbrushed the classic Beatles Abbey Road album cover to remove a cigarette from Paul McCartney's hand.
The move was made without the permission of either McCartney or Apple Records, which owns the rights to the image.
The original copy shows a barefoot McCartney third in line on the famous road crossing holding a cigarette.
But politically correct US poster companies have airbrushed out the offending cigarette, to the delight of anti-smoking campaigners.
The move comes 14 months after guitarist George Harrison died from cancer, which he blamed on smoking.
All of the Beatles were heavy smokers during the 1960s and 70s.
for the rest, Abbey Road
Charles and Diana
Letter Goes Up for Auction
A 1991 letter from Prince Charles and Princess Diana thanking a paramedic who treated their elder son after he was hit on the head with a golf club is to be sold, auctioneers said.
The typewritten letter is expected to fetch up to $2,400 when it goes on sale Jan. 29, Dominic Winter Book Auctions of Swindon in southern England said Wednesday. It is signed by both royal parents.
"There is plenty of Charles and Diana memorabilia, but to get a letter of Charles and Diana talking about William is quite rare," said Richard Westwood-Brookes, documents expert at Dominic Winter.
"We wanted to write and say how deeply grateful we are for all the skilled care and attention you gave him ... we always felt totally confident that William would be looked after in the most professional and proficient manner,
and it was a great relief to know that he was in such wonderful hands," the letter reads.
"We only hope that being involved with a royal patient has not seriously affected your health," it adds.
Letter Goes Up for Auction
Dominic Winter Web site
Sues Universal
Lee Majors
Actor Lee Majors, best known as television's "Six Million Dollar Man," is locked in a bionic legal battle with the producers of his 1970s series.
The 63-year-old actor, who starred as a physically enhanced test pilot on the ABC series while married to actress Farrah Fawcett, has sued Universal Television Group for breach of contract and fraud, claiming he was short-changed on profits from the show.
The suit seeks a full audit of Universal's books and financial records relating to the show dating back to its inception and payment of unspecified sums found to be owed him.
According to the suit, Universal agreed in 1975, after the show had been on the air for two years, to pay Majors 15 percent of net profits earned from the series and its post-network syndication.
The profit-sharing was supposed to commence from the first year of production, but Majors has never received any money from profit participation, the suit says.
The suit, filed Dec. 31 in Los Angeles Superior Court, disputes the accuracy of an accounting provided to Majors at his request last year. In particular, the suit says Universal miscalculated the amount of interest it was allowed to charge on certain production costs.
Lee Majors
Old Master Nets $28.6 Million
Andrea Mantegna
A rare painting by Renaissance master Andrea Mantegna sold at Sotheby's auction house on Thursday for more than $28 million, more than double the previous record for a work by the artist.
The painting, "Descent into Limbo," dates to the late 15th century and depicts the episode of Jesus Christ descending into limbo to liberate the souls of the righteous who had predeceased him.
The painting sold for $28,568,000 at Sotheby's January sale of Old Master paintings in New York. That surpasses the $10.4 million paid at auction for Mantegna's "Adoration of the Magi" in 1985, a Sotheby's spokeswoman said.
Any work by Mantegna is rare, and "Descent into Limbo" was the last painting of the Italian artist held in a private collection, Christopher Apostle, director of Sotheby's Old Master Paintings department, told Reuters.
Andrea Mantegna
Royal Wedding In Nepal
Princess Prerna
Thousands of people lined the streets of the Nepali capital on Thursday to cheer King Gyanendra's newlywed daughter and her husband as they rode through the city in a horse-drawn carriage decked with flowers.
Pipers played traditional Nepali music as the black carriage carrying Princess Prerna, 24, and her husband, Raj Bahadur Singh, was pulled by four white horses through city streets a day after they were wed at the Narayanhity Palace.
The marriage of King Gyanendra's only daughter to a commoner was the biggest social event in the Himalayan kingdom in years, giving the monarchy and the impoverished nation a brief chance to forget a palace
bloodbath 19 months ago in which 10 royals died.
Singh, a 29-year-old University of California computer graduate, waved cheerfully while his bride sat next to him through the seven-km (four-mile) ride from the pagoda-roofed palace to his mansion in an upmarket neighborhood.
Earlier, King Gyanendra, dressed in a blue military tunic, walked alongside as the princess was carried from the palace to the carriage in a palanquin studded with yellow stars.
The king then bade farewell to his daughter, dressed in a bright red sari weaved with gold thread, and to the groom, who wore traditional tight trousers and a knee-length shirt.
The marriage between the princess, who holds a business diploma, and Singh was arranged by their parents. Nepali royals often wed the children of India's former princely families but they also marry wealthy locals.
Princess Prerna
In Memory
Nell Carter
Nell Carter, who played the stout, sassy housekeeper on the 1980s sitcom "Gimme a Break!" and won a Tony Award in 1978 for her sultry turn in the Broadway musical "Ain't Misbehavin'," died Thursday at 54.
The singer-actress collapsed in her Beverly Hills home and was found by her 13-year-old son Joshua, spokesman Roger Lane said. The cause of death was not immediately known.
Carter had suffered from diabetes for years, Lane said, and she underwent two brain operations in 1992 to fix aneurysms. She recovered and continued to perform, mostly on stage.
At the time of her death, Carter was in rehearsals at a Long Beach theater for "Raisin," a musical version of "Raisin in the Sun." That show was set to run from Feb. 7 to March 9, and is expected to continue with a replacement.
Shashin Desai, co-director of the show with his wife, Karen, said he felt like "the roof caved in" when he heard about Carter's death. "It wasn't for the money that she was doing the show, it was for the passion and love of the piece," he said.
Blessed with a big voice and strong stage presence despite her 4-foot-11 height, the heavyset Carter prided herself on her range as a performer, doing musicals and drama as well as comedy.
"She was a pioneer in many ways," said fellow Tony winner Audra McDonald. "She had the ability to be such an incredible comedic musical-theater actress, blow a song all the way to the back of the wall and then come down and be so intimate and beautiful in a ballad."
In addition to her Tony for "Ain't Misbehavin,'" Carter received an Emmy in 1982 for a TV broadcast of the show, which was a revue of Fats Waller songs. Her quietly soulful number "Mean to Me" was a show highlight.
Carter garnered two more Emmy nominations in 1982 and 1983 for "Gimme a Break!," playing a housekeeper to a family headed by a widower who was the town police chief. The show ran from 1981 to 1987. In 1985, an episode was broadcast live — the first for a situation comedy in nearly 30 years.
Carter also played the cruel orphanage operator Miss Hannigan in the 1997 revival of "Annie" and appeared in the movies "The Grass Harp" (1995), "Modern Problems" (1981) and "Hair" (1979).
Carter grew up in Birmingham, Ala., singing in her church choir. She sang on the gospel circuit before moving on to coffeehouses and nightclubs. She longed to sing opera, then aspired to be a belter.
She converted to Judaism in the early 1980s after marrying a Jewish businessman from Austria, Georg Krynicki. "I needed to know where God was, and I went back to the basics," she said of her conversion.
From early in her career until the mid-1980s, Carter struggled with alcohol and drugs, eventually shaking her addictions through a 12-step program.
Carter was married and divorced twice. She is survived by an adult daughter, Tracy, and two sons, Joshua and Daniel, both 13.
Nell Carter
This artists renderings shows 'The Gates,' a public display by artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude, that will appear in Central Park in New York for two weeks in February 2005. The work will consist of 7,500 16-foot-high gates draped with saffron colored fabric that will snake through 23 miles of the park.
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'The Osbournes'
'The Osbournes' ~ Page 4
'The Osbournes' ~ Page 3
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'The Osbournes' ~ Page 1
Critical Date Approaches
Nick's Crusade
