Labor Day
Erin Hart
It's All the Convention News Fit to Talk, Laugh and Cry About on AM 760 Progressive Talk in Denver.
Join Erin on Labor Day, Sept. 1, from 6am 'til 10am MDT (5am - 9am PDT | 7am - 11am CDT | 8am - noon EDT)
Listen Live on www.am760.net!
Sen. Barack Obama is now the official and historic nominee for the Democratic Party as Sen. John McCain (as in "no way, no how, no McCain") is the designated nominee for the Republican Party. He picked Sarah Palin, Governor of Alaska as V.P. HEY, it only took them 24 years to take a woman seriously.
A new day is dawning. Why live another four years in darkness perpetrated by Bush and He Who Must Not Be Named?
Choose freedom, prosperity and a renewal of the "audacity of hope." talk about the historic speech at Mile High Stadium (ok, it's Invesco, too). Tell me your stories about the convention, Denver! Were you at the stadium? The Pepsi Center? Demonstrating? I want to hear all of your stories.
Erin Hart Show
The Weekly Poll
Funny Movies
The NEW question:
What is the funniest movie you've ever seen?
Send your response to BadtotheBoneBob ( BCEpoll 'at' aol.com )
Results on Monday
BartCop Entertainment Movie Poll Page
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
P.J. O'Rourke "On God" (searchmagazine.org)
Is faith compatible with science? Does science take faith into account? Should scientists keep religious faith in mind while they do their scientific theorizing, their scientific experimenting, their scientific Š But here I begin to lose faith in my ability to ask the question. I have some idea what God does. I have no idea what scientists do.
Charles R. Morris on the Madness of Bankers (The Texas Observer)
Millions of words have been written about the ongoing financial disaster largely caused by the subprime mortgage mess. But the most concise and easiest to understand handbook on the issue is almost certainly Charles R. Morris' The Trillion Dollar Meltdown.
Scott Burns: How to survive on $15,000 a year (assetbuilder.com)
"Please write an article telling people with less than $15,000 a year of retirement income how they are supposed to survive." - R.S.
Daniel Gross: Sorry, Pal, but You're Rich (slate.com)
THE DELUDED BUSINESS PUNDITS AND OBAMA CRITICS WHO THINK $250,000 IS A MIDDLE-CLASS SALARY.
Farhad Manjoo: How To Get an Unbelievable, Amazing, Fantastic, Thrilling Deal on New Glasses (slate.com)
BUY THEM ONLINE.
Ted Rall: Obama on the Ropes
Democrats are fired up about Obama. Belying Will Rogers' adage that as a Democrat he didn't belong to any organized political party, this year finds the DNC uncharacteristically well funded and startlingly organized.
PAUL CONSTANT: The Real Outrage (thestranger.com)
Everybody's allowed their prima donna moments, of course-especially in a thankless job like bookselling-but occasionally, complaints of unfairness obscure more important issues. That's happened in the last week, as bookseller disgust over one minor controversy has stolen attention from a disturbing decision by another publisher.
EMIL FRANZI: Remembering Jim Wright: union organizer, 'Weekly' freelancer, great man (tucsonweekly.com)
I first met Jim Wright in 1974 when we were both working on a county bond proposal. He'd just arrived from D.C. and was getting involved in local politics. There was something about him I instantly liked, and we hit it off well, comparing notes about our scandalous and extremist connections on opposite sides of the spectrum.
Garrison Keillor: With McCain, we get . . .
America has paid a terrible price for one family's decision to take a boy out of the public schools of Midland, Texas, and send him off to Chutney or Amway or whatever his prep school was called, and then to Yale, where he picked up a permanent grudge against people who were smarter than he. A Yalie who learned to pass for redneck, a Methodist who learned to pass for evangelical, he was cut out for politics, but what a lousy administrator and what a dull, uninspiring leader. Fewer people want more bushiness than want to see the return of infantile paralysis. And the truth is marching on.
Garrison Keillor: On a fair footing
I got to go to the Iowa State Fair on Sunday and eat a very excellent pork chop on a stick as I stood by the U.S. Marines booth, where various civilians lined up to do chin-ups on a high bar, counted off by a Marine whose T-shirt said "Pain Is Weakness Leaving The Body." I've seen many things at state fairs but never chin-ups. The look of chagrin on men's faces who had believed they could do chin-ups and then the truth dawned on them. I had to turn away.
Tom Danehy: The Beijing Olympics are over. Long live the Beijing Olympics! (tucsonweekly.com)
Things I learned while watching all 3,000 hours of Olympic coverage: Even if they added competitive yawning, wedgie pulling and speed reading, race walking would still be the worst Olympic event ever! First of all, thanks to the technological advance that is super-slow-mo, we now know that every single one of those people cheats.
Robert W. Butler: Don Cheadle likes to be surprised, so he looks for a diversity of roles (McClatchy Newspapers)
"I didn't get into this business to do the same thing over and over," the Oscar-nominated actor and Kansas City native (he was born here in 1964 but grew up all over the country) said in a recent phone conversation.
Tip from Kip
Max Richter
An attempt an exploration of the ringtone as a vehicle for music performance , '24 Postcards…' is an experimental work made up of 24 classically-composed ringtones, set to be premičred in various gallery spaces. The premičre is intended to be in the form of a series of installations where pre-registered audience members switch on their phones to receive SMS messages, each message alert playing back one or more of the tracks, so making up the performance.
In tandem with this release, will be a micro-website hosting 24 photographic images, one accompanying each track. As Max explains: "Thinking about how we listen to music today, I wondered why it is that ringtones have so far been treated as unfit for creative music… Who says ringtones have to be bad?.. It's like saying LPs or CDs are bad - its just a medium…."
Richter's fourth album is a dazzling conceptual exercise of great beauty and emotional resonance. Certainly his most concise, 24 Postcards in Full Colour may also be Max's most coherent and compelling work to date. Beautifully played, richly textured and detailed, the album foregrounds Max's sheer class as a composer and producer.
www.24postcards.co.uk/ & fat-cat.co.uk/fatcat/release.php?id=267
Kip Shepherd
"It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues."
- Abraham Lincoln"
1000000milesaway.blogspot.com
myspace.com/kipshepherd
Thanks, Kip!
("Those who stand for nothing fall for anything."
~ Alexander Hamilton) wrote:
Reader Comment
Sarah
Sarah is a G*I*L*F (governor I'd like to...youknow)
Vic in AK
Er, thanks, Vic.
Reader Comment & Link
Palin
Marty,
Found this interview with Palin on 'Charlie Rose'. One of the comments says that Palin doesn't believe in science?
Please don't tell me so!!!!!! "God" help us.
Willow
Thanks, Willow!
Scary, ain't it.
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Looked like rain for a while, but, of course, nothing came of it.
Harley Celebration
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen has long written lyrics about the struggles of working-class Americans. Harley-Davidson motorcycles have traditionally attracted blue-collar riders.
Springsteen, who often makes political statements during performances, endorsed Barack Obama for president this month. But he will be performing to a crowd like the one that gave Republican presidential candidate John McCain a warm welcome Aug. 4 at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota. Many roared their motorcycles during his speech.
Bob Klein, Harley's director of corporate communications, said the anniversary is a nonpolitical event and the company does not endorse any candidate or party.
But the company's political action committee has given 57 per cent to Republicans and 43 per cent to Democrats in the 2008 election cycle, according to www.opensecrets.org. So far, the PAC has given a total of $14,550 to federal candidates, according to the site.
Bruce Springsteen
Italian Museum Defies Pope
'Zürst die Füsse'
An Italian museum on Thursday defied Pope Benedict and refused to remove a modern art sculpture portraying a crucified green frog holding a beer mug and an egg that the Vatican had condemned as blasphemous.
The board of the Museion museum in the northern city of Bolzano decided by a majority vote that the frog was a work of art and would stay in place for the remainder of an exhibition.
The wooden sculpture by the late German artist Martin Kippenberger depicts a frog about 1 metre 30 cm (4 feet) high nailed to brown cross and holding a beer mug in one outstretched hand and an egg in another.
Called "Zürst die Füsse," (Feet First), it wears a green loin cloth and is nailed through the hands and the feet in the manner of Jesus Christ. Its green tongue hangs out of its mouth.
Museum officials said the artist, who died in 1997, considered it a self-portrait illustrating human angst.
'Zürst die Füsse'
Closing In Vegas
Star Trek: The Experience
After a decade at the final frontier, Star Trek: The Experience is going where no Las Vegas Strip attraction wants to go.
With a decommissioning ceremony - as befits any great vessel - the exhibit and its replica of the starship Enterprise are closing Monday.
Some seek a final encounter with the Borg, the television show's race of organic robot aliens who tell everyone "resistance is futile." Others just want to share a farewell drink - likely a stiff Warp Core Breach, with 10 ounces of rum - with fellow fans at the attraction's restaurant.
For $49.99, fans can enjoy two virtual rides and the Museum of the Future, with costumes, "phasers" and Mr. Spock's coffin. More than 3 million people have come through since the Experience opened in 1998.
Star Trek: The Experience
Unhappy With Gas Prices
Sean Combs
Fuel prices have grounded an unexpected frequent-flyer: Diddy.
Sean "Diddy" Combs complained about the "... too high" price of gas and pleaded for free oil from his "Saudi Arabia brothers and sisters" in a YouTube video posted Wednesday. The hip-hop mogul said he is now flying on commercial airlines instead of in private jets, which Combs said had previously cost him $200,000 and up for a roundtrip between New York and Los Angeles.
"I'm actually flying commercial," Diddy said before walking onto an airplane, sitting in a first-class seat and flashing his boarding pass to the camera. "That's how high gas prices are. I'm at the gate right now. This is really happening, proof gas prices are too high. Tell whoever the next president is we need to bring gas prices down."
Sean Combs
Guilty Of Wiretapping
Anthony Pellicano
A private detective who once worked for Hollywood stars and a prominent attorney were convicted on Friday of federal wiretapping and conspiracy charges in a case stemming from billionaire Kirk Kerkorian's bitter child support dispute.
A jury found sleuth Anthony Pellicano, 64, guilty of tapping the phones of Lisa Bonder, Kerkorian's ex-wife, in 2002, said Thom Mrozek, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney.
Kerkorian's former attorney, Terry Christensen, was found guilty of aiding and abetting the wiretap. The jury found both men guilty of conspiracy to commit wiretapping.
Pellicano was convicted in May of racketeering, wiretapping and unlawfully obtaining information. A string of celebrity witnesses, including comedians Chris Rock and Garry Shandling, testified they either hired Pellicano or were spied on by him.
Anthony Pellicano
Cuban Punk Rocker Fined
Gorki Aguila
A Cuban punk rocker whose songs have ridiculed the Cuban government was fined for public disorder on Friday after prosecutors reduced a more serious "social dangerousness" charge that could have sent him to prison for four years.
Gorki Aguila, 39, was ordered to pay 600 Cuban pesos, or about $30, for playing his music too loud during rehearsal, his father Luis Aguila said.
The bushy-haired rocker was arrested on Monday as his band, Porno para (for) Ricardo, was recording its latest album.
The original charge of social dangerousness pertains to people who authorities believe are likely to commit crimes, and can include such things as habitual drunkenness, drug addiction and anti-social behavior.
Gorki Aguila
Author Of Faked Holocaust Biography
Misha Defonseca
An author who fabricated a best-selling memoir about surviving the Holocaust by living with wolves asked a judge Thursday to affirm a $32.4 million jury award in her favor.
Misha Defonseca said her publisher is too late to try to overturn the 2001 verdict the author and her ghost writer won in a fight over the book's profits.
Publisher Jane Daniel claims the jury sided with the authors because they believed Defonseca's harrowing tale of a tortured childhood was true.
Defonseca acknowledged earlier this year her stories of being taken in by wolves to escape the Nazis, killing a German soldier in self-defense, and walking across Europe in search of her parents were her own fantasies. In fact, Defonseca admitted she isn't even Jewish.
Misha Defonseca
Sweden's Nessie Caught On Camera
Storsjoe
Sweden's own version of the Loch Ness monster, the Storsjoe or Great Lake monster, has been caught on film by surveillance videos, an association that installed the cameras said Friday.
The project, which has so far cost some 400,000 kronor (43,000 euros, 62,500 dollars), is aimed at resolving the mystery of the Swedish Nessie.
The first sighting dates back to 1635 and the most recent to July 2007, with most speaking of a long, serpent-like beast with humps, a small cat or dog-like head, and ears or fins pressed against the neck.
In the images filmed Thursday and posted on a website dedicated to the Storsjoe monster, a long serpent-like being is seen swimming in the murky waters.
Storsjoe
Treasure Puzzles Greek Archaeologists
Gold Wreath
A priceless gold wreath has been unearthed in an ancient city in northern Greece, buried with human bones in a large copper vase that workers initially took for a land mine.
The University of Thessaloniki said in a statement Friday that the "astonishing" discovery was made during its excavations this week in the ruins of ancient Aigai. The city was the first capital of ancient Macedonia, where King Philip II - father of Alexander the Great - was assassinated.
Gold wreaths are rare and were buried with ancient nobles or royalty. But the find is also highly unusual as the artifacts appear to have been removed from a grave during ancient times and, for reasons that are unclear, reburied in the city's marketplace near the theater where Philip was stabbed to death.
Chryssoula Saatsoglou-Paliadeli, a professor of archaeology at the university, said the find probably dates to the 4th century B.C., during which Philip and Alexander reigned.
Gold Wreath
In Memory
Hazel Warp
Hazel Warp, who was Vivien Leigh's stunt double in "Gone With the Wind," has died. She was 93.
Warp, who rode and trained horses, was a stand-in for Leigh in all the horseback-riding scenes in the 1939 movie. She also took a fall for Leigh, tumbling down the stairs of Tara in the famous scene near the end of the film when Scarlett O'Hara reaches out to slap Rhett Butler, loses her balance and falls.
"I never will forget it," Warp said of her Hollywood work in a 2005 interview with the Bozeman Daily Chronicle. "I liked it, everything about it. I just liked my work."
Warp also appeared in "Wuthering Heights," "Ben-Hur" and "National Velvet," among other films.
Hazel Warp
Note: There is no Hazel Warp, or Hazel Hash (her maiden name) - or even any stunt performer with the first name Hazel anywhere at IMdB.
IMdB gives Lila Finn and Aline Goodwin the stunt credits, although uncredited, for Vivien Leigh in Gone with the Wind
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