'TBH Politoons'
Thanks, again, Tim!
He's B-a-a-a-a-a-a-c-k!
The Worried Shrimp
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Strangely overcast & too warm of a day that finally gave way to a real rain storm, thunder included. We don't get much thunder (or lightening) in these parts. Kind of miss it, but miss trees with colored leaves in autumn more.
The temperature also dropped to something more seasonally appropriate.
Have to take the kid's computer back to Omar the Wizard - it's making a 'bad' noise, and the damn thing isn't even 6 months old! And less than a week after he finally got his Simpson's Year 2 dvd.
Still no Ginger.
Tonight, Saturday, CBS opens with a badly-titled 'special' - 'Figure Skating: Ice Wars - USA vs. The World' and then a fresh 'Robbery Homicide Division'.
NBC regurgitates the movie 'Erin Brockovich', which they also aired on Monday. Boo. Hiss.
'SNL' is also a RERUN.
ABC has college football taking up primetime, so there will be local filler. The game is either Notre Dame at USC or Florida/Florida State. < sarcasm> Gee, wonder which game we'll get here. < /sarcasm>
The WB has a whole night of RERUNs - 'What I Like About You', 'Family Affair', 'Reba', and 'Fresh Prince of Bel Air'.
Faux has the movie 'Big Daddy'.
UPN offers the movie 'Lethal Weapon 2'.
Locally, KCET, PBS for LA has a 4-hour 'special' - 'American Soundtrack: This Land Is Your Land'. Promos offer everyone from the Brothers Four to the Smothers Brothers to Roger McGuinn & Glenn Yarbrough. Wear some flowers in your hair. ; )
Anyone have any opinions?
Or reviews?
(See below for addresses)
'Through the Flower'
Judy Chicago
Judy Chicago's 1973 painting 'Through the Flower' is one of a number pieces being shown at Washington's National Museum of Women in the Arts retrospective look at Chicago's 40 year career.
Photo by Elizabeth A. Sackler
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Georgia Hometown Holds Festival
Gram Parsons
Gram Parsons, the father of country-rock, left his hometown of Waycross in 1958 when he was 12 years old. His father accompanied the family to the train depot and
then went home to shoot himself.
That was the end of Parsons' stay in Waycross, but it wasn't the end of Waycross' influence on him.
The town has not forgotten its native son. Two admirers are hosting their fifth annual tribute to the musician Saturday at Little Knights, a Waycross nightclub.
The Gram Parsons Guitar Pull and Tribute will feature music by Dave Griffin and Billy Ray Herrin, who play together in Hickory Wind, a band named after a Parsons song.
Parsons' career started with the Byrds and the Flying Burrito Brothers. He later recorded solo albums and influenced bands from the Rolling Stones to Elvis Costello.
For a bit more, Gram Parsons
Gram Parsons Tribute
''Concert For George''
Harrison Tribute
Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney reunited Friday night for an emotional musical tribute to the memory of George Harrison on the anniversary of the ex-Beatle's death.
With Eric Clapton, Joe Cocker and Harrison's son Dhani, the surviving Beatles shared a night of musical memories with an audience of 5,000 devoted fans at the "Concert For George" at London's Royal Albert Hall.
Sitar star Ravi Shankar, Harrison's musical guru in his Beatles days, told the audience, "I strongly feel that George is here tonight. I mean how can he not be here when all
of us who loved him so much have assembled all together to sing for him and play music for him."
Clapton kicked off the Beatles hits with "I Want To Tell You," before Cocker and Dhani Harrison joined him for "Here Comes The Sun." Clapton had the crowd on its feet for a
standing ovation with the words: "Ladies and gentlemen, Ringo Starr!"
The ex-Beatle ran on stage to tumultuous applause. He saluted the crowd and said: "What a night! I loved George and George loved me."
Many in the audience danced to the music. Starr grabbed the mike and introduced McCartney, bringing the audience to its feet again.
For a few more details, Harrison Tribute
Valle de Bravo, Mexico
Monarch Butterfly
Monarch butterflies arrive in Mexico during November after flying all the way from Canada to their sanctuary near Valle de Bravo, Mexico, seat of the XIX Central American
and Caribbean Games, Thursday, Nov. 28, 2002.
Photo by Marco Ugarte
Renewing Wedding Vows
Ozzy & Sharon Osbourne
Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne plan to make New Year's Eve a quiet night — with about 600 of their closest friends.
The couple is renewing their wedding vows in Beverly Hills, Calif., in honor of their 20th anniversary. They got married July 4, 1982, but delayed the celebration because of Sharon's battle with colon cancer.
"We'll write our own vows and have our marriage blessed again," the 50-year-old Osbourne family matriarch says in the Dec. 9 issue of People magazine. "It will be one New Year's we'll never forget."
Ozzy & Sharon Osbourne
Hosting Sundance Awards
Maggie Gyllenhaal & Steve Zahn
Maggie Gyllenhaal and Steve Zahn will co-host the 2003 Sundance Film Festival Awards Ceremony.
The show is scheduled to air live on the Sundance Channel at 9 p.m. EST Jan. 25.
The ceremony wraps up the 10-day independent film festival, which begins Jan. 16. Every night, the Sundance Channel will air updates from the festival in Park City,
Utah, as well as movies that screened there in previous years.
Maggie Gyllenhaal & Steve Zahn
Sundance Film Festival
Sundance Channel
Man With An Opinion
Kevin Kline
To succeed as an actor, you need to play along with the circus part, Kevin Kline said, but that opens the way to exploring the art form of acting.
"It's nice to be able to get the big paycheck, so I can afford to do the theater, where you make no money at all. It's a juggling act. That's the American way;
we all do a little whoring in order to be faithful to our muse," Kline said in an interview published Thursday in the Long Beach Press-Telegram.
Kevin Kline
Music Bringing Life Back to Memphis
Soulsville USA
Here, at 926 East McLemore Avenue -- home of the now-defunct Stax Records studio and one of the most famous addresses in American music history -- the soul is returning to a run-down black neighborhood.
Stax was one of the most popular soul-music labels ever, second only to Motown in sales and influence. With its studio in a converted Capitol movie theater, Stax folded in 1975, and the
surrounding neighborhood fell on hard economic times.
Until now, that is.
In April a new museum, the Stax Museum of American Soul Music, and an adjacent music academy are due to open, part of an ambitious urban and cultural renewal program for the area dubbed
"Soulsville USA" in the 1960s. The $20 million project is financed by federal, state and city funds as well as private donations.
When Otis Redding, Sam and Dave, Eddie Floyd, Carla Thomas, Albert King or Isaac Hayes were recording at the Stax studio at 926 East McLemore, the whole neighborhood was alive with what
sax player King Curtis famously dubbed "Memphis Soul Stew."
Those roots were apparent during the '60s when Stax, with its horn-backed sounds and string of hits, including eight Grammys and an Oscar for Hayes' "Shaft" soundtrack,
was the focal-point of what was then a middle-class neighborhood.
Aretha Franklin was born here, as was Stax house band leader Booker T. Jones, blues pianist Memphis Slim and Isaac Hayes' songwriting collaborator David Porter. Blues great Ma Rainey
is buried in the local cemetery, and Memphis' favorite (adopted) son -- Elvis Presley -- used to sneak into black churches here to listen to gospel.
But everything changed when Redding died in a plane crash 35 years ago in December. That was, for many soul fans, the end of an era.
For the rest, Soulsville USA
First Dutch Cannabis Cafe Marks 30th Anniversary
'Mellow Yellow'
It's 1972. Step inside the abandoned Amsterdam bakery where pot-smoking squatters are playing table soccer. Meet Wernard and his hippie friends, pioneers of the first Dutch cannabis cafe.
The 30th anniversary of the opening of the "Mellow Yellow" cafe is being commemorated in the Netherlands on Friday when cannabis smokers pay tribute to a taboo-busting enterprise
which spearheaded the spread of the renowned Dutch "Coffee Shop."
The cafe thrived for six years before it closed down. But by 1978 other coffee shops were opening in a city which was a mecca for anarchists, hippies, squatters and drop-outs.
Toleration of cannabis grew and coffee shops blossomed.
Three decades after "Mellow Yellow" opened on the banks of the Amstel river, Amsterdam remains the one city in the world where people can wander into a special cafe and buy a
small amount of cannabis without fearing arrest or prosecution.
Today there are about 800 coffee shops in the Netherlands and in Amsterdam there is a booming trade in the sale of marijuana and hashish to tourists visiting a city renowned for
its museums and red light district.
For more, 'Mellow Yellow'
In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends
UK Stage Debut
Gillian Anderson
Theater critics on Friday tore into "X-Files" star Gillian Anderson, the latest in a string of Hollywood stars to hit the London stage.
They gave her the biggest roasting since Madonna took her first curtain call in British theaterland and critics said the pop superstar was "More Mechanical Girl than Material Girl."
"Sorry Scully but you have lost your X-Appeal," The Daily Mail said of Anderson's performance in Michael Weller's play "What The Night is For." It was a far cry from her
devoted following as Agent Scully in the cult television series.
"This one is a pure, unmitigated stinker," said The Daily Telegraph which called her performance "pitifully exposed and inadequate."
"She is woefully uninvolving," said the Financial Times. "Does Anderson's voice have no capacity for heart-catching uplift, no sudden changes of volume?" it asked.
But The Guardian was much kinder, deciding Anderson's two-hander about adultery with British classical actor Roger Allam was superbly played. "Gillian Anderson happily swaps
Agent Scully for a role that requires her to do an emotional striptease."
Anderson was frank about her first night performance, telling the Evening Standard: "Bloody hell -- the first couple of scenes just sucked, they really sucked.
Gillian Anderson
Limited Play
DVDs
SpectraDisc president and CEO Nabil M. Lawandy shows his company's limited play, time sensitive DVD discs, at his laboratory in East Providence, R.I., Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2002. The three DVDs show the color change
stage process of limited play DVD, from silver colored conventional ready-to-play DVD, right, fading to a darker blue color, left, and becoming non-readable, after three days use.
Photo by Chitose Suzuki
Has To Buy A Cookbook
Lauren Bush
It's a rough time of the year for Lauren Bush. The presidential niece and Elite model went back to Texas for Thanksgiving, but it was the first holiday weekend without both of her parents.
Sharon Bush, who is divorcing her father Neil, took Lauren and her brother to a friend's house in Houston while Neil spends time with a "female friend" in Austin. "Lauren is broken up about
it," said a source. During the Harry Winston party this week, Lauren told pals, "I want to help out with the cooking, so first thing I have to do is buy a cookbook. We normally went out to
eat every Thanksgiving so this is the first time I'll be able to contribute." Lauren said she'd make salad dressing and "maybe a pie," but refused to cook the stuffing for the turkey. "I am
a vegetarian," she said. "I won't do anything that has to do with the turkey." Next week Lauren will return to Princeton.
Lauren Bush
Presenters Announced
VH1's Big in 2002
Pierce Brosnan and Kid Rock will be among the big-name presenters for VH1's Big in 2002 Awards next month.
Other presenters include Creed, Vanessa Carlton, Tommy Lee, John Leguizamo, Nia Vardalos ("My Big Fat Greek Wedding") and former "ER" star Julianna Margulies, the music channel said Wednesday.
Drea de Matteo and Michael Imperioli of "The Sopranos" will host the show, set to include performances by Christina Aguilera, Bon Jovi, Norah Jones and John Mayer.
VH1's Big in 2002
VH1's Big in 2002 Web site
Buying Weider Publications
American Media
American Media Inc. on Wednesday said it would buy Weider Publications, which publishes a series of health and fitness magazines, for $350 million in an effort to further expand its portfolio beyond tabloid papers
like "National Enquirer" and "The Star."
American Media and its owner, privately held Evercore Partners, will add such titles as "Muscle & Fitness," "Shape," and "Fit Pregnancy" to its stable of consumer magazines that include "Country Weekly" music magazine
and "Mira," a Latino entertainment magazine.
Advertising revenue at "Muscle & Fitness" rose 12.7 percent to $53.5 million for the first 10 months of the year, while "Shape" saw its ad revenues rise 17 percent to $73 million, according to the Magazine Publishers
Association, compared with 2.7 percent growth for the overall industry.
By comparison, "National Enquirer" ad revenues rose 26 percent to $40.7 million while Star ad revenues rose 32 percent to $28.6 million for the first 10 months of the year.
American Media
'Better by the Hour,' Husband Says
Zsa Zsa Gabor
Hungarian-born actress Zsa Zsa Gabor, hospitalized with head injuries after a car crash, was "getting better by the hour" and medical tests showed no permanent injuries, her husband, Prinz Frederic von Anhalt, said on Friday.
The actress-socialite, who is believed to be in her mid-80s, was admitted to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in serious condition on Wednesday after a car driven by her hairstylist struck a light pole on
Hollywood's Sunset Boulevard, a Los Angeles County Sheriff's spokesman said.
Von Anhalt, who is Gabor's eighth husband, said his wife appeared to respond to her surroundings but had not yet spoken.
Gabor, who came to the United States with her mother and sisters as World War II was about to begin, became famed in her adopted country for her glamour, hot temper and ability to snare
a succession of well-to-do husbands.
Zsa Zsa Gabor
Formerly 'The Vidiot'
Wasn't First Pick For 'Solaris'
George Clooney
Despite his friendship with Steven Soderbergh, actor George Clooney wasn't always the director's first choice for "Solaris."
Soderbergh told the Orange County Register on Tuesday he first considered casting actor Daniel Day-Lewis to play the hero of his space station romance that opened last week.
But Day-Lewis was busy with Martin Scorcese's "Gangs of New York." Soderbergh said he didn't initially approach Clooney about the role, even though the pair are partners in the production company Section Eight.
"I thought he could do it, but I didn't know if George thought he could do it now," the director said. "Maybe in a year or two, when he was in a place in his career when he was more comfortable and had more
faith in his skills, he would realize that he could do it."
George Clooney
Honeycomb
Bees
Bees owned by Lyle Johnston are shown in a honeycomb, Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2002, in Chowchilla, Calif. Beekeepers like Johnston are being paid about $1 to $1.20 a
pound for their honey, about twice as much as in recent years. The increase is due to restrictions on cheaper imports and a shortage of honey caused by a nationwide drought.
Photo by Gary Kazanjian
Girl With An Opinion
Dannii Minogue
Dannii Minogue ought to be writing for Pat Buchanan. The sexy sister of Kylie Minogue tells British GQ she is displeased with the hordes of Asian immigrants pouring into her
hometown of Queensland, Australia. "Even some street signs are in Asian," she huffed. She also blasts British P.M. Tony Blair for allowing crime to explode in London, where
she now lives: "This country is in an appalling state. I feel sorry for people . . . who are afraid to let their children walk down the street." When the reporter suggested
that the root problem was poverty, Minogue sniffed, "These people aren't poor. They have satellite dishes . . . they wear Nike trainers."
Dannii Minogue
Left $1.54M Will
George Harrison
Former Beatle George Harrison left nearly $155 million in his will, according to court documents released Friday.
The High Court documents that revealed the value of Harrison's estate were released on the first anniversary of his death from cancer at age 58.
The documents that were released did not, however, reveal the will's beneficiaries or how Harrison's estate was divided.
Harrison's estate included the mansion in Henley-on-Thames, west of London, where a knife-wielding attacker stabbed Harrison and his wife in 1999.
George Harrison
Billionaire Investor
Roger Marino
Billionaire Roger Marino, a former owner of the Pittsburgh Penguins hockey team and a founder of computer company EMC, is getting into the film business.
He has teamed up with Michael Corrente to form Revere Pictures, which is currently financing five titles, including Focus Features' adaptation of John Irving's "A Widow for One Year" and the next pictures from Mike Hodges ("Croupier")
and John Schultz ("Like Mike").
Corrente, whose credits include "A Shot at Glory," "American Buffalo" and "Outside Providence," told Daily Variety that Marino's reason for wanting to go into the film business was the only sensible one he'd ever heard: Marino wanted to have some fun.
"I like small, intelligent movies," Marino told Daily Variety. In addition to executive producing all Revere titles, he's also a producer of the upcoming Broadway revival of "Gypsy," starring Bernadette Peters.
Roger Marino
Bush Cuts Pay Raises
Federal Workers
Citing a state of national emergency brought on by last year's terrorist attacks, President Bush on Friday slashed the pay raises most civilian federal workers were to receive starting in January.
The White House couldn't say exactly how many federal employees the change would impact, but said it would be almost all.
Bush's pay decision is yet another blow to federal workers, many of whom are facing big changes in job descriptions under the Bush administration.
The White House quietly released the letter to journalists via e-mail late on Friday, the middle of a long holiday weekend when most Americans were apt to be paying little attention.
For the rest, Federal Workers
Tradition
Kilts
The naked truth about what Scotsmen wear under their kilts has been revealed -- absolutely nothing.
Braving the chilly Scottish weather, seven out of 10 men follow tradition and go naked beneath the country's national dress, according to a survey on Friday.
"It is something to do with Scottish pride," said a spokeswoman for whisky maker The Famous Grouse, behind the poll of 800 men. "There is no way they would wear anything, even if it's freezing."
Highland tradition dictates men should wear nothing beneath their pleated skirts, in accordance with the punning saying: "Nothing is worn beneath the kilt -- it's all in perfect working order."
For those not brave enough to "go commando", the survey found boxer shorts with a tartan design were the second most popular choice.
Kilts
In Memory
Dave 'Snaker' Ray
Dave "Snaker" Ray, an influential figure of the folk-blues scene of the 1960s who won quiet renown for his virtuoso guitar work, died Thursday. He was diagnosed with lung cancer in May. He was 59.
Ray, longtime band partner "Spider" John Koerner and harmonica player Tony "Little Sun" Glover formed the acoustic trio Koerner, Ray & Glover in 1962 and the next year released the landmark "Blues, Rags and Hollers" album.
Recording several albums and performing at folk festivals around the country, the trio never achieved more than cult status. But they influenced performers such as the Beatles, Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, Bonnie Raitt and Beck.
They parted ways in the late 1960s but periodically reunited over the years and also recorded individual albums.
Ray also engineered Raitt's first album and carved out a solo career with a cult following.
Dave 'Snaker' Ray
Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum
Pygmy Owl
A Pygmy owl is shown at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson, Ariz., Jan. 16, 1998. Federal wildlife officials have proposed a significant increase in the amount of land that
would be designated as a protected space for a tiny endangered owl.
Photo by John Miller
'The Osbournes'
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