'TBH Politoons'
Thanks, again, Tim!
Weekly Review
HARPER'S WEEKLY REVIEW
February 25, 2003
Hans Blix, the chief United Nations weapons inspector,
ordered Iraq to destroy all its Al Samoud 2 missiles after
U.N. tests determined that the missiles exceed the
150-kilometer range set by the Security Council. The
lightest version of the missile, Blix said, has a range of
193 kilometers.
"If Iraq decides to destroy the weapons that
were long-range weapons, that's just the tip of the
iceberg," said resident Bush. "So the idea of destroying a
rocket, or two rockets, or however many he's going to
destroy, says to me he's got a lot more weapons to destroy."
United Nations weapons inspectors complained that the
intelligence tips they've been getting from the United
States have been "garbage after garbage after garbage."
Bush Administration officials,
apparently concerned that the war in Iraq might not go
smoothly, told reporters that Donald Rumsfeld, the secretary
of defense, has a five-page list of "war risks" that he
keeps in a desk drawer and refers to constantly.
resident Bush
dismissed last week's worldwide antiwar protests, which some
estimate were the largest in human history, and said they
would have no effect. "Size of protest -- it's like
deciding, well, I'm going to decide policy based on a focus
group."
The resident said that he was unwilling to give
Saddam "another, 'nother, 'nother last chance," and observed
that "evidently, some of the world don't view Saddam Hussein
as a risk to peace."
Turkey settled for a $15 billion aid package from
the United States, down from its initial "firm" demand of
$32 billion, after the Americans indicated that the smaller
sum could be made available this year.
Continued at www.harpers.org/weekly-review
-- Roger D. Hodge
Movie Opening In NYC This Friday
'Horns and Halos'
"Horns and Halos"
Friday, February 28th
Cinema Village
22 E. 12th St.
NYC
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Winner "Best Documentary" - 2002 New York Undergound Film Festival
Winner "Best Documentary" - 2002 Chicago Underground Film Festival
Official Selection 2002 Toronto International Film Festival
Official Selection 2002 Rotterdam International Film Festival
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"Horns and Halos" captures the unlikely connection of three men – a U.S.
president, a discredited author and an underground publisher – whose
paths to power and popularity become tangled in a book.
In October 1999, a short article appeared in the New York Times: St.
Martin's Press recalled Fortunate Son, the first published biography of
George W. Bush. At the time of its recall, the book was #8 on
Amazon.com's best-seller list – no doubt due to the book's widely
publicized allegations that Bush had been arrested for cocaine
possession in 1972. However, Bush wasn't the only one with a hidden
past. Citing distrust of the author, J. H. Hatfield, the publisher
pulled the book from stores after learning that he was a convicted
felon.
Several weeks later, small underground imprint Soft Skull Press, the
self-styled "punk of publishing," announced that it would re-publish
the book. But getting Fortunate Son back on the shelves wouldn't prove
so easy. Operating out of a tenement basement on New York City's Lower
East Side, 29-year-old founder Sander Hicks struggled without
significant success for over a year to get the book back into stores
and into the national consciousness. After months of lawsuits, bad
press, and disagreements with the distributor, Soft Skull made one
final desperate attempt to make a splash at the 2001 Book Expo of
America. Against the author's wishes, Hicks revealed the sources for
the book's cocaine allegations, which leads to electrifying
consequences.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Indiewire declared "Horns and Halos" one of the best undistributed
films of 2002. So we decided we'd better distribute it.....
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Reader Suggestion
Onion Article Has Come True
Onion article of 18 Jan 2001 has come true.
'Our Long National Nightmare Of Peace And Prosperity Is Finally Over'
~~ Mike P
Thanks, Mike!
Reader Correction
Re: 'See-Through' Skirt
Yes, it's photoshop in action.
Go here for the real scoop.
~~ John S
Thanks, John!
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Woke to more rain, although the it was clear & dappled-sunny by mid-afternoon.
Network TV, Wednesday @ 10pm - battle of the bad-asses - interviews with Robert Chambers on CBS & Robert Blake on ABC - who's the badder? Bottom line, 2 dead women. Yuck.
Tonight, Wednesday, CBS opens with a FRESH 'Star Search', follows with '60 Minutes II' and then '48 Hours'.
Scheduled on a FRESH Dave are Dan Rather, Bruce Willis and John Mayer.
Scheduled on a FRESH Craiggers are Jami Gertz and Donnie Wahlberg.
NBC has a FRESH 'Ed', a FRESH 'West Wing', and a FRESH 'Law & Order'.
Scheduled on a FRESH Jay are Nicolas Cage and Lyle Lovett.
Scheduled on a FRESH Conan are Dana Carvey, John Ritter, and Ted Nugent.
Scheduled on a FRESH Carson Daly are Phil Donahue and Fischerspooner.
ABC starts the night with a FRESH 'My Wife & Kids', followed by a FRESH 'George Lopez' (with Lou Diamond Phillips guesting), then a
FRESH 'I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here', and then a 'special' 'PrimeTime Live'.
Scheduled on a FRESH Jimmy Kimmel are Vince Vaughn, Monica Bellucci, and this week's guest co-host Don King.
The WB has a FRESH made-for-tv-movie (or is it a pilot, for a yet unsold series?) 'The Lone Ranger'.
Faux has a FRESH 'That 70's Show', then a FRESH 'American Idol', followed by a FRESH 'Bernie
Mac', and then a FRESH 'Cedric The Entertainer'.
UPN opens with a FRESH 'Enterprise', followed by a FRESH 'Twilight Zone' (this week, Wayne Knight guests - Wayne Knight, a fabulous actor whose face is more
recognized than his name. On 'Seinfeld' he was Newman. On '3rd Rock From The Sun' he was Don. And, where would Jurassic Park have been without him...).
Anyone have any opinions?
Or reviews?
(See below for addresses)
Sara Karloff poses with an oversized poster of a stamp featuring her late father, actor Boris Karloff, on the 'Makeup' stamp, one of a series of 10 U.S. Postal Service stamps commemorating 'American Filmmaking:
Behind the Scenes,' whose first day of issue coincided with the mailing of Oscar ballots Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2003, at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Beverly Hills, Calif.
Photo by Reed Saxon
Winning Belated Acclaim
Funk Brothers
Decades after laying the foundation for some of America's most memorable pop music, the Funk Brothers are winning belated acclaim.
The Motown Records studio musicians won two Grammy Awards Sunday night: best soundtrack album for the 2002 documentary "Standing in the Shadows of Motown," and best traditional R&B vocal performance for "What's Going On" with Chaka Khan on vocals.
"Standing in the Shadows of Motown" was recorded at the Royal Oak Music Theatre and released in November. It chronicles Motown's original 13 house musicians — many of whom founder Berry Gordy hand picked from the Detroit
jazz club scene. They played on dozens of hits, including the original "What's Going On" by Marvin Gaye.
Funk Brothers
Peter Tosh Reggae Album
Eric Clapton
A new tribute album to Peter Tosh will include covers of the late reggae singer's songs by musicians including Eric Clapton and rap group Cypress Hill.
Eight songs on "The Peter Tosh Tribute Album" are earlier covers, including Clapton's 1974 version of "Whatcha Gonna Do" and Jerry Garcia's 1991 cover "Stop That Train," Atlanta-based producer Mike Malott said.
Other covers include Ben Harper playing "I Am That I Am," and Cypress Hill performing "Legalize It," one of Tosh's trademark songs advocating the legalization of marijuana.
Two of Tosh's sons, Dave and Andrew, are co-producing the album, expected to be released in December, Malott said Saturday.
Eric Clapton
The Information One-Stop
Moose & Squirrel
Token Fired By 'Ratings'
Phil Donahue
MSNBC fired Phil Donahue on Tuesday, abruptly ending the veteran talk show host's return to television after six months of poor ratings.
Donahue's final show will be Friday night. The news show that precedes him on the air, "Countdown: Iraq," temporarily will be expanded to two hours to replace him.
"We're proud of the program and we're disappointed that the show was not able to attract the viewership we had hoped for and expected," said Erik Sorenson, MSNBC president. "We thank Phil and his staff for their dedication, commitment and passion."
Phil Donahue
Manuel Diaz digs for amber by candlelight in a precarious mine in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas, January 22, 2003. Amber miners earn about $4-$10 a week to extract the fossilized tree sap,
which then fetches much higher prices once it has been cut and polished by local artisans.
Photo by Daniel Aguilar
Snarky Gossip
Simon & Garfunkel
Simon & Garfunkel fans shouldn't expect a reunion tour - ever. Art Garfunkel and Paul Simon bickered like ex-spouses at the sound check Sunday afternoon and almost didn't make it onto the stage later for the Grammys,
where they appeared together for the first time in 10 years. According to sources at Madison Square Garden, Garfunkel said to Simon: "You don't play for me - you play for yourself! We have to play in sync." The two "went
at it" and the stage manager cleared everyone else from the stage while the former partners went to their respective dressing rooms to cool off. One witnesses said: "They looked very uncomfortable in each other's presence."
Simon & Garfunkel
Home & Business Raided
Tommy Chong
Tommy Chong's Chong Glass makes a promise to its customers. All of its products--chiefly, handmade pipes that the Los Angeles Times once wrote "could double as a bong"--are, the company Website says, "for legal blend and tobacco use only."
Chong, once one-half of the high-flying comedy team, Cheech & Chong, saw his Gardena, California, factory and Pacific Palisades home raided Monday by federal drug agents and other authorities, Los Angeles TV station NBC4 reported.
The Chong sweep was said to be related to nationwide Drug Enforcement Agency-led crackdowns on businesses that trade in what U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft called Monday the "illegal drug paraphernalia industry."
The initiatives--dubbed, in the tradition of double-entendre-titled Cheech & Chong flicks, Operation Pipe Dreams and Operation Headhunter--swept up 55 people from California to Florida, with most of the arrests coming in Pennsylvania.
The people indicted Monday, many of them owners of either real-world retail shops or cyber-space e-commerce sites, were charged with selling items that, the feds say, are "primarily intended or designed to be used in ingesting,
inhaling or otherwise using controlled substances."
Those under indictment face a maximum three years in prison, and/or a $250,000 fine, per count, if convicted.
Tommy Chong
Woman With An Opinion
Amelia Earhart
A recently-unearthed letter from Amelia Earhart to her husband shows the famed flyer was a fan of open marriages.
In the letter, written before the two were married, Earhart outlines the terms she wants for their marriage.
She writes: "I want you to understand I shall not hold you to any midaevil [sic] code of faithfulness to me nor shall I consider myself bound to you similarly."
Earhart also talks about avoiding any hard feelings, "should you or I become interested deeply (or in passing) in anyone else."
The prenuptial agreement is one of several Earhart documents going on display March 10 at Purdue University in Indiana, where the pilot once worked as a career counselor for women.
Amelia Earhart
First Guitar At Beatles Museum
George Harrison
George Harrison's first guitar went on display at the Beatles museum in Liverpool Tuesday, the day the "Quiet Beatle" would have turned 60.
The small acoustic wooden guitar, which Harrison bought in the mid-1950s, is valued at $800,000 and has been loaned indefinitely to the Beatles Story museum by a British collector who recently bought it in the United States.
Harrison's mother gave him the money to buy the Egmond guitar from a classmate when he was 12 or 13.
George Harrison
In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends
Cold Stone Creamery
Oscar-Themed Treats
First "The Hours" was a Pulitzer-winning novel, then an Oscar-nominated movie and now ... it's an ice cream flavor.
The Scottsdale, Ariz.- based Cold Stone Creamery stores said Tuesday it has created five concoctions honoring the Academy Award nominees for best picture.
"The Hours," a tale of suicide and loneliness, is decidedly more upbeat in its dessert form: "The Cake Hours" has rainbow sprinkles in the cake-batter ice cream to offset the looming darkness of brownies and fudge.
The musical "Chicago" gets the cookie dough treatment as "Chicagdough," while "The Pianist" is rendered as "The Pecanist," "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" inspires "The Lord of the Oreos: The
Two Cookies" and "Gangs of New York" becomes "Gangs of New York Cheesecake."
Last year, "The Lord of the Swirls" licked the competition with 36 percent of the vote, defeating "In the Berryroom," "A Beautiful Mint," "Toffee Park" and "Praline Rouge."
Oscar-Themed Treats
A young visitor walks across a striped floor by British artist Jim Lambie featured in a new exhibition called 'Days Like These', at the Tate Britain, in London, February 25, 2003. 'Days Like These' is
the second Tate triennial exhibition of contemporary British art and featues the work of twenty-three artists, encompassing painting, sculpture, film, video, photography and sound works. The show opens
on Wednesday and runs until May 26, 2003.
PHoto by Toby Melville
Says Pyrotechnics Are Here to Stay
Kiss
Pyrotechnics have become as much a part of rock concerts as guitars and drums, and will continue to be used despite last week's deadly Rhode Island nightclub fire, according to a rock band known for its fiery displays.
Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons of Kiss, which has built stage shows around pyrotechnics for 30 years, said the displays are fine for large arenas or outdoor shows, but can be deadly in small clubs.
Bassist Simmons, who accidentally has set his hair ablaze a half-dozen times while breathing fire onstage, said he "would no more ban pyrotechnics at rock concerts than I would on the Fourth of July."
"It's all about full disclosure," Simmons said. "The venue has to know what it's buying."
Kiss
Seeks TV Interview Injunction
Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson's lawyers requested a court injunction Monday to block a television company from releasing unused footage filmed during the making of a documentary about his life.
The singer has complained he felt "more betrayed than perhaps ever before" by the program "Living with Michael Jackson," by British journalist Martin Bashir for Granada.
In the 90-minute documentary, Jackson said he sometimes lets children sleep in his bed. Bashir expressed concern about the king of pop's treatment of his three children.
Granada said it would fight the proceedings vigorously. A hearing is expected Friday.
Michael Jackson
NBC + Westwood One
Strange Bedfellows
NBC News said on Tuesday it would team up with Westwood One Inc., a producer and distributor of national radio broadcasts, to produce short radio newscasts with the likes of anchors Tom Brokaw, Brian Williams and others.
Starting March 31, the venture dubbed NBC News Radio will feed hourly one-minute-long broadcasts on weekdays from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. on weekdays from NBC's anchors. During big breaking news events, it plans to simulcast breaking news from NBC and MSNBC.
NBC is owned by General Electric Co. . Westwood One is managed by the Infinity radio broadcasting arm of Viacom Inc., which also owns the CBS television network. It also syndicates news radio programs from CBS, CNN and Fox News.
Strange Bedfellows
Formerly 'The Vidiot'
REM, Radiohead
Glastonbury Festival
Radiohead will headline the Glastonbury festival, Britain's biggest open-air music event, organizers said Tuesday.
The band will perform June 28, following REM, which will headline the first night of the three-day event.
Details of the lineup come a week after organizers finally received the license following a promise of better security at the sprawling dairy farm in the southwestern county of Somerset.
Glastonbury has become the country's premier open-air music festival, famous for its music, mud and drugs, since it started in 1970.
Glastonbury Festival
Bolivian artisan German Flores retouching a Diable mask in his workshop in Oruro. Dancers of the Diables is one of most traditional group that perform in the carnival parade. The Diables danced in
homage to the Candelaria's virgin where some 40,000 dancers and 6000 musicians participated in the first day of carnival in the highland village of Oruro, 230 kilometers (143 miles) south of La Paz March 1, 2003.
Photo by David Mercado
Nielsen Media Research
People Meters
Taking one step closer to eventually abolishing ratings "sweeps," Nielsen Media Research announced plans on Monday to install People Meters in the top 10 U.S. television markets.
Nielsen's People Meters -- which report demographic data such as viewers' age and gender on a daily basis -- have been used on a national level since 1987, but local markets still rely on old-fashioned diaries to collect demographic ratings.
To obtain demographic numbers, local TV stations and cable systems have to wait for the "sweep" periods, when the members of a representative sample of households agree to manually fill out diaries listing the programs they watched during the month. Those diary samples are taken
four times a year, during November, February, May and July.
Nielsen wired Boston with People Meters last year, and will now add nine more cities, starting with Los Angeles, which will be up and running by early 2004.
After Los Angeles, Nielsen plans to add three more cities in 2004: New York, Chicago and San Francisco. In 2005, four more cities kick in: Philadelphia, Washington, Detroit and Dallas. Atlanta will get its People Meters in 2006.
People Meters
Wins Release from LA Jail
Marion "Suge" Knight
"Gangsta" rap mogul Marion "Suge" Knight, who was jailed in December for alleged parole violations, won his release on Tuesday from a state prison board but was ordered to perform community service.
Knight, the founder of Death Row Records who served five years in prison for assault and weapons violations, was ordered released after the state Board of Prison Terms gave him credit for 61 days in custody.
The board, which could have sent Knight back to prison for a year on charges of associating with known gang members, a violation of his parole terms, instead dropped four of the five accusations against him.
But the board upheld one of the charges and ordered Knight, 37, to perform 200 hours of anti-gang community service.
Marion "Suge" Knight
Regulations Threaten to Kill
Model Rocketry
A provision deep within the regulations of the new Homeland Security Act is threatening to shut down the popular hobby of model rocketry because the propellant used to make the rocket's solid-fueled motors is now classified as explosive material.
The change in status, approved in November 2002 as an update to the Safe Explosives Act of 1970, imposes new restrictions on shipping and handling the rocket motors, which have been safely flown by thousands of students for many years.
Under the new rules, which fully take effect May 24, shipping companies are required to have every employee who might touch the rocket motors be certified, pass background checks and get fingerprinted -- an added expense the companies are unlikely to bear.
"Model rocketeers are not criminals and this law treats them like one. How would you like your kids to be finger printed just to fly rockets?" said Van Milligan, who went through what he described as a "difficult" process.
For the space modeling enthusiasts, the actions of the government make no sense, especially at a time when the nation is recovering from the Feb. 1 shuttle Columbia tragedy and kids of all ages are asking questions about the value of such programs.
"Because of increasing legal restrictions, a lack of understanding about model rocketry's excellent safety record, and a general bias against hobby rocketry, it is becoming extremely difficult to get the permits and launch sites needed
to expose these young people to the educationally stimulating and inspirational effects of rocketry," said Craig Cline, senior adviser of the Alhambra Rocketry Club in Los Angeles.
"Our country's leadership needs to encourage and protect, not stifle, the ability of the public and our youth to engage in the activities and pursuit of knowledge that have allowed us to become the world leader in scientific advancement."
Model Rocketry
In Memory
Howie Epstein
Rock musician Howie Epstein, bassist for Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers for 20 years until ousted from the band last May, has died in a New Mexico hospital, Billboard magazine's Web site reported on Tuesday.
Epstein, who was 47, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with the veteran rock band in 2001. He had battled legal and drug problems in recent years.
Although the cause of the musician's death on Sunday night was not immediately known, a female companion who took Epstein to a Santa Fe hospital told authorities he had been using heroin and also had been taking prescription antibiotics for an illness, according to Billboard.com.
"We are deeply saddened at the news of Howie's passing," the online report quoted Petty & the Heartbreakers as saying in a statement. "It's difficult to put into words how much we loved him and will miss him. The world has lost a great talent and a kind ... soul. We can only take solace in knowing he is now at peace. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and his many friends."
The veteran rock band fired Epstein in May of last year, citing his "ongoing personal problems," and he was replaced on tour by Ron Blair, the original band member Epstein subbed for in 1982.
Epstein and his then-girlfriend, Carlene Carter, daughter of country music icon June Carter Cash, were arrested in New Mexico in 2001 while driving a vehicle that was reportedly stolen. Inside, state troopers found three grams of black tar heroin and drug paraphernalia. Carter was charged with heroin possession, and both with receiving or transferring a stolen vehicle, but the cases ultimately were dismissed.
Epstein, a Milwaukee native who previously played with John Hiatt and Del Shannon, joined the Heartbreakers in 1982. In addition to playing bass, he sang harmony.
In an interview with Reuters last fall, Petty said no one had heard from Epstein in many months.
Howie Epstein
In Memory
Henry Peter Tewksbury
Henry Peter Tewksbury, a director who won an Emmy Award for the television series "Father Knows Best" and created "My Three Sons," has died. He was 79.
Tewksbury died Thursday in Brattleboro, Vt., of undisclosed causes, the Los Angeles Times reported Monday
His focus had moved away from Hollywood decades ago. For the past eight years, Tewksbury managed the Brattleboro Food Co-op's cheese department. His book, "The Cheese of Vermont: A Gourmet Guide to Vermont's Artisanal Cheesemakers," was published last year.
"His curiosity and commitment to whatever he touched, films or farming, milling wheat or tasting cheese, was astonishing in the depth of its commitment," said his wife, Cielle Tewksbury.
Tewksbury, born in Cleveland in 1923, was a Dartmouth College graduate and served in World War II as an Army captain. In the postwar years, he worked in radio and then as a community theater director in Porterville in central California.
When "Father Knows Best" moved from radio to television in 1954, Tewksbury was hired to direct the comedy starring Robert Young. Tewksbury received an Emmy in 1959 for his work.
In 1960, he created, produced and directed another hit comedy, "My Three Sons," which starred Fred MacMurray. A more complex series, the critically acclaimed "It's a Man's World," lasted just 19 episodes in the 1962-63 season.
Tewksbury went on to direct other TV programs and movies including "Sunday in New York" and the Elvis Presley pictures "Stay Away, Joe" and "The Trouble with Girls."
Tiring of the business in the 1970s, Tewksbury turned to ranching in California and farming and teaching in Vermont.
He is survived by his wife and six children.
Henry Peter Tewksbury
A western lowland gorilla named Mouila holds her 10-day-old baby, Mbeli, in an enclosure at Sydney's Taronga Zoo February 25, 2003. One of three species of gorilla, western lowland gorillas
are classified as endangered and have a population of about 20,000 in the wild.
Photo by Tim Wimborne
'The Osbournes'
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