The War Against America
The Supreme Court has ruled that police can question suspects who are in great pain without reading them their rights.
Now that the true story of the "rescue" of Jessica Lynch has emerged, is the government fessing up to the truth? Nope, they're fighting back with more lies, a tactic that worked particularly well for Nixon.
"There really wasn't no amnesia problem. Her memory is as good as it was when she was at home."
I Feel So Much Safer Now
American interrogators are forcing Iraqi prisoners to listen to songs by the rock band Metallica -- as well as the "Sesame Street" theme song and the "I Love You" song by Barney the purple dinosaur -- in order to make them talk. "These people haven't heard heavy metal. They can't take it," said one Psy Ops officer. "If you play it for 24 hours, your brain and body functions start to slide, your train of thought slows down and your will is broken. That's when we come in and talk to them."
Belated Christmas Gift of the Week
In a sudden and inexplicable display of good taste,
I've decided NOT to show you what this looks like.
Hey guys. Always want to pee sitting down? The Bladder Vee-String Female Vagina Prosthesis is designed to fulfill the feminine illusion. Your penis is placed into a hole in the bladder, which holds you in place. The bladder does not hold liquid, but allows for an even flow. This allows urination in a sitting position as a female without removal or adjustment. Popular in prisons. Ladies, don't feel left out. Now, thanks to breakthrough audio technology, you can talk to your dildo and tell it what to do. (Speaking of prison, fill out this crime sheet and find out exactly how much time you'd have been put away for had you been caught.)
Song of the Week
Response to Barbara Boxer Response
Mr. Dare,
"When a father loses his job the whole family cuts back." Maybe, but there are a lot of "dads" who would work two jobs if they had to in order to pick up any slack. My husband and I would do whatever it took -- both of us -- to make ends meet. We're normal.
Unfortunately many of these deadbeat dads separate from their children emotionally when there's a divorce, and so feel no obligation to pay anything. Some guys actually QUIT their jobs to avoid paying the support! They hide moneys, etc., so as to financially maintain a new bachelor life.
My father was the pioneer of deadbeat dads. He didn't make much money, but my mother made less (as women do), so my brother and I suffered. We were the pioneers of child care -- illegally run foster homes, etc. But my dad was just a high school graduate with no higher education. He was a union welder. What could he make? He couldn't afford those ridiculous child support payments. My "poor" father moved out of state, changed his social security number, address, quit his job, etc., and paid zilch to his children. He'd never sent a birthday card, Christmas card -- nothing in 4 decades. His mother (my grandmother) had told me he had nothing -- lived in an apartment for heaven's sakes. Yeah, an apartment on Fisherman's Wharf! He had nothing in this apartment but one spoon, fork, knife. Why? Because he ate every meal in restaurants! I met him when I became an adult and he proudly told me he owned a stunt airplane, a Ferrari, had traveled Europe extensively (backpacking), worked on the Alaskan pipeline, took up sky-diving, had married 3 times, etc. He's not wealthy, but he found a way to afford what HE wanted all his life. He worked any and all jobs to afford all his toys. To all who know him, he is a great guy -- everyone's friend. Most people don't even know he has children, but I'm certain they would all feel bad for him knowing his ex had "kept" the children 3,000 miles away.
So he now gets to jump on these "poor divorced father" bandwagons you offer, claiming to anyone who will listen how "screwed" he was by the courts/laws! He is protected (when he should be ashamed) by those in society who feel the males have all the raw deals in courts. He's a rabid right-wing nut too.
So yeah, maybe there are some fathers who make out poorly, but I thought you should know both sides.
Lisa Harrison
Response to Response to Barbara Boxer Response
Lisa,
Problem #1: There are dangerous people who get out of prison too early. Problem #2: There are non-dangerous people who spend too much time in prison.
The real problem? Try to solve problem #1 by making it harder to get out of prison and you exacerbate problem #2. Try to solve problem #2 by making it easier to get out of prison and you exacerbate problem #1.
That's the problem with ALL LAWS that try to solve a problem. They invariably exacerbate or actually create some other problem.
Of course there are devoted moms who are getting screwed by scumbag dads who take advantage of the current system. Your story is very real and happens all the time. It's a problem that needs to be fixed. But there are also devoted dads who are getting screwed by scumbag moms who take advantage of the current system. Yeah, Barbara Boxer going after guys like your dad is a good idea, but any solution that only addresses one side of the problem is a bad solution.
It's a Small World After All
Who Knew?
Don't Take My Word For It
"I'm sick of those sons of bitches who moan and groan about how they work so hard for their fucking families. They're full of shit, every fucking one of them. Only the artist works truly for his loved ones and descendants alone. And that is because they are the only ones who get to see the fucking paycheck. Artists are not paid hourly. They are not paid weekly. They are not paid monthly. They are not paid annually. They are paid posthumously. In life, there is nothing: not even decent down-payment, not even the token gesture of a ten-percent lagniappe.
"So next time you're going to show me a picture of your ugly fucking wife, whom I probably fucked and forgot twenty years ago, and your kids, who, yes, have the misfortune of looking just like you, and you're about to tell me how hard you work for them, just do me a favor: stick it up your fucking ass. The same goes for that old bag cocksucker mother you talk about taking care of. Shit, when she croaks, there'll probably even be a payday in that for you. Fuck you people with your paid vacations and your pensions and your rich mommies and daddies and your bullshit about how hard you work and how much you sacrifice. The only worthy sacrifice you can make is to kill yourself. I hate every one of you motherfuckers who ever inherited a dime, or who stands to inherit a dime. You're the scum of the earth, because you can't make your own way on it. Even if you pretend to make your own way, you've got that net under you. You're dilettantes of real life."
- Nick Tosches: In the Hand of Dante -
"The public does not know what it wants, and there is no sure way of finding out until the idea is exposed under normal conditions of sale. If people could tell you in advance what they want, there would never have been a wheel, a lever, much less an automobile, airplane, or a TV set."
- Leo Burnett -
"Fascism is capitalism plus murder."
- Upton Sinclair -
"All children are born geniuses. 9,999 out of every 10,000 are swiftly, inadvertently, degeniused by grown-ups."
- Buckminster Fuller -
"Critics of the intended new Pax Americana should not hesitate to say that long-agreed ethical principles are being violated. It is wrong to break treaties, as the United States is doing in its treatment of POWs in Cuba. It is wrong to wage aggressive war, as the United States now openly does. To make decisions for or against such policies on supposedly pragmatic grounds is to break the crucial link between means and ends, as if an outcome ('regime change') can justify whatever was done to accomplish it. In the long run, the only truly pragmatic act is the moral act."
"The enemies of Islam want to invade us with all possible means, and therefore they have circulated among us this doll, which spreads deterioration of values and moral degeneracy among our girls."
"Alan Ladd's repentant gunslinger wasn't protecting his family; he was strapping on the holster to defend the family for whom he worked as a hired hand. He also made it a point of honor never to be the first to draw. It was the bad guys and yellowbellies who went for their guns to get a jump on decent folk. Shane's personal code and Bush's doctrine of pre-emption occupy clashing moral universes."
- James Wolcott on Howard Fineman comparing Bush to Shane -
"Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall."
- Proverbs 16:18 -
"To recap: a firm which pays the Vice President of the United States a million dollars a year has now taken over operation of Iraq's oil wealth. There have been times in American history when such an arrangement would have been called by its true name: 'corruption.' But these are not such times."
"'Tis is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change."
- Charles Darwin -
"Give a man a mask, and he'll tell you the truth."
- Oscar Wilde -
"I agree with everything you say, but I would attack to the death your right to say it."
- Tom Stoppard -
"To the victor belong the oils."
- William Learned Marcy by way of Dwight Burke -
Quizzes of the Week
Texas has passed a law requiring doctors to inform women that abortion might lead to breast cancer, despite the fact that scientists at the American Cancer Society and the National Cancer Institute say there is no medical evidence of it. Texans can best deal with this contradictory information by:
A) waiting for better science to come along.
B) putting their hands over their ears and screaming.
C) moving to Oklahoma.
Pop quiz from the Baltimore Independent Media Center.
Political Corruption of the Week
"Click on Sen. Alfonse D'Amato (R-NY) and you'll learn how he bought up public utilities stock just two days before President Bush signed the National Energy Conservation Act, which deregulated energy transmissions, offering growth opportunities for many utilities. Was it a coincidence that Rep. Newt Gingrich (R-GA) helped kill amendments to cut funding for the space station program just three weeks after buying stock in Boeing, which was subsequently named the prime contractor for the station? Got milk? Senator Lloyd Bentsen (D-TX) bought stock in food and dairy company Morningstar Foods just four days before the introduction of an amendment to the National School Lunch Act. The amendment called for diversifying milk choices for school lunch programs, opening the door for Morningstar's various milk products. Later that year Bentsen unloaded his Morningstar stock just before the Justice Department opened a probe into the company for bid-rigging."
Backpedalers of the Week
Poster of the Week
Mr. Conspiracy Says...
Oregon's going nuts. Check out this
PDF file which contains a list of everything that will be considered terrorism if a certain insane bill passes.
The US has plans to turn Guantanamo Bay into a
death camp.
Hi, there!
First off, I think it's great that you've agreed to be a mentor. It's rare to meet people willing to give back a little.
So here's my question, and it's admittedly a little odd. I've actually sold a script (animation...Nick's "Fairly Oddparents"), but it came about in such a strange way, that I'm not sure how to build on that, career-wise.
An acquaintance that I met years ago doing standup on the road had become the show's story editor. Out of the blue, he contacted me, saying he remembered that I was good children's writer, and would I like to pitch some ideas and so forth. I did, the producers liked one, I wrote up an outline, which they liked, and I wrote the script, which they liked. I got the check, and everything was hunky dory. But that was it. My buddy stopped returning my emails and phone calls, and I have no idea what happened with the script. No one contacted me to ask for more, but no one contacted me to ask for a re-write, either. I suspect I was a last-ditch way for him to meet a quota or some such.
So I find myself in a position as having sold a script and knowing nothing at all about the business. Only afterwards did I start to read about agents and specs and such. Since I don't know what happened to my script and where I stand with the show, I don't know how smart it is to use my "Fairly Oddparents" as a stepping stone to more writing work.
Basically, I don't know where to go from here. Writing-wise, I'm grinding away on a feature spec, but career-wise, I'm lost.
Hope this wasn't too long, and thanks in advance for any insight you can offer.
- Tim McIntire -
Hey Tim,
Thank you for braving time and space to contact me.
First of all, I'm a fan of your stand-up and I've linked to you in the past. Considering your material, some might consider it odd that you also write cartoons for children, but not me. We're actually in almost the same boat. I generally write outrageous adult material but I had a dream of writing Warner Brothers cartoons. My experience with "Animaniacs" was almost exactly the same as yours with "Fairly Oddparents." They bought a bunch of stuff from me then I never heard from them again. I figured this new credit would help me get an agent, so I contacted a couple who specialized in animation who both turned me down, even though I was actually working for Warner Brothers Animation at the time and handing them a percentage of my pay on a silver platter. None of my scripts were ever produced for the TV show though one mysteriously showed up as a comic book.
I discovered the world of animation in Hollywood is incredibly insulated and one of the toughest nuts to crack. You're right, the union makes them hire new writers occasionally, but it doesn't say they have to USE what they buy. Both of us were victims of this quota system, and if they're not returning your calls, there's pretty much nothing you can do but what I did, which is exploit the hell out of it on your résumé. It is absolutely a valid stepping stone to more work. People who read your résumé don't have to know what really happened unless they ask.
This approach has worked particularly well for me on the Internet. I've created a page devoted entirely to my contribution to Animaniacs (virtually nothing), and it has brought me legions of fans. It's one of the most popular pages on my site, actually getting me listed at Yahoo!, which is close to impossible without paying them.
So my actual advice? Do what you do best. Turn it into a fucking routine. Post what you wrote for the show to your site as part of your résumé, submit it to the search engines, and watch as everybody who types "Fairy Oddparents" into Google ends up finding out about fat chicks who spontaneously shit.
Everything Else
Throwing a dinner party? Want to scare away the Republicans? Why not
Rent-a-Negro?
Robert Birnbaum talks to
Iris Chang, who wrote the highly praised
The Rape of Nanking, about class conflict, the Qing dynasty, The Chinese Exclusionary Act, the famous Wong Kim Ark case, racism, Dr. Tsien Hsue-shen, the Pakistani rape of Bengali women in the '70s, Chang and Eng, Sino-American relations, adoption of Chinese babies and, yes, writing.
You thought the story of the flight school in Florida was over?
Think again.
Scourge of abusers and celebrator of delights, they are the defenders of the English language.
The Discouraging Word does what few dare to do: English itself. Check out their latest defensive and offensive efforts.
Don't let this happen to you.
dIsInFoTaInMeNt ToDaY archives are here.
Dr. Hollywood archives are here.
Acknowledgment
dIsInFoTaInMeNt ToDaY consists of information from dozens of sources, cut up, thrown in the air, and recycled randomly. It is sent all over the place, so I apologize if you're seeing the same thing twice. If you see a joke, graphic, or news item that came from or through you, thanks, send more, and please accept the fact that much of dIsInFoTaInMeNt ToDaY is unacknowledgeable, and if I sought permission from everyone whose bastardized material showed up here, I'd never get anything else done. Please note that I don't even put my own name on it. If you're still pissed off, hey, it's fair use.
Thanks,
Satan
dIsInFoTaInMeNt ToDaY is free and may be reproduced in any form.
It is made entirely by slave labor.
Unless you think I deserve to get paid.
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'TBH Politoons'
Thanks, again, Tim!
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Video Link
Franken v. O'Really
In Real Audio format - you can just advance it to when Franken takes the podium -- @28:30 in -- and then to @48:30, when Franken steps down and gets called an idiot and O'Reilly commences with the tantrum. (Times approximate)
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The FCC Runs Amok (A Poem)
from 'The Wall St. Poet'
The FCC Runs Amok (A Poem)
Why do the folks at the FCC,
Charged with promoting diversity,
Godfather monopoly media
That lets greedy moguls get greedier?
The answer, of course, isn¹t hard to see,
This perverse decision¹s no mystery,
They¹ve got an agenda, they¹ve got their own plan,
And they do what they do because they can.
Some people when given a power chair,
Seek out a just balance and work to be fair,
They know that their job is to foster some change,
But change that comes out of a healthy exchange.
And then there¹s those others, the self-absorbed clever,
Who chortle while thinking: "I now own the lever;
No outsider wisdom I need ever scan,
And I¹ll do what I do because I can."
For many a year it¹s been realized,
Truth rarely is simple or homogenized,
The broader the input, the wider the net,
The more likely it is, a clear picture you¹ll get.
When the media¹s run by far fewer big owners
Who¹ve bought up or beat down the free-swinging loners,
There¹ll give us more dumbdowns, celebrity spam,
They¹ll drown us in treacle‹because they can.
©2003
**********
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Selected Reading
from that Mad Cat, JD
Thanks, JD!
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Interesting Link
'The Cutting Suite'
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In The Chaos Household
Last Night
'June Gloom' hung til nearly 4pm, again. Very pleasant day.
Woo-hoo! AO-hell didn't censor Michael Dare this week!
CBS opens the night with a RERUN of 'Celine Dion: A New Day Has Come', followed by '60 Minutes II', and then '48 Hours'.
Scheduled on a FRESH Dave are Seth Green, Amy Sedaris, and Lucinda Williams.
Scheduled on a FRESH Craiggers is Model Nikki Ziering.
NBC starts the night with a FRESH 'Fame', followed by a RERUN 'Law & Order', then another
RERUN 'Law & Order'.
Scheduled on a FRESH Jay are Harrison Ford, Jay Mohr, and Terence Trent D'Arby.
Scheduled on a FRESH Conan are Jerry Lewis, Harland Williams, and Buddy Guy.
On a RERUN Carson Daly (from 2/20/03), are Mira Sorvino and the Doors.
ABC has 'NBA Finals', so prime time on the left coast will be local filler.
Scheduled on a FRESH Jimmy Kimmel is Tyrese with this week's guest co-host Method Man.
The WB offers the movie 'Ready To Rumble'.
Faux has a RERUN 'That 70's Show', followed by another RERUN 'That 70's Show', then a RERUN
'Bernie Mac', followed by a RERUN 'Cedric the Entertainer'.
UPN offers a RERUN 'Enterprise', followed by a RERUN 'Twilight Zone'.
A&E has 'Biography' (Burt Reynolds), followed by 'American Justice', and then 'City Confidential'.
AMC has the movie 'Enter The Dragon', followed by the movie 'Midway'.
BBC America offers 'Ground Force' (7pm), 'Changing Rooms' (7:30m), 'Homefront in the Garden' (8pm),
'Homefront in the Garden' (8:30pm), 'Keeping Up Appearances' (9pm), 'Keeping Up Appearances' (9:40pm),
'Keeping Up Appearances' (10:20pm), 'So Graham Norton' (11pm), 'So Graham Norton' (11:30pm),
'Monty Python's Flying Circus - Blood, Devastation, Death, War and Horror' (12midnight), 'Monty Python's Flying Circus - The All-England Summarize Proust Competition' (12:40am),
and 'Monty Python's Flying Circus - The War Against Pornography' (1:20am) - ALL TIMES ET
Bravo has 'Riverdance From NYC', followed by 'Thursday the 12th' (part 1).
Scheduled on a FRESH Jon Stewart is Madeleine Albright.
History offers 'History Undercover', followed by 'The XY Factor', and then 'Modern Marvels'.
SciFi' has 'Roar', followed by the movie 'Velocity Trap'.
TCM has the movie 'Sweet Bird of Youth', followed by the movie 'I Married a Woman', then the movie 'Penguin Pool Murder', followed by
the movie 'Tomorrow The World'.
USA celebrates large reptiles with 'Anaconda', followed by 'Lake Placid'.
Anyone have any opinions?
Or reviews?
(See below for addresses)
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Music legends B.B. King (L) and Eric Clapton perform on stage during the 'Blowin' the Blues Away' concert at the Apollo Theatre in New York City, June 2, 2003. The concert was part of a series of events marking the 2003 'Year of the Blues.'
Photo by Jeff Christensen
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BuzzFlash.Com and BartCop.Com
Take Back the Media.Com
Take Back the Media.Com Gets the Savage Treatment: Wife of Website Co-Founder Slapped with Lawsuit - A BuzzFlash Interview
In an exclusive first interview with BuzzFlash.Com and
BartCop.Com, Mike Stinson, co-founder of the watchdog website,
Take Back the Media.Com, reveals why his wife and other websites are being sued by Michael Savage.
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Time to Publish Excerpts
Hillary Clinton Memoir
Time magazine has bought the right to publish excerpts from U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton's memoir "Living History" in its next issue, which hits newsstands on Monday.
Time Managing Editor Jim Kelly, confirming the purchase, told Reuters on Tuesday: "The book covers everything that has happened to the junior senator from New York. It starts with her grandparents."
The book is the first Clinton will profit from. Royalties from her previous books -- "It Takes a Village," about children, education and family policy, "An Invitation to the White House," about state dinners, and "Dear Socks, Dear Buddy," a compilation of children's letters to the first family's pets -- were donated to charity.
Hillary Clinton Memoir
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The Information One-Stop
Moose & Squirrel
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Lisa Marie Presley, Jewel, & Phish To Play
NBA Finals
Lisa Marie Presley, Jewel, and Phish are among the artists taking part in the musical portion of the NBA Finals 2003. Presley will launch the NBA Finals 2003 musical entertainment with a performance during halftime of Game One on Wednesday (June 4). She will premiere her second single, "Sinking In," and her current single "Lights Out," both from her debut album To Whom It May Concern.
Jewel will perform her hit single "Intuition" during halftime of Game Three on Sunday (June 8). Jewel's fifth album, 0304, is released Tuesday (June 3).
Phish will perform the national anthem before Game Four of the Finals on Wednesday (June 11).
NBA Finals
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Nina Rietsch, one of the performers in the 2003 Pageant of the Masters, which brings famous works of art to life in a 'tableaux vivants-living pictures' utilizing makeup and lighting to recreate the artwork, answers questions during a press preview night, in Laguna Beach, California on June 2, 2003. Rietsch portrays one of the statues in 'Allee de L'Autome' featured at the palace at Versailles in France.
Photo by Fred Prouser
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'Destino' Debuts
Dali 'n Disney
A seven-minute animated film dreamt up more than half a century ago by one of the most unlikely partnerships in history -- Walt Disney and Salvador Dali -- premiered in this southeastern French city late Monday.
"Destino", fruit of a 1946 project between the two men, had its world premiere at the opening of the Annecy animated film festival which runs until Saturday and is the world's top competitive festival of animated movies.
Serge Bromberg, the festival's artistic director, told AFP that "in 1946 Dali and Disney met and came up with the idea of making a film. Dali worked with John Hench for several months and they produced 20 seconds of animation plus a lot of sketches.
"But Disney's finances were in catastrophic state at the time and the project was dropped."
A few years ago, in 1999, Roy Disney, Walt's nephew and head of Walt Disney Features Animation, stumbled on the notes and decided to finalise the project "to give Disney back a bit of its history", said Bromberg.
Dali 'n Disney
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Miffed by Beeper Interruption
Laurence Fishburne
Laurence Fishburne, who hosted Jazz at Lincoln Center's second annual spring gala benefit, was speaking eloquently about the blues' influence on jazz — the theme of Monday night's concert at the Apollo Theater — when someone's beeper went off.
"Does someone have a beeper?" the "Matrix Reloaded" actor intoned, as the audience laughed. "Would you like to answer it? We'll wait for you."
It was a rare glitch during the concert, in which Wynton Marsalis and his jazz septet backed up Carrie Smith, Lou Donaldson, Willie Nelson, Audra McDonald, Ray Charles, B.B. King and Eric Clapton playing blues classics.
The event was followed by a gala dinner, which Glenn Close, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), Walt Frazier, Bobby Short, Al Roker and his wife, Deborah Roberts, and others attended.
Laurence Fishburne
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Animated Series Released
'Animatrix'
For those who can't get enough of "The Matrix," you can buy a nine-part animated series called "The Animatrix." It's out on DVD today as prequel to "The Matrix."
'Matrix' directors Larry and Andy Wachowski hired their favorite Japanese directors to direct the series in anime style. The shorts explain how machines came to rule the Earth and they also answer other questions raised by "The Matrix" and its two sequels. They also give you more background information on the characters.
Producer Michael Arias said the films were originally discussed as a television project or a television series. "And actually one of the first things that I did, before I actually started work as a producer, was try and steer everyone away from television," Arias told AP Radio.
Arias had the Wachowski brothers write an outline for The Animatrix so the Japanese directors wouldn't create something too weird. 'These are the most creative people I've ever met. You tell them to go nuts, and they'll give you something really far out," he said. The directors worked within the confines of the outline.
'Animatrix'
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Meets With Gov. George Pataki
Russell Simmons
Hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons met with Gov. George Pataki to discuss revising the state's drug laws.
The two-hour meeting Monday took place as indications point toward a relaxing of the laws, which have been criticized as unfair.
Simmons has held a series of rallies in recent weeks to address the issue and has enlisted popular rap stars including Sean "P. Diddy" Combs to support his position. He planned to go to Albany Tuesday to meet with legislators to advocate changes in the drug laws, The New York Times reported.
Pataki, Senate Republicans and Assembly Democrats have agreed that the sentences mandated by law are too harsh, but they haven't come to an agreement on whose voice should be strongest in the sentencing.
Russell Simmons
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In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends
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Stops to Smell the 'Roses'
Madonna
Madonna's first children's book will be published Sept. 15 in 42 languages in more than 100 countries.
The release of "The English Roses" by Callaway Editions and Penguin Group, in association with various publishers around the world, is being touted as the largest simultaneous worldwide release of a book in history.
The publication of "Roses" will mark the debut of a five-book series by Madonna, with a projected first printing of the U.S. edition of 400,000 copies. "The English Roses" is described as "a story for young readers about friendship, jealousy, sleepover parties, and fairy godmothers with stunning full-color illustrations throughout."
Madonna
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Joined By Bishop Tutu
Carlos Santana
Carlos Santana will be joined by Nobel Peace Prize winner Bishop Desmond Tutu this Thursday (June 5) at a Los Angeles press conference to provide more details about his partnership with Artists For A New South Africa (ANSA) to help fight the AIDS epidemic in Africa.
At the press conference, Santana and wife Deborah will officially announce their intention to donate all proceeds from Santana's North American Shaman tour to ANSA's Amandla AIDS Fund, which supports South African organizations battling the disease. Details will be revealed at 10 a.m. PT at the Creative Artists Agency in Beverly Hills, California.
In addition to Tutu, several celebrity guests are expected at the event, including actors Alfre Woodard, CCH Pounder, Blair Underwood, Alexandra Paul, Robert Guillaume--who lost a son to AIDS--and wife Donna Brown Guillaume; Arista Records CEO Antonio "L.A." Reid; CAA Managing Partner Rob Light; and ANSA Executive Director Sharon Gelman.
Carlos Santana
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Print Recovered in NYC
Lost Picasso
A framer who absent-mindedly left two works of art on a subway platform — including an original Picasso print — was reunited with his lost property on Monday.
William Bailey, 63, breathed a sigh of relief as he took back the works belonging to a client — a Picasso rendering of two male figures and a $6,500 recreation of the painter's "Guernica" by Henri Matisse's great-granddaughter, Sophie Matisse.
They were returned by sidewalk book vendor Paul Abi Boutrous.
Lost Picasso
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Formerly 'The Vidiot'
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Grins and Bares It
'Naked Cowboy'
Come rain or shine, he stands in Times Square, strumming his guitar and croaking out a tune, almost naked except for cowboy boots, hat and the tight white briefs that occasionally reveal his politics.
To most, the Naked Cowboy is just another street performer, and not a very good one at that. But as he struts his stuff daily on Broadway for dollars from tourists, the Naked Cowboy is convinced he has achieved his goal of becoming "the most celebrated entertainer of all time."
"I've become the pin-up symbol of New York City," the Cowboy, also known as Robert John Burck, told Reuters. "I'm ready for the Statue of Liberty to throw down her torch and swim back to France." The Empire State Building? Strictly second-rate, he says.
Dressed only in cowboy boots with spurs, a 10-gallon hat perched on his flowing blond hair and a double pair of form-fitting bright-white briefs, the Ohio native has become a daily fixture in Times Square over the past three years.
On his Web site (www.nakedcowboy.com), Burck, 32, tells of setting a goal a few years ago to become the most celebrated entertainer of all time. Asked how that plan was coming along, he said he had achieved it.
For the rest, 'Naked Cowboy'
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Close-up view of the Soviet Sputnik 1 as it hangs from the ceiling at the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum in Washington, June 3, 2003. The Soviet Union launched the original Sputnik, a shiny metallic orb with four antennas streaking from the side, in 1957. The original 183-pound (83 kilo) Sputnik burned up when it re-entered the Earth's atmosphere, and experts believe Moscow originally made four back-up Sputniks, one of which is currently being offered on the internet for a starting auction price of $25,000.
Photo by William Philpott
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May Have Misled Judge
R. Kelly
Prosecutors in Chicago claim R. Kelly may be trying to put one over on the judge handling his child pornography case. The Chicago Sun Times reports prosecutors believe the singer misled Judge Vincent Gaughan when he asked to travel this past weekend to New York where Kelly was said to be "one of the featured performers" at a concert. But the paper says it and prosecutors checked with the radio station hosting the event and found that R. Kelly wasn't scheduled to perform.
His attorney says there's a good explanation for that. Ed Genson says R. Kelly had been waiting to get permission from the judge before signing on to do the concert. Prosecutors have opposed Kelly's efforts to travel for performances and promotional appearances since his indictment on 21 counts of child pornography. But so far, the judge has granted all of Kelly's requests to travel.
R. Kelly
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Settles with Doors Members
Stewart Copeland
Former Police drummer Stewart Copeland has amicably settled his lawsuit against two surviving members of the Doors, now touring under the moniker the Doors of the 21st Century.
Copeland had sued the group for breach of contract, claiming founding members Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger reneged on a promise to use him during the tour and on an upcoming studio album.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed. "They're a great group and you should go see them," Copeland told Billboard.com recently. " Ian Astbury is really charismatic." In a statement, Manzarek said, "We're glad we were able to resolve this matter, and we wish Stewart all the success in the future."
This incarnation of the Doors has been peppered with lawsuits since last year. Original drummer John Densmore, who is not a part of the reunion, sued Manzarek and Krieger for breach of contract, claiming that after lead singer Jim Morrison died in 1971, the three remaining members agreed they would split any future profits from the Doors' music equally. He alleged the members also agreed the band's name would not be used unless all three of them were involved.
Last month, a judge denied Densmore's request for a temporary restraining order preventing Manzarek and Krieger from touring. The group has 13 dates on tap for a summer tour, beginning June 20 in Detroit and including a previously announced Aug. 30 appearance at the Coors Mountain Jam outside Denver.
Stewart Copeland
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Nielsen Media Research
Prime-TimeRatings
Prime-time viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen Media Research for May 26-June 1. Top 10 listings include the week's ranking, with viewership for the week and season-to-date rankings in parentheses. An "X" in parentheses denotes a one-time-only presentation.
1. (1) "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," CBS, 13.3 million viewers.
2. (82) "48 Hours Investigates," CBS, 12.2 million viewers.
3. (10) "Law & Order," NBC, 12 million viewers.
4. (8) "Everybody Loves Raymond," CBS, 11.9 million viewers.
5. (12) "CSI: Miami," CBS, 11.6 million viewers.
6. (13) "Will & Grace," NBC, 11.3 million viewers.
7. (54) "CBS Sunday Movie: A Time to Kill," CBS, 11 million viewers.
8. (20) "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," NBC, 10.9 million viewers.
9. (21) "60 Minutes," CBS, 10.9 million viewers.
10. (X) "Friends" (Thursday), NBC, 10.8 million viewers.
Prime-TimeRatings
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In Memory
Richard Cusack
Richard Cusack, an advertising executive turned actor and screenwriter whose children included Hollywood stars John and Joan Cusack, has died at 77.
Cusack, who died of pancreatic cancer Monday, abandoned a 17-year successful advertising career in 1970 to enter the film industry.
"He said, `Who cares if you brush your teeth with Colgate or Palmolive? There are bigger issues out there,'" said his wife, Nancy Cusack.
He won awards for a 1971 abortion documentary, "The Committee," and wrote plays.
Cusack also acted on the stage and in such movies as "My Bodyguard," "The Fugitive" and "Return to Me."
He wrote the 1999 HBO film "The Jack Bull," in which his son John had a starring role. Daughter Joan got her start in "My Bodyguard" with her father.
Joan Cusack has appeared in such movies as "Sixteen Candles," "Working Girl" and "In & Out." John Cusack has been in "High Fidelity," "Grosse Pointe Blank" and "Being John Malkovich."
Their siblings — Ann, Bill and Susie — also have appeared in films.
"He encouraged us to go for our passions, our dreams, what we wanted to do," Ann Cusack said.
Richard Cusack
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Charles Sheeler's 1927 monochrome photograph titled 'Criss-Crossed Conveyors,' which shows the Ford Motor Company's River Rouge plant in Michigan, is among nearly 100 of the photographer's most important works that went on display Tuesday, June 3, 2003 at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art. The retrospective should put him back in the same league with his more famous peers like Steichen, Stieglitz and Weston.
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'Ark of Darkness'
"The Ark of Darkness", a Political/Science-Fiction work, in tidy, weekly installments (and updated every Friday).
Chapter 8 - Oracle
~
This Friday
Chapter 9 - Inferno
Let me know what you think!
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'The Osbournes'
'The Osbournes' ~ Page 4
'The Osbournes' ~ Page 3
'The Osbournes' ~ Page 2
'The Osbournes' ~ Page 1
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