Magazines, News Stories, and Movies
Day 1 :)
Hi everyone. I'm better. Sorta. I've given space needed, and I have faith that in time, things will be back to normal. So, things are decent now. So, I thought I should post something.
I had a bunch of stuff I was gonna post in one entry...stuff I wrote out last week. I will put some of that in this entry.
It's very hot today. The AC isn't on, but I have a fan here (one that looks like R2D2 from Star Wars) so that's good. I have a doctor's appointment today. That should taken 5 mins, because the guy is terrible with his people skills, so that means he'll ask me how the stuff is working, I'll say fine (I'm half lying with that), and he'll say, ok- I'll see you again on this date in 2 months. I have that at 3:30, and I have to pick my dad up at 5PM. So, I will probably go to the library in between. I have that movie Jason X on hold. It looks dumb, but oh well...it's horror on DVD. I have a few books on hold too, that I should be getting in a few days...books about how to acheieve power and a book on improving your social and conversational skills. I have 3 books checked out now- one on the DSS and terrorism, a novel called Crawling At Night, and a book about Deep Throat...the guy involved with the Nixon stuff. I'm not very familiar with any of that, so maybe I will learn something. I just watched the movie Fletch on VHS the other night...I haven't seen that in years. It's funny. I also watched a horror movie called Hide and Shriek which was pretty lame storywise, but it was decent overall. True 80's horror. I also had Rollercoaster Tycoon 2, but I only played it once and I return it today. Not to mention, I need to finish two books on tape- Larry Elder's book...I forget the name, and the Sean Hannity book. We love Sean!! ;)
You guys should check out SMART TV AND SOUND MAGAZINE. Great articles and reviews on all sorts of tv related stuff. There is the media center computer in the issue I got the other day that I want so bad. It's like $3, 000, but it's tight. When I get some cash and my own place, I'm gonna have everything networked...the computer, all the stuff in the entertainment center, the tivo (which I need to buy), etc. It's gonna rule. Woohoo.
I got another issue of Video Store Magazine, which is cool, because I can see when movies come out way before most people can find out...well, they can find out, but usually not very easily. I know Jacob (my brother) will get Old School on DVD, which is nice, 'cause I love that movie. He has the hilarious movie, Super Troopers on DVD now, which I should go down and get. I watched Puddle Cruiser on Cinemanow.com the other day as well- third time watching that movie. I need to take advantage of that service ($10 kids!) and watch more movies. I've been a bit too nervous to watch anything lately. :( Hopefully that'll change soon... Let's hope!
In other news- I wanted to go see that guy The Hurricane talk. Rubin Carter is his name, and he came to Evansville to talk about adult literacy...a subject that doesn't really interest me personally, but he's famous, and it was free. I didn't wanna go alone, and I couldn't find anyone to go with me, so I didn't go. I have the tickets as memories tho!
I read a really cool story by Poppy Brite about some coroner lady who is obsessed with food and has a favorite chef at this one restaurant, and he ends up on her table in the morgue...then she tries to bring him to life with some spell...It was a short story inside of this mammoth book of horror. It's the only story I read, but it was cool...
Did you see that that slutty Sarah Kozer from Joe Millionaire is posing nude in Playboy? I bet her parents are proud! She makes an ass of herself on tv in front of the nation, and now this...people never cease to amaze me.
I've noticed that political ads get dirtier every time around. Stop the bashing and concentrate on what your guy has done. If another candidate lies about your guy, then I'm all for fighting back...but the trash ads are annoying, and they turn me off to voting completely.
That girl in the Evanescense (I have no idea if I spelled that correctly) video is hot. She's all falling off the building. The song is a little too hard rock sounding to me, but she's fine...
For all you CSI fans, Marg Helgenberger is playing the Ramsey mother in the Jon Benet movie. I saw something about it in Video Store Magazine, so I think it's a straight to video release...no tv special. Then again, it might have been on tv, I'm not sure...
That's it for now...tons of thoughts all put into one entry. See you all later. I'm off to sit in front of the fan and watch Dr. Katz. I wish I had some lemonade.
One final thing- I just got the newsletter e mail from Holiday Drive in which is really nice actually. You pay $7 and get two movies...in your car...concessions with hot dogs, pizza, burgers, ice cream, candy, popcorn, etc...anyhow- this is what's playing. I'm gonna see if I can go this Friday or Saturday night. Before I list what's on this screen, I just want to wink one more time for someone special ;) - ok good...
Screen 2 THE LIZZIE McGUIRE MOVIE (PG)
HOLES (PG)
Check out below (more) for some news stories I thought you guys might be
interested in. Then again, maybe not...
Alabama lineman gives 'Playboy' the brushoff
USA TODAY
Add Alabama's Wesley Britt to the list of college football players giving a pass to the Playboy magazine All-America team.
Britt, a 6-8, 312-pound junior offensive lineman, was one of 22 players chosen for the 2003 team. He declined the honor (and a week in California for the photo shoot) because his religious background was at odds with the risque content of the men's magazine.
''I spent a lot of time with kids, speaking to church groups and to schools, and I just don't think this would be setting a good example,'' Britt told The Cullman (Ala.) Times.
Playboy is used to a degree of rejection. Oklahoma defensive back Tommie Harris said no last year because he believes the magazine degrades women. Sooners linebacker Rocky Calmus declined in 2001, and in the last decade Texas kicker Phil Dawson and Minnesota center Ben Hamilton also rejected the magazine.
DOJ backs RIAA in Verizon case
April 21, 2003
WASHINGTON -- The Bush Administration is backing the recording industry in its attempt to force the nation's largest phone company to identify one of its customers who is allegedly trading thousands of copyrighted songs over the Internet. In a brief filed late Friday, the Justice Department urged federal district court Judge John Bates to refuse Verizon Communications Corp.'s request to quash a subpoena sought by the RIAA under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Under the provision, a copyright holder can win a subpoena for a copyright infringer's identity from a federal court clerk. The DMCA requires Internet services to turn over the names of copyright infringers, but holds the providers blameless for copyright piracy if they are operating as a "pure conduit." In the suit, Verizon claims it did not have to give the RIAA the name because piracy on peer-to-peer systems occurs on customers' own computers, not their network. It contends that giving up the name is a privacy and First Amendment violation.(Brooks Boliek)
'Shoot Me' pulled; Levitan pistol-hot
April 24, 2003
The bullets are flying over "Just Shoot Me." After a disastrous ratings performance earlier this week, NBC informed the producers Wednesday that it was immediately pulling the Universal Studios-produced comedy from the schedule and shelving 13 unaired episodes until sometime in the summer. The workplace comedy starring David Spade will be temporarily replaced with specials through the upcoming sweep, including "The Most Outrageous Game Show Moments 4" on May 6. The move drew an outraged response from "Just Shoot Me" executive producer Steve Levitan, who accused NBC entertainment president Jeff Zucker of breaking his word about the show's future and killing it this season through poor scheduling and a lack of promotion. Levitan said that at the final season taping last month, "Jeff Zucker came and assured our cast, promised our cast, that (NBC) would not pull us and they would be airing these episodes. Now it's clear to me his word meant nothing. It's a real slap in the face to the show and the crew for NBC to treat the show the way they've treated it." NBC and Zucker declined comment. (Scott Collins)
WB 'Grounded' for another year
April 24, 2003
The WB Network has given a 22-episode pickup to the family comedy "Grounded for Life," which will return in the fall for its first full season on the WB and its fourth overall. The show, starring Donal Logue as the head of a rambunctious middle-class clan, moved to the WB in late February after running on Fox since its premiere in January 2001. With the pickup, the WB will have 30 original episodes of "Grounded" for next season, including six unaired segments originally produced for Fox last year, which the WB acquired as part of the deal for the series. "It's a dream come true," the show's co-creator/executive producer Bill Martin said about the early pickup. "We were drowning, and the WB pulled us out, and now we've got a new lease on life." All cast members are set to return to the series in the fall, Martin said. He and fellow co-creator/executive producer Mike Schiff will remain as showrunners and will continue to executive produce alongside CWM's Marcy Carsey, Tom Werner and Caryn Mandabach.(Nellie Andreeva)
NEWS - T.A.T.U. Criticized For Nude Photo Shoot Plans 04/18/2003
(4/18/03, 6 p.m. ET) -- T.A.T.U. singers Julia Volkova and Lena Katina received criticism from the National Society For The Prevention Of Cruelty To Children (NSPCC) after the Russian pop duo put out a call for young girls to join them in a naked photo shoot, according to the U.K. tabloid, The Sun.
The NSPCC called the move an "irresponsible publicity stunt" and it urged young women to ignore the request.
Stunt or no stunt, the resulting picture will reportedly be used for the singers' next album cover.
A spokesman for Volkova and Katina told the newspaper, "We are looking for the most beautiful, coolest, cleverest, and youngest girls."
Calling all villains
By Jeff Merron
Page 2 staff
We hate 'em. They're nasty, mean, and sometimes just pure evil. Whenever we remember their positive contributions to sport, we can't help but think about the ugly, overwhelming negativity of who they were, or some awful deed they did. They're the ultimate sports villains, and if they weren't real, we would have had to make them up. Check our list of the ultimate sports villains and then tell us who we missed.
1. Ty Cobb
Cobb's life was fueled by hatred -- he seemed to hate most everyone, and most everyone hated him back. He played dirty. Opponents, teammates, umps, fans -- he fought them all, and continued to despise them long after the fighting (and his ballplaying) was over. Cobb was an overt racist, too, one who, wrote Peter Carlson in "The Gospel According to ESPN," "regularly attacked black people he deemed insufficiently deferential. He fought a black elevator operator, a black construction worker, a black groundskeeper -- and when the groundskeeper's wife protested, he grabbed her by the throat."
Even after Cobb was gone, he was despised. When Newsday sports columnist Jack Mann was asked to write Cobb's obit, he said he'd only do it if he could tell it like it was, explaining, "The only difference now is that he's a dead prick."
2. O.J. Simpson
Ten years ago, he probably would have made our "heroes" list. But he was a better actor than we all thought. In a way, the perfect villain -- a public persona of mellow, good-humored friendliness that masked a greater evil inside.
3. John Rocker
Even before SI outed Rocker as a racist jerk, his Braves teammates shunned him -- because he didn't care about the team. "If the team lost, the team won, it really didn't fit with what he did," said Thomas Stinton of the Atlanta Journal Constitution. "It was how he pitched that night, how he had performed, what he had accomplished, what his ERA was, how many saves he had."
And after his hateful harangue? Persona non grata. Nobody came to his defense, because he was indefensible. And soon, he was gone from Atlanta.
4. Walter O'Malley
Just two years after the Dodgers won the World Series, O'Malley took them away from Brooklyn, even though more than a million fans -- a respectable number in those days -- came to see the Bums in 1957. In the meantime, he also convinced Horace Stoneham to move the Giants to San Francisco. Writers Jack Newfield and Pete Hamill, both Brooklyn natives, once had an argument that they settled by each listing, on a piece of paper, the three greatest villains in recent history. Their lists were identical: 1) Hitler; 2) Stalin; 3) O'Malley.
5. Mike Tyson
When Tyson said to Lennox Lewis, "I want to eat your children," we weren't sure if he was kidding or not. In the sordid, corrupt world of boxing, he's a dirty player who once had a chance to rule the heavyweight division on pure talent. Instead, he turned out to be a convicted rapist and ear muncher. Now, as former featherweight champion Barry McGuigan so concisely said, "He's out of control outside the ring and out of control inside the ring. He's a disgrace." Who gives a flip if he can turn on the charm when Jimmy Kimmel's cameras are pointed at him?
6. Conrad Dobler
The offensive lineman for the Cardinals, Saints and Bills in the 1970s and early '80s received the dubious honor of topping Page 2's list of dirtiest pro team players ever last year. He was a true villain who didn't care who he hurt, or how he hurt them. For example, he was so well known for biting (sound familiar?) that the Vikings requested rabies shots before playing against him. His unabashed dirty play resulted in several rules changes: no blocking a windpipe -- said Dobler, "When I hit a guy, I'll hit him in the throat ... he doesn't have any pads on his throat" -- and no leg whips.
Dobler got off cheap shots against Merlin Olsen and Mean Joe Greene -- in the Pro Bowl -- and Lions linebacker Charlie Weaver, among countless others.
But the cheapest, most juvenile of all came at the end of a 1974 game against the Giants, when the opposing players were shaking hands as the clock wound down. When Giant Jim Pietrzak attempted this ritual of sportsmanship, wishing Dobler good luck in the playoffs, Dobler punched him in the throat.
7. Charles ComiskeyArnold Rothstein/Hal Chase
The real troika behind the 1919 Black Sox scandal.
Comiskey, the owner of the White Sox, became the owner of the Black Sox at least in part because he was a notorious cheapskate. In other words, his players -- the best in baseball -- were greatly underpaid. Would they have fixed the Series if they didn't need the cash, and felt any allegiance whatsoever to Comiskey? We wouldn't bet on it.
Rothstein, the gambler, arranged it all.
And Chase, notorious for fixing games throughout his career with the Yankees, White Sox, Reds and Giants, was indicted by the Chicago grand jury as go-between in the scandal.
8. Enos Slaughter, Ben Chapman and the 1947 baseball racists
Slaughter led a May 1947 St. Louis Cardinals attempt to strike in protest against Jackie Robinson. It failed, but Slaughter intentionally spiked Robinson later in the season, demonstrating his complete lack of class. Chapman, a short-fused star for seven teams, led the league in race-baiting in 1947, mercilously taunting Robinson from his manager's perch in the Phillies dugout. Though organized baseball at the time was suffused with racism, both subtle and overt, Slaughter and Chapman exemplified the ugliest of the ugly.
9. Tonya Harding
Well, we'd give points to Tonya Harding for originality -- athletes play all kinds of mind games before competing, but nobody had come up with an idea like hers, to have her husband and a gang of third-rate thugs crack an opponent's knee. Of course, Harding skated in the Olympics and did poorly, while Nancy Kerrigan, her victim, took home a silver. Since then, Harding has divorced, served jail time, feuded with her fan club, starred in a wedding-night porn video, and been booed at public appearances. And she just won't go away, as she keeps popping up in lame celebrity boxing matches on Fox.
But she's achieved status as an American icon, of sorts. One Web site paid tribute to Harding, explaining, "By living her life on the low end of the bell curve, she's helped the rest of America feel that much better about ourselves."
10. Robert Irsay
In the middle of the night of March 29, 1984, Irsay, the owner of the Baltimore Colts, got his moving vans going, heading out under cover of darkness to move the city's beloved franchise to Indianapolis. Thirty-one years of good mutual history, undone by a millionaire's quest for yet more money, tore at the soul of the city. "It's unbelievable, the callousness of this man," said one fan. "Just because he has a couple of bucks, he can tear a whole city down on his whims." Yep. That¹s what villains do.
Hackers, Madonna mix it up
By John Borland
CNET News.com
April 22, 2003, 12:21 PM PT
Madonna just can't seem to find peace on the Net.
After releasing the first single from her new "American Life" album online a few weeks ago, the Material Girl saw her Web site hacked last weekend, with links to pirated versions of her full album replacing the site’s content.
The hacker's attack appeared to be in response to Madonna's most recent, typically colorful broadside against file-swappers seeking free copies of her music. The singer has put files that appear to be versions of her new songs onto peer-to-peer networks that actually contain recordings of her saying, "What the f*** do you think you're doing?"
The hacked page, as sent to CNET News.com by several readers, had a message that read, "This is what the f*** I think I'm doing." It also contained what appeared to be links to the album's songs.
Parts of the site remained offline through midday Monday, but were operating normally Tuesday.
Madonna's war with hackers isn't unique, but it has been one of the consistent threads of the battles over online music during the past few years. Several other artists and groups that have complained about file swapping and have seen similar attacks.
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has been the target of repeated hack attacks during the past year, sending the site offline several times. Metallica, the hard-rock band that proved to be one of Napster's chief antagonists, had its site hacked at the peak of that controversy.
Madonna's release of fake files into file-swapping networks is an increasingly common way of combating Net piracy, even if her own twist on the tactic has earned her more attention. Several technology start-ups have built businesses around duping downloaders this way. In Napster's heyday, these false files were dubbed "Cuckoo Eggs" by one group of independent piracy fighters.
Madonna's publicist did not immediately return calls for comment, but told Reuters that the hack was genuine.
What Happens to Your Social Security Number When You Die?
By Brendan I. Koerner
Updated Tuesday, April 22, 2003, at 2:25 PM PT
The very-much-alive Jim Pierce was declared dead when a Social Security Administration clerk mistakenly typed the Vermont retiree's Social Security number into a database of the departed. Are Social Security numbers ever reused once the bearer dies, and how are they generated in the first place?
The SSA is adamant that numbers are never recycled and likely won't be for the foreseeable future. Given the nine-digit format, there are a hair under 1 billion possible permutations, taking into account that numbers like 000-00-0000 and other oddities aren't distributed. (An elaborate mathematical guesstimate here quotes the precise figure as 988,911,099.) So far, the SSA has doled out roughly 400 million numbers. Population researchers calculate that roughly 300 million people will require new Social Security numbers by the year 2050—about 230 million native births plus 68 million immigrants, give or take 50 million all told. Barring unforeseen circumstances, such as a meteor strike or cloning boom, the current enumeration system should last nearly another century.
The numbers of the deceased are made publicly available via the Social Security Death Index. Several genealogy services provide free, searchable versions of the SDDI to aid researchers who are tracing their family roots.
Hospitals make it easy for new parents to obtain Social Security numbers for their infants at birth, often integrating the application forms into the standard procedural paperwork. Naturalized citizens and legal aliens can apply directly to the SSA once they are in the United States or as part of the visa application process before they arrive. Paranoid anti-government types aren't technically required to have a Social Security number, but life in the U.S. is virtually impossible without one. The IRS requires all employed citizens over 18 to have a number, and a Social Security number is essential to opening up a bank account, paying taxes, and obtaining health insurance. Once you have a number, you can't opt out of the program. On extremely rare occasions you can change your number, but only if you can prove that keeping your current digits is a threat your well-being—say, if you're being pursued by a relentless stalker.
Conspiracy theories abound as to the significance of the numbers, but the true explanation is mundane. The first three digits are assigned by geographical region. Originally, this was done by state, with the lowest numbers on the Eastern seaboard and the highest along the Pacific; they are now assigned according to ZIP code. The middle two digits are referred to as the "group number," which simply breaks down each geographic unit into smaller, random subsets—that is, your neighbor's baby may share the same first three digits with your toddler, but the kids' group numbers will likely be different. The last four digits, the "serial number," is purely random. Contrary to the rumors favored by the black-helicopter set, the numbers have nothing to do with racial categorizations or U.N. relocation plans.
Posted by Josh at April 29, 2003 12:28 PM
Magazines, News Stories, and Movies
Day 1 :)
Hi everyone. I'm better. Sorta. I've given space needed, and I have faith that in time, things will be back to normal. So, things are decent now. So, I thought I should post something.
I had a bunch of stuff I was gonna post in one entry...stuff I wrote out last week. I will put some of that in this entry.
It's very hot today. The AC isn't on, but I have a fan here (one that looks like R2D2 from Star Wars) so that's good. I have a doctor's appointment today. That should taken 5 mins, because the guy is terrible with his people skills, so that means he'll ask me how the stuff is working, I'll say fine (I'm half lying with that), and he'll say, ok- I'll see you again on this date in 2 months. I have that at 3:30, and I have to pick my dad up at 5PM. So, I will probably go to the library in between. I have that movie Jason X on hold. It looks dumb, but oh well...it's horror on DVD. I have a few books on hold too, that I should be getting in a few days...books about how to acheieve power and a book on improving your social and conversational skills. I have 3 books checked out now- one on the DSS and terrorism, a novel called Crawling At Night, and a book about Deep Throat...the guy involved with the Nixon stuff. I'm not very familiar with any of that, so maybe I will learn something. I just watched the movie Fletch on VHS the other night...I haven't seen that in years. It's funny. I also watched a horror movie called Hide and Shriek which was pretty lame storywise, but it was decent overall. True 80's horror. I also had Rollercoaster Tycoon 2, but I only played it once and I return it today. Not to mention, I need to finish two books on tape- Larry Elder's book...I forget the name, and the Sean Hannity book. We love Sean!! ;)
You guys should check out SMART TV AND SOUND MAGAZINE. Great articles and reviews on all sorts of tv related stuff. There is the media center computer in the issue I got the other day that I want so bad. It's like $3, 000, but it's tight. When I get some cash and my own place, I'm gonna have everything networked...the computer, all the stuff in the entertainment center, the tivo (which I need to buy), etc. It's gonna rule. Woohoo.
I got another issue of Video Store Magazine, which is cool, because I can see when movies come out way before most people can find out...well, they can find out, but usually not very easily. I know Jacob (my brother) will get Old School on DVD, which is nice, 'cause I love that movie. He has the hilarious movie, Super Troopers on DVD now, which I should go down and get. I watched Puddle Cruiser on Cinemanow.com the other day as well- third time watching that movie. I need to take advantage of that service ($10 kids!) and watch more movies. I've been a bit too nervous to watch anything lately. :( Hopefully that'll change soon... Let's hope!
In other news- I wanted to go see that guy The Hurricane talk. Rubin Carter is his name, and he came to Evansville to talk about adult literacy...a subject that doesn't really interest me personally, but he's famous, and it was free. I didn't wanna go alone, and I couldn't find anyone to go with me, so I didn't go. I have the tickets as memories tho!
I read a really cool story by Poppy Brite about some coroner lady who is obsessed with food and has a favorite chef at this one restaurant, and he ends up on her table in the morgue...then she tries to bring him to life with some spell...It was a short story inside of this mammoth book of horror. It's the only story I read, but it was cool...
Did you see that that slutty Sarah Kozer from Joe Millionaire is posing nude in Playboy? I bet her parents are proud! She makes an ass of herself on tv in front of the nation, and now this...people never cease to amaze me.
I've noticed that political ads get dirtier every time around. Stop the bashing and concentrate on what your guy has done. If another candidate lies about your guy, then I'm all for fighting back...but the trash ads are annoying, and they turn me off to voting completely.
That girl in the Evanescense (I have no idea if I spelled that correctly) video is hot. She's all falling off the building. The song is a little too hard rock sounding to me, but she's fine...
For all you CSI fans, Marg Helgenberger is playing the Ramsey mother in the Jon Benet movie. I saw something about it in Video Store Magazine, so I think it's a straight to video release...no tv special. Then again, it might have been on tv, I'm not sure...
That's it for now...tons of thoughts all put into one entry. See you all later. I'm off to sit in front of the fan and watch Dr. Katz. I wish I had some lemonade.
One final thing- I just got the newsletter e mail from Holiday Drive in which is really nice actually. You pay $7 and get two movies...in your car...concessions with hot dogs, pizza, burgers, ice cream, candy, popcorn, etc...anyhow- this is what's playing. I'm gonna see if I can go this Friday or Saturday night. Before I list what's on this screen, I just want to wink one more time for someone special ;) - ok good...
HOLES (PG)
Check out below (more) for some news stories I thought you guys might be
interested in. Then again, maybe not...
Alabama lineman gives 'Playboy' the brushoff
USA TODAY
Add Alabama's Wesley Britt to the list of college football players giving a pass to the Playboy magazine All-America team.
Britt, a 6-8, 312-pound junior offensive lineman, was one of 22 players chosen for the 2003 team. He declined the honor (and a week in California for the photo shoot) because his religious background was at odds with the risque content of the men's magazine.
''I spent a lot of time with kids, speaking to church groups and to schools, and I just don't think this would be setting a good example,'' Britt told The Cullman (Ala.) Times.
Playboy is used to a degree of rejection. Oklahoma defensive back Tommie Harris said no last year because he believes the magazine degrades women. Sooners linebacker Rocky Calmus declined in 2001, and in the last decade Texas kicker Phil Dawson and Minnesota center Ben Hamilton also rejected the magazine.
DOJ backs RIAA in Verizon case
April 21, 2003
WASHINGTON -- The Bush Administration is backing the recording industry in its attempt to force the nation's largest phone company to identify one of its customers who is allegedly trading thousands of copyrighted songs over the Internet. In a brief filed late Friday, the Justice Department urged federal district court Judge John Bates to refuse Verizon Communications Corp.'s request to quash a subpoena sought by the RIAA under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Under the provision, a copyright holder can win a subpoena for a copyright infringer's identity from a federal court clerk. The DMCA requires Internet services to turn over the names of copyright infringers, but holds the providers blameless for copyright piracy if they are operating as a "pure conduit." In the suit, Verizon claims it did not have to give the RIAA the name because piracy on peer-to-peer systems occurs on customers' own computers, not their network. It contends that giving up the name is a privacy and First Amendment violation.(Brooks Boliek)
'Shoot Me' pulled; Levitan pistol-hot
April 24, 2003
The bullets are flying over "Just Shoot Me." After a disastrous ratings performance earlier this week, NBC informed the producers Wednesday that it was immediately pulling the Universal Studios-produced comedy from the schedule and shelving 13 unaired episodes until sometime in the summer. The workplace comedy starring David Spade will be temporarily replaced with specials through the upcoming sweep, including "The Most Outrageous Game Show Moments 4" on May 6. The move drew an outraged response from "Just Shoot Me" executive producer Steve Levitan, who accused NBC entertainment president Jeff Zucker of breaking his word about the show's future and killing it this season through poor scheduling and a lack of promotion. Levitan said that at the final season taping last month, "Jeff Zucker came and assured our cast, promised our cast, that (NBC) would not pull us and they would be airing these episodes. Now it's clear to me his word meant nothing. It's a real slap in the face to the show and the crew for NBC to treat the show the way they've treated it." NBC and Zucker declined comment. (Scott Collins)
WB 'Grounded' for another year
April 24, 2003
The WB Network has given a 22-episode pickup to the family comedy "Grounded for Life," which will return in the fall for its first full season on the WB and its fourth overall. The show, starring Donal Logue as the head of a rambunctious middle-class clan, moved to the WB in late February after running on Fox since its premiere in January 2001. With the pickup, the WB will have 30 original episodes of "Grounded" for next season, including six unaired segments originally produced for Fox last year, which the WB acquired as part of the deal for the series. "It's a dream come true," the show's co-creator/executive producer Bill Martin said about the early pickup. "We were drowning, and the WB pulled us out, and now we've got a new lease on life." All cast members are set to return to the series in the fall, Martin said. He and fellow co-creator/executive producer Mike Schiff will remain as showrunners and will continue to executive produce alongside CWM's Marcy Carsey, Tom Werner and Caryn Mandabach.(Nellie Andreeva)
NEWS - T.A.T.U. Criticized For Nude Photo Shoot Plans 04/18/2003
(4/18/03, 6 p.m. ET) -- T.A.T.U. singers Julia Volkova and Lena Katina received criticism from the National Society For The Prevention Of Cruelty To Children (NSPCC) after the Russian pop duo put out a call for young girls to join them in a naked photo shoot, according to the U.K. tabloid, The Sun.
The NSPCC called the move an "irresponsible publicity stunt" and it urged young women to ignore the request.
Stunt or no stunt, the resulting picture will reportedly be used for the singers' next album cover.
A spokesman for Volkova and Katina told the newspaper, "We are looking for the most beautiful, coolest, cleverest, and youngest girls."
Calling all villains
By Jeff Merron
Page 2 staff
We hate 'em. They're nasty, mean, and sometimes just pure evil. Whenever we remember their positive contributions to sport, we can't help but think about the ugly, overwhelming negativity of who they were, or some awful deed they did. They're the ultimate sports villains, and if they weren't real, we would have had to make them up. Check our list of the ultimate sports villains and then tell us who we missed.
1. Ty Cobb
Cobb's life was fueled by hatred -- he seemed to hate most everyone, and most everyone hated him back. He played dirty. Opponents, teammates, umps, fans -- he fought them all, and continued to despise them long after the fighting (and his ballplaying) was over. Cobb was an overt racist, too, one who, wrote Peter Carlson in "The Gospel According to ESPN," "regularly attacked black people he deemed insufficiently deferential. He fought a black elevator operator, a black construction worker, a black groundskeeper -- and when the groundskeeper's wife protested, he grabbed her by the throat."
Even after Cobb was gone, he was despised. When Newsday sports columnist Jack Mann was asked to write Cobb's obit, he said he'd only do it if he could tell it like it was, explaining, "The only difference now is that he's a dead prick."
2. O.J. Simpson
Ten years ago, he probably would have made our "heroes" list. But he was a better actor than we all thought. In a way, the perfect villain -- a public persona of mellow, good-humored friendliness that masked a greater evil inside.
3. John Rocker
Even before SI outed Rocker as a racist jerk, his Braves teammates shunned him -- because he didn't care about the team. "If the team lost, the team won, it really didn't fit with what he did," said Thomas Stinton of the Atlanta Journal Constitution. "It was how he pitched that night, how he had performed, what he had accomplished, what his ERA was, how many saves he had."
And after his hateful harangue? Persona non grata. Nobody came to his defense, because he was indefensible. And soon, he was gone from Atlanta.
4. Walter O'Malley
Just two years after the Dodgers won the World Series, O'Malley took them away from Brooklyn, even though more than a million fans -- a respectable number in those days -- came to see the Bums in 1957. In the meantime, he also convinced Horace Stoneham to move the Giants to San Francisco. Writers Jack Newfield and Pete Hamill, both Brooklyn natives, once had an argument that they settled by each listing, on a piece of paper, the three greatest villains in recent history. Their lists were identical: 1) Hitler; 2) Stalin; 3) O'Malley.
5. Mike Tyson
When Tyson said to Lennox Lewis, "I want to eat your children," we weren't sure if he was kidding or not. In the sordid, corrupt world of boxing, he's a dirty player who once had a chance to rule the heavyweight division on pure talent. Instead, he turned out to be a convicted rapist and ear muncher. Now, as former featherweight champion Barry McGuigan so concisely said, "He's out of control outside the ring and out of control inside the ring. He's a disgrace." Who gives a flip if he can turn on the charm when Jimmy Kimmel's cameras are pointed at him?
6. Conrad Dobler
The offensive lineman for the Cardinals, Saints and Bills in the 1970s and early '80s received the dubious honor of topping Page 2's list of dirtiest pro team players ever last year. He was a true villain who didn't care who he hurt, or how he hurt them. For example, he was so well known for biting (sound familiar?) that the Vikings requested rabies shots before playing against him. His unabashed dirty play resulted in several rules changes: no blocking a windpipe -- said Dobler, "When I hit a guy, I'll hit him in the throat ... he doesn't have any pads on his throat" -- and no leg whips.
Dobler got off cheap shots against Merlin Olsen and Mean Joe Greene -- in the Pro Bowl -- and Lions linebacker Charlie Weaver, among countless others.
But the cheapest, most juvenile of all came at the end of a 1974 game against the Giants, when the opposing players were shaking hands as the clock wound down. When Giant Jim Pietrzak attempted this ritual of sportsmanship, wishing Dobler good luck in the playoffs, Dobler punched him in the throat.
7. Charles ComiskeyArnold Rothstein/Hal Chase
The real troika behind the 1919 Black Sox scandal.
Comiskey, the owner of the White Sox, became the owner of the Black Sox at least in part because he was a notorious cheapskate. In other words, his players -- the best in baseball -- were greatly underpaid. Would they have fixed the Series if they didn't need the cash, and felt any allegiance whatsoever to Comiskey? We wouldn't bet on it.
Rothstein, the gambler, arranged it all.
And Chase, notorious for fixing games throughout his career with the Yankees, White Sox, Reds and Giants, was indicted by the Chicago grand jury as go-between in the scandal.
8. Enos Slaughter, Ben Chapman and the 1947 baseball racists
Slaughter led a May 1947 St. Louis Cardinals attempt to strike in protest against Jackie Robinson. It failed, but Slaughter intentionally spiked Robinson later in the season, demonstrating his complete lack of class. Chapman, a short-fused star for seven teams, led the league in race-baiting in 1947, mercilously taunting Robinson from his manager's perch in the Phillies dugout. Though organized baseball at the time was suffused with racism, both subtle and overt, Slaughter and Chapman exemplified the ugliest of the ugly.
9. Tonya Harding
Well, we'd give points to Tonya Harding for originality -- athletes play all kinds of mind games before competing, but nobody had come up with an idea like hers, to have her husband and a gang of third-rate thugs crack an opponent's knee. Of course, Harding skated in the Olympics and did poorly, while Nancy Kerrigan, her victim, took home a silver. Since then, Harding has divorced, served jail time, feuded with her fan club, starred in a wedding-night porn video, and been booed at public appearances. And she just won't go away, as she keeps popping up in lame celebrity boxing matches on Fox.
But she's achieved status as an American icon, of sorts. One Web site paid tribute to Harding, explaining, "By living her life on the low end of the bell curve, she's helped the rest of America feel that much better about ourselves."
10. Robert Irsay
In the middle of the night of March 29, 1984, Irsay, the owner of the Baltimore Colts, got his moving vans going, heading out under cover of darkness to move the city's beloved franchise to Indianapolis. Thirty-one years of good mutual history, undone by a millionaire's quest for yet more money, tore at the soul of the city. "It's unbelievable, the callousness of this man," said one fan. "Just because he has a couple of bucks, he can tear a whole city down on his whims." Yep. That¹s what villains do.
Hackers, Madonna mix it up
By John Borland
CNET News.com
April 22, 2003, 12:21 PM PT
Madonna just can't seem to find peace on the Net.
After releasing the first single from her new "American Life" album online a few weeks ago, the Material Girl saw her Web site hacked last weekend, with links to pirated versions of her full album replacing the site’s content.
The hacker's attack appeared to be in response to Madonna's most recent, typically colorful broadside against file-swappers seeking free copies of her music. The singer has put files that appear to be versions of her new songs onto peer-to-peer networks that actually contain recordings of her saying, "What the f*** do you think you're doing?"
The hacked page, as sent to CNET News.com by several readers, had a message that read, "This is what the f*** I think I'm doing." It also contained what appeared to be links to the album's songs.
Parts of the site remained offline through midday Monday, but were operating normally Tuesday.
Madonna's war with hackers isn't unique, but it has been one of the consistent threads of the battles over online music during the past few years. Several other artists and groups that have complained about file swapping and have seen similar attacks.
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has been the target of repeated hack attacks during the past year, sending the site offline several times. Metallica, the hard-rock band that proved to be one of Napster's chief antagonists, had its site hacked at the peak of that controversy.
Madonna's release of fake files into file-swapping networks is an increasingly common way of combating Net piracy, even if her own twist on the tactic has earned her more attention. Several technology start-ups have built businesses around duping downloaders this way. In Napster's heyday, these false files were dubbed "Cuckoo Eggs" by one group of independent piracy fighters.
Madonna's publicist did not immediately return calls for comment, but told Reuters that the hack was genuine.
What Happens to Your Social Security Number When You Die?
By Brendan I. Koerner
Updated Tuesday, April 22, 2003, at 2:25 PM PT
The very-much-alive Jim Pierce was declared dead when a Social Security Administration clerk mistakenly typed the Vermont retiree's Social Security number into a database of the departed. Are Social Security numbers ever reused once the bearer dies, and how are they generated in the first place?
The SSA is adamant that numbers are never recycled and likely won't be for the foreseeable future. Given the nine-digit format, there are a hair under 1 billion possible permutations, taking into account that numbers like 000-00-0000 and other oddities aren't distributed. (An elaborate mathematical guesstimate here quotes the precise figure as 988,911,099.) So far, the SSA has doled out roughly 400 million numbers. Population researchers calculate that roughly 300 million people will require new Social Security numbers by the year 2050—about 230 million native births plus 68 million immigrants, give or take 50 million all told. Barring unforeseen circumstances, such as a meteor strike or cloning boom, the current enumeration system should last nearly another century.
The numbers of the deceased are made publicly available via the Social Security Death Index. Several genealogy services provide free, searchable versions of the SDDI to aid researchers who are tracing their family roots.
Hospitals make it easy for new parents to obtain Social Security numbers for their infants at birth, often integrating the application forms into the standard procedural paperwork. Naturalized citizens and legal aliens can apply directly to the SSA once they are in the United States or as part of the visa application process before they arrive. Paranoid anti-government types aren't technically required to have a Social Security number, but life in the U.S. is virtually impossible without one. The IRS requires all employed citizens over 18 to have a number, and a Social Security number is essential to opening up a bank account, paying taxes, and obtaining health insurance. Once you have a number, you can't opt out of the program. On extremely rare occasions you can change your number, but only if you can prove that keeping your current digits is a threat your well-being—say, if you're being pursued by a relentless stalker.
Conspiracy theories abound as to the significance of the numbers, but the true explanation is mundane. The first three digits are assigned by geographical region. Originally, this was done by state, with the lowest numbers on the Eastern seaboard and the highest along the Pacific; they are now assigned according to ZIP code. The middle two digits are referred to as the "group number," which simply breaks down each geographic unit into smaller, random subsets—that is, your neighbor's baby may share the same first three digits with your toddler, but the kids' group numbers will likely be different. The last four digits, the "serial number," is purely random. Contrary to the rumors favored by the black-helicopter set, the numbers have nothing to do with racial categorizations or U.N. relocation plans.
Posted by Josh at April 29, 2003 12:28 PM