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Ice Cube puts the smackdown on Oprah for not putting hip-hopsters on her show:
"She's had damn rapists, child molesters and lying authors on her show. And if I'm not a rags-to-riches story for her, who is?"
Round One goes to da Cube!
It's been said that actors go off the deep end here in Hollywood when they haven't had a plum role in a while -- or, I guess, they act like plums. Or walnuts.
From City News Service:
"Folk singer Joan Baez sang 'We Shall Overcome' and a minister lead a prayer circle on Monday as dozens of people, including Daryl Hannah perched in a walnut tree, held vigil to save the South Central Farm.
Dozens, sometimes hundreds of people, have been preparing a 'peaceful resistance' to sheriff's deputies who could evict them from the 14-acre plot of land, wedged between warehouses.
... Reminiscent of a 2002 battle over a century-old oak tree that activists wanted spared from a developer in Stevenson Ranch, the vigil at South Central Farm at Alameda and 41st streets has included tree sitters, celebrities, music, costumes and stunts.
Hannah plans to remain up a tree until the dispute is resolved."
That, of course, is the funniest part of the story. People aren't exactly moved by celebrities doing grand symbolic gestures, because you know that while she's in the tree her personal chef is still ferrying up meals and her stylist is still making house calls -- people care about guys like Gandhi fasting. In the photo, she's joined by John Quigley, the guy who sat in that oak tree in 2002. And here I thought the hottest celebrity fallback career was U.N. Goodwill Ambassador -- now it's tree-sitter!
But what's interesting is that the celebrities -- also including Mariel Hemingway, Shiva Rose McDermott and Laura Dern -- could solve this predicament with more than bullhorns and Joan Baez songs. Here's the backstory:
"... The land's owner Ralph Horowitz wants to sell or develop the land. The farmers and their supporters say it should be preserved. A legal battle over the land culminated last week when a judge signed an eviction order.
... Horowitz said he would sell 10 acres of the land to the farmers for $16 million. The farmers did not come up with the money in time, but have raised about $6 million, according to Leslie Morava, who has been fighting to save the farm.
... The urban garden tended by some 360 farmers was created after the 1992 riots, when the city leased it to the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank.
Horowitz repurchased the property in 2003 after the city seized it from him in a 1986 eminent domain action that was later reversed by a judge."
And Contact Music has a telling statement from Horowitz:
"Owner ROB HOROWITZ insists the best way celebrities could have helped the cause was by digging deep and helping fund non-profit group The Trust For Public Land's failed bid to buy the site. In a statement released yesterday (26MAY06), Horowitz said, 'It would be nicer if all those theatrical people would have volunteered to make a contribution to the trust so they can buy the property. None of them have offered. They have all refused to contribute. If they really wanted to help, that's the way they could have helped.'"
But they're sitting in trees! Isn't that doing so much more? They're like U.N. Arbor Ambassadors!
Oh, and by the way, the city offered the poor farmers FREE (remember, this is in L.A.) land on which to start another garden:
"Earlier this week, Rafael Gonzalez of the Mayor's Office said he arranged for 7.8 acres of Department of Water and Power property to be used for a replacement community garden, but the protesters say they want to keep the one they have."
Have fun in the tree, Daryl. Find some more nuts while you're up there!
Palestinian prez Mahmoud Abbas
We'd like to congratulate "super serial" former VP Al Gore for pulling in $282,000 over Memorial Day weekend with his global-warming thriller "An Inconvenient Truth." The Paramount Classics release (er, a "classic"?), which has earned 31% "F" grades from Box Office Mojo readers, is only playing in four theaters across the country, surely appropriately placed on the coasts so Gore can reach his target elitist audience. Also, by pulling in an average of $70,500 per theater, Gore can say, "Isn't everyone super stoked on me? 'X-Men' only averaged $27,947! I'm super-serial."
We predict that by the sixth day of release, though, Gore will have run out of friends to buy up every theater's tickets. Excelsior!
Who says Hamas can't run a state, other than the fact that government workers haven't gotten paid in more than two months and they piss off every onetime foreign-aid contributor they ever had? They don't need the stinkin' U.S. and Europe. They can come up with brilliant ways to raise money, right?
"To solve the Palestinian Authority's financial problems resulting from the halt in aid and Israel's freezing of customs and tax revenues, (senior Hamas leader and Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud al-)Zahar proposed every Muslim in the world donate $1 'so we can raise $1.3 billion per year.'"
There you go! Kiddies, send your tooth fairy money to Hamas. Hamas can further supplement this collection with a great telethon aired on Al-Jazeera, where Abu Musab al-Zarqawi will perform his great AK-47 trick and Osama will sing live from his cave.
And if need be, Hamas can raise further funds with door-to-door magazine subscription sales, a munitions yard sale or a friendly Gaza bake sale. Who needs international aid?
For any of you who have pets, you know the worst time to have a veterinary emergency is on a holiday weekend. Ronnie, the official feline mascot of GOP Vixen and my lil' bundle o' joy, suffered a near-fatal urinary blockage four years ago. When the symptoms came back today, I had to get him into the animal hospital right away -- unbelievably, the nearest one to me was open but declined to see him, instead reffering me to a hospital 20 miles away. I did find a closer one open, and thankfully Ronnie got the emergency care he needed. However, the next few days are critical -- and any of you who have had to give medicine to a cat (and survived) know that story...
It always saddens me to see quakes in the third world. The death tolls are always huge, and don't have to be. Take the 6.2 magnitude Indonesian quake -- nine hours after the fault let loose, the death toll has topped 2,500.
Comparatively, think of the 1994 Northridge Earthquake -- a 6.7 magnitude temblor that was epicentered in the highly populated San Fernando Valley. The ripple effect was such that freeways were seriously damaged for 20 miles (remember the collapse of the Antelope Valley Freeway overpass at Interstate 5, and the motorcycle cop who flew off the end). Yet the death toll was 51. Yeah, we live in a quake zone, but God bless the retrofitting!
P.S. AP spelled something wrong on their map...
Love the smell of coups in the morning! Let's see how East Timor rates on the coup scale:
"East Timor's capital descended into chaos Saturday as rival gangs set houses on fire and attacked each other with machetes and spears, defying international peacekeepers patrolling in armed vehicles and combat helicopters. The prime minister said a coup attempt was underway.
'What is in motion is an attempt to stage a coup d'etat,' Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri told a news conference, as fires raged across the city and terrified residents fled or hid in their homes.
Minutes earlier, Australians troops disarmed up to 40 machete-wielding gang members who had threatened to storm the hotel where the news conference was about to he held.
The Australian troops, who answered an emergency call from the fledgling country's government two days ago, patrolled the city in armored personnel carriers and tanks, and blackhawk helicopters thundered overhead.
Mobs rampaged regardless, and sporadic gunfire was heard in various parts of the city. It wasn't immediately clear if foreign troops engaged in shooting battles."
First of all, machetes and spears make for good coup material, as does angry mobs defying international peacekeepers. But "rival gangs" are attacking each other -- who's attacking the prime minister, other than trying to crash the press conference?
"The violence, triggered by the March firing of 600 disgruntled soldiers — nearly half the 1,400-member army — is the most serious crisis East Timor has faced since it broke from Indonesian rule in 1999.
... After staging deadly riots last month, the sacked troops fled the seaside capital, Dili, setting up positions in the surrounding hills and threatening guerrilla war if they were not reinstated.
They started ambushing soldiers in the capital Tuesday, sparking days of pitched gunbattles with the military that have so far killed 23 people."
So do they want to take over the government, or want their jobs back?
Prince Philip, looking forward to the London Olympics in 2012:
"Opening and closing ceremonies ought to be banned. Absolute bloody nuisances. I have been to one that was absolutely appallingly awful."
He is so right. March the athletes out, let them wave and set off some fireworks. Ditch the gaudy, Cirqe de Soleil wannabe show!
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Change is good
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