Salon.com Technology | Ask the pilot

Salon.com Technology | Ask the pilot: "Those who miss the thrill of Kai Tak still have some options. Spotters and gawkers can visit Maho Beach, for one, on the island of St. Maarten (St. Martin when speaking of its French half) in the Dutch Antilles. Here, along this otherwise small and unattractive oceanfront, the threshold of Princess Juliana International Airport's single runway extends nearly to the tide line. Judging from these pictures, which are not retouched in any way, you'd be advised to hit the sand to keep clear of jet blast and the swirling vortices from a 747's wingtip. The beach is posted with signs warning swimmers and sunbathers of these very hazards."

Razzies.com - Home of the Golden Raspberry Award Foundation

Razzies.com - Home of the Golden Raspberry Award Foundation

24th Annual
Golden Raspberry (RAZZIE®) Award Nominations

WORST
PICTURE



CAT-IN-THE HAT (Universal/Dreamworks/Imagine)

CHARLIE'S
ANGELS: FULL THROTTLE (Columbia)

FROM JUSTIN TO KELLY (20th Century-Fox)

GIGLI
(Columbia/Revolution)

THE REAL
CANCUN (New Line)

WORST
ACTOR



Ben Affleck / DAREDEVIL, GIGLI and PAYCHECK

Cuba Gooding,
Jr. / BOAT TRIP, FIGHTING TEMPTATIONS and RADIO

Justin Guarini / FROM JUSTIN TO KELLY

Ashton Kutcher / CHEAPER by the DOZEN, JUST MARRIED and
MY BOSS'S DAUGHTER

Mike Myers
/ THE CAT-IN-THE-HAT

WORST
ACTRESS



Drew Barrymore / CHARLIE'S ANGELS: FULL THROTTLE and DUPLEX

Cameron Diaz / CHARLIE'S ANGELS: FULL THROTTLE

Kelly Clarkson / FROM JUSTIN TO KELLY

Angelina
Jolie / BEYOND BORDERS

and LARA
CROFT TOMB RAIDER: THE CRADLE of LIFE

Jennifer
Lopez / GIGLI

WORST
SUPPORTING ACTOR



Anthony Anderson / KANGAROO JACK

Alec Baldwin / THE CAT-IN-THE-HAT

Al Pacino / GIGLI

Sylvester
Stallone (Whose 5 Roles Could Fill This ENTIRE Category!)
SPY KIDS 3-D: GAME OVER

Christopher Walken / GIGLI and KANGAROO JACK

WORST
SUPPORTING ACTRESS



Lanie Kazan / GIGLI

Demi Moore / CHARLIE'S ANGELS: FULL THROTTLE

Kelly Preston / THE CAT-IN-THE-HAT

Brittany
Murphy / JUST MARRIED

Tara Reid
/ MY BOSS'S DAUGHTER

WORST
SCREEN COUPLE



Ben Affleck & Jennifer Lopez / GIGLI

Eric Christian Olsen & Derek Richardson / DUMB AND DUMBERER

Justin Guarini & Kelly Clarkson / FROM JUSTIN TO KELLY

Ashton Kutcher & EITHER Brittany Murphy (JUST MARRIED)


or Tara Reid
(MY BOSS's DAUGHTER)

Mike Myers & EITHER Thing One OR Thing Two / THE CAT-IN-THE-HAT

WORST
EXCUSE for an ACTUAL MOVIE (All Concept/No Content!)
(New Category)



2 FAST,
2 FURIOUS

CHARLIE'S
ANGLES: FULL THROTTLE

THE CAT-IN-THE-HAT

FROM JUSTIN
TO KELLY

THE REAL
CANCUN

WORST
REMAKE or SEQUEL



2
FAST, 2 FURIOUS

CHARLIE'S
ANGELS: FULL THROTTLE

DUMB &
DUMBERER: WHEN HARRY MET LLOYD

FROM JUSTIN TO KELLY (Remake of WHERE THE BOYS ARE ‘60
and WHERE THE BOYS ARE ‘84)

TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE

WORST
DIRECTOR



Martin Brest / GIGLI

Robert Iscove / FROM JUSTIN TO KELLY

Mort Nathan / BOAT TRIP

The Wachowski
Brothers / Both MATRIX Sequels

Bo Welch
/ THE CAT-IN-THE-HAT

WORST
SCREENPLAY



THE CAT-IN-THE-HAT, Screenplay by Alec Berg, David
Mandel and Jeff Schaffer

CHARLIE'S ANGELS: FULL THROTTLE, Screenplay by John August and

Cormac &
Marianne Wibberley, “Story” by August

DUMB AND DUMBERER, Screenplay by Robert Brener and Troy Miller,
“Story” by Brener

FROM JUSTIN TO KELLY, Written by Kim Fuller

GIGLI, Written by Martin Brest

NOMINATIONS
PER PICTURE:



GIGLI
– 9

CAT-IN-THE-HAT
– 8

FROM JUSTIN
TO KELLY – 8

CHARLIE'S
ANGELS: FULL THROTTLE - 7

BOAT TRIP, DUMB & DUMBERER, JUST MARRIED, MY BOSS’S
DAUGHTER

and THE
REAL CANCUN – - 2 Each

The Village Voice: Nation: Mondo Washington: Operation Desert Guard by James Ridgeway

The Village Voice: Nation: Mondo Washington: Operation Desert Guard by James Ridgeway: "The moral dictates of the Christian right are nothing compared with the concerns of the protectors of public morality in the press corps. Ever vigilant in our behalf, they recently condemned Michael Jackson (Who needs a trial with the people's advocate Nancy Grace and CNN judge Larry King on the job?). But even Jackson didn't have the audacity to say what Michael Moore said?that the president of the United States is a deserter. Yes, indeed. He said that. Not only did Moore say it, but he said it in public on a stage in the midst of a political campaign. In the midst of a war, no less. The press corps blushed in shame for all of us and promptly condemned Moore as an ignorant fool who ought to stick with his disgusting comedy shows.
Fortunately for us, Michael Moore is crazy like a fox. By calling Bush a 'deserter,' he got the big-time journalists?horrified David Broder, incredulous Peter Jennings, outraged Robert Novak, nonplussed Tim Russert?to openly raise the deserter issue before millions. It is now a political topic once again. As the journalists damn Moore, the populace is once again wondering, well, maybe Bush is a deserter after all. And the idea of a deserter running this war makes it even more sick than it already is. Consider that this weekend warrior is already responsible for the following toll in Iraq: 513 GIs sent to their death; 8,000 medevacked out of Iraq; 2,919 wounded (missing arms or legs, or blinded, or psycho); and at least 22 GI suicides. God only knows how many Iraqi men, women, and children. And when it was his turn to fight for his country, Bush booked. "

Dean delivers top 10 list on Letterman

Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean turned to late-night comedy Thursday to poke fun at his arm-waving outburst in Iowa that has proven politically damaging. Dean taped an appearance on "Late Night with David Letterman" in which he presented the Top 10 list. The last Democrat to deliver the list was Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri on Jan. 12. After a poor showing in Iowa Monday, Gephardt abandoned his presidential bid.

The subject of Dean's list was "Ways, I, Howard Dean, can turn things around."

10. Switch to decaf.

9. Unveil new slogan, "Vote for Dean and get one dollar off your next purchase at Blimpie."

8. Marry Rachel on the final episode of "Friends."

7. Don't change a thing, it's going great.

6. Show a little more skin.

5. Go on "American Idol" and give them a taste of those pipes.

4. Start working out and speaking with an Austrian accent.

3. I can't give specifics yet, but it involves Ted Danson.

2. Fire the staffer who suggested I do this lousy Top 10 List instead of actually campaigning.

1. Oh, I don't know -- maybe fewer, crazy, red-faced rants.

The TRUE Stella Awards -- 2003 Winners
by Randy Cassingham
Issued 21 January 2003

  Unlike the FAKE cases that have been highly circulated online for the
last several years (see http://www.StellaAwards.com/bogus.html for
details), the following cases have been researched from public sources
and are confirmed TRUE by the ONLY legitimate source for the Stella
Awards: www.StellaAwards.com . To confirm this copy is legitimate, see
http://www.StellaAwards.com/2003.html

                                   -v-

THE RUNNERS UP FOR THE 2003 TRUE STELLA AWARDS ARE:

#8: Stephen Joseph of San Francisco, Calif. Joseph runs a non-profit
  group whose goal is to ban the "trans fats" used in many processed
  foods and which are indeed very unhealthy. But to help gain publicity
  for his cause, Joseph, an attorney, chose one food that uses trans
  fats -- Oreo cookies -- and sued Kraft Foods for putting the stuff in
  the snack. The resulting publicity over "suing Oreos" was so intense
  that Joseph dropped the suit after just 13 days. He never even served
  the suit on Kraft, showing that he had no interest in actually getting
  the case heard in court. What real cases got pushed aside during his
  abuse of the courts to get publicity for his pet organization?

#7: Shawn Perkins of Laurel, Ind. Perkins was hit by lightning in the
  parking lot Paramount's Kings Island amusement park in Mason, Ohio. A
  classic "act of God", right? No, says Perkins' lawyer. "That would be
  a lot of people's knee-jerk reaction in these types of situations."
  The lawyer has filed suit against the amusement park asking
  unspecified damages, arguing the park should have "warned" people not
  to be outside during a thunderstorm.

#6: Caesar Barber, 56, of New York City. Barber, who is 5-foot-10 and 270
  pounds, says he is obese, diabetic, and suffers from heart disease
  because fast food restaurants forced him to eat their fatty food four
  to five times per week. He filed suit against McDonald's, Burger King,
  Wendy's and KFC, who "profited enormously" and asked for unspecified
  damages because the eateries didn't warn him that junk food isn't good
  for him. The judge threw the case out twice, and barred it from being
  filed a third time. Is that the end of such McCases? No way: lawyers
  will just find another plaintiff and start over, legal scholars say.

#5: Cole Bartiromo, 18, of Mission Viejo, Calif. After making over $1
  million in the stock market, the feds made Bartiromo pay it all back:
  he gained his profits, they said, using fraud. Bartiromo played
  baseball at school, but after his fraud case broke he was no longer
  allowed to participate in extracurricular sports. Bartiromo clearly
  learned a lot while sitting in federal court: he wrote and filed his
  own lawsuit against his high school, reasoning that he had planned on
  a pro baseball career but, because he was kicked off the school's
  team, pro scouts wouldn't be able to discover him. His suit demands
  the school reimburse him for the great salary he would have made in
  the majors, which he figures is $50 million.

#4: Priest David Hanser, 70. Hanser was one of the first Catholic priests
  to be caught up in the sex abuse scandal. In 1990, he settled a suit
  filed by one of his victims for $65,000. In the settlement, Hanser
  agreed not to work with children anymore, but the victim learned that
  Hanser was ignoring that part of the agreement. The victim appealed to
  the church, asking it to stop Hanser from working near children, but
  the church would not intervene. "It's up to the church to decide where
  he works," argued the priest's lawyer. When the outraged victim went
  to the press to warn the public that a pedo priest was near children,
  Hanser sued him for the same $65,000 because he violated his own part
  of the deal -- to keep the settlement secret. The message is clear:
  shut up about outrageous abuse, or we'll sue you for catching us.

#3: Wanda Hudson, 44, of Mobile, Ala. After Hudson lost her home to
  foreclosure, she moved her belongings to a storage unit. She says she
  was inside her unit one night "looking for some papers" when the
  storage yard manager found the door to her unit ajar -- and locked it.
  She denies that she was sleeping inside, but incredibly did not call
  for help or bang on the door to be let out! She was not found for 63
  days and barely survived; the formerly "plump" 150-pound woman lived
  on food she just happened to have in the unit, and was a mere 83
  pounds when she was found. She sued the storage yard for $10 million
  claiming negligence. Even though the jury was not allowed to learn
  that Hudson had previously diagnosed mental problems, it found Hudson
  was nearly 100 percent responsible for her own predicament -- but
  still awarded her $100,000.

#2: Doug Baker, 45, of Portland, Ore. Baker says God "steered" him to a
  stray dog. He admits "People thought I was crazy" to spend $4,000 in
  vet bills to bring the injured mutt back to health, but hey, it was
  God's dog! But $4,000 was nothing: he couldn't even take his
  girlfriend out to dinner without getting a dog-sitter to watch him.
  When the skittish dog escaped the sitter, Baker didn't just put an ad
  in the paper, he bought display ads so he could include a photo. His
  business collapsed since he devoted full time to the search for the
  dog. He didn't propose to his girlfriend because he wanted the dog to
  deliver the ring to her. He hired four "animal psychics" to give him
  clues to the animal's whereabouts, and hired a witch to cast spells.
  He even spread his own urine around to "mark his territory" to try to
  lure the dog home! And, he said, he cried every day. Two months in to
  the search, he went looking for the dog where it got lost -- and
  quickly found it. His first task: he put a collar on the mutt. (He
  hadn't done that before for a dog that was so "valuable"?!) After
  finding the dog, he sued the dog sitter, demanding $20,000 for the
  cost of his search, $30,000 for the income he lost by letting his
  business collapse, $10,000 for "the temporary loss of the special
  value" of the dog, and $100,000 in "emotional damages" -- $160,000
  total. God has not been named as a defendant.

AND THE WINNER of the 2003 True Stella Awards: The City of Madera, Calif.
  Madera police officer Marcy Noriega had the suspect from a minor
  disturbance handcuffed in the back of her patrol car. When the suspect
  started to kick at the car's windows, Officer Noriega decided to
  subdue him with her Taser. Incredibly, instead of pulling her stun gun
  from her belt, she pulled her service sidearm and shot the man in the
  chest, killing him instantly. The city, however, says the killing is
  not the officer's fault; it argues that "any reasonable police
  officer" could "mistakenly draw and fire a handgun instead of the
  Taser device" and has filed suit against Taser, arguing the company
  should pay for any award from the wrongful death lawsuit the man's
  family has filed. What a slur against every professionally trained
  police officer who knows the difference between a real gun and a stun
  gun! And what a cowardly attempt to escape responsibility for the
  actions of its own under-trained officer.

TO CONFIRM THE VALIDITY OF THESE CASES, get more information on the True
  Stella Awards, or sign up for a free e-mail subscription to new cases
  as they are issued, see http://www.StellaAwards.com/2003.html

Copyright 2004 www.StellaAwards.com . This message may be forwarded as
  long as it remains complete and unaltered.

The Village Voice: Nation: Mondo Washington: Warnings During Wartime by James Ridgeway

The Village Voice: Nation: Mondo Washington: Warnings During Wartime by James Ridgeway: "One thing we learned from the Taliban is how to get rid of drugs through harsh penalties for anyone breaking the law. In recent days articles have trumpeted the success of the Taliban's drug program, the only one in the world that has actually worked. As for all those promiscuous girls (and some boys, too) out there, let them practice abstinence as a way to fight STDs and drugs, which a growing chorus of get-tough lawmakers, even some right-wingers who fear rising prison costs may raise their taxes, say don't work. Let's reward schools that follow the Taliban-style enforcement program with a $23 million federal drug-testing program under the heading of 'a tool to save children's lives' against sexually transmitted diseases. The government will give them a heftier federal handout if they coerce their students into taking drug tests. "

NPR : Mormon Cinema, a Growing Indie Scene

NPR : Mormon Cinema, a Growing Indie Scene: "New Breed of Films Promote Values of Latter-day Saints"

Gibson's "Passion" to hit U.S. screens

Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "Mel Gibson's controversial new film, 'The Passion of Christ,' which at first had a hard time finding a distributor, will be independently released on about 2,000 screens in the United States next month, a Gibson spokesman said on Wednesday."

Salon.com | America's final wakeup call

Salon.com | America's final wakeup call: "America's final wakeup call
Former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill's damning book may finally clue Americans in to the deadly consequences of being governed by a disengaged dolt in the hands of a fanatical cabal."

My Belief-O-Matic Score

1.  Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (100%) 2.  Liberal Quakers (93%) 3.  Unitarian Universalism (92%) 4.  Neo-Pagan (84%) 5.  New Age (77%) 6.  Theravada Buddhism (77%) 7.  Mahayana Buddhism (76%) 8.  Bahá'í Faith (74%) 9.  Reform Judaism (69%) 10.  Secular Humanism (69%) 11.  Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (58%) 12.  Taoism (58%) 13.  Orthodox Quaker (57%) 14.  Jainism (56%) 15.  New Thought (56%) 16.  Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (55%) 17.  Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (53%) 18.  Sikhism (50%) 19.  Scientology (49%) 20.  Jehovah's Witness (45%) 21.  Nontheist (43%) 22.  Orthodox Judaism (42%) 23.  Hinduism (38%) 24.  Islam (35%) 25.  Seventh Day Adventist (29%) 26.  Eastern Orthodox (23%) 27.  Roman Catholic (23%)

Belief-O-Matic -- A personality quiz about your religious beliefs and spiritual beliefs - a quiz answering What Religion Am I -- Beliefnet.com

Belief-O-Matic -- A personality quiz about your religious beliefs and spiritual beliefs - a quiz answering What Religion Am I -- Beliefnet.com: "Even if YOU don't know what faith you are, Belief-O-Matic? knows. Answer 20 questions about your concept of God, the afterlife, human nature, and more, and Belief-O-Matic? will tell you what religion (if any) you practice...or ought to consider practicing. "

Salon.com Technology | No safety net for programmers

Salon.com Technology | No safety net for programmers: "When manufacturing jobs go overseas, laid-off workers are eligible for a host of benefits. But if you're one of the tens of thousands of software producers whose jobs have been outsourced, you're out of luck."

Arianna Huffington

Salon.com | Dean, Bobby and the ghost of landslides past
Of course Dean is angry. Take a look at what's happening in Iraq, with another 236 American soldiers killed or wounded since Saddam was dragged out of his spider hole. And take a look closer to home, where we have 12 million children living in poverty, six out of seven working poor families unable to afford quality child care, record levels of personal debt, and more and more U.S. jobs being "outsourced" overseas. If you still have a pulse -- are you listening, Joe Lieberman? -- you should be royally pissed.

And the Press Thinks He's Nuts?

The Village Voice: Nation: Mondo Washington: Dean Calls 9-11 by James Ridgeway: "WASHINGTON—Setting aside Sunday's puerile attacks on Howard Dean by a desperate John Kerry and the by now embarrassing Joe Lieberman, the so-called Iowa debate briefly touched on the true bottom-line issue of the coming election: the extent of the U.S. government's foreknowledge of 9-11. "

Salon.com | God to America: Don't reelect Bush!

Salon.com | God to America: Don't reelect Bush!: "Pat Robertson says that God is calling a Bush blowout. My own pipeline to the Almighty says it's not a prediction, it's a warning."

Bush in 30 Seconds

Bush in 30 Seconds