Forever A Fangirl

True Blood Season 4: Look Up! Up in the Sky! It's 2 Vampires, a Werewolf & a Faery-Telepath! #trueblood #tbwithdrawal

 

Look up high, specifically on the side of the 9000 building along Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood, California and you will see a quartet of sexy supernaturals including vampires 'Eric' (Alexander Skarsgård) and 'Bill' (Stephen Moyer), werewolf 'Alcide' ( Joe Manganiello) and faery-telepath 'Sookie' (Anna Paquin).

It is pretty apparent that all three guys are into Ms. Stackhouse but which of the potential/former suitor(s) will she choose? You'll have to tune in to HBO's True Blood on June 26 to begin to get the answer. Until then, keep looking around!

SOURCE: Daily Billboard

Be sure to check out the season three, season two and first season billboards for True Blood at the Daily Billboard, too!

EDIT/ If you want to gaze upon a HQ version of this image, it is a copy of (one of) the previously-released True Blood HBO Promo Poster Art I shared here.

PHOTOS: Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows Part 2 - EW Scans SPOILERS #deathlyhallows #EW

Above:

I LOVED this part of 'Deathly Hallows.' IMO, it was one of the high points of the book, 'Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows.'

Maybe I'll re-read it at Maple Lake  this summer in my first two-week stint. My guess it will be playing somewhere up in the woods of Haliburton.

Hey. I just read that even though the Canadian Loonie has been  kicking the American dollar exchange-wise for 4 years going now, the Canadians have to pay 20% more on most everyday and other stuff they buy, than their American counterparts. Not fair or justified, right?

This also means that vacationing in Canada has been no bargain for some time now--nothing is. (The article forgot to mention though that the Ontarians at least pay themselves better salaries than one would get in the U.S.).

An example of this occurs nas you are not even fully into Canada, as you cross the border into Canada on the Ambassador Bridge going from Detroit, Michigan, USA to Windsor, Ontario, CA. There's always been around a 20% more fee to get into the U.S. from Canada. (But Canada to the U.S. the same, I think?)

 

Final Harry Potter Film Gets Big Spread in EW Mag Summer Preview Edition:

 

Image Credit: Jaap Buitendijk

Remainder of article and more scanned photos after the jump!

(I would have scanned all the phot0s but the paper is so thin that the 'B' side of the page bleeds through. Credit to EW.com is in the link.)

Pretty freaking exciting, huh? This cool pic of Neville (after jump) brought back the memory of reading the passage in the book. Neville shows what he's really made of (hint: strong stuff) and it actually gave me a bit of a lump in my throat. This was I'm certain in part due to coming to know the character through the actor Matthew Lewis, who has been portraying him throughout the film series. It's a feel-good moment coloured with a great deal of sadness...can't wait to see it!

 

EW.com Harry Potter scans

Harry and Voldemort Face Off in New 'Deathly Hallows: Part 2' Poster - World Premiere Dates

 

'Note How the Light Catches Harry's Stubble':

 

The Harry Potter UK Facebook page has posted this new poster from the forthcoming final installment of the Potter franchise, 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2'  which shows Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) and Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) head-to-head with the Elder Wand between them.

 

Source: The Leaky Cauldron - 'Harry and Voldemort Face to Face in New "Deathly Hallows: Part 2" Poster'

I agree with this comment from EW (especially the 'light-and-stubble part'--very well-put! The ick factor is unmistakeably there.):

Note how the light catches Harry’s stubble… when you’re not mesmerized by Voldemort’s fingernail. I also love that they went with this strong image, with the wand at the center and the line “IT ALL ENDS 7.15″ and didn’t care that it left no room for the title of the movie....

Source: EW -  'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows -- Part 2' poster appropriately gritty

 

Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Dobby Girls T-Shirt

  Also:

The official Harry Potter Facebook page has been updated to include the full list of international release dates for the "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II" film.  To find out when the final installment of the Potter film franchise will premiere in your country, click!

Source: http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/

Spike TV - 2009 - True Blood Awards - Video - NEW - True Blood - Season 3 *SPOILERS* - Possible Foilers

Scream 2009 Awards - Alexander Skarsgard receives award for best villain, and True Blood wins for Best TV Show. Thanks to ASAdmin!

Which are the Foilers?

How Alan Ball is adapting Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse book series for True Blood Season 3?

Ahead, what is being publicized by the E! as NEW True Blood - Season 3 news and spoilers. From hereon in,  be prepared for anything on Season 3.

True Blood returns to HBO for season three in less than a year, but a leaked casting call ... offers a sneak peek of things to come. 

Here E! again informs the non-True Blood followers that actual honest-to-goodness acting is gonna start on the True Blood set  in just over a month! and  "...pre-production is already under way on the new episodes and filming is set to begin in early December."

Glad this is still true!!

Where's Bill Compton Stephen Moyer been taken? Are there any familiar faces from the books in episode one of season three? And who's the new girl banging Eric Alexander Skarsgård ? Here's what we can tell you...

Season 3 - True Blood Spoilers from Kristen of E!

Vampires: Sookie's/ Anna Paquin fiancé-to-be Bill was kidnapped in the season-two finale, and when we pick up Season Three,

..."we'll find.. ...Vampire Bill...in the company of a courtly vampire named Talbot (as well as a quaint old Southern lady named Olivia). Talbot, by the way, is dating the vampire king of Mississippi... probably not a good thing. Other new vampires will include ladies man/"" named Franklin Mott, who takes a liking to Tara (Rutina Wesley).

This could be quite good. He's really evil.

If Alcide Herveaux, the werewolf introduced in Charlaine Harris' Club Dead novel, the 3rd in the series, (has been cast) he's hiding under an assumed name...(thus far) ...About Sam Merlotte's secret sibling - In the season-three premiere, titled "A Pack of Wolves," True Blood goes to Arkansas to find Sam Merlotte's (Sam Trammell) long-lost little brother, Tommy Mickens, and we're probably going to see Tommy's naked rear end, since the casting call notes that butt nudity is required for the role.

Probably Not - Jason Stackhouse (Ryan Kwanten) is going to bed a couple of coeds who appear to have bullet holes in their heads. Are they the living dead?

Is Jason back on "V?" Lafayette is selling it again so...I'd be really surprised if Zombies turned up on True Blood. They are in a different class than any shifters, being dead and all. Besides, we already have some really high-functioning good-looking zombie equivalents! Bon Temps already has or had (undead) vampires and a maenad and probably faeries. No need for zombies in Bon Temps.

There is way more to this scene that is left out of this thumbnail description. If it is "for reals" then it is a new creation, previously unwritten. Either way it could be interesting. :p

Our very own Viking vampire, Eric (Alexander Skarsgård ) ...will have...a new girl (!) Eric's latest is someone named Yvette, a Czech-born stripper at Fangtasia.

There's going to be steam coming out of Sookie's ears when she sees this. Probably the point. lol.

Crazy White-Trash Bikers?

There's a new gang of crazy white-trash bikers in town who like to assault vampires to feed their V addiction, and when they get their hands on a "vamper" we "know and love" they start ripping him apart for the high.

Crosspost to The True Blood Blog

True Blood - Bill Does A Full Frontal *PHOTO* NEW Cast Photos

Beneath the masthead of Friday print editions of the Los Angeles Times is a full front-page ad for the HBO's series "True Blood." A black-and-white close-up of star Stephen Moyer with blood dripping from the corner of his mouth dominates the page.
In news boxes around town, all that's visible is the close-up of actor's menacing gaze and the paper's banner splayed across the top. No other stories or photos appear on the cover, which is actually a separate four-page broadsheet touting Sunday's premiere of the show's second season.
Readers remove the wrap to find the regular front page, anchored by the Lakers' NBA Finals win over the Magic on Thursday night in Orlando. Times spokeswoman Nancy Sullivan says it's the first time the newspaper put its masthead above an advertisement wrapping the paper.
"One of the things for us is that innovation is pretty crucial in both a challenged and cluttered marketplace," Sullivan said. "HBO came to the Times to break through that clutter, and the result is what you see today."
Zach Enterlin, HBO's vice president of advertising and promotions, said HBO had placed front-page ads with Hollywood trade publications in the past, but jumped at the chance to do the same with the Times.
"We saw it as a fantastic opportunity to speak to a consumer audience in an innovative way," he said.

Source: Huff Post

Below: More cast photos, some that are new (to me).

Gawker and BloodCopy - A Marriage Made in Advertising Heaven or Hell?

"The blogging empire is temporarily welcoming a new site into its fold that’s written and paid for by HBO to promote the network’s noir vampire drama, True Blood. And the word “advertisement” won’t appear anywhere in the project’s vicinity."

I'm gonna say it. 

Wowsa.

I've been blogging in the "sponsored post" arena since November 2007, and there has not been one minute that it has not been controversial. Initially and I was late to the party by at least 18 months, all sponsored posting was baaaad. Only bad people with bad intentions did paid blogging without the blog post itself screaming "I'm an advert!!! She's getting money to write this!"

I admit I had not thought through what the ethical implications were to writing short blog posts which pushed products. I didn't think it was doing any harm as I talked about what I thought of the product or simply talked about the product in the days where I was assigned work that if I turned it down I would get no further work.

That company literally did not care what I wrote. They simply wanted me to insert a link. So for example, if I had to write about a diet supplement I would talk of the dangers of dieting and if you ever did use a product like "X" do so only under your doctor's care.

Frankly, I was glad when that company told me to choose them or another another company to work for.  The other other company told me to work for whomever I pleased. Guess who I chose?  At the same time, in fact years before, Google was getting very agitated because companies that had bloggers share their opinions about products got free "Google" juice when a "do follow" link was used in the post. That means, to make it very simple, that the company pushing a product was in direct competition with Google's Adsense when it came to search engine results that Internet users would get.

Huge no-no in the land of GOOG. Again, I totally had no idea that what I was doing was in violation of Google search engine rules. They stripped me of PageRank which is a metric which is considered to be a short-hand way of telling the world what your blog is worth.

Since 11/2007, I've made over $4000 doing paid blogging some with "do follow" links and here now only with "nofollow" links. There are no ads on this blog that violate Google's policy. I only very occasionally write adverts here and all of them have a big honking in-post badge saying I got paid, along with the non-Google juice producing nofollow links. I might add that I'm offered many posts per pay for decent money but the advertisers do not want me to disclose that I'm writing an advert. So I never write them. For one, I'm acutely aware that I'm being used (for my Page Rank! I feel so dirty!). They want to take advantage of my PageRank so they get sweeter link juice--for about a week--because that's when Google will strip me of my PageRank and if I have anything to say about that, it's not going to happen. I know better now.

If you read an ad on this blog you'll know it's an ad. And this is important, too: I hand-pick all my ads. As I said, I turn down money each day--and that's really painful, believe me. But I'm preserving my PageRank and my integrity.That's the other part of Gawker's experiment (their wording) that I find intriguing. Will they too lose PageRank? One would think that the Blood Copy ads will be in violation of Google's rules. I know I'm staying tuned in order to see what happens when one of the big guys does what the little guys got crushed for.

 

Lastly, Gawker is utilizing paid blogging to advertise one of my favourite shows. I have to be honest. I'm excited about this. I'm interested to see how it plays out, yes and I'm curious to hear what kind of reception the advertising gets from various fronts but most importantly from the consumer because friends, despite being told as we grew up that the Hokey-Pokey was what "it" is all about, that is simply not true. In this great land of consumers what it is all about is selling stuff, the more stuff the better. The ways of selling are changing at a dizzying rate. With newspapers, magazines, and television losing ground in the advertising wars, those that want to sell stuff need to be willing to experiment with a variety of venues. That's what it's all about, folks.

From: Gawker VP says sponsored posts will bring in majority of revenue one day

Entries from the blog, BloodCopy, will appear as cross-posts in the mix of Gawker Media’s eight verticals, which include Gizmodo, Kotaku, and the flagship. They’ll be set off by a border and labeled as BloodCopy posts but otherwise indistinguishable from editorial content — except that the blog is written by an undead, bloodsucking ghoul.

“With vampires, we thought we could be a little looser with the disclosure and create some disbelief,” Chris Batty, Gawker’s vice president of sales and marketing, told me yesterday, dismissing critics of the advertorial as “humorless.” He also made a bold prediction that surprised me so much I made sure to confirm I’d heard correctly:

 “If we’re around in three or four years,” Batty said, “the majority of our advertising revenue will be in sponsored posts like this.”

       

Caprica Official Promo, Caprica 2nd Official Promo - April 2009, Paley Fest Screening

I just realized that the television series, "Caprica" which premieres on the SyFy Channel in 2010 (though the 2-hour premiere is out on DVD any minute now), has "William Adama" as a character. The William Adama. I'm kind of annoyed with myself that I didn't make the connection but let's face it the status of Caprica was/is partially due to the writer's strike and so it was in "development hell" for 2 years. In other words, it really had no home. Thankfully, that's all been sorted out and Caprica, which as Battlestar Wiki  points out is, "unlike most science fiction series,... a tale of our ancestors rather than our descendants" has been officially picked up  by the SyFy network.
As a long-time Battlestar Galactica fan I have to admit that I'm a bit hesitant about the series as the showrunners have made clear that it will not have much in common with Battlestar Galactica, starting with it's non-space setting. Certainly though, good television science fiction is welcomed and am I glad that "Caprica" was finally green-lighted.

indysid

(Prior to pick up) Caprica is a future television spin-off of the Re-imagined Series to be produced by Remi Aubuchon, Ronald D. Moore, David Eick for the Sci Fi Channel. The pilot episode is currently in post-production with two scripts for a tentative series having been ordered.

Caprica is a prequel to the Re-imagined Series that deals with the Adama and Graystone families on the planet Caprica and the invention of the Cylons in the Twelve Colonies. Battlestar Wiki

SyFy Channel Description: "Set 50 years before Battlestar Galactica, Caprica follows two rival families and their patriarchs Daniel Graystone (Eric Stoltz) and Joseph Adama (Esai Morales) as they compete and thrive in the vibrant world of the 12 Colonies, a society recognizably close to our own. Enmeshed in the burgeoning technology of artificial intelligence and robotics that will eventually lead to the creation of the Cylons, the two houses go toe-to-toe blending action with corporate conspiracy and sexual politics."

Series pickup

On December 2, 2008, SciFi Channel officially announced that Caprica is picked up for a 20 episode first season. According to the press release, production is slated to begin in the summer of 2009 and the series is expected to begin airing in 2010. The reason for the delay is attributed to the fact that they are attempting to regroup the core staff that worked on the pilot and Battlestar Galactica, as these persons have since found work on other projects.

Analysis

In the finale of Battlestar Galactica, our Earth was discovered 150,000 years before the present day. Therefore, unlike most science fiction series, Caprica is a tale of our ancestors rather than our descendants. Battlestar Wiki

Below is a link to a comprehensive review of "Caprica" by someone who has seen the entire premiere.

THE FUTON'S FIRST LOOK: "CAPRICA" (SCI FI)

Quote: "The world of "Caprica" has the potential to be just as compelling, interesting and multi-faceted as its "sequel" - minus of course the cool (stuff) blowing up in space. In just 92 minutes, "Caprica" manages to dish out a surprisingly dense, but not too overwhelming, array of plot threads - the government's investigation into the attack (spearheaded by Brian Markinson's Durham); the teens' school with potentially sinister ties (run by Polly Walker's Sister Clarice Willow); Daniel's business foibles; Joseph's obligations to the Tauran mob; and whatever the STO and Zoe are ultimately up to. And that's on top of yet another fascinating window into the Colonists battle between monotheism and polytheism not to mention a surprising look at the demographics of the time (Capricans are the elite while Taurans, dubbed "dirt eaters," are the despised colony) as well as the inevitable showdown between Daniel and Joseph over what they're doing."

Miley in Vanity Fair

Sometimes, I get dismayed at how female sexuality scares people, especially when it's reflected like today's celeb story on Hanna Montana's Miley Cyrus.

She's 15. She's a young woman.

Vanity Fair Magazine?! asked her to pose for Annie Lebovitz??

Vanity Fair, not Teen Vogue or the equivalent?

I call inappropriate. And if you read Jamie Lee's Curtis's full HuffPost blog post you'll see that Miley is not at all topless--she's backless. Lots of blame go around here with overreactions and twisting of truths all wrapped up in Victorian-mindedness and as Curtis says, "Business," "SHOW Business" or, as she likes to call it, "Show Off Business".

And yeah, Miley's too young if she wants to keep working for Disney to do these kind of shoots (cover after the jump) and if as she states, it embarrasses her, lesson learned, no more "back shots" until she's out from under her Disney obligations to be "perfect." Judging however from recent photos, Miley's going through a phase where she's really chomping at the bit, pushing boundaries, but she'd best not yank Disney's chain unless she wants to be a former employee. We'll see how it goes.

I think she needs handlers that don't include her father at something like this photo shoot 'cos obviously, he let it happen. Is there a Miley's mom or is she a step, or what? Who is calling the shots? Miley herself?

Not cool. She's perfect for a teen's/tweens magazine. But a sexy shoot with Annie Lebovitz for Vanity Fair at age 15 as a Disney employee?  No way, José.

The New York Times

Miley Cyrus is embarrassed, and apologizing to fans over a topless* picture of the 15-year-old Disney star, covered only by a sheet, that was published in Vanity Fair magazine. The photo was taken by Annie Liebovitz for the magazine, and Miley's parents were on hand for the shoot, but now Miley is trying to do "damage control" (or drum up extra publicity), claiming the pictures did not turn out as expected. *(That's factually incorrect. Semi-topless is what the photo is; backless, to be precise.)

In the Vanity Fair article, written by Bruce Handy, Miley is quoted saying this about the topless photo:

Annie took, like, a beautiful shot, and I thought it was really cool. That’s what she wanted me to do, and you can’t say no to Annie. I think it’s really artsy. It wasn’t in a skanky way.

However, in her statement about the published photo is Miley had this to say about the Vanity Fair shoot:

I took part in a photo shoot that was supposed to be "artistic" and now, seeing the photographs and reading the story, I feel so embarrassed. I never intended for any of this to happen and I apologize to my fans who I care so deeply about.

Vanity Fair spokeswoman Beth Kseniak, had this to response:

Miley's parents and/or minders were on the set all day. Since the photo was taken digitally, they saw it on the shoot and everyone thought it was a beautiful and natural portrait of Miley.

That's is nutz and exploitive.

I agree with Jamie Lee Curtis:

Jamie Lee Curtis wrote in The Huffington Post , "I know how Miley feels. I too was a little embarrassed by my recent topless "scandal" and the subsequent parodies, but I am an adult woman. I protected myself during the shoot and I can take the heat. I only wish that her guardians had protected her."

Did Dr. Phil step over the line with Spears? - CNN.com

Did Dr. Phil step over the line with Spears? - CNN.com

Edit/ Apparently yes he did, according to her family: 

Britney Spears's family is accusing Dr. Phil McGraw of violating their trust by making public statements about his hospital visit with the troubled pop star and his call for her to receive therapy...

Waiting...

"It's true people sometimes need to be placed under involuntary mental health treatment because they can't take care of themselves," veteran psychiatrist Dr. Jeffrey Sugar said of the 26-year-old Spears. "But there's a difference between being detained involuntarily for psychological treatment and being forced to endure Dr. Phil involuntarily."

 

(my comment follows)

I wonder what Dr. Phil thought he could do to for Britters? Besides her "psychological disease," as a family spokesperson referred to what ails the pop singer, Britney has demonstrated behaviour consistent with borderline and narcissistic personality disorders plus the courts (not to mention the paparazzi) have documented her copious use of drugs and drink. If there ever were a textbook example of a patient with co-existing psychological "diseases" or what in the 21st Century we refer to as disorders, Britney, whose behaviour has been so plenteously documented by the ever-vigilant media, is that sad example.

In scanning some of the reaction (statements by "experts," natch) to Dr. Phil's barging into Brit's psychiatric ward room as she was in the process of being discharged I've seen references to Britney as an "older adolescent." Britney is 26-year's old! If age 26 constitutes being an adolescent than at what age is one allowed to be an adult? Do we ever have to grow up?

I've not ever met Britney Spears so the best I can do is diagnose her from afar which I would never do with an actual client. That doesn't stop myriad entities in the media including Dr. Phil, the biggest self-help self-promoter this side of Oprah, to the armchair experts from documenting and cataloguing her "transgressions."

With his self-serving, highly questionable actions of inserting himself into Britney's life without an invitation is Dr. Phil any better than the paparazzi (that she sometimes courts and sometimes reviles) in their relentless pursuit of finding Britney in yet another compromising position?

I don't follow Britney though she's unavoidable when reading both mainstream and entertainment press but at the most basic level I'm alarmed that she seems to have put her children in situations in which they've been exposed to possible danger. She may not truly be a "bad mother" but acting like one was a sure way, when under unrelenting scrutiny of the media, to have them taken from her and given to her gold-digging, ex-dancer, ex-husband. That's the saddest thing because as "sick" as she is Britney Spears is an adult who can make an adult decision--even if it is her very first--to seek help in managing her behaviour. Because at this point her kids--who are still babies--haven't had much more than three years of life between them and they are already screwed unless someone intervenes for them.

 

RS~Hottest Covers of ALL TIME..sorry if you have dial-up

I was thumbing through a copy of Rolling Stone Magazine the other day, one of the last days of my son's high school break. I'm way behind and since this was a special issue, I'd sat it aside and finally decided I'd best make time to check it out thoroughly and anyway, I'm doing a sort of after-holidays clean up-cum-purge. Issue #1000 is a series of essays on people formerly on the cover w/that cover shot reproduced (the criteria for a cover shot varies with "well-known" probably being the most consistent attribute of the people on the 1000 covers).

I went to put the Special Collector's Issue #1000 from June 2006 (!) that I'd just finished reading an essay on Johnny Depp and after, Hunter S. Thompson and a few others, and was about to start Bono by Bono when out slipped what I thought was a thick insert and most likely have been thinking was an insert since I began owning Issue 1000 over 18 months ago. So I swooped down to pick up the insert and in doing so glanced at it and saw:

Aha! This is no ordinary ginormous insert!," I thought.

And the "special foldout" was glued shut!

LOL. Rolling Stone Magazine was acting parental or their age--same thing.

<side note: Tonight (recorded last night) RS sent a real doofus-sounding guy to represent them on the currently- unscripted Jon Stewart Show a/k/a The Daily Show.>

My first thought after seeing words like "skin" and "naked" was because they'd made such a big deal out of this "nude section" and because I've seen some truly Playboyesque Rolling Stone covers over the years, was I glad I found this, not my 15-year-old son. (I'm an idiot, I know. Please don't spoil my delusion(s). After I opened the insert I was surprised at how tame the photos were.

So this is what was inside. No semi-nude Johnny Depp. Boo. Though, a very nice quote from the photographer who did the 2005 head-and-shoulders cover photo (shown after the jump): "Depp is a great beauty. He does everything he can to break that beauty down a little bit. But everything he does just makes him more interesting-looking."~Albert Watson

So, I ask, Why no semi-nude Johnny? Hrmph!

Justin, Brit, Angelina...

(Continued after jump)

Frak Rush Limbaugh

Update: 10/27/06

Michael J. Fox: I Wasn't Acting In Ad

FRIDAY OCTOBER 27, 2006 09:45AM EST

By Stephen M. Silverman

 

Michael J. Fox Photo by: Stephen Lovekin / WireImage

Michael J. Fox says he wasn't "off his medication or acting" in an ad for a Democratic political candidate, as Rush Limbaugh has charged, but was in fact overmedicated.

In a CBS Evening News interview with Katie Couric on Thursday, Fox explained that the effects of his medication are hard to predict: "I just take it and it kicks in when it kicks in. Sometimes it kicks in too hard and then you get what's called dyskinesia, which is that rocking motion."

When Couric said Limbaugh had suggested Fox intentionally skipped his medication to increase his symptoms and appear more sympathetic, the actor said, "The irony is that I was too medicated and was dyskinesic. Because the thing about being symptomatic is that it's not comfortable. No one wants to be symptomatic – it's like wanting to hit yourself with a hammer."

Michael J. Fox Responds to Limbaugh

http://tinyurl.com/ycuhx4
WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 25, 2006 03:05PM EST UPDATED

By Stephen M. Silverman

Limbaugh (left) and Fox Photo by: Roger L. Wollenberg / UPI / Landov;  Andrew Marks / Retna

Michael J. Fox has responded to conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh, who suggested that Fox's Parkinson's-related tremors in a TV ad for a Democratic politician were exaggerated.

In the ad for Missouri Senate challenger Claire McCaskill, who supports stem-cell research, Fox exhibits the severe shaking and stiffness associated with Parkinson's disease. But Limbaugh said on his syndicated radio program Tuesday that Fox was "either off his medication or acting."

Campaigning in Chicago for Democratic Congressional candidate Tammy Duckworth, Fox shot back, "My pills are working really well right now," the Associated Press reports.

Limbaugh said on his radio show, "If this was not an act, then I apologize." He went on to say, however, that Fox is allowing his illness to be exploited...

Missourians Against Human Cloning, a group that opposes stem-cell research, will air its own ad during Game 4 of the World Series Wednesday night, the AP reports. The ad will feature celebrities such as Patricia Heaton, The Passion of the Christ star Jim Caviezel and the St. Louis Cardinals' Jeff Suppan, the starting pitcher in the night's game against the Detroit Tigers.

In Fox's 30-second spot for McCaskill, which has been viewed by more than 1 million people on YouTube.com, the actor, 45, tells voters, "What you do in Missouri matters to millions of Americans. Americans like me."

Parkinson's is a chronic, progressive disorder of the central nervous system that renders patients increasingly unable to control their movements.

Fox was first diagnosed with the disease in 1991 and went public with it in a 1998 PEOPLE cover story. In 2000, he stopped acting full-time because of the disease, devoting himself to spending time with his family. (click link at top for full story)

Argh! Rush Limbaugh is among the slimiest, most despicable entities ( I refuse to call him "human") that's ever stepped up to a microphone (and he can shove his  if...then apology, too).

I don't care what Michael J. Fox's politics are but I do care that Limbaugh used his right to free speech to belittle Fox, a person with a life-crippling ailment, for exerting his right to speak freely.

As a heart failure patient for whom stem cell work thus far has not yet been indicated to "cure" my condition I do in fact identify with Fox's situation. I too, lost my career (as a clinical counsellor) to my illness. Like Fox,  I've carved out a way to live with my illness and it happens to include a nice slice of volunteer work each week. Of course, Fox's celebrity allows him to make a hugely greater financial impact than I do and  sincere big props to him that he's still able to help.

I'd really like to put in print how I feel towards Limbaugh.
Instead I'll use this euphemism: Frak Rush Limbaugh.

P.S. Watch the YouTube video (link above--just type in Michael J Fox and scroll to it). Observe the camera angle that doesn't allow the viewer to see just how bad Fox's condition is now. The saddest aspect of watching him on video is how he continues to fight for his dignity by holding his right arm down with his left in attempt to control the shaking.

Clooney & Obama, National Press Club, Washington, April 27, 2006

I suppose there are worse things Clooney could do with his fame and fortune.

Illinois' favourite Senator, Democrat  Barack Obama, looks a little gun-shy.

I've heard he's not yet really comfortable as the county's possible first Black Prez. It'll be interesting.

He's a very talented man, the Junior Senator from Illinois is, with many people's hopes already pinned on him. Kind of a lot to shoulder. We'll see how he manages in the next half-dozen-to-dozen years. He's about as decent a guy as I've seen Illinois produce (hey, Lincoln lived here for a while).

Academy Award winning actor George Clooney, left, and Senator Barack Obama, D-Ill., take part in a news conference at the National Press Club in Washington, Thursday, April 27,2006 to bring awareness to the situation in the Darfur region of Sudan. (AP Photo/Mannie Garcia)

George Clooney Urges Help for Darfur

By Associated Press

Thu Apr 27, 2:19 PM

WASHINGTON - Actor George Clooney is making a plea for international help in the Darfur region of Sudan.

Clooney visited the region recently and says one girl there asked him when he was going to come back and stop the violence. He told her, "Soon," and she laughed and said, "That's what you always say."

Clooney says he had befriended the girl when she checked on him because he was sick after eating goat.

Clooney made his comments at the National Press Club in Washington. He says the best action he can take to help Sudan is to draw attention to the situation. He says he tries to "use the credit card that you get for being famous in the right instances whenever you can."

Bill O' Reilly Is A Rude, Angry Man

Last night, I went to a (free) "meet-up" which featured Al Franken, the film "Outfoxed", really good food and good people (including NOW). :) There was a ton of info. disseminated--kind of a smörgåsbord of resources, causes and mini-causes, for people to choose from.

Common Cause, MoveOn.org, and a bunch of other organizations have launched a campaign to take on Fox Television for pretending partisan news is "fair and balanced." They've posted a really horrifying but funny video clip highlighting Bill O'Reilly's hypocrisy as well as a complaint to the FTC at:

http://cdn.moveon.org/data/ShutUp_Final_BbandLo.mov
Check it out.
The challenges to Fox's partisanship are mounting. It's crucial that we voice our disgust with Fox's deceptive advertising now.
Courtesy of MoveOn.org
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Bill O'Reilly would be worth be hating if he weren't such a sad, pathetic, ANGRY man. But apparently lots of "Americans" watch the FOX television network ::shudder::, one of Rupert Murdoch's many jewels in his media crown.
On a related note:
Kudos to Canada for not allowing FOX a license to present FOX propaganda 24-hours a day.
Canada, unreasonably I suppose, is trying to preserve some Canadian-type programming (and thus culture) on the airwaves which has been effectively overrun by "American-ness" for decades.
So Canada said to FOX Broastcasting, Sure you may buy a license but you must air 35% Canadian programming. NO way, said FOX.

Al Jazeera however, was just granted a license.
This tells me one thing.
Canada likes them A-rabs better 'n us Murricuns. ::sniffle::
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Spot any anti-Canadian sentiment in the Wall Street Journal opinion piece below?

REVIEW & OUTLOOK
Wall Street Journal Opinion Piece
Fox and Gophers
July 19, 2004; Page A10

(See Corrections & Amplifications item below.)

When it comes to Canadian identity, Fox News Channel is apparently a threat. Al-Jazeera, on the other hand, is just another point of view enriching Canadian culture. That's the message sent last week when the Canadian Radio and Television Commission (CRTC) granted the Qatar-based, anti-American al-Jazeera a Canadian license. Fox has wanted into Canada since 1999 but has so far been shut out -- except in Ottawa, at the Canadian Parliament, which requested and got a Fox feed last August.

The official justification for this double news standard is that al-Jazeera doesn't compete with any local Canadian-owned company. More than 100,000 Italian-Canadians petitioned in favor of a license for Italy's RAI International, for example, but on the same day that al-Jazeera got the green light RAI was sent packing because it would compete with Canadian-owned Telelatino.

Then there are the sensitivities of Canada's culture police. A large chunk of Canada's political establishment truly believes that, left unfettered, the Canadian market would be overrun by American culture, as if it isn't already. A few years back the CRTC told Fox it could enter Canada, as long as its 24-hour programming had 35% Canadian content. That may have implied a little too much televised gopher hunting on Baffin Island, so Fox stayed home.

What doesn't seem to matter to Ottawa's information gate-keepers are the wishes of Canadian viewers. Canada's cable industry estimates that up to one million Canadian households grab U.S. signals illegally, and the Fox network has received thousands of calls and e-mails requesting the news channel. Yet Canadians are stuck with CNN, which was grandfathered under Canadian law.

The darkest interpretation of all of this is that Canada's liberal political elites find al-Jazeera's view of the world more compatible than Fox's. The Arab network is always putting the worst face on U.S. policies, while Fox doesn't mind suggesting that it is rooting for America to win when it goes to war. We prefer to think better of our neighbors to the north, but it would be nice if they gave Americans the same benefit of the doubt that they give to our enemies.

Corrections & Amplifications:

The editorial above misstated the name of the agency that granted al-Jazeera a broadcast license in Canada. The correct name is the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission.