Shel Silverstein was definitely warped enough to be my favorite children's author.. Several hardcover editions still share space on my own old fart bookshelf although I never knew about him until college. Definitely my loss there.

His spare, black and white drawings are messy, often perverse. The inked lines seem carelessly tossed onto the page, belying HarperCollins' executive editor Antonia Markiet's memory of Silverstein as an "untiring perfectionist."

"Every word mattered, every line in a drawing mattered, no matter how small," Markiet explained in an interview she insisted be conducted by way of e-mail.

"Children in particular are very aware of when they are being condescended to. Shel never did that. He did not try to guess what a kid might like because he knew what HE liked and he trusted that connection," Markiet said in her e-mail. "He didn't think anything was beyond his audience, or too hard for them, or too complex for them."

Remembering Shel Silverstein

Palindrome wrote:
] ] The eloquence of a few lines of verse can be a powerful
] ] thing. Poetry can cause you to pause and think about
] ] life. It can incite feelings of rage. A good poem can
] ] even bring you to tears. We're not sure where this one
] ] lies in the spectrum of emotional reactions, but we're
] ] thinking somewhere between a chuckle and a look of
] ] heartfelt confusion.
]
] I found this awhile back but don't think I got around to
] posting it.

Sure could have used that last week (Val Day)... :-)

RE: Geek Love Poem

Oh Yeah!

The sequel -- titled "The Passion of the Clerks" -- is set to begin shooting in January. Miramax Films, which turned the original into a cult-hit after buying it at the Sundance Film Festival, plans to distribute the follow-up.
...
So far, he said he has gotten only positive responses from the people who have read the script, so he decided to move forward with it. Both O'Halloran and Anderson are signed on, and Jason Mewes, will return as stoner Jay, the "hetero life-mate" of Smith's stoic Silent Bob.

"hetero life-mate" ? Hmmm. Interesting use of words...

Kevin Smith plans 'Clerks' sequel

Paramount has a new puppet feature coming out in October. Opinion withheld for now.

"Team America: World Police" is an action adventure from the creators of "South Park" starring an all-marionette cast.

This movie is not yet rated
Matt Drudge had these comments: Marionette puppets are used throughout the film to mock terror threats, and media figures who dominate the nation's airwaves. But Parker and Stone save most of the mocking for left-wing pundits and Michael Moore.

"Bush is not even in the film," Parker said Sunday night from Los Angeles during the DRUDGE REPORT radio broadcast.

Putting the F back in freedom?

Pete Townshend, the guitarist with The Who, says the documentary film maker Michael Moore is as bad a "bully" as George Bush, the man he vilifies in Fahrenheit 9/11. Moore had wanted to use Townshend's song, "Won't Get Fooled Again", on the soundtrack to his anti-Iraq War polemic, which took record box-office receipts for a documentary when it opened in Britain at the weekend.
...
When Townshend refused, Moore accused him of being in favour of the war.
On the rock star's website, Townshend responds: "I greatly resent being bullied and slurred by him in interviews just because he didn't get what he wanted from me. It seems to me that this aspect of his nature is not unlike that of the powerful and wilful man at the centre of his new documentary." Townshend says his publishers originally refused the request to use the song because he was offered "well below" the norm. Harvey Weinstein, of Miramax, then interceded to explain what the movie was about and increase the offer. But Townshend says he remained unconvinced, not least because he regarded Bowling for Columbine, Moore's Oscar-winning film about American gun control, as "a bullying film".
He offered to view Fahrenheit 9/11, but stressed he was 90 per cent sure his song would not be right.
Townshend says he originally supported the war but changed his mind. "Like millions of others, I am less sure we did the right thing."

Way to go Pete! Real documentaries don't skew the subject matter to overwhelmingly slant the filmaker's agenda. Moore is a self righteous dickhead.

Who guitarist brands Michael Moore a bully over song

If Madonna can be Esther, maybe I can be Mordechai too and we can both be heroes of jewish history together...When did celebs get so weird?

It's Esther, the welly-wearing, Italian-Jewish-British country landowner. Julia Magnet reports

What's in a name? Not that much, it seems, as Madonna - mistress of the makeover - has announced she is trading her iconic moniker for Esther. Esther? Yes - and she's doing it as a testament to her belief in Kabbalah, a mystic sect of Judaism, based mostly on medieval, ethical texts and numerology. Except that she interprets this Jewish devotion as rather "punk-rock". "Call me Esther," she proclaims this week, à la Moby-Dick, in an American television interview.

Who's that girl?

This just in from the "Anything for a buck department...."

NEW YORK (AP)— William Hung, whose spirited version of Ricky Martin's She Bangs got him booted from open auditions for American Idol, will release his debut album next week.
Inspiration, in stores Tuesday, includes She Bangs, along with another Martin hit, Shake Your Bon-Bon, and a cover of Elton John's Rocket Man. There's also a bonus DVD.

Also on Tuesday, Fuse music network will air a half-hour special, Idol Worship: The William Hung Story, which includes footage of Hung in the studio as he records tracks for Inspiration.

He'll perform She Bangs on NBC's Tonight show Thursday and again on the Today show Friday, Fuse and Koch Records said.

Idol' reject William Hung set to release debut album

Isn't it ironic, dont'cha think? ;) I thought hip hop family tradition was based very closely with using someone else's music w/o permission ie vanilla ice, Puffy and hordes of other digital samplers.

DETROIT, Feb 24, 2004 (AP Online via COMTEX) -- Rapper Eminem's music publisher is suing Apple Computer Inc., claiming the company used one of the hip-hop superstar's songs in a television advertisement without permission.

Eminem's Publisher Sues Apple Over Song

careful not to go blind.

The 10 worst Album Covers. Ever.

If you've been to a movie lately, you've probably seen Brian.. er I mean Delux showin' ya his crib. Too damn funny. Watch for the chrome spinner hubcaps on the Hyundai.

Coca Cola Delux_247 commercials