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Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert Return

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Viewers Await Return of Stewart, Colbert

By FRAZIER MOORE – 4 hours ago

NEW YORK (AP) — Fans of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert
awaited their return to the air Monday night with eagerness enhanced by
curiosity: How would these funnymen deliver topical satire while
stripped of their writers?That, of course, is the challenge
facing “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” and “The Colbert Report,”
which have been out of production since the writers strike began nine
weeks ago, and are now resuming with their writers still off the job.

While
both Comedy Cental late-night series have always largely been scripted,
that would now violate strike rules of the Writers Guild of America.
Even Stewart and Colbert, as guild members, are apparently barred from
writing anything.

But helping fill each half-hour, as usual, will be interview segments.

Monday,
the scheduled “Daily Show” guest was Ronald Seeber, a Cornell
University professor and expert on conflict resolution. The announced
guests on “Colbert” were New York Times columnist Paul Krugman and The
Atlantic magazine’s Andrew Sullivan. GOP presidential hopeful Mike
Huckabee was expected to appear on “Colbert” Wednesday.

Waiting
in line to see Monday’s taping of “The Daily Show,” New Jersey teacher
Scott Gamble called himself “a huge fan of Jon Stewart’s. He generally
has the best election coverage on the air.”

Meanwhile, Michael
Winship, president of the Writers Guild of America East, was among
about 15 picketers gathered outside the Manhattan studio of “The Daily
Show.”

Winship said the union’s complaint wasn’t with Stewart or
Colbert, but “that Viacom and Comedy Central will not yet make a fair
and responsible contract” allowing the hosts “to get back their
writers.”

Also picketing, Adam Brooks — who wrote and
directed the upcoming feature “Definitely, Maybe” — said: “We’re
trying to send a message that ‘The Daily Show’ and ‘Stephen Colbert’
are better shows with writers than without writers.”

Even though
barred from writing for his own show, Colbert was returning to the air
a leading author: His humor book, “I Am America (And So Can You!)”
currently holds the No. 1 slot on The New York Times best-selling
nonfiction list.

The strike, which hinges on Internet revenue among other issues, began Nov. 5.

___

Associated Press writer Clare Trapasso contributed to this report.

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Justice Dept. Absent at Hearing For Woman Raped In Iraq

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KBR Gang Rape Survivor Says 11 More Women Like Her; Justice Department Is a No-Show

F I R E D O G L A K E 

An extraordinarily brave Jamie Leigh Jones testified before the House Judiciary Committee today. Not-so-brave was the Justice Department — they were supposed to send a representative, but none showed up.

Jamie Leigh:

“He handed me the drink and said ‘don’t worry, I saved all my Roofies for Dubai,” or words very similar to that. I thought he was joking and felt safe with my co-workers. I believed that we were all on the same team. I took two sips from the drink and don’t remember anything after that.”

It really is consistent with a larger narrative — we’re not all on the same team. “We” are supposedly fighting terrorists, or weapons of mass destruction, or the evil-doers, or whatever they’re packaging it as today, but in the end the corporate cons are just out for the corporate cons and everybody else is just supposed to pay the freight. There really is no “we.”

Live From New York It's Saturday Night Live On Strike

Stories

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NEW YORK (AP) – It wasn’t live from New York as usual.

About 150 audience members in a tiny Manhattan theater were the only folks in the world to witness a totally new “Saturday Night Live” episode starring guest host Michael Cera and musical guest Yo La Tengo.

Anyone who tuned into NBC was subjected to a two-week-old rerun featuring Brian Williams and Feist, thanks to an ongoing Writers Guild of America labor strike.

“It was everything that’s never been on the show before,” cast member Kenan Thompson told The Associated Press after the show. “Sometimes it doesn’t get a chance to shine, but it sure shined here.”

The “SNL” cast and writers collaborated on staging the special “Saturday Night Live—On Strike!” event at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre to benefit the behind-the-scenes staff affected by the strike. The live performance was not officially sanctioned by NBC, but “SNL” executive producer Lorne Michaels, who celebrated his 63rd birthday, did attend.

“He came and saw it and laughed a little bit,” said Thompson.

The performance included all the trappings of a typical “SNL” episode, such as a host monologue, musical performance, “Weekend Update” news segment and several comedy sketches—all without any commercial interruption.

“It was a little dirtier than usual,” audience member Birch Harms said.

A typical “SNL” episode features about seven sketches, but the cast performed about 15 original sketches during the two-hour event. Thompson said he starred in a sketch called “Hip-Hop Whodunit,” a mock game show about solving hip-hop crimes, and also appeared as a French comedian during “Weekend Update.”

“They didn’t have elaborate costumes or graphics or anything,” audience member Risa Sang-urai said. “Sometimes they would explain things or wear wigs. It wasn’t anything too elaborate, but you didn’t really need it.”

Tickets to the hush-hush sold at the 11:30 p.m. EST performance were difficult to come by. Many audience members were friends or acquaintances of “SNL” cast members or performers at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, an improv theater co-founded by “SNL” cast member Amy Poehler.

Thompsen said everyone in the current cast participated in the event, except Maya Rudolph. Past cast members Rachel Dratch and Horatio Sanz also performed. Singer Norah Jones made a cameo appearance, according to audience members.

Production of “SNL” shut down because many of the stars also write the shows. The cast and writers of “30 Rock” have also planned to stage a similar live performance Monday at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater.

“Everybody’s in a holding pattern right now,” Thompson said of the “SNL” staff. “It’s a shame. All these creative people are just sitting around. We’ve obviously got material we’re waiting to unleash on the world.”

___

On the Net:

http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/

Danny Ackroyd Sells His Fat Penthouse In New York City

Stories

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DAN AYKROYD, once “live from New York,” may soon be gone from New York, or at least from his spacious penthouse on the Upper East Side.

Mr. Aykroyd, the comedian, actor and writer, who was a mainstay of “Saturday Night Live” in its heyday in the 1970s, along with John Belushi and Gilda Radner, is giving up his triplex penthouse atop a sliver of a postwar high-rise on the Upper East Side.

The apartment occupies half of the top three floors of the 46-story tower at 360 East 88th Street at First Avenue, and includes 3,400 square feet of space, four bedrooms, a terrace and two working fireplaces.

The apartment is in the Leighton House, a high-rise caught up in a housing slowdown in the late 1980s. When many of the condominiums could not be sold when the building opened in 1991, they were rented out.

The penthouse was finally sold for $1.4 million in 1998 and then two years later was bought under the name of Mr. Aykroyd’s wife, the actress Donna Dixon, for $3.7 million, according to property records. The asking price is now $7 million.

“They bought it because it was on 88th and First and is the tallest building in the neighborhood,” said Mr. Aykroyd’s broker, Roger Erickson of Sotheby’s International Realty.

But now the Aykroyds and their three daughters are spending more time on the West Coast and don’t need the spacious New York penthouse.

Another penthouse shares the three top three floors and is a slightly smaller unit with a large terrace. It also has been on the market recently for $7 million, raising the possibility that the two units could be combined for a palatial spread on the top three floors of the building.

But Mickey Roth, a broker at Prudential Douglas Elliman who represents the second owner, said that apartment had recently been taken off the market because the seller hoped to be able sell it for an even higher price.

“This type of apartment is something unique,” Mr. Roth said. “It has nothing to do with the price per square foot in the building.”

E-mail: bigdeal@nytimes.com

If you like U2, you'll love . . . Metallica?

Stories

Bono Taymor Across The Universe

Software that ‘listens’ to songs could help you find new favorites

By Tom Avril / Staff Writer

The Philadelphia Inquirer

Sure, you’ve heard U2. Hard to avoid the Irish rockers, a musical force since the 1980s.But how do you find – let alone decide if you like – some garage band that’s cut the killer new track that no one’s ever heard of?

In his gleaming white lab at Drexel University, Youngmoo Kim has an answer: raw computing power.

He’s an electro-DJ of sorts, part of a new wave that seeks to help consumers sift through the countless downloadable tunes on the Internet. It’s a crowded field, with plenty of Web sites already promising consumers “if you like this, then you’ll like that.”

But most of those sites base their picks largely on what other consumers have purchased – perhaps reinforcing mass-market tastes at the expense of undiscovered gems. Kim and other researchers have embraced a more fundamental approach: using computers to “listen” to the music itself.

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World Trade Center Memorial Delayed By Two More Years

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From The Associated Press

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(AP) – Construction of the memorial and underground museum commemorating the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks will be finished in 2011, two years later than originally planned, officials said Tuesday.

Officials had said for years that Sept. 11, 2009, would be the opening date for the museum and the “Reflecting Absence” memorial, which surrounds two waterfall-filled pools marking the World Trade Center tower footprints.

The builders of the memorial adjusted the timetable last year, saying the above-ground plaza would open in 2009 and the underground museum open a year later.

Steve Plate, who oversees the rebuilding of the trade center site for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, said Tuesday that the schedule would be pushed back another year.

Agency spokeswoman Candace McAdams said the schedule was revised to reflect a more realistic schedule that became clear after construction began.

“We see the reality, and want to operate on responsible timelines,” Ms. McAdams said. “We’ll work as aggressively as possible to complete the project as soon as possible.”

Mr. Plate, the agency’s director of priority capital programs, said that by 2009, the reflecting pools in the memorial would be built up to street level. By 2010, the cobblestone-filled plaza surrounding the memorial pools will be “nearly complete,” he said. Ms. McAdams said the plaza would be open to the public by that time.

The entire memorial, museum and pavilion will be finished by 2011, Mr. Plate said.
Construction of the memorial began in spring of 2006, and briefly stopped while architect Michael Arad’s design was altered to cut costs that were approaching $1 billion. The redesign — which cut over $200 million in costs — made the museum a bit smaller and moved stone parapets listing the names of the nearly 3,000 people killed in the attacks to street level.

Top Ten Best/Worst Foods You Could Possibly Eat

Stories

From The Guys .Gals who tell us what we probably suspected all along…
The Center For Science in The Public Interest

1. Artery Crust

Pepperidge Pot PieJudging by the label, Pepperidge Farm Roasted White Meat Chicken Premium Pot Pie has 510 calories and 9 grams of saturated fat. But look again. Those numbers are for half a pie. Eat the entire pie, as most people probably do, and you’re talking more than 1,000 calories and 18 grams of sat fat.

 

    

1. Sweet Potatoes
sweet potatoes

A nutritional All-Star — one of the best vegetables you can eat. They’re loaded with carotenoids, vitamin C, potassium, and fiber. Bake and then mix in some unsweetened applesauce or crushed pineapple for extra moisture and sweetness.
 

2. Strip Tease

Chicken SelectsMcDonald’s Chicken Selects Premium Breast Strips sounds healthy. In fact, ounce for ounce, the Selects are no healthier than the chain’s Chicken McNuggets. A standard, five-strip order has 630 calories and 11 grams of artery-clogging fat. That’s about the same as a Big Mac, but the burger has 1,040 mg of sodium, while the Selects hit 1,550 mg — a whole day’s worth — even without the salty dipping sauce.

 

      

2. Grape Tomatoes
grape tomatoes

They’re sweeter and firmer than other tomatoes, and their bite-size shape makes them perfect for snacking, dipping, or salads. They’re packed with vitamin C and vitamin A, and you also get some fiber, some phytochemicals, and (finally) some flavor.
 

3. Factory Reject

Cheesecake FactoryEach slice of The Cheesecake Factory’s 6 Carb Original Cheesecake has 610 calories — that’s the same as you’d get from a slice of its Original Cheesecake. Think of it as an 8-ounce untrimmed prime rib for dessert — with 29 grams of saturated fat, a 11/2-days’ supply. The next time you step on the bathroom scale, you may never
 know that the carbs were missing.

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Netroots and Chris Dodd Stop Bill To Grant Immunity To Telecoms Who Spied On U.S. Citizens

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From the indispensable Nicole Belle at Crooks And Liars Dot Com

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Chris Dodd Thanks You For Your Support

By: Nicole Belle

Chris Dodd thanks the netroots for their support and congratulates his colleagues for their help in the fight against retroactive immunity.

“Today we have scored a victory for American civil liberties and sent a message to President Bush that we will not tolerate his abuse of power and veil of secrecy. The President should not be above the rule of law, nor should the telecom companies who supported his quest to spy on American citizens. I want to thank the thousands of Americans throughout the country that stood with me to get this done for our country.”

The progressive blogs, who played a huge role in lobbying the Senate to support Dodd’s leadership against retroactive immunity, are joining in the celebration now that the FISA bill has been pulled until next year.

In an email, Athenae of First Draft writes, “Seriously, that was some awesome with awesome sauce and a side of pure, crispy win.”

Crooks & Liars has video of Dodd’s closing remarks this evening.

Jason Rosenbaum at The Seminal writes, “This victory means Dodd’s filibuster has weight. It also makes it much more likely that he will win round two as he continues to stand up for the Constitution and against telecom immunity.”

Sam Stein at the Huffington Post sets the early narrative – one which I think accurately describes how events evolved over the course of the last few days – in an article titled “Dodd’s Filibuster Threat Persuades Reid.”[..]

Also, thanks to everyone at FireDogLake for all the help driving activism today.

You can keep giving Chris Dodd the props he’s due at ChrisDodd.com