Peter Falk says he supplied Columbo coat

SAGINAW, MICH - Peter Falk, who played the rumpled, crime-solving police lieutenant in the "Columbo" television series starting in 1971 and in made-for-TV movies until 2003, said he was dissatisfied with the stylish clothes laid out for him to consider for the show's debut.

Falk said he brought a shabby old raincoat from home and asked the show's wardrobe department to dye one of the suits a dull brown.

When told to go pick a car for Columbo on the studio lot, he found nothing to his liking.

"They all looked alike, and then I saw it way in the back, just its nose — an ugly Peugeot," Falk told The Saginaw News before an area public appearance Tuesday. "And it had the perfect touch ... a flat tire."

Falk, 79, has 13 Emmy, two Oscar and nine Golden Globe nominations. He said he helped create the look as well as the mannerisms of the character that made him famous.

"I love the guy," Falk said. "I was very lucky to have a character that rich, that I like personally so much. The whole thing was an actor's dream — getting a character that tickles you so much you can't wait to act as him." [SOURCE]

Bollywood at its finest!!

Parent criticizes book 'Fahrenheit 451'

A Caney Creek High School dad is fired up because the Conroe Independent School District uses the book "Fahrenheit 451" as classroom reading material.

Alton Verm, of Conroe, objects to the language and content in the book. His 15-year-old daughter Diana, a CCHS sophomore, came to him Sept. 21 with her reservations about reading the book because of its language.

"The book had a bunch of very bad language in it," Diana Verm said. "It shouldn't be in there because it's offending people. ... If they can't find a book that uses clean words, they shouldn't have a book at all."

"It's just all kinds of filth," said Alton Verm, adding that he had not read "Fahrenheit 451." "The words don't need to be brought out in class. I want to get the book taken out of the class."

"Fahrenheit 451" is a science fiction piece that poses a warning to society about the preservation and passing on of knowledge as well as asks the question about whether the government should do the thinking for the people. Other themes include conformity vs. individuality, freedom of speech and the consequences of losing it, the importance of remembering and understanding history and technology as help to humans and as hindrances to humans.

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Museum Field Trip Deemed Too Revealing

FRISCO, Tex., Sept. 28 — “Keep the ‘Art’ in ‘Smart’ and ‘Heart,’ ” Sydney McGee had posted on her Web site at Wilma Fisher Elementary School in this moneyed boomtown that is gobbling up the farm fields north of Dallas.

But Ms. McGee, 51, a popular art teacher with 28 years in the classroom, is out of a job after leading her fifth-grade classes last April through the Dallas Museum of Art. One of her students saw nude art in the museum, and after the child’s parent complained, the teacher was suspended.

Although the tour had been approved by the principal, and the 89 students were accompanied by 4 other teachers, at least 12 parents and a museum docent, Ms. McGee said, she was called to the principal the next day and “bashed.”

She later received a memorandum in which the principal, Nancy Lawson, wrote: “During a study trip that you planned for fifth graders, students were exposed to nude statues and other nude art representations.” It cited additional complaints, which Ms. McGee has challenged.

The school board suspended her with pay on Sept. 22.

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New Found Respect for Alec Baldwin

Forget about Bush. He's toast. Constitutionally, above all.

Forget about Mark Foley. He's toast. Nothing will give the Republican base more hope than if the Democrats focus too much on "family values" vis a vis the Foley Scandal. Who knows how long before other Congressional e-mails surface with Democrats guilty of the same thing?

Don't rule that out.

Focus on Hastert. That do-nothing, lap dog Speaker of the House, who knew Foley was compromised and knew it quite a long time ago and did nothing, purely to maintain political power. Who saw the intelligence on Iraq, and knew what Bob Woodward is now all over the TV talking about and knew it a long time ago and did nothing, in order to maintain political power. [Cont.]

Tonight

Colbert mascot being unveiled at the Dow tonight, Colbert Report is filming there, to be shown on TV Monday.

Ohio State (1) vs. Iowa

Michigan (6) vs. Minnesota... payback for last year.

Detroit Tigers can win the pennant tonight, only on TV in Detroit... but on local radio. It might get rained out, doubleheader tommorow then.

SNL returns tonight (HDTV baby!)... Dane Cook (thumbs down) The Killers (thumbs up). Horatio Sanz was also kicked off the show (thumbs up).

Screech Sex Tape

I can not believe it is true.

Why Screech?!? Why not Tiffani Amber Theison?? Or Elizabeth Berkley?? Or even that girl that played "Lisa Turtle"??

Average Madness Flashback

Average Madness - Evil Donut People
Taken from the "Chicks Love The Mediocre, And That Means Us" sampler.

Cold

Why must Fall be so cold? I'm freezing here in my house right now. It has to be close to 20º!