The reports sounds like they are whipping up a lynch mob. Bridge to nowhere? Bridge to the 17th century.

Anyway, Radar Online is reporting that the Secret Service is now looking into the threats. What exactly are they looking into? Shh it's a secret.

The question is - when does the media call a spade wielding racist mob a spade wielding racist mob?

Photo by Douglas R. Clifford.

But now, after watching the vice-presidential debate and becoming even more terrified at the thought that this half-wit from Alaska could actually ascend to the presidency one day, I must come out of the closet. Everyone knows that Fox News is, to put it mildly, slanted right. Their producers and on-air personalities are culpable in their fiery promotion of the Bush agenda for the past eight years no matter how flawed. Since the current election cycle began they've been "spinning" what the McCain/Palin ticket really stands for (i.e. more of the same), often to the point of absurdity. (If you haven't noticed the contrast of the anchors' sunny demeanor when they mention the names of McCain or Palin versus the dark seriousness with which they utter the surname "Obama," you aren't paying attention.)

American Carol, the David Zucker film that promised to skewer the powerless and disenfranchised (always hilarious) didn't do so well in the BO. Of course, that's if you believe the MSM that counts BO receipts.

This come to us from Wonkette via an American Carol promo site, we hope they're making it up...but we'll report and (ahem) you decide:

We have had heard from numerous people across the country that there has been some ticket fraud when buying a ticket for An American Carol this past weekend.

Please check your ticket. If you were in fact one of those people that were "mistakenly" sold a ticket for another movie please fill out the form below. Hold on to your ticket so we can have proof.

If you have noticed other irregularities with the theatres in your area please let us know in the comment section below. For instance, Rated R film rating (when in fact we are rated PG-13), posters not being up, not being listed on the marquee, image or focus problems, sound issues, etc.

Please email us a picture of your ticket stub to fraud@americancarol.com

These Hollywood liberals will stop at nothing. They even went so far as to make the movie unfunny and poorly rated! Such cunning foes!

The Reg also reported that Freedom's Mesa, Ariz. paper, The East Valley Tribune planned to eliminate 142 jobs (40% of its staff) and cut back to four print editions a week. "The newspaper will also be distributed for free."

-- Via Romenesko

At close yesterday, the roller-coaster ride had driven the market down some 800 points, only to close down a tad more than 300. Throughout, entertainment stocks were only off about 3.2% after having dropped as far as 11% down.

The THR entertainment stock index outperformed the broader markets -- a rare occurrence in recent weeks, especially in comparison to the Dow off 3.6%, the S&P 500 down 3.9%, and the Nasdaq dropping 4.3%.

The top Showbiz 50 loser Monday was Imax, down 15% despite the company's unveiling of a new debt-refinancing package with the Bank of Montreal.

Today, entertainment stocks were relatively stable.

Don't Be 'Religulous': Rabbi David Wolpe, author of Why Faith Matters and rabbi at Sinai Temple (full disclosure: that's where this Fishie worships), takes Bill Maher to task to reducing religion and faith to, essentially, a neurological disorder. Movie review as Op/Ed? Why don't we see more of these?

Bad News Bear: Tom Petruno asks the question "Is now a good time to panic?" and seems to answer it with a very unreassuring: "Yep." (And, apparently, people are taking this feeling to heart.)

Who knew Leo Wolinksy had shaved his goatee?

Earlier: BREAKING: LAT Expects 75 Newsroom Cuts Today
and
UPDATE: L.A. Times Lays Off 75 Staffers

WaPo's Dana Milbank reports:

Worse, Sarah Palin's routine attacks on the media have begun to spill into ugliness. In Clearwater, arriving reporters were greeted with shouts and taunts by the crowd of about 3,000. Palin then went on to blame Katie Couric's questions for her "less-than-successful interview with kinda mainstream media." At that, Palin supporters turned on reporters in the press area, waving thunder sticks and shouting abuse. Others hurled obscenities at a camera crew. One Palin supporter shouted a racial epithet at an African American sound man for a network and told him, "Sit down, boy."

This is a letter to the editor at Romenesko by Perry Parks. It reads:

If I were an editor or producer covering this election, I'd pull my people from McCain and Palin events. There is no reason to serve as props in an event staged to declare journalists enemies of the people. If McCain and Palin want to avoid the "filter" of the mainstream media, let them do it. They can run their campaign without coverage.

So there are people working phone banks in Indiana. In LA, they do little short films. Sure you could have celebrities...or you could have these people. Ahem.

The magazine is actually asking Oscar voters to re-vote and -- sometimes several decades later -- see if they still give Oscars to such films as "Shakespeare in Love," "Terms of Endearment" or "Life is Beautiful."

It will focus on five different years: 2003, 1998, 1993, 1988 and 1983. Results are expected to be published in January, 2009.

Not sure if this is a good idea or could prove catostrophic. It's tough enough to get an Oscar in the first place -- even if you don't deserve it. But either way, it certainly shouldn't be taken away by a dippy magazine poll.

We'll see what happens.

The new release -- with all the regulars in tow like Charlie, Linus, Lucy and Snoopy -- is due in stores today and Warner is definitely trying to tap into that nationwide election spirit. Well, they're willing to tap into that money. The new Deluxe Edition will retail for about $19.98. And considering there are 150 million potential voters out there, well you do the math.

If your kids like Charlie Brown, then Warner is sure they'll nag you enough to buy the dang thing. And they may end up watching it 20 or 30 times.

Perhaps parents will consider it an insanely inexpensive civics lesson.

More in the Press Release below:

Well that announcement has come, and the names are starting to trickle out.

L.A. Observed reports that one of the people leaving the Times is veteran Leo Wolinsky.

The new location will not only employ hundreds of studio employees, handling and monitoring several soundstages and editing bays, it will shoot and produce the next four Marvel films over the next three years: "Iron Man 2," "Thor," "The First Avenger: Captain America" and "The Avengers."

Raleigh will move its Beverly Hills-based executive and production offices to Raleigh's facility in Manhattan Beach. It will mean the first major production investment in a Hollywood studio location in literally the last decade and certainly the first from the comic book realm. Inside sources have maintained that as much as $600 million could be spent on budgets for these four films, and another $300 million on marketing.

With the huge success that Paramount enjoyed with the domestic release of "Iron Man" and the international split with Sony, Universal and Universal International, it's no surprise that they were eager to work with Marvel executives to help facilitate this new studio on the block.

More information below:

[UPDATE: Layoffs, expected from the Washington D.C. consolidation, might not be announced today, but more than D.C. jobs are expected to be cut soon. Again, we'll let you know as we get it.]

As she says:

"And while I'm at it, let me publicly lament the flight of
talented colleagues, Jeff Leeds of the Times and Gabriel Snyder, once of Variety, to the world of celebrity infotainment, and the kingdom of snark, respectively. Leeds, one of the best music journalists working (or, rather, not working) has gone to Buzznet, where he will be the editor-in-chief. Snyder becomes managing editor at Gawker. Like other journalists, they have to eat, so one can hardly blame them. But their joining the world of lowest-common-denominator-clicks makes those of us seekers in the world of information-that-matters the poorer."

Is it really impossible to think that journalists like Leeds and Snyder could elevate the level of journalism at these sites? Whose snarky now?