Rocci Fisch

September 6, 2007

FLOOD FASHION

. . . In the Midwest the past couple of weeks. TV reporters wore those sky-high rubber hip boots. They had to, the water was waist-deep. David Muir, Eric Horng, GiGi Stone (all of ABC), Cynthia Bowers of CBS, Jeff Ranieri of MSNBC/NBC (Lee Cowan’s of NBC didn’t quite go up that far).
. . . They all appeared on camera standing and walking in the water. They were ready, equipped, facing the elements. And fashionable, looked good.
. . . Ah, put 'em on a runway some place at the next designer show. Make a network promo out of `em wading around covering a story. Put 'em in an L.L. Bean catalog or something. Promote, promote, promote for the next natural disaster.
. . . They all reminded me of the Gorton’s Fisherman.
How many times does Ann Curry have to say “morning” on the Today Show? Good morning Matt, good morning Meredith, good morning everyone, in the news this morning …” Good God woman, give it up!
. . . That show and every other NBC News show, including Brian Wilson, er … I mean Williams, on Nightly News, have to spell out everything. They’re the wordiest bunch on the planet. Just give me the news in a simple, uncluttered, adjective-free sentence instead of one packed with all kinds of pleasantries and descriptives. Make it plain and simple and be done with it. I don’t need flowery language.
. . . WHO CARES? Brad Pitt was seen about two weeks ago walking through New Orleans, surveying the eco-friendly houses he’s building there, pontificating again about the planet, etc. And guess who was hanging on his every word and looking like she was catching every syllable that came out of his grubby mouth? Ann Curry. She’s everywhere. Like the plague.
TIMING’S EVERYTHING. Katie Couric’s in Iraq. And the president decided to go there this past weekend. So she scored a stand-up interview with him that the other network anchors didn’t get because they were back home in New York. She was there, She worked the holiday and got somewhat of an exclusive (other reporters were there too – but not anchors.). WHAT THEY SAY: The early bird …
. . . In video, Couric has been seen all over the place over there, walking and talking with Gen. David Petraeus, speaking with everyday Iraqis, strolling through markets and schmoozing with American troops.
. . . An Iraqi family she was talking with in their house in Baghdad, who insist on staying in the country despite the danger and the lack of basic human needs like plumbing and electricity, was a good interview. Couric mentioned that if the authorities knew they were speaking out like that they could wind up beheaded. That true? Well, they consented to being interviewed and now they’re smack dab on video that was transmitted and broadcast over the air waves around the world, for crissakes. It’s no secret now who they are. Why would they take that risk and talk to Katie Couric? For ratings for the CBS Evening News?
. . . CBS is using her a lot from over there: on last Sunday’s Face the Nation, which very seldom does anything like talking to correspondents outside of their Washington studio, on the Early Show every day and, of course, on the CBS Evening News, her broadcast. So she’s getting a lot of face time.
OVERLOAD. Washington’s Channel 5 (Fox 5 News) is starting another news program (half-hour), this time at 6, followed by tabloid sleaze show TMZ on TV (based on the famous gotcha celebrity Web site “news” service). So that means there’s news at 5 (actually 4:55), 6, 7, 8 in the morning and now 6 and then at 10 and then at 11 at night. Think that’s enough? How much news is actually out there to cover?
Mr. Highfalutin and Blond Bombshell went shopping for sports gear at Fleet Feet over the weekend in Washington, D.C.’s Adams-Morgan neighborhood. Owners of the store are Nan and Phil Fenty, parents of the mayor, Adrian. They all know each other.
. . . When “BB” asked the Fenty's if sonny boy gave them “assignments/things to do,” since he’s always busy doing things himself and has a full plate, they said, “Every day.” So he keeps them busy too. 1
That hurricane that hit Central America (Honduras-Nicaragua border) was named Felix. Felix? Think someone at the National Oceanic and Atmosopheric Administration (NOAA) could be brought up to date and realize that that name ain’t too popular nowadays, hasn’t been for a while.
. . . How many people out there remember Felix the Cat? Many liked Mickey Mouse better.
TOO BAD. Sean (Diddy) Combs wasn’t able to have his $100,000 fireworks display in the Hamptons (N.Y.) over the Labor Day weekend. He wanted that for his “legendary” (as he calls it) White Party. East Hampton town officials tuned down his request because there was concern about boaters who might be drawn to the rocky Northwest Harbor area where they’d be launched from plus there was another planned show the same night (Sept. 2).
. . . Good. For once in his life he’s been told no. People who live there are sick of the celebrity scene Diddy and many others have turned the restful communities of the Hamptons into. Paparazzi, limos, all-night parties, traffic – they’re sick of it and some residents are even moving out.
Whoopi Goldberg started on The View on Tuesday. Who cares about that?
. . . Wonder if she’ll change the way she dresses. They all get decked out for that show. Will she stay to her own personal style and wear sneakers and ponchos to work?
Maroon 5 (“She Will Be Loved”) is a very popular band. They make many appearances on TV, in magazines, etc. Hit records, videos. But you’d think that the only member of the group was lead singer Adam Levine. He’s the only one spotlighted, it seems. Watch the group (if you can find them) on a live TV performance. The camera stays on him, hardly shows the other members. In the videos, it’s him with his girlfriend or Kelly Preston. Where’s everybody else? Not fair. Unrepresentative.
. . . This kind of thing has gone on forever in pop music, focusing in on the lead singer and ignoring the others and then giving the lead a free ride to solo stardom. And it’s not the first time it’s happened. Look at the Doors, the Supremes, INXS, where the lead becomes bigger than the group, pity.
. . . I feel sorry for the underdogs.
QUESTION. Should Oprah Winfrey be doing a show (Sept. 13) that spotlights the O.J. Simpson book (If I Did It) about the murders of his wife Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman? She planned to have Nicole’s sister Denise Brown on with the Goldmans, Fred and Kim, but she dropped out. So now, it seems, it’s just the Goldmans. That’s not much of a scoop. The Goldmans have been making the rounds on every show imaginable since news of the book, a hypothetical account of how the murders may have happened, written by a ghost writer, came out.
. . . Things have gone back and forth and now the latest is that the book will be published and the Goldmans will get the money from book sales. And Barnes & Noble, early on, said they’d only sell it on their Web site but now, since there’s been so much advance interest on behalf of the public, they’ll be selling it in their stores. They see dollar signs. 2
. . . The only way the show would be worth doing now is if she, Winfrey, got O.J. himself. Might that happen? Don’t put it past her.
. . . So has Oprah stooped too low? Fred Goldman described the book as “disgusting and despicable” when it first came to light. Now he’s out promoting it.
. . . You decide.
“TALK TO ME.” Movie about Petey Greene (Ralph Waldo “Petey” Greene) an ex-con who became a Washington, D.C. radio/TV personality back in the sixties who was very popular and who helped quell the riots after the assassination of Martin Luther King. Actor Don Cheadle portrays him and does a good job and his girlfriend in the flick, Vernell Watson, played by Taraji P. Henson, is terrific. The man who brings Greene to the attention of the WOL radio station manager (an explosive, at times, Martin Sheen as E.G. Sonderling), is Dewey Hughes, played by Chiwetel Ejiofor (Children of Men). Ejiofor is a good actor but, to me, wasn’t quite the right person for the role as a trusted talent agent. That bothered me.
. . . Worth seeing but could’ve been better and you’d practically never know it took place in D.C. They show Ben’s Chili Bowl and that’s about it. Get real, filmmakers.
JUST ASKING. Can you buy crocodile handbags and shoes and belts at Steve Irwin’s Australia Zoo ’Home of the Crocodile Hunter’? Nice souvenirs, no?
Barack Obama’s on the cover of GQ magazine and he looks distorted. It’s the camera angle. His face looks zoomed out at you or something. And there’s another shot of him from the side that makes him look darn right goofy. Who’s his campaign manager? Fire the SOB.
Michael Vick didn’t say he was sorry to the dog population for running a dogfighting ring; he did to his “fans.”
. . . He could’ve said something about the poor hounds who suffered or apologized to the Humane Society for doing it. Or volunteer for some animal rescue league, since he likes dogs so much. God forbid.
. . . He’s just sorry because he got caught.
. . . Hanalie, dog in the neighborhood, is very mad at Charlie, the horse. Charlie was playing rodeo pony with owner Sally on Saturday and almost threw her over a fence. When Sally got home, Hanalie could “sense,” attests Sally, that something had happened and started barking. The dog’s smart, a genius. So there’s no love lost between dog and horse.
Do I have to pronounce rapper 50 Cent’s name “Fiddy,” like the thugs do, to give the impression I know who he is and that I’m street smart? They say it’s pronounced that way. (His real name: Curtis Jackson.)
. . . Maybe I’ll just go out in an alley and yell Fifty Cent and if there’s no response I’ll yell Fiddy Cent and see who comes. (I hope his posse doesn’t beat me up.)
. . . And the current Big Question is whether 50 will outsell Kanye (West) when both release their new albums on Sept. 11. Cent has said that if West outsells him on the first day that he will not record another solo album; he’ll just concentrate on producing other artists.
. . . So let’s see what happens on the date.
. . . And for those of us who are concerned with more meaningful things, Sept. 11 is a date to remember for something else.
Someone wrote in to a washingtonpost.com live discussion the other day and said that the Craig (Sen. Larry Craig, D-Idaho) incident brought to mind the Tony Orlando & Dawn song (classic?) Knock Three Times (1971, Bell Records).
“. . . Knock three times on the ceiling if you want me … Twice on the pipe if the answer is no … Oh, my sweetness (Sound Effect: Knock, Knock, Knock) … Means you’ll meet me in the hallway … Twice on the pipe (Sound Effect: Clink, Clink) means you ain’t gonna show.”
. . . IDEA. Why not have Dateline/To Catch A Predator’s Chris Hansen do the first interview with Larry Craig? He’s used to trapping people and putting 'em on the spot for the cameras and his show gets good ratings.
JUST ASKING AGAIN. There was video on various Web sites and TV of that lunar eclipse (earth shadow blocks moon) that happened last week. Will that make me blind if I look at it?
There’s a newspaper ad for a dentist in the Washington, D.C., area for healthy teeth and gums that shows a smiling chimpanzee with human teeth. They’re good-looking choppers and the chimp looks friendly but it’s a tad odd.
. . . Chimpy boy reminds me of former American Idol contestant Elliott Yamin’s new mouth redo: they don’t look like his own either.
GOING MORE GREEN. Now they’ve got Eco-Hangers, cardboard hangers that are “better for the environment.” The wire hangers are getting out of control, some say, so now they’re doing it with bio-degradable paper products.
. . . Gee, wonder what’s next? Let’s ask Brad Pitt, he seems to be the intellectual on all this.
. . . Green is totally out of control. Where’s Kermit? Get him on the phone and have him put a stop to it – too many copycats.
“I’ve got this one body and this one life and I’m gonna do my best …” Ah, shut up Sally Field, in those Boniva (osteoporosis medicine) commercials. Here she’s talking about taking care of herself/loving herself and just recently a quote came out from her saying, “I think I look like dog poop,” attributed to an interview she did with Health magazine, when asked about how she stays looking so “hot.”
. . . Think she really said dog s_ _t but the editors thought poop was less offensive?
FALLING OUT. Mariah Carey appears nude on the cover of Interview magazine. But she’s holding a white crocheted shawl against herself, covering her upper and lower nether regions. She’s standing up but leaning forward (top heavy?) facing the camera, body sideways to camera and you do see the right side of her bum. She’s smiling/almost laughing, hair golden blond, kissed by the sun, I’m sure.
. . . She looks cute, a bit shy and slightly vulnerable.
. . . Yeah, shy.
Former Prince drummer and artist in her own right Sheila E. (The Glamorous Life, 1984) will be a judge on The Next Great American Band, an upcoming (Fox, Oct. 1) reality show from the American Idol producers. Winner gets a contract with 19 Recordings.
. . . Who doesn’t get a contract with that company? Every American Idol and would-be Idol is on that roster. They crank 'em out like sausage and there’s not much difference from one to the other.
Will my Dunkin’ Donut taste the same without trans fat? It better.
INVASION. Body snatcher movie. Stars Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig. Disappointment. Basically the same plot as the previous ones: mysterious virus gets out, invades body and people turn into mellowed out robots except that they go after those who haven’t turned yet and do so by vomiting on them or in their mouths. Totally gross … and ridiculous.
. . . I’m surprised Kidman had anything to do with this film. And Craig, the current Mr. James Bond, plays some foppy doctor, stupid.
. . . Very physical role for Kidman but it doesn’t fit her, if you ask me.
. . . And, pardon me for saying this but … Nicole looks very endowed in this movie (accented by tight turtlenecked sweater) and it looks totally fake. I couldn’t take my eyes off it/them.
NEW THING I’M SEEING MANY OF. Green (what isn’t?) bags wrapped around the trunks of trees. (It’s an Invasion! ) They’re called Treegators and they’re billed as a slow release watering/irrigation system. The bags are zip-up and store water inside somehow. I don’t understand why it just doesn’t leak out in one fell swoop but I’m no scientist.
. . . I thought those green bags were to protect the trees from dogs, you know when they go up on one leg? Anyway, they’re everywhere, I’m sorta sick of seeing 'em.
Mr. Big Stuff is a fan of NBC’s George Lewis, long-time network correspondent who often does reports out of the L.A. area. But he thinks Lewis could use a bit more body movement when he points at something (heat haze) behind him or holds up a temperature gauge. He thinks he’s a bit stiff and stands there as if he’s “a hostage in a terrorist tape or something.”
. . . So the next time you gesture, put your body in it.
Russell Crowe looks like crap. Whenever you see him he’s got that grubby rock star beard (he does have a band called 30 Odd Foot of Grunts) and long hair and his face looks puffy. Scurvy. (He’s in the current 3:10 to Yuma movie western, co-starring with Christian Bale.
Is there another Internet? I hope so, let’s start all over again. Would somebody talk to Al Gore about it?
. . . The current one is so cluttered with ads you can hardly read any content, we need a new Internet with a clean slate.
. . . And I think we need a faster one too, Japan’s is.
The summer high school movie hit Superbad spells the expression as one word whereas James Brown spelled his song of the same title, (Call Me) Super Bad (Parts 1 & 2/King Records (1970/71), two words. Me? I’ll go with Brown and bag the movie.
FLY ON THE LOBSTER. I saw one on a lobster that TLC’s Take Home Chef Curtis Stone prepared outside on the Today show plaza the other morning. Meredith Vieira was winding up the cooking segment and the “bumper” shot they showed before going to a commercial was a display of mussels and lobsters all stacked up and right there was a fly that had alighted upon a big fat claw (butter, anyone?). Not appetizing. They oughta get some TV stagehand with a fly swatter standing by for such catastrophes.
UH . . . The Fly – Chubby Checker on Parkway Records, 1961. Hit record and a “dance craze” too.

rocci@roccifisch.com