April 9, 2012

 

“TALKIN’ LOUD AND SAYIN’ NOTHING”

1. . . . That’s what most politicians do, if you ask me.
2. . . . Romney, Santorum, Gingrich, Paul, Ryan, Obama, Biden, Reid, Axelrod, Plouffe (who?).
3. . . . (David Plouffe, the president’s campaign manager in 2008 and now senior advisor to Obama.)
4. . . . They’ve all got an axe to grind.
5. . . . “Like a dull knife . . . just ain’t cuttin’ . . . Just talkin’ loud . . . and sayin’ nothing,” as James Brown (along with Bobby Brown) would sing in Talkin’ Loud and Sayin’ Nothing (1972, on Polydor Records).
6. ENAMOURED. That’s what the morning network shows were acting like to their newfound “co-hosts/exclusive guests this past week.
7. . . . They were worshipping at their feet.
8. . . . Katie Couric on ABC, Sarah Palin on NBC, Oprah Winfrey on CBS. So what?
9. . . . Matt and Ann and Al and George and Lara and Josh and Sam and Charlie and Erin and Gayle.
10. . . . I’D LIKE TO KNOW:
11. . . . Who cares if Katie Couric returned to morning TV to host GMA for a week?
12. . . . Who cares if TV “legend” Meredith Vieira is returning to NBC to co-host the Olympics from London with Matt Lauer?
13. . . . What’s she a legend of, “Sleepy Hollow”?
14. . . . Who cares if Oprah Winfrey was a guest on CBS This Morning and whether it was a big “get” for the show?
15. . . . All she talked about was her TV network (OWN) and what a struggle it’s been for her.
16. . . . She was all business and a big bore.
17. . . . And who cares if Ryan Seacrest was going to be on the Today show to reveal something?
18. . . . (We learned that he, too, will be part of NBC’s Olympics coverage. )
19. . . . It’s gonna be mighty crowded over in London.
20. . . . Just think . . . It’ll be “His and Her Olympic Coverage with Meredith and Ryan.”
21. . . . FYI: The Olympics start July 27 and end on August 12.
22. MOONLIGHTING. Dancing With the Stars judge Len Goodman (the crabby one) is.
23. . . . He’s hosting a special on PBS called “The Titanic with Len Goodman” (April 10, 8 p.m. EDT).
24. . . . Why him?
25. . . . Before he became a dancer (and later a judge) he was a welder in East London for the company that built the passenger liner-which sank in the Atlantic Ocean on April 15, 1912 after hitting an iceberg - in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
26. . . . His is one of many TV specials coming this week on the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the RMS Titanic.
27. . . . INCIDENTALLY. Film director James Cameron has remade his 1997 action-adventure movie “Titanic” into a 3-D “experience.”
28. . . . (The filmmakers insist on spelling 3D this way (hipper?) in the marketing of the rerelease of the film and not with the standard spelling that uses the age-old hyphen between the number three and the letter D.)
29. . . . He says (in an interview with AP) that his “goal is to put the movie back into ‘cinemas’ so that people that either loved it back then and haven’t had a chance to see it in a movie theater since can go see it. . . ”
30. . . . He continued, “I don’t make movies for iPhones or tablets. I like to think that there’s still sanctity in the ‘cinema’ experience.”
31. . . . So all you mobile app people out there can’t be wandering around (and bumping into walls?) staring at your devices to watch this movie. You’ve actually got to go and sit down in a movie theater to watch it.
32. . . . What a hardship.
33. . . . REQUEST. Can Mr. Cameron stop being so highfalutin by calling it “cinema” and get back to using the word most people use: “movie.” Thank you.
34. . . . A friend of mine said that if she saw “Titanic 3D” that it would make her sick. “3-D gives me motion sickness,” she confessed.
35. . . . She’s got a point.
36. DUMB. Keith Olbermann, the cab le TV host/commentator blew a $50 million a year job (five-year contract). How stupid is that?
37. . . . His Current TV boss Al Gore (the former vice president of the United States, said in a statement that the network “was founded on the values of respect, openness, collegiality and loyalty to our viewers. Unfortunately these values are no longer reflected in our relationship with Keith Olbermann, and we have ended it.”
38. . . . Olbermann reportedly missed too many days of work, asked for too many days off and made fun of how his show was being produced, likening it to a rinky dink operation.
39. . . . (“Rinky Dink”-Dave (Baby) Cortez, on Chess Records, 1962)
40. . . . (Sounds like some places I’ve worked at.)
41. . . . He’s took to Twitter to badmouth. Who doesn’t?
42. . . . He’s taking after Charlie Sheen.
43. . . . Everyone’s wondering where he’ll turn up. Will it be anywhere now? He’s worked for literally every broadcast entity there is.
44. . . . He’ll land another deal; people fail up.
45. Two weekends ago CNN’s Don Lemon had two guests on (LZ Granderson, a CNN contributor and ESPN senior writer, and Will Cain, also a CNN contributor) to discuss “The Politics of Trayvon Martin” and whether President Obama should have commented on the case.
46. . . . It was a very heated discussion.
47. . . . Lemon had to act like a referee.
48. . . . When the contentious debate was over he said to his guests at the end of the segment, “You guys’re ‘awesome.’”
49. . . . Is that what an anchorman says at the end of a serious segment?
50. . . . It was on a news program-not an entertainment show.
51. . . . I guess we’re lucky he didn’t say “totally’ awesome.”
52. MOVIE: “The Deep Blue Sea.”
53. . . . Directed by Terence Davies.
54. . . . QUALITIES: Ridiculous, ponderous, overly dramatic, darkly filmed, annoying music, poor-looking film stock.
55. . . . British drama, takes place in London around 1950.
56. . . . What did they mean, “around 1950”? Give me an exact date, for crissakes.
57. . . . Rachel Weisz stars as Hester Collyer, wife of a High Court judge, who leaves her husband (Simon Russell Beale as William Collyer) for a young, hot-headed RAF pilot (Tom Hiddleston as Freddie Page).
58. . . . Passion is lacking in the marriage. She’s conflicted.
59. . . . Hester’s a little unstable and tries to commit suicide.
60. . . . Freddie is furious and flies off the handle.
61. . . . Hester ponders her future and smoke from her cigarette floods the dingy flat that they shared together.
62. . . . That’s about it.
63. TEA ANYONE? “You want passion fruit or black?” asked a barista at my local Starbucks. Same thing a “server” asked me at a Cheesecake Factory.
64. . . . WONDERING. Whatever happened to plain old Lipton, Tetley or Red Rose tea?
65. . . . Aren’t they considered “black tea”? Would it be too much to ask them if they could stock it?
66. . . . Nah, they’re too common and not high-end enough for today’s snobby crowd.
67. . . . If you ask me, Starbucks’ “black tea” selections don’t taste like the standard tea we all grew up with. Much too strong and harsh.
68. . . . They’ve got a lockup on it all.
69. . . . And another thing. Would it be too much to ask Starbucks to carry actual lemon so I can add it to my iced tea? Is that too much to ask for?
70. . . . They don’t do lemon.
71. . . . They act like it’s forbidden fruit.
72. . . . Not even a juice packet.
73. . . . All the money they make and they don’t offer lemon?
74. . . . Get out.
75. THE BODY’S NOT EVEN COLD YET. They’re already auctioning off Whitney Houston’s belongings: a bustier, a vest and pearl-drop earrings she wore in “The Bodyguard.”
76. . . . She only just died in February.
77. . . . The auction was last weekend in Beverly Hills.
78. . . . Most of the items were reportedly provided by “friends and family.”
79. . . . Nice family and friends she’s got.
80. . . . Money grubbers.
81. . . . They all see dollar signs.
82. . . . Is the family broke?
83. . . . There’s another auction scheduled for June which features dresses worn by Miss Houston.
84. Hanalie (remember her?), dog in the neighborhood, won the Westminster Dog Show, said Sally, her owner.
85. . . . “What do you mean,” I asked.
86. . . . “If she were in it she’d win it,” she proudly responded.
87. RETRO RAPPER. 50 Cent (Fiddy Cent?) was on Rachael Ray the other day and talked about his upcoming fifth album and guess what?
88. . . . He listens to the new material that he’s recorded on his . . . Walkman.
89. . . . Yes, some people actually still listen to cassette tapes (anyone in the Internet crowd remember what they are?).
90. . . . He explained that it’s safer for him to do it this way because if it’s done on a computer/online it makes it easier to be stolen, bootlegged or released unlawfully before the final cut is done.
91. . . . The man’s smart.
92. . . . To hell with downloading.
93. “BREAK A LEG.” That’s what theater people say to one another before a performance and what is said to award-winning actress Blythe Danner before she takes to the stage in a “dramatic” enactment TV commercial for a bone density product called Prolia.
94. . . . Danner, Gwyneth Paltrow’s real-life mother, is in mid-stride to the stage when an assistant smilingly asks her . . .
95. . . . “Ready?”
96. . . . “As I’ll ever be,” she replies.
97. . . . “Break a leg,” says assistant.
98. . . . DANNER, SHRUGGING TO CAMERA: “I used to love hearing that phrase but not since I learned I have “postmenopausal osteoporosis” and a high risk for fracture.”
99. . . . “I want to keep acting but a broken bone could change that.”
100. . . . “So my doctor and I chose Prolia to reduce my risk of fractures.”
101. . . . (We now see Danner in various scenes during her on-stage performance while the announcer makes all the claims and ‘disclaims’ of what the product can and cannot do.
102. . . . She comes backstage again.
103. . . . “What’s out there matters to me,” she says to the camera, gesturing with one hand toward the audience beyond the footlights.
104. . . . “So does what’s in here,” gesturing with both hands toward her body-is-a-temple self.
105. . . . “Break a leg,” says a stage manager as she drifts toward the stage.
106. . . . She pauses, raises an eyebrow knowingly, turns around to look at him and says, “Thanks Ed.”
107. . . . It’s a nice little ditty of a TV commercial, has good production values, is convincing and Gwyneth should be proud of mommy.
108. . . . UH . . . Ain’t Too Proud to Beg-The Temptations, on Gordy Records, 1966.

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