Rocci Fisch

April 27, 2006

EVERYBODY’S SNEEZING

. . . Ah-choo! That’s right. It’s the pollen, allergies. Everythings’ blooming. Claritin. Gesundheit!
Why does Bruce Springsteen hold that guitar up so high on his chest when he’s playing it? His right strumming arm looks odd up there, forced. As I write this, he’s screaming about climbing Jacob’s Ladder, a cut from his new album: We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions. It’s a folk album and a tribute to American folk singer Pete Seeger and the many songs he’s associated with. He’s assembled a good band for the project and the album has a live feel. Decent.
. . . But it ain’t rock ‘n’ roll. Springsteen’s into other things, I guess.
What’s this TV Freedom crap that’s all over the place? I’m sick of seeing it. On TV, on Web sites, on radio. It’s a massive campaign.
. . . FYI: It’s sponsored by the telecom industry which is lobbying Congress to update “the nation’s communications laws to allow more service providers to compete for business in the video marketplace,” says a press release.
THE NOTORIOUS BETTIE PAGE. Little movie about the 1950’s pinup model who predated Playboy magazine and is known for her black hair and bangs and her poses in S&M gear: girdles, straps, whips, boots. The Christian-raised young girl leaves her home down south and heads for New York and things go from there, with trouble ensuing along the way. Pornography charges. (SIDE NOTE: David Strathairn appears in the film (in another serious role) as U.S. Sen. Estes Kefauver who is investigating the charges in Washington, D.C.. It reminded me of him in his recent role as Edward R. Murrow in George Clooney’s Good Night, and Good Luck. UNSOLICITED ADVICE: For his next role, Strathairn oughta take something different.)
. . . Gretchen Moll (who’s she?) plays Page and does it well and naturally. (She shows her nature often and is topless and sometimes bottomless in many scenes.) The movie depicts the era in an amusing way in the primarily black and white format with some color. Lili Taylor is amusing as one half of a New York photog couple who do a lot of her risqué shots.
. . . I liked the movie. Small, as I said, but interesting. Could’ve been better but overall it’s okay.
If I hear Elton John sing Your Song one more time I’ll …
. . . He was on the Today show Wednesday and was interviewed just before that about his and co-writer Bernie Taupin’s vampire Broadway show, Lestat. They’re doing the music for it.
. . . I don’t know if that particular song is in the new musical but I do know that it’s Katie Couric’s favorite Elton John composition. Get a Life!
If I see Robin Williams doing his shtick in another stupid movie (R.V.) I’ll …
If, if, if …
The CBS Television Network crapped out in the Washington area last Saturday at about 9:30 in the morning and I didn’t get to see the Saturday Early Show’s Chef on a Shoestring or Second Cup Café. Something happened and they put on some plant show, Rebecca’s Garden, to fill up the hole. Channel 9 … Fuhgeddaboudit.
I like the name Brooke Shields gave to her baby: Grier (Hammond). It’s a name you don’t hear much anymore. It doesn’t have a weirdness to it and that’s good, unlike Suri Cruise for the Tom and Katie Holmes kid. Suri Cruise … Sounds like Sea Cruise.
I didn’t like American Idol’s Ace Young’s pulled back hairstyle on the show last week. Is that why he was eliminated? People are used to seeing his hair all hanging down and when he appeared with it slicked back and gathered behind his head plus he had on a suit instead of his usual casual clothes … It seemed out of character and maybe the voters were thrown off.
. . . But he’s happy even though he was eliminated. He was on Regis & Kelly Monday and the Today show Tuesday. He’ll be on this year’s American Idol summer tour and he says he’s got offers from reality TV shows and some movie parts. So he seems satisfied even though he was scrapped.
. . . He really needs to give up that falsetto though. He better stop it and not make a name for himself for singing high because that won’t last as soon as he’s got a few more years on him.
Is Fox News Sunday really beating ABC’s This Week in the ratings? An ad in USA Today on Monday seems to say as much. “… Fox News Sunday outdraws This Week …”, attributed to The Washington Post. What does that mean? According to the official Nielsen ratings folks, ABC got 2.76 million viewers compared to Fox’s 1.3 last Sunday. So what gives?
. . . It’s just like in the local Washington TV news market, with Channel 7 saying its 5 o’clock news cast is number one and Channel 4 says theirs is. It’s another case of … Figure Interpreting.
When is Cinco de Mayo? (Ha Ha Ha)
Singer John (Used be ‘Cougar’) Mellencamp’s got a full head of gray hair now. It looks good, natural like that. Others should take his lead and stop all this dye job ‘do stuff they’re wearing.
The other night on Lou Dobbs Tonight the announcer pronounced tonight, like “ta-nite.” Improperly pronounced. Hype announcing. Ryan Seacrest has been known to pronounce tonight like that when he teases American Idol at the top of the show: “Ta-nite on American Idol.” This is sorta okay for an entertainment show but on an established news program? No, I think not.
DYNASTY RETURNING. The nine years-running ABC primetime soap comes back, this time to CBS – didn’t ABC want it?-- next Tuesday for one hour (10/9c) of Dynasty Reunion: Catfights & Caviar. Sounds like a clips show. Many of the old cast appear: Blake Carrington (John Forsythe, now 88), Krystle (Linda Evans), Alexis (Joan Collins) and then the lesser cast of Fallon (Pamela Sue Martin), Amanda (Catherine Oxenberg), Stephen (Al Corley), Adam (Gordon Thomson). The group photo that’s been running is nice. Obviously they’ve all aged and some faces look curiously different but hey, it’s Hollywood and life and people age and get plastic surgery and don’t look quite as chipper.
. . . Sammy Jo (Heather Locklear), Jeff (John James) and Dominique (Diahann Carroll) couldn’t make it. Declined to participate, according to USA Today.
Nick Lachey shows his beefcake upper torso complete with tattoos on his shoulder and a wraparound one on his bicep on the cover of Us Weekly. The cover story article is actually about the interview (Nick Lachey: King of Pain) he gave to Rolling Stone magazine about his life after Jessica Simpson. It reportedly was to be the rock mag’s cover story but editor Jann Wenner wasn’t satisfied with the content. He wanted more dish about the marriage to Jessica. So he pawned it off to sister mag, Us Weekly.
. . . So Nick likes to strip down for the camera.
Natalie Morales has been officially named National Correspondent for the Today show. That means she’ll probably spend a lot of time on the road; they usually do. But she’s been co-“hosting for a good while in Studio 1-A. Will that continue? (She was in the running to replace Katie Couric but she didn’t get the job; they gave it to Meredith Vieira. So, just asking … will Natalie and Meredith get along?
INGRATIATED, WORSHIPFUL. That’s how former White House press secretary Scott McClellan sounded when he stepped down from the post last week. “I have given it my all, sir, and I have given you my all, sir and I will continue to do so as we transition to a new press secretary.” So let’s all get down on our knees and pray now.
. . . And now steps in Tony Snow, former anchor and commentator from Fox News. Well now doesn’t that just make sense? So the administration’s getting hip and hiring someone from TV. Not surprising.
. . . Snow says he’s wanted the job of White House press secretary (spokesman) because he believes in President Bush. Let’s hope his dreams aren’t dashed.
. . . Former White House press secretary, Ron Nessen, who left NBC News to take the job with President Gerald Ford, said he was a bit naïve back in those days, thinking he could still act as a reporter and then come out and brief the waiting press about inside maneuverings. It wasn’t that easy, he admitted to washingtonpost.com in an online discussion Wednesday.
FROM “THE CURMUDGEON’S CORNER”: How long before we hear the expression, “Snow job” to describe a White House press briefing?
That new Coke product, BlaK, which combines Coke and coffee in one drink, tastes just like what it is. Some like it. They call it “Coke Effervescence With Coffee Essence.”
. . . I don’t know about the product name though: Blak? What’s that? Where’s the “c”? What’s with the capital “K”? And the a has a squiggly accent mark over it which was explained to me by a corporate spokesman as being part of the classic Coca-Cola ribbon motif that runs in the logo. Whatever.
Condoleezza’s hair’s getting long. It might be at the stage where she doesn’t know what to do with it.
CLINTON PORTRAITS. Hillary looks like a computer-generated teenage Breck girl and Bill looks much too ruddy in the face and someone’s already pointed out that he strangely looks like he’s got a Ted Koppel resemblance. And it’s not a complimentary pose either.
. . . Where do they get these people? And how much did they pay these portrait “artists”?
SHE’S AT IT AGAIN. News4 Washington morning anchor Barbara Harrison carries her Fitness on the Fast Track a step further, this time exercising with Washington Wizard Gilbert Arenas. There they were, both on a matt on the gym floor, bellies pressed against those big exercise balls doing some kind of pull-ups.
. . . She’s turning these VIP exercise interviews into a cottage industry.
Ryan Seacrest of American Idol has gotten all serious now. Always dressing in a suit, no longer lightening his hair, acting all formal and professional as the host. He used to be more fun. Now he’s bland. What, is he trying to be the next Dick Clark? (Some would say he is already.) There’s no humor or lightheartedness in him anymore.
SPELLING BOO-BOO. The National Enquirer spelled cozy the wrong way. In a story about gardener hunk John Rowland (Jesse Metcalf) in Desperate Housewives, the tabloid wrote, “But insiders say the hunk has also been enjoying cosy Hollywood dinner dates with model Laura Shields, a former Miss England finalist.”
. . . I think I heard, though, that his stint on the ABC show is over now.
Hanalie, dog in the neighborhood, has a dog walker who told owner Sally that there are dogs but then there is Hanalie. Hanalie is definitely a person.” Oh get a life.
IDENTITY THEFT. Now they have iJacking fraud protection policies you can buy for $12.99 a month. The ads are all over the place, especially on the Web. Something else to make money on.
I know I’m late on this but … I hear there’s Hi-Def or HD radio. What’s that? Just a good signal, or can you see the sound waves?
A co-worker of mine described the sound of girl group the Pussycat Dolls: “Just one sings [Nicole Scherzinger] and the rest make shortness of breath sounds.” Ha Ha Ha.
UH . . . What’s New Pussycat—Tom Jones, on Parrot, 1965.