. . . Oprah Winfrey for Barack Obama, Chelsea and Bill Clinton, mom Dorothy Rodham and Magic Johnson for Hillary Clinton.
. . . Kevin Bacon, Tim Robbins and Jackson Browne for John Edwards. Sean Penn for Kucinich. Martin Sheen for Bill Richardson and the Osmonds praising Romney on Larry King.
. . . Don't they realize the voters have their own minds about things and can't be swayed so easily?
. . . At least I hope they can't be swayed so easily.
. . . Oprah, at the beginning of one of her stump speeches two weekends ago for Obama told the waiting audience, " I have no cars, no refrigerators," referring to the giveaways she's come to be famous for on her talk show. She wanted the crowd to know that straight out — that they weren't gonna get any freebies, good. She was in a serious mood.
. . .Then she put on her orator voice (she is an actor/actress) and spoke in statesman-like terms about it being the right time for Obama to become president.
. . . But then she broke out of the formalities and said, "A new day's a' comin'."
. . . Hold On, I'm Comin'. (Sam & Dave, on Stax Records, 1966).
HAD IT WITH . . . Naked pregnant women. If it's not celebrity types bearing all for the pop culture magazines (Demi Moore body-paintedon Vanity Fair, Christina Aguilera sexing up her pregnancyon Marie Claire), it's some generic anonymous woman cradling her big bundle on the cover of the more prestigious Newsweek magazine, accenting its Fertility & Diet special issue.
. . . There's nothing private or off-limits now. Modesty's down the drain. Everybody's brazen.
VA-VA VOOM. Tipper Gore was ... standing next to hubby Al Gore in Oslo, Norway, along with Rajendra Pachauri and wife Saroj, at a ceremony congratulating both men for their Nobel Peace Prize win on climate change. Strapless and low-cut, Tipper was definitely bustin' out.
. . . CNN'sMiles O'Brien was over there to cover the story. When did he turn brown-haired and eyebrowed? It was always black with a hint of salt and pepper back in the states. Gone now. A more youthful color for the festivities in Lapland? But maybe it was my TV.
FOUND. A pair of men's boxer shorts, blue with white stripes, lying on the floor of the parking garage entrance to where I work. They were right there, near where you press the button for your ticket. An unexpected and not a pleasant sight. I wondered about the circumstances.
. . .The skivvies looked at bit funky. I thought they should be removed but there was no stick around to pick them up with and dispose of properly. So there they laid for the next day or so.
ATONEMENT. Movie, very British, love story. Takes place starting in 1935 and up through World War II. The lives of a woman of wealth (Keira Knightley), a fledgling young writer (Saoirse Ronan) and a servant's son (James McAvoy) become entwined when a crime is committed.
. . . Movie is well directed by Joe Wright (Pride & Prejudice) and is based on Ian McEwen's 2002 best-seller, adapted for the screen by Christopher Hampton.
. . . Much emotional desperation is depicted on screen, intense. You could almost make fun of it.
. . . The sound of an old typewriter is heard periodically throughout the film and becomes a dramatic device, along with the music. Interesting and done just right.
. . . Knightley's long-flowing, clingy green dress has been talked about a lot in fashion circles and many people want one now. (Knockoffs coming?)
Would somebody tell Brad Pitt to take that newsboy cap off? Getting sick of it. He's got hair. He's often seen wearing it when he's down in New Orleans where he's building eco-friendly houses.
. . . Now he's marketing them and the proceeds will go to a fund for Katrina victims, nice gesture.
. . . The retro cap (late 1800s/early 1900s) has become popular in the general population again.
. . . So Isn't Pitt fashion-forward. He'd never tell you that.
Chris Wallace, host of Fox News Sunday, was dressed like a carnival barker a couple Sundays ago on the show: medium blue shirt with orange tie and matching pocket T. Orange? Sunday mornings need to be more subdued, don't you think?
Does even Santa Claus now have to be slim? John Berman of ABC News did a piece for Good Morning America about how St. Nick is being criticized by Acting Surgeon General Rear Adm. Steven K. Galson who says he's too fat and sets a bad example for kids. The Santa they interviewed in the piece weighed 260 pounds and had just lost 15. He said no one wanted to see a "string bean Santa."
. . . Amen! Somebody tell the "lifestyle experts" out there to quit blanding down everybody and let Santa's bowl full of jelly stay the traditional way it's always been, thank you.
The abundant snowfall that hit the northeast last week prompted someone from Massachusetts to write in to a washingtonpost.comonline chat that they closed his/her high school at noon because of it. "Never once did this happen when I was in school 15 years ago," the chatter said. "Upon whom can I lay the blame for the wussification of my hometown school district?"
. . . Very well put. Everything's wussified now. Pity.
Former CBS anchorman Dan Rather did a guest shot on ABC'sDirty Sexy Money last week. He was at a cocktail party, dressed in a tuxedo, playing an inquiring newsman, and asked one of the show's characters (Billy Baldwin as Patrick Darling) if he was going to run for the Senate.
. . . You see Rather standing there having a drink with Darling's wife Ellen, asking her if he's running after her hubby dodges the question.
. . . Who would've thought he'd do something like this, a cameo in a TV series?
. . . He's just like WalterCronkite, retired too soon, always looking for something to do — except with Dan, CBS dumped him.
. . .The retired Cronkite shows up a lot of places too (at least he used to, he's getting up there). Tom Brokaw does the same, he's always around.
. . . It seems like old anchors never die.
TOO MUCH INFORMATION. Victoria Beckham, wife of David and currently touring Spice Girl, tells Elle magazine in its January issue that she sleeps naked. The quote supposedly goes: "You don't sleep with David Beckham. I'm going to be naked if I'm getting in bed with him every night." Yuck.
EXCHANGE:MSNBC anchor Dan Kloeffler to meteorologist Todd Santos: "You gonna check out the Chipmunks movie (Alvin & The Chipmunks) this weekend? SANTOS: "I can't handle the voices, especially that Christmas one (referring to The Chipmunk Song by David Seville from 1958 and redone several times).
. . .Those speeded up voices (actually creator Ross Bagdasarian's in the original) do get on some older people's nerves. Sounds cute when you're young but when you grow out of it, it grates on the old nerves.
. . . LATER. The movie opened up #2 over the weekend.
. . . Also, did you know that singer Josh Groban can imitate the Chipmunks? He did it , on Good Morning America a couple weeks ago. Sounded good.
Julia Roberts was flashing that "signature" smile of hers for the cameras last Monday at the premiere of her new movie, Charlie Wilson's War, a drama/comedy (she costars with Tom Hanks). Good God! Could her lips stretch back any further with that over-wide, full-on grin? The sides of her mouth were practically touching her earlobes, for crissakes.
. . .Someone who saw the preview says there's a problem with Roberts's southern accent and added that every time he sees the trailer "it sets my teeth on edge." Believable.
THE KITE RUNNER. Poignant story of friendship and family love amidst the turmoil of Afghanistan and the Soviet invasion, the mass exodus to Pakistan and the rule of the Taliban. (Half subtitles and half English, runs 122 minutes.) About two young boys, Amir, from a well-to-do family, and Hassan, a servant's son. (Flying kites is a competitive sport in Afghan culture for boys and men, the object being to cut the other kites off so they fall to the ground. The kite string is coated with resin which acts as a blade.)
. . . Amir betrays Hassan, they become distant, the years go by but not the memory.
. . . Movie is based on the bestselling book of the same name by Khaled Hosseini and directed by Marc Forster.
CBS is redoing the studio that the Early Show comes out of. So in the meantime the show is using the one the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric comes out of. The morning anchors on the Saturday Early Show thanked Katie. Yeah, I'm sure she has a lot to do with it.
. . . Think it'll bring up the ratings?
Let Ann Curry jump off a bridge, who cares?
. . . The Today show anchor bungee-jumped off the Middlesbrough Transporter Bridge in England.
. . . How many times do they have to replay that tape?
The National Christmas Tree on the Mall in Washington once again looks like someone threw a coat on it. The lights/decorations hide the natural sticking-out branches of the tree and to look at it, you'd never know there was a tree under it.
. . . It happens every year, it's a joke. Looks like someone hung a drape over a coat stand.
Would somebody tell that OxiClean jerk that he doesn't have to yell so much in his TV commercial? "Don't just get it clean, get it OxiClean," wails that stain remover specialist.
. . . Somebody oughta rip out that guy's vocal cords.
A 12-year-old recently discovered the fossilized remains of a dinosaur in North Dakota and it's been claimed "the most complete and best preserved of the half-dozen mummified dinosaurs unearthed since early in the 20th Century" — that was the 1900s, remember?
. . . It's got rare actual body tissue (skin and muscles) but probably no DNA, aw shucks.
. . . Called a hadrosaur.
. . . Don Lessen, a dino expert, appearing on the CBS Early Show, described it further to Harry Smith by saying it "has a Jennifer Lopez butt." That one came outta the blue. Ha Ha Ha.
Somebody said Celine Dion has Jay Leno's chin. Also, it may be said that MSNBC anchor/reporter Chis Jansing has a touch of it. What you say?
. . . And while we're at it, MSNBC female anchors — what other kind are there? — are much too glamorously made up. You'd think they were modeling for Bergdorf Goodman or something. What's it get ‘em? They're still #3.
Michael Jackson's on the cover of Jet magazine and the picture of him is similar to the one he did for Ebony mag last month. (Both magazines are owned by Johnson Publishing.) His head looks a little odd, like it's a bobble head propped on a body or something. Air-brushed to death. But at least on this cover he's smiling and that's nice, human in fact.
When one refers to Celtic Woman, the Irish female group that does traditional and pop songs and are often seen on PBS fund drives, do you have to pronounce it Keltic Woman? If you do, don't come around me.
I think they oughta give those Mucinex puppets (or whatever you call those animated creatures in the TV ads for the product which breaks up mucous that causes chest congestion) their own TV show. They're funny. Somebody work on that.
FINALLY FIGURED IT OUT. Hoda Kotbe, former NBC News correspondent and now host (hostess?) on a couple of the many hours of the Today show, reminds me of Tina Turner, with that big mane of hers. Hoda says herself it's a big part of her look and personality. Kotbe's is straight, though, whereas Tina's had some curl to it.
. . . REMINDER TO TODAY SHOW PRODUCERS. Have Hoda come struttin' down the plaza next Halloween singing Private Dancer. Yea, that'd be priceless.
Hanalie, dog in the neighborhood, jetted with owner Sally to California where she'll spend the holidays frolicking in the fields, unleashed, free as a bird, barking at whatever's making a noise. Can I have her life?
It's Christmas and once again they're running those Liz Taylor commercials for White Diamaonds perfume. For God's sake, she hasn't looked like that in 20 years.
STANDING IN THE SHADOWS OF MOTOWN -- PART 2. A new book, Motown From the Background: The Authorized Biography of The Andantes, about three female singers (Louvain Demps, Marlene Barrow-Tate and Jackie Hicks) who were the in-house vocal group used on thousands of Motown recordings in the ‘60s, is out now. (Bank House Books, U.K.) It's another tale of unsung heroes similar to that of the Funk Brothers, the in-house musicians whose story was told in the 2002 award-winning movie, Standing in the Shadows of Motown. Those guys crafted the classic Sound of Young America that record company chief Berry Gordy established.
. . . The Andantes can be heard on practically all the Four Tops recordings as well as those of the Temptations, Martha & the Vandellas the Marvelettes, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Edwin Starr, many, many others.
. . . In fact, the Andantes were the voices behind Diana Ross and NOT the Supremes (Mary Wilson and Cindy Birdsong) on their final sides (Someday We'll Be Together).
The Weather Channel is marketing a Best of Smooth Jazz CD (also Best of Instrumental Classic Rock) this year -- music used in their Local on the 8's segments as background filler. Uh ... thank you, but no. I'll have to pass on that. Smooth Jazz — the Worst.
THEY CUSS IN PRIME TIME. On Heroes (NBC),the H.R.G. character (Jack Coleman as Noah Bennett) was yelling at and fighting with some guy, holding a gun on him and said, "Get back here you son of a b_ _ ch!"
. . . I didn't know you could say that on network TV.
. . . (Coleman, for those of us who remember, was the first Steven Carrington on Dynasty (ABC, 1981-1989), the gay son of Blake Carrington (John Forsythe).
Vladimir Putin is Time magazine's Man of the Year. Excuse me, that's Person of the Year. The Russian president.
. . .Ever see the way that guy walks? His gait and body language look like those guys in the Lollipop Guild (Wizard of Oz).
UH . . . Over the Rainbow — Judy Garland on Decca Records, 1939.
