COLD MOUNTAIN LEFT ME COLD

1. . . .. . . I was surprised and a little disappointed. Good story but I didn't see what was so outstanding about it like the critics said. Didn't get any emotional connection out of it. I thought I would, like I did with The English Patient, another movie Anthony Minghella directed.
2. . . . Nicole Kidman was a little too glamourous looking in it. Renee Zellweger was a little too over-the-top in her loud-mouthed southern hick depiction. And both of them faking the North Carolina accent was a bit stretching. I had visions of them being made fun of on Saturday Night Live. Jude Law was fine, but the steamy love scene - and it was that - was too short. And the movie seemed chopped together - the editing not smooth.
3. Actor/actress Charlize Theron gained 30 pounds for her part of an overweight serial killer in the movie, Monster. She really put on the pounds, she tells Jane magazine, and says that her boyfriend, Stuart Townsend, was happy because, "With everything else that grew, so did my boobs." That's nice to say.
4. Ben Affleck wants a lot of kids with Jennifer Lopez. The New York Post quotes him as saying that he'd like to "keep ‘em coming." "Push hard for the maximum and the woman lets you know when it's enough." Isn't he old-fashioned?
5. . . . And Affleck's Jersey Girl movie's coming out. In the preview, there's only one shot of J. Lo. in it. You know that was done intentionally, probably due to the phenomenal success of Gigli. Actually Ben's acting with the kids in it seems okay.
6. Why does Charlie Sheen dress like he does in his CBS sitcom, Two and a Half Men? He usually wears a 50s-type retro shirt and shorts but he wears loafers with white socks all pulled up. It's sort of a nerdy look but I guess he's comfortable.
7. Gadhafi/Gaddafi/Khadafy/Khadafi looks like an aging rock star. He could be one of the Rolling Stones. And are there pictures of him all over Libya like Saddam Hussein used to be in Iraq? I saw a big one of him on the side of a building on the news. These guys are in love with themselves.
8. The announcer on the movie preview for House of Sand and Fog needs to redo his track. He says Fog like Fahg, sounding a bit like "open your mouth and say ah," like the doctor tells you. It needs to be pronounced more like Fowg, like most people say it. That's what I think.
9. They should pronounce Soledad O'Brien's last name on CNN's American Morning like the announcer does on Conan O'Brien's show. O BRYYY!! YAN . That would jolt ‘em up a bit.
10. Mr. High Falutin says Charlie Rose talks more than his guests. "It's rather obnoxious," he says. "What's the point of interviewing them when he has so much to say?" I agree. When he had on the cast of Cold Mountain last week he was constantly interrupting them and inserting his comments about the film and it was infuriating. So I'm running cold on him now.
11. The Kennedy Center Honors TV special was a good show. It always is. Sticks by the same formula year after year but it's entertaining. The tributes to Loretta Lynn, Mike Nichols, James Brown, Carol Burnett and Itzhak Perlman were all well done. Diane Sawyer was seen smiling a lot. She was right behind hubby Mike and James Brown's latest wife was behind him. She had on blue gloves to match her blue dress and had her head up against husband James's a lot, sort of canoodling with him. (I thought they were split up. She was acting like a Devil With a Blue Dress On.)
12. INTERESTING. ABC's Mike Von Fremd pointed out last week that in feed markets, "cattle double their weight in the last five months of their life." So they're really fattened up for the slaughter. All that video of mad cow disease and cows caged in lots was enough to almost turn me into a vegetarian.
13. GOOD IDEA. For their highlights of 2003 segment on the weekend Today show, Campbell Brown and Lester Holt just sat on the couch together and talked about what each one chose, with the appropriate video sometimes used about the subject. I liked them doing this rather than having a massive, long, overproduced piece done for it. Better LIVE with the give and take of the anchors.
14. LISTENING TO . . . Spinners: The Chrome Collection. Box set of a group pretty much ignored by Motown who moved to Atlantic Records, were produced by Thom Bell in the Philly Soul tradition and rose to be a number one status group. Full of their many hits plus great album cuts. Contains their Motown hit (It's a Shame) and others plus I'll Be Around, Could It Be I'm Falling In Love, The Rubberband Man, Mighty Love, Then Came You with Dionne Warwick and lots more. For a soul fan it's a must-have.
15. The promos for 60 Minutes said, "Michael Jackson. For the first time since his arrest ... Talks to Ed Bradley and only Ed Bradley." Well, who else got the get this time? And was it in exchange for promising to air that special (Number Ones) that they didn't air when it was supposed to because of the charges brought against him? Tit for tat? I thought 60 Minutes wasn't interested in celebrity journalism - at least that's what executive producer Don Hewitt said a little while back.
16. . . . Jackson said he was roughed up while he was detained by the police. He said his arms were pulled tight when they handcuffed him and showed a bruise on one arm where they were. And he said he could only lift his left arm a little (and demonstrated it) and that his shoulder was dislocated. But my news watcher mother pointed out that he didn't seem to have any trouble waving his arms to the crowd after they released him. Just pointing it out.
17. Queen Elizabeth now has five corgi dogs - one was put to sleep after an attack by her daughter's bull terrier Dottie - and three dorgis - a cross between a corgi and a dachshund. What do they look like, for crissakes?
18. Think Scott Peterson had a Merry Christmas?
19. So will Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Elaine) and Jason Alexander (George) go along with Michael Richards (Kramer) on the Seinfeld DVD project? They all want sales profits which will be huge. From what I've read about it, they all seem bitter. Why that? What did I miss?
20. Would someone tell Paul Simon that he can smile once in awhile? On his and Garfunkel's tour he just stands there and plays and sings and doesn't do much else. He needs to show more life.
21. Hanalie, dog in the neighborhood, is still in the San Francisco area with owner Sally. She barks and chases wild turkeys on her dad's property.
22. UH . . . Jive Turkey - Ohio Players on Mercury. 1974. Pure funk and sometimes dirty.

rocci@roccifisch.com

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