HAD ENOUGH OF MICHAEL JACKSON?

1. . . . There's more to come. NBC offers up a special one-hour Dateline called Michael Jackson Unmasked that supposedly has more revealing new information. How much more is there to know? Look for it next Monday, Feb. 17.
2. . . . And CBS was after him just after ABC's show aired. Ed Bradley and a crew went out to Neverland Ranch to try to get an interview but came back empty-handed.
3. . . . And now Jackson himself is deciding on some kind of forum to clarify statements he made to Brit interviewer Martin Bashir on the ABC broadcast. Jackson was stupid to do it in the first place.
4. . . . One thing's for sure, Michael Jackson means ratings. He always gets ‘em.
5. ABC7's weatherman Doug Hill was on the air last Friday morning doing his segment about the recent snow and his cell phone rang. He said to the caller, "I'm on the air. Can you hold on a second, please?" He should've had that thing off while he was on live just like they tell you in the movies. It's disruptive.
6. The president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, and Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi had an informal outside dinner at Putin's home outside Moscow last week. The temperature was minus 6. They were dressed in parkas and all the food on the table was set like a normal inside dinner. Silvio's hands were cupped. Guess he got a bit of a chill.
7. Is it necessary to refer to the woman, Lana Clarkson, who was shot at record producer Phil Spector's home a B-movie actress? It sounds insulting. Can't they just refer to her as an actress?
8. "IT'S A BEAUTIFUL MORNING." If I hear that song in that Vioxx commercial one more time I'll ...
9. LOOKS LEGIT. There's a Mad magazine poster out that really looks like an authentic adventure movie for Gulf Wars Episode II: Clone of the Attack, with Bush and Condoleezza Rice (with long, flowing curly hair) at the top and supporting players Dick Cheney, Bush Sr., Donald Rumsfeld, Colin Powell and Saddam Hussein with a big pot belly. And, it says, Introducing Osama Bin Laden as the Phantom Menace.
10. Is Joe Millionaire a friendly giant? He sorta looks it.
11. . . . And last night's show was a cheat. They led you to believe that he was gonna choose the gal. Now we have to wait ‘til next week when they drag it out to 2 hours.
12. Those slip-on, cardboard coffee cup insulators, or whatever you call ‘em ... Now they're using them for advertising, courtesy Coffee Sleeve Advertising. I got one for The Practice which shows all the stars and says, "The verdict is in. The Practice is now on Monday. Better night. Better time." Uh ... somebody oughta revise that one. The Practice isn't doing so well on Mondays.
13. NEW BOOK. Motown: Music, Money, Sex and Power by Gerald Posner (Random House). USA Today says it's a fact-filled account of the black-owned record company started up by Berry Gordy, but there's no Berry Gordy interview nor any others with key players. It sounds very investigative but I'll still have to check it out.
14. The one record that Phil Spector made that was really a smash and wasn't mentioned much in all the accounts was He's a Rebel by The Crystals which reached #1 on the pop charts in 1962. It was written by singer Gene Pitney (The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance) but actually was recorded by The Blossoms, led by Darlene Love (the one who every year sings Christmas (Baby Please Come Home), on the Letterman show. Spector always interchanged the artists and confused people.
15. PRETTY GOOD MOVIE. Frida. Finally saw it. Story about the acclaimed Mexican artist, Frida Kahlo - played by Salma Hayek - and her life of painting, self-empowerment and an on again/off again husband and fellow artist, Diego Rivera, played perfectly by Alfred Molina. Creatively directed by Julie Taymor. ONE THING: (Hayek's got the unibrow thing going on.)
16. They're feeding cattle in Pennsylvania snack food because of high corn prices due to last summer's drought. The cows are getting Hershey's chocolate, potato chips, cheese curls and Frosted Mini-Wheats. Farmers say it's okay as long as the junk food's fresh.
17. BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM. GM is using the John Lee Hooker blues song (1962) - newly recorded by an unknown - in a TV commercial to sell trucks.
18. Nobody's talking about Roberto Benigni's Pinocchio movie. Is it a bomb? It's been out a long while. Now they're advertising it as the "Original Director's Cut - Italian Language Version." Is longer, better?
19. MTV's starting up an American Idol-style show with rappers called MC Battle, a showdown with rappers competing much like they did in Eminem's movie, 8 Mile. Isn't this just what we need?
20. ALRIGHT ALREADY. So 60 Minutes' executive producer Don Hewitt's staying with the show ‘til June 2004, when he turns over the reins to Jeff Fager. Then he remains at CBS until he's 90. He said he wouldn't mind breathing his last breath at his office. Get a Life!
21. What exactly is a power train? Is it the engine?
22. Last week, Feb. 3 marked the 44th anniversary of The Day the Music Died. It was then in 1959 that Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, The Big Bopper and pilot Roger Peterson died in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa. "A long, long time ago ..."
23. AGREE? Mr. Big Stuff said Michael Jackson was as bad as having Ozzy Osbourne for a father.
24. A co-worker said Michael Jackson is a prime example of arrested development. Ha Ha Ha.
25. Lionel Richie's making the rounds because he's got another greatest hits compilation out that they're advertising on TV.
26. Colin Farrell and Colin Powell don't pronounce their first names the same.
27. BREAKING DOWN. All that Houston woman (Clara Harris) does who ran over her husband with her Mercedes is cry all the time. Every shot you see of her shows her sobbing with her head in her hands.
28. The Michael Caine/Brendan Fraser movie, The Quiet American, is an interesting look at Vietnam in the 50s. Caine plays a reporter for the London Times in love with the country and a young girl there that new American arrival Fraser falls in love with. Various political forces are vying for power in the government with conflict and subterfuge going on. One man isn't what he seems. Worth seeing.
29. Someone said that ditech.com seems like the kind of place where they'd break your knee caps if you didn't pay back the money.
30. Penelope Cruz needs to get some manners. In her Coke commercial, she bursts into a bar and guzzles down a whole bottle of coke while the male patrons look on in astonishment. When she finishes, she burps and then looks slightly embarrassed. It's crude, but at least she doesn't talk. That's a relief.
31. MORE CLUTTER AND SOMETHING ELSE TO READ CNN, Fox News Channel and MSNBC are all now using a permanent logo on their screens that says Terror Alert HIGH.
32. . . . And the term, Breaking News, is now as common as cat _ _ _ _.
33. According to a Dr. Lipkin on last week's Primetime Thursday, Michael Jackson's nose is in end stage and he's a nasal cripple.
34. The last shoot that photographer Herb Ritts did before he died was with Ben Affleck, featured on the cover and inside of the March Vanity Fair.
35. Hanalie, dog in the neighborhood, has a nickname - Wiggle Butt. That's what the people at her spa call her.
36. UH . . . Wiggle It (Just a Little Bit) - 2 In A Room, on Cutting Records. 1990.

rocci@roccifisch.com

Archives