I NEVER HEARD ABOUT SUPERDELEGATES UNTIL NOW

1. . . . The way all the talk is going they seem to be the ones who might decide who wins the election. When did that happen? Don't the voters matter anymore? Is it a privileged bunch or what?
2. . . . They say Nancy Pelosi's one (Speaker of the House) and Eleanor Holmes Norton (D.C. Rep.). They're power people. How much influence do they peddle?
3. . . . It used to be the Electoral College. Now you don't hear so much about that? Did they disband?
4. Ralph Nader is now in the presidential race. Monkey wrench. Who's he gonna take away votes from?
5. ALREADY? A picture ran a couple weeks ago showing Drew Carey flanked by three models hovering over a cake with 100 candles on it representing 100 shows of The Price Is Right. Boy, that was fast. Seems like Bob Barker retired just yesterday. (He did retire June 2007.)
6. When did Chelsea Clinton's hair turn straight? It used to be all curly. Did she see a ghost?
7. . . . This style seems more mature making her more demure.
8. . . . She's working for her mom's campaign, making calls and appearances but she's not talking to the press. What, cat got your tongue?
9. . . . Her dad Bill oughta take some advice from her. Every time pop opens his mouth an apology soon follows.
10. . . . JUST ASKING. Will it be hard for whomever becomes vice president if Hillary Clinton wins the White House? Will that person have to accede to hubby Bill, even though he says he won't get in the way? I wouldn't want to have that job.
11. In Saryn Chorney's Fashion Buzz column in the New York Post, singer-songwriter Carly Simon was quoted at an eco-friendly Future Fashion show saying, " I want lower heels. It's sexier and earthier to walk closer to the ground."
12. . . . For crying out loud, are shoes now being blamed for global warming? I've never heard such ridiculousness in all my life.
13. A Gen Y co-worker of mine had this reaction upon hearing a promo for an upcoming Entertainment Tonight story about Delta Burke (Designing Women, Hallmark TV, Boston Legal) entering a psych ward: "Delta Burke still exists?!" he asked incredulously.
14. . . . So spoke the age difference. He thought she was long gone.
15. . . . How old have I gotten?
16. . . . And later, in commenting about reports on his wife, her actor husband, Gerald McRaney, said that she had entered a clinic — not a psych ward — for medication adjustment.
17. Heath Ledger, that movie star who died in an apartment in downtown New York three weeks ago, paid $24,000 a month for rent, according to the New York Daily News. I guess he was in the right business. Remind me in my next life to be an actor.
18. . . . By the way, the Sohoapartment is now available for renting again. It's got 4,400 square feet, three bedrooms, two half-baths, a laundry room, kitchen and balcony. Big enough already?
19. CBS NEEDS ANOTHER TIGHTENING. This time on Face the Nation with Bob Schieffer. In the show open, with video, music and narration announcing what's featured in the upcoming program, they "take" to the shot of host Schieffer on the set in Washington much too soon. He's sit, sit, sitting there waiting to be introduced and the announcer keeps yammering on and on. The copy should be cut and Schieffer should be cued right away to start the show after the video runs. Stupid, stodgy/slow-pokey and it holds things up. Somebody do something about it. What, are you gonna wait til Schieffer retires in January and a new show host comes along to finally fix it?
20. . . . And the show should be an hour. All the other Sunday morning talk shows are. Make an adjustment.
21. NEW CD. k.d. lang's Watershed (watershed: a divide or a turning point). Very low-key, languid, she sounds (which she's an expert at). Banjo featured on many tracks. On initial listen, it's good but nothing stands out to me. Deserves a second. No Constant Craving on this one. Produced by her, 11 cuts, good black and white photos, lyrics, credits, no message from the artist, no thank you's.
22. . . . In the pix she's got big clothes on and for a second she reminded me of David Byrne when he wore that big suit for the Talking Heads' Stop Making Sense film directed by Jonathan Demme.
23. A couple Fridays ago, News4 morning anchor Barbara Harrison asked Jerry Edwards of News4's Traffic Network if he had any plans for the Martin Luther King holiday. Edwards said this: I'm gonna rearrange the sock drawer, separate the black from the brown and the gray.
24. . . . He's got an interesting life. That sounds like my holidays too.
25. Some people who wrote in to Washington Post movie critic Desson Thomson's online chat had this to say about that Jack Nicholson/Morgan Freeman movie, The Bucket List: "sappy, inauthentic, predictable," and "poorly written." Thanks for the review from the common people.
26. . . . Bucket List refers to the things that the two terminally ill men in the movie wanted to do before they died, i.e., kick the bucket.
27. . . . "It was on my bucket list," said Mike Huckabee, when asked by weekend Today show host Lester Holt about how he liked appearing on the previous night's Saturday Night Live.
28. . . . Well, looks like he got his wish.
29. FYI: The political conventions are Aug. 25-28 for the Democrats and Sept. 1-4 for the Republicans.
30. . . . Do we have to wait that long?
31. . . . And the election's not until Nov. 4.
32. . . . It's been such a long campaign; it started early. Now it's boring with so few candidates. Not that many surprises left. Can somebody speed up the calendar?
33. UNEXPECTED IN A COFFEE SHOP. A friend of mine went to use the urinal while he was waiting for his coffee and found that someone had used it for a toilet, remnants left in the bowl. Needless to say it grossed him out. He told the management. They didn't seem that surprised by it but said they'd get someone to clean it up.
34. . . . He'll think twice before going back there again, not very appetizing.
35. Stamps are going up again. This time to 42 cents (effective May 12). Didn't they just go up not long ago to 41 (May of last year)? Seems like the increase came awfully fast. Who's in charge of that?
36. . . . They say you can still buy that Forever Stamp for 41 cents and that's good for "perpetuity"— if you believe in perpetuity.
37. . . . We better watch out. Before long they'll be charging for e-mail, for crissakes.
38. REVEALED. In an interview with Hillary Clinton by Katie Couric on 60 Minutes and in response to a question about how she keeps going, going, going, the Democratic candidate said she washes her hands a lot or uses that Purell (hand sanitizer) stuff and she eats a lot of hot peppers.
39. . . . That takes a strong stomach. It says a lot about her constitution. Maybe she should be president.
40. . . . All of the candidates have been saying, "When I become president" — not "if" I become president. They act like they don't have any doubt. Arrogance? Or just the power of positive thinking?
41. . . . That's not realistic; they all can't become president.
42. . . . False hopes.
43. Ted Kennedy looked like he was bursting with pride when he endorsed Barack Obama a while back. I've never seen him smiling so much, usually don't. He's usually always mad and fired up about something.
44. . . .So I guess now he's inspired. Matt Lauer (Today show) lost his voice, has a touch of laryngitis. He was on Late Night With Conan O'Brien Wednesday night and could only speak above a whisper and wound up doing his segment mostly with hand language. Parts of it were funny. . . . Good, he needs a break from talking. And everyone else on TV for that matter. Much too much chatter.
45. . . . So Teddy's letting his hair down a bit.
46. BAD IDEA. To have actor Michael Douglas do the opening announcement (open announce: industry jargon) for the NBC Nightly News with Brian Wilson, er … Williams. Voice is whiny and not professional-sounding for a network broadcast. Just listen to the one who does the weekend version of Nightly with Lester Holt. It's so well pronounced — and goes well with the trumpet fanfare music — that you hear the "t" at the end of Holt's name. That's how it should sound.
47. . . . Reportedly it was anchorman Brian Williams's idea and he connected with the Hollywood type and got him the job.
48. . . . Just read the news and let the producers do the hiring.
49. THRILLER. The 25th anniversary edition of the Michael Jackson album is out. It's the original plus some additional dialogue from Vincent Price (the ghoulish voice heard at the end of the Thriller single); in addition, there are five reworked cuts by various rap/hip-hop artists and an unreleased cut from the original plus three DVD videos of Billie Jean, Beat It and Thriller and Jackson's moonwalking performance from the Motown 25 TV special from 1983.
50. . . . Sounds good, supposedly "enhanced." (Everything's enhanced now; they show enhanced versions of Lost on TV). The new collaborations, however, are pretty much useless.
51. CNN's John Roberts's (American Morning) hair is not as gray. Looks like a rinse got on it. Desiring youth? Too bad, he's got a good head of gray hair and should wear it proudly. I do.
52. I like it when comedian Wanda Sykes says, "Applebees. Get it together baby." She's funny.
53. Rock star Bono (U2) was at Rep. Tom Lantos's (D-Calif.) memorial service on Capitol Hill. Feb. 14. The two worked together on AIDS funding and global poverty issues.
54. . . . The singer sang the Beatles' "All You Need Is Love" a cappella and many of the guests joined in. NOTE: Lantos supposedly told Bono who was on a recent visit to see the ill congressman, "love cannot be defeated;" hence, the song choice.
55. . . . That Bono guy's everywhere; he's connected. Overexposed if you ask me
56. . . . ADVICE. Quit doing so much hobnobbing and just make the records.
57. WHY? What happened to the A in ASPCA? Now, when people refer to the pet organization, it seems that they drop the A and just call it SPCA. Lazy or what?
58. IT COSTS A FORTUNE TO BLOW SOMETHING TO SMITHEREENS. Thirty million dollars to shoot down that spy satellite, reported CBS's Pentagon correspondent David Martin on the evening news. Plus, the satellite itself originally cost about a billion dollars. Too bad they can't take that money and buy some trailers for New Orleans that don't wreak of formaldehyde. So there.
59. When I mentioned to fellow occupier of the CURMUDGEON'S CORNER that Dancing with the Stars is coming back on March 17, he said he hated that show. "Looks like Lawrence Welk," he chortled.
60. . . . You can take all that ballroom dancing crap and heave it!
61. Simon Cowell, judge on American Idol, was criticizing one of the (now eliminated) boy contestants (Colton Berry from Staunton, Va., the one who looks like Ellen DeGeneres and Home Alone's Macauley Culkin) the other night and told the kid that , in essence, he should be concerned more about his performance and how he sings more than worrying about his hair.
62. . . . Host Ryan Seacrest lobbed one back at the scowling Cowell and referred to his haircut as a "box-cut," which it does look like (flat-top style, buzzed off on sides and back and shaved at the back of the neck).
63. . . . So Simon got his comeuppance.
64. Those Lindsay Lohan-posing-as-Marilyn Monroe-shots that ran in New York Magazine crashed their Web site. Reports claim there were over 20 million "hits" on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday of last week. Lotsa gawkers.
65. . . . I know this is partially true because I was one who tried to get on to nymag.com. It took forever and I finally gave up. Of course, I was needing to check things out for research purposes. Ha Ha Ha.
66. . . . The pictures, which duplicate photos Bert Stern shot of the Hollywood star in 1962 and titled The Last Sitting, are, um, revealing to say the least.
67. . . . Someone said they should've removed the freckles that dot Lohan's half-clothed body — "they're distracting," a friend of mine said.
68. Hillary Clinton seems to be getting out of control. "Shame on you Barack Obama," she practically screamed, in response to mailings that Obama sent out assailing her health care plan.
69. . . . "Meet me in Ohio ("Meet me in St. Louis, Louie …) and we'll have a debate about your tactics and your campaign!" she challenged. That they will, on Tuesday in Cleveland in yet another debate (MSNBC).
70. . . . These debates and the networks that put them on … does the screen and everything on it have to have logos all over it? CNN signs blaring all over the place. You practically can't see the candidates for all the promotion. There were even little CNN stickers on the lids of the computers that the row of analysts (they have two rows of analysts) sat in front of the other night in Austin, Tex. Enough already.
71. FYI: Daylight Saving Time begins March 9. Spring forward. Yes, it begins early and lasts longer (4 weeks) because of an amendment that was passed as part of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, to conserve energy. So we can stay outside and play longer, all you little kiddies out there.
72. Fareed Zakaria has a new, more casual headshot running atop his Newsweek World View column. Better. His white shirt is open-collared but not sloppy — no tie — and this is good -- less formal, makes him more approachable-looking. Zakaria was a long-time commentator for ABC News but last year moved to CNN and later this year will host an international affairs program on the cable news network.
73. INCIDENT. I took a cab Saturday from uptown in D.C. to midtown (about 7 minutes) and it cost me $11. Eleven dollars! It's usually $8 and is counted as two zones, not three. I questioned the driver about this and he insisted it was three and he was charging appropriately.
74. . . . I was in a hurry and didn't feel like arguing and let it go. But this won't happen again.
75. . . . D.C. is going to the meter system and that's good. Hallelujah. People, including me, are tired of being ripped off and having questionable fares charged. It's about time this city got into the 21st Century.
76. Hanalie, dog in the neighborhood, wants to go along with owner Sally to take her horse Charlie to see Tim Casey, an animal vet for Charlestown (Races and Slots), for some chiropractic therapy and acupuncture (horsie has a stiff back). Sally plans to have the good doctor give Hanalie a mini back massage while he's at it. She likes to treat all her pets equally.
77. . . . So how much will all that cost?
78. IN BRUGES (Belgium). Movie, with Colin Farrell, Brendon Gleeson and Ralph Fiennes. The first two are hit men and go to the picturesque Flemish city to cool out after a botched killing in London, and Fiennes is the crime boss. There they await further instructions. One loves the town (Gleeson) and the other (Farrell) couldn't be more bored. Farrell plays a dangerous, unpredictable, trigger-happy character who feels guilty about the crime he just committed and clashes with the local folk in Bruges. Incidents ensue.
79. . . . I don't know what happens when they finally meet up with the boss.
80. . . . The people I went with to the flick hated it, thought it was stupid, unnecessarily violent and not logical so they walked out. I followed because they were my transportation and we were out of town. So I can't tell you more, sorry.
81. . . . Seemed interesting to me but probably disturbing to some.
82. Cindy McCain's eyes look like they could shoot out a death ray beam (like Gort the robot man in The Day the Earth Stood Still) at anyone who crossed her path. Watch out New York Times. Deadly.
83. UH . . . You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) — Dead or Alive, on Sony, 1984.

rocci@roccifisch.com

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