HER GOOD FOOT WAS HER LEFT FOOT

1. . . . That's what Brandi Chastain used Saturday to score that penalty kick for the U.S. Women's World Cup soccer team. James Brown would've been proud.
2. . . . Remember Daniel Day-Lewis in that movie, My Left Foot? Whatever happened to him? (He was Tarzan too, wasn't he, or was he the Last Mohican?)
3. . . . And the new Tarzan really does whip through the jungle with his loincloth never leaving its appointed position. Well-done and entertaining, although the Phil Collins songs really blast out at high power, and the Rosie O'Donnell-spoken character Terk is too much her usual New York overly-accented wiseguy talking schtick.
4. TV Guide's got comedian Chris Rock on the cover. They say, "He's edgy. He's fearless. He's rocking the house in a new stand-up special – and he's (bleeping) hilarious." Is the bleeped word the f-word, or something similar? Is that a good idea on the cover of a family magazine?
5. MISTAKE. This past Saturday, The Washington Post had a TV listing for Good Morning America/Sunday. That show's been off the air for months.
6. . . . And how much time do they give the new TV Column writer off? The appearance of the column is really erratic. Somebody raise John Carmody from the dead. Please.
7. In that clip of Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman kissing at the mirror, Tom's eyes are shut but Nicole's are wide open.
8. Sigourney Weaver really looks different as a blond in some new space movie.
9. "We put it all together and save you more. At the RoomStore." How many times do we hear that? (It used to be called The Hub.)
10. DONNA SUMMER? Is that her singing, "You get more for the money" in those McDonald's commercials? ALSO: Her appearance a couple weeks ago outside on the Today show was pretty boring. And now she's got lighter hair in that fly-away style Diana Ross seems to love so much.
11. WALK THERE. That's what Dan Rather and John Roberts do now when they intro the Eye on America segment on The CBS Evening News. They walk up toward the camera and lean against the counter near where the big logo is. Gets 'em out a little bit.
12. . . . Tom Brokaw first and Peter Jennings second have been escaping the pod trap of the anchor desk for awhile now. So it's a trend I guess.
13. CLEVER. Chef Emeril Lagasse's Food Network TV show says, "Watch Emeril Live every night now at ate pm. Chomp. Chomp. Chomp.
14. ENOUGH ALREADY. When Brian Williams anchors the NBC Nightly News, he signs off usually plugging that night's Dateline, then his cable show, The News With Brian Williams at 9, and then he mentions you can catch it again on CNBC at 10. Just say goodnight and be done with it.
15. A SPIKE LEE JOINT. That's what he's still calling his movie releases. Summer of Sam, the latest. Pretty good. He does a lot of imaginative things with the actors and the dialogue and the filming. It's that grainy, high-saturated color look of urban for him. There's a lot in it.
16. . . . But I couldn't get past John Leguizamo, the lead. He didn't look or seem Italian to me. All the other guys did. Bad casting, although he's a good actor.
17. NEW JAZZ LABEL: MAX JAZZ. Out of St. Louis, of all places. Label founder Richard McDonnell is committed to presenting new artists doing straight-ahead jazz. First release is Blues In The City, by LaVerne Butler. Sounds a bit like Dinah Washington. Easy to listen to.
18. And then there's Shania Twain, stancing. That's what she seems to do. Frozen, like she was told what position to stay in. Half-way squatted down like she's doing isometrics at the gym.
19. Now there's The Temptations Revue. How does that differ from just The Temptations?
20. Remind me not to take a gondola ride.
21. GREAT ACTING. By Om Puri in the new movie, My Son the Fanatic. You can tell he's a veteran. Small BBC movie acquired by Miramax, about a Pakistani cab driver in England trying to stay true to family traditions while being tempted by outside forces in the city. Devoted wife, breakaway son, prostitutes, and other underbelly types. Interesting.
22. My waist is urban sprawling.
23. "48 Hours Monday Mystery." Like it's a movie-of-the-week or something. The magazines are getting a lot less newsy.
24. Barry Manilow wrote "I am stuck on Band-Aids."
25. Somebody said Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert looks like Drew Carey. Sorta.
26. I'll pass on talking ATMs, thank you.
27. Now I guess I'll have to get a DVD drive in my laptop. Jesus, what would I do without it?
    NOTE: Apple's advertising one with a 14.1 inch screen with a battery that'll "let you watch all of Austin Powers. Twice."
28. I thought John Hockenberry was good. Those Kosovo shows were terrific. So now MSNBC dumps him for blabbermouth, Chris Matthews. (He drools.)
29. New York's Reverend Al Sharpton cut his hair. He wore it long for years, apparently in honor of singer James Brown. Good God!
30. Wish I had've been at Cher's concert the other night. Good review. Too bad the place – Nissan Pavilion – is way out in some other world.
31. Just what we need. An Oprah magazine.
32. TO HILLARY CLINTON: "Listen, Do You Want To Know A Secret?"
33. Patrick Rafter looks like Tom Cruise on the cover of GQ.
34. Marvin Gaye would have been sixty this past April. There's a tribute album (Marvin Is 60) out that sounds like it's not so good. Just buy the originals. You can't lose then.
35. TIRED OF ... Eddie Murphy playing nerds. He's at it again in Bowfinger, with Steve Martin.
36. It seems like Tom Shales just reviews movies that are on cable now. Showtime, HBO. Maybe he's run out of things to say about the regular networks.
37. Is that one of those sports bras Brandi Chastain had on? Keeps everything in place I guess.
38. Ricky Martin used to have Tarzan hair and it looked pretty silly.
39. Larry King referred to Shawn Southwick as "the wife" again in his Monday column. When he does that, it sounds like he's some Catskills comedian doing a monologue.
40. Michael Milken looks like Ted Danson.
41. Anyone old enough to remember Bonomo's Turkish Taffy? The man who created it (Victor Bonomo) died June 26 at his home in Florida. He lived to be 100. It wasn't really taffy and it wasn't Turkish either, reports The New York Times. At one point it was sold by Woolworth stores in big slabs that the clerks at the candy counter used to whack up and sell by the pound. Later it got into candy bar form.
42. Cheryl Tiegs is on the cover of the current AARP magazine. See, the world's turning 50.
43. RIGHT ON. Barry White's new album – coming soon – features his Love Unlimited Orchestra. It's about time. We miss the strings, Maestro.
44. UH . . . Love's Theme – Love Unlimited Orchestra, conducted and arranged by Barry White, on 20th Century Records, from 1973. ABC Sports used it almost every Saturday back then.

rocci@roccifisch.com

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