THEY’RE LINING UP TO SEE ‘SEABISCUIT’

1. . . . At the Uptown in Washington they were over the weekend. Long lines and sold-out features. It’s a feel good for the underdog movie and predictable in what happens but a very well done 1930’s era America (Depression) film in which everyone was looking for a hero. Tobey Maguire (dyed and curley redhead a la I Love Lucy) plays "Red" Pollard, the young jockey who’s too tall and probably even bulimic to keep his weight down. Yes, the movie’s really about three men’s lives, as the critics say, (Maguire, Jeff Bridges, Chris Cooper) and a runty, not too attractive, half-wild, obstinate horse that brings them together. Story good and interesting, period-piece, good villain, funny at times (Bill Macy) and the racing scenes are shot to keep you on the edge of your seat.
2. . . . Chris Cooper’s a terrific actor.
3. LISTENING TO . . . The Very Best Of Bohannon. 70’s Foot Stompin’ Music multi- instrumentalist, producer, arranger, singer, who put together a good band and had some great dance floor hits. Insistent beats.
4. That helmet Lance Armstrong’s wearing reminds me of the Alien’s head.
5. "I’m not down, I’m up," says Bill Bennett to Tim Russert on his CNBC show, referring to the way he feels now about his kicked gambling habit.
6. NBC’s Richard Engel was still walking a lot this week in his news reports from Baghdad. He explained that the "radically altered faces" of Saddam sons Uday and Qusay and the way they were put on display were offensive to Muslims and that Muslims usually do not embalm or use makeup on the dead.
7. . . . "FRESH VIDEO OF THE DEAD BODIES." That was the lead-in to the boys on NBC Nightly News.
8. . . . What’s it like to shave a dead man? (I think they could’ve gotten a better undertaker.)
9. The Godfather of Soul, James Brown, and fourth wife Tomi Rae are splitting up and Mr. Brown announced it in a full-page ad in Variety. It said, " ... There are no hard feelings, just a mutual show business decision." (She’s a singer.)
10. . . . And Liza Minnelli and David Gest are splitting. Well, who was surprised at that?
11. "It showed them doing lipo and cutting faces and inserting butt implants and it was bloody and gorey." That’s what my cousin said about some of the stuff that goes on in that new show about plastic surgery, Nip/Tuck. Sounds good, doesn’t it?
12. UDAY AND QUSAY: Were they really, most sincerely dead?
13. That picture that hit the newspapers and Internet of a Liberian militia commander in mid-air rejoicing after firing a rocket-propelled grenade at rebel forces was quite a shot. The guy looked like he could be a pop star or a video extra or something.
14. Someone said Richard Gephardt should dye his eyebrows so he doesn’t look so washed out.
15. NEW THING I’VE SEEN. Many gals are wearing tops that just have one wide strap across the shoulder and the rest of it wraps around tightly, leaving the other shoulder bare. Sorta sexy. So when you see one, don’t think the other strap fell down.
16. Is it right to wear flip-flops to work? They’re doing it - even on Capitol Hill, reports News4’s Mary Alice Salinas.
17. Celebrity Justice reporters are showing up as "experts" on some cable TV talk shows these days. One (Dan Simon) was on Rita Cosby’s Big Story show discussing the Kobe Bryant case on Fox News Channel. Are they as good as Court TV?
18. I agree with Dave Barry that it’s ridiculous now that the razor manufacturers are increasing the number of blades in their razors. First one, then two, now three. And Schick is coming out with one with four called the Quatro. (My father used one and never used shaving cream - just regular soap, for crissakes.)
19. Is Natalie Morales going to get the weekend Today show slot vacated by Soledad O’Brien? She did it this weekend. Reminds me of a young Katie Couric - looks a bit like her and sounds a bit like her.
20. Singer Brandy, who used to date Kobe Bryant, said this about his what happened: "I’m mad about it. It’s really whack."
21. That Tomb Raider newspaper ad with Angelina Jolie makes her look like she’s in a wet suit. Too air-brushed or photo-shopped.
22. . . . She looks more natural in that Got Milk? ad.
23. PROBLEM. I’ve forgotten how old I am. Sometimes I have to figure it out.
24. What kind of bra is best for summer? This question was asked by Deborah Norville on Inside Edition. How about a strapless one or one made out of silicone or a camisole-styled number? A Bloomingdale’s "expert" showed the different kinds.
25. ANOTHER ANNOYING COMMERCIAL. That high-energy Any Way You Want It one that sounds like the old Dave Clark Five 1964 hit. Or maybe it’s the old Journey hit from 1980. Either way, it really aurally assaults you.
26. PERSON OF INTEREST. That term’s being used a lot in crime-solving lately: The roommate (Carlton Dotson) in the Patrick Dennehy case and someone they suspect in of all those fires in the D.C. area.
27. There was funny video this past week of pigs diving in a pool and racing up to a platform. (David Brinkley liked to watch pig races at a rodeo show in Houston.)
28. . . . Pigs in Spaaaaaaace!
29. GOOD. Cell -phones that take pictures are being banned from some LA gyms. The reason? Celebs have been complaining it’s a violation of their privacy. Some people are doing it and then selling the photos to the tabs and putting them on the Internet.
30. . . . Phone calls, games, calcuator, calendar, pictures. What more can your cell phone do for you?
31. Are there two Orlando Blooms?
32. Bruce Villanch, writer and Hollywood Squares regular, shaved off that beard he’s had for 32 years on Live With Regis and Kelly. He’s getting ready for Hairspray’s national tour. He plays the mother, Edna Turnblad. Looked better in the beard. Now you can see all his chins.
33. "PUPPETRY OF THE PENIS." What? That’s a show now at Rosslyn’s Spectrum theater. Two Australian guys demonstrating ways they contort their private parts to look like various things, animals and landmarks. Sounds weird but it’s a hoot and done in good-natured fun. Not pornograhic or sexual. Successful too. Several companies are touring the show in major cities in Europe and the U.S. You just have to get over two guys on stage stark naked doing their various "installations" - that’s what they call the stunts.
34. Director John Schlesinger (Darling, Midnight Cowboy, Marathon Man, Day of the Locust) died Friday. He did some great movies.
35. Uday Hussein was called the Wolf and Qusay was the Snake. The Ace of Hearts and the Ace of Clubs. Number 3 and Number 2 on the Most-Wanted list.
36. ANOTHER THING SEEN. For guys, those close-fitting, homemade-looking knit caps that almost look like bathing caps. They’re crossing over from the hip-hop realm.
37. UH OH. They’re allowing a camera in the courtroom in the Kobe trial which begins with an Aug. 6 hearing. That’s gonna be big. I bet the cable networks are drooling.
38. Idi Amin - remember him? - is deteriorating in a hospital in South Africa. He’s 80 now and has lapsed into a coma. He rose to power in 1971 and reportedly killed half a million Ugandans and dumped their bodies into the Nile River and "fed them to the crocodiles when it became impossible to dig graves fast enough," reported AP. Nice.
39. Didn’t Saddam look good in his Speedo?
40. UDAY, QUSAY. Sounds like pig Latin.
41. Seabiscuit runs two and a half hours.
42. Frequent traveler war correspondent Sebastian Junger was interviewed over the weekend about Liberia on Today from Truro, Mass. (He’s been there too.) That’s a nice place up there. Big sand dunes.
43. UH . . . Liberian Girl - Michael Jackson on Epic. It was on the Bad album. Why can’t he make music like that anymore? Oh, there’s a new Peter Pan movie coming out Christmastime. He should be happy about that because he thinks he is Peter Pan. And THIS TOO . . . There’s gonna be another Jackson Five tour and Michael’s on board, says brother Jermaine. He always says that. Do we have to go through all that again?

rocci@roccifisch.com

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