THE VANDALS TOOK THE HANDLES

1. . . . That's what's happening in Washington, D.C. with some of those statue pandas placed throughout the city. People tearing off the glasses on the one done in the likeness of Groucho Marx and other things from some of the other painted sculptures. Souvenirs? If they could, people would steal the whole 500 pound statue. It's a shame but then, who didn't think that wouldn't happen?
2. Crocodile hunter Steve Irwin wears his bush shorts almost as short as Richard Simmons wears his gym shorts. Next time guys, let's go for length.
3. There were white tornados in Kansas last week. Ajax liquid cleaner used to "clean like a white tornado."
4. IF IT HEAR IT ONE MORE TIME . . .
   1. "The machine of a dream, such a clean machine ..." The Queen song, I'm in Love With My Car, used in ads for Jaquars really grabs me the wrong way. I feel sick when I hear it.
   2. Another Queen song, We Are the Champions, used for Viagra. The men jumping up and down in slo-mo cuz they supposedly just had sex. Gimme a Break!
   3. And that grating violin string ad for Tylenol. No words, just someone making noise on the instrument in a most irritating way in order to induce a headache. Okay, we get it.
5. SAVED. Good movie. It's a teen thing but the cast is good and so is the writing and the direction. About a Christian high school in Baltimore and kids' lives played against everything being for Jesus. The idea seems a bit off kilter, but the movie works, is funny and not disrespectful. Worth seeing. All the kids are good. STANDOUT: Eva Amurri, who plays the wild child Jewish girl going to the Christian school. And guess who she is? Susan Sarandon's daughter (by Italian director Franco Amurri).
6. Is The Exorcist: The Beginning gonna be any good? They had trouble making that picture - or pictures, I should say. The film was shot, then rejected. Then a new director was hired to re-shoot it and he died and then it was finally put together. WE KNOW THIS: The original will be/has been hard to beat.
7. BREAST AUGMENTATION FOR HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION. That's what some are getting. One mother offered it to her daughter and another daughter asked for it. They were on Good Morning America. I guess their families have money. They said the operation cost $6,750, that's all.
8. TV Guide's Special Tribute Issue to Ronald Reagan, An American Icon, uses the same photo on its cover - the one with the cowboy hat - as Time and Newsweek did on their covers last week. We want to know why!
9. DINO: THE ESSENTIAL DEAN MARTIN CD is climbing the Billboard music charts. Thirty hits including That's Amore, Volare and Everybody Loves Somebody. And a very cool picture of Dean from the fifties sitting on a high chair stool with white cuffed pants, a sport shirt, white socks and penny loafers. (He had eight kids, reports Parade magazine. Two have died.)
10. TV ADS ALREADY. Listerine really picked up quick on the news a couple weeks ago that rinsing with mouthwash is as effective as flossing. Think it's true?
11. TOO GRAPHIC TO BROADCAST. That's what American TV reporters and anchormen/women are saying about the pictures of Paul Johnson, the American beheaded by al Qaeda terrorists. Matt Drudge had them on his Web site. Not for the squeamish. And of course they shot video of the dastardly act.
12. . . . Why all this beheading? Josh Devon of the Site Institute, which tracks terrorist groups, says, "Terrorism doesn't work unless the media is involved. Shooting someone isn't necessarily terrorism. Beheading someone and posting it on the Web is terrorism." That's it.
13. Why didn't Bill Clinton do just one interview for his book for all media at one time and be done with it? No, that's too easy. He's gotta do a media blitz and each news organization that gets an interview with him calls theirs an exclusive. It's all the same information. Stop dragging it out. A whole week of it and I'm ready to puke. Make it a pool event, for crissakes.
14. . . . And with the Clinton book, they released audio clips read by him over the weekend before the actual book was ready to go on sale. So that's another thing for the media to get all hyped up about.
15. THE KINGDOM. That's what Saudi Arabia is, right? That's real 21st Century.
16. International TV reporter Sheila MacVicar looks like she's now working for CBS News. She reported from London on the Paul Johnson story. She left CNN after not that long a time and before that she was with ABC.
17. Mr. Big Stuff says Bill Clinton might as well play the sax because he's being treated like a rock star with all this book hoopla.
18. Glen Campbell sang and twanged at Ray Charles' funeral. It was good to see him out and about even though he was arrested and recently sentenced for an "extreme drunken driving" charge. And Johnny Mathis was there too. You don't see him much. He and Brother Ray did a duet on Over the Rainbow for Ray's last album and it was played at the funeral.
19. . . . Jesse Jackson said that Ray Charles will see again up in heaven. " ... there's a man over there, across the river who is giving sight to the blind," he said at the memorial service.
20. Dogs in Bavaria have their own line of traditional German garb, thanks to dogwear designer Hildegard Berhbauer. "There are lederhosen [leather shorts with suspenders] for the dogs and dirndls [a dress with a close-fitting bodice and full skirt] for the bitches," the designer told Reuters news service. Well, you have to see it.
21. Weekend Today and MSNBC anchor Lester Holt broke his foot and has to use crutches. While he and Campbell Brown were talking about what was coming up on the show last Sunday morning, you heard a bang. It was his crutches falling off the anchor desk platform, Holt later explained.
22. When ABC's Cynthia McFadden on Primetime asked Madonna, "What is the reigning philosophy in your household?" the singer said, "Pick up your own s_ _ _." It was bleeped out but you could lip-read and know what she was saying. Boy, she's classy.
23. So Courtney Cox and David Arquette named their daughter Coco. Poodle name.
24. Colin Farrell's hair's bleached and a tad long in his Alexander movie coming out soon - something like Brad Pitt in Troy. But Colin's is coarser while Brad's was more silky and shiny. But who's gonna go see Alexander anyway? Not that many went to see Troy. They're both practically the same, aren't they?
25. QUESTION: How did CNN get an exclusive access deal with American hostage Paul Johnson's sister and son at their home in New Jersey? Did they pay for it or did they perk it? Reporter Deborah Feyerick, however, did a good job and didn't exploit.
26. Somebody said George Clooney would be a good person to play Clinton if a movie's made of his book. I could see that.
27. . . . So when are we gonna hear from Monica? Clinton called what he had with her a "sleazy thing."
28. IT'S HIM AGAIN. Paul Burrell, Princess Di's former butler, has a show: In His Own Words. It's gonna be at New York's Town Hall for 4 Performances Only! later this week. The picture of him used in the ad looks done on the cheap. There he is in all his smugness with his greasy, shiny face. How many more beans can he spill?
29. Willie Nelson was visibly moved at Ray Charles' funeral. At first, he had trouble singing Georgia On My Mind and at one point was seen resting his head on Jesse Jackson's shoulder.
30. . . . That Jesse . . . He shows up everywhere.
31. Michael Bolton a talk show host? The Hollywood Reporter says he's met with syndicators about hosting a daytime show that would premiere in the fall of 2005. Short hair or long hair?
32. . . . Doesn't he sing like Ray Charles?
33. Will Britney Spears be able to be Britney after her knee heals? All the dancing she does. Lots of people are losing out due to the cancellation of her summer tour: 100 employees, hotels, venues, t-shirt makers. She's a big industry, believe it or not.
34. So Billy Bush, 32 and the president's cousin, is gonna co-anchor Access Hollywood. Nancy O'Dell stays - for now, reports Lisa de Moraes of The Washington Post. NBC Universal dumped Pat O'Brien. I'm not a fan of either and I don't know who's worse. Billy is just another upstart who gussies up to all the stars and ramrods his obnoxious self into every situation. O'Brien sounds like a snake oil salesman.
35. Does Angelina Jolie have one of those Madonna gaps in her front teeth? It sorta looked like she did in that picture of her last week with Colin Powell.
36. DAN RATHER SAID A_ _ HOLE ON THE AIR . . . But it was bleeped. In his interview with Bill Clinton, he quoted a man who said he thought the former governor of Arkansas was an a_ _hole. You could hear Dan say the start of a and then it was bleeped.
37. . . . And you could hear that whistle sound come through Rather's lips when he spoke all through the interview.
38. I didn't go to see The Terminal last weekend because I didn't want to see/hear Tom Hanks act with a foreign accent.
39. Hanalie, dog in the neighborhood, got a new $70 leather collar with metal cows and hearts embroidered on it. But she's not wearing it yet. Owner Sally has to gradually introduce her to it.
40. There was an anti-Clinton ad that ran just before the 60 Minutes interview with the former prez. It claimed you "don't have to read the book" in order to find out who didn't do enough to stop terrorism - or something to that effect. At first I thought it was one of Bush's campaign ads against Kerry. It was sponsored by citizensunited.org.
41. UH . . . Reunited - Peaches & Herb on Polydor. 1979. They were the ones who shook their groove thing.

rocci@roccifisch.com

Archives

© Rocci Fisch/Random Thoughts

Services provided by BrowserMedia.com