Rocci Fisch

June 25, 2007

PUT A SOCK IN IT

. . . That's what a CURMUDGEONS CORNER occupant yelled out over the top of his cubicle the other day to one of the bosses who was a little too loud in the morning, jabbering away.
. . . He was upset because the morning silence was broken. Poor thing, sensitive man.
All the technology it takes to put people up in space and what does it take to fix something way up there? Staples. (Did they get their supply at Office Depot? ) Astronaut Danny Olivas climbed outside on an arm of the space shuttle Atlantis a week or so ago and stapled down a thermal blanket that had peeled at launch time and might've caused problems during the "blazing heat" of re-entry. So they're resourceful up there and got back to basics.
Last week - BEFORE Matt Lauer's "NBC Exclusive" - the royal princes (William and Harry) were interviewed by the BBC and discussed, among other things, the upcoming all-star Concert for Diana (July 1 at Wembly Stadium), a tribute to their mother on the 10th year since her death. So the young dudes made themselves available to their own country's media before America came barging through.
. . . In speaking about the same thing, the concert (featuring Duran Duran, Elton John, Joss Stone, Pharrell Williams and others) , to Lauer later on the Today show, Prince Harry said that he wanted everybody to "wave their arms in the air like they just don't care," a reference to the classic hip-hop call-out that early rapper Melle Mel did (Beat Street, c 1984) and which has been used in many party-type cuts since. So he's a hip young dude.
. . . Actually, the original accurately worded cheer is "throw your hands in the air and wave 'em like you just don't care." Amen.
. . . And then came Matt Lauer's Dateline special Monday night. It was interesting and the hour seemed to go by quick. The boys seemed natural, unaffected and sincere.
. . . But, to me, I didn't like Matt's delivery. It seemed like he was doing it for the Today show. It was very much business as usual and didn't seem like the whole package was designed with primetime in mind. And I didn't like the way he narrated it.
. . . I also thought he was a bit too casual and acted like 'one of the boys' with the young princes. Show more respect.
. . . Mr. Big Stuff didn't know their last name was Windsor. "Like the castle?" he asked. He didn't think they had a last name, were just called William and Harry -- first names, like Madonna or something.
. . . He needs to get out more.
I think Arnold Schwarzenegger wears bronzer all the time. He's always got that dark, sun-kissed skin tone thing going on, suspicious.
. . . Does he constantly have to be made up now that he's not an actor anymore?
. . . They do that on Capitol Hill all the time, have their makeup on. They never know when they're gonna have to go on TV to comment about something.
. . . Used to be a man was a man and a woman was a woman.
I sure hope loose cannon Rosie O'Donnell doesn't get the Price is Right job. She's supposedly going to meet with the show's producers. If asked, O'Donnell said on her Web site, rosie.com, "... i will do my best, i love that show" (uncapitalization intended; it's webby).
. . . Just because you love it doesn't mean you can have it.
. . . She brings too much baggage and has too much of an agenda. She needs a talk show -- if she needs anything. (Actually she does have a talk show, sort of, on her blog or vblog/video blog) Then she can spout off all she wants and then see if the audience will stick with her like they used to when she was Queen of Nice. Those days, my friends, are gone.
Mitt Romney told Mike Wallace on 60 Minutes back in May that he "couldn't imagine anything more awful than polygamy." Well, isn't that what most people think Mormons do,? Have multiple wives? There's a TV show (Big Love on HBO) about it, that must make it fact, right?
British Prime Minister Tony Blair likened the news media to a "feral beast." That's tellin' 'em. He had a lot to say at a Reuters (news organization) journalism conference in London last week.
. . . "The fear of missing out means today's media, more than ever before, hunts in a pack. In these modes it is like a feral beast, just tearing people and reputations to bits. But no one dares miss out."
. . . Boy, sounds like Blair was loaded for bear.
I got a Special Invitation from Donald Trump in the mail to attend a financial conference called "Creating Wealth the Trump Way! " It's being conducted by The Donald's "closest advisor," George Ross, the guy who was on The Apprentice with him.. They sent me two VIP personal guest tickets. June 26 all day at the Renaissance in Washington, D.C.
. . . I felt singled out, think I was?
. . . If I attend this will I get instant money? Sure hope so.
Enrique Iglesias was on one of the morning shows last week and sang a couple songs, one of which was Do You Know? (The Ping Pong Song). He was awful.
Is Angelina Jolie playing Minnie Pearl, that hillbilly comedian who wore a big hat with the price tag hanging down, in that new movie, A Might Wind? Er ... I mean A Mighty Heart.
. . . Oh no, wrong on that. She'll be playing Mariane Pearl, wife of the Wall Street Journal reporter (Daniel Pearl) who was kidnapped and murdered in Pakistan in 2002.
A MIGHTY HEART. Good flick, for people interested in this type of thing - terrorism. Done documentary-style but with added drama, it's the story of Daniel Pearl's abduction and the search for him. Angelina dons a French accent and has her hair up with ringlets dangling down. She does the role justice but, admittedly, it's hart to get beyond the fact that she's the Angelina Jolie that we all know and that she's acting.
. . . But the director, Michael Winterbottom, really takes you into the story, showing the vastness and hustle and bustle of Karachi, Pakistan, although it was really shot in India for security reasons. Subterfuge and raids on supposedly guilty parties in the abduction, the movie really moves, and in the end it's not all maudlin.
. . . Worth seeing, to news junkies, indie film junkies and Angelina Jolie fans.
NEW ANCHOR PERSON. Jeff Glor, on CBS. Named a National Correspondent. He's been doing the CBS Saturday Early Show lately (also subbing is Chris Wragge of New York's WCBS), has appeared on the show's weekly edition and has done some anchoring of the CBS Evening News on Saturdays. Young, school boy-ish looking, authoritative voice, he seems to be plugging right in. New generation coming up over there at CBS.
It seems like a lot of things made in China are being recalled: pet food, toothpaste, now toys (Easy-Bake Ovens). What's going on over there? Where's quality control that meets the standards that other countries demand?
. . . Make the stuff here, bring the jobs back and quit fooling around with foreign stuff.
. . . Sound like Lou Dobbs (CNN)?
Mr. Highfalutin caught the k.d. lang/Lyle Lovett show at Wolf Trap outside Washington the other night. (He celebrated his birthday but won't reveal his age, he's up there.) He said k.d. was terrific as usual (she came out singing the Neil Young song Helpless off her Hymns of the 49th Parallel album) and won over the crowd right away. And Lyle ... really talented, great band that he's kind to, great backup vocalists, and performed many genres. Getting good reviews all around.
. . . But the cosmopolitan Highfalutin was appalled by the suburban audience trickling in well into lang's set and then leaving early before the end of Lovett's. "We don't do that in the city," he smarmed.
THOU SHALTS. Now the Vatican is telling people how to drive. Last week they put out their own Ten Commandments of the road to promote traffic safety. Actually they were released in a document called Guidelines for the Pastoral Care of the Road.
. . . The Pope (Benedict XVI) has nothing to do with it, according to a report from the Religion News Service.
. . . The guidelines were released by Cardinal Renato Martino of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People who was called "a loose cannon" (like Rose O'Donnell?) by reporter Francis X. Rocca.
. . . EXAMPLES: #1: You shall not kill, #5: Cars shall not be for you an expression of power and domination, and an occasion of sin.
. . . Sounds like Father Guido Sarducci.
Kevin Costner's on the cover of the July/August AARP magazine. Topics covered: New movie ("Mr. Brooks"), new baby (boy, Cayden with wife Christine Baumgartner), new home (17-acre estate along the Pacific Ocean in Santa Barbara), same dreams ("I'm not the shrewdest businessman. I'm a 'what if' person.").
. . . I'm a 'what if' person too. What if I had his money.
ANOTHER COVER BOY. Presidential candidate John Edwards (The Contender), on the cover of Men's Vogue (does anybody buy that?), all decked out Polo-like with outdoorsy brown jacket, blue jeans, holding his Golden Retriever at his side, relaxed, hair slightly askew. The whole nine yards. Good for the campaign, I guess.
REMIND ME IN MY NEXT LIFE. Those guys from the cable TV (FX) show Nip/Tuck... They just signed, according to the New York Post, contracts to return to the series for 22 episodes, to the tune of $136,000 per installment or roughly about $3 million each for the season. And this is cable TV. God knows how much they'd make if it were on regular TV.
. . . So remind me in my next life to go into acting. How hard is it? People write your lines, all you gotta do is memorize. For the money, it puts other occupations to shame.
GOOD VOCABULARY. David Hasseloff, a judge on NBC's America's Got Talent, in talking to a ventriloquist contestant whose dummy had sung At Last (Etta James), asked him, "Can you throw another one at us a cappello?" It's a cappella, ya dummy.
. . . And that Sharon Osbourne, another judge on the show, sounds like a witch to me (Hansel and Gretel?), with that British accent inside that small frame of hers.
. . . A little "I'll get you, my pretty, and your dog little too"-ish (Wicked Witch of the West/Margaret Hamilton).
Now there are (at least) two I Am Not A Candidate for Presidents: Al Gore and Michael Bloomberg (mayor of New York City).
. . . So many choices, so much time. The 2008 election's still 17 months away. Think something might happen before then?
. . . And would someone please tell the Tim Russerts of the world to stop the immediacy of it all? He's on the air every five seconds talking, talking, talking about how significant every political move is and what effect it'll have in the election.
. . . Back off, give the vocal cords a rest, go on vacation or something and come back in the summer of '08 and do your prognosticating then. Thank you.
INCONSIDERATE. Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday last week was. To Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, who was a "remote" guest (in Iraq) on the show. After interviewing him for a segment, Wallace said to the camera, "We'll be back with Gen. Petraeus in a minute," went to a commercial break and left the four-star leader of all forces in Iraq waiting until the break was over. Waiting so the network could make its money from Toyota, BP, Dow chemicals and a promo for Fox entertainment show K-Ville. I call that rude and disrespectful.
. . . He should've gotten up and left. The general was giving them his valuable time and there he sat so they could sell their garbage.
. . . Fox News isn't the only 'network' that does such things. They all do it, even with the President of the United States and Laura Bush. If it were me, I'd say something.
. . . This needs to be rethought.
Some people have HDTV and still use rabbit ears. Does that make sense, for crissakes?
They say radar's going out and GPS is coming in for the air traffic controllers who track airplanes in the sky. Fine, just make it so there aren't any breakdowns in breaking it in. I might be up there somewhere.
That Monterey Pop Festival CD (2) is out again now (40-year anniversay) and I'm gonna get it. It's a live soundtrack from the famous 1968 rock concert, featuring many, including Big Brother & The Holding Company Featuring Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, Otis Redding, The Association, The Mamas & The Papas, great. I wanna go back to the Summer of Love.
. . . Can someone get the teleport out for me? I wanna go now.
. . . Just make sure a fly doesn't get in the chamber with me.
Campbell Brown's pregnant. They mentioned it on the weekend Today show. She was wearing a somewhat loose green dress.
. . . And it was good to see her again; she's not been seen on NBC lately and people think it's due to contract negotiations and reports of her moving to CNN. Was this her last hurrah?
Hanalie, dog in the neighborhood, was told to stand down and didn't like it. Owner Sally had her friend Katie and her mother Bonnie over for drinks the other night and Hanalie got all excited to see them but Bonnie didn't like it and even said when she arrived, "I hope that little dog doesn't jump up on me." Needless to say, Hanalie had to be disciplined and kept on a leash and told to stay next to owner Sally's feet all night.
UH . . . Get on the Good Foot - James Brown, originally on Polydor, 1972.

rocci@roccifisch.com