GONE IS THE WARM. IN COMES THE COLD

1. . . . Yup. And They Call the Wind Maria (pronounced as in Mariah Carey and done by The Kingston Trio). What's all this blusteriness about? March isn't now, is it?
2. Is videophone one word or two? Fox News Channel uses it as one, but I wouldn't go by them.
3. Now when you call American Express to access your account, the recording asks you for your mother's birth date. Well how do they know that? It always used to be just your mother's maiden name.
4. . . . And there are too many menus in life to go through now. And I don't mean food.
5. Mariah Carey seems really physically big now. And she's singing way down in the register. Where are all those high octave notes she used to squeal?
6. Bob Dole thinks Al Gore should shave and says now when he sees him he doesn't see Al Gore because of all that "brush" on his face. This from Lloyd Grove of The Washington Post.
7. Katie Couric, at the end of an interview with two American University students last week in Egypt, told them to "stay safe." Motherly advice.
8. Mississippi rapper Afroman's The Good Times album, which features that marijuana single, Because I Got High, just went gold here in the U.S. Sold 500,000 copies. And it just debuted at #1 in England and New Zealand.
9. . . . "Because I got high, because I got high, because I got high."
10. Michael Jackson's Halloween video sort of harkens back to Thriller. Similar shtick. He oughta get off it.
11. D.C. health department official Ivan C.A. Walks, Mayor Anthony Williams, the Postal Service's Debbie Willhite and others keep talking about "real time" when they do their briefings about anthrax. And Pentagon folks say it too. We want everything now in real time. It's the only game in town.
12. . . . What exactly does it mean though?
13. Ramadan's coming up. Is that where Ramar of the Jungle took place?
14. IT'S A CROC. SuperCroc they're calling it. A crocodile as long as a school bus and weighing 10 tons once roamed this old earth. Over in Africa, 110 million years ago. They found a large part of its skull which was about six feet in length. They refer to it as an "ambush predator" because it used to hide under the water and then surge out to grab anything "lounging" on the shore.
15. . . . Remind me to check under my bed tonight.
16. CHANGING: MSNBC's Rick Sanchez's hair's being bleached. Happens to everybody on TV. Lighter is better.
17. And speaking of MS ... Plain Jane Ashleigh Banfield over in Pakistan is now not so inconspicuous. She's wearing an NBC logo on her jacket or vest or whatever it is that it's on.
18. Mr. Big Stuff gets mixed up between Ananda and Iyanla. (Two new talk show hosts) Easy to do.
19. Peter Lynch of Fidelity Investments doing those rah rah plugs for the stock market is a little too hard-sell in those TV commercials. He needs to tone it down a bit. Be more sincere. Show more understanding of the current times. He comes off cocky. Too abrupt.
20. MULHOLLAND DRIVE: Interestingly done movie and very typical David Lynch. But very long and ponderous. Everything took too long to get done. It was like Eyes Wide Closed. I mean Shut. And one of the women leads looked like Catherine Zeta-Jones but wasn't.
21. Snoop Dogg's eyes in Bones are scary. Like those Rosemary's Baby devil eyes.
22. The Radio Music Awards TV show Friday night was okay. A lot of stars turned out. The announced nominees for the various categories was interestingly done. And Robert Downey Jr. was there to present Elton John with a big award.
23. . . . Downey sure gets around a lot for being in jail or on probation or in rehab.
24. TIRED OF . . . James Brown singing Living in America. Let's hear some Cold Sweat or Hot Pants or Good Foot.
25. Paula Zahn likes turtlenecks.
26. METAL-FREE BRA. A Japanese firm is introducing one in response to tigher airport security worldwide. Five hundred of what are being called Frequent Flyers' Bras are to go on sale online in December.
27. I like Samsung products. They look cool and they've got a good marketing image.
28. A friend of mine asked me what I thought about all this Amtrak. I said, "What?" She meant to say anthrax. Ha Ha Ha.
29. Is that Gwyneth Paltrow and Huey Lewis singing Smokey Robinson's Cruisin'? If it is, they're pretty good.
30. AW . . . Garth Brooks' new album - out November 15 - is called Scarecrow, after The Wizard of Oz character who "thought with his heart."
31. When people say they're gonna take Osama bin Laden out, does that mean they're gonna go out on a date with him?
32. Writer P.J. O'Rourke does not use a computer to write his stuff. He still uses an IBM Selectric.
33. Maria Shriver's lion's manes look lightened.
34. FYI: The word Islam means "surrender to the will of God" in Arabic.
35. The subject of Martha Stewart's TV show last Wednesday was "modifying a balloon whisk to make spun sugar." Whatever. I guess her show keeps your mind off the war.
36. If I see Kevin Spacey taking a bite out of a banana with the skin on it one more time ... (Ad for his K-PAX movie).
37. Drew Barrymore likes those bowler-type hats and wears them well.
38. Jim Belushi, you're no John.
39. LISTENING TO . . . The Four Tops' Fourever 4-CD box set. A collection of their pre-Motown material, Motown era and post-Motown hits. One of the best-loved vocal groups ever
40. THE HILLS ARE ALIVE . . . With the sound of munching. Out in San Francisco's East Bay area. Herds of goats are being brought in to feed on "undesirable vegetation and undergrowth of flammable grasses and shrubs." They're fire fighters. And they even have a Goats R Us service.
41. UH . . . You Hit the Wrong Note, Billy Goat - Bill Haley and His Comets on Decca. Seriously, the Rock Around the Clock group did this one too.

rocci@roccifisch.com

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