THE CHERRY BLOSSOMS ARE OUT

1. . . . But it's hard to get to 'em because of all the tourists. Jammed.
2. And don't try to pick 'em off the trees. Not supposed to. And they've got Park Service rangers down there making sure people don't.
3. Jennifer Aniston is on the cover of the May Vanity Fair with a top on that barely covers her left breast. She looks sort of exposed, a bit stunned and lip glossy.
4. . . . And right next to her left "gland" is an article about Maxim that asks the question, "Does Cleavage Sell Magazines?"
5. Friday night's Dateline/Court TV Special had the whole story of CBS's Charles Kuralt's double life, reported by Sara James. Interesting and well done. Who would'a thunk Charles Kuralt ..? (He died in 1997.)
6. Johnny Depp's got long hair in all his recent movies. Looks a bit girlish. Now Blow, then Chocolat (pulled back and streaked), and before then, Before Night Falls.
7. FABLE-Y: Chocolat. Beautifuly shot movie but total storybook fantasy. Everything too perfect and not-in a real world-believable. But Binoche does have that face.
8. . . . They say you're not supposed to pronoune the "t" in Chocolat. That's being real French I guess.
9. Bryant Gumbel's growing a beard now. Looks dirty-faced. He seemed to be picking at it the other morning interviewing Survivor Jerri.
10. . . . All that Early Show does is bring on Survivor people and talk about it. The network shills.
11. FUNNY COMMERCIAL: For Petsmart. An overweight big gray cat loping through a house causing it to shake to the tune of Carole King's I Feel The Earth Move.
12. "E.R.'s a repeat. PrimeTime's all new." That's how they plug the ABC Thursday night show.
13. "Where in the World is Matt Lauer?" is coming.
14. I need a Pledge Grab-It mitten for my apartment.
15. Some dress designer on TV voted Jennifer Lopez the "most unsupported actress" award for that see-thru thing she had on. Ha Ha Ha.
16. Now everytime it's Daylight Saving Time or the other time in the fall, we're reminded to change the batteries in our smoke alarms. Try doing that one? Sometimes not an easy task.
17. Anchor Alex Witt of MSNBC looks like good witch Glinda in The Wizard of Oz.
18. Don Imus looks fit. When he stood up the other day on his show you could see he had no gut.
19. PLACING PLASTIC CAPS ON A CAT'S CLAWS. Boy that's a natural thing to do. To avoid scratching the furniture. It's what they did to the Bushes' exiled cat Ernie who now lives with a family friend but is missing. Probably got mad and left.
20. FEEDBACK: The last Random asked who was better looking at NBC: Norah O'Donnell or Campbell Brown. A reader responded by saying Norah "because all you can see of Campbell Brown are her lower teeth." That's got some bite to it.
21. NBC's Andrea Mitchell lost her MSNBC show but gained a new title: Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent. She's a survivor.
22. LISTENING TO . . . Mirwais, the guy who produced Madonna's latest, Music. His album's called Production. Primarily dancey with a lot of electronic sounds in it and singing through vocorders. Sounds like a chemistry lab gurgling up. Madonna's on Track 7 (Paradise).
23. Foot-and-mouthwash. I mean foot-and-mouth disease.
24. Rap artist Chuck D had this to say: "The number one rapper is white, and the number one golfer is black. That's cultural exchange."
25. USA TODAY says, "The do-rag is now a don't-rag," referring to the NFL's banning of bandanas and stocking caps on the field.
26. . . . Do I Do. Great Stevie Wonder song.
27. THIS TRUE? DVDs have control over what's FF (Fast Forwardable). Supposedly one of the things you can't fast forward is the FBI Warning.
28. Now when you get a renewal Ameican Express card, when you call to activate it they ask you for your mother's birth date-the month and day. Thank God they don't want the year too. This for additional information purposes. What's next? Where Aunt Minnie was born?
29. I liked Dino DeLaurentiis' Italian accent when he accepted his Academy Award. His speech was much more refined than what you hear on The Sopranos.
30. ALSO LISTENING TO . . . Laura Nyro. Angel In The Dark is her last album of newly- recorded songs. She died of cancer in 1997. Intimate and heartfelt, the seven new songs are "balanced with eight 'heartbeat songs,' those she sang in her youth with New York street corner harmony groups." A pioneer singer-songwriter. A fan's must-get.
31. Are those Magic Wallets any good? The TV ad looks neat and reminds one of that trick when you fold the dollar bill and when you unfold it, it comes out upside down. Something like that. Order one: 1-800-672-6776. $14.95.
32. Can we please not hear any more stories about Dr. Laura Schlesinger's TV talk show. Over, done. Next.
33. BACKWARD MOVIE: Memento. They say it's good, but you really have to pay attention. LATER: Saw it. Things repeated a lot. Interesting and intense movie. Guy Pearce, Carrie-Anne Moss and Joe Pantoliano play good parts. Slightly confusing and nothing clear-cut but still pretty good.
34. "Seven young men on the prowl, creating a mood of menace" is how a New York dance troupe is described in "nodrog doggo." What? The title's a play on music composer Michael Gordon's name. And all the guys have on are jockstraps, caps on their heads, gloves on their hands and high socks. Whatever.
35. NEW THING: Country singer Charley Pride's new CD, A Tribute to Jim Reeves, will have "cloaking technology" which prevents it from being able to be copied to computer hard drives and shared online. It's in the air. Everybody's out to defeat those Napster folks.
36. . . . There's no free lunch anymore.
37. Do people care about Barbra Streisand's politics?
38. Grandma Moses told CBS's Edward R. Murrow years ago that, "If I didn't start painting, I would have raised chickens."
39. What was Dan Rather thinking about, speaking at a Democratic fundraiser? NBC's Tim Russert defended him.
40. Agriculture/Industrial conglomerate ADM is changing their slogan. Was "Supermarket to the World." Now they say "The Nature of What's To Come."
41. DIDN'T KNOW: That Roger Caras, former ABC News correspondent and president of the ASPCA, was once a press agent for Joan Crawford. He died February 18 and was the announcer/voice of the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show.
42. "Skull-rattling pot holes." That's what Brian Williams said, leading into a piece about roads last night on NBC. How descriptive.
43. "U.S.--China Syndrome." Er, ... Showdown. Sorry.
44. UH . . . China Doll-The Ames Brothers on RCA Victor. 1960.

rocci@roccifisch.com

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