March 12, 2007

JAMES BROWN'S BODY

1. . . . The latest is that it's been placed in a crypt at the home of one of his daughters in Beech Island, S.C., supposedly waiting for another location as his final resting place - a public mausoleum.
2. . . . They really parade around the dead these days. If every person were treated like James Brown and Anna Nicole Smith the cemeteries would go out of business.
3. . . . And speaking of The Godfather, Brown's last "wife," Tomie Rae Hymie, according the the National Enquirer, sang recently in LA at the Rainbow Bar & Grill and said in an interview that she wants to keep his memory alive by doing a series of "special recordings," combining her voice to that of her late husband, like Natalie Cole did with her father, the late Nat "King" Cole.
4. . . . UH ... there's a bit of a difference, I'd say. What, is Tomie gonna duet with James on Cold Sweat or Hot Pants? Wonder what that would be like.
5. "ZODIAC." Movie about that serial killer in San Francisco back in the late '60s who mailed taunting letters (it's back then, before e-mail) to the police department with cryptic, symboled messages. Film follows investigators and reporters and a political cartoonist from the San Francisco Chronicle who becomes obsessed with finding the killer. Very procedural but not courtroom-like.
6. . . . Movie is long - two hours, 40 minutes - but I didn't notice it. Good cast: Mark Ruffalo and ER's Anthony Edwards (didn't realize it was him) as investigators, Robert Downey Jr. as reporter for the Chronicle, Jake Gyllenhaal as the curious cartoonist (the real-life crime writer Robert Graysmith), and Chloe Sevigny as his wife.
7. . . . There's a lot of writing on the lower-third of the movie screen throughout the film which provides a time frame to denote when and where things happened as the killer strikes. And at the end of the movie there's a lot of full-screen writing letting you know what has happened to the characters since. But it's okay.
8. . . . One last thing on this: I think one of the reasons Wild Hogs won at the box office last weekend was because of Zodiac's long running-time. Hogs is 99 minutes; Zodiac's is 158. That length hurt it because it didn't receive as many showings, perhaps.
9. NBC anchor Brian Wilson, er ... I mean Williams, was Back to Iraq (series title) last week for Nightly News. God knows the network let you know about it, with promos all over the place and appearances in virtually every show the news division produced all week long, starting with Meet the Press last Sunday. Plus he's blogged about it on The Daily Nightly, i.e., "Why I Came To Baghdad."
10. . . . Actually it was Brian Williams along with HUGE JACKET COAT. That thing made him look like the Michelin Tire Man. Stood out too much.
11. . . . And while I'm at it, Williams sounds a lot like actor John Wayne to me, with that drawly, slow swaggering voice pattern delivery he's got.
12. What's all this global slowdown with the stock markets in China and Europe that in turn affects the U.S. been about? "The world is flat, said Liz Claman of CNBC last Monday morning. "As Asia moves so does the U.S. I guess she's right.
13. COURTING THE VOTE. "Hillary (Clinton) will have to lose the training wheels and ride on her own," said Chris Matthews on the Today show, referring to her being accompanied by hubby Bill Clinton in Selma, Ala., last weekend to commemorate the 1965 civil rights march. Fellow Democrat and political rival Barack Obama was there too but he didn't need assistance, intimated Matthews.
14. . . . So can Hill ride a two-wheeler without falling down and going boom-boom?
15. . . . And a question about Obama's speaking style and accent during that trip. He sounded different to me talking to the crowd. Did he adjust himself?
16. DAYLIGHT SAVING - NOT SAVINGS -- TIME has begun. It's earlier now (three weeks) because of a law passed in Congress (proposed by Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.). Markey says it will save energy, basically, because more daylight means less electricity used to turn on lights, etc. I don't know whether I buy that.
17. . . . So everyone got all up in a tither because they worried that it might cause another Y2K scare (in 2000), and throw everything off (computers, technology, etc. ).
18. . . . Y2K turned out to be a whole lot of nothing and so far, this one did too. So quit being a buncha Nervous Nellies out there.
19. SEPARATED AT BIRTH? Actor Tobey Maguire and singer k.d. lang. (If you ask me.)
20. The New York Post, in it's picture coverage of the Oscars, commented on various stars' outfits. Naomi Campbell, Katie Holmes, Diddy, Victoria Beckham. And this is what they had to say about Prince: "Prince acts all shy and ladylike in his best Don Johnson fire-sale suit (it was cream yellow or something and his hair was done in a style much like a woman's).
21. EVERY YOUNG WOMAN'S DREAM: To be the next Doll, as in Pussycat? The CW television "network" thinks so. Tuesday night it had on Pussy Cat Dolls Present: The Search for the Next Doll. What all mothers wish for their daughters, I'm sure.
22. A co-worker of mine became very addicted to the Anna Nicole Smith coverage. Being a hard news journalist, she's never been a fan of tabloid news but she was drawn in like a magnet to the spectacle and drama of it all. She knew all the facts and became educated in all things Anna Nicole and Howard K and Larry Birkhead and Virgie and that crazy judge. He couldn't control the urge.
23. . . . So she finally appealed to her fellow co-workers and pleaded, "I need an intervention to get me off this stuff!" The gal was desperate and couldn't help herself.
24. . . . See what tabloid does to you?
25. "ACTIVIAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" (Dannon low-fat yogurt product "that contains a probiotic culture that can promote your digestive system by helping reduce long intestinal transit time." Yeah, right.
26. I hope Britney Spears gets her groove back and produces some more songs and videos like Toxic, which they play at my gym every other song, it seems. She had it goin' on in that viddy. So I hope she doesn't lose all her risqué-ness.
27. MANTRA. I refus-eth to eat-eth the meat-eth of cloned cows-eths.
28. Osama bin Laden turns 50 this year (DOB: 3/10/57), mentioned NBC's Senior Investigative Correspondent Lisa Myers on the Today show. Thanks. He looks a lot older than that. Maybe it's all that living in caves. Not enough sunshine or exercise or something.
29. . . . Speaking of caves, ABC has ordered up a TV pilot for a sitcom starring the Geico commercial cavemen. Those ads are funny but, as some have pointed out, they are :30 or :60-second spots. Will they be as good in a longer format? WARNING: Don't mess up a good thing.
30. So Rosie O'Donnell hangs upside down for a while (15 to 30 minutes) every day to "improve her mental state." Inversion therapy is what they call it. (What does she do for her BIG mouth?)
31. . . . JUST ASKING: Is it okay to be upside down for that long with the blood rushing to your head? What kook recommended that?
32. Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House of Representatives, has admitted he had an affair while investigating President Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky. Who cares? He's about as sexy as a wet mop.
33. COMMERCIALIZING THE GRAND CANYON. Well how'd that happen? It looks like they've got that skywalk almost done out there. Was there any public debate over it? Someone got the go-ahead and went and did it before the rest of the country knew about it. Taking away the majesty for 25 bucks a pop to walk through a precipice that juts out from the earth to gawk at what's below through some kind of glass-bottomed boat-type contraption.
34. . . . This construction authorized and done in order raise money locally for the Hualapai Indian tribe's living conditions. But not all the tribal members are happy about it. They consider the canyon sacred. Funny how things just happen.
35. There was "freezing fog" in the Washington area on Thursday, reported local weatherman Tom Kierein. That's a new one on me. Never heard of that term before.
36. STAR JONES. What, another makeover, this time for a Court TV talk show? Those new trendy glasses she's wearing now ... what, are they supposed to make her image more intellectual, studious, ready to dive into the law books, for crissakes?
37. Mr. Big Stuff thinks the way they write 300 in the ads for the new movie about the ancient Battle of Thermopylae (Spartans vs. Persians) looks like it says ZOO. So he's confused.
38. . . . "300." The movie is a macho battlefield slaughter, based on the comic book series and graphic novel, that's between the armies of Leonidas I (Sparta) and Persian King Xerxes in 480 B.C. Done in the bluescreen technique where the much of what you see is virtual, i.e., the effects, action and background are keyed in later in post production.
39. . . . The film has a dark, goldish, high-contrast look to it and it's the days of swords and sandals and Spartan-style black Speedos for the male warriors - even on the battlefield -- and sheathy gowns for the ladies and handmaidens. And pecs ... you've never seen so many. The men's were bigger than the women's.
40. . . . The movie's pretty wild,creatively done and definitely gung-ho on the violence.
41. . . . But the crowd where I saw it liked it and applauded at the end. Pretty cool.
42. There's a paint color made by Ralph Lauren called Cowgirl Blue (RL Number SS18), sort of a neutral, not bright hue. How cute.
43. When the I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby verdict was announced last Tuesday it looked like they dragged MSNBC's Dan Abrams out of bed or in from vacation to comment on it. Stubble on his face, no tie, a bit ruffled and askew he was. Why? Isn't he a big executive (general manager) with the cable outfit who still does on-air work? Why was he so un-ready looking?
44. Anna Nicole Smith's mother, Virgie Arthur, sure knows how to pitch a shovel. She "ceremoniously" heaved some 50 shovelfuls of dirt on her daughter's grave at the cemetery. Maybe she has a construction worker background. The way she did it ... It was poetic.
45. Paris Hilton now has her own brand of hair extensions that she was promoting last week at the Chicago Midwest Beauty Show. She had a set on and God did they cascade way down the front of her. It's ridiculous ... Nobody has that much hair.
46. . . . Extensions ... they're in. Everybody's wearing 'em, it seems. Nobody's got their own hair anymore, everything's fake.
47. Katie Couric is now saying "Hello Everyone" at the top of the CBS Evening News instead of her casual Hi. So she's gone a bit more formal but not quite reached a "Good Evening."
48. NO MORE QUACK, QUACK. The Aflac duck. He's going away. Somebody at an ad agency said that even though the squawker has become a recognizable symbol, the creative brain trust says the message is not clear exactly what Aflac is or does (American Family Life Assurance Company; sells supplemental health and life insurance) and they're gonna do another type of commercial sell. What, now they're gonna make a boring, informational ad? Who wants that? BRING BACK THE DUCK.
49. . . . I especially like the current one where he comes to the rescue of a damsel in distress and flies up from the street below and crashes through a wall in her apartment and then fixes all her bills, funny.
50. MY SENTIMENTS. Everything nowadays is Going Green. That's the new bandwagon to hop on. Last weekend on the Today show, Lester Holt said to his co-anchor Campbell Brown, "Remember when green used to be called ecology?" (Amen) Then Campbell said back to him, "You're really dating yourself." That wasn't very nice. (And she's old enough to remember the term ecology.)
51. Presidential candidate Mitt Romney's full first name is not Mitten. I thought it might be, and that his parents were in the glove-making business or something.
52. . . . Mitt is actually his middle name; first name is Willard (after J. Willard Marriott, his father's best friend) and middle name is Milton (Romney) , a relative who played football with the Chicago Bears.
53. . . . But this still doesn't tell us where the Mitt came from, sorry. Anybody know?
54. So is Anna Nicole Smith decomposing as we speak?
55. They say (on Entertainment Tonight, the most shilling entertainment news medium imaginable, i.e., Anna Nicole exclusive coverage) that the Bee Gees (Robin and Barry) may get together for some projects (concerts, new album). They've been estranged and are apparently talking again after the death of brother Maurice (which is pronounced Morris).
56. . . . Hope they lay off the falsetto this time around. They're a little too old to be faking that anymore; sound like a buncha chirping mice.
57. Arnold Schwarzenegger's on the cover of the AARP Bulletin, plugging his health care plan. He's got on a white doctor's smock with a stethoscope around his neck (he's an actor, right?) and hands on hips. He looks like he's holding his breath real tight. Maybe that's to keep that bodybuilder chest prominent and to de-emphasize his lower love handle area.
58. Tiger Woods is a cry baby. Every time you see him he looks teary-eyed ... Talking about his father, losing a match, etc. Grow up.
59. UH . . . Why Do Kids Grow Up? - Randy & The Rainbows on Rust (Laurie) Records, around 1963. The group's follow-up to doo wop classic Denise.

rocci@roccifisch.com