LA FLORIDIANA Will's Miami Madness, Part 1 by Will Moriaty | |||
THIS WEEK'S MOVIE REVIEWS "Alexander" by Mike Smith "National Treasure" by Nolan B. Canova | |||
ODDSERVATIONS Creature Feature Database Update....I’ve got “Vertigo”....Marc Almond recovering....Remake Raimi....Gina Vivinetto - New Wave ally by Andy Lalino | |||
SPLASH PAGE Ron, The NFL Thanks You And So Do I....How To Dismantle The Music Industry....Travel Survey Results Are In....Gayest Moments In Music by Brandon Jones | |||
MATT'S RAIL A Diamond In The Rough by Matt Drinnenberg | |||
MIKE'S RANT Happy Turkey Day....Radio Shack and Sandwich Mary....Passing On....And So It Begins....Happy Birthday....Meet The Beatles, Part 44 by Mike Smith | |||
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RON, THE NFL THANKS YOU & SO DO I
When Ron Artest raced into the stands, he did more than escalate a fight into a riot, he made us forget about Desperate Housewives and Monday Night Football. Ron isn’t known for his restraint as he destroyed a $100,000 HD-camera after a loss, took on Pat Riley and the whole Miami Heat bench in a shouting match, “accidentally” kicked Tony Battie in the back of the head, and jumps in the stands to fight with a fan who threw a plastic water bottle or cup of beer at him.
Then his teammates, who didn’t come to his aid, followed Ron to get a piece of the action. The riot was so misguided that the man who threw the bottle/cup was not who Artest attacked – that man was still holding his beer. Artest has been suspended for the rest of the year.
General Manager, Larry Bird says that they will do whatever they can to get Ron back on the team. Billy Hunter, president of the player’s union had this to say:
“It's an ugly chapter in general, but I think it's reflective of -- of, you know, basketball and sports are a microcosm of the system and I think that there's a lot of polarization in this country. We're at war with Iraq and I think people, to a great extent, have been kind of immune to violence until all of a sudden something like this kind of shakes us back into reality.”
Wow, I knew Bush had to be behind all of this.
Thanks Ron, I needed to look past the hollow apologies of the NFL and the networks for giving us the Desperate Housewives on the Monday Night (which had an all-time high in ratings this week.)
Thanks Ron, for reminding me why a kid that grew up in Indiana, played basketball since he was four and all through high school CANNOT and WILL NOT watch the abomination called the NBA.
To make this worse, can you believe the idiots in the NHL are still locked out? I think I’m going to be ill.
HOW TO DISMANTLE THE MUSIC INDUSTRY
While Ashlee Simpson and Eminem lip sync on Saturday Night Live and there’s a stabbing at the Vibe awards, U2 shows the music industry how it’s done. First off, they write their songs and play their own instruments -- that alone leaves U2 in small company, but the songs they write are about emotions.
For U2 and I it has always been about emotions. The connection to their music and the timing has always been fateful. This album may prove to be the same.
Inspired heavily by Bono’s father’s passing in August 2001, the atomic bomb proves to carry that atypical yet expected emotion inspiration. “Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own” was played at Bob Hewson’s funeral – it made my wife cry. “One Step Closer to Knowing” is so direct with the powerful lyrics that Bono has delivered for 25 years.
In the Blender interview, the revelation of 25 years became a reality and I’ll close with the comment: “They’ve been together longer than Elvis.”
Sure “Vertigo” may get your heart moving, but it’s emotions in the rest of the album that gets your heart moving.
TRAVEL SURVEY RESULTS ARE IN
Holiday travelers compiled some interesting tidbits as Oprah, Bill Gates, Jay Leno, Martha Stewart, Alan Greenspan, Richard Branson, and Warren Buffett to the lists of preferred seatmates.
70% of those traveling will use “avoidance tactics” to prevent smalltalk with their neighbors – common practices include reading (49%), earphones (41%), 27% pretend to sleep and 4% fake an illness.
Nearly one in four consider a flight an opportunity to meet a significant other. (24%)
So, one out of four are looking to get lucky, while the other three play avoidance games, even to the point of pulling out the bark bag.
GAYEST MOMENTS IN MUSIC
From the aforementioned Blender comes the Top 25 Gayest Moments in Rock ‘N Roll. Yeah, I didn’t there was such a category. Top 10:
10. Skid Row’s Sebastian Bach’s “AIDS: Kills Fags Dead” T-shirt I don’t know about you, but I’m curious about what other surveys we can come up with.
9. Boy George hires drummer and muse Jon Moss.
8. Kurt Cobain’s open-mouthed kisses on SNL.
7. Melissa Ethridge’s borrowed sperm.
6. Rob Halford of Judas Priest cracking his whip.
5. Cher’s video on the navy vessel.
4. Queen ('nuff said)
3. George Michael busted. (also nuff said)
2. Elton John out.
1. Y.M.C.A.
"Splash Page" is ©2004 by Brandon Jones. Webpage design and all graphics herein (except where otherwise noted) are creations of Nolan B. Canova. All contents of Nolan's Pop Culture Review are ©2004 by Nolan B. Canova.