February 29, 2004

MEN ARE FROM MARS: Marc

MEN ARE FROM MARS: Marc Cooper of LA Weekly, as quoted by Mickey Kaus, has an interesting theory about Sunday's presidential debate:

If you were a man from Mars who looked at the debate not knowing anything about the candidates or issues but just deciding who was most appealing, would you rank Kerry first? No. You'd rank him last. Kucinich and Sharpton might well be the Man from Mars winners, as performers--Kucinich was flush with that Hawaiian serotonin--with Edwards a close third.

I agree- if Edwards can win North Carolina, wouldn't you expect Kucinich to have a home-state advantage with the Man From Mars?

Posted by Stephen Silver at 09:52 PM | Comments (0)

QUOTE OF THE DAY: "To

QUOTE OF THE DAY: "To check out some drama dykes, I finally watched an episode of 'The L Word' in hopes of seeing who that kooky concoction is really for. The show started with two hot women making out as a guy peered through a window, jerking off. I rest my Birkenstocks, your honor." -Michael Musto, in the Village Voice.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 01:04 PM | Comments (0)

February 28, 2004

MICHAEL LEWIS VS. BASEBALL: Michael

MICHAEL LEWIS VS. BASEBALL: Michael Lewis, who last year turned the Major League Baseball world upside down with his Billy Beane biography/sabermetrics bible "Moneyball," has a piece (not online) in this week's Sports Illustrated defending himself from the many critics of his book- and he fights back so fiercely that you'd think organized baseball was systematically cracking down not on steroids, but rather on his book.
Now I've gone on record numerous times as saying that I loved "Moneyball," consider it the most important book about baseball since Jim Bouton's "Ball Four," and truly believe that the onset of statistical-analysis use as applied by Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane and others has been one of the most important developments in the last decade of the game. However, intrigued as I am by it I do not believe sabermetrics to be the be-all and end-all of baseball strategy, and I'm a bit irked by those who look on it in an almost messianic way. Lewis' SI piece is much more in that vein than the book was, and while he's right in some places the overall tone in the piece is paranoid, self-important and, above all, very arrogant.
Lewis writes of all the shots he's taken from the media and baseball establishment since "Moneyball" was published a year ago, lumping all the scattered voices who have dared to criticize the book into an amorphous entity he calls "The Club," as though players and executives and sportswriters and scouts are all on the same page and don't have natural feuds with one another. Sounding a lot like Rush Limbaugh bashing the Democrats, Lewis takes a few extreme examples (Joe Morgan's repeated, misinformed insistence that Beane actually wrote "Moneyball," and the ludicrous piece in the Toronto Star which argued that sabermetrics was racist), and paints anyone and everyone who ever argued with the book with the same conspiratorial brush. He writes not so much about "Moneyball" being a highly acclaimed, extremely successful best-seller that most fans loved; Lewis is too busy playing the victim to bother dwelling on the positive.
For instance, as an example of the "scorn" he and Beane have earned from various sportswriters (who, bizarrely, he twice calls "the womens' auxiliary"), Lewis includes this from Art Thiel of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer:

It was Beane who had a best-selling book, "Moneyball," written mostly about him, in which he bragged endlessly about outsmarting more wealthy clubs by reinventing the way players were evaluated.

It's critical of Lewis, yes- but is any part of that statement not true? Not to mention that in the original piece by Thiel, which doesn't even mention Beane until the 12th paragraph, the above statement is immediately followed with "much of Beane's system is a worthy consideration."
Lewis doesn't treat baseball establishmentarians as people with a differing opinion- he speaks of them as though they were heretics for daring to disagree with his book- even at one point comparing his battle with his critics to "a religious war... between creationists and evolutionists." True, sabermetrics is a revolutionary idea that has transformed the game and will continue to do so even more in the future- but does that mean the old way has never worked or will never work again? Of course not- there have been many great teams built various ways throughout history- would the '86 Mets have been so vastly improved if they'd brought in a centerfielder with a higher on-base percentage than Mookie Wilson's?
Additionally, is it not a legitimate argument to point out that Oakland has not yet won a playoff series and has suffered four straight first-round exits under Beane, or that another small market/low payroll team (the Florida Marlins) won last year's World Series without any use of sabermetrics at all? And of course baseball's fraternity of scouts has resisted the "Moneyball" phenomenon- if a new, untested theory were introduced that threatened to make your entire profession irrelevant, you'd fight it tooth and nail too.
But the biggest weakness of all in the piece is that "The Club" isn't nearly as monolithic as Lewis says it is: Someone in baseball must've liked the book, since one of the sport's most tradition-bound franchises, the Dodgers, just hired Beane protege Paul DePodesta as their GM, and more such hires are likely to come. In fact, what will probably happen in the next decade is that sabermetrics in baseball will end up like the West Coast offense in football- about half the clubs will use it, and teams will constantly be hiring GMs who are proteges of Billy Beane and proteges of his proteges, the way Bill Walsh begat George Seifert who begat Mike Holmgren. But other systems will be used by other teams, and no one will ever be under the illusion that Moneyball is the only way to go. After all, has anyone ever tried to argue that the West Coast offense is the only right way to win football games?
Michael Lewis wrote an entertaining, well-received, and very influential book which may in fact change baseball forever. But due to his apparent aversion to ever being criticized for any reason, he has unfortunately tarnished the book by writing a condescending, overly defensive polemic which is apparently based upon his belief that baseball doesn't appreciate him enough. He's spent so much time accusing others of being closed-minded that he's become closed-minded himself.

NOTE: Jeremy Wahlman, who will almost certainly be posting a contrary response to this entry imminently, met Lewis at a book signing last year, and is generally credited with being the very first person to alert Lewis to Joe Morgan's repeated claim that Beane wrote the book.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 09:17 PM | Comments (0)

A BIN LADEN CONSPIRACY?: To

A BIN LADEN CONSPIRACY?: To hear Dave Taylor of the Naples Daily News tell it, a US capture of Osama Bin Laden is "imminent," and Fox News knows it. Taylor speculates that the Bush Administration has Bin Laden in their immediate sights and that's why FNC reporter Bret Baier has been dispatched to the Afghanistan/Pakistan border. And since FNC is the most pro-Bush network, administration sources gave them the heads-up so they could have the exclusive on OBL's capture, with Fox's sure-to-be-fawning coverage sure to help Bush politically.
Aside from the complete lack of any hard evidence whatsoever, it's an interesting conspiracy theory, though I am prepared to eat my words if it does come off like that. But if US forces have been chasing Bin Laden around that region for the past two and a half years, why are they so sure he's about to be caught now? And wouldn't having a reporter nearby tip al-Qaeda off that the forces are about to swoop in?
Besides, you'd think that if a Bin Laden capture really were "imminent," that they would've sent Geraldo.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 08:43 PM | Comments (0)

HIS WORST MOMENT SINCE CAPONE'S

HIS WORST MOMENT SINCE CAPONE'S VAULT: As Bill points out, Geraldo Rivera's convoy was hit with enemy fire this morning in Iraq. He's okay, and has been appearing on TV to talk about it every 15 minutes since, but all it can do is bring to mind an SNL "Weekend Update" joke by Tina Fey:

Geraldo Rivera will leave his CNBC news show to go to Afghanistan as a war correspondent for Fox News. This raises an interesting moral question: do we have to act sad if Geraldo dies?"

Posted by Stephen Silver at 02:10 PM | Comments (0)

February 27, 2004

CHUTZPAH AWARD NOMINEE: The Milwaukee

CHUTZPAH AWARD NOMINEE: The Milwaukee Brewers, according to Jayson Stark, have put World Series MVP incentive clauses into the contracts of Wes Helms, Ben Sheets, Ben Grieve, Danny Kolb and Gary Bennett.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 10:24 PM | Comments (0)

HUH, HUH, YOU SAID "PHYSICAL":

HUH, HUH, YOU SAID "PHYSICAL": From a Sports Illustrated piece by Peter King about Maurice Clarett, his refusal to work out for NFL teams, and the growing irrelevance of the NFL Scouting Combine:

Clarett did not come across as well to inquiring minds. Asked what kind of player the team drafting him would be getting, he sounded more like Beavis than Jamal Lewis. "I don't know," Clarett responded. Then he chuckled and said, "cool."

Funny what can happen in the course of human events between a Tuesday and a Friday. Since Beavis is currently not under federal indictment for drug trafficking, and Jamal Lewis is, the Ravens would perhaps be better at this point with Beavis, Butt-head or Clarett in their backfield. Of those three, I'd say the best bet is Clarett: he may have only spent one year in college, but then Beavis and Butt-head are still stuck in middle school. Expect a lawsuit soon in regards to their draft eligibility.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 10:13 PM | Comments (0)

MUST-READ 'PASSION' LINKS: Some of

MUST-READ 'PASSION' LINKS: Some of them are repeats from before, but worth sharing regardless:
- Sheila O'Malley's review- mostly positive, and including a long discussion of whether or not the guy playing Pilate is “a babe."
- And here’s Bill McCabe’s, and he also (rightly) chastises people for bringing their babies to this film. I wish the other seven people we went with had written reviews, but they don’t have blogs.
- Leon Wieseltier’s TNR review, one of the most scathing film pieces I’ve ever read- though I appreciate his reference to a hypothetical “Upper West Side Sanhedrin.”
- Here’s a great Village Voice piece by Jessica Winter from last November, which looks at Gibson’s previous work and argues that he has a “martyr complex.”
- Roger Ebert’s four-star take, which seems rooted in nostalgia for his own Catholic upbringing- though I’m surprised to see Ebert, who normally worships at the altar of liberal message movies, love the conservative-endorsed “The Passion” as much as he does.
- Andrew Sullivan, in five paragraphs, goes from praising Gibson’s film to calling it “a deeply immoral work of art.” And as always with the Sage of South Goodstone, there are too many worthwhile follow-ups and reader e-mails to mention.
- Also in TNR, Sullivan’s protege Reihan Salam breaks down the pundits, naming NYT columnist Frank Rich “the Pope of pointy-heading cultural elites,” and declares that “if sneering were an Olympic sport, Rich… would be so heavily laden with gold medals as to render him immobile.” Also, the Muslim Reihan makes fun of the Catholic William Donohue for using the Jewish word “chutzpah.” Only in America!
- Dong Resin gives us a typically hilarious paragraph of “things not to say on your cell phone outside the Jesus movie.” Of all the links in this entry, his is the only one which mentions bukkake.
- New York Press unfortunately didn’t let Armond White near this one, but Matt Zoller Seitz contributes a lengthy but very interesting review. I had always assumed Seitz was Jewish but I guess he’s Catholic; he generally praises the film except for pointing out longtime homophobe Gibson’s apparent fixation on machismo and queer-ish characters (the androgynous Satan, Herod and his "La Cage" entourage, etc.)
- And lastly, once again, I can’t recommend the Jon Meacham Newsweek article enough.
Sorry for being all-"Passion"-all-the-time these last few days, but whatever you say about the film, it's not one that gets out of your system easily.

UPDATE: Got time for one more?: Christopher Hitchens takes a few whacks at Gibson too.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 06:16 PM | Comments (0)

BROOKLINE IN THE HOUSE!: Jeremy

BROOKLINE IN THE HOUSE!: Jeremy Wahlman, who now edits hockey highlights for a living (please don’t hate him) has returned from a months-long hiatus and is back blogging at Something’s Always Wrong. Go read all his posts- including the one where he takes partial (but very deserved!) credit for Michael Lewis' piece in the new Sports Illustrated.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 06:05 PM | Comments (0)

UH HUH- OH NO!: I

UH HUH- OH NO!: I find out from Gawker that Fannypack, the group behind last year’s infamous novelty hit “Cameltoe,” performed last night at Maxwell’s in Hoboken, which is exactly six blocks from my apartment. I didn’t go, of course, but if the show started at 9, the car containing myself and three others drove past the club- on our way to see “Passion of the Christ”- just as Fannypack was taking the stage. So don’t ever say entertainment options in North Jersey in wintertime aren’t diverse- there’s Christ- or “Cameltoe”!

Posted by Stephen Silver at 02:52 PM | Comments (0)

OSCAR PICKS: These are predictions,

OSCAR PICKS: These are predictions, not my personal favorites, though in most cases they're both:

Best Picture: "Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King"
Best Director: Peter Jackson, "Return of the King"
Best Actor: Bill Murray, "Lost in Translation"
Best Actress: Charlize Theron, "Monster"
Best Supporting Actor: Tim Robbins, "Mystic River"
Best Supporting Actress: Renee Zellweger, "Cold Mountain"
Best Original Screenplay: Sofia Coppola, "Lost in Translation"
Best Adapted Screenplay: Brian Helgeland, "Mystic River"
Best Documentary Feature: "Fog of War"
Best Animated Feature: "Finding Nemo"

I think I'll do a real-time "Oscar diary" Sunday night, could be fun.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 02:20 AM | Comments (0)

AND ON A LIGHTER NOTE:

AND ON A LIGHTER NOTE: Something I noticed while watching the film, and it bothered me the rest of the night:

Which is Jim Caviezel as Jesus- and which is Mick Foley as Cactus Jack?

Posted by Stephen Silver at 01:54 AM | Comments (0)

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MEL:

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MEL: After nearly a year of nothing but hype and controversy, tonight I finally saw Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ." So far this week the film's critical reception has been mixed, with a consensus forming around the view that the blood and gore was excessive, but that Gibson deserved to be exonerated of anti-Semitism charges.
Aside from the "mixed review" part, which I agree with, my conclusion is the opposite: I was less put off by the violence than most, yet there were indeed moments when I found "The Passion" uncomfortably- and disgustingly- anti-Semitic.
Now perhaps it's impossible to view this film through an objective lens, after following the firestorm for the past year and reading strong reviews both pro and con for the past few days. That said, Mel Gibson's unstilting arrogance, his disregard for the history of the Jews-killed-Jesus canard, and the well-established martyr complex that has seen his hero-characters tortured and (in the case of "Braveheart") crucified in the majority of his action pictures, have all been well-documented. Perhaps it is unfair to tar his film with that brush, but he has made it incredibly difficult not to.
Still, from a technical and filmmaking standpoint, 'Passion' is for the most part a marvelous picture, with beautiful cinematography by Caleb Deshanel and excellent storytelling (it is, after all, the "greatest story ever told.") Jim Caviezel, despite barely speaking, gives a very impressive performance as Jesus, and there are no weak links in the generally unknown cast. The violence has gotten all the attention and it was more than a little disturbing, but while cringing like I everyone else I wasn't "offended"- the massive amounts of gore were necessary for the film, and for that I give Gibson a pass- I'm not about to throw around the "pornography" charge, because I can't imagine anyone found this titillating.
Now there are certainly all sorts of questions about how faithful Gibson was to the Gospels, questions which might be better answered by a theologian or a Christian, of which I am neither. But my charge of the film as anti-Semitic has nothing to do with the words that are spoken and how they correspond to the New Testament, and everything to do with the choices Gibson makes as director- he casts every major Jewish role with stereotypically Jewish-looking actors, who -from Caiphus on down- behave like villains in a Jewish minstrel show. Not to mention Gibson's decision to shoot the crowd scenes wide, in order to establish unmistakably that a Jewish mob is calling for Jesus' death. Yes, Gibson agreed to take out the "His blood be on us, and on our children" line- but only under extreme duress; it would've been more honest and true to his convictions for Gibson to have kept the line in. I'm not worried that this will lead to pogroms or anything like that, but what does bother me is that Gibson would allow such a shameful depiction, and that he will make tens of millions of dollars doing it.
A few other things that rubbed me the wrong way: The androgynous-Satan character was way too silly for words, but that was nothing compared to Luca De Dominicis' interpretation of King Herod as what appeared to be a cross-dressing Elvis impersonator, surrounded by Cirque du Soleil clowns. That was just laughable, and way out of place in a biblical movie.
As I mentioned before, I saw the film with eight other people (including Bill and Sheila, who should have comments of their own pretty soon) and after it was over we spent almost a half hour talking about, debating about, and asking each other about the film- the Jews asked the Catholics about the Gospels, while the Catholics asked the Jews if we understood any of the Aramaic (I made out "L'Chaim"). I don't regret that I saw the film- it's flawed and offensive in many ways- but I can't deny that the film and debate surrounding it have both been quite thought-provoking.
Meanwhile, wherever you come down on "Passion of the Christ," or Jesus himself, this Newsweek piece by Jon Meachem is a must-read.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 01:08 AM | Comments (0)

February 26, 2004

WHAT'S YOUR SIGN: Some assholes

WHAT'S YOUR SIGN: Some assholes in Denver decided to take the "Passion" controversy the worst possible way and make a "the Jews killed Jesus" sign. But there is a silver lining- some enterprising web designers have come up with their own Church Sign Generator!
(Both story and sign thing via Mike Silverman.)

Posted by Stephen Silver at 08:35 PM | Comments (0)

SAD TALES OF OLD WRESTLERS,

SAD TALES OF OLD WRESTLERS, CONT'D: Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake setting off a bioterror scare in the Boston subway was bad enough- now it appears Jake "The Snake" Roberts has killed his own snake. The 48-year-old ex-grappler, who always used to carry a snake to the ring and drape it over his defeated opponent, was arrested along with his 59-year-old girlfriend on charges that they "malnourished and neglected [their] Burmese python snake" until the poor reptile died.
Fans of the documentary "Beyond the Mat" may remember Roberts as a lifelong mean drunk and drug abuser who blew as many chances in wrestling as Darryl Strawberry did in baseball. Despite all the dozens of wrestlers who have died early deaths from drugs and other causes, Roberts has managed to keep chugging along, even if he's had to neglect a snake or two along the way.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 08:17 PM | Comments (0)

THE LAST WORD ON "SEX

THE LAST WORD ON "SEX AND THE CITY": Rachel Elder has a great review on The Black Table; my personal favorite part is when she expresses her wish that the last episode of 'Sex' had ended the same way the "Twin Peaks" finale did, with Carrie running head-first into a mirror. And it would've been even cooler if her reflection in the broken glass had been a returning Kyle McLachlan.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 07:50 PM | Comments (0)

MR. LEWIS GOES TO JAIL:

MR. LEWIS GOES TO JAIL: Baltimore Ravens running back Jamal Lewis was indicted yesterday on federal drug trafficking charges, and today he turned himself in and plead not guilty. With that, Lewis becomes only the second-best Baltimore Raven to be indicted for a major crime, after Ray Lewis, who is himself only the second-greatest player in NFL history to be tried for double-murder.
Also, funny that in the afore-linked ESPN.com story, there's an ad for the DVD of "Playmakers." Some subversive anti-NFL tweaking there by the Bristol people, methinks!

Posted by Stephen Silver at 05:37 PM | Comments (0)

TALK ABOUT 'THE PASSION': I'll

TALK ABOUT 'THE PASSION': I'll finally be seeing "Passion of the Christ" tomorrow (Thursday) night with nine other people and the group, appropriately, will be about half Jews and half Catholics. The last time I saw a movie with a group that large was when 20 of us caught the opening showing of (cough) "Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace" back in '99.
I'll post preliminary comments here once I return, and will also be writing a full review for Hot Movie Ticket.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 12:25 AM | Comments (0)

A QUESTION FOR THE PRODUCERS

A QUESTION FOR THE PRODUCERS OF "ER": I know you guys have fallen in love lately with big, audacious special effects- hence the helicopter crashes, severed limbs, war-torn-Africa episodes, etc. But how do you propose to explain the presence of a tank in the middle of downtown Chicago? Unless it's a flashback episode set in 1968, I'm stumped.
If it weren't for Maura Tierney, Linda Cardellini and (especially) Thandie Newton, I might just have to stop watching that show.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 12:17 AM | Comments (0)

POINT 'DREAD': There's another big

POINT 'DREAD': There's another big movie coming out this week, though it's gotten about one one-thousandth the publicity of Mr. Gibson's Opus. It's "Broken Lizard's Club Dread," the follow-up to that troupe's brilliant 2002 comedy "Super Troopers," and it co-stars Bill Paxton in addition to the rest of the usual troupe. Because it's opening against 'The Passion,' an ingenious preview in Newsweek has labeled 'Club Dread' "the Anti-'Christ'," and quoted one cast member as saying that if 'Dread' somehow beats out Gibson's film at the box office, they will be "bigger than Jesus." Another point in 'Club Dread''s favor- it's unlikely anyone will die while watching it, which is more than I can say for Mel's movie.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 12:13 AM | Comments (0)

February 25, 2004

WHY WE LOVE THE POST:

WHY WE LOVE THE POST:

New York's Catholic cardinal's "message of love" in relation to the Jesus movie plays second fiddle to the story of a fugitive killer holed up in a Costa Rican gay strip club. 'Cause as we all know, the word "cardinal" doesn't sell nearly as many newspapers as the word "stripper."

Posted by Stephen Silver at 10:21 PM | Comments (0)

THE STERN VOTE, CONT'D: You

THE STERN VOTE, CONT'D: You thought the Stern voters were alienated before... now, Howard has been pulled from the air on all Clear Channel-owned stations, after an "offensive" bit aired on this morning's show. The cancellation was the result of a "zero tolerance" policy for "indecency" which was imposed on all Clear Channel on-air employees earlier in the week, apparently by someone who had never heard the Stern show before. As a result, until Stern assures executives that he "will conform to acceptable standards of responsible broadcasting," the show will no longer be heard in Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, San Diego, or Pittsburgh. Therefore, Floridians who appreciate raunchy morning-time humor are basically screwed, because Clear Channel also fired local morning host and Hulk Hogan confidante Bubba the Love Sponge earlier this week.
This is of course nonsense; Clear Channel is so scared shitless of avoiding fines from the Bush FCC that they're willing to alienate massive segments of their audience. Don't they realize that to an extremely large segment of the population, "zero tolerance" equals "zero fun"? And with the FCC going nuts post-Janet, the Bush Administration's insistence in re-igniting the culture war will only serve to even further separate the president from the "Stern voters" I spoke of earlier.
The press release announcing the news includes phone numbers and e-mail addresses for two of Clear Channel's in-house PR people; the over/under on death threats to those addresses in the next 24 hours should be around 1 million.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 10:13 PM | Comments (0)

WOLVES LOOM: The New Jersey

WOLVES LOOM: The New Jersey Nets are 13-0 under "Teaneck Larry" Frank, though tonight they travel to "Minny" to take on Garnett and the T-Wolves in a battle of division leaders. Methinks the streak ends tonight.

UPDATE: Timberwolves 81, Nets 68, no more streak. Still, it was quite a run for Mr. Frank.

UPDATE II:

Posted by Stephen Silver at 07:55 AM | Comments (0)

"GO THE GAY WAY!": No,

"GO THE GAY WAY!": No, this isn't another marriage post, but rather a review of today's Netflix movie, Rory Kelly's 1994 comedy "Sleep With Me." The film, starring Eric Stoltz, Craig Sheffer, and Meg Tilly, is probably best known for Quentin Tarantino's infamous monologue in which he argues that "Top Gun" was in fact about a man's struggle with his homosexuality (hence the title of this post). But it's also a very funny, albeit imperfect, comedy that fits very well into the "slacker romance" subgenre of the time, and it's about ten times better than the similar, contemporaneous "Reality Bites."
And another thing I liked about the film was the presence of the strikingly beautiful Meg Tilly, Jennifer Tilly's considerably more talented younger sister, who looks almost exactly like a girl I went out with in high school. Meg also starred in "The Big Chill" and "Agnes of God"- but, according to the IMDB, never appeared in another theatrical feature after "Sleep With Me." Anyone have any idea what became of her?

Posted by Stephen Silver at 12:55 AM | Comments (0)

QUOTE OF THE DAY: "President

QUOTE OF THE DAY: "President Bush came out today against gay marriage; according to Bush, the new Axis of Evil consists of Cher, Bette Midler, and Clay Aiken." -Conan O'Brien

Posted by Stephen Silver at 12:42 AM | Comments (0)

February 24, 2004

OUT OF THE MOUTHS OF

OUT OF THE MOUTHS OF TINKS: An exclusive interview with Paris Hilton's dog, over at Dong Resin's Joint.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 07:51 PM | Comments (0)

BUSH TO GAYS: DROP DEAD:

BUSH TO GAYS: DROP DEAD: Remember when the purpose of constitutional amendments were to expand freedoms? You know, freedom of speech, of the press, the right to vote, abolition of slavery, that sort of thing? Today, for the first time, a constitutional amendment has been introduced that will take away substantial freedom- namely, the freedom of gays to be recognized by their government. Today's backing by President Bush of an amendment that would not only ban gay marriage but also civil unions and benefit-granting laws by states is an abomination, and Bush's lowest moment as president.
Now it's likely that the amendment will never enjoy enough support to pass, which is a good thing. But regardless, the president has essentially told millions of people to go fuck themselves, in order to energize a "base" that will likely vote for him regardless- and don't forget, nearly a quarter of America's gay population voted Republican in 2000. Expect that number to now approach zero.
This straight guy is wholeheartedly supportive of gay marriage, for both liberal and conservative reasons: It's a civil rights issue that helps the people concerned and hurts no one, while at the same time encouraging both love and family values rather than promiscuity. This notion that seemed so completely radical as recently as two years ago is now a reality: it's legal in Canada, it's about to be in Massachusetts, and in the past two weeks more than 3,000 gay couples have been issued marriage licenses by the city of San Francisco. Have any Americans been injured the slightest bit by any of the above? Of course not.
Andrew Sullivan is, of course, the definitive place for commentary on this, but see also Mike Silverman. A huge fight is about to begin- and if an eventual Bush loss is traced back to today, I won't be the slighest bit surprised. "Uniter, not a divider" my ass.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 05:19 PM | Comments (0)

FILM CRITIC QUOTE OF THE

FILM CRITIC QUOTE OF THE DAY: "'Monty Python's Life of Brian' offers a more accurate guide," Jonathan Foreman, reviewing "Passion of the Christ" in the New York Post. Ebert and Roeper liked it, but the film has been slammed by everyone from David Denby to Jeff Jacoby.
I'll be seeing the film on Thursday, but in the meantime check out this entertaining TNR piece by Reihan Salam, which gives thumbnails of the leading 'Passion' pundits.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 04:43 PM | Comments (0)

BLACKLISTED: My first-ever piece for

BLACKLISTED: My first-ever piece for BlackTable.com, an evisceration of ESPN's awful new reality show "Dream Job," is online right now as part of "The Black List" (fourth item from the top).

UPDATE: Apparently Sports Guy is with me on this one:

You think "Dream Job" would have unfolded like that if anyone at ESPN had consulted with me? Poor Tony Kornheiser almost slit his wrists on the air Sunday night.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 04:24 PM | Comments (0)

FUNNY GOOGLE SEARCHES THAT LED

FUNNY GOOGLE SEARCHES THAT LED HERE: I haven't done this in awhile, but noticed a few today:
- "Washington University in St. Louis, slut" (Looking for Cara Nussbaum/Kahn, no doubt).
- "Nude photographs, Aaron's Kevin Bacon" (huh?)
- "Image of Johnny Chimpo" (Yes! "Super Troopers" references rule!)
- "Barbra Streissand Memories lyrics" (And you thought you'd find that here why?)
- "Doug Faneuil gay" (not that there's anything wrong with that)
- "Ashleigh Banfield naked" (If only...)
- "A-Rod Boyfriend SNL" (See, I told you the A-Rod/Jeter gay jokes would start immediately!)

Posted by Stephen Silver at 01:36 AM | Comments (0)

QUOTE OF THE DAY: "I

QUOTE OF THE DAY: "I hate Ralph Nader. That's a pretty strong statement, since I'm just not much of a one for hate -- it takes too much energy. I don't even hate the roommate who stole $1,000 from me and reduced me to eating top ramen in water sauce for three months, then brought me up on racial harassment charges for objecting." -Jane Galt, in the middle of a long anti-Nader post. I've gotta hear that whole story- remind me to ask Jane about it at the next Blogger Bash.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 12:52 AM | Comments (0)

STERN VS. BUSH: According to

STERN VS. BUSH: According to blogger Jeff Jarvis, Howard Stern has backed off his previously stated admiration for President Bush, and now says he is unlikely to vote for Bush's re-election. Stern cited Bush's positions on abortion and stem-cell research as the key reasons for his shift, in addition to threats of censorship from Bush's FCC.
This is potentially huge news, if Bush has alienated the "Stern vote"- and I'm not just speaking of people who literally listen to Stern. Coming from any geographical and socioeconomic walk of life, the Stern voter is a guy who is generally secular, pro-free speech, pro-sex, but anti-PC, and turned off by both the parochialism and prudery of the right and the condescension of the left. I've referred to this segment of the population before as "horny libertarians," and their views are given voice by Stern, "South Park," and various other quarters of pop culture, yet by almost no one in politics, with the once-in-a-lifetime exception of the first Stern voter president, Bill Clinton.
You keep hearing about these "NASCAR dads" as the big swing voters for '04, but I don't imagine the Democrats have any shot at those guys. The Stern voters, on the other hand, are very much up for grabs- and if Bush can't get them in his column, he could be in trouble.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 12:40 AM | Comments (0)

EBERT VS. BISKIND: My two

EBERT VS. BISKIND: My two favorite living film writers (now that Pauline Kael is dead) are Peter Biskind and Roger Ebert, and now it looks like they're about to start a feud. In this week's Movie Answer Man column, Ebert answers a question about Biskind's current book "Down and Dirty Pictures" (which I am currently reading), and in it slams the author, writing that "Biskind has a way of massaging his stories to suit his agenda," and then quotes Steven Spielberg as saying that everything Biskind quoted him as saying in "Easy Riders, Raging Bulls" was false. (What, he wasn't really married to Amy Irving?) Ebert then goes on to quote a source who rips Biskind's book at length.
Biskind is yet to respond, and Ebert is not mentioned in 'Down and Dirty.' Not really sure who to root for here; I've immediately gone and looked up Ebert's review after each and every film I've seen in the last decade, though two of Biskind's books ("The Godfather Companion" and 'Easy Riders') are among my favorite movie books of all time. Can't you just get along, guys?

Posted by Stephen Silver at 12:18 AM | Comments (0)

February 23, 2004

SHOW ME YOUR iTUNES: Vodkapundit

SHOW ME YOUR iTUNES: Vodkapundit suggests everyone press "shuffle" on their mp3 collection, and list the first ten songs that come up. Here we go:

1. Dana International, "Diva"
2. Stereophonics, "Handbags and Gladrags"
3. Ryan Adams, "Note to Self: Don't Die"
4. Scorpions, "No One Like You"
5. Bob Dylan, "Highway 61 Revisited"
6. Rufus Wainwright, "Good Night Sweetheart"
7. Rooney, "Daisy Duke"
8. Corn Mo, "Busey Boy"
9. Men Without Hats, "Safety Dance"
10. Green Day, "I Fought the Law"

Notes: Of the ten, only one (1) is sung by a transgendered Israeli pop diva, only one (8) is about being mistaken for Gary Busey, and only one (10) was downloaded by me even though it appeared in a national anti-downloading commercial.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 09:49 PM | Comments (0)

"MODESTLY ENDOWED": Why does that

"MODESTLY ENDOWED": Why does that phrase always seem to find its way into mainstream media articles about my alma mater Brandeis? Today my school gets the profile treatment from the Boston Globe, on the occasion of Jehuda Reinharz's ten years as president. No big surprises in the piece, aside from a description of the school's new Center for Middle East Studies, which Reinharz promises will be "non-ideological" (sure), and the figure that 'deis is now 54% Jewish.
Generally, the piece trots out the usual comparisons to Harvard and all the stuff about the university unendowment being small, though aside from that it looks like something that was drawn up by the school's PR department. And there's no mention, of course, of the Passner incident.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 09:23 PM | Comments (0)

QUOTE OF THE DAY: "And

QUOTE OF THE DAY: "And then, along comes Sean Hannity, whose new book has the following obscene title: 'Deliver Us From Evil: Defeating Terrorism, Despotism and Liberalism.' Why obscene? It is obscene for Hannity to purloin a sentence from the Lord's Prayer in order to advance his partisan political views. And yes, it is also obscene to equate terrorism and despotism with liberalism. Hannity isn't worthy to speak the word 'liberalism,' a long and complicated and deeply Western political tradition that is the only reason he can actually publish a book like this and face only criticism. To place it in the same context as "terrorism" reveals that this man has no understanding of what this war is about. It's a war in defense of liberalism, in defense of pluralism, in defense of the various peaceful Western political traditions that Islamo-fascism would snuff out in an instant." -Andrew Sullivan, who also gets in some digs at Michael Moore for good measure.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 02:33 PM | Comments (0)

REPORTS OF MY DEMISE HAVE

REPORTS OF MY DEMISE HAVE BEEN GREATLY EXAGERRATED: No, I'm not dead, but this Steve Silver is, and for some reason his death notice from nine years ago comes up first in an MSN search of my name, when really this blog should instead. That guy wrote the musical "Beach Blanket Babylon," which I've probably only heard of myself 'cause of my own Google searches.
So if you looked me up and thought I was dead- good news, I'm alive and well. But unfortunately, it looks as though I'll never have an Al Hirschfeld drawing of myself, like he did:

Posted by Stephen Silver at 02:09 PM | Comments (0)

THE NYT'S MOST DISCREDITED BYLINE

THE NYT'S MOST DISCREDITED BYLINE SINCE JAYSON BLAIR'S: For my first two years in New York, except on rare occasions, I refused to read the New York Times, for a few reasons: I hated its stuffy tone, I didn't appreciate its negative coverage of Israel, and I liked the Post better anyway. Then in my last job I had to write a news summary that required me to read it (and four other papers) every single day, and slowly but surely I learned to appreciate certain things about the Paper of Record, so long as I kept to the online edition. And since the fall of Howell Raines, and hiring of David Brooks as a columnist, the Times has undoubtedly gotten better, and I've found myself denouncing it less and less.
Until today, that is. Noam Chomsky on the op-ed page? Bashing Israel? Excuse me? I thought the Times would know better than to open their editorial page to a man who has spent the last three decades teaching two generations of college students to hate their country. This would be like if the Wall Street Journal ran an op-ed by Mel Gibson's father.
The only silver lining is that it'll likely be the piece that launched a thousand fiskings. Bring it on, bloggers!

Posted by Stephen Silver at 03:03 AM | Comments (0)

ROBERT COLESBERRY, RIP: The end

ROBERT COLESBERRY, RIP: The end of "Sex and the City" and the upcoming return of "The Sopranos" are getting all the attention this week, which has unfortunately overshadowed another HBO development: the death last week at the age of 57 of Robert Colesberry, Jr., who co-created HBO's cop drama "The Wire." An amazingly dense and complicated series, "The Wire" was my pick for the best television program of 2003, and in addition to creating and producing the show, Colesberry also occasionally appeared as an actor. Colesberry also co-produced such great films as "Mississippi Burning" and "61*," and served in the Army as a young man.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 02:34 AM | Comments (0)

NO MORE 'SEX,' EVER AGAIN:

NO MORE 'SEX,' EVER AGAIN: My last word on "Sex and the City": Yes, it was at times cringe-inducing, especially with the dumb puns (SNL's parody last week was right on, for once) and for the past five years it's been impossible to walk down any street in Manhattan without hearing some woman screeching into her cell phone about Carrie and her shoes. But for some reason, HBO-on-Sunday habit perhaps, I've ended up watching it most weeks regardless.
So a few thoughts on the finale: I could've made six relatively easy predictions before the episode (Carrie finds her necklace, ends up with Big, and leaves Paris; we find out Big's name, Charlotte gets a baby, Samantha doesn't die) and been exactly right. All were the right decision for the writers to make, but really, was any one of those really a surprise? Next thing you'll tell me "Friends" will end with Ross and Rachel getting together!
Also, since Miranda's character arc wrapped up weeks ago, the writers had to come up with a lame plot for her at the end that distracted from everything else in the episode. And the slap, and subsequent "chase scene"? Please... but the ending was satisfying, and I guess that's what counts. A "Sex and the City" movie? I bet we'll see a "Simpsons" movie first, and I'm still holding out hope for an "X-Files 2."
Befitting my schizophrenic relationship with "Sex and the City," I'll follow this lengthy post by never speaking of the show on this blog again.

MEANWHILE: The rest of the HBO calendar, as made clear by commercials everyone saw tonight:
March 7: "Sopranos" fifth season premiere; I plan to blog after every single episode without apology, I hope you don't mind.
April 17: Chris Rock special.
June: "Six Feet Under" fourth season premiere.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 02:15 AM | Comments (0)

I THOUGHT TWICE, IT WASN'T

I THOUGHT TWICE, IT WASN'T ALL RIGHT, or TODAY'S NETFLIX MOVIE: Rabid Dylanologists, and fans of unintentional comedy, will love "Masked and Anonymous," though I'm not convinced anyone else will. The film, which marks Bob Dylan's first major film role in decades, is a melange of post-apocalyptic nonsense and celebrity cameos and was one of the most critically ravaged 2003 films this side of "Gigli," with Keith Phipps of the Onion AV Club getting in the best dig: "Dylan's performance doesn't offer any clues. He's an icon and he delivers an icon's performance, literally: He could easily have been replaced by piece of wood with his face painted on it."
In a war-torn America that more resembles a third-world country, Dylan stars as a past-his-prime rock troubadour brought out of jail to perform at a "benefit concert," for exactly what purpose is never really made clear. While Dylan is not playing himself by any means and in fact appears to be some sort of Christ figure, his music is nonetheless featured throughout.
Dylan's "performance" is similar to much of his recent music, in that it's monosyllabic and you can't understand a word he's saying; for most of the film he merely listens while the likes of Luke Wilson, Giovanni Ribisi, Val Kilmer, and Ed Harris (in blackface!) deliver nonsensical monologues. It also leaves intact Penelope Cruz's unblemished, six-year record of not appearing in a single watchable English-language film.
The film concludes with a climactic brawl between reunited "Big Lebowski" co-stars Jeff Bridges and John Goodman, which owes a debt to the WWF; folding chairs and guitars are used as weapons as though Hulk Hogan were wrestling the Honky Tonk Man.
"Masked and Anonymous" is pretty worthless except as comedy, which makes sense considering it was directed by longtime "Seinfeld" and "Curb Your Enthusiasm" writer/producer Larry Charles. They're saying now that Todd Haynes is set to begin work on an authorized biopic of Dylan; even if it's as weird as Haynes' previous work, it has to be better than "Masked and Anonymous."

Posted by Stephen Silver at 01:38 AM | Comments (0)

I'LL HAVE WHAT SHE'S HAVING:

I'LL HAVE WHAT SHE'S HAVING: According to Entertainment Weekly, a stage version of "When Harry Met Sally..." is currently being, uh, mounted in London. Even more strangely, the show stars Luke Perry and Alyson Hannigan. Will the Harry character have sideburns instead of a beard? Will Sally's Katz's Deli "Big O" scene involve a flute?

Posted by Stephen Silver at 01:30 AM | Comments (0)

MUSIC CRITIC QUOTE OF THE

MUSIC CRITIC QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Granted, [Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood's] 'Bodysong' is an indie-film soundtrack, but it still manages to do the unthinkable: make 'Kid A' sound like an 'N Sync greatest hits package." - David Browne, in Entertainment Weekly.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 01:01 AM | Comments (0)

GIMME SHELTER FROM BILL O'REILLY:

GIMME SHELTER FROM BILL O'REILLY: The host of "The O'Reilly Factor" has made enough of a fool of himself defending Mel Gibson in relation to "Passion of the Christ," going back to when he excoriated the New York Times for "going after Mel Gibson's father," without revealing that said father is, uh, a Jew-bashing lunatic. Never mind that O'Reilly has only on some occasions revealed that Gibson's production company has optioned his novel, or that Mr. Factor has a huge problem with liberal celebrities intruding in politics, yet not with a fanatic like Gibson doing the same.
O'Reilly embarrasses himself yet again in his syndicated column/"review" of the movie, as he attacks ADL head Abe Foxman for crusading against the film. "Your Humble Correspondent" then says this:

Even Abraham Foxman, the militant leader of the Anti-Defamation League, now admits the film is not anti-Semitic. Yet Foxman continues to object to it on the basis of what it might do. And that's the crux of this matter. Some Jews believe persecution is just a shout away, to quote Mick Jagger.

Now perhaps its too much to expect a boring fuddy-duddy like O'Reilly to correctly interpret the music of the 1960s counterculture, when he's almost certainly never listened to the Stones in his life. But according to the "Am I Right: Misheard Lyrics" page, the "just a shout away" line in "Gimme Shelter" is wrongly quoted: the correct lyric is "just a shot away," which is a cautionary reference relating to violence, not to shouting. Judging by his recent temperament, O'Reilly might want to take the "shouting" part under advisement.
(The page also lists the alternative interpretation "It's just a shadow, eh?," which may have sufficed had Jagger and Richards been Canadian). What's next, O'Reilly using Jimi Hendrix's "Excuse me, while I kiss this guy" as an argument against gay marriage?
Then there's this pretty laughable final paragraph:
It is Gibson's prerogative to use the Gospels to make that point. It is also the prerogative of his critics to frown on the project. But trying to destroy the man's reputation is something else. It reminds me of Roman justice: Guilt or innocence really didn't matter as long as the harsh punishment set a frightening example. Ad hominem, indeed.

So Gibson's "suffering," due to criticism he's suffered while making the film, is just like the crucifixion of Jesus! Of course! Like Gibson's allowing himself to be tortured and/or crucified in almost every one of his movies didn't hammer the point quite enough!

Posted by Stephen Silver at 12:51 AM | Comments (0)

February 21, 2004

BARUCH HA'SHEM: The recently-returned Asparagirl

BARUCH HA'SHEM: The recently-returned Asparagirl points out a wonderful thing: now that Saddam Hussein is out of power, Israeli citizens are now able to give back their government-issued gas masks. Anyone who was alive at the time of the first Gulf War remembers just about everyone in Israel putting on gas masks when Saddam fired Scud missiles at Tel Aviv and other places.
Why the gas masks? Oh yea, 'cause Saddam had weapons of mass destruction. Why would Israel bother to provide gas masks for its entire population if the whole WMD threat had been "sexed up?" All part of the grand Zionist conspiracy, I suppose.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 11:57 AM | Comments (0)

February 20, 2004

ONE! TWO! JESUS WAS A

ONE! TWO! JESUS WAS A JEW!: I haven't written too much about "Passion of the Christ," probably because I don't really feel comfortable reviewing a movie sight-unseen before it has even been released. What does concern me a bit is that Mel Gibson has done a whole lot to make himself look like an asshole, from his embarrassing, I-am-God hubris to his refusal to repudiate his loony Holocaust-denying father to his own answering of a question about the Holocaust with the very noncommital "atrocities happened, war is horrible." And no, merely inviting such right-wing Jews as Dennis Prager and Michael Medved to a screening doesn't even come close to making up for it.
I do plan to see the film, for no reason other than to enable myself to participate in the debate, though I don't really feel like giving Gibson any of my money. So I figure I'll probably just buy a ticket to another movie and then hop to Mel's.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 07:18 PM | Comments (0)

IS CHRIS MATTHEWS DRINKING AGAIN?:

IS CHRIS MATTHEWS DRINKING AGAIN?: Just now, when a Democratic spokesman compared Bush's economic record to that of President Hoover, Matthews asked, "did you just exhume Herbert Hoover for one more punch in the nuts?" Let's see if he apologizes by the end of the show, like he did last year when he referred, on the air, to evidence of weapons of mass destruction as "bullshit."

Posted by Stephen Silver at 07:07 PM | Comments (0)

BLADES OF STEEL: I write

BLADES OF STEEL: I write a lot about how The Onion isn't particularly funny or relevant anymore, but this absolutely had me howling. "Stick two more blades in there. I don't care how. Make the blades so thin they're invisible. Put some on the handle. I don't care if they have to cram the fifth blade in perpendicular to the other four, just do it!"

Posted by Stephen Silver at 06:52 PM | Comments (0)

QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Frankly,

QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Frankly, sharing a media market with Chuck Schumer is like sharing a banana with a monkey. Take a little bite of it, and he will throw his own feces at you." -Senator Jon Corzine (D-NJ), on his across-the-river, same-party colleague, in the Daily News.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 06:48 PM | Comments (0)

NEWS ITEM: Ralph Nader will

NEWS ITEM: Ralph Nader will likely run again for president. Prediction: he will not be a factor. Those who voted for him in 2000, unless they're insane, now realize that Nader's primary reason for running (the two parties are exactly the same!) was nonsense. These lunatics from the Dean blog notwithstanding.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 06:45 PM | Comments (0)

A POX ON ALL YOUR

A POX ON ALL YOUR HOUSES: People such as myself who enjoy poking fun at all political ideologies at once will enjoy this, filtering a series of issues through the liberal, conservative, libertarian, and communist lenses. Example:

The speed limit should be...

CONS: 75 MPH on Interstate highways.

LIBL: reduced to 15 MPH to save lives, and resources.

LBRT: abolished. This will result in an immediate 50 percent reduction in highway fatalities, because a motorist barreling along at 150 MPH only spends half the time exposed to the hazards of the road, as someone plodding along at 75 MPH.

COMM: irrelevant, because after the revolution everyone will commute in public transportation.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 05:27 PM | Comments (0)

AND THE DISEMBODIED VOICE HE

AND THE DISEMBODIED VOICE HE RODE IN ON: As discussed earlier, Max Kellerman has officially left ESPN's "Around the Horn" and will host a new half-hour show on Fox Sports Net.
Aside from a slightly bigger paycheck, I don't see how this could possibly be a good career move, as it seems everyone else is going the other way- Jim Rome, Michael Irvin, and Stephen A. Smith have all jumped from FSN to ESPN in the last year. Never mind that Fox Sports gets a small fraction of the ratings of the Worldwide Leader, following its ill-fated plan to "go national" and compete with ESPN a few years back.
Despite my distaste for "Around the Horn"'s bizarre, nonsensical concept, I do like Kellerman- his personal story is interesting, and the man is a Yiddish enthusiast! I wish him luck, but since I don't have FSN, I doubt I'll see him on TV again for the foreseeable future.
(Hat tip, DaveWagz).

Posted by Stephen Silver at 12:39 PM | Comments (0)

BLACK HATS VS. TRUCKER HATS:

BLACK HATS VS. TRUCKER HATS: From the people who brought us Jewsweek.com, there's a piece in New York Magazine about the growing, "Do the Right Thing"-like feud going on in Brooklyn's Williamsburg neighborhood between the Hasids and the hipsters. The Orthodox Jews in the area don't appreciate the hipsters' "morally suspect nightlife" and contribution to high real estate prices, whereas members of the Trucker Hat Brigade counter that the Hasidim "willingly have ten-plus children... feed most of them on food stamps, and displace everyone else in the neighborhood." About all the two sides can agree on, according to authors Steven I. Weiss and Zachary Sholem Berger, is "a taste for black attire."
I never know who to root for in these "old neighborhood"/hipster/gentrification battles, because I generally have equal contempt for the territorial hubris of all sides. But I wouldn't worry too much about another Crown Heights happening; the hipsters are generally way too wussified to ever start an actual riot. Then again, maybe Howard Dean's withdrawal will have the same effect on them that Judy Garland's death had on the Stonewall people...

Posted by Stephen Silver at 12:29 PM | Comments (0)

WHAT WAS THAT ABOUT A

WHAT WAS THAT ABOUT A JOBLESS RECOVERY?: I am happy to report that after a not-so-extended period of unemployment, I'll be happily returning to the work force next week. I accepted a job on Wednesday as a general assignment reporter with Royal Media Group, a firm that publishes business periodicals and is located on 37th and Broadway in Manhattan, right between Times Square and Macy's. I'm excited, as my previous job search lasted nearly a year, while this one took just over six weeks.
This blog will of course continue, though starting next week I'd imagine there won't be many more 10-post days for awhile.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 01:43 AM | Comments (0)

CAPTURING JARECKI: This evening I

CAPTURING JARECKI: This evening I had the chance to attend a Q&A with Andrew Jarecki, director of the fine documentary "Capturing the Friedmans." The film, for those of you unfamiliar with it, concerns the tribulations of a family in Great Neck, Long Island after the father and one of the sons were accused of multiple counts of child molestation in the late '80s. The film is full of twists, including that the family had shot dozens of hours of home-video footage of their arguments, that one of the sons now works as one of New York's most popular birthday-party circus clowns, and that while the father was undoubtedly a pedophile, he and his son may very well have been innocent of the charges against them.
Jarecki who also, oddly enough, founded Moviefone, was an engaging and charming speaker, who showed clips from the DVD's voluminous bonus disc and later answered questions about the fascinating case. Jarecki was clear that he did not make the film as an advocacy piece, putting him directly at odds with the crusading and self-indulgent documentarian duo of Nick Broomfield and Michael Moore. He name-checked "Fog of War" director Errol Morris as his leading influence, and the two ironically are against each other in this year's Best Documentary Oscar category.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 01:38 AM | Comments (0)

February 19, 2004

NOSE CHILD LEFT BEHIND: The

NOSE CHILD LEFT BEHIND: The latest rumor is that President Bush once had a nose job. The easy thing would be to joke that this bit of news will give him more Jewish votes than any Israel initiative ever could, but that would be wrong; I think it's just a plant to counteract the Kerry botox stories.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 11:47 PM | Comments (0)

WIDE RIGHT: Last year's Patrick

WIDE RIGHT: Last year's Patrick Dennehy case at Baylor marked (allegedly) the first teammate-on-teammate murder in NCAA sports history; now we've apparently had the first teammate-on-teammate rape. Katie Hnida, a kicker who a few years ago became one of the only women to play college football, now tells SI's Rick Reilly she was raped by a teammate at the University of Colorado; this follows allegations that strippers were used for recruiting parties at CU, and that one stripper was herself raped.
Buffaloes coach Gary Barnett previously did what was thought impossible -he took Northwestern to the Rose Bowl- but he's about to be a household name for another reason: asked for comment on the Hnida accusation, Barnett told a reporter "It was obvious Katie was not very good. She was awful... Katie was not only a girl, she was terrible. OK? There's no other way to say it." This is right up there with Baylor coach Dave Bliss trying to pin drug charges on Dennehy, the day after the player's body was found.
Barnett has been placed on administrative leave and, considering that the president of the university is a woman, I can't imagine he'll ever coach at CU again. And seeing as how the two previous coaches of the program have been Promise Keepers founder Bill McCartney -who once accepted a "fifth down"- and Rick Neuheisel, who committed 51 NCAA recruiting violations in four years, Colorado really knows how to pick winners.
As for the SI story, considering that Rick Reilly is the highest-paid sportswriter in America, it sure is good that he actually, you know, broke a story for once.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 02:47 PM | Comments (0)

QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Give

QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Give the Democrats some credit. At least our soldiers aren’t still being libeled as baby killers, at least not by the establishment of the Democratic Party. (The goons in International ANSWER are another matter. They haven’t even caught up with the 60s. They’re still stuck in 1917.)" -Michael Totten, going after those coming up with Vietnam-related libels for both Kerry and Bush.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 01:53 PM | Comments (0)

ABOUT F'N TIME: Former Enron

ABOUT F'N TIME: Former Enron CEO Indicted on 42 Counts. Clearly CFO Andrew Fastow rolled on Skilling; now hopefully Skilling will roll on Ken Lay.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 01:48 PM | Comments (0)

BARREIRO BAILS: The Minneapolis Star

BARREIRO BAILS: The Minneapolis Star Tribune sports section, which I grew up reading, has had no change whatsoever in its lineup of sports columnists for the last 15 years- but that's about to change, because Dan Barreiro announced today that he's leaving the paper. Barreiro cited the proverbial "time for a change," in addition to the also proverbial "philosophical differences with management."
Barreiro will continue his call-in talk show on KFAN, which is sometimes co-hosted by noted Twin Cities sports personality "The Common Man," Dan Cole.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 12:56 PM | Comments (0)

IN CASE YOU DOUBTED NORAH

IN CASE YOU DOUBTED NORAH WAS FOR REAL: Ms. Jones' album took exactly six days to go platinum, selling 1.02 million copies in its first week to easily come in at #1 on the Billboard charts- the best debut for a CD in nearly three years. Like its predecessor, "Feels Like Home" only gets better the more you listen to it- so maybe eight more Grammys aren't totally out of the question.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 12:11 AM | Comments (0)

February 18, 2004

PTI 500: Today marks the

PTI 500: Today marks the 500th episode of the best talk show on cable television, ESPN's "Pardon the Interruption." With "SportsCenter" becoming increasingly unwatchable, PTI is now, for me at least, the primary source for sports information, along with Sports Illustrated and ESPN.com. Congrats to TK and Wilbon.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 05:33 PM | Comments (0)

SUSPENDED ANIMATION: NBA star Chris

SUSPENDED ANIMATION: NBA star Chris Webber, who just returned from an injury that's kept him out of action since the start of the season, was hit with an eight-game suspension by the league- five games for violating the league's substance-abuse policy, and three for admitting that he lied to a grand jury.
Now I'm not exactly Mr. Stop the Drug War, but isn't it a bit unfair that the NBA considers failing a drug test to be a greater violation, and worthy of a longer suspension, than lying under oath to a grand jury, especially one investigating whether he'd been paid while at Michigan?

Posted by Stephen Silver at 01:10 PM | Comments (0)

"HE CLEANS UP AFTER HIMSELF

"HE CLEANS UP AFTER HIMSELF WITH A SOCK": Now we're on to Phase Two of the Triumph the Insult Comic Dog vs. Canada feud. While the original anger over the anti-Quebec bit by Triumph -who is, for those who seem to have forgotten, a puppet- has begun to subside, a whole other set of Canadians has a beef with America's Foremost Insult Comic Dog: fans of a Canadian sock puppet known as "Ed the Sock," who also holds a cigar in his mouth and taunts celebrities with off-color insults, contend that the Triumph character is a mere ripoff.
True, Ed was around quite a while before Triumph. But a couple of holes in the theory: 1) Triumph is a dog, Ed is a, uh, sock. 2) The Triumph-interviewing-celebrities part didn't come up until two or three years into the evolution of the character; prior to that he was a one-joke character who said "for me to poop on" and went to the dog show every year, 3) Triumph follows every joke with "I Keed," whereas Ed gets into actual shouting matches with his "adversaries," 4) Triumph, with his Russian accent and old-school sensibility, is a homage to the Yiddish theater and Borscht Belt comics of the early 20th century, whereas Ed is, as Jim Treacher says, humor "for people who feel threatened by the understated wit of 'The Man Show.'" And 5) (most importantly), Triumph is funny, and Ed is not.
I just want to see Ed and his backers pick a fight with Conan/Smigel/Triumph, and thus be left in Triumph's dust (poop?) like Eminem, the Pets.com dog, and Quebec before them.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 11:56 AM | Comments (0)

MEET THE NEW BOSS: Rick

MEET THE NEW BOSS: Rick Kaplan is the new chief of MSNBC, and says he plans to stick with the current primetime lineup for now. Three words: Don't Fire Olbermann! 'Cause now that the Kerry sex scandal appears dead, he won't be storming off on his own.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 11:14 AM | Comments (0)

HOWARD'S END: According to the

HOWARD'S END: According to the AP, Howard Dean will drop out of the presidential race, after spending nearly a half year as the frontrunner yet failing to win a single Democratic primary. Somewhere in Burlington, Zephyr Teachout is weeping.
I was, of course, never a Dean supporter, though I do certainly admire the way he was able to galvanize the Democratic base in a way that few others have managed to in the last decade or two. Granted, this didn't translate into actual, you know, votes, but I am intrigued by Dean's plan to keep his organization together and turn it into a sort of all-purpose pro-Democratic interest group. No reason Blog For America can't continue indefinitely.
If you'd told me three months ago that Howard Dean would leave the race the day after Alex Rodriguez was introduced at Yankee Stadium while gays rushed to get legally married in San Francisco, I'd have laughed in your face, certainly. But still, today is the saddest day for America's hippies since the death of Jerry Garcia.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 11:07 AM | Comments (0)

I NOW PRONOUNCE YOU SHORTSTOP

I NOW PRONOUNCE YOU SHORTSTOP AND SHORTSTOP:

Why do I have the feeling these two men are about to the subject of even more gay jokes than Frodo and Sam?

Posted by Stephen Silver at 10:56 AM | Comments (0)

WELCOME BACK, GREG: Greg Maddux

WELCOME BACK, GREG: Greg Maddux today will sign with the Chicago Cubs, returning to the team with which he started his career before jumping to the Atlanta Braves a decade ago. Then again, Maddux was the Cubs' only good pitcher in the early '90s, and now he'll line up behind Wood, Prior, and Zambrano in the rotation. It's the first good personnel move by the Tribune Company probably since they traded for Sammy Sosa.
Going from the loathsome Atlanta Braves back to the friendly confines of Wrigley Field- isn't that the baseball version of making Aliyah?

Posted by Stephen Silver at 10:51 AM | Comments (0)

A FROG AND A PIG

A FROG AND A PIG IN ORLANDO: The Walt Disney Company has purchased the rights to the Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy characters from Jim Henson's heirs for an undisclosed sum. The move, hopefully, means we'll no longer be seeing the haphazard licensing of the Kermit character and subsequent abominations such as "Vomiting Kermit" and "Douchebag Kermit" will both be a thing of the past, along with that "Kermit and Big Bird Stoned" mp3 we were all subjected to a few years ago.
Then again, since the very disturbing incident the other day in which a worker dressed as Pluto was run over and killed by a float at Disney World, I'd watch my back if I were Kermit and Piggy. And considering what Kermit's been up to lately, do we need to worry about him running off with Minnie Mouse or something?

UPDATE: Oops, spoke too soon- Vomiting Kermit was on Conan tonight (Wednesday), complete with Mickey Mouse ears. Charming.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 10:24 AM | Comments (0)

"YOU DON'T HAVE ANY MORE

"YOU DON'T HAVE ANY MORE USEFUL INFORMATION, DO YOU NINA?": Best "24" episode since the bomb went off.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 01:21 AM | Comments (0)

ALE YEA: McSorley's Ale House

ALE YEA: McSorley's Ale House on E. 7th Street, which is everybody's favorite old-school Irish bar in New York, celebrated its 150th birthday yesterday, marking one and a half centuries of only serving two varieties of ale ("light" and "dark"), while recommending four beers at a time.
The Post account of the anniversary points out that the tavern was a popular spot for post-funeral gatherings in the post-9/11 period; LilB and I happened to close the bar there two nights prior to 9/11.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 12:15 AM | Comments (0)

February 17, 2004

NEWS ITEM: Former '90210' actress

NEWS ITEM: Former '90210' actress Tori Spelling to wed actor Charlie Shanian. Will hundreds of protestors show up at the wedding, chanting "Tori Spelling Marries, Tori Spelling Marries"?

Posted by Stephen Silver at 09:26 PM | Comments (0)

"THE AGGRESSIVE IMPULSES OF AN

"THE AGGRESSIVE IMPULSES OF AN EVIL EMPIRE": Sports Guy gives us the official Red Sox fan spin on the A-Rod deal, taking a couple of nasty shots at Affleck for good measure. Did you notice that post-J. Lo, Ben has gone back to his "Chasing Amy"-era goatee and near-pompadour?
"Isn't working for the Weinsteins basically the Hollywood equivalent of playing for the Yankees?" Exactly. Miramax, for the first time in a decade, isn't up for Best Picture this year- does this mean the Yanks won't make the playoffs?

Posted by Stephen Silver at 01:43 PM | Comments (0)

DOUG STAYS: I haven't done

DOUG STAYS: I haven't done a post about my team the Minnesota Twins in about three months, for no other reason that they haven't done diddly-poo in terms of player movement since November. When pitchers and catchers report in a few days, the Twins will still be minus two starters and one reliever, and to say that miserly owner Carl Pohlad hasn't done much to address these needs would be the understatement of the year.
Which was why I was glad to see today's news that the Twins have re-signed my favorite Twin, first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz, to a two-year contract with an option for a third. Many thought Doug was on his way out of town ahead of the emergence of young 1B Justin "Nosferatu" Morneau, but the Twins have apparently decided they're better off keeping Your Olympic Hero around. And as the only person on the Eastern seaboard with my own Doug Mientkiewicz jersey, I'm thrilled.
Gleeman has more, and he's somehow found something Twins-related to write about every weekday of the off-season.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 11:51 AM | Comments (0)

ON LAST NIGHT'S DENNIS MILLER

ON LAST NIGHT'S DENNIS MILLER SHOW: The most eclectic panel ever: Mark Cuban (who is quite a lefty for someone who sold his company to Yahoo for $6 billion), Mickey Kaus (who I had never, ever seen before outside of his blog), and Republican pollster Kellyanne Conway, who still wears her hairstyle from 1985 and managed to link John Kerry to both "Hollywood elites" and "cocktail parties" in one sentence.
And note to Dennis- the "Weekend Update" bits don't work without a studio audience- what's the point of telling jokes if there's no one to laugh at them? (The current SNL "Weekend Update" regime can't elicit laughs even with a studio audience, but I digress; at least Miller, unlike Jimmy Fallon, can get through a segment without giggling).

Posted by Stephen Silver at 11:30 AM | Comments (0)

RETURN TO "ZION": Blogging supercouple

RETURN TO "ZION": Blogging supercouple Brooke "Asparagirl" Schreier and Scott "Dr. Suarez" Ganz have finally launched their long-awaited joint blog, "Protocols of the Yuppies of Zion," certain to be a daily stop from now on.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 11:09 AM | Comments (0)

February 16, 2004

HAPPY PRESIDENTS DAY: To paraphrase

HAPPY PRESIDENTS DAY: To paraphrase Chris Rock, you don't have to like the president today. All you have to do is not work.
But much more profoundly, there's this:

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

-President Abraham Lincoln, November 19, 1863

Posted by Stephen Silver at 06:27 PM | Comments (0)

A-ROD, THE DAY AFTER: SOME

A-ROD, THE DAY AFTER: SOME THOUGHTS:
- The Yankees now have four players with contracts in the nine figures, including the first $100 million player (Kevin Brown) and the first $200 million player (A-Rod). No team with even one $100 million player has ever won a World Series.
- But that said, do the Yankees even need a second baseman? Even if it's Miguel Cairo, who's set to make $850,000, the average 2004 salary of their infield will still be nearly $11 million. And Cairo's '04 salary is still $50,000 more than Alfonso Soriano's.
- Humiliating as A-Rod-to-the-Yankees is to the Sox, there is a silver lining: Had the Yankees' trade not happened, Sox fans would've kept up hope all season that A-Rod-to-the-Sox would eventually happen; now that they know it won't, they can finally accept that A-Rod's not coming. And start coming up with creative new Nomar-and-Manny rumors- how about both to the White Sox for Frank Thomas and Magglio Ordonez?
- On paper, of course, the Yanks have one of the strongest teams ever- but what about the dreaded "locker room chemistry"? True, it's not like football or basketball when the players "fight over the ball," but what if A-Rod and Jeter clash over who gets to play shortstop? Now that noted assholes Kevin Brown and Gary Sheffield have been added to the team, don't be surprised if things explode behind the scenes. And what if Javier Vasquez succumbs to Ed Whitson/Jeff Weaver-itis, and can't pitch in the Stadium? It's a long season, and a whole lot could go wrong.
- When Rangers owner Tom Hicks knew the Yankees were interested in Rodriguez, why didn't he go back to the Red Sox, in order to lure the rivals into a bidding war and thus get a better deal? Honestly, you've gotta wonder how this guy got rich in the first place.
- Referring to Jose Contreras as "Adebisi"- now that's funny.
- Check out SOSH and Baseball Primer for more.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 04:44 PM | Comments (0)

A FEW WORDS ON CELEBRITY

A FEW WORDS ON CELEBRITY WEIGHT LOSS:

Drew Barrymore (see above) is on the cover of this week's People Magazine, trumpeting her recent loss of 20 pounds as she promotes her new movie "50 First Dates." The movie was filmed prior to her weight loss, and Barrymore is now apparently every bit as skinny as her boyfriend, Strokes drummer Fabrizio Moretti.
There's just one problem with all this: Barrymore looks better in the movie than in the magazine. Like many other actresses, most notably Renee Zellweger and Kate Winslet, Drew was about a hundred times sexier when she had curves, such as on a Vanity Fair cover last year, before apparently succumbing to pressure to starve herself down to People Magazine-approved levels. It's almost as bad as last fall's US Weekly expose of "How Christina Lost the Weight," published after the truly vile Christina Aguilera dropped from 90 pounds all the way back down to 80.
What sort of message does it send when these very attractive women -who are still thinner than most people as it is- are expected to drop even more weight, in order to "compete" with the likes of Paris Hilton? Even Beyonce Knowles has dropped pounds since recording the quintessential pro-curves anthem, "Bootylicious"- and Janeane Garofalo, who ten years ago did a famous standup routine about her hatred for stick-thin women, now is a stick-thin woman, though I'd posit that her cockamamie political activism is even more of a problem.
By putting allegedly "hot" women like Paris, Christina, and Brittany Murphy on one magazine cover after another, the publishers of the world are not only driving countless young girls to bulimia, but they're encouraging other celebrities who aren't rail-thin to go in that direction, to the detriment of both their attractiveness and, more importantly, their health. I've always heard women make this argument, but I'd really like to start hearing more men say it as well. I mean, does any guy think Sarah Jessica Parker is hot?

Posted by Stephen Silver at 03:20 PM | Comments (1)

TOUCH OF 'GREY': Fans of

TOUCH OF 'GREY': Fans of "folk/rap" are certain to enjoy the latest internet remix craze: Someone going by the handle "DJ Danger Mouse" has engineered a hybrid of Jay-Z's "The Black Album" and the Beatles' "The White Album," which is called, you guessed it, "The Grey Album." EMI is trying to prevent release of the compilation, but it can be downloaded in full here. It's good stuff, especially the marriage of "Change Clothes" to "Little Piggies."

Posted by Stephen Silver at 02:57 PM | Comments (0)

GROSSMAN OUT: The Dean camp

GROSSMAN OUT: The Dean camp says chairman Steve Grossman has left the campaign; yea, that tends to happen when you speak publicly about endorsing the opposition. Yea 'deis!
And as for the Kerry thing, the woman (Alexandra Polier) now says she did not have an affair with the senator. At one point are we allowed to stop calling Matt Drudge a "journalist"?

Posted by Stephen Silver at 02:43 PM | Comments (0)

MONEYBALL COMES TO CHAVEZ RAVINE:

MONEYBALL COMES TO CHAVEZ RAVINE: Baseball's sabermetric community is rejoicing today, as the Los Angeles Dodgers have hired Billy Beane sidekick and "Moneyball" figure Paul DePodesta as their new general manager. With the move the Dodgers become major league baseball's fourth "sabermetric team," following Oakland, Toronto, and Boston, and the first in the National League.
I wrote a review of "Moneyball" last year that likened the sabermetric movement in baseball to the neoconservative movement in politics; funny that the Dodgers only embraced one after they were sold by Rupert Murdoch, one of the world's chief enablers of the other.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 02:37 PM | Comments (0)

NEW REVIEW: Here's my take

NEW REVIEW: Here's my take on "House of Sand and Fog," at IOFilm.com.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 09:43 AM | Comments (0)

CHUTZPAH AWARD NOMINEE: Disgraced former

CHUTZPAH AWARD NOMINEE: Disgraced former New York Times reporter Jayson Blair has floated the idea of donating a Jayson Blair Journalism Scholarship to his alma mater the University of Maryland. Administrators, of course, have said "hell no."

Posted by Stephen Silver at 09:31 AM | Comments (0)

February 15, 2004

SPEAKING OF OUTKAST'S UNPRECEDENTED POWER:

SPEAKING OF OUTKAST'S UNPRECEDENTED POWER: Big Boi and Andre provided musical accompaniment for the player introductions at tonight's NBA All-Star Game, adding credence to Michael Wilbon's description of All-Star Weekend as "Black Thanksgiving." Outkast represented quite a step up on the zeitgeist scale from last year's introduction house band, Kool and the Gang.
Meanwhile, Christina Aguilera's hip-hop take on the "Star Spangled Banner" was the worst rendition of the anthem I've heard at a sporting event since Roseanne. Good thing Beyonce's in the building to almost make up for it.

UPDATE: The halftime show is being opened by Michael McDonald? WTF?

Posted by Stephen Silver at 09:48 PM | Comments (0)

ANOTHER RED SOX NIGHTMARE: And

ANOTHER RED SOX NIGHTMARE: And again, it's all Aaron Boone's fault. If he goes home from the pickup basketball game five minutes earlier, he doesn't get hurt, Alex Rodriguez stays in Texas, and Red Sox Nation has one less reason to feel sorry for itself. But as it is, A-Rod is a Yankee, as New York's two-day pursuit proved more effective than Boston's two-month effort.
Yes, the two best shortstops in baseball are on one team, and neither of them is Nomar... With A-Rod at third to go with Jeter, Giambi, Sheffield, Matsui, Williams, and Posada, the Yankees will be expected to set an all-time record for scoring, and could conceivably have seven guys knock in more than 100 runs. But don't print out those World Series tickets just yet- the team still has quite a few questions in the areas of pitching and defense, and you never know what'll happen with injuries. And with the Bombers' salary/luxury tax bill for just this year possibly equaling A-Rod's 10-year contract ($252 million), the best bet for their rivals may just be to hope for Steinbrenner to go bankrupt.
So the Yankees will enter the season looking like an invincible dream team- much like how the Lakers entered the current NBA season, and we all know they've had their share of trouble. If I were Theo Epstein, I'd give some thought to sending a concierge up to Jeter's room in Tampa.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 09:46 PM | Comments (0)

SALT LAKE SURPRISE: With today's

SALT LAKE SURPRISE: With today's trade of University of Utah alumni Keith Van Horn and Michael Doleac, Knicks hoop boss Isiah Thomas has finally purged New York of Scott Layden's creepy Utah fetish. Of the small army of former Jazz and Ute players brought in and signed to inexplicably astronomical Knicks contracts by Layden, only Shandon Anderson remains.
Getting rid of Simon-from-"Real-World-Paris" lookalike Van Horn, who goes to Milwaukee, was a no-brainer; the Knick faithful were never going to accept the player who replaced Sprewell, especially not if he was a goofy-looking white guy who's now been traded five times in six years. Doleac wasn't doing much either, and while Tim Thomas may be a career underachiever himself, he's not nearly as embarassing as Van Horn. Having a big center named "Nazr" will help them even more- imagine the punny headlines ("Nazr Party"?) in the Post.
The Hawks, for their part, seem to be moving ever closer to their goal of having no players left at the end of the season, in order to have, you guessed it, cap space. Does anyone else realize how overrated "cap space" is? No one's ever parlayed cap space into a championship, and every team in the last ten years that's had tons of cap space has either a) signed a bunch of players who ended up sucking, or b) been unable to sign anyone because no one wanted to play for such an awful team. I could see the Hawks going either way, so I guess that counts as "flexibility."
At any rate, the Knicks have made their third good trade in a row, after a years-long streak of bad ones. Never thought I'd praise Isiah, but he's done good.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 09:16 PM | Comments (0)

KERRY UPDATE: The "Kerry sex

KERRY UPDATE: The "Kerry sex scandal" story appears to be... dead! Yes, Kerry's denial made news, but that was the story on Friday and Saturday but nothing since. And Drudge has nothing new. Hmm...
In the meantime, stick a fork in Howard Dean- now even his campaign chairman (former Brandeis board chairman Steve Grossman) seems ready to shift to Kerry.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 08:29 PM | Comments (0)

ALL THAT PAZZ: Four things

ALL THAT PAZZ: Four things I learned from reading the entire Village Voice Pazz & Jop music critics' poll: 1) Andre 3000 now officially controls the universe, 2) Robert Christgau has regressed in his old age into even more of a simpering buffoon than before, 3) Everyone (including women) wants to nail Karen O, and 4) If Bush is re-elected in November, there will be a mass suicide of rock critics- which would be, if you ask me, the primary silver lining of such an event.
Meanwhile, without further ado, the three best quotes:
Second runner-up: "We love [50 Cent] like a fat kid loves cake." -Nick Catucci.
First runner-up: "I wish Big Boi and Andre 3000 were gay, and a couple, and advocates for gay marriage." -Smith Galtney.
Winner: "R. Kelly is party to a long tragicomic tradition. Johnny Ace lost at Russian roulette. Sam Cooke was shot in a low-rent motel. Otis Redding's plane crashed. Jackie Wilson had a stroke onstage. Al Green had steaming grits tossed on him. Marvin Gaye was assassinated by his cross-dressing father. Sly coked away his career. Bobby Brown married the queen and lost his kingdom. And then there's Michael Jackson. If you're the pre-eminent r&b loveman of your era, you are destined to be a huge fuckup."- Nelson George.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 08:09 PM | Comments (0)

February 14, 2004

A FINE COUNTRY, FOR ME

A FINE COUNTRY, FOR ME TO POOP ON: The government of Canada is up in arms about a segment that aired on last Thursday's edition of "Late Night With Conan O'Brien," in which venerable Conan character Triumph the Insult Comic Dog was shown rampaging across Quebec City, making fun of that city's citizens and fornicating with local dogs.
Proving that leftist politicians are just as insufferable and humorless north of the border as they are here, one New Democratic member of Parliament referred to the broadcast as "utterly vile" and "racist filth," while others complained that the show both made light of the Quebec separatist movement, and "seemed to suggest that everyone in [Quebec] is homosexual." I heard no complaints, however, about Conan's repeated jokes about unknown-in-America hockey commentator Don Cherry, or the lack of a performance by the Canadian power trio Rush. WKIKYA has more.
Gee, it's a good thing we live in a country in which the federal government doesn't intrude in the broadcast of innocuous televised entertainment. Oh, wait.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 02:53 PM | Comments (0)

A-ROD IN THE BRONX?: According

A-ROD IN THE BRONX?: According to Newsday, the Yankees are aiming very high in their effort to replace injured third baseman Aaron Boone: they're talking to the Rangers about acquiring Alex Rodriguez. The proposed trade would send second baseman Alfonso Soriano to Texas, along with pitcher Jose Contreras and another player or two, for Rodriguez, who would then shift from shortstop to third base alongside Derek Jeter.
A few, shall we say, problems with this scenario: Hasn't Texas already promised their season-ticket holders that Rodriguez will return, and also made him team captain? Why would they take back Soriano when they could have had a far superior player, Manny Ramirez? And why would Rodriguez agree to play third for New York when such a move wasn't even considered for Boston?
From a Yankees standpoint, I know they're supposed to have "unlimited money" and all, but is it really a good business move to give up Soriano's nothing contract for that of the game's highest paid player? If the idea is to replace Boone at third, doesn't giving up Soriano then leave a huge hole at second? And the Yankees are expected to have enough trouble with fielding this year- why bring in another guy to play out of position?
If this actually comes close to becoming a reality, expect the Red Sox to jump back in once again with a counteroffer. But regardless, my take remains the same: unless Jeter gets hit by a bus, Alex Rodriguez will never play for the Yankees.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 02:13 PM | Comments (0)

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY FROM ANDRE

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY FROM ANDRE 3000: Thus spake Outkast:

My name is Cupid Valentino, the modern day cupid. I just want to say one thing.

Happy Valentine's Day!
Every day the 14th!
I don't think ya'll heard me?
I just wanna say Happy Valentine's Day!
Every day the 14th!
Can ya'll dig that?

Now when arrows don't penetrate,
Cupid grabs the pistol,
He shoots straight for your heart,
And he won't miss you.
That's alright ya'll won't believe in me anyway but,

Ya won't believe in me but you would fancy leprechauns or ground hogs,
No thank you, Easter Bunny!
There's all this talk about Santa Claus, but see love will rule supreme.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 02:01 PM | Comments (0)

BILL MAHER QUOTE OF THE

BILL MAHER QUOTE OF THE WEEK: "If the anti-gay marriage amendment passes, what are gay men supposed to do? They can't all marry Liza Minnelli."

Posted by Stephen Silver at 12:26 AM | Comments (0)

February 13, 2004

NEWS ITEM: A U.S. National

NEWS ITEM: A U.S. National Guardsman, Ryan Anderson, is arrested for cooperating with al-Qaeda. When the federal agents captured him, did they begin the interrogation with "Mr. Anderson..." ?

Posted by Stephen Silver at 05:25 PM | Comments (0)

KERRY "SCANDAL," DAY TWO: After

KERRY "SCANDAL," DAY TWO: After 24 hours, the mainstream media has still all but ignored the Kerry/intern story, through Drudge and Wonkette keep dueling for scoops. Kerry denied the rumors on Don Imus' radio show (syndicated by MSNBC) this morning, but not even the denial made the news.
One interesting wrinkle- the woman mentioned by name by a British tabloid is, if Google is to be believed, an AP reporter. This nugget of info opens a whole other ethical can of worms, does it not?
In other too-much-information news, another Sullivan vomit story! (This time, it's his dog!).

Posted by Stephen Silver at 02:58 PM | Comments (0)

E TU, BRUTUS THE BARBER?:

E TU, BRUTUS THE BARBER?: Another former pro wrestler is in trouble with drugs, though this time the Department of Homeland Security may need to get involved as well. According to the Boston Herald, 46-year-old Ed Leslie, known in the '80s by the ring name Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake, inadvertently caused a bioterror scare on Monday when he left a bag of white powder (cocaine) in the Downtown Crossing subway station in Boston- where the former wrestler now works as a fare collector. Police thought the cocaine was anthrax, causing the evacuation of the station pending the arrival of a HAZMAT team; the ex-grappler has since entered rehab.
Leslie/Beefcake was one of the WWF's biggest stars in the mid-late '80s, where he was known for knocking out opponents with his patented sleeperhold, after which he would give them "haircuts" with his barber-accented pruning shears. He was knocked out of action in 1988 when he had every bone in his face shattered in a parasailing accident, though he returned to the ring several years later, in the meantime hosting an interview segment called "The Barbershop"-where he presided over the famous moment in which Shawn Michaels kicked Marty Jannetty through a glass window.
Ironically, the week of Beefcake's arrest the #1 movie in the country is "Barbershop 2."

Posted by Stephen Silver at 02:24 PM | Comments (1)

QUOTE OF THE DAY: "During

QUOTE OF THE DAY: "During the Superbowl we were bombarded with ads featuring flatulent horses, crotch-biting dogs, a monkey making sexual advances to a woman." - Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), arguing that the Jackson nipple thing must have been a conspiracy. How does one deliver testimony like that without laughing?
(Then again, as soon as this Kerry thing explodes in the mainstream, you won't hear the name "Janet Jackson" again for months).

Posted by Stephen Silver at 06:56 AM | Comments (0)

February 12, 2004

THE KERRY SCANDAL: My first

THE KERRY SCANDAL: My first reaction to revelations that John Kerry may have had at least one marital infidelity? Who cares? It's no one's business but his own and his family's, and the same thing didn't keep either Clinton or Ah-nuld from winning elections. My second reaction? I knew about this years ago.
I had various friends in college who were involved with Democratic politics in Massachusetts, and I heard stories all the time about Kerry affairs- one classmate of mine met the Senator at a formal event and he spent the entire conversation staring at her cleavage. More specifically, one friend of mine in particular remembered a Boston Herald "Inside Track" gossip piece from 1998 about young women being seen leaving Kerry's residence late at night (that piece was found and blogged about today by Mickey Kaus). Funny, with Lexis-Nexis available, that no one had come across this before- this wasn't 25 years ago, it was 6 years ago.
At about 5:00 yesterday afternoon, I sent the following e-mail to my aforementioned friend:

Bush may be in trouble after all... Unless, of course, some of those Kerry womanizing stories start to come out. It's only matter of time, right?

I was only off by about 12 hours.
How is it possible that I knew about this, but none of the national press corps or opposing campaign operatives did? Now, perhaps members of the press knew and didn't reveal it, but opposing campaigns? This must be new information to them, or else it would have come out a long time ago, I'd imagine.
A couple other strange things: the existence of the story was supposedly revealed the other day by Wesley Clark, mere days before Clark dropped out- and endorsed Kerry. You've gotta think that subhuman reptilian slimeball consultant Chris Lehane, who formerly worked for Kerry and then jumped to Clark, must've had something to do with it.
And finally, Drudge ran the story in the mid-morning today, and the major blogs have all been all over it- but as of this writing (7 PM) there's nothing in the mainstream media- not on the New York Times or Washington Post websites, not on CNN- and (surprisingly) even Fox News has ignored it, as Brit Hume's panel danced around the story for 20 minutes, with Morton Kondracke even speculating that Kerry's emphasis of Bush's AWOL situation was a "preemptive strike against what's to come."
We'll likely hear more about this in the next few days, and it's unfortunate that this story will likely overshadow the historic debate over same-sex marriage going on this week in Massachusetts. But having just the other day watched the '92 election documentary "The War Room," I'm convinced this sort of thing won't hurt Kerry any more than it did Clinton. Unless, of course, Teresa Heinz goes through with her threat to "maim" her husband if he ever cheated on her.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 07:06 PM | Comments (0)

L&O DOES IT AGAIN: Last

L&O DOES IT AGAIN: Last night's "Law & Order" episode told a fascinating, even-handed story that handled the terrorism/civil liberties conundrum as well as any fictional treatment I've seen since 9/11. Using a version of the James Davis City Hall shooting as a starting point, the episode concerned a murderer who was put on trial using evidence that had been obtained by a military tribunal-like "secret court," and provoked all sorts of great questions: is it right to allow the federal government to search a man's house without telling him? But doesn't it not matter, when the man is clearly guilty of murder and the search was for the murder weapon? The episode didn't take sides, and handled everything fairly and tastefully.
Contrast that with a recent episode of the ridiculous lawyer show "The Practice," which began with a group of cops torturing an alleged cop-killer in his hospital bed and withholding treatment until he confessed- and the show, predictably, somehow shoehorned this into a particularly wrongheaded anti-Patriot Act argument, as though John Ashcroft were going into American cities and torturing people in hospitals. There's a reason "Law & Order" has lasted 14 years on the air, and "The Practice" is unlikely to run for half that time.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 06:56 PM | Comments (0)

STAT BOY STEPS IN: I've

STAT BOY STEPS IN: I've gotten about 100 Google searches about this today, so I figured I'd mention it again: Max Kellerman is apparently no longer the host of "Around the Horn," due to a contract dispute with ESPN. Tony Reali, "Stat Boy" on PTI, has sat in for him the last two weeks, though I have no idea whether or not he will permanently host the show. That's all I've got for now, but check back for more.

UPDATE: The Chicago Sun-Times says Kellerman is officially gone, and is likely to end up at Fox Sports Net; Reali is described as only a temporary host, while the network searches for a new host. If it's Sean Salisbury, I will never watch ESPN again.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 06:46 PM | Comments (0)

"WHAT MATTERS, THEN, IS INTELLECTUAL

"WHAT MATTERS, THEN, IS INTELLECTUAL FLEXIBILITY:" Great James Lileks Bleat today, asking whether all the stuff John Kerry said about veterans 30 years ago is still relevant today. I say it's not; nor does it mean anything that he sat three rows behind Jane Fonda at a rally in 1970. We're all allowed, Lileks argues, to believe stupid things when we're young. What's important, he argues, is whether or not your ideas "survive contact with the real world."
Amen to that. Everyone should have the right to revise their political beliefs, as they get older, smarter, and, especially, as global circumstances change.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 06:34 PM | Comments (0)

JESUS AIR: We've all heard

JESUS AIR: We've all heard that story by now of the airline pilot who asked the passengers on a flight whether they were Christians, and encouraged those who answered "yes" to proselytize to those who answered "no." Seemingly every passenger on the flight has appeared on at least one cable news talk show, and Jon Stewart joked that "religious fanatics flying a plane? What could possibly go wrong?"
I once, believe it or not, had a similar experience, though it did not involve Jesus. On a synagogue trip to Chicago when I was in eighth grade, we took Amtrak from Minneapolis, and as we were boarding the train the conductor got up in front of us and gave a long speech about how federal transportation funds were in danger of being cut, and that it was our responsibility to do something about that, such as writing a letter to our congressman. This was necessary, he said, because "you are the future of transportation in America."
I've ridden Amtrak a couple dozen times since, especially since moving to the East Coast, but strangely that was the one and only time the conductor ambushed us with a fundraising speech. Whether I'm still part of "the future," however, remains an open question.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 06:19 PM | Comments (0)

COUNTIN' ON 'MIRACLE': My take

COUNTIN' ON 'MIRACLE': My take on "Miracle" is online here; you've gotta love any movie in which the hero has a Minnesota accent, and former North Stars GM Lou Nanne appears as a character.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 06:06 PM | Comments (0)

JUSTICE DELAYED, NOT JUSTICE DENIED:

JUSTICE DELAYED, NOT JUSTICE DENIED: Stephen Heyman, who was forced out as editor-in-chief of The Brandeis Justice following last year's "Rhymes with Tigger" incident, has been reinstated to the position. Since he probably got railroaded worse than anyone else, it's good to see him back.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 09:18 AM | Comments (0)

ATKINS LIVES: For someone who

ATKINS LIVES: For someone who died nearly a year ago, Dr. Robert Atkins sure can't seem to stay out of the news. His diet is more popular than ever, with even the fast food establishment buying in; there was that whole kerfuffle between Mayor Bloomberg and Mrs. Atkins; and now it's in the news that Atkins weighed as much as 260 pounds at the time of his death.
Then again, that last part of the story is looking a bit sketchy: it came from confidential medical records that were leaked to the Wall Street Journal by a group of militant vegetarian physicans called PCAM; why such a leak isn't being investigated, Plame/Novak style, remains a mystery. Not to mention that Atkins' large weight was apparently due to pounds he gained from an IV while in a coma prior to his death. And that the doctor's death came from a fall on a sidewalk, and had nothing whatsoever to do with his weight.
So this story is not only tasteless and possibly improperly obtained, but it's also both irrelevant and incorrect. Almost as questionable as that NYT sex-slaves story. Which is, somewhat unbelievably, being made into a movie by the director of "Independence Day."

Posted by Stephen Silver at 12:20 AM | Comments (0)

QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Beyoncé

QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Beyoncé shows off her five Grammy Awards won for Best Ass, Nicest Ass, Hottest Ass, Most Bootylicious and Best Solo Performance by a Chick With a Nice Ass." -a caption by blogger Paul Katcher.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 12:06 AM | Comments (0)

February 11, 2004

HEY YA!: Outkast has swept

HEY YA!: Outkast has swept this year's Village Voice Pazz & Jop music critics poll, grabbing the #1 spot on both the single and album lists. I maintain my original position that "Speakerboxx/The Love Below" is enjoyable, yet overrated, as it's saturated with filler and inferior to Outkast's previous work. But regardless, "Hey Ya!" is unquestionably the best single of the year, and possibly of the decade.
The White Stripes, Fountains of Wayne, Radiohead, and The Yeah Yeah Yeahs round out the top five on the album side; once I've read the whole thing, I'll be back with the best (and worst) critic quotes.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 11:39 PM | Comments (0)

NETWORK PROGRAMMING DECISION OF THE

NETWORK PROGRAMMING DECISION OF THE YEAR: Bravo will broadcast "Fatal Attraction" on the evening of Valentine's Day.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 11:28 PM | Comments (0)

ALL I WANT, THE SIX

ALL I WANT, THE SIX MONTHS AFTER CHRISTMAS: What three pop-culture events was I most looking forward to in the first half of 2004? The new Norah Jones album, the Peter Biskind Miramax book, and the fifth season of "The Sopranos." Today, on at least some level, I experienced all three.
How is "Feels Like Home"? It's very, very good. Not "Come Away With Me" good, but still good. Most likely it will only win two or three Grammys, instead of eight, but don't hold that against it. Best songs are "Sunrise," "Those Sweet Words," and "Humble Me"; I'm not crazy about the Dolly Parton duet, but that's just me.
Biskind's "Down and Dirty Pictures" arrived via Amazon today; I've been looking forward to the book ever since it was announced, due to my love of the author's '70s opus "Easy Riders, Raging Bulls," which may very well be my favorite non-fiction book of all time. Biskind this time gives the treatment to '90s indie Hollywood; I can't wait to get started reading it.
And as for Tony and Co., we've got just once month to go out of the 15-month layoff, and tapes of the first four episodes were sent to critics this week. One such critic was the world's foremost "Sopranos" authority, the New York Post's Adam Buckman- though even the cynical Buckman calls the series "revitalized," mostly due to new characters played by Steve Buscemi, Robert Loggia, and legendary Hoboken tough-guy actor Frank Vincent. Ah, yet another reason to look forward to "Sex and the City" ending forever...

AND SPEAKING OF HBO SUNDAY NIGHT: This year's "Curb Your Enthusiam" season started a bit slow but has gradually improved throughout, as there's been at least one laugh-out-loud moment in each of the last three episodes. I'm thinking specifically of the golf-club-at-the-funeral thing, not to mention the picking-up-a-hooker-just-to-use-the-carpool-lane.
Then again, 'Curb' has sort of been overshadowed this year, partially because of the SATC hype, and partially because, on consecutive Sundays it's been up against the Golden Globes, the Super Bowl, and the Grammys, with the NBA All-Star Game and the Oscars still to come. At least that'll all be out of the way by the time "Sopranos" starts.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 11:17 PM | Comments (0)

GENERALISSIMO DICK CHENEY IS STILL...

GENERALISSIMO DICK CHENEY IS STILL... ALIVE: This is worse than the New York Post's "Yankees lose to Red Sox" editorial- MSNBC.com the other day accidentally posted a headline stating that Vice President Dick Cheney had died. The story was taken down as it is, for now at least, without basis.
IsDickCheneyDeadYet.com has more.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 02:41 PM | Comments (0)

CLARK OUT: Michael Moore's going

CLARK OUT: Michael Moore's going to have to find a new candidate, because Wesley Clark dropped out of the presidential race last night. The General Who Hated War (and was hated by all the other generals) just never seemed to get it going, especially after the emergence of the Kerry juggernaut. As a Democratic strategist quoted by TNR says, the general running for president was "like Michael Jordan playing baseball."
Not sure how Clark's withdrawal will affect the remainder of the race, but I'm certain Dick Morris will come up with a Hillary-centric theory about it.
For what it's worth Clark's website, 12 hours after he dropped out, has yet to get around to updating itself with this pertinent information.


SPEAKING OF MISGUIDED CANDIDATE SITES: Another lovely campaign website- Project Deanlight. Because when I think of successful grassroots efforts, the first thing that always comes to mind is "Project Greenlight"... Dean's "House of Ethernet Cards" continues its slow collapse.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 09:26 AM | Comments (0)

February 10, 2004

THE BLIND LEADING THE BLIND:

THE BLIND LEADING THE BLIND: According to the New York Post, Oprah Winfrey expressed her thanks to Stevie Wonder for performing at her televised birthday bash by buying him a $400,000 Rolls Royce. Yes, she bought a car for Stevie Wonder. Yes, I know celebrities love to drive expensive cars, but I've got a feeling Stevie doesn't so much.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 09:03 PM | Comments (0)

CHRIS ROCK, OBSERVED: The New

CHRIS ROCK, OBSERVED: The New York Observer this week has a lengthy interview with Chris Rock by Frank DiGiacomo- though I'm not so sure it counts as an "interview," seeing as how about 75% of the piece consists of verbatim quotes from Rock's latest standup routine. Still though, this is brilliant stuff:

All this celebrity news is just some bullshit to get your mind off the war. I think Bush sent that girl to Kobe’s room. To get your mind off the war. He sent the girl to Kobe’s room. He took the little boy to Michael Jackson’s house. Bush killed Laci Peterson. Bush was fucking Paris Hilton. All of this shit is to get your mind off the war.

That HBO special, by the way, will be "sometime in the spring."

Posted by Stephen Silver at 08:15 PM | Comments (0)

QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Tonight

QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Tonight we're going to have on Joe Trippi, who was Howard Dean's campaign manager, but is not responsible for Dean's more recent results." -Chris Matthews, introducing Trippi on tonight's "Hardball."

Posted by Stephen Silver at 07:05 PM | Comments (0)

FROM BRANDEIS U TO THE

FROM BRANDEIS U TO THE FU: The near-impossible has happened, as Chris Ford, who this time last year was head basketball coach at my alma mater Brandeis University, has been named coach of the Philadelphia 76ers after the NBA team fired Randy Ayers today.
Ford, who once coached Larry Bird with the Celtics, took the Brandeis job in 2001, and I was virtually certain at the time that choosing to take over the basketball "program" of such a notably non-jock school would preclude Ford from ever coaching in the NBA again.
Don't ever I say I don't admit it when I'm wrong. But then again, after a month or two of dealing with Allen Iverson, Ford may start to long for the days of coaching Moshe and Schmuel.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 12:11 PM | Comments (0)

CONAN IN THE LIMELIGHT: Conan

CONAN IN THE LIMELIGHT: Conan O'Brien's Canada stand starts tonight; I'll be watching to see if he actually goes through with having Rush perform. That, and to see if the Masturbating Bear made it through customs, along with the Dancing Gorillas and Quake Guy.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 10:57 AM | Comments (0)

CRASH INTO MARS: Which is

CRASH INTO MARS: Which is a New York Times graphic of Mars, and which is a Dave Matthews album cover?




Posted by Stephen Silver at 12:49 AM | Comments (0)

February 09, 2004

NEWS ITEM: "Met's General Manager

NEWS ITEM: "Met's General Manager Ready to End 42-Year Opera Career" (NYT). Just as I was wondering how Jim Duquette finds time to sing opera while running the player personnel operations from Shea, I noticed the placement of the apostrophe.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 10:54 PM | Comments (0)

JELLY, OR SYR'P, COACH KNIGHT?:

JELLY, OR SYR'P, COACH KNIGHT?: This is great: There was that story last week in which Texas Tech basketball coach Bobby Knight got into an altercation with the university's chancellor at a salad bar in Lubbock. The story seems to have blown over and Knight was not suspended, but opposing fans (known to chant "Hoosier Daddy" at the ex-Indiana boss) have pounced- see this account from CBS Sportsline:

Kansas students taunted with chants of "Salad Tosser" and signs reading "The Red Rager."

You've gotta love when reporters miss the real story- thinking that "salad tosser" was purely a reference by those fans to the salad bar fight, and not a reference to this. Good thing Knight probably doesn't know; or else he might start choking students again. Or Chris Rock.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 06:11 PM | Comments (0)

NO LONGER AROUND... THE HORN!:

NO LONGER AROUND... THE HORN!: The much-maligned ESPN talk show "Around the Horn" is still on the air, but its host is not- Max Kellerman has been off both ATH and his boxing announcing duties the last two weeks, as Kellerman is apparently in a contract dispute with ESPN. In his chair has been Tony Reali, better known as PTI's "Stat Boy," and he's done an okay job- though the show's premise is so convoluted and pointless (sportswriters competing! over who gets to talk more!) I'd just as soon prefer to see it canceled outright.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 06:02 PM | Comments (0)

"SOLAR" POWER: Entertainment Weekly says

"SOLAR" POWER: Entertainment Weekly says next month will see the release of U2's next album, "Solar," the group's first studio release since 2000's "All That You Can't Leave Behind." Interesting, especially since last year the band's camp denied that the record would be called "Solar." Hmm...

Posted by Stephen Silver at 05:53 PM | Comments (0)

FOLLOW THAT PHANATIC: The Phillie

FOLLOW THAT PHANATIC: The Phillie Phanatic's head is missing; according to the Philadelphia Daily News, "there are no leads in the theft."

Posted by Stephen Silver at 05:30 PM | Comments (0)

NO "WONDER": According to the

NO "WONDER": According to the New York Post, Connecticut's Foxwoods casino is preparing to jettison one of the best ad campaigns in history (featuring the "Wonder Of It All" song) in favor of a new jingle. Whether the decision has anything to do with the casino wishing to distance itself from Pete Rose's recent appearance is unknown.
Anyway, I know I'll miss the old song, so here we go, one more time, for old times' sake:

The Wonder of it all...
Take a chance, make it happen
Pop a cork, fingers snapping
Spin the wheel, 'round and 'round we go!
Life is good, life is sweet
Grab yourself a front row seat
Let's meet, and have a ball
Let's live (let's live) for the wonder of it all!
Meet me at Foxwoods...
Foxwoods!

Posted by Stephen Silver at 03:12 PM | Comments (0)

MUSIC CRITIC QUOTE OF THE

MUSIC CRITIC QUOTE OF THE DAY: "The chart sensations of the past few years- 50 Cent's thugged-out hip-hop, Linkin Park's droning rap-metal, Norah Jones' pre-Beatles balladry- owe about as much to 'Rubber Soul' as they do to 'Rubber Duckie."- a piece in Entertainment Weekly asking whether or not the Beatles are still relevant; despite the one-liner, EW seems to conclude that they are indeed, mostly because many members of the current generation of teenagers have, like I did in high school, discovered the Beatles' music and come to realize how much better it is than most of the crap on the radio.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 03:07 PM | Comments (0)

BABY IN THE CORNER: Calpundit

BABY IN THE CORNER: Calpundit has a round-up of all the catty comments the right-wing bloggers on National Review's "The Corner" were making during Dubya's disastrous 'Meet the Press" appearance the other day. With friends like these, who needs MoveOn.org?

Posted by Stephen Silver at 03:03 PM | Comments (0)

GRAMMY NOTES: I had a

GRAMMY NOTES: I had a whole list of notes from tonight's Grammy broadcast that I accidentally deleted; but I'll see what I can remember:
- Prince and Beyonce dueting on "Purple Rain"- how old was she when that song came out? Two, three?
- When George Harrison's wife appeared, I was about to swear that if Yoko appeared I would turn off the broadcast and never return. Then, two minutes later, Yoko. Why wasn't she booed off the stage?
- Justin Timberlake's acceptance speech was one of the more bizarre things I've ever seen- he says thank you, he apologizes, he says "it's been a rough week for everybody" (?), and then five seconds later went back to celebrating. What, was he channeling all five members of 'N Sync at once?
- I think the Janet nipple incident was to this year's Grammys as the war in Iraq was to last year's Oscars- the sort of all-consuming world event that shadowed every moment of the proceedings. So what if the music industry and media can't grasp that the momentary flashing of a breast isn't even close to on par with global military conflict.
- That said, I for one didn't miss the presence of Janet Jackson for a second. Or Michael, for that matter.
- Celine Dion's microphone cut out during her performance, once again providing us with proof that there is indeed a God.
- Was I dreaming, or did Richard Marx really win a Grammy for Song of the Year? I guess Luther Vandross is a Marxist of the Richard variety.
- As for winners, it helped to be either young (Beyonce, Timberlake, Outkast), or dead (Johnny Cash, Warren Zevon, Celia Cruz, George Harrison).
- And what was up with 50 Cent rushing the stage when Evanescence won Best New Artist? That's certainly something 50 Shekel would never do.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 02:14 AM | Comments (0)

GOP AL?: There was a

GOP AL?: There was a piece in last week's Village Voice detailing the connections between Al Sharpton's presidential campaign and some longtime Republican operatives, including the notorious Roger Stone.
The point of the piece, by Wayne Barrett, seems to be that Sharpton and the Republicans are intentionally conspiring to screw the Democrats out of the presidency. I think to come to that conclusion, truthfully, would be to give Sharpton too much credit. No, Al isn't turning GOP. But, I suppose there's some truth to the proposition that Stone's job has long been to attack Democrats, and that's what Sharpton's been doing for the entire primary season.
In all, it's part of the reverend's grand scheme to muscle himself into national politics by operating much the same way he has in New York politics for more than two decades- by trashing everyone else, and then crying "racism" when they even think of firing back. He's used this brilliant method to turn himself into a power broker in Big Apple politics- and cost more Democrats elections than you can count on one hand.
As I've said before, Al Sharpton's one and only reason for running for president is to promote Al Sharpton, mostly so that he can score himself a prime-time convention address. So he's going to stay in the race right until the end, and if he's kept off the convention dais, don't think for a second he'll do everything he can to keep John Kerry from becoming president. Because in Al's cosmos, politics are irrelevant- if you "disrespect" him, he'll fight back with all his might, and if he needs GOP operatives to help him, then so be it.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 01:47 AM | Comments (0)

February 08, 2004

IT WAS 40 YEARS AGO

IT WAS 40 YEARS AGO TODAY, ED SULLIVAN TOLD THE BAND TO PLAY: Yes, today's the day; just as all the 50th anniversaries of the various World War II events occurred throughout the '90s, I'm looking forward to the 40th anniversaries of every major event in Beatles history, including every album.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 08:15 PM | Comments (0)

BUSH WHACKED: When I saw

BUSH WHACKED: When I saw Christopher Hitchens speak two weeks ago, he was asked what he thought of President Bush's case for war in Iraq. "If he had made the case convincingly," Hitch said, "I wouldn't have to."
I remembered that exchange this morning as I watched the President of the United States get absolutely crushed by Tim Russert on "Meet the Press." Now I'm far from a Bush-basher; while I didn't vote for the man and disagree with him on numerous subjects, I don't hold the visceral hatred of the president that many of my friends do, I believe he's neither a moron nor evil, and I've agreed with his major foreign policy campaigns, namely the liberation of Afghanistan and Iraq.
But today, on Russert's show, Bush lived up to every single negative stereotype his enemies have of him- he was ill-informed, inarticulate, tripped over his words, and neglected to answer questions on numerous occasions. His answer for everything, if not preceded by a long pause, was "that's politics." The president seems to make the Iraq war case even more shoddily every time he tries, while his defense of his deficits was even weaker than that. And while Bush could have used the opportunity to put the resurgent Air National Guard story to bed, he punted that answer as well.
I've been pretty convinced all this time that the Democrats were facing an uphill battle to regain the White House. But now that Howard Dean will almost certainly not be the nominee, and since Bush seems to have entered a major slump since around the time of the State of the Union address, this might actually be a race after all. One thing I do know is that it's quite unlikely we'll see Bush interviewed by Tim Russert again as long as he's in office.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 07:49 PM | Comments (0)

JUST TWO MORE DAYS...: The

JUST TWO MORE DAYS...:

The NYT gives a semi-positive review to my girl Norah's "Feels Like Home," calling her "pop's best behaved," compared to its worst behaved (Courtney Love). After all, I don't foresee that Nick Broomfield will ever make a documentary in which Ravi Shankar alleges that Norah Jones had a hand in her husband's murder.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 10:57 AM | Comments (0)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GARY!: Today is

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GARY!: Today is Gary Coleman's 36th birthday, and last year, due to his run for governor of California, Gary got more media coverage than at any time since his "Diff'rent Strokes" heyday. And now he's in the news again- diminutive University of Washington basketball player Nate Robinson is nicknamed "Gary Coleman," for his short stature and resemblance to the actor.
And according to this website, it's just 11 months and 28 days until Coleman's 37th birthday!

Posted by Stephen Silver at 10:38 AM | Comments (0)

QUOTE OF THE DAY: "While

QUOTE OF THE DAY: "While the primary season was a disappointing one for Joseph Lieberman, it was long, quiet and depressing enough to qualify as a Jewish holiday" -Tina Fey, providing the very first laugh of the evening about 45 minutes into this week's "Saturday Night Live."

Posted by Stephen Silver at 12:21 AM | Comments (0)

February 06, 2004

THAT'S WHAT SHE GETS FOR

THAT'S WHAT SHE GETS FOR SUPPORTING CLARK: I certainly don't condone violence against women or anything, but this is damn funny.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 11:53 AM | Comments (0)

THE TROUBLE WITH "WEST WING,"

THE TROUBLE WITH "WEST WING," CONT'D: I've written about this a lot before, but, as pointed out by this Greg Morrow post, "The West Wing" seems to have reached a new low point this season. The show seems to be almost coasting on the gravitas that comes along with being about the White House, while it all but ignores both character development and any attempt at interesting storylines. I mean, since the resolution of the Zoey kidnapping, has anything happened on that show that you could still remember two days after watching it?

Posted by Stephen Silver at 08:01 AM | Comments (0)

KUCINICH LEADS, FOLLOWED BY SHARPTON:

KUCINICH LEADS, FOLLOWED BY SHARPTON: No, not in real life, thank God; only in this poll at Bloviating Inanities, of "Who is the Weirdest Looking Presidential Candidate"? Kucinich leads with 39% (that's 15 "ugly delegates"), with Sharpton coming in second, tied with John Kerry. Somewhat oddly, Lieberman only pulls in 2%, with Clark scoreless.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 07:11 AM | Comments (0)

"OFFICE" POLITICS: I recently discovered

"OFFICE" POLITICS: I recently discovered the popular British sitcom "The Office"- and yes, it's as great as everyone says. While I've only seen the first of the two seasons, I've already got the second season DVD release (April 20) circled on my calendar. And in the "Which Office character are you" quiz I am, of course, Finchy.
Now comes word that an American remake is in the planning stages, to air on NBC as soon as this fall. Steve Carrell of "The Daily Show" is set to star in the David Brent role, with Rainn Wilson (Arthur from "Six Feet Under") in an undisclosed supporting role. I'll give it a chance, 'cause it has to be better than "Coupling," though I'm not getting my hopes up.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 07:04 AM | Comments (0)

QUOTE OF THE DAY: "'Owner

QUOTE OF THE DAY: "'Owner of a Lonely Heart.' Hmm: it's by Yes, a group about which I always thought, well, no. Too much noodling. The singer made the guy from Rush sound like James Earl Jones. The entire point of the band seemed to be 'okay, you get stoned, and we?ll play in 7/8 time and mix the bass like a lead instrument.'"- James Lileks, giving us, for the first time, an all-New Wave Bleat. He also mentions that Dylan's "Positively Fourth Street" is about 4th Street in Minneapolis, and not the one in Greenwich Village. I don't know whether to take more regional pride from that bit of information, or less.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 06:10 AM | Comments (0)

THE FLOODGATES OPEN: It's a

THE FLOODGATES OPEN: It's a bad day for both college football fans and strict constructionists, as New York Judge Shira Scheindlen yesterday decreed that Ohio State running back Maurice Clarett is eligible for the NFL Draft, despite having only graduated from high school two years ago. The decision may also cause "dozens" of other underclassmen to declare for the draft as well, dealing what could be a crippling blow to college football.
Much like the 1992 decision (Freeman McNeil v. NFL) that awarded free agency to NFL players, a major change in pro football's personnel rules has been achieved not by collective bargaining but by the whim of a judge. And while some short-term gain may be seen in the quality of NFL play, we're also likely about to see many of the same problems, both at the college and pro levels, that have plagued basketball in the last couple of decades- too many players arriving in the pros with a profound lack of experience, maturity, and fundamentals, and the college ranks, in turn, being reduced to a shell of their formal self.
While I have some sympathy for the argument that it's a "restraint of trade" to keep certain players out of the draft, I really feel that this sort of thing should be decided in collective bargaining, not by the courts. And I have trouble going along with Clarett's lawyers painting his quest to enter the draft as some sort of civil rights issue- that it's certainly not.
At any rate, Mel Kiper Jr.'s "busy time of year" just got a lot busier.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 05:25 AM | Comments (0)

February 05, 2004

FOR EMILY, WHEREEVER I MAY

FOR EMILY, WHEREEVER I MAY FIND HER: Happy belated Blogoversary to Emily Jones, who started blogging two years ago yesterday. Emily's was, I believe, the third blog I ever read, after Andrew Sullivan and Asparagirl.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 01:42 AM | Comments (0)

NO LONGER ROLLIN' ALONG: ESPN

NO LONGER ROLLIN' ALONG: ESPN today announced the cancellation of "Playmakers," its first-ever dramatic series, bowing to pressure from the NFL. The league, which has a multi-million dollar contract with the network to broadcast NFL games, had complained loudly and constantly about the football-themed show, which they felt made the league look bad.
I'm of two minds on this issue- as a journalist, I never like seeing news institutions (which ESPN, "Cold Pizza" notwithstanding, still is) bullied into making decisions by their clients/advertisers. But on the other hand, I'm not particularly sorry to see "Playmakers" go, simply because it was a poorly written, shoddily-produced show that was full of one-dimensional characters and pushed the "ripped from the headlines" gimmick to ridiculous extremes, attempting to shoehorn versions of every major off-field sports scandal of the past 15 years into one season of one team. Never mind that whole "Piss Man" episode, which ruined at least the entire first half of the season for me.
Still, I like the quote in the above story by Ray Lewis, stating that "they should have canceled it, [because] that show don't mean nothing -- that show is nothing about us." What, just because they ran a plotline that was clearly based on the double-murder for which Lewis was indicted?
Now, as soon as ESPN gets rid of "Beg, Borrow, and Deal," those within-SportsCenter Taboo games, and Sean Salisbury, they'll finally be back in my good graces.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 01:26 AM | Comments (0)

DON'T BLAME THE ZIONISTS: As

DON'T BLAME THE ZIONISTS: As discussed earlier this week, Patty Hearst was kidnapped by the SLA 30 years ago today, on February 4, 1974. Also, the 11th anniversary of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing is later this month. And no, the Zionists weren't behind that either.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 12:49 AM | Comments (0)

AND THEN THERE WERE SIX:

AND THEN THERE WERE SIX: Joe Lieberman dropped out of the Democratic presidential race last night after failing to make an impact in any of the recent primaries. Joe joins Bob Graham, Carol Moseley-Braun, and Dick Gephardt on the sidelines; expect Wesley Clark to exit next, followed by, yes, Howard Dean.
Lieberman's candidacy failed for two reasons: he's too conservative for most Democratic primary voters, and his sanctimony turned off just about everyone else. Better luck next time with that "Joementum" thing.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 12:42 AM | Comments (0)

MOST ECLECTIC BILL MAHER PANEL

MOST ECLECTIC BILL MAHER PANEL EVER: This Friday, Andrew Sullivan, Carol Moseley Braun, and Rob Schneider. Anyone doubt that Sullivan is a better actor than Schneider?

Posted by Stephen Silver at 12:18 AM | Comments (0)

February 04, 2004

THE RECRUIT: The Sports Guy

THE RECRUIT: The Sports Guy devotees among you may have read part or all of a series in the Miami Herald that Simmons recommended, in which a reporter followed around Florida blue-chip football prospect Willie Williams on his various college recruiting trips. The pieces were funny for, among other reasons, Williams' obsession with food and his non-stop accounts of the exquisite meals lavished on him by Bobby Bowden, Larry Coker, and other big-name coaches.
The last piece, in which Williams visited the University of Florida, ran on Monday, before Williams signed with Miami yesterday. The reporter who wrote the story must have been caught napping, however, because today it was reported that Williams is facing three separate counts of assault stemming from his weekend in Gainesville- he allegedly hugged a woman without her permission and refused to let go, then later punched a man at a nightclub, and completed the trifecta by dislodging three fire extinguishers in a dorm the following morning.
Funny that the Herald reporter who was trailing Williams that weekend reported none of this, only that Williams "ate several meatballs," attended an all-black beauty pageant at which "they had guys come out," and ultimately decided UF wasn't for him because he "just didn't feel at home there... it's too farm like."
The various misdeeds may be enough to cost Williams his Miami scholarship.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 09:07 PM | Comments (0)

QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Forget

QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Forget our country's political or class divides; watch the culture divide between those offended by boobs and those who aren't." -Dan Shanoff, ESPN's Daily Quickie.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 08:29 PM | Comments (0)

BEASTIES BACK: The Beastie Boys

BEASTIES BACK: The Beastie Boys will release their first new album in six years this May. The Boys, who I saw in Tel Aviv in '95, may have abandoned old-neighborhood Judaism for Buddhism and Mumia-politics, but their music should be worth hearing regardless, especially if they get Spike Jonze to make another video.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 04:37 PM | Comments (0)

TWO BASEBALL COUNTDOWNS: Aaron Gleeman

TWO BASEBALL COUNTDOWNS: Aaron Gleeman on when pitchers and catchers report, and Doug's Business of Baseball on how much time is left until Acting Commissioner For Life Selig leaves office. Just seven days for one, just 1,060 days for the other.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 04:09 PM | Comments (0)

LATEST HILLARY THEORY FROM DICK

LATEST HILLARY THEORY FROM DICK MORRIS: Now he says the decline of Howard Dean "opens the door to a Kerry/Clinton ticket in 2004." Previously, Dick argued non-stop for a year that Hillary would run for president in '04, then that Hillary was actively sabotaging Dean's campaign to clear '08 for herself, that Hillary was using Wesley Clark as her "stalking horse," and (my personal favorite) that Hillary would be Dean's running mate.
Among other brainstorms- what is it in Morris' head that makes him continue writing about Hillary week after week, when every other pundit in the country writes about the people who are, you know, actually running for president? How a guy this delusional ever led any candidate to an election victory is beyond me.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 04:44 AM | Comments (0)

DAMMIT, JANET!: Mike Gallagher of

DAMMIT, JANET!: Mike Gallagher of Newsmax.com has this to say about the Super Bowl scandal:

The Super Bowl halftime show created the kind of rage and disgust in Middle America that was, I suppose, intended by those who staged the show. After all, when pop star Justin Timberlake pulled open singer Janet Jackson's top to expose her bare breast for the grand finale of the show, it was no accident. Teams of people had to be involved in the planning and execution of this single act of contempt for every man, woman and child who would find this crass and vulgar display offensive.

Rage in Middle America, huh. Where is Justin Timberlake from? Memphis, Tennessee. Where is Janet Jackson from? Gary, Indiana. (Britney? Louisiana. Madonna? Michigan. You get the idea.) Don't play the red-state card here pal- like men in the South and West don't like bare breasts as much as blue-staters. And sure it was no accident- but "teams of people had to be involved"? Since when did a guy ripping off a woman's shirt require a conspiracy?
(By the way, I'll bet anyone a million dollars Mike Gallagher couldn't place the cultural significance of "Dammit, Janet").

Posted by Stephen Silver at 02:50 AM | Comments (1)

MORE 'DEIS DRAMA: Jawsblog posts

MORE 'DEIS DRAMA: Jawsblog posts a Letter to the Editor by Brandeis Hillel, which was for some reason not printed in this week's issue of the Justice, making the very interesting point that a swastika was found on a building on campus last month, but has caused no fury on campus whatsoever- contrasted with the non-stop brouhaha that followed last year's publication of a racial slur in the newspaper. This despite the school having a majority-Jewish population, contrasted with a black population that's small even by elite-East-Coast-school standards.
A Justice op-ed writer sums up my feelings best:

Why did University President Jehuda Reinharz fail to send an e-mail condemning the swastika the day it was discovered? Why was [the school chaplain's] e-mail several days after the incident? Where is the campus-wide condemnation by the Intercultural Center? Why has there not been a public outcry by various campus groups that claim to be pillars of tolerance and respect? Why have there been no rallies? Why has there been no protest? Senate resolutions? Emergency meetings? Where are the very vocal students who responded to last semester's hateful acts now?

The sad thing is, even at the Non-Sectarian Jewish-Sponsored University, doctrinaire PC othodoxy trumps all, and hate crimes against the majority don't count as hate crimes. I'm just glad some people are starting to notice. I knew my alma mater felt like the Death Camp of Tolerance before- but now there are actually swastikas.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 01:58 AM | Comments (0)

FAULTING FRIENDSTER FOR FANEUIL'S FOIBLES:

FAULTING FRIENDSTER FOR FANEUIL'S FOIBLES: I'm not covering the Martha Stewart trial from day to day, just as I don't plan to for the upcoming trials of Michael Jackson, Kobe Bryant, Robert Blake, Scott Peterson, Phil Spector, Saddam Hussein, or Janet's breast. That's more Dan Abrams' beat, and since I don't have a rotating cast of ex-prosecutors and tangential OJ-case figures around me at all times like he does, I figured I'd take a pass, and only comment when a particular bit of news strikes my fancy.
One thing I do have interest in is the involvement of former Merrill Lynch junior broker Douglas Faneuil, who was a hallmate of one of my good friends at Vassar and is now the leading witness for the prosecution in the Stewart case. The Wall Street Journal ran a profile of Faneuil the other day, and the reporter apparently researched the piece by taking a look at Doug's Friendster profile (since withdrawn, it appears), and mentioned a testimonial by a friend of his stating that Faneuil is "the only person I know who can pull off being the sweetest guy in the world while also being the most wanted by the federal government." Apparently the fact that Faneuil is gay kept him from listing "open marriage" as his marital status, which roughly half the members of Friendster seem to have done.
This drew the ire of a letter writer to Romenesko, who believes that Friendster should be off-limits to reporters because much of the information is private, if not satirical or downright made-up. I'm not sure how I feel about this- on the one hand you really can't believe anything you see on there, but on the other you often learn things about people about which you had no idea- like Googling, only better. Then again, how does the reporter know it wasn't a fake Doug Faneuil on Friendster?
A footnote: The much-talked-about New York Sun profile that describes fascinatingly-named New York Times reporter Jennifer 8. Lee as the new doyenne of DC social life gives Friendster a photo credit for Lee's headshot.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 01:40 AM | Comments (0)

SO LONG, SRIDHAR: According to

SO LONG, SRIDHAR: According to Gawker, which despite being a gossip site seems to get things right most if not all of the time, New York Observer media columnist Sridhar Pappu is soon leaving that paper in order to work for "a sports publication" which is also "a swimsuit-laden glossy mag."
Sounds to me like Sports Illustrated- and if it's true, it's great news- Pappu is one of the better newspaper writers in New York, and SI has throughout its history run regular work by some of the best writers on Earth, from David Halberstam to Don DeLillo to George Plimpton to Gary Smith- as seen in this new collection. It's long been a place for great writing, contrary to the snide observation by some that SI is the "in-flight magazine" of Bush's Air Force One.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 01:20 AM | Comments (0)

A COUPLE MORE THOUGHTS ON

A COUPLE MORE THOUGHTS ON SUPER BOWL COMMERCIALS: That "Shards o' Glass" thing was a lot funnier back when Dan Aykroyd did it in 1977.
Likewise, the dog-bites-guy's-genitals bit was about one-tenth as funny as the same plot going on on the concurrent episode of "Curb Your Enthusiasm." In fact, Bud's spots were all pretty much lacking- don't these people know that hot girls don't everget carded? And that no guy in history has ever been mobbed by women just for being the designated driver? And isn't whoever decided to name a commercial "Horny Talking Monkey" destined for eternal damnation?
Speaking of which, how can Pepsi imply an endorsement from Jimi Hendrix, who died in 1971? And since we know he didn't really choose to play guitar based on the location of a Coke machine, what's the point of the ad?
And the volleyball babes in the snow? More titillating than the Janet thing, if you ask me.
Get a second look at all of 'em here.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 01:04 AM | Comments (0)

SONG OF THE MONTH: "Fuck

SONG OF THE MONTH: "Fuck It," by Eamon. Not sure whether or not this R&B ballad has been getting any radio airplay, but it's positively brilliant- the music and most of the verses are your standard neo-soul fare, except for this chorus:

Fuck what I said.. It don't mean shit now..
Fuck the presents, might as well throw 'em out..
Fuck all those kisses, leaving me jack..
Fuck you, you ho.. I don't want you back..

It's right up there, along with REM's "The One I Love," The Murmurs' "You Suck," and G'n'R's "Used to Love Her" as the greatest anti-love songs ever.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 12:16 AM | Comments (0)

QUOTE OF THE DAY: "On

QUOTE OF THE DAY: "On this day, Howard Dean is about as relevant as Janet Jackson's other breast."- Keith Olbermann.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 12:11 AM | Comments (0)

February 03, 2004

BAD SANTA: "Man Found Naked

BAD SANTA: "Man Found Naked in Chimney Admits to Attempted Break-in."

Posted by Stephen Silver at 01:55 PM | Comments (0)

TK CUTS BACK: Tony Kornheiser

TK CUTS BACK: Tony Kornheiser will step down from his ESPN radio show at the end of March, apparently stretched too thin by his various other activities: In addition to being married with two children and co-hosting the great "Pardon the Interruption" five days a week on ESPN, Kornheiser also writes a column for the Washington Post, and will presumably be involved with the in-the-works sitcom based on his life, set to star Jason Alexander. Off-Wing Opinion has more, making the very, very true point that "[PTI] is so good now, that today's sports fan might be better served watching PTI, and skipping SportsCenter altogether."
Can't blame Tony for the decision, so long as he stays on the TV show; with a schedule like that, I'd probably go to bed at 9:00 every night too.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 03:54 AM | Comments (0)

JANET JACKSON: RESISTANCE IS FUTILE:

JANET JACKSON: RESISTANCE IS FUTILE: This is good.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 01:23 AM | Comments (0)

UNDER THE BRIDGE: Fred Barnes,

UNDER THE BRIDGE: Fred Barnes, on Brit Hume's Fox News show, just stated that the only way John Kerry can lose the Democratic presidential nomination is "if he falls off a bridge."
Now I know the GOP is seeking to crush Kerry's candidacy by bringing up constant comparisons to Ted Kennedy, but I've gotta say that one's a low blow.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 01:19 AM | Comments (0)

February 02, 2004

NICKNAME CHRIS BERMAN COULD NEVER

NICKNAME CHRIS BERMAN COULD NEVER USE: "The Honorable" Muhsin Muhammad.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 10:30 PM | Comments (0)

QUOTE OF THE DAY: "What

QUOTE OF THE DAY: "What do we say to the kids? We say, 'it's a breast. When you get to be 17 or 18, hopefully, you'll get to see a lot more of them.'"- Michael Wilbon, downplaying the "indecency" of Janet Jackson's exposed breasts, on PTI.
Public immorality aside, it really was a brilliant tactical move by Janet- not only does it get her back in the news after being generally absent for the past few years and build up anticipation for her upcoming album, but it takes some heat off her brother, at least for a week or two. All this time I thought Janet was the "normal" Jackson...

Posted by Stephen Silver at 10:29 PM | Comments (0)

BEST SUPER BOWL EVER?: No,

BEST SUPER BOWL EVER?: No, of course not. But tonight's Super Bowl XXXVIII was certainly in the top ten, as the Patriots won the championship on a last-second field goal by Adam Vinatieri for the second time in three years. If you care who won, you probably watched it, so there's no reason to describe the highlights. But I got the winner right, and was correct about Beyonce looking good.
While not the all-time greatest Super Bowl on the field, this year's event certainly led all previous Super Bowls in nudity, as a streaker appeared on the field during the second-half kickoff and- much more notoriously- Janet Jackson had her tassled right breast exposed by Justin Timberlake during the closing moments of the halftime show. Despite denials from all parties, the stunt was clearly planned all along, as it happened seconds after Timberlake sang the line "gonna have you naked by the end of this song." It will also undoubtedly lead to as much hand wringing as the Madonna/Britney kiss, including Dick Morris-like theories about a Justin-Britney "feud," and calls of pretend-outrage from the O'Reillys of the world.
Interesting that all that was made about the Lingerie Bowl, it didn't feature any actual nudity, yet the official halftime show did.
As for the commercials, it was generally a down year; my favorite were the all-star team of NFL personalities singing "Tomorrow," the Frito Lay spot in which an elderly couple fights over a bag of chips, and the donkey auditioning to join the Budweiser Clydesdales. That "Office Supply Godfather" ad for Staples was great too.
The worst? The several disturbing erectile-dysfunction-drug spots, one of which featured Mike Ditka ranting about how baseball players "need Levitra," as well as yet another bit that exploited the increasingly oblivious Muhammad Ali- isn't it not so tasteful to pay a man with Parkinson's to say the phrase "shake things up!"? The Evel Knievel-like AOL spots all fell flat, and there was also an uncomfortable overreliance on monkeys in the various ads. Interspecies sexuality (ISS), of course was all over the place too, as in one Bud spot a monkey began hitting on a guy's girlfriend, and in another Jessica Simpson was leered at by the king of ISS himself, Kermit the Frog. Where's the Bud Bowl when we need it?
Another moment I loved- the pre-game tribute to the astronauts, featuring Josh Groban singing and a re-enacted moon landing that looked a little like an MTV ad circa 1983, but I liked it anyway.
Tomorrow begins the 7-month football off-season; pitchers and catchers report in two weeks!

Posted by Stephen Silver at 01:04 AM | Comments (0)

February 01, 2004

SUPER BOWL PREDICTION: Patriots 17,

SUPER BOWL PREDICTION: Patriots 17, Panthers 13. I also predict that Beyonce will look good.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 03:20 PM | Comments (0)

MARY-ELLIS BUNIM, 1946-2004: Mary-Ellis Bunim,

MARY-ELLIS BUNIM, 1946-2004: Mary-Ellis Bunim, who co-created "The Real World," the first and still the best reality series on television, has died of breast cancer at the age of 57. Bunim founded Bunim-Murray Productions with partner Jon Murray, and they presided over the original "Real World" in 1992 and the subsequent 13 seasons, in addition to "Road Rules," "Love Cruise," and (somewhat less auspiciously) "The Simple Life" and "Making the Band."
Were it not for Bunim, reality TV as a trend may never have taken off, and if not for her shows personally, America would have been left unexposed, to this day, to such characters as Puck, Pedro, Elka, Montana, Colin, Amaya, Coral/Nicole, Trishelle, Julie Stouffer, Cara Nussbaum-Kahn, and that girl on the San Diego show who's afraid of big boats.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 02:30 PM | Comments (0)

SAY IT AIN'T SO, SPORTS

SAY IT AIN'T SO, SPORTS GUY: From Bill Simmons' Super Bowl blog today:

I've been thinking about it ... I'm going to miss Houston. Remember when the Zionists kidnapped Patty Hearst, and she started to identify with them, and pretty soon she was robbing banks? That's how I'm feeling. I like being miserable. I love traffic. I don't need to see the sun ever again. I might never leave.

Um, Zionists? The Symbionese Liberation Army were many things, but Zionists they were certainly not, as Zionism was very much not a trendy left-wing cause in the mid-'70s. I'd like to think Bill simply mistyped here and this isn't a Gregg Easterbrook situation; expect the entry to be changed, probably by the time you read this- at least I hope so, since I'd rather not see him get fired too.

UPDATE: Yep, now it says "SLA." But I'll give Simmons a mulligan on this one- his team did just win the Super Bowl, after all.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 02:12 PM | Comments (0)

HITCH AND FRUM AT THE

HITCH AND FRUM AT THE NEW SCHOOL: I had the pleasure Friday night of attending a debate about the current Iraq situation at Manhattan's New School University that featured, among others, journalist Christopher Hitchens, former Bush speechwriter David Frum, New Yorker writer Mark Danner, and author Samantha Power. Your usual back-and-forth, with charges of "the Iraqi people are free!" interspersed with charges of "Quagmire!," back and forth and so on.
Afterwards, I was able to chat briefly with Frum- the man who coined the phrase "Axis of Evil"- though Frum is apparently not so frum, as this notorious member of the Zionist Neocon Jewish Cabal agreed to participate in the forum on a Friday night. And then, along with some others I got to talk to Hitchens for nearly 45 minutes, during which he fired off one zinger after another, which included arguing in favor of a U.S. conquest of Canada, so that the reach of the British crown could be forever expelled from North America.
Hitchens, one of the most astute commentators about the Iraq situation since before President Bush had even heard of Saddam Hussein, was by far the most impressive member of the panel, arguing very persuasively that there is nothing unliberal about intervening to overthrow a fascistic tyrant. Later, he stated that "Bush didn't make the case for war the right way, and that's why I have to." To my disappointment, Hitch neither smoked nor drank during the debate, although he did chain-smoke throughout his impromptu question-and-answer session on W. 12th St.; even though I'm a non-smoker I was tempted to bum a smoke from him, just so I could say that I'd had a cigarette with Christopher Hitchens.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 04:31 AM | Comments (0)

FOX OUT IN LA: With

FOX OUT IN LA: With the Nets sold and moving to Brooklyn, that borough's previous major professional sports team, the Dodgers have been sold as well- and like the Nets' new coach, it's to a guy named Frank. Frank McCourt, the Boston-based real estate developer, had his purchase of the Los Angeles Dodgers finalized this week, ridding baseball, some would say, of the foul stench of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. Murdoch bought the Dodgers in 1998 to great fanfare, but the team played in exactly zero postseason games during his tenure as owner. McCourt, by the way, is not to be confused with the other Frank McCourt, the one who wrote "Angela's Ashes," and whose brother appeared as Father Meehan on "Oz."
The sale of the Dodgers also means that Sandy Koufax may return to the fold in some capacity; the Hall of Famer cut ties with the Dodgers, the only team for which he ever pitched, two years ago after the Murdoch-owned New York Post published an unsubstantiated rumor that he is gay.

Posted by Stephen Silver at 04:13 AM | Comments (0)

AT THE MOVIES: First of

AT THE MOVIES: First of all, Netflix is great, and everyone should sign up for it. I've watched a ton of movies lately, so I thought I'd do some brief reviews of three of them:
Confidence (directed by James Foley): You've gotta like a movie in which seven or eight actors are on screen in the opening scene, and you know who all of them are (Edward Burns! Paul Giamatti! Luis Guzman! Donal Logue! Leland Orser! The guy who played Big Pussy's FBI handler!). Not to mention hilarious supporting turns from Dustin Hoffman and Andy Garcia, and a co-starring role for Rachel Weisz, one of the most beautiful women in movies. True, the plot is more than a bit convoluted and the ending is a mess, but "Confidence" (from the director of "Glengarry Glen Ross") has enough to recommend that it's worth a viewing. All that, and Tom "Tiny" Lister, Jr., (wrestling's Zeus) is in it too.
Capturing the Friedmans (directed by Andrew Jarecki): This fascinating, Oscar-nominated documentary tells the story of a Long Island family destroyed by allegations of pedophilia against the father and one of the sons. What's brilliant is the way it weaves its narrative with home movies taken by the sons during the trial, which took place in the late '80s, and the way that it shifts back and forth between alleging guilt and alleging innocence (much more effectively than the similar machinations of the fiction film "Mystic River"). I'd like to officially amend my 2003 top ten list to place "Capturing the Friedmans" in the top five.
The Battle of Shaker Heights (directed by Kyle Rankin and Efram Potille): Yes, the "Project Greenlight Movie." The popular HBO show gave birth to only the third most sorrowful Affleck-connected embarrassment of 2003 (after Bennifer and "Gigli"), but its quite a debacle nonetheless. Even leaving aside that the "Project Greenlight" formula is, from the start, absolutely doomed to fail both artistically and commercially, and that the only successful thing about it is that it results in great TV. (Why would anyone watching those two idiots struggle to produce a not-so-good movie actually pay money to go see it?)
I hate to say this, knowing my girl Erica Beeney wrote it, but "The Battle of Shaker Heights" is somehow even worse than I expected it to be- an absolute mess in every way imaginable. Motivations and character development are left unexplained and shift seemingly on a dime, the tone fluctuates dramatically, the 79-minute running time feels long, and- even though we saw the Miramax producers order the directors to recut the film in order to emphasize humor- there's none of it, anywhere. Not to mention, as Josh is sure to point out, it wasn't even really filmed in Shaker Heights.
Sports Guy, as is often the case, has the last word: "I can't wait to stroll into a Hollywood Starbucks some day and see Kyle and Efram from "Project Greenlight" standing behind the counter."

Posted by Stephen Silver at 04:01 AM | Comments (0)

RETURN OF THE ROCK: Following

RETURN OF THE ROCK: Following the brilliant "Bring the Pain" in 1996 and "Bigger and Blacker" in 1999, Chris Rock will return this April with a third stand-up comedy special on HBO. Can't f'n wait.

SOMETHING HE'LL CERTAINLY TALK ABOUT: Baseball historians are currently investigating the possibility that William White, who appeared in one game for the Providence Greys in 1879, was in fact the first African-American major league baseball player. A handful of black players are known to have played the game in the nineteenth century, prior to a color line being established that remained unbroken until the debut of Jackie Robinson in 1947.
Ironic, if the first black major leaguer was a guy named "White." Sort of like the black comic Steve White, who used to joke that his middle name should've been "Ain't."

Posted by Stephen Silver at 03:34 AM | Comments (0)