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The Sweet, Kinks, Cutout Bin, Shrek 3, Tiger Triplets   Printer-friendly page   Send this story to someone
Friday, May 18, 2007 - 08:00 AM
Posted by: Karl

Karl

THE WEEKEND STARTS HERE:

 

...with THE SWEET!  The bubble-glam rockers are probably best known for the trifecta of "Little Willy," "Ballroom Blitz" and "Fox on the Run," though they also charted with the harder-edged "Action" and the more ballad-y "Love is Like Oxygen."  All of those clips also feature the band's rather unique fashion sense, but you have to see the clip for "Wig Wam Bam" -- complete with headdress -- to see the band at its most ridiculous.

WILCO and SON VOLT:  In the L.A. Weekly, Mark Mauer writes that it's "totally unfair and totally unnecessary to compare the new albums from Wilco and Son Volt..." then does so.  BONUS:  That Truncheon Thing has posted Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot demos. (Thanks, LHB.)

THE KINKS:  Heather Browne is streaming a 1977 gig at Winterland in San Francisco.

BO DIDDLEY is in the hospital after suffering a stroke on Sunday.

LAURA VEIRS talks to the Washington Post's Express about nature and -- inadvertently -- government funding of the arts: "There's no support for artists in this culture; there's no funding. You're going to have to do it yourself and stick it out and that, I think, is why we have so many great artists."  Embedded videos at the link, too.

CROWDED HOUSE has posted a new song at its website for your streaming pleasure.

SEEN YOUR VIDEO:  One-hit wonders Los Bravos perform "Black is Black."  So true.

SMASHING PUMPKINS:  The band's new album cover art is global warming-themed, but Billy Corgan & Co. may want to note that alarmist messages about global warming are counter-productive, according to the head of a leading climate research center.

BONO and BILLY SQUIRE are having a NYC co-op dispute over whether hazardous smoke from fireplaces, including Squier's, is drifting from chimneys into the penthouse duplex where Bono lives with his wife and four children.

HILLARY CLINTON wants your vote for her campaign theme song.  I'll skip over the Elton John joke to ask why she isn't going with Merle Haggard.

PETE DOHERTY-KATE MOSS UPDATE:  The troubled singer and supposedly sober supermodel were caught canoodling at the Cow Pub in London's Notting Hill.  And if you take a closeup of those pics, you can see what looks like a white residue in the corner of her right nostril.

THE CUTOUT BIN:  This Friday's fortuitous finds from the ol' HM are:  Elvis Costello - Radio, Radio; The Archies - Sugar, Sugar; Harry Belafonte - Jump in the Line; Friends of Distinction - Grazing in the Grass; The Mountain Goats - The Boys Are Back In Town/Ignition; Violent Femmes - American Music;  Bo Diddley - You Can't Judge A Book...; Four Tops - It's the Same Old Song; J. Geils Band - I Do; Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood - Some Velvet Morning; The Kinks - Sunny Afternoon; Rolling Stones - Honky Tonk Women; Pink Floyd - See Emily Play (rough mix); Slade - Mamma Weer All Crazee Now; Ryan Adams - Rocket Man (live); Lou Reed - Walk on the Wild Side; Bananarama - Cruel Summer; The Bel-Airs - Mr. Moto; The Windbreakers - You Never Give Up; and The Replacements - Can't Hardly Wait.

SHREK THE THIRD:  This advance screening I really did attend mostly as a service to Pate visitors.  I really liked the first Shrek, and thought the sequel was alright, but this one is currently scoring only 45 percent on the ol' Tomatometer, so I was not champing at the bit.  But it's this weekend's sole wide release, and I doubt the reviews -- mine inclded -- will stop many from seeing it.  Critics not liking this movie suggest that this franchise has become what it originally satirized; those liking it tend to say the same thing, but with the positive spin that it is reiventing the fairy tale cartoon genre.  I can see both points, but tend to fall more in that more negative camp.  The first had some wickedly satirical jabs at Disney; the second at least sent up Hollywood.  Shrek the Third only manages to poke fun at high school -- and not with any degree of originality.  But kids will probably still like the characters and the broad comedy; their parents will probably get a chuckle out of the parenthood jokes (though again, no great originality there).  It's not a bad movie, just a long way from the original.  And if you're whether it will depose Spider-Man 3 from the top spot, consider that Shrek 2 broke the 100 million mark in its opening frame.

LINDSAY LOHAN and current beau Callum Best are already at the point of having a "screamfest" at the Soho Grand in NYC, after Best was seen collecting digits from all the models at Cipriani Downtown, every time Lohan's back was turned.

JACKO has gotten a temporary restraining order against the sale of more than 20,000 Jackson family artifacts bought as part of a New Jersey bankruptcy case.  But if he keeps it up, the buyer may offer some of Jacko's dirty laundry for auction.

THE FRENCH HOTEL:  People are freaking out that the celebutante may serve only 23 days of her 45-day sentence on that probation violation based on "good conduct," but it's not uncommon in the US to get day-for-day credit if you behave yourself.  It's less common than it used to be for more serious crimes, thanks to truth-in-sentencing laws, but there you have it.  Also, TMZ reports that the heirhead has abandoned her appeal, so she will be doing the time.

JENNA FISHER was celebrating the renewal of The Office Monday night with friends when she slipped on a restaurant's marble steps and fractured four bones in her back.  SEMI-RELATED:  The Office's  Rashida Jones and John Krasinski, who dated in real life in 2005, and date on the show, may be dating IRL again.

JESSICA SIMPSON:  It appears that her creepy dad-manager Joe approves of new beau John Mayer.  Turns out Joe is a fan.

BRITNEY SPEARS:  New beau Howie Day is already back in rehab.  A friend of Day's who spoke to Life & Style doubts the relationship will continue, pointing out that neither will be a good influence for the other.

FARRAH FAWCETT is reportedly facing a new cancer battle, just three months after being given the all clear on her 60th birthday.

ELIJAH WOOD is to play Iggy Pop in The Passenger biopic?  I don't mind him as an actor and he reportedly has good musical taste, but it still seems like odd casting.

BRUCE WILLIS, 52, is now dating Playboy Playmate Tamara Witmer, 23 (which makes her only 5 years older than Willis' daughter, Rumer).  He is also fed up with listening to outspoken actors -- and believes their opinion shouldn't mean "jack s**t" to the general public.

S.E. HINTON:  The reclusive author is doing some press to promote her new book, though I don't know that she needs to --The Outsiders, written 40 years ago, is selling as well as it ever has.

MICHAEL MOORE and FRED THOMPSON are having a showbiz feud.  Thompson, the lawyer-turned-actor-turned-Senator-turned actor currently mulling a possible presidential campaign, criticized Michael Moore for cozying up to Cuban dictator Fidel Castro during the making of Moore's upcoming film, Sicko.  Moore responded by challenging Thompson to a health care debate.  Thompson replied with a video demurring, but suggesting Moore ask Castro about Cuban documentarian Nicolas Guillen Landrian, who Castro had thrown into a mental institution and given electroshock treatments.  Moore is miffed about Cuban cigars supposedly in Thompson's video -- though I suspect they are props Thompson put in just to tweak Moore.

ROSIE O'DONNELL suggests the US gov't and military are terrorists, claiming that the US has killed 655K Iraqis.  This would appear to be a reference to the Lancet study that has been widely crriticized by scientists and is possibly fraudulent.  Earlier this month, the so-called "Queen of Nice" was reminding us that Islamic jihadis are mothers and fathers, too.

IRAN appears to have solved most of its technological problems and is beginning to enrich uranium on a far larger scale than before, according to the UN's nuke watchdogs.  This has the usual suspects, particularly Russia, questioning whether the demand that Iran suspend still makes sense.  Because what you really want to do is reward a regime that has flouted both the the Nonproliferation Treaty and UN sanctions repeatedly.  In other news, Iran plans to start manufacturing "Islamic bicycles" for women that conceals their figure.  National police have announced that men and women must not be allowed inside internet cafes together but in separate days or schedules "to avoid unpleasant promiscuity."

IRAQ:  Iraqi officials seem to have skirted a constitutional crisis over the controversial issue of reforming the Iraqi constitution -- for the moment, anyway.  The Iraqi Ministry of Oil lambasted a GAO report leaked to the NYT about the alleged smuggling of 100-300K barrels of Iraqi crude oil a day, pointing out how large such an operation would have to be, yet remain undetected passing through US-controlled outlets.  Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis, meeting with Marines across Anbar province, emphasizes the power of a friendly wave.

HUANI the FARM DOG nurses three newborn tiger triplets for the Jinan Paomaling Wild Animal World in Shandong province, China.  It's not her first time, either.

...AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT:  An Albino Aligator.

MAGGIE the ELEPHANT hadn't fallen, but she couldn't get up.

CAMELS are being used in South Australia to search for uranium deposits.  We had best keep them away from the squirrels and geese.

BORIS the OWL he has fathered three chicks with a flighty bird 21 years his junior; they are believed to be the only breeding pair of western Siberian eagle owls in captivity in the world.  Boris previously had cataract surgery because he couldn't see the lady owls.

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