The Oprah Winfrey Talk Show will come to an end in 2011 after more than two decades on air.
After 25 seasons, the self-anointed high priestess of the religion of Oprah, talk-show queen Oprah Winfrey is calling it a day. Frida morning Oprah will announce the end of her hugely successful TV chat show, to her Chicago audience. The iconic figure in television who gave the world such pills as Martha Stewart, Dr. Phil Rachel Ray, Martha Stewart, Madonna and “O” magazine.
Many people are saying, “Thank God! Party in the USA.
After months of rumors, it has finally been confirmed–Oprah Winfrey will soon bow out of daytime television, effectively ending her beloved talk show in 2011.
Into your kitchens, your bedrooms, your lives
“We have the greatest respect for Oprah and we wish her nothing but the best in her future endeavors, we do know anything she turns her hand to will be a great success,” said a spokesman for the CBS Television Studios, which distributes her show. We look forward to working with her for the next several years, and hopefully afterwards as well.”
According to ABC News, insiders report that Winfrey informed her staff of the decision after a company meeting, which was described as “emotional, supportive and respectful.”
Winfrey’s “Oprah” talk show debuted on television in 1986. From Michael Jackson to Tom Cruise to Sarah Palin, Winfrey’s show has been an important platform for celebrities to both promote their work and rehab their image while making Oprah the richest African-American of the 20th century, and the most philanthropic African-American of all time who courts the likes of President Obama.
As a newcomer, “The Oprah Winfrey Show” chipped away at talk-show king Phil Donahue’s dominance. Later, it turned to inspiration. Donahue today is reduced to begging independant film-makers to make documentaries with little success. The Oprah Winfrey show’s coverage ranged from interviews with the world’s celebrities to an honest discussion about Winfrey’s weight struggles. As the show evolved, it really kind of dressed up the neighborhood of the daytime talk show compared to her sleazy competitors like Jerry Springer, Montel Williams, Chevy Chase, Ellen DeGeneres.
In 1986, pianist-showman Liberace gave his final TV interview to Winfrey, just six weeks before he died. In a 1993 prime-time special, Michael Jackson revealed he suffered from a skin condition that produces depigmentation. Tom Cruise enthusiastically declared his affection for the much-younger Katie Holmes on the program in 2005 — and jumped on the couch to prove it.
In 2004, Winfrey unveiled her most famous giveaway, when nearly 300 members of the studio audience opened a gift box to find the keys to a new car inside. The stunt became a classic show moment as much for Winfrey’s reaction — “You get a car! You get a car! You get a car! Everybody gets a car!” — as its $7 million price tag.
The show also became a launching pad for Oprah’s Book Club, which then launched best-sellers. The titles ranged from “Song of Solomon” and “Paradise” by Toni Morrison to Wally Lamb’s “She’s Come Undone” and Elie Wiesel’s “Night.”
Lately, the rehab their image thing hasn;t been working so well. All of the celebrities whose careers she helped launch are under fire from Dr. Phil the pill, to Martha Stewart, Tom Cruise (who can forget the jumping up and down on Oprah’s couch manic episode?) Oprah’s Book Club backfired when Oprah personally selected, “A Million Little Pieces” which exploded in sales after Winfrey chose the James Frey memoir in fall 2005. Soon after, it was revealed as a fabricated tale of addiction and recovery, and Winfrey later chewed out Frey on her show. There was Michael Jackson’s death due to overdose, celebrity-chef Rachel Rey caught up in her husbands adulterous scandal followed by erotic-photo shoot by Ray followed by an ugly divorce and even lately Oprah has been getting a lot of flack for her recent interview with wacko Sarah Palin. Suddenly Oprah’s “vision,” whatever that is- is under fire as being out of touch with reality.
She has had her critics in the past twenty-five years. Her loyal followers, feel Oprah has always been real, down-to-earth, 
a humble person. Her critics say that she is a “Queen Diva” who only cares about Oprah and has always been on the “wacko” fringe, out of touch with reality and buying loyal viewers with money and give-a-ways. Recently Oprah has come under fire by Rosie O’Donnell and other “out of the closet” lesbians for Oprah and Gail Kings refusal to “come clean” about their lesbian relationship.
However you feel about Oprah Winfrey, lover her or hate her, Oprah will remain an icon of American television. My beef with Oprah is that she is one of the biggest hypocrites of all time, examples of her hypocrisy range from championing gay and lesbian rights when she herself doesn;t have the courage to come out of the closet about her lesbian relationship with gal-pal Gail KIng. Had she had the courage to come clean about her lesbian relationship as Rosie O’Donnell did many years ago- Oprah would have earned my respect.
Through all of these, Oprah preaches “how to be your best self” and “live your best life.” Unfortunately, a predilection for radical Islam and excusing terrorists is a prominent element of Oprah’s “best self.” Cheating husbands don’t get off as easy as Islamic terrorists, murderers, and torturers in Winfrey’s world. Take “O” Magazine, Oprah’s monthly print version of self-conceit. Like every other month, the cover of the June issue of “O” features Oprah—for the gazillionth time. Unfortunately, also for the gazillionth time, the inside of the glossy mag features Oprah’s unique brand of understanding and empathy for terrorists and radical Islam. Last month, Oprah’s “O” asked readers to understand “The Heart of a Destroyer,” Mohammed Atta. You remember him—the Al-Qaeda ringleader of the 9/11 hijackers who murdered 3,000 Americans. But that’s not exactly the way “O”’s “reading room” wants you to remember him.Beneath a picture of young Mohammed and his smiling sister on the Egyptian beach, “O” exhorts you to read a book that “sets out to understand the hearts and minds of the men behind the photos” of the 9/11 hijackers, a group of “lonely, exiled young men.”
Over the years, Oprah and her publicity team have pushed Oprah’s latest weight loss—to loud, gushy media acclaim. Oprah, girlfriend, if only you could have gained the weight of a conscience.
My other beef with Oprah through the years is that she has given the “whack-jobs” like Tom Cruise, Dr. Phil, Martha Stewart, Madonna, a platform to market their hypocrisy, lunacy through the medium of her show and O-magazine to make millions. The whole world knows what a “whack-job” Dr. Ph
il is. L.A.’s Cedars-Sinai Hospital granted TV’s Dr. Phil access to Brit’s hospital room unannounced. (In L.A. county, celebrity doctors are legally permitted to walk into hospital rooms unannounced.) But in a shocker, the diva in distress actually walked out on Phil. (In L.A., patients still retain the right to reject the advances of celebrity doctors, though this is under appeal.)
I think it’s time Oprah left the stage and gave other Chicago talent a sot at stardom like Oprah has had. Chicago has a lot of very fine local talent, Richard Roeper, Cheryl Burton, Robin Baumgarten, Sylvia Perez and Linda Yu to name a few. Perhaps, Oprah could remain in the backgrond as producer and not the “main attraction.” IN the last few years Oprah has flown too near the sun and it has brought her much controversy not to mention personal anguish. It’s time to step aside and let other’s have their shot while remaining in the shadows.
Note to Oprah: 2001 is too far off. Don’t wait till 2011 to end your hypocrisy, do it now! By January 2010.
Hire Me! Will Work For Minimum Wage
I’ve hit a few speed bumps along the way, as I’m sure, most of us who are middle-aged (or older) will testify to. Facing pink slips, repossessions, foreclosures, and a sinking economy may force some of us to take on any job available. More than once, as a college graduate in my 30s, a prospective employer told me that I was overqualified — the euphemistic way of saying that he didn’t think that I would last long on the job, and that investing in my training would be a waste of time for the company. hire me, will work for minimum wage, minimum wage, pizza delivery, wall street. Unfortunately these days, employers will have to face an increasing number of applicants who will be trying out for jobs they are highly overqualified for. With the unemployment rate rising, more and more people no longer have a choice about the kinds of jobs they’re pursuing. Sadly, these tough economic times have been forcing many highly skilled individuals to shift careers and downsize their jobs involuntarily, and to apply for jobs that they claim they would never have dreamed of doing in a previous life. Take the story of the hedge fund manager who earned $750,000 a year just a few short years ago. He’s now a pizza delivery guy.
Will You Work For Minimum Wage?
He’s not the only pizza man in town. What about the fellow who was dismissed as a restaurant manager making $55,000 a year? He now packs pizza boxes in his family car and spends the night delivering pizzas for $10 an hour. Is he ashamed of his new position? Yes, his wife grudgingly admits. And yet, honest work should always be a source of pride, no matter what the conditions are.
Radical Tips To Get Employed
1. Consider other career paths.
As mentioned, times have made it harder for people to stick to the familiar jobs and careers that they’ve long been cultivating. So would you be willing to take any job that’s out there? Or maybe it’s just a matter of shifting expectations and casting a wider net as far as what type of job it is you should consider.
2. Retrain yourself and build new skills.
You may not have to put everything you own on eBay, as a family from Georgia recently did to help defray heavy medical bills. A better choice would be to retrain (e.g. go back to school). For job hunters out there, you may be interested in a book by Ben Kaplan, called How To Go To College Almost For Free, which offers some options for the laid-off worker who wants to retrain. For those in a tough bind, you may be able to receive special help at no or very low cost.
Also, with the new stimulus package details in place, look for Obama to include retraining as part of the job stimulus programs in the works. Many jobless people only need to learn a new trade to find employment easily. One of the areas that has seen growth in spite of the crisis is the medical field. There are all kinds of jobs that do not require you to study medicine or nursing.
3. Advertise your skills through unconventional methods.
If you are not familiar with Craigslist, now is the time to find out what it is. Many skilled artisans have placed ads on Craigslist detailing their various abilities, and have subsequently found jobs quickly. You may have to pay a small fee to post your request, depending on the city.
4. Join networks.
If you are a professional, I recommend that you join social networks which are much more a fit to your skills and interests than your career or past job history. For example, although I’m a teacher, I also belong to ELanceTalk.com, a community of freelance writers who exchange information about our trade. You’ll be surprised by the opportunities you can uncover through these avenues.
5. Stay honest!
What’s so radical about being honest? Well, when times are rough, it’s much more tempting to bluff our way into a job we so desperately hope for. But avoid embellishing your resume with exaggerated facts or untruths. As a former HR manager, I’ve had the chance to detect lying candidates who were desperate to find a job. I strongly recommend that you don’t lie about your education. If the new employer finds out, he will lose confidence in you. Tell them the truth, but make sure you emphasize your commitment to the new job and what you can bring to the bottom line.
Hollywood Collapse
Of the recent movie 2012 film-critic Richard Roeper had only this to say about it, “WHEN IS THE F—— MOVIE GOING TO END?!?!?!?
“The cinema as we know it is falling apart,” says Francis Ford Coppola. “We used to think of six, seven big film companies. Every one of them is under great stress now. Probably two or three will go out of business and the others will just make certain kind of films like ‘Harry Potter’ — basically trying to make ‘Star Wars’ over and over again, because it’s just become such a business.”
Vatican sinks teeth into new TWILIGHT movie…
Cinema is losing the public’s interest,” says Coppola, “because there is so much it has to compete with to get people’s time.” The profusion of leisure activities; the availability of movies on copied DVD and on the Internet; and news becoming entertainment are reshaping the industry, he says. Companies have combined businesses as customers turn to cheap downloads rather than visit shops or movie theaters.
In 2002, director Woody Allen commented on the current state of Hollywood in his film, Hollywood Ending. Val Waxman (Allen) is a one-time prestigious film director lately reduced to overseeing cheesy television commercials in order to pay his bills and support his current live-in girlfriend (Messing). When he is thrown off his latest effort (a deodorant commercial being filmed in the frozen north), he desperately seeks a real movie project. Out of the blue, Waxman receives a offer to direct a big-budget blockbuster movie to be set in New York City. However, the offer comes from his former wife (Leoni) and her current boyfriend (Williams), the studio head who stole his wife from Waxman several years ago. Pushed by his agent (Rydell), Waxman agrees to the project, but a psychosomatic ailment strikes him blind just before production is set to begin. The movie plays out with an aging director struggling to regain his vision, both metaphorically and literally.The movie is a not-so-subtle metaphor for Allen’s real-life struggles during the 1990s to regain (or retain) his early momentum in the film-making milieu.
Gone are the times when writers sat outside restaurants and bars sucking cigarettes and downing glass after glass of brown liquor, exhausting themselves over their next novel or screenplay. From Hemingway penning The Sun Also Rises amid cafe hopping among some of the great Parisian cafes of the 1920s, to Diablo Cody scribing “Juno” at a Starbucks inside of a Target, the times are a changin’, my friend. It’s a known fact that LA is littered with screenwriters. Lots of them. Tens of thousands to be exact. Some are professionals, some are hobbyists, and others are uninspired goons trying to cash in on the illusory spec sale lottery. Anyone who lives in Los Angeles and has walked ten paces to a Starbucks knows that there is a good chance the coffee shop chain will be infested with amateur and professional screenwriters penning the next summer blockbuster or quirky-ironic indie cult hit. What the movie-going public gets is movie’s like, Snakes On A Plane with Samuel L. Jackson mouthing dialogue like: “I want these motha fuckin’ snakes off my motha fuckin’ breakfast sandwich!” The dialogue exchanges between the three main characters in New Moon are so overblown and cheesy that I just can’t take any of it seriously. There’s one exchange between Bella and Jacob that rivals Anakin Skywalker’s “sand is coarse, not like you” speech in Attack of the Clones for the most unintentionally lamest dialogue ever spoken on screen.
Film critic Michael Medved, cohost of PBS’s Sneak Previews, presents a scathing indictment of Hollywood that is sure to be controversial. Asserting that “the dream factory” has become the “poison factory,” Medved criticizes Hollywood movies for portraying religion unfavorably, glamorizing violence, and celebrating immorality. Martin Scorcese’s The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) is among the films censured at length, and there are many others whose objectionable scenes are singled out, from Total Recall (1990) to The Prince of Tides (1992). Those who lament America’s loss of what lately have been generally called “family values” will agree with Medved, while others are likely to dismiss his impassioned text as a windy sermon.
The point is that the past few years Hollywood is turning out “clunkers” that make millions of dollars, 2012 made $64-million-dollars it’s opening weekend while the star of the film, John Cusak couldn’t string together a few words to put together for use in an intelligent sentence. Now I like Chicagoan Cusak, but he was definitely miscast here. A dramatic actor known for dramtic performances in Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil, Beng John Malkovich, the Ice-Harvest, 1408 and other’s-he is not an “action” guy. Though he did farely well in Con-Air with Nicholas Cage who would have turned in a better performance in 2012 than Cusak.
Actor’s today are being offered sooo … much money to appear in these dogs like 2012, it’s getting very difficult for them to turn down the money. And that’s the problem with Hollywood these days. It’s all about the “green-screen,” special-effects, and box-office sales like 2012 which will most likely clear well over 100-million by the time the DVD is released and with world-wide promotion.Hollywood today has an over-abundance of acting talent but few good writer’s like Elmore Leonard. (Get Shorty). So, the next decade Hollywood will churn out a boatload of crap like we have seen the past ten-years, one super-hero, fantasy, action movie like Spiderman, Transformers, 2012 after another until they all begin to look the same. Mindless entertainment bringing in mega-bucks.
If you’ve watched the Academy-Awards the past few years, it’s getting hard and harder the the board-of-governors to weed out the crap and select a truly fine film.Best motion picture for 2009 was awarded to a “foreign film” called Slumdog Millionaire because it was better than all the crap Hollywood made in 2009 like The Dark Knight for which Heath Ledger won best-actor posthumously.
Forbes List Of Most Overpaid Hollywood Stars
Nitwit Palin strikes again
Once again demonstrating her incapability for becoming or running for president in 2012, disgraced Republican Sarah Palin said this week of the FT. Hood shooter that the military should do profiling on all our military bases. They do and the Ft.Hood shooter, being the base psychiatrist would have been doing that profiling. Nitwit!
As Sarah Palin blanketed the media on a whirlwind book promotion tour, the former vice-presidential contender once again landed in hotwater this week first by the biased journalism cover in Newsweek and then by Fox News. Anchor Jarrett claiming video is of “Huge Crowds” on Palin Book Tour was actually 2008 Campaign Footage. Bill O’Reilly Had “Hissyfit” Over Sean Hannity’s Sarah Palin Interview. Fox News, which continues to be the “Republican channel,“ was later forced to apologize.
BARBARA WALTERS, ABC NEWS: Have you seen the cover of Newsweek? It’s a picture of you in shorts from a photograph that was taken for a Runner’s World magazine. So how do you feel about they’re showing you like that on the cover?
SARAH PALIN, FORMER VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think that it’s so cheesy. Had I known then that a picture of me in shorts would end up on the cover of Newsweek I would not have allowed Runner’s World to profile me. I think that that — for me, personally, it’s a wee bit degrading. Newsweek should be more — more policy oriented, more substance oriented than showing some gal in shorts on the cover.
Runner’s World did not provide Newsweek with the image. Instead, it was provided to Newsweek by the photographer’s stock agency without Runner’s World knowledge or permission.” Instead of Palin going after Newsweek for biased reporting and using its front-cover to editorialize- Palin, nitwit that she is gossips with “Babs” about how cheesy the photo is. It’s a “hot” photo I admit but had Palin half-a-brain, which she hasn’t, I would like it even more if she got tough and vigourously went after her attackers. How the hell can she ever be Vice-Presdient or President if she can;t even go after Newsweek and Fox News when she clearly has a case?
Use of the photo by Newsweek was demeaning and degrading and Newsweek knew exactly what it was doing. They made sexuality a part of her performance. And this is something that if it had happened to someone on the left, the feminist organizations would be screaming about. The other thing is, that the editor of Newsweek said that they chose a cover that was most interesting. One that was available to them to illustrate the theme of the cover, and that they apply the same test of photographs of any public figure.
Oh really?
Schwarzenegger rules out another run for office
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger won’t say what his plans are when his term expires next year, but he won’t be running for another office.“I have never labeled myself as a politician, so I am not going to run for anything else,” Schwarzenegger told reporters in Milan on Tuesday. Schwarzenegger, a Republican, is restricted by California law from seeking a third term as governor when his tenure expires at the end of 2010. He has previously indicated that the only other political office he would be interested in seeking is president, and he can’t run because he was born in Austria.
Facebook abuse
I signed up for Facebook for one reason and one reason only. To keep tabs on all of my ex-girlfriends, ex-wives, high-school and college friends to make sure that none of them are living more meaningful lives than myself. They are but that’s not the point. I did not join FB to be harassed by a faceless army of Facebook morons whom I have never met, who have no life and way too much time on their hands and are constantly updating their status.
I recognize that I have “friends that I have requested and I don’t know how to “unfriend” people. I haven’t found that button yet.Unlike certain celebrity’s, I did not join FB to see if I could reach 5,000 friends and then get pissed off that Facebook won’t allow you to have more than 5,000 friends per FB site. Many of these celebrity’s who “friended” me have now “unfreinded” me now that they reached the 5,000 friend goal. Which leads me to the question, how can you be friends with people you have never even met much less keep track of them all if you have 5,000 in your friends list?
I don’t want to see anymore pictures of people’s dogs. Get a life!!! I don’t want to know which Care-bear, Muppet baby, or type of “old person” I am. I don’t want to know
What The Who Song would you be?2. What Grateful Dead Song would you be?3. What Romance Movie would you be? What is your Santa Claus Name?2. What is your Super Villain Name?3. What is your Spanish Name?4. What is your Naughty Elf Name?5. What is your Nickname Name? What Hot Sauce would you be?2. What 50s TV Show would you be?3. What Cookie would you be? What is your Prison Name?2. What is your Thanksgiving Turkey Name?3. What is your Serial Killer Name?4. What is your Anne Rice Vampire Name?5. What is your Royal Name?
I don’t want any gifts from “Farmville” and please stop sending me drinks. I won’t drink them. And then there’s the people on FB who don’t want to share any information with the public. Like why the f … are you on Facebook? It’s a “social” network.
Please stop inviting me to use certain applications or attend special events. (like your boyfriends shitty rock-band playing at The Plaza). Chances are I won’t be attending.
My FB page is an “interactive” marketing tool which keeps me connected to other professionals in the publishing, journalism, media fields. Unlike MySpace, which got a reputation for being a “F…. Space” and which many public libraries and other free wi-fi venues block out, FB allows me, in the media, to keep in touch with fellow “medians.”
KH
Now Palin is going vogue and rogue again in her book about the disastrous republican campaign of 2009 in Ging Rogue. There are no new “revelations” in the book. Palin admits what millions of Americans have known for well over a year. That she was ill-equipped to be the republican running mate, that the Katie Couric interview was a disaster. Palin’s confession is now on record and further seals her chances of ever resurrecting a political career.
Last week- it was quietly announced by CNN that Lou Dobbs had stepped down as anchor of the afternoon news and would be replaced by John King, a Dobbs wannabe and corporate suck up. CNN anchor John King, the upright, square-jawed good-looker who made his name with the “magic map” – that big-screen thingie where you move your fingers around and 
Of 2012, I can only say this- Roger Ebert was the only film critic to give the movie a glowing review. Most of the other long-time film critics like Richard Roper and Richard Curtis panned the film. In Godzilla, director Emmerich has a character named Mayor Ebert. Since Ebert gave Emmerich’s 2012 film such a glowing review- calling it the thrill-ride of a lifetime- no doubt in his next movie you will see a character named “president Ebert. Now that Richard Roeper and Richard Curtis have panned 2012- what horrible demise will director Emmerich have in store for these two in his next film?
In
I absolutely agree with Roeper and Curtis on 2012. Time was, folks would get into a lather about the simplistic thumbs-up, thumbs-down method of cinematic analysis practiced by film critics Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper on their little TV movie-review show. Ebert, movie critic for the Chicago Sun-Times, and Roeper, columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times debuted on PBS in 1978 under the title Sneak Previews, the duo’s half hour became one of PBS’ highest-rated shows — in no small part because, like that other halcyon PBS hero, chef Julia Child, Ebert and Siskel were unusual but natural TV personalities. When Gene Siskel tragically passed away, Roeper filled in after Ebert could not carry the show alone.
Unemployment 2009
Will Hatcher’s: Crank Dat Homeless Man
Most businesses in America hire young kids to work a register who have never worked a cash register before and they’re paid the federal minimum wage of $7.25 hour. And business wonders why customer service sucks?
Chicago sports-critics are particularly brutal on the hometeam. They always find fault with local teams. Bears beat Browns 30-6 and headlines claim, “ugly win,” or “not too memorable.” Not too memorable? They beat the Browns frickin 30-6. For the Bears that’s memorable. This finding fault with every little thing has become a Chicago habit. Chicagoans it seems are not happy unless they’re finding fault with something.
this year
Over the weekend it was announced that Hami Karzai’s political-opponent, former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah, had dropped out and that there would be no “presidential runoff“ in Afghanistan at the same time it was reported that Karzis brother was not only being propped up by the CIA but was being paid by the Taliban drug-lords as well. As President Obama tried to make the tough decision whether or not to send an additional 40,000 troops to Afghanistan, the revelation of corruption in the desert left many Americans asking the question, “Just what the hell are we doing in Afghanistan?”
My brother, a retired paramedic of 30-years believes that our public schools are making thousands of kids sick by giving them the H1 N1 flu shot.
The novel H1N1 virus first appeared in April. According to the Center for Disease Control, a pandemic – global disease outbreak – of H1N1 flu is under way. Because H1N1 is a new influenza virus there is little public immunity, so the number of those infected is projected to be high. The prediction is that 40 percent of the U.S. population will be infected with the virus over the next two years. One of the biggest differences from seasonal flu is that adults older than 64 years do not seem to be at an increased risk of H1N1 complications. In seasonal flu about 90 percent of deaths are in the older population, with H1N1 the majority of deaths up to this point have occurred in individuals under the age of 50.
Back when I was a kid, I remember a TV commercial for hair color that told women, “You‘re not getting older. You‘re getting better.” Of course, as the ad suggested, women needed a little help in the form of hair color, plastic surgery, tummy tucks, or the truckload of excercise equipment sold on late night TV. Recent photo’s of some of Hollywood’s sex-kittens show that they didn’t need hair color, tummy tucks, plastic surgery or the ton of excercise equipment which finds its way to the annual garage sales. Andie McDowell, Courtney Cox and Cindy Crawford are back and they’re hotter than ever. All of them seem to balance children, husbands, sex lives and a fulfilling career which seems to say to women that you can have it all.
HottestCostumes.com has published the results of it’s survey of the top costumes for Halloween 2009. Each year the website contacts retailers of costumes to get a pulse of what are the hottest costumes for that year.
will likely buy one or even two costumes! We expect our adult customers to spend just as much on Halloween as last year.” when queried about expected sales due to the current down economy. “Responses similar to Kristens’ lead us to believe that even with consumers feeling a financial pinch, they are looking forward to the inexpensive escapism that Halloween provides” stated Steven Stackman owner of Specialty Marketing Service, the operator of www.HottestCostumes.com and www.BestCostumeContest.com a site for consumers to upload their favorite costume pictures and compete to win prizes.
batgirl costume
“Saturday Night Live” formed in the crucible of the mid-1970s, when Watergate brought respect for politicians to all-time lows, had Fred Armisen portraying Barack Obama last weekend in a talked-about sketch Saturday night on “Saturday Night Live.” It was a powerful combination — after 34 years, “SNL” and politics can still strike sparks among political observers. Armisen, as President Obama, chided “those on the right” for saying that he was “turning this great country into something that resembles the Soviet Union or Nazi Germany. “Not true, said Armisen as Obama. “When you look at my record,” he said, “it’s very clear what I’ve done so far — and that is nothing.”
Two well-known Bahamian citizens and a paramedic are being quizzed by the police in a 20-million-dollar extortion plot targeting John Travolta following the death of his 16-year-old son. Lightbourne was one of the paramedics who tried to revive Jett and is said to have taken a picture of the 16-year-old with his cell phone. The devastated father was said to have become a victim of the extortion attempt over the death of his son Jett, who died from a seizure during a family holiday in the Bahamas on January 2. The actor and his wife Kelly Preston had alleged that two blackmailers threatened to publish a photo of the teenager as he lay struggling for his life unless they were paid “millions of dollars.” John Travolta’s two blackmailers are said to have been caught on tape making an extortion deal with the star’s lawyer over documents connected to the death of his son Jett. According to new evidence obtained by People magazine, paramedic Tarino Lightbourn and his lawyer, Pleasant Bridgewater, who have pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to commit extortion, could end up behind bars. Videotape recorded secretly by the Royal Bahamas Police show Lightbourn and Bridgewater attempting to secure a multi-million payment from Travolta for the return of a form the star signed just before his son was pronounced dead. A month after the alleged negotiation, Travolta met with Bahamas police officials to file a complaint that led to the current Nassau trial, which began earlier this week. John Travolta flew to the Bahamas yesterday as he prepared to be the first witness in an extortion case linked to the death of his 16-year-old son Jett. It is rumoured to be the star’s first visit to the island since his son’s death in January, and he is set to give evidence against a paramedic and his attorney, who tried to extort $25m from him for a document about the incident.
the photo ad taped to the window of the downtown real-estate office announced. The last few years, realtors have been trying to seduce the “uber-rich” to buy property up here in Colorado’s ski country with little success.
Many Americans are doing what they can to contribute to a “greener” America by recycling, planting trees, monitoring electric and water consumption but do we face a crisis as Obama claims?
Barring some meteorological catastrophe, more than likely the world will blow itself up long before the damaging effects of climate change are ever felt. With insane leaders in N. Korea, Iran and China developing nuclear weapons and shooting off missiles, Believe me, Obama needs to spend his energies focusing on 
The class-less republicans have fired the first volley when bulbous loudmouthed windbag Rush Limbaugh announced publicly that he would do everything in his power to see that young whippersnapper candidate Obama would fail. Last night during the Presidents speech to Congress, and during a nationally televised event with millions of Americans watching, Rep. Joe Wilson, Republican of South Carolina, yelled “
THE LIARS CLUB
So lets take a look at the lying liars and the lies they tell starting with Rep. Joe Wilson: “Rep. Wilson’s words were an insult to the president of the United States and an embarrassment to the U.S. House of Representatives,” McCollum said in a statement. “He crossed a line of protocol and decency that may be acceptable for angry ‘teabaggers’ at a rally, but is completely unacceptable for a member of Congress in the House chambers. Rep. Joe Wilson is a manipulative liar and one cannot nor should not believe his insincere apology to the president. Come on! Wilson knows that the prez’s speech to Congress is a nationally televised event. He knew his outburst would cause controversy. With the controversy Wilson hopes to control the flow of the debate on Health Care. His refusal to apologize to his fellow members of Congress, whom he severely embarrassed, goes to show his insincerity. Later, in a soundbite excusing his poor behavior, he said he believed he had “civility.” Another lie. Rep. Joe Wilson is a manipulative liar who should be censured if not taken out back by the few remaining members of Congress who still believe in America and used as a punching bag. Arrogant Liars like Wilson know there are no consequences for their lying, their traitorous speech, or their rude, arrogant behavior. Years ago, when J. Edgar Hoover ruled America with an iron-fist- Wilson would have had a fatal accident. Today. liars like Wilson hide behind the 1st amendment and the law.
n by noting Kennedy’s reputation as “
Rush Limbaugh is another drug addict. He was indicted by the Feds when his housekeeper, whom he has since fired, was apprehended trying to buy Oxy-contin for Rush without a prescription.
There are many other members of the media “Liars Club,” but because of the number of liars and the power they wield, the power of the talk-show hosts, the blogs, in recent polls, 
get one free
On a recent trip to the store I left with four small bags of basic groceries for nearly $100! One pack of Oscar Meyer hot dogs was $5 last winter at the Jewel in Arlington Heights, a suburb of Chicago. The same package of dogs here at my Colorado mountain grocer is around $279. How can some grocery chains justify selling hot dogs for $5 a pack when others sell them for half that price
When I was a boy growing up on the North Side of Chicago (Andersonville),in the neighborhoods there were still little stores where the family lived behind the store or above the store. My favorite little grocery store was where you could see the family eating lunch in the back….someone would come to the front to wait on you. They baked fresh jelly donuts every day and sold them to the schoolkids who had to pass by the store. Mmmmm! All the stores were individually owned and unique–if you wanted a chain store you’d go downtown Chicago, to State Street, for the department stores like Marshall Fields, Woolworths, Sears etc. Today’s youth, with the explosion of “strip-malls,” don’t notice it now that they see Starbucks, Corner Bakery, BK, Taco Bell everywhere. Why is it that every new strip mall they build today has a Noodle Bowl, a dry cleaners, 7-11 and a Starbucks? I feel lucky to have grown up when all the store owners and my parents were on a first-name basis with the butcher or the baker and there was a good ‘fit’ between what the community wanted and what the stores sold.
hoose less processed food and cook from scratch more often. Cooking from scratch is better from both your health and budget. Processed food is often high in sodium, fat and calories. A recent study showed that more than half of consumers are buying fewer prepared meals and cooking more often from scratch.
One sure sign that summer is over here in the high Rockies is the day the kids start school. The kids started school this week to choruses from locals of, “Thank God!” The Summit County High School Principal is urging his teachers to ease into the homework after last years catastrophe. 
Another sure sign of fall/winter is when the coyotes and black bears come down low and dumpster dive at the local fast foods (KFC, Taco Bell, Subway etc). Yesterday in Vail, Colorado a black bear broke into a brand new Subaru Forrester, ate the steering wheel, defecated on the passenger seat, deployed the air bags. Boy was he pissed when the Eagle County Sheriff’s showed up to let him out. Seems the black bears up here have learned how to open unlocked car doors and break into locked condos in Vail. Many a homeowner has come home recently to find Papa Bear has raided the refrigerator and has made himself at home on the sofa watching TV. Seems that’s another trick they have learned. The latest condo owner returning home engaged in a heavy cell-phone conversation was home 15-minutes before he noticed the intruder and ran out of the home screaming. I bet the bear had a big grin on his face.
It all started back in the Eighties, when the Japanese shocked American consumer electronics companies with trade-show displays of high definition television sets that delivered razor-sharp images and stunning audio. Everyone from Congress to 
What the $&%# has happened to our blockbuster summer movie season? 
As far as an evil villain, there is no diabolical Dr. Evil (Mike Meyer) and his usual accoutrement of henchmen. We get a warehouse, some dock workers and a hotel out in the middle of a desert that blows up with few quests staying in it other than the bad guys. Who stays at places like this anyway? Even when Bond strands Mr, Green out in the desert with no water but just a can of motor-oil to drink, we think what a horrible way to go out. We like this Bond with his unique sense of justice. Then we find out from M (played brilliantly by Judi Dench) that Mr. Green is shot three times in the head and the can of motor oil left untouched. Why do the producers do that? Give Bond a villainous heart and then soft-soap the violence to the public. We want Bond to be villainous of heart- just not all the skull bashing. We want Green to die of thirst with only motor-oil to drink in his last moments. (Green was trying to corner the water supply of some third-world country) the motor-oil an ironic metaphor.
WalMart’s recent Christmas TV ad is set to the classic Christmas Carol, The Carol of the Bells,
next year in sub-artic weather as they did last year to watch the same excuse of a team lose so pathetically.
Shades of gray??? There can be no shades of gray when millions are losing their jobs and homes. Shades of gray by greedy bank lenders and stock-market investment brokers are what led America to its financial meltdown this past primary season with the housing crisis, collapse of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and led to the government bailing out Wall-Street to the tune of $700-billion-dollars in liguidity. That lines a lot of deep pockets folks. Geithner will continue unbridled implementation and expansion of the banker bailout, doling out taxpayer’s money to Wall Street, causing rampant inflation, a lowering in living standards, and the destruction of the dollar.
war. Under an Obama administration, the causes that the liberal left has been fighting for over the last eight years will simply be forgotten just like conservatives were put to sleep when Bush came to power. Obama is the scape-goat. When the proverbial shit hits the fan, and it will, the attitude in Washington and the nation will be,”Blame it on the black guy. He did what all black people do- he scammed us and we fell for his lies.” Any progress America has made towards ending “racism” will be set back forty-years. The Clinton’s already know this for they are true political sharks. Already, Hillary and Bill are positioning themselves to create a “shadow government” which will step in should Obama get in over his head and bow out in four-years. 2012 may very well see a Clinton Presidency.
Excuse me, but when did late-night comedians give a crap about politics or anything other than getting an immediate laugh? Jay Leno is not one to be throwing stones out the window of his glass house. He was recenty arrested for DUI and being sued for buying a $180,000 custom-made classic car that once belonged to a Macy’s heir at a “sham” auction. Jay Leno, car thief? Us Weekly reports Snoop Dogg was arrested for “drugs and guns” on Tuesday night after performing on ‘The Tonight Show with Jay Leno’ in Burbank.
You think a fool like Letterman gives a crap if I think he’s a mean-spirited son-of-a-bitch? I doubt it and that’s the point here- we have to make them give a crap by not giving into their mean-spirited humor, by boycotting their shows, and writing their advertisers in enough numbers that their mean humor offends us for it to even begin to become a speck in their eye. Replacing Leno with Conan is just a continuation of the meanness that has come to dominate late-night television. Conan O’Brien is just a Jay Leno Jr with red-hair. An obnoxious red-head like Woody-the-Woodpecker.
The 25 sexiest women of all time
So here is my list of The 25 sexiest women (in all mediums) of all time. All 25 of these women at one time have been voted a sexiest woman, sexiest woman of the month, year, or all time, at least once. I think few men, real men will disagree with my choice of the women who should be in the top 25.
1940’s hottie)
1990’s
ff (
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was in a dark place when he wrote I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day. America was in the midst of the 
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep
As President 
George W. needs to leave as quietly as possible, with as little fanfare as possible considering the total mess he has left his successor.
Already, Obama is making the mistake of having the most expensive inaugural party in history at a time when America is slipping into depression. Marie Antoinette made that same mistake bankrupting a nation for her many “parties” and uttering phrases like, “Let them eat cake.” The ugly mob in France chopped off her head. A lesson Barack Obama needs to heed as soon as possible. Today’s Obama supporter’s can become tomorrow’s ugly mob of revolutionaries.
I received a rebuttal from a new Star Trek fan that:
In 1987 — Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry promises gay characters At a Boston Star Trek convention, series creator Gene Roddenberry told fans that Star Trek: The Next Generation will likely “address the issue” of gay and lesbian characters and situations. Staff writer David Gerrold took notes. 
“My attitude toward homosexuality has changed. I came to the conclusion that I was wrong. I was never someone who hunted down “fags” as we used to call them on the street. I would, sometimes, say something anti-homosexual off the top of my head because it was thought, in those days, to be funny. I never really deeply believed those comments, but I gave the impression of being thoughtless in these areas. I have, over many years, changed my attitude about gay men and women.”
In 1988 — David Gerrold’s AIDS-allegory script rejected Staff writers David Gerrold and Herb Wright create script for “Blood and Fire,” in which an alien creature was itself a disease that infected others. One of his victims was a male medical technician, who was lovers with a male security officer. After pressure from the studio and show executives, Gerrold rewrote the script without the gay characters.
Director J.J. Abrams is gay.
The series has exhausted itself. It has had a good run- it’s time now for the spaceship Enterprise after death of creator Gene Roddenberry whose remains wound up in outer space to know when to sail off into the universe, first star on the right and straight on until morning.
J.J. Abrams 
J.J. Abrams- how about dumping the idea of rebooting the Star Trek franchise and giving us a 
But we do “apologize.” Sincerely. We also keep taking your money. (Suckers!)
d golden parachutes.
ortation we need and deserve.
Magliari says Amtrak was doing a “top-to-bottom” review of this week’s disruptions to try and prevent them from happen again. (Another bold-faced lie as these problems have been happening with regularity the past few years and getting worse every year. It’s time to kick the bold-faced liars like Magliari, and other corporate panhandlers to the curb. Though Magliari is just the mouthpiece for the irresponsible criminals who run Amtrak, you can bet he is in with them and as thick as fleas on a dog. The public demands to have clean, dependale, affordable public transportation in America, on the rails, on the highways, and in the air and it’s past due time that our government stepped in and shut these pirates like Amtrak and Greyhound down, round up the viliians and throw their miserable lying corporate asses in jail with their fellow criminals who make no pretense that they are providing the country and the public a service. The criminals in the joint are more honest about what they do and what they’ve done than these corporate scumbags who have no regard for the comfort or safety of their passengers just about the size of their yearly bonuses and golden-parachutes.
High-speed rail advocates in California have long dreamed of the day when bullet trains would revolutionize transportation, and they’re counting on voters to pony up nearly $10 billion to bankroll what would be the nation’s first true high-speed rail line. Proponents have been pushing high-speed rail for 25 years and always fallen short. But they say a confluence of events — rising fuel prices, gridlocked roads, jammed airports and concern about global warming — present the best chance yet to bring bullet trains to America. “We have a perfect storm … those four factors make a perfect case for high-speed rail,” Ron Diridion of the state’s 
ly bailout a system that has been dead for years. If Obama and the federal government won’t step in now to shut down the bandits like Amtrak- then perhaps Americans need to type up a very nice looking invitation to al_Qaeda and Osama bin Laden;
DEMOLITION EXPERTS WANTED FOR RAILWAY WORK!
Auld Lang Syne” is an extremely old Scottish song that was first written down in the 1700s and associated with 
1. 
2. 
7. 
10. 
Christmas film, It’s A Wonderful Life says:
In the ’50s and early ’60s, the postwar exodus from the cities to the suburbs was just beginning.
As middle-class families moved out of the suburbs leaving behind decaying homes, streets, a ghost town of a shopping mall- the Mexicans, legal or illegal flocked 
to this haven of low-icome housing in a county repleat with thousands of low-paying service jobs. You can’t blame the Mexicans. As “liberal-left” churches like First Congregational Church, Church of the Brethren, and other’s; sponsored hundreds of foreign families from Korea, China, South and Central America’s to relocate in our declining ghetto “white-bread suburbs” the church’s turned their backs on their own homeless and struggling, the entire Fox Valley; with an over-abundance of “Row-house” suburbs like Carpentersville, Hoffman Estates, Hanover Park, Cary, Fox River Grove, was sucked down the drainhole.
jobs began moving oversea’s and plants, factories and retail closed. The commuter-era was born. Thousands of middle-class who were stuck with these lower-priced houses in towns like Fox River Grove, Palatine, Hoffman Estates, Bartlett, found they had to commute to the city of Chicago for employment.
50-years-later later, with the advent of the Internet and “online” shopping, the “white-bread suburbs” have metamorphosed into the city, sprawling suburbs now stretch from the shores of Lake Michigan in Chicago west to Rockford, Illinois. a distance of 150-miles, filled in with one strip mall after anther strip mall. The country, farms, fields, cows are gone and one suburb like Hoffman Estates looks like a cloned copy of Hanpover Park or Carpentersville.
long dead already just to make a few quick bucks on the latest action film or get a quick laugh on the Tonight Show.
ack, drugs, Godlessness and lawlessness.
Anger bubbles over at Amtrak as passengers stranded 24-hours
Gay Trek (2009)
Forced retirement is a good thing for a failed presidency
The 25 Sexiest Women of all time. (The definitive list)
“Wise guy, eh?”
Won’t Get Fooled Again!
Hugh Hefner just a “dirty old-man”
The voluminous amount of these penile enhancer junk-mails are beginning to annoy me. Maybe the problem is not the size of your equipment, maybe the problem is the size of your intimacy (your woman or your relationship. the next time your woman makes an issue of the size of your equipment, don’t fall for these marketing scams and the Pamela Andersen mentality in believing that it’s the size of your penis that matters, pay attention to what she’s really telling you. She’s telling you that you have communication issues, that you don’t listen to her or talk to her enough.
The Dark Knight sure raised the bar for super-hero action/special effects movies.The pressure to “cash-in” by Hollywood producers will ramp up the competition as well as stress-levels in Hollywood to have that big blockbuster movie of the summer.
t. John McCain would certainly keep us stuck in the past.
you spare a cup of coffee?
Sometimes the words just get in the way
AC/DC Rock-N-Roll train rolls on
After today, (Nov. 4th) consider me gone
The Rule Of Three
R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Obama’s nation has begun
resident-elect. Obama and his allies are preparing to implement his liberal, “post-American” agenda. Simply put, what President-elect Obama and the Pelosi-Reid Congress have in store has the potential to rapidly move America to the socialist Left.
Creating tomorrow’s dirty-laundry today
Secretary Of State? Oh no … Mrs. Bill
James Bond, 007, longed for the foreplay and the cigarette afterward and we, the reading public and movie-fans, longed for his longing. Violence was always an annoyance for Bond which distracted him from his passions in life, (girls, cars, Baccarat), and his number one passion, the Vodka Martini, shaken not stirred. Four years ago, Bond fans revolted when it was announced that Daniel Craig would be taking over the part from Pierce Brosnan, a buffoon in a Tom Ford suit. Craig cannot do nuance or smooth like Sean Connery, tongue-in-cheek like Roger Moore or double-entendre like Pierce Brosnan. In fact, Daniel Craig is best as James Bond when he speaks as little as possible. What Craig does best is skull bashing. Might as well have cast him as Conan and given him a sword. It’s time for a return to the lost art of Bond or for James Bond to retire gracefully once and for all with his dignity and balls intact. Any further mucking about with the character by producers or lame acting of Daniel Craig will further serve to kill the franchise.
Zack and Miri make a controversy
WALMART PUTS THE WORD “CHRISTMAS” BACK IN SALES
THE WORLD MUMBLES IN MUMBAI
EGACY
’s sex in advertising goes from ‘So Fly’ to ‘No Fly.’
THE GHOSTS OF CHRISTMAS SINGERS (PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE)
BEARS FANS DIE HARD.
ully bow out of the limelight, preferring to put their expertise at work behind the scenes and actually winning some awards doing it like Clint Eastwood, some retire and enter politics like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Al Franken. Others; particularly rockers like Rod Stewart, go in and out of retirement faster than the revolving doors at Ogilvy Train Station. Do we really want to see Mick Jagger dancing around on stage at age 65 with his little pot-belly sticking out? As one guy yelled at a recent Rolling Stones concert, “Mick! Put the shirt 
back on.” 
the mandatory rock-star retirement act after which past the certain age of 40- rock stars are forced to give up the dream. If it ain’t happened by now- it probably isn’t going to. Hey! Somebody has to save us from ourselves. Do we really??? want to sit around watching our favorite rockers like Jimmy Buffet get up there at age 70 and make a fool of himself? Can you imagine if Elvis were still alive? he’d be like 
72-years-of age and it really would be,“Heartbreak Hotel.“
n of paper on these rapidly aging demi-gods like Richard Geer, Arnold Schwarenegger, Pierce Brosnan, Demi Moore and other former “hotties.” As a young college student in 1974, Farrah Fawcett’s poster in that red one-piece bathing suit graced my wall for four years. Today, I would pay her to take it back.
Brittany Spears Age Test.
titles.
Already the signs are there from 
The first motion of no confidence occurred in March 1782 when, following news of the British defeat at York-town in the American Revolutionary War the previous autumn, the Parliament of Great Britain voted that they “can no longer repose confidence in the present ministers”. Prime Minister Lord North responded by asking King George III to accept his resignation.
But to continue to put the American voters through the political meat-grinder every-four years is ludicrous and can only end in ruin, shame, and bloody revolution one day. Americans, like our French counterparts under Marie Antoinette, will only be pushed so much, then like the angry French mob, we will come for you and lob off your head.
In 2002, the TV industry launched a horrible precedent called American Idol with a sort of a good-cop (
Today’s Oscar winning actors like Meryl Streep, had to work at what is known as “perfecting their craft.” They couldn’t just go on some national televised “talent-show” and win a recording contract or an Oscar. They had to work at it. For years. It was a career. As such, they treated it like a career.
their hard-earned success. Many of today’s top actors and actresses have been working at perfecting their craft for a long time starting out as child prodigies like 
Paula Goodspeed was a self-described fan of the “American Idol” judge Paula Abdul
Just as we must encourage budding authors to attend summer writing workshops hosted by literary giants like Stephen King, John Grisham, J.K. Rowling. But you can’t hand success on a silver platter to youngsters, they have to put in their time, perfect their craft, hunger for success to make success meaningful for them to be able to appreciate success. They have to study and learn and practice their craft. That is the only way to achieve meaningful success- not by winning success in a TV talent show. That’s not talent- that’s a popularity contest. Two very different things.
Any President who used to collect Spider-Man comics as a kid is going to give America a 
There’s an old axiom in politics. “If they can’t buy you- they kill you” and unlike Marvel Comics, there is no Spidey hanging around to guard the young “geek” president and Obama is no 
Sunday night, The Golden Globes, over-hyped as the big ol’ party of the awards season met for its 66th Annual Golden Globe Awards” telecast live on NBC. The public at home got to watch red carpet coverage on E! and in between the high-tech Glamastrator and Star Tracker visuals, came one or two delicious Hollywood moments. But mostly, The Golden Globes is just a big party for Hollywood insiders which is why they prefer the Globes over its more stuffy and staid Academy presentation. The Globes is gloriously dressed down: no live renderings of the best song nominees, no interminable clip packages, no self-flagellating monologues or self-serving quips from a smug host. In fact, there’s no host. The victors get to speak as long as they desire without being played off by an orchestra, and bravo for that, It is a fun, frolicking, informal atmosphere that endangers the end of the more “staid” Academy. Celebrities get to sit at round tables eating dinner and having drinks with their friends and contemporaries unlike the “staid” Oscars where the celebrities are forced to sit in an auditorium for 4-hours with no drinks, no food. By the time the Oscars end and the after-party’s begin, you can darn well bet those celebrities, are dying for a drink. Many of them have not been sober for 4-straight hours in their life without a drink or a “toot” of blow. The economy might be in the toilet, but it’s heartening to know that at least the Golden Globe Awards are back in top form.
Golden Globe Awards would not be telecast live. The ceremony was faced with a threat by striking writers to picket the event and by actors, threatening to boycott the ceremony, rather than cross picket lines. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association was forced to adopt another approach for the broadcast. The writers strike threatened to put an end to the fun and frolicking Globes ceremony but seeing it back in all its glory, should send a signal to Hollywood that their precious Academy Awards show is in danger of going into moth balls.
ecome long, boring, and stuffy with many winners not even showing up to accept awards, other presenters and winners using the Academy stage as a personal bully-pulpit for whatever wacked out religious or political beliefs they have simply because they know they have an audience of millions. It’s become so uncool to say anything nice about the Oscar telecast. The last few years have brought us disastrous hosts of the awards like Jon Stewart and David Letterman, (few get their sarcastic and pedantic humor) or Whoopi Goldberg trying to be down home folk.
ceremony. The celebrated “party atmosphere” of the Globes on the other hand is cited as a refreshing side note, gloriously dressed down: no live renderings of the best song nominees, no interminable clip packages, no self-flagellating monologues or self-serving quips from a smug host. In fact, there’s no host. The victors get to speak as long as they desire without being played off by an orchestra, and bravo for that. And the only special honor of the night, presented to Steven Spielberg, turned out to be one of the evening highlights with the guest of honor’s graceful and classy acceptance. The 1st Golden Globe Awards were held in January 1944 at the 20th Century Fox studios in Los Angeles.
appearance and also make them more durable during transit. The trophy is smaller, but the globe is supposed to be more detailed and more accurate, and there’s a new marble base. It also comes with a leather-bound, velvet-lined carrying case) while the Academy hands out a tiny man nicknamed Oscar. (once made of bronze it is now composed of a gold-plated brittanium (a metal alloy mostly made of tin) and weighs in at 8 1/2 pounds.The base is made of metal) depicts a knight holding a crusader’s sword standing on a reel of film with five spokes, signifying the original branches of the Academy: Actors, Writers, Directors, Producers and Technicians. Academy librarian Margaret Herrick, who would later become the Academy’s executive director. Allegedly, she declared that the statue looked like her Uncle Oscar.
The 81st Academy Awards ceremony will honor the best films of 2008 and is scheduled for Sunday, February 22, 2009, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California. It will be televised in the United States on ABC, and in Canada on CTV. Australian performer Hugh Jackman is set to host the ceremony for the first time. Trying to compete with Golden Globes, the AMPAS community has made a mockery of itself so any death of the academy awards is extremely healthy and would be welcomed by the public. It has become impossible for the ‘Hollywood community’ to continue enforcing its false dedication to quality or craft or even the skill of creating a movie star’s mystique. There is something anachronistic about this parade of embalmed phonies insisting on their artistry when elections are rigged, brutal imperialist wars continue, and disneyfied child prostitutes like Britney Spears combust in public – which, history will prove, is the ultimate punk kamikaze attack on Hollywood.
The word spin in politics has come to mean a particular viewpoint , bias or slant especially. in the media; “
wasn’t paying attention. The media barely cut to his farewell address to the nation from continued coverage of a plane crash in the Hudson River in time for Bush’s first words Thursday evening. Making his closing argument for the history books, the President declared, “
exist till today. However, where most epic movies had failed, Ridley Scott does a great job keeping the action sequences tight but not forgetting to deliver the message of respect and tolerance towards oneself and others. The surrender of Jerusalem and the protection of its citizens was skillfully neogitated between two great warriors. Been there-done that. So why would Osama bin-Laden want a repeat of such a hly-war in a time where both sides have nuclear weapons and could obstensibly obliterate the planet? Because he’s a nut-job! In the movie Dark Knight, Batman is discussing the terrorist Tje Joke with his manservant Alfred who explains, 
dge of America’s 43rd-President of the United States and his empire building.
Here’s the thing about 
It might be 
Naturally, balls are a big part of any celebration. They’ve been a staple of post-inauguration activities since 
through the inauguration. If Obama turns out to be just another “Slick Willie,” just another “slick politician” who has told Americans what they wanted to hear to get elected and does not keep his campaign promises, you can bet that 2,000 will be the same number of eggs his opponents will be throwing at him in 2012 when he tries to run for re-election.
The new term in the political landscape is called: Obstructionism.
The elections are over. Barack Obama won, fair and square. He played by their rules and beat them anyway. To anyone who tries to obstruct this administration, to further wreck our economy, shred the fabric of our society, I say it is time to throw down.! Arrest the obstructionists. Charge them with treason, give them a fair trial then jail them with the real Americans doing time in our penitentiaries. The criminals may have made mistakes, but most of them admit their mistakes, do their time, and actually try to turn their lives around after being released from incarceration. Some of the most patriotic Americans this country has have spent time in America’s correctional institutions. They know why they got there- most of them. Most do not blame others or make excuses like the Republican leaders of this country. They were just victims of lack. Lack of opportunities, lack of jobs, lack of housing, lack of good choices. For blacks, many doors were closed to them that were open to whites. I do not make excuses for the criminals nor would they wish me to do so. But, whatever their misdemeanors and felonies- most do not spend every second of every day trying to thwart government, trying to bankrupt America, trying to obstruct or overthrow government. Those that do, like Rush Limbaugh, should be charged with treason. Put Limbaugh on trial, have him explain himself before the court of public opinion.
once questioned the publishing of these wire-stories that made fantastic claims that could not be proved. I was told by the, then owners of the Sun-Times, that the newspaper paid big bucks for this filler and that I should keep my mouth shut and just run the copy if I wanted to keep my job. Now, take my newspaper experience times several thousand. Several thousand reporters, editors, copy-editors in print media, radio and television who were also told the same thing. “Run the copy if you want to keep your job.”
out of town when they duped the public into buying a useless tonic that had no health benefits whatsoever. What makes thieves like Al Gore so particularly dangerous is that he has no scruples and no moral conscience. Al Gore does not care about you and me, Al Gore does not care whether the world heats up or cools down, Al Gore only cares about Al Gore. Al Gore only cares about a “cause” if in someway Al Gore can benefit from it financially.
The founder of the Weather Channel, John Coleman, wants to sue Al Gore for fraud, hoping a legal debate will settle the global-warming debate once and for all. Coleman, who founded the cable network in 1982, suggests suing for fraud proponents of global warming, including Al Gore, and companies that sell carbon credits. The Weather Channel has lost its way, according to John Coleman, who founded the channel in 1982. Coleman told an audience at the 2008 International Conference on Climate Change on March 3 in New York that he is highly critical of global warming alarmism.
audiences Wallace ever had, Like many of his peers, Wallace wasn’t convinced greenhouse gases were altering the world’s climate, and he thought Gore was straining scientific credibility to score political points.
e co-founder and chair of Current TV, a member of the Board of Directors of Apple Inc., and a senior advisor to Google. He is also a partner in the venture capital firm, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, heading that firm’s climate change solutions group. 
Bad Omens are roaming in the Year of the Ox — This new year is hardly a happy one for 200 million migrant workers heading home for the New Year holiday leaving their workplaces in the country’s booming cities to travel back to their villages and families. Usually, they go back to work after China’s biggest holiday is over. But this year many of them will not be leaving their villages again. The global economic slump has hit China’s manufacturing sector, which means many migrant workers have no jobs to go back to. As in America, Beijing has already acknowledged that millions have already lost their jobs because their factories have closed down.
patient, speak little, and inspire confidence in others. They tend, however, to be eccentric, and bigoted, and they anger easily. They have fierce tempers and although they speak little, when they do they are quite eloquent. Ox people are mentally and physically alert. Generally easy-going, they can be remarkably stubborn, and they hate to fail or be opposed.
June 4, 2009 marks the 20th-anniversary of the massacre at Tiananmen Square. Where Chinese laid down in front of tanks. In the Year of the Ox, Beijing will either take measures to ease the yoke on the millions of migrant workers who have been the neglected engine of the country’s spectacular economic growth or they will be faced with another people’s revolution.
with the fight against a mythical beast called the Nian or “Year” in Chinese. Nian would come on the first day of New Year to devour livestock, crops, and even villagers, especially children. To protect themselves, the villagers would put food in front of their doors at the beginning of every year. It was believed that after the Nian ate the food they prepared, it wouldn’t attack any more people. One time, people saw that the Nian was scared away by a little child wearing red. The villagers then understood that the Nian was afraid of the color red. Hence, every time when the New Year was about to come, the villagers would hang red lanterns and red spring scrolls on windows and doors. People also used firecrackers to frighten away the Nian. From then on, the Nian never came to the village again.
on in 2009.
in honor of Hudson’s mother, brother and nephew.
I have been of the opinion for years, especially 
There are four rules you’re expected to follow during the national anthem or SSB, as anyone who attends a sports event knows: Remove your gimme cap, move your beer to your left hand, place your right hand over your heart (not your crotch like Roseanne Barr) and mumble the words. (There’s one extra rule in Dallas: Yell the word “Stars!”)
Jennifer … you are amazing girl. America’s thoughts and prayers are with you and we hope to see lots more of you. Lots more! You are a shining example of courage and fortitude for the rest of us who have been knocked down so hard that we find it hard to get back up again. And should America The Beautiful ever become our national-anthem, I would want Jennifer Hudson debuting it.
The cowardly actions of Circuit City, Linens and Things, KB Toys, Mervyn’s, Whitehall Jewelers, Steve & Barry’s, CompUSA, and Sharper Image; have put all of our retailing at risk in America. These cowards, who for years, refused to “re-tool,” “re-organize,”or “re-structure” but instead choose to follow the old tired business model before choosing the cowardly way out by closing all their stores and laying off their entire work-force while the CFO’s bailed with huge golden-parachutes, have now set the tone for every retailer in America who are facing tough economic times.
As merchants reported their sales figures early this morning, the malaise crossed the spectrum of retailing, from department chains to teen chains with retailers reporting deeper-than-expected sales declines. 
est levels since the 1991 recession. “America is going to see a mass onslaught with some 500 retail chains go out of business in 2009.” Almost all the news about the retail industry during the past few months is terrible and focuses on the lack of consumer spending and low retail sales, earnings statements, and the number of retail jobs lost. Wet Seal Inc., 
There’s one common theme: The power of national discounters like 
home-based “Hobby” businesses fall by the way-side and the sleazy, manipulative door-to-door businesses like Kirby who hire strictly commission based vacuum-salesmen seem to thrive. America saw this happen with the death of the dot.comer’s. Overnight- the dot.com ride was over and millions of dot.coms went out of business.
The Great Depression was a worldwide economic 
Try and tell that to the cowards at Circuit City. Cowardly CEO like Philip Schoonover. Put aside the fact that the national electronics chain has been in a financial mess for the last 18 months – anyone watching CNBC or FBN knows that story. What surprises me is that people would be surprised by the news at all. For years, Best Buy, with its outstanding customer service and the launching of its “Geek Squad was kicking Circuit City’s ass. Instead of Circuit City “re-tooling” or “re-structuring” how it conducted business, Circuit City made no changes at all, continuing in the old, lazy, tired business model it always had. The customer service at the store was horrendous. The people who worked at the store’s were rude, your local store never had the cash register open. In order to pay for your items, you actually had to stand next to the register in a line waiting to go to customer service to pay! What sense does that make?! Circuit City was not!!! a victim of the lousy economy- Circuit City like Linens and Things and many of the retailers who have closed their doors and laid everybody off- were victims of their own mismanagement. The power of national discounters like Wal-Mart, which helped seal the eventual demise of Circuit City and CompuUSA was merely the final straw to a company who had alienated its customer base, refused to even attempt to offer satisfactory customer service or discount their products. My friend Brian bought a Dell at CC days before they shuttered their doors. Paid more for it than had he gone over to Best Buy. Two-weeks later the screen shorted out, the hard-drive had to be replaced. He mailed it into the company authorized by CC to make repairs. The company found a dozen other problems with this brand-new laptop which was still under warranty. They told Brian it would be 6-8 weeks before he could get his “brand-new” laptop back. Why didn’t they just give him a brand new Dell? His computer was fully covered under warranty. It was a mere two-weeks old. You can be sure my friend Brian will go to Best Buy next time to make his purchase.
love as purity. In England and France, it is believed that 
A billion 
The Republicans get it to. As I have written before in an earlier blog:
charging these irresponsible Republican leaders with 
You get a feeling that maybe we’re playing politics instead of actually trying to solve problems for the American people,” Obama said.
Added to the list of obstructionists today: Tom Price from the Sixth District of Georgia and the privileged chair of the Republican Study Committee who blasted congressional leaders for not making the stimulus bill negotiations open to the public. In other words, while America is hemorrhaging, lets drag our feet, have months of useless public debate before a vote by his fellow obstructionists to turn down the package after thousands more Americans lose their jobs/homes. Price demanded TV coverage of the meeting when the industry had little desire to televise it. Wisely, the staff of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid(R) shut-out Price and his fellow obstructionists who are now charging congessional leaders with “shady back-room deals.“
hijacked Everest for its own propaganda and turned it into the highest and deadliest playground in the world with little reagrd for human life. This is the same China that does not care about humans rights abuses, environmental pollution, or the protection of the Everest-zone, one of the last fragile environments in the world and the home of the endangered Snow-Leopard. 
Richard Gere, was raised by 
The new U.S. president, Barack Obama, and our new Secretary-Of-State Hillary Clinton must give new direction to the world by putting pressure on the Chinese to improve their human-rights abuse record particularly in Tibet. Obama’s two predecessors in the White House began as lions roaring against China but ended up as friendly purring cats. President Bill Clinton began his first term in the early 1990s by denouncing Chinese leaders as “butchers of Beijing” for their crackdown on Tienanmen Square protests in 1989. During his eight years at the helm, Clinton gave China the permanent access to the American market, eased its entry into the World Trade Organisation, and declared Beijing as America’s strategic partner in Asia. George W. Bush came to office declaring that China was not a strategic partner of the United States, but a potential competitor. As his attention turned towards the Middle East after 911, Bush avoided a confrontation with China. When he was leaving office this month, Bush and his aides were taking credit for building a productive relationship with China. A recent cartoon in the Chinese press summed up the new situation with President Obama. It showed Obama dressed as ‘super-man’ asking his Chinese ‘girl friend’ for money, yet again. The coy girl friend says she would be prudent rather than obedient when it comes to money. Some in the Obama Administration want to blame China for the current financial crisis, others argue that Washington must be more than nice to Beijing, since it has few other alternatives. Trust Beijing to take full advantage of the unsettled situation in Washington.
During the Great-Depression of 1929-1939, a soup kitchen, a bread line, or a meal center is a place where food was offered to the poor and homeless for free or at a reasonably low price. America still has bread lines but now we call them food pantries or “PADS” of Northern Illinois. And they have been way too busy of late. The local PADS homeless programs in Northern Illinois have seen record number of “homeless” for the 2008-2009 Pads season (Oct 1st-May 1st) and those seeking a free hot meal.
have been borrowing to buy a home or a vacation home, buy a new car, borrowing to remodel an older home, going to the Mall and buying expensive electronics, video-gaming systems, eating out at expensive restaurants, even the “daily cup” of Starbucks once a luxury became an everyday must-have. The unraveling of an economy built on debt-fueled spending will be painful for years to come and the US economy clearly in a major recession if not a depression, means the end of rampant consumerism.
With the collapse of many major retailers, this years potential collapse of retailers like Eddie Bauer’s, Costco, Rite-Aide who cannot maintain their debt-load and others like Starbucks who unexpectedly find themselves on the ropes. laying off 7,000 store workers, 800 administrators, closing 900 stores and then being hit by the coffee growers with huge increases in the price of bulk coffee as Starbucks customers cut down their $5 cup of Starbucks to once a week or switching to the cheaper-priced Dunkin Doughnuts. (where for the same amount of money for a cup of Starbucks coffee, Dunkin Doughnuts customers can get two doughnuts and a cup of coffee). The average American consumer understands that they have to pull back, lower their aspirations, make smarter purchasing decisions and start saving money again. The American consumer has the answer to economic hard-times which government and Wall Street could greatly profit from and that answer is this: tighten your belts, America is in survival mode. Not the kind of news Wall Street wants to hear.
It means a return to the days of the gas-crisis of 1974 when Americans traded down not up. When Americans traded their gas-guzzling-vehicles for Volkswagen Beetle’s, two-door Subaru F’s, Honda Civics, when Americans sold off the palatal mansion and moved into a modest ranch house. When, instead of attending huge public parties like Taste Of Chicago, Jazz-Fest, Americans threw a backyard BBQ, invited their neighbors, and played jazz music on the boom-box. It means the American standard of living is going to change for good. It means trading down, buying chopped chicken instead of chopped steak, it means a return to common-sense which has long been gone in America since Ronald Reagan was president. America went through 6 years where Americans spent six percent more than they made. Now, we’ve got savings of 91/2 percent because 
Americans can no longer use their home as a piggy-bank.
ment that watching moss grow on a rock or watching someone die in comparison seems more entertaining. Ever since 1989 when Billy Crystal was hired to inject new life into the outdated, 4-hour-long, boring behemoth and did, the Oscar’s telecast has been sliding into obivion. Every year, producer’s promise us change. Snipping this and that, shortening the montages, bringing us fresh, entertaining hosts. 
acceptance speeches? The outfits? Sure, you can remember that such staples existed, along with a cute joke or moving moment or two. But considering the length of the show, 4-frickin hours!!! those tidbits don’t convert to a very high on-base percentage. Considering the anticipation and hype that precedes the show every year, this is one pretty awful excuse for prime-time entertainment. Don’t agree? Think about the most memorable moments from the show in recent years. 
oaches who are by now sitting out retirement in an old folks home somewhere? Jack Palance’s acceptance speech for City Slickers was short and to the point. 
Britain’s most senior police officer with responsibility for public order raised the spectre of a return of the riots of the 1980s, with people who have lost their jobs, homes or savings becoming “footsoldiers” in a wave of potentially violent mass protests. Superintendent David Hartshorn, who heads the Metropolitan police’s public order branch, told the UK Guardian that middle-class individuals who would never have considered joining demonstrations may now seek to vent their anger through protests this year. He said that banks, particularly those that still pay large bonuses despite receiving billions in taxpayer money, had become “viable targets”. So too had the headquarters of multinational companies and other financial institutions in the City which are being blamed for the financial crisis.
The 
and disenfranchised. The Los Angeles Riots of 1992, also known as the Rodney King uprising or the Rodney King riots, were sparked on 