What else would you expect from a guy named Gino Vanelli? I AM LOVE!
Daily Archives: January 14, 2007
Obscure former tennis professionals du jour
A pointless new Malcontent feature highlighting retired tennis players. Anyone else remember Elliot Teltscher?
Repeating myself, again
"Hannah and Her Sisters" is damn near a perfect movie — without question the best romantic comedy ever made. Even Mia Farrow shines. Just watched it for the third dozen time and I was riveted yet again. (View one of the film’s best scenes here, and the only clip I can find of Cafe Carlyle mainstay Bobby Short — featuring Shelley Hack in a "Charlie" perfume commercial — here.)
New recruits
Say it ain’t so, Beckham:
Scientology’s chief cheerleader Tom Cruise helped tempt David Beckham to L.A., fueling speculation the soccer ace and his wife may become the church’s next celebrity converts.
Beckham said yesterday a late-night phone chat with the “Mission: Impossible” star helped seal his decision to move stateside.
The soccer great and his wife, Victoria (Posh Spice) Beckham, are close buddies with Cruise and his spouse, Katie Holmes.
“I talked with [Cruise] for about an hour last night and an hour the night before,” Beckham said at a news conference held yesterday to discuss his five-year, $250 million deal with the Los Angeles Galaxy.
“I asked him for his advice. … He’s a very wise man and a very good friend of mine. To have his experience and have him explain some things to me, that’s a big favor,” Beckham said.
So can we assume that European athletes are just as stupid as their American counterparts?
Mainstreaming rednecks
My nephew turned 15 yesterday. Despite being a rich, sheltered kid from the ‘burbs, he wanted to spend his birthday around a bunch of rednecks. I’ve been to Georgia games, I’ve even covered Klan marches, but never have I encountered the strain of hick seen at Saturday’s MonsterJam at the Georgia Dome. Yes, I was there — without question the only patron attempting to drown out the excruciating sounds of revving engines and metal crushing metal with Belle and Sebastian on his IPod.
I endured Lee Greenwood signing “God Bless the U.S.A.,” the fat guy in the mullet in front of me (don’t call it a comeback, he’s had it for years) screaming every time a truck overturned, and even a couple of waves. It was the most excruciating three-and-a-half hours of my life. And it reminded me that rednecks, along with sci-fi geeks, own a part of the culture, and they’re not going away. In fact, they’re gaining new converts, like my nephew in his Abercrombie jeans. Maybe I’ll get him a Dale Earnhardt T-shirt for Christmas.
Buying the White House
The chart on the right (courtesy of The New York Daily News) illustrates the rising cost of running for president. As for the next election:
"The 2008 race will be the longest and most expensive election in American history," warned Federal Election Commissioner Michael Toner. "We’re heading into the first $1 billion election."
Things have gotten so out of hand that Toner estimated a prospective candidate needs to raise $100 million by the end of this year just to be "taken seriously."
"Call it a $100 million entry fee," he said.
And we’re told campaign reform isn’t a big deal. Why aren’t Americans more concerned about the selling of their democracy?
Score one for McCain
John McCain’s reconciliation tour hasn’t converted all his fundamentalist foes:
"Speaking as a private individual, I would not vote for John McCain under any circumstances," said James Dobson, founder of the Colorado Springs-based Focus on the Family as well as the Focus Action cultural action organization set up specifically to provide a platform for informing and rallying constituents.
You’ll never guess why:
"He’s not in favor of traditional marriage, and I pray that we won’t get stuck with him."
Large fries, pie, large coffee, pronto!
Enjoy the best of Tom Anderson, forerunner to Hank Hill, here and here.
New recruits
Say it ain’t so, Beckham:
Scientology’s chief cheerleader Tom Cruise helped tempt David Beckham to L.A., fueling speculation the soccer ace and his wife may become the church’s next celebrity converts.
Beckham said yesterday a late-night phone chat with the "Mission: Impossible" star helped seal his decision to move stateside.
The soccer great and his wife, Victoria (Posh Spice) Beckham, are close buddies with Cruise and his spouse, Katie Holmes.
"I talked with [Cruise] for about an hour last night and an hour the night before," Beckham said at a news conference held yesterday to discuss his five-year, $250 million deal with the Los Angeles Galaxy.
"I asked him for his advice. … He’s a very wise man and a very good friend of mine. To have his experience and have him explain some things to me, that’s a big favor," Beckham said.
So can we assume that European athletes are just as stupid as their American counterparts?
Mainstreaming rednecks
My nephew turned 15 yesterday. Despite being a rich, sheltered kid from the ‘burbs, he wanted to spend his birthday around a bunch of rednecks. I’ve been to Georgia games, I’ve even covered Klan marches, but never have I encountered the strain of hick seen at Saturday’s MonsterJam at the Georgia Dome. Yes, I was there — without question the only patron attempting to drown out the excruciating sounds of revving engines and metal crushing metal with Belle and Sebastian on his IPod.
I endured Lee Greenwood signing "God Bless the U.S.A.," the fat guy in the mullet in front of me (don’t call it a comeback, he’s had it for years) screaming every time a truck overturned, and even a couple of waves. It was the most excruciating three-and-a-half hours of my life. And it reminded me that rednecks, along with sci-fi geeks, own a part of the culture, and they’re not going away. In fact, they’re gaining new converts, like my nephew in his Abercrombie jeans. Maybe I’ll get him a Dale Earnhardt T-shirt for Christmas.
