- This is a few days late, but a definite thumbs up to NBC for its new drama, The Black Donnellys. I watched the pilot episode on its initial broadcast Monday night and enjoyed it so much I tuned in for the rebroadcast on Thursday. Also, I’m not saying I loved it just because they cast the chick (Olivia Wilde) who played Alex, Marissa Cooper’s lesbian lover on The O.C., as one of the female leads, and seeing Wilde brought back memories of her and Mischa Barton making out on screen. This show is legitimately good, although it will be interesting to see if they can keep from becoming to stereotypical in their portrayal of organized crime and of the Irish heritage of the four Donnelly brothers, the stars of the show. The drama was good, though, and there was enough understated humor to keep things interesting. The show definitely has a dark element to it, but it’s not overly bleak or all serious all the time. Maybe the fact that until Heroes premiered last fall NBC hadn't had a quality new show since early this decade is blowing my enthusiasm for the Donnellys out of proportion, but I doubt it. This is a really good show that should be a staple of the NBC lineup for a while. Of course, you know what that means. It’ll be cancelled within a year or two, because that’s apparently what happens to all good shows nowadays.
- The Era of the Snake is over in the NFL. Jake “The Snake” Plummer, the erratic, inconsistent, bearded quarterback who patrolled the field and threw indefensibly dumb passes for a decade for the Arizona Cardinals and Denver Broncos, has retired. This is noteworthy because of the bizarre circumstances under which the retirement took place. The Broncos, who benched Plummer last year in favor of rookie Jay Cutler, attempted to trade the Snake to Tampa Bay, but rather than accept the trade and report to Tampa, Plummer just quit. It’s just the kind of competitive, fiery spirit I love to see in athletes. If you’re traded to a team you don’t want to play for, quit. If you have to go to a team where you may have to fight for the starting quarterback job, just quit. If you are benched and can no longer lead a team to wins, quit. Thanks for the hearty, refuse-to-die spirit, Jake, you and your omnipresent interceptions, brain farts and general mediocrity will be sorely missed.
- If you’ve been jones-ing for your Donald Trump fix like me, now that the Donald has ceased dropping verbal beatdowns on Rosie O’Donnell, here’s a pleasant bit of news for you. Trump, deciding to mingle with the commoners a bit, is making appearances on World Wrestling Entertainment programming in preparation for taking part in WrestleMania in April. Trump and WWE owner Vince McMahon will oppose each other in the “Battle of the Billionaires”, with a wrassler representing each of them and the losing billionaire to have his head shaved by the winning billionaire. Somehow I don’t think the Donald would agree to this if he were going to end up on the losing end, so let’s go ahead and assume that the outcome for this match will be in his favor. Good to see the world’s most arrogant, self-confident billionaire mingle with the common folk, though, and that his TV endeavors aren't limited to his unwatchable reality show, The Apprentice.
- This will look great in the wedding album. Elizabeth Hurley, marrying some random Indian businessman, had the ever-fruity Elton John give her away at the ceremony. Normally that’s reserved for the father, but I don’t know if Hurley’s father is deceased or they’re estranged, so I’ll overlook that particular part of the story. However, I need to know if Elton was wearing one of his blue, sequined jackets with matching sequined sunglasses for the wedding. Also, was he performing at the reception, doing his 1,000,000th rendition of that song he did for the Princess Diana funeral and hasn’t stopped performing incessantly since? Yes, nothing adds class and dignity to a wedding quite like Elton John, that’s for sure.
- There’s nothing better in life than sticking it to the man. It’s not nearly as much fun when the man sticks it to you, quite literally, with big metal sticks. That’s what happened to Russian protestors in St. Petersburg, hometown of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Several thousand demonstrators, participating in what they called the March of Those Who Disagree (veeeeery clever, intelligent moniker) marched through the streets of St. Petersburg but were met with heavy opposition by police. The cops clubbed the protestors with truncheons after the protestors ignored demands that their activity be limited to a rally away from the center of the city. In a ballsy move, Those Who Disagree broke from their rally site and began marching. The bullying cops began administering beatdowns and dragging the protestors into waiting buses. The real irony here? The protest was against Russia’s alleged rollback from democracy. And nothing proves people wrong about your country rolling back from democracy like a dictatorial, oppressive thwarting of a protest march. That’ll shut ‘em up, Putin. Mix in some state control of agriculture, force people to surrender their property and belongings to the state and you’ll really have made your point. Props to Those Who Disagree for the stance they are taking and their willingness to give the finger to The Man, it makes the world a better place.
- What’s the proper delivery procedure for human organs to your home? I know you have to sign for certain packages and some can't be left on your porch without a signature, but does that apply when receiving a shipment of 28 human organs? A Cascade Township, Mich. man was faced with that question when a DHL delivery guy dropped off two packages containing, among other things a liver and part of a head, to his home. Apparently, the delivery man believed the packages were pieces of a table, and honestly, who wouldn’t make that mistake? Pieces of a table, pieces of a human body, whatever. The packages came from China and authorities believe that the body parts were actually intended to be distributed to medical institutions around the country. But I’m guessing the unintended recipient of those body parts will have a great story to tell friends for years to come….”Hey, remember when I thought I was getting that dining room table delivered but instead I got a package with some spleens, kidneys, livers and intestines? Wasn’t that hilarious?” Clearly, better labeling for packages is in order for DHL, that way we can avoid any inadvertent body part deliveries to unsuspecting citizens.
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