- Oprah’s next give could just end up being to a woman who was a member of the studio audience at The Oprah Winfrey Show recently. Orit Greenberg claims that while in Chicago to attend a taping of the show on Dec. 5, 2006, she was trampled by other audience members in the rush for seats when the doors of the studio opened. According to her suit, audience members were told that they could sit wherever they wanted, so everyone went haywire running for the best spots. Greenberg claims she was pushed down a flight of stairs in the melee, sustaining “permanent and severe” injuries in the fall. She contends that Harpo Studios, where the show is filmed, failed to properly control the crowd and thus owes her $50,000 in damages. Oddly enough, something tells me this case will end up being settled out of court. It’s a paltry amount and O. Winfrey doesn’t need the negative pub, so she’ll pony up. Not that Orit Greenberg deserves what she’s asking for, mind you. She was probably right there in the midst of everyone, jostling and positioning to get the best seat. If she had been at the back of the pack, patiently waiting for the mess to clear up so she could find a seat, she would have been just fine. Also, if I’ve suffered “severe and permanent” injuries because of someone else’s negligence, I’m asking for a lot more than $50K. Sorry, Orit, but you look like a money-grubbing loser, even if you do get paid.
- After a six-month-plus break, Greek returned to the air on ABC Family last night. The show’s return is fortuitous given the fact that a lot of shows are going into a one-month lull as their stash of already filmed, pre-strike episodes runs out and they wait for new, post-strike episodes to get ready to air. After a great daylong marathon of all episodes from last fall’s first season, the season premiere kicked off at 8 p.m. Only four weeks had elapsed in the magical world of Cyprus Rhodes University from the end of last season to the beginning of this one, so not much had changed from where last season ended. Unlike shows such as 24, where several years can elapse between seasons, Casey, Rusty and Co. began this year where we found them last year. Rusty is still depressed about his breakup with Jen K., the girl who threw the entire campus into chaos last semester with an expose on the campus Greek system’s debaucherous ways. His trusty pal and fraternity president Cappie forces him to delete pictures of her from his computer and erase an old voice mail message, but that isn’t enough for Rusty. When his puritanical roomie Dale finds one of Jen’s hair clips laying around the dorm room, Rusty decides to seize the chance to see Jen face to face and delivers the clip himself. Unfortunately for Rusty, he finds out the Jen is now dating someone else and has moved on. His hang-up on her leads to him letting down his frat brothers for a second time in the episode by not getting to the hardware store in time to pick up a snow machine for the Kappa Tau booth at the semester-opening Greek Carnival. The event is part of the Greek system’s attempt to get back in the university’s good graces after last semester’s scandal. The scandal is also hitting the Zeta Beta sorority, led by Rusty’s big sis Casey, hard. A national representative from the sorority is on hand at CRU to make sure the Zeta Betas there are abiding by the organization’s high standards after the scandalous fall semester. The rep, Trisha, is quite the anal-retentive stickler for the rules and wastes no time in becoming the wet blanket that ruins all of the sorority’s fun. In no time, she bans clapping in meetings, forces the sisters to dress like they’re living in a Leave It to Beaver rerun and has Casey walking on eggshells. At the same time, the university’s new rules for the Greek system are pressing from the other direction, making life miserable. The university wants to crack down on underage drinking, institute curfews and other restrictive measures designed to regulate fraternities and sororities. Of course, everyone is looking for a way around them as soon as they rules come down, with the Kappa Tau house leading the charge. Rusty’s pal Calvin is out of that mess, having left the Omega Chi fraternity in last season’s finale after his brothers’ cold reaction to learning that he’s gay. Omega Chi president, blueblood and all-around upper-cruster Evan Chambers tries to talk Calvin into coming back to the frat, but continued concerns from the fraternity’s members cause him to reconsider. Evan is also busy reconsidering how he treats his ex, Casey. He starts out friendly and cordial, turns cold and heartless by asking for his pin back after pinning Casey last semester, and stripping her of her title as Omega Chi Sweetheart. That leads to multiple beers to drown his sorrows and musings about how he should really be treating Casey. Sadly, there were no new revelations about other majors Cappie has had previously in his time at CRU, which was one of the best parts of last season. Every episode, something would come up that would inspire a remembrance of his time as a ________________ (fill in the blank) major. Definitely one of the comedic high points of any episode, but hopefully we’ll get a few of those this season as well. You can't be too harsh on this episode because season premieres are always a tough task. There are loose ends to tie up, gaps in time to fill in since last season ended, etc. Greek actually did a good job of juggling all of those tasks and delivered a solid episode, which is hopefully a precursor for another awesome season.
- Don’t expect my help in tracking down the people whose names are on your list of wanted rioters from this past week’s demonstrations against your rule in Tibet, Chinese government. Aside from the fact that I live a couple, two or three continents away and don’t know a single one of them, even if I lived right next door to them, I wouldn’t lift a finger to help you track them down. Chinese officials have issued a “Most Wanted” list of 21 individuals involved in last week’s protests against Chinese oppression/governance in Tibet. The wanted men and women are shown in grainy photos distributed by the Chinese as they seek to stamp out all vestiges of free speech and independent thought. According to figures provided by the Chinese government, 18 civilians and one police officer were killed in last week’s uprisings and 623 more people were injured. Things are getting so contentious that the Chinese are considering banning live television broadcasts from Tiananmen Square during the Olympics this summer. Yes sir, this is going to be a glorious celebration come summertime, the world’s biggest violator of human rights and a government oppressing not just their people but those in neighboring countries as well, all on display for the world to see. Hard to imagine anyone not being pumped about heading to Beijing for the Games, no?
- Why? That’s the first question that pops into my mind when I hear about a man in Western Pennsylvania scheming, scamming and plotting so he can rip off…..McDonald’s? No, not McDonald’s corporate headquarters, just local restaurants. This tool put time and effort into formulating a plan in which he drives around to local McD’s, pretends to be a basketball coach and then scams the restaurants out of food and small amounts of cash. He’s been working the same scam in three towns, driving a school bus or something resembling one to a McDonald’s. He goes inside, orders about $50 worth of food for his “team” and then pays for it with a $150 check that appears to be from his school district. He takes the food and his change, in cash, and splits, leaving the phony check behind as the primary evidence for police trying to track him down. Again I ask why….why put time and effort into a plan and then operate on such a small scale for such a miniscule payoff? Clearly getting this bus, keeping gas in it and making up phony checks takes time and money. Heck, with the price of gas, this guy might actually be losing money by driving to these restaurants and making off with $150 in food and cash. If you’re going to put all of that effort and money out there, at least aim a little higher. Heck, you’re going to end up in prison for fraud, writing bad checks, etc. The least you can do is aim higher than scoring a few big Macs, apple pies and McNuggets, bro.
- The mysterious, creepy, supernatural scare movie has been done to death (pun intended) in recent years. Movies like The Grudge, both installments of The Ring, One Missed Call, etc. have squeezed all the life out of that type of movie. To be honest, there wasn’t much life there to begin with, so any new movie in the same vein would have to be extremely original and innovative in order to succeed. Unfortunately, Shutter just doesn’t bring anything new to this tired genre and for that reason it’s an underwhelming failure of a flick. Rachael Taylor and Dawson’s Creek alum Joshua Jackson star as a newlywed couple heading off to Japan for a photo shoot that Jackson’s character has landed. Unfortunately, his pictures from the sessions are all flawed because of a certain grainy quality, which he surmises is a problem with his camera equipment. His wife isn’t so sure and asks around, eventually finding out about “ghost photos,” a well-known phenomenon in Japan. Eventually we learn that the ghost in Jackson’s photos is a girl he used to be involved with, which explains why she’s haunting he and his new girl. I won't spoil the rest of the plot for you, not that there’s much to spoil. The film clocks in at a mere 86 minutes, meaning that although it’s one big cliché and totally unoriginal, at least it doesn’t bore you for 3-4 hours (yeah, I’m looking at you, Titanic). I wish I could tell Hollywood to take a break from these supernatural, tech-based scary movies, but we all know that’s not going to happen. If they can squeeze even a minor profit margin out of these copycat films, they’ll keep churning them out, cinematic quality and integrity be damned. Of course, you don’t have to be one of the mindless sheep handing them your money to see this garbage, and in this case I strongly suggest that you don’t.
No comments:
Post a Comment