- Good ol’ Bob Mugabe, now there’s a guy you can count on. Granted, you can count on him to do the wrong thing, to continually oppress his constituents, to brutalize and kill those who oppose him and to be a general menace to all of Zimbabwe, but you can still count on him. A reign of terror that has included refusing to accept the results of a presidential election that should have booted him from office has continued in the weeks and months leading up to the country’s June 27 runoff election between B. Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, with this past week taking things to a new low, even for Mugabe. In preparation for an election in which he is assured of defeat if the election is conducted under fair and even terms, Mugabe is seeking to beat, stab, shoot, slash and kill the wind right out of the opposition’s sails. His most recent act of dictatorship was to ban all opposition rallies between now and the election, that coming on the heels of Tsvangirai being stopped at two roadblocks as he tried to enter Bulawayo, Zimbabwe’s second-largest city, to campaign last week. What’s truly rich about Mugabe’s transparent oppression of those who oppose him is that the reason he’s giving for banning opposition rallies is that he’s concerned for the safety of Tsvangirai and other opposition leaders. Attaboy, Bob! Lie right to their faces and pretend you give a damn about what happens to them. Pretend that you wouldn’t actually be thrilled if the harm or death you allegedly fear might happen to your rivals actually took place, that’ll fool them! It’s almost enough to make me think that we here in the United States don’t have the world’s worst leader….almost. I suppose it comes down to which one you feel is worse: total incompetence or sheer oppression by brute force. Pick your poison, world, and if you don’t live in the U.S. or Zimbabwe, be thankful that it’s a choice you don’t have to make.
- Season 2 of Greek came, it saw, it conquered and it kicked ass. Even with a so-so season finale that wasn’t even among the best episodes of the season, it was still a strong second year for the show. Things kicked off with everyone departing from Cyprus Rhodes University (located in beautiful Cyprus, Ohio) for Myrtle Beach. I never knew that entire fraternities and sororities all traveled together for spring break to the same destination as nearly every other frat or sorority on campus, but it is the magical world of TV, so suspend your disbelief a bit. Everyone got to Myrtle Beach in their own way, some on their politician father’s private jet (Zeta Beta Zeta pledge Rebecca Logan and her fellow ZBZ pledge sisters), some drove in their own cars (the ZBZ sisters and Omega Chi’s) and others piled into an old, dilapidated school bus with the rest of their fraternity (the Kappa Tau’s). Once everyone arrived, the fun could begin. Rebecca and her fellow pledges had snagged their own posh hotel room thanks to her father, while a booking mishap at the hotel crammed all of the ZBZ sisters into only two rooms. That still may have been better than the crummy motel where the Kappa Tau’s lodged, a rundown place straight out of the spring break on TV handbook. Everyone settled in and started hitting the parties and booze hard….everyone except for Rusty Cartwright and his estranged pal Calvin. While the rest of his KT brothers hit the clubs, used their fake IDs and had a blast, Rusty didn’t enjoy the spring break scene as much and after getting a nasty case of sunburn within 24 hours of arriving, he was on a bus back home. This was actually the lamest part of the episode, because it just took a lot of fun out of the episode, and who bails on spring break to go back to an empty campus? However, Rusty wasn’t alone because Calvin decided that while his Omega Chi brothers were meeting girls and playing beach volleyball, he wasn’t enjoying being away from his new boyfriend Michael and he too wanted to leave to go back to campus. Of course Calvin and Rusty ended up on the same bus back to Cyprus, a bus that broke down in North Carolina and left them searching for another way back home. When attempts to secure a rental car failed, Rusty called his roomie from CRU, the evangelical, conservative, one-note stick in the mud also known as Dale. Dale was on a turkey hunting trip in Virginia with his family but gladly picked up Rusty and Calvin. On the way back to CRU, Dale locked both of them out of the car and refused to let them back in until they resolved the hurt feelings between them that had existed since the prank war between their two houses earlier in the season. With that done, they were on their way home. Back in Myrtle Beach, Rebecca’s penthouse suite wasn’t enough to shield her from scandal when, in a turn of events eerily mirroring the plight of former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer earlier this year, her father was implicated in a high-profile prostitution ring. That led her to rebel like only she can, first entering herself in a wet t-shirt contest and then breaking up with Cappie when he tried to stop her. That also led to a random drunk dude at the concert where the contest took place punching Cappie. The punch then led to Cappie getting looked after by old flame Casey, Rusty’s big sis and one member of the Cartwright family who actually seemed to grasp the concept of spring break. They walked along the beach and as they talked about their respective murky futures, they kissed. It looked like a reunion could be coming, but when they got back to the hotel and were about to go get breakfast together, the news about Rebecca’s father was on a nearby TV. Cappie went to console Rebecca and Casey supported the decision, so no reunion for now. One couple that did come together was Evan Chambers and Frannie. The coupling of Casey’s ex and her ZBZ sister and former ZBZ president came even as both of them admitted having mixed motives for getting together, but it sure seems like a perfect match of devious, manipulative people. Casey’s BFF Ashleigh was on her own quest for love, meeting a cute guy at a party the first night in Myrtle Beach but not getting his name. She spent the next few days trying to find him again, spotting him once on the beach and again at the concert featuring the band American Bang. All she was able to find at the concert was one of his flip flops, but what she didn’t see was her new crush putting on a Cyprus Rhodes hat after she passed by him in the crowd without seeing him. In other words, look for this love match to happen thi fall when the new season debuts. It kinda helped to reinforce that notion when Ashleigh told Casey the next morning that finding the flip-flop gave her hope that she’d see her dream guy again. The year concluded with Ashleigh and Casey completing the last task on a list of 10 spring break “to do’s” that they made as freshmen - skinny-dipping. They hit the water and in another time-honored tradition, two guys who happened by whil they were in the water stole their clothes. As far as season finales go, it wasn’t a great one; no big, huge surprises or plot twists, but coming at the end of a really good season, it was a nice wrap-up. Nice to know that the show is definitely locked in for a third season, which will start in September. For all intents and purposes, this puts a final capper on this TV season for me, as this was the last show I follow to have its finale. An outstanding second season for Greek, a fun trip from start to finish. I’m already looking forward to Season 3…..
- Quite a weekend at the box office, even if it was fueled by an overrated chick flick and an unfunny comedy that would have been better off (and still too long) as a five-minute SNL skit. However, neither Sex and the City (fourth with $21.3 million) or the new Adam Sandler stink bomb You Don’t Mess with the Zohan (second with $40 million) were tops in theaters for this past weekend. That honor went to Jack Black’s new animated flick Kung Fu Panda, which was not only the best of those three movies but the top earner at just over $60 million for the three-day period. The third spot was filled by geriatric archaeologist Indiana Jones, with Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull raking in $22.8 million to bring its three-week domestic gross to a whopping $253 million. Overall, the top 12 films for the weekend earned a total of $172.4 million, a 32 percent increase from the same weekend last year. The biggest film that weekend was Ocean’s Thirteen, one of the third installments in major movie franchises that were a letdown last summer (along with Spiderman 3 and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End). If you go on those numbers, the summer movie rush has clearly begun and studios with major movies still to come out this summer (yup, looking at you, producers of the new Batman epic The Dark Knight) should be geeked about the prospects for their films.
- Chicago Bears running back - scratch that, ex-Chicago Bears running back - Cedric Benson certainly is intent on getting convicted for an alcohol-related crime. Last month, he was arrested on charges of boating while intoxicated near Austin, Texas and the case has since taken a series of twists and turns that included his denials of the police reports and a witness on the boat claiming he was not drunk at the time of the incident. With that case still hanging over his head, Benson got back after it this weekend, getting himself arrested on charges of driving while intoxicated, again in Austin. This time Benson was cruising through downtown Austin early Saturday morning when he was pulled over by an Austin police officer. The officer suspected Benson of being intoxicated, so he administered field sobriety tests, all of which Benson failed. After that, Benson refused to take a breath test of provide blood samples and was booked on a DUI charge. He posted bail and was released, but clearly this is just the start of another very bad run for him. If only Benson attacked opposing players and his training program the same way he hits the booze, he’d be freaking Jim Brown and Walter Payton rolled into one. For a guy who was the target of numerous critical columns and rants demanding his release following the boating incident, Benson didn’t bother staying down and trying to keep a low profile. I get that when you have a problem with alcohol it’s not something you can just conquer in a month, but if you’re picked up for boating under the influence, get beaten up by the cops in the process and end up at the center of a ginormous crap storm because of the mess, don’t you think you could find the willpower and assistance to stay at least partially sober and avoid arrest for the remainder of the offseason? Benson is now reaching the point where these off-field issues are casting serious dark clouds over his NFL future, but he seems oblivious or just blissfully ignorant to the gravity of the situation. The Bears waived him yesterday, making him a free agent but one with a serious amount of baggage and limited production that other teams won't be so excited to scoop up. Benson needs to get some help with his alcohol problems and he needs someone who can get through to him and clue him in to the fact that he’s about to throw away the chance to make tens of millions of dollars playing professional football unless his life does a massive U-turn immediately….
- Maybe this is asking a little too much, but could country music acts like Alabama please find a way to get some perspective on life? After all, these jokers are purveyors of one of the absolute worst brands of music known to man, a style of music so bad that even at it’s best it barely edges out atrocities like disco and polka at the bottom of the musical ladder. The prevalence of things like yodeling, twang, songs about losing women, dogs, money, houses and cars, tunes abort moonshine and drinkin’ at the local pub makes country music a Genre to Avoid. So when I see ungrateful, spoiled a-holes like the former members of Alabama, it seriously pisses me off. Instead of being grateful that anyone would be so dumb as to pay money to hear or own what they try to pass off as music and appreciate what they have been so undeservedly given, these fools are locking horns in a court battle because three of the band’s members feel that the fourth member owes them money. Drummer Mark Herndon is being sued by his fellow band members - Teddy Gentry, Randy Owen and Jeff Cook - for $202,670. The suit, filed May 9 in the Circuit Court of DeKalb County, Ala., alleges that during the band’s 2003 American Farewell Tour that Herndon was paid in advance for his share of net merchandise sales before the final accounting for the tour was done. Once that final accounting was done, according to the suit, it showed that there were no net merchandise revenues as defined by the band’s contract and thus Herndon took money that he ultimately was not entitled to. The other three members of Alabama are haggling over that money and also alleging that Herndon’s demand that he receive a $65,047 advance payment on sales of the group’s “The Last Stand” CD, an album recording during the tour, should not be resolved until he pays back the $202,670 he owes. Incidentally, the CD is being sold mostly at Cracker Barrel restaurants, giving me one more reason not to eat there and also lowering any hopes that the CD is going to crack any album sales charts anywhere, ever. Again, I have to rip all of these guys because for a band that has made a sizeable chunk of undeserved cash over the years, $202K is a small amount to be suing an alleged friend over. More than that, you’re freaking country music artists; be glad anyone is willing to remain in the same zip code as you when your horrid music is playing. Stop suing one another and get down on your hands and knees to thank the good Lord for the money you’ve already earned…..
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