- We all knew that Phil Spector was mentally unstable, but being behind bars seemed to have exacerbated his lunacy quickly and exponentially. As he sits in prison awaiting sentencing in the murder of actress Lana Clarkson, my boy P. Spector is finding life on the inside very difficult. While the frightening, crazy-eyed mug shot he posed for following the guilty verdict on Monday shows him sporting the curly locks of one of his many wigs, it could be a long time before the 69-year-old music producer sees his hair pieces again. After being photographed, Spector was taken to Los Angeles' Twin Towers prison where he had to surrender all personal items, including his hairpiece. According to sources within the prison, Spector didn’t take that very well and has gone loco since being locked up. If he’s struggling this much before he’s even been sentenced, I don’t want to imagine what he’ll do once he receives the official word that he’ll be spending the rest of his life locked up. Not that I have any sympathy for him, what with his conviction for murder in the Feb. 3, 2003, shooting death of Clarkson, an actress and House of Blues VIP hostess, at his mansion in Alhambra. Also, Spector claiming that Clarkson shot herself with his gun and finding out that he was lying to cover his own ass doesn’t help Spector in the sympathy department. I respect all he did in the music industry, where he’s renowned for the "Wall of Sound" technique he invented in the 1960s and used in his work with the Beatles and other groups. It’s no one’s fault that Spector managed to be the one celebrity in Southern California who couldn’t find a jury of 12 people dumb enough to acquit him even though he was obviously guilty. He had the benefit of two trials by jury after his first jury deadlocked 10-2 in favor of conviction in 2007. As you’d expect, Spector’s attorneys are already saying that they will appeal his conviction. Best of success with that, but from the sounds of it, they need to focus more on preparing their client mentally for the reality of life in prison……
- This is it, Detroit Lions fans: the day your franchise transformed from the legendary first team to go 0-16 in an NFL season into the dominating, title-winning juggernaut that runs rampant over the rest of the league. No, the draft didn’t take place early and bring the one elite player to turn things around for the Lions. The team hired a new head coach months ago, so that’s not it either. There was a change in management this offseason as well, but that too is old news. What is it, then? Of course I’m referring to the one thing that can turn a franchise around faster than any other: a new logo. Yes, gone is the familiar blue lion with no facial features or definition. In it’s place…..a nearly identical Lion that is supposedly leaping, has a couple of pointy teeth on either side of its mouth and is alleged to look much fiercer. Also, the font the team uses for spelling out “Lions” on the logo has been given italicized slant, which I’m guessing is supposed to project more attitude and toughness. The team says the changes are consistent with its "sense of mission and direction." Great, I’m sure that the players will be oh, so motivated by the change and fans will run right out to buy new merch for a team that is still coming off an 0-16 season. Of course, the colors are exactly the same - Honolulu blue, white and black - and only a few subtle trim lines will be added to the team’s uniforms, so if I hadn’t just told you about the changes you may never have realized them. Oh, and new logo or not, if the Lions f’up the top pick in Saturday’s draft the way they’ve annually screwed up their top pick in past drafts, the fans are going to be pissed again and they’ll have their own sense of mission and direction…..to find a new favorite NFL team……
- Not all behemoth RV’s are gas-guzzling hazards to the environment. At least one inventive individual out there has found a way to enjoy the benefits of having a second home on wheels while minimizing its impact on the environment. Josh Winston of Bethesda, Md. is a self-described problem solver who is an accountant by day, inventor by night. Four years ago, he was inspired after watching a late-night news program and seeing a segment about converting diesel vehicles to run on alternative fuels. He ordered a conversion kit for $900 and proceeded to convert a truck to run on used vegetable oil -- just to see if he could. When that experiment proved successful, he converted his 1998 Jetta and affixed a sticker to the rear bumper that said, “Runs entirely on vegetable oil.” From there, he expanded his efforts into a full-fledged business and now sells and installs his own kits. That has to be especially helpful when you consider that he's the only person in the Washington, D.C., area to offer the service. Recently, Winston took on his largest project by far -- a 1983 Itasca RV. “There's a lot of trial and error," he said. Converting the RV to veggie oil took two days and presented a myriad of problems. First, the batteries kept dying. Later, there was an issue with the alternator. Near the end of the second day. Winston was preparing to fill a 40-gallon veggie-oil tank in the RV with recycled oil from a Chinese food restaurant and a neighbor watching him tipped over an 80-gallon holding tank, spilling tens of gallons of brown, smelly oil down his street. “It's OK," Winston quipped, "earthworms love this stuff.” Ultimately, after some 50 hours of work and busting his knuckles, Winston managed to get the RV running and successfully switched over to the vegetable oil tank. Doing so will help the RV cut its emissions in half from what they would be if it still used petroleum-based diesel fuel. As Winston rightly puts it, that will allow people to either a) drive twice as far with the same environmental impact or b) drive the same amount and cut their environmental impact in half. Either way, that’s a good thing…….
- Is everyone ready to hate Tony Almeida again? Last night’s 24 proved once and for all that Tony can be one of the baddest of the bad guys and it was an awesome episode. With himself and partner Robert Galvez, the Starkwood operative who smuggled a canister of the Preon toxin off the Starkwood compound for Tony, trapped in a four-block radius by the FBI, Tony had to get creative. First, he needed to find a cover story for Larry Moss’ death after suffocating him last episode. Tony decides to go with the tried-and-true “shoot yourself” tactic to make it appear he was ambushed along with Larry. Galvez hides in a nearby warehouse as the FBI arrives and Tony promises to find him a way out. When FBI tactical teams arrive on the scene, they find Larry’s body and begin treating Tony. Renee Walker is devastated when news of Larry’s death reaches the FBI field office. She immediately assembles a tactical team of her own to go to the site and assist with the search for Galvez. Jack is busy being debriefed on the events of the past day before the toxin that has infected his body causes too much memory loss to remember them. He stops after making in through the first seven hours of the day because he sees Renee and her tactical team preparing to leave. Figuring he should be part of the efforts to find the last missing Preon canister, Jack boards Renee’s helicopter over her objections and promises that if at any point he’s unable to do his job, he’ll sideline himself. The scene on the ground at in the warehouse district where Galvez is hiding is chaotic. Agents are everywhere and Renee initiates a grid-by-grid sweep of the area. Tony is treated for his gunshot wound and then sets about living up to his promise to help Galvez escape. He peers over the shoulder of the technicians monitoring the search via computer monitors and figures out the one area in the grid’s perimeter where an escape is possible. He calls Galvez and directs him to an abandoned apartment building at the north end of the grid. Tony’s plan calls for Galvez to plant C-4 explosive charges inside the building, then lure as many FBI agents as possible into the building before blowing it by remote detonator. Around this time, Jack and Renee touch down and find Tony. Jack immediately begins grilling Tony for details on the ambush that killed the helicopter pilot and Larry. Tony lies and says they took heavy fire as soon as they landed and that Larry was hit trying to help him. Jack pokes holes in the story by comparing the bullet wound in Tony’s arm with the types of weapons Galvez was known to have on him and concludes that Galvez must have a partner in the area. The search widens to include a second suspect but that’s when the second phase of Tony’s plan kicks in. Galvez jumps and kills an FBI agent who was searching his building and radios in as Agent Stoller. He claims to have found Galvez and the Preon canister, so dozens of agents descend on the building. They proceed to search the interior, but as they search Jack notices something is wrong. He asks a technician to pull up a grid of the location for all agents’ radios and sees that Stoller’s radio isn’t even in the building being search. Realizing it’s a trap, Jack radios Renee to evacuate and the agents flee the building as best they can. Galvez blows the charges before many can get out and the building goes up in a fireball. Jack frantically rushes to the scene and searches for Renee, who he finds in good condition. Tony also runs to the building to find Galvez and once they meet up, takes him to an ambulance. Galvez has actually smeared the blood of a dead agent on himself to appear injured and rides off in the ambulance, getting away safely. By this time, Jack has begun to piece the evidence together about what happened. He’s aided by a call from Agent Mizelli , the man who was debriefing him at the FBI office. Mizelli wonders if Jack was mistaken when he talked about Vincent Cardiff as Tony’s source for information on the attack on the White House. Tony told Jack that Cardiff died during the interrogation, but Mizelli informs Jack that Cardiff was just captured with in the hour attempting to cross the Canadian border. He’s alive and well, showing no signs of torture. At that point, Jack knows what happened and goes to confront Tony. He wastes no time fingering Tony for lying to him and being Galvez’s partner. Tony claims that he lied about Cardiff because Cardiff was risking his life by talking and that allowing those in his organization to believe he was dead was the only way to reward him for providing valuable intelligence. Jack isn’t buying it and calls Tony a traitor, but Tony gets the last laugh for now because Jack’s seizures hit again and he’s left shaking on the ground as Tony stands over him holding the medicine Jack has been injecting to control the seizures Tony is also holding a gun and is perhaps about to shoot Jack when the medics arrive. Medics attend to Jack as Tony walks off, getting away with his treachery for now. Galvez also finds a way out by stabbing the EMT who is attending to him in the ambulance and pulling a gun on the driver. He now controls the ambulance and can make his escape. The other key bit of drama for the episode was Kim Bauer, who left town to head back to L.A. after meeting with her father last episode and finding out that he doesn’t want her to undergo the experimental bone morrow/stem cell procedure that could help save his life. Kim says goodbye to Renee Walker before she catches a cab and heads to the airport for her flight. On the way, she calls her husband Stephen back in L.A. It turns out that not only is Kim married, she has a 14-month-old daughter named Teri, after her late mother. Kim didn’t tell Jack about his granddaughter because she worried it would only make him sadder. Sad isn’t the word to describe Jonas Hodges, who sits in a federal holding cell awaiting transport to the FBI for interrogation about the claims he made to President Taylor about a much bigger conspiracy that he’s only a small part of. Before Hodges can be transferred, he receives a visit from a woman who is posing as his attorney, Patricia Earnes. The reason it’s a woman named Cara posing as Earnes and not Earnes herself is because as she attempted to leave her home to go see Hodges, she was ambushed by Cara and her masked partner. They render her unconscious and Cara accessorizes using Earnes’ glasses and jewelry, along with taking her IDs and stealing her fingerprint using a latex pad imprinted with the fingerprint, worn on Cara’s thumb. Also, Cara was chosen because she’s a dead ringer for Earnes. She arrives at the White House, passes through security without any trouble and is soon face to face with Hodges. He immediately realizes that she’s an imposter, but the conversation that ensues is an enlightening one. Cara informs Hodges that “they” aren’t happy with his actions of the day and that the bioweapon he used to threaten the U.S. government was never intended to be used by Starkwood. Apparently it was to be part of the bigger conspiracy Hodges alluded to, but Hodges jumped the gun. Cara tells him that if he’s stayed calm and not overreacted, he and Starkwood would have been taken care of and dodged the subpoenas and persecution of Sen. Blaine Mayer. Hodges replies that he doesn’t even know who the others involved in the conspiracy are and also disputes the belief that he’s had a psychotic break. Cara informs him that both he and his loved ones are now in danger because he knows enough to cause trouble. His only way out is in a small red pill that Cara gives him. She explains that it will trigger a heart attack and kill him but leave no trace of any poison in his system. Right around the time the pill lands in Hodges’ hand, Olivia Taylor arrives to oversee his transfer to the FBI. Hodges is loaded into a transport truck and hauled off, but on the way he decides to fall on the grenade for his family and downs the pill Cara gave him. He suffers a heart attack, but one of the two guards transporting him attempts to revive him and redirects the ambulance to the nearest hospital. Will Hodges survive? Tune in next week and find out, along with finding out when Kim Bauer is going to change her mind and turn her cab around and at what point Jack will finally agree to undergo the experimental procedure that could save his life. Stay tuned…..
- I didn’t get to this yesterday, but considering the subject it might be fitting that I am behind on it. You may or may not know that yesterday was a monumental holiday for stoners around the world. I am, as previously stated, a huge fan of stoners and I count them as quite possibly my favorite people in the wolrd. They have that magical blend of mellow, indifferent, lazy and calm that makes them incredibly likeable. They’re never in your face, never too tense or wound too tightly and they can bring a calming effect to any situation. That’s why I was happy to celebrate the biggest day of the year for stoners, April 20. You may be asking yourself why April 20 is such a special day for stoners. The origin of the day isn’t crystal clear, but one explanation of the origin of the concept stems from a group of teenagers at San Rafael High School in San Rafael, Calif. in 1971. The teens would meet after school at 4:20 p.m. to smoke marijuana at the Louis Pasteur statue, right after afternoon detention was dismissed. Another possible idea is that in Dunedin, New Zealand, students at the University of Otago and other cannabis law reform activists meet under a walnut tree on the Otago University Union Lawn on Wednesdays and Fridays at 4:20 p.m. to get baked in public in what they consider an act of protest. Whatever the reason for choosing 4/20 as their date to celebrate, the stoners of the United States know how to enjoy this day in a big way. An estimated 15,000 people made their way the Colorado University - Boulder campus yesterday for the city's annual 4/20 smoke-out. "It's definitely going to be bigger than last year," Alex Douglas of NORML@CU said prior to the even. Of course, the squares in the school’s administration again did their best to discourage students from attending the event. That stopped exactly no one from congregating on Norlin Quad as early as noon. The even is the culmination of several days’ worth of events that kicked off
with Sunday's National Forum on Marijuana. The forum brought in several hundred students and area activists for a full day of panels and speeches, which included the Cannabis Cultural Icons panel and a number of other panels. The attendance for this year’s 4/20 Celebration is a 50 percent increase from last year, continuing a yearly trend of increased attendance that shows no signs of slowing down.. University police were also out and actively trying to discourage people from gathering, going so far as to implement lame-ass tactics like photographing students participating in the event. Nice try, (fake) campus cops and school officials, but you can’t keep a good stoner down……
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