- Well, at least it’s not a movie remake. That’s one definite positive of Monday’s announcement that the new stage musical version of the hit 1990 movie "Ghost" is opening on Broadway in April. Those rocking "Unchained Melody" in their cars or on their iPods will undoubtedly be fired up to hear this……once someone gets their attention and mimes for them to take their ear buds from their ears. Although no actors or theater have been announced yet, some details are known. The musical is penned by Bruce Joel Rubin, who won an original screenplay Oscar for the movie, while the musical scored was written by Dave Stewart, of the band the Eurythmics, and songwriter-producer Glen Ballard. "Ghost" opened in London earlier this season in a production directed by Tony-winner Matthew Warchus ("God of Carnage") and has gotten mostly positive reviews. The London version of the production stars Caissie Levy and Richard Fleeshman as Molly and Sam -- the characters played by Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze in the movie. Another of the film’s best-known characters, Whoopi Goldber’s Oscar-winning Oda Mae Brown, a fraudulent psychic, is played by Sharon D. Clarke. Reviewers have noted that the musical utilizes "Unchained Melody" at several points, fitting because the song served as a recurring character of sorts in the movie, most notably in the film’s most-famous scene that involved a pottery wheel, a lump of clay and a whole lot of sexual innuendo. For the ghostly version of Swazye’s Sam character, the London production utilizes multimedia special effects. For those stuck in 1990 and unable to move past a time when leg warmers and fanny packs were cool, the U.S. theatrical take on the movie should be a nice chance to reach back to the past and pretend that cheesy, syrupy sweet love stories from the ‘90s are still plausible today………….
- Really, America? Really? Deep-friend Oreos and sticks of butter were one thing and deep-fried Twinkies seemed like the apex of your food excess, but clearly you were only getting started. Cheeseburgers were already unhealthy enough, with their wedges of melted cheese, strips of bacon, mayo and other condiments to top them off. As of now, the cheeseburger has officially taken a colossal step toward becoming quite possibly the unhealthiest food offering on any restaurant menu thanks to the National Hamburger Festival in Akron, Ohio. Perhaps fearing that none of the festival’s offerings could out-unhealthy the Iowa State Fair’s fried butter, founder Drew Cerza and a local hamburger chef came up with…….wait for it……the country's first deep-fried cheeseburger. This burger of coronary death made its debut alongside 30 other varieties of hamburgers served by 15 different vendors at the festival. "We cook the cheeseburger, put it on a bun and dip it in batter before dropping it in a deep fryer," said Cerza. He was inspired to come up with the idea while working alongside a chef at a local burger restaurant. Rather than continue eating two of his favorite artery-clogging favorites separately, Cerza wanted a way to combine hamburgers and chicken wings. The solution came in the form of a special better he describes as a cross between funnel-cake batter and pancake batter, making the deep-fried cheeseburger both sweet and savory. "We'll serve it with a side of Lipitor," Cerza chuckled. Not funny, bro. Akron may be one of several places claiming to be the birthplace of the burger, but that doesn’t mean it needs to contribute to America’s growing girth problem. "I just said, 'Let's just do it (in Akron) and stake the claim,'" Cerza said of the festival. He even played up the controversy during the festival's first year by allowing each of the four cities claiming to be the birthplace of the burger to send representatives to make their case to a "burger commission." Seymour, Wisconsin; Athens, Texas; and New Haven, Connecticut all sent emissaries to Akron and the jury was hopelessly hung. That left it to an online poll to decide and voters named Seymour, Wisconsin, the home of the hamburger by popular vote. "We had a lot of fun with it," Cerza said, "Everyone is very proud of their influence on the hamburger." This year’s festival attendance was expected to surpass 20,000, some of whom took a giant leap toward their first and second heart attacks by eating a deep-friend cheeseburger while listening to a Jimmy Buffett cover band, enjoying a beauty pageant populated by ladies who are not scarfing down fried anything on a regular basis or watching individuals with no dignity or self-respect bobbing for burgers in a pool full of ketchup. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go eat some carrot sticks and drink some green tea…………
- The end is near, as it has been for some time now. Inch by inch, Moammar Gadhafi’s 42-year reign of terror in Libya is coming to a close. Rebel forces have secured much of the capital city of Tripoli, but forces loyal to Gadhafi continued to fight back in bloody conflicts Monday. The rebels are hoping for the kill shot that could ends the months-long war; apprehending their embattled dictator. "The real moment of victory is when Gadhafi is captured," National Transitional Council chairman Mustafa Abdul Jalil said. Three of Gadhafi’s sons have already been captured, including Saif al-Islam who, like his father, is wanted by the International Criminal Court. Gadhafi’s own whereabouts are unknown and depending on who you ask, he is either hiding out in Tripoli (the United States’ take) or may have fled to neighboring Chad or Algeria (the prevailing theory among opposition leaders. “We believe he's still in the country," Pentagon spokesman Col. David Lapan said Monday. "We do not have information he left the country." President Barack Obama spoke about the demise of Gadhafi’s regime and the future of Libya in taped remarks. "There remains a degree of uncertainty and there are still regime elements who pose a threat," President Obama stated. "But this much is clear. The Gadhafi regime is coming to an end and the future of Libya is in the hands of its people." United Nations officials have been "been trying to get in touch with" Gadhafi, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Monday. With the fierce fighting throughout Tripoli, the despotic dictator isn't likely to poke his head out into daylight any time soon even if he remains in the city. Journalists have holed up at the Rixos hotel close to Gadhafi's compound and reported sporadic gunfire and explosions coming from the direction of Gadhafi's Bab al-Aziziya compound all day. Playing a fun game of “Where is Gadhafi?” is actually a great distraction from the reality that a nation is imploding before our very eyes and people are dying every day fighting for freedom and change. As for Gadhafi’s compound, it has already been decimated by NATO airstrikes, and a fight for the compound might be more symbolic in nature. Rebels are focusing most of their efforts elsewhere, including the creation of an offensive to seize full control of the city. Snipers atop buildings remain a concern along with the knowledge that forces loyal to Gadhafi might stage a last-ditch attack against civilians. "If there is a last ditch effort we want to protect civilians," said a senior NATO official speaking on condition of anonymity. Whenever the conflict ends, there will be the major question of what to do with Gadhafi and his sons – assuming no one puts a bullet in their soon-to-be-former leader’s head before the battle ends. The International Criminal Court has warrants for the arrests of Gadhafi, his son Saif al-Islam, and Abdullah al-Senussi, the head of military intelligence, but those warrants guarantee very little. The general flow of information in Libya remains erratic, exacerbated by the apparent rebel seizure of control of of state TV, which had gone black. Gadhafi's forces in Tajoura, on the eastern outskirts of Tripoli were negotiating their surrender Monday morning and in Zawiya -- a key coastal city that appeared to be under rebel control -- residents celebrated by firing guns in the air, setting off fireworks and chanting, "Libya is free!" That much is known, but beyond those facts it is a massive game of waiting, guessing and speculating…………..
- Technology has the power to divide, the power to turn otherwise functional human beings into mindless Facebook or YouTube junkies detached from the rest of the flesh-and-blood world – or the power to unite. In the case of automakers Ford and Toyota, technology (and the potential for massive profits) is drawing them together for a new collaboration effort to develop a hybrid system for rear-wheel-drive light trucks and SUVs. The two companies jointly announced the project Monday along with a plan to establish next-generation standards for in-car telematics, which is the fusing of telecommunications and information technologies in vehicles. They have signed a memorandum of understanding on their new project, with a formal agreement expected next year. While the prospect of two competitors working together does seem odd, if the effort benefits the auto-making industry and leads to greater fuel efficiency while creating alternative-fuel vehicles that normal people can actually afford, it will be a great success. Still, why cooperate with a company you’re normally trying to beat down? The companies believe that by working together, they can implement hybrid technologies more quickly and affordably than if they were working on their own and still competing against one another. As part of their new partnership, Toyota and Ford will also seek to establish standards and technologies required for a safer and more convenient in-car experience. The scope of the work will be limited specifically to standards and technologies as the two companies will develop their own in-car products and features separately. One existing tie between the two auto titans is that both have Microsoft as a corporate partner. Toyota announced back in April that it would be harnessing the Windows Azure cloud platform for its next-gen telematics and Ford has worked with the manufacturer of the world’s worst operating system previously. Needless to say, this should all be very interesting going forward………..
- U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.! Say it with me, Americans! Certain days are just prouder than others to rep the red, white and blue and today is one of those days. The deadline for hosting the world’s largest sporting event, the Summer Olympics, and its 2020 Games is nearing. That deadline sits perilously close, Sept. 1, and given that the U.S. was stoned in recent bids for the World Cup and 2016 Summer Olympics, there was a decent chance that well-documented American pride and resolution would kick in and result in the U.S. making a pitch to host the Summer Olympics in nine short years. That nightmare was avoided Monday when t he U.S. Olympic Committee notified all interested cities that it will not submit a bid to host the 2020 Summer Olympics. This epic news because hosting the Olympics, either summer or winter, is a headache no nation needs or should want. While having the world’s eyes upon you seems desirable, the reality of making the bull’s-eye on your back for terrorists bigger, pouring billions of dollars into construction projects that will be useless and forgotten once the three-week Olympic experience ends and putting up with the lodging and logistical nightmares that come with hosting the Games makes the gig decidedly undesirable. Bearing that in mind, residents of Chicago, New York and Dallas should be toasting one another and fist-bumping like crazy all day long. Leaders of those three cities had expressed interest in putting forth a bid to host the games, acting like typical short-sighted politicians. Thankfully, the bid will not be submitted because there has been no resolution of the long-simmering revenue-sharing conflict between the USOC and the International Olympic Committee. "I can confirm the US will not be bidding for the 2020 Olympic Games,”
USOC spokesman Patrick Sandusky confimed Monday on Twitter. Asked what went into the decision, Sandusky replied, "With such little time left in the process, we don't believe we could pull together a winning bid that could serve the Olympic and Paralympic movement.” No qualms with that line of reasoning, Pat. With no process in place to select a city, as there was for 2016, when Chicago beat out finalists Los Angeles and San Francisco to become the U.S. representative, America stood little chance even if it did enter the fight. With Monday’s announcement, it is now official that there will be at least a 20-year gap between Olympics in the United States. The U.S. hasn’t hosted the Games since the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics in 2002 and the last Summer Olympics were the Atlanta Games in 1996. It’s a streak we need to fight hard to keep alive and New York’s crushing loss for the 2012 Summer Olympics followed by Chicago finishing fourth of four finalists for the 2016 Games suggests we’re capable of a nation as doing exactly that. In other words, put a cork in your yapping about hosting the 2022 Winter Games, Denver and the Reno/Tahoe area. If the IOC demanding more in revenue sharing than USOC leadership is willing to give is what it takes to keep the headache-in-waiting that hosting the Olympics is from happening, then so be it. Leave it to announced competitors Rome, Tokyo, Madrid and Istanbul, Turkey to fight it out while America sits smartly on the sidelines. Then, when the Games happen, we’ll show up and win the most medals like we always do and get to leave the messy and lengthy process of cleaning up after the party to someone else………..
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