- Spike Lee has become almost as much of a celebrity and
public figure as a director in the past decade-plus, but he does still direct
the occasional film and his latest project debuted Friday in Venice, Italy. Lee’s
new project is a documentary about Michael Jackson titled "Bad 25" and the director
unashamedly describes the film as "a love letter" to Jackson. The film debuted in the
canal-lined Italian city on Friday, the 25th anniversary of Jackson’s
blockbuster “Bad” album's release. "I think it's amazing that here we are
in Venice for the world premiere of "Bad25" on the exact date 25
years ago the album was released," Lee said prior to the premiere. His
decision to make the movie wasn’t any sort of altruistic or noble effort of Lee’s
part, as he was commissioned by Sony and Epic records to make a documentary for
the anniversary. He set about interviewing collaborators on the album: dancers,
choreographers, song writers, short film directors, back-up singers, sound
technicians and friends. '"Bad' has been overlooked because it is the
album that immediately came after Thriller, which is the best selling album of
all time," Lee explained. "Also 'Bad' was when Michael really started
to flex his muscles creatively. He wrote nine of the 11 songs." The
documentary is a patchwork quilt of recollections touching on mysteries like who
was Annie, as in 'Annie are you O.K.' in "Smooth Criminal" (Annie is
the name of all CPR dummies) and why Jackson sings "Shamon" on the
"Bad" title track. That curious term is actually a tribute to blues
singer Mavis Staples. Another revelation is that Jackson referred to the videos
for his songs not as music videos, but as short films. Lee explained that he
was interested in doing the documentary because it was focused more on Jackson’s
music than the absurd life the eccentric singer cultivated around himself. "Let's
focus on his genius. Let's focus on his music. Forget the other stuff,"
Lee said. Highlighting Jackson’s achievements as a singer, songwriter,
producer, performer, dancer and fashion trendsetter are fine, but Lee is
kidding himself if he truly believes Jackson’s legacy is not heavily defined by
his eccentricity, allegations of improper conduct with children, having his own
amusement park and becoming as much a walking freak show as a musician in his
later years………
- Calling someone you have never met a liar is a dicey
proposition, but Indian clothing store owner Rajesh Shah is a liar. Shah is the
owner of
an Indian men's clothing store whose name has sparked a minor uproar in
Ahmedabad, a city in the western state of Gujarat. His explanation for naming
his clothing store Hitler and setting up a storefront that spells out
"Hitler" in big letters and has a swastika as the dot on the "i"
is that he simply didn’t know who the world person in the history of the world
was out that he was responsible for the attempted extermination of an entire
race of people "I didn't know
how much the name would disturb people," Shah claimed. "It was
only when the store opened I learned Hitler had killed six million
people." Either this fool never had a history class in his life or he has
lived in a cave since he was born, because anyone who doesn’t reside in a South
American jungle and decorate their mud hut with shrunken skulls knows Hitler
was a soulless excuse for a person who tried to wipe Jews off the face of the
Earth. Shah tried to justify his store’s name by claiming it had been public
knowledge for some time before opening 10 days ago. "We had put up a cloth
banner for over a month saying, 'Hitler opening shortly,' no one objected to
the name then," Shah told. And yet, he somehow knew to use a swastika with
the name, a symbol synonymous with Hitler’s Nazi Party and its heinous acts, so
clearly he or someone close to him did at least some research on the topic. The
story allegedly is named after the nickname given to Shah’s business partner's
grandfather, who was known for his "strict nature." The grandfather
probably didn’t send millions of Jewish people to concentration camps and gas
chambers, but how bad of a person does one need to be for others to nickname
them after Adolf Hitler? "Frankly, till the time we applied for the
trademark permission, I had only heard that Hitler was a strict man. It was
only recently that we read about Hitler on the Internet," Shah lied. Oddly
enough, the city's small Jewish community has condemned the name and Shah says
he would only change the name if he were sufficiently compensated for what it
would cost him after spending his money on the original branding effort.
Absorbing the cost would be a great penalty for his dishonesty and/or sheer
idiocy, or he could simply watch his store perform miserably because no
one wants to shop at Hitler and go out of business…………
- It is one of the surest signs that college football season
is at hand. No, not the smell of fall in the air and not the changing of the
leaves. Instead, it’s the ink of the police blotter and the sound of coaches
announcing their players have been suspended for the first game or two of the
season for shenanigans and stupidity off the field over the spring and summer. Drunk
driving arrests, bar fights, shoplifting allegations……all are part and parcel
for college football players with too much time on their hands. Typically the
early-season suspensions don’t have much impact because teams often play easy
non-conference game at the start of the year in order to get off to a strong
start, meaning they can win without all of their weapons. That’s not the case
for Michigan, which will take on second-ranked
Alabama in Dallas in its season opener without starting running back Fitzgerald
Toussaint and backup defensive end Frank Clark. Michigan coach Brady Hoke
announced Friday that both had been suspended for one game and would not make
the trip to Dallas for the No. 8 Wolverines' season opener despite a chance to
defeat the defending national champions hanging in the balance. "The
decision was not easy, but I feel it is in the best interest of this program
and for these kids, and those always will be my priorities," Hoke said.
"We have choices every day, and you have to be accountable to this
program, your teammates, your family and the University of Michigan." Toussaint
rushed for 1,041 yards and nine touchdowns last season, but the more relevant
statistic for him at the moment is the 0.12 blood-alcohol level he had that led
to him being charged in late July for operating a vehicle while intoxicated.
While Clark isn’t as important a player to the Wolverines as Toussaint, his
crime is even more severe as he was charged in July with second-degree home
invasion, a felony. Hoke made a point of saying that both players were still key
parts of the team and that their lives off the field were more important than
football. "These are our sons," Hoke said. "These are real
lives, and I think too often many people forget that. It's not always just
about football, or a football decision. It's about teaching life lessons, and
if this helps these kids or someone else make a right decision later, then
we've won.” The Wolverines just may not win on the scoreboard in Dallas………
- Maybe the
Michigan Department of Corrections is looking at the current mini-crisis at the Saginaw Correctional Facility in Freeland
the wrong way. Having a prison under a medical quarantine might seem like a
problem, but is it really? The MDOC said the quarantine is due to an outbreak
of some type of gastrointestinal virus and they are currently trying to
determine exactly what type. So far, 10 to 20 inmates are sick with the virus,
according to MDOC spokesman John Cordell. The quarantine should be lifted in a
week or so when the virus has run its course, but rather than panic or attempt
to figure out what is ailing the inmates, why not view the situation as an
opportunity? These are men who (probably) committed the crimes for which they
were convicted and maybe allowing them to suffer – legally, no less – with some
gastrointestinal virus wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. Furthermore,
why subject employees to potential illness they could contract from felons? Employees
who contract the virus are advised to see their doctors and not report to work,
but why not lock the convicts in their cells, send in one or two guards in
HAZMAT suits to deliver food to their cells and leave it at that? Perhaps the
43-acre facility in Tittabawassee Township, Saginaw County, could be an example
for the American prison system to deal with overcrowding issues. Just happen to
have a virus of some sort introduced into the prison population, close the
facility off to the outside world and take your sweet time figuring out what
the problem is. If an inmate or 20 can’t survive, then you’ve created some more
space and an open bed. Yes, it sounds harsh and cruel, but the world is a
harsh, cruel place. If it weren’t, these convicts wouldn’t live in a
correctional facility comprised of 11 main buildings totaling about 303,850
square feet, enclosed by a double, 12-foot fence, topped with razor-ribbon
wire, with two gun towers and a perimeter vehicle with armed personnel on patrol
24 hours a day………..
- Motorola is looking to go to the edge, literally. Its next
smartphone will be unveiled at an event with Verizon Wireless next week and
early rumors have the phone sporting an edge-to-edge screen and functionality with
LTE networks. Google acquired Motorola Mobility in May, meaning this new phone
is another step in Google’s quest for total world domination. A Sept. 5 press
conference in New York is scheduled for the phone’s launch and it will
reportedly run a version of Android, according to sources involved with its
development. Tech analysts expect the phone to go on sale later this year and
it would be the most high-profile product launched by Motorola since Google
snagged it for $12.5 billion earlier this year. If the rumors are true, it
would also be one of the first full-screen phones in the U.S., with the entire
front of the phone functioning as a display to maximize viewing space with no
frame or bezel surrounding the screen. Whatever excitement the phone generates
will almost surely be obliterated one week later by the anticipated release of
Apple’s iPhone 5, slated for Sept. 12. But for that one week, Google and
Motorola just might be the toast of the smartphone world………
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