Next big ticket could be Oprah and Sarah
9/5/2008
Oprah's staff is sharply divided, but Alaskan moose are all for an appearance, which puts considerable distance between the sharpshooting governor and the tundra.
"...as human beings we are capable of making sense of situations based on the thinnest slice of experience."
Malcolm Gladwell, author of Blink and The Tipping Point.
ALPHA FEMALES: Oprah Winfrey is noodling over whether to have wildly popular GOP VP selection Sarah Palin on Oprah's wildly popular show. Oprah's staff is sharply divided, but Alaskan moose are all for an appearance, which puts considerable distance between the sharpshooting governor and the tundra. (KC)
GREEN 88! GREEN 88! HUT, HUT, HUT!!!: For those whose lives are divided into two categories -- DF (during football) and AF (after football) -- Thursday couldn't get here soon enough. But how to pass the remaining two days until Sunday's games? How 'bout Any Given Sunday? Oliver Stone's cinematic take on professional football is for the Madden Generation, with gratuitous sounds of bone-crunching tackles and hyper-stylized on-the-field action. Al Pacino as the fictional team's head coach, Tony D'Amato, chews scenery as only Pacino can (hoo-aw!), while Jamie Foxx drew critical raves in his first dramatic role as Willie Beaman, a third-string quarterback who becomes the team's off-the-bench savior. (KB)
SWAMPY GOOD TIME: The Black Swamp Arts Festival will run all weekend in Bowling Green and if the weather holds steady -- NO RAIN!, NO RAIN! -- it promises to be a good time. Saturday night will be special musically with a triple play starting at 6:15 p.m. with Graham Parker, who will be followed in succession by Shemekia Copeland and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band. Wear your soul shoes on your feet. (RL)
MCCAIN FASHION: Cindy McCain has evolved considerably over the past decade or so as a fashion maven, which is demonstrated pretty well in this L.A. Times blog. (RL)
RUN FREE: The world's first free-running world championships took place Wednesday in London. Haven't heard of this heart-pounding sport? You have if you've seen Casino Royale or District B13. Or if you've seen these local guys running around town.. (RS)
SOMEBODY HAD TO MAKE IT: Add this comparison of Sarah Palin to Lynne Spears to the pile of strange, decidedly non-political points that people are making about the Republican vice presidential candidate. Meanwhile, it appears Jamie Lynn Spears sent Bristol Palin a present. They could end up being BFF. (RL)
THIS IS JUST SAD: Mackenzie Phillips is in rehab for the tenth time after being busted with alleged cocaine and heroin. Not much more you can say about that. (RL)
HOMETOWN GIRL MAKES GOOD: Adrianne Palicki from Toledo is all over the place these days on TV as part of the hit series Friday Night LIghts, in a Wall Street Journal story talking about
her favorite comic books and a GQ photo spread. We learn the 25 year old has a Supergirl tat and she's a University of Michigan fan. Who knew? (RL)
SEE WHAT CELEBRITY GETS YOU: An anti-Scientology group called Anonymous has announced plans to stage a sidewalk protest timed to the opening night of the Broadway revival of All My Sons co-starring Katie Holmes. At first, we thought this was just about the haircut thing (KC)
FRAK!: It just sounds bad doesn't it? Technically it's not a cuss word, but thanks to the cult success of Battlestar Galactica the word
frak (which sounds suspiciously like another four-letter word, but not really) is finding its way into the popular lexicon. No word yet on whether any kids have had their mouths washed out with soap thanks to an ill-timed, "Frak!" in front of mom. Here are some examples of how to use it. (RL)
RIP JERRY REED: Most people remember Reed, who died early Monday from emphysema, from his variety show or the Smokey and the Bandit movies. To me, though, he'll always be the animated version of himself on Scooby-Doo where he performed "Pretty Mary Sunlight." Here he is in Toledo in 1983 performing his signature song. (KB)
THIS OLD THING: Keith Urban is digging out some of his old T-shirts that he may have worn on stage, or just around town and he's putting them up for auction for St Jude Children's Research. Do you prefer your celebrity T-shirt washed or smelling of Keith? (KC)
BIG FIZZ: Diet Coke and Mentos in Microgravity? This is science - show us the results (KC)
THUNDER ON THE HORIZON: Tropic Thunder clung to the top spot at the North American box office for a third straight week. We liked it. Disaster Movie is just that. Probably not that funny with Gustav on the horizon. (KC)
PLAN AHEAD: Since 1953, Atlantic tropical storms have been named from lists originated by the National Hurricane Center. Find your name on the Worldwide Tropical Cyclone Names chart and plan your party now. (KC)
WHAT'S YOUR FLAVOR? Visible, Infrared, Shortwave IR, Dvorak, or our favorite Water Vapor Image. (KC)
FISHY: "It was not a pike, nor a perch, we're sure of that," says Gunner Nilsson the head of a shopkeepers' association in Svenstavik. Bring on the murky video of the Swedish version of the Loch Ness monster. (KC)
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