Chef Quits

From CNN.com:

Soul singer Isaac Hayes said Monday he was quitting his job as the voice of the lusty character "Chef" on the satiric cable TV cartoon "South Park," citing the show's "inappropriate ridicule" of religion.

But series co-creator Matt Stone said the veteran recording artist was upset the show had recently lampooned the Church of Scientology, of which Hayes is an outspoken follower.

"In ten years and over 150 episodes of 'South Park,' Isaac never had a problem with the show making fun of Christians, Muslim, Mormons or Jews," Stone said in a statement issued by the Comedy Central network.

Comedy Central spokesman Tony Fox said producers have not decided whether Chef would be dropped from the show or continued with another actor supplying his voice.

Can't you see Matt Parker & Trey Stone having a field day with this? Maybe an untimely death for Chef? An episode ridiculing Isaac Hayes? I guess we'll just have to wait and see how good it will actually get.

If this is the last we'll see of Chef, he'll be missed...even though he is a brain-washed Scientologist.

You Can't Have a Good Time Without The T

It's time to vent.

So last Wednesday started like any other normal Wednesday: I hit the snooze bar four times, got ready for work, while begrudgingly glancing at my still-warm bed, threw together a lunch and headed outside for another day in the big world.

I stood waiting for the T with every else with my iPod slowing waking me with my Work Day - Morning playlist on shuffle and my copy of the Metro in hand. T pulls up.....sweet - I get a seat today. I get to Porter and an older woman (in her 60's maybe) takes the seat to my left wearing a huge puffy jacket. She then proceeds to remove her jacket, while sitting, and The Big Puffy Jacket is practically making out with me. But do I say anything to the lady about keeping her jacket off of me? No. Remember this bit of information.

45 sconds later, I get a tap-tap-tap on my left shoulder.

Lady: "Could you please turn your music down a little?"

Me: "Sure."

I'm a reasonable guy, so I grant her her wish and turn my iPod down with a turn or two of the wheel......

30 seconds later......tap-tap-tap again.

Lady: "Can you turn it down some more?"

Me: "I'm sorry, but I really won't be able to hear it anymore if I turn it down any lower."

Lady: "Well, you're listening to your music AND reading the newspaper, entertaining yourself. You don't need to entertain me too."

I kid you not. Her exact words.

I just gave a shake of my head in disbelief and looked away. I was the bigger person in the situation and decided to keep my mouth shut.

I wonder how many people she bothers on the T each day. I guess she doesn't realize that it is PUBLIC transportation and you cannot go around telling people what to do just because something petty is bothering you. Who does this??

So if you see the woman with the The Big Puffy Jacket getting on the T at Porter Square, you're forewarned.

Just Keep Saying It: 2004 World Series Champs, 2004 World Series Champs...

"Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in."
- Michael Corleone, The Godfather: Part III


I might just have to face the truth - it will never go away...

From the film's website: www.game6film.com

"As a New York playwright, Nicky Rogan made his name in boulevard comedy, and now has ventured closer to home and written something he really cares about. Though he won’t admit it, he is desperate for another success. From the outset, things begin to go wrong. His daughter informs him that his wife wants a divorce. His mistress notifies him that his lead actor has a parasite in his brain and can’t remember his lines, and an old acquaintance regales him with tales of Steven Schwimmer, a new and powerful critic who is so poisonous, so destructive, that the New York theater community lives in terror.

Although Nicky has grown up and lived his entire life in New York, he is a die-hard Red Sox fan and the film is set on October 25, 1986, the day of the most Shakespearian of sporting events, “Game 6” of the 1986 World Series. The Red Sox are poised to win. At the last minute, Nicky decides to skip his opening night in order to watch his beloved team. This could be it. If his “cursed” Red Sox can finally win the World Series, maybe Nicky can break his own downward spiral.

Written by acclaimed writer Don DeLillo, “Game 6” is an intelligent, witty, unsettling tale of one man’s encounter with his demons, his passions and his infatuation with failure. "

Relive the nightmare starting March 10th at a theatre near you.

TOP 5 THURSDAY

My Top 5 Current Guilty Pleasures

1. American Idol - Don't knock it till you've tried it. Once you watch, you'll pick your favorites and be hooked. I'm living proof.
2. Chocolate-covered pretzels - Mmmmm.....salty and sweet.
3. Real World/Road Rules Challenge - Fame-hungry twenty-somethings living together, getting hammered every night, and having bitter arguments like they're going out of style. MTV sure knows how to suck you in.
4. Procrastinating - When you actually do get something done, it feels so much better once you've put it off for months, doesn't it?
5. Encino Man - I couldn't leave it off my list since it's one of my all-time favorite guilty pleasures. Brendan Fraser should have won the Best Actor Oscar in '92 for his riveting performance as Link, the un-frozen prehistoric teen. What a classic movie.

Over.Rated.

Did I miss something? Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay nominations?? C'mon, Academy, you're kidding, right??

As you could probably guess, I was incredibly unimpressed with Brokeback Mountain. I was very curious to see it because it was so hyped and "controversial" (ooohhhh). The night I went to see it, the consensus among my friends I was with (three ladies, mind you) was to either see Brokeback Mountain or Casanova. You can see why I chose to see it that night - you couldn't get me to see Casanova trailer, let along the whole unnecessary, travesty of a movie that I'm sure it is.

Anyways, the biggest, and I mean like elephantitis-huge, problem I had with this film was the fact that both Jake Gyllenhaal's character and Heath Ledger's character both cheated on their wives and carried out an affair over several decades. Gyllenhaal's character did not tie the knot until after his obsession with Ledger's character started, so I'll give him a little leeway on that. But Ledger's character was already married to Michelle Williams' character and he continued the affair while his children wondered where he really went on his annual "fishing trip". How can I sympathize for these two characters who had to hide their unaccepted-at-the-time love/lust for each other when they lied and cheated to their wives about it??? Sorry, but my sympathy vote goes to the wives on this one.

I think and hope it will win the Oscar for Cinematography because there were some unbelievable shots in this film. I agree with a nomination for Jake Gyllenhaal (Supporting Actor), Heath Ledger (Actor), and Michelle Williams (Supporting Actress), and they all have a shot at winning, but Best Picture & Screenplay are not justified at all. I just couldn't see the qualities and directing style-points that would put them ahead of the other nominees.

Oscar will probably not agree with me and will follow the hype-machine that we call Hollywood by awarding the statues to Brokeback Mountain for Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay and there is nothing I can really do about. But, when and if it happens, and you hear an agonzing scream, it's me.

If I were running the show, Crash would win Best Picture. An unbelievably moving film where the characters force you to get emotionally involved in them. Crash was flying under the radar until Oscar talk started a few months ago. Sounds like the opposite of that other movie, huh?

Half Full

Have you ever had one of those days when the sun just seems to shine a little brighter? Where you realize how petty your life really is in the big scheme of things? Where you're so relieved because you had been waiting an eternity for something specific to happen, and after all that waiting, it happens, better than you could have expected? Well, I had one of those days this week. I won't bore you with the details, but let's just say I'm in a better mood than I have been in a long time.

That's right folks, the Red Sox pitchers and catchers reported to Ft. Myers for spring training this past week. I can just feel that FL sun on my shoulders...Go Sox!!