Wednesday, January 28, 2009

I Like The Underdog In Sunday's Super Bowl!!!

THIS IS A LATE ADDITION TO THIS BLOG WHICH WAS POSTED WEDNESDAY MORNING, JANUARY 28!!!

I WANT TO CALL YOUR ATTENTION TO A WONDERFUL SONG THAT'S TITLED, "BORN AGAIN AMERICAN"! IT IS 6 MINUTES AND 15 SECONDS WORTH OF UNADULTERATED JOY!!! IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO HEAR IT, LOOK TO THE RIGHT OF THIS BLOG WHERE THE LINKS SECTION IS. SCROLL DOWN TO THE LAST LINK AND YOU CAN HEAR THIS SONG. AFTER YOU HEAR IT, IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO "THANK" ME, SEND AN EMAIL TO ME AT scottstjames@sbcglobal.net

OKAY, WHAT COMES NOW IS THE BLOG AS IT WAS WRITTEN YESTERDAY ,Wednesday morning, January 28!!!

I know...Rush Limbaugh, dieing to become relevant again, is trying to pick a fight with President Obama.

I know...Sean "Little Lord Fauntleroy" Hannity, still thinks somebody (anybody) cares about Bill Ayres which proves how irrelevant the "Little Lord Fauntleroy" show is.

I know...Rush and "Little Lord's" rich pals are taking all the "bailout" money they can get so they can (seemingly) use much too much of it to pay bonuses to people who made the decisions that led to the necessity to cry for "bailout" money. In other words, bonuses to be paid to professional FAILURES!!!

I know...The New York Attorney General might be considering criminal charges to be leveled at the former Merrill Lynch & Company Chief Executive John Thain and Bank of America Corporation's chief administration officer, J. Steele Alphin because of all the suspicious business regarding what seems to have involved playing fast and loose with taxpayer money. Money that wasn't supposed to be for bonuses to be paid for professional failures at Merrill Lynch just before they got sold TO Bank of America, but that is indeed what happened.

Yes, I am aware of all of these things. Things that are dreadful. Things that (if there was any justice at all) would result in prison time for these greedy bastard professional failures, greedy bastard professional failures that professional charlatans like Limbaugh and Hannity worship at the alter/feet of.

Yes, I am also aware of the pain so many of our brothers and sisters are experiencing every day because of pay cuts on top of pay cuts and that's if they still are lucky enough to have a job in which a cut in pay could be mandated.

But ya know what? YOU deserve a BREAK!!! I deserve a break!!! WE deserve a break!!!

And that's why our headline this week is about this Sunday's SUPER BOWL!!!

The mighty Pittsburgh Steelers are playing the....

ARIZONA CARDINALS?!?!?

Bill Bidwell is the owner of that team. He and Donald Sterling (owner of the Los Angeles Clippers) are considered to be the two WORST owners in ALL of sports!

Sterling has never had his basketball team within smelling distance of the NBA finals and that's saying something seeing as how his team plays their home games in the same arena the Lakers play in.

Bidwell owned the Cardinals when they were in St. Louis. I was working on the radio station in St. Louis that carried that pathetic Cardinals team and I had the honor of being thrown out of their office building by none other than Bill Bidwell, his ownself. My crime? I was waiting to do an interview with one of his star players (at the time), Conrad Dobler.

Bill Bidwell was a HORRIBLE owner then and when he decided to move his team to Arizona, the city of St. Louis was ready to give him a police escort so he wouldn't have any traffic problems and was able to leave town quickly.

It didn't take long for the good citizens of Arizona to find out HOW horrible an owner Bidwell was, but sometime recently, he turned over the decision making to his son Michael, who then hired some football professionals. Michael Bidwell turned over most of the decision making TO their new football professionals and NOW, wonder of wonders (and Kurt Warner), the CARDINALS are in this Sunday's SUPER BOWL!!!

UNBLEEPING BELIEVABLE!!!

And I have this funny feeling that the Cardinals have one more surprise to spring on us. I haven't bet on a football game in more than 20 years, but once upon a time, I was considered to be a pretty good handicapper. During the early 80's I hosted a handicapping show on the radio here in Los Angeles and people who listened to us and bet with us, made a little money.

The Pittsburgh Steelers are favored by 7 points. If the Cardinals lose the game, I think they'll lose it by less than 7 points which means that people betting on the Cardinals would win their bet if I'm right.

My friends at The Gold Sheet think the Cardinals will WIN the game! Not just win the BET!
Win the GAME! 27-24!!!

I don't have a final score in mind, but I think they'll win the game (outright) as well.

But remember, I don't have any "skin in this game", so I won't lose a dime if I'm wrong.

So here's the deal, gang! The economy sucks, many of us are hanging on by the tips of our fingers, but we really DO deserve a "break" and that's what this coming Sunday is all about. Super Bowl Sunday is an unofficial National Holiday.

So...Let's set the "worry beads" aside, enjoy the game, enjoy the food and wake up Monday ready to face reality again.

And this little bit of wisdom (free of charge) from me to you about radio talk show charlatans who DO NOT have your best interests in mind. Limbaugh, Hannity, Coulter and their "copycats" have had their economic theories EXPOSED, so everything else that comes out of their mouths is conversation. WORTHLESS conversation!!!

MOVIES!!!

In 2006, Sylvester Stallone wrote another "Rocky" script. It was called, "Rocky Balboa" and the film did well at the box office. The fact that it didn't cost much to make helped the "bottom line", but because I had seen all the other "Rocky" films, I had no interest in seeing this one.

But I kept hearing the same words about this film. "It's actually pretty good, Scott!"

"Rocky Balboa" is now being shown a lot on The Movie Channel which is one of those premium channels you have to pay extra for. I saw it a couple of nights ago.

WOW!!! I thought "Rocky Balboa" was a sweet, sweet film! Were there some improbable or hardly believable elements? No doubt about it, but you know what? I didn't CARE!! If you haven't seen it yet, do yourself a favor and rent it or watch it on The Movie Channel. In fact, it'll be on tonight, Wednesday, January 28. And a special tip of the cap to my long time friend Jim Lampley who did a terrific job being the boxing announcer for the big fight in this film. Lamps was there along with the guys who are always with him when he announces the big fights for HBO and ring announcer Michael Buffer was in the film as well. By having those guys there, it almost seemed "real".

Do you like HORROR films?

There's a new one out that I saw yesterday. "My Bloody Valentine". This film is about a very annoyed coal miner who takes out his frustrations on people with a pickaxe. All horror films have at least one scene in which a barely clad or naked beautiful woman has a problem with the villain, a problem that usually results in her being dead. In "My Bloody Valentine", you will see a totally naked beautiful woman who has a lot of dialogue while trying to get away from this mad miner. Truth be known, a lot of guys probably bought tickets when they found out about this one (very long) scene.

I've had the pleasure of acting in a few horror films that went straight to video and then went straight to the bargain basement bin in places that rent films. Yes, the films were that bad.

"My Bloody Valentine" actually has a story you can "stay with", I certainly did and I walked out of the theatre feeling I had gotten my money's worth.

THOUGHTS AND OR COMMENTS? Please write to me at scottstjames@sbcglobal.net. If you write to the blog, I won't know what your email address is so I won't be able to respond to you. I write back to everyone who writes to me at scottstjames@sbcglobal.net

THE NEXT BLOG? This blog is being posted at an unusually early time and that doesn't figure to be the case NEXT Wednesday when my new blog figures to be posted sometime next Wednesday evening.

GO CARDINALS!!!

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

"MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!!"

How many years ago was it when we saw "Mission Accomplished" on that boat George W. Bush flew onto? Well, he didn't accomplish that "mission", but he did (successfully) accomplish the mission of leaving Washington yesterday.

And we the people, successfully accomplished the mission of getting a refreshing new leader as our President of the United States, something that became official a little after noon, Eastern time, yesterday.

I agree with those who said that President Obama's Inaugural Address wasn't the best speech he's ever given, because it didn't have that magical "something" in the way it was delivered.

But what President Obama DID SAY, was REAL!!! Real as in, President Bush left a pile of very deep doo-doo that needs to get cleaned up and TO get it cleaned up, will require a lot of work and sacrifice for ALL of us!

In other words, no phony baloney about how easy it will be now that we have our new "HOPE" President!

Short Commentary: And it's about TIME that we were told some REALITY about the sorry condition our United States condition is IN!!!

Does Rush Limbaugh have a CLUE, or has he LOST all sense of reality?!?

First of all, I call your attention to an excellent column written by James Rainey in today's Los Angeles Times that's headlined, "He's already Rushed to judgment". Rainey cites several examples of spoiled baloney that Rush is feeding his hypnotized flock about things that give new meaning to the word ABSURD!!!

And I have my own example for why I turned Rush off and haven't listened since. Before Obama WON the election, Rush and that other idiot, Hannity, were howling to the moon about how this recession doesn't/didn't even EXIST!!! But NOW, these clowns (who really should be circus acts) not only say that this recession really DOES exist, but it's OBAMA'S FAULT!!!

The LOGIC behind this lunacy? Rush and Hannity don't have to deal with logic. The recession has been going on for more than a year. Bush's White House ADMITTED that in DECEMBER!!! But Rush and Hannity count on people who will believe ANYTHING they say! And to be fair, that's been a LARGE group of people. But here's a newsflash for both of these jerks. A number of their loyal listeners are beginning to realize that THEY are hurting and HAVE been hurting for quite a while and Rush and Hannity, by not acknowledging that, are exposing themselves as charlatans who are mouthing what their rich masters are telling them to say or they're exposing themselves as BEING TOTALLY OUT OF TOUCH!!!

It won't happen overnight, but sooner, rather than later, the old Don Meredith song that used to be sung on Monday Night Football will apply to Rush, Hannity and others of their ilk: "Turn out the liiiights...The party's over!!!"

BACK TO YESTERDAY'S INAUGURATION!!!

The Inauguration ended yesterday with a Benediction that was written and delivered by the Reverend Joseph Lowery. The whole message was quite lyrical and while it was good and nice, it didn't really grab me until the final paragraph and that paragraph REALLY grabbed me!

And here it is..."Lord, in the memory of all the saints who from their labors rest, and in the joy of a new beginning, we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get in back...
When brown can stick around...
When yellow will be mellow...
When the red man can get ahead, man...
And when white will embrace what is right.

Let all those who do justice and love mercy say amen.
Say amen.
And amen!"

ECONOMIC NEWS!!!

In the last little more than 3 weeks, gas prices have gone up 32 cents a gallon in this part of the Los Angeles area.

Because I spent a lot of years in the radio business, my heartfelt concern goes out to HUGE numbers of radio professionals who have lost their jobs in the last couple of days and also to those who haven't lost their jobs (yet), but who are suffering through multiple pay cuts.

Our major banks are asking for more bailout money. They first got clobbered by the housing mess which they helped create, but after getting bailout money for that, they now need more bailout money due to all the people who have filed for bankruptcy because of bank credit card debt people can't pay.

ENTERTAINMENT STUFF:

Have you watched any of the episodes of the new season of "24"? I have seen every episode of "24" since they came on the air. Here's a question for you. Do you think that "24" has become a bore? I mean, am I the only one who thinks this show has given a new definition for the word "predictable"?

This past Sunday, the cable network Showtime presented the first episode of the final season of "The L Word" and the first episode of a new show called, "United States of Tara".

The "United States of Tara" is a Steven Spielberg production that stars Toni Collette as a woman with multiple personalities. And she's surrounded by a terrific cast of supporting players who play her husband, sister, son and very beautiful daughter. I liked the show a lot!

"The L Word" is a show I thought I wouldn't like when it first came on the air, but I got hooked on it and have loved it ever since. Sunday night's episode lived up to their high standards and I will miss this show when it comes to an end.

Did you see "Desperate Housewives" this past Sunday? It was their 100th episode. A special number and they made this a special show. It was all about a handyman played by Beau Bridges who dies while fixing something for one of the neighbors on Wisteria Lane. You saw him die at the beginning of the show. The rest of the show was about how the handyman had a memorable encounter with all the women on the show and we saw each woman remember that encounter.

This was an absolutely WONDERFUL episode and if Beau Bridges doesn't get an Emmy nomination for this, then the Emmy's aren't WORTH getting nominated for!!!

THOUGHTS AND OR COMMENTS? Please write to me at scottstjames@sbcglobal.net. If you write to the blog, I won't see an email address from you so I won't be able to write you back.
When you write to scottstjames@sbcglobal.net, you will definitely get a response from me.

THE NEXT BLOG? Barring unforseen circumstances, the next blog will be written next Wednesday, January 28 and figures to be posted sometime that evening.

Thursday, January 15, 2009

People Will Tell You About Other Oscar Contenders, But "Gran Torino" Is The Best Film I'VE Seen!!!

First of all, I pride myself on never being late for anything, but I'm a day late regarding the publication of this week's blog and I apologize for that. Other things requiring my attention took longer than expected.

OSCAR NOMINATIONS!!!

The Best Film, Best Actor, Best Actress or Best Director Oscar nominations haven't been announced yet, but THREE of those nominations should go to Clint Eastwood.

If you haven't seen "Gran Torino" yet, do yourself a favor, spend the money and see this film.

The film lasts about 2 hours, but it will seem like you haven't been seated anywhere near that length of time. You will never take your eyes off the screen, you will be surprised at what appears to be the dramatic ending, you will smile at what appears to really be the ending and you will sit through the credits while watching the actual ending.

"Gran Torino" is THAT GOOD!!!

Yes, I've heard that some thin-skinned folks are "bothered" by the way the Eastwood character talks, but he talks "openly" the way a lot of people used to talk openly. It was different time, gang. Sit down, place yourself in that time and here's what will happen; You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll almost die. "Gran Torino" is THAT good!!! And yes, I stole that "laugh, cry, die" line from a line I stated (as an actor) in the Ron Howard film, "Edtv".

AND SPEAKING OF ENTERTAINMENT...

Did you see the film, "Bug" when it was released? If not, neither did I. It's being shown on the Showtime cable channels now, and I heartily recommend it. It stars Ashley Judd and this is a big time intense film. But a film you can't take your eyes off of.

There's been a lot of publicity for the second season of "Damages" on FX. I saw every episode of "Damages" last season and I was a big fan of the show. Episode one of the new season aired last Wednesday and I thought it was a disappointment.

ONE OTHER ENTERTAINMENT NOTE...

In my last blog, I mentioned that I have recently performed (in acting workshops) a monologue titled, "If I Was A Terrorist" and I printed the monologue in my last blog. Thanks very much to all of you who have commented on this monologue and my very special thanks to CLAUDE HALL who gave my monologue and this blog a nice plug in that terrific column Mr. Hall writes. Mr. Hall is a guy who everyone in radio used to read when he was the most influential radio columnist in the world while writing for Billboard Magazine. Mr. Hall now writes for Radio Daily News, which (like this blog) is easily found on your computer.

AND NOW THE DEPRESSING NEWS...

Where I live, the price of gasoline has gone up 24 cents a gallon in a little more than 2 weeks.

Where I live, it used to be next to impossible to find an apartment to rent. I walk (at least) 3 miles a day as part of my daily exercise routine. I walk past a lot of apartment buildings and every one of them (now) has "Apartment for rent" or "Apartment for lease" signs outside their buildings. For this to be happening, one of two other things have to have HAPPENED!

(1) A lot of people have decided to move to a cheaper state to live.

(2) And (or) a lot of people (because of this lousy economy) have become homeless.

Short Commentary: Yi, yi, yi!!!

FOR THOSE STILL LUCKY ENOUGH TO HAVE A JOB...

I know. You're suffering through pay cuts on top of pay cuts, no health insurance, et cetera (etc.) on top of more lousy et cetera (etc.)

Did you hear about what Gannett, the largest newspaper publisher is doing? They're forcing their employees to take mandatory one week "vacations" without pay.

I know. Some of you are already taking one, two and three week vacations without pay. And you're doing that (along with other lousy things) to keep your job!

WHY ISN'T BERNIE MADOFF IN JAIL WITHOUT BAIL?!?

I'm sure you've heard about this creep! Smooth talking creep-a-zoid who has managed to destroy lives because of his ability to get people to "trust him" with their money.

And he's admitted it! Or at least enough of what he's been accused of to guarantee a sentence in prison that won't in any way, shape or form be enough to pay for the harm he has done to so many people and companies.

While on bail, Bernie Madoff has 24-hour a day armed guards that watch his every move and are paid for by Madoff's wife. The lawyers Madoff has are paid for by Madoff's wife. Transportation to and from court is paid for by Madoff's wife. A bulletproof vest that Madoff wears when he steps outside was paid for by Madoff's wife.

Where does the money come from that Madoff's wife uses to PAY for all these things? IT IS MONEY THAT MADOFF GOT FROM THE (now) POOR PEOPLE HE STOLE FROM!!!

I'm tellin' ya, folks...There are times when I find myself in favor of hanging someone by their thumbs in a public square and this is definitely ONE of those times!!!

Changes that are COMING and changes that SHOULD be coming!!!

Next Tuesday, we will have a new President of the United States. Our (then) former President of the United States figures to eventually (and officially) be remembered as our WORST President of the United States in our HISTORY!!!

Meanwhile, here in the Los Angeles, California area, WE are stuck with an illegal immigrant supporter/protector MAYOR, who is the WORST Mayor in our history annnd...We are stuck with an illegal immigrant supporter/protector along with being a pedophile priest protector who is somehow considered to be a law abiding man of God while having an official title that declares him to be the boss of all Catholics in this area. Yes, I'm referring to Cardinal Mahony who, for the life of me, I don't understand why he's never been indicted.

THOUGHTS AND OR COMMENTS?

Please write to me directly at scottstjames@sbcglobal.net. If you write to the blog, there's no record of your email address, so I can't write back to you. I write back to every email that is sent directly to me at scottstjames@sbcglobal.net

THE NEXT BLOG?

Assuming I'm not late again, or that something unexpected comes up, the next blog will be written the day after Inauguration Day, which will be Wednesday, January 21st. The blog figures to be posted by sometime that evening.

Wednesday, January 07, 2009

Now That The "R" Word Has Been Burned Into Your Brain, It's Time To Think About The "D" Word!!!

Happy New Year, everyone! This is our first blog in 2009 and our first blog since December 3rd, 2008.

A lot of things have happened in the little more than a month that I've been on "hiatus", so in no particular order, I'll mention some of those things.

RECESSION?!? What about DEPRESSION?!?

For more than a year, you readers of this blog know that I've been telling you we've been in a recession long before this Administration acknowledged this truth which was finally acknowledged about the time this blog went on hiatus.

You readers also know that I've been telling you we need to be concerned about a possible Great Depression II, unless we drastically change the way we're doing things, economically.

Do you know who Paul Krugman is? He recently won a Nobel Prize in economics. That means he knows a lot about economic stuff that most of us don't have a clue about. On January 4th (three days before this blog is being written), Paul Krugman, writing about the state of our economy, got a lot of people's attention with, "Let's not mince words. This looks an awful lot like the beginning of a second Great Depression."

Words of caution to ponder, gang. I know it's rough out there. It's rough here, too. We've all been tightening our belts, but it might be advisable to put another hole in that belt of yours so you can tighten it some more. Will that make your waist hurt? Well, I just put another hole in MY belt and yes, it HURTS!!!

Thank you, thank you, thank you, you zero-regulation, bought and paid for champions of letting the foxes into the economic hen houses and letting the rich get richer than rich while the rest of us, trying desperately to keep our jobs and to pay our bills, are saying, "What the bleep HAPPENED?!?"

Speaking of the bought and paid for crowd, Yo, R. Rush!!! How Do You Like Donovan McNabb, NOW?!?

What does the R. before Rush stand for? Let that be our quiz for the day, gang.

ONE MORE FOOTBALL RELATED ITEM!!!

Did you watch the Fiesta Bowl game on Fox? Ohio State against Texas? Good game, huh? Too bad the game was brought down by the guy doing the announcing. I never heard his name and I know I wouldn't recognize it if I did hear it because I'm aware of all the good sports announcers. But this play by play announcer of Monday's Fiesta Bowl on Fox was the worst play by play announcer I've heard in a long time, if not ever!!!

ONE MORE ATHLETIC RELATED ITEM!!!

How about the arm on that guy who threw the shoes at President Bush?

Of course no one has seen the show thrower since he was thrown into a jail cell, so one wonders if he still HAS the arm he used to throw the two shoes. "Justice" in that part of the world ain't anywhere near the same as it is here. Don't a lot of judges in that part of the world order the cutting off of hands of people who are convicted of stealing something? Am I the only one who wonders what a judge in that part of the world would order to be cut off if someone is found guilty of the crime of masturbation?

MORE ECONOMIC BAD NEWS!!!

Uh, oh! Have you noticed what's been happening at the gas pump lately? Where I live, gas prices have gone UP 12 cents a gallon in less than a WEEK!

And there's talk of additional gas TAXES on top of the increases of the price of gas!

Did you hear about this proposal in Oregon and other places? A MILEAGE tax? Something about some kind of gizmo that would be ordered to be installed in your car so that the amount of miles you drive would be tracked by satellite and everytime you go to a gas station, you would automatically be charged an additional amount based on the number of miles you had driven since the LAST time you were at a gas station.

More Big Brother, a possible second Great Depression, running out of places on our belts to punch new holes in....

And now THIS!!! The Associated Press reports that, "Untold thousands of illegal immigrants live in public housing at a time when hundreds of thousands of American citizens and American LEGAL residents are stuck waiting YEARS for a spot."

Gang, there is one word for this situation; OUTRAGEOUS!!! Here's another word; UNACCEPTABLE!!!

The economy sucks and is getting sucky-er...We legal Americans are going through belt tightening the likes of which we've never experienced unless we're close to being a hundred years old...And we're being forced to pay higher taxes to give FREE MEDICAL and WELFARE SERVICES to MILLIONS of ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS?!? ANNND...
PUBLIC HOUSING?!?

WHY, OH WHY AREN'T WE STANDING UP LIKE HOWARD BEALE AND SHOUTING TO THE HEAVENS, "I'M MAD AS HELL AND I'M NOT GONNA TAKE THIS CRAP ANYMORE!!!"???

Okay...Let's all pause and take a deep breath.

During the more than a month I've been on a blog writing hiatus, I've been busy with other things.

The Beverly Hills Film Festival ran from December 26th to January 4th. 56 films were in the competition, a competition for first, second and third place cash prizes.

A film I'm in, "Manos Partidas" ("Split Hands"), was shown January 3rd and finished in third place in the overall competition. I play a ferocious border patrol agent who's on a mission because my wife was killed by an illegal immigrant. Unbeknownst to me, my son is dating an illegal.

I also had some fun performing a monologue at a few venues, a monologue titled, "If I Was A Terrorist".

And here it is...

If I was a terrorist and I wanted to destroy the American way of life, I wouldn't use planes and bombs to kill folks.

Hell's bells, that's too risky. You might get caught or killed or both!

Realtors get results, and then they lay the blame where it can't be found!

So here's what I would do if I was a terrorist.

I would foreclose on millions of homes, kick folks out of their houses.

I would devalue the dollar so the price of everything would go up!

I would outsource their jobs so they couldn't find work. I would move the factories to foreign countries, you know all the good paying factory jobs.

I would make education unaffordable. Terrorists don't like having educated people around.

I would make health care difficult to get and let the insurance companies just get away with murder!

I would listen to their telephone calls, monitor their e-mails and use that information to really stick it to them. Then...I would get myself a big ol' tax cut, sit back in luxury, and watch them fight over the crumbs!

But you know what? We live in the United States of America, thank you, Jesus! And the people who represent us would never ever let them get away with that, would they?

Would they???

Again...The title of this piece is, "If I Was A Terrorist". Do any of the described situations sound familiar to YOU? All of them, perhaps? We don't have to stand still for this, gang. We really don't.

FINAL THOUGHT...

How about that trailer park trash gang in Alaska, huh? From the future mother in law who's a drug dealer, to the high school dropout son, to the know nothing presidential candidate?

You betcha!!!

THE NEXT BLOG?

Barring unforseen circumstances, next Wednesday, January 14, early evening.

THOUGHTS AND OR COMMENTS?

If you write to the blog, I can't respond to you. So please write to me at scottstjames@sbcglobal.net I write back to everyone.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!