reggiejax

Macy Gray has acted in enough projects to legitimately call her an actress as well. Primarily a singer, yes, but also an actress. Though I doubt her appearance on Fuller House will make her reel. If you want to see Macy Gray showing some acting chops, watch her in the Lee Daniels film "The Paperboy".

Not to mention that the kid isn't going to lie about where he was, and will tell everyone that he was with his "Uncle Charlie" and "Aunt Potato Face". Charlie didn't even bother to use a different name. So they'll have his first name and a description. Not to mention a description of Quinn. Though I think he called Quinn "Robin" during this time. [sarcasm]So in "Shondaworld" that should render them both untraceable.[/sarcasm] And this is what makes me hate Scandal. They are not even trying anymore. This show has never been in the same universe of believability, but they used to at least try to make it plausible for the sake of the show, usually by explaining it away in terms of how the world of the show works. It was implausible to say the least, but at least they made an effort. This mass shooting plot is so full of holes that only serve to expose everyone involved, and yet they aren't even going to so much as try and blame it on a wizard. They are going to leave it as is, and pretty much forget about it. Completely lazy, and totally insulting to the audience.

The Oscars are the only awards anyone in the industry gives a shit about. If you were to have a career where you won a dozen Golden Globes, SAG Awards, MTV Movie Awards etc, yet only ever earned one Oscar nomination, that one measly nomination would lead your obituary when you die. And why is that? Honestly, it’s because the Oscars are the oldest of the entertainment awards, older than the other film awards, older than the Emmys, older than the Grammys and even older than the Tonys. So yeah, you could go onstage to accept a Golden Globe by dropping trou and taking a dump onstage, no one would give a shit (pun fully intended). Try that at the Oscars, they will take notice and they will get upset. I mean they never asked David Letterman back, and all he did was just be a poor host. They take the Oscars seriously, that's just how it is.

it was right on a symbolic level, but in terms of practicality, it was a colossal waste of time. As was the rest of her riot preparation. Believe me, NOTHING was going to happen in Dre and Bow's neighborhood. The way it was promoted, I thought this was going to be a very serious episode, by which I mean the humor would be put aside. But that wasn't the case, they managed to walk the fine line of mixing comedy with serious social issues. Not quite at the level of the Norman Lear comedies of the 70's, but a very good entry nonetheless. In terms of very special episodes maintaining the comedy, I would rank this above the episode of Good Times where JJ was shot, but below the All in the Family episode where someone painted a swastika on the Bunkers front door. (The swastika was intended for a neighbor of the Bunkers, not for Archie and family. But they got the address wrong.)

.He is always a welcome presence, and the story he tells Jake about his actions in WW2 was a highlight. Except I was kind of put out by the fact that the character should have been relating a WW1 tale. I wasn't sure how old Michael O'Neill was. But I figured the character was in his 60's. That would make him more likely a WW1 vet, as he would have been of age to fight that war. He would have been in his 40's for WW2. I know there were people in their 40's who served in WW2, but they were certainly not the majority of those fighting, who were a generation younger. But I will let it slide, since O'Neill put in a good performance.

I admit that it is all the JFK assassination stuff that drew me to this. So I was concerned if I was going to enjoy the show as much if they steered clear of it, which is what they did in this episode. Turns out it was really good and kept my interest. Very surprised at Josh Duhamel in this. I like him, I have ever since his time as Danny McCoy on "Las Vegas". But I have never considered him more than a, for lack of a better word, "pleasant" actor. By which I mean he is good to have in the cast, but isn't going to be doing the heavy lifting. And I would never have thought of Duhamel to play a vicious character like Frank Dunning. But damned if he didn't scare the hell out of me.

Well then it is a minority of two, because I feel the same way about her. I get that Mellie is Shonda Rhimes' stand-in for Hillary Clinton, and that is fine. I don't think Shonda Rhimes should ever have to subvert her politics, not for any of her shows, least of all the one set in DC. But if she is going to do this, would it kill her to at least make her fictional character worthy of being a stand-in for the real deal? Other than being a First Lady to a philandering President, Mellie has nothing in common with Hillary Clinton, and isn't fit to wear Hillary's pantsuit. And I say that not even being that big of a Hillary fan. I am guessing we are going to see Mellie ride her filibuster all the way to the Oval Office. Though I find it funny that in the real life situation that is based on, no such ride to higher office occurred. On the contrary, not only did Wendy Davis lose her bid for Governor, the bill she filibustered eventually passed. Sadly, Mellie being elected President based on the fact that she managed not to mess herself on the Senate floor would not be the most unrealistic thing to happen on this show, politically speaking.

Would it have killed them to toss Mellie's completely unearned sense of entitlement towards the Presidency into the heap of things we the audience are being asked to completely forget about? At the very least if she was going to be that delusional, they could have at least had her be ruthlessly ambitious about it. And they could have had her do it without this phony bonding with Liv. If Mellie was going balls to the wall to be the next President, with the secondary goal of having Liv be her bitch for the entirety of said Mellie administration, I could get behind it.

The mere fact that she appeared as a contestant makes her an "alum". Sure, being rejected on the first night means we all had to look her up to remember who she was, but I don't think that constitutes a massive stretch of the meaning of the word "alum".

I have heard this complaint about Al's plan from others who have watched, and I think what people invariably miss is that years in fact are wasted. The years wasted are Al's. Regardless of any "reset", or the fact that only two minutes pass in the present, no matter how long one spends in the portal, the person going into the portal does not experience a freezing of time. If they spend 2 or 3 years in the portal, 2 or 3 years will pass for them. They get older and life moves forwards. Al's cancer is proof of that. And Al is in his 60's. Until the cancer, he is fairly fit, but he is still in his 60's. While it is possible that he could do multiple trips, resetting each time and once again spending years at a time on each trip, it is simply not an attractive prospect for a man his age. Not to mention that, in the particular instance mentioned in the show, it is a very poor allocation of his time, regardless of how much of it he is willing to spend in the past. If Al kills Oswald in June of 1962, when Oswald returns from Russia, it takes less time for him to hang out in the past until 11/22/63 to see if he changed history, than for him to kill Oswald, go back, find out he was wrong, and start all over. Staying in the past is 17 months. Going back and having to start over costs him 20 months just to get back to point where he erred. And he now absolutely has to stick around until 11/22/63. So he could choose to risk a second trip of 37 months, or just have his initial trip take that long. Jake's suggestion only works if they are certain that Oswald, and Oswald alone, killed JFK.

For my money, she is the one person tonight who brought some real heart and soul to their performance, She was ferocious. I had only heard of Alabama Shakes, never heard their music, but they definitely made me a fan tonight. I have to say, I am very disappointed with the Lemmy tribute. As Dave Grohl rightly said, Lemmy was one of those people who was Rock n Roll, yet the tribute didn't reflect that. I have nothing but respect for everyone on stage (OK, as a musician Depp is a dilettante, but he does have respect and love for rock music), but rather than a performance that was a stripped down force of nature like Lemmy, instead we saw a hollow, overblown production put on by aging tattooed millionaires, seemingly more concerned with perfecting an insouciant stance while playing guitar, and making sure their scarves, hats and mascara were just right. It was a lot of generic "attitude" but very little of the balls that made Lemmy a God. Scratch that, Lemmy was God. If only he would have used his powers to resurrect his mortal vessel just for tonight, and show up to show these guys how its done. But worse than the performance was the sad truth that this was a testament to the fact that rock really is dead. I mean when the hot "new" band doing the Lemmy tribute has an average age of 61 (and would have been older were it not for the "kid" of the group, 52 year old Johnny Depp), you know the music is on its last legs. Sixty fucking one! That makes them older than the Grammys. I know there is good rock music out there, played by people who aren't AARP members, but it has been relegated to the fringes.

Good god, that was fucking awful. I admit, I am no fan of Lady Gaga's, but you think even she wouldn't be able to fuck up a David Bowie tribute. But never say never. It was like watching a truly bad Las Vegas impersonator. Put it this way, she knew the words, but not the music, if you know what I mean.

Though I devour everything I can about the JFK assassination, Stephen King's novel was very much an exception. I have simply never enjoyed his writing. Which is funny because I have, more often than not, enjoyed film and TV adaptations of those very same novels. So all in all, this is a must watch, In fact, I watched it very early this morning. Could not sleep. Not in anticipation of the show, necessarily, I just couldn't sleep. I wasn't even sure it would be available that early this morning. But it was. I enjoyed it immensely. My only complaint being that I was under the impression that all the episodes would be available today. Instead they will be doling them out once a week. Seeing as how they have roped me in right off the bat, I can live with that. I guess. As a JFK assassination buff, I am always on the lookout for what any show or movie gets right, and definitely what they get wrong. I know they are in 1960, and 3 years ahead of the assassination, but they still got something wrong. We see Jake arrive in Dallas and he scopes out Dealey Plaza and the Book Depository. What was wrong was that the building was called The Texas School Book Depository. That was not the case in 1960. The company from which the building would take its name, did not move into the building until 1962. So of course that name would not even be on a sign attached to the building, let alone inscribed into the edifice as we saw. In 1960, the building was known as The Sexton Building, after a company that occupied the building from 1940 until the early 60's. Little known fact, in 1963, the building was still generally referred to in Dallas as The Sexton Building, right up until the assassination. Upon the assassination, the building became known, in Dallas and to the world, by it's then rightful name, The Texas Schoolbook Depository. Today it is officially called the Dallas Country Administration Building. I am going to try and keep that particular type of nitpicking to a minimum. I am aware it can be annoying. But I know it will come out at times, so please bear with me. James Franco is very hit or miss with me. This time out it is a hit. I think he brings the right tone of incredulity to the role. Too often, time travelers in stories like these are such history nerds (like myself) that we lose the sense of wonder at being out of ones time and place. I like that he had to be instructed by Chris Cooper's character on a lot of what he would encounter, no just in terms of time and place, but the simple fact that he would still feel alone and isolated, no matter how well he adjusted. I am very much looking forward to the rest of the series.

The building that housed the Mercer Arts Center, where the New York Dolls played some of their earliest shows, did in fact collapse. I haven't seen this, but just from what is described here, they clearly fictionalized it more than a bit. At the very least, I know the Dolls were not playing when it happened. It is a stereotype, but we have to remember, stereotypes all rise from a kernel of truth, In this case, it is way more than a kernel. The mob did have its hand in the record business, at many levels. Even if a record label was squeaky clean, the mob still took its bite in ways that wouldn't require a connected guy being the head of A&R. And to be sure, the wiseguys couldn't give two shits about what genre the record label produced. If there was a dollar to be squeezed, they weren't going to let the fact that it was being squeezed from a label that produced polka or klezmer music stop them. That said, one could easily do a story about the music industry and not involve the mob. But let's face it, in a story about a New York record label, run by a stereotypically sleazy exec, set in the 70's, and executive produced by Martin Scorsese, that is way too much of an expectation. Punks initial breakthrough into the mainstream (if not necessarily success), is largely considered to be the release of The Ramones debut album in 1976. But of course the music itself had been gestating for years beforehand. In the context of this show, 1973 is the year Hilly Kristal opened up his club at Bleecker and Bowery, hoping to feature country music. Country, BlueGrass and Blues to be exact. Of course we all know it didn't work out that way. Hip Hop in 1973 was quite literally at the point of conception. What our protagonist no doubt hears is the moment a DJ (haven't watched, so I don't know if it is explicitly Kool Herc, or a fictional equivalent) decides to just go with isolating breaks and drum fills on James Brown records. As far as the commercial aspect of the music, we are a ways away. The 1979 release of Rappers Delight being the hip-hop equivalent to The Ramones debut album.

Considering this was a retrospective on all things Bachelor, I was surprised they couldn't find even a moments time to remember Bachelor alums who are no longer with us, specifically Gia Allemand. I mean they had time for Ashley I's pointless quest of Jared, but no time for Gia and others (Eric Hill comes to mind) who have left us? Still, while it is easy to be cynical about Bachelor Nation, I did find myself getting verklempt during the wedding ceremony. Jade was incredibly beautiful, and I guarantee you Chris Soules was regretting being so uptight about her Playboy past. I was also hoping for more fun scenes from the reception, like perhaps an all-Bachelorette electric slide, or scenes of Michelle Money, Clare Crawley and Chris Bukowski being seated at the table closest to the kitchen, i.e. the loser table.

Juan Pablo's very existence long ago erased any ill will towards two time loser Brad Womack.

OJ did play for the moribund Buffalo Bills for all but the last two seasons of his career. And those last two seasons were spent with the 49'ers, before they became a dynasty. That is true. But the idea that OJ did not excel in the NFL and was not a star is just wrong. The man was clearly a huge star, there is no doubting that. As for his excellence, here are the cold hard facts: OJ retired having rushed for 11,236 yards. That puts him at 21st all-time. But when he retired in 1979, it was good enough for 2nd all-time, just behind the all-time rushing leader at that time, Jim Brown, who rushed for 12,312 yards. Of the 19 people who have passed him since, 15 were not playing yet, and of that 15, 9 wouldn't begin their careers until after OJ committed the murders in 1994, and 3 more weren't even alive. In 1973, OJ set the single season rushing mark with 2003 yards. That made him the first person to break the 2000 yards mark in a single season, That record stood for 11 years until Eric Dickerson broke it, and only 5 others have hit that milestone since Dickerson broke the record. And for what it's worth, OJ still remains, and will always remain, the only one to do it in a 14 game season. OJ led the NFL in rushing 4 times, was a 6 time Pro-Bowler, was the MVP of the 1973 season, and was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame in 1985. If that is not "excelling" at professional football, I don't know what is.

Is this an age thing perhaps? At least to those of us who remember it firsthand, I think the image of AC in the drivers seat and the shadow of OJ in the backseat became an indelible image. It undoubtedly has to be an age thing if one was under the impression OJ was in the Bronco by himself. No one who witnessed this back then can ever forget AC being the one in the drivers seat. In truth, it is essentially the only reason anyone knows who he is. And his antics during the chase became kind of a pop culture punchline, even influencing a plot in a Seinfeld episode, with Kramer in the AC role. He wasn't worshipped or universally beloved in my recollection. I don't agree with the post on Page 1 that "I'm trying to think of someone as famous and beloved as OJ was then today As a football player, OJ really was in that rare strata where he was one of the greats of the game, and beloved by fans. I don't just mean someone who was a good football player and remembered fondly. He was one of the absolute best at a glamour position. On 6/11/94, if you wanted to create a Mount Rushmore of NFL running backs, three who would absolutely have made the cut were Jim Brown, Walter Payton and OJ Simpson. People could have argued over the fourth, but those three would have been iron clad choices. As an actor, spokesman and color commentator, OJ was an ex-football player. Not really different than any other ex jock who wanted to stay in the limelight. If he had something going for him that others may not have, it was that he was indeed immensely likeable. Someone might not have necessarily been a fan of his post playing days endeavors, but they would have been hard pressed to find anything about him that generated even the slightest dislike. Combine his genuine status as an all-time great football player with his likeable public persona, and you do have someone who the public was truly fond of. Though yeah, I wouldn't go and say there were "few more beloved". In spite of his charisma, OJ was considered rather bland and neutral. And on 6/11/94, OJ was past his prime on just about every level. Still liked, still famous and still recognizable, but not anyone who was generating interest. Then came the night of 6/12/94. And the view of OJ, even as an all-time great running back, changed forever. Changed so hard, so fast and so much, that even someone like me, who was around for most of OJ's famous, pre-double murder, years, has to put effort into remembering who the Juice was back then.

Anyone who has read my posts regarding American Crime Story knows I have little good to say about Marcia Clark's skills as a prosecutor. If she seemed incompetent, it was because her performance during this trial was incompetent. That said, there is no denying that the full weight of society's inherent sexism hit this woman like a ton of bricks during this trial. When the focus is on her hairstyle rather than her performance, you know the bullshit is stacked up high.

He won't ever have to worry about making space on his mantle for an Emmy or an Oscar, but on the whole he is competent. More so than the usual athlete turned actor. However, the fact that he is a good six inches taller than OJ, would require a lot of camera trickery as well, and they aren't exactly doing such a good job with Cuba Gooding Jr. In the scene in the backyard, where he is with the cops, Gooding is clearly shorter than most of the other people in the scene. And while I am no filmmaker, that scene should have been relatively easy for them to make Gooding look the proper height. I mean, they were in a yard, how hard would it have been to dig a few holes for the other actors to stand in?

Of course Lucifer likes the blues, Robert Johnson sold his soul to him at the crossroads. This is also a nod to the fact that the blues and hip-hop have had an, at best, contentious relationship over the years. While I am sure he appreciates the seamier end, the one that promotes misogyny, violence and boasting, I don't see why he should necessarily like the music. Taste aside, he is the Devil, and he has been around since the beginning of time, I don't necessarily see why he should care about any music in particular. After all, he has heard it all. I honestly don't see the likes of 2 Vile impressing him. Biz Markie, yeah, But 2 Vile? I don't think so.

That was funny, but funnier still was that Cochran was looking for something to wear that would show he was serious, and his wife chooses the lime-green suit. Much to the delight of Mr. If it does not fit. I think only the Riddler can wear lime-green and be taken seriously. And that is a stretch even for him.

Speaking for myself, I mainly followed in the newspapers, on the nightly news and on talk shows. I felt I was able to retain my interest far better with daily summaries, rather than watching the proceedings as they aired. Frankly, with the exception of the reading of the verdict, the live proceedings themselves I found to be deadly dull. On a different note, while I certainly understand the disgust at the inclusion of any Kardashian besides Robert, I can't say it has done anything to lessen the show in my eyes. Personally I think it would be more noticeable if they omitted mentions of Kim, Kourtney and Khloe. It might make it more enjoyable for a lot of people, but I think even they would admit it would be a big, unmentioned, Matzo ball hanging in the air. As it stands, none of the mentions have really detracted from the plot. By all accounts, OJ was staying in Kim Kardashian's bedroom. And showing Kourtney and Khloe horsing around (as youngsters do) at the funeral is no big deal. Honestly, unless they portray something like young Kim being the one to coin the phrase "if it doesn't fit, you must acquit", I don't think I will have any problem with it at all.

That Manson was easier to convict than OJ is only true in the literal sense. Manson was convicted, OJ was not. But in truth, the case against Manson was much harder to prove than the one against OJ. It is a common remark about the Manson case that it couldn't have been that hard to convict him. After all, he's Charles Manson, he's nuttier than a fruitcake. But Manson wasn't on trial for being crazy. He was on trial for murder. Conspiracy to murder to be exact. Even a prosecutor as lame as Marcia Clark or Christopher Darden will tell you that conspiracy is one of the harder charges to obtain a conviction on. But conspiracy was what Bugliosi had to work with if he wanted to put Manson away for good. Manson, as his imbecilic acolytes like to mention at every turn, didn't kill any of these people. And with exception of tying up the LaBiancas, and then leaving them, he was not even at the scene of the crime. Definitely not present at the time the murders were committed. Bugliosi had to prove that Charles Manson, who spent the trial in "Crazy Charlie" mode (karma dancing, spouting gibberish, and basically being a nuisance in court), was able to exert such complete control over his fellow defendants to the point that they would commit murder for him. When it came to OJ, as Bugliosi so expertly put it, you couldn't gift wrap a more damning case against him. In a bit of braggadocio, (the type that Bugliosi detractors liked to call him on), Bugliosi claimed in Outrage that the case was so damning that he could have convicted OJ based on OJ's initial interview with the police, all by itself. Granted, that is boasting of the highest order, but the overall point stands. OJ Simpson should have been convicted, and it should not have been all that hard. A bad judge, a worse jury, and most of all, prosecutorial incompetence of the worst kind gave us the exact opposite. The funny part is, in the show, we are shown Marcia Clark being incredibly critical of the police while she listens to the tape of OJ's interview. This was clearly the first of what no doubt will be many obstacles shown to be in Clark's way. Never mind that OJ was tripping all over himself in that interview, and exhibiting guilty behavior, and more importantly, telling provable lie after provable lie. But I guess we have to be shown Clark being dismissive of the interview, because incredibly it was not introduced at trial by the prosecution. A very costly blunder. But I guess we can't have our heroine looking as stupid as she did in real life. I know it sounds like I hate Marcia Clark, but I don't. But this was a miscarriage of justice, and I am of the mind that it all comes back to the prosecutor. Bad judges, dumb juries, and unscrupulous defense attorneys are all things a prosecutor has to deal with. The OJ case was not special in those regards. That Clark puts the blame anywhere else than on her shoulders, is unconscionable. I'll say one thing positive about Marcia Clark, if she really did have a Jim Morrison poster framed in her office, then she went up a bit in my book.

Of course she said that. It wouldn't be Marcia Clark if she wasn't covering her ass. If she truly felt that way at the time, she should have recused herself and let someone less pessimistic about putting away a double murderer take over the case. This first episode shows that they are clearly going to portray Marcia Clark as a great defense attorney who had everything thrown against her and was thus not given the chance, perhaps even forbidden, to do her best. But the truth is, she fucked up. Fucked up big time. A lot of books have been mentioned here, and the best for me is "Outrage" by the late, great Vincent Bugliosi. Bugliosi's book was essentially a post-mortem on the prosecutions failure to convict. Some might call it Monday morning quarterbacking, but whatever one may have thought of Vincent Bugliosi, he was THE expert on prosecuting crime in Los Angeles. In particular prosecuting a high profile case. The man knew what he was talking about. So if you really want to get a handle on how the prosecution (especially Marcia Clark, though Darden is far from spared), fouled it up, read Outrage. He is so unrelenting in his criticism that I imagine a literal trip to the woodshed, rather than a figurative one, would have been preferable.