http://blogcritics.org/ A sinister cabal of superior bloggers on music, books, film, popular culture, politics, and technology - updated continuously. en Copyright 2005-2007 by the authors Sat, 12 Mar 2005 14:19:34 EST http://backend.userland.com/rss Blogcritics.org custom software http://blogcritics.org/ Phillip WinnSunday, August 26, 2007, marks the switch of all Blogcritics.org article feeds from full-content to short-content. This is the result of several converging factors, and is unfortunately a permanent decision (as permanent as any decision can be on the web, that is). We are aware of all of the reasons that this is a Bad Idea, and we are aware that some of you will be quite upset about having to click on something to read the free content, and we're sorry. Unfortunately, despite great effort, full-content feeds are not currently economically viable. Two other factors are involved: full-content feeds have resulted in an unprecedented level of content theft, with BC content appearing on many websites, usually spam sites, without attribution or permission. This duplicate content causes a cascading set of problems, not the least of which is that search engines generally aren't favorable to duplicate content, and don't always guess correctly. Finally, our RSS advertising partner is strongly in favor of short-content feeds. We hope that you'll continue to subscribe to BC via RSS, and when an article grabs your eye, it's only a click away, still free on the BC website. Thank you for your understanding. Administration0@blogcritics.org Sun, 26 Aug 2007 12:00:00 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/03/12/141934.php dgI remember years ago reading about the final days of Howard Hughes. A genius whose life touched us in many ways; not the least of which included aircraft and cinema. Genius that slowly, but surely, crossed the line into madness. He ended up saving jars of urine, being deathly afraid of germs, isolated in the top floors of casinos and letting his hair and fingernails grow to incredible lengths. Enter Michael...Here's a guy that seemingly has it all. Arguably the greatest pop performer of all time. The records sold, the massive tours, the millions and millions of dollars...And, yet, in spite of "having it all" we have seen this slow turn to madness. His appearance could fill pages, but let's sum it up by calling it what it is...bizarre. He has changed his face into some freakish clown mask. And his behavior is beyond bizarre; he walks around in a surgical mask, apparently afraid of germs, in spite of charges of impropriety several years ago, he continued to have young boys share his bed, he lives in a virtual amusement park! And twice now, he's tipped his hand that he's out-right lying: when he was originally arrested, he claimed he couldn't raise his arms above shoulder height, and yet video show him waving to the fans that same day. And then last week, when he was late to his trial because he had "hurt" his back, his handlers, hand on his arm to steady him, help him out of the big black SUV, and very slowly, start to walk him toward the courthouse. Oh, the pain must have been awful. Until the meager fans gathered, started to yell out his name. Michael suddenly whips around, raises his hands and waves to the crowd. The handlers quickly correct him, probably not wanting him to further the excruciating injury to his back, and continue the slow, painful, process into the courthouse. I fully anticipate Michael will end up a free man from this episode; his money alone will allow him to "beat it". But, I also anticipate Michael will begin to withdraw, holing up at "Neverland" or possibly, being near the entertainment mecca that he's always been so close to, possibly the upper floor of some mega-casino in Vegas. Only being seen in short clip video or the front page of the Enquirer. His affairs being handled by the multitudes of ever-present handlers.We've seen this many times; Elvis, Beethoven, Howard Hughes and now, Michael Jackson. We begin to see a phenomenon that effects the genius' of this planet; the slow, almost inperceptable arc from sanity to madness. Culture26639@blogcritics.org Sat, 12 Mar 2005 14:19:34 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/02/27/130027.php dgI live in Colorado, so we're updated daily on the adventures of Mr. Churchill. The latest buzz is Mr. Churchill used to be an "artist", and it came out late last week that some of his art was a blatant rip off. The report showed a painting by an actual artist, a piece of work that was copyrighted. Seems Mr. Churchill "based" his work on the painting. Problem is, his painting was exactly the same as the copyrighted work, except a mirror image. When confronted by a TV crew, Mr. Churchill attacked the cameraman. I think the majority of us in Colorado are becoming rather tired of the antics of Mr. Churchill. Calling him a fraud is the nicest thing I can think of to say about him. The University of Colorado needs to show some guts and cut their ties with him. The sooner the better. dg http://www.yoursatellitelink.com Culture26067@blogcritics.org Sun, 27 Feb 2005 13:00:27 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/02/21/002822.php dgIt was the middle of the night, years ago, I was on a flight to where, I don't recall. I had picked up a book at a bookstore on the recommendation of a friend; "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas". This was back when there actually were bookstores, not the mega-chains that now prevail. The plane was very dark with only a few of the overhead lights on, and after taking care of whatever, I reached in the bag and pulled out the book. I'll never forget getting about 4 or 5 pages into it and suddenly LAUGHING OUT LOUD. So loud, that previously sleeping heads turned to look at what the hell was going on. As I recall, it was one of the funnest flights I ever had. That was my introduction to HST. Over the years, I read a lot of his stuff, saw the movies and semi kept up with his career. I even once saw him in person in Denver when he did a reading and question and answer at the Paramount. Signed a book of mine and shook my hand. Hunter was always a riot, and that night he kept a bottle of whiskey under the black clothed table and regularly took his glass, reaching under the table and bringing up a full glass. Living in Denver, you would from time to time hear about the exploits of HST. One of my favorites was the story about when he and Ed Bradley from 60 Minutes were playing golf. It was Ed's turn to drive, and as he began his back swing, Hunter pulled a shotgun from his bag. As the ball took flight, and Ed watched the ball intently, Hunter neatly blew the ball out of the air. And, nearly giving Bradley a heart attack. You'd hear little tidbits like that about him.Over the last few years, I would occasionally catch his column on Page2 of ESPN.com. What started out as a regular column had somewhat degenerated into once a month or so of his thoughts on life from Woody Creek. It seemed that Hunter wasn't quite as sharp as he once was but the occasional brilliance would show through. Tonight, I hear Hunter has taken his own life. No doubt, with one of the guns that he most often wrote about. It brings to mind the fate of many of the great authors, taking their own life. Maybe they feel the dulling of the edge. They say the pen is mightier than the sword, and maybe the pen sometimes begins to run out of ink. And to the men that wield it, that is probably a very frightening thing. I'll miss him. dg www.yoursatellitelink.comMore views and information on Thompson here. Books25768@blogcritics.org Mon, 21 Feb 2005 00:28:22 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/02/20/131249.php dgIf you've been following the news lately, there's a lot of news about sports. Not much of it good. Let's take a brief look at the latest...The NHL season is off again, after nearly being on, after being called off, after being called off at the beginning of the season. Jose Conseco comes out and claims everybody, including the bat boy, been juicing. Including graphic tales of needles in bathroom stalls. Tedy Bruschi, linebacker for the New England Patriots, has a stroke(!) a few weeks after his team wins the Super Bowl. Long gone are the days when you could take a family of four to a game and enjoy an evening out, have a few hot dogs, etc. for under a $100.This could spell the death of sports as we now know it. No longer will the kids be able to look up to their heros in the big leagues. But, on the bright side, it's been years since atheltes have given a damn about the kids. Refusing to sign autographs, etc. But now maybe the kids will be able to visit their favorite atheltes, in person. Of course, we'll have to drive them down to the state pen. Visiting hours between 1 and 5.Dg www.YourSatelliteLink.com Culture25738@blogcritics.org Sun, 20 Feb 2005 13:12:49 EST