05.24.07

Tip of the Cap; Wag of the Finger

Posted in Celebrities, Music, Television, Movies, News, Sports, The Diesel at 1:44 pm by Diesel The

In honor of the great Stephen Colbert, and as I have no original thoughts of my own, it’s time to get judgmental on your ass. This is “Tip of the Cap; Wag of my Finger.”

Tip of the Cap to Braylon Edwards of the Cleveland Browns for recognizing that education is by far the most important part of any society and putting not only his money, but his time and energy to good use. Edwards donated a million dollars to a mentor and scholarship program for the Cleveland Public Schools, one of the many public school systems in this country badly in need of funding. Here is a link to a an espn.com article about it. Most illuminating to me was this paragraph:

One girl told Edwards he couldn’t imagine how much this opportunity meant to her. Another boy echoed a similar sentiment. Finally, a mother approached Edwards and said she hadn’t even thought about college for her son until the boy was chosen for this award. At best, she figured, her son would have to go to a trade school.

That possibility nearly stunned Edwards.

“How do you have a kid in the eighth grade who doesn’t even have the possibility of going to college?” he said. “That’s crazy.”

Wag of the Finger to the Cincinnati Bengals. Yet another Bengals player was arrested on Friday. On the plus side, since Linebacker A.J. Nicholson had already been arrested in the past year, the Bengals’ “Players Arrested” board can stay at number 9. On the down side, their four month streak free of arrests is now over. Sadly, far too many athletes make headlines for these reasons, making what Edwards is doing all the more impressive. Go Browns! EDITOR’S NOTE: Oh, and Bengals receiver Chris Henry, already suspended, has apparently failed a drug test. Whoo Dey? Dey be going to jail.

Tip of the Cap to The Office and NBC. Not only did The Office produce a sensational hour long season finale, but NBC reportedly has ordered 30 episodes for next season, instead of the usual 22. Combine this with the renewal of 30 Rock and all is forgiven for the cancellation of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (Aaron Sorkin, please get another show on the air very soon).

Best quote from The Office finale (as accurately as I can remember it): Dwight (to the camera): Of course, Jack Bauer would be my ideal number two. But he’s unavailable. Fictional. And overqualified.

Wag of the Finger to stairs. The Office star receptionist Jenna Fischer reportedly broke her back after falling down a flight of stairs after the NBC upfronts in New York. Not cool. No one hurts Pam. Did you see how hot she looked in “Blades of Glory”?

Tip of the Cap to my hometown Cleveland Cavaliers, for getting to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since I was in junior high and Mark Price was leading the team.

Wag of the Finger to Cavs Coach Mike Brown for not being able to coach his way out of a paper bag.

Tip of the Cap to season finale week. The 06-07 television season is almost over and I have to say, it’s been a very good one. Two big finales still to come: Lost (I tivo’d it and haven’t had a chance to watch it yet) and House. And, as a relief to most of us, American Idol will now go off the air for 7 months. I wasn’t sure I was going to make it. And to those of you that jumped off the Lost bandwagon during the first half of this season, you are missing out on an outstanding run of episodes. I cannot wait to watch the finale. Great stuff.

Wag of my Finger to the Heroes and 24 finales that aired Monday night. I won’t ruin anything for those of you that are going to watch on your tivos later, but I found them underwhelming. Heroes has been solid all season long but they have yet to take it to the next level. I was hoping for a truly bad ass battle at the end and what we got was pretty weak. I guess that’s what you run into when trying to turn a concept that is typically created as an effects heavy mega-budgeted movie and try to do it for 1/150th of the cost (1/150th is my best guess, based on an estimated budget of $1 million per 1 hour episode of Heroes and $300 million per 2 hour superhero movie).

And 24, well, 24 has been off all season and the season finale was no exception. The final scene did crackle with an intensity I haven’t seen on the show in awhile, which is a credit to Keifer Sutherland. Here’s hoping for a return to form for 24 next season.

Tip of the Cap and Wag of the Finger to the whole Floyd Landis/ Greg LeMond doping trial story. Holy crap, this ridiculous! Terrible, yes, hence the wag of the finger, but unbelievably ludicrous, hence the Tip of the Cap. Now I just want it to go away.

Tip of the Cap to the new Travis album, The Boy With No Name. This was the band I always thought was going to hit big in the USA way back in 2001, but it turned out to be Coldplay. What are you gonna do? Still, Travis is a mega-band in Great Britain, but mostly unknown on this side of the pond. Anyway, I dig the new disc. Last night I couldn’t stop listening to “My Eyes.” Check it out if you get the chance.

A shocking Wag of the Finger to Counting Crows for going on a tour that I may not be able to attend. I’ve seen at least one show on every Counting Crows tour since Recovering the Satellites came out, usually two shows. They are an excellent, excellent live band. I even dropped two Ben Franklin’s on prime seats to their show at the Walt Disney Concert Hall with the Los Angeles Symphony Orchestra (no regrets, best show ever). But now that they’re doing a tour of minor league baseball stadiums this summer (kind of a cool idea), they’re keeping mostly to the east and Midwest, without a stop out near me in LA. I guess I just have to fly to Minneapolis to see a good friend of mine and take in the show. Can’t wait for the new album.

Tip of the Cap to my box office predictions. So far so good. Spidey 3 dropped HUGE in its second week. Yes, it still took in $58 million, but that’s an astounding 61% drop from the week before. Then Shrek 3 came out with a massive $121 million opening and Spidey dropped another 50%, down to $29 million. With Pirates out on Thursday night, Spidey is a goner. Shrek and Pirates could take in over $300 million combined over the 4 day weekend, while Spiderman will be lucky to make $15 million. I won’t be shocked if Shrek pulls in another $100 million in its second weekend. Spidey is already at $258 million overall, but at this rate, it’ll be lucky to make my conservative prediction of $315 million before it’s out of theaters.

Tip of the Cap to former President Jimmy Carter. If he or the pundits or whoever want to say that his comments about the Bush Administration being the worst in US history were reckless, fine, but no one can say that he was wrong.

That’s all the judgment I got for today.

Stay well and see you somewhere soon, I hope.

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