'Godfather' epic, Disney’s 'Song of the South' lead list of requested titles not on dvd; blue-ray-questionable

Digital video discs (DVD) have been around since 1997 and one would think now that all the studios have adopted the format and VHS/laserdisc movies and players are now antiques of the past that everything is available for rent or purchase on DVD. The news is not everything. Here is a look at a handful of titles that have yet to be released on DVD but may could possibly one day come to Blue-Ray.

Electric Dreams (1984) (MGM): Things go wrong when a nerdy architect (Lenny Von Dohlen) and his new computer fall in love for the new tenant (Virginia Madsen) upstairs in this romantic comedy that was only available for rent and never re-released at sell-thru during the VHS era. The only reason why this cult film has yet to see a DVD release could be due to settling the musical rights since it features songs from composer Giorgio Moroder, Culture Club and ELO.

1492: Conquest In Paradise (1992) (Paramount): Whether director Ridley Scott (American Gangster-2007) simply does not have the time right now to devote all his energies to an extended/special edition DVD of this big budget $47 million flop released on the 500th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’ discovery of America or of all the movies he’s done, this is a project he’d like to forget given its box office gross of $7 million remains a mystery. I will admit I don’t know what was going through Scott’s mind when he cast French actor Gerard Depardieu as the famous explorer who in real life, was Italian, not French. Moreover, Depardieu does not pull in the kinds of high box office returns in the U.S. that he likely pulls in overseas. Still, 1492: Conquest In Paradise, like Oliver Stone’s Alexander (2004), is one of those epic misfires you can’t help but admire thanks to the astounding visuals and composer Vangelis’ (Chariots of Fire-1981, Blade Runner-1982) musical score. The title is available on DVD overseas and according to IMDB.com, did feature additional scenes on laserdisc and was re-rated R over the PG-13 version released in the states.

The Godfather: The Complete Epic: 1902-1980 (Paramount): The only excitement I got upon learning that The Godfather trilogy was coming to DVD in 2001 in a five-disc box set was the opportunity to be rid of the letterboxed VHS cassettes. I can’t say I am excited that all three films will not only re-released again on DVD this fall but for the first time on Blue-Ray under the title, “The Godfather Restored.” Don’t let the title fool you, however. All three films, the 1972 and 1974 pictures in particular underwent a revamped restoration earlier this year erasing any defects the original negatives have accumulated over the years while sitting in the vaults.

What I really want though is the 9 hour 43 minute epic where director Francis Ford Coppola reedited the first two films placing all the events in chronological order beginning with the rise of young Vito Corleone (Robert De Niro), moving onto the Don’s elder years when he was played by Marlon Brando, and continuing with the transfers of Mafia power to the Don’s son, Michael (Al Pacino) and eventually his late brother, Sonny’s illegitimate son, Vincent Mancini (Andy Garcia).

Coppola reedited both parts I and II and added footage not shown in the original 1972 and 1974 theatrical versions of his Oscar winning mobster movies back in the late 70s to be shown like a mini-series for network television years before he decided to make The Godfather, Part III (1990).

If there is any hope this edition will one day debut on DVD or Blue-Ray, it is the way the trilogy is now being merchandised in other ways. They include books (two follow-ups to Mario Puzo’s 1969 novel from author Mark Winegardner The Godfather Returns (2004) and The Godfather’s Revenge (2006), a Godfather video game, upcoming releases of 12 and 18 inch Godfather figures from Sideshow Collectibles, and a new monthly comic book scheduled to arrive in stores sometime this year called The Godfather Chronicles.

The Keep (1983) (Paramount): Every director, actor, actress, screenwriter does at least one major bomb, in cases many, throughout their film career he/she would like to forget. Long before being known as the man behind television’s Miami Vice (1984-1989) that made drug dealing look like an hour-long MTV music video and such noir-crime dramas as Thief (1981), Heat (1995) and Collateral (2004), director Michael Mann’s first ventured into horror with this critical/commercial bomb that has developed a large cult following over the years.

Originally set for DVD release in 2004, the film is about a group of German World War II officers who take up residence inside an ancient fortress that harbors an evil supernatural force.

Speculation exists the reason the title was pulled was to give Mann time to work on a special edition that would include a commentary, deleted scenes and perhaps a director’s cut. Depending on what website you go to, there has long been rumored that a three-hour cut of the film exists and cult fans are hoping that version is the one that finally gets released on DVD. To this day, however, there has been no word if Mann or Paramount are or will be working together to get the title out. Fans can go to http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/release-michael-mann-s-the-keep-on-dvd.html and sign the online petition which as of this writing has 230 signatures as of 2001.

Let It Be (UA) (1970): Ok. I am going to try my hand at songwriting for the first time based on the Beatles’ song, Let It Be.

“When I find myself looking at my vast DVD library…why isn’t the Fab Four’s Let It Be on dvd?”

When the Beatles’ redone CD of Let It Be- Naked was released in 2004, it was assumed it would mean the depressingly controversial documentary would pave the way for a DVD release after years of being out of print on VHS and laserdisc. The wait continues.

In a brief online news story on http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,251410,00.html last February, former head of Apple Corps Ltd. Neil Aspinall said the film’s content is as controversial today as it was when first released 38 years ago.

“When we got halfway through restoring it, we looked at the outtakes and realized: this stuff is still controversial,” he was quoted saying in the online article. “It raised a lot of old issues.”

Every Beatles fan knows the film was more about the demise of the Fab Four than it was about four guys collaborating to make another album, which could still be the reason why it has yet to see the light of day. After all, when the film won the Oscar for Best Music-Original Song Score in 1971, none of the Beatles, who had long since disbanded, showed up to accept the statue.

Quincy Jones accepted the award on their behalf.

Song of the South (1946) (Disney): Disney executives continue to debate whether to finally release the studio’s first live-action film mixed in with animated characters. The controversial animated classic, first released in 1946 and best song Oscar winner for the lyric "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah", reportedly evoked racial stereotypes of African-Americans portraying the idea of slavery as something positive, according to the film’s main website, http://www.songofthesouth.net/home.html.

As of March 2007, the website quoted Disney’s CEO Robert Iger saying, “…we've decided to take a look at it again because we've had numerous requests about bringing it out. Our concern was that a film that was made so many decades ago being brought out today perhaps could be either misinterpreted or that it would be somewhat challenging in terms of providing the appropriate context. Because there were depictions in that film that, viewed in today's world, might not be viewed as kindly or as politically correct as perhaps they may have been in that time. But we have decided that we would look at it again and it's being done by our studio and Dick Cook [Walt Disney Studios Chairman]."

As of this writing, the number of internet signatures who’ve signed the website’s online petition asking that Disney release the title on dvd is 22,127 according to http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?sots1946.

©1/20/08

Did controversial DVD release Path To 9/11 hit a political roadblock?

The timeline for any made-for-tv/cable drama to arrive on DVD is usually months after its debut on television. Not so in the case of ABC’s controversial five-hour mini-series, The Path to 9/11, that aired on the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11th terrorist attacks in 2006 and was nominated for several Emmys winning one.

Cyrus Nowrasteh, who wrote the screenplay based on The 9/11 Commission Report, and books, The Cell, by John Miller, and The Relentless Pursuit, by Samuel Katz, was quoted in a Sept. 5, 2007 article from the Los Angeles Times, saying he was told by a top ABC executive that the reason for the DVD’s absence, is out of fear it might hurt Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton’s chances for president.

If true, I have a feeling that may not be the “only” reason.

The mini-series ignited a political firestorm weeks before its Sept. 10, 2006 debut in what could be described as a successful right-wing hatchet job to former President Clinton and his administration. Nowrasteh’s script laid much of the blame on the Clinton Administration (1992-2000) who had eight years to capture or kill al-Queda leader Osama bin Laden and failed versus the eight months President Bush’s administration had prior to 9/11.

Among the supposed inaccuracies former President Clinton had with the film, which he outlined in a letter from his attorneys that he sent to ABC on Sept. 7, 2006 according to an online article on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Path_to_9/11, was the assertion that while in office, he was too busy worrying about the Monica Lewinsky scandal to fully concentrate on going after bin Laden.

Another scene in question according to the same article was the film’s notion that his Secretary of State Madeline Albright tipped off Pakistani officials that a military strike to wipe out the al-Queda leader was coming, that in turn gave bin Laden and his people a chance to escape.

"The content of this drama is factually and incontrovertibly inaccurate and ABC has the duty to fully correct all errors or pull the drama entirely," the four-page letter said.

Actor Harvey Keitel, who played FBI agent John O’Neill, on whom the screenplay was largely based, also had issues with the film in a Sept. 10, 2006 transcript interview with CNN.

“When I received the script it said ABC history project, I took it to be exactly what they presented to me – history and that facts were correct,” Keitel said. “It turned out that not all the facts were correct and ABC set about trying to heal that problem – in some instances it was too late because we had begun.”

The trouble in reading the transcript is not once did Keitel cite any examples as to what scenes he had issues with. When asked by CNN if he felt anything should be changed, the actor’s answer seemed cryptic.

“This is a tough issue because we don’t want to throw the baby out with the bath water. There are also quality issues raised in the film that our citizens should see and should be discussing amongst themselves. If we’re putting together certain facts and umm an untruth evolves from that then that’s wrong. You can compile certain things as long as the truth remains the truth. You can’t put things together, compress them and then distort the reality.”

In the Sept. 5, 2007 article from the Los Angeles Times, Nowrasteh who describes himself in the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Path_to_9/11 article as “probably more of a libertarian than a strict conservative” was told by Disney the film’s expected DVD release date was set for Jan., then April, then summer, and then ironically moved to Sept. 11, 2007 before being pulled from the release slate entirely.

"Whatever anyone may think about me or this movie, this is a bad precedent, a dangerous precedent, to allow a movie to be buried," Nowrasteh said in the LA Times article. "Because the next time they'll go after another movie. The Bush administration may go after a movie. The next administration may go after a movie. No matter who it is, they may go after a movie. I think this town needs to stand up."

Even director Oliver Stone (World Trade Center-2006) is unhappy with the supposed decision.

"This is a shame; it's censorship in the most blatant way," Stone was quoted saying in the same article. "I'm not vouching for its accuracy -- it's a dramatization -- but it's an important work and needs to be seen."

Conservative talk-show host Rush Limbaugh had more damning comments about Clinton’s criticisms of the film saying the news coverage “has been treated more as The Path to the Clinton Legacy” in a transcript found on http://journalsmith.blogspot.com/2006/09/rush-limbaugh-comments-on-path-to-911.html.

“...if there were no other cherry picked scenes that brought on the wrath of Clinton and the rage of the left, you still would have seen actual footage of the real Bill Clinton as a leader ill-equipped to lead,” Limbaugh said on the transcript. “What we saw in this movie was the real Bill Clinton: awkward, hesitating, unsure, faking resolve, and that, folks, is the real story behind the story. The image, the years of a crafted image has been laid bare for all who watched The Path to 9/11 to see.”

The film dramatizes O’Neill’s years in law enforcement beginning with the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center and his attempts to stop another terrorist attack from happening only to be met with roadblocks from his own agency, the Central Intelligence Agency, and President Clinton’s administration when it came to getting the chance to either kill or capture the al-Qeuda leader. His story alone could stand as a case of tragic irony. Upon his leaving the FBI Aug. 23, 2001, O’Neill took over as head of security for the World Trade Center and perished along with close to 3,000 others in the collapse of the twin towers, which included those lost aboard the four hijacked planes, the Pentagon and the 19 hijackers.

Controversy or not, The Path to 9/11 effectively portrays how this nation’s government and law enforcement agencies failed the American people.

“Despite all the red flags, no one is taking terrorism seriously,” Keitel’s O’Neill says upon his retirement in the film. “Political correctness rules the day. I have given my life to the bureau – everything else came second. For me and my country to be in danger, I have spilled blood to help try and keep it safe. We’re not safe yet and no one seems to care.”

The thought that Disney will treat this film in the same manner the way they have refused to release their other controversial animated title, Song of the South (1946), because of that film’s evoking stereotypes of African Americans, on dvd churns my stomach.

The Path to 9/11 has not been seen on network television or cable since 2006. I got more respect for the studio executives at Universal Pictures who had the balls to weather the pointless firestorm of protests from religious fanatics when they stood behind director Martin Scorsese for making The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) than I do for the folks at Touchstone’s Mickey Mouse corporation Disney.

The Path to 9/11, like so many other historical subjects Hollywood has taken creative liberties with since the days of the silent film era, is only a movie and a dramatization, not a factual one.

Controversy sells as demonstrated by the 25 million viewers who tuned to watch the mini-series on both nights.

For now, the only place you will ever see this film, until the Clintons and high level ranking members of the socialist Democratic Party find a way to get it pulled off the internet completely, is to go to youtube.com where the mini-series can be downloaded in several 5-10 minute long chapters.

©1/20/08

'Cloverfield' becomes nothing more than a clever mass marketed 9/11 clone

Cloverfield ««½
PG-13, 84m., 2008

Cast and Credits: Lizzy Caplan (Marlena Diamond), Jessica Lucas (Lily Ford), T.J. Miller (Hud Platt), Michael Stahl-David (Rob Hawkins), Mike Vogel (Jason Hawkins), Odette Yustman (Beth McIntyre). Directed by Matt Reeves. Screenplay by Drew Goddard.



Cloverfield is nothing more than a big tease; an 84-minute cracker jack box filled with stale caramel corn whose only big surprise is to get moviegoers yearning to see what it was that sent the Statue of Liberty’s head bouncing down the streets of Manhattan towards terrified New Yorkers on the eve of someone’s going away party.

This is all thanks to the much talked about trailer audiences saw back in November which featured that very shot along with several annoyingly, jerky camera movements at a going away party that brings back reminders of how The Blair Witch Project (1999) was shot.

I refused to believe the complaints certain movie-goers had who said they suffered from motion sickness as a result of those dizzying camera shots that often occurred in Blair Witch.

Nor did I heed the warning posted outside the box office for Cloverfield that spoke of the possibility one might experience such ailments watching it due to the way the film was shot; the kind of feeling one gets on a roller coaster the statement read.

It didn’t take long for those symptoms to kick in watching 2008’s first major box office blockbuster that not surprisingly, took in $46 million opening weekend thanks in part to the film’s clever marketing campaign. The film is shot the same way The Blair Witch Project was done with a hand held camera but it could have been done using a cell phone. The three victims though in Blair Witch went off with the intention of making their little adventure in search of a supposed urban legend as a documentary.

By comparison, when one of the party guests in Cloverfield is asked to shoot the night’s events and film every one’s goodbyes for a friend who is going off to take a job in Japan, I was not so much surprised by the jerky camera movements and numerous shots of guests mouths talking instead of focusing on their faces as I was annoyed. I will be honest. If someone asked me to hold a camera documenting the night’s events asking complete strangers, half of whom I probably would not know to say their goodbyes to a friend of mine going off to take a high paying job in another country, I probably would not care who or how I was shooting or where I had the camera pointed at. I would much rather drink and mingle with the guests.

I do, however, now see movie-goers points on how some literally got sick to their stomach watching The Blair Witch Project. By comparison, I almost got a headache watching Cloverfield and that was not the only problem. At least the filmmakers behind Blair Witch had a memorable premise making audiences think the mysterious disappearance of some college kids who were never found but left behind a video was actually a true story.

“That was like Blair Witch mixed in with Godzilla,” I overheard someone say as everyone was coming out. He wasn’t far from the truth. Cloverfield’s creature could well have been a four legged experiment gone horribly wrong when the scientists of Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park movies attempted to clone dinosaurs.

Anyone who says this film was inspired by The Blair Witch Project should look further into motion picture history, in particular, made-for-TV movies. The notion of shooting documentary style like as though we are actually seeing it live was done back in 1983 with a little made-for-tv film called Special Bulletin about a TV reporter and cameraman being taken hostage by nuclear terrorists in South Carolina. Much of the film was shot inside a news station’s studio as though we were actually watching a live crisis. According to trivia on IMDB.com, some residents of South Carolina thought the events were really going on despite the network’s repeated message that this was a dramatization.

Perhaps Cloverfield would have worked better if the events had been an actual news story, the way everyone believed Martians had landed back in the 1940s with Orson Welles’ radio adaptation of War of the Worlds as opposed to being all about a video found among the dead in the remains of Central Park.

Cloverfield is nothing more than a mass marketed 9/11 clone filled with collapsing New York skyscrapers, clouds of asbestos and flying business papers and terrified partygoers running for cover. Instead of terrorists flying hijacked planes into buildings in the early morning hours of rush hour traffic, however, it is a four legged monster running amok throughout Manhattan after midnight.

©1/20/08

Sopranos series finale, Don Imus, Anna Nicole Smith’s legacy among Darth Stumpo's list of 2007’s most unnecessary news stories

Every December as the year comes to a close, a number of popular weekly publications and newspapers give a rundown of “The Top 10…” things that happened over the past 12 months. The lists used to always be the 10 best television shows, movies, books, music and plays. Now it seems publications come up with not just a few but perhaps more than a dozen “Top 10” lists that are enough to take up either an entire magazine issue or a whole section of a newspaper to the point the lists would have to be split into a series.

I have had quite a hard time over the years to be able to come up with what I thought were the ten best movies. Half the stuff I have seen Hollywood churn out the past few years, I have been lucky to come up with even one four star film.

I am proud to say though that in 2007, I had no trouble coughing up what I thought were the year’s most unnecessary top stories the “Drive-by” liberally, biased news media gave excessive coverage to. Face the facts people. Ninety percent of the stuff being reported as so called news is nothing more than pure entertainment tabloid fluff while the remaining ten percent, if that much, is focused on more important issues.

Darth Stumpo's Ten Most Unnecessary News Stories of 2007

1. The California Wildfires: The “Drive-by” media had such high hopes the California wildfires reportedly started by arsonists last October that cost millions in property losses would be another Hurricane Katrina-like disaster. They hoped a number of lives would be lost and once again, local city, government, emergency agencies and oh yes, President Bush would all be to blame. I had to laugh when ABC news anchor Charles Gibson compared one of the neighborhoods threatened by the wildfires resembled “Wisteria Lane,” the fabled street of ABC’s popular Sunday night soap opera, Desperate Housewives. I guess the only way today’s news anchors can get viewers to tune in to what they think is the day’s most important top story is if they reference a fictional television show dimwitted viewers can relate to. Seems more people today can probably name the street, not to mention the four good looking actresses who live on it than they are able to come up with the name of even one Los Angeles suburb affected by the wildfires. Sad.


2. The Continuing Misadventures of O.J. Simpson: What would a year be without any news about The Juice? This year it was O.J. and his tell-all book, If I Did It, which details how he might have murdered his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman. Take out the “If” and the title becomes “I Did It.” There was O.J. and a couple of his merry band of outlaws asking for his sports memorabilia back at gunpoint in Las Vegas. And there was O.J. pleading not guilty in a Las Vegas court of law. Stay tuned to the upcoming sequel due out in 2008 when the case goes to trial.


3. The Sopranos series finale: When HBO’s long running made-for-cable mob series aired its final episode June 10, it was not just the 11.90 million faithful viewers or perhaps I should say “suckers” who wanted to know what mob boss Tony Soprano saw in that diner before the scene faded to black. Did he get whacked? Would the adventures of America’s second most popular dysfunctional crime family (the first being The Corleones from The Godfather trilogy) continue on the big screen? The press felt a story needed to be told here. The climax, however, was no more different than some of the much ballyhooed and often times, disappointing series finales that left viewers either hanging or going “huh” like when Jerry, George, Kramer and Elaine got sentenced to a year in jail for being selfish pricks on Seinfeld (1990-1998). Or when viewers learned that six seasons of the medical drama, St. Elsewhere (1982-1988), took place in the mind of an autistic child or that the comedy series Newhart (1982-1990) was nothing more than a humorous eight season long nightmare dreamt up by Bob Newhart’s psychiatrist from his other long running comedy series from the 70s, The Bob Newhart Show (1972-1978). Talk about making a big deal about nothing!


4. The Fall of and Immediate Return of Don Imus: I have never listened to Don Imus but I am well familiar with how a number of the things he said on the air over the years got him into trouble. Was what he said on his morning radio show last February calling members of the Rutgers University women’s basketball team “nappy-headed hos” racist? You have to be a complete idiot, and maybe even racist yourself if your answer is no. Should he have been penalized for it? Yes. But was it enough to finally put an end to the radio shock jock’s on air rants? No. Imus returned to the airwaves December 3 on WABC. So much for the Rev. Al Sharpton’s attempts to silence free speech.


5. The Virginia Tech Shootings: The first couple days were about the 32 victims, many of whose promising young lives were only just beginning before being senselessly snuffed out by an angry young loner (would the word “loser” be inappropriate?) that cold Spring Monday morning last April. The story shifted from being about the victims to being all about this Grim Reaper the minute the media and the world learned the identity of the vengeful coward who turned the gun on himself as law enforcement agents closed in. I, for one, am glad I can’t recall his name, much less pronounce it if I did, nor will I waste words mentioning it here in this column. Lest I also be found guilty of the same thing the media did which was giving the monster the 15 minutes of fame he so craved. As a result of unexpectedly being put in the spotlight, Virginia Tech students spoke what everyone else in America would have liked to tell the press days after the shootings in the form of a sign posted on campus grounds. “VT Stay Strong. Media Stay Away.”
   


6. All Anna All The Time: The Death of Anna Nicole Smith: Feb. 8, 2007 must have been a real slow news day for CNN for the top story was the sudden news that the 39 year-old former Playboy playmate and reality show star was found dead in her home of what we’d all eventually learn was a drug overdose. Her short life and tragic downfall was all we should have learned but an obituary that should have taken news outlets a couple days to write about expanded into weeks of overblown coverage with ongoing stories of autopsy results, paternity suits, battles over who would get custody of Smith’s 1-year-old daughter, burial services and embarrassing interviews showing the Marilyn Monroe look-a-like drugged out and in some cases barely able to form as much as a complete sentence. Her life was nothing more than a sad commentary on the idea of “Hey, everyone look at me!” and the press, the entertainment media, in particular ran with it.


7. Oprahmania: We’ve seen celebrities stump for presidential candidates before. Today’s liberal media are praying that Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama now has a chance to being America’s first African-American elected president thanks to the full backing of daytime talk show diva, Oprah Winfrey. It’s not Hillary Clinton conservatives have to worry about now. My advice to those hoping a Republican will get in the White House in 2008, “Be Afraid. Be Very Afraid.” Can her support help get Obama into becoming the latest resident on 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue? One thing is certain. More people like Oprah than they do singer/actress Barbra Streisand, who is reportedly lending all her support to Hillary Clinton.
   
   
8. NBC News Anchor Brian Williams hosting Saturday Night Live: No I didn’t see the anchor’s comedic debut but I saw clips that aired on NBC Nightly News the next day. I admit some of the clips were humorous like dropping coins on morning show hosts Al Roker and Matt Lauer from the top floor during their telecasts. But is this what broadcast journalism has stooped to with highly paid good looking talking heads not only anchoring the news but guest hosting a long running comedy show? Granted, former longtime celebrity anchors CBS’ Dan Rather, NBC’s Tom Brokaw and “the James Bond of Broadcast Journalism” ABC’s the late Peter Jennings may have come on as guests at the behest of late night talk show hosts but not once were they ever asked to host a comedy sketch series or those educational “More You Know” commercials on NBC.


9. Lisa Nowak and The NASA Love Triangle: Viewers would never hear about a mother of three kids making a 900 mile trek from Houston, Texas to Orlando, Florida wearing adult diapers and armed with a BB gun, a knife, a mallet and rubber tubing to confront a romantic rival for stealing her man on the nightly news. That is unless the mother of three happens to be a NASA astronaut who has flown on a shuttle mission.


10. “Mom! It’s not right.” Don’t cry for Paris Hilton: I am willing to bet a number of people convicted of driving with a suspended license would have welcomed the 45 day jail sentence socialite Paris Hilton received last May. Not so for this Chihuahua loving party girl who could barely do a week. Five days into her jail sentence last June in what became misinformation between the judge and law enforcement authorities, the millionaire heiress was allowed to do her remaining time at home, only to be dragged back to the courthouse balling inside a black and white police car as helicopters flew overhead and angry little Chihuahuas barked away on the ground. To quote her own words, “That’s hot.

I am willing to bet a number of you reading this couldn’t get enough of this kind of trivial coverage the media churned out over the past year. It reminds me of the scene in Broadcast News (1987) where Holly Hunter’s Jane Craig warns the staff during a speech about how today’s news networks are getting away from covering the more important stories and giving the public more fluff. Her audience applauded when she showed them a segment of the Japanese Domino Championships.

My response is exactly the same as hers and the bad news is if you haven’t noticed it already, you are going to get lot more of these kinds of stories just like it.

Here’s to what will likely be another unnecessary tabloid filled New Year.

©1/1/08