Musings From A Nobody

AMERICAN GANGSTER

Just one last post before going on vacation.  Donnie and I saw, American Gangster this afternoon.  It was long and somewhat slow-moving, but it all came together at the end.  A "cool as a cucumber" peformance by Denzel Washington as notorious late sixties/early seventies drug kingpin, Frank Lucas, who was in hot pursuit by anti-drug trafficking agent, Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe).  Veteran actress Ruby Dee played Washington's mother and had one great scene, which alone could place her in awards contention.  Also, Josh Brolin as the lead corrupt cop was very impressive.  Song played in club, "Do You Feel Me" by gritty soul singer, Anthony Hamilton fit that scene's mood quite well. Naturally, very violent.

Washington and Crowe have paired up once before in 1995's Virtuosity in which their bad/good guy roles were reversed with Washington acting status near A-list levels and Crowe the new, hot Aussie import making a notable mark as a over the top villain.  The movie was a flop, but their careers thrived.

American Gangster is recommended to Washington and Crowe's fans and crime drama devotees.          

MY 100TH POSTING (ALREADY!)

This is my 100th posting and I want to thank my small, but loyal and growing fanbase for all of their support over the last ten weeks.  Donnie and I are going on a weeklong Caribbean cruise, so I will not have computer access. Besides, I am on a well-deserved vacation!  Will get back to my prolific posting schedule upon my return in a week.  Love ya all!

PROJECT RUNWAY EPISODE TWO

Another highly entertaining episode of Bravo's Project Runway.  First of all, the designers had to choose a model from the same crop that they had last week.  Most of the competitors picked the same models that they used before with perhaps the exception of Ricky who selected a different model to shake things up a bit.  Since there were fifteen models last week and only fourteen designers this week, sadly, one model was,"out". 

Anyway, on this episode the designers had to make an outfit for an actress/fashion icon - Sex and the City's Sarah Jessica Parker!  They were in total awe!  After the shock wore off, the designers had to pitch a two piece outfit to SJP for her Bitten line which specializes in high end sportswear for the everyday woman.  The design had to retail at forty dollars!  And they only had fifteen dollars to buy all of the fabric necessary for the task!  Best line of the night by designer Chris, "I guess we're gonna make this outfit out of toilet paper and scotch tape".  Those seven designers who successfully pitched their designs to SJP were to head the teams of two in which the remaining seven were chosen in schoolyard fashion.  Crazy contestant Elisa (remember her atrocity from last week which almost got her eliminated.  Heidi said that it looked like it was pooing fabric) actually said on camera that she would spitmark the fabric she was working on.  This supposedly signified some new agey energy thingie.  Whatever.  Elisa was also criticized behind her back by some of the other designers for not knowing or wanting to use a sewing machine. 

After the designers finished their designs it was runway time.  The models sashayed down the runway in their designers creations and when all was said and done, Victoria and Kevin's design was declared the winner.  The winner's creation will be featured in SJP's Bitten line and displayed at Steve and Barry's stores nationwide.  Last week's bottom two contestant, Elisa was this week's runnerup!  What a difference a week makes!  And last week's top two competitor, Christian was in the bottom two this week with a design that was deemed to retro eighties.  Marion whose outfit looked like something that Pocahontas would wear according to one of the catty judges was, "out".

Project Runway was a lot of fun, can't wait for next week's episode.

             

CD SALES 11/21

R&B/Pop superstar Alicia Keys continued her winning ways with selling nearly 750,000 copies of her new smash, As I Am.  Josh Groban's Noel a building hit, even before Halloween sold about 225,000 units this past week.  The new Celine Dion, Taking Chances, the compilation series, Now 26, Garth Brooks, Ultimate Hits and the Eagles megahit, Long Road Out of Eden all had around 200,000 cds purchased.  Last week's number one, Jay Z's take on American Gangster took a tumble and fell from number one to eight and Carrie Underwood's and Chris Brown's fans bought 100,000+ copies of their respective, Carnival Ride and Exclusive albums.  But what happened to Britney Spear's Blackout cd that was number seven last week?  Freefall! (All sales based on Nielsen SoundScan)   

NIP/TUCK EPISODE FOUR

Outlandish episode of Nip/Tuck tonight as Dawn (Rosie O'Donnell) returned as the lonely lottery winner who in tonight's show was attacked by an eagle in the face while hang gliding.  So, obviously she required the plastic surgery services of Sean and Christian.  Also, she found love under the most unusual circumstances with the most unlikely person.  Meanwhile, Christian continued being, "the accidental gigolo" and wound up with a freaky client who liked to mix near death experiences with being revived in the last moment sexually.  Also, Dr.Troy provided a breast reduction to a nun who reawakened his spirituality regarding his kinky liaison.  Sean dealt with the bad influence that Eden his ex-wife's new lover's daughter was being towards his own daughter, Annie.  Furthermore, Sean had to deal with his highly confused sexual feelings towards Eden.  Pretty dark and weird episode tonight, but pretty entertaining nevertheless.  Watch for repeated episodes all week.         

11/18 BOX OFFICE REPORT

Beowulf opened this past weekend with 28 million in ticket sales to score a number one debut.  November's and this fall's biggest smash hits, The Bee Movie and American Gangster collected 14m and 13m, respectively.  Fred Claus did okay in its second week only dropping from its 19m debut last week to 12m this week.  But, Mr Magorium's Wonder Emporium did not overcome bad reviews and only made 10m.  And the film adaptation of the bestseller, Love in the Time of Cholera sold a meager 2m at the box-office this past weekend. (All figures are based on studio estimates)

T.V.'s Grey's Anatomy, Patrick Dempsey, Enchanted, Hitman, Stephen King's The Mist, teen R&B sensation, Chris Brown in This Christmas and August Rush all open next week in hopes of bringing in those big turkey weekend bucks!      

AMAZING RACE

The racers traveled from The Netherlands to Ougadougou, Burkina Faso in West Africa on another entertaining episode of The Amazing Race.  Once in Africa, the Blondes (Shana and Jennifer) remarked that this place was scary and that they were afraid of being sold for money (white slavery, I presumed).  (In the past AR editions, there has always been a pair of racers who have said something ignorant, usually, while racing in Africa).  Fellow racers and my faves Hendrekea and Azaria commented that they didn't think that the Blondes were comfortable in Africa. (no kidding!)  The other racers were far more kind and understanding about their initial experience in Africa. 

Last week's worst dad of the year award, Ronald turned over a new leaf and was way more supportive of his daughter's efforts in this week's competition.  Hendrekea and Azaria returned to first place at the pit stop this week after falling to sixth place last week.  The Blondes learned a new language to progress in the race and that almost compensated for earlier statements. Last week's number one (the highly emotional Lorena and Jason) fell to eighth place in this episode, but at least they were not eliminated.  Say goodbye to the sisters!   

TELL ME YOU LOVE ME ON HBO

HBO's intelligent, realistic drama ended its first season this week.  Two of the four couplings (yes, I am including the therapist and her husband) had satisfying conclusions to their wrenching storylines as tragedy struck the other two pairings.  Low-rated, but critically acclaimed and surprisingly and happily renewed for a second season.

SURVIVOR:CHINA

Survivor opened with Denise being upset that she wasn't told that the former Fei Long members were going to vote off Jean Robert instead of the original plan of taking out ex-Zhan Hu castaway, P.G.  Next, the team of Eric, Frosti, Courtney and Amanda won the reward challenge and the prize was a cruise down the river. P.G. and Eric were on the outs with P.G. annoying almost everyone and with Eric ingratiating himself to the dominant tribe members whenever he could.  Immunity challenge was a memory puzzle in which incessant loser P.G, finally won something. But, Courtney's seemingly strong friendship with Frosti may be her end game.  So, who was voted off: Frosti, Eric or Courtney?  And what was that little twist at the end?          

ARETHA FRANKLIN DUETS CD

Aretha Franklin's new album Jewels in the Crown All-Star Duets With the Queen is currently available for your listening pleasure.  It includes mostly old, but classic duets with such musical partners as Michael McDonald, Mary J. Blige (twice!) and Elton John, among many others.  Her eighties duets still sound potent.  Sisters Are Doin' It For Themselves with the Eurythmics, I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me) with George Michael, Through the Storm with Elton John, Everchanging Times with Michael McDonald and It Isn't, It Wasn't, It Ain't Never Gonna Be with Whitney Houston (very sassy pairing!) sound just as good as when they were released during the Reagan/Bush era. New songs Put You Up On Game with Aretha schooling Fantasia on lessons of love and the funky What Y'all Came To Do with John Legend are fine additions to her duets repertoire.  The aria Nessun Dorma sounds good as well.  Recommended.  Click onto image to enlarge!