DWTS Tragedy

Yes, I'm watching the debate but I also am reading that Misty May-Trainor, one half of the gold-medal winning USA beach volleyball team, ruptured her achilles tendon while competing on Dancing with the Stars. She had surgery today and needs nine months of rehab before she can hit the court again. Injured from being on some ridiculous TV show.

That is the lamest shit I have ever heard.

(almost as lame as Tom Brokaw's moderation job tonight)

Harbinger?

The Chinese/Zhang Yimou part of the Olympic Closing Ceremonies was beautiful, powerful, perfectly executed, and as stunning to see as his movies Hero and House of Flying Daggers. (Both are must sees on a big screen, BTW.)

Then they get to the London part, as a preview of the 2012 Games. To whet our appetite, apparently, for cliches. The double decker bus comes along to pick up some extras from Godspell, and then wheel out Jimmie Page with some chick badly lip synching "Whole Lotta Love" to illustrate the "excitement" of these upcoming events in the UK.

First of all, thank god New York didn't get the Olympics. I seriously cannot imagine what a clusterfuck it would have made the entire city. Although on the plus side, there would have been beach volleyball courts 5 blocks from my house.

Secondly, the contrast between those two spectacles shows why the Chinese are going to rule the world.

10:22 Did the "Its a Small World" ride at Disneyworld throw up all over my TV?

Martha

Here's what my fridge looks like right now. Gayest. We've been eating good over here, what with time to cook and go to the farmer's market regularly. So does that mean I should or should not feel guilty about being inside watching TV almost all day today? I may need a hobby.

Oh Sue!

I have always had a secret love for Sue Simmons on WNBC's Channel 4 News at 11. She always seems half-drunk, cracks wise way more than she should, and is simply far too goofy with her non sequiturs to be paid an alleged $2.5 million bux a year to read the news twice a day.

She went overboard on Monday night during a live promo for the 11:00 news, screaming out "WTF are you doing??" over a news clip. Too funny. They better not fire her for something so silly, especially considering practically every New Yorker uses the phrase WTF about 10 times a day. She did apologize, after all. Enjoy!

NY Times movie summaries

I love the writer(s) who does the movie encapsulations in the TV listings of the NY Times. Must be one of the best jobs ever: watch movies, and write an under twenty-word, often hilarious, sometimes snarky summation of the film.

Here are some choice examples from the past couple of days:
The DaVinci Code - "Religious mystery could rock foundations of Christianity. What's up with Hanks's hair?"
Practical Magic - "Sisters resist family legacy: witchcraft. Barbie joins a coven."
Fargo - "Coens' snowbound film noir, merry and macabre."
The Matrix Revolutions - "Ferocious machine assault on battered Zion. Stop frowning, Neo; it's finally over."
The Hills Have Eyes - "Bloodthirsty mutants hunt fresh meat. Awfully good at making you feel awful."
Seven - "Murders based on seven deadly sins. Deadly dull."
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me - "Laura Palmer's last days, in prequel to Lynch series. Not the worst movie ever made, just seems that way."

Slate graciously provides a link.

ZZZZZzzzz

My two cents: I've never been hugely into the Sopranos. I like it, it's fine, but I liked Six Feet Under and Sex and the City way more. So fifteen minutes left in the Sopranos finale, and I'm dead asleep on the couch. The DVR let me rewind, and see for myself just how NOTHING it was. I seriously was thinking I had missed a pivotal line/scene/something. Nope. Snore. And Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" as the exit song? Weak.

DL Watch 2007: Part 2

Denis Leary was at the Turkey's Nest last night filming Rescue Me. I, goddamn it unfortunately, was not, but was getting text updates from Gina. For some reason, this intriguing softball-playing boy from Ohio I was out to dinner with refused to humor my excitement by going a-stalking with me.

Denis Leary and The Nest?? I can't think of a better combination.

New season of Rescue Me premieres this Wednesday at 10pm on F/X

UPDATE 6/13: And they were filming at Cheaters, my local, all day today. Missed it by an hour, although we did chat up the crew. Groupies for a TV show: that's pathetic. So close, yet so far. Hell, Leary's stalking ME.

No Longer Filling in the Blank

Charles Nelson Reilly, star of the brilliant Match Game shows of the 70s has died. Obit says he never hid his homosexuality; but I feel like a total dumbass, like I did when I suddenly realized the Village People were gay when I was about 12. How did I not know this? The pipe and the cravat should have been dead giveaways.

Whatever. He + Brett Somers + a half in the bag Richard Dawson = pure comic genius. And still viewable on The Game Show Network.

MLB Are Still Chumps

Finally resolved, Extra Innings will now be available on both cable and In Demand, with a free preview period for this week and then you can cough up $159 for the season. Whatever. Dicks.

Denis Leary Watch 2007

Rescue Me is back filming on my street today. No Leary sightings yet, but did see Tatum O'Neil, who plays Leary's drunkypants sister Maggie on the show, going into her trailer on the way to work.

Their craft services table was lame. Mealy tomatoes, wilted salad and boxes of cold cereal.

Too Much L Word?

I had a dream last night I was making out with the latest subject of Louis Vuitton's ad campaign, Scarlett Johannson. WTF? 1)I don't even think Sco-Jo's that hot, 2)nor am I really into women, AND much less if I was to be into one, 3)it surely wouldn't be a blonde.

I gotta figure it was brought on by having to print too many ads with her recently, too much lesbian-related TV before bedtime or perhaps a new medication (anyone want some?) Weird. Whole new world.

Auf Weidersein, Project Runway.

Chloe! C'Mon. How can a woman whose dresses all look like prom dresses without backs be American's next top fashion designer?? Amazing seams, sure, but the next big designer needs to make more than satiny-looking dresses without backs! While I wasn't that sold on Daniel V's, or Santino's collections either, I HATED boring old midget Chloe's stuff. Santino, for all his irritating traits, surprisingly had the best final collection, even with him toning his crazy styles down far too much for the finale. Bring back some of those crazy couture ruffles. But I'm not the expert. Heidi Klum, plus her two co-bitches in judging, Michael Kors and Elle-fashion-director- Nina-Garcia (whose name is always said in that long phrase, with Ms. Klum really putting on the Spanish accent), BLEW IT. Even if the job is with Banana Republic.

Ah well. The new season of America's Next Top Model has begun. I'm only an hour into the two hour premiere, and already six girls have cried on the first episode. Tyra has annoying hugged and comforted three, while getting "black" with two. Words do not describe how self-congratulatory and lame she is. Or how lame I am for watching the fifth season in a row.

Ol' Charlie LeDuff

I've been reading terrific, first-person reports from the seedier-side-of-life by Charlie LeDuff in the New York Times for the past ten years. He had a brilliant column in The City section during the late 90s entitled "Bending Elbows", which essentially involved Charlie going to NYC dive bars and writing about whoever he met. I always wondered how he got that job, and assumed he was some old codger who conned his editors into publishing his drinking tales after working for years at the Times.

I liked his book Work and Other Sins, and even with a photo on the cover, and knowing he had won a Pulitzer Prize, I still thought he was some old boozebag on his last legs.

Imagine how surprised I was last night when I flipped on the Discovery Times (don't ask, I didn't know it existed either) channel and found that ol' Charlie has his own show called "Only In America." Imagine how much more surprised I was when it turned out that he's 39, and kind of a fox. His show presents a brand of Hunter S. Thompson "participatory journalism," where Charlie immerses himself each week into a subculture of America such as New York modeling, gay rodeos or arena football. The show is pretty funny, but veers dangerously close into being ALL about Charlie instead of about the story. Additionally, he's been accused of plagarism on several occasions. What's that saying - don't let the truth get in the way of a good story??

At any rate, he's certainly charismatic, and I bet in person, you'd either love him or want him killed instantly. P.S. I think he might look a little like Vincent Gallo.

My Favorite Hour of the Week

I'm almost embarrassed about how much I enjoy Rescue Me and continually go on about it, but there's simply no denying how much I look forward this fantastic show every week.

Produced and written by the brilliant Denis Leary, and Peter Tolan, his partner from their prime-time show "The Job" a couple years back, the razor-sharp writing of this show's second season on FX gets blacker, funnier and more emotionally charged with every episode. The real-life salty, witty, and often politically incorrect dialogue benefits from a 10pm cable slot that finds me laughing out loud or cringing in horror while replaying scenes several times.

Focusing on Leary's character, Tommy Gavin, and how his life has changed as a NYFD veteran in the two+ years after the events of 9/11, "Rescue Me" presents Gavin and his fellow firefighters as terrifically flawed human beings, who sometimes find themselves doing heroic things. This year's season finds Tommy trying to fake his way through quitting drinking; searching the country for his kids after his wife has fled with them; dealing with his father and unexpected new family members; and all the while he's receiving surreal visits from Jesus and his cousin/best friend who died on 9/11. Tommy's a guy you should hate with all his flaws, piggish and self-destructive ways. Yet Leary has come into his own as an actor, way beyond the ironic comedy routines he was once known for, by portraying Tommy as a guy who's just trying to survive, always almost cracking apart beneath the brash swagger.

Certainly firefighters shows have been done to death, but this is one that is leaps and bounds beyond what you are used to seeing on TV. The easy-on-the-eyes players (Dean Winters, Daniel Sunjata, Steven Pasquale) sure don't hurt it, either.

Tuesdays, 10pm on FX (Channel 58 in Brooklyn's Time Warner). First season available on DVD.

The Fonz

I saw Henry Winkler during lunch today outside of the Fox Building. Possibly just leaving from a guest appearance on Dayside, or whatever that show is with the blond conservative woman my mom likes. He's short, old, very jewish-looking, and limo-riding. I bet the Fonz would have never been caught dead in a limo.