Clean and Sober Release date August 8, 1988. Running time 2 hours 4 minutes.
Michael Keaton's best and most underrated performance. He plays real estate agent Darryl Poynter, a man with severe drug and work-related issues who goes into drug rehab trying to escape the consequences that come from living such a toxic lifestyle. He then realizes during the course of his thirty day treatment that he can't fast-talk and con his way out of the mess he's made.
Morgan Freeman also stars in this film in an outstanding performance as Keaton's drug counselor.
Bully Release date July 13, 2001. Running time 1 hour 57 minutes.
Here is some more deviant asocial behavior for your viewing pleasure. Based on a true story, this film tells the tale of a group of dysfunctional, out-of-control teenagers who plan and execute the murder of an abusive peer whose behavior has everyone sick and tired. The acting is very good and at times has a documentary-type flow, which make the scenes of sex and violence that much more disturbing. The absolutely mahvelous looking Bijou Phillips plays the role of an out-of-control teenager caught up in this tale of juvenile delinquency that would have James Dean rolling in his grave.
She's young, beautiful, talented and in the most publicly toxic and abusive relationship in the music biz. What more could you possibly want out of a woman? Please check out the spread GQ magazine did of her in their January 2010 issue. Man, does she loook mahvelous, dahling!!! Absolutely mahvelous!!! Here a a few of those photos-
Nice, huh? Here are a few more shots of her from around the world, just in case you're not convinced-
You gotta love a coach who shows up to support the women's basketball program at his school looking just as crazy as one of the fans. Bruce Pearl is a maniac, and one hell of a coach. Yesterday's game was a testament to what his team can accomplish on any given night.
Knocking off the undefeated #1 team in the land is one thing. Doing it shorthanded is quite near impossible, but the Volunteers did it. They beat the University of Kansas, who up until yesterday ripped through the first half of the season, kicking all kinds of ass and looking like world beaters. The Tennessee game was supposed to be a cakewalk for them. But it wasn't.
Tennessee suffered the loss of four of their top eight scorers. Senior Tyler Smith was dismissed outright for (what else?) misdemeanor guns and drugs charges. The other three (Cameron Tatum, Melvin Goins and Brian Williams, who were arrested on January 1st. with Smith) have been suspended pending further investigation. That left them with six scholarship players and a couple of walk-ons. But they had the appropriately named Scotty Hopson leading the way with 17 points on 7-12 shooting and some spectacular dunks. Photos of Hopson are not from the Kansas game-
It wasn't just Hopson who stepped up. Let's give props to Booby Maze, who scored 16 points, grabbed 7 rebounds and dished out 8 assists. Renaldo Woolridge scored 14, but it was HOW and WHEN he scored that really made the difference. He hit 4 of 6 from 3-point land, and hit three in a row during a pivotal 14-2 Tennessee run. The fact that he hit those shots from the same exact spot on the court says something about Kansas coach Bill Self having his head completely up his ass. What was he thinking when he kept leaving this guy alone to chuck threes during such a critical phase of the game?
But the shot of the night belongs to my man Skylar McBee. What a name. You gotta love the circumstances of this-deep into the second half with the clock winding down, McBee's got the ball on the left side of the court and the play, for whatever reason just dies. So what does he do? Dribbles right, then awkwardly cuts back to the left side (at this point I thought he'd get called for traveling, that's how bad this move looked) and heaves a three-pointer with all the grace of a drunken retiree stumbling off the deck of a cruise ship into the deep blue sea.
And it was all net, baby. All net. So for all those one-and-done superstars like John Wall of Kentucky and the rest from years past, keep going. You aren't a part of what this is all about. College basketball is not about the guys who stay one year, finish only one semester of classes and then head to the NBA. College basketball is about walk-on Skylar McBee and the Tennessee Volunteers, who despite being undermanned and over-matched showed up to play a game everyone knew they were going to lose and won it. Fuckin' A. Here's to you coach Pearl and the rest of the crew at Tennessee. Thanks for a hell of a game.
Just another apocalyptic, end-of-the-world Hollywood megamovie? Yes. Is it entertaining? Absolutely. Apart form some of the sappier parts, which thankfully are kept to an absolute minimum, you will not be bored at all even though the film runs for over 2 1/2 hours.
The cast is excellent (when are Danny Glover and John Cusak ever bad?), the storyline never sags and the special effects are amazing. Don't download this movie and watch it on a small computer screen or even a flatscreen at home, regardless of how big it is. This film is made to be seen in a theater. So find one with the biggest screen possible and go have a great time. You will enjoy this film immensely if you are fan of disaster movies-this one is definitely one of the best I've ever seen.
Sorry to disappoint you guys, but cutey-pie Jessica is about as Latin in heritage as Larry David from "Curb Your Enthusiasm". That whole rumor is just a pathetic excuse to perpetuate the ignorant stereotype of the "Hot Latina". It's total and complete bullshit, so stop believing it. Having said that, she is one of those women who come around every now and then who are known more for their beauty than for possessing any type of acting talent.
But that's OK. We here at Busting Chops don't care about talent as a prerequisite for "Babe of the Week" consideration. The woman just has to loook mahvelous, dahling-and she most certainly does.
There will be no R.I.P. for this idiot. At 6'4" and 200 pounds of solid muscle and pure speed, he had what few are born with-the freakish athletic ability to play pro football inn the NFL. And just what did he do with his talent?
He got arrested so many times that commissioner Roger Goodell suspended him for the first eight games of the 2007 season for violation of the NFL's personal conduct policy. In other words, it is written in the contract of every NFL player that they cannot go out and act the fool while being employed by the league in any capacity.
And it was stupid shit he kept getting pinched for. The second to last incident involved Henry punching an 18 year-old in the face, throwing a bottle and smashing the guy's car window. All over an unpaid debt. As an NFL player, exactly what the fuck are you doing out in the street lending teenagers money?
But it was the LAST incident which became, well, his last. As befitting a dysfunctional, jive-ass motherfucker blessed with physical talent and absolutely no sense, Henry expired from wounds suffered while dry surfing on the back of a pickup truck driven by the biggest ghetto-ass hoochie this side of...(insert your favorite ghetto HERE).
Here is the interview-
A question for you, darling- If you love your man so "hard" as they say in the 'hood, why put his life in such jeopardy? You have any idea how difficult it is to find a professional athlete to fall in love with a country-ass ghetto hedgehog such as yourself?
So now the cash register has closed for her. The story goes that they were having an argument and she sped off, knocking him off balance and he went sprawling off the back of the truck. He died from severe head injuries, which is consistent with the accident report. I imagine his head must have hit the pavement more times than a bowling ball hurled into the gutter by Fred Flintstone.
Now just what the fuck he was doing on the back of a pickup truck is beyond me. What she was doing speeding off knowing he was back there standing is again another mystery worthy of the good Sherlock Holmes. However it happened, it cements the theory that too many pro athletes are blessed with physical gifts they are clearly unworthy of possessing. If he left behind any children, they unfortunately will pay the price for his stupidity.
Jim Leavitt-Rat on a Hot Tin Roof
Another asshole coach getting nailed for abusing his players. Does this guy not have ESPN? Does he not understand that the collective tide is turning on the whole football coach-as-tyrant thing? Yes, some of these young men need a bit more, um, "mentoring" than others. What do you expect? Some of these football players would not even be attending college if it wasn't for football. Some are idiots, some have lower IQ's than others, and still others are just straight-up dickheads. "Tough love" is definitely required with some of these head cases.
But the whole college football environment is not really conducive to tolerance and accountability. It's a violent sport with type-A personality-having, frustrated ex-jocks coaching hyper-aggressive young men in their physical primes. There are bound to be problems on every campus with a major D-I football program. So my contention is the only time problems are made public is when things are really and truly out of hand.
Not only did he choke a player and punch him in the face TWICE, he went around trying to convince anyone who could have ratted him out to change their stories. He took a school, the University of South Florida, that never had a football team when his tenure began and did some solid work given the circumstances. But he didn't win ENOUGH to keep his job after the shit he pulled. He knew it, and with his career record of 17-18 in the Big East Conference, the whole world know it. He of course is denying the incident, another sign that the prototypical asshole football coach cannot and will not change his stripes regardless of what's at stake. A little contrition, a few well-placed apologies could of served him well. But we will never know the answer to that. This type of man shows remorse about as often as a middle eastern terrorist changes the towel on his head.
So it's good riddance to the rat-faced coach. He, along with Mark Mangino and Mike Leach will land on their feet at another program. It all depends on how well they sell themselves, and how desperate a sagging program is to sell it's soul to bring athletic success to it's football program.
Happy New Year, Everyone!!!! Glad to be back after computer problems kept me offline for a few weeks. The issues haven't been resolved totally, but enough has been done for me to keep things moving here. Converse
We have a lot to catch up on, so let me start by giving Converse a big "Fuck You" for their handling of the "Heaven is a Playground" exhibit in Lower Manhattan. When the dates were first posted on Heavenisaplayground.com, the times were inexplicably not listed. So I went on two separate occasions at two different times of the day and each time I found the place closed. I went back on the website and the days and hours of operation were finally posted, but way after the exhibit began.
So I marched over on Saturday, December 19th at 1 p.m. and again it was closed. There was a snowstorm forecast for that day, but it had just begun coming down when I got there. Nice of them to notify us in advance.
To this day I still have not seen it. There is no phone number to call and no signs posted at the spot. Just a storefront gate that remains slammed shut. You can't even tell if you're in the right place or not when you're walking along this particular block. I will say this-if you want to relive your glory days as a crack dealer in the projects from the late 80's-early 90's and are in the market for a shearling coat, a leather Eight-Ball jacket or a vintage triple fat goose, then Orchard Street is where you want to be.
And I love the hours the exhibit is open from-noon to 4 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays. Anyone with a job will have to go either between these hours or wait until Saturday, when it will more than likely be closed with no explanation whatsoever.
Now I understand why Converse could not capitalize on the sneaker wars of the early 1980's when they had the two biggest stars in the NBA, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, signed to endorsement deals.
Nike blew past them and Converse became truly irrelevant soon after signing Michael Jordan, who incidentally wore Converse throughout his 3 years at the University of North Carolina and was even born in Brooklyn no less!!! Converse was the shoe everyone wore on the playgrounds back in the day and have massive, old-school street cred because of it. But they became obsolete for a reason. As a company, if they can't get something like a photo exhibit right, it speaks volumes for their incompetence.
So Fuck You, Converse. How hard is it in this day and age to disseminate accurate information in a timely fashion about an event you're promoting ?
Gilbert Arenas of the Washington "Bullets"
It turns out Agent Zero was using his locker stall at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C. as a weapons storage facility for the upcoming invasion of the nation's capital by Al-Quaida. This jackass is reported to have stored unloaded guns in his locker not registered in D.C., which have some of the most stringent gun control laws in the country. Seeing as D.C. has had the dubious distinction of being the murder capital of the states, I can see why such laws are on the books.
But wait...it gets better. Arenas and his teammate, 22 year-old Javaris Crittenton squared off and pointed guns at each other in the middle of the locker room after a dispute over a gambling debt. Arenas, a nine-year NBA veteran, who should of known better, used this moment to hold a seminar on Crittenton's behalf on anger management and dispute resolution by pulling out like Doc Holliday at the OK Corral.
Which leads me to ask, WTF? Arenas, apparently oblivious to the consequences of his actions, acted as if he knew nothing of the incidents when asked by reporters. It's good that he has the reputation of not sweating the small stuff, because he will need that psychotic, self-absorbed mental make-up to get him through the investigations that will be forthcoming. I don't expect anything to come of this because there is no way in Hell any of his teammates are going to throw him under the bus, but Agent Zero needs to be more discreet about packing heat in the gambling parlor that is the Washington Wizard's locker room.
Mike Leach and Adam James
There must have been something else going on besides a headstrong coach clashing with a pretty-boy receiver with entitlement issues for the powers that be at Texas Tech to fire the one man responsible for breathing life back into their moribund program.
Football in Texas is a religion, and there are shrines all over the state at every one of their Division-I schools. The stadium at Texas Tech has had to undergo expansion every year for the last couple of years due to the increasing popularity of the program. Mike Leach won, and he did so with an exciting blend of speed on both sides of the ball and a passing attack that played to the strengths of his recruits.
Texas Tech does not have the pedigree as other more esteemed blue-chip programs have, but they put themselves on the map and are exciting to watch. This will invariably change now that Leach has been bounced from the school for allegedly abusing one of his players. Leach sent wide receiver Adam James to go sit in a dark shed during a practice session in which James showed up wearing shades that supposedly were recommended by a doctor after he suffered a concussion. When coach Leach asked James about the shades, he responded that they were recommended to him because he was "sensitive to light". So the coach put him in a dark place, and then quickly soon after Leach found himself in a similarly dark place-the unemployment line.
Here is a photo of the shed in question-
One of the things I felt Leach did wrong was throw this player under the bus when he received his suspension. Instead of speaking directly to the incident, Leach had his attorney attack James and spoke of his obnoxious sense of entitlement, laziness at practices and how his father, a football analyst for ESPN, was always pestering the coaching staff over his son's development and playing time.
These things could all have been true, but a televised interview was not the venue to air those issues. To his credit, James' father, when interviewed about the incident and all that was said about him and his son, took the high road and did not stoop to the level of Leach's attorney. Then, to make matters worse, a few days later Leach came out and said the exact same things HIMSELF. He even tried to get a court order to coach his team for their bowl appearance, attempting to override the school's suspension. After all this, he was fired.
Here are the major points-
1) It may have been true that this player James was an asshole to coach. But we also know that football coaches, regardless of how smart and unconventional they may be, can also be assholes. What Leach should of done is cut James, plain and simple.
2) Secondly, Leach also should not have aired the contentious relationship he had with both James and his father, knowing this guy is a nationally known and respected college football analyst who has as big a microphone as he does.
3) Third, Leach should of kept the acrimonious relationship he had with university brass out of the headlines. The public airing of such grievances made it impossible for him to walk back through the door he just slammed on yourself.
It may have been true that the university was not happy with the influence Leach had at their school. They then should not have signed him to a contract extension last year. They apparently did not realize the type of influence resurrecting a bullshit football program in a state like Texas comes with. They cannot have it both ways. A coach like Mike Leach wields power. That is the trade-off for the success and revenue he brings in.
Unfortunately, no one at the university was on the same page and the Red Raiders will never be as fun to watch again. I guess Texas Tech needs to start tearing down all those extra seats they had put in their stadium, because they will be empty for a very long time.
