Category Archives: Media/Entertainment

BREAKING: Consumer Watchdog Uncovers Breathtaking Restaurant Scam

KDVR-News‘We had to do it’; Denver restaurant charges COVID fee

Turns out this scammer – and probably many others – has been ripping off customers by concealing his costs of doing business. In this case, an unscrupulous restaurateur, who claims the COVID pandemic has cost him 40-60% of his business, has begun tacking on a $2 “fee” to “cover the cost” of “masks,” “disposable menus,” “mandated cleaning,” and “spacing requirements.”

The owner had no comment when asked if he was also fleecing unsuspecting patrons by insinuating food, personnel, and real estate “costs” into their bills.

The good citizens of Denver tip their collective hat to the consumer watchdogs at KDVR for calling this complaint to the public’s attention

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Thanks to our old friend Dan Danbom for alerting us to this story.

Wait. Michael Jordan Did WHAT?!

Ramona Shelburne’s story on how the much-hyped documentary series on the Chicago Bulls’ final championship season got made (after so many years) is fascinating stuff. But one thing really jumped off the page at me.

Apparently a lot of people wanted to make a doc through the years. Andy Thompson had somehow gotten permission to shoot hundreds of hours of all-access footage at the time, and that archive was seen by anybody who knew of its existence as something akin to the holy grail. The final year of the consensus GOAT? Duh.

Every few years, it seems, some producer or another (including some pretty big names) would make a run at it, but until now none of them even got a face-to-face meeting with Jordan, who controlled the rights, until Mike Tollin came along in 2016.

One of those pretty big names who never got an audience? Spike Lee. SPIKE LEE!

Mars-Blackmon

Oscar winner Spike Lee. The biggest hoops fan on Earth Spike Lee. The guy who did the most famous sports apparel ads in history – for Air Jordan – Spike Lee.

Mars Fucking Blackman himself couldn’t even get in the room with Jordan.

I know Mike keeps things close to the vest. I know he’s intensely conscious of his legacy. But just damn. Folks, when Spike Lee wants to talk…

you-say-yes

Mike’s gonna be Mike, I guess.

Nobody is ever going to want to do a documentary about my life. But you have my word, if Spike Lee ever calls, I’m at least going to let him buy me lunch…

 

Varner outs Zeke: the outrage is reaffirming

A gay man’s assault on a transgender fellow player was stunning. The response by the tribe, the host, the audience, and most importantly the target, gives a little hope to those of us losing faith in our fellow humans.

On last night’s episode of Survivor, Jeff Varner, who was fighting for his life in the game, turned to fellow contestant Zeke Smith during tribal council and asked him, “Why haven’t you told anyone you’re transgender?” It was like someone had dropped a bomb on the place. Ten seconds of staggered silence gave way to a deluge of outrage against Varner, with members of the tribe shouting over each other in a moment unlike anything in Survivor history. It was a beatdown of unprecedented proportions and it was richly deserved. A Google search for [zeke smith jeff varner] is currently returning ~82,000 results – stories, tweets, videos, you name it, so feel free to sample for yourself the public response.

Read more

Ghost in the Shell: a 2-minute review

The 2017 remake of the manga classic is marvelous to behold, but not especially filling emotionally.

Ghost in the Shell

Ghost in the Shell

Went to see Ghost in the Shell the other day. In IMAX. IMAX 3-D, to be precise. Initial impressions:

1) It’s just fucking gorgeous. The designers have studied the classics, from Blade Runner on down, and they create a world that does justice to the genre. This flick ought to win all the technical Oscars.

2) The story itself works well. Read more

Michelle hearts Dubya: the well-timed rehabilitation of George Bush

Bush Michelle ObamaPresident Donald is doing a great job of making America miss George W. Bush. And now Michelle Obama and the “liberal” media are chipping in. Barf.

First there was the hubbub back during the election that nobody in the Bush family could bring themselves to vote for Donald. Then more recently it was former President George W. standing up to Donald and defending the importance of a free press. Then we saw Dubya on Kimmel laughing at Trump jokes. Dubya says he doesn’t like the racism. Former first daughter Barb is on the podium defending Planned Parenthood. And any number of former Bush aides and staffers suddenly have the knives out, like here, where a former strategist marvels at how poor the Trump team’s collective memory is when it comes to remembering all those meetings with all those Russkis.

Now the coop de Gracie: my news feed can’t get enough of the tender love affair between Bush II and Michele Obama. Read more

Trump's Mainstream Media Accountability Survey will leave you speechless

fauxnewsThis methodological tour de force is a triumph in honesty, objectivity and good faith. Bigly. You should reply in kind.

I’ll keep this brief. Donald has a poll up asking for your honest opinion on a series of  completely fair, unbiased and objective questions about “the media.” The Mainstream Media Accountability Survey asks questions like:

10: Do you believe that the mainstream media does not do their due diligence fact-checking before publishing stories on the Trump administration?

And:

13: Do you believe that political correctness has created biased news coverage on both illegal immigration and radical Islamic terrorism?

Here’s the best one, though: Read more

Remembering 2016: the year when everyone died

No, famous people won’t stop dying on January 1. But we lost too many bright lights this year and we hope that 2017 will be better. Here’s a list of noteworthy people who died in 2016.

For the past several months a lot of us have been saying we can’t wait for this damned year to be over.

2016 gave us the worst election season I can remember, and every ten minutes or so another beloved artist would die, it seemed. Any year that gives us Donald Trump and takes Muhammad Ali, David Bowie, Prince in return has done more damage than some decades.

No, people aren’t going to stop dying at the stroke of midnight tomorrow. Read more

Translating Ryan Lochte's bullshit into English

Fake apology. Fauxpology. Unpology. Non-apology apology. It’s all bullshit and you’re an idiot if you play along.

I’ve spent decades in the corporate world, and way too much of that time has been dedicated to crafting artful PR bullshit. I’m not proud of the fact, but truth is I’m good at it. And when making the language behave unnaturally is your stock in trade, you get really, really good at spotting it when other people start force-feeding perfectly honest words into the sausage grinder.

Which brings us to the much-discussed Ryan Lochte “apology.” Which, by the way, was written for him by some weasel in his agent’s office. Said weasel understands the basics, but sadly has all the grace and nuance of a hyena on a Cialis bender.

Didn’t work, though. See the fat, middle-aged guy with an open sore on his mouth loitering by the edge of the dance floor? That’s Lochte. See all the sorority girls easing away from him? Those are his former sponsors.

Anyhow, here’s Lochte’s fauxpology. Read more

Does Trump actually want the job?

If Donald Trump really is running for president, he’s doing it all wrong.

trump-hillaryNew poll this morning:

In new poll, support for Trump has plunged, giving Clinton a double-digit lead

Support for Donald Trump has plunged as he has alienated fellow Republicans and large majorities of voters overall in the course of a month of self-inflicted controversies, propelling Democrat Hillary Clinton to a double-digit lead nationally in a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

For pure political theater, there simply hasn’t been anything like this in my lifetime. Read more

Big Bang Theory presents: top ten reasons men should pursue careers in the sciences

Hey boys – what should you be when you grow up?

I know a lot of young men out there are trying to decide what to do with their lives. Fireman? Policeman? CEO? Doctor? Lawyer? Low-level marketing manager?

Great ideas, all, but here in America it’s important to take your cues from our alpha arbiter of social possibility, network television. So, let’s have a look at what CBS has to say on the subject.

First: this is a scientist.

Now, here are some reasons to be a scientist, based on his experiences over the past few years of his life: Read more

Hypocrisy Watch: FOX reporter cares deeply about the liberty of those who agree with him

Donald Trump, Kim Davis and Cook Out: because the Constitution guarantees redeemed sinners the right to fast food.

First, the headline:

‘Hell No!’ Cashier refuses to serve Trump backers

Shannon Riggs and her cousins were famished after attending a Donald Trump rally last week in Richmond, Va., so they decided to drop by Cook Out – a regional restaurant chain known for its tasty burgers.

The group was decked out in Trump swag – from T-shirts to those iconic red hats emblazoned with the campaign’s slogan: “Make America Great Again.” Read more

Big Bang Theory band names, pt 4 (Saturday Video Roundup)

Thor and Dr. Jones LIVE!

And we arrive at the final installation in our series of lines from The Big Bang Theory that would make good band names. I love the first one.

Liquor and Poor Judgment

The Unified Theory of Comedy

Malibu Koothrappali and His Totally Bitchin’ Dream House

The Wolowitz Coefficient

Tangy Bowl of Cheerios Read more

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