UCF standout running back “Smokin'” Joe Burnett was drafted in the 5th round of the NFL draft on Sunday and will go from being a Knight to a Steeler. While at UCF, Burnett broke record after record and was the standout player on the 2008 squad after the departure of now Detroit Lion Kevin Smith. In addition to Burnett, Sha’reff Rashad reached an agreement with the New York Giants, Patrick Brown reached a deal with the Carolina Panthers and Jason Venson reached a deal with the Cleveland Browns. It’s great to see 4 more UCF Knights ascending from the NCAA into the NFL! GO KNIGHTS!!!
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Burnett a Steeler
Monday, April 27, 2009
Goodbye, Bea
If you haven’t heard by now, America lost one of its beloved television legends over the weekend. Bea Arthur, a Tony-Award winning stage and Emmy-Award winning television actress who is perhaps best known for her roles on Maude and The Golden Girls, succumbed to cancer on Saturday morning in her home in Los Angeles at the age of 86. I have loved The Golden Girls since I was a kid and had the honor of meeting Betty White and Rue McClanahan when I was about 12 years old. They were filming a pilot for a gameshow (which was never picked-up by the networks) called 20 Questions! and my dad and I went to see its taping on a visit to Los Angeles. They were both graciously nice and even provided me a kiss on the cheek and their autographs. This morning The Today Show held an interview with Rue McClanahan and Betty White, the sole two remaining survivors from The Golden Girls. The pair showered Bea’s memory with kind and loving sentiments.
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Know Your Enemy Video
Green Day has released the video for the first single “Know Your Enemy” from their forthcoming album 21st Century Breakdown. It’s a great video for a great song:
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Yes, Know Your Enemy
Some big releases today in music! First and foremost, Green Day has released their first single “Know Your Enemy” from their forthcoming album 21st Century Breakdown, which will release May 15th from Reprise Records. iTunes is offering an exclusive pre-sale on the album for $11.99, which will also get you “Know Your Enemy” as an immediate download. The new track is awesome and features an instrumentation which sounds like 21st Century Breakdown will pick-up right where the group’s last (2004) album American Idiot left off. Also today, Astralwerks released Pet Shop Boys’ new album Yes, featuring the smash hit “Love, Etc.” I opted to purchase 9 of the 11 songs from the album (I wasn’t a fan of “King of Rome” or “The Way It Used to Be”) and the songs are great! They are heavily-laden with pop-synth and are upbeat and fun. While the Pet Shop Boys are no Erasure, this album should hold us over until the dynamic duo releases their new album in 2010. Below, the Pet Shop Boys discuss the making of their new album
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
More “Poker Face”
Lady GaGa continues to travel the world celebrating the massive success of her debut album The Fame. She wowed audiences at Orlando’s House of Blues during her World Fame Ball just 2 weeks ago and made an appearance on the UK’s version of Late Night (Friday Night with Jonathan Ross) on Friday, where she performed her latest #1 song “Poker Face.” With a live band on-stage (and the same dancers [including the Latin hottie we all drooled over] at her show in Orlando), Lady GaGa put a little bit of a rock-spin on the single and impressed the European audience just as much as those in the United States:
Erasure Update
Erasure’s Andy Bell had plenty to say about the duo’s latest release Pop Hits! and the formation of the group in the early 1980’s and the impact of being an openly gay (and HIV+) performer last weekend while DJing at the White Party in Palm Springs, California. Andy made a pit-stop in Los Angeles for an interview with WestHollywood.com while en-route to the dessert oasis and gay party mecca. While he didn’t discuss Erasure’s plans to re-enter the studio at the end of the year to begin work on their new album (scheduled for release in 2010), he did have some great things to say about Erasure:
Research/Polling Shows Changing Beliefs
There’s probably no better state in the nation to gauge the current barometer of social conservativism in a large populace than Texas. The state which brought us the worst president in the history of the United States is staunchly Republican and highly conservative in their political ideology and voting behaviors. This is exactly why recent polls, indicating an increasing acceptance towards equality for gays and lesbians is so important in a more national context. In 1985, Houstons business establishment and some of its leading politicians led a successful campaign to overturn its city ordinance that would have protected gay city employees from job discrimination. But now, 24 years later, according to the latest Houston Area Survey, fewer than half of Harris County residents believe homosexuality is morally wrong, 61% believe its an innate characteristic rather than a lifestyle choice, and 43% believe gay marriages should have the same legal status as heterosexual ones up from 32% just two years ago.
Rice University Sociologist Dr. Stephen Klineberg conducts the annual survey. These data show that beliefs about homosexuality and gay and lesbian civil rights issues are changing, even in areas where social conservativism has long had a stronghold. Social science and even nursing-related research has long indicated gay peoples’ “coming out” and being open and honest with their friends, family, and coworkers as a main reason most are changing their viewpoints. The research in my Doctoral Dissertation showed a strong correlation between heterosexuals’ personal relationships with openly gay or lesbian persons and decreased levels of homophobia. Perhaps summarized best by Houston gay rights activist Ray Hill, Its not about what they think about us, its about what we think about us. There is almost no reason in the world for anyone to be closeted any more. (Source: chron.com)
Monday, April 20, 2009
A Fantastic Walk Through Grey Gardens
Saturday saw the premiere of HBO Films Grey Gardens, which detailed the story of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis’ estranged aunts who turned their backs on being part of the socially elite to live a life in solitude and squalor in a decrepit and decaying mansion in East Hampton throughout most of the 20th Century. The film is a fantastic exemplary of just why HBO continues to show its dominance as the premier subscription cable channel and also highlights the amazing talents of its stars Jessica Lange and Drew Barrymore.
Grey Gardens shows how a mother’s influence can have profound and lifelong effects on her daughter and just how powerful issues like self-esteem and self concept can create massive psychopathology among individuals who are intrinsically connected by a stringent codependency unlike any other. The movie intertwines the filming of a documentary about the pair (which really occurred in the early 1970’s) and what unfolds earlier in their lives which ultimately leads to a life that most would look upon in disdain. As I was watching Grey Gardens, I continually found myself in greater and greater disbelief. I judged these individuals’ lives in-terms of missed major life milestones and ultimately concluded their lives were perhaps vain and with very little importance and meaning.
But in the end, we are left knowing that despite the conclusions made about this mother and daughter, nothing is quite as it seems in-terms of their existence and undying love for each other. Each of these women lived for the other. While certainly mental illness and psychological disorders abound and become more obvious as the story unravels, some of the conclusions I made were completely debunked by the time the credits began to roll. Grey Gardens is beautifully photographed with painstaking attention to every minute detail of the estate both at its prime and its demise. And the score couldn’t have been more appropriate and well-orchestrated in the context of the story.
If you missed Grey Gardens, you missed quite an amazing movie that looked like it belonged on the big screen rather than the small. While the story at the root of the film proves shocking, at times frustrating, and even sometimes sad, in the end, it is amazingly moving and was put in the hands of some masterful actors and filmmakers who ensured the film could’ve easily played in megaplexes in wide-release rather than televisions and home-theater systems. Grey Gardens will repeat for the next several weeks on HBO. To check showtimes, visit http://www.hbo.com/films/greygardens/. A DVD release is also scheduled but dates have not been set just yet. This is a great movie and I would highly recommend seeing it so that when it takes home every golden statue from the Golden Globes and Emmys at the end of the year, you’ll be quite familiar with why it is earning its accolades.
The full trailer for Grey Gardens, from HBO Films:
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Ragtime Opens in DC
One of the greatest musicals to ever grace the stages of Broadway is making its return at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC. Ragtime, which I had the privilege of seeing in New York back in 1998, was an amazingly lavish production featuring, at the time, the largest budget and cast of any show in Broadway history. Unfortunately, that led to its untimely and early closing despite winning the Drama Desk Award for Best Musical and Tony Awards for Best Score, Best Book, Best Orchestrations, and Best Featured Actress. Ragtime is a highly respected and loved show and producers have been trying for close to a decade to bring it back to the Big White Way.
The JFK Center production, which opens today (April 18th) and closes on May 17th, marks the first significant step forward for Ragtime‘s return. According to Playbill: “The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts’ production of the award-winning Stephen Flaherty-Lynn Ahrens-Terrence McNally musical Ragtime begins performances at the Washington, DC, venue April 18. Originally scheduled to play the Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theater through May 10, the production was recently extended for an additional week of performances through May 17. Opening night remains April 25. Marcia Milgrom Dodge directs and choreographs.”
Ragtime has a compelling story authored by EL Doctorow that highlights a turn-of-the-century classist American society entrenched with racism, genderism, intolerance, and a greedy upper class that exploits the labor of the lower classes for its own power and financial gain. According to Ragtime‘s press notes: “At the start of the 20th century, New York City was for many the land of opportunity. Through a poor Jewish immigrant selling wares on the street, a wealthy Victorian couple offering aid to a runaway, and a Harlem jazz pianist out for justice, that unique brand of American hope runs strong. Together, their stories celebrate the struggle between tradition and independence in pursuit of the American dream.”
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Keep it Up!!!
If you’ve not heard by now “teabagging protests” are being held across the nation by thousands of conservative idealists, angry because President Barack Obama is having to make very tough and expensive fiscal decisions necessary to end the economic disaster caused by George Bush and the Republicans from the previous administration. Calling Obama names like “fascist” and comparing him to Adolph Hitler, these individuals are showing not only their ignorance and stupidity, but also that they are members of an ever-dwindling minority. Obama’s approval ratings have remained quite high, averaging between 55%-59% since March. Senior Political Analyst David Gergen hits the nail on the head in this video clip. As far as I’m concerned…KEEP IT UP!!! As long as the “teabagging” events continue to show just how off-base these fringe conservatives, and largely, Republicans, are, we can all hope the populace will continue to laugh at their ridiculous sentiments.