Category Archives: entertainment news

entertainment news

Trolls are lurking; they’re on the hunt

facebook-illustration

It’s time for another admission.

I’ve developed something of an addiction to Facebook. I’m on it quite often, looking for things my actual friends and Facebook “friends” are doing and saying.

But a curious thing keeps happening and I want to share it with you here.

These “friend requests” keep showing up on my news feed. Individuals want to become “friends” on Facebook. I’m a bit reluctant to accept many of them. I look first to see who their current “friends” might be. If some of them already are included in my “friends” roster, I might accept the request. But not always.

These days I’m getting even more selective.

You see, I’ve accepted “friend” requests from individuals and they’ve turned out to be, well, pesky.

They pester me with responses to things I post on the social medium.

I use Facebook to distribute my blog, on which I write frequently. This post is an example, yes?

That platform goes out to my friends and I encourage them to distribute my posts along their network of friends. Same thing goes for Twitter, which also receives my blog.

However, when I get these “friend requests,” I have to weigh whether the person requesting the Facebook relationship is in it for the right reason — or wants to become known as a “troll.”

A couple of those so-called “trolls” have joined my Facebook “friends” roster.

Why do they annoy me? They take liberties responding to my blog. These are people I do not know. Yet they talk to me as if we’re longtime acquaintances.

I am at least acquainted with the vast majority of those with whom I have a Facebook relationship. And I know many of those individuals fairly well.

What’s more, the tiny handful of my very best friends in the world also are included in this group. They know who they are. Indeed, I’ve long held the view that one can usually count on the fingers of one hand his true friends.

These trolls, though, drive me a little nuts.

I actually unfriended one of those guys about a year ago because of the filthy language he was posting on my timeline. I didn’t want to subject other actual friends to the filth that was coming from this guy — who sought to join my roster of Facebook “friends.” I accepted his request, and then regretted it.

I’m not inclined to take that drastic route with the others who annoy me.

At least not yet.

entertainment news

Down with the rebel flag … in most places

I totally understand the outcry and backlash against the Confederate battle flag in the wake of a recent massacre.

The flag has come to represent hatred, bigotry, bondage … all things of which the nation shouldn’t be proud. It has become the symbol of arguably the nation’s pre-eminent hate group, the Ku Klux Klan.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/motorsports/nascar-fans-defend-display-confederate-flags-at-daytona/ar-AAcARfX

This weekend it became an attraction at a NASCAR race at Daytona Speedway, the Taj Mahal of the sport.

Racing fans flew the flag proudly, proclaiming it represents — to them, at least — Southern “heritage.”

Whatever. To many of us, it represents a lot of other things that have nothing to do with heritage.

But I’m wondering about why a certain television network, TV Land, has decided to discontinue showing “Dukes of Hazzard” reruns on its affiliate stations because it depicts a car driven by two redneck cousins that has a battle flag image painted on its roof.

If ever a show poked good-natured fun at some aspects of Southern culture, that TV show was at the top of the heap. Every one of the characters on that show was a caricature of sorts. The Duke boys, Uncle Jesse, Sheriff Roscoe P. Coltrane, all of ’em were intended to make fun.

I never recall anything remotely racist being depicted on that show.

Yes, the flag need not fly on the statehouse grounds in the very state where a racist murderer gunned down nine people with whom he was studying the Bible in Charleston, S.C. It need not be depicted on motor vehicle license plates, or should it fly on public property anywhere in this country.

But to target a light-hearted TV show?

I don’t get that one. Someone will have to explain that to me.

entertainment news

Ringo to turn 75! Gulp, some of us are old!

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Ringo Starr

I don’t feel all that old old, but I guess I am.

So, then, must this guy be old. Ringo Starr turns 75 next Tuesday. You remember him, yes? He used to play drums with The Beatles — and surely you’ve heard of them.

How old do I feel today? Quite old, actually.

Consider this little tidbit.

I’m at work this afternoon. I spot a couple — Jack and Pat. They’re friends of mine. They’re shopping for a vehicle. After a lengthy session with the sales rep who sold them the vehicle, I walked up to Pat and told her, “Hey did you know that Tuesday, Ringo Starr turns 75 years of age?” She laughed and said, “We’re getting old.”

I turned to the sales rep. “Did you know that?” I asked. The rep — get ready for this — didn’t know who Ringo Starr is.

Pat said, politely, “He used to be a drummer. He played with The Beatles.”

I do not know the age of the sales representative in question. I’m guessing about 30. Hmm. Old enough perhaps to have heard from Mom, Dad — or perhaps Grandma and Grandpa about the “good old days” when bands such as The Beatles were making music that transcends generations.

That’s OK. I’ll give my colleague a pass. But as I’ve noted many times, he and his band mates — John, George and Paul — helped raise me.

If only it didn’t make me feel so old.

entertainment news

It wasn’t a ‘Shawshank’ escape

I keep reading references to that New York prison escape that compare it to the film “Shawshank Redemption.”

And then I keep wondering: Where does that comparison come from?

http://news.yahoo.com/joyce-mitchell-arrested-dannemora-york-prison-escape-case-220005633–abc-news-topstories.html

Joyce Mitchell has been arrested and charged with helping murderers David Sweat and Richard Matt escape from the maximum-security prison in upstate New York. She is accused of providing hacksaw blades to the men, who then sawed through steel sewer pipes and wormed their way outside the walls.

Does that sound like “Shawshank” to you? It doesn’t to me.

In the film, Tim Robbins’s character, Andy Dufresne, is imprisoned wrongly for murder of his wife and the man with whom she was cheating.

He’s sent to prison in Maine and then for the next 19 years he chips his way out of his cell, using homemade carving tools.

Andy didn’t have any help. No one supplied blades. No one distracted prison guards.

Sweat and Matt will be caught. Searchers are narrowing the area where they’re looking, although I’m guessing the two men won’t give up without a fight.

Andy ended up on a beach in Mexico, refurbishing an old boat and lived happily ever after.

 

entertainment news, local news

City hears from the young and, until now, the silent

downtown amarillo

Amarillo City Council members got a snootful this week from some of their constituents.

No, it wasn’t the usual gaggle of naysayers who keep harping on why Amarillo can’t do this or that.

The pleas instead came from a handful of young people interested in seeing the city redevelop its downtown district into a place that would attract them, make them want to come back here or perhaps to stay and start their lives.

The open meeting at City Council Chambers featured a number of folks who support the concept that’s been developed for downtown’s rebirth — assuming, of course, that it’s allowed to come into this world.

They like the idea of a multipurpose event venue, the MPEV. They like the notion of redeveloping Polk Street, turning it into an entertainment district. They like the idea of a downtown convention hotel which, quite naturally, will require additional parking.

They didn’t speak to council members Tuesday about the nuts and bolts of funding. They spoke instead of the concept.

I’m not a young person. I do agree, though, with our young residents.

Some other, older residents, said they disapprove of what’s being promoted. While the young folks like the idea of emulating, say, Austin, at least one other said the city should retain its current flavor, its ambience and whatever else it currently boasts.

Well, so much for “thinking outside the box” for some folks.

Me? I’m willing to take a chance on turning Amarillo into something more than a tad more vibrant than it has been.

I’ve been helping produce a weekly newspaper in Tucumcari, the Quay County Sun. I just finished editing some stories that told of that community’s weekend festival, called Rockabilly on the Route — that would be Route 66, which runs through Tucumcari, just as it runs through the heart of Amarillo.

Isn’t there an opportunity for Amarillo, with its own Route 66 heritage and its own arts and music community, to capitalize in such a manner? Sixth Avenue runs right through the city’s central district, connecting with Historic Route 66 west of the central district.

How about not letting such an opportunity slip through our fingers?

That, I believe, is what the young people said they want for their city.

I’m glad they spoke out. I now hope the council members heard them.

 

 

entertainment news, Sports news

It’s settled: IOC says Jenner keeps the gold

It didn’t take long for the International Olympic Committee to settle this issue.

The 1976 Olympic gold medal in the decathlon will remain awarded to Bruce Jenner, an American athlete who won the event in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

https://celebrity.yahoo.com/blogs/celeb-news/international-olympic-committee-responds-to-petition-seeking-to-revoke-caitlyn-jenner-s-gold-medal-160628464.html

Responding to an online petition asking that the medal be revoked because Bruce Jenner is now Caitlin Jenner, the IOC said: “Bruce Jenner won his gold medal in the 1976 Olympic Games and there is no issue for the IOC.”

There you have it.

The petitioner is from Fort Worth. Jennifer Bradford said she is standing up for transgender rights.

My own view is that she’s standing up only for her own quest for publicity.

The IOC occasionally has had to deal with athletes whose gender has been questioned. There have been instances where female medal winners have been stripped of their medals because it was determined they possessed male DNA, giving them an advantage over their fellow female competitors.

That’s not even close to the issue here.

Bruce Jenner won the gold medal as a man. He’s now a woman.

Let’s move on to something else, shall we?

 

entertainment news

Kanye does it again, whatever 'it' is

Critiquing entertainment isn’t part of my gig.

I can’t let pass a quick comment about Kanye West’s alleged performance last night on a televised awards show.

First of all, I don’t know Kanye West’s music. I understand he’s a rapper of some renown. He’s also made a spectacle of himself from time to time during televised events, such as when he sought to upstage Taylor Swift by saying Beyoncé deserved an award that went to Swift.

http://www.ew.com/article/2015/05/17/kanye-west-billboard-music-awards-all-day

Whatever.

So, what’s with this guy doing a song on TV last night that was censored extensively because of excessive use of curse words not fit for television viewers? His fans are supposed to enjoy his music, but cannot do so because the censors couldn’t allow him to broadcast filthy song lyrics into viewers’ living rooms.

I only have seen online videos of this clown’s alleged “performance.”

Someone, somewhere must think he’s a serious entertainer.

I consider him a grandstander. Nothing more.

entertainment news

Jenner's announcement: Let's move on

Well, I had a decent night’s sleep after Bruce Jenner’s big announcement Friday.

He’s a woman … he said.

I looked outside this morning and I discovered that the leaves were still on the trees, the grass is still green, the sky is blue and the sun rose in the east just as it does every single day.

And yet some of us no doubt are tittering and wondering about the individual formerly known as The World’s Greatest Athlete and his decision to “transition” to womanhood.

Do I want to honor his privacy? I believe Jenner surrendered his privacy when he married his third wife and got involved in that reality TV shtick involving her daughters. Plus, he did the two-hour interview last night. No, privacy isn’t it.

The story bores me.

Therefore, I made a key decision this morning upon awakening.

It is that I won’t use this blog to get involved in the international discussion.

I might discuss the issue of transgenderhood in general down the road, sometime and in some other context. There might even be a mention of Jenner in the distant future.

Today? I’m going to take care of business — and wait for the sun to rise in the morning.

entertainment news

Worst-kept secret is out: Jenner's a woman

This story has been off my radar. I believe it’s still off the screen, except that tonight the principal player in this story is making international news.

Bruce Jenner, the former Olympic decathlon champion, Wheaties box icon, three-time husband and a father has declared he’s becoming a woman.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/news/bruce-jenner-reveals-to-diane-sawyer-%e2%80%98yes-i-am-a-woman%e2%80%99/ar-BBiEgXM

He went on the air for two prime-time hours to tell Diane Sawyer that he’s changing his sexual identity.

Honestly, I don’t know how to respond to this.

Do I respond to the news that an individual has decided to change his gender? That’s his call exclusively and it doesn’t matter to me one single bit. Thus, that part of the story remains off my radar — although it’s likely on everyone else’s.

Or does one respond to the fact that a major broadcast network chose to devote two hours to this story?

ABC Television is run by smart individuals who know their audience. The audience wants to hear it. I guess it’s a big deal to many millions of folks. It’s not to me.

I’m left, therefore, to ponder the direction that popular culture has taken us.

For now, I’m going to try to get a good night’s sleep. I’ll awaken tomorrow and likely will read a lot of commentary throughout the infinite Internet universe about what’s transpired tonight with Jenner’s revelation.

At the moment, I’m left merely to shake my head and try to comprehend the significance of Jenner’s declaration that “I’m not gay.”

entertainment news, local news

List of won't-do-things keeps growing

The older I get, the more activities I add to the list of things I’ll never do.

I read recently about the California woman who came to Amarillo and choked down three 72-ounce steaks — plus the baked spuds, shrimp cocktail, rolls and salad — at the Big Texan Steak Ranch.

By my calculation, that’s about 15 or so pounds of food.

http://news.yahoo.com/california-woman-eats-3-steak-dinners-20-minutes-183307496.html

I will add to the list of never-will-do things.

There once was a time in my life when I considered myself something of a thrill-seeker. There was little I wouldn’t try. Did I do all those things? No. The opportunities haven’t presented themselves over the span of time.

I haven’t jumped out of an airplane, or bungee-jumped off some platform or cliff, hunted big game in Africa.

On my 60th birthday, I did go zip-lining through the forests of St. Lucia with my wife and sons. So there. I’m not a total wimp.

I once, though, actually thought I might try to eat a 72-ounce steak — but only one — in the span of an hour. Twenty years ago, when we moved to Amarillo, I became aware of the Big Texan and its promotional gimmick of giving away the “free steak” if you could eat it within a certain span of time.

I’m a carnivore. I love steak. Just not that much of it. All at once.

Molly Schuyler chowed down three of ’em in about 20 minutes. She beat her own Big Texan record in devouring the first of her steaks in four minutes.

We’ve been to the Big Texan many times over the years and watched many folks try to consume the Big One in less than an hour. We’ve seen folks puke into the waste basket sitting next to them. One evening, we watched them carry a young man out of the eating area, toward the restroom, where I presume he got really sick.

Does that appeal to this old man? Not in the least.

Maybe in an earlier life. Maybe.

You can add this to the growing list of things I’ll never do.