America's Next Top Model

In a weak moment one night last week, I watched the conclusion of last season's "America's Next Top Model."

This is the kind of thing that happens to a guy caught in that dreadful lull between football and baseball seasons, especially if he doesn't care about college basketball.

So having watched the show, I wasn't at all surprised to read the following in today's New York Times:

"An open casting call for the reality television program “America’s Next Top Model” turned into mayhem on Saturday afternoon in Midtown Manhattan. Fights broke out, three people were arrested and at least six others suffered minor injuries after they were pushed down in a crush of thousands of aspiring models waiting in line to be discovered."

What did surprise me as I watched the video, was how many of the hopefuls and their entourages continued to push forward in order to improve their place in line, instead of getting the frack out of there:


On Not Doing Due Diligence

I think Joe Nocera asks an important question: should taxpayers bail out the investors who lost their money in the Madoff scandal?

“'These were people with a fair amount of money, and most of them sought no professional advice,” said Bruce C. Greenwald, who teaches value investing at the Graduate School of Business at Columbia University.

"Mr. Hedges said: 'It’s like trying to do your own dentistry. It is a real lesson that people cannot abdicate personal responsibility when it comes to their personal finances.'

"And that’s the point. People did abdicate responsibility — and now, rather than face that fact, many of them are blaming the government for not, in effect, saving them from themselves. Indeed, what you discover when you talk to victims is that they harbor an anger toward the S.E.C. that is as deep or deeper than the anger they feel toward Mr. Madoff. There is a powerful sense that because the agency was asleep at the switch, they have been doubly victimized. And they want the government to do something about it.

"I spoke, for instance, to Phyllis Molchatsky, who lost $1.7 million with Mr. Madoff — and is now suing the S.E.C. to recoup her losses, on the grounds the agency was so negligent it should be forced to pony up. Her story is sure to rouse sympathy — Mr. Madoff was recommended to her by her broker as a safe place to put her money, and she felt virtuous making 9 or 10 percent a year when others were reaching for the stars. The failure of the S.E.C., she told me, “is a double slap in the face.” And she felt the government owed her. Her lawyer, who represents several dozen Madoff victims, told me he “wouldn’t be averse” to a victims’ fund.

"Even Eli Wiesel thought the government should help the victims — or at least the charitable institutions among them. “The government should come and say, ‘We bailed out so many others, we can bail you out, and when you will do better, you can give us back the money,’ ” he said at the Portfolio event.

"But why?

"What happened to the victims of Bernard Madoff is terrible. But every day in this country, people lose money due to financial fraud or negligence. Innocent investors who bought stock in Enron lost millions when that company turned out to be a fraud; nobody made them whole. Half a dozen Ponzi schemes have been discovered since Mr. Madoff was arrested in December. People lose it all because they start a company that turns out to be misguided, or because they do something that is risky, hoping to hit the jackpot. Taxpayers don’t bail them out, and they shouldn’t start now. Did the S.E.C. foul up? You bet. But that doesn’t mean the investors themselves are off the hook.

"Investors blaming the S.E.C. for their decision to give every last penny to Bernie Madoff is like a child blaming his mother for letting him start a fight while she wasn’t looking."

Dropkick Murphys

Martin Scorcese understands how much the Dropkick Murphys represent the real Boston, which is why he made their music such an integral part of "The Departed."

The group is playing several gigs around town this St Patrick's Day weekend, and recording their performances for an upcoming DVD.

For Boston sports fans especially, things just wouldn't be the same without them.

From today's Globe:

"Dropkick Murphys don't just play breakneck Celtic-punk music. They proudly and dutifully represent a lifestyle inextricably linked to Boston, and they lay it on as thick as clam chowder and JFK's accent.

"With their odes to the city's working class and anthems to our sports teams - to the roaring delight of raucous fans in Red Sox and Celtics jerseys - these guys embody the street-savvy flip side to what the tourism bureau peddles."

This video was shot in East Boston, an important part of the city's history for its shipbuilding past, but way off the radar screens of tourists and suburbanites:

On Increasing Church Attendance

I've been hearing a lot of negative stuff lately about the state of organized religion.

So it was refreshing to read in the Boston Globe today about how the presence of a new pastor has invigorated a church on Cape Cod and has drawn lapsed parishioners back into the fold.

'"She's good for God," agreed Norman Knight, a 79-year-old retired welder, one of about a hundred regular members of the church who now attend weekly."

Amy Adams Ever Ever After

It's really wonderful to read that with her Academy Award nomination, Amy Adams has joined the top tier of American actresses, "after a decade of odd jobs, Midwestern dinner theater and dead-end roles...a period of my life where I had to work several jobs to pay my bills. Something would go wrong and you'd have to take another job to get your car running. That was very real for me."

We first became aware of her in in "Enchanted," and loved her presence and charm as she channeled the magic of Disney Princesses, in the context of present-day Manhattan.

Have a look:

Read Your Kindle Library On Your iPhone/iTouch!

I just downloaded a new, free application from the iTunes App Store called "Kindle" that lets me read any book stored on my Kindle on my iTouch/iPhone.

And whenever I stop reading on one device, the other device has it bookmarked.

Brilliant! Now I can read with a backlighted screen when I need to, or when I don't have my Kindle with me.

Click here for more information from today's New York Times

The Snuggies Infestation

Like you, I've been really creeped out lately by all the Snuggies commercials I've been seeing. (Thank God for DVR and TiVo.)

I kind of expect an upcoming Snuggies commercial to include a pair of purple sneakers as a bonus with each purchase.

I mean really, would anyone -- even in Kansas -- go to their kid's soccer game in a Snuggie?

So it was quite refreshing to read about an intrepid New York Times reporter's account of being out and about in Manhattan in a blue Snuggie:

"My biggest fear was that I would be treated as some kind of doomsday zealot when I donned my Snuggie in Times Square. I have longish hair and a beard, and the Snuggie, with its generous draping sleeves, can appear from the front like a clerical gown. It seemed to shout: “Repent!”

"As I stood near the TKTS booth writing this thought in my notebook, I realized that: “Hey, I’m writing in my notebook while standing up wearing a blanket. These sleeves are handy.”

"Then a woman in red stockings who was promoting the musical “Chicago” came tap-dancing over to me. “You’ve got my favorite blanket on!” she said. She had forgotten its proper name. “It’s a, um, Huggy?”

She handed me a flier for the show, which I was able to take easily because Snuggie has sleeves. I did not have anywhere to put it, however, because Snuggie does not have pockets. As I twisted to reach for the back pocket of my pants, the clingy Snuggie pulled away from my shirt and discharged a powerful bolt of static onto a sensitive area of my chest.

"Ow!"

Tom And Gisele Get Married

Pats superstud Tom Brady reportedly...
The Boston Herald has reported that it's a done deal.
Because I know that many Freeway regulars want all of the details, here they are:

"New England Patriots superstud Tom Brady - the region’s most eligible bachelor - reportedly tied the knot last night with his supermodel galpal, Gisele Bundchen, in a romantic twilight wedding in California.

US Weekly magazine reported on its Web site that the pigskin prince and his Brazilian bombshell traded “I do’s” in a small Catholic ceremony in St. Monica’s Church in Santa Monica. The “very small and intimate” gathering consisted mostly of immediate family, including Brady’s parents, Tom Sr. and Gaylen, and 2-year-old son, Jack, by ex-girlfriend Bridget Moynahan .

The 28-year-old bride wore a form-fitting strapless ivory lace gown with a trumpet skirt, scalloped edges, long train and a floor-length veil with attached handmade satin roses and attached satin headband by her favorite designers Dolce & Gabbana, the magazine reported. Her three dogs also wore matching Dolce & Gabbana floral lace collars.

A spokesman for the Patriots was unable to immediately confirm that Brady was a married man. But a source at US said the story was “1,000 percent true.” A witness to the nups confirmed the details for the magazine, the source said.

The reported wedding seemed to fit with what Bundchen once described as her perfect “I do” scenario.

“I don’t like parties,” she said. “I prefer something more intimate, just for the closest people.”

The church, in a quiet parish near the beach, is known as “the church of the stars” because a number of movies have been filmed there, including “Going My Way” and “The Bells of St. Mary.”

Parishioners include Martin Sheen, Brooke Shields, Kelsey Grammer and the late Chris Farley . Lucy Lawless of “Xena, Warrior Princess” fame also was married there.

In recent weeks, both Brady and Bundchen repeatedly denied engagement rumors that began in December when TMZ.com reported that No. 12 proposed to his girlfriend of two years on a private jet filled with roses and champagne.

“Someone deduced I was getting engaged . . . I don’t know how people are so creative,” Bundchen told Brazilian magazine Caras Gi last month after receiving more than 100 e-mails from pals asking about the engagement.

And just last week at a charity event in Allston, Brady also claimed he had no immediate wedding plans. When WBZ-TV (Ch. 4) sportsguy Steve Burton asked the QB/QT whether he was going to tie the knot, the two-time Super Bowl MVPreplied “I say, ‘may’ - maybe, maybe not.”

“I am in a great spot in my life. I have a lot of people who care about me that I love being around,” Tom continued, “and one of them is my girlfriend.” However, Brady added that “unfortunately” the engagement rumors weren’t true.

However, the Internet was buzzing earlier this week about some fuzzy paparazzi snaps of Gisele taken at Carnival in Brazil, which showed a ring on her left ring finger.

A pal close to the couple told Us Bundchen and Brady are perfect together.

“She’s definitely ‘The One,’ ” the source said. “She really makes him comfortable and just happy.”

The couple purchased an $11.7 million piece of property in a gated community in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles late last year and are building a house there."

Get a Grip, You’re British!

Timely commentary about tonight's Academy Awards:

"Britons are a chauvinistic bunch, proprietary about their place in the world and eager to see their talents recognized abroad. 

"So they were gratified in January when Kate Winslet, one of their favorite home-team actors, snagged a Golden Globe Award, her second of the night, for her performance as a frustrated prisoner of suburbia in “Revolutionary Road.”

"That is until, failing her own actorly advice to “gather,” she began hyperventilating and burst into convulsive sobs, right there on stage. 

"Ms. Winslet then went on to pay tribute to people no one had ever heard of, like her agents and make-up artists; announced that she loved her co-star, Leonardo DiCaprio “with all my heart”; forgot Angelina Jolie’s name; and generally behaved as if she had just learned that a donor heart had finally been found, enabling her transplant operation to go ahead after all.

"Oh my God, was the general reaction in Britain."

God Bless The Boston Ironworkers!

I was in an adjoining building a few years ago, during construction of a different wing of Dana Farber, and saw some names of young cancer patients painted on the beams. It was (and still is) a very moving experience, as this video demonstrates.

I pray, as one of the Ironworkers once said, that a cure will be found and they won't have to build any more of these.

(Thanks also to the Red Sox for supporting the Dana Farber Institute.)

Chris Rock Should Host The Oscars Again!!

Chris Rock is a worthy heir to George Carlin. He is a cultural subversive at a time when we really need one.

He speaks truth to power, as at The Academy Awards broadcast in 2005:

"He lamented Hollywood’s offerings for black audiences, and the camera cut more than once during the night to a stoic looking Spike Lee. And in what was (for me at least) the highlight of this year’s Oscar presentation, Rock revealed the serious disconnect the Oscars have with audiences. He took the home viewers, as well as those in the Kodak Theatre, across town to the Magic Johnson Theatre where he interviewed movie-goers at the cineplex. None of them had seen The Aviator, Million Dollar Baby, or Sideways but they’d all seen White Chicks."

And he can make politics understandable to fans of the NFL:

"It was such a bad pick, I thought Al Davis made it.''
-- Chris on The Howard Stern Show on Sirius Radio, on John McCain's selection of Sarah Palin as his vice-presidential running mate.

Check out "Kill the Messenger," Chris Rock’s latest HBO special if you can, to witness an artist at the peak of his comedic powers.