10th Avenue Lame Out

So the rumors are confirmed. Bruce Springsteen will play Super Bowl XLXCVWHATEVER.

Bummer. Bruce doesn't need this and I'm not sure why he wants to do it. For a guy who admirably refuses to sell his songs for commercials or go corporate in any way, this is performing for the biggest commercial/corporate event in the world. Bruce will not grow his audience doing this and conversely the NFL actually needs to start thinking about their fan base that is under 35 when they book these halftime acts.

Of course, the NFL, still reeling almost five years after nipplegate, wants to keep playing it safe with MOR rockers (McCartney, The Stones, Petty). I know this will sting us Bruce fans, but that's what they see in him. He's not going to fuck up their party.

The set list will no doubt be "Born to Run," "Hungry Heart," "Badlands," maybe "The Rising." Forgot about anything remotely controversial or political. Just dance for the man, Bruce.

The Amazing Mets...

Watching the Mets blow it (again), I feel a little like Harvey Keitel in Bad Lieutenant. The only difference is in the movie it's the Dodgers who choke.

Throwback Throwaway

I know I ranted about this last year, but what the hell. The Jets have the worst throwback jerseys in the NFL. There is a reason they got rid of those uniforms. They suck. They look like a high school team. Here's a hint, if your throwback jersey looks nothing like anything your team has worn since wearing them over 40 years ago, keep them in the closet.

If You Watch The New Chris Rock Special...

Do yourself a favor and just listen to it. Rock did the same stand up in three locales wearing three different sets of clothes so the special always cuts to the different locales in the middle of the same joke. Incredibly distracting, annoying and completely unnecessary. Classic case of one those `wouldn't it be cool if we..."

No, just because you can do it doesn't necessarily make it a good idea.

You A Hustler, Ames?

So many great scenes who knows where to start?

This is far from his best work, but something about this scene always grabbed me between Newman and Forest Whitaker in The Color of Money. The cockiness, the anger, the vulnerability as he realizes that he's just an old man who got taken. But was is really amazing about this scene is that he gives it to Whitaker. A true star knows when to lay back and get the best out of his fellow performers and that's what's going on here.

Threats And Common Sense

Was the crazy dude hanging on the ledge of his apartment building naked really a threat to anyone? He could only do harm to himself. There was no reason for the police to zap him and they had to know he'd fall. Might as well cut the $10 million check to her mother now and safe the court fees.

Meanwhile though, we have the mother whose kid was accidentally guided onto a school bus and then let out two miles from home alone and a good samaritan (what we used to call a human being). took him home. Yes, a screw-up. But is this really worth a lawsuit? Sure something horrible could've happened, but it didn't. Sometimes in life people make mistakes but there was no intent to do harm here and this, to me, is not the kind of screw-up that will never happen again because of this lawsuit. And the kid will now go from having a minor inconvenience to thinking that he was somehow traumatized from all this and that something really wrong happened.

Another Moment Passed

We had a big shot in speaking today at lunch. He was asked about all the people coming out of college who want to be investment bankers just to get rich, not because of any love of high finance or doing deals, etc.

The guy, who seemed pretty down to earth for a multi-millionaire deal dude, said that if your not passionate about something you a) won't do it well and b) it isn't worth doing. He also said that if you can't get enjoyment out of even the mundane things in your job, find something else.

I wanted to put down my plate, walk over to him, shake his hand and say `thank you' and then walk out of the lunch and out of the building.

Man that would've been great.

Instead I kept chewing and nodding my head. The berries for dessert were excellent, btw.