Poppedy Popped Culture

I just don’t have the time to make a go of this blog - at least not right now.

So, this little baby is closed until further notice.

• Judge Joseph Wapner is 88.
• Statesman Howard H. Baker Junior is 82.
• Actor Ed Asner is 78.
• Actor John Kerr is 76.
• Singer Petula Clark is 75.
• Comedian Jack Burns is 74.
• Actress Joanna Barnes is 73.
• Actor Sam Waterston is 67.
• Pop singer Frida (ABBA) is 62.
• Actor Bob Gunton is 62.
• Director-actor James Widdoes is 54.
• Rock singer-producer Mitch Easter is 53.
• Actress Beverly D’Angelo is 53.
• CNN anchor-reporter John Roberts is 51.
• “Tonight Show” bandleader Kevin Eubanks is 50.
• Comedian Judy Gold is 45.
• Rapper E-40 is 40.
• Actress Rachel True is 38.
• Country singer Jack Ingram is 37.
• Actor Jonny Lee Miller is 35.
• Actress Sydney Tamiia Poitier is 34.
• Christian rock musician David Carr (Third Day) is 33.
• Rock singer-musician Chad Kroeger is 33.
• Rock musician Jesse Sandoval is 33.
• Actress Virginie Ledoyen is 31.

Alicia Keys’ new single “No One” is now my #1 jam.

I hope the rest of her new CD “As I Am” is as good.

• Former U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali is 85.
• Actress Kathleen Hughes is 79.
• Jazz musician Ellis Marsalis is 73.
• Writer P.J. O’Rourke is 60.
• Zydeco singer-musician Buckwheat Zydeco is 60.
• Britain’s Prince Charles is 59.
• Actor Robert Ginty is 59.
• Rock singer-musician James Young (Styx) is 58.
• Singer Stephen Bishop is 56.
• Blues musician Anson Funderburgh is 53.
• Pianist Yanni is 53.
• Actress Laura San Giacomo is 46.
• Actor D.B. Sweeney is 46.
• Rapper Reverend Run (Run-DMC) is 43.
• Actor Patrick Warburton is 43.
• Rock musician Nic Dalton is 43.
• Country singer Rockie Lynne is 43.
• Pop singer Jeanette Jurado (Expose) is 42.
• Rock musician Brian Yale is 39.
• Rock singer Butch Walker is 38.
• Actor Josh Duhamel is 35.
• Rock musician Travis Barker is 32.
• Contemporary Christian musician Robby Shaffer is 32.
• Rapper Shyheim is 30.

Enjoy this Nintendo Wii & Amy Winehouse “Rehab” parody…

• Actress Madeleine Sherwood is 85.
• Journalist-author Peter Arnett is 73.
• Producer-director Garry Marshall is 73.
• Country singer-songwriter Ray Wylie Hubbard is 61.
• Actor Joe Mantegna is 60.
• Actress Sheila Frazier is 59.
• Actress Frances Conroy is 54.
• Musician Andrew Ranken (The Pogues) is 54.
• Actress Tracy Scoggins is 54.
• Actress-comedian Whoopi Goldberg is 52.
• Actor Chris Noth is 51.
• Actor Rex Linn (”CSI: Miami”) is 51.
• Actress Caroline Goodall is 48.
• Actor Neil Flynn (”Scrubs”) is 47.
• Rock musician Walter Kibby (Fishbone) is 43.
• Comedian Jimmy Kimmel is 40.
• Actor Steve Zahn is 39.
• Rock musician Nikolai Fraiture is 29.
• Actress Monique Coleman is 27.

I am actually looking forward to the new Star Trek Movie. It seems to be well-casted - Chris Pine as James T. Kirk; Zachary Quinto as Mr. Spock; Karl Urban as Leonard “Bones” McCoy; Simon Pegg as Montgomery “Scotty” Scott; John Cho as Hikaru Sulu; Zoe Saldana as Uhura; Anton Yelchin as Pavel Checkov; Eric Bana as Nero; Bruce Greenwood as Captain Christopher Pike; and Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock.

So far, I’ve heard that they are allegedly dispensing with some Star Trek lore and heading in a new direction. That could be good news. I was so disappointed by the last Star Trek movie “Nemesis”. There was so many possibilities and storylines presented by Captain Picard’s clone. I was excited to see where they would take it. They took it nowhere. Instead of exploring new worlds, Data turned into Spock, and they shamelessly rehashed old material over and over again.

Anyway, spoilers for the new Star Trek movie have popped up over at IESB.net. I don’t dare read them yet, but if you are interested check out the Star Trek spoilers.

So after seeing Bourne Ultimatum, I was again willing to give another one of these three-quels a try.

Thus far, I’ve seen Spiderman 3 and was disappointed. Uncle Ben died in the first flick, stop with the rehashing. No more long speeches from Aunt May please. It would have been great if they had left out the Sandman altogether, and focused on Gwen Stacey and Eddie Brock (Venom). But that didn’t happened, and all the crying by Peter was a bit much. And don’t even get me started on Harry (rolls eyes).

I saw Pirates of the Caribbean 3 and that was one loooonnnngggg turkey. It was incredibly boring and NOT funny. And the ending was total bollocks.

I saw Shrek 3. I had no expectations. I thought the first two flicks were over-rated. But the third was alright.

Well, because Bourne Ultimatum seemed to buck the trend of suckiness for the three-quel, I was willing to give Rush Hour 3 a try. Tsk, tsk, tsk. What a waste of my time. It had made-for-tv or direct-to-dvd written all over it. It was the ultimate Hollywood con that anyone was tricked into a theater to see this poor simulation of a movie. It was obvious that Jackie Chan was not into this flick. And Chris Tucker often walks a thin line between pure annoyance and actually being funny. Here, he was simply annoying. Everything seem contrived and utterly stupid. It also would have been great if they could have dispensed with the concentration on race. This is the third movie y’all. We get it. Jackie Chan is Chinese. Chris Tucker is black. Hardy, har, har. (gags)

• Rhythm-and-blues singer Ruby Nash Curtis (Ruby and the Romantics) is 68.
• Actor-playwright Wallace Shawn is 64.
• Singer Brian Hyland is 64.
• Rhythm-and-blues singer Jimmy Hayes (Persuasions) is 64.
• Rock musician Booker T. Jones (Booker T. & the MGs) is 63.
• Singer-songwriter Neil Young is 62.
• Rock musician Donald “Buck Dharma” Roeser (Blue Oyster Cult) is 60.
• Country singer Barbara Fairchild is 57.
• Actress-talk show host Megan Mullally is 49.
• Olympic gold medal gymnast Nadia Comaneci is 46.
• Rock musician David Ellefson is 43.
• Actor Sam Lloyd is 40.
• Figure skater Tonya Harding is 37.
• Actress Radha Mitchell is 34.
• Actress Lourdes Benedicto is 33.
• Actress Tamala Jones is 33.
• Actress Angela Watson is 33.
• Singer Tevin Campbell is 31.
• Actress Ashley Williams is 29.
• Actor Ryan Gosling is 27.
• Contemporary Christian musician Chris Huffman is 27.
• Actress Anne Hathaway is 25.
• Pop singer Omarion is 23.
• Actress Macey Cruthird (”Hope and Faith”) is 15.

I admit that I was hesitant to see the third installment of the Bourne Trilogy. I was miffed when they unceremoniously offed his girlfriend in the second flick. Further adding to my hesitation was how disappointing bad third movie installments have been lately. Both Pirates of the Caribbean 3 and Spiderman 3 faltered miserably. But despite my misgivings, Bourne Ultimatum rocked. It was probably one of the best actions movies I’ve seen in a long time. It was intelligent, yet over the top. It was cool, calm, and banging all at once. Whatever the secret sauce is to making the ultimate thrill-ride adventure movie, Ultimatum had it in spades.