The Beastie Boys Set To Return With HOT SAUCE COMMITTEE Pt. 2

Sometimes being viewed as The Three Stooges of music, The Beastie Boys will be back again with their first new album in four years in May. After group member Adam Yauch, who goes by the name, MCA, was hit with a bad medical diagnosis of lymph node cancer, the group went into cold storage for an extended time. Now, MCA seems to feel well enough to tour to support this new album. The good buzz here is that the group spent more effort on this album than most previous efforts, so it may serve to act as a major comeback for the act.

HOT SAUCE COMMITTEE Pt.1 was delayed indefinitely by the illness of Yauch and other problems, however HOT SAUCE COMMITTEE Pt.2 has the promise of some of the outrageousness and new bizarre recording and sampling techniques of the first part. The 16 song album is set to debut in May, and should become a favorite among those who dig their White hip hop sound.

The Beastie Boys no doubt promise to have some outlandish new music videos to back the new album up. Some past videos have sent up James Bond and other topics in their usual strange way, making the group always entertaining to watch. Going from a hard core punk act to a White hip hop act is quite a transition. But, enough fans have followed this act over the years where it all seems to work out by the end of the day. But, so far no advance copies of the album appear to be floating around out there for a listen by music critics like me. That's disappointing. I'd like to give you the same heads up that I can give on other new music or movies. So, I'll just have to wait until an advance preview comes up to report back.

Always fun to watch, The Beastie Boys continue to confound and entertain with their new and controversial musical outings. HOT SAUCE COMMITTEE Pt.2 should prove to be a new milestone in their long history as a recording act. And maybe someday, HOT SAUCE COMMITTEE Pt.1 will see the light of day as well.

Progressive Values' 2011 Oscar Winner Predictions

Sunday is a huge day for motion pictures with the 83rd Academy Awards, and Progressive Values has made a few predictions on the big winners. See if you agree, and watch for the actual results on Sunday.

Best Picture: There's some pretty strong nominees this year, which include BLACK SWAN, THE FIGHTER, INCEPTION, THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT, THE SOCIAL NETWORK, THE KING'S SPEECH, 127 HOURS, TOY STORY 3, TRUE GRIT AND WINTER'S BONE. SOCIAL NETWORK has done really well in other awards events held in recent weeks, however it seems more than likely that THE KING'S SPEECH wins on Sunday. BLACK SWAN is a little dreadful to watch, despite the strong performance of Natalie Portman. And TOY STORY 3 is one of the greatest animated films ever. TRUE GRIT is my personal favorite among these entries. It is one of the best Westerns ever made. INCEPTION is visually stunning. However, all of this being said, THE KING'S SPEECH just seems like a film tailor made to win the Oscar here, and a real shoo-in.

Prediction: THE KING'S SPEECH

Best Director: David Fincher-THE SOCIAL NETWORK, Tom Hooper-THE KING'S SPEECH, Darren Aronofsky-BLACK SWAN, David O. Russell-THE FIGHTER and Joel and Ethan Coen-TRUE GRIT. While earning Best Picture will likely evade SOCIAL NETWORK here, look for director David Fincher to get some respect from Oscar voters who will give him the metal man statue for his efforts.

Prediction: David Fincher-THE SOCIAL NETWORK

Best Actor: Javier Bardem-BIUTIFUL, Jeff Bridges-TRUE GRIT, Jesse Eisenberg-THE SOCIAL NETWORK, Colin Firth-THE KING'S SPEECH and James Franco-127 HOURS. There's some great performances here. And I personally loved Jeff Bridges in TRUE GRIT. He really nailed down that role as a great Western novel character. It was a true classic. However, Westerns aren't as popular as they used to be these days, including with the younger Oscar voters. This a shame, because Jeff Bridges could have won this award in a previous era. He turned in a performance probably better than John Wayne's 1969 Oscar winning performance. So you can look for Colin Firth to win the day here for THE KING'S SPEECH.

Prediction: Colin Firth-THE KING'S SPEECH

Best Supporting Actor: Jeremy Renner-THE TOWN, Mark Ruffalo-THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT, John Hawkes-WINTER"S BONE, Christian Bale-THE FIGHTER and Geoffrey Rush-THE KING'S SPEECH. Once again, we have a difficult decision here. THE TOWN was a great film, and Jeremy Renner had a strong hand in it. Geoffrey Rush is always a top notch actor. However, look for Christian Bale to win for THE FIGHTER here. It would be especially fun to see Christian Bale win here because he's so prone to outbursts. That alone might make this a memorable event and great TV!

Prediction: Christian Bale-The Fighter

Best Actress: Natalie Portman-BLACK SWAN, Annette Bening-THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT, Nicole Kidman-RABBIT HOLE, Jennifer Lawrence-WINTER'S BONE and Michelle Williams-BLUE VALENTINE. Here's a group of very fine performances. WINTER'S BONE and BLUE VALENTINE were very good films, with strong acting. On the other side, BLACK SWAN is a little bit dreadful to watch in some ways. Yet, my hunch here is that Natalie Portman is rewarded with winning the Oscar.

Prediction: Natalie Portman-BLACK SWAN

Best Supporting Actress: Jacki Weaver-ANIMAL KINGDOM, Hailee Steinfeld, Melissa Leo-THE FIGHTER, Amy Adams-THE FIGHTER and Helena Bonham Carter-THE KING'S SPEECH. My overwhelming personal choice here is young Hailee Steinfield. She turned in such a wonderful and strong performance in TRUE GRIT. It was a great role. What a fine young performer. Helena Bonham Carter remains a favorite of many Oscar voters though. She's an awesome actress who turns in classic performance after performance. I could be dead wrong here, but my personal hunch is Hailee Steinfeld just might get the credit she is due here for her wonderful performance from the Oscar voters. But, Helena Bonham Carter and possibly Melissa Leo might just make things interesting here. This could be a very close three way race here, with only a few votes separating a winner from the losers.

Prediction: Hailee Steinfeld-TRUE GRIT

Let's hear your thoughts here. Am I all wet, or right on the money here. What do you think? At any rate, I may be vindicated tomorrow, or else have to enter the witness protection program due to extreme embarrassment. We'll see how much egg I'll be wearing on my face. Hey, here I am with the cast of RESTLESS, that new Gus Van Sant movie that I predicted would land Mia Wiasikowska an Oscar nomination this year, and the film has yet to be released by Sony for some odd reason. So I've been as wrong as they come before.

The Lara Logan Assault: U.S. State Department Travel Advisory To Egypt Minimized Rape Danger From 2007 Study

A 2007 study by the Columbia Journalism Review found that rape threats against female reporters have been common in Egypt as a way to silence the media and to keep the Mubarak regime in power. Both supporters and opponents of Mubarak have apparently both used rape threats against female reporters to limit media access in the nation. Meanwhile, the country sought to spur tourists to spend money in the country, although the threat of rape to female Westerners was very serious.

Strangely, an official U.S. State Department travel information page about Egypt mentions some crime or danger issues for American tourists to be aware of, but claims that crime rates are "low" in the country, although rape threats to female journalists were well known to the staff of the Columbia Journalism Review three years earlier. The U.S. State Department really failed to fully make American journalists aware of the true danger levels they face covering news in Egypt. This raises the questions whether for the sake of good relations with foreign countries, serious travel dangers are deliberately minimized by the U.S. State Department.

In Egypt, at least 140 reporters faced some violence or death just since January 25. Reporters Without Borders reports five deaths of journalists and 152 jailed so far in 2011, some of these in Egypt. Lara Logan was held blindfolded by Egyptian police only days before her brutal assault by a mob which stripped her of her clothes, brutally whipped her with thin flag poles raising red welts all over her body, punched and pinched her, pulled some of her hair out, sexually assaulted her, and would have raped or killed her if the violent 30 minute assault wasn't stopped by some women rescuers and police. Lara Logan narrowly escaped becoming one of the estimated 850 reporters killed covering news since just 1992 around the world.

Journalism can be a very dangerous business.

TWO AND A HALF MEN Production Canceled - Charlie Sheen Reportedly Out For Good

This is huge news for the #1 comedy on TV. But, apparently CBS has had enough of Charlie Sheen and his antics and has ordered the rest of the season of TWO AND A HALF MEN canceled. It is likely that the show may return next year, but Sheen will be permanently replaced. Sheen is so angry that he promises to refuse to return to the show, even if CBS begs.

The final straw for CBS was a tirade by Charlie Sheen about producer Chuck Lorre to TMZ, claiming, "That piece of shit took money out of my pocket, my family's pocket, and, most importantly, my second family---my crew's pocket. You can tell him one thing: I own him". Sheen also attacked Lorre by calling him a "stupid, stupid little man and a pussy punk". Unfortunately, Sheen failed to note that his own problems with booze, drugs and frightening porn stars out of their very wits by acting out of control all helped to create the problems that led to him entering rehab therapy and helped to suspend the show. It was Charlie Sheen that's been all at fault here, and it was difficult for production to continue around his growing personal problems.

Sheen also claimed that he plans to go to HBO for a new show. But, HBO released some comments today proving that they have on interest in Sheen at this time.

Charlie Sheen has apparently brought down his own career here. He had the biggest comedy show on TV, but just couldn't behave himself half well enough.

I guess some guys just aren't hooked up right or something.

CBS isn't exactly hurting for a hit comedy right now. THE BIG BANG THEORY, also produced by Chuck Lorre is nearly as big as a hit for CBS as TWO AND A HALF MEN, and helps to cement down Thursday night as a major night for CBS that they took away from NBC several years ago. CBS has enough good shows around they should be able to fill up the schedule without much of a ratings loss for the time being.

Spiritual Songs Largely Missing From Today's Pop Charts

Although many Americans tend to be strongly religious these days, it seems that pop hits with spiritual themes are more scarce on the radio than ever before. At one time, even former Beatle George Harrison, who became interested in Indian religion, was able to send "My Sweet Lord" all the way up the charts to #1. That was in the early 70's. Since the 1970's songs with religious themes have all but disappeared from the mainstream pop charts.

Here are some notable highlights of pop chart successes of songs with spiritual themes:

*Back in 1961, The Highwaymen, a folk oriented vocal group, sent the very soothing and peaceful song, "Michael" sailing up the pop charts as a favorite. It was a beautiful song that really seemed to give the soul peace and tranquility every time it was played. The song was thought to have roots as a song written by slaves around the era of the Civil War as a spiritual, however the beautiful 1961 adaption of the song was indeed a memorable hit.

*Actor Sidney Poitier was simply phenomenal in LILLIES OF THE FIELD (1963), where he starred as unemployed construction worker Homer Smith who accidentally up with some Catholic nuns from Europe, and answers their prayers by building a church for them. Smith brings some of his Black Baptist church gospel music to the nuns, with a rousing version of the gospel song, "Amen". In 1964, the song became a big hit on the pop charts by The Impressions.

*While The Byrds were often viewed as part of the psychedelic rock movement of the 1960's, even contributing music to the EASY RIDER movie along with Steppenwolf and Smith, their 1965 version of folk singer Pete Seeger's song "Turn! Turn!Turn!(To Everything There Is A Season)" was entirely based on the Book Of Ecclesiastes except for one line in the song.

*The rock opera JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR contributed some early 70's pop hits to the charts including the main theme song sung by cast member Murray Head. Yvonne Elliman, also a cast member of the rock opera, had a big hit singing "I Don't Know How To Love Him".

*The group Ocean had a big hit in 1971 with the light spiritual number, "Put Your Hand In The Hand", a song about trusting in Jesus. It was a soft pop classic for sure compared to so many songs with a harder sound on the charts.

*An Australian nun, Sister Janet Mead, peaked at #4 on the charts by setting "The Lord's Prayer" to rock music. In her native country, she was helping revolutionize the Roman Catholic Mass with rock music as well as hosting a weekly radio program. She was only the second Roman Catholic nun in the history of the American pop charts to have a top ten hit. In 1961, Sister Jeanine Deckers who was performing as The Singing Nun brought her international hit, "Dominique" all the way up to #1 on the charts.

*Jewish musician Norman Greenbaum, was known mostly for novelty songs he penned, but was so amused by Porter Wagoner performing a "Jesus song" on a religious show, that he thought he'd make a satirical poke at Southern gospel music culture, and wrote and performed "Spirit In The Sky". However, rather than being taken as a swipe at the Jesus culture of the time, the song was embraced as one of the greatest spiritual rock hits ever. With it's searing guitar production and hand clapping contagious sound, it had a massive production sound that sounded like it extended into heaven itself. To this day, the song remains one of the greatest spiritual rock hits ever performed.

Beyond being considered one of the 500 greatest rock songs ever according to ROLLING STONE, the song also helped to spur the British glam rock movement in many ways because of the production work. The backing vocal style influenced the sound of T.Rex and other glam rock acts. And Gary Glitter and Alvin Stardust both seemed greatly influenced by the song's style as well, where "My Coo Ca Choo" seems to borrow heavily from "Spirit In The Sky".

Will the pop charts ever see a return to spiritual music?, probably not likely, unless some song is so catchy with enough good hooks that it gets programmed. Music has become more complex these days where the simple spiritual seems to have a difficult time getting adapted to pop music. There's always the gospel charts or Christian music channels. But, spiritual music on the mainstream charts seems to be a trend that started in the late 50's and extended to about 1974. It seems to be a trend that has come and gone, which is surprising for a society where claim to be more religious than in the past. Music isn't reflecting that. It's become the most secular ever.

Better Dead Than Alive: Michael Jackson Estate Rakes In The Dough

In his final years, Michael Jackson only managed to run himself into huge debt, at one point running more than $400 million in the red. His lavish spending as well as legal problems, as well as poor money management skills only helped to turn him into the king of debt. Then he turned that all around by dying, and his estate has made a hefty profit that ranges from $310 million up to $1 billion, depending on the source cited since his death. That's quite a turnaround. Who knew that death could be so darn profitable?

It also looks likely that his estate will manage to release new Cds of unreleased songs as well as DVDs and other items into the next seven years or so, guaranteeing a pretty long run of financial windfalls for the once troubled Michael Jackson empire. After so much money problems among Jackson family members, where Janet was the sole profitable entertainer in the past few years, Michael Jackson's new fortunes should help lift his family back into solvency once again. There can be no better gift than that.

Michael Jackson's big financial turnaround has also made him the current leader of the biggest grossing dead celebrities on Forbes list as well, leaving dead Elvis and others well in the dust at just $55 million. Michael Jackson unfortunately might look a little bit like his zombie video character these days. But, that sure isn't stopping him from making lots of money in death.

Spy Anna Chapman Mulls Run For Russian Parliament

Beautiful Russian spy, Anna Chapman, who was deported from the United States for espionage, is mulling a run for the Russian parliament. If she follows through with these plans, she is virtually assured a win since she would be running under the United Russia Party banner. Vladamir Putin's party has a virtual monopoly of power on many seats in the Russian Parliament, where the Communists and other parties would be hard pressed to win in many areas, despite some public consternation about Putin's leadership style. Democracy is something of an illusion in Russia, where Putin's party not only controls the dominant political party majority that rules the nation but much of the media is little more than a mouthpiece for the policies of Putin as well. Propaganda News stories featuring Putin as some heroic figure, racing cars or doing other athletic feats are common place on the Russian airwaves.

Chapman has successfully marketed herself in her homeland. She hosts a TV show, as well as markets at least eight products using her name or image. She also models as well. Who knew that being a spy was such a lucrative business?

Big Time sissyass Stuff: Harry Reid Wants Nevada To Outlaw Prostitution

Nevada may be like one big sin city in some ways, gambling, alcohol that flows like water, half naked showgirls, and even prostitution in some smaller remote county areas. But Harry Reid, the Democratic Party leader in the U.S. Senate would like Nevada to outlaw prostitution claiming that it's bad for business in the state. Taking a page directly from his Mormon faith book, Reid somehow believes that the economy of Nevada is somehow being harmed because of legal prostitution. Yet, there's no real proof that any casino or other business skipped out on the state because of a relative handful of legal brothels. Yet, Harry Reid is a true believer here, and can't be told any differently.

Oh sure, usually Republicans want to be known as the guardians of public morality, keeping the public safe from such dreaded things as gay marriage or smutty TV and books, but here even fellow Republicans such as John Ensign(R-NV) don't see eye to eye with Reid's line of crap thinking. Ensign believes this to a "county by county" issue for Nevada counties to decide, and opposes Reid's notion that some state or federal law is needed.

Reid claims that "Parents don't want their children to look out of a school bus and see a brothel, or live in a state with the wrong sort of red lights". Bullshit. Brothels are located in less populous communities, usually far from other civilization. If any school bus would travel past a brothel in Nevada, then you know that it's really, really lost.

Normal senators, especially Democratic Majority Leader Reid, should be more concerned to prevent a possible looming government shutdown. Instead, he's currently expending his energy on this anti-prostitution campaign nonsense. That seems so wise, heh? When a potential crisis is looming, spend your time on wacky social legislation and make up stories about lost school buses of kids that might be traumatized because they passed by some house of prostitution out in the middle of the desert in Nevada.

The real issue here isn't whether legal prostitution in a few remote counties in Nevada is such a good thing or not. The issue is why does the top senate Democrat consider this such a pressing issue to warrant his attention. Further, Senator Ensign is correct. This is a local county issue.

In the hallowed halls of big time sissyass stuff, this latest nonsense by Harry Reid sure takes it's rightful place. By the way Harry, about that thing with your hands.....

Cd Review: Gregg Allman LOW COUNTRY BLUES

Gregg Allman waited 14 years to do this new solo album, and the long pause between recordings seems pretty worthwhile here. Comprised of 14 covers of blues classics, by such greats as Muddy Waters, Gregg Allman produces a great and powerful blues album here. He has the blues really nailed down here. It's one of the best offerings from this talented artist, who brings powerful vocal work to this effort as well.

While your first impression of the Allman Brothers is they are one of the kings of the Southern rock genre, blues was still at their very heart as an act. It only seems natural that this record would be made at some point covering some songs that influenced the distinctive Allman Brothers sound. It also seems only natural that T. Bone Burnett would produce such a recording, since he connected his name with no less than 10 great album productions this past year alone.

With a few disappointing albums in recent times by a few veteran musical acts, it's refreshing to hear a quality album by a performer who allowed so many years to pass between their last outing.

The Bottom Line: A quality album by music legend Gregg Allman. Add this to your well stocked library. +++(Three stars, good. A more than decent return to music by one of the legendary Allman family members).

Lara Logan Suffered Brutal Whipping

Today it was disclosed that CBS reporter Lara Logan suffered a brutal whipping with flag poles by the rowdy crowd of estimated 200 that surrounded her in Tahrir Square. This left her with red welts all over, including some very sensitive places that were mistaken by some early reports for bite marks. Between the brutal whipping and being punched, Lara Logan had many physical injuries that required treatment by a doctor who administered a sedative because of the severe pain. Lara Logan was Stripped of her clothes and treated with brutality for about 30 minutes according to new reports out just today.

One early report that circulated on the Internet was that the CBS reporter might have been bitten on the left breast or even had the nipple bitten off. However, it appears that she simply suffered significant trauma to that breast while being whipped, raising red welts that looked like bite marks. Trauma from instruments such as sticks tend to raise serious double tram-line type welts that can often break the skin creating long bleeding cuts, these sort of injuries might have been mistaken for teeth marks from some purported cell phone video reports of the horrific mob violence crime. Further, medical reports suggest that heavy and deep bruising can emerge as well from trauma by being beaten with sticks such as those the crowd used as weapons.

The Egyptian government and news media also bear some real responsibility here. The government and their state control media filled the airwaves with false reports that Jewish spies were among the reporters in the country, helping to cause problems for reporters. This created a climate of violence where Lara Logan and her news crew became easy prey for mob brutality. One of her staffers also suffered a broken hand because of the climate of violence and hate that the Egyptian government helped to create through their false reports meant to deflect problems with the government.

Reportedly, as bad as the physical injuries are, Lara Logan has suffered significant psychological trauma as well by the attack. That is why she has been reluctant to speak about the injuries and the event. Yesterday, Lara Logan, who is the head CBS international reporter did release some short comments about the mob violence crime. Only days earlier, she was held at a Egyptian police station in a blindfold in a stress position, questioned about being a possible spy for Israel.

Lara Logan continues to have our best wishes and prayers as more details about her ordeal become public and are reported.

John Stewart And Conan O'Brien Battle For Top Cable Ratings

While network talk shows by Jay Leno and David Letterman draw the biggest audiences, up to around 3.9 million viewers each depending on which big name guest appears, Jon Stewart and Conan O'Brien continue to battle it out for the top cable talk show ratings race. Recently, Conan O'Brien's numbers have slipped below the 900,000 mark to around 811,000 average viewers. That's a little better than Stephen Colbert, but not quite as good as John Stewart's numbers which average 895,000. Still TBS has to be thrilled that Conan posts great numbers among the coveted 18-49 aged audience, a prime audience that advertisers love to market to.

The gamble of TBS and Conan O'Brien still seems to be paying off despite numbers that steadily seem to be sinking downward somewhat. TBS continues to be happy enough. They consider Conan to be a "talent" that delivers a "specific audience" for the network in a statement. That may not be high praise or a real glowing comment. But, that's good enough to be sure that Conan has a very secure place at TBS for now.

DVD Review: SPLICE

Adrian Brody stars in this fascinating and well made science fiction drama about a couple of scientists engaged in some illegal human DNA research, creating some hybrid humanoid creature. The acting and creature effects are impressive here as is the storyline. This is a top notch Sci Fi film.

Sarah Polley also costars in this film as well, and her acting is superb as well. Adrian Brody and Sarah Polley have a good on-screen chemistry as well, which is a critical ingredient to this above par science fiction film. There's just not enough good science fiction films, and this is one of the better ones I've seen recently.

The Dren creature is cleverly played by both actors as well as special effects, and her accelerated growth as well as intelligence or ability to cause major mayhem all add enough suspense and conflict to this story to keep it very interesting and moving along at a good pace. What a great movie here.

The Bottom Line: This film is currently making the rounds at RedBox and other movie rental locations. For a mere $1, you can watch a throughly enjoyable science fiction film that I promise will hold your interest and fascinate you. A couple of notches better than most Sci Fi outings. +++(Three stars, Good. Great entertainment here, well worth watching or even buying a copy on DVD or Bluray).

CBS Reporter Lara Logan Explains Her Attack In Egypt

While not disclosing every detail of her beating and sexual assault, or the full extent of her physical injuries, CBS international reporter Lara Logan has offered her own explanation of some of the details of the attack early today. Previously, CBS only offered a statement that Lara Logan "suffered a brutal and prolonged sexual assault and beating before being saved by a group of women and an estimated 20 Egyptian soldiers". Lara Logan was doing a story for 6o MINUTES when the events went horribly wrong in Tahrir Square. As she recovers from her physical injuries, a possible 60 Minutes story may be likely in the near future.

Lara Logan said that "the attack was so sudden" and that she had "no way of escaping" the violence she faced last week. Lara Logan claims that she was separated from her crew by the rowdy crowd of about 200 following news that President Mubarak would step down, and she was kicked and punched and her clothes were ripped off. She also had some hair pulled out as well. She claims that a group of women saved her from actual rape by throwing themselves on top of her, protecting her. The nature of her sexual attack appears to be more that of groping or possible penetration by fingers, since the legal term "sexual assault" stands for some sort of sexual penetration under accepted U.S. law definitions, rather than the claims of a controversial YouTube video and other reports that have surfaced on the Internet in the last few days claiming actual violent rape or claimed details of that rape.

Further, there were reports that cell phone videos exist of the violent attack. The Obama Administration has reportedly asked the Egyptian government to make arrests in the case, suggesting that any known videos of the attack may have been confiscated or are being used as evidence in this crime to identify suspects. Sometimes American law enforcement may offer assistance in such a case if a foreign government allows it. However, the statements by Lara Logan that she was sexually assaulted, but escaped rape strongly suggest that some cell phone videos that might exist of the reported violence might actually be of other women who faced sexual violence in recent days in Egypt. There have been many police reports of sexual violence in Egypt in the last two weeks as order had badly broken down and Egyptian security forces were hard pressed to restore order to demonstrations and other public gatherings that had grown out of control.

Lara Logan was also held at blindfold by Egyptian police only days before the Tahrir Square assault, where she questioned for being a spy for Israel. She became very ill during this interrogation when she vomited so much that a medic was sent to look after her. She asked for an IV at the time because of the illness problems. After she was placed on the IV and recovered somewhat, she was released. CBS was apparently unaware of her captivity at a secret location.

Despite one of the worst two weeks in life of any reporter ever recorded, Lara Logan contends that "it is in my blood to cover tumultuous events". This means that you can expect Lara Logan back on the job very soon. She'll have one heck of a book to write someday, facing danger many times before from IEDs covering warfare in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as hotspots in Africa and the MidEast. She's a reporter's reporter.

We at Wizbang Pop continue to wish her the very best wishes and prayers for her speedy full recovery from any injuries and a return back to work. We also appreciate the efforts by Lara Logan to set the record straight and offer her own first person account of her terrible ordeal in Egypt. This should help to prevent any further reports with wrongful or inaccurate information such as the recent YouTube video which surfaced this past week following the assault aftermath when CBS wasn't very forthcoming about information regarding this attack.

The Controversial And Shocking Details About The Lara Logan Attack

Lara Logan is a well known public figure. And CBS and other media have accepted that she was brutally assaulted. However, Youtube and some Arab Websites are offering some further claimed shocking details not reported by the U.S. media and even some video about the extreme brutality of the attack on CBS reporter Lara Logan . Reportedly, some videos did show a crowd of about 200 or more men surround and separate Lara Logan from her security, and the crowd shouted "Jew, Jew!", and "American bitch!". Lara Logan is not Jewish or American, she's a South African native.

Reportedly some of physical and sexual assault activity was caught on camera phones as well. One video purportedly involved some boy fondling the breasts of the reporter. However, another purported video that was described by a controversial YouTube video claims that a bearded man ripped the top off the reporter and began slapping her face and breasts. He then pinned her to the ground, and by this time she stopped resisting, apparently accepting the fact that she was overpowered. The bearded man then removed her pants and masturbated in front of her before raping her. He also reportedly clawed at her breasts with his hands. The YouTube video claims that at least six men raped her vaginally, and a number of men also raped her anally as well. She was reportedly masturbated on and urinated on by some men as well according to the YouTube video claims which was supposed to be pieced together from information and videos posted on Arab Websites and other sources.

It was claimed by various reports that the sexual assault and beatings might have lasted anywhere from 20-30 minutes on the short side, and as long as about 3 hours on the other hand. It was also claimed that her left breast might have been bitten or might even had the left nipple bitten off as well. One report claims that somewhere from 6 to about 50 men might have sexually assaulted or beat the attractive reporter.

One one hand, Lara Logan deserves her privacy. On the other hand being a major public figure, this international crime story is a very important one. It is also important to understand how anti-Americanism seemed to play a major role in the extreme level of brutality here. Reportedly, the reporter was left bloody, with semen and urine on her as the crowd shouted anti-American slogans. This reporter deserves far better respect than these claims of the brutality suggest. This mob violence against an attractive reporter who risks her life by reporting from the world's hot spots only illustrates the type of danger that reporters potentially face when they report the news.

DVD Review: JONAH HEX

Josh Brolin stars as the disfigured bounty hunter antihero in this Western based off the DC Comics character. For the $47 million dollar production investment, this film only poorly returned a little over $10 million back and was a real box office flop compared to so many far more successful films involving Marvel Comics characters such as Spiderman. But, Josh Brolin gave this movie his very best shot. Maybe this film is far from being great. But, if you just enjoy the ride as an unusual Western, you might find it interesting. But, the makeup on Josh Brolin is a little odd and distracting rather than enhancing the story. Some guys with scars look tough. Brolin just looks strange here.

There's not nearly enough Western movies these days it seems, so even a so-so effort like this is enjoyable enough. Jonah Hex is odd, yet acceptable enough.

On Rotten Tomatoes this film drew a dismal 15% critical approval. That wasn't very good. And the film does take some liberties with the origins of the DC Comics Jonah Hex character. But, still the story of some die-hard post-Civil War former Confederate soldiers has some interesting moments, and provides a little drama when President Grant fears that former Confederate officer Quentin Turnbull(John Malkovich) has stolen components of a secret weapon to use for a terror attack set for July 4 and Jonah Hex is recruited to stop his arch-enemy Turnbull, who murdered his wife and son by burning their home and branding Jonah Hex with a QT brand on his face. Jonah Hex was a wanted man, but the offer by President Grant seemed too good to refuse, to hunt down Turnbull.

The Bottom Line: Not a great film. But, a reasonable enough post-civil war drama with some good moments. ++ 1/2(Two and a half stars, or a little bit better than fair).

O.J. Simpson Not Brutally Beaten In Prison As NATIONAL ENQUIRER Story Claims

THE NATIONAL ENQUIRER claimed they leaked a story that O.J. Simpson was recently brutally beaten by a young skinhead in prison, and had to spend three weeks in the prison infirmary recovering from his injuries. Reportedly, many other prisoners actually cheered the attack. THE NATIONAL ENQUIRER also claimed that Simpson became a marked man in prison after he bragged about his sexual conquests of beautiful white women, setting off anger among some white supremacist prison gang members. The only problem is that this story never happened according to a number of sources including O.J. Simpson himself, who reportedly had a good laugh at the story and took the story in good nature.

O.J. Simpson is serving a sentence of at least nine years because of an incident in which he confronted sports memorabilia dealers in an armed incident. He claimed the items were stolen from him. However, the courts viewed his actions as armed robbery and kidnapping and he was sentenced to up to 33 years in prison. He is currently serving time at Nevada's Lovelock Correctional Center. Some view the harsh sentence as an attempt by the court to retroactively punish Simpson for what many believe was his escape from justice in the murder case of his former wife and a male friend. However, in other ways, perhaps O.J. Simpson always had a dark and violent side that wasn't really noticeable until his legal problems brought this out.

Sadly, the trial of O.J. Simpson on murder charges was so controversial that it became a racially divisive event. The American public largely split along racial lines in their views of this trial rather than objectively wanting justice to be served about the question of whether O.J. Simpson was indeed guilty or not of the crime that he was charged for. And reportedly, at least one African American juror later claimed that his acquittal was somehow payback for the Rodney King incident, which is highly unfortunate that two high profile separate events somehow were viewed as being linked by someone who was to be an open minded and objective juror.

At one time O.J. Simpson was a much beloved sports figure and celebrity, who even starred in those NAKED GUN comedy movies, seeming to be a good sport. Then the legal problems started for him, forever changing his public image and making him into a highly controversial figure now. At age 63, Simpson now finds his life broken. His freedom gone. He's looking at many more years in prison and his respect among the public largely gone for good. It's the tragic story of the fall of a great celebrity.

CBS Reporter Lara Logan Beaten And Sexually Assaulted

In an outrageous act of violence, a violent mob in Egypt attacked CBS reporter Lara Logan and beat and sexually assaulted her. The violence against the reporter only stopped when a group of about 20 women and police came to her aid. It was one of the most outlandish things ever to happen to a reporter covering an event ever.

Lara Logan is widely respected for her excellent international reporting. Logan is South African born, and has become one of the best things about the ratings troubled CBS evening news that has lost many viewers since Katie Couric took over the helm. One report claims that Logan was brutally gang raped by a crowd of about 200.

The 39 year old reporter is currently recovering in a hospital in the United States from her injuries from the beating and sexual violence.

Does Coca Cola Contain Alcohol?

A public radio program, THIS AMERICAN LIFE, has revealed what it claims is the secret flavoring formula in Coca Cola by studying a rare photograph by Coke inventor John Pemberton. According to this claimed secret recipe is alcohol, along with drops of nutmeg, orange oil, lemon oil, coriander, neroli. This mysterious formula was named "Merchandise 7X". However, it's not known whether alcohol or other ingredients have been completely removed from the modern version formula of Coca Cola. However, with any combination of caffeine and alcohol, both of which have some physical habit forming or addiction potential, it might be argued that part of the secret to the success of this product at one may lay in including substances that cause physical addiction or habit forming potentials.

Caffeine and alcohol addiction are two of the most stubborn physical addictions to kick. Caffeine withdrawal can lead to headaches, depression, and many other mood disorders. Alcohol withdrawal may also lead to anxiety, the shakes and a few other physical symptoms as well.

Coca Cola also uses a form of cocaine free coca leaf to this day in their products by a company in the U.S. who is the only licensed company in this country to process coca leaves. At one time, the old version of Coca Cola was marketed as a medicine by the original inventor back in 1886, containing a small amount of real cocaine, however changes in the formula to comply with evolving U.S. laws, etc. helped to evolve the recipe that is currently sold by the modern version of the Coca Cola company where cocaine is no longer present.

So the question remains, what's exactly in Coca Cola. Why is it so popular? Is it in the taste, or has Coca Cola groomed an audience to want their product because of some habit forming substances such as caffeine or even alcohol? Is Coca Cola really a fully nonalcoholic beverage or not? Trade secrets often hide many exact ingredients from the public where it's hard to know what you're really getting.

DVD Review: I TOLD YOU NOT TO CALL THE POLICE

Cd Universe, Amazon and a number of other retailers are marketing an unbelievably controversial and bad DVD that passes itself as a horror movie. I TOLD YOU NOT TO CALL THE POLICE is both unsettling and terrible all at the same time. It is certainly deserving of it's unofficial NC17 rating, due to it's offensive and horrible subject matter. I TOLD YOU NOT TO CALL THE POLICE is a horror movie as seen through the eyes of a sex criminal who assaults women in their own homes. It's a disgustingly cheap and tawdry film, that stops just shy of being some form of warped underground porn masquerading as a horror crime film.

The film style, the script, the acting, the actors, all converge together to make this the very worst film I've seen this year. Bill Zebub is a heavy metal rocker type guy. But, his films are pure trasharama experiences. If you can stomach it, a second forgettable film is also included on the I TOLD YOU NOT TO CALL THE POLICE DVD free of charge. The same independent film company also issues a number of heavy metal themed movies, most of which aren't very good as well.

Bill's website also features a trailer for what he considered to be the worst horror film ever made. Maybe I TOLD YOU NOT TO CALL THE POLICE is a sort of sick joke. But, I sure didn't laugh. Maybe his other films are a little better than this pure dreck.

The Bottom Line: For God's sake avoid this movie like the plague. It's the absolute worst. Some independent films don't deserve to be made. No stars. Light years beyond poor. This terrible movie sure made the last film I reviewed, the latest AMERICAN PIE film look like high art by comparison.

Big Time Sissyass Stuff: Mentally Ill Justin Bieber Fans Issue New Threats

Move over Congressman J. Randy Forbes, a collective effort by some mentally unbalanced fans of Justin Bieber has already knocked you off the big time sissyass Mount Rushmore monument of shame pedestal as the most crazy person in America. It appears that Justin Bieber must be the fan favorite of the mentally ill set, because for the third time in recent months, some fans of the 17 year old Canadian heart throb have issued threats of violence, this time after Bieber lost the Grammy Award for best new artist to singer Esperanza Spalding. Previously, some unbalanced fans of the teen heart throb issued threats of violence when he was seen kissing Disney star Selena Gomez. Screwball fans of Bieber also issued some threats against Kim Kardashian as well. Who will be threatened next by unbalanced fans of Justin Bieber is anyone's guess?

Recently, Justin Bieber had to settle down some of his mentally unbalanced fans by publicly claiming that he's not dating Kim Kardashian. Oh, that's great. He has to be in the crisis management business because some of his fans are so wacko. That's just so reassuring.

Now, I have to admit that being threatened by Justin Bieber fans is hardly enough of a scare to make you wet your pants. Far more frightening would be threats coming from some hardcore organized crime family or some other frightening group where major league violence could really ensue. Preteen girls who have a heart throb for the 17 year old singer aren't the most scary. But, still when they issue threats of violence, it's major league bullshit and certainly big time enough sissyass stuff, warranting that nebulous little award here.

It took quite an effort to topple Congressman J. Randy Forbes crazy claim to fame. He's a real bullshit guy for sure. But, to topple his efforts at convincing everyone that's he's the most crazy person in America meant that unbalanced fans of Justin Bieber had to stand on each other's shoulders like sort of totem pope of mental illness and big time sissyassdom. In a very sick way, that's some impressive mental illness display. But, for God's sake get some professional help people!

Cd Review: Green Day AWESOME AS F**K

Recorded during their concert tour to celebrate the success of their 21st CENTURY BREAKDOWN album, Green Day's new album debuts on March 22. It includes live versions of many of the songs from the album recorded in the U.S., England, Canada, Austria, Japan and Ireland. In addition to the Cd, a DVD of a live show recorded at Saitama, Japan is included as well. According to advance information a Bluray version of the show will also be offered as well.

I was really impressed with this live Cd after listening to the advance release tracks. It's another great effort by this traditional punk rock band that's been on a real roll in the last few years, with excellent effort after effort. The writing ability of the band continues to evolve and improve with each album where the 21st CENTURY BREAKDOWN acted as a new landmark in the band's history. Billy Joe Armstrong continues to prove that he is a great talent. In fact, AMERICAN IDIOT was adapted into a Tony Awards nominated Broadway play. 65 million record sales later, Green Day continues to astound as the most successful punk rock act ever, managing a success that has only evaded so many other acts of the same genre.

It only seemed natural that a great live album should follow all of the success of this group. AWESOME AS F**K just about sums up the band's current success. Things don't get much better than this.

The Bottom Line: Building on the success of 21st CENTURY BREAKDOWN comes this great live package with Cd and DVD. It's a must have item for sure. Buy it March 22. +++(Three stars. good. A great effort where the live DVD really is a real treasure to enjoy).

The Best And Worst Valentine's Day Love Ideas

For couples looking to make Valentine's Day really memorable, there's plenty of interesting love ideas out there to put a little spark in your bedroom. After you start with the basics, the flowers, the card and the candy, there's few other important items that you might want to bring into your bedroom to spice up your Valentine's Day. However, a few are better than others. Here's a few of the one's to consider:

Adult Videos: Nothing will spark up your bedroom like watching a good get down and nasty sweaty little video. You'll both be so hot, you'll go at it like a couple of rabbits afterwards. But, be sure to find a good one. Too many are simply boring dreadful, with few really great titles out there. Ask for recommendations from a video store clerk to avoid disappointment here.

Lotions: You can't possibly really go wrong here. Your lady would probably really love a nice erotic massage with a nice lotion, and she can offer you one too. If it feels good, do it. If it does good, feel it.

Games: This year even Walgreen's is selling a $5.99 romantic Valentine's Day game complete with a blindfold, handcuffs, a tickle wand, a do not disturb sign, and a pair of dice telling you to kiss her ear, or to tickle her toes, etc. Looks like fun to me.

Lingerie: Who doesn't enjoy some hot romantic lingerie to wear in the bedroom on your special lover's day. Nowadays there's so many hot fashions that are affordable. What used to be once just found at places like Frederick's Of Hollywood can now be found at Target and many mainstream stores. Your lady might look pretty hot wearing that black garter belt and some black lace. If that doesn't get your motors running, them you probably aren't breathing, and shouldn't be reading this.

Viagra: Viagra is an important sex aid for many men as they age. The desire may be there, but with age the equipment just may not work as well as it did when you were 18 or 20. However, there may be serious risks here. In a few cases Viagra has caused heart failure, blindness and other problems. A serious headache on the order of a hangover could result as well, along with some temporary racing of the heart and color vision problems that might last a few hours. If you use Viagra, be careful. Ending up dead may not be worth it.

Steel Rod: Steel Rod and some other similar herbal products claim to work, and have some good results for some users. However, some of these herbal products can have some weird side effects on the brain such as creating drug-like effects and other side effects. Use carefully.

Sex Toys: Using vibrators and other fun toys on your lady might be a real blast, but maybe less fun if she uses them on you. You might have to shop for something you can both share that works. But, the fun potential is real high here.

Food: Making your lady a nice little bikini out of whipped cream and licking it all off is a real blast, and she can do the same for you. A little food in the bedroom can be a lot of fun. Don't worry about calories for heaven's sake. Just enjoy yourself.

Bondage Toys: Here's where you need to be extra careful. I can't stress that point enough here. There's some soft handcuffs that won't cause any harm that are lined with fur and blindfolds so you can surprise your lover with doing some delicious, if not naughty little things. And a little rope can be used to tie up your lover, if they dig that. But, you need to be careful with whips, canes and other toys that have some real serious mischief potential. Some whips such as some soft martinets or cat o' nine tail are fine to gently play with, because they don't really cause any real harm if made from soft material or made from light weight leather. But, things like a riding crop or canes must be used more symbolically in love role playing unless you dig real pain or real painful welts and bruises that could last for days. Canes can even draw some blood if used hard. They're as serious as you can get, but just fine if used very gently in those bad girl/bad boy sex fantasy games. But, actually causing serious pain or punishment to your lover is real heavy duty stuff. And that's usually not a lot of fun unless you like heavy S&M rather than soft erotic loveplay. That's a real pain in the ass. Be extra careful if you bring these type of toys into your bedroom. Make Valentine's Day fun and romantic and be careful if want to get a little kinky. Sometimes leaving a real impression on your lover isn't such a good thing.

New Locations: Try a new location for your Valentine's Day lovemaking. Have a getaway at a new place and enjoy yourself. Have a great date, even if you've been married a long time, with a nice meal and plenty after time away from the kids.

Have fun lovers. Valentine's Day only comes once a year. Make the most of it with a great date and plenty of hot and sweaty lovemaking after. The bottom line is to enjoy yourself big time.

DVD Review: AMERICAN PIE PRESENTS THE BOOK OF LOVE

The popular amorous teenager series, AMERICAN PIE, is back once again making the rounds at Redbox machines for yet another so-so slice of horny teenage humor. And predictably, this isn't high art here. Yet, AMERICAN PIE PRESENTS THE BOOK OF LOVE is an acceptable enough slice of throwaway humor to watch once with popcorn. Also back again is yet another outrageous attempt by one of the actors to masturbate with food that goes horribly wrong, mainly because it was a terrible idea to begin with. And Eugene Levy returns as well.

THE BOOK OF LOVE involves a student who accidentally causes a fire in the school library and while being punished with detention cleaning up the mess, discovers a book called THE BIBLE, which turns out to be a collection of male students sex tips and tips for getting laid compiled over the years. It's filled with tawdry little facts and poorly drawn sexual illustrations of such topics as the G Spot and other knowledge. This book sets up the premise of the story.

The book recommends that the young men first lose their virginity to a Canadian prostitute by the name of Monique. So the boys travel to a Canadian cathouse for this experience, but are horrified to see that so many years have passed that Monique is now very old, although very experienced. This sets up another horrible AMERICAN PIE moment when old Monique dies of heart failure right in the middle of oral sex. It's yet another gross AMERICAN PIE classic moment.

The AMERICAN PIE series works pretty hard to be gross and outrageous. It probably won't get any girl in the romantic mood for Valentine's Day, despite the title which sounds romantic. But, for a few juvenile gross-out laughs, it's once again an acceptable, but hardly great outing. Even AMERICAN PIE: BAND CAMP had some better moments such as the dry hump contest, which seemed pretty sexy and funny with the lap dances until one of male contestants would complete. This film just didn't have any real sexy or funny moments as good as that.

The Bottom Line: More gross-out laughs from the horny teenage humor series, but hardly the best of the series by any means. The DVD does contain some unrated material making it slightly more outrageous than the theatrical version though. But, nothing here really ranks as any worse than any R rated stuff laughs. Gross, but somewhat funny at times. You'll smile a little here. But, you'll be hard pressed to laugh out loud. ++(Two stars, fair. There's better teenage sex comedies than this such as the 18 OLD VIRGIN. Yet, there's few funny and sexy good moments here. Good enough to watch once).

Big Time Sissyass Stuff: Congressman J. Randy Forbes' War On Adult Videos

Congress has more than a few crazy people in it. But, perhaps the biggest wacko job at this time has to be Representative J. Randy Forbes from the 4th District in Virginia. He's the same screw loose guy who attempted to abuse the legislative process to declare the United States as a Judeo-Christian nation, never mind that the Native Americans lived here way long before any White Christian settlers and hundreds of other later immigrant citizen groups who have their faiths outside of this Judeo-Christian religious faith. He also sought to abuse the legislative process to proclaim that the "Holy Bible Is God's Word". OK, I get it congressman. You're a real crazy guy and a religious nut job. You well made your point here.

Now, this wacky guy is circulating a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder urging vigorous enforcement of obscenity laws and endless government investigations of perfectly legal motion picture companies who produce adult videos. Instead of the FBI keeping the nation free from terrorists or those thousands of crooks who run cyberscams using the Internet to defraud people using their credit cards, J. Randy Forbes wants government to spend people's hard earned tax money on potential obscenity investigations of legal businesses. When you pay your taxes remember guy's like this who want their hands in your pockets to spend your tax dollars for their own pet projects such as suspending The Bill Of Rights.

Congressman J. Randy Forbes also appears to be a pathological liar as well. He falsely claims in his letter to Attorney General Eric Holder that pornography has "changed" somehow, now becoming more "addictive" and "linked to other crimes". Further, this pig-eyed lying sack of crap congressman claims that that "today's hardcore pornography is typified by extreme violence against women". Bullshit. Most typical pornography is either just nudity or normal sexual intercourse among the actors or models. And stringent federal record keeping laws like #2257 require that all actors or models be over the age of 18 as well. There's no hint of violence towards women here. So where does this congressman come up with his claim that most of "today's hardcore pornography is typified by extreme violence against women". A lie is a lie is a lie here.

Forbes also wants people to believe that pornography is somehow "addictive". More bullshit. Drugs, including caffeine and cigarettes all have true physical dependence issues that can be scientifically documented. However, where's any medical evidence that watching nudity in a movie or adult actors having sex in a adult video creates any "addiction". No such thing exists. Pornography isn't putting some chemical into the body like some drug, so where does this congressman get off claiming that some physical "addiction" potential exists. There's people that like video games, ice cream or even porn. But, in every case there's no such thing as any physical addiction potential to any of these things. Pornography "addiction" doesn't exist.

A further problem is that since most adult material involves either just nudity or sexual penetration, such material is not generally considered to be legally "obscene" these days. Why, spend a lot of taxpayer money going on some big Internet porn search for some tiny bit of adult posted material that might cross some legal line into some possible "obscenity" violation. Is this a worthwhile way to spend your tax money. You work hard for your money, why hand it to this congressman to squander it by the millions of dollars looking at perfectly legal businesses, looking for some incidental portion of some adult video that might possibly be considered obscene in some local little community somewhere. Most adult video companies are perfectly legal businesses who abide by local and federal laws and take out the required film permits to produce these legal movies, mostly in Northern California.

Forbes is supposed to be a lawyer. Yet, you'd expect him to have some better basic understanding about law and such things as legal issues regarding obscenity or libel. Yet, he makes false claims that adult material causes injury, when no such such scientific proof exists other than his own absurd claims.

Forbes claims to be some religious Baptist. Yet, maybe he should read the Ten Commandments sometime. One of these reads not to "bear false witness against others", otherwise meaning don't make false legal claims that some people are breaking the law in an attempt to get these people thrown in jail. Forbes is making the equivalent of a false police report. He's falsely claiming that some perfectly legal businesses are breaking the law and selling some supposedly defective dangerous products that hurt people. What bullshit!

On Valentine's Day millions of happy adult couples will likely enjoy watching a sexy adult video as an aid to their lovemaking. They don't need some big time sissyass congressman watching over them in their own bedroom telling them what they're allowed to do there.

AMC's THE WALKING DEAD Gets Action Figures

AMC and McFarlane announced a new line of action figures based on the huge hit cable TV series, THE WALKING DEAD. The 6inch figures will be highly detailed with some action features as well as articulation points. McFarlane is well known for making some of best quality collector's item products of any company in the industry. Their fine products are sold at such top notch stores as FAO Schwarz and other excellent quality retailers.

AMC really hit gold with THE WALKING DEAD, a cable series based off a comic by Image comics about survivors of a zombie Apocalypse struggling to survive. After an October 31, 2010 debut on AMC, the series met with record ratings for the cable channel and high critical praise, resulting in a renewal for the series for a second season after only the second broadcast.

Over at AMC, which runs mainly classic films, and few new series, THE WALKING DEAD was a little bit of a gamble for the network which at one time ran full length movies with no advertising breaks. Yet, as the popularity of the network grew, AMC looked for new projects, and THE WALKING DEAD became a huge hit after the Halloween premiere of the new original series.

Adam Sandler's Outrageous Humor On David Letterman

Last night, Adam Sandler didn't fail to be outrageous on David Letterman. Letterman asked him a simple question about his family, "They all know what you do?", and this led Adam Sandler down one of his strange paths toward this outrageous joke:

Sandler replied, "My mother still thinks I'm a doctor", but then added "I never really told her. So every Thanksgiving her friends come over and I'll give them pelvic examinations". In mock outrage, Letterman replied, "What is wrong with you".

Adam Sandler always knows how to be outrageous and funny and how to make any appearance a memorable one.

CD Review: Taylor Momsen's The Pretty Reckless LIGHT ME UP

The debut album by Taylor Momsen's hard rock band The Pretty Reckless LIGHT ME UP is a very impressive effort. This outrageous 17 year old can really sing and rock hard as well. It's one heck of a great hard rock alternative rock album with hardly any throwaway tunes out of the 11 tracks. The album finally was released February 8, in both the U.S. and Canada, although it had been previously available as import as early as late August in Europe or Australia. Taylor Momsen has really established herself as one of the great female hard rock vocalists with this fantastic debut effort. This album is just plain terrific.

Taylor Momsen wrote all the songs for this album, some of which were recorded when she was only 16 years old. Sounding much older than her young age, Taylor Momsen belts out some very tough sounding songs with hard hitting and highly sexualized lyrics. You have to wonder how a nice Catholic girl who attended Our Lady Of Lourdes School got to this point of doing such tough hard rock ditties about back seat car sex or other sexualized themes. In just a short time time, Taylor Momsen has gone from being the darling of teen fashion magazines such as TEEN VOGUE and former GOSSIP GIRL star to establishing herself as probably the greatest teen bad girl rocker since The Runaways. That's one heck of a journey.

While offering up a few rock ballads, LIGHT ME UP is mostly straight ahead hard rock. If you like groups such as Hole, ACDC and other tough acts not afraid to turn up their amps and belt out tough lyrics, this debut effort by The Pretty Reckless should really satisfy. Worldwide the album has yielded three singles, the tough sounding "Make Me Wanna Die", "Miss Nothing" and the more rock ballad, "Just Tonight". But, beyond these singles, there's plenty of good songs here. It's a real joy to have to review a fresh hard rock debut album that's this good.

The Bottom Line: Wow! What a great debut album. Very impressive. Taylor Momsen is a fantastic lead singer for this band. Her destiny is to a be a rock great. Forget GOSSIP GIRL and concentrate on making music this good, Taylor. Well done! ++++(Four stars, excellent. If you buy any cd this year, then it should be this one. This is one great debut album and not some joke with some teenage TV queen making some terrible and embarrassing pop trash album better used as a coffee coaster than anything. This is the real deal, hard rock just as the good Lord intended it to be played. Great stuff here!

Sherri Shepherd Will Host 2011 Dove Awards

Sherri Shepherd, is one of the co-hosts of THE VIEW has been selected to host the 2011 Dove Awards for Christian music. She's won an Emmy Award herself, and released a Christian comedy album back in 2003 entitled, NO REFUND, NO EXCHANGE.

Sherri Shepherd pulls down even more duties as the host of the new version of THE NEWLYWED GAME on the GSN channel, besides appearing on 30 ROCK in a reoccurring role on that popular NBC comedy. Can you say busy?

This year's Dove Awards take place in Atlanta, which is a move from Nashville. And the show will air on Easter Sunday, April 24 on the GMC (Gospel Music Channel).

DVD Review: George Romero's SURVIVAL OF THE DEAD

George Romero is the undisputed king of the zombie film. And his his latest effort which is making the rounds of any well stocked video store, SURVIVAL OF THE DEAD, has many comic elements and is enjoyable enough of an effort. Yet, it seems pretty uninspired and routine as far as zombie movies go other than some great new digital effects and cool photographic tricks. It's far from a bad film, but just not as good as we had hoped it would be.

When young George Romero reinvented the zombie genre with the excellent 1968 NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, a low budget yet very effective masterpiece, the bar was raised very high for these sort of films. And the 1990 remake of this film as well as a few other efforts by Romero ranked very high as well. But, with SURVIVAL OF THE DEAD, Romero seems to have made a major effort here to be witty and almost made the genre into pure camp. The movie is fun, but at the expense of a really classic story. At the same time, it still must be stressed that virtually no one does zombie films any better than Romero. However, this film seems a little closer to the trash zombie camp films like RAVE TO THE GRAVE, which was an unabashed attempt to make a teenage horror trash film complete with excessive camp violence, nudity, etc.

Fans of George Romero, like me, still enjoy SURVIVAL OF THE DEAD. It's George Romero for heaven's sake. But, it's just not George Romero at his very best.

The Bottom Line: George Romero is always enjoyable. I love his films. But, this is hardly a great classic here. If you're a fan of zombie movies, you'll enjoy this enough. But, casual viewers will be left with an empty feeling. ++(Two stars, or only fair).

Lindsay Lohan Likely To Be Charged With Felony Theft

TMZ reports that troubled actress Lindsay Lohan is likely to be charged with felony theft as early as Monday in Los Angeles because a jewelry store store in Venice claims she stole a necklace worth $2500. According to TMZ, the Los Angeles police are holding the necklace as evidence. The actress has offered an explanation why the jewelry was in her possession, however prosecutors in L.A. still believe that enough evidence exists to charge her with theft. The actress faces up to three years in prison if convicted of the jewelry theft charge.

Special thanks here to TMZ which fills our Email box with news tips and allows us to share their exclusive photos with our celebrity news site here.

Lawyers Seek To Stop Planned Amanda Knox Film By Lifetime

Lawyers for Amanda Knox, the American college student who was convicted along with her exboyfriend of murder in Italy, are seeking to halt Lifetime from producing a film about her trial. With appeals and other legal proceedings at work, her lawyers want to prevent any dramatic representation that could bias her channels of appeal. And even the father of the murder victim, who was a 21 British college student who shared the apartment with Knox, is reportedly "horrified" that a re-enactment of the brutal murder is planned for the film as well.

Lawyer's for Knox also want a trailer for the planned film removed from Lifetime's Website as well. Lawyers sent a letter to Lifetime with their demands on the behalf of Knox, threatening legal action if Lifetime does not comply with their wishes.

DVD Review: THE VIRGINITY HIT

Will Ferrell is an unconventional guy. And his comedy movie production THE VIRGINITY HIT is a very unusual and unconventional comedy, that was largely filmed by the cast members themselves on home digital camera equipment. And the result is pseudo-reality TV movie about a young man losing his virginity. Yet, THE VIRGINITY HIT is far from the funniest thing that Will Ferrell has ever done. He produced this film, and did not star in it. But, the film does have a few good moments and remains interesting part of the time. But, it's hardly a great film by any standard of measurement.

Often the film seems almost too real to be taken as a joke. Jokes are often more overt than this. This film's humor often seems a little bit too subtle, where a decent part of the film appears to be a real documentary. The movie might be a little bit interesting. But, that's about it. A movie that's only a little bit interesting is a hard sell to recommend.

The Bottom Line: For the most part Will Ferrell strikes out here. This film isn't even funny enough for a short SNL segment. ++(Two stars, or only just fair. Watch this only if you must. For everyone else, just skip this film).

Jillian Michaels Becomes New Go Daddy Girl

During tomorrow's Super Bowl ads by Go Daddy, you can expect fitness expert Jillian Michaels to join racing car driver Danica Patrick as the new Go Daddy girl. While offering a sneak preview, the real Super Bowl Go Daddy ad is under wraps this year until Sunday. In previous years, Go Daddy had posted some their ads in advance as an incentive to check out their Website. The Super Bowl ads also contained a "teaser" to see more outrageous content on their Website as well. Some ads that were rejected by the networks have appeared on the Go Daddy site as well.

Each year you can expect Go Daddy to make news for some outrageous ad. One year's ad had an outrageous play on the word "beaver" involving Danica Patrick. It was indeed an edgy ad.

Markie Post At The Hallmark Channel Winter Gala 2011

At 60, former NIGHT COURT actress Markie Post well proves that she's still one of the most beautiful older young women in the whole world. Wow, what a major league babe! Good genes might have a lot to do with it. She's the daughter of scientist Richard F. Post. Put her back on TV at primetime and I'll religiously watch. I promise.

Maria Schneider Star Of LAST TANGO IN PARIS Dies

Maria Schneider was just 19 when she starred in the controversial 1972 film LAST TANGO IN PARIS with Marlon Brando. The actress has died at the age of 58 from breast cancer. At the time the film was very controversial and viewed as soft core porn by some, however more serious film critics recognized the quality of this film and actor Marlon Brando was Oscar nominated for best actor that year.

The film involved a sexual relationship with an older man(Marlon Brando's character) as well as full frontal nudity from the teenage actress, and the screenplay involved some elements of sexual violence, which helped to evoke some protests by both feminist as well as censorship groups. At the time the movie was rated X, however the X rating was very controversial in those days when mainstream films branded with the dreaded X rating were often mistaken for pornography, leading the MPAA to enact a new NC17 rating. However, the new NC17 rating often ran into problem with theatres avoiding such such films. An edited R rated version of the film was also produced.

On the small $1.25 million budget the film grossed more than $96 million dollars.

LAST TANGO IN PARIS was one of the only international films that Maria Schneider starred in. But, she was an actress in a long list of films in France. The actress was born in Paris, and a popular actress in her native land, however LAST TANGO IN PARIS failed to translate into much international success for her career. Marlon Brando received most of the fanfare for the film and greatly overshadowed the young actress, where it was only her fifth appearance in film at the time.

The White Stripes Call It Quits

The White Stripes, the legendary alternative music duo featuring the former married couple, Jack and Meg White, have called it quits as an act. The couple actually divorced way back in 2000 just before attaining success, but continued to perform together for professional reasons after the four year marriage dissolved. With six albums and 26 singles behind the act, they attained a huge degree of success for in the world of alternative rock music.

In 2003, the act hit #1 on the album charts with ELEPHANT in the UK and #6 in the U.S., and followed up that success with GET BEHIND ME SATAN(2005) and ICKY THUMP(2007), but seemed to be on an extended hiatus since. However, the news of the professional breakup still had to a disappointment to millions of fans of the act.

Some singles such as "Seven Nation Army" brought the band a huge degree of success and acted as a great promotion for the act.

I think this act had a lot more good music in them. Maybe, as a Jack White solo act more good stuff will still emerge. One can only hope.

Dry Humping With The Stars: Lady Gaga

Some celebs like to get a little frisky in public sometimes and just can't quite wait to make it to the bedroom. And Lady Gaga is sure no exception here. Here's the song queen getting a little head start on some private bedroom fun time with her boyfriend on a public beach in Greece.

Hey, get a room!

January Auto Sales Make Huge Surge

In more good news for the once beleaguered auto market, America's three largest auto makers all reported huge January sales gains. GM sales were up a whopping 36%, while Ford rose 27% and Chrysler rose 23%. Chrysler's sales were buoyed by a giant 47% increase in Jeep sales for January.

Import automakers such as Toyota scored some gains as well, however Kia scored gains in excess of 25% and Hyundai had a 22% increase. Mazda was one of few brands to post lower sales, with a 9% decline.

Overall, January was a great month for auto sales with the average increase of 23%. The sharp untick in auto sales should be a good omen of an improving economy.