...Death

In the last 2 days there have been 4 deaths that I have heard, sen and read about.

-Tony Curtis: Actor famous for his works in "Sweet Smell of Success," "The Defiant Ones" and "Some Like It Hot." Also father to actress Jamie Lee Curtis, they look alike. He was 85.

-Arthur Penn: Director and Broadway Producer of Bonnie and Clyde, The Miracle Worker, An Evening With Mike Nichols and Elaine May and All the Way Home, just to name a few. He was a very serious man who was influential in the movie industry. He helped introduce sex and violence in movies in a way they had not been done before. He was 88.

-Greg Geraldo: Comedian known for his duties on NBC's "Last Comic Standing" and most notably Comedy Central Roasts. He was found unconscious last Friday in his hotel room after he missed a scheduled appearance in New Jersey. It seemed as if he had an accidental overdose, but it was not a suicide attempt. Greg's family pulled the plug on him after being in a comma for 4 days. He was 44.

-Seth Walsh: Probably the saddest of the deaths is this 13 year old California boy who hanged himself. He was found by kids hanging from a tree, 9 days later he died. He came out to his friends and they started to bully him. Another case of bullying...

-Tyler Clementi: The most recent death is a Rutgers student who committed suicide by jumping off of the George Washington Bridge after his roommate and his roommate's friend posted a live video feed of him having sex with another guy. Apparently Tyler's family did not know he was gay. The roommate sent Tweets and Facebook updates to others sot hat they could watch as well. The 2 students, Dhraun Ravi and Molly Wei, have been charged with invasion of privacy. If found guilty they could face 5 years in prison. More details will be coming out about this in the days to come. He was 18.

As always I will be giving death a Digit Down.

...Facebook

With the highly anticipated movie coming out this Friday, The Social Network, and with the founder, Mark Zuckerberg, giving $100 million to the Newark school area last week on Oprah, a man who has an estimated net worth of $6.9 billion, a new question is being raised, how much is Facebook worth? A couple of years ago Mark's net worth was $1.5 billion and Microsoft estimated that Facebook was worth about $15 billion. Now that employees are selling shares of the company to others on the secondary market, it is estimated that the company may be worth up to $76 a share or $33 billion. This seems a little extreme to me, but it could be possible. Technically Mark Zuckrberg is paper rich, cash poor. The company does not have to go public until more than 500 people have shares of the company, that is what happened to Google, which is worth $529.76 a share. Eventually if not sold Facebook may go public. There is still a chance that a lot of very wealthy private investors and companies will continue to pour money into Facebook until they own mostly all of it. Since the company is not public they do not have to disclose finance records, so no one really knows how much it is worth, everything out is just estimates based on current activity. I could imagine this being one big bust in a few more years. I am giving Facebook a Digit Up because I love the mystery of it all and in the end "the Facebook" will win and Mark Zuckerberg will go home with more than a few pennies to rub together.

9/29-Pam McNeely

Pam McNeely - CRN Media Critic

Pam has a unique opinion on TV/Radio/Movies and offers a fresh perspective as the CRN Media Critic at Large. What's Hot and What's Not as well as the inside scoop on the entertainment industry. Pam dishes praise and criticism alike on your favorite shows and actors while telling you why they will be a success or failure. 

...George Lopez

George Lopez is divorcing his wife Ann after 17 years of marriage. Honestly this is no surprise. There have been multiple reports for years of George cheating on his wife with numerous prostitutes. A rep for George had this to say, "George and Ann Lopez have made the decision to end their 17-year marriage. The decision is amicable and by mutual agreement. They remain dedicated parents, and committed partners in business and their philanthropic organization, The Lopez Foundation." It is said that they have been negotiating the terms of the divorce for a while. Things are tricky because George has his own show, his 2nd one now, and his wife gave him 1 of her kidneys when both of his failed due to a genetic condition in 2005. I am sure there was no pre-nup seeing as they got married in 1993 before he was famous. How much will she get and what will he be left with is unknown, but it is not looking good for him. I am sure she will write a book and end up on Oprah somehow for it. George and his wife probably would have been divorced a few years ago if it were not for the kidney. I am giving George a Digit Down because I truly do believe he cheated on his wife more than once with hookers and whores. Shame on you.

9/28-Tracy Rafter

Tracy Rafter - CEO Bizfed

As the first female publisher in the nearly 100 year history of the Los Angeles Daily News, Tracy Rafter brought strategic vision, unbridled passion, fearless innovation, and dynamic leadership at a time of unprecedented challenge and change in the news media industry. She is now the principal of her own next level media company IMPOWER, LLC, and also owns a business advisory, Rafter Group, Inc. which provided management and leadership to organize, launch, and operate BizFed. As a 25 year veteran of the newspaper business, she has held chief executive positions in a variety of major markets across the country, including over a decade with the Journal Register Company of Trenton, New Jersey, where she served as Publisher and CEO of four award winning newspapers in Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts.

...Jimi Heselden

Ironic? Possibly. Jimi Heselden was the owner of the Segway Company, which he bought just 10 months ago. Apparently while riding on one of his Segways he fell over a 30 foot cliff into a river and died. Immediately questions came up over the safety of the Segway. President George W. Bush and Pierce Morgan have both famously fallen off of them and in America some cities have banned them all together. But beyond this Heselden was known for his generosity. He recently gave 15.9 million to the Leeds Community Foundation, and he is credited with bringing hundreds of jobs to the Leeds area with his development of the Hesco barriers, which is used in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Heselden dropped out of school, worked as a coal miner, was laid off, and then founded Hesco Bastion making himself a multi-millionaire. He was only 62 years old. I know for a fact that he will be missed by the people of Leeds and by his friends, family and employees. I am giving this a Digit Down.

9/27-Geoff Edwards

Geoff Edwards - Radio Personality

Geoff Edwards is a veteran radio and television broadcaster. He has an Emmy for best talk show host, and an Emmy nomination for best Game Show Host. Besides hosting network game shows, he has appeared as an actor in numerous television shows and movies. In radio, he was top rated in Los Angeles on both KMPC and KFI. With all of this, Geoff never lost his thirst for travel. He has been cruising since 1969 and has twice cruised around the world. From Morocco, to the Marshall Islands, and even to Branson, Geoff 's wit adds a special flavor to his travel commentary. Michael, Geoff's wife, travels with him and records all on film. Today, Geoff writes for several national magazines, currently broadcasts a weekly travel report to Monterey's KION morning show, and does on "location" special travel broadcasts for CRN, the Cable Radio Network.

...Bentley

By now we are used to hearing about recalls on cars such as Toyota, Honda, Ford, Chevy, etc. But earlier this year Ferrari recalled its new 458 Italia, a $300,000 sports car. Now we have a new car to add to the list, Bentley. Bentley is recalling 820 of its cars worldwide, 620 in America alone, because of a fear that its famous "winged B" may not retract during an accident and it could possibly injure someone. The repairs would be done for free and take about an hour. I find this rather humorous. If you are in an accident I doubt you are going to care about your hood ornament. This just makes the company look bad, any recall would do that. I am sure owners could care less if their "winged B" retracts during an accident. I am giving Bentley a Digit Down for tarnishing their image a tad.

...Georgia

Living in Georgia now for a while has made me miss Florida with a passion. This state seems to be a little too backward or...not as culturally diverse as I would like. Now some people may love it here, and that is okay, but for me I can live without it. This brings me to 2 recent articles I read about the state.
The 1st is about Georgia's plan to reach out to gay and bisexuals to help educate them about HIV and HIV prevention. On the surface that sounds wonderful and like something that should be done. But after living here and seeing the way people operate I think that may be wasted money. Why? Well because although there is a high gay and bisexual population here, it is the bisexual and the infamous Down-low (DL) crowd that you have to educate, but cannot because they are not about to be spotted doing anything that may make them seem "gay". The spread of HIV cannot be controlled if some guy is sleeping with men and then running home to be with his girlfriend or wife. There are so many DL men in Georgia, it almost feels as if every male in Georgia could be on the DL if they are not out. Married or just dating that does not mean a thing. If we may look at the latest scandal involving Bishop Eddie Long...enough said about that. Will it help? Maybe, I guess you would have to try it out and see, but I am not holding my breath.
Topic #2, prescription drugs kill more in Georgia than illegal drugs. I found this one interesting. Apparently illegal drug deaths, due to overdose, were down from 2008-2009 while prescription drug deaths were up! It is so bad that Saturday the DEA held its 1st ever prescription drug take-back event. The type of drugs being abused most are pain killers and anti-anxiety drugs. Leading the pack would be: Alprazolam, or Xanax, an anti-anxiety drug, Methadone, Hydrocodone, and Oxycodone. To break it down furthermore:
Age 15 and under: 4 deaths

Age 15-24: 45 deaths

Age 25-34: 125 deaths

Age 35-44: 182 deaths

Age 45-54: 221 deaths

Age 64 and older: 13 deaths

-608 White

-60 Black

-2 Asian

-376 Males

-294 Females

Obviously this a major problem that will hopefully get solved. I could blame this on a lot of things but of course this will have to fall under the "Recession Umbrella".

I know that no state is perfect and every state has its own problems, but this state just seems to be a lot worse than what I am used to. Florida did have lots of problems yes, but I did not have a state income tax which helped me get over a lot of things. I am giving Georgia 2 Digits Down.

...Fred Armisen and Elisabeth Moss

I love Fred Armisen on Saturday Night Live, so it was odd to hear that he and his wife Elisabeth Moss of Mad Men were getting a divorce after less than a year of marriage. In fact they have been separated since June. The reason for the divorce, some say, is the fact that her religion means more to her than her marriage. Elisabeth is a Scientologist and it seems that Fred could not go along with it. Apparently though he has moved on and she has moved on and both are okay with it. He moved on to his co-star Abby Elliot. Fred must like them young because although he is 45, his soon to be ex-wife is 28 and his current fling is 23. I do not see anything wrong with the divorce, it happens, and although Scientology is seen as strange to some, it is a religion and I will not criticize someone else's beliefs. I would however like to say that they should have thought this out before they got married! Pre-marital counseling anyone? I have no clue why they did not think to talk about these types of issues extensively before they got married, but they did not and now they are getting divorced. I am giving them a Digit Down for not planning ahead properly and communicating before they got married.

...MTV

MTV is giving 2 people who helped make their recent reality show franchise HUGE a show of their own. Lauren Conrad from Laguna Beach and The Hills and Pauly D from Jersey Shore. First let us talk about Lauren. Lauren's new show is a reality documentary about her new fashion line. It is scheduled to start shooting this October. She left The Hills in 2009 and has been absent from television since. With this new show she will have more control over everything. I am sure it will be interesting, more interesting than it sounds, but honestly I could live without it. I am over her and The Hills. Next there is Pauly D. I am going to make this short. His new show apparently already has a title and a premise. It will be about him and his DJing career. It is scheduled to start shooting within a month. The 3rd season of Jersey Shore has already wrapped up so this made it possible for him to start this new project. I am not looking forward to this show either. I am not interested in what he is doing or who he may be doing it with. I get enough of him and his friends on Jersey Shore. Again I can live without this. MTV seems to be running out of creative juice, typical Hollywood stuff. I am giving MTV a Digit Down.

...Sesame Street

Just 1 day after I saw that Katy Perry was going to be a guest on Sesame Street on New Year's Eve, I learned today that her duet with Elmo was cut from the show. Why? Well the segment was posted on YouTube and parents left comments that were not so kind. Mainly they had an issue with Katy's cleavage. The show said that it values its viewers and did not want to upset them so they removed the segment. I understand why they did it, and it makes sense, but it is not Katy's fault. I am sure Sesame Street, even with its budget cuts, has stylist who could have given her something else to wear, but they did not. Some people think that maybe Katy's life and lifestyle were to blame for the backlash from the parents, which could be possible, but I doubt it. This is the video that had parents, I am assuming mostly if not all mothers, upset.

I thought about it and I thought about it some more. Do I give Sesame Street a Digit Up or Down? Finally I just decided to give them a Digit Down. I would have given them a Digit Up if they would have at least tried to get Katy to wear something else, but they did not, so it all falls back on them. Digit Down Sesame Street.

9/24-Scott St James, Harold Sylvester

Scott St. James-Actor, Sports Personality 

Scott St. James began his acting career with a role in Heart Of A Champion: The Ray Mancini Story. Since then, he has appeared in dozens of motion pictures and TV series including Everybody Loves Raymond, ER and Jimmy Kimmel Live! His national television commercial credits include roles for American Express, Pepsi and Honda Motor Company. A true renaissance man, Scott began his career as an award-winning radio personality, enjoying tremendous success at stations all across the country, including St. Louis powerhouse KMOX and KMPC and KIIS-FM in Los Angeles, working with legendary personalities Robert W. Morgan and Rick Dees. Along the way he picked up multiple Golden Mike and Mark Twain Awards for commentary writing. His daily morning commentaries on Arrow 93FM covered a broad spectrum of topics from sports to entertainment to politics, and over a period of nine years, raised an eyebrow or two. In the 80’s, Scott was also the on-camera Sports Director at LA’s KCAL-TV, Channel 9. Contact Scott St. James via e-mail: scottstjames@sbcglobal.net




Harold Sylvester-American Film and Television Actor

Sylvester was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. A graduate of New Orleans' St. Augustine High School and Tulane University, Sylvester is best known for his role on the TV series Married... with Children as Griff, the co-worker and friend of Al Bundy at the shoe store. Harold's other TV roles include the short-lived 1981 series Walking Tall, Today's F.B.I., Mary, and Shaky Ground. The most recent TV show he starred in was The Army Show. Sylvester had a recurring role on the TV series City of Angels.

His well known film roles are An Officer and a Gentleman (1982), Uncommon Valor (1983), Innerspace (1987), Corrina, Corrina (1994), andMissing Brendan (2003). Sylvester has made guest appearances on shows, ranging from Hill Street Blues to Murder, She Wrote to NYPD Blue.

Sylvester attended Tulane University on a basketball scholarship and graduated in 1972 with a degree in theater and psychology. He was the first African-American ever to receive an athletic scholarship from Tulane.

...Japan

Paris Hilton has already been barred from the Wynn in Las Vegas and some night clubs as well. She could live with that I guess. But now a whole country is barring her from entering. That country is Japan. Japan has strict immigration laws that bar entry to those convicted of drug offenses. Sometimes exceptions are made, but not this time. Paris should feel lucky, Paul McCartney was given the same treatment decades ago. This is all stemming from her arrest and admittance of cocaine possession. She was held at the airport and stayed in an airport hotel, so not luxe, and was questioned for 6 hours over 2 days before being denied entry into the country. Paris had this to say to reporters, "I'm going back home, and I look forward to coming back to Japan in the future." She took it like a champ, because Japan is no 3 hour flight, it is a journey. Paris was supposed to be promoting her new fashion line, perfume and store not only in Tokyo, Japan but Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and Jakarta, Indonesia. I think this was a good thing. Sometimes you need to be humiliated in public, it humbles you and grounds you sometimes harshly, sometimes gently. I am a Paris fan, not as much as I used to be and the drugs have nothing to do with that, but this is a good lesson for her to learn and grow from, finally, we hope. If this affects her finances, then she will take it more seriously than before. She is 29, 30 will be here fast, and you cannot claim to be too young not to know right from wrong, as if she is now. I am giving Japan a Digit Up for not making any exception to Paris and treating her like a normal citizen.

9/22-PM Show

The PM Show with Mike Horn delivers today's headlines in the world of POP culture, from news, entertainment, and sports. The perspectives and attitudes that permeate in your everyday world, you'll find on the PM Show with Mike Horn.

...Bell, California

Bell, California has been in the news for months since it was reported this Summer that 8 of its city officials gave themselves outstanding salaries. Bell is a suburb South of Los Angeles and has about 40,000 residents. It is not a wealthy city, most the families average about $30,00 a year. When the residents found out that some of its officials gave themselves huge salaries they, along with America, became angry and upset. Robert Rizzo, a former city manager, was the most disliked when it was discovered he had a salary twice that of the President's at $800,000 a year! Former assistant city manager Angela Spaccia gave herself a salary of $376,288 while four others gave themselves nearly $100,000. Those arrested were: Former City Manager Robert Rizzo, Mayor Oscar Hernandez, former Councilman George Cole, former assistant city manager Angela Spaccia, Vice Mayor Teresa Jacobo, council members George Mirabal and Luis Artiga and former council member Victor Bello. Someone who was not arrested was former Police Chief Randy Adams, who made $457,000 and was looked upon in the same way as the others in the resident's eyes. This is an example of a corrupt government or as Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley called it, "corruption steroids." They are making an example out of these people, and I could not be happier. I hope that this is just the start of things like this. No matter how big or small the city or town may be no one should steal from its people or the government, eventually you will get caught and once you mess with the government you cannot by your way out of it. I hope the money is repaid, as much of it as they can, because the city of Bell is not a wealthy city, 1 out of 6 residents live in poverty. It is very working class and the people living there right now are struggling with a lot of issues, even before this all came about. I am giving the city a Digit Up for making the proper move and I do hope that this is a warning shot seen and heard across this nation.

...Los Angeles Stimulus Money

The controversial stimulus packages that President Obama pushed for to help retain and create jobs seems to have done exactly that. In Los Angeles $111 million in stimulus spending by the city's Department of Transportation and Department of Public Works found that the money went to projects that created or retained just 54 jobs. That works out to roughly $2 million per job. But wait there is more. $71 million was given to the Department of Public Works to fund 15 road projects and save or create 238 jobs, but it only managed to create 7.76 jobs, or about $10 million per job, and saved 37.7 jobs, well below the projected number. Some of the projects they completed were installing new LED light bulbs in traffic lights and installing 65 new left-turn arrows. Both projects came to $13 million total. Obviously the money was not spent or handled properly and it needs to be looked into deeper. The audits show that the money was spent on actual projects but they just spend too much money on the projects. I think hat sounds fishy... California has had a couple of smaller towns that had corrupt officials giving themselves annual salaries that rivaled and even surpassed the President's, who makes $400,000 as President and is the highest paid government official. I must give this a Digit Down. In the economy no government money should be wasted on silly things that could be held off for a better day.

9/21-PM Show

The PM Show with Mike Horn delivers today's headlines in the world of POP culture, from news, entertainment, and sports. The perspectives and attitudes that permeate in your everyday world, you'll find on the PM Show with Mike Horn.

Pam McNeely - CRN Media Critic

Pam has a unique opinion on TV/Radio/Movies and offers a fresh perspective as the CRN Media Critic at Large. What's Hot and What's Not as well as the inside scoop on the entertainment industry. Pam dishes praise and criticism alike on your favorite shows and actors while telling you why they will be a success or failure. 

9/20-Geoff Edwards

Geoff Edwards - Radio Personality

Geoff Edwards is a veteran radio and television broadcaster. He has an Emmy for best talk show host, and an Emmy nomination for best Game Show Host. Besides hosting network game shows, he has appeared as an actor in numerous television shows and movies. In radio, he was top rated in Los Angeles on both KMPC and KFI. With all of this, Geoff never lost his thirst for travel. He has been cruising since 1969 and has twice cruised around the world. From Morocco, to the Marshall Islands, and even to Branson, Geoff 's wit adds a special flavor to his travel commentary. Michael, Geoff's wife, travels with him and records all on film. Today, Geoff writes for several national magazines, currently broadcasts a weekly travel report to Monterey's KION morning show, and does on "location" special travel broadcasts for CRN, the Cable Radio Network.


Dolph Lundgren-Actor

Hans Dolph Lundgren was born and raised in an academic middle-class family in Stockholm, Sweden. Despite an early interest in rock n’ roll drumming and clowning around in high school comedies, Dolph decided to follow in his father’s more cerebral footsteps and pursue an engineering degree. Dolph went through some hard times during his teenage years when Dolph’s father, his precious career losing steam -- started taking out his frustration on his wife and oldest son. Both verbally and more so: physically.

Dolph feels that the physical abuse he suffered at the hands of his father later motivated him to pursue both contact sports and the dramatic arts. ‘I still love my father, no matter what happened. There are many things about him I still admire. As a child, I was probably too much like him, very stubborn -- perhaps that’s what he couldn’t deal with’, Dolph says. After having served in the Swedish Marine Corps for two years, Lundgren enrolled in the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, studying the same subject as his older brother: Chemical Engineering. Dolph was still trying to prove something to his dad.

...BP Well

It has been plugged, for real this time. Five months after the well exploded, killed 11 people, sank to the bottom of the ocean and spewed out 206 million gallons of oil causing the worst oil spill in the world, the well has been sealed and will no longer cause any more damage at 6:54PM EST. The well was 2.5 miles below the sea so I do understand why it took so long to seal it off. The oil from this well spread from Texas to Florida and so far has cost BP $9.5 billion to cleanup, but there is still much more t do and many more lawsuits and government fines to come. BP's stock has fallen sharply and the company fell out of the top 100 companies in the world. The people of Louisiana, who got the worst of it all, pretty much lost a lot of their seafood industry for decades to come. I do not have much more to say about this. I do see this as a horrible incident that possibly could have been avoided, but on the other hand I think that whenever oil is being drilled on land or at sea things like this could happen and it should not shock us so much. I hope that the long term effects of the spill are minimal, but that is something we will definitely have to wait and see. I am giving this news a Digit Up though because this really is good news for everyone involved.

...Admitting the Truth...About Drug Use

Both Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan have come clean about their drug use, sort of. Lindsay Lohan failed a court-ordered drug test, possibly her 1st since being released from jail and court-ordered rehab just 20 or so days ago. She confirmed this via Twitter saying, "Regrettably, I did in fact fail my most recent drug test." She continued later by adding, "Substance abuse is a disease, which unfortunately doesn't go away over night. I am working hard to overcome it." For each time she violates her probation or misses a drug test she will be ordered to serve 30 days in jail. If true then she will be off to jail in less than 2 weeks. Although even if she did go to jail 30 days would result in a few hours or a couple of days. I really do hope she gets it all straightened out eventually, she seemed to be getting there but then those reports of her staying out all night at clubs, but they said she was not drinking, but drugs and drinking are different.


On the other hand there is Miss Hilton, Paris Hilton to be exact. She has made a deal with the D.A. in Las Vegas to avoid jail time. Instead she will serve 1 year of probation complete a drug abuse program, pay a $2,000 fine and serve 200 hours of community service and avoid a felony conviction. This is just typical Hilton. She doe not live in Vegas so this will not be a major hit for her, although some say she will miss the Vegas party money, she can party everywhere else and still make money. I doubt she cares much about this and I doubt this will be the last time she gets into trouble dealing with drugs. If she gets into any trouble while on probation she will have to serve a year of jail, this could actually happen. Probation did not stop her in 2007 and it may not stop her in 2010, but this time it will be worse for her. For some reason I think she may care less and be more reckless than Lindsay, this new Lindsay anyway. I do hope that both girls gt their acts together and go back to being good at whatever it is they do, acting and...being famous for being famous? Actually both could make another album, I would probably buy it. Until then though I must give them a Digit Down, but coming clean about it is a nice improvement.

...Liberace Museum

Sad news people, the Liberace Museum will be closing next month. This is odd because I was just thinking about how I wanted to go there and see his rhinestone covered Rolls Royce. The foundation that runs the museum has decided to focus more on the music scholarships it has been awarding for decades rather than the museum since their endowment shrunk from $12 million to $5 million and attendance was only 50,000 last year. They are hoping that a new movie staring Michael Douglas as Liberace and Matt Damon as his lover will possibly spark interest in the museum, but until then the doors will be closed. Liberace was awesome. He was a master of the piano and before Lady Gaga, Adam Lambert, Madonna, Elton John and even Cher he was rocking outrageous outfits and had these pianos to match. Rhinestones and glitter and candelabra, he was just this extremely flamboyant guy who kind of looked like the grandpa from the old show "The Monsters" but gay. I liked him, he was different and extremely unique. I do hope the museum opens up so that I could go and experience this somewhat unappreciated artist. I am giving this news a Digit Down.

...Aging

As my birthday came and went as usual I was not so excited. I am not afraid of death at all, but I am not looking forward to it as well. Why? Failure. Failure to achieve any any of my goals no matter how real or unreal they might have been. Failure is like the death of my soul. It is bad enough that my inner artist is slowly dying daily, but to die and have everything go undone is horrible. Beyond that aging period is not so great. You are older, but how much older do you want to be? You have your 1st birthday, 10th, 13th, 16th, 18th, 20th, 21st, 25th (if you care about renting a car), 30th, 35th (if you want to run for president), 40th, 50th, 65th and everything after that is just inching closer to death. I mean half of those birthdays are not even that major and in my case a lot of them will not be that major. I would not mind getting older if I could see the results of whatever it is that I am doing, but I cannot so I mind. I this pointless stress over something silly? Probably, but it is not my fault. We are pushed from the time we are babies to excel and grow and become the best at whatever we do at an early age. If you can read, you had better be reading at least 2 grade levels ahead of your actual grade or else you may have a learning disorder. If you can talk, you must be able to speak properly and spell properly or else you may have to get speech lessons. By the time you start high school you should already know what you want to be int he future and if you do not then you might as well get ready to serve burgers to your friends because you are almost an adult and the fun and games are over. What are these fun and games? The games that are education based? The fun that is centered around school? In the future will babies be expected to feed and change themselves? Will children ever be allowed to have true fun and have no 0 worries? I doubt it. We are trying to compete against countries that are trying to compete against us. Countries that excel in certain areas and fail miserably in almost every other category that matters. So aging for me is nothing new. It started as soon as I could walk and talk, that is when the world said you are a big boy, a little man. That is when I was expected to learn and if I was not learning then I was wasting time. You cannot stop aging, but you can hold it off for a little, that is something I wish I could have done then, but now I am on the slippery slope and it is happening fast. I must give aging a Digit Down.

9/17-Scott St James, Harold Sylvester

Scott St. James-Actor, Sports Personality 

Scott St. James began his acting career with a role in Heart Of A Champion: The Ray Mancini Story. Since then, he has appeared in dozens of motion pictures and TV series including Everybody Loves Raymond, ER and Jimmy Kimmel Live! His national television commercial credits include roles for American Express, Pepsi and Honda Motor Company. A true renaissance man, Scott began his career as an award-winning radio personality, enjoying tremendous success at stations all across the country, including St. Louis powerhouse KMOX and KMPC and KIIS-FM in Los Angeles, working with legendary personalities Robert W. Morgan and Rick Dees. Along the way he picked up multiple Golden Mike and Mark Twain Awards for commentary writing. His daily morning commentaries on Arrow 93FM covered a broad spectrum of topics from sports to entertainment to politics, and over a period of nine years, raised an eyebrow or two. In the 80’s, Scott was also the on-camera Sports Director at LA’s KCAL-TV, Channel 9. Contact Scott St. James via e-mail: scottstjames@sbcglobal.net




Harold Sylvester-American Film and Television Actor

Sylvester was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. A graduate of New Orleans' St. Augustine High School and Tulane University, Sylvester is best known for his role on the TV series Married... with Children as Griff, the co-worker and friend of Al Bundy at the shoe store. Harold's other TV roles include the short-lived 1981 series Walking Tall, Today's F.B.I., Mary, and Shaky Ground. The most recent TV show he starred in was The Army Show. Sylvester had a recurring role on the TV series City of Angels.

His well known film roles are An Officer and a Gentleman (1982), Uncommon Valor (1983), Innerspace (1987), Corrina, Corrina (1994), andMissing Brendan (2003). Sylvester has made guest appearances on shows, ranging from Hill Street Blues to Murder, She Wrote to NYPD Blue.

Sylvester attended Tulane University on a basketball scholarship and graduated in 1972 with a degree in theater and psychology. He was the first African-American ever to receive an athletic scholarship from Tulane.

...Women

We are still in a recession and there are still millions of people without jobs. Despite all of that there is a constant trend that i would say is growing. There are more women with jobs than men. Why? Well maybe it also has to do with the fact that there are more women in college than men. With so many companies looking for highly educated workers, that gives women an edge. This is benefiting them as well. Not only are there more women working, but the wage gap is shrinking because of it. It use to be that women earned 71 cents per every one dollar a man earned, but now it is 83 cents per every dollar a man earns. Minority women are also seeing more work and better wages, while on the other hand minority men are seeing less work and shrinking wages. This is a plus an a minus. Will it last? Possibly, but this reminds me of World War 2 when the men were off to war and the women had factory jobs, but when the men came home the women returned back to the home to do their domestic duties. Now this is 2010 and the recession will probably end around...2014, although I thought they technically said the recession was over already... Their words not mine. This is good for women though and it can only go up from here, maybe, we will see what happens when more men return to work. As for college, that is totally different. College is expensive and it is school and most guys, although they want to succeed and be successful, they do not want to put in the time and effort. Beyond that the short-term gain of a paycheck looks and feels better than the long-term gain that college could offer. College is not a guaranteed success for everyone and yes there are millions who have made it without going to college, but it is growing very difficult to do that these days and I can only imagine how much more difficult it will be in the future. Can you see McDonald's asking you to have a college degree in hospitality to flip burgers? Still women are on top at the moment and for that I will give them a Digit Up.

...Corn Sugar

Well we may not be seeing the words "corn syrup" if the Corn Refiners Association gets their way. Thy have filed papers to change the infamous corn syrup name to "corn sugar". Why? Well people just have a negative view on corn syrup thus leading to a major drop in sales of products containing corn syrup in it. The refiners are sticking tot heir guns that the syrup is no worse for your body than regular sugar, although it's main product soda is a leading cause for diabetes. Last year the average American ate only 35.7 pounds of corn syrup, down from 45.4 a decade ago. Now the makers, Archer Daniels Midland Inc., Corn Products International, Cargill, Roquette America, and Tate & Lyle, are eyeing a new market, Mexico, and hope that the new name will bring back sales in America. I think this is just whatever. Although it could take 2 years for he name change to be approved it will probably come sooner. America has too much corn, thus why corn is in everything from batteries to medicine. The companies over the corn have enough money to pay their way in and out of anything good or bad that comes their way. I am sure many of them support a lot of high ranking government officials and this will be an easy yes on the name change. I am still against High Fructose Corn Syrup, and nothing will change my mind. Have you ever seen corn syrup in a bottle? It is what it is, rich and thick syrup, with a golden tinge to it as well. I am giving this a Digit Down. I would love to see the product removed completely but it is cheaper and it is always profit over people.

9/15-Pam McNeely

Pam McNeely - CRN Media Critic

Pam has a unique opinion on TV/Radio/Movies and offers a fresh perspective as the CRN Media Critic at Large. What's Hot and What's Not as well as the inside scoop on the entertainment industry. Pam dishes praise and criticism alike on your favorite shows and actors while telling you why they will be a success or failure. 

9/14-Barry Farber

The PM Show with Mike Horn delivers today's headlines in the world of POP culture, from news, entertainment, and sports. The perspectives and attitudes that permeate in your everyday world, you'll find on the PM Show with Mike Horn.

A master of language and a joy to hear, Barry's articles have appeared in The New York Times, Reader's Digest, and the Washington Post. Among books he has written are Making People Talk, How to Learn Any Language, How to Conceal Stupidity, and his current bestseller How to Not Make the Same Mistake Once. Like his writings, Barry's talk show brings listeners wisdom, insight, and first-hand knowledge from a cosmopolitan mind and down-home heart full of charm, sweetness, and the warmth of a deep and steady inner fire. One taste and your listeners will agree that Barry Farber is to talk radio what a fine wine is to a good meal.

...Monday

I never really have had any problems with Mondays. Sometimes it rains and it makes me smile. Sometimes they feel long, but so do Tuesdays. Today however was a beast! I ran out of gas, sort of, the car just thought it was out of gas so it would not start for like 30 minutes! Odd actually. I got a ticket as well, for parking in the wrong area, shame on us all. I then went to go renew my license, but the DMV is closed on a Monday because...who knows why. No biggie on any other day but they expire tomorrow so I am technically not allowed to drive, and I think my insurance my get cancelled? Add tot hat I was pretty sleepy all day and when I finally got home I got a jolt of energy out of nowhere. It came in handy though because football was on, but the games were eh, pretty much like all of the other games last week. I think the players are taking it easy because they are trying to stick together so that they can get what they want from the owners, but that is a different story for next year. All in all I am going to give today a Digit Down, of course. It started with a headache and ends with a hot flash.